Bear Tooth Theatrepub and Rancid

If I hadn't already written about snow days, I would have done it this week. Because school was canceled on Monday. Woohoo!

But I've already written about snow days, and while they are awesome, I don't think they deserve 2 posts. Moving on...

Sunday afternoon I went to see my favorite Christmas movie, White Christmas.

It was playing "on the big screen" at Bear Tooth Theatrepub. So pretty much it combined all my favorite things into one afternoon.

They call the Bear Tooth a theatrepub for a reason (although, I'm not sure why they don't spell it theaterpub...) It's exactly what it sounds like, a movie theater (or theatre, if you prefer) that serves beer and pizza DURING THE MOVIE. Amazing, right? It has regular movie theater seats, but they all have counter-style tables in front of them. You order your food, then servers bring it in during the movie.

Pure genius. You know what makes movies 10x more fun? Beer.

Hey punk fans, want to feel old? Time Bomb, this week's hot jam, was released 16 years ago. Tim Armstrong, Rancid's frontman is 46. My middle schoolers weren't alive when Time Bomb came out. Mind = blown

In all honesty, I always thought their name didn't fit their music. Rancid (the name, not the actual band) sounds more like a fake death metal band rather than a punk band with ska tendencies, but they didn't ask me. Granted, I was 5 when Rancid was formed, so I probably wouldn't have been their first choice for band-namer. Although, I was really into dinosaurs then so I probably would have picked Super Cool Triceratops or something, so maybe the shouldn't have overlooked me.

Time Bomb is everything a punk song should be: it's loud, fast, and short. And it has an organ solo. What more could you ask for? (I'm pretty sure all punk songs are short because the bands couldn't possibly keep up such a frantic pace for more than a couple minutes at a time. Time Bomb is just shy of 2 1/2 minutes.)

Tighten up those Doc Martens and check your mohawk...

Flagstaff, Mindy Kaling, and New Kids on the Block

I've lived a lot of places. (Alaska is my 6th state, and I'm starting to think about moving again.) One day I'll live somewhere permanently, maybe. But who knows when that will be.

One of my favorite places I've lived is Flagstaff, AZ.

I went to college at NAU (Go Jacks!) and I'm sure that's part of the reason I love Flagstaff; college was super fun. But I stayed around for a semester after I graduated working for the geology department and I loved it then too. Here are 5 of my favorite things about Flagstaff:

1. The peaks- The San Francisco Peaks are a left over stratrovolcano that would have been huge. You can see them from everywhere and they are beautiful.

2. Downtown- Downtown Flag has a good bar scene (as most college towns do), but it also has good shopping and restaurants and is a good way to waste an afternoon. In college on Friday afternoons, my friend Kali and I would often have Beer Friday. We'd head downtown in the afternoon, get a beer at Flag Brew and then window shop. Excellent start to the weekend.

This is actually from Hot Toddy Tuesday (which became Mojito Tuesday in warm weather) but Beer Friday looked a lot like this too.

3. Hippies- Flagstaff is FULL of hippies. (Coconino County is the only county that continuously votes democrat in elections) But what I like about it, is that it's liberal without hitting you over the head with it. (Most of the time)

4. Seasons - it has them. Flagstaff is at almost 7,000 feet, so unlike most of the rest of Arizona, it gets snow in the winter and it's not 1000000 degrees in the summer.

Fall in Flagstaff

5. Outdoor pursuits- I'm not even going to talk about the Grand Canyon because it's awesome and everyone knows it. But there is lots of other cool stuff too. Hiking, biking, climbing, rafting, patio drinking...

Enjoying the outdoors with my parents

Patio drinking: my favorite outdoor pursuit

Book Review Time!
I just finished Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling.

I knew I was in for a good read when I flipped to the back cover and found this:

I originally wanted to get it to read on my way to Nashville, but it was checked out. I'm really glad I didn't get it because I would have been that crazy person laughing to themselves on the plane. And nobody likes that person.

I like that it reads like something one of my sorority sisters could have written. It's approachable and real life-y. Yes she talks about living in New York and LA and going to awards shows, but it all seems so...normal. And amazingly funny. Good work, Mindy. Let's be best friends?

If you do the math, I'm too young to have been a New Kids on the Block fan. But lucky for me, my sister is 5 years older than me, so I was exposed to their wonder at young age. That sounds inappropriate, but let's go with it. We had shirts, pins, all the tapes, 2 videos, posters, even a sweater. (Yeah, like a sweater-sweater, not a sweatshirt.) I regret not having the sheets. I even got the Joey McIntyre doll as a gift one year. Joey McIntyre was, and is, my favorite. Because he's inarguably the cutest, duh.

This week's hot jam is Please Don't Go Girl. This song has everything a hot jam needs. Whispering/talking, the adorable Joey McIntyre singing lead, awesome 80's hats, microphone dancing, and only something like 12 words in the whole song.



Fun fact: If/When I get married my BFF Steven and I are dancing to this song. Weird? Probably. But it's happening. It will probably be choreographed.

Snow Days and Alvin Robinson/Old Crow Medicine Show

On Monday there was a vague hope of a snow day this week. There was a special weather statement and everything, suggest wind and rain and blizzard conditions.

Here in Alaska we never get snow days. The only way one will even be considered is if the buses can’t get around town or they can’t get the parking lots plowed in time for the start of school. Most of the time school is canceled because of ice, so I was excited when I saw rain and above freezing temperatures in the forecast.

