Hearts and Cupcakes and Stories, Oh my!

HH was sick today. LAME. He appears to have contracted something similar to the one day flu. He puked last night (there has been far too much puking in this house recently; I haven't puked since the 8th grade) and had a temperature this morning. The fever is done already and he has not felt the need to toss cookies since this morning. I think he'll be ok by tomorrow, but I might make him stay home anyway. There is no need for a relapse. I hope I don't get it. That would be so not fun for me.
So, I went to work as usual today, but on my way out, I happened to notice something going on in the circle. This is what I found:

What is this? I see LOVE and a...a?

BA-NA!!! A GIANT HEART!

I've no idea what was going on here. I think it was a promotion for the "Virginia is for Lovers" slogan that you see on their tourism posters. Bah. WV all the way. Then I came home and I stopped to by HH some soup and ginger ale. Then I, being the most awesome wife that I am, left him to his own devices and went on another dinner date with J*Rock (JR). The dinner was ok, the company was better, and afterwards we had a cupcake! It was giant so we split it. Here, I have a picture:

Chocolate and peanut butter? Oh yes please.

And now! To tell you a story of the friends that visited me for four days! The first one shall of course center on food! After walking for about half an hour through the streets of Old Town Alexandria and encountering a large amount of police officers on motorcycles and standing around with lights flashing (we never did figure out what they were doing), we found the restaurant that the Boyfriend had heard of. It was called the Bilbo Baggins Global Restaurant. They seriously have a little bit of everything. I have food shots, of course.

Ginny is a pescetarian.

Adam is not.

And I like bacon.

After that, we wandered around Old Town. We had some ice cream, looked at a book store (I bought war books. There is something wrong with me. Operation Mincemeat and a book called Fiasco which is about the Iraq war.) Then we went to Pacers, which is the running store I mentioned earlier. I managed to take a cool picture of a building that had a stag statue on top, I don't know why. I'm not sure what that building is, but it is pretty neat looking.

The other picture I managed to capture that day was pretty sweet, if I do say so myself.

They're cute kids.

More tomorrow! More of my friends! Will HH throw up again!? STAY TUNED.

The Prodigal Blogger

Why hello there. Looking for me? Yeah. My bad. I find it very hard to keep my schedule going when I have visitors. And I had visitors for a full four days! It was awesome. I went all sorts of places and I will slowly share the pictures with you, dear reader! Don't worry I just didn't neglect you, I also failed to run. But I did buy some super awesome new running shoes! There they are, in all their shiny glory.  I used them today. For the first time! I am redoing week 6 of the Couch to 5K so I started that back today. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, which I'm happy for. I imagine day two will hurt more. And then I have to run for 25 minutes straight. WOO! I'm on it.

My shoes are cool though. They have extra support at the arch because my ankles tend to roll in. I think this has a real name, but I have forgotten it. I went to a place in Old Town Alexandria called Pacers. There, they have you walk and look for weird things your feet do. Then they measure your foot and try to find a shoe that fits your needs. Once you get some shoes on, you're sent outside with the person helping you and you do some running, so the sales person can see how you're doing. (This is when they noticed I do the weird thing with my ankles.) So, my sales guy found me a shoe with the support I need and then did his best to get me interested in "fun runs" and other running activities. He did a really really good job. I may have to participate in some of these. If you see in the second picture where my finger is; that is the extra support for my foot. Anyway, it was a cool place and I suggest you go to a Pacers should you ever need running supplies. 

Let me talk about my weekend. I'll sum it up and then relate full stories to you as the week goes by! This way we have longer blog posts and more pictures! Yay!
Ok, here it goes: arrival, old town Alexandria, national cathedral, flowers, early rising, half-marathons, cherry blossom festival, fish markets, making dinner, failure at getting homework done, the end. So. I'll have more pictures and stories as the week continues, but for now it is late and I'm beat and I need to shower still. I'll be back tomorrow, I swear.

