You're messin' with a Southern girl.

By far, one of my favorite smells in the entire world is French Toast, still simmering in the skillet. Mix in the additional smells of coffee and the hint of maple syrup (not yet poured) and that just might be the best smell, ever. Really breathe it in next time.

I've channeled the Southern Dame within and will also be making Pot Roast (tomorrow), Baked Mushroom Chicken (Friday night), and Biscuits with Sausage Gravy (Saturday morning). I have been harboring a hankering for some really good, homemade comfort food, and these seem like the ticket to happiness at the moment.

Cooking has become a huge hobby of mine lately. I've been dabbling with quick and somewhat easy meals on the weekdays, and conquering the more difficult preparations on nights when I am not exhausted ... but visiting with Norbert (over many, many glasses of red wine) on Sunday night made me that much more ready to tackle some new, more involved recipes. The three above are mine, but he always has amazing tips to share.

We had slow-cooked ribs (about 8 hours on low heat) that night with potato salad and greek salad as sides. It was a HUGE crowd-pleaser. I think I'll try it the next time we have people over to our place. I would probably make cucumber salad and a mixture of grilled vegetables on the side, though. (Only because I have a lot of successful experiences with both under my belt, and have only made German-style potato salad twice.)

Save a few meals during actual travel this past weekend, and last night when we picked up some soup and spicy chicken at our favorite Chinese-Japanese-Thai place on the way back into town (Austin) ... and I haven't eaten out ... for any meal: breakfast, lunch, or dinner (of which I always have all 3) ... in over a month. That's crazy! Once you get used to eating at home, though, the thought of eating fast food is somewhat repulsive.

The biggest added bonus of cooking at home all of the time is ... well ... aside from saving tons and tons of money and feeling a thousand times better ... is the whole weight-loss factor. Without even trying, I have somehow dropped about 8 to 10 legitimate pounds since Christmas. I didn't even notice until my family pointed it out recently. I am perfectly happy with my body (10 pounds added, even!), and have been for years, so I haven't been trying to lose weight at all. I can only attribute it to home-cooking, as nothing else has changed.

As promised, I will definitely share some recipes I've tried lately on here in the next couple of days. A lot of my friends (and some of you guys reading this) have been asking about the things I cook (because they are fairly simple and literally ANYONE can cook them ... step-by-step instructions, not leaving any detail out, are the key). Right now, however, I need to start preparing for an interview I have at 1pm. (Details later.)

In the meantime, go throw some French Toast in a skillet, if for nothing else, than to bask in the delicious smell! :) Ah, and I do hope everyone had a great weekend. I know I did! None of us wanted it to end, but, alas ... "the real world" beckons. It's a bummer sometimes, but that's just how it goes ...

Chocolate therapy is, oh, so good!

It is my opionion that the only truly amazing thing that has ever come out of this Hallmark Holiday is the excess of chocolate-covered strawberries hanging around everywhere. Goodness me, talk about delicious!

Alex and I made the completely spur-of-the-minute decision yesterday afternoon to make a trip to Lubbock for the long weekend. (I had off yesterday, Alex had a half-day, and we both have off the normal weekend, as well as Monday.) His parents were thinking of visiting us in Austin, but they got stuck working in New Mexico. We were looking forward to some family fun times together, so ... here we are!

Right now, I am hanging out at Kay's while my mom is closing up shop and Norbert and Alex are out running around, doing whatever it is guys do when they frolick about town in packs. (Most likely, shopping for "man" things ... outer wear and gadgets and what-have-you.) Tonight, we are foregoing the insanity that holidays like this inspire and having a really nice home-cooked dinner at Norbert and my mom's house. (The Norb is a knockout cook!)

I will be contributing the aforementioned chocolate-covered strawberries. Norbert isn't much for sweets, and Alex isn't crazy about strawberries ... so it will really be my mom and I indulging for the most part. I must say ... this is just fine by us!

The Grammy's

I think I must be REALLY far out of the loop ...

I taped the Grammy's and watched it (fast-forward-style) right after work yesterday. I barely knew ANYBODY! I knew the obvious icons like Stevie Wonder and Al Green and, of course, Paul McCartney ... I knew Radiohead and John Mayer and Keith Urban and Foo Fighters and Jason Mraz and Coldplay and Justin Timberlake and Kings of Leon and Adele (I haven't completely been under a rock) ... I had even heard of Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and The Jonas Brothers (working in schools makes this knowledge inevitable) ... but I had never, ever heard anything by them (I boycott radio) ... but who in the world were T.I. and Ne-Yo and Lil Wayne and Duffy and Lady Antebellum and Jazmine Sullivan and Chris Brown (apparently, some sort of girlfriend-abuser; great role model for the kids; way to go, asshole) ... and, seriously, who, who, who, who, WHO was that horribly pregnant girl in polka-dotted spandex gyrating across the stage?! Horrifying!!! I was just waiting for her water to break right there on national television.

