Hmm, Lemonade.

Thanks bunches to Suburban Rebel Mom for giving me the Lemonade Stand Award! I've only been back blogging for a couple of weeks and I've already got an award! I'll take this as a positive sign to keep blogging.

This award is given to bloggers who show great attitude and gratitude. The rules for accepting this award:

• Put the Lemonade Stand logo on your blog or within your post.
• Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.
• Link the nominees within your post.
• Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
• Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Sooo, without further ado, here are my nominees for the Lemonade Stand Award. Hope you check them out and enjoy!

• amra pajalic
• a writer's sphere
• jackfruity
• louder than swahili
• mondesi's house
• one mango tree
• on life and other inconveniences
• pink cleats
• simply wait
• syntax of things

Let me know if you become devotees to any of those blogs so I can take credit for your readership!

mai wen's Top Ten Best Trip Moments

10. Getting attacked by monkeys. Actually, this wasn't one of my best moments, but it's a great story to tell despite the fact that it was terrifying while happening. Those monkeys mean business!
9. Shopping! Pearls, come to momma! Even my frugal hubby loved shopping in Thailand because everything was so dang cheap!
8. Getting cuddly with elephants.
7. Drinking Thailand "moonshine" whisky at a hill tribe while trekking.
6. Bamboo rafting on a raft that was contemplating on falling apart for the majority of the rafting.
5. Getting an elephant shitting drawn on my forehead in charcoal.
4. Hitting up the Thailand nightlife and very gracefully falling asleep at the sleaziest Thailand after hours bar.
3. Seeing my Bernie (Bernie is my college friend who I visited in Chiang Mai for those unawares) and lounging around her place enjoying her company and getting an insight on real Thai culture!
2. Getting to spend an obnoxious amount of time with my hubby, which never got old. I guess that's why I married the dude. :)
1. Finding an Australian Steelers fan in Krabi, Thailand.

She's Perfect!

If I hadn't already had a lesbian crush on Natalie Portman, this would have done it...

Natalie has travelled at least twice to Uganda to support FINCA, a microfinancing organization aimed to empower women.  Natalie is totally the ultra-ego of me, there are very few people I'd trade my life for, and she's definitely one, although I do really like to eat meat...

Check out this video of her talking about FINCA, among other things:



Also, check out this really good article on celebrities and philanthropy that mentions Portman.

I'm off to Asia tomorrow (first Hong Kong and then Thailand!)  Hopefully I'll be able to post from abroad!  Much Love!

One Mango Tree.

I've been meaning to blog about this great project, One Mango Tree, for a while.  What's truly amazing about it for me personally is that I know the great girls behind this project because they're from the amazing group that I visited Uganda with!  The project is to empower the women of Northern Uganda and I couldn't think of two better people to facilitate this project than Halle (the US Coordinator) and Kate (the Uganda Coordinator).  And the products being sold are just awesome!  I know I have a bunch of purses and skirts that I'd had made in Uganda while I was there and I just love them and it's so great that now you can get these unique and beautiful items online!  I'm about to buy me a yoga bag!  You can read a lot more about the coordinators and the Ugandan women creating these products on the website, One Mango Tree.  To read an interview of one of the Coordinators, check out this link.  

And please, go online and buy buy buy!  Your money couldn't be going to a greater cause.

You'll be empowering women and helping people who have truly been through atrocious times.  

And plus, the stuff is sooo cute!  Great gift items too!  Isn't Valentine's Day coming up?

Adrian Peterson - Pro Bowl MVP!

What The Giants Did To The Patriots.

And yes, that is my actual dog getting humped by my friends' actual dog. Poor Vladdy...

That's My Boy!

I'm mostly posting this for the last two/three minutes of the video where my boy does a rap for the environment, but it actually is a really great and educational video and well worth your time:

I'm so proud of my boy Abramz, he's saving the world in just Sooo many ways! He rocks! He's currently tops on my list for living heroes.

Asian Fun's Favorite Christmas Gift.

