Sunday, December 02, 2007

New City, New Blog

As you know, Diesel and I have moved to NYC to start a new chapter in our life. I'll put this blog on hold for now, as we both started writing on a new blog:

http://twoforone.wordpress.com/

Keep in touch!

Kellyh

Monday, November 05, 2007

U.S. Olympic Trials

It's not every day you get to see the best runners in the country in one place. And on Saturday, this place was Central Park.

Since we were staying with Seno, he, Diesel and I woke up at 6:30am and headed over to his friend's place, where his friends met for a bagel breakfast.

When we got to Central park, we watched the runners go around the park several times. It was quite amazing to see what a 4-5 min mile looks like.

I'm sure you read about the triumph (Hall winning) and tragedy (Shay dying) of this event. It was exciting and sad (we only found out afterwards, when Seno told us) at the same time.

NY Here We Come!

Flew to NY on Tuesday and arrived in the evening. Diesel and I both had 4 huge boxes that we checked in. Between this trip and the next one, where we stay for good, we'll have plenty of room to move all of the stuff we need.

Anxiety aside, we left our boxes at David's apartment and got dinner at a place in the East Village. With lots of gossip to tell, I have to say I had little time to enjoy my salad.

The next day we went apt. hunting. We wanted to go cheap and decided to not hire a broker and do it on our own, but after three days of looking at dumps, we finally gave in and called a broker. Oh what a difference a broker makes! We saw three apartments in the East Village that were nice and Diesel finalized the deal on Saturday at 5, less than 12 hours before we left NY.

This trip definitely made me feel more at ease about moving. The thoughts of leaving little Seatown and going to one of the world's craziest, busiest and biggest cities is quite daunting, but after about a week there, I feel quite confident that this will be a great adventure!

We have two more weeks in Seattle before we leave for good. It's bittersweet, but it'll be a great new chapter!

NY here we come!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Campaigning for the Institution of Murses in America

I've been meaning to tell the world about this fabulous accessory for men that has existed for several decades in Europe but only recently been making its way into the American fashion world. It is the very practical MURSE (or "male purse"), advocated by women worldwide, who are tired of carrying their boyfriends'/husbands' crap.

As always, it is the gay man who, in their fashion forward thinking have embraced this essential fashion accessory, and hopefully, will be able to convince his straight counterpart that he too should be carrying his cell phone, wallet, umbrella, book, camera, etc. in his OWN bag. Not only that, I hope that he is able to make all those heteros realize that they can have a lot of fun mixing and matching different murse designs with their outfits.

Two friends of mine have already joined the murse adoption movement. I'm very proud of them and will support their valient efforts to bring the murse to the United States of America. I'd like to share their take on the port-everything accessory:

Friend 1's choice:
Chic, slick and elegant murse. Black with white pinstripes, goes with everything!

Friend 2's choice:
Fun and colorful "chicken" murse. Perfect for going out and holds all your party supplies: fake eyelashes, lipstick, etc.

For more on murses, get advice from my favorite YouTube fashion guru, William Sledd. He did a whole "Murse Edition" segment (notice I'm not embedding the video because he has a lot of viewers, and I'm leery of having random people reading this blog):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oF97-XVLc-w

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

My Latest Obsession



I am averaging one bag per day.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Elusive sub 2:00

First off, let's just get this straight: It was Tim who COPIED my "Elusive Sub 2:00" title on his blog, and NOT the other way around. They say copying is the sincerest form of flattery, so I'm just glad that despite his lack of imagination, my husband finds me such a great inspiration in his life.

A few months ago I signed myself up to run the Victoria Marathon in October. In a risky move, I also paid an extra 60 bucks to sign Diesel up for the half. He was notified that he was running once I forwarded him his registration confirmation. He took it pretty well and was even excited about it. During training, I hurt my knee and decided it would be cool to run Diesel's first half with him. It was disappointing, but on the upside, marathons are very painful.

On October 11, after his 1-week work trip to London, we headed over to the Victoria Clipper pier with our contingent of fans (which was actually only my sister) at 7am to catch the ferry to Victoria, Canada. With the race, Canadian Thanksgiving and a US ship arriving in Canada, we were glad that we decided to take the ferry to Canadia instead of having to wait hours at the border.

The trip was pleasant, and we got to chat with another couple who was running. We arrived safely at our hotel and immediately decided to take a nap. It was then time for a first session of carbo loading, and we took the advice of the foodie community board on chowhound and went Paggliacci's. We were told that it was a laid back, family style and reasonably-priced Italian restaurant, all of which were true. We were also told that the food was awesome, which it unfortunately wasn't. But oh wells. After sauntering for a while, it was suddenly time for dinner, and we ended up at Cafe Brio, which my friend Megan from work had recommended. We got the small plates and the food was awesome!

The next morning my sister sent us off and the race started. The weather was perfect for running (unlike Chicago!) and the course was the prettiest I've ever seen, through parks and on the water. The interesting thing about this race is the many loops you do, where you get to see the elite runners who are way ahead of you. I also decided that the loops make it very easy for people to cheat (you can just skip the loop and go the other direction), so a good tip for all those shady runners who want to qualify for Boston (HA!).

Tim took off and I ran an easy half. It was very pleasant and when the sun finally came out, it was just so nice to be running out there. It is definitely one of the most beautiful (if not THE most) race I've ever done.

Tim crossed the finished line first, and I was about a minute behind him (to read his account of the race with MY title, click here). I suppose I should hate him because this was his first half, but I guess he's my husband, so I won't hate him.

Sadly, both of us missed our 2:00:00 finish goal. After running a 2:00:08 in Vancouver and a 2:00:16 in Bellevue, I have to say the 2:02:31 time was a bit disappointing. Well, maybe next season...

Anyhow, the trip back was tiring and uneventful. The Clipper was filled with your typical race casualties: many limping, several who couldn't stand up, more even that chose to sit on the main deck, daunted by going up the stairs, and your usual line up of stretchers along the walls.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Back to Back Girls' Nights In

With Tim in London I was able to plan two girls' nights in this week without feeling guilty about kicking him out of of his own apt.

Anyhow, on Monday Megan and Lauren from work came over and we watched half of Season 2 of The Hills. If you're asking me what it is, you obviously have not seen the BEST TV show EVER. Megan has recently been sucked into

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Arizona Trip

I suck. I haven't blogged in a while, but that doesn't mean that my life hasn't been exciting. As always, it's very exciting. HA!

Last weekend we went down to AZ to visit my in-laws and Drew. Tim's brother David, his wife Lisa and their two little girls were there. It was fun spending time with them, and Nicolette and Addison are both at an age where they recognize us, so it's encouraging to wake up every morning and not have the kids crying when they see you because you're a stranger. The adults ensured that was the case by continuously quizzing the girls. "Who's that? Uncle Tim" "Who's that? Aunt Kelly." I'm sure they'll forget all about us, and the whole process will repeat itself when we go back for Christmas.

