rule 15: for "ask me no questions, i'll tell you know lies," read "ask me another, before the talk dies."

back from salt lake only a day before i took off again, destination: nyc.
ma, wendy, and i tagged along for grandma's first ever trip to the big apple, it was awesome. seriously, she's the cutest lady ever, if in doubt see the pictures below where we forced her to put on an "i <3 ny" t-shirt and act silly in times square.
thank you to billy, sheryl, rosie, grandma eileen, aunt pat, uncle pat, uncle michael, ian, dennis, diana, and adam.

ceiling in grand central station
cool ewaste display the today show interns were building
my fav...and talk about willpower, i didn't even cross the street!
top of the rock
ma and grandma enjoying the view
went to a broadway play (funny!)
scary m&m
grandma and cops
wendy, grandma, ma, and i
babycakes!!! mmmmmm.

we pretty much ate nonstop the whole time we were there....and i want to go back right now and eat some more, so many vegan places! i should be back in september.

rule 14: look it up, track it down. you may have to know about tomorrow today.

went to slc to visit ma, kev, and chip this weekend.
we woke up early to see the marathoners:
defending male champ (came in 3rd this time):
first mormon (7th):
defending female champ (extended her reign, 9th overall):

watching the runners got me all excited about running. i want to run a marathon again. if i were to run a marathon near my most recent half-marathon pace, i could finish in under 4 hours. that's insane for me. i have to keep telling myself i'm not running any more marathons...
but i will likely sign up for the slc half marathon next year, training for high altitude will be tricky in sf, might mean hitching rides up to tahoe and running while my friends snowboard. or the paris half marathon...or the full. ugh.

other news: ryan moved to sf this weekend!! woohoo! less than a mile from me, i'm a little stoked. especially since his laundry has been sitting in my living room for the past 5 days...but his planet earth dvds have been here too, so no complaining.

off to ny, back sunday! love love, photos to come.

rule 13: it's smart to be smart - better get in style!

a few months back the health and safety people came through the office and rapidly removed an incredible threat that i hadn't even realized i was working so closely with.
our toasters.
they replaced ALL of the toasters (20 or so) with one central toaster on the 4th floor. the new toaster is a monster, it's huge, and it's also the slowest toaster ever. seriously, 5 minutes per slice, who has that kind of time for toast?
well, apparently someone did not. the unattended toaster fried a slice yesterday, setting off the fire alarm, forcing a full building evacuation which i estimate costing upwards of $30,000. for freaking TOAST.
so now the behemoth toaster from the 4th floor is gone as well, and we're doomed to careers full of soft, room temperature bread (dreadful for me because untoasted bread is very nearly soggy in my mind). we're a bunch of professionals and we're not allowed to have toast. i'm all about safety, but this is just too much. good thing i eat cereal for breakfast.

rule 12: false excuses backfire, but if you've got to say "no," say it with a smile.

half dome skirt hike time!

i have camp spots reserved for thursday and friday night, june 5 and 6.
i'm going out thursday after work, getting up early and hiking all day friday, eating pizza and ice cream and drinking wine at curry village friday night, then coming back saturday. everyone is invited, of course i strongly encourage skirts or shorty shorts...let me know if you're in.

rule 11 (special to boys): keep your conversation in mixed company clean cut. if in doubt, lock it up in the locker room.

ran my race on saturday, beat my goal by 10 minutes!!
i was shooting for 2 hours, came in at 1:50. who would have guessed i was actually a decent paced runner?! my first 4 miles took me less than half an hour, that's nuts for me!
i'm stoked.
now bay to breakers, then wharf to wharf. i'm officially a race junkie this year.

rule 10 (special to girls): never fight a compliment. accept it thankfully.

had a weekend visitor, first-timer in cali. tried to hit up some of the touristy spots and good food via foot/bike. it was cold, windy, and sunny.
nick's crispy tacos
filbert street hill
lombard street
sea lyons
zeitgeist
mission dinner
crepe house
golden gate
lower haight
haight ashbury
golden gate park
miniature yaughts
tutanka
windmills
ocean beach
strawberry hill
bitter end
cafe across from burma superstar
burma superstar!
bigfoot lodge
bell tower
cable car museum
china town
north beach
coit tower
in-n-out
the end.
thank you to dusty for being a lovely guest and giving me an excuse to be a tourist for the weekend.

rule 9: aim at your target to score.

my race is saturday. i'm not feeling awesome (replace commendable if applicable). i've been feeling a little heavy lately, hopefully i'm not running with bricks in my shoes on race day. think good thoughts for my knees sometime around 8:30am PST on saturday, thanks!
oh, and i'm wearing shoes i've only run in once....i'm a smart one.

rule 8: powerful formula = "please" + "thank you" + "i'm sorry"

i'm not sleeping well lately.
today was a long day.
i felt like an idiot because i couldn't fill up my fleet car and had to return it with the gas light on, i could have sworn i was smarter than a gas pump...turns out i may be, but all the pumps in our yard were malfunctioning.
i had a headache all day.
i was not looking forward to tutoring tonight (especially after last week's disheartening realization that jackie somehow missed learning to add).

i was on the verge of a migraine when i arrived at the school. but then there was kickball. we played tutors vs tutees...tutors kicked butt!! it was fun. for an hour and a half (kickball + study time) my headache was gone. it was nice...but i rode home in an aura...i really hope my headaches don't escalate to the what my dad used to get.

by the way, these rules i've been sharing, they are from a lovely little book called "date talk" (R. N. Lawrence, 1967) that adam gave me years back, presumably to help with my awkwardness. these are rules for conversation that will help you for life (not just in dating). you're welcome.

rule 7: when necessary, STOP! and start again.

yay spring time!

movies in the park start this month!!