Monday, August 31, 2009

Sweet Somethings, Indeed


Why have I not visited every single cupcake shop in this county?? I've not even visited one. Not one! For a sweets lover and dedicated baker, it's downright blasphemy that I've not even attempted to sample the little cupfuls of cake and frosting at these shops.

I'm telling you this - ok, whining about this - because I'm making it my next mission. And I'm telling you so that you'll hold me to it. What good is a sweets-loving, forever-baking blog friend if she doesn't even sample the local wares? None. A big fat zero.

But also - if you've been to these shops, you get to give me your review and tell me which cupcakes to eat and which aren't worth the calories.

First stop: Cupcakes Squared
I guess their schtick is square-bottomed cupcakes. Hey, anything to add more frosting to the story is fantastic by me. And they offer mini versions, so I've got free reign to sample every stinking flavor. Hurrahhhh!!

Second stop: Heavenly Cupcake
These guys also only offer certain flavors on certain days, darnit. And it doesn't look like they do mini versions either. Grrrr.. But then, it's cupcakes - I'm not truly complaining.

I'm definitely going to post photos of what I end up sampling. And if you're lucky, Bo will snap some shots of me in my sugar-induced delirium. I'm fully aware that those will be the only entertaining ones :)

p.s. Happy 5th blog birthday to Sidenote!!

Friday, August 28, 2009

Pencil Me In

November 27. That's the day something fancy will happen to me.

Last night, the Fortune Gods were telling me special messages again:
Course, last time they told me something exciting and specific and fabulous, they lied. Or maybe I somehow didn't properly obey? Regardless, I'm putting this one in my calendar. Put me in your calendar for that day; we're going to celebrate!


Thursday, August 27, 2009

Boastful Me

I'm not normally one to brag. It's partly because I don't like attention focused on me and partly because sometimes things are just so sparkly wonderful that keeping them to myself is like having the bestest secret stuffed deep down inside. I walk around with a sly smile and glint in my eyes and nobody can take that away from me by commenting or discussing or disecting my sparkly.

But today. Today, is different. I'm exhausted and feeling like I'm losing the battle of fitting in at work. And the result is that I'm easily frustrated and emotional and insecure. So, as I was trying to load things into my car this morning, frustrated over dog hair in the shipping tape, running late, stomach growling, I received an email from Bo. I opened the message while I was still sitting in my driveway and then burst out laughing and then nearly started crying.

Sometimes, I just have to brag a little. This man is a piece of heaven, and I'm the one glowing.

The email attachment:

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Spit Shine

This post may very well solidify my place in the Dagnabit, I'm Old club. Time to start counting down the days until I can collect all that Social Security money that is regularly swiped from my paychecks.

But when I find items that make my life easier, I can't help but gush a little about them. I mean, I do it for you, yes, YOUUU. Ok, I'm kidding no one, but I needed a reason to rant and rave, and the pretense of sharing was just so easy.

First up: Mr. Clean Magic Erasers.Reason for my undying love: No, these aren't just for walls. I've used them on EVERYTHING, from base boards to sneakers to kitchen cabinets to bathtubs to refrigerators to floors, you name it. It's usually when I'm doing frantic move-out cleaning that I renew my obsession with them. I tiredly toss out my paper towels and bottles of cleaners and use the Magic Erasers on every surface in sight. They honestly work a hundred times better and faster. Love, love, love, love. Love.


If I could only choose one cleaning spray, it'd be this one: Advanage Wonder Cleaner in AppleReason for my undying love: Yeah, I got suckered into buying this from a door-to-door girl last year. But, I keep a spray bottle of this stuff in my kitchen, and it's natural so I use it on stinking everything. It's also safe around pets and plants and doesn't dry out my hardwood dining table. (Oh, and I recently discovered that it kills ants on contact. Ha!) I've had the one bottle of concentrate for over a year, so the sales girl wasn't lying. I've yet to test it out on car tires or the garage floor, but those are "boy jobs" so you'll have to ask Bo if it's useful there or not.


But I super love these next: Lysol 4-in-1 Cleaner with Bleach.

Reason for my undying love: Key words: "with Bleach." I'm one of the few people in this county who hates tile shower surrounds. I have zero idea why they're so wildly popular, but they're an absolute pain in the arse to clean. I don't care what you tell me about fancy grout or cleaners; tile shower surrounds never look clean after a few years of use. I first fell in love with this cleaner when a friend told me to try it on the tile surround I incessantly whined about. Lo and behold, this stuff eats mildew and grout dirt for lunch, and quickly at that. Now that I'm happily living in a tile-less world, I use this stuff in sinks and toilets. Spray it on, leave for 10 minutes, and zero scrubbing required. Toilet bowl cleaners are some of the most disgusting tools ever, so if I can skip using them, I'm all aflutter. Nothing but gleaming and white without my having to touch a thing. Ahhhh...


What's in it for me for all this product endorsement? Zero. Unless one of you knows someone who knows someone who'll send me cases of the stuff. I'm willing to yell it from the mountain tops, you can quote me on that.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Skeddy Crocker

This is pretty much what I look like every Monday night. Mondays are the days I fill Sarandipity Sweets orders, and then I ship them out Tuesday mornings.

Ain't that apron just cayute?! It totally matches my Flyleaf tshirt :)

Monday, August 24, 2009

Gimme Some Sugar

I thought I'd be all super duper trendy and fancy and whip up a Smitten Kitchen recipe for you. Reading that blog when you're hungry is akin to the worst kind of torture imaginable. They post the most amazing sounding recipes and photos that truly do make me drool. So, I was clicking through that site the other day, overwhelmed by hunger (my lowfat popcorn may as well have been a bag of dirt by comparison), and falling head over heels in love with photos of food.

Chimly convinced me to first try out the recipe for Peach Cupakes With Brown Sugar Frosting. Ok, so there was actually very little convincing going on. I didn't stand a chance against those photos of little cups of cake and frosting heaven.

And guess what?! Once again, I was dazzled by photos of pretty, then saddened with actual reality. While this recipe did, indeed, turn out pretty, ultimately I was not impressed. The bites of peach in the cupcakes were barely even discernable when you put the overpowering, knock-you-on-your-butt brown sugar frosting on top. All you could taste was Brown Sugar Whoa Brown Sugar. And for that amount of brown sugar power, I would way rather have drizzled my scrumptious caramel sauce over the top. So, next time I'm in the mood for peach muffins, I'll either find a new recipe or I'll puree some of the peaches in order to add more peach flavor to the cake. Oh well, live and learn.

Enjoy my photos of fail!!

The mini bundt cake version, with the frosting warmed and poured over.


To its credit, the cake was actually moist and pretty.


Then I built a layer cake version of the recipe.


And cut a pretty slice to share.


But that fork is seeming mildly out of proportion to the cake slice.


And here is where I mention my obsession with miniature baked goods. Yes, as if the Cupcake Pops weren't enough, I own mini bundt pans, mini springform pans, and mini muffin pans. Oh, and that "plate" the cake slice is served in? It's a sushi sauce bowl. I rule.


So yeah, after all that, this recipe would really be best just as plain old muffins. No fancy frosting, no fancy shapes. (Like my sports-themed muffin papers?? Bo wasn't nearly so impressed as I thought he would be.)

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Half Birthday Loot


I got this care package in the mail this week from Sidenote. Um WOW. Lots of cheering and squealing quickly ensued. Even Rory got in on the spastic fun; she's never one to just observe when there's an excuse to do rodeo circle jumps and make weird snot noises.

See, a few weeks back, I was whining about not having a classic, destructed denim jacket to throw over everything when it gets chilly. I could certainly go buy one, but Sidenote was raving about being able to find one at a thrift store for Super Cheap. Our thrift stores in SD are the exact opposite of Super Cheap, and they're picked over before I even think about stepping inside. So, she went on a mission to find me one, and she did. For $4.50. Super Cheap, indeed.

