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Music Monday: The Christmas Edition

Posted on December 22, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

Happy Monday before Christmas!

That should lessen the blow a bit, right? Only three more sleeps till Santa Claus comes to town and then we can all rock around the Christmas tree…as long as we take a minute to remember Grandma and that horrible encounter with a reindeer on Christmas Eve! 😉

Believe it or not, I haven’t been rocking the Christmas tuneage for the last three and a half weeks like I usually do. For some reason, I didn’t really feel any of the songs I’d caught on the radio…until I was on my way to work Friday night! Since then, it’s been nonstop decking and fa la la’ing and o’ holy’ing and yeah, I think you get the picture. So I thought to myself, “Self, what a great idea would it be to do a Music Monday post featuring all of your favorite Christmas songs?” and then I answered myself, “Why Self, you ARE a freaking genius!”

Charlie Brown Christmas Singing

Now, before you guys start thinking I’m hitting the ‘nog over here, I think we should just get things JINGLIN’ already! 😉

Starting with my ALL time favorite Christmas song, “Carol of the Bells”! I love love LOVE this version by Pentatonix…I mean, what song isn’t made better with their signature a capella twist? Answer: NONE!

And speaking of acapella…oh, and I’m throwing it all the way back to seventh grade for ya here…this version of “O’ Holy Night” by NSYNC (yes, I went there…no shame!) has to make the list. Who else out there burnt a hole in their copy of Home for Christmas while wishing that come Christmas morning, your very on JT would be waiting under the tree…unwrapped of course! 😉 Ha, like I would’ve even known what to do with a naked man at the ripe old age of 13!

And while I’m being all naughty, I might as well share this gem, “Maybe Next Year” by Meiko. Pretty sure you could make this one hell of a Christmas striptease…hey, just saying. You gotta keep warm somehow this winter! 😉

Of course, if you WERE good, maybe…just MAYBE you’ll get a ring…and I don’t mean on the phone! I have to say out of all the many variations of “Santa Baby” I’ve heard, not ONE beats the original by Eartha Kitt.

While I think his rendition of Santa Baby just puts a bad taste in your mouth (I mean, really?), I think Michael Buble’s “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” rivals many of the classic baritones.

I never EVER thought Dean Martin’s Baby It’s Cold Outside could be beat…and already had it planned for this post…UNTIL I heard Seth MacFarlane sweet angel voice. Seth MacFUCKINGFarlane! How in the hell did I not know this crazy bastard could make me all toodly in my bits?! 😉

But sometimes, you just gotta ~~get a handle on the hormones~~ stick with the classics. Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Perry Como…there’s just something about those men’s voices that just make me FEEL Christmas…like I’m back at home, helping my mom decorate the tree all over again. And while we never actually had a white Christmas in Tennessee, I did always hope that somehow Bing could make it happen.

And you know, EVERYbody knows a turkey and some mistletoe! 🙂

But honestly, out of older songs out there, if you’re in need of a good holiday cry, nothing gets the tears a-flowing quite like Christy Lane’s Shake Me I Rattle, Squeeze Me, I Cry. Makes me wanna go dig “Heather Baby” out of my spare bedroom closet and give her a big hug!

This last one was the hardest for me to pick. I’m a big TSO fan. For all you laymen out there, that would be Trans-Siberian Orchestra…no, they don’t have white tigers, I already checked. A Mad Russian’s Christmas (<- awesome video!) always makes me wanna prance around like a ballerina and I’m not sure what it is about Christmas Canon, but it always makes me think of a beautiful white wedding, but whenever I hear “Christmas Eve Sarajevo”, all I see is a great big tree covered in lights in the middle of a snowy forrest…oh wait.

So there ya go, TEN of my favorite Christmas songs/carols/melodies that make me nostalgic/speechless/and/or randy! Lol. I hope you all have a very MERRY Christmas! I’ll “see” you back here on Friday for a recap of the festivities! 😀

What’s YOUR favorite Christmas song?

