How Do People Think of this Stuff?

Now I've really seen it all..

I have done a lot of thinking and praying and brooding about women's rights (everybody's rights, for that matter), and I have settled, as comfortably as I can, into my beliefs about reproductive issues. Not that I'm going to broadcast that here, because I know it will cause a TIZZY. But in the mean time, I will share an article that has sent my head spinning.

Art major Aliza Shvarts ’08 wants to make a statement.

I'm not sure if this woman feels her method is the only way to share her voice, or if she's ignorant about the negative effects such a project might actually have on reproductive rights, or if she remotely considered the pain so many women suffer when they choose to end a pregnancy. I don't know what she's thinking, but I do know that I'm really disturbed.

Sure, we have a loooong way to go before all women have access to the resources they need to manage their reproductive health, but I feel very strongly that self-induced abortions, many times over, for the sake of provocative art, is immoral. There, I said it. I think it's perverse (using the blood from her own pregnancies?) and it was a SMART move on the part of Yale administration to revoke the privilege of displaying this women's senior project. Because, as the reporter says, it really seems to trivialize the matter. This isn't just another Supersize Me. Or it shouldn't be. It's a much deeper issue, it's about the sanctity of lives, born and unborn, and it seems to slap everybody in the face with a big ol', "I'm trying to shake things up at all costs, and I'm only 22." One student called it an "absurbism," and I couldn't agree more.

I learned about this article through a very random grapevine, so I'm wondering if it's really all over the news. Have you read about it anywhere else?

Etsy Love Affair

There has never been a better time to be a hip (or hippie) artist because Etsy is my newest poison. And I know I'm not alone. Here's a few favorites from seller Shelby Healey:


I also love seller Foundling (especially for wedding hair, perhaps?):

Go forth and ETSY!

Debbie Downer, News Edition

I hate to do this to you, good reader, but tell me these headlines don't just send you for the ice cream bucket:

* Cat-sized rodent found roaming free in Oregon
* Police: Man kept wife caged in dog crate
* Disabled worker found dead inside Goodwill
* Sex offender blows himself up inside home
* Angry wife tries divorce-by-YouTube tactic
* Boy run over by dump truck upgraded to serious condition
* Girl, 15, charged in stabbing death of Kent man

Honestly, what is going on in the WORLD?

Farfallegate!

This may not be the biggest of big, but in my world, it's significant. In a nutshell, John McCain's website had recently posted several of his wife's favorite family recipes--turns out, they are actually just highlights from THE FOOD NETWORK. Read the full article here, but in the mean time, let me say this: Why wasn't anybody annoyed that Cindy McCain is being reduced to a GOOD COOK on her husband's website? ARGH! Really? She makes a nice Farfalle with Turkey Sausage? Is that ALL?

The recipe theft (thanks to a stupid intern, shocking) was bad enough, but add the gross "My Little Lady Cooks Real Nice and She'll be the Best First Lady Yet" attitude, and boy, yuck. But then I continued on, and lo and behold, another article in The New York Sun published recipes from Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama, but none from our old prez, The Other Spouse of a Presidential Candidate.

Good grief.

Birthday Wishes

Dear Mom and DW,

This is what I would like for my birthday. Ruffles in green, my favorite green.

Love you both,

Holly, The Unashamed Wish-list Maker

La Inspiracion de Maryann: TOP FIVES

Top five things I can't live without, under five dollars:
1. Stamps, in order to support my favorite part of the government, the United States Postal Service
2. Wild Plum Eye Cream SAMPLES, from my hippie skin care guru
3. Bon Appetit
4. Reusable shopping bags from Trader Joe's (love the Hawaiian one especially, even though I always forget to bring that little guy along)
5. Novelty socks from the J.Crew clearance rack, because they're only less than five bucks when they're on clearance these days

Five favorite movies:
1. My Best Friend's Wedding
2. Crash
3. Steel Magnolias
4. Life is Beautiful (Italian version)
5. Gone with the Wind
(Good thing Dr. Rendleman has totally forgotten about me, he'd be ashamed he gave me an A in film class. HA.)

