How are you today? I'm superfantastic.

Good Stuff Tuesdays: I Have Talented Friends Edition

A fun part of Facebook has been finding out who friends from a long time ago grew up and turned out to be. Kristy, who was in colorguard in college with me, turned out to be a person with a very cool Etsy shop. She makes glass pendants, magnets, and push pins.

Here are some examples:

Some are pretty.

Some are funny.

Some are maps!

 

She really does have quite a variety.



Probably something for pretty much everyone on your holiday shopping list. You better get over there.

Good Stuff Tuesdays: Pretty Pictures Edition

Folks, I have already written another post in addition to this one. That's right - it's a guaranteed three post week! And thank goodness I'm churning these out early in the week because the children have gone batshit insane already and it is only now Monday and with another entire week remaining before the break. So I'm guessing upcoming evenings may see me staring into the middle distance and babbling incoherently.

Alright then! What good stuff do I have for you today?

Websites! Laura has been commenting here for a while. She recently started a photo blog and, people, I am blown away. I don't comment there as much as I should because I can't decide which photo to comment on and drool all over with my inarticulate admiration. Maybe you all can do a better job. Go there! Enjoy! Envy the photography prowess!

Unless, of course, you are Kerri and possess equally mad photography skillz. Then Laura could go to your Flickr and you could go to her blog and you both can congratulate each other on being so very talented.

The rest of us, on the other hand, can just enjoy the pretty pictures.

Good Stuff Tuesdays: There's No Need to Shout Edition

First of all, it has come to my attention that some of you do not know who Taye Diggs is. This must be remedied.

Now that's some good stuff.

Internet, I have bought two more dresses. I don't know what's come over me. That makes four dresses in a month. I believe I bought four dresses in the entire three years before that, one of which was a bridesmaid dress. But as a person with little fashion sense, I am coming around to Stacy and Clinton's way of thinking: put on a dress and you're done. No outfit assembling required. I'm for it.

The first one is this green dress from Target. (A real green dress! That's cruel!)

I think the real life color is much better than that photo would lead you to believe. It's more, I don't know, emeraldy or something. My mom was with me when I first saw it. Here's the conversation we had:

My mom: "I can't believe you like that dress. Your grandmother had that same dress in the 1950s."

Me: "Well, you should have saved it."

The second one is that perfect hybrid of cute and comfortable that makes me love it very much. Sadly, Old Navy's website isn't showing it. But that's where I got it and I believe it was 25 bucks and available in other colors. Holly bought it in black and as soon as she showed it to me, I proceeded directly to Old Navy and bought it in blue.

Here I am, about to wear it to church at Oak Hills to see Donald Miller speak. (Also good things: his books. I can personally recommend Through Painted Deserts, Blue Like Jazz, and Searching for God Knows What.) It requires a cami under for church or work or it's a bit too cleavagey; on the other hand, it is delightfully cleavagey when worn alone for more cleavage-apporpriate occasions and venues.

Yeah, that's me standing in very tall shoes in front of my bathroom mirror so you can get a sense of how long the dress is. Old Navy ought to be paying me for this. (We do have a full-length mirror, but it's a fun house mirror and I still have some vanity left.)

Today's final good thing: Mighty Putty. No wonder Billy Mays can't stop yelling about it. That stuff really works. You don't have to order it on TV though, no matter how loudly Billy Mays might implore you to do so. I got mine at Target.

Good Stuff Tuesdays: In Which Clinton and Stacy Would Not Be Totally Ashamed of Me Edition

I went shopping last weekend. For clothing. I believe that I could count on both hands the number of clothing items that I have bought in the past two years. This was mostly for financial reasons, although I do often find shopping for clothes in the general sense (as opposed to shopping for one specific thing for one specific event) a little bit overwhelming.

But I needed new jeans and also some stuff for summer, so I hit up Old Navy and Target because sure, I have a job, but finances still dictate no major spending sprees. I bought several cute things. Not that I would ever recommend any clothing to you purely on the basis that I had picked it out. I don't have that much confidence in my fashion sense.

