As The Snow Days Continue

Just kidding - I don't work at a school.  Time to go back to work.  So as Bianca basked in the sunshine and Carla worshiped my forebears, I reluctantly picked out my cleanest jeans and some stupidly snow-inappropriate boots, and trudged into the street.

             

Obviously, the streets were unplowed.  The steps into the G were packed in ice, so I held onto the railing backwards with my ski gloves, slowly lowering myself into the station as I dug in my heels like crampons.  The man behind me grunted impatiently, as if I should have remembered my toboggan.

That same man and I were the only people going to work.

I had just missed the train, so I took some time to study the new subway ads.

Whoever Photoshopped Kevin James into a poreless wax figurine on The Dilemma posters should be fired.

I got to work late, but I didn't really care.  My boss, as it turns out, was still stuck on the runway at JFK... and would be for the next seven hours.

My Poochie

The Tealster has been sick for a while, and was unusually listless all through Christmas. He'd been throwing up, not eating... not even licking his Anxiety Wound. We all showered him with love over the holiday, but yesterday the family brought him to the animal hospital, realized how sick he was, and put him to sleep.

I'm so sad. It was the right thing to do, but still. He was a seriously great poochie - I didn't even like dogs until my family brought him home. He was unfailingly loyal, terribly sweet, and just strange enough to inspire pride in the mish-mash of breeds that took turns showing up on his face. I miss you, my sweet doggie.

Thundersnow

You will learn two things from this post.  No, three.  One: how to work from home after a snowstorm.  Two: that I downloaded fX Camera for my Droid (or, that I got not-Hipstamatic for my not-iPhone).  Three: that after six years of having a phone with a camera, I have finally learned to get camera pictures off my phone.  Hoopla!

There was a blizzard last night.  One so intense, it was rumored that a thunderstorm was hiding within it.  Several feet of snow dumped down in the space of an hour.  It was depressing - I'd been set to see all my high school friends, but Mr. Weather was being a dick.  So Dan and I packed up our stuff and headed back to Brooklyn, instead.

The snow was so bad that we took the G, a train that ceases to run with any predictability after 9am, but is much closer to our apartment.  We watched snow drift in through the grate as we waited.  One man felt the need to stand under the flurries.  This went on for thirty minutes.

(this photo from a co-worker at her own similarly unprotected station)

Due to the stacks of snow and hideous winds, I'm working from home today.  Dan is on break from school, so we tried to go out and find a lunch special.

Who knew that most business owners in the neighborhood wouldn't risk their lives to remain open for the sake of serving a $6 lunch special?  We found an open diner, eventually.  Soup and grilled cheese: thundersnow food.

And now I'm back at home, my lunch break nearly over, chipping away at tasks I've been putting off all year.  Without my email pinging every minute, it's quite a bit easier to focus - what I figured for "working" from home seems to be just plain old working, only with sweatpants.  I'd like to try this more often.

Incredibly Not Perfect

I just watched the first episode of this show, and it is horrible.

I don't think I can describe how bad it is. The cast clearly knows, judging from their press photo:

Janis from Flash Forward just realized she's on another doomed-for-cancellation show, the guy from Worst Week is having a similar epiphany, the Waitress is like, I seriously can't believe I gave up an expanded storyline on Sunny for this, the Zenned-out dude with the Waitress hasn't yet seen a rough cut, and Olivia Munn got her photoshoots mixed up - Maxim is later this week, Liv!

I also just realized that one of the roles was clearly recast, since the top photo features a different dude. Awwww. They should work out the timelines on these better.

Thank God

Ugh, I've been having kind of a shitty week. But at least the powers that be have released a preview for the upcoming third season of Jersey Shore. You'd have to have a shriveled heart of tar to not laugh.

Jersey Shore - MTV Shows

Where's the beach? Where the f*** is the beach?

C is For Cookie

Isn't this the worst? Ugh. But true: cookies are a sometime food. When "sometime" includes the entire month of December. It was in that spirit that I went to Jerz this weekend for a day o' cookie-baking with Mummy.

Peanut butter kisses...

The kitchen in a state of Hoarders: Cookie Edition.

Pignoli cookies baking together into one Pignoli Loaf:

But it's ok - the compost cookies will turn out better, right?

Well... they taste good.

We took a break from butter to enjoy a some much-needed heart-healthy broccoli rabe:

And some even more heart-healthy Maaahty love:

Yay Christmas! Yay cookies!

SUGARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would have killed the Top Chef "night at the museum" challenge.

The Globes Are Here!

Ahhhhh, the Globes. The Globes are my favorite awards. Why shouldn't they be? The ceremony is soaked in booze; the outfits are crazy; there is no award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing. But as always, a couple of the nominations are head scratchers. Let us parse some of the best.

Best Picture - Musical or Comedy

"Alice in Wonderland"

"Burlesque"

"The Kids are All Right"

"Red"

"The Tourist"

Possibly the best list of nominees ever. Tim Burton's "no seriously, this is the version I'm putting out and I dare you to say anything" Alice in Wonderland. Indie not-really-a-comedy The Kids Are All Right. Critically panned not-comedies Red and The Tourist. And BURLESQUE! Even Dennis thought Burlesque was hilariously bad. Burlesque would actually disappoint me if it were good: I don't want a movie starring Xtina and Cher to be anything more than glittery seamed stockings and barely justified musical numbers. A decent script would be gilding the lily on that one.

