one more month!

So I have just one more month left in my 30s and while there are a couple of things on here that I know for a fact I'm not going to force myself to complete in time, it's definitely been successful where the "big" things are concerned. I also recognize that the things that may have gotten in my proverbial way were all welcome additions to my 29th year. That's just life and I like to roll with the punches. I still have some big plans for the next few weeks and some even bigger ones for my 30th year (stay tuned), but I have some definite updates to make to my list before I lose track...

1. Start taking an exercise class at least once a week
   - This one has definitely fluctuated, but I've been better than usual about at least getting myself to the gym.
2. Go on at least 2 hikes
    - I've gone on one official hike so yay me! I'll have to ask Bettina what that place was called. I think it was maybe in the Palisades? Regardless, it was certainly pretty!
    -
3. Cook at least 3 different recipes from 3 different cultures...ideas welcome!
    1.

    2.

    3.
4. Work on my writing at least 4 days per month
    - Another one that has simply not happened, but I have been working on it a little so we have improvement if nothing else...
5. Try at least 5 foods I've never tried before

   - 1. Fried green tomatoes (verdict: pretty good, but I mean, c'mon, it's fried.)

   - 2. Caviar (verdict: not as bad as I thought it would be...)

   - 3. Real Acai in Brazil - like a yogurty-sorbet-type thing eaten with bananas and granola. Super good!

   - 4. Pamonha - both sweet and savory types exist (I had both) and it's kind of like a corn pudding or polenta of sorts. It's cooked and served in a corn husk and it delicious!

   - 5. Caju - this one is strange and you can only get it in Brazil or countries where they grow cashews. It's the fruit that the cashew nut comes from and can't be imported in other countries due to its delicate exterior. I will say, not my favorite, but interesting.
6. Successfully plant a variety of veggies in my vegetable garden and reap the "fruits" of my labor...
   - This one is sort of a fail. I meant to plant some new ones this year, but just haven't gotten around to it. However, this random bell pepper plant that I gave up for dead last season, pulled through not being watered or even remotely taken care of and now has a large pepper growing on it! That is some serious determination to live. Either that or it's some freaky sub-species that subsists on smog and dust...maybe I should leave the little tyke alone and see what mutant form it takes on next...
7. Go Vegan for one week
   - DONE! This was a total success.
8. Eat at (at least) 10 new places in LA
   - 1. La Provence in Brentwood - love this place. An adorable French cafe with delicious brunch choices, but I even go just for their amazing lattes and macarons now.
   - 2. Bigg Chill - froyo place that always has a line out the door. Not good! I don't understand. Give me Pinkberry or Yogurtland anyday.
   - 3. Scoops - now this is what I'm talking about! An ice cream shop that sells amazing flavors - made fresh every day so you never know what you'll get. We've sampled quite a few now and they have all been delish! Not the cutest spot so I won't say go for the decor, but definitely worth stopping by for a yummy treat.
   - 4. Bouchon - now this is gooood eats. Sash took me here for our anniversary dinner and not only is this place beautiful, but the food is fantastic and the bread...oh the bread. I think they've since opened a bakery and I can hear it calling my name.

   - 5. Hokkaido - chain restaurant of Asian fusion in a buffet-style setting. Nothing overly fancy or fussy, but decent food. Good for big groups especially.

   - 6. BAD Sushi - ok, I agree. Who the heck puts "bad" in the name of any restaurant? I know, they're asking for a beating. And while their sushi isn't the best I've ever had or anything like that, it was definitely good nonetheless. 

   - 7. Soot Bul Gui Rim 2 - worst name ever right? Well, it is in Korean so it's not very catchy and easy to remember for those with American vocabularies. That being said, the food was pretty delish if you are the Korean BBQ fan...which I totally am.

   - 8. The Glendon - super close to my house so I can't believe it took me so long to get there, but of course, it took friends visiting and choosing to get me there. Anyway, nice ambiance, great brunch and hello sweet potato tater tots and bottomless mimosas!

   - 9.

   - 10.

9. Paint at least 2 paintings 
10. Visit at least 10 new cities
   - 1. Atlanta, Georgia
   - 2. Savannah, Georgia
   - 3. Charleston, South Carolina
   - 4. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

   - 5. Wilmington, North Carolina 

   - 6. Raleigh, North Carolina

   - 7. Temecula, California

   - 8. Pala, California

   - 9. San Diego, California (can you believe that I don't think I'd ever been here before??!)

