blog-fessions

I have a confession:  I have another blog.  It's my older child, actually.  It's a foodie blog, very pointed.  Restaurant reviews.

It all started one day when we went out on the town for some burgers and cupcakes, but not just any burgers and cupcakes, Umami burgers and Sprinkles cupcakes. Very Los Angeles.  On the drive home, all we did was talk about the food we ate, in a rather critical way.  I immediately decided I'd start a restaurant critique blog, and I did.  My first post about Umami and Sprinkles was fun to write.  I sent it to my mom for editing before posting to the world, expecting an electronic version of the high-school essay red chicken scratch edits all over my report.  Instead she called and raved about how much she loved it and asked if she could send it around to everyone she knew.

And so my restaurant review blog was born.  I had planned for it to become big and popular and get advertisers lining up waiting to advertise on my blog.  My master plan, actually, was to turn it into a charity  project.  I started donating money to world hunger organizations every time we ate out.  That would be my thing.  I'd donate money, then go out to eat, then write about it.  Then you would want to read about it, so restaurants would want to advertise on it, and they'd give me more money, which I'd turn around and donate.  See?  Good intentions!

I'm actually very self-conscious about it though and don't really promote it like I'd need to to "make it big".  I think that stems from my last visit to Colorado.  I was visiting the family, and my mom had left a printed out version of my Umami & Sprinkles post out for my grandmother to read.  Grammy picked up the print-out and looked and the title and, not knowing that it was my blog, she said "This is just ridiculous. There are starving children all over the world."  Ouch.  Of course, this was after I had made it my goal to make a charity project out of it, so I couldn't feel too bad that.  But still, I've never gotten over the slight amount of embarrassment I have over the whole thing.

In any case, I started the blog you're currently reading to satisfy a desire to write about something else.  I'm not focused enough to just write about food all the damn time.  I consider this my ADD blog...I can write whatever I want whenever I want and it can be as random as I want.

Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this is because I've had a backlog of restaurant reviews to write (not that people read them...yet), and that's why I have yet to write the post I promised you about the night out to the boy's restaurant.  I now have a backlog of things I want to tell you here, on my younger (and favorite) blog child.  I envy those people that can have time to blog three times a day (and have interesting things to say about their breakfasts, lunches, and dinners).  I promise, I will catch you up, dear blog reader(s).  Please stand by.

(If you're interested...the older child...but read the archives, the first post was the best)

a couple of nutshells

(Yesterday's post that never made it)

I'm feeling a bit frantic today. I don't know what happened to my calm, relaxing day, but it turned into a whirlwind of...I don't know...stuff. I've been zooming around like crazy and thought I'd go ahead and tell you all about it.
So here's my frantic day...in a couple of nutshells:

I get to work and I'm not really feeling it, as usual, so I do my usual routine - check my email, tell some people what to do, answer their questions regarding why they need to do them (because I said so! now go!). Then I proceed to read a couple articles on heart rate training in preparation for the arrival of my new polar heart rate monitor from amazon (yay!). After I while I decide to get off my butt (figuratively...I've been on my butt the whole time) and do some work. I call Government Institution A to set up a telecon, dink around with a presentation I'm supposed to be working on and a nomination form I'm supposed to be filling out, and answer some more questions. Booooring.
Around 11am my boss comes around (and by 'come around' I really mean double-clicks on my name to send me and Instant Message) and tells me I need to make some slides for him to send to Important Director-Type Person for a presentation to Important Government Official from Government Institution B to explain why Government Institution B should cancel current program X and create new program Y which would be much better and we happen to be very good at executing Y-type programs.
Since I really don't know much detail about program X and don't really know what boss was thinking regarding program Y, I end up making an outline that looks like this:
1. What you currently have
2. What you could have
3. Why you're an idiot if you don't make this decision
4. Proof that we know how to do this (experience with Y-type programs)
5. What you're missing out on (the Y-type program we're currently working on)
6. What we can do for you to make you look less foolish

Fortunately this goes over well with boss, but unfortunately that means I have to, not only fancy-up the wording (it's generally not good form to refer to an Important Government Official as a foolish idiot to his face), but now I actually have make some of these slides. That's where the chaos begins:
I make some slides. Boss says, "make them pretty". I make them pretty. I leave work late. Stop for eggs (and 2 boxes of cereal...impulse buy).  Boy is out of town so I'll be home alone to take care of the world.

