Where I emulate a hibernating bear

My weekend went something like this:
Eat
Watch West Wing
Sleep
Shop
Have lunch with friend
Shovel
Wax
Discuss Live Bait (not a very good book club book)
Eat
Watch West Wing
Sleep
Attend church (worship would be a little strong... I mostly sat)
Meet friends for lunch
Go to coffeeshop and read
Watch Little House on the Prairie (the blizzard episode - one of my favorites!)
Nap
Watch Little House (the one where Carrie falls down the mine shaft!)
Build fire
Bake carrot cake
Eat
Watch West Wing

Notice the trend?

Anna and the wiley toothpaste cap

I lost another toothpaste cap to the sink drain. There is that moment of "nooooooooooo" when the cap slips from my fingers and spirals around the sink, disappearing swiftly into the dark abyss of the drain. I'm reading Anna Karenina, and when Anna arrives in Moscow on the train a man kills himself by throwing himself on the tracks, and she thinks, "BAD OMEN." I had the same thought as I swapped in a red cap from a trial-sized toothpaste - BAD OMEN... what will my day hold. Since I know how the books ends, having read it before, will I befall a similar fate to the paste cap and get sucked down the drain? Nooooooooooooooo!

Things that change when you get married, Vol. 1

You're no longer taking birth control, but practicing family planning.

You have to have gynecological exam only once every other year, because they finally believe you're monogamous.

Swish kick glide

I was soaring down snow-slick hills and waddling up inclines on Saturday, mind fully freed by the exertion, when the whomp-whomp of a helicopter registered in my brain in the way that passing thoughts do while you exercise. "Maybe they're filming people out enjoying the snow for the nightly news...," I mused, "And if they are... I hope that they don't catch me because boy am I skiing sloppily," ha ha ha... swish kick glide, swish kick glide.
Mom writes yesterday that she saw me on the news.

Chipotle is not Satan's spawn

I'm starting to realize that I'm a little outspoken and holier-then-thou at times. I occasionally find myself unable to contain my wrath for Chipotle and my disdain for the weekly devotion to many reality TV shows. I shudder at daily Lean Cuisine consumption, and turn my nose up at overly trendy or ugly clothing.
I realize that the number I friends I make with this attitude are far fewer than the number of friends I lose with this attitude.

Pink triangles

So I went to the pharmacy this morning at 10 because someone forgot to refill her prescription sooner than the day she absolutely needs its (actually, the she in question apparently threw away a month's worth of pills on a cleaning spree, forcing her to pay full price for a replacement. That will teach her not to clean). Later, I delved into the white paper sack for my headache pills, which I'd also picked up, only to find the name "Megan S****" written on top and one of the nine pills missing. Annoyed, having been to the pharmacy three times in the last two days, I called them to let them know what happened. "Sorry about that," the pharmistress said. "She can't afford to buy them all at once so we keep them for her." With shame, I remembered that the pills, a designer drug, are extremely expensive without insurance. How sad, and how fortunate I am.

Products I adore

1. Vitamin E salve
2. Origins ginger scrub
3. Body Shop nut body butter
4. Tom's of Maine toothpaste, gingermint or fennel (try their pastes once and you'll never go back)

Writing this list makes me realize that I have a surprisingly few products that I am devoted to. For instance, I have no life-altering shampoo, no must-have foundation, no the-perfect deodorant. I am ambivalent about my hair products!
Got a favorite? Let me know - share this gem with world.

Corporate lingo and trendy words that should be made obsolete

1. Touch base
2. Utilize (means to find a practical or profitable use for, not a ten-point synonym for use)
3. Robust (not technically wrong, just makes me feel icky)
4. Process (as in, who will process the mailing? An important-sounding word for the banal task of folding, stuffing, and labeling envelopes)
5. Sexy (still belongs in the bedroom or in reference to Hugh Grant in About a Boy or Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall, not to the new ad campaign)
6. Google (particularly used by those who just learned of Google or read about its use as a verb in a business magazine, except if they happen to be related to me - then it's charming)
7. Current (nearly always superfluous)
8. State-of-the-art or cutting-edge (whatever that means)
9. not Lingo or Trendy but any words such as Director and Company that are Capitalized Unnecessarily
10. "key" and "impact" (Thanks Professor Larson, for teaching me how vague words such as these deter us from our goal for precision).

P.S. I might, on certain occasions or in certain instances, use the following, but only with a slightly sarcastic edge: 3, 4, 5, 6, 8. Just so no one calls me a hypocrite.

Wisdom from the mouths of stars

"I just need one cup of coffee a day. I like to shower, but that became less important after I had a baby. It didn't fit into the schedule. But Matthew and I think about coffee when we're lying in bed. The night before, we're like, 'When we wake up we're going to have coffee, it's going to be great. I'm going to use the yellow cup, it'll be great.'"
Sarah Jessica Parker (quoted in Time)

Krissy and Michael and Lisi and Libby

I had a high school friend whose parents had chosen her and her sister's names because they couldn't be shortened (Vanessa and Heather). I thought that was a bit controlling at the time, but now that I'm adult and all the Krissys and Mikes of the world are reverting to being Kristines and Michaels... I'm finding myself much in favor of the not-traditionally-shortened name. I'm all for those people with nicknames who don't actually ever introduce themselves by their nickname (like a Kelly who is occasionally called Kel but would never adopt it as her own) but I think I'm going to take the controlling route. Besides, I would always fear that the child I named Elizabeth (which I do like) would choose a terrible nickname for herself like "Libby," and then where would I be. (The only acceptable derivations are Lisi and Lizbeth.)
Husband and I are not actually ready for children or particularly fond of them, but we do enjoy discussing names. Unfortunately his last name, with its back-of-the-throat velar sound and just one syllable, doesn't sound good with everything. As far as I can see, naming the child seems the best part, and the only interesting thing to amuse yourself with as you wait those nine (ten) months with your body held hostage.

Eats, shoots, and reads

Am on the annual super cleansing diet, which has required me to devote much more time to cooking, although I have tried out some very tasty recipes this week: Sweet Potato and Red Bean Curry, Eggplant Kibbeh (a Lebanese baked thing with a bulgur/chickpea crust), and Celery Root Coquettes (tasty little cakes made with millet), all courtesy of our favorite cookbook, Vegan Planet. I have rediscovered the vital connection between sugary fatty foods (especially of the dairy persuasion) and mood, however. I quickly plunge into crabby must-eat-now-but-cooking-this-dish-takes-two-hours tantrums when I arrive home at 5. But it is euphoric to be freed from the decision of whether or not to partake from the latest large gift basket of Ghirardelli goods from a print vendor at work.

Reading: Monkeewrench, a fun local mystery thriller that reminds me how much I like these type of novels; Can you keep a secret? a good book with a bad title by Sophie Kinsella that closely rivals Bridget Jones in hilarity without being an shoddy imitation, Found, that fun picture book of various stuff (mostly notes and letters) people have found and mailed into the author, and Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line, a book about the marketing and running of colleges.