1. If you started your St. Paddy’s day morning extra early with eggs n’ kegs you might still be feeling a bit green today. Any hangover cures you have found to work? Worst hangover I ever experienced was New Year’s Day. I won’t tell you the year since I think it was my first time drinking on New Year’s Eve. I was still in the experimental phase of things, which means I tried stuff I wouldn’t touch now like a shot of Goldschläger that made me drop to my knees (literally, I recall holding on to my boyfriend’s belt loops) once it hit the back of my throat. A friend was home from Hawaii and brought a bottle of blue stuff that kind of tasted like kool-aid, don’t know what was in it, but I vaguely remember french kissing one of my husband’s (the boyfriend of whose belt loops I had been holding on to for dear life) best buddies. It was kind of a dare, and everyone knows you don’t dare drunk girls (or maybe you do). Anyways, I was supposed to open the coffee store I worked at the following morning. I managed to get to the store on time…but less than two hours later I was begging to go home. My boyfriend (you can see why I married him) despite feeling like death warmed over himself, came to pick me up, and we crashed on his waterbed and slept the next 8 hours or so away. I really think sleeping it off is one of the best ways to deal with a hangover.
A little more experienced now and a little less stupid (I hope), I don’t have the option of lying in bed all day to sleep it off. So I have found on the rare occasions I do over imbibe the best thing to do is drink lots of water.
And don’t drink the blue stuff.
2. Not Irished out yet? Author Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series is set in Dublin and for her March contest she is awarding one creative mind an audiobook of ShadowFever. To enter, come up with your best limerick based on the Fever series. Contest ends March 31st.
3. For awhile last fall I tried the Atkin’s diet – there were things about it I loved and things I just hated – I am considering giving a modified version of it another go…but one thing that resulted from my 2 week hard core stint was it changed how I drink my coffee. On Atkins, you can’t drink milk – and I was a skim milk junkie. I’d brew a big pot of coffee in the morning, pour the husband a thermos full to take to work, then let the rest of the pot cool off to make a giant glass of iced coffee for yours truly. My version was about 2/3 coffee and 1/3 skim milk…sometimes that ratio went closer to 1/2 and 1/2. With Atkins, I couldn’t have milk, but I could have heavy cream (I know, it sounded weird to me too). So I experimented with drinking hot coffee with a bit of cream in it. Wow, it was awesome! I never drank cream in my coffee before, always milk, and it tasted so decadent. There was a good and bad side to this change – on the good side, the flavor is so strong, a little bit of heavy cream goes along way, and my overall calorie count was probably less than all the milk I put in my coffee. On the bad side, this is heavy cream we are talking about, and not exactly good for you. Hence, my search for something in between the two…which is why when I saw all the promo-bits on BlogHer for La Creme I was interested. La Creme’s angle is that their products are made from real dairy – not the artificial stuff you’d find in “non-dairy” creamers. I bought a bottle of the Cinnamon Vanilla to try and I don’t know if I’m sold – the texture and taste is not as decadent as heavy cream, but the calorie content is comparable, so I don’t think it’s a worthwhile indulgence. Currently, BlogHer and La Creme are hosting a series of Giveaways to win a $100 Visa gift card. To enter, just visit one of these 10 blogs and leave a comment.
4. On the subject of contests and comments, a few weeks ago I mentioned a giveaway for a really cute 4 Leaf Clover necklace from Cap Creations. I thought the necklace was darling (yes, I just used the word darling) and was sad I didn’t win. (Don’t worry, I got over it). Imagine my surprise when I find out today that Cap Creations has decided to award their favorite 3 comments from the contest a $25 gift certificate to their shop! Looking back at my comment – this year I didn’t get to have corned beef and cabbage at my mom’s since everyone at their house is on a diet and I don’t make it here at home because neither my husband or Miss A would touch it. The husband and I didn’t get our Guinness in a pub yet either, but I’m hoping soon. I have a gift card to an Irish pub we’ve never been to burning a hole in my wallet.
So, I’m telling you people, it never hurts to take a moment to enter these contests I mention. It must be good karma, since even though it decreases my chances of winning by upping the odds, I like sharing the info with you . Take a look at Cap Creations and help me out by letting me know what you would spend the prize money on. I am considering getting one of the four leaf clover necklaces that I didn’t win, but there is also this cute Eiffel Tower necklace, which I might put away as a present for Miss A.
5 . Tomorrow night is a full moon, and not just any full moon. It’s called a Super Moon, and only occurs every 18 years or so (which means I was still in high school when the last one rolled around).
If you are curious to learn more, I’ll let the experts at NASA explain. I plan to get out there and take a whole bunch of pictures, I love pictures of the moon, if you happen to take a few shots of your own, please let me know where I can see them! Last year we looked at the moon a whole bunch, since one of Miss A’s first school assignments as a non-homeschooler was a moon log. She did several video journal entries, you can check them out HERE.
Enjoy your weekend, try not to drink too much, maybe write a limerick or two, enjoy a great cup of coffee whatever way you like it, and make sure to check out the SUPER MOON!
Melonie Johnson 