Burritos, Bananas, Britney

Ok. I'll admit it. I'm one of those people who love Glee enough that even when the episode has little to no plot or character development, I still won't hear a bad word against it. Some side of me (the side that played Annie in Super Summer Actors camp and lip-synched all the songs) needs to have an outlet for my love of showtunes/trashy pop songs/classic rock hits. Glee gives me that, and as such, I will be a loyal and devoted fan no matter what. 

That being said, I will admit that last night's episode was little more than an excuse to recreate music videos from the Britney Spears golden years. Since that's a secret fantasy of mine, however, I loved it. I'd forgotten how amazing she used to be, pre-babies, pre-kevin, pre-shaved head, pre-paparazzi attack, pre-walking into a gas station bathroom barefoot. Last night, as Santana and Brittany got their anesthesia on, I got my nostalgia on. 

I also ate a lot. One of the things I do at work when I have nothing else to do, is look at food blogs. It helps to pass the time, but it also works to make me very hungry by the end of the day. Luckily, I live with a boy, so big eating is not something I have to be shy of. 

While Chris worked on a dinner of beef burritos with refried beans, cheddar cheese, green chilies, jalapenos, and hot sauce (we like spicy food, can you tell?), I made banana cupcakes. Chris's mom and sister had given me the mix as part of my birthday present, so I decided to go for it, with chocolate frosting on top. I won't say who ate how many, but by this morning, five were gone. 

Tonight we have plans to take Chris's sister, Stephanie, shoe shopping and out to dinner for her birthday, which was last Tuesday.  The weather is finally turning towards fall, and she and I are both in the market for some new boots to greet the season. It's almost October, after all.

Work, Eat, Support the Razorbacks

My job is becoming increasingly centered around food.

               

Not that I'm complaining. Far from it. My "working meals" this week have resulted in an invitation, a nail polish recommendation, and I came close to topping it all off with a Razorbacks Snuggie.

               

On Tuesday, my editor Gwen arranged a lunch for us with a "little black dress" PR maven named Andrea. She works for one of the biggest law firms in Little Rock, knows everyone, and was one of AB's "20 in their 20's" last year. Over soup, salad and homemade moon-pies at the Capital Grill, Andrea charmed me with her half-Chicago/half-Southern accent, her trendy clothes, and her penchant for calling every female in five-foot radius "lady." Example sentence, Andrea to Gwen: "Oh, lady, I am definitely looking for a man again." Example sentence, Andrea to me: "Oh, lady, if you ever need anything, just give me a call."

               

Besides the moon-pie, our lunch also ended with Andrea inviting me to the Arkansas Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America's awards ceremony On Thursday evening. She promised to walk me around the room, introduce me to everyone worth knowing in the business whose names I would never remember, and then help me get out the door before the actual awards ceremony started, so I wouldn't have to sit through it.

                 

So, last night I put on a party dress and a cocktail ring, and headed out. Apparently Andrea had instructed the event's bouncers to alert her the second I showed up, which they did by delivering me to her side. We hugged, complimented each other's dresses, made a quick stop at the bar for a glass of red wine, and then started out. After an hour with her, I now know what it means to work a room. As promised, I met many people whose names I won't remember. I also smiled a lot, shook a lot of hands, and ate my first chicken waffle (fried chicken nugget on top of a mini waffle, dressed with just a touch of maple syrup). Plus, after receiving a compliment on her manicure, Andrea revealed that it was OPI's new line of gel nail polish, and gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up. Good to know.

             

 Then, today at work we had a tailgate party, so as to get amped up for tomorrow's all-important Arkansas/Alabama game. We were encouraged to wear Razorbacks gear, with a prize going to the best-dressed Hogs Fan. While I was only wearing a Razorbacks t-shirt, I got points for being new to the city and already showing signs of fandom. Still, nothing could compare to one of my AB colleagues, who came wearing a Razorback jersey, a blazer in Razorback red with pom-poms spilling out of the pockets, a Razorback helmet topped with a stuffed animal Razorback that he taped on top, and finished off with Razorback clogs. A clear winner.

                 

Anyway, around noon we all convened in the kitchen for a catered lunch of burgers, chips, veggies, and Oreos in the shape of footballs. After the costume contest, cornhole (or bag-o as several people have been calling it…maybe it's one of those things that's called something different depending on where you are, like Edy's) was set up in the hallway, and though lunch ended several hours ago, on my last trip to the bathroom, it was still there. For the most part people have seemed to stop playing, although I can occasionally hear the flop of a bean bag from my desk.

                

 Besides watching the Arkansas game this weekend, which I am now sufficiently pumped up for, the boy and I have plans to cheer for other favorite team, the Saints, on Sunday. We also hope to do other non-football related things this weekend. We'll see.

                 

Happy Friday! Go Hogs, Geaux Saints!  

