Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Sugar Sunday, aka Easter Plans

Hey-o, friends! Thank goodness it's Wednesday, right? Um, because that means it's almost Thursday, which is almost Friday. And this Sunday is, of course, Easter! What are you all doing on Easter? I'm kind of disappointed that I'll be out of town on Easter, since I'll be missing a chance to see my nieces run around looking for eggs while f-ed up on sugar. Don't worry, though, I asked my mom to save me some Reese's Easter somethings.

In other news, we are leaving for San Francisco tomorrow. I might have time to blog while we're there, but as yet that is unclear. David has meetings all day Friday so my day is looking pretty wide open. I think I'll meet a friend for lunch and then go to Alcatraz. I know it's cheesy, but I really do like visiting places with a history. I guess it depends on the place and the history, though, since I wouldn't really be interested in visiting some New Mexican town with a long tradition of blanket weaving.

I am a smidge concerned about my energy levels and traveling. I'm currently in my thirteenth week of being knocked up, which makes me just a few short days away from the second trimester. That means I'm about five days away from (hopefully) not feeling nauseated every second and also not feeling completely exhausted all.the.time. What I'm saying is that traveling--walking around a lot, staying up later, etc.--might be a lot for me right now. I mean, it's 7:43 p.m. and I really am ready to go to bed. I guess I better partake of beaucoup de sourdough bread and Ghiradelli chocolate if I mean to stay up until a regular hour.

And with that, and no photos--sooorry--I really am off to get into bed. Please wish me safe travels, and for my part I hope you all have really yummy and family-filled Easters. When you next hear from me it might be April already!!!

*Does someone still make you an Easter basket? Also, I've been meaning to ask, but how much do you all want me to talk about pregnancy stuff? Pregnancy is something I've always found interesting (despite not being sure about wanting to do it myself), but I understand if you really couldn't care less. Please do let me know in a quick comment; I'd hate to talk about my nausea and other symptoms if you guys aren't, like, totally interested...haha.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Springtime Tuesday

OK, finally it feels like the weather is going to start cooperating with spring-time. Whew. I was not going to make it much longer. Hey, p.s., did you know that the start of spring is the vernal equinox, or the time at which the Northern hemisphere tilts towards, rather than away from, the sun? That's obvious interesting, right? 

Anyway, now is a pretty time in Boulder, since the mountains still have snow but the sun is really out, the days are longer, and the temps are creeping upwards. This is a picture I took this morning on the way home from a doctors appointment.




After my appointment I had scant time to eat lunch before a 12:30 p.m. class at my gym. So, I went to Whole Foods, which is next door to my gym, where I had some caprese salad and an Irish soda bread roll from the stash that Dorothy, Adam, and Sarah gave us.








I swear there were many more mini-tomatoes in that container. It wasn't all balls of mozzarella...

On a total random note, Whole Foods was giving away chocolate chip cookies for people who "round up" their bill total to help a local elementary school raise money.




The thought of jumping around in my gym class with a big cookie in my stomach is the only thing that kept me from eating most or all of this cookie.

After my class at the gym I headed to run some errands, including picking up a skirt that I had mended and going by REI to buy a carry-on luggage bag.




Thrilling, right? But in fact it was nice to run around town in the spring sunshine.

Also thrilling? Coming upon a sumo wrestling match on my way out of Whole Foods:




Another random little twist to Tuesday.

*Did anything random or strange happen to you today?

Monday, March 25, 2013

Scones + Snow

Our weekend in a nutshell:










Yah. More freaking snow, people. If you live in the Midwest or Northeast I supposed you're prolly getting what we just got. Happy spring, right?

I did get these two really pretty shots this morning, though. Maybe cold weather is conducive to low clouds/fog?






The rest of the day has really been mediocre compared to these views. I went to the gym, ate a mid-morning snack while reading blogs:




Before helping David with a late lunch that we had with our friends Adam, Dorothy, and Sarah.




Dorothy, Sarah, and Adam are British (well, they wouldn't appreciate that description--they're Irish and Welsh, actually) and lucky us!!! they brought us homemade Irish soda bread and scones. I'll show those to you tomorrow, as I'm exhausted right now. I went shopping this afternoon--for clothes for our upcoming trip to San Francisco.

