"Talent" Show

While babysitting last night, I took L to the school talent show at one of the elementary schools around here so she could see one of her friends perform. Now, when I say Talent Show, the word "talent" is being used in the loosest sense of the word. As in, there were about 18 acts and I would say there were only 2 or 3 with some actual talent. One fourth grade girl played "Trainwreck" on the piano and she was amazing. If this talent show was an actual competition with a winner, she would have won, hands down. The next-best act was a juggling act, consisting of two boys who stood on stage a juggled 3 balls each. One boy dropped his a few times. Whoops. Other than that, it was good. Then the imaginary third place prize would have gone to this first grade girl who hula-hooped her heart out for 2 minutes. As L said, "It was pretty good for a first grader, but would be really embarrassing for a 9th grader." That pretty much sums up the "talent" show.

And I had to pay $4 to get in.

If we could just get below 75 degrees....

I could make some fall food! Fall food means pumpkin. I want to make these pumpkin cupcakes I found on Skinnytaste. I am hoping that by this weekend, it will be cool enough that I can make them and it's not weird to be busting out fall items. It will also be October 1st on Saturday, which is pretty fall-esque. My fall tends to revolve around which football game we are going to and what foods I make for said tailgate. The past four (yes, four) weekends have been spent in Tiger Town cheering on the Clemson Tigers. Fortunately, these four weekends have all resulted in victories for Clemson, so perhaps we are a good luck charm or something! If that's the case, hopefully we can extend the luck to the Terriers for their matchup with App State this weekend. I know it's only Tuesday, but I am already so excited for Saturday's game!

It's not like Death Valley, but it's a pretty special place!

Go Terriers!

A Sense of Humor

A sense of humor is a must these days. With the economy not doing so hot, unemployment up, instability over in Europe (thanks Greece), and lots of other not so good things going on, a sense of humor can go a long way. I have seen a few things online/on tv/in the news lately that proves there are still some people and companies out there with a good sense of humor.

1. Ben & Jerry's latest ice cream flavor: Schweddy Balls. No lie. Those people at Ben & Jerry's definitely have a sense of humor, and I love it.

2. Geico. I usually think their commercials are simply trying too hard (they kind of ran that whole caveman thing into the ground...), but their latest attempt makes me laugh every time I see it. This commercial involves a gal who can't afford everything she wants, included entertainment, so she enlists her dog and bird to sing and play a keyboard. Their rendition of "Take On Me" is legit. Hit it, Mr. Butters!

3. I think this one was unintentional, but Wendy's recently gave their 42 year old burger a makeover. The new product: Dave's Hot 'n Juicy Burgers. Seriously? Dave's Hot 'n Juicy? Nuff said.

Side note: Who really has an appetite for a triple burger???

Just wanted to give a shout-out to these companies for making me and (hopefully) others laugh!! Happy hump day!

KK for Sears

While I was watching tv last night, I saw a commercial that piqued my interest. It was a commercial for Sears, featuring their new line of clothing: the Kardashian Kollection.

There are so many things wrong with this.
1. Who knew Sears was even open anymore?? I for sure did not. Maybe this new kollection will help make Sears kool again.
2. Why do the Kardashians spell everything with a "k"???
3. Lastly, none of the Kardashians would definitely NOT wear anything from Sears, so I feel like this is just false advertising.

I doubt the Sears website will crash when this new line arrives like Target's site did the other day when Missoni launched. But it might draw in some new kustomers.

Happy weekend!

Hey there, Pinocchio!

Tuesday night I was babysitting, which involved me taking 9 year old L to her school for "Book Character Night." There was pizza for dinner, some local college athletes reading books to kids (to show just how 'cool' reading is) and a few other things. The culminating event of the evening was the grade-by-grade competition for the best book character costume. I don't know about you, but when I was in elementary school and events like this came up, we scrounged around my old Halloween costumes and reused something and made it work. Well, not in 2011. These kids went all out. Or I guess I should say their parents went all out. This boy won, hands down, for the first graders.

Hey, Pinocchio!

That is not the kind of costume someone just throws together. Also, his older brother won for the fifth graders, dressed up like the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. Obviously, their mother or father has quite the creative mind and this little boy is going to have a monopoly on all the dress-up events for the next four years in his school. Sorry other first graders, don't think you'll be winning any costume prizes any time soon.

On the eve of Friday, some inspirational words from Pinocchio's conscience, Jiminy Cricket: "You know, you worry too much. In fact, everyone worries too much." So stop worrying, it's almost the weekend!! Happy Thursday!

And the winner is...

Miss Angola!

Now the big question, where is Angola? If I had to guess, I would say it's either in Africa or Europe somewhere. Which really narrows it down, huh? I didn't watch the pageant on tv last night. Perhaps if I had, I would be more educated about the location of this country. For all those of you who are wondering, it is in Africa, on the west coast. I looked it up.

I'd like to think I am an educated person, but I feel quite uneducated when it comes to the countries and their locations in Africa and the Middle East. For a fun (and humbling) activity, go to this website and try to label all of the countries. 

I think I got about 8 right on the first try. Since then I have been avidly studying the map. Good luck!

Real Housewives of...Spartanburg?

I have felt very domestic this week. Preparing for the Wofford-Clemson game has had me scrounging around for tailgate recipes galore. In preparations for the tailgate of the century (okay, that might be an exaggeration. But if Wofford wins, it will be the win of the century. so far at least.), I have made lots and lots of goodies. Two batches of brownies, chocolate bars made from scratch, sausage balls, "white trash" chex mix delightfulness with chocolate and peanut butter, spinach & artichoke dip, and a cake for a birthday celebration. I think it's safe to say that this is far from healthiness and if I were actually cooking for someone else, I'd hope it would be a slightly healthier fare. But everyone knows that calories don't count on Saturday's, right?

Then, after all the cooking/baking, I ironed the skirt I'm planning on wearing to the game. Cooking, baking and ironing. Just call me Martha Stewart. Without her disposable income though. Oh well. Either way, Go Terriers!!!

Oh, Fall...

According to many people on facebook, September 1st was the unofficial beginning of fall. There were so many status updates, but they all basically said "fall, football, sweaters, boots, yay." Well, I beg to differ.

This past weekend, college football began. But in no way, shape or form does that have anything to do with fall weather. Saturday in Clemson, SC, was rather toasty. Not a hint of fall in the air. When we got in the car to leave around 6:45pm, the car said it was still 94 degrees. And I believe it. It was so unbelievably hot I can't even put it into words. Thank goodness Clemson pulled off a win--otherwise the day would have definitely been classified as miserable. We had a joyous car ride back to Greenville, happy that Clemson won, Wofford won, and we were in air conditioning finally.

It was so hot, the balloons couldn't lift off like they normally do. Yikes.

I guess if you live somewhere like Vermont, fall actually does begin in September, but not down here. Maybe this coming weekend (Wofford vs. Clemson!) won't be such a sweat fest.

Oh, to be a kid again...

Kids say the darndest things. They really do. I can't make this stuff up. Last night I was invited to dinner at a friend's house to eat fajitas. We had a whole spread out on the table: tortillas, chicken, cheese, lettuce, salsa, guac, etc. When we all sat down to eat and make our first fajita, the conversation involves everyone asking for something to be passed around the table. Then, 9 year old B says, "Can someone pass the Guatamala?"

No worries, I passed him the Guatemala right away.

Leave it to kids to be funny without even trying!