Don't worry, be happy

P has bestowed upon me this lovely award.


I'm certainly not the happiest blogger so I imagine it's for making others happy. Thanks, P!

In keeping with tradition, I'm not going to pass this along because I don't think I can name 10 people who read this blog on a regular basis. But I'll do the associated activity, which is naming 10 things that make me happy.

1. PUPPIES. That was a no brainer. Puppies puppies puppies! I could talk about cute dogs all day long. And I often do, in fact, thanks to Crapface who is equally into talking about puppies.
2. FRIENDS. I know, that was also a no brainer. Everyone would put this on their happy list. But I do love getting to spend time with my favs.
3. GLEE. Whatever, Glee totally makes me happy. And I'm not ashamed to shout it from the rooftops!
4. BUFFALO WINGS. I would probably attempt to eat a brick if you told me it was slathered in buffalo sauce. Yum.
5. FUN NIGHTS OUT. One of the best feelings ever is waking up in the morning, possibly hungover but only to the point of needing food (as opposed to the hangovers where you want to die), recalling fun and ridiculous things that occurred the night before but still knowing that you didn't do anything stupid. I had that this morning. Win.
6. FAMILY. Obviously. As I think the last post demonstrates, my family is a special breed of insane. Only the good kind.
7. DANCE PARTIES FOR ONE. I would be lying if I said I didn't bust a move by myself to whatever crappy pop music is on the radio. Sometimes it includes singing. However painful to even my own ears, still joyous.
8. A GOOD BOOK. Having a book you canNOT put down is pretty much the best thing ever.
9. LAS VEGAS. Blackjack. In-N-Out. Clubs. More In-N-Out. Everything about Vegas is heaven. Which is why I'm hoping I have the money to go to Bloggers in Sin City babyyyy.
10. MONEY. Look, I know money can't buy happiness, but it can buy a lot of the things that lead to happiness. And frankly, not being poor > being poor. Anyone disagree? I didn't think so. If only there was a time in the foreseeable future when I won't be poor. One day.

That's it, kiddos.

Guess who's coming to dinner?

This post has been sitting in my drafts for only...4 months now. I have no idea why I never got around to it. But anyway.

Imagine that one hot summer day, you're hanging out at your parents' house, just sitting in the den having a lovely time watching TV. And you think to yourself, "I'm thirsty. I need to go the kitchen for some water." So you get up to go the kitchen, and you encounter...


El Presidente! Sitting at your dining room table!

You know what happens then? You die of laughter. Because yes, there is a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Barack Obama, chillin at the table like he's waiting for his first course.

What do you do next? Well, get photo evidence of the fact that Obama is your BFF, of COURSE.


Arielle and Barack, buddies 4lyfe.

But the nonsense doesn't end there, no no. You delight in watching your brother come home and react the same way you did when he sees the president at your house. And then you listen to your mom talking about how she and your dad were invited to a Friday night Shabbat dinner at a family friend's house, but since your dad has class on Friday night he couldn't go, so your mom brought the Obama cutout with her as her date.

Can't make this up, folks.

If you think it stops there, you're wrong.

On Rosh Hashanah, we had a nice dinner with some family. And we took a family picture - me, my brother, my parents, my uncle, my cousin, and my grandma. And Obama, of course.

My family is awesome.

It's the hard knock life

Okay, before I start this post, writing the title made me think of one of my favorite ever moments from ye olde financial services job. Picture M, a cute blonde woman in her early 30's who is just such an adorable mommy type that you just KNOW she has young children even if you didn't ACTUALLY know. And then picture C, a 25 year old smooth Asian guy who will IM you on the company IM system and spell things like "d00d."

M, singing: It's a hard a knock life, for us. It's a hard knock life! For us!
C: M! I didn't know you listened to Jay-Z!

I'll just leave it at that. OH, THE HILARITY. Anyway.

I spent the last few days at a spa with my mom. It was awesome and I'm going to tell you all about it and make you jealous! Here's what the trip entailed:

- Massages. Multiple. I LOVE THEM. In fact, my Groupon massages are accumulating faster than I can use them.
- Fun fitness classes like pilates, zumba, aqua kickboxing, and Broadway dance. This last one was super fun because the instructor had auditioned for a bunch of Broadway shows and she taught us the audition piece to Chicago (All That Jazz). So we got to strut around all sexy and Bob Fosse-esque. In my super sexy yoga pants and t-shirt. Nice.
- DOGS DOGS DOGS. The owner has a bunch of dogs that roam around, and I was obsessed with all of them. There was a golden retriever, a basset hound, and some kind of spaniel. The basset hound even jumped up to sit next to me on the couch while I was reading, which brings me to my next point...
- A fireplace in a super cozy living room! I spent time there listening to the fire crackling, writing in my journal and reading my LEISURE BOOK (gasp! joy!), Creating A World Without Poverty, which sounds like it should be for school but it is so not. The author won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pretty much inventing microfinance, which is something I hope to get involved with after graduation. I've been meaning to write a blog post on why I think microfinance is the coolest thing ever for a few months now, but...well, I haven't gotten around to it yet. Shocking, I know.
- Food! Healthy food! Good healthy food, though. And lots of tea.
- And more. It was 2 days of awesomeness and relaxation.

And now I'm back in the Jerz, and THANK THE LORD Christmas is almost come and gone. I hate being bombarded by Christmas music and I cannot wait for everyone to get on with life.

Also, I need some New Year's Eve plans. Hook me up.

Year in Review

Oh, 2009. Where do I begin with you? I remember getting a holiday card from one of my good friends shortly after New Year's, and it said something to the effect of "I have a feeling that 2009 holds good things for you." 2008 ended pretty badly for me, and I have no doubt that this card was less of a generic sentiment and more meant to convey the message of, "Arielle, you are awesome. You deserve awesome things, and they're going to happen for you." It was the very note of hope that I needed to hear at the time.

Here I am, just days before the start of another year, and I'm a little scared. 2009, while dotted with the occasional wonderful and amazing moment, was overall a year that rivals 2007 in complete shittiness. What I need to do right now is remind myself that just because the year changes doesn't mean anything ELSE changes. Life is not going to automatically get better or worse when January 1st hits, and it's best not to set any expectations, let alone set high ones. But since the end of the year is typically a time for reflection, let's review 2009 in all its glory.

THE GOOD
- I went to Russia, Finland, Sweden and Denmark on an awesome whirlwind vacation and educational experience.
- My bestest buddy of 21 years got engaged and I'm the co-Maid of Honor in her wedding which is in less than 3 months (!!).
- I had an amazing summer in New York where I stayed in my friend's pimp ass studio and had a blast taking a 2 week bartending course.
- I watched a number of friends get married, including a sorority sister who was one of the pledges I used to push around when I was pledgemaster. Most of her bridesmaids were also my pledges. I felt like a proud mom.
- With a GPA close to 3.7, I am kicking ass and taking names in business school, which I LOVE.

THE BAD
- I feel like I lost 2 of my best friends this year. 2 of the people I thought I'd always be close to are now pretty much strangers. I know friendships change often so this isn't necessarily permanent, but it's a bummer to not feel like you trust someone who you used to think you could trust with your life.
- My dad has been out of work for pretty much this entire year. The reason this goes here and not in the "THE UGLY" section is because it, very thankfully, doesn't seem to have impacted my family as much as it could have, but I still really hope the situation turns around soon.
- I realized that when I leave school, I will probably keep in touch with 4 people, max. None of whom I even consider to be close friends. In a class of 105, not a single person really knows me.

