already? geez..

I missed a day already. I know it looks as though I missed Wednesday, but in reality the post dated for Thursday was just posted late Wednesday night. This stupid blog posted on Eastern time, so I lost three hours. So I did post on Wednesday.

I did not, however, post yesterday. To be fair though, I took a picture. I just completely forgot to post it. Whoops. Learning curves...they get ya every time.

Either way, here's my picture from yesterday (it's not great or exciting).



I've been spending some afternoons by the pool. I always start by cleaning it, then I relax and read, then clean, then later, rinse, repeat. It turns out, I really love cleaning the pool. I remember growing up we wanted a pool so badly but Mom and Dad just kept telling us how much work it was. I'm sure as a child I wouldn't have enjoyed the chore and they were probably right. For some reason though, I now enjoy it. Something about doing a little work and being able to see the difference right away is satisfying. Another satisfying thing, and probably the real reason I like the work, is that when I get hot, I jump in the pool. I mean, what a deal...

Anyway, I'm off to swim, clean, and read again today.

when it rains...

So with my car on the fritz, I'm relying on my bike for most of my transportation. This happened on a commute back from happy hour with friends today...



Luckily I was only about a mile from home.


I sure hope I don't break my foot tomorrow...

365

Ok, let's try this one more time. It's summer and I have time on my hands. It's time for me to pick up cheap hobbies, projects, and reading materials. One project that I've decided to start is my blog. I am going to post a picture on this blog once a day, every day. I always have my camera with me, but very rarely use it. I don't have a great camera, but it will be fun to document a year through photos, even if they aren't great quality.



This first picture is where my transportation situation started going downhill...fast. Over the weekend I went to Flagstaff, AZ for a wedding. The entire four hour drive up there was a series of unfortunate events, which continued on to the following days. After my check engine light came on and after I got locked into a parking lot, the tail light cover on the driver's side flew off while going down I-10. I had pulled over to check it once because it was flapping and it seemed as though the glue that held it on was melting (ahh 105 degree weather). I figured I was only about 35 miles from Tucson, so I stuck it back on and kept going. Next thing I know, it flew off and my tail light itself was flapping in the wind. I pulled over again, realized I had no tape, and got creative...

Above you see that I band-aided my tail light back onto my car to make it the rest of the way home...

Did you know that new tail lights cost $100?

Oh and in other news, the check engine light was on because the transmission is failing and needs to be re-built. Anyone selling a car?

baby steps...

So I didn't do too hot this week with the "everyday" thing, but it's all about baby steps right?

I had the day off today and it was one of the first days that really felt and smelled like fall! The high was only 70! ALL DAY!! It was only about 58 at 9am and it only got up to 70. There was an amazing breeze all day as well. Amazing. It was drizzly in the morning too, so I felt the need to use my crock pot.

For dinner tonight, we're having a pork roast (with apples and onions), oven-roasted potatoes, and broccoli. I also made a pumpkin roll with maple cream cheese icing. Doesn't fall just lend itself to the most amazing food doesn't it?

Other than that, I looked at an apartment today. It's in a convenient location and I really liked it. It was pretty big for a 1 bedroom - 602 sq. feet. I'm hoping to move in there, but I'm waiting to sort out my job situation before I make an executive decision. It was nice to finally see a nice apartment in a good location for a decent price though.

Oh I also made chocolate cupcakes for my boss' birthday tomorrow. Unfortunately, they aren't very moist. Sorry Alma.

I have a feeling that food is going to be a very prominent theme through this blog. I just love it way too much.

On that note, I'm off to continue making dinner!

yum.

If you've ever happened across the website failblog.org, you may recognize that my blog deserves a front page spread on that site. My efforts to keep up with posting entries have been meager at best. I am hereby re-re-re-re-pronouncing my goal to update this blog at least once every couple of days. Here's hoping...

Anyway, life has been delicious in the past 3 (WOW) months. Seriously though, my use of the word delicious wasn't just another case where I like to use inappropriate adjectives to describe circumstances. I've been eating really well. Most recently we had a pig roast to celebrate the 6 great years that Maggie and Aleks have been in Tucson. Really that means it was a going away party, but I can't think of it as that...it's too depressing. But the pig...yum. I had never had a roast pig before, but I am sold. Brandon and Catfish deserve all the props in the world for that delightful pork. The rest of the party was a potlock, and I think everyone decided that pasta went well with pig. My chipotle mac and cheese was not too cheesy (as I had originally feared). Butternut squash lasagna, peanut noodles, some pesto-y pasta dish, and a bulgar/veggie casserole were just a few of the scrumptious cast of characters last night.

And don't even get me started on dessert! Ok, ok, fine...get me started. I had one of everything, which is disgusting considering all that I had eaten for dinner, but it was delicious at the same time. Maggie's tiramisu took home gold in my book. Other top contenders include, pear pudding which tasted like fall, chocolate peanut butter bundt cake, pumpkin roll, peanut butter cookies, and I'm pretty sure there was something more as well. Needless to say, a run is more than in order for today.

Hopefully future entries won't be so food oriented, but I wouldn't count on it. That's all for now, hopefully I'll have some big news coming up soon, but we'll see!

sunday morning

Ahh. Wow. I haven't really appreciated a Sunday morning in a long time. Don't get me wrong, going to church every Sunday was actually a great way to get me up and going - and I always got to start my Sunday with choral music. However, this morning is my first Sunday morning in my apartment and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

There's nothing better than hot coffee, Norah Jones, and a sunny balcony. I also transplanted my basil plant and watered my mini-roses. In a few minutes I'm going to give Maggie a call and we're going to go to the farmer's market. Does a morning get any better than that?

I love having Sundays and Mondays off. Saturdays are rarely as relaxing as Sundays and even though I always have Mondays off, it still feels like a special treat every time.

May your Sunday morning be as relaxing or productive as you want it to be.

why did the caterpillar cross the road?

On my way to work the other morning I heard a story on NPR that actually had me laughing out loud. It wasn't meant to be funny, but something about it just made me chuckle. You can find the article and listen to the story at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128695206.

It was a story about a man who recently completed his Ph.D in...ready? Wait for it....caterpillar locomotion. Wow. I really didn't even know that was possible. Now perhaps at Tufts University caterpillar locomotion falls under a larger program, which is actually what he received his degree in. However, on NPR they simply stated his degree is in caterpillar locomotion. I thought that was pretty funny.

He did a study to experiment how caterpillars move, which included hooking them up to little treadmills. How incredible is that? A caterpillar treadmill? Yes. The picture that came into my mind as I was listening to this was definitely pretty funny.

They went on to discuss that caterpillars actually move by throwing their gut forward. It was a pretty revolutionary discovery - something no one had ever thought of before. This information will be used to make a mechanical caterpillar.

I can't do this article justice, it's best you read it yourself. Also, videos of the caterpillars on the treadmill are available at the above link!

I love NPR and usually the stories are pretty interesting, but this one just really caught me off guard. It was super and gave me a great laugh before work.