whee!

Things I've Done:
Registered for my third L.A. Marthon
Cleaned the floors in apt.
Watered plants
Took down Christmas
Lot's of work for work
Hung new curtains
Bought new rugs
Made all returns and purchases
Gym once a week
Dropped pants off to be hemmed
Have seen friends more often
Dentist appointments
Made eye appointment

Things to Do:
Get ready for typography class
Register for gardening program already
Start helping M with our garden
Laundry
Update computer so I can use the new nano
Get new pedicure
Research things in New York
Job hunt options

So far, all in all, a successful year. Things are chugging away smoothly. Almost too smoothly. I think I've decided to take the dive into the L.A. County Common Grounds Gardening Program. It starts the day before the marathon and continues through the end of May.

This means every Saturday from March 1 - May 31st is given up from 9:00am to 4:00pm. It seems like a giant committment, on top of my typography class and SMPS volunteer duties. BUT - at least I will not have to worry about training runs. I have a feeling that come June 1st I may have to plan a massive party to celebrate that I'll have my Saturday's back. Perhaps that massive party should take place on Catalina Island followed by those damn surf lessons.

I have the application on my desk today and am going to fill it out; this reminds me to check in with F, a lovely lady I met at a party who was also planning on doing this. I've hung out with her twice now and I think she'll make the program a really great experience to go through; we'll at least have each other, plus I'll probably meet a lot of other people.

This program will also require community service after it is done, so that is good - I've been meaning to start working that in to my life, so this is perfect.

Okay - well here goes! Gardening, I am making you a priority once again!

fifth!

Had the fifth annual wine + cheese party this weekend! So much fun, as usual! I am listing the menu here for my own record:

cheese:
irish white cheddar
gouda
goat cheese
mozzarella
parmagiano reggiano
curds
manchego (my new favorite cheese)
brie
cheesecake (cream cheese, ricotta, goat) with red peppers, chives, oregano, thyme

meats
panchetta
salami

fruits/veggies
yellow peppers
basil
tomatos
grapes
clementines

sweets
truffles
cups with coconut or raspberries & ganache
lime custard tarts with raspberries
chocolate coins

And, of course, wine. 30 bottles were empty in the morning, and we had 10 left over. WOW!

I paired down on the food a little bit which left me with less leftovers (a GOOD thing) and let me spend a little bit more $$ on the party. I think I maybe spent the usual amount, so that's good. Extravagant, but a nice holiday treat for friends. And seeing it's really the only party I have all year, my pocketbook can handle it.

gone

I am less irritated this week - hooray! But I have a strong feeling it has to do with the fact that I am taking both Wednesday and Friday off around Thanksgiving. Thank fucking god. I am both excited and need that time.

I'm not 100% sure what my five days off (including the weekend) will hold though. It's W's birthday on Friday and the guy can't decide what he's interested in doing. I've given him my preference - come up to Lompoc and we'll wander around the different areas and stay a night maybe at the hot springs. But it would also be nice to come back to L.A. and take him out to dinner, go to a movie, have a cupcake, maybe go to the observatory. Or, go out with him and his friends and get good and soused.

In any case, I'm excited about the gifts I've gotten him. I still have one more thing to get. It is a very nice feeling to be excited about the gifts you got for someone. Of course, there is a bit of the nervousness - will they like them? Will they use the gift receipts you include in the box, just in case?

bling

I am now the proud owner of a designer handbag. Yup. Went to Loehman's yesterday afternoon and walked out with a new handbag. It's one I saw in Bloomingdales a few months ago, and loved it, and almost bought it to celebrate a bonus/raise I got, but didn't. It's been on my mind since then, but I've just let it be. Well - I found it yesterday for $150 less than at Bloomingdales, and I just couldn't pass it up. I've been looking for a bag like this for awhile; something to invest some $$ in and just love every minute of using it.

It's a bit on the casual side though, so I may still have to go and purchase this blue Coach bag I saw too. It was glorious, and a bit more refined this this on. Oh man, I have a new addiction.

three

I officially started my third year of L.A. Leggers last Saturday. Had a whole 2 mile run with the group. It was short, but man, did it feel good. I felt energized. Rejuivinated.