Anyhow, in honor of their Chinese daughter-in-law, Dad and Mom Sale took us out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant in the Cultural District. The whole place was a plaza much smaller than your usual AZ strip mall, and had about 10 stores ranging from a Chinese bridal shop to a mish mash of Asian restaurants to a Chinese bank ("What is a Chinese bank?," mom asked, but I didn't know either). As we pulled over, I exclaimed: "Oh, so THAT's where the Chinatown is!"

The food was quite good. The in-laws told us to please order, and they were quite impressed when Tim and I ordered something off the menu (which probably WAS on the menu that they give the Chinese people, which is different from the one that white peeps get).

Tim had been to the place before when he still lived in AZ, but he just didn't have the heart to tell his parents that he had already been there, seeing that they were all excited about taking us there.

The next day we went to see Diesel's friend Jayson and his gf Jenn. Apparently the two of them are currently very much into off-roading with their fellow Land Rover owners. We went to a trail and Jayson even let me do some driving. Who says Asian women can't drive???!!! They obviously have not seen my kind of skills...

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Victoria Half-Marathon - The Elusive Sub 2:00:00

First off, let's just get this straight: It was Tim who COPIED my "Elusive Sub 2:00" title on his blog, and NOT the other way around. They say copying is the sincerest form of flattery, so I'm just glad that despite his lack of imagination, my husband finds me such a great inspiration in his life.

A few months ago I signed myself up to run the Victoria Marathon in October. In a risky move, I also paid an extra 60 bucks to sign Diesel up for the half. He was notified that he was running once I forwarded him his registration confirmation. He took it pretty well and was even excited about it. During training, I hurt my knee and decided it would be cool to run Diesel's first half with him. It was disappointing, but on the upside, marathons are very painful.

On October 11, after his 1-week work trip to London, we headed over to the Victoria Clipper pier with our contingent of fans (which was actually only my sister) at 7am to catch the ferry to Victoria, Canada. With the race, Canadian Thanksgiving and a US ship arriving in Canada, we were glad that we decided to take the ferry to Canadia instead of having to wait hours at the border.

The trip was pleasant, and we got to chat with another couple who was running. We arrived safely at our hotel and immediately decided to take a nap. It was then time for a first session of carbo loading, and we took the advice of the foodie community board on chowhound and went Paggliacci's. We were told that it was a laid back, family style and reasonably-priced Italian restaurant, all of which were true. We were also told that the food was awesome, which it unfortunately wasn't. But oh wells. After sauntering for a while, it was suddenly time for dinner, and we ended up at Cafe Brio, which my friend Megan from work had recommended. We got the small plates and the food was awesome!

The next morning my sister sent us off and the race started. The weather was perfect for running (unlike Chicago!) and the course was the prettiest I've ever seen, through parks and on the water. The interesting thing about this race is the many loops you do, where you get to see the elite runners who are way ahead of you. I also decided that the loops make it very easy for people to cheat (you can just skip the loop and go the other direction), so a good tip for all those shady runners who want to qualify for Boston (HA!).

Tim took off and I ran an easy half. It was very pleasant and when the sun finally came out, it was just so nice to be running out there. It is definitely one of the most beautiful (if not THE most) race I've ever done.

Tim crossed the finished line first, and I was about a minute behind him (to read his account of the race with MY title, click here). I suppose I should hate him because this was his first half, but I guess he's my husband, so I won't hate him.

Sadly, both of us missed our 2:00:00 finish goal. After running a 2:00:08 in Vancouver and a 2:00:16 in Bellevue, I have to say the 2:02:31 time was a bit disappointing. Well, maybe next season...

Anyhow, the trip back was tiring and uneventful. The Clipper was filled with your typical race casualties: many limping, several who couldn't stand up, more even that chose to sit on the main deck, daunted by going up the stairs, and your usual line up of stretchers along the walls.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Days 2-5 in Paris - A Few Museums, Lots of Eating

Tuesday - Visited the Musee d'Orsay and perambulated through the excellent collection of impressionist painting. Afterwards, we took a stroll through the Tulleries Gardens. Then it was home for some cleaning up and preparing for our biggest dinner in Paris at the famous Joël Robuchon's L'Atelier. The wait, we were told, was one hour, but we got there at 8:00pm only to find out that the wait was 2.5 hrs. We went over next door to a hotel and got drinks at a posh hotel, where Diesel spotted a small mouse scurrying across the lobby. Upon being notified of the unwanted patron, the hotel staff seemed quite disgusted. However, after a brief, failed search, they simply gave us as if it wasn't a big deal at all.

At 10:30 we finally sat at the bar (the whole restaurant is all bar seats, with the kitchen in the middle). We did the 9-course tasting menu. I can't remember the names of any of the dishes; all I know is that was really the best meal of my life.

Wednesday - We woke up early for the Louvre. Despite being able to skip all the lines by using our museum pass, we were surrounded, choked in fact, by the large crowed of tourists. Not the art-loving kind, mind you, but the breed that only goes from piece to piece taking pics of themselves with famous works of art and intend to bore their friends with those stupid shots. We met up with Nath after the museum, as she had arrived from Lyon the previous evening. The threatening clouds turned into downpour, and we ran through the streets to find a good neighborhood restaurant--with only 4 days in Paris, we wanted to make the most out of every meal. We picked a small family-owned restaurant, where we ordered steak and frites. That's right. I had RED MEAT. And it was GOOD.

In the evening we had dinner at Marie-Pierre's house. MP is a co-worker of Nath's whom I met while she was traveling through Seattle/Vancouver. Her friend Isabelle, who was traveling with MP was also there.

Thursday - We slept in till 11 and met with Nath for lunch at La Tete de Grouchin or something like that. The food was really good. We then made a stop home and the two decided it was in order to take a nap. I was a bit impatient and wanted to walk around, as we had been lazy all morning. We finally made it out and took a stroll through the streets of Paris.

That night, Nath got a reprieve from us and met up with her friends at a restaurant. We didn't go to far, and went to the restaurant next door (literally), where we enjoyed some hearty Provençal food.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Day 1 in Paris - Secrets and Lies, Let the Gluttony begin

We arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport at 10:30am but after having problems with our shuttle, we didn't get to the apartment that my friend Nathalie had arranged for us to stay in until 1pm.

We were received by Daniele, who lived in the apartment. Nathalie had tried to explain to me the whole housing arrangement, but seeing that all of the exchange was done over IM, it follows that I did not really understand that Nath didn't know this person personally. In fact, Daniele was actually a friend of a friend (Lili) of a friend (Pauline) of Nath's. To conceal the loose connection, I was supposed to say that I did know Pauline, a fact that escaped my attention. I have a feeling I got Nath and Pauline in a bit of trouble, but we tried to be good house guests.

We got cleaned up and Daniele made us some delicious salad, topping it off with bits of goat cheese wrapped in speck, shaved Parmesan and other little French treats that came in jars filled with aromatic olive oil. After that, we took a recovery nap and finally made it out by taking a stroll around the neighborhood. We were by place Pereire, a hip, borderline snooty neighborhood in the 17th arroundissement.

