2012, a friday

Packed up and headed for the airport. Eric and I got sausages (Oregon Smokies!) then checked out some stores while waiting for our flights. Got back to Colorado where it was sunny and over 70°—quite a change! The bathroom remodel wasn’t quite done—there were still some workmen finishing things up, so I took the opportunity to get groceries and pick up dinner. Had to make a late night run to get a shower curtain.

something new: Good Dog Bad Dog

2011, a wednesday

Class, spent all afternoon studying for my calculus test. Chemistry, home to study more.

2010, a tuesday

worked out, did a german lesson, watched ‘castle’ (“i was aiming for his head”) and…that’s about it.

2012, a thursday

Slept in a bit, then enjoyed breakfast at the Courtyard Restaurant (conveniently located across the hall from our room). I ate a whole plate of amaretto french toast. Mmmm. Checked out of Kennedy School, then walked down to Townshend’s for tea. Relaxed there for a few hours, enjoying the atmosphere (great tea, odd clientele). Travis picked us up and we went downtown for ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi‘, which I’d been wanting to see for awhile. It was completely delightful; I highly recommend it. Afterwards, went to a coffee shop, then took a driving tour of downtown and SW. Picked up Travis’s wife, Aung, and headed east to Wafu for ramen and sushi (we were extremely hungry for sushi after that movie). Went to Salt & Straw afterwards (I had the almond brittle with salted ganache—fantastic), then settled in at Eric’s friends’ apartment for the night.

something new: Courtyard Restaurant, Townshend’s Alberta Street Teahouse, Wafu, Salt & Straw

I left this for the next guests on one of our room’s huge chalkboards

2011, a tuesday

Class, homework, studied for my calculus test all morning/afternoon/night. Ordered Indian food to fortify self, am now burnt out on math and wanting a snack but should really just go to sleep since I slept so poorly last night. *sigh*

2010, a monday

worked out, ran errands, got my hair cut. read outside for awhile, pleasantly surprised by the styling in the new j. crew catalog. picked up susan and went to her first happy hour of the week at blue palms – great bar, great beers. drove up to universal city and met up for dinner at miceli’s. it was crazy loud in there, but the food was really good, especially the pizza, caesar salad, and the tiramisu (even though it was not like normal tiramisu). came home, full to the point of bursting, finished catching up with ‘hung’.

2012, a tuesday

Slept in a bit, dropped off the rental car, then Eric and I headed to Besaw’s via the streetcar for an awesome breakfast. I had some really delicious granola and the best scratch biscuit I’ve ever tasted. Stopped by REI and took advantage of a member coupon and the lack of sales tax to buy myself a proper lightweight rain jacket…which came in very handy over the rest of the week, as after gorgeous weather for hiking yesterday, it started raining today and didn’t stop the rest of the time we were in Portland. Went to Powell’s and got properly lost—that place is amazing! Checked out the science and technical books store (whole separate store for that!) then met up with Travis. He took us to some of his and his wife’s favorite shops downtown, then we went back to his neighborhood and got some INSANELY GOOD (how is it so good when it’s so so simple??!) Thai from Nong’s Khao Man Gai, a food cart in a pod by PSU. Took it back to Travis’s apartment and thanked the food gods that this dish existed. Travis dropped us off back downtown and Eric and I looked around at a few comic shops. Walked back to NE and got some Voodoo Doughnuts on the way. I got dinner from the Pyro Pizza cart (a wood-fired oven IN the food cart!) and spent the evening watching ‘Adventure Time’ and Hulu while Eric ducked out in the relentless rain to meet up with some of his friends at a bar. I think I might’ve gotten the better end of that deal, since after so much hiking and walking we were both pretty pooped.

something new: Besaw’s, Voodoo Doughnut, Pyro Pizza

2011, a sunday

Yoga, tried to study for my calculus test but was too unfocused.

worked out, met up with the burbankers for brunch. went to nordstrom rack and world market – got stuff to make easter baskets! came home, cleaned and tidied the apartment. met renee and megan for dinner at the counter, then we all met alex at the theater for ‘point break live’ which. was. fan. tastic!!! a definite LA must. after we went to three clubs, then we got a little hungry so we drove to little tokyo for the best ramen i’ve ever had. mmmm!

2012, a monday

Up relatively early. Walked to Meat Cheese Bread for breakfast. Had amazing breakfast burritos and this crazy bread pudding ‘sandwich’—Maple bread pudding (browned slabs made the ‘bread’), shaved fennel (thought I’d hate it because I hate anise but it was AMAZING), sausage and spicy cheddar—that almost gave me a coronary but was so worth it. Picked up our rental car (after some problems with a lack of available cars) and got upgraded to a RAV-4. Drove out to the Columbia Gorge and hiked all of the waterfalls. Gorgeous views, beautiful mysterious forests, grueling endless steep switchbacks. Took some time to sit by the stream at the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls and take in the rushing water and birdsong. We stopped at an overlook of the Gorge and ate our takeaway turkey sandwich from Meat Cheese Bread—really simple but insanely good, even hours after it was made. It was all very idyllic until we got to the waterfall I was most looking forward to—Multnomah—which turned out to be a huge tourist trap. And deservedly so—it was really pretty. Since we had the 4WD, we decided to drive up to Mt. Hood and see the Timberline Lodge. Crazy amounts of snow up there. Kind of terrifying how high the drifts were along the road. Looked around the Lodge, then had a super-filling meal at the Ram’s Head Bar, with a view of the mountains.

something new: Meat Cheese Bread, Ram’s Head Bar

Multnomah Falls: shockingly touristy

A special tunnel leads to the front door. Guessing they got tired of shoveling out all that snow.

