Body Worlds

Richie and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry on Saturday afternoon, to tour the Body Worlds exhibit. We got to look at the human body after it's gone through a process called Plastinization. It started out as interesting and ended more nauseating, but it was all in all a great way to spend a foggy, Saturday afternoon.
We were able to do a bit of wondering around the rest of the museum before we headed out to babysit for his two nephews.
The baby chicks were my favorite exhibit. :)

Women's Language 101

*thanks Carisa, for the email!*

1.) FINE: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
2.) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour.
Five Minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
3.) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.
4.) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!
5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)
6.) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
7.) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you're welcome.
8.) Whatever: Is a women's way of saying F YOU!
9.) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking, "what's wrong", for the woman's response refer to # 3.
Send this to the men you know, to warn them about arguments they can avoid if they remember the terminology. Send this to all the women you know to give them a good laugh, cause they know its true.

Spring Cleaning

Yesterday I had such a great day! I got home from the Housewares show early (around 4pm) and it was still so bright outside! Yeah for daylight savings! And yesterday the temperature hit 72 degrees! Woot!
I spent last night with all my windows open, airing out my apartment. I did some spring cleaning and hung up some artwork. It was such a relaxing yet productive night.

I'm so excited for Spring time! This is my favorite time of the year. And in honor of Spring, here's a lovely poem by my favorite poet, e.e. cummings.

Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere) arranging
a window,into which people look(while
people stare
arranging and changing placing
carefully there a strange
thing and a known thing here) and

changing everything carefully

spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and from moving New and
Old things,while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there)and

without breaking anything.

-e.e.cummings

Cook Smart

Alton Brown was doing a cutlery demonstration at The Michigan Avenue store today. A group of us went down to help out with the cookbook signing and crowd control. We really needed the crowd control. 3 people had been at the store since 2am. A couple of guys flew in from Rhode Island for the event. It's pretty amazing how chef's are the new celebrity.

Decision 2007

Alrighty people, it's votin' time. Today I woke up and decided I hate my hair. So I can either chop it (see below photo where i have a scarf around my neck) or I can keep growing it out (see any recent photo of my on this blog). The length it's at now, I pull it back in a pony tail every flippin' day. Which is easy and great in the morning (especially when I want to sleep in a bit longer) but all in all...it's boring. So shorter hair is a bit more high maintenance but I think it's more flattering on me. So, rock the vote people. Do I chop it?

Home Sweet Home (for 72 hours)

We booked our rooms in Dublin! We're staying in a 6 bed hostel room (which we'll have all to ourselves along with a private bathroom) at the Oliver St. John Gogarty. Yeah for Dublin!!!

to see more on the hostel, check out this link:
http://www.gogartys.ie/hostel/

Pulitzer

The Hoff has a new book coming out this summer! Sarah K. is predicting Pulitzer. Am I so bold as to think Nobel???

Sniffle

So for the past 2 weeks I've been sneezing and sniffling, non-stop. At first I thought I was fighting a cold but I felt fine, my throat didn't hurt and I had plenty of energy. So I couldn't figure out why I kept sniffling!
Last night I broke down and took a Benedryl (y'all know how I feel about taking synthetic drugs). And voila! The sniffles are gone!

What the crap?! I've developed allergies at the age of 29!

Happy Birthday Carisa!

We ladies hit up Silver Cloud and Betty's Blue Star Lounge for Carisa's birthday. Oh yeah and we can't forget the 4th meal run to Taco Bell! Hell yeah!
Happy Birthday, Carisa!!

GQ OMG

My boyfriend, Rrrooodrrrigo Santorrroo, is in this month's issue of GQ. I just thought I would let y'all stare at him for awhile.

Le sigh.

Tennis 101

Angie and i spoke briefly today about tennis. The lesson she passed on to me is "Love/Love does not mean that everyone is a winner".

LOL

And the Oscar for Set Design Goes To...

