Let the back-tracking begin!

Sarah Palin has been teaching Americans that they should be afraid of Barack Obama for being acquainted with William Ayers. Yes, he was acquainted with the guy. Does anyone ever bother to mention that the entire staff of the University of Illinois-Chicago is also acquainted with William Ayers? Somehow, that school has avoided turning into a terrorist hot house.

Let's hear what Sarah Palin is "fearful" and "afraid" of:


Hold the phone.. John McCain says we don't have to be afraid!


I guess Palin-McCain didn't mean any of that terrorist stuff. Obama's really a great guy, after all. And, seriously, that was the only exaggeration they've made.. you can still believe everything else they've said. Trust them. They won't mistakenly label anyone else a terrorist and put your children, spouses and loved ones in harm's way by starting more wars. After all, if they were going to do that, wouldn't that be the really scary thing?

People know that voting is free, right?

A work friend of mine has recently begun displaying at his desk a blue paper cup emblazoned with the name "Obama." I took a closer look at it today, and I saw that it also had a sticker on it that said, "I voted in the 7-election!"

As it turns out, 7-Eleven is holding a coffee drink-off to stir up voters, Capitalist Style. They call it the 7-election, and they're publishing the "results" (read: sales figures) weekly in USA Today.

I know that election turn-out has been pretty sickly for the past few presidential elections (and worse for the smaller 'tween elections), and maybe that has contributed to the belief that you actually have to buy something in order to cast a vote. I just want to remind folks (and I know only about 5 people read this blog, but please tell your friends) that voting is indeed free of charge the United States, and you don't even need to drink coffee to participate.

On the flip side, the nice thing about this promotion is that it demonstrates the excitement surrounding this election. Pop culture is really embracing the Obama-v-McCain election. Case in point: this is apparently the third election that 7-Eleven has promoted in this way, and yet this is the first I've heard of it.

For those of you who are interested, 7-Eleven does have a color-coded map on their website that illustrates the latest results. Currently, 7-Eleven's coffee drinkers prefer Obama, with 59.13% of sales (McCain = 40.87%).

Before bed: Teddy bear, warm milk and an Obama quote?

By now, you know I'm frustrated about the presidential race. I'm deeply bothered by the negativity, fear and hate that McCain and Palin are creating and encouraging.

Tonight, in order to calm myself down enough to get some sleep, I decided to look up some Barack Obama quotes. I wasn't prepared for just how effective the exercise would be.

The wisdom, peace and courage that this man is able to verbalize is both inspirational and comforting. He elevates the discussion of our core national and interpersonal issues unlike anyone I've encountered. I'm happy to re-publish a few of them here, in hopes that they can offer you a quick "pick me up" when you reach this blog. They've done wonders for my state of mind tonight.

People are very hungry for something new. I think they are interested in being called to be a part of something larger than the sort of small, petty, slash-and-burn politics that we have been seeing over the last several years.

BARACK OBAMA, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 11, 2006

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We have a stake in one another ... what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and ... if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done for the people with whom we share this Earth.

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Dec. 1, 2006

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Life doesn't count for much unless you're willing to do your small part to leave our children – all of our children – a better world. Even if it's difficult. Even if the work seems great. Even if we don't get very far in our lifetime.

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jun. 15, 2008

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Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Feb. 5, 2008

"My friends," I'm voting for "that one."

During last night's Presidential Town Hall debate, John McCain said "my friends" on the order of 20-30 times. It got annoying, because it didn't sound genuine. He then referred to Barack Obama as "that one" exactly once, but it was easily just as memorable as his other phrase of choice. On top of that, it has really struck a chord with the voting public, and if you Google "that one," many of the highest ranked results are about the debate. In fact, some folks have already begun creating t-shirts and websites commemorating the remark.

So, thank you, McCain, for initiating millions of Americans into the "Vote for "that one" Club." I'm in.

That's it, I'm disgusted.

I'm not going to be ugly here, because I believe everyone is entitled to his or her own political opinions. However, I'm totally disgusted by Sarah Palin at this point. She's so clearly not ready to be President, but moreover, she's not the type of person one wants to elect as Vice President either, because that means she'll be in the public eye, sayin' whatever she can to get a rise out of her audience, no matter who it hurts.