The two things that I'm sharing with you are items that I have worn in the past week and I received multiple compliments on both. So unless my other clothes are just that bad that people feel the need to compliment anything less bad or I just wear the same things so often that it was obvious I'd gotten new clothes, these are things that other people like, too.

The first is a dress that I wore today for a Memorial Day barbeque. It is from Target.

I was going to say that it's not nearly so short in real life, but probably this girl just has a whole lot more leg to show than I do. I'm pretty sure it's near the top of my knee.

The second is a skirt that I bought at Old Navy, one of the few red items of clothing that I own.

Every adult female I spoke to the day I wore this told me how much she liked it. Further, both of these things are extremely comfortable. That dress is essentially a nightgown and you see the bunchy elastic waist on the skirt. Nothing binding here. And both can be yours for under fifty bucks.

Tell 'em Lori sent you! Not really. They don't, like, know me at Target. Well, not all of the Targets. You know, in the nation.

Good Stuff Tuesdays: Carbolicious Edition

We here at Superfantastic have no concern whatsoever for your health and well-being, as these Good Stuff picks will attest:

Domino's Bread Bowl Pasta

It's bread inside of bread. With cheese! What is better than that? I DON'T KNOW. See, because Holly and I had the three cheese mac and cheese version. There are also kinds with different sauces and meat and vegetables and stuff. I'm a big fan of bread bowls in general, including the bread bowl salad at Perkins and soup in a sourdough breadbowl at Panera. A key difference here is that they will bring it to your house. It is a bread bowl that does not require leaving the house pants. Which works out well, because if you power through this thing like we did, you're going to want to be wearing something stretchy.

Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat

I can also recommend the Original, Honey Weiss, Summer Shandy, and Red Lager. The Sunset Wheat was what I most recently tried, while at Buffalo Wild Wings with Melissa. (I can also recommend their parmesean garlic wing sauce, although it will certainly give you the kitten breath.) (I further recommend, for comedic value, accidentally showing up to dinner dressed exactly like Melissa. Right up until the part where she says she's supposed to go meet up with some friends for drinks, but she feels like she looks like a hobo.) The Sunset Wheat is a little fruity, if you're into that kind of thing.

And finally, I cannot recommend strongly enough that you get yourself a roommate who will call you on her way home to ask whether you'd like to go and get a margarita. Although, frankly, I was a little offended that she had to ask. I mean, it's like she doesn't know me AT ALL. She's on her way now, meaning that I need to go and put on a leaving the house skirt.

Good Stuff Tuesdays: I forgot the title that I previously had in mind Edition

It's been a while and I thought of more stuff to recommend to you. Also, the other post I was considering is more thinky and involves delving into my head in a way that I have neither the time nor the inclination for this evening. So let's get to some good stuff, shall we?

Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds. I'm not even a fan of almonds, folks, but a coworker brought some of these to lunch one day and they were passed around and I was hooked. I keep a canister in my desk drawer now and have a few during my conference period to tide me over.

Fleming and John. They're a band that I had almost entirely forgotten about. Seems the CD has been in my car though and I listened to it today (Rain All Day being particularly fitting) and thoroughly enjoyed it. I will stipulate that in my experience, Fleming and John are a love them or hate them band. Still, you could give them a whirl.

Sara Lee Classic 100% Whole Wheat Bread. In a perfect world, there would be no need to ever eat bread that wasn't sourdough. Seems the "experts" don't think that's "healthy" or "likely to result in a lifespan surpassing the retirement age" so I eat the whole wheat bread. But usually I don't like it. The Sara Lee is whole wheat bread that is actually enjoyable to eat.

Lauren's short stories. She has recently been published all over the place. You can find links on her blog, so I'll just give you the one. You should go and read it. I have tremendous respect for people who can write short stories well because I am entirely incapable of it. Wordiness and a need to explain everything to death do not lend themselves to the genre. I am a little bit in awe of Lauren's ability to wind the essential exposition into her tightly-written stories and leave out everything that's not entirely essential. She's good.

And now, if you've got any good stuff to recommend to the rest of us, here's your chance.

Good Stuff Tuesdays: The Booty Mix!

