Merry Christmas!

I'm in the mountains with my family and limited internet connections until after the new year.



These cute li'l guys are Gilroy, the beagle, and Asti, the dalmatian. There is nothing in the world that they want more than for you to have a fabulous Christmas. Well, that, and more dog food.

Drink the Tree.

Matt and I went to the most fun party last weekend, thrown by Matt's friend Tony:

There were bottles of alcohol on a Christmas tree, and the objective of the party was to "Drink the Tree." I know, I know, Tony is a genius. And even better? This is the 3rd annual Drink the Tree.

And the 200 people attending the party did drink that tree. Heartily.

Thankfully, I took pictures.

First, the Tree, as it was central to the party:


And yes, those are little airline bottles of alcohol, or "nips," hung on the tree. And yes, the tree was returned to Home Depot the next day.

For clarification, I've taken a close-up.


I know, I'm too good to you. Two pictures of the tree.

And still: Party-goers were instructed to bring their own nips to the party, so I made a sign, based on crudely-drawn pen and ink diagrams, of how to get Christmas ornament hooks onto a nip of alcohol:


And, there were MANY more nips at the party than actually were able to hang on the tree:


And. I might have had my fair share of the nips. I did end the night wearing antlers.

I've Been Gone, But I've Been Doing Fun Things, and I've Taken Pictures, and I'm Working on a Big Post, So, Forgive Me?

So, Matt tells me that Above the Law is a famous law/law school blog. I don't care about these sort of things for everyday reading, but when I'm told about a funny story concerning Matt's old law school, I can't resist.

Apparently, people are having sex in the law school library. Again.

Yes, this is the 3rd time in 4 years that the school has sent out an email like that. Three years ago when they first sent out an email, it was funny. Two years ago, it was passe. This year? Damn hysterical.

But the best thing? The article from the Harvard Crimson that Above the Law linked to. SO funny.

The More I Look At This Story, the More I Think the Chinese Government Was Just Looking for Some Favorable Publicity

So, did everyone see this story about the world's tallest man saving the lives of those dolphins in China?

It's totally surreal, like a movie ending.

The cute kid, who loves the ocean, and overcomes some sort of obstacle, possibly a poor parents or a bully at school, and then finds the dolphins in peril. The kid takes the dolphins to the scientists, who are unable to help them, and then, magically, a 7'9" Mongolian herdsman comes lumbering out of the mountains to the rescue. At first the people are scared of him, but the townspeople discover that he is a gentle giant, and that he has much to offer the community. He saves the dolphins in the nick of time, and the child and the giant wander off into the sunset, with the kid riding on the giant's shoulders.

Honestly, to make it cuter, they should have them playing with pandas.

Three Random Things: Food, Dreams, and a Picture

This morning I went to the grocery store to get everything I needed to make Marcia Pizza.

And the grocery store?

Did NOT have pesto.

And pesto is INTEGRAL to Marcia Pizza. Unless it's BBQ Marcia Pizza, and then BBQ sauce is integral. I know, I know, I should probably decide which sauce is integral, but... still.

So, I had to, for the first time in my life, make pesto.

Which probably I should have done earlier in my life. But I haven't.

And it was surprisingly easy. And cheap. Just basil, parmesean, garlic, pine nuts, and olive oil in the blender. And I like using my blender. Seeing everything whir together like that gives me a sense of power.

The other exiciting thing about tonight's Marcia Pizza, besides a) the homemade pesto and b) the fact I haven't made it in a while because we've been being "healthy" and all the carbs, cheese, and cured meats involved aren't really with that line of thinking, is that I got to cut all the vegetables with the mandoline (Except mine is yellow. But Anne did know that I needed the handguard.) that my sister-in-law Anne gave me for Christmas. So they were pretty and thin and I was able to cut them SO QUICKLY.

Next issue to discuss:

Last night, I had a dream that I was a Scientologist. Except instead of hanging out with Tom Cruise and John Travolta, it was really a cult-thing, like those people who killed themselves with the Hale-Bob comet back in 1997. (The reason I remember that it was 1997? I remember seeing the comet while I was at my Sophomore prom. Wearing a pretty yellow dress [with a scandalously low back that I wore to a law school dance a year ago]. Going out with a loser hick named Ben. Who took me to prom in a truck. YeeHaw!) And instead of that grey-haired old looking prophet that let everyone to the kool-aid in their Nikes.... it was a really, really hot leader. Which is why there were so many women in the cult. Luckily I managed to wake up before we all killed ourselves.

Needless to say, I woke up very disoriented.

Also, this past weekend, I was at my in-laws, and I took this pretty sunset picture in their backyard.


It was pinker than this photo suggests, and it would have shown up better, but I may have been drinking. All weekend. I blame my mother in law. Who always wants to make sure I have a good time.

Now That I'm an Unemployed Housewife, These Are the Things I Think About:

1) Dude, I totally think that Elizabeth Hasselbeck is knocked up again. "Who?" all you employed people query. "Um, the co-host of the view that was on survivor and married that quarterback, duh," I reply, and then hang my head in shame for knowing such things. But at the beginning of the season, when Rosie first came on, she was talking about wanting to have another baby... and all that talk has stopped, and now on her tres svelt frame, she's wearing gather-y tops over what looks to me like an ever-expanding waistline and holding her arms and props in front of her stomach as often as possible. I think she's at least 3-4 months now.

2) On days like today, when the Great Lakes drop 6 inches of snow on Akron, I'm lucky enough to be able to curl up in a blanket and make myself some truly decadent hot chocolate, and watch the forest outside my widown fill up with snow. With the heat on full blast.

