The dumbest thing I have ever heard

Lately in "things that make me embarrassed on behalf of humanity," a California mom has successfuly sued Ferro over the shocking fact that Nutella is not healthy.  Apparently she was surprised to find that the chocolate-hazelnut spread, which tastes like candy and magic, contains both SUGAR and CALORIES.

So...let's talk about this.  Healthy is trendy right now, and everyone and their mom is trying to 'healthify' what was previously deemed unhealthy.  You have General Mills adding whole grains to their sugar-filled, processed cereals and foods that never contained carbohydrates to begin with now shouting from the rooftops that THEY HAVE NO CARBS!!! Not to mention that Vitamin Water is out there acting all "oh I'm so healthy I have vitamins and shit" even though it's basically colored sugar water.  And don't even get me started on sugar and preservative-filled "healthy" granolas and yogurts.  Bleh.  So basically, Nutella is hardly alone in this effort nor are they the worst offender.

Were the ads implying that Nutella is healthy somewhat misleading?  Meh. Probably.  Know what else is misleading?  This:

(source)

Also this:

(Source)

Should anyone be surprised that Nutella is not sugar-free and low-calorie?  No.  Take some damn responsibility and read the label.  Does Nutella have 200 calories per 2-tablespoon serving?  Yes.  Know what else does?  Peanut butter.  Almond butter.  Any nut butter really.

Also, here is a list of things that Nutella on whole-grain toast is healthier than, which are also things I witnessed parents feeding their children for breakfast when I was working at the YMCA:
- Donuts
- S'mores pop tarts
- Pudding
- Twinkies
...yes Twinkies.  One mother diligently and lovingly packed two packages of Twinkies for her son's breakfast every day.

COME ON PEOPLE.  With all of the crap we eat, and feed our children, a little Nutella is hardly going to hurt anyone.  An entire jar of Nutella? Maybe.  A little Nutella on toast?  Of course not.  Anyways sorry, it just gets me all worked up when people refuse to take responsibility for their own choices and lack of due diligence.  Believing everything you see in ads is just ridiculous, and if you don't do your research it's your own damn fault.  End of story.

Bad Cop

The other night, Ben and I somehow got onto the terrifying topic of becoming parents.  No, I'm not pregnant and don't plan to be anytime soon, but having kids is definitely something we want in the future.  Occasionally I am struck by the totally irrational fear that I will be a horrible mom.  Ben assures me this isn't true, but I still worry. 

In a related story, Mini trapped herself in a bookcase later that same night.  Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that Mini walked into a bookcase and Ben trapped her there because it was funny.  Afterwards Ben decided that our reactions to our cat being trapped in a bookcase prove that together, we will be awesome parents because, as he put it, he'll be the one who tries to protect our kids from every little thing that could possibly go wrong and I'll be the one that's all "no, let them make their own mistakes!" and we will balance each other out nicely.

He has this idea in his head that I believe in allowing people to make their own choices and mistakes because a) that is what my dad always did for me, and b) it builds strength, character and confidence.  This is mostly true, but the truth is that in this case I just was really amused and wanted to see what happened.  True story.

Behold - the most pointless video of my cat ever, which apparently illustrates my awesome parenting skills of trapping living beings in a bookcase for my own amusement:

Weeeel I'm off to make some coffee.

Why are you making coffee at 9:15 on a Friday, you ask?  Well.  I will tell you why.  Ben and I are headed over to Mayslacks in a little while to hear our friends The Mayfly Rooks.  Unfortunately they don't even go on until 12:30 am.  I'm like an old woman, I go to bed at 10 and get up at 5:45.  I honestly cannot even remember the last time I was out much past 12.  Basically, if I'm going to make it through this night I am going to need a LOT of caffeine.  But also you should check out The Mayfly Rooks because they rock the shit, and their album drops on May 11.  Buy it.  Or at least download it illegally and then tell everyone how awesome it is.

No I'm kidding you shouldn't do that.  You should buy it for real.

Hopefully you survived the week!  Have a great weekend!!

Finally...time to relax!

I love my weekend jaunts to places like Boston and San Francisco, but they really take it out of me energy-wise.  I felt like I was just constantly sleep-deprived and was really looking forward to a weekend of lounging around in my pajamas drinking tea.  The weekend was a little rainy and cloudy - basically perfect for curling up on the couch with some tea and a book :)

In a related story, Mini has recently discovered that she can jump onto high surfaces.  She used to feel confined to chairs, beds and couches but no more.  Now, no table, counter or windowsill is out of her reach.  It is terrifying.

Tea, and cat photo bomb

Delicious new tea from Boston



I DO WHAT I WANT



I also did a little shoppin' this weekend, and bought a new dress at Anthropologie.  I saw it on the rack and thought hey, that dress would be perfect for work.  Well when I tried it on I realized that it does not feel necessarily work-appropriate.  I think if I wore it with tights it would be fine, but the fact that the hem is longer in back than in the front makes it feel more revealing, maybe?  Regardless, it makes me look like I am 8 feet tall (I am not) and have the legs of a gazelle (I do not) so - purchased!

