Not a creature was stirring, except my mom on Pinterest...

I feel like I've said this for the past two years, but has 2018 felt like three years jammed into one? It seems like it's never going to end. Maybe it's just me, but so much has happened in 2018 that I have trouble keeping it all in a timeline that makes sense. Thankfully, Dave Barry summarized the year perfectly in his annual Year in Review column in The Washington Post. I've been enjoying Barry's column since I was a teenager, and it never ceases to amaze me how spot on he is.

One important event Barry failed to mention in his column was, I think, an important milestone in social media usage: my mother began actively using Pinterest. This may not seem like a revolutionary moment to anyone else, but to me, this symbolizes the natural end point of my mother's technology/social media journey. Remember when she learned to use text messaging on her own? Now she uses emojis like a champ. And Facebook? Well, she's not really actively using her account anymore, but for a while there, she was good at posting articles and embarrassing birthday posts like every mom on Facebook. I've always been very proud of her use of social media since it's not something she likes or gets, but she tries, and that's the important part.

I'm not sure when my mom "discovered" Pinterest. It was before this year, but she didn't really do much with it until recently. If I had to guess, I'd say it was during the last two-ish years as she spent time in hospitals following a severe ankle break. There's only so much daytime television and political commentary a person can watch before they go crazy; my mom hit that point very early in her stay and had to divert her attention elsewhere. She, like everyone in my family, is an avid reader so she read a lot. Her Kindle is one of the newer ones that's basically a tablet so she was able to go online and add apps to it. I think this is when she found Pinterest. My mom discovering Pinterest could be the best or worst thing ever. There's really no middle ground here.

For my mom, Pinterest is really fun. She can find new recipes, something she loves to do, and ideas for holiday home decor that may or may not always work. Unlike me, my mom doesn't have the level of cynicism I have about Pinterest being a place where boring white women plan weddings in reclaimed barns using Mason jars. (I'm sure your wedding in a barn with Mason jars was beautiful, calm down.) Hopefully, we've past the point in time where this is a thing and we can go back to life as it was pre-reclaimed barn weddings. I've gotten a bit more into Pinterest since joining Stitch Fix and setting up a style board for my stylist. I'm sure she looks at this board before sending me my quarterly fix. Yes, I'm sure of it. I also enjoy looking at past Nyx purse designs for inspiration as I glitter everything in my life.

Anyway, a few weeks before Christmas, my mom texted me to start making holiday plans. She likes to start planning the menu for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day early in the month so we all have time to put in requests and change our minds a few times. In her text, she asked me if I had seen all the Grinch related food posts on Pinterest. I had no idea what she was talking about, so I quickly jumped over to Pinterest and searched for "Grinch recipes." There is an entire Pinterest world of Grinch themed food, crafts, and games to explore. We love the Grinch; he's my dad's favorite Christmas character. My mom thought it would be fun to have a Grinch themed meal during the holidays. We settled on Christmas Eve, our normal Christmas movie marathon day. Then, we had to decide what to make. We settled on the following:

• Grinch fruit kabobs
• Grinch punch
• Guacamole and homemade salsa (my mom used her own recipes for these)
• A Grinch shaped veggie tray
• A "roast beast" (we used a rub my dad makes and cooked it in the crockpot - it was easy and delicious) 
• Grinch popcorn (we didn't make this on Christmas Eve, but I believe it's in the works for New Year's Day)
• Brownies with Bailey's frosting (this has nothing to do with the Grinch, but was super delicious)

We exchanged a fair number of texts in the days leading up to Christmas Eve. Who knew there were so many options for making green popcorn and so many choices for punch (none of which included alcohol)? We had the fruit kabobs, punch, and guacamole for lunch and everything else for dinner/dessert (except the popcorn).

This one looks more like Napoleon, but is still pretty great.

Since most of these recipes are meant to be made by/with small children, nothing was particularly hard to do nor did any of it take very long. Between me, my mom, and my brother (drafted to help assemble kabobs and make punch), we had everything ready by lunchtime. We could start watching our favorite holiday movies and not have to worry much about dinner or snacks. That's a holiday win in my book. 

Hats off to my mom for bringing some whimsy and fun into our holiday celebrations! 

Happy New Year from the Island! If you're going out tomorrow, please remember to have an exit strategy like a DD, Uber/Lyft, or a place to stay if the party gets out of control. Make smart life choices!!

Coming in January: goals, goals, goals - what I plan to accomplish in 2019, the return of Answer Your Cat's Questions Day, including Keely's origin story, and an update on all things glitter purses! 2019 is going to be very sparkly.

Damn the Man, Save the Empire: Turning 40 Edition

I have a very honest face. I attribute this partially to the fact that I look younger than I am (thanks genetic magic from my parents). I'm also a nice person, genuinely interested in what people have to say. This combination often means people tell me things they might not normally tell people, especially if they don't know the person well. It also means I can't play poker. This is 100% irrelevant to today's post, but true.

