foodbanking

Today we went with our interns to the SF Food Bank to volunteer for awhile. Not only did we get to spend our afternoon helping the 150,000 hungry people in the Bay Area, but we also looked super hot doing so, as you can see by this shot of my colleague and I rockin' our hairnets:


Though I often wonder what kind of place doesn't provide seat covers in the bathrooms (crabs, anyone?), and warns toilet-goers to avoid dangerous games in the loo. Such as:

Of course, one of my favourites.

You know those days when all you want is a glass of wine and a bar of milky chocolate? That has been my ENTIRE week. Hopefully tomorrow will shape up, as I have some the following perks to look forward to:
1.) it's Friday.
2.) I get to wear jeans tomorrow, wooooooooo (I can't explain the indescribable joy that wearing jeans brings me)!!!
3.) I am treating myself to coffee (YES!)
4.) I am going in early so I can leave early. (DOUBLE YES!)

Also the fact that it's the 5TH weekend in the month makes it awesome because not only does that mean an extra paycheck for this month, but it also means that I don't have to move the car, since streetcleaning is only on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month. Suck it, city of SF.

And now I sit here with my salad, and Milo watching me from his perch, listening to our neighbours downstairs making a noise that I'm pretty sure is ACTUAL howling, and debating going to Tuttimelon without Nolan...hmm >:-)

Quote of the day/most disturbing thing I have ever heard:
Jennie: "maybe Milo is secretly suckling you at night"

Every Humpday

Wednesdays are generally referred to as "humpdays" for a reason. The middle day of the week is always the longest, most boring day to get through. Which is why I think every Wednesday should look like mine did today, which was:

That's right. Giants game, sunshine, and garlic fries. All afternoon. Booyah.

Last night I had the distinct honour of watching the Scarlet Pimpernel (again) with Ash U. (why am I always watching it with Ashleys?). I was planning on making dinner beforehand for us and Nolan, but about 15 minutes before she got here, all the outlets on one side of our kitchen went out. OF COURSE it was the side with the grill, oven, refridgerator, and microwave...all of which I was using for dinner, SOB. So being the resourceful housewife (cringe) that I am, I shut down the fridge, transferred the baking rolls to the microwave oven and plugged it in elsewhere, moved the grill, and used a match to light the clouds of gas now accumulating under the stovetop to cook the potatoes. Heck yes. Other than some "well-cooked" rolls, I'd say it was a success. And nobody even. knew. the. difference.

But now I've got to go, because I made the mistake of pissing off Milo earlier, and it looks like tonight's retribution is taking the form of peeing in our bucket o' scarves.

light my fire

Last night in bed, talking to Nolan and slowly falling asleep with Milo next to me, I was all ready to settle down for the night. Until Nolan started singing "This Little Light of Mine" in my ear, and scooched closer to me. I heard a "click, click", and then an inch away from my eyeball, IN BED, I saw this:

I just don't ask questions anymore.

quel dommage!

I think I actually strained my calf muscles this weekend while doing a workout with the wii fit. How embarrassing/productive-feeling.

I finally finished reading "The Historian". Man. All this time while reading it I've been nervously glancing over my shoulder at every noise, and I'm pretty sure it's sapped all my creative juices just to get through it. I mean, good book. But intense. Like, it stole my life away for a few weeks. Then again, I'm pretty sure that happens with every book I get into. Hmm.

Not much to say, therefore. I need to go home and do something productive so that I feel useful again.

Not to propagate the image, but...

I know that between yesterday's post and this one, my social "coolness" factor is going to drop down to nothing. Alas: I don't care.

Today at lunch I brought my laptop in so that my coworker can train me to be a killing machine in Warcraft...so that I can squish Nolan the next time we play. My ego would appreciate that, as it's still licking its wounds from two days ago.

So we were ramping up in the hour before lunch for our game-training session, and apparently after today I will be ready for domination:

DG: are you getting excited to become all-powerful?
AC: i AM!
AC: nolan's days of glory are over!
AC: (almost)
DG: haha, he's effed. i am going to imbue you with inhuman skill
DG: Nolan's gonna be like WTF, did you become a cyborg?
DG: and you will respond, "yes, Nolan. Yes I HAVE."
DG: then you will slaughter him unmercifully


As you can see, we get pretty into it, locking ourselves away in the huddle room to play Warcraft. SOB. It just sounds so socially awkward.

