A collection of thoughts

My blog post title makes me laugh since this entire blog is basically a collection of my thoughts, but anyway--here goes:

• I need to start taking and posting in real life pictures of something--my daily wardrobe, my co-workers, my messy closet--dear god, something, that adds some personality to the blog. Any suggestions?
• Most good bloggers are willing to overshare so that their readers feel like they are their confidants--whereas I'm too worried about who may eventually stumble upon this.
• For the fact that I am very gregarious, I am surprisingly reserved in certain ways.
• It's interesting when your brother goes from being annoying to being a good friend. When did I stop hating him and start thinking he was cool?
• I may need to buy different shampoos for different parts of my hair. Head and shoulders (or some other drying shampoo) for my roots and moisturizing shampoo for my ends, because this oily/dry mess I'm currently sporting is not cool.
• Most adults don't eat candy on a daily basis. It is not normal that I crave candy this much and I may just give myself diabetes.
• I have a hard time letting go of things I know (sigh--I hate change); like, if I don't think The Office is that great anymore, why do I still watch it? I was good with Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives--kicked DH after Season 1 and Grey's after Season 3. Still watch Scrubs though.
• NCAA Men's Basketball is ridiculously fun.
• I'm very tempted to write reviews for other bloggers' blogs, but man, is that mean.
• I created a new label just for this post, potpourri, which makes me feel like Jeopardy.
  

TV shows: recommendations and requests

I apologize for those of you that hate lists. Clearly, I love them so very much. (I did not realize this until I began to blog, and now it's like I don't know any other writing style.) Anyway, I was always a TV snob (thought people that watched tv were lazy and unintelligent) and then sadly, I began working, and now all of a sudden if my DVR stops working I become homicidal. (I'm convinced Ted Bundy just couldn't get his damn show to record.) My only problem is this--I'm OCD about tv. I must watch it in order from the 1st show, otherwise I am convinced, convinced, that I will be lost. Tv shows on DVDs were made for me. Here's a list of shows that I have been recommended and will document here so that I will watch them soon. Like over the summer in particular when House and 30 Rock are on re-runs.

1) Mad Men
2) The Wire
3) Wonderfalls
4) Heroes: Season 1
5) Weeds
6) Battlestar Gallactica
7) Pushing Daisies

Anyone have recommendations? I WANT SOME. Umm, please?! Oh, I don't do reality shows. Now, it's more of a matter of wanting to be the only person on earth not having seen a single episode of American idol.

If I were a size 2...

My dream size is between a 4-6 which is great because it's more realistic for me than a size 2. That said, I always imagine dieting/exercising down to a 2 and then allowing myself gallons of ice cream not worrying if my behind expanded to size 4 proportions. Oh dreams.


Anyway, I suck at dieting--I really, really love food (as evidenced by my Grace in Small Things posts), and I really will eat almost anything. But, there are some things, definitely fattening (but probably not the most fattening thing I still continue to eat), that I used to eat but now avoid. They are my dream list foods. Sorry in advance because this will make you hungry.


1) Chili's Honey Chipotle Chicken Crispers with ranch and honey mustard (and sides of mashed potatoes and corn on the cob)


2) Berryhill Fried Fish Tacos, extra sauce on the side please


3) Beck's Cheeseburger and Fries. It should be noted that I eat cheeseburgers and fries elsewhere, I just read the calories for Beck's once, and now I avoid it. How many calories you ask in an order of cheeseburger with fries? 1,435.


4) Toblerone cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory. Thank God they stopped making this.

What foods do you not eat because they just have too many calories?

My current life loves

I love reading random product suggestions from other bloggers, be it food, makeup, clothes, or even cleaning products. It's just nice to hear an unbiased review from actual people. Kind of like when your friend randomly tells you that the latest lipgloss she randomly picked up at Walgreen's is, in fact, the greatest thing ever. Anyway, here are top ten recent discoveries that have made my life just a bit better. Some of them are old, but because it's not fun reading that the best product ever costs $1,000--all of these things are under $100.

