Food, Favorites, Fantastic Frocks... (F)etc.

I have several friends who love to cook. Some stick to simple recipes while others use ingredients I can't pronounce. I always feel like I'm a few steps behind. A part of me wants to catch up and the other part could care less. Fortunately, Michael married me for reasons other than my cooking (he eats green beans out of the can for crying out loud) so it's not an issue. But this week I have been pretty proud of myself: I actually made real meals. Not only that, I did that thing where I said, "Hmm, I think it needs a pinch of this" and just went with it. And it tasted pretty darn good! It's a bit like exercise, once I start I kind of want to keep it up. We're on a very strict budget right now so it's also a bit of a challenge--what can I make out of what we already have? Anyway, I'm mainly writing about this so I can look back in a few years and know that at least one week of my life I loved to cook.

No other news really. With that in mind, I think I will share with you my 2nd Annual Favorites List. You're on the edge of your seat aren't you? Thought so.

Once again, in no particular order....

1. Neutrogena Acne Stress Control Face Scrub

In my 27 years on God's green earth, I've been blessed with pretty good skin. I'm not talking texture or color (I wish), I just mean I never had to deal with acne. And then something changed around the first week of March and BAM! Acne! I wasn't able to put it together but my mom politely told me I might be a tiny bit stressed about our current situation and that could be the reason for my adult onset puberty. I didn't really think stress could do that but I saw this stuff and figured it was worth a shot. GLOOOOORIOUS! It worked like a charm, smells SO good, and I am officially addicted. So is Michael. I highly recommend it.

2. A lit'l bit o' heaven

Ok, everyone knows I love cake (sans people asking if Keller has pooped, thank you very much). After almost every meal I think to myself, "You know what would make this meal complete? A piece of cake." I don't need a huge piece, just a little something. Baking a cake every week seemed a bit ridiculous and then I saw these. 30 seconds in the microwave. 150 calories. So good. Sidenote: there's a reason they're only 150 calories--the entire thing is about 4 bites. (Maybe 6 if you take tiny bites. Or maybe what I consider "tiny bites" are normal bites for most people? Gaaaah I love cake.) Regardless, it's just enough to fill my craving after a meal. And it won't cause severe weight gain, which is always a nice bonus.

3. This dress:

I don't know what it is with this dress, but I want to go buy it and wear it with flats one day and boots the next. It's not a very Meredith dress and I think that's one of the reasons I love it. Every time I see a dress at Anthropologie I have to ask myself if I can pull it off and most of the time I sigh and decide that no, I absolutely can't. And this might be the same. But since we're all friends and friends are supposed to lie to you occasionally, let us all pretend I can pull it off remarkably well. Thanks, friends.

4. Arizona Sweet Tea

Where have you been all my life? How did I grow up in Arkansas and Oklahoma and not discover you until Texas? I could drink you all day. And lately I have.

5. Harry Pottah

I was J.K. Rowling's biggest critic. I saw the first HP movie at the theater and despised it. Absolutely hated it. From them on, I refused to read the books or watch the movies. I actually laughed at anyone who enjoyed such a ridiculous plot. Michael has seen all of the movies and decided to read the series this summer and seeing that I had plenty of time on my hands, I begrudgingly agreed to read them with him. Holy cow, people. Harry Pottah, will you marry me? These books are absolutely amazing. Her creativity is mind boggling and I read approximately 20,000 pages in 3 weeks. If you have yet to read them, go. Go now. Stop reading Merd's top 5 and go NOW. I promise you won't regret it. I can't say the same about the movies, I regretted several of them (we would read a book and then watch the correlating movie) but the last few were pretty good.

And there you have it, my top 5 of 2009. As soon as I hit "publish" I'm going to think of something else, but such is life.