The last time we had a snow day it looked like this. And school wasn't even canceled for snow. It was canceled because all the roads were like a hockey rink.

By Monday afternoon, however, the special weather statement was gone. The forecast was no longer reporting wind and rain (what’s up, global warming) and snow. There goes the hope for a snow day.

But this week is not about how disappointing it is to not get a snow day. It’s about how exciting it is when one actually happens.

Kids are not the only ones who hope for a snow day. It is just as exciting when you are a teacher. Who doesn’t want a day off in the middle of the week? Or even better a 3-(or 4!) day weekend! There is nothing quite like hearing, “All Anchorage public schools are closed today due to weather and road conditions” when your alarm goes off. I love going back to sleep knowing I don’t have a single thing to do that day. Don't get me wrong, I really like my job. I just like sleeping in more.

Bonus favorite thing!

For Thanksgiving I went down to Nashville and I got to meet this little guy for the first time!

His name is Barrett and he's my favorite (and only) nephew. Adorbs, right?

I had every intention of writing about Old Crow Medicine Show's version of Down Home Girl for this week's hot jam. It's the version I'm most familiar with and I love me some bluegrass. But while researching the song, I discovered that Down Home Girl has a long history. It was originally done by Alvin Robinson in 1964. It was later covered by The Rolling Stones in 1965, The Coasters in 1967, and most recently, Old Crow Medicine Show in 2006, just to name a few. It was apparently even adapted into a song called Forgive Me Jah by Super Cat.

Down Home Girl is sexy in a weird way. A lot of the lines sound like insults, but you can’t really be sure. “Every time I kiss you girl -”

“Oh,” you think, “ this could be good.”

Except the next line is, “You taste like pork and beans.” Weird, but maybe he’s into that?

Or “I’m going to take to you to the muddy river/And push you in…”

Hmm…that doesn’t sound very gentlemanly.

“So I can watch the water roll on down your velvet skin.” Oh, well I guess that isn’t so bad?

My favorite line is "Every time you move like that/I got to go to Sunday mass." So much better than the modern-day, "DAYUM girl, you's a good dancer!"

I'd never heard the original (being the B-side of a song I'd never heard of) and was pleasantly surprised to find it on YouTube. (Isn't the internet amazing?) Turns out I love the original. It's bluesy and awesome and sounds more...legitimate? then the covers. But I couldn't decide which version I liked better so you are getting both this week.

Teen Movies and Tupac

Most of the time Netflix thinks I'm a 60 year old gay man with small children. It suggests things like Columbo and Transamerican Love Story and Dora the Explorer. Yes, I realize the suggestions are based on what I watch, so maybe I'm a 60 year old gay man with small children on the inside, but that is totally beside the point.

Anyway, Netflix must have had a flash of genius the other day because I literally gasped with joy when I saw that Drive Me Crazy starring Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier was available for streaming (finally!)

This 1999 gem stars Melissa Joan Hart as a high school socialite and Adrian Grenier as her slacker-with-rebel-tendencies neighbor. They come up with a scam to get their respective love interests back, makeover ensues, and you can probably guess what happens in the end. (Spoiler: K-I-S-S-I-N-G)

I have a soft spot for teen comedies from the late 90's. They remind me of sleepovers and eating Warheads and giggling in somebody's basement. There is nothing quite like a middle school girls' slumber party.

This is actually from my going away party in 8th grade, not a sleepover, but it's what most of our sleepovers looked like too.

Teen movies have very few story lines: makeovers, modern-day Shakespeare remakes, prom, graduation. That about covers it. You know what to expect from teen movies, there are never plot twists.

You think, "Oh, I wonder if those two are going to get together?!" Are they the main characters? Is one a nerd and one in the popular crowd? Is the world trying to keep them apart? Then yes, yes they are. Cue the credits.

Teen movies are the cotton candy of the film world. Soft, airy, and fabulous. Sure, binges on teen movies would probably make you barf but a little never hurt anyone.

Keeping with the 90's theme, this week's hot jam is Changes by Tupac. Released posthumously in 1998, Changes is a Monster Ballad of the hip hop world; a little more radio-friendly, a little more accepted by the masses (and the Catholic church.), and a little less police violence. It address some serious issues and probably would have been used in some sort of Save the World celebrity fundraiser if it was released before Tupac was killed. Normally, I wouldn't consider any Save the World songs hot jams, but this one is by Tupac, and let's be honest, everything he did was a hot jam. Pour one out and turn it up.

Pumpkin and T.I.

Before I get into this week's favorite thing, I want to send a little message to the world. IT'S NOVEMBER.  It is NOT the Christmas season! Fall/Thanksgiving comes first! With that said, this week's favorite thing is everyone's favorite squash (gourd?), the pumpkin.

I promise not to go on a Bubba Gump-esque rant about the merits of pumpkin, but there are a lot of things you can do with them.

Here in Alaska we grow really big pumpkins.

I suspect a pumpkin that big wouldn't be good for eating, but a 1700 lbs pumpkin is impressive no matter what you do with it.

Pumpkins are so useful. I mean, they are decorative AND delicious. How many other foods can you say that about? Not many, that’s for sure.

Last night I made pumpkin ravioli. I meant to take a picture of it, but it was so delicious I ate it all before I remembered.

I used this recipe for the ravioli and this for the sauce if you are interested. It was super easy.

