Slow Sundays

It's another slow Sunday.  Literally slow.  I did very little all day.  I was out late last night because it was book group night.  We read The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle.  No one really liked it but I have to say that I thought it was a worthwhile read.  It was just super depressing.   It focused on a family in California and a family from Mexico who crossed the border and were just trying to survive.  Really a contrast in lives and how quickly a prejudice can form.  It was hard to read with all of the depressing news in the world these days and with the non-stop rain.  I made Margaritas which were fabulous!  I got the recipe from Martha Stewart because I heard Oprah say that Martha made the best margaritas.  I also made Tortilla soup.  First time to make it and it was really easy and good.  Book group is always so much fun.  I look forward to it each month. We ended up talking till after 11 pm.
I am in the middle of 3 other books so I need to settle down and finish them.  I'm almost done with Austenland.  I'm half way done with The Room.  And I'm maybe a quarter of the way done with Educating Alice.  I'm going to try to finish all 3 this week. 
I went to Yoga this morning.  I love that I'm getting stronger each week.  It makes me feel great.  I'm going to try to go 3 more times this week.  If I can go 3-4 times each week and walk at least 3-4 times a week, I'll be doing well.  I just have to get the eating under control.  The other night I ate an entire roll of GS cookies.  Ugghh.

Wordless Wednesday

Flat Stanley goes to Lodi

I'm ready for Spring!

Friday fun

I spent a couple of days in SF again this week.  While I'm not loving the job assignment, I am loving that it has allowed me to be in the city a few times.  I stayed at the hotel Diva again.  I love that little hotel because it is just 2 blocks off union square and there is plenty of stuff to do within walking distance.  I took a  photo of the window shade in my room.  Great Diva example!    On Wednesday night I walked around the corner to get a bite to eat and I noticed a Paris Massage .  The windows were all covered with red velvet drapes and it looked like quite the boudoir.  I was dying to know what it looked like inside but it was late and closed up.  Plus, I think I would have a been a little nervous to check it out.  Then on the way back I passed this little shop that appeared to have flowers and stationary,  also closed up but they had these really cool paper birds in the window.  Couldn't resist photographing them.  

Just a little something to make you smile! 

Slow Sundays

What a lazy day!  I think slow Sunday is the appropriate title for this post due to the kind of day I had.  My original intention of calling the post Slow Sunday was to take a page from the Slow Food movement.    The Slow Food movement believes that you should enjoy the act of cooking and eating.  Don't buy processed food, don't buy fast food but instead make it from scratch.  Healthy and fresh.   I decided that Sunday's should be about slow food.  With that in mind, today I made Sweet Potato Fries, sweet and sour cabbage and beer bread.   I've been thinking about the Sweet Potato fries I had at Umami Burger.  They were sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon.  So... I copied them.  Delicious.  

When I went to the grocery store I tried to choose vegetables that are in season right now.  That's hard because it WINTER.  I bought the sweet potatoes and cabbage.  I love cabbage.  I know not a lot of people love it but I do.  It's just hard to find new ways to fix it.  I found a recipe for Sweet and Sour cabbage in Rachel Rays magazine so I thought, I'll try it.  Unfortunately I didn't have any bacon so it didn't have that nice rich flavor the bacon grease would have added.  But it was a nice mix of apples, onions, carrots and cabbage.    Pretty darn good. 
I think I'm going to like Slow Sundays!

Books

I just finished reading a book that I absolutely loved-  Without Reservations, the travels of an independent woman, by Alice Steinbach.   Really fun travel memoir about a woman who takes 6 months off from work and travels to Paris, Oxford and Italy.  Some of it is about her adventure and the people she meets.  Some of it about figuring out who she is when she isn't a mother or a journalist.  

"Then, in what I guessed was a sly trick of association, I thought of E.B. White's observation that "Once in everyone's life there is apt to be a period when he is fully awake, instead of half asleep."  I started walking.  When I approached the corner, I wondered, should I turn right? or left? Then I realized it really didn't matter.  Either way, something new- perhaps a tiny adventure- awaited my arrival.  I hurried down the street.  Whatever was around the corner, I didn't want to miss a minute of it." 
I love that passage.  I highlighted it in the book.  When you have those moments in your life, where you can't wait to see what's around the corner, it a moment of clarity. 
Reading this book made me realize I need a trip.  Where?  I thought about Amsterdam.  I've always wanted to go.  It's just hard to justify the expense of a trip like that.  I think I will spend sometime planning it out and then if I go, maybe this summer.  I need to go back east and visit the family and I usually do that trip in August when my sister is out of school.   Maybe the big vacation in June or Oct?  I'll see which is cheaper.  In the meantime, I'm going to pull out some old photo's of trips and think about my next travel adventure.
Of course...  there could just be a trip to the next town.

Those crazy roosters!

Last week I drove to Salinas one day to spend sometime with a colleague who is doing some work with our lean team.  On the way home I stopped at San Juan Bautista.   I'd heard of the mission before but never actually stopped by to explore.  The mission was interesting but for me the fascinating thing was the wild roosters running around.  They were all over the place.  I guess the town is known for them because all the stores had rooster statues and photo's posted.  I'm going to have to investigate the history of this.  In the meantime....  here are some photo's to keep you interested.