That night, Lili came over and cooked us dinner: shredded duck and mashed potatoes casserole. The dish name sounds much better in French though. A lot off champagne, and wine were consumed that night which led to some jolly moments that night.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

On Our Way to Paris/The Boy Who Wouldn't Shut Up

It finally came! Diesel's and my trip to Paris. Catching the flight was quite stressful, as we had to get up at 5am on Sunday morning and drive down to Seattle from the Baker cabin. You see, our friends Rebeca, Steve and Heidi threw a big party at the cabin to celebrate their 40th, 40th, and 30th bdays, respectively, so on Sat afternoon Diesel and I made the 2.5 hr drive to Baker and, in a ambitious, yet utterly stupid plan, decided to drive back to Seattle at 5 so we could make a 7:30-8am stop at the Danskin triathlon to cheer on our friends Tarah and Regina, who were doing their first tri.

After gett pulled over by a cop but not getting a speeding ticket despite doing 57 on a 35mph road, we cheered Tarah on but missed Regina :(

Back at our apartment, we showered, grabbed our bags and got a ride from my sis to the airport. The flight to Chicago was a lovely flight in business class with a free meal and a separate bathroom from the plebe.

The Chicago to Paris flight, on the other hand was in economy class, which is fine cuz, as you can tell from the previous paragraph, I'm no snob. However, right off the bat this 7-year-old boy who was sitting next to us started talking. Yapping really. It was an ominous sign to a long and sleepless night.

I might exaggerate sometimes, but I kid you not when I tell you that the kid yapped non-stop from the time we took off to the time we landed. It was a 9-hour flight during which 8 hours were spent yapping away and one hour going to the bathroom and walking aimlessly in the forbidden aisles of business class, where he got kicked out of.

Anyhow, curiously enough; his mother, father and sister were all sitting in adjacent seats in the row in front of him. He was the only member of his OWN family that was sitting in the row next to ours. Did his mom KNOW something we didn't???

So as I mentioned and reitterated, the kid's yapping continued through the night, even after the lights went out and most of the passengers went to sleep. It got so bad that Diesel woke up from the little sleep he could get with the sole purpose of shushing the boy. Even after a loud SHHHHH the boy continued yapping--I guess in his defense I have to say that he turned it down a tad. But he did NOT, I repeat, did NOT stop talking.

The next morning breakfast was being served, and the flight attendants went around with the drinks cart. Upon being asked what he wanted, the boy said: "coffee."

COFFEE? COFFEE??? NO WONDER!!!!! The flight attendant was taken aback and had to confirm with the boy's mom that he was allowed to have some. Unfazed, the mother--who let me remind you, was NOT sitting next to her own son--replied with an emphatic "YES."

Judge me if you want, but it just seems unfair to me that a parent would give her already hyperactive kid nature's version of Red Bull and let him go wild on a night flight annoying the hell out of the other passengers (and by "other passengers" I mean ME), when what he really needed was a big dose of ridelin.

All I can say is that after that, French will never again be the language of l'amour et romance; instead, it'll be forever tarnished by the boy that wouldn't shut up.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Food Project 7-8: Dinner with Charlie

To prevent my brother-in-law from eating yet another sandwich while my sister is traveling for work, we had Charlie over for dinner.

Dinner consisted of some light and fresh Ravioli Caprese. I bought a $5 ravioli stamp at Sur la Table which worked great. The filling was filling and fresh with lots of basil and a hint of lemon zest. For the dough, I had to use a cup of wheat flour (only because we ran out of regular flour), which I think made the dough tougher, less malleable and thus harder to roll into thinner pasta sheets. Next time I'll use all-purpose flour for the whole thing. I served it with FRIED polenta (keeping up with the "light meal" theme) and cherry tomatoes (for redemption).

Nigella's Quadruple Chocolate Loaf Cake looked amazing on her show. The cake finished baking at midnight last night, after both Diesel and I had brushed our teeth. It was then that Diesel reminded me that we are both adults, and if we wanted to eat cake in bed after brushing our teeth, we should do it! It tasted really good fresh out of the oven. Today the cake was a lot denser; I prefer it warm and gooey. Not sure this was my fave choc cake...

Food Project 2-6

So I have not been so good about sticking to my cooking project, but I have indeed tried somed new recipes. Unfortunately, I have not been able to take pics of the final products, as Diesel had the brilliant idea of taking our camera to a RAFTING trip, and consequently brought it back broken.

Anyhow, here's a list of the recipes I have tried:

Gaucho-Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce - A Tyler Florence recipe. Every Tyler recipe I ever tried has been simple and turned out great, and this was no exception. It's just unfortunate that the hunky chef ever agreed to "create" a dish for TGIFridays. I did a trial run for this with Charlie and Emy, and after the successful attempt, served it at Diesel's b-day.

Corn and Tomato Salad- This was a recipe given to me by my friend Emily. It's a refreshing and original salad and perfect for summer

Tiramisu - I'll count this one as well, as it's been about two years since I last made it. The recipe is Costa's, a real-life, younger Italian mama that I met while doing study abroad in Germany

Pasta Carbonara - I don't eat pork, but ever since Diesel made this classic dish, I've been hooked. It love it as a pre long run meal. I tried to make it myself last Friday, and everything was doing well until the step where I was supposed to toss the hot pasta with the raw egg + cheese mixture. The eggs cooked and turned into omlette, which was quite sad. Looking back, I should have used a regular pot instead of the cast iron pot I used, which holds a lot more heat

Sunday, August 05, 2007

19 Miles Miles and Micky-D's

So I was supposed to run 20 miles this weekend. Instead, I did 19, but it was still a lot. I started pretty late, and despite the (inaccurate) weather report of an overcast day, it was too hot for me by the time I hit mile 5.

Anyhow, after a hard run like that, I decided I was going to celebrate. Since Diesel was going to take me to the Harvest Vine that night, I decided to postpone my reward to the following day (today).

After a hard day of fabulous shopping with my friend Koko, I went after the gold: the McDonald's drive-through window. And then I did something I have NEVER done in my life: I SUPERSIZED. For the fries, really, since I never seem to get enough of those delicious golden treats, especially when I go to the drive-through and eat half of them before I even get home. So yes, it made perfect sense to supersize it. And so I did it. Much to my surprise and rage, I realized that despite being inside a large fries container, the quantity in the box was actually the size of MEDIUM fries. What the heck??!!!

Anyhow, there was no time to whine, as I couldn't let my chicken sandwich or fries get cold. Since McDonald's is SO bad for you (but oh, it tastes SO GOOD), I don't let myself be tempted often, but when I do, I just have to get it right.

At home, I faithfully followed my ritual: I put on my elastic shorts (or pants, depending on the weather), turned on the TV, and guess what? A show called "Big Mac" on CNBC was on. I immediately thought, "Oh great, this Supersize Me-like show" will ruin my happiness," but fortunately, the show did not diss my favorite fast food restaurant.

"She Eats Well!"

