188/365

Jeg må vært litt kreativ når jeg skal ta selvportrett, der det helst skal være en hvit vegg som bakgrunn. Ikke har jeg noe studio med en fin hvit bakgrunn, og jeg har heller ikke noe stativ. Så jeg fant meg en vegg oppi et hjørne mellom en lampe og tv’en, og brukte en kommode som stativ. Og lyset er selvfølgelig fra vinduet. Så har jeg funnet ut at jeg må kjøpe meg teatersminke(1,2,3,4,5,). Tenk så masse kult jeg kan gjøre da! Jeg tror jeg skriver det opp på ønskelisten min.

DAY TWENTY FOUR

So many things to do! paper, exam and presentation. have a good day!

These Saturday football entries are becoming a tradition. But there’s something so inexplicably inspiring watching 22 men going at it in a game of civilized violence. Especially in rivalry games because even though you’ve played a piss-poor season, even if you’ve lost every single game, as long as you prevail over your rival, you still feel like a winner.

These games are the most exciting an entertaining to watch. Where dreams are made, and hopes crushed. Following Cal’s upset win last week to shut Stanford out of the Rose Bowl, 6 of the Top 25 were upset today by bitter rivals, with 3 more pushed to the limit, winning by less than 5 points, often in overtime.

There was no upset, but in a bitter cross-town rivalry, a fight nearly broke out as USC threw a 48 yard touchdown pass in the final minute despite having already sealed the game. Just goes to show, any given week, anything can happen, especially with rivalries, where things can get exciting, heated, and ugly really quickly.

23/365.

I won’t be posting a pic today – I did take one but it was Joey doing his best to make Aubrey laugh and he made me promise not to post it!

It turned out to be a really nice day so we all went for a walk!

Jordan stayed with us tonight so we had to go pick her up.  We ended up meeting her and my mom at Pizza Hut and afterwards we had to stop by WalMart to get diapers.  While there my 12 year old boy humor kicked in and I HAD to take a pic of this!!

It was such a nasty day today.  When I went to pick Joey up from work I stayed in the car.  As I was waiting I noticed just how cool the logo looked through the raindrops!

Aubrey and I vegged out all day.  We stayed in our PJs, we let Joey drive to work and we NEVER LEFT THE HOUSE.  We were playing with her headbands that afternoon and I made her an 80’s star!

My mom has agreed to watch Aubrey every tuesday and thursday while I get work done.  Today I was packing my stuff up to get ready to come home when I saw this. . . . . isn’t it the most precious thing ever!!

goodnight, moon.  goodnight, stars.  find me…

xo, you.

Today began with a big wind, and a limb crashing down through the back of my Subaru. Little glass shards all over the junk in the back. Armed with a shop vac, thick plastic, duct tape, and a dustpan, we cleaned up the shards, and installed a somewhat translucent back window covering…. Watch the video. Of course, when a limb shatters your window, it is a chance to reflect on how fortunate you are that it didn’t shatter your head, or cause $6000 of damage by collapsing the roof. Or you can get grumpy. Your choice.

I continued Walking to Gatsal while losing 30 pounds, and enjoyed a 3+ mile walk. Brisk and cool. Back to my stated plan to ‘walk 30 minutes every day’. My Gatsal name is Tsering Drolma. The children there gave me a name, and wrote me some cards. Even though I never met them, I just love them all. (BTW, I am not at Gatsal, and I have not lost 30 pounds, but don’t we have to start where we are?)

Today’s recipe totally kills. Which is modern-speak for ‘delicious’. We made Berbere Lentils, an Ethiopian style dish. What is ‘berbere‘? and where can you get it?  Order some. And while you’re there, get some harissa. That is something you’ll want for the next recipe.

I am giving it a whole entry of its own. I will call it Day 3A. Enjoy.

a nice relaxing night!

Klarer du å gjette hvor lenge denne julenissen har stått fremme??

I worked for about nine hours yesterday…Black Friday. While it was much less scary and overwhelming than I expected (my last job was working at a grocery store, so if I can handle that the day before Thanksgiving, I can handle retail the day after), it was still really exhausting. I’m still on the mend, so my energy tends to work best for shifts that are six hours or less. Nine was really pushing it. But I made it through and feel like a champ and made a $1,000 sale!

Anyway. I know I really should put something Shakespearean up since that’s kind of my job here, but I just can’t think of anything. So here’s a video:

I ordered my christmas present from SRS Microsystems yesterday and to my surprise the postman woke me up with a loud knock on my door at 9am. My new Pentax DA 21mm f3.5 Limited has arrived!

First impressions:

It’s small! I mean very small. One of the reasons why I wanted this lens is because it’s discreet and it doesn’t make you look like a poser pervert with a huge zoom lens. This way you can more easily get the shot you want without people staring right at the camera. And I noticed during my last 365 project that whenever I had my zoom lens with me I normally end up using the wide-angle range and that a 50mm prime lens is too long with Pentax’s crop factor.

I’m not going to go into detail because you can read up all sort of reviews on specialist websites and they all have similar results. It’s a great lens with some drawbacks but just like anything else: It’s always a tradeoff.

