foodie blues (or, I really miss Olive Garden)

Yesterday afternoon while folding laundry, I decided to watch a little bit of television. I don't often do this so early in the day, but it was quicker than putting in a DVD because I'm too indecisive for that and I would have spent at least half an hour choosing something. Anyway. The channel I chose to watch was the Cooking Channel. (Not the Food Network -- hooray for two food channels!) As I was matching socks and sipping a mug of reheated coffee (black -- I was tired), I realized something. I am a foodie. A HUGE foodie.

This may not come as a surprise to some of you. I grew up in a household where my parents (especially my dad) tried to expose my siblings and me to as many cuisines as possible. Our favorite, to this day, is Indian, for many reasons. Dad's mom grew up in India as a child of missionaries, and the food got carried over to the U.S. One of our favorite dishes (and the most typical one Mom makes now) is chicken curry with rice. Oh, and don't forget the poppadoms! And my dear husband knows I'm not kidding when I say one of the tests for belonging with the Blieses is trying and liking curry! (Don't worry, he passed!)

Other cuisines we were exposed to at a young age were Japanese (Dad's been to Japan four times.), Chinese (which is always fun), Mexican (tacos, anyone??), and Italian. I also really like Thai food, but I obviously have a thing for anything Asian. Of course, I've eaten my fair share of European cuisine. Good old German food is always delicious, if a bit heavy (I love me some bratwurst.). And though it can be bland, I ate some delicious food in England, too. And I live for England's afternoon tea spreads.

But out of all of these, I think I've finally found my favorite. (Excepting Indian, because that tops them all no matter what.) My favorite, as you may have guessed from the title of this post, is Italian. Any time I see an Italian recipe, my mouth waters. I make simple spaghetti and meat sauce at home a lot. But all the experimenting I do in my too-small kitchen will probably never top the gloriousness that is Olive Garden. At least once a week I find myself craving a meal from Olive Garden. This has been happening with alarming regularity for the last few years, and it doesn't help at all that the closest restaurant to us is either in Milwaukee or Appleton. Since we rarely make it to Milwaukee, and then it's to visit family where we'll be fed amazing food anyway, that's kind of out of the question. And Appleton is rather a lot farther away, but we'd be more likely to eat at the Olive Garden there...

So you see my dilemma. My favorite restaurant is not close enough. And I haven't yet found a suitable Italian replacement in Sheboygan County. Le sigh. So I'm left with my severe case of the foodie blues once again. I suppose I can console myself with a yummy fish fry tonight at our favorite bar.

a thrifting journey

I mentioned in this post that I want to purchase only thrifted clothing this year. There are a few reasons for me attempting this challenge. Here they are:

• money (not a huge issue for us, but it's always good to save)
• thinking a little bit more about what I purchase
• my lifestyle change for the better will cause me to lose weight
• I adore vintage clothing
• it'll be FUN!

So, money. It always comes down to that, doesn't it? And unfortunately, purchasing clothes is not cheap if you want quality. Cheap clothes from Wal-Mart and Old Navy don't last. Especially not when you spend a lot of time outside, like Nate and I do. That leads right into my second reason. Impulse buying is something we all suffer from occasionally and on different levels. To be perfectly honest, my impulse buys are usually books, but I'd rather not start being impulsive about clothing. :) And yes, I am eating better, exercising more, not sitting for long periods of time, getting enough sleep, etc, which will have the awesome side effect of slimming me down. Why buy new and possibly expensive clothing that may be cute but I won't be able to wear in a few months? Seems logical. Plus, I do adore vintage clothing. I probably won't purchase much in the first half of the year while my body is changing, but still. It's fun to make awesome finds that you can share with your friends! And the whole process of thrifting is so much fun. It's an adventure!

Will any of you, my lovely followers, join me in this adventure in 2013?

incandescent wanderlust, you ask?

Yes, of course! The blog has been rechristened as an incandescent wanderlust. Being an indecisive person, this could change yet again before I am fully satisfied, but let's just say for the sake of everyone who reads this that it's the new name. Why? First of all, I was born with a serious case of wanderlust. For most of my life I've been randomly planning trips to see the world. (When I was 13 I decided that I wanted to see the Arctic and travel as far north as was possible. I'm not kidding.) None of them have come to fruition, yet, though I have seen much of the United States and have been across the pond to dear old England (which needs visiting again...). And I was going to christen this a bright wanderlust, but decided that incandescent was a much prettier word. Unless you, my dear followers, think bright was more appropriate.