Let’s take a second to talk about pumpkin spice scented candles. How good do those smell, right? Pure olfactory heaven.

In conclusion, I love all things pumpkin and you should too.

Hip Hop/Rap videos fall into two categories: "Look how tough (maybe even tuff) I am! I have sooo many guns! I'm not even afraid to use them!" and "Look how hot I am! I have so much money! All these ladies loooooove me. Look how big their butts are!" T.I.'s Whatever You Like is the latter. It's classic hip hop royalty: expensive liquor, private jets, vacations in the tropics, 5 million dollar homes, etc. I'm not sure how or why that gives you street cred, but apparently it does. If T.I. told me I could have whatever I'd like, I'd probably ask for a crock pot.

Doctor Who and The Waitresses

I like a lot of nerdy stuff. I have two favorite scientists: Nikola Tesla and Niels Bohr, I’m looking for a good book about the Roanoke Island colony (if you know of any, please let me know), I want an SEM image for my kitchen wall, and I love Doctor Who.

For those who haven’t had the opportunity to watch this BBC show, it’s about a time traveling humanoid alien called The Doctor (no first or last name) who speeds around the time and space fighting aliens and saving civilization.

My favorite things about Doctor Who are:

1. David Tennant- the second incarnation of The Doctor (in the new series.) He’s adorable and he plays the bumbling Englishman perfectly. (Even though he is actually from Scotland, and in the show from the planet Gallifrey).

2. The effects- There are a lot of special effects in Doctor Who and none of them are particularly high tech. And that’s what I love about it. While I’ve never seen the original version of Doctor Who, I suspect it looks, effect-wise, exactly like the new one. The prosthetics are amazing, but they look like something out of sci-fi movie from the 70s. I like the effects for the same reason I prefer the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to the remake. I like that there is a TV studio somewhere with part of spaceship in it, and there is a room somewhere full of alien masks.CGI just isn't the same.

3. The TARDIS- The Doctor's means of time/space travel. It's made to look like a police phone box and it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside (Who needs physics?). I love that he doesn't use a flying saucer or an invisible jet (I'm looking at you, Wonder Woman). It's completely unassuming, much like The Doctor himself. And thanks to the TARDIS The Doctor and his companions can speak and understand alien languages.

I've always liked I Know What Boys Like by The Waitresses. It's a  sort of New Wave girl-power song. But I didn't really know anything about the band. I expected a sort of Blondie meets Flock of Seagulls type thing: sexy with weird hair. So I was surprised to find that The Waitresses were not only not a girl band but also utterly unsexy. Not unsexy in an "oh man, the 80s were not a flattery time for fashion" but in just general unsexiness. I guess you learn something new everyday.

Cooking, Erik Larson, and Pure Prairie League

I'm adding a new feature to a few of my favorite things this week, but I'll get to that.

In general, if it's between the hours of 5pm and 7pm, you'll find me like this:

Sometimes without the beer, sometimes bundled up in pants and sweatshirt, sometimes wearing a full apron, but you get the idea. I love cooking, more specifically, I love the science of cooking. I like seeing 5 seemingly random ingredients turn into something delicious. I like watching soup thicken after adding corn starch. I like feeling like a mad scientist when I'm mixing stuff up.

My favorite part of cooking is figuring out how to make something I've eaten at a restaurant. There are a lot of restaurant hack websites around if you are looking for something specific, but I mostly just mess around until I get it right. There is a restaurant in Flagstaff, AZ called MartAnne's. It's the best Mexican breakfast food you can get.Whenever I go, I get enchiladas y huevos. I had a giant craving for them, but being 3000 miles from Flagstaff, I had to make them myself. I found a super easy and delicious enchilada sauce recipe online and went to work. (If you are interested, it's here. I don't use flour, because it always gets thick enough without it. I also add a little cocoa.) And they turned out delicious!

New Feature!
I read a lot of books. Like a lot. Last year I read 50. I read all sorts of stuff; fiction, non fiction, short stories, biographies, etc etc etc, so I decided to add book reviews to my favorite things. Here's how it's going to work: If I'm reading/have recently read a good book I think other people might like, I'm just going to write a little about it and then maybe you'll want to read it too. Fun and informative

Right now I'm about half way through a book called The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson and it's excellent (so far).

It's an extremely well written book that combines the story of the architects of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago and America's first serial killer, H.H. Holmes.  The architects were using the fair to put the United States on the map, so to speak, and  H.H. Holmes was using the fair to lure young women to their death. In fact, it's so well written that I can only read it during the day because the parts about Holmes are so unsettling. Pardon the colloquialism, but H.H. Holmes was mad scary.

It's also full of interesting facts that I'm sure will come in handy if I'm ever on Jeopardy! For example, in the first 6 months of 1892, there were nearly 800 violent deaths in Chicago (e.g., deaths due to stabbings or shootings). That's about 4 per day! And that's not including deaths due carriage accidents, streetcar accidents, or any of the numerous maladies (typhoid, small pox, cholera) that plagued the city.

This week's hot jam is Amie by Pure Prairie League. A couple years ago I spent the summer in Jackson, WY. (Which is beautiful and amazing and one of my favorite places ever.) Every Tuesday at the Silver Dollar Bar in Jackson is bluegrass night and a band called One Ton Pig always plays.They play originals and covers and one cover that always seemed to come up was Amie. Which is fine with me because I love that song.



