I tweet (uhm, therefore I am??)...you can follow me as KelarSkye.
I have a Facebook page...I am easy to search.
I am LinkedIn.
I post photos at Flickr.
I have another blog where I am trying to make myself write and churn out some interesting thoughts...to date very little is interesting. But hey, you can see what I am doing sometimes so I suppose that is comforting on some level.
I am rather bored in general right now and I feel that is reflective in everything. That and I feel like I don't have any time, but I am not sure why because I don't know what is taking up my time (I supposed 11+ hours at work or commuting is a time suck).
Even if there are not air quality warnings for your immediate area, if there are wildfires in the SFV running is HARD. I think I am going to hack up a dry sooty lung.
It's hot here -- tank top and shorts hot. It's just wrong. Maybe the Devil DOES live in Los Angeles.
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!
It's a fact. I just don't particularly care for watermelon. If it is really ripe and sugary and juicey, then yes, I do savor the favorite fruit of summer. But usually only a small slice, or a few cubes. And if it isn't overly ripe? No thanks. I always feel like a bit of an oddball at the summer picnics where they bring out the watermelon and everyone oohs and aahs and can't get enough. I just don't see the googley-eyed attraction.
Somehow in the past week, I flipped from being a jogger-in-training to a jogger. This weekend I went for a jog and I ran 2/3 of the distance (about 3 miles-ish). I thought it was a bit of a fluke, I probably was just having a good running day. But lo and behold, this evening I just jogged all but 5 blocks of my 3. mile route. And four of those blocks were warm-up/cool-down blocks (the other walked block was because of a very tight muscle that needed a little stretching and TLC for a block).
Tomorrow I am going to be seriously sore, my back is already tight (yes I am stretching). But damn do I feel good. Thursday will see a repeat!
Now if only I could get my blog back...
I have an eyebrow that is a little sparse on one side (if you are me, then it is my left one). Not over plucking sparse, but slight bald spot sparse. It normally isn't a problem because the other eyebrow hairs (lashes?...what are they called?) in the area compensate and no one can tell. Every once in a while, however, all those "comb over" hairs decide they are going to fall out at the same time and leave me a bit of a bald spot. Which only I can really see unless someone is really studying my face. But I can see that slight bald spot...Right. Now. And I am going to Vegas on Friday...grow eyebrow grow!
(For the record, I think it is kinda silly and am exceptionally grateful that this is a slight eyebrow issue that no one except myself can really see).
About a month ago I it became very apparent that I had to get back into an exercise routine. I also had been feeling sluggish, unfocused, unmotivated, irritable, blue and really just fat. And, my jeans were getting tight (and when you wear designer jeans it is a pricey undertaking to go up a size). With my thesis and my heavy workload the past six months, a regular routine was difficult to keep up and my normally healthy eating habits had gone out the window with all of the stress. By the time June rolled around, I realized that I HAD to make a change.
My work schedule is somewhat erratic and I can't always predict when I will get out of the office. Even on a normal day I don't usually leave before 7 and leaving at 6 is really just considered "leaving early". When I leave the office at 8 p.m. it is almost impossible for me to drag myself to the gym. Not only am I tired and hungry, but if I work out that late in the evening it is impossible to get to sleep at a decent hour because I am all amped up. All of this is of course not including schedule conflicts with any dinners out, drinks, etc I wanted to have. To maintain an exercise routine I had to limit myself to a single night of free time a week because the other nights would be taken up with the gym. It seemed so unappealing to do that. I just didn't want my life to be just work and exercise. I already had too many things I wanted to do that I didn't have time for.
So, I made the decision that a morning exercise regimen was the way I had to go.I think I need to explain the importance of this decision. I am not a morning person. Not only am I not a morning person, but I dislike showering in the morning, preferring instead to shower in the evening before bed. I just like to wash the day away and I don't like figuring out how to dry my thick hair in the mornings before work. A morning exercise routine not only meant that I would have to get up at an earlier time, convince my body it wanted to exercise at said earlier time, but I also had to shower and dry my hair before work! But I decided that this is what I had to do.
This is my first week. I have been allowing myself to baby step into the whole situation. Waking at about 6:10, allowing myself one 5 minute snooze and 15 minutes to get out the door, only making myself on a brisk 30 minute walk. I'll work it up. I am just trying to make it easy because if it is too much, I'll just quit it. In a week or two I will start a jogging routine and perhaps take my bike for a spin one morning a week. But for now, 6:15 a.m. wake up call and a walk. And lights out by 11 p.m. at the latest.
