Thanksgiving 2012: Celebrating Movember with Mustache Sugar Cookies

When I went home for my mom's birthday

a couple weeks ago, 

I noticed my brother grew a mustache.

Since he's half Italian, he was able to grow a mustache at least,

but since he is half Chinese, it was a little thinner in some places.

It was also dark brown with some blond highlights.

I thought he wanted to look like my dad

for some reason.

My dad is famous for his glasses and mustache.

He has a dark blond mustache with gray highlights,

but that's the only similarity between their mustaches (being bicolored).

My brother mumbled something about Movember.

He didn't really explain it though.

So that weekend, I saw the Office episode that explained it!

That episode was funny.

If you're not going to watch the episode, here it is from the official site:

During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo's, these men raise vital awareness and funds for men's health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives.

I got mustache cookie cutters and stamps

for my birthday,

so I thought since our cheese appetizer failed,

it would be very timely to have Movember cookies

for Thanksgiving.

We'd used almost all our butter for our

supersilky smooth mashed potatoes,

so I had to make due with the stick we had left.

I only made these two trays,

but after the meal we just ate, 

it was definitely enough.

I used a quick recipe I found online since it automatically did the

proportions for me.

No one thought the recipe was that awesome

(the people's comments are a bit exaggerated on the website),

including me.

But it worked in a butter pinch. 

Mustache party!

My popo, ayee, and mom,

showing off their mustaches.

Such deliciously hairy women.

Oh, and it's hereditary.

Wee even sported a goatee with the freehand 'stache we made.

Water Balloons Hung with Static from My Head for My Birthday Party Dinner

For my birthday party dinner last Saturday,

I bought a bunch of water balloons

and a hand pump.

(Have you ever blown up water balloons with your mouth?

It gets painful quickly.)

One of the balloons popped,

but I managed to get 49 of them tied up

and on the wall.

(I feel compelled to count that there are 49 of them

in the photo

because if this were a book that I was working on,

I'd have to count them.

But I'm going to just say that the package said 50,

and one popped, so there are 49.)

At first I wasn't sure how I'd use them to decorate.

And they got unwieldy pretty quickly,

so I started rubbing them on my head and sticking them to our

Modernist Cuisine case.

I asked Jon if he thought the balloons

would stay up on the wall

with static electricity alone.

I hadn't put up balloons with static in awhile,

and the Internet was no help at all

unless you want to make a science project out of it.

Jon had no idea

that balloons would even stick to the wall at all.

It's like he's never seen it.

So I grabbed a balloon,

rubbed it on his head,

and stuck it to the wall.

It was like magic.

I thought that even if they did fall,

the effort of putting them back up--

rubbing it on one's head--

wasn't that much of a big deal,

so I put them all up.

And they looked nice.

And they matched my invitation

that I made,

which had a lot of colorful polka dots.

I also broke out some glow-stick bracelets 

and napkins with colorful

circles on it to further match my invitation.

Tying it all into the theme.

Static electricity kept these water balloons up

the entire night.

The next day I found one balloon

on the floor that had

just totally deflated.

I recommend trying this

the next time you need some fast, easy, cheap decorations

and have some wall space to spare.

Though I don't think it would work as well with full-size balloons.

Parrrrrrrtttttttttyyyyy!

Chop! Chop!

Last Thursday,

I was having a good hair day.

But I felt like it was getting

a little too long to leave down

all the time 

and

a little too heavy to put up

all the time.

And I was running out of shampoo a lot faster.

So on Friday,

I got a haircut.

I'm donating the locks.

The Times I Saw John Oliver and Wyatt Cenac

On my way home today,

I saw John Oliver and Wyatt Cenac.

Let me set the scene:

I bought myself two dozen peachy pink roses from

a bodega and was carrying the bunch home.

Today is the last day I'll have superlong hair.

It was either me or the woman in front of me

with the stretchy skirt and ass sweat,

but the guy sitting on the stoop said

within my hearing,

"Fine fucking ass."

I'd like to think he says that to all the 

women that walk by.

So anyway, today, I see the dude that has to

be Wyatt Cenac.

And the dude in the baseball cap and glasses

is definitely John Oliver.

So I boldly try to make eye contact

with either of them

and smile.

They are both handsome fellows.

Wyatt's busy talking,

but John smiles at me.

How cool is that?

I think it helps wearing a minidress

to not feel invisible.

I think I saw John Oliver and someone else

talking and walking once before

when I had been singing to myself.

It was dark and cold, 

and I sang-walked between

two tall men,

one that looked like John Oliver

and spoke British,

and the other was talking about soccer.

I realized too late

that maybe I shouldn't have been

singing in public

because I sound like a dying animal.

I'm pretty sure I saw Wyatt before

when I rushed home to

pick up Thai food

for dinner before the

Barry Manilow concert.

Wyatt was by himself then.

But the point of all this is that

I got a smile out of comedian/actor

on the street.

How cool is that?

A Braid-do I'd Like to Introduce as the Celtic Boomerang

Start braiding 

from the top left of your crown

to your right,

pulling only from your hair 

on your top right

to build the braid.

Continue braiding with the remaining hair on your bottom left.

(If your arms aren't hurting by now,

you're doing something wrong.)

Twist your finished braid back onto itself

and tuck into the bottom braid.

Secure with bobby pins.

These photos represent how it looks more than twelve hours later,

after work and cleaning the apartment for

dinner with a friend.

Updo!

Updo

Updo.

Divide hair into three parts.

Updo.

Loosely braid the three parts at your base.

Updo.

Twist each part and secure with bobby pins.

Works best when you do this with wet hair, I think.