from: today

(Written last week)

I'm still getting used to my new phone but at least I could take this picture.

I skipped work to attend the conference. It was the best decision I've made in a while. registration was free. I found street parking and probably spent $2. And that was it.

I got to hear Mayim Bialik speak and be surrounded by engineers that care about the science education of their children as well as watch Big Bang Theory. I miss discussion on how to make Society a better place.

Last week when I checked my email I saw a notice- the first 25 people who responded would get to attend the VIP meet and greet. I was 2 weeks late but emailed the coordinator anyway. This morning I saw her response that was sent two days ago saying some people dropped out so I had a spot.

Sometimes it pays to ask even if it seems like a long shot.

REFRESH. I spent $2 and got to sit front row to hear someone I greatly admire speak about things she is passionate about, I received a free DVD of season 4 of big bang theory, asked her my question, and took a picture with her. What a great morning.

What do I do with this high?

Things I learned. Despite being on a tech geekish show she is old fashioned and doesn't allow her children to watch much tv. Before the rise of nerd culture she associated herself with goth culture and liked the acceptance of everyone. She played Blossom when she was 14-19 and was inspired by her biology tutor to pursue a science education despite a family that was more humanities focused. Science did not come naturally to her and she spent a lot of time studying and getting help. She wants to inspire other girls to pursue the sciences like how her tutor inspired her. She is devoutly Jewish. She is a product of the public school system and attended UCLA for undergrad and grad school but homeschools her two young children. She is part of a homeschool network and has developed science curriculum for them. When she auditioned for Big Bang Theory, her PhD in neuroscience was listed in the miscellaneous section of her resume. Originally, she intended to become a research professor but made the difficult decision to focus on her children when the first soon was born. Her original PI left the school in the middle of her time in grad school and she switched her focus to neuroendocrinology.  She is now a spokesperson for Texas Instruments. She knows people who are similar to the different characters on Big Bang Theory and the demeanor of her character is based of some people she knows. Neuroscience is superior to physics even off the show. Mayim thinks the relationship between Sheldon and Amy is sweet. The two characters will confront the physical aspect of their relationship in the second to last episode this season.She likes comic books.

Brain dump complete. Time for bed.

Stuff and Now

Here are pictures from my future garden (aka French Laundry's garden) mentioned before.

What is Yacon? Is it pronounced like bacon?
The roots are the featured food. Did you know peanuts do not come from trees?

I wish I could grow strawberries that I got to each before the birds and insects get to them.

Yum! Peppers! Last week I threw a chilli together in the slow cooker but misread the recipe- "1 or 2 canned chipotle peppers" was misinterpreted as "1 or 2 cans of chipotle peppers." Spicy mistake!

My favorite garden presence had to be the chickens. They were so fluffy and had funny tufts of feathers on their feet, like they were prepping for winter and already wearing their feather booties.

Other than that....

Congrats to the SF Giants who won the world series last night!

My brother challenged me to a duel... in weight loss. 

I'm not quite sure how to go about losing weight because I've never had to deal with this issue. Growing up I was always encouraged to gain weight. I suppose things change as you age.

About today

Things about today I'd like to forget:

A "good morning" that turned into bickering that later involved a "you drive me crazy" and "why is love a battlefield". How do corny pop lyrics weave themselves into my arguments so seamlessly? How can I ever take keep a serious face with a backstreet boy song being hummed in the back of my brain?

Actually backstreet boys was yesterday.

This is about today.

Maybe I don't want to fight, I just want an opportunity to sing some good ole' 90' s ballads.
I'm in so need of a karaoke night.

Things about today I'd like to remember:

* listening to sound clips from am audio diary of a girl born with cystic fibrosis from teenager years through college- her coughing, upbeat attitude while her parents worried and cried, and her realizations of though she will likely die soon she is alive right now and should just go with the flow right now.

