Posts filed under 'Family'
This whole 4th of July on a Friday thing is a really fine idea, I recommend we do this every year. Having a couple of days to recover from the 4th is great-we still get a whole weekend of lazing about after yesterday’s festivities.
I have been on a bit of a cooking spree lately. This may have been spurred on by the fact that our remodel plans were finally approved by the city last week (it took 4 months!) which means we could finally start construction soon. This of course means we won’t have a kitchen for several months which may be why I’m cooking like a madwoman this week. Having time off definitely contributes to this habit as well, and I did just have a blissful week off from work after our week up at Sequoia. So, for the 4th I actually planned a menu. Pretty fancy, eh? For starters we had…
Caprese-on-a-stick: mozzarella ball, cherry tomato and basil on a toothpick, drizzled with olive oil and topped with a little fleur de sel.
Garlicky White Bean Dip and Pita Chips: I wasn’t so sure about this dip right after I made it, but after it sat in the fridge for a couple of hours and soaked up some of that garlic flavor and I added the fresh oregano, it was really, really tasty. At this point I started drinking and completely forgot to take any more pictures of food, but here was the rest of the menu:
Indian Grilled Chicken, my own recipe
These potatoes-so good!
Herb-tossed Corn
Greek salad, courtesy of my mother-in-law, the Salad Queen
White chocolate chip Heath bar brownies, courtesy of my sister the Queen of all Baking
It was goooood. If only I had the time to cook like this the rest of the year.
Ashok’s cousin was over for dinner so they had all sorts of fun. Swimming…
…wagon rides…
…and bubbles.
Or, maybe just bubble.
Today, there was some more excitement around here, but I haven’t uploaded the appropriate pictures yet, so all three of you reading will have to wait for my next post. I promise it won’t be two weeks from now.
July 5th, 2008
…..I spoke too soon. Just when I thought I had kicked it, this stupid cold smacked me right across the face. The last two days have really sucked, an endless stream of lying in bed, drinking tea and watching Arrested Development on DVD (wait, that doesn’t actually sound half bad…). I am loathe to say that I am finally feeling better for fear that I wake up tomorrow with measles or something equally horrific. At this point, I will be happy if we can all get on the plane to go to my mom’s on Saturday.
By the way, have I mentioned that my son is now walking? Oh yes, he is walking. It happened shortly after Thanksgiving, actually-he went from three or four stumbling steps at a time to three or four feet in about 48 hours. Last night, as I languished in bed upstairs, I could hear lots of footsteps and giggling from downstairs. When I asked Brian what they were doing, he said, “Running.” Great. I’d better start recuperating.
December 20th, 2007
Decent run today-5 miles on trail and paths around the Rose Bowl. I also did manage to do 3 miles on Friday with Ashok in the stroller-he was quite cooperative. I’m still not feeling 100% but at least we’re all finally on the mend over here. Ashok no longer has pink eye, in fact it never got that bad, but now he has a tooth coming in and it is obviously driving him nuts. Poor kid, he has really been miserable these last few days. I’m hoping that sucker pokes its way through soon so he can go back to being his happy-go-lucky little self.
My sister and I had an important discussion today wherein we finalized our list of treats to purchase and bring up to my mom’s house for Christmas. So far, we have:
- peppermint bark that I ordered today from one of my favorite bakeries
- backup peppermint bark from Trader Joe’s
- chocolate covered salted caramels, also from TJ’s
- the ubiquitous Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s
I’m sure we will come up with more before we head up north at the end of the week. After all, one of our favorite activities over the holidays is gorging ourselves to the point of revulsion. Merry Christmas!
This will be a slightly different holiday for us this year. This will be our last trip up to Davis, the town I grew up in, as my mom is getting ready to move down here! It’s no surprise really, both her daughters live in the Los Angeles area and now that her two grandsons are on the scene, it’s kind of a no-brainer. She was very lucky to find a great position teaching part-time so I think it’s going to be great for her. Plus, Ashok will get to grow up with his Ammumma so close-by, I’m really thrilled. My sister and I grew up so far from our grandparents that we never got the opportunity to have them be a part of our everyday lives so it will be nice to see Ashok and Rohan get to experience that. Surely, there will be some adjustments for us all along the way, but we’ll deal with that when we get there.
My goals for this week before heading out of town are to get some speedwork, a hill run, and one good long run in. Oh, and to raid Trader Joe’s of every last piece of holiday candy they have.
December 16th, 2007
So, I made it to the Free to Breathe 8K this morning even though Ashok is sick : ( He actually slept really well last night, so he was a little better this morning. Brian took charge of him and I headed out with my mom to pick up my sister, who lives right near the course (they walked the 5K-go team!).
There were not very many people out for this race, which I suppose is not great for the charity it benefits, but it was nice for the run itself. It was not crowded at all, which I really enjoyed, and once the 5K route split off from the 8K, it was even better. The course went around a nice park and supposedly a lake which, I have to admit, I didn’t notice. I tried to pace myself as best I could-my goal was to stay under 10 minute miles and I managed to do that. My overall time was 47:00. Here are the splits:
1 - 9:18
2 - 9:54
3 - 9:49
4 - 9:44
.9 - 8:14
I took off a little at the beginning so I tried to slow it down after that, but I wish I hadn’t slowed down quite that much. I definitely had a lot left at the end and I think I could have maintained a faster overall pace. But, this was my first race over 5K other than the Mud Run, which doesn’t really count due to all the nasty hills, so I’m still figuring out what my pace should be. I’m hoping to find a nice, flat 10K to run soon-the one I have coming up on the 1st is going to be hilly too, so it may not be the best way to figure out my 10K pace.
