I did it...

A while ago, I wondered on this very blog if I could run 100 miles in one month. Well, I did it. This month my total is 100.4 miles! Yipee! That is all.

today

I have been wanting to show you a photo of my lovely tomato plant for a while but keep forgetting to take one. Earlier this week, I had a tomato accident. It was quite stormy one night and when I got up in the morning the tomato plant (despite the tomato plant cage) had toppled over. I let out a yelp of oh no! I now have an additional stake in so hopefully that won't happen again. I did loose a branch that had a bundle of tomatoes growing and lots of promising flower. But as you can see from the photos, there are still ones that are looking okay on the plant.
Today, I have done very little work, but I needed a tiny break. I've been processing things in my head though and have taken notes and will make improvements in my writing tomorrow. What did I do instead? I ate some delicious food. I stuffed some zucchini and other squash tonight - I invented the stuffing based on what I had in my refrigerator - this included onions, garlic, mushrooms, rice pilaf, crushed tomatoes, sunflower seeds and cut up squash. The remaining stuffing, I added some wine and more tomatoes to make a sauce I'll eat with pasta for lunch this week. Delicious. I also ate some wonderful strawberries and enjoyed delicious lemon frozen yogurt!

Please do, please don't...

I had my neighbors over for dinner earlier this week. They were so funny in the conversation when I invited them. They said a new roommate would be moving in to their place. With the economy as it is, I thought, okay. I know they have an extra bedroom. But I didn't at all put two and two together... so then they said, the new baby would arrive at the beginning of January! How exciting. And congratulations! They brought me beautiful flowers when they came to dinner (so that's the please do...). Here they are:

But, I had bought some "good" salsa in the produce section. You know the kind. What Chipotle calls "fresh tomato salsa." I thought it would be a good second option to fresh guac with chips for an appetizer. Well, this is the please don't... please don't put cucumber in salsa. It does not belong!

Feet up, but working

This morning, I have my feet up, but I am working. I am drinking spiced iced tea, have my computer on my lap and am surrounded with books and papers. It is lovely outside and I hope to escape at some point today to enjoy it!

Random Photos

This wine bottle makes me think of grad school and the postdoc I worked with who talked about cricket a lot. I thought it was pretty neat. Though I never did really understand the game.

Ahhhh! This guy (the scream) is always in my bathroom!

Paint samples for my kitchen on the kitchen counter. I'm planning to paint between the cabinets and counter and around the pass through - not the whole space. For those of you who've seen my kitchen in it's old state, currently all of the walls are white, there is no more blue sponge painting. The colors are pretty true. The one of the right is close to one of the colors in the knobs on the cabinets. I really have no idea what I'm going to pick. I'm always up for opinions, so consider the polls open.

Blooming

This is Grum's blooming wax plant (Hoya carnosa). The buds are just opening here. I ended up with quite a few buds this year. It's a funny plant as the blooms smell very strong and have a viscous liquid on them so it looks like the buds are crying! Also, each of the buds here is on it's own little stem and they all fall off once the flowers have gone brown. I really like this plant - it's in a hanging basket in my East facing window.

Floating away?

Yes, I know I have been away from my blog for an extended time. And, no, I have not floated away in the rains. While I was away, I have been house hunting, but I am done for the year. There is nothing on the market for me right now; npr has confirmed that banks (and likely individual owners) are holding onto properties while the market is bad. I did put in a very low ball offer that was not accepted. I will stay put for at least another year, and potentially until I get tenure. This is fine with me. I like where I live, despite the negatives. Also, I was traveling, mostly for work, but I did get to catch up with some friends, both here and there recently. I got to meet a very new baby! and a slightly older baby, and see a friends' new condo, and catch up with a friend and her husband - they're pregnant, and see friends I haven't seen in about a year. I also met a whole slew of new and exciting people, who I have not been doing a good job at keeping in touch with. There is also some awesome science percolating and some work writing going on. And I had an absolutely fabulous 4th of July adventure with about 1/2 a million other folks. Otherwise, I do not have terribly much more to say at the moment.