Review: Talbots, and their Signature Fit Jeans

I have recently become a huge fan of Talbots and I owe it all to The Pioneer Woman. I love Ree's blog and I read it religiously, every day. One morning, many moons ago, she herself posted about these lovely jeans:

She discussed how these jeans have a rise that isn't mortifyingly low or mortifyingly, mom-jeans high. Intrigued, I went out on my next day off and tried them on and... I was blown away! They're fitted but comfortable with a little stretch to them. I ADORE them. I got mine in crop, because I am nearly 6' tall and Talbots doesn't carry Tall sizes in store.

Here's the tragic turn of my tale, though: Barely two or three weeks after purchasing them, they tore in the seat, right by the pocket. AND a button fell off one of the back pockets. I was crushed. I discovered the tear the day we went out for sushi with friends, and I had been so excited to wear ~my new jeans~ out on the town. I had to put my Target jeans on :(

But here's the redemption of the situation: even though I hadn't kept my receipt, even though I wasn't in the system, the woman behind the counter tracked down a replacement pair in Phoenix and had them shipped to me, free of charge. What!! Insane! I was deeply impressed by the level of customer service and the dedication to making me happy. These days the customer is rarely right and if they are it is a decision given with the utmost suspicion on the retailer's part.

So naturally, when the SECOND pair tore, in the same spot (the buttons remained intact however), I knew that a second exchange could be tricky. However, thanks to some smart thinking on my husband's part, I still had my receipt (thanks Todd!), so at least I could show that the pants were less than five months old.

Again, I was shocked at the kindness, understanding and help that the ladies behind the counter exuded. The fall line didn't include crops since it was a summer style, but we found an ankle length jean that worked perfectly on my tall frame. Then at the checkout it turned out the jeans were nearly one hundred dollars, whereas the crops had been around 50, and were on sale to boot. I literally gasped and hesitated. Were these pants worth it? Granted, the cost of the crops would be deducted from the new pants' price, but that was still over $60 and we're not experiencing the flushest of times these days.

Once more, I was blown away: the clerk asked if I could come back the following day, since there was a 30% off coupon that would be honored on that day only. Relieved, I immediately said yes, and thanked her about 385347 times (which, coincedentally, was how many times Alexandra shrieked "HI!!!" to the employees), and returned the following day. The jeans were $36, very doable, very awesome.

Edited 6/11/13 to add: But let's be honest here, because this is the one post on my blog that has gotten the most hits, and continues to get hits even though it's almost two years old. So I want to be very clear. Those jeans sucked in the long run. To tear in the same place and for one pair to lose a button as well is just not okay, not when they are orignally sold for $100. I loved the stretch and the material, the length and the cut, but come on, rips? Lost buttons?

While Talbots themselves were incredible for their patient and excellent customer service, it's not going to make up for jeans that tear and need to be thrown out.

Grade: C

Busted.

I really don't know how to introduce this short series of photos.

"I wanna drink like a dog-ga!"

"Oh wow, didn't see you there. Man, this is kinda embarrassing..."

"Yum! Milk is delicious when it is imbibed in the correct manner!"

"What? What are you looking at?"

Layered Vegetable and Chicken Casserole

I'm pretty excited about this latest endeavor because it actually worked out. Have you noticed a slow down in food posts? Yeah, me too. Things have been a bust in the kitchen lately. My one exciting attempt turned out... Well, Todd ate it and said he liked it, but what else would you say to the person who makes your meals?

Anyways, aside from that one attempt, most of my meals have been pretty ho hum, or variations of stuff I've blogged about in the past. But I rediscovered my magic, thanks to some advice from the internet (I almost wrote almighty internet, to be funny, but it sent a chill down my spine). I got a few tips, changed a bit of it, and came up with this:

Layered Veggie and Chicken Casserole
Serves 2-4 (disturbing how we had none left)


-1 cup Trader Joe's butternut squash soup
-5 sprigs rosemary
3 quite small potatoes, thiiiinly sliced lengthwise
-1 yellow onion, thinly sliced.
-10oz chicken breast, cut into small strips
-1/2 cup shredded cheddar
- 5-10 cloves garlic, quartered ( depends on your garlic preference)
-1 small eggplant (our two garden eggplants were the sizes of oranges), sliced
-olive oil
-2 oz goat cheese crumbles
-10-15 mushrooms, sliced

Oh, by the way, I used a mandolin for my potatoes and onion, it made it much easier to control the thickness of each veggie.

Drizzle some soup on the bottom of the pyrex and use a basting brush to smooth out. I have these lovely plastic brushes, with soft, bendy bristles, and they are so much easier to clean.

Layer your potatoes like you would when making scalloped potatoes. Drizzle more soup, spread with brush, and sprinkle some rosemary and black pepper. Oh, and forget to take a photo of that step. Next, layer your onions, and repeat with the soup and rosemary/pepper step.

Arrange your chicken pieces so it's pretty evenly distributed. Do the soup and herb step, then add your garlic, again keeping equal distribution in mind. Equality for all! Favortism for none!

