Awesome August : Day 30

Wow, what a fail.  I make it all the way through and then forget to post this... ah well.

Tonight Boyfriend and I meet up with an ex co-worker and her boyfriend to make gluten-free homemade Pop Tarts.   We experimented with different fillings, but the fan favourite seemed to be the maple and brown sugar one (which we only made one of for some reason).  Others included peanut butter & jelly, Nutella, salted caramel, raspberry, and lemon curd.  I don't like jams, as previously noted, so I didn't try any of those ones, though I hear they were good...

the salted caramel kind of exploded...

Well, August has been fun, guys.  It's been an interesting challenge to do this every day and I'm not sure I can keep it up.  But I do want to keep doing regular posts – at least 2 or 3 times a week.  But September is looking crazy so far: friends visiting, travel, a billion birthdays (including Boyfriends), and I'm taking a class on Thursday nights now.  Of course, looking my calendar for September, I realize that I won't be lacking in things to write about.

Happy September, everyone!

Awesome August : Day 30

My best friend T lives in Orange County, so since high school we really haven't gotten a change to spend as much time with each other as we would both want.  But when we do spend time together we are awesome at eating frozen yogurt and shopping.  And it's T that I blame for my newish Kate Spade addiction.  T's always been a fan and either the Kate Spade line has changed or my tastes have changed, but I LOVE it all now.  And T knows this.

Which is why this morning, I got an IM from her with nothing but a link to a Kate Spade sample sale.  And then she asked why I hadn't bought the giraffe dress yet – good question!  So, I may or may not have bought two Kate Spade dresses this morning...  But I will say that with the 75% off, both dresses combined were less that either of them full price!

The one on the left is the Two By Two Dress – it's so ME isn't it?!  And the second one is an Ikat Caroline Dress that I hope to transition from summer to fall.  I swear, I should just not buy anything at all and just wait for these sales to come around.  I'm smitten with both (and more to be honest)!

Awesome August : Day 29

Have you ever known one of those couples that is just so cute they are annoying?  My co-worker's birthday was today and as usual, I came prepared with some baked goods (m&m's cookies), but then his girlfriend had to steal my thunder by sending him a cake AND balloons AND chocolate covered strawberries.  How annoying!  But his manager brought some of the awesomeness back to the co-worker team by bringing in big bowl of wild animal and ninja figurines.  So, this is how we spend part of our day at work...

But it's all OK.  Tonight I got to be part of my own annoyingly cute couple.  After spending part of Saturday night watching the boys play Pai Gow Poker in Vegas and my quick mastery of that game once we got home, Boyfriend has decided that he needs to teach me how to play Texas Hold 'em.  So, we played with another couple – also one who knows how to play and one who doesn't really.  I kept arbitrarily changing the denomination of the poker chips, claiming they were anywhere between $1 to $1 million.  (I may have also stolen from the bank when no one was looking...)

Boyfriend is ridiculously patient, tho.  I stayed in for stupid cards and bet for no real reason mostly.  However, I think I eventually got the hang of it and I actually won a hand or two.  And through all of that, Boyfriend didn't get annoyed (until we started pushing all of our chips in for no real reason). 

I think it's safe to say that I'll never be a poker player.  For one, I'm scared to play for real money.  For another, I am never sure what I'm supposed to do on each turn.  But if I do ever play, my strategy will be to seem distracted all the time – oh maybe I shouldn't have told you that... Oops.

Awesome August : Day 26, 27, & 28

One thing I learned over this weekend, is that I didn't want to let my devotion to this Awesome August project prevent me from doing the things that I would actually want to write about here... So, I am 2 days behind because Boyfriend and I were in Vegas this weekend!

Sort of unintentionally, we've gone to Vegas once a year since we've been dating (before that, I had never been).  The first time was to see my favourite band, The Hold Steady, play in a bar the size of my living room at home.  The second time we went and saw The Beatles' LOVE.  This time, we went clubbing question mark.  But then we ended up seeing a show and running into friends on The Strip.

Friday started with Blood Orange Mimosa from Grand Lux Café.

Then we hit up Surrender at The Encore.

After seeing Phanom on Saturday, we ran into our friends Thom and Andy.  This was an unintentional reunion from when we all used to work at the same store.

And then I learned another lesson today... Don't bake cookies when you haven't had enough sleep.  They don't always turn out right.