   - 10. Goiania, Brazil

11. Try acupuncture as a remedy for my allergies and acid reflux in hopes that I can ditch the pills
   - Yup! I've gone to one appointment and have another coming up soon. Don't know if I can confirm it yet, but I went in for the first one during a particularly painful bout of acid stomach and by the end of the hour long appointment, I was feeling much better. Oddly, the acupuncturist said that the areas to treat allergies and acid reflux are quite similar. Coincidence?
    - Update: have since gone again and found it relaxing and overall helpful. Hopefully I'll someday be able to go a little more regularly to see if the results can be longer-lasting, but I definitely think there is something to be said for it.
12. Learn how to more professionally use my camera in manual mode
    - I've definitely had a little more practice, but I would like to still get better.
13. Study my family's genealogy and learn more about my own personal history
   - Yes. In a big way. This is probably a post of its own...
14. Study Farsi and learn a little more than food terms and good manners ;)
15. Send 15 hand-written cards/letters in the good, old-fashioned post
16. Visit some sort of farm (thinking maybe cherries) where I can pick my own fruit off the trees
   - Oddly, I did visit one (nearby a potential wedding venue), however, I forgot this was on my list and didn't pick anything! Shoot!
    - Not in the way I meant to, but I did go back to this farm to get our pumpkins this Halloween and they were grown right there in the patch. Probably a stretch, but hey. Still a farm. ;)
17. Watch the sun rise...honestly, I don't know the last time I saw one.
   - Have been up early enough to watch the sun rise three times already. I wouldn't say that it's a practice I like in general. ;)
18. Leave 10 anonymous "smiles" in 10 library books for future readers to find
19. Give five people one of my favorite books and tell them why I love it and why I hope they will too
20. Read at least 20 books in 2011
   1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
   2. The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

   3. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

   4. Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

   5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

   6. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

   7. Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi

   8. Bossypants by Tina Fey

   9. The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas

   10. Dead End Gene Pool by Wendy Burden

   11. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

   12. The Blind Contessa's New Machine by Carey Wallace

   13. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

   14. My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

   15. Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

   16. Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

   17. Ape House by Sara Gruen

   18. Incantation by Alice Hoffman

   19. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

   20. The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin
   21. Two Kisses for Maddy by Matthew Logelin

   22. Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan

   23. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

   24. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
21. Refurbish an old piece of furniture and turn it in to something beautiful
22. Take the hundreds of printed recipes I have, organize them and create a cookbook with my favorites
23. Go on a hot air balloon ride
   - Oh did I ever! See the post entitled "engaged." ;)
24. Watch every movie that has won the Oscar for Best Picture
   - This is definitely taking more time than I thought, but I've made a dent.
25. Find a new way to store and organize all of my books so that they don't succeed in their plan to take over our house.
26. Go horseback riding
   - Yup and soooo fun! Definitely would love to go again.
27. Redecorate our bedroom
    - Still in MAJOR progress, but our lovely new bed just arrived last week! Yay!
28. Pay off any looming credit debts
   - Pretty good on this front and just hoping that wedding planning doesn't produce any new ones. :)
29. Go to the movies at a drive-in theater
30. Volunteer at least 50 hours in 2011
   - I need to count these up, but I am definitely much more than halfway there! I've volunteered on two school murals and continue to volunteer weekly at the elementary school with The Young Storytellers Foundation.
     - Update: Will do a bigger post on this, but I'm pretty sure I've succeeded on this front.
29 is turning out to be a pretty awesome year in life. :)

will you be my...

With wedding planning in full swing, I am trying to keep everything as organized and drama-free as possible. My method for the past few months is to do a little something as often as possible so that I stay ahead of things and attempt to keep stress out of planning. I also want to keep things fun...otherwise, hello, what would be the point. We may as well elope and get it over with if the whole thing isn't fun.

Don't worry mom, not doing that.

Anyway, one of the big things we decided on in the beginning was our wedding party. We went back and forth on this quite a bit because we weren't exactly in agreement about the number of people. We both have a couple of siblings plus several amazingly close friends. We had to cut it off somewhere though otherwise we'd be left with everyone walking down the aisle and no one in the seats.

After figuring things out, I really wanted to ask everyone in a special way. Almost everyone lives in another city so asking in person was unlikely to ever happen and a phone call just seemed boring. I researched and while I found a couple of cute options, none struck a chord. Finally, I used my own idea and sent each of my girls this:

I sent them each a tank top package asking them to stand by my side. I was pretty happy with the outcome.

I wanted Sash to do something creative for his guys too, but the male species is a tad more difficult to impress...not many options that don't veer into the "lame" category. As a result, we were pretty happy when we found these cool cards online that we had personalized.

Fun and unique to let our friends and family know how excited we are to have them be part of our big day!

3 haikus for cleo

 

we have a caique

acrobatic and funny

cleo is her name

sometimes she bites hard

it's a little less than cool

she makes us laugh too

we've had her one year

she waddles like a penguin

kisses are her speech

pumpkin guts make me feel festive

Nothing says Halloween like carving pumpkins. Put a couple of humorous or creepy faces onto the front of a lovely orange gourd and you've got instant Halloween happiness in your home. Now, my mom was good at keeping holiday traditions and crafts alive when I was a kid so to me, this kind of thing is just necessary, but I recently discovered that my beloved fiancé had never (or at least that he remembered) carved a jack-o-lantern in his life. After I picked my jaw up from the floor, I set about quickly remedying this tragic event.

Along with my future mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law and niece, we traveled to the best pumpkin patch/fall festival that I could find. It was full of corn mazes, hay rides, pig races, and pumpkins galore. Jackpot. We took part in a few of the festivities (pig races are pretty ridiculous) before Sash and I took a careful amount of time picking out our victims...I mean, pumpkins.

Since this was his first time, I wanted him to select whatever pumpkin called his name and there were TONS. We were on a huge farm so there were fields of all different types. I told him to imagine the face he wanted when he looked at the choices. Really feel which one called his name.