* after years of searching, finally finding a pair of nude patent pumps that spare enough space for my disproportionate extra-large big toes. Yay christian siriano for payless! (I don't normally shop there but they have some impressively comfortable and cute shoes, if you don't mind man made materials)

* hearing a story about george foreman grills being some peoples' kitchen. Especially for low income and homeless people. Then hearing george foreman talk about about growing up hungry in a family of 7 kids. The happiness in his voice when he heard this news. After retiring from boxing he had a hard time making friends so he'd their bbqs. Hearing people compliment his food felt better than winning a boxing match. (My cooking might not be great yet but not everyone has 3 meals a day.)

* the feeling of hooray when I finished reading Genesis. Back on track to reading the bible in a year, except now it's bible in half a year.

* most importantly, next time I wear this dress to work, or anywhere, wear a slip.

Bella Boo

Flecks of dry, sunburned skin aren't my only souvenirs from a weekend with the dogs-
I finally uploaded the pictures!

3 girls. 4 dogs.

This is Bella.
Alice affectionately calls her "Bella Boo".

She's an older dog with joint and pain issues.
She didn't get to go on the sun(burning)ny hike with us
so we took her for a stroll around the hilly neighborhood.

I think we wore her out.
She quietly laid down in every store we entered,
waiting while we shopped.

Sami girl would be trying to jump into everyone's laps, sniff all the merchandise, sneeze all over things, and make that chirpy, whiny noise when she wants to leave.
I asked Jbear when Sami will settle down and he assures me it comes with age.

Bella almost didn't make it.
She laid down right on the sidewalk to take a break on our trek home.
We were devising a plan on how to carry her back uphill
(she isn't a small dog)
but lucky for us she's a trooper
and made it back without us.

Wafels and Dinges

"All the world is a wafel and all of us are merely dinges."

Before this past weekend, I couldn't recall the last time I had a waffle.

I never thought too much about waffles after my waffle maker was dropped in college.

Then it was one of the bride's few bridal shower requests.
We planned to borrow a waffle maker, but being the paranoid planner that I am,
my risk mitigation plan included purchasing a backup waffle maker... just in case.

Of course, our friend came through, the Belgian waffles were delicious.
My waffle maker was set to go back to the store.

But then
I received a package

of Spekuloos.

A ridiculous name, but a wondrous invention.

 A Belgian boy in my first grade class
had a mother who made the most wonderful windmill cookies.
This spread captures the gingerbread goodness of those times.

A friend in NYC was sweet enough to surprise me with a jar
and raved about it as a topping for waffles. Belgian waffles.

(with whipped cream of course)

A waffle truck in NYC called Wafels and Dinges sells it.

Image Source & Website:

www.wafelsanddinges.com/

History:  

http://www.wafelsanddinges.com/images/history.pdf

Thanks Nicole!

(Yes, I'm keeping the waffle maker!)

FYI: Trader Joes sells a version too.
Speculoos cookie butter.

Scrapbook hustle

The bridal shower I've been planning for 1.5 months is ALMOST here. Strange to think something I've been fixated on for so long is so close.

One of the activities we decided on was a combination of some things I came across in my research- write down blessings for the bride and her future, create a book with pictures of fond moments from the past with the bride and associated favorite memories. It's fun reflecting back, going through old pictures, and seeing how we've changed. I decided my favorite memory was when she dropped her smoothie on the floor and tried to salvage what she could of the smoothie puddle. Scooping up the strawberry goodness with the cup lid. Oh, did I mention we were in a parking lot? I might have fallen on the ground laughing.

Since she's from the east coast she has quite a few school friends and childhood friends that probably can't fly out to attend. This blessing book is a perfect opportunity to incorporate all the special people who couldn't be at the bridal shower. Those people had to email me everything by Wednesday. Yup, I practically assembled an entire scrapbook in one night. That's hustle.

Sneek peek. =)

Kids are mean

[I saw something online about people getting depressed or disappointed about their lives because they see pictures of pretty homes, happy children and read cute stories of picture perfect family lives on other people's blogs.]

Don't be deceived by cute kids on blogs.
Kids can be rather mean.
A reminder from one of my old travel pictures.

These artists were playing some interesting instruments at a tourist park in Taiwan.

