And by this previous bit of nail art of mine:

To do my latest design – pink glitter tip nails:

It’s super girly and perfect for Valentine’s Day coming up.

I used a couple of coats of Essie Limo-Scene for the pale pink base, then did the tips in Milani’s Disco Lights, and sealed it all up with Sally Hansen’s 30 Second Top Coat. I’m not the neatest nail-painted, but the sparkles don’t require too steady of a hand.

I think it’s pretty festive, don’t you? What are your nails wearing these days?

I’m also laying low this evening, sporting my pajamas immediately after work, doing laundry, and catching up on some projects. For instance, watching this on repeat to make myself laugh. And brainstorming up some potential Valentine’s Day cards to send to friends. And probably falling asleep drooling on my pillow while catching up on my favorite shows on Hulu. You know, because that sort of thing is exactly what cures the sniffles.

Sweet sentiments running through my head when I woke up this morning. Plus, the band’s name is just cool.

Rock on.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s was a whirlwind. Between my niece’s fairy-filled 2nd birthday party and a little magic of my own, the days really got away from me. I’ve been going nonstop since then.

January just so happens to be the busiest month of the year at my job and this week is when it picks up the most speed. Of course, I’ve added even more to the mix by moving, spending lots of time with someone special, and enjoying an out-of-town outing with my family. I had to go to my weekly yoga class tonight just to have a moment to breathe.

I’ll be sure to update more about everything (including uploading photos when I figure out how to prevent my new camera from crashing my old computer every time I connect the two) very soon. In the meantime, check out my horoscope for the past week:

Happiness isn’t a state you acquire by luck. It takes hard work and relentless concentration. You have to rise up and rebel against the nonstop flood of trivial chaos and meaningless events you’re invited to wallow in. You have to overcome the hard-core cultural conditioning that tempts you to assume that suffering is normal and the world is a hostile place. It’s really quite unnatural to train yourself to be peaceful and mindful; it’s essentially a great rebellion against an unacknowledged taboo. Here’s the good news: 2012 will be an excellent time for you to do this work.

Bring on the happiness in 2012!

(Someone mentioned this song yesterday, so of course I woke up with it in my head this morning.)

“Drinking every night because we drink to my accomplishments.” Love it, Drake.

This is what was in my head this morning:

Happy Monday, everybody. We’re only getting started.

They held the inaugural Jablow’s Meat’s Pop-Up Restaurant at a great spot in SF’s Mission District and served up four different kinds of meaty sandwiches for the day. My personal favorite was the pastrami. Even though I never knew I liked pastrami. Or mustard. Or rye. It’s like the sandwich is magic.

Anyway, I pitched in by acting as a runner and taking photos and generally trying to help wherever I could without being underfoot or in the way. Here are a couple of my favorite shots:

Doesn’t that look good?? It was.

Why, hello there, bacon…

So tasty. And my hair smelled like bacon afterwards. Kinda yum.

You can order your own meaty goodness from Dan and Ashley here. Or stay tuned here for more event updates (and potentially more pop-ups??). What a delicious day!

Thanks to L’Oreal for sponsoring my post about my favorite beauty looks, tips and tricks! Check out Makeup.com for beauty advice from the experts.

It’s that time of year – when there are parties every weekend night and lots of fun seasonal celebrations. I like to glam it up where I can, including rocking fun outfits and upping the ante a bit on my makeup.

I’ve got a go-to smoky eye look that I like to do with eye liner, shimmery dark gray shadow and pale lavender shadow together, and mascara. I’m definitely not afraid to amp up the eye makeup for a special evening look. (Especially when I know people will be taking photos, because made-up eyes always photograph better.)

But, I’ve run into a slight problem recently because I cut my fingernails super short for a rock climbing outing. I love pretty painted nails for special occasions, but it’s hard to pull off a glam look with stubby tips.

I decided to solve the problem with a simple, shimmery nail polish design. I have a few metallic nail polishes that I haven’t quite gotten up the nerve to wear on a regular basis. I’ve used them for accents in other nail designs, but I haven’t gone all metallic on its own. So, while I wanted to stay somewhat neutral to help make my fingernails look longer, but I wanted a little sparkle, too. I chose to do a three-tone metallic pattern, inspired a bit by Black Hills gold – the trio of white, yellow, and pink gold.

I painted a rosy metallic color as the base coat and followed up with a second coat down the middle of the nail bed. Then, I painted one third of each nail with a gold shimmery polish, and a second coat of the gold to make sure it stood out against the rose gold. Then, I painted the opposite third of each nail with shiny silver polish, with a second coat of that, as well. I finished it all off with a quick topcoat.

Ta-da! What do you think? I think the overall color neutrality helps elongate the look of my fingers and reduces the stubby-nail effect that I was dealing with after clipping my nails so short. And the metallic shimmer adds a little something special for my holiday parties this week. (Not to mention, I can wear whatever jewelry I want because it will all match!)

It’s fun and a little unique, but still subtle enough to wear to work on those in-between days when I’m not actually at a holiday party. :)

What special looks will you be rocking for your holiday festivities this month?

I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. Click here to learn more about Makeup.com or become a Facebook fan by clicking here.

I’ve been thinking a lot this past week about gratitude. I’m grateful for so many things in my life this year, and even when I think about the less-than-great things, I’m grateful that I am capable of handling them and have the confidence to do so. We don’t do the television family thing of going around the Thanksgiving table to say what you’re thankful for (my family is far too irreverent for that), so I thought I’d make a little list to share here.

Ten things I’m thankful for (in no particular order):

• My family and my relationships with them (especially my niece, who brings me such inexplicable joy)
• A great place to work and truly wonderful people to work with
• Mexican food – comfort and food coma in one neatly wrapped flour or corn blanket of goodness
• The strong, capable, imperfect body that I live in
• Humor – it makes everything better
• My super awesome friends, who are my partners in crime whether we live thousands of miles apart or down the street from each other
• Singlehood – seriously, it’s worlds better than being with someone who’s not worthy! (I will be reminding myself of this come Valentine’s Day!)
• Friendly bartenders
• That I live in a country where freedom of speech is protected and people can express their views without fear of false imprisonment or assassination
• When the printer actually pulls from the correct print tray.

And, of course, I am thankful for you, bloggy readers! Thank you for participating in my life story and sharing some of yours. What are you thankful for today?

I’m going to be there getting my Christmas shopping on (okay, fine, I’ll be buying things for myself ;). I hope to see you there… and stay tuned for more DailyBuzz Style info coming up soon!

“In your experience, who is the best-smelling actor that you’ve worked with?” TV host Jon Stewart asked his guest Tom Hanks. “Kevin Bacon,” replied Hanks. Why? Not because of the bacon-as-a-delicious-food angle, although that would be funny. “He smells like a mix of baby powder and Listerine,” Hanks said. Keep this perspective in mind, Capricorn. I think you should be engaged in a great ongoing quest to put yourself in situations with pleasing aromas. I mean this in both the metaphorical and literal sense. To set yourself up for meaningful experiences that provide you with exactly what you need, follow your nose.

I think this means I need to hit up a bakery, buy myself some new perfume, and take a deep long inhale of a glass of wine.

So, what’s been going on lately? Well, there’s all sorts of stuff to comment on in the world of politics and the economy, but I generally try to avoid those topics on this blog. (I prefer to save them for impassioned rants with friends and associates.) Being near ground-zero of a pretty big protest movement, though, I do feel compelled to post this picture:

Scary, no? That was the police presence at the Occupy Oakland site a couple of weeks ago after disbanding the encampment. There’s been a lot going on in the Occupy movement and there are many different opinions about things, but I just found the sight of all those police with gas masks and batons and guns to be totally disturbing. Particularly in my city. In the United States. Where we don’t have a military state. Ahem.

Right now… I’m listening to The Black Keys Brothers album and impatiently waiting for their new album El Camino, which comes out next month.

Right now… I’m reading A Game of Thrones (I love the television show!) and trying not to have nightmares after reading the scary parts. Especially since I already know what happens!

Right now… I’m rocking my new Longchamp market tote. And by “rocking it”, I mean spilling salsa all over it while on a burrito mission in the Mission. Good thing I got the red one!

The reader’s digest version is that I had a crazy busy few weeks at work, got out of a bummer relationship (phew, again!), and I went to Boston for a few days. Huzzah for hanging out with old friends, hitting up favorite haunts, and meeting new people. I can’t stop thinking “I’m back, baby!” and meaning it in so many ways. :)

Stay tuned for all sorts of bloggy good stuff!

I ignored the warning signs and kept telling myself, “No, she’s not crazy/dramatic/neurotic, she’s just tired/stressed/slow.” Except, that she is all of those things. And tonight, Thursday, not even four days after I moved in, she told me she’s been having anxiety about my being around/having a roommate at all/some mysterious personal medical issue she keeps alluding to and asked me to move out.

Oh, the Crazy.

I have had some moments of relaxation in the past few days, though, however brief they’ve been. For instance, I made time for Don Draper this weekend. I’m super happy that Mad Men is on Neflix Instant now. (Woohoo!) So I’m currently working my way through season 3. And, I made a batch of banana bread using a new (to me) recipe that turned out really well. (Thank you, Simply Recipes!) I added in a couple handfuls of chocolate chips, too, which made it the perfect sweet treat.

Is your week off to a good start? What do you do to relax when you’ve got a lot going on?

“Mommy, are scientists real?” the boy asked his mother. “Yes, son, they are,” she replied. “Do they make stuff that is dangerous?” continued the boy. “Sometimes they do,” said the mom. “Then I want to be one when I grow up,” concluded the boy. In the coming weeks, Capricorn, I see you as being like the boy. You’ll be in the mood to brainstorm about what you might like to evolve into, and your fantasies will tend to move in the direction of what’s most adventurous and exciting. I urge you to fully indulge in those flights of fancy. It’s time to dream really big and really free.

