I Knew Them When

I'm a big believer in being nice to people along the way because you just never know who they're going to turn out to be. Like the neighbor who used to tease me on the bus in 6th grade and pick on me at junior high? We ended up friends in college -- now he's an international celebrity and business mogul, posting Facebook pictures of himself posing with beautiful models and seated next to Will Smith on a recent flight. I get to live vicariously through him (from the safety of my laptop), while enjoying the image of that little 6th-grade kid turned glamorous grown-up.

Another great example is John Bemis -- we were classmates and friends in college, both studying to become teachers. Now, in addition to having a successful career in education, he's also a published author. Head on over to Triangle Mamas to read my post about his new book, The Nine-Pound Hammer. The book is great and makes a nice holiday gift, too.

Friday's Five: Photo Projects for the Holidays

This Friday's Five (on Saturday, I know) is adapted from a post in April -- I think it's particularly useful for the holidays. If you're like me and you have 42 million pictures stored on your computer that you've never printed out, this is your change to turn all those smiles into something useful.

Here are five of my favorite picture projects and my favorite sites for each (from simplest to most involved):

1. Postcards @ Winkflash: The quickest, easiest way to use your photos is to print postcards with one photo on each card. Most sites offer lots of borders and other options, but I like just using a single picture that fills the card with a glossy finish. You can print messages or addresses on the back of the card, or just leave them blank. I like to print a 4x6 picture of my children on Christmas morning, then use the cards for thank you notes. You can print multiple copies of the same photo or get an assortment. At Winkflash, the prices are low and the quality is fine for a basic postcard. And now, with the collage feature in Picasa, it's super easy to make a single image file that includes mutiple photos.
   
   
2. Notecards @ Winkflash: Almost as simple as postcards, the notecard set is great to have on hand or give as a gift and so much more fun to use than generic cards. Again, I think simple is best -- one full photo per card and you can't go wrong. With Winkflash, you can order the exact number you need instead of having to order sets of 12. Envelopes are included.
   
   
3. Holiday cards @ Winkflash: Okay, so you're noticing a theme here. For my money, Winkflash is the best for card printing because I like to just use my photos (no borders or other designs) so that they work for anyone -- no worrying about getting Christmas cards for Christians, Hannukah cards for Jews and so on. If you want better designs, go to PhotoWorks (see below). But the other advantage with Winkflash is that you can print your message directly into the card -- no extra printing, folding and stuffing of holiday letters. I usually get the 5x7 size card so that I can put more than one photo on the front and have enough space inside for our annual update. And you can order the exact number you need instead of having to order in sets of 25. Envelopes are included.
   
   
4. Calendars @ PhotoWorks: Lots of photo sites have calendars, but the nicest ones I've found are at this site. They have multiple sizes and styles (sample above), including a perpetual calendar for keeping track of birthdays and anniversaries, and the quality of the printing and materials is better than the rest.
   
   
5. Photo books @ Shutterfly: When I was pregnant with Pippi, this became my addiction. I "nested" by becoming my own little yearbook staff for baby Juni pictures -- but way better than when I was actually on the high school yearbook staff because it didn't require a typewriter, scissors and glue (our kids will never understand that "cut & paste" was a literal thing before it became virtual on computers, but I digress). Of all the sites I tried, Shutterfly was the best combination of design options, ease of use and quality final product. One tip: Don't try to work in Mozilla Firefox; for some reason, Shutterfly is happiest in Explorer.

With all three sites, watch for sales and online coupons -- they all have good ones regularly and it can really make a difference. If you're interested, subscribe to their e-mailing list so you know when they're having specials.

Happy designing!

Dinner's Ready!

For all of you spending the day cooking, prepping, shopping, sweating and generally working your tail off to get ready for the big meal tomorrow, I have three words:

The. Fresh. Market.

Their traditional holiday meal comes pre-cooked with turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry relish and rolls -- all I have to do is heat it up and set the table. The best $80 we spend all year.

I mean, I know I've gotten all domesticated this year, what with the meal-planning and the cooking chicken and the trying new recipes. But seriously, people -- I do not find joy in spending three days slaving over a meal that will get devoured in about 20 minutes. I know that some of you do, and I respect that -- but I have no plan to join you (unless, of course, you want to invite me to your house for dinner).

