Beautiful Salads and Commitment to Relaxation

SALAD PRESENTATION: 10

It’s hard to complain at all when someone else is cooking dinner.  Especially when it’s an incredible salad, considering how bad I am at keeping a large amount of produce fresh all at the same time so I can actually make one of my own.

And then when it’s presented to me looking like this?  Seriously.  One spoiled girl.

TULIP BLOOMING: 8

I love tulips.  I find them to have a lot more personality than other flowers.  And when they open up to say hello?  Even better.

Only downside is that when they start blooming they also start drooping.  Which means they’re not going to last a whole lot longer

THIS DUDE’S COMMITMENT TO HIS JOB: 7

Could I have been laughing any harder when I saw this on the way home from the Tobacco Trail the other day?  On the way to start our bike ride we passed him standing up and commented that he looked about 12 years old.  On the way home, he had clearly had enough of walking around holding the Great Clips sign.  So he decided to just lay down on the sidewalk and prop it up.

Hesitate to give him above a 5, because I’m pretty sure his boss would not be pleased with this, but I hesitate to give him below a 5 since cars can still see the sign.  So normally this would be a 5, but the laugh it gave me and my parents is worth at least 2.

7!

MURPH’S HELP WITH MY EDITING: 8

Who doesn’t love a cuddle buddy when knocking out a little work?  This girl definitely does.  Especially if it’s a juggle whose name rhymes with Smurph.

That said, the actual ‘help’ he provided was minimal.  For such a smart dog, he doesn’t often put it to work outside of sneaking into cabinets and trash cans to overdose on food…

Plus the more deeply he fell asleep, the more weight he put onto my arm making it trickier to edit.  I also had to stop every 5 minutes to gush at how cute he was as he snored…

So in terms of productivity, it was no good.  In terms of a smiling heart, it was great

Coming up next is a full review of Full Steam, an awesome brewery in downtown Durham I’ve recently fallen in love with  Until then, just living for the tens!

Banana Peels and Dying Bugs

BRINGING THINGS IN FROM THE CAR: 9

So I finally decided to clean out my car.  Months of practically living in it left it beyond a mess.  I’d try to describe it, but I’d probably make you throw up in your mouth a little bit.  Let’s just start with dog hair everywhere, two dog crates, a large dog bed, trash, receipts, about 8 plates leftover from breakfast that I eat on my way to work, banana peels- you get the idea.  It had gotten out of control.  WAY out of control.

So I drove it over to the dumpster and just started throwing things away.  I unloaded the dog beds, washed the clothes, and cleaned the dishes.  While I have yet to do the deep cleaning (scrubbing, vacuuming, sanitizing), it still looks and feels INFINITELY better.

So today, for the first time in a couple of months, I took my trash with me when I got out at the end of the day.  While I find it somewhat annoying (don’t ask me why, I just really hate carrying more from the car to apt. than I absolutely have to), I felt so much better that I’m attempting to keep on top of the problem before it spirals out of control again.

At least for now

UNEXPECTED SURPRISES: 10

For everyone who works outside of a school, this week is Teacher Appreciation Week.  I remember seeing on Facebook last year one of my friends’ boyfriends sent her flowers to school to appreciate her.  I thought at the time “Wow- I’ve only heard of students giving gifts to teachers, but how sweet that he thought of her.”  Haven’t thought about it since, but I definitely did then.

Well yesterday I got a surprise visitor who brought me over a bouquet of tulips and a nice card in celebration of Teacher Appreciation.

Seriously.  What beats that?  Nothing.  Feeling lucky

CATCHING BUGS IN YOUR EYEBALLS: 0

Hit the Tobacco Trail for a beautiful afternoon run today.  Until a bug flew straight into my eyeball.  This is a 0 for many reasons.

1)  I don’t like killing animals.  I like it even less when they are dying on top of my eye.  If I rub to get him out, I squish his entire body.  If I leave him there, he probably drowns in my eye gunk.  And without a mirror, it’s nearly impossible to rescue him.  So then, I know he’s dead, and I have to continue running knowing that I’ve just buried an animal in my eye.

2)  Sometimes it hurts.  Today it was just irritating.

3)  It is incredibly distracting for the rest of the run.

Beautiful weather, bad finish.