ENVIROSAX - reusable shopping bags that are spreading the environmental message with style. Driven by a desire for freedom, the designers at Envirosax® will have you considering, pondering and re-thinking shopping as you know it.

Basically, these are cute reusable shopping bags! Before all you could find were those canvas, rough looking hippy dippy reusable shopping bags. Now you can be environmentally sound and stylish! I'm all about reusable shopping bags and these were just too cute to pass up. You can buy the bags separately or buy a set in the graphic series (pictured here), or you can go even more environmental and buy bamboo, hemp or linen bags (all with adorable designs as well) in the organic series!

I think these bags are the perfect gift not only because you're encouraging a friend, family member or co-worker to be environmentally sound, but also they're pretty cute and kick ass. They have styles for everyone and are seriously cool. I gifted myself with some while I was buying some for my friend and cousin! Hey, there's nothing wrong with that, after all, I'm saving the Earth, right?

Cross Country Girls Are Tough Cookies!

I mean, just look at me! Yes, I ran cross country in high school, couldn't you tell by my hardiness?

Thanks to The Big Lead for this vid:

This is rather tremendous, and the unidentified girl may have a chance to enjoy 15 minutes of fame once her name becomes public: at about the 1:39 mark of this clip, you’ll notice a blonde Berkshire (Ohio) high school runner approaching the finish line at the State cross country meet recently. She takes a bad step and, according to the person who sent us this clip, broke her tibia and fibula. She crumbles to a heap on the ground, crawls for a bit and then pops back up in an attempt to reach the finish line. Only she collapses again (that fall is particularly cringe-worthy). At this point, she decides to crawl on her hands and knees for about the final eight yards to the finish line. Spectacular work, unidentified female. And kudos to our tipster for video.

Update: Through the power of the internet … we have more information. Fanhouse dug around and found out the girl’s name is Claire Markwardt (she’ll be getting a call from Matt Lauer any minute now), and she was supposed to be the maid of honor at her sister’s wedding that night.

Gimme Some Of That PJ Action...

So on 11.05.2007 I blogged about the cool Purple Jesus tee from 289 except that they didn't have them in women's styles. Yesterday I received a comment on my blog for that post from the guys at 289 saying that they heard my request and have added women styles for the PJ tee (they are now at the bottom of the page). How freaking cool is that? I promptly ordered one and you should too. Right now. Come on, all the cool kids are doing it.

Seriously though, that is the best customer service EVER!

"I hate losing to the Steelers."

Okay, I Know I've posted this video on my blog before, but considering Deebo's recent coming out party, I just thought I'd post it again as a reminder of his badass tackle on one retarded/drunk Browns fan.

I think the Browns better get used to losing to us because I don't see that changing Anytime soon.

Thanks to Mondesi's House for bringing this vid back to my attention and for a great post on the Steelers!

Harrison (and The Steelers) Pound The Ravens. Literally.

So I had a very good (and drunken) night last night! Hubby and I went to a local bar known to lean towards the Steel Curtain side of life and watched the complete domination over the Ravens. So I definitely had a couple of beers and inhaled a ton of second hand smoke (ugh, gross!) and cheered a whole lot. I also think I went on a drunken text messaging and emailing rampage to just about everyone I know about how bad ass my Steelers are!! Apologies if you were a recipient of either, I really have no idea who I emailed or texted. I think I pretty much was just replying to whoever was in my Inbox.

