clothes on dogs...amazing or lame?

I have to admit, I've put Tater Tot in a few doggy outfits over the years. Some of the stand-out moments include:

Prom 2003. No, my dog was NOT my date (I swear people have asked that before) I took a human to the dance but couldn't resist dressing the Tot in a tux.

Christmas 2006. Tater hates Santa.

Summer 2006. My twin sister Noelle did a photo shoot of Tater and entered him to win some cute dog contest.

Christmas 2007. Tater loves this scarf!

Halloween 2009. Shark eating a person costume...not Tater's finest moment.

I'm still on the fence as to whether I think human clothes on dogs is extremely weird or incredibly adorable...obviously I've done it before so I guess I'm leaning more towards the "incredibly adorable" camp, but I'm not one of those kooky pet owners that has a whole wardrobe for their dogs. That is decidedly NOT normal nor incredibly adorable.

Since moving and bringing the Tot with me to a one-bedroom third floor apartment it's a necessity that I take him for at least two walks a day. I've always loved going on walks with Tater Tot but this is the first time I have to do no matter what the weather is...and lately it's been raining A LOT. His fur is so thick and fluffy that he ends up getting totally soaked while I stay dry under my umbrella, so I've been toying with the idea of buy him a doggy raincoat.


I'm afraid that the combination of his cuteness, fluffiness, and tendency to bark at any dog and act ferocious will make him look silly in a raincoat. Bah, whatever, people are always laughing at him anyway.

Maybe if he was more refined and mature and had a doggy mustache people would think twice before they giggle at him.

Hau, hau, hau, I am French.

mad men barbie dolls

I'm on the verge of hyperventilating right now. Mattel announced yesterday the launch of their Mad Men Barbie dolls which will be available later this summer.


EFF YOU, MATTEL! Don't you know I'm trying to be financially responsible? Then you go and release the most adorable Barbie dolls I have ever seen (how TDF is Joan?!) and expect me to NOT immediately drop $74.95 per doll? THANKS. Thanks a lot.

If you have a cool three hundred bucks to waste on something, might as well waste it on these! You can buy the Betty, Don, Sterling, and Joan Barbies at the Barbie Collector website which I had no idea even existed until today...but you better believe I signed up for a free catalog!

academy award winners!

Best Picture
should win: The Hurt Locker
will win: The Hurt Locker
WON: The Hurt Locker
Called it! Seriously though, this is an awesome movie and Jeremy Renner is from Modesto (my hometown). HOLLA.


Best Actor in a Leading Role
should win: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
will win: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
WON: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
should win: Christoph Waltz
will win: Christoph Waltz
WON: Christoph Waltz

Best Actress
should win: anyone but Sandra Bullock
will win: Sandra Bullock
WON: Sandra Bullock
Blech. Sorry, I really don't like SB.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
should win: Mo'Nique, Precious
will win: Mo'Nique, Precious
WON: Mo'Nique
Hell yes! Very, very deserved.

Best Animated Feature Film
should win: Up
will win: Up
WON: Up
I wish Dug was there to accept the award!

Best Art Direction
should win: Sherlock Holmes
will win: Avatar
WON: Avatar

Best Cinematography
should win: The Hurt Locker
will win: The Hurt Locker
WON: Avatar

Best Director
should win: The Hurt Locker
will win: please don't be Avatar
WON: The Hurt Locker
First female director to win!! Rock on.

Best Documentary Feature
should win: The Cove
will win: The Cove (though Food, Inc. got waaaay more press)
WON: The Cove
Go see this movie!

Best Film Editing
should win: The Hurt Locker
will win: Avatar
WON: The Hurt Locker
So glad THL won for this category! You should watch the film with director commentary, they explain a lot of the editing choices it's great.

Best Adapted Screenplay
should win: Up in the Air
will win: Up in the Air
WON: Precious
Looks like Oprah matters in Hollywood, too.

Best Original Screenplay
should win: Inglourious Basterds
will win: Inglourious Basterds
WON: The Hurt Locker
Eff that. I liked The Hurt Locker, but how could they ignore Tarantino's genius like that? I mean, OBVIOUSLY I thought THL was an awesome movie because I pegged it to win Best Picture, but in terms of words on paper...Tarantino should have won.

national cereal day

Happy National Cereal Day!! I don't know where/how/why people make up these "holidays" but when something is so awesome it doesn't matter much.

