Gazelles On Crack Rotating Header Image

Gin, Cheese & Other Necessities

October 2011 Goals (PLUS! Exciting dinner party pictures!)

Oct 3rd, 2011
by gazelle.
8 comments

Um, holy crap you guys! I totally forgot to post my goals on 10/1/11! In my defense, 9/30/11 was a really long day, and I spent most of Saturday recovering. With baklava. As you do.

ANYWAYS – let’s talk about the plan for October! And look back on September!

September Goals

  1. Can tomatoes…salsa, marinara, ketchup, whatever – just can it! – half SUCCESS! I canned lots of marinara and salsa, but there are still so many tomatoes left. There is work to be done this weekend, people.
  2. PICKLES!  My cucumbers, once again, sucked, so I will be hitting up a farmer’s market and buying as many cukes as I can carry for dill pickles and bread & butter pickles. I’ve already done beet pickles & pickled asparagus this year. – FAIL! I actually completely forgot about this. I should probably make some pickles, but only if I have time. I’ve been busy.
  3. Finish the bathroom before my in-laws arrive! It would be awesome to have a second usable bathroom as well as a usable guest room by the time they get here. – 3/4 SUCCESS! The toilet & the sink were all hooked up. The floors were done! It is good. We still have to finish tiling the tub/shower area, add in the built-in shelves, and paint, but it’s getting there! And, the important bits are usable. Oooh – and! the bathroom is now street legal! The inspector came Friday morning & passed us! YAY!
  4. Fancy dinner party. It is on my life list, and I am excited to host a few friends for my first fancy dinner party. I have invitations to go out this weekend. I am finalizing the menu. I wish I could invite everyone I know, but unfortunately, I don’t have enough room for that many people! – SUCCESS! My fancy dinner party was Friday night, and it was so much fun. We did a Greek menu, and most of my plates even matched. The food was good, and I think a good time was had by all.
  5. Mother-effing pirate festival. Every year, I say I’m going to go, and every year, I don’t. I can walk there! The only year I actually did go was 2007 – and it was the day after the architect had surgery. He insisted he wanted to go, so we drove. And parked about 1/2 mile away (and 1/2 mile away from our house). We got there, walked around a bit, and then he felt crappy, so I went and fetched the car & picked him up at the gate. Not the best time, really. The next year it rained. I don’t remember my excuse for 2009, but last year, I just flat out forgot. Not this time, bitches!  I am going to the pirate festival, and you can’t stop me! YARGHHHHHHHHHHH!  (Ummm, I just went to the site to get the link, and it’s MOVED! I can no longer walk there! WTF, Pirate Festival?! Is this because I never attend? WHYYYYY??????) (AND, it’s Labor Day weekend! When I will be laboring! I do not want to drive to St. Helens for my piratey goodness!) (Also, I really wish the interrobang was a symbol on my keyboard.) – I hate you stupid Pirate Festival that isn’t down the street from my house anymore. BOOO!
  6. Since I just maybe deleted my goal #5, I decided I should probably add a real goal #5. Okay, then….this is harder than I thought. I was so set on the pirate festival. Oooh – I know!  I will fall-clean and organize my kitchen! I was thinking I was going to anyways, due to the how-to guide posted by Cat, but now I have to! (And I really, really need to…the house cleaner is good at making my house look clean, but she hasn’t looked in the fridge or taken the initiative to organize my pantry & cupboards…I have a LOT of kitchen gadgets, and should probably determine which are necessary and which can go.) – ha ha ha ha ha ha! FAIL! ha ha ha.
  7. Oh, wait! I just thought of another! I need to plan the next 12 months of the gardening enterprise and get some fall crops in the ground! – half SUCCESS! I have a lot of the initial plans done, and if there’s a break in the weather this weekend, I will pull out the remainder of the summer crops, get the garlic & onions in the ground, and plant some fall/winter greens.

