Fall Fix-Up Feature

As of last friday, it's officially fall. which means officially time to start a new feature I thought up. It's like spring cleaning, but it's fall so it's fall fix-ups! My life has been feeling really jumbled and crazy lately, and one day while lying in bed feeling sick and crappy and overwhelmed I decided it was time to reevaluate things. To make a plan, to divide my life up into categories and focus on each one to get back to a calm, happy, clear-thinking state. And then I thought, this would be a great thing to blog about.

Fall might be kind of a weird time to do this kind of thing, but if you think about it it totally makes sense. Fall is when I'm thinking about the future- about registering for spring classes, about figuring out what I'm going to do after college, about finding the friends I really want to spend the next year with, about finding a job for the school year. It's a time of new responsibilities and settling down and getting back into the groove of things after the crazy whirlwind that is summer.

There are 13 weeks of fall. Each week will have a theme, and I'll be posting at least one post (probably on sundays but we'll see) that corresponds to that theme. The posts will be about ways to improve/declutter/understand/work on that part of your life in an effort to be happier, healthier, and less stressed. I think it's going to be a really, really good thing.

Here's what we've got to look forward to:
This week I'll be discussing school. This is a good topic for this week because I'm beginning to pick out classes for next semester and I'm deciding whether or not I want to change my major. but we'll get into that more later. The other topics, in no particular order (it will be a surprise each week which one I choose to discuss) are:
work
friends
relationships
family
money
housekeeping
cooking
style
entertaining
exercise
nutrition
creativity

are you excited yet? I know I am. I'll have the very first chapter of this series up later today so stay tuned :)

Happy autumn lovemuffins, Enjoy your cool weather if you've got it, I'll be sweatin' it out in the 90s down here in southern AZ.

<3
Em

Sickliness

Guys, I have been a MESS lately. I came down with this nasty cold- stewart had it originally and I thought I had avoided it all together but as soon as her got better I got sniffly, coughy, scratchy, and snotty. Not fun. It sucked extra because I had the VW fest last weekend which I had been looking forward to all year, and it was made slightly less awesome by having to constantly blow my nose and chug cough syrup and pop pills and suck on lozenges. Only slightly though. It was still epically awesome.

I also have this weird itchy rash- don't worry, it's just on my arms, legs, and hands- that has been bugging me for like a month. I went to the doctor on monday- convenient cause I could also have her treat my cold- and she prescribed me some corticosteroid cream. hopefully it works. Yay for intimate medical details you probably aren't really interested in!

The point is that my slew of illnesses along with my long-awaited trip to Jerome/Prescott for the VW fest and the fact that I'm working two jobs and going to school full time are my stockpile of excuses for my absences as of late. Don't worry, I haven't been lazy- in fact I've got a mountain of posts thought up which I'm going to start working on as soon as I finish this up. some really awesome movie mondays, a fun little fall feature, an end of summer post, a vw post, all sorts of fun things. So get ready to have your blogger socks knocked off.

See you soon!

This

is my weekend. i'm so, so, so excited. I'm leaving for prescott after I get off work at about 11:30 pm on thursday, so it's going to be crazy but so worth it to get up there and see all my lovemuffins! and then spend a wonderful weekend in jerome.

Tasty Tuesdays: Dip

It's that time of the year again, folks. With the start of school comes the start of college football, and i'm guessing normal football too but I've never really been very in tune with that. Anyways, all this fall-frenzy sports mania craziness means tailgate parties, game-watching sunday afternoons, and lots and lots of food. most likely greasy, cheesy, bready foods. and dip. more dip than anyone really needs, but we know we all love it.

in an effort to help us all branch out from veggies with ranch and potato chips with sour cream and lipton onion soup mix, I've decided to make this edition of tasty tuesdays totally centered around dip! Awesome, slightly more complicated but a million times more delicious dips that are certain to be the highlight of whatever sports-related event you're attending/hosting. hell, it doesn't even have to be sports related. it doesn't even have to be an event! If you want to eat an entire bowl of one of these by yourself at home, i totally won't judge you.

click on the pics for the recipes :)

Jalapeno Popper Dip
i love jalapeno popper anything. something about adding cheese and seasonings and breadcrumbs to a roasted jalapeno just wins me over every time. I don't see why dip form would be any different.

