[Super Duper Fantastic] ISFP/INFP. 4w5. World Explorer. Super Hero. Rose-colored Glasses.

A belated entry to give thanks. I always emphasize that I’m not just thankful on a specifically designated day during the year; I’m grateful every day for what I have and who I’m surrounded by [net friends included]. And often times I lose sight of how lucky I am because I get so me-focused, like in the previous entry.

Anyway, I am thankful for:
- the love/support of family and friends
- the stability/security that work brings
- health/fitness: even though I creak, I know my body is in decent shape.

This Thanksgiving weekend isn’t over yet, but thus far, the weekend has included:
- fun Pilates workout with Chase: I know I complain, but I think my abs are solidifying!
- Thanksgiving dinner with RV’s family
- Thanksgiving night festivities with friends + Death Race 2000
- Black Friday shopping and Cheesecake Factory indulgence with RV and Keane
- Birthday fun with sister [Happy 26th birthday, snotty!] and friends

More to come this weekend that I’m very much looking forward to:
- Pho with RV and sister
- Volunteering at the SPCA
- Family’s post-Thanksgiving party
- Sunday dinner with friends

You are truly your own worst enemy. Convincing oneself of anything else seems impossible.

This past week has been one of many mood swings and mood killers. RV just rolls his eyes when I make up an impossible argument, twisting words to mean what I am convinced they are to mean when it really isn’t anything close.

I’m vague because I can’t even pinpoint what it is. I’m hoping this feeling passes because it’s somewhat self-destructive. My behavior. My actions.

He asks me to communicate. I respond in silence or something completely unrelated. He’s right though. If I don’t talk to him or to anyone else, it won’t ever work itself out.

As a distraction, I asked for new crochet hooks and some fuzzy yarn. I’m working on a rather simple scarf for RV, hoping that creating something will take my mind off the destruction of something else.

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Ahhh!”
- Kerouac

I’m starting to build a routine for my Saturdays – Pilates with Chase and volunteering at the SPCA [hopefully taking photos of cats and dogs!]. This weekend, however, only one of those was scheduled in because there was a cupcake crawl in the East Bay to attend! Seeing as how this would involve sweets, I opted to pair the cupcake crawl with a workout beforehand. Well, it was more like Chase would be attending, so it just seemed easier to stick to one side of the bay for the day.

We caught up with everyone at the second stop of the crawl, La Farine. Kirsten and Stephen came too! Here [pictured right.] she is with the chocolate cupcake from La Farine. It was a little on the sweeter side, and the vanilla cupcake from the same place was much preferred. While the cake was a bit more flaky, the BLUE frosting [pictured left] was tastier.

Our second stop was at Sweet Adeline Bakeshop. They weren’t quite ready when we first arrived, but when they delivered, they really DELIVERED. I think of all the stops, they had the most variety of flavors. At Sweet Adeline, we tried the Guinness Chocolate, Red Velvet, and Banana. There were quite a few others, but I was a little late in line and missed some of the other goodies. I snoozed, therefore, I lost.

After the sweetness overload of the two stops, we took a savory break with fried chicken sandwiches at Bakesale Betty. Crispy, spicy, and tasty! There was a ridiculous line that went down half the relatively long block, but it moved quickly. With the sandwich in our bellies, there wasn’t much room for anything else. Still, we pushed on.

The second to last stop for the crawl was Cupkates, but it was our last stop. Cupkates is a cupcakery on wheels, so you have to follow their Twitter account for their locations! They planned out the cupcake crawl where the mobile cupcakes would meet us close by. We tried the Smores, Lemon Raspberry, Pumpkin Spice, and Double Vanilla [pictured below in order].

Yum, but too many cupcakes for the day! Luckily, I learned from my previous experiences with Cupcake Camp, so we shared a lot of the cupcakes. We know better than to stuff our faces with entire cupcakes at once when we need to really conserve as much space as possible.

More photos from the cupcake crawl: here.

I have been on the prowl lately.

There’s a house that’s caught my eye. It’s in a neighborhood not too far from the one I live in now, which for many people who want to live in San Francisco is a little out there. But I’m okay with that. If I want to afford a single family house in San Francisco, there will be sacrifices made on location, size, newness, etc. I’m currently working on getting pre-approved for a loan, and based on certain circumstances, bidding on the house will actually take place in court on some date still to be determined.

I will likely not get the winning bid, considering that it’s definitely of move-in condition and is starting out under $500K. For SF, that’s amazing for not being in a particularly bad neighborhood. I am hopeful, however, that I will find something eventually. I’m not in a rush, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to look around.

Here are two sets of photos that make me smile when I’ve been staring at the computer screen for way too long at work. They were taken at a friend’s birthday party. There was a photo booth with a remote set up, so you could take as many pictures as you wanted. We opted for a few shots before the party got crowded and a few shots as we were on our way out.

