I have a few vices.

including, but not limited to:
1. spending gobs at Anthropologie.
2. watching crap reality shows like Million Dollar Listing.
3. drinking brandy in my eggnog.

Do you think it's a bad sign that I've indulged in not one, but all of these activities in the space of a single evening?

Oh, and by "gobs" I really mean just my monthly mad money. Not our rent or anything.

The Amy Russell(s) Project

OK, so after a search tonight, I found that there are 89 Amy Russells on Twitter.

Yes, I'm one of them. But that leaves 88 other Amy Russells! (And that's not even counting my lovely little sister-in-law who was Amy Russell long before I was, and she isn't even on Twitter.)

So, I was just thinking I'd follow one Amy Russell a day ....for the next three months. And maybe I'll make some other Amy Russell friends, and put them in their own Tweetdeck column and everything. Maybe eventually, we can even institute an International Amy Russell Convention for all the fabulous Amy Russells all over the world! But, it's a bit early to be talking conventions, right? Let's just start with following one a day.

A big welcome goes out to my first Amy Russell Twitter friend, Amy_EntWined of Encounter Bay, South Australia!

Which Amy Russell will make the cut tomorrow?
This is more dramatic than Project Runway.


Oh yeah.
P.S. If your name is Amy Russell and you're on Twitter, but you're a porn star, I probably won't follow you. Not because I judge you or your life choices, just because I don't enjoy the tweets of porn stars. Nothing personal.


Update: 11/13/09
Welcome to the newest Amy Russell, amykruss of Denton, Texas, who loves herself some cupcakes!

Update: 11/15/09
Welcome to the first girl to get her REAL name (Amy Russell) on Twitter, amyrussell who is quite funny and another Amy Russell, genxflower whose friend request is pending. If she doesn't agree to accept her part in our Amy Russell Project, well... I suppose I'll have to move on to the next Amy Russell, won't I?

Update: 11/16/09
Welcome to another lovely Amy Russell, amyrussel who loves NYC and Russell Brand, the fab actor/comedian/writer.

Update: 12/3/09
As you might have noticed, I haven't updated in a little while. That's because even though there are 88 other Amy Russells out there on Twitter, many of them fall into the category of people that I normally wouldn't follow.

Maybe because they haven't ever tweeted more than once, or maybe because they only tweet about how to make money on social media, or their only hobby is watching cage fighting or whatever. So I've learned a valuable lesson here. Some people may not have anything in common with you, other than your name.
(cue music: "The moorrrre you knooooowwww...")

This morning on NPR

I heard about this fabulous new reality show that's huge in Canada right now.
Get this: they take professional hockey players and figure skaters and team them up to learn routines and compete on the ice.

It's called Battle of the Blades.
If you want, you can hear the segment for yourself here.
Hmmmm.



Sounds interesting.
Sounds entertaining.
Sounds familiar.


Also, did you notice what that says across the top?
Contemporary... classics.
Really, MGM?
Because if The Cutting Edge is considered a Classic, I'm thinking Miley Cyrus deserves a lifetime achievement award. Look into it.

Only my mother would understand

that giving me books, jam, and tap shoes for a rainy day makes perfect sense.

And to think, most people don't even like to be in the same rooms as their mothers.
Jeez, I'm lucky.

The back of the Reese's Puffs box inspired me to make a list.

I love lists, anyway, so it wasn't that much of a stretch for me.
The box has a list of "18 Things to Do Before You're 18."

The list, verbatim:
1. Ride the world's biggest rollercoaster.

2. Bungee jump.

3. Score the winning goal/basket. (Never happened for me, and never will. It's OK that I suck at sports.)

4. Win an award, trophy, or prize.

5. Learn an instrument. (eh... overrated)

6. Go backstage at a gig. (Just be sure to watch your drink the whole time.)

7. Meet your idol.

8. Play a part in your favorite TV show. (How exactly do they expect the young'uns to manage this one?)

9. Meet someone with your own name. (Lame.)

10. Make a discovery. (See note by #8.)

11. Get away with the perfect practical joke.

12. Own a pointless collection.

13. Invent a word that makes it into the dictionary. (Once again, see note by #8.)

14. Conquer your biggest fear.

15. Raise money for charity.

16. Pass your driving test the first time. (Sort of too late for me on this one.)

17. Complete a road trip coast to coast. (Uh. Really? See notes by #6 and #8.)

18. Reach 18 years of age -- yes!!!
(Under #18, it actually says-- a direct quote: "Embrace old age." WHAT?!)

Since I'm the ripe old age of 32, I decided to make my own list of 40 Things to Do Before I'm 40.
But as I was making the list, I realized, it was way too long.
Let's focus. Let's narrow.
So here are the 4 Things to Do Before I'm 40.

