03.30.10

One of tonight's LAC pizza creations. Strawberry & Ricotta pizza.

Defragmented

On Friday, one of the people in my IT department suggested that I defragment my computer. This is what I started out with:

And then it seemed to be getting a little better by the end of the day on Friday.

My boss suggested that I do a disk cleanup and then this: ouch.

Which got to this by this morning:

And now, at the end of the day today, I'm still working with this:

I think I would have to agree with my boss and say that I think my work computer is hosed. I don't even want to think about my home computer. I will have to check it tonight. Yep, I like to keep it interesting around here. You are welcome.

Post-edit for Nathan:
What fragmented really means - or contiguous, I have absolutely no idea.

New Project

Last week I saw a photo album on a friend's facebook page that included a photo a day for an entire year. A lot of the photos weren't very exciting, but I decided that it would be a fun task to take a least one photo of something in my life every day. I have been taking photos for a week now, but haven't been putting them on the blog yet. So, I'm going to back-date them and label them so that if you ever want to check them out, you can. I will be continuing with the semi-regular posting, but this will just be in addition. Enjoy!

03.29.10

Not even St. Patrick's Day.

03.28.10

My dad begged me for a manicure on Sunday afternoon. Since he filled up my car with gas the day before, I obliged.

03.27.10

My dad was inducted into the Vallejo Sports Hall of Fame. He now has a trophey with his name on it that looks like a Heisman.

03.26.10

lunch with my parents and niece. she might not be able to say my name yet, but she can make a mean silly face.

Vintage by Crystal

In December I went to the Martha Stewart Craft Fair in New York City. It was located at the Martha Stewart studio, and I was expecting a lot. I mean. A Martha Stewart Craft Fair should be awesome, right? I was incredibly wrong and I hate to say that it made me think even less of Martha. Really? People selling things that you could have found at the local Goodwill, at a 500% markup. The handmade crafts were all less than impressive and I thought to myself that I could make 95% of the things there myself. I guess that the general idea of craft fairs is to get ideas for your own craftiness, but yeah. Anyway.

The only thing that I was impressed with at the show were these little Victorian-esque doll things. Here. I found you a photo.

They are miniature little figurines and I thought they were awesome. A scarf selling for $80 that I could make myself, or one of these, that takes a little bit more creativity than I'm willing to output. Yes please. And they are only about $20. I'd like to take a few for every holiday, please.

Check out the website here, and the etsy shop here.

03.25.10

work dinner at kokkari tonight. please send me back to greece.

Week in Review

This week has been pretty good. Here it is in bullet form:

• I've been in bed before 10pm every night.
• Monday, I went to bed at 9:15pm. So tired from the weekend trip to LA.
• Went swimming again on Tuesday. I really love my swim class and being in the water. Makes me sad I haven't been doing it more through the years.
  
• Have officially lost 10 pounds since January 1.
• Up to 80 pushups and 233 squats in a 20 minute time period.
• I'm working on a new project that I will hopefully be able to share with you soon. Stay tuned on that.
  
• Today I went to lunch with my boss because she wanted me to flirt with the genius at the apple store and get her a new iphone. I am happy to use my skills, people. Happy to. And were we succesful? Yes, yes we were.
• And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the salad that Amy and I had for dinner last night. Red leaf lettuce, guacamole, avocado (can you eat too much avocado? the answer is no) pico de gallo, lite sour cream, and grilled chicken. I have been thinking about it all day. If I didn't already have dinner plans tonight, you could count on that being in my stomach around 6pm.
• This weekend will be spent with this little rugrat, who also happens to be my favorite, and only niece. Can't wait!

Whenever I look at this photo, I have to hide the pain that she is playing with my dolls, which are supposed to be locked away on the high shelves of what used to be my closet. I'm trying to be optimistic that I will have children one day and would like it if my sister's 5 kids didn't destroy all the toys that have been saved from my childhood. Mom, if you are reading this, please take note.

03.24.10

100 calorie packs of guacamole. Best idea ever.

Progressive Pioneer

A previous roommate of mine, Amy, was in the Mormon Times today. Click here to read the story.

03.23.10

On my way to swimming, round 2.

Glad to be a spectator.

A quick trip to LA was on the calendar for this last weekend to support Rachael as she ran her 9th marathon. The race was from Dodgers Stadium all the way down to the Santa Monica Pier. So to Dodgers Stadium we went on a hot, Saturday afternoon in March to get her race bib, etc.

And maybe Rachael tried on some of her racing outfit for us on Saturday afternoon. Lookin' good, Rachael.

On Sunday morning, a friend and I went to go find Rachael mid-race. Here I am on Sunset Boulevard, waiting.

