Thankful Thursday

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thankful Thursday

As another week comes to a close, I'll just reflect on all the good things that have been popping up in my mind, and try not to think about oh, my chipped nails or Milo's damaged fur or how bad pasta really is for me even though it's delicious. With that:

1. I'm thankful for the gorgeous (if not freezing) weather we've been having lately in the city! It's been sunny and beautiful just about everywhere, and I'm LOVING walking to the muni in the morning with rays of sunshine in my eyes. I'll even accept the freezing temperatures because I've just missed seeing the sun.

2. I'm thankful for Nolan ALWAYS. I know I can't really say that every week or you will all kill yourselves with sappy overload, but honestly. I'll keep it to like...every other week, okay? Seriously: thankful, blessed, lucky, grateful. However you want to skew it, that's how I feel about my life partner. Even when I'm a FOOL he just laughs with me and gently encourages me. Oh and he rubs my back without me asking and THAT is a definite quality to look for in a husband.

3. I'm thankful for the markets near our house and all the delicious fresh fruits and veggies they have just 2 blocks away. It's such a treat to be able to have freshly picked items for dinner, and when I'm feeling creative, all I need is at my fingertips! And did I mention it's CLEAN? Big deal for me right there.

4. I'm thankful for good friends and old friends who encourage me and hold me accountable and challenge me. It's because of you that I don't turn into a vain, mindless blob.

5. I'm thankful for my parents, who make me call them more than is necessary...just to tell me they love me :) I'll get better at that, I promise!

Here's hoping that the weekend stays sunny...and that my new tanning lotion doesn't actually make me as dark as the label claims (um, one reviewer on amazon said she was mistaken for being african-american). Hey at least I'm finding a non-dangerous way to get my glow on!

Don't judge us if our living room smells like singed hair.

Singed cat butt hair, to be exact. Is it my fault if Milo happened to be licking the egg-pan on the stove when I turned on the front burner to make Nolan tea? Is it my fault if the flames spread in a supernaturally large arc and lit Milo's bum and tail hair in a ball of fire which I quickly extinguished? Maybe. But maybe not. I did warn him and try to move him, but he's a persistent little bugger. Needless to say, in between licking his (much shorter) burnt hairs, he keeps throwing fearful glances at the stove. Which is how nature intended it.

Last night we found a new winner of a recipe: roasted beets with sauteed beet greens. It was delicious, and I modified the recipe a little bit by caramelizing the sliced onions before sauteeing the greens. Who knew you could make use of the whole beet plant? Today was interesting after a dinner full of beets :)

I'm also almost done with "The Man in the Iron Mask" and holy cow it's good. It's the last of Dumas' works that I haven't read, and I wish there were more. Kind of like my relationship with Harry Potter was significantly sadder once I finished that last book. Sigh.

Carrying the banner

This weekend was one of the most relaxing weekends I have had in a very long time. Funny, since I've had a lot of lazy weekends lately. I've even put a tiny dent in my marriage-blanket, which is still just as old as my union and not even close to being done. But: progress!

Anyway. I went down to Santa Barbara for the weekend with some girlfriends, and it was the sweetest time of hanging out and fellowship, laughs, the Newsies soundtrack, and good times. Never have I been so relaxed as I was half-asleep on the grass outside of Roblar winery with friends, digesting our picnic lunch. Plus you can't beat SoCal weather. Tan 2011, here I come.

On Sunday we went to church at Reality Carpinteria, which is the parent church of the church Nolan and I recently started going to, Reality SF. Loved it and being there with friends was pretty special, but then again so was this (click to enlarge):

YES. Kevin Costner, who sat across the aisle from us during the service. Excellent. If I took that picture while pretending to be talking on the phone, does it still make me creepy?

Somehow, no matter how excellent my weekend is, nothing beats coming home to Nolan.

Off to the gym, picking up my dry-cleaning, grocery-shopping, and finally home. Sigh. Happy Monday!

Thankful Thursday

After a week that took FAR too long dragging its feet to a close, I can honestly say TGIT (thursday), because I have tomorrow off, and a fun weekend of hanging out in Santa Barbara with the lovely ladies from my college bible study! With that:

1. I'm thankful that today is my Friday. WHEW.
2. I'm thankful for our coffeemaker and its timer that tells it to have coffee hot and waiting for us when we wake up early each morning. God bless those sweet, caffeinated beans.
3. I'm thankful for our iPhones. Seriously, I don't know how many times those things have been a lifesaver for us at some point since we got them a few years ago. For example: our Europe trip in 2009? HELLO I wouldn't have been able to check email or blog from the comfort of our hotel room. Also we wouldn't have been able to play Carcassonne on the plane to Peru. And we'd get lost trying new restaurants ALL the time. Like this week.
4. I'm thankful for the little heater we have, because our house heater is way too loud to actually use, and this little one has a timer so it comes on and off at all the right times for us. It's also silent and stealthy.
5. I'm thankful for my friends, who are at all different stages of life, live in totally random locations (many far from me, some just a few blocks away!), but when we're together it feels like nothing has changed.
6. I'm thankful for the little Middle Eastern market by our house, which gives us delicious fruits and veggies, the best hummus in the world, and oddly enough, hazelnuts. I also appreciate their imported chai which is DE.LI.CIOUS.

Happy weekend!

Soporific

In case anybody was wondering, "From Paris with Love" is surprisingly a good movie. Nolan coerced me into watching it after we got home from our dinner (which was delish!), so we swaddled ourselves in blankets with Milo and sat down for what he told me was going to be a romantic movie. Wrong. But it was still good. If you can look past the vile amounts of blood and guts spattering the screen. Romance, indeed.

Though now that I think of it, I can trace why he gets these movies. Because he seems to go on a binge of certain actors or directors for awhile, and I've finally linked it to whatever he watches during the day on hulu and netflix. He tracks down movies with the same actors, and watches them...then Netflix recommends similar movies. So for example we were on a Guy Ritchie binge for awhile, and then Samuel L. Jackson (that one was interesting...oddly enough, no pulp fiction). Last night I discovered that he must really be enjoying watching The Tudors, because the main actor was Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Shall I implant Alan Rickman or Colin Firth's works on the list so we can binge on their movies? I wouldn't mind that.

Title = can you guess how I'm feeling again? Yawn. 'Tis only by being totally engrossed reading "The Man In The Iron Mask" on the muni home each night that I don't fall asleep and end up alone in a train yard.

Mission-Castro

Tonight's date night, and N is picking me up from work to go have a delicious meal at Samovar, which I have been to several times by the Metreon and LOVE. Never been to the Mission location though. The fact that I'm pretty hungry right now and that we have a groupon for $50 of food and tea there makes for a pretty awesome dinner. Grilled portabella and chai, here I come!

Also been just a tiny bit spoiled lately, what with the fancy schmancy Spanish/Peruvian meal last night at Pasion(which, by the way = 2 thumbs up). I'm definitely going back for a Pisco Sour.

My yoga instructor has me trying some crazy things lately, to keep me busy and challenged, and she hasn't fallen short yet. This week, the project is to go from a full bridge to standing (feet stay in place) to handstand and back. Whew. My back feels like a slinky! This one may be do-able, but some of her ideas are real doozies.