Lovely Life

1/3 Vodka

1/3 Malibu

1/3 Peach Schnapps

Splash of Cranberry

Splash of Pineapple

Mix all together, serve in a highball glass over ice, and revel in the joy that is my absolutely lovely life.

A short recap from my lovely 3-day weekend:

I test drove a Mini today. It looks similar to this one right here:

Um...just one word: obsessed.

I've been missing my 2003 Silver Beetle, more fondly known as L.C. (Little Car) as she's in the shop getting fixed. (Read: Kristen dropped her glasses in the car, bent down for 2.5 seconds to pick them up, and crashed into the car ahead of her). To fill the temporary void in my soul for a small little car (as my Chevy Cobalt rental car is a BOAT), I decided to go test drive what is sure to be my next bundle of joy. The Mini did not disappoint. More to come as progression in the "new car saga" continues...

The lovely string of events that tied my Labor day weekend together: Saturday morning consisted of Paddle Boarding in Malibu with Laura, followed by the International Street Fair in Orange in the afternoon with Melly & Laura. Along with the BBQ corn on the cob, fish taco, chow mein & lobster balls, I was delighted to partake in the food of my people *aka Aebleskivers*...

...and enjoy more beer than my liver knew what to do with. ;)

Sunday morning I met with a potential wedding client (WHOM I BOOKED!) and vividly remembered the reason that I want to plan other people's weddings for a living. In turn, this inspired my working on placecards, programs, and other paper paraphernalia for a new ETSY.com store I'm opening. These are the names of the moment for aforementioned shop:

Two Turtle Doves

Grow Old with Me

Paper Paraphernalia for Pairs

We shall see what sticks in a few days when I actually open said store.

The lovely Mr. Albert Meijer helped complete my glorious weekend with a dinner date to Budda's Belly (where I partook in my first ever Sake bombs), followed by a ridiculous midnight jaunt to the movies to see *what is sure to become a cult classic*, Machete.

That Albert guy? He makes me smile a little bit.

With loveliness and allegro,

K

Stormy Weather

3 parts Fernet Branca Bitters
3 parts dry vermouth
1 part white creme de menthe

Pour over ice cubes in a small highboy glass, stir, and serve. Then contemplate where you can take this post.

Two things.

Thing number one: Did you know that when you type "w" into Google, the first word it auto-populates for you is "weather"?

Thing number two: When you're stuck, contemplating topics, with nothing to write, typing a random letter of the alphabet into Google suddenly gives you inspiration...

Now, take said aforementioned drink.

Suddenly, I can relate this drink to the girl I went to high school with who wrote a song by the same name. God...she. was. annoying. I can still hear the tagline of the song - "In your eyes, there's stormy weather...". Either the song was ridiculously catchy, or I heard it six times a day in the choir room and therefore didn't have the pleasure of forgetting it.

Go with the latter.

I can also relate this to the mood I'm currently in while waiting for a funk to pass. I am a strong, independent woman. I am a strong, independent woman. I am a strong, independent woman.

Although I would like to say that I can actually relate it to the weather outside, let's be real. We're in the middle of summer in 80 degree heat and our A/C has been blasting since about 10am. What I wouldn't give to hear the sound of thunder, lightning and rain. The pitter patter of the drops against the pavement while snuggled in a blanket, sipping hot chocolate with marshmallows. I've never experienced seasons. I feel like I can count on one hand the times in the past year that I have really heard a storm.

Good thing writing can take me to a cozy fireplace with a snuggle buddy and a mug. ;)

Funny how a simple letter can inspire so much. I feel like I'm 3 years old again watching "Sessee seed" (my small person [wait...who am I kidding...I was never a "small person."] name for that one show with the big yellow bird) listening to Grover and Oscar help me learn that "A is for apple".

With "w"eather, "w"ords and "w"istful thoughts,

Kristen

P.S. I Love You

1/2 shot Bailey's

1/2 shot Grand Marnier

1 splash Creme De Menthe

Nutmeg

3/4 shot creme

ice

Mix the Bailey's, Grand Marnier, and creme together in a shaker with ice. Pour into a highball glass, add the splash of Creme de Menth and sprinkle some Nutmeg on top. Then sip slowly, sit lost in thought for hours, and realize just how blessed you are.