See, one time, Vicki and I attended a party at a house that was shared by a bunch of fresh-out-of-college guys. One of them came into the room where the stereo was located and shouted THE BOOTY MIX! which caused all of the other boys to begin shouting the same thing. The Booty Mix contained a lot of what you'd generally think of as booty music, plus, inexplicably, Build Me Up, Buttercup. Vicki later made me a CD that included that song and thus was it christened The Booty Mix.

All of that to say, I was listening to The Booty Mix in my car the other day and I got to a song that made me think "If you can listen to this song without smiling, then there's probably something seriously wrong with you." That song? Papa Loves Mambo by Perry Como. Yes, Perry Como appears on my Booty Mix CD. What, like that's weird or something?

I was thinking that, since I've been lucky enough to see quite a bit of live theater, both musical and otherwise, that maybe I should recommend a play or show to you. I decided that the one I've seen that seemed likely to have the widest appeal was Thoroughly Modern Millie. If it comes to a theater near you, I highly recommend that you go and see it. It has good music and is also really, genuinely funny. Of course, I was predisposed to like it since I saw it under near-perfect conditions. It was outdoors at Wolftrap on a beautiful night and we had a picnic. Which, God bless Virginia, included legal-to-drink-outside wine.

Finally, given recent and on-going experience, I can recommend Walgreens brand fake Nyquil. Although I have detected a design flaw in the liquid caps. They are enormous and covered in a sticky plasticky material, making them difficult to swallow. So you're forced to ingest lots of liquid in order to take something the purpose of which is to knock you out. I haven't peed the bed yet, but it is a nightly concern of mine as I drink two full glasses of water with my pills.

Speaking of which, it's about that time. Everybody think dry thoughts.

Good Stuff Tuesdays: Winter Break Edition

You know what's a very good thing? Two weeks off school. The good there is tempered by the fact that, as a long-term sub, I don't get paid for the two weeks (despite the fact that I will spend part of my break - the part at the very end, I assume - grading papers and recording grades online) but the way that I don't have to be in charge of middle schoolers or get out of bed at a time beginning in 6 still renders it a very, very good thing.

Another very good thing is having already done all of my Christmas shopping in one day early last month at Target. Of course, this is easier for me than for a lot of you, since I only have five people to buy for. Thanks to a newly-instituted name-drawing scheme among the siblings and siblings-in-law in my family, I only had to buy for my sister, plus my parents and Owen and Allie. But who doesn't want to buy gifts for babies? I don't know. Crazy people.

The final good thing is something that could actually be helpful to the rest of you, as opposed to those first two, which are really just bragging, aren't they? This is a song that I am a teeny bit obsessed with at the moment, Winter Song by Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles. It's a sad song, but there's a dark beauty to it, sort of like winter itself. Plus, I'm a sucker for some cello.

You can see the official video, which is all kinds of adorable, and hear the studio version here. I can't embed that video, so here's a live version instead:

Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson "Winter Song" Live on Jay Leno 12/9/08 from mmmc on Vimeo.

Seeing as how I didn't get you anything on my lone shopping trip, let's consider that song my gift to you. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, Internet.

Good Stuff Tuesdays

I figured I do this thing where I tell you about things I like on a fairly regular basis and while we have Strong Dislike Mondays and Grammar Geek Wednesdays, as well as the occasional Friday Love List, Tuesday was as yet unspoken-for.

Plus, I have sort of a compulsion about naming things. You know about my Apple products and the above-mentioned blog days, but there's more, Internet. There's the big old gray wool sweater that has lived in a few of my chillier cubicles, which I named The Giant Wool Sweater of Unsexiness. I used to have some very tall pointy boots which I called my geisha boots since I could only take very small steps in them. This name was mostly used in the context of "Slow down! I can't walk that fast in my geisha boots!"

