It's Friday, I'm a glass of wine in, so why not?

I feel like on this blog I share random stories (and way too much of my bitchiness), and not enough personal details... so not sure if anyone really cares, but I thought I'd do my own A-Z list that I saw over on Erin's blog. Thanks, Erin!

a. area code: I live in one of the most crowded on the planet, 310

b. bed size: Cal King with really awesome sheets - worth every penny.

c. chore(s) you hate: Cleaning the stovetop... I'm a passionate, yet somewhat messy chef.

d. dog's name: Bijou. Inspiration for my blog title.

e. essential "start of the day" item: Cheesy, yes, but a good morning kiss from my husband, K.

f. favorite color: gray, if that can be considered a color. If not, definitely black or white.

g. gold or silver: silver, siliver, silver! Goes with my platinum wedding band/engagement ring

h. height: 5'5" - as average as you can get

i. instruments you play: if it were possible to rock the violin, I used to back in the day.

j. job: Engineer in large aerospace company

k. kids: an eventuality that scares the crap outta me sometimes, but seems more palatable the older I get

l. living arrangements: best roommate ever... a courteous husband who doesn't mind doing his own laundry and the dishes, and leaves the toilet seat down.

m. mom's name: J Elizabeth. Seriously. She's the original J Lo.

n. nickname: In college my besties called me Enormous... luckily because I was skinny, and I had a good sense of humor, they got away with it.

o. overnight hospital stay: not yet!

p. pet peeve: a weird one but... I HATE seeing chewed gum out of people mouths. Like when people SAVE for later by placing it on the side of their plate/can of soda. It makes me barf.

q. quote from movie: I used to be better, but the all time favs are Home Alone and Mallrats.

r. righty or lefty: righty

s. siblings: two - 2 brothers... I'm the middle child so it works out great.

t. time you wake up: 5:14am... or 5:40 depending if I give enough of a shit to wash my hair before going into work.

u. underwear: won't leave the house without it. It's only prudent.

v. vegetables you dislike: Beets. Being force fed them as a child really has some lasting impacts.

w. ways or reasons you are late: I am that annoying person always ON TIME. Even if I try to be late, I always arrive right on time.

x. x-rays: Broke a rib doing a "sweet" jump while snowboarding.

y. yummy food you make: Um, my specialty is Beef Burgeon and an 6 cheese mac and cheese with pancetta. Sweet Christ its delicious.

z. zoo animals you like: i hate monkeys, but I suppose I can get on board with panda bears

How can people drink that crap?

I work in a busy office where coffee is drank by the gallons – meaning, people suck that stuff down like their sanity depends on it. I am a 2 cup a day tea drinker, so the coffee drinking habits of coworkers makes no difference to me. However, I do have a question that never fails to perplex me: How the fuck can people stand to stir in spoonfuls of that disgusting powdered creamer junk into their coffee on a daily basis?

With my tea, I require milk and sugar. Call me an ole fashioned English biddy, but that’s the only way I drink it. I bring in a pint of 1% milk, and try to stretch it out for as long as the expiration date will allow + 2 days. It’s a pain in the ass to remember to buy an extra pint with some regularity, but well worth it to have a naturally creamy cup of tea in the morning. Versus adding that awful gritty powdered shit (which interestingly is legally allowed to be called “creamer”) to the already battery acid –like coffee they brew here at work.

So this morning I was unexplainably REALLY looking forward to my cup of Earl Grey. More than usual, in fact. While my tea bag is steeping, I grab my pint of 1% out of the fridge and realize that it’s sell by date was April 4th. 3 days ago. Hmmm. I take a tentative sip to see if it’s salvageable, and realize that its literally like 3 hours from going completely sour. I eye the powdered creamer and think "fuck that." I’d rather have semi sour tea that put that crap anywhere near my precious cup of tea.

Guess who’s going to the store immediately after work?

My husband found a way to may a trip to the dentist romatic

So, here's another annoying story of why I heart my husband, K, so much...

Here's a little background first, pertinent to the story:
My bi-annual dentist appointment was scheduled for this afternoon. Just like every 8 year old I know (all one of them), I HATE going to the dentist. For someone who has never even been on the receiving end of a drill or a 9 inch long needle (or a bottle of vodka and pliers, or even a string and door nob, for that matter), it still freaks me out though.