Posted in Holiday, Music | Tagged Christmas, favorites, memories, music, videos | 6 Comments

#FoodieProblems

Posted on December 19, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

I’ve been holding out long enough…

I finally got pictures of everything I picked up during my Super Target shopping spree and I can’t WAIT to show you guys! Just so you know, I was ready to share last Friday, but after having my heart stretched three sizes, I just had to tell you guys how much you mean to me. So in the meantime, I took eve BETTER pictures (outside in 30 degree weather (-1°C), mind you) JUST to show my love…and ok, maybe it’s because I’m a little OCD and some of the pictures were crooked. Whatevs.

Anyway, since I know I’m not the ONLY foodie out there who skips up and down the grocery store aisles all jazz handsy and whatnot, I’m not only sharing the loot, but a little of the story/crazy thinking behind it. Yeah, you’re welcome! 😉

AHHHHHHH!

Don’t worry, I broke it down for ya! I couldn’t be held responsible for little foodie brain-splatter all over computers across the globe, now could I? I swear to you I tried to maintain some composure. I slowly walked down the first aisle…armed only with a basket on my arm…so as not to commit to a full on foodie frenzy. I tried to pace myself and be level-headed about it all. I really did. But halfway down that sauce aisle, I just…well, I friggin LOST IT!!

PUMPKIN pasta sauce, peach balsamic grilling sauce, tikka masala simmer sauce, mango curry grilling sauce, and…umm, yeah, a jar of pickles…because once you hit the sauce, you can turn into one salty dog! Arrrr matey, hand over thar basting brush!

So, yeah, umm…I don’t know what just came over me right there, but let’s move on and forget it ever happened. I tried to reel it in after the sauce aisle, especially once I turned the corner and found the coffees. Oh the aroma! I know I must’ve sniffed 20+ bags…and when it came down to choosing, I’m pretty sure I started sweating. But when it was all over, I thought I did pretty good! And for the record, I promise I wasn’t high when I put these three things together for a picture…

For the record, I thought those Pringles were THESE Pringles which I was hoping would take me back to my childhood via memories of Taco Bell’s cinnamon twists but yeah, notsomuch. Luckily the coffee and sugar made up for the feelings of dejection…hello Spicy Vanilla Wonderland! 😀

I got smart and bypassed the frozen goods aisles (since I knew I wouldn’t be home for a few hours), but once I saw the refrigerated goods and then the WALL OF YOGURTS, all hope was lost…for my wallet AND my biceps!

Siggi’s coffee and (finally I found the) pumpkin spice, Noosa pumpkin, and two flavors of a brand I’d never heard of but sounded interesting. Well, I haven’t tried the first three yet, but I don’t think it’ll take much to outdo that Dreaming Cow…unfortunately, I couldn’t even finish them. The maple ginger was SERIOUSLY over-gingered…even for THIS ginger! Ha!

I think I should be given a little credit that I didn’t buy any more coffee creamers, but that was only because I reminded myself that I still had five bottles at home. So obviously I was feeling pretty victorious on my way to checkout. So much so that I didn’t even see this group of hoodlums ambush me! I mean it…they came out of nowhere!

Coconut Basatmi rice, some new-to-me Zone bars which are now GONEZO and my summertime lover, peanut butter caramel dip…I knew we’d meet again!

For those of you who don’t know what a Super Target is (which totally blew my mind when I saw the comments on Instagram), it’s basically like a Super Walmart…only 29356302975 times better…and classier! Let’s just say I’ll definitely pay more money for fancier foodie goodies and umm, vision insurance? <-Warning, you may in fact go blind after clicking on that link!

So welcome to my crazy food-obsessed shopping adventure. I hope you had fun, but more importantly, I hope I didn’t scare any of you off. I promise that no other shoppers OR employees were bitten, scratched, or harassed in any way…even when I couldn’t find any of the s’mores Jif Whips! 😉

What’s the last #foodieproblem you encountered?

What’s the last foodie item you brought home?

