Sunset in Shenandoah National Park

Sunset in Shenandoah National Park
Originally uploaded by laura_gonzales.

This has to be one of the best pictures I've ever taken. Can you understand how this trip was the opposite of dying?

I am thankful

For great family and friends! Yesterday's thanksgiving feast was a success. I added a sweet potato dip to my appetizers, but a little kitchen mishap prevented me from making mashed potatoes. No worries, though; there was so much food, and Matt and I will be eating leftovers through the weekend.

Shaken, not stirred

Well, I was going to go on a rant about how Smirnoff is sullying the good name of James Bond by promoting the Bond martini as a vodka drink in their latest commercials. (Because we all know that martinis are made of GIN and not vodka, right? A drink made with vodka is always referred to as a "vodka martini".) However, I did some research and found out that in fact, James Bond has never gone the route of a traditional martini, and has instead been drinking "vespers", a mix of gin and vodka or rather "Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel." Sounds like a good recipe. Just don't call it a martini.

the incredible shrinking feet

I recently bought a new pair of shoes. I usually wear a size 8.5. The pair I ended up purchasing are a size 8. And they are still too big.

Today I'm wearing a pair of shoes that I purchased in February or March of this year, which I've only worn a few times. Once again, too big. I don't remember them feeling this loose.

I'm suspecting that my loose shoes have something to do with my recent weight loss. When you lose 50 lbs, the fat has to come from somewhere, right?

I also found this: http://www.diettalk.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-1485.html

I'm just glad I'm not crazy.

Vote early, vote often

If you're interested in political commentary, head on over to Matt Ranting for live election coverage for nationwide elections.

And speaking of bananas...

For the third year in a row, I'll be hosting my parents and sister for Thanksgiving. Although my mom hijacked my turkey the first year, she has been extremely helpful to have around while cooking such a big meal. This year, I'm going for more healthful recipes. Of course, I'm not expecting to lose weight that week, but at least things won't be too bad.

Here's the menu that I've come up with so far:

Appetizers
Crudités with hummus, crackers and cheese

Dinner
Turkey with Gravy
Salad with mustard and caper dressing
Roasted garlic and butternut squash cassoulet
Herbed mashed potatoes
Mom's special stuffing
Laura's creamy spinach
Elisa's cranberry sauce

Dessert
Pumpkin pie
Apple cranberry crisp

Beverages
Iced tea
Champagne
Wine
Coffee
Port
Scotch (that's for me, I think I'll need a hard drink at the end of the day)

curious bananas

curious bananas
Originally uploaded by laura_gonzales.

I noticed today that there was a Curious George sticker on my bananas. How...curious.

Am I a bad omen?

Today I realized that 3 of my favorite vacation spots had some terrible thing happen to them in last year or so.

New Orleans, which I visited in December 2001, had Hurricane Katrina.

Hawaii, which I visited in June 2003, had the earthquake yesterday.

London, which I visited in May 2005, had the subway attacks in July 2005.

Probably just a consequence of being well-traveled, yes? Still, it makes me sad that some of those places that existed once will now only leave on in memories.

Googling oneself

Have you ever Googled yourself? What am I saying? Of course you have. I know how egotistical you really are.

There's something strange about Googling oneself (or, doing a search for your own name on Google). How much information is out there about me? But who are all those other Lauras out there?

Sometimes I wonder if anybody is out there looking for me, and coming across Laura the Lawyer, or Laura the Systems Manager, and thinking that they've found me. Am I Laura the Professor? Could be! You'll never know. Did my namesake's accomplishments fulfill their desire to learn more about me?

And at the same time, I'll never know who those other Lauras are either. My name is pretty common, but I've never come across anyone else with my first and last names.

Its also strange to come across the real me on a search results page for random things. Yes, that's my post on that listserv, and look over there...my sister used my full name on her blog and it came up on a search. But there's something pretty pathetic about the fact that the real me only appeared 3 times over 18 pages of search results.

We strive for anonymity, but at the same time yearn for popularity.

The opposite of dying

Yesterday we were finally able to use our camping equipment, for only the second time this year. Its not like we hadn't wanted to go camping before the end of the season, but, really, where did the summer go?

The drive up to Shenandoah was "interrupted" by a trip to a winery. I know what you're thinking...Virginia wine? Yeah, well, they do have wineries, but for the most part, don't expect too much out of them. When we got to Shenandoah, we set up camp, had lunch, rested for a while, and then decided to head out hiking. Unfortunately, it was getting kind of late at that point, about two hours to sunset, and the hike we chose had a time estimate of about 4 hours. We decided to try it, and we booked it down the trail. We got to the waterfall in about an hour, and then had to hike back up. Luckily, we were able to make it off the trail with about ten minutes to spare until sunset. We pulled out of the parking lot, and drove down the road a little bit, where we watched the sun set over the Shenandoah valley. A gorgeous experience.

Dinner involved sausages and the Yee Fong Chang story, a story which Matt will only tell when we go camping. Unfortunately, we forgot the marshmallows for s'mores, but I ate chocolate and graham cracker, which was still really good.

This morning, we woke up, had a good breakfast, and decided to go for another hike. We decided to stop at the ranger station to ask for advice where to go. She directed us to a trail that involved spectacular views...and rock scrambling. Lots of rock scrambling. On mountain sides. Have I mentioned that I'm scared of heights? The whole experience was terrifying but exhilarating.
We left the park to go explore some more wineries, and we ended up at this quiet place with pretty good wines. But more importantly, they had picnic tables, and we ended up unpacking a picnic. Luckily, today was a beautiful Indian summer day without a cloud in the sky, sitting in a vineyard, enjoying a cool bottle of wine with a fresh picnic lunch (that involves sausage). As my friend Jen said, "its like the opposite of dying."

