Week 26, it's been a lot of pics!

I thought I'd post another 366 today, 1) to catch up and 2) to mark the mid-way point. It's been 26 weeks of food shots! Another 26 to go! Woohoo!

176: Made a trip to Ikea the day before and picked up some Swedish treats.
177: Bi-rite toffee crunch ice cream for dessert
178: Salmon salad from the gym, where I went to work off the ice cream. Good to hit the gym again.
179: I cooked. Finally. Nothing extravagant. Some pasta with scallops in a mushroom sauce
180: Liquid dinner
181: Bun at a Vietnamese place near my office. I've been to this place a dozen times now since moving to my new office.
182: Dinner at 31st Union, which just opened up in my neighborhood. Farm to table concept, wonderful decor, something our area needs. Looking forward to eating here more. Turns out my friend knows the owner (she didn't even realize this until we were in the restaurant and she saw him walking around the tables)! It was fun to hear about all the things he did for the restaurant opening, in case I ever want to live my pipe dream.

Wow, 182 pics. And another 184 to go, if I can keep up with this for another 26 weeks!

Week 24 and 25, I'm still alive!

So here I am this morning, thinking I'll be right on time with my 366 posts. And then I realized I'm a week behind. Ah vell. The new business opened two weeks ago, and I'm just trying to keep my head above water. Food always helps.

162: These little guys are called taiyaki. Super cute and filled with something sweet. The Nutella ones were much too sweet for my taste, but the cream ones were a hit. From Sweet Breams.
163: A salad for dinner, simple and quick
164: A few berries picked from my garden and a chocolate popsicle for dessert
165: Sushi for dinner
166: Store-bought soup and a quick salad for dinner. Not much real cooking going on in my house the past few weeks
167: Pasta and sauce from Whole Foods. At least I brought out a pan and turned on the stove
168: I baked! My friends helped me out today so I thought I'd reward them with some homemade banana bread, blueberry coffee cake, and coffee bacon.
169: Father's Day dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant
170: 1st day of the new business, late dinner at the desk
171: Same salad, different day
172: My friend felt pity on me and made me dinner. Gobbled it all up before I could take  a photo. Got one of dessert instead. She made an insanely good mango rummy colada cocktail thingy
174a: Lost a day. Realized this the next morning at 5:20 am as I was brewing coffee.
174b: Brewed another cup and made an egg scramble
175: End of a crazy week. Still not cooking much. But luckily my friends are. Saturday brunch (and a few hours of watching fútbol, although I had a computer on my lap the whole time).

May mood board

Ok, so it's almost two weeks into June, and I have yet to post my May mood board. Better late than never. Last month's mood board will be brought to you today by Instagram.

A few roses are blooming. The bushes are quite old so they either produce faded blooms or massive ones that don't last very long. Probably should pull them out and start new.

I still think I pull my carrots too early, but the tops start getting really fat and they just don't seem to want to grow long.

Or they get kind of mutated.

I have a patch of sweet peas that is just heaven to walk through. Love the fragrance!

I kept cutting the flowers but I finally stopped cutting and the pea pods are coming out. The berry bushes are starting to produce, although not much. Maybe next year, I'll get more than a dozen!

As it's already two weeks into June, I'm seeing some more peas and maybe even a few dahlias. Stay tuned!

Come on by to Instagram and see more regular postings of my garden. @ailoves

Week 22 and Week 23, I'm such a busy bee!

The mayhem continues, and I was up at 5:30 am today. I can't wait for the day that I actually sleep in. I haven't had to set an alarm for weeks because I just wake up! Coffee has been such a good friend to me lately.

And rather than tackle my To Do list, I'm catching up on a few posts. You're going to get a 2-for-1 today, and then probably not see me for another month...

148: A friend's Indian wedding, beautiful setting. Bad wine, but at least really good Indian food.

149: Memorial Day BBQ at a friend's. I haven't hosted a party in so long and the minutes things calm down, I gotta throw something.

