tuesday

blogger has decided to let me post tonight.

this is the baby horse. she doesn't have a name yet, even though she's a month old. our cat is 10 and he still has no name, so i can't judge. 

 

this is the view that camp looks out over. it's very pretty at sunset.

this is my crummy picture of the fold-up sunglasses i bought at walmart for $5. i try to avoid walmart at all costs, so i was totally unaware you could find bright yellow sunglasses for $5, or a $5 watch. all kinds of things. the walmart in killeen is especially creepy though. highest percentage of tattoos i've ever seen in one location. 

break tomorrow! looking forward to seeing the fam and the garden. they've sent me 2 pictures of cucumbers so far! they grow so quickly.

back in business

for someeee reason.. blogger isn't letting me update my blog on my own laptop out here.

training has been interesting. we have the typical spread: sportsy guy, wilderness guy (from minnesota, dontcha know), all-women's college theater major, multicultural sorority girl, typical nice guy middle school teacher. somehow my role so far has been the one who makes games more competitive than they might otherwise be and gets conversations going at meal times. funny how a group of adults can forget how to make smalltalk with a group of relative strangers.

just in the last few days i've been able to begin cutting back on comparisons to last year. rationally, i know it can't be the same. but i was hoping it would at least be on par. we've added a few more staffers to our ranks in the last couple of days, and that's really helped it balance out and feel less like a ghost town.

we had dinner in town last night and then went to one of the guy's houses to watch the glee finale. definitely not as good as the first season. he lives out in the country, and his family owns a bunch of horses. one of them had a baby a month ago. she was really cute. she kept nudging me like ripley does when she wants you to pet her.

one week of training down.. one to go.

training day

i don't want to start out on a negative note.. but.. this year is just not the same. it just isn't as much fun with 5 people as it is with 12+ to do anything. low ropes. training. games. socializing. but! it will get better. and different is good. but for now i'm just missing my friends from last year and trying to get geared up for something totally new and different.

today we successfully got a 150 lb man from the ground to a tree 10 feet away using nothing but 4 people and a 90 ft rope. highlight of the day.

told you i'd be patient

..did i tell you i'm going to work at camp again this summer? i leave tomorrow for training. the internet there is not the best, so i don't know how often i'll be writing. trying to mentally prepare for how different it will be from last year. but i'm excited. there are worse ways to make money than teaching high schoolers about goal setting and demystifying college.

this is the garden this weekend..

it's amazing how fast the cucumbers go from babies to full grown.

it seems like these tomatoes have been full size and green for months now. there are bazillions of them.

the cucumbers are taking over!

you really need quite a bit of room for squash. i probably shouldn't have planted 5. it's fine though. so far i've given squash away to stacy, rachel, jill and andy. we think the count is up to 17 or 18 harvested. not bad for a $4 tray of 3 baby plants.

and my big accomplishment of the week:
my car needs a new intercooler because mine is cracked. apparently, it sits somewhere in the right side of your car up under the bumper, and it cools the air that goes into the turbo, which supercharges my engine (more or less).
price of an intercooler from VW: $300
price from my shop: $266
price i found on the internet: $116
..with 10% off coupon and free shipping: $107!

day 4

not much to mention as far as the cate chronicles go today. stacy came over with drew and he was really good. we even successfully went out for dinner with no meltdown. he is so adorable. cate was really cute too in her little polka dotted onesie. i love anything on babies that involves polka dots, light pink or flowers.

the highlight of my day with her was reading the monster at the end of this book. it was my favorite book for my mom to read before bed because she gave grover a really dramatic, high pitched voice. and the story is just really entertaining. it's funny how my eye was drawn to the same parts of the illustrations today as it was when i was being read to at 5 years old. ..my grover voice wasn't as good, but cate was enthralled.

jeff and i are obsessed with othello aka riversi. i've played the computer one million times today, and i only won twice. once almost completely by accident.

you have to try to change the majority of the board over to your color, and you do it by surrounding the other team's color. you can trap them vertically, horizontally or diagonally. the secret is trying to get all 4 corners, and most of the walls if you can. but they can take over at a moment's notice. it's fun.

day 3

cate and i went to central market today to check out the amazing deal on mussels. 2 lbs for $6.99. jill has a really yummy recipe that involves a couple tbsp of thai red curry paste (thai kitchen brand), a can of coconut milk and mussels. so easy, so delicious. so i bought mussels, coconut milk, some lunch meat, a couple kinds of pasta salad and a baguette. most of it fit easily under the stroller.. but the baguette rode awkwardly beside cate on the way home (not shown).

i sent this picture to my mom and andy when we got home because it struck my funny bone for some reason as i was unpacking groceries.

mom's response: MEGAN?!?!! that best be bread
andy's response: You'd make a terrible parent! ;)

jeffy and i went to spiderhouse and played othello/reversy tonight. it was a lot of fun. and fun to catch up with him after a whole three days of not seeing each other, which has become rare for us. he is quite the local celeb at that establishment. four different people came up to us to say hi to him. and he bought my drink. how fancy.