MY ATTEMPT AT PHOTOGRAPHING THE BUG FOR HIS MEMORIAL: 4

You can’t actually see the little guy, so it’s definitely below a 5.  But it does make me laugh, giving it some value

Until next time, just living for the tens

Genius Bars & Cinqo de Meato

Look who I discovered wandering around my apartment complex this weekend…

BABY GOOSE: 9

ADORABLE.  Find me someone who doesn’t love a baby version of anything and I’ll call them crazy.

This little guy made my morning drive infinitely better on Friday.

-1 for my new nervousness that he’ll stumble into the road and get hit by one of the crazy drivers around here.

MAC GENIUS BAR: 8

Saturday was a day put aside for mad editing.  So of course, my hard drive decides to fail.  Before you get too upset for me, I should tell you they were able to recover all data, so all that was lost was about 3 hours of my day at the Mac store and a whole lot of editing time.  BUT, I purged my old hard drive of now unwanted things, and got a faster computer out of the deal

Had two pretty good experiences at the Genius Bar today, with some smart dudes who were able to save all my stuff, and get it covered under AppleCare (despite me admitting to 1) spilling beer on my computer a couple months ago and 2) pointing out the dents from the time I dropped it on my foot in February).  So the cost was ZERO dollars.

MAC FAREWELL: 10

Highlight of my Apple store visit?  One of the guys working there walked out of the back and every Apple employee in the entire store started clapping and cheering.  All the customers looked confused out of their minds, but the employees across the store (all 63 of them) were celebrating.

I looked at the guy helping me with a confused face, and he explained that it was this guy’s last day of work.

Seriously???  What an amazing company culture that this is what happens on someone’s last day.  As of recently I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to build a strong team culture, and think things like this are such great examples in the business world.  But, it leaves me wondering all the small things they do to build the culture where this kind of thing happens.

I’ll sleep on that one, but in the meantime this moment made my heart smile.

CINQO de MEATO 2012: 8

It’s hard to believe a vegan would rate a Meatfest as high as this, but give me a second and I can explain why.

+1 for Curtis (the host), who was kind enough to make a DELICIOUS vegan chili.  Luckily all the carnivores in the house left it pretty much alone, so I could devour 4 bowls.  Okay, I exaggerate.  Wait… not really.  It was THAT GOOD.  I’m almost tempted to take a point off for how much I ate, but I actually think I was just doing my part to save more animals.  That makes sense, right?

+1 for a house FULL of good people.  Seriously, there were like 80.  While I can’t vouch for every last one of them being good people all the ones I talked to were  Entertaining, smart, and downright attractive (see below if you don’t believe me).

+1 for good beer.  I can take partial credit for this one since I brought Big Boss Hell’s Belle (a new favorite) and exclusively drank that.  But after the day I had, I deserved it.  DE.LISH.

-1 for the amount of animals killed in ‘celebration’, and -1 for the rain  There were so many people stuck inside, when any BBQ (or meatfest) is made better with a little corn hole and outdoor activity.  It only motivated me to host a get-together at my place SOON!

All in all, a pretty great weekend  Until next time, just living for the tens!

Conehead & Bathroom Etiquette

DAKOTA’S BATHROOM ETIQUETTE:  2

You’d think it would take more than two days back to begin blogging about the pup’s bowel movements.  No sir.  Not here on Rate Your World.  Just keepin’ it real friends.

In his old age, Dakota is definitely having trouble controlling his poop.  Some days he won’t poop for over 24 hours, others he can’t help but poop inside (at least I choose to believe he can’t help it, since he’s usually the best behaved dog ever).

On this morning’s walk we hit a new low.  As we walked outside this morning, I spotted a neighbor dog heading our way.  Considering how much Dakota still hates other dogs, we immediately turned the other direction.  We then walked down the long hall outside my apartment, and apparently he just couldn’t hold it.  He started pooping as I dragged him down the hallway to escape the other dog.  As soon as we made it to the other side I waited for the other dog to go inside, returned to pick up his poop, just to find him peeing all over the walkway.  Couldn’t wait 30 seconds until we hit the grass.  That or he wanted to make it very clear to all the other dogs in the apartment complex that this hallway is HIS.

Geez oh pete.  It was quite the morning walk.  The good news?  He didn’t poop on anyone’s porch, their belongings, or inside my apartment.  He definitely earns +2 for that.

