Author Archives: M
Airplane Essentials
I find myself with some extra time in my travel prep this morning, so here’s a bonus travel post to start your afternoon. I’ve previously written extensive rules for traveling which you can see here. Today’s list: airplane essentials!
Item #1: Appropriate moisturizers for skin and mouth. You dry out like a prune on trans-Atlantic flights and I mean to look glowy when I land. I can’t afford the fancy stuff, but Neutrogena works okay for me.
Someone got a Norwegian gift pack for Christmas. Can you tell?
Item #2: Sanitizer. I prefer the variety than I can spray, and this one is non-toxic if I accidentally drink it. That’s unlikely to happen, but you never know. Anyway, planes are notorious for germs and I refuse to spend my vacation laid up at Jenny’s apartment.
I might spray this on my seat neighbor. Is that weird?
Item #3: Playlist designed especially for this trip- “Germany-Wanderlust.” I started off choosing dreamy, broody songs and then I started picking Britney Spears songs. It should be an interesting listen. Important for blocking out sounds of unruly children and loud talkers. Not pictured: headphones! Essential!
You can’t see this, but my playlist included much of The Hunger Games soundtrack. I plan to spend boring moments making up stories for myself in which Katniss becomes a Games mentor instead of leading a revolution.
Item # 4: Snacks! I don’t trust airline food, so it’s always good to have a plan B on a long flight. I actually have a stash of Luna bars for this reason, but these cookies photograph better.
I will only eat these in desperation. If we crash land on a desert island, I am going to be very popular.
Item #5: Trashy reading for take off and landing. I always go for Entertainment Weekly for this purpose. Not pictured: iPad loaded with entertaining yet easy books: Insurgent by Veronica Roth and the latest Cassandra Clare entry in her Shadowhunter series.
Thank you, Lmac, for sponsoring my pop culture addiction by giving me a subscription to this.
Item #6: Gum! Good for popping your ears if that is a problem for you and also good to freshen your breath before landing if you don’t have a toothbrush handy. Don’t worry, Mom, I will only chew it long enough to serve its purpose and then I will spit it out. I will not look like a cow chewing cud like you warned me I might.
Especially important in case of a handsome bloke as a seat neighbor.
Item #7: Podcasts for times when the playlist doesn’t cut it and I feel like getting educated. I like This American Life, Stuff You Missed in History Class, RadioLab, and a few others. I also downloaded some specific to Germany and German history.
You will notice Rick Steves in the list. He is my travel boyfriend.
Other items not pictured:
– Cardigan sweater: the plane will eventually be cold and I will be ready for it. Doubles as a blanket in a pinch.
– Airbourne chewable supplements. More germ combat.
– Medications. Just because they lose your bags doesn’t mean you can’t keep your body heathy. Ditto extra underwear.
– Hair holders. For when I inevitably give up on looking cute.
– Make up. For when I decide I do want to be cute.
– Glasses. For when my contacts give up on everything.
That’s just about it for the carry on list. Other suggestions in comments?
Auf Wiedersehen
My German odyssey begins tomorrow, and I’ve spent much of tonight making final preparations. Here are some last minute things I did:
Last American Meal for Nine Days: bbq pork taco with queso dip
Well, it’s technically Tex-Mex, but close enough.
Last Minute Baked Goods for Hosts: Unicorn Poop Cookies. Assuming German Customs allows this in the country, I’m giving my hosts techni-color sparkly sugar cookies in thanks for their hospitality. There’s enough food dye and edible glitter in these to make my holistic-medicine-loving cousin lose her marbles. You might think this an odd choice, but my friend Jenny enjoys unicorns and I enjoy a good baking challenge. Recipe here.
I captured a unicorn! At last!
Last Picture of Loyal Schnauzer: My neighbor and friend N will dog-sit for Heidi in my absence. N encouraged me to take my little monster with me so she can see her “Mother Land.” We tried to ask Siri of the iPhone if schnauzers are common in Germany and Siri told us she can’t look for things in Germany. I think Siri is way more helpful to Zooey Deschanel and Samuel Jackson in those commercials than she will ever be to me.
She is stalking my luggage, looking for the opportune moment to stow away.
Last minute panic attack: Do I have three copies of my passport? Is three enough? Did I write down Jenny’s phone number? AM I SURE? What if someone steals my laptop while I’m gone? Should I leave it at N’s house? What if the whole building burns down? Is it too late to get an external drive and then take all my files with me? Probably too late, right? What if my plane crashes and I lived my last day at work at my job instead of spending time with family like I always say when people play the “Last Day on Earth” game? What if my parents fight with N about who will get custody of my dog if I die? What if that weird thing in Heidi’s mouth explodes while I’m gone? Did I remember to put her flea meds on her? Did I count my pills to make sure I have enough? Is my jacket heavy enough? I should bring a sweater, right? Why do my sweaters smell strange? DO I HAVE BLACK MOLD?
You can see that I desperately need a vacation. Good thing I leave tomorrow. Next stop: airport!
New blog!
Hello!
The author’s dog. She is excited for the magic.
This is my re-vamped personal blog with shiny new domain name. The old posts you liked from Sparks from the Wheel have transferred here and this is where I’ll be hanging out from now on. I’m still tweaking it, but this is the genera bones of what you can expect.
Why the change? I thought it was time to come out of the blogging closet, so to speak, and blog under my chosen nom de plume.