Italian Hoagie Dip
I don't eat meat, but for some reason this recipe really intrigues me. Classic sandwich in dip form? How could that not be totally awesome? This is from one of my favorite bloggers, and after this dip he also made a cheesesteak dip, a meatball sub dip, and a blt dip.

Zucchini Hummus
I love me some hummus, but I don't love the high calorie/fat content. Yeah yeah, i know it's the "good" fat, but a calorie is a calorie. This sounds like an awesome, healthier, lighter alternative to the real deal- and lord knows we're all up to our ears in zucchini right now.

Blueberry Cheesecake Dip
Sometimes you want all the ease and functionality of dip, but all the delicious goodness of dessert. This dip is here to save the day.

Cheddar Guinness Dip
This dip contains some of my favorite things. Multiple cheese, Guinness, mustard, and hot sauce. I might have to buy some Irish cheddar from T-Joes and whip this one out for irish day next year.

Hot Reuben Dip
Another sandwich-turned-dip, but from a different one of my fave blogs :) Strangely enough I love reubens although i don't eat meat (usually), and don't really like thousand island or sauerkraut. If you happen to live in the portland area, the vita cafe makes a freaking awesome vegan one. otherwise, just make this dip.

Clam Dip
hands down my favorite dip from my childhood. this was made for every get together, potluck, and camping trip. My family's was just cream cheese, clams, clam juice, and salt and pepper though. I'd be interested to see what it's like with these additions!

Buffalo Chicken Dip AKA Crack Dip
there are lots of recipes for this dip- titled "crack dip" for it's addictive qualities- floating around the internet. some of them include bleu cheese and bleu cheese dressing, but i'm more of a ranch girl so i'm more inclined to try this one. I imagine one would use celery sticks for serving :)

Cookie Dough Dip
my idea of a dough/batter replica dip is a bowl of raw brownie batter, served with spoons for dipping. while i'm home alone. but this sounds good too, i suppose ;)

Pizza Dip
Maybe you want all the fun of dip but your friends are more the delivery-pizza types. Compromise! This looks pretty awesome. I guess i'm just into things that are normal foods/meals turned into dip form.

Enjoy your fall/football festivities!

Movie Mondays: Horrible Bosses

A couple weeks ago I went out to the movies (for the first time in forever because it costs a million dollars) with a few close friends. I figured it would probably be a good idea to review the flick we saw for a movie monday :)

We saw horrible bosses, which is a Seth Gordon directed film starring Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Anniston, Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey, and Jamie Fox. It's geared towards the same crowd as The Hangover and Knocked Up- So, you know, my demographic. Young 20 somethings who are ok with a little raciness/vulgarity in the name of humor. All in all, it was a good film.

The plot is that there are three young men, all of whom hate their bosses. One has your typical asshole "eff with me and I'll make sure you never get hired anywhere again" alpha male narcissistic boss. Another has a crackhead, crazy, prostitute-loving, only-the-boss-because-his-dad-owned-the-business-and-then-died-without-warning boss. The last has a super sexy but super inappropriate boss who is constantly sexually harassing him and threatening to ruin his engagement if he doesn't sleep with her. Essentially, the three men agree to kill each others' bosses. Kind of like strangers on a train. which they acknowledge in the film.

