I'm Melting

There's one vending machine at my apartment complex. I try not to visit it that often, except I have one of the biggest sweet tooth's possible so its hard to completely stay away. They had the machine in the mail room, which isn't air conditioned. After all, its not like you need your mail to stay cold. Except that the vending machine isn't air conditioned either. Not that big of a deal you'd think. Maybe so, but this is Louisiana.Growing up in Southern California we never had air conditioning, but I think it be hard to find an apartment or house in Louisiana that doesn't have air conditioning.

But back to my candy. There's not normally the best selection in these machines, so most times I've gone with a Twix bar. Yes, there's chocolate, but its has a cookie base, so how bad could it be, right? The funny part is the chocolate isn't normally melted that bad. Instead all the caramel has melted out of the bar and on to the packaging.

There's something else. Growing up I always said "car-mel," except in Louisiana people say "care-a-mel." I've actually tried to order a "Car-mel" Frappuccino at Starbucks and had the barista say back to me, "Do you mean you want a "Care-a-mal" Frappuccino?"

Again, back to my candy. Since it slowly getting cooler I'm hoping my candy bar will actually stay whole and not melt before I eat them. But I guess I shouldn't complain, after all once we're no longer living here and at an actual house there won't be a vending machine so easily accessible.

Anyone else have a few vending machine fiascoes? Also, do you say "care-a-mel" or "carmel" or something else entirely?

~Shoshanah

Cloudy with a Chance of Surrogates

I really love it when to movie titles fit together so well. It's a little silly, but it makes me awfully happy. I guess we can do this in the order I saw them.

Surrogates
I actually wasn't completely opposed to seeing this one. It had an interesting concept behind it, similar to Gamer, except instead of having your life controlled by someone else, you're controlling your life through something else. Think about it, you'd be free to live your whole life from the comfort of your own home. You wouldn't have to feel any pain, worry about catching the swine flu, and be afraid of getting hurt or dying in an accident. As you might expect you'd wind up giving up quite a few things in the process.

There were a few logical flaws, which they did at least try to address. For example, how can children have a surrogate? Its not like the machine can age? Are they just supposed to stay cooped up inside until they become an adult and are surrogate age? Or do you let children out in the real world to mingle with all the machines. I will say they did allude to how this might work, but I still have a few questions.

Overall, I'd say the movie was exciting and had a few unexpected plot turns. Its a good movie, and I'd would easily choose it over Gamer but I think it might be one to wait to see on dvd.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
This one I was really looking forward to seeing. I remember reading the book in pre-school although didn't really remember the plot line. What I do remember is that we got to read the book and then made spaghetti and meatballs as a class! Clearly, a fun activity since its over 20 years later and I still remember doing it.

We saw the movie in 3-D because I've become a little 3-D obsessed. Normally they used the 3-D in a much more passive way, where you forget you're watching something in 3-D by the middle but it still looks amazing. This one they took advantage of the fact that it was a kid's movie and had a few things (mainly flying food) coming right out you.

Its really a fun movie, which of course has a good kid friendly message in it. There is the fact that the movie dies early on in the movie, but its pretty hard to find an animated kid's movie where both of the parents are alive the entire time. I would say if you're going to see the movie go see it in theater with 3-D. Yes, it is more expensive, but I think its worth it. I have heard that these 3-D movies are coming out as 3-D on dvd. While I do think that's great, I'm not sure it'll feel quite as awesome as it does in a big theater.

~Shoshanah

Breaking the Fast

After spending several hours both last night and this morning in services in met up with the boy to have break fast. As in breaking the fast, not breakfast, make sense? Do to his work schedule we had to eat a little before sundown. But I wanted to be able to eat with him, so I was willing to sacrifice a few extra hours of fasting. We decided to go to Bravo (which I do believe is a chain). This first time we went there it had just opened and we weren't that big of a fan. But this was our 3rd trip, and both this time and our 2nd were better than the first.

To start with a had a few glasses of water. I drink so much water on a normal basis, that depriving myself of drinking water is very much noticed. But after the water and bread, I had a cup of black bean soup.
The soup was good, but not amazing. It was a little thick, the boy said it was a bit similar to eating bean dip. But the flavors were still tasty.

For my main dish I had Chianti braised beef ravioli with sweet potatoes in a brown butter sauce.I was a pretty big fan of this, and still have a good amount of leftovers in the fridge. Its funny how you can be SO starved after a day of fasting, but when you sit down to eat you seem to get full within a few bites. (And if anyone is curious the boy had one of his fall backs, a peperoni pizza.)

After this I would have been ready for dessert, most likely a creme brulee, but the boy had to had to work. So instead of ordering a dessert I stopped by Menchie's on my way home.
I would say its similar to a Pinkberry, except I've never actually been to one. The way Menchie's works is actually kind of dangerous. Its all self serve, which is why the cup is so big. They have about 8 different flavors of yogurt, and then a bunch of toppings and sauces. I went with peach sorbet topped with mini gummy bears, Nerds, and chocolate chip cookie dough.

As I said it can be a bit dangerous, but it can go the opposite way. Its hard to tell, put there's really not a lot in there. So little, I only paid about $2.00 for it all. Which is nice, because I was so full already I didn't need a lot of sweetness to really just hit the spot.

