Random thoughts of the week

As the week wraps up, I’m sitting here sipping on a glass of Merlot. Although it is a “Bella Sera”, please be warned about buying wine from the convenience store. You might be a little disappointed with the taste and quality in comparison to the usual grocery store bottle of wine.

Anyhow, I thought I’d fill you in on what’s been going on.

• Still waiting to find out if I have a job in a couple of weeks. Please send good vibes my way.
• I’ve been reading the Twilight books (I somewhat shamefully admit). I’ve read all the Sookie Stackhouse books except for the last one, and completely love the show True Blood, but have resisted Twilight for a while. I’m on book 3 (Eclipse) and like the story so far, except as a psychology major, I find the Edward/Bella relationship a little too controlling/obsessive and a touch unhealthy.
• Books read this year total 12 (Sookie and Twilight). I’m also halfway through Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and A Taste of True Blood. That’s more books than I’ve read in a couple of years combined.
• I started tracking my food intake again. I’m trying to be more healthy, and I’ve found the best way I can do that is by tracking what I eat. I use the Livestrong.com MyPlate which has tons of different foods already listed, which makes it easy for me. I like that if we eat lunch at Jason’s Deli, Schlotsky’s, or Chick-fil-a, I don’t have to hunt down the nutrition counts.
• I also am getting back on track with exercising. After I did the 5K in May, I kinda haven’t gotten back in the groove. I’ve gone walking /jogging three times this week, and plan to go at least once more this weekend. You gotta start somewhere.
• And I bought a Nike SportBand. It comes with a sensor (my regular tennis shoes aren’t Nike+ so I also bought a little pouch that holds the sensor) and the watch, which you use on your walks/runs to track your speed, pace and calories burned. Then you can upload to your Nike+ account online, to track your miles and set goals if you want.
• I’m also getting a hair cut. Don’t know exactly what style I’m going for, but I know I’m going a few inches shorter. Still, I want something fairly low maintenance. I’ll post pictures soon.

What have you been up to? Any recommendations on reading material once I’m done with my current books?

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What’s up

So much is going on lately, so I figured I’d let you in on what I’ve been up to.

A trip to Chicago and DC.
Chicago was way back in May, but I still have good stuff to tell you about that trip.  

DC was for my sorority convention. I had such a great time. And I promise a post of its own, even though I was too busy for sight-seeing the majority of the time.

Shopping.
It’s totally not like me to be a shopping fool, but lately I’ve been shopping like there’s no tomorrow. During my DC trip, I went to Georgetown and I bought two pairs of shorts like these at H&M…dark khaki and black, I really wanted the white ones, but they didn’t have my size.

I also bought this top in the same color as the model (a tomato-y,  reddish-orange color) and also black. If I see something I love, I’ll usually buy it in several colors.

I also bought a dress, I can’t find it on the H&M website though. I guess you’d call it a shirt dress; it’s black, short-sleeved and hits just above the knee. It buttons halfway down and has a belt that ties at the waist. Unfortunately, right now I am too lazy to get up and take a picture of the actual dress. Sorry, perhaps when I wear it I’ll take a photo and post it for you.  Since I couldn’t find online pics of the shoes I bought, I just had to get up and get pictures. Here’s the dress. Sorry the pic of it hanging on my shower rod doesn’t really do it justice.

And here are the two pairs of shoes I bought DSW. One, a pair of flats, Michael by Michael Kors and the other, a pair of beaded flip-flop/sandals, Reaction by Kenneth Cole.

Can any of you ladies give me some advice about wearing shoes without socks? I bought some Kiwi Smiling Feet gel heel liners to help with the ballet flats cutting into my heels. And I also have some of the BandAid Blister Block too, but it still doesn’t keep the shoes from rubbing my toes a little raw. 

Admittedly, I’ve also spent a fair amount of hours at Kohl’s this summer too.

Thank goodness a new XBox game came out for Taylor to play.

So, what have you been up to?

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I left my heart in San Francisco – Part 2

 When I last left you, I had been caught in the rain and decided to take a break back at the hotel. I was terrible at writing in my travel journal (though I did start), but  that night I think we ate dinner with Taylor’s coworkers at the delicious and seemily famous Scoma’s near the Fisherman’s Wharf. It was as delicious as I remembered from our honeymoon.

Throughout the rest of the trip, I got to see so many things I didn’t get to see on our honeymoon.

I went to the Farmer’s Market at the Ferry Building and bought some fresh strawberries which I enjoyed while sitting on a park bench watching the water and the Bay Bridge. 

One evening I made Taylor walk with me a few blocks up to the Grace Cathedral. Again, just fantastically beautiful inside and out.

To say I rode the cable car ALOT would be an understatement. A few times I even snagged one of coveted spots standing on back of the car. I just loved the feeling climbing up the hills, hanging off the back taking photos. 

Early on in the trip, when we still had the rental the car, we drove up the twisting, turning highway 1 a while. We stopped at a few beautiful overlook spots. Although it was drizzling, windy and cold, it was so beautiful. I just absolutely love seeing where the ocean meets the mountains.

You can already tell I did a lot of wandering around. I got pictures of all the hearts in Union Square, right across from our hotel. This one was my favorite.

I snapped a photo of this smART Car for my mom.

On the day before I left I really got around town. I rode the bus out toward Castro and visited the Mission Dolores. Both the outsides and insides were just breath taking.

I trekked out to see the Painted Ladies at Alamo Square. I’ll admit, that while the houses are beautiful, I was a little disappointed that there weren’t more of them. I guess I just pumped myself up thinking there’d be tons of these beautiful houses all around, but that wasn’t the case.

I also went to the Palace of Fine Arts, 

on my walk to Golden Gate Park, where I people watched and walked closer and closer to get the perfect shot of the Golden Gate Bridge.

I also dog watched, and spied this cute, chubby little fellow getting some exercise. I couldn’t help but laugh watching him fall so far behind the other dogs in his dog walker’s pack.

And of course no trip to San Francisco is complete without a scare from the Bush Man (Google it).

I’m planning on doing one more post about some of my favorite food and attractions in San Francisco, but in the mean time, you tell me…have you been to San Francisco? What are your favorite things?

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