Yay! Love it.

I’ve also been listening to a lot of Florence + the Machine. Particularly this song:

What’s new in your life these days?

…And I finally found it! Ladies, it is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Going Green.

Having finally found my perfect green this past weekend, I, of course, had to paint my nails immediately. Inspired by my green, I hunted down a great metallic gold (none of that chunky glitter stuff for me). I painted my nails with a couple of coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Going Green and then did little half-moons of Sephora Charge It! gold on each nail, kind of like a reverse french manicure. I sealed it all with my usual topcoat.

Here are the results:

I was thinking a little of Chinoiserie, but a friend said they reminded her more of a Mackintosh look. Either way, I like the way they look and I’m pumped to finally have my perfect shade of green.

What do you think? Would you wear green nail polish? Is there a perfect color that you’ve been hunting for?

today I am planning my next steps (and looking forward to them)…

today I am rocking a new nail polish color – kelly green!

today I am full of movie theater popcorn after finally seeing Bridesmaids…

today I am watching a sweet doggie for a friend…

today I am renewing an old internet project…

today I am in like with someone…

today I am reading Tina Fey’s new book…

today I am catching up on The Glee Project…

today I am listening to Billie Holiday and feeling all the hip-swaying action.

What are you doing today?

Here are some of my favorite photos from the last family trip:

Do you  have any fun getaways planned? Been on any family vacations lately?

I painted my nails with a couple base coats of Revlon’s Lilac Pastelle (I originally wanted a similar Essie shade, but couldn’t find it in stock, so I went with the much cheaper Revlon alternative). Then, I painted angled stripes in different directions on each nail, using Revlon Silver Screen and finished it off with a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly 10 Second Top Coat.

On my thumbs and pinkies I did diagonal stripes, on my pointer and ring fingers I did horizontal stripes, and on my middle fingers I did vertical stripes. I was kind of imagining what it would look like if you turned a french manicure on it’s ear. They also remind me a bit of short flags, which I just find amusing.

Don’t mind the odd claw hand – the better to show you my nail polish, my dears. (That was my Little Red Riding Hood wolf impression.)

Here’s another shot:

It’s an unassuming but distinctive look. The lilac didn’t go on all that smoothly, but I’m already trying to come up with other designs to do with the silver. Any ideas for me?

What are your nails wearing these days?

This all leads me to my own nails this week. I first saw the newsprint trend on Pinterest a month or two ago, then it was mentioned again on HelloGiggles not long ago. It’s something different from the normal solid colors, so I decided to give it a try this weekend. Here’s how I did it:

First, I painted my nails with a few of coats of Essie Limo Scene, a pale pink color. I did about three coats – enough to pretty well obscure the pink/white line of my natural nail underneath. You have to wait until this base is totally dry and it should probably be a pale enough color to contrast with the newsprint. (I think a super pale lavender would look nice, too.)

I cut small squares of newspaper and filled a small container with rubbing alcohol. Working one at a time, I dipped each finger into the rubbing alcohol and then pressed a newspaper square onto the nail. I only left the newspaper on for a few seconds. The newsprint transfers almost immediately and if you leave the paper on too long it’ll dry and get stuck to your nail (I learned this the hard way, since it was a hot afternoon).

I laid the writing straight across the nail on my left hand and tried it at diagonals on my right. I think it looks better straight across because you can actually get more writing on the nail. I painted each nail with my usual topcoat. You might want to rub the extra newsprint off of your cuticles with a wet cotton swab before doing your topcoat, or you’ll be peeling writing off of your skin like I did.

The whole process was a lot faster than I expected (aside from having to wait for the base color to dry). The design is pretty understated and unique!

Judging from our recent decorating Lose Weight Exercises, I think my SIL is going to be the go-to cake decorator in the family. Case in point, her professional-looking Elmo cake:

…versus my Cake Wrecks-worthy carrot cake:

Turns out, cream cheese frosting is not great for piping. Also, you should plan out your color combos BEFORE 11pm when you’re tired and just want to finish your cake so you can go to bed. Oops! Lesson learned.

Fortunately my other items have turned out much better. This week is our final class (we get certificates (!) – something that I am excited (!) about only on a sarcastic level) and we’re going to learn how to make frosting roses and pipe messages onto our cakes. I’m thinking mine might read…”This class takes the cake.”

Alpacas are kind of similar to llamas, but they’re smaller and their fur is nicer. A friend of mine has several alpacas and uses their fiber to make very pretty homespun yarn. The animals get shorn once a year and I got to help with this year’s shearing.

We did nine alpacas altogether and my job was to collect their fiber as the professional shearers removed it from the animals. There are three grades of fiber, based on where on the animal it grows, so I collected it in separate bags to be used for specific grades of yarn and felt.

None of the alpacas were thrilled with being splayed out and having their hair cut, but some bore it better than others. A couple of them shrieked the entire time – a kind of high pitched whine that I thought at first meant the shears needed oil! – and one spat on the poor guy clipping his toenails. While they were tied up, they got shorn, had their nails clipped, and had their teeth checked (and clipped, if they were too long).

They had everything shorn except for the patch of fur directly on top of their heads. Some of them had such big hair-do’s, that they also needed actual hair cuts to trim the fur out of their eyes.

Check out the before and after looks…. Before shearing, they were all super fluffy and on high alert. Afterward, they were all trim and cool and wagging their little tails. (This is just the holding pen, they have large open pastures where they normally frolic.)

And here’s the finished product: big bags full of freshly shorn alpaca fiber.

It was kind of dirty work, but very interesting. Now I can’t wait to learn how to help clean, card, and spin the fiber into yarn!

Top (L -> R): Wedding programs printed on fans (the weather turned out to be perfect, fortunately), the gorgeous winery locale. 2nd row: Bright yellow bouquets, the groom, the bride, a glass of delicious Syrah. 3rd row: Chalkboard sign holding up seating assignments on clothespins (so sweet!), the new Mr. & Mrs. 4th row: Reclaimed door propped up and painted with the seating instructions, beautiful and simple wedding cake (most, if not all, of the desserts were made by the groom’s sis), table settings with burlap runners and blue and white gingham napkins. Last row: Chocolate cupcakes (somehow I missed actually eating these in all the hubbub), wedding favors in little jars, me and the bride at the end of the night, more cupcakes with handmade pinwheels in them.

Cheers to the happy couple!! :)

Thank you to Cube Dog for sponsoring this review. For more information about Cube Dog please visit the Facebook page or download it on iTunes.

Did I tell you? I have a new pet. His (her?) name is Fluffy. I meant that ironically, since he’s digital. I think he looks kind of like an English Bulldog/Boxer mix, if you ask me.

(This is Fluffy doing some high kicks.)

Cube Dog is a new iPhone/iPod Touch app from the smarties at Podotree. The app lets you create your own digital doggie and then get it to do tricks and interact with you. It kind of reminds me of the Tamagotchi I had when I was a teenager.

The user interface is pretty simple and straightforward. You create your custom Cube Dog by choosing its color, shape, ears, eyes, and face. You can also move the view around to see your dog from different angles and get more of a 3-D feel. You could also, say, change the backdrop to be your camera view if you want to sit your dog next to a real pet. :)

The app is free, but there’s a store where you can buy extras for your pooch:

To me, the best part of the app is playing around with the dog once you create it. My dog does little tricks depending on where I tap or scratch him. There’s also a menu of things you can get your dog to do, but I like just playing around and getting a reaction. I’m not sure how long the novelty will last for me (where’d I leave my Tamagotchi again??), but I think it would be a great app for kids and teenagers.

It’s important to note that right now, Cube Dog is only available for iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4, and iPod Touch 3rd & 4th generation, all running iOS 4.0 and up. Since Cube Dog is brand new, people with other devices may have to wait a bit for their versions. You can dog-sit Fluffy while you wait for your own. :) In the meantime, though, check out the Cube Dog Facebook page here and keep an eye on it next week (June 13 – 17) for a fun contest they’re going to be running.

What are your favorite iPhone and iPod apps? Have you ever had a virtual pet or pet rock?

Note: While Cube Dog provided me with the app to review, the opinions I’ve expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Cube Dog, Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.

Aren’t they pretty?

I used Essie Limo-Scene for the base coat, since it’s a nice soft pink. Then, I used Sally Hansen Nude Shimmer for the tips (it’s kind of a mocha-pink metallic hue) and topped it off with my usual top coat. I think a copper color would also be pretty for the tips, but the nude shimmer is nice, too. Either way, a warmer colored metallic keeps it feminine and pretty.

Of course, about an hour after I finished my nails, a permanent marker exploded all over my hands. Sigh… Guess it’s time to think up a fresh design!

Do you have a favorite nail color or design? What are your nails wearing right now?

A couple of months back, I was hanging out with some friends who had been invited to an “On a Stick” party. It was a big potluck and everyone was asked to bring something that you served or ate from a stick. My friends were trying to decide what to make and bring to this party, but we were stumped.

They were going to have to commute a fair distance on public transit to get to the shindig, so all of the deep-fried foods we thought of were out of the question. And they wanted to do something a little more exciting than just fruit kebabs. If only they’d had Matt Armendariz’s new book – On a Stick! – for inspiration.

I’ve been a fan of Matt’s blog, Matt Bites, for a long time now so I was super excited to see that he was launching a cookbook. Unsurprisingly, it’s irreverent and down-to-earth like he seems to be. I mean, this isn’t Nigella Lawson-style food porn; it’s a whole book devoted to things you eat on a stick.