My point is ... I don't get the music of the younger generation ... obviously. All of the people I had actually heard before are "older" folk who have been around for a while ... and what I mean by "older" are musicians my age or older who have had more than a couple successful singles ... and, gasp! ... probably even multiple high-selling records. I think the term is "longevity."

I don't know; watching The Grammy's yesterday made me feel like a granny. I fast-forwarded through a lot of it, muttering "Rubbish ..." under my breath and rolling my eyes. I will say, though, those little Jonas boys did impress me with holding their own next to the fabulous Mr. Wonder himself. I was actually, physically nervous for them when I saw that pairing; however, they did hold their own. And, yes, while the young-girly duet with Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus was not my kind of thing ... those girls can actually sing. I'll give them that much! The rap, gangsta, "I'm bad" stuff, though ... I'll just never understand. It's not music to me. I guess I'm just square that way ...

I wear my sunglasses at night.

Crop my mom in (she was taking the photo) and it's a total keeper! (Also made evident by this photo is how anyone and everyone joining our family is doomed to absolute nerdom. Sorry, Corinne!)

When I go walkin', I strut my stuff

This morning, Alex took the LSAT. As anyone and everyone can probably imagine, this was a very draining endeavor for him. When he got home at 2, we decided to go see a movie at Alamo Drafthouse (where you eat *and* drink while watching a movie ... brilliant idea!). The movie we wanted to see was Taken (because I have a secret, dirty little girl crush on Liam Neeson and Alex thinks he's "cool"). It wasn't showing at the South Lamar location (where we normally go, as we live ... you guess it ... South), so we had to go to The Village location, which is a decent jaunt North up MoPac.

The movie was pretty kickass ... and I do mean that ... kick.ass. However, on the drive home (on Southbound MoPac), we got stuck in some awful traffic! On a Saturday at 6pm, traffic is not "supposed" to be gridlocked, with no movement either way. But, you know, this is Austin, after all, where lanes bottleneck at the absolute worst places, and you better leave your house with a full tank of gas if you expect to get anywhere with any certainty.

We were diverted, and ended up going in circles on some stupid sidestreet that winds halfway into town, then back to the loop (MoPac) only one exit down after about 10 minutes. Talk about frustrating! We never did see what the heck was causing the massive blockage, as we finally ... after an hour and a half!!!!! ... got off of the frontage road and found a familiar street.

You know, living in a bigger city is supposedly so neat and great, but if you can't get anywhere at any time of day, the luster begins to wear off really quickly. Maybe I'm just a small town kind of gal ... I don't know. All I know is ... this traffic crap really twists my knickers, and not in the good way ...

Ain't nothin' but a G-thang

Girl Scout Cookie Time finds me flummoxed.

It's a see-saw between deliciousness and guilt.

It's a small crime ...

I very rarely involve myself in this kind of discussion anymore these days, but I am going to break my self-made rule for now ... because, for whatever reason, I think it is important for these things to be put out into the open. As a general race of people, we are declining, we are dishonest, we are losing our faith, we are letting the good sides of ourselves win over the bad ...

I can't (and won't) get into details about the specific, isolated cause of this rant. It isn't about the overall decline I mentioned, but about a small facet of the decline. The details are not my business to air. All I will say to preface is that I found out last night that a male friend of mine is living a double life with two other girls who are also friends of mine (varying levels and lengths of friendship) ... both of which are unaware of the other. Both of which are amazing people!

My problem with all of this should be obvious, and is that ... I freaking cannot stand guys who do this kind of thing to women!! GREAT, AMAZING, WONDERFUL women!!! Friend or not, I can't stomach it. I try not to internalize it, as it is not me in the situation (for once!), but it is so difficult for me to see this kind of behavior and not be affected by it. Ignoring it only makes it worse. We should all be more compassionate, as a general rule. Even though it is not me in this particular situation, it has been me in too many situations terribly similar in the past.

I couldn't sleep last night, I am so bothered. This kind of behavior ruins lives ... it damages people ... it breaks down parts of honest and caring and open people that take so long to repair. It destroys trust, and not only in that particular relationship, but for all relationships following. This kind of behavior makes me ill. No metaphor there. And the fact that it is one of my guy "friends" who is the root cause just tears me apart.