THE UGLY
- As most of you know, I got into trouble for blogging about school. I had a disciplinary hearing where I sat in a room and defended myself in front of 6 or 7 people for doing something that I still believe is completely within my right to do. It ended up fine but I pretty much didn't sleep or eat or have my heart NOT RACING LIKE CRAZY for 3 weeks.
- For the first 3 months of this year, my mental health was in the worst place its ever been. I've always viewed myself as an extremely stable person, and being in a state where heavy drinking and HOURS UPON HOURS of nightly reality TV were the only things that could stop me from crying, and getting off the phone with university counseling services and having no idea how I was going to survive the 8 miserable days between then and my therapy appointment, was absolutely fucking frightening.

WHAT I LEARNED
No year of ups and downs can be without some kind of growth and understanding. So here are the lessons 2009 has left me with:

- Sometimes, people suck. It's a fact of life. The ones you love are hardly infallible. They will disappoint you, but you will move on.
- While some people hurt you, others won't. Some friends will listen to you complain about the same things over and over again, and will be there for you however and whenever you need them. Some people who you haven't even spoken to in months will get word of your misery and offer to beat people up on your behalf. These friends are amazing.
- I am not, as I previously suspected, impervious to the bullshit that gets everyone else down but that never seemed to affect me. I am far more vulnerable than I ever thought possible. At first I thought I was weak. Now I know I'm human.
- I am also, interestingly enough, stronger than I thought. Living in a city I don't care for without many good friends nearby has given me the ability to take care of my own life and not live for anyone else. Not only that, but I'm strong enough to look back upon the really bleak part of this year and find the light amongst the dark. Like when I was in Vegas, walking alone from the Bellagio to the Luxor at 5:30 AM, still dressed in my slutty party dress and bawling my face off for the entire 45 minute walk. As miserable as I was at the time, I now wonder how many people saw me and thought I was a sad hooker. It makes me chuckle.

2010 has a lot of potential. While I'm trying to only focus on the good, I won't sit here thinking, "2010 is MY year," because being disappointed pretty much sucks. So whatever comes my way, be it good, bad, or horribly worse, I'll take it like a (wo)man, deal with it, reflect upon it, and bring the lessons I learn into 2011. That's really the best I can ask for.

Yet another man-related misdeed

Does everyone remember the man-bear-pig incident? Where I went to a party, met a guy, thought things were going well, and still went home alone at the end of the night due to a deathly combo of cock-blockage (or whatever it's called on girls) and lack of game? Well, if you don't want to read that story over again, probably don't read this post because it's a case of same shit, different day. And just like the last time, I wanted to blog about this as soon as I got home from the party, but when I sat down at the computer and could barely focus my eyes on the words in front of me for the consumption of too many DELICIOUS holiday drinks, I had to stop.

As I mentioned, I went to a holiday party last night (my latkes were a hit, btdubs) at the same friend's house where that Halloween party was. I was wondering if my sexy engineer from the last party would be there, but as soon as I walked in, thoughts of him were out the door because there was a new, hotter guy in town. We were introduced, and then I spent awhile catching up with some people who had graduated from my program last year (again, the game thing - I don't haz it).

A few hours later, I ended up talking to the cute guy, both of us significantly drunker than we had been at the start of the party. There was some flirting. And then some more.

Eventually, I kind of got the hint that the host was tired and probably wanted the party to wind down, seeing as it was after 3 AM which is way later than the standard Boston party end time. I went off to the bedroom where the coats were stored to start getting my things, and wondered how I would lock it up with this guy, when all of a sudden...

"Oh...you're leaving?"

There he was, in the bedroom with me, seemingly visibly unhappy about my decision to leave, and I try to get something out about the host being tired but I AM NOT TIRED and hemming and hawing and pretty much trying to mentally will him to CLOSE THE DAMN BEDROOM DOOR BEHIND HIM (mission: impossible) and finally we both leave the bedroom and head back to the living room and since I clearly opted out of leaving, it's pretty much his turn to do something about it.

And then a few minutes later it becomes clear yet again that the host would like people to leave but is too nice to do anything about it, and since there are about 12 people left at this party who clearly show no intention of leaving, I felt awful and wanted to demonstrate that I was a socially adept guest who didn't overstay her welcome. And while I don't remember exactly what the goodbye was like, I can guarantee you that it did not involve making out on top of a pile of coats. Or anywhere, for that matter.

So at 3:30 in the morning I started my 15 minute trek home. And as soon as I stepped outside, all thoughts of what could have been with the night's hot guy were forgotten as I ran around in the snow, occasionally stopped to revel in how awesome and quiet everything is when it's the middle of the night and it's snowing and all the college kids have already left for winter break, and maybe I made a number of snow angels on the path between my friend's house and mine.

So it wasn't such a bad night after all.

Latke time! (take 2)

Because I'm headed to a holiday party tonight, I had to fulfill my promise of making latkes. So, despite the PAIN and SUFFERING involved in the last bout of latke-tasticness, I went at it again. And liveblogged it.

10:00 AM - Begin peeling potatoes
10:04 AM - Peel off a part of my finger. Stop operations to apply bandaid
10:05 AM - Decide to liveblog latke making. Return to kitchen with computer so as to listen to awesome Glee Pandora station while cooking (can we talk about how much I love Pandora? Just saying)
10:06 AM - On way back to kitchen, step on a sharp f'ing clip on the floor holding internet cords in place (which I always do). This time, it breaks the skin and my foot bleeds. Return for another bandaid. OH THE IRONY of getting injured at the hand of something put in place to avoid people getting injured.
10:08 AM - Resume peeling
10:16 AM - I don't know what version of Under the Sea this is, but this is NOT the real Sebastian.
10:17 AM - If you thought I wasn't going to peel off any more fingertips, you thought wrong. Good thing I didnt put away the bandaids.
10:44 AM - Everything else is done. I cant avoid the dreaded onions any longer. But...I have a plan!

Yes, this was my plan. To grate onions using my ear warmer as a way to keep the burning sensation to a minimum. And yes, in the process I obviously had to do this without being able to see. It's a sacrifice I realized I was willing to make.
10:53 AM - Plan is a success, more or less. Minimal crying.
11:21 AM - Latkes are cooking and are delicious. Except...i have to be at work in an hour and im not going to finish making these. Blargggg.

In order to avoid hot oil splashing in my eyes, I decided that cooking in shades was advisable. Scientists wear safety goggles, I wear Dior sunglasses. "You know the difference between you and me? I make this look good." NAME THAT HORRIFICALLY OUTDATED REFERENCE!
11:23 AM - This pandora station LOVES Defying Gravity. Good lord.
7:30 PM - Home from work and ready to continue. Goooo Chanukah!

The end.

P.S. Defying Gravity just came on again. I swear, this station plays the same 8 non-Glee songs over and over again.

I know myself too well

I would just like to mention that at 11:24 PM, not quite an hour after I hit "Submit" on my last post, I walked into my chair and stubbed not one, not two, but three toes in the process. If you read my last post you would realize why this is significant. I suck at life.

