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| March 19, 2012 |
Monday, March 26, 2012
Stadiums
Spring always comes early in Florida but it came even earlier than usual this year. As gypped out a decent winter as a I may feel, it does mean that it's stadiums weather. Who needs to run the stairs in LA when you can run the stadium in Gainesville?
St. Patty's Day!
There was no block party. I could have SWORN that there was supposed to be a St. Patty's day block party it became unavoidably clear that I was wong because there was no block party.
Thankfully, we bring the party wherever we go. That and the ability to sing Baby Got Back at the drop of a hat.
Thankfully, we bring the party wherever we go. That and the ability to sing Baby Got Back at the drop of a hat.
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| March 17, 2012 |
Puppies!
Oh, if only I enjoyed running as much as these pretty ladies do.
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| March 16, 2012 |
I love my kittehs but I there is a special soft spot in my heart for that brown, fuzzy Boober on the right. I never thought that I would love a dog but that fuzzy little puppy who couldn't walk up the stairs wormed into my heart four years ago and when I look at that sweet chug-a-lug I still see that snuggly little puppy.
Rise and Shine!
"Almost nobody wakes up feeling like a million bucks ready to tackle the world. It is a conscious choice to decide how you want to feel and think each day."
And in accordance with this very positivie, go-get 'em attitude I bring you: a pot of braising kale!
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| March 20, 2012 |
This healthy dinner (and todays workout) was brought to you by Muffin-tops. A delightful baked good to be sure but far less charming when hovering over the waistline of your jeans.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Grace
I like the idea of saying grace before a meal. The mindfulness in recognizing that there is food on the table in front of you and as real as the frustrations of life feel sometimes, a good meal is something worth saying thank you for. Even more than just saying grace, I like that people join hands around a table when they say it.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Show and Tell AA Style
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| March 13, 2012 |
The MOST!
I am not always annoying
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| March 12, 2012 |
But when I am...I am THE MOST ANNOYING CAT IN THE WORLD!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Mani's = magical! or not?
I took this picture for a friend, showing off a.) my new favorite nail polish color, b) my accessorising skillz and c.) how my accessorising looks so much better when I have a manicure.
On second look, my fingers look no less chubster with a manicure and accessories. How sad for me.
On second look, my fingers look no less chubster with a manicure and accessories. How sad for me.
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| March 11, 2012 |
The Catering Crew pulled one out
Lunch Impossible?
Not so much, the audience was pretty lenient, not to mention hungry from a mornings worth of hard labor installing a new garbage disposal. But our catering crew of two pulled it together and pulled out a stunning win with the sandwich you see before you.
Not so much, the audience was pretty lenient, not to mention hungry from a mornings worth of hard labor installing a new garbage disposal. But our catering crew of two pulled it together and pulled out a stunning win with the sandwich you see before you.
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| March 10, 2012 |
And it began
Not my proudest grocery shopping moment but the start to a rather fun weekend nonetheless.
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| March 9, 2010 |
mmm gelato
This is how a brand new Certified Clincial Research Coordinator celebrates passing her exams.
Just add that to the list of achievments that people don't understand, actively disparage and which will most likely never result in a raise.
But you know what? I work very hard to be good at what I do and all these so called "useless" degres and certifications are part of that. That and Sea Salt Caramel Gelato.
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| March 8, 2012 |
But you know what? I work very hard to be good at what I do and all these so called "useless" degres and certifications are part of that. That and Sea Salt Caramel Gelato.
Kitteh paws
The best part about having a cat with thumbs?
When he's probably doing his damndest to shoot me the bird, he looks like he's giving me a thumbs up. :-)
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| March 7, 2012 |
Monday, March 19, 2012
Happy New Car E & G!
AND they're REFUSING to name her! I cna't believe that I'm related to such party poopers!
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| March 6, 2012 |
These are the times
These are the times that try men's souls...what we obtain too cheap, we esteem to lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything it's value
- Thomas Pain I find it comforting to see that someone, specifically Thomas Paine, has felt the way that I do now. Granted, he was looking across bloodied fields, actual tyranny and carnage while I'm simply looking across what seems to me to be a depressingly base political scene where women's health, health care and sexuality are political fodder. Tomato, tom-ah-to; potato, pot-ah-to. My soul feels tried and at times I'm tempted to give up and move to France.
Meatless Monday Rides Again!
It is my honest belief that if bacon cannot make a meal better, cheese can. It's true, I have the belly and the booty to prove it. Unfortunately, just because this is so does not mean that one should be adding these things to each meal and it is in the spirit of that (and my arteries) that I'm bringing back Meatless Monday.
