The clothing gods have smiled on us. And also they hate us.

We have a black tie optional wedding to attend next Saturday. We do not, as a general rule, attend fancy occasions. Our jobs don’t really provide them anymore, and most of our friends are married. We just don’t do dressy all that often.

So we needed to buy Aaron a suit. He wears a suit… never. Seriously. His suit-needing occasions are spaced out perfectly - we have to buy a new one every time because the old one doesn’t fit anymore. The last time he needed a full suit was for Steffanie’s wedding, and that one is definitely not an option this time around.

Last fall we attended a semi-fancy event for my old job. Aaron bought a nice jacket, but because it was a music thing, could get away with wearing it with jeans. I found a great black halter dress with beading around the middle that I just loved. So in planning for this upcoming wedding, I figured I would just wear that dress again. No problem.

So last night I finally got Aaron out to shop for a suit. (I honestly think he thought that if he didn’t have anything to wear, he wouldn’t have to go. WRONG.) This is where the clothing gods smiled on us. He walks into Macy’s and what does he find? The pants that match the jacket he bought last year for the Reba thing. Dark grey with a slightly lighter grey pinstripe? Check. Calvin Klein? Check. Do they fit perfectly and are they on sale? Yes they do and yes they are. Holy moly.

He is thrilled to be done and get out of there, and I am thrilled that we are avoiding a last minute mall rush the afternoon before the wedding. We grab dinner and head home. I make him try it all on together to make sure it matches and everything will work. It fits, it matches, it’s perfect. Yay.

Then I decide to try on my dress and shoes to make sure it all works and I’m ready to go. And this is where the clothing gods started to hate us.

I don’t think I like that dress anymore. It fits funny in the top, it’s a little big all over, and I kind of hate the skirt. I think I need a new dress.

Here’s the thing. I love shopping. LOVE. I love clothes and shoes and bags and fashion magazines and jewelry and everything that goes with all that stuff. BUT. I don’t get dressed up that often. Most of my time is spent in cords and sweaters. I don’t want to buy a new dress. I want to spend the money on boots and a new bag and some of those sweaters I have my eye on at Anthropologie and a bunch of cheap jewelry from Forever 21. I don’t want to buy a dress I will wear once and then hate in two years when my next fancy event comes up.

So. I am going to go as simple and classic as I can. Also, hopefully, I am going to the sale rack. We will see. Wish me luck.

At least Aaron is going to look fantastic.

I have not finished a book in ages. I have been too distracted by the Vogue and the Crate & Barrel catalog and the Masterpiece Theater and the napping. I have no motivation to read books. Does anyone have suggestions for a book that grabs you in the very beginning so that you never want to put it down? Nothing is holding my attention these days.

Tonight I bailed on a church thing to have margaritas with some friends and I think it was the best decision I have made in weeks.

Five of my friends from high school are pregnant right now. FIVE. How is that even possible? Did they plan it? It boggles my mind. Even if I wanted to have a baby right now I think I would wait just to stay out of the herd.

I made snickerdoodles the other night for Aaron to take with him on his trip, and I cannot stop eating them. I’ve never been a big cinnamon person but these are delicious. Someone needs to come take them away from me.

I have fourteen pairs of ballet flats, and all I can think about is how badly I need these. In every color. I think I have a problem.

I just read that Noel Gallagher sold his summer house because he couldn’t stand the thought of owning property next to James Blunt. That is awesome.

I talked to my mom on the phone today and it made me want to go home.

Can we please take a minute to talk about how lame I am?

I just spent three hours watching Fox. Two episodes of Friends, American Idol and Don’t Forget the Lyrics. I am pathetic.

I cannot believe I am into American Idol this season. I haven’t watched it at all since the first (and most awesome) Kelly Clarkson season. I hate this show. I hate the judges, I hate the contestants, I hate the songs and the band and Ryan Seacrest. And yet, I cannot stop watching. I picked it up randomly a few weeks ago when Aaron wasn’t home and they were auditioning in Dallas. I was flipping by, saw Dallas, and stopped because I am convinced that one day I am going to see someone I know on a reality show.

(Sidenote: I don’t know know Jason Yeager, but our paths crossed a couple of times in high school so that is kind of random. Except he wasn’t actually on the Dallas show as best as I can remember. When the guys sang on Tuesday I spent his whole (not so good) song doing the, “I… think I know that guy. Who is that? Why do I know him? Seriously. I know him. I think he was in some kind of show choir in college. No… earlier. I don’t think I really know him. But I kind of do. Who is that?” dance in my head before I finally figured it out.)