Some of the recipes aren’t super exciting (see: fruit kebabs) and some are way too labor-intensive for my taste (chicken and waffles on a stick isn’t happening around here any time soon), but some of the goodies call to me from the pages of this cookbook. Breakfast pancake dogs?? Yes, please. Fried mozzarella? Don’t mind if I do. The spaghetti and meatballs on a stick is enough to make me want to go out and buy a deep fryer, not to mention the homemade donut holes.

As for travel-ready, potluck-friendly goods… Cake pops and pizza skewers, anyone?

What’s your favorite skewered or on-a-stick food??

I saw this article on HelloGiggles and was inspired to try doing my own hand-painted leopard print nails this weekend. Yow, they’re wild! I love how they turned out.

To get the look, I used Revlon’s Tropical Temptation as the base coat. It’s a fun punch of color that screams summer to me. Then I did free-hand dots of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue Me Away (kind of a neon blue color).

Instead of using the recommended nail art pen for the black I just used a Sharpie. Cheating, I know, but it gave me more control over my lines. I sealed it all with a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly 30 Second Top Coat.

One down side of using Sharpie is that it smears a little during the top coat. I discovered that most of the smearing comes from contact with the brush, so I made sure my brush had plenty of polish on it so that it wouldn’t have to touch the nail that much. I don’t think the smearing was all that noticeable or took away too much from the finished job. (These are neon leopard print nails, after all!)

Ta da! Aren’t they festive? Definitely not an every day look, but fun for the weekend.

Would you wear leopard print nail polish?

On a completely unrelated note, I have to tell you that I FINALLY watched the movie Before Sunrise this weekend (yes, I know, 1995 called and wants its to-do list back). Amazing. Where is my passport? Or my 20s, for that matter. I really want to see Before Sunset now. What do you think? Do I have to wait nine years or can I watch it so soon after seeing the first one?

In other entertainment updates, I got a library card this weekend. Again, FINALLY. I haven’t had a public library card in several years but the Borders near me just went kaput and I figure it’s probably a better idea anyway to check books out than to keep buying them. So, I checked out a memoir that’s been at the top of my list since I heard about it – Townie. I’m only a few chapters in, but so far it’s very good. If you liked The Fighter or The Town or other movies about people using physical violence to deal with life in their poor Boston-area neighborhoods, you’ll like it. It’s gritty and grim and engrossing.

What have you been up to this weekend?

My favorite parts of the excerpt are her list of rights and responsibilities for best friends (such as free reign over each other’s closets, but also hating and liking people at whim because the other deems it so) and why teenage girls shouldn’t worry about being popular (you don’t want to be the girl who peaked in high school). I love her down-to-earth tone and wry observational humor. I can’t wait to read the whole book!

Plants vs Zombies - I love games. And zombies. And apparently games about zombies. A few months ago I mastered the web version of this game, now I’ve mastered the free trial download version and I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to suck it up and buy the full version. It’s that fun.

The Ex Factor – This blog about a couple of friends who used to date is proof that real life is often more amusing than fiction. It doesn’t hurt, of course, that they’re two glib, sarcastic people who know each other so well they’re masters at pushing the other’s buttons.

Alba Botanica lip balm – As a lip balm aficionado, I have a few set criteria for my lip care needs: #1) It has to be petroleum-free (here’s why). #2) It has to have sun screen. #3) It has to smell and/or taste good. Alba’s SPF 18 tangerine lip balm fits the bill exactly. (You can buy it here.) It’s also cruelty-free and the company is committed to social and environmental responsibility. Not bad for a little tube of lip balm!

What’s got your attention lately? Is there anything you’re currently obsessed with?

Within moments, drinks in hand, the two of you emerge from the café and hurry across 3rd Avenue to Saint Mark’s Place. The light has fallen further and the pace of foot traffic has picked up, the energetic hum of a Saturday night in New York City setting in.

“I need cigarettes,” Alisa says as she leads the way into a mini-mart halfway down the block; you understand the compulsion, familiar by now with her nicotine urges. You watch as she marches up to the counter, sets down her drink to pull out her wallet, and requests her particular brand of cancer sticks. Meanwhile, your hands cup the warmth of your own coffee and you mill around the small store, eyeballing the miscellany that fills the narrow shelves and wondering if perhaps they might carry Mallomars, one of your particularly favorite East Coast treats.

With the chiming of bells over the doorway, a large, bald, leather-chapped man hunkers into the mini-mart and heads to the back of the store. You glance at him curiously then resume idly scanning the shelves. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the leather-clad man grab a malt beverage from the refrigerators and lumber up to the front of the store.

Having reentered your periphery, you follow him more closely. He plunks his drink down on the counter, directly between your friend and her resting beverage. Alisa glances at him quizzically, as a kind of a message to him that he has invaded her space, pausing in that oh-so-Alisa kind of way where you can practically see the gears working in her mind deciding whether or not to say something quick and cutting.

For a brief moment, time has stopped. You wait, frozen in the gulf between what has just happened and what is about to happen. Alisa breaks the silence by saying nothing; she shoots you a telepathic look and resumes paying for her cigarettes. The big, bald, biker guy leans in even closer to her, pauses for dramatic effect, and says, “You looking for a job??”

In the few seconds in which it has taken this random Hell’s Angel to lean over and offer your dear friend a job, time has turned from a trickle, to a slow crawl, and now surpasses it’s previous speed of normalcy. Everything happens in brief fractions of seconds and nothing is attached to thought or conscious reaction, instead falling into place like so many toppled dominoes. There are no subsequent moments of Alisa-like pauses, only a mumbled “No” and a couple of deadpanned blinks of the eyes from you, snatching her coffee off the counter in front of the large man with your right hand, grabbing her arm with your left hand, and together beating a hasty retreat, dropping money and/or loose cigarettes in your wake.

The door chimes behind you in welcome relief as you rush down the steps of the mini-mart and embrace the cool night air with deep laughing gulps. The two of you clutch each other’s arms and hurry out into the evening, turning your minds to dinner plans, friends coming over, and where you will find yourselves after. Before crossing the heavy green doorway of her apartment, though, you catch Alisa’s eye and, staring at each other, query “You looking for a job???”

She Stood Outside

She stood outside in the quasi-rain, shifting from one foot to the other, waiting for the ringing to stop and half hoping that she would get the machine. While she counted the repetitions, she watched couples leaving the restaurant across the street. They held hands, or had their arms around each other, shielding themselves from the inclement weather. It was almost there, maybe only half a ring away from the automated voice telling her to leave a message.

“Hello?”

“Oh…hi! It’s me,” she announced nervously, waiting a beat to see if the ear attached to the voice on the other end would be able to identify her.

“Hi!” The voice exclaimed familiarly, “How are you??” She’d been recognized.

“I’m good. I’m…I’m drunk dialing you,” she blurted out. She felt the need to announce her purpose up front, drunk enough to have the courage to call, but not so drunk that she didn’t feel she needed an excuse.

“You are? Aww, that’s so sweet. Wait, hold on.” She could hear muffled discussion on the other end, and could picture a hand covering the mouthpiece.

“I’m sorry, hold on. I’m playing poker, it’s my turn, I’m trying to see if I’m in this hand or not.”

She mumbled “don’t worry”s and resumed her pacing. She pictured the dark, scuffed wood bar where they would be playing. It would be full tonight; it was Friday, and they would be locked in an insular grouping in the back. She was always afraid that she was calling at the wrong time, and allowed that to be her excuse not to call. Tonight it didn’t matter, though; she had enough warm sake in her stomach to make it not matter.

She ducked from one awning to the next and back again, trying to avoid the bigger raindrops and the small puddles that they formed on the sidewalk. She could feel the bright orange color of the restaurant at her back, felt its contrast against the rest of the dark night even though she faced away from it. The street in front of her was black and slick with water, faintly illuminated by lights strung in the trees across the street. The heavy oak door of the opposing restaurant kept opening and closing, emitting the low hum of mass conversation with each entering and exiting patron.

“Tonight’s my poker night,” the voice was back, “I just folded.”

“Oh yeah, I didn’t know you were into poker.”

She watched as a couple approach on her right, two women with short-cropped hair, both pixie-ish and young. They wore matching black leather jackets and had their arms around each other’s waist, walking in cadence. They ignored the rain.

She turned her head towards the intersection, wondering where they might be going, and then back to them. The one on the left slipped on a wet metal grating, barely held up from landing on the sidewalk by her partner. She turned her head again and paced in the other direction. She hated to see or be seen in moments of embarrassment. Hated to have people know that her eyes had been upon them when they were their most vulnerable.

“So, how have you been?” the voice asked.

“Good…I’ve been good.” She slid into the shadowy alcove of the shop next door. She faced the street but no longer saw it, smiling hesitantly across invisible telephone lines.

What did you do this weekend?

My French was decent enough that I was mistaken for a native while visiting Paris as a teenager. Of course, once I realized that the woman talking to me thought I was actually French, I made a point to give her as monosyllabic answers as possible so as not to dispel the illusion. I also remember getting chased by a pervy group of boys and managed to curse at them fast and furiously enough to get them to leave me alone. (There are benefits to learning foreign swear words!)

In college, I learned Italian. I was totally enamored with the culture and food, and a big selling point of taking Italian was getting to go to summer school in Florence. We had classes in an old stone cathedral and took weekend trips throughout Tuscany. I learned how to drive a Vespa and had a real Italian boyfriend for the summer. I got to drink Italian spumante – an exciting thing for a 19 year old American – and lounge around in piazzas like I owned the place. It. Was. Awesome.

