28 - done!

28. bring a packed lunch to work every day for 1 month (excluding work lunches)



.now this is a good one (and does not involve me single-handedly keeping the american economy afloat).

so i brought my lunch to work for an entire month. go me! it's not like i went out for lunch often, but in these scrimpy times, i suppose any cuts help. plus, when i did go grab lunch at work, it generally tended to be something unhealthy, such as a slice of pizza, or pop tarts from the vending machine (mmm but they're so good!).


so, i decided i may as well bring nice, healthy lunches to work. sometimes not so healthy, but at least i was saving some money.

so, i have done much vegetable chopping in the past month. sometimes i get lazy, though. and that's when my new best friend, green giant valley fresh steamers. they're just lots of veggies, sometimes in a yummy sauce. you just stick 'em in the microwave for several minutes, and voila! mmm mmm veggies. love it. and perfect for lazy people like me who don't always like chopping vegetables.


and then there are those times that i am feeling domestic, like this weekend. i made some little chicken pot pies for j and i for dinner on sunday night, and a massive casserole-type chicken pot-pie for leftovers - ie. for me to take for lunch this entire week. (by the way, i got the recipe from this awesome blog - the pictures are way better than mine, and the recipes are fab. well, i've only tried this one recipe, but the others look great as well. check it out if you're looking for some cheap cooking ideas. although i did make my own crust. and might i say, it turned out fabulous.)

anyway, i love pies in all forms, so this was awesome. although the crust is my favorite part. still. i remember getting the little frozen chicken pot-pies when we were little - from marie calendars, i think? - and scraping out everything but the peas. so i was eating peas and crust. i was such a weird little kid.

but yes, even j liked the pot-pies, so that was good. and it's such a simple recipe!

yummm

i'm glad that i went a whole month of bringing my lunch to work. hopefully i'll continue the trend.

whelp, that's about it for today. besides the fact that there was a high of 40 today, and the high tomorrow will be in the mid-thirties. yikes! time to break out the earmuffs.

.cheers.

.spice.

.i made a pumpkin pie the other weekend.

it must be a thanksgiving thing - november always makes me think of pumpkin pie.

i think pie is probably my favorite food ever. they're just so yummy! and, at least for pumpkin pies, i love the myriad of spices that goes into it. beautiful!

apologies for the terrible lighting, but i suppose it is that time of year - the dark, indoors, poor lighting time of year. darn you, winter.

.cheers.

.more blooms.

.i have weird luck with plants.

all my plants are dying now, because cambridge has turned absolutely frigid. they're all browned and shriveled.

all, that is, except my tiny tom.

last month, just as it was starting to turn cold and grey and dark, the tiny tom, which hadn't grown a centimeter over the summer, suddenly decided that it was time to start growing.

so, essentially, it quadrupled in size, sprouting up from a mini plant the size of my fist to the length of my forearm, and halfway up my bicep.

it's ridiculous! it grew so much - almost as if it thrives in the cold/dark. crazy. and, a few weeks ago, it grew a little blossom. i don't think anything is actually going to come to fruition, but i just think it's hilarious that it randomly started to grow. and blossom. silly plants. don't understand when it is time to die.



love it. love plants.

.cheers.

32 - done!

32. buy a quilted barn jacket


.i told you this shouldn't be the first one finished, right?.

oh well, don't judge me. j has been asking telling begging me to replace my ratty old northface for quite some time. i love my northface. my northface denali jacket. it is fabulous, and it keeps me warm. alas, it apparently is not fashionable enough for boston. no, i'm just kidding (kind of) - i have been meaning to find a slightly more fashionable alternative to the northface for quite some time, but with the internship, extra money was quite scarce.

now that i am rolling in the dough as an editorial assistant (*cough*), i have lots of money to spare. well, not really, as i am attempting to pay j's way through law school (or at least all of our rent) so that he doesn't have quite so obscene amounts of debt when he graduates. just a teensy bit of debt. no big deal.

well, anyway, i figured it was time to splurge on myself for once, so i decided to go and try on this barn jacket that i have had my eye on for quite some time (which means several years). lo and behold, when i went to try it on, they apparently run big.

i am a size small in the jacket. i am most certainly not a size small, but my goodness, some higher power wanted me to buy this jacket. and it was on sale. and there was one in this beautiful light blue that was simply fabulous. how could i not buy it?

j convinced me to buy it, and then made fun of me the entire way home for spending so much money on a jacket.

but you know what? i was worried i would regret the purchase, but i don't at all. it looks great, is comfy, and is actually much warmer than i thought it would be - it actually blocks the wind better than the northface. the wind blows right through the fleece on that sucker, and the barn jacket is nice and quilted.





best purchase ever!

so there you have it. now you know that i am single-handedly keeping the american economy afloat in these troubled times. didn't see that one coming, did you? (now i will just go without lunch for a month)

.cheers.

