Category Archives: Holidays

February 21, 2011 · 9:38 am

Forefather festivities

Today Americans are observing Presidents’ Day. How will you celebrate?

I cannot tell a lie. I baked a cherry pie last night. Whether or not the father of our country ever cut down a cherry tree and owned up to it isn’t really known, but it served as a good lesson for school children about the importance of telling the truth. And a darn good excuse to make cherry pie.

I imagine tours of the nation’s Presidential libraries are full today, and there are events going on here in the nation’s capital to mark the holiday.

A Facebook friend put out an invitation for favorite presidential quotes.

The Huffington Post posted 22 Ridiculous things You Didn’t Know About U.S. Presidents and The 10 Funniest Presidential Impressions.

Morning news programs ran interesting pieces about presidents, including one on the discovery of a collection of books belonging to Thomas Jefferson.

One might say that presidents, dead and alive, are doing their part to stimulate the U.S. economy. Clearance sales of everything from mattress sets to Jeep Grand Cherokees are happening all across our proud land.

Suddenly I have an urge make a rudimentary cherry tree out of red, green and brown construction paper and have cherry pie for breakfast.

Happy Presidents’ Day. Now express your patriotism and go buy a mattress.

52 Comments

Filed under Food, Holidays, Marketing/Advertising/PR, Movies, Television and Radio

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

February 19, 2011 · 3:15 pm

Card shark

What’s your shopping obsession?

After shoes and accessories, I’d have to say my greatest shopping pleasure is picking out greeting cards. I’ve spent upwards of $60 at a whack at places where they offer good cards. I buy hundreds every year.

What are good cards? I lean toward humor, so I go for the cards that have me laughing out loud right there at the rack. I’ve been a spectacle at the airport news stand, where they often carry my favorite line of cards, Avanti.

I think the reason so many people no longer send greeting cards is that they’re under the impression it takes a separate trip to the card store for each acknowledgement.

In fact, like the airport gift shops, the best cards can be found at places where we already are. I often buy cards at FedEx Kinko’s, where I browse the racks while waiting for a print job. If you like cards and live near where I do, Bertram’s Inkwell at White Flint Mall and Knowles Apothecary in Kensington will hook you up.

When I’m traveling and have a little time, I seek out the local card shops. I found Boulder, Colorado, to be a greeting card Mecca, and Gidget’s Gadgets in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, can’t be beat.

I wish I could be like my friend Sheree, who makes her own cards, or my friend Jeuli, who had her own line in stores some years ago, or my friend Carla, who wrote for Hallmark’s humor lines. I just don’t have that kind of talent.

I am good, though, at buying and sending. And I have a kind of a system for managing my habit.

I buy all year long because, after all, I enjoy the hunt. Most cards remind me of friends and family members, so I select cards with specific people in mind, rather than just stocking up. Even if you’ve just had a birthday or anniversary, chances are I’ve already bought your next year’s card, affixed a Post-it with your name on it, made a note on my calendar a week before your occasion that there’s a card for you in my pile and then put it in the pile.

I do stock up on things like graduation cards, so that I’m ready when those announcements starting rolling in, and I keep other cards on hand just in case.

Recently, my pile became so unruly that I extended the system. I now have a box with purchased, assigned cards sorted by occasion, sitting by my stock of notecards and personalized stationery. If you stepped into my office, you might mistake it for the Hallmark store.

When people see my various “systems,” they often tell me I have too much time on my hands. Perhaps that’s because I’m so organized.

6 Comments

Filed under Beauty and Fashion, Family and Friends, Holidays, Travel

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 14, 2011 · 7:55 am

Storyboard land

All right, I admit it, I am doing this Valentine’s Day thing to death. Just one more, I promise.

Trend Hunter, which had all those zany gift ideas I told you about on Saturday, is offering a dozen or so ideas—storyboards, actually—for proposing marriage to your sweetheart today.

I trust that, if you were going to pop the question on Valentine’s Day, you would have planned it by now. But perhaps you’re impulsive and need the right creative inspiration for how to do it. If that’s the case, you’ll find everything from a talking engagement ring to saying it with sneakers to creative deployment of social media.

One thing these ideas have in common is that it’s all about the storyboard, even if it’s illustrated in one’s mind rather than physically laid out on cardboard or in a graphic design program. How will you stage the ultimate ask (don’t you hate “ask” as a noun?), what effects will help you build up to the big moment and, most important, what steps will you take to ensure the desired response?

I was proposed to on Valentine’s Day. Allow me to share the storyboard.

