neighboUr

Thankful Thursday

2012-02-16T15:37:00.002-08:00

This week has been pretty great. Between Valentine's Day and Sake & Sushi with girlfriends, a fun game night + curry and cakeballs on Sunday, and a great date day with Nolan...I'm feeling pretty awesome and blessed. Not that I didn't already. My quiet time study this week was focusing on the topic of hope, per last week's sermon at The Highway. Lots of the questions were about hopelessness, and what areas we feel hopeless in our lives or sense hopelessness in others. I honestly didn't have an answer for either of those. I cannot think of a single area in which I not only have hope for the present and future, but my cup seems to be overflowing in all sectors. So there's a lot I could be thankful for, but it's one of those weeks where I feel like writing down everything that I'm thankful for would just take up too much space, and I can't limit myself to 5. I hope each and every one of you will be filled to the brim and share with me in this - and not take it for granted!

What are you most thankful for this week?

Chasing Curry

2012-02-15T11:57:00.003-08:00

Valentine's Day for us is generally something along the lines of finding a place nobody else is eating at and then going home and playing a game or watching a movie. After the drama that was dating through college, we eventually gave up on the traditional Valentine's Day celebrations (though I think I still have a little white bear that Nolan gave me sophomore year) and decided to make it an excuse to eat out and watch a movie and not be judged for just hanging out by ourselves. Last year we went to Gorilla BBQ in Pacifica, which was literally a trailer on the side of the highway, and then we watched a movie and got FroYo at home. This year we were even less exciting. Food trucks have gotten super popular in big cities in the last 5 years or so. Some of these places have the most amazing food - there is one just a block from my office that specializes in unique creme brulees. So there's one in the Bay Area that has several trucks - Curry Up Now. It's some kind of Indian-fusion food (tikka masala burritos, anyone?), and is supposed to be awesome. This was our plan last night: to track it down. The twitter feed said it was in Sunnyvale at 650 E El Camino Real until 8pm. So we got in the car, sat through massive traffic with angry, hungry bellies, and arrived...at a freeway onramp. At which there was definitely no number 650 and no curry truck. We must have driven all up and down Camino Real and there was no truck. Nobody answering the phone. So by 7pm (so late for dinner!), we're hangry and frustrated...mostly. Nolan kept trying to find it, saying, "it's kind of exciting! like a scavenger hunt!", and meanwhile I'm snatching the phone and crossing my arms and telling him that if we don't get some curry of ANY KIND in my belly ASAP, then I will cut somebody. So we pulled into a nearby lot, in which there was an Indian market next to a dingy Indian restaurant called "Peacock Indian Cuisine". As soon as we got inside, we realized it was a major win. Not only was it packed with Indian customers (don't judge - it really is a good sign!), but it smelled amazing and the buffet was a smokin' deal. We already have big plans to return. So:
Curry Up Now: 0
Peacock: 1

After dinner, we were SO full that we got into our jammies and immediately went to bed. Exciting? Maybe not. Satisfying and awesome to fall asleep with your Valentine in a delicious curry-coma? Definitely.

Last weekend I bought a new pair of gym shoes to keep at work. During the week I use 3 different pairs for working out, depending on where I am. I have my outdoor running shoes for home, my indoor cross-training shoes (so my carpet doesn't get dirty), and my gym shoes to use at the gym in San Francisco during the workweek. This means I use at least 2 pairs a day with my current routine, and so they get a fair amount of wear. A new pair may not seem like a big deal, but for me it was huge. The ones I had been using at the gym have holes through the heels, and are actually the same ones I bought freshman year of college. Doh. Apparently gym shoes have come a long way since freshman year of college,because I put these on, and I was like, "what! I'm not even wearing shoes! They're SO LIGHT!" And it was great. Especially since I got them for $20.

Plus, I love that the bright pink soles will be blinding whoever is behind me at all times.

Daily struggle: how to eat an egg at my desk without anyone knowing I'm eating an egg at my desk. It's practically committing a crime to eat a hard-boiled egg at your desk when you work in a cubicle environment. After staring at the shell and my desk surfaces and knowing that everyone would know what a loud "crack" means, I finally just squeezed the stupid thing and crushed the shell so I could peel it off silently. I had to eat it within a minute to minimize the stench, but I think it was a general success after I sealed up the shells in a bag and tossed them away.

Heaven is a Cake Ball

2012-02-13T09:41:00.000-08:00

I was folding and putting away scrubs this weekend, and had to take a picture of this. Not because you haven't seen it before, but because it was one of those surreal moments where I realize we're not kids anymore, and we're not spending our days sleeping on the quad eating chicken tacos: No matter how many times I see that, it still weirds me out. And makes me proud. But still: weird.

Friday night, I went to a cake ball extravaganza with some girlfriends, and extravagant it was. I brought about 40 cakeballs, which was the smallest of the batches, and with 10 of us there...you can do the math to figure out how many we had to dip and decorate. So we had multiple stations set up:

And then laid plate after plate on various surfaces around the house:

I'm serious - SO MANY CAKEBALLS!

I was fortunately able to escape the night with only 20-30 cakeballs to bring home, which could have been much worse (100 cakeballs in my fridge? yikes). Not just because I made these particular ones myself, but because anything with peanut butter is genuinely my kryptonite, these little guys were my favourite. Cream cheese and peanut butter cakeballs covered in dark chocolate? Heaven!

Saturday morning, while we were digesting our magnificent pancakes-a-la-Nolan and just chatting on the couch, we decided to give these babies a try. My mom got us some ear candles, and I'd heard good things about them. Nolan flatly refused to stick a burning candle into his ear ("no way-how would I explain myself to my colleagues in the ER when I came in with severe burns"), so instead I offered to go first, while he helped. His job was to trim the ash every inch, and to make sure I didn't light myself on fire (hence the towel and awkward pose):

Overall? The warm smoke felt really nice, but I have to say that with it in just one ear, I got a little sea-sick :)

Also while we were chatting (post-ear candle, I believe), we finally decided on where to go for our vacation at the end of March! It was one of those things where we literally said, "We could go to the Grand Canyon? We've never been there...or Canada? But I don't know what we'd do there. Or a cruise?" And then we kind of arrived at, "....or we could go to Scotland and the UK." And that's where we landed. So we'll be going to Scotland (!!!), with hopefully a couple day trips to England and Ireland, for about 10 days. And it's coming up fast in just 6 weeks, YIKES! Needless to say, we immediately bought tickets to avoid skyrocketing rates. So we're official! YES.

Yesterday was so lovely. Nolan had it off, so we woke up late (7:30), ate breakfast and went to church. Then we came home and ate lunch and skyped with our friends in Scotland, and then went on a nice long bike ride through Menlo Park to Stanford, and around the campus. Such a sweet time, and reminded me of just how incredibly blessed and insanely lucky I am to have this man as my partner :) As we were biking around, we saw that our nutty neighbour (the one who had an 8-foot flying spider suspended over his front gate for Halloween, among other things) decorated for Valentine's Day, too. Or for the Grammy's last night? Both? You decide:

Tomorrow's Valentine's Day, so I most likely won't be posting since I have a hot date after work ;) So here's a little love!

Thankful Thursday

2012-02-09T20:05:00.000-08:00

Guys, I've spent all week wrapping up this project at work and coming home and cooking unique meals and falling into bed. I'm tired. At least there's been good food. I've been on a cooking kick lately, making some awesome new dinner and dessert each night for the two of us to enjoy, and while we've been loving it, I'm wondering if my energy for it will run out soon. Or my budget.

Last night I made 40 cake balls using a from-scratch yellow cake recipe I found, and some cream-cheese peanut butter filling. Mixed the two together (after I ate about a quarter of the yellow cake right out of the oven - oops) and now have the tasty bites in my fridge, waiting to be dipped tomorrow at a cake ball party I'm going to. All flavours, all sorts of decorations, friends, and food? Best Friday ever is in store for me. But for now, I need a quiet night. So on with it:

1. I'm thankful that this week marks the close of phase 1 of my big project at work. I'm ready for 2 weeks of normal work again! I can't say enough about this,
2. I'm thankful for motivation. I have been super motivated in almost area of my life lately, and sticking to my guns (this includes my New Year's Commitments...still going strong!) when I feel like indulging. Prime example was this morning (and every morning, for that matter) when my feet hit the floor at 4:55am and I stood there and thought to myself, "this...this is not sustainable." And yet 5 minutes later I'm starting my workout and feeling happy about it. Hey, if I'm going to really make my time with Nolan a priority over working out and cooking and stuff (this is something I realized I needed to improve on about 2 weeks ago), I have to be willing to do things like get up at the buttcrack of dawn to start sweating.
3. I'm thankful for sweet moments with Nolan. He woke himself up to say goodbye to me this morning, even though he could have slept until 1pm. Made my day.
4. I'm thankful for good times with extended family. Had a few of those recently, and it's been really fun to catch up with my Oma and aunt and cousin!
5. I'm thankful for good books that keep me engaged on my train ride home. Only problem here is TOO many good books! Currently reading The Tiger's Wife and loving it...but I'll be honest - it was REALLY hard to tear myself away from Game of Thrones (book 2) to start The Tiger's Wife. I'm VERY against reading two books at once (how can you truly enjoy one if you're thinking about the other?!), and the only reason I did it this time is because our book club meets again next week and we're supposed to have finished it. Oops.

What are you thankful for?

Lazy day(s)

2012-02-05T21:35:00.000-08:00

Today was Nolan's day off, and never did someone so deserve a day off. The only sign I've gotten thus far (besides the fact that he was fast asleep when I left for work) that he's really enjoying it is this picture that he emailed me a couple hours ago:

My boys!

I didn't take a picture of my chili last night, so I thought I'd snap one of my lunch today anyway. This was the best darn turkey chili I've had in awhile. To be fair, Nolan said it was "the best tortilla soup" he's had in awhile. So although we differ on what it turned out to be/was supposed to be, at least we both agree that it was awesome.

Also featured there: my gluten-free, sugar-free cornbread, which is SO TASTY. In fact, I was so pleased with my perfected recipe, that I submitted it on Allrecipes.com. Click here for the link!

Yesterday was a lazy Sunday in which I opted to go for a loooooong walk and listen to a sermon and stop at Starbucks instead of sitting in church. In which I cleaned my house, but only until I felt like making a new playlist instead. In which I watched Milo watching the sheep in the paddock outside our bedroom window. Can you see them? They're those dots by the barn in the back.

Thankfulness

2012-02-03T20:34:00.001-08:00

Well it's not Thursday, but that doesn't mean I can't be thankful, right? Plus, Nolan and I were noshing tonight on some tasty new treats that NEED to be shared! I used my lunch break to
stop at the store and pick up some ingredients that sounded good today, and then I found some recipes that were just calling my name. My new favourite recipe blog, Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free, has some incredibly tasty treats, including one of the ones I made today (the other was a referral from the same blog).

The first treat was Honey Oat Lace Cookies. Made gluten-free, with natural sugars (honey) and the all-important orange zest, I tasted the first batch of these and immediately made a second. Mine were a little bit more like drop-cookies than lace cookies, but since I wasn't curving mine anyway, I think it was for the best. The same slightly chewy consistency of lace cookies was intact! See:

I'm telling you, that orange zest with the slight caramel taste is heavenly. As a sidenote: I used splenda because Safeway was out of palm sugar. And I don't really like the taste of the flour mix she uses, so I improvised with 1/8c almond meal, 1/8c corn meal, and 2tbsp brown rice flour. Tasty!

The next treat I tried was Almond Bark with Dried Cranberries. The key to this one is the sea salt sprinkled on top. The whole thing took about 3 minutes to make. So good with the tart cranberries and the dark chocolate!

As you can imagine, I had to ration out a very small amount of each treat tonight so we didn't get out of control with the deliciousness, which is something I'm trying to really hold myself to right now. I started a new "medication" of sorts this month, and not only has it majorly messed with my hormones, but the side effects: whew. First I was queasy all the time. Then I was tired. Now my appetite is raging (read: I eat all the time when I'm totally not even hungry, boo!) AND I've put on about 5 pounds, which for me is totally noticeable. I feel sluggish and heavy and hungry all the time. And yet: my doctor said "Oh yeah, that's normal and it should last about a month". What?! So bear with me, guys, if I whine a little: at least there is some really good cooking coming out of all this! Nolan wanted me to put the down comforter on our bed this week, and so I've been sweating my brains out at night because it's way too warm. But I have to admit that I wake up in sweat each morning and hope that I've at least sweated off some of this ridiculous water weight.

Anyway. A couple weeks ago I tried my first pottery painting class with some girlfriends. Since I've long been needing a spoon rest in my kitchen, I thought I'd make one! Here's how it turned out:

Overall I'm satisfied with it, though I seriously kind of hate the squiggly line. What possessed me to paint that? Oh well, at least it was fun and practical!

This week, I've been reflecting on how much I have to be thankful for. It's been tough these last 2 months now, and I'm finally coming up for air, it feels like. I guess I wasn't ready for what January would be like on top of December. So:

1. I'm so thankful that Nolan is done with trauma and back on a normal rotation. You guys. It was so miserable while he was on trauma. The small time I did get with him was like watching a zombie. The day he went back to the Emergency Dept. felt like the day I got my husband back, and boy was it awesome. It's so good to have sweet time together again.

2. I'm thankful that my project at work has an end in sight. It feels endless and mind-numbingly tedious, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and that makes me feel like I can start breathing again.

3. I'm thankful for a little extra sleep these past few days. I like getting up early in the mornings, but it's been nice to sleep past 5am for a couple days in a row and wake up feeling a little more rested.

4. I'm thankful that my sister-in-law and my little niece/nephew are healthy! Some nausea, dehydration and a diagnosis of HG had us worried, but all seems to be well now!

5. I'm thankful for a little more time recently to do fun things like experiment with cooking and baking! I've made some AMAZING dinners and desserts this week (if I can be just a little cocky), and it's been so much fun to try new things!

What are you thankful for?

Radio Silence

2012-01-31T19:01:00.000-08:00

As you know if you know me at all, any silence for a prolonged time on this blog means I've been busy. And busy in a bad way, because blogging is something I really look forward to each week. So I'm not going to attempt to catch you up, because it's nothing interesting.

This morning I was walking out the door to work, and Nolan eyes me and says, "So...what's that you've got around your neck, eh?" He has a thing with me wearing what I think are unique and pretty accessories. This was the offender this morning (sorry not meant to be a chest shot):

What's the vote: terrible like puffy blisters around my neck? Perhaps. Maybe I'll just wear it when Nolan's gone.

Also this weekend: Oma visited and we did a lot of baking and fun stuff. Among the products was a gluten-friendly graham cracker:

Which was AMAZING and tasted better than the store-bought ones. We crushed them up and used them to make a not-so-healthy peanut butter pie, with graham cracker crust covered in chocolate. Also amazing.

On Saturday night, my parents were visiting, and so we all went out to dinner at a local German restaurant/beer garden. Oma felt right at home:

And I had to pose with the liter of beer, even though I loathe beer. My choice beverage was the cider at left. Delicious. And the food? One entree option each night, so you show up and that's what you get. So we had meatballs with potatoes and cabbage...and it was super tasty. Nolan and I decided that we're officially going back sometime.
The real germans with their beer:

Sometime before the peanut butter pie, I was making healthier desserts. So I made Nolan's favourite blueberry-sourcream coffeecake. With some changes. If you ask nicely, I might post the recipe. But basically, I subbed out butter for milled flaxseed, subbed out flour for almond meal and flaxseed, subbed out sugar for splenda, and switched out sourcream for nonfat greek yogurt. Guys, I made TWO of these coffeecakes last week. TWO. We were devouring at a rate of 4ish pieces per day.

A not-so-hot but oh-so-healthy new treat:
Took a few tries to get a flavour I liked, but spinach, protein powder, frozen blueberries, and water = a tasty, healthy protein smoothie!

I've been doing my workouts at 5am each morning, and that smoothie makes a delicious breakfast post-workout!

Since I've mentioned tasty stuff, I'll also post a recipe that's one of my new favourites: natural fudge. I know the ingredients sound bizarre, but just trust me on this one. It got Nolan's approval, and that's saying something.

Coconut Fudge

-3 cups raw walnuts

-1/2 cup carob or cocoa powder

- 2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut

- 5/8 cup light agave nectar

Grind the walnuts in a food processor until buttery. Combine with other ingredients and mix well until all blended. Press into a glass baking dish firmly until 3/4 inch thick. Freeze at least 1 hour, then slice and enjoy! I like to keep mine in the freezer after the fact too, since it keeps it firm and cold. Enjoy! And thanks to Elli for the idea!

Thankful Thursday

2012-01-19T20:15:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of my new nutritional plan that I'm following, I thought I'd start experimenting with some delicious desserts that meet my needs/wants. So in the next few weeks/months/forever, I'll start posting recipes that I deem a success! Tonight, I made my first one, and although it was good and I've had 4 cookies already, it still needs some perfecting (as Nolan will tell you!). But let me just say: not only are these cookies vegan, sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free and low-carb (and flourless!), they're also chocolate-oat with just a hint of peanut butter and banana goodness. Yum! I can't wait to post the recipe! Next to invent after I perfect this one: almond-flax cookies! Sometime during the summer I'm going to attempt to make a coconut chai ice cream (dairy and sugar-free!).

Fun hint: did you know you can substitute flax seed and a little water for butter in some recipes?

But since it's just Thursday, and my recipes aren't ready yet...

1. I'm SO thankful that I can finally announce that I'm going to be an aunt! And Nolan will be an uncle! My lovely sister-in-law is expecting our first niece/nephew in July. CANNOT WAIT!!!

2. I'm thankful for my newfound love for healthy food. Seriously, other than being ridiculously full all the time (which I'm still struggling to get used to), I'm really loving learning about how to feed my body the right things, and I'm seeing positive results with things like my energy levels and stamina during workouts.

3. I'm thankful that I get to spend time with Nolan in the evenings, even if he is uber tired all the time. If we just sit on the couch and argue about whether my new cookies are delicious or weird all night, and try to find a cool new tv show to follow, I'm happy. I just like seeing him. Plus, he's useful: last night I came home in a funk. REALLY grouchy for no good reason. Plus irritated because I pulled a muscle in my shoulder and can't do a lot of plank-exercises for awhile. Also affects my ability to do the YMCA properly. ANYWAY: after storming around the apartment grouching about what to eat and my crappy week, it took about 10 seconds of Nolan sitting me down, massaging icy-hot into my shoulder, and whispering into my ear for me to forget everything. Grumpiness? Gone. Bless.

4. I'm thankful (again) for old and new friends. Spending time with both on Saturday and cannot wait! So wonderful to have amazing supporters in these girls!

5. I'm thankful for my job. I have to say it. Even though it's been a relatively crappy and hectic work-week, I do love what I do when it all comes down to it. I was walking to work the other day (and by that I mean I had already driven 30 minutes and was walking from my car to the train for the other half of my commute), and was struck by how I was looking forward to getting to the office. I don't know if I could ever not work. I like having projects and challenges to keep my mind engaged throughout the day.

6. I'm thankful for my brother, Nate, and what a great man he's turning out to be! Had such fun with him this weekend when he was visiting.

What are you thankful for?

RAK fail

2012-01-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

Nate came to visit this weekend and it was an absolute blast. I wish I had more holidays and more time with my little brother! Nolan got us going in the morning with the most amazing blueberry pancakes made with flaxseed and almond meal. Yum! As you can see, we went into the city on Monday and had sesame ballz:

obligatory pizza at Golden Boy:
walked through chinatown...
and took a very touristy chinatown picture in too much sun.
I have no idea how far we walked, but I was pooped afterwards! So after Nate and Nolan and I went mini-golfing, I was pretty easy to talk out of spin class and into Thai food at our fave place, and then polenta and a movie later. Nate and I made up for it after Nolan went to bed with a late night Insanity session. Whew!

Saturday seemed like a pretty normal day, except that I cleaned our ENTIRE apartment on my hands and knees. Or...mostly the kitchen, actually. And then I went to watch the 49ers game with some friends and the rest of the day was a loss. Heh.

Sunday was pure awesome. We got up (no alarm because it was Nolan's day off - woo!), stopped at Starbucks, and then headed to The Highway for church. Then we lunched at a fantastic Vietnamese place in our 'hood, and I went home to work out, start dinner, and wait for Nate to arrive. That night we had several friends over for a full-on German dinner with Spaetzle, Knoedels, Schweinebraten slow-cooked in beer, and german potato salad and gravy. Mmm! We finished the night with 6 of us playing Settlers and noshing on Erin's amazing polenta-pecan apple crisp.

Not much else to update on, except that my resolutions are still going well except for the Random Acts of Kindness one. I'll be honest, I thought of buying the person behind me at Starbucks their drink, but that is the only good thing I've come up with. It's tough! So I'm not going to hold myself to it anymore (I suck!) but instead just do those things when the opportunity strikes.

Thankful Thursday

2012-01-12T15:42:00.000-08:00

Let me take a minute before anything else and write a quick Haiku. Ahem:
Kaiser I love thee,
the pinnacle of health care;
and Nolan agrees.

Okay, maybe not the best Haiku ever written...but really. I bet Nolan is rolling his eyes as he reads this, because ever since switching to Kaiser health care I'm SOLD. I'm considering tattooing "THRIVE" on my ribcage. Let me show you why:
- Last week I needed to make an appointment with a specialist. So I signed onto the website, and searched for one that I liked, and bookmarked her. I chose not to book online for whatever reason, but that's definitely an option.
- The next day, I called the advice line nurse, and she told me exactly what I needed from my appointment, and asked if Friday worked for me and listed off a bunch of times that were open. Holy cow!
- When I told her a good time, she confirmed that I was booked with "Dr.____" which was the doctor I had bookmarked online...I totally forgot to even mention that to her but she knew!
- I showed up on Friday at 10am. Free valet parking - booyah. The parking attendant told me where to go. Then as I was getting near my building, the ambulance driver hopped out of the vehicle, asked if he could help me get where I was going. Yes, I'll take a free escort!
- I checked in. 30 seconds.
- I put my slip of paper in a window, and then my name was called before my seat was warm.
- Nurse took b/p, weight, info, all that good stuff. Super friendly.
- Doctor showed up. 2 MINUTES LATER. If that. Super, super nice and helpful.
- Appointment was efficient. Doctor put in order for a prescription and told me I could pick it up at the lab DOWNSTAIRS. Holy cow. Also put in order for bloodwork. Also downstairs.
- Took number for bloodwork, was called 3 minutes later and painlessly drained of a few ounces. Sent on my merry way.
- Took number for prescription, number called and prescription explained...maybe 5 minutes total.
All in all, the whole thing was less than an hour. And I can do everything online! My doctor immediately emailed me my test results, and let me know if I need to refill my prescription I can do it online and have it shipped to me. Sweet! So anyway: if you've ever had a doctor's appointment, you'll see how truly wonderful this experience was! I am thoroughly impressed! Also: I stopped at Starbucks afterwards as a treat and they only charged me a dollar for my latte. Score!

