12/31/12

1. Getting to the movie theater for The Hobbit 15 minutes early.
2. Really nice run in Monmouth Battlefield Park with AL, despite the cold temperature.
3. Fairly quick running of errands at Nordstrom and Bed Bath & Beyond.
4. Red duck curry for dinner.
5. Not taking too long to pull together all my various stuff, just forgot my shampoo bottle.
6. Going home with Dan after watching the ball drop with the family ("That fly will not live to see 2013").

A year ago today.

Top good things in 2012:

1. Completing the Jersey Girl Triathlon.
2. Running a 10K on a beautiful day in October. 
3. Going on multiple international trips for the first time since 2009. 
4. Finally getting around to hanging gallery walls in this apartment.
5. Making a bunch of photobooks for past trips and events.
6. Going to Harry Potter world at last.

12/30/12

1. Going to dim sum with the whole family.
2. My mom giving me a ride for my errands.
3. Completing a bunch of returns to the outlets and Sears.
4. Working together with both of my parents to salvage the noodle dough for dinner after breaking the KitchenAid pasta attachment.
5. Doing a G+ Hangout with Amy to go over WWOOF photos.
6. Working on the photobook and getting through most of the France photos.

A year ago today.

12/29/12

1. Sleeping in in the morning.
2. Making a plan of recipes for frozen CSA meat.
3. Dan figuring out where to buy serrano chiles even with me missing his texted question.
4. Going to LA Fitness with my mom and hanging out in the sauna at the end.
5. Doing a light bit of lifting for the first time in months.
6. Editing the photos for the last photobook of the year.

A year ago today.

12/28/12

1. Quiet day at work.
2. Getting to the cafe a bit early for a meeting with HJ.
3. Pulling out the scale to weigh all the CSA meat.
4. Putting gift wrap and bike rack away into closets.
5. Vacuuming the apartment.
6. Talking Dan into staying for the dance lesson with my aunt and doing quite well at the cha cha.

A year ago today.

12/27/12

1. Lunch with AJ.
2. Grabbing dinner at the office.
3. Making it on time to pick up the meat CSA.
4. Returning a bunch of items to J.Crew and Madewell.
5. Stopping by David's Tea and getting a free cup of delicious-smelling nutty tea.
6. Meeting up successfully with Dan at the 14th St. PATH station.

A year ago today.

12/26/12

1. Quiet day in the office, all meetings canceled.
2. Nutella flavor in the nutella-stuffed chocolate chip cookies intensifying.
3. Getting the sequel to The Magicians out from the library as an ebook.
4. Getting cinnamon sticks from Manhattan Fruit Exchange.
5. Picking up a pretty drawer knob from Anthropologie for the unfinished side table.
6. Stopping by the library.

A year ago today.

12/25/12

1. Going to see my grandma.
2. Finding a few dim sum items at the Chinese buffet lunch.
3. Stopping by the L-side Christmas in time for the gift exchange.
4. Saving enough room for the Christmas dinner my sister made.
5. My parents breaking out red wine from Napa for dinner.
6. Baking cookies with my sister.

A year ago today.

12/24/12

1. Wrapping the last of Christmas gifts for CS/PB that I had shipped from Amazon to my parents' directly.
2. My aunt handwashing the grubby parts of my down vest.
3. Doing several loads of laundry.
4. Stopping by Christmas Eve in Shrewsbury for a few hours.
5. Dan's dramatic reading of the Christmas hobo poem being quite the hit.
6. Family bringing in my line-dried pants before the rain.

A year ago today.

12/23/12

1. Lounging around on the couch for most of the day.
2. Remembering to set up the DVR for the Christmas Doctor Who episode.
3. Cleaning up the apartment. 
4. Packing up all the stuff to bring over to my parents', including the KitchenAid mixer.
5. Timing working out in the end to drive to Monmouth County with RC and SR as well.
6. Dan coming back to Holmdel to bring back frozen dumplings to Hoboken.

A year ago today.

12/22/12

1. DC giving me a ride to South Station in the morning.
2. Dan having the apartment all cleaned and tomato-spinach-sausage risotto made.
3. Successfully making cheese straws as a party snack.
4. HTHSers over for our Festivus party! Don't think our apartment has been host to so many people at once before.
5. Cinnamon chip sea salt cookies (made with the KitchenAid stand mixer!) being a huge hit.
6. Playing Sporcle into the night.

A year ago today.

12/21/12

1. DC making us all eggs for breakfast.
2. Yummy Thai food lunch at the Coolidge Corner location of Nud Pob.
3. Browsing Brookline Booksmith.
4. Making dinner of squash risotto and brussels sprouts.
5. Lots of good heart-to-heart talks with my girls.
6. Finishing reading The Magicians.

A year ago today.

12/20/12

1. Getting a haircut at Zen Hair.
2. Various venting sessions with the Boston folks.
3. Helping the Boston team take a hilarious Christmas family photo.
4. Dinner at Tasca's with EN/DC.
5. Fun Christmas present exchange.
6. Sleepover with LW and EN staying over at DC's as well.

A year ago today.

12/19/12

1. Actually noticing a text from EN to give her a call back.
2. Finding Bonine at the CVS near work.
3. Mailing out MB's jam gift and finding the price through FedEx to be comparable to the post office.
4. Snoozing through most of the bus ride up to Boston.
5. Running into EN on the T to DC's.
6. Picking up a copy of The Joy of Cooking on loan from EN while she was sorting through her stuff.

A year ago today.

12/18/12

1. Getting stuff to the laundromat in time for same day wash& fold.
2. Sausage/tomato/spinach/noodles really hitting the spot for whatever reason.
3. Splitting the noodles into two portions to not be too stuffed.
4. Burning the Heath Ceramics ginger candle while Dan isn't around.
5. Going for a run.
6. Putting up the hooks to hang up lights for the party.

A year ago today.

12/17/12

1. Remembering to pick up my re-soled cowboy boots from the cobbler.
2. Sticking it through the long line to mail out a bunch of packages at the post office.
3. Lunch with AJ.
4. Going to a talk by Smitten Kitchen at the NYPL with CS. The Amateur Gourmet was actually a pretty good host/interviewer, too.
5. Getting a call from DC while waiting to get CS' book signed.
6. Having the apartment to myself with Dan away on a work trip.

A year ago today.

12/16/12

1. Deciding on the final "packaging design."
2. Wrapping up the majority of Christmas gifts.
3. Writing up holiday cards to be sent out.
4. Wedding canvas getting delivered! Order had never been confirmed and not sure why USPS is delivering on a Sunday, but getting it within a week of placing the order is pretty nice.
5. Everything being hung up on the walls in time for the Festivus party.
6. Cleaning up all the excess packaging material.

A year ago today.

12/15/12

1. Getting another notice from The Strand that a used copy of one of the books on my wishlists with them was in stock again. This feature is very dangerous...
2. Finding a few things on further sale with Madewell's 30% off sale today.
3. Cleaning up my plant collections, getting rid of the dead ones.
4. Successfully replacing the light bulb in the hallway, which was almost too high up for me, even on the ladder.
5. Going for an easy run up and down the boardwalk while listening to the America's Test Kitchen podcast.
6. Dan's dad stopping by the laundromat he was in to pass along the message of getting stuff to make mashed potatoes for dinner.

A year ago today.

12/14/12

1. Feeling refreshed when I woke up.
2. Scrambled eggs with goat cheese for breakfast.
3. Getting the FedEx delivery of the two adult-size turquoise chairs I won off eBay last weekend.
4. Dan bringing home an order from the Taco Truck for me.
5. Catching up on TV episodes that had been DVRed for awhile: Once Upon a Time, Copper, and Jeopardy.
6. Lounging about and watching random movies on TV.

A year ago today.

12/13/12

1. Getting a ride from Dan to Newport station.
2. Plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast even before a 9am meeting.
3. Massage with AS.
4. Remembering to go get lunch right before it ended at 1:30.
5. Grabbing a bag of freshly popped popcorn from the microkitchen.
6. Making it to the meat CSA pickup right before 7pm.

A year ago today.

12/12/12

1. Warm congee in the morning for breakfast. Making it with chicken broth is better than with beef broth, but overall I think I still prefer just plain water.
2. Few meetings today.
3. Being home to accept a bunch of UPS packages from the last couple days.
4. Talking to RC's sister on the phone for a bit as a prospective referral.
5. Dan agreeing with me on the merits of switching careers earlier on vs. later on.
6. Testing out different gift packaging methods.

A year ago today.

12/11/12

1. Making all the train connections quite quickly in the morning, surprisingly.
2. JW complimenting my new red Hue fleece-lined (!) tights.
3. Eventually successfully meeting up with AJ to have lunch.
4. Fun and funny gifts at the office white elephant gift exchange.
5. Going to The Strand again to pick up a used book after getting an email notification for it being back in stock earlier in the day.
6. Timing working out just right for Dan to pick me up from Newport.

A year ago today.

12/10/12

1. Dan giving me a ride to Newport in the morning.
2. Getting in to the office with plenty of time for breakfast even before an 8:30am meeting.
3. Rain holding off while I did my various errands and returns.
4. Noticing a duplicate line on my J.Crew receipt from Black Friday at the Grove and getting it refunded as well.
5. Chatting with a guy at The Strand and getting a bunch of book recommendations.
6. Not waiting too long to get a light rail to go home.

A year ago today.