At some point after I finished my Italian lessons, I decided to give in to practicality and started taking Spanish classes. I already had a full course load, so a friend and I took classes in the evening at the local community college. I tried to focus on Spanish, but by the end of the day my brain was invariably elsewhere and all the foreign words in my brain formed an odd language soup. I knew I had to drop the class when during my first oral exam the teacher asked me a question and I responded in an Italian-French-Spanish hybrid. We both laughed at the ridiculousness.

All of this is in the past tense, you’ll notice, because my formal education in languages was ages ago. I still love to pronounce words in Italian, rolling the sounds around in my mouth and savoring the so-very-Italian way of saying things. (Giada, eat your heart out!) But, my conversational skills haven’t been Lose Weight Exercised in close to a decade. And my French, learned while I was younger and my brain was a little more absorbent, is also rusty. Though I was able to communicate with people in Belgium a few years ago — I think it’s because they speak French more slowly there.

I recently discovered linguistic pay dirt, though, and that’s what’s inspiring this ramble-riffic post. I found out that the BBC has amazing, free language resources. BBC Languages has a ton of different languages (Urdu, anyone?), including French and Italian so that I can brush up, and Spanish so that I can finally properly learn.

Depending on the language, they have different lessons, podcasts, guides, games, etc. I’ve just gotten started with a great, award-winning, interactive video series to work on my Spanish and it’s very easy to follow along and fun to do. (It’s Spain-Spanish, though, so we’ll see if anyone in my family can actually understand me after this.)

The link is here if you’re looking to add some new flavor to your linguistic repertoire. Who knows, it might just inspire some Vespa riding of your own!

Thank you to Log Cabin for sponsoring my post about updated traditions in my household. To learn more about Log Cabin Syrups (which are all free of High Fructose Corn Syrup), breakfast for dinner, and other new ways to update traditions in your home, click here. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

About five years ago our family changed. We went from being a four person family with certain traditions to being a much larger, even more diverse unit. This all happened when my brother married my sister-in-law and our two families were joined.

Then, about 16 months ago, our family changed again with the birth of my niece. While both sets of grandparents were already friendly and geographically close to each other, the newest arrival cemented the foundations of the village that it will take to raise her. Eva is an ethnic ratatouille, with Cambodian, Chinese, Mexican and Northern and Western European ancestry. Whatever the recipe, she’s an adorable, spirited baby and always the life of the party.

Our families are inextricably linked now and we are all trying to help raise Eva with a blend of traditions, along with some new ones. This all brings me to this weekend, for my first ever (and Eva’s second) Cambodian New Year celebrations.

I had never been to my SIL’s temple and I was excited to get to experience that part of her family’s (and Eva’s) culture. We dressed up for the occasion, though not nearly as fancily as some of the ladies  there, who wore more traditional, sequined, brightly colored blouses and long skirts.* Logically, the temple and grounds reminded me a lot of Thailand and Laos, including the pretty detailing on the rooves and the statues, and whatnot.

I followed my SIL and her family’s lead in our New Year’s celebrations. In the interest of time and effort, we abbreviated things a bit and stuck to doing a few traditional things at the temple. We lit incense and said prayers, we sought blessings from the monks, and delivered food to the communal tables, including special servings of rice for the monks. Then we hit the festival-like grounds of the temple for a little shopping, eating, and general merriment.

The weather was great, practically the whole community was there, and little Eva was surrounded by family. Not a bad way to herald in a new year or a new (to me) tradition.

Of course, some of Eva’s family traditions are more familiar to me. Like turning the first local strawberries of the season into delicious waffles. We finally found an open strawberry stand on our way home from the temple and this is the feast that my SIL made for breakfast yesterday morning. Yum!

*I’ve gotten to wear traditional Cambodian outfits once before – for my brother and SIL’s wedding. Some looks are just better on other people. ;)

See, I had a whole to-do list of things to get to-done and I decided to tackle the non-computer-based ones first. So, after checking my email this morning, I wandered away from my computer and went about doing other things. While I was off a-wandering, my laptop decided to go to sleep. Actually, more like a coma. And when I finally came back to it, it wouldn’t start back up. I opened and closed it, poked its little glowing buttons, prayed, and pounded…nothing happened. No sweet hum of a thoughtful computer at rest, no warmth from its battery, no flicker of a screen coming back to life. Nada.

I’m fairly vigilant about backing my computer up, but I don’t have a set schedule for it and I don’t have the patience to back-up every day. So, while my poor banged up laptop was in its comatose state, I started panicking about all the goodies that were trapped on my hard drive; new documents, spreadsheets, photos, etc. since my last back-up a few weeks ago. Things I wasn’t prepared to loseWeight Exercise. (Not to mention losing the computer itself!)

Enter a fortuitous internet search that offered up one singly do-able potential solution: unplug the computer, remove the battery, press the on button for several seconds to reset, reinstall the battery, and turn it on. Ta-da! My little laptop chug-a-chugged back to life. PHEW!!! It’s alive!!!

And then I spent the entire afternoon backing up every single file on my computer. Time lost, but – mercifully – sh!t saved.

There were alpacas and goats for making fiber and yarn, many different kinds of chickens and some quail for eggs, and a couple of ponies and a horse. Oh, and a couple of rabbits, cats, and a dog, for cuddling.

Of course, I forgot to take any pictures, but take my word for it that it was all very cute. Especially getting to pet the ponies (I love petting soft horsey noses) and feed the goats out of hand. Two of the four goats were very shy, but two were braver and had funny little personalities and had no qualms about eating the peanuts I gave them. Not to mention that they’re Angora goats, so they’re all shaggy and look at you out from under big mops of curls.

The chickens were actually very stately, and even though I am usually not impressed by chickens (I tend to think of them as being dirty and dumb) these were very pretty. The breeds included Mille Fleur Bantams, Buff Orpingtons, Silkies, and a few other kinds whose names I don’t remember. But…they did give us these:

Aren’t they pretty? Like natural Easter eggs. And I’m told they taste better than store-bought, too.

First, the Italian movie Bread and Tulips. I wanted to see this movie for ages but somehow forgot all about it. It was great – wistful, quirky, romantic. There’s escapism and fresh flowers and accordion music. And the Italian. Io amo l’Italiano. This movie made me miss Italy so much.

Also Mint Medley tea – so soothing on my scratchy throat. Holding a hot mug of tea is the perfect antidote to the cold, stormy weather outside.

Lastly, I’ve been playing with Pinterest, a fun new website that helps you collect and curate all those wonderful things you find on the internet. It’s still in beta, but if you’re interested I have a few invites to share. You can check out my catalog of “pins” here. Shoot me an email if you want in on the fun.

Hope you’re enjoying a cozy night, too.

I joined Goodreads, the literary social networking/organizing site, a couple of years ago and recently discovered their First Reads program, through which you can win advanced copies of books directly from the publishers. I happened to win one of these fancy shmancy free book copies not long after and received a copy of Jon McGregor’s So Many Ways to Begin. It’s an alright book – compelling in some ways, slow in others. (If you’re so compelled,  you can read my review on Goodreads.)

A super quick recent read was The Science of Single: One Woman’s Grand Experiment in Modern Dating, Creating Chemistry, and Finding Love by Rachel Machacek. It’s a true life account of a 30-something woman’s attempt to be better at being single by exploring various different dating strategies and methods. Kind of like an updated Sex and the City. Perfect beach reading if, say, it was warm enough to go to the beach.

Next up is Frank Bruni’s Born Round: A Story of Family, Food and a Ferocious Appetite. Bruni was the NYT restaurant critic for several years, not to mention an otherwise accomplished writer and eater, so I’m looking forward to his memoir. Considering how much I enjoyed Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl, another former Times food critic, I’m excited to read Born Round. (I’ve also got Gabrielle Hamilton’s much buzzed about Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef on my to-read list!)

Finally, I’ve also got 20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker, a collection of short stories from notable young(ish) writers, on my bedside table. I love short stories because if I’m busy I don’t have to worry about losing track of characters and plot lines between reads. Short stories also help me bridge the droughts and monsoons of my reading habits. Right now, I’m enjoying monsoon season!

What are you reading right now? Have you read anything great lately?

Recently, I was hanging out with a friend of mine who was doing me a favor and she mentioned that her commute to work is an hour each way. She drives across state lines every day to go to work and spends LOTS of time in her car. So I thought to myself, she needs a mix tape!

Like all good mix tapes (or playlists, or mix CDs, in this case), I make mine with some sort of theme. Sometimes it’s all modern pop-y stuff, sometimes it’s got a world beat, sometimes it’s a little literal. Like the one I’m making for my friend right now. I was inspired by some new songs I downloaded recently, so the theme I decided to use is animals. Animals! Kind of random, but there are tons of animal titled songs and also animal named bands out there. Which means I still had a good pool of music to pick from while staying within the theme.

If you want to make your own Animal Style mix tape, here are the songs I used. Tell me what you think.

Mix Tape: Animal Style (for my friend who spends too much time in her car)

Animal – Miike Snow  <— This was the inspiration song.

Little Lion Man – Mumford & Sons

Fireflies – Owl City

My Time – Minus the Bear

Dog’s Got A Bone – The Beta Band

Wild Horses – The Rolling Stones

Vultures – Memphis & the Lonely Crowes  <— This is my friend’s band!

The Wolves (Act I and II) – Bon Iver

Hunting Bears – Radiohead

Poor Cow – Peter, Bjorn & John

Neon Tiger – The Killers

Ride A White Horse (Single Version) – Goldfrapp

Animal – Ke$ha

It begins and ends with a song titled “Animal”, which is a nice little bookend. It starts out lively, becomes more introspective in the middle, and then finishes lively. And it clocks in at just under one hour – perfect for getting her home from work with music to keep her company the whole way.