The trials and tribulations of being Jewish

This Saturday, I will be attending a holiday party thrown by a classmate. There will be fancy dress, eggnog, and all other sorts of delicious "let's call it holiday but really it's just all about Christmas" appropriate fare. Despite the fact that eggnog is one of my favorite things of all time - and PS don't be like me and look up the nutritional information for eggnog online because you will discover that one cup of it is nearly half the fat and calories of what you're supposed to consume in an entire day - I decided that this "holiday" party needed some Jewish flair. So I offered to make latkes.

I think you unchosen ones know these by their heathen name, "potato pancakes."

I've never made latkes before, but I figured it wouldn't be too hard. However, I knew I should give them a test drive before the actual day of the party, since I am a terrible cook in all respects and can ruin pretty much anything.

I was gearing up to make some kickass latkes today. I bought a fancy 7 dollar cheese grater at Bed Bath and Beyond, and was grating the crap out of some potatoes.

Then it came time for me to grate the onion. As soon as I picked it up, I remembered exactly how horrible I am at dealing with onions. I have an obscenely high pain threshold for things like stubbing my toe (which I do a LOT), but for some reason, onions are my kryptonite. So I was having flashbacks of onion-related pain and then I was all, "well, I'm not chopping onion, just grating it. So maybe it will be fine."

To say this logic is flawed is to give too much credit to the fact that I am even daring to call this burst of stupidity "logic."

Sometimes I cook with sunglasses on so as to try to prevent the burning. Actually, I should just rephrase that to say, "Sometimes I cook." Period. I can't even remember the last time I made something that involved me manipulating an onion in any way. But whatever, I didn't have my sweet shades anyway.

So as soon as I start grating, my eyes feel like someone poured boiling water in them and I can't even rub them because one hand is covered in potato and one hand is holding an onion and I'm desperately trying to rub my face into my shoulder but IT DOES NOT HELP and then I can't keep my eyes open anymore but I must keep grating in the name of the preservation of the Jewish people so I grate with my eyes closed which is nervewracking because how do I even know I'm getting the onion in the bowl, plus you lose your balance when you close your eyes and then even with closed eyes IT STILL BURNS and I'm grating and grating and WHY IS THIS TAKING SO LONG and then my roommate walks in the door and I look like I just went through a horrible breakup with my puffy eyes and tears streaming down my face and I'm all "OH GOD, THE ONIONS I CAN'T HANDLE THEM" and my roommate is laughing RATHER INSENSITIVELY and finally I decide I don't need anymore onion in my latkes and I grab a wet paper towel and throw it on my face and all begins to be well in the world again.

My latkes turned out well except I think they need more salt. I look forward to perfecting the recipe but I do NOT look forward to doing onion battle again in just a few days' time. But I'm at least satisfied that I have proven my worth as a potential Jewish mother though it is unfortunate that I can only do this by sacrificing my eyesight to feed people something that is essentially deep-fried and artery-clogging. So my latkes are going to join the eggnog at this party and maybe it'll turn into a "which religion can kill you the fastest?" theme (what you got Islam?). Except at least we Jews have the miracle of Chanukah (which involves oil) to blame for our 8 day oil binge but to my knowledge, eggnog holds no religious significance.

Jews win!

The Sing Off

Okay. I saw a Facebook update earlier today that the Beelzebubs, the all male a cappella group at Tufts that had that campus-wide level of popularity that the football team probably has at a normal school, were going to be on some show. And because I LOVE MY ALMA MATER TO DEATH, I wanted to support.

I turn on the show and find it's an a cappella reality show competition. Fine. I frankly haven't thought about a cappella at all since graduating because I didn't think anyone cared about a cappella outside of Northeast liberal arts colleges, but I will support my Jumbos in whatever they choose to do.

Now that the show is over, I have some opinions (shocking) and I NEED TO SHARE THEM.

Nota, the Puerto Rican dudes
- I had a problem with them but I don't remember what it was. So I guess it couldn't have been that bad.

The old dudes
- I hated HATED their version of Bon Jovi. It was high-pitched and peppy and totally not as rough and dirty as my Jersey man JBJ needs to be.
- I particularly hated this because their little bio clip was all about how rock and roll they are and how they're not even a cappella, they're a "vocal rock band" and blahdeeblah and then they cheesed it out more than anybody. Shameful.

The Jesus Freaks
- I don't even care what their real name is. All I need to hear is ChristiansJesusGod and I'm over it.
- I already forgot what song they sang (thanks, brain cells, for sticking with me) but I remember thinking that the soloist sounded like she was uncomfortable in the low register at the beginning.

The Mormons
- Again, they probably have a real name and I don't even care what it is.
- They sang Aretha. They didn't have the soul to pull it off. I mean, A for effort, but...no.
- Also, I can't get down with people who a) use the word "cuss" and b) are anti-cursing (sorry, "cussing"). I mean, no need to drop F bombs left and right, but, come on. Cursing is awesome when well-placed. SHIT. See? Awesome.

The Bubs
- GO TUFTS!
- Their theatrics were ca-razzy, but all the judges called them pitchy and I agree. But still, super adorable.
- JUMBOS 4LYFE

The Moms
- Seriously? An old lady group? They're even dressed like a bunch of nerds.
- The Moms redeemed themselves when they showed that they're going to be singing Rehab tomorrow. They have a sense of humor. Love it. Well, like it, at least.

The Socal Vocal Shmocals
- I think they were called the SoCals? Whatever.
- This group was the most talented in my opinion. However, in the clip before their performance, their requisite sob story was that some girl has acid reflux that sometimes affects her singing. Really? Who cares? Sometimes I get acid reflux from drinking too much vodka and it affects my ability to keep drinking. SOMEBODY CALL THE WAH-MBULANCE. (PS, you know who didn't need a sob story? THE BUBS).
- Also, don't compare yourself to Glee and then not compare yourself to Glee and then come out singing a Glee song that Glee sings infinitely better. GLEE OWNS YOU, SOCAL VOCAL.

The Crappy Ones
- The last group just sounded like garbage. How did they make it on this show?

I was going to talk about the judges, but...I need to stop. Big heart for Ben Folds, though.

Update: Thanks to Anna for this lovely comment via email: "I didn't like the acid reflux situation. And I love how she was like "this might be my last chance." What do you mean?? Can't you buy pepto at duane reade for 5 dolla?"

HAHA.

I'm going to like this show.

Seriously, do this

Okay, I had heard here and there about the Nestle Crunch hotline before, but when I read about it through a friend's Facebook status, I had to finally try it.

Seriously, do this. It's kind of adorable.

1) Call the Nestle Crunch hotline at 1-800-295-0051
2) When asked if you want to continue in English or Spanish, don't press anything but wait a little bit.
3) Smile at the awesome
4) Press option 4
5) You can then go with any of the options. I personally went with option 7 (hilarious), and am too lazy to call back and try the other ones, but I bet they're all amazing. If you try them, let me know how it goes.

I love it when corporate people have a sense of humor =)

Personal sleeping space

Many of you out there know that I'm a pretty picky sleeper. No noise, no light, no nothing. You probably also know of course that I am severely possessive of my bed space and pretty much hate sharing beds with anyone. And as I know some of you have experienced, I have no qualms about waking your ass up in the middle of the night to tell you to move over.

Crapface and I were having a conversation about being possessive over sleeping space. This was the highlight.