1. Get a literary agent.

2. Publish my novel.

3. Go on a book tour.

4. Get healthy/lower my body mass index.

All of those things are totally possible. Maybe even probable. I think first I'll work simultaneously on the health/BMI thing and the getting an agent thing.

I hope that soon I'll be able to say: Done, and done.

Karma is real.

It's true! How else can you explain what happened to me this past week?

About four (maybe five, it's been awhile so I'm not sure) years ago, I had a class of students that loved me. I mean, I've always have some students that love me, but these kids and I bonded like crazy and it was truly beautiful.

At the end of the school year, I was at Starbucks (I know--the shame!) one morning, and I saw this amazing make-your-own-travel-mug thing. Cool!
I bought it with one thing in mind: have my students sign it for me so I would remember this class forever.
It was amazing. It was perfect. It made me happy on sad mornings. It was one of the things that I would consider grabbing if my house was on fire and I had five minutes to grab the really important things.



When school ended, during the first 2 weeks of summer, I ran a
Reading Camp.

I took my cup to school one morning, and then I forgot it. I must have forgotten about it for several days, and when I remembered, camp was over, and I couldn't bring myself to go back up to school-- it was SUMMER vacation. I called the school secretary to let her know, and I figured I might find it around the house, or that if it was at school, anyone would read that it said "Mrs. Russell" about a hundred times on the side, and someone would put it in my teacher mailbox in the office. No one did.

School started, and I searched the conference room cupboards above the sink. I searched everywhere it might be. I had to accept that it was gone. I even tried to tell myself, "I remember the kids and they remember me, and that's enough."

On Thursday, I was cleaning/organizing the teachers' lounge, because it gets really junky. People leave the chairs pushed out, and stray papers on the tables, etc. It only takes a few minutes to make the whole room look much nicer and more inviting. As I was cleaning, I opened up a cabinet, and what should I find on the bottom of it, but my prodigal cup!

There it was!

And because the lid was MIA, and because who knows where that cup had been, the inside paper got extracted, scanned to protect against future loss, and then reinserted into a brand-new beautiful cup.

Ta da!



So, see? Karma must be real, because if I hadn't been cleaning and organizing the teachers' lounge out of the goodness of my heart, I wouldn't have found my beloved, missing cup.

Happy Day!

I just read about this cool project

called Where I Write that shows authors in their creative spaces.
The only way this could be better is if it wasn't exclusive to Fantasy/Science Fiction authors.

And, if it had a fab picture of me in MY creative space.

I'm thinking it would be smart to get Nathan to take a picture of me, sitting at my desk with my laptop, just in case they ever ask me for it. I'll work on that this week.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Update: OK. I just realized that Nathan totally already took a picture of me in my creative space, and here it is:

So I have approximately five recipes that I can make flawlessly.

1. Swiss Gruyere Fondue
2. Baked Oatmeal
3. Smoky Mac & Cheese
4. Blueberry Pudding
5. Roasted-red pepper Hummus

That's it. Anything else in the kitchen, and it might turn out great, or it might turn out really, really not great. Rest assured that if I can make these recipes flawlessly, so can you. I mean, to give you an idea, Rachael Ray's famous 30 minute meals regularly take me an hour to make.

So, I found this hummus recipe in a vegetarian cookbook at the Hastings in Brownwood about 12 years ago, back when we were veggies in college and I was so broke that I sat there and copied the recipe out of the book instead of buying it. Ouch. But the recipe is so good! And honestly, if I knew the name of the cookbook now, I would totally go back and buy it.
I added red peppers for the first time about 5 years ago, and I've never looked back. I'm fairly sure Nathan is responsible for adding the red-pepper part, so thank him.

