going to NYC to see mitra!!!

I've been thinking lately how much I miss my best friend Mitra - she has lived in San Francisco for the last year and I half and I see her WAY too rarely.

I saw her online today and - LUCKY ME - she said she had a trip planned to NYC for valentines/pres's day weekend and the person she was going with bailed, but her plane flight was non-refundable. So, she invited me to join her down there.

HOW PERFECT!!! I have missed her and her delicious wit charm and FUNKIFICATION. We are staying in a swank hotel in Union Square and get to spend Valentines Day together (she is my one true love after all) AND it's a long weekend so we get 2.5 full days together.

BLISSSSSSSSSSSSSS. I get to scratch my Mitra itch, travel itch, and love itch all in one fell swoop

good god these children are scary

words

a word I am SO over:
BAILOUT (doesnt have any meaning anymore (did it ever??))

a word I love right now:
SALT (in the non-literal sense - like a salty personality, or a dude worth his salt)

Ethan the Wise

I was getting coffee with Ethan last night and was telling him how Juliet and I are going to drop in on a Street Funk class at the local dance school. He made an astute observation:

"You and your sister are like a little support group for being yourselves. A support group for your own eccentricities."

quite right :)



On a related note, I've been referred to as "eccentric" 3 times this week. I'm going to take that as a compliment.

A nice way at looking at personal progress

I like to think I'm always striving to move in the north-easterly direction... courtesy of this blog

thank god for window shades

I spent the last 25 minutes doing ridiculous interpretive dance in my kitchen/living room to the musical stylings of imogean heap, christina agulera, gnarls barkley, pussycat dolls, gorillaz, john legend, and black eyed peas.

it was pretty amazing. with this and shoveling the snow off my car, who needs a gym???

didnt realize how much weight I had lost...

...until Juliet [finally] gave me her pictures from our last 4 trips together. Wow, what a DIFFERENCE



November 2006.
San Juan, Puerto Rico

There were MANY pictures even worse... I had no idea I was that big. You can get a good enough idea from this pic, I wont humiliate myself more.




March 2007.
Barcelona, Spain

Still packin many extra pounds. Ew. ew.

At least here there are more clothes covering it up. but you can still see, not my slimmest.












February 2008.
St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.

This was after I had been running for about 8 months. I still wasnt in great shape, but the running had helped a lot. CLEARLY.








October, 2008.
Boston, MA

About 3 weeks after I ran a half marathon. I cant even imagine thinking about considering perhaps venturing into this costume back a couple years ago. I mean, I was still sucking in all night, but it worked.




I have to say, running has had a huge impact on my life. It was SO TOUGH to get into, but I'm happy it has become a part of my life.

Nixon, Cheesecake, and the Hedgehogs

This evening, in reverse chronological order:

• I am sitting doing a little work (on my snazzy new laptop from the job) and watching a WGBH documentary on Nixon. Wow, Nixon was a D-BAG.

• I just finished making an Italian cheesecake for a dinner party tomorrow. From the large globs I licked up while making the batter, me thinks it will be yum yum yum

• After work I went to the Market Basket in Somerville, and when I was looking for ricotta cheese there was a 10-year-old girl standing awkward next to me, as if she was also looking for ricotta. I looked over at her, and she smiled at me and said "I like your purse!" and then [awkwardly] sidled away. How cute! I do have to say, it must have been odd to see this super tall woman in sexy black boots, a long dark coat, and a green and orange cloth handbag printed with hedgehogs and mushrooms.

IT hilarity

My company switched me to a laptop yesterday, and Jessica (the woman from IT) came to switch my stuff over from my desktop to my new machine while I was at a meeting.

I came back and got this IM from my neighbor:

[16:04] Devon: so when jessica took your comp away Josh was asking about getting a new comp cuz his is old and sucking. he was asking if your old one would be his new one. she said "maybe, but we have to erase everything, so you don't get Rose's porn and stuff"
[16:04] Devon: we both laughed because of how awkward it was that she said that loudly

when it's good, it's good

I'm dancing around my apartment: drinking port, folding laundry, and shaking my hips to the merengue on the radio. Not a bad evening :)

bringing back some life rules

nearly one year ago I became willfully and happily unemployed ... what an amazing point in my life, possibly best ever. At that time I instituted rules for myself to make sure I was not a completely lazy bum, and they were pretty great rules, I must say.

I just decided that I am bringing back rule number 4 - to accept every social invitation extended to me as much as possible. Not that I have been turning things down left and right exactly (you know how popular I am, my mailbox is stuffed with formal letters with full on RSVP cards and pre-licked return postage basically every day, no big deal,) but I had a great week this past week and I realized part of it was that I spent a lot of time with friends.

So, that rule is back. Let the social graces commence. Sorry, TV-and-internet, I will be giving you the cold shoulder for a while. Don't be sad, there are neglected children coming into the world every day, you'll be getting plenty of attention from elsewhere.

mmmmm indian food

I've been meaning to try making more indian food, but I got the kick-in-the-bum I needed last week when Holly was in town and she made some delic indian. So a few days ago I made some saag (fragrant buttered greens/spinach) and chicken korma (chicken in a sweet spiced onion gravy.) the saag was DELICIOUS to the max, the korma was EH, I think too much cardamom.

Today I tried a new dish - chole, or spiced chickpeas. I used this recipe and it came out QUITE delicious.

Above, the chole - inspired by Holly, cooked in the Scan Pan she gave me for christmas, and packed away in the glass tuperware that Mom gave me for my birthday :)