day 2

jill and zach to cate at bath time: did you have a good time with miss megan today?
jill: you don't have to call her miss megan if you don't want to
zach: you could call her megan or megpie..
jill: or meggie, or megamagnificent
zach: or hey lady
jill: no, that would be impolite
zach: megpie it is, then

day 1

so cate and i did get out of the house today. we met john at kerbey lane (one of austin's most famous 24 hour restaurants). she had been asleep alllll morning, so i thought she would be really happy. not the case. and nothing i did was helping. it's one of those times when i wanted a poster over my head that said 'i am not this child's mom, and i don't have any idea what i'm doing right now.' but it was fine. we were surrounded by very understanding grandparents.

(cate and jill, her actual mom)

the rest of the day went relatively well. watching her has once again renewed my empathy for moms, and reminded me that i'm happy with where i am in my life right now. but this week will be fun. you do kind of forget about all of the fussiness when they fall asleep on your shoulder.

wide world

i feel like i should have more to say about what went on between thursday and today.. but the delicious pesto jeff and i made with basil from the garden really overshadows everything else. 

we generally followed ina's recipe.. but really we just kept adding basil and olive oil until it looked normal. a handful of parmesan, some toasted pine nuts, a few cloves of garlic. so yum.

this is me trying to keep it away from the flies while we took pictures.

this week i'm watching zach and jill's 3 month old, cate, again. we have some big goals. 1. get out of the house 2. cook an actual meal 3. take a walk every day. i'll keep you posted. 

purpose driven

majjy sent this video to me today, and it's exactly what i needed to hear again, and i thought you might be interested. it's rick warren (who is an evangelical pastor) talking about living a purpose driven life. fun fact: he gave the invocation at president obama's inauguration. you like him better already, don't you?

boy with a coin

! there is nothing quite like writing several paragraphs embedded with tons of links, only to accidentally close the window and lose it all. i guess it's a chance to be more concise. it was quite rambly. (editor's note: it didn't get any less rambly the second time).

1. one of my mom's favorite bits of wisdom is the aryurvedic (traditional Indian medicinal) belief that our bodies are made of three energies; pitta, kapha and vata. you can take a test to find out which you are. i'm mostly pitta.. this website says "Physiologically, these people have a strong metabolism, good digestion and resulting strong appetites. Pitta types have a natural craving for sweet, bitter and astringent tastes and enjoy cold drinks. Pitta people do not tolerate sunlight, heat or hard work well."


2. my friend andy sends amazing links that are insightful/interesting/relevant.. and i post a lot of my favorite bits from him on facebook, but nowww the general public can get in on the action via his new blog called the targeted audience. you have to click the big blue link at the top of each post to get to the articles. should be good.

3. this is just a silly thing, but i've stopped going to cute yoga instructor tim's classes because they just plain wear me out, and it's too competitive. i had been going twice a week and just coming home exhausted and dripping, but i've found another instructor who i loooove, so now i go to him instead.

but tim has a class right after my tuesday class.. and who knows if he even recognizes me or realizes i stopped going to his class, but i apparently feel super guilty about it because i've had no less than fiveeee dreams in the last two weeks where cute yoga instructor tim is there, and i find myself apologizing for/explaining why i'm not going to his class anymore.

every time i run into him at the studio, i just avoid eye contact. which is stupid. i'm sure i blush like crazy because i've worked myself up so much about it. ..did i mention pitta's are prone to excessive worrying? :)

garden update

do you see what i seee?!

there are one million flowers on the cucumbers right now, but no baby cucumbers in sight.

the cucumbers have made their way up the fence and are now making their way down to the ground on the other side.

so far, knock on wood, no one has taken even one tiny bite out of any of my tomatoes.

the jalapenos have started growing. i think there are 4, but lots of little buds.

same cherry tomato as the top. i aaaaallmost ate him. but last year, we cut our first vegetable (a pea) into sections and split it. so we should probably do that with the tomato.

ten points to whoever knows what causes these trails. is it caterpillars? based on the number of trails vs the absence of caterpillars, i don't really know if it's them or not. i've only picked off 3 so far. maybe it's time to get out the flashlight.

middle of the night research has lead me to a diagnosis of leaf miners of some kind. 

it ain't suave

8 good things

8. $3.74/gallon diesel at chevron when eeeeverywhere else was at least $3.89
7. i decided not to get a car wash because it was cloudy/windy/might rain
6. it rained!
5. president obama was in austin today
4. i wasn't odd man out in book club tonight
3. clean sheets
2. spent quality time with andy before he moves to jolly old england
1. held plank pose without literally falling to my knees in yoga today

rode in on a song

we had a lovely mother's day at the lake. all 3 kids, shishkabob marinade, cornell bbq chicken on the grill, my mom's friend and her husband came. it was very nice. at one point, jeff and matt were on the jet ski and ripley, who hates to be left behind, swam out to 'turtle rock' which is a rock 10 feet or so from the shore that forms a little island the size of a hula hoop, and barked until they were out of sight. i brought the fancycam and didn't take a single picture.