The film is 100% meant to be a comedy, so obviously all kinds of things go wrong and there's plenty of silly jokes and slapstick humor. The cast is strong and all the actors do a phenomenal job with a less than stunning plotline (in my opinion). I lawled at least a couple times and definitely left the movie theatre feeling like it was worth it. But then again I didn't pay for my own ticket :) basically, I thought this was a better than decent movie that is definitely worth a watch, and if you happen to have a disposable income it's worth seeing in theatres. It's funny, interesting to watch, and well-paced. Definitely a step above a lot of films that come out these days.

Anyways, here's a trailer:

Productivity FTW

Kind of, at least. I got another job today guys! Isn't that exciting? I now work at both Brooklyn Pizza Company on 4th ave

and Sapphire Lounge/Zen Rock on Congress.

I'm just the little downtown working girl! I'm going to be a cocktail server and from what the guys who hired me were telling me it sounds like I'll be making a lot of tips. like, 20$ is a bad night. At Brooklyn, since there are so many people working and we split the tips evenly, 10$ is a good night. I know 20$ in the club industry really is a bad night for tips but I have no problem with that! It sounds like I have the possibility of making over a hundred some nights which would be freaking sweet.

I'm not sure if I'll keep both jobs, but we'll see how it goes. I've met some cool people at Brooklyn that I'd like to start/keep hanging out with and also it's nice to have lots of income... but if I really really enjoy my cocktail serving position I might have to quit at brooklyn so i can put in more hours there. it works better with my school schedule after all, and it pays way more. We'll see!

I say i'm only kinda being productive because even though I've gotten two jobs over the course of 3 weeks, I've been ignoring school a bit. I still do everything it's just... I don't know. I'm not back into the school vibe yet. It all seems boring and tedious right now. I'm sure I'll get more serious about it after the vw fest, when I don't have lots of exciting things and prescott trips to look forward to :)

Anyways, just wanted to blab to you guys about how excited I am about this :) hope your thursday is treating you well!

Vices Challenge

Around this time of the year, I always get to thinking about my vices. Mostly in terms of consumption. Last year I spent the month of November not drinking, and while it didn't make me feel that different it felt really great not having to worry about hangovers or finding safe ways home or having to afford alcohol. and i'm sure my body thanked me. This year I'm feeling kind of flabby and gross, despite the 14 pounds I lost this summer. I know I weigh less, but I think I've lost a lot of my muscle mass and I blame this mostly on the food I eat. Don't get  me wrong, I eat and cook very healthfully but lately I've been letting myself "splurge" or "binge" more, letting myself give in to my tiredness/laziness/hunger and going out for food or grabbing a quick snack rather than actually cooking. This must end. So, I'm challenging myself to give up some of my vices for short times. Here's how it's going to play out:


Week one: Give up two things I eat regularly that I know aren't that good for me.
Week two: Eat only homemade meals- nothing that has preservatives.
Week three: Don't eat any added sugar (fruit is ok, cupcakes are not)
Week four: Go fat-free

I'm pretty sure I'll let these challenges build on themselves so that by week four I'll be eating fat and sugar free homemade meals. Also the things I'm going to give up are cheese and chocolate because seriously, I think if I didn't have some semblance of weight/health concern I would just live off of those two things forever. Example: I've probably had about 4 servings of cheese today and one chocolate bar, and no actual real meal. yeah, disgusting. anyways...

I'm hoping this will be a good way to cleanse my system and get rid of my addiction/cravings for fat, sugar, preservatives/chemicals (like msg) and most importantly cheese and chocolate. I used to be a vegan and I'd really love to kick cheese again since it's all full of opiates and fat and sodium. it's just so damn delicious :/

If anyone wants to join this challenge with me feel free. I'll be checking in among my regular posts every few days to let you know how things are going/how I'm feeling/etc. Also, I'm starting today (thursday- it works well because it's my last day of school and first day of work most weeks) and ending Wed, the 5th of October. Have a happy, healthy thurs/weekend lovemuffins!!

<3
Em

A poem/song for your wednesday

hello lovelies, I'm too lazy to think up a good, interesting post right now so this is what you get!