2011, a saturday

Chem homework, watched the first couple eps of ‘Downton Abbey’ which is AMAZING. Met Renee and her mom and Terry in Culver City and we had dinner at a little French market. Went and saw ‘Lost Moon Radio’ then home for sweet sweet sleep.

2010, a friday

worked out, dealt with a minor laundry crisis, drove to lake balboa and photographed the cherry blossoms. hit target on the way home, then relaxed until it was time to go to renee’s to watch ‘ponyo’ and ‘point break’. brian and doug came too, and we had snacks and drinks. renee and i tried to finish up ‘point break’ after the guys left, but the dvd was all scratched up so no-go. but it’s ok – we just wanted to refresh our memory since we’re seeing ‘point break live!’ tomorrow night.

2012, a sunday

Up early, long sweaty walk to the airport shuttle. Really regretting not rush-ordering a rolling carry-on. Got to DIA in plenty of time but had to deal with a freakishly loud scream-crying kid and a seat mate who spilled her drink in my lap. Got into Portland safely, Eric and his friends Mike and John picked me up. We hit a bottle shop and a TJ’s before getting dropped off at our AirBnB. The guy’s apartment was full of cool stuff he’s made (artist? engineer?) and neat books (build your own pop-up book!). Walked down to the local food cart pod and had poutine and bbq pork pie. Stopped for coffee and Italian soda, then spent the rest of the night watching ‘Adventure Time’, figuring out how to turn on the heater, and fixing stuff on the NCAA site. Eric made some late night Mexican eggs. So good!

something new: Potato Champion!, Whiffies Fried Pies, Tiny’s Coffee

Potato Champion!, home of delicous poutine

2011, a friday

Up early to move my car, yoga, errands, ortho appointment. Ordered Indian food and walked to get it, and stopped by the bank as well. First time I’ve walked a distance in those boots, and got a nasty blister. Stuffed myself with daal and raita and naan, then took a nap. Watched ‘Californication’ and the last David Tennant episodes of ‘Doctor Who’, which were extremely disappointing.

2010, a thursday

got a ton of things done, and most of them before 1pm! cleaned, laundry, worked out, returned things, ran stuff back to maria and dropped something off for megan. processed photos, watched some ‘hung’, did site admin.

2012, a saturday

Cleaned the apartment and cleared out the bathroom for the remodel. Packed, kinda. Spent the rest of the day running last-minute errands and clearing out the TiVo.

2011, a thursday

Met with my calc prof, class, homework, prelab, lab, which was a lot of fun! My lab partner is awesome, and all of the people who share our bench area are a lot of fun. Home, ate Girl Scout cookies and watched ‘Nova’.

2010, a wednesday

worked out, went to the santa monica farmers market with renee and megan. made delicious caprese salad for dinner along with the last of the roasted lemon pepper chicken. am currently polishing off the peach pie. have been doing nothing else all day but processing photos.

2012, a friday

Up early to study a little more for my midterm. Turned out I didn’t need to—I probably could’ve gotten away with not studying at all. Rushed home and downed a bowl of soup, then went to see ‘the Hunger Games’. Good, but not great—a lot of the subtext was lost, I think, which is a shame. Spent the rest of the day doing physics homework, then caught up with ‘Being Human’.

2011, a wednesday

Class, homework, class, Tobolowsky Files, ‘Californication’.

2010, a tuesday

up at 5am. met renee and brian, and we drove to joshua tree. stopped at chick-fil-a on the way. spent hours walking around the nature trails and clambering over boulders. ate in palm springs, then walked around downtown for awhile – got a free scoop at ben & jerry’s! a fantastic day.

2012, a thursday

Class, studied for my midterm out on the balcony. Watched some DS9 and tried to take a nap but got interrupted by a phone call from my landlord about the bathroom remodel. More studying, night observing, feeling a little ill—maybe from the non-stop stress eating all afternoon/evening.

2011, a tuesday

Class, yoga, calculus homework all day. Made dinner, watched ‘House’ and ‘Castle’, retired to my room to continue calculus (and some chem) homework. Currently watching ‘Being Human’. Might be an early night; already sleepy.

2010, a monday

worked out, processed photos, roasted asparagus. via process of elimination (today combined with a horrible seemingly spontaneous hives outbreak a few weeks ago), i have concluded i’m allergic to asparagus if i eat too much in one sitting.

