in which we discuss haymitch's wig, huggle's tragic end, and mug cake.

Listening To: Sylvia's Mother by Dr. Hook
Line Obsession: "And after, when we went outside to look at her finished lantern from the road, I said I liked the way her light shone through the face that flickered in the dark." - Katrina Vanderberg

(@ Harrison Bay. I never met a sunset there I didn't like ...)

Happy Sunday to you! I've been saving up some fun links to share and I thought this might be the proper day for them. I hope you've had a gloriously lazy weekend - a kick-back, fleece PJ's, Bon Iver in the background, dog to snuggle, daydreaming, hot cocoa (the Swiss Miss kind with the crackly marshmallows) kind of weekend. I've had some serious (fun!) work keeping me busy this weekend ... but, luckily, I've been able to partake in all of the above, too. (I think fleece pajamas are my muse.)

Some fun links: 

* Just a reminder that I'm giving away a copy of Paperdoll. If you're interested, you can leave a comment on Thursdays post . If you haven't read the comments yet, I highly recommend it. Some stories make me smile and other break my heart. There's so much honesty there. I love this little blog community dearly. 

* Here's a fun recipe from Babble for Nutella Mug Cake. Fact: The cake is made in a mug. It is cooked in the microwave! And it contains Nutella. And, therefore, it contains all my hopes and dreams. (If you like Nutella, you need to scoot onto Pinterset, pronto. Because there are lots of kindred spirits over there. People seriously love The Nutella. Viva le hazelnut!) Anybody tried this? Is it as delicious as it sounds?

* These are actual snippets of conversations with The Rogue Accountant this week: 


Convo A

He said: Are you ordering The Beach Roll or the Honada Roll? 

I said: Probably Beach. Because the other has crabstick and not crab. 

He said: ... So? 

I said: Is crabstick, like, dark meat? 

He informed me that crabstick is, in fact, not dark meat. Because crab is not turkey. He told me these things while laughing at me, not with me.


Convo B

He texted: A guy told me he knows where the actual Huggle from Labyrinth is. Does that mean anything to you? 

I texted: !!!!!!

Him: I guess so. It's in Scottsboro, Alabama. At an unclaimed baggage location.
I texted: ...? I'm so perplexed. I don't know what that means but a roadtrip is clearly in order. 

Can someone confirm that Huggle ended up as unclaimed baggage?! That's worse than The Bog of Eternal Stench.  (Oh, how I adore Sir Didymus. "My noble steed!")

The Rogue Accountant never makes it very far in Labyrinth before he gets bored but it's one of the great classics of my childhood. My hope is that, some fine day, someone will do a remake and cast Brandon Flowers as the Goblin King.



Except, if Brandon Flowers was the Goblin King ... who would ever want to leave the Goblin Castle, knowwhatI'msayin?


* Loved J.R. Martinez's Twitter response after being named one of People's Sexiest Men Alive: "I've learned being sexy is more than what meets the eye. It's deeper than a skin graft~honored to be an example of beauty outside the usual. Confidence the sexiest thing anyone can have. Be cool with your body, mind, & personality. By doing that it will shine thru." 


That is hot. I wish I could see more messages like that on all the "inspirational" "motivational" "work-out" boards on Pinterest. I agree that confidence really is the sexiest thing about a person. (And I affirm People Magazine in their choice; he's a crazy-handsome guy. Also thought it was cool to see Joel McHale on the list. A good sense of humor is, in my feeble opinion, the next sexiest thing a person can flaunt.)

* I rarely get to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade anymore, because I'm usually traveling on Thanksgiving Day. But watching it with my Dad used to be one of my favorite holiday traditions. I still think the whole ordeal is so fun and magical. If you love the parade too, or if you have some wild and fabulous kids in your house who love it, then I 100% recommend Melissa Sweet's Balloons Over Broadway. The illustrations are whimsical and wonderful and bright and the story is so cool. (This story would lend itself so well to film.) I think children's books are among the most accessible (and affordable) pieces of art that people can collect. Melissa's book is proof. I bet it would make watching the parade even sweeter. (I get that I could just DVR the thing, but it's not quite the same.) (Also. Though it has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, another of my recent favorite discoveries is Jennifer Fosberry's My Name is Not Isabella. I adore it.)