What’s on your favorite mix tape or playlist these days??

*Here’s a glimpse into the time capsule for you: my first cassette was C&C Music Factory‘s Gonna Make You Sweat and my first CD was Mariah Carey‘s Music Box. Awesome.

I’ve been busy lately, but I’m taking the time to enjoy a nice long weekend. Stay tuned for a fun, sponsored blog post in the next couple of days, though. Huzzah for sponsors, too! :)

Pay it forward 2011: I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. They in turn must post this and send something they make to the first 5 people who comment on their status. The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011. And don’t be intimidated. Handmade doesn’t mean super fancy or complicated.

I have some very crafty friends, so of course they jumped right on the bandwagon with me. I promised each of them a distinct item made especially for them. So now my mental wheels are turning and I’m pondering what to make for each person. I’m also trying to decide if I should make and send something right away (my usual M.O., because I am terrible at keeping surprises and gifts to myself) or send my handmade things at random intervals during the year to surprise their recipients.

Will you take on this crafty assignment? What would you make for your friends?

I hope that by now everyone has recovered from their respective New Year’s Eve celebrations. I spent my NYE with hot cheese, tasty drinks, an amazing view of one of my favorite cities, and some serious apartment envy. I’m not really one to make New Year’s resolutions, but if I were to do so, I’d resolve to enjoy more nights like last night on everyday occasions.

I once heard a little New Year’s mythology that whomever you spend New Year’s with is who you’ll spend the actual new year with. I’m hoping that superstition/tradition/whatever applies to New Year’s Day, too, since I got to spend the afternoon with one of my favorite people in the world (and one whom I hadn’t seen in over a year!). I think people often misinterpret Auld Lang Syne as a call to forget the past and past friends and to look forward to new ones, when really the best celebrations are those shared with our “auld acquaintances”. Hmm, that sounds an awful lot like the makings of another New Year’s resolution!

Anyway, I hope you’re rested, resolved, and ready for an exciting 2011. Cheers to a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!

It all started with a lovely visit from a couple of my friends. They came out to my family’s house to make tamales with me. (Pictures and more info on that to come.) It’s an annual tradition and I think they enjoyed themselves. The next day, I ferried them back towards their destination and  my aunt and uncle arrived from out of town. Again, all very pleasant and normal.

Christmas morning, however, was when things came off the rails. Without going into too many specifics, a member of my family essentially collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. Breakfast was left half-baked on the stove, presents left unopened, Christmas forgotten. Instead, we spent all of Saturday pacing around the ER waiting room, waiting for answers. The hospital stay extended for three days/two nights. Christmas dinner was, ironically, at the nicest restaurant in town with my aunt and uncle primarily because that was the only restaurant we could find open.

We’re all home and on the mend now and finally got to celebrate the holiday on Monday night. Our version of “Christmas morning” was definitely anti-climactic after the weekend’s course of events. The real gift, of course, was that everyone was alright.

As an addendum to all that chaos, my debit card number was stolen at some point and thieves bought themselves a little Christmas present of their own. Just like the weather around here lately, when it rains, it pours.

I hope you all had a calmer Christmas. Is it 2011 yet?

I have so much fun stuff to post in the coming days, from crafty projects to delicious recipes. I can’t wait to share everything with you! Today is for relaxing, though, laughing, eating, and enjoying time with my family. Cheers to you and yours.

************************************************************************

Here’s a look at the Christmas cards my almost-1-year-old niece made as a surprise for her parents and grandparents.

The potato stamps turned out to be too big for her little hands:

She found a better way of doing things, though:

Ta da! A born crafter.

Merry Christmas!

(This is my Rabbid standing around in his underwear before I dressed him up.)

(Breaking the rules!)

(Look how sad and dejected my Rabbid is because he can’t enter the Hookarium.)

I’m really impressed with AMC’s programing, since I recently started watching Mad Men, as well. Smart, cinematic writing and production quality shows from a basic cable channel…who knew that was possible? It’s a nice change of pace from all the reality trash out there (not that I don’t love me some reality trash from time to time!).

What are your favorite shows lately? What do you make time to watch?

The holidays are coming up, as is her 1st birthday, and I consider it the perfect opportunity for a little spoiling. Which led me to Le Target recently for some toy aisle strolling, whereupon I discovered that toy makers today are grasping at straws for new ways to corrupt small children. Of course I snapped some iPhone photos to share with you.

Exhibit A: The “Surprise Newborn” Cabbage Patch doll.

Umm….where to begin….Surprise Newborn?? What the? I saw this and immediately thought of those crazy people on I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant. Somehow they even make the kids on Teen Mom look responsible. And this is what we’re encouraging kids to play with? It took me a good five minutes and the amount of horror characteristic to someone twice my age to realize the surprise is actually referring to the doll’s sex. Oops.

Exhibit B: Tattoo Writer kit

Kids, tattoos are not for playdates with your elementary school friends. They’re meant to be earned. At seedy tattoo parlors inhabited by dudes with the word “hate” written on their upper lip*, by dumb 18 year olds to then regret for the rest of their lives. Or in prison. No tattoos until you go to prison. Got it?

Anyway, between the irresponsible-sex doll and the my-kid-rolls-with-the-Hell’s-Angels kit, I ended up leaving the store empty handed. Which led me to start making my own toys for my niece…which I will be sure to share with you soon!

*The one time I visited a tattoo parlor, I met this man. I did not get a tattoo.

The bad news is that I’m still sick. (And it’s getting old, lemme tell you.) I can’t speak, think, or breathe very well. But, the good new…I found some leftover Halloween candy. It’s the little things in life that make you happy. And, fortunately, chocolate is one of the few things I can still taste!

(This is the Mad Men-ed me. In other words, my mother circa 1965!)

Now, here’s a shot of our yummy lunch:

Bacon mac and cheese and dijon vinaigrette salad, with chai blondies and Noe Valley Bakery cupcakes for dessert! Lilly made the blondies and they were delicious – butterscotch chips, coconut, and macadamia nuts in a tasty spiced blondie base. She’s promised to send the recipe, so I’ll be sure to share that soon. The cupcakes were also great. NVB makes these awesome classed-up Hostess cupcake knock-offs called Mostess cupcakes. Mmm, so good! Heaven!

The salad was a nice combo of crispy cabbage, tender greens, and crunchy carrots, cucumbers and apples. Perfect alongside the richness of the bacon mac and cheese.

The macaroni recipe is a spruced up version of the basic Joy of Cooking baked macaroni and cheese recipe. I’ve made it so many times, I have it memorized (though the bacon was a new addition).

Bacon Macaroni and Cheese

8 ounces of your preferred style of macaroni noodles (I like rotini because they hold the cheese nicely but orechietti or elbows would also work well)

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

1/2 onion, diced

1 bay leaf

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/2 to 3/4 cup frozen peas

2 and 1/4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (Or more, if you like cheese! Also, consider trying different kinds of cheese to add new flavors. I added some Manchego I had on hand this time, but other hard or semi-soft cheese are delicious, too!)

salt & pepper to taste

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs

5 slices of cooked bacon (this lends a smokey flavor, I think pancetta would do well if you want the saltiness without the smoke), diced

Bring 6 cups water and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt to rolling boil in medium saucepan. Add pasta and cook until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking constantly, about 3 minutes. This will be the thickener for your sauce. Gradually whisk in milk. Stir in onion, bay leaf and paprika. Simmer gently, stirring often, for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in 1 1/2 cups cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove bay leaf. Stir in frozen peas, cooked bacon, and prepared noodles. Pour half of mixture into greased, deep 9″x9″ baking dish and sprinkle with half of remaining cheese. Top with remaining noodles and remaining cheese.

Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in small skillet over medium heat. Add bread crumbs and toss to coat. Sprinkle buttered crumbs over top of macaroni. Bake at 350F. until bread crumbs are lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Yum!

Now for the obligatory photo of my ridiculously cute niece in her Halloween costume. Adorbz!

And feel free to admire the fanciest Halloween pumpkins my crew has ever carved. I made the bat on the end. I didn’t get the cat memo, apparently. Oh well, at least they rhyme. :)

While as a kid I used to devour books, I think it’s a lot harder as adults to devote much time to pleasure reading. One of my measures of a good book is how late I find myself staying up to read, how quickly I whip through it, and how long I reflect on it after I’m done. When one of the members of my book club* picked The Hunger Games, a youth fiction novel by Suzanne Collins, for our November selection, I was a little skeptical. But – as my rapidly diminishing cuticles and recent late nights will attest – the book is awesome. It’s the first in a trilogy and I’ve already gone back to the bookstore and read through the second novel, Catching Fire. The third, Mockingjay, will be purchased and devoured before the week is over, I promise.

Don’t let the YA** tag scare you. It’s no cobbled together teenspeak work. I have, after all, resisted Harry Potter and Twilight and all those other wildly popular youth fiction books. It’s a compelling read about the life and times of a defiantly independent girl in a kind of post-apocalyptic Orwellian world. Well written and a quick and absorbing read. I recommend it!

*The first rule of Book Club – you don’t have to read the book. I think my favorite meeting was the one we did at the driving range. Most meetings involve wine and other beverages, lots of food, and maybe a little chatter about the chosen selection…or maybe just about People magazine. I hate stuffy reader talk; Book Club is the antithesis of stuffy reader talk.

*YA = young adult fiction. My friend Ali is a librarian. She teaches me things.