First, you must know a couple of things about us. One, he was, is and always will be a big fan of the N.C. State Wolfpack (remember, it’s college basketball season). Two, he and I were big fans of the then-popular sitcom, Newhart, in which that week’s episode featured the exchange of Valentine’s gifts.

If I recall correctly (it’s been 26 years), loveable but slightly dimwitted handyman George Utley, played by the avuncular Tom Poston, was advising one of the characters on how to make sure his sweetheart liked her Valentine’s gift.

George suggested, “First give her a box of coconut candy,” to which the man responded, “But she hates coconut candy.” George said, “I know, but then, when you give her the real gift, she’ll be happy,” or something to that effect.

That’s how it played out. Guy gives gal coconut candy. Gal says, “Thanks, but I hate coconut candy.” Guy says, “I know, that’s why I got you this,” gives her the second gift and she loves it.

Back to the storyboard. On February 14, 1985, he invited me over for a Valentine dinner. Even though the Wolfpack was playing, when I got to his apartment, the television wasn’t even on. Instead a Linda Ronstadt album of love songs—might have been Lush Life—was spinning on the turntable.

We ate spiced shrimp and drank champagne. After dinner, we exchanged gifts. I gave him a coffee mug. He gave me a bag of Mounds bars.

I said, “Thanks, but you keep it. I don’t like coconut candy.”

He said, “I know, and that’s why I got you this.”

I unwrapped the box and found inside a diamond engagement ring.

Great storyboard, superb execution, happy ending. 

I wonder if the ’pack is playing tonight.

7 Comments

Filed under Family and Friends, Food, Holidays, Marketing/Advertising/PR, Movies, Television and Radio, Music

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 12, 2011 · 10:46 am

My edgy Valentine

At the risk of OD-ing on the whole Valentine’s Day thing—after all, it’s just one more in a long list of  over-blown occasions—I’ll offer one more resource for procrastinators who can manage to get a hold of one of these by Monday. Otherwise, consider them gift ideas for next year.

I’ve happened upon an addictive retail site associated with Trend Hunter magazine. At my age, I could always use a little extra help in hunting trends.

My favorite in their line of Valentine’s Day greeting ideas are the sarcastic holiday sentiments, tagline: The Snarky Valentine’s Day Cards, Skip the Sap.

If you have a naughty Valentine, consider the vulgar stuffed animals and sweets. Otherwise, there is close to something for everyone:  anti-Valentine’s Day toys, anatomical cupcakes (shaped like the human heart), flirty, lip-shaped fashion accessories, even tasty treats for your favorite Muppet fan.

It boggles my mind to see the hundreds of products available for a holiday that, early in my lifetime, was honored simply with a candy heart etched with “be mine” and punny cards, illustrated with puppies and fruit for classmates. “You’re dog-gone right, you’re my Valentine.” “You’re a peach and I’m plum crazy about you.”

Ah, the good old days.

3 Comments

Filed under Holidays

Tagged as , , , ,

February 11, 2011 · 8:18 am

My mundane Valentine

What do dirty dishes, Chris Rock and Valentine’s Day have in common?

It seems that the release this week of Spousonomics: Using Economics to Master Love, Marriage & Dirty Dishes, is timed to answer the practical person’s—or couple’s—Valentine’s Day gift dilemma.

Does your mate have an allergy to chocolate or a drawer already bursting with red silk delicates? Have you spent so many Valentine’s Days together that there isn’t a creative gift idea left to be hatched? Do you wish Cupid would swoop down and deposit just one practical solution for life’s daily grit?

Then it could be that Spousonomics is the treament for your it’s-the-Friday-before-the-holiday-and-there’s-nothing-left-on-the-shelves-and-besides-I’m-not-in-the-mood-anyway blues. Co-written by journalists Paula Szuchman and Jenny Anderson and recommended by Freakonomics co-authors Stephen D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Spousonomics applies economic principles to addressing the mundane challenges of marriage. Division of labor, incentives, trade-offs, moral hazard and, ahem, supply and demand are a few examples of the analogies the authors apply to the common conflicts facing the common couple. Dirty dishes, shoveling snow, dealing with the kids, it’s all in there. Oh boy!

The authors have also set up a blog, which might suit you if you’d like your advice in bite-sized pieces. Be forewarned. It includes a disgusting clip of Chris Rock’s take on the differences between men and women, which the blog could have done without. As a woman of taste, I recommend not clicking.

I confess, I’ve only read a few excerpts. There might really be something substantive there. But trust me, if you decide to buy this for your Valentine, you might want to have a box of Godiva truffles handy as a back-up.

Maybe tomorrow, I’ll let you in on some more fanciful gift ideas.