I only have a few more days of this project, so I'm going to try to end it with a bang!  So, look forward to a proper post tomorrow :)

Awesome August : Day 25

I stayed up way too late watching Project Runway considering Boyfriend and I have to leave the house at 5am tomorrow to get our 7am flight to Vegas, baby!

So, since I need to sleep now, here is a picture of my dog, Jade.

Awesome August : Day 24

I love getting my hair done, don't you? Someone to wash your hair and style it... And if you're lucky you have someone who gives you a bit of a head massage while making you pretty.

I'm that lucky, plus Jen is totally awesome and she thinks I'm funny. I trust her way more than anyone else who has ever done my hair. And she does Bear's hair, too, so she has the coveted sister stamp of approval.

Tonight I got my hair cut and coloured. I had highlighted it blonde at the beginning of summer, but now we've added red highlights, too. And I got a much needed bang trim - they were so long it was ridiculous. (Also, who would have thought that the bangs I cut on an angry whim and dubbed "Breakup Bangs," would now be my regular hairstyle 3 years on...)

I'll have to get a picture of the colour in sunlight. But I'm in love with the touchups she did to my cut!

Before:


After:

Awesome August : Day 23

I am run off my feet, guys. I was so exhausted this morning I slept though my training alarm, so I had to go to the gym after work. What I didn't know was that it was going to be 90 degrees at 5pm.

I should also mention that I somehow got it into my head that I was going to make gluten free lasagna for dinner. So, a dish that take a long time to prepare then bake in the heat, after a workout. I'm a genius.

But I guess it worked out OK. I made a spicy lasagna with ground beef and hot sausage. And since Boyfriend doesn't like parmesan cheese, I used pepper jack instead. It turned out great, but we didn't eat until 9:30.

Is this what parenting will be like?!

Awesome August : Day 22

I met my friend Gordana when I was a computer trainer.  She started off as one of my students, but our lessons soon digressed into drinking tea, gossiping, and one time, driving her BMW Z3.  Gordana is one of those amazing souls that draws people to her.

Tonight we got to hang out for the first time in a long time.  We decided to make dinner and dessert at her place and since Gordana is a designer, she has this fabulously amazing home and kitchen.  As we got things ready, she poured us glasses of Kir Royale while we munched on peanuts and started work on a flourless chocolate cake that we dubbed a Megana Cake.

We had a beautiful dinner on her patio: salad with fresh herbs from her garden, chicken (for me), salmon (for her and Chaz), and corn on the cob.  There were laughs and stories and a debate over the best condiments for corn on the cob.

When dinner was finished we brought out the Megana Cake.  This cake is deadly – it's literally just chocolate, butter, sugar, and eggs.  It was actually a Paula Deen recipe that I found on Bakerella.  I figured the combo of Paula Deen plus flourless could do no wrong.  Boy, was I right!  I will be making this one again!

Because the cake was so strong, we also tested it with 3 different kind of preserves.  For the record I a) don't typically like preserves (or jams and jellies for that matter), and b) I believe in a separation of fruit and cake.  However, all 3 that we sampled were from places like France and Belgium, so I figured if I was going to try any these would be the ones.  The Plum preserves were too dark to do anything to the flavor; the rose hip preserves were mild but not really impressive; and the pomegranate-raspberry were sophisticated yet understated with just a hint of naughtiness...

Gordana will be out of the country for a month, but once she's back I'm sure I'll have another amazing evening to write about.

Awesome August : Day 21

Have you ever had one of those dreams that is so realistic and awful that even then you wake up, you feel weird for the rest of the morning?  Especially if that dream involves someone you love and someone you have to interact with.  That was me today... So, to counteract the yucky feeling, I ended up doing things that I love.

The Queen and I went to a morning showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 since she hadn't seen it yet.  The theater was surprisingly packed for a Sunday morning nearly over 2 months after the release.  And since I hadn't seen it since the midnight premier (which was fun but very loud), I was able to pick up lines of dialogue that I missed the first time (since we were all laughing or cheering or crying), like this one:

I've always loved the way the films have portrayed Seamus.  I thought that he was kinda shafted after about book 5 and he was always a fun character.  This scene just proves it.  But I digress...