Cheerios® is giving you the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, your ultimate family vacation. As part of a paid promotion for their “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, Cheerios® is sponsoring my post today about what my ultimate family vacation would be. Read mine, Enter the Sweepstakes for a chance to actually win your own fantasy family trip or one of a bunch of other great prizes.

For me, the question of the Ultimate Family Vacation is a hard one. As a kid, I grew up traveling all over the world with my family. I took my first plane ride before the age of one, had been to another country by five, and visited five of the seven continents by the time I graduated from high school. Travel was a big priority for my parents and I had a very lucky childhood getting to go all over the U.S. and the world. From epic cross-country road trips to enlightening visits to dramatically different cultures on the other side of the globe, everything I saw inspired a love of travel and family vacations.

Understandably, my ultimate family vacation has big shoes to fill. Partly because I’ve been on so many awesome family vacations already and partly because there are even more places I want to go and things I want to see. I also have a list of favorite places that I’ve been to on my own that I’d love to share with my family – including my adorable little baby niece (have I mentioned my adorable niece before? :). To keep things simple, my ideal family vacation spot would have to involve a lot of relaxation and eating – two things my family is good at.

I think my ultimate family vacation is a week-long getaway to somewhere beautiful, relaxing, and tasty – a villa in the Italian countryside! My brother and sister-in-law (and, really, the whole family) would love all the yummy Italian food, my mom could geek out over the classical art museums, my dad and I could practice our Italian, and we could all go hiking and exploring, take cooking classes, and just unwind for a while. I’m sure my niece’s favorite part would be all the soft, sweet gelato she could get her hands on, since she loves ice cream. Pretty sure I could convince my mom and SIL to hit up the high end fashion outlets in Tuscany, too. Bonus that we wouldn’t have to move around much with the baby. Family vacay to an Italian villa? Yes, please! Eating, shopping, exploring, and relaxing together, what could be better?

What’s your Ultimate Family Vacation? Where would you go, what would you do, and who would you take with you?

Don’t forget to enter the “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, for a chance to win your own ultimate family vacation. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

So, via Ubisoft and Clever Girls Collective, I got my hot little hands on a copy of Gold’s Gym Dance Workout for the Wii. I brought the game over to my brother and sister-in-law’s house to play with my SIL. She and I like to play Wii together every now and then, particularly dance or music games. I figured she’d be game to try out GGDW with me since she’s always looking for ways to stay active and help burn off the last little bit of baby Lose Weight Exercise since having my adorable niece eight months ago. Adding to the fun, my SIL’s sister also came over to play along and laugh at our attempts.

I say attempts, because the dance sequences were actually kind of hard to follow. There are several different settings you can play – latin and pop dance workouts, mini-games that have you bouncing around doing different activities to burn calories, and cardio boxing. The dance workouts were a lot like attending a real dance class at the gym – there’s an instructor on screen demonstrating and shouting out the moves. And, a lot like a real dance class, they don’t stop or slow down to help you catch up if you get lost. Which I did. Frequently. My SIL was better at mimicking the steps, but I kept getting confused as to whether I should be mirroring the instructor or following their moves. We all agreed that there should be an option to turn the instructor around so that you can watch their movements in the same way that you should be doing them.

(This is a screen shot of the warm-up Lose Weight Exercises, led by my “personal trainer” avatar.)

During the dance parts, there’s a chart on the side of the screen that shows how well you’re doing (or not doing), and you can go back and play back the individual moves to help you practice them separately. You can do two-player dance workouts, which is nice if you do best when motivated by working out with someone else. Or if you want to get the person laughing at you from the couch to put their moneymaker where their mouth is.

My favorite part of the game is definitely the mini-games. They’re fast paced and fun – you can do karate chops, ride bulls, canoe, jump rope, etc. (I think I like the sword practice best. I am not so good at the matador moves – good to learn in case I ever decide to go to Pamplona.) They’re probably not the focus of the overall game, but certainly the highlight for me.

I think with a little practice, I could probably get better at the actual dance workouts. Even off-step, we could tell that they are a good workout, they got our heart rates up and got us moving. Plus, my niece loved watching our dance steps and bouncing along to the music, getting her own little workout while we danced away.

(Notice the slight blur? That’s because Eva is bouncing out her dance moves!)

Have you tried Gold’s Gym Dance Workout? What did you think? What’s your favorite workout game?

Click on the link above if you want to see why I need to scrub my  mouth out now (you’ll have to click on it again on the next page). This is what I get for leaving my water glass sitting out, I guess. Blech!

He’s the most talkative cat I’ve ever met, the kitty version of a Chatty Cathy… a Chatty Catty??

His owners have a nice blender (woohoo!) so I’ve been making banana nutella smoothies while I’m here:

They’re delicious. Just blend together 2 frozen bananas (let thaw briefly to make peeling easier), a couple of tablespoons of Nutella, and about 1/3 cup of nonfat milk. Perfect for breakfast or dessert!

My cat-sitting has coincided with having a cold and viral conjunctivitis, so the cat and I have both been curled up on the couch lately, quarantined. I was finally feeling a little better yesterday, so a friend baked beer cupcakes (!) and came over for bacon pizza from our favorite local pizza joint. She made the cupcakes in these adorable silicon teacup molds, using Blue Moon‘s Honey Moon Summer Ale and plenty of real honey. Sticky sweet and good!

The poet Jean Perrin dreamed “of marrying the dawn with the light of the moon,” and I invite you to do the same. The darkness you’ve been immersed in will leave you soon. As it does, please don’t forsake the pale, moon-like radiance that has provided you with a bit of guidance and consolation. Rather, bring along what it has taught you as you head into the far brighter phase you’re entering. In other words, retain some of the wisdom the dim light has compelled you to learn.

You know things are hectic when it’s Monday and I’m already fantasizing about the weekend!

… I like to waste time. :)

The ceremony was dignified, despite the flaming red gowns and hideous brown velvet hoods we had to wear. I joked to my parents that had I known what the graduation regalia looked like when I was applying to schools, I would’ve had second thoughts about BU.  In all honesty, though, I am so glad to have gone to BU and made the connections that I did with all my dear friends who are now spiriting off to other corners of the country and globe. We keep having to remind ourselves that it is the end of a beginning, not the beginning of an end.

They’re vanilla cupcakes (with sesame seeds on top), cute in half, with a brownie “burger patty” in the middle, an orange Fruit Roll-Up as the “cheese”, red frosting as the ketchup and green tinted coconut for lettuce. Aren’t they cute??

I can’t wait to surprise her with them tomorrow!!

“Somewhere there’s a treasure that has no value to anyone but you, and a secret that’s meaningless to everyone except you, and a frontier that harbors a revelation only you would know how to exploit. Why not go in search of those things?”

I love it. So simple. Find your own path, learn your own truths.

Here is my horoscope this week. Love it. “I just found out the American shipping company UPS has legally trademarked the color brown. The grass-roots activist in me is incredulous and appalled. But the poet in me doesn’t really care; it’s fine if UPS owns drab, prosaic brown. I’ve still got mahogany at my command, as well as tawny, sepia, taupe, burnt umber, tan, cinnamon, walnut, and henna. That’s especially important for this horoscope, Capricorn, because I’m advising you to be very down to earth, be willing to get your hands dirty, and even play in the muck if necessary in order to take good care of the basics. But don’t do any of that in a boring, humdrum “brown” way. Do it exotically and imaginatively, like mahogany, tawny, sepia, taupe, burnt umber, tan, cinnamon, walnut, and henna.“

I’m trying not to be bitter that most of my classmates are jetting off to California, the Caribbean, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Florida, and the like. Especially since if I were I would certainly be stressed out about all of the work that I have to do before the end of the semester. Still, it would be nice to come back in a week all sun-kissed and relaxed. My goals for this week are: work on super secret research project for a client for my directed study, work on my CSR (that’s corporate social responsibility to the rest of the world) consulting project for a local company, start working on getting that monkey off my back (i.e. job hunting), sleep in, play with the few remaining friends in town, do an apartment deep clean including doing the laundry that always gets stuffed to the bottom of the hamper and never done, get crafty with a couple of new projects, read for fun, and go to New York for a weekend. Gee, it kind of seems like I might need more than just a week to do all that. Good thing I’m not going anywhere!

“If I love you, what business is it of yours?” wrote Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Now I’m offering his words for you to use as your mantra in the coming months. Your main job, as I see it, is simply to be a lover of pretty much everything — to generate, cultivate, and express love in abundance — and not to worry about whether your love is reciprocated or how it’s regarded. It’s a tall order, I know — one of the most difficult assignments I’ve ever suggested. And yet I think you have the soul power and the crafty intelligence necessary to accomplish it. Happy Valentine Daze, Capricorn!

Last time I posted, my niece Eva had just been born. I’ve since had a chance to meet her, stay up all night with her, and change her diapers. I’m happy to not be the one having to do that all the time! She is a beautiful little creature, though, and I can’t wait to see how she changes and develops as she grows.

Here are her long, long fingers (definitely inherited from her mom’s side of the family) and itty-bitty feet.

And here is Sleeping Beauty (now if only she would sleep through the night!).

Look at that little grin!

Of course, the whole timing was ironic. My SIL wasn’t due until January 8th and her doctor told her last week that she wasn’t going to give birth for another 2 – 3 weeks (i.e. the due date or beyond). My travel arrangements were to fly back to Boston on 12/28 for New Year’s and a week of intensive class. My SIL made arrangements to have me fly back home on 1/9/10, the day after my class is over, and back to Boston on 1/15/09, thinking that the baby would have to come some time during that week and I would be there for the birth.