I take my holidays seriously people.

He selected a mid-size, tall pumpkin, which to me screamed NOVICE. All I could see by looking at that oblong shape was that his arm was going to have to go in up to his elbow. No thanks, but perfect for him. It was his first experience with it after all. ;) I took a bit longer because I'm quite picky about this. I wanted a squat little guy with a nice stem.

Uhh...

Wow, that sounds rather suggestive, but get your mind out of the gutter because I found exactly that.

A couple of days later Sash and I literally took a stab. With our new pumpkin carving tools in hand and the table covered in plastic we were ready to get squash-tacular.

 

  

 

And all of this serious concentration eventually culminated into this:

And yes, our pumpkins did sport a goatee and a 'stache. New holiday traditions are sometimes just as fun as the old ones. :)

elephants make me smile

My love of elephants runs deep. It always has and it always will. They are just so beautifully awkward. And I love them. Did I mention that?

Proof positive: my desk. A jade elephant that Sasha brought me home from Israel sits at the base of my computer while my Dumbo mug waits for my daily cup of tea. They're just so dang awkward and I love it.

Anyway, this little guy is no exception. He's so cute and ridiculous and my main reason for this post today. I hope it makes you smile. Enjoy!

a little more than halfway in...

So yesterday marked 7 months into my 29th year so I thought it was about time to see how I'm doing on this little list of mine. I will say I've forgotten about it a little lately, but I've had bigger fish to fry. So let's take a little look:

1. Start taking an exercise class at least once a week
   - I have actually been pretty good about this and have even been taking 2 or 3 most weeks! Now that I have even more motivation coming up, I'll hopefully stick to the pattern. ;) Loving pilates pro/reformer classes.
2. Go on at least 2 hikes
    - I've gone on one official hike so yay me! I'll have to ask Bettina what that place was called. I think it was maybe in the Palisades? Regardless, it was certainly pretty!

3. Cook at least 3 different recipes from 3 different cultures...ideas welcome!
4. Work on my writing at least 4 days per month
5. Try at least 5 foods I've never tried before

   - 1. Fried green tomatoes (verdict: pretty good, but I mean, c'mon, it's fried.)

   - 2.

   - 3.

   - 4.

   - 5.
6. Successfully plant a variety of veggies in my vegetable garden and reap the "fruits" of my labor...
   - This one is sort of a fail. I meant to plant some new ones this year, but just haven't gotten around to it. However, this random bell pepper plant that I gave up for dead last season, pulled through not being watered or even remotely taken care of and now has a large pepper growing on it! That is some serious determination to live. Either that or it's some freaky sub-species that subsists on smog and dust...maybe I should leave the little tyke alone and see what mutant form it takes on next...
7. Go Vegan for one week
   - DONE! This was a total success.
8. Eat at (at least) 10 new places in LA
   - 1. La Provence in Brentwood - love this place. An adorable French cafe with delicious brunch choices, but I even go just for their amazing lattes and macarons now.
   - 2. Bigg Chill - froyo place that always has a line out the door. Not good! I don't understand. Give me Pinkberry or Yogurtland anyday.
   - 3. Scoops - now this is what I'm talking about! An ice cream shop that sells amazing flavors - made fresh every day so you never know what you'll get. We've sampled quite a few now and they have all been delish! Not the cutest spot so I won't say go for the decor, but definitely worth stopping by for a yummy treat.
   - 4. Bouchon - now this is gooood eats. Sash took me here for our anniversary dinner and not only is this place beautiful, but the food is fantastic and the bread...oh the bread. I think they've since opened a bakery and I can hear it calling my name.

   - 5.

   - 6.

   - 7.

   - 8.

   - 9.

   - 10.

9. Paint at least 2 paintings
   - Hmm, not yet though I do have some ideas!
10. Visit at least 10 new cities
   - 1. Atlanta, Georgia
   - 2. Savannah, Georgia
   - 3. Charleston, South Carolina
   - 4. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

   - 5. Wilmington, North Carolina 

   - 6. Raleigh, North Carolina

   - 7. Temecula, California

   - 8.

   - 9.

   - 10.

11. Try acupuncture as a remedy for my allergies and acid reflux in hopes that I can ditch the pills
   - Yup! I've gone to one appointment and have another coming up soon. Don't know if I can confirm it yet, but I went in for the first one during a particularly painful bout of acid stomach and by the end of the hour long appointment, I was feeling much better. Oddly, the acupuncturist said that the areas to treat allergies and acid reflux are quite similar. Coincidence?
12. Learn how to more professionally use my camera in manual mode
13. Study my family's genealogy and learn more about my own personal history
   - Yes. In a big way. This is probably a post of its own...
14. Study Farsi and learn a little more than food terms and good manners ;)
15. Send 15 hand-written cards/letters in the good, old-fashioned post
16. Visit some sort of farm (thinking maybe cherries) where I can pick my own fruit off the trees
   - Oddly, I did visit one (nearby a potential wedding venue), however, I forgot this was on my list and didn't pick anything! Shoot!
17. Watch the sun rise...honestly, I don't know the last time I saw one.
   - Have been up early enough to watch the sun rise three times already. I wouldn't say that it's a practice I like in general. ;)
18. Leave 10 anonymous "smiles" in 10 library books for future readers to find
19. Give five people one of my favorite books and tell them why I love it and why I hope they will too
20. Read at least 20 books in 2011
   1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

   2. The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

   3. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

   4. Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

   5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

   6. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

   7. Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi

   8. Bossypants by Tina Fey

   9. The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas

   10. Dead End Gene Pool by Wendy Burden

   11. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

   12. The Blind Contessa's New Machine by Carey Wallace

   13. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

   14. My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

   15. Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

   16. Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

   17.

