Thursday Funday

Diane is working in Philly for a few weeks and she came over for dinner tonight before heading back to NYC. Had such a good time. Pancho and I made roasted chicken with garbanzo beans and cherry tomatoes with a spicy yogurt sauce. Mediterrean-y.

I don't have people over to my apartment very often because it is so small, so this was a nice treat. Really broke up the usual hum-drum weekday nights. Sent her on the train with freshmade blondies!

I splurged and bought the Martha Stewart Holiday cookie book. SO so worth it. Made the Gluten-free, Dairy-free Chocolate Pecan cookies this weekend (mostly because they were the easiest with ingredients I had on hand). Like meringues, all light and delicate, but super chocolate-y. Stocked up on cookie tins, too, so I'm hoping to get treats out this year.

Making Butternut Squash and White Bean soup for dinner tonight. Getting back into cooking real dinners again. Just need to make the effort to plan ahead and then its nice knowing I've already got something planned for when I get home rather than tossing together something completely ad hoc each night. It is dark now at 5:00 p.m. I forgot this about Fall/Winter.

Countdown: 2 weeks to race day

Hmmm.. so insanely busy lately, entire weeks go by and I marvel that it is already well into November. I'm working like a madwoman, currently in the middle of a 13-day stretch. Frankly, a little concerned I'm going to make myself sick. Not nearly enough rest, especially on top of training for the half-marathon. It is in exactly 2 weeks. I ran 9.9 miles yesterday morning and plan on getting to 11 before the race. Apparently adrenalin will help propel me the extra 2 miles I'll have never run before. Let's hope so. It's been very satisfying though, I've never run more than 8 miles in my life and I've been adding on more and feeling fine. Makes me wonder what my old cross-country times might have been had I been this determined back then. Ah well. Better late than never. I also loaded up on cold-weather running goodies yesterday. Got my beanie, gloves, some gel electrolyte thingies to eat while running. Apparently they help to get you past the energy slump. I'm just getting psyched as the race gets closer and I'm more confident that I'll actually be able to do it. I want to finish and run the entire thing, first, but also try to beat 2:10. Definitely think it is within reach.

Better be off to ice some leg soreness and get ready for the desk job in the morning....

No work Friday!

I have the entire day off. So nice. I'm enjoying it since I already did my 4 days at the NCC and I have a walking tour tomorrow from 9am-4pm. Slept in a little bit, went for a 5 mile run!!, watched Biggest Loser and nibbled on some of the strawberry tart I whipped up earlier this week (homemade whipped cream!) and hot cocoa. I realize now typing that that its a bit silly to go work out and watch an inspirational, living healthy show while shoveling food into my mouth but.... I's hungry!

Think I'm going to read for awhile (still on The Help, its fantastic and I'm enjoying it, just finding it hard to get solid reading time) and then head to Pancho's. The weather has really settled into being cool, windy, and downright brisk out. I'm resisting, but I'll probably have to switch out my summer clothes in the closet soon. I'm trying to layer a lot so that I can still get mileage out of the tanks and tees. But the boots are coming out tonight! (Med School party to celebrate the exams they just had. I will come back to post what I am sure will be hilarious (or hilariously nerdy) stories.)

ahh. running. So very hard to motivate myself when I've gotten out of a routine. But I'm back. Did 4 miles today in what I intend to be the start of an intense training for the next 6 weeks. That Half-Marathon is not going to run itself. :-b

And it's been a month since I've blogged anything. Been very very busy. Ali came to visit last weekend and we had a great time! Getting cheesesteaks, walking all over and taking fun pictures, making a checkerboard cake and animal pancakes, playing Moose in the House, hanging out with some Philly Gators, and unfortunately, watching the Gators lose to Alabama. Besides from that, a very nice mini stay-cation for me! I am very interested to see what she decides to do next year and whether the City of Brotherly Love will have a part. Snoopy dance in anticipated excitement? ;-)

This week I started my new part-time job as the Civility and Democracy Fellow for an NEH-grant project at the NCC. This week I'm creating a Google Site for all of the participants. I'm learning a lot! Like how to import a calendar and pictures and link to a Google Groups page. haha. AND on Friday I start my very first tour for my second job. I'm cramming Philadelphia history tonight in preparation. I really hope I can answer at least like 75% of questions people might ask. yikes! But yeah, the jobs hunt, and running all around for these things is keeping me pretty busy. Trying to cobble enough together to cover my expenses.