As I’m enroute to the airport on Monday, I get the call that they are on their way to the hospital! Turns out that at this week’s appointment they found out that my SIL’s fluid levels were going down and the doctor wanted to induce. Sooo…..off I went up up in the air back to the snowy tundra of Boston and off they went to have a baby! I was bummed I couldn’t be there for the birth, but my brother and my fellow aunt – my SIL’s younger sister – kept me updated as things transpired. And she’s adorable…I can’t wait to hold her!

It was chocolatey and delicious. I decorated it with meringue mushrooms and marzipan greenery.

The sponge cake recipe came from the December issue of Martha Stewart Living and you can find it here. For the filling, I made the easiest filling I could think of – Cool Whip (1 tub, defrosted), mixed with one small package of chocolate instant pudding and 8oz of mandarin orange slices including the syrup. Bake the sponge cake and when done immediately turn it out onto a clean dry dish towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Roll the cake up (with the dish towel separating it as its rolled) and let cool. This will help keep the cake from cracking when you apply the filling. When the cake is cooled, un-roll and spread the filling out, rolling back up as you go along. Place the filled cake seam side down on your serving platter and frost with your favorite frosting. I’d recommend a nice chocolate buttercream, but I was in a hurry so I cheated and used store-bought frosting and then applied some texture with the remaining filling.

For the meringue mushrooms, I used this recipe. I ended up letting the meringues dry out in the oven all night (turned off, of course). The meringues started getting sticky every time I pulled them out of the oven, so I think it must’ve been too humid in the kitchen. The ones that I packaged up immediately survived nicely.

To decorate the cake, I used frosting to affix the mushroom stems to the caps and dusted them with cocoa powder to make them look a little more authentic. I dyed marizpan with food coloring and shaped leaves and stems by hand. I included a little lady bug and some berries, too, for color.

This year’s holiday party planning proceeded as normal, with a small committee scouting venues. The lead venue that the committee returned to the Council with was the Cambridge Hyatt, a beautiful site on the other side of the river with high rise views of Boston and the most affordable price quote of the venues reviewed. However, I had caught a story in the local news recently about questionable business practices by the Cambridge Hyatt. The Hyatt had brought in a group of new employees at minimum wage, told their long-term (20+ years, living wage paycheck) employees that they were going to be their seasonal help to fill in for them during vacations. They had their existing employees train the new workers and then fired 98 of their older, higher earning workers without warning.

I brought my concerns to the Council and we discussed the issue, agreeing that we couldn’t do business with a company who acted so unethically. We informed our contact at the Hyatt of our concerns and moved to looking at other venues. The Hyatt, however, after incurring a (pardon my language) shitstorm in the media, realized the PR nightmare of their error and sent us a response letter telling us that they had rectified the situation. They promised to find jobs for the 98 fired employees and to continue their health benefits for six months. We corroborated their story with local news reports and decided that one of the important lessons in business is recovering from failure. We decided to extend them a second chance, particularly since the party committee was so favorable about the location’s suitability for our event and the fact that they were still the cheapest venue.

The semester continued and party planning continued on uneventfully. As VP of Marketing, I created posters for the party and we began publicizing the event and selling tickets. At this point, a classmate who had been following the case emailed a couple of council members to raise issue with holding the holiday party at the Hyatt. The recipients responded to his email with the information that the Hyatt had given us and considered the issue resolved. Then, however, other classmates began asking me about the Hyatt issue. I, too, reiterated the information that we had; however, I also went looking for more information from that great being in the ether – Google.

What I dug up was that the former Hyatt employees were dissatisfied with the concessions that the Hyatt had made. It turns out that the Hyatt had lived up to the literal words of their promise, but had still short changed their former employees. The jobs that they “found” for them were temporary, minimum wage positions with the very same staffing agency that had been used to replace them. Moreover, when one of the employees went to get medical care for her child, they were denied service. Due to a “clerical error” medical benefits had been cut-off for employees’ dependents.

Students who were aware of this situation were upset (and rightly so) about having our holiday party at the Hyatt, and thus breaking a boycott that the Governor had called against the hotel as well as essentially condoning the company’s behavior. We held a meeting to discuss the issue with concerned members of the student body, at which we decided to survey students regarding their thoughts on the matter. The survey was, in my opinion, unclearly worded. Regardless, the results showed that 60% of students would still attend the holiday party if it were held at the Hyatt (the wording did not give the opportunity to indicate preference for another venue over the Hyatt, nor did it explain that students could get refunds if they didn’t want to go to the Hyatt).

The Council held a second, emergency meeting (since the party date is so close) to vote on the issue. Again, we had impassioned speeches from people from either perspective. We discussed the earlier raised prospects of holding the event in January or holding it on the same date but at an alternative venue (other spaces had become available due to cancellations and vacancies and were offering extremely reasonable prices in order to fill their ballrooms at the last minute). We also discussed the $4,000 cancellation fee that we would incur for canceling our contract with the Hyatt.

I strongly favored moving the party to another venue or another date. In this era of ethical debate within the business world, with business schools jockeying for attention for signing (in my opinion, meaningless) oaths, I felt that it was an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment as a student body to being ethical business people. As a member of the MBA Council and a caretaker of student monies, I take my responsibility seriously, however my ethics don’t have a price tag.  To me, the $4,000 was a penalty worth paying if it meant that our school could make a statement of not condoning unethical practices by the Hyatt. (In addition, there were very real possibilities of reducing the budget gap due to the lower price quotes by other venues, among other means.)

The majority of the Council did not agree with me. They voted to keep the holiday party at the Hyatt.

So, if anyone needs me on Friday, I will be dressed up, sporting some sparkly jewelry, ready to party. I will be celebrating the end of the semester with about 30 of my closest friends and classmates. We will not be at the Hyatt with the rest of our peers. We will be enjoying drinks and music, and our integrity, somewhere else.

So, our networking was really interesting. We went to Sun (& got to hear interesting insights into the Oracle merger), VMWare, Chevron, Adobe (they’re undergoing some intense shifts right now, too), LinkedIn, and Ubisoft. The hiring market right now is tough, but I think our trip was helpful for inspiring my search.

Of course, it wasn’t all work. I got to see several friends and even squeezed in a trip to Napa! I’m posting a couple of photos from the week.

This was a storefront in Oakland. I still have no idea what kind of business this is, I just thought it was funny. My friends and I discovered it on our way home from an awesome dinner at Dona Tomas. Killer carnitas…highly recommended. This wasn’t the end of the oddness on the walk home, though…we also discovered some sort of nerdom medieval sword play going on in the Rockridge BART parking lot. Only in California!

And this is from Napa. It was an absolutely gorgeous day…the kind of day that makes you not want to leave! We had lunch at Mustards (good, but didn’t live up to the hype) and tasted at Cosentino, Sawyer, Elizabeth Spencer, and Alpha Omega (not including the link for that one, because it wasn’t good). I’d been to Sawyer before and it lived up to memory, but the other three were new to me. Had a great rose at Elizabeth Spencer, would’ve been tempted if it wasn’t so darn hard to get wine into Massachusetts. BUT, I did manage to pack two jars of my favorite jam into my luggage (strawberry chipotle jam from Tierra Vegetables at the SF Ferry Building Farmers Market). Yum!!

Just thinking about this week makes me miss California already. Good thing Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

My girlfriends and I didn’t let that deter us from enjoying some appropriately seasonal activities tonight, though. I made turkey chili and mini-cornbread muffins and brewed up some spiced apple cider and we all carved pumpkins. Here are some pics of the festivities.

It was Beth’s first time EVER carving a pumpkin! Glad I got to help her learn about the real fun of Halloween.

Here are our finished products, including Beth’s scary ghost face, Christy’s kitty cat, my “Boo!”, Candice’s little hillbilly pumpkin, Sheila’s ravenous vampire pumpkin, and Elise’s smiley face.

Snow? What snow? It’s fall in my apartment right now!

I head back to Boston in less than three weeks and there is an astonishing amount of stuff to do between now and then, both personally and professionally. For starters, I’ve got a couple of big events at work for the projects that I’ve been working on this summer. Should be fun, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t stress out between now and then! I’ve got a to-do list a mile long and really want to knock out as much stuff as I can before I leave the fun/hectic/tasty environs of my internship.

In addition, a very close friend of mine is getting MARRIED the day before I fly back, which is tremendously exciting and adding to the busy-ness, as well. I’m a bridesmaid…thank goodness she’s a dream bride, super relaxed and easy. It must be love. :)

More later….hopefully *before* the summer is over. It’s a whirlwind kind of day and my Chinese takeout just showed up!

You can read it here.