Crapface: i love having space in bed
Arielle: yeah i dont look forward to having to share a bed with someone every single night
Crapface: i mean i'm all for hanging out near someone
Crapface: but when it is time to sleep...
Crapface: get on your side!
Arielle: seriously
Arielle: and dont let so much as a finger cross over into my side!
Crapface: and don't steal my damn covers
Arielle: and also, probably i need some of your side too
Crapface: or my pillows
Crapface: hahaha
Crapface: fact
Crapface: i need to roll over a ton
Arielle: im pretty sure that i have the ability to just take up as much space as i have to sleep in
Arielle: because i used to have no problem sleeping in a twin but now that i have a queen i definitely roll back and forth across it
Crapface: you're like a goldfish
Crapface: you just spread out to the size of your environment

My doggie wish list

I've said for many years now that all I would need to be completely happy in life is a dog. I wouldn't need a job or an awesome party or friends. Just a dog who I can play fetch with and teach fun tricks and who wags his tail when I walk in the door and I would LOVE IT FOREVER AND EVER. In fact, whenever I'm home at my parents' house, I spend at least a quarter of my time sitting on the floor next to my dog Roxy, showering her with attention and Milkbones.

That being said, it is going to be a long long time before I have the ability to take care of a dog seeing as I am currently lacking both time and money. So instead, I lust over Daily Puppy and I Has A Hotdog to get my fix of awesome puppy pictures.

One day, when it comes time for me to choose a dog, here are some of my top choices:

French Bulldog

Look at those awesome ears! Too cute.

Chow ChowSoooo fuzzy! If you want to see an awesome Chow in action, look up "Doy Doy stretch test" on youtube. DO IT.

Golden Retriever
My family used to have a Golden and he was the best dog ever. Personally, I would like to jump in the middle of this puppy pile and run around throwing sticks to all of these dogs.

I could go on for awhile and talk about all the other great dogs out there like Norwich Terriers or Wheaten Terriers or Bernese Mountain Dogs or today's awesome Daily Puppy (Fozzie the Leonberger, check him out), but I'll stop.

I hope when I get my awesome dog you will all come over and play with it because it's going to be the greatest dog of all time.

No Soda December FAIL

As you can tell by the title of this post, I failed at No Soda December. However, there is a reason (sort of). And I'm going to tell you the long and rambly story of today that will also include the reason why I drank soda. I'm on my 10th wind or so right now and feel like a cracked out crackface.

I awoke today after another night of not nearly enough hours of sleep to head to a team meeting. The largest deliverable of my b-school career, a full business plan, is due tomorrow (er, today) morning (the second largest yet arguably more important was due in the spring). My team decided to meet at 9 AM yesterday to finish what needed to be done.

Our teammate had discovered a secret awesome work space that is the library in the ministry/theology school building, and so with the support of our lord and savior JC we got to work. People pounded furiously at computers and occasionally stopped to yell out questions to the rest of the group. We would discuss, and then continue working.

Around noon, I realized that there was no way we were going to be done by the time my 7 PM class rolled around. Which I sort of expected, though I had done a foolishly hopeful thing and worn gym clothes to the meeting hoping I could work out after. But since I had a presentation to do in class later on, there could be no wearing of a bright green Tufts sweatshirt to class. But I would worry about that later.

At 2 we figured we would soon be unable to work any more if we didn't eat, so we ordered delivery.

At 3, my teammate got the call that the delivery was there, so he went outside to go get it.

At 3:30, we suspected that our teammate had either gotten kidnapped, or had decided to hide out and eat all of our food himself. Which would have been foolish, because while the rest of us got normal food, he decided to order a sub with boneless buffalo wings, mozzarella sticks, and french fries. In the sub. All of those things. In a big sandwich. Which I'm pretty sure sounds like THE GREATEST SANDWICH IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

At 3:35, he came back and regaled us of his adventure running up and down the street trying to communicate via cell phone with the delivery woman who did not speak English and, surprisingly, had no idea where or what the ministry library was because I can't imagine why they don't get delivery orders to there like, every single day. Whatevs. We opened the bag to get out our food, and I was all "WHERE IS THE BOTTLE OF WATER I ORDERED???"

Don't get all hater-tastic on me for drinking bottled water. I wanted to bring my Nalgene with me (the new kind, not the kind that kills you, thanks) but my bag would have just been too damn heavy with my laptop. And also, there was no water of any kind available in this building. None.

So, back to the water. It wasn't there. Everyone took their drinks, and it became apparent that instead of a bottle of water, they had thrown in an extra can of root beer besides the one my teammate ordered. I had 2 choices: go thirsty, or drink the root beer.

Whatever, root beer is fucking delicious.

And for the record, I am going to continue not drinking soda for this month.

Drink crisis averted, we got to eating. And my teammate is chowing down on his wing/mozz/fry sub AKA the food I will eat every day in heaven and talking about how he had this goal to run 1000 miles in 2009 but because he ran 2 marathons this year and subsequently took off the weeks following each, he was left with 200 miles to run in December and because he's running so much he can't stop eating because his metabolism is just whirring away and HELLO, CAN I HAVE YOUR PROBLEMS PLEASE (and also your sub) and then he goes, "Arielle, how's your salad?" and had it been a gloating type of "Your salad clearly pales in comparison to my sub" sentiment I would have overcompensated with "OH YUM BEST SALAD EVERRR" but I think he was just being nice and so I had to answer with an honest, "It sounded a lot better on paper."

And then we kept working. At 6 PM I excused myself from the meeting, ran home, changed into a business casual outfit, ran back to school and gave an awesome presentation at 7.

After class some people (non-MBAs, this particular class has a lot of them) were like "who wants to go out?" and the MBAs were all "um, business plan due in 12 hours, sorry." And then I checked my email from my sexy iPod touch and saw ZERO EMAILS from my teammates which meant there was nothing for me to do at the moment, so I was all "Okay, even though I haven't been out on a Thursday all semester and now is not the time I should start, I'll grab a beer." And I did. It was delicious. And since there are a few theology students in my class, I made sure to tell them over my Blue Moon that I spent all day in their hood.

I stuck to one beer and went home, at which point I watched the Glee finale (AMAZING) as I waited for it to be my turn to proofread the final business plan.

And now we have a completed plan. And I'm looking it over in all its pretty prettiness and I'm like, holy crap we wrote an entire BUSINESS PLAN!?! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH WORK GOES INTO ONE OF THESE BECAUSE DAMNIT IT'S A LOT. One day when this baby startup has blossomed into a lovely successful business and all of you are seeing advertisements for it I'm going to be like "Umm I WROTE THE MARKETING PLAN FOR THAT COMPANY and by the way the reason it exists is because someone invested money in it because they thought it had longevity potential and it's all because I WROTE THE SUSTAINABILITY ANALYSIS PROVING WHY IT COULD LAST."

And then someone is going to be like, "Tell me about the company's finances" and I will answer with, "Please speak to my teammates because I did NOT write that part. Thanks."

And it's times like these where I LOVE BUSINESS SCHOOL SO MUCH because I'm accomplishing all this crazy stuff that I never thought I would ever do and I'm sad that when I leave here I'm not going to be challenged in this way ever again and I'm not going to have 9 hour meetings in ministry school libraries.

But oh, I will eat a buffalo wing/mozzarella stick/french fry sub one day.

And maybe now that it's 2 AM and I have to wake up early yet again tomorrow and then magically work a 9 hour shift later in the day, I should go to bed.

If you've made it this far, you deserve a medal. Or a bite of my sub.