CONEHEAD MURPH: 1

I have no idea what instigates it, but every once in a while something happens to one of Murph’s paws, and he just can’t leave it alone.  He licks and licks and licks until the pad on his foot has come off, he bleeds all over my apartment, and is forced to limp around on 3 legs.  The only solution?  Bringing out the trusty conehead.

Boy does it make my heart hurt and laugh at the same time.  And sadly it often lasts for 1-2 weeks before he finally gives up on trying to tear it off long enough to let the paw heal.  It’s gonna be a looooong 2 weeks if he keeps this up.

Below 5 because of how much I pity the little guy, but definitely +1 for entertainment value.  Especially when it snows out and it becomes his own little shovel.

FINDING THE PERFECT SONG FOR A WEDDING VIDEO: 8

I really believe the musical soundtrack of any video, but especially a wedding video, makes it or breaks it.  Just try watching any of these videos without sound and you’ll see exactly what I mean.  And because of my love of music, I actually LOVE this part of the editing process.  However, the more videos I edit, the more I realize I need to widen my collection of both artists and songs that can be used.  Eventually I’m going to run out, AND the more I have the easier it will be to find the perfect song for each couple/video.  Feel free to pass along any suggestions of artists OR songs in the comments.

In the meantime, one of my most recent videos which I think has the perfect song match

Franklin Street & Never Ending Climbs

Let’s be honest.  It’s hard not to let our personal lives affect our professional lives.  These past couple weeks have been a great reminder of that, and have done a lot for my sympathy in understanding what both colleagues and students bring in to school with them every day.  Even harder is not being able to acknowledge the reality of a personal life while at work.

So you can imagine my surprise and appreciation when a colleague left a nice note on my desk this morning and a container of vegan ice cream in the staff room freezer waiting for me.

SURPRISE ICE CREAM TREAT: 10

Seriously.  I always see it at Food Lion and Trader Joes, but always resist the urge to buy it.  Today, the choice wasn’t mine.  Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!  I made the smart move of leaving it at school, having enough self awareness to know what would happen to it if I brought it home.  A couple spoonfuls here and there might be the best solution ever to a long week

MURPH’S LOVE OF THE NC HEAT: 2

I always forget how much the Smurph dog hates the NC summers until the warm weather really starts to hit.  While in the Spring, Winter or Fall he’s dying for a longer walk, as soon as the heat kicks in he’s begging to head back home.  Literally.  He puts on the brakes and refuses to go any further.  After I explain to him rationally that he’ll be just fine, and that he needs the extra exercise to burn off the trash he devoured that day, I can often coerce him.  But it is never easy.  Tonight was no exception.

After a walk with Murph, I headed to the CHCC for a Tuesday evening climb.  Arrived a bit late, but still got some nice climbs in with Paul.  Until we hit this route, however.

JOHN’S URGENCY ON THE ROPES AT THE CHCC: 3

I suppose you have the right to take your time.  But I’m also pretty sure there’s a sign on the wall encouraging urgency for the sake of cutting down on lines.  After waiting for over 10 minutes, we decided this was definitely ratable.  While not a rating of John, or his climbing (as he is still very much loved by us), it is a rating of the seemingly endless wait to finally get on the wall.  But if I’m being honest with myself here, maybe the real rating should be:

PAUL & MY CHOICE OF ROUTE: 3

I suppose at the end of the day it wasn’t really John’s fault, but instead ours for choosing to wait in line behind the SLOWEST CLIMBING PAIR EVER.  Okay, I exaggerate.  But when the lines are long, your partner is hungry and trying to peace out early, every second counts.

Following another climb or two we headed out to Tyler’s for dinner and then the Orange County Social Club for some celebratory beers, as a friend’s new album was just released.

DRIVING DOWN FRANKLIN STREET ON A WARM NIGHT WITH THE WINDOWS DOWN LISTENING TO JOE PURDY: 10

Seriously.  Heart smiling and loving life, there’s something about Joe Purdy that goes BEAUTIFULLY with a nice drive down Franklin Street.  Especially when it’s 80 degrees out and smells like summer.

Making it even more exciting?  Realizing that in a matter of two weeks all the undergrads will be gone and it will officially be CAROLINA SUMMER TIME!  I can’t wait

Overall, a great evening.  Stay tuned for the rating of Tripp’s newest album!

