things that make ya go "hmmmmm"

So I was driving home from work tonight and I was at a stop light next to a pick up truck.  And I always do a quick look over to see who is next to me; ya never know when it will be a cute boy.  And since I am perpetually single. I am always on the look out for cute boys.

anyhoo....the first thing I noticed was that he had a mustache.  And I don't mean facial hair; I mean a mustache.  So I immediately knew that he was older.  Like my dad's age.  And that made me wonder: why is it that guys from my generation (Or even the generation before me and the one before that one) don't have mustaches anymore?  And don't go thinking that I like mustaches, I think they are creepy.  But why do I think they are creepy?  

Am I wrong or alone in this way of thinking?  Can you name one person that has only a mustache that is A) younger than, we'll say, 50 or B) not a pedophile or C) not in a 70s porn? 

When did mustaches turn creepy (apparently 1963)?  Who gave them this reputation??   Can someone fill me in???

Okay so in my search for "Creepy mustache" images, I found this one.  It's not creepy.  At all.  It's kinda hot.  I'll allow it

Crafty me

Last year around Christmas time, my friend's sister (who in all reality is my friend too but my friend came first) made a wreath similar to a Pottery Barn one.  It was "pine needles" and it had bulbs/ornaments throughout.  I'm not going to put a picture up because I want you to be awed my mine and not compare it to the $80 awesome one.  So after seeing some cute ornaments, I decided to steal her idea.  

I bought a cheapo wreath from Michael's for like $4 and some ornaments for, I think, $4 a tube.   

I didn't have zip ties or wire and I am the most impatient person ever, so I used black yarn to tie on the ornaments.  

It's kinda self explanatory, right?  I guess if you need a step by step then in my professional, crafty opinion you are not crafty enough to make this.

pay no attention to the door behind the wreath, the great & powerful Jess has spoken

What do you think?  Does it need more ornaments?  Do you have any holiday crafts in your future?

Thanksgiving in two parts-part 2

I went home for Thanksgiving.  My parents live an hour-ish away from me.  I did a lot of back and forth travel when I first moved back to NY from Atl- I lived with my folks for bit when I first came home (eek!) and all my friends and my job was here in Rochester- so I have a travel toiletry bag that is stocked up with everything I could possibly need.  Everything except eye makeup remover.  I had some makeup remover pads, but I guess I should check more often because they were all dried up.  I should probably tell you that I have been fiddling around with liquid eyeliner and I've gotten pretty good so I was excited to use it for Thanksgiving.  Oh, the best laid plans.  So not only did I have a horrible time putting on my eyeliner but my mascara went on clumpy and my eye lashes were all stuck together and wouldn't separate.  And this wouldn't have been a problem, but remember I was lacking in the makeup remover department.  So my only hope was to wash my face and start again.  Once again this would not have been a problem if I had makeup remover.  As soon as I got my face wet and scrubbed a little this is what I looked like:

It took me like 20 minutes to get the makeup off my face.  Because, I'm assuming you know this, liquid eyeliner is a bitch to get off.  After all this my mother says "ya know it's just family, right?"  This from the women who wears zero makeup.  So short story long, the YouTube tutorials didn't help as much I thought they did.  But I will persevere and figure out how to rock the winged liquid eyeliner look!

And then at dinner, the craziest thing happened.  I don't know exactly how it happened.  Either my aunt turned on the stove top to keep a dish warm or she turned on the wrong burner but she ended up burning the bottom of 9x13 glass baking dish.  Well we put it on the table and about 20 minutes later we are setting the rest of the food on the table and my cousin and I hear a POP and a shatter.  The glass dish busted and all the sides kinda fell apart. So then we are scooping the food out of the middle to save what we can and not have anyone eating glass.  Moral of this story: when a dish says it's not meant for stove top, it really means it.

