I Am So Not Cool

I Am Not Cool Enough to Dress Myself

2013-12-30T09:23:00.000-06:00

After switching jobs, I realized a few things about my wardrobe. First, I dress like an accountant. Which was fine at my corporate client-facing job, but not as cool at my hip downtown startup. Second, I'm in a bit of a style rut. I tend to find something I like and buy the crap out of it. I own 8 Calvin Klein shift dresses, 7 J. Crew Jackie cardigans, 5 striped shirts, and 4 pairs of red pants.

I also discovered that I apparently do all of my shopping online at night when I can't sleep. Now that I've switched jobs, I actually sleep at night, and I started business school, so I have even less time than before. I used a personal shopper at J. Crew before, which was great, but was very time consuming. So, I decided to outsource dressing myself to strangers on the internet -- and there were a lot of options!

First, I tried Golden Tote, which has two options. You pay $49, pick one item, and they will pick 2-3 more. Or, you pay $149, pick 2 items, and they will send you 4 - 5 more. There are no returns, unless you return the whole thing. Golden Tote was originally conceived as an overstock solution for Puella, a brand which is sold at Anthropologie, which is really brilliant. There were offering a baseball sweater, I had been looking for one for a while, and I also picked a striped sweater. Because, you know, I didn't have any striped clothes in my closet yet. In my tote, I received a sweatshirt, a ridiculously awesome striped maxi dress and two tops that didn't fit, which I gifted to friends. I did the tote a second time, getting a vegan motorcycle jacket and a chunky sweater. I received an okay striped dress, two striped tops, and two tops that didn't fit that I gifted to friends.
Verdict: It was okay. I was forced to try new things. However, I received even more striped items, which was not helpful for getting me out of my comfort zone. The bonus items were hit or miss and both times, I ended up only being able to use 4. I probably won't do this again unless there were two items I really loved (or one for the smaller tote) and spend money on things I want.

Next, I tried Elizabeth and Clarke. They offer a quarterly subscription where you pick 1 ($30), 2 ($50), or 3 ($60) shirts. You get to pick the shirts from a limited selection. Returns are allowed. For my first subscription, I picked these shirts:

Shirts I now own

Verdict: Do it. The shirts were super cute and really wonderful quality. Since I got 3, the price was really reasonable. I wasn't as wowed about the next selection (which I'll get in a few weeks), but they are definitely out of my comfort zone, which is great.

Shirts I'll receive in a few weeks

Next, I tried Stitch Fix. Stitch Fix will send you 5 items upon request or monthly. It costs $20 for the box, plus the cost of whatever items you want (you get to subtract the $20 from the cost of the items if you keep something). You get to tell the price you want items to be at (up to $150 for pants, etc.) and fill out a style quiz. You return the things you don't want. The first time I tried this, I kept one item. The second and third time, I kept all five, though I would have kept four for the second box, but it was cheaper to keep the item, since you get a 25% discount if you keep all five items. The fourth box, I kept nothing. Each item also comes with a card showing two looks you can create with the item.

Style card

Look at me, following instructions!

Verdict: Do it. Though this last box was a total bust, they have mostly sent me things that looked great on me and worked with my wardrobe.

And finally, I tried Keaton Row. You fill out a style profile including budget for certain types of items, they match you with three stylists, and you pick one. The stylist will put together several looks or find certain items (jeans, shoes, etc.) and build you a personal catalog upon request. The catalog includes items from Nordstrom, ShopBop, or Asos, and have free shipping and returns. There is no cost unless you buy something. My first stylist fell off of the face of the earth, but my second one, Ophelia, has been fantastic!

Part of my lookbook

Verdict: Do it. It's the least risky of the services I tried, and it was super easy -- basically online shopping, but curated personally for me.

I read "Lean In" and I don't get why everyone is so upset about it

2013-03-25T19:24:00.000-05:00

We've already discussed how I believe we need more women in tech, so it's probably not a surprise that I read Lean In, written by Facebook's female COO Sheryl Sandberg. It's been in the news a lot lately.

Before actually reading the book, I read that the book focuses on a certain niche -- better educated women in flexible situations. Sandberg acknowledges that in the beginning of the book. I read it focuses too much on what women can individually do, and not on what as a society we need to change -- which again, Sandberg acknowledges in the beginning of the book. So we're clear, since several articles that I've read about the book seem to have not read the book at all, or not be paying attention, Sandberg writes:

I know some believe that by focusing on what women can change themselves -- pressing them to lean in -- it seems like I am letting our institutions off the hook Or even worse, they accuse me of blaming the victim. Far from blaming the victim, I believe that female leaders are key to the solution. Some critics will also point out that it is much easier for me to lean in, since my financial resources allow me to afford any help I need. My intention is to offer advice that would have been useful to me long before I had heard of Google or Facebook and that will resonate with women in a broad range of circumstances.

So with the disclaimers early in the book about what the book is about, I have to say, I go on to pretty much agree with everything she says, and Sheryl Sanberg is my new "business crush". And this probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm also in tech, pretty much doing everything she's proposing, and we are reading the same books. She quotes a book that had a real impact to me, "Getting to 50/50: How Working Couples Can Have It All by Sharing It All" in several places. My favorite quote of the 50/50: "The most important career decision you make is who you marry."

Which for me, having the husband I picked has helped me take risks I wouldn't have otherwise considered. Prime example: I'm in my first trimester with my first child. My husband is about to finish business school, getting an MBA full time. We own a house, and I'm supporting us fully. And I'm miserable at work. Incredibly miserable. Working 80 hours a week. Traveling 40% of the time. And I hate my job. Crying every night when I come home at the end of the day hate my job. Also, I'm exhausted and want to throw up every moment of the day because I'm pregnant. My husband points out that this can't go on. I reply that I'll have the baby, take maternity leave, go back to work for a few months, then start looking for another job. My husband does the math and says, "So you'll be happy a year from now?" I started looking for a job that night. I started a new job three weeks later. Switching jobs while pregnant wasn't my fantasy situation, and I wouldn't have even considered it had my husband not brought it up.

I've done things in my career which sounded ridiculous on paper. Came back from maternity leave to a large project, deploying software that didn't exist yet for my employer's largest client. (Thought I remember having at the time: "This will either be amazing and I'll be able to write my own ticket here, or I'll need to get a new job.") Managed a 24/7 support team, pretty much being on call 24/7 myself, and had a second child while I was at it. Joining a startup while my husband is also at a startup--and starting MBA school in the fall. (My reaction to getting accepted to an executive MBA program on the 8th day of my new job, a consideration I didn't think to bring up to my new boss during my whirlwind interview: "Well, I have a month to decide which will allow me to see what this new job is like, and I can defer for a year, so I can postpone this if I need to." My husband's: "Obviously, you're going.") To quote Sandberg, "if I waited until the timing was exactly right, the opportunity would be gone."

But with all these crazy, risky, stupid on paper decisions that my husband has encouraged, my career has skyrocketed. I made choices that allowed me to grow my career quickly, which Sandberg encourages in the book, quoting Eric Schmidt, "only one criterion mattered when picking a job -- fast growth."

Sandberg also has a lot of discussion about working hours throughout the book, which is timely for me. Starting a new job means I have to renegotiate with myself and my new company what working looks like, and it's been something I've been thinking a lot about. As one of the first people at work at my old company, I was surprised to find people actually at my new office at 8:30 in the morning. My husband and I have an agreement that I can work all I want as long as I'm home around 5:30-6pm and focused on the kids until they go to bed, and I'm leaving work when lots of people are still in the office. Sandberg outlines her post-baby schedule at Google, including some creative calendar blocking, and summarizes the experience, "I realize that my concern over my new hours stemmed from my own insecurity." Or as one of my own mentors said to me, "Don't worry about this--they didn't have you before, so what you are bringing to the company is more than what they had before."