Owl City

Indeed, I have tickets to see Owl City! I'm pretty excited about it, since I love him. (Owl City is only one single young man making music.) I don't think I've seen someone famous in concert since...since I was about 13. I saw N*Sync. With my friend Tiffany. And both our moms. However, now her last name is different and she has two young daughters. Lawd, that was a long time ago. So anyway, this is going down in June, but I got the tickets today and now I'm just sitting around waiting for my Virginia to arrive! I would tell you about the rest of my evening but I'm not sure how appropriate poo stories are yet for the internet. At least from this blog. Maybe some other time.

In case you have never heard Owl City, here is one my favorite songs. It always reminds me of Tominda. Sometimes, I even cry about it. I'm lame.

No Time

I have no time for this. I just got out of class, came home, wrote a memo for that class that I will turn in tomorrow. I have friends coming tomorrow and I think my apartment is a little messy. (I'm making myself not care. I really really want to go on a cleaning spree.) I have to prepare a presentation for Monday and get a paper written. I must do the homework for the Monday class. My friends are staying until Sunday. This is all my own fault, I procrastinated on the paper. I'm still going to stress a little. But don't worry. I'm going to get it done. I have mad skills.

In the meantime, please enjoy this song. NO PICTURE TODAY BOO.

Travie McCoy - We'll Be Alright 
It makes me want to dance. Enjoy.

Manic Monday For Real

It was something of a cluster on the Metro this morning. Let me tell you the story. First off, I was early. I got out the door and a really good time, got a good parking spot at the Huntington Metro Station, and hopped on a train right away. HH and I parted ways as we usually do at Gallery Place/Chinatown. I was walking towards the red line train platform when I heard that the orange and blue lines were experiencing delays. OK, I don't ride those, that's ok. Then, I see a mass of people on the platform. Fantastic. From there, things progress into the cluster area. Not only do I wait for a train forever, but more people pile in, a train fails to come, and when it does: it is off-loaded due to a malfunction. There are now a shit-tonne of people hanging out and waiting for a train. I don't have many good options. I don't have any cash on me so I can't get a cab. I don't know which buses run to Dupont Circle.

So, I, being the brilliant person I am, go back downstairs to the yellow/green line and ride up one more metro station to Mt. Vernon Square. From there, I walked three blocks to P Street. Then I turned down P street and walked (according to my map on Google) about 11 or 12 blocks. In orange goulashes. Thankfully, it was not raining at this point, but I was soooo late to work. Thankfully, so was about everyone else that relies on public transportation. I find I don't regret the walk much because I saw all sorts of sights. For instance, I found another Scientology church. I feel like the people back home would burn those mothers down. I got to look at town homes and speculate how much they cost. For instance, an arm? Or maybe a kidney on the black market? This picture to the right is my favorite coloring of the homes. All three of those are just awesome. I actually laughed out loud on my way down the street. The blue is the best, but I'd take any of them.

I also found this statue. That guy up there is General John A. Logan. This guy served in the Mexican-American War, the Civil War (with the Yanks); he was a state senator, congressman, and senator for Illinois, and ran unsuccessfully for Vice President of the U.S. Also, he is considered to be the creator of Memorial Day. He has another statue in Chicago. The statue in D.C. is made of bronze and is called an "equestrian" statue. As you can see, he's riding a horse. (Hurrrrr.) There are two panels that depict aspects of his life; one shows him consulting with military personnel, the other shows him taking the oath of office as a statesman. Each of the four corners are supported by an eagle, which depicts patriotism.

So, I had a very pleasant walk to work this morning, after the Metro Mess Up, but this evening...I descended the escalator to find that the red line was a mess (again) although it got moving pretty quickly. Then, on the way home on the yellow line, my train was offloaded three stops from mine due to a train malfunction. So. Yeah. I love the metro. Thankfully, at the end of the day, I didn't have to wait for long for everything to sort itself out.

I am most excited for Wednesday! My friend Gin will be here with her new man (new to me, anyway, I haven't met him yet) and we will get to hang out and I want to cook for her and take her places and I'm very happy she gets to stay until Sunday and I may have just pooped my pants. Also, I took Thursday and Friday off to hang out, so after Wednesday I have a four day weekend. YAY! I just have to figure out how to do all my grad-school work while she is still here...

