Just Say No

Over the last year Aaron and I worked really hard to not eat out. We cut out take out, stopped going out and as a bonus learned to eat left overs. It saved us a LOT of money and helped us trim down. I think this might be my first successful New Years resolution ever! Woo-hoo.

Today I came across this website www.notakeout.com which I would have loved to known about a year ago. It provides a simple, delicious recipe each day with a shopping lists to match. The best part though is the idea. I think the hardest part of making dinner is deciding what to do. I hate figuring that out.

Ironically, when I viewed the site recently the side bar ad on the site was for papa john's pizza. That made me laugh.

Now I'm starting to think about what resolution I should make for 2010. I feel a little worried about what to pick knowing that I might follow through with it.

I'm Not Dead

Recently I was talking to a friend and in passing mentioned I'd been out of the state for the last 3+ weeks. She was more than a little surprised, responding that she'd never known I was gone.

Now I'm fairly certain that should I slip and die in my apartment it will be a couple days before anyone finds my body. Good thing Reuben can open cupboards. I was thinking that maybe I should make him a little stash of easily accessible food so he'll be provided for, just in case. But then I realized he's got it covered and THAT is why he throws his food on the ground during every meal. He's creating his own handy stock pile. Just suck on a few spots of carpet and you've got yourself a full meal. Mmm.

The Great White Blight

Reuben and I stuck around DC just long enough to catch the blizzard of 09. The face Reuben is making is the face I'm making inside. I shoveled 550 feet of driveway to find out that my flight back to sunny SC was canceled. ARG!!! But I caught a flight the next day and am back where there is no threat of a white Christmas. Phew.

Thinking about where I'd like to be for Christmas, this year, if I could be anywhere I would like to be in Copenhagen for the UN Climate Change Conference. I've been really frustrated at the lack of coverage its receiving in the US. I couldn't find much more than terse or very general summaries from most of the major news outlets. I finally went to Democracy Now and felt like I got some meaty info. I enjoyed listening to this interview with Lumumba Stanislaus, chief negotiator for the G-77. The interviews with US lawmakers were also very interesting.

It's the last day but since negotiations are coming down to the last minute, just like a good basketball game, tuning in for the end can be the best part.

I'll Be Home For Christmas

I've always wanted to spend Christmas somewhere far far away. At the top of my list are Brazil, Italy, the Holy Land or Paris. I like the idea of bringing in the holiday with street parties and a midnight mass in a giant cathedral. But I wouldn't mind if I woke up somewhere calm and tropical like Hawaii or Indonesia.

This year it looks like I'll be home for Christmas which is just fine. But one day I hope I won't be.

Spare and Be Spared

I came across this poem the other day and really liked it.

Pity the sorrows of a poor old dog

Who wags his tail a-begging in his need;

Despise not even the sorrows of a frog,

God's creature too, and that's enough to plead;

Spare Puss who trusts us dozing on our hearth;

Spare bunny, once so frisky and so free;

Spare all the harmless creatures of the earth:

Spare and be spared - or who shall plead for thee?

-Christina Rossetti 1879

Hello Me

I watched part of the movie Coraline a couple weeks ago and found myself disturbed. Not because of the soul stealing monsters but because of the resemblence I bore to Coraline's frazzled, always distracted, freelancing parents. So since I haven't posted many pictures of myself recently, this should give you a good idea of what I look like on
A good day:

And on a bad day: