7/25/10

1. Staying up late watching True Blood.
2. Fixing up the hem for a green 50s cotton day dress. Potential engagement shoot dress?
3. Lying on the couch for most of the day.
4. Going for another run with Dan.
5. Fixing the hem on a striped dress to be even on bottom. Not sure how I'd ironed it to be uneven in the first place, so it goes.
6. First episode of Mad Men! Such gorgeous dresses.

7/24/10

1. Plenty of time in the morning to run errands in the city, thanks to biking halfway to the PATH station.
2. The people at rosen & chaddick being very nice about my not knowing really what I wanted and suggesting a good lining fabric for the dress I never finished from the Make Workshop class, plus some slippery stuff to make slips with.
3. Meeting up with Gertie & co!
4. Juicy turkey burger with avocado and blueberry/pomegranate milkshake from brgr.
5. Going to see Eclipse (finally!!) with DC. I had a great time, it was a very good adaption and they seem to be developing a sense of humor about themselves. Don't worry, there're still plenty of painful earnest adolescent speeches near the end.
6. Pinkberry with DC.

7/23/10

1. SF accompanying me to get knobs and handles for the 'executive desk' from Anthropologie.
2. A relatively free afternoon, worth the awkwardness of going to a meeting where most of the important people didn't show up.
3. Getting dinner at Satay with MG and AJ.
4. MG and AJ checking out the new apt, which is in decent condition after last week's clean up.
5. TLC Friday night of Say Yes to the Dress and DC Cupcakes.
6. Successfully drilling holes in the executive desk to fit the new handles. It's not pretty when the handles are off, but it works.

7/22/10

1. Feeling inspired by reading Born to Run.
2. Potato latkes, scrambled eggs, ripe avocado bagel for breakfast.
3. Buying tickets to go see Billy Elliot with my mom and sister in August.
4. Discovering a nice vintage shop in Jersey City right near the bike shop. Very well laid-out, nice stuff, not too expensive for being in the NYC area--and they do consignment, too, so perhaps I'll be able to give them some stuff I've decided doesn't work for me.
5. Picking up my tuned up bike from aforementioned bike shop. They really did clean up the frame quite nicely, who knew it was that bright a blue!
6. Going for the last run in the first week of C25K with Dan, heading over to check out Frank Sinatra park (potential engagement shoot area) and then having a leisurely walk back, during which I discovered a new Korean fried chicken place and a Thai restaurant as well.

7/21/10

1. No stragglers for me to round up on MG's behalf.
2. Discovering that the red Dansko shoes I've been wavering about keeping available in my size again from Nordstrom! Hastily put together a big enough order to get free shipping.
3. More corn from the CSA!
4. Coming up with an idea to help AJ feel a bit better about her rough day.
5. Steering Dan towards buying work shoes that are less sneaker-y.
6. Red duck curry for dinner, watermelon for dessert.

7/20/10

1. Sharing my weird dreams with Dan and finding that he'd also had bizarre dreams.
2. 2nd run of C25K.
3. Getting to the office in time to help MG ferry clients and still having time for breakfast.
4. Having a few minutes to browse the store Shoegasm while waiting for SD.
5. Dinner at Perilla, the restaurant opened by the first winner of Top Chef, Harold Dieterle. Omg, so, so, so good. We split the duck meatballs appetizer, then I got this summer squash thing with chanterelle mushrooms, and the creamed corn that brought this restaurant to my attention in the first place in a blog post at design*sponge last week. SD's glass of Malbec, an Argentinian red wine, was also delicious, not much of the usual bitter flavor that I dislike. Apparently I should try going for more European red wines?
6. Catching up with SD before he leaves the east coast for law school on the west coast. This could very well be the last time I see him before the wedding.

7/19/20

1. Librarian finding another copy of a book that was on hold for me but not on the hold shelves.
2. Picking up shoes from the cobbler, including grey boots with shortened heel.
3. Quickly doing a mockup for my Flash class in Paint. I'm going to build something with retro paper doll images.
4. Getting a Zappos order and finding the Dansko Sissy to have a really comfortable footbed, despite the slight heel and platform. Going to wear it around the office a bit to see if the straps bother me and to decide if I want to pay full price for them. The style is on sale at Nordstrom's for $40 less.
5. Arriving to my Flash class late, to find that the instructor wasn't even there because he had to run back home to get the right files for this week's lesson.
6. Starting class back up again after a classmate had a seizure. Someone called 911, and then someone else found his medical bracelet and got in touch with his mom.

