FYI this post is completely self-absorbed and probably of little value to you unless you are also completely and suddenly obsessed with shopping online.  I am never going to stop.  Thank goodness H does not read this!

1.  A MadMen-inspired slip I saw in Redbook Magazine, my totally favorite magazine in the world.  According to page 42 of the February 2012 Redbook, if I wear it I will have the body of Joan Holloway Harris.  [ha!]  And, it’s on sale this week.  Convenient?  Yes.  Coincidence?  I’m not so sure.  So, I considered linking to the slip and then I got totally skeeved out that some weirdo guy would know intimate details about me and so I deleted it and then re-linked and deleted again and at this point I am not making any more changes.  But if you are interested in looking like Joan Holloway Harris too, I will hook you up.  Just let me know. 

2.  A surprise for my mom [so I obviously can't post it yet!] from the Pampered Chef!  It will be a combo birthday-valentines gift because I am TERRIBLE at sending things on time, and hopefully she will like it.  But if not, it’s something I would like, so it’s win-win.  Just kidding Mom!  I know you will like it. 

3.  A white lace dress from Banana Republic for upcoming KD events.

It may be hard to tell in this white-on-white-on-white background, but I think it will be cute and easy to wear in non-secret settings.  With a spring-colored cardigan and sandals, it can be great in the office during the summer.  With fancy earrings and pumps, it can be fancy-shmancy.  But right now I’m thinking it will be super cute with my buckled tan leather boots and motorcycle jacket.  But I’ll have to see it in person first.

So, I spent this morning talking about leadership development in college sophomores and it reminded me of something related to this little blogy-blog:  just because you are cute and popular does not mean you have substance.  So, while I’m stoked that the blog has been getting some increased viewing, I don’t want to sacrifice frequent updates for high stats.

Because, you see, you need to blog regularly if you want to do it well.  And you need to read, think, critique, and write regularly to do those things well.  And that is the purpose of this blog — to give me a moment to consider the things that I might otherwise let slip through the cracks; to craft my conversational creative writing, so that I do not become a no-Oxford-comma-using government writer.  Ugh.  Just thinking about that possibility makes me want to run away and hide. . .

Today, my brain is a little twisty.  I get frustrated during some meetings, both in my work and personal life, where I think If only we tried a little harder or If only we were doing just a little more.  Because I have a compulsion of doing each thing to the max all the time.  And I want to do things well — doing things well is so important to me, so much that my parents never had to “make” me do my homework and I took on a double major and worked two jobs and was president of my sorority at the same time during college because I just wanted to do it all, and do it great. . .

Just reading that sentence is exhausting.  And the thing is, when I can’t do “it all,” or “it perfectly,” I get very frustrated and hate the mediocrity of it all to the point that I question if I’m doing the right things with my time.  And this is the moment where I need to say to myself, sternly and in a strong slow voice, Everything is not the most important thing and prioritizing is the most important characteristic of a good leader.  Not perfection.  Prioritizing.   

So, I’m saying it to myself, and saying it to you.  We can do it all, but not all at once.

1.  Congresspeople are kind of awkward-looking.

2.  I like Biden’s tie twice as much as Boehner’s tie, but Boehner’s tan is way better looking than Biden’s pale head.

3.  “When students are not allowed to drop out, they do better.”  Thanks, POTUS, for clearing that up.

4.  They are seriously planning to double the interest rates on student loans in July?  What?  Goodness gracious what is this world coming to?

5.  “Boots on the border” sounds like a Mexican restaurant with margarita specials.  I kind of want to go there.

6.  I think I’d like to get GREATER pay for equal work, not equal pay for equal work.  I mean, if I get to choose.

7.  What’s true for natural gas is just as true for clean energy?  I don’t know if that is a convincing transition but I’m going to let that one go.

8.  I did not realize that China and Germany were competing to supply our energy needs.  Germany?  Really?

9.  The easiest way to save money is to use less energy?

10.  It’s time to apply the same rules from top to bottom.  hehe.

11.  Spilled milk jokes are not funny.  So not funny that Biden blew his nose.  And how did that joke get a standing ovation?

12.  Wow, how cool would it be to be Richard Cordray right then, huh?

13.  One time I saw Eric Holder (the Attorney General) at Chicken Out.  Just saying.

14.  Pass the payroll tax cut without delay.  Let’s get it done. 

15.  Tax reform should follow the Buffett rule.  Can we also get a Savage Garden Rule?  And a John Mayer Rule (this would probably be about sex education)?

16.  We don’t begrudge financial success in America, we admire it.  Really?  Sometimes I do begrudge.  Ooops.

17.  I got distracted and have no more comments.  This is all.

So, I made snacks for my co-workers.  Is this kind of first grade?  TOTALLY — and that’s why it is fun.  When I was in elementary school, there was this kid named Ryan who always had his birthday the day before mine, and we shared birthdays because of the weekends.  He had some crazy allergies and couldn’t eat delicious cookies/cupcakes like the other kids.  So my mom always made something less-delicious and allergen free to accommodate his dietary needs.  My mom is clearly pretty nice, but at the time I was just like MOM I WANT CUPCAKES.  Sometimes she gave in and made both.  

So I’m thinking about all of this because I was trying to find something good to take in for work that would be friendly to everyone’s dietary needs (no dairy, no chocolate, no nuts, etc.).  So I chose rice krispy treats, thinking that the only thing that could be a problem is a tiny little butter but that everything else is okay. . . and then I tell my friend and she says that one of our co-workers does not eat marshmallows because there are hooves in gelatin or something about being kosher.

So I gave up and, just like my mom did when I was little, I’m just taking both rice krispy treats AND leftover chocolate cupcakes.  (I froze these after baking on Saturday, unfrosted.  You can read about my baking adventures with my friend Katherine over on her blog, wordifications).

But, I didn’t want to make just any RKTs (that’s rice krispy treats for you guys slow on the lingo).  I decided to make LOVE RKTs like I saw on pinterest!  I wanted to dye them pink and cut them into hearts but (1) I forgot I ran out of red food coloring and (2) I only have Christmas-shaped cookie cutters (no hearts).  So that did not work out.  Instead, I did the next best thing:  Stars and sprinkles!

Here they are, on the SILPAT -- the greatest invention in the world

Cute, right?

So, even though they are NOT hearts and they are NOT pink, I still put them in the heart bags I bought at the store because, I mean, they have to go somewhere, right?  So now they look a little something like this:

All ready to go!

So, yes, I made sprinkled star-shaped Rice Krispy Treats and then put them into heart bags and am taking them in to work for my birthday.  And yes, you are right, none of these things match.  Hearts do not belong on birthdays and stars do not go in Valentine’s Day bags.  But whatever, nobody’s perfect, right?  :)

In other news, my mom and my husband ordered me multiple magazine subscriptions as Christmas gifts because they both know how much I love magazines, and now I have this many magazines to read:

Plus, there is another magazine in the car. . .

Happy Birthday, mom!  And Doug!