Cheesecake and Arcade Games

Last night my cousin took me out for a delicious dinner at the Cheesecake Factory followed by a spontaneous trip to the arcade at White Flint Mall. What fun! We played a bunch of games at Dave and Busters as if we were 9 years old all over again.

For dessert, I had the most splendid cheesecake. White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Nut. White Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake Swirled with Macadamia Nuts and Caramel on a Blond Brownie Crust. A slice of pure decadence that I will certainly feel guilty about tomorrow morning when my pants won't fit, but will still totally be worth it.

Pomelo: the Drink or Fruit?

When my boss first told me about pomelos I wondered how on earth she had ever heard of the pomelo drink they sell in Uruguay made by Paso de los Toros (now acquired by Pepsi Co). That stuff tasted like sour grapefruit soda. Not my favorite, although very popular and interesting nonetheless.

Turns out she wasn't talking about the drink from Uruguay, but the fruit.

When I first walked in to the office today, I wondered why she had a watermelon sitting on her desk (ok, a bit of an exaggeration, but this thing was no itty bitty fruit). The pomelo is the biggest citrus fruit known to mankind, some as large as a soccer ball. The fruit itself isn't much bigger than a big grapefruit though; most of it's size is just cushy membrane stuff that you shouldn't eat. Turns out the pomelo was a gift for me. Yum. It was sweet with just a little bit of sour. I think I should've included trying more new foods in my list of new year's resolutions.

7 New Years Resolutions

I may be 5 days late in posting my new year's resolutions, but I'm not going to claim procrastination is something I'm going to work on in 2011. Late is better than never. So here they are:


1. Lose 9 pounds. Yes, just like the rest of the world, I want to lose weight in the new year. Surprise, surprise. Specifically I want to lose the 9 lbs. I have gained the past year since coming back to the U.S. I remember my friend Marcos saying, yeah, people always get fat when they go to the States. And oh is it true. I resolve to lose nine pounds, the sooner the better.

2. Graduate. Very important. I want to hold that beautiful M.A. degree in my hands and get hooded. I shall accomplish that this year no matter what. I shall absolutely, 100% certainly graduate.

3. Find a full-time job (preferably with health insurance). At some point in 2011, I hope to be gainfully employed at a job I love. Also very important.

4. Blog more often. I love to write. And I ought to write for fun more often. I don't care if people are saying blogging is dead. I shall single-handedly make it alive again...or something like that.

5. Learn Arabic. I already told you I was going to learn Arabic, but I'm going to be more proactive about it starting now. I'd like to be able to write and read basic phrases by the end of the year. And actually be able to hold a verbal conversations sooner than that.

6. Floss every day. Self explanatory.

7. Make time for what I love. This one includes painting & jewelry making, spending more time with friends & family, and traveling. It's true what they say: if you really care about something, you'll make time for it. So I resolve to make time for those things which are most important to me but can sometimes get overlooked in the hustle and bustle of ordinary life.

I think 2011 is going to be a pretty full and exciting year for me. I'm very excited for what the future holds. At the very least, I hope I can make good on all of my new year's resolutions.

You Snooze, You Lose

I've been reading up on polyphasic sleep, after stumbling upon a blogger who tried it for a year and not surprisingly reverted back to monophasic sleep after his experimentation phase.

The idea of multiple naps instead of one massive giant snooze sounds appealing. The idea of more waking hours in a day sounds very appealing. Going through the process of waking up 4-6 times a day does not however. I hate alarm clocks as it is.


Plus, ascribing to a different sleep schedule than the everybody else has its difficulties. I would imagine 6 naps a day would make it difficult to be successful both professionally and personally. Bosses and friends just wouldn't understand. Plus, once you gained a sustained concentration on any one task it'd constantly be broken by naptime, not allowing you to really focus or accomplish anything meaningful. I think I remember seeing a newscast once that a well-rested person should take 15 minutes to fall asleep once his or her head hits the pillow; otherwise you're sleep-deprived. So if you took that 15 minutes 6 times a day you'd spend all your time trying to sleep instead of actually sleeping. No thanks.

In my ideal world, I'd be a biphasic sleeper. Hello, mid-day siesta! Sometimes I think I ought to have been born Hispanic. Unfortunately the United States has not caught on to the glorious Spanish nap-time after lunch. I have to say, the time I spent in Spain were some of the most rejuvenating months of my life. Among a few other lifestyle differences, I would say sufficient sleep had a big part to do with that.

Right now, I love Sundays--because no Sunday is complete without a little nappy nap to get me ready for a week of being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Happy New Year!

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

boom. bang.

smooch

Auld Lang Syne

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011

Are New Year's Resolutions Doomed to Fail?

Make your resolutions. It's almost 2011.


I'm planning on posting mine on this blog once I figure out what they are because once you make a public statement of them, they become harder to break. It's all about the mental game. Make your resolutions and tell people about them so they can either keep you accountable or you can psychologically feel more committed to them.

If you're like me, your first thought was probably that sharing your resolutions with others will just make you feel more guilty when you break them--but at least you'll be able to say you tried if that ends up being the case. Don't let the fear of failure (or the social pressure of the fear of failure) stop you from making necessary and/or desirable change in your life. And maybe if your goals are measurable, specific, and realistic you'll actually be successful! Let's work on coming up with a few good ones and sticking to them.

Snow Tubing

Some people spend Christmas indoors in front of the fireplace, cozy and warm. Other people spend Christmas outdoors on the side of a mountain, cold and freezing...because they're snow tubing!


This year, after a yummy dinner and games with extended family we bundled up in scarves, boots, gloves, hats, and big coats; squeezed ourselves into the SUV and headed out to Liberty Mountain Resort in Carroll Valley, PA. Most of us had never gone snow tubing before so I thought it would be a fun Christmas present for my family.

Once at the ski resort, we hopped into a shuttle bus and arrived at the snow tubing location on the side of the mountain. They issue you a pass and snow tube once you sign a waiver you won't sue the place if you break both legs and an arm. Then you ride a conveyor belt-type thingie to the top of the hill, pick a lane, and whooosh, slide down the mountain. At the bottom, the staff insists you "drag your feet" to slow down, but if you can't stop in time there are big red inflatables to cushion your stoppage.

I was surprised at the level of organization of snow tubing. I expected a free-for-all area of tubes bumping into each other, but there were about 15 lanes where you ride down individually and then clear out at the bottom to make room for tubers at the top. I was also surprised there were hills built into the tubing area so you didn't go straight down, but up and down, and at times, getting air if you went fast enough.


The staff at Liberty was really friendly. They would give you a good push down the mountain if you needed one and practically begged you to let them spin you. That style of going down was fun, but you couldn't do to too many of those before your head would be spinning faster than your snow tube. My favorite way down was on my belly with a fast running start to encourage speed.

I really enjoyed snow tubing and will be sure to go again in the future. If we have to have cold weather anyway, why not take advantage of it?

Merry Christmas

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6



Fully human and fully God, Christ came to reconcile us with the one who created us. Through Him our relationship with God can be restored. The greatest gift we will ever receive is the salvation God provided through Jesus Christ our Lord. May we not forget the true meaning of Christmas in midst of all the other exciting things this holiday has come to mean. God gives good gifts.