Oh Prius

Its truly amazing the amount of things you can fit into one tiny hybrid car. Every time we manage to squeeze another box or misshapen piece of furniture into Ryan's Prius, I give Ryan a wide eyed look of disbelief while he smiles and nods in smug satisfaction, as if he's known all along that the Prius was the magic hat of vehicles.

Tonight was spent in a frenzy of packing. There were ups and there were downs. I went from gleeful giggling as Ryan built a fort out of boxes for the cats, to sulking in the kitchen while I "toiled" away dumping out old food in the fridge. Quite the rollercoaster. On top of that, it's been a chorus of coughs in our household as we are both still recovering from colds. Somehow in the course of hacking up a lung, I managed to pull a muscle somewhere on the right side of my rib cage, making it quite painful when I cough...a vicious cycle indeed. Luckily, I've discovered that if I stretch my arms over my head while I cough, it eases the pain. In exchange, I look quite comical but I can live with that.

Lastly, I think the cats are suspicious that something is amiss.

Memo

Please note that Trader Joe paper bags are quite useful during a move. Also note that we have entirely too much misc kitchenware.

Curses

There's nothing like a trip to the dentist to make you feel like a failure...

Despite my best efforts these past six months, I have four cavities. Oh and let's not forget I need root canal. The root canal was old news since I've known it was necessary for half a year now. All this time, I've actively refused to chew on the left side of my mouth in hopes of delaying the inevitable (to all you who doubted my determination and willpower to not pay for an expensive, painful dental procedure, in your face!)

But the cavities, oh the cavities...I've switched to using a sonicare toothbrush, I've made my best attempt at flossing once a day (who the hell has the energy to actually accomplish this?), I've been rinsing with flouride, and I've even bought a crazy waterpik contraction (on recommendation of my friend Kim) to blast the plaque off my teeth. Has it all been for naught? The hygenist reassured me that my gums are much healthier than last time and after seeing my crestfallen face, the dentist was quick to point out that cavities take years to develop and show. Well, phooey on them and phooey on my teeth.

Spoke Too Soon

Sadly, I wasn't even able to make it through the first week of training. On Friday afternoon, a bizarre illness fell on me like a ton of bricks. Out of nowhere, I had a horrible sore throat and mild fever. I felt weak and achy all over. I suspect one of the interviewees from Thurs or Fri spread their disease to me through a friendly handshake, but that's pure speculation.

Unfortunately, my immune system was unable to pull any miracles out this weekend. At least today I was able to swallow, so I deluded myself into thinking I could run the 6 miles required for the long run. I trucked over to the gym at work (dragging Ryan along) and got on the treadmill. Who was I kidding? I felt ok until mile 2 and then realized I could barely breathe. Somehow I made it to mile 3 before I gave up. Tip: do not eat left over Pizza Hut pizza, bread sticks, and buffalo wings one hour before a run - especially especially not the buffalo wings.

I'm hoping a good night's sleep tonight and tomorrow night will fix whatever is wrong with me. I looked at the back of my throat in the mirror and it certainly looks bumpy, swollen, and all around disgusting. I plan to pop some vitamin C's and hope for the best.

On a side note, I finally finished reading Kavalier and Clay. While it was a great story, I won't deny that I didn't find it riveting. Something about the flow of the writing style invited my attention to wander. I'm too sick to describe it in any more depth so I'll leave it at that.

It has begun...

Training for the half marathon has officially begun this week. I'm following the FIRST training program on Runner's World which only requires that you run three times a week. My goal pace is 10 min miles. If I can actually run that during the race (esp up that heinous Torrey Pines hill) I will be so happy. On Tues I did intervals and today I did a 3 mile temp run at 9:30 pace. So far so good.

Daunting

Ugh. Pine cones take forever. I am NOT looking forward to finishing this drawing. And what is this bizarre shadow that my overheard light casts on my pictures? I may scrap this drawing altogether and start over in favor of something more...vaguely pine-cone-esque.

Shopaholic

It's funny how I can only hold out for about two months before I start internet shopping again. This past week, I've found myself going from casually checking a few sites, to actively searching for sales, to frantically googling particular items. Rather than buying girly things, I really should be focusing on buying home goods for our new digs. We're officially moving on the 29th and still haven't started packing. I am queen of procrastination...

Lazy Weekend

This pic of Henry exemplifies our weekend. Ryan and I spent as much time as possible relaxing and recovering from our colds. We shopped, went to dinner with Ryan's family, slept, and watched movies. Noteable movies that we watched were 3:10 To Yuma and the Lost Boys. Both were pretty entertaining. I can see how Lost Boys is a cult classic. Rather than running at the lake, I gave Ryan a mohawk, something he randomly decided he wanted to try again after ten years. I think it came out pretty well. I wonder how it's going to be perceived at work tomorrow...


