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Friday favorites, volume 21

October 3, 2014 by Jana 30 Comments

I’m not really sure what to say about this week. My motivation to do anything except read books or watch The Wire is nonexistent, I’m running on almost no sleep because my dog thinks it’s fun to jump on and off the 465104 per night and he’s too stupid to figure out how to get back on (it is at this point I ask for recommendations for places to buy doggie steps. I have officially become that person), and the child’s first cheer competition is on Sunday, meaning we have to leave at the crack of dawn to get there on time or be subjected to cheer wrath. I want no part of that.

On the plus side, I have a great stack of books to read and if my husband drives home from the competition, I’ll get to take a nap. I’ve also started using a blog planner and it seems to be working to keep me organized in one part of my life, and I finally have a good, consolidated place to keep all my ideas. Because while I love all my pieces of paper, as well as the occasional napkin, it’s nice to not lose my ideas. Now if I could just move this newfound organization to other areas of my life, I’d be all set.

Favorite song

I’m going 90s on this one. I have been longing for my 90s music lately. It’s not that new music is bad, per se, it’s that I’ve been, for some reason, swept up in nostalgia for my high school and college days. Let’s be clear: high school was a fucking nightmare. I have no interest in reliving that. However, we had some great music. I miss that.

Favorite frugal find

Since I’m participating in Steph’s October Wallet Watch, I have not been spending money. Or even thinking about spending money. Okay, fine, I’ve been thinking about it but I haven’t been doing it. But I did have to buy the child new cheer sneakers for her competitions and thanks to the Omni Cheer website, I was able to find her new shoes for 60% off. Cheerleading is so damn expensive, I was thrilled to find something that saves me money.

Favorite book/TV thing

One of my boyfriends, Wentworth Miller, will be on TV this month and not in a Law and Order: SVU rerun (which I confess I compulsively check to see if the one episode he was on is airing). It’s for the CW’s version of The Flash and while watching Gotham fulfills my obligation to all things superhero, I’ll make an exception and watch The Flash. Because this:

As far as books go, I don’t necessarily have a favorite this week but I do have a huge stack of books that I cannot wait to get through. I finished Fangirl yesterday and started Accidents of Marriage. Also on tap: The Rosie Project, Me Before You, 3 business/blogging type books, and Greil Marcus’s A New Literary History of America. That’s in addition to a bunch of eBooks and since I’m now obsessed with him, Rick Springfield’s fiction book, Magnificent Vibration, which I recently placed on hold at the library.

Favorite internet reads

If you’re like me and hate taking pictures, this post on how to look better in photos based on your body type is super helpful (I still opt for the “completely avoid the camera” pose but this stuff might work, too). Rolling Stone has long been my favorite magazine, and Sons of Anarchy (are you watching? Is this season amazing or what?) is definitely one of my all-time favorite shows, and the profile on creator Kurt Sutter is basically everything. This post on successful people posed as societal stereotypes was quite eye opening (and props to my girl Athena for sharing it on Facebook). And, finally, this Buzzfeed post on sorority rush on Instagram vs. rush in real life. It all so true, and I loved the last picture more than all of the rest because maybe that’s my sorority (not my chapter, but my sorority).

Favorite quote

Favorite funnies

Much more practical than the academic Master’s I have

Me, every day lately

WHICH ONE IS RIGHT???

True story

I want to know who spied on me long enough to draw this

I hope you all have a good weekend! See you on Monday with a post on how to be a shitty neighbor (or, how my neighbors do everything wrong and it makes me hate them). Oh, and if you want to see what life looks like from the sidelines of an outdoor cheerleading competition, make sure to follow me on Instagram. Pictures served with a side of snarky comments.

Linking up with Amanda as always

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Friday favorites, volume 20

September 26, 2014 by Jana 27 Comments

I’m still in recovery/catch up mode from New Orleans, which is making this week ridiculously hard. It doesn’t help that I’ve had unplanned doctor’s appointments 3 times since I’ve been home (long story, and one that I’d rather not get into because it kind of sucks why I have to go. Nothing too serious but it’s still crappy. Sorry I’m being cryptic. I’ll talk about it when I have my test results. Promise). At least I’ve unpacked and done laundry, plus a few blog/mentoring related things so I’m only about 3 days behind instead of 5. Which is nice.

Before we move on to my weekly favorites, I promised Steph that I’d divulge the secret steps to killing a vampire. Here goes:

Identify said vampire. You can do this if a cat jumps over the coffin 3 times or if a stray dog shows up at the front door. (Clearly this is based in science and practicality and not anything weird).
Drive a stake through “dead” person’s heart.
Cut his head off just in case a pointy object through his heart doesn’t make him sufficiently dead.
Place the head at his feet.
Turn coffin upside down.
Bury it.