Get home, open door, remain silent while I inspect the apartment for disaster. Breathe a sigh of relief, then enthusiastically greet the dog. Then...

feed the dog change my clothes wash the dishes sautee the mushrooms prep the peppers warm up dinner eat dinner roast the peppers take out the butter walk the dog (meet black lab down the street discover that his owners are Colorado-grads decide that they are my new best friends in town) come home bring in trash bins take out the trash prep the brussels sprouts (I can't believe I'm eating brussels sprouts) cook the rice roast the brussels sprouts peel the peppers STOP EVERYTHING to play with dog because he cannot live another moment without some living room fetch with his newly acquired tennis ball put away dishes make cookie dough chill cookie dough wash the dishes bake test cookies play with dog dog is mad about being ignored earlier and will not play now so blog...

...and here I am now! Oh...I'm sorry, was that incredibly difficult to read because the phrases were stuck together without any indication of a pause? Oh good. Then my point has been made.

And now I must continue baking and do some quality control...

Thanks for listening!

monday

That's right...happy Monday!!

the list of lists

Here's a confession:  I like making lists.  I like checking things off my list. I sometimes put things on lists that I don't expect to ever check off.

Here's a list of lists I have, either in my iphone notes or my google documents:

*restaurants to try
*places to go in Europe this year
*places to go in Europe in the future
*books to read (and purchase)
*my wish list
*songs to download
*movies to buy
*courses from last night's dinner
*wineries to visit
*workouts for the next two weeks
*donations made this year
*nailpolish colors (I'm slightly shocked that I even have this since I'm not much of a nailpolish girl, but yep it's there)
*things to do today/this weekend

Perhaps one day I'll share each of these lists, but today I think I'll just share my "things to do today" list.  It's rather interesting.

In no particular order:

*spin class - CHECK
*blog about dinner last night

*blog about dinner last tuesday

*puchase heart rate monitor on amazon

*blog about how much i love amazon

*book my return trip from Europe using united miles (or not...maybe I'll just stay there)

*call united to get mileage credit for my flight that im pretty sure i never got checked in on because of ashlee simpson's husband's shenanigans - CHECK (they were nice eventhough they had no record that I flew on that flight. They went ahead and gave me credit when I told them there's no way I could have flown home on my broomstick because it's currently in the shop for repairs)
*make a donation
*purchase a bucket of tennis balls
*remind boy to purchase dog food
* go see Ironman 2!!
*watch the netflix movie that's been here for a week
*read my book so I start checking off my book list

Ok, so this might be part of the reason I enjoy making lists:

What's on your list?

happy friday

Here's some lovely flowers from my daily walk to brighten the day!

There's a house on at the end of my street that has these huge bushes of big white flowers and I love them this time of year!

I am super sleepy today. I was rudely awakened this morning at 5:45am by puppy whining...and for no apparent reason other than the need of some love and attention. It's funny, normally I'd appreciate the early wake-up call, as it would give me the opportunity to get my morning run out of the way. But since my hamstrings were still curled up in a little ball (the result of an intense barre class), I had decided to sleep in this lovely Friday morning. And on the days I actually do plan to go running, I wake up to an alarm and a pup fast asleep laying across my back or curled up right next to me with his head under my chin. Who's gonna wanna tear themselves away from that to go pound concrete?

In other news...I have a short day at work today (yay!) because I can transfer hours from Saturday when I sat on an airplane (in first class...two rows behind Ashley Simpson and her posse) returning from a business trip. It's been a long, boring week, so I'm happy to spend some time at home on the couch a good book.
Tonight we're heading to the restaurant where the boy is apprenticing. We're planning to do the whole "tell the chef to make us something special" thing. I'm pretty excited about it...especially the desserts that I keep hearing about. Sometimes it seems like "apprenticing" means tasting yummy desserts and steaks and things. But I have seen burn marks to prove otherwise, so maybe tasting is just a perk! Can't wait to tell you about it, though!

