On pin-ups

I went to Barnes and Noble last night to cash in some of my gift cards (woohoo!), and among some other new finds, I picked up a calendar for the BF and I. I wanted to get a larger calendar for our kitchen so I didn’t have to keep printing out my Outlook calendar for us to keep track of our numerous social engagements– ha!

At any rate, I picked up a mini wall calendar with the artwork of Gil Elvgren. Don’t know who he is? Not to worry… he’s not quite as well-known as Picasso, VanGogh, or any of the Renaissance greats. He’s an American artist whose work was widely distributed in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.

You’ve most likely seen his style in tattooing. I know that’s where I first heard of him.

Gil Evlgren (old link, but the gallery is pretty good) is one of the foremost artists of pin-up girls, second in popularity only to Alberto Vargas.

Now here’s the thing: some people find pin-up girls (and I’m speaking of the pin-ups noted above and not the newer ones) smutty. Sometimes, I agree. I prefer the old-school pin-ups created in the ’30s to the ’70s, the ones that don’t show tons of skin. My favorites? Elvgren’s girls-next-door caught in surprising situations that just so happen to result in a racy/slightly-shocking picture.

This is where my opinion comes in. Some people think the old-school pin-up girls represent the sexualization of the American woman and the pressure of mainstream media on women to achieve an ideal body type. I disagree. As I was looking at my calendar, I realized that the pin-up movement inspired American women to embrace their inner femininity and sensuality. These paintings aren’t sexy, they’re sensual. They’re about women having fun and finding themselves in embarrasing situations, figuring out what to do to get out of them. Peeping Toms, skirts caught in motorcycle wheels (which is why you should wear pants, incidentally, but that’s beside the point), and frogs jumping out at teachers– all not-so-common occurrences, but they make for great art.

The women in these paintings don’t have today’s rail-thin body types. They’re curvy. They have waists and hips, a classic hourglass shape. If our society could only embrace the shapes and attitudes of these pin-up girls, women everywhere would be in a much happier place. Think about it. You don’t have to worry about maintaining your boyish figure, figuring out how to make yourself as top-heavy as possible. Leaving more to the imagination with your wardrobe, only hinting at what might be underneath your killer outfit.

So here’s my charge to my female readers: buy some thigh-high stockings and a slightly longer, fuller skirt. Pair them with a blouse and some high heels. Define your waist. Embrace your inner glamour girl and your true figure. It doesn’t matter what you look like, what you’re shaped like, or what your personal body issues are: take a look at some classic pin-up girls and feel their confidece emanating from the paintings. Harness that confidence, be your own pin-up, and rule the world.

Rare Edition, 1962 by Gil Elvgren

These are a few of my favorite things…

Skiing

I finally, after skiing/snowboarding off and on and switching back and forth for 15 years or so, successfully navigated my very first ever black diamond-rated trail. The BF and I went to Wachusett for a half day of skiing, and lucky for us, they offer a later-half-of-the-day (oh, like afternoon? Duh.) half-day pass. Most mountains only have morning half-day passes. We slept in a bit, then rolled out of bed and drove the just over an hour to the mountain. I started the season off with a bunch of blue squares, then the BF asks if I want to try out the trail that runs right under the chair. It looks OK from above (they all do, don’t they?), so I agree. Then, we get to the top of the trail and I see that it’s a black diamond. I really wasn’t up for expanding my horizons that day, and got mad at him, but gave it a shot anyway. I’m glad I did! Maybe I’ll listen to him more often! My new skis were really awesome on the ice that’s so prevalent here in New England, so I felt much more confident than I did on my old skis. Yay!!

Ballet

I haven’t taken a ballet class since 6th grade or so, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to be a ballerina on some level. Unfortunately, I’m too old and too fat to be a ballerina (a sad fact, considering I’m 22 and not even remotely fat for a normal person) but I’m still taking a ballet class with the Boston Ballet this winter-spring. Unfortunately, I got an e-mail this morning telling me that the brand-new studio they’re constructing won’t be ready in time for the start of classes. The barre and mirrors have yet to be installed, and they’re kind of wicked important to a ballet studio. My tuition will be prorated so that I don’t have to pay for the month I’m not taking classes, and I won’t feel so bad about missing classes while I’m in Colorado, and I get to do my Wednesday night yoga class a few more times, so I’m not too upset. My shoes, leotards, and tights are all telling different stories, though! They just want to dance!