Almost forgot Favorite Quote Friday!!

via

Thanksgiving in two parts-part 1

Everyone knows that Thanksgiving Eve is one of the biggest going out nights of the year.  I, however, refuse to go out in my hometown.  I grew up in a very small town and I have absolutely no interest in going out to bars the night before Thanksgiving.  There are only one or two bars I would actually be willing to go to anyways but Thanksgiving Eve they are always packed and the cops always end up shutting them down because no one is enforcing the maximum occupancy thing. So for the past few years we always just get together at one of my friends house.  She is the only one who still lives in town and her and her husband have two kids so it's just easier to go over there and drink once the kids are asleep.  And we all live in different cities, so we never really get all together very often.  It's usually just Thanksgiving Eve and Christmas night.

Here's us in a nutshell: It's me and Awesomely Inappropriate (who I am been referring to as JG in other posts). We met on the bus ride home from kindergarten (awwwwwww).  Then there's Jer.  We became friends when we were like 12.  Mike (who wanted some crazy alias for the blog like Herb Edderstink or something like that- IDK we were drunk) and Jer grew up down the road from each other and have been friends forever.  Mike and I both lived in Rochester for four-ish years before I moved to Atl and then he moved to NYC.  Then there is  Awesomely Inappropriate's husband, Joe.  But he is seriously like one of us.  Sean and I were in the same kindergarten class and we went  to the same college too-we literally went to school together for 17 (!!) years.  So grad school is the first time I have ever (EVER!) been in an educational setting without him.  That's crazy.

So basically what happens *every time* we go over to AI's is that we end up in their shed.  Some people who are not me or AI or Joe or Mike still smoke and they have to do it outside so we all go out and hangout.  And every time we go to the shed we write with sharpie on the walls.  And every year we try to decipher what the hell we were talking about last year because it is usually an inside joke from whatever night and we have forgotten about it.  For example, one year we wrote PBHS '99 x 2.  Now PBHS is our high school (except Joe) and four of us graduated in 99.  We have two theories about this: the x2 is for the 2 people that didn't graduate with us (and why it's not +2 IDK) or we chose to ignore those 2 people and it is from two different years.  We don't really know what that means.  But it *is* in my handwriting.  If you follow me on Twitter (@RandomlyBossy) you might have noticed a lot of random Tweets from Wed night.  Yeah, that was us.

And since this is Thanksgiving I should talk about what I'm grateful for. I am so thankful for my friends.  I have known them for years and every time we get together it's so much fun.  Sometimes I don't see them or talk to them for months at a time, but when we get together it's like nothing has changed.  My favorite quote about friendship is: friends are the family you choose for yourself and it couldn't be truer for us.  I know not everyone can say that they are still friends with people from grade school.  I honestly feel blessed that I have people in my life (non-family members) who have known me for so long and that 25 years later they are still such a big part of my life.  So thanks guys, I love you


And now here is a journey through our friendship in picture form.  They are very out of order but I didn't feel like switching them- oops.  And we are drinking in almost all of them-oops again.

Jer, Me, Mike & AI circa 2003

Mike & Me 2008-ish

AI, Me Mike & Jer @ my going away party aka Jessapalooza

Me & Mike St Patty's a long time ago

last Christmas

also last Christmas

Sean, Jer, Me, AI & Mike Christmas 2009

Last Thanksgiving Eve

Joe, AI, Me & Mike 2007-ish

Jer & Me Boston this summer

Mike & Me at a friends wedding this summer

 Do you have any non-family traditions that you do around the holidays?

It's that time of year again

Sometimes I feel like the only person in the world that doesn't get psyched about the holiday season.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Christmas.  I love buying presents for people and knowing that I got them something that they will Capitol Ell Love.  And, if I'm being honest and I am, I like to get gifts too.  But last time I checked Christmas (or whatever winter holiday you celebrate) comes *after* Halloween and Thanksgiving.  So I do not put any decorations out until after Thanksgiving and usually I don't even do it until December.  This is actually the first year in a few years that I actually have a tree to decorate. When I lived in Atl I came home for Christmas and you can't travel with wrapped gifts (or I guess you could but they will tear them open for you at the airport). And I am also "that person" that says Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.  I don't do it because I am worried that I will offend someone.  I do it because realize that not everyone celebrates Christmas and why *shouldn't* I wish them a happy whatever holiday?