cornell bbq chicken marinade, courtesy of about.com

2 c vinegar
1 c oil
1 egg
3 T salt
1 T poultry seasoning (or sage)
black pepper to taste
6-8 chicken breasts or a package of chicken tenders, tendon removed

about.com says to blend it in a blender.. but we don't. you need to leave it at least overnight. we've left it for a couple of days before. it is deeeelicious.

we never really do interesting presents for mothers or fathers day.. but maj had just commented on how cute the measuring cups were at anthropologie and i was down there the other day. so cute. plus they're called austin's flora. how perfect is that.

the thunder rolls

i wish i could say i've been missing from the internet because i've been on an adventure or doing something special and fun, but really i've been at dentist/doctors appointments, reading the book for book club this month (i don't love it.. which means the girls from book club will think it's the best thing they've ever read), working on a photo book of the october china trip (version 1 crashed after 2 hours of working on it, but version 2 is finished and in the mail on its way here) and studying GRE math. algebra is the only thing so far that has come back with relative ease.

headed to the lake tomorrow with my friend john who has somehow managed to avoid going to the lake over the course of our 10 year friendship. we're going to take the boat out for the first time all year.

p.s. if you live in LA, chicago, DC, NYC, seattle, boston or san fran, please check out this new supper club concept called grub with us and let me know how it goes so i can live vicariously through you until they open a chapter in austin.

mini tiaras

i got to play with the little girls at school today who i haven't seen in months and months. after we all got caught up on new clothes, accessories and hair cuts, they wanted to play beauty salon.

V: miss megan, do you want a beautiful hair style?
me: yes of course! what do you think would be pretty?
V: i think a pony tail with sparkles and mini tiaras!
P: and i'll pick out a beautiful dress with jewels and sparkles!
V: [yanking on my hair and twisting it up with pencils] does that hurt? [twists tighter] how about now?
P: i found some shoes! and a wonderful golden crown with rubies and gems
V: [on her tiptoes] you have to wear high heels and walk like this! do you see i have high heels on?
me: very beautiful
P notices my new shoes in the cubby
P: V! she has jelly shoes!
V runs over to see them
V: they're princess glass slippers!!

you thought it was weird to wear shoes that you can see your toes through, but it really just goes with the princess glass slipper territory.

for the record, the women and gender studies part of me was screaming in the back of my head the whole time, but we did some non-princess self esteem boosting activities afterward to even us out.

turn into a pumpkin

there are a couple of downsides to international travel. the first is getting sick.. especially because free, clean bathrooms are nowhere near as plentiful abroad as they are in the US. but the second is that extremely cheap shoes and clothes in asia spoil you silly and make you realize that everything in america is overpriced for no good reason. the quality isn't quite as good, but i don't mind if i need to wear a slip with a dress if i bought it for $10.

i bought those black jellies at NET in taiwan for 300NT which is about 10 dollars. they're waterproof, pretty comfy, and made of nothing but plastic.

so when i saw copycat shoes by steve madden in the shoe cabinet at yoga, i was excited when i found them at DSW. but they were $25. it's just sad paying regular shoe price for something you know is worth $10. but lucky me, maj bought herself a pair in gray and she bought me a pair in clear, so they were free! thank you, good majjy!

there are some deals to be had here too though. this dress was on sale for $40 at the limited, and thanks to a return + discount, i bought it for $15. they had lots of cute dresses on sale.

weekend

behold the first yellow crookneck squash from the garden. he was 6 inches long or so. i sauteed and added him to pasta sauce tonight, and it was delicious.

and i know i haven't been super fantastic about uploading garden pictures, but it is still chugging right along. this picture is week 1 and the rest are every 2 weeks or so.

the cat is sleeping on my bed right now and wheezing with every breath. still haven't decided if he can stay. he has a bad habit of waking up in the middle of the night wanting to go outside.

today was interesting. i took a friend to the airport at 4:30AM, came home and slept for a few hours, went back downtown for a dentist appointment, had coffee and a jalapeno and cheddar croissant (not a good idea) with john for half an hour and went straight to yoga. i arrived at 11:58 for the noon class, popped in the studio to unfurl my mat, jogged to the bathroom to change, flinging clothing everywhere. we have a 2 day cold front moving through austin right now which meant more layers than usual this morning.

then i'm in class trying to get situated and calm down as i can feel the cafe au lait i had just downed pounding in my usually decaffeinated veins. as i'm raising and lowering my arms as we get warmed up, i can't get comfortable for some reason. and then i realize that my tank top is on backwards. i fought the giggles as i just grinned like a crazy person for 5 minutes.

so what was a girl to do? i was in the middle of the middle row, directly in front of the instructor. i ended up just ignoring it and hoped no one noticed, but it was just one of those mornings.

it ended up being a very nice day. busy start to a busy couple of weeks coming up.