It's been working well. Not only have I had more focus, felt better about my body and been more motivated and creative, but I just feel that I am moving at a slightly slower pace and have more free time. I get about 10 minutes of Today Show on the couch with the cats and a glass of OJ after my walk and before I hit the shower in the mornings -- I haven't turned on the Today Show while getting ready for work since I moved to California, just practiced a silent, focused, must get ready for the long hard day routine. I have the evenings completely free and clear without feeling guilty that I "should" work out. I have added in a yoga class (I plan to eventually bump that up to twice a week) without feeling like I am opting for yoga over cardio if I go on a weeknight instead of to the gym. I just feel more relaxed and serene. I could very well be that I am tired and exhausted, but I am going with it for now because I had gotten to the point where I truly disliked the fact that I felt so wound up all the time. It just wasn't fun to feel like I was going 100 miles an hour and still not getting anything done. I was exhausted.
So I am optimistic about this new routine shift. Earlier to rise, earlier to bed and more time for things in between -- at a slightly less harried (or at least less harried feeling) pace.
OK, really just the highlights...
Monday -- Watched Will Smith get jiggy with it in a 6 song set at the HANCOCK premiere. Also saw Diddy, Charlize and the boy Bateman. Charlize should have selected another dress. I was not a fan of the Dior and I thought she needed a stronger lipstick. She looked a little washed out.
Tuesday -- Worked until 9 p.m. It sucked. But I got lots of overtime including an hour of double overtime. V. Nice.
Wednesday -- Out of work early (yay early release!) and Indian food.
Thursday -- Lots to do, studio closes early, hair cut, catching flight to Portland, Oregon at 9:30 pm.
Weekend -- Portland, Oregon with the 'rents for the Portland Blues Festival. Yay!!
I know I am late to the game because I heard about this quite a while ago, however, I newly rediscovered Cooking With Coolio on My Damn Channel because of a work project.
And really...that thing is fucking hilarious to me for some reason.
On another cooking note: I came up with a restaurant concept that has now inspired me to perfect lasagna recipes. I clearly have to start with making pasta from scratch to find my perfect pasta. I shall soon be investing in a pasta maker and experimenting. My poor friends are going to be so fat with my pasta taste tests. If anyone has any pasta recipes (or lasagna recipes) they really like, send them my way and I'll get around to checking them out.
When I was in NYC this weekend I happened upon Magnolia Bakery (the uptown location). Being that it is famed for starting the "cupcake craze" that has gripped Los Angeles in a vicelike clench - especially in offices that celebrate individual birthdays - I had to give it a whirl. Honestly? Magnolia Cupcakes blow. My box of Duncan Hines cake mix and tub of frosting is preferrable. The chocolate cake and frosting are particularly dislikeable. The frosting in merely airy whipped sugar with no hint of creaminess, and the cake is a little dry (ok, to be fair, the vanilla cake wasn't that bad, but the choclate was just horrid). Why do people like those so much?
Los Angeles offers the also famous Sprinkles, which regularly hosts a 30 minute-plus line outside of its Beverly Hills doors. Sprinkles are good. Not great mind you, but good. The cake is a bit heavy and the frosting a little too thick and sacchrine. They do, however, look exquisite, and they offer non-standard flavors. My sister is a fan of their choclate peanut butter one, of which I have not tasted (next Sprinkles birthday go round I will give another flavor a whirl).
But the gem of the cupcakes so far is Crumbs, a NYC establishment that now has a Los Angeles location, which just happens to be right down the block from Sprinkles. OMFG those cupcakes are good. They have moist cakes, creamy, flavorful frostings, and a slew of inventive flavors. My particular favorite is the coconut cupcake, which is devine, but I am also partial to the caramel apple and carrot cake. I still have a number of flavors to try (if the coconut is there I am unfortunately biologically required to consume a portion of it, thus cutting into the others I can sample) and the only one I dislike is the Twinkie (very blah). But Crumbs is by far the best I have sampled.
The funny thing is...I am not necessarily a cupcake girl. If you ask me what I want for my birthday or celebration, I am not naturally inclined to request or even think of cupcakes. But I am sucked into this "finding the best cupcakes from the professional cupcake shops" quest. I just can't help myself.
** Vox doesn't seem to want to let me make in-text links (at least as far as it will show me in the WYSIWYG view) so for good measure, here's the full links from above.
Magnolia Bakery -- http://www.magnoliabakery.com/
Magnolia on Wikipedia -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia_Bakery
Sprinkles -- http://www.sprinklescupcakes.com/
Crumbs -- http://www.crumbsbakeshop.com/
