Oh Lordy

I am sorry about the sleepy message last night!! I went to Sonic tonight and got myself a Route 44 Diet Dr Pepper, so hopefully I will be a little more awake tonight. Oh my gosh things have been crazy here. Today was my sister's graduation celebration, and it was a lot of fun. Lots of guests! So I think I have given up on reporting about Chicago, except to say that it was a lot of fun and I would love to go back. REALLY good food, and I learned a lot at the convention. So I was watching TV earlier and happened to be watching a classic episode of Jackass, and it got me to thinking about the second Jackass movie and about how much I love the scenes where Johnny Knoxville is dressed up as the old man and his balls are hanging out of his old man sports coach shorts. They aren't his real balls, they are fake old man saggy balls, and they are EXTREMELY hilarious. Just thought I would mention that one because you really need to see it if you haven't!!

OK, so here is a little more detail about the documentary Jessica and I are going to be in. It is about the Office Fandom, which is kind of the cult following of the TV show The Office. The Office is AMAZING, so go out and rent the first two seasons, or better yet, buy them all on iTunes. It is so well written and such an intelligent show, it is just almost mind blowing. So, I introduced The Office to Jessica, and now she is also obsessed with it. We have a white board at work that asks "Which character of The Office are you?" and we put down different ones for each other. Right now, I am "Boob Job Jan" and Jess is "Michael's Boss Ryan." Awesome. So I read a blog call OfficeTally, which is all Office, all the time. If you would really like to join the club, visit www.officetally.com. It is just an amazing site and really helps fans connect to the show and the actors in ways that I have never seen before. Separately, there is a girl, seat18b as she will be known, who is in film school and does amazing edits of Office clips with fun music. To see her videos, click HERE. She is pretty well-known in the Office Fandom, and has even been asked by the show's executive producer to have some of her videos on the Season 3 DVD. So in one of her film school classes her final exam was to do a film of some kind, and she chose to do a documentary about the Office Fandom. The creator of OfficeTally posted an ad for fans to send in their footage for her video, so Jess and I did it! Seat18b had a bunch of questions for us to answer, and we also reenacted a scene. To see our scene, click HERE. Since sending her the footage we have gotten a lot of really positive feedback from her, and we have kind of become online friends. She is definitely a kindred spirit, and has told me we are featured quite prominently in the film. It will be on YouTube very soon, and I will be sure to tell everyone!!! Yay for The Office!

Other things, hmmm. OH! If you are a girl, and maybe if you are a boy but I don't know about the boy clothes, go to Old Navy immediately! They have REALLY cute stuff for so cheap right now. I got a huge bag of clothes for just over $100, and I have already worn two of the things with many compliments. Go now!

OK, so even though I love my job dearly, there is a lot of weird shit going on right now and I am glad to take a break, even if it is moving from one extreme of crazy to another. After many threats to the contrary I am not giving up on it yet, and in the mean time I am enjoying seeing my dad. Don't forget to check out Life Before Blogging at www.lifebeforeblogging.blogspot.com!!!!!

Oh So Tired

Oh dear God I am exhausted. I literally made myself write this post, and I LOVE to blog! I have no energy to finish recounting the events from Chicago; let's just say my dream one day is to work at Kiehls and live in the nearby neighborhood while going to school to get my master's in photography from the Art Institute. I loved it. My sister graduated from high school today, which is the real reason why I am too tired to post this weekend. It is not her fault, it is just that my entire family is here and dealing with Dave's family too, it is just a tiring experience. Add on to this long day having to rescue two of the nicest dogs I have ever seen off the side of the road, and you have a cocktail for sleepiness. I love going to my high school's graduations because it is like a little mini reunion. I am literally falling asleep writing this post, so the last thing I will mention is that I am going to be in a documentary about The Office! It is almost done and will be on YouTube shortly. I am EXTREMELY excited!! I will try to post a more coherent entry tomorrow, and also post a memory on Life Before Blogging. It has been a while!

Last stand of the flies...