Pancho's birthday is this weekend and I'm uncharacteristically behind in getting ready for it. I don't know where the time is going. Its October already and Fall! Gotten quite cool out now and have to wear a jacket. I don't know if I can stomach the fact that its just going to be cold now for the next 6 months... ack.

I have slowed in my reading pace. Been on The Help for awhile now and probably will need to rush before the library due date next week. The first third of it that I've read so far is really really good.

September.. already!!

Waiting for dinner. so hungry. but watching Brian Williams so I guess its a wash. :)

All this news about Hurricane Earl does not make me miss hurricane season. HUUGE sigh of relief. but its a big one and could bring us some rain in the Northeast. but I'm still expecting nice Labor Day weekend weather. Pancho and I are going to NYC for a quick trip (Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon) to see some of his friends who are in town. I recommended Calle Ocho for brunch and their delicious sangria bar.... hehehe.

We're still up in the air about what we want to do on Monday though. Make it a lazy, true American relax and grill or go out and about to a wine and jazz thing a little ways from here. Either way, day off of work!

Ok. Dinner ready. More later.

I've kept a log of what books I've read (in full, cover to cover, didn't put a lot on from grad school for instance because I skimmed so many of them) since May 2003. It doesn't really feel like I've been doing it that long, but when I go and look back over it, I have no memory of reading quite a few things there. like classic stuff. Faulkner in April 2005? Henry James in July 2004? uhh..... which is a little scary that I can't remember what the books were about, let alone the fact that I read them.

Although its nice to think back when I somehow found the time to crank out 5, 6, 7 books a month. Its also been pretty handy when authors have several popular books out and I just can't remember for the life of me which ones I've actually read. Best example of this is Malcolm Gladwell. I can't keep the books straight. In reality, I've only read The Tipping Point but always feel like I've also read Blink. I will also say to someone, oh I read that a few years ago, and go to look and its been more than a few since Nov 2003 (Ella Minnow Pea).

Lastly, I used to strive to read at least 1 book a month. Things went really well for a long time, until school did me in, but happy to report that I'm back to the pace-- and then some! My more recent obsessive habit is to have read 1 book in the top 10 on just 1 of the NYT book lists. Its actually much harder than you think. Thank goodness for Eat, Pray, Love sticking around and the movie boosting it a bit.

I love the city in the summertime. Its insanely hot --we're supposed to break a heat record by at least 5 degrees today-- but its green and lush and you can wear all the delightful Florida-esque clothes that have been packed up most of the year. I'm also now sporting a very bizarre sandal tan with lots of strappy lines. :) Its nice to be able to walk around, with none of the undergrads, and get errands done on a Saturday morning, no car required.

Got up early to go running before the heat really set in. Breaking in my new New Balance sneakers which are soooo cute (hot pink, black, and gray, they're the Susan G Komen version) and make my feet spring off the pavement. Its tough getting back out after a month off but I needed to and now I have that nice sore feeling from using those lazy muscles again.

Had a great night last night for a friend's birthday. Went to Monk's Cafe for the first time and got to have a beer that I went on a brewery tour for when I studied in Brussels-- Cantillon kriek. Also got to indulge in some deeelicious frites and a duck salad sandwich! Apparently this place is well known, even out of Philly, for its authentic Belgian beer and food. I was pretty impressed! Then back for some homemade chocolate cake with mocha icing. It was super nice to see people who were back in town and to relax a bit at the end of the week.

summer is finally here (for me)

I made it through my defense. Was not scary. I literally have to make 2 grammatical edits (insert a pair of brackets and change 'a' to 'an'). I even sort of enjoyed it. Shhh. I'm turning in the final copy of my thesis on Wednesday to the college and then my academic responsibilities are finished forever! (or at least until I want to have them again)

Seriously, since Wednesday, and not having anything that needs to be tended to in that way, has been amazing. Spent the weekend in NYC with Uncle Rich, Aunt Hester, and Eliza. It was fabulous. Kicked it off with some bubbly to celebrate the ol' master's degree. Fantastic and leisurely meals, great conversation, got to read some old The New Yorker, saw the Burchfield exhibit at the Whitney, the really awesome Bambu installation on the roof of the Met (See Facebook for photos), went bike riding along the West Side along the water to the Brooklyn Bridge. just sooo summery and fun and didn't have to think much about anything. Also, got to test the bus situation to and from the city for the upcoming Girls' Weekend. Have to say though, New York is fun, but not the city for me. Give me a Philadelphia or Boston for the day to day living.

Despite today's rainy-ness, a very lovely and laidback Saturday. I've done lots of fun reading and eating and just a tiny little eensy bit of chores. This is my weekend to relax between very hectic weeks.