It made me wonder, does my husband worry about work-life balance? Apparently not. (Another quote I highlighted in the book, "As Marie Wilson, founder of the White House Project, has noted, 'Show me a woman without guilt and I'll show you a man.'") But he is still annoyed at several 5 pm meetings I accepted at my last job. "It's 5 pm. You need to come home. I'm not sure why you accepted these meetings -- I decline meetings that happened at noon. Noon is lunch time." My response, "The meeting was with my boss' boss' boss. It's not like I could say no." His, "Why not?" I still would accept the 5 pm meeting, but point taken -- be choosy and fierce about my time (the same advice I give my team members) and don't feel the need to apologize for that.

I don't want to be the only woman in the room. Lean In, people. Lean In.

I Am Not Cool Enough for: Christian Loubontons

2013-03-16T21:20:00.002-05:00

So, at some point, I convinced my husband that if I got promoted, I could celebrate by getting a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes. In case you aren't familiar with the iconic, red-soled shoes, they are ridiculously expensive shoes, generally 4 inch heels with a 1/2 inch platform with a red sole -- and the red sole is patented by Christian Louboutin. While there are different styles, I had my eyes on a classic black patent.

Years go by, and my promotion happened! And then before it could be announced, the company I was working for got acquired. Which was . . . something. And after a little more than half a day of dealing with the announcement, my office mate decided the best way to handle the stress was a quick trip to Neiman Marcus to pick up the shoes. Conveniently, our office was at a high end shopping mall! So we went! And I bought the most expensive shoes I own. And it was incredibly exciting and they were so pretty!

And while still in the store, I realized they were incredibly uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable. I wore them around the house with athletic socks for a week trying to stretch them out, which did nothing.

And so I hate wearing them. I mean, they are gorgeous, they really are, but if I have to say, like walk, or stand in them, or an any way use them as "shoes", I'm miserable. They are by far the most uncomfortable shoes I've ever worn. I can wear them for 30 minutes tops. And then I start thinking, well maybe if I start drinking the pain in my feet will go away. And then I'm tipsy and wearing 4 + inch heels, and I'm an incredible klutz, so it's a dangerous combination.

I am not cool enough for: Mad Men

2012-04-10T20:37:00.000-05:00

I don't watch Mad Men. But you really think I would. I have gone to both Mad Men Banana Republic collection opening parties. I've bought clothes from both collections. I love late fifties and early sixties style and have a great shape for that.

And Christina Hendricks is my style sister She has big boobs and the hair color I would choose if I wasn't busy trying to be a responsible adult. We're practically twins.

I watched part of the show once. I was bored. So bored. With the new season starting, I Facebook polled my friends to see if I should jump in midstream, and consensus was I should start from the beginning. I set the TiVo to record it anyway. It didn't record for some reason and I just assumed it was a sign.

I'm not watching Downtown Abbey either. I really want to be entertained by TV--not educated or otherwise get cultured. I don't have a lot of free time and I'm getting choosier. It's got to be fun: How I Met Your Mother, Happy Endings, GCB. I've even grown to like New Girl, with Zooey Dechanel, the world's most annoying person.

I Am Not Cool Enough For: Running Into Celebrities

2012-01-10T06:51:00.000-06:00

While we were in San Francisco, another exciting thing happened. I had a celebrity run in!

Husband was off getting a shave at the Art of Shaving (yes, we went to San Fran so I could run a half marathon and Husband went to the man spa.) I jumped in the elevator to head over to meet him at the Art of Shaving, after a nice hour of Doing Nothing, something I don't get to do at home with two kids and a husband who likes to have every moment of free time planned.

Gabrielle Union, as seen on Wikipedia.
You know I did not take this picture

And in the elevator was Gabrielle Union (and some other woman)!

My first reaction was to say, "HOLY SHIT! YOU ARE GABRIELLE UNION! YOU ARE TOTALLY GORGEOUS! YOUR SKIN IS AMAZING! WHAT SKIN LINE DO YOU USE?" which would have been somewhat hilarious since she was at the Half Marathon as the Neutrogena spokeswoman as well as embarrassing for yelling at poor Gaby.

My second reaction was to be embarrassed by my outfit. I was wearing a leopard print cardi over a white tank and jeans--and leopard print flats. Somehow when packing, I had convinced myself that the leopard print flats would go with all my outfits and they were the only shoes I packed besides my running shoes. I tend to overpack, and so I make an effort to remove unnecessary items from my suitcase when traveling, and I clearly had not thought that through enough.

I should point out that I have no memory of what Gaby was wearing.

My third reaction was to be a little smug about the fact that while Gaby is skinnier and more beautiful than I, I am taller.

I managed to pull myself together and stand silently in the elevator.

But before we left the elevator, it stopped on the second floor. I have zero sense of direction and was momentarily confused as to what floor the lobby was on and I sort of peeked out the elevator doors. Gaby said, "Sorry, that was me. I pushed the wrong button." And I said something like, "Oh, no worries."

So here's the thing. When you see a celebrity, you have two options:

1) Go all out. In my scenario, I would have shouted in excitement at Gaby, possibly yelled at her to "BRING IT!", and taken a picture with her with my iPhone.

2) Actually not care. This would have involved me not updating my Facebook status while walking to the Art of Shaving, then announcing to EVERYONE in the store that I was on the elevator with Gabrielle Union. Instead, I would casually mention it quietly to my husband between courses at dinner.

Because I'm easily embarrassed, I try to do option 2, but I'm not cool enough really to pull it off. Nor do I have the balls to go all out with option 1. And that's why I'm not cool enough to really have celebrity run ins.

(And some other time we'll talk about the time I danced with Matthew McConaughey)

I Am Not Cool Enough to Hate on the new Girly Legos

2012-01-04T23:46:00.000-06:00

I was very excited to start seeing articles about the new Lego Friends in December, as the lack of pink and purple Legos is very annoying to me. I bought my daughter a Star Wars Advent Calendar for Christmas (which she loved), and though she's mostly still a little young for Legos, she helps her dad build the Lego Architecture sets we give him for Christmas and his birthday.

In case I wasn't clear in my post about women in tech, I'm all about encouraging little girls to be interested in math and science, having once been a little girl and went to a math and science high school and work in the tech industry today. And I don't discriminate between "boy" and "girl" toys for my daughter or my son. My daughter had a Transformers theme birthday party this year. My son prefers the Disney Princess sippy cups we have. If they are interested in something, we encourage it.

Immediately after the Lego announcements came out, people who have more time than I began hating on the girly legos, updating their Facebook statuses and writing on the Lego wall talking about how girls don't need these sets. I'm really wondering who these people are because let me tell you, these Lego Friends sets look like fun, and I can't wait to play with them. I mean, for my daughter to play with them.

Here's my favorite of all the set, girly Lego scientist:

It's so cool! See the robot! And there's a microscope!

But let's pretend for a second that my feminist nature rejects Lego market research, and instead, I want to buy my 5 year old a "regular" Lego set. Let's explore the options:

Fire plane:

Comes with trees on fire. I'm not kidding. See them above? The red thing is "flames" according to the description. Do you know what kind of conversations I'd have to have if I bought this? "Mommy, what if the fire plane doesn't get to the trees in time? Is our house going to burn down?"

Dino Ambush Attack:

According to the website, the goal is to capture the dino with a tranquilizer gun before it escapes and attack the city. Yes, dinos attacking the city--that will not keep my child up at night.

Toxic Reapa:

I do not know what this is but it looks freaking scary.

Recycling Truck:

While no offense to people who make an honest living picking up recycling, I hoping my daughter will aim a little higher on the career ladder.