We all have...moments.

Moments define who we are as human beings.

Some exist as moments we want to forget. Even though they have wholly shaped the persons we’ve become.

Then there are the moments we live over and over again. The happiest and most vibrant moments our lives will ever know:

- Discovering your mom is bald when you come home from school because her chemo and breast cancer have won the fight.

- Your first kiss and the many kisses thereafter.

- Walking up to a podium in front of 2500 of your peers and family members to sing the national anthem at your college graduation.

My defining moments take shape in the form of successes:

- My mom, ultimately won the cancer fight 10 years ago. Her hair, although a consolation prize to her loss of lymph nodes, skin and tissue, grew back.

- My first kiss was awkward/shite/rushed, even. The fireworks kisses I've experienced thereafter...well...let's just say they're not all that way. :)

- My college graduation...knowing I was not only talented enough to sing one of the hardest songs in the world in front of my peers, but knowing I was singing because I had completed a double major and was graduating college at the age of 22.

This morning, Albert's great grandmother passed away.

Earlier this month, this: (http://www.inthiswonderfullife.com) amazing woman and her husband lost their child, Cohen, who was a mere 12 days old.

In March, my best friend Melissa's father had a stroke and was gone less than two weeks later.

These three moments of loss will forever define, in some small or HUGE way, Albert, Megan and her husband, and Melissa and her sisters. It took moments like these to make me realize that often, the positive moments I am so blessed with, get lost in the grunge and negative moments I let consume me. This muck overthrows the oodles (as my great grandmother used to say) I should be grateful for.

This is a reaffirmation to myself that I need to live in the moments and not only let them define who I am, but enjoy the path they force me to take.

With love and allegro,

Kristen

Paris Paradise

8 oz Bacardi 151 Proof

2 oz Chocolate Syrup

2 oz Bailey's Liquor

Mix in a blender with ice and drink for the next 72 hours straight until you actually board a plane for Paris.

I'm leaving. Yup. The 72 hour countdown has begun.

Have I done laundry? no.

Am I packed in the slightest? nope to that question too.

Have I gotten all my travel documents together...negative.

So...obviously I'm super ready to leave.

Luckily, tomorrow night is a lovely dinner with the gorgeous miss Ali Dubrow, and then an early night of packing, picking up dry cleaning, laundry, getting travel documents together, grabbing a journal from Barnes and Noble so I can document the whole extravaganza. Sleep will hopefully fit in the mix there somewhere.

Work on Saturday and Sunday will be the most productive days I've had to date, but only because no one will be in the office and I will actually have a chance to get EVERYTHING done. I can't wait for the silence that is the office on a Saturday afternoon.

In other news, WE lost this evening. And when I say "we" I mean me and my Lakers. Let me tell you...I was none too pleased with the way we were playing in the latter half of the 3rd and 4th quarters. Drive the basket and draw the foul. Although the celtics play dirty ball, they get into the paint and send shit up into the air. Most of the time it actually works. We should take a page out of the Celtic's manual.

More to follow in the next 72 hours...I'm sure.

With love and Allegro!

Kristen

Giraffe

1 part Midori

1 part vodka

3 parts pineapple juice

1 part cranberry juice

Add alcohol into a hurricane glass over ice, fill the remaining portion with pineapple juice and float some cranberry on top. Consume with the hopes that rhymes about ants and giraffes in the rainforest will be easier to come by.

My children's book is going quite well. It's a cute story about a Detective named Dan (He's a giraffe - hense the cocktail name) and his attempts to solve mysteries in the savannas. The problem, however, is that I chose to write this book in verse. Quite ambitious...I know now.

Our adorable little apartment is across the street from a Baptist church. This morning I woke to the sound of Ms. Jennifer Hudson's twin sister wailing gospel music at the top of her lungs...at 7:45. Needless to say I couldn't fall back to sleep after that. The alternative to sleep was of course, writing.

