Tracy Calabrese
The Pioneer Woman
I have known of The Pioneer Woman for quite some time now, but I heard her recipes involved a lot of ingredients and took a lot of time to cook, so I never actually went to her site.
I just saw this (which looks fantabulous) and decided to check out the recipe. I had no idea what I was missing! The Pioneer Woman is awesome! And while some of her recipes look like they will take a lot of effort to make, she has some great 16-minute meals, like Mini Meatball Sandwiches and Beef and Bean Burritos, and some of the other recipes look pretty manageable. I am also a big fan of making extra food and eating it for a few days (or freezing it, if I can).
Not to mention, The Pioneer Woman, who lives on a ranch in Oklahoma, is freakin’ hilarious. Like really funny. She was a high-heel wearing 9-5er living in California until…On a short visit to her hometown, she fell in love with her husband, who she calls the Marlboro Man. She has four kids, who she refers to as “punks,” is obsessed with her camera and apparently cooks up a storm.
I highly recommend you check out her site if you haven’t. If not for the recipes, for some inspiration and probably a good laugh.

Happy Easter!
Welcome to Your Quarterlife Crisis
Imagine a day in the life of a couple you probably know. He’s 27 years old, and she’s 26. They wake up beside each other in his downtown bachelor apartment and have sex that neither of them particularly enjoys. They’ve been sort-of dating for a while now, but they’re not willing to commit to each other: he likes her, but doesn’t know if he always will. She can’t decide if she likes him more or less than the other two guys she’s sleeping with.
He bikes to work at an advertising agency, where he uses his master’s in English to proofread ad copy, and spends several hours reading music blogs and watching movie trailers, periodically Twittering updates about his workday to his 74 followers. He doesn’t really hate his job, but feels as if his skin is crawling with vermin most of the time that he’s there, so he has a plan to move to Thailand, or to maybe write a book. Or go to law school.
At her government job, she instant messages her friends and mostly ignores the report she’s drafting because she’s planning on quitting anyway — and has been planning to quit for about a year now. She spends her lunch hour buying boots that cost slightly more than her rent, then immediately regrets it.
He listlessly works through lunch, then goes to the bar after work to meet up with some university friends, where they talk about their jobs and make ironic jokes about other people. Back at home, he wonders why he feels so gross and empty after spending time with them, but it’s mostly better than being alone.
She walks to the house that she shares with three friends and spends a few more hours on celebrity gossip websites, then clicking through the Facebook photos of girls she knew in high school posing with their husbands and babies, simultaneously judging them and feeling a deep pit of jealousy, and a strange kind of loss. “When did this happen for them?” she wonders.
They both eventually fall asleep, late and alone, each of them wondering what it is that’s wrong with them that they can’t quite seem to understand.
This is a good read found by my good friend Jess.
Honest Scrap Award.
My co-worker/friend/fellow blogger, Brittany, posted this earlier this week and I just happened to come across it. I never do these things, but it’s a Friday night and I staying in because I am completely wiped out from this week, so I am giving it a whirl.
The rules are:
1. List 10 honest things about yourself that your blogging friends do not know about you.
2. Give the award away to five bloggers.
3. Let them know they’ve received the award.

My list:
1. I am an only child and have a very small family. I don’t think I could ever live too far away from my parents. They moved to Corinth in 2005 and it was more than a coincidence when the agency I work for opened an office in Dallas less than a year later.
2. I tell people I am Italian, which is true, but I am also 1/4 Mexican (on my mom’s side).
3. I am a HUGE bargain hunter. I hate paying full price for things and will drive all over town to find a good deal.
4. I can’t handle hard alcohol. The thought of drinking vodka makes me want to puke.
5. I love to cook, but I hate cooking for myself. When I do cook, I always make enough so that I have leftovers. I buy things I can freeze and put them in individual packages so I can take one out at a time.
6. Most people think I am hardass, tough girl since I am from NJ. I may put that act on when I need to, but I am huge softie. I cry at the drop of a hat, even when I watch Grey’s Anatomy.
7. I love kids. I worked at two different daycare centers for a total of five years when I was in high school and college. I can’t wait to have kids. I want two, but my mom wants me to have 10.
8. If I didn’t work in PR, I would like to be the editor at a magazine (I want to be the girl who writes for the men’s magazine) or a teacher,preferrably pre-school or kindergarten.
9. I want a tattoo of a cherry blossom branch with my initials integrated somewhere in it. The house I grew up in had a cherry blossom tree in the front yard. Whenever I think of that house, the first image I think of is that tree. That will always be home.
10. As soon as I buy my first place, I am going to start a blog about being a first time homeowner and all of the issues that go along with it.
(I am not sure I know five people who would do this, so if you feel like it, be my guest!)
I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time.
If you are in the mood to laugh until you cry and your stomach hurts, I highly recommend seeing The Hangover.
Definitely the funniest movie I have seen in a long time and one of those you will have to see when it comes out on DVD.
The Geek Chic Checklist - 22 Sure Signs You're a Geek
I can check off a few of these. I guess I can be consider partial geek.