Take this Washington Post article. The majority of the article is spent discussing what we already know - she's got way more charisma than McCain. However, her quirkiness has absolutely crossed the line, here:

Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

It absolutely disgusts me that her idea of campaigning for the vice presidency is to take a dump on our country's free media, and to encourage other citizens to do the same. As a people, we may have been historically divided right down the middle as far as our views and beliefs, but the free media is uniquely able to hold up a mirror and help us see ourselves, and also serves as a window into how other people think and express their beliefs. If you don't like what you see, change the channel. That's one of our freedoms, and we need to protect it.

Here's another truly disgusting snippet:

The reception had been better in Clearwater, where Palin, speaking to a sea of "Palin Power" and "Sarahcuda" T-shirts, tried to link Obama to the 1960s Weather Underground. "One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers," she said. ("Boooo!" said the crowd.) "And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,' " she continued. ("Boooo!" the crowd repeated.)

"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.

How painful is it to imagine a potential Vice President of the United States taking part in riling a crowd to the point where someone feels comfortable shouting death threats? It's absolutely disgusting. I may not agree with you or your politics, but I don't think anyone needs to check their humanity at the door to win an election.

As for me, I'm anxiously awaiting all of my Obama gear that I ordered from his campaign website. I'm not usually one to openly discuss my political views, but I feel that a line has been drawn, and I'm sick and tired of the ugliness the Republican campaign is perpetuating.

Mahalo for reading this post

Aloha! We have returned from our trip to 2 islands of the great state of Hawaii. Two weeks, I've decided, is absolutely my preferred vacation length. It gives you enough time to relax, do a bunch of stuff, and really allows a person (though not [ahem] all people) to forget the daily grind. By the end, you either feel ready to return home, or at least ready to stop spending money (the latter in our case, for this vacation).

During the aforementioned two weeks, we did the following, which is not a complete list:
1. went for a sunset sail on a huge catamaran & watched fireworks
2. visited a royal palace
3. got lost in a hedge maze
4. got Lost on a deserted beach
5. performed an exhaustive search for the best shaved ice around
6. slept for 19 hours straight
7. island-hopped
8. ate breakfast on our balcony overlooking the ocean
9. went to a stand-up comedian/wizard show
10. traveled to the ocean floor in a submarine & marveled at a sunken ship
11. traveled to the highest peak of a volcano & gazed at stars and planets
12. drove through 600 turns & numerous one-lane bridges to a remote town and beautiful black sand beaches
13. went ATVing over abandoned sugar cane fields up to the edge of a rainforest
14. relaxed, read books and listened to live music on fine white sand beaches
15. took a helicopter flight over 2 islands and multiple beaches, valleys and waterfalls

In Jesse's words, "that's a hell of a vacation." I thoroughly recommend it to you, and would be happy to give you exact details of our favorite spots if you're planning your own visit to the Aloha state.

New game

It's time for a new game I like to call...

Small World or Big Company

That's right, folks! It's the fun family game that everyone can play, Small World or Big Company. I hope you all join in the fun from home! It's really very simple...given a coincidental scenario, you simply need to choose whether the coincidence was caused by the fact that we live in a Small World or that I just work for a Big Company. Sounds easy, right? Let's get started!

Scenario: I was flying to Phoenix for a quick business trip. I was happily listening to my Zune, and noticed that the guy next to me also had a Zune (nothing too out of the ordinary - when you have a fun new toy, you tend to notice others who have one also!). Toward the end of the flight, he asked me how I like my Zune. I chatted a bit about how happy I was with it, and then he seemed overly enthusiastic about the Zune's capabilities. So I took a chance and asked, "Do you work for My Big Company?" He replied, "Yes I do." To which I said, "So do I." We swapped titles, and as soon as he heard mine, he said, "Oh! We've met! A couple of weeks ago at that Big Company conference, at a specific class, because a specific person introduced us." I realized he was right, and we then chatted freely as co-workers would.

Okay, so after I realized that this apparent total stranger and I had actually met (in a totally different city, neither our departure or arrival city for this flight) and indeed we effectively work together, my first thought was, "Small World!"

But is it really that small...? Or is this how my life will be, now that I work for a company that employs ~80,000 people?

Small World or Big Company?

That thing I'm thinking about

This week, I spontaneously asked Jesse if he wanted to go to Hawaii with me in May. He dutifully asked his management if he could take the time. Once he said he could, I asked my management, and they were equally accommodating. Thus began my very excited excitement and subsequent obsessive obsession with our impending Hawaiian vacation.

Initially, the plan was to vacation for a week in Waikiki. Jesse's response was, "Hey, maybe we should take that interisland ferry to another island while we're there." Well, you can't just go to another island for a day (IMHO), and we were stuck with a 7-day period in Waikiki (timeshare), so I suggested that we stay for another week and do a second island. He was in, so I looked into the interisland ferry. From Oahu, the ferry only goes to Maui once a day. Done. Maui it is.

So I proceeded to talk to people about Maui, read up on Maui online, look into hotels, dream about it (ahem, this was all in one short afternoon)...and then I bought a guidebook on the way home.

Now, we've been to Hawaii (Oahu, Big Island) before, and we heard many a whispering about the inter-island ferry that was going to begin service any month (then), which would provide a convenient and economical way to get between islands. So when I looked into it, I found it very curious that there was only one ferry operating per day to and from Oahu-Maui. That hardly seemed to fill the transportation needs of island locals. I decided to read more about it, and it turns out that there are some very vocal environmental activists who are concerned that the ferry system is going to hurt ocean flora and fauna, so the company who operates it occasionally has to stop operations and wait for court proceedings, etc. On top of that, the ferry can't operate in bad weather (and these are tropical islands, so you never know when weather will get bad)... so we agreed to fly to Maui instead. It's more practical anyway, because you can't pick up a rental car at the ferry berth. What we've lost with the $10x2 more expensive flight, we'll gain in flexibility and taxi fee avoidance. And even though we're not taking the Ferry, we're still going to Maui, since we've never been and we hear good things.

So, as of today, we've booked flights and hotels, and we're ready to go. I'm SUPER excited. We'll be swimming with honus, riding horseback, hiking to waterfalls, eating macadamia nut pancakes and kalua pig, lounging around on gorgeous Maui beaches and checking out the Lost beach on Oahu in no time.

Has anyone else been to Maui? We would appreciate your advice. Truthfully, though, there's no guarantee we'll do anything more than the drive to Hana and beach walks. We really do want to rest and relax more than anything else. (eeeee I'M SO EXCITED!)

My 100th post is about ketchup.

...of the "catch up" variety.

Jesse and I have been busy. Looking back, though, it wasn't all that interesting.. it just took up all of our time. From November through January, we were trying to buy a house. Unfortunately, it fell through due to forces outside our control. We continue to have the worst home-buying luck of anyone we know. So we're taking a break at the moment. We had planned to go to two open houses yesterday, but decided last-minute that we're just not ready to try again. It's exhausting.

We celebrated our one year wedding anniversary on January 27th. We went to Pacific Grove, and spent some time exploring neighboring Monterey and Carmel. It was a very peaceful trip. Jesse was sick, but he was a sport and went anyway, so we kept it very low-key. Our fanciest meal was at Passionfish, which was a recommendation from our friend, Rob. The food was totally delicious, so if you're ever in the area, go there. But skip their desserts, because they weren't very impressive.

Last week, I travelled to Seattle for a conference. I had to share a hotel room, which I was originally worried about, but it turned out to be the best part of the trip. My roommate and I got along very well, and were practically attached at the hip the whole time. The weather was nice -- pretty much like being in the Bay Area in February. Kind of cold, drizzly one day, but surprisingly mild for the most part. The conference helped me to realize how huge my company is. The 6,000 conference attendees represented only 7.5% of the total number of company employees. However, keep in mind that those attendees represent over 18x the number of employees at our subsidiary. We're so tiny!

What else? ...After being around thousands of people all last week (or having at least one person there for 99% of the time), I am really treasuring that I have occasionally been alone over the past couple of days. I generally find myself with songs stuck in my head. They're usually very peaceful slow songs, adding to the calm. Specifically, Paolo Nutini's "Last Request." I found this song on YouTube while I was hunting around for Jehro videos. Jehro and Paolo Nutini do a really nice duet, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Oh, that reminds me of something very notable -- Jesse and I went to a Tori Amos concert in December. We went with one of his friends, and it was unanimous - this was a *fantastic* concert. Tori has graduated to full-blown rockstar status, if you ask me (and since you're reading my blog, it's kind of like you did ask..) So, from this post, my two album recommendations are Paolo Nutini "These Streets," and Tori Amos "American Doll Posse." And, if you haven't heard it yet, definitely get Jehro's self-titled album. It's excellent warm weather music, so you might want to wait until Summer. I'll try to remind you when the weather gets nicer...you won't regret it.

