All It Takes Is A Dollar and A Dream...

I know the odds of winning are 1 in 18,000,000. That's eighteen million. And, I know that I'm more likely to get struck by lightning (1 in 30,000) than win. And the odds are better if someone gives birth to quadruplets ( 1 in 729,000) than if someone were to win. Oh, and it's probably more likely that a bag of money will drop down from the skies and fall on the ground right in front of me.

Yes, logic tells me that I might as well just throw my money away. And, sometimes, I feel like I do. Yet, I still play the lotto every once in a while. We all do. Why??? Because, you just never know.

There is that possibility (however small it is) that if you play, you can win. It's fun to imagine standing on that podium holding the over sized check that says your name. And, it's fun to think about what your life would be like if you won all those millions, and how you would spend it. What would you do with all that money? I'm sure you've thought about it once or twice...

The Lottery Act was passed here in California to provide extra money to schools without imposing additional taxes. Apparently, the CA State Lottery is mandated to provide at least 34% of its revenues to public education, supplementing and not replacing funds provided by the state. Yet, considering how poor our educational system is, it's hard to believe that our schools are really benefiting from these funds. And, I know I can be a bit skeptical, but I doubt that helping out our school system is the main reason why people buy their lotto tickets here in California.

But, I digress.

This is a picture of my lotto ticket I bought for tonight's Super Lotto. I lost, but that's okay. I'll most likely spend another dollar and buy a ticket again some other time.

Playing the lotto can give us a sense of hope, even if it's followed by disappointment when we check our numbers and see that we didn't win. Is it false hope? Maybe. Please know that I'm not endorsing gambling your life savings away on a set of 6 numbers. But, keeping things in perspective, isn't the dream itself worth a couple of dollars here and there?

If Loving Them Is Wrong... I Don't Want To Be Right!

This week, my 2 favorite reality shows are back and, I must confess, I'm pretty excited about it!

I know what you're thinking...poor girl, she needs to get out more. You might say you don't watch them. And, some of you honestly might not. But, at the end of the day, no matter how bad some of these shows are (and some of them are really bad), some are quite addicting! When you combine one person's fascination with being famous and another person's tendencies towards voyeurism, you've got a recipe for success! You can't walk down the street here without tripping over someone who has either been in a reality show or is trying to get on one.

Everyone's got their favorites. It comes down to personal taste. Personally, I don't care about the "Bachelorette" and those "housewives of wherever". "Survivor" doesn't interest me and I never cared about "Big Brother". "The Amazing Race" stresses me out to much. There seems to be thousands of reality shows...and someone must be watching because they have an entire channel dedicated just to reality TV. My guilty pleasures are "Top Chef" and Project Runway".

"Top Chef", taking place in Las Vegas this season, shows chefs from all over the country compete against each other in various culinary challenges. They're judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more chef-testants eliminated in each episode. A key element to all realty shows is casting; big personalities coupled with culinary talent make for a great show! It's so interesting to see what these chefs prepare each week, but I must admit, I get a little hungry after each episode!

"Project Runway", hosted by Heidi Klum, focuses on fashion design. The contestants compete with each other to see who can create the best clothes. They're usually restricted in time, materials and in theme, and it's great to see what they can come up with each week! I particularly like the challenge of designing an outfit solely out of products you would buy at the supermarket. Their designs are judged and one or more designers are eliminated each week.

This show is a great forum for designers to showcase their talent and creativity and expose themselves and their designs to a wider audience. And, who doesn't love to hear co-host Tim Gunn's catch phrase "make it work" and Heidi's German-accented kiss-off phrase: "your out", followed by a curt "aufedersein"!

I know I should probably be discussing something more important and timely like why the Republicans are purposely trying to sabotage Obama's Healthcare plan. Maybe, I should be giving some interviewing tips for the job seeker. Or, perhaps chat about the unemployment rates and the economy. But, not this week.

Sometimes, we all must embrace and give in to our guilty pleasures...whatever they are!

What's yours?

A Dash of Inspiration Saute'ed in Butter and Garlic

Okay, I'm officially jumping on the bandwagon. Yesterday, I saw "Julie and Julia" and I really liked it! (I also can't stop thinking about that heirloom tomato grilled bruschetta...but I'll talk about that in a minute.)

Julia Child (Meryl Streep) and Julie Powell (Amy Adams) star in Nora Ephron's charming adaptation of two memoirs: Powell's "Julia and Julia" and "My Life In France", by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme. The movie intertwines the lives of Julia Child during her years in France with her husband Paul, and Julie Powell, a frustrated office worker who became an amateur blogger by deciding to turn her passion for food into a year long blog project and cook her way through every recipe in Julia Child's famous cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."

The entire cast did a great job, especially Meryl Streep who is just incredible as Julia Child. It's scary how good she is! But, to me, the food was the star of the movie. Grilled heirloom tomato bruschetta..boeuf bourgignon..duck en croute...dover sole dripping in butter...chocolate almond cake. Everything that was prepared in the movie looked awesome! I get hungry just thinking about it! Kudos goes out to the food stylist in this movie who actually made those dishes. For several hours after the movie was over, I think I had chocolate almond cake on the brain!

This morning, I found out that Julie Powell and her blog have been criticized by gourmet chefs and professional "foodies" who claim the blog was too gimmicky and that it was so terribly wrong that she used Julia Child and her masterpiece of a cookbook to further her own personal success.

Well, to those critics, I say lighten up and relax! It's a good story.

Whether it truly was sincere on Julie Powell's part or not, I connected with her story and went along for the ride. I know what it's like to be frustrated in your life and not know what to do next. Cooking has never been my particular passion, but I was certainly inspired by the fearlessness of Julia Child to pursue her passions. What an amazing woman she was!

And, I must admit, after seeing the movie, I would love to be able to cook like that...it looks so fun! (I know my mother is laughing right now).

Well, at the very least, I must learn how to make that bruschetta.

When Life Gives You Tomatoes...Try To Make a Good Sauce.

Last week was tough.

I was deep in the frustration of being unemployed. A big dose of rejection coupled with constant worry can really get on your nerves. In the past few weeks, I haven't found any new job listings for me to apply to and it seems like I ran out of people to call - so, I should probably work harder on my networking skills, right? Well, this whole process just gets so exhausting after a while. Then, I started reading more stories about the growing unemployment rates and the admitted loss of hope from people unable to find work these days. And, as I'm reading all this, I'm noticing my growing stack of bills on the desk...and you can guess where I'm going with this train of thought.

It didn't help that I received two emails on the same day from two different companies coincidentally saying the exact same thing: "although impressed with your credentials, we are unable to bring you in at this time." Unemployment is a very humbling experience, that's for sure. (And, couldn't they have come up with something more original to write?)

Every once in a while, we all have a bad week. We're all entitled to have them. Usually, I try to stay as positive as I can and keep things in perspective. But, when I'm having one of those weeks, it's hard to shake off the blues and climb out from under the muck.

However, right now, I'm staring at some beautiful, homegrown tomatoes that a friend gave me the other day. I realize this is about to sound sooo cliche', but once again, I remind myself of how lucky I am to have a roof over my head, a loving and supportive husband and family, and good friends who think to give me tomatoes grown from their gardens.

And, now I feel a little less frustrated. I think I'll stop my momentary whining, continue my job search, lighten up a bit...and make some sauce.

This week will be better.