I also have a habit of giving people extremely short-lived nicknames. This is because after saying, "I'm going to call you ______", I immediately forget about it and never use the nickname again. One time I did nickname an entire volleyball team, most of whom were friends of mine. RoboKrystal because of the high-tech knee-brace. Pushy Amy because she did a lot of telling her teammates where they should be playing and occasionally actually pushing them there. And so on. The only one that actually stuck? Fancy Doug. See, he had this complex serving method, so I said, "Ooh, that's fancy. He's Fancy Doug." And then people used it. In front of him, even. It is important to note that I had never before had a conversation with Doug when I went ahead and tacked a Fancy onto his name.

All of that to say: Good Stuff Tuesdays. Because I said so!

(Honestly, all of that was also a clever diversion to keep you from noticing that I don't have that much good stuff for you this time. The post won't appear light on content if it's eternally long!)

Today's first good thing is an honest-to-goodness wonder product. It is the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, although mine is actually the Target Brand Multi-Surface Eraser. But it IS magic! It IS! I used mine to clean my tub, which came really sparkly shiny clean without even scrubbing. This was so exciting to me that I also cleaned my sink and vanity even though I hadn't intended to do it just then. Allow me to emphasize here that I did extra added cleaning that didn't even especially need to be done, voluntarily. Magic indeed.

Second is a web comic that probably everybody but me already knew about. I always hesitate to tell people about things I "discover" because generally everybody else has been watching/reading/listening to them for ages and ages. I discover pop culture stuff the same way Columbus discovered a continent where a whole lot of people already lived.

Anyway, it is Questionable Content and if you haven't already been reading it for years, I recommend it. I discovered it via Jay Hathaway and invested a good bit of my week off last week in working my way forward from the beginning. I'm not caught up yet, but I'm getting there. I don't get a lot of the music references because I am just desperately uncool when it comes to music but I do enjoy the storylines and the snark.

Speaking of music, I have also recently discovered the music of Priscilla Ahn, which yes of course you have already known about and downloaded and you've seen her in concert seventeen times. I am late to these parties. But on the off-chance that you're even later to this particular bandwagon than I am, I'll shove over and make room for you to climb on.

Some stuff I like

I've got yet another rather thinky post coming, but in the meantime, I thought I'd fill this space with what I do from time to time, which is just to recommend some stuff to you. Then I'll ask you to recommend some stuff to us and you can all also thank me again for that one time that I recommended those Warm Delights hot cake things to you. Ok?

1. Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach. This is a book that was recommended to me by a guy I sat near on a train from Rome to Paris. That is, of course, not the part of the recommendation that helps you, so much as the part that makes me sound cool. It's a book about a woman who summons the courage to act on a dream of traveling alone and I just finished it and it is very good. Sort of, for Europe, what Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden-Gelman is for other parts of the world. I highly recommend that book as well.

2. In Plain Sight on the USA Network. Much like Psych, also on USA, I gave this show a shot in large part because it starred a West Wing alum. And, also like Psych, I continued to watch because it is damn good TV.

3. Cranberry-pomegranate juice. This depends on you being into things that are tart. If you are, then you're going to like it. Also quite nice with vodka, if that's your sort of thing.

4. Aussie Three Minute Miracle. It's a deep conditioner that I use once a week(ish). Then I flat-iron my hair every single day and my hair stylist says my ends look just fine even though I don't use any special products and always go way too long between haircuts.

5. Cadbury Chocolate Eclairs. It's enough chocolate to address a needed chocolate fix, but in a small, 35 calorie candy and not, like, so good that you want to power through the whole bag in an irresponsibly short amount of time. I got them at World Market.

That's pretty much all I can think of right now. Your turn.

Willing to accept cash for any of these endorsements

I can't really think of anything to write about, so I am just going to list some things I recommend to you.  Please bear in mind that I am not an expert on, you know, anything really.

Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer.  I had forgotten how hard winter can be on skin.  The Neutrogena moisturizer that I use the rest of the year was not up to the winter dryness, and my Chicago-based friend Jennie suggested the Aveeno.  I can't say that anyone has pointed out that I am looking particularly radiant since I started using it, but it does keep my skin from taking on the texture, as Heather Armstrong so eloquently put it, of an elephant buttock.  For which I thank it.

Fair warning though, use of Aveeno products could lead to this conversation with your significant other and the resulting imagery:

Aveeno?  Isn't that made from oatmeal and...hippie juice?