Work-appropriate?  You be the judge.

On Saturday we went to dinner and the opera!  The show was Madame Butterfly, which is probably my favorite.  It's my Taj Mahal of operas - I expected to be underwhelmed because it is so famous, and ended up being completely blown away.  Puccini...the man knows how to write a melody.  Plus Kelly Kaduce rocks the shit.  Also it was way too cold and windy to be exposing my bare legs to the elements, but this did not stop me from wearing my new dress out.  Take that, weather.

We kicked off the evening with a sushi dinner at Sakura.  Butterfly is set in Japan, so it seemed like an appropriate choice.  Despite the host's strong recommendation that we make an early reservation, we breezed through dinner with two hours left until the opera.  What to do?  Drink, obviously!  



Perusing the menu



Salad and seaweed apps



More tea!



Sunday was brunch with my parents, more relaxing, and re-organizing our bookshelves. Super exciting.  In the evening we went to my friend Ellie's birthday party, and then to Tessa's for GAME OF THRONES.  As I mentioned in my last post, I wasn't so hot on the second book, so it's not too surprising that I am a little lukewarm on the second season of the series.  Some plotlines are awesome, others get boring quickly.  But every line out of Peter Dinklidge's mouth is GOLD.  Pure gold.  I would watch the show for his scenes alone.

Yoga last night was awesome.  The theme was "patience," and we worked on...hamstrings obviously.  Monday night was the intermediate/advanced class so we built up to Titibasana (Firefly) and Kurmasana (tortise pose). 

Kurmasana
(source)

Titibasana
(source)

Patience is definitely the key especially with Kurmasana, but I surprised myself by actually being able to get into the pose!  Normally I get claustrophibic and freak out, convinced my hips/shoulders/other body parts will break if I try to go any further.  But this time, I just took it one step at a time.   Stop, breathe, inner spiral.  Go a little deeper.  Stop and breathe, inner spiral again.  By the end I was basically flat on the ground.  Who knew??

Anyway, there's your little yoga inspiration for the day.  Just be patient and you too can squash your upper arms into the ground using your thighs.  Hooray!

I'm shipping off to Boston...

...to find my wooden leg!

Just kidding, not really but I did go to Boston.  More specifically, I went to Boston last weekend (April 12-15, not the weekend that just happened...yes I am that far behind...) to visit one of my best friends int he world!  Rachel (RT to those who know her best) and I met when we sang in the same voice studio Freshman year of college.  We hit it off and have been close friends ever since - we were music major buddies and even performed our junior half-recitals together.  Unfortunately, RT now lives in Boston.  Well, fortunate for Boston, but unfortuate for me because I miss her.  Fortunately I am now done with grad school and have a job, so I can afford the occasional plane ticket.  Boston, here I come (went?)!

The first thing we did was eat, obviously.  I would estimate that in the four days I was there we ate approximately half the food in the city, but that's neither here nor there.  RT lives in Brookline, and we hit up one of her favorite spots, the Regal Beagle, for dinner the first night. 


This is Rachel.  She is awesome.



After dinner, we somehow determined that we needed even more food, so we went to Trader Joe's for some snacks.  Three oranges, two granola bars, two bottles of wine and a box of sea-salt brownies later, we were back at Rachels' place enjoying some quality vino and Grey's Anatomy.

Where are the vegetables?



Sea Salt Brownies.  It happens.

The next day we decided to just run amok in Boston.  Rachel had access to $7 MFA passes through the library, so we decided to start there and see where the day took us!



Ready to head out for the day!

  On our way to the MFA, I realized I had not informed Ben of my safe arrival in Beantown.  Being the genius that I am, I also forgot to pack my phone charger, so I decided to text him from RT's phone so I could keep mine turned off to conserve battery power.  Unfortunately I got the last two digits of his number wrong and we ended up informing some random person that I was alive and well.  Our new anonymous friend responded that she had no idea who I was, but it was a blessing to be alive!  Indeed, my new friend.  Indeed.

MFA!

We had fun wandering around the MFA for an hour or so, spending most of our time in the Europe section.  We did manage to get into a serious disagreement with some bird statues, but it was no big deal.  I think the birds and I worked out our differences in the end.


Birds all up in RT's face



Hey friend - we can work it out

I have no idea

 During our wanderings, RT told me about her favorite tree in Harvard Square.  She stumbled across the tree right after she moved to Boston, and it is apparently where George Washington gathered the US troops for the first time!  Pretty cool and historic.  We had dinner plans in the North End, but decided that we should head over to Harvard Square to check out the tree first.