12/9/12

1. Falling back asleep in the morning after Dan got up.
2. Dan making sausage & peppers with a tomato apple cider sauce for lunch.
3. Hanging up the gallery wall in the living room!! Finally.
4. Having few instances of getting everything into the frame only to find random specks of dust between the print and the glass.
5. Ham hock with lentils in the slow cooker turning out quite well, for working with bits of different recipes cobbled together.
6. Putting together the family wedding photos to use a Google Offers deal for a custom printed canvas.

A year ago today.

12/8/12

1. Sleeping in in the morning.
2. Finishing re-reading Sunshine.
3. Winning an eBay auction for replacement adult-size turquoise chairs.
4. Getting the roots for my colored streaks touched up at the salon with $50 credit from Amex Small Business Saturday and 20% off coupon.
5. Dan taking me to the outlets in Paramus to return a crapload of J.Crew Factory orders.
6. Messing around on the keyboard that Dan brought off craigslist.

A year ago today.

12/7/12

1. Sleeping in a bit in the morning.
2. Heating up the Hoboken on Rye potato latkes in the oven and finding them to still be decently crispy on the edges.
3. Getting my work inbox cleared down to < 5 by the end of the day.
4. Finishing entering in the rest of the recipes I want to try from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook 
5. Finding Sunshine available online after all even though it isn't available for Kindle from Amazon.
6. Successfully converting PDFs into Kindle format for easier reading.

A year ago today.

12/6/12

1. Finally feeling refreshed when waking up in the morning.
2. Breaking out the new Lululemon gloves and beanie for a short run, set to Springsteen.
3. Stopping in at the gym and Hoboken on Rye to check out how they were doing.
4. Coconut macaron from Hoboken on Rye.
5. Making an enormous pan of butternut squash mac & cheese. 
6. Giving Dan his birthday card which said, "You will always be older than me."

A year ago today.

12/5/12

1. Sitting in one of the boxes to listen to an orchestra rehearsal with my mom and sister, quite fun.
2. Authentic Thai food for lunch with good fish cakes.
3. Finally getting to the Cloisters and getting a tour by a guy who did a great job explaining tenets of Christianity behind the medieval art shown.
4. Popping out from the subway station right in front of the tree at Rockefeller Center.
5. Finally finding a doctor still in to take care of the speck in my sister's eye.
6. Entering in the recipes I wanted to try from Make the Bread, Buy the Butter.

A year ago today.

12/4/12

1. Dan giving me a ride to Newport so I didn't have to drag all my stuff on the light rail.
2. Finding a way to nap briefly in the nap pod by stuffing pillows in the bend in the chair to be able to curl up on my side.
3. Catching up with BB over lunch.
4. Successfully running all my errands in the afternoon.
5. Remembering to grab dinner at the office.
6. Light rail coming by pretty quickly so got home just in time for an 8pm meeting.

A year ago today.

12/3/12

1. Warm breakfast of congee with all the toppings.
2. Roasting up all the remaining CSA squash and making toasted squash seeds for a snack. Tastes like the kernel in popcorn but without any burnt taste.
3. Going for a run! First time since the 10K in October.
4. Pork chops with maple balsamic vinegar glazed turning out quite juicy and flavorful indeed and going well with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach.
5. Putting up the hooks for the three blue plates to hang over the stove.
6. Finally hanging the gallery wall of souvenir posters/prints.

A year ago today.

12/2/12

1. Sleeping in past 9 in the morning.
2. Making fluffy scrambled eggs on English muffins with ginger pear marmalade for breakfast.
3. Having an enjoyable time trying all the various items I ordered from J.Crew and Madewell with the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.
4. Dan running out for rolls and provolone cheese to make some really delicious meatball subs for lunch.
5. Figuring out how to use the mat cutter to cut new mats and enlarge Ikea mats for several pieces that had been lying around for months.
6. Indulging in ramen for dinner.

A year ago today.

12/1/12

1. Finishing going through all my previous Cook's Illustrated magazines and entering relevant info/recipes into my new Google Docs system for organizing cooking stuff.
2. Pork katsudon for lunch/dinner at Mitsuwa.
3. Picking up soy sauce, soba tsuyu, and panko from Mitsuwa.
4. Getting a few of the red bean paste filled desserts from the food court.
5. Playing a few close games of go against Dan at the spa.
6. Skin feeling really smooth after the body scrub.

A year ago today.

11/30/12

1. Dan giving me a ride to Newport in the morning again.
2. Making up an avocado bagel for breakfast along with scrambled eggs, hash browns, and biscuits with sausage gravy.
3. Clearing out a lot of my inbox before the end of the day.
4. Finding that the size medium slipper would fit despite being marked for 6.5-7 and grabbing two of the last few pairs of shearling slippers at the 6th Ave. Bed Bath & Beyond for my mom and me. 
5. Dan picking me up from Newport.
6. Noticing the tall round flexible plastic laundry baskets right before heading out of the laundry section at the BBB in Jersey City for a cheaper and easier solution to the laundry-in-closet issue.

A year ago today.

11/29/12

1. Dan giving me a ride to Newport in the morning.
2. Lunch with AJ.
3. Writing down all the available spices and their prices at the Manhattan Fruit Exchange for future reference.
4. Remembering to run down and grab dinner before the cafe closed.
5. Finding Dan in the 14th St. PATH station since he wasn't able to get on the train that came while he was there.
6. Light rail to 2nd St. coming by right after we got to Newport.

A year ago today.

11/28/12

1. Falling back asleep after Dan left in the morning.
2. Warm slow cooker congee for breakfast.
3. Getting an email from J.Crew and finding a 3/4 length sleeve cowl-neck jersey dress I was looking at last week is back in stock in my size.
4. Coming up with a Google Docs collection system for organizing recipes.
5. Dan successfully getting a copy of our wedding certificate, finally!
6. Doing a G+ hangout with my sister to troubleshoot her computer problems.

A year ago today.

11/27/12

1. Morning work activity exceeding my expectations. 
2. Lunch with AJ.
3. Successfully running a crapload of errands: library, tailor, Container Store (where eventually we were able to find the 6" plate hangers, despite being hidden behind some other items), Bed Bath & Beyond, Lululemon, Staples, Whole Foods, and the Strand).
4. Staples still being open on my way back from Strand to pick up the packing tape I forgot and to grab some gift tags as well.
5. Dan hanging around in the Target parking lot in Jersey City so he could give me a ride home from Newport.
6. Heating up some chicken patties for dinner for the both of us.

A year ago today.

11/26/12

1. SS being able to cover one meeting so I could attend another, even though she was sick.
2. Making a large batch of eggs with tomatoes over noodles for a late lunch.
3. Pulled out all of jars to do an inventory for gift giving.
4. Realizing I could take advantage of a Cyber Monday sale for ordering another roll of washi tape to finish off the bedroom ceiling light project.
5. Being able to cancel an earlier Amazon order to re-order some other stuff instead and not have to add random stuff to get over $25 shipping again.
6. Hanging up the glass ornaments using some of the baker's twine.

A year ago today.

11/25/12

1. Doing a massive reorganization of the kitchen cabinets and all the closets.
2. Dan being out of the apartment all day while everything was a total mess.
3. Finally getting to putting up washi tape on the underside of the lampshade on the bedroom overhead light...ran out of tape but works quite well!
4. Cleared out space on the dining table by trimming down the scraggly lemon verbena plant.
5. Vacuuming the apartment.
6. Remembering to turn on the slow cooker for congee in the morning.

A year ago today.

11/24/12

1. Going through all my Black Friday purchases to try them on again and savor them.
2. Dan running out to get the gift cards from the Cheese Store for Small Business Saturday.
3. Checking the hours for Mad One Jack's in time to get there to buy gift cards from them before they closed at 5.
4. Doing an inventory of all the pairs of pants I have.
5. Dan making sausage/spinach/tomato risotto for dinner.
6. Finding that Madewell is now carrying stuff in sizes 14 and XL, which is really nice (and a little dangerous) since previously their size L was just a little bit too small for me.

A year ago today.

11/23/12

1. Dumplings for breakfast.
2. Organizing stuff for all the errands that I had to run.
3. Finding a parking spot from someone just about to leave at the Grove, it was totally packed otherwise.
4. Extremely nice salespeople at Lululemon and J.Crew both.
5. Hanging out with Dan/SR/RC.
6. Matzo ball soup at Manalapan diner really hitting the spot.

A year ago today.

11/22/12

1. Pacing my food consumption throughout the day quite well.
2. Showing the wedding album around to the different sides of the family.
3. CS trying on her wedding dress for us, it's beautiful.
4. Working on a puzzle with the girls.
5. Snagging lots of great deals at the outlets for Black Friday, including All-Clad pans and twinkle lights for $4/box.
6. Having some of my sister's split pea soup with bread after we got home.

A year ago today.

11/21/12

1. Going through all the online shopping orders I've received in the last week to decide what to keep/return.
2. Finding fleece-lined leggings on Fab.com and being able to use the $10 off coupon I had for them.
3. Putting together a Black Friday shopping/errands list.
4. Heating up leftovers for breakfast and lunch.
5. Dan saying the mashed potatoes I made to go with the slow cooker Swedish meatballs were the best he's had.
6. Making this apple tart with salted caramel. Salted caramel is amazing.

A year ago today.