   18.

   19.

   20.
21. Refurbish an old piece of furniture and turn it in to something beautiful
22. Take the hundreds of printed recipes I have, organize them and create a cookbook with my favorites
23. Go on a hot air balloon ride
   - Oh did I ever! See the post entitled "engaged." ;)
24. Watch every movie that has won the Oscar for Best Picture
   - This is definitely taking more time than I thought, but I've made a dent.
25. Find a new way to store and organize all of my books so that they don't succeed in their plan to take over our house.
26. Go horseback riding
   - Yup and soooo fun! Definitely would love to go again.

27. Redecorate our bedroom
28. Pay off any looming credit debts
   - Pretty good on this front though I just somehow managed to get myself a red light traffic ticket notice that was sent to an address I haven't lived at in 3 years! Thus accruing unnecessary fees. Ugh...I'm praying the photo evidence they are sending me will not be sufficient and I can somehow contest. Ridiculousness...
29. Go to the movies at a drive-in theater
30. Volunteer at least 50 hours in 2011
   - I need to count these up, but I am definitely much more than halfway there! I've volunteered on two school murals and continue to volunteer weekly at the elementary school with The Young Storytellers Foundation.

29 is turning out to be a pretty awesome year in life. :)

engaged!

Yup! I have myself my very own lovable fiancé. Wahoo! :)

People keep asking me for all the deets so I thought it was about time I write a little post about the momentous occasion since it was indeed fabulous.

The day's festivities started out groggily at 2:30am. Yes, you read that right. After going to bed around 1am, the sound of my alarm was not a welcome sound. I hurriedly got ready, barely notating the existence of my significant other due to the fog I was in.

At promptly 3am we were dressed and driving down the empty 405. Carmageddon shmarmageddon. At 4:45 we promptly parked in front of the Monte de Oro vineyard in Temecula and tried to rest until our 5:15 call time. At this point nothing was suspicious to me because Sash and I had been planning this balloon trip for a few months and had actually come to Temecula a month and a half earlier only to be sent home with a reschedule due to fog. After the disappointment of that trip, Sasha made it pretty clear that we were going up even if there was a snowstorm in July. Luckily the weather was perfect.

Prior to take-off, we hung around the balloons while they were being pumped up and our photographer for the day took lots of photos (still waiting to receive those, however). While I had been wanting to go up in a hot air balloon for a long time and had even made it part of my "30 before 30" list, when I glanced over at the basket we would be lifted in...not gonna lie...I was a little nervous. At one point I even leaned over and asked Sasha if he was feeling nervous and knowing what I know now, he managed to keep a look of pure calm on his face. He did confide in me later that he was definitely nervous, but for obviously different reasons than I!

Once we loaded into the basket with about 10 other people (yes, they can hold a lot of weight apparently, despite their flimsy appearance), I felt a bit more assured since our balloon operator told us he had been flying for about 30+ years. One of our fellow passengers even happened to be a retired balloon pilot. Score! A back up! ;)

What was most amazing to me was that you honestly don't even feel the balloon leave the ground. It's THAT smooth and slow. You literally ascend as calmly as a smaller balloon lifts into the sky when a child lets go of its string. It's so pleasant and beautiful.

One thing I will note is that the day started off extremely chilly. I mean, it was super early so that makes sense, but it did start to warm up a bit as we went up. Nothing extreme, but my teeth stopped chattering at least. That being said, once we went up I swiftly realized that Sasha and I were going to slowly fry to death. Being the tallest on board we were insanely close to the source of fire that heats up the interior of the balloon in order to change altitudes. It was hot. Like crazy hot. Sash took off his sweater and I rolled up my sleeves and tried to concentrate on the amazing scenery.

Since we were flying over Temecula, the views were really lovely. Vineyards galore. It couldn't have been more peaceful or beautiful.

  See what I mean? Not too shabby. :)

About 20 or so minutes into the flight the balloon operator said that he was going to turn the balloon a bit to give us different views. He did so and this is what we saw: 

Ok, so you might say to yourself - obvious, a proposal! Well, yes. However, let me remind you that there were approximately 20 balloons in the air simultaneously and I didn't want to be presumptuous. Can you imagine? Awkward!

So I...well...sort of pretended not to notice it. Ha! And then I looked and saw that Sasha was bent down in the tiny basket. I had two thoughts at that instant. 1) We were both really, really hot so I thought perhaps he was bending down to get away from the flames. In all fairness, they were right above his head. And 2) That it seemed very precarious to bend down in such a seemingly unstable basket suspended thousands of feet in the air. Let's not make this more dangerous than it has to be!

Obviously, neither was correct and the poor guy had to get up and down about three times before I caught on. It pretty much took stares from the other people and the ring box for me to realize that this whole display was for me. 

