30 Days of Thankfulness, 2012 - relationships

11.3.13

Lalala!

• I slept in and it was still 7am when I woke up because of blessed daylight savings, haha!
• I weighed less than I expected, which is always a good start to the day!
• I worked out to Sons of Anarchy, and it kept my attention the whole time.
• I wore my patched jeans for the first time in months, and felt cute.
• I felt productive doing laundry and cooking while continuing to half-watch SoA.
• It felt like fall because I was cooking onion soup and baking bread and I could hear the wind chimes in my backyard.
• While I was waiting on soup and laundry, I also hand sewed some reddish brownish orange-ish patches onto an old pair of ripped jeans. Now they are wearable and more colorful than before.
• When the laundry was done I got to wear one of my "new" shirts that Rachel gave me. :)
• When the soup was done I had a big warm bowl of soup and toasty bread to enjoy for lunch.
• Jack came with me to Starbucks after he got off work.
• And it felt like fall on our walk to Starbucks.
• Starbucks has their red cups out, which means it's about to be the holiday season!
• I got a hot chocolate again.
• Got good work done for hours.
• Enjoyed talking with Jack about some of the papers I'm reading. He is equally interested so I can really talk to him about it.
• Actually, I feel I can really talk to him about pretty much anything.
• He also made me laugh a lot.
• Enjoyed chatting with Molly (online) about Firefly and Walking Dead characters.
• Got some new knee high socks for the first time in like 7 years.

So yeah. Today was a particularly good day. :)

30 Days of Thankfulness, 2012

Some of the things for which I gave thanks last year.

2012 was a presidential election year.

11.2.13

• Drove through some very beautiful California countryside.
• Saw CSU Chico campus, which is gorgeous. It was extremely autumn-y.
• There was also a bell tower which I got to hear go off twice.
• Managed to get some needed work done while also listening to conference lectures. Yay multitasking!
• Got some free Hershey toffee nuggets.
• Have friends that can make me laugh pretty hard.
• Felt tall.
• Stayed within my calorie count.
• Even though she's far away, I can keep tabs on my sister through her blog.

Ready for Thanksgiving!

11.1.13

Today:

• I got up early enough to workout before going to a study group, so I felt good about that.
• I watched an episode of Breaking Bad while working out. It's great to have a show compelling enough to make the workout go quickly.
• Jack taught Rachel how to change her oil, and it was a good refresher for me too.
• He also changed my oil.
• Rachel helped me wash my car.
• She also let me raid a bunch of clothes she's taking to Goodwill, and I found several tops I really like, which is so perfect as I was just telling Jack two days ago that I am really bored with my wardrobe but I don't actually need anything new so I wasn't going to get anything new. Ha!
• Jack & I had Panera Frontega chicken sandwiches for dinner, 
• while watching Ender's Game
• at the drive-in! I love drive-ins.

Seasonal Changes

10.31.13

Today:

• I did my workout first thing, which pretty much always sets a good tone for the day. 
• I was up at Starbucks for nearly six hours getting work done (okay, about 5 hours getting work done, and the last hour putting this blog together). 
• Jack came to hang out with me during his lunch break, which was a pleasant surprise. 
• A lot of the Starbucks employees were wearing Halloween costumes--Peter Pan, a butterfly, Pikachu--and some of the customers had costumes too. 
• I had a venti nonfat no-whip hot chocolate (delicious).
• It's starting to get a little chillier here, and feel like fall, which is my favorite.
• Once Halloween is done we get to start counting down to Thanksgiving, and then Christmas! I love this time of year. :)

Halloween

8.23.13 - The best of friendships

I had a dream the other night that a mysterious guide took me to another world, and in that world was a giant arena filled with people.

The guide told me these people were my friends, and I responded, "There's no way. I don't even know this many people, much less have this many friends." But then I looked closer and realized the people were divided into groups, and each group represented the friends I have had in a given year of my life.  This wasn't like a reunion--the friends were the age they were when I had friended them. So for example, there was a group of 9- and 10-year-olds from 1994 that I had been friends with in 4th grade. They looked exactly as I remember them.

What's more, the people I've been friends with over multiple years were present several times over. That is, if I was friends with someone for the first three years of high school, that person was in each of the three groups representing those years. He would be one year older in each group, and unaware of the other "copies" of himself, because the groups did not mingle.

I was able to go from group to group and revisit with my old friends. In particular, I was able to talk to people I am no longer friends with during the years when our friendships were the strongest. Each "copy" was only aware of the year in which they existed, so all they knew were the best parts of our friendships. It was great to see people before things had faded away (or worse, gone sour). The whole thing was surreal and amazing.