I was on a roll...rhymes flying from my fingertips. I reached a standstill, however, with this line...

"The rain fell down in thunderous sheets

....

Now although there are several words that rhyme with sheets:

Beats

Feats

Greets

Heats

Meets

Seats

How am I supposed to incorporate any of those silly words into a story about ants in a rainforest not being able to find their way back to the anthill? They don't sit down...they're ants.

Plus, although "rockin beats" has a nice ring to it, and definitely rhymes, lets be real. What child would care about the "rockin beats" of a giraffe and his fellow animals in the rainforest?

I'm stuck...

Back to the drawing board...maybe I'll have to change the line to "The rain poured through the trees with...zeal."

Zeal...obviously a five year old would appreciate the nuances of that word...oi vey.

With love and allegro,

Kristen

Start Me Up...

3 parts vodka

1 part tequila

1 part absolut kurant

1 part dark rum

Mix all together, shake with some ice, and get ready to write...a la Gay Talese.

The lovely Miss Ali and I had Indian food on Thursday evening for our catch-up sesh *Read...3 weeks of our lives that we needed to divulge in a period of about two and a half hours*.

The food (Mango Chicken Curry) might have been the BEST thing I have ever tasted, but I digress...

Among me synopsizing the Grey's finale, along with dishing about a boy, my long winded topic of conversation for the evening related to my excursion at the Los Angeles Passport Office. Don't be jealous. I know...it sounds fascinating.

SO fascinating, in fact, that Ali's beyond brilliant idea to write about said line at the passport office is just what I'm going to do.

Let the tackling of the seemingly mundane commence...

With love & allegro,

K

Norwegian Iceberg

3 parts Vodka

4 parts Sprite

1 shot blue Maui

Fill glass with ice, shake ingredients together, drink SUPER cold and with some warm Norwegian Christmas cookies that I may just make in June.

When I talk about something right before I fall asleep, it's all I can think about the next day.

i.e. : Last night Albert and I were discussing the fact that I am ridiculously white. Translucent...even. This conversation was spurred in tandem, however, with the fact that I am Norwegian. Now, let's be honest. There are very few things that *common people* know about Norwegians other than their Viking-ness and freakishly tall figures (enter...me, the 5 foot 11 inch blonde amazon).

What I know of being Norwegian, however, is the fact that we cook some MEAN pastries. I mean, MEAN. (for those of you that weren't paying attention, I used the word "mean" twice with two totally separate "meanings"!) ;) I crack myself up.

WARNING: The following images are not for the hungry or feint of heart.

Sand Bakkels - Basically a cupcake paper made entirely out of shortbread. You fill these with whipped cream or peppermint ice cream. My grandpa makes them by the dozens. My brother can eat at least 7 in one sitting. The best part is that it is mere impossible to eat one without getting whipped cream on your nose.

Try.

No really.

Fattigman - Deep Fried Cookie Dough covered in powdered sugar. When I was too young to deep fry (knowing I would do exactly what my mother feared) it was always my job to put the freshly fried cookies inside a bag full of powdered sugar and shake until the little bow-ties were smothered in it.

Krumkake - This fondly reminds me of every Christmas dinner I've ever experienced at my Grandparents' house. My Granny (a 6 foot 2 inch Viking, similar to myself) to this day, asks me to help her in the kitchen with the stuffing of custard and berries into the little waffle cookie cones. Any portion of the cones that brake, I get to eat.

It's a tough life.

Finally, the delicacy we have the most often at our house...

Ebelskivers - These are breakfast.

I know...right?

Ebelskivers are traditional little puff pastries (almost crepe like) covered in powdered sugar and *traditionally* Lingonberry Jam.

Salivating Yet?

You scoff at the silly names, but all you really want to do is go steal my mom's Sand Bakkle pan and bake...

be honest...

With love and Allegro,

Kristen

Writer's Block

3 parts Bourbon

1 part day old, cold as hell, coffee

Pour into a mug and try to squelch the never ending fear that the story you are writing won't be good enough.

I have writer's block.