Until then, just living for the tens!

Chinese Delivery and Bouquets of Flowers

It’s starting to feel like summer here in NC.  Not spring- that was so two months ago.  But now that it’s actually spring, it’s starting to feel like summer!

WEATHER FORECAST WITH A WEEK FULL OF 90′s: 8

After last week’s batch of cold weather (and the return of my fleece jackets and constant goosebumps), it is very exciting to see 90′s in the forecast.  My tan from Mexico is rapidly fading, and a weekend lounging by the pool might be just what this girl needs.

However, it also means 100 degree days are right around the corner, and it’s almost time to bid my jeans a permanent farewell for 4 months.  That and give up on ever blow-drying my hair.  -1 for each.

CHINESE DELIVERY: 8

Chinese delivery is something that soothes my soul for many reasons.  Growing up, it was always a special treat when the parents decided it was a Chinese night.  Rarely did we do delivery then though- we’d always drive with my dad to go pick it up.

In college I discovered the beauty of Chinese delivery.  Any delivery really.  If I could call and have it at my door (or the front desk) in less than 30 minutes I was a happy camper.  I distinctly recall Sundays where we would pride ourselves on not leaving the dorm all day.  That and a week in 2003 when we were hit with a serious snow storm and the only source of food was the incredibly brave Chinese delivery man who figured the risk of driving on the treacherous roads was worth it for the massive amounts of money he could make off college students.  And boy did he.  I think I had to take a month long break from Chinese food after that blizzard.

Either way, these are some of the reasons I have such fond memories of Chinese delivery.  So tonight Bill and I decided it was the night to revisit the amazing Chinese food.  That along witha  six-pack of delicious summer beer.  Pretty sure life doesn’t get any better than this.

Until you find out the Chinese delivery restaurant is closed on Mondays.  And the other 9 1/2 around you don’t deliver.  So drive to pick it up we did.

Still delicious.  Still satisfying.  -2 for the lack of delivery options in this area.

FORTUNE COOKIE FORTUNES

I’ve complained about this for years.  If you’re my friend, or former student, you know how irritated I get with the ‘growth’ of the fortunes in fortune cookies over the past 10 years.  FORTUNE cookie insinuates that inside I will find a fortune, or something predicting my future.

Yet in the past couple years I find these fortunes to be more advice than fortunes.  I’m curious what goes on in the minds of the fortune cookie creators.  How they interpret these as fortunes is beyond me.  BEYOND. ME.

MINE: 0

Not a fortune AT ALL.  And not even all that clever.  In fact, I’m annoyed.

BILL’S: 3

While still not a fortune (we’re 0 for 2 here friends), at least it’s advice.  And it made Bill laugh.  I’ll give it 3 points for that.

UNEXPECTED FLOWERS: 10

In the background of my fortune picture you can see a beautiful bouquet of birthday flowers.  I don’t care what any girl (or person) tells you.  Unexpected flowers make you feel special and loved.  Even if they’re unnecessary, a waste of money, or whatever other excuse someone gives- everybody likes to feel special and loved.

Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law for this birthday bouquet

Until next time, just living for the tens!

Back At It!

It’s not Bringing It Back Week.

It’s not the start of a new year (calendar or school).

There’s no real good reason to re-start Rate Your World other than it feels like the right thing to do.

I look back on the past couple of years, and while there have been MANY good times in all of them, I seemed to appreciate my happiness the most when I was blogging.  This is for several reasons:

1.  I like to write.

2.  I like/need to process with others.  I reflect and think more clearly on my life when I’m able to talk about it/write about it.  This blog gave me the space to do that, and for it to be a conversation with those that I care about.

3.  Anytime you sit down to rate what’s going on, you realize how much you have to be grateful for.  And the areas for improvement.  In fact, that was the original reason we started Rate Your World way back in 2008.

So friends, after a tough week and a new start in one area of my life, now is the right time.  The right time for another adventure with Rate Your World.  I hope you’ll join me

And until the next post, I’m just living for the tens!