So, moving on:
1. I'm thankful for our fantastic health insurance for which I don't pay a penny! It's amazing.
2. I'm thankful for fun new gym classes! I tried spin class with Erin on Monday and OMG. My quads are still burning and I don't think I stopped sweating for hours afterwards. Also today I tried Zumba and it was actually fun! So there, Mom, now I'll zumba with you. Worst part was my realizing how uncoordinated I actually am compared to how graceful and athletic I thought I was. Also: terrible at dancing apparently. Upswing? Had to laugh at myself and that's always good for you.
3. Thankful for the long weekend coming up! Nate is coming to visit on Sunday-Monday, so that will be a hoot. Plus it's been a weird week. I would say stressful but I feel like I'm not able to justify saying that anymore, seeing as how my work life is a drop in the bucket compared with Nolan's crazy schedule.
4. I'm thankful that Nolan is going to start wearing a helmet when he bikes.
5. I'm thankful that I've managed to stick with my new year commitments, because I'm already noticing a difference in my life! How refreshing.

What are you thankful for?

loser cat

2012-01-10T16:04:00.000-08:00

As part of my post-holiday organizing of my life, I started a plan to eat healthier. I wasn't necessarily eating badly before, but I wasn't getting enough nutrients or things that my body needed. Since I work out quite a bit, I suspect some of my tiredness came from a) all the holiday candy/sugar and b) not meeting my body's nutritional needs. So I started using the Insanity Nutrition Guide (linked there), and let me just tell you. I'm having a hard time with it! And it's not the reason you may think. I am loving the meals they list, and using the tables of foods to come up with things that I like to eat, but the amount of protein I'm consuming now and the frequency of meals (5 actual meals, not just snacks) is making me uncomfortably full all the time. By the time I get to the meal in the late afternoon, I'm dreading having to eat again. All that said, my energy levels have been up and I've lost a pound in the last few days(which is not what I'm trying to do, but hey at least I'm not gaining either). I guess we'll see how it goes and if I can get used to it or not.

My dad drove down to the Bay yesterday to have lunch with me and drop off the little turdlet at our house from his extended vacation, and when I got home I noticed that he had left me a copy of and amended the LOST CAT sign my brother had posted all over the neighbourhood:

I guess I'll just have to make sure Milo leaves a nice turd on his pillow next time he visits.

This past weekend I was at the wedding of some friends from college, and it was AWESOME. The wedding was fun, the weather was nice, and most of all I got to see tons of dear friends from Davis. So much fun!!! However, I took all of 1 picture from the entire weekend. At least it's a good one of Chels and Tim:

So I guess I'll be waiting for more people to post pics on Facebook before I poach them and stick 'em on here.

Happy Tuesday!

Thankful Thursday

2012-01-05T14:20:00.000-08:00

So much to be thankful for so far this year. So I'm going to jump into it and update a bit later with normal stuff, since I'll undoubtedly have tons of pictures from the wedding (read: college reunion) that I'm going to this weekend.

1. I'm thankful for unexpected time with Nolan! January so far hasn't been as bad as we thought (though I know we're only a few days in, blah).

2. I'm thankful for Milo being safe and sound! You never really realize how much you love a little pet until they seem to be gone. I need that little turd to follow me around and cry in the mornings and snuggle with me at night.

3. I'm thankful that our candy supply is slowly starting to dwindle. When it's cold outside, my self-control goes out the window.

4. I'm thankful for a fresh start. 2011 was a doozy, but December was even more so. What a month. I'm ready for a clean beginning to an amazing year, with new commitments (doing well still on those, thank you very much) and new adventures.

5. I'm thankful for the chance to see college friends this weekend and celebrate Josh and Renae's marriage!

What are you thankful for?

Quote of the day (taken from Facebook, a post I found from my wall in 2006):

Nolan: " If I was hanging in a tree with bars all around, and a bunch of monkeys came walking by taking pictures of me, yah Id throw feces at them too" - A role reversal as told by Nolan Caldwell 4/5/06

A New Day

2012-01-02T20:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first day of the new year, and I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I was grouchy and irritable, and woke up to find Milo gone. He had disappeared outside of my parents' house, and now 36 hours later, I've just had news that he's been discovered. I shed some tears and didn't sleep at all last night for worrying, but my first reaction (besides overwhelming relief and happiness!) to hearing that he had turned up was to resolve to spank Milo for causing so much grief these two days. This past month has been a rough one for me in a lot of ways! Happy Holidays indeed.

But since that was just yesterday and today, let's back up a bit, shall we?

Finally after a few months, I've got pictures of my DIY project for this year! A few weeks ago I finished making my homemade vanilla extract to give to friends and coworkers for Christmas, and it turned out splendidly! I even got to sample several batches of cookies and bars made with it, and they were oh-so-good.

To get in the holiday spirit, before leaving for the holidays, some friends and I made these gorgeous gingerbread houses! Mine is the boring one on the left. Apparently I had a little photobomber when I took this picture:

I was able to visit my parents for Christmas, and am so glad I did, although I was really sad that I couldn't see Nolan on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. He was working until the 28th, so I wouldn't have been able to see him even if I had stayed at our house. Sad, but unavoidable. I was stoked when he was able to join me on the 28th and spend some time with all of us! Christmas itself was a low-key, fun day. We went to church, had breakfast with our whole "original" family (my parents and both brothers, with no significant others), had our annual silly string extravaganza, and opened presents before a huge feast with my gramma and Opa. It was good times.

Also over the Christmas break, I had myself a little charge. A cocker spaniel pup named Sadie, who was SUPER cute and mellow, and generally such fun to care for! She made having a puppy look easy!

That picture and the one below were taken by me on ylehsa's camera, and the one of me was taken by her. We walked around Placerville with her boss's fancy camera and played with different settings (not that I know a thing about cameras! I just like taking pictures). Doesn't she look great?

And I love this picture below that she took, because I look so carefree. That's how I was feeling at that moment, and I like that she captured it :)

Nolan's parents joined us at my parents' house for New Year's, and it was such a treat to have a big fun group together! There were a lot of board games that went on.

The Caldwells...
The Akin clan at breakfast:
My mother and father-in-law!
Since my in-laws were visiting, they also brought their canine friends, so in total, we had 5 dogs and 2 cats in the house. Needless to say the cats spent their days in hiding while the loud mutts took over the house. Here are 3/5 of the pups. Sadie is in the act of trying to join the other two with my mom on the couch.

Generally I don't make New Year's Resolutions because the only thing I can count on myself doing is failing to keep them. So this year I'm simply calling them "commitments" to inspire myself to stick with them. Here are my big three:

1. Have a quiet time every day. So far, so good. I tend to prioritize this behind everything else, and it generally falls by the wayside.

2. Exercise healthily. I tend to get obsessive about my workouts, and put exercise above other more important things (like quiet times) I should be doing. I need to be willing to swap out a workout for a nice walk sometimes or just be flexible about priorities.

3. Practice random acts of kindness at least once a week, if not more often. I love thinking that I could change a person's day for the better, and I need to commit to more than just thinking about it.

What are your commitments for this new year?

500

2011-12-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

I know, I know...my last post was on December 1. And today is what, the 19th? Yikes. Let me claim vacation, and also fatigue as the reasons for not being more diligent about posting. And to make it up to you, I'll...well, I'll let you buy me a coffee, how about that for a deal?

Before I move on, I should probably just note that this is my 500th blog post on this particular blog. I don't even know how many posts I had on my old one, but it was a lot. Woo!

While on vacation, we got our Christmas pictures taken (rather, my parents followed us with a camera while we argued over what a "good" Christmas picture should be...and somehow ended up in aprons?):

We also got together with a large chunk of Nolan's family in Oregon, and somehow managed to get a decent picture of everyone out of it!

Upon returning, my meals switched back to this to make up for the holiday goodies I'd been putting away. Definitely not like eating cardboard, and I was SO full afterward! Yum!

Speaking of which, Nolan and I went to a new Indian place for date night last night, and since the buffet was only $1 pricier than most dishes, we opted for the buffet. I realized what a poor decision this was as I lay on the floor last night, moaning about my stuffed belly.

Also, when we returned we found a card in our mailbox...from our mailman! How sweet is this?! He even changed our street from "Santa Clara" to "Santa Claus", haha:

Happy Holidays!

Thankful Thursday

2011-12-01T22:03:00.000-08:00

What do they say? Oh right:

'Tis the season!

I found some cheery candles for my awesome candelabra:
Some festive throw-pillows:
I used the same festive candle for the bathroom, because every room has to be in the holiday mood:
And just something to set the mood from the hallway:

1. I'm thankful for my vacation coming up in just a few short days! A whole week! Phew, we need it!

2. I'm thankful that we've had lots of good food as of late; leftovers from Thanksgiving. There's been no scrounging for tasty snacks this week!

3. I'm thankful we have friends who will watch Milo for us next week so we don't have to worry about him. It's such a relief to have a good "babysitter".

4. I'm thankful the holidays are here because no other time of year elicits such "goodness" from people. I like seeing people be a little more patient, a little more kind, a little more loving.

5. I'm thankful for honest, good conversations. I've had a lot of those in the past few weeks, and it's really been priceless.

What are you thankful for?

Orphan Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T16:14:00.000-08:00

Just because it's still on my mind, I thought I'd recap our Orphan Thanksgiving for you...because it was a blast! Definitely not something to be sad about :)

Just in case you doubted the size of my turkey, use the beer bottles for scale...or my gigantic red kitchenaid mixer. Or the sink. It was ginormous. And amazingly tasty! And wouldn't have been the same without Nolan's turkey carving skillz, as you can see from his first prime slice.
And our orphan thanksgiving was a hit! So much fun to host all these lovely people (there were 17 total, so Nolan (taking the picture) and a late arrival aren't in this photo). I'm the chunk of hair in the lower left corner. We're still trying to finish the delicious leftovers in our fridge. Blah.

To burn it all off, I hiked up Windy Hill on Saturday morning with some girlfriends, and immediately put it on my list of things I like. It was a GOOD hike, and we weren't even going that fast! Plus you're on a ridge in the Santa Cruz mountains overlooking the valley - what's not to like about that?

Anyone up for a good hike?

Thanks Giving

2011-11-25T08:53:00.000-08:00

I decided to bridge the gap between my thanksgivings by writing this post today instead of yesterday. Nolan and almost all of his colleagues were working yesterday, so we're throwing a potluck-style thanksgiving feast tonight. I was told yesterday that everyone's been calling it the "Orphan Thanksgiving" since we're all not able to celebrate with our families this year. Secretly I like little nicknames like this, like how I discovered people call our entryway the "Caldwell Shoe Mountain" because we force people to take off their shoes in our narrow little hall and you have to dig through the mountain of shoes when you leave to find your pair. Anyway: Orphan Thanksgiving...I'm going with it. And who knows, maybe it will be an annual thing for these three years at least. So I fortunately made everything in advance, and today only have to worry about my 21 pound turkey and stuffing. Which will sit in the oven for 5 hours as I relax!

Yesterday morning in between baking things, I was watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade per tradition. But I'm pretty sure someone else saw more footage of it than I did. I was telling my in-laws on the phone that Milo had been watching the parade all morning, and my mother-in-law said, "You personify that cat!". Which I think is probably very true in most cases. But...well, I took these pictures every 30 minutes. You tell me:

I feel compelled to tell you that his eyes were wide open in each of these pictures (he wasn't napping), and he wasn't paying ANY attention to me when I'd offer him a treat. If you know Milo, you know he must have been pretty fixated to not want food.

This morning, I'm sitting wrapped in a blanket after my workout and coffee, waiting until my hair appointment at 10, and then I'm going to come back and stick the turkey in the oven, and relax for the rest of the day. Tell me that doesn't just sound blissful! Granted, I'm pretty lucky to have today off and be able to just enjoy my favourite time of the season, and celebrate with friends tonight over good food. I'm lucky in a lot of things. Let me elaborate:

1. I'm so thankful for Nolan. Residency is tough, and I miss him a lot, but we're making it work in our own way. I am so grateful for the time we do get together, and the memories we're making. He is the best part of me, and I am immensely blessed to call him my husband.

2. I'm thankful for my family. Both sides, all of it. No matter what happens, we're all still family, and we love each other. I'm so lucky that our families not only love us and support us, but they get along with each other. So we just have a giant big family, as it feels at times!

3. I'm thankful for my job. Don't I say this every week? Well, it's true. My job is great.

4. I'm thankful for our home. It's a relaxing, cozy little piece of us. It's a place where we feel safe and at ease. I could stay in here all day. Sometimes I do! And the surrounding area? Beautiful!

5. I'm thankful for our friends. All of them, in all areas. Some are far away and some I see several times a week. But they are all wonderful and mean a lot to me. I'm so thankful for such a great support system.

6. I'm thankful for so many things God has blessed us with, and sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed with how much I've been given. Most of all, I am daily grateful for His presence in my life, and His hand on my shoulder. Sometimes I don't stick as close to His side as I should or as I want to, but He is always there, waiting. I hope I never take that for granted.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

stuff of nightmares

2011-11-21T21:22:00.000-08:00

I've been waffling for awhile now about how big of a turkey I need for our thanksgiving feast. Since we have a tentative headcount only, it's a little hard to plan. Nolan started telling me we might need 2, and I just pointed at our oven, because the obvious response is, "Oh. So just one then." Our oven is a ridiculous tiny old thing that won't even cook a full-size pizza, much less fit my large cookie sheets, much less allow for 2 turkeys (not that I could cook them simultaneously anyway!). So instead, we have a big 21-pounder that's just going to have to fit, because we will NOT have thanksgiving without turkey for all!

Also: today we got our thermostat fixed. Hallelujah.

Who else is excited about a short week? Because I'm SUPER excited about it. Holiday weeks are generally lots of food, festivities, and out-of-office messages...which means that work comes to a grinding halt for the most part. It's a good thing for people like me, who are still trying to catch up on normal work items after a big deadline has passed. I love these kinds of weeks. I also have a lot to look forward to, like sleeping in (kind of) for 4 days in a row, getting my hair done, hosting a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner, and then having only 1 more week of work before our week-long vacation! After that I think I have just 1 more full week of work before Christmas is here (for me) and I have endless days off of fun and festivus. Who else is excited that this time of year is here at last!?!

Quote of the day:
Last week, I was showing Nolan I was happy he was home by kissing his neck, when he peeled me off and told me "no". To my horror, the reason was because he had been splattered with someone's blood all over his neck and chest and hadn't showered yet. This is the stuff of my germaphobic nightmares, folks.

"Me: Dare I ask if you are clean or if there's something on you I should be aware of? Blood? Fecal material?
Nolan: Yeah, the question isn't what is on me as much as who is on me...
Me: *gag*"

Thankful Thursday

2011-11-17T21:10:00.000-08:00

Another late-night Thursday post! I guess I'll keep this one brief.

1. I'm thankful for warm food. Our thermostat hasn't been fixed yet, so our house gets pretty chilly. Luckily, I've been cooking more, which means the oven is on, which means the living room heats up a bit. And warm food always makes me feel warm inside :)
2. I'm thankful for the time with my in-laws last weekend! It was such fun to catch up and see the Ducks STOMP on Stanford.
3. I'm thankful that our bible study is going to continue meeting up on Tuesdays informally until the Spring study begins. It's so refreshing to have time with these girls, and build good friendships.
4. I'm thankful for my job and work situation. I have such supportive coworkers, and I like what I do! Such a rare thing nowadays!
5. I'm thankful Thanksgiving is almost here, because it means a couple extra days off, and God knows I need it. After this phase of my killer project? Whew. A couple days' rest sounds like heaven.
6. I'm thankful for peace of mind. Conflicts and issues may arise, but prayer, thoughtfulness, and patience really help when it comes to taking a deep breath and trying to look at things objectively. This is something God has been teaching me lately.

What are you thankful for?

Cornbread without the bread part

2011-11-15T16:22:00.000-08:00

Latest obsession? Polenta. I started experimenting with it awhile ago, making little rounds in the oven and covering them with oil and herbs and sundried tomatoes. Then I moved on to fancy mascarpone-covered rounds with berries, honey and shaved chocolate. Lately, it's been plain old cooked polenta. Which isn't so plain, as it turns out:All I do is boil some polenta with milk, honey, butter, a shake of salt, and cream it all together. Once it's piping hot and thick, I toss on some blueberries and sliced almonds, and drizzle more honey over it all. Pure deliciousness!

On that note, if you're like me and you stocked up on Trader Joe's cornbread mix, let me also tell you that it isn't worth it. Betty Crocker (or homemade!) is much better and doesn't taste vaguely lemony. Though the real corn chunks in it are definitely charming.

Thankful Thursday

2011-11-10T23:26:00.000-08:00

Well, it's almost midnight, and because of the sudden urge to finish this book (I'm not giving in), I've been glued to this couch reading for hours. My right buttock is officially numb. If you're curious, I've been reading "The Passage" by Justin Cronin. It was recommended to me by an author that I met a few weeks ago, and I've been sucked in ever since! It is absolutely fantastic. Apparently it's the first of a 3-part series, but the second two haven't yet been published. If you liked "Pillars of the Earth", it's written in a very similar style, although about an entirely different theme and time period. That's all I'll say! I don't know what it is, but I've been reading nothing but really EXCELLENT books for months now. No duds whatsoever!

Since Thursday is almost over, I'd better get to it, right?

1. I'm thankful for the gift of time. Time with Nolan, time to read this book, time to relax, and time to prepare for the weekend. Often I don't have enough time, so getting little bits of it today have been super nice.

2. I'm thankful for my commute. Even though it's long, I officially can say that it could be a ton worse. I tried a different route this week: biking in the freezing cold to Caltrain Redwood City, waiting 30-45 (!) minutes for Caltrain to arrive, transferring at Millbrae to BART, and then doing the same thing to get home. I discovered (to my delight and relief), that it saves $0 money, costs more time, and it much more hassle. So I don't feel guilty at all now about the luxury of driving to Millbrae. Plus it buys me more time at home with Nolan. Win.

3. I'm thankful for these little pets. Even though one of them isn't mine. It just kind of makes me smile when I hear them galloping around the house, chasing each other with this kind of reckless joy. Like, it reminds me that life is simple.

4. I'm thankful for patience. I've learned to have patience with certain situations, whether at work or home, and I've become keenly aware of the consequences of not "waiting" for things. It makes me appreciate when I catch myself just taking a deep breath and being willing to be patient. Life is so much more peaceful when I allow myself to be like this. Sorry if this is vague.

5. I'm thankful for good deals! I just spent $6 for $50 of gift certificates to our favourite Thai restaurant. Tell me that isn't something to be thankful for, with the usual upcoming holiday expenses!

What are you thankful for?

Train to nowhere

2011-11-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

Favourite thing of the week? Starbucks' cheery new red cups, complete with cheeky nutcracker!

Maybe I'm a week or two late on this, but it's a good thing that it's my first Starbucks in awhile...right?

Recently, I was browsing Milo's facebook page (what can I say, he's a social media rockstar), and found this old post on there that cracked me up. Especially since I know EXACTLY what Nolan was talking about:

Speaking of which, have I mentioned that Milo has a friend over this week? We've been cat-sitting a pretty, if not obese, kitty named Harley. See:

She's made herself totally at home, which has been an adjustment for an only child like Milo. There was a lot of hissing and walking in WIDE circles around one-another for a couple days, but now they've become BFFs, and spend most of their days hurtling around the house chasing each other, napping together, sharing food (and litter boxes - gross!) even though they each have their own, and doing this cute thing where they touch noses and just stare at each other before flying around the room again. They're usually going so fast, that this is the best picture I've gotten of them together so far:
I can already tell Milo will be depressed when she goes home.

And as promised awhile ago, there happened to actually be a picture posted of our real Halloween costumes:

We're LEGOs. So it was an easy idea. Needless to say, these boxes stayed on about 2 minutes before we discovered we couldn't really move in them. So we spent the rest of the night simply as "red" and "yellow" since our outfits underneath were purely those colours. Thanks, Nolan, for bringing me bright yellow tights from China.

As it turns out, there were a lot of really random pictures from our party, but not a lot of the decor, except this crappy one from my phone (I had the flash off...oops), in which you can see some random decorations we had. Oh well.

Thankful Thursday

2011-11-03T15:38:00.000-07:00

Last night I woke up at 3 to put Milo out as usual, and the tip of his paw touched the wardrobe, which naturally he thought was an intruder instead of the same old wardrobe that's always there. So he flipped out and dug his claws deep, deep into my ribcage, where I had to actually pull them out one-by-one before crawling back into bed with bloody streaks across my abdomen. Freaking Milo. When I woke up, I also couldn't move my neck, because I apparently slept directly on it while trying to avoid sleeping on my painful scratches. This combined with my still very sore legs from gym class on Tuesday has produced the delightful Igor effect, in which I limp around the office with straight legs and not able to turn my head or touch my sides. Attractive.

All complaining aside, though:

1. I'm thankful it's almost the weekend, not only for the days off, but because Nolan has both days off and I finally get to see him! The only physical communication I've had from him this week was more of a request than a love letter:

And although I vastly appreciate text, email, random notes, etc. to let us communicate more when we can't see each other, I'd rather be able to talk face to face! Also hug. And kiss. I really just miss him. Which leads me to say that this weekend is also fantastic because it's the end of this rotation where he works nights. Yippee! That's something to be thankful for.
2. I'm thankful for November being here, and all that entails! I've already gotten to the bottom of my canister of hot cocoa, and I'm roasting another batch of hazelnuts tonight. I've brought out the legwarmers again (hello, old friends!), and I'm wearing gloves in the morning so I don't freeze on my commute. I love all these things! And Starbucks' red cups! And baking and chocolate and OMG SO MANY GOOD THINGS DURING THE HOLIDAYS. I also love that I can officially say it's THE HOLIDAYS.
3. I'm thankful for my packed schedule. Even though it's been a little stressful, I've been more and more aware of my extrovert needs, and have managed to stay really busy, which helps when I'm missing my husband. Plus, who wouldn't want an excuse to hang out with so many fabulous women? It's really fun getting to know each other better as time goes by. So thankful for them.
4. I'm thankful for music. Nothing inspires or encourages me as much as good music. Here's my most recent fave:

5. I'm thankful for good books. Reading another killer novel, thanks to a recommendation from an author I met recently. I'll post the title once I get a little farther into it. A good book goes a long way towards making my commute fun!