And while I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of my thrifted denim jacket, I had no idea that Sidenote would stuff the box with a gajillion other things! She also included a sweet rose necklace, a fabulous gray dip-died blouse, a vintage apron with a snazzy attached towel, a black tank for layering, and a to-die-for blue-gray sweater with ribbon embellishment down the front. Oh. Dear. Heavens. It was all just too much for my excitable little heart to handle.

And today is my Half Birthday, so it was utterly perfect timing ♥

But, it got me to thinking - how fun would it be to go through your closet, find things you don't wear but would look fabulous on one of your friends, and then mail them as a surprise? I'm thinking that I need to copycat Sidenote's idea and spread the luuuvvvv. Anyone have first dibs on anything in my closet?

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Immi Love


Behold Imogen Heap. I'm such a fangirl that I've seen her in concert twice. Twice! And for the second one, I brought my special edition autographed cd for her to sign AGAIN. And Mporch and I got her to take this photo with us. The funny thing is that she stooped down to our height for this photo, lol.

I've been eagerly awaiting her new album that's set to release next Tuesday. I've already preordered it on Amazon, but then...Then! Then Immi posted a link on Twitter for the streaming version of the entire album! Ohmygosh, I was nearly gasping with excitement as my browser took an inconsiderately long 2 seconds to load.

Scoff as you might that I follow Imogen Heap on Twitter, but she's been posting the entire process of writing, recording, and releasing an album, and it's fascinating. I've been allowed a glimpse into the world of someone gifted musically and creatively, and it allows me to see that even she can struggle with inspiration and perfectionism. This article gives a fantastic look at how Imogen Heap is changing the shape of music production and marketing.

So, enjoy her album preview. And then go buy it! :)





For those who can't see the embedded player above, here's the direct link: http://www.imogenheap.com/ellipse/

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The Half


Well, it's done. I ran that half marathon on Sunday. In summary? It was 13.1 miles of misery. Ok, maybe the first couple of miles weren't too bad, but I'm so bummed!

For those of you haven't done a large race like this, I've done a blow-by-blow of the race, albeit in mini form. Usually, I write a lot more in my race recaps, but I didn't want to torture you with paragraph upon paragraph of whining about how I felt. Consider yourself (mostly) spared ;)

Hands down, my favorite race distance is the half. It's long enough to be a big challenge and to require some legit training. But it doesn't consume your life the way a full marathon does. I love this distance. So my train wreck of a race yesterday only has me determined to "redeem" myself with a half sometime very soon.

Like the 2 months of training prior, I did this race solo. But it felt good, like a personal challenge. A battle I was fighting to get in shape and to be mentally strong enough to go at it without having to lean on a friend when the race got hard. So, because I wasn't talking (a whole 2+ hours without talking, gasp!), I did a lot of observing.

The race shuttle buses dropped me off at the start an hour before the race start, and it was still dark. It felt calming to be standing out there on the point overlooking the city, in the hushed silence of predawn. And then a girl got stuck in a porta-potty. Ha! I'm not laughing at her, just the hilarity of that breaking my daze and snapping me back to reality. I was standing in the long bathroom lines while I watched 3 people try to bend the latch far enough to allow her to open the door and escape. Once she finally emerged, we clapped for her, and her rescuers bent the latch until it snapped, in order to avoid a repeat incident. The park patrol lady saw them and was very unhappy, and said something to them, and then walked away with a dirty horrible look on her face. Sorry, lady! But the poor girl was stuck in a disgusting porta-potty!! What're you gonna do?

The race started and I quickly fell into a relaxed rhythym in the middle of the road. And I felt good. And then I realized at mile 2 that I needed to pee again. Again?! What's with that?! I so didn't want to stop, so I skipped the first set of on-course bathrooms, hoping that it was just nerves and jitters. I continued noticing all the people around me and listened to their nervous chatter. I heard funny stories and also heard stories between longtime friends. I saw girls in running skirts and then also saw their hineys when their skirts bounced up (mental note: tell Marnie!!).