Yes, from the juice of freshly squeezed hippies.

Psych on USA Network.  Are you watching this show?  I gave it a try when it came out because one of the stars is Dule Hill, who was Charlie on the West Wing.  And it cracks me up.  If you're anything like me, your busy social calendar precludes you from following a show that airs on Friday nights.  But you're in luck here because not only does it air on basic cable, meaning that each episode is aired over and over, but you can also watch complete episodes online.

The movie Persepolis, which I saw on Saturday.  You should see it too, as long as you're down with subtitles.

Betty Crocker Warm Delights Minis.  I mentioned these before, but I had bought the full size, which was kind of too much.  The mini is quite nice.  And it's already all portion-controlled for me, so it makes a good PMS week concession to my chocolate craving without adding to the Why are my pants so tight? I have gotten fat overnight! panic.  (How, every single month, does it take me an entire day to realize that I'm just retaining water?)

Cold weather stuff from Miles Kimball.  My mom sent me some, which has come in oh so handy, especially these socks.  And if you're internet-impaired like my mom, you can call and have a very nice conversation with the lady who takes your order, especially if, like my mom, you happen to be from the town where the company is based.

Spinach Goat Cheese frozen pizza from Target's Archer Farms brand.  Yum.

Sarah Jessica Parker's perfume, Lovely.  I got a bottle for Christmas from my sister and brother-in-law and was happy to find that I liked it even more than I remembered from when I tried it quite some time before.  It's a very clean scent, which I'm into.  I always like the Clean Cotton/Clean Linen/Cotton Blossom family of scents.  Maybe I should just wash the sheets more often.

Cherry Coke Zero.  I'll admit I have cheated on Diet Dr Pepper with this product.

That's what I can think of right now.  And now it is your turn to tell all of us what we should be watching/eating/drinking/wearing/etc.  Advise us, Internet.

Just Schilling

Thanks, everybody for the great comments and total lack of hate mail having to do with that last post.  You all continue to surprise me with your coolness.  I’ve clambered down off my soapbox now and put it in the closet for the time being (the better to reach the top shelves!)  It occurred to me that probably I should post something here and yet I have no humorous anecdotes or righteous indignation for you today.  So instead, I offer this product review and subsequent stream-of-consciousness blathering.  Enjoy!

Amy recently endorsed Philosophy On a Clear Day Blemish Serum over on the Advice Smackdown, which I read since I am girliness-impaired.  I hadn't even been inside a Sephora until last summer.  But Amy said this Blemish Serum, while ridiculously expensive, was well worth plunking down some serious cash for since it was so highly effective.  And, as of recently, this sort of product has become of interest to me due to some problematic skin issues.

See, when I said that I seldom worry, I meant it.  Occasionally, I will begin to worry about something and then I tell myself, "well, that's not helping" and I stop.  Seriously.  But sometimes, even the most "eh" of us have stress in our lives.  I personally don't so much feel stress as see it break out on my face.

(Although with your more intense stress, I do sometimes feel it in the form of the reappearance of Stabby the Ulcer.  No, I have not gone to a doctor about this because it's really just some stabbing pain that comes on every, oh say, once a year or two and goes away completely on its own.  So not really worth seeking medical treatment over, but totally worth naming.  Because then I can say, "No, Stabby, no!  BAD STABBY!")

Where was I?

Ah, yes.  Amy (that's Roommate Amy, not Internet Rockstar Amy) and I visited Sephora on Saturday night, where we wandered around looking for some skincare.  Normally, I find that you have to peel the Sephora salespeople off with a spatula, but apparently, should you actually be looking for something, you're pretty much on your own.  Amy had just picked up the box when a Sephora boy in chartreuse eye shadow (uh huh) finally came over to ask if we needed any help.  We resisted the urge to hand him the nearest bottle of eye makeup remover.

Short story VERY long, Amy was right, and in my (rather limited) experience with it, this stuff is a miracle product.  So should you have need of such a product, get thee to Sephora.  And if not, then hooray for you, but I'm pretty sure the rest of us don't want to hear you gloat about it.