WWBD

After partaking of the free coffee this morning from Starbucks -- Decaf with half-and-half, meet pink travel mug. Pink travel mug, meet decaf with half-and-half. -- I hopped in the car and starting driving crawling towards work. An accident on the parkway made the journey longer than usual but that was OK because of the free coffee in the pink travel mug. Nothing was getting me down, no sirree!

The commute was rather uneventful if you don't count the desperate need to pee by the time I finally reached the office (TMI?) and the bacon brain detour. 

Yes, you read that right. Bacon. B-A-C-O-N. Bacon.

See, I had mentioned a bacon sculpture to my friend PMG yesterday and remembered that I needed to relocate it on the web and email it to him at the very least. At most, it deserved a facebook post, photo taped to my office door, a brief blog mention (ta da!), or something similarly inane. Would either Prank Place or Archie McPhee have some fun bacon themed products? (For the record, yes indeedy!) What about the dark chocolate and bacon bars found in NYC last December? I need to add bacon to the grocery list. What does one mix with bacon infused vodka? Are any of the bacon t-shirts at Snorgtees on sale yet? Why does bacon smell so good when cooking? Hey, if I cook bacon for the Turkey tonight I'll get serious mom points. Should that be eggs and bacon for dinner, or stuffed chicken breasts with crumbled bacon in the stuffing?

The brain was on bacon overdrive. By the time I walked into the building I was SMELLING bacon from thinking about it so much.

Or was that the cafeteria in the building? Let's say it was the cafeteria, shall we? Thanks.

Once in my office and with the computer humming right along, Google helped relocate the aforementioned bacon sculpture. Google also helped locate a few more fab places:

The Royal Bacon Society - a blog about bacon. Bacon recipes, bacon gifts, bacon porn, bacon pet stuff, links to more bacon sites ... bacon, bacon, bacon!
The Sticky Pig - candied bacon. My mouth is watering already. Salty plus sweet? Mmm hmmm. Human catnip, here we come!
Bacon Today - another bacon blog, but this one has serious news stories and even music and videos devoted to bacon.
Bacon Freak - the Mecca of bacon shopping. Yee haw!

Needless to say, the morning's bacon brain detour has been a continuing theme. It's crowding out the work, unpacking its suitcases, and frying up some fun. 

Here's looking at you, bacon.

Go ahead. Make my bacon.

Of all the bacon joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.

Let's get out of these wet clothes and into some crispy bacon.

Bacon. James Bacon.

I'm gonna make him some bacon he can't refuse.

May the bacon be with you.

...and my personal favorite...

WWBD. (What would bacon do?) Hang with the hash browns? Get crispy?

Free coffee

Today is Monday which means free coffee is just 3 days away, folks. One. Two. Three. Free!

Yes, you read that right -- FREE COFFEE! Take your reusable travel mug to Starbucks this Thursday and they will fill it for free. And just in case you're scratching your head and wondering if I have finally fallen off the proverbial rocker -- why would Starbucks give away coffee? to everyone? on a Thursday? -- here is the confirmation from Starbucks' website:

Join the movement. On April 15th, bring a reusable travel mug into your local Starbucks and get a free brewed coffee.

 

One person can save trees, together we can save forests.

For the good of the planet, Starbucks is encouraging everyone to switch from paper cups to reusable travel mugs. One day in March thousands of New Yorkers made the switch. Join them now by taking a pledge to do the same.

Click here for details.

The pink turkey will be there Thursday, pink travel mug in hand. Hope to see you there!

(Oh, come on. You didn't think my travel mug would be any color BUT pink, didya?) 

76 Trombones

Well, not quite trombones.  Try 76 heralding trumpets.

76 brochures heralding/trumpeting different colleges, that is. 

Our mailbox has been fed a constant stream of college publications ever since the Turkey took the PSAT. It became so ridiculous that we started keeping the brochures, throwing them into a pile. The pile has collapsed several times and now resides in a box. In a box. With a fox. Fox in socks. Fox in socks in a box.

