You Pinspire Me
I’m still here!
Sorry, it’s been a busy week – beautiful weather during the day has pulled us outside (and therefore away from my computer!) during the day, and then I headed into Toronto on Monday AND Tuesday nights this week for fun & glamorous events – then, when I finally had a minute to sit down at the computer, it wouldn’t connect to our network anymore. Sooo… Then I had to wait for my husband to head out to a client’s office this afternoon so that I could sneak onto his computer. And here I am!
I have two absolutely fantastic recipes to share with you for the BBQ/hot weather season – but they’re not coming today, because I need more than 30 minutes on a computer to get them ready for posting. However, I’ll let you know what they are…. Rhubarb Sweet Potato Salad (don’t look at me like that – it’s actually the MOST DELICIOUS POTATO SALAD you’ll ever put in your mouth!!), and a Yet To Be Named Hamburger that includes caramelized onions, cranberries, sharp cheese, and balsamic vinegar, and tastes equally amazing when made with ground beef, ground chicken, ground pork, ground turkey, OR a combination of the afore-mentioned ground meats. And it’s so easy. Takes a tiny bit of work, but have you SEEN the price of hamburgers lately n the store? The “cheap” burgers are selling $12/pkg 8 now! Yikes. I buy reg ground beef or chicken at a local butcher’s for less than $1.99/lb in large bags, so I just make a bunch at a time & stick them in the freezer. I get about 1.5 doz for about $8. Not so bad. But more on that later, when I’m back at my own computer and not living on borrowed time on my husband’s.
The Two Faces behind You Pinspire Me at the OItNB Screening
One of the perks of being in the blogging & social media world is networking with some pretty cool companies that give us some awesome opportunities. You’ve seen us do posts on Netflix in the past (we’ll have another one coming up this month!) we’re members of the Netflix Stream Team – and this Monday, we were invited to a screening of the first two episodes of Orange is the New Black, a Netflix-original tv series based on the memoir Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison by Piper Kerman. My husband and I really love this show – the characters are fantastic, the writing is clever, the acting is excellent, and the premise is really quite unsettling. After she graduated from college, Piper became romantically involved with a woman who was a heroin dealer for a West African Kingpin. Piper, a self-described WASP, was drawn into life, and long after she left the relationship and that life behind, she was indicted for money laundering and drug trafficking, and sentenced to 15 months in a minimum security women’s prison. She walks into prison to serve her sentence, leaving behind her fiancee and pretty perfect life – but 15 months is a long time, and things don’t just ‘hold’ because you’re gone.
As I said above, the story is fantastic – but this show isn’t going to be for everyone. There’s a fair amount of crass talk, nudity, sexual innuendo, and sexual encounters (both straight and lesbian). Think Sopranos, but more comedy and less violence, and that’s about the same rating-material in OItNB. The 2nd season premiers on Netflix tomorrow – Friday, June 6 – and I’m looking forward to sitting down (on a couch this time, thankfully!) and watching the first two episodes again – this time, with my husband! Without mentioning any spoilers, I’ll just say that Piper makes a really bad decision in the first episode, and yet, I don’t entirely blame her for it. In the second episode, Taystee’s character starts to get rounded out, which I LOVE, because I’m a huge fan of Taystee.
My second outing of the week was to the Rogers Upfronts 2014 event, where Rogers unveiled their fall lineup. I can’t actually tell you anything about the fall lineup, because we had a busy day, and then my husband backed out of the event last minute and my friend Marnie was good enough to accompany me to the event in the Rogers Center – but we arrived about 3 hours after it started (I’ll send you over to someone who actually was there for that part, in case you’re interested). In time for drinks and swag and cool photo ops, but too late for the announcements and celebs.
However. Rogers does know how to throw a party. Literally. Marnie got beaned in the shoulder with a wayward hardball. Hope she’s not too bruised! We had drinks, we tried on very large, very sparkly diamond rings at The Bachelor Canada booth (unfortunately, the Bachelor had already skedaddled by the time we arrived – also, so had Strombo – common, man, you’re supposed to be Canada’s boyfriend and you don’t even stay for the party? What a lame boyfriend you are. Next you’re going to tell me that you’d rather watch hockey than talk politics, art, & entertainment – oh, wait, yup, that’s what part of tonight was about, wasn’t it! Where have you gone, George?!), we played host at the Sports Net desk, we threw ‘pitches’ in the bullpen, we sat in the dugout, we batted from home base, we got super cute balloon art, and we got free stuff – purse cell phone chargers & 3 mo free subscription from Next Issue, tote bags, magazines, & fruit pops from Chatalaine, t-shirts from the Jays… Does that not sound like an excellent evening? Thanks to Elise at Rogers for the invite!
Jenn vanOosten
Latest posts by Jenn vanOosten (see all)
- How I Epically Failed the #RenewLife 30 Day Challenge… and Why that Failure is Helping Me Kick Off a Great 2018 - January 8, 2018
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- I’ll take my Netflix To Go, Please! - December 5, 2017
Looks like you had some great fun!
There were definitely good times had! And more this coming Monday – I get to be a guest in the Rogers box for the Jays / Twins game! 🙂
SQUEEEEE. JEALOUS! LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS POST!
Sounds like you had a fantastic romp around the city! Too bad I missed you. “Orange” is on my “to do” watching list. So much good T.V., too much productivity to be done.