11/20/12

1. Getting a ride to the Newport station from Dan.
2. Having a leisurely breakfast in the morning of an avocado bagel and yellow scrambled eggs.
3. Successfully running my library and baker's twine procurement errands.
4. Lunch with AJ/RC/FJ.
5. Catching up with SN, always a fun time.
6. Dinner with RC/MG.

A year ago today.

11/19/12

1. Overnight slow cooker congee actually worked out quite well for a hot breakfast! Added in spinach leaves from the garden.
2. Reading over my annual performance review with feedback from peers and my manager and feeling very warm and fuzzy about it.
3. Figuring out Christmas gifts for our parents with my sister.
4. Fairly enthusiastic response to the idea of a Hoboken Festivus gathering.
5. Getting our wash&folded laundry delivered truly for free, tip was refused. 
6. Making a sweeter chocolate cake in a mug for dessert.

A year ago today.

11/18/12

1. Dan giving me a bit of extra time to make some toast before he dropped me off at Newport.
2. EM in good spirits when I visited her with AM/MM there initially and ST/JC there later.
3. Making it home in record time, only a little over an hour and light rail was just pulling up as I got there.
4. Skyping with EN.
5. CP calling with the news that she got engaged!!! And at a Springsteen concert!
6. Pulling together a holiday gift/card list and finding some fun cards on Etsy.

A year ago today.

11/17/12

1. Opening a Chase savings account for Dan to get a $125 signup bonus.
2. Nice sunny day to walk over to the Newport station.
3. Getting to the Renegade craft fair right around 1pm as I had predicted.
4. Browsing through all the vendors at a slow pace, finding a few good gifts! (and jewelry for myself)
5. Meeting up with my APW lady friends for dinner at The Spotted Pig. Always fun conversation.
6. Dan picking us up from the Newport station.

A year ago today.

11/16/12

1. Making it to Chelsea Marketplace just in time for my 11:45 eyebrow appointment.
2. Croque monsieur and fries at the market cafe.
3. Catching up with JP and MG over a cup of whole milk hot chocolate.
4. Going back to Lululemon to buy those running pants to have them at home to compare against the Athleta running pants I bought online when they come, and finding the gray/black versions of the styles I liked.
5. Watching Breaking Dawn Part 2 in a totally packed theater. Top 3 most ridiculous movie experiences ever.
6. Getting out of the theater in time to be able to get PATH before it shut down at 10pm--I keep forgetting that that's a slight risk.

A year ago today.

11/15/12

1. First elevator from street level to concourse still working at Newport for me with my shopping cart of packages.
2. A guy doubling back to hold open the door for me when my hands were full with lunch.
3. Strawberry cheesecake hitting the spot to finish off a good lunch (ratatouille pasta, pepper steak, greens, cheesy pumpkin gratin).
4. Chair massage with AS.
5. Shopping at the Lululemon store in Union Square.
6. Walking home from Newport with Dan.

A year ago today.

11/14/12

1. Finding lots of little green buds on the lemon verbena plant that looked all dried out and dead.
2. Chase Bank finding another coupon code in the system for Dan even though the one that was mailed to us had expired during Sandy.
3. Snacking on Greek yogurt with pear vanilla jam. Homemade jam with yogurt is pretty much the best snack ever.
4. Opening up the dilly beans and pickled carrots I'd canned and finding them to be quite crispy and delicious!
5. Getting a drugstore.com delivery really quickly.
6. Dan bringing home rye bread, corned beef, Swiss cheese, and more Greek yogurt for my consumption.

A year ago today.

11/13/12

1. Finally getting around to packing up my old PowerBook for recycling...the one I used in college.
2. Getting more info about Nordstrom's $100 alterations credit benefit and that it can just be applied to any tailoring order from them.
3. Mixing the last of the peach jam into Greek yogurt.
4. Making mapled brussel sprouts for dinner and chocolate cup in a mug in the microwave. Both turned out surprisingly well.
5. Bringing down the roof plants from the top floor and finding them to look surprisingly good still.
6. Getting caught up on finances for last month.

A year ago today.

11/12/12

1. Dan heading out to do schoolwork at the library for most of the day.
2. Opening up a jar of peach jam from the farm open house to spread English muffins. Seriously amazing peach flavor, and not too sweet, either.
3. Mixing the peach jam with Greek yogurt as well since I just wanted to keep eating it...
4. Finding a good price for shampoo and other stuff from drugstore.com plus a $5 off coupon.
5. Cooking up congee in the slow cooker--overcooked it a little, but as a general concept it works.
6. Watching the DVRed Once Upon a Time episode.

A year ago today.

11/11/12

1. Catching a few episodes of Firefly and recording a 10th anniversary cast special.
2. Finally, finally switching out summer clothes for winter clothes. Didn't take quite as long or was as dusty as I thought it would be.
3. Vacuuming the apartment, including underneath the bed while the various clothes storage boxes were out.
4. Making the beef portion of beef stew in the slow cooker. Beef actually got cooked to the point of the pieces falling apart.
5. Cooking the CSA potatoes and carrots separately from the beef just on the stovetop and then successfully combining it all together for the final stew.
6. Fixed Chromebook to be able to watch Netflix on it!

A year ago today.

11/10/12

1. My aunt finding me a jacket so I wouldn't get sap over my regular clothes while helping my dad haul tree branches around.
2. Getting all the more unusual stuff on my Asian groceries list at Kam Man and some bubble milk tea to boot.
3. Finishing going through the Slow Cooker Revolution cookbook while waiting for my mom.
4. Eventually successfully finding my mom after her body scrub.
5. Trying out the superhot sauna and not dying afterwards. My heart was palpitating for awhile though.
6. Lounging around and watching TV with Dan after getting back from King Spa.

A year ago today.

11/9/12

1. Catching up with SF in the morning.
2. Doing the dishes and some barebones vacuuming before my sister got here, along with unpacking my suitcase.
3. My sister running out to pick up a prescription for me while I had to be in meetings.
4. Remembering to defrost the beef chuck for stew before heading out.
5. Going to see Skyfall with my parents and sister. OMG SO GOOD!!! Seriously might be my favorite Bond movie, it's got it all.
6. Power coming back on at my parents' place!

A year ago today.

11/8/12

1. Desk plant still doing okay despite all the neglect.
2. Meeting with SI and RM visiting from Japan. Nice guys.
3. Running out to pick up a prescription from the doctor and library book before having to be back at the office to pick up the veggie CSA.
4. First meat CSA pickup.
5. Successfully shoving my way onto the train.
6. Dan giving me rides to and from the Newport PATH station.

A year ago today.

11/7/12

1. Cooked up all the potatoes to make home fries.
2. Managing to finish making up breakfast while a morning meeting was getting started.
3. Looking out the window not too long after I heard the sound of rain stopping to notice that it had started snowing. First snow of the season already and it's sticking to the ground. 
4. Meeting with the training team to go over some details they had questions on, nice to see that they're still getting to work on new stuff.
5. Chatting with Dan after he came home from work early.
6. Dan complimenting the home fries even though they had onions and garlic in them.

A year ago today.

11/6/12

1. Feeling much better than the previous night, thank you Nyquil.
2. Cooking up chicken and peppers for quesadilla fillings.
3. Getting showered and dressed to go vote.
4. Pretty short wait, just one person in front of me.
5. Successfully figuring out how to cancel a wrong choice on the machine.
6. Going to bed early while Dan stayed up following the election results with HTHSers on a G+ hangout. 

A year ago today.

11/5/12

1. Meatballs for lunch.
2. Work people being understanding about continued reduce work capacity from being sick.
3. Sample ballot coming in the mail finally to be able to do some research on the public questions.
4. Trying to ignore the sinus pressure by watching many episodes of Supernatural.
5. Dan bringing home NyQuil.
6. Going to bed right after taking NyQuil.

A year ago today.

11/4/12

1. Feeling better after showering and moving around a bit.
2. Going to volunteer and talking to some folks stuck in a big building without power still.
3. Catching the tail end of Christie's press conference in Hoboken.
4. Catching a glimpse of the big man himself on his way out. 
5. Dan making meatballs in soup for dinner.
6. Going to bed early.

A year ago today.

11/3/12

1. Dan coming over to help go get more gas.
2. Not waiting in line for too long to get gas.
3. Going grocery shopping and getting most of the basics except for eggs.
4. Going home to Hoboken. 
5. Apartment door successfully keeping out the gross smell in the building.
6. Cleaning out the fridge and scrubbing down the surfaces since we threw everything out. Cleanest and emptiest it's been since we moved in, probably.

A year ago today.

11/2/12

1. Morning meeting ending after just an hour.
2. Meeting with a benefits person to go through the health insurance provider changes.
3. My sister picking up more food from Kam Man. 
4. Getting another bubble milk tea.
5. Working on the Last Supper puzzle a bit more with my sister.
6. Going over the health insurance plan changes over G+ hangout with Dan.

A year ago today.

11/1/12

1. Waking up naturally by 8 with plenty of time before a 9am meeting.
2. Going out in the afternoon to get food from Kam Man.
3. Getting a bit of fresh air by walking the dogs while waiting for my mom to be finished at the dentist.
4. Getting back in plenty of time to catch up with my manager.
5. Premade food feast for dinner. 
6. Finally figuring out a Google Groups setup problem! And taking all the steps to set up a fix.

A year ago today.

