Penguin Princess

My sister sends me care packages a lot. It was about time I returned the favor.  So I made her a penguin princess bag!

She has recently developed a fascination with penguins, and has always loved the color purple.  And she's always been a bit of a bag lady, which is okay because I am too. Also in the care package were a Valentine's Day Pez dispenser, a fat quarter of Christmas fabric, and a fat quarter of Rosie the Riveter fabric.  I forgot to take pictures of it all before I sent it off.  Sorry about that.

This piece was stitched directly on a pre-made black canvas bag using 14 count waste canvas.  Finished size is only like 2" square. Waste canvas is made with a very loose weave such that you can pull the strands out of the work after its complete. I also designed the pattern for this one from a clip art image pulled off the web.  Let's just say I learned a lot in this process.

1. Stitching on a pre-made bag is hard! I had to work it upside down with my hands inside the bag. It made for very slow going. 
2. Canvas is really hard on the fingers.  It's such a dense sturdy fabric, pushing the needle through the material was not very comfortable. 
3. Waste canvas doesn't pull apart as easy as they say. Only a couple of the threads pulled out like it was supposed to.  I had to trim the rest with itty-bitty scissors around the edges of the piece.
4. Use small sized graph paper when creating a design from a piece of clip art.  I used 1/4" graph paper, and even with the clip art blown up real large, the pattern did not transfer well to the graph paper. 
5. Cross stitch design software is a pain in the butt.  Its designed to start from an image, then automatically translate it onto a graph and allow you to adjust the colors, lines, scale, etc.  The software I originally used was really picky and picked up every variation in color pixel by pixel.  It became so tedious, I scrapped it and went to the graph paper. 

So it was a pain in the butt to make, but she loves it.  That makes it all worth it.  

Nifty Needlecase

After getting myself into the last few projects, needles and embroidery scissors ended up in many places.  I lost a few and got poked by others.  It was a definite indication that I needed a needlecase.

A needlecase is just that - a case for needles.  It is in a book format with felt for pages.  Needles you're not using get put in the felt for safe keeping.  Some have pockets on the inside for bigger items like needle threaders or scissors.  The front cover is usually a stitched piece that is fairly small.

I picked a design from Quick to Stitch: Cross Stitch Cards by Sue Cook. It was supposed to be one that you could finish in a day, but it took me much longer than that.  It was seriously detailed for such a little piece. I used 18 count Fiddler's Aida from Charles Craft in Lite Oatmeal. Finished size is about 2 1/2" square.

I put the case together using instructions from Meari's Musings. The back and inner cover fabric is from a fat quarter purchased at Hancock Fabrics in addition to the 1/4" ribbon. Felt came from Hobby Lobby.  Quilt batting and thread were swiped from Mom. (Thanks Mom!)  Total finished size is about 5" square when shut.

Actually putting it together took longer than expected.  Mainly because I had to relearn how to use a sewing machine.  This one is a Singer Featherweight that Mom let me borrow, then later said I could buy off her. (Squeee!! Thanks Mom!!) This model stopped being produced after 1952.  It's an antique and it's beautiful.  When they say "featherweight" they really mean twelve pounds.  Considering it's all metal inside and out, that's not too shabby.

Once I got the hang of it, it went pretty fast.  I am quite proud of the little book. Now I just have to train the guy to put my scissors in the pocket if he finds them laying around when he decides to clean.

Flaky Friends

I saw this free pattern from Michael's and immediately thought of one of my girlfriends.  The text says "Some of my best friends are flakes."  Yeah, that's us.If she sees this post, let's hope she forgets about it by the time Christmas comes around.  I will leave the final finished project a surprise just in case. 

It's stitched on 18 count Aida in Delft Blue Pale with regular DMC floss.  Finished stitched size is just under 4" x 6".   The backstitch for the words is done with two threads to make them stand out a little more. It took me about a week to complete it.   

In other news, I matted and framed the big Rose of Sharon piece!  I was too cheap to get it professionally framed, and it looks like a DIYODS-er (do-it-your-own-damn-self). I got all of the pieces individually: glass from Lowe's ($11), matte from Hobby Lobby ($5), frame from Hobby Lobby ($15).  My guy helped me cut out the matte.  (Note to self: Lowe's doesn't sand the edges of the glass pieces they cut. Put band aids on the grocery list.)

It's a cheap framing job, but maybe later on I can get it done right. Right now I still need mounting hardware to hang it. I don't think I'll try to do one this size again just because of the difficulty finishing it with a frame.  It would have been a lot easier to find something in 18" x 24" or 16" x 20" sizes.