9:27 am – Arrive at work after catching the late bus.
9:28 – Check email for the second time this morning (first time was from iPhone while waiting for said late bus)
9:32 – Rinse mug and make tea, while doing the “no whammies” chant that I won’t have to be the one to replace the water cooler bottle
9:37 – Chat with co-worker about her day out of the office yesterday
9:38 – Resume email reading – specifically a social media newsletter for businesses
9:45 – Check company twitter feed, RT interesting post, post a news article related to work project
9:55 – Re-read latest company newsletter, which went out yesterday
10:00 – Email web designer to fix a typo on one of our microsites brought to our attention after newsletter went out
10:05 – Check local news website
10:12 – Post wine article to twitter
10:14 – Read more wine articles
10:21 – Login to Facebook, check friend’s updates, join employer network, adjust privacy settings
10:38 – Decide that our user groups need updating, forming plan for doing so…
10:40 – Boss stops by desk to ask us to write copy for some new wine labels
10:46 – finally figure out where the tasting notes are for the wines we’re supposed to write about
10:50 – Commence wine label writing. Desirous of second cup of tea.
11:12 – Consult with other intern re: label style. We both have writers block after proofing a million labels yesterday.
11:15 – Nuke frozen burrito. Still undecided if this is brunch or lunch.
11:27 – Tweet a bit
11:29 – Play Mafia Wars – Underboss level, baby!
11:30 – Resume wine label writing
11:43 – Eat a boatload of almond M&Ms. Immediately both regret it and crave more.
12:03 – Chat with fellow intern about friends & family & chick lit, complain re: M&M overload.
12:15 – Send finished labels to boss for proofing
12:20 – Update my summer wine journal with tasting notes from yesterday’s restaurant meeting
12:40 – Respond to long, multi-part email from potential client
1:03 – Something smells weird in here. Who’s eating eggs??
1:05 – Edit fellow intern’s label copy
1:08 – Respond to wine peeps tweets
1:24 – Update personal twitter & FB feeds to mention BU blog guest post
1:26 – Update work FB groups and tweet about program updates
1:37 – G-chat with friend from school re: evening plans
1:48 – More tweeting (yes, I’m addicted and by default the twitter expert around here…supposed to give someone a tutorial later this week)
1:56 – Chat with another co-worker/friend about life & weekend plans
2:08 – Run to nearby sandwich joint for a Cobb salad after much discussion of bacon on twitter
2:25 – Back at my desk, re-visiting social networking sites while eating my lunch
2:27 – Overheard in the next cube cirle over: CW1: “Karl Malden died!” CW2: “Who’s Karl Malden?” CW1: “Oh my god, I just dated myself.” CW3: “You dated Karl Malden?”
2:35 – Read articles about wine: new shipping laws, food pairings; post to twitter
2:41 – Continue previous afternoon’s work on a volunteer application form
3:15 – Send application form to co-worker for ideas. Result = nada.
3:20 – Send application form to boss for proofing.
3:28 – Work on researching wine bloggers to have post our quiz widget on their sites
3:53 – Time for TicTacs…just noticed that the little box is cracked…guess I’m gonna have to finish them all now
4:12 – Trip down the hall to the SFIAD student lounge to raid their soda machine while feigning nonchalance.
4:18 – More M&Ms.
4:26 – Brief chat with fellow intern, who’s bailing b/c she’s tired. Take another big swig of caffeine (it was a late night last night and apparently the upstairs neighbor thought everyone in the building should get up at 5am when he got up).
4:30 – More blogger research
4:56 – Follow twitter link to adorable coin purse, brief bout of online shopping
5:00 – More blogger research, think I’ve just about found enough
5:16 – Check twitter, nothing interesting to post about or RT
5:19 – Still full from morning burrito/M&Ms/Cobb salad extravaganza of junk
5:20 – Call & leave VM for friend in Boston
5:37 – Pack up my stuff & get ready to head out…gotta get downtown to meet my school peeps for happy hour!

I’ll be back in the SF area in about 10 days. Just have to take care of some personal business here and then I’m on a jet plane back to the Golden State! I have a sweet internship lined up this summer (I’d share all about it, but I haven’t cleared it with my boss yet and I don’t want to get Dooce’d before I even start). I’m still looking for affordable housing in the Bay, so let me know if you have any leads!

By the way, you can’t tell it, but hungrycook.com has a new home! The site has been moved to a new server and looks brand spanking new on the back end. Thanks to Mike and Justin for making it happen!!

Simply Recipes’s sauteed shrimp with warm tropical salsa

Vegan YumYum’s potato salad with herbed dijon vinaigrette

101 Cookbooks’s hummus en fuego (although Trader Joe’s mediterranean hummus is my go to!)

I’m also craving chili oil roasted whole pod fava beans from Ubuntu in Napa. Mmm….so good. Where’s a girl to get favas in this town?

Right now, however, I’m taking a quiet moment before my next team meeting to drool over the following recipes:

Whipped Brie puffs

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

Deep fried mac n’ cheese bacon bites (yeah, you read that right!)

This fall, I was all about tuna noodle casserole for some reason. The cheesy, starchy goodness was perfect for cold weather. Click here for my favorite tuna noodle casserole recipe.

Then, in January, in honor of my Inauguration birthday and our new President, I made these delicious red, white, & blue mini cheesecakes. My friend Candice dubbed them Liberty Cakes. I like it.

Soon after, I started craving more birthday-time, home-cooked food and made my all time favorite – chicken enchiladas.

The spring semester has been pretty busy, so I haven’t been doing much cooking lately except for some chicken noodle soup this past weekend (fresh pasta makes the difference!) and a few other dishes in recent weeks. Today, however, I decided to take a break from reading and made some treats:

online casino

Of course, I also made coconut macaroons for my friends who are celebrating Passover and have to miss out on all the candy-coated cupcake goodness. These are sure to be a hit at tomorrow’s MBA Council meeting!

Simply Recipes’s Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream

See Dan Cook’s Pork Chili (a cook-off winner!)

Smitten Kitchen’s Whole Lemon Tart

Maybe I’ll actually have time to cook over break! In the meantime, I’m off to see Slum Dog Millionaire (finally!) and enjoy some delicious Indian food.

I’m staying here in Boston for vacation, so I made myself a spring break to-do list:

-Sleep

-Get a head start on research and reading for the rest of the semester

-Work more on finding a summer internship

-Eat yummy food in the North End

-Get a pedicure

-Do laundry

-Watch all the bad reality TV I can fit in

Thank goodness for a week of rest!

Anywhoo…Happy 2009!!! It seems so strange that it’s another year already…when did that happen? I had a nice mellow NYE last night with my girls in Oakland. I’ve been visiting my old housemates for the last couple of days and we’ve been having a ball together. I love being with people who make me laugh as much as we all do when we get together.

Before this, though, I had some nice family time in Stockton and in Bakersfield. And, I think I’m going to have more family visiting to celebrate my upcoming birthday before I head back to Boston. I’m trying to soak up all the California goodness while I can. :)

The end of last semester was pure insanity…I don’t think I’ve ever been so stressed in my life. But, I survived…just barely… and will start school again on the 12th. And then the whole crazy experience ramps back up! It’s a good thing b-school is only 2 years long; I don’t think my nerves could take any longer. Hopefully, though, this coming semester will be easier. The courseload is still heavy, but won’t be as much of a shock to the system and I’m all settled in with living in Boston and such. Of course, I’ve got to start my internship applications now, too, which will be particularly difficult this year given the current state of the economy and all the hiring freezes. Wish me luck!

And guess what….I’m almost done for the semester!! Woohoo! Over the last two weeks, I’ve taken 4 exams and written 2 papers. All that’s standing between me and vacation is a 20 minute presentation. So close to going home to (rainy) California and getting to sleep in and eat myself silly for two whole weeks. I am definitely looking forward to it!

I’m starting to feel more at home here in Boston, but there are definitely things that I really miss about California.� In no particular order, here’s a continuation of the list I started a while back:

• -Semifreddi’s cinnamon twist challah, mainly because I’m totally craving Jaclyn’s amazing night-before french toast and would love to make it some time soon if I can find a suitable substitute
• -All the fantastic restaurants in San Francisco. I’m sure there are tons of good restaurants here (and I’ve managed to find some of them), but I miss knowing where to go for great food and having it always available.
• -Cal football live and in person. I recently discovered ESPN360 which lets you watch the games live�on the web, but it’s not the same as singing fight songs with your friends in Memorial Stadium.
• -Babies. Seriously, I think EVERYONE is pregnant back home right now and I miss being able to see all the round tummies and new babies. I promise to find a pattern for booties before Christmas break.
• -Halloween with my old housemates. Sure, my bee costume was cute, but nothing beats a team costume and a party in your own house.
• -Sunsets…not only am I always stuck in the library or somewhere when the sun is going down, but on the rare occasions when I’m not in school, I can’t see the sun behind all the buildings.� Bay sunsets, how I miss you!

Notice the Fall colors!

I was lucky enough to be on the banks when my personal favorite team went by. Can you guess who? The big “C”s on their chests should be a clue.

And, before I headed in from the cold, I caught this little guy trying to adjust to the change in weather, too.

This is from Boston’s Pumpkin Festival last weekend, which I didn’t get to go to because I was too busy. But, I did happen to wander through Government Center afterward and got to see all the thousands of jack’o'lanterns lit up. Pretty, no? This was after a delicious dinner in the North End, which is essentially the North Beach of Boston with tons of great Italian food. Mmm…

Anyway, I started a habit a couple of years ago that I still do every day…I carry my camera with me everywhere I go. Which means that I have more pictures to share! I may end up stooped from all the stuff in my backpack, but at least I’ll have photographic memories!

First, this little plaque is on the wall at one of the bars near campus. I laughed out loud when I read it during a mixer last week. Maybe I’ve just been in a competitive environment too long. :)

And guess who this is?� Don’t I clean up nice? This is after a networking event on campus (you know, where I practically live these days).

And, lastly…the gauntlet has been thrown! My friend Jen sent this sweet care package earlier this week. Yay! Thanks, J!

Here are the leaves changing! (I took this while waiting for the train to class.)

And here is the view out the window of the library. Notice the cool architecture and the Charles River in the background!

More rooftops… (yes, I spend most of my days inside!)

And finally, the “T” home after a long day:

My friend Sarah was here visiting me for the last few days. We had fun, but it was kind of a challenge getting out to do stuff in the rain. Plus, I just came down with a cold this week, too, which put a damper on things. But, we did go on a harbor cruise with my school on Friday night, and on Saturday managed to make it over to Cambridge for a little shopping. Last night, we had dinner at a yummy restaurant that someone else had recommended to her, and then spent some time with an old friend of hers (and his friends) who happens to be in med school at my school. I’m now making it my semester goal to have a mixer between the b-school and the med school. :)