10/31/12

1. My sister coming home, joining us in our powerless state. 
2. Meeting with AL where she was really receptive to all my repeated feedback and also didn't mind that my cat kept meowing to get into the room.
3. Finding my replacement Provident card in the mail at home.
4. Settling cash owed from my mom.
5. Deciding to cancel my trip to Boston with how long it might take to get settled back in after the storm.
6. Going for a drive at night with my mom and sister to check out the nearby neighborhoods. Eerily dark and quiet.

A year ago today.

10/30/12

1. My mom still managing to pull together warm meals from us with the gas stove outside.
2. Generator bringing internet/power back!!!!! 
3. Helping my dad clean up around the yard and house a bit.
4. Going for a walk to check out the damage to our neighborhood. Giant trees pulling down the power lines in two places.
5. Plenty of mini-flashlights on hand.
6. Being able to go back upstairs to sleep in beds.

A year ago today.

10/29/12

1. Helping my dad prep the house and yard for the storm.
2. Power staying on until 7 or so.
3. Giant tree in the backyard falling before we tried to go to sleep at night, so we weren't jerked awake by it.
4. No dogs or humans hit by tree branches.
5. Camping out near the front door for the night with my mom.
6. Watching CSI with my mom on her laptop to try to stay awake a bit longer.

A year ago today.

10/28/12

1. Waking up and getting to the airport in plenty of time even though I didn't sleep much.
2. Keeping my business class seat for the flight back even though the flight was really crowded.
3. Catching up on sleep thanks to the lie flat seat.
4. Finishing up the end of Brave and starting in on House of Lies just because Kristen Bell is in it, but I still quite liked its mocking tone.
5. The lady whose seat I traded for so she could sit with her husband coming up to me later to thank me again for it, even though I ended up getting a nice solitary seat in the middle.
6. My dad coming to pick me up from the airport.

A year ago today.

10/27/12

1. Getting upgraded to business class! Lie flat seats with a nice pillow and blanket!
2. Ice cream with caramel and fudge sauce for dessert.
3. Surprisingly good toppings for the congee for breakfast, including preserved eggs.
4. Taking a nap in the hotel room after being able to check in early.
   
5. Making in to the city in time to buy a card and find an ATM before needing to be there for the cocktail hour.
6. Getting a ride back to the hotel from Uncle #8 from CW's wedding.

A year ago today.

10/26/12

1. Went for a swim in the morning and was the only person in the hotel pool and hot tub.
2. One last massage at the office.
3. Grabbing dinner with co-workers and speaking pretty much all in Chinese.
4. Going to karaoke with co-workers.
5. Finding all sorts of old pop music in English in the karaoke song list, like BSB and Spice Girls!
6. Seeing the note left by the hotel to contact my mom about my dad canceling his trip to CA.

A year ago today.

10/25/12

1. Skyping with Dan in the morning.
2. Watching someone come to the realization that a project would be more difficult than they first thought it would be.
3. Another massage at work, this time all on the lower back.
4. Going for a milk tea break in the afternoon from downstairs.
5. Getting dinner from Hai Di Lao.
6. Noodle dancing guy being even more interactive than previously shown in the YouTube video, with the noodle being tossed over our heads at various points.

A year ago today.

10/24/12

1. Good breakfast again in the morning.
2. Less crushed ride on the subway at the slightly later end of rush hour.
3. My mom and Uncle Liu picking me up from the subway station.
4. Huge amount of crayfish for me at dinner.
5. My mom and her friends teaching me to play the 80 points game.
6. Getting a ride back to the hotel from Uncle Liu.

A year ago today.

10/23/12

1. Getting in early for an 8am meeting with SH in MTV.
2. Great shao mai at breakfast.
3. Successfully signing in my mom and her two friends in to visit the office for lunch.
4. Good lower back massage at work.
5. Dinner at Din Tai Fung of noodles and vegetables that were quite good in addition to the soup buns.
6. Staying at the office through until the late evening meetings.
   

A year ago today.

10/22/12

1. Getting for a quiet breakfast at the office by myself.
2. Feeling like I could get a head start on the week with the time zone advantage.
3. Seeing some really cool commenting designs.
4. Getting to the meeting point with my mom at exactly the time I said I'd be there, even with rush hour on the subway.
5. Another nice long massage, this time with my mom's preferred masseuse.
6. Not falling asleep on the subway ride back.
   

A year ago today.

10/21/12

1. Going to Fuxing Park and finding it free of commerce and all sorts of people just doing their thing, like calligraphy in water on the floor, many many dancing and karaoke groups, yo-yos, badminton…really quite delightful!
2. Being taken out for a tasty Sichuan lunch by some colleagues here.
3. Getting to the marriage market in People's Square and discovering it to be astoundingly vast.
4. Finally finding the Shanghai Museum 5 minutes before they were going to stop letting people in and getting to see a Faberge egg and jewelry exhibit.
5. Dumplings and other northern cuisine for dinner.
6. Yet another massage, this time a foot massage.
   

A year ago today.

10/20/12

1. Getting to the meeting point with my mom 15 minutes early despite leaving 15 minutes later than I had planned.
2. Getting a 90 minute massage.
3. Spicy hot pot for lunch.
4. Aunt Sun buying me a pearl necklace and earrings.
5. Trying a new kind of steamed soup bun (pan-fried on one side) for dinner.
6. Deciding to take a taxi home because I was getting so tired from jet lag.

A year ago today.

10/19/12

1. Karma kicking in for people who cut in front of me in the immigration line (I only stopped to tie my shoe!) when me and everyone behind me got waved over to a new section with no line.
2. No troubles getting a taxi to the hotel.
3. Verrry fancy hotel room.
4. Running into a couple people I knew in Shanghai office to show me around a bit and offer suggestions for what to do this weekend.
5. Meeting up with my mom for dinner.
6. Realizing fairly quickly that I'd taken a wrong turn on the walk back to the hotel

A year ago today.

10/18/12

1. Checking up on the roof plants and finding them to be ok.
2. Whisking through security at Newark quite quickly.
3. Oatmeal with bananas and brown sugar from Jamba Juice for breakfast.
4. Catching up on Google Reader while waiting for my flight.
5. Sleeping for about half of the flight.
6. Finishing watching Pride & Prejudice with the computer's remaining battery.
   

A year ago today.

10/17/12

1. Pulling out a black wool work shift dress from J.Crew Factory that I bought ages ago for the first time and finding it to still fit very well and comfortable to wear with the lining.
2. Grabbing breakfast after 8-8:30 meeting but before 9am event started.
3. Breakout sessions working out to actually be very small so my demo didn't really feel like a presentation at all.
4. Picking up a few things at Bed Bath & Beyond for my mom and using their shopping cart escalator for the first time.
5. Dan giving me the last of the lentils for dinner.
6. Watching TV with Dan and relaxing a bit in the evening before starting to pack.

A year ago today.

10/16/12

1. Waking up at 7am feeling rejuvenated. 
2. Biking to and from PATH station (not raining, wearing casual clothing, and mostly warm enough not to need a coat).
3. Trying some of Dan's new favorite snack of kettle corn from Costco.
4. Lunch with AS while she's in town. 
5. Tea break with EM/AJ to give EM her early birthday present.
6. Not falling asleep quite so early this evening so got some personal emails done.

A year ago today.

10/15/12

1. BG getting in to the office in time to join an 11am meeting.
2. Randomly seeing RC in the morning as he popped in for a few hours before his flight home.
3. No one stopping by office hours in the afternoon so I could use it get some email done.
4. Having a much needed 1:1 with my manager for the first time in a couple weeks.
5. Staying mostly dry in the rain on the way home.
6. Going to sleep at 8pm.

A year ago today.

10/14/12

1. Getting Fire on my Kindle from the library for real this time.
2. Spending pretty much all day reading/watching random TV on the couch.
3. Dan making lentils again with further tweaks to the method resulting in no burned bits in the Dutch oven at all.
4. Google Hangout with SP/AL/CP about politics but also just general quick catching up.
5. Watching a few episodes of Jeopardy from last week with one particularly good contestant.
6. Putting away the huge pile of clothes from the last week.

A year ago today.

10/13/12

1. Getting to Prospect Park in plenty of time for the 10K.
2. Chatting up friendly strangers before the race, one family where the mom was racing and the baby was carted along by the dad, and another couple girls in our fellow corral #12 (the last one).
3. Lovely day and lovely run! There wasn't constant music but what there was was helpful for marking distance and there was enough fun people watching and eavesdropping on fellow runners' conversations to keep things interesting.
4. Stopping over at AJ/MT's for some tea (and to use the bathroom).
5. Coming up with the idea to use one of the pickle buckets for an ice bath for my feet.
6. Attending MF/CD's wedding, with delicious food and even getting Dan to dance.

A year ago today.

10/12/12

1. Sleeping in in the morning after the late night at the office the night before.
2. Watching the first half of the Bill Cunningham documentary on Netflix while at the dentist.
3. Feeling the stress from the week dissipate in the face of admiring beautiful old clothes at the vintage clothing show.
4. Spending time with AJ at the vintage show and later at dinner.
5. Substantial turkey burger at Grey Dog.
6. Dan introducing me to the series on fieldstormers.

A year ago today.