What are you thankful for?

It's alive!

2011-11-02T16:15:00.001-07:00

This is how my commute looks when I am waiting for the next BART train. I'm loving having a camera that can make my boring pictures a little more artsy looking. Even though they're not.

I got this picture in an email from my dad, and at first I was like, "....the?" but then I read the tiny caption underneath:
""Please check your stock before you buy dear". The only thing mom has a greater supply of is Coke."

Because, you know, the world could end and we could possibly run out of Triscuits.

And in case you were wondering how long cheap LED tealights can last while lit, so far the answer is 48 hours. I took this picture last night, and they were still burning bright this morning. I've had them going since Monday. Aaand those are our pumpkins, too. In case you were wondering. The star one is Milo's, the angry one is Nolan's, and the uncarved, weird green one behind them is mine.

Quote of the day:

"I'm just waiting here to have my colonoscopy...yuk..after all the study, what could possess a Doctor to be a butt Doctor. I would not choose to specialize in any of the orifices. Just random thoughts." - Pops

Oktoberfestivus

2011-10-31T16:02:00.000-07:00

I guess I'd better back up a ways, since it's been a little while since my last post, and I've been shamefully busy since then. We've done a lot of things, like tailgating and cheering on stanford at a football game:

We were really just 2 more Stanford fans in a sea of crimson at the homecoming game...

AND we had excellent seats, even though we got separated from our friends.

Some of whom were seated in the Washington section. I got the below picture with a text that said "I am sitting literally this close to the Washington band". Hahaha!

And then I went to a pumpkin carving birthday party, in which we made some FANTASTIC pumpkins and sipped cider while we carved.

And I explored our neighbourhood some more, and discovered that almost every house gets radically into Halloween. Here's one example, and this is minus the giant inflatable spider and cat that were lurking on the sides and moving around.

Then I went to the first Halloween party solo....which inspired my black widow costume ;)

And right here, you can insert a whole bunch of pictures that I haven't uploaded yet from last night's party at our house, which was awesome and also TONS OF WORK. I'll post those later, after I sort through the hundreds of jello shots in my fridge and tear down streamers and lights and return tables. For now, this is what I look like RIGHT this second, because this is about as festive as I'm allowed to get at my job:

To make up for it, I brought some leftovers from our party the night before, and am SO happy to say that they're almost all gone. Phew. Like I needed more sugar.

More pictures to come eventually, and I'm long overdue for a thankful post!

Thankful Thursday

2011-10-20T16:11:00.000-07:00

I have this nasty looking front lawn. Mostly because Muffin digs holes in it, buries his acorns, and then digs them up later. It's all dry and pot-holed. So I thought I'd buy a little grass seed to fill in the gaps, and make it a little softer and prettier. Turns out my mom's advice of planting the seed around the time of the first rain was correct. The stuff took off and now my lawn has nature's version of a wonky 5 o'clock shadow.

Yes, that's a tiny pumpkin stake in my lawn. Nolan said he'd pay me a dollar each to take them out and throw them away, but they only cost me $1 each, so I'd rather eat the 3 dollars and have pumpkin stakes.

Time for some thankfulness, eh?

1. I'm thankful for a relaxed schedule this week. I've had very few plans, and it's been wonderful to catch up on things like CostCo runs and cleaning.

2. I'm thankful for technology. It allows me to communicate with my husband when neither of us are home to talk in person, and it allows me to spend an hour catching up with my little brother in Israel.

3. I'm thankful for the little things. Like the delicious roasted hazelnuts on my salad and a nice warm bed to curl up in when I'm sick and my weird green grass that's thriving and reminding me that even the driest seeds can sprout when they're watered enough,

4. I'm thankful for fun memories. Nolan and I were looking at some photobooth pictures we took a few months ago (I need to eventually scan them in and post them on here), and the sheer joy and fun you can see in those pictures. I laugh every single time I see them.

5. I'm thankful for my wonderful family, and how it never ceases to amaze me. I had a conversation this week with a relative that just delighted me, because it was so surprising.

On that note, enjoy your weekends! Take your vitamin C so you don't end up like me :(

A veritable storm of media

2011-10-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

After all of our discussions around apple products lately, apparently Nolan felt it necessary to send me this card while I was at work yesterday:

Touching.

On Saturday I had a couple short hours with Nolan once he woke up, and then after he left, I met up with the Ladds to pick out our pumpkins at a local patch. They had green ones:

And orange ones...and now between the ones I bought here and the 2 I picked up (with fake corn) at Lucky's, I have 5 pumpkins laying around. Why? No idea. It may have been the pumpkin spice lattes we had afterwards that just put me in a prolonged state of autumnal awareness.

On Sunday, we drove into the city to see our dear friends Brandon and Tiffany exchange vows. It was beautiful and perfect.

I even took a short video of it, featuring our fabulous friend Mat Park singing and playing during the processional:

Ladies, he's single.

Also there was almost our entire former small group, including Tom and Susan and their baby. Which meant dinner was a little bit of eating and a lot of pass-the-baby. He just looks super bored with Nolan pinching his little rolls. He's like, "sigh. okay, who's next. can we go home yet? sigh."

Insert same thought here. More sighing. But how cute does Ms. B look with a baby!

It's true what they say, about the only times in life when you really get to see all of your friends is at weddings and funerals. So glad this one was the former.

Later that night, at the Emergency Medicine dinner (this picture was right after the picture from Monday's post). Note the change of clothes necessary.

Our favourite Missouri couple!

Obligatory picture of Milo. Okay actually, I put it in here because it was the first real picture I took on my new phone, and it just happened to be while he was searching out the remnants of his old food bag (sadly for him, it was empty).

Hopefully tomorrow I'll wake up and:

a.) not be sick anymore

b.) there will be coffee brewed

c.) be rich and famous. or just rich. or just find out it's snowed in San Francisco and I have the day off.

Snapshot

2011-10-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

This photo from yesterday sums up a lot of our life right now:

I feel like we spend a lot of our time waiting for what's next around the bend. Waiting for the next step in our ever-changing lives. We spend a lot of time wearing clothes that aren't normal, because our jobs require us to and because we're rarely found lounging around at home. And I spend a lot of my time savouring every moment with Nolan, waiting for him to wake up and recover from his ridiculously demanding job.

But this picture also captures something else: that moment of calm that we have, where we can rest between engagements and just close our eyes for a second or 10 minutes before we have to get up and put on our game-faces. And do you see that faint glint in my eyes? It's happiness. And hope. Because even though we're still adjusting to this phase of life, we're happy. We have everything we could ask for. We have each other. And we have hope that sometime soon we'll get more time to spend together doing whatever we want to do. Most likely sleeping in and sipping coffee slowly, or riding our bikes to frozen yogurt and coming up with clever ways to win at Carcassonne. Travelling. Kayaking. The list goes on and on.

Until we get there,there are other things to be excited about. Like awesome fall food, good times with friends, the 15 minutes I get to spend with Nolan on Wednesday mornings (the only time we get between his 1 day "off" on the weekend), and the amazing fall weather we're having! It's made our home surprisingly warm for October. Milo's generally found on the floor, trying to cool off. He's used to huddling with me in the freezing San Francisco cold.

Not to mention the holidays, which are creeping steadily closer. I've already got half of our Christmas presents taken care of, and this morning I succumbed to my Christmas playlist, which I can actually load onto my phone now that I have more storage space! Sadly, while I was unashamedly listening to the Muppet Christmas Carol soundtrack, my coworkers were too, since I later discovered that my headphones weren't plugged in. Fail.

Thankful Thursday

2011-10-13T21:16:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I get my new phone (if they're in stock still by the time I get there), and so this is hopefully the last day of crappy iPhone pictures before I switch to decent iPhone pictures. w00t. It's definitely time: this morning my phone reset itself to January 2011...which means I lost all phone numbers, texts, pictures, emails, etc. that I had stored on there since January of this year. Bummer.

I love that Nolan and I have serious discussions about Milo while calling him "turduckin". Technically speaking, a turduckin is a chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey and then cooked. Nolan's been pretty specific that in this case, it refers to a chicken stuffed in a duck wrapped up in a giant TURD. To be fair, Milo lives up to the name.

I've got my fall decorations out now, and am just waiting for the weekend to fully enjoy them, bake something delicious, and sit in a bubble bath with fall-ish candles burning and my windows wide open. I love my life. One of my favourite new pieces is actually a Halloween chandelier that my mom got for me (which I'm going to re-use for Christmas and maybe every other season because I like it!), but the pumpkin candles were so pretty in it I couldn't resist dubbing it a plain old Fall decoration and showing it off:

Today I had lunch at Samovar with Jacob, who treated himself to the English Tea Service because of the nice day and the veritable garden we were sitting in. It was very colonial:

I almost left a tip in change, but Jacob talked me out of it. Like that one time I did it at a white-tablecloth place with Nolan and he was HORRIFIED and ran out of the restaurant before I finished pulling out all of my quarters. Apparently it's very insulting to tip in coins, but how was I supposed to know that? Money is money, right? It made more sense when Nolan painted the picture of the waiter picking up the checkbook and a bazillion coins flying out everywhere, and having to go around on his hands and knees picking up coins from under other customers' feet while explaining it was his tip. Sigh. Consider me chastened.

In other news: on with the post.

1. I'm thankful for my boss, who supports and encourages me. I always know there is someone "in my corner" at work. No really. She and I have cubicles together in a tiny, cold corner of our floor.
2. I'm thankful for the bible study I'm doing. It's making me be a LOT more diligent about quiet time. As in, 100% because I was FAILING at it before.
3. I'm so thankful for every single moment I have with Nolan. Sometimes I wake up a little when he comes to bed, and whatever feelings of anxiety or stress I had when I went to bed a few hours earlier by myself just melt away. I fall back asleep contented knowing he's there. I so can't wait to have more than 15 minutes with him (that's how much I got this week so far). On that note, I'm also thankful that we prepared ourselves for residency being terrible. Because as bad as it is not having any time together, it's not as bad as we thought. Maybe we're just learning how to handle it.
4. I'm thankful for the great weather! It's been gorgeous, and my grass seed has started growing!
5.I'm thankful for rest. Even when I'm worn out and mentally fatigued, a little rest goes a looooong way. And it usually means sitting on the couch watching Arrested Development reruns and eating my bowl of frozen blueberries.
6. I'm thankful Arrested Development is coming back for another season and a MOVIE!!!! Best.news.ever. (click to enlarge)

Wein

2011-10-10T16:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we went up to the ranch to visit los padres, and our friends the Ladds came to visit on Saturday! It was their first time actually exploring California outside of the Bay Area, so we thought: winemaking/tasting and cows and apple hill? Done. Except now that I think about it you can probably do a lot of those things in Missouri too. They just wouldn't be as cool there.

But it was a super fun weekend, and my parents were SO gracious to let us crash their house and eat their food and drink their wine. We basically all invited ourselves over and they said SURE!

So, some pictures:

And here they thought California would be so different from Missouri. Surprise!
Nolan gettin' some lovin' from one of his bovine friends.Pressing grapes to make wine!

Our haul of grapes! The master put us to work!

Lesson learned: don't wear a dress to pick grapes in.

The only other thing that's really been exciting for me since Friday was the twisted satisfaction of reading my email from Netflix this morning, recanting their decision to split dvd's off into "Qwikster". It was something delicious, akin to the feeling I get when I say, "I told you so!". Business strategy fail.

Thankful Thursday

2011-10-06T21:26:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to blog all week now, about how I heard a guy on the elevator telling his colleague that he went to a show called "Menopause" with his wife and that it took all of my energy not to turn around and say "duuuuuude". Also about exciting things like the iPhone 4S coming out, Steve Jobs passing away the same week (SOB), the grass seed I planted, the secret stuff I'm making for Christmas presents this year, blah blah blah. There have been a lot of fun things. But it's also been a busy week, with 2 bible studies starting on tuesdays and wednesdays, all of our talent review work coming to a head at work, reports due on top of that since it's month-end (or was), and trying to keep up with stuff at home. I can't wait for next week, when I'll have a better grip on things. So you can imagine how grateful I was when I got home today and Nolan swooped me up and asked me mid-tango how I'd like to change into my pajamas, pop in a movie and order Thai. Hallelujah. It looked a lot less glamourous than it felt:

But it was totally awesome.

Last Friday, we had a Diabetes Walk to raise money for the fight against Diabetes, and our entire building participated. Or at least, said they would. Here are the few and the proud from floor 22. I don't know what happened, but it's like only the young short ones from our group actually showed up. Also I KNOW the picture is upside-down. It's rightside-up on my computer, just not on this blog. I don't know what to tell you.

I also managed to get a picture of my car when I was at Target last weekend, because when I came out of the store I almost walked to the wrong vehicle. Can you spot the difference (besides the spoiler) on these cars? Please ignore how ridiculously dusty my car is - I washed it after I saw this! I'll give you a hint: one belongs to us and the other belongs to the enemy.

Can't guess it? I don't blame you - the picture is really not clear enough to see. But! I can tell you that while my car flies the flag of the Oregon Ducks, the other has a sticker and a license frame supporting the OSU Beavers. John, I thought you'd appreciate that I noticed!

This weekend we're heading up the mountain again for a little weekend getaway and some visiting. Our friends Eric and Erin (read: the other doctor/liberal arts match-up at Stanford) are meeting us up there on Saturday for some exploring in the area! There will most likely be caramel apples and winetasting and hot-tubbing.

Speaking of the weekend:

1. I'm thankful for a couple days to sleep in! I've been exhausted lately and I think it's because I've been sleeping terrible, which I THINK is because Nolan's been sleeping terribly.
2. I'm thankful that I've been productive through my tiredness and have gotten through a lot of my deadlines this week.
3. I'm thankful for STILL meeting new friends! It's so fun and encouraging that I feel like I'm overflowing!
4. I'm thankful Nolan's had nights free this week and we've gotten to hang out a lot. I missed him.
5. I'm thankful iPhone 4S has been released and I'm free to upgrade! Though I might opt for the 4 -- ylehsa pointed out that why would I spend the extra money to upgrade when the 4S isn't that spectacular in comparison to the 4? Might as well save the chunk of change for the iPhone 5. My only regret is Siri...
6. I'm thankful for pretty fall weather! I've stepped out of my car each evening when I get home, and I can smell wet pavement, apple spice, and wood fires. I adore Fall.

I was going to have a quote of the week here, but I thought I'd show you a snippet of our daily lives instead, because sometimes it's equally entertaining/boring/youtellme.

A: " So remind me why you keep putting eggshells in the disposal?"
N: "Well...that's where they go!"
A: "No, they go in the garbage. Tiny, soft foodscraps that fleck off of plates go in the disposal. Maybe you're thinking of egg PARTICLES."
N: "No, I always put them in there!"
A: "And I always dig them out! Trust me, when it's disposal vs. eggshells, the eggshells always win."
N: "....fine...."

A: "Hey look, a gold dollar coin! Thanks, Dairy Queen!"
N: "Oh yeah? Whose picture is on it?"
A: "Hmm...Millard Fillmore. I forgot about that guy."
N: "Hah! Shut up! No really, who is on the coin?"
A: "I was being serious! Millard Fillmore! Our 13th president!"
N: "We never had a president with a ridiculous name like that!"

That whole conversation reminded me of when I got an IM from Mason in college that just said, "Anneliese! Did you know there is a book in the bible called Nahum?! I just found it!"

Also I noticed today a few pictures had been posted from my gramma's 90th birthday party, so I'll post a couple below:

Seriously, this woman does not look 90.
The most decent picture I could find of my aunt and uncle who were visiting.
Me, my brother Rory, and his girlfriend Summer. At the kids table. Where my dad ate with us too.

Happy Weekend!

Thankful Thursday

2011-09-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-09-28T15:49:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

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'

2011-09-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

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!

What I've Learned About...

2011-08-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

I've never been a super-intense person about eating healthy or working out, but in the last year I've gotten more serious about it, and am feeling more energetic and healthy and loving it! So naturally, I thought I'd share just a few things I've discovered work for me:

1. Cut out most sugar. Especially sugary drinks. Seriously guys, this is a huge one. You all know I'm no scientist and therefore can't tell you how this all works, but I know that your body somehow stores sugar as fat, blah blah blah, liquid with sugar in it goes to fat stores faster, blah blah blah. Something like that. The point is, I've seen a noticeable difference since switching over to Splenda with some occasional natural sugars. Goodbye sugary coffees and sodas! Also candy.
2. Use all time for exercise. When I'm sitting on the BART I put my feet flat on the floor and squeeze my knees together the whole time, with 30 second rests between. The result is that my inner thighs have really toned up! When I'm sitting at my desk, I engage my lower abs and take turns lifting one leg slowly using only ab power, and then the other leg. 30 second rest in between sets of doing this, and I've got sore abs and visible results.
3. Do strength-training often! Muscle is the secret to your metabolism. If you're just doing cardio, you may keep your heart tuned up, but you won't necessarily keep your body looking fit. You need to do both. Muscle use burns fat, and the more you have, the more active your metabolism will be also!
4. Get plenty of sleep and help your body de-stress in some way (yoga is mine!). Stress and lack of sleep are common reasons for weight gain. Your body needs to recharge in order to function properly!
5. Vary your workouts. Don't do the same thing every day. I see a lot of overweight people on the elliptical at the gym, and I've been seeing them for over 2 years and they haven't changed a bit. My guess is they either are not eating healthy and having other good habits in their lives, or they don't understand that you can't just do cardio (see above) and you have to switch up your workouts. Intersperse strength-training (see above) to build up that muscle, and then use that muscle to burn off the fat and keep your heart pumping! Your body will get used to the workouts you do if you always do the same thing, and it will stop being effective.
6. Stretch! Stretching prevents injury, and keeps the lactic acid from settling in and causing aches. Aches keep me from wanting to work out, so I never stop dead in my tracks after a workout, but go straight to a long stretch session and sometimes roll out my muscles on a foam roller.
7. Exercise frequently. I exercise 7 days a week. Now, it's important that you give your body a rest and your muscles too, so I often do yoga workouts on the days that I need a "rest" or I go for a nice long walk. Those are low-impact, low intensity workouts that allow your body to recover while still keeping your muscles nice and warm.
8. Eat your protein! I always eat some kind of protein after a workout to make sure that it goes straight to my muscles to help repair them after using them. If you don't, you can risk muscle mass being eaten up by your body after a workout instead of fat.
9. Drink plenty of water! Water will help flush out harmful toxins from your body and keep you feeling hydrated and energetic.
10. Don't become obsessive. I used to track my calories and it caused me SO much anxiety. Some people weigh themselves to a fault. Whatever it is, don't worry about it! What's important is not how much you weigh but how healthy and fit and strong you are. Besides, your body weight can fluctuate so much each day anyway based on water retention, food, and muscle gain/loss.

My week usually follows this schedule:
Sunday - beachbody insanity plyometric workout
Monday - elliptical interval training for 45 minutes
Tuesday - yoga
Wednesday - pilates
Thursday - beachbody insanity plyometric workout
Friday - elliptical interval training for 45 minutes
Saturday - yoga and target area workouts (lower body/abs/etc.)

Since I can't run or swim, I have to be creative with my workouts, but I LOVE doing home workouts on downloadable videos. Today was a Pilates day, and after work I'm meeting up with some friends to walk The Dish in Palo Alto. Killing 2 birds with 1 stone! I know it seems like a lot of work to work out every day, but it's one of the things I've come to really look forward to each day! I feel fantastic afterwards, and my mood is much cheerier with all those endorphins pumping through me :)

Have any good tips or tricks that you've learned? Let me know! I'll leave you guys with this hilarious picture I found while browsing twitter:

May the odds be ever in your favor!

2011-08-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

My friend Erin was featured as a guest-blogger recently, so I thought I'd just share the link here to her post about, what else, love triangles! For any of you who know how much I love/hate a certain series, you'll find this post to be AWESOME...but if you haven't read The Hunger Games, be warned that there are some major spoilers. As for Twilight, I couldn't care less if you read them or not, so I won't bother with the spoiler-warnings there.

Tonight we're hosting a Settler's night with some friends down here we've gotten to know. Nolan got 2 hours of sleep last night, so I'm either going to annihilate him, or feel so bad that he can't keep his eyes open that I make a truce with him. Let the trading begin! My challenge is to NOT eat the entire cheeseball that I'm making, or continuously stuff the Lu's cookies in my mouth, per usuale. Generally I do fine not eating the pie or cake or big cookies, because all those things LOOK like a lot of food. It's the dips and tiny cookies and little bite-size things that do me in slowly, and then by the end of the night I discover that the dip is almost gone and I ate 3/4 of it. Boo.

My brother was supposed to fly out to Israel on Saturday, but due to Hurricane Irene, his flight was of course cancelled and moved back a week. So he'll be down again NEXT weekend for me to take to the airport. Another sweet week of rafting, In N Out, and sweet California-ness? I'd take it!

We've been hesitantly and slowly trying out new foods in our new 'hood. Finding good places to eat was a concern, let me just tell you, because after living in San Francisco (read: city of ALL GOOD AND MIND-BLOWING FOOD) for 4 years, we've gotten a little spoiled. The first Thai place we went to in the Peninsula: amazing. The first Indian: disgusting (in fact, tasted JUST like the boxed Indian food we tried from Target, which was equally disgusting). But the second Indian we tried this weekend: fantastic! And Nolan tried yet another Indian place with a friend last night: fabulous! And we've had some pretty great American food too, so there's hope. Suggestions for interesting/tasty places?