(Do you like how my sidenote is longer than my actual paragraph?)

Anyway, I hate all of the guys except the really enthusiastic kid and the hot old guy with the accent, and all of the girls except the one with the curly hair who plays the guitar, especially now because when I looked up that link it said she loves Bonnie Raitt. I love Bonnie Raitt! Clearly we will now be BFFs.

So I’m watching American Idol. Sad. But tonight I also watched Don’t Forget the Lyrics, which I secretly love but never watch because I don’t know when it comes on. (Hint: after American Idol.) I always tell Aaron I would rule at that show. But I am a huge lier because while I do have a ridiculous amount of song lyrics in my head, I rarely know the songs on the show. If they could feature a little more Counting Crows or Ben Folds, I would own them.

I probably would have watched the show regardless, but I knew I had to when, on the previews they showed during American Idol, they told me that BOYZ II MEN was going to be on there. Boyz II Men! I love them so much. At the end of the show they sang “End of the Road”, and I’m not gonna lie to y’all, I got a little emotional as I was singing along in the living room with Miles. You know that song played at your eighth-grade graduation, or as the last song at your prom, or in your bedroom when you and your sister sang into your hairbrushes. That’s some good stuff.

It’s a sad state of affairs when Aaron goes out of town and the best I can do for myself is wine, tomato soup, and cheesy reality shows. I would write more, but America’s Best Dance Crew is about to come on and I have to get ready.

(Just kidding.)

(No I’m not.)

Dear fellow Baja Burrito patrons,

Baja is a small restaurant with a long line. The burritos and fish tacos and salads and fruit tea are definitely worth the wait. Clearly, you think so too, or you wouldn’t have brought your six kids to wait in a line that’s out the door on such a cold day.

But here’s the thing - all the people who are currently seated and eating will not be here all day. By the time you get through the line, most of them will have finished their lunch and left. So there is no reason for you to send your kids out ahead of you guys to hold a table while you wait in line.

Let me list all the ways your family is annoying to the rest of us.

One. Your kids aren’t old enough to take care of themselves once they sit down while you’re in line. So we have to listen to you yell across the restaurant at them to stop playing with the napkins, stop pouring salt on the table, stop stealing people’s chips.

Two. You didn’t ask them what they wanted and you don’t want to squash their individuality by ordering for them, so you get to the front of the line and start snapping your fingers to get your kids’ attention. “What do you want? Tacos? What? Do you want cheese? CHEESE? What? You want a quesadilla? QUESADILLA? Sit down! Do you want salsa on it? SALSA? Are you sure? It’s hot! HOT! *fans mouth to demonstrate* HOT! Sit down!”

Three. Some of us are in line ahead of you. Pretty far ahead of you. We have gone through the line, paid for our food, and are currently standing here with our trays full of burritos and salads and pineapple salsas. But there’s nowhere for us to go! Why? BECAUSE YOUR CHILDREN ARE EVERYWHERE. Sprawled across tables THAT DON’T HAVE ANY FOOD ON THEM because you are still at the back of the line.

Four. I don’t like your face. And I hate what you’re wearing.

Please. People. Just follow the rules. If you don’t want to wait in line with all your kids and take a chance on finding a table for you all to fit around, there’s a Wendy’s across the street. They have plenty of room. And I won’t have to sit outside because of you.

GAH.

Brandi

(If you found this post by googling song lyrics, that song is called “Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop” and it’s by Landon Pigg. You are welcome.)

Tonight we continued our Valentine’s Day tradition of spending ten minutes and 20 dollars at Target in a massive speed shopping extravaganza, followed by takeout from Pei Wei. Aaron got a couple of t-shirts, pushing his collection into the thousands, and a huge bag of fun size peanut M&Ms. I got some sweet glitter gel pens, a cheese slicer and a fat daddy box of Mike and Ike’s. If you’re in the market for a sugar rush, just come by our house.

I love doing this. There is zero pressure to come up with an awesome gift. There are no freakishly expensive roses bought at Publix on the way home from work, no heart-shaped ruby and yellow gold necklaces, no Whitman’s sampler, no forced romance. Just a silly game and some yummy food. It’s the best.

