Ruminations.

This is what I attempted to write in the car on the way home last night and this is what made me car sick. I should' have known better but it was night and dark out so I thought I could be "ok"; I was wrond woh woh. Anyway, this is a brief thought that's been bouncing around in my head for a bit.
Nice. Critical. I can be both. I've never heard anyone describe me as the latter, which is a good thing, I guess. Perhaps the critical is merely a self description. As a teacher it's my job to correct mistakes in writing and speaking and I sometimes worry that I can be too aware of errors I see and that's when I start to wonder if I"m too critical. If it weren't part of my job then maybe I wouldn't be worrying about it. What also bothers me is that feel as though I'm too critical in my real life. I may not express this criticism, so it's mostly in my head which is probably why I"m hyper aware of this part of my personality. Some people might call this trait by another name, a name with more positive connotations such as "detail-oriented" or "thorough", so I suppose it might all be in the spin. Why am I even writing about this? In my self-induced frenzy of thinking I'm overly critical I want to try and be nicer.
I was running a few days ago and passed many people in my run. Usually when I pass someone I look down or away, I might give a small smile but not a direct look. I think that as young girls we're urged to not make eye contact with strangers, especially men, and this must have carried through to being an adult. It's not as though I run in a place where I feel unsafe, I'm generally on city streets with many people and cars around in our familiar neighborhood. Maybe I don't want to extend myself because it's too involved and it's easier to focus on myself and continue on my way not thinking about or worrying about anyone else. If I were to "get involved", even though it's just a glance and a smile, I'd have to get involved with everyone I run past. I would be overwhelmed with all of the people around me, I couldn't focus all of my attention and energies on myself, I wouldn't be able to be entirely selfish. I could also be worried to be vulnerable. When I break that mask of the serious young woman, I've let a wall down, I'm more available. What happens if I'm rejected? If someone doesn't smile back or even look back? Will someone think less of me, that I'm not as "cool" as I'm trying to look? Now that it's written out for the whole world to see, not a dang thing would happen in those situations. I would keep going and probably that other person would soon forget about me and vice-versa; life would go on. So what do I have to lose?
On this day earlier this week (or was it last week already?!), though, I smiled more directly at a few people; it felt great! The person smiled back and we both went on our way. I didn't make a life-long committment to any person or persons, I didn't lose my concentration or my focus and I wasn't bogged down by "all the people" out there. I actually felt good, not an instant spike in energy or something like that, but buoyed a bit and it took no extra energy; I put myself "out-there" and benefited from it. What I thought about during the rest of that run was how I'd like to be nice, less critical (especially of myself), more often. Even just "little things" like putting the grocery cart back to where it belongs instead of just propped up on a curb in the parking lot fall into my idea of being nicer. Conversely, if I'm not as nice as I wish to be at times (hey, it happens), I don't want to beat up myself, I want to let it go and accept that I can't be perfect all the time.
If you're still reading- thanks! This was longer and heavier than usual (and not as well written or organized as I'd like, but that's not new), but something I'd been thinking of and want to remember later down the line.
On a lighter note here are two pictures to end the post and evening.
On another run this week I ran past this sign and literally did a double take.

We thought this was HILARIOUS but thought we'd do a google image search for "possum" to see if either of these two pictures show up and sure enough, there they were, so, there's a prankster out in the neighborhood. Cat/possum jokester: we dig your sense of humor.

Like I said, we were in the city last night for a fundraiser for this new organization.
It was chillllllly since we were right on the bay, but it was fun and beautiful.

That's all for now, happy weekend y'all :)
xoxo, natty ♥

Monday Monday...

Was yesterday. Oh well, here I go. Yesterday my aunt and I had some fun at the Wal-Mart (I know it's not the best choice, but no body's perfect, so there) and the tamale factory and then a thrift shop by Memaw's house = danger danger Will Robinson! I'll be posting about that later seeing as how I'm still striving in the great catch-up (grate catsup?). After struggling to stay awake all morning long and feeling like doing nothing but this:

(what is wrong with me?!), I've decided to post a bit, clean a bit, run a bit, eat a bit and then maybe lounge some more; it always helps to have a plan!

Last Monday my grandmother and I began a project to grow things not out of the ground but out of a straw bale instead! Have you heard of this type of gardening? The benefits are really mostly the novelty of it all, but it's also less bending down as well as no weeds since it's not the ground dirt that's full of pesty little volunteer plants. Also, if you have no ground in which to plant, this is an option. We traveled over to Sam's Feed and Pet Supply on West San Carlos in our fair burg to procure for no more than about $10 our very own straw bale which is then very kindly put into your vehicle at no extra charge. The strapping young man who completed said task for us was wearing a shirt that read: Real men wear kilts. He also used these Freddy Kruger-esque hooks that have  leather strap to go around his wrists to get the bale where he wanted it (the back of my car)...the things you learn!

Using my super girly strength I wrangled the bale, which is not too heavy, actually, from the car to the back yard using only this vintage hand truck we have. It was pretty fun, actually, and Memaw summed it all up by saying "farmette".