Then I ended the night by seeing Cowboys & Aliens with Boyfriend and his dad.  I feel like that whole movie is the set up for a joke like, "James Bond and Han Solo walk into a saloon..."  But I actually enjoyed it way more than I thought I would.  I should probably mention that leading up to the film's release, every time I saw the trailer in a theater I looked around to make sure I wasn't hallucinating and that the film really existed.

All in all the movies and the company cured me of my bad dreams. :)

Awesome August : Day 20

This is my friend Peter, aka The Mayor of Tasty Town.  Today he had a waffle and mimosa brunch to celebrate some good news, but mostly to have a party where we eat waffles and drink mimosas.

Peter has a tradition of wearing vests when we are at parties together... I can think of at least 6 parties that he's worn a vest to.  It's very Mayoral of him.  He also used to work at Starbuck and can still rock the apron when needed, such a when manning a waffle iron or drinking mimosas. 

So we spent a lovely morning eating waffles (mine were gluten free, of course) and bacon, drinking mimosas, and playing Apples to Apples.  Then I may or may not have fallen asleep on the couch while the boys played video games.  Great morning and a happy Saturday.

Awesome August : Day 19 (one day late)

Yesterday was insane and I did not have a second of downtime to actually update this thing.

First off, I woke up at 5:30 for Warrior Dash training, then to my desk at 8:00am.  After work there was a quick run to the store, then I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip rice krispie treats for Kate, whose birthday part I was running out the door to get to.  Don't get me wrong, it was a great day filled with fun and friends and board games, but it was loooong. 

Plus, I got to wear this amazing outfit to work.  It was my take on Casual Friday and a nod to my training and my favourite super hero.

All the superheroes live in the city.  Spiderman, Daredevil, and Captain America.  But Thor’s the best.  He fights the forces of darkness.  Forces of darkness beware!

Awesome August : Day 18

I'm coming to the end of my second week of training for the Warrior Dash – a mud-crawling, fire-leaping, extreme fun run from Hell!  It's 3.15 hellish miles, where I will conquer extreme obstacles, push my limits, then celebrate with kick-ass music, beer, and warrior helmets (according to their website anyway).

The website also provides a training plan for the participants with 3 different Warrior Levels: Virgin, Casual, and Ultimate.  I picked Casual based on this description: You don’t want to win the Warrior Dash - you just want to beat the guy wearing a dress.  So true.  And the training is going well.  I already feel stronger and more warrior-like, which is the point, I think.  Although, I'm not sure it's warrior-like to be so wrecked from training that I want to fall asleep at 10pm...

I'm running with two girlfriends because we are crazy people and this seems like something that needs to be done by crazy people.  You should come cheer us on.  Take pictures.  Laugh at us covered in mud and jumping over fire.  Drink beer and be jealous of our helmets. 

The race itself is on Oct 29th, so besides the training, I think we now need focus on costumes!  Warrior! Huzza!

Awesome August : Day 17

Boyfriend gave me The Silmarillion for my birthday.  My love of The Lord of the Rings is well documented, but aside from The Hobbit, I haven't read anything else from Tolkien's universe.  Honestly, upon the first look, I was a bit intimidated.  It has small type, lots of long paragraphs, very biblical looking...

According to this NPR article listing the Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy books, The Silmarillion contains "creation myths of Tolkien's Middle-earth, for those who found The Lord of the Rings too breezy and slight." While I might not have used the phrase breezy and slight, I was ready for more...

And then I read the prologue and the first story...

What the fuck is going on?  I have no idea.

Awesome August : Day 16

I think I'll let this one speak for itself...

Hope everyone had as happy of a Tuesday night as I did...

and now some sleep so I can do a proper post tomorrow.

Awesome August : Day 15

I made it half way through the month before I got behind... damn!  But at least I have good reason!

Every Monday, I join Boyfriend and some of his high school friends (and their significant others) for dinner.  They've been doing this since high school and they used to go to the same hotwing place each week.  More recently, we've been exploring different places each week for variety.

Tonight, one couple hosted us at their house and we had a homemade pizza feast!  There were at least 4 different kinds of pizza plus two gluten free ones for me.  I was only able to try the pepperoni and the BBQ chicken ones, but everyone was raving about how good they all were.

We then spent hours playing Scattergories and Catchphrase, and since it was our friend's birthday – and keeping with the pizza theme – we had a giant pizzookie (and a tiny gluten free baby pizzookie for me).

I love games and when you have such a great group of people it's so easy to lose track of time playing.  Luckily for me we were close to home, I don't have to go to the gym tomorrow morning, and I was having so much fun that I didn't realize how tired I was.