September Training Goals

So – keep up with the exercise & training, and also CORE! – SUCCESS! All things considered, anyways. ;)

October 2011 Goals

  1. Finish the bathroom by 10/29/11. We can do it!  All supplies are purchased! I can paint like a mad woman! And make sandwiches for the architect while he tiles. (I am not allowed to tile due to my propensity to say, “eh, fuck it! That’s good enough!”) I am excellent construction support staff.
  2. Get the rain garden outlined, dug, and partially planted.
  3. Finish summer garden/start fall garden.
  4. Remove all extraneous computer crap from the house. Like the printer that doesn’t work. And the CRT monitor that weighs 375 lbs. And the 50 (approximate count) PCs (both laptop & desktop) that are just sitting around doing nothing. NOTHING! Except gathering dust.
  5. Finish my very last class of my Master’s program with an “A” before starting the final project phase.
  6. Throw the ass-kicking-est 2nd Annual Halloween bash ever! YAY for Halloween!  We will have a howling good time!

October Training Goals

I have them! My gym membership expires this month, and I will not be renewing it. So, I want to spend more time outdoors. Running, jumping, biking, hiking, etc. I have been slacking on yoga lately, too, and need to make that a regular practice again.

 

And, because I had such a great time at the fancy dinner party, here are some photos! Although, not of the food, really. Which makes me sad. I should’ve at least taken a picture of the baklava!

The blank slate....

My place settings don’t all match, but there is, at least, a theme.

A single setting

One place setting; you can’t see the black salad plate underneath, but it’s there! Also, check out my fancy silver (plated) flatware!  Ooooh!

The hors d'oeuvres table

The hors d’oeuvres table: falafel, various hummuses, a bunch of goat and sheep cheeses, some awesome olives, and a quince spread (so good on cheese); with pita, of course!

 

The architect in his finery

The architect in all his finery – isn’t he handsome? (That suit was last year’s xmas present from yours truly…)

Z & J - post dinner

Zach & Jen – we have such good looking friends!

S & M (hee!) pre-dinner

Sarah & Michael – enjoying a pre-dinner lemon drop.

The Ambitious One & Mr. Pi - pre dinner

The Ambitious One & Mr. Pi (apparently they don’t get real names); with Lola in the background!

083

 

Dinner – salad course at this point!  Pre-salad was the avgolemono soup (so good), and post Greek salad, was the main course(s): moussaka, spanakopita, and dolmas with an avgolemono sauce.

084

Post dinner wine and dessert: baklava (that 9×13 pan of baklava apparently has a street value of about $60) and more cheese!  Please note our exciting ceiling art installation!  It’s a commentary on the modern conveniences of life that are often ignored in polite society. Or possibly, it’s where we had to cut into the ceiling to move the plumbing for the upstairs bathroom.

ANYWAYS! Dinner party done! And another item checked off my life list! YAY!

Favorite Fall Facts Friday

Sep 9th, 2011
by gazelle.
2 comments

Since I missed three thing Thursday due to actually having to work, I am, instead, going to talk about why I love fall, and why I might have a break-down if the weather doesn’t break soon. (Although, I do love the PNW – my weather channel app keeps sending me weather alerts due to our unseasonable heat. Highs in the low 90s. I love this climate.)

Autumn leaves. Cool morning temps. Wood fire smell. Geese flying in formation. Sweaters. Soup. Sitting outside after the sun goes down. Garden tomatoes. Chrysanthemums. New Castle episodes!

Fall boots. Roasted Root Vegetables. Needing a blanket. Hallowe’en. Crockpot cooking. Vinter Varmer. Tweed skirts. Corn mazes. Fall spice smells (cinnamon & cloves). Blustery days.

Warm kitten bellies. Baking. Peacoats. Red wine. Fall fruits. My anniversary! Pumpkins. Thanksgiving. Snuggling. Fall runs in Forest Park. Apples.

Scarves. Pumpkin spice lattes. Flannel sheets. Canning season.  Pie.  Red wine. Argyle socks. No more mosquitos! Full rain barrels. Hot cocoa.

Apple cider. Chili and cornbread. Chocolate chip cookies. Slippers and robes. Good books on chilly days. The maple tree down the street. School supplies. Squashes. The sound of dying leaves under my boots.  Jack-o-Lanterns.

 

I just hope I survive this weekend heat wave and that autumn, and all its wonderfulness, starts soon!