Also, it's been FREEZING here in SF. I mean I remember what Mark Twain said, but a down jacket in late July? SERIOUSLY???


ALSO: I am SO hooked on my iced white mochas. It's a serious problem. I live a pretty healthy lifestyle, but THAT (the amount of fatty syrup and caffeine) is my downfall. I need to quit it, and the only way for my mind to accept that fact is if I have a reason that I CANNOT have caffeine. So...basically I need to either convert to Mormonism or get knocked up quick. Although I suppose the first would immediately spawn the second ;) Either way I need to experience a "burning in my bosom" (HAH!) that makes me give it up.

dataaaaaa

I wonder if it's not normal for me to be so pleased when I dominate inanimate objects...like an excel worksheet or an access database. It's just that, hhh, when I see those blank columns all of a sudden populate with formulas and numbers, after I hit "enter", I get a chill down my spine. Is that weird? I thought so.

We have crabs

I just can't get enough of this:

..."this" being Nolan dancing in his bib to "Love Shack" at our dinner at Joe's Crabshack last night for our anniversary. Sigh.

Other than feeling ridiculously bloated from dinner, and a little crabby (yuk yuk) from the awful-per-usuale muni experience this morning, it's going to be a good day. I have time set aside later to work on our Europe trip (our anniversary present to each other!), am going for a nice run after work with Nolan, and am in the middle of a good/scary book I plan to read on my lunch. Thanks, Nate, for introducing me to a book that has made me almost wet my pants several nights in a row.

2.

Birthdays and anniversaries seem to be markers of life, and sometimes they come and go, while I just sit and wave at them, wondering how life can pass us by so quickly?

(sorry for the quality...it's a picture of a picture, and I had to edit the flash out (as you can tell by my mutilated-looking arm).)

Two years ago today, I married my best friend, the man of my dreams. Today as I sit here, I love him more than I ever thought possible, only to find that it's getting deeper every day. What I love about our marriage is that we can switch back and forth seamlessly from being playmates and being silly, to being partners and lovers, and tackling the more serious issues of life together. I was at a wedding recently where the pastor admonished the couple to "never forget how to play", and how important that is to a marriage. I beamed at Nolan when I heard that, because I felt like this is something we do really well. Obviously you have to be able to have other attitudes, and like most things, too much playing is not a good thing. Every day we do definitely make a point of talking about what's going through our minds, and bouncing thoughts and ideas off of each other. But I think that our attitude of play has made a significant impact on our marriage, in that we both are finding it easier to let the little things roll off of our backs, and not pick a fight over something that just isn't worth it. Instead, we'll shrug and go back to laughing and whipping each other with wet towels.

Say hello to my little friend.

Milo was under fire this week. After some, uhh, "unfortunate incidents", Nolan finally put his foot down and decided that Milo had to leave. Of course, being the Americans that we are, we decided that at least Milo deserved the right to a fair trial before his fate was sealed. So I presented my defendant's case to Nolan, the jury, and after much deliberation, some tears, some wifely pleading and Milo snuggling on Nolan's chest, the verdict was announced. Although Milo WAS indeed found guilty of the 3 charges brought against him, he was deserving of another chance, and will be on probation for the next 6 months while I do some community service (training) on his behalf.
Afterall, who could resist this face?

zoo!

Today was a full day with my sister-in-law, and we made a day out of it! We slept in, went shopping (but got nothing, haha), went to the zoo, and are making a delicious dinner! I can see after going to the zoo and seeing all the gorillas, how people think there is a link between humans and apes. They are so similar to us! Their bodies are about the same size, they sit the same way and socialize the same ways, and even the baby gorilla was playing with its mom's face the same way as human babies! Fascinating. I could watch them forever. The only downside of the zoo is that I'm EXHAUSTED now, and I feel like after I have dinner and a warm cup of cider, I'll be out for the night.

worksheets of death

This weekend we have Nolan's sister staying with us (hi, Chels!), and we have grand plans of seeing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince tomorrow (what what), and hitting up In-N-Out, possibly Krispy Kreme...and she tried Tuttimelon for the first time tonight. But I mean who could not love Tuttimelon. I bet my mother-in-law is jealous just reading this ;)