Their origins were humble, looking out above the country they would soon overwhelm. Truly born to be warriors with their metallic armor and featherlight weapons; the day would soon come for the invasion to begin. On the day that fate would call theirs, they emerged in a matter of seconds, only to realize that their plan had a fatal flaw -- what they once thought would be an easily navigated exit turned out to be impenetrable. They were trapped, and the hours were ticking away until the return of the monster that ruled the land below. To no avail they attempted escape, and inevitably the creature returned. Backed against their thwarted route of escape, they were taken out one by one in a brutal first round of battle, but eventually the bloodshed ceased. If only they could have known what tortured awaited them. The monster was not satisfied with killing them one by one, she wanted them to suffer for their gall and skills of evasion. She returned with prisons that bound their arms and legs, but caused no pain, just excruciating starvation. Most of the army was captured this way, men side by side, being cruelly awakened and reminded of his state, just for the pleasure that the beast felt in knowing they were still alive. This massacre went on for days, and surely at any time they will be put out of their misery. Alas, they continue to attract more brave soldiers in the attempt to rescue their comrades. Carry on, fly masters...

This is the so sad story that runs through my mind as I was chasing flies in my apartment with sticky traps. I feel bad for killing them, but not at the same time. Stupid flies. I am the monster in the story, by the way, and I feel this is how it would have gone down if the flies were like Spartans.

Chicago: The Food

Instead of giving a day-to-day account like normal I am going to break the trip up into categories. I decided to start with food because it was exceptionally wonderful on this trip. And according to Jack the only good pictures I take are close-ups of food. Whatev. Interestingly, the very first meal we ate on our trip was at McDonald's in the Hispanic part of town.



Thankfully that did not set the tone of the rest of the food on the trip. So after McDonald's we were supposed to go to the Shedd Aquarium, but Jack did not realize that parking was at least $16 anywhere you go, so we ended up just driving around trying to find a free parking place. It was not going to happen, so we went sight-seeing downtown and ended up at a wine tasting bar right next to the House of Blues. It was called Bin 36, and was very nice. It was a dressier place, so I am glad I was wearing my new red dress! Our waiter was one of those that knows all the wines by heart and knows which cheese goes with which wine, and so forth. I ordered a flight of Left Coast Reds, which means four individual servings of red wines that come on a little place card that tells which one is which. Jack got a flight of whites which were really good too. Our waiter also brought us a custom-made cheese flight to go with our wine. Heaven!!







We had dinner reservations at 7:30 that night, so after wine we went shopping for a while then went to dinner at Gene and Georgetti's. It is this wonderful mafia Italian
restaurant and we got a very quiet table in the corner. The food was amazing all around. Just a note, the entire time we were there this wonderful crusty-but-soft-in-the-center bread was everywhere. I LOVE BREAD. So that is what I ate first at Gene and Georgetti's. We then ordered calamari, and Jack and I got salads. I ordered the petite fillet mignon, but it was huge. Even though at that time I was stuffed just on bread Jack made me eat the entire steak. Maybe Jennie's fav story of the trip is me leaning back in my chair after I finished my steak, moaning and rubbing my stomach in the pain of fullness, then reaching over and buttering myself another piece of the delicious bread. How could I let the whole loaf go to waste?!?! It was just really good, and a great way to start off the trip.




The next day was Shedd Aquarium all morning. At most of the big museums there are nice restaurants as well as cafeteria-style eateries for those on a budget or with kids. It was Mother's Day, so we decided to eat at the nice restaurant at the Shedd, which I think was called The Breakers. We sat at a lovely table overlooking the harbor, and ate organic, environmentally friendly food. That is another thing I love about Chicago, is that they are very earth-friendly, and do things like on use sustainable resources in their food. At the end of the meal Linda and Jennie both got these beautiful white chocolate shells with chocolate mousse and a side of berries for free since they are moms (to-be). I have been told that the picture of this particular dessert is my best work yet.





That night we ate at the Chicago pizza chain Giordano's for some traditional deep dish. We got Canadian bacon, black olives, and mushrooms, and it was delish!!!




Monday was the first day of the conference, so lunch was on the house in the exhibition hall. It was good, but not really worth mentioning. What is worth mentioning is the churro that Jennie bought and made me eat. "Do you even like churros?" "Well, it is fried dough rolled in sugar...what do you think?!?!" Yum! That night we had dinner reservations at La Scarola with the owner of the exhibit design firm who is doing our free enterprise exhibit. There was wine, pasta, dessert, and coffee, and it was wonderful. The best part was that Druce (that is our designer's name) was super nice and picked up the tab. We closed down La Scarola, which was really fun!!


La Scarola!