The course meanders through quiet neighborhoods at miles 2 and 3. All I could hear under the cover of old trees was our footfalls, and it made me wonder what it sounded like to the people inside those houses. Do we sound like freeway traffic? Do we sound like a rushing river? I think it subconsciously had an effect on all the runners because conversations quieted, and you could only hear the sound of a thousand feet touching the ground.

The quiet ended as we started our long descent around mile 3. I love long hills (up or down, I'll take either), and I think the sudden downhill created a stir in the running pack. People started talking and laughing again, and even hooted out loud whistles when a guy ran by dressed like this:
(Runners love to dress up in wacky costumes for races. Search Google Images for "running costume" and you'll find some pics.)

It was right around mile 3.5 that I realized all was not well in my belly. I decided to finally pee so I stopped at the toilets there. But as I continued on the course, I couldn't shake the nauseated feeling that had crept up. And my stomach started cramping up after another mile. It was just so strange, and I kept wondering if I had inadvertently eaten something bad for dinner the night before. It's not at all like me to feel that way while running. But it wasn't enough to make me really question it at that point, so I kept on going.

I ended up jumping off the course a second time at mile 5.5 to go to the bathroom yet again. This time it was a real flushing bathroom, but minus any doors. (Don't ask me why there are San Diego parks with doorless bathroom stalls. It's just yucky.) I didn't feel any better after the bathroom stop, but I jumped back into the race to try and psych myself up for the remaining 8 miles. I spotted one of my alumni friends around mile 5, where he snapped this picture of me:
Seeing friends on the course is an awesome distraction when you're feeling less than great. It snaps you back to reality and helps you focus on something positive and happy, which is truly worth piles of gold.

I continued running, but started feeling so bad that I had to actually talk myself into not walking until I hit the mile 8 marker. Unbelievable! And I did, indeed, walk at mile 8. And then I ran. And then I walked. And then I ran. I began trying to convince myself to do a run/walk pattern just to cover the remaining miles. Every time I started running again, the stomach pain and nausea would flash back within 5 seconds. I briefly thought about leaving the race, even though I've never ever considered not finishing. But then I decided (in my infinite mid-race misery-affected wisdom) that it would actually take me longer to have the race crew get me back to Brian at the finish than to just trudge through the final 4 miles. I'm brilliant, yes I am. So I ran. And walked.

At mile 10, I started running about 15 seconds before this photo was taken. But check out the boat riggings in the background!

The waterstop at mile 10 featured giant water sprayers and people shooting water up into the air. It felt like an oasis in the middle of all that concrete and stagnant muggy air, so I ran through it and got totally drenched. Woohooo!! And then, I smelled the cheeseburgers. Evidently, that water stop crew offers up cheeseburger wedges every year as part of their shtick. I nearly puked when that smell wafted up!

I had another puking near-miss around mile 11 when I ended up running next to a guy who kept choking and coughing on his snot. Yes. Mucous. And it was audible. Audible mucous. It was the one time that I decided walking was a fantastic race strategy, and I happily let him jog ahead, out of ear shot. Ahhhh..And then somehow, I caught him again a half mile later. No! Two seconds after I was pleased to notice the disappearance of snot sounds, I heard him emit a loud, "EHHH" with every other step. You know that sound - the sound you hear in the gym when some guys are lifting, a loud grunt. Yeah. So I hugged the inside of the road and let him disappear behind me as I tackled the hill.

It made me incredibly sad to have run-walked that hill. I've run it a thousand times, and because of that I've got a mental edge on it. I was happy to notice that as soon as I started running, I passed a lot of people, but then as soon as I walked, they in turn passed me. I skipped the water stop in favor of the carb drink offered and discovered by way of nearly puking that it was banana flavored. Disgusting! The first carb stop had something mildly berry, and the second one was something citrusy. Someone needs to slap the drink sponsors for putting something so disgusting in the middle of the worst hill at the very last water stop!!! And I'll volunteer to be first in the line of slappers. Sign me up.