After our children were born, my husband and I implemented a pretty firm no-traveling-for-the-holidays rule for our family. There have been a couple of years where we went to our parents' homes for Thanksgiving, but otherwise we've enjoyed the luxury of staying home. That policy also means that we've extended a generally open invitation to our parents to join us at our house for the holidays -- thus, the need for The Fresh Market.

My mother is the one who taught me this trick, after years of doing it all the hard way -- and I expect my children will be stunned to discover (years from now, when they get invited to a boyfriend's or girlfriend's home for Thanksgiving) that not all turkeys arrive pre-cooked with the fixings from the store. And I'm totally fine with that -- I'll just tell them I was supporting the local economy (The Fresh Market is based in Greensboro) and ensuring that I had more time and happiness to spend with them.

Happy turkey everyone!

Note: As always, I received no compensation from The Fresh Market for this post. However, if they offered me a gift card or a discount for my Christmas meal, I wouldn't say no.

Recipe: Crispy Tilapia

Like most parents, I'm always in search of recipes that are easy, tasty, healthy and popular with the whole family. At our house, one of the favorites in this category is crispy tilapia.

I buy the fish whenever it's on sale at HT and keep it in the freezer -- it's easy to defrost in the fridge a day or two before we use it. I usually cook two filets at a time -- slice each in half, with three halves for the grown ups and one half cut into nuggets for the kids (we call them "special nuggets" to make them more appealing).

What really makes the recipe easy to prepare is that I mix up a ziploc bag of the breading (usually double what's listed here, which gets us through several dinners) so that I can just pull it out of the pantry when we're ready to eat. The only downfall of the recipe is that the leftovers aren't as good, so you're better off just cooking enough for one meal. For sides, I like to steam or stir-fry whatever green veggies are in the fridge, plus some ready-made mashed potatoes.

Crispy Tilapia

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs tilapia fillets, about 10
• 1/3 cup flour, for dusting fish
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• salt
• pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning
• canola oil, to cover bottom of large pan

Directions:

1. Salt and pepper fish. Dust fillets with 1/3 cup of flour.
2. Mix egg with buttermilk in one bowl.
3. Mix flour, corn meal, baking soda and baking powder, Old Bay in another bowl.
4. Dip all floured fish into egg then flour mixture.
5. Heat oil medium-high in large pan.
6. Fry in three batches, turning after 2 minutes on each side.
7. Salt as soon as you take out of pan.
8. Serve with tartar sauce.

Recipe and photo from recipezaar.com.

Friday's Five: The Lloyd Dobler Effect

I ran across this blog post recently, describing a group of men in NYC who dressed as Lloyd Dobler, boomboxes blaring "In Your Eyes" above their heads, to celebrate the 20th anniversary edition of the movie Say Anything. I'll pause for a moment while you grapple with the notion that a) yes, it really was 20 years ago and b) there really are people with that much free time.

But I can't blame them for being committed to one of the all-time great movie characters, who famously declared that "I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that." Between that statement and his unfailing love for Diane Court, you just can't go wrong with Lloyd.

So in honor of Lloyd Dobler and the 20th anniversary of one of my most-loved teen films, here are five other favorite movies with John Cusack that my husband and I wind up watching every time we stumble onto them:

1. Sixteen Candles (1984): Okay, so Cusack isn't the star of this Molly Ringwald classic, but it's so funny to see him so young as he plays one of the dorky friends to geeky Anthony Michael Hall.
   
   
2. Grosse Point Blank (1997): Cusack stars as a professional assassin returning home for his high school reunion, where he runs into his long lost love (played by Minnie Driver). Chaos, wit and much gun fire ensue, along with a great soundtrack.
   
   
3. Being John Malkovich (1999): This mind-bender of a film includes a rough-looking Cameron Diaz (who knew that was possible?!) and a scene with John Malkovich cross-dressing. Strange and fantastic.
   
   
4. High Fidelity (2000): Another terrific soundtrack accompanies Cusack as he tries to piece together his romantic history (via his top five break-ups) to explain his latest relationship failure. Ah, the mix tape -- how I loved you.
   
   
5. Serendipity (2001): I don't know exactly why we can never turn off this movie when it shows up on TV (including last night) -- maybe I love the idea that what seems like coincidences is actually life leading us to just where we need to be. Or maybe it's the fun of another side-kick role for Jeremy Piven. The movie won't change your life, but it's still worth watching.