I LOVE cereal. I knew immediately I would love my new work environment when they gave us a tour of the office and pointed out the 6 cereals they keep in stock all the time in the kitchen.

My three all-time cereal favorites are:

Barbara's Bakery Puffins in either Original or Peanut Butter (PB is out of control crazy good).


General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch which is essentially just sugar. And cinnamon.

Betch, don't try to convince me that you're healthy to eat. One serving has effing 10g of sugar, which means you are not a "good source of" anything. Except sugar.

Quaker Oats Cinnamon Life which is one of the six cereals my office has available for me to EATALLDAYLONG.

Natalie Dee knows what's up. And so does her escaped hamster.

how to save money on an ipod touch

LOLZ. This is the best idea ever.

academy award predictions 2010

Every year I always make a list of Oscar predictions including who I think SHOULD win and who I think WILL win. Usually I have a party to go to which makes it more fun to guess, but this year I'll be plugging along on my thesis and won't be watching the ceremony live. I was hoping to throw an Oscar party this year (I made a fun how to throw an Oscar party post last year) but schoolwork comes first so I'll have to wait until 2011!

To be honest, I wasn't that thrilled with the selection of films up for awards this year--2008 was like, the best year ever for the Oscars. So many amazing films/actors/actresses were nominated. Hopefully 2010 is a great year for film so next year's selection is better.

Now, on to my list!

Best Picture
should win: The Hurt Locker
will win: The Hurt Locker
Two things: 1. The Hurt Locker's chances of winning might have been sabotaged by some lame shenanigans, but I really hope not 2. If Avatar wins I will punch a baby.


Best Actor in a Leading Role
should win: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
will win: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Meh, I'm pretty confident about this one but Clooney was amazing (as he always is) and Renner is from my home town so if any of them win I'll be happy.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
should win: Christoph Waltz
will win: Christoph Waltz
He's going to win. Hands. down.

Best Actress
should win: anyone but Sandra Bullock
will win: Sandra Bullock

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
should win: Mo'Nique, Precious
will win: Mo'Nique, Precious
Vera was awesome in Up in the Air (she's def my next pick after Mo'Nique) but Mo'Nique's performance was crazy powerful.

Best Animated Feature Film
should win: Up
will win: Up
I want a new dog just so I can name him Dug.

Best Art Direction
should win: Sherlock Holmes
will win: Avatar
Robert Downey Jr. is effing hot.

Best Cinematography
should win: The Hurt Locker
will win: The Hurt Locker

Best Director
should win: The Hurt Locker
will win: please don't be Avatar

Best Documentary Feature
should win: The Cove
will win: The Cove (though Food, Inc. got waaaay more press)

Best Film Editing
should win: The Hurt Locker
will win: Avatar
Avatar HAS to win something.

Best Adapted Screenplay
should win: Up in the Air
will win: Up in the Air
Let's see if Oprah has any power here.

Best Original Screenplay
should win: Inglourious Basterds
will win: Inglourious Basterds
If Tarantino doesn't win this I will be completely shocked. He is a master with words.


I really want District 9 to win something...but it's up against King James Cameron so I doubt it. Don't get me wrong, I really did like Avatar, but story-wise District 9 was SOOOO much better. Go see it now if you haven't already!


Who do you think is going to win??

how to make your own magnets

When I moved into my own place I wanted to be able to decorate my fridge with random stuff but I had no magnets and seriously couldn't find ANY at Target, Safeway, or the Dollar Store (which I thought would have them for sure). I eventually found some at Michael's but they were super weak and wouldn't even keep a postcard sticking to the fridge.

Thankfully, I have a very crafty best friend and she taught me how to make magnets! She rules. So now in the interest of paying it forward, I'm going to teach you how to do it, too.

First, you'll need a few things. You'll probably have a couple of these items already, the rest you can buy at Michael's or any other large craft store.

Supplies:

• Magazines or catalogs (no need to go out and buy any, especially if you get catalogs because they're FILLED with potential magnet material).
• Card stock and/or those thick "subscribe now!" inserts found in magazines.
• 3/4" round magnets. Some Michael's stores have 50-pack magnet sets, get at least 1 packet because you're going to want to make a zillion of these. Trust me.
• One 3/4" hole punch.
• One bag of 3/4" glass marbles. These are usually by the dried flowers and vases. Make sure to get ones that are as transparent as possible.
  
• Epoxy glue.
• Scissors.
• Newspaper or other random paper to put down on your work station.

The whole process is super easy. First get the card stock and punch out as many 3/4" pieces as you can.


