My husband is awesome (but sucks at grocery shopping)

There's a surprisingly awesome quantity of stock-photo
images to be found when you google "man grocery shopping"

This post is for all my homegirls who have awesome husbands who chip in at home, but who for the life of them, cannot manage a successful trip to the grocery store. For those of you who make painstakingly detailed lists which include package coloring and shelf location but still end up with a phone call from a confused hubby in aisle 3, this rant is for YOU!

Dr. H is awesome about sharing the burden of "home work", but one task I always hesitate to pass off is going to the grocery store. No matter how hard I try, it is as though a blind man consumes products in our home and then he becomes a bewildered little boy when trying to locate anything resembling the items on his list inside the store. Somehow a pre-dinner shopping list which includes "1 lb chicken breasts" turns into 1 lb of my favorite chipotle chicken breast deli meat and the store being sold out of shallots (which later morphs into a confession of "I don't really know what shallots look like"). 

I don't know what in our genetic code makes women so much more capable of grocery shopping than men, but my scientific research (aka, complaining to girlfriends over alcohol) yields a conclusive result that the majority of men simply cannot grocery shop. 

Hump Day Distractions

Haha!

A winter weather hello and happy hump day to you my friends! NYC is a snowy wonderland again and though it makes getting around a bit tougher and slower, I have to say... I love it. If it's going to be cold, might as well have snow (says the girl with no driveway to shovel or car to skid around!) I'm trying my best to enjoy the sparkling white before it all turns muddy grey. For those of you relaxing at home as well as the tortured ones who had to schlep to work, here are some distractions to get you over the hump!

* What a brilliant idea for all those broken Forever 21 purchases that I can't seem to throw away!

* Ever wonder what the best (aka, most popular) movie to be filmed in your state is?

* I've always loved American Eagle undies (and jeans, and accessories!) but THIS gives me another reason to be a fan.

* This baby has excellent musical taste (worth waiting through the pre-roll!)

* Some tips for staying fit when you work 10+ hours days.

* I am a HUGE sucker for J Crew's color palate (jane green! bright blue! popping pink!) so  I found THIS video about their color creation process super fascinating.

* Dear shoes. I need you.

* If you love Disney World even half as much as I do, you've gotta check out these secret factoids!

* Oh men.

A little makeup might do the dudes good...

Just a simple 18 step process gentlemen (note: NOT my actual makeup routine!)

Last night, as Dr. H plodded off to bed while I remained in the bathroom washing makeup off my face, I got to thinking about the fact that men don't wear makeup. Now I wasn't facewash-daydreaming about this concept in a gender norms, political/feministy way; I was literally just wondering "why don't men bother to use products that enhance their features and mask things that make them feel self-conscious!?" Because you have to admit, even though makeup can be a biotch to apply and remove, when properly utilized, the impact of makeup is pret-ty fantastic (goodbye blemish, hello gently flushed cheeks and long dark lashes!) 

As I moved on to patting dry and applying moisturizer (I told you I have a ridiculous bedtime routine) I actually started to feel a little bad for men, who, because of social norms, don't really get to enjoy the benefits of dark-circle concealers or face brightening lip glosses. Though I imagine most men don't want all (or any!) of these things complicating their  lives, as a lady, it's funny to imagine how much better dudes might look if they took some notes from those helpful folks over at Sephora. Seriously. Because as my mom once said, "make-up is such a pain in the ass, but man does it make ya look good!!"

Fishergirl vs. Fisherman

Fishergirl.

Yesterday I was out fishing (yup, and I even bait my own hook!) with my parents, Dr. H and a friend of my Dad's. As my mom and I chatted about everything from "so and so's wedding" to the brilliance of THIS Greek dip, the gentlemen of our party couldn't help but joke about the differences between our genders. My Dad, often known to enjoy all day fishing excursions will come home after 4+ hours at sea with friends and say he had a great day. But when you ask what the group talked about, the answer is usually "nothing". "You don't know how his wife is doing or how their vacation to Europe was?" "Nope, it didn't come up." Hours together on a boat can spark no greater conversation than "will you pass me a soda?" "Sure." and "Thanks." It seems that men have an uncanny ability to sit in absolute silence for hours on end, enjoying one another's company while women would consider a day without conversation to be an indication that something is terribly wrong. 

While I can certainly appreciate a relationship so deep that there's no need for small talk, much of what I enjoy about time with girl friends is catching up and chatting about whatever random topics come to mind. Our male counterparts however, mysteriously create closeness in total silence, their mere mutual presence in a location being enough to make the day great.  It's crazy how different we can be. So you men go off and enjoy your silence, I'll stay here with the ladies and talk about how you all never seem to have anything you want to talk about.