I'm not going to cry here, but let me just advise you all _not_ to go shopping by yourself when you're three and a half months pregnant. I think I scared some cute Japanese girl when I nearly started crying. And I'll just leave it at that! Enjoy the rest of your evening, friends!

*Why haven't you sent me scones?

Friday, March 22, 2013

Friday Flashback

Hey friends! How's the start of your weekend going so far? Perhaps your getting a weekend of spring-like weather? Not so much over here. It's sunny now but going to get snowy later this evening. Boo.

So, in honor of a weekend that looks like it could be a "snowed in" one, I thought I'd post some pictures of another trip that David and I took. This trip was two years ago, and was when David and I traveled to England. David was giving a talk at the Aristotelian Society in London, where I was also on a research grant to check out some medical archives. 

This was a little something that I spotted at a convenience store in London. I can't decide whether I most enjoyed that it was said to have "squidgy energy," or that it said on the package, "I'm a SNACK!"




I should get a t-shirt that says "I'm a SNACK!"

This picture is from Highgate Cemetery in North London. FYI, lots of famous British celebs live right in this neighborhood, though we didn't see any of them when we were there.




Also at Highgate Cemetery, at George Eliot's grave:




Yes, George Eliot was really a woman!!! (I think David is still working that one out, along with how what is called the nineteenth century is really the 1800s. That one gets him every time.)

Below is from our brief getaway to Bath, England.




This is where Jane Austen lived for several years and where many of her characters went when they were in need of a restorative water cure, i.e. some time spent in underground baths at a resort town.

Bath is also special for me because that's where David proposed to me. Here, actually, at the Pulteney Bridge.




I believe I said, "Are you fucking with me" before I said "OK, yes!"

We also went to Oxford, where the food was pretty mediocre and everyone looked like they were working on a PhD.




After Bath and Oxford we went back through London before leaving. During that time David did some surfing on the tube:




Seriously, this is no hands, people!! Unfortunately the commuters on our train were not amused, and in true British fashion they avoided looking at David, smiling at his silly antics, or even making eye contact. It was much the same when David pulled a similar move on the metro in Paris. He just doesn't translate, I guess:-)

And finally, one of me and David on the Thames, with Westminster in the back there on the left. I like to think that I was wishing for world peace, but maybe I was just thinking how nice it would be if David had a British accent.




*Do you wish your partner had an accent? Or maybe a different accent than s/he has now?

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Bean Dealings

Heya dirty playas. Oops, sorry. That's how I open posts on my "other," more risqué blog.

Hi peeps! Happy Thursday! Thanks for being understanding about my lack of post yesterday. (That is not meant for those of you who silently fumed b/c you really wanted to see pictures of the Subway sub I ate for lunch again yesterday.) (And today.)

Yes, I ate Subway for lunch again today. And I ate couscous again for dinner last night.




The sad thing is that if I was a good food blogger I'd blog: "Geez, I'm sorry, guys, there has been a real dearth of food variety on this blog since I got knocked up."

But in reality there is always a lack of food variety since I am inconsistent with my food photography and actually eat pretty boring crap. Today, however, I did manage to try something new:






And they're actually really good! They might look like creepy hippy non-food, but the first ingredient is actually black beans, which is good since yesterday my doctor told me I need to keep up my bean intake. Heh. I'm sure she meant chips made from beans, not just regular beans. Following directions is just a talent that I have.

Also of note today? The sunrise! Since daylight savings time kicked in its been dark when I wake up. So in addition to getting an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day, I also get to see the sunrise more frequently. Today it was pretty.






Too bad it's going to snow again here this weekend.

*Am I due for a manicure or what?

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Spring Slacker

OK, people this is not going to happen today. Seriously big apologies but it's 7:50 and I'm ready for bed. Actually, I'm already in bed, so please forgive me for postponing until tomorrow.

In the meantime I hope you all had a lovely first day of Spring!!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Subway Reunion

Pretty big day over here, peeps. I mean, not only did I have raisin bran for breakfast, but I also just so happened to finish my dissertation. I'll let you decide which was more enjoyable. I'm not completely finished exactly, since I still have to defend the thing and then make whatever minor changes my dissertation committee suggests. But the thing is at Kinkos, people, where they are making the last two years of my life into a neat little binder with lots of pages. Sigh. If only it hadn't taken an hour for the Kinkos guy to get the directions for printing correct. Oh well. Tomorrow I pick up my binders and deliver them to my committee, after which I won't have to worry about too much until my defense on April 10. (Aside from cleaning my house, which I haven't thoroughly done since I got pregnant and starting feeling sick like two and half months ago---ewwww!)