4 Comments

Filed under Family and Friends, Hearth and Home, Holidays, Reading

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 1, 2011 · 10:48 am

Cocoa conscious

It’s February, the shortest month of the year, a month since the onset of our New Year’s resolutions. It’s also host to Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day. As always, there’s something looming over it all, and it’s not snow. All you need to do is walk into any store and you’ll feel it. Even a stroll through the Internet will bring it to light.

I recently started following Maria Shriver on Twitter. The first tweet I received was a link to her Facebook page, where she asked her fans: “We all have one, and we want to know – what’s your guilty pleasure?”

As of nine o’clock this morning, she had received 100 responses, almost a third of which mentioned chocolate. Dark chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, red velvet cupcakes, chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream, Reese’s cups and several combinations involving milk or red wine or television. Two of my personal favorites—macaroni and cheese and Cheetos—also made the list.

Not surprisingly, most of Maria’s Facebook fans are women. I’d love to hear more men’s responses to the question of guilty pleasures—or maybe I wouldn’t. Something tells me chocolate might not be so prominent.

I have a theory about chocolate as a guilty pleasure and it might be totally off base: I doubt women get any more pleasure from chocolate than men; but I do suspect they feel more guilt.

I too would be among the first to cite chocolate as a guilty pleasure, but that’s because it’s one of a long list of foods I love that make me ill. My New Year’s resolution is to stay well in 2011. This is not to say the red and green M&Ms didn’t gradually disappear from the candy dish over the course of January. Hey, something’s gotta give. Still, the lighter the candy dish, the heavier my conscience.

Now those heart-shaped boxes of temptation are everywhere (as are the chocolate Easter eggs). I’d say to the women and men out there, unless you have a medical condition that is triggered by chocolate, go ahead and indulge sans guilt. Have my share!

And while we’re on the subject, I’ll join Maria in asking, what’s your guilty pleasure? C’mon, guys, chime in.

12 Comments

Filed under Food, Health, Holidays, Technology and Social Media

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

January 14, 2011 · 10:03 am

Hearts and smarts

If the pinky-red glow emanating from Seasonal aisle at your grocery or drug store hasn’t gotten your attention, allow me to be a killjoy and remind you that there is one shopping month left until Valentine’s Day.

As you mull your options, might I suggest a gift for the wordie in your life? How about a four-pack of instructional grammar posters? You don’t even need to set foot in the Hallmark store.

I’m not quite sure how to describe The Oatmeal, except perhaps as an online treasure chest of satirical entertainment—blog posts, cartoons, quizzes and musings on assorted topics, including grammar and punctuation–and great merchandise.

For the reasonable price of $32, you’ll be sure to get a juicy Valentine smooch with a quartet of 18”x24” posters, including “How to use an apostrophe,” “How to use a semicolon,” “10 words you need to stop misspelling” and “When to use i.e. in a sentence.”

Or, if you’re expecting and haven’t chosen a nursery theme, this is the best thing to come along since Baby Einstein. Really, what’s the baby going to find more useful later in life, the theory of relativity or there/their/they’re?

Each poster includes a detailed and annotated diagram walking the viewer through the logic of the assigned topic.

If grammar isn’t your thing, you probably aren’t reading this blog, but consider The Oatmeal’s posters on other useful topics such as “15 things worth knowing about coffee,” “10 reasons to avoid talking on the phone,” “Why it’s better to pretend you don’t know anything about computers” and “6 reasons bacon is better than true love,” though you’d want to save that one for another occasion.

I’m thinking about ordering one for my home office: “Why working at home is both horrible and awesome.”

But the grammar pack is calling…

3 Comments

Filed under All Things Wordish, Holidays

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

January 8, 2011 · 12:33 pm

Dechristmatization

This weekend the last of the Christmas decorations will likely come down at my house. Or, more accurately, go up—to the attic.

We dragged our spruce skeleton out before New Year’s. I am guessing it was cut down around August.

The crèche should have been put away on Thursday, which was Epiphany. We’ll just say the Magi extended their trip, but they’ll head back to their Orient in the attic this afternoon. Most everything else is packed up. I hate the see the mantel garlands go, they’re so pretty, but they too will be gone soon.

The last to go will be the Christmas cards that we affix to the molding in our living room—primarily that which frames an alcove where the tree goes. The remainder of the cards spill over into doorways and such. Taking down 180-some cards will be time-consuming and bittersweet, because we’ll re-read each one, take a moment to remember each friend and look at pictures of kids we seldom see.

There are several other items that stay up all year. We don’t necessarily consider them Christmas decorations, but people tend to ask mid-year why we still have Christmas decorations out. The truth is, well, I don’t know what the truth is.

