What Does Project Runway 4 Make YOU Want to Do?

Well, thanks to said Project Runway 4, I've been Bitten with the urge to drive out to the burbs. (That's right. Far.)

See, the closest Steve & Barry's is at least 30 miles from my house. 30 miles. Of course, if it were four miles less, I'd walk it. But instead, I'm going to brave the elements, the traffic, and the giant limos filled with eight year olds going to JonBenet parties, and head out to the ginormall this weekend.
(You know. Just to see.)

Because did you guys see the PR episode last week?
(PR is now the official obsession of our PR department... See, they're the same abbreviation, but different. Get it? Get it?)

Well, guess what, I didn't. Because I was approximately 80,000 miles from any TV that would be broadcasting it. But I did see the repeat this evening, and now I need to see the winning SJP-chosen item in person.
(You know. Just to see.)

I'd also like to see where I can find the shoes that Mrs. Broderick is wearing in this article photo. (And I'm thinking not Steve & Barry's. Just a guess.)

More importantly...and back to topic...are you loving what you're seeing on PR4? Subquestion: Are you also inspired to drive long distances to see what this whole Steve & Barry's thing is all about? Sub-subquestion: Is there anything worth driving 30 miles into traffic to see?
(Not just at Steve & Barry's...but in the world.)

Turkey Hangover

In about six hours I have to board a plane for a business trip, while I'm completely hungover from days of turkey feasting, family greeting, and major traveling.

Oh, and Christmas.

We had our only Thanksgiving and first Christmas of the year last weekend. And I must say, there's nothing like kicking off the Christmas season with, um, Christmas. Full tree. Trimmings. Stockings hung. Names drawn. Gifts opened. Crackers popped. Champagne gargled. And a partridge in a pear tree.

It actually completely put me in the spirit for the next four weeks.

The Hurricane is pretty jazzed too. Plus, the very cool tricycle under the tree got him to thinking that this multiple holiday gig just might be okay.

More photos soon. But know, he's quite content with the fact that he has three more trees to attack before Boxing Day.

God help us every one.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Queso!

Happy Thanksgetting at Sk*rt

I can't believe Thanksgiving week is already here! Oh, and also Christmas week for us. I'm up to my eyeballs in turkey and tinsel. And sk*rt is giving stuff away.

Giveaway #1 – Two year-long subscriptions to Cooking Light magazine. Just leave a comment on this sk*rt Thanksgetting Givewaway post and you're registered to win!

Giveaway #2 – Three signed copies of The New InterCourses, an aphrodisiac cookbook, by Martha Hopkins and Randall Lockridge. Just leave a comment on this sk*rt Thanksgetting Givewaway post and you're registered to win!

Giveaway #3 – Set of 20 holiday cards from Your Every Whim. Just leave a comment on this sk*rt Thanksgetting Givewaway post and you're registered to win!



Giveaway #4 –A personalized Grande Baby Coin from Julian & Co. Just leave a comment on this sk*rt Thanksgetting Giveaway post and you're registered to win!

Fun.

Happy Thanksgetting!

Mixing it Up.

Every year I make a little mixed company mixed tape for Thanksgiving. The Padrino does too, of course. But let's face it, mine's usually better. However, this year, because I'm still without computer and mainly working on a laptop that only runs Linux (which, when translated, means I'm seriously missing my iWorld), I've fallen a bit behind. In other words, I've made five mixed tapes...which haven't yet been narrowed down to one Thanksgiving iMix.

And since everything is all backwards this year anyway, because Thanksgiving falls early and we're having Christmas on Friday following Thanksgiving on Thursday, which comes before New Years on Saturday and Easter on Sunday. (Alright well maybe not Easter. But we'll hit all the others.) It looks like I'll be getting you my iThanksgiving mix next week. But until then, here are a few previews to be on the lookout for...




Irving.









The Cribs.







The Orange Lights.









Film School.






You won't be disappointed.

Go Dynamo!

Sweet.

Dressing Up (with my great grandmother's traditional cornbread dressing recipe)

By popular demand, I give you my great-grandmother's traditional Texas cornbread dressing recipe. Only there's not really a recipe for it. It's just something that every female in my family magically knows how to make....not because we pick it up in utero or anything like that, it's more just because it's just so darn easy. Easy and inexpensive. At least that is the case today. Perhaps it wasn't so when my GGM made it all from scratch, but today's modern version has a lot of inexpensive short cuts that make it oh so easy, just as good as (if not better than) the all-from-scratch version, and less than $3 to make a batch. Seriously. Fast food is more expensive. Plus, people always RAVE. In fact, serving a pan of this is an almost foolproof way to make people think you're awesome. My GGM was really smart.