Last week my co-worker was out and I was basically left to mind a LOT of things on my own, but I got through it (and fairly successfully!) and managed to ensure that an entire evening program went off without a hitch.

And this coming week is hectic but for mostly great reasons. At work, we have our last evening program for the rest of the summer and Tuesday is a day of meetings (looking at my calendar causes mild anxiety). Wednesday is my Master's Defense and for which I really, tonight, should start planning my 10-15 minute presentation. I don't think its going to be terribly difficult, I mean, I'm supposed to be an expert on my paper at this point. I just don't want to sit and think about it. Okay, maybe an hour tonight and then most tomorrow.... Nicole and Stacy are stopping in Philly during their roadtrip for a few days and I'm heading to NYC next weekend to see my aunt and uncle. Whew!

Mad Men season 3 is now my Blockbuster in the mail. I just love that show. Too bad I can't watch it when its actually on tv. I really like some of the women's clothes but something tells me it was probably a pain to wear it all back in the 60s.

so, my life these days basically revolves around Outlook and I found myself wondering (at home. what should be the last place I think about work-related stuff) hey, I should send the girls phone date meeting requests and then we can schedule it and have it on the calendar. Oh my god. But, seriously, I sort of wish I could do that instead of playing phone tag. Although, something tells me Gmail probably has a function for that. I'm sure it exists, actually.

Anyways, I feel seriously behind on keeping up with everyone. that and apartment cleaning. and grocery shopping. Things are sort of in shambles at the moment. BUT. I have turned in what I am hoping is my second-to-last thesis draft. I have a defense meeting in exactly TWO weeks. I will be done officially with all academic responsibilities in THREE weeks. !!!!

So tired, so many things to do. But its the First Day of Summer (finally, an explanation for this HOT weather) & such a thing as Starbucks ice cream exists, so I'll celebrate that.

Also, check out Nikki Yanofsky if you haven't already heard her sing. Awesome. YouTube has become my go-to for songs when I don't want to spring for them on iTunes....

Late work day tomorrow because Jonathan Alter is coming by to talk about his new book, The Promise: President Obama, Year One. Its been on the bestseller list (just slipped out of the Top 10 this week), and I think we're going to have a packed house. Hope its good!

It is almost Friday--> almost the weekend--> two whole glorious days of sunshine and freedom

Current likes:

• The new ABC Family show, Pretty Little Liars. At this point, I feel like my protestations about the terrible tv I watch are utterly pointless. So, I'll just point out that I plan on watching it. And that I wish I had dressed that well & had amazing, shiny, shampoo-commercial worthy hair when I was high school. le sigh
• Whole Foods tequila lime salsa. A-mazing.
• Vision in White by Nora Roberts. First book I have ever read by her. And only read it at home because I was too ashamed to be seen with it on the subway. even though its summer and I feel therefore that its totally justified. bah. Its the first book of a Bride quartet. 4 best friends who run a wedding company. It is exactly what you think it is. Utterly predictable and fabulous. I just put the second one on hold at the library....
• The Taylor Swift youtube channel. Its been years since I've seen any music videos. Sort of weird doing it reverse when I know her songs so well. Oh, and this is so fitting. The ad that popped up between videos was for Secret Life of the American Teenager. Basically the evil computer tracking cookies have determined my demographic as teenage girl. awesome. lol

Plans for the weekend-- catching up on house stuff, working on my thesis (due in a month-ish), and finally going to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

various and sundry

--Things I have noticed while running in the last week:

• Even when I come home dead tired, as soon as I hit the pavement with my running shoes (so sadly sadly in need of replacement) my body takes over and I find hidden reservoirs of energy. Its pretty cool.
• 9 out of 10 runners (myself included) have this overheated, pained expression. The other 10% are superhuman freaks sprinting down the block, headphones in, looking as if they haven't broken a sweat. I always console myself with the thought that they either just started or this was their block to "look good" and in a moment they will be stopping to jog like the rest of us.
• I like to smile or nod my hat at passing runners. It is rare if I get a return anything. very odd. Aren't we a fraternity of runners? Just a friendly greeting, wouldn't kill anybody.

--Despite initial ambivalence, the new pretzel M&Ms are quite tasty.

--I may have (read: did) bought farmyard animal pancake molds at Williams-Sonoma. They are adorable. and the salesperson told me that my "children are going to love them!" I think I was more bothered that I looked even remotely old enough to have kids. It was actually a jolting thought. For the record, I did in fact say no, they were for myself.