Thankful ThFriday

2011-08-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

A day late is better than never, right? I left my house at 6am yesterday to prepare for an all-day meeting, didn't leave the room the meeting was in until about 4pm, went home and relaxed for about an hour (which involved sitting at a fro-yo place near our house with Nolan and just shooting the breeze. probably the most relaxing thing I can think of!), and then hosted a hangout night for a bunch of girls from our small group that we go to on Sunday mornings. Some of the husbands went to the Dutch Goose for beers while we girls were chatting and snacking over wine at home, and they returned around 10 only to collect their wives and eat our cheesecake. Nolan also was on doctor duty, as one of the husbands came over with a deeply-sliced finger that needed stitches, so Nolan bandaged him up temporarily, and then actually stitched him up AFTER they got back from the Dutch Goose. Hah!

All this to say: forgive me for missing my thankful post on it's actual day. I don't think my thankfulness counts less on a Friday than a Thursday, anyway :)

So this week, among MANY MANY other things:
1. I'm thankful for relaxing times at home with Nolan. This is one way I really de-stress, and I think we've both needed some downtime after our busy days. We CANNOT WAIT until our week off! Which brings me to:
2. I'm thankful for only 5 more work days until our week off! I'm winding some projects down, and starting to prepare myself for vacation-mode. Which will hopefully REMAIN relaxing, and not resemble our old friend, the vacation/stress plot. Remember this?

I'm currently resisting the urge to bring my work computer with me on vacation.
3. I'm thankful for family. Some exciting things are happening that I'll mention later on. But also just generally, very grateful that we have such wonderful family around us that we genuinely enjoy spending time with.
4. I'm thankful that I get to sleep past 5:30am tomorrow. I know it's not THAT early, but I need my 8 hours! And that's just hard to do when you'd have to go to sleep every night at 9:30 to do so. I've been very sluggish and sleep-deprived this week.
5. I'm thankful for fun things! Tomorrow afternoon we're going to a 49'ers game with my parents, complete with field passes! Okay, to be honest I don't quite understand the allure of the field pass, but Nolan seemed to be excited about it, so that makes me excited!
6. I'm thankful for dinner tonight: just to be honest, dinner is one of my favourite times of day, because it means I'm (usually) home from work and ready to relax for a few hours. Friday night dinners are even better because they're often dinners out, and I know I can have wine and stay out late if I want, because I don't have to get up early the next day! Tonight's will be even better since my parents and little brother will be here with me! We're shipping him off to Israel for a semester on Saturday morning, so that's happening too, but I'm not thankful he's leaving us, so...that didn't make its own item on the list, hah!

Happy weekend to all!

Grimm

2011-08-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

I saw an ad yesterday for a new tv show that starts in the Fall, called "Grimm", and it's basically a police procedural about how our police force deals with fairy tale characters who have escaped into our world and committed crimes. If you know how much I loved The Tenth Kingdom, you know that I read that article and immediately blocked my calendar for those nights it will be on. BOO YA. Note: there is also another Fairy Tale show starting that I MIGHT consider watching, but it sounded a little more hokey and has something to do with fairy tale characters living a double-life here in our world too, somewhere in new england. Yawn (but secretly I'll watch a couple episodes and then give you my verdict). I just also learned that it comes from the writers of "Lost", so we'll see.

On an unrelated note, but not less interesting: I read that a recent poll found that during movies when people get teary, women most commonly try to hide their crying by claiming they have something in their eye (yep), and men most commonly try to hide their crying by hiding under a blanket. TRUE STORY. Though when I put my analytical hat on, I'm not really sure how they would actually get a valid statistic on something like that. Aren't 75% of quoted statistics made up anyway? Pun intended.

So...I love technology (a dieu, Steve Jobs). Yesterday I decided I was going to treat myself to lunch instead of heating up what I brought from home, just because I've worked hard this week and needed a little reward. Besides the coffees I'm having on Wednesday and Thursday (but that's only because I have early, long meetings and need something to keep my hands busy). I digress; the lunch I got was from Specialty's, as it generally is. I ADORE their spicy thai peanut salad, which is indeed VERY spicy. I was in a meeting a month ago eating that salad, and right as it was my turn to say something, I feel 2 drops of sweat rolling down my forehead. YES. And everyone's looking at me and I know it would be SO GROSS to wipe the sweat from my forehead as I'm speaking. So I just let it sit there. Of course looking back, that actually may have been more disgusting. I literally sweat because of the spicy-factor. I think my family should be proud that I keep going back for more! ANYWAY (sorry), I usually order my salad online, because my credit card is stored on there, and so is my password and login, and my previous orders show up there on the home page with a link that says "reorder". So all I have to do is go to that homepage, click "reorder" and then walk downstairs 15 minutes later to get my salad, which is waiting on the counter with my name written on it (yes really, and YES REALLY it is in our basement, so I don't have to go outside - the peak of laziness). So the other day I saw that they added a text feature to the ordering, so I entered and saved my cell number, and BOOM:
They immediately texted me that my order was ready. Between that and the text alerts telling me my amazon package was just delivered to my house, I'm in love.

Thankful Thursday

2011-08-18T16:24:00.000-07:00

2 weeks of reading War and Peace and I'm still slogging through it at only about 35-40% done. I cannot believe how slow this book is going, and I'm a fast reader! On the positive side, I've become ensnared by some of the plot lines, so I actually look forward to cracking it open on each BART ride and at the gym.

And I'm thankful for that, because I need me a good book like I need water. On to more gratefulness, yes?

1. I'm thankful for my job. I like coming in to work, I like my coworkers, and love what I do! And I've been praised and rewarded (I got a raise this week!) so that I feel appreciated and needed, and that's always a good thing.
2. I'm thankful for Nolan's day off today! I love it when he's home when I get home! And I love spending time with him <3
3. I'm thankful for coffee.
4. I'm thankful for my commute. Apparently the BART has been a rough ride for a lot of folks recently, impacted by protests, etc. I haven't been affected by this so far, and I'm still liking the commute alright.
5. I'm thankful for our new fridge. FINALLY. It's about the same size (boo) but it's a nice one, and most importantly: it works! Monday morning I opened our old crappy one that had broken already twice, and the door...fell off! And almost crushed my foot and then pinned me against the wall! THAT WAS IT. So I put in a "firm" call to our landlord with a couple demands. Heh.

I'm thankful for so many other things, and feeling particularly thankful this week to boot, but I also want to get on that "spending time with Nolan" thing! So happy weekend to all!

Thankful Thursday

2011-08-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

Today is going to be a busy day. It's going to be a 12-hour workday, not to mention the hour commute on each end. Needless to say, there is no gym time scheduled in there, so I got up at 5am to do some yoga before I had to leave for work, and started my day out just right. The only downside to doing yoga at home is when Milo darts between my legs and bites my arms trying to get me to play, or when I switch postures and my elbow comes down on his little skull as he's running through my hands. Poor thing. I found him hiding under the bed this morning after I conked him with my elbow. But! It's his own fault! And he got some treats out of the ordeal, so overall it's a win for him.

So I thought I'd start the day off with my thankfulness, before I'm worn out from my commute and long day and can't remember what to be thankful about except for bed and cuddling with Nolan. Speaking of which:

1. I'm thankful for even just the few minutes a day I get with Nolan to catch up and just sit together. Sometimes that's all we really need (and all we get!), to feel connected until we have a longer amount of time together. I know it's only going to get harder, but that makes me appreciate the present more!
2. I'm thankful for my 5am yoga option. It's a nice way to start the day, and a good way to work out some stress before a busy day. Plus it's great to know I can fit in some sort of physical activity, even when I have a packed schedule on some days. It's no Beach Body Insanity workout, but it'll do!
3. I'm thankful for Milo, even though he's a twit sometimes. It's so nice to have a little friend following me around at night and in the mornings when Nolan isn't home.
4. I'm thankful for our upcoming vacation for a week in September! We're not going far - just the foothills, but a mini-summer sounds SO GOOD right now. Gives us something to look forward to.
5. I'm thankful for a home with carpet. It's so nice to get up and not be freezing cold. You think I'm insane for saying that in the summer, but you don't know San Francisco summers. We were at a bonfire at Ocean Beach near our old apartment on Sunday, and I had 3-4 layers on and was still freezing, even during the daytime. I don't miss that at all. Even the tile floor in our new bathroom is warm, because the vent is stealthily positioned under the sink, but right above the floor, so that when you stand in front of the sink to brush your teeth, there's lovely warm air rolling over your feet and warming the tiles.
6. I'm thankful for the weekend! Watching Harry Potter with a friend on Friday (in the comfort of our home so we don't have to endure screaming teens), getting together on Saturday with a much-missed friend who is visiting from DC, sleeping in, baking, church, finishing a scrapbook, working out...it's gonna be good.

Happy (almost) Weekend!

Journey

2011-08-08T19:45:00.000-07:00

Today I travelled. I travelled in my car to the BART station, then on the BART to work, then at lunch I took BART to my eye appointment and back again, then after work I took the muni (asdkfkajsdf!!) to Stonestown Galleria to have the saleswoman at a store I went to yesterday, remove the security ink tag from a leather jacket I had bought (and which they had forgotten to remove - annoying!)...and then I got back on the Muni, took it to the BART station at Balboa Park, hopped on the train to the airport (because the Millbrae train was 12 minutes away), got off at San Bruno, hopped on the Millbrae train, rode that 1 stop to Millbrae, where I got in my car and drove to Safeway to get groceries, then got back in my car and drove home. All that on top of a super busy day. Like, the kind of busy in which I worked on Saturday in preparation for today. And the kind in which I thought to myself while driving to work this morning, "I wonder how I'll feel 10 hours from now when the workday is over". Needless to say, I'm now in my jammies, watching Milo lick out my salad bowl, and contemplating having a giant helping of frozen blueberries for dessert. I'm wiped.

Thankful Thursday

2011-08-04T15:56:00.000-07:00

Once again, I surface once a week on Thursday, and even then, a feeble attempt. No wonder my blog traffic is failing. I also have a raging headache because I'm weaning myself back down to 1 cup of coffee/day. I was consistently having one in the afternoon each day, now that we have a k-cup machine at work, but I'm trying to stop and my body is rebelling. Speaking of rebelling: I just finished the Hunger Games this week, and still HIGHLY recommend them. Though I will say that the ending left me feeling a little bit stupefied. If you're up for a slightly gory, dystopian adventure novel, these books are for you!

My plan was to read The Help next, followed by Shadow of the Wind...but somehow this morning I found myself buried in War and Peace again, and this time it's sticking. Must be the kindle's wicked influence to make me adore everything I read on it. Also the fact that I didn't have The Help on my kindle yet, and needed something to read on the BART and at the gym...and War and Peace was there from when I downloaded it before. Huzzah!

On to the gratefulness:
1. I'm thankful for our home, and it's capability to host 20+ people for a MASSIVE game night/party. We discovered this last night, when we did just that. Between the heat and discovering Milo cowering outside by the recycle bin and the huge amount of food leftover and severe lack of space, it was EPIC! And probably not happening again for a long time.
2. I'm so very thankful that Nolan and I have 2 nights to catch our breaths. We counted backward last night and can't remember our last night of just relaxing.
3. I'm thankful we're getting a new fridge! Oh, didn't I mention? Ours broke AGAIN this past week and we had to get rid of our food again. Second time in a month. Of course, this isn't exactly surprising considering the fridge is older than we are. Hooray for a new one!
4. I'm thankful for presents! Nolan knows one of my love languages is gifts (the other main one is physical touch), and so I felt extra-loved when he took me out last weekend and had me pick out 2 super fancy, gorgeous watches!
5. I'm thankful for lots of free lunches at work during the summer. It's a fun treat, and makes my life easier when I don't have to worry about what to pack for lunch.
6. I'm thankful for the amazing, clean air where we live. I love waking up in the morning and smelling the fresh, damp air through our window. It's infinitely better than the city air, which alternates between smelling like urine mixed with kibble and vomit-laced sewers. I highly prefer my air scented with jasmine and honeysuckle and not wondering what diseases I'm sniffing.

...and that's gotta be the best way to end this post. Happy weekend!

Thankful Thursday

2011-07-28T20:01:00.001-07:00

Is anyone else having a hard time believing that it's Thursday already? I mean, really. I'll be old and dead before I know it.

This week has been somewhat of a challenge in its own right - the weeks at work that I think will be relaxed always end up being ridiculous and busy, and then all this other stuff pops up conveniently. Like making appointments for the car and my eyes and my annual check-up and wellness appt and a teeth cleaning and paying bills and doing traffic school (oops) and running errands. I cannot even fathom how it all happens at one time like this. But there you have it. And then Nolan and I have been having issues sleeping. We thought it was the heat at first so we started iceboxing our room right before bed, and...no luck. It's so hard to get up in the mornings after poor sleep. So we're still stumped.

Fortunately, I have a ton to be thankful for.

1. I am thankful for the life Nolan and I have built together. I know it will be "under construction" as long as we live, but we like it and we're okay with that. We truly have a wonderful life.
2. I'm thankful Nolan is on Anesthesiology to start off his residency. Short shifts and plenty of down-time make for lots of time together!
3. I'm thankful for friends and family, who encourage and advise us, and are there whether we need to have fun or just talk.
4. I'm thankful for good food! My most recent favourite dessert is so simple: fresh raspberries, frozen blueberries, and sprinkled with Splenda. SO GOOD and so guilt-free :)
5. I'm thankful for my gym and the classes there and...I don't know, my work-out ethic? Whatever it is, I'm thankful for the opportunity to work out every day because it makes me happy and healthy and strong!
6. I'm thankful for late birthdays! I was sent a card and some money for my birthday, and it just recently arrived because of "routing" issues. Heh. So I took myself to Anthropologie and got the sweetest sugar and creamer set there that I had been eyeing for awhile to match my kitchen.
7. I'm thankful for surprises! My mom had bought tickets ages ago for a play this weekend, before realizing that not only would my brother be at OCS for several weeks, but also that my dad would be at a training in Tucson and she would be hanging out there with him this weekend! So that means...3 free tickets for Anneliese and Nolan! And Josh Brock, for the third one. So we'll be off to Sacramento to savour a lazy afternoon with the arts.

Happy weekend to all! I'll try to be more on top of blogging next week.

Thankful Thursday

2011-07-21T16:19:00.000-07:00

Obviously, the main thing I'm so thankful for today is my best friend and confidante and lover and playmate, my awesome husband Nolan. Since today is our 4th anniversary and all. So I'm just going to hop to it so I can get to celebrating!

1. I'm SO THANKFUL for Nolan. Want me to go further into detail? DO YOU HAVE 50,000 HOURS?
2. I'm thankful for good books. They've kept me riveted on the train, at the gym, on lunch sometimes, at home when I've got a few hours alone...there's nothing I love more than a good book.
3. I'm thankful for my in-laws, who are visiting today and this weekend! We don't get to see them that often, but they're a hoot and we always enjoy the time we have with them. I'm lucky to have such great family-in-law.
4. I'm thankful for the USPS as we know it. I heard on the radio that in the very near future, we could only be getting mail 3 days a week instead of 6, and that stresses me out. So even though they have no money, thanks, USPS, for still getting us our mail most days of the week.
5. I'm thankful for our vacuum. I got it specifically to clean pet hair out of our home, and it has done that WITH A VENGEANCE. I can vacuum 5 times a week and still get a huge ball o' hair each time (and not just Milo's hair :( ), which tells me this was an excellent buy. Friends with pet allergies: be grateful.

I'm off to start my weekend in style, so HAPPY WEEKEND to you all!

in the blazes

2011-07-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

Today, while stalking myself online, I made the not-so shocking discovery that my blog used to be so much better than it is now. I used to post pictures, videos, witty commentary (you know you like it!)...now I'm washed up and post stories about the freaking squirrel in my front yard. Life, have pity on me.

don't judge...you know you've googled yourself too.

I started a new book today, and can officially say that I'm now engulfed in the world of the Hunger Games. Seriously, I'm only 25% in (any other kindle readers measure books by percentages now?!), and can already let you know that this is going to be an obsession. I mean, I let myself go on the elliptical for lunch today, and 650 calories later...oops. I don't know how healthy it is to burn enough calories working out that you could eat a Chipotle burrito and be no worse for the wear. Well, half of a Chipotle burrito anyway.

Anyway: Hunger Games. I've been hearing about it for...awhile now. And since Ash U gifted me the kindle version a few months ago, and since Erin won't stop talking about it, I figured it was time to get started. Hello, bandwagon, remember me?

Last night I was plugging in Nolan's phone for him to charge. This sounds like a small thing, but seriously, he nevers remembers to do it, and then he is phone-less for a day or more, and I can't get through to him if I need something or want to confirm that he is picking me up in a whole different city after work and I don't want to be waiting there alone at the BART station for someone who HASN'T CONFIRMED THEY ARE COMING...anyway: I plugged in his phone and noticed that he had a picture of me from earlier in the summer, when it was as hot as the fires of hell outside, and we were stuck in Davis for the afternoon just whiling away the hours in the scorching heat. I look tired. But when I opened his pictures to see what other pictures of me he has in there...not snooping, just looking (hi Nolan! sorry!), I saw that apparently that is the only picture he has. No other pictures. At all. Just the tired-looking Anneliese one. Meanwhile I have probably 500 pictures of nothing on my phone. You know, Milo, weird things in San Francisco, Muffin the squirrel, myself, Milo, food, giants games, Milo. So naturally, I emailed that picture to myself. And now I'm going to post it on here, because I want you all to see what my summer vacation looked like. I can describe it: hot, park-bench, sweaty-butt, nasty Chipotle soda, slight sunburn.

All I can say is that I am SO GLAD I bought that hat in Vegas, because even if it ended up being pointless there, it came in handy for my one day of summer.

Thankful Thursday

2011-07-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

Next Thursday, I'll have a whole lot more to be thankful for, since next Thursday is our 4th wedding anniversary. I decided that I needed a picture, therefore, to kick off the week in style - celebrating both my anniversary and the arrival of Harry Potter 7.2 in theaters (midnight tonight!!!). I mean, fitting - right? We have tickets to see it tomorrow with a couple of friends right after we go to In-N-Out (tradition, eh!), and I CANNOT wait. I'm also excited about my anniversary though, heh.

But, that is next week, so...this week:

1. I'm thankful for opportunities. I won't go into detail just yet.
2. I'm thankful for upcoming vacations! I get 2 weeks off soon, one in early September and one in early December (hey, that is something exciting in my book!).
3. I'm thankful for challenges, as I mentioned last week. I'm currently reading a book that is challenging a lot of what I thought I believed, and while I at first found it extremely difficult to take seriously, it's starting to hit home a little more now. To quote the founders of America's obesity problem: "I'm lovin' it".
4. I'm thankful for those little moments where you just stop, take a deep breath, and think to yourself, "life is good".
5. ...

Sometimes I run out of things to say I'm thankful for, because it feels like I'd be leaving something amazing out. So I'll stop there for today and keep it short and sweet.

As a little treat, I found this today via a friend on facebook, and it is ALARMINGLY true about San Franciscans. Though, I don't really consider myself one anymore ;)
A Day in the Life of the Modern San Franciscan

Thankful Thursday

2011-07-07T19:40:00.001-07:00

I just wrote another sentence here about Muffin's antics and then realized that I can't possibly devote this much time to a squirrel (at least publicly), or I won't have any friends. So. Today I got my work computer replaced, because apparently they are doing this every 2 years now, and I had my first one replaced just about 2 years ago. I'm telling you - a new computer from Dell is like a junker from Apple (do those even exist?). This piece of crap is BRAND SPANKIN' NEW, like just out of the box, and it's already freezing up. Also nothing has really changed on it which tells me PC makers are just plain giving up on innovation.

Speaking of which: I'm excited to try Google+ , but has anyone else thought what a stupid name that is? That would be like if Facebook tried to launch a competitor to Google's search engine and called it "Facebook?" Seriously: marketing FAIL.

But onto things that make more sense:

1. I'm thankful the fridge is fixed. What a disaster!
2. I'm thankful for our new AC. Despite the obnoxious sound it makes in the middle of the night when it turns off and then on again, it's better than a hot house.
3. I'm thankful for the internet. For a lot of reasons, but today it's because it allows me to get a fantastic workout in my own living room without having to do something that kills my knee.
4. I'm thankful for good books. They pretty much make my commute awesome.
5. I'm thankful for the interns at work, because we order them lunch a lot, which means I get a nice, free lunch a lot.
6. I'm thankful it's July! More than halfway to Christmas! No, seriously.
7. I'm thankful I have friends and a husband who are going to see Harry Potter with me the day it comes out, because I couldn't stand going alone, but I also couldn't stand not going. Heh.
8. I'm thankful for challenging conversations. I couldn't grow without them, and secretly I love them even though they exhaust me.

Happy (almost) weekend, everyone!

Muffin

2011-07-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

Since we've put up the birdfeeder, there have been several menaces out there trying to harass the cute little birds that flock to it. Some are bluejays who sit on top of the feeder and shake it and squawk until the little ones are scared away. Some are hawks, and some are random cats who prowl along the fence. Then there's Muffin:

Our pal Muffin is the biggest squirrel on the block, who runs along the telephone wire to get to the trees with the feeder on them, and chases away the littler squirrels. In fact, the other day when it was in the 90s outside, I saw Muffin laying on the wire, passed out, with his tail drooping over the side and his arms and legs on either side, trying to get cool and at the same time ward off anybody else who might try to sneak some seeds from the feeder. As you can see, he likes to hang off of the feeder lazily. The other day, I was showing this bad habit to Nolan, when Muffin looked about to break the feeder altogether. So I threw open the window, yelled "MUFFINNNNN!", which scared him so much that he FLEW off of the feeder in a wild ball into the bushes, making squawking noises. I haven't seen him hanging off of that thing since. On the other hand, I also haven't refilled the feeder since then.

For my birthday (which was awesome!), I got a BBQ! EEEEEEE!!! Now we're real suburbanites. We test-drove it on Saturday night, then hosted our first BBQ with 10 people on Sunday before game night. Nolan broke out his manly skillz and fixed up a smokin' meal for us all. So naturally I snapped a picture:

And another picture of the BBQ itself:

Yesterday, on my very last day off, I was totally lazy. I woke up late, sat at Starbucks and read (and ate breakfast because our fridge had conveniently broken and all the stuff inside had gone bad), came home and did some yoga, then met my friend Erin at Riconada pool and just LAID there...for hours. Then came home while the fix-it guy fixed the fridge, and went on a double-dinner date with Erin and her husband Eric at Fresh Choice (where else?).

Thank you, everyone, for the birthday wishes!

Thankful Thursday

2011-06-30T15:38:00.000-07:00

As another week draws to a close (today is my Friday this week!), I find myself with more and more to be thankful for. But let's not get too deep and thoughtful, eh?