No new news on Ben's hip injury. He definitely was limping a little at the end of the game when he was walking off the field, but it seems that Ben and Tomlin are being very quiet on the topic since hubs and I stayed up to watch the post-game interviews and neither were even asked about it! I'm guessing they made the topic off limits with the reporters. I'm hoping that it was just a stinger and nothing serious. The fact that he went out and played a series somewhat comforts me but not completely. Ben's strength is his ability to move out of the pocket and if he's limited in that way then that will definitely change how well he plays. Though I just have to say, if he needs to sit out a game then next week's the game to do it. Luckily we actually have an easy stretch coming up in which he can recover with the Browns, Jets and Miami on the docket, so he definitely has time to recover before the Patriots game, which is huge. I just hope he doesn't push himself to get back in too soon like he tends to do because we really need him for that Patriots game, while for the next three I think Batch will do just fine. And just a Miami Alum ranting side note, yeah, all those people who kept saying Ben just "manages" the game and doesn't have the arm or accuracy to be a truly great QB, eat it! In torrent sideways rain Ben made five TDs and a couple of them were purely out of Ben's effort of scrambling out of the pocket, shrugging off tackles and putting the ball perfectly in his receiver's hands. I think he looked like a pretty elite QB last night, and pretty much this whole season for the matter. And I like how people like to point out that he played badly during the Super Bowl but totally forget how well he played in the playoffs and how he pretty much carried the team through the playoffs. Okay, rant over.

Oh, and Joey Who? Yeah, I think the Steelers continue to prove that they know Exactly when to let a player go. James Harrison (nicknamed Deebo and Silverback by his teammates) was seriously amazing last night! Just to put it in perspective, here are his stats for the game: 9 Tackles, 3.5 Sacks, 3 Force Fumbles, 1 Fumble Recovery, 1 Interception. And beyond that, he's been having a good year, so he's no one-hit-wonder here. Statistically he's our best Defensive player right now leading in Tackles, Sacks and Fumble Recoveries, and is within the top five for Assists and Interceptions.

Isn't it funny that they have the Steelers vs. Miami game on MNF in a couple of weeks? I guess they thought Joey Porter coming back to Pittsburgh would be big drama, but now that MNF game is looking to be pretty lame to all football fans but Steelers fans.

Update: I guess some reporters did ask about Ben's injury in the post-game interview with Tomlin, but for some strange reason it didn't make the TV clips on NFL Network. Here's what he said (basically exactly what Hubby and I thought almost word for word):

(Reporter) How is Roethlisberger after being in injured at the 6:04 mark of the third quarter?

(Tomlin) I think he’s going to be fine. I know that you guys need some information in that regard, so I will speculate. At this point, it’s a hip pointer. I think that’s all it is, of course we will confirm in the morning.

(Reporter) Why did you put him back in the game?

(Tomlin) So you wouldn’t ask me as many questions. No, he was fine after the initial pain subsided and we identified what we thought it was. He was fine to go back in the game. He felt strongly about it. He is persuasive.

That Big Ben is pretty persuasive and determined to play whenever he can. Seriously, Hubby said that he bet Ben persuaded Tomlin to get back in as soon as we saw him jog out onto the field!

Overall I rate this football weekend an A+++++++. With Purple Jesus, Big Ben, Deebo, some hard hitting Hines Ward blocks (especially the one on Ed Reed) and week high in my Fantasy Football league (for the second week in a row) I'm living good in the football world.

MNF: Steelers vs. Ravens

Be There...
...Or Be Square.

Purple Jesus Has Arisen.

I found some "Purple Jesus" apparel online thanks to Deadspin. Too bad they only have them in mens sizes, these t-shirts are pretty sweet ass, I'd probably have to buy one if they made one for women! Yeah, Vikings Nation is pretty much going nuts right now if you couldn't tell. We haven't had much to be excited about for years, so we're pretty much jumping all over this one.

Also got this "casual pose" Adrian Peterson pic from Deadspin. Is that a spaghetti strap tank underneath that zip up hoodie, PJ? Whatev, you're the Purple Jesus, you can wear whatever the hell you want! All the better to see your bulging muscles in that spaghetti strap tank after all...

Here's a video highlighting some of PJ's bombdiggity record breaking day:

BTVS - The Long Way Home: A Review

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon is the continuation of the TV series in comic book form. The consequences of what Buffy and Willow did, activating all of the potentials slayers, are now being recognized as they are rounding up the newly realized slayers, and dealing with the backlash from those who are unhappy by this new superhuman race of girls.