1. International Delight English Almond Toffee creamer; it's really, really good and makes instant coffee taste like a latte from Starbucks. No joke, guys. It thickens and sweetens coffee the perfect amount.


2. Lancome Magique Blush: I always preferred powder blush, until I stumbled on this one day. It's super easy to put on, blends really easily, and lasts a long time. Plus, it gives the skin a little bit of a shine. Best part--if you look, you can find this at TJ Maxx for $10. All the colors are really nice, but the one I wear all the time is Raspberry Souffle. It looks bright, but goes on sheer. Way to put this on: take your pointer and middle finger and lightly dab in the blush. Rub it onto the same fingers on your other hand and then rub on your cheeks. Perfect.


3. L'Oreal Infallible Concealer: I used to not wear concealer. Then a good friend of mine nicely told me I needed to wear some. (Apparently all the "you look tired" comments didn't click.) Anyway, I still didn't wear concealer and then one day I found this at Walgreen's marked down to ~$2.50, so I bought one. And, I use it every day. It's in stick form--and while it doesn't work as well as the Laura Mercier one from my friend, I don't have to use a brush, or get my fingers really messy or really anything. Just smear on, blend a little, and I'm set. And, my friend did ask me this weekend if I was looking better because I had on concealer. Score.


4. Arranged: This movie is excellent. Really, really good. It's about two young women, one orthodox jewish and one conservative muslim and how they find love through the arranged marriage process. I identified with this movie more than I care to admit, but even if you have never even heard of such a thing, it's still an entertaining enough movie.


5. The Nine: Such a good book. I love politics with a scary passion, and my two favorite branches of government are the executive and the judicial. This book covers the details of the recent Supreme Court and it's done in a way that I would write a book about my office co-workers, full of details on their lives and only full of office gossip and politics. It's an informative read that's a pleasure to consume.


6. Blue Peep: This is not the actual name. It's actually called the Sonia Kashuk blending sponge, but it was nicknamed blue peep on makeupalley, so that's what I call it. This thing is great--it really does make your makeup look natural. It's not everyday user friendly since it requires a cleaning after every use, but when I use it for special occasions it makes a big difference. It also puts on my lancome blush (#2) really well. Like I know what I'm doing or something.


7. J Crew dream-tie cardigan: This has been one of my most favorite purchases of the winter season. It's not a typical cardigan, but it's a layering piece. It ties together in a bow, but it's not cutesy--it looks structured without being a button up cardigan. I can wear it to work and wear it on the weekend. Easy and versatile. A good find on ebay or JCA weekly exchange.


8. Anthropologie earrings: I know I just wrote three posts on earrings--but these earrings are awesome. They are fun, fancy and reasonably priced. Can't beat them.


9. Curvy fit pants: I have a hard time finding pants that I like that also fit. I have a narrow waist in proportion to my hips (sigh). And then, I finally found them. The Jackson fit at Banana Republic and the curvy fit at the Gap fit perfectly. They aren't loose at the waist and tight through the thigh unlike other pants (Martin fit), nor are they straight from top to bottom (Ryan fit). These pants fit really well and I'm willing to bet that for most girls they fit better than the current pants they are wearing.


10. Walgreen's Alpha Hydroxy Cream: This cream has changed my skin. It's an 8% AHA of 70% solution, and most skin care people recommend between 5-15% of AHA without doctor supervision. I wash my face, put on a light layer and go to sleep. In the morning--my skin is noticeably brighter. Caveat, this does dry out skin, so use a good moisturizer at night and in the morning along with sunblock. But dude, your skin, will look fabulous.

Wow, that's a long list. Any recent products change your life? Please tell me.

Candy, Friends, etc.

I like to think that most people are as fluent in "Friends" as I am. I love Friends. It consistently makes me laugh despite the fact that I have seen every episode many, many times. (Except for the one where they have alternate lives--that doesn't come on very much.) Anyway, even though I love the first 5 seasons so, so much more than the later seasons, one of my favorite episodes is when Ross gives Phoebe a bike and Monica makes candy. This episodes makes me think the following:

1) Damn, I want a friend that makes candy.

2) Letting go of her bicycle is a legitimate learning technique.