On the knitting front, I've started a cardigan from the phildar catalogue I ordered. The Simply Marilyn sweater has been completed but needs to be blocked so I can't wear it yet. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to get some blocking pins this weekend.

Pears On Kitchen Floor

I'm finally getting around to posting the drawing we did in class on Tues, which turned out to be a lesson in perspective. The teacher had us draw a composition where he kept adding more and more pears to both the front and end of the line. I used pastels to experiment with color and am pretty pleased with the drawing overall. Perhaps one day it will be framed and hung on the kitchen wall.

On a side note, I was reading the horoscope section of The Onion this afternoon and almost choked on my tea on this one. Hilarious.

Aquarius January 20 - February 18
Artists from around the world would love nothing more than to paint your portrait, but that's mostly because your face presents a number of unique aesthetic challenges.

An Apple a Day

This week's homework: draw some fruit on a plate or bowl on top of some cloth. Spent about an hour on this guy.

Persian Beef and Celery Stew

To round out my super Sunday cooking extravaganza, I made a Persian beef and celery stew that Parisa taught me back when we were EV neighbors in NY. This stew has an interesting wonderful flavor from all the herbs, lime juice, and saffron. I usually serve over normal jasmine rice because I'm too lazy and intimidated to make fried saffron rice.

1 1/2 cup chopped onion
1-2 tsp tumeric
1 lb stew beef cubes
2 celery bunches, cut into 1 inch long sections
2 bunches parsley, chopped
2 bunches mint, chopped
4 limes
~1/8 tsp saffron

1) Saute onion and tumeric in oil for ~5 minutes. Add beef and brown completely.
2) Saute celery, parsley, and mint in oil for a couple of minutes. Add to beef and onions. (I usually omit this step and just add the veggies directly to beef).
3) Add water until barely covered. (I like to add less and add more as necessary). Add juice of 3 limes and throw some salt and pepper in.
4) Mix saffron in a few tablespoons of hot water to extract flavor. Let sit for a few minutes and then add to stew.
5) Bring to a boil and simmer 2.5 hours, or cook in pressure cooker for 20-25 min.
6) Add remaining lime juice and season to taste. Serve over rice.

Double-Caramel Turtle Cake

Ever since I bought the Best of Cooking Light book several years ago, I've been wanting to try the Double-Caramel Turtle Cake recipe. Today, I finally did it. Unfortunately, I didn't have any pecans on hand so this can't really be called a turtle cake. And I accidentally added too much milk to the frosting, making it too soft. Other than that, I'd say the cake successfully satisfied my Sunday afternoon sweet tooth. I'm unconvinced it's a keeper but at least I finally found out.

Here's a gratuitous picture of Fred staring off into space.

Tuna Olive Sandwich

For lunch, I made tuna sandwiches on french bread. The tuna salad had celery, red onion, olives, roasted red bell peppers, mayo, and lemon juice, seasoned with salt and pepper. It was simple, quick, and tasty. I'm not usually big on sandwich making but I'll try to add this one to the lunch rotation.

On a separate note, Ryan has been sick as a dog since returning from his NY trip. I, on the other hand, have been recovering from my cold nicely. The weather in SD is gorgeous (70's) so I'm thinking of dragging myself to Lake Miramar to run the loop. But first, must finish baking my turtle cake...

Back to the Needles

Yay, the yarn to finish my Simply Marilyn sweater shipped today!! Once I finish the collar, I'll block it and wear it EVERY DAY. Just kidding. Maybe every other day. I also got some yellow wool yarn to try a cardigan from a Phildar catalogue that I ordered. Hopefully the instructions won't be too difficult. Can't wait!

Drapery

For our last class, the teacher brought in a bed sheet and draped it against the wall. The main assignment was to shade in half the drawing with value 5 and draw the contours and shapes using the technics discussed so far. Then draw the second half in conte red but "draw the light" and "let the light come through". Er ok. Once the two halves have been built separately, erase the background and start blending the two into one cohesive drawing.

This assignment was really frustrating. No one understood what he meant about the "light" side and he kept giving vague hand waving descriptions of what he was looking for. I got so irritated that I accidentally ripped the paper while erasing the background. Oops. I guess once I step back and look at the whole, it's pretty interesting. In retrospect, I think I understand what he wanted but still...sometimes the man drives me insance.

Tree At Night

Last week's homework was to go out at night, quickly sketch a tree, and then finish the drawing at home. Since I couldn't bring myself to sit outside in the cold, I decided to take a picture of my neighbor's tree and upload it to my computer. Wouldn't you know at the exact second I'm outside in my PJs holding a camera up to a tree, a car comes up hill, shining it's headlights right in my face. I'm sure I looked like the biggest weirdo ever. Here's the end product of my embarassment. It was hastily drawn but hopefully is what the teacher wanted.

Puppy!!

Hongjoo's mom got a puppy. It is quite literally the cutest puppy in the world. Is this for real? Why must I be so far from this puppy? Time to move back to NY...