Whedon stays true to his characters through and through, and brings in some old characters thought to be gone just for fun (although there is one little loop hole he admits to forgetting about when bringing one of them back). Buffy is overwhelmed by her new position as Leader of the Slayers, is lonely and desperately horny (poor girl!) Xander is still quirky, funny Xander, except now he is a Watcher/Sergeant of the Slayers, and he looks pretty bad ass with that eye patch. Dawn's going through some "growing pains" as all the book descriptions like to cutely put it and Willow is still a pretty wicked Wicca. The arc is great and is left unfinished, making you look forward to its continuation and the TPB also includes a standalone of one of the newly activated Slayers that was pretty cool.

While I think they might be pushing Buffy a little further than they would have in TV format with the whole menage-a-trois dream sequence, I think the stories fall in line pretty well with the flavor of the TV show (they did have the whole Spike throw down sex in the TV show after all...) It's good to see the old characters come alive again, after being a fan of the show since high school it feels like seeing old friends again!

I really loved this Buffy comic and can't wait to read the Faith arc, which is in the next couple of issues and sadly not in TPB yet. I've heard great things about them. Are you sick of vampires yet from all my reviews? I'm not!

5*

Fray: A Review

Fray is Joss Whedon's future slayer. It's an eight-issue limited series comic book set about 200 plus years into the future. Demons had been cast out of the world by a slayer and her mystical companions in the 21st century, but now vampires are coming back and a new slayer must be called. Meet Melaka Fray, a street hardened thief. With some absolutely beautiful art by Karl Moline and a very well crafted story by Whedon, we have Fray.

Melaka has the hard edge of Faith, but the likable compassion of Buffy. She's gorgeous, tough and lives by her own rules, but she has her vulnerabilities. With a demon to replace her Watcher, Melaka grows into her slayer shoes and fights the vampires, which she always grew up calling "lurks." Bringing you some absolutely unforgettable characters (I love Loo!) and an edgy setting, Whedon brings you a good story that seems to end all too quickly. I was frustrated after finishing the TPB and not finding any evidence for future Fray projects, but just recently Whedon has said that Fray is not done! (See the video two posts below.) I really hope they bring her back because there is obviously more story to be told with Fray.

I hate to ruin any plot, so that's all I'll say, but for any comic book reader it's a great read, but for Buffy fans, it's a must read!

5*

I Heart Adrian Peterson.

Not only am I feeling the Offensive Rookie of the Year award going to my man A. Peterson, but I think he'll easily be in the running for Offensive Player of the year period.

As a rookie, not only is he leading in rushing yards with a total 1036 rushing yards, but he also has already broken the record for total yards rushed in a single game by rushing for 296 yards with 3 TDs against the San Diego Chargers in the Vikings' stunning win over them today! I was loving him before, but now he has a little shrine in the corner of my room... okay, so not really, but I damn well better be getting his jersey for Christmas this year, ladies cut, size small (hint hint, hubs). In addition to his amazing big play ability, Peterson already has the rep among his teammates as a hard worker, a team player, and a genuinely down-to-earth nice guy. What's not to love?

Beyond Adrian Peterson's amazing ability, the Minnesota's D, which is well known for being able to stop the run (I think they were second in the league against the run), they were also well known for being dead last against the pass. However, today they stepped it up, forcing one of Philip Rivers' worst games of the season so far. Our D limited the Chargers to converting only 25 percent of their third downs (4-for-16) and on average maintained about ten minutes time of possession over them.

