friday fixations

Happy raisin bread

is happy

current fixations

{fonts} I know that's kinda vague, but there's nothing better than a good font. So it's no surprise, then, that I was very excited about Design*Sponge's Design Your Own Alphabet contest. There were so many amazing fonts, it was really hard to vote. And since I could only pick one there (total bummer), here are my favourites (from each round of voting) that I would have downloaded, like, yesterday: Moss, Dog-Eared, Chesthair Grooming, Loose Knot, Mangy Sasquatch, Clover, Soft Wonder, Bandit, Ribbons,  Peacock, Bachata, Copperprint, Skunkling, and Yarn And Glue.

{pink and orange and gold} When I saw this amazingly styled birthday party, I immediately fell in love with the decorations. I would duplicate the wreaths, pompoms, and fireplace flames. They're all so gorgeously clever. This Christmas would definitely be a pink one if we weren't moving.

{conan} I can't tell you how happy we are that Conan's finally back! I haven't laughed so much during dinner, well, since he left (sorry previous dinner background noise, John Stewart). Conan's also in the best commercial right now. Anytime I see it while fast forwarding, I have to stop and watch it again (and again). Here's the (most awesome) extended version:

 

{fried cheese} We had an official Greek dinner on Sunday (I get the cravings) which involved me desperately trying to fry some calamari (I suck at this) and then trying to fry up some saganaki cheese (which you can pick up at Hellas Foods for pennies) as little appetizers. Usually, saganaki doesn't need anything but some flour and a heat source (I've made it rather successfully on my pancake griddle), but for whatever strange reason, I thought I could plunk it into my hot calamari oil and still get the same lightly brown, crispy result. Nope. It was too hot and thoroughly melted a cheese that's actually pretty hard to melt through conventional methods. So I kinda let it flounder around in there, panicked (like, what else is new?), and threw it in the oven with the fireplace meat to 'keep warm.' Whilst staying warm, it melted down onto the pan and produced the most delicious, crispy cheese pieces evah. And don't even get me started on the crispy melted cheese pieces that came out of the oil. Like, I'm still dreaming about it. (And no; that's not how saganaki's supposed to be done [and it will never be done that way again], but it was a very beneficial [and highly caloric] flub.)

{my old winter farm boots} Yesterday, I made the executive decision that style just didn't matter anymore. Maybe I'm getting old but keeping my feet warm and dry is much higher on my priority list than having cutesy boots. Therefore, faced with the prospect of either a) wearing my super ugly furry camel coloured winter boots (which were bought out of a bad lot of boots in desperation three years ago); b) suffering through the snow with my converse sneakers until I could find more fashionable footwear; or c) wearing my green rubber winter boots (which I only wear to shovel snow off the driveway); I decided to go with the rubber boots. It was only going to be a temporary measure aimed at keeping my feet warm and dry for this one walk. I would continue with my boot-finding quest later. And then, surprise of all surprises, I put the rubber boots on with my skinny jeans tucked in, Idle Husband's warm woolen socks sticking out the top, and the laces tied up (which I've never done before), and suddenly, I felt quite stylish (or rather trendy without trying, like her). Fashion accident! I love them so much dressed up that I'm going to wear these all winter instead of bothering with 'fashionable' boots that neither keep your feet warm nor dry (FYI: I think I got them at Peavey Mart -- over 10 years ago).

{gift guides} I love a well put together holiday gift guide. I kinda go nuts on magazines at this time of year just because I adore looking through simple spreads of cool stuff. I don't think it's the actual stuff I covet, just the overall layout of everything. There's something to be said for good compositions (I definitely need to learn a thing or two on that subject).

{snow shovelling} When it comes time to mow the lawn during the summer, I bitch and complain and put it off until it's obviously weeks overdue, and then I have to mow it twice at different settings just to get it down to looking like a proper lawn again. When it comes time to shovel the snow, I'm anxiously pacing by the window waiting for the flakes to stop so I can get out there and clear it off. I went outside on Wednesday (the first day it started officially sno-wing) just to take out the garbage when I decided to quickly shovel off the porch for Idle Husband; and then I decided to shovel a path to where his car door would end up; and then I decided I might as well shovel the whole driveway; and then I thought I'd do the sidewalk cuz what the hell. Which is all very weird considering snow shovelling is much more work than lawn mowing.

special addition! Idle Husband fixation!

{super meat boy soundtrack} He loves the repetitive gamer music, what can I say? Honestly, though, the soundtrack isn't half bad. Some of the tunes are pretty catchy and addictive (I think the 8-bit ones are super cute). I'm sure this would be appreciated as a man-gift for any gamer in your life (I think it's the perfect stocking stuffer since the whole album is only [a minimum of] $3.99). Stream it here.