I got very addicted. Playing many games at a time, often having to wait a while for anyone else to play a turn (and thus wasting even more time). But my addiction could be worse, ala Alec Baldwin getting kicked off a plan while refusing to stop playing it (one of my favorite lines from the article is about how W.W.F. is more popular because it is not Scrabble, and so “this gives it a much broader audience beyond word nerds — or rather, it turns players into word nerds so gradually, they barely realize it’s happening.”).

On the flipside, however, there is a benefit. And yes, I did have to recently resort to my first game with strangers (as I’d been waiting for several hours and knew everyone was asleep). BUT! Words with Friends Helped Save a Man’s Life! And it could maybe help me too if I was choking on food, I could still type for help!

My advice? Don’t start playing, unless you’re ready to get real addicted.

I went there last week when it first opened and got an americano (I drink americano’s pretty much daily). It was not very good. There was also no cream, just whole and low-fat milk. (Update- they do have cream, it just wasn’t out and you have to ask for it) I love me some cream in my americano! But, I didn’t even count them out just yet- I said, ok, I’ll try again next time.

Next time was today. I decided to try an iced americano, as those could feasibly be better than a hot one. I was also hungry, so I looked at their pastries and bagels (did notice a fly buzzing around, though they are hard to avoid when the door’s open), and decided to get something.

I remembered I had cream cheese at home, so in an effort to save some money, I just ordered a plain whole grain bagel. My total was $5.72!

I got a receipt and looked at it. The americano said “iced coffee/latte” for $3.00 (that’s a whole lot more than I even pay at Starbucks), but ok, it’s a small local business I would have supported (were it quality!), and the bagel said $2.40.

No bagel should cost $2.40 PLAIN. I asked about it. I thought maybe they had charged me for a breakfast sandwich bagel! He looked at the register and said, “Oh, that was an error. It’s 1.90 plus tax which comes to 2.01″. He gave me back some change, and I didn’t say anything, but how the $%^& are you gonna charge that much for a PLAIN BAGEL?!

I got home and put butter on half, cream cheese on the other. And guess what- just like the americano, the bagel was just…EH. I’ve had much better.

I have seen people eating the ice cream,and if I care enough to try that out and get a price range, I’ll let you know. But here’s my point: I do not recommend buying coffee or baked goods there.

I will give them ONE more chance. I will go in to do some re-con, scope out the iced creations prices, and give them the opportunity to wow them with their iced coffee- maybe that’s good. And I’ll ask if they intend to get cream.

And then I’ll update. If not, right now, it’s not looking good for them. Sure, kids love ice cream and if they can walk to a local joint, they will, but I don’t know how long they’ll fare, especially at these unfair prices.

UPDATE: I didn’t even finish the bagel that day, it was doughy and not tasty. But, I think they might be changing their baked goods?

However, I got two comments from them on this blog post. One you can see below, which I replied to. The other was my full name, which they probably found by looking back at my receipt/card info. That is not very mature, and also probably illegal. But all’s fair on the internet. My opinion stands. And now, after receiving the comment accusing me of not being honest (as well as some sort of attempt to publicize my name- wow), I do not intend to go back.

The Alphabests – Hot Machines

yay album release! i may or may not be on this album!!

Listen now, BUY later!

I haven’t been blogging much lately, and I’m no renowned food critic, so I’ll make this short and sweet.

The food was excellent, but more importantly, the service was SPECTACULAR! And the price was pretty reasonable considering the high quality of food.

My boyfriend and I went there with just over an hour before the start time of a nearby show we were going to see. Once the server knew we were seeing a show and on a time crunch (she asked, by the way!), she said they’d do everything to make sure we dined in enough time.

The food came out so fast it got there before she had brought us bread, which literally felt like single-digit minutes.

I got duck with a fig sauce, which she said could go on anything, and she was right. It was delicious. It came with sauteed spinach and some mustardy mashed potato delight. Boyfriend got the in-house-made gnocchi and beef ribs, which was also delicious.

The decor was quite nice, we were seated right away (again- this is on a busy Saturday evening! in downtown Philly), and it was all a very pleasant experience.

The best part? Because we had to eat quickly, our waitress gave us a $10 gift certificate, on them, to come back and enjoy dessert.

I had to blog about this place, it was such a uniquely awesome dinner and experience. I will definitely go back. What service!!!

1) the characters (Shane, Steph, Britt and Courtney, on&on- they are ALL amazing). Shane especially- always wearing a “My Friend Sam is 50″ shirt and having a great laugh but they evolve and are perfect. They really grow on you and are likable anyway, right from the start.

2) the length they’re only 5 minutes long, and once you start watching you can’t stop. then you get really excited when you get to some 8 minute ones and the 11 and 15 minute ones are buried treasure.