And now that today has ended I guess them means my weekend is officially over. At least there's only 4 days of work ahead!

~Shoshanah

Not Quite the Weekend's End

I finally got to lay out at the pool today! Its been so rainy every weekend for the past, ooo month, but today it was nice and sunny out. Of course, it'll probably wind up pouring before the night is over. But I made sure to take advantage. Not too sure how many more sunny days are going to be left this year. So I feel the need to take advantage. I have to admit one thing I'm going to miss most about not living in this apartment will be the lack of a pool.

Also this weekend LSU won their football game. It was an ugly game, and overall a little ridiculous. I wound up watching the game myself while the boy was at work, and even so there was quite a bit of yelling at the tv going on.

In a few hours I'll be at Kol Nidre services. And them tomorrow I'll be spending the day at temple for Yom Kippur. Its nice not going to work, but I wouldn't say its really a holiday. Several hours and fasting doesn't quite seem relaxing to me. And if you're curious from my Rosh Hashanah post, I've decided to go to both services at the more religious temple. I guess its off to start getting ready. And to anyone else whose observing Yom Kippur, I hope you have a quick and easy fast.

~Shoshanah

Caribbean Carnival

Kashi's Caribbean Carnival Pizza
I want to know who the person at Kashi was who thought to themselves, "You know what would make a great pizza? Mangoes, plantains and kale on top of mozzarella!" Yeah, not the most normal of combinations. But surprisingly good!

I think my favorite part of the pizza was the plantains. Which could be seen as a little surprising since I'm not a big banana fan. The mangoes were a close second though. Its funny because you wouldn't necessary think fruit would work on the pizza, but it was by far my favorite part. Although, come to think of it, I'm a fan of pineapple on my pizza. So I guess adding fruit isn't the oddest of idea.

Instead of having a tomato sauce the pizza had a "sweet and spicy guava-infused jerk seasoned sauce." Sounds amazing right? Except I couldn't really taste the sauce. Actually, the parts of the pizza that didn't have the fruit on it tasted like a normal cheese pizza.

I would say this isn't necessarily a pizza I'd want to eat all the time. But every once it a while, it would be a fun change of pace.

~Shoshanah

My Frog Prince

Last night as I was getting ready to go to sleep I noticed something small and dark on the carpet. I looked closer and realize I was staring at a tiny little frog. Now if I had been outside I would have looked at it and said, "Aww how cute! It's a little baby frog." But I was not outside I was in my apartment. Which mean there was a frog in my apartment!

Let's just say a freaked out quite a bit. There was a little yelling involved. I made the boy get off the couch to safe me. Of course the frog didn't want to be caught and hopped into the corner behind furniture.

"That's it," he said, "I can't reach him there."

"But what if the frog is pregnant and has babies and we wind up having and apartment full of frogs!"

"It's a baby. It's not going to have any babies of its own." But I insisted and he moved the furniture out of the way, and was able to corner the frog. He caught the frog in his hands, and I ran to the open the back door where he threw it outside. And our apartment was frog-less once again.

On a slightly similar note. I can't wait to see Disney's The Frog Prince this winter. Not only is it the first Disney princess movie in forever, it also takes place in New Orleans. I'm really really hoping they do a good job, and don't disappoint.

~Shoshanah

Good-Bye Cosmo

I received my October Cosmo recently, which is my last issue. No, nothing is happening to the magazine, I just decided not a renew my subscription. Its a little bittersweet. Ever since high school Cosmo has been my favorite magazine. I used to say I couldn't fly without one, and every time I flew home from college I would buy one. I soon learned that as long as I was buying 2 or 3 Cosmos a year it was far cheaper to just subscribe, and that's what I've been doing for the past 3 years.

Why did I decide not to renew, considering most of the time you can get a subscription for around $15? Partly because after reading it for almost 10 years it each article seems to be strangely familiar. It's kind of hard to come up with brand new material year after year, month after month.

But mainly its because a lot of it no longer applies to my life. I don't really feel like I need to read dating tips and no longer need to read articles telling me "Why He Hasn't Called," or something similar. Which I guess means I'm leaving a life stage behind. Look at it this way. In elementary school I used to subscribe to American Girl Magazine. After a few years I grew out of that and started reading Seventeen. And by high school I moved onto Cosmopolitan.

Which brings up the question, what now? Don't get me wrong I'll still be receiving Entertainment Weekly and Glamour in the mail so I won't be magazine free, but part of me thinks I should replace Cosmo with something else. I do like reading Redbook, which I feel is somewhat similar to a married person's Cosmo, but I'm not married. On a similar note I like reading wedding magazines, but I'm not engaged and would feel awfully silly subscribing to one. So basically I'm not sure what the next step is. Anyone have any good suggestions? What magazines do you subscribe to or enjoy reading? Anyone else feel a little guilty when you choose to stop receiving a magazine you almost seemed to grow up with?

~Shoshanah

Just a Marketing Ploy

I was at the movie theater recently and noticed they were selling a new candy. Mini Chewy SweeTarts! I hadn't heard of these or seen them before, which meant I had to try them. After all I love SweeTarts. I love giant chewy SweeTarts. Which only meant I was going to love these too. (And I just realize as I was typing this there's only one t in SweeTarts. Anyone else noticed that before?)

