The Art of Multi-Tasking

Photo today: I made soap with Sally back in early January. Now that it's been over a month, the soap is finally cured and ready for usage! The ones on the left have tangerine essential oil in them, so they're slightly fragrant and more yellowish. The ones on the right are plain. These are all-natural, I know every raw ingredient that went into them. (Coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil, lye, & tangerine essential oil.) Todd loves my homemade soaps and uses them all up! A few years ago I made a batch and packaged them up with cute little ingredient labels and gave them away for Christmas gifts. People seem to like them. The other day when Meera came over, she asked me to show her my blogging process. So I showed her how I process the photos, export them from Lightroom, upload them to Photobucket, and blog. She said, "Wow, it's an involved process! You don't watch TV anymore, do you?" LOL. It's true, I don't hardly watch TV anymore. Between Project 365, blogging, scrapping, running, and working, I don't really have too much time left for TV-watching. But I still watch Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, and The Mentalist. Todd and I watch The Mentalist together, it's our new favorite show. But I DVR the other two shows and watch them while I run on the treadmill in the mornings. Each show is 40 minutes if I skip through all the commercials, so it's perfect for a morning run. I like that I get two things done for the time of one! Today I felt a little deflated, as if someone let some air out of my party balloon. It's OK though. Life is still good when I have these "downer" days. I think it's my body and mind's way to let me know it's time to take a break from my busy-ness. Todd made Escarole, Three Bean, and Roasted Garlic Soup for dinner tonight. Even I'm made this recipe by myself before, so you know it's easy! We saved a little bit of the roasted garlic and mixed it with warm butter and smeared it on some bread. Heavenly.

Read More »

A Hermit's Life Is Not For Me

Photo today: Today I had lunch with some work friends that I haven't seen in a while. I used to work with them, but I moved to a new department a few years ago. They still include me and I appreciate that very much. Over the last year I had worked some days at the office and some days from home. I gradually realized that I felt a little too isolated if I work too many days from home. I felt my social skills deteriorating, as well as my ability to deal with people. At the beginning of this year I decided that a work hermit's life is not for me, and that I need to be at the office at least 3 times a week to interact with people to feel more fulfilled with work. This change has brought increased work life satisfaction for me. Coincidentally, today I received a phone call from my work friend Patsy on the floor above me. I hadn't talked to her in a long time and she was so nice and thoughtful to call to see how I was doing. We also talked about our annual "March Birthday Girls' Night Out". There are several of us at work who have March birthdays, and we have a tradition every year to have a night out or a party, with just us girls. It should be fun and I'm looking forward to it! I finally had a chance to go over to Bill's cube today and introduce myself, and ask to try the cherry flavoring to add to my Coke! The cherry flavoring he found doesn't have added sugar, and it's very concentrated, so a few drops went a long way! In fact I had to go back and add a little more Coke because the flavor was quite strong. In the end I decided I like it, as an occasional treat. And Bill is a very nice guy. He did say though, that I was the ONLY person who took him up on the cherry flavor offer. Really? What happened to everyone else? Isn't life worth the occasional cherry flavor? :) Todd made Spiced Tilapia with Roasted Pepper-Tomatillo Sauce for dinner tonight. It only took about half an hour to cook, and it was really good. I don't like fishy-fish, but this didn't smell or taste like fishy-fish at all. Quite pleasant in fact, especially with the pepper-tomatillo sauce. We didn't cook any rice or noodles with it tonight though. So we added some Korean kimchi as a side dish.

Read More »

Say What You Need To Say

Photo today: I have a friend at work named Susan. She left me a box of chocolates on my desk and I found it this morning when I went into the office. Very sweet of her! I believe in being honest in personal communications. I don't like to leave people wondering about my stance on topics, or how I really feel. I always end phone conversations with my family with an "I love you", because you never know if that's the last time they get to hear it, or if that's the last time I get to say it. I don't believe in having regrets of what I should have said. That's why John Mayer's song "Say" from the movie "Bucket List" really speaks to me. Have no fear For giving in Have no fear For giving over You better know that in the end It's better to say too much Then never to say what you need to say again Even if your hands are shaking And your faith is broken Even as the eyes are closing Do it with a heart wide open... wide... Say what you need to say Say what you need to Say what you need to Say what you need to say... When Todd walked in to work this morning, he was ushered into a conference room where his entire department was waiting. They were told that one of their co-workers, Chris (who sat very close to Todd and talked to him every day), died in a car crash yesterday, along with his girlfriend Kim. They were driving back from a weekend in Joshua Tree yesterday, and it was raining hard. They were in Morongo Valley on Highway 62 when they hydroplaned and crashed head-on with an oncoming pickup truck. I've met Chris & Kim twice before at Todd's company parties and get-togethers. I really liked them. They were pretty close to our age. Todd talked about Chris quite a bit because Chris was also a foodie and they always shared about their favorite new restaurants and food. Even though I didn't know them well, I shed some tears as Todd told me on the phone this morning. So sudden. So tragic. Of course any time I'm confronted with news like this, my thoughts lead to "That could have been us." We drove around in the rain yesterday. I'll always say what I need to say to the people I love, while I have a chance to say them.

