Thankful Thursday/Hello, Mr. President (again)

This week has been good. Real good. And I think we started it off with a bang - Nolan made his first real prepared meat dish, and it was fantastic! He marinated a porkloin for over 2 days (haha!) in some orange-y, garlicky delicious marinade (for which I still need to make him send me the link), and we roasted that sucker until it was juicy, dripping, and oh-so-good. Paired with a chilled white wine, asian salad and miso dressing, and my healthy tiramisu...what could be better?

le roast


Nolan and Josh were just, you know, hanging around Atherton this past week, and found out Obama was in town again (I knew it - that's the only time I hear huge loud helicopters buzzing around), and they went to go stalk his ride from some fundraiser. It's ridiculous how often he's been in our 'hood since we've moved here just 2 years ago. Where there is money...

Anyway, here is a picture of Mr. President. Behind black windows, anyway. But he's there! Nolan also has a several-minute video of the whole procession but I'm not going to force you to watch that when the only "exciting" part is that picture below :)

Nolan also finally remembered to send me this picture of my first "real" sushi experience. See? Photo proof that I really do like fish now! Yummmm!

This week I also tried buying a new brand of espresso. Saw this brand, recognized it as the kind we loved in Europe, bought it. Same price as the weird brand - so why not? Here's why not (taken immediately after opening):

Apparently in Europe, they only sell you half-cans for full-price. Boo.

But there's more to life than espresso, right? Like...

1. I'm thankful for sleep. Lots of it. I've been sleeping a lot (and a lot better!) these past couple weeks, and OHMYGOSH I feel almost like a new person. I woke up this morning at 4:30am (still got 7.5 hours of sleep though!) for yoga, and felt so energetic, awake, and ready for the day. I remember sitting at my desk this morning around 9:30am, eating my grapefruit, and thinking, "I feel GREAT today. I've felt great for days! This is a great day!". No kidding. Amazing what catching up on sleep can do for you!

2. I'm thankful for sunny days and flexible schedules. Monday was an incredibly slow day at the office, so mid-afternoon when Nolan texted me that he wished I was home and we could go for a bike ride...I said okay! It was glorious.

3. I'm thankful for fun new recipes/tips. Discovered way to make plain old shredded chicken in the crockpot in 4 hours; enough for the week. BEST thing ever. Especially when I mix it with a big batch of my vegan smoky bbq sauce. Pulled chicken FTW!

4. I'm thankful for time with Nolan recently - we went on a date to a latin seafood place last night, had a slow breakfast together several times this week, and got to sleep in together more than we're used to. Let's keep this kind of schedule up, please.

5. I'm thankful for family. I got to see everyone at Easter, then this past Friday had an impromptu dinner with aunts and cousins and uncle and Oma. And now family is coming to visit the next two weekends! So many fun plans and good times! And possibly games of Warcraft.

What are you thankful for?