OK, I have to go write about Pakistan and India now, go amuse yourself somewhere else. Cheers!

20 Dang Minutes

I just finished the last day in week five of the training program I'm in for the 5k. It hurt, but I did it. I didn't stop. I made it the entire 20 minutes without stopping for a break. And yea, it did hurt, but I wasn't completely wiped at the end of it. In fact, according to my heart rate monitor, my heartbeat recovered pretty quickly. DUDES, I AM GETTING IN SHAPE. DANG.

That's exciting for me. If you missed that. Another exciting note! I know have 15 followers! WHAT IS NEXT? Actually, if you could go find me more followers, that would be awesome. I want to be a google blog of note, but I must have more minions! Go out and recruit! Your beloved leader demands it!

Picture for today: I bought a new color of nail polish called Plum's The Word. It's pretty and I didn't do too bad of a job on my nails! (I normally look like I tried to reproduce a Van Gogh with little success on my nails.) Indeed, that IS a turtle lamp beside my hand. Indeed, that is HH's. He has a love for turtles, and thanks to his family, he is swimming in little statues of them. I find it hilarious. HILARIOUS.

It's the first day of spring. I wanted to know why the calendar gets to dictate when Spring starts, so once again, I have trusted my knowledge to Wikipedia. Wikipedia says that this is because the vernal equinox occurs every year around March 20th. "An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator."

So now I know. And knowing is half the battle. GI JOE!!

Super

I took a picture of the super moon today. I think I was too late to get the full effect. I was distracted by Skype. My mom has it and that is AWESOME. Everyone I know should have skype. Everyone, get on this. Anyway, here is the picture.

I took another running progress picture today. I'm on week 5 right now and it's finally gotten hard for me. Hard, but not undo-able. I think that's the key. It sucks, oh hell yes, but I can do it. Tomorrow, I have to do 20 minutes non-stop. I better build a good play-list before I do.

Also, I noticed on my calendar that today is the first day of Purim. I had no idea what Purim was, so I looked it up. Purim is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from the Persian Empire; apparently deliverance from destruction. This story can be found in the book of Esther in the bible. I'll have to check this out. Anyway, there is feasting, giving of gifts, help the homeless, and other such things. And that's all the information I have on Purim. 

That is the post for today, see you tomorrow, ducks.

True Story

The picture for today is the last house plant I have alive. It's an African violet, and despite my best efforts, it has managed to thrive. He's looking very bushy in this picture, I'm quite happy he's lived this long. My other plants kicked it last summer when I went to the beach with my family for a week. I put them outside, thinking they'd be happy with the rain and the sunshine. I forgot the heat. They didn't like the heat.

So, maybe tomorrow, should the weather continue to be damn near FANTASTIC, I'll go to this garden center down the road from me and see if they have any indoor plants I could try my hardest not to kill. I do love plants.

In other news, I have reached my Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure goal already! Mostly through the single donation from a man my mother works with. I emailed him to thank him and he wrote back, telling me about all the women in his life that have been touched by breast cancer. So, many thanks to him for donating to the cause. I'm praying for a cure. If you want to donate to the cause, here is the link to my personal page: Donate Here. After you go to this page, look to the right, above the pink thermometer. In blue, there will be a link that says "Donate to Lindsey". That will take you another page where you will need to figure out how much you want to donate and fill out your information. This is done through credit card, so be prepared. If you have any questions, feel free to email me. I'd love to raise some more money for the race!

On the same vein, I completed the second day of the 5th week of the Couch to 5K plan. It's getting harder! Ack! Next session, I'm supposed to run for 20 minutes without stopping to walk. I think I can do it. I think. I have a new mantra, "You're a machine. Machine's don't need rest." I repeat this while I'm on my last sets and just want to stop. So far, it seems to be working.