I also received a care package from my sister.  I love it when she does that!  Included this time was a "rug mug" to put my coffee/drink/snack on at work.  Check out her post on how she made them! Totally in love with them and more in love with her.  The "life is good" coffee mug was a Christmas present and is my new favorite.  The other side of the mug says "Do what you like/Like what you do." The scones were the breakfast I provided for my team that day.  The upper left corner is the Keys to My Heart project I completed.  The upper right is a picture of me and my sister from her basic training graduation. Aren't we cute?

Scones for Me, Scones for You!

My group of coworkers in the office has a routine of bringing in breakfast once a week.  Responsibility of providing the food rotates among team members.  Recently it fell to me.  My coworkers are not very adventurous eaters. Normal provisions are either breakfast tacos or bagels.  I must be the only person in San Antonio that gets tired of breakfast tacos.  Most of my culinary tastes are not shared with my coworkers, so I have to be careful of what I decide to bring in. 

Scones seemed a good midway point.  They are really close to biscuits, so it wasn't a big stretch for most people.  The recipe I used came from Professional Baking by Wayne Glissen, my pastry textbook. We made half a batch of plain scones, a quarter batch of raisin scones, and a quarter batch of cranberry scones.

The tricks to making great biscuits also are the ones to make great scones. In particular, there are two main tips.  First, don't overwork the dough.  Too much kneading will make biscuits hard like hockey pucks.  I could tell that our set of raisin scones were kneaded a little too much. They were much flatter than the other ones and not as flaky.

Next, BUTTER.  Butter is actually important in quick breads like biscuits and scones.  The steam generated from the butter melting is a major portion of the leavening activity.  When you mix the butter in to the flour, leave it in small pieces about pea size.  This will make sure you have little pockets of buttery goodness and aromatic steam when you break open a piece.  For these scones, we used both Crisco and butter. 

We used 2"-3" square cookie cutters to cut our dough. It made the scones small enough for people not to feel guilty for having one of each.  And then seconds.  The egg wash we used to create the shiny crust on top was made from eggs, milk, and a touch of granulated sugar.  On some of the plain ones we added some granulated sugar as well.

They definitely needed something to help wash them down, which could have been fixed by using all butter. They did not contain a lot of sugar, so people with a sweet tooth added honey or jam.  Everyone else just swigged their morning coffee.

Overall, the scones got rave reviews. I bet they will be talking about these for quite some time.

Keys to My Heart

Again, I have a weird urge to surround myself with hearts for Valentine's Day.  Specifically, I wanted to have a crafty thing to have on my desk at the office and make me smile.  This is a free pattern found on Rainbow Gallery's free pattern list.  It is an Erica Michaels design from 2002, but I really liked the design.

It calls for some specific thread, so I decided to check out a local cross stitch store to see if they had the alternative brands of floss.  When I showed the pattern with the materials list to the ladies there, they commented, "Wow! That's such an old pattern!"  Way to criticize your customer's choices. They did tell me that the listed threads are now out of production.  Either way, I think I will be buying thread online now, thankyouverymuch.

It's stitched on 18 count Linen in Light Oatmeal. I picked out similar colors from normal DMC floss.  This was the first time I put any embellishments on a piece.  The charm was actually the most difficult thing to find.  It took me about 9 hours to complete.  Stitched size is 2 1/2" x 4" and it is in a 5" x 7" frame with a gold 4"x6" oval matte.

Fun with Foam

I've been in and out of craft stores over the holidays and in the recent weeks.  I have seen a lot of little foam projects made by Creatology.  They're mostly holiday themed and geared to children ages 6 and older.  There are a lot of ornaments and picture frames as well as larger models. I've been really wanting to do stuff for Valentine's Day in the past couple weeks, so I picked up one of the larger kits to play with.  I got this particular kit at Michael's Craft Store, but I have seen foam kits even at places like Target.

I picked a Valentine's Day Bird's Tree House.  If a six year old was doing this project, I really don't think it would end up like the picture on the box at all.  Some of the pieces were made to be interlocking, but they didn't fit together well.  I did require assistance to keep some pieces in place while the glue dried.  The instructions call for Elmer's glue, but I ended up switching to Krazy Glue with the brush applicator about halfway through.  This kit came with stick-on glitter accents which added most of the character of the house.  Some of the stickers were really tiny and hard to wield, especially the little white dots on the front of the house.