2012, a wednesday

Class, last mapping day for field geology—a lot of mixed feelings. Had a gorgeous day for it and our trail followed a picturesque stream all the way up into the mountains. Spent the rest of the night working on my class schedule.

2011, a monday

Class, homework, which was mostly baffling since the majority dealt with material we didn’t go near in class. Two hour nap, chemistry, home to eat chips and salsa and watch ‘the Chicago Code’.

2010, a sunday

worked out, walked down to see the marathon, but the bulk of it had already passed. was trapped in my apartment for the rest of the morning/early afternoon due to crazy traffic on franklin from hollywood being shut down. made strawberry shortcake. went to burbank, megan and i went to old navy, then i took her pilates class. clayton grilled awesome pork chops, heidi made these amazing butternut squash wontons and bacon broccoli salad, and we had shortcake for dessert. clayton caught me up on ‘spartacus’ and then we watched the latest episode WHICH WAS CRAZY. home, took my time picking out a new book to read, since i finished ‘the shadow of the wind’ last night and i want the next one to be good too.

2012, a tuesday

Class, errands, class, homework, studied for midterm, worked on my fall class schedule—literally nothing I can take for my minor. So pissed.

2011, a sunday

Woke up to an unusually dark morning…and then heard it start to rain. No – pour. The heavens opened and things got insane. I drove to Arcadia to meet Meghan and Josh for brunch at Din Tai Fung – soup dumplings! – in the crazy rain, then we walked across the way to JJ Bakery and got the most amazing coconut bread I’ve ever eaten. I should’ve bought the whole flat. Instead I made the one I bought last for 3 hours. I drove home in the rain, which got crazier and crazier the further West I drove. At the 134/5 interchange, the street was flooded, and it was raining so hard on the 5 traffic was slowed to 40mph (extremely slow for LA freeways when there’s no traffic) and it was almost a whiteout. Made it home, did chemistry homework, scored NCAA games and posted brackets. Almost had a heart attack when I saw that Stephen Tobolowsky responded to my tweet.

something new: Din Tai Fung

the most amazing coconut bread that has ever existed

2010, a saturday

had super weird vivid dreams last night. got up early and met megan, then we went to the santa monica farmers market on the promenade. the market was great and I bought a lot of food. later, I walked to the grocery store (called my grandma to and from) and picked up the rest of the ingredients I needed to make quinoa tabbouleh. the recipe made a LOT, and I had impulse-bought a roast chicken at the store, AND jula and I had been trying to think of something to do, so I invited her over for dinner. we had tabbouleh, roast chicken with avocado and roasted red peppers on fresh-baked sourdough, with peach pie for dessert. we watched girl movies and ate until we couldn’t move – a perfect night in.

2012, a monday

Class, field geology—cold, windy, semi-miserable, but at least the hike wasn’t nearly as strenuous as Wednesday. Fell asleep watching ‘Sherlock’.

2011, a saturday

Up early, yoga, met Renee at the Grove. Lunch at Lotería, Mexican wedding cookies from the bakery. Went to Anthropologie and saw Lora and the awesome new store displays, then checked out the new iPads at the Apple Store. Saw ‘Unknown’ which was great (congrats Ethan!). Home, then Megan came over and we drove up to the Observatory to see Supermoon. Unfortunately so did everyone else in LA. Ended up hiking up the next hill over to the West and had an amazing view of Supermoon rising (so fast, so huge, so bright, unbelievable!!) right next to the Observatory. Wish I had a better camera or a tripod or even a rock to steady my camera on though…photos probably didn’t turn out. Still, glad I saw it with my own eyes – beautiful! Afterwards, Megan and I went to Alcove for dessert (the nice guys behind the counter made very good cheesecake/cake recommendations) then liked it so much we stayed and got fries and people watched for almost two hours. FANTASTIC day!

2010, a friday

worked out, ran errands, did my german lesson, monitored the site. picked up megan and heidi and went to in-n-out (yum!) then met elaine and saw ‘repo men’ which was FANTASTIC, then got pinkberry (also sooooo good – new flavors!). came home, recorded the rest of the day’s games and tallied the points so far.

2012, a saturday

Up early, met up with Candace, Ian and Mo and headed back to Flagstaff Mt. to finish up our field work. Thought it would take half an hour, ended up taking 3 hours. Spent the rest of the day and evening working on my map and cross-sections.

2011, a thursday

Target run, Sharky’s for lunch. Tournament tomfoolery. Chem homework, dinner with Terry, Renee and Alex! Felt like a normal person again for a few hours, but that ended when I came home to find my bed strewn with chem papers and books. Aaaand I’m ready to go to sleep but my neighbors are having a loud party so that’s probably not happening.

2010, a wednesday

worked out, ran errands, ran into megan at target. spent the afternoon looking at my old math notebooks and new german books. went to elaine’s and we walked to sushi dan for a pre-skybar snack. megan and tyler met us there, we walked to skybar – listened to alex’s dj set and people-watched. and drank what I found out after I ordered it, to be a $16 drink. I drank it sloooooowly.