Mortimer Blooms

Meet Mortimer, Matt's cactus.

This is not a grilled cheese sandwich!

Okay Carl's Jr, I am really sick of your advertising. First, it was the slogan, "If it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face," which you weirdly juxtaposed with busty models eating your sloppy sandwiches (Weird because if the viewer applies the same slogan to the model instead of the burger it's be just . . . gross). Next, you moved away from the objectification of women and instead lampooned men, all of whom are apparently too stupid to prepare any sort of meal for themselves.  This is actually rampant in advertising; it's not okay to make fun of women, but it's okay to make men seem too dumb to tie their shoes, let alone operate a blender. Then you bragged about your obscene portion sizes, perhaps to compensate for your prices, because I'm guessing your Six Dollar Burger actually is around six dollars. Now, you have resorted to making shit up. In the commercial below, you are calling a bacon cheeseburger a grilled cheese sandwich.



If the dude in the commercial wanted a bacon cheeseburger, he would have ordered one. But he wanted a grilled cheese sandwich. Which is why he didn't order a burger like the rest of his friends. I will consent that if you add tomato, or maybe even bacon, to a grilled cheese sandwich, it's probably okay to call it a grilled cheese. But when you add a hamburger patty you move very clearly into the "burger" category and no amount of advertising or delusion will change that. So cut it out.

Busy Bee

Whew. It's been a busy couple of weeks. It's been fun for me, but bad for my blog, as I haven't had much time to be pensive.  Here's a recap of my recent activities.  I'll try to keep it interesting, but I must admit this post is primarily self-absorbed.

During the week of the 11th, Matt's step-brother, Mike, was vacationing in San Diego with his wife and kids, so we hung out with them one night and babysat the kids another. They have a five year old girl and a three year old boy, and they say, if you'll forgive the cliche, the darnedest things.  The week produced such gems as, "I think I'll draw a nocturnal, like a skunk," and "I'm three so I get privacy."

That weekend, Matt's mom, Sue, and her husband, Peter (Mike's dad), came to visit. Before Mike and his family left, we all had breakfast with the parents at a great Salvadoran place called El Salvadoreno.  It's pretty much one of my favorite places in town.  Their pupusas are great but lately I've been into the plantain stuffed with beef:

The rest of the day was spent with Matt's mom and Peter.  We went for a walk in Torrey Pines, then we went to see an exhibit at the Lux Art Institute in Encinitas.

Torrey Pines

That evening, we took Sue and Peter to Lucha Libre, a local taco shop with a Mexican wrestling theme (hence the name).  We chose this establishment over others partly because it's very unique and not something you can get anywhere else, but mostly because Matt and I have been wanting to sit at their "Champion's Booth" for a while now.  Basically, in a joint where everyone else is ordering at the counter and being served in take-out containers, those at the Champion's Booth get wait service and food served on gold plates.  The booth requires reservations, so Matt made them for us.  We didn't tell his mom and Peter about the place, wanting to surprise them, which in retrospect may have been a little cruel of us, because we told them we had reservation which I think led them to believe it was a fancier restaurant.  They both showed up in nice clothes looking well coiffed.  However, they were very good sports about it, and even donned some wresting masks with us:

Sunday we started with a nice hike on Black Mountain led by a group called the Canyoneers.  Afterward we went to the Hillcrest Farmer's Market (the one good idea I had that weekend, Matt came up with everything else).  For dinner, Matt made spinach pasta, although we all helped crank out the noodles:

Our last outing with Peter and Sue was on Monday, when we dined at Cantina Mayahuel.  Overall, I really enjoyed spending all that time with them because this is the first time they've been in town since Matt and I started dating.  I've met them before, but never on my own turf.

Their departure did not result in much restfulness on our parts.  Thursday we hung out with friends and Friday my old roommate and her boyfriend were in town so we all had dinner at the SoHo Restaurant and Lounge.

Yesterday we went to Chicano Park Day.  Chicano Park is located beneath the Coronado Bridge, and it has a ton of great murals (and I am picky about my murals, I prefer them conceptual, landscapes can be so tacky).  The festival they have there each April hosts performers of music and traditional dance, delicious food, and an excellent car show.  Although many of the cars feature misogynistic artwork, I still really appreciate the skill they display.

(The woman on the other side of the hood was topless.)