3) What is the color of the walls in Phoebe's room? Such a pretty light green.

4) When Chandler asks if anyone can name the person who makes the candy, how is Joey not all over that question?

Anyone who can answer these, or has a recipe for really awesome chocolate candy, please share. Thanks.

Weekend update

So, my last Grace in Small Things post? Not so much. This is why I am always anxious to mention things that have not yet happened, or "tempting fate". This concept was verbalized to me by Toby Zeigler on The West Wing (one of my top ten all time favorite shows!), on an episode where they were waiting for confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice. This episode is a great episode for many reasons, only one of which is CJ does the Jackal, but Toby refuses to allow anyone to open a champagne bottle until the vote passes 51, which was practically a given. And I get that. Tempting fate is bad. So is writing a Grace in Small Things list of things that have not actually happened. Let's go through our list shall we:

1. 3-day weekends: Okay, this happened.

2. Rain ending early enough to not delay your flight: FAIL. Flight delayed by an hour. Total flying time, 1 hour. For the time my flight was delayed on the runway I could have reached my final destination.

3. Finding a 20% off parking coupon for the airport: Okay, this worked, but the parking lot at which I parked only had one check out attendant when I left. And after 30 minutes of waiting to reach her I realized having a coupon meant the lady would take the coupon, initial the back, cut the coupon out to coupon size, fold it, put it in her envelope and then process my transaction. OMG lady.

4. Elite status: FAIL. Apparently I didn't fly enough last year and lost my status.

5. Pre-selecting seat to make sure you're not in the middle: My super tiny plane did not have middle seats. I should have chosen a window one on which to lean against during my 1 hour wait on the tarmac, instead, aisle for me. yay?

Grace in Small Things: Part 14

1. 3-day weekends

2. Rain ending early enough to not delay your flight

3. Finding a 20% off parking coupon for the airport

4. Elite status

5. Pre-selecting seat to make sure you're not in the middle

One of the greatest inventions ever: Tunics

Oh tunics. How I love thee. Despite my complete stereotypical Indian love for tunics, I refuse to apologize, they are awesome. They cover up any weird pudges you have, they represent summer without being tube-toppy, and most importantly, are pretty and stylish. You can wear them with jeans to hang out with friends, capri pants and a swimsuit if you're headed to the beach, or with slacks for a casual day in the office. I sound like a damn ad. Sorry. Anyway, I love tunics if the paragraph before this didn't make that perfectly clear. Here are some tunics I love from the current season.


I love tunics! - by Iheartgreen on Polyvore.com

Grace in Small Things: Part 13

1. Toffifee (A cross between a ferror rocher and a rolo. Thanks co-worker!)

2. Discovering new, great blogs
Friday Playdate
NoPasaNada
Nothing But Bonfires

3. Market rallies

4. Cleaning out my closet

5. Trying to eat healthier, weight loss a result

Wow, so you know nothing about me

I realize I've been negligent in creating some sort of FAQ/About me blog post. So, without further ado, with questions I pulled from a leadership seminar I had to attend [Eye Roll], here are some answers.

Why were you given your particular name?

My first name means pride and my parents, in particular my mom, hate my name. (Don't do this to your kids). As part of Indian tradition, the husband's side of the family gets to choose the child's name, and my uncle named me. Despite my parents having a serious conversation to try and change my name when I was 11 (DUDE 11!!), my name is what it is. My mom introduces me by my first and middle name together to this day and it is still aggravating. A few upsides: my name is easy to spell and pronounce and the same name as one of my mom's best friends.

How many brothers and sisters do you have?

1 brother only, he's 2 years younger. I do have about 40 some odd first cousins though.

What is your favorite thing to do?

Such a hard question, but hang out with friends. This involves eating, laughing, mocking the world, watching tv/movies, shopping, trying out new recipes. By myself, my favorite thing to do is read.

What is your favorite food?

I need to have an entire post dedicated to this. I love food--all kinds of food. In no specific order: pizza, hamburgers, chocolate, cake, tacos, eggplant parmesan, salmon, sushi, vietnamese sandwiches, hummus, fried chicken, fried shrimp, chile rellenos, chips and dip, cheese, spanakopita, stuffed mushrooms, samosas, chicken kiev, barbeque, chai lattes, ice cream, pad thai, macaroni and cheese.