I got in the theater and excited ripped open the bag to discover... I've had these before! Except they weren't called mini chewy SweeTarts. Instead they were called TartnTinys. They might be a few difference between the two types of candies, but basically they seemed to be the exact same thing. I'm guessing TartnTinys didn't have the most recognizable name. Whereas SweeTarts with all of the different varieties is a fairly well know brand. So they changed the name in hopes it would improve sales. Really, I think its just a marketing ploy by Willy Wonka Candy.

I might be wrong, and Min Chewy SweeTarts might just be really similar to Tart N Tinys. But either they are both tasty, and I'm sure I'll continue buying them regardless as to what their official name is.

~Shoshanah

Are You Informed

The Informant!
I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. I'm a fan of Matt Damon and the movie looked like it would be really funny. Unfortunately, that didn't quite seem to be the case.

Yes, there were funny parts. But overall the movie wasn't really funny. The whole movie included a voice over narrator by Matt Damon which I really wasn't a fan of. Overall, I'd say the movie was pretty boring, and a little predictable.

I can still admit Matt Damon was good in the role, and fairly unrecognizable. I mean you knew it was Matt Damon, but it was a role unlike most anything else he's acted in. He was probably one of the high points. The actually story of the movie is pretty unbelievable, and from what I can find online it is fairly true. I do think they did have interesting subject material, but they way it all played out didn't make it seem very interesting. I think they could have cut a lot of the movie out, and come up with something a lot better.

If I could go back, I wouldn't have seen this. Instead I would have seen Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Hopefully, I'll still have a chance to see that one in the next few weeks.

Also, Lisa at Lisa's Yarns sent me a blog award!
I doesn't look like there's any rules to go along with this one, but if I'm mistaken let me know! And I want to send this award out to all of my followers! Thanks so much for following and for reading along!

~Shoshanah

Happy New Year

I had that title listed as my facebook status message and I got this response by one of my friends, "I was seriously confused for a moment, and then remembered its the Jewish new year." Yes, this past Saturday was the Jewish new year, or Rosh Hashanah in Hebrew. I went to services, but haven't quite decided on a temple in Baton Rouge so actually went to a service at each one.

There's really only two main temples in Baton Rouge, quite different from where I grew up. Both temple are technically reform, although one is definitely more religious than the other. Friday night, for Erev Roshanah services, I took the boy with me and we went to the less religious temple.

The temple has the bigger congregation of the two by far. They are actually a little less religious than the reform temple I grew up going to. For example, Jewish prayer books are normally backwards from an English book in that the read from right to left. But the prayer books they used went from left to right, which bothered me probably more than it should have. I had gone to one service there last year and really liked their rabbi. Except she was no longer there, and I wasn't as big of a fan of their new rabbi.

For services the following morning I went to the more religious synagogue. The number one thing I like about this one is that it is literally right down the street from my apartment. What's interesting is that this temple calls themselves a reform temple I think in an attempt to mainly to not turn people away who don't want to go to a conservative service. But even so the service itself seemed much more like a conservative one. For example, they had 2 days of services for Rosh Hashanah which is normally done only at conservative temples. What I did like was the amount of participation by the congregants, far more than at the other one. Although, there were times when it seemed like everyone else knew the Hebrew to a certain prayer that I didn't. Although I'm sure if I went to services there more often it would start to come to me.

Something else I didn't like at the second temple was that they didn't blow the shofar. I was a little surprised by this and looked it up on-line. It turns out you're not supposed to blow the shofar on Sabbat, and this year Rosh Hashanah happened to fall on a Saturday. If I had gone to the second day of services I would have heard it. And I think if I had gone to services at the first less religious temple they probably would still have blown the shofar.

Overall, I can't say I've made a final decision. Although, since I'm not going to services very regularly I guess I don't feel a huge need to. For Yom Kippur in a few weeks, I think I'll wind up going to all services at the more religious temple, but more for a convenience sake than anything else.

And also, LSU won this weekend. What a great way to start off the new year!

~Shoshanah

Tag! You're It!

A few days ago Amber at A Little Pink in the Cornfields tagged me to do a 5 sexy things meme. Here's how it works:
* Write 5 things that make you feel sexy
* Post a pic if you dare!
* Pass it on to 5 lovely bloggers

So let's go

Underwear from Victoria's Secret
Really, any time I buy underwear I buy there's. I by from most of their lines, but their Sexy Little Things line? Well, I have almost everytime type of underwear offered in that line. But I don't actually have the underwear in the picture I found, I guess that means its time for a shopping trip!


Matching Pajamas
And honestly most of mine are from Victoria's as well. I will pretty much refuse to wear pajamas if the don't match. Most of the ones I do have are the same style a tank top and pants.

Tank Top and Shorts
This is really my all the time around the apartment outfit, and what I'm wearing now actually. Although I don't need these to match. And I don't think I have any tank tops or shorts from Victoria's Secret. But I would definitely wear these LSU ones if I had them.