Day 7: THE END

First of all, can we discuss how sad I am that the Weezer concert I was supposed to go to tonight is canceled because Rivers Cuomo is injured from a tour bus accident? Very sad. And hopefully his broken ribs heal, because that probably sucks. But this was supposed to be my break from a week of hell! Because ugly sweater parties and volleyball and Friend Thanksgiving aren't enough of a break, GOD. Anyway.

This is what I wore to Friend Thanksgiving yesterday, which by the way was delicious and amazing:


This is the COZIEST EVER wrap sweater. I'm wearing it again today (shut up) so that it opens above and below the tie so there's some more color in there (I'm wearing a different shirt underneath, so I'm not that dirty, yo).

Even though the sweater makes me look a little bit like a bag, I'm still giving this outfit an A- because this is finally something a little more my style. I do not wear dress pants all the time. Jeans and something comfortable.

Overall, despite the time consuming nature of this endeavor, I really enjoyed doing it and definitely felt a little bit better leaving the house in an outfit that didn't look like it had a pot of coffee dumped all over it and then got mauled by tigers. So while I realistically will not EVER look put together every day, maybe I'll put in a teeny bit more effort each day, or I'll try and do these week-long challenges again every so often. Hooray for that.

Life is like a box of chocolates...

I have a picture of my outfit for today but I'm going to post it later because this is more pressing.

Awhile back, the professor I work for gave me a present as a thank you for the work I've done for her. When I got home, I unwrapped the gift to find that she had given me a box of chocolates, which I clearly need as much as I need a punch in the face. Though I probably could have (and wanted to) eat all the chocolates right then and there, I approached the box as any normal adult who would like to not get diabetes would. That is to say, slowly.

Just now, a few short minutes ago, the time arrived for me to eat the final chocolate in the box, a good decision considering I already ate about 800 pounds of food today at Friend Thanksgiving and am now getting ready to leave for volleyball and doesn't everyone know that chocolates are a good pre-exercise snack? Right.

One of the worst things OF ALL TIME is when your last bite of food is ruined. Am I right? I am. You all know what I'm talking about. Like when you have one cookie/cracker/whatever left and you're all set to eat it and then someone walks over and snatches it. Or when you're waiting for the bus eating a granola bar because you just worked for many hours and the caterer decided not to feed you even though THEY ARE ALWAYS SUPPOSED TO FEED YOU and you drop the last fucking morsel of granola bar on the ground and the 5 second rule does not apply to sidewalks.

When the last chocolate in the box is one of the gross ones, it sucks. And unfortunately not all delicious chocolate makers like to print a little grid that tells you what all the chocolates are (WHY NOT?) so it's one big game of guessing and surprises. To avoid this problem, I hand-selected a chocolate to be the last one that I was SURE was going to be delicious and not some gelatinous fruity nasty excuse for sweets. It was one of those ones that's shaped like a mini Reese's peanut butter cup and usually contains some kind of rice crispie-esque stuff. So I was pretty pumped to eat it.

I don't even need to say what happened because I bet you all know.

I bit into the chocolate and, instead of crunchy goodness, I got some kind of sub-par nut-based nonsense. It wasn't the worst thing ever, and it wasn't even so bad that I threw away the rest of the chocolate as you know I did with a bunch of the other ones, but it was still a disappointment. Not the way I wanted to end a box of chocolates.

And this is not the way I wanted to end this blog post, but I need to leave for volleyball exactly 1 minute ago so a witty conclusion is not the cards today. Peace out, cub scout!

Day 6

I AM F'ING TIRED.

But I am going to blog about today's outfit now because once I wake up in not that many hours I am going to WORK WORK WORK until my eyeballs fall out of my face. Or rather, until I have to go to my friend Jenny's for "Friend Thanksgiving," which is, it will surprise no one to know, a Thanksgiving meal with friends.

Anyway, no one saw this outfit that I wore today because I only wore it to go to the mall. I didn't even want to go to the mall because of the insane amount of work I have to do, but my mom decided over Thanksgiving that I need new shoes for Lacey's wedding, and we saw some cute ones at Nine West and since they were having a 30% off sale this weekend, I had to go pick them up (HAD TO). I would show you all a picture but Nine West apparently doesn't want to sell these shoes on their website. RIGHT. But the point is, you don't need to remove your coat to try on shoes.


Remember when I was all, "Oh, dressing nicely without a clean pair of jeans is soooo easy?" Well, I lied. It was retardedly hard to pick out an outfit today and for the love of God I am totally doing laundry tomorrow.

What I like about this outfit:
- blue is my favorite color
- these pants are a cross between sweatpants and work-appropriate pants and they are super comfortable
- that shirt has a hoodie-esque pocket in the front which is probably not supposed to be a pocket but I use it as one anyway. LOVE.

What I don't like about this outfit:
- it's more suited for the office than for a trip to the mall
- the "pocket" part of the shirt comes up to the collar and pretty much weighs the collar of the shirt WAY down to uncomfortable levels. So maybe it's better I had a coat on.

Overall grade: If I were going for the business casual look I'd give it an A- because it's simple and easy, but for shoe shopping I give it at B+.

Oh and in case anyone cares, I spent most of the day at my catering job, where I'm told what to wear. So it's not that I only left the house for an hour today to buy some shoes, but that most of the time I was out I couldn't dress how I would have wanted to. Just saying, I HAVE A LIFE. Sort of.

Day 5: ugly sweater party

That's right, you heard me. UGLY SWEATER PARTY.

Last night we had a singles mixer between my MBA program and the MBA program of the school down the street with a similar name who people sometimes confuse with my school and which, at the time I started grad school, had an inferior MBA program but since MY school tanked in the U.S. News and World Report rankings last year they have since jumped ahead of us.

Anyway, and there was an ugly sweater theme. It was pretty great.

So here is my outfit:
And HERE is my outfit with my ugly sweater:

HOW GREAT IS THAT SWEATER? Pretty great. I'm going to go out and say that I might have had the ugliest sweater at the party. I win the nonexistent prize!

Anyway, I am rocking the skirt and boots yet again. Because I still haven't done laundry and my good jeans are sitting in my hamper. But you know what? I've still made it work, yo. And there is pretty much nothing I don't like about this outfit, with or without the sweater. It's flattering AND comfortable AND cute. So, my grade today (yesterday) is an A. Boo. Yah.

And in case anyone is interested, going without soda has been pretty easy thus far. Though I realize there are many days left in December. Dun dun DUN.

Day 4: smelly but pretty

I had to go to work this morning, and when I got home I had about enough time to watch last night's episode of Glee, throw on some clothes and run out the door. So I smell a little bit and I'm not looking my finest, but I think none of you will argue with the fact that Glee takes precedence over showers or makeup or...well, anything else.

So here we are on day 4:
It's a pretty dress, leggings, and flats. And since Lacey advised that I start taking pictures of shit instead of being like "I'm also wearing this thing that you can't see," here are my shoes:

Also, this dress has super cute ruffles! See? Sort of?

And of course my lovely Michal Negrin necklace that I purchased in the mother land, Israel.

What I like about this outfit:
- the dress. So cute.
- I love wearing dresses and leggings in general

What I don't like about this outfit:
- yet again, it's very dark. It needs something else. A belt, mayhaps? When I tried the dress on with jeans at the store my mom went crazy and said it was super great and I had to buy it. Jeans would help it not look so dark AND the dress might be more flattering that way
- hair in a ponytail does not constitute looking nice, at least when it concerns me. But hair down after working wouldn't fly

So, while I am super excited about this dress because it was THE dress that started this whole thing, I'm not lovingggggg my outfit. It's not messy, which is the point of this challenge, but it lacks pizzazz. Overall grade: B+

A different anniversary

Today is the 10th anniversary of when I got my knee surgery.

