Visiting Canada

Despite the fact that The Frugal Hostess seems all worldly and sophisticated, she really isn't.  She's really just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world.  She took the midnight train going anywhere.

Wait.  Not that.

But she is a small town girl.  In fact, although she spent many years working in the travel business, TFH never even left the continental US.

She is so ashamed.  Don't tell anyone, OK?

This sad and pathetic situation was remedied in January, when FruHo was hired to do a consulting project in British Columbia.  Here are some pictures from her trip.

This man's shaving thing showed up in The Frugal Hostess's luggage when she landed.  She did not pack it, and it does not belong to FruHubs.  Ew.  How did it get in there???

These weird fruits were part of a fruit plate TFH ordered on one of her first days there.  What the hell are these little guys?  As it turns out, they are gooseberries.

FruHo got arrested.  Just kidding.  These are Mounties.

Curling is a real sport.  TFH was just as shocked as you are.

It wasn't too snowy, but when it snowed - hoo boy!

Canada has teensy, tiny little oranges.  FruHo calls them clemen-tinies.

Canadians are very serious about musical security.

It is really beautiful in British Columbia.

Even the big ole tanker ships are pretty in their own way.  As well as ginormogantic.  Those are grizzly bears swimming in the foreground.  Just kidding.

The native people of Canada are called First Nations.  That seems like an awkward turn of phrase, although it's a cool name.  Here are some totem poles.

FruHubs ate 17,426 Japa-Dogs.  This one has strips of nori (seaweed).

The end.

Planning

The Frugal Hostess is recently back from a two-month stay in Canada and busy planning, planning, planning.  The weather in Atlanta feels like early Spring, which makes it seem like the possibilities are endless and time in infinite supply.

An abbreviated list of plans in the works:

1. FruHubs' birthday.
2. FruHubs' next two art shows.  One of these is MAJOR.  So exciting!
3. Finally, at long last, after 10+ years of trying, a Kentucky Derby party!!!
4. DIY furniture projects - wing back chair, making a couch out of an old trunk, and more.
5. Bedroom redecorating.
6. The mother of all vegetable gardens.

What are you planning right now?

Something Bad Happened: Updated

Something bad has happened.

This is not The Frugal Hostess's normal sarcastic silliness.  Something bad really did happen.

The famous, amazing, miraculous chocolate shop, Sugar-Coated Radical, was robbed last night.  The owners' children were threatened, and a neighboring shop owner was shot and killed.  All of the money at Sugar-Coated Radical was stolen.

If you like delicious chocolate and want to support a start-up business, please consider placing an order to help them get back on their feet.  You can shop here.

UPDATED: Join Yelp for a CashMob on Sunday if you're an Atlanta local.

You Should Read This

Source: irocksowhat.com via Barbie on Pinterest

Here are some of The Frugal Hostess's favorite (mostly) funny blogs.

The Bloggess

It Just Gets Stranger

Jason Good 365

The Will Cooley Fan Club

Dads: The Original Hipsters

Enjoy!

Teensy Tiny Little Things

The Frugal Hostess bought her niece a dollhouse for her birthday and has since become obsessed (re-obsessed, if she's honest) with miniatures.  Also, the Bloggess's haunted dollhouse has inspired FruHo to create a dollhouse for herself for her future children and/or godchildren.

Some examples:

These are part of the Christmas decoration set that the Frugal Hostess made for her niece's dollhouse.

These are champagne cork chairs that make excellent dollhouse patio furniture.

TFH recently cut the tips off of the fingers from a pair of mittens to make fingerless gloves for typing (see also: FruHubs, won't turn on the heat), and she's saving them to use as ski hats for dollhouse inhabitants.  Is this going too far???

Philadelphia: The New Year in Pictures

The Frugal Hostess went to Philadelphia for New Year's Eve.  There were a bunch of reasons why she picked this somewhat random city, including the brothers, the Winter Classic, and the Mummers Parade.  A fine time was had by all.