Sorry, I couldn't find a good live video.

First Snow and All American Rejects

According to the National Weather Service it's supposed to snow tomorrow morning. While I'm not looking forward AT ALL to driving to work, I'm still pretty excited about the snow.

Side Note- Anchorage sees approximately 6-8 months of snow every year. It starts snowing usually around Halloween and doesn't melt until May, sometimes June. So one would think that people, on average, would have a handle on winter driving. But for some reason, every year people forget how it works. It's like that pregnancy amnesia business. Anchorage residents seem to have winter amnesia (probably to keep us here year after year.) Winter amnesia causes people to turn into idiots the instant snow hits the ground. I'm sure I'll see at least one car in the ditch tomorrow morning. Hence my lack of excitement for my morning commute across town.

First snows always see so magical. Everything is so clean and white. (Unlike snow in February when everything is gross and grey.) Snow forces you to slow down. You can't be in a hurry when you can only drive 30 mph. You have to work a little harder and plan a little more, but I think it's worth it to see a fresh blanket of snow. It's like living in a Thomas Kinkade painting.

This past weekend I was in Talkeetna, AK celebrating two of my friends' birthdays.

Happy Birthday Jim and Michaela!

We woke up Sunday morning to Talkeetna's first snow. It was beautiful. Especially since we stayed in an adorable, cuddly warm cabin and got to eat bomb.com biscuits and gravy at The Roadhouse.

This week's hot jam is The Last Song by All American Rejects. Earlier this week I heard an AAR song on the radio. I hadn't heard one in awhile and it reminded me that I kind of totally love them. Sure, they don't have spectacularly deep lyrics or intricate chord progressions. But they are poppy and fun and sometimes that's what you want. In high school I was an AAR super fan. I saw them 6 or 8 times, and even met the band twice.

I nearly died.

The emo lyrics of The Last Song are covered up by a fun pop punk arrangement and a totally unrelated video and it's just as great as I remember it.

High Heels and The Turtles

As a sorority alumnae (TriDelta, represent) I've worn my fair share of high heels. Chapter meetings, brunches, formals, etc., all require fancy footwear, and assuming I don't have to stand for a million hours, I love wearing them. But I live in Alaska now and you are far more likely to see me in these.

While XtraTufs are far more comfortable, they aren't nearly as cute as these...

Things I like about high heels:

1. They automatically make your legs look fabulous.
2. They make you taller. At 5"4' sometimes I like to feel a little taller.
3. Heels + pencil skirt = sexy without trying
4. They are a little bit dangerous: step wrong and you've got a sprained ankle, wear them with the wrong skirt and you look like a hooker.
5. Nobody messes with a girl in heels

There is one reason I love Elenore by The Turtles: the line, "You're my pride and joy, et cetera." What other band successfully uses et cetera in a song lyric? You'd be hard pressed to find one. I had never seen The Turtles before I went looking for a video. I love that they look like used car salesman and that they have a very enthusiastic tambourine player. The Turtles are probably most famous for their song Happy Together but I like Elenore much better.

I love that The Turtles don't take themselves too seriously. They definitely could have; Happy Together knocked The Beatles' Penny Lane out of the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but they really just seem to be having a good time. (But I guess if one of your lead singers looks like this and occasionally calls himself "The Phlorescent Leech" you probably wouldn't take yourselves too seriously)

UFC and Nicki Minaj

Apologies for the late posting this week, life got busy.

I have a now-not-so-secret passion for UFC fights. They are always violent (obviously) and sometimes gory and I love them. Modern day (well paid) gladiators in an octagon: it's a train wreck and I can't stop staring. Which brings me to Wednesday's adventure.

Last week my friend Brinna mentioned that she served (as a waitress, of course) some of the fighters from Alaska's answer to the UFC, the AFC, and they suggested she attend the fight on Wednesday. My friend Michaela and I jumped at the chance to go, we'd been talking about it for awhile but never went. So Wednesday evening (after a long day of teaching for all of us)  headed over to the Sullivan Arena for AFC 85(?).

We knew we were in for a good time when, after purchasing our $20 general admission tickets, the usher told us that we could sit in the $60 seats, but if someone came, she'd have to move us. We were three rows from the floor. No one ever came for our seats.

There were 12 fights. Some good, some bad. A couple lasted less that a minute.There was even one lady fight, which was poorly matched and way less exciting than one would think. But the real prize was the people watching. Lots of men in TapouT t-shirts, girls in short skirts, pregnant women, and a surprising number of children.

Brinna is trying to get us free floor seats for next month's fights. Ballin' Alaska style

This week's hot jam is Super Bass by Nicki Minaj. In general, I'm not a Nicki Minaj fan. I cannot take her Lil Kim meets Lady Gaga persona seriously, but I love this song. It plays on the radio here ALL the time and I'm not sick of it yet, so it must be a hot jam. I'm sure being a female rapper is difficult, it is a men's game, but Nicki Minaj does it well. She was the first women to be included in MTV's annual Hottest MC list, joining people like Jay-Z, Eminem and Lil Wayne (of course, that list has only been around since 2007, but still pretty impressive)

Getting a job and The Cyrkle

Folks, I've been waiting a REALLY long time to write about this and it's finally time. I've gotten a job. It's not my dream job but it'll do for now. (With 14 million people out of work in the US I'm thankful for anything.)