4.14.13 - Bows & Arrows brunch

Having a groupon to Bows & Arrows for brunch completed the weekend.

We had mimosas in mason jars and enjoyed the decor, such as a variety of cute, funky vases at every table. 

Every table was different, like the restaurant had just acquired a bunch of old patio furniture with no attempt to coordinate. There was also a wall made of old doors overgrown with vines, which was a cool effect.

My eggs benedict were wonderful.

4.13.13 - Ju Hachi, Riverfront Train, Trio

First we enjoyed a sushi lunch at Ju Hachi. 

 Then we went to the riverfront train ride. We had tickets that included open-air cars, a live band, and wine-tasting.

Too many chairs meant people would dance a bit in their seats but otherwise there was nowhere to dance, despite pretty great music and beautiful weather for it. The band was playing a lot of great music from the 60s & 70s. 

We moved to the part of the car directly in front of the band where there was a bit of room and we started swing dancing. Soon a few other couples joined us, and then it snowballed from there until there were so many people dancing that everyone else moved their chairs back to make room.

Everyone finally dancing. Having more time to drink wine seems to help. 

Jack had made reservations at Trio but the place was slammed so it took awhile for us to be seated and order. This worked out well because I was so full from Ju Hachi lunch that I didn't mind sipping wine and waiting a little while. 

Jack keeps his hands off his food so I can take a picture of him with it first.

2012 Dates

1. January 6 - Steelhead Brewery
2. January 9 - Baywatch Cafe (breakfast), Mission Impossible 4 (ugh)
3. January 13 - Elephant Bar
4. January 18 - Chez Saigon
5. January 29 - Baywatch food to go, picnic in the park
6. January 31 - nightime picnic, Twin Peaks
7. February 8 - Joy Sushi dinner and then O'Neil's Pub
8. February 12 - dinner at the Odom's
9. February 19 - Chronicle (great movie)
10. February 22 - Steelhead Brewery
11. March 4 - Safetway sushi picnic
12. March 7 - Lahmacun Pizzeria
13. March 18 - Steelhead Brewery (hey, if it works, go with it)
14. March 31 - Barney's (Gourmet Hamburgers)
15. April 8 - Paddy Flynn's Irish pub
16. April 13 - 15 - wine-tasting anniversary weekend
17. April 28 - 21 Jump Street (eh)
18. May 6 - Golden Gate bay cruise
19. May 15 - 5 Year Engagement (enjoyable)
20. May 26 - picnic at Fillmore park (homemade salmon salad)
21. May 31 - Chez Saigon (last hurrah before The Bet)
22. June 6 - The Avengers (ehhh)
23. June 9 - Amici's pizza
24. June 17 - Elephant Bar
25. July 1 - Il Fiorno (Gluttony Day!)
26. July 11 - The Amazing Spiderman
27. July 21 - Barney's (Gourmet Hamburgers)
28. July 28 - Tokyo Go Go
29. August 5 - Panera Bread Co (in Sacramento!)
30. August 11 - Dark Knight Rises (good)
31. August 15 - Tokyo Go Go (we had accidentally bought two Groupons)
32. August 22 - Bourne Legacy (psh)
33. August 26 - Steelhead Brewery
34. September 4 - Big Spoon frozen yogurt (first official Sacramento date!)
35. September 21 - Panacea (bar) and Burgers & Brew
36. September 27 - Starbucks and long walk around Davis
37. October 2 - Olive Garden
38. October 9 - Drive-in: Looper (excellent)
39. October 14 - Monsoon Cuisine (endless mimosas)
40. October 21 - Firebird Russian River restaurant
41. November 1 - Elephant Bar
42. November 6 - Drive-in: Wreck It Ralph
43. November 15 - Roma's Pizzeria
44. November 21 - Starbucks and walk around autumn park
45. November 26 - Ju Hachi sushi
46. December 4 - Trio mediterranean restaurant

Chocolate Fudgy Cookie Bars

Oven at 350.

CRUST -- 1-3/4 c. flour, 3/4 c. powdered sugar, 1/4 c. cocoa, 1 c. butter/margerine, cold. Blend dry ingredients, then cut in butter with fork or pastry blender until crumbly (pea-sized). Press into 13 x 9 pan. Bake 15 min.

FUDGY MIDDLE -- 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1 c. chocolate chips, 1 t. vanilla (optional). Pour chips into milk and heat in microwave until warm. Maybe 30-60 sec. Stir till smooth. Pour onto baked crust.

TOP -- 1 c. chocolate chips, 1 c. chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans). Pour over and slightly press into fudgy middle. BAKE 18 min. Cool 1 hour. Cut into bars.


This picture doesn't even begin to capture the fudgy goodness.