Day two of the conference: no free lunch. We took a cab into Chinatown and dined at this tiny little Chinese food restaurant that I can't remember the name of. I got Orange Chicken, and let's just say it was nice to eat some real Chinese food! No Panda Express here! That night was when we had 9:00 dinner reservations at Frontera Grill. I later learned that Frontera was just named the #! restaurant in the country, which it totally deserves. Despite having amazing food and drinks at a somewhat reasonable price compared to the other places we ate, we got to eat next to Jamie Oliver all night, and our two groups closed the restaurant. Jamie Oliver is the naked chef, and he was there with a group of his friends celebrating a birthday. I got a glass of wine and these amazing little pulled pork biscuit things, and a crazy seltzer water float for dessert. We ate there in Tuesday, and on Thursday I had the day off to recoup from the trip before returning to work on Friday. For the first time ever I had the chance to watch both Ellen and Oprah, and guess who was featured on Oprah??!?!?! Frontera Grill and it's amazing chef Rick Bayless! I had just been there like 36 hours ago! It was pretty cool!


The room where we ate at Frontera.


Jamie Oliver

Day three and our last day of the conference. After hearing Doris Kearns Goodwin speak and going to one morning session, Jennie and I caught a cab over to the Art Institute. We were really hungry, and opted for the nice sit-down place in the Institute as opposed to the cafeteria. Unlike the Shedd, however, both looked amazing! Eating at the Art Institute was amazing. Jennie and I shared a huge hamburger and a fruit crisp with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert. It may have been my favorite meal of the trip, just because it was so relaxed and delicious and a wonderful, beautiful atmosphere. I also had about 6 cups of coffee, which I regretted with a night of plane riding ahead of me. Jennie and I spent the afternoon at the Art Institute, and on our way to the airport we stopped by the Windy City hotdog stand to get our authentic Chicago dog. I did not get one because I was still full from lunch, but Jack's and Jennie's looked goooood! The rest of the trip was McDonald's and airplane food.

All in all one of the best culinary experiences ever. I would totally recommend any of the places we went, plus many many more I am sure if I has had the time to stay and look around more.

Chicago Here We Come!!

This week has been insane in a we-have-accomplished-nothing-and-are-living-for-The-Office-tonight kind of way. Today is Carrie's last day of work, which is entirely tragic. She will be missed greatly! She is sad too, but not too much seeing as how she has a kick-ass job in FL waiting for her! Congrats Carrie!! We have all gone out to eat for lunch twice this week, which is unprecedented. Today at lunch Jack proved to be extremely excitable, and since Sammy was with us, the amount of ragging on the girls reached a new height. The latter half of lunch was spent trying to convince me that Volvo's are trash and I should just suck it up and get a BMW. I liked that Jack lives in a world where he pays me enough to buy a car like that. Buying a Volvo will already put us in the food stamps line. Maybe that is because we will also be buying David a new truck at the same time, but whatever. The point is that Jack is excited about Chicago. We are both extremely excited about the food, which is not the point of going, but always ends up being the main attraction. By the way, Jack is my oh-so-goofy boss, for those of you who don't know. I am actually more excited about The Office tonight, because in order to get to Chicago I have to pack. Grrr. Tonight Pam will confess her undying love for Jim fireside in front of all the people who already know. I love it!! It BETTER HAPPEN NBC!!! In honor of two of our fav things -- The Office and Natalie Dee -- we are making Weiner Wings for dinner. To learn about Weiner Wings, go HERE. We are thinking of doing a video response, so look for that at some point. Then the rest of tonight will be spent packing. I have to be at Jack's house at some ungodly hour on Saturday since we will be in the city by noon. We will be right by the lake every day at the convention center and various museums and restaurants until Wednesday night. The trip's official title is... DUH DUH DUHHHHH... LAS VEGAS II: CHICAGO!!! Love it. Thanks to Jennie for that one. I have left all the dinner reservations up to Jack, who never disappoints, and I have been looking up directions to more important things. Like the Chicago Keihls store. AKA, Mecca. Things I have bought for the trip include: tiny toothpaste, of which I already have a bunch but I love to shop in the tiny travel section; Life Savers; gum; a toothbrush holder; oil absorbing pads for my greasy face; a new pair of sunglasses; and Dramamine for the plane. All necessary, all piss David off as he is waiting for me to shop for them. Double worth it:) JK! So Chicago here I come!!! I am excited. Are you VERY excited? Yes, I am very excited. Are you EXTREMELY excited?!?! long glance... No, just very? That's cool. I am very excited!