Does fish count as meat? The Catholics seem to think not as is evidenced by fish fries on Firdays but I've really always wondered why. I ask because this picture is from a week or so ago and I ate fish tonight. I hope this doesn't subtract from my record.
Behold!
Roasted sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes served wtih sauteed spinach and onions and topped with an over-medium egg. Suprisingly deee-lish!
Does fish count as meat? The Catholics seem to think not as is evidenced by fish fries on Firdays but I've really always wondered why. I ask because this picture is from a week or so ago and I ate fish tonight. I hope this doesn't subtract from my record.
Behold!
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| March 5, 2012 |
Roasted sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes served wtih sauteed spinach and onions and topped with an over-medium egg. Suprisingly deee-lish!
Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Robert Brill!
I don't have a picture with the bride so a picture with my parner in crime, aka best wedding date ever, aka possessor of mad-crazy dancing skills, will have to do.
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| March 4, 2012 |
The Hurricane
There's something about the ocean that makes the absence of hush puppies seem bearable. :-)
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| March 3, 2012 |
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
- Walt Whitman
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| March 2, 2012 |
mmm shepherds pie
I don't generally spend my days bemoaning my singledom but I have to admit that I do miss having someone to cook for.
Someone to try out new recipes on.
Someone share comfort food with after a long day, sipping wine in the kitchen while the food cooks.
I love to cook, in large part because I love to eat but I find that I do it less now that I'm single. Occasionally I will get a bug to try a new recipe or eat risotto and I do value myself enough to follow through on those very simple wants. I love the cooking but the eating, it just isn't as much fun.
Thank goodness for friends who are willing to be fed with the guarentee that should my culinary experimentation turn out poorly I'll certainly spring for pizza.
Someone to try out new recipes on.
Someone share comfort food with after a long day, sipping wine in the kitchen while the food cooks.
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| Individual Shepherds Pies March 1, 2012 |
Thank goodness for friends who are willing to be fed with the guarentee that should my culinary experimentation turn out poorly I'll certainly spring for pizza.
Where you can find me on Wednesdays
The Gainesville Downtown Farmers Market
I'll leave it up to you to just imagine the smell of B.O. and patchouli. It's worth it though for the fresh goat cheese, homemade naan bread and insanely inexpensive, locally grown veggies.
I'll leave it up to you to just imagine the smell of B.O. and patchouli. It's worth it though for the fresh goat cheese, homemade naan bread and insanely inexpensive, locally grown veggies.
This guy
About a year ago, the University of Florida and Shands became a non-smoking institution. I've watched several people try to quite smoking and I believe it when they say that it's one of the hardest addictions to break, still, as a lifetime non-smoker, I just can't help but be amazed by the lengths that my smoker coworkers will go to smoke a cigarette at work.
Step one was to ignore it, a bold first move that I couldn't help but respect. Banking on the fact that it's UF and instating a policy can be completely separate from enforcing said policy. As I said, a good play but not good enough, UF seems oddly if atypically committed to this non-smoking policy and security actually enforced it, thus kicking them out of their comfy, shady outdoor smokers lounges.
So amid much protestation, they began to congregate on the street corner outside the hospital. Away from the buildings but with low brick walls to perch upon it was a logical choice, though the gaggle of health professionals enjoying their ciggies on the street corner may have been a little disconcerting to arriving patients. At this turn they were thwarted again when it became known that the street corner counts as hospital property and again, they were shunted away by security.
Finally they proceeded to cross the street to stand on the opposite corners of the street, VA/government property where one apparently can smoke in peace. This corner is unadorned and lacks even the most base comforts of benches and shade, a hurdle that has not discouraged them but seems to have sparked the flame of creativity. On any given day you can drive past to find several of them, perched on folding, portable stools with colorful umbrellas propped across their shoulders. I admit, while I find the whole display a little bizarre, one cannot help but admire their tenacity in enjoying their morning/mid-morning/afternoon cigarette.
Then, there's This Guy:
That Guy, on the left was smoking his morning cigarette as I walked up to the building yesterday and casually tossed the still lit butt into the be-dewed morning grass, stomped on it and then just walked away. Just walked away. It took all my self restraint not to shout out a "hey you" and proceed to hold forth on why he's completely free to destroy his own health and his own world with bad habits but to leave the rest of us with the residual trash? That's fucked up my friend. Just. Plain. Wrong.
But I didn't. It was 730 am and I couldn't guarantee that a coherent tongue lashing would have ensued. More likely it would have been one, loud and lunatic "whargaaarrrble!" And so I choose to immortalize him here on my little corner of the inter-web as a littering, smoker with no creativity!