That's all I have for this edition of Ketchup. Please tune in again later to see if there's anything else happening. I can't guarantee there will be, unfortunately. =)

my 99th post is about video games

Sooo, Jesse and I have been spending lots of time together lately, which is awesome. Actually, we've mostly just been spending time in each other's presence, while playing video games. Am I complaining? FAR from it. Let's list the positive aspects of this situation:

1. Jesse's home.
2. Jesse's home.
3. We both really like video games.
4. Jesse spent a ton of time working too hard and not playing any video games at all, other than those he was made to "play" for work.
5. Jesse's home now.
6. We've had a stack of games piling up that needed playing.
7. I spontaneously bought a DS a few months ago, and I love, love, love, love it.
8. I then bought Jesse a DS a month or so ago, and he loves, loves, loves it Jewel Quest.
9. Jesse's home!!!
10. Jesse was given a PSP, and instead of hoarding it and making me jealous, he selflessly handed it over to me, PLUS a new Ratchet & Clank game that I didn't even know existed.
11. Jesse's my favorite, and he's home.
12. We bought a PS3 in September...
13. ...then bought our first game for it at the end of October.

So maybe that list got a wee tad bit off topic, but you get the point. We like games, and playing them in each others company ain't half bad. We're basking in the unfussiness of it. It's awesome. You could come over, and you could play games in our presence, too. Pizza's on us.

Oh, right, and on to the bad things, since one should strive for equality in blog posts...

1. That Ratchet & Clank PSP game wasn't awesome. It was good, but the story line was dumb, and the boss battles were disproportionately difficult next to the regular game play. And it was short, at only 12.5 hours at my slow-gamin' speed. Oh well.
2. We crashed the *other* Ratchet & Clank Game (Future: Tools Of Destruction) pretty hardcore. Jesse hit start (to try to pause) right after he jumped into the ship. That k-i-l-l-e-d the game. But luckily it had just saved.
3. We eat too much pizza.
4. Jesse's obsession with Jewel Quest makes me want to play Jewel Quest. =(

And, that's it! That's the list of bad stuff. Not so bad! Life could be worse. And it has been, like when Jesse worked for 3 months straight, only coming home to sleep (most of the time).

So YAY JESSE BEING HOME!

NYC 2

Usually, when I travel for work, I freak out before going to sleep, because I'm so worried that the alarm clock won't go off, and that I'll make a terrible impression on who I'm about to meet by showing up late. Well, I freaked out, as usual. However, unlike most times, when I overcompensate by shooting out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off in the morning, I just kept hitting snooze today, as though I was at home. It wasn't like I was relaxed--it's that, MY GOD, I was drowsy.

So I got up, showered, dressed, realized that all the walking yesterday had worn a hole in my heel, and went downstairs. I bought some bandaids (actually, a travel-size first aid kit) and taped up my heel for another walking-heavy day.

We walked down the street to a Starbucks, then walked to the office, found our conference room, shook some hands, and got some danishes and fruit for breakfast. We then sat, and sat, and sat. The first half of the day was actually fascinating, and we were all anxious to hear the interesting preso information. The problem was, as soon as I sat down, my body remembered that it was only 5:00AM in my home timezone. OMG, I kept having the overwhelming urge to excuse myself, so that I could go find a quiet room where I could lay down for a nap. So, even though I'm mostly anti-caffeine, I decided to have some coffee, which perked me up.

At the end of the day, we decided to excuse ourselves from dinner, which was planned for a chain restaurant, so that we could meander around the city and find something more interesting to do. We caught a cab and went from midtown down to Greenwich Village. We walked around, back and down for a while.. then we decided to get a slice of Famous Ray's pizza.
Delish! I took a picture, because I knew that Bug would want evidence. =)

After that, we walked around a bunch, knowing full well that the Famous Ray's was just an appetizer. We were on the hunt for anything that looked interesting, and we wanted to stop somewhere for happy hour, too. So we walked around, stopped into a Souvenir shop, where I proceeded to spend $60 on NYC-themed clothing. Then we found a funky bar with loud live music, so we stopped in for a drink. It was SO HOT that I had to ask the bartender to put more ice in my drink. I'm telling you, the ice was the best part of that drink. The bartender was this awesome 40+ year-old Irish guy with bushy salt-and-pepper hair, tons of tattoos, and a seriously bad temper. He had a lot of charmisma, but he was literally yelling at this guy at the bar, telling him that some band should've come in and asked him face-to-face if they could book a gig at his bar, instead of calling on the phone. "Who the FOKE to they think they are?! FOKE THEM. FOKE 'EM ALL." It was so hysterical.

