Power Lunch Is Back!

Yesterday I had my fist Power Lunch of this year. I started mentoring for this program last year and was eager to return. I will be working with the same student, let's call her N.

First of all, I was happy that N finally remembered my name :) That's a good sign, right? The school also did a good job remodeling the library to make it more open and inviting for students and their mentors.

After filling out a bit of paperwork, N and I started reading our first book together. She is still having a really hard time concentrating on the words, and instead her eyes look everywhere, but the book.

We were reading a story about lost toys, and I was trying to ask her questions as we read to make sure she was following the story and could anticipate what was about to happen.

One of the words in the story was shelter. I asked N what that meant, and she said: "a place where you go to be safe." I told her she was correct, and added that's a place that keeps you safe from cold, rain, etc.

What N said next almost broke my heart: "it is also where homeless people go, and where you can be safe from alcohol, drugs and crack." This completely shocked me. I don't think I was aware of these issues when I was 8 years old. Was I sheltered, or was the world a better place?

An Award for Me!!!

Last night after I came home from studying in the library, I had an email from Paz, telling me that she has given me a Kreativ Blogger Award: that totally made my day!

Now this blog no longer has to be jealous of Mango & Tomato, which has already won several awards :)

Great Falls

This past Sunday Wendy had a bunch of girls over at her parents' house for brunch. Afterwards we took a quick walk to Great Falls. It was a gorgeous day, and I was very happy I took my camera along.

Ruby Tuesday

Here's my entry for Ruby Tuesday: these are just two out of 6 new bowls I bought on Sunday. The color is so vibrant, and the bowls surprisingly hold quite a lot of food!

Shadow Sundays

I'm joining another photography group: Shadow Sundays! I took the following two shots on the way back from a walk at Great Falls with Adrienne, Anna, Anna S, Radha, and Wendy after we all had a great brunch.

This was a perfect day!

Today's Flowers: Roses

Here's my second post for Today's Flowers. Unfortunately I did not have Internet connection an entire weekend, so I'm a day late. These are roses I bought for myself last Monday and they are still alive! I promise I'm not planning on posting yellow flowers every single week :)

The things I learn at the dentist office....

Remember how my dentist told me "for someone so quiet you have quite an active tongue?"

Well, today in the morning I went to see my root canal specialist because one of my teeth has been bothering me. Ten minutes later, he told me everything looked fine and that I was probably just biting too hard. Great, now I'm a hard biter.

I think it's time for my guard to make a reappearance. Fun times!

Ruby Tuesdays

Earlier this week I joined Today's Flowers. Today I decided to join Ruby Tuesdays hosted by Work of the Poet. Let the fun begin!

This truck is parked at the parking lot next to my apartment, and it puts a smile on my face every single time I see it. The fake legs in the back, though, give me the creeps.

Today's Flowers

I decided to join a group of bloggers that share pictures of the flowers at the Today's Flowers. I discovered this group by reading Paz's New York Minute.

This is a picture of a pansies that grows on campus of the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in Hyde Park. I was there this past Thursday/Friday for Anna's graduation. The weather could not have been better!

The Trip to the CIA

Here are a few pictures from Anna's graduation from the CIA. The weather in Hyde Park was beautiful! The changing colors of the leaves were remarkable! I can't believe she's done: I feel like I've graduated too :) From the first day when I took Amtrak with Anna to the school with her luggage, to the last day, when I helped her pack up her car and drive (what took us 8 hours!!!) back to DC, I feel like maybe I should have received a diploma too...right :)

Parents in my apartment

So I have visitors, and it's not mice. My parents are here for a few days prior to all of us taking a train up to Hyde Park for Anna's graduation.

Tonight we went over to the mall to see the monuments at night: gorgeous views! My favorite is the WWII Memorial: it is a lot prettier at night than in daylight. The pictures of the flowers are from the garden behind the Castle (obviously they are flashed b/c I took them at night).

Things in Bloom

Just thought I'd post a few pictures of some of my plants that are currently blooming. Why? Because some people have children, Oprah has her dogs, and I have my plants. The first two are geraniums, the third one is an orchid that is beginning to grow a stem that will eventually have blooms (!!!) and the fourth one is one of my violets (there are 2 more that will bloom soon: white and deep burgundy).

One man who is making me happy

No, I did not all of a sudden find a boyfriend...alas.

For the last 6 months, or maybe more, there has been a guy handing out Washington Post Express at Union Station. Every night, as I go to the Metro, he greets me with How are you doing Miss Lady? Have a good night!

I know he doesn't say that to me exclusively, but it seriously brightens up my day! One day I was leaving much earlier than usual, and he actually noticed and commented on that fact.

How nice it is that small human interactions like these can make one's day!

Say What???

Last night Jenn, Mas and I went to our favorite Korean restaurant. It was cold and we asked for tea. Our waitress brought us 3 cups of green tea and was horrified when I asked for some sugar. She looked at Jenn as if I was insane and said something in Korean, basically meaning: you don't add sugar to green tea.

Fine. I drank it as is. In the Chinese restaurants they always allow me to add sugar to my tea.

The food was as good as always, but this time I had to share my favorite mashed potatoes with peas with Mas.

Then, a couple came in, sat down, ordered their food and ordered green tea. The guy asked for sugar, and guess what??? They brought him a bowl of sugar! Maybe they thought I had a better palette and could handle it? It's a mystery...

S/He is back....

