A Morld of Wonder

I am Thankful

2012-11-02T23:54:00.002-07:00

My life is not perfect, but it is beautiful.

This Is Why Smart People Drink.

2012-10-23T19:06:00.002-07:00

It is painful when you see, so clearly, the potential of how things could be, how really amazing things could be, but they are not and the average person does not understand what you are yapping about.

2012-01-21T21:45:00.000-08:00

Witty Poem

I came across this poem today, and I though it so witty, I just had to share:

Tripping Over Joy

What is the difference
Between your experience of Existence
And that of a saint?

The saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God

And that the Beloved
Has made such a Fantastic Move

That the saint is now continually
Tripping over Joy
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying, "I surrender!"

Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think

You have a thousand serious moves.

-Hafiz

For more of this, please click here.

2011-09-09T23:32:00.000-07:00

Poem of a Girl

I can see the sadness in her eyes

and in the way she walks

I know her more than what you see

Her soul, I have touched.

When she goes out

and laughs and mingles

People see what they want to see

They can't see past their own wants

Her soul, I have touched.

That day, last August

when she looked out to the water

Told me her fears. dreams. hopes.

Told me her story.

Her soul, I did touch

and she touched mine.

2011-08-08T22:38:00.000-07:00

Calistoga

I just got back from a mini-vacation. The vacation took place in a little slice of heaven called Calistoga. I basically spent every day going to wineries, soaking in the sites, window shopping in cute little shops, eating delicious food, taking mud baths, getting massages, and swimming in pools of mineral water.

Things that I love about Calistoga:

- It is a small town, with charm and character. I could see myself living here. Living a calm life. Drinking great wine. Getting to know my neighbors. Being happy.
- There is no shortage of entertaining things to do: from mud baths to Italian castles, wine tasting to petrified forests and old faithful geysers. Ok, so the place is a little touristy. But, the amount of tourists is minimal given Calistoga's up-most northern position in Napa Valley. Most tourists never make it up that far. Calistoga is like a hidden gem that only the die hard wine-aficionados make it to.
- There is a great grocery store in the middle of town. I love grocery stores. I don't know why, I just do. Especially grocery stores with organic meats and produce, and rows filled with delectable cheeses.
- There are no annoying restaurant chains (aka, fast food chains) or things like Embassy Suites. All of the restaurants and hotels in town are unique and one of a kind.
- The food is amazing. All the restaurants and bakeries are just delectable. For a town of 5000, this is quite an accomplishment.
- The scenery is a picture of bliss. Rows after rows of grape vines, making vineyards, surrounded by roses, which in turn are surrounded by lush green mountains.

Here are a couple of the pictures I took while on vacation:

Need I say more?

2011-08-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

Weddings

I have to admit, I love attending weddings. I love, love, LOVE brining my bulky little camera along and taking pictures of the quiet moments of grace that fill the gaps between the rituals that surround a marriage. Photographing a ceremony is not as exciting for me as photographing the moments before and after the ceremony, when people are filled to the brim with emotions and hope, and actions are unscripted.

Here are some pictures from a recent wedding where I had the honor of being a bridesmaid.

2011-08-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

Which is Worse?

Bipolar disorder with psychotic symptoms, or schizophrenia paranoia?

2011-05-28T12:09:00.000-07:00

New York!

I had the good fortune of taking a little vacation this month. I went to New York with Alan! It was a pretty nice get-away from my regular day activities. Here are some pictures form my adventures in Manhattan.

What do we see on our first day: A photo shoot in front of the cafe where we ate brunch. It is a pity that those shoes look so god-awful ugly.

Then, we found Elmo. He was just chillin' in the Meatpacking District.

The view from our hotel: Amazing!

We stayed at The Standard.

This experience of visiting New York was completely different from my previous experience last December. The weather was different, the mood on the street was different. But, one of the things that struck me the most was the quantity of tourists everywhere. They were just overwhelming in quantity, wherever you went. I think I prefer New York in the winter.

2011-04-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

Annoying Things about Following a Gluten Free Diet

#562: Eating at a restaurant.

Eating out at new restaurants used to be pure excitement and joy, except for the bill part. Now eating out at a new place is an actively stressful endeavor, and I still get a bill at the end of it. [Insert self-flagellation pun here.] The things that create anxiety about new restaurants are as follows (in order of increasing magnitude):

a) Bread baskets full of warm delicious bread.
b) Waiters who do not know what gluten is.
c) Going out with people who order all the delicious food you cannot eat, and having it placed in front of you, when you are hungry. (Note: If I am not hungry, then I do not care.)
d) Waiters who still do not understand what gluten is even after you have explained it to them.
e) Not knowing what is safe to eat (remember gluten hides everywhere).
f) Waiters who tell you that they have checked, and that item you wanted is definitely gluten free, only to discover that your item (i.e. salad) was delivered drenched in croutons.

A, B and C simply cannot be helped, and are an exercise in patience and restraint. As for D, well, lets just say that I have developed strong opinions about how waiters should be trained to understand what constitutes the 8 most common food allergens. E may be avoidable if you prepare in advance, and call the restaurant to make sure they have gluten free items to offer, and generally make a big fuss out of things. F really sets me off.

There is a gluten-free restaurant that I recently discovered. This restaurant helps me avoid B through F, which is pretty good. This restaurant is, however, a soulless mediocre chain full of yuppies and tacky decorations. It is. Gulp. P.F. Chang's! They have a relatively large gluten-free menu available. And, the food does not completely suck. Such are now my standards to determine if a restaurant is acceptable to the extent that I would want to visit again. Tacky decorations and soullessness be damned.

In my search for friendly restaurants, I discovered that McDonalds also has a small gluten-free menu. I will not be visiting the golden arches any time soon though. My standards will accept soullessness, but not evil incarnate. You have to draw the line somewhere.

2011-03-24T23:09:00.000-07:00

More about Tiny Homes

I have discovered the beauty of cob! Here are some pictures of tiny cob-made homes. There is something terribly romantic about building your house from the earth, and something astoundingly practical about living mortgage free. These are images I found by going a quick image search on Google:

These homes are gorgeous, unique and ecologically sustainable.

Why don't more people live in cob homes?

2011-02-23T13:42:00.000-08:00

Test Results have Arrived

I have been hanging on an edge waiting for my test results. They took forever to arrive. Almost three weeks of waiting were envolved. The wait gave me plenty of time to ponder about the potential results. Half of me wanted the test results to be positive. Positive results would constitute evidence to back up my theories about what is going on with my body. In addition, and although nobody said this outright, I am sure that my friends and family thought I was a little crazy, what with my claiming that I was allergic to gluten and trying all these fad diets and all. Heck, even I thought my claims were a little weird. Positive test results would prove that I am, in fact, not crazy. The other half of me wanted the test results to be negative, because then I wouldn't have to live the rest of my life on a restricted diet. Who wants to be allergic to wheat? Everything has wheat in it. My favorite foods are made with wheat. Who would want to live the rest of their lives without cheese-its? Certainly not I! In order to be able to eat gluten, I would swallow bit of my pride. Maybe.

Anyway, now the test results are in and although my pride is intact the outlook is grim. The results are conclusive and ominous: I have an active gluten sensitivity and it is recommended that I do not consume any wheat, barley or rye for the rest of my life. The results gave me mixed emotions, which started with my lamentations over never being able to eat pizza again. Lucky for me, before I received the test results, I had already found a source or two of gluten-free chocolate. The gluten-free chocolate was just as comforting as the regular kinds of chocolate, and so I think I will live.

2011-02-14T13:08:00.000-08:00

Chocolate, Please

Question: Can I have a bit of chocolate. Just a little bit of chocolate, please.
Answer: [Evil laugh] NO, BECAUSE ALL CHOCOLATE IS MADE WITH GLUTEN OR ON MACHINES THAT ALSO MANUFACTURE WHEAT PRODUCTS!!!

2011-02-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

Gluten Intolerance?

It is very possible that I have developed an allergy to gluten. I'm getting tested for it, and I should get the lab results in about 2-3 weeks. In the meantime, I am doing something very similar to the Atkins Diet; a gluten-free diet. How did I come to believe that I might be allergic? Well, that is a long story but I can sum it up by saying that (1) there are a few indicators and (2) my 23 and Me DNA results indicate that I am about 200% more likely than the average person to develop celiac disease. Yay.

A gluten-free diet is not as crazy as it sounds. It is actually quite healthy for you. Even Oprah has tried it. However, what it lacks in craziness it makes up for in difficulty. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING has wheat in it. Even the Atkins bars have wheat in them, so I can't eat those anymore.

Since I don't eat out at restaurants that much, I exercise a lot of control over what I ingest. This part is key in being able to maintain a gluten-free diet. This, and obsessively reading food labels. Pretty much the only thing I can eat without having to worry about gluten is fresh fruit.

I can't wait to get my test results so that I can know for sure if I really have a wheat intolerance. I am not one to be prone to unnecessary food privations. Or patience.

2011-01-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

The Book Club!

I've started a book club. This is The Book Club's Constitution!

2011-01-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

Acupuncture

I've decided to try something new: Acupuncture. I've always known that I had bad circulation, amongst other small health-details that were not stellar. So, I've decided to give Traditional Chinese Medicine a chance. So far it has been really exciting! I looked up TMC online, and I found a couple of reputable TMC Drs. I settled on Dr. Ivy, of Ivy Acupuncture and Herb Clinic and I've already had a couple of treatments. The truth is, it feels kind of silly to be lying there with small needles sticking out of your legs and head. But, I have seen impressive results: my circulation has improved, I haven't gotten a single headache since the treatments started, and my eyes are not constantly dry. I think I will continue to receive acupuncture treatments.
Here is a picture of an acupuncture needle in my wrist (I'll spare you the ones of my legs and feet):

2011-01-03T20:40:00.000-08:00

From Vegetarianism to Atkins Diet

So I've done a complete 180 and I am now following the Atkins Diet. I honestly am not sure about how this happened. One day I woke up, and my husband and I decided to try it out. We decided to start on January 1st, 2011, and start the New Year off with a bang. There are several observations that I would like to make about a low-carb, no sugar diet:
1) It is expensive to only eat organic meats and Atkins products.
2) Eating a lot of fat and meat is very counter-intuitive, but it works if you want to loose weight.
3) I used to get incredibly hungry, and feel like I would almost faint, if I didn't eat. Now I don't get those blood sugar lows. It is actually kind of nice.
4) I miss my whole-grain morning toast, but that is about all I miss form the world of carbs.

Once I started reading about how Atkins works, I discovered that it actually makes a lot of sense. This was a surprising discovery, since I used to think that eating a meat-based diet was about the most awful thing you could do to your body. I now believe that the people who criticize the diet just don't fully understand how it works or what it entails. Atkins is all about finding the correct balance of foods for your body, learning about how your body works, and learning how to distinguish true hunger from compulsive eating.

2010-12-24T19:47:00.000-08:00

White vs. Color

Since we have known each other, Alan and I have had epic battles over Christmas lights. He prefers multi-colored lights on the Christmas tree, while I prefer white. I think white lights are more elegant, and beautiful, while Alan prefers his tree to look like a rainbow. Since we have never actually set up a Christmas tree before this battle has remained unresolved, until NOW.

This year is the first we are hosting Christmas together for the family. Hosting Christmas means making a lot of food, putting up stockings, and decorating a suitable tree. We purchased LED tree lights, which consume less electricity and do not get hot... and the tree lights are WHITE! Our Christmas tree is lush, throughly adorned, and twinkles like the snow.

I got my way this year, but to compromise I promised Alan that we could have colored lights next year.

2010-12-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

The Shopping Situation, in New York

Before my trip, almost everybody told me that the shopping in New York is fabulous, and that I should take an extra suitcase with me for all the wonderful things I was going to buy and bring back. To be honest, there were a lot of shops in New York. Unfortunately I found them to be, for the most part, the same shops that I can find in the shopping mall less than 3 miles away from where I live in California. There were plenty of exclusive designer stores in New York, which had superfluous attires I would love to own. But, these exclusive designer boutiques were so far out of my price range (or any normal person's price range) to seriously consider as anything other than a museum. At the end of my trip I was convinced that the Museum-Situation was much more interesting and exhaustive than the Shopping-Situation in the Big Apple.

In terms of shopping around the touristy places, do not even bother! I do not understand why there were so many people in a frenzy to shop around Times Square. I thought almost everything in Times Square was overpriced and overcrowded with people. Plus, you could find the same stores, empty of crowds, just a few blocks away from Times Square. In any case, I can assure you that you would be able to find anything you would like to purchase in the stores around Times Square online, for cheaper.

2010-12-12T20:14:00.000-08:00

New York!

I went to new York last week, for the first time in my life. It was the best week-long vacation I've taken in quite a while! I walked everywhere, and went to some amazing restaurants. I even went to an exclusive holiday party at the MOMA, and had drinks in The Standard's Boom Boom Room. I had so much fun, I didn't want to leave.

Here are a couple of pictures I took from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building:

Here is a picture of the view from my hotel room. Alan and I stayed at the Standard Hotel, in the Meatpacking district. We had a whole wall of glass on the 10th floor of the building, facing New Jersey:

This pictures represents only about 1/16th of the entire view from our room.

I had enough time to visit Brooklyn for a day. To get there, I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a beautiful walk! Here is a picture I took form Fulton's Point:

I also ate Ice Cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. The ice cream was glorious. I had one scoop of Double Chocolate Chunk:

While walking around SOHO, on my last day in New York, I came across John Stewart! How crazy is that! He was filming something, and I just happened to run into the action.

Naturally, I took his picture. For one split second, he actually looked straight at me!

2010-11-20T15:37:00.000-08:00

Stewardess tried to sell me a credit card

I was on a short flight, counting the minutes till arrival, when my train of thought was interrupted by the flight attendant. A stewardess got on the microphone and started praising the virtues of the Alaska-Credit Card, and how many air miles you could gain if you signed up for it today. And, YES, you can sign up for it before we land. The scenario was surreal. At first I tried to concentrate on what the flight attendant was saying, less she mention something worth knowing. But, as soon as I figured out what she was doing I was shocked. Just shocked. Why was the flight attendant selling credit cards? There were several things wrong with this picture, but above all I felt violated. There I was, 14,000 feet above land, with no place to go. By law I'm obligated to listen to flight attendants. They abused this law by using it to force-feed me credit-card propaganda. I was obligated to listen to a less-than-graceful interlude while trying to get to my destination, and I didn't like it. Not one bit. Stewardesses should not interrupt you in order to sell you credit cards; it's just wrong you greedy airline. Just wrong.

2010-09-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

Baby Bella

2010-09-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

Vertical Garden

I am toying with the idea of a vertical garden in our patio. I found this website, for the Window Farm Project, which is pretty cool: http://www.windowfarms.org. But I don't know if this will work for us. I wonder if there are kits I can buy to install a vertical garden outdoors.

2010-08-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

The Red Dress

Photo Shoot in Elizabeth Gamble Park, Palo Alto, Ca.

2010-08-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

Unexpected Joy

While at work today, minding my own business, I came across this zucchini:

It is, quite possibly, the biggest zucchini I have ever seen in my life.

Such a large vegetable deserved to be named. Accordingly, I named it Pat.

Pat originally came from the garden of a coworker's mother.

As soon as I got home I started cooking. I made zucchini muffins, zucchini bread and I am currently roasting some zucchini in the oven for dinner. I still have a quarter of Pat left:

Monster is guarding Pat until I decide what to do with the rest of it.

Maybe fried zucchini chips?

2010-06-27T22:46:00.000-07:00

Do You Want a Tiny House?

I found a blog that is addicting. In this blog you will find the cutest pictures of the tiniest homes in America. Link HERE.