Sunday in Manayunk

Got up early today and headed out to Manayunk (and my friend, Annie's) to see a bike race. I wasn't really too sure the details, so I found an article that explains it pretty well:

To some it's known as the Manayunk Bike Race, to others it's the day of the TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship, but to cyclists it's known as "The Wall." At 9 a.m. Sunday morning, more than 150 cyclists will start on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and pedal their way along the 156-mile course. The course consists of 10 laps of a 14.4-mile circuit traveling west on the Parkway along Kelly Drive to Manayunk, where the course is nicknamed "The Wall" because of its incredibly steep incline.

She lives pretty close to this Wall, and let me tell you, walking the block and half from the train station to her place requires some serious effort, it is basically vertical. So, got to see the cyclists go by twice then we lost track of the laps and retreated to the indoors. It was insaneeeeely hot today. Like a good girl, I put on sunblock and then preceded to sweat it right off. So gross. but I made Kahlua pudding, which was delish and a hit. I mean, you just can't go to a party and not bring something and I figured it kept in line with the drinking theme of the day.

Met lots of new people, played Kings (oyy) and have been back home now watching tv shows online and sobering. lol. Scratch those plans to go for a run and get some MA reading done. meh. Amazing to finally get to be outside and enjoying the sunny weather and its not even technically summer yet! Now that I'm cooped up inside all day at work, I really appreciate when I can be outdoors. Got to start thinking seriously about making plans to kayak or get to the shore or something.

so much to post yet so little time

In very quick notes I will update that:

My dad was here visiting for a long weekend. We tried out Bobby's Burger Palace and the Bobby Bleu burger was delicious (bacon and bleu cheese. yum), drove up to Albany to see my Nana and other family, spent lots of time outdoors which was lovely and soooo relaxing. Did a quizzo night at Local 44 with my Dad, we didn't do so well but it was tons of fun. Spent all Monday walking 8 miles (literally. I mapped it out afterwards) all over downtown. Pretty sure we saw the major highlights including: Penn's campus, walked along the Schuykill River, did the Rocky pose at the top of Art museum steps, saw the LOVE statue, ate lunch at Reading Terminal Market (a food paradise. I WILL be going back. An entire cookbook stall! and lots and lots of pastry places), went into the National Constitution Center (my new as-of-today place of employment) where we took pictures standing next to life size versions of Alexander Hamilton (my dad's favorite) and some other Constitution signers, then off to see the Liberty Bell up close and personal, meandered through Society Hill and South Street and then topped with a delightful dinner at Bistrot La Minette (my fave French restaurant of which I have raved about here before). rhubarb sorbet= cool. Tuesday we took it a lot easier, went to the top of City Hall for a fantastic panoramic view of the city and it was a perfectly clear and sunny day, got requisite cheesesteaks at Tony Luke's where we saw Tony Luke himself, and then walked along the Schuykill to check out the boat houses for the crew teams. Needless to say, I'm exhausted.

Yet. I started as the new National Programs Assistant today. It went well. I think I'll like it. Going to be a busy summer, just hope I can keep up. Big event tomorrow night with Lawrence Summers (former Harvard pres, currently Obama's chief economic advisor and director of National Economic Council) so should be interesting. More to come on all of this at some later date.

Stressing now because I hadn't expected to be working quite so soon and STILL have a paper to read for/ and write by Monday. gah! so I'm off to do that. and then sleep. or more likely pass out into my (w/ freshly laundered sheets) bed.

!!!

I start my NEW JOB next Wednesday.

I have so much craziness going on all of a sudden. I still have to just find the energy and motivation to write my last 2 class papers. (it hasn't been going well. I'm 5 days behind the schedule I set for myself) My dad is coming to visit me for the first time in Philly tomorrow night through Tuesday night. I will start at the National Constitution Center the following morning. That weekend I'm helping Pancho move out and its Memorial Day. and then I have to start working on/finishing my thesis during the next 5.5 weeks. ahhhhhhhh.

life is good. but oh so hectic sometimes.

Preakness

I had quite the weekend. Friday kicked off with a fantastic and gourmet-esque lunch at Fork. yes, it had icons of forks all over in an otherwise totally chic and hip decor. I had a lemongrass lemonade cocktail, finally got to try quinoa as a side to my crispy-skin salmon (I actually bought some at WF but had yet to attempt making it), and had a sinful array of dessert "bites." I think I could eat chocolate pot de creme daily.

Drove down to Baltimore and rushed downtown with Pancho to be volunteer balloon handlers in the Preakness Parade. scored free shirts, glow stick necklaces, and free $40 tickets to Preakness (the motivation). We were in charge of a pink tropical fish. what it had to do with horse racing or Baltimore is beyond me but I can now check that off my life list.

