Me and My Valentine

Since Valentine's Day is like two shakes away I thought I do another photo flashback, but this time of pictures of me and David. Most of these pictures were taken at the beginning of our relationship, and as a result I look pretty happy in all of them. Don't get me wrong; I'm happy now too, but at the time I was so dazzled by how much I liked David and how much fun we had together. So, without further adieu:

David and I took this picture with a self-timer at the very, very beginning of our relationship. This was at his old house (the one that burned down), and I think we were making something together--maybe bread of some kind? At any rate, that's why there is a little red smudge on my nose--it's from the dough or something.

Next up? Our first double date, which we went on with our friends Michaela and Christian. There's a bowling alley right in the student center on campus, so we met there for a little friendly competition.

You can't tell from this shot, but the backs of our t-shirts said something derogatory about our competitors, err, friends:-)

In addition to going bowling, David and I were pretty active in general. Our first "date," which wasn't at that time even a date, was cycling, and though I didn't get a picture of that (because I didn't think I'd end up dating this goofball), I did get a picture of our first snowshoeing trip at Brainard Lake. (Brainard Lake is a recreational area just west of David's house.)

Despite the fact that I generally suck at outdoor winter sports, David and I also made plans (relatively) early in our relationship to go to Telluride, Colorado. I had never been there, and we spent (I think) a long weekend there doing some downhill and back country skiing. And eating, of course:

All I really remember from this trip is that it was c.o.l.d.! And, I couldn't forget our stop in Ouray, Colorado on the way back, where we had the best homemade sandwiches on really thick cut bread at a local bakery/cafe. Apparently I was inspired to pose:

Ouray is beyond beautiful, btw. You should go if you ever have the chance.

We also took a trip to NYC one winter so David could give a talk at Columbia. Of course I was way more interested in all the vegetarian restaurants in NYC, including Candle Cafe, where we ate quite a feast:

David always looks like he's molesting me in pictures, doesn't he?

I had been to NYC several times before, but it's a completely different town when you're there with someone who used to live there and thus knows all the best places to eat, how to get around, etc. (David went to grad school at NYU.)

And finally, as an ode to my Valentine, here is David two years ago at my family's reunion in Grand Lake, Colorado. I can't help but think that I'm lucky some handsome fellow didn't mistake David's posturing and try to steal him away from me! (Either that or he just really likes having his picture taken!)

*What are some of your fondest memories from when you and your person starting dating? Or, if you don't currently have a "person," tell me what you're doing for the big love day?

Week-End Roundup

So, it's Monday again. The weekend, in my opinion, went by too fast and was kind of mediocre.

You might recall that on Friday night David's parents were taking us out to dinner at Frasca. Well, that did in fact happen, and as I predicted, I was too chicken to take pictures of that award-winning food. I will say a few things about the experience though. First, it was definitely the most expensive meal that I've ever had or witnessed. Second, having a four course tasting menu takes a hella long time. Like, three hours. So, in the future, don't go having tasting dinners with people that you can't chat it up with longtime style. Third, the food was good. Really good. But not OMG the best thing I've ever tasted good. So there's that.

Saturday was a purdy boring day. I went to a class at my gym and then went shopping. Haruki does this every time I come home with grocery bags and set them on the floor to take my shoes and coat off:

I like that she does this. It's like, not only does she protect us from mountain lions and foxes, but she's also our own private bomb, errr, muffin sniffer. She really nuzzles around in there too--like a plump little heifer looking for truffles.

For dinner on Saturday night, I made us veggie burgers and sweet potato french fries:

Washed down with a little treat, namely some decaf Bhakti Chai that I picked up at the store that morning.

On Sunday morning we kind of did our usual thing: take Haruki for a hike around our house together, though we did start with a pancake breakfast beforehand. David makes good pancakes, but I always help him out by adding a little cinnamon, vanilla extract, and fruit. Yesterday it was bananas and blueberries, and those silver dollars were tasty!

The ones with blueberries kind of look like little fetuses, don't they. Eeew, sorry.

This is me trying to learn to love maple syrup. 

David also made us a smoothie, but unfortunately added mixed greens to it instead of spinach.

It looks pretty, but man it tasted terrible. I could barely choke it down even with closing my eyes and trying to take it in big gulps.

For Sunday afternoon and evening we were planning to stay home, but at the last minute one of David's colleagues and his wife invited us over for dinner to celebrate another colleague who recently became a full professor. (Did that make sense?) (Brad, do you want to guess whom these people might be?) Our host made us really wonderful Indian food, and afterwards we took a quick walk with their plump dog. [ Got it yet, Bradley? :-) ]

So, no, we didn't actually watch any of the game, though I did watch Beyoncé's half-time performance online when we got home. That girl is brave, man--she was seriously, like, making love to the camera for half the show! I would've giggled and blushed the whole time. I guess that's why she's married to Jay Z and I'm married to someone who studies the truth value of conditional statements. Ha!