It's the awful scraping of those sinister looking tools against my teeth when they remove 6 months worth of food bits and wine/tea stains. It sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard, but in surround sound contained in my head. In junction, those double-sided tools glistening with blood as the hygienist alternates between each end of the tool makes the situation that much more unpalatable. Finally, there is the indignity of the whole situation. Laying with your mouth stretched open like a dying fish, with a highly powered light shining into your mouth and up your nose for an hour can only promote self consciousness.

Back to the point of this story, though.
K knows my feelings on the dentist, of course. So, when I arrive at my appointment today, guess who meets me in the dentist parking lot with a rose and some encouraging words before my appointment?

I gotta say, after such an unexpected romantic distraction, the dentist wasn't so bad afterall...

Sometimes I loathe myself...

... for spending 2 hours of my evening catching up with the latest installment of The Housewives of NYC. And actually getting back into the story lines. And then setting my DVR to record the damn show. So I don't have to wait for the reruns to air. Christ.

Very hypocritical for someone who has no trouble lambasting all the other vapid reality shows that pollute our TVs. I know.

By the way - I'm totally on Team Bethenny. She's a bit dramatic for regular consumption, but I love her fearless spunk. I will not even comment on that horrible Kelly beyotch though. Consider me not a fan.

iPhones – Friend or Foe?

I am an old fashioned girl. In some respects, at least. My current cell phone has 3 basic functions: 1) to take/receive phone calls; 2) (clumsily) send/receive texts and 3) to make me look like a social pariah when using it in public cause I don’t have internet, email, video, apps, gps, etc.

I am on the fence about these new fangled fancy phones with their apps that give you directions, count your calories, pick a restaurant for you, do your calculus homework for you, and a whole host of other things that take the work out of living. On one hand, it would be nice to have directions at your fingertips -when K and I explore a new area of LA, we have that ultra cumbersome task of having to print off mapquest directions. Yes, people still do that. Taking the decision out of our hands for where to eat tonight might save hours of argument. Hell, I bet there’s an app for doing a recipe search and it automatically generates a shopping list for you and locates the grocery store that offers the best price on those items. I would love that.

On the other hand, are all these helpful apps really just making our life easier, or in actuality taking away our ability to put effort into something? Like, if we become accustomed to having all the answers at our fingertips, never having to really think about the where, why and how to get these answers, are we really doing ourselves a favor? Will we lose the ability to problem solve? To make our own decisions? Have the ability to read a map? Understand how to calculate a 30% off sale price? I know I sound like a curmudgeonly old bitch here, but I have always thought that sometimes the effort you put into something is just as important as the final result.

Of course, I realize I am totally generalizing – I’m sure the 90% of the people who own these kind of phones do know how to read a map, deduct 30% from the price of an item, can decide for themselves that they want to Sushi versus Italian for dinner, or look up a phone number in a phone book. I’m not advocating against technology here. I just believe that the easiest way is not always the best way.

Ok, off the soapbox for today.

At least I didn’t get into how annoying it is to have to hear people bitch and moan about being broke all the time, when they have a $100 month cell phone bill cause they NEED access to twitter, Facebook, gmail every second of the day.

Being on TV was totally worth it

Being on a game show might be something that people (I’ll call them insane people) aspire to. The thrill of rubbing elbows with people in “the biz,” getting your makeup professionally done, the green room refreshments, the bright lights, the excitement of the audience, and even the chance that you could get “discovered” would make this seem like a wonderful opportunity for some. Not for me, though!

Last fall, K and I somehow managed to get chosen to be on the Newlywed Game Show. I know, that show is still on the air? I won’t go into the mundane details of the day we filmed, but even after sitting around for 8+ hours, the filming part was actually kinda fun. Until I realized that it was going to air. To the public. Fuck.

I am one of those people who believes that they are not photogenic and sound and look terrible on camera. That’s where the problem lies – potentially thousands, I mean hundreds, of people who I don’t know are going to watch me acting and sounding like retard. Not to mention answering embarrassing questions about my sex life. K soaked up this experience, while I need an entire bottle of wine to dampen the feelings of inadequacy once it was over.

So, fast forward 2 months… we were not able to reveal the results of the show (under penalty of $100K fine) until the show aired a few months ago. I could barely watch myself act like the biggest dork ever… seriously, I was worse than I thought I’d be! K and I even managed to screw up a high five when we got an answer right, and I winked at the camera. And not a cute sexy wink, a super cheesy awful wink. Ugh.