Make-Up
Yes, this one is a bit general and no there's no picture. But I wear make-up so rarely, that when I do put it on, I almost instantly feel different.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Is there really an explanation needed here?

And the 5 I'm tagging are:
1. Amber at Girl with the Red Hair
2. Ashley at Spoonful(s) of Sugar
3. Baker Girl at An Extended Vacation
4. Kelly at Keeping Up with Kelly
5. Suz at 30 Before 30 List

Also Kelly at Keeping Up with Kelly sent me the Kreative Blogger Award!

The Rules for this one are as followed:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might not know.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

Thank you Kelly for the Award!

1. In middle school I went through a phase of having creative Halloween costumes. I was a picnic one year and the night sky the next.
2. I didn't actually come up with those "creative" ideas by myself, they were both from American Girl magazine.
3. The boy decided to make breakfast for dinner. So right now I'm eating eggs and hash browns. Not a huge surprise, but you didn't already know that did you?
4. My all time favorite meal would probably be lasagna with a ceasar salad.
5. The first movie I remember seeing in the theater as The Aristocats
6. When I was little I used to sleep with a cabbage kid named Bernard. That was the name the doll came with, so I decided to keep the name but that Bernard would be a girl.
7. I'm so excited to watch the new season of Survivor which premiers in 5 minutes

Not the best secrets I know, but I'm running out of time (see my secret #7). So really, I'm going to cheat a little and let ALL of my readers have the Kreative Award. If you're hear I truly do appreciate you! And like all bloggers, I love reading each and every comment you leave!

~Shoshanah
Images courtesy of Victoria's Secret

Do You Know Where You Children Are

There are 3 main movie theaters me and the boy wind up going to see a movie at. We do have a favorite, but depending on our plans will be willing to go to any one of those 3.

At the start of the summer on of the theaters implemented a new policy. They were no longer going to sell tickets to anyone under 17 for movies starting after 9pm, and they were allow children under the age of 6 see an R rated movie after 8 pm. (I might have the times and ages slightly off, but in general those were the new guideline.)

Not that longer afterwards, a second theater took up the same policy. Which meant there was only one theater in town where teens to really go to hang out on a weekend. This was, of course, at my favorite theater.

Now this theater is in a really cute area, surround by a bunch of different businesses. There's a bookstore, a bunch of stores, and some restaurants as well. It's a fun place to hangout in general, and there's always been a good amount of high schoolers hanging around. But as you might imagine since it was the only theater they could go to no, things were starting to get a little crazy.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a teen that long ago. And I do remember a movie theater implementing a similar policy. Lucky for me this was senior year, which meant most of my friends were over 18 and could be my so-called guardian. So I do understand the fact that as a teen you want to have something to do.

But it was getting to the point where you could barely walk to the theater because there were so many kids hanging out on the sidewalk. I had some friends that went to go see Halloween 2 and actually asked a group of teen-aged boys to quiet down so they could hear the movie. When they kept talking, and they had no idea what was happening in the movie, they left the theater and asked for their money. Overall, it was getting pretty ugly.

But last weekend when we went to see 9, the boy dropped me off to buy tickets and went to go park the car. I started walking to the theater, and a police officer stopped me, "Excuse me Miss, but how old are you?"

I was so surprised that he was asking me this I really couldn't remember. I thought about it a bit and was finally able to tell him I was actually 24. But really the amount of time it took me to come up with that, I'm not sure I would have believed myself. Luckily the police officer did because it turns out the entire complex (aka movies, bookstores, shops, and restaurants) would no longer allow anyone under 17 on site (without a guardian) after 8pm (or it could have been 7pm or 9pm). Either way, it was awfully nice news for me. And the way things were going it was something that had to be done.

But if I were a teen I could see myself being awfully disappointed with the news. I guess you could still go to a movie at 6 or 7pm. But it must be putting a damper on a lot of kids' plans. Anyone else have on thoughts on this situation? Do you think we should no longer allow teens to be out at a bookstore or at dinner or at a movie after 8pm? I do you think all the theaters made a great decision?

My TV Guide

Its that time of the year! Yes, Fall tv time. I unfortunately don't have tivo, and we only have 1 TV currently connected to the cable in our apartment. Which means I have to be a little choosy as what I'm going to watch. I think I've come up with a schedule. And really, I'm so excited to get back into some of these!

And yes, all times are central, since I do live in the central time zone now. Anywhere else, you can just add an hour to the time. And any show I didn't include a premiere date for has already started airing.

Sunday:
7-8pm: The Amazing Race (Premieres 9/27)
8-9pm: Desperate Housewives(Premieres 9/27)
9-10pm: Brother & Sisters (Premieres 9/27)
A pretty amazing night of TV to start out the week! Its really the only reason to look forward to Sunday nights.

Monday:
8-8:30pm: Jon & Kate Plus 8
Overall, not a strong tv night for. I know J&K+8 isn't really a fall tv premier since its been on all summer. But I pretty much feel the need to watch it. Since I'm watching that, I won't be able to watch Gossip Girl. I've never actually watched an episode of it, so at least I don't know what I'm missing

Tuesday:
7-9pm: The Biggest Loser (Premieres 9/15)
10-10:30pm: 18 Kids and Counting
Is The Biggest Loser really going to be 2 hours the entire season? The show premiers tonight, and while I'd expect a 2 hour premier, I wouldn't have guessed it be that way the whole fall. But sure enough that's how Entertainment Weekly has it listed. 18 Kids and Counting is actually on 8pm, but they do repeat it at 10pm, so I should be safe there.