*Best thing you ate at a Super Bowl party yesterday?

Flashback Friday

Heya peeps! Happy Friday! I'm pretty pumped that it's Friday, not least because it's the Super Bowl weekend! I'm also pumped because tonight David's parents are taking us out to dinner. Not just any dinner, either--we are going to Frasca, which is literally the best (and most expensive) restaurant in town. I'm going to try to take pictures of our dinner, though it's likely that I'll be too intimidated by the setting to pull out my iPhone.

In addition to working on revisions of my dissertation chapters, today I also transferred the photos from my old computer onto my present computer. So, I thought I'd give you a little photo insight into whomz I am.

First up:

This photo pretty much sums up all I could ever say about myself.

This too:

This photo was from my first year volunteering on Ride the Rockies, which is an annual cycling ride across Colorado. New volunteers had to perform, so I did it up with a purple wig that, for some reason, I already owned?!! I volunteered for Ride the Rockies for three (four?) years before riding it myself for three years. And fyi, I'm a terrible singer.

Bet you didn't know that I have a black belt in Taekwondo, didja?

This photo is from my Black Belt testing, that's why my belt isn't actually black yet.

Bam! Breaking boards and kicking pads was really satisfying.

More reasons why I'm a bad dumb ass:

That's from my first cycling accident. I ran into a cement pylon. Heh. And yes, those are stretch marks--big ones:-)

Me and my mom:

This was the day we went to see Stacy London (from TLC's What Not to Wear) speak. (Don't judge.)

Me and my mom again, but this time at my brother Brian's wedding:

After I'd had waaaaay too much to drink at that wedding:

I have no idea why my tongue is out, but I did bite through it when I was younger because I tripped while running and holding it out just like that. And fyi, I can't dance either.

Me and my roommate Christina (aka someone needed to start eating more pizza):

Ditto on the pizza, and fyi, I can't take good pictures:

One of my first dates with David:

And one more pic for all you ladies of my first Halloween with David. I know you all are going to lovvvve this one! (Hehe.)

I can't believe I kept dating him after this one.

*Do you go back through old photos and reminisce often?

Random Bizness

Thursday means that I go to my usual BodyPump class at the YMCA, though today we had a substitute instructor who really liked to talk. I mean, talk, and talk, and talk. And not about anything exercise related. Actually, one priceless anecdote she shared was in regards to her daughter's carsickness, which she recounted in minute detail while we were trying to do plié squats. I won't make you sick too, but I will just say that apparently her daughter had eaten hot cocoa and Doritos before her most recent bout of carsickness.

Somehow...haha...I was still able to eat lunch, and a good one at that. I'm actually still at Native Foods where I went for the Greek Gyro bowl. I'm so predictable. Not only did I order the same thing I always order, but I forgot to photograph it. In my defense, however, that's because I was starving.

My lunch is gone and now I'm just killing a bit of time before I go to Target, after which I have my Thursday afternoon shift at the Humane Society. After that, David and I are having dinner with our friends Ajume and Eric. This brings me to the major downside of living in the mountains outside of Boulder rather than living in Boulder proper: I can't just run home when I have a break in my schedule, and instead I often find myself waiting around a coffee shop or Whole Foods because my previous activity has ended and I still have an hour or two before my next activity/commitment. I find this difficult for two reasons:

1) It's difficult to watch Teen Mom 2 in public. Sure, I could pull out my headphones and get down with some TV watching at any cafe in town. But the lack of typing would, I think, make it obvious that I wasn't doing work of any kind and I'm just too guilt-ridden to watch TV in public. Can anyone understand this, or am I just really uptight? (Edited to add: "and/or am I just really uptight?")

2) I don't like being in public and around other people for really long stretches of time. On some days I'll leave the house at eight-thirty in the morning, only to return at eight-thirty in the evening after we've had dinner with friends. It's not that I'm agoraphobic and am afraid of leaving home, but I sometimes find social interactions exhausting; home is the only place where I completely relax and unwind, so not being able to pop in and take a quick nap, for example, is a real drawback to mountain life.

The other big drawback? When we have kids we are going to have to drive about thirty to thirty-five minutes to get to the hospital to deliver them. Ouch.

And finally, to round out this Random Bizness post of bizarre crap, what are you doing for Super Bowl Sunday? It sounds like my parents want me to come over to watch the game, but I'm seriously tempted to stay home and eat Boulder-ized versions of game day food along with chocolate and Kombucha.

Wedsaladay

Wassup, playas? Heh. I try to be pretty conscientious when it comes to things like racial stereotypes, but I'm pretty sure that I'm way too white to say things like that without it being tongue-in-cheek. I mean, my skin is practically translucent, after all. I'll spare you the photos, but you really can see all the veins in my arms.