We couldn't stay at Chicano Park for long because we had to drive up to Riverside for the wedding of my high school best friend.  I hadn't seen her since I was 18, and I was around for the beginnings of her relationship with the great guy that is now her husband.  It was a long drive and Matt and I were exhausted but it was really great to see her again.

Today Matt and I met up with his friend Ron at the Roots Festival, which is a free street fair/music festival that takes place in our neighborhood.  In the past the festival has been more oriented on folk and local music, but it seems to be getting more pop-y (much to Matt's dismay). We checked out a group called The Reflectacles, listened to a few songs by The Watson Twins (perhaps most famous for the album perform they did with Jenny Lewis, of Rilo Kiley fame), and watched Sara Watkins play the fiddle.  In between we ate polish sausages and ice cream, and laughed at all the weird vendors they brought in this year as part of some weird holistic health thing.

Overall, I've had a really great, really tiring couple of weekends. Incredibly interesting for me, although probably less interesting as a post. Next time, I'll be sure to post something that sounds less like a school report titled "What-I-Did-On-My-Summer-Vacation."

This is my scary face . . .

I plan to write a longer post later this week, including additional photos of our activities with the out-of-towners, but here is a preview:

Hair

I've decided to donate my hair, but before I can, I need to spend a few months growing more of it.  It is currently at armpit length.  I've been itching to lose some inches; it's heavy and I don't do anything with it. However, I think I'm not likely to let it grow this long again, so if I'm ever going to donate my hair, now is the time. In order to for me to have enough hair to donate and still have a style I like, I need to grow about three more inches, which should take about six months. I will need a bit of patience, so I'm posting about it here. This way, my commitment feels official and I will be less likely to change my mind.

I haven't chosen the recipient of my donation, but I am leaning toward Locks of Love. Based on  my research, I feel they will make the best use of my hair. This is specifically because I have some layers and their website specifically indicates that's okay, because they sell the shorter hair to offset their costs. I have actually learned a bit in researching the different organizations, and I've made a chart for comparison of the different organizations (below). I was particularly wowed by Matter of Trust, which uses donated hair in a completely unexpected way.

Program	Who benefits?	Requirements	Link to website
Pantene Beautiful Lengths	American Cancer Society	Min Length: 8 inches No bleach, permanent dye, or chemical treatment, no more than 5% grey	http://tiny.cc/lxpr4
Wigs For Kids/ Childhood Leukemia Found-ation	Children under 18 with hair loss due to burns, chemo/ radiation alopecia, or other medical reason	Min Length: 12 inches Hair cannot be permed, color-treated, or highlighted	http://tiny.cc/l6u0x
Locks of Love	Financially disadvantaged children in the US and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.	Min Length: 10 inches Colored or permed okay but no bleach, layered hair okay if longest is 10 inches	http://tiny.cc/kj25u
Children with Hair Loss	Children with any form of medically related hair loss	Min Length: 8 inches Non-chemically treated preferred but any hair accepted	http://tiny.cc/ydtfe
Matter of Trust	The environment: used to clean up oil spills	Min length: none Any type of hair from the head is okay	http://tiny.cc/puank

This week has been busy because Matt has relations in town, but we have a fun weekend ahead so hopefully that will just provide more material for blogging!

Library Fashion

You know how sometimes when your attention is called to something you start noticing references to that something everywhere? Like someone tells you about a band and then you notice it featured on NPR or something? Well, I recently started following The Indie Handmade Show and stumbled upon an older entry featuring a polyvore look called "I love my books."  This was interesting for two reasons.

First, Matt recently told me about polyvore, which is an art/fashion site where you use images to create different looks. I toyed around with it for a bit when he mentioned it to me a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't immediately captivated by it.

Secondly, back in February a friend posted a facebook link to Archival Allure, a fashion blog of sorts that features style for "information professionals." My own wardrobe contains nearly no vintage items (I have a few scarves and gloves that were my grandmother's), but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the occasional cardigan or cameo. In my opinion, the creators of Archival Allure are incredibly classy and hip, so I've found it a fun site to peruse.

So you see, when I saw the the polyvore book look, it was one of those weird things and it inspired me. So here's my own library look, probably a little cliché with the pencil skirt and Victorian top, but at least it's not all grey (which was the complaint of the friend that linked me to Archival Allure).

library look by Miss Michael featuring Manoush tops