Where do you live?

Houston, TX.

We'll do more later after you're somewhat recovered from the boredom.

My current favorite jewelry: Part 1c, earrings

This was originally going to be a post about my favorite jewelry, but there's just too much! So, now I've decided to split it apart into my favorite earrings, necklaces, and other. And then, I split it apart further, because too much scrolling is no fun.


Earrings that I love - by Iheartgreen on Polyvore.com

12. Marcasite Enamel Flower Earrings; Nature's Jewelry, $50; The detail and color in these studs are amazing! They are like the perfect red shoe--you can wear them with anything and they always add the right amount of color.

13. Balloon earrings; Anthropologie, $298; I don't know why they named these balloon earrings, but the colors are so delicate and pretty. Light blue and peach without looking Eastery.

14. Fireball drop earrings; JCrew, $45; Nothing too special about these, but that's what makes them great. You don't have to think about these--always appropriate whether with jeans or a cocktail dress.

15. Diamond & Prasiolite Cable Earrings, David Yurman, $1,490; Yes, this costs as much as a Dodge these days, but this qualifies as special jewelry. Statement earrings. I am grown up earrings. Wear them to work and look like a fancy adult.

16. Keswick caning drop earrings, Kate Spade, $55; Similar to the fireball earrings, but different enough to not be head to toe JCrew.

17. Topaz chandelier earrings; Tejani, $59; I included these because they are on sale and a fantastic deal. These are great earrings regularly but become fantastic when looking at the price. These will go with at least 1/2 of the fancy clothes you own.

Grace in Small Things: Part 12

1. Mallomars

2. Lounge pants

3. Lazy Sunday afternoons

4. DVR

5. Twitter updates that crack me up

Cherry cobbler recipe

This is an awesome recipe that is 1) excellent, 2) foolproof, 3) super easy and 4) requires little clean up. In some other parts of the internet it is lovingly referred to as a dump cake, but dude, that name needed to be changed. Here goes:

Ingredients:
1 (21 ounces) can prepared more fruit cherry pie filling
1 (20 ounces) can crushed pineapple, undrained, in its own juice
1 (18.25 ounces) box yellow cake mix
2 sticks of butter or margarine, each cut into 12 slices
1 cup moist sweetened grated coconut (approximate based on taste)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

9x13inch baking pan (glass or aluminum)
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Empty cherry pie filling into pan and spread around evenly
Empty crushed pineaplle can on top of cherries and spread out evenly
Cover with box of yellow cake mix
Cover with 24 slices of butter spread evenly
Cover with coconut
Cover with chopped nuts

Bake in oven for 50 minutes.
Remove from oven and let it sit for 5-7 minutes.

Serve plain or with ice cream or whip cream. Tastes awesome the next day (or a week later as well).

Grace in Small Things: Part 11

1. Costco

2. Friends coming to visit for breakfast

3. Reclining lazboys

4. Modal cotton

5. Kid Rock -- All Summer Long

Grace in Small Things: Part 10

More food items!

1. Cherry cobbler

2. String cheese

3. Hot coffee

4. Italian cream soda

5. Chile Rellenos

My love grows

As I have mentioned before, I have a tv in my office. This is pretty rare for most people and its due to the fact that it is important for me to get up to the minute financial news--unemployment rate higher than predicted? Uh oh, futures just went down.

Anyway, I have a love-hate relationship with CNBC. They are overly dramatic and incredibly biased and do not do as much reporting as they do opinionating. Most of their anchors couldn't point to a revenue line on an income statement. They cover the financials and autos like they are the only stocks in the S&P 500. No one besides the big tech giants get mentioned on the NASDAQ. But, they do make business news about as entertaining as possible. Hey, putting 10 people in different boxes on the screen at once accomplishes nothing except entertainment. So, with the exception of Mark Haines who I LOVE and Dennis Kneale who I HATE, I have a love-hate relationship with everyone else.