September 2011 Goals

Sep 1st, 2011
by gazelle.
2 comments

But first, as always, the August recap…

August 2011 Goals

  1. Buy new sheets/comforter for the guest room (breaking it down into small tasks) – finally! SUCCESS! I did get a new bedding set (and new pillows) for the guest room. Since the guest room is currently home to all the stuff that is normally in our bathroom, though, I haven’t put them on the bed yet…..
  2. Make Cheddar – FAIL! I did, however, go to a cheese making class and learned what I may have done wrong in regards to said cheddar. I then bought 2 gallons of frozen raw milk so that I can use that to make cheddar.
  3. Buy the tile and new vanity for the bathroom – half SUCCESS! We bought the new vanity, and have picked out the tile. We will go get and install the tile this weekend.  The bathroom is going to be awesome!
  4. Find a plumber – SUCCESS! Thanks to recommendations from friends, we had a couple plumbers come over and picked one, and they came and moved stuff around last Monday. When we’ve put down the floors and put up the walls, we’ll call them to come back and hook up the toilet & the sink. I really miss having a functional bathroom upstairs.
  5. Continue to do PT exercises twice a week – half SUCCESS! I have done pretty good at remembering to do the simple ones that I can do without needing equipment. I’ve sucked at the others. 
  6. Have a great time in South Dakota – SUCCESS! I got to see my three bestiest besties from college, my parents, my sister, and a decent assortment of relatives!  Yay!

August Training Goals

  1. Weights/Yoga/Swim/Bike – 12x this month(not 16, just a little more than the last months) – I definitely stepped up the biking this month, and hit the pool a couple times, but overall, a big, fat, FAIL
  2. Run 90 miles  – FAIL! And we’ll just leave it at that…
  3. Lift weights at least once – SUCCESS! I did lift weights exactly once.
  4. 30 hours of exercise – FAIL! I didn’t get as many hours this month as last month
  5. Hit all planned long runs – until marathon training is over! – half SUCCESS! I started every planned long run. I did not always hit the planned mileage, but I started, which is better than not, right?

Overall, I feel like this was a decent month, goal wise. I didn’t do as well with the training goals as I would’ve hoped, but travel and related exhaustion really cut into those plans.  Considering how fast August flew by, I think I’m okay with all of this!

And now – looking forward. September is my favorite month. It’s harvest time. The air is cool and crisp. The leaves start to turn color, and there’s still enough daylight that I don’t want to hibernate yet. Apples and pears are starting to appear at the markets, and the  mornings are just perfect.

Sepetember Goals

  1. Can tomatoes…salsa, marinara, ketchup, whatever – just can it!
  2. PICKLES!  My cucumbers, once again, sucked, so I will be hitting up a farmer’s market and buying as many cukes as I can carry for dill pickles and bread & butter pickles. I’ve already done beet pickles & pickled asparagus this year.
  3. Finish the bathroom before my in-laws arrive! It would be awesome to have a second usable bathroom as well as a usable guest room by the time they get here.
  4. Fancy dinner party. It is on my life list, and I am excited to host a few friends for my first fancy dinner party. I have invitations to go out this weekend. I am finalizing the menu. I wish I could invite everyone I know, but unfortunately, I don’t have enough room for that many people!
  5. Mother-effing pirate festival. Every year, I say I’m going to go, and every year, I don’t. I can walk there! The only year I actually did go was 2007 – and it was the day after the architect had surgery. He insisted he wanted to go, so we drove. And parked about 1/2 mile away (and 1/2 mile away from our house). We got there, walked around a bit, and then he felt crappy, so I went and fetched the car & picked him up at the gate. Not the best time, really. The next year it rained. I don’t remember my excuse for 2009, but last year, I just flat out forgot. Not this time, bitches!  I am going to the pirate festival, and you can’t stop me! YARGHHHHHHHHHHH!  (Ummm, I just went to the site to get the link, and it’s MOVED! I can no longer walk there! WTF, Pirate Festival?! Is this because I never attend? WHYYYYY??????) (AND, it’s Labor Day weekend! When I will be laboring! I do not want to drive to St. Helens for my piratey goodness!) (Also, I really wish the interrobang was a symbol on my keyboard.)
  6. Since I just maybe deleted my goal #5, I decided I should probably add a real goal #5. Okay, then….this is harder than I thought. I was so set on the pirate festival. Oooh – I know!  I will fall-clean and organize my kitchen! I was thinking I was going to anyways, due to the how-to guide posted by Cat, but now I have to! (And I really, really need to…the house cleaner is good at making my house look clean, but she hasn’t looked in the fridge or taken the initiative to organize my pantry & cupboards…I have a LOT of kitchen gadgets, and should probably determine which are necessary and which can go.)
  7. Oh, wait! I just thought of another! I need to plan the next 12 months of the gardening enterprise and get some fall crops in the ground!

