Viva Mexico!!

Any negative connotations you may hold about Mexico should be immediately forgotten. I can only suggest that everybody take the short trip to our neighbor country to experience the beauty of this country. I can guarantee you will fall in love with it’s colorful streets, endless countryside’s and welcoming people. I had assumed that I would be scoffed at, being a “gringo” traveling with my very “gringo” family. Instead we were embraced by every Mexican we came across.

The streets of Queretaro (a quaint historic city we stayed in) were filled with life. Families make up the majority of the population. Cute Mexican babies run around smiling with their parents walking behind. Street vendors sell colorful toys on wheels and little child sized donuts. Everywhere you turn there is color. The buildings, even in the poorer areas, are painted festive yellows pinks and oranges. The vendors sell silver earrings , sparkling mineral pendants, traditional wooden dolls in hand embroidered rainbow dresses and elegant Mexican scarves. Pinks purples and blues peep through every store window.

I went to Mexico to celebrate my oldest cousin, Seth, marrying a beautiful Mexican woman Lorena. Let me tell you, Mexican’s know how to party. The music started the minute the last plate was cleared after the ceremony. We were under a big tend on a cactus filled ranch a few minutes outside of town. Mexican men and woman rushed to the dance floor and put any club dancing to shame. They had grace and elegance swirled with sex appeal and lust. The dancing never ended.

On Sunday, the day after the wedding our little town was transformed into a festival. This was not a special occasion- they do that every Sunday! The streets are blocked off and families from all over gathered for music shopping food and more dancing. There were bands in every street corner wearing festive sombreros. People brought stacks of meat and tortillas as tall as me. The smell was intoxicating.

Despite all the hardships of this country their people are full of love and life. They are family oriented caring individuals. They work hard and play hard. If you ask me, Mexico have the right idea about how life should be. I cannot wait to be back.

Falling for Fall

Last week I went to sleep and when I awoke it was fall. School was starting, the crispy NH air smelled of ripening apples and plaid was everywhere. The moment summer ends and school begins has always been a dreadful event. This year was a bit different. After a long and rather uneventful (though enjoyable) summer I was slightly excited for life to return to this sleepy town. Not to mention fall fashion. There is nothing more indulgent and fabulous than shopping for fall fashion. I detest summer clothing. Shorts are my worst nightmare. I am just not, and will never be, one of those girls who was blessed with a set of legs made for shorts. Long cargo shorts make me look frumpy. Short shorts make me feel fat. If I do find an acceptable pair, I tend to feel naked when I wear them in public. Then there is the issue of my unfortunate cutting scar that makes my leg look like a treasure map with an unattractive "X" scar. So when the weather begins to cool off I immediately jump with joy while pulling on my favorite denim. So many options- so many styles! This season I am dying over military trends and dark neutral colors like navy, purple, hunter green and browns of every shade.
I'm so over skinny jeans by the way. I remember going to Forever 21 with my mom in seventh grade foaming at the mouth over my first pair of skinny jeans. They were impossible to find at that point. Now it's impossible to find anything else. I'm trying to train my butt to be more comfortable in looser jeans. The painted on look should go ASAP. It's all about the slouchy sexy look. And boots! That was my nickname in high school because I only wore boots come October. I ADORE boots. When do they not look better than a pair of flats?? Never!

In other fall news my yard is being invaded by coyotes. Growing up in NY my biggest worry was getting stung by a bee. Now all of a sudden I'm waking up in the middle of the night to a pack of coyotes howling in delight over their kill. The first night I heard them I was literally rocking back and forth on the living room floor with Bug in one arm and Beast in the other while Ryan guarded the back door with a BB gun. I'm clearly mentally unprepared for the NH wildlife. Upon further research I've learned that we also have mountain lions, bears, and rattle snakes. I'm never letting the dogs outside again. If anyone knows of a doggy port-a-potty please let me know!

"It's like walking a butterfly."- Ryan on walking Beast. Haha love it!

Real Men Watch Chick Flix.

I'm sitting on my slouchy brown living room couch next to Ryan. Bug and Beast are passed out next to us. We're watching an HBO special on the NY Jets. My girlie mind is fascinated in seeing behind the curtains on these superstar players. I want to meticulously observe them searching for every shred of gossip to discuss afterwards. (We usually spend an hour before bed looking things up online and watching YouTube). Tonight I want to look up Mark Sanchez who I think looks exactly like Brody Jenner. And I'll probably gush about how much I love coach Rex Ryan (who was eating a gigantic bag of pretzel M & Ms during a meeting. Have you tried them? You should.)