Grandma Allen's Cornbread Dressing
with Modern Simplifications

1 box cornbread mix
(and whatever your mix calls for: usually eggs and milk)
About 22-26 oz of heated chicken broth
About a half of a sweet onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Make the cornbread mix. Follow baking directions, etc. Once you have created cornbread, take it out of the pan, put it in a large bowl, cut it up into small pieces or just mash it up with a potato masher or something. Add the onions to that. Move over to the stove top, put the chicken broth in a pot and bring it to a boil. Then pour the hot chicken broth into the cornbread mashup. Then add salt and pepper to your liking. I do less salt (because the broth is plenty salty for me) and more pepper (because I like it). But you do what works for you. The cornbread/broth mix should be pretty soupy. That's how it should be. Pour the mix into a baking pan and bake it uncovered at 350 for about 45 minutes. At this point, it should be perfect, your house will smell great, and everyone will think you're fab. Enjoy it while it lasts! And Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm Feeling Daring.

I have 18 meetings to attend today. Okay, so maybe not quite that many. But it feels like it.

I'm wearing a gray suit for heaven's sake.

So while you're out playing in the happy autumn air, frolicking about while you smell the roses and seize the day, I'm in a conference room. Wearing a gray suit. Did I mention the suit already? Oh sorry. It's just that these florescent lights are making my brain shrink.

But if my brain was still large because I was outside, I would be practicing the five karate moves I just learned yesterday. Or the fourteen games of tag. Or perhaps I'd even be doing a back walk-over. Yeah, that's right. You heard me. A walkover. But backwards. Because I just read The Daring Book for Girls. And it's fantastic. And we're giving one away over at Cool Stuff. (Plus, I also found some crocheted eggs, so there's that too.)

However, in the meantime, I'll be inside. Wearing gray. Secretly making the coolest paper airplane ever. Because that's covered on page 134, and I'm feeling rather daring.

Bookish.

I spent the better part of 1998-1999 with my face buried in books. Hundreds and hundreds of them. I could ramble on and on as to why this happened to be the case, but the bottom line is, I currently have loads of very full bookshelves.

During the early 2000s (now, how exactly are we saying that? The early aughts? Early 20 hundreds? Early double zeros? It all sounds weird.) the reading tapered off just a bit, and then when The Hurricane hit our house...well, I almost gave up the books completely, went online, and got sucked into the blogtastic vortex of blogginess. But then my computer exploded. And then this weekend, I read a 638 page book in less than 46 hours.

It all started innocently enough on Friday night. I pulled out this one book by Susan Howatch that I'd been meaning to read for, I don't know, forever, and I started reading...

And I just finished the last page.

Because for some odd reason, I just couldn't put the blasted thing down. I read while I cooked lunch. I read while I walked. While I played soccer and "watched" Elmo with The Hurricane. While I did lunges in the kitchen while making dinner (yeah, you read that right). In fact, besides going in the back yard and for a walk, I didn't leave the house all weekend (oh, yeah, except for the playoff game...go Dynamo!). Just puttered around. And read like it was 1999.

It was incredible. Not so much the book, but just the block of time to lose myself in the reading. I can't even believe it happened. And I'm not sure when it will again. Of course, I have way too many things going on to even begin to think about doing nothing. But reading. And of course, it was incredibly irresponsible of me to be so selfishly book-absorbed for two days straight. But wow, was it fun. I'm thinking of planning to do that again before 2015. Like maybe again next weekend.

Or not. Because I just realized that next weekend I'll be getting ready for Christmas. See, while the big X-Mas may be only 43 days away for you people, it's only 13 days away for us. Don't even ask. So it seems that I'm already in full-fledged Holiday mode (as you will be on Dec. 12), and so I've decided we're celebrating with lots of Holiday inspirations of Cool Stuff from now until your Christmas. Plus, a giveaway today. Happy Monday.

Grocery Store Drama

This morning I went to the grocery store closest to my house to get a few items to make something for lunch. Because I work somewhere where sometimes people all bring gourmet items for lunch and pool resources. Don't ask. I usually bring the drinks. But today I was making one of the few excellent items I can throw together (watch for Friday's recipe) which is what brought me to the store at the dawn of crack. And as I was walking across the tiny parking lot a man and his wife were doing the same. And then he swung back and hit her. Backhanded slapped her. Across the face. In front of God and everyone. And she just took it, and kept walking.

I stopped.

I couldn't move forward, and I couldn't believe what I'd just seen. A man in struck a woman right in front of me, and I was shocked still. I didn't know what to do. So I did nothing. Nothing. I'm still reeling a bit from it, so I can't imagine how much she's reeling. Even if she's used to that. You never get used to that.