September Training Goals

Well, really, more of the same. Run. Bike. Swim. Yoga. BUT, this month, I really want to start focusing on strengthening my core and doing some stability exercises. If that means I need to get my stability ball out of the closet and start using it, so be it. I’ve really had it brought home in the last month how much strengthening my core needs – it’s the weakest part of my body, and unfortunately, it seems to be vital to my comfort and strength in every other aspect of my life.

So – keep up with the exercise & training, and also CORE!

Three (3!) Things Thursday

Jul 21st, 2011
by gazelle.
6 comments

1. I am having a great week. I feel good. I’ve been sleeping well. I’ve been eating well. I wonder what the difference is? OH, yeah – maybe it’s the whole “going to bed by 10″ and “getting up early” and “exercising every day.”  Despite my good exercise record, I have a small problem.  I rode my bike to work yesterday; the first time in AGES. Seriously. I don’t even remember the last time I did that. It’s not too bad of a ride, really. Just over 9 miles one way. And I got passed a lot. By young people and old people and a woman in skinny jeans riding a beach cruiser. On the way home, riding up the only significant hill of my round-trip commute, I had to shift into the lowest gear in order to keep peddling. I felt like my legs were made of lead. I am slow and it makes me sad. (Also making me sad: the way my sitting area starting hurting about 3 miles from home.) I need to be better/faster/stronger! I know that part of that is actually maybe biking more than every 3 weeks, but will that actually help with the faster, or am I doomed to average 13 mph on my commutes forever?

nothing ever blurs when I'm biking

 

2. I’m starting to feel that maybe, just possible, I am getting a handle on what I’m doing at work. I’m hampered by the lack of people to delegate to, and am anxiously awaiting the return of my office mate (she’s on maternity leave and apparently isn’t tired of her new baby yet), because dear gods, I need help. BUT, things are starting to fall into place. There are still things that give me a bit of anxiety – like the need to have an uncomfortable conversation with one of my delegees . Overall, however, I think I can do this.

So glad that I never need to have the confidence to do THIS job

 

3. My garden is growing like crazy! I just haven’t had the time to spend with it. Last night, I made a Tuna Niçoise-like salad. The spinach and arugula came from our garden, as did the potatoes. The green beans and tomatoes came from the CSA. The Parmesan cheese was homemade. The eggs were a gift (in trade) from Eric, a cohort in my grad program. The olive oil (lime flavored) and balsamic vinegar (fig!) used in the vinaigrette were local purchases. The tuna (in a can, not all fancy and seared, like the best Niçoise salads) is the only item in the salad of possibly questionable origin (although it was purchased at New Seasons, and I’m sure the tuna had a happy and complete life before being put in a can). I am hoping for some quality garden time this weekend. So many exciting things are happening!

Best salad ever

July 18, 2011: Baby Grapes!

Corn, beans & the hydrangea

Roses

Sungold Tomatoes

Squash Blossoms

Baby broccoli

Jalapeno

The beautiful garden

July 19, 2011: The wildflower garden

* all photos were found by searching my 3 things key words for Creative Commons licensed photos at Flickr.

Weekend in Review

Jul 18th, 2011
by gazelle.
8 comments

These two-day weekends are still taking a bit of getting used to! I was sooooo tired last week. I haven’t been sleeping well (hyposomnia!) (yay book club!), and have been working a few ridiculously long days.  So, Friday date night was supposed to be Harry Potter (totes just typed Happy Potter, which would be his less well-known and irritatingly optimistic cousin) at the beer & pizza theater down the street from my house, but by the time the architect picked me up from work, I was all “need sleepy! no movies!”

So, we went and grabbed a quick bite o’ food and went home to veg on the couch (and watch Harry Potter [typed Harpy this time; what is wrong w/ me?] #7A in preparation). I barely even dozed off during the movie! Go me!