Sponge Bob Squarepants Bikini Bottom Undersea Adventure:

I'm not kidding. That's the actual name. I'm not buying my child any toys named "Bikini Bottom."

There's also a large assortment of Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, and Cars (the movie) legos available in case you just want to re-enact movies and not use your actual imagination or anything.

While I'm a girl (I guess) and therefore the target market for the Lego Friends toys, I have to say, I totally want to play with them. I have zero interest in the Lego Architecture sets my husband gets. The Advent calendar was an exercise in frustration to me as the diagrams to put the Legos together make no sense to me. They might as well be instructions from Ikea. We have Cars and Thomas duplos and I'm really not that interested in them either. But I'm all about building a lab, a cool pink house, or vet clinic. (I do totally question this Stephanie's desire to have an outdoor bakery. Buttercream melts!)

So Lego Corporation: I salute you and your marketing research for Lego Friends. Mission accomplished, as I can't wait to buy them. May I be as bold to suggest you put similar efforts into your other product research so attacking dinos, fire, and bikini bottoms aren't the other options to choose from?

My Karmic Debt to Lance Armstrong

2011-12-09T08:29:00.000-06:00

In 2005, Lance Armstrong announced that he would try for a 7th Tour de France. He had won a 6th and implied that was his last. And then came this announcement.

We took this picture of Lance on our trip

In the spring when the announcement was made, Husband and I were both working for tech companies, and Husband had decided to start grad school in the fall. I had never been to France. We were cycling then (because we didn't have kids) and loved watching le Tour at home on TV.

One thing you should know about me is that I'm not spontaneous. I'm a certified project manager. I like to budget for things and plan. So, when I heard the news, my immediate thought was, "We are SO going!" and this was not like me at all.

Husband at the Col du Solour

We weren't budgeting for a fancy trip to France! I decided this was not a problem. I was traveling a lot for my job, so I could get us plane tickets using miles. I had previously worked for a tech company that had gone public. I had bought out all my vested shares 4 years earlier and as the company wasn't public at the time, I thought I would never see that money again. And while it wasn't a lot, because I had joined the company so early, it was a 400% return on what I originally spent. We could cash out and still have an emergency reserve while Husband was in graduate school.

We were about to go down to one income. We owned a house. Going to France was a ridiculous decision.

It was the best trip I ever had.

We flew into Paris, took a train to Lourdes, rented a car, and drove across France. We stayed in 5 cities and 6 hotels. We saw a mountain stage, a start, a finish, the time trial, and the famous final loop at the Champs-Elysee.

I was so sad to come home. France was wonderful.

Husband went to grad school and everything was fine.

And a few months after I sold all of my stock, the stock was delisted.

At the Champs-Elysee

So, thanks to Lance Armstrong, I had a wonderful trip and cashed out at the right time. As a result, I feel I owe him a karmic debt, and try to raise money or participate in Livestrong events when I can.

So, I've decided to run the Austin Half Marathon in Feb 2011 as my next event and raise money for the Livestrong Foundation! I'm obligated to raise $500, but I'm aiming for $1000! The Livestrong foundation provides support to guide people to through the cancer experience, bring them together to fight cancer, and work for a world in which our fight is no longer necessary. I hope that you'll support me while I train for my next event!

Adventures in Cooking: Ranch Popcorn

2011-12-07T20:25:00.001-06:00

My husband and I have two small children, so we don't go out anymore. On a very rare occasion, we'll get a babysitter or have their grandparents watch them. Because we on the young children/old people schedule, we like to have an early dinner--6:30 or 7 pm when we go out (the kids eat dinner around 6pm.) But the kids aren't finished being put to bed until 9 pm or so. And there is no way we're going to all this trouble to go out and then have to put the children to bed ourselves! So after dinner, we generally have some time to kill until it's safe to go home.

Lately, our favorite spot to kill time is the bar at the W Hotel. It's called the Living Room and it has a ton of couches to relax on. And, you can order their popcorn of the day. We've had chipotle, parmesan, and salted caramel. I love it.

One day while surfing the Weight Watchers site, I ran across a recipe for ranch flavored popcorn and got inspired. Not inspired to do the recipe (which involved several ingredients which I was certain would send me to Central Market, which you know I try to avoid at all costs), but to be creative with some ranch powder.

So here's my recipe for Ranch Popcorn:

One microwave popcorn bag (I recommend a butter flavor because it is stickier)
Olive oil spray
Ranch dip/dressing powder mix (you can buy it in envelopes or in a shaker)

Microwave popcorn (hopefully you have a microwave that has a popcorn setting so you don't have to think too hard about counting the popping, because that's annoying.) Once done, immediately open bag, pour into a giant bowl and lightly spray with the olive oil spray. Liberally sprinkle on the ranch powder. Toss. Spray with olive oil spray, sprinkle the powder, and toss three more times.

Adventures in Cooking: Cheese Garlic Biscuits (like Red Lobsters)

2011-11-13T20:00:00.001-06:00

"There is no one of-woman-born who does not like Red Lobster cheddar biscuits. Anyone who claims otherwise is a liar and a Socialist." Tina Fey, Bossypants

I was reminded of the awesomeness of the cheddar biscuits by my friend Emily which reminded me that I held the keys of awesomeness in my hand! Many, many years ago, before I met Husband, I dated this guy for several years, whose mother passed along a secret family recipe titled "Cheese Garlic Biscuit's (like Red Lobster's)". Okay, it wasn't a secret family recipe, it was a newspaper clipping, which she copied, enlarged, and laminated for me. I dusted off my cookbook where I wrote down recipes (seriously, I wish I could go back to my 15 year ago self and explain how I would not need to write things down with handwriting ever again) and found the clipping:

Cheese Garlic Biscuits (like Red Lobster's)

I have no idea why there are only 11 on this cookie sheet.
Nope, no idea at all.

2 c Bisquick
2/3 c milk
1/2 c Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 c butter
1 tsp. garlic powder

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Mix baking mix, milk and cheese until a soft dough forms. Beat vigorously 30 seconds. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Melt butter. Mix with garlic powder, brushing over warm biscuits before removing from cookie sheet. Serve warm. Yields 12 biscuits, more or less.

Running: So what's next?

2011-10-28T21:49:00.001-05:00

So while I was still training for the Nike Half, my husband started talking to me about doing a winter half marathon. Training in the summer was HORRIBLE, but now that I'm in shape to do a half, maintaining it hopefully won't be that hard through the nicer winter months.

Like most people, my life has been touched with friends and loved ones having cancer. I've raised money for the American Cancer Society (which is a FANTASTIC organization), and had a wonderful time doing it. There are two half marathons in the winter in Austin that people generally do -- 3M or 1/2 of the Austin Marathon. The Austin Marathon is now the LIVESTRONG Marathon, and I have a karmic debt to Lance Armstong we'll talk about later, and so the decision was made! I'm raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and running the Austin Half Marathon!

I had a hard time finding a training plan to do one half marathon and then another a few months later, so I wanted to share what my plan is!

When I started training for the Nike race, I used the FIRST training plan and combined the training plan I found on the Runner's World website with the one I found in their book, which I read about in Runner's World some time back. I was really intrigued by it as it preached only running 3 days a week (and cross training on the other days.)

I ran into two problems with the plan:

1) I couldn't do a lot of the prescribed mid week work before actually leaving for work. I'm so slow, and running 5 miles before I leave for work would take an hour, meaning I'd have to leave my house before 6 am, which just wasn't going to happen. I ended up modifying the plan so I would just run 30-45 minutes (whatever actual time I had) as fast as I could one day and then did speedwork the other day, sort of following the plan in the book, but doing whatever I could in whatever time I actually had.