150. No time to cook, Mom was great and brought over some food. And her dog as she and Dad were heading out to Europe for their first-ever trip out there. So happy that they are finally getting to really enjoy what's out there!

151. I took some leftover BBQ from Monday... ribs!! So good. (I just realized these two photos are switched around. Not going to change it)

152. Noodles. Another go to when you have no time.

153. Salad for one

154. More salad. And some butternut squash gnocchi that I made a while ago and had frozen. It's a good thing when I freeze leftovers.

155. The day before, I took a time out and went to the Sunset celebration. And I bought some beautiful antique plates. And I saw Joy the Baker, and she made coffee bacon. So I made coffee bacon. And some pancakes. Coffee bacon has a lot of coffee. A LOT OF COFFEE!! I had three strips and was buzzed for 8 hours. Like literally buzzed, I could almost hear it in my head. Caution when eating coffee bacon. 

156. New old plates and some take out Burmese

157. More Burmese. My fortune said big things were coming my way.

158. More Joy the Baker with Cheddar and Chive Biscuits. I didn't put the jalapeño. Is that why they were hard as rocks and flat like wood? Probably not. Tried to repurpose them in a sandwich. Not bad. Dogs looooooved the biscuits. 

159. More noodles, sausage and green. 

160. Costco $1.50 hot dog. I love those hot dogs. 

161. Friend's birthday at Oola's. Really good food, I needed the indulgence. Dessert: warm chocolate cake. Could only stomach a bite after having stuffed my face with my main course of ribs.

Ok, this coffee is so kicking in right now, so I'm off!

Oh, I wish

Weeks 20 and 21, the choice is done

It's been a bit quiet around these here blogging parts. I've talked about some challenges I've been facing lately and the need to choose a path in life. I've kept the details vague as I have wanted this blog to be about my personal interests rather than any professional ones, which have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

But basically, I was choosing between working with someone versus starting my own business. Two weeks ago, I finally made the choice to start working with someone. It wasn't the ideal choice, but I didn't feel like I was ready to go in a completely different direction. It was sort of the middle ground.

It seems that life has some plans of her own for me. Three days after I started walking down a new path, I was forced into a different one. The person I was working with decided he didn't want to work with me anymore. So now I'm starting my own business.

And the doors open in a little over 2 weeks. To say I'm a bit stressed is an understatement. Waking up at 5:30 am with a gagillion thoughts in my head is now the norm. Today it was 4:30 am. After lying in bed for 15 minutes, I gave up on going back to bed, and after making a super-sized pot of coffee, I'm sitting here at the computer.

My everyday life

But before getting down to business, I thought I would catch up on my 366. We're hitting Week 24, so I have some catching up to do.

134: After the previous weeks of indulgences, I needed to cleanse.
135: Tomato soup from Trader Joes. I always keep some in the pantry; it's my go-to if I have nothing to eat.
136: Sushi with friends at our favorite local spot
137: Inspired by Emma, I made a super easy roast chicken, throwing in some carrots from my garden
138: Noodles, spare ribs, egg.
139: Cobb salad and beer. It's a good Friday combo
140: Pasta with some leftover chicken and whatever else I could find in the fridge
141: My healthy day: I did a short run, then went swimming, and ended with a huge salad and salteña (like an empanada). I haven't exercised since.
142: At least still trying to eat healthy, I made a fat salad
144a: All my meals on day 143 were associated with business meetings, so I didn't want to pull out my iPhone to snap a shot. Took this shot the next morning. Leftover brownie for breakfast. So much for healthy eating.
144b: Took an extra shot to make up for the day before. Trying to go back to healthy eating.
145: Rockfish with black beans, avocado and salsa. Healthy and tasty
146: Threw in the towel with the healthy eating and ordered a large pizza. I won't say how many slices I ate...
147: But there was enough left over for breakfast on Saturday.

Now I'm hungry. Time to make some breakfast and get to work. My To-Do list is a mere 6 pages long. But I swear, I'm taking some breaks today to exercise and enjoy the day a bit. Starting a business in two weeks is plenty of time... right?

Fuel