I have no idea why I remember things like this yet I can't tell you what happened in the last book I read, but there you have it.

For 10 years I've had a pretty big scar on my knee that for a few months caused me to be pretty self-conscious. After another few months I grew into accepting the scar, and now I flat out just don't notice it until people point it out and ask me about it (which, for the record, I am totally cool with). I do notice other peoples' scars, though, and then we bond over being ACL buddies. 4life.

When the surgeon went in to repair my torn ligament, he saw that the cartilage was so messed up that it was beyond repair. And so he took it out. I now have no cartilage in my right knee, which means I am strictly forbidden from running and taking stairs unless I want to have arthritis at 30. I don't. This, along with the fact that there is a tiny spot on my knee that never regained feeling after the operation, and the thankfully very rare bout of pain, are really the only ways in which the surgery affected me. So hip hip to that. Plus, I like to think that the scar gives me character.

If I'm going to have an "injury" for 10 years (as I am forever saying I have a bad knee, because it's sort of, kind of technically true), this is a pretty good one to have.

And in case anyone cares, I tore my ACL doing hurdles at a high school track meet. After I hobbled off the track, I started crying. Not from the pain, but because I was in the lead when I fell and I would have won. Not that it really mattered, since even though I had only competed in one meet, I did well enough (i.e. I came in first out of all 3 schools competing) that I still lettered in track that year. God I'm awesome.

Day 3

People, I flat ironed my hair today (and did my makeup, again)! Do you know how often I flat iron my hair? Almost never. But I did it for the sake of looking nice. Because I mean business.

Here I am!


Man, people just stumbling on this blog are probably like "Wow, this girl loves taking pictures of herself in front of her 2 closets." Yes, I have 2 closets. Suck it, everyone.

Anyway, this outfit is pretty simple but still looks nice because it involves nice looking clothes and not ripped jeans or sneakers (pumps, again. I really need to figure out how to get my shoes in there).

What I like about this outfit:
- it's a little more sophisticated than what I normally wear
- my earrings (again, you can't see them, SORRY I SUCK) are a subtle but sort of elegant touch
- it's easy and doesn't involve too many pieces. I hate layers.

What I don't like about this outfit:
- this cute cowel (cowell?) neck sweater from ATL doesn't photograph that well and looks kind of lumpy and bumpy here
- pants could fit better
- it's a good staple outfit, but not exciting

Overall grade: A-/B+ (I can't decide, and since my professors split grades all the time I figure I can too, damnit)

Superawesome giveaway!

If you don't subscribe to Fantabulously Frugal, you are probably living under a rock. Through this website I've gotten tons of freebies, coupons, and other glorious cheap and/or free things (and if I had more money, it would have been much, much more).

Well, Fantabulously Frugal is now hosting a RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME GIVEAWAY!


I can't even begin to name how much stuff is being given away. Go check it out for yourselves. And enter, of course (except don't, because I want this stuff for myself). However, if you DO enter, don't forget to say who sent you. =)

Seriously, who doesn't love free things?

Day 2: this is f'ing time consuming as all hell

Seriously, trying to look nice takes a ridiculous amount of time! It's a good thing the grocery store doesn't care if I go late because I definitely left the house waaaaay later than I expected I would. Anyway, here is day 2:


This outfit took me FOREVER to put together considering how unexciting it is. I put on a bunch of different skirts and sweaters and tanktops and GOOD LORD.

What I like about this outfit:
- a bit brighter than yesterday's outfit, which was pretty dark
- I really love these boots (even though you, my friends, can't see them)
- I like headbands because they allow me to still keep my hair down but spruces things up a bit
- generally pretty flattering, as it hides the things that need to be hidden

What I don't like about this outfit:
- my headband (which is black and sparkly) doesn't really match
- this outfit is kind of plain Jane (the accessories, which you also can't really see, help a lot though)
- in theory this outfit isn't weather appropriate, but my knees didn't seem to mind the cold when I went out

Anyway, I yet again applaud my own effort because I wore this outfit to get a manicure and to go grocery shopping. As in, when I'm wearing a coat (though I took off my coat during my manicure just so SOMEONE would see my outfit). And because I realized that hardly anyone would see this outfit yet I still wanted to look decent, I actually put makeup on! This is unheard of in my life. But here, proof:


This is actually the first time that I used eyeliner only on my top lid, I guess in my attempt to look more like a person running errands and less like a person headed out to da club. I kind of dig it. But overall I actually really like how my makeup looks and GOOD GOD I LOVE MY RED HAIR SO MUCH I WANT TO MARRY IT.

Also, just to show that I can still look cute even with a coat on:


I think the skirt and boots look lovely with the pea coat. Also, I think it's awesome that the picture frame behind me makes it look like I have horns. Or cat ears, or something. Meow.

Anyway, I am much more pleased with this outfit than I originally thought I would be. Overall grade: A-

Don't dress like a mess challenge, day 1

This challenge is off to a rough start. I was all set to get ready for class when I realized that the jeans I wanted to wear were in the wash. Cue momentary panic, and throwing together a new outfit.

So here is today's outfit:

People often tell me that I'm photogenic but this here is proof that that is false. At least some of the time.

Anyway, here are the things I like about this outfit:
- cute pumps (that you can't see)
- fun ruffley tanktop
- stylish and weather-appropriate trench coat (that you can see on the bed)

Here is what I don't like about this outfit:
- would have been better with regular jeans (these are capris) but I only have one pair of regular jeans without ripped bottoms
- also, these jeans are not flattering
- you look stupid wearing heels when it's raining
- I had an awesome ring on that I took off to put crap in my hair, and forgot to put it back on
- my hair looks like a rat's nest
- this tanktop has a built-in bra that I always forget to cut out, and it makes the shirt slip down revealing my actual bra, which is not put together or classy or anything like it
- this shirt is too low cut for class

I applaud myself for effort though because I repainted my chipping nail polish just so that it would look nice. And I resolved to wear real coats instead of my North Face jacket all week. And I changed outfits a ton of times and got to school later than I had intended (but still on time, thankfully).

Overall grade: B. I'm tempted to give it a B+ but I'm leaving room for what will hopefully be marked improvement.

Bloggers are fiesty!

For real. P is all on my top of my shit in response to my last post being like, "Bowling is nice but wtf were you GOING to blog about?" and Erica was all, "What happened with that hot guy in your class?" You guys don't miss anything. Hot damn.

Actually, I love people for keeping me in line, though I totally WAS going to write the intended blog post from before. But before I do that, the hot guy update.

Friends, class last week went almost EXACTLY how I said it would. I walked into class, and as I approached my seat, I made a light-hearted comment to hot guy about the fact that he was clearly doing reading at 6:59 that was due at 7:00. He put the reading down to talk to me, and we chatted for a few minutes before class started. I filled him in on what he had missed the week before (nothing), and he told me why he missed class (corporate luxury box at the Celtics game). Then class started. Then class ended. And we both left. The end.

Anywayyyy. What I was GOING to post about before is that I am instituting not one, but TWO "see if you can do something for x amount of days" challenges into my life. Both came about separately but I'm going to be doing them sort of simultaneously.

NUMBER ONE.

