95. Coffee

I just had to run a quick search through the blog because I could not believe that I hadn't written about coffee yet!

Soooo ... I have a coffee problem. I guess it's somewhat under control right now but no one will ever know how much I drank per day in the weeks leading up to finals.

I drink my coffee black, and usually with a sprinkle of cinnamon! One time an acquaintance saw me drinking black coffee in the dining hall at college and she said, "Wow, how mature of you!" Truth.

And I LOVE iced coffee. Incomplete without soy milk and this:

True love

It's a necessity. Just do it. Best sipped from a Tervis tumbler but a glass from the Bulldog works as well.

I chose not to document the other side. This is the famous "I Heart Farts" glass - a classic!

Related is also my love of coffee shops. (Throwback to the fabulous ladies of the Facebook group 'I Live Life at Coffee Shops'). Now most of the time I go to coffee shops is to hit the books when I get sick of the library (and my brain is throbbing from lack of caffeine) but man I miss the days when we, well, we lived life at coffee shops! PJ's back patio was the place to hang on Fridays after school, and studying for math tests at CC's with my calculus partner in crime and pal, Hannah, were basically the best ever.

I feel like I read an article about yet another study every week on the health benefits of coffee. But it isn't the lowered risks of strokes Alzheimer's and increased levels of concentration* that reels me in. It's the smoky aroma and the strong taste and yes, the fact that I am not fully awake without it.

Coffee rules!

*Can't remember if these are true. But coffee DOES have a ton of health benefits. Coffee. Not grande whip mochas. Just fyi.

94. Sunglasses

I think about 60 percent of the reason I got bangs again after they'd all but grown out is how effortlessly cool I think I look when I use my sunglasses as a headband.

Whether I actually look cool or not is still to be decided but let's just play pretend here.

Top reasons I love sunglasses:
1. Their aforementioned use as a headband. Using an actual headband just isn't the same.
2. Keeping the sun out of my eyes - aka what they're actually designed for. It is seriously painful to be without them sometimes and also driving can be somewhat dangerous.
3. The cool factor. OK so maybe I'm wrong and I look like a dork with the whole headband thing but you cannot deny that the general public looks a lot cooler wearing sunglasses.

And the final reason I love wearing sunglasses:
I don't have to worry about making my squinty fasian eyes look acceptable to the rest of the world. Way too much effort in my opinion.

I wear cheapie ones from Target but I am afraid they're about to bite the dust. Every new pair of sunglasses I swear up and down I'll keep them in their case when I'm not wearing them and every time my laziness wins over about a week later and I just shove 'em in my purse. Oopie.

Quasi-upside down smile. But aren't the sunglasses purty? 

93. Statement Necklaces

LuAnn, the Countess, from the Real Housewives of NYC, confesses to wearing large jewelry when she's feeling moody.

Sing it, sister. I've warded off plenty a blue mood with big baubles. But I wear loud jewelry when I'm happy! And just so-so. Heck, nine days out of ten call for a lil' sumthin-sumthin 'round my neck.

I'm a convert. I've gone from believing that all necklaces looked weird on me to feeling incomplete without one.

I think I may have an addiction. Just a slight one. 

Also, they never fail to earn me a compliment or three, but that's just a bonus to the awesome- and glam-ness that is the statement necklace.

all the single ladies

"If you are single, after graduation, there isn't one occasion where people celebrate you." 
Says Carrie Bradshaw in one of my favorite Sex and the City episodes, 'A Woman's Right to Shoes.'

Charlotte quickly chimes in with the mention of birthdays! And Carrie says but that's not about you as a single girl. And she's right. As we get older, birthdays become less and less of a big deal. And that's really OK. As long as I get some form of cake and enough Facebook wall posts exclaiming Happy Birthday!! I'm really justified.

But when you are a couple - there are so many occasions where it is about you. You and only you. And by you I mean you and your partner, of course. Not that I've had much experience with all of this, but I've seen enough TV shows, and read enough random blogs, and I know it to be true.