.bloom.

.not going to lie.

a tear came to my eye when obama walked onstage to give his acceptance speech.

not that i particularly felt that strongly about him becoming president, but i think the historical significance, the magnitude of the moment, struck me.

i am glad that i was a part of history - i voted.

and no, this post is not saying that our country will blossom and flourish under obama - i can't predict that, and i hope that i wouldn't make such silly metaphors, either.

i just haven't been posting much recently, and am feeling lazy, so i will fall back on my go-to post - macro shots.



love. them.




i'll try to post tomorrow about my first 101 in 1001 finish. (although, let's be frank, it is not one that i should have started with.)

.cheers.

.mommy.

.happy birthday, mom!.

today is this, the day of my fabulous mother's birth.



my mom is such an amazing woman. she is smart. beautiful. funny. silly. loving. amazing amazing amazing! she has always been there for me. she has always pushed me to be better. and, you can blame her, because she has made me into the feminist that i am today. bahaha.



my mom is going to hate me for putting these pictures up. but she is beautiful!




and i love her very very much.

so happy birthday, mom! i wish we could go out to celebrate. love you.

.cheers.

.tomorrow.

.go.

vote!

(thanks again, wordle!)

.cheers.

.yearbook.

.well aren't i precious?

aren't these great? i have been hearing much buzz lately about this yearbooking yourself business, so i decided to try it. so hilarious!!

essentially, you just upload a picture of you (should be a good headshot, with you looking straight at the camera), and then manipulate it so that it fits in the little picture molds. i think that, if i had less-broad shoulders, i would love to have the hairstyle on the top row, right image. love it. and i think i look a bit like nikki, my old nanny, in the bottom right picture.

also, i don't think this picture matched up with mine very well – the glasses make it a little off – but i think i could be my mom in this picture! honestly – i have a picture that looks almost exactly like this of her, i think from highschool. so funny. or maybe i'm thinking of evie? who knows. these pictures just crack me up.

.cheers.

.turn.

.so.


i am unable to load my pictures from my canon eos 20d. apparently, the camera is incompatible with windows vista 64. why aren't all cameras compatible with all operating systems? it just doesn't make sense to me.


anyway, so i had to download my pictures onto j's computer, then put them into our shared network folder, and get them onto my computer that way. a big pain in the neck, i tell ya. c'mon canon, make a vista 64 compatible driver for the eos 20d! please?

ah, oh well. i guess this will work for now. on another note...


...it is definitely fall here.


which is fine. i love fall.


but that means it will soon look like this. boo.


.sigh. oh new england.


.cheers.

.wealth.

.articles like this just make me angry.

first of all, i'm just plain tired of our whole drawn-out election process. just get it over with! sheesh! i mailed in my ballot yesterday, and am ready to be done with all this crap and know who our next president will be.

second, i'm tired of sarah palin. seriously. tired. people were all excited about her when she was first announced as john mccain's veep running-mate, but she doesn't know what she's doing. she's in way over her head.

and then there are issues like the above. it drives me nuts, how she pretends like she is more in touch with the 'common man.' yes, you're from alaska, which is off in the boondocks. but that doesn't mean you are "just like everyone else." i don't get to drop 150,000 on a new wardrobe. i realize that most politicians spend ridiculous sums of money on things like this. but 150,000? in one day? that's a little absurd. what is also absurd is charging thousands of dollars of your children's travel expenses to the Alaska. sarah, do you really think that you are like 'joe the plummer' when you stay in $700/night hotels in nyc? i don't think so.

this is why politics bother me. because all of them say that they're 'just like us,' and 'for the people,' but really, they're not. they stay in nice hotels and get nice clothes. period.

stupid politics.

.cheers.

.the.big.easy.