You begin with a straw bale which is apparently different from a hay bale due primarily to something having to do with the stalks and parts that are left on the strands, etc....just start with a straw bale dudes. You put it wherever you'd like it and drench it for about five minutes a day for a week. After the drenching you are ready for the planting. You place seedlings (any old type that you'd like, yo) directly into the straw or create a layer of dirt (fresh from a bag to avoid weeds if you're picky like that) in which to plant your seeds. There's a tutorial as well, courtesy of youtube-o:

So we've been drenching the heck out of this thing (read: my grandmother = we) and will probably put in some pumpkins and other odds and ends. We're aware that it's pretty late in the planting season so: fie, fie to all you naysayers, we live in a climate temperate enough to grow practically anything whenever! I have also included some shots of my grandmother's garden handiwork, similar to earlier shots I'm sure, but pretty nonetheless:

Also, I received my teaching schedule for the upcoming year, which is exciting, it looks to be good and I'm slowly coming to terms with the reality that my life isn't all summer time lounging and getting paid to do nothing (but wouldn't it be nice if it was???).

We grilled quite a bit last week so bear with the multitude of grilling shots to come, they are special to me! We've so far done burgers (inaugural) and chicken soaked in a couple of marinades...yum-yum! The propane tank sure gave us a heck of a time the first night that we used it. It took three men, a towel, a large wrench and myself just staring for the thing (blast if I know what to call it) to twist open and shut, but after that it's worked like a charm.

Don't mind the tackiness of the cardboard rug beneath our little grill, it's just how it happened and we haven't gotten around to removing it!

 

Our first feast and our little friend, just for kicks.

Our second feast and the marinades, that Annie's dressing being my all time favorite.

That broccoli has some Greek seasoning added in and those dark things are plain old flax seeds added in for pizazz. Here are some action shots (!):

Pretty night sky shot from the backyard.

Aforementioned finicky contraption and the end product.

He helped. 

Anyway, our (M's) grilling has been great fun and we look forward to much more! Last week also involved an adventure at Petroglyph, homemade chicken masala, some pretty nails and whatnot, to be posted about soon I'm sure. I'm now off to said cleaning, running, snacking, etc.. Have a great rest of your day!!

ok, I'm back

Despite knowing better, it's 11:37 PM and I'm taking advantage of my current teacher-in-the-middle-of-summer-status by watching CSI (the original, woot woot!) and folding laundry and updating my phone with one of those automatic computer update thingies. I decided to get started on catching up from last week and I just KNOW that I'll regret this all tomorrow when I'm tired but staying up late just feels oh-so-good sometimes.

I'm starting with last weekend and our garage sale extraveganza. We woke early and put up signs. It soon occurred to us that we needed more so I whipped some up and M went around putting them up while I got started with the early birds, of which the numbers were not entirely modest!

We had our "refreshments" available for sale, I made the cookies that morning and my cousin made her own batch. The sweets along with the cold water, juice and soda solds suprisignly well!

A shot of some of our earnings and our little "salesman", though he mostly just barked at people. My young cousin B and his pal (both in grade school), however, were both out all morning pitching their wares (old toys) which was super cute and they made some cash too!

After the tiring afternoon we cashed in our earnings for our very first grill =) It's a two burner little gas job and the Home Depot gave it to us for a good deal. I was pretty pooped when we were at the store so thankfully I was able to swing a nap before getting in our run (7) and heading over to the Japantown (San Jose has one, don't ya know?! It's actually one of the oldest areas of the city and holds quite a bit of rich history...click here for some info, yo) for the annual Obon festival. You can read about the festival here and the J-town Buddhist Church here, but I will share with you that we ate some DELICIOUS food.We got there pretty late so we were able to see some dancers on our way to gorge ourselves but not much else. Here are some shots of our mode of transportation ( =) ), the lights and the dancers.

Unfortunately I was too hungry to take shots of the food but we enjoyed some pot stickers, beef teriyaki, Sapporo beer, yummy-yummy udon and the famous strawberry shortcake. Fun was had and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Sunday morning we roused ourselves too early and headed to the cool bay coast along the Embarcadero in San Francisco to get in our long run (14 miles whoa!). The run felt good, the weather was cool and all of the good people and place watching made the time go quickly.

We planned to run early so that we could meet up with a friend who recently moved to SF (as in the week before) for work and watch the World Cup Final with him. We visited his very empty but cute apartment and then headed over to a bar in the Russian Hill area of the city. Every place was PACKED, for good reason, so we stood for the ENTIRE game; running 14 miles and then standing for two hours isn't the best idea ever, but it was worth it. At half time we migrated across the street and enjoyed some yummies at Nick's Crispy Tacos (where we also went today after our long run). The place seemed a bit popular and almost full of itself, personality-wise, but the tacos were delish. They are made with traditional smallish corn tortillas and there are two of them, but the inner one is fried/made crispy/fattified and there is guacamole and other goodness piled on top = heaven in my mouth!!! I had a carne asada and a fried fish taco as well as a beer. The boys enjoyed burritos and we headed home after the game. We lounged the rest of the afternoon and then headed to my dad's house to have a birthday dinner for him...happy birthday dad!!! You're an awesome dad and I'm SO lucky to have you for mine!

The weekend was great and tiring in a good way, just the way I like them. The week was to be full of running and errands and cleaning for me...more to come!