Thankful Thursday

While I was cruising amazon today for some things I needed to order, I came across this costume in the halloween section:

...which wouldn't have been interesting on its own, but when I scrolled down and read this review, it immediately became just a little more riveting (click to enlarge):


We did indeed end up trying the Peruvian restaurant last night, El Hueco. It was delicious and authentic, and the service was great. The owner himself (an older Peruvian man) kept checking on us and making suggestions. Of course, while we left, Nolan said to him, "the food was great - it tasted just like the food we had in Peru!" thinking this was a compliment. The owner gave us a look like, "that's probably because IT IS THE SAME". Ah well. We then went across the street and threw our healthy-habits out the window and got blizzards at Dairy Queen. And oh man, they were so worth it. Speaking of things I like...

1. I'm thankful for time I got to spend with Nolan last night. Plus the fact that tonight is his last OB shift and then we have the whole weekend free to spend together!
2. I'm thankful for my car! I'm still enthralled by having such a great ride. And I've gotten significantly spoiled, to the point that I think I can never again own a car that doesn't turn its lights on for me when it senses darkness. Love!
3. I'm thankful for new beginnings. Our women's small group started on Tuesday, and tonight I spent some time with my partner for the week over coffee and chatting. I'm loving getting to know and grow with these women!
4. I'm thankful for our home. So often recently, I've thought about when we were in San Francisco this time of year, and how I had chilblains already from being so cold in our own house. And here I am lounging in a tank top and eating frozen blueberries. Life is sweet.
5. I'm thankful for my health. I've teetered on the brink of coming down with something (and being painfully sore after the gym and having epic heartburn two days in a row) for a couple weeks now, and I think I'm actually going to come out on top without getting sick (knock on wood). When I start to feel like I'm not in tip-top shape, it makes me really appreciate the rest of the time when I am in such great health.
6. I'm thankful for sleep. I've seen how Nolan's been so zombie-like these few weeks while he's running on 2-3 hours of sleep per day (if that, on some days!), and it makes me feel luxurious to be able to sleep at least 7 hours a night. Even though really, I'd be in better mental shape if I could get 8...

Happy weekend, all!


Quote of the day:
Brandon: "Nolan called me too when he saw Obama. I'm pretty sure he wet himself while he was talking to me."

For pete's sake...

Generally I like to think of myself as thick-skinned, but I think I'm softening a little with age. Becoming more sensitive, caring and empathetic? That may be pushing it. So I was in this new gym class, "Ultimate Conditioning" that I've been taking for a couple weeks now. It's the one that makes my butt sore in the middle - where I didn't know I could even get sore, and then when I sit in my Wednesday Pilates class and she has us stretch out our IT bands, I literally groan out loud because it hurts so good. Anyway, this class: so I generally follow along pretty well in here, and don't stop to take a break or anything, but yesterday I took a BRIEF pause while he was explaining the next exercise, and the instructor smacked my mat with his fist and said "GET UP!". So embarrassing! Also the fact that I had sweat streaming down my forehead and getting into my eyes, so I was wiping them while this was happening. It may have looked like I was sobbing. BUT I WASN'T. Maybe I need to snag a spot in the back of the class from now on.

Nolan and I have been trying to keep our heads above water while he's on his OB rotations, meaning we hang out EVERY possible second we can. He works literally opposite shifts as I do, so for example yesterday I just happened to get home right before he left (usually I miss him by about 30 min), and so we got to see each other for 60 seconds. So I'm more than a little excited that he doesn't have to go in until later tonight, so we'll have a few hours to ourselves for a date night. He gave me first pick of where to go, so I'm thinking El Hueco, which I've been dying to try and is biking distance from our house! Bonus!

...Aaaand here are a few more photos from our mini-reunion with family in Moss Landing a couple weeks ago:
Nolan was pretty serious about his bowl of ice cream, as you can see.

Thankful Thursday

This morning I went to the early class at the gym, and after sweating off any remainder of the previous day's makeup and showering, I saw with horror that I forgot to cover up my faux-hickey. Which is TECHNICALLY a real hickey but not really (don't panic!) because it wasn't, like, romantically created. It was HORRIFICALLY created, because it's right under my jaw, right where I have this unnatural fear of people getting close to (too much Twilight, maybe?), which means it's Nolan's favourite place to attack me and make me panic and freak out. However, I think he latched on a little too hard while I was fighting him off, because it looks like I was shot in the jaw with a BB gun. And by BB I of course mean BlueBerry. It's a bright purple spot the size of a quarter. Lovely. Apparently my makeup has worn off already too, because my coworker just IMed me "your hickey looks pretty bad" and I was like "what are you talking about" and then "!!!!!" when I looked in the mirror again. Good thing Nolan doesn't read this very often because he'd crow with success if he did.

Now that I've successfully weirded you out...

1. I'm thankful that tomorrow is the last day of summer! I've loved actually having summer weather this year, but MAN it's been hot. Plus, what's not to love about Fall?! My favourite season!
2. I'm thankful that Nolan had a few hours off last night for a date night, even though he was terrorizing me all night (see above). I missed not seeing him for a few days while he has been working night shifts!
3. I'm thankful that our new womens' small group starts up soon! It will be SO fun to do a Beth Moore study with a bunch of great ladies!
4. I'm thankful for the free lunch at work today, provided by the Festive Club. Which is the weirdest name ever, because it's basically just a membership that costs $12 a year and provides you MANY free lunches and other perks. Today it was delicious Vietnamese food, which, let's face it, is something to be VERY FESTIVE about.
5. I'm thankful for fun new gym classes! I hate getting bored with routines, so I'm really excited about all the new classes I'm trying! The Ultimate Conditioning class this morning kicked my butt FO REALZ.

