A little bit of everything

So my Monday dancing nights at Lucky Bar have been anything but lucky lately. Instead of taking a chance of making myself miserable again, I decided to start a mini boycott and spend the next who-knows-how-many Monday nights away from dancing (at least for now).

Instead, I decided to buy some wine and make pasta at home. I was so excited about this! Alas, when I opened my pasta maker, I was horrified to see that the cutting rolls had rust on them. Crap!

I immediately went and tried to research solutions to this problem on Google. Alas, using rubbing alcohol and white vinegar (separately) did not take all of the rust off. (I still managed to make pasta and will post the results on Mango & Tomato later this week.)

It was then that I decided to consult the manual for my pasta machine. Turns out, you are not supposed to wash the machine or let water anywhere near it!

If only I was like my dad...he's an engineer, and doesn't even attempt to start using a new appliance before reading its manual cover to cover! I, on the other hand, just jump into things and hope to figure them out as I go.

You should have seen him teaching Anna and I how to drive: there were diagrams involved, and he even took Misha's toy cars to show us how the wheels worked. As if I cared: I just wanted to drive :)

Anyway, I will try to see if I can return/exchange my pasta machine.

Oh, and the earrings in this post are the ones I made for Jenn's birthday: she looks adorable wearing them :)

Jewelry Re-do

A while ago I made some sunny yellow jewelry.

I've gotten quite a bit of wear from the bracelet, necklace and earrings, but last night decided to re-do the bracelet. Let's face it: I was bored, couped up in my apartment for the last 4 days and did not go dancing. (On the positive note, I'm finally feeling better!).

before

For the after, I used silver tone beads in-between the yellow ones. Alas, I was missing one silver tone bead, so this bracelet is not perfect, but then neither is life.

4th of July Fireworks

Here are a few photographs from 4th of July: I went to the Mall with Laura and some of her friends after pigging out on awesome food :)

The views were gorgeous, the fireworks were amazing, and we had a ton of fun listening to patriotic music on an ipod hooked up to mini speakers provided by David & Sarah.

(click on images to see better detail)

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned....

Well, maybe sinned is too harsh of a word, but I did break my vow of not buying any jewelry/clothes/shoes for two months!

Yesterday I met Anna's friend from Birmingham, Angela, and some of her friends at Eastern Market. And let me tell you, you cannot go to Eastern Market and not buy anything!

I happened to be wearing a yellow skirt (I actually wore it as a dress) and my turquoise necklace, which took me several years to find (I finally purchased one in Dallas a few years ago). While looking at some jewelry stands, I saw a pair of turquoise earrings for $5!!!!!!!! Now, how could I have passed that by? I could not: so I bought them. I think they match so well!

As far as "What I am Eating," I haven't been writing things down, but I definitely keep track of my food intake in my head. So far I've been doing pretty well. Of course, there was quite a bit of eating at Laura's bbq for the 4th of July, but overall I haven't had any of the let's-eat-everything-in sight episodes!

WIAE

So I haven't updated my progress in the last few days. I can't really remember what I ate on Wednesday, but I remember that I did pretty well! And I went salsa dancing.

Thursday was a big test because I stayed home, which usually means eating and watching TV, but not this time! I had scrambled eggs and cheese in a tortilla, then a salad with chicken and diet Pepsi and a nectarine. Then I was working a Mexican class at Sur La Table, and other than snacking a bit too much on salsa and chips, I did not pig out!

Friday
cereal w/milk, coffee
potatoes, salad, chicken
nectarine
cookie and diet Pepsi (I also have a mini brownie sitting on my desk, but might just take it home w/me instead of eating it right now)

WIAE & Progress

You know, I think the fact that I'm writing down everything that I eat is really helping! I already lost ten pounds.
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Ok, that was a joke. I don't think I actually lost any weight, but last night when I came home from a rather sh*tty night of dancing, instead of eating the entire contents of my refrigerator (something I would have absolutely done in the past), I simply went to bed. Let's hope this more sane behavior continues.

cereal with milk
roasted pepper & cauliflower soup; broccoli souffle
diet Pepsi
10 almonds
cantaloupe
tomato/basil/mozzarella salad for a snack
Dinner w/Jenn, Mas and Joenn (Peruvian chicken and dessert)
Exercise: swing dancing!

