oh really? not for girls?

Day in Sonoma

we decided to drive up to sonoma to spend part of the day at the viansa winery. we tasted some wine, had a little picnic, and simply enjoyed the vineyard and the sunshine.

Happy birthday Noah!

the biggest crossword puzzle ever!

Orange Friday!

it was orange hat night at the giants game! and, while barry didn't hit any homeruns, the giants kicked the d'back's butts.

what's BORING now?

my brother called me today and told me that my blog was boring... i said, boring, why? "because there is nothing about me on there" he explained. so, i made this:



i love my brother and homeson! I MISS YOU GUYS!

don't ever forget...

some people may use the internet to find love, but...

Product of the day - it's not ketchup

Did you know that Heinz makes this stuff? And I always thought it was all about the ketchup.

Check your mate!

a story on Good Morning America today about a tall hot blonde undercover spy who wears hidden cameras, hidden mircophones and... tries to hook up with your man! yikes!

Happy birthday Sarah!

it's my good friend Sarah's birthday today... and she has to go to class! blah. :)

have a happy day Sairy. :)

on this day, we remember

today is yom ha'shoah, or in english, holocaust remembrance day.

watch this powerful video and realize that these horrible things still go on today.

Quote of the night - Monday

"i just want to take on my pajamas!"

since it's MONday

any time i can make a tribute to Monica on MONday i try to do so. is there anything cuter than sisterly love!? :)

squeezing out more snow days in Tahoe

it may be the latter half of April, but that doesn't stop Bay Area Tahoe goers Tor and Lin from hitting the slopes one more time. it even snowed on us in the afternoon!

workin on the weekend

i'm working today! woo hoo! want to take a peak? how about a sneak preview.

a beautiful friday... and then the dogs were there

a perfectly lovely day of a picnic in the berkeley rose garden with cheeseboard pizza and cupcakes, an hour at the gym, a stroll to the berkeley bowl and even taco salad for dinner ended with muddy paw prints everywhere. mud even got on john's foot when it got in the way of the wild pack of dogs galloping through the house.

Passover is now OVER

i made it!

tonight, at sundown, passover ended. we had to stop for a pizza slice appetizer before going out for veggie/portabello mushroom burgers at barney's.

in case any of you were wondering what happened to me after that granola incident... just before lunch on that fateful day seven, the same wise prophet came to me again and said, "if you fall off the wagon, what do you do? you get right back on." and so i did. i'm sure you'll all be glad to know that my moment of weakness in the early hours of day seven was just that, only but a moment. after that granola slip, i jumped right back on the passover wagon and kept on a'ridin! i made it easily through day seven by giving away my pita at lunch and sticking with matzah at the uc berkeley grad student wine and cheese social. day eight just felt like the home stretch and was a mild day of restricted eating compared to others. knowing i'd get a slice of pizza in the evening had me in good spirits all day.

happy 4/20

a holiday i used to celebrate in college... one year i even celebrated at 4:20am AND 4:20pm

Quote of the morning - Thursday

"oh, that. i thought that was the chocolate."

if you'll be in berkeley this evening...

confessions of an oat-eater

so i woke up this morning at 530am and was unable to go back to sleep. why, you ask? because i was dreaming of a big bowl of granola with dried fruit on top... and then my mind drifted to carrot cake muffins with cream cheese frosting... and it was all downhill from there. i realized a few things:

1) i was not properly prepared for passover in my apartment alone. i didn't have any matzomeal, popovers, matzoball soup, etc. if i was going to be successful in staying "forbidden grain free" for 8 days i needed more supplies. that passover friendly coffee cake did me in. i was expecting it to taste like regular coffee cake and carry me through my finals days, and it tasted like ass.

2) this amount of stress is not what passover is about. monday i started suffering (i feel you Moses), tuesday i started stressing so much that i had a bad day at work all together, and by now, early wednesday morning, i couldn't even sleep. i never followed passover rules/restrictions as a child, wouldn't even consider it as a teenager, and never attempted it as a young adult for fear of failure. bread and bread products in general have always been my comfort food, the atkins diet would never have worked for someone like me (especially as a vegetarian). if someone offered me ice cream or chocolate versus a good slice of sourdough with brie on it, i would take the bread and cheese in a heartbeat; no questions about it; at any time of the day or night.

3) i think it's time for me too look up "emotional eating" on the internet.

4) i didn't crave the things i thought i would. i thought i would want things like cakes, cookies, pastas or even simply a slice of toast... but no. i have been craving pizza since day one. pizza! i don't eat a lot of pizza normally so that was weird to me. and, i was craving granola. every morning i eat granola with dried cranberries, blueberries and raisins on it. i really should have planned ahead and came up with a reasonable breakfast substitue. nasty bland coffee cakes, matzah with stuff piled on top of it, or rice krispies don't work for me by day 7.

5) rice in mass quantities (meaning for practically all 3 meals of the day) makes me feel sick and bloated. i can't even force down rice krispies anymore let alone steamed rice with any of my favorites (tofu, curry, veggies) on it. i am now starting to see why ashkenazic jews don't eat rice on passover. i don't think our bodies can process it the way sephardic jews can.

so, this morning at 6am i got out of bed and poured myself a small bowl of granola. i realized as i was watching the sunrise that it was the only way i was going to have a happy and productive day at work today. i am not thinking of this bowl of granola as the beginning of the end of my passover commitment, rather a little moment of cheating that helps me get all the way to sundown tomorrow... where you will be able to find me at 7pm at the Cheeseboard Collective (NOT co-op) in Berkeley.

so, i admit it, i ate granola this morning. there you have it. my passover confessions.

for my first time following a strict passover diet, i'm proud of myself for making it to day 7. i commend all of you jews out there who have been making it to day 8 for as long as they can remember (or since their bar mitzvah's, or whenever their moms made them start following the rules). it's a hard thing to do. i'm the first to admit that.

next year i will plan ahead a little more. i will look up more passover friendly recipies and get good ideas so that i can have things already available to me when the bread-panic sets in.

i hope my little story has touched a few of you... and i hope it's made those people out there who are cheating and eating their "bread product of choice" in the middle of the night (and simply not telling on themselves like i have) feel just a little bit better knowing they are not alone.

shaking things up!

sirens were indeed wailing this morning at 5:12am. did i know it was to honor the 100 year anniversary of the 1906 quake? nope. because i didn't read the newspaper or watch the news yesterday. i just thought... darn sirens waking me up! sheesh. how insensitive of me. click here for an interesting look at the 1906 quake via sfgate.com.

Key-shirts!

probably one of my best birthday presents ever!

she made it!

the jetta made it to the shop, is getting all fixed up, and should be done on Wednesday. i think she was just scared about going under the knife and that's why she tried to act like she was driving perfectly. well, her trick didn't work on me! i took her in anyways. but, i miss her already!

Jettakah Day 8

and here it is, the final day of Jettakah, the day when the miracle has officially happened. my jetta made her final journey to SFO, to the City, and back over the Bay Bridge. all that is left now is for her to make it to the repair shop first thing in the morning.

it was once said by a wise prophet "Don't take the miracle of Jettakah for granted." and i will not. at least not until after i have safely dropped her off tomorrow and i am riding on BART to work.

heartbroken

But we need more Matzah!

Jettakah Day 7

not only did the jetta get driven around and evaluated by Twan, she also made it to lake merritt for our sailing adventure, made it back to berkeley, made it into SF so we could go out to dinner and to a bar with our friends AND then back to berkeley to crash. i am now feeling very silly for worrying about it in the first place!

bigfoot on polk

did you say, light the bar on fire? well, i won't throw up in your thront seat.

we went sailing on lake merritt

jewish haiku

in honor of passover i share these entertaining Jewish Haikus with you:

On Passover we
opened door for Elijah.
Now our cat is gone.

Jews on safari --
map, compass, elephant gun,
hard sucking candies.

Jettakah Day 6

for my birthday the Jetta made it all over Berkeley, and to the City and back. it's making me wonder if there is even anything seriously wrong with it.

two special gifts

since it was my birthday AND passover i was given a donut and some borscht. yeah, i know, it doesn't make a lot of sense... i guess you had to be there. :)

birthday FUN!

passover birthday cake

SOMEONE super sweet and amazing made me a special birthday cake this year. since we are following the passover rules i was concerned of having a birthday without birthday cake. however, when i came home from the gym this morning the kitchen smelled of chocolate!

gotta love flourless chocolate cakes with raspberry sauce.... oh, and great boyfriends.

might not be so bad

so, i've decided that 28 might not be such a bad age. after some convincing, and learning that 28 is a "perfect number" i am feeling much more calm and confident that it will be a great year.

Jettakah Day 5

on day 5 the jetta did some amazing things... she got us to rockridge for a special little pre-birthday dinner AND we even made a round trip from Berkeley to SFO and back too!

Today was...

...unofficial "bring your matzah lasagne to work" day.

last day of 27

so, today is my last day being 27 years old... i know it seems like a random age, but it's been my favorite age to be since i was 21. and we all know how great 21 is. but no, honestly, 27 was a great year and i am actually very sad to see it go. i am hopeful for 28 of course... i'm a "glass is half full" kind of girl, but 27 will be hard to match.

Jettakah Day 4

the jetta made it from san francisco to berkeley today. she was purring like a kitten all the way across the bay bridge and her "check engine" light is mysteriously off. could the miracle of jettakah already be happening?

passover sparkles

Happy Passover!

you know you want to kick off your passover celebration with a little rap about matzah, right? check out jib jab.

in need of an image

this blog is in need of an image. i have been blabbing on and on about my sick car recently. i know that is boring and i'm sorry.

how about a picture of a cookie as big as your face!?

Jettakah Day 3

today the jetta made it down to peninsula and back... in the rain! it was touch and go at times, but overall she did just fine. not to mention the trip was so worth it. :)

dance white boy, dance!

you can't help but feel a little embarassed for this guy. for those of you out there with roommates, make sure you're not getting caught "crazy dancing" on someone else's webcam!

Jettakah Day 2

the jetta didn't need to drive anywhere today, so her status is still the same. she is parked in SF and alive. there is still hope for the 8 day miracle.

i realized that my AAA membership was not active, so i reactivated it and am now covered for the next year... just in case.

today marks the beginning of Jettakah

Jettakah... like Hanukkah, but instead of the festival of lights, it's the festival of transmissions. the celebration of Hanukkah marks the miracle of a little bit of oil that was only supposed to last for one day and one night actually lasting for 8 days and 8 nights providing warmth and light to the maccabees. will my Jetta's clutch last for 8 more days and 8 more nights in order to provide transportation for me and my friends all over the bay area until Monday the 17th? we'll see...

fancy dinners on the 5th floor

ever tasted saffron carmel corn? it sounds good but it's a little too fancy to be yummy.

soda? pop? or soda pop?

in california we call it soda, but in the midwest it's called pop. weird. whatever.

Bloggers Unite!

today is not MONday... it's not TORday... it's just a day i want to acknowledge all of the fantastic bloggers out there.

here's to you, bloggers of the world. and here's to those whom you inspire to create new blogs every day.

blogs enrich people's lives!

random fact for today

Did you know...

today at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date was 01:02:03 04/05/06.

*this will not happen again until the year 2106!

*edited twice today... i think we finally got it right.

have you ever seen such a thing?

i have never seen this happen to a microwave before. we call it the inverted volcano.

Quote of the night - Monday

"cover yourself with the sheep."

more math funnies

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 9/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

my brother and his girlfriend shakira

Shakira's hips don't lie, do they Brother?

pulling off april fool's jokes

last year i pulled off (or at least tried to pull off) a little april fools joke on my blog. it worked on a few people, but obviously wasn't that great. i'm not so good at carrying out jokes like this because i always find it hard to do something that really fools people but is not super mean.

this year i left april fooling to my boyfriend. he did such a good one even i fell for it... after he told me he was doing it none the less! ha! i'm slightly gullible. :)

i love vegetarian feasts

what's a great treat for me? a meal at an all vegetarian restaurant where i can choose anything on the menu. tonight we had a mini-early birthday celebration for me at a place in san diego called kung food. yummy!

Happy Birthday Homeson!

yes, sometimes we call Shawn homeson... and sometimes he calls Brother homeson... and sometimes we all get confused... but, it's his birthday today so, YAY!