2) There was a lot of long run hard weeks back to back which I found really tiring in the Texas heat as well. I was getting really burned out mentally and having a hard time getting motivated to run so far so often.

I remembered reading about some other plan in Runner's World where you did long runs every other week (and I had done a similar plan years ago), so I found this Jeff Galloway plan, and did long run final weeks of that, basically doing a long run one week, 4 miles the next week, long run the week after, and so on. It gave me a mental break every other week which I really needed. (I didn't do the walking method Galloway prescribes, but I used it when I ran the whole marathon, and it is good.) I continued to only run two other days a week doing speedwork and hard short runs.

So, what is my new plan?

I took weeks 11-17 of the Galloway plan and working backwards on a calendar, put those long runs as a ramp up to the race. So, I'll use the same plan to run 14 miles or so two weeks before the half. Until I get to that 7 week stretch (starting January 7), I'm going to run 8 miles long one weekend, 4 miles the next, 10 miles the weekend after that, and 4 miles the next; repeat! Since 9 miles is my sticking point, I'll have a run to push past that point once a month.

We'll see how it goes!

Running: NWM 1/2 Marathon!

2011-10-18T15:09:00.000-05:00

After several years of waiting, I finally hopped on a plane with my husband (kids stayed at our house with grandmas) and headed to San Francisco for the Nike Women's Half Marathon!

We landed on Friday and headed to the Expotique to get my race bib and goodies (bag, cowbell, samples, coupons). Saturday we wandered around the city (Husband had never been there, I had been there once for work) and got to bed early for the big race on Sunday!

I slept terribly on Saturday night. I had a nightmare that I had missed my alarm and couldn't find the start line. I woke up (it was 3:30am Pacific -- 5:30am Central, and my usual wake up time) and set my alarm for even earlier (my husband had also set several alarms.) I fell back asleep to only then dream that I had missed the finish time.

This was an actual real fear of mine. If you run the marathon, there's a 6.5 hour time limit, or 14 min/mile pace you have to keep up. Don't keep up and they'll throw you in a car and take you to the finish line. The FAQ on the race website wasn't particularly clear about the half marathon, and I had inspired myself to run even faster than my normal training pace in my last long run (14 miles) by having the Nike + GPS lady tell me my pace every mile and thinking "TIFFANY NECKLACE" every time it was over 14 min/mile. (Yes, I'm very slow. Also, it's very hot in Texas.)

So, race morning. I woke up early, ate my usual pre-run breakfast of granola bars, Diet Dr. Pepper (stop judging me), and Claritin, packed my race belt with Gu and water and took off to walk the block to the start line (thank you Priceline!) Husband gave me a kiss and dashed to the spectator buses -- he could catch a bus to see me at miles 4, 9, and the finish. We agreed in advance that I'd see him at 4, around 11 (since the 11 mile marker and finish line were actually near each other) and then at the finish.

The start line energy was fantastic. I may have actually cried a little bit during the national anthem. Then they started Beyonce's "Run the World (Girls)" and 12 minutes later I crossed the start line along with 20,000 other women and 2,000 extremely smart men!

It wasn't too cold in San Fran and though I started off in a shirt, shorts, ear covers, and jacket, I took the jacket and ear covers off about .5 mile in. I also took off fast! The first two miles were all downhill and I was trucking away! My realistic goal for the race was to run it in 3 hours flat, and my stretch goal was to run it in 2:45. I needed to average a little under a 14 min mile to accomplish that, and my first three miles average pace was 12:45 -- way too fast for me. I ran through downtown and to to the wharf area that Husband and I had explored the day before.

If you've never run a race like this, it's just so energizing. People cheering, everyone around you running and encouraging you to run, being handed water and goodies along the way. It's an uplifting experience and it's hard not to get caught up in the momentum!

My usual strategy for races like this is to walk up any steep uphill -- there's a point of diminishing returns when running uphill where walking is faster and expends less energy. The first hill appeared around mile 3 and I walked it, as most everyone around me also did.

View of bridge at top of big hill

At the top of the hill, many people stopped and took pictures. There were actually volunteers there to take your picture for you if you wished. I thought this was ridiculous. I was serious about my (very slow) time goal! I'm not going to stop and take a picture! Wait! Check out that view! I'm totally taking a picture! And I'm going to upload it to Facebook too! While I'm running! (I also managed to accidentally end my workout on my Nike+ GPS app so I had to restart it and be sad about the fact that my Nike+ history would show TWO workouts and not correctly capture my half marathon PR. Stupid technology!)

I ran past the four mile marker cheering station and did not see my husband. So I called him. He didn't answer. I ran along and saw him a little while past that and handed him my jacket and ear covers. And off I kept going!

Golden Gate Bridge

Around mile 6, there was another good view of the Golden Gate bridge, so I took a picture of that too.

When you run a marathon, mile 18 is called "the wall" because more people quit at mile 18 than any other point. I don't know if the half has an equivalent, but for me it's mile 9. At the 9 mile mark during my 14 mile run two weeks before the race, I was mentally done. I wanted to quit. Fortunately, I was three miles away from my car and the fastest way to get there was to run. And if I'm going to run three miles, I might as well finish the run! So, I took a little walk break, drank some water, and carried on!

Ocean

During the half marathon, mile 9 was the start of another freaking hill. I don't know if you are aware of this, but San Francisco is hilly. Central Texas is not. Texas is hot, and in my mind I was hoping that might equal out for me on race day. Somewhere around mile 8 or 9, the aid station passed out orange slices which helped me think refreshing thoughts. Kaiser Permanente sponsored a mile and had signs that listed reasons for running (1. The Necklace.) I powered through my hard points and carried on through. I also got to see the ocean, and took its picture.

Husband caught up with me not long after. I handed him my race belt so I would look cuter in the finisher pictures. (Listen. I trained REALLY HARD for this race and travelled REALLY FAR to run it. I'm TOTALLY taking a cute picture at the finish line!)

Safeway sponsored a mile between 10 and 11 and had signs on the road that said things like, "Safeway knows you can do this. . . . we know how you didn't sleep in all those mornings," which made me a little teary because I really, really love sleeping in. Around mile 11, before the start of a really big hill, they had another sign which said that Safeway know you could do this because you already went over the biggest hill. Which wasn't as comforting, really.

Throughout the race, I saw many funny signs held by spectators or attached to runners:

I love Sunday football, but I love running with 20,000 women more
Run like you are late for a shoe sale!
Worst. Parade. Ever.
Less sign reading, more running!

When I got to mile 11, I got SO EXCITED! I was only TWO POINT ONE miles away from the finish. I began running faster! And I couldn't believe people around me weren't running faster too! Didn't they know we were almost there?! Near mile 12, the full marathoners split off and I thanked Baby Jesus that I was only doing the half marathon. Ghirardelli had a chocolate station at mile 12, so I slowed down to eat a piece, and then picked up the pace!

Trucking towards the finish line, I put on Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory" and pushed myself to the finish! With a tenth of a mile left, my freaking iPhone battery ran out! Annoyed, I removed my earphones from my ears, turned the corner, saw the finish line and ran like a crazy woman pretending to hear Lady Gaga in my ears!

I crossed over the finish line all smiley. I received my Tiffany necklace presented to me by a fireman in a tuxedo, but sadly couldn't take any pictures of the moment due to my stupid dead iPhone 3GS. I walked towards the herd of people and received a finisher's t-shirt, bag to carry my stuff in, water, bagel, and thermal blanket.

I then realized that I had no idea where my husband was and couldn't call him. A random San Francisco woman lent me her phone and saved the day!

I got to sit down, which was amazing, and opened my new necklace!

