Afternoon Runs…

Slept straight through my 5:45am alarm this morning, which was supposed to lead to a nice morning jog.  After making the decision last night to sign up for the Jingle Bell 10K in December (and immediately label the next three months of my calendar with my training plan… obsessive planner?  Perhaps.)

This of course leads me to then think about where I’m going to fit my workout into my otherwise super busy day (and by super busy, I mean finding as many ways to avoid work as possible… turns out I’m just not the ‘sit at a computer all day and do work’ kinda girl).  Luckily I got an email from my MIA roommate asking if I was up for a 3pm run.

YES!  An excuse to get in my workout AND see another human.  Perfect.

DRINKING A LOT OF COFFEE BEFORE GOING: 2

Since the plan was unexpected, my 2pm ‘stay awake so I can actually get some work done’ coffee was unfortunately timed.  Had to go to the bathroom 5 minutes into our run.  Luckily the American Tobacco Trail is relatively uncrowded during the day, and I had a running partner, aka lookout.  Behind a tree I went.

NOAH’S LOOKOUT ABILITY:  2.5

Unfortunately, my running partner was not a very good lookout.  I walk out of the woods to see him way off in the distance, running the other direction.  Not only did he leave me behind, but had he seen someone coming (and there were 2 on their way towards me), there was no way to notify me.  When I rated him a 3 he began arguing the rating, so I bumped it down .5.

In his defense, maybe he didn’t know what it meant to be a lookout?

RUNNING IN 96 DEGREE WEATHER: 4

Glad I did it now.  Wanted to die then.

Will be waiting until sunset in the future.  Or fall.  It’s almost here, right?

RECOVERY SMOOTHIE: 10

Noah was going to attempt to make it, but, like most meals at our apartment, he realized within 3 minutes it would probably be better if he just let me do it.  So I did.

And he was right.

AMAZING.

Noah says ‘I would give it a 9.  A swirly straw would have been nice… something a little festive, you know?’  Fair enough.

TODAY’S CAMERA MASTERY:  5

One of the many ways I attempted to avoid work today was getting a little bit better with my Nikon D40.  Thought I was doing just great until 3 hours later I decided to check my understanding with the smoothie pictures.  Clearly I couldn’t remember most of what I had learned… will need to remediate immediately.

Until next time, just living for the tens

Hawaii’s Over the Hill…

It feels like it’s been a while since the framily got together (not counting the trip to Maine Paul, Ben & I just got back from- more on that later), so I was left with no option but to host a little get together this weekend.

Clearly it was only appropriate the theme was a Hawaiian Luau, considering that Sunday was the 52^nd anniversary of their statehood.  Chuquin and I headed out that afternoon and did our best to find some things to spice up the apartment.  I’d say we did pretty well…

 

Only things missing were grass skirts and coconut bras…

HAWAIIAN LEIS:  7

Finding great leis was a bit harder than anticipated, however.  I knew immediately where to head, as I’ve hit up Party City for leis in the past (surprisingly effective classroom incentive for my 11^th graders).   But I did not anticipate quite how expensive they’d be… $2 a pop for the average ones, and $3-$4 for the super colorful, thick and flowery ones.  I fell in love immediately with a bright yellow one, but forced myself to put it back when I realized I couldn’t afford one for everyone.  Bad taste for the hostess to sport a high-end lei while handing out the skimpy ones.

Ultimately we went with lei headbands, as they were two for $1, so I could purchase enough for everyone.  I added in a couple colorful smaller neck leis as well, and I’d say the combo did the trick.  That said, if money were no option we would have scored some awesome fluorescent ones.

 

ROSEMARY PINEAPPLE PIZZA: 10

I haven’t been this ecstatic about a new food option since Friday.  We picked up a bunch of stuff at Trader Joe’s in the morning, and after playing some beach volleyball out back decided to throw it all together.  We did pretty well, ending up with guacamole (it’s so good any country/state would be lucky to have it as part of their cuisine), fruit salsa, homemade tortilla chips, and lastly this delicious pizza.

I can’t claim any credit, as it was entirely Chuquin, but please allow me to gush for a minute.  It started with the $1.09 whole wheat dough from Trader Joes, covered with an olive oil/rosemary/Italian season blend, then topped with cut up pineapple (okay, I’ll take credit for this), and some mozerella soy cheese.  Yup, that’s right.  SOY CHEESE.  Those non-believers have never tried this brand, on this pizza.  LIFE CHANGING.  And I’d say that almost everyone who tried it would agree.

Couldn’t resist, and made a quesidilla tonight with the leftovers.  Almost as good, but not quite.