3) I'm really excited about how I've been able to develop myself (even though I'm not sure it shows in the fabulous TPS) this year. I've improved my cooking, my sewing, my crafting... I've been working on my writing. I've also stopped exercising, but hey, you win some, you lose some. I'm still a size 2, on my fat days, so I think I can handle it.

4) Now that I don't live at home, doesn't the holiday season just seem different? I'm at the point where I don't decorate my house, and yet my parents don't really do the whole thing any more... I was never really a "Christmas Enthusiast," but sometimes I miss the carefree times when all I had to do was hang some ornaments on the tree and wait for Santa to come.

5) I am good at cooking, but that baking thing? I'm not as confident about. I rarely bake cakes or cookies, and when I do, I am not so good at it. I am nervous, and invariably that causes me to do something bad.

But I do make a mean brownie from scratch. :)

Inwhich We Delve Into Marcia's Sordid Past:

Ok, Marcia's past isn't that sordid. And she's going to stop talking about herself in the third person.

That's better.

My first boyfriend my freshman year in college was Brian. I thought he was dreamy. He thought I was dreamy. But we never really made it past that first month of dreaminess, and then I met Matt.

And then Matt and Brian had the same major. And became close friends. And were roommates together in London.

And then Brian came to the fabulous Marcia and Matt wedding of Petron margaritas (or, at least, I think that's all that Brian remembers). And then I was lucky enough to go to a wedding in Minnesota with him and his gorgeous girlfriend Alli this summer.

Alli (who I like to call Guest for reasons that are evident in Brian's post about the wedding this past summer), was nice enough to send me a pair of her old jeans. Which I then turned into probably my favorite skirt I've made yet. It's another flower-y embroidery skirt, and it's done all in pinks with a little purple, white, and yellow.


And the back:



I really like how the trouser-length hem at the bottom of this skirt made that pretty distressed pattern at the bottom.

Also, as you know, I like to show off my work, so here are closeups of the embroidery:





Becuase I was doing frayed edges on this one, I did all the stitching by hand. And I think it worked out really well.

And remember, email me at marseeah(at)gmail(dot)com if you want a skirt of your own!

Happy December!

And, as you should know, this means that the second issue of Fetch is out!

Kat has spent the past week or so editing, uploading, finding pictures, and stressing. She even missed her office Christmas party.

Missing a party? With alcohol? Now that's dedication.

And yes, (warning, shameless self-promotion ahead), I've written the second of my recurring column Faking It, about being a domestic goddess without really trying. Check it out!

All of the articles this issue are awesome. Some highlights? The beauty advice column. And the work advice article that I helped edit (which I'm sure my former coworkers will find hysterical).

Happy reading! Mondays are for procrastinating, right?

British Men in Tuxes, Playing the Ukulele, Singing "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

Which is just what we needed on a Saturday morning.


3 Things:

1) I think that the lead singer looks like Chris Noth. But taller, and without the (early Law and Order, not Sex and the City) propensity for tartan ties.

2) I can't believe that after all this time, grown men still know all the words to "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

3) Check out their website. Seriously, reading their FAQ and "What is the UOGB?" pages really made me smile.

Everyone Mispronounces My Name, But I Love it Anyway.

I spent several hours on the phone with Expedia today, because the airlines changed the times of my flights, and they were no longer available.

And the nice lady dealt at Expedia spent a long time figuring out how to get me and my husband to Colorado for Christmas, which, at this point, wasn't easy for them, but we got it done. And actually, the timing works better on these flights than the earlier ones (that I bought two months ago).

BUT.

I had to be on hold several times, and every time she came back from talking to the airlines, or talking to her supervisor, or whatever else it was that she had to do to get my flights working, she said, "Hello, Marsha, I'm sorry for keeping you on hold for so long."

This phrase made me laugh the first time she said it. Especially because the first few times, she corrected herself with a "Marsha - Mar-she-ah - Marcy - Marcia" (for those of you who don't know, my name is pronounced "Mar-SEE-ah"). But by the 12th time, she wasn't even noticing that she was mispronouncing it.

This made me almost sad that I'd told her that she didn't have to call me Ms. Pink Shoe. (No, that's not my last name. But it's all you're getting for now.) I'd rather hear Ma'am, which I hate, than my first name mispronounced.

Now, I don't expect phone-answers from online travel sites to be paid enough to remember my name. I actually feel badly when I correct people, especially service people that I'll never see again. But unfortunately, it's instinct for me, when I hear the name "Marsha" to reply, "Sorry, it's Mar-See-Ah."

After I remind people that my name is pronounced the same as Garcia, but with an M, they remember it. But Garcia is a common last name, and it's almost never mispronounced. If someone said "Garsha," people would think that they were idiots. (Actually, thinking of it, one of my bridesmaid's last names is Lopez, another common last name, yet I've heard people try to rhyme her last name with Ropes.)

As an added hint as to how my name is pronounced, I throw a large accent over the I in my name... but people rarely seem to notice.

When I hear the word "Marsha," I have memories of a line of people saying "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" (a la Jan Brady) to me, thinking they're cute and original. I think about a boy from high school who had a crush on my who could never pronounce my name correctly - MAR-see-ah, instead of Mar-SEE-ah. I remember thousands of role calls and telemarketers confidently saying my first name and mangling it.

Even though the mispronunciation of my name completely distresses me, I wouldn't change it for anything. I think it's beautiful and unusual and fits me. And I love that my name reminds me of my Italian heritage.

I just wish people would realize that there's no way that "ci" makes a "sh" sound.