.some pictures from my short-but-sweet visit to nola.

pretty fountain! the water looks kind of gross (although it's a cool green), but i loved the little birdies taking their baths

there were beads hanging all over the place!

the view from my hotel room - i loved watching the barges!

jackson square at night. i love this picture - it makes me think of something from cinderella, with the horse-drawn carriages!

and, during the day

paddle boat!!

i loved this pub sign

beautiful wrought-iron balconies. they were all over the french quarter. very classy

more balconies

and, of course, no trip to nola would be complete without a trip to cafe du monde. mmm so so good. there was powdered sugar all over the floor, and musicians playing outside. a really fun, casual atmosphere

this one's for you, mom!

mmmm, i want more beignets...soooo good!



you didn't think i'd go an entire trip without taking a macro shot, did you?
one of the beautiful flowers in jackson square

unfortunately, windows vista is not compatible with my eos 20d (damn you, vista!), so more adirondacks pictures will just have to wait... the suspense is killing you, i'm sure!

.cheers.

.at.last.

.a taste of what's to come.

.continuing with my fungi obsession.

.cheers.

.word.

.i know, right?

due to the sparseness of posts recently, i know it is shocking to see two posts in one day. but, i had to share this amazing distraction with everyone. i've seen these masterpieces here and there, and maro (check hers out here) prompted me into action. wordle has this awesome thing where you can type in any number of words, or type in your website, and they will randomize a list of the most commonly used words, and display them in an artistic way. you can tweak the colors, the layout, the font. it's awesome. my blog is, obviously, boring. apparently i talk about days, people, and go alot. and santa? don't know when i talked about santa, but that's cool. anyway! lots of fun, so check it out! maybe yours will be more interesting than mine.

by the way, i had a ridiculously difficult time trying to save a copy of this. maybe it's just me, and i am computer-deficient (which clearly is true anyway), but i just could not make it work! i just ended up pasting the code into my thing, but the image is so small. they really should make it easier to just save a copy of the image that you make.

.cheers.

.lenovo.

.it shipped!.

it wasn't supposed to ship until the 28 - seriously, how long does it take to get parts and put a computer together?! - but it shipped yesterday! yay yay yayayayay! wow, can you tell i am excited? i will finally have a computer again, and won't have to steal j's. and it will be beautiful and new and shiny and big-screened. and will have sweet graphics.

so psyched.

in other news, dad is in town this weekend! he's rowing in the head of the charles, and i'm skipping out of work a bit early to meet up with him (is it pathetic/sad/evidence of us ea's being overworked that even skipping out a few hours early, i will be working overtime hours this week? yes). i'm going out to dinner with him and sue and his rowing buddies tonight at an italian restaurant. rowers need to load up on carbs before the race, and i need to load up on wine and tiramisu, so it works! should be a fun weekend, and who knows, maybe i'll be able to blog about it from my new laptop! we'll see.

and, in more news, alaska cancelled my flight home for christmas.

don't freak out, all you people who love me and demand that i come home for christmas!

i was just as shocked when, upon signing into my alaska online account, it said "due to scheduling conflicts..." blah blah. so i had to call, and the morning flight was cancelled, but i realized that this could actually work out for the best (as alaska has the same flights to/from boston/seattle every day), so, instead of staying on the night flight they put me on that same day, i requested the night flight for the day before! so i have a whole extra night in seattle to drink wine and eat ice cream cake with mary, and maybe fulfill some of my 101 in 1001 - walks around greenlake and discovery park, mom and dad?

so that's about all that's new with me. i've worked for two weeks straight (this is why conferences = bad), so i am ready. for. the. weekend!

.cheers.

.101 in 1001.

.and so it begins.

i have caved in to the blogging frenzy that is 101 in 1001 - essentially, i must complete the below 101 tasks in 1001 days. should be fun!

go ahead, create your own list. and check in periodically, as i blog about my completed tasks, and check them off the list - just click the number to go to the relevant post (only on completed items, that is)


The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.




start: 14 october 2008
end: 12 july 2011


body and soul

1. drink nothing but water for 2 weeks
2. drink no alcoholic beverages for 2 months
3. get a professional massage
4. be in bed by 10pm every day for a week
5. eat 100% vegan for an entire day
6. fast for an entire day
7. go to a religious service for a faith other than catholic
8. do not use a computer for 48 hours
9. floss every night for 2 months
10. go to the gym 5x a week for a month
11. read the bible every night for two weeks
12. take a yoga class
13. find a good catholic church in cambridge
14. take 2-minute, cold showers for a month
15. turn off my cell phone for a day
16. do a run/walk for a cause
17. donate blood
18. stop pulling out my eyebrows. seriously. stop (keep them patch-free for 2 months)