Because I forgot a while ago, I'm posting a recipe that I promised a couple of weeks ago in my "Not Interesting" post. This recipe is a definite four out of five noms. HH made the meat sauce from this recipe today and put it over angel hair pasta. So good!

Stuffed Peppers from Cooking Light
1 (3 1/2 ounce) bag boil-in-bag long grain rice
4 medium red bell peppers
3/4 pound ground sirloin
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon allspice
2 cups bottled tomato and basil pasta sauce, divided
1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup dry red win
cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Cook rice according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.
3. While rice cooks, cut tops of bell peppers; reserve tops. Discard seeds and membranes. Place peppers, cut sides down, in an 8 inch square baking dish; cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on HIGH 2 minutes or until peppers are crisp-tender. Cool.
4. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef and next 5 ingredients; cook 4 minutes or until beef is lightly browned, stirring to crumble. Remove from heat. Add cooked rice, 1/2 cup pasta sauce, and cheese to beef mixture, stirring to combine.
5. While beef cooks, combing 1 1/2 cups pasta sauce and wine in a small saucepan, bring to a boil.
6. Spoon about 3/4 cup beef mixture into each pepper. Place peppers in a 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray, and add wine mixture to pan. Cover with foil.
7. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake an additional 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve peppers with sauce. Garnish with pepper tops.

Yield: 4 servings (1 stuffed pepper and 3/4 cup sauce)
Calories: 347

A Song for St. Paddy's

Just wanted to share this group with you!
Nickle Creek - they do a lot of really great bluegrass-y things. So, this is not really Irish at all, but the song is called Green and Gray so I'm pretending. This is my blog, dammit, I'll do what I want.
Enjoy!

Drunk

I'm not. I imagine many people are. I have to finish a short paper for grad school and I dislike the taste of beer. Therefore, I am not conducive to a St. Patrick's day celebration. I'm not even sure if I have Irish in my ancestry. I'm pale enough, that's for sure. Anyway, took a picture of merry makers on my way to the metro today.

For those you who only know St. Patrick's day as the day of great drunkenness, I have a history lesson. Gather round, duckies. St. Patrick's day (or Lá Fhéile Pádraig, to the super knowledgeable) commemorates Saint Patrick, the most widely recognized of Ireland's saints. It also celebrates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. This next bit is taken straight from Wikipedia, so I advise you to take it with a grain of salt and find an encyclopedia. 

There he is. Saint Paddy.

"Little is known of Patrick's early life, though it is known that he was born in Roman Britain in the 4th century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father and grandfather were deacons in the Church. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. It is believed he was held somewhere on the west coast of Ireland, possibly Mayo, but the exact location is unknown. In 432, he again said that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to Christianise the Irish from their native polytheism. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of evangelism, he died on 17 March 461, and according to tradition, was buried at Downpatrick. Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish Church."
And then later the holiday morphed into the celebration of Irish culture. Apparently this means in the States that Irish drink. A lot.

Super fantastic. Other than that, I took spring pictures on a walk today. I love flowers and I love seeing bulbs starting to push up their stems the flowers inside getting ready to grow. I love looking at trees and seeing the little bulby things waiting with leaves. I love seeing the grass get greener and more sunshine coming around. I really like spring. Also fall and parts of winter. I hate summer in this area. You can't breath for the humidity

Daffodils getting ready to bloom!

I can't remember what this is called. Hyacinth? My mom will know.

Pansies. Some of the hardiest flowers ever.

My Heart for Japan

As the world watches Japan struggle, I would like to urge us, as individuals, to help where we can.
Here is a list of potential giving sites, if you are able to contribute:
The American Red Cross
Save the Children
The Salvation Army
AmeriCares
Convoy of Hope 
International Medical Corps

I donated through Lady Gaga (that sounds weird, but I did). I gave 15 dollars and all proceeds are to go directly to Japan relief efforts. You can do this too, HERE. 

Also, this particular foundation does not take donations directly for Japan, but right now the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation has six teams deployed in Japan. You can donate to their cause here. These six teams are working to find survivors among the rubble. The organization was also in Haiti after the quake. You can see a list of their recent deployments here.

