Thursday, December 14, 2006

L is for Loser, but that's not going on the list

Malia is perpetuating a meme, and I said, "I wanna play!" Thus, I have been assigned the letter L. Now I am to list ten things I love that start with L. If you want to join the list-making fun, leave a note in the comments and I'll toss a letter your way. Off we go...


  1. Layer Bars. Specifically, Seven-Layer Bars*, which have become my standby item to make for any group outing or bring-a-dish party in recent years and thus, are apparently now my baked-goods trademark. I used to shy away from making these for groups, mainly because an old boyfriend turned his nose up at the fact that coconut was involved and I thought perhaps the world was more teeming with coconut-haters than I realized. I have since decided that that is just plain foolishness. Layer bars are delicious, and boys (or, boys like that one, anyway) are stupid.

  2. Long-length pants and jeans. Damn-near every store carries petites. No where near damn-near every store carries long-length. This is an unfair and heightist situation that must be remedied. I remember one of the first times I realized what a true genius and a visionary Maliavale is was the day she called for an International Size Tribunal. I submit this request to the Tribunal for consideration. Thank you.

  3. London. During my semester in Scotland, I spent a long weekend in London (as most other students in our program did as well). I remember a friend telling me that, when he relayed his adventures from the weekend to his host mother, she smiled and sighed, "Ah. When you've tired of London, you've tired of life, my love." Yes, yes, I fully realize that is a famous quote said by someone I can't recall just now, but I'm pretty sure the original version didn't have the "my love" part, and really, that was the part that seemed so charming to me. Anyway, if ever I were to get all bold and brave and fully impractical and just pick up and move across the ocean, London is where I would like to go. I have fantasies of simply stepping out of a tube station on my first day there and meeting the fabulous British love of my life. This fantasy probably comes from the opening scenes of Closer, which, now that I think about it, really isn't the best model for the sort of relationship I'm after. Regardless, London is lovely, and I should like to return there sometime soon.

  4. Lip balm. I knew that my last boyfriend really knew me and paid attention to me the day he wrapped two tubes of my favorite lip balm along with my birthday present for the year. I thought this was ridiculously sweet at the time, but it probably shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did. I am a lip balm addict, and nearly everyone who knows me probably knows my favorite fix. It is a harmless addiction, I say. Until they have a Lip Balm ward at Hazelden, I'm not going to dwell on this too much.

  5. Lexicography. I love words. I love word games. My tremendous inner nerd secretly thinks it would be hopelessly fun to work at the place where they read and discuss dictionaries all day. (My inner normal person knows it's probably not actually as fun as it sounds.) Even the word lexicography is fun, though. Say it with me: lexicography. Sigh.

  6. Lattes. Flavored, please. Yum.

  7. Love Actually. I know it was cheesy and contrived and ridiculous. I don't care. I love that damn movie anyway. Perhaps I'm not fully bitter and dead inside after all. Yay.

  8. Liquor. Wording it that way is totally Klassy with a capital K, but I can't think of any favorite brand or recipe of spirited beverage that starts with L, so the catch-all term will have to do. Oh! As long as I'm talking about alcohol, let me tell you a little story about my visit to the liquor store tonight. (Shut up; I'm not a drunk; I have a party coming up.) Like most liquor stores, this one clips little tags in front of various wines they want to highlight. Some are printed from the winery; some proclaim the awards and accolades the wine has won. My favorite, though, are the ones hand-printed on bright posterboard by the store employees, describing just why one particular wine is worth your while. Tonight I saw one for an allegedly "dark and dirty" Pinotage that is, apparently, "like licking a chocolate bar off of a blacktop parking lot." Admit it. You're intrigued. So was I. I will be opening that one Saturday night to see just how well that description holds true.

  9. Lazy Saturdays and Sundays spent lounging in my living room. (I tried to work a few more Ls in there for a little more alliteration, but really I should just wrap this up already, I think.)

  10. Lists! Duh. I have a category for them in my sidebar, and I partake of all sorts of them in meme form, despite my ambivalence about memes. I have shopping lists and to-do lists and, as I mentioned recently, I sometimes add already-done things to my list just so I can cross them off. Clearly I'm a list girl; I just never realized it until now.

There are other Ls I love as well, such as losing weight**, and Lucy Kaplansky, and laughing, and live music, and lunch breaks, and my lovely lady friends. The instructions called for only ten, though, so I'll stop enumerating these now.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Edited to add: And libraries! How on earth could I forget libraries?! I should really bump something from my 1-10 and plug this in instead, but that might be taking the letter list game just a bit too seriously, I think.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Before I close, though, I thought I'd also mention some L things I do not particularly love. These include Lutefisk***, Los Lonely Boys, Lindsay Lohan, leeches, and Legionnaires' disease. Oh. And lettuce laced with e.coli. I actually pulled the leaves off my Bruegger's sandwich today because I'm just that paranoid, I guess. As if I need one more reason not to eat my vegetables. Thanks for that, produce growers of America. (And thank you, letter L, for today's post.)


