Things I'm Currently Loving...

I've decided that these types of posts need to happen about once a month. Sometimes, I just need to gush about my current obsessions, and see who else out there is as crazy in love with them as I am.

If you couldn't tell by my writing (or my bio), I'm really into pop culture. I live in New York, but I splurge on cable (which no one here apparently has...most don't have TVs...Come on people get with it!) because I can't bear to miss my shows. Plus I kind of feel like I should watch the major awards shows so I can be up on things that have to do with my job. I also still have a crazy collection of physical CDs, and though I do embrace digital as well (sup, Spotify?), I'm not getting rid of these babies any time soon.

So what am I currently loving? Let's talk...

Girls
I know, I know, I was late jumping on the Girls bandwagon. But see, even though I have a TV and cable, I did not spring for HBO, and I refuse to download anything illegally. So I had to wait for season one to be available for purchase, and went for it on Amazon Instant Video. I then proceeded to watch the entire season in three days (yeah I know, it's ten 30-minute episodes, but it's a true 30 minutes, no commercial breaks). I then became obsessed...and watched the season through more times than I care to share with you...

I love Girls because it's Sex and the City but for me. I wasn't old enough to watch the latter in its hey-dey, and my older sister was very into it so it never felt like mine. And I really just can't relate to those characters. But Girls, I actually KNOW those girls! I went to college with those girls. I was in their shoes when I worked a crappy job right after college to pay the bills. I live in New York and know how hard it is to figure out who you are in this city full of people trying to find themselves.

In fact, it was Hannah Horvath herself who said, "We're slaves to a city that doesn't even want us." Amen, girl. Don't even get me started on my love for Lena Dunham. I think her writing is genius. It's created everything I've ever wanted in a show. Even though I want to be Marnie (or at least look like her), my favorite has to be Shoshanna. My first introduction to Zosia Mamet was as Joyce in Mad Men, so seeing her as Shosh has solidified her place in my top favorite actors.

Also don't get me started on the music in this show. Whoever is the music supervisor has done a FANTASTIC job. Which leads me to my next obsession...

"Dancing On My Own" by Robyn
I was eight-years-old when Robyn walked into my life. She wanted to be shown love, but now our girl, is in the corner watching you kiss "her." C'mon dude! I like to think of my regular music diet as a well-balanced decadent meal filled with things you've probably never heard of (because sometimes my inner hipster comes out and thinks she's better than you), but this song is the sticky-sweet dessert that I eat an entire pint of at home on my couch. Seriously, I probably listen to this song at least twice a day, and I have no shame. I also lip-synch to it at my desk while bobbing my head, wishing I was jumping around and belting it out.


The Fact That Hockey Season Is Back
I feel no need to defend my love of hockey. Don't try to tell me it's terrible and that nobody cares about it because I can show you a major city where a vast majority cares about it. That place is Buffalo and my team is the Sabres.

I didn't pay much attention to the details of the lockout. I knew it was about money. I didn't really care, I just really wanted to watch some of my favorite sport. And so now that it's back, I'm elated. And the Sabres can do no wrong by me.

In fact, they never really have. Yeah, they've had some pretty off seasons, but you'll never hear me badmouthing them. They're my team! They're also humans who aren't perfect! One of the most annoying things I've found about sports fans is how quickly they can turn on their team or say that they suck. Really? Can you go out there and do a better job? Can you sprint down the ice, dodge five opponents and score a perfect goal? Then shut up and stop clogging my news feed with your garbage. JUST BE HAPPY FOR THIS GIFT FROM THE HOCKEY GODS.

Buzzfeed.com
Alright this isn't a new obsession, but it's certainly gotten out of hand as of late. I used to read the occasional article on here, but now it's part of my regular website lineup. For those that don't have one of these, it's the order of websites I visit when I first turn on my computer when I get home from work. It goes a little something like this:

• Facebook
• Yahoo Mail (because yes, I still have an account)
• What Should We Call Me? tumblr
• How Sweet It Is
• Buzzfeed

Buzzfeed is last because I know I will spend a stupid amount of time there. And then I sit here, alone, in my apartment laughing at loud at GIFs of people falling off treadmills, getting my mind blown and my childhood ruined by the fact that the Rugrats were figments of Angelica's imagination, and learning new uses for ordinary household objects. Guys, it's becoming unhealthy.

And then I go on Pinterest and realize that I really do have a problem.

This Video...

I get this song stuck in my head every. single. day. I'm not kidding. At least once a day I hear, "This is how bacon is supPOSed to be" in my head, and when I get excited about something, I just want to go, "daaamn, Daaamn, DAAAMMMN!" That's really all there is to it. It still isn't old to me. I found out about it last year....

