January 24th, 2011

Sewing kit
January 23rd, 2011

I made banana cream pie for the Pie Party at work. It was amazingly delicious in my opinion. Light and mild. Made from Dorie Greenspan's recipe - with her sweet tart dough crust and freshly whipped cream.

January 23rd, 2011

Sewing kit
January 23rd, 2011

I sewed some stuff today. As a result of the washing machine in my basement literally shredding the back of my shirt/sweater thing. Because that's just the next step on a long list of ways my landlord extorts money from me with the promise of cleaning clothing and then in return for destroys my wardrobe one piece at a time.

January 22th, 2011

Blue Eye
January 22nd, 2011

When I was in fifth grade, our teacher had us tally our eye color. We then displayed our results on the wall in the hallway using cut-out eyes to represent each color. I remember thinking how boring it was that I didn't have a special eye color. That I was just another member of the majority with my blue eyes.

I grew up in a small New England town, where blue eyes were, in fact, the dominant eye color. It wasn't until much later as an adult that I began to appreciate the fact that my eye color was less common than I originally imagined. In fact, the percentage of babies being born with blue eyes as rapidly shrinking due to its derivation from a recessive gene.

January 21st, 2011

Mary after the storm
January 21st, 2011

After our third snowstorm of the week, I trudged to work through the snowy sidewalks. Two teenage boys were working to clear out the steps at the Catholic Church down the street. Nestled behind heavily weighed down branches was a statue of Mother Mary, quiet in her prayer on that snow-muffled morning.

January 20th, 2011

This week's flower: Tulips
January 20th, 2011

I try to keep fresh flowers in my home at all times. What lands in my vases is usually from my own backyard or whatever happens to be on sale at Whole Foods. This past week it was Tulips, since we're headed into that season.

Tulips tend not to last that long as they grow out of the leaves and tumbling over on themselves from their own weight. The sturdiest flower is the gerber daisy. I love a vivid yellow or orange gerber. But this week the orange-yellow of the tulips caught my eye. I pulled a single stem to go in the bathroom by the sink and kept the rest in a yellow ceramic pitcher in my kitchen.

January 16th, 2011

Sea Anemone
Aquarium of the Pacific
Long Beach, CA
January 16th, 2011

The talk went perfectly well. After checking out of the hotel, I spent a couple of hours at the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was a Sunday and therefore inundated with all of the children in CA. It was also painful to be in a dark aquarium when the sun was shining and there was a beach to visit.

Petting sea anemone was the best part of the aquarium visit. When you brush your fingers over their tentacles, the tentacles seem to cling and stick. While at other times, they quickly draw away from your hand. The sticking isn't actually sticking though. They are technically stinging/poison your fingertips, but our skin is too thick for us to feel it or its effect - so it just feels sticky. This is how they trap their food, by paralyzing it with toxins.

Petting sea anemone is far cooler than petting star fish (New England Aquarium, I'm talking to you.)

January 15th, 2011

Flamenco Dancers
Alegria Cocina Latina
Long Beach, CA
January 15th, 2011

Flamenco dancers walked a small stage at the latin restaurant we had dinner at on Saturday night. Fresh sangria with pre-marinated fruit in the glass made the boys squirm. I didn't stay out beyond the meal, and even then I left early. I had my talk in the morning and was in the verge of freaking out when I got back to the hotel room. You know how you wake up in the middle of the night in a panic? I totally did that, having not been able to properly give my talk in a practice run a couple of hours before.

There really should be a warning label on me that says I can't be trusted to have productive or rational behavior after 10pm. I'm far too vulnerable to exhaustion-induced mood swings.