Read More »

Buying Into Life

Todd told me about a topic he had heard on NPR radio the other day. He showed me the link to listen to it because I had missed it live on the radio. It peaked my interest because it was about how EXPERIENCES make us happier than possessions. I had always thought this and now there's proof! There's also a CNN.com article about the same topic. Basically, the gist of it is that people who spend money on experiences are happier than people who spend money on material possessions, because:

• The initial excitement of a new possession fades over time, usually 6-8 weeks. (And in my opinion and experience, I think that's why there are shopaholics. They crave the initial "high" of a purchase.) Experiences continue to provide happiness through memories long after the event.
• Experiences draw people closer. Common and shared experiences with family & friends are often what draw us together. This fulfills our need for social bonding and brings satisfaction.
• People felt a greater sense of "being alive" during the experience and in reflection.
• When you spend money on experiences there's less of the "keeping up with the joneses" phenomenon. Experiences are unique and so we are less likely to compare ourselves to other people and feel inferior.

Regular readers of this blog probably have figured out by now that I'm all about the experiences! I love the memories that I create with each new experience, and I document that through my blog and digital scrapbooking. It creates a deep sense of satisfaction and happiness for me when I look back on them. I would much rather spend money on a vacation, on food, on outings with friends, than on expensive jewelry, shoes, clothing, or cars. It's also the reason I haven't bought a DSLR camera yet. The main reason I take photos is to capture my life experiences, and having a compact P&S camera that fits into my purse does it perfectly for me. I'm not ruling a DSLR out yet, I just haven't wanted one very much up to this point. I also love to give experiential gifts to people I love. Things like concert/show tickets, dinners out, a cooking class, a spa massage, etc. A perfect segway now to my pic of the day! Today was my best girl Meera's birthday! She and AJ came over after dinner so that Todd can help AJ with his computer programming homework. Check out the two of them geeking out. I love Meera very much. Not only is she one of my very best friends, she's my sister in Christ. To celebrate her birthday, I'm taking her out to lunch this Friday. Oh yes, there will be food pics, oh yes. :) Dinner tonight was Slow Cooker Chicken Paprikash in the crock pot: Just add sour cream to it when it's done and you're ready to serve it. We had it over noodles and it was really good!

Read More »

Eight Is Great

Since we went up to LA yesterday to visit Dad & Shelly and to visit my mom's resting place, we didn't get to run with WCRR again this week. So this morning after some breakfast, we went out to Solana Beach to run our 8 miles. I mapped out the route at Gmap-Pedometer again, and checked the weather. Cloudy all day. Perfect for running! From Fletcher Cove at Solana Beach, we headed south on the 101, taking a side route at Coast Blvd in Del Mar, then up 15th back to the 101 to Torrey Pines. Seagrove Park in Del Mar, next to Jake's Del Mar Restaurant. I ran by so many nice restaurants by the ocean! And the smell of breakfast coming from each of them made my mouth water... Oh, since it was a cloudy day, all my photos turned out kinda blah and gray. Adobe Lightroom to the rescue! I used this preset that came with LR called "Direct Positive", and it made my gray skies and ocean turn blue, LOL! The run was hilly again this week. I can't seem to pick a flat route! So I was heading up hill and coming around this bend, where I knew I would be heading downhill soon. This was close to the 4 mile turnaround in Torrey Pines. When lo and behold look who I ran into! Todd was faster than me so he had turned around and was heading back. So I asked him to take a photo of me too. Not too proud of the sweaty look, but hey, it's been almost 4 miles! So I ran down the hill to Torrey Pines State Beach. This view is one of my favorites in San Diego. You come around the bend and go downhill and you suddenly see the ocean. I love it! After the turnaround, coming back uphill wasn't quite as fun. Wish this was my house. What a view, and what a cool looking house with solar power. I felt pretty good during the whole run and I ran a perfect split - the same time for the first four miles as the last four miles. I brought a packet of Vanilla Bean GU and sucked it down at the 4 mile turnaround. The GU gave me good energy for the rest of the run. This was Todd's first time eating a GU and he told me afterward that he loved it, LOL. Him and his sweet tooth. Here are my stats from the run, courtesy of the Garmin Forerunner. I also had the Garmin software interface with Google Earth, and saw my route from satellite imagery. Pretty darn cool! So the reason we started and ended the run in Solana Beach was so we could go to our favorite pizza place, Bongiornos, afterwards. Sad but true, we plan runs around eating. Todd digging in: After some showering and cleaning up, we rested and played on the computer in the afternoon. Then we went out to dinner at Tofu House, an excellent Tofu-oriented (hence the name) Korean restaurant in Kearny Mesa. We decided that tofu soups were a perfect anecdote to the cold and wettish weather we're having. At Korean restaurants, you get little side dishes of marinated veggies (background). In the foreground is my Seafood Special Tofu soup. Todd got a BBQ beef tofu soup, which he liked, but said the BBQ beef's flavor got redundant after a while. After dinner we went to Road Runner Sports nearby. Yes, there was an actual reason for the trip besides eating. Although that is reason enough in and of itself. :) They have a "Shoe Dog" service at RRS, where an expert looks at your feet and have you run barefoot on the treadmill while they videotape your stride to see what your feet do when you run. To check whether you need more supportive shoes because your feet pronate too much. Then you walk across this pad on the floor, one foot at a time. The pad measures heat as your foot strikes it, and they can tell by the heat map of your feet how your feet hit the ground and where the pressure points are. To make a long story short, I was told that I'm wearing the right running shoes (Saucony Progrid Ride, which is a neutral running shoe), as long as I wear my green Superfeet inserts (which I do). My ankles roll in slightly when I run (I totally saw evidence of this on the video they took!), but the green Superfeet inserts corrected it and I don't need stability shoes. Todd on the other hand needed stability shoes, and he had been wearing neutral shoes. So the guy brought out four pairs and he ended up getting a pair of Asics, which he said felt good. And we got more GU! Because Todd likes them now. :)

Read More »