I'm so ridiculously excited about this win. Yes, I know that the Vikes or 3-5 and not really in a great position in their Division with the Packers at 7-1 and the Lions at 6-2. But a win against the Chargers, a solid team on both sides of the ball, while they were hot (winning their last three games) is huge for the confidence of our team. I am worried about T. Jack though, the hit he took was nasty, and although he's going through some growing pains I obviously prefer him to Bollinger and Holcomb. I really think Jackson has a huge upside, he throws rockets, is mobile and is pretty accurate, especially with the short passes which fits the West Coast Offense that the Vikes like to run. Our WRs often make Jackson look worse than he is, dropping passes they should catch, which has been a problem with the Vikings for a while. Rice and Shiancoe are starting to come up big for us though, so I'm hoping they can keep it up and that T. Jack isn't seriously injured. I did see him on the sidelines after that nasty hit, which is good news.

I'm not completely off my rocker though. No, I don't think the Vikings are going to the Super Bowl or anything like that. I actually think it's a long shot for them to make the Play Offs, and I know better as a long time Vikings fans to get too hopeful about this win because the Vikings have a tendency to lose games their expected to win and to win games nobody, not even Vikings fans (yes, I did pick against them this week), expects them to win.

But the win still feels goooood.

As a side note, I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before, but boy do I hate intellectual snobs. In my job as a social worker, most of my co-workers have college degrees, and many have graduate degrees. In a meeting on Friday a high level director (with a MSW) was talking about how she was listening to NPR that morning when it cut out and this sports show cut in and how she could feel her IQ dropping as they talked. Now I'll listen to NPR but I also listen to sports shows and not being able to not voice my opinion I immediately turned to her and said, "Oh, have I mentioned to you yet that I'm a Huge sports fan?" And she just shrugged and said, "I just don't get it." It's totally fine if someone doesn't like sports, but to be such a intellectual snob about it like "I'm too smart for sports" is just fricking retarded. Sports and competition has been inherent in human beings since the beginning of time and to act like it is below you is acting like you're above being human, which is just retarded. The fact that so many people all around the world are completely pulled to and obsessed with sports means that it has power, and to dismiss it and not recognize the power is more unintelligent than any sports watcher I know.

Sorry, had to vent a little, as a huge sports fan and all, I guess I can't just intellectualize my annoyance away.

It's a Vampire Weekend!

Not only did my Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8 trade paperback arrive in the mail today (I've been waiting forever it seems for these comic books to come out in TPB) but I also finally went to see the movie based on the 30 Days of Night graphic novel.

I wasn't sure about the movie from the previews... first of all, as a rule, I'm not the biggest Josh Hartnett fan. He has always seemed like a pretty face with less than average acting skills to me. However, he does well in this movie and I was impressed with the directing and filming of the movie. It keeps that dark artful element that the graphic novels have and adds a little bit of meat to the plot. It is definitely a graphic and gruesome movie, but the plot has its twists and the set up for the story was great. Even though I knew what happened in the end, I was still scared, shocked, and I even had some tears in my eyes for the ending. Yes, I'm a complete sap crying at the end of a "horror" movie, but it really was well done with the character build up and with the pace of the plot. I was really happy about it. I realize I have yet to write a review on the graphic novel! Shame on me. I'll definitely catch up on that this weekend.

You'll probably be getting a ton of Vampire graphic novel reviews this weekend actually as I still have to review Joss Whedon's futuristic slayer comic book Fray and I also have another Buffy spin-off comic partly written and supervised by Whedon, Tales of the Vampires to read and then review.

I'll be reading Buffy Season 8 as well this weekend as I recoup from this nagging sickness. A very Vampirey after-Halloween weekend!

FYI - for any other Buffy fanatics, which naturally leads to Angel fanatics, due to the success of the Buffy Season 8 series, Whedon has been involved with plotting out an Angel Season 6 comic book series, starting out right where Season 5 left off. It's being plotted by Whedon but written by Brian Lynch and is slated to come out with its first issue November 28, 2007. They'd better get these in TPBs too since I'm not one to goto comic book stores and get actual issues, I'm a book girl through and through, and that includes when reading comic books.

PS - A great video interview of genius Buffy creator Joss Whedon...

MySpace Comic Books: Joss Whedon answers YOUR questions!