Baking/Cooking

For Christmas, I received a toaster oven, scone pan, aluminum scoop, zester/grater, two cookbooks, a couple of gadgets, cookie cutters/punches and a bunch of mixes for cookies and quickbreads. Who’s hungry? My New Year’s Resolution this year is to take a cooking or baking class. I’ve officially decided that instead of going to grad school for marketing/communication/journalism/something related that I’m going to culinary school instead. I told my aunt, who’s a pastry chef, on Christmas. I told her about my big business idea (can’t tell you yet), and she said that she’d love to get into it with me once my cousin is in school. I’m so excited!

Thoughtful gifts

I love when I get a gift that I know someone’s thought a lot about. The BF gave me a home brewing kit so I can start brewing my own beer and tickets to the Nutcracker for Christmas, both things I love and will a) use frequently (the brewing kit) and b) cherish (the tickets). My mom gave us a Willow Tree Nativity set. We didn’t have one, so we were using a really pretty painted ornament in a stand for it, but the set she gave us is simple and beautiful. She said that she wants to add to it for us over time, which makes it a gift that keeps giving. It’s special and important to the Christmas season, and we’re both really pleased with it.

And since I didn’t really say it in the last post, Merry Christmas! May your 2009 be full of health, happiness, and good fortune.

Quick thoughts

I finally got to go skiing yesterday for the first time this season! The BF and I both had the day off and decided to ski a half day at Wachusett. Set the alarms for nice and early in the morning, were all amped up and ready to go. Then we kept sleeping in the morning, and instead of getting up at 7, finally got up shortly after 9. Luckily for us, Wachusett offers half-day passes in the afternoon, so we got to the mountain and settled down, got all our gear on, and bought our tickets shortly before noon.

As much as I love skiing, I wouldn’t profess to being very good at it. I’ve switched from skiing to snowboarding and back more times than I can really remember, but I have made the decision to stick with skiing from now on. Plus, I blew my budget this year and instead of just buying a new jacket, bought skis and pants as well. But they were all at significant discounts, so I don’t feel tooooooo bad. Bargain blindness, I haz it.

The big news of the day, though, was that I skied my very first black diamond trail and didn’t wind up meeting ski patrol! In fact, I made it through the entire day without winding up on my butt at all. And, if I’m going to be honest, I thought some of the blue trails were steeper and more challenging than the black, but the trail classification scared me. I did it, though! Wahoo!

Today is Christmas Eve, usually one of my favorite days of the year. It’s different this year, though, what with the changes in my life that have happened over the past year. I graduated from college, my parents split up, I started working full-time, and I moved into an apartment with my long-time boyfriend (finally!). With all those changes, it’s hard to see Christmas as being the same as it has been throughout the rest of my life. I’m trying, though. It doesn’t help that this is a work day as well, making me feel a bit like good ol’ Bob Cratchit.

I’m peacing out at 3 today, though, no matter what. Time to start the festivities of the holiday season by heading to my mom’s house to do our main gifts there with her!

The Christmas schedule for the BF and I:

Christmas Eve: gifts and early celebrations at mom’s house at 3, Chinese food at 6, maybe some movies, Mass at 10

Christmas Day: brunch at the BF’s mom’s house, dinner at my mom’s house with the extended fam

Day after Christmas: family party at my aunt’s house and celebrating Christmas with my dad, maybe going to the BF’s 5-year high school reunion? (I’m hoping that’s a big “no,” and he has to work that night anyway)

Two days after Christmas: Going to Rhode Island to see the BF’s dad for most of the day.

Three days after Christmas: Going to see The Nutcracker, performed by the Boston Ballet, with the BF as part of my gift

January 3: the BF’s mom’s family party at his uncle’s house in New Hampshire.

January 4: my mom’s dad’s family party, which was rescheduled from its original date last weekend.

Anyone else want me at their family parties? Lord knows I’m making the rounds…

Open letters

Dear Mother Nature,

I love the snow. You know I do. I’ve been doing snow dances for weeks hoping for some of the fluffy white stuff. It’s the basis of why I love living in New England. So I’d first like to thank you for the snow you’ve sent us recently. I do, however, have an issue with it. Because you opted to dump on us from Friday afternoon to very early Monday morning, I had no opportunity to see my dearest boyfriend. He was out all hours clearing away your glorious snow. It’s what he does. It pays the bills. I don’t regret that. I just ask that you pick one day to dump on us next time. If you do it one day every week from here on out, that’s fine with me. 3+ days in a row makes me lonely. Thanks for listening. Love, Leah

