I am ready for the cold now... in Alaska!

It's been sooooo cold here lately... and despite wearing 2 sweaters under my coat, I was still freezing my ass off. So, what do you do? I ordered a new coat (parka, actually) from LL Bean, and some snow boots from zappos. They both got here today... even though the weekend's snow is long gone. But soon I will be warm! The coat is a different color than I expected, but I still like it. Here it is:

http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?page=ultrawarm-hooded-jacket,-women's&storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&categoryId=44802&guideCategoryId=502579&feat=502579-dg&from=GL

See if that works!

And here are the boots:

http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/18831742/c/25297/reviewcount/15.html#mr

My goal this winter is to try snowshoeing... hopefully more than once, but we shall see. My sister gets here next Friday (!!!) the 14th, at some ungodly late hour, just like normal. :)

And now I seem to have a cold, so I'm taking tomorrow off-- because I can! And am missing a really boring and obnoxious staff meeting! Winning all over today...

7 Books

So, my friend Kristen from the days of yore has tagged me to write about my 7 current favorite children's books. Here goes!

1.) Knocked out by my Nunga-Nungas, Louise Rennison: I chose this one from the Georgia Nicholson series because a.) They go to France, and I dressed up as a "French Person" for Halloween (it was vair vair hilarious!) and b.)I really am just looking for my Dave The Laugh.

2.) Charlotte's Web, E.B. White- I have always loved this book, and maybe, in some way, it's part of the reason that I plan to have a farm someday.

3.) The Lonely Seahorse, Saxton Freeman and Joost Elvers (sp?)- I love how they make vegetables look like sea creatures! Especially the dolphins!

4.) Dinosaurs, pop-up, Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart- amazing AMAZING pop-up books; this one is my favorite because the T.Rex scares Lulu a little bit.

5.) Harry Potter Series- hard to choose a favorite, but if I had to, I think Book 6. I love those books, even if it did take me many years to get around to reading them (and then doing all of them in less than a month.)

6.) Weetzie Bat, Francesca Lia Block- Man, I love this book... I forget how much I love it, until I read it again. It's just perfect. Also part of the reason I lived in L.A.

7.) The Little Witch; This was my mom's favorite book when she was little, and I have her copy. It's really cute, and just a nice story (from what I remember).

** Special Bonus Books!!***
What?! You can't do that!!! Oh, I think I just did! (plus, this time last year, I thought I was going to become a librarian. I get bonus books!)

*The Little Prince, St. Antoine d'Expury (sp?); Great book for all ages, and the pictures are even funny in French!

*The Sweet Pickle Series; I don't know if this still exists, but it had 26 volumes- one for each letter of the alphabet, about an animal that also started with that letter.

*Toot and Puddle; Two pigs who are best friends, one travels and the other stays home.

*Olivia and the Missing Toy; Two words: "Wooshie Gaga!"

*Leo the Lop; Most of the reason I got a lop bunny. I should have just gotten another book! (kidding, a little.... sorry evil bunny!)

Oh, I'm sure there are more, but my brain has gone stop.

Ye Olde Halloweene Partye!

Well, I'm almost done decorating for this year's party... which promises to have around 3 guests (but possibly 7?). It's hard to throw parties when most people I work with are on vacation! But, I don't mind low-key either. Still need to: shop, cook, and find that Harry Potter DVD game cheaper than $50 (I'm hoping for Target).

In other news:

Saw "Across the Universe" yesterday; it was really good in an arty semi-Moulin Rouge-ish kind of way. ALOT of singing. The main guy was very gorgeous in a Dana's Dream Guy kind of way (cute, dark hair, long eyelashes, English accent... who can beat that?) and I really liked the story too. Visually, very interesting, and encompassed all of the time period really well. So, I guess in general I really liked it; in specific, there were some weird bits-- but overall good. Could I be any more vague?

Do you wanna be rich? Do you wanna be a superstar? Honey, you already are.