When we came out of there, it was still light out, and we were on our way to Little Italy, to find some delicious NYC Italian food, when we found a store called UNI QLO. We were so intrigued, because there was this enormous glass case in the front of the store, with spinning mannequins showing off the new line of clothing... it was all bright fluorescent lights, all white and glass.. we had to go in. My co-worker asked what the store was, and the clerk explained that it's sort of like a Japanese Old Navy. Most of the prices were extremely reasonable. I walked around that store for about an hour. I would've bought more, but I was worried that I'd have buyer's remorse, with no opportunity to return anything.. but it was fun nonetheless!

After that, we decided we were too hungry and tired to wait 'til we got to Little Italy, so we stopped at the first place that sounded good, Gatsby's.
I didn't expect much from this pub. When I think of pubs, I have two basic memory groups: casual, yummy, hot, stick-to-your-ribs food in Cambridge, England. OR really bland, awful trying-to-be-exciting-but-nowhere-near-succeeding disappointing food in California's SF Bay Area. Soooo, I ordered my cider, as usual, and decided to order onion rings for an appetizer, to soak up the cider and to provide a base, in case I didn't like my dinner. I ordered the chicken pot pie, thinking that I might as well give the place a shot.. and oh my GOD, it was delicious! I would order that again in a heartbeat, and I heartily recommend it to you. =) Yum. Good service, too. And I discovered that the best sauce for onion rings is ketchup mixed with hot sauce. Wow, that was a good dinner. My co-worker ordered the Cottage Pie, which was sort of like a shepherd's pie, but it was not very good. It tasted way too sweet, and it had curry powder in it. Just weird.

After that, we went back and forth as to whether we would get some dessert and coffee. After all, everything had been so good, and we had walked for miles, so we deserved it, right? No, no, no, we decided that we were waaaay too full, so we just caught a cab back to the hotel. Of course, in order to get to a busy intersection where we could catch a cab, we had to pass by kiosks of cheap jewelry and purses. I bought a $10 silver ring for $5, which I'm very proud of. My co-worker told me that the secret to negotiating is walking away, and it totally worked. I'm a pro now! =) I wish I would've tried that at the t-shirt shop... =(

Oh well! All in all, a great day in NYC. I'm thinking that it would be nice to take a vacation here, see s'more stuff, like the MoMA and the Natural History Museum. Hopefully, I can get my hubby to come back here with me. =) Maybe I can bait him with some Famous Ray's pizza.

NYC day 1

I flew into JFK today for business, and I thought I'd blog about the experience, mostly so that I would remember it myself. While I was in SFO, I did the self-service check-in. I had already selected seat 26A (window seat) weeks ago, online, but I thought it'd be interesting to see if I could get a better seat (closer to the front), so I hit the "look for other seats" button. BAD IDEA. The system knew I wanted a different seat, so it must've released my seat to the other people checking in. I ended up with seat 26E, no closer to the front of the plane. Worse than that, I was dead-center, middle seat of the middle block of seats. Just about as far from any windows as you can get. Poop.

Oh well. I took some delicious Unisom on the plane, and so was able to sleep for 3 out of the 5-hour flight. I have only recently discovered anti-histamine-induced sleep, but it's wonderful, I tell you. This is coming from someone who has desperately wanted to sleep on plane for years, but couldn't. I've tried red-eyes, I've tried not sleeping for 36 hours prior to the flight.. you name it. The only thing that works is Unisom, and so I am thankful for Unisom.

There were two other interesting things about my flight:

1. There was a blind man two rows ahead, who spoke very loudly. I was kind of annoyed, until I started listening to what he was saying. Fascinating. He works in SETI, and was telling the stranger in the seat next to him all about the new equipment they're working on, to listen for communication further out in the universe. Didn't catch many details, but my mind immediately turned this guy into the actor who played the blind SETI character in the movie Contact.

2. The other interesting thing was that the plane I was on tilted/turned to correct its path for landing VERY late in the game. I mean, you can see that you're really close to the ground, and all of a sudden, the plane jerks to the right, straightens out, turns, straightens, and then you land. I can't imagine how stressful that is for the pilot.

