aging gracefully?

on this, the eve of yet another birthday, I have decided to revive this craptastic blog with the following revelation:

I AM GETTING WRINKLES. WTF. MY ASIAN GENES HAVE PUNKED OUT ON ME LIKE TOTAL BITCHES.

I cannot believe they have the audacity to show up ON THE NIGHT BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY and make themselves comfortable on my previously unlined forehead.

sad.

(okay, so yes, this doesn't really count as an entry, but it's all I've got in me right now... Making Shit Happen takes a lot out of a girl.)

(please send birthday wishes and anti-aging cream, STAT.)

i will never understand

People who are wide-eyed and fucking CHATTY at 630 in the morning. It's an airport. Can't you be mindful of the people around you? It's still dark outside! I have been awake since 5-something, which is just wrong in my book. So can you please stop talking so loudly about how you don't like flying and the quality of the hotel breakfast? I'd be ever so obliged.

happy Sunday, Austin-style

unfortunately, I am doing work. that is the only bad part of this post. the good part? it's 70-something degrees in February. I am wearing shorts and flip-flops, and my toes are painted dark pink. I am sitting at Jo's Coffee across the street from my apartment. there is live music including a rather snazzy accordian (who knew accordians could be so snazzy?) playing in the background. the accordian looks kinda like Alton Brown's second cousin, which makes me like him even more. the place is packed but not uncomfortably so. tattooed hipsters with ironic sunglasses are sharing seats with gray-haired newspaper readers and people with beer bellies drinking cold Negra Modelo beers. dogs are barking to each other. I am sipping an iced decaf coffee and watching the passersby. everyone is tapping their toes. everyone is polite: "excuse me, is this chair taken?" and "would you please watch my bag while I use the restroom?" and appreciative applause after every song. there is a cute little baby with pigtails sitting next to me.

so if this is my background as I am catching up on a few things I have to write for work, I really can't complain...

this explains a lot

as you could probably tell by the mood of my recent posts, last week sucked. sucked royally. sucked in a major way. there was no one particular reason for the suckage... I think it was more of a perfect storm of different elements, such as the horrible weather (gray, cold, rainy, gross), horrible meetings (it's so much fun to walk out of client meetings feeling completely demoralized! except not at all), and long, tiring days.

I realized something, though. try Googling the phrase "most depressing day of the year" and take a look at your results: http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS257&q=most+depressing+day+of+year

nearly all of the days are in last week!

this explains so much. it wasn't my fault! the stars were aligned against me! screw the long days, the painful meetings, the cold weather, the sadness that I am no longer in Paris... it's a universal sickness and one that has hopefully passed.

I spent the wknd psyching myself back up for another week. martinis w/friends on Fri night, a long run on each day (six miles today!), some quality time spent getting re-acquainted with my friend Harry Potter (okay, I am an unabashed HP fan but even I must admit that sounded a little bit geeky), and lots of happy flip-flop time (today was 70 degrees), and I'm feeling better.

bring on the week, bitches. now that the most depressing days of the years are over, it can only get better, right?

right?

well, if not, there's always this: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20174022,00.html

(will either cure your depression or make you even more depressed. take your pick.)

how to salvage a bad day

this morning was, on many counts (or is it by many counts?), pretty crappy. the weather was cold and rainy. I couldn't drag my ass out of bed and managed to snooze for over an hour (it's a special talent of mine) instead of getting up early and going to the gym as I had planned. there was drama @ work on one of my projects, drama which made me really angry that I worked until 8 pm last night to get something really perfect. I also made the decision to pull an old pair of almost-never-worn pants out of the closet and show them some love... but then realized once I sat down at my desk why I almost never wear them: they are super-old and not very comfortable (read: high-rise waist and slightly too-small size).

sigh. I am brilliant!

now, here's where the story gets better. my awesome friend Sabia and I had made lunch plans weeks ago in which we would head over to the lovely Whole Foods culinary center and do a lunch express workshop. basically it's a live cooking class where the teacher shows you how to cook a three-course meal and you get to eat it! so simple yet so wonderful.

here was the menu:

• french onion soup (one of my favorite soups in the world)
• steak frites (grilled flank steak + twice-cooked fries served with roquefort butter)
• chocolate cake fondant (with chocolate glace and frangelico meringue)

I'm telling you, my day has turned right around. the teacher was fantastic - friendly and full of tips and not at all pretentious. the food was deLICious - piping hot and tasty and served by friendly WF staff. they print out the recipes for you so you can take them home and try them, and I am confident that I could pull off pretty much everything she made.

not bad, huh? now if I could only do something about these stupid pants...