Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Let the Games Begin!

The 2012 summer Olympics in London are only days away and Mike and I are very excited for the festivities to begin.  Not only do we enjoy watching all of the competitions and hearing all of the stories of triumph, we also really enjoy watching the always impressive and extravagant opening and closing ceremonies.  To kick off our two week Olympic watching marathon (that’s a sport of its own!) we like to pay homage to the host country and have a meal that reflects that country while watching the opening ceremonies.

This little tradition started back in 2004 for the Athens games when we had gyros.  For the Turin games we had pizza from our favorite pizza place.  The Beijing games had us ordering Chinese takeout (we think the whole area had the same idea as our food took forever to be delivered that night!).  For the Vancouver games we challenged ourselves a bit and decided to cook our own meal of Canadian walleye and venison; all washed down with some Moosehead!
Upon doing some research on typical British foods I found that much of it is heavy, winter type foods.  The English have a very meat and potatoes diet.   However, the 100 degree weather we’ve been having doesn’t really lend itself to wanting to eat that sort of food.  I did find out that fish and chips were a typical carry out meal for the Brits.  Since Friday fish frys are a very common in Wisconsin and fairly easy to find as a take out option we decided to take that route.  I will also be making an English trifle for dessert.  I scoured the grocery store for other items that were made in England;  crumpets, tea, Cadbury fingers, biscuits, Melba toast, Ambrosia devon custard, and spotted dick.  I always wanted to have a reason to buy a can of spotted dick (hopefully I don’t contract an STD)!  And don’t forget the Newcastle, Bass, and Pimm’s cocktail!  Over the course of two weeks we will sample these foods while watching our favorite every two year sporting event.  But, even though we will be eating like the British, we will be cheering for the USA all the way! 

Once these games are over we will start planning for the winter games in Russia.  We will only have a year and a half to figure out what the Russians eat; besides vodka! 




Sunday, July 8, 2012

Favorite Things - Tweezerman Brow Shaping Brush

If you know me, you know that one of my defining features are my full, dark eyebrows. And for those of you blessed (in terms of this post) with skinny nothings for eyebrows you may not know anything about the contraption I'm about to talk about. The eyebrow brush! The eyebrow brush is a staple of my beauty routine. Some people don't leave the house without mascara or lipstick. I don't leave the house without brushing my brows! For years I used the standard style as picture below; the eyelash comb/eyebrow brush combo. I would buy cheap ones and I would buy more expensive ones but none of them ever seemed to survive more than a few months. The plastic would crack and the bristles would fall out. I had to resort to super glue and scotch tape many a time to hold me over until I could get to the drugstore to purchase a new one. I had it! I needed to buy a steel eyebrow brush (my brows really aren't THAT unruly!) or something. I started my quest on Amazon, another favorite of mine. That's when I discovered a different style of brush. It's more of a mascara style brush. It didn't even cost much more than some of the other brushes I had purchased in the past (roughly $11). I like that it retracts back into it's holder; nice for traveling and possibly adding a protection factor. I've been using this brush daily (multiple times per day) since November and it hasn't fallen apart yet. I'm so happy with my new find that I had to share!


Old Style Eyebrow Brush
New Tweezerman Brow Shaping Brush

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Project MCP - June

I was way behind on this months assignments and didn't post most of them until the last week of the month.  But, I completed them all.  I didn't go out of my way to get them nor am I overly impressed with any of them, but I managed to get a picture for each theme.  So, here they are!


June Week 1: Summer Love
I love attending Milwaukee Brewers games during the summer.


June Week 2: Night Photo
Relaxing on the deck on a Friday evening.


June Week 3: Candid Photo
I would say most of my photos are of the candid variety.  Here's Mike blowing bubbles for Gilbert.


June Week 4: Refresh
Mike decided to grow grass during a drought!  We have the sprinkler set on a timer and it's working wonderfully.  The mist always looks so inviting on a hot day!