1. I'm thankful for new friends. We recently started going to a married small-group with a church in Menlo Park, and are meeting new couples our age and trying to get to know each other more. Tonight we go to Sky High for trampoline dodgeball (this sounds like a recipe for my first broken bone), then out to froyo afterwards. FUN! I'm also loving getting to know Nolan's colleagues and their spouses. Such fun people! Basically, there are a lot more opportunities than I'd thought.
2. I'm thankful for dropping gas prices. I think this was the first time I've paid less than $3.60 in awhile. Sad, but still :)
3. I'm so thankful for the time I've gotten to spend with Nolan. We just have so much fun together, and he is the only reason why I rush home in the evenings (when he's not working an evening shift).
4. I'm thankful for my conscience. I haven't been taking care of myself as well as I usually do in the past few weeks since we've moved, for one reason or another, and I can feel it. I don't really gain weight, but I soften up and stiffen up. I can't stretch as far or as easily in yoga, and my muscles ache after exercise because they're cold. I've also not been eating as well, and I feel guilty because I know it isn't good for my body. I want to be healthy, not just to look good, but because I want to feel good and treat my body respectfully. So my conscience helps.
5. I'm thankful for the amazing weather forecast we have for this weekend - and a new AC to help deal with the heat! WOO!
6. I'm thankful for efficiency. I know summers here at work are absolutely crazy times, and I've learned from the previous 2 summers at this job, exactly what I need to do to keep the machine well-oiled and things running smoothly so that I don't get overwhelmed. Hopefully it will continue this way!
7. I'm thankful it's my birthday tomorrow, because hey, who doesn't love birthdays?

With that, have a lovely 4th of July weekend!!!

pwned: residency?

2011-06-29T16:22:00.000-07:00

So far, I'm thoroughly loving Nolan's residency. I mean, he's gotten mornings and evenings to spend with me for most of the last week, and he looks good in those scrubs ;) Plus, he's being paid now (yay!) and is happy having something to do again. Saturday morning we had breakfast and went on a bike ride together. Sunday morning we went to small group and then church together before playing chess and eating lunch together. Monday night, we went out for a walk around 8:30pm in our pajamas, then decided we'd rather sit at a starbucks and sip hot (decaf) coffees while shooting the breeze. So we did. Tuesday I came home to him watching "Bridesmaids" with George (who's staying with us temporarily until his new apartment in Palo Alto is available). Tonight we're going to some friends' house for dinner and tomorrow night we're going to a trampoline place to play trampoline dodgeball with our small group. Friday we're celebrating my birthday with a fun dinner date, and we haven't even planned out anything after that, except a gamenight, pisco sours, and possible BBQ on Sunday night with friends. Does this sound like what I had imagined? NOPE. On the otherhand, he's still technically in orientation shifts, so...

SOB. I guess I won't get my hopes up, and just enjoy this time.

sub-urban

2011-06-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

Hola chickadees! Or, as Nolan said yesterday, "chick-a-poo-poo". Don't know why he called me that as I headed to bed, but I think it had to do with the fact that he was playing Warcraft, and sometimes that messes with his ability to communicate coherently.

Yesterday, we received 2 good things from our gracious landlords:
1. A new air-conditioning unit. Praise the Lord. Seriously, it is so weird to go from bundling up YEAR ROUND and having cold, raw chilblains always, to dying of heat stroke in my own house. But there you have it. So we're happy about that.
2. A new little bistro table for the front yard! This was just an after-thought from our landlords, who thought we'd enjoy a bistro table to sit at together on saturday mornings while we sip our coffee and watch the birds. See?

Speaking of birds: I also am going fully suburban here, because I bought my first bird-feeder. We have TONS of birds (even owls in the evening!) around our house, and thought it would be fun to get them all in one place. Also, Milo has been SO ENTHRALLED with it so far...the other day, he was staring so intently at the birds on the feeder that he totally missed a ginger tabby-cat slinking along our fence. Cat-sense FAIL. Anyway, it took the birds a day to get used to this new toy, but as you can see, after only 3 days, the stupid twits have already eaten half of the contents! This may prove to be an expensive habit:

We're also seeing some bullying so far. The other day a bunch of finches were happily munching on seeds, when a gigantic bluejay came and sat on top of the feeder and shook it heartily, knocking them off before flying off into the sunset, undoubtedly cackling to himself.

Nolan's been officially working for a few days now, and even got his fancy new scrubs that are emblazoned with "Nolan Caldwell, MD" on the chest. He looks so professional and smokin' that I attempted to take a picture on his way out the other day:

...but only caught him while eating his banana bread and scolding me about taking pictures at inopportune moments. Heh.

Tonight I am hanging out with the lovely Ash U at her place in our old 'hood, and so I drove into the city this morning, parked, and took the muni downtown. And let me just say: LIFE IS SO UNFAIR. Apparently, a week after we moved out of the city, the city decided that people in the Sunset need another means of transportation downtown (ya think?), and that the N-Judah is not good enough (...or even close in my opinion). So: they created the N-Express, which basically picks up folks until 19th avenue, which is pretty much where I got on before, and then it doesn't stop at all until Bush and Montgomery Streets downtown...which is a block from where I work. It took all of 15-20 minutes to get there, and there wasn't a single weirdo on it. Why didn't they create this 4 years ago when it would have made a world of difference for moi? Because San Francisco hates me. Deeply.

Quote of the Day:
Nolan (via text): "I love you like leather daddies love Andrew Cuomo."

Thankful Thursday

2011-06-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

I've come to realize that my Thankful Thursday posts are generally pretty vague. I mean, I am usually grateful for the week being almost over, for some random thing like my delicious lunch or the temperature in my yoga class being just right. But really, I realized the reason for this the other day in yoga. At the end of class (which is where I got the inspiration for these thankful posts), the instructor has us sit quietly for a moment, and asks us to think about something we're grateful for. When I try to pinpoint just one thing, I find my mind wandering over all the many things I'm grateful for, and come to the conclusion that I can't pick just one. I have such a richly blessed life that I can't help but be thankful for everyone and everything around me. So even though I've mentioned all of these at some point or another, I'm going to just be super general here, and mention those big-ticket things and basic realities that I am SO THANKFUL for. Because these are what I think of every single day. I'm not even going to explain each one because when I try to do that for these things, I always feel like I could say so much more, and ultimately end up saying not enough.

1. I'm thankful for my relationship and knowledge of God.
2. I'm thankful for my wonderful, amazing and perfect (for me!) husband.
3. I'm thankful for our parents and my 2 families.
4. I'm thankful for our awesome home.
5. I'm thankful for our little pet friend, Milo (who turns 5 today!).
6. I'm thankful for my friends, near and far.
7. I'm thankful to have reliable modes of transportation.
8. I'm thankful for our jobs and that we both love them!!!
9. I'm thankful that I spend significant portions of my days laughing...and can't remember the last time that I cried. Oh wait: I cried in Harry Potter 7 (part 1) when Hermione put a wreath on Harry's parents graves. Also when Dobby died. So there's that.

Because I'm slightly OCD, I tried desperately to come up with a #10 that was general enough to fit in, but all I got was little things like "my gym" or "that it's summer". So...I'm breaking the cycle and ending on an uneven number.

In celebration of the birthday boy, who is sleeping in the sun digesting his canned food right now (I'm sure)...

welted

2011-06-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

Due to the extreme heat yesterday, my sunny-side-up brain forgot to mention my weekend. So. Friday night there wasn't too much to mention - we got dressed up and went to a dinner in downtown Palo Alto for the Emergency department. We actually left early because Josh B arrived, and the rest of the evening was spent with him. We got up early on Saturday and gave Josh a biking tour of Atherton (trying to impress!), while he informed us of interesting little facts about our 'hood. Like:
-it is the 2nd most expensive zip code in the US
-it is 78% white (this is rare in the Bay Area, trust me)
-76% of the households in Atherton are married couples
-median income is over $200,000, with median home price listed as $4,000,000
...and most interestingly, notable current residents include:
-Shirley Temple
-Willie Mays
-Eric Schmidt
-Charles Schwab
-Jerry Rice
-Meg Whitman
-Cheryl Burke
...and of course many others...those were just the ones I immediately recognized.

After our biking tour, we had some coffee and breakfast and greeted our 4 other guys who had just arrived, and then the 7 of us drove down to Santa Clara for some paintballing! The courses were interesting there, with giant castles and sets that looked straight out of a warzone. There were 13 year old kids to 60 year old men playing, and the degrees of expertise were frightening. For example, Jacob got hit by a semi-pro shooter in the neck, and the welt ended up bleeding because of the force of the hit. I just got some minor welts, except for one on my shoulder where I got nailed TWICE in a row. It still hurts just to touch it, and I feel like I should explain to people that it's from paintballing and not that my husband is a wife-beater.

When we got back, everyone spent a few minutes stretching their aching muscles and stripping off their painted and VERY sweaty clothes, and then went home. Nolan and I lounged around all night eating cheese and crackers, and big glasses of wine. We felt like we deserved it :)

Sunday we went to church at Reality SF, then drove over to meet our friends Sam and Steven at Starbucks. We spent a few hours in the oh-so-hot sun chatting and catching up, then met our friends Jennie and Ross, who are visiting currently from Scotland. We only get to see them once a year, but it is SUCH a treat! I'm already looking forward to our next Skype date.

So that was pretty much it. Seeing as how we thankfully didn't finish the bottle of wine on Saturday, I'm going to treat myself again and take advantage of it.

Heat wave

2011-06-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

We have officially moved from the coldest spot in summer to one of the hottest (not really, it just feels that way in comparison). I mean, it's 9:30pm right now, and I'm sitting in my chair typing this and literally sliding down in my seat because of the sweat on my legs. Whew. Of course, it was also a monstrously hot day EVERYWHERE today, and so in a place where it's already been pretty hot...for example: today in downtown San Francisco while I was working, it was 84 degrees outside. How is that even possible for San Francisco? Anyway: normally when it's 60 degrees in San Francisco (the norm year-round), it's been 80 degrees here in our new neighbourhood. So you can guess what 84 in SF made it here :( Also Nolan hasn't gotten the AC out of the garage yet, so we haven't been able to use it yet. Just ceiling fans (which terrify Milo) and open windows...which don't do a lot of good when it's that hot outside. Nolan's been taking refuge in walking around in boxers only 24/7 and going through gallons of homemade blueberry iced tea.

Because I'm a psycho, I also decided to do a long workout in my living room tonight. I think I lost a pound in the first 30 minutes just from sweating it off, and the workout itself didn't have a lot to do with it.

Tonight my plan is to lay in bed in my shorts and tanktop, with my wet hair (bonus cooling points!), ban Milo/natural heater from the room, and just lay listening to the crickets as I fall asleep.

Nolan today informed me that the sweet new maxi-dress I bought was, in fact, a mumu. He also sent me a quote he heard on the morning show today: "mumus are for fat chicks". He's lucky his wife laughs at that sort of thing.

Thankful Thursday

2011-06-16T22:35:00.000-07:00

Another week, come and gone...and yet instead of mourning my life slipping away week by week, all I can think of is TGIF (almost). You doubters out there are probably typing me a nasty-gram about how I always forget Thankful Thursday...no, I'm not making that up - I have gotten those emails. Which also begs the question: why emails? There are almost never comments on this blog, but oh, there are emails. Anyway: it's late, but I'm still feeling thankful and taking the time to blog about it. Let's jump right in, shall we?

1. I'm thankful for my glasses. There are times when I really hate them and hate that I have to wear them, but when I have contact issues, my trusty Palin-esque goggles save the day. They also make me feel smarter, which is never a bad thing.
2. I'm thankful for Nolan's new colleagues! I got to meet most of them tonight, and they are GREAT. Really. I think I met a kindred spirit or two already. Thank God they probably don't care enough about me yet to google me and find this blog, or they'd exit the premises rapidly. Speaking of which: Nolan was standing in line at a gelato place today behind STEVE JOBS. And he asked to take a picture of him for a scavenger hunt he was doing with his colleagues, but apparently Steve Jobs just turned around and walked out without saying a word. While wearing his signature black turtleneck and glasses and jeans. So...not everyone down here is great. BUT: I love meeting new friends and also meeting those who will be some of Nolan's greatest supporters and friends over the next 3 years (at least).
3. I'm thankful for coffee. Sweet mercy, it's delicious and life-giving. Without it, I would have surely perished this week.
4. I'm thankful this week is over? After 2 days of straight orientation with our interns, one full-day trip to Sacramento with them (and a night in a hotel for me, in which I slept HORRIBLY...rendering that coffee VERY NECESSARY), and fire-drills left and right prepping for one thing or another next week, I need to just be "off" for a little while. I just need to get through tomorrow and then I'll be good.
5. I'm thankful for good friends and good fun! This weekend we're going paintballing in Santa Clara, and then up to Davis to visit some dear friends who are visiting from Scotland. Hi Campbells!
6. I'm thankful for this video that Ash U sent me, reminding me that life is too short to just sit around and wait.
7. I'm thankful for our fans in our house. Suddenly living in a place where it's HOT has actually been a shock. In a good way mostly, but it still means we've got to remember to open windows and turn on fans so we don't overheat. This heat also means, however, that I can ride my bike alongside Nolan as he goes for a run at 8pm and it's still warm and light outside. Fantastic!

Happy Thursday!

Happiness is an understatement

2011-06-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

Lately I've spent a lot of time just wishing things won't change. I know they will, especially as Nolan starts work in just a few short days...but our lives right now seem like nothing else could possibly happen to make them better. We're trying to live each moment we have and enjoy them, but in the back of my mind I can't help thinking about how little time I have left in this state. But: lest I slip into being a glass-half-empty kind of person, let me refocus my thoughts and say that perhaps things WILL only get better. Even though I don't see how it's actually possible to improve on how things are right now.

This morning, I got to go in to work around 11am, since I'll be on a "field-trip" of sorts with our interns until about midnight. I get to stay at a hotel in the city tonight as recompense and because the BART may not run that late, but how can I even enjoy it when I'm going to be so tired that I'll just fall into bed. Also: Nolan-less. BUT: waking up late and having breakfast and coffee with Nolan while watching the Daily Show and being lazy was so nice, it might be worth it.

Last week I finally gave in and went to get my wedding rings soldered together. Maybe it's because it's wedding season, but people have been noticing my rings more and commenting on why I have them separate, and how the diamonds on the band are always facing down because they flip over, blah blah blah. So I sat myself down and looked at why I hadn't done it yet, which was mainly because I just plain didn't want to. I like having them separate so I can just wear one...but then Nolan reminded me that when I just wear the band, I usually wear my cheap-o Mexican silver band anyway, and keep the other 2 in a box. Hmm. So I caved, and when I got them back, not only was it done BEAUTIFULLY with extra gold added to the bottom and polished and cleaned so that they shined LIKE THE SUN AND RAINBOWS AND UNICORNS, but they also did it for free, even though the estimate was $$$. So I gave them a smokin' review on yelp and proceeded to admire it gleaming in the sun all the way home. I'm still staring at it. I even tried to take a picture of it, but taking a picture of your ring sparkling is like trying to take a picture of the beautiful night sky: all you get is outlines and darkness and no stars at all. This could also be because my iPhone camera sucks.

Speaking of pictures...a few days ago, I received this text, with no message:

As it turns out, it was a wrong number. Epic!

Thankful Thursday

2011-06-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

Last night for dinner, we tried a Thai place in our neighbourhood that was biking distance. Ka ra Kade Thai is a tiny place with a sumptuous interior that serves delicious food and just may be better, in my humble opinion, than even Marnee Thai in SF. The pad thai was the most flavourful that I've ever had, and the Thai iced tea was creamy and tasty. The only downside was that the men at the table next to us ordered some vile sour dish that smelled strongly of vomit and farts, and it TOTALLY ruined the delicious mango and sticky rice we were enjoying. Ah well. We also got a little lost biking home because we tried a bunch of new routes that all turned out to be dead-ends...but eh.

Today:
1. I am thankful for my gym. I've been there everyday this week and feel so refreshed and alive afterwards-partly because of the excellent classes and partly because of the awesome facilities. I love going back to work after lunch all pink-cheeked and freshly showered.
2. I'm thankful for my kindle. The hours I spend each day reading are some of my favourite.
3. I'm thankful for the layout of our bathroom and how we can toss Milo in there at night when he's naughty without worrying if he has all he needs for a few hours. Thank goodness for his little extra room in there.
4. I'm thankful for the Internet. I signed up for a social group this week to meet people my age in our new neighbourhood, and I just don't know how I'd do such a thing without the glorious world-wide-web.
5. I'm thankful that Nolan starts work soon. I'm also sad because I'll miss seeing him so much, but mostly happy because I know how antsy he is to get started at the hospital!

I'm thankful for so many other things, but also, as always, that it is almost the weekend! Wahoo!

Tonight, we ride

2011-06-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

One of the best parts of living in a sunny, flat, friendly place, is that you can ride bikes everywhere. Last night, Nolan took me on a motorcycle ride through the lower part of the Santa Cruz mountains near our house, and it was breathtakingly beautiful up there. It smelled like mountain misery, and honestly I forgot how near to San Francisco we were. I'm determined to take my families up to those mountains when they visit, and eat at a cute little restaurant tucked away in the mountains, just to get a feel for it.

Tonight, we're riding our bikes to dinner, and then biking around exploring yet more of our amazing new neighbourhood. Maybe I'll finally get a picture of us on our bikes, but who knows. It's more fun to ride!

turds and whey

2011-06-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

We went up to visit my parents for the weekend, and it was so relaxing and nice...but there is nothing that compares to coming home to a place you love. Though, there are downsides to living in a residential area - we got out of the car and Nolan instantly stepped in a big pile of dog crap. Welcome to the suburbs. (I guess it's better than getting out of the car and stepping in a pile of human crap - that's San Francisco style)

Nolan's parents sent me a link to an article in the local paper up in his hometown, where they are lauding him for his graduation from Med School. As they should be! I guess it was just funny because he hasn't actually lived there in so long.

After a 3-week hiatus from working out (mostly), I'm back on the boat. And sore. So sore. I even opted for buying my own milk and whey protein powder to keep at work so I don't have to keep using protein bars. Apparently a lot of these protein bars have sugar alcohols in them, which cause gas, and the effect it has on me is this bubbling feeling in my stomach which is NOT comfortable. So. When I work out at home, I use powder with milk, and it's the biggest treat - the best part of working out. I look forward to a tall cold glass of it. So it's about time I look forward to my refreshing treat at work rather than the bubbling stomach.

Life is so unfair: I just spent time and money highlighting my hair and now all I can think about is how great my hair will look when I dye it dark again. Boo.

Cue the email from my dad telling me the best colour is "the colour God gave me".

Thankful Thursday

2011-06-02T20:36:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a whirlwind. So much for a 6-day vacation! Seriously: we drove up super late Thursday to Oregon, getting in at about 2am, then crashed for a few hours before I had to LEAVE for Coos Bay at 7am to start wedding stuff. All the crazy stuff and events for the wedding happened, then back to Brookings for a couple days in which we rested, but I still felt like it was just a weekendand not any longer, and then we drove back down home on Tuesday evening. FINALLY I had a day to just rest and relax at home on Wednesday before heading back to work on Thursday (today). And whoo boy. I had me a lot of emails to catch up on. Anyway: Wednesday was awesome in that we got tons of stuff done, and mostly finished cleaning up (ahem: Nolan's room...), and took some boxes to Goodwill in Menlo Park, which turned out to be a "Goodwill Boutique" (wtf) meaning they wouldn't take our crap at their upscale charity store. We lounged around...and even got in a good dinner and watched "Thor"...which was a cool movie but not necessarily a great one. Eh. Also we ate pears. And DID WE EVER eat pears. Since one of the themes of the wedding was "the perfect pear", there were boxes upon boxes of pears left over, and guess who got to eat them in every single salad and at each meal and OH BY THE WAY WHY DON'T YOU TAKE A BOX HOME WITH YOU. I've been burping up pears for days now, AND WORSE. It's a good thing it's one of my favourite fruits, because otherwise I would have died of pear overdose a couple days ago. Also handfuls upon handfuls of pear candies = terrible idea. I spent the car-ride home listening to Milo cry while my insides threatened to hurl up pear jelly-bellys like an automatic weapon. Anyway. The good parts. The wedding went off without a hitch, and the rain even held off long enough to get some good shots outside, although I have to say that if you're reading this, Chelsey, you owe me a coffee for nearly making me go into hypothermia out there. xoxo.
Want to see?
Don't they look lovely?! Picture courtesy of (meaning I yanked it from facebook) Applewood Photography.
Also the less significant Caldwells at the wedding cleaned up pretty nicely (at least for the rehearsal: I don't have any good ones from the actual day yet):

And right here, I'm going to tell you that I'm putting up pictures of our new place (w00t w00t!) at the end of this post, but you have to slog through my thankfulness to get there. If there's anything I've learned from marketing and the business world...

1. I'm thankful for the GORGEOUS weather at our new home. I think I'm going to be thankful for this every single week FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. But seriously.
2. I'm thankful my sister-in-law and her new hubby are getting settled into their new lives. Such an exciting time and they had such a great send-off! But I'm a little bit thankful the wedding madness is over, heh. And I didn't even do that much for it!
3. I'm thankful I got to take yesterday off. I needed a lazy/productive day around the house.
4. I'm thankful we're done moving in at last!
5. I'm thankful for pears and other tasty foods, but please God, I need a little something else.
6. I'm thankful that I'm still enjoying my morning commute, and SPEAKING OF:
6b. I'm thankful that the Millbrae BART station always, ALWAYS smells like warm chocolate chip cookies in the mornings. I don't know why, and I probably don't want to know, but after the foul stenches of the Muni and of San Francisco herself...warm chocolate cookies? YES PLEASE.
7. I'm thankful for Nolan's new motorcyle. Oh, did I mention he got a new motorcycle? And that it's beautiful and perfect and purrs like a kitten? You should see how happy it makes him. Along with his new bikes, and his new egg-shaped car...sigh.

If you're still reading by now, you probably want to see pictures of our new home. Ready? Obviously these aren't all of them (I didn't include a picture of Milo's "room" or of the garage or the hallway, or random other angles, blah blah blah...but you get the picture.):

Kitchen:

Kitchen with our little dining area and leaf-less table:

Living Room:
What you didn't see in the previous one:

Bathroom:

Separate shower! Love!