And then we found her. And since I didn't want to slow her down too much, I ran with her for about 50 yards to check on her and see how she was doing. The below photo says more than I could.

All in all, it was a great weekend. There were some good times and some good people.

Dear Rachael, I hope you are able to walk again soon.
Dear Zach & Mike, thanks for hosting.
Dear Cafe Rio, thanks for opening up a So. Cal. location so that I could eat you.
Dear Cadburry Creme Egg, thanks for being so delicious.

Love,
Steph

Good Weather = Good Times

This weekend will be spent with 2 of the 3 of the people in this photo. Ok so scary doll isn't going to be there, but I do believe that this photo was taken the last time the 3 of us were together:

Location - Duck Beach. Time: June 2008

Then there is this photo, which is on my wall at work. Guess the location. Kidding! This was taken on our Lane Bryant Marathon Across San Francisco in October of 2007.

Oh. And Rachael will be running the LA marathon on Sunday, which is another reason I'm going down.

Rachael, you are the bomb.com. Love you bunches.

Good times are afoot. Can you feel it?

missing person

the last few weeks i've seen a few news spots about this and then tonight i saw an ad on the bus stop on my run.

this missing girl not only went to my high school and lived a few miles away from me, but she took piano lessons after me for about 3 years. she came out to the bay area after her freshman year of college and her family never saw her again.

with the recent new of jaycee duggard being found, there is always hope. i just hope that one day she can come home safely to her family in north carolina.

Celebrations with King Brian of the Little People

This year St. Patrick's Day was a success. I'd say that the corned beef wasn't quite as good as last year, but it was adequate and I am sad that I didn't take a photo of the bread that Tracy made. I could have eaten the entire thing - it was delicious. Irish soda bread with orange zest. Yum!

We watched Darby O'Gill and the Little People again, which is one weird movie. The plus side is that you get all the good things about an Irish movie: people getting drunk, leprechauns, and a fist fight. The down side: strange. And there is a banshee. Scary!

Those of us who stayed until the end of the movie posed for photos. You can see a few things below...like, my curly hair, the awesome cookies Rachael made, and Zach, who is in town again. No, he doesn't live in San Francisco. Just here all the time on business.

And I talked Rita into posing with her lucky charm treats. Kirsten, we ate them while watching the movie. Don't you worry.

I love these people.

Best sober St. Patty's Day celebration of 2010, for sure.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I'm approximately 1% Irish, but my family eats corned beef and cabbage every year to celebrate St. Patrick's Day because my grandmother's last name was McIntire. The last time I had an ancestor born in Ireland was in 1702. Festivities are planned for tonight with my San Francisco family, so if you're lucky, you'll have a post about it tomorrow. Complete with photos.

And as a warning, I did my hair curly today and you'd think that I'd dyed it purple based on the reactions I've been getting.

Good day.

Monday night thoughts...

Saw Alice in Wonderland tonight. Visually it was amazing. Plot was a major thumbs down. At the end, I wanted to yell out "Oh, just get married when you are 19!" Seriously. I did. I'd rather get married at 19 than get on a ship to China with a bunch of stinky sailors. You might not agree, but I thought the ending was laaaame.

Swim class starts in a few hours. My new bathing suit, swim cap, shammy, and goggles are all ready to go.

Tonight I tried to talk a friend into backpacking around Europe for 2 weeks on his vacation. I might have to go back to Europe this year. I think that by talking him into it, I was talking myself into it as well. You all know how much my arm has to be twisted to get talked into taking a European vacation...

And an update on the 100 pushups program. I've actually stuck with it and my coworkers and I are in the middle of week 4. We've been doing the pushups for 5 weeks, but it was getting a little tough, so we decided to take it a little slower and repeat the weeks until we feel like we can move on comfortably to the next week. And we're doing the 200 squats program that is affiliated with the www.hundredpushups.com website. Check it out. Apparently I have been inspiring people do pushups. I hope you are one of them. Early this morning I did 65 pushups without much of a problem. That is pretty awesome.

I do believe that spring has sprung around here and for that, I am grateful. 'Bout dern time. I am over the rain. It is dead to me.