This is Reading (pronounced redding) Terminal, which is now a huge indoor farmer's market slash international food court.  You could eat every meal here and still not have half of what you want to try.  Be on the lookout for Amish families serving up fries and fresh vegetables.

This is an egg salad sandwich from Hershel's in Reading Terminal.  It was only OK.  Great pickle, though.
















This is a cobblestone street.  Everyone loves a cobblestone street.  If you don't, you are un-American.

These are the brothers having a great time at Butcher and Singer.  If you are planning a trip to Philly, TFH highly recommends this fancy and elegant steak house.  Try their unusual Manhattan for an after-dinner drink.

Here is the hotel room occupied by one FruHo and three grown men.  Hot mess!  Don't share a room with three guys!

This is home-made confetti that a family brought to the Mummers Parade.  In HUGE quantities.  The Frugal Hostess found it in her purse (and bra!) days later.

And here is a shot of the Mummers Parade.  FruHo is short, so her pictures were kind of terrible.  Sorry!

In conclusion, Philadelphia is an awesome place to spend New Year's Eve.  Good times, man, good times.

How to Pack for a Long Trip

The Frugal Hostess has finally mastered the art of packing.  At least for a long trip.  (Short trips are much harder to pack for because of the shoe to outfit ratio.)  Here's how she packed for a three-week business trip.

So, here are her best tips.

1. Lay the pants in first, across the bottom of the suitcase with the ends hanging over the sides (see above).  Line the waist of each pair of pants up with the inside corner of the bag, alternating sides so that you have pants hanging off both sides.

2. Fold your jackets in half, and put them on top of the pants.  If they are longer than the length of your bag, curve the bottom hem up the side of the bag.  Your goal here is to fold your suits as little as possible to avoid wrinkles.

3. Roll your shirts and other clothes.  That doesn't mean fold them and then roll them.  FruHo knows this because she tried it that way.  Unfold them, or take them off of their hangers, and then fold them in half.  Roll them up, and then fill the remaining space in the suitcase.

4.  Then flip the pants over the top and zip that sucker up.

TFH got quite a list of items in this bag.

6 two-piece suits

9 sweaters

11 shirts

6 tanks

2 jeans

10 scarves

Bag of toiletries

Bag of jewelry

Overcoat (went on top of what you're seeing)

Two hats

Two pairs of gloves

Sports bra

Flip-flops

Bag of tights

And that is that. Oh, and not to worry, there was an accompanying smaller suitcase full of shoes and underwear.

Dry January

The ingredients for a Honey Badger.

Like a lot of people, The Frugal Hostess celebrated A LOT over the holidays.  Basically, the weekend before Thanksgiving through January 3 was a total free-for-all involving too much booze, too much sugar, and too much too much.

In a very American move of counter-extremism, TFH is attempting to re-set herself by not drinking at all during the month of January.  She does this every year to greater and lesser degrees of success.  This year has actually been easier than she suspected, most likely because her liver has waved a white flag and surrendered.  But, being on the wagon won't stop FruHo from thinking about delicious cocktails.

Here's one FruHubs recently invented, called the Honey Badger.  (If you were living on a desert island in 2011, here is the original honey badger video.)

Ingredients

2 parts Bulleit bourbon or Redemption rye

1 part Barenjager honey liqueur

Dash orange bitters

Ginger ale

Directions

1.  Fill rocks glass with crushed ice.

2.  Sprinkle with bitters.

3.  Add booze.

4.  Top with ginger ale.

5.  Garnish with orange peel if handy.

You will want to drink two or three of these, but keep in mind that they are entirely too drinkable given their high alcohol content.  Slow down, Drunky McGee!

Goodbye, Holidays

The craft explosion on FruHo's desk.

The Frugal Hostess is really doing a piss-poor job at blogging lately, huh?  And the sad part is that she is still doing all of the projects and stuff that she normally posts, she's just forgetting to post them!

The Frugal Hostess is a dumbass.

But, the silver lining is that Thanksgiving and Christmas posts are already done for next year!  So, FruHo will just put away her Christmas crafts supplies for now and resolve to do better in 2012.  Happy New Year!