Step one was to ignore it, a bold first move that I couldn't help but respect. Banking on the fact that it's UF and instating a policy can be completely separate from enforcing said policy. As I said, a good play but not good enough, UF seems oddly if atypically committed to this non-smoking policy and security actually enforced it, thus kicking them out of their comfy, shady outdoor smokers lounges.
So amid much protestation, they began to congregate on the street corner outside the hospital. Away from the buildings but with low brick walls to perch upon it was a logical choice, though the gaggle of health professionals enjoying their ciggies on the street corner may have been a little disconcerting to arriving patients. At this turn they were thwarted again when it became known that the street corner counts as hospital property and again, they were shunted away by security.
Finally they proceeded to cross the street to stand on the opposite corners of the street, VA/government property where one apparently can smoke in peace. This corner is unadorned and lacks even the most base comforts of benches and shade, a hurdle that has not discouraged them but seems to have sparked the flame of creativity. On any given day you can drive past to find several of them, perched on folding, portable stools with colorful umbrellas propped across their shoulders. I admit, while I find the whole display a little bizarre, one cannot help but admire their tenacity in enjoying their morning/mid-morning/afternoon cigarette.
Then, there's This Guy:
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| February 27, 2012 |
But I didn't. It was 730 am and I couldn't guarantee that a coherent tongue lashing would have ensued. More likely it would have been one, loud and lunatic "whargaaarrrble!" And so I choose to immortalize him here on my little corner of the inter-web as a littering, smoker with no creativity!
Friday, March 9, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
"It's about the whores who use contraceptiion"
"[It's not about contraception,] It is about the whores who use contraceptives! And dancing. Its about dancing! It ALWAYS begins with the dancing. And the face paint. And culottes! Oh those culottes. Oh garment of temptation, you are the devils pantaloon!"
- Jon Stewart
I don't often re-post from other blogs, even when credit is given it seems a little bit like thievery. However, with the misogynistic tactics (my words) that lawmakers across the country seem to be taking in the "debate" on birth control coverage and mandating additional medically unnecessary procedures before having a 100% legal abortion, I feel like it's important that other voices be heard, even if it's just here on my little corner of the inter-web.
Clearly, if you've been paying attention at all, and even if you just tuned in, you can probably guess where I stand on this. Unfortunately, nobody is required to agree with me (as is evidenced by the fact that Rush Limbaugh is still on the air spewing hatred) so I'll just stick to the facts.
According to a recent study funded and supported by the CDC 98% of women in this country who have ever had intercourse have used contraceptives at some point in their lives. 82% of these women have used oral contraceptives. Before 1980, only 43 percent of women (or their partner) used a method of birth control at their first premarital intercourse. By 1999–2002, the proportion using a method at first premarital intercourse had risen to 79 percent. Do you suppose there's any coincidence that during this time the teen pregnancy rate also fell?
I thought I could limit myself to facts but I can't. When politics and religion begin to intervene between a woman and her doctor, women will get hurt. Whether it is physical injury, emotional injury or "just" the violation of their civil rights, it is injury all the same. To continue this discussion in support of these laws, knowing full well that women will be marginalized, degraded and injured, is misogyny. Plain and simple.
My favorite entries from Men Who Trust Women tumbler:
"The idea that a pregnant woman choosing to terminate the pregnancy doesn’t know she’s got a fetus in her womb is just so infuriatingly insulting. And as a father of two girls, I feel invested in this issue in an extra-strong way, too. The idea that one of my girls could be forced into unnecessary medical procedures by the state government, because she’s a girl, is just so angering to me. My girls deserve better."
"In fact, the hard thing for me is to conceive of how anyone, male or female, can believe that they are in a better position to decide about any health care decisions than the patient in consultation with her doctor and friends/family.
So yes, I trust women to make their own decisions on health care, and anything else!"
"Trusting women is the bare minimum. Believing that women are human beings capable of making decisions about their own bodies makes you a decent human being. And being a decent human being is the bare goddamn minimum. You don’t get a cookie for being a decent human being...[but] this is not about cookies. This is about changing the conversation."
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Flowers and Rainboots
I've already expressed my sincere belief that life is all about the small stuff. People always say not to sweat the small stuff, but if you don't sweat it, you're probably not celebrating it either. I may sweat the small stuff more than I should but I also make sure to celebrate it as well.
This week, happiness came in the form of beautiful flowers sent by a coworker and friend:
And a much anticipated, new pair or rainboots:
Splashing in rain puddles is just as fun now as it was twenty years ago. :-)
This week, happiness came in the form of beautiful flowers sent by a coworker and friend:
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| February 22, 2012 |
And a much anticipated, new pair or rainboots:
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| February 23, 2012 |
Splashing in rain puddles is just as fun now as it was twenty years ago. :-)
What has it got in its pockets?