After a hard 19-miler on Saturday, Diesel took me to one of our favorite restaurants, the Harvest Vine, in Madison Park. It's a very small neighborhood restaurant that serves the most delicious tapas. Diesel and I like to sit at the bar to watch the chefs cook and annoyingly ask questions about what this and that is and how this and that is made.

I got all dressed up even though I was about to crash, but I figured the fabulous meal deserved some serious celebration, and by goodness, I was going to celebrate it with a cute outfit.

We sat at the bar as usual, and the ordering started: perfectly cooked octopus on potatoes (I'm not a fan of octopus, but this was really good) and bonito with braised leeks. Then it got better, much better: pimientos stuffed with blood sausage, eggplant with tomatoes and cheese, suckling pig, spinach with pine nuts and cream sherry. It was during this episode of utter gluttony that the chef turned to Diesel and said: "Wow, she eats well!"

I know it was his way of saying that I was being a pig, but oh well, it was all damn good, and I'll be damned if I had let all that good food go to waste.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Happy Birthday, Book Club!

(image from ShimandSons blog)

Last Monday, "Never 5," my book club, had its third birthday. I can't believe it's been three years already!

We met at Jenny's for some very yummy and elegant hors d'oeuvres and sat out in her balcony--which we later found out is unstable and for that very reason had never been used for a bigger gathering--thanks Jenny, for almost killing us! ;)

We caught up on gossip and the summer, and reminisced about all that we've been through together during the past three years: 2 baby boys and a third coming anytime now (Molly's VERY preggers), a wedding, and three 30th birthdays!

After we finished dinner and discussed last month's book, Kendra got up and said she had to leave. Very strange, but in an odd turn of events, four of the seven girls got up and said "Let's go!" The remaining three of us were clueless, but were dragged by the rest of them, as we were going "somewhere."

We arrived at the Melting Pot, where the four not-yet-30-year-olds had planned a surprise celebration for those of us who had turned 30 this year. It was so comfortable and fun! For our presents, we each got subscriptions to different mags that they girls thought we would like: Molly, the TV/movie junkie got "Entertainment Weekly," crafty A got "Real Simple" and I got "National Geographic Traveler."

How thoughtful and sweet of them! Thanks girls and looking forward to many more years reading and going through life with you.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat - Ragnar Relay 2007

Last night I slept for 13 hours. I have been sleep deprived for two days.

So my friend A had a friend organize a mixed team to run the Ragnar Relay this weekend. Simply put, it's a race where teams for 12 (there were over 60 teams) in 2 vans run 189 continuous miles from Blaine (by the Canadian border) to Langley (on Whidbey Island)

It's hard to compress the last 40 hours in one entry, but suffice it to say that it was one of the coolest things I've ever done. Van 1 of our team (which started running at 8am) left Seattle on Thursday afternoon due north. We tried to sleep as much as we could on Thursday night at the luxurious Motel 8.

At 7:30 we checked in, and at 8, our first runner took off. Each of us was going to run 3 legs, and as runner #3, I was expected to run at 10am and 8pm on Friday and then again at 8am on Saturday.

By 11, our van was done, and van 2 took over. We got some lunch and relaxed for a couple of hours before we had to head out again to start our next legs. We were ahead of schedule and finished a bit before midnight. The next van got the short end of the stick, as all of their runners had to run in the middle of the night, many times on big country roads where cars and trucks go fast and the shoulder is only wide enough for one runner. It was them and their headlamps, running in the dark, while we in van 1 tried to get a few hours of sleep in one of the local high schools. We later heard that one of the runners on another team got hit by a car at 2am that night. I'm not sure how he was doing, but I hope he is ok.

We were not expected to start our runs until around 5am, so needless to say we were surprised to get a call from van 2 at 2:40 in the morning, informing us that their last runner had already started and we should start heading over to the next exchange point. We had only slept about 3 hours. At around 4, Adrienne, our first runner began her third and final leg. She and KT had to run with headlamps on, and I took over at around 6ish. Fortunately for me, it was bright out and I only had an easy 2.5 miler.

Our team finished 3rd to last in our division, which is, well, better than last. It was tons of fun though following our runners and others; cheering for them and spending for some 36+ hours stuck together, mostly in a stinky van. It was definitely a great experience, and I'd do it all over again.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Erasure Forever

Erasure was in town!

For those who don't know them, Erasure is like one of the best bands of the 80's, and they were on tour and playing at the Moore on Tuesday.

Ben, Lauren and I got tickets to see them. Andy Bell was fab and sounded great, very entertaining indeed. Even the bad ballerina moves he busted out were quite funny. The great thing about going to one of their concerts is that, because their fan base consists of a large contingency of gay men, the show is always a big, unrestrained party. There was a lot of dancing and singing along.

I hadn't really heard their new album, and along with our their classics like "Blue Savannah," "Little Respect," "Stop," etc, they had material from ther new album, which sounded great as well. Definitely a show that is worth paying more to get one of the floor seats.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Je Suck Beaucoup

Back in April, I decided that I was going to take French classes. I've always loved the language, and some of the best friends I've made while living in Germany were French, so deep inside I've always had this itch to learn the language. So when Diesel got us tix to go to Paris, I felt it was the right time to sign up for a French course.

I even got work to pay for it, since we have a French site, and I claimed I would be able to cover for the French producer should he ever go on vacation.

Anyhow, I decided to go with Seattle Languages International. I had taken a 3-month intensive course some six years ago, but I was surprised at how much I didn't remember. However, my newfound motivation to learn French made the first two months very enjoyable. I felt like I was learning a lot, and I felt confident that if anything, I had acquired the survival skills necessary to order food, ask for directions, and understand some stuff by the time our trip came around.

But somewhere along the way, I kinda lost my motivation. I felt a bit burnt out with two classes a week, right in the middle of summer plus a few hours more doing homework throughout the week.

I got so lazy that I started making up words to expedite homework completion. No dictionary needed. I would just take a word in English, add a French-sounding ending and precede it with a "le, la or les" depending on the gender and number of the said newly-created word. The problem with making up words is that it only works about 50% of the time, if not less. It can work for "Je faire DU CAMPING" (I go camping), but it does not work for "J'ai PLANEJE un voyage" (I planned a trip). And this practice's less than favorable odds amount to a lot of embarrassment when you're in a class of three students and get called on all the time. Embarrassment that was, nevertheless, eased by the fact that the other two girls started taking the same tragic learning path that I was taking.

I should have known better. Made up languages do not survive. Take Esperanto, for example, an artificially-created language with no social history that died in the academia circle before it even made it out. Wikipedia will rebuff my previous statement--it says there are up to 2 million Esperanto speakers in the world, but seriously, have you EVER met anybody that speaks it???

But I digress...anyhow, the point is, I need a break. My class ends next Monday, so I'll take a break, review what I've learned so far and go full-on again next fall.