What are your favourite games?

Awesome August : Day 14

Food that I can eat without getting sick? It's a wonderful thing. 

So, I've been 100% gluten free for over 6 months.  It is so wonderful to have "normal" stomach aches again – as opposed to the nasty food-poisoning type stomach aches I used to get before I knew what was causing them.  Anyway, as baking has always been one of my passions, I've spent as much time as I can experimenting with gluten free baking.

I love, love, love baking and I like to think that I'm pretty good at it.  However, gluten free baking has presented a new set of challenges to me.  For one, not all recipes are easily adapted.  And finding the right blend of non-wheat flour to match the taste of the rest of the ingredients is tricky.  On top of that, when I do find the right taste, the batter/dough seems to bake differently...

So, today I tried out a Brownie mix that was kindly given to me by my friend Karina (at her own birthday nonetheless!).  I tossed in some extra chocolate, white chocolate, and butterscotch chips for fun.  And now I'll test it out on Boyfriend before I subject it my co-workers tomorrow.

Awesome August : Day 13

I spent a beautiful, clear, warm day in The City with Boyfriend and our friend Michael.  The boys took pictures, I wandered around the Union Square shops, we ate fancy burgers, and we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time in ages.  Once across, the boys took more pictures and I wandered around old Sausalito (where I feel I should brunch soon).

I live so close the San Fransisco that I really should spend more time exploring "my city," so to speak.  There are a handful of places I could get to in my sleep and that I know like the back of my hand, but honestly, The City isn't huge and I should be more familiar with it.

Of course, today just got me more excited at the prospect of re-introducing SF to my "cousin" Kate when she comes to visit next month!  I just hope we get a day that's half as nice as today and I'll be happy.

And I know I'm going to wish later on that I wrote more today, but I am so exhausted, this is the best that I can do.  Sorry, folks...

Awesome August : Day 12

Tonight we had our first band practice since, gosh, June maybe?  There's been vacations, sickness, family obligations, and product launches keeping us apart for over a month. So, of course we had to chat (read: gossip) for a while about all of those things that were keeping us from practicing.  Then we had to have in depth conversations about a) how the Beach Boys concert was and the everlasting awesomeness of the band, and b) comic books (yeah, we get sidetracked by things I don't even care about.  How strange). 

When we did get around to picking up instruments, we didn't do anything too serious – some old stuff, some playing with effects, a cover of "Sloop John B" since we're on a Beach Boys kick still.

But that's the best part of band "practice" for me.  It's getting together and, yeah, if we play music it's awesome, but even if we don't it's always a good time.  I just with the others were around, too.

Awesome August : Day 11

Sometimes the best nights are the ones you least expect.

Tonight I met Boyfriend at a bar near his work for a going away party for one of his co-workers.  I figured we'd make an appearance because I wouldn't know anyone – since I've been gone myself for nearly a year, almost none of the people I worked with are there anymore.  But, I was wrong.  A bunch of people who I wasn't expecting showed up and it was great to catch up.

And since we were all drinking in a bar, the night started with the usual "So, what do you do?" questions and wandered into hook-ups, embarrassing stories, and trying to get the "guest of honour" to ride the mechanical bull (yes – it's that kind of bar).

And then the night ended with Yogurtland, complete with a Keroppi spoon.

Yeah, pretty decent Thursday night.

Awesome August : Day 10

I had to leave work early today due to a massive migraine and major nausea.  I went home, slept for about 5 hours and then watched a few episodes of Gilmore Girls once the headache went away.  All and all it seemed like waste of day...

But then the package showed up.  It was flat and square and it contained my copy of Harry and the Potters' Live at the New York Public Library LP – on vinyl!  I already have 2 Harry and the Potters 7", but this one is a full length live album.  Between the live recording and the fact that it's on vinyl (and the download code so I can listen to it everywhere!), it's such a fun album.  And it includes one of my favourites, "Phoenix Tears!"

I've been "collecting" records for a long time now, and by collecting I mean I try to get all of my favourites on vinyl as well as lost classics that appear in the Amoeba Records 99¢ bin.  I am one of those people who generally think that albums on vinyl sounds better than other forms.  I don't care if you think I'm pretentious.  Listen to Pet Sounds.  Listen to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.  Then tell me that there's no difference.