Guest bedroom/Nolan's office/MANCAVE (Milo obviously needs his man time too):

Our bedroom:

Want to see more? Come visit us!

Thankful Thursday

2011-05-26T16:12:00.001-07:00

Today, I'm simply thankful that I'm leaving on vacation for 6 days. Y'all know I need it.

Will post more later.

xoxo

I prefer carcassonne to carcass

2011-05-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

This Oatmeal article was pretty much written for us...

In other news, my house is staying brilliantly clean because I've been tenderly loving up my new vacuum. I'm serious - who knew there could be that much cat hair/human hair shedded every few days? This is why I got the special "pet care" vacuum. Also our shower has the most excellent shower pressure/amount of water EVER, and it is SO GLORIOUS having a dishwasher and a clothes washer and dryer. You have no idea.

With the exception of the rotting rotisserie chicken carcass that Nolan left in our always-warm oven (and we discovered last night by the putrid stench wafting through the house), our house has generally smelled like a clean, apple-cinnamon department store (with an underlying hint of bleach as I frantically scrubbed the bathroom with it yesterday). And really: the chicken? That is a familiar story that I thought we had left far behind us, NOLAN. Apparently he's trying to force me into vegetarianism by using only the power of my nose and the feeling of nausea generally connected with it.

Bliss

2011-05-23T19:52:00.001-07:00

On the first of what is sure to be many beautiful-weather weekends here in Atherton, Nolan and I spent quite possibly the most perfect Saturday in complete laziness. Woke up late, I sat at Starbucks and read for awhile, then we both hopped on our cruisers and took our sweet time biking to Stanford campus in the sunshine, and even got sunburns to show for it. We biked all around the campus and marveled at the beauty of it, then biked back towards home. We stopped at Starbucks and sat in the sun and sipped passion iced teas while talking about life, and then slowly pedaled back to our home and ate lunch. Then we hopped in the car, drove to Fremont, and bought Nolan a new motorcycle! I would post a picture, but I just can't do it justice, so I'll wait until I have a good one. But I will say that it was a smokin' deal and it's an absolutely gorgeous bike. Nolan's found his new mistress. We drove it home (he was happily weaving across our little road near our house), and then went to CostCo for some leisurely shopping and sampling. And there was literally like 50 sample carts. Smmmhhh! Then we came home and ate dinner and finished watching "Eat, Pray, Love", then drifted off to sleep with the fan on. Utter bliss.

Sunday was a little more hectic - we tried a new church in the area, both knew immediately (as in, within exactly 2 minutes of finding seats) that it was NOT a good fit for us, left, and drove to the city for the service at Reality :) Ah, well. Then we picked up Ash U and got Santung before heading back home to get ready for game night with several friends at our house. I should mention that Nolan forgot to eat breakfast, so he was SO hungry right after church and could not wait to get home to eat, so he rummaged through the remaining CostCo items in our trunk, dug out a can of chili, and ate it. With a playing card. Yep, my husband the doctor is super classy when ravenous. Fortunately, I grabbed my phone in time to capture the devouring:

Yep. Uncooked chili with a 9 of clubs.

Thankful Thursday x2

2011-05-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, our lives changed in a few big ways. The first, is that Nolan graduated from medical school, marking the official end to his long education and all of his hard work. Of course, he'll have residency and maybe fellowship and other educational opportunities he'll need to take part in, but he is now no longer a student. The second big change is that we moved out of San Francisco, and down to Atherton/Redwood City on the Peninsula. I still commute into the city for work (looong commute!), but other than that, we're officially in the 'burbs, baby. Moving has been long cited as one of the most stressful events a person can go through, and we're feeling pretty lucky to have gone through it pretty simply, with a lot of help from friends! So there is a lot to be thankful for:

1. I'm thankful for our new home. Each morning, we wake up to the sun in the windows, the cushy new carpet, and coffee smelling up our warm house. Milo loves sitting in the windowsills, watching the birds. And 2 nights ago while I was folding laundry (BECAUSE WE FINALLY HAVE A WASHER AND DRYER, PRAISE THE LORD), there was an owl in the tree out the window, hooting away. And I felt really peaceful and relaxed for about a minute, before Milo starting freaking out about it and twitching and making little chirping noises.

2. I'm thankful for our bikes! It's been super fun to have bikes to ride in a place we can actually enjoy them! Last night we biked around our area and got something to eat and a nice warm churro for the ride home. Bliss. Plus I'm a big fan of my cruiser.

3. I'm thankful for my commute. Yes, you heard that right. Even though it's long, it could be SO much worse. And I leave to and from work at such times, that there is practically no traffic on the 101. Generally, I just hop in my car with my coffee, listen to the Sarah & Vinny show on the radio, then park and hop on the BART at Millbrae, which shuttles me directly to my building in exactly 30 minutes. SWEET MERCY I've been missing out, riding the MUNI all these years.

4. I'm thankful for our friends and family, who helped us move smoothly and quickly, and made it, dare I say, FUN? Then again, I wasn't the one carrying the heavy stuff.

5. I'm thankful that I have vacation coming up next Friday. Even though it's only 6 days off, it is MUCH NEEDED.

6. I'm thankful for Nolan, as always, who is truly my media naranja and partner-in-crime (uhh, literally). Would I be overdoing it on the cliches if I said My Life Would Suck Without You?

Happy Weekend, all...I hope you enjoy the weekend (and Friday) as much as I'm going to!

Party in the USA

2011-05-10T19:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight, Nolan and I are headed off to a partay for all the UCSF folks who are graduating/not graduating but want to celebrate/people like me who are just married to a UCSF person. So we're off to 111 Minna, which is an art gallery and I feel a little bit like I'm going to be in a movie where people are way cooler than me, have a fancy sounding cocktail in their hand while mingling with other cool people while checking out art. I will most likely be following the appetizer guy around all night and looking for excuses to talk about Milo. What can I say, I'm a desirable partner.

Our house is slowly but very surely getting all packed away and cleaned. It's hard to pack up and all the time that takes while at the same time trying to enjoy your last few days...I have been to Santung twice in the last few days just to enjoy it while I have it close. And even looking at this picture from last night makes my mouth water:

Also, I realized just now that I have some pictures to post from when my parents came to visit me several weeks ago. For example, Alcatraz (this is the main cell block...igh):

Also we witnessed two epic fails. One was the breadmaking machine at the Boudin's factory, which was supposed to cut out tiny little balls of dough...and we watched as hundreds of those little balls stuck together and clogged the machine. Nobody noticed 'til it was falling onto the floor. See? Bread fail:

Also a sign fail that we saw in a mexican restaurant we visited:

And then I also found this picture from like 2 weeks ago when we signed our lease for our new place, and celebrated at Fresh Choice...one of our FAVOURITES. Nolan may or may not have gone back to the food bar 5 or 6 times when I took this picture during dessert:

Thankful _________

2011-05-06T15:41:00.000-07:00

Since I was in training and packing the last 2 days, I wasn't able to get to my normal Thankful Thursday post...so here it is (albeit on Friday, if you'll forgive me):

1. I'm thankful for the gorgeous weather we've been having. Makes a HUGE difference in my daily happiness level :)

2. I'm thankful for the more relaxed week I've had. I really needed a lighter workload and I got it. Thank goodness.

3. I'm thankful for Nolan because he takes care of me when I'm sunburnt and sore and nasty. He deserves a prize for all this and more.

4. I'm thankful we're making progress in our packing! Finally things are starting to disappear and get packed safely away, ready for next weekend.

5. I'm thankful for our resources. We've had so many huge expenses lately (and are adding even more on in the next couple days...stay tuned), and have come out no worse for it (relatively speaking!). Whew.

6. I'm thankful for our friends who are pretty much the only reason we're feeling sad to be leaving the city.

7. I'm thankful for a lot of things, but mostly that it's Friday and time to start the weekend! WOOOO!

EPIC

2011-04-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

Okay fair readers, for some fun and in celebration, ylehsa and I are sharing our live-chat from the royal wedding...no holds barred! So if you read below and find us immature, ridiculous, and shallow...well, what can I say. To be fair, it was 2am - and I left a few italicized notes in the margins for you, as well as the slightly annoying timestamp so that you can see exactly what point of the festivities we were at. Enjoy!

Anneliese Caldwell 2:14AM HAY
Ashely Young2:14 AM omggggggg
Anneliese Caldwell2:15 AM hhahaha
Ashely Young2:15 AM are you watching it
Anneliese Caldwell2:15 AM YES are you watching wills drive out now
Ashely Young2:15 AM i was totally disinterested until like 39 seconds ago
Anneliese Caldwell2:15 AM why else would i be up so damned early
Ashely Young2:15 AM haha! he looks so handsome!!! tear*
Anneliese Caldwell2:15 AM i was asleep until 5 min ago. i was thinking i would just doze off here
Ashely Young2:15 AM i've been up since...yesterday haha
Anneliese Caldwell2:15 AM hahah omg, did you not go to bed
Ashely Young2:15 AM no. i'm working. so i can't really skype video right now. my computer is about to explode as it is
Anneliese Caldwell2:16 AM you know what - he looks handsome because he is wearing a hat
Ashely Young2:16 AM hahahaha! so sad but true. he's getting married todayyyy
Anneliese Caldwell2:17 AM i know, but it is so exciting! wait so when you say no skype, do you mean no chat on skype or no video
Ashely Young2:17 AM also, i'm designing a wedding album right now. no video
Anneliese Caldwell2:17 AM because no video is fine. ok
Ashely Young2:17 AM i'm surrounded by weddings!
Anneliese Caldwell2:17 AM i haven't even gotten up to get my coffee or english muffin. i cannot tear myself away OMG he is there. this is history right now. umm harry looks hot too
Ashely Young2:18 AM sjdlfkjsldkfjlskdfj. he kind of looks like a rabbit. a;lskjdf;kasj;ldkf. omgggg. harry is so cute
Anneliese Caldwell2:19 AM aww they are so cute together
Ashely Young2:19 AM not for long...
Anneliese Caldwell2:19 AM haha
Ashely Young2:19 AM no leave the hat on. omg srsly --(William doffs his hat to enter the Abbey)
Anneliese Caldwell2:19 AM i know, hahaha. i cringed
Ashely Young2:19 AM haha. oh well. what can ya do. what would it be like to be in their circle of friends. so bizarre.
Anneliese Caldwell2:20 AM yeah I KNOW. also are you watching nbc or what channel? because on nbc they just said that will makes fun of harry a lot for 1. because he won medals in afghanistan
Ashely Young2:21 AM yeah i'm watching nbc
Anneliese Caldwell2:21 AM and 2. because he has so much more hair HAHAHAHAH
Ashely Young2:23 AM martin bashir is a christian btw. like. i'm pretty sure he's hard core. which makes me like him a lot. haha. also his accent
Anneliese Caldwell2:25 AM who is martin bashir
Ashely Young2:26 AM the guy who's talking, with the accent. i agree with them about the dress. how it was kept a secret. SO TRADITIONAL SO SWEET
Anneliese Caldwell2:27 AM YES and romantic
Ashely Young2:29 AM lol at the busses
Anneliese Caldwell2:29 AM laksdjfio this is so fascinating
Ashely Young2:29 AM i KNOW!
Anneliese Caldwell2:29 AM i am wide awake
Ashely Young2:29 AM omgggg haha. i'm going to go get some earl grey in a sec
Anneliese Caldwell2:30 AM ALSO omg i was just about to say i'm about to get coffee in a sec
Ashely Young2:30 AM haha ALSO:
Ashely Young2:30 AM i want to savor the moments. MAH SCONE
Anneliese Caldwell2:30 AM i am breaking my fast per nolan's tradition
Ashely Young2:30 AM IT WAITS ME
Anneliese Caldwell2:30 AM and having a VENTI ICED WHITE MOCHA this morning
Ashely Young2:30 AM omgg
Anneliese Caldwell2:30 AM when i get to work
Ashely Young2:31 AM the bellssss! wow. this is happening really fast. i expected them to drag it way out. hey. james. 24...eh. nvm. haha
Anneliese Caldwell2:34 AM haha yeah forget him
Ashely Young2:35 AM here comes the clown --(charles and camilla sighted in their car on their way to Westminster)
Anneliese Caldwell2:35 AM lol who charles? HAHAHAHHA
Ashely Young2:35 AM yes
Anneliese Caldwell2:36 AM lol sidenote: i think princess beatrice is so pretty. eugenie = ok, haha
Ashely Young2:36 AM who are these people. omg. these people are so hideous. I LOVE IT! they're like. straight out of a jane austen book. omg cinderella's evil step sisters. AH! boo.
Anneliese Caldwell2:45 AM what? who are you talking about
Ashely Young2:45 AM "ah" to the queen
Anneliese Caldwell2:45 AM hahaaha
Ashely Young2:45 AM boo to charles not being skipped over. hahaha
Anneliese Caldwell2:45 AM oh yeah
Ashely Young2:46 AM ah! there are no breaks for me to go warm up my scone!
Anneliese Caldwell2:46 AM another reason i love coffee: i like it because milo hates coffee and therefore it is safe
Ashely Young2:46 AM i can't miss anything
Anneliese Caldwell2:46 AM wait i just did. i now have coffee and my english muffin
Ashely Young2:46 AM dammit okay
Anneliese Caldwell2:46AM AH! you have 5 min!
Ashely Young2:46 AM i'm going to RUN into the kitchen! BEE R BEE
Anneliese Caldwell2:46 AM ok the queen is so cute!
Ashely Young2:52 AM omggg the neckline is so gorgeous!
Anneliese Caldwell2:52 AM OHEMGEE. that is like my dream dress. if i did it all over again i would wear that and I'M NOT JUST SAYING THAT NOW. omg omgomg. this is so exciting
Ashely Young2:53 AM hoooooooooooo!!!!!
Anneliese Caldwell2:53 AM ALSKDJFIOEJFDS
Ashely Young2:53 AM luckily, i haven't gotten married yet. BOO YA
Anneliese Caldwell2:53 AM SHAT AP
Ashely Young2:54 AM i'm ganna make you so jeeeelusss
Anneliese Caldwell2:54 AM hahaha "she's really enjoying this!" hahaha
Ashely Young2:54 AM haha right...as she shats her dress
Anneliese Caldwell2:54 AM she does look like she is
Anneliese Caldwell2:55 AM LLOLOL!!!! omg can you imagine.
Ashely Young2:55 AM hahaha oh man
Anneliese Caldwell2:55 AM a foul wind blows down the aisle
Ashely Young2:55 AM that would be just...oh man
Anneliese Caldwell2:55 AM Y E S! and yet i think i like her so i don't want that to happen haha
Ashely Young2:55 AM ya
Ashely Young2:55 AM awwww chillins
Anneliese Caldwell2:56 AM wow
Ashely Young2:56 AM that girl's dress is pretty
Anneliese Caldwell2:56 AM pippa looks amazing too yeah
Ashely Young2:56 AM she's like going to faceplant haha
Anneliese Caldwell2:57 AM does it seem to you that: pippa may be dressed too prettily and in white?
Ashely Young2:57 AM haha yes.
Anneliese Caldwell2:57 AM upstaging the bride if you will
Ashely Young2:57 AM white! so bad.
Anneliese Caldwell2:57 AM if you had worn that to my wedding...i would have murdered you. although kate picked that dress for her so who knows
Ashely Young2:57 AM and walked in just that way. duh news people
Anneliese Caldwell2:58 AM i know seriously
Ashely Young2:58 AM men. pff.
Anneliese Caldwell2:58 AM also if her car hits the brakes her dress is screwed by the car tailing them
Ashely Young2:58 AM why.
Anneliese Caldwell2:59 AM its like RIGHT behind her
Ashely Young2:59 AM oh
Anneliese Caldwell2:59 AM not as bad now
Ashely Young2:59 AM haha if that was like, just some random person
Anneliese Caldwell2:59 AM how elegant "the duchess of cambridge"
Ashely Young2:59 AM SWOON
Anneliese Caldwell2:59 AM countess of strathearn, lady ____whatever the irish name is
Ashely Young2:59 AM omg the kisssss i'm going to cry
Anneliese Caldwell3:00 AM yes but by then i will be asleep hahah OMGOMGOMG
Ashely Young3:00 AM what.
Anneliese Caldwell3:00 AM hahlksdjfoiawuelkadsjf okay: silence. -- (this is when the ceremony and walk down the aisle started - meticulously on time if you'll note the time stamp)
Ashely Young3:00 AM lksjdf;lkj okay
Anneliese Caldwell3:07 AM ok sorry i just have to say prince harry is adorable and cheeky
Ashely Young3:08 AM haha i know omg i cant believe this is a real thing and not a movie eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! k done
Anneliese Caldwell3:08 AM i know!!! omg he just told her she looked beautiful, i read.his.lips.
Ashely Young3:08 AM hahahaha omg IM DYING
Anneliese Caldwell3:09 AM HHHHHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Ashely Young3:09 AM jhgkjhkjhkjhkhlkjh;kjh
Anneliese Caldwell3:09 AM well. it's a good thing she did NOT actually crap her pants. though i spose it isn't too late
Ashely Young3:09 AM yes that would have been unfortunate
Anneliese Caldwell3:10 AM the welsh rugby anthem hahah oh elton
Ashely Young3:10 AM i always think of charlotte church when i hear this song. his lovah is HOT haha
Anneliese Caldwell3:10 AM what, you mean her lovah
Ashely Young3:10 AM his: elton
Anneliese Caldwell3:10 AM OH. yeah.
Ashely Young3:11 AM and i meant hotTER than him
Anneliese Caldwell3:11 AM david furnish hahaha
Ashely Young3:11 AM not universally
Anneliese Caldwell3:11 AM right. hhh is this what we are talking about? focus.
Ashely Young3:11 AM k
Anneliese Caldwell3:11 AM my coworker looks just like david cameron's wife. weird
Ashely Young3:12 AM ps i wish we had a blog where we could post this conversation
Anneliese Caldwell3:12 AM yes.well we do kind of or
Ashely Young3:12 AM you do
Anneliese Caldwell3:12 AM we could pick one of ours
Ashely Young3:12 AM oo! k shh
Anneliese Caldwell3:12 AM want me to? k
Ashely Young3:12 AM (omgggg p and p!!!)))) --(the marriage ceremony and vows were the same used in Pride and Prejudice - the old version)
Anneliese Caldwell3:12 AM !!!!!!!!!!i know this by heart hahaha
Ashely Young3:13 AM me toooooooo
Anneliese Caldwell3:13 AM omg i wonder if she picked it this way
Ashely Young3:13 AM flash to lydia
Anneliese Caldwell3:13 AM yeah HAHA i thought that SAME THING
Ashely Young3:14 AM hahaha
Anneliese Caldwell3:14 AM SMILE YOU WENCH
Ashely Young3:14 AM she's scared!
Anneliese Caldwell3:14 AM jamon! cuesome woman wailing in the street right now
Ashely Young3:14 AM she'll regret it later haha
Ashely Young3:14 AM rustle, rustle
Anneliese Caldwell3:14 AM cough
Ashely Young3:15 AM OMG THIS GUY
Anneliese Caldwell3:15 AM i know i was just about to say that
Ashely Young3:15 AM "Mawaige"
Anneliese Caldwell3:15 AM i know what they are saying to themselves RIGHT NOW "what if i said something just as a joke"
Ashely Young3:16 AM the queen would beat them with a sceptor if they did anything wrong. hee hee. wow
Anneliese Caldwell3:16 AM yes
Ashely Young3:16 AM for some reason i forgot he had a sexy accent.
Anneliese Caldwell3:16 AM he's still cute HAHA
Ashely Young3:16 AM holy shat.
Anneliese Caldwell3:16 AM we were thnking the same thing again
Ashely Young3:16 AM i have 30 seconds!
Anneliese Caldwell3:16 AM what are you talking about
Ashely Young3:17 AM before he's taken
Anneliese Caldwell3:17 AM ugh
Ashely Young3:17 AM sob
Anneliese Caldwell3:17 AM no but we love them together!
Ashely Young3:17 AM he's like going to crack up
Anneliese Caldwell3:17 AM look how much he loves her
Ashely Young3:18 AM this guy should do voice overs. oh no
Anneliese Caldwell3:18 AM oh no -- (William has a very difficult time getting ring on Kate's finger...)
Ashely Young3:18 AM HAHA
Anneliese Caldwell3:18 AM HAHHAA
Ashely Young3:18 AM HAHAHA
Anneliese Caldwell3:18 AM how disastrous. at least he got it on! i was worried
Ashely Young3:18 AM PHEW
Anneliese Caldwell3:18 AM this archdeacon could fly away with his eyebrows
Ashely Young3:19 AM HAHAHAHAHA she has a cute nose.
Anneliese Caldwell3:20 AM yes well she is cute, and so is he
Ashely Young3:20 AM and so is harry
Anneliese Caldwell3:20 AM if only he borrowed some of THE DONALD's hair. well. i didn't notice before how hideous eugenie's dress is. it's like that nightmarish concoction the 3 fairies made for sleeping beauty without magic
Ashely Young3:25 AM is that her brother
Anneliese Caldwell3:25 AM yes
Ashely Young3:25 AM the cross dresser?!
Anneliese Caldwell3:25 AM hhh is he?
Ashely Young3:25 AM yes
Anneliese Caldwell3:25 AM huh, well then i guess so
Ashely Young3:25 AM he was caught wearing a dress at a party haha
Anneliese Caldwell3:25 AM OH NO - NOT A DRESS!
Ashely Young3:25 AM YES. A DRESS.
Anneliese Caldwell3:25 AM well what
Ashely Young3:25 AM sigh
Anneliese Caldwell3:25 AM i've worn dresses to parties. ps i was being sarcastic. but yes, still odd
Ashely Young3:26 AM i know, i can hear the tone in your messages
Anneliese Caldwell3:26 AM i know
Ashely Young3:26 AM i'm THAT. GOOD.
Anneliese Caldwell3:26 AM i just said in case
Ashely Young3:26 AM WHO SNEEZED --(someone loudly sneezes from the pews)
Anneliese Caldwell3:26 AM also because this is going to the blog haha
Ashely Young3:26 AM hahaha omg
Anneliese Caldwell3:26 AM hahahahah
Ashely Young3:26 AM kick them the hell out
Anneliese Caldwell3:26 AM if you sneezed everyone would shame you
Ashely Young3:26 AM OFF WITH YOUR HEAD
Anneliese Caldwell3:26 AM for generations. thats like
Ashely Young3:27 AM AH!
Anneliese Caldwell3:27 AM remember when nolan sneezed during the emotional mother-son scene in that movie we saw in the theater
Ashely Young3:27 AM HAHA yes
Anneliese Caldwell3:27 AM hahah
Ashely Young3:27 AM that would be us
Anneliese Caldwell3:27 AM well. obviously this is a much larger scale.
Ashely Young3:27 AM we would just lose it
Anneliese Caldwell3:27 AM yes they would take our hats and imprison us
Ashely Young3:28 AM and rip off the little bird on top
Anneliese Caldwell3:29 AM yes they'd stuff the fake nest in our mouths to shut us up
Ashely Young3:30 AM sigh i just can't get into this song. mawaige is wot bwings us togeva......toooodaaaaaay. hee hee, they're so cute together. i hope they stay married forever
Anneliese Caldwell3:37 AM me too. they are different it seems though. so it will be fine. not like charles, who is scummy. also they didn't date for long
Ashely Young3:37 AM and dogly
Anneliese Caldwell3:38 AM dodgy?
Ashely Young3:38 AM no dogly
Anneliese Caldwell3:38 AM also dodgy
Ashely Young3:38 AM yes
Anneliese Caldwell3:38 AM man she looks like i did during the sermon part. i'm sure it was very good, but i was so zoned out
Ashely Young3:38 AM haha
Anneliese Caldwell3:38 AM my mind had ZERO activity
Ashely Young3:39 AM haha, i like this guy
Anneliese Caldwell3:39 AM yes
Ashely Young3:39 AM he's kind of fatherly
Anneliese Caldwell3:40 AM i love this song
Ashely Young3:40 AM what is it it's pretty
Anneliese Caldwell3:41 AM i don't remember the name but it's on my ipod. hang on. nvm it is taking too long to find out what the name is. it keeps zooming in on ian thorpe. ok i know this one: it is jerusalem by william blake. he is my favourite poet though so...
Ashely Young3:49 AM lol at the commoners
Anneliese Caldwell3:49 AM well that girl certainly looks sullen. disappointed perhaps?
Ashely Young3:49 AM the lowly folk haha. i wish we had something that united our country like this. something positive. we unite only under tragedy SIGH
Anneliese Caldwell3:50 AM this is true. if only we had a monarchy!
Ashely Young3:50 AM DAMN THOSE PILGRIMS
Anneliese Caldwell3:50 AM ANDTHE TEA PARTY. both historical and modern hahahhaa
Anneliese Caldwell3:52 AM i always think of the patriots when i hear this song. like american patriots, which is i think what they intended when they set new lyrics to "God Save the Queen"
Ashely Young3:53 AM ah! haha yeah. omg im' still waiting for her sister to fall
Anneliese Caldwell3:54 AM or split her gown at the buttocks,that is what i was waiting for
Ashely Young3:54 AM how glorious
Anneliese Caldwell3:54 AM amazing
Ashely Young3:54 AM poor girl
Anneliese Caldwell3:54 AM can you imagine hahahaha
Ashely Young3:55 AM holy crap it's like a football field
Anneliese Caldwell3:55 AM yes. ugh see matt lauer is already calling her the princess
Ashely Young3:55 AM MAKING OUT
Anneliese Caldwell3:55 AM HAHAH YES i'm sure they are making out behind the abbey i would be
Ashely Young3:56 AM me too haha
Anneliese Caldwell3:57 AM hahahah he is so charming "just a small family affair"
Ashely Young3:57 AM SWOONNN
Anneliese Caldwell3:57 AM while they're standing at the altar of westminster
Ashely Young3:57 AM haha so how much would it cost to get married in a place like that
Anneliese Caldwell3:57 AM do you see her dress
Ashely Young3:57 AM i'm considering it
Anneliese Caldwell3:57 AM the blue one hhh nvm too late
Ashely Young3:58 AM sigh
Anneliese Caldwell3:58 AM oh ok archbishop of canterbury not archdeacon or whatever alkdsjf. the guy with hairy wings mounted above his eyes
Ashely Young3:59 AM ooo!
Anneliese Caldwell4:00 AM SEE
Ashely Young4:01 AM yes UGH haha
Anneliese Caldwell4:01 AM haha that woman has a cloud on her head --(interesting hat sighting)Ashely Young4:01 AM i keep thinking the queen has fallen asleep
Anneliese Caldwell4:01 AM she probably did. she'll wake up soon brandishing her infamous handbag...is the queen senile?
Ashely Young4:05 AM uh not that i know of
Anneliese Caldwell4:05 AM that was an odd reaction from her as kate curtsied
Ashely Young4:06 AM why i wasn't looking
Anneliese Caldwell4:06 AM she looked like either she peed herself or like she robbed a bank. no eyecontact, nothing. on an entirely different note, duchess is such an elegant title
Ashely Young4:06 AM she's the queen. you don't even talk to her unless she talks to you
Anneliese Caldwell4:06 AM yes but this!
Ashely Young4:06 AM yes the hat! --(William, blessedly, looks like he is going to put his hat back on and cover his accursed bald spots)Anneliese Caldwell4:08 AM PUT IT ON YOU DAFT FOOL
Ashely Young4:08 AM BEFORE YOU MEET THE PEOPLE
Anneliese Caldwell4:08 AM oh OH put it on! cmon
Ashely Young4:09 AM OMG THE BELLS ARE LIKE CINDERELLA
Anneliese Caldwell4:09 AM Y E S. lets face it this whole thing is like cinderella
Ashely Young4:09 AM the hores hahaha i mean horse
Anneliese Caldwell4:09 AM HAHAHA
Ashely Young4:09 AM HAHAHA
Anneliese Caldwell4:09 AM fatal mis-type
Ashely Young4:09 AM well ahh
Anneliese Caldwell4:09 AM ok NOW he looks like a prince --(hat's back on)
Ashely Young4:10 AM suddenly he's young again
Anneliese Caldwell4:10 AM yes srsly he should invest in some hair
Ashely Young4:10 AM he looks like a little boy now
Anneliese Caldwell4:10 AM egh you are sick
Ashely Young4:10 AM no like ugh nvm.
Anneliese Caldwell4:13 AM oh man i was standing on that very corner a year and a half ago
Ashely Young4:13 AM you missed it.TERRIBLE TIMING
Anneliese Caldwell4:14 AM yes, i was only a few years off. HAHAH did you hear that
Ashely Young4:15 AM merideth?
Anneliese Caldwell4:15 AM meredith's ringbearer ran out of the church hahaha. ok i am getting ready for bed again hang on
Ashely Young4:20 AM hahaha
Anneliese Caldwell4:20 AM i know
Ashely Young4:20 AM Martin
Anneliese Caldwell4:20 AM funk it up! ok bff, bedtime. i am conking out again now that it's boring
Ashely Young4:22 AM ungh me too but i'm still workingggg! cry. k it's been fun
Anneliese Caldwell4:22 AM haha yes. bai!
Ashely Young4:22 AM night