Anyway, after landing, I took a cab with co-workers into Manhattan to our hotel. I checked in and was told that the only room fitting my criteria that they had available was a "small room" with a queen-size bed. My other option was a king-sized bed on a smoking floor. (No thanks!) So I'm writing this from a "cozy" room in Manhattan, with a view of tall buildings and residual blue glare from Times Square's crazy lights.

We had dinner at a nice little french bistro-type restaurant called Balthazar, where we ate entirely too much food. We ordered and shared three appetizers: lobster risotto, foie gras, herb ravioli with stewed tomatoes. I didn't eat the foie gras, and had to explain that I truly was morally opposed to it. (side note: Someone recently told me that the chicken and geese who go through the horrendous force-feeding procedures actually *like* it. That's disgusting. Aaanyway, I digress.) The other two appetizers were really tasty and come recommended from our whole group. Then I had steak frites with maitre d' butter. Delicious, delicious. I'd do that again in a heartbeat. For dessert, we again ordered 3 and shared. I had their banana ricotta tart with banana ice cream. It was yummy, and the carmelized bananas kind of had a crispy creme brulee feel. The other desserts were also delicious: (1) profiteroles with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, and (2) the peach/blueberry tarte. YUM.

We were all SO full after this huge dinner that we went for a walk to see the lights of Times Square. You know, this area is full of such a vast variety of retail establishments... and smells! I wouldn't describe any of the smells as being particularly "fresh," but it's very entertaining to walk through 10 different air currents in a single block. I definitely couldn't live here. I'm so suburban. =)

Six Mois

I'd just like to take this opportunity to say how happy I am to have been married for the last six months. And I really like the date today: 7/27/2007. Isn't that pretty?

Anyway, Happy Half-year Anniversary Halfiversary, Bug! Thanks for getting up the nerve to pop the question in May 2006, dealing with me as we planned the wedding, and ultimately going through with the whole thing six months ago.

Now, I'd say that it's high time we sat down and wrote out our thank you cards. ;)

Gnocchi dokey!

I searched online to find creative ways to use leftover mashed potatoes. I made way too much for a dinner over the weekend (no shock there -- I always make a bunch of leftover mashed potatoes). The thing is, I grew up in a house where these potato leftovers never went to waste, because they were always a favorite. Now, I struggle with leftovers in a house with only two people, especially two people who aren't home much, and who like a little variety. And I can only eat so many mashed potatoes for lunches at work.

Long story short, I went searching and found potato pancake recipes, shepherd's pie recipes, etc. My favorite recipe of the lot was one with only three ingredients (ding ding ding, we have a winner folks!): mashed potatoes, flour, egg. Who knew gnocchi could be so simple? I've never considered making gnocchi in my life. I'm not the biggest fan, actually. I don't hate them, but I tend not to order them in restaurants, because they're usually in thick cream sauces, and are boring after like 5 bites.

But at home, gnocchi were so much fun!! I pulled out all of the ingredients, and I was eating gnocchi ten minutes later. (Sharlene, are you reading this? I know I just emailed you this story, but I was so excited, that I thought I'd blog about it, too!!). I was home alone tonight, so I cooked up a serving, and flash froze the rest, then put 'em all in one bag. I think Jesse will be thrilled, because gnocchi are high on his list of things to order at Italian restaurants (probably topped only by chicken parmesan).

So I served my homemade gnocchi with a little butter, fresh pepper, and parmesan cheese. I will make this recipe again in a heartbeat! It's so easy. And SO cheap. I don't think I'd ever buy gnocchi in the store now... I'll just wait until I inevitably make an excessive amount of mashed potatoes again.

Lifting weights.

I've been thinking a lot about blogging lately. Unfortunately, I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to blog about, exactly. I thought there was nothing going on in my life. I thought I was "not doing anything." But here's the thing! I've figured it out! I wasn't doing nothing -- I was overwhelmed by too much stuff. Here's my list:

