How You Doin'?

Try not to say it like Joey when you read that title. I dare you.

Now try to get it out of your head.

You're welcome.

Moving on.

Here's some things that have been going on as of late.

• I had someone ask me if the wrinkles in my forehead were from my kids. Thanks, asshat. I have zero children and just because I might look like a post-baby body and at an age where I could reasonably have a kid without starring on Teen Mom does not mean I have a kid.
• On the same note, I have looked into Botox.
• I have also started wearing my glasses all the time. I'm not blind, but I have an astigmatism (which is on the other axis than what everyone else has so the contacts don't work, but thanks for the suggestion) that makes me squint. A lot. So I'll be getting a new perscription and getting a back up pair of glasses.
• Why am I bummed about wearing glasses? I like to nap and I rub my eyes when I'm frustrated. Add to that I have an OCD for clean glass. Like, don't even think about touching my windows with my fingerprints. Point with your nail. Back to the glasses. I can never get clean enough glasses and I'm paranoid about falling asleep in them.
• I have the lowest maintenance hair cut. Legit can let it air dry and it still looks good.
• I seriously don't know how I would live without DVR. I know there's plenty of good TV out there, but since it's on after my bedtime, it's nice to watch it when I want and still get my zzzZZZzzz
• I'm what is known as a Late Majority when it comes to social media. Except for facebook. I've been on that for 7 years. When it was still just colleges. And no pictures. No tagging. No status updates. Yeah, it's like before there was internet or cell phones.
• Why do I think I'm a Late Majority when it comes to social media? Finally got twitter, now I can't live without it. You hear everything there first. It took me forever to get Pinterest, now obsessed. And I just got HeyTell thanks to Shannon. Yeah, we took our cyber friendship to a whole new level.

What's new in your world? I mean, I know Thanksgiving was last week and I'll make a post about that, but still, how you doin'?

Did it again.

Boom.

So What Wednesday

It's that time of the week when I say SO WHAT, but a thankful version in honor of Thanksgiving Day. 

(Granted, if this were not an email, I would link to www.lifeafteridew.com, but you're going to have to do the work with cut & paste.)

So WHAT if...

• I'm thankful to have a couple of days off? Granted, I could be more productive at home, but being forced to relax is nice. 

• I'm thankful I cannot eat gluten? Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, baklava, stuffing, green bean casserole, rolls, and gravy are off limits. 

• I'm thankful I can modify all of those recipes, but don't? No need to make Thanksgiving more involved. 

• I'm thankful I'm not cooking the meal this year? I'm only in charge of the yams because I can make it taste like Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls & Icing.

• I'm thankful I'm still not feeling well? Last week was bad, felt better by Friendsgiving, but I think that was more of eating my body into submission. Now that I'm back to normal, it's back to hating me. 

• I'm thankful that this not feeling well will make my portions smaller? No need to eat my weight in mashed potatoes.

• I'm thankful for blogs and tweets to occupy me? Being a slave to technology to keep me company and giggle. 

What are you saying SO WHAT to this week? Link up with Shannon at Life After I "Dew"!

💗 Ana

How to Find My Blog

Using blogger lets me track some stats. Like where people read my blog - shout out to Canada, Russia, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Ukraine, Iran, Slovenia, and Latvia! Some stats are the type of browsers readings use, referring sites, and referring URLs.

My favorite by far, though is "Search Keywords". They kill me.

Laura over at Between the Lines did a post where she responded to the search terms. I died. Seriously, there's some gems out there that people search for and then click on the link to your blog. Here are my favorites:

best thanksgiving
Well, duh. I have some pretty epic Thanksgivings. You read about Friendsgiving on Tuesday and about previous Friendsgivings. Complete with recipes.

short hair style pinterest
Why yes, I did pin my hairspirations and may have tweeted about it. You're welcome.

flats vs heels
Age old debate. Prevent gnarly feet while staying comfy v. a fantastic leg extender slash butt perker. It's tough.

h&m dress caffeine
No words. Other than I posted about my love H&M dresses and the title of my blog. Whatever gets you here.

"cut my hair" "super short" "love it"
Nice use of quotes, but FYI, google technology would mash all of those up anyway. Also, I would like to say that my bob is not "super short" considering I can still pull the top-half back and out of my face. But I love love cutting my hair, so there's that.

caffeine and cocktails
I'm sorry if I disappointed this person if they were coming here for recipes of cocktails with caffeine. Look through my archives and you'll see some of my selections.

effer
Yeah. As in mother effer. I'm not sure what this person was looking for with this search, but I'm proposing it to Oxford as a new word.

and now my personal favorite...


easton corbin butt shot
Legit. Search. Keywords. I mean, Easton does have a great derriere, no doubt, but really? That's what gets me traffic? I don't even know what to do with that. Other than post the two pics I have of Easton's backside from the H2O tour with Brad Paisley from September 2010.

