Domesticity

The word domestic may as well be tattooed on my forehead because everything about me screams Domestic. I have been told on more than one occasion that I was born in the wrong time period.

If I had it my way, this would be me.   

Ok, so if you know me you know that is a lie. Being a house wife never made it to my list of things I want to do. However, growing up my mom taught me how to cook and sew so I do have some domesticity in me, albeit very little. But, every once and a while I get an inkling to dust off the ol' cookbook. 

This weekend I was missing Arizona and family. The last few times I was visiting AZ my brother Adam and his friends took me on a midnight run to get gay bar tacos in phoenix. The taco stand is only opened on the weekends so that is why the homesickness set in. Naturally, to quench my homesickness I decided to make homemade gay bar tacos. 

After getting recipes and taking a trip to the Rancho Market I was ready to get started. Dave came over to help and Giulia joined us later to make the salad and try the tacos. I got all my recipes from the blog Mexico in My Kitchen.  

There were many parts to these tacos. 

* Tortillas * Tomatillo Salsa * Pico de Gallo * Meat * Assembly * Repeat 

For the tortillas you have to make the dough 

 Roll the dough into balls

Flatten them in a tortilla press

And cook them 

For the tomatillo salsa you cook the tomatillos and serrano peppers

then blend them up with onions and garlic. 

For the pico de gallo you chop up the veggies and 

mix them up with lime juice. 

After you cook and cut up the meat

then you assemble the taco! 

 I thought that they turned out great. Frankly, I was surprised how legit each item turned out. 

This post has been brought to you thanks to my mom for teaching me how to cook and Adam for introducing me to gay bar tacos. 

Shuffle

We had a three day weekend this past week so Helga, and I drove down to Arizona.

On the drive to and fro Arizona, the song "This Year" by The Mountain Goats, came on my iphone's shuffle a couple of times. 

When I listened to the chorus, it felt oddly like it does every morning I wake up. 

It is almost as if I have to give myself  a little pep talk every day. And without noticing it, my pep talk was in the form of the chorus from this song. 

I am going to make it though this year if it kills me.
I am going to make it though this year if it kills me.

Weird, but fitting.

As I listened to it in the car, I put my own words in the verses which were quite entertaining 

(if you know me well enough you might be able to figure my lyrics out, if not then you will always have to wonder). Then, I just left the chorus as is.  

And yes, I will make it through this year if it kills me. . .  

Then, "Fast Lane" by Eminem and Royce made its way into the line up.
There really wasn't anything in this song that is applicable to my life.

But when I heard the chorus:

Livin’ life in the fast lane
Movin’ at the speed of life and I can’t slow down
Only got a gallon in the gas tank
But I’m almost at the finish line, so I can’t stop now
I don’t really know where I’m headed, just enjoyin’ the ride
Just gon’ roll ’til I drop and ride ’til I die
I’m livin’ life in the fast lane (Pedal to the metal)
I’m livin’ life in the fast lane (Pedal to the metal)

 I thought to myself, why isn't this the pep talk I have to give myself every morning? Can you imagine? Instead of bribing myself to get out of bed in the morning I'd be like:

"Man Chelsie, you are doing so many amazing things with your life, living every minute to its fullest, you deserve 5 more minutes of sleep. No more than that though because you have more incredibly amazing things to do today!" 

Happy B-Day AZ!

I spent my entire life hating Arizona.
I always told myself (and everyone I know) that I was getting the heck out-a here as soon as I could.
At first, I started traveling as a means of getting out in small increments.

I left for Idaho just after high school, convinced that I would never come back. I didn't know that towns as small as Rexburg even existed, so that only lasted a few months.
I then served a mission for 18months in Brazil. Even though I loved it I was so ready to come home. At the time, I was convinced it was because I wanted to use a washer and dryer again...
I spent a summer in Virginia and spent every available "anytime minute" on the phone with my family.
Now, I have moved out and up. I am in Utah for school and when I drove out with mesa's polluted sky in my rearview mirror, I thought I'd never look back.

Here it is, February and I am back in mesa for a visit. Yes, I was here in November for Thanksgiving. Yes, I was here in December for Christmas. Yes, I was here in January for MLK day. And yes, I will be coming back at least one more time before April to get my hair done. (A very logical reason to make a 10 hour car drive each way...)