7/18/10

1. Mom coming to pick me up bearing gifts of food, including two watermelons.
2. Dim sum with mom, sis, and sis' visitor.
3. Foot rub and back massage with mom.
4. Fitting my bike into Dan's car to drop off for a tune up in a bike shop at Grove St.
5. Going for a run to start of the Couch to 5K program, this time with podcasts! I'm inspired by friends who are runners and I think setting a goal of doing a 5K might be a good one to work towards.
6. Catching up with LW over the phone, I'm so proud of her pursuing the career she wants and moving back to Boston.

7/17/10

1. Making quesadillas with fresh corn and corn tortillas for breakfast.
2. Sandra Bullock movie marathon on ABC Family. Not very good movies, particularly not Hope Floats, but enjoyably mindless TV for sure.
3. Making guacamole from the TJ's kit and only getting a bit of jalapeno pepper oil on my face accidentally.
4. Finishing up hemming a summer-y yellow cotton dress, should come in handy.
5. Making use of the sangria original made for last night by adding in some apple juice and bring it over to the party.
6. Having a good time at Dan's sister's boyfriend's housewarming party, chatting with her friends and such.

7/16/10

1. Special breakfast item of poached egg with cheese on top of a slice of heirloom tomato and bread, in addition to the usual avocado bagel, of course.
2. Excellent lunch of Israeli couscous salad with a goat cheese tart.
3. Not getting stuck on a PATH train when they suspended service due to some signal problem.
4. Going to Pinkberry for the first time. I got the coconut flavor, with praline hazelnut sauce, kiwis, and dark chocolate crisps. Delicious, all of it.
5. Having a really nice, long conversation with MG about life and career and getting ideas to for exciting projects at work.
6. PATH train back in service by the time MG and I were finished chatting.

7/15/10

1. Bringing myself to work on OKRs.
2. Trying out the new snacks they're testing in the new microkitchen, including homemade fig bars and fruit juices.
3. Getting an unexpected half hour from a meeting being canceled.
4. Successful effort in rounding up people to for a working session on building out an internal site.
5. Being in line for less than 5 minutes at the new Trader Joe's at 21st and 6th. Heaven!
6. Good selection of wine at a liquor/grocery store near the apartment, to get a pinot grigio to make sangria.

7/14/10

1. A scheduled client call only going about 10 minutes.
2. Getting out of a meeting 35 minutes early.
3. SA telling me that our internal clients quite like me, actually.
4. Tomatoes and corn from the CSA!
5. Making tabbouli (minus lemon, plus parmesan) for dinner.
6. Stealing Dan's library books to read (the George Smiley novels).

7/13/10

1. Covering a lot of stuff in my second buddy session, showing internal tools and discussing various processes.
2. Managing to eat lunch through a phone shift.
3. SA letting me skip an introductory meeting.
4. End of day meeting getting cut to only half an hour.
5. Not having to stay late despite 4 hours of phone shift through the day.
6. Going home for an evening of doing nothing, which is appreciated after the long class on Monday evenings.

7/12/10

1. Client figuring out an issue on their own and canceling an afternoon call.
2. Getting someone else to take care of swapping away my Thursday afternoon shift.
3. Picking up Dan's hemmed pants and not being late to class.
4. Being better than usual about paying attention during my Flash class.
5. Flash class instructor saying that I didn't have to make up week 2's homework nor quiz.
6. Coming home to already sliced watermelon.

7/11/10

1. Making home fries for breakfast.
2. Getting some machine sewing done, including successfully lowering the armholes on a summer dress.
3. Leftover, fully chilled vichyssoise for lunch.
4. Going to Target with my sister for the beginning of her summer makeover.
5. Getting eyebrows threaded with sis.
6. Finishing my midterm for the Flash class.

7/10/10

1. Catching up on Friday Night Lights on Hulu.
2. More sewing.
3. Watching a Doctor Who episode with the new doctor.
4. Did not rain when we went grocery shopping, despite the thunder-y looking clouds all day.
5. Making vichyssoise for dinner with CSA leeks.
6. Watching Die Hard for the first time.

7/9/10

1. Last of a 3-day work week!
2. Tailor deciding to comp getting Dan's nice pants hemmed since it was his first time there.
3. Dinner of sliced zucchini sauted with almonds.
4. Completing several small mending jobs in my sewing basket and putting them back in action.
5. Watching Fantastic Mr. Fox and realizing halfway through that it was a Wes Anderson film.
6. Indulging in Say Yes to the Dress, as I am wont to do on Friday nights.