Obviously we got distracted.  I hadn't really planned on doing any shopping while in Boston, but then I found Goorin Bros hat shop and I couldn't resist.  I love hats, and this place felt like an honest-to-goodness old timey hat shop.  I purchased the hat pictured below.  Rachel did not buy the exact hat pictured, but another similar (superior) hat.  Success!  We had lunch, walked around for a bit and then caught the train over to the North End...and COMPLETELY forgot about the tree.  Oops.



Boston - so much history!

 Saturday was also a big day.  In case you didn't know, I am a mildly obsessive baseball fan...and RT somehow managed to score free tickets to opening weekend through work!  Don't ask how - the girl is magic.  Anyways, I was super excited...opening weekend AND the Fenway's 100th birthday?  You don't get much more monumental than that.



First, though, we met up with our good friends Lindsey and Chris for lunch!  Linds and Chris are friends from college as well, and they recently moved to Providence for Chris's medical residency. I saw Linds at the holidays and at my wedding in July, but Chris wasn't able to make it to either of those, so the last time we had seen each other was at their wedding in 2010!  Almost 2 years! Lindsey is an artist, and she was wrapping up an art installation near Fenway, so after lunch we went to pick her pieces up and then grabbed a drink at Eastern Standard next door.  So much fun seeing old friends :)



Friends - they love you even when you look awkward in pictures



Ted Williams! (on the right)

 Our evening at Fenway was so much fun, and it ended up being a great game.  I will always be a die-hard Twins fan, but there's something about a team and a stadium with so much history behind it that definitely adds something special to the experience.  You feel like you are part of a tradition - something deeper than just this game or even this season.
  





This sweatshirt was for Ben, but I wanted to 'test' it first.
I mean, it might have been full of bombs right??



After the game we walked back to Brookline and had dinner at Rachels' favorite Indian restaurant, Rani, followed by frozen yogurt.  The perfect end to an eventful day!

Lovely sunset on the walk home



Sprinkles...you know me :)



On Sunday, we got up bright and early so we could go back to Harvard Square and see the famous tree before I had to be at the airport.  We had no problem getting there on the train...getting back was another story.  If you have ever taken public transit in Boston, you know that there is really no scheduled arrival/departure time for the trains...they show up whenever they show up.  Unlike the BART, which at least has a digital display of when the next train is arriving, Boston trains give you no indication of how long you will be waiting.  So after about 30 minutes of waiting for a train back to Brookline, we finally gave up and caught a cab.  Totally worth it though!



G-Dubs himself stood under this tree!

 





See you Boston, it's been real



So now I am almost caught up on blogging.  Tonight I have yoga at 7, but I'm hoping to get out of the office early enough that I can grab a latte and some reading time at Bull Run before class.  I just started A Storm of Swords, the third book in the Game of Thrones series.  I'm not normally a huge sci-fi/fantasy reader but I read the first book last winter (early 2011) and was hooked!  But, I have to admit the second one was kind of a slog...but I've heard the third one is much better so I'm giving it a shot!  It's definitely not that I have an aversion to long books...my favorite novels are Les Miserables and Crime and Punishment... it was just a boring book. Storm of Swords, you better live up to your lofty promises.

AND. Speaking of lofty promises, I am extremely disappointed to inform you that I found out what the 1089 Grand building is, and it is NOT a pub.  It is a GLASSES STORE.  Lame.  I'm not excited at all and I even wear glasses. 

That's all for now, have a great (tolerable?) Monday!

WHAT ARE YOU?!?

This might become a thing on my blog.  I'm not sure - I am hesitant to make promises because I get distracted so easily that this might be the one and only WHAT ARE YOU??!? entry ever to exist. 

While I don't think WHAT ARE YOU??!? is something that is necessarily appropriate to yell out of your pickup at someone's dog while driving past them on a lovely afternoon, It is sometimes a reasonable question. I come across a lot of things whose very identity and existence on the earth just confuse me.  Peeps, for example.  Also colored jeans.  I personally would not include my dog in this category, but the random dudes driving down Grand Avenue may beg to differ.

Here are the current top 3 items on my WHAT ARE YOU list:

~1~
The 1089 Grand Building

There is no deeper, metaphorical meaning to this question - I very literally want to know what you are.  For the last several weeks you have been taunting me with you cute yet ambiguous posters and vague ridiculousness.  Repeated google searches turn up nothing. It's almost as though you don't exist.  But, you do exist and I walk past you every day.  I seriously can't wait until the end of May, I need to know NOW. After sneaking a peek through the open door during construction hours, I see that you are probably awesome.  Please be a bar that serves delicious beverages.
 

If you are not a pub, I will be very upset



~2~

The Minnesota Opera

Minnesota Opera, I really like you.  I have season tickets and I think you put on amazing shows.  That being said...what the hell with the hipster tweeting? 

