Its a Wonderful – Relay for – Life

A banner welcome I passed on my way into the event.

I am sure that some people assumed that I had all but abandoned the 25 for 25 List after a few boring Oscar winners. But, I have not. Essentially, my unemployment has caused me to put the list exploration on pause. Yankee games, road trips to Boston and designer jeans all cost money. And, I don’t have any… But, there are few items on the list that don’t cost any money, especially number 21 – volunteer my time to worthy cause. I spotted an ad in my church’s mass bulletin a few weeks ago asking for volunteers for the Middle Village relay for life. I never heard back from the office, but Dana’s aunt Colleen told me that the College Point relay was looking for help. So on Saturday afternoon, Colleen came and picked me up and off we rode to volunteer our time at the College Point Relay for Life.

Just a fraction of all of the lanterns that were made at the event. At the end of the night we had three full tables.

For those of you unfamiliar, teams raise money for cancer research and treatment and then do laps all night to represent the idea that cancer never rests. Supporters and attendees can donate ten dollars to charity and get a paper lantern to represent a loved one who survived or passed away from cancer. That was where I spent most of my day, after an intital run around trying to find a spot for us, Colleen, her two friends and I were stationed at the Luminaria booth. It was our job to put together the paper lanterns that would light the path the relayers would walk around over night. It was amazing seeing all of the intricately decorated lanterns that were made by survivors and loved ones. Some were just drawn, others were embellished with various decorations. I took advantage of my position, and donated money to make a lantern for my two grandfathers who we lost to cancer. That’s what personally drew me to the event was knowing just how much cancer has affected my family and those I love. And with a disease as widespread and powerful as cancer, it’s easy to feel helpless. So this opportunity to take some time out of my weekend to aide the fight, raise some money and support survivors was amazing.

The survivors do the first lap of the relay together.

I am not one for cheesy emotions, but my favorite part of working the Luminaria booth was when people would drop off their lanterns or be in the process of making one they would always share a little about their story. A few of the high lights of my day? A grandma proudly told me about how her 21 year old granddaughter beat leukemia and has been in remission for two years. And later in the day, a young couple designed a lantern for their sick friend and then sent him a photo on their iPhone. All day, the people I spoke with spoke with such bravery and admiration for the people they were there to represent. I enjoyed the event so much that I jumped at the chance to help organize the one near my house in Middle Village. I know my contribution was small, but it still feels great to lend a hand to such a worthwhile cause. That’s why I want to encourage all of my friends from Queens to come support the Middle Village Relay for Life on Saturday June 23rd at Juniper Valley Park. It’s going to be a great day of food, games and fun all for a really terrific cause. And, if Middle Village is not your scene there are other Relays being held that day in Astoria Park and Reif Park in Maspeth.

To learn more about Relay for Life and how you can get involved, donate your time or money please visit relayforlife.org.

Live at Twenty Five – Joining the Quarter Century Club

Oh Candle, you're so hilarious!

Birthdays are weird. When my friends have them, I make it my business to make sure I celebrate them and make myself available for their celebrations. So regardless if we are going to a speak easy for $16 cocktails or headed to a terrible theme restaurant for chicken terryaki – I am down. There was a point where I would make a huge deal out of my birthday with a party, a night out, a 21 gun salute to my amazingness and a fireworks display with a performance by Pitbull. And I don’t know if its the wisdom that comes with age or the lack of energy to go all out but with each passing year I have made my birthday more and more low key. When it came time to plan this year’s milestone I realized it was the first time since my 19th birthday that I couldn’t use Facebook to invite people.  So thanks to my Lenten sacrifice I was offered an out. An opportunity to make this birthday even smaller and more low key. Plus, it was the first time I wasn’t sharing my birthday with my Godfather or my high school friends Jamie and Christina. Since Christina and I had a falling out over the summer, this is the first birthday I had full control over. I had no one else to factor in or consider. I could make my birthday whatever I wanted.

So I made dinner reservations at Otto, one of my favorite Gwyneth approved NYC restaurants and invited a small group of friends out. We had dinner, then grabbed a few cocktails and headed to see a movie. I had a lot of fun, there were a lot of laughs and my dinner was delicious. It felt weird to not invite everyone I know out for birthday shots and karaoke but I just wasn’t feeling it this year and knew that some members of my inner circle were too hip for pizza and Mirror, Mirror. We did sneak into a second movie, since the Hunger Games was playing next door and we are all obsessed. So at least there a little bad ass behavior.

