The wind is howling pretty loudly outside, but it’s sunny and Spring!! Vernal Equinox. What could be better? Well, let’s see…

• Chocolate
• A trip to Sephora - speaking of, I’m looking for a good facial mask, if anyone has any recommendations.
• Peanuts - my renewed favorite food
• Winning the NCAA No Sabe Nada Pool - and all the bragging rights that come with it.

Just kidding. The above are great but it’s hard to beat the arrival of Spring.  Except maybe that winning bracket (which I submitted last night after much research and deliberation).

At last, daylight saving (whatever that means)! Sunshine!  

Yesterday, seeing the sun still out past 7PM was great. I was slumping big time in Feb. I’d walk around the house. Open my book. Nope. Don’t wanna read that. Sit at the piano bench. Nope. Don’t feel like playing. Look at the yarn. Nope. Don’t wanna knit either. NOTHING. I wanted to do absolutely nada.  Except shop for shoes. :p 

It’s hard to imagine how a tiny time change can change my mood so much. I can’t describe it. I’m just sproingier. That’s not a word. I feel it on the inside. My brain missed you Sun. My brain missed you a lot.

February. Winter. Cold. Dark. Wet. I am seasonally affected. I need it to be April or May like by tomorrow. Why did we have to have this one extra day!?! Why can’t it have been March 0, 2008? Even THAT would be an improvement to February 29. The only saving grace is that it falls on a Friday.

A couple of years ago, a woman at my office said to me as I was lamenting how far away the weekend seemed to be (it was a Wednesday I believe) “Be careful. You don’t want to wish your life away.” It made me pause and think, yeah, ok it may be Wednesday, my boss may be drunk and about to rip me a new one any minute, but I’m still thankful to be here and have a support group at work. Plus, Wednesdays happen to be a Farmer’s Market day. Always a treat! Now whenever I long for the future to come sooner, I think about what she said to me. I guess it doesn’t matter one way or the other. Time doesn’t speed up or slow down. But at least I sort of stop to remember to appreciate the present. Seriously though… please!! Let this month be over.

It’s freezing cold tonight; snowed earlier today. I only caught this sliver before I ran back inside. Thankfully, the night’s been relatively clear. Right now, the moon is fully eclipsed. Going to take another picture when it starts to peek back.

Went to look at the moon just now and comparing it to this photo, it’s not like this picture at all. This picture looks like any normal waxing moon. In reality, seeing the eclipse, you can still make out the border of the full moon. It’s partially lit, sort of shadowed but not completely blacked out. Very neat effect.

Remember this one?  Here’s what happened this weekend:

Saturday 2-17-08 11:07 PM

2-18-08 10:36 AM

2-19-08 12:22 AM

2-19-08 11:48 PM

One day when I’m a senior (~65+), I will be as uninhibited as the old lady I met today. She was demonstrating some moves they teach you at Curves, a women’s gym.
“They do moves like this… and this… and these kicks, like that. It works your arms, legs, your butt, your whole body. I mean the treadmill’s nice but that’s just walking.” She had nothing but a shower cap on. My glasses were off so you can imagine what I saw… it’s like the censor blur on TV. Myopia isn’t all bad all the time.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

This is the year of the rat. The story goes, the twelve animals in the zodiac had a race. Knowing he couldn’t outrun the other animals, he rode on the horns of the ox and just before crossing the finish line, he jumped off the ox to win the race. That is why the rat is first in the zodiac. Clever indeed.

Sending everybody good thoughts of health and happiness for this year. Kung Hsi Fa Ts’ai!

Happy Fat Tuesday!! Yum yum! This means I need to think of what I want to give up for Lent again. What a conundrum. I’m pretty content with myself these days, vice-wise anyway. It’s not that I don’t have bad habits (coffee, YouTube, gluttony, sloth, etc.) but I just don’t feel like I want to give them up. I like my coffee and YouTube, and don’t you dare take away my food! People who hang around me probably like that I drink my coffee too. So it works out.

Happy Groundhog Day! The majority of the groundhogs predicted an early Spring.

We had our Lunar New Year dinner early. It’s really not til the 7th. The food just kept on coming and just when we thought we were finished, another dish would arrive.

The most interesting dish we dubbed mantou taco sandwiches.

It’s this steamed bread that opens like a taco and you fill it with duck, onion, and hoisin sauce. Very similar to peking duck only instead of burrito wraps you use mantous.

First:

• trip to Australia
• taste of crocodile, barramundi, kangaroo
• wine tasting (ever; in Australia; in the US)
• snorkeling experience
• dip in the Pacific ocean (Great Barrier Reef)
• time making and tasting deviled eggs
• time at a country club watching a golf tournament
• manicure
• bar hopping experience
• swing dance lesson/experience

Anybody have 2008 resolution ideas? I might make mine: Get bigger clothes!