Thankful Thursday

2011-04-28T15:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we signed our lease for our new home! Nolan took a giant leap of faith and signed without seeing the place...but then we got to explore it after we signed in the realty office. And explore we did! We planned out spots for everything, envisioned our future life, and I was heaped with praise for picking a place that we both loved so much. Needless to say, Nolan was pretty excited.

We did a little exploring by car afterwards, to see more of the neighbourhood and towns around us, and then to celebrate, we back-tracked to a Fresh Choice that we saw along the way, and stuffed ourselves. Let me just say that as amazing as Fresh Choice is, it's 10 times better for Nolan, because there is nothing he loves more than a good buffet. Not because of the amount of food, but the choice - he loves choices. He even splurged on carbs and desserts, and was so happy by his 4th trip to the food bar, that he jumped out of his seat, said "see you later, lovaahh!" and wiggled his fingers at me as he bounded away to try something else. I'm pretty sure we tried every single food in the place. With that:

1. I'm thankful for our exciting new life! Everything seems grand and we are THRILLED with the place we're moving to!
2. I'm thankful for our new bikes! How fun to have little bike dates (or in my case, be able to bike to the store when I just need a few things or to Starbucks on a whim).
3. I'm thankful for the glorious weather we've been having. San Francisco is giving us a grand send-off.
4. I'm thankful again that Nolan is home. My mood has brightened CONSIDERABLY since he came home to me, and I just can't describe how happy I am to have my other half back!
5. I'm thankful for the mounds of presents he brought me. No, really. Mounds. I have a whole new wardrobe, among other things. And I needed new things!
6. I'm thankful, as usual, that it's Thursday and almost the weekend. I'm gonna need me some good sleep after I get up at 2am tonight to watch the Royal Wedding OHYESIAMTHATPERSON.

bliss

2011-04-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

Hallo there friends. My attempted post yesterday was a mighty FAIL since I opened the browser, clicked on "blogger" and forgot what I was going to say because I was watching Nolan put together his new bike. Yesterday, our search for the perfect bikes ended. We found a pair of matching beach cruisers, brand new, and Nolan has already ridden his around and pronounced it "a sweet, smooth ride". Mine will stay in the box until we move, because it's easier to transport that way and I don't want to nick the shiny paint! It's a beautiful buttercream yellow with pink rims (SCREAM!), and Nolan's is a shiny black with red rims. All we've been talking about the last 2 days is moving to Atherton, hopping on our bikes, and riding around with the wind in our hair while wearing bermuda shorts or something equally demonstrative of our new, laid-back life. Hah.

Having Nolan back has been SO RIDICULOUSLY GOOD. Granted, the first day back in our apartment I cringed when I saw the familiar pan with fried egg stuck on it sitting on the counter...but I got over that quickly :) I missed my soulmate so incredibly much, and I realized it even more when I saw him walk through the gate at the airport. I'll stop here because I can't put it into words anyway.

Today, he picked me up from work, we came home and I made a delicious and healthy dinner. Chicken breasts stuffed with bleu cheese, sundried tomatoes, and spinach; steamed artichoke, and my favourite: roasted kale with olive oil, ground chili and garlic. The kale was cooked so perfectly in the pan that the pieces crumpled satisfyingly into dust in our mouths. TASTY.

Then we walked to Starbucks to get him a coffee, and I used his free treat card to try a cake pop...which was delicious! We walked back in the sunshine because it was actually sunny today, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, and then settled down with a couple good games of chess. I got royally spanked, but considering it was my first REAL time playing, I'll take it! Huzzah!

Tomorrow we're going to sign our lease in our new place, which means Nolan actually gets to see the place, haha. I'm also going to use my free drink card at Starbucks to get something special that Nolan is urging me to get...can you guess? I'm going to get an ICED WHITE MOCHA. That's right, folks. I'm declaring an end to this "no espresso" thing, because I feel that I've finally gotten myself under control. I'm lifting the ban. However, I'm betting I'll still rarely get anything with espresso in it, now that my habit is to brew at home. I need my home-brewed nectar! We'll see how I do.

THANKFUL THURSDAY

2011-04-21T19:44:00.001-07:00

Can you guess what I'm thankful for this week? Here's a hint:

That was taken 2 years ago on our second wedding anniversary, and I think his expression sums up how I'm feeling right now. But maybe times 10.

1. I'm SO SO SO THANKFUL...that Nolan arrives home in 17 hours! EEEEE. I've already picked out my clothes and everything for tomorrow, which means that I'm most definitely going to spend at least 2 hours stuck in the mindless oblivion that comes with being over-prepared and over-excited. I cannot believe 2 months went by so fast!!! But that doesn't mean we're planning on doing this ever again ;)

2. I'm thankful we officially have a new home, and in such a wonderful area!

3. I'm thankful that Jesus died for us, even though we didn't deserve it. And I'm thankful we get to celebrate that this weekend!

4. I'm thankful for a weekend with family to celebrate a lot of things!

5. I'm thankful for my a fun last few days with ylehsa and her friend Davina visiting. I also should probably mention that I'm thankful for good sleep while she's been here. I sleep so much better when there is another person in the house. Sorry, Milo - you're too much of a wuss to make me feel safe.

6. I'm thankful I get to take tomorrow off! I feel like today was closing the book on an EXTREMELY busy and stressful time at work (which involved me being grouchy for several weeks straight...sorry, friends). Next week I can start fresh, and not worry about this kind of busy-ness until June, woohoo!

Happy weekend, all! I will almost definitely not be blogging again until Monday ;)

3, 2, 1...

2011-04-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

2(ish) days until Nolan comes home! And today is basically my Wednesday, because I have Friday off :)

I've missed loads of yoga classes lately due to being out of town, or in meetings all day, and have been squeezing in strength training instead when I have the chance. This was a terrible idea. I went to yoga for the first time in awhile today, and was happy to be back, but OH MAN. Usually I feel strong and pliant in yoga. Today I felt weak and stiff. So I immediately went to Walgreens for a protein pick-me-up, and feel a little better now...but I see that I need to basically never miss a yoga class again.

Another reason I've been sparse on here, is that I wanted to wait until I could officially say that we have a home! We got the final word today that the rental I put in for and was desperately crossing my fingers for, was accepted! So we move in mid-May to beautiful Atherton, CA :) Our new place is an in-law unit, so we're going to be in half of a house, basically (the front half you see here). And it is glorious. The neighbourhood is sunny and beautiful, 2br so we can have you visit us, and about 4 miles from Stanford campus, so it will be a pretty bike ride for Nolan to get to work! My commute is a different story, but I'll figure it out. I only had the wherewithal to take a single picture, but here it is nonetheless (click on it to get a better look!):

EXCITED!

also excited about: santung's tonight with ylehsa. oh, and...hanging out with her too I guess.

Thankful Thursday

2011-04-14T21:47:00.000-07:00

Sitting here at almost 10pm, I'm just glad we're down to a week before Nolan comes home. 6 days from tomorrow and he will be safely back at home with me and Milo, ready to begin our next adventure. So far the apartment hunt is turning up duds and some wasted gas, but it's been good for me to get down there and explore the area. I already know where 3 starbucks are (sad!), several grocery stores, CUTE restaurants and peaceful parks. And the last time I was there (yesterday), I didn't even use directions, and let myself find my own way around. That is my favourite way to get to know an area. Saturday I will be looking at more rentals that look promising, and hopefully finding one that is meant for us! With that:

1. I'm thankful that the area we're moving to is only an hour away, and that I can drive back and forth to look at apartments. I can't even imagine doing this from 8 hours (or farther!) away.

2. I'm thankful that Nolan has been finding all of the apartments for me to look at, so that I don't have to do all the work myself. There aren't enough hours in the day! So really...we're doing this together, even oceans apart! He finds the ads, sends them to me and usually follows up with the landlord via email cc'ing me, and then I make an appt to go take a look. Easy! If only we'd really find the perfect place...

3. I'm thankful for the area we're moving to. It truly is lovely and peaceful.

4. I'm thankful for our safety and well-being. I have started the habit of having the news on in the mornings while I drink my coffee and get ready for work. It's terrifying, some of the things I hear. Also depressing.

5. I'm thankful for my coworkers. So many people don't like those in their work family, but I love mine :)

As always, I'm thankful that it's Thursday! Happy Thursday!

Quote of the Day:
*proof of Nolan's undying love for Milo...he got him a souvenir*
Nolan: "I got him a little chinese hat today with the black braid down the back :) "

Nine

2011-04-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

My coworker knows how to push my buttons, and has repeatedly sent me links while I'm working that make me reach for the kleenex box because I'm laughing so hard. All of them involve animals at some level or are from The Oatmeal. Yesterday I fell victim to this link , which was excellent because photobombing is my specialty, and the looks on some of these pets faces...my faves are #10, 17, 21,
1, 4...and 2 where the dog is photobombing the cat's picture. hahaha!

Today is the end of the 10th day until Nolan comes home, and so starting tomorrow, it's only 9 more days - in the single digits!!!

Thankful Thursday

2011-04-07T17:47:00.000-07:00

I promise blogging will get more regular again as I taper off of the busy-ness at work/home...mostly work. But for now, let's just jump in, shall we?

1. I'm thankful that Nolan's coming home in 2 weeks from tomorrow(!). For lots of reasons, the main one being that I really miss him. But also because this whole moving thing? This packing and trying to find a place in a new city thing? I can't do it without him.

2. I'm thankful for the days getting longer and the sun actually coming out sometimes and staying out until I'm almost ready for bed. It makes me feel a little more productive and a little less tired than I actually am.

3. I'm thankful for my family that cheers me on even when I'm stressed and grumpy and oh so exhausted. And that includes my aunts and uncles, grandparents, and my hilarious cousins who are due to entertain me once again this weekend in Livermore.

4. I'm thankful for taste buds and good food and drink. Sometimes when I'm feeling overwhelmed, if I take 15-30 minutes and just don't do anything while I have one of my meals, I can truly enjoy my food or glass of wine/coffee/tea. That way I let my mind go blank and just relax. Tonight after I go to dinner with Ash U (crab, anyone?), we're going to sit on the couch and watch a movie, crochet, and eat a luscious almond and chocolate lace cookie. Or two. And I deserve it.

5. I'm also thankful for music. Music always makes me happy, and when you combine it with working out? Then I feel happy AND healthy :)

As always, I'm thankful the weekend is almost here, and I can work on my work/life balance and not think about things that have nothing to do with relaxing. In honour of kicking back a little, I'll share a HILARIOUS video that my dad sent me last week. Enjoy and happy Thursday!

Viva Las Vegas

2011-04-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

So bloglings, I'm finally up to writing a post, though I've been busy and exhausted too much even to blog. So you know I'm serious. Also it means I've given up my yoga classes for 2 weeks just to keep up with everything and that makes me so mad! At nothing in particular.

On a brighter note, I'll post that Vegas was...interesting, and my suite was AMAZING. Click here to see for yourself! Take the virtual tour! I had plenty of wine and sex-on-the-beach(es), and even spent some time lounging out by the pool, which was awesome. I bought a glamourous wide-brimmed hat to keep my San Francisco skin safe from the sun :)

I am definitely glad to be back with my little friend here though, with 2.5 weeks until Nolan returns to us, and life goes on as it should be.

Thankful Thursday

2011-03-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

San Francisco, I hate thee for thy weather. Seriously, the last few weeks have been nuts. I mean I guess weird weather is normal here, but I still hate it. Right now for example, it's brilliantly sunny outside as the sun gets lower in the sky. You'd never have known it wasn't warm and sunny here all day. But about 30 minutes ago it was pouring down rain, and that had been going since this morning. Yesterday was worse, because it was switching back and forth ALL DAY. I went out for coffee at one point because it stopped raining and was sunny and clear, and while CROSSING THE STREET, the clouds literally blew in and started dumping. I barely made it back to my office before it was all over. I don't understand. I will say this: I cannot WAIT to live in a place that has normal weather, has sunshine and isn't windy all the freaking time, and has actual, lovely summers. Hellooooo, Palo Alto. That is definitely something to be thankful for. Also:

1. I'm thankful for my down comforters and Milo's ability to radiate heat like a heatlamp. It's been pretty cold here again lately, and going to bed is always an adventure. I just lay there curled up for awhile trying to heat up, and even with the electric blanket on, the cold air creeps in. So I fixed it by layering my already huge bed with another down comforter. And Milo likes to curl up on my chest and purr until he falls asleep. Sweet, blissful, free heat!

2. I'm thankful for options. Options for where to live next, options for HOW to live next, to get a dog or not (I think YES), to take BART or Caltrain, to drive...

3. I'm thankful that Vegas is finally here. My flight leaves on Monday, returning on Friday, and I get to work in my jammies until the airport shuttle picks me up...and most likely get immediately into them again when I get home, hah! My suite at the Venetian(!) is SUPER cool, and our flights to/from Vegas on Virgin are basically going to be a party. Heck yes.

4. I'm thankful for Amazon and the prime membership my mom got me. What would I do without it?

5. I'm thankful Ash U is willing to try new things with me! Oh and that she takes care of my little prince while I'm traveling :)

6. I'm thankful for the talents I've been given. I feel like I'm starting to really appreciate them.

Blogging from here on out over the next week may be spotty (poker and peach bellinis, anyone?), so happy end of March to all!

Quote of the Day:
My dad, upon reading this post: "My Internet is so slow that you wasted ten minutes of my life on that sucky video"

4eva

2011-03-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

As of today, Nolan comes home to me in 1 month. Less than 5 weeks,and it still feels like FOREVER. Hopefully my trip to Vegas next week will break things up a little :)

I'm over halfway done with my language courses that I've been studying while he's gone, I've been faithful with my workouts (for the most part), and my blanket is very slowly getting done. Now I need to work on my chess strategy some more. Oh and scrapbooking, SIGH.

Tripped out

2011-03-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

Last night, before we began the game part of our weekly game night, some friends and I tried "taste tripping", which I've skeptically read about but never tried. Lest you be frightened, there were 2 doctors in our party so they checked the ingredients for bad things first :) Basically, we tried miracle berries (in the powdered tablet form, since the berries go bad quickly), which are these little berries that grow in West Africa, and make your taste buds heightened to sweetness. So they're tricked into tasting everything as sweet for about an hour. I didn't believe it until I tried a tomato and discovered it tasted like a sweet apple! Then my cheap, day-old red table wine...which tasted like a fine, sweet aged port! We sucked down lemons, hot sauce, and spoonfuls of balsamic vinegar, as you see Ash U doing here:

...and had many a strange thing. Here is an awesome article about it, if you're curious! Miraculin! I'd definitely recommend it, just for a fun thing to try!

Today, I got a delivery for my work on a project, as a thank you...and some of the pieces were, uh, rather large:

I didn't know there existed strawberries the size of my fist.

I also painted my bedroom this weekend to prepare for moving...I've been sleeping SO BADLY since then with the fumes and lack of curtains now, so hopefully it'll be all aired out tonight.

Friday, Friday

2011-03-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else had their ears pummeled by the awfulness that is this song? Truly, I weep for future generations of Americans. Also: why is that 13-year-old driving that car? ALSO: why is that older rapper dude following them?

To make it up to you for wasting 3 minutes of your life with that video, here's one that is TOTALLY worth it. This revives the desire for children that the above video rapidly quashed.

Feeling sick still today, I worked from home to try and do nothing and recover. I'm thinking that my sedentary-ness today will be a huge benefit as I will be all rested up tomorrow, with hopefully nothing but good health!