Happy Tuesday.

the universe has tested me.

oh have i got a story for you.


i took this photo last night when i got home to document how awesome my hair looked at the temper trap concert. and that i wore my glasses, which i can see better without. i was going for the look, people. i don't need glasses. ever. or yet.

remember that one time last summer that i met two english dudes - darrel and andi, and how i kissed darrel after only knowing him for a few hours? and how i usually don't do things like that??


last night at the concert, one thing lead to another and before i knew it, i was kissing a guy from northern england named dan, who was there with his friend andy. luckily i had a witness or two so that i can have reassurance that it wasn't a dream.


i'm starting to see a trend and i'm thinking that i should be moving to england if i ever want to get married. apparently the guys there think i'm smokin' hot. the guys in my ward, not so much.


i could not make this stuff up. yet, this is my life. seriously.


ps. this time, i'm leaving it at a fling. promise.
pps. thanks for not thinking less of me. lets just say i'd gone too deep by the time he wanted to kiss me and i couldn't back out. and why would i want to? lets be real.

post-edit:
Rita would like me to add the text messages that I sent her on Friday night:

9:48: You here?
10:05: On other side. Practicing smiling at attractive men. eeeek
10:06: I'm wearing glasses, a scarf, and my hair is au natural. ha.
10:44: Guy I was making eyes with....British. From same town as Darrel. Eff.
11:09: kissed him.

Shelley

Check out my awesome friend Shelley who was on KSL Studio 5 this morning in Utah.

So proud of you, girl.

If you want to see the tutorial to make her paper roses, the tutorial can be found here or here.

Sweet Disposition

And once in a while you learn that sometimes, text messages really don't go through. And it explains a lot. or maybe a little. This song describes how I feel about dating right now.

I've also learned that The Universe is rewarding me for asking about a song on a commercial the other night. Liz looked it up, sent me the link and then informed me yesterday that this new-found band is going to be at the Fillmore tonight. Thank you, Universe.

For this weekend, I'd like to order up another serving of laziness sprinkled with plenty of time to read. And this show. Did you watch it last week? If you know me well, you know that I LOVE this stuff.

I can be talked into just about anything.

I fear that I might have just signed up for some adult swimming lessons that start next week with a few friends. I haven't swum a real lap since I was a Brightmoor Baracuda in 1993. This should be interesting. Don't get me wrong - I have no problems in water. You could say that I'm a strong floater; but laps? Yikes.

Good Life

This morning I listened to this song on my way to work and seemed very fitting.

Let is be said and let it be known - this is my theme song for 2010. Officially.

I told my roommate this morning that I was thinking the other day about how much anxiety I felt when I met Darrel. Although I wouldn't take anything back now, I probably should have just left it at a fling. Lesson learned, right? I also have decided that I'm too good for stupid men who string me along. Here's a tip for my single male readers - don't text a girl on Friday night at 9:30pm to see what she is doing. (especially when she answers you and then you never respond.) I don't like drama and/or games. There are too many other good things in life to participate in to waste my time on people who treat you like a time filler.

I keep a little quote on my desk that says:

"There comes a time in life when you have to let go of all the pointless drama and the people who create it and surround yourself with people who make you laugh so hard that you forget the bad and focus solely on the good. After all, life is too short to be anything but happy."

Amen, OneRepublic. This is going to be a good life.

Gearing up.

Funniest text award of 2010 (so far) goes to Marshall Candland.

Me: Are you coming to Duck Beach?

Marshall: Is water wet?
Is melanoma spelled "F" "U" "N"?
Is "cheating" a legitimate Nerts strategy?
Is Mt. Rushmore a steaming volcano?
Of course I'm in!!!

This sounds weird, but the thought of being at Duck Beach makes me happier than I have felt in a long, long time. Giddy already.

Rested.

I wish I had something to tell you. Anything.

But nothing is new.

Well, I am working at the temple in Oakland now a few Saturdays a month. I did that for about 6 hours on Saturday. And shockingly, I saw people I knew. And maybe it was a little awkward with one of them. And maybe I will only tell you that story if you ask me about it.

I finally finished a book that I'd been reading for over a month - A Prayer for Owen Meany. If you are looking for a good story, this is your book. It took me a while and although I was tired of reading the same book for so long, I was intrigued by the characters and didn't get tired of it. Apparently the movie Simon Birch was loosely based on this book. I want to see it, but I'm sure I'll be disappointed. I usually am by movies. Books are always better; don't you think? I'm moving on to a few shorter books to make myself feel better about my reading speed for a week or two.

This weekend's highlight was eating homemade pizza and nutella gelato in Alameda with Rachael's friends last night. And maybe all the time that I spent laying in bed reading. And all the time I spent watching my favorite trashy show, The Millionaire Matchmaker. I really am addicted. Judge me if you must. I could use a few more weekends like this last one - getting enough sleep and reading to my heart's content. One thing I can count on though - not having any more of those weekends for the next few months.

Happy Monday.

Happy Days Are Here Again!

This week I have booked 3 trips. All of them are going to be to fairly close, warm locations and the one that I'm the most excited about is pictured below....

There's not much that I love more than getting on a plane for the weekend. Knowing that a beach will be involved in my next 4 weekend trips makes me want to jump for joy. Sometimes, I don't know how it is possible to not live in California. I have my days, but life is good here.