Thankfully, the good friends I made at Marshall that call Japan home are safe. Let's keep Japan in our thoughts and prayers as the nation deals with the nuclear crisis and starts to rebuild.

The picture today is totally unrelated to this very serious post. There is an Irish pub/restraunt directly under my place of work. I took a picture of the beer they're stocking up on in preparation for St. Patrick's Day, which is tomorrow. Bud Lite. That doesn't even look like good beer. For shame.

Just Resting

So, where the heck was I from Friday on? Taking a break, unplanned though it was. I didn't take any pictures, I went off my diet, etc. I just needed a break from everything, I think. I spent a lot of time with other people over the weekend, that's something of a treat for me, as I often feel that I don't have many friends in the area. I was proven wrong last weekend!

On Friday, two friends of mine from school and JR came over to the apartment and we chowed down on pizza (except those of us who are allergic to gluten, sorry Rach!), popcorn, and skittles. We watched "The A Team" and wore sweats. It was great. I was super tired and it was really nice to sit around and look at other people. Anyway, had a really good time. JR stayed after my other friends left (they had a bit of a drive back to their respective homes) and she and I watched gag reels to every movie I own. Epic.
I forgot to mention that Friday for lunch, I had sushi for lunch with WFJ (work-friend Josh) and JR at our usual place. That lunch will be referred to as "Philosophical Lunches with WFJ and JR". We discussed marriage. Actually, I listened to JR and WFJ banter back and forth about many philosophical aspects to marriage, the most interesting and stimulating question being: Why DO people get married? It was fascinating, I could have stayed there all day. I don't know that we ever came up with a concrete answer. However, I do propose that next Philosophical Lunch we tackle the meaning of life.

HH's delish dish!

This was so good!

Saturday was brunch day! HH and I meet up with a bunch of super awesome and cool co-workers in Dupont Circle. We went to a place called Level One where they were having a "Disco Brunch". All of the foods were disco themed and it was delicious. Also, besides the straight men in our party, the entire place was comprised of females and gay men. It was great. I have never seen such a concentration of estrogen. I obviously need to get out more. Let me post delicious food pictures. Be jealous. This to the right is HH's dish. Yes, those are sweet potato fries with his crab cake burger thing. NOM.

 This dish, gorgeous nom dish, is called the "Benny and Jets Crab cakes". Oh my goodness. It has layers. First, is the English muffin, then a slice of tomato. Next, the fantastic fluffy and thick crab cake. Then, a soft boiled egg topped with hollandaise sauce. (I believe I spelled that right, apologies if I did not.) I give this a serious 5 out of 5 noms. Also, the home fries, which is code for potato chunks, were seasoned with rosemary and were quite lovely.

Then after brunch, we decided we needed cupcakes. After that, everyone parted company, but I was almost immediately contacted by JR, who wished to go shopping. So, I joined her for a shopping trip where I bought a lamp and decided Lent was stupid so I also got a chocolate rabbit for her and I to consume. (I'm sorry, people who observe Lent, when I say stupid, I really mean: stupid for me to do as I had not attached religious reasons to it, I was just giving something up. It should mean something!) So, JR and I had a good time and we went to get hamburgers from Five Guys and then returned to my apartment and watched Inception with HH. Good movie, by the way, I recommend it. Good weekend. (Sunday doesn't count, I had to do homework.)

Let me share the rest of the pictures I took over the weekend!

I expected Tom Cruise to pop out.

Found this gem on the way to brunch. I had no idea there was a Scientology Church in Dupont Circle. Actually, I didn't know that scientologists had churches. I thought they had more informal meeting spaces and/or didn't meet at all.How exciting. I have no idea what Scientology is about, but that's ok. They have a meeting place, good for them.

The church of SCIENCE!

Buds!

Spring is on the way! I took this picture outside of HH's work. We parked the car there and I was waiting for him to emerge from the parking garage. Pretty.

My sparkly black, JR's sparkly gold.

Blinded by the white.