WIAE & I was FORCED to buy new shoes

Today is going pretty well so far...well, relatively well :)


cereal with milk
roasted pepper & cauliflower soup, broccoli souffle
diet Pepsi with 2 small chocolates
iced coffee with a slice of Daring Bakers challenge (the rest of the "challenge" I brought to work and shared with my coworkers! that means I would not be eating it at home tonight! Score!)
for dinner I had a beet/grapefruit/blue cheese/endive salad and some melon later on


And now to the story of the shoes. Last Friday I walked across the street on my way to the Metro and one of my Express flip flops broke. I was too lazy to walk home and take another pair of shoes and simply tied the flip flop: it was operational. Then when I walked to Gallery Place for lunch to meet Ashley, my second flip flop broke! UGH! Ashley decided that was good enough of an excuse to buy new flip flops.


Luckily Payless was right around the corner. All the cheap flip flops were...well, cheap! And they did not have too many in my size, so I ended up buying these. The flower on them reminds me of the red pumps Anna and I had when we were in Russia...oh the memories!

Surprisingly, they are quite comfortable! I just hope they last longer than the ones from Express!

A Way to Cheer Up: Asters

You know what cheers me up? Flowers! And this week I definitely needed some cheering up. So I bought 2 bouquets of asters and put them together:

WIAE Saturday & Sunday

Saturday
Bread with eggs, tomatoes and Diet Pepsi
peach
2 salads: canned salmon/mayo/Parmesan and roasted peppers/basil/mozzarella and bread
wine
Indian with Jenn and Radha
1 doughnut
exercise: 26 laps in the pool

Sunday
peach/chocolate chip pancakes; water
salad with Parmesan and roasted peppers; Diet Pepsi
a bit of apricot jam
Daring Bakers Challenge (it's a secret!!!) with milk
Robyn's broccoli souffle

WIAE Day 1

So this past week I've been doing quite a bit of emotional eating. I know that I'm doing it, and yet I'm still doing it. Ridiculous.

Yesterday I went to the pool and did 22 laps...pretty good, right? Each "lap" is 20 meters. Before doing my laps, I got on a scale and I so did not like the number that I saw!

So I decided to start publicly writing down everything that I eat each day. Hopefully that will force me to be more mindful of the food I put in my mouth and give you, my readers, an opportunity to spot things that I'm missing from my food intake.

So today is the brand new start!!! WIAE: What I Am Eating.

Morning: I drank 24 oz of water as soon as I got to work. Then I had some cereal with 1% milk. By 10:30 I was sort of hungry again, but just had more water.

Lunch: Capitol BBQ w/Ashley: pulled bbq sandwich with corn/tomato salad, potato salad (mustard base) and Diet Coke (I had some of the food left over, took it to work and had it later for a snack).

Falling asleep/bored: diet Pepsi seems like a good solution.

Snack: leftover cold lemony dill shrimp. Mostly I ate it because if I did not, I'd have to throw it away.

Dinner: Qdoba with Wendy: chicken taco salad w/guacamole.

Late snack: individual sized watermelon: ugh, it was overripe and not too sweet, but the good thing is I resisted eating it with white bread (my favorite way!).

Overall this was a pretty good day! And I managed to walk a total of 1.5 hours!

Hope y'all not finding this too boring. I promise to post other things and not just my food intake :)

Say What???

Last night I was walking home from the grocery store carrying a few bags full with ingredients for testing Robyn's recipes. Once again I was feeling like I was having a sugar low and that if I did not get home in time and put some food in my mouth, I'd be in trouble.

Thus, I wasn't really paying attention when some teenager boy said something to me from his car. "Excuse me?" I asked. "Would you like help with your [grocery] bags?" he asked again.

Seriously!? I wonder what the repercussions of me agreeing to that would have been. Instead, I just said "No, thank you."

No more shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A few weeks ago I changed things up in my closet: I switched up my winter/fall wardrobe to a spring/summer wardrobe. During this big to-do I also put a bunch of clothing items on top of my "to be donated" pile, which is quite large now.

ARGH: I'm so tired of buying things and then either not wearing them, or growing out of them or not taking good care of them. So I decided not to buy any more clothes/shoes/jewelry for the next two months (so basically June and July). So far, so good. But temptations are everywhere!!!

Perhaps that's why last night when I was working at Sur La Table I bought two martini glasses. Mine are the red ones: I just could not resist: they were on sale from $9.99 to $2.99. I think they'll be really fun to use as props for my food blog. And they also match the red color of my Mikasa martini glasses and are not clothing/shoes/jewelry...yes, I'm really good at justifying my decisions!

Butterflies!

Today during lunch Laura and I took a walk to the Natural History Museum for their Butterfly exhibit. Luckily, we did not have to wait in line because my friend Sarah (who I met during the Avon Breast Cancer walk) volunteers at the exhibit on Tuesdays (the only day when admission is free!).