Now comes the fun part. Add cheese! I estimated 1/2 cup in the ingredient list above, but man that sure does look like a lot of cheddar. It could be closer to 2/3 cup.

Now, layer your eggplant, and instead of soup, use olive oil. Eggplant is very absorbant and I figured that we needed something a little more robust than soup. Plus olive oil and eggplant are basically BFFs and who wants to break them up? Add goat cheese crumbles. I mushed them further in my hand as I sprinkled them. Add your rosemary and pepper.

I didn't want my mushrooms to dry out but I really love the taste of oven roasted mushrooms, so I decided to keep them on the topmost layer. To give them some sunscreen, so to speak, I drizzled a bit of the soup into a bowl and tossed the mushrooms around to coat. Ooh, look, it's my basting brush I mentioned! And a forgotten potato peel.

Now, add your mushrooms, and admire your lovely creation. Oh, and um, add more rosemary and pepper. Did I ever tell you that we have an ancient rosemary bush in our yard? And that I really, really love rosemary?

Place into your preheated, 375 degree oven for at least 45 minutes.

I know, the eggplant looks a little abused, but believe me, even the mushrooms still had moisture and TONS of flavor. Now, because I'm a sadist (well, I ate it too so I must be a masochist), add MORE cheese:

By the time you plate this bad boy, that cheese will be so melty and divine. I used a knife to cut my portions, by the way, due to the nature of the eggplant and onions. I just knew a spatula wouldn't do the job, and I was right.

Enjoy! I know we did. I had two helpings and Todd polished off everything else, ha ha.

Bliss.

In this photo are two sick adults and a tired toddler. In this picture is a wife, functioning as a mattress for a husband and a daughter. The day this photo was taken, I was sick enough to be miserable, but in the moment this picture captures, I'm beyond blissed out and I think it's pretty obvious as to why (no, not the super cool pillow from Target). Only the love of a wonderful family could produce a smile of such serenity and contentment in the middle of such a yucky day. I'm going to cherish it, and the following other shots, forever.

I love Todd's hand on Alexandra's tummy, and her arm draped comfortably over his wrist.

Goofy girl, fish-hooking herself.

I hope we get more cuddle pile-ups like this in our lifetime. Because it was truly a rose-colored moment, and I don't even care how horrible I look because I know how rare these experiences truly can be in life.

Hope you all have a good cuddle today!

Book Review: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Triathlon Training

I've not even finished it, but since this week kicks off my official tri training, I wanted to blog about this book. Let me tell you, I LOVE this book already. Reading the first chapter, which is about why people even want to do triathlons, got me emotional and brought tears to my eyes. That's a reaction I get thinking of past races I've run, or thinking of ones I'm gearing up to run, and I knew, when that very first snippet of the book got me revved up emotionally as well as pumped up psychologically, it was going to be a book I'd get more than just training tips out of, you know?

This book goes through everything too, by the way. They detail out what a tri is, the different types (i.e. different lengths), the ways you should monitor your body while training, nutrition, gear that's useful and gear that's extracurricular, so to speak, and the best ever is they break down training schedules for you, not just weekly, but what to do each day of each week as you train.

Um, sold! I reserved and checked out this book from my neighborhood library but once it's due back I'm definitely going to buy this book. I figure I should show my support for the authors since I'm loving their work so much, and also, I want this thing by my side throughout my training. Even though the schedule for training for a sprint triathlon is 14 weeks, I intend to keep doing it the entire seven months before my event.

For those of you out there toying with the idea of competing in a triathlon, or for those who want more information on working out in one of the three tri sports (swimming, biking and running) or just want to take on the challenge of ramping up a boring workout routine, I highly recommend this book. And while I haven't gotten to the nutrition section, I'm also very eager to see how best to feed the body when doing such rigorous exercises.

Review: five stars, baby!

Music From the Past, Man.

Five bands I really don't listen to anymore, even though they shaped my high school/college years and, on a larger scale, who I am today.

1. The Cure

Oh man. Okay, so this is a blog, and while I don't have to disclose everything to you (the size of my underpants, the cleanliness of the corners of my bathtub, whether or not I had leftover lo mein for breakfast), I believe that when I do write, I need to be honest. Deep breaths.

I wrote Cure lyrics all over my notebooks, my backpack (thank you White Out Pen), my art projects, the margins of the notes I wrote to my friends. I had dyed black hair, silver nail polish, I was sad a lot and I smoked a lot of cigarettes over coffee at Waffle House at 3am, talking about how sad I was. And you know what, I loved every moment of it, and I love every memory of it as well. But when you exhaust a band's discography like I did, eventually you just... you're done. I still love them, the album Disintegration will always reign supreme, the album Head On The Door will never get old, nor will the B-side "Harold and Joe". But aside from those few songs, I'm okay with my memories of listening to them.