TSP and Two Lazy Pups

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOP SECRET PROJECT #1 (of 2011 at least): 10

Thanks to an old friend who randomly introduced us over e-mail, I’ve recently become involved with what I can only (at this time) call Top Secret Project #1 of this year.  Getting to think about all the components of a dream school, put them together in writing, and hopefully get them approved by the state, possibly leading to the opening of a new school as soon as 2012 is exciting to say the least.  I am lucky, excited and honored to have been included in the project.  This morning was another great morning of work with amazing people

INTELLECTUAL CONVERSATION AT COFFEE SHOPS: 8

Remember the good old days when you could sit around at a coffee shop for hours with college friends and spout intellectual theory and discuss the way the world should work?  Dropping big, academic words left and right to impress others, win the debate, or just convince yourself that your education really was worth the $40,000/year?

Yeah, the good old days.  I do miss those conversations (minus the pretention and big words that I preferred to substitute with smaller, easier to pronounce and understand words), but I don’t miss the kids in my classes who did this ALL THE TIME, about everything.  In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s what drove me away from academics (higher-level anyways), and from DC.  There’s a nice balance between the world of academia and the world of application.

BUT, that said, taking a trip down memory lane this morning was fun  One of the teachers I mentored this summer wrote me asking if she could pick my brain about feminism and teaching, as she’s currently working on her Women and Gender studies capstone, and also a NC Teaching Fellow.  I happily agreed, as she was one of my favorite teachers (shhh… we don’t really have favorites), and I love thinking about these things.  Turned out to be an amazing addition to the morning, as it reminded me that sometimes I can get too bogged down in actionable conversations and tangible takeaways, and no longer seek out the bigger picture, theory conversations that I did used to love.

She also enlightened me with her e-mail organization, the one compartment of my life I have yet to master in terms of organization (not counting my car…).  Check out the product a short two hours later:

MY NEW, IMPROVED & ORGANIZED G-MAIL INBOX: 8

Add in some intense labeling (color-coded of course), a three-tier starring system, and multiple inboxes, and I’m ready to take over the world.  The real test will be if it stands up over time, so I’ll revisit this rating in a week or two.

After this motivating coffee date, and the reclaiming of my inbox, I headed home to see this:

 

 

 

THE LAZINESS OF MY PUPS: 9

While it does make me jealous at times (-1), overall I’ll take this over THIS any day.  Thank you Murphy for growing up, and Kota for being so darn cute.  And for cleaning out my empty peanut butter jars with your giant tongue.  The recycling people thank you.

That’s all for now folks.  Until next time, just living for the tens

Why, hello fall!

Welcome to the best four months of the year.  Seriously, I’m not kidding.  Let me explain…

September: As this week proved, September is when the air starts to get a little cooler in the mornings, and night time walks with the pups require a hoodie or a fleece.  Absolute best feeling ever.  Football season has officially begun, including tailgating.  You have an excuse to do back-to-school shopping, and Hound Ears is less than a month away.

October: Now fall is in full swing, pumpkin flavored lattes, cakes, muffins, ice cream and even pancakes.  It’s everywhere, and you will never find this girl complaining about that.  You get to start brainstorming Halloween costume ideas, scouring thrift stores, and hosting pumpkin carving parties. Add in a corn maze and the North Carolina State Fair, and you’re as close to a 10 as a month can get.  Plus, it’s now officially okay to start listening to Christmas music.  Don’t even bother commenting on that one.  No one will ever convince me otherwise.

November: Halloween may be over, but the pumpkin foods are not.  Now we’re getting excited for a much needed Thanksgiving break, and a trip to the mountains.  It’s officially cold and I can start wearing my favorite hats and scarves.  Christmas music is now popping up on the radio and in malls…

December: Rejuvenated from Thanksgiving break, you’re now ready to attack the holiday season full force.  Christmas shopping, apartment decorating, holiday parties and visits with Santa at the mall.  Pumpkin is still available most places, in addition to some delicious gingerbread options.  Add in a nice 1-2 week break, and I’m loving life.  A lot.

So when it got cool this week and I got to really think about the season we were approaching I realized it was time to share a little of this joy with others.  Thankfully Jill was in town from DC, so we got a chance to start the celebrating.  Including our first high school football game of the season…

SATURDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL GAME:  7

Despite the sky spitting on us all day, and throughout the night, I’m pretty grateful KIPP was playing locally.  Gave me an excuse to throw on a hoodie, brave the rain, see some of my favorite students, and witness a huge win for the Panthers!  -3 for the rain (meaning we couldn’t sit down, my toes got pretty wet, and my body took about 2 hours to get rid of my goosebumps).