Overall, I still think it's really cute. The model was a bit of a pain in the butt, so I probably won't be doing another one.  The smaller kits could be used to make little holiday gifts for classmates or coworkers.   At seven dollars for the kit, it was definitely cheap entertainment. Seeing my guy put sparkly hearts on the foam was well worth it.  My excuse was that it was training for when he has a daughter, but I think my bribe was what finally got him to help.

Youngster Ava

Next project in my current cross stitch craze comes from the Smirk Attitudes A to Z book.  I picked up the book because the designs reminded me of several of the women in my life.  They may end up as presents somewhere down the line if the obsession keeps up. Another bonus, the patterns are not very complicated, which is something I needed after the previous project. It made this one really quick to complete.  

I adapted the "Youngster" pattern for a birthday gift for my neice.  It was completed on 18 count white aida cloth. I replaced the font and text at the bottom for her name.  I also swapped specified thread colors for similar ones available in my stash.  I matted it in a 5x7 black frame.  The matte is printed paper from a packet of 5" x 7" scrapbooking papers in Valentine's prints found in the Target dollar bin.  Side note: I do love that dollar bin.

The next project will be lids for canned goodies to use as gifts upcoming holidays for friends & family.  I ran the idea by my man and he almost immediately started rifling through our cookbooks for canning recipes.  Reason #394 why he's a keeper.

Rose of Sharon

I come from a long line of crafty women.  Not only in wily ways, but in creative with many different kinds of sewing.  My mom currently quilts, but has tatted, knitted, crochets, embroidered, and sewn more Halloween costumes than I care to mention.  My twin currently quilts, but has knitted and crocheted.  She now has a blog about her current feats of creativity and dexterity.

My personal preference has been mostly cross stitch, a type of needle work. Recently I've gotten into clay painting and acrylic painting at the retail shops around town though I still feel at home with cross stitch.  In cleaning out my closets over New Year's, I found this stuck in the bottom of a box I haven't opened in years.  I figured it was about damn time to finish the damn thing.

This project comprised several firsts for me:  first of this size, first on linen, first of this complexity, first on 32 count fabric. It took me over ten years to finish it!  The pattern is called "Rose of Sharon" from Mirabilia. It is stitched on 32 ct natural linen (2 over 2). Stitched area size is 13"w x 24"h. I am working on getting the right matte and frame for it.  Full size will end up being 20"w x 30"h.  I know there are some errors in it, so right now I can only look at it from ten feet away.  At that distance, the colors really blend together and give it a lot of dimension.

Finishing it after so long has filled me with a sense of accomplishment that I have not felt for a long time.  The last I can remember was when I finished a half marathon with my sister in 2008.  It also has the bonus effect of having something physical to show for my effort.

Neener-neener-neener!

With that surge of pride, I have turned almost obsessive about the next project and the next. There will definitely be more to come!

Hello October!

September sucked slightly less than August.  I was sick in some form or fashion for the majority of it, but I made some personal progress that makes me optimistic for October and the rest of the year.  This is much improved over the dread I had before.

The rest of the year is gonna be good.  I can just feel it. 

• I get to see my sister soon.  
• My projects in my classes are gonna be fun.  
• Curiously enough, I am really excited for Halloween.  I have an intense craving to carve pumpkins.  I have no idea what my costume should be.
• NaNoWriMo site relaunched, and I am really getting eager to write again! Here's my author profile on the site.
• It's the holidays! What's not to like! 

And now for other news and goal updates!

With my recent sickness and onset of the busy season for both work and school, I have decided to bow out of training for the Rock and Roll San Antonio Half Marathon.  I should have learned last year that training is just one thing too many on top of my other commitments.

I read a bunch of stuff. Mockingjay, Good Omens, and 13 Little Blue Envelopes were in the first part of the month.  Since then I've read a lot more: an additional nine makes the running tally 45.  Maybe this would be a good time to back off on the reading so that I can work on some other projects!

• Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare.  The first of The Infernal Devices series, prequel to The Mortal Instruments series.  Shadowhunters gone steampunk!  Nice start to a new series.  I could see where twists were going to be, so it wasn't as much of a on-the-edge-of-your-chair read for me. 
• The Laughing Corpse by Laurell Hamilton.  Second in the Anita Blake series, this one was more zombies, less vampires. I really like the Anita Blake character a lot, but don't know if I can continue to read the series. I might gag myself to death if I read anything else about vampire love.  It did contain some interesting asides about women working in male-dominated fields that make me think.
• Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce.  A reread of a great YA duet.
• Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund. Sequel to Rampant and another setup-for-the-third book.  Lots of information for plot and world building, but not really interesting on its own.  
• Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. A TON of teenage drama and angst.  Loved the included lyrics. Made me think about teenage sex as portrayed in YA books.  To do it or not to do it? To show it or not to show it?  Probably a difficult decision for each author for each book, and probably also a difficult pitch to publishers. 