Five songs always on REPEAT:
1. Sea Breeze by Tyrone Wells (thanks, Kels)
2. DREAMGIRLS performed by Beyonce and friends
3. Holiday in Spain by Counting Crows
4. The Hammer Holds by Bebo Norman
5. Claire de Lune by Debussy

Five people who have influenced me in the best of ways:
1. Mindi Jaastad Morse, lifelong piano teacher
2. Ginger Barnhart, nanny momma
3. Jennifer Maier, writing professor and fellow food lover
4. Gary McCusker, counselor, pastor, father figure
5. Pablo Picasso (I'm not being a poser, I did a project and I really fell in love)

Five moments that changed my life (other than number one, in no particular order):
1. Meeting Dustin during freshmen orientation at SPU
2. Finding a pair of jeans that make me feel SO GOOD about my butt/learning to like my body the way it REALLY is...this was the same moment, oddly enough
3. Caring for someone with a mental illness, never just a moment though
4. Resigning from my first and only Grown Up Job
5. My first conversation with a native Spanish speaker in the DR

Five current obsessions:
1. Wedding (duh, like I can help it)
2. Our new couch
3. My Netflix wishlist
4. Cooking to soothe my creative longings
5. Learning to be a better communicator

Five places I would like to go:
1. Switzerland
2. Disneyland with Dustin, so he can restore my faith in it
3. On a gourmet cooking vacation in Europe with Sonja and Kelsey
4. A tour of Latin America to visit all of our humanitarian-aid-giving friends: Costa Rica, Monterrey, Bolivia, Guatemala, and the DR
5. Victoria, to stay in The Empress

BONUS ROUND
Five foods/meals that make me melt:
1. Chipotle Carnitas Burritos with extra corn salsa
2. Mom's chicken salad on croissants
3. chips and salsa
4. cobb salad
5. EGGS BENEDICT (with crabcakes? ECSTASY)

Five peeps who should also make this post:
1. Carly
2. Meguire
3. Kelsey
4. JJ (doubt he reads this, but this comment will prove telling)
5. Mom (start a blog already, dummy)

This was SO enjoying, to be so self-absorbed for fifteen minutes. Therapy. Loved it.

If I Had a Million Dollars

I'd buy my sister-in-law THIS:

From the oh-so-trendy Bel Bambini in West Hollywood. Of course it is. Where else do they have baby hammocks for $500?

(In El Salvador, they're doing that with the hand-woven version in every village in the country. This irony haunts me, and I promise, I won't ever spend $500 on baby products. EVER.)

Mark Bittman, He's on My List

Not that Dustin and I actually have Lists, but if we did, I'd put Mark Bittman on mine. Honestly, this guy is the master of culinary LEGENDS. He's the perfect mix of New York slick and homegrown sass.

Who is this mystery man, this genius that I secretly stalk every Wednesday? He's The Minimalist, the New York Times go-to chef, who I, in my youthful ignorance, have only recently discovered. But I'm making up for lost time, folks, because I'm watching all the demo videos the archives will let me, and I've added his cookbooks to my Amazon wishlist. I'm a superfan.

Mark (first name basis, duh) has a blog you might like too, it's called Bitten. He updates MANY times a day, so like me, you can feel connected to Mark all day, every day.

So definitely check him out in tomorrow's Times, but if you're wondering if I'm just a crazed fan, watch this video. Even small children can't help but love him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVIMVVNUPoo&eurl=http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/the-mini-minimalist/

Maryann, someday you'll have to teach me how to upload videos. :)

The Bachelorette RETURNS!

Nowadays, few people are willing to admit they still watch The Bachelor. The poor show has gone so far downhill that most are distancing themselves even from the glory days. Trista and Ryan? I'm sorry, who?

But alas, even after Meredith dumped that STUD from Texas, even after she ousted Bob (who, we all admit, turned out to be a tool after all), she may be making a comeback.

That's correct, folks. Meredith Phillips has a new COOKBOOK!!! AHHHHHHH!


She may have made some mistakes in love, but I have a feeling this girl's a kick-ass chef. I plan to put this on my amazon.com wishlist, and maybe someone will surprise me on my birthday. :)

Daily Thoughts

Here's the hodgepodge of my Tuesday...

*I can't say it enough, Sunny Days are always better.
*Seattle is a town I know loves me back.
*Today, I'm ready for this whole engagement business to be over--on to the next phase, please!
*Google Custom Time=I totally believed in you. And then Carly told me to check my calendar.
*Watched RENT, just because.
*Forgot what day it was, ALL DAY LONG. So confused about it. Must be Google's Custom Time working it's magic on me.

525,600 minutes. :)