I spent all last week not running at all. Just swimming. I've been having a pain, twinge, and twitch in my right leg. The area just below my knee (not on my knee, but below my knee, on the upper shin area to the left). Hmm. It had me worried so I took last week off, hence all of the swimming.

But this just made me realize that I need to keep swimming as a complement to the running. I'll go tonight. I had a good run last night - the pain was there for the first third of the run and then went away. I'll go swimming tonight to rest it, and then run tomorrow.

So, I'll be back in the run of things officially. For some reason, being part of leggers again re-validates all of the running I do mid-week. I'll also hopefully loose that 5 pounds I gain in the four months I have off from the club. :)

But...my Friday nights will once again start to be compromised. Oh well.

out

Today (sunday) I couldn't bear being inside. I was outside from the time I got up until it got dark and had to go in. A 75 minute run. Drive to Melrose with all the windows down. Walk along Melrose. Drive home with windows open. Bike to park. Read dwell and book. bike back. Bike to store for muffin ingredients. Bike back. Garden. Dark.

And then I made bran muffins and M made zucchini bread with our first (and perhaps only) zuchinni. The zucchini and yellow squash caught a bad case of The Powerdy Mildew. it's sad. I have pictures on my camera. The powdery mildew is the death of squashes. Poor squashes. But this zucchini bread is damn good. So, I will pull out the dead-ish plants and plant new ones. And more peppers. We have two peppers ready to come in soon. YUM.

Anyway. It will be a hard monday, I think, because I'll be inside. But at least I'll have bran muffins for breakfast.

weekends

OH WEEKEND YOU ARE SO CLOSE. I CAN ALMOST FEEL YOU. ALMOST. PLEASE COME SOONER. PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE.

Here are a few pictures from Coachella '07. Some of my favorites.


Me, looking happy.


Boy dressed up in balloons. SO COOL!


R. learns how to braid.


Solar powered light installation


happy times!


The dome structure where the DJs played. Gorgeous!

wine

I had a lovely weekend drinking wine with my mom and a nice group of friends - and I came back with 8 bottles. Yikes. At least I got them all discounted - by a lot - otherwise my bank account would be hurting. Well, now I have a ton of tasty wine to drink, wheeee! JM took this pic - notice we are all sitting on color-coordinated chairs. Ha!

calendar

Wow! I have so much going on - I simutaneously love it and hate it.

Work - will calm down a bit after tomorrow night when we have our opening. I am happy that things are going well with it and we are getting a lot of positive feedback. I'll be in Texas next week speaking a the A I A conference - put some finishing touches (with more to come in the next couple of days) on that presentation last night. Another rehearsal and we'll have it down pat - am presenting with two colleagues.

Running - going well! I'll be taking a weeklong break from it starting today, unless I can get my ass up tomorrow morning to go for a run. Which I am going to try very hard to do.

Swimming - won't get back to the pool until the second week of May. I hate that - but I just can't get over there during their public lap swim hours. Sigh.

Furniture - M & I got a sweet new couch! It has inspired me to start the re-upholstering process on my currnet little 2-piece couch. Actually spend some money on that. I've enlisted the superious interior design skills of E to help me choose some classy fabric for it. I am very excited about getting it finally done nice!

Veggie - man, our veggies our just running amok. I am so happy about this! I have some more pics to post on the ol' flickr page. So check there for that.

Hmmm - OH YEAH COACHELLA! I leave for coachella tomorrow night! I will definitely report on that.

recovery

ahhhh, the marathon. how come it feels like it happened over a month ago but it was really just three days ago? three days ago at this time i was winding my way through hollywood, feeling great. wow. now my only real reminder is my bib sitting on my desk, the medal, and my sore quadriceps.

the race - the race was overall very good. my time was 4:51. that's 43 minutes faster than last year! i am really proud of that. altho i have to admit that i am unsure i will ever have that dramatic of a time decrease ever again. oh well, at least i can enjoy it now!

things were great up till around mile 18. up till then i was doing my 8:1 splits just fine, and was doing them at a very good pace - probably on pace to get in between 4:15 - 4:20. it was a very warm day though, and once in downtown proper the heat started getting to me. up till that point i made sure to drink a few glasses of water and gatorade, dump a few waters on my head, and run through every fire hydrant shower that L.A. City firemen let loose (ahhh, that was wonderful).

