Drinking ginger peach tea, catching up on my blog reading, listening to Christmas music, people-watching and giving tourists restaurant recommendations at the Argo Tea on Rush and Pearson.
Most perfect lunch
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Author Archives: carlieblissirwin
My husband is NOT getting what he wants for Christmas
Because every time I ask him what he wants, he says “nothing.” And that is not acceptable.
Christmas is a time of sharing, thoughtfulness and selflessness. And how dare he deny me the joy of giving!
So since he is being super unhelpful, I have no idea what to get him. All I know is that it has to be inexpensive (or he’ll tell me he would have rather just kept the money and that I should be boiled in my own pudding! Or something like that) and better than the electronic dart board I got him five years ago that he still hasn’t even taken out of the box.
I tried consulting the gift guides that have been popping up on blogs and in my inbox lately, but I’m getting the feeling that the people who compile these things don’t really know my husband at all. Their suggestions are either super expensive or impractical.
For example, what is with every male gift guide including a flask of some sort?? Yes, it’s a very masculine item and might be considered a “cool” gift, but how many men out there actually use a flask? Regularly? Who aren’t alcoholics?
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Attention men who read this blog: First of all, do you exist? Second of all, is there any reason why you would use a flask like this besides to look like a tool who is trying not to look like a tool? Is a flask actually a good gift for a guy? Am I missing something here?
Also, if anyone has any non-flask gift ideas for men, I’m all ears!
Dapper doggy
For the past year or so, I’ve had a building desire to buy Gatsby a doggy bow tie. Because he’s just such a refined little gentleman.
This one is perfect, and it can be custom-made according to the size of your dog (which is important when your dog is only slightly bigger than a hamster).
But it’s also $42.00.
I think there are human bow ties that are cheaper than that (even if they are the clip-on kind).
And so my doggy bow tie lust remains unfulfilled…
Announcement
Guys, I have to tell you something.
For the past couple months, I have regularly been taking prenatal vitamins. And you know what that means…
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I NOW HAVE FULLER, MORE MANAGEABLE HAIR!!
Seriously. That’s why I’m taking them. For my hair. And that’s the only reason.
I was reading Mindy Kaling’s blog a couple months ago, and she does a series of posts called “Things I Bought That I Love.” One of the things she bought and loved was Trader Joe’s Prenatal Multivitamins.
Mindy plays the hilariously shallow Kelly Kapoor on The Office, and her blog is quite informative and entertaining. Apparently Mindy’s hair stylist bought these vitamins for her, and they actually succeeded in making her hair more awesome. I decided to try them, and I’m pretty sure they work! I’m not ruling out the power of suggestion, but I think my hair has had a bit more life to it lately, so I’m going with it!
I just felt the need to share because if you have stringy, flat, fine hair (you know, like I used to), you must take these prenatal vitamins. (Also, I didn’t want visitors to see them on my kitchen counter and jump to any conclusions.)
And if you like to laugh and be informed of useful, fun products, I highly recommend Mindy’s blog.
Who knows, I might just start my own series of posts called Things Mindy Kaling Bought That She Loves That I Bought That I Love. (TMKBTSLTIBTIL for short.)
Weekend in (blurry) photos
As the pictures above clearly demonstrate, blurry photography can occur as the result of many circumstances, including:
1) When your husband is the photographer
2) When alcoholic beverages are being consumed
3) When the camera being used is actually a mobile phone
Hopefully you can tell by looking at these pictures that I had a fun weekend involving Thanksgiving festivities, late nights with good friends, an afternoon at the Chicago History Museum, a sleepy dog, and Christmas decorating.
It may sound like a busy weekend, but Will still found the time to watch 15 episodes of The Wire on his iPad, if that gives you an idea of how much wonderful downtime we had. I got to catch up on episodes of Glee and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and Elf just happened to be on while we were putting up our Christmas tree!
Lazy post-holiday weekends are my favorite.
Thanksgiving morning
In addition to the best family, friends and the generally charmed life I lead, I’m thankful for a lot of little things this relaxing Thanksgiving morning:
1. Sleeping in
2. Coffee. And desserts disguised as breakfast foods.
3. Sweater socks
4. Cozy candlelight
5. The Cutest Dog in the World
6. Christmas lights
7. Parades
8. The fact that the movie Newsies is now a Broadway musical and it looks AWESOME
9. My lack of cooking ability that gives me an excuse to by a fancy pumpkin pie from the bakery down the street
Hope everyone has a lazy, delicious, thankful day!
My name is Carlie, and I’m an introvert.
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Being that I’m an introvert and it’s always fun to read about yourself, I found the article below pretty interesting.
But I do think the author went a little heavy on the extrovert bashing. I have no problem at all with extroverts. Their idiotic babbling amuses me.
(Kidding!)
(Now leave me alone.)
Cute couple alert
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I love this photo.
I had separate-but-equal celebrity crushes on both Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield before I knew they were dating. I just found out they have joined forces to create the most accessible, down-to-earth looking but totally famous and talented couple ever. And I fully support.
I mean look at them – yes, we know they’re celebrities, but they actually just look like a normal, attractive couple walking through the streets of New York. They aren’t too sleek and shiny, their clothes (while designer) are not too designer-y, and this arm-in-arm business? Well that’s just too much!
They just look very normal. And I appreciate that.
Make this drink, thank me later.
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As a lover of all things sparkling (this includes beverages, clothing, accessories, etc.), it was love at first sight when I saw this drink recipe posted by a friend on Pinterest. (Side note: Are you on Pinterest? Anyone know of a 12-step program or something to help break my addiction??)
Morton’s Sparkling Cinnamon Apple Cocktail is pretty much the perfect drink to make on Thanksgiving. Or Christmas. Or Tuesday.
I’ve actually never had it before, but I plan on changing that as soon as I motivate myself to go out and find some Monin Honey Syrup (fancy!). But I can tell just from the ingredients that I would love it.
Sparkling Cinnamon Apple Cocktail
4 ounces Lunetta Prosecco (I think you could probably use any sparkling wine here)
2 ounces Lindemans Pomme (Green Apple) Lambic
1/2 ounce Monin Honey Syrup
2 ounces hand shaken whipped cream
1. Dip rim of champagne flute into honey syrup and then into cinnamon sugar to rim the glass
2. Pour honey syrup, Prosecco and lambic into a shaker over ice.
3. Stir with spoon 10 times.
4. Strain into champagne flute.
5. Top with 2 spoonfuls of whipped cream
6. Dust with cinnamon sugar
For those of you with pregnant friends
This is pretty much the best card ever.
I found it at Greer several months ago, but didn’t have anyone to send it to at the time. I bought it anyway because I’m at that age when suddenly every time I turn around, I find out another friend has decided to create a spawn.
A couple of weeks ago, I went to dinner with two friends, one of whom announced she was pregnant. Amazing news! But that meant no wine for her and my other friend and I had already ordered drinks. No matter! She simply requested to sniff our drinks in order to satisfy her wine-lust. And we were happy to oblige.
Perfect person to receive this card – FOUND!
If I ever get pregnant, I have a feeling I’ll be doing a lot of wine sniffing myself…
Carlie Crash 