Anyway, how is your Wednesday coming along? I for one am really excited that it's Wednesday, because that means it's almost the weekend. And not just any weekend, but Super Bowl weekend: the perfect excuse to eat whatever you want and do nothing productive all day on Sunday. (Even if you are only moderately interested in football and even less interested in either the Baltimore Ravens or the SF 49ers.)

Today, however, is not Super Bowl Sunday, though you wouldn't know it from looking at these pictures of Haruki lounging around this morning. I swear that dog thinks she has it really hard.

I did work this morning until around eight-thirty, at which time I went down to town to go to the gym and the grocery store. I also ran to Target, where I bought a toilet brush, floss, razor blade heads, and coasters. Geez I hate going to Target when I don't "need" anything fun. Fun = any makeup, skincare, or body products. Guess I'm going to have to "lose" my mascara again.

I came home for lunch around noon, and concocted this salad:

That's mixed greens mixed with spinach mixed with little sweet peppers and a broccoli/carrot slaw. I haven't been in the mood for salads for, like, a year, but for some reason I had one last night and wanted one again today.

I also ate some pretend nachos, which just means brown rice chips topped with Titanium Dioxide cheese and Rotel (diced tomatoes mixed with jalapeños).

And now? I'm recovering from a serious revision/work session and thinking about watching the latest episode of Teen Mom 2. I am so ready for Chelsea to get over Adam--anyone else with me? (Or did I just lose my last two readers?)

*Do you like eating salads? Really, I mean, do you really like eating them?

Winter Weather Game Changer

The forecast called for a trace to two inches of snow overnight. Per usual, those weather peeps were wrong, and we got more than zero and also more than two inches of snow. 

This is what it looked like at four p.m. yesterday:

And this is what is quickly devolved into:

Luckily, David and I got out for a hike with Haruki before the storm really came in, and I thought I share a few photos of what the landscape around us looks like.

Whenever I tell people that we live in the area that was badly burned they always look traumatized--like living up here must be really depressing with everything being all burnt out.

As you can see, Haruki doesn't mind all the burnt logs and trees around; actually, they are her favorite play toy (aside from: deer, squirrels, and mice).

David is also nonplussed by the fire damage, and every time we go on a walk he goes on and on about how beautiful it is. In fact, here he is thinking about the beauty:

Or maybe it's just Popsockets that he is thinking about.

This is unrelated to the fire, but isn't it cool that we live on a mountain that used to be mined, with old railroad tracks and everything? It's just like in The Great Outdoors when those girls get lost in the mine. (Please someone admit they know what I'm talking about.)

Another totally benefit to the fire?

I don't think these pictures do this tree justice, but because the bark was burnt completely off all that is left is the pure white and incredibly smooth interior of the tree. Seriously, I can't say enough how beautiful this is in person: it's smooth, soft, and incredibly bright and white. Obviously it's sad that the trees were burnt and scarred, but it's not like I started the fire so it's okay if I appreciate some of its handiwork. (Right?)

After our walk and tree sightings, we headed home to cozy up and do some work. Yes, I said do some work. I don't normally equate cozy with work, but it wasn't so bad with the fire going:

*Is it snowing where you are? We've been having a week or two of fifty and sixty degree temps followed by a medium to big snow storm; if I wasn't so sane weather like this might make me go a little schizo.

Monday Wow

OK, so far Monday has not "Wowed." But "Wow, the weekend sure went by quickly."

I did snap a picture of the sunrise this morning, however. It didn't really "Wow" me, but maybe it will make your head spin around.

Though it went by quickly, the weekend was pretty good. In random order, here are some schtuffs that we did:

1) Had dinner at my parents' house with my brothers and nieces. They ate meaty burgers; we ate these:

Veg-et-ablé Burglers.

2) Went shopping for a new mattress. My mattress is total crap and because I'll be turning thirty-two next month I've decided that I should invest in a real bed with a nice mattress.

3) Watched the Screen Actors' Guild Awards.

4) Went to lunch with David, his sister Christine, and her new boyfriend Greg. Since I just met Greg I didn't ask to take his picture. But...I did, finally, take a picture of our food!!! We went to Shine in Boulder, which is a relatively new restaurant that has taken over a space previously filled with lots of different restaurants.

I ordered the Boulder Breakfast, which had brown rice, seared greens, and two eggs over hard:

I realize that this doesn't look very fancy, but it was very tasty.

Luckily David ordered something fancy, namely, the Avocado Hollandaise Eggs Benedict:

Don't be fooled, though--mine was way better. After eating his meal David was still hungry, so he ordered one blueberry pancake. I forgot to take a picture of it, but it was basically a fried blueberry pancake with really thick maple syrup on it. I had been oogling the pancakes from the time we sat down, so I was pretty happy to help David out with his second order.

And now, my friends, I have to get to the gym for bootcamp before coming home to do work. Womp womp. If only it were a holiday and I had an excuse for taking a nap instead of working...

*Do you share food with your partner when you eat out?