ny times

image courtesy of James Estrin/The New York Times

so, the headline on nytimes.comright now is regarding this dusk-to-dawn drop-off program for people with alzheimers and dementia. the idea is simple--it's a place for people to go to occupy them during restless nights, and to give them a place to be to ward off night terrors--to generally help them avoid "sundowning." just read the article--it's adorable and an uplifting article to read in times where 99% of the news is depressing and heart-breaking.

busy girl

so, i've been a busy girl, although i'm not really sure what i've been doing. training has been a failure--i've been uber exhausted, my legs have felt tired and achy, i'm not really sure what's going on. work has been really busy, so i've been working late and laying low in the evenings. i feel like i've sort of neglected the blog, but mostly ben and stu on the blog! it's not because they haven't been up to cuteness and mischief, either. i haven't captured a picture yet, but ben has been jumping on our flat screen tv nightly, which has been his go-to bad cat behavior as of late. when this happens we quickly whisk him into the bedroom, at which time he cries and cries and cries until we let him out. he usually has to go in a few times, but it seems like he's learning...maybe. stuart has been..well, stuart. the loaf/walrus/blob of the house, he wallows around, rolling on his back, squeaking when he hears plates clanking around. everyone want to join me in a round of "ooooh stuuuuuuuuu..."?

anyway, i finally uploaded some pictures and also took a few of these devilish boys showing their softer side...

group groom





and now, a little video showing why one of stuart's nicknames is growlypants...

cat saga

so. on friday, the bed we had ordered arrived, and friday night i decided to assemble it. alone. brandon was in iowa for his brother's graduation, so i decided to tackle the assembly--i am known to decide to take on feats like this, which usually end in tears and frustration.

first off, i come home to find a champagne glass shattered in the kitchen, and a vase knocked off the counter, prevented from plunging to it's demise only by the corner of a stool which was holding it up. great. first task upon arrival from work--clean up the glass that is all over the kitchen. literally ALL over the place.

so clearly the cats were already going bonkers, confused because brandon wasn't home. on top of that, these big boxes and packaging set them into a flurry of activity. i would have taken photos had i not been so focused on finishing the bed. imagine stuart chewing on cardboard, ben chasing his tail in a pile of bubble wrap, the cats running up and down the mattress which is leaning vertically against the wall. at one point stuart decided he was king of the castle--he was lounging on top of the mattress, laying on his back, lolling about. ben would run up, stuart would bat him in the face, and then ben would run back down. repeat 4 or 5 times. more tail chasing. then stuart would try and run off with the allen wrench. you get the picture.

two hours, some sweat and a little blood later, i was done with the bed and it was time to put on the mattress and box spring. the latter was down the hall in the bathroom, to help prevent the cats from climbing up and down it. i tried to slide it out of the bathroom vertically, which it turns out is a bad idea, because it didn't fit all the way through. the box spring is vertically half way through the door, stuck, and ben decides to climb up the box spring on the inside of the bathroom. while i'm trying to get him down so i can slide the box spring back into the bathroom and flip it, stuart climbs up on the outside of the bathroom. i now have a cat on either side of the box spring, neither really knowing how to get down, both pacing and meowing. because the thing is in the doorway, i cannot get a stool into the bathroom to help ben down. i try a number of tactics but none work. i then work on stuart, who just clings on for dear life when i try and pull him down. total failure. fast-forward 15 minutes, both cats are still there, i'm begging them to get down, it's midnight, i'm exhausted and on the verge of tears. i even try beckoning with treats and that doesn't work. ben FINALLY got down (dug his claws in, threw his back legs around and shimmied down), and about 10 minutes after that stuart got down the same way. hilarious now, infuriating at the time. i swear--do i have cats or toddlers?

the weekend (so far)

so far, this has been quite a lovely weekend. it started out with a baseball game on friday night in amazing seats (they were given to me), and then followed up with a drink with kelly and shane, who are in town for the weekend. it was great to catch up with old, dear friends!

today was the great urban race, that josh and brandon participated in.

