Cheerios and Martika

So I was at one of my favorite happy places today, (Target) (duh) and as I walked past Food Alley what did I see before mine eyes but a new kind of Cheerios....

CHOCOLATE.

Chocolate. Cheerios. OMG.

Of course I bought them. Of course I haven't decided yet whether or not to share them with anyone else in the house (oh, I'll cave eventually). They're made with real cocoa, for frack's sake! REAL COCOA!

Anyway, they make me happy. And if you try them, they might make you happy, too. I'm just sayin'.

Also, as I ran in the snowy woods today (difficult but rewarding), I listened first to a new artist find that I heard about on NPR. (Yes, I'm a geek.) There's this Minnesotan hip-hop/performance arty/singer (betcha never head that word combo before) called Dessa.

And she is really cool. She reminds me of Ani diFranco if she decided to do hip hop. She's like Rap Ani, or Ani 2.0. I'd love to see them mash up some of their stuff. It would kick ASS.

So I listen to the intelligent, deep, complex and angst-filled songs of Dessa. And I run. Well, stagger, more like it. But I'm making the effort. Even though I look like I'm color blind because not one article of winter clothing matches another on my entire body. I look like a goof. I run like a goof. But I'm a happy goof.

Then, when I've had enough of the heavy, because the snow is so white and the sky is so gray and Dessa is so intense, I change my musical menu and go back (where else?) to the 80s.

Do you remember Martika? If you're my age and liked non-threatening, essentially vacuous pop music in the 80s, you might. Her big hit was "Toy Soldiers" which most recently, I believe, was sampled by Eminem. Putting those two together is so wrong.

Anyway, Martika's songs are not deep. Not well written. The rhymes are 300% predictable and the arrangements were all done on one synthesizer over a long weekend or something. But Martika is perky, and she loves her boyfriend, and she wants to be Jane to his Tarzan.

Somehow after brilliant angsty music, Martika is the perfect after dinner liqueur.

This is why people watch stupid sit-coms.

This was a happy day.