Luckily a recently engaged couple snapped a few shots of the whole thing as it happened and was nice enough to email us the pictures. They were crammed next to us when Sasha went down on one knee so I think they were pretty aware, smushed together as we were. 

So, of course I relieved him of his uncomfortable position and said a big, fat YES. And then, well, we went on with our ride. It was all and all completely amazing. :)

a temporary vegan, part 1

Part One: A Vegan Breakfast

As promised in my 30 before 30 list, I decided to try veganism for a week. Knowing the issues that could arise by cutting out all "fun food" essentially, I carefully chose a week where I knew I'd have limited events and thus decrease my chances of going out to eat, etc. I also chose to do it from Sunday through the following Saturday so that I had the Saturday before to prepare. That actually didn't even end up happening and instead we went grocery shopping Sunday afternoon (though we did make a late night shop on Saturday real quick to pick up a few things for the next day's first vegan breakfast) since I had sort of packed our Saturday full of fun adventures.

More on that later...

Sunday breakfast, my choice: vegan hash

The best part about this short foray into veggie-land was that I went into it overly prepared. I knew I'd be setting myself (and Sasha) up for failure if I didn't plan, so instead, I knew everything I wanted to buy to make this totally do-able.


On weekdays, Sasha makes breakfast in the mornings before he goes to work (unlike me who prefers a quick coffee and oatmeal or toast at my desk) so I knew we needed options there to make his life easy otherwise he'd quickly break down and out would come the milk and cream cheese. Sorry cows!

Sunday breakfast, Sash's choice: hash browns and vegan sausage

For breakfast then I made sure we had soy and almond milks in the house (we usually do anyway) for cereal, oatmeal was still totally a go-to option, swapped out the normal bread/bagels for Ezekiel bread, and skipped our normal choice of Greek yogurt for the soy and coconut versions. Oh and even though our creamer is non-dairy, I was still worried that it was somehow not vegan so I bought the soy option there too.

Verdict:
- Almond and Soy Milk: we are already fans of both though I will say I don't like almond milk in cereal. It's just too thick especially if you're used to non-fat or 1% like I am. However, it's a tasty beverage on occasion. Soy is preferable in cereal due to its thin consistency, but in my opinion when it comes to cookies, neither option soaks into a cookie when dipped quite like good ol' cow's milk. That being said, I don't eat a lot of cookies with milk so this experiment was purely circumstantial and I can easily do without regular milk.
- Ezekiel Bread: totally good and oh-so-much-better for you! It's a little different texture, but if you toast it you barely notice.
- Tofutti: I didn't eat this, but Sasha swears it's a pretty fair swap for cream cheese.
- Earth's Best: hey, it's margarine - totally fine.
- Vegan Sausage: I forget what brand we bought here. I will say that fake meat is fine, but I don't love it really and can easily just do without.

My work day breakfast: Ezekial bread toasted with raspberry rhubarb jam. Yum!

More on Vegan week soon!

take a little time to give thanks

One of my best buds ever, Emily, has a beautiful blog called 365 Days of Gratitude where she daily posts about what she's thankful for. It's an awesome idea and something we should all probably focus in on a little more rather than worrying about the negative. Anyway, she's started a new feature where she's having weekly guest posters write about what they are thankful for...and I'm her first! :)

Read my post on her blog here.

i am oh so thankful

For any excuse to have a 3 day weekend!!

I truly think the world would be a better place if we all just worked 4 day weeks and had 3 days off. I mean, doesn't that make perfect sense? Let's even out the playing field a little people and gift ourselves with a little more "living" time. Just a thought (a genius one).

But since I'm not the leader of the free world (yet) or self-employed (writing best-selling novels), I will just take them as they come and oh am I jumping right on this one. Can it please be 3pm on Friday?!

I am nothing if not impatient.

I usually try to make big plans whenever I have a long weekend, but I am so so so stoked to have very little on the agenda this time around. Aside from the inevitability of errands, I plan on taking a yoga class, going for a sunny hike, partaking in a mani/pedi with one of my favorite gals, doing a little shopping, going on a scenic horseback ride along some unfenced hills (help me) and maybe a little pool time if it ever heats up enough. Amidst all of these awesome shenanigans I fully intend to do a little writing and a lot of reading. Ooh, and maybe knock one of those Oscar films off my list too. Overall - perfection.

Hope you all have an amazing Memorial Day weekend and get some much needed (if you're anything like me) R&R!

where volunteering and my favorite hobbies collide

the two deer I painted in the mural

First thing's first. I have 5 more hours to add to my list of volunteering. Recently, in honor of Earth Day, I was able to participate in an awesome project organized through my company. We went to a local middle school where about half of the volunteers spent time planting trees and gardening and the other half worked on a mural on the school's wall with the help of a local artist. So much fun. Having planted trees for Volunteer Day before, I opted to paint since it's also one of my hobbies.

I will say, I was a little nervous I'd mess up since it was going to be a permanent fixture at this school, but the artist who drew out the general lines of the mural was awesome and gave great tips on the overall look that he had in mind. He drew the entire thing out as a tribute to local plants, animals and water sources in our area and then gave us some photographs as inspiration.

