Best of 09: New Food

December 12th: New Food. You're now in love with Lebanese food and you didn't even know what it was in January of this year.

You know how I wrote about Tee & Cakes yesterday?

Well, I also have to mention them in this post. This little shop has my absolute new favorite food.

Two words: Cake. Pop.

It is cake... on a stick. Covered in icing. Dipped in chocolate. Decorated with pretty-ness.

It's the perfect treat.

Go get one... NOW.

PS: Today is my mama's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMY!

PPS: I gave her an organizational tool for her birthday. You know, to organize paperwork and stuff. I am, like, the best daughter ever.

PPPS: Also, Happy Chanukah/Hanukkah! I ate ham today for breakfast... it appears that in addition to being the best daughter ever, I'm also the worst Jew ever.

PPPPS: But it was really good ham... speaking of pork products: Tee & Cakes also has a Bacon Chocolate cupcake. It's pretty much the definition of awesome.

PPPPPS: SEE? Worst Jew ever.

Best of 09: Best Place

Before we get started on today's Best of 2009 Blog Challenge prompt...

(Put this on my list of "shit I should have thought of", right under the snuggie.)



December 11th. The best place. A coffee shop? A pub? A retreat center? A cubicle? A nook?

One of my new favorite places is Tee & Cakes in downtown Boulder. It's a really great spot, complete with cute decor, a great tea selection, and, of course, cupcakes.

(Cupcakes always vastly improve my opinion of a place. Even if I don't actually buy a cupcake, I like that they're there. It's whimsical.)

Also, they have fantastic wireless internet. It really sucks to drag all of your stuff out and order a cup of tea just to realize that you can't connect to the world wide web.

Finally, they tweet great deals. I LOVE when local businesses use social media... especially when those tweets help to feed me.

Best of 09: Album of the Year

You know it's been cold far too long when you get excited that it's 24 degrees.

Since it was such a beautiful and warm day, I actually left my house, so my post for the Best of 2009 Blog Challenge comes a little later than usual.

But here it is!

(You thought I gave up, didn't you?)

December 10th: Album of the Year. What's rocking your world?

Regina Spektor: Far (Every song on this album is amazing.)

Far - Regina Spektor

The Glee Soundtracks (These songs always put a huge smile on my face.)

(Best. Show. Ever. BTW.)

Glee: The Music, Volume 1 - Gl...

Glee: The Music, Volume 2 - Gl...

The New Moon Soundtrack (Great songs from great artists.)

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Or...

Maybe you're like me and watch Grey's Anatomy with a fiery passion. Maybe you think the cheesy story lines and love triangles are crap. But I assure you, the music on that show is incredible. The songs from this year's episodes make up a soundtrack so amazing and emotional that I have to include this show as one of my favorite albums of the year. (A sample of some of my very favorites):

All songs

Best of 09: Challenge

The sun is out. It's still 12 degrees, though.

(Why am I complaining about the weather so much? Because this DOESN'T happen in Boulder! We have a wonderful climate where it snows one day, and MELTS a day later. This snow? Has been frozen to my lawn for over a week. I've been here for 24 years, and I assure you, THIS IS NOT BOULDER WEATHER!!)

(If this crazy climate change doesn't convince you that something big is happening, I don't know what will.)

(And by "something big", I mean the Decepticons are coming. Obviously.)

The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge prompt for today?

December 9th: Challenge. Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you?

Well, Blissdom was a challenge.

And being with my grandmother while she was dying certainly took me to my "edge and then some".

But my "best challenge of the year"?

The first time I beat my dad at Words with Friends.

It took a long time, and it wasn't always easy, but I persevered, and am a better person because of it.

(Clearly, I don't feel like going very deep today.)

Best of 09: Moment of Peace

Best of 2009 Blog Challenge prompt for today:

December 8th: Moment of Peace. An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

Ironically, this question has been stressing me out.

I don't have a lot of peaceful moments. Believe it or not, my mind is a very busy place (even if my body is, well, not.)

One moment that keeps coming up for me is when my grandma was dying. My mom, brother and I had been at her house for 24 hours. A nurse and social worker from our local Hospice Care came to talk to us. They explained the process of dying, explained what was happening, how to keep my grandmother comfortable, and assured us that she wasn't in pain. We had spent the previous day terrified that we were doing everything wrong. We were afraid that we weren't doing enough (whatever that means). We were afraid that we couldn't leave her alone. That we couldn't relax.