Things that are great about my new job:
1. Regular pay checks- being a sub means never knowing how much you are going to work. I'm incredibly excited to have a regular schedule and therefore a regular paycheck
2. Benefits- In 90 days I'll be able to get sick again. (Actually, I could probably get sick now, because my wonderful and generous parents have been paying for my health insurance, but still)
3. Retirement- I want to retire now, but it turns out you have to save money and work for awhile before you can do that.
4. No parents, paperwork, or politics- As a teacher I loved teaching but hated dealing with parents, paperwork, and school politics. While I'll still be working in a school I won't have to deal with that business anymore
5. Paid holidays- 'nuff said.
6. And last. NO MORE SUBBING

When I started this blog, (side note- I hate the word blog) it was to keep me sane while I was subbing. Even though I won't be subbing anymore I'll still be writing. Because I like it and because it's always good to look on the bright side.

Let me preface this week's hot jam by saying I was a totally weird kid. (See Example 1.)

Example 1

When I was maybe 7 or 8 years old (about the time example 1 was taken) if you asked me what my favorite song was, I would have said Red Rubber Ball. While it sounds like something performed by Raffi, it was actually written by Paul Simon for the 1960's pop-rock band, The Cyrkle. My parents always listened to the oldies station when I was growing up, so that's what I listened to too. (In fact, I still listen to the oldies stations.) And I really loved nothing more than when this mid-1960's hit played. It was written by Paul Simon and made it to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Not that any of that mattered, even as a kid I thought it was cool/weird that they compared the sun to a red rubber ball and said there were more starfish in the sea rather than just fish.



Fun Fact: The unusual spelling of their name was suggested by John Lennon
Fun Fact #2: Tom Dawes and Dan Dannemann (seriously?), The Cyrkle's lead singers, went on to head their own advertising agency. Tom Dawes was the writer behind the famous Alka Selzter jingle, "Plop Plop Fizz Fizz"

More of a ska fan? Streetlight Manifesto did a fun cover of Red Rubber Ball on their album 99 Songs of Revolution

Mason Jars and Ben Folds Five

If you are ever a guest in my house you can expect a scene like this:

Me: Hey, come on in. Make yourself at home. Would you like something to drink?
You: Thanks. That would be great. I'll have water.

Then I'll bring you a mason jar of water.

Or maybe if we are having a fancy dinner (which actually never happens at my house because I don't have a dining room table) the scene might look like this:

Me: Hey, come on in. Make yourself at home. Would you like a glass of wine?
You: Thanks. That would be great.

Then I'll bring you a mason jar of wine.

Are you seeing a theme here? Politeness and mason jars. Politeness because my mother would kill me if I wasn't a good hostess and mason jars because I only have two kinds of drinkware in my house: mugs and mason jars, and mugs are for hot beverages (and sometimes cereal, if I'm out of bowls.) I'm not talking about those cutesy mason jars either, the kind with the handles that you get when you order sweet tea at some bbq restaurant, these are regular old mason jars meant to be used for canning and preserving.

Mason jars are the handiest item to have around. I have one in every room in my house. One holds spare change in my bedroom, one holds pencils on my desk, one hold spoons and spatulas in the kitchen, and, assuming the dishes are clean, I have a cabinet full for drinking.

Just poured a glass of ice tea but now have to leave the house? Put a lid on it and put it back in the fridge or put a lid on it and take it with you. Because all mason jars COME WITH LIDS. How great is that? Want to take soup to work? Put it in a mason jar. Need to shake up some homemade salad dressing? Or maybe you are making a marinade? Mason jar. Making butter? Making whipped cream? ALL OF THESE THINGS CAN BE DONE IN A MASON JAR. It doesn't get much handier than that. And they are cheap. A quick Google search reveals you can get a dozen for $11. So if you break one (although I'm pretty sure that's nearly impossible) it's not a big deal.

Okay, so it's virtually impossible to tell how much wine you've had when you are drinking it out of a 16 oz. mason jar, but accidentally getting drunk on a Tuesday night while you are cooking dinner seems like a small price to pay for having the world's most useful item in your cabinet.

This week's hot jam is One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces by Ben Folds Five. (Full disclosure: I have a major crush on Ben Folds. I think it's his spirited piano playing and our mutual love for Dr. Dre's song and censorship nightmare, Bitches Ain't Shit.) One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces has some fabulous lyrics: "September '75 I was 47 inches high/Mom said by Christmas I would have/A badass mother G.I. Joe", it's fast, a little angry and a little funny and I love it.

Denali National Park and Jesse and the Rippers

For those of you not up on the workings of Denali National Park, you can't just drive in like other parks, you have to go on a bus. Except for one weekend a year. Every year the NPS holds a lottery for the chance to drive into Denali and lucky for me, Maggie J entered and won! So Friday afternoon, Maggie J, me, and 8 of our friends loaded up our borrowed 15 passenger and hit the road. It was amazing.

Here are some my favorite things from the trip:
1. Friday night we got a pretty sweet, unexpected northern lights show. Gotta love solar flares!
2. Sunshine - only 30% of visitors to the park ever get to see Denali because it's almost always covered in clouds. But we had several hours of clear skies Saturday morning, meaning we got some sweet views of The Mountain.

Denali/Mt. McKinley is the beast covered in snow in the background. It's ~30 miles away in this picture.

3. Lots of animals (even though they were mostly far away.) Including moose, bears, caribou, and dall sheep. The park is 6 million acres so it's pretty amazing that animals are ever anywhere near the road.