After each song they would ask the audience, mostly made up of school children on field trips, if they had any questions. (I think it was implied the questions were to be about the music or instruments.)

The only question they got every time were kids asking if the guy on the right was a girl or a boy.

His fellow musician is totally not helping.

Things that have made me smile this week

 1. Finding my Hello Kitty glasses. They were wedged in the car seat.

They look like this.
Source: Bonanza

2. Barley milk tea from Tea Era.

3. Watching my tulips bloom.

4. Spending time with people I like.

5. Discovering Ten Ren has hot grass jelly with sweet beans and taro (no tapioca, thank you).

6. Discovering a book store next to Ten Ren that sells asian magazines I like.

7. Attempting to read Dr. Seuss in Mandarin.
(Ee tiau yu, liang tiau yu, hong duh yu, lan duh yu. haha.)

8. Helping my friend with her wedding invitations. I am excited (even though I will probably have to learn photoshop at light speed.)

9. Adventures at the library.

Did I mention I recently started volunteering at the library? I help with Special Outreach Services which is a fantastic program that allows patrons who are home-bound for various reasons (illness, pregnancy, caretaker, etc.) to still have access to most of the library. Each person makes a list of material they would like to checkout (baroque classical cds, tom clancy novels, etc.) then a volunteer, like me, picks out recommendations for them and once-a-month a library staff person delivers the material and picks up the previous month's items.

I thought this would be a super simple monthly service project because I only have to go in 2 hours a month and I LOVE telling people what they should read and who they should listen to. Unfortunately, I only tell people what I have already read and listened to before. So this assumes you must be interested in novels that have been made into movies (such as Disney classics), books ranked as top picks by the staff at Powell's Books in Portland, books involving a shopaholic, and memoirs, especially memoirs by comedians and people who go through some life-changing, possibly crazy, fantastical experience or just think differently (augusten burroughs comes to mind). It turns out... the genre preferences of the people I was assigned to and my own don't overlap much. Bumbumbum. I know almost nothing about romance, westerns, thrillers, and science fiction (separate from fantasy). NOTHING! I cheated and looked on Amazon for reviews.

For the most part I used Amazon or just followed the authors they lsited. There was one book for which I deviated off the preferences. I threw in Devil in the White City by Erik Larson book for a person who wanted science fiction books by authors I have never heard of and Agatha Christie mysteries (which I think are a bit boring, although I haven't given her a real chance since middle school). Devil in the White City is categorized as a nonfiction biography because it's the retelling of the real events of a serial killer at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. I remember attempting to read it in college and not getting very far because it spooked me. I didn't get far enough to have nightmares but far enough to appreciate Larson's storytelling skills and recognize the fact that if I read further I might have nightmares.

This was a long intro to get to my happy moment...

There is no communication between the volunteers and people on the receiving end. I don't get to chat with the patron and ask how they liked what I picked or discuss anything. They are mysterious bookworms I must cater to via another mysterious third-party.

Today, I stopped by the library to pick up a hold and noticed my patron had put their own hold on Erik Larson's newest book.

I think they liked it!

Perhaps I will start throwing in more books that I liked even though they aren't quite what was requested. Perhaps next up will be The Professor and the Madman.


(By the way, you should read Ready Player One and listen to Mumford and Sons.)

10,000 Steps!

My old pedometer broke. I got it for free at some event at Fry's that also had 25 cent hot dogs. I should have appreciated the opportunity while it lasted instead of leaving it in my purse stashed away in a drawer all the time, after a few months the display disappeared. Maybe it can still count steps, but I have no way knowing.

Kaiser recommends 10,000 steps per day. They have a program. It's called the 10,000 Steps Program.

I wondered how many steps I took in a day. My chance to find out arrived in the mail a few days ago.

  My new pedometer

I had returned my old first generation ipod in Apple's replacement program (yay for not throwing away useless things, my ipod could only hold a charge for 5 minutes, what a tease) and they actually sent me a new one, the current generation. It's so tiny I thought I'd never use it. But then, I discovered this program that tracks your running distances, times, etc. and how many steps you take while walking. It has a clip so I keep it clipped to my pants and counting all day.