Anyway, I can't say that I've ever been on the receiving end of any type of life-altering revelation because of my honest face. No one has ever admitted to committing a crime or something juicy. It's usually more along the lines of people admitting to hating their jobs or sharing they hide wine in the bathroom during family events so they can sneak away and drink in peace and quiet. Occasionally, someone hints at things like marital woes or the incredible loathing they feel for their next door neighbor who puts their Christmas lights up on November 1 (I agree this is annoying), but that's as scandalous as it ever gets. I'm fine with this. I have no desire to be the person who knows scandalous things.

Sometimes the random thing a person tells me makes me get a person a bit more or is so spot on about my own life I can't stop thinking about the thing they said. At work recently, a colleague made a comment that I'm still thinking about days later. The comment was about getting to a point in life where they no longer worked for "the man." It was a fascinating comment, especially given that this person is the someone who some might refer to as "the man." It was eye-opening and a little odd, but also really awesome.

I'm going to be 40 in 2019. I find this astounding on many levels because A. I still think of my parents as "adults" but am unclear if I am one and B. I still get excited when I get carded at the movies (which does occasionally happen) or when buying alcohol. There's a C too; I haven't done many of the things people who are about to turn 40 are supposed to have done, like buy property or get married. As organized as I am, I'm not a fan of societal timelines. When my colleague said the thing about having a deadline on working for the man, I had to hide my surprise and then squirreled the comment away for later.

I never really set out to do the job I have today. When I was little, I wanted to be a ballerina lawyer. I moved onto criminologist, historian (specially on weird things like cults and odd historical sites), and finally onto to my theatre work (both in front of house and in costuming). I didn't set out to teach or work in admissions, and I never sat down and thought, "I think employee learning is my dream job. I should do that." I've basically stumbled into my career and I'm totally fine with that. Stumbling into a career isn't unusual; someone has to be an artisan cheesemaker or a the person who wrote this book.  I'm good at what I do and enjoy it....most days. You know, like a normal person feels about their job.

So when my colleague made the comment about "the man," I started thinking about my own life and my own timeline of not wanting to work for "the man." What does not working for the man even mean? Does it mean not working for a corporate entity or larger organization? Does it mean being my own boss? Does it mean not having to work at all and money just magically appearing? Would I somehow become "the man" if I worked for myself? Do I have a timeline for this? How do I define "working for the man?" Does it matter if I like the work I do? Can I just go on doing this forever? I don't know I necessarily have the answer to any of these questions, but I can't help think of them in a somewhat obsessive fashion. Basically, my non-working hours consist of me thinking the following questions: why is Keely sometimes super affectionate and other times tries to eat my leg, how much glitter do I still need to buy to finish these purses, and what's my working for the man timeline?

I only have answers to the first two questions: he's a cat and cats are weird/adorable ninja murderers and to quote Mean Girls, "the limit does not exist." As I enter the fourth decade of my life (what an excellently epic thing to write), I believe this will be the question I need to answer.

Rounding out December: My mother discovers Pinterest and more on making the world sparkle, one glitter purse at a time. In January, we celebrate the 400th Island post and "Answer Your Cat's Questions" Day returns. 

Lazy Movie Weekend: Smiling is my favorite

Every family has their own unique holiday traditions. Maybe you ride out to the middle of nowhere to cut down a Christmas tree (please make sure you shake it really well before bringing it into the house to remove all the bugs that are living in the tree). Baking is a great holiday tradition - I love holiday baking! Maybe you're the kind of family who wears matching pajamas on Christmas morning or matching sweaters on Christmas day. I don't know your life, but I know that holiday traditions are important.
My family has Christmas traditions that span the mundane (we always have banana bread and citrus salad with maraschino cherries for breakfast on Christmas morning) to the exhausting (how many White House ornaments is too many White House ornaments?). We do a lot of baking, from cutout cookies that look like the Blues Brothers to incredibly involved holiday cakes. My dad always puts a toothbrush in our stockings (yes, I'm 39 and still get a stocking). We've never been traditional Christmas dinner people; we like to rotate countries for spice. If I had to pick my favorite holiday tradition, it would have to be our annual Christmas movie marathons. We've been doing this for years now, and it does not get old. I can watch these movies over and over again and never tire of them. As I've shared before, we keep to the classics for the most part, but typically add a new movie every now and then.

One of the best adds to the marathon also happens to be one of my favorite holiday movies, 2003's Elf. I consider it a grand accomplishment I was able to convince my brother, who doesn't like Will Ferrell, to add Elf to our rotation. He couldn't ignore the genius that is the movie. What is it about a giant man-elf that is so endearing and hilarious? Grab one of your favorite of the four food groups (candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup), and let's explore the magic of Elf.