I don't know if it's a she or a he, but last night when I came home and was about to turn the lights off and go to bed, I saw it again!!!!!!!!!

Did you see those shoes?

This is the least political blog ever. In fact, I don't think I've ever made a political statement/comment here. Why? I guess despite the fact that I live in DC, politics really don't interest me that much. However, because everyone has been talking non-stop about the Vice Presidential debate, I felt like I should watch it.

Plus...there was no Grey's Anatomy.

The entire time I was watching the debate last night, I wished I would have counted the number of times Palin said "also." Not that I could have done a better job :) but then I'm not running for a VP. I also thought it was interesting how many times she mentioned the hard-to-pronounce names of foreign leaders: almost as if to separate herself from Bush, who messed up on a few of them.

Also, I was amazed how she stood for almost 2 hours in those high-heeled shoes without moving around or fidgeting: that takes a true stamina!

Poetry Inspired by Real Life

I saw a mouse in my house,

It gave me quite a scare.

I wish I had a boyfriend,

So I could sleep elsewhere.

Alas, I don't:

Let out a scream,

Jumped into my bed,

And wished it was a bad dream.

That was no help,

But I did not cry:
Calmed myself down

And let out a sigh.

I put on my makeup

And packed my dance shoes,

Took the train to Lucky Bar

To forget the blues.

Yep, this really happened to me last night! I was sitting on my couch, talking to Jenn, when I saw a mouse run from underneath my TV cabinet, across the carpet and down by the AC unit! I screamed, and screamed, and screamed. Hopefully the maintenance people will be able to resolve this furry issue.

Say What???

Yesterday I was at my dentist, yet again. She was working on the crown for my lower tooth, and all of a sudden told me to stick out my tongue. I guess I moved it while she was drilling my tooth and it got cut and was bleeding!!!

My dentist: "for someone so quiet, you have quite an active tongue."

Seriously?

Now it hurts to eat because everything seems to agitate it. She thought I could lose 5 pounds that way...right. (This was not the way I wanted to start Rosh Hashanah.)

Ooh, a rainbow!

Today I spent an entire day at home, looking over my answers to GRE diagnostic test, correcting my mistakes, reading over math section, etc, etc, etc.

The day was gloomy and cloudy, but then all of a sudden the skies cleared up and the sun came out. I contemplated going outside, but there was just too much to do. I stayed home. And then, it began pouring, hard! And what appeared? A rainbow!

Oh how perfectly this describes me!!!

Here's a passage from Twilight, a book Stacey highly recommended and lent to me.

That had always been my way, though. Making decisions was the painful part for me, the part I agonized over. But once the decision was made, I simply followed through--usually with relief that the choice was made. Sometimes the relief was tainted by despair...But it was still better than wrestling with the alternative.

How do I get better at making decisions? How do I minimize that period of agony? How do I alleviate the despair that exists even when the decision has been made?

18 Minutes

Last night I came home after a Happy Hour with Ashley and Carrie and decided I was too tired to clean. So, instead, I made a bit of room on my couch, and watched America's Next Top Model and Dancing with the Stars. And had cookies with milk.

At 9 pm, when Bush started his speech on TV, I turned the TV off, but instead of cleaning, I watched One Tree Hill on Youtube. And then it was 10 pm, and the season premier of Lipstick Jungle.

At 11 pm I turned off my TV and decided to do a bit of cleaning because Jenn is coming over tonight, and even though we've been friends for a while, I'd be embarrassed for her to see the disarray that was my apartment. I loaded the dishwasher, collected the garbage, wiped off the kitchen counters, put my shoes away, put the random articles of clothes laying around my apartment into my walk-in closet, straightened up the bathroom and washed the bathroom sink, and a couple of other random tasks.

When I was done, it was 11:18. It only took me 18 minutes to make my apartment presentable. Now, obviously, it wasn't like I washed the floors and vacuumed. And there are still piles of stuff that could be put away or thrown away, but I am not embarrassed to have visitors now.

I know the lesson should be to do a bit of cleaning each day and to put everything in its place (something my dad has been trying to teach me ever since I was a little girl), but knowing me, that will not happen.

Still, it was so nice waking up to a cleaner place :)

Cookbook Contest

For those of you who mostly read this blog, I wanted to let you know that I'm having a contest on my Mango & Tomato blog. When you leave a comment about your least favorite food word, you'll be entered to win a cookbook.

He's BACK!!!!!!!!!!

Remember last year I wrote about my love for Dancing with the Stars show? It is back!

And the best part? My favorite dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy is back this season. Love him! A lot :)

That's all I have to say for now...

Thursdays and Sundays will not be the same...

I'm very excited about the return of some of my favorite shows. Some of them, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives, however, will just not be the same.

Why? Because I used to watch them with my friend Paige, who lived on the same floor in my apartment building. But then she moved to Atlanta, and now I'll have to watch them on my own. Rather sad.

We used to have a great time getting together, snacking, sometimes painting our nails, watching & discussing the shows. Guess now we'll just have to move our discussions to an on-line format.

Sigh.

Volunteering: Picking Food For Those in Need

I'm a Volunteer group coordinator for meetinDC, and today with 4 other meetin members and many other volunteers we gathered at USDA to gather cucumbers, pumpkins and butternut squash, which will be later donated to DC food kitchens and food banks.

It was a lot of work, but well worth it. And I was also able to take home a few pumpkins and butternut squashes (sp?).