You might think walking, versus activities like p90x or crossfit, wouldn't make a huge difference. But I have great hope in this 10,000 step plan. I think walking might be better than those other fitness plans for  a number of reasons:

Example A: I made it through one session of p90x a few weeks ago and could not walk properly for a week. Not only could I not walk right, I avoided walking and any form of movement because it was all so incredibly painful. Perhaps a continuous low impact activity like walking done all day everyday is better than a high impact activity that puts me out of commission for a week.

Example B: Jared from Subway.

Example C: If you don't believe in the story of Jared, I give you the story of my brother. When he returned from a two-year stint in Taiwan I thought he had starved himself for duration of his trip. If my grandmother were still around, I imagine she would have been quite upset and would sit by him each meal refilling his plate after each bite to make sure he was rehabilitated to his normal figure. I doubt he was ever officially overweight but he was always the chubby smiling kid with big glasses. Now I think he has to wear slim fit or he might look like he's drowning in his clothes (that might be a slight exaggeration). Also in recent years he underwent lasik, so no more glasses, no more cute cheeks. Oh how the times have changed. It turns out he did eat pretty well in Taiwan (how can you not?) but he didn't have a car so he walked... a lot. And since he wasn't working in finance, which means spending 18 hours a day confined to a desk, he went out and played outdoor activities like sports. No diet. No goal. It just happened.

Walking works.

My aim is not to look different or shrink my clothes size, I just want to be healthier overall. Less processed foods, more cooking from whole foods, and more walking. (Also, I am training to see the elephant seals. Maybe I will tell you about that another day.)

Yesterday, I finally walked 10,000 steps for the first time with my new pedometer.

I tend to sit in my chair at work, in front of my computer screen, and only get up for lunch and bathroom breaks. There isn't much walking or moving in my days. Yesterday had quite a few extra factors that helped me get in more steps. 1. A new Target opened near work so I went during lunch and did a few rounds around the store. 2. I intentionally took breaks to get up and walk around the building. 3. I went to a sporting event (to watch, of course). We had to walk all the way around the coliseum to get the basketball arena from the BART station. 4. Our seats were high up in the stands so all the going up and down the stairs to get snacks and bio breaks were a little something extra. Unfortunately, I ended up incredibly hungry after the game and ate my lunch for the next day. I blame the funny-smelling people sitting in the row in front. Oh well, I got in more than 10,000 steps!

Just having a pedometer on you is like playing a game or being in a competition and having a real-time point tally. It really changes your perspective on things. No parking spots near the store? Great! Extra steps entering and exiting- that's a double bonus! Need to climb lots of stairs? That's a lot of steps in a condensed space, you get extra steps in less amount of time. It's like a challenge round, you should race against the timer and double time them. The items you want in the store are all located in different sections? Instead of figuring out the shortest path, figure out the longest path and speed walk. Carrying the items around are like having special items like mushrooms, stars or banana peels in mariokart.

Pedometers are great! And if you think they are not cool... I think mine can plays music too.

6+

[whoops a week or two ago]

I attended a concert in the city last week. It was a small space with a stage, some standing area and a bar in the back.

The ticket said 6+. There actually were kids there that might have been 6 years old. Lil B is not 6 and a BIG half. He could have been there. One of the opening acts sang to a pop beat that could have been a Disney channel song, except her lyrics included words that are not allowed on the radio. She also gave the bird to the audience at one point. This disturbed me. It's like those chocolates wrapped with shiny foil but contain "for adults only" alcohol in the middle. You don't really know what you're getting into until you're there.

Realizing I was standing in the back of the room among all the chaperons was also disturbing. My friend B mentioned we are old enough now to talk about the good old days in reference to a bar that no longer exists.  I still feel young, but I old enough for those things to be true.

On Sunday, we attended a birthday party for one of Lil B's friends. I asked him if he could read the birthday card he was signing. And he did. He can read now. Not just things like "cat" and "hat" but words like "special". When I ask him to write something now, he does. Because now he can.