it's basically a scavenger hunt/race throughout the city--like the amazing race, but only in one city, not all over the world. brandon and josh had a great time, but are now absolutely exhausted. while the boys were racing, my sister and i were on internet duty to help the boys decipher some clues. we also had entertainment in the form of claire while we waited...today she ate some carrots for us, and we giggled at the faces she made



after the time with claire and jen, i headed up to the orbit room for birthday mojitos for sara's birthday. YUM!

no, not marathon

i wanted to start this by saying no, i'm not running a marathon, just for clarity. however, in a moment of clouded judgement or insanity or something, i decided to sign up for the san francisco half marathon this summer.

this means yet again training begins. i've taken the few weeks sort of off, although recently i have become addicted to spinning. next week, however, "vacation" is over, and i'm back on the training schedule. i go back and forth between excitement and "oh my gosh what am i doing" as the pain of the last half creeps into my mind. my comforting thought? the fact that, seeing as it starts around 6am in san francisco, the chance of me having to deal with 85 degree heat is slim to none. i'm half sort of in shock and nervous that i signed up, but excited at the same time. july 26, here i come! luckily i have my training buddy again...thanks brandon!

happy mother's day!

happy mother's day to all those wonderful mothers out there! i celebrated mother's day early, spending saturday morning with my parents, grandmother's, and brandon (jen, josh and claire were at a wedding in vegas this weekend). we went to the cliff house, where we had fantastic views of the ocean along with amazing company and delicious food.

thanks to all the moms in my life! what an amazing bunch you are.

best album cover EVER

check out this pitchfork article about wilco's new album, entitled wilco (the album) coming out in june. seriously this might be the best album cover i've ever seen in my life. no joke.

cover can bee seen here: wilco (the album) cover

meltdown and muffin!

this weekend was thankfully filled with not much. i had this big idea that i was going to totally clean the apartment from top to bottom, but per usual, i started and quickly felt defeated. how am i supposed to reorganize when we aren't increasing our space? i mean, i know it's possible, but on going through our stuff i realized we don't have THAT much to get rid of, and while it may not be the most efficient organization, we aren't THAT inefficient. then i had a downward spiral, deciding we need a bed frame finally and that i hate our bedroom, and that it isn't soothing or relaxing in there, and it drives me nuts in there. i talked with my mom, who sort of talked me off the ledge, listening, knowing exactly how i feel. we also sort of have this thing when we've been in a space for a certain amount of time we need to revamp. i also went off about how i wanted new living room furniture and to swap our living room and dining room, etc. but i have decided 1. one step at a time and 2. a bunch of new furniture is neither needed nor practical right now. this spiral ended with a couple decisions--we're getting a bed frame, and we're getting some more storage furniture for the bedroom to give ourselves the tools to make better use of our space. YAY.

so, that was pretty much my saturday (cleaning, breakdown, recovery, then planning), but my sunday was filled with resting and hanging out with jen, josh, and claire. here are some pictures from the afternoon.

friends [this pictures says it all]

i don't have much more to say than ladies, you mean the world to me and i love you all to pieces.

heatwave '09

the first heatwave of '09 has officially hit san francisco. we had temperatures in the 90's today, which is insane for this city by the bay. it's been a very sticky but sunny and beautiful day! too bad i had to spend it indoors behind my desk. the kitties do not enjoy this weather...they loll about on the floor, lethargic and hot. here are some snapshots of them surviving the heat:

first, we have stu hogging the fan

then stu, coming out of the sink after he went in for a drink

and finally, the boys lounging on the floor


tomorrow is supposed to be hot again, but by the end of the week we're supposed to have rain. ooooh san francisco weather, how crazy you are!

more racetime

here are some pictures my mom took...obviously i will not be looking my best in these, but hey. i just ran 13 miles. in ridiculous heat.

the race crew

race time!