I'm off my soapbox now.  With all that being said I am excited that this is the first year that I live alone so I can decorate however I want and I don't have to try to incorporate anyone else's taste.  I think I want to do everything in red, white, silver and glitter.  

Also for Thanksgiving I made yummy Oreo Truffles.  Yum.  I am a book-ends cook.  I can do appetizers and dessert like no body's business, but the main dish? meh.  

So about halfway through making these I realized I didn't take pictures, so here are the ones I took.  I followed this recipe.  

This is after the cream cheese and crushed Oreos are mixed.  I ended up using my hands to mix, more of a mess but easier to mix it up good.

Schweddy Balls!  LOL  

covered in melted chocolate

A few things I did to make it easier:

** I used a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of bakers chocolate

**I used my hands to mix the crushed cookies and cream cheese

** to cover the balls in the melted chocolate, I used a spoon and fork.  I rolled it around in the chocolate and then picked it up with the fork.  

** I think melting some white chocolate and piping it on the truffles would make a nice presentation but my family could care less and white chocolate chips are expensive and I didn't have another recipe to use the rest of them. 

Friday!

I can't remember where I got this. Sorry whoever's it is

some shameless promoting

Because I am a crazy internet stalker lady, I found out that one of the girls in my class has recently started a blog. And I didn't want to just "follow" her and have her realize think that I'm crazy internet stalker lady.  So today in class I told her that I saw she was blogging and told her how much fun it is and how awesome you all are.  And since I am really new to this whole (wonderful) world, I remember how it sucks to be writing and have no one reading you.   Her blog is for all of those who "have dieted, wished they dieted and laughed at dieting" and honestly who doesn't fit into one of those categories.  So feel free to read it or not, it's a free country.  But everyone could use a little encouragement when it comes to starting a blog, so I'm paying all your encouragement forward.  

Happy almost Friday!!  

a little torn

So everyone knows what is happening this weekend right?  It can't be avoided.  Breaking Dawn, part 1 is opening.  Cue the screams and squeals. 

 So I've read the books and I'm not gonna lie, I really liked them. I love vampires and werewolves, so this series was right up my alley.  But I've always loved them (vampires and werewolves) so it was nothing new to any of my family and friends. My brother particularly likes to make fun of me for it and I give him all the ammo he needs.  The other day, I texted him to let him know that I got nail polish called Vampire Kiss and Howl at the Moon and he asked me if I was getting tired of vampires and werewolves.  I told him I never would but that I was getting tired of them being so freakin' popular.  Which is so true.  I can't wait until 13 year old girls stop liking sexy vampires so I can go back to reading books about mean, blood sucking ones.  

The first time (yes that means I've read them more than once) I read them, it was like crack in word form.  And no, I don't really know what crack in any form is like, but I imagine it's really addicting.  After I finished the 2nd one I wanted to go right out and buy the 3rd one so I could start to read it on my lunch break.  This was back when I had a "real" job and actually had to work everyday.  I even contemplated getting up early and stopping at Target on my way to work.  I was that hooked.  And I've seen all the movies so far in the theaters. None of them have been great and the last one was awful.  

Needless to say, I am *so* over Twilight.  But I'm torn, should I go see the last two in the theaters for prosperity's sake?  I have a friend that was is in to the books as I was, so I have someone to go with.  But I kinda don't really care.  What's a girl to do?

My week in a nutshell

**So lately I've been meaning to really clean out my fridge.  But there is always something else I need to be doing or (if I'm being honest) I'm just too lazy.  Well, it is totally happening when I get home from work tonight.  Last night when I got home from class (at 10:30), I found out that my fridge door - which sometimes doesn't shut all the way unless you push it closed- was open.  All. Day. Long.  My fridge was a lovely 50 degrees.  That's great November weather.  For the outside.  Luckily I don't really buy tons groceries at one time.  I buy as I need.  So I got that going for me.  