Wednesday:
7-8pm: Mercy (Premieres 9/23)
8-9pm: Glee
9-10pm: Top Chef
I've really liked what I've see so far on Glee. I'm not sure if I'll actually watch Mercy, but I've always liked Michelle Trachtenberg, so I do think I'm willing to give it a chance. And of course, there's Top Chef.

Thursday:
7-8pm: Survivor (Premieres 9/17)
8-9pm: Grey's Anatomy (Premieres 9/24)
9-10pm: Real Housewives
Thursday is probably the night of tv I look forward to the most. I've watched a few episodes of Private Practice, and might wind up tuning in after Grey's is over instead of switching over to Bravo. But I not writing that down as a must see. I think I'd enjoy watching Flash Forward, but its on the same time as Survivor, and I'm not willing to sacrifice that. Same with The Vampire Diaries which is also on at 7pm.

Friday:
I know there are shows on Friday night, but I never remember to watch them. Plus I not normally home to watch anything on Friday night. So while there are shows on Friday I might enjoy, like Dollhouse, I just won't wind up watching them.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Are there any shows you really think I should try to fit in? Or do you agree on a lot of my choices? I'd love to see what everyone else's picks are as well.

~Shoshanah

It is 09 afterall

Anyone else notice how many movies with the number 9 are coming out this year, in of course 2009? Let's see I've already talked about District 9, Nine won't be released till November, which only leaves...

9
I didn't really know what to expect with this movie. The previews for it did look interesting but didn't reveal a lot of what goes on. Anyone you read about it mentions a post apocalyptic world and these... number things must save it. But besides that I wasn't quite sure.

The movie itself just starts off almost right in the middle of the story. They don't explain a lot to you upfront, and leave you to figure out what happens slowly as the movie progresses. If you wait long enough you are able to understand the movie, but at first you feel a little lost.

Without giving anything away, I wasn't a huge fan of the ending. The boy was able to explain what the were trying to achieve a little better, but I do think they could have ended the movie better. Although, I can't come up with a better ending myself.

But the overall feel and look of the movie was probably my favorite part. It was a lot of fun. You would think that having the characters each be a number you'd lose a lot of originally, but that wasn't quite the case. They made an attempt to make each number unique, but granted there were a few times I wasn't sure which character was in which scene.

I wouldn't say the movie was spectacular and can't miss. But it was enjoyable and I am glad I saw it. I will say that even though its a cartoon, its isn't geared towards kids, there were a few times when I myself was scared. But if you're looking for a fun escape for an hour or two this could be it.

~Shoshanah

It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium?

As I said yesterday, me and the boy went to our first LSU football game together. He used to go all the time when he was growing up, and I'd been to a few games when I first moved to Louisiana, but this was the first time we actually went with eachother.

It had been raining most of the day, but by the time we started heading to the game the rain had let up. I was crossing my fingers that it would stay that way, but the boy figured we might be safe and pick up ponchos on the way there. We wound up having to park around 2 miles away from the stadium, at least according to the Boy it was 2 miles, to my legs it felt much much longer. And then once we got to the actual stadium we had to walk ALL the way up to our seats. Yes, we were all the way at the top. There were actually only 3 rows behind us. Which did mean we had a good view.
I do realize this isn't the best picture, but it was the only one he "let" me take. He's not a fan of pictures, for no real reason except that he likes to make me miserable I'm sure.

After listening to the marching band play the fight song,
and seeing the team run in
they started listing off the stats for the game. Tempurate is 80 degrees. Wind is blowing south-southwest. Chance of rain: Never.

Yes, there's a saying that goes "It Never Rain in Tiger Stadium." Does it look like that happened?
Even in the rain we still had fun cheering the Tigers to victory. We wound up splitting a bowl of jambalya
I actually got back from buying this and asked the boy to get my purse from under the seat. He did it thinking I needed it to put my money away. No, I really just needed my camera so I could take this picture to share with my readers. After all, how many other football stadiums sell jambalya?

We also got to see them honor Shaq.
I'm not sure what exactly they were horing him with. Maybe, they inducted him into the LSU hall of fame? I'm pretty sure he would have still been there even if they weren't honoring him since in the 4 years I've lived in Baton Rouge he's been at every home opener, which this game was.

They also honored the 2009 NCAA Champion LSU baseball team. I would have taken a picture of this as well, but at the time we were experiencing a fairly torential downpour and was at least a little afraid of ruining my camera. Plus I didn't want to get anymore wet then we already were.

Eventually the rain did let up and we got to enjoy the rest of the LSU's 23-9 win over Vanderbilt.
Yeah, remember what I said about avoid pictures?

Any one else spend part of their weekend at a football game? Let's hope you stayed a little dryer than we did!