In addition to raisin bran, today I also ate a Subway sandwich. I've eaten a Subway sandwich for lunch three out of the last four or five days. See?






I guess we have a new pregnancy craving, since that veggie sushi no longer sounds appealing. The strange thing about Subway is that before this craving hit I hadn't been to Subway in probably five years. I'd say in general people in Boulder tend to eat at non-chain restaurants, and at least for me that's true. I did used to eat them in high school a lot, which is, I suppose, where the craving for a veggie delite sandwich came from. Go figure.

Hey! On a different but related note, have any of you been to San Francisco? David and I are traveling there next week and I'm always up for dining recommendations if you have them! I've never been before, and whenever I've never been somewhere I always want to get at much info as possible about the city I'm visiting before going.

And finally, another food focused point: I'm also really digging couscous lately. It's so easy to cook, and it even comes in whole wheat varieties. This is what I had for dinner last night, and what I'm about to cook for dinner tonight:




That's couscous with kale, parmesan cheese, and a drizzle of olive oil. Is it just me or is "drizzle" kind of annoying? It's almost like "moist"; I can't tell if it's annoying because it sounds kind of sensual or because so many foodies and bloggers overuse the word. Let me rephrase by saying that this is couscous with kale, parmesan cheese, and a slob of olive oil. Yummm!

*Do you eat at Subway?

Monday, March 18, 2013

Dog in a Bra?

Where to start on the weekend happenings? I guess first I should say thanks--a lot!--for your well wishes on our baby news. I'm exactly three months pregnant tomorrow, and unfortunately I'm still feeling exhausted and nauseated. And I don't mean I feel sick every once and awhile either; I mean that I feel nauseated all day long, every single day. That, by far, has been the worst and most surprising aspect of being knocked up. Based on my extensive research (watching the movies Nine Months and Twins) I expected that I might throw up a few times a day--at any time of day--but I didn't know that a lot of women just feel nauseated all day. Sigh. But, what can I say--I did this to myself, um, well, sort of:-)

In any case, I also just want to say that I can't believe no one called me out on all the veggie sushi I've been eating!!! I mean, I literally ate it every single day for the last two weeks! Luckily for our budget that craving has passed, though I'm still having a hard time finding any food that sounds appealing. The funny thing is that despite feeling sick and having food sound disgusting, eating is the only thing that makes me feel better. I think it's funny and kind of ironic, actually, given my history of anorexia. Heh.

So, okay, on to weekend haps. The highlights definitely include spending time with my nieces.






We watched Aladdin, which totally brought back memories for me. I used to know all the song lyrics to that entire movie. My friends and I would watch it after school while drinking coffee that we'd doctored with approximately 90% milk and a shit-ton of sugar. (We did this at my friend Lauren's house, and now that I think about it, maybe I'd be 5'8 instead of 5'6.5 if I hadn't gotten so jacked up on coffee in middle school.)

I also really enjoyed eating this croissant:




And dressing up Haruki:




In David's bra, of course. FYI: 1) my boobs aren't really as big as that bra looks, and 2) if there's anyone reading from Animal Welfare Services, please don't take my Ruki!!!

Today it was back to work, however, since I have to print and turn in my dissertation by Thursday. Today I spent at a coffee shop, working on last minute edits and also working on some peppermint tea and gluten free zucchini chocolate bread.






Yum.

*What was the best thing that you ate this weekend?

Friday, March 15, 2013

Summer Top Ten

Yup--the ten things I'm looking forward to this Summer. Let's start with the bottom and work our way to the top, shall we?

No. 10:

Wearing skirts, and maybe even dresses. For some reason pants have just felt so constraining lately, and I'm eager to get into some skirts and flip flops asap.

No. 9:

More more more sunshine!!! It's pretty sunny here in Colorado, but even still I've been dying for more sun for about six weeks. Feeling grumpy in the summer is completely different from feeling grumpy in the winter. In the first case you can go outside and feel the sun and/or breeze on your face; in the second case you can pretty much only go inside and think about how dark it seems outside.

