I ain't sayin he's a gold digger

Our country is currently fighting two foreign wars, Congress is debating changes in health care legislation that could impact our lives forever, and yet all I seem to hear about lately is Kanye West. Oh, and how npr needs my money. Because apparently it’s that time of year again.

Now don’t worry, I’m not going to pretend to be one of those people that only read the meaty sections of the newspaper- I love my celebrity gossip as much as the next person- but can we all just admit that this has gotten a tad out of control? Even our president has started in on the Kanye-bashing (although if dismissing Kanye West as a jackass isn’t showing good presidential judgement I don’t know what is).

What I do want to point out here, though, is that by talking about him all the time we are most likely just feeding into Kanye’s little scheme to get more fame, attention, etc. You know that phrase “any publicity is good publicity”? Definitely seems to apply in this case. I mean, homeboy had already established his reputation as an arrogant douchebag with a serious case of verbal diarrhea and a God complex before the VMAs-why not push the envelope a little further? Especially if it gets your name googled a bazillion times the day before you are scheduled to appear on Jay Leno’s new show. Think the timing of that little outburst was a coincidence? Not so much. Well played, Mr. West (or your publicists). And thank you for being the narcissistic fool you are, because it just makes watching The Colbert Report even more enjoyable :

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Kanye West Interrupts Taylor Swift at the VMAs
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Protests

Future's so bright, I gotta wear shades

If you choose to schedule a long-needed eye exam during your lunch break, remind the doctor not to dilate your eyes. Otherwise you may end up spending the rest of your day like this:

As much as I adore the 5-dollar sunglasses I got at the state fair this weekend, sporting them in my cubicle with my face 6 inches away from the computer screen basically solidifies my status as the office loon.

Things-I-Love Thursday

My mom has a crush. It has been common knowledge for over 30 years and my dad is fully aware of her feelings, so I don't think she will mind me making this announcement. You see, like many women of her generation, my mom is madly in love with Paul McCartney.

I don’t quite know how this obsession got started, seeing as my parents grew up in a country that banned Western music, but apparently Beatlemania did not recognize the limits of the Iron Curtain. My mom also dabbled in other bands that were part of the Brit-rock invasion (ask her about the time she and a friend were nearly arrested for having a Led Zeppelin album in their possession), but her heart always belonged to Paul, and, by extension, The Beatles.

Moving to the U.S. did nothing to decrease my mom’s love of the Lads from Liverpool, so naturally our family listened to Beatles music quite a bit while I was growing up. And when I say "quite a bit" I mean that I knew the words to every song on Rubber Soul by the time I was eight years old. The Beatles were what we listened to on road trips, while cleaning the house, etc. In fact, I associated their music so much with my childhood and adolescence that, like many vestiges of that era, I ended up more or less outgrowing it.

Moving out of my parent’s house didn’t mean that I stopped listening to The Beatles altogether- I just didn’t do it intentionally. I saw the abomination that was Across the Universe, and you can’t go to a wedding these days without hearing “All You Need is Love” or “In My Life” blaring on the photo slideshow. Surprisingly though, I don’t have a single Beatles song on my ipod and I haven’t really been troubled by that fact. Until this week that is.

You have probably heard that yesterday marked the release of The Beatles digitally remastered catalog and The Beatles Rock Band game. Pretty much the Second Coming as far as Beatlemaniacs are concerned. I have heard about this event every morning this week on my way to work. The news stories are always accompanied by clips of the remastered songs, which means that I find myself singing “she loves you yeah, yeah, yeah” at the top of my lungs while I’m driving. I look like a complete fool but I don’t even care. Hearing The Beatles, as trite as this may sound, suddenly feels like being reunited with a dear old friend. I’m excited to get to know them again. So if anyone gets their mitts on The Beatles Rock Band, please invite me over to play. You may have heard that I suffer from some serious developmental delays as far as video games are concerned, and this claim is not unfounded, but I think I could handle the singing part. After all, I already know the words. My mom has taught me well.

Friday is a good day for a PSA

To all the men out there wearing those ridiculous v-neck shirts that show your nasty chest hair and make you look like a girl:

Please, please stop. It’s scaring the children.

Thank you for your cooperation,
Dasha

One Smile

Yesterday I came across this quote by Maya Angelou:

“If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don't be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning Good Morning at total strangers.”

I know it’s not exactly the most catchy or profound quote out there- you can’t really put it on one of those wooden plaques to hang above your fireplace- but it really resonated with me. I feel like there are days when I literally only have only one smile inside me- days when I am grouchy and irritable and a veritable mess of emotions, and I do everything I can to hold my sh*t together everyplace except for where it matters most.

Yeah, I get that if you are going to have a full-fledged nervous breakdown it’s definitely better to do it in front of your husband or your parents than an unsuspecting co-worker, but I just wonder if maybe sometimes the relationships we claim as most important are the ones that end up in last place on our list of priorities. Like maybe if I put the same amount of effort into being cheerful around my husband or siblings when I am having a bad day as I do when I encounter a grocery store clerk or waitress, I might actually be putting my money where my mouth is.

This might all sound like a lot of rambling but the point is this: well said, Miss Angelou. Well said.