~Shoshanah

BFFs

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
I finished reading this book last night, which means I officially have nothing to read. (And now need to get to a bookstore STAT.) A basic plot summary for anyone who doesn't know about this book is that its about two girls Addie and Valerie. The were best friends growing up, but something happened in high school and they stopped being friends. They lost touch until one night Valerie shows up on Addie's doorstep with a secret needing her help.

The big secret Valerie has, well it isn't much of a secret in that you find it out within the first chapter. Instead as you read the book you start to discover what exactly happened between the two girls. How they became friends in the first place, and of course what happened to make them stop being friends.

It's been a while since I've read a Jennifer Weiner book, and while I have read most of hers, I do think Best Friends Forever might be one of my favorites. I do like the main character Addie a lot. Also, in general I enjoy reading high school-er books, and while most of the book took place with older characters there were a good amount of high school scenes. It was nice reading about high school in a more adult type book.

Besides the high school and current scenes, there are stories from a range of different times. They aren't always chronological, and sometime that can get confusing, but I do think the book flowed very very.

I do think this book was written in a way that there could be a sequel. Well, at least I want to know what happens to the characters in the future. I think it could be interesting to tell the book from Valerie's point of view (she's the other best friend. Jennifer Weiner I hope your listening to me about the sequel! Anyone else read this book yet?

~Shoshanah

P.S. The boy's working right now, but when he gets off we're going to the LSU football together! I can't wait, its actually going to be the first LSU football game we've gone to together. I can't wait! Geaux Tigers!

Vegetable Lasagna

Amy's Vegetable Lasagna
I've been seeing this around forever, but I've been a little hesitant to try it. Partly, because lasagna is one of my favorite foods and I was afraid I'd be let down. I was afraid that since it was meatless it would disappoint me. Also that since there wasn't any meat it would be a little to cheesy for me. Especially considering ricotta is one of the ingredients in this, and its pretty much my least favorite part of lasagnas in general.

I did suck it up, and decided to make the jump. Of course I'm glad I did! The lasagna turned out even better than I imagined. There wasn't too much ricotta. I could actually barely taste any of it. I even forget that it was meatless it was so good. And there was the spinach, some might say that adds a meatiness to the lasagna, but I think it more just gave it an extra kick.

The lasagna wasn't perfect though. As you can tell from the picture the edges got a tiny bit overcooked. But it was cooked all the way through the middle which I guess is the important part. Other than that I don't have any major complaints.

Honestly I should have had a little more faith in Amy's After all they haven't let me down yet!

~Shoshanah

P.S. I know its been a while since I've posted a Frozen Thursday. With the change of schedule for the fall semester the boy has been home more often lately. And instead of making frozen dinners we've been eating something together. But I do have a few things in my freezer that I can't wait to try, so while I may not be posting one of these every week they will definitely NOT be going away!

Not Quite a Junkie

Most of my friends will tell you I am quite the reality TV junkie. After all looking at my sidebar this will be my 30th post on reality tv. I wouldn't necessarily say I have a specific genre of reality tv I more, but more of all reality in general.

Let's see, just this summer I've been watching a lot of the shows on TLC (Jon & Kate Plus 8, 18 Kids & Counting, Toddlers & Tiaras). There's been several on Bravo (Top Chef, Real Housewives). I watched some dating shows like The Bachelorette. I watched 16 and Pregnant on MTV. And then come the fall I'll be watching Survivor and Amazing Race. That's a lot of shows, but clearly not all of them.

Then last night when I was on Facebook, I saw a wall posting between two of my friends. It turns out one of the girls I knew when I was younger was on a reality tv show this summer and she was sending her a Congrats! She was on a show I thought I should have been watching, but never took the time to turn it on! Of course now, the shows over so I can't even watch the episodes to see if she's anything like what I remember. Or if the producers might have changed her into someone completely different.

I'm sure if I really wanted to I could find the episode online. But more than that, I'm a little disappointed with myself. I should have been watching at the start of the season and then been able to get excited, "Hey I know that girl!" O well, I'm sure someday I'll recognize someone else on know in real life on a reality tv show. I guess that means I'm not the reality TV junkie that I thought I was.

Anyone else think they're maybe a little too addicted to reality tv? Or maybe you've seen someone you know on a show you were watching? Or even more exciting, have you ever been on a reality tv show? Tell me all about it, and let me live vicariously through you!

~Shoshanah

Fall into Fall

On Labor Day the boy and I drove out to his parent's house. On the way there, I made him stop at a Starbucks. He wants to be sure that I wrote down that this was under protest by him. He's just isn't a coffee fan. If he's in need of a caffeine fix he'll always have a Coke.

But back to me! I had my first Starbucks pumpkin spice latte of the season.
I can't quite say pumpkin spice lattes are my favorite, that place is currently held by gingerbread lattes (or gingersnap lattes as Starbucks has started calling them). But maybe in a few months I'll have a taste test to decide which I prefer, because I do think its awfully close!

Since we've officially enter pumpkin spice latte season, I guess that means fall has arrived. The weather has started cooling off slightly in Baton Rouge, but I'm sure there's still a feel days of ridiculous heat coming up. So to everyone out there, happy fall! And do you have a favorite coffee drink? Or do you dislike all coffee in general like the boy?

