Marco freaking Polo

I like kids. I really like the ones that belong to my sisters. I generally like other people's kids, and always smile or make funny faces at them in the elevator. 

But when all I here when I'm doing homework is "MARRRRCO POOOOLLLLOOOO" for 2 hours with increasing intensity and volume, it makes me want to build a gingerbread house, and, well, you know the rest of that tune. 

The Little Kid Table

When I was a kid, I always lamented the fact that I had to sit at the little kid table. It was so not my scene. Between bites of mashed potatoes and roast beast, I would glance over at the grown up table and dream of being included in their intellectual conversations, which were no doubt about the economy and foreign trade policies. Year after year of holiday gatherings I sat in those plastic chairs, with those plastic cups mocking me after every sip. I can drink orange juice out of a glass cup without breaking OR spilling damn it! 

Yknow what made it even worse? There was no set age at which one graduated from the kid table to the grown up table. It was completely subjective! As the teen years arrived, I would say to myself, "This is it, Nawana. This is the year, I can feel it!". I think because I stopped growing around the ripe old age of eleven, it threw things off for me. 

And to add insult to injury, ( salt in the wound,  pickle in the sandwich, whatever adage you prefer), after I got a couple Christmases and Easters under my belt at the grown up table, all these 'husbands' started showing up at our house. Before you knew it, I was demoted to the kiddie table! Well screw you "brother-in-law"! You can't just show up at OUR house and expect your male grown-up status to trump the bond of blood! I knew these people before they reached sexual maturity! 

I think there should be a brother-in-law table where you guys can all sit in the plastic chairs and talk about how miserable your existence was before you were honored to meet my sisters. And when you come to the big table to get an extra jug of O.J. we'll all glare at you for being such an annoyance. 

I'm not bitter, not at all. 

 

I Heart Scarves

I am home alone this long weekend, and can only look at so many pictures of diseases of the mouth before I needed a break. So I decided to catalogue my scarf collection and wanted to share it with you. Yknow, for insurance purposes. Here are all the scarves I own, in no specific order, each with a story of its own. 

This is my most recent addition, from my San Fransisco-Eve visit. It doesn't have any fond memory associated with it yet, its still just a baby love scarf. And that is my kick ass name tag. It makes me feel important.

This was bought from a vintage shop in Camrose, and I adore the silk and paisley pattern. This scarf is purely decorational. When Bunny recently visited, we were just out the door and I said  "Wait, it might be cold, let me get a scarf", and returned with this one. She scoffed. 

This scarf is in the top 3. It is warm and pretty. Me and my good friend Jill waited in line outside the Edmonton H&M on opening day, and when they opened the doors and released us hungry wolves inside, it was one of the first things I grabbed. It has lots of coffee stains on it, and I also wore it at Patience's Winter Wonderland Wedding.

This scarf is ok. I bought it on sale at the Jacob Outlet. 

This scarf is the one that started it all! Patience went to Paris for a few months and returned bearing gifts, and in doing so, marked the beginning of my addiction. I don't wear it a lot, to be honest I'm not crazy about the dusty-rose shade, but love it because it was the first. A girl always remember her first.

This is my hippy love-child scarf, and I usually wear it in my hair like this. I rocked this look when we were in Nice when I had ugly-salty-ocean-sunscreen-my-north-american-styling-tools-do-not-work-in-Europe hair. It has a certain smell to it.

I bought this scarf in green for Bunny. I wore it in my hair and went camping with some Camrose friends, but left it in while I slept and almost choked.

Hey, I forgot I had this one! Will incorporate it into my look this week.

This is for when I'm feeling royal.

This scarf is ugly but very warm. I wish I knew how to quit you.

I really love this one. I've always been drawn to this mustard-yellow shade. I left it at Betina's once. It was a lonely couple of months full of uncertainty. I wore this scarf last night and scored myself a client, woohoo! Way to go yellow scarf.