Then, line up a handful of magnets and put a lentil-sized dollop of epoxy on it. You can use a toothpick to smear it around a bit--I just used the tip of the epoxy. Press the cardstock onto the magnet and move from side to side to make sure the glue has spread around.


Now comes the fun! Go through all your old catalogs and magazines and look for pictures that would make cute magnets. Don't just look for images or logos, find pretty patterns and colors (this is where all those catalogs you get in the mail come in handy!). Take one of the marbles and place it over the image to make sure it looks good and will fit. Use the scissors to quickly cut out the image you like--I just cut it into a medium sized rectangle--and place it to the side.

Once you've gone through all your magazines and cut snippets of magnet material, use your hole punch to create a perfect magnet-sized picture. I used my hole punch upside down and slipped my magazine cut outs so the image was facing me and I could see what I was actually doing--highly recommend this!


Then, simply put another dollop of glue on to your cardstock-ed magnet and place each hole-punched picture on top. Repeat this process with the glass marbles. And voila! You have home-made magnets!


Keep the magnets on a flat surface for several hours because it takes a while for the glue to dry. If you move them or try to use them too soon the glass marble won't adhere and will slip off.

Note: the glass marbles come in a large bag and not all of them are ideal. I would go through them quickly before you begin and set aside the ones that are too hazy or have cracks.

and this is why i love movies

How am I only now seeing this amazing, amazing film?

retro humor is the best kind of humor

Anne Taintor is a genius! I stumbled upon her awesomely funny vintage magnets sort of by accident and now I'm completely obsessed. I've taken a personal oath to not buy anymore stationery (I have a major problem and tend to compulsively purchase paper goods)...but once my note pad supply dwindles you know where I'll be going to stock up again.

Some of my favorite Anne Taintor designs, in no particular order:

love hurts

Poor little Bear, we all miss you much. I know your little happy fluffball self wouldn't want us to be sad when thinking of the past ...but it's hard not to feel an ache in the empty parts of our hearts which were once filled by happy memories of you.

Where ever you are (I like to think puppy heaven) I hope there are lots and lots of small squeaky toys for you to squeak and plenty of cat food to steal out of the cat's bowl and lots of fluffy friends to play with.

We love you Bear!!!
xoxo Strawberry and Tater Tot


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county fair heaven!

I really, really like county fairs because I really, really like fried food...and where else but at the county fair will you ever find such a variety of fried goodness??

If you ever find out the answer to that question, please let me know because as far as I know it doesn't exist.

Corn dogs are probably my favorite old-school fried food (none of this fancy, schmancy deep fried chicken fried bacon---yes, it is DOUBLE fried---for me, thanks). Even though I no longer eat meat, I still get to enjoy corn dogs thanks to the meatless ones they sell at Trader Joe's:


Yum!!

Today I stumbled upon this tempting corn dog lip balm. I want it SOOO bad but I'm afraid it will only be mustard flavored and I'll end up being disappointed. I've been burned by so-called "corn dog" scented novelty items in the past.

NOTE TO WHOEVER MAKES FLAVORED/SCENTED ANYTHING: CORN DOGS DO NOT TASTE LIKE MUSTARD. That's like saying iceburg lettuce tastes like ranch dressing.

happy chinese new year/mardi gras/any other international holidays!

It's hard to believe that a year ago today I was coming home to Shanghai after a month-long trip around South East Asia. Oh, how times have changed!

Even though I'm no longer in China anymore, I still feel a deep connection with Chinese culture (as deep as a white girl from Cali can feel, at least) so I was really excited about Chinese New Year! I happened to be in San Francisco over the weekend so I got to see lots of red lanterns up on the streets...but sadly missed all the cool parades.

Anyway, these fortune cookie cupcakes would have been an awesome edition to my Chinese New Year festivities, which mostly included waking up after 10AM, not showering, and watching Hulu all afternoon. DO I KNOW HOW TO CELEBRATE, OR WHAT?!


Remember when I blogged about how to make fortune cookies? Ya, I didn't really remember it either...thank gawd for archives!! Here's a shot of a few of my handmade fortune cookies, in all their glory:


These were actually really, really good and as I mentioned in the original post, the almond extract adds a nice flavor that is absent from store-bought/Chinese restaurant fortune cookies. It wasn't a walk in the park making these puppies, but it was totally worth it in the end and I think they make a perfect gift to show someone how much you appreciate them. And they're delicious.