Can we say HOME SICK or maybe HOMEBODY is a better description.

I have learned for my past escape attempts, that I will eventually end up back here. I love it here. I love everything from the freeways to the smells, but mostly I love my family. All of whom are here in Mesa.

So, here's a tip of the hat to AZ and all it has done to make me who I am.

Happy Birthday, until we meet again.

Sometimes I Need Christina in My Life

If you know me at all, you would know that Grey's Anatomy is part of my life. Since 2005 these people have been part of my life. I may have a problem, remember what parasocial relationships are? Well, I have them with the whole cast! There have been 139 in the past 8 seasons of which I have seen each episode at least twice and yes, I have a favorite 3 minute scene that you can watch below. 

Even though my favorite scene is with Derrick and Meredith, my favorite character is Christina Yang.

Christina is a little rough around the edges and you wold never classify her as mushy or girly but she is a great friend. I am completely green with envy over her relationship with Meredith. On more than one occasion in my life I have thought that I would love to have a friend like Christina in my life.

As I have gone about life these last 26 years, I have had many friends.
Each friend so different and each friendship even more so.

I have had friends of convenience and friends who came as answers to prayers.
I've had friends made at play dates and some that were made at the lunch time misfit corner.
I've had friends that move on while other times I have moved on from friends.
I have friends that faded out as our paths separated and I have separated from friends without as much civility.
I have those awkward friends who are really my brothers friends (can they really be called my friends if I am just borrowing them?) and friends that were once just known as family.
I have had friends that I wished would end up more than just a friend and I have had friends that sucked the life out of me.
Finally, I have friends that will never need me the same way because their husbands have taken my spot on the "best friend" shelf. 

Christina is different though. She is always there when Meredith needs her. Like when she knew Meredith was having a hard morning she showed up and told her to get her butt out of bed. Or when she gets drunk with Meredith to help her drown out her dark and twisted-ness. But you know, one of the best things about a friend like Christina is that from time to time, she needs Meredith.

Don't get me wrong, I love my friends and I have a few lifelong friends whom I couldn't be whole without. This is just jealousy of a fictional friendship on a day when I just feel plain lonely. So, I can't say it better than Paul on 500 Days of Summer:

The girl of my dreams would probably have a really bodacious rack and maybe different hair and would probably be a little more into sports but truthfully, Robin is better than the girl of my dreams...she's real. 

Yes this was in context of a boyfriend/ girlfriend relationship but just work with me here.

The friend of my dreams would probably have a 6th sense for knowing when I need them and maybe be just different enough from me to keep me on my toes and probably be a little more into movies, eating out and shopping than sports. But truthfully, the friends I have are better than the friends of my dreams... they are real. 

I Live on Wisteria Lane

For my Media Effects class, we just studied Parasocial Interaction. For those of you who don't know what that is, I'll fill you in (heck, I'm not getting this masters for nothin!).

A parasocial interaction or relationship is when you develop a one-sided relationship between you and another person, often times a fictional character.
Within the parasocial relationship realm, there are 5 levels.

1. A harmless identification with the character
2. Sharing a perspective with the character
3. Investment of time and resources into unreal relationship
4. Being motivated by the goals of the character
5. Loss of Identity 

These levels start out harmless but by number 5 you'd end up with someone like Chip from The Cable Guy. 

Well, I am here to tell you that I am falling in line with Chip. This past few months, I started watching Desperate Housewives from the first season. You may think less of me or be glad I'm on the band wagon but now I am hooked! 

There were quite a few episodes that when one of the characters opened their fridge, they all had a bottle of POM. It just looked so beautiful that I had to stop and buy some. I shouldn't have because I am now addicted and it's like four bucks a bottle!  

 I chose to go with POM Cranberry Juice. I love everything cranberry. 

It is WONDERFUL and it is 100% JUICE

It says right on it "Drink it Daily. Feel it Forever." 

They say to drink a glass a day to have the same effects of drinking a glass of wine.

So, cudos to Desperate Housewives. I now have a habit of drinking a four dollar a bottle juice everyday and won't be happy until I have a Maserati Convertible to drive.