January 2012
1 post
Seattle
Space Needle (always a must)
Salumi’s
Ferry to Bainbridge Island
Pike’s Place market
World Spice Merchants
Ballard Locks
Lunchbox Laboratory (amazing burgers and Nutella shake? Sold.)
Fremont Troll
Cow Chip Cookies
November 2011
2 posts
Thandie Newton in Chronicles of Riddick
Yeah, I watched this. In the theater.
We loved Thandie Newton’s abrupt, over-the-top reaction to a death. You’re missing the audio of “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
October 2011
2 posts
On Having an Off Day
Wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Some days I think there is no right side of the bed. Heck, I’d even climb over the headboard if it would help, but there’s just no shaking that mood sometimes. Being in a bit of a funk lately reminded me of some thoughts about moods and emotions. Advice I tell myself and others when going through a rough time is to allow yourself to feel what you’re...
September 2011
2 posts
Best Birthday Flashback
Just walked into a kitchen in the office and saw that the sink was starting to fill with mystery nasty water from the drain up. Flashbacks of Milli’s 23rd birthday I think it was. Went to the movies and came back to our apartment to find the kitchen sink was beginning to fill with water coming up the drain. Tried turning on the garbage disposal. It actually got even worse! Called the...
July 2011
1 post
Just another night in DC
Man walking by, looking back: "I like your ass."
Me: "What'd he say?"
Her: "I like your ass."
Me: "Oh. Mine or yours?"
Her: "Probably yours."
Me: "No, probably yours. This skirt shows no ass. See." (turning to side)
Her: "This skirt shows no ass...heh"
Her/us: "Why are we even talking about this?!"
June 2011
1 post
“The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of...”
– Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
May 2011
1 post
Quinoa Salad
INGREDIENTS
2 cups quinoa
Vegetable broth
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
3/4 cup corn
3/4 cup (cherry) tomatoes, chopped
1 cup black beans
2 tbsps cilantro
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper
DIRECTIONS
1. Cook the quinoa, using vegetable broth as the liquid. (Two parts liquid to one part quinoa.)
2. Put the cooked quinoa in the fridge until it is cooled.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the...
April 2011
1 post
Introspective with a Global Perspective
Sitting on a (commuter) train looking out the window, I think of where I’ve been and where I am going. Looking at a Maryland sign I think of being home. And how transitory home has really become. The scene from Garden State runs through my mind, the one where Zac Braff speaks of home being something you miss but can’t return to. I think of how it isn’t a place, but a memory of a place and time.
...
March 2011
3 posts
Testing Truth
Never fear questioning truth for truth will either stand or if it falls, give rise to a new truth to replace it.
Light shines in a darkness she never knew was within. A new truth discovered began an excavation— Beliefs, thoughts, ideas so deeply rooted in repetitious, Factitious fumbling, mulling around her head. She sorted them into piles and mounds Truth. Falsehood. To be determined....
“Could it be the firmness of the past is just illusion? Could the past be a...”
– Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly...”
– C.S.Lewis, The Four Loves
February 2011
5 posts
Burned Wine Wheels
me: last night we smelled something terrible...i said it was like "wine wheels that were burned"
Sara: wine wheels that were burned!? hahaha
me: like someone burned rubber, but with a wine smell to it too
Sara: what the hell does that mean!?
me: it was terrible and confusing
Sara: oh that is funny
me: like if the wheels were made of rubber and wine and then someone peeled out
honestly the best explanation i had for the scent
In Another Life
Often people express that life would be better if only this or that were different. People imagine what life would be like if only some extenuating circumstances changed. Or in some cases, if some self-imposed personal limitations were removed.
In another life, you might be more of who you want to be, who you feel you should be. In another life, you might have more of what you want. In another...
It's an Intriguing Life
Life intrigues me. Everything can change so unexpectedly and suddenly. You can prepare and brace for a hypothetical future you anticipate. But we have so few guarantees in life. A chance meeting can redefine the path your life is taking. A decision made can just as easily bring an established path to an abrupt halt.
I believe that everything happens for a reason. Or at least I say it often...
Honesty
As I get older I find myself getting more passionate about honesty. Being honest with yourself, others and about how you feel or what you think. Honesty is liberating.
More times than not, when I have chosen to discard any perceived expectations and not fear any potential judgment, I’ve found that my honesty opens the lines of communication and deepens my bond with people. And often people...
January 2011
2 posts
3 tags
An Inspiration a Day?
“Nothing will change in your outer circumstances until you learn to value your own life and your own gifts as much as you’ve been taught to value and nurture the lives of others. Release resentment and anger regularly after allowing yourself to feel these emotions fully. Do this by saying, ‘I now forgive and release [fill in the blank]. I let loose and let go, and I am...
2 tags
Delusions of Mediocrity
In Wicked, Glinda sings that Elphaba is having delusions of grandeur. Okay, so others use the term as well, but that’s my personal thought trigger for this.
Sometimes, I have delusions of mediocrity. Now, after Googling the phrase, I feel the need to explain that I am not referring to the game that apparently exists. I’m referring to delusional thoughts I entertain, if even just for a...
December 2010
1 post
Secret Keeper
An e-mail from my roommate, Amara.
Hey you secret keeper you,
OMG! Let me share with you my mental process early this morning. I hear the door bell ring at like 4am, 4:07 to be exact. I’m wondering, who in the heck is ringing our door bell at this time. Then I hear you answer it. I hear the door open and that is it. So in my mind, thanks to inheriting my mom’s paranoia and certain...
August 2010
1 post
“One more point and I am done. In the passage where the New Testament says that...”
– C.S. Lewis
July 2010
3 posts
Tripper Bus from NYC to Bethesda
Milli: And now I smell feet.