He is getting older. And so am I.
I'm not sure I like this arrangement.
This also makes me sound old.

 ----------

On the lines of words prohibited on daytime radio, I just heard this song recently and can't stop listening. Despite the repeated curse word they didn't require a parental notice on their album or anything. Maybe their accents through off the bad words detector.

Mumford and Sons - Little Lion Man

lesson learned

{Alicia Keys - Lesson Learned}

I think I always kind of knew this would be our song.
AK has such good breakup songs.

Farewell 2011

What a roller coaster year.

2012 started with fireworks and lots of surprises. Part of me doesn't want to move on, a tiny part of me wanted change awhile ago, but most of me sits in peace without plans, doe-eyed fairy tale endings of yesteryear grudgingly abandoned, in silent anticipation of what tomorrow may bring.

There was also an 80s party that no one else dressed up for and ended 20 minutes after we arrived. Oh well. Now I have a unicorn tshirt.

{greetings 2012}

The New To-Do

I like making lists. But I get bored with the medium. Sometimes its scratch paper and sharpie, sometimes its the memo app on my phone, google's task list was no good, and when I'm at home I carry around a small whiteboard with a thin-tip marker that sticks to the board via a magnet and has an eraser on the cap (I love the efficiency and thoughtfulness of Japanese products).

Apparently I have an affinity for markers. (Sharpies are by far my favorite.)

I also like post-its but I won't allow myself to buy new colorful, fun-shaped ones until I finish my packs of boring yellow ones I got for free from Staples.

This American Life featured post-it note illustrations with Starlee's story during a live episode (the ones in the movie theatres). SHARPIE + POST-ITS?!? Way to blow my mind. He combined two of my favorite things (I know I'm simple. Now if only white cheddar popcorn was involved...) He has a book out now. It's pretty amazing. Those illustrations. Check it out.

I am not nearly so gifted but I was inspired. Now I carry around a pad of post-its with simple doodles of my daily to-do's. It's like a picture book of my daily life. What do I need to do today? Schedule a dentist appointment? Oh boy!  Boring tasks I never get around to doing are much more inviting in the doodle world.

[Note: Last night I drove through Narnia to pick up my housemate. Thank you post-it reminder.
No thanks to you SFO- could you make your cell phone lot any harder to find? After 3 circles I ended up back in Millbrae to use the restroom. Dependable Millbrae. I am thankful for you and the gas station across the street from BART. Not the first time you saved the day!]

I hate doing nothing

I had my first bout of food poisoning two years ago. A dreadful experience I wouldn't wish on anyone. Your body attempts to purge every ounce of liquid through any means necessary. Two nights ago around around 1 am I had my second bout. Boy was I frustrated. I was tired, was planning on getting to work early because I finally scheduled an optometry appointment, and wanted to sleep but had to rush to the bathroom every 10 minutes. I ended up sleeping downstairs on the couch because I think I was waking my housemate. This lasted around 9 hours.

Everytime I was in the restroom I had the new Karmin song stuck in my head. Who do you think you are a super s-t-a-r? Maybe it was my immune system trying to crash my party.

I was so weak in the morning it took me 3 hours to finally make it back upstairs to my room to sleep in my bed. I looked like a baby who hasn't developed enough strength or coordination to walk. I would look longingly at the stairs, roll over on my blanket with my head stuck to the ground and stay there for 10 minutes before I attempted my next move. Babies have it tough.

I stayed in bed all day. Feasted on gatorade and saltines whenever I had the energy. Secretly hoped my body would use this opportunity to go into starvation mode and I'd wake up with a flat tummy. Nope. Still squishy.

My back was aching all morning. No matter which way I turned or positioned myself I couldn't sleep. I called the 24 hour nurse hotline at my local hospital (they're really nice!) and she said I probably strained it while I was busy puking my guts out. Figures. She suggested an ice pack and a painkiller. I've never been so appreciative of ibuprofen before.

So now I'm stuck at home another day. Too weak and sore to do anything useful. Still restless. One of these days I will learn to relax and just enjoy doing nothing.

Complete

I am so close to done I can smell the way a new issue smells fresh from the press.
A crisp binding. Pages cling to each other as I pull them apart from their touch.

But every time I say it's my last draft, I take a peek at the display and I am NOT happy.
There is something. There is always SOMETHING that can be tweaked. Something that I know would catch my eye everytime I caught a glimpse of it because I know it's there. Perhaps it's better to be ignorant of the imperfections? But what would that say about workmanship?

Flawless. That is my goal.
My brain demands it but my body protests.

Yesterday, I gave in to a 10 minute nap. Unfortunately, I awoke 11 hours later no closer to that goal. And still longing for a few more snoozes.
 
Alas, it is time to throw in my cards and fold. I musn't forget there is a tomorrow. For now, there is only the hope for perfection and the moment I declare it is finished.

Be silenced

In a time when rant and rave across the internet the moment a thought pops into their head, I'm not sure the rush of dopamine of saying your mind or the possibility of being heard is worth the possibility of regret post-emotional high. You don't need to look to far to find a politician or celebrity who wished they bit their tongue on twitter because news reporters were having a slow day and decided to blow up a 100 character rant into a headline or try to instigate a feud. Hello drama.

I was watching this the other day.

Not the best movie, but some pretty good one-liners ("A toast to people who toast!").

One thing I liked was on the day Paul Rudd and Reese Witherspoon lost their jobs and ended up on a blind date together, and normally would have probably spent the entire date complaining and releasing their frustration to a complete stranger (in the above case, the stranger would be the entire internet), they instead decided to eat in silence. Be calm. Enjoy company. I know it's a movie.... but post-dinner he had a spring in his step instead of his head in his hands. Best conversation he didn't have had all week.

Is your head about to explode?

I'm totally feeling you right now. 
I haven't posted in a few days, my mind has been elsewhere.
And I'm trying something.

Holding my tongue and just trying to enjoy the moment.

Black | White

BLACK

1.

I'm rarely on my computer when I'm at home.

But it's tax time and I have research to do.

Pandora is on the background and JayZ's Black Album keeps coming up.

It's been out awhile but I'm still feeling it.

I love it when hip hop songs use string instruments in the beat.

[Terror Squad's Lean Back anyone?]

When people journey outside the norms of their genre.

2.

I am staring at a gift bag from Black as Chocolate.

I would love some chocolate cake about now.

A Border's near me is closing.
I was looking for a children's bible but wandered into the cooking section.

I was good and didn't buy anything. 

But my Amazon wishlist is now a lot longer.
I am especially craving this.

 WHITE

1.

I talked to an old college friend on the phone today.

[I'm pretty awful at keeping in touch if you haven't noticed.]

I never just "talk" on the phone anymore!

But her internet is out and she doesn't mind
me half talking half chowing down on dinner (into the phone).

Marks of a good friend.

She said it was refreshing 

to talk to old friends 

who weren't obsessed with marriage.

Yup.

The sun is high.
People are pulling on their White dresses, exchanging vows and saying "I Do".

2.

Gilt is running a wedding shop right now.

Complete with gowns, bridesmaid dresses (with color schemes like Pink/Red, Blue/Green, Ivory/Black), jewelry, beauty essentials, wedding favors, wedding experiences, honeymoon destinations, oh and stuff for the groom too.

 Valentino Pleated Tulle Dress. Gilt.

Isn't the point of wedding to publicly announce the union of Mr. & Mrs.?
Are all the experiences and trinkets and scheming necessary?

3.

I recently read a book with lots of short blurbs on the history on weddings.

I forgot the blurbs but I was utterly in love with the book.

You know sometimes you have a feeling you can't quite put your finger on?

Something there you can't quite name. You can't seem to conjure up the appropriate words.

But then through some magical chance of serendipity someone else captures the feeling with words you could never piece together?

You can find them here.

 

My favorite place

This weekend I get to go to my 2nd favorite place...twice.

