the one where i'm a full-on friends nerd

so we all know how much i love friends, right?  like, it's almost always on in the house at any given time of the day.  it's what i usually have on for background noise whenever i'm working on cookies or sewing a project or whatever i happen to be doing because i don't have to give it my full attention but can still keep up and laugh at all the jokes.

because this year is the 25th anniversary of the show's first season, there's been lots of merchandise and extra airings of the show and fun stuff like that.  like, lego announced that they were releasing this back on september 1st:

and i had it marked on my calendar because i wanted to head to the lego store in downtown disney that day to grab one for myself.  i was also planning to check it out online as soon as i woke up that day, which i did.  i had one in my cart and then for some reason totally lagged on pulling the trigger, and so of course when i remembered again and went back to it, it was on "backorder" status.  dang it.  so we headed down to anaheim later that afternoon and as we were on the tram from the parking structure i jokingly said "wouldn't it suck if they were sold out??"

well, you can guess what happened next. 

we walked into the store, the old lady asked the employee at the entrance where we could find it in the store and he said "ohhh...we just sold the last one."

WOMP WOMP.

while we were walking towards the entrance to disneyland i pulled it up on my phone again and went ahead and placed my order on the website and hoped for the best.  i was so bummed.

that doesn't mean i don't have any fun merchandise, though.  like, i picked up these comfy sweats at target:

and i stitched these coasters out on my embroidery machine (i even use them, like every day):

and then i got a super random email about an anniversary event happening on three different dates where episodes of the show and a blooper reel were going to be shown on the big screen at various movie theaters.  i hit up the old lady to see if she'd go with me, and we ended up buying tickets for a local theater where they bring dinner and drinks to your seats on the final date of the event.

while we waited for our grub, we played trivia via the questions displayed on the screen.

we were sitting in a particularly dark corner of the theater, so i don't have any food photos to share.  it was pretty basic anyway and would have made for boring pictures - chicken tenders, fries, salad, pretzel bites, dessert.  it was all pretty tasty and reasonably priced though, so i'd totally go back.

they showed us clips from interviews that had been shown on "extra" throughout the show's ten-season run which was different from the blooper reel we were expecting, but that's okay.  it was entertaining nonetheless.

and then it was showtime!

we kicked it off with "the one with chandler in a box."

"the one with ross' wedding, part 2":

"the one where everybody finds out."

and lastly, "the one where ross got high."

i know it seems kind of dumb to go watch something i've seen a zillion times in a movie theater, but it was really fun.  even the old lady said so.  seeing it all blown up on a huge screen brought our attention to little details that are easy to overlook when watching it on a tv (or on my phone, which is often the case), and it made for a really fun evening together.

in the days leading up to the show's actual air date anniversary, TBS network did a livestream trivia game via twitter that i just so happened to be home for.  it consisted of something like five rounds with 6 or 7 questions each, and because i am a super nerd i sat there and played the entire thing.  i was often the first one to respond, and i got all but one question right.  it was really fun, and i was extra excited to receive a direct message from the network later that afternoon asking for my shipping address so that they could send me a prize. 

two days later, this was delivered:

and OMG GUESS WHAT WAS INSIDE??

even funnier?  that backordered set from their website actually ended up coming through.  and so now i have two.  i'm considering putting the other one on ebay.  heh.

the old lady and i are having a ball putting the set together.  it's divided into several bags and there are full, detailed instructions.  we've got two bags left and then i can share it with you.  i don't even know where i'm going to put the damn thing when it's done.  that's okay, though.  it's all fun and games.

and it's not over yet!  the warner bros. studio tour announced something called "friendsgiving" coming next month, where they're offering a special friends-themed version of their studio tour capped off with a full thanksgiving meal served in their commissary.  and yes...of course i snagged tickets for me and the old lady. 

it's going to be SO MUCH FUN AND I CAN'T WAIT.

you sold a ton of cookies, here's a box of crappy trinkets!

so in addition to the prizes we've given our girls for hitting their goals during cookie season, we received a huge shipment of prizes from girl scouts USA last week to distribute.  since the cookie chair lives just down the street from me, i got to be the one to pick them up to sort and bag.  luckily, the old lady is always willing to help, especially when it's something fun like this.

we spread everything out into piles to make it easier.  look at all this crap:

because the bean was one of our girls who hit the 500 box mark, she got pretty much one of everything that we received.  the 50+ prize was this milk bottle-shaped chalkboard decal.

if they sold at least 90 boxes, the prize was this little ceramic cow bank:

for 130+, they received a water bottle.