Sitting here at home, I'm glad to be sleeping in my own bed tonight, but I wish I were back up there in the mountains, where the leaves had just started to change colors. Unfortunately, I think the camping season is over now, and we'll have to wait for spring to go out there again.

Songs to die for

You remember that scene in High Fidelity when they find out that the girlfriend's father died and they're all sitting around talking about what songs should be played at the funeral? Well, the Brits have compiled a new set of funeral songs (which I heard about through this Washington Post blog). The list is pretty lame. My choice for a funeral song? In-a-gadda-da-vida by Iron Butterfly. What's yours?

This is funny

Several months ago, Matt received an e-mail from his ex-girlfriend saying that she was getting married, and she asked for our address. He replied to her, sent the address, and asked when exactly the wedding was going to take place (she just said November). No further response.

Well, today there is an envelope addressed just to Matt (not Mr. and Mrs. or , or Matt and Laura or anything like that, and it looks suspiciously like a wedding invitation, and its from Austin. Well, I only know one other person in Austin, and she's not getting married any time soon. I decided to open it, even though its not addressed to me (ahem, Matt opened my special birthday present FedEx this year, and then totally ruined the surprise for me by waving it in my face, so no, he really doesn't care if I open his mail. In fact, if I didn't, it would probably never get opened, so there. But I digress). Anyway, it is a wedding invitation, for a wedding that's in 5 weeks.

So my question is, am I invited to this wedding? And FYI, she was totally at my wedding, so hello, she knows that we're married

Tejana

One of my colleagues, who used to live in Austin, told me that I had a very Texas look, but she didn't want to say anything (this was after I told her that I'm from San Antonio). That really made my day!

Making peace

Some of you may know that I've been very frustrated at work recently. About 3 months ago I was transferred to the main library to work on an exciting new project. Well, due to, among other things, gross incompetence (not mine, thankfully), this new department was officially closed last week. We were told of this on Wednesday. I had a stomach ache from Friday to Wednesday because of the stress.

Things had been in limbo for me and my co-workers for the entire three months. Nobody really knew what to do with us, and there was no plan or policy for us to follow. It was with a mixture of frustration, anger, and a little bit of relief that I learned of our demise. The good news is that I get to stay employed, but I've been transferred over to another department, where I have to learn the ropes all over again.

I left work early on Wednesday, ostensibly because of the stomach ache, but also because I had to gather my thoughts. Yes, I would prefer it if I could be doing something that I really wanted to do (whether that be with my current employer or elsewhere), but I have to take what life has handed to me, right? Last night I made peace with the whole situation. Miraculously, my stomach ache has mostly disappeared.

just because...

"that's the way things are done around here", doesn't make it right.

sigh.

Video: Meeting Kevin Costner

Not to beat a dead horse, but here's the video that the woman standing next to me took when we met Kevin Costner. She was standing to the left of me and KC was shaking the hand of the person to the right of me. Thanks, Katie!

Even if you're not a Justin Timberlake fan

which I'm not. I just think he's a good dresser. Anyway, his new album FutureSex/LoveSounds got a hilarious review in today's Washington Post. Some excerpts:

Timberlake, the most cornfed and harmless of pop stars, is about as likely to project an air of dangerous sexuality as he is to knock over a convenience store with Screech from "Saved by the Bell."

Alrighty! But I think my favorite line is this:

[W]hen it comes to, um, randiness, Timberlake is still no Prince, and lines such as "Back up some more / And let me take it off" have the same sexual charge as a proposition from a Care Bear.

back on the wagon, not on the gravy train

Now that summer is officially over, I'm back on the weight loss wagon. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, I've lost 10 pounds, not bad for a summer, but not great since I'm still about 30 pounds away from my weight loss goal. I have to say, it was pretty good eating this summer: Mexican food in Tejas, gourmet Mexican in Chicago, Italian in Baltimore. And Komi for our anniversary (oh, Komi! I look forward to the day that I can see you again).

Yes, as you can see I have issues with food. I love food, I'm not afraid to admit that. And of course I associate food with comfort and love. The fact is, I don't see anything wrong with any of that. Of course, the problem was that I was eating too much too often and wasn't exercising. So now, in addition to my 3x a week at Curves, I'm also doing a yoga class once a week. I'm hoping to lose at least 15 pounds by Thanksgiving. I'll keep y'all updated.

last of the summer whine

Today is the last day that our pool is open. Even though it was barely 80 degrees today, we went for about an hour and a half, and yes, the water was pretty cold. The sun is out, so I got my brown on (but not Matt, he got his heavy duty sunscreen on). We watched all the kids that have spent their summer in the pool say goodbye to the lifeguard, Paul, and we also watched Paul do some backflips off the lifeguard stand. When I asked Matt if he was ready to leave, he sighed and said, "I always knew summer had to come to an end. I never thought you would be the one to end it."

Even though I've lived in DC for a while, I still feel like every year I'm being robbed of summer. Its only early September! Lately, I've watched the sun set earlier and earlier with a sense of dread. I also feel that we'll be paying for that mild winter we had last year (only one major snow storm), and have a really rough time of it this year. I keep hoping that this will be last winter in DC, but Matt keeps telling me, "No."

So, this is the last of my summer whining. From now on, you'll be getting autumn whining.

KC addendum

I just found out that the young lady that I thought was Kevin Costner's daughter is actually his wife! LOL

Last night it occurred to me that the reason why KC crossed the street to shake our hands was because he is very appreciative of the fans he still has. I mean really, when was the last time you saw him a major motion picture? Not to be too cynical or anything....(maybe I should make that my mantra).