Or on the road, like this grizzly bear.

We even got to see a bull moose trying to get the attention of a lady moose. (It's rutting season.) But she wasn't having it. Maybe because there were 20 people watching on the side of the road or maybe his rack just wasn't big enough. (Or it could have been the van of ten adults shouting things like "Yeah moose go get some!" and "Oh girl, he is not good enough for you!")

4. On our way home we stopped at 2 of the Parks Highway roadside attractions: Wal-Mike's and the Cantwell Igloo. Wal-Mike's is a super weird permanent garage sale? I'm not even really sure how to explain it, or who Mike is. But it's on the side of the road in Trapper Creek and they sell all kinds of weird stuff. For example: Musk ox pelt, old 3-wheelers, a jar of turkey feet, old Playboys, used oil filters, political yard signs, fake street signs, etc. The Cantwell Igloo is an abandoned building shaped like an igloo. It was apparently supposed to be a hotel, but because of some code violations (like no fire exits) it never got finished.

This week's hot jam is Forever by Jesse and the Rippers/John Stamos. Yes, from Full House. I realize I could have used the original version by The Beach Boys, but it just doesn't have quite the same effect. I'm presenting this without comment, because, honestly, what words could I even use to describe how amazing it is?

Actually I have one comment: how much would it cost to have John Stamos perform this at my wedding?

Golden Girls and Dashboard Confessional

 I know I usually have pretty weird combinations of favorite things and hot jams, but I feel like this one is weirder than normal. Let's just go with it, okay?

My love for the Golden Girls runs deep.

Yep, those are the first 2 seasons and I'm wearing a Golden Girls t-shirt. I love Golden Girls for a lot of reasons; regardless of the fact that is 20+ years old it's still applicable (not to mention there are some REALLY great outfits), it's witty and well-written, and even though it features women much older than me, I can still relate.

And does it get any better than Estelle Getty (R.I.P) as Sophia?

I want to be Sophia when I grow up.

My favorite Sophia moment:

Sophia: I have everything I need to make the cake: flour, sugar, rum...
Rose: Oh, you're making a rum cake?
Sophia: No (as she take a swig of the rum)

This week's hot jam is Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional. I've admitted before to still listening to some of  the music I listened to in high school (See Porch Sitting and Something Corporate) and my emo-loving, converse-wearing, high school self LOVED this song. I'm not an overly romantic person; I think roses are stupid, I don't particularly like valentine's day, and cheesy lines usually make me want to barf, but even with its emotastic chorus (My hopes are so high that your kiss might kill me/So won't you kill me/so I die happy) I still love this song. It's really the last verse that gets me. Something about it is believably heartfelt. Maybe it's just because I still wish Chris Carrabba was singing about me. What a dreamboat. Swoon.

Pancakes and Whitney Houston

"You're not supposed to have cake for breakfast, of course, but somehow pancakes slid through. I don't know how that happened. It's like, 'Young man you're not having cake for breakfast. You're having fried cake with syrup for breakfast. Now load up on that and try not to nap.'" -Jim Gaffigan

If you have the time to make and eat pancakes you also probably have an empty schedule for the day. And it's probably Saturday or Sunday. All of which make for an excellent day.

I would like nothing more than for my day to be completely filled with making pancakes. (I would apply for a job at IHOP if I didn't have to make other foods.) In fact, I would like to open a pancake restaurant. We'd only serve regular pancakes, Mickey Mouse pancakes, and silver dollar pancakes. And you're only choice for syrup would be Aunt Jemima. I'm sure it would be a big hit.

Let's take a minute to talk about silver dollar pancakes. As a child (and still somewhat today) I'd eat about 3 bites of something and be full. Buffets, endless/bottomless servings, etc are totally wasted on me. So it was/is always kind of fun when I could feel like I ate a lot of something. Enter: silver dollar pancakes. I can eat a million and it makes me feel like I have normal eating habits. I order them to this day (Rather than ordering half a short stack, which always gets me weird looks.)

This week's hot jam is I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston. Okay, Whitney is a total nut job now, but that doesn't make this song any less awesome. Considering how much she says she wants to dance with someone, Whitney actually does very little dancing in this video, but the other dancers MORE than make up for it. There are some very sweet late 80's dance moves.

When I was in New Zealand my friends and I often went to a bar/club that played horrible techno until 1 or 2 and then started playing remixes of 80s and 90s songs. Thankfully I Wanna Dance With Somebody was always one of the remixed songs, and it totally made up for all the bad techno.

Deceptively Delicious and Freda Payne

I have the eating habits of a child. My favorite food is pizza and I have to work REALLY hard to manage my addiction to flaming hot cheetos. (Are those made with crack? Seriously, what's in the them?) But because it turns out you need to eat things of nutritional value, I try to eat healthy things. Sometimes. But the problem is I hate most vegetables. That's where Deceptively Delicious comes in.

Written by Jessica Seinfeld, it's a cookbook full of awesome recipes, all with hidden vegetables. It's meant for parents who need to deceive their children in order to get them to eat vegetables, but it works perfect for me. I don't care if there are vegetables in things, I just don't want to taste them. The main idea is to make a bunch of vegetable or fruit purees (squash, sweet potato, broccoli, cauliflower, etc) then add them to pretty much whatever you want. I made an egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast and put butternut squash/sweet potato puree on it and it was super good.