That covers the major stuff. We'll explore more next month.

On Being an Adult on Days Off...

I just had the best lazy weekend ever. My cat was equalley stoked about me actually being around.

Don't get me wrong, staying busy is kind of my thing. I've been doing it since age five given all the extracurriculars I was involved in. As I've gotten older, I've narrowed my focus so rather than running from school to dance class to piano lessons and then softball the next day, I went to class, field hockey practice, newspapers meetings, night class and then studying. Now that I'm an "adult" (says the girl who just made grilled cheese for dinner and followed it up with half a chocolate bar for dessert), it's more like, wake up, work, come home, eat, lounge, sleep. But for some reason my weekends are always go, go, go. Since moving into my new apartment, I've either had visitors or been an visitor every weekend. This was my first weekend of NOTHING. Not that I don't love all you visitors or traveling, but sometimes you just seriously need to do nothing.

A snowy weekend is the best time for "nothing weekends" to happen.

Due to a nor'easter (because no, I'm not giving it a name), my office closed early on Friday, and apparently it was the perfect time for closing. Aside from having to use my umbrella as a shield against the wind on my three-block walk to the subway (if you ever move to New York, the best thing you can do is a buy a strong umbrella, which I'm really glad I have), my ride home was great. Usually I'm squished into a subway car like a sardine amongst other sardines that refuse to take their backpacks off or give up their seats for ladies carrying more than they are. But boarding the train at 3:15 pm gave me a seat and a quick and quiet ride. I wish this was my everyday.

I then proceeded to do nothing. I considered ordering in some food, then thought about how I would feel as a delivery person during a big winter storm, then thought about how I'm actually trying to save money, and decided against it. I made some random pasta dish that sufficed. Then I watched TV, worked on a huge crossword, got kind of bored and went to sleep.

Yesterday I was somewhat productive. I decided to really show what an adult I am and tackled my most hated chore, laundry. Laundry has always been the worst, mostly because since I started doing my own (yes, I didn't do my own laundry until college. Feel free to judge me), I've had to haul my laundry far enough to make it terrible. It was usually across a dorm building and down the stairs, or a block away to the laundromat (while hauling my laundry in grocery bags...because that's all I had as a non-paid intern), or bringing them down to the creepy basement of my last building that was probably a runner-up for the set of the Saw movies, and where I saw more than one cockroach. This building kind of rocks though. The elevator is around the corner from me, and then the laundry room is around the corner from there. Super easy, yeah?

Basically, I don't totally hate laundry anymore. Now I need a new chore to hate, because you have to hate one of them, right?

Oh, I also cleaned my whole apartment yesterday. There are advantages to living in a studio and cleaning more often than once a month. Good god, who am I?

Being from Buffalo, I'm a huge Buffalo sports fan, particularly when it comes to the Buffalo Sabres. You would think that being a New York state team they would be on occasionally in the city? Of course not. They play the New Jersey Devils games over the Sabres games. So I was pretty excited when I saw that my Sabres would be playing the New York Islanders this weekend, and expected them to be on TV.

I was wrong. MSG decided to play some show called Beginnings all day through my cable provider.

So I invited my two best friends in the city to join me at Red Star in Brooklyn to catch the game, have some beers and eat some bar food. I indulged in some wings and truffle fries. This place has the closest to Buffalo wings that I've had since leaving Buffalo. And the truffle fries are top notch. These are the two items I've ordered at this place both times I've been there, and I don't think I'll ever order anything else. What's even better? The Sabres won :)

I was also home before midnight, which rocks.

Today was probably the best day of this weekend (no offense, friends). I'm still in my pajamas as I type this at 7:15 pm. I finished season five of Dexter, threw some stuff in the crockpot for lunch for the week and made a grilled cheese. Seriously, that's all I've done today, and I'm not ashamed at all. I really needed to recharge after going, and going, and going for weeks. This was perfect.

And not to toot my own horn, but that crockpot meal is smelling like Flavor Town quality right now. If you've ever read the Song of Ice and Fire series (aka the Game of Thrones series), then you're well-aware of George R. R. Martin's food descriptions. This meal was inspired by it, because if I have to read about one more stewed onion covered in beef drippings without eating one, I'm gonna freak out. I didn't really follow a recipe for it, but I browned some beef, threw it in with some onions, carrots and garlic, then poured red wine and beef stock over top with salt, pepper and oregano. Sound good? The only other thing I have to do for it is make some orzo to accompany it.

Was this boring? Maybe it was. But what else are you supposed to write about on a personal blog? I don't really have any pressing issues to dissect, but maybe next time. Thanks for sticking with me :)