I even went so far as to print these on the newly purchased printer. The quality was acceptable, but I’ll have to figure out how to make use of photo paper that’s 8.5″ x 11″. Most frames max out at 8″ x 10″! We’ll probably end up buying some 4″ x 6″ photo paper to reduce the cutting necessary.

Exploring DC without a car is not difficult at all. The Metro makes everything easy. However, when you’re going about it all alone and wanting to try restaurants in areas you’d never been to, it is a little unnerving. I’m sure DC is safe, but you just don’t know where you should/shouldn’t go if you don’t live in a place.

So I started my second day with a ride to Pentagon City. My first stop was the DEA Museum. It was nothing too fancy, just a few rooms on the ground floor of the building, documenting the history of the war against drugs. Random photos and paraphernalia. I probably spent less than half an hour in there.

From there, I was in search of a delicious meal. A quick poking around on the iPhone found me walking down the road, under a freeway [only a little creepy because it was during the day], and up a hill. Beyond the Air Force Memorial was a fantastic Ethiopian meal waiting. I probably spent more time at the Air Force Memorial taking photos [see below] than at the DEA Museum!

The food was delicious, and there was enough food to feed another person. I ordered the dullet dish, which is chopped red meat, tripe, and liver seasoned with herbed purified butter, spiced chili powder (mitmita). It can be served raw, medium, or well done. It comes on injera with injera on the side. Very tasty! There’s also a little salad on the side, which is fantastic too. Balances all that meat on a platter.

Afterwards, I found myself wandering into DC and around the free museums. The Hirshhorn was fantastic and deserves an entry all to itself! The Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which I never ended up actually getting to [Saw a special on the plane about it afterwards, so all is good!], was closed at the time, so I visited the Holocaust Museum down the street. Very graphic, very moving. I would have spent more time in there if I hadn’t wandered in just an hour before closing time.

In the evening, I enjoyed a meal with Leslie and Mike in Crystal City, as well as checked out their old place. They’ve since moved, so I’ll have to stop by again.

I was riding up, down and around on the Metro with little regard for how far things actually were. If it was here in the Bay Area, it would be the equivalent of me constantly taking BART to the East Bay! I refilled my Metro card several times, so it wasn’t cheap, but you do what you have to to get around!

Arriving in DC on an evening flight, there wasn’t much to see/do aside from transporting myself to Matt’s apartment. I figured out which bus to take to Rosslyn for the cheapest and met up with Matt at the corresponding metro station. We then grabbed a quick bite since I hadn’t eaten during the flight. Nothing too exciting, just settling in.

Adventuring began the following day with a visit to the Capitol Building, a stroll through some seedy streets of the area to the American Society of Landscape Architects for a tour of their green roof [first in the nation, probably!], a quick run-through of the National Archive [see below for a few shots], meeting up with an AYCJer at the National Museum of American History [last photo below], and then later enjoying a scenic view atop the belltower at the Old Post Office.

I realize that this update is months too late. Time to catch up!

I didn’t really have a decided costume for Halloween until about an hour before a party Friday night. It became a pre-Halloween costume because the following evening [Halloween proper], we went over to RV’s mom’s house and watched a late night baseball game instead of joining in the festivities in SF.

I wore a random purple wig I’d bought a few months prior, a purple dress, and Slinkies for arms. Not really a specific character, just not my usual self. Several guesses for my outfit: Rainbow Brite, raver chick. I was aiming for a toy or purple-haired doll.

I wasn’t sure what to expect and didn’t really think our friends would go all the way to the Outer Richmond for the party, but it turned out quite well. Mateo and Robin live in a really nice house, Ian was DJing up some good music, and there was good company. I also met Valentine [the cat pictured] who must be the softest cat EVER. I ignored my allergies for about five minutes to play with him.

The party was a good time, and we didn’t get home until after 3:30. I ended up sick the next day though. Had pho with rare beef and tendon for lunch with RV and Theron, and everything was fine. Pilates and a long car ride later in the day triggered some undigested dinner though, so the rest of the evening involved resting up and watching the Yankees kick the Phillies in the behind. I’m not a huge follower of baseball, but since it’s the World Series, I paid attention. It only gets interesting when the teams are good, and the games are somewhat close!

Today, more pho with rare beef and tendon after getting an extra hour of sleep! And then as we headed down to the farmer’s market, we noticed that the Asian Art Museum was free [Target First Sunday!]. We walked through, looked around for a few minutes, and continued on our way to the farmer’s market where we picked up veggies and this lovely plant. It ended up costing more than the veggies that RV bought, but it will surely last longer!

Of course, I forgot to ask the woman selling the plant what it was. I know it’s a succulent, but which one?!

I’m working on incorporating more photos and daily life documentation, so if that’s not your cup of tea, read no further. ;-)