Yesterday, I came upon an absolutely ridiculous idea. Make my relationship status on Facebook 'single' (it had previously been nothing) and see if I could garner some 'likes.' Obviously I would never get as many as when people get into a relationship, with the humongous couple photo, but I want people to celebrate ME. The me that is single, and frankly nowhere near being in a relationship, and who is OK with that.

Yes, I would love to be a part of a couple. I do believe in monogamy and yes I have dreams as big as any romantic comedy.

But that isn't my life right now. And as Nora Ephron (rest in peace) once said:
"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim."  


Yes, yes a thousand times yes. Why mope when there are huge necklaces to wear, and cupcakes to bake, and margaritas to drink and friends to laugh with and yourself to be happy with?

I'm trying my hardest not to be bitter when I see pictures of cute couples on Facebook, and walking down the street and just living their lives because let's face it, people are penguins in that we are drawn to each other. We all want a partner, but there are some of us who will put our life on hold until he waltzes in. Life is too short. And I have a lot of jewelry to wear.

Why you gotta be so mean?

Anyone remember back in the Livejournal days when you'd make the title of your post a lyric from something that you were listening to? Or did I just make that up?

OK I promise my favorite things are coming back ... but I don't think anyone is reading this thing so no real need to apologize eh?

So last week I wrote about some things that I was looking forward to in order to lift me out of a funk. It worked ... for about three minutes. But I'm going to try again. This week, I am looking forward to:

- My daddy *hopefully* taking me out to lunch here
- Wearing a new statement necklace - a J.Crew bubble necklace knock-off woohooooo!
- Seeing Rock of Ages with Margie and Jowa. Should be cheesy and amazing.
- Going to Happy Hour at American Sector. I've been perusing the drink menu and it'll be hard to decide, it all sounds so good. Leaning toward a Moscow Mule - never had one!
- Finally getting around to watching my DVR-ed episode of Sunday's episode of Girls. So sad it's the season finale though. I've become obsessed.

So this vodka makes me very happy :) (Hi Mom)

A lot of awesome

OK, so this isn't one favorite thing. But today was kind of a downer, despite having a lovely smoked salmon salad at lunch with a lovely friend, and drinking this surprisingly lovely glass of flat champagne while watching the Wonder Years on Netflix ... so I'm trying to see the glass as half full.

Some awesome things to look forward to:
- I have a near empty jar of peanut butter just waiting for oats in a jar tomorrow.
- Free yoga tomorrow night!
- One of my besties will be back in town for the weekend and I can't wait to see her.
- A new yummy smelling body scrub my mom bought for me
- Riding the streetcar to work tomorrow. I've been doing this every once in awhile and I didn't think I'd like it as much as I do. Quite the treat, just for $1.25

Well can't think of much more off the top of my head right now.

So that is a picture of my cat, enjoying the sun. He is a pain in my behind but he makes me happy :) Have a happy Thursday!

92. Cultural Judaism

I am half Jewish/half Christian. Yes, that's a thing. My mother is Christian and my dad is Jewish. We celebrate Christmas (but not the birth of Jesus) and sometimes Hanukkah. I don't do Easter (except Reese's eggs because all seasonal Reese's are reason enough for a holiday) and haven't been to a Passover Seder in years. And never have I actually kept Passover, although I do love charoset and matzoh.

But when I'm asked what religion I am, just to make things less complicated, I say Jewish. But what I mean is that I'm technically culturally Jewish.

I don't necessarily believe in what the Torah says, but what I do believe in is lox and bagels.

I'm proud to share a religion with such famous members of the Tribe as Jerry Seinfeld. Adam Brody/Seth Cohen. Natalie Portman. Winona Ryder. The Stillers! And don't forget - Jesus was a Jew.

It's difficult to articulate exactly why it is that I love being culturally Jewish. But I'm sure there is a Yiddish phrase out there that can explain it ... until I figure that out I will continue to kvetch and schlep and connect on a higher level with Larry David while watching 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' re-runs like the cultural Jew I am.