Saturday we went to Preakness. Check 1 of the 3 Triple Crown races off my list. We were in the infield, infamously known for its lawlessness and chaos. Not so bad this year though since people were no longer allowed to bring in their own alcohol. Didn't see too much drunkenness until late in the afternoon. Pancho really wanted to go because OAR played as part of the pre-race festivities. They were good, we enjoyed other bands too and I especially liked the funnel cake and the Black Eyed Susan (Maryland's version of the mint julep). Met up with some of P's friends who had made jello shots and Kahlua pudding (you could bring in food, no drinks). Deeelicious. Alas, no fancy hat and summer dress (not really the infield way) but I vowed I would for the next race. when we actually have seats. Really fantastic weather and no sunburns! We were diligent in re-applying. Oh, and Pancho won $4.60. but had bet $6. :)

And my last Check-that-off-the-list was we had dinner at the Crack Pot (an institution among Bmore crab places) and I had oysters on the half shell for the first time. Pretty good. Texture didn't bother me, but I can see how people are freaked out. Followed it up with more shellfish-- scallops for the entree.

and. (500) Days of Summer was a cute movie. Mmmm to Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I was both annoyed and intrigued with the constant switching of present time and foreshadowing. I first saw Zooey Deschanel in Almost Famous, and I still think she's wonderful. If I could get away with wearing bangs, I would want hers.

Finally. I had my interview this afternoon. Should hear back by beginning of next week. I think it went well. After the gauntlet of this past year I'm starting to build myself up again on the awesome-ness of my resume. (sounds terrible, I know, but then again.. it sort of does rock. and I need to exude this confidence for the interviews). We shall see. I did, however, get to talk about Brian Williams! They have a program with Peter Jennings and journalists, and I made an aside about how I'm a BW fan myself, and then I got to talk about how great he is. and also what a news junkie I am. Asked to list my news sources. (Nightly, Meet the Press, Time, NYTimes, sometimes The New Republic) maybe I should consider some "new media" sources. but seriously where would I get the time?

Jeudi

So. all of the excitement in my day came in a roughly 1.5 hour window this afternoon.

• I have an interview next week at the National Constitution Center. (!!!) Basically my dream job, the only sucky part is that its a temporary position... :( BUT I would love it if I got hired because I could make networking connections, get more experience for the resume, and some much-needed money! and maybe maybe they'll decide they actually DO need someone full-time. Going to spend the weekend brushing up on Constitutional knowledge... (something tells me the Supreme Court exp. really helped me out on this one). Also confirmation that my resume and cover letter must be alright to have made it into the 5% that actually get read. yay.
• I bumped up my regular run to 4 miles. It was not bad. I might be bumping it up again soon.
• While I was out running, I saw this guy laying on the sidewalk. He wasn't moving, no visible injuries from what I could tell, debated whether I should try to wake him up but felt a little iffy about it (sort of an mehhh area), I mean he could have been drunk or high. No idea. Its a really heavily-patrolled area though so I figured I would see a cop, I didn't, but there is a Penn/Police substation 3 blocks from there AND its on my route so I popped in and was like "Theres a guy on the sidewalk. Maybe someone should check it out." Felt a little bad about not having checked him myself but at least I did the next best thing? There was a thing on Nightly recently about a good Samaritan in NYC who had stopped a mugging, got stabbed, and then laid for an hour while people walked by him and he ended up dying. So. yeah, if it was a medical issue at least the police were notified within like 5 minutes of my having seen him. It totally reminded me of the time in Gainesville, though, when I helped that stray dog ALSO while out for a run. Perhaps I should carry a cellphone.
• And finally, this didn't happen today but since I made a news reference and am on the topic, I saw a local anchorwoman at Whole Foods last week. I didn't recognize her until I overheard someone else say something about who she was. She smiled at me. and she was reading the magazines stocked near the checkout line with no intention of buying it! (she said something about it to that effect)
• How can tomorrow already be Friday? yikes. Having lunch with my priest friend. It still is such a bizarre thing to me. I've never personally known a priest before. I mean, I know they're just regular people but. but. but. not really. lol. The job totally sets them apart. However, Sean is totally and completely a regular person. wickedly funny, very smart, and enjoys good food (and hence our lunch). Anyways, think I'm heading down to Baltimore for possibly my second-to-last trip there. (at least for the foreseeable future. or Pancho drags me to some alumni event)

Au Revoir, my dears.