I haven't made a lot of progress on paying off my debt this month, but I'm still at 80% there with only 75% of the year complete.  With vacations and holidays coming up, we'll see how that goes. I was able to refinance my mortgage so reduce the APR by 1.5% and monthly payment by $100.  Also, switching ISPs saves me another $25 a month. So hopefully that will help a bit.

Rebellion, Apocolypse, and Hostels

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is the much awaited final book of the Hunger Games trilogy. The rebellion takes hold in the Districts and finally takes on the Capitol. I liked it, and liked how everything was wrapped up in the end.  It seemed like there was less character development in this one since Katniss spends a lot of the book being disoriented.  My perception might have been caused by keeping myself slightly detached from the book because that some of the imagery felt too close.  I knew I wouldn't be able to deal with Katniss's emotions as well as my own at that point.  Good book, though my favorite of the three is Hunger Games.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) and Terry Pratchett was an incredibly awesome read. Two of some of the best contemporary SF authors combining forces in this hysterical account of what might happen if you put the Apocalypse into the hands of human free will.  It was a really great read complete with really great moments of pointing and laughing at real life. This is a must-read for any current fans of either of the authors. If I got a chance for either of them to sign a book, I would make sure to bring this one. (I have the white cover.)  After I drop it in the bathtub, of course.

Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson (@maureenjohnson) was my first time reading anything of hers.  She is fantastic to follow on Twitter, so I figured that I just had to read something of hers.  This follows seventeen year old Ginny as she wanders around Europe at the direction of letters given to her by her aunt.  This book touched on so many places in Europe that I really want to visit and only one that I have actually been to (London). From the little jokes I understood from the London events, I know I'm missing a lot more of the jokes in the other places. This futher solidifies my desire to do a very similar tour of my own.  I wonder if I would be able to leave technology behind me.  I wonder if MJ would be able to!!  On another note, does anyone know if there is any fan art of the tattoo Mari gives Ginny? Would love to see a representation of it.  I couldn't picture it well in my head.

Good Grief, August!

Yikes, August was rocky.  It was supposed to be a chill month.  With school out of session, my schedule was supposed to open up.  For some reason I think I got less done than possible.   A couple good things happened and a couple of bad. 

I got a haircut!  This length suits me so much better, though I'm still working out how to secure it when at the gym or lab.  I was able to donate ten inches to Locks for Love for my second time.  It's so cool to be able to do that. 

I was more social in August than when school was in session.  I was able to catch up with some friends and see some movies:  Despicable Me, The Good Guys, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.  Scott Pilgrim was the best movie I've seen in a long while.  If you haven't yet, go see it!

I started running again!  I had a summer hiatus due to a way too hectic schedule.  I gained about ten pounds after my Professional Dining Class, so now I feel like I'm at a disadvantage going into half marathon training.  I'm now working out after my classes and that makes for some very late nights.  After completing 50 miles this month, I am at 241 miles year to date.  Finally crossed the 200 mile marker!

I started writing again!  Not a lot, but this month included almost 9000 words, which is more than May, June and July word counts combined.  And August included the first new fiction in a long while. A good chunk is a new short story which is now ready for submission.  In a good way.

Gwen was sick.  She's my first dog, so now that she's getting older (she's eight)it makes me scared whenever she gets sick.  She's okay now, but she had to have blood drawn and x-rays and everything.  Poor thing.

I'm going through another episode of depression.  My third.  I am trying a lot of different things, but so far it hasn't been great and I'm still not as functional as I need to be.  That was a major reason why I picked up Undoing Depression, but I still think I need medication and therapy.  I am also going to try some different supplements, pending doctor's okay.  Sigh. 

I have hope for September, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is rocky too. 

Undoing Depression by Richard O'Connor

Depression causes brain damage, claims Richard O'Connor, author of Undoing Depression: What Therapy Doesn't Teach You and Medication Can't Give You. Studies have shown that not only the brain produce less “happy” chemicals, but that it looses the ability to detect the presence of the “happy” chemicals. I'm paraphrasing significantly, but that's the bad news.