10/11/12

1. Harvesting another few handfuls of green beans and spinach. The former were boiled and the latter sautéed with eggs for my breakfast. 
2. Cleaning the apartment a bit after I was running late enough to definitely miss breakfast so figured might as well just go in a bit late.
3. Lunch with AJ.
4. Grilled cheese with bacon and apples on a nice thick bread for lunch.
5. Only leaving one flat of half pint jars at the office (picked up from Ace Hardware in the morning), fitting the other jars + CSA into the cart to bring home tonight.
6. Dan going to Best Buy to pick up an iPad my mom wanted me to bring to China for her.

A year ago today.

10/10/12

1. Potato pancakes at breakfast.
2. Re-reading Pride & Prejudice now that I don't have anything new to read.
3. Indulging in some ranting with JM.
4. Catching up on Megan McArdle's blog posts.
5. Putting in a four mile run at the gym.
6. Hauling out the comforter for winter and using the magic burrito method to get the duvet cover on.

A year ago today.

10/9/12

1. Finding a new storage place for the half-pint jar--under the dresser!
2. Breaking out my bright flame red-orange coat to help deal with the dreary weather.
3. Avocado slices with scrambled eggs available at breakfast.
4. Lunch out to a Venezuelan place with the eng team.
5. Picking up two pickle buckets from the deli.
6. Dan letting me stay in control of the TV remote.

A year ago today.

10/8/12

1. Taking a sick day to get over my cold.
2. Two hour nap at noon.
3. Tabbouleh leftovers for breakfast and lentil soup leftovers for lunch and dinner so didn't have to cook to feed myself at all today.
4. Converting the box of paste tomatoes into six pints of tasty marinara sauce. This sauce came out sweeter than the first time I made tomato sauce with other kinds of tomatoes.
5. Making homemade vanilla extract.
6. Getting laundry done--clean socks replenished.

A year ago today.

10/7/12

1. Dan getting us safely getting home after the hotel fiasco.
2. Waking up at 10:30 not feeling too bad.
3. Re-reading bits of Ender's Game.
4. Trying a new way of making lentil soup by pre-soaking and baking the lentils in the oven first.
5. Finally finishing making sauces and jams out of the large box of pears.
6. Dan doing all the dishes for the night.

A year ago today.

10/6/12

1. Being able to take my time in cleaning up the apartment a bit and packing in the morning.
2. Chick-Fil-A for lunch.
3. Dozing most of the drive down the Maryland.
4. Getting there just in time for the mini-bachelorette celebration for BB.
5. BB and DL getting married!
6. Making smores by the bonfire.

A year ago today.

10/5/12

1. No rain in the forecast so could bike to the train station and back.
2. Getting in with plenty of time to leisurely eat breakfast before joining a 9am meeting.
3. Avocado slices available to make up an avocado bagel for breakfast.
4. Getting to eyebrow appointment right on time.
5. Going for a run on the way home.
6. Cooking up sausage, Swiss chard, and tomatoes for dinner. I think I have genuinely developed a taste for Swiss chard!

A year ago today.

10/4/12

1. Getting to read my book with breakfast with the morning review meeting being canceled.
2. No one yelling me about the emails I sent out about the potential crisis issue.
3. Massage with AS that felt longer than an hour. He also rubbed the medicinal oil onto my lower back which I love the smell of and it also felt hot for a little while.
4. Grabbing dinner on the way up from the CSA cleanup.
5. Catching with SN for the first time in awhile.
6. Bringing home a box of paste tomatoes to make tomato sauce with.

A year ago today.

10/3/12

1. Not getting caught in any rain myself.
2. Catching up with AJ for the first time in ages over an afternoon cup of tea.
3. Getting to the library just in time to return a book.
4. Deciding to go home and do some canning instead of going to the gym.
5. Canning a batch of pickled pears.
6. Vanilla beans came in the mail and smell soooo good. Made pear vanilla jam with them.

A year ago today.

10/2/12

1. Putting the visa packet together and mailing it off.
2. Giving feedback to UX and PM on some awesome new designs.
3. Finding whole cloves for 92% cheaper than at Shop-Rite in Chelsea Market.
4. Eventually succeeding in finding crystallized ginger in the bulk bin section at Whole Foods.
5. Finding vanilla bean paste at Food Emporium of all places.
6. Catching up with CP over the phone.

A year ago today.

10/1/12

1. Deciding to work from home for the day.
2. All meetings for the day getting canceled from my calendar.
3. Going for a long run around Hoboken (6.5 miles!).
4. Ice water bottles helping my feet and shin soreness post-run.
5. Dan cleaning out the sink of my dishes from the day.
6. Feeling clean after showering.

A year ago today.

9/30/12

1. Getting the September photobook of the family Big Sur vacation done in record time (~7 hours).
2. Reconciling finances for the month going pretty quickly too.
3. Making several more meals of tomatoes and eggs with noodles.
4. Succeeding at killing one of the large fruit flies buzzing around the apartment.
5. Randomly coming across the season premier of Once Upon a Time on the TV Guide to know to record it.
6. Winning a wetsuit credit giveaway from the triathlon training group.

A year ago today.

9/29/12

1. Canning all day: tomatoes, pickled carrots, apple cider jelly.
2. Cool weather outside keeping the temperature of the kitchen down.
3. Clearing out shelving space to store canned goods.
4. Vacuuming the apartment for the first time in two weeks.
5. Harvesting greens from dinner from my plants! Several handfuls of green beans and even some spinach.
6. Resting my feet and watching TV.

A year ago today.

9/28/12

1. Being able to wear rubber flip flops on the walk to work again to deal with the rain.
2. Getting in to the office in time for breakfast.
3. Lunch with EM.
4. Falafel platter for dinner with JE/AS/KK.
5. Finishing peer reviews before leaving the office.
6. Lounging on the couch watching TV.

A year ago today.

9/27/12

1. Finishing frosting the cupcakes for JE's baby shower with AQ's help just in time before my flu shot appointment.
2. Onion rings at TGIAF.
3. Relatively little to do at the CSA pickup volunteer shift.
4. Rain holding off on my way home.
5. Several strangers helping me at various points with my heavy load of extra CSA tomatoes and pears.
6. Remembering that I had leftovers in the fridge to eat for dinner rather than having to cook anything.

A year ago today.

9/26/12

1. Going for a run in the morning.
2. SF being really understanding about me being really late to a morning meeting with her.
3. The receptionist of a nearby office noticing how I failed at getting into the women's bathroom and holding up his fingers to tell me the code. 
4. Grabbing a pretty delicious lunch from Hemi while rushing back to get back to the offsite on time.
5. Other people sufficiently carrying the conversation at the team dinner.
6. Creamed spinach and fish for dinner.

A year ago today.

9/25/12

1. Lunch with BB and MG.
2. Getting an intro to a new add-on product I got assigned to through a timely offsite.
3. Moving my bike indoors after remembering to check tomorrow's forecast. 
4. Making gluten-free strawberry cupcakes.
5. Discovering more cupcake liners in the cupboards.
6. Remembering to bring my passport into the office to get started on China visa application. 

A year ago today.

9/24/12

1. Re-discovering the goldfish and peanut M&Ms savory/sweet snack combo.
2. Catching up with my old ADS4 class on VC.
3. Getting an Enell sports bra from Paragon Sports.
4. Finally finding dill seed and star anise at various grocery stores between Union Square and the 14th St. PATH station.
5. Figuring out a way to mostly bend my bike's front basket back into shape after it somehow got all slanted while locked up near the PATH station over the weekend.
6. Going to bed early.

A year ago today.

9/23/12

1. Signed up for a meat CSA that delivers pretty close to work.
2. Catching up on TV with the DVR.
3. Making applesauce with yesterday's apple pickings.
4. Making a large quantity of The Soup for dinner. 
5. Getting up to check the roof plants right before it got dark.
6. Eventually succeeding in scrubbing off most of burned bits from applesauce out of the Dutch oven.

A year ago today.

9/22/12

1. Going apple picking with the whole family in the morning.
2. Going for a run outdoors in Thompson Park.
3. Thinking of using Dan's license ID to help my mom with a bag return.
4. Going to King Spa with my mom and sister.
5. Better handling the saunas with each successive King Spa visit.
6. My sister dropping me off in Hoboken on the way back.

A year ago today.

9/21/12

1. Packing my overnight bag quickly in the morning.
2. Getting to know VR in person after randomly running into him the day before.
3. Catching an express train from Penn Station.
4. Dinner at home.
5. Figuring out a search bug on Travelocity's site to be able to pull up the cheaper price I saw earlier in the day.
6. Buying my tickets to Shanghai!

A year ago today.

9/20/12

1. Really good run--just over 37 minutes for a 5K!
2. Remembering to bring the shopping cart to work.
3. Doing the volunteer clean up shift for the CSA and bringing extra produce home in the cart.
4. Grabbing dinner at the office.
5. Calling LW and catching up.
6. Getting positive interest in the 2016 Rio summer Olympics from college friends.

A year ago today.

9/19/12

1. Checking up on the roof plants and finding that one plant container had fallen over but didn't roll off the roof.
2. Dan picking up $35 tickets to a Springsteen concert at the Meadowlands on StubHub!
3. Getting to the library before having to go take the train from Hoboken.
4. Thinking of a way to hide my triathlon water bottle outside the arena to pick it up later and now have to throw it out just to get into the stadium past security.
5. Yummy sausage sandwich for dinner.
6. Dan lending me his suit jacket to ward off the cold.

A year ago today.

9/18/12

1. Dan sending me a post that's basically about a business idea I'd had before (use body scanner to get a model of your body for use in online clothes shopping fitting). I feel validated.
2. Finally finishing pulling together the feature list for the release.
   
