Guilty Pleasures

Guilty pleasure:

Something pleasurable that induces a usually minor feeling of guilt.

*Merriam-Webster dictionary

So, this blog entry is dedicated to those things in life we find pleasurable but that make us feel guilty and/or embarrassed for doing so.

EMBARRASSMENT-I don't embarrass easily. I never have. Sure, my cheeks flush if I do something super ridiculous in public, but overall I am able to laugh most things off. I think of it as a gift. I'm sure when I ACCIDENTALLY burp in front of Andy (in public) he doesn't think of it that way.

Now GUILT...that's a whole other story. I grew up Catholic, so really that's all you need to know. Guilt has defined my essence for many years and only recently have I been able to laugh off self-imposed (unnecessary) guilt.

I'm so ashamed...

So what I'm trying to say is what most people consider to be "guilty pleasures" I don't. I freely admit them to people. I might feel a wee guilty at times for enjoying them, but it takes something pretty embarrassing for me to consider it a "guilty pleasure." Loving The Monkees (the band)? Own it. The movie "Bring It On?" Owned. The Twilight series? That's right. Team Edward all the way.

So...what are my guilty pleasures then? Well, rather than just list mine, I thought I'd ask some friends and family what they consider to be guilty pleasures. I put the word out on Facebook and here are some of the fun answers I received:

Repeat viewings of the movie 'Overboard' starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.-My friend Jamie.

Us Weekly-my friend Laura. (Laura, I had a subscription to US Weekly until I found out you can pretty much get everything online now. Best journalistic efforts EVAH).

1980s music (Pet Shop Boys, Thompson Twins, and dozens more); Family Feud on Facebook and the 1980's movie "Can't Buy Me Love."-- my friend Ernie.

Grocery store garlic bread- the white fluffy kind in the tinfoil package-Maggie Curry-Chiu (Maggie-I LOVE this bread, and I would concur on the guilty pleasure thing. I always feel guilty after eating half a loaf).

Reading a good book while the vacuuming and dusting are staring at me-my darling mother, Sheila. (Mom, you are adorable)

Wal-Mart-my friend Nick (good one, Nick)

Rubio's Chicken Burrito Especiale and the 1980's Val Kilmer film, "Real Genius."-my friend Leslie.

Kid Rock's "Devil W/O a Cause" album, only while driving on dirt roads and indulging in a Budweiser. Max speed: 20.-my friend Sol

Bon Jovi "Living on a Prayer" and Bryan Adams' "Summer of 69."-friend Shanon

CLEAN 800 thread count designer sheets-friend Vicki

Dennis Fries dipped in ice cream. Personal fav concoction = Wendy's fries/Frosty combo, salt-sugar-hot-cold-fantastic.-friend Gigi (this one is fantastic and I'm hungry now)

So as you can see, everyone's guilty pleasures differ. After deep self reflection, I would have to say most of my guilty pleasures revolve around food. Big shocker. Some guilty pleasures of mine include: Starbuck's Iced Frappuchino's (perhaps a huge indicator of why I gained over 40 lbs. when pregnant with Gus); buying WAY too many ridiculously overpriced shoes for my kids; pasta; a nightly beer in the summer; the website awfulplasticsurgery.com (even I'm a little wary to admit I check this out often); "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys (yes, I'm actually a little embarrassed to admit this one, but I do jam to it every time it's on the radio. And sing. Loudly).

Anyway, my hope in shining a bright light on guilty pleasures is that one day we can all shed the embarrassment and guilt. Eat that whole loaf of garlic bread and listen to Bon Jovi or the Backstreet Boys, and drink 4 Frapps a day. Because life is short.