No soda for the month of December. This actually started out as "no Diet Coke for the month of December" since that's mostly all the soda I drink, but I don't want to cheat and allow myself Diet. Dr. Pepper (which I do have on occasion) and think it's okay. I don't actually think I drink an obscene amount of the delicious DC but I definitely drink more than I used to and I will NOT get addicted to caffeine. And no, I'm not planning on taking up coffee instead, cheater mccheatsalots out there. This is something I've been thinking about for a month or 2, and now is that time to make it happen. Will I make it through? I doubt it, but I'll give it a try.

NUMBER TWO.

I am going to NOT dress like a hot messy mess for 7 days. Starting tomorrow. If I leave the house, I WILL make effort to have some kind of outfit that looks put together. Except when I leave to go to the gym. Gym clothes are gym clothes, people. I will hopefully take pictures of my outfits and post them here. This challenge is going to be particularly hard because a) I have no idea how to put together a cute outfit, b) as I mentioned once before, I walk to school and sneakers do not generally constitute a nice outfit, and c) I do not have any pairs of jeans (or other pants, actually) that fit properly because they are all too big. So if 6 of my 7 outfits involve skirts and flat boots, then...whatever, it counts. Despite these setbacks, I will prevail! Maybe. Hopefully. Also, I realized that I think some bloggers have already attempted this challenge once upon a time? I wonder how that went. Anyhoo. This challenge came about when I used my ATL (Ann Taylor Loft, yo) gift card yesterday to buy THE CUTEST DRESS OF ALL TIME THAT I COULD WEAR OVER JEANS IF I HAD JEANS WITHOUT BUTT SAG.

I shall keep everyone posted on my progress on both fronts. And I know that if I don't, some of you out there will crack the whip and remind me. =)

Reliving high school

Thanksgiving was lovely. That's about all the recap you're going to get, because while it was simultaneously fun, relaxing, productive and boring, no one cares about the details. Not even me.

WAIT, THAT IS A LIE.

Last night I went bowling. I went with 2 of my high school friends (Elyse, since I know you're going to ask me, I went with Hsin and Devika. Everyone else, sorry for the aside about people you don't know) to a place we used to go to in high school because for real there is NOTHING ELSE to do as a teenager in New Jersey. It was awesome. I freaking love bowling, especially when it's all crazy laser light bowling. And when you put in nicknames instead of your real names (last night was Airface, D-Dawg, and Hsinbad the Sailor, which I'm pretty sure are the same ones we used in high school too) Clearly Saturday nights in the Jerz have not improved that much. ANYWAY.

The last time I went bowling was in St. Petersburg, Russia back on my awesome school trip in May. And while there I got my best score EVER.


Do you see that? 152! That's ca-raaaaaazy (please ignore the 87 I got in the first game). The only person out of the entire trip to beat that score was my friend Kristin, who as you can see from this lovely picture, got a 155 in her first game. We were quite proud of our achievements, and I rubbed our 150s in the face of a male classmate who spent most of the bus ride to the bowling alley talking about how he was probably going to bowl a 160 or 170 and how men are always better bowlers than women. Did he break 100 in either game? NAY.

Anyway, I was hoping to continue my streak of bowling awesomeness last night, but it was not meant to be. In fact, I missed my Russia score by almost 100 pins, coming in at a lovely 55. Oops.

Oh, and now I don't even feel like posting about what I was originally going to post about. Hrmmm, maybe later.

Reflected Best Self

About a month ago, I had to do an assignment for school called the Reflected Best Self. I had to poll a number of people in my life, from friends to family to coworkers, and ask them to tell me about a time when I was "at my best." They were supposed to provide a general category of something I do well, i.e. "you have good time management skills," and then a specific example. I then compiled the feedback into themes, and wrote a paper which essentially presented a portrait of myself at my best, and then talked about how this reflects ways I could improve as a leader, specific career situations where I would thrive, and so on.

It sounds like a totally soft, bogus assignment, but it has actually been proven to help even senior executives both in structuring their jobs and figuring out generally the kind of work they should be doing.

Collecting feedback was really interesting, and it was fun listening to the anecdotes people told and hearing what the people closest to me liked best about me. It was, of course, a nice ego boost as well, as people essentially sent me emails about why I'm awesome. And even though everyone already knows that I'm wonderful and great, here is some info that I collected about what makes me great.

I am HONEST.
While I am well aware that I am brutally honest, I was surprised that so many people seemed to appreciate this quality about me since I often tell people things they don't want to hear. But when people said I can be relied upon for "a good kick in the head when needed," and that "you always offer your unadulterated opinion and it's usually the right one," it only reinforced the fact that I will never ever stop telling people what I think. Because everyone needs the voice of honesty sometimes.

I am a good COMMUNICATOR.
The comments here ranged from the quality of my writing (to those of you who wrote that my blog is well-written - thanks! But due to the circumstances of last semester I'm keeping blog and school separate so I couldn't use your feedback) to the fact that I respond to emails in a timely way, to the fact that I am "able to command attention in a room of hundreds of people." Again, since blogging, emailing and public speaking are all things I love to do...no big surprises. But I was still really floored to see these things mentioned as they are all important to me.

I am FUN and SILLY.
The stories that came along with this one were amazing. I was reminded of a time when my wifer and I walked 60 blocks during the MTA transit strike just to get margaritas, how I was "integral" to the fun my friends and I had on the cruise we went on 3 years ago (AKA I was a sloppy, drunken mess who had 2 guys licking vodka off my pants, thanks again for that feedback but I also opted to leave that out of the paper), and how I always find joy in small things, like ice cream and pictures of cute puppies.

I won't go into the other feedback I received because there was a LOT of it, but when I grouped it into categories the others one I had were: Dedication, Intelligence, Level-headed, Multi-tasking, Leadership, Reliable, Selfless, Team Player. So, needless to say, I was really overcome with "aww"s at all the wonderful things people had to say about me.

This exercise was also an interesting lesson in seeing who comes through and who doesn't when asked for a favor. Some people responded to my request for feedback right away. Some people responded right after my second request. Some people responded after I submitted my paper. I appreciate all of these, even the late ones. Some people, despite my 2 emails asking for information, never even acknowledged that I asked for anything. Since I can say with 100% certainty that I would have done this thoroughly and thoughtfully had someone else asked me to help out, this really showed me who gives a crap and who doesn't, and I definitely have a mental note as to who I won't be going out of my way to do favors for in the future.

If anyone for whatever reason wants to conduct their own Reflected Best Self assessment, shoot me an email and I'll send you the instructions. Definitely an introspective assignment worth the time and effort.

Nerd goals

Ever since I discovered that my roommate received the first 5 Harry Potter DVDs for her birthday, an idea has been brewing in my head. And I don't think it'll go away until I make it a reality.

My wonderful idea?

HARRY POTTER MOVIE MARATHON!

That's right. I am going to wake up early and watch ALL. FIVE. MOVIES. In one day. It's going to be glorious. I'm not sure when exactly this is going to happen, because I have to find a magical day where I have 14 or so free hours, but I'm thinking after all my final papers and powerpoints and presentations (oh my!) are done, I'm going to do it.

A lot of preparation has to go into this. I need to select the perfect cozy outfit, make sure my Slanket is up to the task, and select some delicious snacks.

I cannot wait. NERD. GASM. To the max.

Another thing I can't wait for? Thanksgiving! A weekend of family and my dog and yummy food and high school friends and maybe even putting a dent in that massive amount of schoolwork I have.