The good news is that many of the habits comprise the depressive's behaviors are learned through repetition and can be unlearned. Most of it revolves around paying attention to emotions and thoughts in order to gain control over them instead of being controlled by them. This is difficult for most depressives because those emotions and thoughts have been blocked or ignored. It is a defense mechanism for the depressive who is not ready to deal with them, but too often it goes on for a significant amount of time. Even when ignored or blocked, the emotions can still cause mood swings. Then the depressive says the mood “came out of the blue,” though he or she was just not aware of what the trigger was.

O'Connor argues that medication and therapy are still effective treatment options, but they have limitations. Studies on either have only proven that medication or therapy reduces the number of symptoms that together made a Major Depression Disorder (MDD) diagnosis over a three month period. There have not been any studies on the long term effectiveness of medication, but most people diagnosed with MDD stay on medication for “maintenance.”

A diagnosis of MDD is compared to that of heart disease. Once you have it, you have to change your lifestyle to reduce the risk of a recurrence. Most heart patients will get instructions on what needs to be adjusted in order to continue life after heart disease. People diagnosed with depression are not given that type of information. It just doesn't exist. O'Connor lays out some exercises that are meant to better equip the depressive for dealing with emotions and thoughts, and by extension, stress. A quarter of the American population is suffering from MDD at any given time, but still a stigma exists against the disorder. It is perceived as a character defect rather than a disease. Like heart disease, it is something you have to live with every day. Some days are more of a struggle than others. It has been most difficult to explain how daily life is affected to people who have not experienced it. That has been where I feel the stigma the most. And, for those in the opposite position, saying “Just Be Happy” is not encouraging.

After reading this book, I wrote a short story, “She's Always Right,” roughly themed on depression. I have gotten it to a point where I can submit it to an upcoming competition. I want to thank my readers and editors for their help and advice: JD, Beth, Brittany, JT, and Amanda. It wouldn't be in its current form without you.

Mongolian BBQ - Dessert Course

Mongolian barbeque restaurants are becoming more and more popular for their endless possibilities of flavor and texture profiles.

Patrons select ingredients from a raw bar and hand them to employees to stir fry on a large griddle.  Many establishments offer several meat selections usually including chicken, pork, beef, tofu, and a token seafood item.  Noodles are also popular and range from lo mein to yakisoba.  There are lots of vegetables that include go-to stir fry veggies -  bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, baby corn - but also offer some more adventurous items - bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, and cabbage.

Sauce bars are where the really creative stuff happens.   Most places recommend using 5-6 ladles of any combination of sauces for a single bowl of ingredients.  Venues have in-house versions of classic sauces - teriyaki, Thai peanut, and sweet and sour, to name a few - but also have unique offerings all their own.  Add some basic broths and oils, and you have a million different options for your sauce!  (Actually, HuHot has closer to 24 factorial, or 6.20448402 × 10²³, if I remember my formulas correctly.)


The options are unlimited!  You will wish your stomach was unlimited when faced when going through the buffet!   Mongolian barbeque restaurants in the San Antonio area are limited to  HuHot and a few recent openings of Genghis Grill.  Hands down the best Mongolian barbeque place I've been to was Fire+Ice in Boston. 


With so many choices, it's easy to let your eyes get bigger than your stomach.  Most of the time you won't have room for dessert.  The offered dessert menu doesn't impress with items like an Attila the Hun themed cheesecake.  You're going to want to save room for this stir fry dessert!  It's simple, fresh, and a very light way to end a normally heavy meal. 

Grilled Pineapple and Coconut
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut  (Look for it at the toppings end of the bar!)
- 1 cup pineapple chunks 


Sauces, one ladle of each: 
- teriyaki sauce
- sweet and sour sauce
- lime juice
- sesame oil

Extra toppings
- more shredded coconut
- minced raw peanuts


Combine all ingredients and sauces in a bowl.  Let the guys grill it up for you.  Top the grilled pineapples and coconut with some peanuts for crunch and more coconut for an extra kick.  You're going to want to pass this around the table, if your dining partners have any room left!

Recent Reads: Twenties Girl and Beastly

Sophie Kinsella is the writer of the popular book Confessions of a Shopaholic, another book I really loved. Twenties Girl follows Lara as she is haunted by her great aunt Sadie who convinces her to find a necklace of high personal value.  In the process, Lara discovers much more about her deceased relative and about herself than she originally bargained for.

In Twenties Girl, Kinsella uses the same tone of a twenty-something woman that I really identified with in Shopaholic.  It made the book real and personable for me.  I'm pretty sure I'm the target demographic, so maybe it won't work as well for others.