Look at the heel and platforms on those babies. You can't tell in the picture, but they also have sparkles on them. Epic shoes. Truly epic. Also, sweet baby Moses, have you ever seen legs so white?! Curse you, Scandinavian/Norse ancestors! Curse you!

We will now return to our regularly scheduled updates. Thanks for reading!

Week FOUR

My running partner.

I continue to surprise myself with the running. I guess this Couch to 5K program is really designed to trick your body into thinking it's not doing that much work. I mean, I know I'm working hard at this, but it continues to not be quite as hard as I thought. I hope that makes sense to someone reading this, it makes sense to me.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle win.

I started Week four of the plan on Tuesday, I just completed day two. It was raining when I went down to the little workout room underneath the leasing office. Therefore, it was deserted and I was able to take pictures like a creeper.

It's been a pretty boring week at work and combined with the weather, I've felt inclined to do pretty much nothing. This includes a paper that is due soon and homework for my classes. You know, working ahead is totally overrated. I suspect it will get better when my "Spring Break" is over and I'm back on a schedule. For now, it's just work and coming home to run!

I'm making this face because of the sweat dripping down my back. Uck. 

Yeah, that's mostly it. I'm pretty excited for my friend Gin to come and visit me at the end of this month! Her boyfriend is coming too and I get to meet him, which is great because I have not yet. I'm going to take a bit of time off work to hang out and do tourist things (I love tourist things in this city, they're mostly free.) so I should have some good pictures. Yay! 

I wanted to share this song with you, because I love it. Do you love it?! 

Library Musings

I went to the library today. The picture for today is of the entrance, it's rad. My favorite section of any library/bookstore is the fantasy/science fiction section. I don't like to read about real life. Real life is depressing and I get enough of it on my own, thanks. I like to read about  magic and epic heroes and dragons and flying horses. Or some demi-gods. So, at the library HH and I have been frequenting, there is a science fiction section. It is only labeled as sci-fi. I thought that that's fine, since some fantasy is mixed in with it, but not much. So, I've spent the past couple of months we've been going there being slightly disappointed with the quantity/quality of the semi-fantasy section.

The other day, while walking through the fiction aisles, B, I noticed a fantasy writer's work in the fiction section. Some librarian is stupid, I thought to myself, look, they've put the fantasy in with the fiction. (Fantasy is fiction..however...) It occurred to me today, while browsing in the fiction again, this library does not put it's fantasy with the science fiction, making it easy for nerds of all flavors to find those sorts of books. They put sci-fi in one section, mystery in another, and the rest is FICTION. While I appreciate the segregation of sci-fi and fantasy (because I am of the opinion that they are very different), I do not appreciate that I can't find the fantasy books now unless I know the author or pull out every cover to look at the art. The art will almost always tell.

Anyway, that's upsetting.

You know what else is upsetting? Giving up chocolate for Lent. (I don't usually practice Lent, I think I'm just torturing myself. I'm pretty sure the person upstairs could care less what I do and do not eat.) Another upsetting thing: getting seasonal allergies. Makes it difficult to sleep. However, I have rapidly progressed from the scratchy throat, to the "can only breath out of one nose hole", to the snot machine, and now I just can't breath at all. Should be great for running tomorrow.

Nothing to Say

I have nothing important to say today, so here is the picture: A pansy!

It looked very pretty there in the city by itself, surrounded by tall buildings. So I took a picture.

Also, I made a really good beef and broccoli stir fry. At least four noms. NOMS.

It Rained Today

So I made plans with JR to hang out on Friday, we discussed going to a movie and using a living social coupon that she had for organic Italian. Just chatting, you know? So today, being Sunday, I go on over after I do the last day in Week 3 of the Couch to 5K plan. It's raining. It's super yucky outside. It was warm, but the weather is rapidly cooling down. JR and I chat for a while, then get on to what we want to do. We find times for The King's Speech at a movie theater near her apartment and start looking around for a restaurant, because she did not have the coupon for the Italian. After a moment of being unable to make a decision, we said, "There is always Chipotle for eating."