All in all, this was an excellent race -- the scenery was gorgeous, water and aid stations were many and plentiful, and the spectators and runners were gleeful and fun to be with! Also, did I mention there was a Tiffany necklace at the finish line? I'm totally spoiled now! My finish time was 3:02, but I figure that the extra two minutes over my goal to take pictures and eat chocolate was time well spent!

Oh dear: Southwest Airlines

2011-09-27T21:36:00.000-05:00

Southwest Airlines recently kicked off two women off of their plane for sharing a kiss. They recently kicked off the Green Day frontman for wearing baggy pants and Kevin Smith for being fat. All of which we can agree is pretty stupid.

I say if Southwest Airlines is going to continue kicking people off of planes for stupid reasons, there's no reason why I shouldn't be the one to set the rules. In my last gig I traveled 40% of the time, frequently on Southwest, so I am clearly the best judge for inappropriate airplane behavior.

Gay or straight women or men sharing small pecks or totally making out, baggy or tight pants wearing people, fat and skinny people, breastfeeding mommies, and combinations of all are all allowed on my plane. Not allowed on my Southwest Airlines flights:

People who bring smelly food on the plane. Where did you find a tuna fish sandwich in the airport, and why did you bring it on the plane?
People who paint their nails on the plane. (Not making this up -- actually happened to me.)
People watching movies that include an airplane crash. Like, really, this is the best time to watch the Lost pilot?
Anyone watching a movie without headphones
If I'm traveling without my children, I don't want to sit next to yours either
People who insist on sitting in the middle seat, next to you, though there are many other available seats on the plane. The middle seat is the seat of last resort. Treat it as such.
Anyone who wants to chat with me on the plane. Planes are for napping. I have on occasion put headphones in my ears that are not plugged into anything trying to remove myself from chatters.
People hitting on me on the plane. I'm married. Even when I wasn't married, I wore a fake wedding ring when traveling as apparently, if you are a single woman traveling on a Southwest plane, since Southwest allows you to pick your own seat, many people confuse it for match.com. It's not a singles bar--it's a transportation device that is taking me to a vacation or work spot, and I'm just not that into you.
People who don't help the mom traveling by herself with three kids trying to get their luggage into the overhead compartment. (For the record, loudly saying several rows away in my Texas accent, "Ma'am, do you need some help with your luggage?" did inspire several capable people around her to assist.)
People putting all of their luggage in the overhead bin on a very full flight though some of their luggage could fit under the seat in front of them.
People putting their luggage in the overhead bin with the wheels the opposite way as indicated on the sign on the bin (out instead of in or vice versa.)

You can advocate for my rule setting on Southwest's Facebook page, or otherwise tell them how you feel about their random policies.

Do this: Get Spotify

2011-09-02T21:51:00.001-05:00

The tech news media was completely gushing about Spotify a few weeks ago and as I try to be hip with the tech stuff (since that's the industry I'm in) I quizzed a friend who was using it and ended up with an invitation of my own.

While I've never been into Pandora or Rhapsody, for some reason, Spotify has really appealed to me. Like those other services, Spotify is a streaming music service. You can stream music from their website, and if you pay for an upgrade, stream from your phone as well.

I believe part of my enjoyment of this service is my horrible taste in music. My taste is bad. I love top 40 pop awful awful music. I want to dance when I hear music and be inspired to run. The name of this blog is I'm not cool -- and my music taste isn't.

So what's totally awesome is Spotify allows me to indulge my taste in crappy music without guilt. The other day, Husband and I watched Burlesque. Stop judging me. It has CHER and CHRISTINA AGUILERA. I thought about buying the soundtrack. But I'm not sure I want to spend $11 on it. No problem, with Spotify, I can listen to the album for free. Or any of their 15 million other songs. Like the Backstreet Boys. I can't live without this and immediately upgraded to premium service, so I can listen to songs streaming on my iPhone. With premium, I can even download playlists to my iPhone and listen to them when not connected to the Internet -- even the good music I occasionally listen to, like Otis on the new Kayne / Jay - Z album.

I Am Not Cool Enough For: Vegetarianism

2011-08-25T21:18:00.000-05:00

I'm allergic to a lot of foods. Namely:

Shellfish
Mushrooms
Avocados
Tree nuts

I can eat a bit of tree nuts without getting too sick, but will break out in a rash or get an itchy mouth if I eat too many. Tree nuts does not include peanuts, and don't let the peanut people fool you: more adults are allergic to shellfish than peanuts.

Since many foods that people seem to really enjoy are already off limits to me, I can't imagine willingly give up other foods and because of that, I will never be able to be a vegetarian. I'm just not cool enough. Also, I'm just not that in to vegetables. I mean, they are okay, but are they as good as steak? No. As good as shortribs? No. As good as bacon? Okay, nothing is as good as bacon. Bacon is heaven.

I ran across this Parks and Recreation clip featuring Ron and food, which, as you know, means meat, and includes one of my favorite Ron moments, where he encounters vegan bacon. Enjoy!

The Time I (Accidentally) Had Lunch with Presidental Hopeful Rick Perry

2011-08-14T20:56:00.000-05:00

In May 2005, Husband and I were newly married, soon headed to stalk Lance Armstrong as he did "last" and 7th Tour de France, and triathletes. Before I had children, and I had more free time, I did triathlons. In case you have no idea what's involved, in a triathlon you swim some distance, dry off and get on your bike, then bike a distance, then ditch your bike, and run. All in a row. Quickly as you can.

Husband and I decided to do the Rookie triathlon, which was an early in the season event (I generally did the Danskin tri, first week of June, and husband the Capitol of Texas tri, Memorial Day) and a good training ground. It's slightly shorter than a normal triathlon, and is somewhat small, making it less intimidating.

We've already discussed how I'm a very slow runner. I'm actually a VERY fast swimmer--in triathlons I'm generally one of the first ones out of the water. Sadly, swimming is the sport you spend the least amount of time on in a triathlon, so fat lot of good that does me. I'm a middle of the road biker and hate it as I feel like at any moment I could get hit by a car or fall of the bike. I mean, if I'm running and I'm worried I'm going to fall over, I just stop. If I'm biking and think I'm going to fall over, first I'm going to have to detach my shoes WHICH ARE ATTACHED TO THE PEDAL and stop the bike, all while trying not to run into anyone else.

So, husband and I did the race. I'm not 100% positive that this is the same year that someone swam over me during the swim and I threw up during the bike portion or not. But that traumatic experience would explain some of the confusion I had later. After the race, there is free beer and hamburgers, so that's pretty cool. So, after the race, we got our burgers and sat down with a friend of Husband's named Bob.

Husband and Bob were sitting next to each other at a picnic table and I was sitting across from them. We were discussing something when a man asked if he could join us. I scooted over and kept talking.

It took me a couple of minutes to figure it out. I was babbling on about whatever, and Husband and Bob were acting really odd. And they were both sitting up straight.

And it suddenly hit me that the man sitting next to me was Governor Rick Perry.

We haven't really discussed politics, but I have a Bachelor's degree in politics. I'm a yellow dog Democrat and vote straight party Democrat. Rick Perry is a Republican. The year he was elected Governor, I realized that Husband was not registered to vote. I was mortified, and I took him to a Fiesta on the east side of Austin and got him registered. And what does my husband do with his new found ability to participate in the democratic process? Votes for Rick Perry and cancels out my vote. "He's an Aggie!" my husband proclaimed. I was annoyed I had bothered to get him registered at all if he was going to vote wrong.

I can't remember what exactly was going on in the government at the time, but there was some sort of legislative big deal. In Texas, our state legislature meets every other year for a handful of months. Giant state, large budget -- all work for 24 months is done in a few of them. Needless to say, I was on the opposite side of the big deal than Perry.

I should also mention here that I'm an extremely polite person and can make small talk for hours with anyone. I work as a manager of a software support department, so my entire day is talking to people: either someone on my team or a client. I'm great at conferences and expos--I'll sit down next to a stranger and get their entire life story in about 5 minutes.

So, here I am, sitting next to Texas' King of the Republicans. Part of me wants to get up. Part of me wants to tell Governor Perry what I think of him. Part of me is wondering how does he get his hair to look that good? I mean, the man just did a triathlon and I'm not sure his hair has moved at all. And part of me just can't be rude.

The nice part won. I asked him what he did for fun when he wasn't Governing. He hunts. So does my husband, so we chatted about that for a while. It was his first triathlon. I recommended he get some EZ laces to cut time off during his transition (which is advice the man frankly didn't need as he placed first in his age group.)

Husband was practically falling off the bench with glee, as pictures are being taken of our Governor talking with the plain folk, his Democratic wife. Fortunately for me, the pictures never surfaced

Do this: QR codes

2011-08-04T08:10:00.001-05:00

Now that I've discovered QR codes, I must say that I'm extremely disappointed in all written material out in the universe without them. Because, let me tell you, I'm not writing anything down again.

First of all, in order to write something down, I'd have to find a pen and paper in my purse. The paper will probably be a kids menu or receipt from a restaurant. I would never remember that I wrote something on it and throw it away when I went home.

Isn't it cute?

Second, if I did write something down, I can't read my own handwriting. At all. I have, on several occasions, asked my coworkers if they can help me read something I, myself, wrote. This is actually becoming quite a problem for me, because the unwritten culture at my office when meeting members of my boss' level is to not bring your laptop to a meeting, which is my normal plan, using Microsoft OneNote to take notes. As a result, I have to take notes by writing them down. I did acquire a really cute notebook to take the notes in. However, I can't read them. (This is actually a plus when I'm sitting close enough to someone that they could read it and the note is something like, "Are you freaking kidding me?" because it's practically in code.)

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about (which seems likely since I've been with several people who recently asked what they were) QR codes are simply bar codes that can be read by a QR scanner. You can download a scanner for your phone and scan away when you see them. If you don't have one, go get one. I'll wait. And here's a QR code that will bring you to this blog. (You can get a QR code for yourself by using the Google URL shortener)

QR codes should be used on any print media I come into contact with that wants me to go to a website. Posters. Magazines. Mail. Because I'm not writing down your website. The address is too long and I can't read my handwriting. You want me to go to your site, make it easier for me to get there.

I recently saw one of the more interesting uses of QR codes at Sephora. They had codes for some of the products that linked to videos on the products. Even better, the Sephora iPhone app includes a QR reader!

At JoAnn's Fabrics (where I sometimes get cake supplies), their "how to" project sheets now have QR codes. I can scan the code and leave the paper--which I would have put in my purse, and completely forgotten about until much later when I was cleaning my purse.

I'm considering getting a QR stamp for my vCard to stamp on my business cards for my company's upcoming conference. Business cards are like grown up trading cards. I haven't saved a single card since 2003 since now we that have Outlook, we don't need business card holders anymore.

Wouldn't it be nice if someone gave you a business card and you could immediately scan it into your contacts on your phone? You could give them the card back! Environmentally friendly!

A Love Letter to: Top Chef while filming in Texas

2011-07-31T20:38:00.002-05:00

Dear Top Chef team,

First of all, love love love your show. I love the regular show, the all stars show, and even the dessert show. When I first heard that Bravo was going to do a Project Runway-type show with food, I thought, "How is that going to work? We can't taste the food!" But it does! And I'm addicted.

So, rumor is that you are currently filming in Texas. That is wise, as we have really wonderful food here. When I was in New York two years ago, I thought, "Yes, the food is good. But we have good food in Texas. So I wouldn't come here just for the food."

Tom, Padma, and Gail: I love you. I hope you bring Ruth with you because she is hilarious.

Your show is currently filming the 9th season of the regular show, and so I thought you might need some help coming up with some challenges. So, here are my recommendations for your Texas season:

Cow butchering challenge. You've done a steak and fish carving challenge before. You are in Texas now -- do a whole cow!
Chili cook off challenge. Best chili wins. People using beans are immediately let go, and possibly have their knives taken away from them in order to encourage them from stopping cooking as beans in chili Is Wrong.
Salsa challenge. Best salsa wins. And there's a lot of different salsa you can make -- verde, pico de gallo, I even made artichoke salsa the other day.
Small town Texas wedding challenge. You've had the wedding challenge several times. It's generally a disaster, which is good TV. I grew up in a small town, where inviting 800 people to your wedding was common. When I got married here in the city, my mother kept apologizing to people that weren't invited because we had a "small" wedding (400 people invited; about 200 came). So, I say do a small town theme and turn up the volume of people!

In addition to having to serve a giant number of people, there will be the joy of creating not just one cake for 800 people (and the cake is always a problem) but TWO since you have to have a groom's cake here too. And have you tried piping buttercream in 100 degree weather and 100% humidity? It melts. Hilarity will ensue!

I don't even need to suggest this of course, but barbecue. I've heard you've been to the Salt Lick, and I approve.
Outdoor challenge. All prep and cooking must be done outside. Fainting chefs are eliminated.

You may also consider that just using the sun as a cooking method, as if your filming continues into August, you may be able to boil water simply by putting it outside.
And whose idea was it to come to Texas in the middle of this heat? You should fire that person.

Bacon. Not particular to Texas, but it's really good. You should totally have a bacon challenge. I can't believe you haven't done that already, actually.

I'm willing to attend any events if you need someone. You frequently do an "annoying woman with food aversions" challenge (Natalie Portman, vegetarian; Zooey Deschanel, vegan), and I'm a prime candidate for that role, as I'm allergic to shellfish, mushrooms, avocados, and tree nuts.

I'm here for you Top Chef team! Call me!

Love,

Cynthia

A Love Letter to: Bindu Reddy

2011-07-27T22:38:00.000-05:00

Dear Bindu Reddy,

A friend of mine linked to an article of yours. We need to talk. Specifically about this line in your article:

Stepping back, at a more fundamental level, I am not really sure we should worry about the lack of women in tech any more than worrying about why there are not more female truck drivers or more male nurses.

Oh I worry. I worry a lot. I've been in the tech business now for 14 years. I started out in IT, and regularly attended quarterly briefings by Microsoft in order to get more product information. For the first few years I went, there was never a line for the women's bathroom. Now tell me: when was the last time you went to an event that had hundreds of people and you didn't wait in line for the women's bathroom?

I'm guessing you also haven't read Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self Esteem, and the Confidence Gap I'll fill you in. Girls in middle school, who otherwise out performed boys in math and science until that point, "lose interest" in math and science, and as a result don't become sys admins when they grow up.

Lucky for me, I had wonderful parents who encouraged my interest in science and allowed me to leave home at 16 to attend a math and science magnet school. I worked at a computer lab in college and with that experience (and not much help from my politics degree) got my first job at a computer help desk.

In my first job out of college, I was the only woman on a team of 10.

In my second job, I was the only woman on a team of 13 with the exception of my boss.

In my third job, I was 1 of 2 women in the company of 12 people.

I don't want to be the only woman in the room in a team meeting.

Happily, things are changing. I work on a wonderfully diverse team now (and my boss is an amazing woman with tons of experience!) Lines started forming for the women's bathrooms at those Microsoft briefings. My daughter takes Gigglebytes computer classes at her preschool. Even Barbie is a computer engineer now! And there are wonderful organizations such as GirlStart, which encourage girls to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math.

But I'm probably not going to stop worrying for a while.