**  I'm not sure if I have mentioned this to you all.  It's common knowledge to anyone I actually know in real life.  Confession: I am a movie snob. I hate it, HATE it (!!) when Hollywood remakes a foreign film.  And I really hate it when the remake is shot for shot.  Yes, I realize Hollywood is a business and it needs to make money.  But the thing annoys me.  I'll step off my soapbox now.  But because I love movies, I usually watch the American versions too.  With all that being said, I don't know how to feel about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I read the books and loved them.  I watched the Swedish films and they were really good.  But ya know what? the Hollywood ones look pretty good too.  Do you guys have opinions on foreign vs Hollywood movies?  Have you read the Millennium series? 

** Yesterday the line at the Dunkin' Donuts drive thru was literally like 12 cars long.  I had BabyGirl with me and she was just about asleep, so I wasn't about to unbuckle her and attempt to bring her inside.  But it annoyed me that so many people were that lazy and weren't going to get out of their car.  This is such first world problem (you should totally follow First World Problems on twitter).

it's so heavy

Tonight I went to dinner with a couple of friends.  We just went to a local bar that has some pretty awesome food; my friend had a LivingSocial coupon that was going to expire.  So before I left the house I noticed my purse was really heavy.  So I quickly cleaned it out only to discover that I have 3 (three!!!) granola bars in there.  I usually throw one in my purse in the morning to have it as my mid-morning snack (or Second Breakfast as me and Hobbits like to call it).  Apparently I haven't eaten one all week and I never remembered so I put a new one it each morning.

Yesterday was a good day

I've noticed I tend to be more productive if I get up early and get showered and go to a little cafe down the street.  So usually I do that on Saturdays, but this weekend I was really tired Saturday morning so I slept in but on Sunday I set my alarm for 7ish.  So I get up, get showered, get pretty (ya never know who you might see) and walked down the street to the cafe.  The cafe is called Starry Nites and it is super cute. Do you remember how earlier I said that I normally go on Sat?  Well turns out they don't open 'til 9 on Sun so I was too early. Oops.  And I can't remember if I saw this on my first or second trip to the cafe; but, either way, it was *awesome*. So as I'm walking down the street I see up ahead what I think is a mother and daughter.  It's kinda far up so I can't see too clearly but it looks like the daughter is either coming from or gong to soccer.  And soccer is a fall sport so this is totally plausible.  She has on red soccer shorts and a pink jersey (breast cancer awareness??) and her shin guards.  Her mom is in a hoodie and jeans.  As I get closer to them I realize "Holy crap! they're not a mom and daughter!  They're friends!"  What I thought was a pink jersey was actually a cute silky, ruffly shirt!  What I thought was shin guards were actually knee high black boots! What I thought were red gym shorts were actually red gym shorts! They both were carrying cute, smallish purses!  They were on a Walk of Shame!!!  I can't remember the last time I got to see one in the flesh.  Made getting up early soooooo worth it!!

Also I made super yummy Buffalo Mac & Cheese yesterday.  And i remembered to take pics so I can show you.  I used the Better Home & Gardens cookbook's recipe for mac & cheese and then I winged it for the rest.  But this is the second time I've made it.  

my favorite cookbook ever

2cups of dried pasta 

2 T butter
2 T flour
1/8t pepper

2 1/2 c milk

1 1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

1 1/2 c shredded American cheese ( I don't really like American so I just sharp cheddar)

2ish cups of cut up cooked chicken (I'm lazy and used precooked frozen strips)
Wing sauce to taste ( I used 1/2 bottle)
creamy blue cheese dressing to taste
Crumbly Blue cheese if you like it

Panko or breadcrumbs for topping

 

Cook pasta, drain and set aside

 Meanwhile for cheese sauce:  in medium pan melt butter and add flour and pepper.   

Add milk all at once and cook until slightly thicker and bubbly

 Add cheese and stir until melted

Add hot sauce and creamy blue cheese

Add cooked chicken & pasta

Transfer to 2 qt baking dish and add crumbly blue cheese and gently stir.  Add Panko

bake at 350 for 25-30 min

eat it up!

TGIF!

Thanks!

** and I got a 30/30 on my presentation!!