1. Bob Newhart as Papa Elf, our narrator! Newhart is a national treasure. I'll fight anyone who disagrees. 
2. Ed Asner is the only person who should play Santa. It's like he was designed to play Santa. I think he's even been in a Hallmark movie as a meddling Santa. I love him. 
3. There are a ton of classic holiday movie references sprinkled throughout the movie, including the nod to stop-motion animation like that found in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I love the puffin and other fun animal friends; they should be in the movie more.
4. A question I've always had about this movie: did the orphanage look for Buddy? Did Santa let them know Buddy was at the North Pole? I mean, Papa Elf has a picture of Buddy's dad and seems to know a lot about him, so that makes me think Santa and the orphanage were in touch. Or they are the worst orphanage. 
5. Of course Papa Elf is in charge of Santa's sleigh. And of course, it used to run on holiday cheer. It make sense that the move to the turbine age had to happen; holiday cheer is hard to come by these days.
6. Y'all it's Ralphie! Yes, Ming-Ming is none other than Peter Billingsely, from the best Christmas movie of all time, A Christmas Story. "We all have special talents" is one of those quotes I think of when I spout off random movie trivia to people or explain the history of the historical markers of Virginia to my boss; we all have special talents. 
7. Shocker - Buddy is not an elf. No one saw this coming at all. 
8. Please enjoy this video of Leon Redbone (Leon the Snowman) singing "Frosty the Snowman" with Dr. John. 
9. Poor Buddy has to find out he's a human and that his human father is on the naughty list all at the same time. It's too much. 
10. "Does someone need a hug?" - step away from the trash panda, Buddy.
11. Apparently, several minor car accidents occurred while filming Buddy in the Lincoln Tunnel. I guess no one expects Will Farrell dressed as an elf in the Lincoln Tunnel.
12. Most of the scenes of Buddy experiencing New York for the first time were filmed with just Ferrell and director Jon Favreau paying people on the street to be in random scenes with Buddy.
13. The Empire State Building elevator scene! I used to do an exercise with new hires about elevator pitches and I'd always make a joke about Buddy. I told this joke to over 200 new people; I'm pretty sure only three of them laughed.
14.  Amy Sedaris! Another national treasure - she should be in every movie.
15. "What's a Christmas-gram?! I want one!" Buddy is one of the most quotable elves ever. 
16. James Caan as Buddy's dad could not be more perfect casting. It's awkward and odd and hilarious. Come for Will Ferrell, stay for James Caan.
17. "I just like to smile. Smiling's my favorite." Buddy somehow becomes a department store elf. Which leads to meeting Zoey Deschanel's Jovie, the manic pixie girl of this movie, a joke about The Santaland Diaries ("Did Crumpet put you up to this?"), and the most magical department store North Pole ever created. The Lite Brite welcome sign is my favorite.
18. James Caan's other son does a spot on impression of Caan. Michael is the best.
19. Buddy and Jovie sing "Baby, It's Cold Outside." The worst part of this scene is not the song (which is a little rape-y, but not that controversial), but that Buddy is randomly in the women's bathroom. 
20. Artie Lang as the Gimbel's Santa is so many shades of wrong, I don't know where to start. "You sit on a throne of lies!" "You smell like beef and cheese. You don't smell like Santa." The fight sequence was filmed in one take because it would take too long to rebuild the North Pole.
21. I'm pretty sure that paternity tests don't work the way they work in this movie. Can you get the results in an hour? That's not how this works. 
22. Also, where did Buddy's pajamas come from?
23. Buddy's breakfast - Ferrell really did eat that mess of sweet awfulness. He got sick on the first take and had to do it again.
24. Epic snowball fight! This snowball fight puts all Hallmark movie snowball fights to shame.
25. Buddy gets a date! And cuts down a tree in Central Park. Successful day.
26. Who knew the mail room could be so much fun?! "Syrup in coffee!" 
27. The cast keeps getting better: Andy Ritcher, Kyle from Tenacious D, Peter Dinklage. So much goodness in less than two hours. 
28. Buddy can't help himself upon meeting Dinklage's children's author character, Miles Finch. He calls Finch and elf which causes a fight and prompts Buddy to run away.
29. Are the Central Park Rangers a real thing? I feel like they should be. Santa crashes in the park, and it's up to Buddy and his family to help save the day.
30. Thankfully, Jovie shows up (just in time) to sing because as we all know, "the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."  Everyone starts to sing, the Claus-O-Meter goes off the charts and holiday cheer propels Santa on his way. It's like a Hallmark movie but with more cursing, kissing, and elf culture.

Christmas may not be my favorite holiday, but I love it a bit more once I watch Elf. 

Elf meme

What will the rest of December bring? Glitter purses and planning for my 40th year on Earth. It's going to be an exciting month!