race day arrived! man oh man. we trained for the mileage, but not really the mental aspect of racing OR the heat. well, to our credit, unless it's a day like today (over 85+ degrees in san francisco???) it makes it pretty hard to train for heat in sf. of course it had to be the hottest weekend in MONTHS for our first half. i am happy to say, however, we made it! it was tougher than i anticipated, but i'm glad we did it. i'm very proud of brandon, jessi and i, and thanks a bunch to josh and garrett. josh paced me and encouraged me to keep my legs moving, while garrett ran with jessi to keep her motivated.

now, to back up, our "race weekend" began with a delicious home cooked meal. we got our farm fresh to you box on wednesday, so we decided to use a bunch of the ingredients. i made:
* a green salad with carrots and tomatoes
* roasted potatoes and carrots
* sauteed chard and yellow onions over chicken

yummy!

on saturday josh picked brandon and i up to take us to the santa cruz area, where we spent the night...

so today was the big day, and it ended up being WAY hotter than we thought it would be. thankfully, i purchased shorts the other day. i was worried about running in them because i had never worn them for a long run, but they turned out to work great! i would have DIED in pants. my parents were kind enough to come down, cheer us on, watch us cross the finish line, and hold me up afterward (thanks dad...i thought i might collapse into the sand). we gathered ourselves, got our t-shirts, and then hobbled out to the car to go get some brunch/lunch. overall, a successful (if not slightly painful) race day. i have a whole new level of admiration for marathoners...

gone, gone, from new york city

i will be posting pictures from ny soon (i didn't get a chance to upload while i was there), but just wanted to say i'm back safely and i had a fantastic time! plenty of claire pictures to come =)

in ny

well, i made it safely AND found free wifi in our hotel lobby--double yay! my flight last night took off about 1h30 late (leaving at 12:20am instead of 10:50pm, but that wasn't overly horrible.

now i have to wait to check in, so i'm off to explore the city a little bit (unfortunately laptop in tow for me), but i'll certainly be back later to update! i can't wait to see claire in the city.

and for the excitement of the day...two things.
1. apparently (i guess i was asleep) some guy got drunk and unruly on the plane. when we went to deboard, they held us all while the cops came to escort him off. whoops! i did actually notice him when he got on--he seemed slightly aggressive and cranky when trying to find a spot for his luggage overhead.

2. the twa terminal! last time brandon and i were here, we were hoping to catch a glimpse and failed miserably. it's going through repairs currently, so you can't go in it but the jetblue terminal is right next to it, so when i was heading to airtrain i saw it! yay!!!

nyc, here i come

so, sorry i've been sort of MIA this week. i have been working till at least 7:30pm every day this week and now i leave for new york tonight! i'm on a red-eye, so i get to go home after work, finish packing (just the toiletries, etc.) and then head to bart to go to the airport. whew! now, hopefully i will get to update some blogs while i'm there, but so far it looks like my hotel doesn't have free internet which i'm not happy about. we'll see...so i'll either be updating while i'm there or when i get back! i'll be back monday night, so it's not like i'm gone for a long time.
in the meantime, happy weekend everyone!

i need a cat trainer

i need a cat trainer, and no, this isn't an april fool's joke. in fact, this is the opposite of funny. as you've seen from my bad cat behavior posts, my kitties can be naughty. however, most the time it's semi-cute naughty, like awww, those goobers. the side that you don't see as much is the pest side of ben. i feel bad, because he clearly wants SOMETHING, but i have no clue what it is. i play with him, he gets bored. i pet him, he gets tired of that. he makes a distinct whiney meow noise (oftentimes sounding like he's saying "raoul"), and if no one responds, you just brace yourself for bad behavoir, whether it be wine glass bumping, cord chewing, or picture frame moving. i love this cat to pieces, but every night he drives me insane. i frequently can't get things done because he's causing trouble every couple minutes.

i've tried playing with him until he tires (the down time doesn't last long), we've tried ignoring the bad behavior (we end up with broken wine glasses)...i just seriously don't know what to do. pretty much every evening i end up getting upset and telling him that i don't know what he wants, and asking him if he could PLEASE just one night be good. sometimes we're so lucky as to have him nap in the evening, but most of the time he doesn't.