Another weekend already? Bring it on!

Summer at its best

So I finally found some pictures of Stumpy Meadows, where we went kayaking and took our only pictures from vacation. See how beautiful it was there? And the water was surprisingly warm, considering how far in the mountains this place is.

Okay, so this is one of our very rare vacation photos since we are super lame and forgot to take pictures of anything else. Of course, nobody wants to see pictures of what was basically lounging around anyway.


This lifejacket only stayed on for a minute before I realized that a.) I don't need a lifejacket in a warm, calm lake and b.) it made my arm movement similar to a T-Rex's and therefore my paddling was totally ineffective.

I also randomly found this picture on Nolan's camera (with tons others) from when he and my dad, little brother, and Jacob went to the 49ers game and had field passes. Apparently that was the best part of the game, since the 49ers are actually pretty terrible at football. They ended up leaving early to get Indian food with us ladies.



And finally, I've received one solitary picture from the mini-reunion last week, so I'll post it until I get some more! With the exception of me and Ine (red sweater), can you see the resemblance?

Thankful Thursday

Let's just move this one right along, shall we?

1. I'm thankful for long-lost family! It was SO fun for Nolan and I to get to see his aunt/uncle/cousins who live far away! Nothing beats good times with good people.
2. I'm thankful for groupon deals - I was craving something not from my own fridge for lunch, but had limited cash, so...I bought a Groupon for $5, used my $5 Groupon credit, and essentially got a free lunch (except for the 81 cent tax I had to pay) of delicious Indian food!
3. I'm thankful for my team at the office - it's important to have people around that you like working with and can respect. Plus, I was reading this hilarious display and feeling lucky/laughing hysterically. Read. The link to the further display of Justin Bieber material is also TOTALLY WORTH IT.
4. I'm thankful for friends and exercise and being so close to another fun weekend!Hanging out in Mountain View tonight and then being all over the place on Saturday/Sunday.

Happy almost weekend!

Sloggin'

Well. If there's one thing more painful than sitting through a TUESDAY, it's slogging through a Tuesday after vacation during a slow week when you've had virtually no sleep. Thank goodness for the free coffee card I had waiting in my mailbox when we got home from vacation - it just may have been my saviour this morning.

I think we took like...5 pictures of the entire week, just because we were too busy relaxing to bother bringing a camera. Basically, the entire week was BLISSFUL. We went winetasting, played in the pool, played Blackjack at the Casino, soaked in the spa at night, ate out for practically every meal (umm, AMAZING sushi place in Placerville, who knew?!), played Carcassonne and Ladderball, went hiking, did some kayaking and swimming in the lake, and even got in some skinnydipping in that lake OOPS DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD. I'm still admiring my beautiful nails from my mani/pedi with my mom, and enjoying my slight tan from napping in the sun. Pretty much, our vacation was awesome and wonderful, and getting to spend time with my parents was an added bonus!

I still need to download the pics we took kayaking, but I'll post one if any of them turn out to be decent at all.

Last night Nolan and I drove down to the Monterey area for dinner with his extended family! This meant his uncle and girlfriend who live down there, his cousins who live in Australia and who Nolan hasn't seen in 8 years, and his aunt and uncle who are visiting from Holland. SUCH a fun time, albeit a very late evening for us. It just makes me wish that everyone lived a little closer so we could do it more often! Although we're stupid and forgot to bring our camera again, fortunately there were still some pictures taken on another camera, and I'm hoping I'll get a couple of those to post on here too...maybe? Please?

Nolan started his OB rotation yesterday, and the good news is that it's not as fast-paced as his last rotation, and that he gets every evening this week free, woohoo! Bad news is that the following 2 weeks he will be working exactly opposite hours from me, meaning we won't be within 100 feet of each other except for his one day off on the weekend. I guess Milo's the only beneficiary of this plan, since it means there will always be at least one person home with him, and he's still mourning the loss of his friends in Placerville now that he's all alone in the Bay Area again. Welcome home, indeed.

Thankful Thursday

Suddenly, I've gone from hating the feather trend to loving it - just not in my hair. I've seen all the feather extensions and they just kind of gross me out. But letting some feathers hang from holes in my ear? I can handle that. Especially when they're lovely polka-dot ones like these that I just got:


This week has gone by SO slowly, most likely because vacation is literally right around the corner. My countdown is on! 1 more day! Which brings me to:

1. I'm thankful my vacation is practically here! Nolan only has a couple more shifts until freedom for a week, and we are SO looking forward to it! Hello kayaks and pedicures and good food and sunshine and sleeping in, ahhhh...
2. I'm thankful for peaceful BART commutes. I know a lot of people have had their commutes disrupted by the protests here in SF downtown, but thankfully I leave before 5, which is when they generally start.
3. I'm thankful for our coffee machine at home. This morning I ran out of milk and therefore had to buy coffee (I can't have it without milk!) instead of bring it with me in a cup. Those extra 3 hours between me and my caffeine were ugly.
4. I'm thankful for work/life balance. I've just been aware recently of how great and flexible my job is (comparitively) and how I'm able to maintain a clear divide between business and pleasure. It keeps me happy and stress-free :)
5. I'm actually thankful it's almost Fall. I have so busy reveling in the heat and sunshine of a rediscovered summer, that I almost forgot about my favourite season coming up! Hello butternut squash soup, scarves, pumpkin spice lattes, apple hill, holidays, and wood fires.

I'm off to the pubs tonight with Nolan's colleagues (I'm representing for the Caldwells since Nolan is at work tonight) and my friends and then just 1 more day until vacation! HUZZAH!

Happy weekend!