Thursday, April 28, 2011

Perfect Timing

Every so often, the timing of event is just so. The stars align and fate is on your side, and things work out exactly as they should. Tomorrow is going to be such an occasion.

Chris will be out of town for the wedding du jour.

He's off to Ithaca again, this time to go apartment-hunting so he'll have a place to live come fall. I, meanwhile, am planning on recording the early-morning nuptials, to indulge in tomorrow night, accompanied by two of my favorite things: a red velvet cupcake and some vino.

Since it turns out that guys don't obsess over weddings (I know, right?! Couldn't believe it either), the timing of Chris's trip/Will and Kate's big day couldn't be better. He doesn't want to be there for it, and I don't want him to be there for it. Good teamwork, universe.

The only thing I'm worried about is how I'm going to get through the day tomorrow without reading any wedding coverage. Since I'm not going to be watching it until tomorrow night, I don't want to ruin any of the surprises. It's like trying not to find out who won the Super Bowl the day after the game, since you had to record the live game while you went to a funeral (HIMYM, anyone?).

Anyway, I'm very excited for the wedding. And Chris is very excited to miss it.

Monday, April 25, 2011

A Joyous Occasion

Today marks the last day that Chris and I will have to do the plyometrics DVD from our P90X workout. We still have the rest of this week and next week to go before we are officially done, but finishing plyo is a huge accomplishment in itself.

Though sticking to the diet plan (oops) would have definitely improved our results, I'm still pretty happy with what I got out of P90X. I think I got as much as I put into it, and while no one is going to mistake me for a body builder, my muscles have much more definition than they did at the beginning of this.

Exhibit A being my huge biceps in this picture:


Yes, that's me at the bottom right looking totally swoll. Thanks, Tony!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Fun With Toys

Today, Chris and I are taking off for New Orleans, where we will participate in a time honored tradition known as the Marathon of Beers.

Glad you asked.

The Marathon of Beers is the type of event that could only be born in a college setting -- the soil there, which supports sloppy freshman and excessive drinking games -- is rich for such an event to blossom and grow.

The event itself consists of teams of ten, each of which picks a team color. This year I'm on the pink team, captained by my friend Alexa, and Chris is on the yellow team, captained by his friend Ben. The event is spread over five stops, with a mile at each stop. At each stop, each team of ten is responsible for drinking 26 beers between them. So, you start at point A, drink 26 beers between your team of ten, and then run a mile to point B. Where you drink 26 beers between your team of ten, and then run to point C. Where you... well, you get it.

Anyway, last night we were making our preparations to leave town for a few days, which, for me, includes making cupcakes to bring to our lovely hosts. In honor of my team color, I made lemon cupcakes with pink frosting.

Now, while making cupcakes is always something I enjoy, this batch was especially special, because I got to use my new star tip for the first time! It took me a little while to get the hang of it, but by the end I was cruising along. It definitely gave me a newfound appreciation for bakers. It is not easy to do all that piping. But, I think it's pretty obvious that it paid off.

Also, you can't tell from the picture, but I also filled these cupcakes with frosting, using the cupcake coring device I got from Chris's mom for Christmas. It's so excellent, and creates perfect little cavities in the cupcakes to fill. So cool!

The other toy that I'm so excited to break into, which arrived last night, is my Create-Your-Own Seder Plate. I'm hosting a seder for Passover, and wanted a seder plate to match the one that my friend Sara found in New Orleans. It's sort of a paint-by-numbers situation.

The best part about it is that, through Internet search to find it, I discovered what may be one of the more hilarious websites of our time: OyToys.com. Only, on the label that came on the box, the . in .com was replaced with a Star of David. Seriously, visit it. I dare you not to find it hilarious.

In the midst of all the cupcake/seder plate fun, that boy that I live with and I also took a date night to go out for some sushi that we'd seriously been craving. It was a really nice night here, and the nice weather has been continuing today. I'm knocking on wood, but it seems like Spring may actually be here for good.

Special shout to the sister, who has a big interview this weekend! Good luck, sistah-friend, I know you'll do great.

Hope everyone else has good weekends planned too! Wish us luck for our big race!