My birthday celebrants and I. What a stone cold bunch of weirdos.

In a lot of ways I am hoping that my birthday celebration will set the tone for the year ahead. Simple but fabulous. I had so much fun and according to the tweets from my guests they did too. So if the following 365 or so days could follow suit I would love it. Especially as I officially embark on my 25 for 25 project now that I am in fact 25. It’s weird because I don’t feel like I am that old. I think that’s why I started that list of things to accomplish, there are so many milestones and little things I haven’t reached yet that I assumed would be out of the way by now. But, the fact is according to my birth certificate and the smile lines I get in photos, I am 25. And, if the first 25 years of my life have been this fabulous, I can only imagine what the years ahead hold for me. But, let’s not rush things. I am in no hurry to get any older.

Thanks to everyone who called, texted, Tweeted and especially those who came out and celebrated my birthday with me!

The 25 for 25 Project Week Seven Update: Oscar and I will always have Paris…

Another week, another update on the 25 for 25 Project. I have to say, I have been looking forward to TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar for quite some time. I know I’ve mentioned it several times here on the blog. This week, there was actually too many movies recorded for me to keep me with. My week started in Paris with Gigi, which I had mixed feelings about. On one hand I was charmed by how beautiful it looked and how ridiculous the characters and the songs were. On the other hand the story was kind of a snooze, there was no real conflict. Overall, I did enjoy it and was so excited to see Gigi herself ,Leslie Caron in the other Parisian film this week An American in Paris. This one I really loved. It was so much fun, had a great story and the music and the dancing were top notch! Its one of the few times I was so emotionally invested that I teared up at the end of a film since starting the project. There were also layovers in Scotland with Braveheart which I enjoyed, a lot of people could not believe that I had never seen it but it snuck past me. With my viewing of Braveheart completed all that is left is Lord of the Rings until I’ve seen every Best Picture from the last 20 years. I also crossed Life of Emile Zola off of the list which I thought was an impressive and sweeping epic, but was not my favorite. Like I said TCM broadcast the winners faster than I could watch them. I still have Ben Hur, Amadeus and a few others sitting on the DVR waiting for me.

The other exciting news this week came in terms of a possible upcoming trip to Boston. As those of you who know me may have heard, at nearly 25 years old I am still susceptible to boy band crazes. So when I first heard What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction back in October I was hooked. However, my Direction Infection is not as severe as some of my friends. They need prayers, so much prayers. The boys have finally taken their act stateside and with a big US tour. My friend June suggested making a weekend trip up to Boston for their show. While I am usually the last person who thinks of traveling across state lines from things of this nature, I have been meaning to take a trip to Boston. Plus, what could be more fun than going with some great friends? Two of which went to college there and therefore could make excellent tour guides. As I am unemployed, money is a little tight as you can imagine. So we’ll see if it comes together. But, please send good juju my way because I’d love to cross something off of the list. Also let me know what I should do, see or eat while up in Boston.

I leave you with One Direction’s First US Single, What Makes You Beautiful. Available now on iTunes.

The 25 for 25 Project Week Six Update

This week was light in progress, thanks large in part to Fashion Week taking over New York City. You can read all about my adventures in Fashion Land on Monday when I post the full recap. As you may remember, number 16 on the list is to attend a fashion show. While I did attend a few events this week, including a fabulous party and a Cougar Town panel I did not make into any shows. But, there are two more NYFWs before the project ends so there are more chances to come.