Love,
Cynthia

The Best Meal I've Ever Had

2011-07-24T19:43:00.000-05:00

Husband and I went to Uchiko a couple of months ago. It was good. Really good.

And then we went to another sushi type place, like Uchiko, but not, and I kept thinking about how sad I was that it wasn't Uchiko.

Bizarrely, we got a DealSwarm deal to Uchiko (this is NOT some silly chain restaurant -- it was crazy that I had a COUPON for what would still -- after the coupon -- be the most expensive meal I've ever eaten.) and made another reservation.

I'm allergic to everything: shellfish, mushrooms, tree nuts and avocados. Also, I'm a complete control freak. Combine the two things, and I'm a super picky eater. Husband, not so much. When we went to France, Husband ate EVERYTHING: rabbit, beef tongue, steak tartare (which included a 5 minute half-French half-English conversation where I tried to explain to the waiter that yes, it's cold and not medium like my steak, and really he wants to eat it. And he ate the whole thing. I couldn't watch him eat it, it just looked so gross.) I, on the other hand, subsisted on only croissants, French onion soup, steak, cheese, and crepes with Nutella the entire trip.

So, at some point when making this reservation, Husband suggested we just tell the waiter what I'm allergic to and let them bring us whatever they wanted. And I agreed, mostly because I had just read this really awesome book Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat that discussed the crazy chef's menus this chef has and how much he really, really enjoyed trying to surprise his clients and come up with a great tasting menu.

So, we got to the restaurant, told them my allergies, and ordered the 10 course chef tasting menu. We did insist that one of the courses include the pork belly, which we had last time.

I almost changed my mind -- how was I going to let someone else pick what I'm going to eat? Instead, I slammed back a drink, figuring I could get something to eat on the way home if necessary.

It was the most. Amazing. Meal. I've ever had.

The first 4, 5 courses were raw fish: whitefish, tuna, light, amazing, citrus, just wow. Then we had some crazy looking fish that tasted like a shoe. That experience was recovered quickly by the most amazing prime rib I've ever had. Prime rib isn't a food I request or appreciate. But oh my God, this tasted like food from another planet of awesomeness. It was so awesome that I informed the waitress that they must immediately stop serving sushi and only serve meat*.

Our next course was served by Tyson Cole, the chef. I knew it was him because his name was written on his jacket. He told us he heard we liked meat, told us about our next course, and ate some of it himself, this other meat from the awesome meat planet only Uchiko has access to. Tyson was a cute, small man, and I wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home to cook beef at our house.**

And we ate a few more courses (I totally lost count, but I'm guessing it was like 12, maybe 13 courses in total), including some egg/truffle thing -- must have forgotten to tell them about the mushroom allergy -- which I though tasted like dirt, and Husband encouraged my feeling about this course so he could eat it all himself while moaning about how awesome it was. It ended with the pork belly of awesomeness from planet Uchiko Awesome Meat, with an encore of dessert. We got the dessert of the day which was some sort of peach cream/ice cream/homemade pop rock concoction. I hate peaches. I loved this dish. I had poprocks stuck in my teeth for several minutes after eating it, popping away.

I was so sad when our meal ended. I was sad that I would have to eat food that wasn't made by Tyson Cole, James Beard award winning chef. Sad I didn't take any pictures of the meal to remember it by. Sad that I would have to eat regular food day in and day out.

I can't wait to go back.

*I may have been drinking during this meal

**I may have been drinking during this meal and it was a very, very long meal

Adventures in Cooking: Peanut Butter Cake balls

2011-07-20T20:45:00.004-05:00

YUM

After making cake balls, I decided to try to peanut butter cake balls after having an almost reglious experience while eating Holy Cacao's version. Theirs are still better, but these don't suck too bad.

Peanut Butter "Cake" Balls

Package of Nutter Butters
8oz bar of cream cheese, softened
Chocolate or candy coating
Lots of free time

Smush the Nutter Butters to smithereens. I use a mini food processor, but you could put them in a Ziploc and smush them with a hammer or meat tenderizer. Mix in the cream cheese until smooth-ish. Pop in the fridge to harden, at least an hour.

Using a cookie scoop or other scooping device, scoop into balls onto a cookie sheet with wax paper. Put in the freezer to harden, at least 15 min.

While freezing, melt chocolate or candy coating. Dip balls into chocolate. Immediately top with sprinkles, or sea salt (which tastes freaking awesome!) Pop back into freezer to harden candy coating (at least 15 min). Attempt to share with others and decide you don't actually like any other people enough to share.

Do this: Use these awesome beauty products too

2011-07-14T07:37:00.000-05:00

So, since expressing my love for a few beauty products, I discovered three more you must must acquire.

First up is Limitless Lip Stain & Color Seal Balm by Smashbox. I own three of these: Petal (pink), Berry (um. . . berry) and Sangria (red.) I love them all. You draw on your lips with a pen and then use the balm on the other end to keep your lips from feeling crazy dry. And it lasts ALL DAY. Who doesn't have time to reapply their lipstick you may ask yourself? Me. Sometimes I go the whole work day without peeing, and you know that if I had 3 minutes to pee, I don't have time to do something crazy like remember to bring lipstick with me then actually apply it. For goodness sake, I put the stuff on in the car in the parking lot of my office!

The second is Benefit's they're real! Always on the lookout for mascara products that don't end up under my eyes, I got a sample of this with a Sephora purchase. I have pretty good lashes anyway, put after I put this one, I actually swore out loud. It looked like I had falsies. I didn't. I recommend using a light touch because a heavy one is extermely dramatic.

And finally, M.A.C. Cosmetics Lady Danger lipstick (color pictured). Admiring a J. Crew ad, it casually mentioned that the red the models were wearing was Lady Danger. It was flattering on all the models. More orange to me than red, the lipstick was a little bright on, but blotted was simply perfect. I mean, just try to have a bad day with a lipstick named Lady Danger on your lips. Just try.

Okay, Google + could be just as cool as they say it is

2011-07-07T22:57:00.000-05:00

Many thanks to my friend Betsy, I did get an invite to Google +! And I'm lonely. I have less than 10 friends. But looking at what this could be, I'm pretty impressed.

First, the Circle concept. Early on in my Facebook history, I decided that I would accept any friend request that came from actual people I know. I'm quite the Facebook woman of ill repute -- I'll friend anybody. That has brought me to a place where I have over 500 friends, and I really can't say anything. I'm friends with family, coworkers, clients, neighbors, people that were jerks to me in high school -- anyone that asks. That also means that I really inhibit what I post. I had a bad day at work -- probably not going to mention that since the CEO is one of my friends. Annoyed about a system problem at work -- probably not going to mention it since I have clients as friends. Annoyed at the neighborhood kids because they keep playing in the street and I nearly ran over one again -- probably not going to mention it because the neighbors are my friends. Having separate circles would give me the freedom to actually share my real thoughts.

And I guess that I could have not friended anyone I wasn't actually besties with, but the fact is that Facebook and it's social sharing has been extremely helpful. My company has a D.C. office and being Facebook friends with my coworkers in D.C. (like Betsy) makes me feel closer to them -- I can't see them daily, but I get to see what funny and awesome people they are daily on Facebook. I know my neighbors better because I can see what they are up to. I'm a terrible, terrible correspondent -- I hate personal email and so infrequently respond -- but Facebook allows me to but tidbits of my life up and keep people that I don't see as often as I would like close to me.

The second thing is the blending of private and personal, which could be a bad thing. To me, Google + combines the best things of Facebook (possible exclusivity) and the best things of Twitter (it's all out there, all the time.)