Things-I-Love Thursday

I have always had a longing for a neighborhood restaurant. You know, the kind you always see in movies or TV shows where the characters are on a first-name basis with the servers and never have to wait for a table? Yeah, that kind. And although in my dreamworld this restaurant was usually a sit-down diner akin to Luke’s on Gilmore Girls, I quickly changed my tune when we moved into a house near this place:

(Image courtesy of Your Heart Out)

Have any of you been to Lone Star Taqueria? If the answer is yes, good job. If not, you need to go immediately. It’s funky, local, and the food is amazing. It was even featured on the Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, so it’s pretty much famous. And because I now live within walking distance of Lone Star (does anyone else get an unnatural amount of satisfaction from walking places instead of driving?), I am claiming it as my very own neighborhood dive.

There are a lot of great things on the menu at Lone Star. I have heard praises sung about the nachos, burritos, etc., but Mike and I both remain loyal to the fish tacos: white corn tortillas topped with freshly grilled fish (selection changes daily), shredded cabbage, tomatoes, cilantro, and jalapeno mayonnaise. We each order two every time we come here and are never disappointed. Even if you are one of those people that claim to hate fish, I recommend giving these suckers a try. I think you’ll be converted.

So next time you are in the neighborhood, come mosey on over to Lone Star with us. And if all goes according to plan, don’t be surprised if I just stroll up to the counter and say “I’ll have my usual, por favor.”

You might be a redneck if...

Highlights of your recent trip to Bear Lake included watching your three-year-old nephew "boogie board" behind a four-wheeler:

And observing your husband when he and your now dreadlock-less friend applied the same concept to the art of skimboarding:

Truly a classy weekend.

Dreadlocks and a Wedding

Everyone should grow up on a street like Holly Lane. For many reasons, but especially so that they can have friends like these two: Believe it or not, I have known these hoodlums since we were five years old. And now one of them is officially a married man:
Congratulations to Nate for marrying such a lovely girl. And congratulations to Logan for pulling off the classiest Best Man hairdo I have ever seen:
I have watched this boy sport a man perm, cornrows, and a full-on mullet with steps, but white boy dreads? That’s taking it to a whole new level. Holladay Elementary Alumni, class of '98 (with the happy addition of Butch). I think we turned out pretty well. And yes, I was always on the bottom row of those elementary class photos, why do you ask? Remind me never to stand next to Nert when someone is taking a picture. Even on the days that I am wearing high heels.

Bring on the sequins

Just in case you were wondering which celebrities’ careers are officially in the crapper, the lineup for the new season of Dancing with the Stars has been announced. And it includes Tom Delay, the former Republican House majority leader. Wow. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

On to the rest of the lineup. Kind of a letdown in my opinion. There is still no Tom Selleck (Annie, I think we need to write to the producers or something), and the rest of the cast selection ranges from shockingly predictable (wasn’t it only a matter of time until Donny Osmond graced us with his presence?) to virtually unknown (if anyone can tell me who Joanna Krupa is without googling her name I will give them a quarter). The one person I am excited to see on the show is Melissa Joan Hart, known to most of you as Sabrina the Teenage Witch. To me she will always be Clarissa of Clarissa Explains It All, otherwise known as the greatest TV show ever created for the preteen demographic (Hannah Montana can suck it). Clarissa rocked. She was smart, sassy, and had incredible style. Plus she had her own computer and a window seat in her bedroom. Here is a sampling of Melissa Joan Hart in her glory days:

Now, you would think that it would be depressing for me to see one of my childhood icons feeding at the bottom of the celebrity food chain by appearing on DWTS, but for some reason it feels oddly satisfying. Like my life has come full circle or something. So here’s hoping Melissa Joan will kick some Osmond butt and take home the trophy.

Anyone else care to weigh in on this oh-so-intellectually-stimulating topic?

*Oh, and just in case you missed the part where I became shamelessly addicted to a reality TV show, you can read all about it here.

30

For most of my young life, my relationship with my older sister was an unfortunate cliché. We fought. All. The. Freaking. Time. We argued over clothes, chores, the loyalty of our younger sister, etc. You name it, we probably had a screaming match about it at some point in time. We loved each other, we just didn’t like each other all that much.

But then we both grew up a little. And, against all odds, started not only tolerating but actually enjoying each other’s company. We found common ground in our distinctly Russian tastebuds (lox and bagel, anyone?), our love of movies that are so bad they are actually awesome (we’ve watched more ABC Family specials than I would like to admit), and a fondness for bargain shopping at Nordstrom Rack and the Park City outlet mall.

In many ways Elena has become like a second mother to me and the rest of our siblings. When she was first married, Smash and I often escaped whatever chaos was going on at the Preo house by going to Elena's apartment (much to the delight of my brother-in-law I’m sure). And even now, six years later, we still flock to her home regularly for either a good meal or a good laugh. We watched her do everything first: leave home, get married, buy a house, have kids. And she did it all with an unwavering sense of confidence and self-assurance, two qualities that absolutely define my sister.

Elena is someone that I often go to for advice because I know she will tell me exactly what she thinks, and not just what I want to hear. She isn’t afraid to tell me that a dress makes me look like I'm carrying twins, or that renovating an old house requires way more work and money than anyone tells you. She doesn’t sugarcoat and I love her for that (most of the time). She is someone in my life that challenges me, but is always there for me when I need it. She helped me strip wallpaper in an old smelly kitchen when she was five months pregnant, gave me countless haircuts and eyebrow waxes in her kitchen over the years, and guided me through many an emotional crisis. Her friendship has been one of the most pleasant surprises of my life, and I feel fortunate to have not one, but two sisters that I can call my closest friends.

Happy 30th birthday, Helen! I'm so glad you don't dump milkshakes on my head anymore.