Also...I want to say a special thank you to Marisa for being my very first blog follower...THANK YOU!!! Thanks for being patient with a newborn blog and inexperienced blogger!!  :)

shoe massacre

Headline News: Shoe Massacre Shocks Wardrobe

A gruesome shoe massacre was discovered today around 5pm in a tiny apartment in Redondo Beach.  Three victims, one pair of flats and two pairs of heels, were discovered brutally murdered and haphazardly strewn across the apartment.  Three other victims, a pair of sneakers and two pairs of flats, were injured in the massacre; all injured victimes are expected to recover with treatment, though some may remain slightly disfigured or mildly scarred.

The primary suspect, a 1.5 year old male chocolate labrador, was found inside the apartment at the time the massacre was discovered, huddled up and cowering on the living room counch.  The suspect has been detained and is currently held in probation.  Officials are also pursuing a second suspect involved in this brutal act of shoe violence.  The suspected accomplice is believed to have enabled the crime by leaving both the closet door and the bedroom gate wide open for access to the victims.  The second suspect, whose name will not be released at this time, is currently at large in the city of San Diego, and will be further questioned upon his return.  Until that time, formal charges will not be issued in the case of the shoe massacre.  It is currently unknown what charges these two suspects will face, but it is likely that, given the severity of the crime, The Silent Treatment will be the least of their worries.

See below for further information about the fallen victims.  The photographs taken below are gruesome in nature and may not be appropriate for small children and shoe-lovers.

Victim #1:

White, Steve Madden sandal with heels, circa 2005

Victim #2:

Red Madden Girl Pumps with heels, bought on clearance, worn once

Victim #3:

Vanilla peep-toe flats with pom-poms on the toes, bought full price after two months of stalking in the store, worn for about one hour

The loss of these precious soles will be mourned for days to come.

isn't it ironic?

That Alanis Morrisette song from back in the day is stuck in my head lately. Why? Because on Monday, I paid $5 to join Water Club at work, and on Tuesday, water club ran out of water. Ironic? Typical?  Yes and yes. And to think...I was incredibly reluctant to joining water club in the first place. For nearly two months I debated whether or not I wanted to partake...really, not a big decision, I dramatize...but the second I made the decision, the water was POOF gone.

I'm a fish. I drink a lot of water during the day (unfortunately the tap water, even Brita'd, is not drinkable for me at work...noticeable side effects). So now I'm parched! I suppose tomorrow I'll have to lug around two Nalgenes in addition to my lunch bag, my purse, and my tea mug. Can we say bag lady?
Also ironic...there's two tennis balls in my living room! They've been there for days.
Why is this ironic?, you ask. OK, so I guess it's not, but I wanted to tell you anyways! I'll get to that in a minute. Let me just say this: I have seen the inside of many a tennis ball. Yep, that sweet little chocolate lab is really a destructive monster. Few tennis balls (and softballs, stuffed squeaky toys, etc) have lasted in his care for more than 24 hours. But these two tennis balls have survived for days now! Hallelujah!! The best part is, he's discovered the joy of playing living room fetch with two tennis balls...and so have we! We no longer have to pry the ball out of his mouth, we can just grab the other one and toss it across the room and watch him try to figure out what to do with the one currently occupying his mouth. And they bounce! And he bounces with them! Instant doggy energy zapper. And tennis balls can occasionally be found for free with frequent walks by the tennis courts. Thank you very much, hard hitters!

Ready for the ironic part?  I wrote the above paragraph praising my dog for preserving the life of his precious second-hand tennis ball earlier today while I was at work (shhh, don't tell), only to come home and discover the biggest, most brutal shoe massacre known to this household (more details to follow...)

(Yes, I know that's a softball...it's an older picture and that softball has since been buried.)