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* This is not my precise recipe, but it is close enough, I think. If you make these, the secret is to pour the condensed milk over the graham cracker crumbs, then add the remaining layers, and finally drizzle a bit more milk on top. Most recipes call for pouring all the condensed milk on top, and that is a bad, bad move, in my experience.

** Not something I am doing lately, but wouldn't it be nice if I were?

*** Two fun facts from this Wikipedia entry: 1. Lutefisk is more prevalent in Minnesota than it is in its native Norway (a fact that doesn't actually surprise me at all), and 2. Norway has a National Information Office for Meat! I find that entirely more amusing than I probably should.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like that your normal person is inner and not outer. Makes me wonder what's outer?

Your suggestion to the Tribunal has been seconded. I'm 5-9". How tall are you?

Stefanie said...

Oh. Good point. ;-) Guess that should have been "outer normal person"? (I hope I have an outer normal person, anyway!)

I'm 5'9" as well. We could shop frustratedly* together! :-)


* Totally a word, I say. I am an amateur lexicographer, after all.

Anonymous said...

I'd like a size tribunal, too, but not because of my height. I just hate being one size at one store and another size at the next store. Bullshit, I tell you!

Also, I absolutely LOVE "Love, Actually." That movie just completely had me the whole way through.

Anonymous said...

Fun post! Can I play? Toss a letter my way? :) And I hate Lutefisk too (I'm from Finland originally) but my mom can't have Christmas without it, heheh.

3carnations said...

Oh, the plight of the short and the tall! I am 5'2", with a 26" inseam. All those stores that you claim sell petite pants seem to think that petite gals have at least a 28" inseam. I can't possibly be so irregularly shaped that I should need to have each pair of pants I buy hemmed!

Perhaps instead of big and tall shops, there should be "Short and Tall" shops.

I'll take a letter, please.

Anonymous said...

So much to say; I too love "Love Actually;" I can watch it from any point, whenever it's on. And OMG! I also put things on lists (even if I've already accomplished the thing) just to cross them off; such is my love of lists. As for Lindsay Lohan, my position on her is that I just think she needs some tough love. That is why I want to adopt her. (Note: This is also for clothes and shoe-stealing purposes. Whatever, I'm honest about my intentions.) The size tribunal is brilliant, as well.

May I please have a letter?

Anonymous said...

#2: It isn't much better for guys. I'm 6' 2", which is tall, but not freakshly so. Still, finding jeans in my size is tricky. I'd rather not have to put on 50 pounds just to have a better selection.

#3: Samuel Johnson

#8: You put the K in Klassy!

Stefanie said...

Nabb--That's another fine point. I have items in my closet marked XS and XL and everything in between. I am neither extra-small nor extra-large, so that is madness, I say.

Anniina--Hi and Welcome! (Or happy de-lurk day... whichever is more accurate) Glad you want to play. You shall have the letter T. Take it away! :-)

3Cs--Now, I see your point, but I still have to tell you the same thing I tell all my height-challenged friends: I know it is a pain to have pants hemmed, but at least you have that option. There is nothing I can do to add an extra inch to too-short jeans. Boo.

Also, you are granted the letter M. Run with it.


Metalia--Welcome to you, too! Thanks for stopping in (or de-lurking). Love your motive behind adopting La Lohan. Too funny. I don't think any of her clothes would fit me, but it's a fine idea nonetheless.

And you may indeed have a letter. It shall be the letter P.


Digital Janitor--Per #3: Thanks. I knew someone would know! Per #8: Thanks again. I do try, you know.

Anonymous said...

Stef, I am pretty much with you on all of these, but particularly the seven layer bars, Long Pants, liquor, and I LOVE Love Actually as well! The thing with Long Pants is that I am only 5'7 yet I even sometimes need Long Pants. So I wonder what do the truly tall girls do? How frustrating that not only does it vary between stores but sometimes even within the SAME store where one pair is too long, the other too short yet they are still both a regular...and they only sell longs online...yeah well that doesn't help a whole hell of a lot when I can't try them on. Sorry that was so freaking long!

Stefanie said...

Simone--I hear you on all counts. Also, you shall have layer bars (and liquor) at my house tomorrow, so you can look forward to that. :-)

3carnations said...

Thanks. My list is posted, but Ebloggy wouldn't let me post. The list is on my Blogger blog, which I never use...Never say never, I suppose...

Stefanie said...

Wow, 3Cs. You are quick. :-) I didn't even know you had a Blogger blog. I had to head over to check it out.