1. The company I work for was acquired by a big, massive, rich company.
- I had to go to meeting upon meeting about this
- I had to re-enroll in all company benefits (vision, dental, health, etc.)
- Switch computers.
- Learn a whole set of different websites for reporting vacation, sick time, time in general, etc.
- Figure out how to get my paystub (paperless)
2. Our house was disgusting following (and previous to, for that matter) the wedding.
- We had arts'n'crafts piled-up from wedding prep
- After being so busy with the wedding and losing sight of how bad our house was, we just didn't want to look at it anymore, so it got worse.
- We couldn't relax when we were at home, because it was very overwhelming.
- We stopped cooking for ourselves, because we really didn't want to go into our kitchen.. which leads me to bullet 3...
3. We've been eating like crap, which kills the energy level.
4. We've put a lot of energy into avoiding things we need to do.
- wedding thank you cards
- open wedding gifts (there was a pile of beautiful, still-in-the-packaging presents in the corner of our dining room.
- go to the grocery store and buy actual food
- get my wedding gown cleaned and preserved
- blog
- updating the wedding website with wedding and honeymoon photos
5. We've been house-hunting, because we really want to "settle down" and stop wondering when our landlady is going to raise the rent.
- Talk to mortgage brokers
- find any and all tax, bank, work paystub, etc. documents for X period of time
- call, call, call people
- call, call, call more people
- actually look at houses
- work with one realtor through the offering process the first time
- suffer the disappointment of that deal falling through
- work with a DIFFERENT realtor to look at other houses
- call, call, call more people
- meet at houses that are for sale, meet at real estate agent's office, etc.
- in general, spend a lot of time thinking about houses and money
5. We had a garage sale, since we already have too much stuff, and we knew we'd end up buying a place that's much smaller than our current place.
6. We got sick for a couple of weeks, after hanging out with and talking to all of those people at said garage sale.
7. I stopped taking the train altogether, which you'd think would be nice, but it has been awful.
- I don't read anymore.
- I spend a ton of money on gas
- I work much more irregular hours (usually longer).

OK, so maybe the list doesn't seem like these items should take a lot of time away from blogging, but you have to put it all together: I work long hours at a "new" job, come home to a gross house that overwhelms me, eat like crap, and daydream about houses I don't own. It's kind of sad, and not worth blogging about anyway. It hasn't felt like I have much to talk about.

But here's the real news: Jesse's sister came to visit (who, I guess, I could start referring to as "my sister-in-law," since neither of my brothers is married and it's not ambiguous), which really lit a fire under our butts. Jesse and I spent three VERY long nights cleaning our house to an acceptable level of tidiness. Then we hosted the adorable Kody for three days, during which time we cooked every meal and always cleaned up after ourselves.

We also used lovely new appliances that were supplied to us as wedding gifts, including a handheld cordless vaccuum and a small food processor. (Note here that there is no longer a pile of unopened gifts in the corner of our dining room).

It feels like a major weight has been lifted, and so I've decided to blog about it.

Fin.

Hearing wedding bells again...!

The Mister and I drove up to South Lake Tahoe on Saturday so that we could be at a surprise birthday party for my friend and maid of honor Tina. Her boyfriend, Mat, had us all meet at a restaurant, and Tina came in and was very surprised, as planned, etc. Then we all drove up to the cabin he'd rented, and we walked down to the snow to take some pictures. The lovebirds were up first, and as we all got situated with our cameras, Mat dropped to one knee and proposed! She said yes (duh!). They seem very happy, the ring is very shiny, and just like that, the wedding bells are ringing again!

In other wedding news, Jess and I are also heading over to Philly at the end of the month for the wedding of his long-time friend, Ben. Ben's marrying his long-time partner, Margo, and I'm SO looking forward to seeing their little dreamboat son, Simon (almost a year old), dressed up in a little suit. So excited.

Being on this side of wedding planning ourselves (i.e. now that we're done) weddings seem exciting again. I'm really looking forward to helping with and admiring the little details, instead of deciding on and having to pay for them. ;) w00t!

Mr. and Mrs. Married

We've been getting honked at for two days now, driving around town in our "Just Married" mobile (thanks to Tina and Ry and Kody)! Lots of "Congratulations" and lots of smiles and waves. It's pretty nice to see the world get happy about something -- yay our marriage!

Jesse and I have been frantically shopping for the warmest clothing and accessories that we can find in California before heading off to Quebec. (Eep, cold!)