After working on a small section of sky, I was into it and decided to jump in further. I grabbed some paints and decided to tackle the nearby deer in the painting. Not going to lie, I love how they turned out! The artist actually sent me an email recently and told me that the section of mural where my deers are is the teachers' favorite and he said he may contact me in the future to help him out on future mural projects in the area. So awesome!

It was a lot of fun in general, combining some of my favorite things: art, nature and volunteering. Not to mention that it wasn't too shabby getting to spend half of the work day outdoors painting. :)

***

Continuing on with the volunteering trend - last night was The Big Show for my group of Young Storytellers (http://youngstorytellers.com). So so so much fun. It's always such a great experience seeing the kids we work with each week have their scripts come alive on stage by so many talented improv actors. Each script is SO different, which just goes to show that individuality starts early. It's such a nice break from my regular schedule to spend an hour each week with an awesome group of 4th graders. The stuff they come up with is nothing short of inspiring at times.

A cool thing for me was that my mentee from last semester and the one I currently have are best friends. This is just completely by chance since we are paired up at random, but it's pretty adorable. The boy I had last semester came and helped his friend (my mentee now) make his poster advertising his show and hung out with us before the event began. He stayed and cheered his buddy on and it was really cute.

past and present "mentees" working on show posters

Another thing that never ceases to amaze me though is how very, very different boys and girls already are at this age. I mean, these kids are only 10! The boys are writing about action and sports and monsters and wars...while the girls are writing about relationships and animals and school scenarios. Both fun and unique in their own way, but oh so very different. Not to mention that the girls show up on performance day in cute dresses with their hair brushed and the boys come looking like they just rolled around in the dirt. I made my kid wash up in the bathroom before I let him put grubby fingerprints on the freshly typed scripts I'd made. ;)

I oddly am always paired with a boy and since our selection process is randomized, this is just coincidence. I kind of love it though because it often alters how I think about things because I want their story to be their own. If I'm trying to help my kid work through an idea that he has, I definitely prompt him to go with his gut because my initial responses to his ideas are in no way similar to what he eventually comes up with. And that in itself is pretty awesome I think.

Case in point: the setting is a snowy day in LA.
- Brittney thinks this must be a major plot point, I mean, blizzards aren't standard practice around these parts and so that must mean something crazy is about to happen.
- For Justin on the other hand, it is plainly obvious that the snow is just setting and provides food for his main character...a snowplow.

If I had brought my own experiences and knowledge to the table, I would have influenced his story and by doing that, changed what turned out to be a sweet and humorous story. Granted, I will say I helped him add some conflict and solution to his script, but only by asking him questions that led to his eventual decisions as the author.

Anyway, point is, so fun to go out of your comfort zone every now and then.

You'll always be surprised what you can learn when you do.

even if you have nothing else to give, you can still give your time

A pic I took of one of my kids' scripts.

I've always been very passionate about volunteering. I love helping people of course, but there's something more than that. When you take a couple hours out of your day to do something for someone else, you're completely transported. I don't care what the project is. The feeling is the same.

For instance, I volunteer every semester for the Young Storytellers organization (check it out here: http://youngstorytellers.com). For that one hour, every Wednesday that I leave my job and go to an elementary school and work with a child, I don't think of myself or my responsibilities even once. What a gift. It's honestly rejuvenating. The program itself is awesome - I work with my "mentee" for about 7 weeks on a script of his/her choosing, work with the other mentors on teaching the whole group of 10 kids about storytelling and writing in general and then at the end of the program, we bring actors to their school who in turn act out all of the kids' screenplays. It's truly amazing to see their faces at the end when they see their imaginings come to life on the stage. I gain new insight on things just by being surrounded by kids, get to spread the love I have for reading and writing, and simultaneously I help a child realize his/her potential. How amazing is that? I love it and have been with the organization for 2 years now.

Which brings me to accounting for one of the things on my 30 before 30 list - at least 50 hours of volunteer work this year. Even though it's much more than the hours I'm going to allot myself here, I think for this session of YST, I'll say I get 10 hours of service. An hour a week, plus a few hours for "The Big Show" and not to mention the typing and editing of my kid's script at the end.

So for now, I'm 10 hours into my goal. Not too shabby and I have a bunch more projects in the works. Next week begins another so I'll keep you all posted!

In the meantime, get out there and volunteer! No matter what you choose to get involved in, you'll never be sorry you did. And, if you ever need help getting started or need an idea of what to do, feel free to ask me! I love this kind of thing so I'm more than happy to help.

One tip to get started: think of the things you like to do. Do you enjoy gardening or working outside, but live in an apartment and don't have a yard. Be good to yourself then while at the same time helping the environment. There are all sorts of tree-planting organizations out there (I know, I've done it before and it's awesome!) or maybe find a school that needs volunteers to help with their gardens. There are all sorts of projects out there for all kinds of people with all types of interests. Who ever said volunteering had to be all work and no play.

Have fun with it and be kind to your community. :)

and the best picture goes to...

...some pretty strange movies. Ha. I've seen a lot of these, but if I don't remember what it's about, I've decided not to count it. My I have a lot of movies to watch. Good thing I have Netflix!