Then we started talking about movies, and it turns out she had the Disney version of The Three Musketeers. 

Indeed, this epic movie who sports many a fantastic name. Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell, Tim Curry, Oliver Platt....and Charlie Sheen. I have to tell you that I love this movie, but there is something about the current mess with Charlie Sheen and seeing him as a Musketeer. It's HILARIOUS. Charlie Sheen.

So, instead of going to see the award-winning movie, The Kings Speech, we stayed in her apartment and watched The Three Musketeers and ate Chipotle. However, to get to the food, we had to park in a lake.

JR's car, in the lake. DC is not equipped for water. Actually, DC is not equipped for many things.

 

 

WATER.

Overall, a most fantastic evening.

Blockbuster

This is what happens when the Strains go to a Blockbuster that is going out of business.

Some Veggie Dishes are Not So Great

I have found one. Vegetable Korma. Smells good. Has a bit of heat to it. Otherwise mostly tasteless. I think when you don't make it the low fat/calorie way, it may have more taste. For this dish, not so much.

Strange, I just uploaded the picture of the korma, but now I can't find it and it's already deleted from my camera. That's ok, it wasn't that great to look at. Instead, I'll show you this picture of the Corn Palace. It is located in South Dakota, aka, the tourist trap armpit of the U.S. I drove through this place with Tominda when we road-tripped all her things out to Seattle from West Virginia. This is where we wasted a few hours of life based on the things my mother said, namely, "It's made entirely of corn! A palace of corn!"

No, it is not. It's mostly made of cement and other normal building materials, with some corn murals. It is not made entirely of corn. This is also where I learned that Michael Jackson had passed away. The Corn Palace, place of disappointment and despair.

Anyway, this is all related because corn is a vegetable.
Lessons learned: Cooking Light Vegetable Korma is tasteless and so is the corn palace.

Running

Well, here I am, back from another day of running. I added a ticker on the side bar there because I signed up to do the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure in West Virginia in May. It's a race to raise money for breast cancer research. Since my mom is a survivor (and I often imagine I'll develop it myself) I have decided to put forth some effort into running it this year. I'm training for a 5K, this might as well be my first one. It's important and it means something to me, so I'm pretty sure I can make my goal. What is my goal? Well, to not stop, really. Run the entire 3 miles. It's not seeming like such a long distance these days. Last week alone I put in almost 9 miles of constant movement (some of it was walking, yes, but I'm still in training). I've talked my friend from back home into running with me; Jeremy, thank you. I would like to acutally raise some money for the cause while I'm at it. So please donate by clicking this link!
DONATE TO BREAST CANCER RESEARCH by clicking on the blue link on the side bar that says "Donate to Lindsey". You're not really donating to me, you're donating to a cause that I'm behind! Please help me out and donate five bucks. I promise to post pictures afterwards of me dying on sidelines for comedic effect.

Running. I sorta like it now. At least on a treadmill. Oh yeah, picture.
For today, we have this: That is right. The lean mean grilling machine. Because I used it to cook on tonight and that's what I am. A lean mean...grilling...machine.

Yes, I've run out of things to say. I'm going to eat some frozen yogurt.







Please enjoy this song with me:

Polenta was Born This Way

Greetings minions.

Today was the day of polenta cooking, which I happen to be fond of. I found a recipe in a cooking light magazine (I know you are all shocked I NEVER cook from one of those) with polenta, tomatoes, and great Northern beans. It's pretty tasty. Here is a picture. I grilled the polenta on my Lean Mean Grilling Machine, and did the topping in a pan, then sprinkled with cheese. It's about 331 calories for one serving, what you see here is more than one serving on each plate, but I don't care cause it's delicious and I was hungry. And I worked out so it doesn't matter. Bam. If you know of any other good polenta recipes, please feel free to message me and let me know. I enjoy my vegetarian (since there is cheese, it's not vegan right? I can never keep the difference straight) dinner nights. Noms.