See cute? And Darius isn't too bad either.

This? Not so cute and detracts from Easton.Yikes. 

So, for those of you out there that are searching for me, you can go ahead and "Follow" me. You can get it to a reader, an RSS feed, or email. Just so you know. Although, I love the entertaining ways you find me.

So What Wednesday

You know the drill, hook up with Shannon at Life After I "Dew",  and say, "So What!"

So WHAT if...

• I'm already listening to Christmas music? It puts me in a good mood. So, why not?
• I'm ridiculously excited for Friendsgiving and Thanksgiving for the side dishes and desserts? As my co-worker puts it, it's all baby food. Which makes it easier to eat and fit more in my stomach. Athankyouverymuch. And, as tweeted yesterday, I may or may not have taken mashed potato hits off the pastry bag when making Twice Baked Potatoes. It's like healthy whipped cream. Don't hate, appreciate.
• I'm not impressed with Occupy DC? Every time I walk past their tent town in McPherson Square, I've never seen a person that was standing with a sign, passing out flyers, or exercising free speech by "preaching" or yelling their needs/ideals/complaints. Also, if they look to captivate an audience, I would suggest that they rise during the morning commute because once we're in our buildings, we can't see or hear you. Basically, to me, you look like you're camping. Just sayin'.
• I'm in some serious need of some country music? I can only get so much without having a radio or a commute that let's me get internet radio. See also: I need some line dancing and cowboy boot wearing.
• I'm a brunette? Oh wait, now that I'm dark, I can see exactly how much I shed all over my white bathroom. Seriously, how am I not bald?
• I'm social media-ed out? OK, I've got fb, twitter, this blog, my DC blog (Adventures In the District), pinterest, and others. Legit spread thin. Somethings have got to give, so I rotate my attention.
• I'm pretty sure I'll be living in skirts this winter? With my Hunter boots, tights/leggings, and fleece boot liners, I'm going to move my fall wardrobe through the winter. Not to mention the accessorizing makes it a whole new outfit, right?
• I have finally found a nail polish that encapsulates my impulsive self with nail color? It's a deep wine color called Mr. Right Now. Never a truer shade named or created.
• This is the extent of my productivity at work?

Highly productive, no?

• You don't get that picture of workflow? You clearly don't appreciate the musical stylings of Stanley Burell or Robert Van Winkle. FYI: that's MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice.

Friendsgiving/Thanksgiving Menu Planning

Y'all, my favorite holiday is next week. I can't believe that Thanksgiving is right around the corner!

Thanksgiving is my favorite because it signals the start of the holiday season and serves as a dry run for the main event that is Christmas. Not to mention that Thanksgiving turkey tastes so much better than Christmas ham. (Note to my future, change from Christmas ham when I host Christmas.)

This year, I will be spending Thanksgiving in Michigan for the last time as my dad is finally relocating to Dallas. So thankful that it's the last winter in Michigan. My dad is part of the duo that taught me how to cook. (The other being my 91 year-old Grandma). So since he's got Thanksgiving cooking on lock, I'll be the sous chef that preps meals, but in no way will be accountable for how anything works out. Which is fine with me.

To sate my need to cook, I'm bringing the Colorado tradition of Friendsgiving to DC. Friendsgiving is the potluck version of Thanksgiving the Saturday before Thanksgiving that you celebrate with your, you guessed it, friends. At this point in our lives where my friends and I are getting used to cooking all the time outside of Mac & Cheese and Ramen, we can recipe swap and learn tips and tricks for different dishes. One of the dishes that I tried at last year's Friendsgiving has replaced Green Bean Casserole in my menu.

You may remember Friendsgiving 2010 from my previous post. (Also, go there for my Legendary Candied Sweet Potatoes recipe.)

I thought that I would share my favorite my Tator Tot Green Bean Casserole recipe.

Tator Tot Green Bean Casserole
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion (white, medium)
1 can green beans
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 pkg. tator tots, divided

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease your casserole dish and lid.
2. Brown ground beef and onion in skillet.
3. Combine cooked ground beef and onions with green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and 1/2 of the tator tots.
4. Pour mixture into casserole dish.
5. Top with remaining tator tots.
6. Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
7. Remove lid (love that it comes off clean when you grease it) and let tator tots get crispy (about 10-15 minutes)
8. Serve and enjoy!

This recipe is great since I can make it GF with GF cream of mushroom soup. Granted, that can of soup pushes $3/can rather than Campbell's or the generic gluten-filled version, but whatever, I want to eat and not die.

What are some of your favorite dishes for Thanksgiving? Do you host or attend something similar to Friendsgiving?

Let the holiday season begin!

Time to Winterize

It's time to get ready for those cold dark days of winter. Some people curl up with a book next to the fireplace, some escape to the slopes for a frolic in the winter wonderland, some people put snow tires on their car. However you winterize, you hunker down and get ready.