There's so much going on in this one facebook post, I don't even know where to begin.  For starters, if you have to say something is super hip, it probably isn't.  Secondly, 'hipster nomeclature?'  This whole post sounds like something my grandma would write, which is not a great start if you're trying to be hip and relevant.  Secondly, your tweets tell us nothing about the opera itself or why we should want to watch it - mostly they just seem to be mocking hipsters.  I mean, I have been known to write rambling expliative-filled opera reviews, but I generally do this while drunk at 1am, and I have no illusions that what I'm writing is good or that I should get paid for it.



what??



So...are you an opera company that wants to make itself relevant to a younger population by leveraging social media?  Are you an actual hipster?  Are you making fun of hipsters??? WHAT IS HAPPENING.   You're just....you're doing it wrong.

In all seriousness though, the way to use Twitter to be relevant to a younger population is to use the platform correctly.  Cake in 15 has an excellent entry on how MNOp could have actually executed this well, so I'll leave that part to the experts.

~3~
The FSN North Girls

What is your purpose.  You seem to have no marketable skills other than a) having white teeth and b) informing me that I am watching the Twins on FSN North, which I already knew.  Overall, this does not bode well for you and your career options.  Your existence simultaneously confuses and irritates me.



...why?



Also, after finally practicing yoga yesterday for the first time in over a week, I feel much better about life.  On the more philisophical "what are you??" level, I think it's sometimes easy to get wrapped up in one aspect of who we are - usually the aspect that's stressing us out the most, which for me right now is work.

I tend to just assume everything that goes wrong is somehow my fault, and that there was something I could have done to fix it even when this is totally not the case.  I just need to remind myself that 1) just because many things are crazy right now does not mean that I am a failure - it just means that sometimes, things get crazy, and 2) I'm not defined by any one part of my life - it's the whole picture that matters.

And on that note, happy Wednesday!

Cute pictures of my pets sleeping

This post is pretty much exactly what the title indicates.  I had a long day and pretty much all I want to do is stare at photos of adorable fuzzy creatures...so in case you also had a long day and need too stare at adorable photos, look no further.

I feel like all I do on this blog lately is bitch and whine, and sorry about that...but sometimes, a girl's gotta vent.  I came back from an amazing weekend in Boston (recap coming) to a) a cold, b) snow (???) and c) the most stressful email inbox ever.  Would lighting my laptop on fire and running over it repeatedly with my car help?  Sometimes I wonder.

But seriously, no I would never do that.  Plus it wouldn't work.

Really though...if I laughed villanously while assassinating my computer it might work maybe?

Probably not.

So animal photos.  It should be noted that these pictures were all taken on the same day...within a span of about two hours.  That should give you a pretty good idea of the level of laziness we are working with here.  Behold - Mini and Sid:

Mini creeping over my shoulder

I do not understand how this could possibly be comfortable

...I also wish I could do this at work

LOVE ME

An hour later when they puke everywhere, I won't even be able to get mad because how???

Luckily, when I have a long day I also have awesome co-workers who share my slightly warped sense of humor, and who send me uplifting tidbits such as the following:

Happy thoughts?

...and some days, I remember that I just need to give myself a reality check.  Everything will be fine. It is not the apocolypse, I and everyone I love is still alive, and tomorrow is another day.

Amen.

Well happy Monday!  I'm back on the blogging bandwagon I think...life is sort of stabilizing so look for Boston recaps and cake recipes coming up.

Gifts

There is no way I'm going to be able to post anything until the weekend, so until then I will leave you with two small tokens to enjoy.

First up, our dog Sidney.  You may remember Sid from such popular episodes as "being fuzzy" and "bounding through the woods unencumbered by civilization and grooming."  Well...Ben took him to the groomer yesterday and...um.  This:

HOLA COMPADRES

Let me just remind you so that you fully comprehend my horror upon seeing Sid's new do. 

Before:

....and after:

whyyyyyyyyyyyy....

The photos don't even do it justice.  Not that it's any consolation, but Mini was almost as terrified as I was.  And...well, it's just hair.  It'll grow back eventually.  This is what we get for going "oh, we'll jsut get him a short cut for summer" and not specifying that we would still probably appreciate it if he came out looking like our dog.

Also, Ben has recently discovered iMovie, and these are the delicious results, originally posted on our baseball blog Peanuts from Heaven.  If you're not a baseball fan, I apologize.  Actually no, screw that, I refuse to apologize.  These videos are awesome even if you have never seen a baseball game.  Also just to clear up any confusion, we are NOT Twilight fans.  We just like things that are unintentionally hilarious, such as the latest trailer for Breaking Dawn part II.

Edit: OK I have now tried twice to get the damn videos to post and I give up.  Here's the link to the original Peanuts from Heaven post until I figure out how to work a computer:
Peanuts from Heaven: These Season Previews are Not Yet Rated