But since it finally aired and I am happy to say that we won. That’s right, WE F-ING WON. The prize is what makes this whole experience totally worth it… a 100% all inclusive week long 2nd honeymoon to St. Lucia (yes, the same place The Bachelor was filmed, don’t remind me)! So, we managed to get our reservations for next November set today, and I’m excitedly counting down the months til we get to go… crap, 8 months to go!

Picture of beautiful St. Lucia, before it got ruined by The Bachelor

A sweet surprise... and a rough morning

Don't you hate it when you wake up still drunk from the previous night out? Me too. But, even after dealing with my drunken escapades from last night, my sweet husband surprised me with a lovely breakfast in bed this morning. It didn't eliminate the massive hangover that was a few hours from rearing its ugly head, but was a nice treat nonetheless. So, in my semi-drunken state, I happily devoured my strawberry pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

The rule in our house, if someone cooks, the other cleans up. So, after laying in bed getting more and more hungover, I decided that I should take care of the kitchen - K had taken the doggie for a run, so I thought it would be a nice surprise to have it cleaned up by the time he got back.

I don't think he could have used more dishes if he tried to make breakfast. There were literally 4 food smeared pans, multiple cutting boards, a plethora of random bowls, glasses, and other seemingly unnecessary utensils covering almost every surface in the kitchen. WTF? The man can surely cook, but is not the most efficient chef in kitchen.

I suppose I deserve it, after my drunken antics from last night though...

Thank God That’s Over

I had to give a Very Huge Presentation this morning. I had to brief the company VP and several other directors on the outcome of a project I’ve been working on, all before 8am this morning. What the hell, so freaking early? Even though I consider my job not that interesting, I was definitely feeling some work related adrenaline this morning. I didn’t even need my usual coffee or tea to wake me up, that’s for sure.

I thought I was prepared and confident in the material I’d be presenting. I’ve done similar presentations to these people before. I even would go as far to say I’ve been known to “knock it outta the park” in these high level briefings. No sweat, right?

For some reason, I lost my grasp on the English language half way through. What the hell – I was doing so well for the first half? After a few seconds of frantic regrouping, I managed to word vomit the rest of the information in a slapdash manner. At least, that’s how it sounded to me. There were no questions from the executives I just assaulted with my haphazard information, just nodding, so I can’t have fucked up that much, right?

Why do I still feel like crawling under a rock?

I just remembered – I have to do this again next week. Fuck.

I Joined the 30 Day Shred Bandwagon

So, after trolling around the blogasphere for the last few weeks, I have seen an enormous amount of bloggers raving about this 30 Day Shred workout. In 20 minutes a day, 30 days later you're supposed to see significant results to your figure.

Sounds too good to be true, methinks.

Seeing as though the half marathon training plan is on hold for now (we haven't decided on a race and my knee injury is flaring up again), I decided I needed something to break up my running routine in the short term. And I could use a little more muscle tone, it has to be said. So I said, what the hell, I'll give the 30 Day Shred a go.

Well, the DVD arrived in the mail today, so within 20 mins of it's arrival, I had changed and started Day 1, on level 1. 20 minutes later I was glad it was over. Actually, I found the cardio and stomach portions very manageable, just the arm strengthening exercises a KILLER. Still, though, I am skeptical that in only 20 mins over 30 days such a huge result can be yielded, so we'll see. My plan is to Shred for 3-4 days a week, run the other 2-3 days, and see if I get the amazing results everyone raves about.

My goal is to not lose any weight really (at 119 there's not much I should be losing), but to tone my ass up. I will report back with results... hopefully my skeptical ass will be proven wrong!

Would You Consider This Odd in a Marriage?

Doing the Laundry. Not a very amusing topic, I know…

I was talking to a friend to today about her and her husband’s laundry protocol (we usually have more exciting convo’s than laundry talk, promise) and it got me thinking that perhaps K and I are weird about our laundry operating procedure.

I do mine, he does his. Every single time.

No mixing of our clothes in the washer and/or dryer, and we both fold and put away our own garments, on our own time. Just like roommates would do, we wait until the washer/dryer is empty before loading our own dirty laundry. We even exchange the same roommate pleasantries like “Dude, your stupid laundry has been sitting in the dryer for 4 days…” or “I think there’s mold growing on your wet clothes that have been sitting in the washer for what, like 3 weeks now?” However, those comments are a rarity around our harmonious marital home, so it works out perfectly 97% of the time.