160+ boxes earned this t-shirt.  like last year, the shirts ran really small and my guess is that a lot of our girls won't get to wear this thing but maybe once or twice.  get it together, GSUSA.

the bean's favorite was the 200+ prize, the daisybelle cow plush.  this kid lives for stuffed animals.

a journal and matching pen was the 250+ prize.  ho hum.

325+ boxes got you this apron.  it's cute, and maybe we'll actually use it.  we'll see.

this lunch tote is actually pretty cool.  it's a good size, insulated and has backpack-style straps.  i might have to borrow it every now and then.  heh.  oh, and you had to sell 400+ boxes for it.

the gift of caring program is where the girls ask for donations that go towards buying boxes of cookies for local charities and the military.  the bean managed to squeeze in at least 30 of these, which earned her a necklace and a charm bracelet.  too bad she isn't into jewelry.  like, at all.  i'll probably rock these during meetings or something.

we have five girls who were able to hit the 500-box mark.  for their hard work, we're going to attend some giant party way out in agoura freaking hills on saturday that i'm already imagining will be the biggest cluster ever.  there are 1,700 girls throughout GSGLA who reached this goal, and with that many girls plus one parent each...well, let's just say i'm not excited.

and then next weekend we're taking our 500 club girls to a kids' spa.  it's the final prize for this year's cookie season, and then we're finally done with all things girl scout cookie for 2016.  phew.  i don't want to look at another box of those damn things for a loooooooooong time.

hindsight is 20/20

what do you get someone who just got a boob job?  well, i suppose lots of things could work.  but my friend opted to have me do these:

they were super fun to do, especially since i'd invested in a bra-shaped cutter.  the last time, i'd totally had to macgyver it with a cutter for sunglasses.  while it turned out fine, this was a bazillion times easier.

i also finally got to work on a set of bridal shower cookies that i'd put on my calendar months ago.  i had dark blue, lace, rings, and red lips ("muah" to single life, get it?) to work with, and so here's what i came up with.

i hope they like them.  i'd had the cutter for those lips since just after valentine's day and i was happy to finally have a use for them.

just like the mason jar cutter i've been holding onto for ages.  my friend asked me to do something for her daughter's shabby chic-themed birthday party, and while hindsight tells me that the colors ended up too bright, i still think they turned out pretty cute:

that's what i get for tinting frosting at night.  if i get a second shot at a similar theme, the colors will be a lot lighter.  maybe i'd find a way to vintage it up a little with some strategically placed white frosting.  huh.

oh!  check out what arrived in the mail!  it's kind of funny to receive something like this just randomly in a plain white envelope:

rather unceremonious, but that's okay.  i'm still excited to add it to my collection!

it's NOT like riding a bicycle

considering the fact that i haven't made a batch of macarons in, oh, probably about a year, i don't know what i was thinking when i filled out my entry form for this year's l.a. county fair culinary competition.  after i wrote in the code for the sugar cookie category, i got all crazy and threw in "french macarons" in too.  good lord.

and then i promptly forgot all about it until i looked up while driving last week and noticed the banners advertising the upcoming fair.  it opens this friday, and that's when i realized i needed to get my shit together and figure out what i was going to make for my entries.  well, i'd already figured out what to do for the sugar cookies.  they came together pretty easily since i'd just done these designs not too long ago:

as i was debating what kind of macarons to make, i remembered something.  thanks to the dude at the hot chocolate 5K this spring who was handing out jars all willy-nilly, i had a crazy stockpile of delicious biscoff spread sitting in my pantry, just waiting to be used.  and then i remembered seeing a recipe on the picky palate blog for biscoff macarons.  well, duh.

the ingredients were simple.

because i didn't want to be stuck with a stupid number of leftovers - which sounds wrong somehow, i know, but the hub's not a big macaron fan - i thought i'd cut the recipe in half.  but when two eggs yielded about 2/3 the amount of whites listed in the recipe, i decided to use that fraction instead.  thank god for calculators, is all i can say.

the biscoff cookies ground up easily in the ol' baby food maker (yup, i sure do still use that thing on the regular).