But they took away all of our fears. They told us that we couldn't do anything wrong. She would go when she was ready.

It was like they flipped a switch in us. We relaxed, we breathed, we let ourselves smile. We ended up having a great night. We watched TV, we ate junk food, we laughed. The people from Hospice Care told us that the sounds of us having a good time would probably be reassuring to my grandmother. Even her dog, Rachael, who hadn't left her side in days, came out and sat with us for awhile.

The nurse had told us that it would probably be a few more days before she went, but, of course, she passed away that night. (She never was one to play by the rules.)

It's a little weird to think about, but that night was a good night. My brother, mom and I bonded. My grandma was able to hear us having a good time in the other room. It was... peaceful.

Now, enough about my sweet dead grandma and let's get back to me.

(If that offends you, you obviously didn't know her, because she'd think that was hilarious.)

Yesterday I saw that the weather was supposed to get even colder today, so I decided to buck up and take Bonnie and Hannah to a park a block away. I put on a ridiculous amount of layers, shoved my pants into my boots, and wore my 75 cent gloves from Target.

(Those gloves weren't warm *at all*... shocking.)

We got to the park and started to run around and, sure enough, the dogs started limping with frozen paws.

I TOLD THEM SO.

I fought the urge to rub that fact in their little doggy faces (because I'm mature), and we headed home. When we got to the front yard the girls started to make doggy angels, so I figured maybe they were fine and could handle a little more outside time. Then they started to walk on three legs again, so we scratched that idea.

APPARENTLY Bonnie has forgotten this whole experience because she has spent much of the 5 degree day sitting in the backyard, staring at the kitchen window. I think that she knows I'll see her there, and she's trying to convince me that she's tough enough for a walk.

She then comes inside, burrows under my blanket, and spends the next 15 minutes licking the ice off of her paws.

Yeah, nice try Bonnie. Nice try.

Best of 09: Blog Find of the Year

From the Best of 2009 Blog Challenge:

December 7th: Blog Find of the Year. That gem of a blog that you can't believe you didn't know about until this year.

Yeah, that's easy.

(Not.)

Do you realize how many blogs there are? Do you realize how many are great? Do you realize that I can't list them all because my fingers are frozen?*

This is the "year of the blog" for me. This is the year that I expanded my blog reading outside of my group of friends. This is the year that I actually found that great wide world called THE BLOGOSPHERE.

(Dun-duh-DUH.)

(That was supposed to be "scary music sounds"... did that not work?)

Hell, this is the year that I found Gwen Bell, whose responsible for this whole series.

Essentially, I found ALL of my favorite blogs this year.

One that stands out right this minute? A very recent find called Ex Hot Girl. Jennifer is totally honest, completely hilarious, and extremely entertaining.

My current blogroll is way out of date, so I'll work on getting it updated as soon as I can, but here it is in case you're curious about some of my other favorites.

What was your favorite blog find this year?

*It is 9 mother fucking degrees here. NINE. And it's been this cold for a WEEK. I'm basically hibernating because Ally B is not meant to go out in this kind of cold. (My ears get really cold and then I want to cry... and crying in NINE DEGREE weather is really bad.) (Two words: frozen snot.) Instead of braving the cold, I've been trying to distract Bonnie. She seems to think that it's MY fault that it's too cold for her little paws to go anywhere.

Best of 09: Conferences & Satan's Pop-Tart

I'm still here. Still strong. Still freezing (it's 12 freaking degrees here in Boulder).

Today's prompt for the Best of 2009 Blog Challenge:

December 6th: Workshop or Conference. Was there a conference or workshop that you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn?

I think that it's kind of cool that I can actually answer this question in the affirmative. Obviously I had some "especially beneficial" experiences in Nashville and Chicago this year because those experiences have already been written about during this challenge.

I didn't necessarily learn a lot about blogging, per se. What I learned was a lot about myself. What I got were some great memories and even better friends.

Sounds pretty good to me.

In other news, I burned myself on a toaster pastry this morning. It was like the devil's pop-tart, it was so hot. I may not have any lasting scars or blisters on the outside, but my psyche is severely damaged.

I write about it because nobody that I've told today has really taken it seriously. I guess this is because I wasn't technically that hurt and still have full function of my hand, but it was horrific, nonetheless.

Thanks for listening. I knew y'all would understand.