Over the years, our kitchen has developed a chili pepper theme, and there’s an iron chili pepper wall hanging that says Feliz Navidad. It’s been hanging for 20 years, as much for the peppers as for the Navidad. There’s a carved wood statue of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus; it lives on the dining room mantel year-round. There’s a collectible Byers’ choice caroler that the family of one of my hospice patients gave me. She has a special place on a little shelf and deserves to stay out of the attic. Because our dining room is red, there are all sorts of adornments—candle holders, berry wreaths, red glass bowls and such—that could be considered Christmasy. Maybe we’ve just forgotten to put them away, or perhaps no longer even see them.

Are there knickknacks in your home that you can’t quite explain?

5 Comments

Filed under Family and Friends, Hearth and Home, Holidays

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

January 1, 2011 · 10:12 am

The List

Every New Year’s Day, the first thing I do is open The Washington Post and read The List, a comparative account of what’s Out and what’s In in the new year. Other papers around the country may publish something similar, but the Post tends to include a few inside-the-Beltway references.

What always strikes me is that I didn’t know so many things were In until they were already Out. Brussels sprouts, for example. Conversely, I am amused to read what’s now In that was already In for me. For example, IHOP is now In. I celebrated my birthday there (by choice) two weeks ago.

Sorry, Betty White, you’ve been replaced by Anne Meara. I’m just glad you’re both enjoying your due glory.

I’ve jotted down a few personal Ins and Outs:

OUT IN
Two spaces after a period One space after a period
Oxford comma No comma
Hot house Central air conditioning
Goose bumps Hot flashes
Real Housewives of anywhere Hot in Cleveland
Coffee, alcohol, chocolate, garlic, onions, tomatoes, fried foods, and late night snacking Hot water and Dexilant happy hours
Zicam Webcam
Pandora jewelry Pandora radio

 

What’s Out and In for you in 2011?

Happy New Year.

7 Comments

Filed under All Things Wordish, Beauty and Fashion, Food, Health, Holidays, Marketing/Advertising/PR, Movies, Television and Radio, News, Reading, Technology and Social Media

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

December 31, 2010 · 10:33 am

Three-quarters of a year in review

As another year draws to a close, we see psychology and behavior experts appearing in great numbers on the news and talk shows to advise us on our New Year’s resolutions.

On the last day of 2009, one example seemed a little odd amongst the goals of losing weight, finding a job, getting out of debt and repairing relationships. One particular expert said, “for example, if your New Year’s resolution is starting a blog, . . .” I recall thinking, that’s odd. Who would start a blog as a New Year’s resolution?

I suppose the idea percolated within my mind for a month or two, because around the end of February, I started thinking more about it. I launched this one on March 30th and today marks my 233rd blog post of 2010.

After I first had the idea, it took me a while to settle on subject matter. I envisioned a quirky blend of Erma Bombeck and William Safire, who probably were never in the same room together, nor had much in common while they were alive. I tried to define themes within the About Word Nymph page, which still lacks proper cohesion. When people ask me what my blog is about, I tell them it is about language and life. I should probably squeeze that into a tagline somewhere.

If you are new here and are trying to figure out what this place is about, try going to that sidebar over on the right, and searching Topics. Perhaps you like the posts having to do with language but have no use for stories of the blogger’s life stories, or vice versa. If you’re a wordie, look under “All Things Wordish” and read my spin on pleonasms, mondegreens, portmanteaus, bdelygmias, oronyms, toponyms and absolute adjectives, or my gripes about malapropisms, mispronounced words and misunderstood song lyrics. If you want to read about my clumsiness and stupidity, “Foibles and Faux Pas” is for you.

If you are just now stumbling on to Word Nymph, might I suggest starting with a few of my favorites:

On Language:

Not very nice
Not a mute point
Let’s talk for a moment about momentarily
Did you want to ask me that again?
The ants are my friends
Repeat redundancy

 On Life:

Blink and you’ll miss it
Golden Girls
Woof it down
Joined at the unbelted waist
The other woman
Not the end of the world

Crossovers:

Fashion nonsense
Little old lady who?
Justice I am, without one plea
Character study

My personal jury (composed of 12 of my personalities) is still out as to whether Word Nymph was the wisest project for 2010. I will say, however, that the best part by far has been the interaction I enjoy with readers. So, please, everyone, keep your comments, compliments and criticisms coming.

May you wake up tomorrow feeling well and inspired to take on something worthwhile in the New Year.

Cheers.

3 Comments

Filed under All Things Wordish, Foibles and Faux Pas, Holidays, Technology and Social Media

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,