This one is from Paris. Okay, okay, it's from the Zara's in Paris, and I'm sure that in the Summer 2006 season that Zara's the world over had this scarf in stock, but I don't like to think about that.

Boys always kiss me when I wear this scarf. Its the most magical thing I own, but as we have all learnt from Harry Potter, magical objects with a mind of their own are not to be trusted. 

I wore this scarf to a Gwen Stefani concert, but unfortunatley, I ate and drank and was very merry in the pre-concert jubilee and had to go home before Gwen even made it on stage. Just ask Serinda for the details. 

This is a classic black scarf from American Apparel. In their ads, they have emancipated girls wearing it as a dress or a tube top, but I just stick to wearing it this way.

*Author's Note - I also have a beautiful golden scarf from Ethiopia, but it is cut in such a way of which I'm not familiar, so I drape it over a tupperware bin and ta-da! Nightstand!

Friendly Umbrellas

I left the house yesterday quite early, while the sun was still shining. 12 hours later this was not the case, and me any my cute outfit got completely soaked in the heavy rain. 

Then at the crosswalk, with my cashmere cardigan I got on sale and love lots and lots over my head, the cutest Filipino lady motioned for me to huddle under her umbrella with her. She even went a couple blocks out of her way to walk me to my bus stop. This put a huge smile on my face for the rest of the day, as it was so kind and simple and sweet. Thank you so much for your act of kindness Umbrella lady, it was very much appreciated and made my day!

Tough Love

At Betina's request, here is a taste of Nunu's tough lovin' as of late...

Friday night with Boy:

N - "Thanks for taking me out, friend, I had a good time."

Boy - " You always call me 'friend'. I'm not your friend! You say it all the time just to put up this wall between us and remind me that I'll never have you! "

N - " I could call you pal, if you like. "

Saturday night, Boy took me to an unnecessarily violent movie with a weak plot, no character development, and a lot of pointless killing and close up shots of heads being blown off. I was covering my eyes through half the movie and growing more pissed with each shooting. While walking to the car...

Boy - " Thanks for sitting through that, I guess I owe you a couple chick flicks now. "

N - " Mmm hmm."

Car ride home...

Boy - " So its supposed to rain all weekend "

N - " Mmm hmm. "

 

11 minutes and 26 seconds later...

Boy - " There were a lot of recognizable face in the movie "

N - " Mmm hmm. "

Then he asked to take me out for breakfast...

N - " I'm pretty sure I'm still pissed "

The day after that...

Boy - " My weekend was terrible, I really wanted to take you out for breakfast. Please let me take you out again, if I could be so lucky! "

N - " Hmm."

Betina likened me unto Anne Boelyn with my bittersweet brand of tough, Nunuliscious lovin', and that I had better be careful, or it might just be off with my head. 

Coconut Chickpea Soup

Now that I have three weeks of blissful nothingness ahead of me, I can finally spend more time experimenting in the kitchen! This soup turned out to be delicious...maybe a little spicy for the kiddies or PopPop, but do try it, it's very tasty, I promise!

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp cumin

1 grated nubbin of fresh ginger

S n P as you like

Saute these ingredients in a bit of olive oil in your favorite soup pot, until onions are translucent. 

Then add:

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can chickpeas

1 tomato can-ful of broth or water

Let this simmer for about 40 minutes, then add the star of the dish

1 can coconut milk

Ahhh...this made my soul all warm inside on a rainy Friday afternoon. As you drink in each spoonful, think about how much you spent:

1 can store brand diced tomatoes               $0.79

1 can store brand chickpeas                         $0.69

1 can coconut milk                                         $0.99

Onion, spices                                                  $ Probably no more than 50 cents 

This makes it taste even better!

Teeth chat

A snippet of a conversation I had yesterday that made me laugh...

Boy: " So, you're in dental hygiene? You must have nice teeth."

Me: " I guess, although I do have mild generalized fluorosis and my mandibular second molars                  are rotated mesially."

Boy: " I thought you were gonna say that."