SUMMERy

I haven't had time to blog much the last couple of months. The excuses vary, so I will try to redeem myself by giving you a SUMMERy of this summer's events.
June: Yurt Trip - Emy, Charlie, Tim and I did a family trip. We drove down to Deception Pass, where we had rented a yurt. Now, I was thinking that this would be a flimsy structure with no luxuries, but the yurt had a bunk bed, a futon, electricity AND a heater! And to make our "camping" experience even more luxurious, the bathrooms were cleaned every day! This was a relaxing weekend with walks on the beach and lots of fun!

6/22 - 6/24: Emy's Camping/Rafting Bday Weekend - My sister, Charlie, his sister and a couple of other friends met up in Oregon for a weekend of camping. The site was gorgeous, and the weather was very very cold. On Saturday we rafted down the White Salmon, one of the only rivers in Oregon that has a class 5 rapid!

6/29 - 7/1: Zillah Bike/Wine Trip - We started doing this trip three years ago, and it's my absolute favorite trip of the summer. We drive down to the Yakima wine country region and ride our bikes from winery to winery. We had 15 people come this year and finished up the weekend by going on a floating/drinking trip down the Yakima river.

7/3: Diesel's 30th Bday - It was as semi-surprise party ("semi" because my NOSY husband came across an email on my computer titled "Diesel's 30th bday"). The big occasion deserved good food (skirt steak with chimichurri sauce, fried polenta, summer tomato/corn salad and carrot cake), and was celebrated in the great Asian tradition of karaoke, provided by Seattle's Best Karaoke. I rented a karaoke machine and it was well worth it!

7/8: Seafair Half-Marathon - Sad. Once again I failed to meet my sub 2:00 goal! After doing it in 2:00:10 in Vancouver, my time at this event was actually one second slower :( Next time.

It seems like Diesel and I haven't really spent any weekends at home, so I'm looking forward to doing some of that before the sun disappears again. Hope you're all having a great summer!

Vive la France!

To celebrate Bastille Day, my good friend Ben and I decided to celebrate all things French on Saturday.

Ben is a self-proclaimed francophile. And if you count watching "Nouvelle Star" (the French version of "American Idol") on YouTube and having completed three months of French class (as of today), I guess you can count me in as one of those people as well.

Anyhow, our soirée started with dinner at Maximilien, which is coincidentally the French restaurant where Tim proposed after a private cooking class with Chef Willy. Chef Willy, now the manager, is also a friend of Ben's, a noteworthy fact, since it got us one of the best tables on the deck as well as complimentary champagne!

We ordered from the Bastille Day menu special. I had the endive/frisee salad, but Ben preferred to order the gaspacho (not very French, I know). The endives in my salad could have been a bit crispier, but overall I enjoyed the light dish, which went well with the warm summer evening. For our plat principal we both had the lamb with roasted veggies. Not exactly sure what part of the lamb it was, but it was a bit overdone. The rich sauce and the veggies were very good though. And to wrap it up, we both had the tarte aux pommes, which was delicious. I ate mine and half of Ben's. We also got the wine course, which consisted of a wine pairing with each of the courses. For somebody who can't even finish a glass, the 3 glasses + champagne were a bit much, and I was a bit drunk by the time dessert was served. Oh well, vive la France!

All of the diners were serenaded by a quartet playing nice old-school French music.

We talked to the chef/manager some more and then I met Axel, the restaurant owner. It was a very exciting moment indeed. It's too bad Diesel couldn't come (he's been is Australia since last Monday). He would have loved it.

After dessert we had to rush to the movie theater to watch Paris, Je T'Aime, a collection of vignettes about love and life in the City of Lights. Each segment was directed by a different director. Some bigshots such as the Coen Brothers and other high-profile international directors such as Walter Salles leave their mark. I highly recommend this charming movie, even if you're not a francophile. That was the perfect end to the perfect evening. Next year there'll be even more wine and more fun in celebration of Bastille Day! This all made me even more excited about our trip to Paris at the end of August.

Monday, July 02, 2007

Favorite Flowers Ever!


...peonies.

Diesel planted some for me last month in his pea patch, but so far, NOTHING. : (

I guess I'll just get some at the Pike Place Market.

Also, I stole this beautiful pic from this blog, from a mom/crafter. She's AMAZING, and I've been obsessed with her blog. She's like the Asian Martha Steward, sans the bitchiness.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

And the Ugly Shirt Has Begotten...

Today, a friend of mine sent me an article about the fact that somebody who works in this Fashion-God-forsaken company was nominated by a Seattle magazine as the most fashionable man in the city.

On the same day, I overheard the following conversation in our kitchen at work:

Geek-ette #1: “Wow! I REALLY like your shirt!”
Geek-ette #2 (wearing a YELLOW, CHECKERED MAN’S SHIRT): “Oh really? Thanks!”
Geek-ette #1: “I wish I had a shirt like THAT! Well…you probably didn't get it here…you probably got it in...don’t tell me…in CHINA! [yes, the fashion capital of the world]”
Geek-ette #2: “YEAH! I got it in CHINA! I can get you one! Just give me your size; next time my parents are in town I can ask them to get you one.”
Geek-ette #1 (ecstatic): "Thanks! I'd really like that!"
Geek-ette #2: Yeah, I myself have tons of shirts like this! I could wear them for a month without doing my laundry!

I'm CONCERNED. The think that a breed of ugly shirt has begotten many more like and taken over Geek-ette's 2 closet and is now about to expand into Geek-ette's 1 wardrobe! The thought of seeing not one, but TWO geek-ettes wearing the same horrendous yellow shirt just killed ANY hope of fashion in this place…

Monday, June 11, 2007

Timmy and Charlie Go to School


Next week my husband Tim and my brother-in-law Charlie will be starting Portuguese 2 together. They say it's because they want to learn Portuguese, but I know they just want to eavesdrop into our conversation and see if my family is talking about them.

Still, I think it's cute that they're going to school together.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

My Fave Running Gear


Two words: fuel belt.

I tried a few different water carrying products for my long runs: the camelbak, the one bottle belt, but one of them are better than the fuel belt. So much so that I gave my friend A one for her bday this weekend. Happy bday A!

Food Project 2: Spiced Up

My second food project was inspired by my current fave Food TV star, Nigella Lawson. I had never made an Indian dish except for curry. However, seeing Nigela do a simple version of a traditional Indian meal made me think I could get past my intimidation. On the menu:

Mughlai Chicken Curry served alongside a fluffy rice pilaf, green pea and cheese curry Muttar Paneer (for recipe, see here).

I decided to start doing the cooking after my 12 mile run, which surprisingly enough did not wipe me out. It's a good thing I'm a good wife and cook for Diesel after such a long morning.

The meal called for my first trip to an Indian grocery store. Needless to say, I was the only non-Indian person shopping there. I had to enlist the owner's help to figure out what the best paneer and garam masala brands were. On a side note, the cinnamon sticks are a STEAL! You can get a huge bag for 5 bucks. Except for the register erroneous total of $126, the shopping trip was a success!