3) comedic content out of control hilarity. sooo funny. at first i was worried it would seem contrived, but it was funny and held up to my high standards. i was very impressed.

4) wit it’s more than just funny, and it’s even subtle at times. it’s a whole bag of wonder, when you get to know the characters and you notice the little things, which is easy in such short episodes which you could watch again if you wanted!

5) i can’t stop thinking about it and my life is better for having seen it i’m not kidding. my life will never be the same after watching it. it was inspiring, as well as hilarious. and, as any good comedy show does, they threw in some touching stuff to make it feel all warm and humany. and not too much like the office (haha jk office fans, i’ll catch up with that sometime…maybe). i will be laughing at a vague idea or feeling in my head and realize it was something from dorm life. i miss it, but ’tis better to have watched and stopped than to not have watched at all!

GO WATCH SOME DORM LIFE!

It was about $8 at a store I’d rather not admit that I occasionally shop at.

Compared to $28 natural mascara from Arbonne (my only other reliable source of natural high-quality products), well, there is no justification for me for paying that much for mascara, so there can’t even be a comparison.

I oughta get a pic of the mascara (and my look!) up, but instead I’m gonna go ahead and publish this. And that, folks, is why I don’t blog for a living.

It does look really cool. Did it boost my lashes 5X? No, I don’t think so. Is it creepy and life-threatening like Latisse? Hell no!

Also, since this person does a much better, more thorough job reviewing it, I don’t have much to say at this time, other than I am going to test it out some other time than a night where I’m sitting at home writing half-ast blogs.

Good evening.

**UPDATE** I think maybe you have to wait for it to dry? It comes off very easily. I don’t know about it. I like the waterproof stuff, but I don’t like chemicals in my eye. So I guess I’ll just go au natural!

One example is me always thinking maybe I can still get famous someday. I have several ways of doing this- hiphop star, comedian on Saturday Night Live, or famous novelist. And yet, I live an unglamorous life where I’m in debt, I am scared to admit how much I don’t enjoy my job (mostly due to the anxiety it produces in me), and I don’t have it all figured out.

I was reading about the main character’s luggage-shopping trip with a guy she thinks is interested in her, but turns out isn’t (he has a girlfriend), and it made me laugh aloud because it related so well with me getting disappointed about not being famous. (Mind you, I had just been watching Entourage as well! What a great TV show to make you almost feel like you could be famous because they show so much of “what it’s like” (right) while being very sneakily unrealistic)

She had fun luggage-shopping with him, then they have lunch, she feels lead on, he says he has a girlfriend, and she does a nice job calling him out on the leading-on, but then he sort of laughs it off, and she feels worse. Here’s the paragraph I liked:

“I arrive home that afternoon, feeling weary and miserable. [...] Real life isn’t swanning around in Knighstbridge in a taxi, choosing 1,000 pound suitcases, is it? This is real life. Home to a tiny flat which still smells of curry, and a pile of nasty letters from the bank, and no idea what to do about them.” (COAS, beginning of Ch. 12)

And I love the wording describing life a little later: ” ‘Shit-boring tedious life,’ more like.”

A good reminder of the “unglamorous” (think dirty dishes, credit card debt, and picking your nose) life so many of us lead. Paris Hilton has showed us that if you have enough money, you can become a celebrity. And reality TV shows make it seemingly easy for “everyday citizens” to become “famous”. But what good does it really amount to?

I’m loving the book, and will enjoy it til the very end (also love the bonus of the cute British vocabulary). In the meanwhile, I will continue to recognize that my life is what it is and to keep being okay with it, and I’ll try to balance hoping and making efforts towards better things, with the unrealistic hopes and dreams I have on-and-off-again.

I just finished wasting over an hour on a whirlwind readabout: Gwyneth Paltrow, Goop, her marriage and its rumored disintegration, and a blogger who really has it out for “fishsticks” paltrow.

I eagerly signed up for Goop’s weekly newsletter after seeing her on the Tonight Show a few weeks back, touting its practical and environmental wonders. I like eating healthy, and travel, and “nourishing my inner self”, so I jumped on the boat.

Honestly, I mostly forgot about it as well. The email address I signed up for is my spammy account so there are a bunch of lists and sites I’ve signed up for (like the daily news in French) that I rarely read. I did read it once or twice, but was slightly depressed about her advertising of a detox cleanse I could never afford.

After my adventures in pointless research, I realized how stupid the site is for most everyday humans (and I had already had my suspicions due to this pricey fashion advice) and I will unsubscribe, if I have the motivation to even do that. I figure another less-than-positive blog review will hurt more than one less subscriber on the list.

To continue my adventure- who ever said Twitter isn’t a wonderful way of peeking into others’ lives?! I found other people who related to feeling poor and worthless after reading about all of these wonderful things she writes about that cost hundreds and/or thousands of dollars!