We've loved being married so far -- Jesse called the airline we're flying with, and I heard him say "My wife and I..." while I signed up for a membership at REI and used my married name for the first time. I'm sure we'll come up with lots of other fun stories in the coming weeks.. for now, we really need to pack for the trip, which we need to leave for in 5 hours.. everything last minute. =)

The Honeymooners

That's us! Can you believe it? We actually planned our honeymoon travel less than 3 weeks before the wedding. In fact, it was within 14 business days of the day we'll be leaving for the honeymoon -- that means airfare was slightly more expensive. D'oh! Oh well. We had other things to do first -- what can you do? =P

For those who don't know yet (that's probably most people), Jesse and I are going to Montreal and Quebec City for a total of 10 nights. I'm SO EXCITED!!! This will be our first trip out of the country as a couple (and we've been together for almost 7 years). We both studied French, so we should be able to manage signs and menus, but I'm a little worried about pumping out grammatical sentences in French during live conversations... eep! Wish us luck.

We're staying at some pretty francy hotels, thanks to Winter rates. One is a very famous landmark, one is a very schmancy modern boutique hotel, and the last one is where John Lennon and Yoko Ono had a 10-day "bed in" and recorded Give Peace a Chance.

Other than the dates and the hotels, we have no real idea of what we'll be doing in Quebec. Jesse did find an awesome snow park, which is very similar to a water park, only all of the slides are ice and snow instead of rushing water. You can also do some ice kart racing there (similar to go-karts, but colder and with more fish-tailing, I'd imagine).

So, my new tasks are as follows:
(a) find super warm clothes that will keep me dry,
(b) buy a guide book or two,
(c) get a good street map,
(d) extend my health insurance to cover out-of-country emergencies,
(e) pack -- eventually
(f) relax, relax, relax! Woohoo, honeyMOON!!!

Can't wait!

Tears of Joy

Shut up, no, they're not about my upcoming wedding. =P

(Yes, I'm excited about my wedding. No, I'm not unhappy... remember that this post is about tears of JOY!!! Read on...)

Jesse and I were just sitting around in our living room, and I made a comment about how he puts all of his grumpy thoughts down in his blog (which is true -- fans of Jesse's blog, he's really much happier in real life). So he showed me his latest blog post, and I chuckled at what he wrote, then I clicked through to my blog from his, and he asked me if anyone else had commented on my last post.

Uh...

Amanda: No, nobody reads my blog.
Jesse: Doo hoo hoo, that's so sad!
Amanda: I know, I don't know why I bother to blog anyway, because I could just call you to say, "Happy New Year, I'm sick, write an email to yourself."

So we start laughing at my pathetic blog, and I get a little teary-eyed so my vision blurs, and I scroll down to prove to him that no one but he comments anymore...

Amanda: See? Every single post has one comment, and it's always from you...
(one comment)
(one comment)
(one comment)
(one--woah, wait--that's a different shape digit!)
Amanda: Oh, this one has two! I guess I'm not so lame.
Jesse: [shifty-eyed] mm-hmm, that's great.
Amanda: Wait, oh no, does it say just one? D'oh I couldn't see it very well.. [frown]
Jesse: [look of love mixed with pity] Oh man, I can't lie to you.. it says zero comments.
Amanda: [bursting into fits of laughter] Oh god, I'm such a loser! Why do I even blog? I'm going to blog about this!

And...I did.

And Jesse will probably comment. (Thanks, Bug!)

Illness, the Wedding and Goals, oh my!

I'm sick and working from home today. I know I never blog anymore, but I do occasionally add info to Wedding Central. Does that count? I think I caught a bug from Jesse's sister while his family was out visiting us from Los Angeles and Philadelphia. My throat feels swollen and also burns after a while if I'm talking or swallowing. I'm staying home today to try and avoid talking (hurting myself) and spreading germs (hurting others). Boo hoo.

The wedding is coming along! We're up to our ears in our "To Do" list. It is in an Excel spreadsheet, and has a conditionally formatted cell that tells us how many items are remaining, and changes colors depending on how high a number it is. Seriously, folks, I'm in Project Management land now, remember? That's how I roll. Anyway, we're still very in the red. I just came up with another thing today that we need to do -- our (or at least my) rings need to be polished before the wedding, so I have to figure out when to do that.

I found a website where you can compose an email to yourself and have it sent at a future date. Well, you can compose an email to anyone, I guess, but the point is to remind your future self of things you're thinking of today. I just sent myself a halfway-there reminder of my 2007 goals. I should get that email on June 2, 2007. That way, if I mess up and don't do anything by then, I'll still have half a year to get 'er done.

I may need a reminder, since I haven't been thinking much about much lately, aside from the wedding and my waistline (that truly expensive dress better fit when it comes in!!!). Happy New Year, everyone!! =)