The BlogStalker

Hi Friends. Thanks for coming back. Sorry I had to take a week off last week, but I’m back now. I leave for one week and all hell breaks loose: Jacko and Farrah die, Jon and Kate file for divorce, my Jersey housewives leave me for the year, and the Governor of a neighboring state goes to Argentina to have an affair. Crazy stuff, and that doesn’t even count all of the non-celebrity news. I’m guessing People Magazine has changed their upcoming cover about three times in the past week.

Since I haven’t spent a whole lot of time reading blogs recently, I’ll ramble a bit about our Cabo trip, and then talk about some blogs a little bit, okay? Cabo was fun. I learned that I’m getting a little too old for Spring Break (downtown) Cabo. All-Inclusive Resort Cabo is more my style. Although having something like this in your hotel room is just a little bit dangerous:

I also thought I’d give you guys a photo diary of a typical day of vacation. We’d start the day looking like this. Kate getting ready to go to the pool/beach and me heading to the golf course:

We’d then spend the afternoon at the swim-up bar, and I wouldn’t look quite so good. I think I’m going for a late Jim Morrison look. Like after he exposed himself on stage but before he died:

By the end of the night I’d look like this:

Stay classy, Nate.

And then we’d pretty much repeat that same process for nine days, so it has taken me some time to recover here. Before I get on with the blog review, I’d like to issue a few apologies.

Marta the drink cart driver at the Cabo San Lucas Country Club - I’m sorry I nearly hit you with my drive on the 16th hole. In my defense, just because we’re in Mexico, that doesn’ t mean you have to include vodka AND tequila in my Bloody Mary. I think just vodka would’ve been fine. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bloody mary and thought “You know what this needs? More booze.”

Ramon the bartender - I’m sorry I freaked out when you handed me my bar tab. I should’ve realized that 1800 pesos is not the same as 1800 dollars. In my defense, you are sort of the reason I was overserved and incapable of handling the currency conversion in my head.

Ceasar the guy who makes animals out of bath towels at the Riu Palace - I’m sorry that that I put Towel Swan and Towel Crab in such compromising (and unnatural) positions. That was childish and unnecessary. But then again, please refer to the in-room booze dispenser in the picture above.

I’d also like to thank Mrs. Arnold, my middle school Spanish teacher. Your decision to let us ignore the vosotros conjugation of countless verbs allowed me to focus on more important things. Like knowing that I was supposed to go to the Caballeros Bano, and not the Mujeres Bano. Kate apparently didn’t learn that in Spanish class. She knew she was in the wrong place when she saw the urinals.

Okay, enough about Cabo…time for the blog review:

Janet at Pretty Green Girl did a post about cookies here. Not that I’m going to borrow the recipe (I should probably stay away from cookies during my post-Mexico detox) but I do appreciate the video clip from Troop Beverly Hills. I think more blog posts should include random movie clips, especially those starring the great Craig T. Nelson. Top billing in a future blogstalker post to the first blogger who can naturally fit in a clip from Turner and Hooch, or the 1986 made for TV movie: The Ted Kennedy Jr. Story. I’d put in video clips, but Kate only wants me to put in videos that she has taken of Gilbert.

Speaking of Gilbert, he will soon have a new friend in Charlotte. Kelsey from Bites and Bowls recently announced in this post that her dog daughter Penny will be moving to Charlotte. Kelsey, Kate, and I have talked about it, and we’ve decided to arrange a marriage between Gilbert and Penny. We still have not worked out all of the details (picking a date, getting Matt to bake a dog cake, negotiating Penny’s dowry) but it will be THE social event of the Summer. Neither Penny or Gilbert have the bits required for procreation, but that’s okay….it will still make for good blog fodder. Check your mailbox (or my blog) for a save the date card.

Caitlin at Healthy Drogging Pancake has stated a spin-off blog, Operation Beautiful. It’s sort of like Post Secret, except that all of the notes are about having a positive body image, as opposed to sharing ones deepest, darkest secrets. Still very entertaining, and it is really taking off. HTP is getting love from big fancy newspapers with this Operation Beautiful thing. She’s sort of a big deal. Kate sometimes leaves me anonymous notes like this. Except they aren’t really anonymous, because I know she leaves them for me. And instead of saying things like “You’re beautiful just the way you are” she just cuts out coupons for $3 off of a haircut at Sport Clips and leaves it on my laptop. It’s the thought that counts, right?

Kath has apparently spent the past week creating, revising, and re-revising (not a word, I know) her list of places to move. I feel like I’m watching a friggan episode of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. Carmen’s in Savannah. Wait, now Carmen’s in Jacksonville. At least they’re in the Southeast, so I’m familiar with the geography. I always used to get pissed when Carmen would be in Africa or Asia, because I knew there was no chance I could identify the various unmarked countries on the big map. I guess I should’ve been happy to have a criminal mastermind like Carmen farther away from my house, but that safety wouldn’t win me that set of encyclopedias. Okay, enough about Carmen. Kath, I can make this really easy…just stay in Charlotte. A couple of reasons why: 1. It’s awesome. 2. We live here, and we’re pretty awesome. Hopefully that settles it.

I haven’t been spending enough time reading blogs recently, so no ’stock up/stock down’ this week. If y’all want to post some stock up/stock down suggestions as comments, that would be lovely. Instead, we’ll do some Larry King-style News and Notes:

News and Notes

Congratulations to the World’s Nicest Blogger, Polly on her 15 year wedding anniverary

Congratulations also to my friends and fellow bloggers Kate and Al on their upcoming wedding bash. Looking forward to seeing you guys in Minneapolis tomorrow!

Blogapalooza sold out faster than a Taylor Swift concert. I wasn’t able to register in time. Or, I wasn’t able to convince Kate in time that a blogging conference was the best way to spend our 5 year wedding anniversary. We still might come to Boston that weekend and attend some of the extracurricular activities. Stay tuned.

Sarah at Tales of Expansion issued a french toast challenge in this post. Brandi accepted the challenge by french frying some donuts here. This is like a carny’s dream. I’m pretty sure it’s fair season, so maybe Sarah can get a guest post from the guy who deep frys twinkies or oreos or something.

RoseyRebecca is giving away some Greek Yogurt. Find out the details here

Iowa Girl Eats is giving away some stuff too. I’m a slacker and didn’t get this post up in time, but you should still check out her blog.

That’s all for this week. I’ll try to do better next time. And remember, whatever you do, Don’t stop till ya get enough.

Hi Friends. Thanks for coming back for another week. I can’t believe that I’ve been doing this for six weeks. I’m thinking about changing up the naming convention of this weekly post. I like the Roman Numerals, but once we get past the number of whatever Super Bowl we’re on, I’ll probably need help on the numbers.So if anyone out there is either Roman or a Papal Historian, please let me know once I get to week XLIII. More details to follow. One change that I am making is based off of reader feedback. Lee posted the following comment after last week’s post:

“Love the blog, hate the fact that you don’t include links to the specific post you’re referring to. Do you know how long it took me to find the Wendy’s post on Carrots ‘n’ Cake? (Totally worth it, by the way.) Help me out here … I’m supposed to be writing essays when I am reading your blog so the least you could do is help minimize the time I spend procrastinating!”

Well Lee, thanks for your feedback. I’m going to do my best to link to both the blog homepage and the individual post. So here’s your request, and dedication. Alright, time to get on with the blog roundup… 

Tina at Carrots ‘N’ Cake started reading Bethenny Frankel’s book in this post. For those of you that don’t know, Bethenny is one of  The Real Housewives of New York. Kate and I are both big fans of the Housewives franchise. New York isn’t my favorite, but I still watch. Bethenny is my favorite member of that cast, despite the fact that the title of her book (Naturally Thin) makes me flick it off when I see it at Barnes and Noble. Yes, you heard that right. I stick my middle finger up at a book when I see it at B&N. My favorite Housewives cast has to be Atlanta. Those women are just batshit crazy. I felt stressed out just watching Nene and Kim at the cast reunion. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just turn on Bravo. It’s probably on right now. I don’t recommend watching if it’s Saturday afternoon. There are usually marathons during the weekend. I have lost entire Saturdays with those damn women. 

Sarah from Tales of Expansion wrote a post about a blogger meet-up in Brooklyn titled Recycled Balls. I think it’s about Bubble Tea. Bubble Tea has been stock up for about three weeks, but since I really don’t know what the hell it is, I haven’t classified it as such. I like to be educated about these various products before I write about them. And by educated, I mean I want Kate to buy them, me to complain about her buying them, and then me to sample them. That’s just how we roll. Sarah at LovIN My Tummy emailed me a couple of weeks ago about the marked increase in ball references in food blogs, and she was right out in front of this trend. So I really don’t know what Bubble Tea is. All I know so far is:

1. It seems to be a big thing in New York
2. Nobody can talk about it on a blog without making jokes about, well, man bits

And I’m okay with the second one. I’m the guy with the list of blog names that sound like porn, so your ball jokes are fine with me.

Angela at Oh She Glows has been busy this week, launching Project Glow. From what I gather, Project Glow is Angela’s 30 day program to improve your skin. There are three steps for Project Glow:

1. Skin Care - A bunch of stuff about buying new product and taking off your makeup before you go to bed. Okay, I think I can handle that. Although I’m not sure if there’s any room in our shower caddie for more product. We probably have most of it already. Kate seems to be stockpiling product for some reason. Anyway, I’ll be sure to take off my makeup before bedtime

2. Glowing from the Inside Out: FOOD - Food is in all CAPS, so I guess it’s really important. She wants everyone to eat one of those damn green smoothies everyday. I have no doubt that it would probably help me glow, but this one probably isn’t happening. My thoughts on the green monster have been well documented. I like the Green Monster at Fenway, but that’s about it. And if Angela was feeling really entrepreneurial, she would require the Project Glow devotees to consume products that she sells at the Glo Bakery. And then you could say that those same products would help in the Bikini Body Boot Camp. That would be the OSG equivalent of a triple word score.

3. Reduce Stress - This one should be easy. I don’t really have anything stressful in my life. I mean, I spend my spare time reading food blogs, how stressful can that be? I think the most stressful thing I have going is trying to keep up with OSG’s multi-national conglomerate. Between keeping up with the Glo Bakery, and my instructions for the Bikini Body Boot Camp, and now this Project Glow, my schedule is pretty booked.  

In between facial scrubs, carub brownies and bikini body workouts, I checked out Matt’s post about mint juleps on Brew and Bake. It’s a pretty fantastic post. I mean, he dressed up and posed for the blog. How many of you have blogged in costume? That’s what I thought. The mint julep post was the lastest in Matt’s how-to series on Old Man drinks. I’ve enjoyed it so far because, well, I really like old man drinks. But I also think he should start a series on young man drinks. Post one could be jello shots. Post two could be how to infuse a watermelon with vodka. Post three could be whatever the kids are doing these days. I dunno, just a thought. And he could dress up in costume. Maybe a popped collar, a frayed baseball cap and some khaki cargos. We’re just brainstorming here. 

On a somewhat related topic, Janet at Pretty Green Girl made wine ice cubes in this post. Now I’m generally a big fan of creative alcohol use, but this one was disappointing. See, I like to open a bottle of wine, knowing full well that Kate is only going to drink one glass. My go to excuse for drinking the rest of the bottle is “well honey, I don’t want it to go bad.” So Janet’s idea, however ingenious it is, gives us another answer to the question:

1. How do I stop this bottle of wine from going bad?

A. Drink it
B.

See. I really liked it when there wasn’t a B. Now there is. Thanks a lot, Janet.  

Stock Up

Edward Cullen References - This guy just won’t die. Although I guess he is technically a vampire, so that’s sort of expected

Sample Packets of Barney Butter - These seem to be popping up everywhere. Although I havent’ seen any pictures of bloggers eating Barney’s sweet nectar right from the package. I bet it has happened off camera.

Swine Flu Threat Levels - Expect facial masks to be stock up next week

PETA College Vegan Cookbooks - My new advocacy group, PETT (People for the Ethical Treatment of Trees) is going to start protesting PETA if they keep sending out paper cookbooks. Can’t y’all create a digital cookbook instead? For instructions on how to do this, please email ZestyCook, you treekillers.

Stock Down

Running Marathons - I’ve run a few so I’m all for it, but there have been some comment pissing matches recently with some anti-marathon people. Is that really a cause? Are there lobbyists? I guess comment pissing matches should technically be stock up, but I’ve already got a decent list of stock up. And comment battles annoy me. I don’t think anyone walks away saying “yeah, I used to think this, but now that I’ve heard from some anonymous person on the internet, I’ve totally changed my opinion.”

Emoticons - Not yet on the endangered species list, but the overall population of yellow smiley faces has certainly declined. 

Kombucha - Ya’ll are still drinking it in blogland, but I haven’t seen any in my fridge for awhile. So it must be stock down at my house

Alright guys. That’s all I’ve got for this week. We’ll try to do better next time.