Noe: Oh no, she has chips.
Milli: Oh good. I was going to start crying.
About ten minutes later...
Milli: Now I smell fart.
Noe: I don't smell it.
Milli: Come on, Wolverine. Take a deep breath in.
Noe: Okay. It definitely smells funky.
Milli: Oh, I see it. She has eggs.
Some mistakes I just make over and over. I finally conquered one today. It’s all in this little verbal exchange.
TSA agent at security checkpoint: “Come on through.” (pause) “Thank you. Enjoy your flight.”
Me: “Thank you.”
Not the knee jerk “you too” response! A little victory. :)
Chicago Recap
Two of my friends and I decided to go on a road trip to Chicago this fourth of July. We took Friday off and left our place at 8:30 a.m. to head to Baltimore for breakfast at Blue Moon Cafe. On I-95 north I realized I forgot my wide angle lens. Now I hate back tracking and knew we had a long drive ahead of us, but this would be my first trip to Chicago and I love architectural photography. My...
June 2010
9 posts
Noe, Unplugged
I feel like I have been tiring myself out and been stressed out about various things for the past month or so. Today I decided to slow myself down. I stayed home and went outside to read my Bible and journal. The weather was perfect. I realized how much I love this area I now call home and I’ll miss it when I leave, which will likely be soon.
I realized how being uncentered and not stopping...
“I know, O LORD, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to...”
– Jeremiah 10:23,24
Doh. Yay.
I received two things in the mail yesterday. I’ve been expecting a rebate card for my phone, so I figured that might be what was in the envelope from Verizon. The other was from my dentist. It’s been at least a month since I went. I figured it might be a printout telling me how much my insurance paid for my visit. When I opened it the first thing I saw was a return envelope. Strange....
“We are born helpless. As soon as we are fully conscious we discover loneliness....”
– C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
Well, Excuse Me
I’ve been quite spoiled with getting seats on the metro commutes to and from work. Yesterday was no such day. I was standing with the masses and people watching while listening to an audiobook.
One fella standing near the first set of seats facing the back of the car had a backpack on. A lady sitting on the outside of the first set of seats was reading a book. She tapped him to tell him his...
Emotions
I was walking down the street in DC last week when I passed a woman who was walking alone and burst into a smile. Got me to thinking about emotions and how they can just hit us out of nowhere and we can’t even hide it. A smile dances onto our faces. Or if it is sadness, something comes over our face and that sadness is apparent. Some are better at hiding or containing it. But there are times...
A Twitter Triumph
Some of my friends state that they just do not see the point in Twitter. Other than friends winning contests on Twitter, which was a definite selling point for me, I’ve found some other benefits. I’ve used it to get real-time updates about events. I’ve shared articles, photos and videos that I find interesting. And I’ve probably bored, and hopefully also entertained, some...
Truth
“In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true.” -John Lilly
There’s nothing new under the sun. Even that very statement proves it. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how we see what we want to see. How everything we see and hear about people or situations is filtered through our preconceived notions about said people or...
May 2010
14 posts
4 tags
How to Make Me Cry in a Grocery Store
My nephew, Kuahiwi, graduated from elementary school last week. I’m still in denial about him ever turning any age that exceeds eight. That denial was seriously tested when I talked to him on the phone at his graduation celebration.
He asked me about George Washington and told me how he never knew GW fought in a war.
He asked me what it was like to meet Ben Carson’s sons. Then he...
Escalated
This morning as I walked to the metro station I saw a woman standing on the right side of the escalator just a few steps up. Two men were walking on the left to pass her when the escalator suddenly stopped.
Side note: this happened to me once heading down a packed escalator at Silver Spring and I ended up all up on the guy in front of me. It’s an alarming feeling when it abruptly lurches...
A Mid-May Night, Part III
We arrive at New York Ave./Florida Ave./Gallaudet Station, on the same train as two groups of chasers that we’ve spotted. We hurry down the stairs to try to break away from the pack. When we reach the bottom we see that they are ahead of us and behind, covering the two available exits.
We hover around the exit, keeping a watchful eye on the chasers who lurk in the shadows hoping to take...
A Mid-May Night, Part II
We are a block from the safe zone. This should drop us off there; all we have to do is cross this street.
“Easy. Careful around this corner.” I whisper, feeling my nerves begin to relax and tensing all the more at the same time. We made it. Nothing to fear. I look at the map again just to be sure. Yes. E St. to G St. between 1st St. and New Jersey Ave.
We’re on 1st now. And...
A Mid-May Night
The sun is setting on DC. We walk quickly along 7th St. passing by the Portrait Gallery and some men hollering something to us. Well, some of us. I don’t even hear words from their mouths tonight. I’m too busy scanning the crowd for them. Behind, ahead, to the side. They could be anywhere.
We start crossing F St. as the light changes from green to yellow to….orange! We see the...
Stick with Me
A friend (ahem, Milli) once told me that I quote movies and tv shows too much and that I don’t need them to be funny. That stuck with me, as she told me this years ago.
I got to thinking about why it is that certain comments and conversations just really stick with us. A passing comment can latch on in our minds and then continue to impact us, playing over in our heads.
Our words can...
I’m just now realizing how long this week was. And I am so glad it’s over.
4 tags
beauty/sleep
I love sleep, and who wouldn’t want a little beauty in her life? Now I’d love for the former to result in the latter, but alas it is not always so. In fact makeup, fashion and hair styling can cost you a fair amount of your time. And where does this time come from? Often sleep. I got a new haircut that my stylist warned and semi-interrogated me about to be sure I was ready for this...
3 tags
“I said I see you.”