What is changing? Hopefully, more frequent posting. I’ll be blogging about the same nonsense: pop culture, real life misadventures, culinary experiments, books and fiction, and my faithful sidekick Heidi the Schnauzer (pictured above). I’ll also be blogging without the key on my computer that makes the last letter of the alphabet, at least until I can afford a new laptop, so forgive me the misspellings that I don’t catch with autocorrect. Actually, just go ahead and forgive all misspellings and missed words. Just be cool, okay?
Why now? I’m going to Germany this week and I wanted to get the new blog up and running before I left so that I can blog my trip and send the link to my family. Hey, Mom! Don’t worry, I have a house sitter. I’m not advertising for thieves.
How do you keep up with me? Pretty easily because I don’t run. Ba dum dum! Seriously, if you have an RSS reader, click that fancy RSS feed button to the right and go to my feedburner page to add me to your chosen reader. If you want to get emails, fill in that form near the bottom of the right column. If you’re old school, bookmark me. You can also follow me on twitter, @mdabski, but I don’t actually tweet very often.
But where are the books? Still logging my books at The Bibliotherapist. I’ll post the occasional book related post here, but there’s where you should go to roll your eyes at my choices and maybe pick up a good rec.
And that’s it! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’ll come back tomorrow.
Books, books, books.
I’ve been lax about posting here lately (something I continually resolve to change), but I’ve been quite busy over at my personal book blog. I’m not much of a reviewer since I like most books I read, but I like to keep track of what I read and my general thoughts about it. I’ve been on a “book report” bender for the last week or so, trying to catch up on documenting all the books I’ve read in the last couple of years. Here are some recent faves to check out if you’re into that kind of thing:
A list of my favorite books. I made a page of my actual favorites from over the last few years (and a few standouts from high school and elementary school). Helpfully sorted by category!
A Book Report on Countess Below Stairs. People! Downton Abbey wishes they had a countess below stairs! It’s a lovely little romance, and the world needs to be more informed about stand out light romance writer Eva Ibbotson. Read and then spread the good word!
Book Report for the Chaos Walking Trilogy If you liked the Golden Compass and Lyra and Will and all that, you might enjoy this one. Really painful to read at times due to the continual violence and heartache heaped on these two young teens on an alien planet, but it’s well written and the two main characters are just so well done. Similar message to the Hunger Games, but more brutal– if you can believe that.
Book reports on 2 John Green favorites: Abundance of Katherines and Fault in Our Stars. John Green is like a gateway drug to YA fiction for adults who sniff at YA plots. He writes from a teen POV, but his characters are crazy smart and witty. Some of his plot lines sound like bad Lifetime movies (Two teens with cancer fall in love, kids at boarding school face horrifying loss), but he’s anything but hackneyed.
Book Report for Ready Player One. A futuristic virtual scavenger hunt based around knowledge of 80s trivia. Do you need anything else?
Book Report for The Magicians It really is kind of Harry Potter for adults. Just add sex, booze, and some spicy language.
Go forth and read!
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What to Expect When You’re Not Expecting
Don’t worry- I have permission for the story I’m about to tell. The subject of it the story (we’ll call her N) asked me to write this because she says that she needs to laugh about her situation. If you know N in real life, please refrain from posting on facebook to congratulate her, but she honestly doesn’t care if you know. As always, this is not a perfect reconstruction of exactly what happened, but it’s basically for real.
On Wednesday, I came home from work and went to my friend N’s apartment to pick up my dog and commiserate about our work days. I walked in to find two highly excited schnauzers, but N was not sitting in her customary spot on the sofa with her trademark glass of white wine. I called out for her, and she replied from her bedroom, her voice high pitched and thick with hysteria. As I approached her bedroom, several scenarios occurred to me: she got laid off, her dad is sick, she lost her ongoing battle with the condo management over her insistence that her dog go leashless, and so on. I rounded the corner and found her sitting on her bed clad in her pajamas with her hair in disarray. She gestured toward her dresser and said, “I have a problem.”
A Very Dorothy Parker Valentine
I actually don’t hate Valentine’s Day (Candy! Sappy sing along songs! Rom coms playing on TV!), but it still seems like a good opportunity to list a bunch of bitter Dorothy Parker quotes. Enjoy!
from wikipedia.org
MMC Reunion!
from nbc.com
Thank you, Vulture, for bringing this to my attention–this fantastic moment in which Christina Aguilera clearly does not remember one of her old co-stars from her MMC days even though he was practically the leader of the pack at that time. This beautiful moment which I cannot embed in my blog because I’m becoming more and more technologically dumb as I age. My niece will probably have a blog embedded in her arm, but I can’t embed a video clip. Anyway.
The Heart of Hart of Dixie
I realize this is a good year for TV, and so there’s an excellent chance that you are missing a fun little gem currently airing on The CW: Hart of Dixie. I won’t claim that it’s actually good, but it does grow on you if you let it. I mean, it’s not even like shows of years past like Veronica Mars where viewers cry foul that the show never gets recognized by the Emmys. No one is saying, “Rachel Bilson is just so fantastic in this and the writing is so tight– it really deserves attention.” But it’s charming and easy and perfect for watching in marathon form on a rainy Sunday. I highly suggest watching beyond the pilot as that first episode does not really do them credit.
Aren't they a beautiful cast? Picture from cwtv.com
Merry Bookmas!
Sometimes, I blog about books.
from Buy Olympia
In case you are interested, I just posted a book-themed holiday gift guide on my book blog.
How To Host a Baby Shower
1) Find out dear friend is pregnant. Agree to host shower about 4 months before it will become a reality. Feel optimistic.
This is going to be someone’s mother.
M. Dabski 