As you can see, the name is new, and the colors on the blog are new. The layout is basically the same because I realised I really like this one. I'm still working on a few tweaks, like side button links to my favorite blogs, links to my Pinterest page, etc. Also, eventually there will be a different picture of me, not just the one in my profile. And hopefully I will have a pretty banner in place of the boring title, though I do like the font.

This is quickly becoming a labour of love, so I would love some feedback and perhaps some advice on how to pretty things up and truly make this blog mine. I have grand dreams for this blog, though I have grand dreams for everything so I guess that's not saying much.

ch-ch-changes (for the blog)

Seeing as it's a new year, I have a few things in mind for my blog. I would really like this to become a regular thing. Granted, I'll probably never be as awesome as many of the other blogs that I follow, but with a little tweaking it might look pretty.

• a new name (not 100% positive about what it will be)
• a new layout
• more links
• more pictures (which will only happen once I have a camera, though occasionally there might be bad quality iPod photos like the one above)

There are a few other things playing around at the back of my mind. It is, after all, the time of year to think "new and inspired" and I wish to carry that all the year through.

here's to making 2013 fabulous!

Happy New Year to my dear followers! I apologize for not posting regularly on here. There have been a lot of ups and downs over the past year, but I am determined to make 2013 better than 2012. We humans, being imperfect sinful messes, always say this every time a new year rolls around. Occasionally it works, and more often it doesn't. We make resolutions to lose weight, read more books, make new friends, stop smoking, eat better food, travel more, etc.... The list could go on forever. And while resolutions can be good, I think it'd be helpful to realize that we will never be perfect no matter how hard we try.

So. I do have resolutions, though I am calling them goals because that just sounds more attainable. Besides, my goals are meant to be habit-forming and thus a change for the better, though a few of them are just fun. So here is my list.

• read my Bible more often
• treat my body better and get it in shape
• drink a green smoothie at least once a week
• eat breakfast
• snowmobile with Nate as often as possible while the trails are open
• play the piano more, and teach myself Claire de Lune
• take up knitting again
• learn how to crochet
• perfect the art of making a latte (I consider it an art anyway...)
• sew a fantastic Halloween costume (gonna be the Miller High Life Girl!)
• take more walks/hikes
• work my way up to running
• plan at least one weekend up north camping trip for this summer
• write something every single day
• purchase clothing only from thrift shops (this is a goal I will expand upon in a later post)
• shop local: both shops and farmer's markets
• write monthly letters to friends and family
• plant a vegetable garden
• harvest dandelions for wine again
• purchase a DSLR camera (I even have my eye on one... ^_^)
• read 50 books, at least 10 of those must be non-fiction
• begin making Christmas gifts at a decent time this year
• BLOG BLOG BLOG 
• don't forget that it's okay to dress up and put on a little lipstick just to do mundane shopping
• always remember that each day is a gift from God and try to enjoy it

There you have it. It's probably not a complete list of goals, but I also tend to overshoot when I plan things out for myself. I think I'm addicted to life, specifically experiences in life. I want to do everything, go everywhere, see all the beautiful sights this world has to offer. Realistically, I know that'll never happen, but I can begin a little closer to home and enjoy what the Lord has blessed me with, which is a fair bit of goodness.
And I mean it when I say 2013 is going to be fabulous!

nothing special

Hi all.

I think I am going to take a break from blogging (at least on this blog). Maybe it'll be for good, I don't know. I feel like this blog doesn't really have a solid purpose and all I do lately is rant about things I can't change. What's the point? Maybe I'll still write book reviews on my other blog, but hardly anyone reads those anyway so maybe not.

My writing sucks, so I won't subject anyone to it anymore. :-P

Thank you for your time and see you around the interwebs.

Pornography as Mainstream Entertainment: What is a Christian to do?

As a culture, we are completely and utterly over-sexed. Sex appeal sells just about anything nowadays. Just show a bit of cleavage and it's all good. Apparently. Of course, it's become waaaaay more than that in the years I've grown up. No longer is a bit of cleavage good enough. Just watch some of the commercials on television sometime. And then we have the tv shows themselves. How many primetime shows don't have at least one sex scene per episode? Perhaps there are a few. But it doesn't matter whether there is a scene; the characters talk about it. Incessantly. It's disgusting. And if you move into the cable channels, it's even worse. Nudity is all over television; sexual nudity. Like A Game of Thrones on HBO. I wrote a review of the first book on my book blog and basically it was a decent story, but it failed for me because of the amount of sex, very often incredibly perverse. The show, I've been told, is even worse. The human body has been turned into this carnal piece of work that everyone is told to lust after.