Saturday morning, I met Sarah for our long run. On the schedule we had 10 miles, we’d decided to do 12 miles, and had picked out a figure 8 loop in Lake Oswego. We’d never run there before, so thought we’d mix things up a bit.

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for the run. Overcast, cool, and occasional mist to keep us cool. The route? Beautiful. The bad? HILLS! I think the entire first loop was uphill. Seriously. Also, we got lost. Which we should’ve expected. That pretty much happens every time we try a new route. Glad I had my phone, though! After a while, when we hadn’t come to our turn, we looked it up on the map & realized we’d passed the turn about a mile previously. We decided to roll with it, and instead of running on the North Shore road, we did the South Shore. It really was gorgeous.

Pretty bridges

Sarah

 

Doesn’t Sarah look happy & full of energy? She is a GREAT actress! 

We got back to the start at about 8 miles, and decided it was good. As Zach pointed out yesterday, you have to take into account the vertical gain during the run, which probably added another couple miles, right? RIGHT?

After running, we grabbed some bagels & coffee and then headed to the Portland Farmer’s Market to pick up our CSA share. We are splitting a share, which was advertised as enough for a family of four each week. Since we are each families of two, it seemed great!

The CSA share has been a bit sparse. And a little disappointing. For instance, in this week’s share, we got two heads of broccoli. One of which looked like this:

IMAG0460

Also included were some wilty looking greens, 11 roma tomatoes (that were mysteriously placed under the other items in the bag, leading to some tomato bruising), a bag of green beans (that looked great!), and 4 zucchini. Previous shares have included apples (that were obviously from last fall) and potatoes (ditto).  So sad, right?

ANYWAYS, Saturday afternoon, after I got home, was packed with homework. Lots of stuff to do. I seriously don’t know what I’ll do with my life when I’m done with school!  I will have so much free time!

By the time Saturday evening rolled around, I was (again) exhausted. We had a low-key evening with Harry (spelled it right the first time!) Potter, el fin, and I was in bed early again.

Sunday was a busy day – I can’t even believe that was just yesterday!

I woke up at about 7:15 so I could get read to go spectate Jen’s triathlon at Vancouver Lake. When I woke up, I had a text from her saying it was pouring & she might not go. A couple minutes later she texted saying it was ON! so I got up, got dressed & headed to the ‘Couv to meet Emily. We loaded up on caffeine & headed through the drizzle to the race site. We got there just in time! Jen was in transition #1, having killed it on the swim! We were able to see her get on the bike & take off!

IMAG0465

The skies were low and heavy, but the rain was holding off…for now.

It started raining while we were waiting for her to come back, but it mostly wasn’t too bad.  At least for us spectators :)

We got to see all the charity leaders (and never did quite figure out what that meant) come into the bike & start on the run, and then Jen came back in, looking really strong. We stalked her down the transition, yelling at her over a hedge (yelling at her encouragingly, of course), and then cheered her out of transition two. It was raining a fairly decent amount at this time, so I kept my phone safely tucked away in my pocket so it wouldn’t get wet. (Or, perhaps I just forgot.)

I did manage to check Emily, Zach & I into Frenchman’s Bar on Facebook (it’s not really a bar), so maybe I wasn’t too concerned about my phone!

We cheered for all the runners coming out of T2 for about 15 minutes before heading over to the finish area.

Pretty soon, Jen zoomed across the finish line.

IMAG0466

She placed second in her age group – pretty good considering her year-and-a-half hiatus from triathlons, right?

Shortly after that, it started raining in earnest. Driving back home was a little nerve wracking! The freeway lane lines were barely visible in the rain and there were a few big puddles to navigate through after I got off the freeway.

The rest of the afternoon was spent alternately lazing about & working on the bathroom remodel. (The architect is doing the plans & drawings now, and I occasionally helped by sending pictures of tile.)

Around 5, we headed to Rogue to meet up with birthday boy Andrew & his lovely wife Lisa for celebratory beers and gifties.

All too soon, the day was over, and I was tucked in bed in anticipating of the 5 am alarm clock.

This week is supposed to be warmer & sunnier than last week, but I am hoping that tomorrow forecast of gray skies and drizzle holds true for my planned afternoon run!

Happy week, y’all!

← Earlier Posts Newer Posts →