KIPP CHEERING SECTION: 9

HIGHLY entertaining.  Not always the friendliest of comments (hence the -1), but I loved how disproportionate our vocal presence was to our physical presence

PUMPKIN SPICED LATTES: 9

Yup, after diving in on Thursday I’m worried the seasonal addiction has begun again.  Loved every second of this guy.

Still not over the price

After some afternoon shopping at Southpoint, Jill and I headed to Cheesecake Factory for lunch.

JILL’S ABILITY TO HANDLE THE LARGE, BOOK-LIKE MENU: 2

20 minutes later she was ready to order.

MUSHROOM LETTUCE WRAP @ CHEESECAKE FACTORY: 9

I’m loving several of their vegan menu items, and decided to go with their Mushroom Lettuce Wrap.  Sauteed mushrooms with crunchy rice-like noodle guys, and giant pieces of lettuce to wrap it up in.  Seriously delicious!  And only $5.95.  Meaning I left Cheesecake Factory paying a total of $8.  Unheard of.  Even at the food court.

Was hungry a couple hours later, so not the most filling meal, but still worth it

After some serious Felicity marathon watching, and a visit to City Bev with great people, we headed out to the mountains.

HANGING ROCK HIKE: 7

I’ve heard a lot about Hanging Rock, and since visiting Blacksburg more recently I drive by the sign on the way there and the way back.  So this weekend was the time to check it out.

2 hours later we arrived.  A bit deceiving, as it was easily 30 minutes off of the highway where I thought it was going to be.  -1.

When we arrived we were presented with several options for hikes.  We went with the classic ‘Hanging Rock’ hike, a total of 3 miles round trip.  Rated ‘Moderate’, I would say that was a bit of an overstatement.  ’Light Moderate’ would be more accurate.  There were some steep portions, but it was pretty short and not very rigorous.

This is great for an afternoon stroll, but I like to earn my views.  I also like to avoid loud children.  Especially when there are a lot.  And the more strenuous the hike, the less loud children.  And people in general.  -1.

That said, boy were the views amazing.  For an hour hike up, we were definitely rewarded with some of the best views I’ve seen since Maine last month.

Now I know you’re wondering about the last point.  See the ledge we’re sitting on right there?  Yeah, it’s a straight drop down.  Which not only makes me nervous for myself (which it does), but also for all those people I mentioned earlier.  Especially the kids.  NERVOUS. WRECK.   -1.

HIKING WITH MURPH: 6

I love how much Murph likes to hike.  I love how tired he is after a long day of hiking (as I type, he’s sleeping next to me quietly).  And one of the reasons I wanted a dog in the first place was to take him hiking.

However, what I didn’t have in mind was him dragging me up mountains.  And then down again.

I swear I use twice as much muscle on every hike just pulling the opposite direction of him so I don’t tip over.  Case in point:

Don’t worry.  We made up once we got to the top.

Until we started hiking down, that is.

Once we finished we still had plenty of day in front of us, so we drove home (and by ‘we’ I mean ‘I’, while Jill slept like a baby in the passenger seat and Murph napped peacefully in his bed in the back of the car) and headed to the Tobacco Trail.  My new apartment complex offers free bike rentals and I’ve been meaning to try them out.  After handing over a check for $350 (which I got back as soon as the bike did) we were on the road again.

TOBACCO ROAD BIKE RIDE: 10

I love biking.  And you can’t beat a nice paved road with minimal hills, and good company.  I love biking with music, but I like biking with conversation even more.  Plus the temperature was PERFECT.  Long-sleeved shirt, no sweat, a nice fall breeze, and occasional whiffs of burning wood.

What a great way to end the day

Until next time, just living for the tens!

First Pumpkin Spiced Latte of the Season…

9.

So very, very close to a 10, but I find it hard to give any drink a 10 that costs over $5.  And that it did.

But once I forked over the money, that wasn’t going to stand in the way of my enjoyment of my first Pumpkin Spiced Latte of the season.  Add in the fact that the high tomorrow is 62, and you’ve got one happy, fall-loving girl.

HECK YES.