Note: The title for this post was shamelessly stolen from the band of the same name, who will be playing in Charlotte next Saturday.

Thursday Soapbox: Magnetic Responsibility

I may or may not have wasted an hour yesterday morning. That's because the magnet school I toured may or may not be there in six months. The building will be there -- goodness knows Wake County needs all the school buildings it has -- but the school, the program, the teachers, the students who make up that building today might be gone. Or not.

As a parent of a rising kindergartner, that's what's making me crazy these days -- the not knowing whether the incoming school board will make little tweaks or sweeping changes to my public school district.

In their quest to be responsive to parents, the newest four members of the Wake County Board of Education -- who will be sworn in on Dec. 1 -- campaigned on promises of a return to "neighborhood schools" and an end to "busing for diversity." I'm not exactly sure what people mean when they use those heavily-loaded phrases, but I do know that a strict neighborhood plan would eliminate or at least severely handicap Wake County's national-award-winning magnet program.

The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) lists three objectives for its magnet program:

• Reduce high concentrations of poverty and support diverse populations
• Maximize use of school facilities
• Provide expanded educational opportunities

The first bullet point there got a lot of attention during the campaign because "diverse populations" got shortened to "busing" -- and no one likes "busing," even though it's not nearly that simple. The third bullet point is a big part of what draws most parents -- including me -- to consider these schools for our children. Imagining Junius learning about music, art, science, technology, language, leadership and media in elementary school sounds wonderful -- especially when I don't have to pay tuition for him to get it.

But that middle bullet point is one that gets lost in the rhetoric -- and it's one that every taxpayer in this county should care about, regardless of whether or not they have kids in the public schools. Employing a magnet program -- one that lures families from the crowded suburbs into downtown schools or schools in "less desirable neighborhoods" (how's that for a fully-loaded phrase?) -- is a fiscally responsible way to run a district as large as Wake County.

Without the magnet offerings, Wake County would likely return to the challenges seen here in the early 80s before the program began -- the same challenges now facing Charlotte-Mecklenburg, where downtown schools face under-enrollment and suburban schools are bursting at the seams. In a district of nearly 140,000 students that continues to grow by at least 4,000 students a year, despite the recessions, Wake County simply cannot afford to have empty seats.

Unlike Clay Aiken, I'm not planning on calling the new board members "selfish idiots." I'll reserve that judgement until they've had the chance to quit campaigning and start governing. I'm truly hoping that they're not idiots at all -- and that once they get into the substance of the issues facing our schools, they'll realize it's not nearly as simple as they thought.

Personally, I want the new school board members to care about the magnet program because it's been successful for the students in those schools. I want them to hear the voices of the parents of those students, even if those parents don't live in the board members' districts. I want them to find ways to provide the best education possible to all 140,000 kids.

But I know that money -- not student achievement or parent satisfaction -- is the real bottom line. And in tight economic times, I hope the new school board will remember their fiscal responsibility to use the existing facilities in the most efficient way possible -- and that includes maintaining a healthy magnet program in Wake County.

Why I'm Not Good at Online Dating

The fact that I tried on four different outfits -- even though I was running late and my children were running wild -- suggested I was heading out on a blind date.

In truth, it was something much more frightening. An almost-blind dinner date with eight other women. And not just any women -- blogging women. I felt like an impostor, someone who got invited to a secret meeting by accident. Although I was with a friend and had met two of the other bloggers before, the rest were all new to me.

As I got ready, I fretted about looking too mom-ish, looking like I tried too hard, like I didn't try hard enough. What if they write about me afterward on their blogs? Or what if they don't write about me at all? What if they realize that I'm just over here blabbing random things about whatever is on my mind with no ads or marketing or serious focus? What if I get food stuck in my teeth and then smile all through the meal and no one tells me?

Or what if I just take a deep breath and realize that they're all lovely and interesting people who happen to be moms (like me) who enjoy writing (like me).

Breathe in... Breathe out... In... Out...

And so of course, it was all fine. I enjoyed meeting the other ladies, sharing stories, finding small world connections. I think it's something we'll do again -- and thankfully I won't stress out so much next time. Although I am worried that I've violated some sort of blogging code by being the only one from the dinner to write about it. Was there some sort of what-happens-at-blogger-dinner-stays-at-blogger-dinner pledge that no one told me about?

Ugh. Dating is hard.