As for the Oscar list, I made some progress but not as much as others weeks since I was out almost every day. Turner Classic Movies has been doing their 31 Days of Oscar in a geographical theme showing you all of the places Oscar films have taken place, this week we hit Greece, New York and the American south. In New York we crossed off Going my Way and The Apartment. Both of which I really enjoyed. Going my Way was a little shmaltzy, but Bing Crosby was excellent in it. Crosby plays a young priest who moves to a bankrupt parish overseen by an old priest and with a few youthful injections turns things around. The movie should be watched by today’s holy officials, who seem to have lost an entire generation of church goers with their archaic views and practices. The Apartment was also excellent, Jack Lemmon lends out his apartment to upper management men for their extra marital affairs. One of the bosses is having an affair with Shirley McLaine who is of course the woman Lemmon likes. The end of the movie looks as if it is going to end with a suicide and in that moment I got really nervous, that’s when I know I truly enjoyed the film when I am nervous or upset about the death of a character. The week also took me to the South where I crossed a political film All the King’s Men and In the Heat of the Night off of the list. I thought Heat was great, with an amazing mystery and a performance nothing short of incredible from Sidney Poitier. This week I also revisited Tara in Gone with the Wind. Wind was actually one of the 14 Oscar winning movies I had seen before starting off on this project, but I couldn’t help but re-watch it. It’s long, it’s epic but it’s a masterpiece and I just adore Miss Scarlet O’Hara. Tonight, TCM will be taking us viewers to Paris with GiGi so I’ll report back next week.

Fashion Week is no time for cupcakes, so I didn’t cross any recipes off of the list. But, I did finish Catcher in the Rye my second BTBC selection. Just like in high school I found Holden to be an annoyingly negative boy with homosexual tendencies. Unlike high school, I pushed through it and finished the book. While I did not learn as much from Holden’s three days of loneliness in New York city as I did from Mockingbird, I did get a good reminder. When I read Catcher in my sophomore year of high school, I had just started a new school after being tossed out of St. Francis Prep. I was 40lbs overweight and a closeted homosexual. I was the very picture of a lonely, isolated outcast. To say I related to Holden would be an understatement. However, no amount of kinship could help me overlook his cynical narration. While I barely know that person today as a celebrated and important member of my social circle, it was a good reminder how lucky I am to have such great friends and such a wonderful relationship with my family. I also think the pivotal message at the story’s heart about how we all grow up is similar to children playing in a field is true. No one ever decides to grow up, we all take certain duties or commit certain acts and one day we wake up and we’re grown up. It’s an accident, really. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and am glad to have been given a reminder how fortunate I am to be past that dark, lonely phase of my life.

Like I said, TCM is taking me to Paris and I have started Catcher’s successor Lord of the Flies and procured a copy of Emma for after that. And, with my sister home I finally have an audience to bake for so I hope to cross a few recipes off the list.

How I Grew Up to Become Scout Finch

For the first selection in my classics I skipped in high school and never got around to reading since I picked Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”. After completing the book it shames me to admit that I struggled to find my way through it twice. Both times I had the best of intentions but got bored and put it down. I don’t know what I was missing, but during this reading it all clicked. I tore through the book and finally understand what friends, family and even Jake Gyllenhaal meant when they all raved about the book.

Set in the depression era South, the book tells the story of Jean Louise Finch, better known to us as Scout. She lives with her brother Jem and father Atticus who is a lawyer. Over the course of the two years featured in the book she learns several important lessons. Put yourself into other people’s shoes, don’t kill mockingbirds, always do your best even if you’re going to lose and the idea that life is unfair are just a few of the big ones. She struggles with each one of these lessons, but over time she and her brother learn them through growing up and through their interaction with a recluse named Boo Radley and watching the events of a rape trial unfold. Just to give you an idea how deeply I was pulled into the book, as I approached the end and the events of Halloween night unfolded I found myself crying as I read. In a sense I was happy that I had waited to read this book, there’s no way I would have allowed myself to enjoy it this much reading it in the 9th grade. Even if I tried, no one ever wants to enjoy assigned readings. We are genetically engineered to hate them.

The book taught me a valuable lesson about my relationship with my own sister.

Another reason I am glad that I waited to read it is because it reminded me of something I had forgotten. While growing up, I had been the older sibling Jem in my sister Brittany and I’s relationship. Five years older than Brittany, I would be the one who grew up and hit certain mile posts first. As we all know when we hit puberty, or enter high school or go to college we all think we are grown up, that our friends are everything and that we can’t be too closely associated with anything un-cool.  Well since I was older of us two, my sister was the one who fell victim to this when we were kids. However, this past September when Brittany went off to college the shoe was put on the other foot. My sister is now the one who has outgrown me, and this allowed me to really relate to Scout in a new way I never would have been able to if I read this book at any other point in my life. When Scout complained about Jem avoiding her, spending all of his time with his friends or even hanging out with their mutual friend Dill without her I saw such parallels to my relationship with Brittany. Obviously a majority of the time she’s six hours away, and when she’s home she has such a busy social calendar she barely has time for me. But, as Atticus tells Scout, this is a phase and all phases end. They just seem like they go on forever. I had assumed this would be the case for my sister and I, but it was nice to hear it from someone else. Even if they are a fictional character.