Pete Hamill wrote a lovely review for Balloons Over Broadway in the NYT. His first line: "Every children’s book should be infused with emotion, starting with a sense of wonder." 


The actual reviews in his piece are excellent, but I'm even more smitten with the way he describes his own love story with books. Such a sweet read.  

* In other bookish news, I've seen The Hunger Games trailer a few times now. My initial thoughts: 1.) Wow. Sooooo excited for this movie! 2.) Woody Harrelson's wig ... is unique. (I pictured Hugh Laurie as Haymitch. Is that weird?) 3.) Jennifer Lawrence will be an incredible Katniss. This week, I tumblr'd her quote from Vanity Fair: " ... there’s nothing cool about [Katniss]. It’s not like she looks around the arena and goes, Yeah, I got this. I think she looks around helplessly, and thinks, I made a promise to my sister that I would survive; now I have to kill in order to do so.” 


Not only did her interview make me more eager to see the film, but it actually made me like Katniss more. I never really pictured Katniss the way J. Lawrence described her (so ... vulnerable?), but I like picturing her that way.) 4.) Sadly, I'm still not sure how I feel about this Peeta. I do like that actor, but something's not working for me.

I kind of wonder if I'm meh over Peeta because, way deep down, I think Katniss would be better off with Gale. But maybe their chemistry will blow me away once I watch the movie. What'd you think?

I love Lauren Bush-Lauren's (?) wedding dress in Vogue. 

One of my major personality flaws, besides the fact that I don't like pumpkin flavored treats, or card games, or banana flavored Runts (but I like the pink ones!), is that I'm not really into weddings. I love the sacredness of weddings. I love the sweetness of falling in love. I am wild about commitment. But I'm not enamored by wedding froof. Specifically: I think wedding dresses mostly all look the same. (I'm not all bah-humbug over weddings; they're sweet and fun. I just don't go crazy over bridal stuff like lots of folks I know.) Still ... I think this dress is stunning, wedding or otherwise. It is very editorial (as Nina Garcia would say). So modern but still so traditional. This is definitely my favorite dress of the year. (Followed closely by Sophia Coppola's wedding dress.) Ralph Lauren? Just went and threw down with Sarah Burton. I think this dress does a better job than you-know-who's dress when it comes to striking a balance between something classic with something very iconic. I like. 

* I decided to get a little festive for the holidays and paint my nails sparkly. I wanted to go crazy sparkly. I wanted the equivalent of a disco ball on my fingertips. I wanted to be able to point and, upon the pointing, see my nails shimmer so spark-ily (yes, that's totally a word.) that people immediately felt compelled to react like this:



So I went to my local Ulta to purchase the new Muppet (!) shade "Rainbow Connection." And it was sold out. So I guess my whole city, except me, has disco tips. Which is just sad. But I picked a shimmery OPI color called Lucer-tainly Look Marvelous. It is very cool; funky and metallic. It's on trend and classy. But it doesn't verge on tacky ... which is kind of what I was hoping for. Maybe next time. 

* My mom introduced me to a 70's (?) song by Dr. Hook called Sylvia's Mother.  I'm officially crazy about this guy's voice. And I love the lyrics. Thought I'd share the link here, in case you wanted to love them too.

* This is Biscuit, snoozing after a long day of playing, cuddling, eating treats and just generally being awesome:

*This is how the wind styled my hair on Saturday afternoon:

Fancy.


And this is my favorite recent sunset. There's a lake near my house with some easy, twisty trails and pretty views. This was taken from a swing. (I love that they didn't put a bench in this spot; but a swing, the kind that belongs on a front porch. That's fitting.) The wind was crazy; made the water look like chipped silver. The wind was loud too, and cold, and the sky was wild. A little girl ran along the shore while her mom took pictures. The girl wore a puffy jacket and she kept flinging her arms up toward the sky, like she was trying to propel herself into the clouds.

Exactly, I thought.

Happy Weekending, beauties (& beastlies). Let me know what's new with you!