These are the lyrics to a song i've been working on. I have the melody as well as the accompaniment pretty much worked out it's just been a matter of having the time/resources to put it all together.

I don't usually share my own work because i'm insanely self conscious and I'm never satisfied, AND lyrics sound so incredibly stupid when you just read them off paper. seriously. very, very stupid. But I had a few drinks the other night and ended up being convinced by one of my friends to write it down and let him read it so I figure now that it's already out I might as well show the rest of the world haha.

I like symbolism and double meanings and stuff like that, the problem is I'm usually the only one who gets it. So if something sounds weird/retarded to you, it probably means something else/more important to me. also, you probably won't really know what this is about at all besides getting the general concept because I haven't talked about it on here or to my real life friends :) anyways, disclaimers aside, i hope you enjoy this little peek into my creative musings and don't judge too harshly. hopefully in a few weeks I can upload a vid of me actually singing/playing it!

Where Can We Go

Today I picked through my memory
Trying to find what was left to squeeze.
All that I got were a few drops on my fingers,
But they fill my cuts, now everything hurts.
Everything hurts.

Isn't it funny how in just a few hours
Our noses fill with smoke and our tongues turn sour?
We rub sleep from our eyes and we scrub our hands clean,
We're humbled and hardened but we still have the dream.
We still have the dream.

And oh, where can we go?
Oh, where can we go?

We built a castle out of wishes and seafoam,
Cupped it in our hands and tried to blow it home..
But it was windy that day and bubbles landed on my face
You kissed 'em off and said "it wouldnt've worked anyways"
It wouldn'tve worked anyways.

And oh, where can we go?
Oh, where can we go?

Sweaty hands and salty feet,
Closed eyelids and cold concrete.
Faulty doorknobs and open windows,
Nobody knows, nobody knows.

And oh, where can we go?
Oh where can we go?
Oh, nobody knows,
Oh, please take me home.

Today I picked through my memory
And found candy wrappers and dusty olive trees.
You never wrote me but I guess it's alright,
Most people forget when they open their eyes.
We opened our eyes.

And oh, where can we go?
Oh, where can we go?
Oh, nobody knows.
Oh, where did you go?


There you go lovemuffins. I'm biting my lip as i post this- it's really hard for me to expose my private thoughts and musings and creativity to the whole world, land even harder to expose them to you 34 friends and readers! But I figure if I'm going to be a writer/filmmaker/whatever I end up being someday I'm going to have to learn to let the world see my creations.

Real post tomorrow! Love you all so much.

<3
Ems

obsessed with this right now...

i love this song. and for reasons i can't/don't feel like getting into i feel like bits of it really relate to my life right now :/

i'd only heard bon iver's version which i really love, but i stumbled upon this and this girl, Birdy, is freaking awesome. she's like what i wish i could be. i love the piano accompaniment and her voice is the perfect mix between trained and slightly weepy/emotional/scratchy, which is the "cool" thing to be right now. so beautiful.

Lovely Little Things V.IV

Back to school, back to monthly volumes of lovely little things. This will be a special summer-themed edition since I missed all the summer months


1. Making/Drinking drinks with little skewers of fruit and adorable little umbrellas.

2. Summer Romances

 3. Warm evenings and long, late sunsets

4. Going on picnics (ignore how retarded I look in this picture)

5. Taking day trips to swimming holes, rivers, etc.

6. Spending a whole day in your pjs, doing whatever the eff you want.

7. Eating nothing but a plate of fresh, cool, in season fruits and veggies for a meal

8. Having the time and freedom to discover new hobbies, reach into your creativity, and rediscover lost talents and interests.

9. Dining outside

10. Having a reason to run through sprinklers at any time of the day or night.

Happy September/end of summer my lovelies. I know I'm sad to see it go... but then again I'm going to have 100 degree weather for at least another month :/ Sure do miss the freedom though! See you next month with another volume of Lovely Little Things