Cooking notes:

  • The recipes are pretty simple, and I had fun using the concoction of foreign spices
  • I used the original 8-servings recipe, but halved the chicken quantity, as both Diesel and I like more sauce and less meat
  • When Nigella says that the paneer with "splatter and spit" when you're frying it, she ain't kidding. There was a lot of drama during this step, and Diesel ended up doing the frying
  • Everything was delish, although I think I will kick up the spice mix in the paneer and pea curry next time
  • Since pomegranate is not in season, I simply skipped it and the raita tasted good with just the scallions
Diesel's rating: 8.5




Spell with Flickr

Some geek did something pretty cool. Check it out:
http://metaatem.net/words/


K E L Lincircle Y

Monday, June 04, 2007

Running

Here's a list of the races I'm planning to do this summer/fall:

Vancouver Half on 5/04- completed
Seafair Half on 7/8 - not-so-fun course (mostly running through the suburbs of Bellevue), but should be good training
Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage on 7/27 - 7/28 - 12 runners, 189 miles, 24-hour relay
Skagit Flats - on 9/9 - flat course, hopefully I'll beat my PR
Victoria Marathon (or half if I slack off) on 10/7 - beautiful course along the water

The Julie/Julia Project

Inspired by the Julie/Julia project, I decided to create my own cooking challenge. What is the Julie/Julia project, you ask? A crazy New Yorker, owner of a small kitchen and great ambition, set out to cook all of Julia Child's 524 recipes from her Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days. She recorded her culinary failures and successes on her blog. Witty, entertaining and inspiring.

So now it's my turn.

With a bigger kitchen and lower ambitions, I'm challenging myself to cook one new recipe every 1.5 weeks until...well, we'll see. Instead of sticking exclusively to Julia Child recipes, I'll be picking recipes from our personal library. In addition, Diesel will be weighing in on how good/bad each recipe turns out. Other friends and family will be enlisted as tasters as well.

First up, cream puffs from the traditional Betty Crocker cookbook.

The recipe for the pate a choux is pretty simple. What's not as simple is trying not to burn the cream filling. I had to strain it to get rid of the burnt bits. Another thing I noticed (and was pissed at) was that the recipe called for 35-40 min in the oven for the little puffs. The timer barely showed 35 minutes when I did a first check, and I found out that the puffs were overdone. Also, I think I should have used non-baking chocolate for the chocolate glaze; it would have tasted better. Please note that that because of my inability to follow directions, I shaped the dough into puffs instead of eclairs.

Diesel's rating: 7 (out of 10)
*readjusted from an original 8, as Diesel wants to leave room for a REALLY good recipe


Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Mexico - Last Thoughts and Lessons Learned

Some final notes on our trip to Mexico

On food
  • Street Food vs. Haute Cuisine - When in Mexico, stick to the unpretentious, cheap and always delicious food stands. $0.25 for a taco, $2.50 for a torta (sandwich), it's eating well on a budget. Our biggest disappointment, however, was the scarcity of fancier restaurants. We went to three of them. The ambiance in all of them was great, but the food was always disappointing. It's like they were trying very hard to cook some decent fancy food, but unfortunately, unsuccessfully. I would stick with the street food.
  • Mysterious Meats - While in Mexico, you will see an array of leftover animal parts served for, guess what, your MEAL! Cabeza (head), pierna (leg), tripa (tripe), lengua (tongue); you name it; it's on the menu. Don't ask. Don't think about it. Just eat it. It's good, you'll see! Our last food adventure directed us to a very busy hole in the wall, where all of the sandwiches listed "pierna" as their main ingredient. All I knew was that "pierna" meant leg. Leg of what? I didn't know. I just ate it. And I liked it.
On New Skills
  • Proudest Accomplishment - In the bathroom, learning how to squat with my backpack on, while holding a newspaper and bottle of water. In a swift move, rapidly raising my arm to go over my head, thereby unzipping the top pocket of my backpack to grab toilet paper from my private stash.
On Greedy Sunbathers
  • Never Be One of Them - Greedy and careless sunbathing only leads to redness followed by itchiness, followed by bubbling, followed by peeling. It's just not worth it, man!
On Mexicans and Mexico
  • Mexicans - Friendly, laid back and helpful.
  • Mexico - Safe, fun and sunny! I would definitely come back.

Mexico Day 8 - A Long, Uncomfortable Ride

8pm. We were on a bus headed en route to Zihuateneo. It was an excruciating 8-hour bus ride. We have just spent too much time on the bus.

Not to mention the driver on this particular trip was a "loco" (CRAZY). Long-distance buses have a little red light that goes off every time the driver starts going to fast. Let's just say that for the duration of this trip the little red light was always ON, as a reminder that life is precious and it could end at any moment. We got to Ixtapa half an hour ahead of schedule (not an usual occurrence in this country), even though none of the passengers (except for Tim, who had carefully followed our trip on a map) knew that we had gotten there. The bus driver never announced our arrival at this main bus station, and several of us complained about this crazy driving and burning desire to get some--apparently in Mexico, bus drivers can bring along friends and family, and this driver decided bringing his gf was a good idea.

We took a cab to Troncones, a budding surfing town recommended by a couple of friends of ours. Tired and ready to rest, we aimlessly walked around trying to find a hotel. Those that were not booked were in pretty precarious condition. We settled on a so-called bungalow, which was at least right on the beach. Ok, so it had lizards crawling around. And ok, the bathroom was not so hot. But it was a room to sleep. I was kinda itching for a bit more glamour. Maybe the next day...

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Mexico Day 7 - Tequila!

After much adventuring on our own, we decided it was time to leave the navigation up to somebody else and booked a guided tour of the town of Tequila.

The bus ride seemed to fly by compared to our previous 6-hr and 3-hr bus rides.

We went out to the agave plantation to see how the main ingredient in Tequila (in fact, "good" tequila should be 100% agave), and had a tour of the El Cuervo distillery.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Mexico Day 6 - The Touristy Non-Touristy Town of Guanajuato

Early on Wednesday morning, Diesel and I left early for the town of Guanajuato. Unlike the luxurious ETN bus, which transported us from Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara, the bus to Guanajuato was not as nice.

The first bad sign was being greeted into the bus by blaring opera music (from La Boheme, more specifically). I'm all for classy opera, but for goodness sake, not in a old bus with stained seats and a nasty bathroom!

After a three hour ride, we arrived in Guanajuato, an old subterranean Mexican town nestled in the mountains of the Sierra de Guanajuato. Surprisingly the city resembles old European cities with its buildings and square, but upon a closer look, one can see that the resemblance stops there. Guanajuato is, in fact, very Mexican.

We rode the city bus (40 cents!) up the hill to the supposedly very interesting Mummy Museum. The museum is quite a let down, but we were in no hurry. The rest of the time was spent strolling around and eating on the streets.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Mexico Day 5 - Guadalajara: Stroll Around the City The Revenge of the Burnt Skin

After a long bus ride, Diesel and I decided it was in order sleep in on Day 5. After a little working out, we headed out to the city center. Unfortunately, we forgot it was Monday, and for the most part the museums were closed.