One of the things that drew me to Aaron was his lack of sappiness. He is practical and level-headed, almost to a fault. I’d had my fair share of boyfriends who were heavy on the cheese and the mushy and the overwrought emotion. It was so nice to be around a guy who just said what he thought, thank you, the end. I didn’t miss the extra words. There’s no hole in my life where the giant mylar balloons used to be. I love that the sweetest, most romantic moments in our marriage have taken place on random Tuesdays at the kitchen table, not a stuffy restaurant on Valentine’s Day. Last year I got bookshelves for our anniversary and it was the best gift ever.

But just because Aaron isn’t sappy doesn’t mean I can’t be, at least a little. So today I am thankful for the spanglish, the birthday hug monkeys, the pillow stealing, the houseplan drawing, the neighborhood walks, the late night drives, the Friday Night Lights marathons, the concerts, the marketing books, the football, the Kinky Friedman poster, the endless snooze button, the random band members in the living room, the cowboy boots, the chicken tacos, the t-shirts and hoodies, the seat warmers, the surprises, the made up songs, the comfort, the challenge and the oceans of Mike and Ike’s. It’s a good life.

Last night we got all dressed up, which for us means wearing sweaters and blazers with our jeans instead of t-shirts and hoodies, and went out on the town. We went to TPAC to see Monty Python’s Spamalot, and y’all, it was incredible.

As in, my cheeks are still kind of sore. And not from the sitting, but from the laughing. Oh my holy moly, the laughing.

Now, obviously, some people are Monty Python people and some are not. If you’re not, I have to say that I don’t entirely understand you. But if you are, you have to see this show. You will be so sad if you don’t.

It doesn’t follow the movie exactly, and there were definitely things from the movie (”Very small rocks!”) that I missed. But the additions more than make up for it. The singing! You haven’t lived until you’ve watched a bunch of guys jump off a cart and sing a song called “I Am Not Dead Yet”. So much awesome.

What was really fun about the show was how into it the audience was. While we didn’t know exactly what was coming, we had an idea. So when a castle wall comes out and a French guy in a funny hat pops up at the top, or a big black guard calls out “None shall pass.”, the whole place is laughing before they can even get their lines out.

If this show is coming anywhere near you, GO SEE IT. You will not be disappointed. You will, however, possibly buy a ringtone for your phone that sings, “His name is Lancelot/ he wears tight pants a lot/ he likes to dance a lot”. Not that I would know anything about that.

Aaron and I have been trying to cook dinner at home more often. The problem is we really only have three or four things we both like and that are fairly easy to put together. So we make these grand plans to cook dinner at home, eat stir fry and green chicken for three weeks, get bored and start eating out again.

But! This time around I have been trying new things, and so far it’s been going really well. This is a recipe I got from Ellie Krieger on the Food Network. She has a lot of healthier recipes that look really good, so hopefully we’ll find some more good ideas.

This was incredibly easy to make, and so so delicious. I was really sad when it was gone. I only marinated the meat for a couple of hours (TIP: read the whole recipe in advance), and I think it will be a lot more flavorful in the future when I remember to do the meat the night before. Also I left out the shallots because I don’t really like them. Also also, I doubled the marinade/dressing recipe because it didn’t feel like enough, and I’m glad I did. We used it all.

THAI BEEF SALAD

1 pound top-round London broil or flank steak, about 1 to 1 1/2-inches thick
3 tablespoons lime juice, divided
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger
1 1/4 teaspoons red curry paste or chili-garlic sauce
1/2 head red-leaf lettuce, torn (about 6 cups)
3 shallots, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup), divided, for garnish
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, rinsed and dried
1 cup basil leaves, sliced into ribbons

Rinse and pat the meat dry. Place in a sealable plastic bag or small glass dish. In a medium bowl combine 1 tablespoon of the lime juice, soy sauce, canola oil, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and red curry paste. Pour half the mixture into the bag with the meat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice to the bag. Seal tightly, and marinate meat in refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight, turning occasionally. Reserve the rest of the mixture refrigerated, to dress the salad.

Spray grill or grill pan with cooking spray and preheat. Grill steak until medium-rare, about 5 minutes per side, depending on desired doneness. Let rest until room temperature then slice thinly against the grain.

Combine lettuce, sliced shallot, cilantro, basil and beef in a salad bowl, reserving a few shallots for garnish. Add the reserved dressing and toss to coat. Divide salad among 4 plates and garnish with reserved sliced shallots.

