Notes from the Chocolate Society

people at the chocolate society take chocolate seriously.

only eat dark chocolate serious.
would rather their kids eat dirt than the likes of lindt, godiva or bernard callebaut serious.
smell their chocolate before they eat it serious.
suck on it and spit it out serious.

it sounds annoying, but it is actually pretty charming to be around people who are so passionate--and i've learned a lot from them.

and

i feel like a bit of a poser because guess who has several bars of hershey chocolate in her pantry.....

and

for anyone interested, amedei tuscano black 70% extra dark chocolate will change your life.

logical reasoning

if you join the chocolate society of salt lake city, then your chocolate consumption will go through the roof. if your chocolate consumption goes through the roof, then you will gain weight. if you gain weight, then you will not fit into your clothes. if you do not fit into your clothes, then you will have a mental breakdown every single morning when you get dressed.

so

if you join the chocolate society, then you will have a mental breakdown every morning when you get dressed.

i joined the chocolate society of salt lake city....

take a stab at how my mornings have been lately.

back to the blob*

a couple of weeks ago i was in a meeting with some people. during a lull in the conversation, one of the attendee's turned to me and said:

"i read your blog. you are kind of off the wall."

the way it was said, i couldn't tell if being "off the wall" was intended as a compliment. i wasn't really getting the vibe that is was.....inside i cringed. i was embarrassed. i felt like a bloomin' idiot. so on the drive home i was thinking about all the ways to avoid feeling these kinds of things....

the truth is the person who said i was "off the wall" has NO IDEA how nutty i really am. my blog is a pretty pithy representation of what i think and feel. i've got oodles of unpublished posts. posts i decided not to put up because i thought they might make me look stupid or crazy or hurt people's feelings. i haven't been brave enough to open myself up that much and i haven't wanted to be judged based on something i wrote on my blog. the truth is judgment is unavoidable. and in my case,in trying to protect myself from judgment, i've lost my voice. straight up lame.

for me, the solution isn't going private. only expressing things in safe space won't help me learn to better articulate my ideas. it won't help me find the courage i need to say hard things when they need to be said. it won't help me learn to be a more diplomatic writer.

so this year....my blog is going to be me. real mercedes. all of me...most of me...more of me than you have seen in the past (this being open stuff is kind of scary--and the oprah expose on blog security doesn't exactly help) so if you read something and you think...."man that mercedes is kinda nuts"...yes i kinda am.

*on one of the blogs i read the author calls her blog her BLOB. i just love that and imitation is flattery and all that stuff.

me and my best friend joni

old joni mitchell and i have a lot in common. check it out:

both blonds
both alberta girls
both moved to america
both don't know what we got til it's gone (sorry about that grammar situation mom).

so basically we are kindred spirits or something. anyway ever since i got home from edmonton my mind has been playing joni's big yellow taxi on repeat.

here is why:

i hated garlic city for the 4+ years i lived there. now in most cases hate is a strong word....here it probably doesn't even start to do my feelings justice. i'd go back to calgary pretty much every chance i got. i was always looking into transferring "someplace cool" and when i realized that was too much trouble, i started hitting the books like a mad dog just to make sure that one day i'd at least have the option of going "someplace cool."

and i did (and it was fun). and i haven't really looked back.

until a few weeks ago when i found myself in good ol' garlic city once again. i am driving around old strathcona with sister rax and i start getting all teary eyed and wistful. seeing my old stomping grounds: the buildings i studied in, the restaurants i ate at, the neighborhoods i walked through....just made me so nostalgic. university times were some pretty good times.

then we went to a wedding and saw many old friends. i may not always have liked edmonton, but by george, there were some amazing people there. i look at these people now, many who still live in edmonton, and just feel so lucky to have had the chance to associate with them. and i feel like a nard dog because i didn't appreciate then how rare people like that are.

and now i am half-wishing to move back to edmonton, and buy a house in glenora, and get together with friends and play settlers of catan every weekend, become oilers fans, go for winter dream hikes through the river valley, and eat a lot of perogies....

because this time i would appreciate every little moment of it.
seriously.
even when it is -45.

post notes:

1. so i may have had this conversion re: garlic city, but don't expect it to happen re: SL,UT.

2. gold stars to fellow former golden bears who say they miss garlic city. i want odes to edmonton!

3. oh and recently my friend chucky (one of those people i was talking about above) started calling edmonton "garlic city." i loved it so much i decided to do my part to make sure the nickname sticks. so now do your part!

goo gets married

it was one heck of a weekend in garlic city. watching dearest lindsay marry spencer was such a great way to kickoff the holiday season. she was radiant. it was a joyous celebration and i feel honoured to have been included.

momma, rax and i practiced our modeling poses in the photo booth, made random kids rock out with us on the dance floor, and overate (shocker). total blast.

When I Rock the Mic

I ROCK THE MIC RIGHT!!!!

1. thank you to robbie williams for inspiring me to get down with my bad self.
2. thank you to utah county for inspiring this totally "ama-zing" outfit.

DIY