No. 8:

Eating lots of fruits. Umm, cherries, anyone?


http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/why-cherries-are-such-a-great/

At what other time during the year does eating a bowl of fruit really feel like dessert? Only when it's summer, and only when its cherries or watermelon, in my opinion.

No. 7:

All the undergraduate students leaving Boulder for the summer. Enough said.

No. 6:

Eating outdoors. People in London and Paris seemed to eat outside even in the dead of winter (perhaps it's to better facilitate smoking?), but I think that al fresco dining just isn't the same unless it's warm and sunny and the day feels fun and hopeful.

No. 5:

Not worrying about if "the roads" will be bad or good from inclement weather. This also, incidentally, makes like much easier when you are riding a road bike on said roads. I suspect I won't be doing too much of that this summer, but it's nice to know that a trip to Denver won't have to be cancelled just because it decided to blizzard.

No. 4:

Being finished with my dissertation and school.

http://auctioneerschool.com/features.html

Don't really fill your name in there, people. It's a pretend diploma, and no, I'm not graduating with a degree in auctioneering--that would be way too lucrative for me. But seriously, I'm excited to have finished with this most recent career hoop, and hope that some kind of fulfilling job/career path opens up for me around May 10. Preferably something part-time, especially come Fall.

No. 3:

Eating pizza.




Sometimes you just want pizza. Am I right?

No. 2:

Spending time with my nieces.




Over the past three months they've become even more cute than usual to me. I wouldn't mind if the summer brought more hours spent with those three little cuties.

And No. 1:

Growing my own little chubby cutie:




Due October 1, people. And, by the looks of it, already one smart (or at least really big headed) baby!

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Someone's a Cookie Monster!!! (Or soon will be)

Today I did a few things that I don't usually do. The first unexpected turn in my day came pretty early, when I decided to go to a yoga class instead of my usual TRX weight-suspension class. My bottom and pectoral muscles were pretty sore this morning, so instead of hurting them more I decided to try an "Organic Yoga" class at my gym. It was...as expected, i.e. not a cardiovascular workout but still worthwhile in some sense. I could definitely be more stretchy, so perhaps I'll keep giving it a go.

Before yoga, however, I had breakfast. Raisin bran, to be precise.




This is not unusual, though it's is somewhat new. I don't usually eat cereal for breakfast, but lately it has sounded tasty.

After yoga I came home to shower, eat lunch, and do some editing on my dissertation. But, because it was such a nice day here today I decided to go back down to town to do work in a sunny coffee shop. While there, I was persuaded to buy a freshly-baked oatmeal raisin cookie--unusual thing no. 2! It was, without a doubt, the best oatmeal raisin cookie (and maybe just best cookie full stop) that I've ever had.




Cookies in general aren't really my jam, but this was amazing--really, the perfect blend between brown sugar, butter, and warming spices. Crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, AKA heaven.

Um, anyway. After eating this cookie and working for awhile it was time for my shift at the Humane Society. First, I walked a dog named Lacey:




Whom I walked in this setting:




So, you know, not a bad day or afternoon.

Since I knew David had a business dinner tonight I took myself to Whole Foods for dinner, where I ate some of this:




And now I'm eating fruit leather and trying to figure out if I should watch a movie or read Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad. I'm in a new book club and we're discussing Egan's book in about a month.

*Anyone read it? Like it? Hate it? Does anyone out there like fruit leather?

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Goofy Ruki

Thank goodness it was nicer here today, peeps. Sadly I didn't make much of the pretty day, since I spent most of it sitting inside and editing my dissertation. I did start the day off right, however, with getting my bottom kicked in my bootcamp class. 

Then I celebrated with my new lunch of choice.




Maybe tomorrow I'll branch out.

Other highlights from today include the selection of a new pope. Have I mentioned here that I was raised Catholic? Like, Sunday School and the works? I like to think it's why I'm a relatively good person. Not because being Catholic makes you a good person, but because in my particular case the fear of being bad made me feel so guilty that I just had to be good.

So even though I don't consider myself Catholic anymore, seeing the pomp of a new pope being chosen was kind of moving. I mean, do Catholics know how do it up or what?

Ruki is less impressed with all the haps in Rome today. Actually, she's been spending a lot of time relaxing on her back lately.








What a goofy dog.

*Do you care if there is a new pope?