I managed to get myself up the hill and continued my run-walk strategy across the bridge into Balboa Park. I managed to run the last half mile because I couldn't bear to be walking with all those crowds yelling and clapping. And thankfully, the last quarter mile is downhill and a blur, mentally, so I managed to forget about the pukey feelings and kick it in to sprint through the last of the race. I crossed the finish line with the most enormous feeling of relief. Finally, I could legimately stop running. I mindlessly followed the other runners through an alley between two industrial buildings. And honestly, it felt like we were in a cattle shoot, with no way to escape the railings and concrete, our only option to move forward. (Evidently, I'm still wildly imaginative after 13 miles of nausea. Good to know.) I stepped out into the grassy area and saw my friend Dur. He had such a fantastic race, and when he hugged me, we nearly toppled over. In case you were wondering, tired running legs don't make for a good structure when hugging on a slopey patch of grass. After we finally regained our balance, I spotted Brian not 10 feet away, searching the crowds for my face. There were 8,500 runners and nearly as many spectators, so it can be mayhem at finish lines. We'll have to come up with a game plan if I ever decide to do a marathon, the poor guy.

At the entrance to Balboa Park. I only included this for the pretty background.

We left there without hanging around to mingle much and headed to breakfast. My stomach couldn't handle much more than an egg, so we drove home. I showered, brushed my teeth, and crawled onto the couch. After I slept for 2 hours, I woke up normal again (hurrahhhhh!!!) and completely famished. Thank goodness my stomach was back to being nice to me. After that, I porked out the rest of the day to try and take advantage of the 1400 calories I had burned that morning.

While this experience was definitely my worst on a race course, it's only motivated me to find another race to tackle soon. I want to wipe this experience from my memory and replace it with one that's infinitely better. Because I know that I can. Because I know that I will. Because I know that it will rock.


Monday, August 17, 2009

Animal Cruelty

I'm still working on getting my race recap put together, so in the mean time, amuse yourself with pictures of Rory! Your favorite space cadet Rottweiler!!

This is a sweet potato nubbin leftover from my dinner tonight. Ain't she the best sport ever?


Seriously, this never ever gets old. I laugh hysterically, and then Bo ends up having to take the photo because I'm doubled over, unable to hold the camera still enough to function.


Doesn't she totally look like a rhinoceros? A Ror-oceros, I say :)


Oooone day, I'll work on making her poses more creative than the ones I'm always snapping pictures of. Ideas?

Friday, August 14, 2009

Time Sink and a Half


What's been eating my time for the past couple of months? That, up there, is the culprit. Those are 4 packages of 30 stickless Cupcake Pops. They're going to be displayed like chocolates in boxes like that white one there, with little white paper cups for each cupcake. Super cute huh? I'm calling them Cupcake Chocolates. They look like this when all put together:



Anyway, my typical Sarandipity order is around 20-30 pops. Over the past two weeks, I've had orders just like this one for 110-120 little cupcakes. Don't get me wrong - I freaking LOVE that I've got orders going out, but aaaaaaAAAAAaaaaAAAAA!!! They take a whole lot of time, kids. But, ok, I've got my whining out of the way and feel better. Where were we..Oh yeah, so this order is going to NY to a club promoter guy. Mehopes that it could really help get my name out. I've got a real website up, but all it does is show you my logo and then redirect you to my Etsy shop. Functional, but not the end-all-be-all. Patience, Sara, patience. Breathe.

Oh, so here's the box I shipped them all in. An enormous box just for 4 packages, but it also contained 6 of those white boxes, a crapload of bubble wrap, and 1" styrofoam lining. These summer months always freak me out when it comes to shipping. I'll breathe a huge sigh of relief when fall's cooler temperatures hit.