Things that I learned today when I emptied out my pockets:
1. Schmeagle would have had a decent shot at that riddle had it been me and not the Bagginses.
2. I earned a free coffee from Opus - frequent buyer card for the win!
3. I lost my work badge. I suspect UF won't make it particularly easy to get a replacement.
4. I need to make better use of the backpack I carry. It's probably not so attractive to be carrying all this in my hip pockets. :)
1. Schmeagle would have had a decent shot at that riddle had it been me and not the Bagginses.
2. I earned a free coffee from Opus - frequent buyer card for the win!
3. I lost my work badge. I suspect UF won't make it particularly easy to get a replacement.
4. I need to make better use of the backpack I carry. It's probably not so attractive to be carrying all this in my hip pockets. :)
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| February 21, 2012 |
Friday, March 2, 2012
Club Fun gets comfy and snuggles
Life seems to be speeding by uncomfortably fast these days. I'm not sure where the weeks and months are going but it seems that as soon as I'm bemoaning Monday morning, it's Friday afternoon and I'm off again. It isn't unpleasant so much as different, unfamiliar and, to an extent, unsettling.With time hurdling past, you can imagine my relief when one four hour drive brought me somewhere more familiar: the South Florida Club Fun Clubhouse.
There were prezzies from El Senior, matching ForeverLazies for those frigid South Florida nights when our matching Christmas pajamas just aren't warm enough.
Then, after a morning of hauling 400 pounds of organic soild and turning it into an organic vegetable garden while El Senior manned the child care / sleep battle station, we celebrated by taking the Jackers to the beach.
There's something about being at the beach that makes me believe in something greater than myself. I vacillate between thinking that it's the vastness of sky and the ocean, or the rhythm of the waves, or even the wind. There's something about wind that makes me close my eyes, breath deeply and lift my heart to the sky. At this particular trip, I turned away from the ocean, the sky and the wind and found my favorite people.
Perfection.
And I got to spend some good, down-home quality time with my JackJack. Here and now, I freely admit that I am on a one-woman quest to become fun Aunt Banana...his favorite Aunt.
There were prezzies from El Senior, matching ForeverLazies for those frigid South Florida nights when our matching Christmas pajamas just aren't warm enough.
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| February 17, 2012 |
There's something about being at the beach that makes me believe in something greater than myself. I vacillate between thinking that it's the vastness of sky and the ocean, or the rhythm of the waves, or even the wind. There's something about wind that makes me close my eyes, breath deeply and lift my heart to the sky. At this particular trip, I turned away from the ocean, the sky and the wind and found my favorite people.
Perfection.
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| February 18, 2012 |
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| February 19, 2012 |
Thursday, March 1, 2012
The time I went to the fire station
It's a bit of a story but man, did you know how much they fit in those trucks and how very little leg room there is in the passenger cabin?
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| February 16, 2012 |
Oh, and there's no pole. Just a set of stairs and a filled in circle in the ceiling. How disappointing is that?
Operation Chana Masala
I heard that when it comes to food there are two kinds of people: people who eat to live and people who live to eat. I assume that if I were one of the former I'd be much thinner as I've heard people of this persuasion express their complete satisfaction at all but living on toast and fruit. I've even heard one say that they just "don't have much interest in food." DON'T HAVE MUCH INTEREST IN FOOD?! If you expect to be my friend and you don't enjoy food, you'd better be bringing something fan-damn-tastic to the table in exchange.
As it is I live to eat and while I'm clearly not ashamed of it, I'd like to make a reasonable love affair, one that doesn't result in my being a blobby extra in Wall-E the TV show.
This quest for delicious and healthy food has lead me to Indian food. It's fragrant, complex in flavor but simple in composition. It's often vegetarian, yogurty (which isn't a word but it should be), high in fiber and low in sodium. It's exactly what I was looking for.
It also satisfies my love of concocting in the kitchen. Presiding over sizzling spices, simmering pots and sauteeing vegetables.
And for my next trick, I shall find someone too cook for. :-)
As it is I live to eat and while I'm clearly not ashamed of it, I'd like to make a reasonable love affair, one that doesn't result in my being a blobby extra in Wall-E the TV show.
This quest for delicious and healthy food has lead me to Indian food. It's fragrant, complex in flavor but simple in composition. It's often vegetarian, yogurty (which isn't a word but it should be), high in fiber and low in sodium. It's exactly what I was looking for.
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| February 15, 2012 |
And for my next trick, I shall find someone too cook for. :-)
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