Once a year, Neil cuts all his hair off. Which is a monumental occasion if you know Neil. And Neil’s hair.

See, I’m sure there are tons of girls out there (including me) who would do anything for these perfect locks. Curls, I might add, that take zero effort on his part to groom and make beautiful.

Yes, I would do anything for a head full of these curly curls.

I even make him pretty sometimes! It’s quite fun. It’s even better when I straighten it, then he really looks pretty. But I don’t have any pictures of that this year.

Anyways, so late last week, after about 3 weeks of deliberations, we finally cut all the lovely locks off. ‘Tis the circle of life.

There it is ladies and gentlemen! The new do!

He could finally wear the hat my brother got him last Norooz since he didn’t have to worry about hat-hair!

He was scary-cool.

But underneath all the gangster coolness he showed is a boy… a small little boy…

…who is sad at the loss of his hair.

But have no fear! This cycle will continue into next year and the year after that and the year after that and… until he starts balding. Which I do hope isn’t anytime soon. The genes are on his side!

My mom is a very fancy lady. As such, she encourages me to be fancy too. And I try, oh how hard I try to be fancy. But when you only have limited storage space, it’s hard to have the entire pedestaled ceramic and crystal serving set (though, one day I will own them all!). Not to mention they require special hand-washing attention; attention I am not willing to give them all the time. That’s what the dishwasher is for. Dish. Washing.

I digress.

Anyways, when we went to find my sister carpeting for her dorm room  earlier this week, I found this lovely appetizer stoneware set.

It’s in five pieces! You can use each of the dishes individually…

…or put them all together for easier carrying!

Or you can put them half in and half out. Woah baby.

So anyhow, when I was putting together the ingredients for our taco dinner tonight, I decided to finally take my lovely new appetizer set out of its box and put it to some use. And man oh man, does it make taco dinner night fancy.

I mean just look at that cheese! Cheddar is delicious no matter what, but grated cheddar in a fancy dish is regal.

I was so pleased with the Taco Dinner that I think I will proclaim these dishes worth hand washing.

BUT WAIT!

I haven’t told you the best part about these lovely square dishes.

Yes, they make the salsa stand out, they allow the shredded spinach to shine, refried beans and taco rice never looked so good, and they allow the soft and hard taco shells a comfortable place to hang out… but these dishes, dear reader, are dishwasher safe.

Holy moly. Incredible.

They are my new favorite. After my favorite knife, of course. That one will always come first in my heart.

UPDATE! We’re going!!! August 23rd, we will be driving all the way to Austin to witness this wonderfulness. I’m so so so stoked!

This is my new obsession. I’ve had the soundtrack on repeat for almost a week now. It plays at home, in my car, while I cook and while I do countless loads of laundry. It’s solidified my musical taste I feel. Here it is:

My favorite genre of music is Broadway!

Neil is my resident music knower and he confirmed that that is, indeed, a genre of music. I just like that the lyrics mean something since they have to further a story, and I absolutely love deep, resonating vocals. It’s splendid.

In the original Broadway cast soundtrack that I’ve been listening to, Idina Menzel plays Elphaba and is utterly amazing. I really liked her as Maureen in Rent, but I didn’t feel that she got to use her voice to its potential in that musical. As the future Wicked Witch of the West, she belts out song after song and is incredibly soulful.

I’ve been trying to find tickets for the musical in Austin in the upcoming weeks, but I think they might be sold out. I can’t find any! And that makes me oh so very sad. The Broadway cast won’t be coming to Dallas anytime in 2009 OR 2010, and I can’t wait that long anyways!

So if you, lovely reader, has or knows of any Wicked tickets in Austin, please refer me to them!

I kid, but wouldn’t it be grand to just throw everything to the side to go to a musical??

For now, I will continue drooling over the pretty pretty voices coming out of my headphones.

My sister, Sara, asked for microwave meal recipes so I’ve been doing just that over in the cooking section. But have you ever wondered about these wonderful machines?

After a Google search of microwaves and how they came about, I learned some things! Here’s what I learned:

-The microwave was “invented” by a Raytheon Corporation engineer named Percy Spencer in 1946 when the candy bar in his pocket melted as he experimented with a magnetron tube. (I read that this kind of tube forms microwaves!) He also made the first microwave popcorn when he placed some kernals of corn next to the magnetron tube.

-Microwaves warm up food by making the molecules in the food vibrate at super speeds. The microwaves are then absorbed by the food, but they do not make the food radioactive because they turn into heat the minute they are absorbed by food.

- Oils such as olive oil do not heat well in microwaves because their molecules lack the polarity found in water. It’s also true that frozen butter is hard to thaw in a microwave, because the bulk of the substance is oil, and the portion of water present is in the form of ice, which keeps the molecules locked up in crystal form, making oscillation more difficult.

- Heating plastics in a microwave can be dangerous! When the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tested plastics labeled “microwave-safe”  and advertised for infants, even those were found to release “toxic doses” of Bisphenol A when heated in a microwave. “The amounts detected were at levels that scientists have found cause neurological and developmental damage in laboratory animals,” the paper reports.

- As much as 80% of microwaves from mobile phones are absorbed by your head. Don’t worry though, the levels aren’t nearly high enough to cook your brains.

Are you oh so smarticle now?!

We live on the second floor with a big ol’ tree smack dab in front of our balcony. I don’t mind though, it provides for more privacy. A few weeks ago, the tree offered our little balcony a baby… a possum baby!

This little fella just showed up on our balcony! It was uncanny how much he acted like a cat. He groomed himself like them and everything! Too bad his little rat-like tail weirded me out.

He was a cutie. I was terrified anyways, I refused to go outside so Neil took these pictures.

Look at those fingers! It gives me the creepies.

I think I’ll never have a possum baby as a pet. Yes, that is how it will be.