i decided to add the almond meal and whirl it together.

whip the egg whites to a stiff peak?  check.

by the time i folded everything together and scraped it into a pastry bag, i was feeling like i'd never stopped making these things.  kinda like riding a bicycle, right?

and that's when shit started to go awry.  i got the dreaded "hershey's kiss" top as i piped out the shells.  no amount of whacking the cookie sheet on the counter got rid of 'em on most of the cookies.  damn.

not only that, but as soon as i got 'em in the oven, i somehow managed to knock over one of my very favorite mixing bowls.  r.i.p., small pink bowl.

although i managed to achieve the desired macaron "feet," i was super bummed when i pulled the sheets out of the oven and the shells were...ugly.  meh.  didn't stop me from assembling them with the biscoff spread buttercream and sandwiching them together.  look at how fug it turned out.  boo.

luckily, i had enough shells that did turn out to my satisfaction to create six sandwiches - exactly the number i needed to submit my entry.  voila:

i suppose they look okay, right?  i can tell you this much:  they're damn tasty.  and those shells actually came out with the most lovely, satisfyingly chewy texture to them.  the bean and i happily snacked on a few of them as soon as they came out of the oven.

the fair opens tomorrow.  i have a packed schedule, but i wonder if i can make it over there to at least get a peek and see how my entries fared.  it'd be cool as hell to win some sort of a ribbon again!

winners all around

soooo...remember a couple of weeks ago, when i enlisted your help in voting for my spring top in that contest? well, it kind of turned into an interesting clusterfuck.

voting was to go from saturday through monday evening at 8pm - hence my uncharacteristic saturday morning post, whoring for votes. and then i figured i'd rally for votes via twitter, facebook, and my favorite boards on the nest on monday - which likely irritated some folks, but oh well. i was getting my ass beat big-time, but as i continued to harangue for votes, the margin shrank and by about 7:15 that evening, i was only behind by a handful of votes. later on, just before 8, one of my twitter friends (twirlies, we call each other) alerted me with an excited tweet: "you're 20 votes ahead, yay!" yay, indeed!

but not so much. it turned out that the poll was supposed to have shut down an hour earlier - since rae is in a different time zone. somehow, the poll stayed open later than she'd expected. at 8 her time, she checked the results, determined the winner (at that point, not me), and wrote her blog post with the announcement, scheduled to post the next morning. d-oh! when she went back and glanced at it again, she was pretty alarmed to realize that voting had not ended as she'd thought, and even worse, there was a new winner - me. uh-oh.

being a busy mom, she was pretty wiped out by that time. she shut the poll down, removed the widget from the blog, wrote up a quickie post right off the top of her head, and e-mailed me a very apologetic note to let me know what had happened. i was pretty bummed to find out that i hadn't won - and not even because i wanted the prizes, but because i am a stereotypical only child who likes to win at everything. heh.

the next morning, i went back to her blog to check out the announcement and noticed a handful of comments on the post she'd written about the snafu. as i read them, i got more and more irritated - folks were damn near calling me a cheater for using twitter (et al) to get votes. um, hello - the rules clearly stated that we were allowed to promote ourselves and rally for votes. i was pissed and fired off a response of my own, and called it a day.

i got another e-mail from poor rae, who got stuck having to write an update to the original post to clarify all that had happened. how silly, right? anyway, she was apologetic again and asked for my address to send me a consolation prize. i thought it was sweet of her to offer, told her that it wasn't really necessary...but sent my address anyway. ha!

and on friday, i picked up the mail and found this waiting for me:

to be honest, i'd forgotten about the whole debacle by then and was pretty confused as to why i was getting a package in a jelly belly box from san francisco. heh. i tell you, i'm getting old - i'm forgetting shit all the time these days.

i cut open the top of the box and totally grinned as i read the note inside:

underneath the styrofoam peanuts was this:

and after whipping that pretty blue bow off, i found this:

mmm, fudge. i fired off a "thank you" email to rae, and thus far have resisted the tug of that fudge, but i'm thinking i'll have to bite into that chocolate caramel brownie square later today.

and now, for my own giveaway! here are the four winners:

can you all see that? working with "paint"on this computer kind of sucks, but that's the way it goes. anyway, for my four winners - katrina, betty, caryn, and winnie - i'll be emailing you later today to get your addresses!

yay for fun prizes!