Movies are just as bad, too. For years, the movies I would call "pornography in disguise" have been targeted more at men and boys. Think American Pie, or Superbad. (I've not seen any of those, and don't plan to. Though I did make the mistake of watching part of the first American Pie movie at a friend's house once...ugh.) And now this year...the ladies got a treat. Magic Mike. Though if you enjoyed this movie, I'd hesitate to call you a lady. Nor would I label the movie a treat. It's full pornography, according to the review I read on pluggedinonline.com. Even the review was too much.

But even if you just want to watch a comedy or drama at the theater, you can't get away from sex. I feel like it must be a prerequisite now for Hollywood: at least one gratuitous sex scene. At least. I can't tell you how many movies I've seen at the theater/rented to watch at home that had a useless sex scene. You know something, Hollywood? Even if the characters must have sex, you don't have to show it. Good grief.

And then there's the sexual innuendo that is splattered ALL OVER conversation, whether in everyday talk or in the media. My question is simply this: WHY?

Then we have books. Sex scenes are all over books; every genre has them, some worse than others I think. I made a comment in my review of A Game of Thrones about how fantasy authors seem to think they have every right to throw in as many pointless sex scenes as they want simply because the book is in a fantasy setting. A few of my favorite books are still sullied by these scenes. Enter E.L. James, the author (dare I say plagiarizer?) of the super-hyped Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy. I know I have made many wisecracks about judging people for reading these books, but I am honestly dead serious. First of all, these books started out as Twilight fanfiction, which should tell you a lot. Second, they are poorly written. And when I say poorly, I mean atrociously. I haven't read them, but just reading the reviews on Goodreads is enough for me to say they didn't deserve to be published. Third, they are basically porn packaged as a (poorly told) love story. Most of each book is sex. I'm sorry but no one, and I repeat no one should be reading this trash. Especially not Christian women. Why bring yourself down to that level? What is the point?

***************************

Sex is everywhere. And it's probably 99% of the time perverse. Pre-marital. Homosexual acts. (No, being gay is NOT OKAY. I don't know what Bible you're reading....) The list could easily go on. The human body is supposed to be a temple, people. Why can no one realize this?????? God created man and woman to be there for each other, and to have an incredibly intimate relationship within the bonds of marriage, to the point that they become one flesh.

I exhort you, Christian friends, to stand firm in the face of the perversions of the world. God created sex to be the means of a deep union between husband and wife, and to be the means by which children are created. It's a miracle and a mystery wrapped up together and it is sanctioned by God.

I could write about this particular topic forever. It saddens me to see young girls dressing and acting like total sluts because the media says it is okay. It saddens me to see young boys making crude jokes. And then they turn into men and women who think it's okay to allow abortion because then they can have sex with whomever they want with no restraints. Children are no longer cherished in our society. Just look at the absolutely ridiculous fight over birth control. Now, I condone the use of birth control for medical reasons, or within a marriage if that is what the couple wishes. I do not condone the use of pills like the "morning after" and others which induce an abortion right after conception. That is murder, plain and simple. (I also don't think anyone should be forced to pay for someone else's birth control. Yes, I'm talking about you, Sandra Fluke.)

We as Christians need to stand up for what is right and pure in our world. Don't be legalistic and shun everyone who thinks differently than you, but reach out in love. If a friend asks you to go see a certain movie with them, respectfully decline and explain why. Resist the temptation to read something like Fifty Shades simply because everyone else is. (If you ask me, when "everyone else is doing it" becomes the reason, I think that's a good time to steer clear.) Avoid listening to music that is completely about sex. Watch other television shows.

There is plenty of good, wholesome entertainment available. Many family movies, like Pixar. Tv shows like Doctor Who, Once Upon a Time, and Downton Abbey. (Actually, much of what is offered on Masterpiece Theatre Classic on PBS is wholesome and well-written.) There are also plenty of other books to be reading. Plenty of decent music to be listened to. And if all else fails, you can very easily read your Bible.

I usually watch period dramas, listen to classical music, read old novels and classics, and watch old films because they are so much cleaner than much of what is mainstream today. And of course, I just prefer them, but that is pretty obvious. ^_^

I'll stop here, since if this gets too long, people probably won't read it. But please take the time to. And I know I directed this at Christians, but this goes for anyone else in the world, too.

Thank you for reading, and may God bless your entertainment choices.