Butterflies were everywhere! So many colors. So many shapes. I was a bit scared that one will either sit on me or I would step on one...none of which happened.

Hope you like the photos below.

New Jewelry

Remember a gorgeous silver ring I purchased from a local gallery in Washington DC in October 2007?? I absolutely loved it! I wore it quite often, and even came up with a fun idea of wearing it together with other thin rings.

Then this past February I lost the ring on my way to Savannah and was devastated. I even tried to replicate the ring (without any success) from copper wire.

I was so delighted when over the Memorial Day weekend in Chicago I walked into Contemporary Museum of Art and saw that they carried both the ring and the matching bracelet!!! The two purchases were definitely quite a splurge, but the craftsmanship is absolutely beautiful, and it makes me happy to wear this jewelry. I love the fluidity of the pieces and the ability to make the ring wider or narrow by playing with the silver wire.



The artist of this gorgeous jewelry is Pamela Bosco.

Chicago Recap

Saturday: flew in with Wendy. Met up with Anna in the hotel. Amy joined us a bit later and we headed to dinner. I really wanted to go to Tango Sur, but the wait was 2 hours. So we ended up at a Moroccan restaurant: Andalous. Great food! Super friendly staff, and Bring your own wine!

Anna and I were planning on going salsa dancing at night, but alas were too tired.

Sunday: Woke up and went to China town for dim sum. Then spent quite some time on the El trying to find a market festival. Who knew they had two stations with the same name on the same line!? Finally found the market: I really liked it: jewelry, art, crafts, music, food, etc. I bought a pretty pearl necklace and Anna bought me the t-shirt (see Say What??? post below).





Had dinner at Cafe Iberico and then went to Second City. Tapas were pretty good, but the best time was the bill: with a pitcher of sangria and plenty of food, we paid only $20/each! The comedy show was awesome! I haven't laughed that much in quite a bit.




Again, our tentative plans for salsa dancing did not happen.

Monday: had breakfast at Corner Bakery by our hotel (seriously, it seemed like there were Corner Bakeries on every corner!). Went to see Couture clothing exhibit at the Chicago History museum. Beautiful clothing, and a bonus: museum was free on Monday. But I was disappointed by their museum store: nothing tempting at all.

Then met Anna's friend Kate for pizza. Followed by a boat tour: too bad it was pouring, so we had to sit inside the boat.



Photos from the boat tour:


Wendy went to see a baseball game, while Anna, Amy and I went to dinner. The place we originally wanted was closed for Memorial Day, and so we went with the hotel's recommendation. UGH: they were out of 5 entrees, and then also told us they were out of clam chowder. The wine was good, but the food was mediocre. Just because you give me a huge amount of food does not mean it's a good thing.

Tuesday: our last day in Chicago. Had hot dogs for a late breakfast, then walked around the city. Stopped by the Contemporary Museum's store where I bought a ring and a bracelet. Met Anna's other friend for lunch at Frontera Grill, and then it was time to fly back to reality (I will be posting photos of jewelry later and will post food recaps on Mango & Tomato).

Hot dogs:


Frontera Grill:



Overall had a great time. Could have used a few extra days, but there is always the next time!

1. With Anna (click to see my new pearl necklace) 2. With Amy (you can see my new glasses) 3. With Wendy and Anna (my bag totally matched Wendy's coat!)

Say What??? (Chicago Edition)

I was in Chicago on a mini vacation with Anna, Wendy and Amy over the weekend. I'll post a longer update later, but for now, here's one of the "say what??" moments.

We were on the El (their version of Subway/Metro). I was standing and minding my own business when all of a sudden a woman sitting one row behind me said loudly to me "Why don't you sit down? Your ass is in my face!!!!"

At first I was too shocked to respond. Then I turned red because I was so shocked and embarrassed. So the woman repeated that my ass was in her face again. I decided it'd be wiser to just move away from her than to answer her back.

1) my ass was not in her face
2) my ass was not in her face
3) I did not realize I had such a big ass
4) Wendy and Amy were glad I did not say anything back because who knows where that could have led?
5) Anna bought me a cute tshirt that says "get your ass moving"

Birthday Cards

I love making birthday cards. They are not as elaborate as the ones you can find at the stores, but hopefully the recipients appreciate the personal touch ;)

The card below I made for my grandma's bday (May 25th). The words at the top are in Russian and say Happy Birthday!

I drew an African violet plant because my grandma has always had a bunch of these flowers, and has a green thumb in general. Maybe that's where I got mine from? (That is when I actually remember to water my plants.)

Shopping time

Last Friday I had a bit of time to spare before going to an Art Gallery opening. My options were to stay longer at work, to go and read at Starbucks or to go shopping. Shopping won!