Over all, I enjoyed Mockingbird tremendously. I also am so glad that I was right in my intent. When I added the item about reading classics I never read, I hoped that I would feel like I was gaining something other than a sense of satisfaction at how fast I could read high school level material. And, with this book I have. I feel like I have learned a few things, been reminded of a few things and somehow joined a nonexclusive club. I loved the book so much, that I feel like it is a book I may revisit in the future. My father has said that his favorite childhood book Huck Finn is the type of book where you can revisit it from any stage of your life and find a new lesson about life in the story. It may be premature but I feel that Mockingbird is the same kind of read. I look forward to seeing what else I learn from Ms. Lee’s classic when I revisit Scout, Atticus and Boo in the future.

25 for 25 Project Week Five Update

Wings is the first Best Picture winner and the only silent film to win the prize... for now.

This week began Turner Classic Movie’s 31 Days of Oscar, I’ve always been aware of TCM’s annual Oscar love fest but this year I am really coming to appreciate it. I’ve been watching and tweeting my reactions all week and my tweets have gotten TCM’s attention and they now follow me. So the appreciation seems mutual. Thanks to  TCM I crossed four Best Picture winners off of the list this week with another two watched thanks to speedy delivery from Netflix. There probably would have been more progress had it not been for my Downton Abbey marathon. I am OBSESSED! Its so amazing, if you’re not watching it we have nothing in common and should cease being friends. Anyway, back to the movies, Wings is one of the films I crossed off thanks to Netflix, it is the first movie to ever win Best Picture and is also the only silent picture to ever win. (For now.) The film actually holds up pretty well for a movie that is 84 years old. The story line involving a love triangle that’s really a rectangle is great and the bromance between the two pilots fighting in the great war is also really sweet. Over the course of the war, two men go from worst enemies to best friends. What really surprised me about the film was how beautifully it looks, there are shots during the climactic fight scenes where war planes look like they’re flying out of the ground, the amount of extras in wide shots just create a magnitude I didn’t expect in 1920′s cinema. Even compared to today’s war blockbusters it still looks expensive and so very beautiful.

Mrs. Miniver, Grand Hotel, My Fair Lady and In the Heat of the Night were all part of TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar and all were wonderful. The Heat of the Night has a great murder mystery and an amazing performance from Sidney Poitier. Grand Hotel is what I would consider the original Ocean’s 11 with an all-star cast in a movie about different lives overlapping while staying in Berlin’s Grand Hotel. While not my first Joan Crawford film it was the first time I saw her so early in her career. She is a wonderful actress and very fierce. It’s no wonder Greta Garbo didn’t want to share any scenes with her. The fabulous Ms. Crawford would have rendered her insignificant. Mrs. Miniver was my favorite of the group, a film about a woman from a middle class British family detailing how her life and the lives of her family change as they enter WWI. There’s an amazing message about how in times of war sometimes the most innocent and unexpected civilians become soldiers in the fight against evil. My Fair Lady was probably my least favorite, it felt a little bloated however I did enjoy how beautifully it was shot and it obviously harbors some great songs. Last but not least, was American Beauty. It shocks a lot of people that I had never seen this film as it was released in my lifetime and was very popular. I enjoyed it tremendously and thought it was amazing, but at the same time I felt guilty for feeling that way since elements of it seemed a little corny 13 years after first being released. Especially the bit about the plastic bag in the wind, which was amazingly parodied by Not Another Teen Movie.

The second selection of the Brian Tuft Book Club.

As for the Brian Tuft Book Club, I finished To Kill a Mocking Bird this week and loved it. I hope to do a full post regarding my reactions to it. But, let’s just say I am so excited to have finally finished it and don’t think I would have enjoyed it or related to it as much as I do at this very stage of my life. I am now well into my second BTBC selection Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I have decided that my Classics I Skipped in High School series will be made up of 10 Classics. I hope to include Emma, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies and other books that are very important and very popular literary classics that my shortsighted high school self deemed unimportant at the time.