Oh also, it's Mardi Gras which normally would be exciting but sorta just...wasn't this year. Probably because I had a Mardi Dimanche and stuffed my face with--including, but not limited to--3 Anthony's cookies, 1 Sprinkles cupcake, and several slices of cheese pizza, and thus skipped bingeing on junk food for a second day in the same week.

Turns out, without the "Fat", Fat Tuesday is just...Tuesday.

Is anyone giving up anything for lent this year? I'm not because I'm a total badass.

holy inconsistency, batman!

I recently moved (woohoo!) and my building was all whacked out with the internet so I've been sans all things WWW related for the past couple of weeks. Turns out I didn't really miss much other than the B Team puppy cam pups totally growing up since I last saw them. Awwww.

Now that I've been successfully reconnected to the internet I will hopefully start blogging more regularly...or at least more than once a month.

Oh, also, I got a friggin' awesome job and have the best team EVER. Case in point: one of my coworkers sent me this link to Hipster puppies last Friday after a team lunch outing. FOR REALZ??? Why didn't I think of that genius idea for a blog?! So. Amazing.

Yo, check out my walkman. I'm so ironic and cool.

so cute it hurts!

Boop!

I've decided not to post anything legitimate ever again outside of B-Team puppy updates. I'm not sure where I was when the A-Team was born, but my life is definitely more complete now that Puppy Cam is in it.

I feel like opening a Twitter account to tweet minute-by-minute about the puppies...but I think "Puppies are eating!" and "Puppies are sleeping!!" would get sorta repetitive after a while.

I bet you're wondering what could be so exciting about watching 5 squirmy little animals that can't even walk, well, just watch for 15 seconds and I promise you'll be hooked! A NY Times article from last week put it best: I was skeptical. After all, how interesting can a bunch of sleeping puppies be? But I kept watching. They were just so freaking cute, huddled together for warmth, tiny bodies breathing while dreaming their puppy dreams. There’s something reassuring about seeing all five little puppies cuddled against Kika (momma Shiba Inu).

the most productive i've been in months

I haven't been posting much lately because I've been spending every waking moment watching Puppy Cam. I'm only half serious about that (I've had to take a few breaks to y'know, shower or whatever).

Streaming live video by Ustream

There's nothing more riveting than 5 little roly poly puppies!

k thx lolz

I have a feeling that if Tater Tot were an actual person he would be insanely annoying...but as it is, Tater is an adorable little ball of fluff so he RULES.

>_<

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but really I'm team jacob

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

seriously lacking beauty sleep

I generally can sleep pretty much anywhere (except in a car, for some reason) but the past few years I've gone through sporadic phases of very erratic sleep. I'll get a full 8 hours one night, but for the next three days won't be able to manage more than a cat nap.

I think perhaps I blogged about this back in 2008 when it was happening then? I thought I was going crazy. I'm generally a very logical and sane person, but in this instance I really felt like I was losing my mind. I remember having a breakdown on the 4th or 5th sleepless night, crying so hard because all I wanted to do was sleep...but couldn't.

After self-diagnosing insomnia, I thought I should finally seek medical intervention and when I presented my case to my doctor he suggested I "get more exercise". Really? That's your solution? I mean, I didn't go to medical school or anything, but I don't think going to the gym is going to solve sleep deprivation.


"May cause drowsiness...use caution when operating a car or dangerous machinery." Ok, so, running on a treadmill isn't the same game as operating a car, but it's definitely in the same ballpark...and I'm DROWSY all. the. time. I don't think physical exertion is the answer, unfortunately I have yet to really find the answer other than waiting it out.



Maybe I should start going to testicular cancer support groups? Meh, I don't want to end up punching myself in the neck at 3AM in the parking lot of some shady bar.

because i miss college

For the record, the speaker at my commencement was the head of "one of the most innovative zoos in the world," whatever THAT means.

Oh wait, schnap, I found a copy of my graduation program and it has some info about the dude...apparently he transformed the Atlanta Zoo from being one of the ten worst ranked zoos in the U.S. to one of the best. And it also is one of only three zoos in America that has Giant Pandas. Exciting, I know.

Anyway, I think James Franco would have rocked it better.

James Franco's Rejected UCLA Commencement Speech from James Franco

"So, what do we now? What do we, what do WE do now? We have all this knowledge, and we know...everything. What's there left to do? Go out...and make babies. Thank you."

new year's resolutions!

What's your New Year's resolution???