Heh heh... word verification: peadz. Does anyone beside me find that really funny?

Anonymous said...

I wrote you a beautiful comment about lutefisk, but it is lost somewhere on the internet.

My favorite Norwegian food is kringla. I just made up the spelling to that because I have never actually seen it in writing. My grandma (an Iowan) used to make kringla all the time. It is kind of a cakey donut thing.

I did a list similar to this a while ago, but I will ask for another letter because I have been sucking at coming up with topics for my blog lately.

Stefanie said...

R--That is quite a bummer. I would have loved to read a "beautiful" comment about lutefisk.

I don't think I know about kringla. (I know about lefse, but not kringla.) It sounds tasty, though.

How about the letter F?

lizgwiz said...

Ooh--I want a letter!

I love many of your Ls: long pants (what ARE tall, short-waisted girls supposed to do?), layer bars, liquor, London, lip balm, Lucy Kaplansky (MUCH love!)...well, actually, everything but lattes. (Coffee gives me heartburn, sadly.)

3carnations said...

Now that you've been to the blogger blog, you can see you weren't missing much. ;) I started that one first, then found the ebloggy one more user friendly, so I only use the blogger one when ebloggy makes me mad.

Does anyone else think -R-'s letter should have been R?

Anonymous said...

All right, I will give this a whirl...can I have a letter, peeese?

Anonymous said...

Stef, maybe I should make some kringla (don't know the spelling either) and bring it...it's yummy. (Can you tell I'm bored at work today?)

Stefanie said...

Liz--You bring up a good point about the short-waistedness. I think I'm just "normal-waisted," I think, and I am continually frustrated at how ill-fitting NY & Company's tall-sized pants are. That's one of the few stores that reliably carries talls, but that "proportional fit" thing does not work for me.

I am rambling. On to your letter. I will give you.... D!


3Cs--Well, I didn't scroll too far, but I will do so later. Mostly what I saw was "eBloggy's acting up again, so I am here." ;-) And I totally almost gave -R- the letter R. Or H. Those were the first ones that came to mind, of course, but that was way too easy.


Nabb--Sure thing. How does A sound to you? I haven't given out any vowels yet!


Simone--Glad to be of service in amusing you at work. :-)

Anonymous said...

Hee! This was great! L is also for Lara. Woot! Even though I once did this with the letter P, can I still do it again?

PS, I loved Love Actually, too.

And, OMG, I must tell a romantic London story. But not today. I so owe you an email. I'm sorry!

Stefanie said...

Whoo! I have never had 20(+) comments on one post before! Yay! :-) OK, so half of them are from me, but still, it is fun. Thank you, everyone! I've got plenty of letters left, so if you still want to play, just holler.

As for you, GG, I totally thought of including "Lara," but I didn't know if you'd want me to "out" you with your real name. And of course you can do it again... Is it too predictable if I give you G?? (I resisted the urge to be all predictable and give R to -R-, so I think I shall assign you G nonetheless.) Take it away...

Anonymous said...

Okay, that's a good letter! I was afraid I'd get X or something! Oh, but I DO love xylophones...

Unknown said...

I want a letter too! I cry with that movie when the character that Colin Firth plays says goodbye to the girl. I think I like their story the most.

Stefanie said...

Nabb--Oh, I wouldn't do that to you (or to anyone, actually). You were thinking just like me, though. When I asked Malia for a letter, I requested that it not be Q or Z. How did I forget to mention X?

LC--How's N sound to you? Have at it. :-)

Jasclo said...

That was a lovely list. I'll take a letter too, I think. Just please not X.

Jasclo said...

OH MAN. I didn't see Nabbalicious' second post until after I'd posted mine. Sigh.

Stefanie said...

Hey Jasclo--I would never do that to any of you, despite how fun it would be to see what you come up with. Your letter is R. Go!

Anonymous said...

Okay, I'm all Done, Stef. "T" was harder than I thought - I'm afraid my list might have turned up totally lame. I can't wait to read everyone's lists! All these comments have raised curious questions though - I now have a burning desire to know what "Kringla" is - I bet it's some kind of pastry, for Xmas. Oh, and on the Colin Firth front, while I liked "Love, Actually" for me he's just always going to be tops as Mark Darcy in "Bridget Jones." *wiping drool off keyboard*

Anonymous said...

This is how little the sales people at your liquor store understand people like me. The idea of eating dirty junk food off a surface that other people have driven on is not my idea of appetizing.

Stefanie said...

Darren--Well I'd never say that's my idea of appetizing, either, but I appreciated the clever copywriting and vivid (albeit disturbing) imagery. I figured it couldn't really taste like blacktop, yet I was intrigued. In case you're curious, it basically tasted like red wine. Just drier and maybe a bit "deeper" or something (not sweet, really), which I suppose is where the "dirty" comes in.