Add to My Profile | More Videos

And I might be tempted to start buying Angel Season 6 and Buffy Season 8 single issues because the first five issues of Buffy Season 8 were so frickin' good! Though I hate to start buying single issues because I know I'll still have to buy the TPBs when those come out so it does seem like a waste of money, but I might not be able to help myself. Already started researching local comic book stores...

Play of the Week.

Of Course goes to the Steelers! I'm not biased, I swear...

It's Ben's can't-tackle-me play in which a Bengals was grabbing his ankle and Ben was on his way to the ground when he completed a pass to Santonio Holmes for a first down!

Yeah baby, talk about elusive. His rookie year playing he actually had a better QB rating while rolling out of the pocket than in the pocket!

Check out this great article on Big Ben, This One's For Hep. It's an especially good article if you went to Miami University. The article gives good insight on Ben and is also a really touching story about his relationship with Coach Hep. It's really a great article!

The Rockies: Myth or Legend?

Let me preface this post with the fact that I'm not an avid baseball fan and therefore my knowledge of the game may be pretty lame in comparison to those who follow the sport closely.

There are a couple of reasons I'm interested in the World Series this year. One, when there was a chance that the Cleveland Indians would make it, I started paying close attention to the playoffs. Second, when the Red Sox beat the Indians, I already was bitter and hated the Red Sox anyways because they're a Boston team and Boston fans are obnoxious. Sorry to my dear friends who are from Boston and are Boston fans, I love you guys, but in general you know I'm right... in all fairness everybody really hates Boston teams and fans because they're all pretty darn good and have been for a while. Us folks with normal teams get awfully sick of it! Anyways, thirdly I kind of got on the Rockies band wagon when visiting Denver, not only because of the excited and devoted fans there but also because I appreciate the "Moneyball-ish" homegrown strategy that the Rockies have employed. I also like the manager Clint Hurdle. I heard multiple interviews with him while in Denver and I like his style.

So anyways, back to the point. The Rockies were the underdogs of the series coming into it, and are now definitely the underdogs after the blow out last night. The Sox are apparently the "better team" according to every media outlet not in Colorado. Meanwhile I had a Denver bred Rockies fan tell me yesterday before the game that the Sox were basically "playing against God" because of the amazing and unprecedented winning streak that the Rockies were on.

And here is where the Rockies strength of character as a team comes to be tested. Will they be the myth? The team that was destined to win, but then choked and was embarrassed in the World Series therefore making all the heroic predictions untrue? Or will they become the legend, the little team that could? Yes the Red Sox are nationally followed. I was watching the game last night at a bar in Raleigh and the place was filled with Sox fans, and other than at my table, I didn't see a Rockies fan there. But as with David and Goliath, I will continue to root for the underdog. The little guys with some spunk and character. I hope they become the legend that the Pittsburgh Steelers did when they were the only sixth seed ever to win the Super Bowl (sorry, football and Steelers are my sport, I had to bring up One reference!)

I assume my little article here was neither insightful nor new news, but this is my shout out to The Rockies and I hope they can pull out a win tonight. Right now it's tied 1-1 in the fourth inning. Rockies are looking looser and more comfortable than last night, the balls aren't all falling the Red Sox's way, the pitching is more equal and if the Rockies still believe in themselves then they have a real chance to become legends. But they'd better get a win in before Beckett takes the mound again.

Damn, I love sports... and on that note please check out a new football blog by one of my most fave girls in the world, and coincidentally my twin separated from me at birth... Pink Cleats. She's smart, knows her football, is an awesome writer and an amazing person. Any football fan would benefit from reading her blog, but for those other female football fans out there finding a void of female angled football blogs and commentary, it's a must to check out. It's my blog pick of the week... okay, so I don't do a blog pick of the week, but if I did, that'd be it for this week!! Don't forget to leave her some comments and show her some love!!

On a personal note, you know you're living on a tight budget when your spouse tells you to not send in a bill yet because you don't have enough money in the bank account to cover it. Dang, that's living paycheck to paycheck fo' sho'!