After the race, we had some quick waffles and tea at my sister’s house and then headed home to hang out with sick Ashok. He’s actually in pretty good spirits, which is encouraging, so I’m hoping he’ll be over this soon. Get well soon, Ashok!
November 11th, 2007
Today was family day over at our house. My mom is in town, so my sister, brother-in-law and their 9 month old son, Rohan, and their dog came over to hang out. My mom cooked masala dosa, one of our favorites and my sister made her ridiculous chocolate chip cookies-I think she told me once that the recipe she uses calls for an entire stick of butter and a cup of sugar. Needless to say, they are decadent and I am stuffed.
It is awesome that Rohan and Ashok are so close in age (only 4 months apart). They were both crawling all over the place tonight, having fun with the dogs and playing with the many toys strewn about our house.
Uh……what?
Ok, so maybe they don’t do a whole lot, but they are fun to watch. They did manage to wear themselves out pretty well, though. The night ended with Rohan passed out on my mom’s bed:
Now, it’s 8:30 and I’m already in my pajamas and in bed with the laptop. Yes, it was quite the raging party we had.
I am supposed to be running an 8K tomorrow morning while my mom and sister walk the 5K. However, Ashok wasn’t feeling so hot when he went to bed tonight and I’m anticipating not such a great night of sleep. I’m still going to do my best to get out there tomorrow morning, but we’ll see. Hopefully, I’ll have a race report tomorrow!
November 10th, 2007
So, my sister’s hospital stay wasn’t so long after all……
Ashok’s cousin, Rohan, was born on Sunday morning. He was a hefty 6 pounds, 8 ounces-pretty amazing considering he was 5 weeks early! The doctors told my sister that he probably would have been well over 9 pounds had he stayed in to term. What a nice kid, he did her a favor.
“I have to share my stuff with him? Are you crazy, woman?”
February 5th, 2007
….I haven’t slept a wink….or posted in a while.
We have been having some sleeping “issues” over here, to say the least. My adorable son, who previously would sleep in stretches of 7 or 8 hours, now refuses to sleep any longer than 4 hours at a time. Why does he hate me? Combine that with my going back to work more and more each week and you get a recipe for disaster. That disaster also includes my getting sick AGAIN. My third cold in as many months. Fuck.
But look! How can you resist the big brown eyes?
Hi, my name is Ashok. I rolled over for the first time this week, but I only do it for my mommy so now everyone thinks she’s crazy.
Thankfully, this cold (number 3!!!) is not too brutal so I am hoping to be back running again this week. It’s been a while and the weather has been gorgeous here this week, so I hope I can get out again soon.
Today, I’m heading out to the hospital to visit my sister. Her water broke a couple of days ago but she’s only 34 weeks pregnant and not yet officially in labor. That means she has to stay in bed, hooked up to a fetal monitor until Ashok’s cousin decides to show up (he obviously has a mind of his own already). Not fun for her, she’s seriously bored. I’m trying to think of fun things to bring with me-Courtney suggested I teach her to knit but I just remembered that she has carpal tunnel so that won’t work. I think I will bring chocolate, magazines and Uno. Any other ideas?
February 3rd, 2007
How did that happen? I’m still recovering from all that stuffing over Thanksgiving. I am SO behind on Christmas shopping, it just isn’t funny. This year, I tried to do as much shopping online as possible in order to prevent having to drag a screaming baby through multiple shopping trips but, I think I’ve hit my internet shopping wall and that baby is just going to have to buck up and come along for the ride. Best he gets used to it now, I guess, his mom is a shopper. The trouble is, I’ve hit all my usual spots for gifts and I’ve been less than inspired. I refuse to go to the mall because it is sheer chaos over there and I never find anything anyway. So, tomorrow I’ll start hitting the last few boutique and specialty stores I haven’t gotten to yet and see if I can get everyone taken care of. If not, chocolate for everyone.
We finally decorated our tree tonight. We managed to only break one ornament and one bead garland in the process. Not bad. Of course, now those stupid beads are in every nook and cranny of our house and everytime I turn around one of the cats is chasing them into a floor vent. Speaking of the beasts, AntlerFest 2006 got off to a good start tonight:
I promise she got a nice treat after this photo was taken.
December 14th, 2006
Thank you for keeping my lap warm and purring like a small foreign car.
Thank you for being my first real pet. And for being a royal pain in the ass.
Thank you for still loving me even though I had a baby.
Thank you for every minute of every day.
Thank you for showing up and making it all even better.
November 23rd, 2006
Here he is!
Meet our new baby boy Ashok: 5 lbs, 14 oz, and 18.5 inches of pure baby goodness! Born September 28th at 12:17 a.m.-congratulations, Cagey! You’re the big winner of the birthday pool!
Things have been crazy and we’re not getting much sleep-he appears to be quite nocturnal but we couldn’t be happier. My labor was insanely quick with no time for drugs, so consequently it was also excruciating…and that’s all I’ll say about that.
And for those of you who are curious, Ashok means “without sorrow.” So, I guess that means when he cries all night that the world is kicking my ass with irony? Ha, ha. Very funny.
Many thanks to all of you who have been sending supportive thoughts and comments my way over the last 9 months. I’ll try to be back soon with tales of Ashok’s exploits!
October 1st, 2006
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