Here are some pics of Carrie's last day on the job.... :(

Things on the Mind...

Yesterday my mom and I went shopping to pick me up some new jeans. I had intended on buying one pair of "nice" jeans from the GAP and two pairs of "work" jeans from Wal-Mart or something. I also needed a pair of black sunglasses because I have continually been breaking the fashion code of wearing brown sunglasses with everything. They are a $20.00 Target pair and I love them, but they do not go with my many black outfits and they are getting a little worn out. So I buy some beautiful Fossils that are black on the outside and marbled green on the inside, then we went to the GAP. Now, please let me know if anyone agrees with my next theory. I love the GAP, because, like I have blogged about before, they carry jeans that are long enough for me. However, it is still hard for me to find a pair that I really like and fit me well, because two pairs that are the same size, cut, everything, always seem to fit differently. That is good I guess because it means they are made by hand and are high quality, but it means that I have only ever found a small handful of jeans from there that I love love love. So that is my theory, that no two pairs are alike. Anyway, yesterday I was wearing a pair of my love love love GAP jeans that are a size 8. I have gained some weight since I got married; nothing huge, just like 5 or 6 pounds, but I now need a size 10. I took 4 pairs into the dressing room with me, and the first two I tried on did NOT fit. My mom suggested I go get size 12 in both. I suggested I go jump off a cliff. Thankfully, the next two I tried on fit very well. I was amazed that in one sitting I found two pairs that worked out; that never happens. The other bad thing about GAP jeans is the fact that they cost a fortune. But, I was lucky, so I bought both and now will be wearing $70.00 jeans to move the dusty nasty Museum collection. The point of this is is that while I was standing there in the jeans department looking for a size 10L, I inwardly recalled the days when I could wear a size 6L with no problemo. *weep* But, on the other hand, I do not recall a time that I was not self-conscious about my weight. Even when I weighed 100 lbs at the staggering 5'10" that I am still today, I worried about what I ate and the jeans that I bought. How did this happen? I look back on pictures of Young Mary Beth and want to tell her to eat all the McDonalds she wants!! Do it now while your metabolism allows it!! But I can't. Why? Because she is me, and I still obsess about my weight. I am comfortable in my size 10L jeans because I like having curves and boobs, but I will use the close call of buying size 12s as my reason to get off my butt and go the gym every once and a while.

Yummy Yummy Eggs!!

Today is Saturday and I am at my parent's house for the weekend while David is in Waco continuing on his life-long quest to finish his thesis. I HATE it when he has to stay in Waco, or when I am with him in Waco for the weekend and he has to work on it while I am there. I wish he would just get it done already!! Anyway, my mom has been at computer training all morning, and for fun I thought I would make a different breakfast. My inspiration was the movie "V for Vendetta." I liked that movie alright, but it has always stuck in my mind that not once but twice Natalie Portman was made eggs in a basket for breakfast in that movie. Eggs in a basket is where you cook the egg inside the toast in a frying pan. I tried it and really liked it, so when my sister and her friend Holly were ready to eat breakfast I made it for them too. I think it was a success! Here is my recipe for Eggs in a Basket:

2 pieces white or wheat bread
2 eggs
1 Kraft American cheese single
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Lite!
Salt
Some sort of non-stick spray
Large frying pan
Cup or wine glass

Set the eye you are going to use on medium heat and place your pan on it.

Lay out your pieces of bread and butter them. Take your cup (I used a wine glass with better results, the rim is thinner and cuts easily) and punch out a circle in the center of each piece of bread. Save the centers and set them aside.

Spray your pan lightly with the non-stick spray, then place your bread baskets butter side down on the pan.

Immediately crack the eggs and put one in the center of each piece of bread. Sprinkle a little salt on each one.

Cook until the bottom of the egg is firm enough to flip. You don't want the bread to get burned, so flip asap. Before you flip, put a little butter on the bread so it gets nice and brown when you flip.

Once you have flipped the baskets, place half of the cheese single on top of each egg and put the centers that you set aside butter side down in the extra areas of the pan. Flip those until they are as crispy as you like them.

Once the cheese is melted and the eggs are cooked to your liking, remove the baskets and put them on a plate. Put the centers that are still in the pan on top of the cheese.

Enjoy! I suggest eating with a fork and knife. Yum!

Blooper Reel for Office Fandom Documentary