There’s no use crying over spilled milk.
This is what happens when I don’t screw the cap on the milk the right way and our intern decides to shake it before he pours it in his coffee.
Txts Frm Lst Nght
This could occupy entirely too much of my time. LOL.
Jersey Born, Jersey Bred, Jersey Trash Till I’m Dead!
*Please note: I did not write this. I found it on the Facebook page of an old friend from Jersey. And I like it.
Yeah, I’m from Jersey, have been all my life. I’m gonna give you everything about Jersey - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
First… New Jersey people are conceited. It’s true. We hate
everyone else. And we think we are better than everyone else. And we never stop talking about how great Jersey is. Then we tell people to “shut the fuck up” when they tell us all we talk about is Jersey.
Why are New Jersey people self centered? Because we have reason to be.
Next, some of the most famous people have come from our
state. Just to name A FEW… Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Kevin Smith, Whitney Houston, Martha Stewart, Lauryn Hill, Catch 22, Anne Hathaway, Kirsten Dunst, Queen Latifa, My Chemical Romance, Bon Jovi, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Willis, The Four Seasons, Danny Devito, Tom Cruise .. and the list Goes on.
Not only do we have famous people, we rank in the top 10 of smartest states every year.
Not only are we smart and famous…we’re rich. Bergen, Somerset, Morris, & Hunderton counties rank in the countries top 15 richest counties. And despite the slums of Newark (yes, Newark, not New -ark) & Camden which are some of the countries most dangerous places to live, we have 4 of the top 10 safest cities to live in the US.
And we smell? Yeah, we do. New Jersey smells like ASS. On the Turnpike, between exits 14 and 17. That’s like, 5 percent of the entire state.. Bayonne, Port Newark, and Secaucus. And the surrounding areas. That’s it. The majority of the state smells like trees. Because the majority of the state is trees. In fact, three of New Jersey’s cities rank in the countries top 10 least polluted cities. So shove it.
New Jersey is ideal. I live 20 minutes away from New York City and 45 minutes away from the famous jersey shore, which by the way is amazing. You think your beach is better? Fuck you. Why do you think MTV’s true life had an episode titled “I’m a Jersey Shore girl.” Because it’s the best fucking shore in the country.
My house is 3 minutes to the nearest mall, 5 minutes to the next, and a 10 to the next. I just Counted 7 malls within a half hour of my house. Find me another state that has all that to offer.
Yeah, we have accents. Who gives a shit? Everyone has an accent. And no, we don’t say “Joisey.” We do say “cawfee and tawk.” But I can tell you it’s a hell of a better accent than you bitches from the south.
Hungry? Don’t worry. We have 24 hour diners. A million of them. We also have Hoboken which has some of the finest places to eat. And you have not had real Italian food until you come here. Okay?
And WE can’t drive? NO.. YOU can’t drive. In the south the speed limit signs read: speed limit 60.. minimum 45. WHAT? That’s why you people can’t drive. Who has a minimum speed limit? New Jersey drivers like pissing other people off solely because of the reputation. This is what we will do…just so you know…if we see an out of state license plate, we’ll tailgate your ass. Probably because you’re only doing the speed limit we want to go 20 over. Then, we’ll cut you off… and go slow in front of you. Because we can. And because when you go home you’re gonna complain about us. We like it, it doesn’t bother us….it’s what we want.
We like fast things. Things move too slow in other states. You can tell that someone is from New Jersey by the way they walk. They walk really fast and have a strut that says “I’m better than you.”
Music scene? Amazing. Remember Hunka Bunka?…DJais, and last but definitely not least… TEMPTS!!! Enough said. We also have the best local bands… The rap scene, I don’t know much about that, but I know it’s there…and I know it’s good. Obviously the club scene. You don’t know club music until you come into New Jersey… SERIOUSLY. - - - - “We don’t pump our gas … we pump our fists.”
Just shut the fuck up. If you go to Seaside boardwalk or Belmar. You’ll probably see some of the trashiest, skankiest girls and some of the most guido, gelled up hair, Armani Exchange wearing boys that take too many steroids and have too much sex… But they are gorgeous and they know how to dance better than anyone you ever met in your life. So yeah, the stereotype that all Jersey chicks are trashy, is true … but only if you go to Seaside. That’s pretty much it. The rest of the state is full of confident, beautiful people that speak their mind.
The majority of Jersey people are Italian, or wish they were. We drink and smoke way too much. Oh yeah and we throw the sickest parties … in the woods.
What else? Giants, Jets, Nets, and of course the Devils. They’re
better than you. So shut the fuck up. And we have more Yankee fans than New York City. Come to Jersey with a Sox hat on … I fuckin’ dare you!
And oh yeah, we say “yo.” Often. And “fuck.” I don’t complain that you say “y’all” so don’t complain that I say “yo.”
To sum up New Jersey, yeah, most of the stereotypes are true,
probably for about 5 percent of the state. The rest of the state is beautiful.
And yeah, we hate you. We love ourselves. Wanna know why? Because all you bitches hate us. How would you feel if the other 49 states spent all their time talking shit? We deserve to be our own country cause we’re that cool.