Something that also helps, is homemade roasted butternut squash soup:

As we speak, I'm making delicate, peaky meringues made out of practically nothing, to nibble on for dessert. Here's what they look like in the oven at this moment:

Pretty!

I also saw these videos today and couldn't help posting, because I feel like they help communicate why I hate the muni so much...this will all go away once I start taking BART (yippee!):

I was actually THERE for this particular fail:

Thankful Thursday

2011-03-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

The day finally arrived...and this morning at 9am, Nolan and I found out that we're going to...
STANFORD!
I know, surprise, right? But an awesome one! This means a lot of good things for us...like me getting to keep my job, living in a more rural area (!), a 3-year program instead of 4, staying in NorCal, etc.
When they called out the countdown, I was eagerly waiting with the envelope in my hands, and my friend Heidi (who was there for support, since she gets her envelope next year) was gracious enough to capture the action with possibly the best ever accidental photobomb in the background of the second picture:

With that...
1. I am SO FREAKING THANKFUL that we know where we're going. The suspense has been absolutely unbearable. Now we can get excited about a particular place, and plan our move and our new life for the next 3 years! WOOHOO!!!
2. I'm thankful I get to keep my job. I love my job, and don't want to leave it to move elsewhere.
3. I'm thankful it's St. Patrick's Day! It means I've been working from home all day to the smell of my corned beef simmering away in a brew of garlic, spices, and beer! The cabbage smells pretty out-of-this-world too!
4. I'm thankful for the many times I've been able to talk to Nolan this week. It makes the loneliness at home more bearable.
5. I'm thankful it's almost the weekend, because I'm definitely getting sick and feel kind of awful already. Amazing: it's been coming on slowly for about 2 days but really AMPED UP about an hour after I found out our match at Stanford. It's like my body has been storing up all the stress and anxiety and finally the release is making me sick. Blech.
6. I'm thankful for the classes at my gym! This is the first time in a long time that I've actually started to SEE results. Weird.
7. I'm so thankful for Ash U, who comes over to keep me company all the time, puts up with my foul moods, and likes to watch stupid movies with me. Cheers to that.

Happy Thursday!

Countdowns:
7 days until my parents come to visit!
9 days until Vegas!
5 weeks until Nolan comes home!

ALSKDJFOIWE

2011-03-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

You can always tell when I'm out of sorts, because my weekday posts are either super short, or nonexistent. The state of my nerves as we creep up on the 9am revelation of our future tomorrow is chaos. Therefore, I've not blogged as much this week because I have nothing to say except NLSDAASLFOIREJFRWEJLKFJDSFLKSJDF

So. I'll leave you with that until tomorrow when, surely one of my Thankful Thursday items will be not lurking in suspense any longer. Phew.

Love

2011-03-14T16:21:00.000-07:00

"They will know you by your love." (John 13:35, paraphrased)

The other day as I left for work, I saw two snails on the sidewalk, crawling along next to each other with their shells touching. It reminded me that love is a universal thing (though I realize those snails had nothing themselves to do with love...derrr). It's been on my mind a lot, as I'm challenged to be a better person. I am often very spiteful towards those I get frustrated with, or don't even know. So I'm trying to develop patience.

I saw this picture the other day, and was so moved by it that not only am I going to ask Nolan to frame it, but I wanted to share it with you. I can't help feeling like this is how we were intended to be - loving our fellow man in the most tangible way possible. Jesus never called us to love only those we knew, or only those who believed the same things as we do, or only those who are x, y, and z...we are supposed to love everyone. Maybe hippies had something right after all. This picture was taken during the riots in Egypt. It's a picture of Christians protecting Muslims during their prayer-time:

photo credit

I guess you have to start small, and work your way up. I wish more of the world (including myself) put a bigger priority on loving people they didn't know. But it's so easy to only favour those you know. This gas station sign (thanks, Nate) has more love in it than most people out there:

Speaking of love, I went to visit my parents this weekend (Love!) and took Milo (Love!). But...he doesn't like the car ride so much, and he LOVES his pet friends up there. So each time he knows I'm packing up to come home, he hides. He's gotten better and better at it too, but I think this time was by far the best. Even better than when he hid under the covers, perfectly flat.

He even blends with the wall behind him, and didn't even disturb the cobwebs when he crept in there. I'm pretty sure he wasn't breathing, in case that gave him away. It took us a good hour to find him here. Sneaky thing.

On a totally related note, speaking of my need for patience: I'm no longer allowed to work out in the morning, even though I do pilates usually, which doesn't involve jumping or running or anything. I'm usually standing or sitting in place while doing moves. So...what the heck?

Apparently I've been living in an apartment made of paper, because I guess the walls vibrate when I do a situp.

Thankful Thursday

2011-03-10T16:46:00.001-08:00

I can't believe another week has flown by already - this bodes well for my Nolan countdown going by quickly! And this weekend I'll be visiting my parents, with Milo in tow, since he's been "SO. DAMN. LONELY." (his words - not mine) without his playmate to keep him company.

With that...

1. I'm thankful for our brilliant new car that can take me up to Placerville and back with perfect ease...and pleasure to boot!

2. I'm thankful Milo is a pretty decent fellow - sure he can be a PILL, but he is pretty dang good about knowing when I'm playing around and when I just need him to knock it off and be a cuddler rather than a biter. He also travels well in the car, so that makes my life easier.

3. I'm thankful that Nolan and I have been able to connect on Skype - it's been awesome getting to see where he's living, and even admire some pretty things he's bought for me! It definitely helps to SEE the person you're talking to.

4. I'm thankful for our new church, that inspires me and welcomes me. I've gone to a women's social and a new bible study as a result in the past week, attending both events at strangers' homes, without knowing a soul, and it's been a blast. People have invited me to coffee, emailed, and just been so friendly.

5. I'm thankful for my many projects, which sometimes feel overwhelming, but keep me busy and feeling productive!

6. I'm thankful for coupon websites like Groupon and TownHog...it's because of them that I'm on my way to a killer deal for a nice mani-pedi with a friend. And my poor fingers and toes are in sore need of some TLC.

7. I'm thankful it's starting to warm up! Even if it's just by a couple of degrees, I can feel a difference! I'm tired of being cold and miserable.

Happy -almost-weekend, everyone!

7 days until our residency assignment!

swag

2011-03-09T16:38:00.000-08:00

A coworker today heard me admiring the sweet new McK swag that came in, and didn't want hers, so I got an awesome new shoulder bag today:

Just to show off my McK pride!

Most of the swag I've gotten thus far is pretty cool (except for the TERRIBLE gum), but this tops the list. I love advertising things I love!

Today's my busy day, and so far, so good. Only two more things to do on the list, and I'll hopefully be in bed by 10. So now off to tutoring I go! Plus tomorrow I get rewarded with yoga and a mani-pedi with a friend, so...it's all good.

8 days until we find out our assignment!

...and Nolan's still in China.

Pain

2011-03-08T18:23:00.001-08:00

(my original title was "Painted Ladies" but I only typed the first part of it, then got excited about my countdowns (see below) and forgot until I hit save. So I went with it. Mostly because I run out of good titles quickly, and I can't foresee actually using "Pain" as my title anytime in the future except for maybe when I blog about giving birth, in which case I think "Pain" will probably be the most apt title I can come up with. HHH. Who knows - maybe more of my gossip-monger friends will read this post just because of the title! More traffic! WOOO!)

Today, I spent 4 hours straight working on org charts for an executive. Using the Paint program. FML.

However, I also had my yoga class, and that was excellent. I've really been enjoying yoga since I started being more conscious about my protein intake. I can see and feel a noticeable difference in my body, and it just makes me feel stronger and more energetic - and I can take on some new yoga postures that were more challenging for me before. Protein! I highly recommend it!

Tonight is my early bedtime night, because tomorrow morning I have to get up at 5am so that I can get started on my packed day. Wednesdays are my busy days, because I have to fit in a workout AND tutor after work AND usually plans after that. And tomorrow night I'm checking out a new bible study in our neighbourhood on top of all that, so it'll be a whirlwind!

Countdown time:
9 days 'til we find out Nolan's residency assignment!
2.5 weeks 'til Vegas!
Way too long until Nolan comes home to me...

buttercream

2011-03-07T16:36:00.000-08:00

This weekend I painted our bathroom what I thought was a shiny clean white. The result was not shiny, has a definite yellow-hue to it...but is a definite improvement! Now it looks like a bright sunny room instead of a moldy cold bathroom. And I did it all by myself which is pretty fantastic, since I couldn't reach the corners and had to balance on a shampoo bottle braced against the shower (an accident waiting to happen) to get up there.

But when you're listening to the Harry Potter Pandora station, anything is possible!

I also tested out my Skype connection with Nolan, and it's lightning fast! So I got a little virtual tour of his prison cell (hah!), and got to admire some of the pretty things he's gotten me while browsing markets over there. It was SO NICE to be able to just talk like we were in the same room again...I <3 Skype.

I went to the women's social at my church this weekend too, and for the first time I felt like I was actually meeting potential friends instead of just checking the boxes with other women. It can be hard to feel connected to other girls here in the city when you don't see that many on a daily basis, but it was nice to meet SO MANY that I (may) have things in common with. Plus, going to church the next day was awesome because I walked in and saw so many familiar faces! I guess that's the good thing about joining a new church - you get to meet all sorts of new, fun people. Now if I can only remember names...

Thankful...Thursday?

2011-03-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, okay: sometimes I get caught up in other things on Thursdays and forget to be thankful...which is the whole point behind doing these posts. To remind myself of the awesome things in my life. So better late than never, eh?

1. I'm thankful Nolan made it to China safely and that we've been able to chat several times now! We've arranged our first Skype date, so I can't wait to get a virtual tour of his digs over there.

2. I'm also thankful that I can eat whatever I want here. Apparently Nolan's eaten some foul things so far. I'm loving my daily protein bar (now that I've realized I eat nowhere near enough protein in my diet). Hey, a healthy way to eat peanut butter and chocolate? I'm in!

3. I'm thankful for the wonders of the internet age. Not only because it helps me communicate with Nolan, but also because I've found SO MANY good workout videos online. So many. For free! I've started working out 7 days a week (instead of what, 4?), and doing the workouts at home where I can really throw myself into them and get sweaty without worrying about cleaning myself up to see people afterwards. And the variety is awesome. Other than my normal Tues/Thurs yoga classes, I get to do dance, pilates, pure cardio, you name it!

4. I'm so thankful that God's provided a great job for me so that we can afford to maintain a decent lifestyle in San Francisco. I'm amazed at how expensive it is here, and I'm not a newbie to the city! Somehow, it's still possible to have fun on a budget.

5. I'm thankful for Milo again, because even though he is an absolute TERROR when Nolan's gone (he adores his dad), he keeps me company and entertains me. It's fun to have a little creature following me around in the morning as I get ready. Even if he does steal a whole half of my English muffin.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Quote of the day (are you seeing a trend here?):
"Nolan: Did you get my last message about the lung dish? I got kicked off
Anneliese: mao doesn't like you telling me about his lung dishes
Nolan: Well, long story short I had some of a dish that was later told was slices of male and female human lung. I almost threw up
Anneliese: oh.my.gosh.
i'm married to a cannibal! WAAA
Nolan: lol
I didnt know :-p"

"Anneliese: what market are you going to today?
Nolan: the "dirt" market
Anneliese: what."

Trimmings

2011-03-03T20:41:00.000-08:00

Today, I used a coupon I had to get a nice new haircut. And I figured I'd go a little crazy since I have 2 months to grow it out before Nolan comes back. Although now that I look at this picture...it isn't that crazy. But I still love it!

I also just saw a thing on the news about cops giving tickets unlawfully and unnecessarily...and the ticket they showed was from Davis. Go figure. These are the same dudes that charge innocent college kids with felony arson.

I'm so grateful that I've been able to chat with Nolan a bit already. Granted, it won't last long, because it's only due to his jetlag that he's up at 3:30am his time to chat with me. I miss him so much, and it's hard when I'm about to text him something during the day, and then I remember I can't :( But! The days are going by, and I'm excited about all the fun things I have planned to keep myself busy. This week, I booked my tickets to Vegas (for a business trip, not because I'm going crazy), and bought up some groupons to blow with friends. Things are looking good!

Quote of the day:
"Nolan: my jetlag is our gain :)"

cauliflowered

2011-03-02T16:12:00.000-08:00

For Nolan's birthday (we celebrated early), I thought I'd try my hand at making him some of his favourites without the carbs he is avoiding. Voila! It was easier and more delicious than I imagined! I made carb-free pizza and carb-free (and sugar-free!) cheesecake. Both were awesome, but the cheesecake was ESPECIALLY AWESOME. I tweaked the recipe a little and came up with maybe the best cheesecake I've ever made...and we went through almost 3 of them. So there's testimony to them being tasty. How? Pizza dough made with riced cauliflower, and cheesecake crust made with crushed up macadamia nuts and pine nuts.

I also perfected my San Tung chicken wing recipe, which got rave reviews...and therefore am not going to post it unless you email me for the recipe yourself. Because I want to keep it as close as I can :)

Another of my goals while he is gone is teaching myself chess, and learning to be really really good at it so I can beat the pants off of him. This is part of his birthday present, because it's going to take a lot of time on my part, and he's been begging me to learn. So here goes!

Angry Birds

2011-03-01T17:49:00.000-08:00

I felt like I would rather not blog until today, as this weekend I was trying to squeeze in every moment with Nolan, and yesterday I was too sad about him leaving to really say anything productive. As a result, I have several insignificant pictures to share, but nothing really amazing (per usuale, no?). In fact, today I laughed hysterically at my desk when I saw this new comic on The Oatmeal, since I am an avid Angry Birds player, and this is nothing but truth.

Anyway. In our last few days, we went to a party, we threw a party, we played poker, we played miniature golf (which I DOMINATED), and we just kind of laid in bed lazily. Perfect weekend. And now I'm just glad to be on the other side of him leaving, because now I can officially count down to his return. I was lucky enough to talk to him on gchat today, though admittedly it was 3:30am there, and he was supposed to be sleeping. Ah, jetlag.

While at the airport though, he hijacked my phone and took these super classy pictures:

One of my goals for this time is to be more creative. Well...I feel like that may be the most boring of my goals, but still! I started off on the right foot this past week, by making myself two pretty things. I crocheted this headband, flower and all with no patterns just because I was craving something this colour:

And I yanked this beaded flower off of my Lady Gaga mask, de-feathered it, and attached it to this old plain headband:

This pretty much sums up Milo and I's relationship with Nolan gone.

Quotes of the day:
"Nolan: Flight was okay.
Poor service
and the in flight movie looked bootlegged
Anneliese: lol
Nolan: But I didnt care, I was popping my ambien
Anneliese: sweet, they probably thought you were a drug addict"

ylehsa: "if you work out any more you're going to get man-abs. do you want nolan to come back from china to a husband?"

Thankful Thursday

2011-02-24T16:21:00.000-08:00

Today at work I was thinking of how lucky I am to work in such a professional, classy atmosphere. And then I saw a giant booger dried on the wall next to the women's bathroom and almost barfed. So I'll have to think of other things I'm thankful for.

1. I'm thankful Nolan's birthday is being celebrated early, because it means he already received his gift from my parents, and it's a Kindle of his very own, WHICH MEANS: I get to keep mine while he's in China! WOOOO!

2. On that note, I'm thankful for my parents. Spending the weekend with them is always so much fun. I love them.

3. I also am thankful for my in-laws. I know I'm one of the lucky few who actually is HAPPY to be married into their husband's family. What a sweet gift!

4. I'm thankful that I'm young. I've been taking advantage of it lately and really trying to enjoy my body and energy levels while I have them. I've been reading a lot about staying healthy and fit for life, and I'm just so fortunate that my body is in good shape and relatively low-maintenance. You know what I mean.

5. I'm thankful I get to spend a long weekend with Nolan before he leaves. We're trying to pack in a lot of quality time (as if we don't see each other enough already, HEEEE), but it just feels like time is going faster as his departure comes up.

Speaking of which, I'm going to cut it off here and run home to pack in a little more time :) Happy Thursday!

It's (sometimes) Sunny in San Francisco

2011-02-23T16:28:00.000-08:00

My dad told me that when he was a pilot for the airlines, he used to forget to check the weather conditions before landing in San Francisco a lot. So when he'd start making his descent, he'd announce to the passengers (like they always do), "we'll be landing at San Francisco International Airport in about 10 minutes. Current conditions on the ground are 60 degrees and overcast". And he was always spot-on. Because San Francisco is probably like that 95% of the year. The other 5% is slightly lower or higher temps, to account for winter and our strangely hot Indian Summer that happens in early October every year.

So when a colleague from the midwest informed us on a conference call today that it was supposed to snow in SF, I guffawed and looked outside my window at the blue sky. Until I saw this:

Consider me schooled.

Air Raid

2011-02-22T12:01:00.000-08:00

San Francisco does air raid siren tests several times a week downtown, with their actual air raid system going full-blast from the speakers. I'm not sure why they feel the need to publicly test them this often (or at all?), because now every time I hear them, I tune them out and think Ah, another test. The city that cried wolf, anyone?

My dad sent me this picture of the ranch on Saturday morning...by the time we got there on Saturday afternoon, it was all melted. But just look how gorgeous it is!

The 4 of us went biking around Lake Natomas on Sunday - a fun 15 mile bike ride that I think none of us really knew would take so long. We also didn't anticipate the hills. Heh.
But the next morning, apparently only my mom and I were sore, because my dad and Nolan got up and went mountain biking off somewhere beyond Lotus while I sipped a misto with ylehsa.

We also stopped for dinner and Settlers and Blokus with Sam and Steven last night in Davis. So fun to catch up with friends and learn new games! Even though neither Caldwell took home a Settler's victory. Lame!

Thankful Thursday

2011-02-17T16:23:00.000-08:00

Last night I proudly discovered the oh-so-secret recipe for San Tung's "Dry Fried Chicken Wings". I was going to post it on here, but I'm going to wait just a little while until I test it on a larger group than just Ash U and myself. It was good, but I want to make sure before I flaunt the coveted recipe! Let's just say Trader Joe's and baking powder is involved.

It's been a pretty great week, complete with Valentine's Day, hail, a newfound sunless tanner that is AMAZING, and plenty of sleep. I'll just list a few other great things for today, per tradition:

1. I'm thankful for hand sanitizer. This germaphobe would not have made it this long in this foul place without it. Seriously - a strange woman yakked up a piece of her chunky, juicy breakfast onto my Kindle screen recently on the muni and I ALMOST barfed right there. Instead, I managed to get it off somehow, use a spare kleenex to wipe the screen, and then bathed myself in antibacterial sanitizer. I had to buy a new bottle. This is right up there with the time I sat in urine wearing white pants on the muni...this makes me think I need to keep a running list (and maybe I shall!) of muni incidents.

2. I'm thankful for Amazon Prime (and by default, my mom). We order just about everything through here, and it saves us a boatload of $$$. Plus free two-day shipping? What more could you want?!

3. I'm thankful for our comfy bed. Seriously, I stay healthy because I sleep so well in that thing.

4. I'm thankful for cool work opportunities! There are some fun/exciting things coming up for me at work (including an awesome business trip!), and it's great to be able to say that.

5. I'm thankful for my rainboots, which shield me from the torrents this week that have been literally scrubbing our streets clean. I love splashing in puddles with no consequences. Hah.

With that, have a happy Thursday, everyone!

Elderly

2011-02-16T13:55:00.000-08:00

Last night, we planned to go bowling, since we didn't make it on Valentine's Day (due to laziness), but instead we ate, watched 5 minutes of a VERY boring movie which actually made us both fall asleep on the couch (and I don't do that easily!), and then decided sleeping was awesome and went to bed. At 6:45. Someone please wheel me back to the nursing home because I'm obviously 90 years old. The beauty of this is that Nolan and I got 9 and 10 hours of sleep, waking up naturally at 4 and 5am respectively. He got major amounts of work done, and I did a nice workout and yoga session all before 6am. I'm secretly tempted to do this once a week at least because it was so awesome...but I guess I should wait until I'm at least out of my twenties.

Valentine's Day this year was probably the best one I've ever had. And it involved some serious barbeque ribs, a mediocre movie, chai tea, and rain. But that just goes to show that you can have an amazing time no matter what, if you're with the right company! This is the only picture we managed to take, because our hands were messy pretty much the rest of the night afterwards. Please note the immense bag of food he's hefting:

We really did mean to go bowling afterwards, but it was raining and we were VERY full and tired and...meh. We'll take a raincheck. Hah!

Be Mine

2011-02-14T15:55:00.000-08:00

Some people really hate Valentine's Day. Personally, I've been pretty neutral about it in the past (I've had good experiences and terrible experiences), but as time goes by it becomes less of "just a day" and more of another excuse for me to celebrate the amazing gift of love that I've been given. Which is why I love to celebrate my marriage and my wonderful husband as often as possible. Not just on Valentine's Day, but always. It blows my mind that this can just keep getting better and better. Then again, I didn't think I could love him more than when I married him, and here we are. I've learned over the past few years just the earliest hint of truth in this, with hope of SO much more to come: "Story writers say that love is concerned only with young people and the excitement and glamour of romance end at the altar. How blind they are. The best romance is inside marriage; the finest love stories come after the wedding, not before." - Irving Stone

Typically, Nolan and I don't do the whole "make reservations at a fancy restaurant and flirt and blow kisses across the table and bring along my one dozen red roses that probably cost 19 times the usual price just because the date is 2/14". So per tradition, we chose a place to eat that does NOT require (or accept!) reservations, does not even have seating as far as I know, and requires no candles or silverware. We're literally going to a trailer on the side of the road. Gorilla BBQ! It ALWAYS has a line wrapped around it, no matter the time...and it's close to Sea Bowl, which is probably where we'll go afterwards, since our original plan of minigolfing may be washed up in the rainy weather today. We like to celebrate each other and the fun we have as much as possible - including Valentine's Day...because as the saying goes, "Anyone can be passionate, but it takes true lovers to be silly." - Rose Franken

Milo thought he'd dress up for the occasion, wearing something he and I got Nolan for his birthday (early, since he'll be in China!). Of course the selfish brat bought him something that revolved around himself...but then again Nolan did list it on his wishlist:

I've never seen a white tuxedo look so good.

To my husband, my best friend, my lover and playmate. You are the substance of all my wishes and hopes brought to life.
"Love is friendship set on fire." - Jeremy Taylor