Peer Pressure List, Vol. 4

• Love Actually: This is hands down one of my favorite movies of any genre, so of course it has to top the list of my must-see Christmas movies. Just about every British actor you can think of is in it (including Mr. Bean), and I cry every single time I watch it (completely Emma Thompson's fault). I should warn you, it's very romantic, some would even refer to it as a "chick flick," so if you watch it with your boyfriend you might be required to watch 2 extra Vegas movies just to make up for this movie's girliness.


• White Fudge Covered Oreos: A major guilty pleasure at this time of year. They only come out at Christmas time, and I always allow myself one box. They're incredibly rich, and terrible for you, but they taste soooo good. Get yourself a box before they disappear until next year.


• Stella Artois commercials: Reason enough to go see movies at Landmark Theatres, because they always show these fantastic ads before the feature. I rarely drink Stella Artois (although I like that it comes with a special glass), but their advertising is brilliant. Check out "Last Orders" and "Train" (on the Stella Artois site or on YouTube) for a taste of what I'm talking about.


• Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX: I'm a Houstonian (well, sort of), so it's unlikely that I would ever advocate going to Dallas. I will say, however, that should you be there already for some reason, make sure you check out this lovely museum and sculpture garden. It houses the incredible collection of Raymond and Patsy Nasher, the kind of art aficionados who commission Warhol portraits of their kids (seriously). The museum gets bonus points for allowing visitors to take photographs. One of these days I'll post a few of mine on Flickr.


• Milk: Beautiful, poignant, sad, uplifting... all the praise you've heard about Milk is true. Sean Penn's performance is oh so Oscarworthy, and Gus Van Sant's use of period footage is masterful. This is a movie to see in the theatre. Bring your Kleenex.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Christmas at the Bossy house is often a last-minute affair. We usually wait to do much of anything holiday-related until after Papa Bossy's birthday (that's today—happy 60th, PB!), and it is not unheard of for the Christmas shopping to begin on December 23rd.

So when I baked my first Christmas cookies Sunday night and started my shopping yesterday (when it was 75° outside, I might add), I was pretty proud of myself for being ahead of the game. Until I entered the world everyone else lives in and discovered that Target was already out of tree stands and every brand of clear lights with green wire, that is. And then I happened to look at a calendar and realized that we leave for Vegas in less than 2 weeks. Ack!

While our laissez-faire attitude to holiday preparations might lead you to believe Christmas doesn't matter much to the Bossy family, you would be dead wrong. I love Christmas. Adore it, in fact. And I'm especially excited about this one because it's my first with CameraMan (and definitely my first in Vegas). So, in the 12 days left in Houston, here's what I'm looking forward to:

• Baking, baking, and more baking. My KitchenAid mixer is on standby, so please do send me your favorite cookie recipes, either as a comment or to littlemsbossyblog at gmail.


• Ice skating! Outside! In Houston! It's true.


• Attempting to shop efficiently and economically. Ha.


• Getting a tree, carting it home, setting it up, and decorating it.


• Lighting candles with wintry scents like cranberry and pine and vanilla.


• Keeping the Santa Mix on shuffle all day long.


• Stuffing my face with yummy things and washing it all down with hot chocolate.


• A continuation of our Christmas movie/Vegas movie theme. Next up, the original Ocean's Eleven.

Oh, and visions of sugarplums, obvs. What's on your list?

Peer Pressure List, Vol. 3

• Danny Kaye: To prepare for our upcoming Christmas vacation, we've been alternating holiday movies with Vegas movies. So far this week, we've covered Diamonds Are Forever, White Christmas, Viva Las Vegas, and The Muppet Christmas Carol. It was while watching White Christmas that I remembered how much I adore Danny Kaye. The ultimate triple threat, with impeccable comedic instincts thrown into the mix, he has always been one of my favorites. I had to watch The Court Jester right away to get my fix. You should, too.


• Lush Ocean Salt: The Best Friend got me this incredible scrub for my birthday, and I've gotten into the habit of washing my face with it every morning in the shower (because it's never too early for vodka). I didn't bring it to Cali with me, and I got three pimples on my chin during the week I was there. Coincidence? I don't think so.


• The Smart Set: I just discovered this online magazine, and I'm becoming addicted pretty quickly. It features lots of the travel writing I love so well, but they're also writing about ideas and personal stories and just about anything you can think of. And the writing is all really really good. Here's one of my favorite articles so far.


• My beautiful bedding: I got this bedding out of storage a few weeks ago, and slept on it for the first time in well over a year. I'm especially loving it this week since I've been spending so much time in bed.


• Metropolitan Opera HD Broadcasts: I haven't taken advantage of these as much as I should, mostly because by Saturday I'm usually all opera'd out, but I managed to see the latest, Robert Lepage's fascinating production of La Damnation de Faust, twice: once in a packed house, squinting because of a weak projector, and once in an audience of four with clear picture and painfully loud volume. So maybe the kinks haven't all quite been worked out, but it's still a great way to see these productions (and eat popcorn while doing so!). Oh, and if you want to see my name scroll by in the credits, you can do that on March 21 at 1pm EST. I'm just saying.

A code id by doze

What started as a mild sore throat the Saturday after Thanksgiving had developed into a full on head cold by Tuesday morning, dropping me into a fog so thick that I'm only just now starting to see my way clear of it. I've spent the week waking up unable to breathe from all the congestion, staying in bed or on the couch miserable for most of the day, getting my hopes up during a couple good late afternoon hours, and going to bed with a persistent dry cough that keeps me up half the night. My patent pending Mucinex/Tylenol Cold/Zicam drug cocktail doesn't seem to be working as quickly as it has in the past, so I'm stuck at home, lazing my days away and not enjoying it one bit.

Thank goodness for boyfriends. You should definitely get one, if for nothing else than to take care of you when you're sick. Poor CameraMan has been working overtime, what with his real job and all the pampering combined. This week I've had breakfast in bed, cold medicine and orange juice on a platter, and my choice on movie nights. He slept on the couch one night so that I could cough my lungs out while sprawled over the whole bed (minus the surprisingly large portion the Bossy Cat takes up). And he even managed to tell me with a straight face several times that I looked cute when I was sick.

Also, thank goodness for time off, so I can actually recuperate. And for tea, all kinds, so comforting on a sore throat. And for snuggly cats. And Netflix. And down comforters. And Advil PM.

And now that I'm almost ready to rejoin the land of the living, I might try rejoining the land of the blogging while I'm at it.

Peer Pressure List, Vol. 2

• Peppermint hot chocolate at Starbucks: Like Christmas in a cup. Don't skip the whip.


• How I Met Your Mother: Like Friends but funnier. The best thing about this show is Neil Patrick Harris, hands down. Every line that comes out of his mouth is endlessly quotable and repeatable (just ask CameraMan). It's legen…wait for it…dary.


• Clinique Superbalm Lip Gloss: This one's for the ladies. Long-lasting, not too sticky, the perfect amount of shine. I like it in Currant.


• Pumpkin gooey bars: I baked these for Thanksgiving dessert, and they were so good that some of my family members had middle of the night cravings for them. I originally got the recipe from Little Miss Hardcore, so if you make them, become addicted, and get really fat, blame her.


• Hotel Cafe presents Winter Songs: We're just getting to the time of year when I want to hear lots of Christmas music. I've got an extensive Santa Mix on the BossiPod, and this is my favorite new addition. It features my fave ladies Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michaelson, and Brandi Carlile.

Are you feeling the pressure?