Then, on Wednesday, Jon Stewart read my mind.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Grace in Small Things: Part 9

1. Watermelon and cherry sours

2. Cherry cordial Hershey's

3. Strawberry twizzlers

4. Haribo Gummi Bears

5. Buying candy at the grocery store

My current favorite jewelry: Part 1b, earrings

This was originally going to be a post about my favorite jewelry, but there's just too much! So, now I've decided to split it apart into my favorite earrings, necklaces, and other. And then, I split it apart further, because too much scrolling is no fun.


Earrings that I love - by Iheartgreen on Polyvore.com


6. Alex Monroe Pomegranete flower studs; $150. I have earrings like this that I picked up in Dubai. I love them--they make me feel fancy with understated prettiness.
7. Sun's Mosaic Earrings, $298, Anthropologie. The detail and color in these earrings make them special. I feel like they would go with everything and always look original.
8. Tejani Bridal Collection - Antique Earrings; $190. My Indian self loves Indian jewerly. LOVES. And I especially love the look of antique jewelry (and really, most things antique). I need to get married just to get these earrings.
9. Moonbali pearl earrings, Isharya; $257. More Indian jewelry I love. Especially love the tops of the earrings--I dislike wire hook earrings, except in rare cases.
10. Tacori Epiphany Diamonique Framed Asscher Stud Earrings; $88.20. I am a heartbeat away from purchasing these earrings. So very pretty. Plus, Tacori. Love. Love x 100
11. Swarovski Crystal Flirt Amethyst Pierced Earrings; $90. I love the purple in these earrings--very subtle, very sophisticated.

Grace in Small Things: Part 8

1. Metalia for sharing her lipgloss link with me.

2. A good friend who listens.

3. My favorite review websites (I will make a list of this soon, I promise)

4. Scrubs, though I think I am the only person that watches it anymore

5. My office (I used to work in a cube, dude that sucked)

Grace in Small Things: Part 7

1. Co-workers that help out without complaint.

2. Tres leches cake (sorry I do so many food ones, I'm a foodie)

3. Early bedtime for me

4. Not crashing while I put makeup on in the car on the way to a business dinner (eyeliner, blush, lipstick and lipgloss, baby!)

5. Empanadas (I really tried to think of a non-food one but I am in a food coma)

Grace in Small Things: Part 6

1. Hershey's bliss candies

2. Slimfast Strawberries and Creme shakes

3. Having stocks on the Restricted List

4. My new royal blue ruffle neck merino cardigan

5. Fancy ponytail holders (have I used this before?)

March resolutions

I don't do particularly well with long-term goals, but I rock at short-term ones. It's much easier for me to commit to doing something in the short-term since the end day feels close. Plus, it allows me to obsess about something and then forget about it. My February resolutions involved the following:

1) wear concealer everyday

2) bring my lunch to work everyday

3) wear all the shoes I own

Now, I didn't do any of those things every day of the month, but I did pretty well on 1). Number 2) was a little harder as we got really busy at work the last 2 weeks in February, but I still probably did it about 50-60% of the time when I usually do it about 10%. I failed at 3)--it's hard to switch to heels when my flats are so comfy. That said, I feel like if I had a shoe organizer hanging in my closet it would be much easier for me to wear all my shoes.

This brings me to my March resolutions:

1) wear sunscreen everyday (I know, I know! But, I'm Indian so I don't burn and I also avoid the sun--my mom gets mad when I stop looking "fair").
2) try the Up-day Down-day diet.
3) return things I am not using sooner rather than later (Maybelline overtime lipcolor, this is about you)
4) List or donate clothing items I no longer wear
5) Spend 15 minutes cleaning everyday.

Okay, you all have to keep me honest. We'll do a check-in in Mid-March to see how things are going. I have done 1) and 2) so far today and can hopefully do 5) later tonight.

Grace in Small Things: Part 5

1. Health insurance

2. Cheap airline tickets

3. The discovery of salted caramels

4. Tex Mex omelette at Black Walnut

5. TV in my office. 90% of the time on CNBC, on weekends I watch TBS.