7/8/10

1. My old manager saying some very nice things about my performance to my new manager in the transition 1:1.
2. Productive, frank, funny meeting led by PM.
3. PD cajoling everyone to go to TGIAF.
4. Not entirely painful to sit outside on the deck during TGIAF.
5. Dan yielding the last of beef noodle soup to me for dinner.
6. Leftover green beans with cinnamon not clashing with the beef noodle soup, either.

7/7/10

1. Avocado at breakfast being quite good, meaning it was either delivered ripe today or they'd timed it properly before the long weekend (probably the former).
2. Figuring out that two different things were wrong with the pager, neither being my fault. Whew.
3. Dealing with the tickets in my queue fairly efficiently.
4. Getting a baby sugar watermelon at the CSA! Plus leeks.
5. Not overcooking the marinated steaks my mom sent me home with.
6. Getting caught up with paying bills. Next up: blog comments and wedding blog posts, for real.

7/6/10

1. Getting this extra day off for the long weekend, in general.
2. Waking up pretty early (9) for it being a day off, allowing me to lounge around reading for 2 hours but still plenty of time to be productive.
3. Rearranging Dan's closet to confiscate all the wire hangers, placing suits on proper suit hangers, and rearranging his dresser to prove he does indeed have plenty of space.
4. Unpacking my books and craft supplies so that the living room is actually no longer stressful to come home to.
5. LM taking care of the P1 that came in without ringing the pager.
6. Unpacking desk stuff, including my big computer monitor that's been packed away for probably 10 months.

7/5/10

1. My mom not making me feel guilty at all for not staying most of the day at their place.
2. Dropping off lots of stuff: re-discovered hiking boots, bike, laundry, food at the apartment.
3. Japanese pastry dessert thing that was slightly crunchy on the edges but filled with a mildly sweet red bean paste inside.
4. Running into AL at Mitsuwa!
5. Passing the evening speed reading through Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears next to Dan, on the couch.
6. Going out for a date with Dan, consisting of dinner at Grimaldi's and dessert from Ben & Jerry's.

7/4/10

1. Dim sum with the fam.
2. AC in the house.
3. More watermelon.
4. Not hitting any traffic in our way to or from Brooklyn, saving me from potential wrath of my dad because he gave me the job of researching the route.
5. Family gathering at my cousin's in Brooklyn not being too excruciating. The BBQ was quite good, actually, plus the smelly tofu.
6. Getting more details from my mom on how to make the meat for Taiwanese beef noodle soup tastier.

7/3/10

1. Fitting everything I wanted to bring back to my parents' in Dan's car, with room for RC in the back, even.
2. My dad already having purchased an extra watermelon in anticipation of my arrival.
3. Going to the driving range with my mom. It's nice to do an activity that's not just shopping or beautification (pedicures).
4. Sales at the outlets, scoring a nice canvas/leather Ecco purse for $25.
5. Doing laundry at my parents'.
6. Watching TV shows with my mom on her laptop.

7/2/10

1. Not getting many calls during my phone shifts throughout the day.
2. Spending the afternoon successfully (!) working on PHP for the FCR Dashboard. Very satisfying to get it to work.
3. Picking up my white faux leather motorcycle jacket from the tailor's, sleeve shortened. Wearing makes me feel like a bit of a badass.
4. Getting a pair of casual shorts from the UPS truck. Much needed to expanding wardrobe for practical occasions in really hot weather.
5. Parmesan-Romano cheese flakes over the sort of pasta carbonara I made. The pasta wasn't that great, needed additional heat to cook the eggs I threw in, but cheese makes everything better.
6. Watching a marathon of wedding shows on TLC while Dan was over at RC's.

7/1/10

1. Getting a 2 week reprieve from the metrics team for a project I haven't been working on.
2. DF taking a ticket off my hands so I could work on said project.
3. Using cheese to deal with the Swiss chard I cooked.
4. Unpacking my suitcase from the trip to California.
5. This parody of Empire State of Mind, "Newark State of Mind," sent to Dan by RC. Best lines: "Sure is a nice place to visit, if you're a bullet" "Killers will take you and hide you, where no one can find you"
6. Making popcorn on the stove.

6/30/10

1. Remembering to bring the shopping cart to work in order to be able to cart the CSA stuff back home more easily.
2. Getting Flash installed on my work laptop. Hooray being able to do the homework for my class!
3. Beating a colleague who challenged me to a typing contest with a rate of 100WPM (106 raw WPM, corrected for 95% accuracy).
4. Salad of CSA lettuce, CSA sauted carrots, cherry tomatoes, croutons, corn, and TJ's cheese.
5. Getting the living room furniture pretty much in place with the moving of the 'executive desk' from under the bar to the corner with another bookshelf.
6. Finishing up The Cardinal in the Kremlin.