2. Prodigy

Oh, the crush I had on Liam Howlett (dude on the left)! I loved Prodigy. My mother was mortified when I had a 5'x5' poster of them put on my wall, with the name of their single in big, graffiti-like letters: Smack My Bitch Up. I'm actually surprised she let me keep it up, now that I think back on it.

Anyways, techno was big in the 90s, and 1998 was my peak year of adoration for this band. "Poison" was and still is my favorite song by them, although "Firestarter" never fails to make me laugh with the memory of those times. I hope they're still making music too. But I really don't need them in my daily soundtrack, anymore.



3. 311

Oh, the Blue Album. Oh, Nick Hex. Oh Martinez! And P-Nut (beat that thing!). I drew the above picture on my saddle oxfords senior year of Catholic girls' school; I had several of their albums, I listened to them non-stop that year. Bumper stickers, JNCO jeans on the weekends, you name it. Clearly I went through several metamorphoses in high school, but that is the purpose of your formative years: figuring your shit out.

I recently heard a new track from them on the radio and I told Todd how happy I was, knowing they're still together and making music and he expressed a similar sentiment. I won't go out and get the album because, as the post title suggests, I'm not really in that place anymore, but I'm still delighted to know they're around.

As an aside, Nick Hexum recently had to deliver his second child at home because his wife went into labor so quickly, and because they had studied natural childbirth he was able to do so and mom and baby both were fine. So you know, since we studied Bradley, this makes me like Nick a little more than before.



4. Radiohead

I loved these guys so hard. I got to see them in concert in college. I listened to Pablo Honey and The Bends in high school, and then later on, OK Computer, Hail to the Thief and Kid A (but not as much as the others). I'll admit, part of the reason they're not played a lot in our house is because Todd thinks they're on the whiny side of rock and he's really not into that. He would pull Emo Face and Emo Guitar Strumming charades whenever I'd play it while we dated so as a compromise I kept them to myself. And eventually, I guess I just let them slip to the wayside in favor of new fan favorites and the oldies I'll never, ever let go of (Pixies, Mazzy Star, Nick Drake and Liz Phair, mainly).

But I really do like this band. I love whenever they come on the radio, which admittedly isn't much anymore. Hmm. Actually maybe I'll risk some Emo Face and go buy some on iTunes this week.



5. Bloodhound Gang

Since you all know I'm a mother, I think the reason that this music is no longer blasted in the house is pretty clear. There's just no way I can justify playing "You're Pretty When I'm Drunk" with an 18 month old daughter running around. And while I think the lyrics are hilarious, witty in a gross way and some of the most unique out there, I'm just sort of done. I don't want to come across as a prude, because like I said, these bands, this one included, have had some sort of input on my personality (this band largely affecting my sense of humor) but some stuff you do tend to grow out of. However, I will never not adore them. I mean, just look at that punim!

Where is the Dog Bowl?

The other day, Alexandra discovered how to remove the dog bowls from their stand and, as an added bonus, how fun it was to carry them around the house. Oh, and how rad it was to bang them together.

The next day, before Todd went out to teach kung fu, he discovered that Patton's water bowl was gone. Gone! I wonder whodunit. The evidence:

Hell and blast! The water bowl... gone! But she had already dumped out the water, and poor Patton was relying on his outdoor water. So damn, no water trails. We'll have to rely on our gumshoe skills (anyone else thinking of Carmen San Diego?). Let's go!

The closest room to the laundry/storage/pet feeding room is the kitchen. The only hiding place is under my lame ass kitchen stand cart thing. But nope, no bowl. Let's move on:

Moving into the back room/den/office, the only real hiding place for the bowl is under Todd's desk, but nope... No luck there, either, Onward, gumshoe!

Here's the wine cave/workout room storage/what else will fit here closet (if you haven't guessed, a house this small requires a lot of multi-purposing), but aside from a beer-brewing bucket, a weighted bar and a punching bag... nothin'. C'mon slim, let's move on to the next room:

Ah! The dining room! Lots of... well, ok, not really. Just the one hiding spot and it's so obviously barren of clues, or of The Dog Bowl. The sofas in the living room and in the den don't have the clearance to hide the bowls underneath, it wasn't in her room, the bathroom, bathtub, toilet, nor was it under our bed. But WAIT!

Damn! I was sure it would be under this chair. The cats love this chair, and it seems completely feasible for Alex to drag the bowl around the house, see a kitty, freak out in joy and toddle over to the chair, drop the bowl, and lay her head on the cat with her thumb in her mouth. But... but no. :( My gumshoe skills are proving to be more than lacking. I mean, I'm still lacking the dog bowl. Best to return to the scene of the crime, right?

............... Wait a damn minute...

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGH! I searched all damn night!

So, I'm not detective material. But all's well that ends well! Patton may now eat, drink and be merry, all in the same laundry/pet feeding/workout ball storage/kitty litter/vacuum cleaner storage/camping supply storage room. How nice to have a peaceful, clutter-free place to sup and slurp. Glad we could help, Patton.