Oh, wait. Wrong story. Let's get back to it...

There is a box in our house filled with college brochures. I decided to take a look through it earlier and counted 76 different colleges represented so far. And that's only the printed pieces. I can't even begin to tell you how many more have peppered the Turkey's email box with messages. And do you know how many of these emails or snail mails have been opened? Care to take a guess?

I'll pause while you think. *pause*

Is that thinking thunk? 

Ready for this? ....

3. That's right - THREE. And I'm the one who opened them!

So every day when the mail comes I just shake my head as another college brochure meets the box. Some days it's 2 and other days it's 4. (That would be 2 or 4 brochures, not heads!) If this is the deluge now, post PSAT and while the kid is a sophomore, what is coming our way after the SAT and during his junior year when, I expect, the heralding/trumpeting will be at its zenith? I am shaking my head again. Oy vey! Our poor mailman. 

Secretly -- pinky promise you'll keep this a secret! -- secretly I am tickled all sorts of shades of pink that my kid and his nerdiness are in demand. It makes my heart go pitter-pat, pitter-pat, pitter-pat...as I throw yet another brochure into the box. With the fox. In socks.

A Wii bit of humor

What do you get when you cross Super Mario Brothers with the Wii and stir in a healthy dose of humor? You guessed it (or didn't) -- Super Pii Pii Brothers!

Check out the website for the whole skinny on this Wii craze. What a game! My only question: does it come with toilet paper? (insert laugh track here) (People really go to great streams lengths for April fools jokes, don't they?)

I usually don't buy into the whole potty humor thing but this was just too funny! And if it's left you wanting more of this Think Geek foolery just point and click here. My faves are (because you're dying to know, right?) the Monolith Action Figure and the Squeez Bacon. Oh, and the Screaming Chef's Knife. And let's not forget the Wireless Extension Cords or the Programmable Tattoos. How about the USB Desktop Tanning Center?

Oh, I am still giggling. :-) Go, pop culture, go!

Reality check

I'm in shock.

After regaling family and friends with stories about our recent travels -- specifically about Drew and Princeton -- and being asked a few too many times, "what's tuition at Drew?" I decided to look it up.

Hold on to your hat. And windbreaker. And shoes. And most definitely your wallet.

Tuition this year at Drew was a mere $37,310. ('Scuze me while I have a coughing fit.)

Oh, but it gets better! Here it is with room and board and fees (taken directly from Drew U's website):

Tuition:	$37,310
Room:	$6,702
Board:	$3,666

Fees

• General Fee: $560
• Health Insurance: $588 (required for International students)
• Orientation Fee: $250 (First year students only)
• Technology Fee: $125
• Transcript Fee: $25 (First year students only)

The Turkey won't need the health insurance fee because he's not an international student -- oh goody! that's a $588 savings! break open the champagne! *cough!* -- but that still gives us a grand total of $48,638. Per year.

With 28 months to save for this potential expedition, and assuming college will be a 4-year thing for the boy, that means I have to sock away...doing the math so you might see smoke...yeah....OMG!...I would have to save $6,948.29 each month between now and then! *hack!* *cough!* *smoke!* *swoon*

Thank goodness the words "tuition" and "remission" are together and part of my benefits package. Thank goodness I still have a job. Thank goodness for scholarships. Thank goodness for peep-tinis. With this sticker shock/reality check I'll be partaking of some 'tini tonight.

*cough!*

Drew U. and the Ivy League

Last week was the Turkey's spring break. He got to sleep late and play video games most of the week while I was at work. I think he reveled in the sheer laziness of it all. Can't blame him. After all, that was what I did on my spring break, too.

Starting Thursday though, I took over the scheduling. No more sleeping 'til noon and showers were a must. We got up, packed up, and headed out. First stop was not the grocery store, not the mall, not downtown Annapolis, but Drew University.