~Shoshanah

The Tea Rose Trilogy: Book 1

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
My co-worker lent me this book, and if I'm being honest I wasn't really looking forward to reading it, but felt completely obligated too. The book itself was a little long (over 500 pages), and while length isn't really a problem after some of the books I've read recently I was craving a little more fluff. Also while the book is historical fiction which I do enjoy, it takes place at the end of the 19th century, which is not a time period a read frequently.

I did suck it up to read the book, and am definitely glad I did because I wound up loving the book. The book is told from the point of view of Fionna Finnegan a factory working growing up in England in the 1890s. Of course, she's in love the a boy, Joe Bristow, her next door neighbor and a fruit seller. The book itself has a bit of romance, as well as some action and a bit of adventure. It winds up being a bit of a rags to riches story.

I did have a few minor complaints though. One of the back stories were the murders of Jack the Ripper. I do understand that this was what was happening at this time, but I think some of the murder scenes weren't necessarily needed. Also, I felt the book was a bit too predictable. And the book was filled with those almost painful scenes you see in a lot of romance stories. You know, similar to movies where they show both the girl and boy pick up the phone to call, but hang up since they assume the other one doesn't want to talk. I understand they are done to add a bit of suspense, but they always just feel so frustrating to me!

And remember how I was complaining about how long the book was? Well I started it last Thursday, so once I go into it I didn't want to put it down. Of course, having a four day weekend helped the situation.

The book is part of a trilogy, the second of which is called The White Rose. I could be wrong, but I don't believe the final book has been published yet. I would definitely read the rest of the books in the trilogy, mainly because I can't wait to hear what happens to the rest of the characters. I would recommend this book, especially to those who enjoy reading historical fiction.

~Shoshanah

Let's Play a Game

Gamer
I will start off by saying I wasn't a big fan of this movie. The plot line was similar to that of Jason Statham's Death Race in that a prisoner in jail has to play a game (or be in a race) and if he wins a certain number of times he will be released and be reunited with his family. Both movies had a little too much blood and guts for my taste. And of course a lot of death. Pretty much the perfect movie for a teenage boy.

However, there's a pretty big catch in Gamer. The game he has to win is actually a video game. In that there's a human being who is able to controlling the prisoner, and the prisoner doesn't get to make any decision himself. But think about it from the player's point of view instead of playing a game and controlling an imaginary character you're controlling a real live person.

In the movie they say this started out with a different less violent game called Society. This was a game similar to The Sims, except again your sim was actually a human. Its a pretty interesting social dilemma. Yes, the "characters" in the game are being paid for their work, but they have lost the ability to control their own actions. And the person doing the controlling actual gets to live their fantasy life from the comfort of their own living room.

If I'm being honest, if something like this actually existed I think I might succumb to the temptations and play as would a lot of other people. But then you have to think of the type of person who would be willing to sign up to "act" in a game like this. Maybe people who have no drive and don't want to make any decisions, but more likely people who are poor and found an easy way to make money without having to do any of the work.

I'd like to think our society would never deem something like this to be acceptable. But you never know what the future might hold, however unlikely it may be. Luckily one can let this movie stand as a cautionary tell, in that just because you can do something doesn't mean you have to.

On a final note I wouldn't necessarily recommend the actual movie. But I do think the ideas it proposes are interesting. And well, if you do enjoy watching people got blown to smithereens then this might be the movie for you.

~Shoshanah

It's a Surprise

Yesterday laying out at the pool I read this article from the August Real Simple. (No I don't subscribe people normally leave their old magazines in the laundry room and this was one I recycled.) The article was about a group of 6 friends that go on vacation together every year. Not just any vacation, a surprise vacation!

The way it works is that each year one of the 6 is in charge to plan. They're given a per person budget (that's supposed to include airfare) and a weekend to work with when everyone can go, but no other restrictions. The a few weeks before the trip they let everyone one in on the surprise. They then alternate every year. Which means every 6th year you'd have to plan a vacation, but the other 5 you'd have everything planned for you. So far some of the trips they've gone on include renting a house in New England, staying on a ranch in Colorado, and booking a hotel room in NYC.

How much fun would this be to do with a group of friends? I know it can be hard to keep up with friends especially when you like me seem to always more around the country. But this would be such a great way to see everybody every year. And on top of that most of the time you don't have to do any of the planning. Yes, the year you plan would be stressful, but I think it'd be forth it. There's also the fact that its a surprise to look forward to every year. I would so love to do this, maybe with my college friends? Anyone else think this sounds like a great idea?

~Shoshanah

P.S. The first LSU game of the season's on tonight! I stopped by Target earlier today, and I'm pretty sure every person in there was wearing LSU colors. Let's Geaux Tigers!

Show Us Your... School Pictures

No I'm not skipping work today. I'm actually taking my floating holiday, and I figured what better way to celebrate the start of my FOUR day weekend then by participating in Kelly's Koner's Show Us Your Life. This week's theme is school pictures.
I'm not a big fan of throwing away anything, which means I still have (almost) all my school ids. And when I say I have them, I mean I kept them in my wallet. So anytime I need a good laugh, or a conversation started I can whip them out and let everyone see me grow up before their eyes. And now you can too!
6th gradeThis might have been one of the last times my hair was short. And I rarely wore jewelry to school. I'm pretty sure I wore that necklace only for the actual picture.