• 2010 - "The King's Speech"
• 2009 - "The Hurt Locker"
• 2008 - "Slumdog Millionaire"
• 2007 - "No Country for Old Men"
• 2006 - "The Departed"
• 2005 - "Crash"
• 2004 - "Million Dollar Baby"
• 2003 - "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
• 2002 - "Chicago"
• 2001 - "A Beautiful Mind"
• 2000 - "Gladiator"
• 1999 - "American Beauty"
• 1998 - "Shakespeare in Love"
• 1997 - "Titanic"
• 1996 - "The English Patient"
• 1995 - "Braveheart"
• 1994 - "Forrest Gump"
• 1993 - "Schindler’s List"
• 1992 - "Unforgiven"
• 1991 - "The Silence of the Lambs"
• 1990 - "Dances With Wolves"
• 1989 - "Driving Miss Daisy"   watched on 4/23/11
• 1988 - "Rain Man"
• 1987 - "The Last Emperor"
• 1986 - "Platoon"
• 1985 - "Out of Africa"
• 1984 - "Amadeus"
• 1983 - "Terms of Endearment"

• 1982 - "Gandhi"
• 1981 - "Chariots of Fire"
• 1980 - "Ordinary People"
• 1979 - "Kramer vs. Kramer"
• 1978 - "The Deer Hunter"
• 1977 - "Annie Hall"
• 1976 - "Rocky"
• 1975 - "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest"
• 1974 - "The Godfather Part II"
• 1973 - "The Sting"
• 1972 - "The Godfather"
• 1971 - "The French Connection"
• 1970 - "Patton"
• 1969 - "Midnight Cowboy"
• 1968 - "Oliver!"
• 1967 - "In the Heat of the Night"
• 1966 - "A Man for All Seasons"
• 1965 - "The Sound of Music"
• 1964 - "My Fair Lady"
• 1963 - "Tom Jones"
• 1962 - "Lawrence of Arabia"
• 1961 - "West Side Story"
• 1960 - "The Apartment"
• 1959 - "Ben-Hur"
• 1958 - "Gigi" watched on 7/24
• 1957 - "The Bridge on the River Kwai"
• 1956 - "Around the World in 80 Days"
• 1955 - "Marty"

• 1954 - "On the Waterfront"
• 1953 - "From Here to Eternity"
• 1952 - "The Greatest Show on Earth"
• 1951 - "An American in Paris"
• 1950 - "All About Eve"
• 1949 - "All the Kings Men"
• 1948 - "Hamlet"
• 1947 - "Gentleman's Agreement"
• 1946 - "The Best Years of Our Lives"
• 1945 - "The Lost Weekend"
• 1944 - "Going My Way"
• 1943 - "Casablanca" watched on 5/14/11
• 1942 - "Mrs. Miniver"
• 1941 - "How Green Was My Valley"
• 1940 - "Rebecca"
• 1939 - "Gone with the Wind"
• 1938 - "You Can't Take It with You"
• 1937 - "The Life of Emile Zola"
• 1936 - "The Great Ziegfeld"
• 1935 - "Mutiny on the Bounty"
• 1934 - "It Happened One Night"
• 1932/1933 - "Cavalcade"
• 1931/1932 - "Grand Hotel"
• 1930/1931 - "Cimarron"
• 1929/1930 - "All Quiet on the Western Front"
• 1928/1929 - "The Broadway Melody"
• 1927/1928 - "Wings"

30 before 30

So yah...this whole blog writing thing isn't going as consecutively as I'd hoped. That being said, I've been doing a lot of "thinking" about writing (ha) and have some big plans. It's just that there is a lot of research involved and organizing to do. But hopefully this post will give me some purpose for stopping by this here blog more frequently while still giving me time to concentrate my efforts on some of the other projects I've already started as well.

Today marks 3 months since I turned 29. So that leaves me 9 months to accomplish what I am about to begin. I like a healthy challenge and I like to set big goals. Dream big friends. What I am about to propose for myself is a nice, long list of things that I want to do before I turn the big 3-0. I just want to look back and know that I made good use of my time. I know I have already, but there is definitely still room for improvement. So here goes...

1. Start taking an exercise class at least once a week
    - So far so good on the pilates front
2. Go on at least 2 hikes
    - I'm not much of a hiker, but there are a few beautiful spots I'd love to try out! Anyone wanna go? ;)
3. Cook at least 3 different recipes from 3 different cultures...ideas welcome!
4. Work on my writing at least 4 days per month
5. Try at least 5 foods I've never tried before
6. Successfully plant a variety of veggies in my vegetable garden and reap the "fruits" of my labor...
7. Go Vegan for one week
8. Eat at (at least) 10 new places in LA
9. Paint at least 2 paintings
10. Visit at least 10 new cities
11. Try acupuncture as a remedy for my allergies and acid reflux in hopes that I can ditch the pills
12. Learn how to more professionally use my camera in manual mode
13. Study my family's genealogy and learn more about my own personal history
14. Study Farsi and learn a little more than food terms and good manners ;)
15. Send 15 hand-written cards/letters in the good, old-fashioned post
16. Visit some sort of farm (thinking maybe cherries) where I can pick my own fruit off the trees
17. Watch the sun rise...honestly, I don't know the last time I saw one.
18. Leave 10 anonymous "smiles" in 10 library books for future readers to find
19. Give five people one of my favorite books and tell them why I love it and why I hope they will too
20. Read at least 20 books in 2011
21. Refurbish an old piece of furniture and turn it in to something beautiful
22. Take the hundreds of printed recipes I have, organize them and create a cookbook with my favorites
23. Go on a hot air balloon ride
24. Watch every movie that has won the Oscar for Best Picture
25. Find a new way to store and organize all of my books so that they don't succeed in their plan to take over our house.
26. Go horseback riding
27. Redecorate our bedroom
28. Pay off any looming credit debts
29. Go to the movies at a drive-in theater
30. Volunteer at least 50 hours in 2011