I know this seems like a ton of thorough, violent, and unnecessary work but Frank the tour guide swears this is the only way to make sure a vampire is dead and he’s totally trustworthy so I think we should follow his directions.

Now that you’re all in the know, we’re all safe, especially since we probably need to have vampire slaying field officers all over the country in the event of a vampire crisis.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m relieved that we have this shit under control now.

Favorite songs

This week, I’ve had two songs stuck in my head: “This Is Gonna Hurt” by Sixx AM (Nikki Sixx’s band, and, if you’re in the market for a memoir, read his book The Heroin Diaries. AMAZING) and “So What’cha Want” by The Beastie Boys. And now you can have them stuck in your head. Side note: the terrible grammar in both song titles makes me twitchy and it pained me to not write the words properly.

Favorite frugal find

I guess you can combine this with book thing because I’ve been wanting to read Greil Marcus’s The History of Rock ‘n Roll in Ten Songs and it’s on sale on Amazon for less than $10. My library doesn’t have it in the catalog so I’ll be buying it this weekend. Way better than paying $28.

Favorite TV thing

Chris Pratt is hosting SNL this weekend. That is all.

Favorite internet reads

I haven’t spent too much time reading the internet this week but I did see that the guy who wrote Go the Fuck to Sleep has another book coming out, You Have to Fucking Eat. I just hope Samuel L. Jackson narrates this one, too. There was also a pretty interesting post on Mental Floss, Famous Novelists on Symbolism in Their Work and Whether It Was Intentional. And although LOST basically ruined TV for me, my longtime favorite magazine, Rolling Stone, published a great article discussing the impact of the show on the 10th anniversary of its premiere. If you were psychotically obsessed with the show like I was, it’s definitely worth the read.

Favorite quote

Favorite funnies

This isn’t so much funny as it is true. If you can’t make me laugh, we don’t need to be friends.

I wish I had thought of this.

Lobster mafia. It’s real.

Seven has a point.

Enjoy your weekend! Hopefully you’ll be able to do something fun or productive or just binge watch some great TV. If you follow football, I hope your team wins, especially if they’re playing the Eagles. As for me, I’m just biding my time until baseball postseason.

Linking up with Amanda

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Friday favorites, volume 19

September 12, 2014 by Jana 27 Comments

This is my last full week at home before I leave for my blog conference in New Orleans, where my mentoring program is putting on a live session. And the word of the week is–stressed! There is still so much to do, along with a big announcement about my mentoring program that might or might not involve Jenn from Business, Life, & Design (hint: it does. Also, I got to meet her on Tuesday because FINALLY there is another Delaware blogger and talking to her proves once again that in Delaware, you are only one degree removed from everyone else). We’ll be sharing that on Tuesday so make sure you look for that. I also have some fabulous guest posts planned from some of my favorite bloggers and I can’t wait for you guys to read their posts.

And now, what you’re here for. Friday favorites.

Song

So, in 2012, I won NaNoWriMo and I’ve been working on that book. However, I don’t know that I want to keep going with it but rather, start a new one. I’d lie if I didn’t say that this song, one of my all-time favorites, is an inspiration for the new story I’ve been drafting in my head. I know I’m usually a hard rock gal, but I love me some Better Than Ezra, too. And that’s whose song this is. Hope you enjoy it! They’re also from New Orleans and that’s totally not an intentional characteristics for this week’s pick but it’s fitting.

Frugal find

Any time I can buy clothes with a gift card, it’s my favorite purchase. I bought some desperately needed T-shirts at Old Navy with a gift card and also revisited MAC for another back to MAC purchase. Free stuff FTW!!!

Book/TV thing

I signed up for Amazon Prime earlier this year and was pretty unimpressed with it. Until. HBO put their shows in the inventory. My husband and I started watching Deadwood together and I started The Wire by myself. #obsessed Have you watched The Wire? If not, you need to. I don’t care that I’m coming into it years after it ended. It’s still an amazing show, and since it started in like 2002 or something, it’s fun reminisce about technology and fashion and all that good stuff.

As far as my favorite book thing, I didn’t come across any new or exciting book news this week. But I did find this post about authors who found success after 50 so I still have hope.