Now that the shipment is en route, I can focus on that half marathon I'm doing on Sunday. Which I feel the opposite of ready for. Again, with the aaaAAAaaaaAAA. I have actually put in my time training for the darned thing, and I did get in a 12 miler and a couple of 10 milers, but still. I'm pooped and feeling swamped, and running in the muggy heat isn't my dream to-do at this point. Oh well. It does, however, mean that I can scarf non-diet food on Sunday and not feel one ounce of guilt. For that, bring on the WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Nothingness


I'm staring at this text box, a vast and white empty space. I truly want to write something to share, to potentially amuse or maybe just maybe even enlighten. But because I'm 80% of my way through getting an order* shipped - after only 4 hours of sleep, mind you - I'm completely and utterly distracted. You could totally mess with me right now, because stress and lack of sleep have made me ridiculously gullible. Feel free to crack jokes that I totally won't get and will mull over for 3 hours until the punchline finally makes sense. Woo!

It doesn't help that my Sayray ring lost a stone this morning. I'm pretty sure it happened while I was frantically putting air in my tires (and completely eliminating any time to grab something for breakfast). I super adore that ring, so it makes me sad that it needs repair.

Random: The title for this post made the movie Labyrinth pop into my head, so you get a movie clip to reward your efforts for making it through this entire blah-fest of a post. Anyone else still know every single lyric to this song? Just me and my sister? Oh.



* If I can swing getting pictures taken before I tape up the box, I'll share them here tomorrow. You may as well at least get to see what's making me incapable of writing anything other than boring boringness.

** Image courtesy of Google Images.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Knock, Knock?



Anybody home?

It's been ages since I last posted anything. And after all this time, I still have nothing interesting to say. I'm just a treat, aren't I?

After last week's string of productive days packed with running and writing, this week has yielded big fat zeros in both categories. And, yeah, it's to blame on the typical reasons: I'm tired, doing too much, filling a big (and last-minute) Sarandipity order, etc etc. And the non-stop probably won't end until after my race on Sunday morning. Maybe then I'll be able to sit on my butt and recover? I'm seriously hoping so.

Til then, anybody want to give me a blog topic to write about? I can't seem to focus long enough to muster up inspiration, so if you need some amusement, shoot me a topic :)

Friday, August 7, 2009

Words Words Words Words

Well, now that Sonia Sotomayor has got the nomination, I'm hoping that I won't have her name on a constant repeat in my mind. I'm sure that she's a nice lady and all, but hearing her name repeated in my head every 1.4 seconds was really starting to get annoying. As I'm sure you've noticed by (my incessant whining by) now, I get words and phrases stuck in my head constantly. I'd venture a guess that it happens on a daily basis (and nightly, during my dreams), but I try not to think about it much. The more I focus on the "stuck" words, the more they get stuck. If I ignore them, they go away more quickly. I can also chase them away by listening to music loudly or to something on tv.

It turns out - as one would expect - that I'm not alone. A quick google search gave me a message board full of people describing similar afflictions. The following blurb hits it exactly and precisely and completely on the head for me.

    JayShaw on WrongPlanet.net describes it like this:
    I also exhibit the behavior you are describing from time to time. The behavior typically manifests itself whenever I am exposed to an unfamiliar word or phrase that I find to be qualitatively appealing. When this happens, I am apt to frequently refer to the word or phrase subconsciously, apply it often to situations around me, and quickly grant it a disproportionately active role in my vocabulary. As time passes, the word or phrase will remain an active part of my vocabulary, but its usage will revert to an ordinary level.

Evidently, this affliction is often referred to as "Perseveration." Never heard of that word? Yeah, me neither. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:

    Perseveration is the uncontrollable repetition of a particular response, such as a word, phrase, or gesture, despite the absence or cessation of a stimulus, usually caused by brain injury or other organic disorder. If an issue has been fully explored and discussed to a point of resolution it is not uncommon for something to trigger the re-investigation of the matter. This can happen at any time during a conversation. This is particularly true with those who have had traumatic brain injuries. Those with Asperger syndrome may display a form of perseveration in that they focus on one or a number of narrow interests. This phenomenon can also occur in people with schizophrenia.