I visited one of my favorite stores, Secondi, and made FOUR purchases. I always get a lot of use out of things I buy at the store, and always get compliments, so I think it is well worth it.

The top below is what I call a "pregnant top." But I don't really care too much if I look pregnant while wearing it. The colors are so much fun, and the fabric is light and flowy. And it can doulbe as a skirt! (I did iron the top, but only after taking the photos). I also bought a white GAP hoodie and a light lavender tshirt. Scroll down for the 4th purchase.



On Saturday I went to a bunch of open studios around U Street and one of the artists had these amazing card holders with his photographs "glued" to the top. I've been wanting one of these for a long time, and decided to buy one! LOVE. It's a perfect way to carry a Metro card, ID and a credit card with me when I go dancing.



And finally, something I've been carrying around the entire weekend, and something I'm planning to take to Chicago with me: my new green bag. I saw it at Secondi and could not resist. It's roomy, but light. And look at the linining! Fun colored linings always make me think of Jenny :)

Now I'll just have to coordinate all of my outfits not to clash with this vibrant color.

Flowers and Sky

This weekend I walked around U-street neighborhood visiting local galleries. There were so many pretty flowers in bloom! Below is a collage of just some of the photographs I took (click to enlarge).

These are a few pictures of an empty carriage house that stood next to one of the galleries. I think this would be an amazing place for a dance studio...if only.

And here is a Buddha I saw at one of the houses.

And here's a picture of me on one of the rocking sculptures.

2 Day Avon Breast Cancer Walk

It is hard to believe, but the 2 Day Avon Breast Cancer Walk is over!!! It took place this past weekend and I was able to complete the full 26.2 miles the first day and 13.1 miles the second day.

I could not have done it without many of your emotional and financial help or without my "Avon Girls": Sarah, Christina, Chelsy and Jamie (Christina's mom).

For the last 3-4 years I have volunteered at both Avon and Susan G Komen walks, and this year I decided it was finally time to walk!!! I signed up, sent out an email requesting donations and was able to raise over $1800!!!! And then I started training for the walk.

That's how I met Sarah, Christina and Chelsy! It was so much more fun walking with these girls instead of on my own. And it was great to have their support last weekend. Plus, Christina's mom flew in from NY and walked with us, taking great care to make sure we were all good!

Below is my bracelet: I had to wear it during the entire walk. The funny thing was that when I received the bracelet in the mail, I thought they wrote down my gender wrong because it said M instead of F....turns out it was the size of my t-shirt :)


The Friday before the walk we all met up for dinner in Adams Morgan. It was nice and relaxing. I then stayed over at Sarah's, and her husband Nick was really nice to drive us to the opening ceremony: we got there at 5:30 in the MORNING! Bright and early! It was still dark outside. People gathered around, checked in their luggage (we were staying in a "wellness village" overnight...that means TENTS people!), ate breakfast and chatted.

The opening ceremony started around 6:30 and it SO got me crying! There were people sharing their personal connections with breast cancer: it is a horrendous disease. That is why all of us raised money and were ready to walk to raise awareness and to find cure for breast cancer!

(one of the photos below shows a line to porta-potties....we saw quite a bit of them during the weekend!)



(above: me, Chelsy, Sarah, Christina, Jamie)



And then it was time to walk!!!! Our pace was rather slow at the beginning because there were just too many walkers. The five of us stuck together for the first part of the walk, but then Sarah had to leave and play a concert (she's in the Marine band!!!) and rejoined us later that day.

The weather was perfect: overcast, slightly cool: perfect for walking for 11 hours: yes, that's how long it took us to walk 26.2 miles (that included bathroom breaks, snack breaks and lunch).







The walking was made easier by entertaining signs (see below) and a funny van (see above) that kept on following us around. There were so many people on the streets cheering us on and thanking us for what we were doing! And of course we had each other :)



Woo hoo! Mile 18!!! Don't I look thrilled? :) (you can see my new sunglasses and a balloon I carried the entire 1st day and most of the 2nd day before it popped on a branch of a tree)



We are done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (well, with the first day!) I felt like I accomplished quite a bit. We were tired, but proud! And we had hot showers waiting for us...but first we had to set up tents. Say what?! Luckily, one of the volunteers helped me out.

Below is Sarah's and my tent. Cozy :) And the picture next to it is our Saturday dinner. We ended up going to bed at 9, and I slept like a baby.