It was a really good read - some fluff that I knocked out in a weekend.  I wasn't expecting the warm fuzzies after finishing it.  All the twenties gadgets and products used by women of the era to accomplish the unique style were quite intriguing.  Once Lara got over her complaining, her drive was quite admirable.

I would recommend this book to any woman who likes contemporary adult fiction. Try reading it while indulging in a bubble bath!

Beastly by Alex Flinn is a modern retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast tale, set in New York City and told from the Beast's perspective.  This young adult novel is another fast and easy read.

The plot is a given, so the book shows the Beast's metamorphosis as he deals with his infliction.  The Beast acquires the library that impresses the girl during his grieving process.  He spends hours a day reading in or watching passersby from the top floor of an isolated abode. Some of the titles that are mentioned feel more like name dropping than actual allusions - The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Jane Eyre, The Count of Monte Cristo, etcetera, ad nauseum.  Roses become an obsession for the Beast to the point that he builds his own greenhouse so that he can have fresh flowers even in the winter.  Overall, a good read, but it immediately went into my "to donate" pile.

This retelling is being picked up for a film to release in March of next year.  It is set up for a new teen heart-throb to take center stage,  Alex Pettyfer.  In my opinion, Alex is much better looking and deserves the idealizing to come more than Robert Pattinson.  Mary-Kate Olsen stars as the witch, her first feature film since 2004.  Neil Patrick Harris also has a starring role as a blind live-in tutor.  The movie is on my radar and while I don't think I'll be knocking down the doors of a theater with screaming pre-teens, I will probably sneak into a late show.

Fleet Feet Sunrise 10K Race Report

Race: Fleet Feet Sunrise 10K

Distance: 10K

Goal Time: 1:17:30-1:28:30

Actual Time: 1:26:32 (13:55 min/mi)

This was my second time to do this particular event, and their third time hosting it.  I had a couple goals for this particular run: to get in my hill intervals for the week and try out running with my backpack-style hydration pack.

The run part was hard. For some reason, running outside during this time of year does not feel great.  There's still the ridiculous heat of the summer around, but with some spare humidity thrown in just for fun.  The temperature at the start was 80 degrees with about 80% humidity.  The course goes through Alamo Heights, which is one of the hilliest parts of San Antonio.  I bring your attention to the elevation map below.  The overall difference in elevation is only like 50 meters, but the inclines are pretty steep and quite repetitive.  They definitely began to hurt in the last couple miles.  I ended up doing a bit of run/walking due to the hills. I will definitely need to be hitting up some more hill intervals before the half-marathon. 
 

I am what they call a "sweaty runner."  I end up caked with salt, head to toe, after my long runs. Add the humidity to that and I sweat even more.  So I tend to imbibe quite a bit of fluids on my runs, more than is held in the dinky little eight ounce bottles that come in the belt-style hydration packs.  For me, the belt style packs tended to require a lot of fidgeting since they tended to ride up and not stay on my hips as intended. Getting the little bottles in and out of the holders was a bit of a pain too. But the backpack-style pack was awesome. There were several others who used Camelbaks at this event, though mine was much bigger the ones I saw. It strapped down pretty tight so that there wasn't much sloshing around. I didn't have to fiddle with it near as much as I did with the belt.  I could carry a whole lot more fluid too. The best part was having the fluids on demand, especially during those hills where I really needed it.  I think that allowed me to knock almost a minute off last year's time (1:27:24).  I think this will do me well for the half-marathon so I don't have to drink the gross Lemon-Lime Cytomax.  I still have yet to master catching my breath while sucking on the tube, but I still have a few weeks to work on that. 

 

Mission accomplished for this race. I did have some issues earlier this week and didn't get to the gym as often as I should have. There are still twelve weeks until the event, so I think I'm in decent shape. Next week starts the fall semester of classes, so here's hoping that I can manage work, school, training, and my sanity. 

Race Photos, bib 253:  Start, Finish, Finish  
Official Results

My Reading List Has Been Pirated!

My reading list has been pirated by none other than the cunning Brittany (@BLandgrebe).  She so sneakily planted sleeper agents on my bookshelf that came out and attacked me during a lull in my reading.  I can hear her evil laugh now. Perhaps we have similar tastes in fiction, but my pirated reading list has actually benefited me.  I probably wouldn't have picked up either of these books on my own, but now will probably sing their praises to anyone who asks.