Having no radio in my car (not really my car, but the car I'm using right now) is starting to drive me crazy. Usually, I am able to think about things, and be contemplative. But last night? After being stuck in traffic for an hour (to go 10 miles) and playing a video game on my cell phone while waiting to merge onto the freeway... I kind of lost it. I started singing to myself. Now normally, this would not be a big deal; I sing in the car all the time. But yesterday? Almost an entire collection of Sweetwater. Every Sweetwater song I could remember. And before that? The Violent Femmes. It's like re-living 1994 all of the sudden.

I feel like the things in my life should be pointing me in some direction by now. Like, the librarian thing is over, and I know that I'd really like to be able to have a farm-- but I don't think I'm truly ready for that yet... so what's the in-between? Should I go back to making only tiny amounts of money, so I can learn how to be an organic farmer? Should I find some corporate job, so I can actually afford to do it? Should I try to deal with my issues regarding living with other people and start an artist commune? These are the crazy options I feel like I have right now. Everything I keep reading tells me to have faith in myself and dream the impossible and don't listen to any voices that say you can't do it... but I have so many things I'd like to do, how can I choose right now?

All I do know for sure is I'm tired of working in a school. The vacation time is nice, but really, it just reminds me how much I don't like getting up at 5:30 in the morning, and how nice it is to spend the day doing things that you actually want to do; not that I can pay my mortgage with that. Good thing I still have some time to figure it out.

Oh...

and I really liked HP 7. I think that most things were tied up rather neatly, except for a few that of course I can't think of now-- But what is this new thing where JK Rowling is saying that Dumbledore is gay? I don't really feel one way or the other about it, except a.) I didn't really see that so much and b.) is she just saying this now to raise new interest in the series now that it's over?

Hmmmm..

The last 6 weeks

have been rather stressful, I've realized, as I went to my massage appointment yesterday. My car died, and is now being raised from the dead (for possibly the last time). My boss yelled at me, for a mistake that she made, and has kicked my search for a new future job into high gear. My best friend's mom was diagnosed with inoperable cancer last week, which has caused me to have heartburn close to 24 hours a day for the last 5 days. (it is finally starting to get better though). And now I'm on vacation, where I'm realizing that I really need to force myself to pay attention to what I eat and get some more exercise.

So, I enlisted two of my friends to make up a blog, where every day we can say the good things we've done, the bad things, and the workouts. (ironically, called: the good, the bad, the workout) We shall see how that goes! And hopefully I'll be in here more too. After all, I do have high(er) speed internet now. :)

Where are you going? Where have you been?

Wow... I think it's been about 4 months since I've posted anything. Yeah, I kind of suck. I have a good excuse for most of that time though: I bought a condo! I've been crazily painting and decorating and unpacking since early June-- and most of May was spent waiting to see if I would actually get it. I have a fireplace and a little backyard, wood floors and a pretty big bedroom. Yea!

My sister was here for a couple of weeks, during which time we went on a family camping trip--kind of interesting since we are the only vege ones in the family, and K is 100% vegan. (I'm only about 85%) Lulu got to run around the beach like the crazy puppy she is, and we made vegan s'mores-- so that was pretty damn cool. We used some cookies we got from Sidecar for Pig's Peace in the U District, and some vegan marshmallow creme (that was really great actually. I'm thinking of using it in rice crispie treats!) and melted Trader Joe's chocolate chips. Tres bien!

I'm going to see her next Friday, which promises to be full of Korean deli food, secret swimming pools, museum going, and hot hot heat!

Next time? HP 7!

Vacation, vacation, VACATION!!!

I have a whole 9 days off!! YEA!! My major plans consist of: going to the parents' house to hang out and watch tv for a couple of days, cook lots of yummy food, visit an art museum or two, and walk around Greenlake a couple of times. Oh, and get a massage today. My life is not so hard.