I was a Twitter user about two years ago, and I still have an account Follow @cbalusek
But I don't do much with it. I use it some most recently for work and that's about it. Oh, and I Tweeted to unlock some Angry Birds levels. A large part of why I don't use it is because I'm so freaking overwhelmed by it. When I go look at my Twitter feed, I get about 20 updates an hour. And I've reduced the number of people I follow down from 200 to 123. Still, these people are chatty! And I know Twitter has lists now, but since I can't see who isn't in a list, I can't easily sort people. I think that Google + starting with Circles will make this easier.

However, there is still a main feed that shows everyone. And this is where I could get back to Twitterville. I almost starting following an industry expert for the portion of the software industry in which I work. And I noticed she's posting 5-6 times a day. If I started Circling her and anyone else I don't have a personal relationship with, this could become Twitter 2.0 for me.

And finally, Google + is just beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. I mean, look at my Facebook profile:

STUFF EVERYWHERE! CHAOS! DISTRACTION!

And look at my Google + profile:

Minimalist. Soothing. A light rain on a summer's day.

I'm assuming some Google ads will appear at some point, but so far the base is so nice. I'm so relaxed looking at.

So, I guess the question is, will everyone join in? Will my 500+ friends migrate to Google + even though I can't even get my husband an invite today? Will I maintain statuses on both until they do? Will Google + go the way of De Lorean -- beautiful, but doesn't catch on?

My gut feel is Google + is a De Lorean, but then again, I told my boss in 2001 that I didn't want to attend Mac training because that technology would not be transferable in my career, and here I am typing this on a MacBook Pro I can barely use.

Adventures in Cooking: Cake balls

2011-07-04T16:16:00.000-05:00

Husband went to a party not too long ago where someone had made cake balls and he wouldn't stop talking about them. I had eaten some from Holy Cacao that were pretty tasty, so I thought making some would be fun. We both had a day off (the kids did not get a day off) and so I started whipping up a batch. I'm making some for the 4th of July now, and thought I would share.

Cake Balls
makes 4 dozen

Bake a cake (I've done this with both a chocolate and a yellow cake -- both were great). For simplicity sake, I made mine in a 9 x 13 Pyrex dish, because Pyrex is dishwasher safe and I am lazy.

You can get a tub of icing, or whip up someone homemade icing. I made some from scratch (I'll share the recipe another time), which makes about three cups. Crumble up the cake and mix in the icing. Put the resulting goo in the fridge, overnight is preferable.

The next day, get out a cookie scoop or some other scooping device, and scoop out the cake goo into balls. I rolled the balls in my hands, which was messy, but rounder. Put on a wax paper covered cookie sheet and pop into the freezer for at least 15 min.

While the balls are freezing, melt some candy or chocolate coating. You can do this in the microwave or in a double boiler. I broke down and bought the Wilton Chocolate Pro melting pot, which has a melt and keep warm setting. It was a ton easier than my first attempt which involved using the microwave.

Put the balls in the chocolate or candy coating, cover them, then place them on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. If you want to cover your balls with sprinkles, you should do that right after you get them out of the chocolate and not wait until you have done a few and then try as the cake is frozen and the chocolate will solidify faster. If you use the Wilton candy coatings, it took about 3 bags to cover all of the cake balls. (Note that I did three different colors -- red, white and blue for the 4th, of course -- so it might take you less if you use one color.)

Once you have a tray full, put them in the freezer for 15 min to cool and for the chocolate to harden. Peel off the wax paper and store in the fridge if you don't consume them all immediately.

I Am Not Cool Enough for: a Google + invite

2011-07-01T20:40:00.000-05:00

Many of my Facebook friends are talking about Google + and giving their opinions and I'm apparently not cool enough to get one. I have no Google + invite. I can't access the super cool social network.

This is not the first time Google has rejected me. I wasn't picked to be a beta tester of their Chrome netbook. We've already discussed my iPad indifference. I was made to be a Chrome netbook beta tester!

Then, Google Music was announced. Despite the fact that I carry my iPhone with me everywhere, I was temporarily convinced that I Needed Google Music so I could listen to my music anytime anywhere! I did not get an invite to use it. Then, Apple announced its iCloud service, and I realized that since all my music is already in iTunes, that makes more sense. Also, I have a portable music device I carry everywhere anyway, called the iPhone. Then I got an invite but I no longer cared, even though it did allow me to access a remix of Step by Step by the New Kids on the Block.

Now, here we are, Google +. I think what's really annoying about this is that I am a serious user of Google products:

I only use Google Chrome, the world's most superior browser. It's super lightweight. I can open up the 15 tabs or so I need open at any one time and it won't crash. If you aren't using it, you really should. It's really amazing.
My personal email is Gmail.
I use Google docs both at home and at work
I prefer to edit and display my pictures on the web using Picasa, a Google product, which is both amazing and free.
This blog is on Blogger, a Google product, and not the cooler of the blog software, WordPress.
I even tried to use Google Wave. However, it turned out that no one actually needed that product, including me.

It's also annoying that I have no idea if or when I'll get an invite. When Apple releases a product, I have a general idea when I'm going to get it. If it's a phone, you can preorder or stand in line. You may have to wait weeks or take a day off and spend it camped outside the Apple store to get one sooner rather than later, but at least you won't feel like Apple is only picking the cool kids to be on their team to use the iPhone.

If I had an invite, I would take it seriously and use it. If it was awesome, I would tell my friends and send them invites too. But part of me wonders if there's really something there to see.

Adventures in Cooking: Granny's rolls

2011-06-24T08:29:00.000-05:00

My Granny passed away this week, and so I thought this was a great time to share with you her recipe for rolls. One of my favorite memories of Christmas is eating leftover turkey sandwiches on these rolls (my mom's family makes gumbo for Thanksgiving and turkey for Christmas.)

Granny cooked without recipes and so the first time I asked for this recipe, she told me what to do, then went home and realized she forgot a few ingredients and told me to throw the recipe away. She made it later and actually measured the ingredients so I could have the recipe. I included her original below, along with some tips. I had never created any kind of bread before so I referred to Martha's Baking Handbook frequently for some tips.

Granny Rena Chauvin’s Rolls

1 stick margarine [I use butter]
1 cup milk
1 ¼ cup water
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp salt

2 envelopes Rapid Rise Yeast [sometimes known as instant or fast rising]
2 eggs
6 to 7 cups flour

Warm mixture:
Melt 1 stick of margarine [butter] in large pot on low heat. Add 1 cup milk, 1 ¼ cup water, 1/3
cup sugar, 2 tsp salt. Stir and heat to 125 degrees.

In a large bowl [I put it in the Kitchen Aid mixer bowl] put 3 cups flour & rapid rise yeast. Mix well then add the warm mixture.

Mixing with the mixer add 2 eggs and keep mixing [I use the paddle attachment until it gets to hard to use.]. Gradually add 3 to 4 cups flour [here I switch to the dough hook attachment] until stiff dough is formed. [Yes, I know. Is it 3 or 4 cups? I think I've used 3.5 cups to be on the safe side. Also the dough should be sticky, and not dry.]

Place the dough in a large greased bowl to rise until double in size.

[You want to pick a VERY large bowl -- I would assume that the dough is going to triple in size. I also cover the bowl with saran wrap, which I also grease. How will you know when it's done? Martha recommends that you wait 90 minutes.]

Punch down dough and form into rolls and place in baking dish [I put them on a cookie sheet that I will use to bake them with to rise so there's no having to move them from one thing to another.] Let them rise again [I just wait 90 minutes again] then bake in 375 degree oven until brown. About 20 minutes.

Makes about 3 dozen rolls.

[For holidays, I make them in advance. I cook them for 15 minutes and store in the freezer. When Thanksgiving or whatever rolls around -- ha -- I heat them up for 10 to 15 min in a 375 oven.]