Posted in Fun Finds Friday, Shopping | Tagged bars, birthday, coffee, Greek yogurt, pumpkin, sauce, Target | 16 Comments

Thinking Out Loud: All THE EXCITING THINGS!!

Posted on December 18, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

OMG, YOU GUYS!!

OH WAIT! I mean, oh…wait…yeah, that’s better. Sorry for screaming. I’m uh, just well…I’M SO FREAKING EXCITED! Shit, Heather, compose yourself wouldja?! Man, you let one month go by without a good round of ToL and Broccoli loses her marbles. And then she start’s talking in the third person. Wow. I have lost it. Ok umm, let’s just agree that this will never happen again…like EVER!

The thing I love most about Amanda’s link up (besides it’s obvious ADD-embracing qualities) is the fact that I get to TALK to you! It’s like meeting mid-week and catching up over coffee…or tea…which makes me think of cookies…which reminds me…

Holy mother of god, have you guys tried this?!

I’ve totally scoped out this So Delicious cookie dough ~~ice cream~~ frozen dessert multiple times but, the other day, in a moment of sheer cookie dough desperation (and the powerfully convincing speech of a friend…that went like “ya know, ya can’t really go wrong with cookie dough”), it was finally mine! Needless to say, I had a spoon in my hand minutes after walking indoors with it and ohhhhhhMYLANTA! My only criticism is that it doesn’t have more cookie dough. The ~~ice cream~~ frozen dessert itself tastes like cookie dough, but after getting halfway through the pint, I only found about four pieces. I guess what I’m saying is that I wish it was a little more like this!

Yeah, I really should NOT have Googled that! 😯

Ok, let’s talk about something else since I’m drooling all over myself now…and also seriously thinking about clicking on that little “order now” button when I know good and damn well I can make cookie dough on my own! Yeah, let’s moooooove on (see what I did there)! 😉

Look guys, Tori’s a college GRADUATE!!

My wittle baby seeeester…all growed up! Man, it feels like just yesterday I was moving out of mom and dad’s and leaving behind a knobby-kneed ten-year old little girl. Time really does fly! I’m so SO proud of her and I can’t wait to see where the future takes her!

After graduation, we all headed out for dinner, but I’ll talk more about that in a post next week…what I want to talk about now is WHY I didn’t manage to sneak one of these into the restaurant…

Remember that metric ton of wine I bought on my birthday?

Well, I’ve never been much of a champagne person UNTIL my favorite winery helped change my mind! After having TWO glasses of the Brut during the tasting (thank you, person who decided to pay and not show up…your wine was properly disposed of!) and getting a sample of the strawberry sparkling wine afterwards, I couldn’t help myself!

Which reminds me…

Maybe I shouldn’t shop on Cyber Monday.

I’m not sure what got into me, but before I’d found anything for the people on my Christmas list this year, I’d already found three things for myself! Including this STEAL of a bookcase on nomorerack.com! I swear I’m not usually so quick to spend money on myself but I mean HOW could I say no to this dream of a piece of furniture?!

It’s so modern…it’s so sleek…

It soooo doubles as a WINE RACK!! 😀

And also showcases my collection of cookbooks, foodie magazines, a couple of knick knacks, and last year’s birthday bowl! Confession: I had NO IDEA where I was going to put this thing when I bought it. Whoops? But once assembled IN the kitchen, I figured it was a hell of a lot easier to leave it there! I kid, I kid. No, really I thought it looked kinda nice…and now I can add that to the GSD list! 😉

Wanna see what else I bought myself? Ok…but you have to promise not to judge!

Ta DAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?! 😯

I know what you’re thinking: “Heather, don’t you already have a serious bar ~~problem~~ stash? Isn’t your pantry bursting at the seams? What on earth do you need with A HUNDRED & TWENTY Quest bars?!?” And this is my argument: Come on, it was a DEAL, maaaaaan! How could I turn down $18 a box AND free shipping? Tell me! HOW?!

Yep, that’s what I THOUGHT!

Now if you’ll excuse me, one of ‘dem s’mores babies is calling my name! 😉