Guadalajara is Mexico's second largest city, but despite its size, it still feels like a smaller city: safe, friendly and very Mexican (read: not very touristy). With no particular sightseeing attraction in mind, we lost ourselves in the city, enjoying the bustling streets and its people.

It was then that I realized. Bubbling. My skin was BUBBLING! After 4 hours of the unforgiving scorching sun of Mexico, my greediness finally got me what I deserved : my skin literally bubbly, nasty crusts of bumpy skin across my belly and around my neck. Disgusting, to say the least.

Mexico Day 4 - The Buses are NICE!

After packing our stuff and saying good-bye to our favorite taco stand in Sayulita, Diesel and I went en route to Guadalajara. We were going to take the luxury bus. And I´m talking LUXURY with huuuge comfy seats (only 3 seats per row), snacks and movies on board. Never did I think that traveling by bus could be so fabulous!

We arrived in Guadalajara an hour late (viva Mexico!), and went to our hotel. Not bad. Nice, clean with a pool and workout room. We ended up at a local eatery that was packed with soccer fans. Once again we got tacos (maybe tomorrow I´ll eat something other than tacos). We then walked around, went back to the hotel and got ready for round 2. The night was young, but the bars weren´t. Sunday night is a bit slow, even in the second biggest city in Mexico. We had drinks and chatted for another hour or so, and then headed home.

Diesel´s tummy is not doing so well. No tacos for him.

Mexico Day 3 - The Infamous Chinita

So yesterday I had a bit of an altercation with a local surfing instruction. Really, I did nothing bad, but the guy was a jerk.

Diesel and I went up to his shop to inquire about surfing classes. He mumbled something, and when Diesel asked him to please repeat, he condescendently repeated the price, very S-L-O-W-L-Y, as if he were a retard. I didn´t like that, so I told him he should be nicer to his clients. He was like: WHAT? I repeated and left. A few minutes later I see him charging to where we were, and I know he was going to bitch me out. There was a not so nice exchange of words on his part, as he blurted out all of the swear words he must have seen while watching Hollywood movies. There was the F word, the MF word. Nothing really made sense, and when he finally said I needed a man to protect me (don´t know where he got that from), I said I could defend myself thanks very much.

In this particular instance, those Asian kung-fu skills would have come very handy.

So today, when we went to a different surf shop ready to take a lesson, Sergio, our instructor, started giving us the first couple of tips. And there he was. The guy that bitched me out yesterday was walking in our direction. Sigh. But he went past us, and didn´t even direct a single foul word towards us.

Sergio took us out and I proceeded to chat with him. He told me he brother was also a surfing instructor, but he worked at the other shop. Uh-oh. I actually liked Sergio. Could it be that I had gotten into a fight with his brother the previous day? I decided to change the subject.

While in the water, Sergio started telling me about his family and the other instructions. It was then that my curiosity got the best of me, and I just had to ask: "So you know the guy with the long hair?¨ "Yes," he said "we call him pecho (which literally means "breasts, bust"). I proceeded, "Did he mention maybe...a fight he had yesterday?" Sergio confirmed: "Yeah, he said he told US ("who´s US," I wondered) into an argument with two people..." "Well, that was me, " I confessed. I clarified that pecho had been very very rude, and the only thing I did was tell him to be nicer to his customers. Sergio seemed a bit amused, and I realized that besides having a dirty mouth, pecho also had a big mouth, and as a consequence of his big huge mouth, came the infamy that would follow me until I departed Sayulita. I would forever be known as "la chinita" (little Chinese girl) that had gotten into an altercation with pecho. Regretfully, my fellow Chinese girls (of which there was a considerable number in Sayulita) would also be the objects of whispers and gossip, as I believed no Mexican could tell us apart, and thus, all of us chinitas would forever live in the infamy of Sayulita´s history, only because of my heroic efforts in the fight for consumer rights.

Unfazed by my confession, Sergio said I was fine, that they were all "buena onda" and that if I wanted to talk to pecho, he would talk to me as if nothing had ever happened. Thanks, but no thanks.

Surfing was a lot of fun though. Since I´ve been condemned to no sun (thanks to my greediness the first day) and no more surfing (thanks to pecho´s big mouth), I was ready to leave and head out to Guadalajara.

Mexico Day 2 - Sayulita

We spent all day bathing in the sun. I was determined to get a tan. Unfortunately, my skin wasn´t in agreement with my vain decision. I got sunburnt. Bad. Sun poisoning actually. Still recovering but no sun and no beach for me.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

An Ode to Doolittle


American Idol sucks. Melinda Doolittle is out because some teenage girl voted for Blake 200 times (which is not a made up story, as I heard said girl on the radio talking about voting for him till 3 in the morning!).

So here's an ode to the best singer this season: Melinda Doolittle. For a faithful American Idol fan that watched Melinda blossom from Ms Shy with a turtle posture to the new Tina Turner I'm completely disappointed. And yes, I'm pissed.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Follow the Pink-Eared Bunny OR Vancouver Half-Marathon

That's what I kept telling myself: "Follow the pink-eared bunny."

After a year-long hiatus from racing (due to a stressful job, wedding planning and let's face it, just plain LAZINESS), I decided it was time to do a race. The Vancouver Half has a nice course, the weather is good for running in May and it's only a 2.5 hr drive up to Canadaland.

It was an important race for a variety of reasons: the first time I run as Kelly Chow-Sale and the last time I run a race in the 25-29 age bracket. SAD!

Saturday went by fast, and on Sunday, our three alarms went off at 6am. I was ready. On the way to BC Arena, where the race started, I was joined by several runners, and I started getting really excited.

In the middle of the chaos, I spotted the 2-hour half-marathon pacer. He was a vision of Jesus himself: calm composure, long beard and a large group of followers. Unlike Jesus, he had a Garmin GPS watch and a very mismatched running outfit. I wasn't sure I could run it in 2, but that's always been A goal of mine (although I didn't know I was ready to actually attempt beating it).

I figured I'd follow the Pink-Eared bunny (as all of the Vancouver pacers wear cute little pink bunny ears) and see how it went. The first couple of miles I ran at about 8:30 min/mile, so I thought maybe I COULD do it.

But then I cramped it. And it didn't help that there was practically no food during the course. ONE miser power bar station. Some Canadian brand that was as hard as a brick. Then oranges. I kept hoping for gu. I remember at least two gu stations. No such luck. I ran the 13.1 miles pretty much on an empty stomach.

I was in serious pain, and I never felt that bad during a race. At one point I passed the bunny. I PASSED the bunny! I kept going on a runner's high or whatever you wanna call it.

And then it happened. It was inevitable. I lost sight of the bunny. I tried to catch up, but gave up and resigned to doing it in 2 hours at a later race. It was SAD. Not only that, my chronometer got all messed up because I pushed some random buttons and messed it up. So really I had no idea how close I was to my goal.

Still, I was happy.

Got home and found out I did it in 2:00:10. BARELY, but I did make it. Hooray for me! And watch out 30-35 yr-old bracket!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

My Favorite Unkown YouTube Stars

Yes, my name is Kelly and I’m addicted to YouTube. The random, yet highly entertaining and at times educating content is just addicting. I’m an eager user and a staunch proponent of the best invention on the Internet since the Internet itself!