...Not in all capacities. I can still blog. I can still recount the amazing night I had on Friday in a six page, very detailed spread. What I can't do? Bring a plot to fruition.

I have this preconceived notion that the first piece I write, has to be the one. The piece that will land me at on the New York Times Bestseller list, AND Oprah's Book Club within mere weeks of its publication. I'm blessed with the potential and the drive to do it. Hell, my six page spread took me less than an hour last night. The problem is that every plot I envision, every idea I start to map out, leads to self-doubt. I realize that the story that I'm developing sounds too similar to _____ movie or is too closely related to ____ book.

I have never chosen failure as an option. I will not now.

With love and Allegro,

Kristen

Star Wars

The perfect drink to mix with the ambitious Yoda, Darth Vader, StormTrooper and Boba Fett sugar cookies I am about to attempt...

1 part Southern Comfort

1 part Amaretto

1 part Sweet and Sour Mix

1 part Sprite

Mix all together and serve at a nerdy party. Or...at the cousin's fourth birthday for the adults that are indulging his Star Wars obsession...

My baby cousin is turning 4 in about a month and a half. In order to celebrate his birthday I have decided part of his gift will be a plate full of these babies....

via these cookie cutters from Williams-Sonoma :)

The only problem with said adorable cookies is the frosting portion. Looks hard, no? Before I get the final versions off the ground in July, I'm going to attempt some practice versions once or twice. Pictures of the disproportionate and disfigured little guys to follow...

Along with the awesomest sugar cookies of all time *that's right, awesomest*, this evening I have decided to be ridiculously ambitious and attempt not one, but two different cupcake recipes.

This one...

Blueberries and Cream Cupcakes (Extremely tasty and practical for breakfast tomorrow morning)

and this one....

Tres Leches Cupcakes: not necessarily practical for breakfast, but let's be honest. Tomorrow is Memorial Day, I'm not working, so obviously that's an excuse for eating the afore pictured cupcake anytime I damn well please. :)

MMMMMM...

Love and Allegro,

K

As Night Falls

Ingredients for a cocktail that will put me to sleep before my work has even begun...

2 oz Grey Goose L'Orange Vodka
1 oz White Grapefruit juice
2 Coriander Leaves
7 Red Peppercorns1.5 Tsp White Sugar
Ginger
Orange Zest

Muddle the peppercorns, add the ginger and muddle again, add all other ingredients with ice, shake, double strain, and garnish with an orange. Now...vow NOT to take a nap because you still have to drive to Orange County and back before work at 7:30 tomorrow morning.


Doesn't this cocktail sound and look amazing?


Mmmmm...I can understand why people become alcoholics. ;)


I had a phenomenally fantastic weekend. Pictures and new blog to follow shortly.



For the time being, I leave you with my opinion of ice dancing. Yup. You heard right. It was on yesterday evening, and is concluding with the medal ceremony tonight. I couldn't be more thrilled. I had never watched this (what I presumed to be quite pretentious) event. I even had to look up the rules, which, believe you and me, are no laughing matter. Did you know that ice dancing didn't even become an Olympic sport until 1976? And when it did, the first rules stipulated that you had to remain linked in a dance hold to your partner during the entire program! Since the early 80's, the rules state you can be up to two arm lengths away from your partner, however and throwing and spins are highly discouraged.

The bestest *that's right, I said bestest...just go with it* part of the whole event? The use of music. In regular partner ice skating, the skaters can dance to the phrasing or the melody of a piece of music. In ice dancing, the dancers must always skate to a definite beat or rhythm. How awesome that a piece of music and its movement dictates your choice of choreography on the ice!

It was love at first twizzle.

*and for those of you wondering, a twizzle is a multi-rotation turn common in the sport*

Love and Allegro,
Kir

Milk Punch

Ingredients for a drink that will (no doubt) taste delicious:

3 oz Burbon
3 oz Milk
1/2 tsp Dark Rum
1 Tbsp Sugar Syrup
Nutmeg

Shake liquor and milk with cracked ice, strain into a chilled highboy glass, sprinkle nutmeg on top, substitute for real milk and drink with the divine Chocolate Peanut Butter Nirvana Cake I will be making tomorrow morning...

exhibit a: Chocolate Peanut Butter Nirvana Cake
exhibit b: New bundt pan which inspired said cake

exhibit c: Day plans tomorrow
exhibit d: Here
exhibit e: With these lovely ladies
Literally, what could be better? Um...nothing.