8th GradeMy 7th grade ID seems to have disappeared. I do think this 8th grade picture might be one of my favorite ID pictures.

9th GradeThis was taken as registration instead of part way through the way like in middle school. High school also meant I would be going to school the boy I'd been crushing on all through 8th grade. So I went all out make-up wise hoping he'd see me. I think I might have overdone it a bit, at least for me.

10th GradeI took the opposite approach here. As in I'm too cool for school and really don't care how I look or what people think. Yeah... not sure that was the best approach.

11th GradeI do think this is a pretty good compromise between both 9th & 10th grade.

12th GradeThis pictures actually from about half way through the year. I thought I lot my ID so got a replacement. I think this is a pretty good picture of what I looked like on an average day senior year. And I did find the ID in my sweatshirt pocket about a week later. Not sure where it is now though.

CollegeI got to keep this ID picture for all 4 years of college. But the end I was a bit of a fan of how young and innocent I seemed to look in it. And yes, I do realize I'm not looking at the camera.

Grad SchoolThis is my LSU ID (if you look closely you can see an eye of a Tiger in the background). I used to love this picture, except for the fact that the color is fading! Umm... how does it happen that the color on my 6th grade ID is fine, but my ID from LSU which is less than 3 years old is fading? Anyone else see anything wrong with that picture?

If you're here from Kelly's Korner, thanks for stopping by! And maybe you'll stick around a while? Also, if you've had as much fun looking as these old pictures as I did, that's a lot more to look at, at Kelly's Korner.

~Shoshanah

Julie & Julia: The Book

I finished reading Julie & Julia today, the book I won in a giveaway from Sweet Tea Diaries. To start with back when I saw the movie a lot of you asked if it made more sense to see the movie first and then read the book or to do the opposite. At the time, I couldn't really give a good answer. But now I can say, I'm glad I saw the movie first and then read the book.

What the movie seemed to do is book a only few key plot scenes and turn them into the core of the movie. For example the main to big cooking projects that stick out in the movie are boeuf bourguignon and cooking live lobster. While both are in the book as well, they are two small adventures no more important than say making mayonnaise. Something that seemed to happen a lot in the book, but was no where in the movie. I guess watching people make mayonnaise isn't very exciting. I do think if I had read the book first and then seen the movie I would have been disappointed as to some of the details they chose to cut.

Of course a lot of this is due to the fact the movie focused a lot more on Julia Child's story. While most chapters do start with an imagined scene of Julia Child's life, one of which contains one unforgettable Julia Child line from the movie, it doesn't tell Julia Child's story. But then its not supposed to.

As a blogger one thing I liked about the book was the blog talk. I've read books by bloggers before (books by Christine Coppa of Glamour's Storked and Jen Lancaster of Jennsylvania) And while both Christine and Jen talk about the blogging itself, its nowhere near to the point that Julie talks about if. For example, she talks about the type of discussions that break out in her comment's after she writes a post, or when she actually writes her posts. Little things them almost seem unimportant but somehow make it all feel more real.

I also liked the ending of the book quite a bit more than the movie. I do apologize if I'm spoiling the ending, but the movie ends with, "Julie's blog got made into a movie." Why yes, I just so happened to sit through that movie now didn't I? Not to big of a surprise. The ending of the book seems to be a much more he artful piece from Julie Powell that actually feels meaningful, and not "well, duh."

I am glad I both read the book and saw the movie. And I'm pretty sure I'll read her next book Cleaving after in comes out in December. I'd say if you enjoy reading blogs (which you must if you're reading this, right?), then I'd definitely say you'd enjoy it. And if you enjoyed the movie, you'd probably like this too. I guess there's only one thing left to say. Bon Appetit!

~Shoshanah

The Flavors of Runts Past.

This morning when I went into the kitchen a work to get a cup of coffee I noticed they had restocked the vending machine. I had no know if they added anything exciting, and was met with a yummy surprise. They had one of my favorite candies, Chewy Runts. Not only that, there were no flavors in the bag. Which meant of course latter that afternoon I had to try a bag. What were these new flavors? Well first let's explore the flavors of Runts past.

The ones I remember growing up were banana, strawberry, orange, lime, and cherry. When I was in high school they changed it up and replaced lime and cherry with watermelon and blue raspberry. Those two didn't last long, and while I was at LSU they were replaced with mango and pineapple. But the new runts in the vending machine had replaced them with green apple and grape. Which means the total runts line-up is banana, strawberry, orange, green apple, and grape.

My thought on the new flavors is that they aren't nearly as good as mango and pineapple. Although, honestly I think they should go back to the original and bring back cherry and lime flavors. Has anyone else seen these new flavors around?

~Shoshanah

P.S Did anyone else hear that the Duggar's are expecting their 19th child? I think they should go for an 20. I do think its pretty amusing that Michele & Jim-Bob's first grandchild will be older than the 19th kid. Pretty crazy.

P.P.S. Remember the waste of money Stacy's Pita chips? I finished the last of them last night. Which means they lasted about two weeks. I'd say they turned out to pretty worth it, don't you?