Tracy Jordan's nomination for Hard to Watch just made a lot more sense.

Best Picture - Drama

"Black Swan"

"The Fighter"

"Inception"

"The King's Speech"

"The Social Network"

I have to ask about The Fighter - is it just because Christian Bale is in it? I feel like if Christian Bale is in a movie, people automatically classify it as a Film. Especially if, as in The Fighter, he's emaciated with thinning hair.

Best Actor - Musical or Comedy

Johnny Depp, "Alice in Wonderland"

Johnny Depp, "The Tourist"

Paul Giamatti, "Barney's Version"

Jake Gyllenhaal, "Love and Other Drugs"

Kevin Spacey, "Casino Jack"

Johnny paleface vs. Johnny eyeliner vs. Jake Gyllenhaal's ass... nice work.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama

Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife"

Elisabeth Moss, "Mad Men"

Piper Perabo, "Covert Affairs"

Katey Sagal, "Sons of Anarchy"

Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"

The lead girl from Coyote Ugly was just nominated for a major award. I just wanted to point that out. Anna Paquin is so pissed right now! She did so much ugly crying on True Blood this year, and it was all for naught.

I personally am a big Good Wife fan, but I'm rooting for Peggy on this one. But it doesn't matter, because Kyra Sedgwick will win. Voters fear the Bacon.

Best Television Series - Comedy

"30 Rock"

"The Big Bang Theory"

"The Big C"

"Glee"

"Modern Family"

"Nurse Jackie"

Tosh.0 is funnier than all of these.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy

Toni Collette, "The United States of Tara"

Edie Falco, "Nurse Jackie"

Tina Fey, "30 Rock"

Laura Linney, "The Big C"

Lea Michele, "Glee"

This list actually makes me mad. ONE person on the list has made me laugh in the past year. ONE. Could the comedy category please recognize women who are actually funny? They exist. I promise. And I just realized Community got passed over entirely. Sigh.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

Hayley Atwell, "Pillars of the Earth"

Claire Danes, "Temple Grandin"

Judi Dench, "Return to Cranford"

Romola Garai, "Emma"

Jennifer Love Hewitt, "The Client List"

Please, please, please, for the love of everything holy, let J. Lo. Hew. win a Golden Globe Award. Let her win a major award for her Lifetime Original Movie about a masseuse at the "Kind Touch" day spa who gives handies to support her family. The ads for this televisual treasure brightened my commute on a daily basis, and just knowing it existed made my day more than once. Please, HFPA, hear my prayer. I'll forgive you for considering Nurse Jackie a comedy. Thank you. Bless.

Meghan and Dan: The Marrying: Part 5a (Reception: Dance Party Attack)

As the guests were taking their seats and the bridal party lined up to enter the reception, Matt and Biz bustled my dress. This is generally done by ladies, but hey, I had my brother handy, so Matt and Biz did it. Siblings! Then I took off my veil, realized I didn't have anywhere to put it, rolled it up, shoved it under the gift table, and Matt stuck the reception mini-pouf hairpiece into my bun. He's got a real touch with the bridal details.

First into the reception were my parents, absolutely thrilled to relax after eight months of dealing with my meltdowns.

Mom sounds her barbaric yawp.

Then Dan's mom and stepmom.

Then everyone else...

and then US! THE MARRIEDS!

Dan and I thought it would be funny to have him carry me in. The plan was that he would then put me down and we would walk safely down the stairs onto the dance floor. Instead, in a surge of adrenaline, he declared, "I've got this!" and proceeded to carry me and my giant unwieldy dress down the stairs, rocking me back and forth with an expression of fake panic. Everyone screamed in fear (me included). It was awesome.

Then we stumbled through a first dance to "Falling Slowly," the song from Once. We chose it because it a) is pretty and b) reminds us of our incredible 2008 trip to Ireland.

Halfway through the song, the DJ invited everyone to join us on the dance floor, which they happily did. Love was all around. It was a colossally awesome moment.

Little did the guests know that this was also a ruse to get them on the dance floor, because as soon as the slow song ended, Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" started up, kicking off an epic dance party. We really wanted to set an upbeat tone for the reception, and also force everyone to digest some of their cocktail hour binging before dinner. It worked. Sorry to get repetitive, but once again: it was awesome.

In case you're wondering, the four songs that can produce a dance party like the one above are:

Lady Gaga, "Just Dance"
Black Eyed Peas, "I Gotta Feeling" (this one was the real kicker. Cheesy it may be, but for a multi-generation dance hit, you cannot do better. People were kind of dancing for Gaga, but once Fergie's dulcet tones piped in, everyone went nuts.)
Whitney Houston, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody"
Prince, "Kiss"

Then it was time for toasts... and more food.

Bonus! That reception hairpiece?

I got it at Dollar Tree.

(most) images by Inbal Sivan