elkit in wonderland

Shoppity shop

I've been such a good little shopper these last few days! I bought:

• a bag I can wear across my body
• new Ray-Ban sunglasses
• an iPad mini - a very reasonably-priced purchase because I had sold my old iPad and old iPhone to PowerOn, so I had $190 in gift cards to redeem.
• a tankini from Title Nine.
• and for good measure and more color, another tankini from Title Nine.

       

All of the below

My to-do list for my upcoming three-day trip:

• buy a cooler. Done! Found the perfect one at Mel Cotton's. It rolls, and fits neatly in front of the passenger seat in my car.
• buy new sunglasses since I finally ruined my good pair. Perhaps these. 
• buy a new swimsuit, perhaps this one or that one. Or this one. 
• sew my boobs to the bra (I can explain this if you really need to know)
• check/update all my music playlists
• make sure my apps are up to date
• write a packing list and actually PACK everything on it
  • sunscreen
  • after-sun aloe gel
  • cowbell
  • boobs etc.
  • travel-size laundry soap
  • phone charger
  • printouts of the stage maps and stage logs
• stake out a good spot for Friday

Also make sure to

• pick a route for the drive down
• pick a route for the drive back
• pick a spot for lunch on the drive down
• pick a spot for dinner after the drive down
• depending on timing (what time will I be home?), pick a spot for dinner for the drive back

Accomplishments

The car is clean. The house is, well, much cleaner than it was before the weekend. I set a couple of chairs and the sun umbrella out in the backyard, and moved the planter boxes around. I picked a bucketful of lemons and one of oranges. I shopped for groceries, and even had a recipe in mind. And then I made that dish! And it's delicious! (Chicken salad with parsley-walnut pesto and sun-dried tomatoes.)

I made a couple more bottles of fizzy water with the soda stream machine, and then I sat myself down in the backyard and put my feet up for fifteen minutes and drank fizzy water with a chunk of frozen Meyer lemon juice. Later, I found some leftover pie crust/cookie dough in the freezer and baked up a half dozen shortbread cookies. (Sorry, all gone.) 

Oh, and I took time out for cocktails yesterday, with the formidable Finny. And a great time was had by all. 

House-wifing

I've been house-wifing the last few days. After getting a new slip cover for the cat-worn eye sore of a sofa a couple of days ago, today saw me:

• planting a raspberry in a pretty container in the back yard after buying both at the nice Yamagami's nursery
• washing the blankets and using the Fiat for a drying rack
• fixing myself a nice fancy salad for lunch with mixed greens, red bell pepper, grape tomatoes, diced Kerrygold cheese, and the last bits of pancetta from Boccalone, fried crispy. Alright, I'll be honest, only about two thirds of it ended up in the salad, the rest made it to my mouth before the dish was done. 
• planting the Canna lilies I bought a couple of weeks ago
• picking a bucketful of oranges and lemons
• grocery-shopping, prepping and making food for the week ahead
• washing the sheets and towels, then promptly forgetting them in the washer while I watched Closer

How Not To

So AT&T sends me this pretty arnge email, take a look:

They just want to send this to me to make sure they have my correct email. I don't need to do anything. I only need to do something if I want them to contact me elsewhere. 

Great, right? I don't need to do anything. 

But apparently AT&T is worried about whether I have received this email or not, because this is THE FIFTH copy of this email that I have received over the last week. 

If you need me to acknowledge that I have received your email at this address, why don't you say so, and save me from having to wonder what you're up to, and yourself the trouble of sending and re-sending and re-sending. What a waste of everybody's time and resources. 

Food Heaven

Heaven on my lap: a porchetta sandwich from Roli Roti.

I was in San Francisco yesterday, to meet a couple of German friends for German food (Käsespätzle, if you must know), but I started off with a trip to the Food Temple that is the Ferry Building.

First things first: I made sure I had cash in my pocket, then lined up for a porchetta sandwich from Roli Roti. This may very well be my world's best sandwich: I love bread with a good crust. I love pork. I love crispy crunchy pork skin even more. I love caramelized onions. And my favorite salad green is arugula. All of this together in one meal? Unbeatable.

Sustenance provided, I forged on, with stops at several of my favorite places:

• McEvoy Ranch, for some of their delicious body butter. I am supposed to lather it on my skin, but I might just eat it by the spoonful.
• Boccalone for some tasty salted pig parts. I feel bad more often these days for eating meat, but then I fry up some of their pancetta and am convinced I could never be a vegetarian. (Same thing with the above-mentioned/-pictured/-ingested porchetta sandwich.)
• Checked at Far West Fungi for salicornia, but they didn't have any.
• Grabbed a couple of macarons at Miette.
• Happy Girl Kitchen had some more citrus sea salt, just before my supplies ran out. Yayyy!

Mission accomplished.

Tomorrow is Today

Day 7 of Kelly McGonigal's "Boost Your Willpower" program, and she says:

To set yourself up for success, envision tomorrow as an extension of today—and as the first of many tomorrows to come. Assume that every decision you make today, you'll make tomorrow, too. And the next day, and the next day. Begin to view every choice as a commitment you're making to all future choices. When you can do this, it becomes clear how just "one more smoke" or "one more cookie" can add up over time. It becomes harder to deny the health and personal consequences of your actions.

 

So Let Go, Let Go, Jump In, What're You Waiting For?

Kelly McGonigal wants to know:

1. If anything were possible, what would you most like to welcome in to your life? What might this require of you?

2. Is there anything in your life that you are ready to let go of? What direction would you move in, and what would be possible, if you did?

3. When you're feeling stressed out, overwhelmed, or self-critical, where do you put your attention? What do you give your energy to? Is this how you want to spend your time and resources?

4. When you feel hopeful, inspired, and connected, where do you put your attention? What do you give your energy to? As you look forward in your life, what do you *want* to give your attention and energy to?

 

Cold

It's been cold here. Meaning the temperature gets down to around freezing at night, which is not that terrible compared to, say, Siberia, but unusual to happen in this part of the Bay Area for more than a couple of nights in a row. 

I live in an old house without central heating or a thermostat (which is too bad because I fantasize about a Nest). The sources of heat in the house are the heater grid in the hallway that gets its heat from the heater in the basement, the fireplace, and the oven in the kitchen. 

I've been turning the oven on most mornings and holding my pants upside-down over the heater grid before putting them on because I am crafty that way. 

The cats just take turns on their heating pads because they are even cleverer than I. Also, they don't have to bother with pants. 

Through the Week

Meh Monday.
Tepid Tuesday.
Wimpy Wednesday.
Thwarted Thursday.
Freakout Friday.
Sarcastic Saturday.
Sunken Sunday.

On the other end of the spectrum: Mighty Monday.
Terrific Tuesday.
Wonderful Wednesday.
Thunderous Thursday.
Frantastic Friday.
Satisfied Saturday.
Sunny Sunday.