The 25 for 25 Project Week Four Update – The First Meeting of the Brian Tuft Book Club

This week was a light week, in between mailing Netflix DVDs back and waiting for TCM to begin their 31 Days of Oscar extravaganza I only crossed two films off of the Best Picture list. Both of which I enjoyed for their artistic merit but wouldn’t say were my favorite films of all time. I watched Terms of Endearment, which I enjoyed a lot – Shirely Maclaine was incredible. The layered storyline of the three generations and how the older and the younger react to the death of the middle was wonderful. I think I would have been more impressed by the film, had it not been for I Love the 80′s where they discussed the film at great lengths. Most notably the scene where Shirely McLaine loses her shit when Debra Winger is supposed to get her pain medication at 9 o’clock. Alas I knew what was coming. What I found most interesting is that I feel like this film was the prototype for several emotion driven movies with stories of loss that followed. Later in the week, I watched A Beautiful Mind. I found it a little hard to follow and when I realized what was going on and who was who and what was real I was impressed at the intricacy of the storytelling. I do have to say when reading up on the film after watching it I was saddened that after three Oscar nominated turns in a row, including one win for Gladiator that Russel Crowe’s career seems to have dipped. Seems the Oscar truly is a curse, look at poor Gwyneth.

Perhaps another reason why this week was light on film watching was because I began another item on the list, Number 10 Read the Classics I Skipped in High School. I began with To Kill a Mockingbird. I had been assigned it in high school but skated through with non-committal to any facts on the essays. I have tried to read it twice before but I didn’t get through it. Now as I stand deep in the book, about 100 pages shy of the end I have no idea what kept me from finishing it. The book has many wonderful and different elements to it. Stories of youth, the theme of race, the bits about growing up – it’s all terrific. The relationship between Jem and Scout and their father Atticus is my absolute favorite. Having been raised for the most part by my father and the death of my mother early in life I really related to the bits and pieces of that storyline. I am sure everyone who reads the book, sees a great deal of their father in Atticus. He’s honest, thoughtful, a little strict and the way Jem and Scout admire him is similar to how all children admire their dads. But, I feel very strongly about the similarities to my father.  A single father raising two kids, working a lot, hiring secondary childcare,  always being criticized that his young daughter is not girly enough – it all hit home.

I do have to say, I don’t know if I would have appreciated all of the subtle story lines and pieces of wisdom about growing up if I were to have read it in the 9th grade. As embarrassed as I am that I have waited this long to read such an important literary classic I am glad that I am being introduced to the material at a time where I can enjoy and understand it. I look forward to finishing the book in the coming days and starting a new skipped book that I hope will be just as enchanting. Perhaps Emma or Lord of the Flies.

25 for 25 Project Week Three Update: A Cross Blog Extravaganza

Above: Can you tell which one is the over-stirred one? Below: The cupcakes dusted and ready to eat.

My usual posting date is Friday, but due to an unexpectedly hectic schedule I am posting a day late. My schedule was so hectic I didn’t even have the entry typed up. I am penning it over morning coffee, watching Dances with Wolves. I hear its the Help but with Indians instead of black people. Ugh white people. Anyway, this week was really great for productivity in my two lists within the list. I crossed two cupcakes off of the to-bake list. A delicious marble swirl and a triple citrus cake with a lime glaze. I whipped up the marble cakes for when Sara came over to watch the Lord of the Rings with me. The batter was simple enough to whip up, but the real fun was combining the batters and then swirling them together. I did have an accident where I over-stirred one, but other than that they were pretty great. The two flavored cake and the lovely design the swirl creates led me to decide not to ice them but instead dust them with powdered sugar.

My first of several bowls of Frito Pie.

