Thursday, September 28, 2006

No brain power = no title

Ugh... school has been so stressful this week and I haven't been sleeping well. I feel like I've been steamrolled.

But we're going away for the weekend to pre-celebrate our anniversary - more on this later!

p.s. This had me cracking up in the car yesterday

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Influence

I really loved this post and, after re-reading it, realized how much it influenced my own thoughts (and photos) this past weekend. So I figured I should pass it along!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Small but significant accomplishments

R. was away for the weekend, and I managed to be fairly productive:

Got outside for a while



































Organized my spice rack















Ahhhh... so glad that is taken care of. I think I first saw it here.

I also cooked quite a bit: I made the sausages with sherry caramel glazed pears from the September 2006 issue of Gourmet. It was so good and not all that difficult to make (except for
carmelizing the sugar, which always freaks me out just a bit. I always imagine it splattering out of the pan onto my face and arms).















Too bad I ate it with bread and a glass of wine before I could get a picture.

Other accomplishments that are luckily for you not pictured:

Unibrow maintenance
Curtain fumigation
Dustball extermination

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Monday, September 18, 2006

Italy 2006

















We were in Italy this past June for a belated honeymoon. Three weeks gave us enough time to see quite a bit: Venice, Milan, the cinque terre, Siena, Sorrento, and Rome.

People watching was encouraged: at a table for two both chairs face outward so everyone can enjoy the scene. I did a lot of this.

The trip wasn't always easy. Our italian was shaky at best, there were well-dressed pickpockets on many of the ferries, and the heat was unbearable at times (next time we'll go in the fall). There were American tourists everywhere, and it was obvious that many locals merely tolerated our presence during the summer months.

But in retrospect I loved the fact that I left my comfort zone behind for a short while. It was good for me to strike up conversations with strangers, to eat whatever appeared on my plate and to think (a lot) about why Europeans feel the way they do about Americans and the US.

We don't have any other major trips planned at the moment, other than possibly CA next May. I'm thinking we might be able to do Europe again once I finish school in a few years. Maybe Amsterdam?

Sunday, September 17, 2006

New addition

Right after I finished undergrad, my parents helped me buy a 1994 Honda Accord, which R and I then drove from PA to CA. It has taken part in many adventures since, and part of me is sad to see it go. Plus it became such a piece of crap that it didn't matter if I scratched the bumper, if we parked it in an unsavory part of town, or if we used it for dirty camping trips. At first it was funny when it began to stall whenever I came to a stop sign, when the gas guage stopped working, when the driver's side key only worked if you had the magic touch. But finally it really started to fall apart:

That would be a vise grip standing in for the window handle.

Meet our new "SportWagon":

Away for the day

R. and I ignored our enormous pile of dirty laundry for yet another day and headed down to Cape May and Greenwich, NJ:






Friday, September 15, 2006

By way of introduction

Things I love
My super cute husband
Dark chocolate in any form
Fall
Sewing
Cooking
Homemade chai tea
Amelie
John Irving novels
Bread pudding
A rainy Saturday with nothing to do but lay around and read
Research/school (usually)

Things I love but shouldn't
Reading trashy tabloid type magazines
People.com
Eating out instead of making dinner
Bacon

Things I want to love but can't
Dogs
Exercise
Tofu
Bell peppers
Wearing heels
Moby Dick
Public speaking

Things I don't particularly love
When someone reads over my shoulder
Disorganization
Passive aggressiveness
Being rushed
When people drive in front of me when I have the right of way