I'm not a playa, I just crush a lot (unfortunately)

Dear hot guy from my class,

I don't understand you. You gchatted me last week even though we are by no means friends, or even really acquaintances. You told me to tell our teammates you weren't going to be in class that night. I thought that was the end.

Today you gchatted me again solely to make fun of our project. I was excited that you initiated conversation when you really didn't have to. But after a minute or so, you stopped responding. What gives?

Hot guy, I just want you to know that it is ON. Like Donkey f'ing Kong. When I see you in class later this week, I will have my A game with me. This means several things:

1) I will only look like kind of a slob instead of a total slob. Let's not pretend that I'm going to put makeup on, because we both know that won't happen. But I might wear pants that don't have supremely ripped hems, or some kind of shoes that aren't sneakers (okay, probably not, I walk to school. Hope you find Pumas sexy!), and maybe a cute shirt that shows just the right amount of class-appropriate cleavage. Hopefully without stains, but no guarantees.

2) I will walk in, smile my award-winning grin (I was runner up for Best Smile superlative in high school, bitches!), and say "Hey." Then I will sit down, make a comment about how you were lucky you missed class last week. Then I will express how uninterested I am in the final project topic that our teammates selected for us. You will agree. We will laugh. I may make a comment about how our other teammate smells.

At this point, class will start. Realistically, we will probably not talk the rest of the 2.5 hours, except if we both stay in the room during the break and I desperately come up with something to say to you and I do it but it inevitably does NOT result in a real conversation, and I will walk home after class wondering what I could have done better, pushing away the nagging thoughts of "You idiot, you could have done ANYTHING better by maybe EXPRESSING ANY KIND OF INTEREST ASIDE FROM WRITING HIM A PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE LETTER IN YOUR BLOG" that will come from the smarter side of my brain.

But no matter. Maybe you'll find a reason to gchat me again soon, and the cycle will repeat. Regardless, I look forward to seeing what Wednesday brings.

Arielle

One step closer to full mermaid status

This year for Halloween I decided on the pathetically obvious yet somehow not-previously-done-in-my-26-years costume of...the Little Mermaid.

BOO. YAH.

I know, it took me that long to come up with this for a costume idea? Lame.

I got a lot of positive feedback about the red hair (which was a wig, obvi), and since I've been a redhead before and loved it, I decided to retake the plunge.

From this (okay, my hair was a little blonder than that, but it's pretty close):
To this:

DON'T YOU LOVE IT??

Actually, I don't even care if you love it. Because I do. Being a redhead is a tad more unique than being a blonde, and I haven't had red hair in awhile and I missed it. And the best part, obviously, is that I am oh so much closer to actually being the Little Mermaid. All I need is to learn how to sing. And get a fin. And Prince Eric GOOD GOD WHERE ARE YOU? (Hottest Disney prince ever, in my opinion).

I have no game, part 28234

Recently, Jess posted or tweeted or somethinged about a hot guy moving in next door to her. And then she was excited because he left her a note asking her to call him because he had some questions about the building. And she called, and it turns out, he actually had building questions. She was sad.

I could totally relate to this because seeing as I have no game, I would not, in any way, shape or form, have been able to turn that situation to my favor. Hot guy would have asked me his questions and that would have been it (which I think is where it stands now with Jess..?).

A few weeks ago, I realized that the guy who sits in front of me in class is awesome. We were both totally jaded about the dumb group activity we were doing, and our making fun of it somehow turned into swapping drinking stories and realizing that we have a lot in common. This was the first time I had ever really spoken to him, and getting to look at his face as opposed to the back of his head made me realize that, if he shaved off his beard, he'd be hot. Hottie hot hot.

Today, I was extremely surprised when a gchat from him popped up on my screen. He had some snide remarks about the paper due in class tonight. I was pretty pumped that he had gchatted me for seemingly no reason at all.

Until, of course, he told me he wasn't going to make it to class tonight, and would I please let the rest of our group know if we got together to chat about our final project?

Blarg. The conversation didn't last too much longer after that. We hated on class some more, and then...just stopped talking.

And now I have to go to class without the hope of getting to talk to my new hot friend, and instead, I will have to suffice with the extremely smelly kid who sits next to me.

Failure.

The proper usage of the STRIKE

Look, friends. I've seen some atrocities in blogland recently and I CAN'T TAKE THE HORROR ANYMORE.

People need to learn the proper usage of the strike. You know. THE STRIKE.

Since I invented the strike back in college (many of you will disagree with this, but I care not), I am the perfect person to tell you all how to properly use it. SPREAD THE WORD. I will not tolerate incorrect strikages any longer.

The first common strike mistake is striking out the wrong word. When the truth is something unfortunate and you want to pretend to cover it up, it becomes amusing. If you cross out the fake word and NOT the real word, the humor is gone. Example:

The dessert was an assortment of different flavored miniature tarts. They were so freaking amazing that I ate two eighty-six.

See? Not funny.

The second common strike mistake is striking out the word and then not inserting the fake word at all. This is just flat out stupid because then what the hell are you striking for? NOTHING, I SAY. Look:

The dessert was an assortment of different flavored miniature tarts. They were so freaking amazing that I ate eighty-six.

Dumb. Pointless strike.

Here, my friends, is how that sentence should appear:

The dessert was an assortment of different flavored miniature tarts. They were so freaking amazing that I ate eighty-six two.

See? It is evident here that I actually ate eighty-six tarts (this sentence is clearly based in reality, and while I didn't count actual tarts consumed, it was probably pretty close to that number) but since I know that 86 is too many, I'm going to pretend I only ate 2. But we all know that no one can eat just 2 tiny delicious tarts (a post about my catering job and the delicious food that comes with it is forthcoming).

And there you have it. How to use the strike. Use it well, bloggies. Use it well.

Mmm...cheese

I talk to my friend Crapface on gchat for approximately 16 hours a day. There have been many occasions in which I have contemplated posting our gchats because Crapface is awesome. However, I hate reading other peoples' gchats and have never read anyone's convo on any blog (except this one) and been amused. However, I'm going to start posting some awesome excerpts because this is my blog and I want these preserved, damnit.

And here begins, Conversations with Crapface. I have edited out irrelevant parts.

Crapface: i wish i had string cheese
Arielle: i have string cheese!
Crapface: IF ONLY WE WERE TOGETHER
Arielle: the possibilities!
Crapface: i would also settle for some of those round little babybel cheeses in the red wax
Arielle: ooh yum
Crapface: any sort of small cheese product
Arielle: the tiniest cheese of all time
Crapface: tiny cheese, giant cheese!
Crapface: any kind of cheese!
Crapface: soft cheese, hard cheese!
Crapface: one cheese two cheese
Crapface: red cheese blue cheese!
Arielle: i do not like green eggs and ham, i do not like them BECAUSE THEY AREN'T CHEESE
Arielle: um
Crapface: hahahahaha
Arielle: failed
Crapface: that was well done
Crapface: did your elementary school try to feed you guys green eggs and ham?
Arielle: no, my elementary school was jewish
Crapface: mine did, and i refused
Crapface: i remember it being slightly traumatic
Crapface: i don't like eggs!
Crapface: i don't like them in a box
Crapface: i don't like them with a fox
Arielle: i don't like them either, actually
Arielle: i don't like them in the air
Arielle: i don't like them in my underwear
Arielle: ew
Arielle: that came out wrong