3. Putting in the last Amazon Prime order off the free membership.
4. Lighter rain on Hoboken side.
5. Going to bed at 10. 
6. Falling asleep again pretty easily after Dan came home.

A year ago today.

9/17/12

1. Ranting to a few people about a pointless meeting with facilities folks.
2. Meeting up with AJ and MT for lunch.
3. Lots of meetings canceled in the afternoon.
4. Remembering to bring a couple oranges home to use for a jelly recipe.
5. Deciding not to go to the gym.
6. Enjoying having the apartment to myself while Dan was in class.

A year ago today.

9/16/12

1. Going raspberry picking and wine tasting with my sister-in-law CS and having a wonderful time chatting with her in the car.
2. Successfully making 7 half-pints of raspberry jam with our hand-picked raspberries! I had been a little worried that we didn't have enough berries but we were fine.
3. Napping on the ride back to Hoboken.
4. Squeezing in a run at the gym right before they closed.
5. Frozen water bottles really helping with my shin splints.
6. Dan helping me with my laundry tonight.

A year ago today.

9/15/12

1. Discovering a green bean that looks almost big enough to pick and eat.
2. Being able to sit in the office to watch my sister use the Groupon for a shooting range experience with rifles and other types of guns.
3. Coming home to find that the pizza dough I'd made last night and set out in the morning on the kitchen table in the sun had risen quite a bit.
4. Making delicious caprese salad and sausage and mushroom pizzas with my sister, they turned out even better than when we made them last year.
5. Going bridesmaid dress shopping with CS & co. Great fun to all be trying on dresses together.
6. Making it in to the city to MF's bachelorette party for a couple hours at the tail end of the pasta making lesson and hanging out in her hotel suite for awhile where it was quieter and easier to talk to people.

A year ago today.

9/14/12

1. Catching a page right before I would've missed it on my bike.
2. Picking up books from the library on my way in to work.
3. Mac & cheese bar at lunch.
4. Shopping for pizza ingredients at the Italian market and Manhattan Fruit exchange. 
5. Dan running out to get me more sugar to make yellow tomato jam.
6. My idea for using binder clips on the pizza peel to replace the flimsy plastic clips seems to work.

A year ago today.

9/13/12

1. Amazing massage with AS. Used some kind of Eastern equivalent of Bengay oil that smelled really herbal-y good. 
2. Wolfing down crispy onion rings before a noon meeting.
3. Grabbing a whole box of extra CSA tomatoes!
4. Fitting my extra CSA tomatoes bounty into my backpack and the rest of the CSA into the front basket of my bike.
5. Avoiding any collisions with cars, unlike the biker in front of me who was going on the exact same route that I was.
6. Finding peeling tomatoes to be a lot faster and easier than peeling peaches.

A year ago today.

9/12/12

1. Working from home in my PJs.
2. Lunch of home fries and scrambled eggs with CSA garlic and parsley.
3. Checking up on the roof plants and the baby green beans continue to be adorable.
4. Picking up another pickle bucket.
5. Going for a 5K with the 0.5 incline this time, 37:10.
6. Wikipedia-ing some old manga/anime series.

A year ago today.

9/11/12

1. Weather has cooled down to the point where it was almost...cold this morning. Nice change from hot and humid.
2. Getting to work in time for breakfast.
3. Sushi for lunch.
4. FedEx guy leaving his number on the door tag and coming back after I called him since he was still in Hoboken to deliver my package (shiny new Cuisinart stock pot)! So nice of him.
5. Fastest 5K yet!! 36:28, though the incline on the treadmill was at 0 instead of 0.5.
6. Cooking up and canning a batch of peach butter! A lot of the lids had an audible popping sound indicating that they had sealed right after I lifted them out of the stock pot. 

A year ago today.

9/10/12

1. Getting to work in time for a leisurely breakfast.
2. Lunch with RC/EM/ST.
3. Successfully biking back a heavy box of peaches home.
4. Peeling all the peaches and cooking them down to a sauce in the Dutch oven which was just big enough for the amount of peaches I had.
5. Cutting in to the watermelon Dan bought for me at Shop-Rite yesterday.
6. Dan bringing me back another flat of 12 half-pint jars from Wal-Mart.

A year ago today.

9/9/12

1. Calling Citi Cards and getting them to waive a $20 service fee.
2. Taking a nap in the early afternoon after unexpectedly waking up early.
3. Hauling up baby spinach and broccoli seedlings up to the roof and then noticing that some of the bean plants not only have flowers on them, but some of the flowers have turned into baby green beans!
4. New longest distance run: 6.5 miles!
5. Dan getting out of bed to make me some toast with sunflower butter when I continued to feel hungry despite grazing constantly the whole day.
6. No new Breaking Bad episode, but that meant being able to go to bed relatively early and without any meth-related dreams.

A year ago today.

9/8/12

1. Much more success in finding the garage sales in Highland Park after picking up a map.
2. Getting in a run at the gym where I think I could've improved my 5K time further (but stopped at 3 miles).
3. Making it to the restaurant just in time despite the various transportation and weather woes.
4. Fun, funny time at the wedding dinner with Dan and BB/DL/AJ/MT/RC.
5. Much smoother set of connections on the journey home.
6. Getting a compliment from a stranger at the 9th St. PATH station on my vintage teal lace dress.

A year ago today.

9/7/12

1. Remembering to bring my checkbook in the morning to get my eyebrows done in the afternoon.
2. Breakfast with my favorite things: sausage gravy, biscuits, scrambled eggs, and avocado.
3. Lunch by myself in the Chelsea Market cafe.
4. Picking up a set of canning utensils from Crate & Barrel in Soho for cheap! $4.95 down from $12.95.
5. Making the corn and chorizo soup again. 1 link of the dried Spanish chorizo to 5-6 ears of corn is about the right ratio, it seems.
6. Re-reading Graceling after checking it out as an e-book from the library again.

A year ago today.

9/6/12

1. Grabbing breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage before a morning meeting.
2. Getting a juicy hot deli meat sandwich for lunch and discovering olive oil potato chips.
3. De-stressing with a table massage.
4. Going back down for the CSA pickup and bringing back a box of extra peaches to be canned in some way later.
5. Staying late to catch up on work and prep for the planning meeting the next morning.
6. Perusing the Food in Jars blog and reading more about canning.

A year ago today.

9/5/12

1. Sleeping in since I was still feeling tired after the long Monday night.
2. Getting in for lunch with EM/AJ/RC.
3. Venting to my manager.
4. Reading the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.
5. Going to bed early to try to catch up on sleep further.
6. Dan reading me to sleep after he woke me up and I couldn't fall asleep again easily for several hours.

A year ago today.

9/4/12

1. Lunch with RC and later EM.
2. Mostly clearing out my inbox by the end of the day.
3. Managing to complete all of my errands before any of the stores in question closed--matboard from an art supply store, half pint jars from the hardware store, pickle buckle from the sandwich store.
4. Yummy potato pancake and knish for dinner from the Hoboken On Rye store.
5. Canning supplies and book delivered from Amazon, now to peruse it and dream of different recipes to can.
6. Doing a time trial run for a 5k (3.1 miles) at the gym and finishing at 37:45!! Definitely seeing an improvement in my running speed and capacity.

A year ago today.

9/3/12

1. Getting 3 loads of laundry done.
2. Snipping some fresh rosemary for a lamb rib roast marinade.
3. Slaking my thirst with slices of watermelon.
4. Using fresh CSA garlic in my panzanella salad today--gives it a nice bite but it's not too harsh a flavor at all. 
5. Sneaking a few Swedish meatballs cold.
6. Handing over two flats of pint jars to Cara at the fantasy football league draft.

A year ago today.

9/2/12

1. Messing around with eye makeup and hairstyles.
2. Vacuuming the apartment.
3. Completing my longest run ever, 5.5 miles.
4. Printing out an engagement photo at CVS to put in a frame for Dan to have on his desk at work.
5. Dan making really delicious Swedish meatballs (the gravy in particular) with mashed potatoes and steamed green beans for dinner.
6. Dan helping me re-dye my purple streaks again.

A year ago today.

9/1/12

1. Dan running a bunch of my errands for me while he was grocery shopping.
2. Really productive day, cooked up a bunch of CSA stuff, made banana bread, planted broccoli.
3. Finding various sales going on while running errands at Ricky's and Ace Hardware (two flats of pint jars for $14! Figured out how to strap them both onto my bike to carry home safely, too).
4. Getting in a tempo run in at the gym, finishing all of it except the 0.10 mile before the gym closed.
5. Catching the Doctor Who Christmas special and the premiere of the new season, now on BBC HD.
6. Finally getting to hanging the series of four season watercolors over the couch.

A year ago today.

8/31/12

1. Catching up on sleep.
2. Working from home for the day.
3. Panzanella salad for lunch and chorizo corn soup for dinner. 
4. Checking up on my bean plants and finding them thriving even with the heavy rain on Monday that killed one of my spinach plants.
5. Getting a bunch of tasks crossed off my list, including purchasing various wedding gifts.
6. Finally getting to putting together a pair of Luna sandals from a DIY kit. They turned out pretty well, too, with the aid of sandpaper that I remembered I had around from a painting project to smooth the rough edges.

A year ago today.