That's right - Drew U.! This was the Turkey's first official college tour and I wanted to make it a fun one. What better place than a university that shares his name? :-)  The walking tour of campus was nice and the Turkey was impressed with all it had to offer for such a small place. "Small" in this instance is 1600 students.  teeny tiny

 
Drew University is in Madison, NJ. It was a lovely drive on a gorgeous spring day. We did the walking tour of campus, stopped at the bookstore to get the requisite Drew t-shirt, walked around on our own taking pictures (you can tell by the shadows it was late afternoon), laughed a lot, and then meandered towards the car. Can you guess our next destination by the picture below?

That's right - Princeton! Welcome to the Ivy League!

We met my friend Laura and her 6-year-old daughter for dinner. I hadn't seen Laura in over 14 years and it was a treat to catch up in person and finally meet her daughter who is a delightful firecracker. We settled at Winberie's for a casual dinner and then headed over to The Bent Spoon for gelato. Mmmmm! The Bent Spoon is apparently an institution in town and has really unique flavors. Sour cream gelato anyone? (Don't knock it. That's what Laura had so I got to taste it and it was surprisingly good. Who knew?!) Peanut butter, mango, coconut, pear and prosecco, vanilla bean....it was all so so so SO yummy!

After a night in heavenly beds at the Westin, we headed back downtown for breakfast and our own walking tour of Princeton.

PJ's Pancakes, the site of breakfast. We had seen it while driving around the night before and had casually remarked that we might try it for breakfast. When a friend recommended it via facebook, it was a done deal. Diners over the years have written/carved their names into the table tops. We had a few laughs reading the comments on the table before the Turkey added his own "Go Terps!" to the menagerie. This was definitely the ONLY time I would let and encourage him towards graffiti. Oh, and their pancakes were seriously fluffy and scrumptious, too.

Pancakes done and parking found, we walked across the street and meandered through campus.

It was again a gorgeous morning and the walk was lovely. Drew remarked on more than one occasion that he felt he was at Hogwarts instead of a college campus in the US! With so much gothic architecture I can totally understand that sentiment. It is indeed unlike most of the campuses in this country.

Before you start asking, the answer is NO. Drew is not thinking of applying to Princeton. This was simply a fun expedition since we were close to the campus. Puh-leeze! Let's revisit tuition remission at Maryland, shall we?

But have I told you about his time in Harvard? Remind me about that some day.

Back to the trip...

After the Princeton experience we came back to reality with a thud, landing in Brooklyn. We spent some time with my brother and sister-in-law and new nephew, walking around the city, checking out the Brooklyn Flea Market, and generally just hanging out.

We came away without pictures of the baby who is a super cutie and likes to try to talk and did a good job of sliming my purple shirt (stay tuned for pictures because we'll see him again next weekend)...right...no pictures of the baby this trip but with pictures of this:

Do you see it? It's the second house in the row. No, it is not my brother's house. It is ... drum roll, please ...

A PINK HOUSE! The entire thing is painted PINK! Sister-in-law knew I would get a kick out of it so she took us a couple blocks out of the way to find it. Yee haw!

Gotta love home owners with a sense of humor! :-)

And yes, I got away with NO pictures of the baby but 3 - count 'em: one, two, THREE - pictures of a pink house. *sigh* I can't even chalk it up to too many peep-tinis. I can, however, blame it on a pink obsession. After all, the baby is a boy so no pink. (Did that work? Do you believe it? No? Rats. Me either.)

Hi, my name is Jess and I like pink.

Must. Start. Taking. Baby. Pictures.

Peep-tini

Ta da! One Peep-tini! :-)

The recipe was easy: make a cosmo (or a shaker full of cosmos, your choice), pour in to glasses and float a peep on top. Easy schmeasy!

Here's another view: 

Wishing you a happy Easter full of your favorite Peeps! 

Cheers!