Internet reads

Considering I’ve been elbow deep in conference preparation, I haven’t had much time to read anything other than a book at night before bed or while I’m waiting for my daughter in the school pick-up line but I did come across this accurate depiction of weird fights that all married couples have, this interview with Rick Springfield talking about his depression (also, his memoir is great so far, and he definitely doesn’t shy away from discussion depression), and this pretty cool list of amazing TV characters that weren’t supposed to last (hey, there, Jesse Pinkman and Sophia Petrillo. I’m so glad you survived!)

Quote

Funnies

I want him as my pet

Humane torture. I like it.

I will be saying this A LOT next week

Sorry I’m a little light on the funny this week. It’s been that kind of week.

Enjoy your weekend! I’m hoping for rain and a cancellation of a football game so I can binge watch The Wire some more.

Linking up with Amanda

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Maybe I suck at this stuff

September 10, 2014 by Jana 27 Comments

So last week my girl Nadine posted about all the things she’s not good at and it was awesome because I totally had a similar post planned for this week and now we have proof that we’re both super cool and have great ideas. Make sure you check out her post, too, so you can see that she and I also have very similar things that we both cannot do.

Like:

Draw. I cannot draw anything except flowers and anchors and bubble letters. You might be wondering “anchors? What the hell, Jana?” But there’s a good reason. My sorority symbol is an anchor so when I was in college and got bored in class, I’d draw anchors. It’s not classy but it kept me awake.

Tie shoes with the “loop, swoop, and pull”. Bunny ears for life!!! #noshame

Kiss ass. It is not in my genetic makeup to do such a thing. I’m a terrible liar so if I were to kiss your ass, you’d know right away that I’m full of shit. I wear every emotion on my face, too, and that doesn’t help when you’re trying to blow smoke up someone’s ass. (My vivid imagination is running away with me now and I can’t make it stop but I don’t know how else to word that sentence.)

Nadine and I differ in some of the things we can’t do. Like:

Math. It’s pretty much the worst subject ever and when I took AP calculus senior year of high school, I brought the class average down so much, it wasn’t even funny (how I wound up in calculus is it’s own insane story). My grades were unreal. Yet I somehow passed the class, got a 3 on the AP test, and vowed never to do anything with math ever again.

Whistle. This is something I’ve been working on forever and it’s really a failure at this point. For some of us, it’s not as easy as “put your lips together and blow”. And yes, I’m a 12 year old and think the double entendre in that is hilarious.

Remember anything important if I don’t write it down. My brain loves to remember phone number and birthdays of people I haven’t spoken to in 25 years or lyrics to songs I haven’t heard in 10 years, but remember to sign a permission slip or make an appointment? Nope. And forget the grocery store. We’d be eating cardboard if I went to the store without a list.

Sports. Have you ever met someone so unathletic you look at them with pity when they try to engage in any sort of sport? No? Well, now you have. I’m a terribly uncoordinated and I have slow reflexes and I’m short and pretty much every characteristic of an unathletic person. I’ll watch sports. Just don’t ask me to play.

Cleaning my car. Good grief, do I loathe this task. I don’t so much mind running it through a car wash but cleaning the inside? Not really for me. And I drive so much with the child and my dogs that 10 minutes after I’d clean it, it’d be disgusting again. Confession: sometimes I don’t mind when the ice in a takeout cup leaks because I sort of use the melted ice to clean the cupholders. #noshame

There you have it. All the things I’m no good at. At this point in my life, it doesn’t really bother me to suck at those things because I’m pretty good at what matters.

Except laundry. I’m really bad at that, too.

How about you? What aren’t you good at?

Linking up with Kathy and Liz

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Friday favorites, volume 18

September 5, 2014 by Jana 10 Comments

I have mixed feelings about this week. On the one hand, a short week is awesome because less time waiting in the parent pickup line at school. On the other hand, Joan Rivers died and that’s just terrible because she was awesome and hardworking and snarky and unapologetic for how she was and we should all aspire for that. She’s one of those celebrity institutions that you just always thought would be there and now she’s…not. It’s weird to process. I mean, my life isn’t necessarily different because I didn’t know her personally but it’s still sad. She was a pioneer for women, specifically women in comedy and I have mad respect for that.

And she worked with The Muppets. Let’s pause and watch one of my favorite scenes from my favorite Muppet movie.

RIP, Joan.

On another note, thanks for all the great comments on Wednesday’s post. I feel so loved and supported and it means so much to me. I have a couple of follow up posts planned and I’ll be sure to update you on my progress.

Favorite song

Breaking Benjamin. Evil Angel. Best song on Phobia, hands down. I listen to this song pretty much every day. Sometimes on repeat. I love it that much. And Benjamin Burnley isn’t bad to look at either.