Dear Reading and Wakefield DPWs,

Get your act together with the plowing already! I made a concerted effort to not clog the roads with my unnecessary driving this past weekend in an effort to let you do your jobs more effectively. However, I don’t think you really did your job at all. Did you go out at all last night? I drove a little today (just going out to lunch with a friend) and almost wiped out on multiple occasions. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that you have main thoroughfares clear of snow roughly 12 hours after it stops snowing. You have fleets of plow trucks. You have sand and salt (though I know it doesn’t always work thanks to freezing points and whatnot) at your disposal. I don’t think I should have to upgrade to a 4-wheel drive vehicle when I barely drive as it is. I would appreciate a little cooperation in this aspect. Frustratedly, Leah

Dear other drivers in previously-established difficult driving conditions,

Stay in your own damn lanes. I realize the DPWs have not done their jobs very well, but if I see that you’re swerving in front of me to avoid a puddle, I reserve the right to yell, swear, and gesticulate wildly at you for placing me at risk. If you don’t have to be driving, DON’T. Huffily, Leah

I’m sure there will be more of these as time goes on. Open letters make me feel like someone might be listening (I realize the addressees most likely aren’t and I’m just ranting to myself) and therefore I can resolve my stress by venting it. Some of them will probably be funny, like the one I drafted to Jim Koch of Sam Adams when I first saw Winter Ale in liquor stores in September. Hmm… that makes me think that White Ale might be out now! YES!

WTF does Obama have to do with Santa?

Let me start this post by saying this: I’m all for sensitivity regarding controversial topics. That’s fine. I’m generally politically correct, but not to a fault. I don’t want to sound ignorant, you know?

But this is just freakin’ ridiculous. The Globe ran a column today (not sure if it’s in the print edition, but here’s the online version for your perusal) about the “Barack Effect” on Santa Claus. That’s THE Santa Claus.

I have nothing against the non-traditional Santas. Black, white, green, purple… it doesn’t matter to me. I’ve always had/seen a white Santa. Probably because a) it’s mainstream and b) I’m white. I don’t think my parents deemed it necessary to impart to me the importance of racial equality in my Santa Clauses.

If you want an African-American Santa, that’s totally fine with me. I’m not going to stop you.

I will stop you, however, if you say there will be an increase of black Santas because of our new President-Elect. We all know how I feel about Obama (love him, just in case you didn’t know). I support him for his ideas and ideals, not the color of his skin. Here’s the thing, though: HE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SANTA CLAUS! He’s the President! No one said there would be an increase in the number of white Santas when all the rest of the presidents were elected! No one said there would be more female Santas (which is absolutely ridiculous in its own right and a separate rant) if Hillary Clinton were elected! No one said there would be more black female Santas because of Condi!

I’m just saying. The notion that Barack Obama will cause an upswing in the number of black Santa Clauses is entirely ridiculous.

Thoughts?

Frugal versus cheap

I first saw this story on Boston Gal’s Open Wallet, a Boston-based personal finance blog I read pretty regularly. Intrigued, I decided to read the story (I couldn’t watch the video because I was on a conference call, so had to try to pay attention a little bit) over at ABC news.

I have this to say: there is a line between being frugal and being cheap, then another line between cheap and extreme. This man, Roy Haynes, is so far into extreme it makes me uncomfortable. He takes other people’s leftovers on the rare occasion he goes out to dinner. Taking your own leftovers is just fine by me– I would say I do it more often than not in an effort to not overeat (I tend to just keep going if I like something enough) and to have another meal made out of the current one. Other people’s leftovers, though? No way. Nuh-uh. That’s just not healthy.

And their ideas of romance make me sad. I understand that people have different ideas as to what’s romantic and special, but a $70 wedding based on dental insurance coverage with McDonald’s afterward and scooping up the rice neighbors threw (an issue in itself, but that’s for another day) and cooking it? Again, no way, nuh-uh, you get the idea. And let me tell you, I’d rather not have any roses from my boyfriend than to be given cast-off roses from a funeral parlor. To me, that’s about as sensitive as digging up the hosta on my grandmother’s grave and sticking it in a vase.

There are lines between frugal, cheap, and extreme. I consider myself frugal at times (other times, no, but I’m working on it). There is no way in my mind that I would become anywhere near as extreme as Roy Haynes. No way, nuh-uh.

Baking bread @ home

It’s really cold in my apartment during the day. It’s like that to save heat, since I’m only home one day every week (a perk of my job… I’m gunning for two days but I’m in a trial phase now) and my boyfriend was previously only home during the day if it was raining outside.