the worst part is, i feel like it's just because he's ridiculously smart, and so he gets bored. i get new toys from him, we try and entertain him, but i just don't know what to do...

so, in conclusion, anyone know a cat trainer? i don't know what else to do...either a cat trainer or a cat wheel...anyone want to donate a cat wheel?

farm fresh

so after chatting about it this weekend with my friend natalie, i was convinced that i should sign up for farm fresh to you. it's a company that delivers a variety of usda certified organic fruits and vegetables to your doorstep (or, um, your office's doorstep if you have a gate like we do). what i like about this service? it's reasonably priced, gives recipes with the produce, it's going to force me to expand my cooking repetoire (and get out of our 5 meal rut we're in), and will force us to eat more fruits and veggies--not to mention the benefits of eating organic. it's also extremely customizable. want all veggies? done! all fruits? done! only local? done! every other week/3 weeks/once a month? done! we started at one box every three weeks--this will give us an opportunity to test out the service, and see what we think will be a reasonable delivery schedule without wasting. they apparently post what will be in the box on the friday before your delivery, and you can email or call in to change out an item if you don't like it. i can't wait for our first delivery! here's to healthier cooking!

sick sunday

well, our fantastic weekend in vegas ended with a not-so-fantastic plane ride. i was expecting a little bit of turbulence as we departed vegas and flew over the mountains, but i was not expecting 45 minutes of it. i wasn't hung over or anything, but man did i get sick. i get motion sick extremely easily, but i've never actually gotten sick. i guess there's a first time for everything! our fasten seatbelt sign was only off for about 15-20 minutes, and multiple people on the flight were ill. it was awful. at least i have good friends who still like me after sitting next to me. the flight attendants were so sweet and kind, so that was nice-- one even checked on me when he walked through the cabin. thankfully we landed safely, but i was obviously feeling a little under the weather. brandon took the opportunity to snap a photo of me while i was napping...then i woke up but we snapped a few more of the kitties because they were being so cute.

happy birthday, brandon!

sufficient to say march 24-25 is an emotional roller coaster in our household. poor brandon gets a depressed wife the day before his birthday, but i always perk right back up to celebrate him. i try and look at both days as a celebration of life, but march 24 will always be difficult.

anyhoo, first off happy birthday, husband! i'll save all the gushy stuff to say to him in person, but i'd just like to say how incredibly glad i am to have him in my life. he's such a rock for me, and he keeps me sane. we decided to keep it low-key, because he's been working on an architectural competition and i've been busy getting ready for vegas so we're both exhausted. i got him his favorite cupcake from the place down the street from my office (that takes the cake)--it's a cupcake filled with peach cobbler, but i'm mad because his present didn't arrive in time, and it's my fault. i put the wrong sf zip code. i put my home zip with my office address...whooooops. at least he got a cupcake, right?

also happy today, flowers from tati arrived! i'll take better pictures in natural light tomorrow, but this is what i snapped tonight. she meant them to arrive yesterday (we had the fortune of living together when we went through the loss of stacy, so we have an extra bond when it comes to that) but ups can't leave stuff at my house because they can't get in our lobby. i was THRILLED to see they have a feature where you can request a different delivery address online. it says 'in close proximity' but i chanced it and put my work address--they arrived! they are a gorgeous mix of bright pink, pink/orange, and orangey/peach roses. it got a little awkward at work to explain why i had flowers, but for the most part i avoided the conversation. one person, however, pestered me until i spilled it. it's not that i mind talking about it--in fact, i don't mind at all. i typically just feel bad for the person who asked--it's never what they expect and usually makes them feel awkward. oh well! i love my flowers.

cocktails

so over the weekend while out with friends for the bachelorette, we started discussing how we like gin, and how we are liking the trend of herby/refreshing drinks. on saturday night i had a gin cocktail with apple, lemon, basil and honey--it was SO delicious and refreshing.

this morning i woke up and checked my normal blogs, and saw this post from edyta...how timely! as she said, great minds think alike:

Trends of 2009 - Custom & Complex Cocktails

photos via edyta via brides