Other than losing miserably to Nolan at Warcraft again, today has been uneventful; full of audits and friend dates and random other things. The kind of day that makes one feel productive, but not necessarily great. My mind is worn out for the most part, after I spent hours upon hours in a mind-battle with my Excel workbook. Each time I figured out the right, complicated formula, I would try and copy it all the way down all of the 1500 rows, and: no. Of COURSE Excel "needs to close; experiencing an error." I almost. killed. the computer. Hours later, I had a breakthrough. Finally, my formula worked, and the workbook bowed to my will. I am excel queen!...and tomorrow will prove it and do something useful with the data I gathered. Heh.

top chef

I realized today that although "giving up coffee" doesn't seem to be happening, and seems to be running the same lines as ylehsa's "flexitarianism" (hah!), I have entirely given up candy. From eating it every afternoon, to nothing. HUGE deal for someone who has sugary blood running through their veins. Ah well, one step at a time, right?

Nolan didn't sleep at all after he got off of call last night, and I slept terribly after reading "The Historian" for a few hours and freaking myself out. I woke up at 3:30am, still a little bit freaked out and dreaming of Dracula, and ran out to the living room and curled up in Nolan's lap for awhile, until I started thinking of happier things and could fall back asleep :) So to make up for all that, we are relaxing tonight--playing warcraft, watching Top Chef (what is it about cooking shows that N loves so much?), and falling asleep. Smmmhhhh.

tweet

As you've most likely noticed, I've broken my vow of twitter-celibacy, and am now a fully participating member. Mostly because I want to easily stalk celebrities and post random twitpics from my phone without having to create a whole new album on facebook. Follow me!
Omg, I'm a media-whore.
What have I done.

In other news, sometimes I feel like I go in and out with friends. Like, not the levels of friendships, but how connected I feel with them. This is one of those weeks where I feel disconnected, and frankly missing my friends. I was either stood-up or cancelled on by three different people today! This makes me think 3 things:
1.) Maybe next week (sob!)
2.) Thank goodness my SIL is coming to visit this weekend!
3.) I sent a whiny text to Nolan this morning saying "you and milo and starbucks are my only friendsssssss!", and he wrote a text back and talked to me on the phone about how much I am valued and needed. Not to get sappy in my highly-superficial blog or anything, but when it all comes down to it, I am very blessed to have him in my life (and Milo too, I SUPPOSE).

...and ylehsa tried to cheer me up by sending me to one of our favourite sites...and it worked. Mostly because of this picture:

...which left me wondering after awhile, where that guy in the background's other leg is.

ooh, what's that smell?

While opening the curtains in our cave aka bedroom the other morning, I stopped immediately as a foul stench assaulted my nose. I sniffed my breath, my pajamas, and even my hair and the chair I was leaning on. Nope. Then I saw what was hiding underneath the coffee table, rotting:

Who would have thought that a treasure-trove of month-old scrubs containing urine, blood, poop, and bits of human flesh would smell SO rank (sarcasm). Needless to say, they are now in a bag, after Nolan's horrified wife demanded that he finally take advantage of the free scrub-washing service at the hospital. Which is also why he wasn't letting me wash them in the first place. Hhhh. ps-the picture is blurry because he was trying to stop me from taking a picture of the disaster.

This weekend has been all about cleaning and baking. Sounds fun? It was. But that also meant mounds of work, burns on both hands, and flour everywhere. I even inhaled too much bleach at one point and had to sit on the couch to reinfuse my lungs with clean air. But: the end product was a freshly baked loaf of Boule, an artisan bread that was in the recipe book that my mom sent me (thanks, Mom!), and it was DEL-I-CIOUS. Also today I made homemade granola, ALSO courtesy of the book. We've already finished the bread between the two of us, so we'll see how long the granola lasts :)

the pigs, they be flyin'

I won't mention any names here, but I had to post it because really: there are some things that would be a sin not to share.

Apparently when you're a senior leader at a company, you should lock your office door when you leave for the weekend.

Because you never know when the comp. team will donate loads of foam pigs and unsharpened pencils to a noble cause. It's like a swine army marching onward.

For my birthday last week, my team got me an orchid.

It was a revised attempt to make my desk look chipper, after the last attempt failed with flying colours. I still have the rotting petals in a bowl somewhere I think. Since orchids are both beautiful AND low-maintenance, I think this one will be a winner. And isn't she gorgeous!