Now, onto the second cupcake. On January 1st I relaunched this blog as BEST Blog, but my friend Trang also began a new journey into blogging. She took her blog Curiosity Killed the Cook live the same day. A blog about recipes she whipped up at home and journeys through the culinary world that is New York City, the blog is a diary of a foodie. Since I have known Trang she has always been interested in cooking, even attending all sorts of Food and Cooking events. When she suggested we get together for a cross-blog hang out where we cook and watch an Oscar winner/contender I was so excited. We made plans to get together on Friday and bake and watch the Beginners. We whipped up a recipe I read about on Trang’s blog called Frito Pie. Its Frito’s Corn Chips, Chili and Cheese mixed together. I had three bowls. Three heaping bowls. Its amazing. After lunch, we made the Triple Citrus Cupcakes as Trang suggested, since citrus is in season right now. I was hesitant about them as I am not a big citrus fan but they came out delicious! I was so excited to be pleasantly surprised. The perfect amount of sweet and sour, in a super light cake. The glaze is just that a glaze you would find more often of a doughnut, but with a lime zing. Then we sprinkled leftover citrus zest on each one. Not only adding another zing of flavor, but also a lovely garnish.

Here is the finished product, after Trang and I glazed and sprinkled them.

The Citrus Cake called for lots of lime, lemon and orange zest.

Here is a lovely shot of the cupcakes all glazed, we sprinkled each of the three with a different zest.

It was great baking with Trang, who has as much, if not more passion than I do in the kitchen. We have another recipe picked so another cooking play date is not too far off.

This week, I crossed the 30 mark meaning there are less than 53 films to be watched from here on out. This week, I crossed off Hurt Locker, From Here to Eternity, the Gladiator, Marty, the Broadway Melody of 1929, Out of Africa and as I mentioned am in the process of watching Dances with Wolves. It was a good week for movies, with not one bad one in the bunch. From Here to Eternity was probably the one I enjoyed the least, even with the classic scene of Burt Lancaster and Debrah Karr kissing on the beach. What surprised me most this week was the movie Marty. When I read its summary “a lonely butcher from the Bronx who lives with his mother finds love in a meek school teacher” I was not too optimistic. But. It was incredible. I enjoyed it so much, such a simple but sweet movie. Also, as a little bit of trivia the Broadway Melody of 1929 was the first speaking picture to ever win the Best Picture Oscar. It was such a throw back, whenever there wasn’t dialogue there was no sound and each scene started with a title card that gave the location and time of the scene like in silent movies. It was pretty fun to see. Next week I have a few movies on the schedule including My Fair Lady which I have heard so much about. Also, its not a Best Picture winner but I watched the Beginners with Trang after we baked our cupcakes and want to put it out there I now understand why Christopher Plumber is a shoo-in for Oscar gold. He is incredible in it, the film also has a nice balance of sadness and humor. Plus the little Jack Russel Terrier Henry could give the Artist’s Uggie a run for his money.

The 25 for 25 Project Week Two Update

In week two of the project, it was all about the movies. After screening Million Dollar Baby, I decided to see what other Oscar winners I could watch by using Netflix. Well, as it turns out a few. When I went on to Netflix there was around 12 or 13 movies for streaming. However, before I got through them all some were taken down. But, I was able to get through nine films, starting with All About Eve. It was my first movie, and so far its my favorite Oscar winner I’ve watched for the project. Bette Davis is amazing as an aging Broadway star who invites a starstruck fan into her fold as her assistant. The movie is a tale of betrayal and deceit, but compared to today’s movies it a simpler tale. Eve is cunning, but she isn’t over the top. If this film was written today, it would struggle to get made unless the writers made Eve a homicidal maniac hellbent on killing Margo. In the end if this masterpiece was made today, it would probably end up being a Lifetime movie. The other movie I watched that I really enjoyed was the Last Emperor. I had to watch it twice because it was so long that I kind of lost track of what was going on in the middle. But, it was a good story about the last emperor of China and how he went from being a prisoner of his royal life to finding freedom in his life as a gardener. This week I also crossed the English Patient, Kramer vs Kramer, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Patton, Midnight Cowboy, Oliver! and Down by the Waterfront. I enjoyed all of the films tremendously, except for English Patient, which might honestly be the worst film I’ve ever sat through. On the Waterfront which was the most recent film I’ve seen brings me to a grand total of 25 Best Picture winners viewed. I have 58 left to go. The Hurt Locker arrives today from Netflix and TCM begins its 31 Days of Oscar in a few days so the progress should continue nicely.