8/30/12

1. Another beautiful day in the morning.
2. Grabbing breakfast before a 9:30am meeting.
3. Ordering canning supplies from Amazon and Ace Hardware, exciting!
4. Signing up for an Amazon Prime trial, though this could be dangerous...
5. Another baby watermelon at the CSA!
6. Getting in a sprint run at the gym even after a late work meeting.

A year ago today.

8/29/12

1. Making up a quick panzanella salad in the morning for breakfast with CSA tomatoes, homemade croutons, homemade mozzarella, and home-grown basil.
2. Dropping by the library before work to return a book.
3. Getting to the office just in time before a meeting starting, with a few minutes to spare.
4. Extremely comfortable weather outside, I could actually leave my hair down and not be all sweaty.
5. Asking the restaurant to add sausage to a pasta dish so I didn't have to decide between the basil pesto one and the sausage one.
6. Successfully installing a custom screensaver on my Kindle!! Lots of trial and error but now I've got a custom plate with my contact info on it in case I lose it.

A year ago today.

8/28/12

1. SS visiting the office for the first time since last December!
2. Good 1:1 chat with JD.
3. Getting a peer bonus from an engineer for the first time.
4. Bought two more links of chorizo, one to add in to soup to bump up chorizo flavor.
5. Watching Governor Christie's speech at the convention.
6. Successfully made mozzarella from frozen curds!! Yummy and creamy flavor.

A year ago today.

8/27/12

1. Getting through unread email in the morning before lunch.
2. Finding the right kind of dry non-spicy chorizo in Chelsea Market. 
3. Restocking on fancy olive oil and balsamic vinegars at The Filling Station.
4. Shucking the corn we bought yesterday and finding it to be really sweet and fresh, unlike the other farmer's market corn I had bought in July.
5. Catching up on last week's tempo run.
6. Dan cooking up the chorizo corn soup while I was at the gym.

A year ago today.

8/26/12

1. Picking tomatoes at the farm to bring home.
2. Watching a peach jam canning demo that made the process seem pretty easy. Also, delicious samples (not too sweet!).
3. Going on a tour of a sheep farm, so cute.
4. Stopping by a farmstand to buy corn, potatoes, and a watermelon.
5. Getting home early enough in the evening to take of various chores.
6. Finding that my plants all survived just fine.

A year ago today.

8/25/12

1. Dan deciding to go back to the popcorn store to buy a Christmas gift in advance after all.
2. Excellent home fries at the breakfast cafe.
3. Catching up on sleep in the drive to the farm.
4. Learning to play Bananagrams with some strangers at the farm Open House. Turns out I'm pretty good, too!
5. Playing Chinese checkers and finally beating Dan at the end.
6. Finding the Albany hotel to be really nice, enormous room! Separate living room-like area, separate bathroom with its own sink from shower room.

A year ago today.

8/24/12

1. Dan being a trouper about all the heights-related activities like cable car rides.
2. Getting in all the remaining activities included in our Olympics "passport" despite the late start to the day.
3. Getting to see kids practicing ski jumping into a pool.
4. Going for a run around Mirror Lake.
5. Buying gourmet popcorn mixed with 'smores ingredients.
6. Finishing the Mistborn trilogy and being sucked in to how all the final pieces fit together, just like in Harry Potter.

A year ago today.

8/23/12

1. Wearing the self-hemmed Gap chevron maxi dress for the first time.
2. Taking a fun and informative tour of the Olympic Center led by a guy who was there reporting on the 1980 Olympics.
3. Buying a really cute poster from the Olympic museum gift shop with the raccoon mascot doing all the sports.
4. Getting the beer sampler at the brewery we went to for dinner.
5. Watching a beautiful sunset from the west-facing side of the hotel.
6. Snacking on the leftover fries later at night.

A year ago today.

8/22/12

1. Packing up quickly enough in the morning to get in to the office in time for a 9:30am meeting.
2. Grabbing breakfast for the first time in ages.
3. Being able to call Dan to pack a few extra things I'd forgotten to pack in the morning.
4. Finding that I could read in the car without getting carsick this time for some reason, so kept myself occupied during the long drive.
5. Making good time and getting in to Lake Placid by 11pm.
6. Breaking out my leather jacket to wear in the slightly cooler weather.

A year ago today.

8/21/12

1. Finally getting to looking at the activities that Dan had scouted out for Lake Placid and confirming that none of them needed prior booking.
2. Evening meeting got canceled so could have dinner with SD at the office.
3. Catching up with SD, hadn't seen him in ages. He'll be moving back to NYC after this last year of law school!
4. Getting a run in at the gym. 
5. Thinking of using a pretty little blue fabric bag that a gift from Dan's mom to me came in as a camera case.
6. Deciding to only do preliminary packing before going to bed.

A year ago today.

8/20/12

1. Rain disappearing from the forecast so I could bike to work.
2. Productive day at work, kept inbox down low.
3. Bringing the wedding album home to go through it with Dan.
4. Getting new memory cards for my camera in the mail.
5. A sausage I bought over a week ago still good for dinner.
6. Finishing altering a pair of chambray shorts from J.Crew Factory (took in the waist and put in darts on the legs). Not perfect but it'll do, I'll see if the places that don't match up bother me enough to fix them further.

A year ago today.

8/19/12

1. Shirring the backs of several boxy tops to make them more form-fitting.
2. Feeling better at a 5mph speed near the end of my run than in the beginning when I attempted that speed as well. I suppose I just need a bit more warm-up time to settle into the run before going faster.
3. Seeing the first spinach sprout!
4. Lovely view of sunset colors in the sky from the roof, when I went to go check on my bean plants.
5. Vacuuming the apartment.
6. Getting a load of laundry done.

A year ago today.

8/18/12

1. Buying a working, portable vintage Singer sewing machine (off of craigslist)! Identified it as being from 1956.
2. Talking Dan into getting an Italian sausage sandwich with peppers and onions at Costco and trying the churro I got in addition.
3. Getting a bunch of sewing fixes done while watching random TV.
4. Figuring out that UPS hadn't mis-delivered my package, it just went to USPS first and then came to the apartment later.
5. Dan making a tasty orzo salad for dinner, to which I added CSA beets and tomatoes.
6. Watching Iron Man 2.

A year ago today.

8/17/12

1. Lunch out with the eng team at a fancy Indian place.
2. Picking up stuff from the tailor on my way back to the office.
3. Rain holding off in the evening for the walk home.
4. Getting the speed running workout of the week done at the gym with some hip flexor stretching and planks.
5. Having the rest of the baby watermelon.
6. Opening up a package of Mint Slices thanks to SP.

A year ago today.

8/16/12

1. Yummy gourmet BLT sandwich for lunch.
2. Chair massage with AS.
3. Receiving our wedding album from KP!! It's heavy and gorgeous.
4. Picking up an extremely cute little watermelon (yellow on the inside) from the CSA this week.
5. Chicken fingers and tater tots from TGIAF.
6. Eventually successfully meeting up with the group out at dinner.

A year ago today.

8/15/12

1. Being complimented on my striped vintage dress and my style generally by SR.
2. Getting a cup of freshly squeezed OJ.
3. Catching up with MT and AJ.
4. Fitting in a couple extra chairs into a crowded meeting room so I didn't have to awkwardly lean against something while wearing a dress.
5. Lunch with MB and EN, talking about methods for managing your energy.
6. Dan winning some bids on Priceline for hotels in upstate NY for our long weekend there.

A year ago today.

8/14/12

1. Lunch with EM.
2. Remembering to put fresh basil on the panzanella salad today and letting the bread cubes soak up tomato juices while I tended to my plants, resulting in an even more delicious dish.
3. Assembling the first half of my second self-watering container to get the spinach plants started.
4. Running into RC at the gym.
5. Doing the first homework run from the Run with the Girls program, a tempo run. It was hard! But good for me to push myself to go faster.
6. Picking up miscellaneous beauty products from CVS.

A year ago today.

8/13/12

1. Getting lunch with AJ and BB.
2. Most of my afternoon meetings getting canceled.
3. Finally getting around to dropping off my new glasses to get repaired.
4. Quick checkout at Whole Foods for a thing of small mozzarella balls.
5. Cooking up a whole bunch of CSA stuff, including tomatoes into a panzanella salad and cucumbers into tzatziki.
6. Learned a new way to roast beets that's much easier, just wrap them in individually in foil.

A year ago today.

8/12/12

1. Getting a ride back to Hoboken with my parents.
2. Taking a long nap in the afternoon.
3. Finding a whole bunch of rhythmic gymnastics had in fact been recorded on the DVR (NBC's program descriptions often are inaccurate).
4. Getting the rosemary and bean plants onto the roof to start getting more sun.
5. Successfully taking in the back of a pair of linen J.Crew shorts! Looks pretty good if I do say so myself.
6. Dan making turkey meatballs for dinner.

A year ago today.

8/11/12

1. Pretty smooth EM for EN swap at the PATH train station in the morning.
2. Weightlifting meet being really smooth and well-organized.
3. Hanging out with Dan's family at an afternoon barbecue.
4. Dan giving me a ride to Holmdel so I wasn't late for the birthday dinner my sister made for my mom.
5. Having a few nice golf shots at the driving range, much better than the last few times I've gone.
6. Getting home in time to watch the last diving competition (men's 10m platform), which had some really incredible dives.

A year ago today.