We're on day 4 of intensely itchy/terrible heat rash. Hhhh.

fingas!

Believe it or not, today we used our final gift card that we received for our wedding...2 years ago. I normally don't go blow wads of cash at Crate and Barrel, so it took me awhile to get myself there, AND I had no idea what to get. We don't really need anything specifically, so I just shopped around the store, and got all manner of knick-knacks and a cool wine-saver and stuff. But I think my favourite item that I got was this:

Because we love our bamboo here, and who wouldn't want a wooden pair of hands to toss/serve salad with? Plus I figured it was artsy-looking enough that Nolan would approve (He thinks kitchen stuff is "chick stuff" and therefore boring, unless it looks more like an art project. Hence: salad hands). I'll just hide the glass butter tray and serving knife until he admits he is pleased with my purchase so far ;)

and also...

...just because I almost peed myself reading this bit of fuggery.

Back to the real world...

...where there is no sunshine, no delicious naps by the pool, and no freshly picked fruit from the apricot tree outside. Instead, I have a trashed house, a bloody scratch on my palm from the devil-cat who is NOT HAPPY about the whole "me not feeding him 24/7 because I actually have to work again" thing, and several bags of laundry to fold and put away. Hhh. Sometimes I feel like I should just burn all of my clothes and never go shopping ever again.

Nolan is also back to real life, but at least he gets to wear the equivalent of pajamas all day (and still looks sexy!).

Naturally, I don't envy him the 12-36 hour shifts, because I much rather prefer to sleep. But eh, maybe I'd give up a few hours here and there if I could wear loose green bedsheets to work every day.

Since I spent so much time in the sun, I almost feel like I got sun poisoning of some sort. I have a fantastic tan almost everywhere (almost), but on my forearms and on my legs, the burn was SO bad from rafting (I put on sunscreen, Mom! Twice!), that I have all these little raised bumps that are like some kind of rash that really itches but then when you scratch them: No Relief! SURPRISE! PAIN! It's like the worst itch ever. Also the skin is still radiating some kind of intense heat, to the point that when I lay in bed the sheets are TOO MUCH in both heat and pressure, and my legs burrrrrn. So I guess what I'm saying is that the sun somehow left a little piece of itself buried in my thigh-skin and is desperately trying to get out.

On another topic: I went in to the DMV on Friday and got my motorcycle permit. Which basically is a 25-question test that, if you pass, allows ANYONE to ride around the state (avoiding highways), whether they know how to ride or not. Fortunately, I do know how to ride, and took my first few solo trips around the county and down by the river. Hooooahh!

Other than that I guess there's not too much else to write...I haven't been to the gym in maybe 2 weeks, and am feeling my muscles atrophy already, so I guess that's where I'll be on my lunch. Though secretly I wish I was in Borders looking at all the new Harry Potter stuff that's coming out in honour of the movie...that comes out NEXT WEEK! smmmmmmmhhh!

following

I will post tomorrow, I promise! Hours spent at home working after-hours on projects means I still haven't had time to update in forever. More to come later, lovies.

Happy Birthday to me...

Well, okay. Yesterday was my birthday, not today. But who wants to blog alone in the dark on their birthday? So I didn't. Instead, I spent the day lounging with Nate at Starbucks and around the house, and then spent several hours playing in the pool while Nate (un)successfully tried to tan "before he leaves for college". Snort. Already I see colour in my skin and the signs of (GASP): summer! To celebrate, Nolan took me out for dinner and Tuttimelon on Tuesday night, then spoiled me with a loooong foot and back massage...YES! The next morning I woke up at 6am to him singing (somewhat successfully) "Happy Birthday" in Spanish and carrying our breakfasts so we could crack open the curtains and enjoy the early morning together. Smmmhhh I love getting up early to just relax. Particularly when it involves my favourite person <3 I then took my time and mosied on up here where I proceded to do the above. And seriously: waking up on a Thursday to the warm sunshine at 7am is SO MUCH BETTER than my normal routine while I'm up here of waking up on a Sunday and sobbing bitterly about having to pack my bags. And I love having several days ahead of me here...possible rafting...possible motorcycle trips...possible lectures from my Opa about how certain pods from a tree in his yard are shaped like screwdriver holes. "Those are Phillips Head holes!"