I have known too many men ... and, yes, I am definitely calling out men in this situation ... who cheat with no consequences and no real guilt. I'll just say it ... it's generally easier for men to cheat and to lie about it and have no real remorse for their actions than it is for women. There are exceptions to every rule, but seriously. Have I known women who have cheated? Sure. But I can with all honesty say that those women were either being cheated on (for years!), abused (physically and/or emotionally), or completely neglected (in every possible way) by the men they eventually reciprocated in action. I am, of course, not excusing it ... I'm just saying ... it seems to me that men will do it just to do it, while women will do it mainly when first-betrayed.

However, if you ask me about how many men I know who have cheated, first-offense, second-offense, every-single-time, in a supposedly "great" relationship, for no reason, because it was available, just to try it? Well, I can name the staggering majority of every, single man I have ever known. How horrible is that?! I can name almost all of my ex-boyfriends, save a few, who were truly kind to me in every way ... I can name family friends, acquaintances, and co-workers ... I can name many of my friends' ex-boyfriends, current boyfriends, and ex-husbands ... I can name ... and I can name ... and I can name. I won't, of course ... but I can!

How sad is that?! What is wrong with these people?!?! Seriously. And I won't hear anything about how, "Oh, the women encourage it by putting up with it, and should just leave." Because, really ... what for? To move on to the next cheater?! Sure, there are men who don't cheat. Alex doesn't cheat on me, and I can whole-heartedly assure that the men in my family are actually great guys (... maybe because of being raised around so many women who complained about philandering men all their lives).

And I certainly don't want to hear that it is the women's fault! Don't even go there with me. That is said by people who are incapable of admitting blame in any situation ... and always, always said by the truly guilty. You want a sure-fire way to know if someone has no morals, or is guilty a sin themselves ... you'll know when that gem comes flying out of their mouths. Don't blame anyone else, that's just bad business.

Now, don't get me wrong. I know there are good men out there! I know some, and truly believe that I am currently living with one of them. Because of these men, I know there are great ones out there! It's possible that some of them are actually the ones cloaking themselves as assholes with kind of behavior. But why?! What does it accomplish? Does it make them feel better? Does it validate some stupid insecurity they have? Are other people's feelings merely a game to them? I, for one, just flat-out don't get it. Seriously, I don't. I have had far too much experience in these cases to still be so clueless, and yet I am.

I applaud the good men who are left out there in the world, who are respectful and decent and kind to women ... who love wholly ... who may eyeball the menu from time to time, but always come home to eat. (Yeah, I said it.) I appreciate those men more than I can say, really, as do all of the good women out there. I fear those kind of men are dwindling at an enormously high rate, however. My problem is ... how do you weed them out in this huge mess of jerks? So many are so good at hiding it, lying about it. It's deflating, and I simply can't stand to see it.

I just had to get that out there. I understand finding other people attractive, I understand thinking other people are neat, I understand looking ... but I absolutely do not understand sampling, double-dipping, or diving in. Where is the loyalty?! It has been a peeve of mine for years and years and years ... a peeve that I have earned in spades. Most of the time, I try to ignore it, but when it is blatantly in my face, ignoring would be ignorant and impossible. I keep to my own, listen when I am needed, and I don't "rat people out" ... but maybe I should. Maybe we all should!

I know that if people around me had been more honest with me in my past, I might not have the stack of dusty trust issues I most assuredly, involuntarily, subconsciously carry over with me into even healthy situations now. And, for the love of Pete and everybody, if you do something like this ... come clean and apologize!!!! It's the least a cheater can do. At least give the other person closure. My girl friend will never have that ... she will have to create her own, just as I had to do in my past. Trust me, it's horrible.

Thankfully, I am lucky enough to have a man in my life now who will talk to me when I worry (completely irrationally, I might add), and tell me any time I need that he loves me, and wants to be with only me ... that he thinks I am the greatest girl he's ever known, and that my worries are unnecessary. I am thankful every, single day for him, and can only hope and pray that my friends will eventually be as lucky.

Because, in truth, I consider it a miracle that I have made it anywhere near here with the wake of baggage men like this "friend" of mine are leaving behind. Seeing one of my intelligent, hilarious, witty, beautiful, strong, fantastic friends last night, sitting in front of me, heart breaking, totally and utterly defeated ... a strong, sweet, kind, smart, mature, delightful woman ... defeated by a philandering ass-bastard ... was far too familiar ... and nearly more than I could take.