It’s got a very solid feel to it, it focusses quickly and it’s VERY sharp. Overall a great lens with some minor issues but highly recommended if you want a discreet & light kit.

Here are some of my test shots from today (disclaimer: some of them are adjusted in Lightroom and some are HDR):

More photos:

Dear New Year’s,

I know that you’re going to be in southern California this year, where I know almost no one besides my family, but I need a date to bring to your party.

Because, let’s face it, you without a date is kind of a drag.

Please reply with possible candidates at your earliest convenience.

MJ

The sunset in Seaside FL…. Beautiful!!! (Taken with my iPhone.)

I never understood the allure of Black Friday Shopping. Is it really that important to get the shiny new whatever-it-is that you camp out in front of the store at midnight?

Is waking up at 4:30am, bouncing from store to store, waiting in lines all day really worth it for the discounts? Especially when you’ll probably return half the stuff anyway?

I don’t know. Maybe I’m just lost and missing out. Someone, please enlighten me. On the flip side, one of my colleagues at SF IABC, Kamna Narain, a life coach, wrote a great blog entry on living more economically.

22/365.

Well, here is Day 2.

I realize that there are two things that MUST be kept in mind when writing a blog.

1. Know your audience.

2. Know your message.

This blog is unique in that I know neither. Well, acutally, I have defined my audience as “human beings who are living in a complex world, with uncertain circumstances, who are trying to make moral and ethical decisions while keeping their job and retaining healthcare”. If that’s not you, you just might be in the wrong blog.

The message? Well, that will become clear in future days. Stay tuned.

As for the blog title… I think I will subtitle it “A year of living mindfully, wearing slippers and walking to Gatsal, eating soup with gratitude”.

Today I learned about categories, which will help you navigate through this written journey, and through life. I also found a nifty ‘email subscription’ widget. See it over there on the right? Try it! and tell me what you think.

I promised recipes. And here is a great one.  A great discovery in this recipe is that if you cook the beans on the stove they will kind of explode like they were cooked in a grenade. If you cook them in the oven (as in the recipe), they maintain their integrity, and look like beans at the end. Go with the oven method. Breakthrough in cooking technology. If you try it, leave me a comment.

Enjoy the day, and the lovely moments of beauty and laughter around you!

Vegetarian Hearty Tuscan Bean Stew

Quick beans:  Bring 2 quarts of water and 3 Tablespoons of salt to a bol. Pour the water over the beans and let them sit for an hour. Drain and rinse well before step 2. Serve over toasted bread.

INGREDIENTS

               Table salt

1            pound dried cannelini beans (about 2 cups) rinsed and picked over

½         ounce dried porcini mushrooms

4 ½      cups water

1          tablespoon EVOO

1          large onion, chopped medium, about 1.5 cups

2          medium carrots, peeled and cut into ½ inch pieces, about 1 cup

2          medium ribs celery, cut into ½ inch pieces (about 1 cup)

8          medium garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

3          cups vege broth

2          medium bay leaves

1          15 ounce can deiced tomatoes, drained and rinsed

1          medium bunch kale or collard greens (1 pound), stems trimmed, leaves chopped into 1 inch pieces, about 8 cups loosely packed

1          sprig rosemary

            Ground black pepper

            Grated parmesan cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Dissolve 3 T salt into 4 quarts water in large bowl. Add beans and soak, at room temp for at least 8 and up to 24 hours. Drain and rinse well. (or quick method above)
2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 250 degrees. Place mushrooms and ½ cup water in small microwave-safe bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Cut several steam vents in plastic with paring knife and microwave on high power, 30 seconds. Let stand until mushrooms soften, about 5 minutes. Lift mushrooms from liquid with fork and mince. Strain liquid through fine-mesh strainer lined with paper towels into medium bowl. Set mushrooms and liquid aside.
3. Heat oil in large dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion, celery, and carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until veggies are softened and lightly browned, 10-16 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in remaining 4 cups water, broth, bay leaves, soaked beans, reserved mushrooms, and cooking liquid. Increase heat to high, and bring stew to simmer. Cover pot, transfer to oven, and cook until beans are almost tender (very center of beans will still be firm), 45 min to 1 hour.
4. Remove pot from oven and stir in tomatoes and greens, Return pot to oven and continue to cook until beans and greens are fully tender, 30-40 minutes longer.
5. Remove pot from oven and submerge rosemary sprig in stew. Cover and let stand 15 minutes. Discard bay leaves and rosemary sprig; season with salt and pepper to taste. If desired, use back of spoon to press some beans against side of pot to thicken.
6. Serve, sprinkled with parmesan cheese and lightly drizzled with EVOO.

From cooksillustrated.com

I had a dream recently about being blind and then regaining my sight. It had a similar concept to my self-portrait and everything was blurry. Glasses didn’t help. But then I remembered a movie about a guy that was born blind and then through surgery got his sight back again and he was amazed. It was his first time seeing colors, animals and basically everything around him. In the end he lost his sight and he said he would rather be blind then see because he sees better when he’s blind.

Anyways, you all have a wonderful weekend! How was your day?

Remember The Time.