Are you thinking to yourself, "Hmmm. I wonder if she has any relation to Jerry Seinfeld..."? Yep, Jessica is Jerry's wife. I didn't put two and two together until I saw this drawing on the bottom of one of the pages.

The cookbook isn't all macaroni and cheese and pizza, although there are recipes for both. It has some grown up-y recipes too. I'm most excited to try the Aloha Chicken Kebabs. They sound delish! It even has a whole section of desserts: Brownies with carrot and spinich, gingerbread spice cake with carrot and broccoli, chocolate cupcakes with avocado and cauliflower, etc, etc, etc...In all honesty, I think those sound pretty disgusting, but Jessica swears you can't taste the vegetables. I'll let you know how it goes...

This week's hot jam is Band of Gold by Freda Payne. I've always really liked this song, although I'm not really sure why. Whenever this song comes on the radio I will unabashedly belt it out (not that I can do it justice.) Produced it 1970, it tells the story of a young woman who married a man who couldn't/wouldn't love her. When approached about the song Freda Payne refused to do it, saying it sounded like something a whiny teenager would say, but eventually gave in and the song became a huge it for her.

This isn't the best video, but it has a really awesome description and some great shots of people singing in the crowd.

Letters and Blu Cantrell/Carolina Chocolate Drops

I haven't written about letters yet, have I? I'm starting to lose track. Anyway, we are back to regularly scheduled writing and my favorite thing(s) this week is letters: writing them, reading them, mailing them, etc. It's a lost art form (right Sarah?) and I really think the world would be a better place if more people wrote letters. Can you really be mad at anyone when you get a cute, catching up type letter in the mail? No.

I'm not even going to start on love letters. Gentlemen, you want to win a girl over? Skip the flowers, send a letter.

I try to write letters pretty regularly (even though I'm behind in my writing currently, sorry pen pals.) The people I write to are people I talk to on a regular basis but keeping up via the US Postal Service is way more fun that keeping up via Gmail and Facebook. There's something more personal about it.

In a world that is all about instant gratification, I think letter writing is really important. It takes longer to sit down and write a letter versus sending an email, it takes a few days to get the letter, and then at least a few days to get one back. It reminds you to slow down, smell the roses, be patient, all those virtues we sometimes forget.

This week's hot jam is Hit 'Em Up Style by Blu Cantrell, a solid revenge song. Blu Cantrell (or the writer of the song, Dallas Austin, I guess) knows how to hit a man were it hurts. You want to cheat? I'm going to spend all your money AND ruin your credit. Ouch.

This video is actually a cover done by Carolina Chocolate Drops, a Grammy Award winning old-timeish string band from Durham, NC. What I like about this cover is it combines fiddle and banjo with beatboxing. I mean, what? Weird and awesome.

Slow Jam Week Day 6: The Wrap Up

Well today is the last day of Slow Jam week. (I know, I only did 6 days, but whatever.)

I don't have another attribute common to the slow jam equation, so I'll just leave you with some final thoughts. (Jerry Springer?)

Remember that scene in Say Anything where John Cusack holds up the boom box playing In Your Eyes? Gentleman readers, if you are ever thinking about doing that for me as a testament of your love, pick a slow jam. Sure In Your Eyes is romantic, but is it more romantic than, say, All My Life? I don't think so.

Our final salute to slow jams is a slaw jam about slow jams and it's called Slow Jamz. Is your mind blown yet?

Slow Jam Week Day 5: Melodrama

Slow jams are all about strong emotions; love, hate, passion, angst, it's all in there. And because of all the emotional turmoil you get some very melodramatic lyrics. "Baby girl, I'm going to die without you." "I love you so much my heart is going to explode." Everyone knows (except maybe angsty teenagers) that you aren't going to die and you're hearts not going to explode. But nobody wants to hear lyrics like, "Baby girl, I think you are okay." or "We've broken up, but don't worry, it's amicable"

Example 1: I Swear by All-4-One. First of all, who knew there was a Mexican guy and a white guy in All-4-One? Anyone? I sure didn't. Slow jams aren't known for their multiculturalism. But I digress.  I Swear is a heartfelt expression of love and commitment played at weddings everywhere. And rightly so, it's full of lyrics like "I'll love you with every beat of my heart" and "As time turns the page, my love won't age at all." If that's not slow jam wedding material I don't know what is.

Fun fact: My future wedding vows will be, word for word, the lyrics to I Swear. Not even kidding.



Example 2: Have you Ever by Brandy. About time I had a lady slow jammer on here. My melodramatic 8th grade soul really loved this one. In fact, I'd challenge you find someone who hasn't thought, "Brandy, I know exactly what you are talking about! It's like you are reading my thoughts!" Okay, maybe just people who also had melodramatic phases around the late 90s. But still, that's probably a lot of people.

Slow Jam Week Day 4: Talking

Sometimes singing just isn't enough. Sometimes you have to talk to get your point across. Right in the middle of a song. I'm not sure where this idea originated, but I think it's been going on for awhile. Maybe the point is to make the listener feel like the singer is speaking directly to them or maybe it's just to mix it up a little. (Even singers have to get tired of singing sometimes)

Example 1: Boyz II Men's On Bended Knee - A slow jam classic. Not only does this song feature talking in the middle it also features an argument in the beginning (see Slow Jam Week Day 3 ) and rain (see Slow Jam Week Day 2 ). The trifecta of slow jam awesome-ness. And that's why Boyz II Men are the kings of the slow jam (and probably why they've sold 60 million records and won 4 Grammy awards)



Example 2: Jimmy Fallon, Brian Williams, and The Roots' Slow Jam the News - Untraditional? Yes. Applicable? Definitely. Amazing? No Doubt.