Oh, how lovely. So I'm narrowed down to brain injury, schizophrenia, or Asperger's. At least Asperger's has become trendy these days:

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Potpourri No. 3

  • If you squint super hard, you'll see that my fortune from last night's dinner says this: "Play lottery today. Lady luck is upon you." So, I did. One must always obey the fortune cookie gods. I drove myself to the nearest 7-11 and moseyed up to the counter. I glanced at a lottery sign for the right words and then asked the guy for a "Super Lotto Plus" ticket. Come this Saturday night at 8pm, you can start telling people that you know a real live millionaire. And she's just the nicest and hasn't let the money affect her in any way, and she still bakes cookies for everyone, and smiles a lot, and buys groceries with coupons. Sidenote and I will have to get started with the planning of elaborate vacations now that we'll be joining the Stinking Wealthy Club simultaneously.
  • Speaking of Ms. Sidenote, we just ordered the same shoes. I'm not one to enjoy having people wearing the exact same things as me, but 1) She lives allll the way up in that corner of the Midwest, so no one will know that we're en route to being outfit twins, and 2) She's got such fantabulous taste in clothing, that I don't even care if we are twinsies. I swiped that picture above from the Anthropologie website (dreamy sighs), but ours are actually the shoes in the picture below. (Photo courtesy of my crappy phone camera.) They are DEE-vine. I truly blurted out "ahhhh" when I put them on, and they're 4" wedge heels. Yes, comfortable 4" heels do exist. Life is grand. Just so, so grand.
  • Andddd, speaking of 7-11, I made a quick stop there this morning to grab coffee on my way to work. Let me just say that the coffee counter area there at 8am is mayhem. People looking all frantic and grabbing and pouring and stirring at a lightning speed. I kind of stood back to take it all in. And to figure out which of the 11 (yes, 11) coffee pots I was supposed to pour from. Is there any possible way that blueberry-flavored coffee can taste remotely good?? Methinks not. But as I stood there, trying to read all the coffee pot handles, a man joked to me that it looked like I needed a consultant. I laughed and explained that I was looking for the regular coffee. Then he turned and said, "Well, you sure do look nice today" in kind of a twangy, old school kind of way. It totally surprised me, and I decided right then and there that I'd start doing the same for others. When a complete stranger pays a compliment, it is just surprising enough to make you stop and think about it. So that's what I'm going to do. So don't be surprised if some oddball girl with frizzy hair approaches you to insist that your jacket is just so incredibly cute.

  • I'm flying to Atlanta this weekend to see one of my best friends, Natasha. We met in college, a gajillion years ago, and I haven't spent time with her since we ran Hood to Coast last summer. And for that, we were crammed into a minivan, stinking to high heaven and motion sick and totally sleep deprived and dealing with Girl Drama. So, I'm super duper excited to see her and her brood and the city I've heard so much about. This week has been such a whirlwind that I haven't even done laundry or thought more than 26 seconds about packing, yikes. But, regardless, I'm starting to get reeeeally excited, yayyyy!!!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Deja Vu Dreaming

Last night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I started dreaming, and I immediately recognized the place. I thought, "Where have I seen this place before?" and starting feeling all deja vu-y. And then I realized (still mid-dream) that I'd dreamt that place before. I had dream deja vu of a dream. Awesome.

The place in my dream looked a bit like this, but with wide doors opened up to sunshine and fresh air:


Note: According to the World Is Round site, that photo is of Oia, on the Greek island Santorini. Too bad I've been to Greece twice in my dreams and never in actuality.

Shut Up, Bed

My alarm went off at 5:30, and I actually grunted out loud. After hitting the snooze button 3 times and reminding myself that a handful of my friends are already up and working out, I managed to escape the warm snuggly blankets in my bed. I mean, if Alecia can get up to run at 5am after only 5 hours of sleep and with a new baby, what's my excuse? Yeah, I so can't compete with that.

I will admit that it felt good to get out there and move my legs. And I think that Rory was so shocked about getting to run that she was really well behaved. (Except for the part where she made me drag her the last half mile because she was sand-bagging and pretending that she was too tired to go any faster.)

Here's yet another New Balance commercial echoing exactly how I feel. While I'm not in pursuit of the perfect mile (for me, it's squeezing into the perfect jeans), this is nothing but fabulous: