Bountiful Basket

Bountiful Basket contents + Fidel

Last week, my dear friend Rachael posted about getting a Bountiful Basket on facebook, and I was intrigued. Bountiful Baskets is a non-profit co-op designed to help people eat more fruits and vegetables for less money. Basically, you pay $15 ($25 if you want all organic) and get a basket full of mixed produce once a week (you don't have to order every week, but you have the option to order/pickup once a week). The produce you get varies from week-to-week, but it's always about half fruit and half vegetables. The website says the produce you get retails for about $50. My guess would be more like $30, but that's still a terrific deal.

So I did my first pick-up this morning, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. Getting up at 7:30am on a Sat was strange, but surprisingly kind of nice. (I still have so much Saturday left! And I've already done something productive!) The pick-up went smoothly and I'm excited about eating the food I got (while writing this, I've already consumed a peach).

The Contents of My Bountiful Basket + How I Feel About Them

• 1 canary melon - I have no idea what this thing is, but I've never met a fruit I didn't like, so I look forward to try it. If I keep doing this basket thing, I'll probably be exposed to all sorts of fruits and vegetables I haven't tried. Exciting.
• 4 bananas - These will be gone instantly. If there is easy-to-eat fruit in my house, I am eating it. It's just the best snack.
• 8 peaches - See above.
• 8 plums - See above.
• 6 oz blueberries - I love blueberries and never buy them because they're fairly pricey for the amount of fruit you get. I'll be designing some sort of dessert around these soon.
• 1 bunch kale - Kale is supposedly the most nutritious green, but it's so strongly flavored that I'll probably mix it with some romaine or something in salads. I don't think I've ever bought kale before, I'll need to do some recipe research.
• 5 ears corn - I'm kind of meh about fresh corn (I think it tastes better canned, I know this makes me a Bad Person, but I can't help it). Trevor, however, loves fresh corn-on-the-cob like nothing else and complains that we don't buy it enough. So I'm excited for him.
• 2 zucchinis - I'll have to try making some zucchini bread. Because it's the only way zucchini tastes good.
• 3 tomatoes - I wish there were more. I go through tomatoes like mad. Apparently these ones are organic (I didn't get the organic basket, but these have a sticker saying they're organic); I wonder if they'll taste special?
• 1 head cauliflower - I need to buy more ranch.
• 2 bunches radishes - I don't know what on earth to do with this many radishes. I like radishes, but they're kind of a garnish in my mind, not something I need a ton of. Also, do people do stuff with the greens? I'll have to do some research to make sure I use my bunches here productively.

Overall, good experience. I'll probably do another pick-up in a couple weeks.

If you're interested in Bountiful Baskets, you can see if there's a location in your area here. They've got a lot of sites in mountain west states, and a few others scattered about the country. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has good/bad experiences with them.

Note: This isn't locally-grown food. If that's what you're looking for, go to a farmer's market or join a CSA. This is about cutting out the middle mad and saving money to eat fruit and vegetables, but it's still your typical grocery store produce. I just mention this because a lot of reviews I've read complain about how they're not trying to save the environment or whatever. But that's not the goal, so chill out.

Embarrassing Music Confessions

1. Despite being a rather large fan of both Nate Ruess with The Format and Andrew Dost with Anathallo back in the day, I never really listened to their new band, (the now very mainstream) fun. until they had a song covered by the Glee cast. There goes any street cred I could've ever claimed having seen fun. band members in concert before they were big...or whatever hip kids get street cred for.
2. You know how whenever "Call Me, Maybe" comes on the radio everybody tears their hair out and screams "Nobody ever wants to hear this irritating song again! Who are they still playing this drivel for?!" Me. The answer is me. Before Carly Rae Jepsen came into my life, I missed her so bad.

Bye, Nora

As you've heard by now, because you are on the internet, Nora Ephron died today. My first thought : She was 71? She looked pretty good for her age. The rest of my thoughts were about her work, though, so don't worry, I'm only 18% shallow.

I love love love Nora Ephron. "You've Got Mail" and "When Harry Met Sally...". have been my comfort movies for years. Movies I can say every line along with and still enjoy watching them.

I'm always in agony over whether Sally and Harry are really going to get together. Watch it; I know you'll love it. (Probably only Laura will get this reference.)

I've actually been thinking about Nora Ephron a lot lately, even before tonight's news. I've started work writing a romantic comedy the last couple months (I hereby solemnly swear not to become Always-Talk-About-Their-Screenplay Person, but it was relevant here, so don't hate me) and she's obviously one of the masters of the genre. One of very few, really; there are not many good romantic comedies out there, but when they are done right, they're the best (which is why I think it would be a good writing exercise to try to write one, but I digress...).

Ephron's characters are so true-to-life and relatable, but still so unique. And there is so much genuine laugh-out-loud humor all over the place. Not a ton of joke-y humor, but the (to me) more meaningful "funny because it's true" sort of humor. I could go into in-depth analysis mode here, but I've already read articles that do a better job of summing up what makes Ephron a great writer than I would in a blog post that I'm writing when I should be sleeping. So we'll just say Nora Ephron is terrific and a legend and will always be an inspiration to me. So thanks, Nora (since I know your disembodied spirit is totally reading this blog post).

I Can Show You Nice Cats. Shining, Shimmering, Splendid.

My cats get more terrible songs made up about them than any other creatures on the planet. Trevor and I are both extremely guilty (though I'm probably worse). The basic rules are take whatever song is in your head and randomly insert love for the cats. Only worry about rhyming if you really have to.

"There can be miracles, when you are fluffy. Though hope is frail, we love fluffy cats."

"Tonigh-igh-igh-ight, Julius is a cat. So let's set the world on fire. Because he's so good. And strong and handsome and orange."

"Tell me why-y. Tiberius is best cat ever. Tell me why-y. Tied with Julius and Fidel. Tell me why. We have so many good cats in our family. Cause I want to pet their soft fur."

"Hey, I just met you. And you're a good cat. So let me love you. And be my good cat."

20 Adorable One-Piece Swimsuits Under $50

Faithful reader, MacKenna, asks: "Places to find cute, affordable one-piece swimsuits? Anybody?"

Sure, she wasn't asking me, specifically, (I should have cut out the "Anybody?" bit if I wanted it to make this look like she came to my blog for fashion advice), but the results of my research following her facebook-posed question could not be contained in a mere status comment, so here we are.

I always really want to buy swimsuits at this time of year, but can't justify it. I have six swimsuits and four of them even fit me well enough to be worn in public. Which is plenty, considering I go swimming like eight times a year on average. But they are such a fun article of clothing. You can go crazier with patterns and colors with swimsuits than other things for whatever reason. The last swimsuit I bought is snakeskin pattern. Snakeskin! Who'd've thought I'd ever wear anything in such an ugly print? But I love it on that swimsuit.

Anyway, MacKenna's question allowed me to justify "shopping" for swimsuits, within the rules of "one-piece" and my self-imposed budget of $50 ("affordable"). So for that, I must thank her.

Here are 20 favorites found today, from various sources:

Florals: 1) H&M $34.95, 2) JC Penney $22 

One-Shouldered: 3) Target $34.99, 4) Target $39.99

Black on White: 5) Urban Outfitters $44.99, 6) American Apparel $45

Brights: 7) Target $49.99, 8) American Apparel $31.50

Navy Patterns: 9) Downeast $49.99, 10) JC Penney $30

Vintage Cuts: 11) JC Penney $42, 12) Etsy $40

Tribal Prints: 13) Urban Outfitters $39.99, 14) Macy's $47.99

Ruffles: 15) Etsy $49.99, 16) Target $39.99

Animal Prints: 17) dELiAs $34.50, 18) Target $49.99

Polka Dots: 19) Unique Vintage $50, 20) dELiAs $34.50

Worst Hyperbole Ever

• OCD Show #2 went well and I actually wasn't nearly as nervous as expected when it came to actually performing. Last post came out of that terrible time in the rehearsal process after the material has been worked too much to be funny to me anymore, but before I actually have my lines down. So I'm just stressing to learn something that I'm convinced won't even be any good. Worst thing ever. But I got through it and we got overwhelmingly positive audience reaction again, of course. Because we rock. And now I'm excited to start writing phase for Show #3. Writing is my personal favorite part of the process. Oh, and to plug myself really fast, the repeat of Show #2 will be June 21st.
• In my quest for Chicago history knowledge, I read Devil in the White City last month and found I'm fascinated with the Chicago World's Fair (I didn't expect that to be more interesting than the serial killer stuff, but it totally was). I decided next to read City of the Century which was referenced often in Devil and includes earlier Chicago history to boot. However, City wasn't available on the Nook, so I had to buy a paper version. Worst thing ever. It takes two hands to hold this thing open comfortably! How did I ever live like this? I'm only about 75 pages into the thing and I never want to read another paper book again. Other than the unwieldiness, it's very well-written and informative so far, so I'll press on, but still. Awful.
• Our apartment complex changed the laundromat schedule last week to Mon-Sat 8am-6pm. Which means I can only do laundry on Saturdays, since I have a normal human being work schedule. When the schedule was 8am-11pm Sun-Sat, I did my laundry late on weekdays because it was impossible to get a free washer on the weekends. I can only imagine it'll be way worse tomorrow with the change. Probably the best bet is to be ready to go right at 8am, which is not how I want to spend my Saturdays. Worst thing ever. Seriously this time. Come on, The Boulders Apartments, I'm okay with the fact that all my neighbors are illegal immigrants or meth addicts, and that the place catches on fire all the time but please, just let me do my laundry.

Nerves

We're doing a brand new OCD sketch show next week and if it wouldn't ruin everybody else's lives I'd happily tell them I'm pulling out and they have to recast everything I'm in. They can perform sketches I wrote if they want, but don't tell anybody I wrote them. I don't belong in the business of entertaining people.

The abstract idea of being on a stage acting/singing/dancing/playing an instrument/giving a speech/whatever is highly appealing because I, of course, crave validation. I am talented and interesting and worth attention! Look at me! Look at me! But when it actually comes down to it, I am far too nervous to be a performer sort. I'm not nearly as talented and interesting as I think I am, so it's best to just imagine how great I'd be on a stage than actually have to prove anything.

I feel sick to my stomach before/during every practice for sketch group. Just practice. With people I consider dear friends at this point. But I can't help the nerves. They just happen.

This is one trait where my husband and I are polar opposites. Trevor loves performing. He gets nervous on occasion, but has some mystical way of feeding off that energy positively that I definitely do not have. A lot of it is probably simple confidence. He knows he's a powerhouse of talent. Everybody does. I guess that's why he's the one pursuing this professionally and I'm just along for the fun of it.

Because it is so fun. Okay, okay, I really love it. I wanted to jump ship the whole week leading up to our last new-material show and it went just fine. It went amazingly, actually. I didn't exactly enjoy doing that show the first time, but I was proud of it. And the repeat show was a blast because I was finally relaxed. It'll probably be the same this time around. I guess that's okay.

To our potential audience, at least, I can pretty confidently promise a spectacular show from your perspective. If you live in the area, you'll probably get a facebook invite, but for the record: 8pm, May 31st, ComedySportz Provo. Be there.

For those of you not in the area, I've heard your requests, and I'm sorry, OCD doesn't have any sort of proper web presence as of yet. We've been talking about a YouTube channel since starting this thing, but I don't have a ton of control over that since I'm not the one who has any sort of filming equipment, and it just hasn't happened yet. We've got several sketches that are worthy of filming and plenty more in the works. Someday. Look forward to it.

Need More Fluffy

I took this dog breed selector quiz last night, to see what sort of dog I should get. Not because I'm planning on getting a dog anytime soon, but because research of dog breeds combines my two favorite things: 1) planning in extreme depth only the most trivial parts of my future, and 2) pictures of cute animals on the internet.

The winner: the American Eskimo, a dog I hadn't heard of before, but now need desperately.

So fluffy nice.

Despite the name, this breed is actually German, so we would name our puppy something awesome like Otto or Freidrich or Angela Merkel.

Now for the agonizing 4+ years wait until I've got the time and money and yard and living-somewhere-with-year-round-good-dog-walking-weather-ness that I'll require before one of these little guys is mine.

Lately

Posting

I haven't really felt like posting. You probably already figured this out since I haven't posted for the last month. But you know, in case you're stupid, that's what's been going on. Trapper and I made a deal that if I write a meaningful blog post at least once a week for two months he'll start his own blog. We made that deal weeks ago and I still haven't posted until today. So I don't know what to tell you.

But occasionally I feel guilty (which I shouldn't because of all the stupid things I feel guilty about, this should be pretty low priority, but you know...), so here I am.

Books, Again

I broke the pattern in book reading described in the last post. The latest non-fiction book I read was Outliers, which was fantastic (and not about or by SNL alumni).

I believe the next non-fiction trend will be books about Chicago history; I bought a couple the other day. Because I love researching things to death. I suppose I could move to Chicago (we're planning for May 2013) without understanding the cultural effects of the Great Fire or the intricacies involved in putting on the 1893 World's Fair or the life stories of all the major players in the mob culture there. But could I really?

Right now I'm about half-way through the fourth Game of Thrones book. The series is actually called "A Song of Ice and Fire", of course, but since I knew the HBO show before the books, I'll probably always call them "Game of Thrones". I always used to tease Trevor about his fantasy books when we were dating, but there are actually some really terrific ones out there. I'm glad I've had him around to recommend the better ones to me. And having the Nook is very helpful because my #1 biggest problem with reading multiple 1,000-page books with a massive number of characters is keeping all the names straight. But on the Nook, I can just search "Ser Arthur Dayne" or whatever when someone comes up and figure out who they are.

Hair

I kind of want to go blonde again. When I tried it last year, I didn't have the patience/money to go as light as I wanted (which would've taken several salon trips to avoid destroying my hair) and then got bored and went black again in October. Warm weather makes me want light hair, though. I cut it chin-length a few weeks ago (I know, I know, I'm supposed to have pictures anytime I change my hair dramatically, well too bad, I don't have anything), so dying would be somewhat less time-consuming/expensive than it was with the massive amounts of long hair I had last time. What I'm feeling for this summer is a color/cut like Brea Grant's here. Except with shorter bangs. Or something. I don't know. That's the trouble with hair, I always want the color/length I don't have.

Podcasts

I've been getting more housework done lately because I've been listening to a lot of podcasts. I have a hard time just doing housework. It isn't mentally stimulating enough for me, so I let it suffer. That and I'm super lazy, but we'll go with the excuse that makes me sound smart. But podcasts give my brain something to consume while my hands are busy. Listening to interviews and stories and such is way more entertaining to me than listening to music; the time goes by quickly and I get a lot done. Highly recommended. Nerdist is my current favorite.

Update #8439

Still alive and posting because I worry that if I ever go more than a month without blogging everybody will forget I exist.

My non-working/non-sleeping hours the last month or two have been spent mostly at ComedySportz for various things or in my bathtub with my nook.

ComedySportz

I've mentioned before that I'm involved in a sketch group with Trevor and some other ComedySportz guys, which has been a lot of work and a really good time. We had our first show on Thursday, and it went really well. We had an excellent turnout and I've only heard good things from the audience. It's been a really fun/frustrating/exciting thing to be a part of and I'm eager to see what the future brings for our little Oppressive Comic Dynasty. I definitely felt like an outsider when things were getting started (everyone else is male and had performed improv together and I was "Trevor's wife"), but I don't worry about that at all anymore. I've had plenty of important contributions to the writing, directing, acting, props, costumes, marketing, etc. of our show. Like everyone else. It's a terrific group. I'm really glad to be a part of it.

I also started taking the beginner improv workshops at ComedySportz which are awful and a blast. I am a pretty deliberate sort of person and improv is very much out of my comfort zone. I have no worries about being funny enough or smart enough, but being quick enough and confident enough is another matter. I look forward to workshop all week and then hate it most of the time I'm there. I've had some excellent moments but they're scattered throughout a lot of fumbling. Which is what everyone else does at that level, I suppose, but still. It's been good for me to realize that it's not a huge deal to look like a fool in front of people. That's probably my personal #1 take-away.

And I still go to most of Trevor's shows (every Thursday night and many Friday and Saturday nights) because I'd rather be laughing in a crowd than sitting at home feeling guilty that I'm not doing housework or writing. Never guilty enough to actually do anything, but guilty enough that I never truly relax.

Bathtub

Temperature regulation of the water is the hardest part. I'm constantly draining water and adding more warmth. But I've mastered it to a point that I'll comfortably spend up to three hours in there at a time.

I got a nook a few months ago and have been reading quite a bit more since. Lately, I've been reading at the rate I read before the internet was a major presence in my life which is...a lot. I'm behind on my television shows and I don't know what redditor's wife is talking about anymore. People say this is good because reading is supposedly better for you, but it does cut in socially somewhat. You can't read a book with someone like you can watch TV with them. It's much harder to find someone who has read the book you're reading to talk to than to find someone you can talk to about any given TV show or internet meme or whatever. And the internet in general is a social place, of course....but meh, who needs people? Not I.

I've had a rule for quite a while that I always alternate between non-fiction and fiction for my book reading so that I never get in a rut. But if we look at the last six books I've read, there's a definite pattern. All my non-fiction books have been about and/or written by Saturday Night Live alumni, and all my fiction books have been part of George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. Sketch comedy has just been on the mind and SNL is the most written-about sketch comedy entity. And I just wanted to know what happens next after watching the first season of Game of Thrones on television so...

• Bossypants by Tina Fey
• A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
• Gasping for Airtime by Jay Mohr
• A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
• Live From New York: An Uncensored History of SNL  by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller
• A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin

Note to those who are worried about me ruining my nook with hours of reading in the water (a known enemy to electronics): I've been reading in bathtubs for years and the only time there was a book-ruined-by-water incident was back in high school. I was very sleepy and blame everything on Herman Melville and early-morning seminary. As long as I can avoid those things, we're good.