I woke up at 6:15 am on Sunday to the sound of rain. The first word out of my mouth was "sh*t" (or Shrimp!!! (inside joke)). I so did not want to walk in the rain. But walk we did! All 13 miles in a down pour! We were soaked through and through, and yet we kept on moving, putting one foot in front of the other. It took us almost 6 hours, but we made it!!!! (Oh, the pictures below are the tents in the rain, line for breakfast, and breakfast).



I think Sarah took the photo below around mile 8. That's when we found out that we would have to eat lunch in the rain...on the ground...in the wet rain. Do I look thrilled or what? We ended up finding a bank that had an overhanging "thing" and we all stood/sat there while eating our cold sandwiches.

But like I said, we all made it! I will post the pictures from the Finish Line once I get them. I'm so proud of myself and of everyone who has completed this walk! There were people of all ages, races, genders (ok, just women and men), and physical abilities. We all walked together, cheering each other, and knowing that the money we raised will go to a great cause.

Will I do this walk next year? Right now my answer is No, but you never know!

More Flowers

I saw this random tulip growing next to a tree over the weekend and was glad I had my camera! It was a bright and sunny day, and the tulip's deep rich colored petals were such a contrast!

In other news, Avon Breast Cancer 2 Day Walk is this weekend! I'm hoping for no rain, even though the forecast is not very promising.

Georgetta Manning Cox is No Longer My Dentist

Let me count the reasons why Georgetta Manning Cox is No Longer My Dentist:

1) She doesn't have a receptionist
2) She doesn't have assistants
3) Once she emailed me at midnight cancelling the appointment for the following morning
4) There hasn't been a single time when she was actually ready for me at the time she said to come in
5) My permanent crown fell out twice
6) Sometimes her daughter is on phone duty: this means rudeness, completely unprofessional behavior and snarky remarks

After my permanent crown fell out for the 2nd time, I called and talked to Mrs. Manning's daughter. She insinuated that it was somehow my fault that the crown kept on falling out. When I told her that I could not imagine what it was that I did wrong, she replied "I don't know, I'm not in your mouth"

7) Most of communication for making appointments, etc, was done over text messages and email

8) Once, she cut my tongue during a procedure and instead of apologizing claimed that "for someone so quiet, you have quite an active tongue"

9) Ashley found a new and more organized dentist who actually has receptionists and assistants! So I switched!

10) Although Cindy insinuated a few times that I might perhaps be having an affair with my dentist because I was seeing her so many times, that is simply not true

Sunflowers & Gerber Daisies

Often people tell me I'm high maintenance and it takes a lot to please me. That is just not true. First of all, I maintain myself. Second of all, most of the time it's the little things that make me happy. Combine the two and it explains why I buy flowers for myself ;)

Flowers make me happy. They brighten up my environment and cheer me up! Over the weekend I bought a bouquet of sunflowers and a bouquet of Gerber daisies. My original plan of combining the two bouquets in one vase failed miserably: the sunflowers were just too heavy and would not cooperate, so I kept the two kinds of flowers separately.

Training Update

Hi, All.

Just wanted to let you know what's been going on with my training for the Avon Breast Cancer walk which is (OMG) in less than 2 weeks. How does time go by so quickly?

I really haven't done much training last week other than a few 1.5 mile walks and going dancing. Supposedly dancing counts as training, so I'll take it.

Then last Saturday, Christina and I met early for an EIGHTEEN mile walk! Yes, that's right, 18!

In Judaism, 18 is a lucky number. Well, I wasn't feeling entirely lucky during the 6.5 hours: the time it took us to walk 18 miles and have lunch. My feet were killing me, there were all these bikers yelling "on your left" and beeping at us as they were passing us by, and for a while I thought I wasn't going to be able to hold out till the next bathroom.........

...but then there were also great things about this training walk
1) It did not rain, like it did the Saturday before
2) I was doing the walk w/Christina, and not on my own: so there was a fun conversation to be had
3) There were more than just several attractive and fit dudes to look at
4) On the turn around point I found a $20 bill on the ground: LUNCH money!
5) Despite everything, we made it: we walked 18 miles!

Here's to hoping that the actual walk goes well and without any injuries and that we inspire many other people to sign up for 2010 walk and raise money to cure this disease!

New Glasses & Sunglasses

See the photo of my on the right of the screen? Those were my favorite glasses for the last two years. Then they fell off my head and broke in two. I was really sad. And it happened right before my Vegas trip.

Luckily, I had a spare pair of metal silver toned frames at home. But I don't love them, even though many people complimented me on them.

And so it was time to pick out a new pair of glasses and sunglasses!

For the glasses, I chose Calvin Klein! LOVE! For the sunglasses, I chose Essence frame in olive color with dark gray lenses (the lenses actually almost look olive and match the frames really well!).