I'll document my progress as the year goes on and hopefully I'll be able to get all of the above completed by January 11, 2012!

i know, i know

It's been forever and a day since I last wrote. I have plenty of things stored up, pics to upload, all that jazz, but just haven't gotten around to it. Part of the problem is that I still need to install new software into my home computer and start uploading all of the pics from my new camera. I just haven't done that little step yet, so here are a few iphone photos as of late.

 

Went home for President's Day weekend and it was rather chilly. That being said, I didn't much mind. At least it felt like winter and had that dry, only-in-the-mountains kind of feel that I like. 

Then I came back to LA and it did this on Saturday:

What the 'f'? I was in the valley getting my hair cut (Sherman Oaks to be exact) and it began to pelt hail on my freshly coiffed head as soon as I left the salon. Granted, in my opinion this was better than rain because I didn't get wet, however, these little babies were the size of peas! This is my windshield as I sat in my car enjoying the sound of tiny rock-like ice pebbles smacking my windshield.

All in all, it's been a rather chilly few weeks especially when you're used to Southern California winters.

But hey, at least I'm getting use out of all of my jackets and boots. So let's call that a win.

truer words may never have been printed...

"Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the internet."
- Anonymous

Oh internet, you fickle friend.

bring your bird to work day

I don't have a kid. At least not yet (thank goodness), but I do have a bird and she's pretty fabulous.

Yesterday Sash had the day off so what did he do? He brought our little bird Cleo in for show-and-tell. Well, my version of office show-and-tell anyway. We had fun showing her off to my co-workers who hear of her crazy shenanigans all the time. Birds aren't quite as common as dogs and cats around these parts so most of them had never really played with one before. And Cleo is not just any old bird. She does some pretty entertaining stuff. We didn't let her get too crazy though. She just showed everyone her amazing talent at devouring apples, nesting in hair and, well, it has to be said...pooping.

Shoot, now the word "poop" is on my blog. Oh well, it was bound to happen at some point.

Not really, but it makes me feel better.

Anyway, let's just say, Cleo was happy to be the recipient of all of the attention.

I love my department. :)

Also, here's a sneak peak at an upcoming post. Let's just say it's the first of what I assume will be many baking exploits on this blog.

trash to treasure

Via SalemFadhley on Flickr

Some people are just so cool.

I love it when people turn otherwise ordinary or unattractive objects into beautiful things. It's recycling at its best. While perusing the web today, I stumbled upon a piece about an artist doing exactly that and personally, I think it's too creative not to share.

Though it does seem a little unsanitary. But that may just be me.

Either way, well done Ben and keep making the world a colorful place!

Ben Wilson's Chewing Gum Art

water, ducks and pavlovian response

I've come to realize that empty resolutions are easy to make and thus easy to break. Without a plan of attack they aren't much more substantial than dreams. Don't get me wrong. Dreams are crucial. They're what a happy life is made of in my opinion. However, if you don't think of a means in which to reach said goal, the prospect of reaching the prize seems less and less attainable over time.

Frustrating.

Now I'm not talking HUGE resolutions here. Sometimes it's most inspiring to start small. Give yourself that little taste of success. A boost if you will. What I'm trying to get at is...

I suck at drinking water. Seriously, I think my body has gotten proficient at running on a constant state of dehydration.

And it's not like I drink a bunch of sugary alternatives either! Nope. Nada. 8 ounces, 8 times a day sounds impossible to me most days. You'd think that with all of the benefits that water brings I'd learn. I mean, I've "tried" to be better before, but I can seriously have 3 containers of liquid sitting on my desk at all times giving me all of the options in the world and I will still somehow manage to ignore them unless thirst suddenly strikes.

But this ends now for I have a plan and it's working marvelously so far.

This is how it works.

I have set 8 alarms on my ever-faithful iPhone. Each one goes off on the hour from 10am to 5pm during the work day. I have set the alarm sound to an absolutely annoying duck quack and as soon as I hear the first tone, I know it's time to chug 8 ounces of water.

I hear you laughing. But my ridiculousness is also my gain! It TOTALLY works for me.

To measure my progress, I drink out of my clearly marked Nalgene bottle, which is 32oz. I'm drinking 2 Nalgenes a day people. This is serious.

I have also told my co-workers about said plan so that I am held accountable. If you know me, you know I don't like failure so this is a key component. ;)

So far so good. Hopefully I reep the benefits of hydration soon. My dry skin will be ever so grateful.

And if Pavlov is right, I might need to steer clear from ducks in the future... that or suffer from sudden-onset-thirst.