Lois Lowry's The Giver was cleverly disguised as a Christmas present.  It took me six months to pick it up and now I can't believe I didn't read it sooner.  It wasn't a grade school reading list item for me like it was for a lot of others I know.  I don't think I would have understood it much when I was younger.  I'm not sure if I really understand it now.  It's the first utopia/dystopia I've read in a long time.  It did start some trains of thought like: differences between people should be recognized and celebrated; the appropriateness of a governing body's interference into the lives of individuals; the benefit of unsheltered experience and pain.   It was a really quick read and very well written.  It's definitely going to remain on my shelf for a long time to come.

The next book, also cleverly disguised as a gift, came later in the spring: Rampant by Diana Peterfreund.  When I first received it my reaction was closer to, "Killer unicorns? Um, sure."  Then after finally opening the book and immediately getting into it my reaction was more, "Dude! Killer unicorns!!!" It followed what I call "The Harry Potter Format" wherein a tween/teen discovers a hidden talent, gets sent to a special school to develop said talent, then uses the talent to save the world.  In this case, a bunch of teenage virgin girls get sent to a convent in Rome to learn how to hunt unicorns.  My favorite part was probably the incorporation of Roman mythology and history into the back story.  It got a bit angsty with the pack of hormonal teenage girls at each others throats, but the story line was riveting.  There were some threads that were left unresolved, but there are more books planned in the series, the next of which comes out in September.

The piracy is expected to continue with Shiver by Maggie Steivater, currently on my to-be-read shelf. 

In other unrelated news, does anyone know how to ninja-proof a house?

I Missed the McNay Museum

For the life of me I still can't figure out why it took me so long to go back to visit the McNay Museum (@mcnayart).  I haven't been since they opened their new wing in 2008.  It's a fantastic new space that really brings the museum up to date with an incredible amount of room for more collections.  I was also extremely pleased to find out that admission is free for current students.  (Another bonus for attending night classes.)

The Mathews Glass Art exhibit was very neat - art deco glass vases and bowls and things that were absolutely exquisite.  The Janet Lohr exhibit had a Dia de los Muertos feel to it, but it was interesting to see how the final product was created.   And really intriguing was the Gary Lang Dividing Time installation.  It is a projection of moving lines, a real-time version of some of his other works.  It was like seeing each piece being layered on top of each other as the piece evolves.  Of course, the newly acquired Picasso paintings were a must see.  I absolutely loved the current exhibit they have going on now called "Neither Model Nor Muse: Women as Artists." It showed exclusively female artists in several different mediums, even including one done by Ms. McNay herself! 

In the new wing they have a sculpture exhibit that you can actually tweet to @mcnayinfo a certain number and get a piece of trivia about the particular piece!  I totally nerded out with that.  I love learning those little things, and this is a genius way to update the old school cassette tape audio tours.  Granted, they still have a call-in system for some of the other pieces in the other galleries, but I despise talking on the phone, so this was much better suited to me.  The delay on the return message was a little long, but the info was neat enough that I actually went back to the previous pieces.  It also was a kind of electronic notice to not rush through the exhibit too quickly- to take my time to enjoy it and really look at what I'm seeing.  I feel like I appreciated the pieces more when I knew more about them, so for me it greatly added to my enjoyment of the exhibit.  I only wish it were expanded to more of the galleries!  



I loved the new wing and the Twittering.  It felt like the museum got a great update that can make it more accessible to an increasingly techie population.  The only Going to art museums always makes me wish I knew more about art history and theory.  Perhaps then I can understand the artistry more than just feeling moved by beautiful things in a small space.

Sunday News Edition

I have a few pieces of news, none of which merit their own blog post.  So here's the digest version of everything.

• I just passed 200 miles run in 2010!  The goal for the year is 500, so I'm behind.  But for taking a six week break, I think I'm still in an okay position.  It'll take me about 15 miles per week for the rest of the year to meet the goal, which is still very doable.  It's even more doable when you factor in my training plan for the 2010 Rock'N'Roll San Antonio Half Marathon.  The 15-week plan ranges between 16 and 28 mile weeks.

• First week of the 2010 RnRSA plan I believe I must call a success. I ran most of the plan, even after the hiatus. Only running 12 miles of the 16 makes me feel a bit disappointed, but it's the most miles per week I've completed since April.  Coming out the other end with no injuries has to be counted as an accomplishment. Here's to next week!  May it be filled with 17 miles including a quality speed interval day.

• My eyes are paid off! My expensive self-splurge this year was on LASIK surgery, which has been pretty awesome.  Sometimes when my eyes are dry, I can't help the feeling of wanting to take out my contacts.  However, I have gotten over the habit of groping my bedside table for my glasses in the morning.  I think I'll appreciate this more in the years to come.  But for now, I will appreciate that I have no bills for it!  So I've taken care of 80% of my pay-down-debt goal with only 60% of the year gone by. 