Slow Jam Week Day 3: Arguments

Life is intense in a slow jam. You don't get to "Baby, I love you so much I'm standing out in the rain!" without having an argument first. So, in order to not confuse the viewers (because obviously we can't come to the conclusion on our own), many slow jam videos feature an argument at the beginning.

Example 1: R. Kelly's Bump N' Grind. Oh, R. Kelly you set yourself up with this one. Remember when you had sex with a minor? You should have seen something wrong with that bump n' grind.  This video starts with R.Kelly's lady friend being upset that he treated her like one of his groupies. "I know you didn't even try to play me like that..." complete with a sassy finger wag. Oh snap, R. Kelly, you better make it up to her. What better way than singing Bump N' Grind. Best part of this video - the back up dancers are wearing hard hats. Safety first at R. Kelly's concerts.



Example 2: I Wanna Know by Joe. This video starts off with an argument between an unnamed man and the object of Joe's desire. Joe, ever the hero, swoops in to rescue the damsel with the cheating boyfriend. It's not weird at all that they just broke up and he's are already asking her on a date. He gives her his real number, so you know it's legit.

Slow Jam Week Day 2: Rain!

Day 2 of slow jam week. Today's topic is rain.

Rain makes everything more dramatic. Oh the pain! Baby I love you so much I'm standing out in the rain!

Example 1: Usher's U Got It Bad, released in 2001. It spent 6 weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Charts and was song number 99 on Billboard's Hot 100 50th Anniversary Chart. Pretty good considering that chart was based on all the number one songs between 1958 and 2008.



Example 2: Crazy by K-Ci and JoJo (told you they were a slow jam powerhouse) Crazy has it all: rain, scenes from Save the Last Dance, things happening in reverse, fight scenes, ballet, AND it turns out K-Ci and JoJo have super powers over morality. Who knew?! Crazy didn't reach as high on the Billboard Charts as All My Life (only #11) but it did spend 23 weeks there.

Special edition!

Surprise! It's slow jam week here at a few of my favorite things! That's right, I'm frustrated with a lot of things right now, so I figured it's probably best to remind myself of things that I love everyday this week. And there are few things I love more than a good slow jam, everyday I'm going to write about a common attribute found in all slow jams (with musical/video evidence, of course)

So dim the lights and pop a bottle of Cristal because it's slow jam week: day 1


Picture it: Sicily, 1912. Wait, that's Sophia Petrillo

Picture it: Jefferson Middle School, 1999. Ah yes, nothing like a middle school dance. And what's the DJ playing? Slow jams. Because the 90s and early 2000s produced some of the best slow jams of all time. I'm talking Boyz II Men, Brian McKnight, Joe, Brandy, Monica, K-Ci and Jo Jo, All 4 One, Babyface, R. Kelly, Usher etc etc etc

All good slow jams have the same beat. You know it, it's the step-snap beat. It's perfect for slow dancing and performances featuring stools and/or microphone stands.

For example. K-Ci and JoJo's All My Life. K-Ci and JoJo are a slow jam powerhouse. They know exactly what they are doing. All My Life, realeased in 1998 was a  big hit for them. It debuted at number 15 on the Billboard charts and eventually made it to number 1. But the real success of a slow jam is measured in how many weddings it's played at and you can bet that All My Life is played at the majority of weddings. (Although, I've always found the lyrics a little odd for a romantic song. "Close to me just like my mother..." Um what?)

Fall and ICP (No, I haven't lost my mind)

So summer camp ending on Friday, which means fall is rapidly approaching. Unlike in most places that get a few weeks of summer weather after school starts, Alaska pretty much heads right into fall mid-August. But fall in Alaska is pretty great (even if it only lasts a few weeks.) Here are the top 10 things I like about fall

1. Leaves - The birch trees turn bright yellow and the fireweed turns bright red, it's beautiful

2. Wood burning stoves - A lot of people heat their houses with wood burning stoves so once fall rolls around it smells like a campfire outside
3. Abundance of fall scented candles - pumpkin spice, apple cinnamon, harvest cornucopia of home-y smells (I might have made that last one up...)
4. Sweater weather - Okay, I wore sweaters pretty much all summer too, but it just feels better in the fall

Evidence of summer time sweater weather

5. Crisp air
6. AK State Fair - Beard contest, moose calling contest, giant vegetables, tractor pulls, demolition derbies, etc etc etc. What's not to love?

7. School supplies - Even if I don't need them, I still like wandering the aisles at Target
8. Pumpkin spice coffee
9. Pumpkin bread
10. Okay, all things pumpkin...

 I haven't suddenly developed a horrible taste is music, it will all make sense, I promise. This week's hot jam was inspired by this article, a ridiculous news story from my hometown newspaper. The hot jam is Miracles by Insane Clown Posse. No, I'm not an ICP fan, but Miracles is the most ridiculous song in the history of the world and it's so bad it's good. It could have easily been written for Saturday Night Live (in fact they did a spoof) but no, it was legitimately written and produced by ICP.

NSFW due to language