all about the brains
19. read 8 books in 5 months - DONE! (completed 2 feb. 09)
20. finish anna karenina
21. read another jeannette winterson novel
22. read 3 books from the banned books list
23. become proficient in japanese
24. take a swedish language class
25. take a photography class
26. take a cooking class

finances
27. go one week without spending any money at all
28. bring a packed lunch to work every day for 1 month (excluding work lunches) - DONE (completed 17 nov. 08)
29. buy a blender - DONE (completed 19 jan. 09)
30. buy nice leather boots
31. buy a nice winter over-coat - DONE (completed 1 dec. 08)
32. buy a quilted barn jacket - DONE (completed 18 oct. 08)
33. donate $100 to world wildlife foundation
34. buy a nice work bag
35. upgrade our loveseat to a nice couch
36. buy a bike
37. get a promotion, or find a new, higher-paying job
38. put aside $20 from each paycheck, just for me, for 1 year - in progress

oh so cultured
39. go to a musical - DONE (completed 3 jan. 09)
40. go to a play
41. go to an outdoor concert or play
42. watch 5 “classic” movies in 5 months - in progress

out and about, or around the house
43. go to the lilac festival
44. go apple-picking
45. go to a cranberry bog
46. make cupcakes from scratch
47. make sushi
48. make an ice-cream cake
49. go skiing
50. go camping
51. go wine tasting
52. make 2 new recipes a week for 2 months
53. make homemade jam
54. bake bread
55. make another bouche de noël
56. go out to high tea - DONE! (completed aug. 09)
57. do an overnight hike of at least 2 nights
58. host a dinner party
59. host a wine and cheese party
60. throw a surprise party for someone
61. use at least 1 different spice in a meal each day for a month
62. organize my recipes - DONE (completed 8 mar. 09)
63. recycle old/unused magazines
64. clean out my room at mom’s house
65. make all of my christmas gifts and cards 1 year
66. get prints made of some of my photos and have them framed

jet set
67. visit a continent that i haven’t been to yet
68. visit 3 of the 21 us states that i haven’t been to yet - DONE! (completed aug. '10)
69. visit kristin and kyle in hawaii
70. bake with kristin
71. visit claire in santa clara
72. go on an scu alumni trip

73. go on a road trip through at least 4 states (no more than 1 can be a new england state) - DONE! (completed aug. '10)

74. go to a world cup game, a world series game, or an olympic game
75. go to a pro-football game, a baseball game, and a basketball game in one year
76. continue the fall foliagefest tradition each year

people who matter most
77. contact an old high school or grade school friend
78. write 10 personal letters – mail, not email
79. force Mary to visit - DONE! (completed jul. 09)
80. fly my mom out to visit me in boston - DONE! (completed 10-19 jul. 09)
81. take a vacation with just claire - DONE! (completed 18 - 22 dec. 09) (part 1, and part 2)
82. walk around greenlake with mom
83. walk around discovery park with dad
84. write a letter to each of my cousins (maternal and fraternal)
85. make j a 3 course dinner
86. babysit maia and torin (before they get too old!)

just for fun
87. play poker and win (not online)
88. climb a tree
89. have a candlelit dinner
90. blog every day for a month
91. take at least 1 photo of something that interests me every day for a month
92. grow a plant that actually bears fruit/vegetables - DONE (completed 1 jun. 09)
93. watch the sun rise
94. photograph a barn. don’t ask. i just love barns
95. photograph the moon
96. get a dog
97. paint 5 watercolors
98. meet someone famous
99. finish the quilt i started at dad’s a long time ago
100. go on a picnic
101. have a glass of wine with one of my santa clara professors - DONE (completed 26 mar. 09)


we'll see how this goes...

.cheers.

.beignets.

.all right, all right.

i haven't posted in forever - yes, i know this.

let me tell you: it sucks not having a computer. i realize that this is silly - people got on perfectly fine without computers. however, in this uber-connected, digital age, it is difficult to survive without my trusty laptop.

actually, it's more like i am missing my right thumb - it's not completely necessary, and i can get along fine without it, but it very much blows that it's not there. and i mourn its absence.

so, i would upload all of my fall foliagefest '08 pictures, and all of my pictures from my new orleans trip for the SHA conference, but alas. it shall have to wait until the 30 of october, or so. doesn't that seem like a ridiculously absurd amount of time for a laptop to be put together and shipped?? i ordered it several weeks ago, and it will take that long to arrive at my apartment. maybe it's just me, and this crazy instant-gratification world that we live in, but that seems long.

oh well.