For the big five year anniversary, I got my heart rate monitor and HH got a new monitor for his computer. I took a picture of that too, since it's so giant. What's super cool (for me, anyway) is that I got to gank his old monitor, so now I have two. So it's like I have a giant monitor too! I obviously win in this situation. Pictures! 

That's HH's new monitor, which he is obviously very pleased with, as he's playing his game. The one that cannot be interrupted, yes that one.

And now you can see the monstrosity that sits on my desk! Hooray. Beautiful, right? I like it.







And now to switch to something totally different!

Here is Lady Gaga's newest video. I rather like it! I think that the intro is a lot like the videos that Michael Jackson used to do for his video. I like the message that she puts out there too. It's almost like, "I'm standing up for things I believe in so that others can to." Meaning in a rather round-about way that she is helping bring about a new "race" of people that are full of tolerance and love. After that I loose her for a minute, I'm not sure about the birth of evil, unless that means that the opposite of what she would like for the world is hate and small-mindedness.
Then the singing and dancing starts and I'm just thrilled with it. I love this song. I have heard critiques that it sounds too much like Madonna's "Express Yourself". I think that she was influenced by Madonna. Lady G. didn't rip the song from Madonna; the lyrics are entirely original and the music is not the same. I mean, it's not like Vanilla Ice and Queen. Lawd.
The lyrics! All you have to do is listen to the chorus and you'll get what I mean! I was born this way, I was born this way, I'm on the right track baby, I was born this way! It's a good song. It's a good message.
I will admit that I'm not sure what the skeleton bit is portraying, but I'm making a stab at how we're all pretty much the same under our skin. Another fantastic message, if that's what she was going for.
And the ending! I believe that's a tribute to Michael Jackson, what else could it be with the gloves? Overall, I'm of the opinion that the woman is insane, brilliant, and gorgeous in her own way.
Congrats, Lady, I'm a fan.

Lips Hurt Like a Mother

Monday was class night so there was no post, today is Tuesday and there usually is no post but I don't have class cause they moved it to Monday. Oh haha. However, I had to leave work early on Monday to come home to hit up an urgent care facility because I had an allergic reaction. On my lips. Because of chapstick. I shit you not. I tired a new flavor of chapstick on Friday. By Saturday, I had some bumps on my lips. "Oh no," says I, "I won't use this chapstick anymore and maybe it will go away."

It does not. Instead, it gets a bit worse on Saturday.

By lunchtime on Monday, when I am dining with J*Rock at Chipotle, I'm quite sure my lips are going to burst into flames on my face. They have swelled to Angelina Jolie proportions and I'm pretty upset. (Not to mention it was a crap day at work.) So I go to my boss and say, "Boss, look at my lips. Do you mind if I go home so I can get to an urgent care cause this sucks (Oh the puns)." He tells me I look like someone who got a bad job on my lips and to get out of here. So, I go home, go to really nice walk-in clinic and wait around for a while. Then I get a prescriptions for some steroids, then head to class. I am late, of course, and ran two red lights getting there, but I'm turning in that homework, dammit. That was my Monday. I took a picture of my lips for your enjoyment. I can see the bumps and the swelling, but I have been dealing with it for about four days now. The steroids seem to be helping.

My major good point of the day was it was a rather large anniversary for me and HH, we've been together for five years now. Also, yesterday we were married for 18 months. We should get some sort of trophy.

Today was much better, overall, and as I was leaving the metro, I noticed a pink moped, so I took a picture. I thought that was funny at the time. I don't think I would ever want to ride on a vehicle in this area unless I am perfectly enclosed. Such as in a car. I know that it doesn't really matter in a wreck, but the thought of being struck by a vehicle while I'm really only holding on to something with my HANDS is truly horrifying. I mean, if I hit a big enough bump, I could fly right off that thing.

Strangely, I don't have the same fear with horses. Why is that? Oh yeah, I'm getting back into riding as soon as I can. (Once I get out of this city.) Also, started Week 3 of the Couch 2 5K plan today. I did it without stopping, and that's really what surprises me most days. I'm not sure how I keep going. Let's see if I can keep going all the way through 3 miles.

Later.