I discovered this morning that Evil Bunny, my arch-rival who happens to live under my dining room table, had been out of her cage all night, and has managed to chew up a portion of the moulding against the wall. Not that this is expensive moulding- it's a light pink color, and of such high quality, nails cannot go into it (as evidenced at my previous apartment, when I tried to attach it to the wall better.) Therefore, as the weather is pretending to be nicer, Evil Bunny is now living outside on the porch for a while. Those who are less kind than I (who for some reason also own evil bunnies) keep them outdoors permanently, so I think she will survive.

Recipe of the day, adapted from VWAV:

Cinnamon French Toast:
(started with lovely cinnamon swirl bread from Top Foods)

Dipping Mixture:

3 Tbsp. soy flour
1 heaping Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. grated nutmeg
2 shakes of cinnamon

Mix together in a pie pan, and add:

3/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix, mix, mix. Dip bread and coat both sides. Fry in frying pan, about 2 minutes on each side. Serve with maple syrup and banana slices. MMMmmmmm....

The Healthiest Thing I've Ever Made

So, I started this new organic food delivery service called SPUD this week, and consequently have a lot of fresh organic vegetables filling up my fridge. Here's what I made tonight:

Rainbow Polenta

Polenta layer:

1/2 cup polenta
approx. 1 cup water
1 vegi boullion cube
random spices (thyme, herbs de province)

Boil water with spices and vegi cube. Add polenta. Stir and take off of heat. (*warning! Polenta will solidify, so if you want to be able to spoon it out easily, do this part last. I, unfortunately, did this part first, but it still worked out ok.)

Red/Orange Layer:

4 tbsp orange lentils
1/2 sweet potato, cubed small
3 organic carrots, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
organic vegi broth

Heat pan with some olive oil. Add carrots, garlic, sweet potato and cook for a few minutes. Add some broth and the lentils. Keep adding broth until vegis and lentils are tender. (sweet potatos are soft, lentils are fally-aparty) Set aside.

Green Layer:

5 asparagus spears
handful of snow peas
handful of "braising greens" (mini kale and chard leaves, part of the organic mix)
6-8 basil leaves, chiffonaded (make a pile of leaves, roll them up, cut very thin slices)

Chop up everything, and saute with some more vegi broth. Add basil chiffonade at the last minute, to keep flavor.

Layer with polenta on the bottom, greens in the middle, and orange/red layer on the top. Add some alfalfa sprouts if you want.

This seems like it was completely laborous and time consuming, but it really wasn't. And it was tasty too!!!

Who am I?

Clearly, I am both a rockstar (but only to preschoolers) as well as a French superhero (ok, I speak French, but am, sadly, American). I am in the middle of a huge bout of self-rediscovery... and thought that starting a blog about it was the most obvious step; because who wants to just sit around, doing this on their own anymore? You can only spend so many nights watching re-runs of Grey's Anatomy or The Office before you start questioning your own job experience.

A year ago, I decided I wanted to become a librarian. I've always owned way too many books, and after working with kids for half of my life, it seemed like an obvious step. I worked my ass off studying for the GRE, pestered people relentlessly for recommendations, and applied to school. It seemed like the easiest thing of all... until I didn't get in. My first response was different than I expected though; more of a sadness about my future monetary situation by staying a teacher than an urgency to apply again- or apply somewhere else. Was being a librarian what I really wanted to do? Or was it just an easy way out?

So, now I'm continuing on the search for what I really want to do. It seems like I always have way too many choices and ideas; I blame this on being an Aquarius. I could... start a public access cooking show.... write a book.... really make some art.... travel... buy a house... keep teaching... go back to teaching in public school.... Right now, I have no idea. (well, after last week's review of next year's benefits, I'll be staying at my job for at least another 2 years... FREE TRIP TO FRANCE!!)

The good news? I keep cooking, and writing. This is nice for you, my devoted readers (I'm assuming there will be some, someday...) because you can read about my culinary foibles and triumphs, and make the same things at home if you like. I thought about starting up my college zine again, but this is much faster!(although maybe not as cool-looking, but I digress)

Enjoy!