Now that the landscaping season’s over, the BF is home just about every day. Right now, he’s still catching up on billing and fun stuff like that. Once it snows some more, he’ll be plowing and shoveling for his customers. He’s now on the lists to become a firefighter in four towns in our area, so we’re hoping he gets a call for an interview soon.

I’m home working today, and as I mentioned earlier, it’s very chilly in the apartment. I caved and turned the heat up to 68*, which is 10* higher than it usually is during the day. I sit in front of a window at the back of our apartment, too, so it’s quite drafty.

I also decided to Google self-rising flour. I have a cookie cookbook that has tons of great recipes, but they all call for self-rising flour and I don’t want to go out and have to buy special flour. Turns out, self-rising flour is just regular all-purpose flour with baking powder and salt added. This begs the question “why didn’t the cookbook just tell me that?” Because it didn’t.

In my search for self-rising flour, I found a recipe for beer bread that sounded really tasty. Plus, there’s a random beer in the fridge from our Halloween party that we both tried that night and didn’t like. Unfortunately (but with the best intentions, I know), my friend left the not-so-tasty beer in the fridge and there it’s sat ever since. Recipe called for a 12-oz bottle of beer, so voila! I can get rid of it!

Here’s the recipe:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 12 ounces beer
• Heat oven to 375*
• Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl. Add beer. The beer will foam a bit, so just keep an eye that it doesn’t overflow.
• Mix ingredients together to form a sticky dough.
• Grease 9x5x3″ loaf pan
• Bake 50-60 minutes (mine’s still baking, so I’ll let you know if it’s any longer than that)

The first three ingredients are the self-rising flour. Essentially, the ratio is 1 cup flour to 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder to 1/2 teaspoon salt. Easy peasy!

Now I can get crackin’ on my sweet gourmet cookies in the cookbook. YES!

Tattoo

I got a new tattoo October 30, and I love it. It’s the word “Grace” on the inside of my left ankle in a gorgeous script lettering, exactly what I was hoping for.

It hurt a bit more than the one I have on my hip (claddagh and two shamrocks), but I think that’s because I have very bony ankles and going over the bones and tendons (oh, the tendons hurt like a mofo) was tough.

One of my favorite things is people who you wouldn’t expect to be inked having at least one tattoo. I look pretty preppy and straight-edge, very Gap/Old Navy most of the time. You would never expect I have two tattoos. After I was done, a guy named Harry came into the shop, greeted like royalty. I swear, this man looked like a typical perpetually-nerdy single uncle, complete with mostly-receded hairline. Now that I think of it, he looked a lot like a professor I had in college, who worked at Sun. Evidently, he’s treated like royalty because he’s in all the time getting work done on a big back piece that he’s having covered. I would never expect this man to have tats, and the fact that he had a full back piece that he was having redone astounded me. I love it!

I’ll post pictures when I get a chance

WSJ reflects on my generation at work

I’ll tell you one thing: my parents didn’t coddle me. I don’t think I’m better than everyone else (some people, sure, but that’s just being confident) in what I do. I’ll tell you what’s true, though… my life is going to be more than just my job. I care about myself outside work more than I do at work. For me, working is just a means to an end. I’m not anxious to be the CEO on my first day of work. I don’t want to be a CEO. If I don’t like my job, though, you can bet I’m looking for a new one. Life’s too short to be miserable.

That’s why I’m kind of hating this article from the Wall Street Journal.

It essentially says that my generation is a bunch of entitled brats who don’t deserve any special attention in the workplace. Maybe we don’t deserve certain kinds of attention (I won’t argue that), but we’re brand new to the workplace and need a little guidance. Is that really so different from every other generation?

Financial update

I did it. I exchanged 43 of my savings bonds into a hefty little deposit for myself. I’ve talked about them before, but I finally did something about them. I deposited them ALL into my checking account with the intention of moving them around, which I did today.

I moved them all today so that I’m not tempted to spend them on miscellaneous junk. I’m all done with my Christmas shopping (just our family photo shoot on Tuesday) minus the cards, so I’m feeling pretty good about that.

A friend of mine sent me a referral link to an ING savings account, so I put the majority of the money there, where it will earn much higher interest than it would just sitting in my savings account that’s already tied to my checking account. I put a smaller percentage in that account, but just because I want to have quicker access to it.

I’ve decided that I’m spending some of it on our trip to Steamboat Springs, CO the third week in January and saving the rest of it for future large purchases (wedding, house, something along those lines). I’d like to be able to really enjoy my trip without having to worry about breaking the bank. It’s good stuff.