In Which I Make The West Wing Not At All About The West Wing

I will be the first to admit that I spend too much time (if there is such a thing) watching Netflix. I have seen everything there is to offer in the category of "Because You Watched Tiny Furniture" and am slowly making my way through the "Because You Watched House of Cards". My friend Kaleigh, if that is her real name, has been telling me and everyone that follows her on Twitter.com to watch The West Wing since the day of her birth in 1994. I understand that The West Wing was not aired until 1999, but what can I say, Kaleigh is the most reliable psychic east of the Mississippi.

I too, have been trying to get my friends to watch The West Wing. They say, "What's that about, a hospital? A bird?" No! I say. You fools, you are all mistaken. It is about the White House. I would know, I watch the show, and took AP United States Government. I also once used the restroom in the White House because I was like four years old, and I really had to go, and the security guard was like "alright, that's chill." Also I met Joe Biden, the United States Vice President, and although we didn't discuss The West Wing, I'm sure we were all thinking about it.

In The West Wing, there are lots of presidential things that happen. One example would be that Rob Lowe, who plays a character named Sam, is in it. Rob Lowe is from Dayton, Ohio, which a place that Michelle Obama visited two years ago. Michelle Obama is the wife of Barack Obama, who works and breathes in the west wing of the White House.

Another example would be that there is a character in The West Wing named Toby. In real life, there is a guy that works at the White House named Toby! I do not know this for a fact, but Toby is a common enough name that I am sure it is true.

I would tell you more about the West Wing but I don't want to give anything away like the fact that the president gets impeached in the first episode, and then the United States is taken over by Canadian geese that only eat chicken curry, and we have to fight another French and Indian War. What? Go watch the West Wing.

Celebrity Drinks For The Non-Celebrity

Iced Oprah Chai Tea Latte vs Iced Emma Coffee With One Sugar And No Ice

Today I went to Starbucks. The person working seemed rather annoyed, but I got past that, because I knew Oprah would and also because I was ordering the Iced Oprah Chai Tea Latte.

I don't actually like chai tea, or lattes, and I wouldn't even consider myself to be an Oprah fan. I like Oprah more than Ellen but that is mostly because of that one Drake and Josh episode that she was in. But if a celebrity has a Starbucks drink named after them, we all know that it must be worth the four dollars and thirty five cents that it costs to drink it.

I ordered this drink with Great Expectations. Charles Dickens' 13th novel was literally in my hands. I also had many hopes and dreams for this beverage. I was operating under the assumption that upon consuming my Iced Oprah Chai Tea Latte I would immediately be called up by the lovely people over at Harpo Productions, Inc. and be offered my own show to be titled The Emma McLaughlin Show. This did not happen, and my hopes and dreams were subsequently crushed.

Instead I complained to my friend about how the drink was too sweet, which it was. I had to ask myself if this was really what Oprah had intended to do with this drink--disappoint young people who just want their own talk shows and/or eternal glory. I decided that this was probably not her intention.

I also must recognize that Oprah did do one thing right; it seemed to be an accurate representation of her. I actually do not know anything about Oprah except that she used to have a talk show and has a magazine and most of the information about her that I have written here is from an extremely reputable online encyclopedia. But, I do think, based on the magazine covers I see while waiting in the line at the grocery store that she is probably a cool/fun/generous person, and the Iced Oprah Chai Tea Latte seemed to emulate those adjectives just as well as the pictures of her smiling and laughing with her hair blowing in the wind do.

Which got me thinking about what kind of Starbucks drink I would have named after me if I were a successful person/celebrity/cool enough to have a namesake Starbucks drink. I like iced coffee black with no milk and just a little bit of sugar, but the problem is that they always give you too much ice, and if you are like me/only have $17 in your savings account this is a problem because that is valuable coffee space! That is why, if I had my own Starbucks drink, it would be none other than the Iced Emma Coffee With One Sugar And No Ice.

And lastly, it would include a warning that it would not guarantee you fame and fortune, or my devilish good looks. Just in case you are, like me, some kid from Ohio with hopes and dreams of making it big because of a Starbucks order.

Mom, Trust Me

You know what's cool about blogs?

Almost nothing, but let's not talk about that. I have had many blogs over the years, most of which have been deleted within hours of their creation. This blog is different though because I made it months ago. And now I am getting around to a first post.

Over the next few month expect many discussions of topics such as: Jo-Ann Fabrics, the beach, Vampire Weekend, what to wear to a Lorde concert, my 18th birthday, the pros and cons of sandals with white soles, and the Jo-Ann Fabrics smartphone app. Maybe even a Venn Diagram or two, who knows, not me.

For now let's talk about chocolate pie.

Yesterday, I made a chocolate pie. It was not perfect, or at least not up to my mother's expectations. That is probably because I used evaporated milk instead of sweetened condensed milk, and I didn't add any sugar. We are out of sugar. I was using a recipe out of the Emeril children's cookbook that I can't remember the name of. It has instructions for everything, except for when you mess up the recipe.

But it was still a chocolate pie and as such I have managed to eat at least half of it over the past 18 hours. Sue me. It's a chocolate pie, I'm living young, wild and free! Live fast, eat pie, bad girls do it well! Ain't no hollaback girl! #Swag!