The museum!

I love museums! Any museum. Err MOST museums (not that one hole in the wall that I stumbled into because it said museum on the sign but actually contained disturbing pieces art... think halloween, tim burton and voodoo dolls but not kid friendly).

After years of passing by the purple building with the giant yellow ducky on top and telling my mom "I want to go theeeeeeeere!", I am FINALLY going to the children's discovery museum. Did I mention I LOVE museums? I volunteered at a science museum geared towards kids when I was in high school. I love how hands-on everything was. You can touch and mess with anything. And it's actually encouraged. It's fun to see how entertained children can be by the simplest things. (Tip: If you have a group of rowdy kids, turn on a bubble machine. It's like magic!) I also love seeing the adults letting their inner-easily-mesmerized child out too.

So the plan is a touchy, go-crazy museum on Saturday. And an adult no-touching museum on Sunday. The De Young opened their Balenciaga exhibit last weekend. I'm a girl. Therefore, I too enjoy ogling over beautiful fashion that is way out of my price range.

I know it hasn't happened yet. I shouldn't get my hopes up too high. But I have twinkle toes right now and can't really wait.

My favorite place? Just FYI...

The Library 

(The one with lots of books. Not the bar conveniently named "The Library" so when your roommate's parents call and ask where Sue is you can say "Oh, she's going to be at the library until late tonight" and they say "Oh that's good I won't disturb her then." Every college town seems to have one.)

Did you know the New York Library (the one with lions in front, I loved this planner) is hosting an overnight scavenger hunt for 500 people? You hunt for objects like the copy of the Declaration of Independence written in Thomas Jefferson's hand, or Charles Dickens' letter opener and are prompted to write a love letter. Going to that would be like Willy Wonka's factory and winning a golden ticket. Kind of geeking out. It's May 20. You can follow participants online too.
http://game.nypl.org/

Lunch is evil

Half the day is home and I have yet to completely check off anything on my growing to-do list. Maybe I should put in more things that are pure givens as motivation for the important items.

Maybe I didn't get a flu shot or send out my project or get quotes BUT I DID eat a cookie, check email, finish my project (where is that flash drive?), wrestle with the urge to go to starbucks, and get a big hug. One of those let's just forget about that silly to-do list right now kind of hug. Too bad lunch doesn't last all day. It's like the teaser samples at costco before you realize the delicious morsel belongs to a cheesecake with 198463289052 calories per serving and costs more than you can afford. Sometimes you wish you hadn't tasted it because now it's all you're craving.

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Sweet life

Scenes from yesterday:
Are you going out somewhere nice tonight?
No, I have a test.

Are those flowers from your boyfriend?
No, I bought them for you (awesome roommates).

Did you get flowers?
No, I got a cool picture of a zebra.

Do you like zebras?
Not particularly, but they have cool eyelashes.

I think the only places you'd notice a difference on vday is at the store. There are lots of heart balloons and swarms of males vulture circling the floral department swooping whatever the florist puts out.

I got caught up at work, lost track of time, ended up shopping with my roommate, giving jbear his gift, got a stomach ache and burping alot (just being thorough). I decided to accept the fact I am not one of those people that can have a full-time job, 17 hours of class a week, sound mind and happy relationships. Something had to give. I traded in 9 hours of class for a piece of my sanity back and a non-grumpy demeanor. Too bad it is past the drop date. But what a lovely, stress-free night with people I love.

Oh! Franz brought back a box of goodies from Whole Foods. I LOVE whole foods desserts. I claimd a chocolate cheesecake. We talked a lot about starting food blogs. I never got around to starting mine and who knows when I'll have time to play in the kitchen again. I can't wait for him to start his foodie blog.

And on Sunday I got to see my friend from Japan. I met her in gospel choir. Jbear was sweet enough to put aside some study time to drive me to the city to pick her and her husband up. We took them to the nike outlet, zachary's pizza (her favorite!), ici (I wish I could have a cone with all their flavors), and convinced them to come back next year. Heroes for a night. =)

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