Here are some of my favorites:

A British woman writes: “gwyneth, I’m just not interested in your ridiculous tosh today. you and me are over.” (I had to look up tosh, and as I suspected, it is similar to rubbish. that’s grand!)

A woman from ‘beantown’ writes: “Reading GOOP. Why do I do this to myself?” it will likely make you feel bad about yourself, with few exceptions.

there are others, but i want to maybe focus on doing something actually productive, having wasted so much time reading about gwyneth and a possible boob job? gwyneth stealing the idea for goop from some beet lady?!

i like to think of myself as a pretty good person, but i’d be better if i had just a little more money. ha.

I did just find this quote from her, while doing even MORE research for this ‘article’. I like it for a number of reasons I’ve bolded: (May 2009)

“She tells Life & Style magazine, “It’s hard! Nothing is as good as it looks. Life is complicated, and there are always issues to overcome. Yesterday, he went to Australia, and I came here (New York); you have to accept that. We’re brutally honest with each other. Even if, God forbid, we weren’t together in 10 years or whatever, I think we’re like a family.”

also like the “I think we’re like a family” because that is just kind of weird to say. i mean, aren’t they family?! i definitely partially wrote this article out of jealousy at her richness. whatever. she’s decent. the site is, eh, alright, if you have a lot of money floating around.

i know i’m a decent person, because now i feel sort of bad. like, hey, she’s a human, it’s tough to be a celebrity, but then i remember the quote i read about her saying “f#$% the haters!” about blog criticism, and i’m like, hey, all’s fair in life and hollyweird-ness.

i’m bitter. and i do like the bitter taste of dandelion leaf in a juice, like the one i made last night. a girl can take small, steady steps.

p.s. i was finishing up reading about the detox program (and finding myself still experiencing that love-hate feeling) when i stumbled upon a girl named ally’s awesome comment:

“Frankly, this is a “lose weight through diarrhea” diet plan.
Going for a run is better than the runs, IMO.”

oh, humor! how you help remind me to enjoy life, and to remember the other people out there going through life in a realistic manner.

They’re:

-wheat-free
-gluten-free
-whole grain

AND they’re made of amazing yummy good-for-you ingredients like:

-brown rice
-flax seed
-amaranth
-quinoa

and more! and more importantly, they’re actually delicious!!!

yes that’s right. delicious.

I had the sea salt flavor and listen to these nutritional facts:

For 15 sticks it’s 150 calories , 5g fat , 4g fiber! , and 4g protein – No Sugar!

Whoops, I was test-tasting them and I probably had like 2 servings
So, you could eat too many of them, but probably they’ll be just right for many people looking for a crunchy yummy snack taste that’s sort of (looks) like a pretzel that tastes sort of like a cracker.

Highly recommended!

I’ll try to come up with several reasons why I loved it so much.

-It’s heartwarming with a realistic flavor, and inspiringly so- this may not say a lot, but it’s such a cute story, with love, death, isolation, and adventure, woven into a flavorful rainbow of well-put-together cinematography and all in a better-than-just-feel-good-kids-movie. It’s great for kids and adults of like, which we’ve seen before from Pixar. Moreso than other “family movies”, this one deals with some tough realities of family and relationships, without preaching or lingering too long in any one wrong direction

-Because of this line- The main boy of the story, Russell, reminisces on good memories past with his father, like sitting on a curb eating ice cream and watching cars go past- each counted one color. Russell says that he misses that curb, and then “It’s the boring parts I remember best”. It’s like that quote: “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years”, meaning that meaningful memories will fill you up with all those good things money can’t buy. Something like that. It also made me think of love and the quirks and small idiosyncrasies of someone you love and how that makes them ever-so endearing to you (and it can also be something you hate oddly enough too)

-Not a Dull or Misplaced Moment- If I’m going to spend 13.50 on a movie (adult plus 3.50 3D charge you may not have known about!), I want it to be completely worth my while. This one was perfect, from beginning to end. I even really liked one part that other people didn’t laught at, which I’ve unfortunately temporarily forgot, until I buy it or rent it on Netflix. Only one small detail that bothered me, but that would give away some things from the ending, so I won’t.

-Wonderful Lessons in Courage and Openness- you’ve got to see the movie to get it, and I don’t want to discuss the plot too much. But. It has great lessons embedded in the movie, and it’s not painful in the least (there was a little heart-touching going on and I had trouble not crying (teared up several times)), but it’s all colorful and has a charming real-life feel to it. It could help people of any age open up to something new- traveling, increased creativity, taking a leap, and who knows what.

I could go on and on, but I got out of bed at nearly 3AM to write this post. So take that as a sign that this movie really is worth going to see.