• I'm behind in my movie watching.  Here's the rundown of ones I've seen recently. Loved the A-Team.  In my opinion, a better series remake than Get Smart or StarTrek. Karate Kid was okay, but my favorite part was the credits for the photography and the Justin Bieber/Jaden Smith song.  Inception was freaking awesome, as everyone should know by now.  The Sorcerer's Apprentice was cute, but not as good as I was hoping.  Despicable Me was very funny, but the trailers were misleading. The dude laughed a lot more than I did.

• I had to abandon the re-read of a book I loved in high school: The Spellsong Sorceress by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.  Twenty pages in and it had all of the writing sins now shunned in recently published books.  The ones that irked me the most were his paragraphs of laundry-list descriptions and flip-flopping verb tenses.  Pairing that with the high fantasy genre, it just felt snooty.  Alas, there goes a fond memory of a childhood read.

• Douglas Adams' sequel to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, was another excellent book.  This particular book had more commentary than narrative, and the time-travel aspect got a bit confusing, but I still very much enjoyed it. His writing style is fantastic, putting character-driven narrative next to laugh-out-loud, snarky, satirical social commentary.  I don't know of any other writer who has achieved both or done it with such a light heart.  My favorite part is the mathematical proof of why there the universe has a population of zero.  Oh, "and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination."

I think it's been a good week, though not very productive.

Twin Sisters

No, this isn't a blog about me and my twin, but another set of twin sisters who started a restaurant in San Antonio.  Twin Sisters Bakery and Cafe is a local favorite for "healthy" sandwiches and soups, and fresh baked goods.  I went to the Alamo Heights location and it was a really relaxed, cute place with very personable staff.   Everything on their menu was so tempting!

That day they offered Jalapeno Lemonade which was much more awesome than it sounds.  It added just a hint of the jalapeno flavor, but not too much of the spice.  It tasted a bit like they used the leftover juice from pickled jalapenos and dumped it into the lemonade batch.  Either way, it was really, really awesome.

The Greek Salad was familiar to most other venues.  The dressing on it was heavy on the olive oil with some thyme and olive tapenade.  But the soup was a cold Cucumber Avocado Soup and it was fantastic.  It had some flecks of red onion and cilantro throughout, but was fresh, bright, smooth, and tangy.  All around wonderful.  Perfect for the increasingly warm summer San Antonio days.  The Turkey and Cheese sandwich was also very excellent mainly due to the in-house made bread it was on.  It was a very soft wheat that actually added to the  flavor of the sandwich.  With the soup and sandwich came a cornbread muffin that was grainy and not too sweet.  Loving that adding excess sugar was not in that particular recipe.

Twin Sisters is probably more well known for their baked goods.  The Sweet Potato Muffin was quite yummy, similar in taste and consistency to zucchini bread.   The Lemon Bars were particularly excellent.  There wasn't a delineation between the filling and the crust.  One just kind of morphed into another.

If you're a local in SATX and haven't been to Twin Sisters yet, GO!  I lived in this city way too long before visiting this establishment.  If you're in town visiting, then there's a downtown location open for lunch just for you!

Clay Casa

I had an artistic urge recently and I decided to make myself a new clay coffee mug.  There's only one clay painting place in town, Clay Casa in the Embassy Oaks area behind 281 and Bitters.  It had the obligatory cute funky artist type people working there.  The selection of pieces was decent, but my previous experience at Clay Dreams in Boston had a bunch more.  I was intrigued by the dog-tag like pieces made for necklaces, but they were out.

I decided on two travel coffee mugs, one for me and one for the dude.  They're a solid color background with a free-handed pattern on the top and monogram letters.  His was blue with black diamonds; mine was yellow with a dark green Celtic braid.  It took me a couple very relaxing hours at the shop to complete the painting. It was the perfect things for me to do that day.  Something out of the house, relaxing, and creative. 

I went back a week later and they were good to go.  His turned out darker than I was expecting, but he liked it well enough.  I am really proud of  myself on the braid design on my mug.  It turned out really great!I can't wait to bring it in to show off at work.   Added bonus: if you do another piece when you pick up a previous piece, the studio fee is waived!  I picked a vase that I did in the same scheme as the candlestick I did in Boston that I'll use as a pencil holder on my desk at home. I still want to do the dog-tag pieces later on.  I'm just hoping they're there the next time I stop in.