8/10/12

1. An eyebrow appointment opening up in the afternoon.
2. Lunch with AJ.
3. Flourless chocolate cake for dessert.
4. Getting out of work just in time to meet up with EN getting off the bus from Boston.
5. Getting a bunch of sewing mending done.
6. Catching up on Olympic synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics.

A year ago today.

8/9/12

1. Getting some corn tortilla tacos for lunch.
2. Catching up with LT back from Shanghai briefly.
3. Dinner with BG and CL before her maternity leave.
4. Showering off the gross humidity in the air.
5. Having some of the watermelon Dan bought for me from Costco.
6. Pulling in my bean plants and noticing that they've started to germinate and are poking their heads out!

A year ago today.

8/8/12

1. Sleeping in a bit in the morning to recover from the late night watching gymnastics.
2. Picking up another pickle bucket from the Hoboken on Rye store. They're just so nice there!
3. Productive afternoon at work.
4. Signing up for a group running club in Monmouth County with a $25 discount since I know I won't be able to make most of the runs.
5. Making The Soup (corn chowder with yogurt and chorizo) for dinner.
6. Nice steady 4 mile run at the gym while watching more Olympics.

A year ago today.

8/7/12

1. Getting breakfast in the morning for the first time in awhile.
2. Hilarious and pop culture educational lunch with AJ and EM and PJL visiting.
3. Starting to re-read The Hunger Games (only non-fiction out from the library right now).
4. Getting a load of laundry done, mostly just towels.
5. Good run at the gym tonight, 2 mile fartlek with another mile of easy running/walking on either side in just a little bit over an hour.
6. Particularly exciting night in gymnastics at the Olympics with the balance beam tiebreaker, women's floor and men's high bar excellence. I'm glad the Chinese women finally won at least one gold.

A year ago today.

8/6/12

1. Waking up in time to remember the 9am meeting and dial in from my computer at home, at least.
2. Holding my hair up with a brown hair clip instead of resorting to a headband or short ponytail again.
3. Figuring out a way to set up my desk in the new location to make the most of the smaller space.
4. Fully unpacking even though I hadn't bothered in the last move and deciding to get rid of a lot of papers and other random stuff.
5. Bringing a few different items over the tailor's.
6. Making turkey burgers on the grill to go over with the green bean and cherry tomato salad.

A year ago today.

8/5/12

1. Catching synchronized swimming (duet) on TV and watching women's weightlifting on my computer.
2. Exciting end to the China-U.S. women's water polo match.
3. Building a self-watering container from the two pickle buckets I scavenged.
4. Getting in a run at the gym before having to head into Manhattan.
5. Really informative butchery class at Dickson's Farmstand.
6. Dan helping me re-dye my streaks.

A year ago today.

8/4/12

1. Sleeping in a lot (woke up at 11:30).
2. Lying in bed and reading a novel (The Tiger's Wife).
3. Getting to the gym to start training for the 10k.
4. Dinner of CSA peaches, yogurt with honey, CSA tomatoes, CSA basil, and fresh mozzarella.
5. Watching the Olympics while cleaning and cooking.
6. Doing our finances for the month and coming out better than last month.

A year ago today.

8/3/12

1. Getting a good amount of work done from home in the morning.
2. Grilled cheese lunch with EM and AM.
3. Getting to skip the rest of the line for getting my headshot taken by going up to the 6th floor.
4. Productive afternoon in cleaning up various documentation.
5. Succeeding in biking home with the rest of the CSA.
6. Spending the evening watching TV on the couch.

A year ago today.

8/2/12

1. Grabbing a grilled cheese sandwich with just onions and tomatoes on the early end of lunch so there wasn't much of a line.
2. Watching the women's individual all-around finals while eating lunch.
3. Tons of food leftover during my late cleanup shift for the CSA today so I took extras of my favorite stuff.
4. Finding a security officer who accepted that the tomatoes and onions I was bringing in to the theater were not in fact the usual food and drink and found a place for me to stash them during the show.
5. Usual Cirque du Soleil fun, especially the random line of people bouncing on their stomaches on the big bouncy balls across the back while the main performance went on, almost like frogs.
6. Dan's surprise reward to me for completing the triathlon: pretzel M&Ms.

A year ago today.

8/1/12

1. Another grilled cheese sandwich for lunch.
2. Massage with AS.
3. Getting solid coaching on the squat.
4. Lentils for dinner.
5. Finishing watching the evening's Olympics coverage relatively early so went to bed at a more reasonable hour than usual.
6. Getting an email of the official photos from the triathlon which had photos of me at every stage. One particularly good one on my bike. 

A year ago today.

7/31/12

1. No meetings in the morning to miss after I accidentally overslept.
2. Storms holding off for another day so I could still bike to/from the PATH station.
3. Grilled cheese bar in 5th floor cafe: cheddar, mozzarella, tomatoes, caramelized onions, and bacon on rye. Really hit the spot.
4. Afternoon tea break with BB.
5. With EM's help, figuring out a way to fix the format of times in the results file to be able to convert it all into minutes and add in some graphs.
6. Dan making lentil soup for dinner.

A year ago today.

7/30/12

1. Clearing out the DVR to tape the whole day's coverage on the main NBC channel.
2. Finding eager listeners to talk over the triathlon in BB, EM, and AS at various points throughout the day.
3. AS having the massage table out so could work on my really tight calves even though I'd only booked a chair massage.
4. Getting our Verizon account details to be able to watch the Olympics live streams.
5. Figuring out how to convert the text file of triathlon results into a CSV to put together some pivot charts with the data.
6. Dinner of CSA chard sauted up with CSA onions and CSA tomato and a couple eggs turning out to be quite delicious.

A year ago today.

7/29/12

1. Not oversleeping for the triathlon after all, despite waking up every hour because I was so nervous that I would.
2. Dan finding us at the boardwalk just in time before I had to go down to the beach.
3. Finally feeling good after 2.5 miles-ish into the run and being able to speed up, finishing under my goal of 2 hours by a lot at 1:38:45!!
4. Getting chorizo tacos from The Taco Truck for lunch.
5. Going to see The Dark Knight Rises and using up those Showcase Cinema vouchers my mom gave me ages ago.
6. Dan making chicken cutlets for dinner, finally sating my hunger after the race.

A year ago today.

7/28/12

1. Feeling much better on the run this morning after the ocean swim than the last time I tried to run in that area after swimming. No bike and cooler weather this time.
2. Talking a 5-gallon pickle bucket out of the deli near the Grove to go towards making self-watering container gardens. They said I can have one every two weeks, too, since they just throw them out.
3. Returning online purchases to the Gap and J.Crew.
4. Getting dim sum in Flushing with my parents and walking around there afterwards with them too.
5. Remembering to move the laundry into the dryer with enough time to finish the load before bedtime.
6. Watching the Olympics while putting together my stuff for the triathlon in the morning.

A year ago today.

7/27/12

1. Going for my last pool swim at Stevens in the morning and feeling pretty good throughout the continuous 400yd main set.
2. Getting a new library book onto my Kindle to have something to read on the train ride.
3. Getting to the Hoboken station a couple minutes before the direct train to Holmdel was scheduled to leave. Just enough time to buy my ticket.
4. Dumplings at home for a late lunch.
5. My mom driving me to pick up my race packet in Wall.
6. Going up to find that my mom had already turned on the A/C for the room I'd be sleeping in.

A year ago today.

7/26/12

1. Picking up the CSA for the week in person for the first time in many weeks.
2. Grabbing some potato skins at TGIAF.
3. Getting my rating for last quarter from SH--my best rating yet!
4. Catching up with SN, always a fun time.
5. Made it home on my bike right before the rain started.
6. Dan making me a turkey burger for dinner.

A year ago today.

7/25/12

1. Working from home for the day after the late meetings the night before.
2. Making a scallion/kale pesto to go with sauted squash for lunch. The pesto was quite good, actually!
3. SH laughing off my disheveled appearance while working from home.
4. Late afternoon meeting ending early.
5. Finding a couple of my usual shows on at the gym (Criminal Minds etc.) to watch while working out.
6. Catching up on both the bike and run workouts for the week.

A year ago today.

7/24/12

1. Getting an email back from the cafe guy in the morning that they might have those 5-gallon buckets for me to use to build some self-watering container gardens.
2. Lunch with EM.
3. Had a meeting in 5BB so I was able to get some freshly squeezed OJ from the juice bar.
4. Remembering to bring the CSA veggies home.
5. Dan starting a pot of water to boil for me to quickly make some corn for dinner.
6. Running a good session on workflows and approval rules.

A year ago today.

7/23/12

1. Sleeping a solid 10 hours.
2. Going to the library to return and pick up books.
3. Talking the guy into giving me a couple pieces of fried chicken without having to waste a waffle that I wasn't going to eat.
4. Leftover pasta fagioli and watermelon for second half of dinner after having some food at work.
5. Talking Dan into wiping down my bike from the rain for me.
6. Watching Breaking Bad episodes 1 and 2 of the new season with Dan. Very nice camera work.

A year ago today.

7/22/12

1. Surviving the ocean swim in the morning with the biggest waves I'd experienced so far.
2. Dim sum with the whole family in Matawan.
3. Coming across a group about to scope out the bike route of the triathlon too who invited me to join them.
4. Being able to borrow a bike helmet and not worry about this being the one time I'd get into an accident. 
5. PG giving me a ride back to Hoboken from Monmouth County.
6. Lots of the A-Team over for dinner and going to see Pirates of Penzance.

A year ago today.