HAWAII’S VEGAN FRIENDLINESS: 2

While pineapple is certainly vegan, virtually every recipe we found online was not.  Hence why guacamole became Hawaiian due to my ability to make/change the house rules.

THE FRAMILY’S VEGAN FRIENDLINESS: 9

While I hate to be a pain to those who haven’t chosen a vegan lifestyle, I’m constantly debating with myself whether or not I can ask others to do their best to bring vegan foods while I’m hosting.  While the cheeses and eggs don’t bother me much, I must admit I really am not a fan of tons of meat parading in whenever I host dinners.  Last night had to have been the most vegan friendly dinner we’ve had, with the only exception being a little tuna.  And what’s more Hawaiian than tuna???  Exceptions can sometimes be happily made

Check out my plate full of delicious veganness…

MURPH & KOTA’S PARTY PARTICIPATION: 9

There was no hulaing, but they certainly looked good… the headband leis fit their necks perfectly J  In fact, they’re still wearing them today…

 

 

All in all another successful framily dinner.  The framily is constantly growing and changing, and it was great to have a whole bunch of new folks join.  Thanks Jill, Steve, Dan, Amanda, Jordan, Emily, Chris, Mauro & Chuquin!

 

Until next time, just living for the tens

Bringing It Back…

Alright, I know everyone has been counting down the days to Bringing It Back Week (2010, 2009), but don’t get too excited yet.  We’ve got another month or so until the official event, but I figured bringing the blog back might be a great start.

Back in Durham for good, I felt something was missing from my life.  I’ve been reminded by several people that the something missing might just be Rate Your World.  Let’s try it out to see if that solves the problem.

YARN‘S PERFORMANCE AT ‘HE’S NOT’: 7.5

This summer I went to a Bluegrass music festival in Floyd, VA for the first time (Floyd Fest).  I think there will need to be some flashback ratings of this life changing event sometime in the near future… in the meantime, all you need to know is that I discovered several new amazing bands, one of which is called Yarn.

I saw their midnight show on Saturday night where they played all Grateful Dead covers (and considering I’ve never listened to the Dead, it was all new music to me ).  The next day I checked out their afternoon show where they played all of their own music, and  I fell even more in love.  Came home with a CD, and have listened to nothing else for the month since.

You think I’m kidding.  Please believe me when I tell you it plays in my car, on my stereo at home, before I go to bed, in my iPod at the pool, and pretty much the entire road trip up to Maine.  Yes, I’ve listened to almost nothing else since.

Is it obvious that I love their music?

While I forgot a camera, here’s a quick look at their music… but beware, it’s addicting.  Pretty soon you might be typing the same story I just told.

So I would like you to picture the excited face I made when I found they were playing in Chapel Hill this week.  An outdoor performance at ‘He’s Not Here’.  I was excited about the outdoor part, not quite as much about the ‘He’s Not’ part.

We’ve had some good times there in the past (see one of the original Rate Your World post for evidence), but it’s a classic college bar, the week that students are returning for classes.  I was pleased to see that at 9:30 the crowd was a bit older.  (What is happening to me that an older crowd excites me???)

The music was great.  The company was excellent.  The weather was AMAZING.  Chuquin, who introduced me to the band at Floyd Fest, was in town, which made it even better.  Couple small deductions, however…

-1: There were intense amounts of jam sessions.  I realize many people like this.  And I do appreciate that you hear things that aren’t on their album, making the live performance a bit different than the recorded performance.  However, Blake (the lead singer)’s voice is amazing.  And more jamming means less singing.  So really, it should be -1: More of Blake’s beautiful singing.

-1: At around 11:00 the crowd took a violent turn for the worse.  The old people (including most of my friends) took off, as we all have to work tomorrow.  The young people, who have yet to start classes, began pouring in.  And drinking.  A lot.  The area got crowded, the girls got a bit more obnoxious, and the number of people smoking quadrupled.  Bummer.

-1: Some dude had an intense microphone set up in the tree we were standing right in front of.  I’m oblivious, so definitely did not notice this despite the awkward stares he kept giving me (later translated as ‘Get the f*** away from my mike’ stares).  Finally when someone pointed it out he came over and said “I don’t mind if you continue to talk right in front of the mike, but just be aware that everything you say is being recorded”.  Seriously dude?  You couldn’t have told me this BEFORE I had multiple conversations RIGHT IN FRONT OF IT.  Apparently not…

+.5:  Luckily most of our conversation was clean up to that point.  Until we knew the mike was there.  That’s when we got inappropriate.  Enjoy your recording buddy

Overall yet another great night out in Chapel Hill.  Until next time, just living for the tens