Being Jewish in Arkansas

Surprisingly, not as difficult as one might think. Although this year's was the smallest Yom Kippur service I have attended by far, we were out of services and breaking the fast about an hour after we headed in for Neilah services. Not bad. 

And everyone was very supportive of our fasting. I say "our," because Chris signed up to fast right along with me, mostly for morally support, and partially (I think) to prove to himself that he could. Which he did. Despite the fact that many around us were cracking open cold ones while Arkansas beat Georgia (for the first time in seventeen years, might I add), we stayed strong. And then later broke the fast with cheeseburgers and milkshakes, and spent much of Saturday night in a food daze.

Other weekend activities included:

Seeing Inception, finally. My three takeaways: 1) Christopher Nolan is a genius. 2) Ellen Page needs a new walk. 3) Cillian Murphy looks exactly like the lead singer from the All-American Rejects.

We also attended a birthday party on Sunday morning for the three members of Chris's family with birthdays in September: his sister, Stephanie, his aunt Laura, and his grandmother. I contributed scones, which I somehow managed to bake while fasting (incidentally, I don't recommend this). We ate, we drank (blood orange mimosas, thank you very much), and there was much gift exchange. Chris and Paul held the fort down as the two males among seven ladies, and after much argument over whether or not Granny-Ma would be allowed to keep her wrapping paper (not, as it turned out), we all headed out to the rest of our day.

Which, for Chris and I, included hosting our first dinner party for four friends of his that I hadn't met. We did pork chops, a chopped salad, bread, beer, wine, and for dessert, a cheesecake. It's not quite cool enough to make use out of our deck yet, but we crowded around our dining room table very comfortably, and ate and ate and ate.

Just realized that, since we broke the fast, we seem to be determined to eat the least Jewishy foods as possible. Cheeseburgers (kosher no-no), with milkshakes (additional no-no), and then, finally, pork. Oh well. I may be Jewish, but I am still in Hog-country!

The First Two Weeks

As with most things in my life I am, of course, late getting started. Two weeks late, in fact. That's how long I have officially been Living With a Boy in Arkansas. It has been a very full fourteen days. There have been new jobs (mine), illnesses (his), arguments (various guilty parties), and, perhaps most importantly, lots of excellent football victories: my hometown Redskins (hail victory!), my adoptive hometown-for-four-wonderful-years, New Orleans' Saints (who dat!), and my current home-state's beloved Razorbacks (go hogs!).  

And, Chris (the aforementioned boy) and I have been putting a lot of work into getting our little house all set up. Actually, part of the problem— we discovered just last night—is that it's not actually all that little. We have lots of wall space, and only so many pictures that have managed to make the transition from college-appropriate to real world-appropriate. Anyway, we're working on it.

And, the truth is, besides hanging things on the wall (my favorite way to while away the hours, or so it would seem based on how often I've suggested we do just that in our spare time), we're pretty much done. Our living room is all set up, with a couch and a rug, and a TV, and an electronic beer sign in the fire place. We managed to wrangle a lot of furniture out of our families (many, many thanks to all), so we had most of the big pieces from the get-go, which made the process a lot easier. The dining room has a big glass table, and four chairs, the kitchen is well equipped (minus, we've realized several times over, a can-opener). Our second bedroom we've opted to use as a study, and we each have a desk in a separate corner in the room. There was some debate over whether to position said furniture to face the wall, or to face into the room and each other, but we ultimately decided to go for the second option. Our bathroom is pretty standard, save for a particularly inspired choice of a shower curtain (if I do say so myself), and the green tile floor, which we both love.  

Our bedroom has proved to be the trickiest. The closet, to begin with, is not big enough for two, but that was settled rather easily, as Chris graciously surrendered it to me, and took the study closet for his own. Our contrasting dressers are very cutely lined up against the left wall as you enter the room, and up until two nights ago, our bed lined the right-hand wall. Now, however, only the head of the bed is against that wall, and it juts out into the middle of the room. This is my first experience with a bed  that is not in a corner, but so far, I'm liking it. Chris, understandably, wants a bedside table for his side too.

Just a few more tweaks needed before I'm ready to take pictures to broadcast to the masses. Stay tuned.

In further news, my driving radius is increasing all the time. While I do tend to stick to the same five roads (those being the ones necessary to get from our house, to Chris's work to drop him off, and then to my work), on Tuesday I managed to venture across the bridge to North Little Rock for a meeting at the Arkansas Boathouse Club (more on that later, perhaps). Of course, Chris had written out detailed directions for me. But still. Progress is being made. 

Also, since today is my long day at work (we go to press on Thursdays, so the editorial staff stays put until the paper is done…which could be whenever), the lovely boy I'm living with is taking me out to dinner when I finally am released from the clutches of the Arkansas Business Publishing Group.

Speaking of long, sorry this is! More later, as my so-far-fantastic experiences of Living With a Boy in Arkansas continue.