How do I get there? I winterize my hair. Sometimes that means that I go icy blonde. This year, it means that I lop off my dead ends and go back to something that somewhat resembles what I guess to be my natural color. (I'm not too sure what my natural color is because I haven't seen it in over a decade.)

So far, I'm loving the carefree haircut. Legit easy to style. And thanks to my new and faboosh stylist, I didn't get a stacked bob which would add work to the morning routine. I also love that I have people taking second looks because they can't believe that it's me. Got to keep 'em guessing.

What I love about this cut and color change is that I have been re-energized in my everyday routine from makeup to ensemble to accessories. I had fallen into a rut and needed to be zapped out of the funk. Well? Let's check that under done and done.

Granted these pictures were taken 3 weeks apart, but I did my best to recreate the after.

So What Wednesday

Kind of linking up with Shannon at Life After I "Dew" to say so what. 

So WHAT if...

I'm writing this on my phone? I'm using the new iOS5 features. It works. Kinda.

I haven't adjusted to DST? It's rough to have sunset as I leave work. 

I am in lengthy meetings all week? It's a lot of information that I need, but a lot of it makes me want to bang my head. Legit brain hurts. 

I've diagnosed myself with hangry dismorphia? It's when you don't realize you're hungry and you're angry. Potential hangry episode from these marathon meeting has me packing snacks. Prevention works. 

This is my last so what for this post? I need to get ready for work and my day. Got to get to it. 

Go link up with Shannon and say so what!

Less than 3,

Ana

Whirling Dervish

I feel like everything is sedentary and moving all at once. Time is passing by at the speed of light, but all the same, life is just creeping along.

Does that even make sense?

I think that my life is in crazy flux. Relationships, work, family, time, travel, everything. I feel like I'm spinning around fast and want it to stop. All the same, I want to know what I'm going to do with my life. Not in the quarter-life crisis sense, but more of the where will I be living in March? Denver? DC? Connecticut? Boston? What will I be doing? I have aspirations to permanently relocate to the East Coast, but I'm not delusional enough to do it without sustainable employment and preferably to keep my benefits based on my tenure - hello, 4 weeks vacation!

I know that everything will work out as it's meant to be, but in the mean time, it's hard to put the pieces together when you don't know what the puzzle is supposed to look like.

So What Wednesday

A little late in the day, but I'm linking up with Shannon at Life After I "Dew" for

So WHAT if...

• I'm just now getting around to my post for the day? I'm actually working at work and those precious few moments of sanity I steal away are for mental health, not blogging.
• I'm totally being lame and watching Eclipse while laying around? I love this crappy acting from Kristen Stewart because I love the series. I might have to re-read the entire series it's that good.
• I left my book (thankfully not my nook!) on the plane? Seriously, survival was mandatory to exit the plane and I paid the literacy forward for someone else to read The Lost Symbol.
• I think I need to re-read the series to remember the passion between Edward and Bella since Kristen's cold fish acting does nothing for my imagination.
• I'm considering ironing my sheets? Legit love to iron and sheets are the easiest to do. Not the fitted sheet, but the flat sheet and pillowcases. 
• The extent of my drive to actually iron the sheets ends with that last so what? At least I thought about it.
• I have to limit my time on Pinterest? Legit have to set a timer because I look at it before bed time, but get sucked in. Well, that's when the iPhone app is working.
• I honestly don't know how to deal with consistent weather? Colorado always throws you curve balls, but in DC, it's the same forecast and I don't have to carry an umbrella unless there's a forecast for rain.
• I joke that my job may drive me to drink? I mean, it can be frustrating, but really I do love it. Love. It.

Halloween in Beantown

This past weekend, I went to Boston to see my friends and celebrate adult Halloween. That means that we were out at the bars in our costumes rather than going out on actual Halloween which is on a school night.

This year, we dressed up as A League of Their Own. Caitlin's husband couldn't believe that we were going as something so dated...well, there were more guys coming up to us asking if we were A League of Their Own...dated my ace. Although, typically the next question is, "Who's All the Way May?"

There were some great costumes and people were really inventive. Some things I have learned about costumes and drinking: figure out a costume with sneakers, limit the skin-hugging as to prevent spanx wearing to reduce bathroom time, and layers for the cold wait of a taxi when the bars close.

Here are some highlights from what I managed to capture:

We are the members of the All-American League

We come from cities near and far

Boobs!

Tebow Tebowing

Selfie

Jersey Turnpike, Revolutionary Edition

John McClane from Die Hard

Harry & Lloyd

Representing my Broncos in Boston

A built-in cupholder

Buddy the Elf! What's your favorite color?

Charging up the glow in the dark bat

These drinks were the death of us the next day.

Truly into their authenticity...just standing around, doing nothing.

Oh, and I guess this should be an open apology to my neighbor on the flight. Sorry for partying, JetBlue.