So on my latest kick, I’ve been binging on old videos of some of my favorite old bands, such as Menudo, NKOTB (which I already told you about), etc. Out of curiosity, I started typing in some Brazilian artists as well as some German ones. Upon searching for “Fettes Brot” a German Hip Hop band, I came across the CUTEST GERMAN BOYS EVER: AXEL and JULIUS! It’s like I’m in junior high again, only now I’m almost 30 and these boys are probably 15. Is that sick? If you think it is sick, then I guess I won’t tell you that on top of watching their video lineup, I’ve also been reading their geeky blog, which is a Mac blog, and as such, not as geeky as other really geeky blogs are.

Judge me later, but for now, check out some of their videos. They’re so silly and so cute! If you become addicted like I did, go to their site and eat it up!



Wednesday, April 11, 2007

UNACCEPTABLE Behavior in the Workplace

Top 10 list of aberrations of social behavior in the workplace that must be EXPOSED, MOCKED and ultimately ABOLISHED/PUNISHED for the safety and sanity of others:

1) Not bothering to lock your stall when you are using the toilet. This is a case where clearly YOUR business is nobody else’s business
2) Clipping your crusty toenails in your office (this is especially disgusting if they start flying off into your officemate’s face)
3) Washing your DISGUSTING feet in the bathroom sink
4) Guys: Braiding that long strand of grease you call HAIR
5) Bringing kim chi for lunch and stinking up the communal fridge
6) Taking your laptop into the bathroom stall and TYPING while you do whatever you’re doing
7) Sneaking into work with your kids on the weekends, so you can all spend quality time together STEALING pop
8) Embroidering religious attire with the company logo (such as a yarmulke)
9) Eating cup of noodles and pop for breakfast
10) Showing up in the kitchen with a big jug of dish detergent and shamelessly washing your NASTY beard in the kitchen sink

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

On Buying a New Mirror

I bought a new mirror. I looked at myself in the mirror. Here's the dialog that took place at our household:

Kelly (holding up the mirror): Diesel, does this mirror make me look fat?
Diesel (looking disgusted): YES.
Diesel (holding up the mirror): Kelly, does this mirror make you look fat?
Kelly (looking disgusted): YES.

Needless to say, we'll be returning that damn mirror.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

The BEST V-Day Present EVER!

Wow, I can't believe it's been several months since my last post. At least nobody can accuse me of being a geek anymore.

So to ressuscitate my moribund blog, I thought I'd start it with a BANG. And the bang has come thanks to Diesel, the best husband EVER!

Remember my very persuasive blog about The Second BEST Xmas Present EVER (after the trip to Barcelona)? Well, it worked.

For Valentine's Day this year, we beat the crowed of cheesy rose-buying, pink-wearing crowed of sweethearts by celebrating V-Day early. We didn't even have any problems getting reservations for dinner at our favorite restaurant, Le Pichet, a very quaint French bistro.

We had agreed on no presents, but after our meal, Diesel handed me a card. He wrote me a very long note and at the end said: "and that's why I have booked us tickets to go to Paris in August." WHAT????!!! Could that be TRUE? Of course he looked at me sternly and said: "This does NOT set a precedent." Well, first the trip to Barcelona, now Paris. Of course I'm expecting to be whisked away to yet another romantic destination next year.

I felt very bad, because all I got Diesel was a card. But when I really thought about it, I realized that in effect, he had gotten HIMSELF a present, so I didn't feel so bad after all.

Monday, January 29, 2007

TP's Big 3-0

My friend Tarah turned 30 last Saturday, and her husband threw her a big bash at the Big Picture movie theater. I'd never been there, but it's a very cool venue, and I can't believe Tim and I haven't been there, as we lived literally across the street from the place. Where else (other than your house) can you drink alcohol and watch your fave flick?

She posted some pics from her bday here.

She is the second one in a long line of "almost 30" hip and happening people. There were Ben, Lauren, Tarah. There'll be more of us (yes, Diesel and I will be 30 as well this year) coming...

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Sweet Tooth

Our friends Dawniel and Cyrill came over for dinner tonight. We celebrated Cyrill's promotion and their brand new place.

The best part of the meal was the warm chocolate cake, which although a bit cumbersome to make, are delish! Melt-in-your-mouth top and warm and gooey on the inside.



Kelly Almost Takes Down the Old Man

There was a little screaming and some remorse, but when you got MAD skills like me, you can't always quite control where you go...

Monday, January 22, 2007

OMG, NKOTB

Another FABULOUS thing I discovered on YouTube: several videos of the BEST boy band ever!

From the classic "Step by Step" to a more recent and likewise more shocking "Hollywood True Story - New Kids on the Block," true fans can delight themselves in a plethora of NKOTB videos. I'm still not sure white boys break-dancing or wearing denim overalls were ever a good idea, but the videos are still YUMMY!

Monday, January 15, 2007

Shopping Marathon



What do you get when you get five girls and 75% off sales? SIX STRAIGHT HOURS OF SHOPPING, that's what!

For my friend Erica's 30th bday, we decided to surprise her and take her for up to Vancouver (or HongKouver, as some people refer to the Hong Kongnese-filled city) for a girls weekend.

It was a marvelous time of girl talk, shopping, laid-back dinner and a nice stroll through the Granville Market.

A few pics from the weekend:

http://www.flickr.com/gp/14628299@N00/dIv214

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Sehnsucht nach Deutschland

I miss Germany. As I'm browsing YouTube (for my daily dose of random and useless videos), I run into a video by Sportfreund Stiller, a band who put out a song that became Germany's World Cup hymn. The video itself is pretty cheesy and low budget, but it brings back good memories. For a recap on Diesel's and my journey to Germany to see the World Cup, check out some previous posts.



I'm Losing

Last night I had book club. The food was good, but not diet-friendly: creamy potato soup, bread and CAKE!

food: 1
Kelly: 0

Monday, January 08, 2007

RESOLUTIONS

So with the end of the year comes resolutions. Most of them have to do with being fat and being old (or both) and how to counteract the effects of good food and mother nature.

Diesel and I are getting old, no doubt about it. This year, both of us turn THIRTY.

Most of all, Diesel and I are FAT. I know, I know, you'll say I have nothing to worry about, but since I met my current husband, my weight has escalated to astronimical new heights (it's all relative). Not only that, my cholesteral has shot up almost 50% since my last physical exam 2 years ago...When gluttony meets gluttony, restraint becomes non-existent, and here is what you end up with: an overweight married couple.

So Diesel and I did get on the weight loss bandwagon this year, and we will be eating more healthy. It will be a torturous journey for this pair of food lovers, but it'll hopefully get us in shape for our Mexico trip (to celebrate the big 3-0).

We took "before" pictures last night. They will only be posted after we reach our goals. My goal: 5 pounds, and back to my pre-fatness 100 cholesteral index. Wish me good luck.