mile 19-21 had me taking more walk breaks - for 30 seconds at a time. then i got to mile 21, thinking "5 miles left! 5 miles left!" and that's when i realized i was not sweating anymore. uh-oh. my muscles starting fatiguing really quickly - and I was went to perhaps a 3:1 interval. at mile 23, with three miles to go, it was 4:20. in order to meet my sub-5 goal i had to run three miles in 40 minutes. this sounded easy enough - but then it got even warmer, and my quads tightened up even more.

by this point, people were dropping like flies. it wasn't pretty. people who when you might see them on the street make you think "DAMN that guy is in perfect athletic shape". there they were - shaking, pale, trying to throw up. i felt so sad for them - really, only 2 miles left. i really hope they were able to get things together and make it to the end.

anyway, from mile 24 onward, it was stop and go. it was really hard, folks. really hard. i felt like i was tearing my muscle from the bones. i had so much lactic acid built up, my muscles were literally bulging, and i really needed some salt. electrolytes just were not doing it for me.

but, i did manage to rally for the last .4 miles or so, and i finished with a 4:51.

so, i'm happy.

yay! onto the next race!

relaxed

This past weekend was good. Started out with a great run - 7 miles. Felt great; I'm totally ready for this 26.2 mile run I paid $100 to do this Sunday! :) I'll have friends waiting for me towards the end which will give me something to run for. Really, I don't know what I would do if they weren't going to be there; it would be tough.

M is back in the apt. from her trip to Australia - she brought back the best soaps ever. SO fragrant! My shower was heavenly last night. It's good to have someone back. At this point I am enjoying to roomate situation. It will put me back into "good habit" mode. I have to say that last week I was not the best eater; I consumed a shitload of sugar. I can feel that I did too - I think I probably added a pound or two to my body. Yikes! This week will really count in what I eat too - lots of protein the first few days then carbs. Fruits and veggies in between. Wish me luck.

Saw the Skin + Bones exhibit at MOCA this past Saturday with R. Not sure he was that into it, and he told me as we were leaving he wasn't a big modern art fan. Oops. After that there was coffee, dinner, and then we went to see a show at the Jazz Bakery. Here, we switched roles a bit. He's a big fan of jazz while I don't know much about it and am not sure I have the right...ear for it. However, I did enjoy myself, especially the percussion. I just love the drums! Drums drums drums. boom boom boom. Perhaps with more listening (I am just down the street from the Jazz Bakery) I will start to pick up nuances about the genre that make it great.

ahhhhhh!

what a weekend this was. altho i was all by myself for most of the time i managed to enjoy my own company the entire two days.

let's see...the 10 mile run was awesome - did it at around 9 min/mile pace and for the last three miles did sprints...man, i havn't had that kind of adrenaline rush in a long time. the weather on satuday was nice too. the only damper on the weekend was that i had to be at my apartment from 11am - 3:30pm while a guy was there refinishing our sinks and countertops. but i can't really complain about that because...new sinks and counters! a very nice thing to have done. plus, i spent time on the couch with all the windown and doors open, enjoying a pleasant breeze, and reading. went to a masquerade party that night; the people who lived there, while having a very mid-90's taste in decor, had a life-sized plastic horse that Ch and I enjoyed having our way with.

on sunday, i headed out to the beach, and spent four glorious hours reading. the weater wasn't what you would call perfect - breezy, but it was warm enough to be in the bikini most of the time. and i got even more reading done. i left when a noisy group decided to plop themselves feet from where i was sitting (even though the rest of the beach was basically empty) and took myself out for coffee. yum. and more reading!

finished the day off with a run, a long shower, a load of laundry, and watched The Godfather for the first time...Good movie! Now I know why everyone likes it. Have the second godfather movie waiting to be watched, and the third one will be mailed out to me tomorrow.

hmmm, it's rainy today, which makes my time at the beach yesterday that much better.

nice

so, the guests are great. they are so sweet. i am an ass for that previous post down there below. oh well.

hmmm. busy week. but, the weekend is upon me. tonight: photo show for julias shulman (can't wait for him to autograph a pic!) then on to aimee mann at largo. tomorrow, a run, new counters and sinks, perhaps a party at design within reach, then roller skating, then a masquerade ball!

by sunday, i will be deflated, but deflated because i had so many glorious plans.