my trip to the big easy was fun! i'll post about it a little later when i can actually upload some pictures, but it was nice - i've never been to the south before! we didn't have too much time to go exploring during the day, as we were in the exibit hall all day, but that in and of itself was fun. it was really neat meeting a bunch of our authors face to face.

katherine and i had some great dinners, particularly at muriel's in jackson square in the french quarter. the inside is beautiful - lots of exposed brick and mirrors, and apparently there is some ghost history there? anyway, the food was fantastic: a roasted golden-beet salad, sweet-apple glazed pork chop, and creme brulee (which i couldn't finish because i was so stuffed. i know - me, not finishing dessert?!) very good. we had good southern food the previous two nights, and figured it was time to go to a nicer place. i had a great merlot there too, and i'm not generally a red wine fan.

jackson square itself was really beautiful, and very lively, with lots of tarot readers setting up tables. another thing that i loved about new orleans was the music - i swear, there was a jazz band or a solo trumpet player on almost every other corner! and the beignets! mmm. cafe du monde was fantastic, both for the food, and all of the people and musicians that crowded around the open (but covered) seating area.

the whole city seemed pretty run down and dirty, but it was so much fun - people were lively, and the french quarter, with its beautiful shutters, vibrant colors, and delicate wrought-iron balconies with trailing plants draping over the sides, was beautiful. after our sophisticated dinner last night, we decided to take a walk in an attempt to walk off some of our dinner (no such luck), and ended up walking down bourbon street, which is insane! so many people. scratch that. so many drunk people. stumbling around. drinking hurricanes. dancing in the street. people up on balconies throwing beads down. drunken males on the street yelling to a wedding party on a balcony "show us your boobies!" i love it. people are so hilarious. there were way too many drunk old women and men, but i guess they need their fun too.

all in all, a great trip. i'm glad that i went - the conference was great, and it was neat exploring the city. even though it is pretty run-down from all of the storms passing through, it was great to wander around and take in all the history. because that city has so much history! i wouldn't mind going back there some day, when i have more time to explore during the day.

particularly for beignets.

.cheers.

.failure.

.i suppose the title is a bit of a double-entendre today (except not risque...because when is my life risque?).

first - i am a failure at blogging. period. it's not completely my fault though: i blame my lack of a laptop.

the dang thing keeps giving me the blue screen of death. or the black screen of death with lots of white letters and essentially the message 'eff off, i don't work anymore.' i may be paraphrasing there, but really. we know that's what it means.

second - failure of our economy. can we say melt down?

i was bringing some contract in to my marketer to look over yesterday, and i was like, oh, yeah, how's it going, blah blah, and he just looked at me and i'm watching the market crash.


ahhh, i see... so of course i rushed back to my cube and pulled up all of the great news outlets (what what seattle times!) and low and behold BAILOUT PLAN DENIED splashed across every news website. ever. in huge letters. well, if there wasn't an economic freak-out beforehand, obviously there was one after everyone saw that there could be one. stocks plummeting, etc. etc. i really wouldn't be surprised if we were in for another great depression. i just imagine tumbleweed blowing through my office, pilling up on top of all the manuscripts and books that are already crowding me out of my cube.


no, i don't know. i don't know what to think about this. all i know is that it makes me furious that those ceos make over 1 billion dollars a year. oh wait, silly me, i forgot to add a 0 in there. oh wait, again, silly me... most of them make over 30 billion a year. billion. that is absurd. no one needs that amount of money, particularly people who so royally screw up.

i had a good shot of the nytimes website, but for some reason, that one didn't turn out. oh well.

anyhoo. i baked cookies today. for some reason, i love baking. it is just so soothing. i would have taken pictures, but i'm still using j's computer (god love him)


hopefully, my new computer will arrive soon, and i shall have pictures galore to share. for now, screenshots will have to do.


.cheers.

.farewell.

.my computer is dying.

it has been on the fritz for the past few days, and i have no idea what is wrong with it. (i have no idea where that phrase comes from, or even what that word means, really, but i love it and thus will continue to use it)

and after my billion dollars worth of repairs a year and a half ago, it is definitely not worth it to try to fix it again. i'm sad, i love my little guy. so, i've ordered a new lenovo. should be good, we'll see! meanwhile, i am on j's computer, so can't really post. i wanted to post about new england autumn, and about the red sox game we went to, but that will have to wait.

thankfully, every once in a while, it lets me actually turn it on, and last night was one such night, so i was able to get all of my files off onto an external hard drive. yay.

rip compaq presario, rip. you shall be missed.

.cheers.