Yesterday I got a Myspace message from one of my most favorite bands, Waterdeep, announcing a show in March. Waterdeep is based in Kansas City and doesn’t really tour anymore, and the show is at a bar in Kansas City on a Friday night. They play about three shows a year, and almost always on a Saturday night in a city far away from here, which means that I have not seen Waterdeep play since at least 2002.

That is unacceptable.

Not only is it a Waterdeep show, it’s a Waterdeep show in which they are opening for the Khrusty Brothers. The Khrusty Brothers are a side project of Don Chaffer, the main guy in Waterdeep. Their album came out last year and I don’t think we stopped listening to it for weeks. He is one of my very favorite songwriters and the prospect of seeing him in his original Waterdeep and his new Khrusty Brothers on the same night was a little too much for me to handle.

Google Maps told me that Kansas City is about an eight hour drive from Nashville. Was I willing to drive eight hours to see for a once in a lifetime Waterdeep and Khrusty Brothers show? Yes I was. But we had a problem - the show is on March 7, and we have a wedding to attend on March 8. A fancy, black tie, big party wedding that I get to buy a new dress for and Aaron is dreading because he can’t wear jeans. Aaron was willing to miss the wedding in order to drive back Kansas City. I was not.

I decided to check Southwest. We have very limited success with Southwest because they make it really difficult to fly from Nashville to Dallas. But! Guess what the web only special from Nashville is this week? Kansas City. Guess who booked two flights to Kansas City for $80 a piece last night? ME.

That’s right, people. We are taking a weekend trip to the thriving metropolis of Kansas City to see both Waterdeep and the Khrusty Brothers in the same show. I think I might die of happiness.

Waterdeep is very important to me. In July of 2000, Aaron and I packed up and drove from Dallas to Kansas City for Everyone’s Festival. It was one of the defining moments of our dating time and when I think we both started to see this thing as more than just a random college relationship. We had one of their songs in our wedding. I even took the title of this blog from their lyrics.

I. Love. Waterdeep.

I also love getting out of town for a few days with my awesome husband who didn’t even blink when I suggested we travel two states away for a concert in a bar. He gets it.

I am so excited.

I have learned something new about myself here in the last couple of days.

I have a serious weakness for angry Irish guys with guitars. I love the accents, and that angry growly singing thing they do, and the way they just kind of beat up on their guitars. It gets me every time. I am such a sucker.

David Gray is an excellent example of this, especially his early stuff. But right now my most favoritest is Glen Hansard. I told you a couple of months ago to go see Once and buy the soundtrack, and since you guys do everything I say, I know you know what I’m talking about. Like at the end of “Leave” when he quits with the soft singing and really lets you have it? Or in “Say It To Me Now” when he just starts wailing “… this is what you’ve waited for, a chance to even up the score”? Y’ALL. That stuff moves me. I wish I was using that word jokingly, but I am totally not. It MOVES me.

I would definitely make out with Glen Hansard. And I have to say, I don’t think Aaron would be too upset. He would understand.

(This is unrelated to the angry part, but have you heard their cover of “Into the Mystic”? You should go download it right now. You’ll be singing “I wanna rock your gypsy soul” all day long.)

It has not been a good few days in the Manes house. We have been sick, sick, sick.

There is some kind of stomach bug going around, and apparently it has hit the high schools pretty hard. Aaron got really sick on Thursday night, and by the time he started feeling better on Saturday afternoon I had been struck down by it. I guess that’s what we get for hanging around with teenagers all the time.

So we had to cancel our Super Bowl party and all the fun trashy foods that go with it. Lucky for us, I tried out a new soup recipe last week, so we have been eating creamy tomato soup nonstop for four days. We both feel excessively better today… perhaps this soup has some kind of magical healing powers. It certainly tastes better than Pepto Bismal.

CREAMY TOMATO SOUP
- makes 3 quarts -

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
10 cups canned crushed tomatoes
5 1/4 cups chicken broth, skimmed of fat
3 sprigs fresh oregano, plus more for garnish (I used dried and it was fine)
1/2 cup half-and-half
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 8 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes, stock, and oregano; cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer gently, un­covered, until thickened, about 45 minutes. Remove the oregano sprigs.

3. Slowly add the half-and-half, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with oregano. Serve hot.

I think next time I will run the whole mixture through the food processor after it cools for a smoother texture. It is really creamy and delicious and I am pretty sad that it’s almost gone.