We watched the Oscars at Sarah and Paddy's new condo. I LOVE how it's decorated. An orange wall!!

Well Played, Maggie

Every now and then I am reminded what a HUGE compliment it is that people say I look like Maggie G. (I'm not even going to try to spell her last name.)

Well played, Maggie. You look marvelous!

Now let's talk best and worst dressed at the Oscars! I'll start: best is Maggie and worst is a tie between J. Lo (and her creepy face) and Kelly Preston (with her WT, leopard-print frock).

Money Pit

I took my car in for an oil change today and they called to say that I should get my front brakes replaced, and the two rotars, and the air filter and the fuel filter. Sigh. I wish I knew more about cars because I totally have to trust the person at the repair shop. How am I supposed to know if I really need the rotars fixed?

This car is a frackin' money pit.

*Also, Richie's 7 month old nephew, Charlie, is having surgery today. So if you wouldn't mind taking a second to say a quick prayer, I would appreciate it. :)

Mucca Pazza

Last night, Carisa and I saw Mucca Pazza at The Double Door (where we ran into Robert, Dan and then Richie joined us). Mucca Pazza is a 28 piece marching band (with cheerleaders) that plays punk rock music. That was one of the best shows I've seen in a long time. I love that Carisa and I danced to marching band music!

Gourmet

We had our team dinner on Friday afternoon, at Franchesca's. Sandy got us each a beautiful candle and a piece of artwork she got at a show in Evanston. It was wonderful to hang out with everyone again and I'm glad Sandy was able to hang out for some cocktails before she had to hop a flight to India.

Go Fug Yourself

Oh, Penelope:

You're such a delicious dish: why would you serve yourself in plain brown paper wrapping like this? It it perhaps an environmentally conscious statement on the wisdom of using paper rather than plastic bags at the supermarket? Because I was always taught to bring my OWN bag, and therefore, you should be wearing a green sack that reads WHOLE FOODS on the side. In other words: NICE DRESS, TREEKILLER.

Bad At Math?

Check out today's article on stress and math. This explains so much.

Bad at math? Worrying makes you even worse
Anxiety robs your brain of space it needs to compute complex problems

SAN FRANCISCO - Worrying about how you’ll perform on a math test may actually contribute to a lower test score, U.S. researchers said on Saturday.
Math anxiety — feelings of dread and fear and avoiding math — can sap the brain’s limited amount of working capacity, a resource needed to compute difficult math problems, said Mark Ashcraft, a psychologist at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who studies the problem.
“It turns out that math anxiety occupies a person’s working memory,” said Ashcraft, who spoke on a panel at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco.
Ashcraft said while easy math tasks such as addition require only a small fraction of a person’s working memory, harder computations require much more.
Worrying about math takes up a large chunk of a person’s working memory stores as well, spelling disaster for the anxious student who is taking a high-stakes test.
Stress about how one does on tests like college entrance exams can make even good math students choke. “All of a sudden they start looking for the short cuts,” said University of Chicago researcher Sian Beilock.
Although test preparation classes can help students overcome this anxiety, they are limited to students whose families can afford them.
Ultimately, she said, “It may not be wise to rely completely on scores to predict who will succeed.”
While the causes of math anxiety are unknown, Ashcraft said people who manage to overcome math anxiety have completely normal math proficiency.

Britney Shears

This girl has done lost her damn mind. Did you hear that last night she showed up at a hotel in L.A. without any ID, any credit cards, any money, or any friends? Oh yeah, and she was trashed. She tried getting a room but the hotel wouldn't accomodate her so TOURISTS offered her a place in their hotel room.

So she, of course, accepted the offer. Cried a bit about how nobody likes her, asked them to buy her a bikini at the hotel gift shop and then went down to the hotel pool to shave her legs.

Britney is the new Anna Nicole.

**This just in - Brit-Brit's back in Rehab!**

The Art of Cooking

Delicious.