Love & Allegro,
Kristen

Mexican Asshole

Ingredients for dealing with a douche bag:

1 oz Tequila
1 Splash Tabasco Sauce
1 dash Worcestershire Sauce

Shoot. Revel in the fact that you were the bigger person.

Men are ballsy.


Exhibit A:

Jason. An EMT/server at claim jumper. I thought he was cute, and I left him my number on the top of our receipt. He didn't call so I wrote him off. A week and a half later, suddenly I was his #1 priority.

Our conversations, however, went a little something like this.

Jason: hey, its jason from claim jumper. so i put ur number in my server book, but couldn't remember for the life of me where i put it. until now when i was cleaning out my book ha. so hows it going?

*this text should have been my first clue....*

Kristen: Hi! I'm great. Stoked to have one more day of weekend before work again on Monday. What are you up to?

Jason:When you texted me back i was sleeping. i'm at the fire dept today working. where do you work at?

*Again...my gut should have said...STOP. Ending a sentence with a preposition? REALLY?*

Kristen: The Renaissance hotel in Hollywood. I work in the events dept. :) How was work? Long day?

Jason: I'm still at work. Don't get off til 6:30am tomorrow. 24 hour shifts.

*And that...my friends...is the way the rest of our conversations continued....completely stunted by the fact that he responded with one word answers and never posed questions back. Not to mention the fact that he never asked me anything but "What's up?" on numerous occasions.*

My favorite part of our short lived text message relationship, however, was this:

Kristen:...what are you studying?

Jason: Just going over all my info...

Jason: Send me a picture of urself?

Kristen: Really?

Jason: Ya. :)

*And that, my friends, was what I thought would be the end of this apparent relationship. I did NOT text him back.*

Then a week later on a Saturday night:

Jason: What's up with u today?

*I didn't text him back AGAIN*

Then on Sunday night:

Jason: Hey whats up? What r u doing tonight?

Kristen: You're ballsy.

*I love myself for this comment. I know that I'm egotistical for saying that, but comon.*

Kristen: Watching the golden globes.

Jason: How am i ballsy?

Kristen: You were persistent even after I shut you down and didn't send you a picture

Jason: Oh alright.

Kristen: That's all you're gonna say? :) Really?

Jason: Well I'm guessing you weren't interested anymore.

Kristen: Your request caught me off guard. It was quite forward of you. I don't know if it means I'm not interested.

Jason: Well you never replyd or sent me a text after that.

Kristen: I didn't want to send you a picture. I still don't. :)

*Thus ended that short-lived, whatever you want to call it.*





Exhibit B:

Jose. He asked to be my Facebook friend about two months ago. We had several mutual friends. They were all from high school. He looked to be about my age, living in my hometown, so I figured we probably had a class or two together.

Yesterday evening, he chatted "Hi" to me.

*I ignored him.*

Today, he chatted "HI" to me again.

I responded with, "Hello. Do I know you?"

Jose: UM...I DUNNO.

Kristen: Did you go to FUHS?

Jose: YEAH. WERE YOU LIVE?

*Again, my spidey-sense should have been tingling. I need to STOP talking to this creature who only understands UPPER case on the keyboard. I don't need to be yelled at. Sir. And really, WERE I live is not any of your business if you spell "WHERE" like that.*

And yet I continued.

Kristen: LA

Jose: YOUR HOT. CAN I HAVE UR NUMBER?

Kristen: Nope. Thanks!
*And that is when I un-friended Jose.*

I'm on a roll in the men department.

It's my own damn fault, I guess. I should just become a hermit.

:)


"I like nonsense. It wakes up the brain cells." - Dr. Seuss

with love and allegro,
Kir