You'll need:
2-3 red peppers. (At HEB they're on sale for .79 right now!)
3 tbl olive oil
juice of 2-3 lemons
2 med. garlic cloves
1/4 c. or a little more tahini (I warn you: do NOT substitute peanut butter here.)
1 or 2 cans garbanzo beans, drained

1. Preheat the broiler.
2. Line a cookie sheet or two with foil. Cut red peppers in half and take out all the innards. Spray or brush outside with olive oil.
Beautiful!


3. Broil the peppers for at least 15 minutes, until the skins are completely blackened. This might take more like 20 minutes, and that's fine.
These aren't quite there.


Wait for it...

Wait for it...

Done!

Measure 2-3 tbl. olive oil and juice of 1 lemon (this recipe is by no means an exact science, but please watch those lemon seeds-- they are NO good!) into food processor or blender.
Add garlic (the beauty of a food processor is that you don't even have to chop it up) and tahini and blitz until smooth. Drain garbanzos from one can and rinse. I always use a colander to do this.

Add beans and blitz until the mixture is creamy. I literally mix this stuff for like 2-3 minutes. Get it CREAMY! Add a little salt.
By this time, the peppers should be cool enough to handle. Peel off all the blackened skins from the peppers. Tear them into long strips as you add them to food processor. It should turn from a taupey color into a lovely pinky color as you blend it.
Voila!


If the mixture is too dry, add a little olive oil as you blend. When I made this most recent batch, there was quite a bit of moisture from the peppers, so the hummus got kinda too soupy. I just added another can of garbanzos, juice of 1/2 lemon, a bit more tahini, and a little more salt for good measure.
Perfect!

Yummy in a pita or wrap with any of the following:
spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, sprouts, corn, black beans, sauted onions, whatevs.

Delicioso!

In case you didn't know, I love dresses.

This doesn't sound like it should be a problem. But it is. Because most of the dresses I'm attracted to aren't that appropriate for work. Which kind of sucks. I mean, I always set out to find dresses that are both good for work and good for play, but it's not as easy as you might think. If I didn't work with preteens, it wouldn't be so hard. A middle school teacher who shows too much skin is as taboo as a nun who reads dirty paperbacks.

About a month and a half ago, I found this dress at macys.com, and I nearly went straight out to buy it. It had the perfect 1950s shape, with these bright brush-stroke colors.



Then I had second thoughts. I was trying to do better about spending money on clothes that would give me more mileage. Needless to say, I didn't get it.

But TODAY, when we went into Macy's, I was searching through the sales racks, and lo and behold, a light shone down from heaven, and there it was.
It was the only one.
It was just my size.
It was 50% off.
It was perfect.



(Well, I do need to get the straps tailored, because they're a little too big. Other than that, perfect. After tailoring, I'll post a picture of myself wearing it. Or who knows, maybe it'll be in one of Nathan's next photoshoots...)

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Macy's?

I might be addicted to fro-yo.

Tonight we met Kathryn and Rami for a cuppa fro-yo at Yogurt Planet, and honestly, I can't stop thinking it.... Aaarrrrggghhh. (Me impersonating a Homer Simpson drool here.) I have a serious problem. This stuff is so good and so guiltfree that I just can't get enough.



This picture is proof that Nathan hearts fro-yo.

This place is heaven.
(Not a great website, though. All you'll find here are their two locations.)

In my estimation, the best ways to beat the 2009 summer heatwave in Austin are:
1. Eat fro-yo from Yogurt Planet.
2. Hang out in the walk-in, refrigerated, beer cave at IGA, where you'll probably buy beer, which will be great until you see just how many calories are in it. Also, the beer cave is only so big, and doesn't have cell phone service.
3. Go swimming, which is quite fabulous... except when you have students whose family moved in next door and you're a little terrified of the awkwardness of them seeing you in your swimsuit.

SO, in the Celebrity Deathmatch of Best Way to Beat the Heat in Austin, fro-yo from Yogurt Planet wins by a landslide!

Would you like to say a few words to your constituents?