Before the show started Ryan said, with twinkles in his eyes, "Do you mind it we watch it?! We can watch a girlie show first". That right there is (one of the reasons) why I love him. Ryan indulges me in endless chick-flix and ubber trashy girl TV. He listens to all of my rants on celebrities ("OMG Justin Bieber is driving a Lambo. Isn't he like nine?!!") and lets me play Cosmo Radio in the car whenever I please. When our guy friends scoff at my TV taste he defends me saying if you don't take any of it seriously it can be hysterical.

My Tivo schedule is a smorgasbord of humiliating reality TV shows, Bravo contests, HGTV design shows and sports games. Shouldn't everything in a relationship be a compromise? I'm not trying to change the fact that Ryan plays Halo and watches football. He's not trying to change my obsession with gossip magazines and Real Housewives. It takes mutual respect to be able to compromise. He understands that I can only bear about an hour of Halo, and I understand that he'll watch my Housewives but can't put up with Rachel Zoe. We respect each other's boundaries.

Sometimes it pays off to let our guys do their thing. I got to write this blog! And equally as rewarding- I got to watch the entire Jets team test out the Shake Weight. Seeing Mark Sanchez hold a jiggling bar in front of his mouth-Classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud_sjkvwmwg&feature=related

Bitchy Vegetarian

Technically I'm not a vegetarian. I'm a pescetarian (meaning I eat fish). I take a lot of flack for this. "Fish are animals. Therefore you eat animals, right?" It used to make me very uncomfortable, guilty even. But I'm happy to report that I've decided to officially accepted my status as pescetarian. Call me whatever you want!

I found myself on the defense more often than not when I alerted someone new of my eating habits. People love to put me in a corner- accuse me of being a poor vegetarian, or prod into my reasoning, trying to prove me wrong. "No matter what you do animals are still dying so what’s the point!?" That one really pisses me off. I'm a vegetarian (ok, pescetarian) because I don't want to eat animals. I'm well aware that one person not eating meat will not keep more animals alive. I realize I'm probably not making a huge dent in the pockets of butchers and slaughterhouses. But that's not the point.

Everything in life seems to be a contest. Like we're all trying to outdo each other. And if we can't be number one then we put others down to justify that. In the race to be green carrying re usable bags around isn't good enough. You must drive a hybrid and install solar panels as well. In the race to be the ideal family in my hometown driving a Benz isn't good enough. You must have a vacation house and apartment in the city as well. It's tiring trying to be the best!

Early on in my veggie days (which started when I was twelve) I was a strict vegetarian. No gelatin, no fish, no cheeses containing rennet (an additive in some cheeses to coagulate milk- it comes from animal stomachs). I wanted to be the best. Eventually, after three Halloweens without my absolute favorite Candy Corn (which contains gelatin) I broke down. I ate an entire bag of the candy corn and candy pumpkin mix. I missed my gummy sugar fixes more than any meat!

After my Candy Corn breakdown I felt like a failure. I didn't fit inside those perfect lines. I wasn't the best. I stopped telling people I was a vegetarian because I was so ashamed, even though I still wasn't eating any actual meat.

I say screw those perfect lines! I'm not a vegetarian for everybody else. I'm a vegetarian for the animals. What those money hungry industrial farms do to animals is despicable. The inhumane torture they put innocent chickens, cows, sheeps and pigs through should be outlawed. I find our government, and sometimes our world to be full of Species-ism. Animals deserve our full respect. I show them my respect by not eating or wearing them. If others show their respect by eating less of them, or by not using products tested on them, or by simply supporting them then that's great too.

If everyone skipped meat for just one day the U.S would save 70 million gallons of gas, 1.5 billion pounds of crops,and 100 billion gallons of water. If you're trying- you're succeeding.

(Stats from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/the-breathtaking-effects_b_181716.html)

Stylish Bitch

Rompers need to go. They scream "third grade picnic outfit". Ninety percent of the time they're ill fitted. To pull off such a design, like with most fads, you need to be 6'100 and resemble the limb of a small tree. That leaves about 1 percent of americans equipped to wear rompers. Quite honestly I get uncomfortable looking at them- worrying that at any moment the wearer is going to sit down and receive massive camel toe. It's not a pretty picture but I know the one and only time I tried on a too small seemingly adorable romper that was my exact experience. So please Stylish Bitches- think twice before rocking that Romper!

Brenda Song from Disney making me gag in her romper-gone-wrong moment:

http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=1&tag=polterwang&limit=10&IncludeBlogs=1

Found this little critter next to the deck one summer morning. He was kind of...slow, but equally adorable!