Now, I am so excited to announce that I have also devised a plan for another one of the items on my list. Number 21: Volunteer my Time for a Worthy Cause is something I’ve been thinking a lot about. I’ve been trying to figure out what I am going to do and who I am going to donate my time with. Then it hit me, 2012 is a Leap Year so we essentially have an extra day this year. So I take this extra day, and volunteer at least 24 hours. I hope to find a few different charities and volunteer with a few different causes. Something for equal rights maybe my favorite gay marriage charity and something for animal rights. I’ve also been reading a lot about this organization that does work with victims of sex trafficking. I mean there are so many worthy causes but I don’t want to spread myself around too much because I want to help. It would be pointless to divide my attention around so much that each organization gets enough time to train me before I leave for the next stop on the Brian Volunteer Tour. Although, I have a feeling that once I start volunteering and find a great place to lend my help that my volunteer hours will exceed the 24 hours in the Leap Day.

Now I am off to bake a batch of cupcakes and find a local blood drive so I can cross that off of the list. Please let me know if you want some cupcakes, because its going to be hard to get into shape (Number 2) if I am eating all of the goodies made from Baking my Way Through MS Cupcakes (Number 22).

25 for 25 Project: Week One Update

Last week, I launched my new project on this blog. After developing the project over the month of December I knew I was excited about it. But, after viewing the traffic stats for that day, I saw that I wasn’t alone. The day I posted the list was the highest day of traffic, since I broke the news that Colette and Dean were going to get together on Pan Am back in November. Along with the hits, I got some great feedback and lots of offers and invitations to do things on the list with different friends. I am really excited about upcoming movie days, a group outing to see Mamma Mia! and getting everyone together for a day at Yankee Stadium. Aside from planning, I actually did a few things so let’s get to that.

On Monday, I invited Alex over to do some baking. Before she came over, I looked through Martha Stewart Cookies to pick a few recipes for us to make. While flipping though, I noticed how many cookies there were that no one in the house would ever eat. Like Rosemary & Thyme tea biscuits and Cashew Bars. So I made a quick decision to switch Bake My Way Through MS Cookies to Bake My Way Through MS Cupcakes. Alex came over, we caught and drank coffee while getting to work on our cupcakes. They came out really great. But, they didn’t seem dark enough to be Devil’s Food, plus the original Chocolate Ganache frosting came out like pudding. Oh and our plan to make a second cupcake went out the window when we had to run to the store to get some forgotten ingredients. Oh well, there’s a whole 15 months to bake the rest and from the reaction I got I’m off to a pretty delicious start.

After my day of baking with Alex, Sara and I had a date to see How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. While it has not been on my list as long as Mamma Mia! Sara and I have been discussing going to see it since Darren’s run had been announced. I have to say, How to Succeed is not the best musical I’ve ever seen. There’s only one really fantastic musical number and the story is kind of blah. But, I was impressed by Darren’s performance. I had been assured by friends and even strangers who had seen it that Darren’s charm and charisma is obvious and that his dance moves are down pat. But, no one had raves for his voice. Maybe it was because they saw it in his first week and he was still working it out because, I was impressed. His voice is not Broadway but it was really great.  When you factor in that he had less than a month to rehearse/train and that its his Broadway debut I think Darren did a fantastic job and cemented his status as the Glee star with the brightest post-McKinley future. Seeing this show by getting rush tickets for $30 has inspired me to take in other shows, not just Mamma Mia! My next pick? I’m going to continue my hot guys from TV on Broadway tour and see Hunter Parrish in Godspell.

I spent Thursday laying low, making dinner for the family, catching up on DVR shows and even having a movie screening. The first film to be crossed off my Best Picture list? Million Dollar Baby. I heard so much about Clint Eastwood’s multiple Oscar-winning film about a boxer, that I even knew how it ended. But, never got around to seeing it. To be honest, it wasn’t the film I was most interested in seeing but I had rented it from Netflix a million years ago and never returned it. I thought I had lost it, but recently found it while moving the furniture around for Christmas decorating. (I promise to return it to Netflix when I am done with it.) There is honestly nothing at all I can say about this film that hasn’t already been said. Only that I enjoyed it and am excited to pick my next Oscar winner. I saw All About Eve is on Netflix Instant View. You know, I love Bette Davis… Well I love that song about her eyes, that counts right?