Again with the Super Fun Time weekend

Time for another installment of "Jen tells you how much fun she had this weekend" Ready? Now before you start to get annoyed that my weekends are more fun than yours, know that my week was, for various reasons I don't care to recall, UN. PLEASANT. So I figure the least the universe can do is provide decent weekends. And this February, she has not disappointed. Saturday afternoon, the husband and I set out on a couch finding mission at our local thrift stores. No luck on the couch front, unless we can find some much younger and stronger people to carry one of those lovely wood and floral velvet hide-a-bed numbers from the late 70's up the stairs. But what the Goodwill lacked in couches they made up for (in a big way) with: VHS TAPES y'all!! Fiddy cent apiece!Here's my cute little husband with our haul. Yes, Top Gun.

We spent so much time combing through the wall of tapes at Goodwill that we were a little late for our next stop, an art show by a friend of our friend Robin, Thomas Kemper. No, people in the northwest, not the soda. Here we are looking all cleaned and grown-up:
(John's tie and Jen's shoes courtesy of-you guessed it-Goodwill!) I should take a closer-up pic of the shoes, they're great. Maybe in a few months.

You may also remember from the last post that we had an Oscar Party. I took a few pictures, now available on the flickr. No, there were no cake pops but there was Good Time Lime and my new signature cookie-the chewy chocolate peanut butter chip. My secret? Just follow the recipe on the back of the peanut butter chip bag. Sneaky, huh? PLUS: I won the Ballot Pool!! I knew watching all those movies and reading so much Yahoo! Entertainment News would pay off someday. Never mind that my winnings only recouped about half of the party expenses- I won y'all! Take that, unpleasant week.

And as if the Thomas Kemper thing wasn't enough to remind me of the NW, check this out:
Yep, a Seahawks Koozie at the gas station just down the street. Silly. Must have been left over from that one time the Seahawks were in the Super Bowl. Look, it's already been used (at the Oscar Party) and has some random crud on it. Go Hawks!

Balls!

I've decided that the world would be a much better place if more foods were served in ball form. Here we have another fine example, the crab ball:A perfect sphere of deliciousness. Compact, easy to eat. World! Are you listening? More balls please. Maybe I should rephrase. More food balls please.

The crab ball was just one of the many delights of the first Starkspedition of 2011: Galveston. Don't ask why we went to Galveston, ask why you didn't go with us. Even I am impressed with the stunning array of fantastic weekends we've been having as of late. Super Bowl, Rock Cats, offensive costume party, and now this. You can see the full photo spread on the flickr.

How to recount so much fun packed in just a couple of days? I'll try one of my favorites, the No Particular Order list:

-Crab Balls!! Ok, here there is an order. Crab balls are #1!!

-foggy beach...spooky.

-The Poop Deck, one of the greatest bars of all time. (sad trivia side note: the PD is where the cover mermaid from Shrimp Boat Town used to live, but post Hurricane Ike, she is no more.)

-riding a four wheel bicycle thing down Seawall Ave- So. Fun.

-eating more yummy food, specifically shrimp, at Benno's

-staying at a silly hotel that looked like a prize from Wheel of Fortune circa 1986

-riding ferries

-identifying birds while waiting for ferries

-driving around looking at all the crazy houses and old buildings

-enjoying the tall ship museum even though the tall ship is in dry dock far away

-drinking a margarita called "Presidente Clinton"

-spending time with my sweet little husband

Sorry, got a little mushy there at the end...

Of course no Starkspedition would be complete without a stop at some kind of historical site. This time, The San Jacinto Monument. You may know that the Texans are very serious about their history. You have to admit that they do have a way more badass story than most states. And, as you know, they like stuff big here. This monument does not disappoint. It's HUGE. You can ride an elevator up to the top and gaze out at a horizon of...scary petrochemical plant stuff. (It is, after all, right by Houston.)

Texas History is pretty interesting. We saw a movie (and when I say "movie" I mean PowerPoint presentation, but I digress) that should have made me somewhat of a Texas History expert, but y'all know my lackluster comprehension skills. Oh well, you've got a computer, right?

Can another fun weekend possibly be coming up next week? Yep. Oscar party.

How was your weekend?

Get ready to be even more jealous of my weekends. I give you The Rock Cats:
A rock band of actual cats. Moving to Texas doesn't seem like such a stupid idea now does it? It's harder than you think to get a good photo of a cat band. This is the best of them. I'll put the others up on the flickr in a day or week or so. Until then, you can watch a video. You're welcome.

A Rock Cat show would be enough weekend excitement for most folks, but the Starks like to live life to the fullest y'all! Remember I told you about our disturbingly hilarious costume for Rachel's party? Here it is:
Can anyone guess who we are? That's right. Elizabeth Smart and Brian David Mitchell. Do a google image search of it. Swallow your drink first. You'll notice that even in captivity I enjoy a Bud Light Lime and cake pop! Yes, Adriane made cake pops again. She is the greatest woman on earth.

In order to fashion our love-gone-wrong outfits, I took a trip to the Savers (NW translation: that's what they call Value Village down here) and I have to admit I went a little apeshit.
This stuff all fits! Amazing. I have a powerful phobia of dressing rooms, especially at thrift stores so my strategy is to buy a bunch of stuff and try it on at home. Trouble is, all of this fits. It makes me feel 17 again. (The buying a bunch of stuff at the thrift store, I do not feel 17 in any other way. Trust me.)

Aw, today is Valentine's Day. Hope everyone has a lovely Hallmark sponsored time, or at least a good eat/drink binge. I love y'all!!

C & D at The Movies 2: The List

Poor Mark Ruffalo. First he has to be in the stupid lesbian movie, and then everyone in it is mean to him. But the joke's on them since he gets to be the new Hulk in The Avengers! The lesbians will regret making him angry.

That's right. My Self-Imposed Pointless Project of the moment is complete. For the first time ever, I have actually seen all of the Oscar Nominees for Best Picture!

For my own personal entertainment, I've made a list from 1 (super awesome) to 10 (wish I could get that time back to waste on something else):

1. The King's Speech. Great Great Great!

2. Winter's Bone. I know, I said True Grit was my #1 pick until I saw the King movie, but that's because I had forgotten that this one was nominated. Also very very good. My husband would probably say Winter's Bone is his #1, but he hasn't seen the King movie yet.

3. True Grit. Some people are annoyed by the lack of contractions, but I loved it. Plus-Matt Damon!!!

4. The Fighter. This one was honestly a letdown. I wanted it to be a bit darker. But, guess it's a true story so it has to turn out like it turned out. And of course, I love me some Marky Mark!

5. The Social Network. This one was a surprise. Much more entertaining than I thought. As usual, a stunningly cute performance from my JT and "the best friend guy" is a new imaginary boyfriend.

6. 127 Hours. Didn't live up to the hype, but delivered on my own expectations: "Cute boy cuts off arm." Yep.

7. Black Swan. Everyone luuuvs this one, but it left me unmoved. Very pretty, very well made, kind of pointless.

8. Inception. Looked cool, had that kid from 3rd Rock, but I didn't like how they kept explaining what was happening in the movie in the movie.

9. Toy Story 3. Just told you about this the other day.

10. The Kids are All Right. Maybe, but this movie was stupid stupid stupid. I like lesbians as much as anyone (Y'all know I watch Ellen every day!) but I thought this was just your classic middle class romantic drama b.s. except Hey! They're gay! That makes it edgy! Poor Mark.

C & D at The Movies

Lee is looking at me with disdain because I'm watching Toy Story 3. He can't understand why I'm suddenly obsessed with seeing all of the best pic nominees this year. "You didn't see Avatar or The Blind Side last year and everything was ok," he says. I know LeeChat, you're right, but now I'm at the point of no return. Last night I went to see The King's Speech with my sis as her Birthday Week Launch Event. It kicked the Facebook movie's ass, and knocked my previous pick, True Grit, into the crick. It is fantastic. (The real star of the movie? The wallpaper!!) And yet, I'm sitting through Toy Story three, y'all. If only I could channel these obsessive behaviors into something productive...Anyway, I will say that the TS3 portrayal of daycare is spot on. Otherwise, kind of a waste of time I could have spent watching Meerkat Manor. I mean reading.

So now there's just "the stupid lesbian movie" to go. Maybe it won't be stupid, but I have a feeling. At least Mark Ruffalo is in it. He's dreamy.

Super Bowl Wrap Up

Super Bowl has come and gone. We had another in a series of fantastic SB parties (thanks, Howells!) and I believe I can safely say that I have eaten the most delicious thing I will ever eat. Behold, the cake pop:Yes. Footballs of cake, on sticks, displayed on a field.
Made by (you guessed it) the Queen of All Things Culinary: Adriane Kimmel.
Here she is enjoying a well-deserved High Life. Never have a party without her unless you want your party to have bad food.

As if the cake pops weren't enough, we also had a ton of yummy meat. (That's how we do!)

Ribs and sausage.
Carnitas.

But did we have enough tortillas? I think so.
It was so much fun I even smiled with teeth. Wow.
Hope your Super Sunday was almost as fun.

Arctic Blast Y'all!!

Hey look! Today was that one day when it snows! You can remember last year's snow on the flickr. I'll wait. Feels like it's about the same. But watch out, don't sit in the chair! It has a little bit more snow on it this time.
It's just a tiny dusting of snow, but it is COLD. And not just Texan-Jen cold ("brr! it's 60!"). Real live in the twenties COLD y'all. So cold that I got to wear my cupcake mittens.
Have you ever noticed that I have two entirely different eyes? Both a lovely color, sure, but totally different shapes. Weird.

So remember last time I was blogging and simultaneously watching a kind of smart movie about art or something? Not so this time. That's right, I'm watching Grey's on the computer. Well mostly listening because I minimized the window.

Check it! We have another follower! Welcome, "Powerhouse"!

Food and Teevee: my two passions!

What delicious food did your husband make for you this weekend? Mine made these:See the pieces of bacon nestled inside with the cheese? Genius. Everyone always makes grilled jalapenos wrapped with bacon but then the bacon gets black and yucky. Yep. Best. Husband. Ever.

For Christmas we got a fancy blu-ray player that can play streaming movies from Netflix and stuff. Goodbye any idea of doing productive things with my free time!! Right this minute I'm watching Exit Through the Giftshop. Loving it so far. It also contributes to my Oscar prep project, as it is nominated for best documentary. But you're probably not fooled. You know I'm usually not watching documentaries so I can be a well-informed at-home Oscar voter, I'm using this high tech device to watch my new favorite show, Meerkat Manor!
It has all the qualities I love in a show. Uncoolness, a serial plot, and the fact that the episodes I'm watching are at least five years old.

Don't worry, I also still enjoy watching shows in a tiny square on the computer. My latest pick in this genre is Downton Abbey. It's not quite five years old, but at least all of the episodes have aired before I decided to "discover" it. That way, I get to watch it in a tiny square instead of on my big fancy teevee.

Hey, it's February. Happy Black History Month y'all! Maybe I'll celebrate by seeing if Sanford and Son is on this newfangled machine...