Lions and tigers and bears pooping at the Wichita Zoo and other shenanigans

What a crazy busy long weekend. But what fun. But my brain almost exploded from activity. Here's the rundown on our fun times Memorial Day weekend extravaganza:

Friday: Went in to work for an hour bc I had an interview (hiring a new student worker in my department) at 8am. Interview ended around 8:45 and then rushed home to meet bug guy at house at 9am (spraying for ants and spiders Friday so I took the rest of the day off). Met bug guy...proceeded to gather up cats bc I had to get all living things out of the house for 4 hours or we would be choking in a fog of chemicals. Ruby walked right into his cat carrier...a sign of age...he's all like "what's the point, bitches?" Charlie also walked right into his cage. Sometimes he makes it easier to like him a little. Funny Face: holy hell shit balls, GET IN YOUR CAGE GOD DAMMIT. That cat is by far the friendliest cat and most lovable creature with 4 legs on planet Earth. But good Lord is she a Nervous Nelly. She totally wigged out and it took me no less than 45 minutes to finally catch her and gently shove her kicking and scratching into her cat carrier. All for her own GD good, by the way. But you can't rationalize with cats, which is frustrating. They don't get it. Anyway, here's the battle wound from my darling Funny Face.

And this was right after she pissed on our living room carpet. And right before I broke down into tears of rage and frustration. And then I went to my friends' house to hang out for 4 hours and watch really bad cable tv while waiting out the chemical fog. And (so far) the ants and spiders have disappeared. So it was worth it.

Friday evening: Took the family over to our friends' house (Marisa and Tom) for some deserved drinks and BBQ and general good times. Stayed late and had a great time, as usual. Beautiful night.

Saturday: Drove to Wichita to meet up with my beautiful girlfriends Kelly and Cherie at the Sedgwick County Zoo. Saw some lizards and frogs humping (not each other, but that would have been hilarious), and the kiddos had a blast. Got to see Kelly and her almost 6-month bump (she looks FAB) and her darling family and Cherie's awesome fam, too. It was really nice.

This goose was so tame it wigged me out a little.

Cleo and Keenan

We then visited Kelly and Alex's new house (amazing!) and headed home. Was exhausted when we finally reached our house Saturday evening. Photos of zoo here...giraffes were my favorite part (always are). Gus thought the bear pooping in the moat was the most hilarious thing ever and Cleo liked meeting all her new best friends (Solomon, Eli and Keenan). And she loved the hippo.

Sunday: MY BIRTHDAY! Woke up feeling a ball of excitement in my belly, enjoyed my mellow morning and consumed lots of coffee. Went to Burlingame for a lovely BBQ, had an awesome time, saw many family members and enjoyed the hot sun and fantastic smoked meat (courtesy of my amazing Dad). Ate way too much baked potato casserole with potato chips crumbled on top (there were TWO of these...my family doesn't skimp on food) and enjoyed Aunt Wendy's made-from-scratch vanilla ice cream. Then we went camping at Clinton Lake with friends. Ticks aside, we enjoyed the nice weather and food and solitude. We had an entire campsite to ourselves and it was lovely. Photos here...we were crusty and filthy and we loved it. Sleeping sucked b/c the wind was so insane that night, but I never sleep well when camping.

I look pretty crusty, don't I? Says Cleo...

Monday: Was so freakin' tired that I barely remember this day. I'm pretty sure we went outside for some of it but all I remember is being exhausted and cranky. Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Tony came over in the afternoon for some fun times...you know Erin Kate is tired when she doesn't take Aunt Lindsey up on an opportunity to drain a bottle of wine together...went to bed before 9pm. Slept for 11 hours of heaven.

Tuesday: Play date with Gus' friend, Maxx (not a typo...he has 2 "x's" in his name and it's awesome. His brother's name is Oz...also awesome). We went to Maxx's house for a picnic and fun times. Oh, Maxx lives in North Lawrence so he hears trains all the time. Gus is moderately jealous of this and asked if he could move into Maxx's house. I said "no." But we can visit.

This brings us to today. I typically work in the office on Wednesdays but we have administrative leave due to electrical renovations at work this week, so I'm home today. Kids at school. So I'm going to plant more tomatoes, weed my garden, update my blog (duh), get a little work out of the way, and take a nap. Hopefully.

Oh, and I'm a year older now. 36. I don't feel any older but I think I have a few new wrinkles around the peepers. Hey, I can call them laugh lines since I tend to "laugh with my eyes," right? Right.

Over and out! xoxo

p.s. weird dreams coinciding with birthday...happens to me every year. i won't go into details but let's just say many long lost characters from ages ago appeared. so vivid and ridiculous.