I guess we are both just very particular about how we choose to launder our clothes, so it’s the perfect solution for us. I have to wonder, is this more common than I think? Or is this just a misguided newlywed thing? Is it impractical to believe that once we have kids, our perfect solution will no longer be viable? I sure as shit hope not… this could get dicey.

You have got to be kidding me… The Bachelor

So last night, K and I were watching the Olympics and during commercial breaks we would flip to another station. We stumbled upon a travesty of a reality show… a show that I’ve never watched, but have been hearing about for years.

The Bachelor. WTF?

Now, first, I must defend our choice to actually watch that show longer than a cursorily drive by . I saw that they were filming in St. Lucia, which is where K and I are going on vaca later this year. We really know nothing about St Lucia except it’s in the Caribbean and likened to a tropical paradise. And that we won a free trip there when we won the Newlywed Game Show a few months ago (that’s another day, in a more positive post). We were really just trying to check out what the island looked like, get a feel for the place.

Anyway. The Bachelor. He has to be one of the least genuine or least original people ever to denigrate my TV set, and don’t get me started on the women. Now, I’m just being totally logical here, but how on earth can a women “be in totally in love” with a guy who a) she has known for less than 4 weeks b) she knows that he’s banging other women at the same time he’s making moony eyes and relaying proclimations of love or 3) he can’t come up with one original emotion that was not force fed to him by the producers. Everything he said sounded like he was reading lines from a play. A nightmare of a play. I sincerely hope the reason that the Bachelor series is so popular, is because it’s a hilarious train wreck, and watching vapid, intellectually devoid women cry is a fun pastime for us Americans. Not because this mess is anything to aspire to. Christ.

Man, I sound like a bitch. OK, rant over.

Reason #135 Why I love my Husband

This is adorable. In fact, I’m smiling like an idiot as I type this out.

Last night, K and I were sitting in bed, watching TV before bed and he was eating fresh out of the oven chocolate chip cookies (which means the chocolate chips were extra melty). I look over at him, and am delightfully shocked to see he somehow has gotten chocolate smeared all over his face – his mouth, chin, and even a dab or two on his cheeks and nose. I starting grinning like a fool, and K gives me that “what the fuck are you smiling at” look. He has no idea that his face loosely resembles a 1 year old who’s eating cake for the first time. For some reason, that struck me as super cute and melted my heart a bit.

PS – The reason why this is so funny is because K is a confident, rocket scientist who can also throw a mean spiral, and it’s rare to see a more whimsical, childlike side of him, which I happen to find both hilarious and endearing.

PPS – I’m sure K will be thrilled to read a this post (a post written explicitly at his expense), but this is just one more reason why having an anonymous blog is the definitely way to go.

Half Marathon Training Status

As I promised in a previous post, I stated that I would status my half marathon training progress. Except that the race we picked fell through for various reasons, and haven’t yet decided on another one to run. To be blatantly unoriginal by using this word:

Current training curriculum = Fail

As the intelligent Lawrence J. Peter once wrote, “If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.”

Yep, that quote pretty much sums up why we fell off the training wagon… the not knowing where we are going = we have nothing specific to train for and the somewhere else = going for long walks with our dog, huddling under the covers from the excessive California rain and subsequent destruction, getting sucked into the West Wing series on Netflix starting with season one.

I am pretty annoyed with myself to say the least. After reading through the other blogs I’ve been stalking lately, it seems like everyone is training for a half, and kicking ass while doing it.

K and I have been looking into other races around the area, and nothing is jumping out at us, so I guess we’ll keep looking. However, this is no reason to slow down on my training, so I will be posting my new “maintenance” training plan so I am at least accountable to someone.

My ass thanks you in advance, dear readers. All 5 of you. ;)

The Most Un-American Superbowl Food

Sushi.

Yep, that's what I'm bringing to the Superbowl party K and I are attending today.

I know, what the fuck?

As a Midwestern girl living in Cali, I fear that my family would disown me knowing that on such a day of gorging on fatty, cheesy, carb loaded food, I choose to bring raw fish. All rolled up with raw veggies.

But, I'm totally feeling the sushi today, so that's what I'm bringing. Deal with it. K, bless his heart, is totally on board, which is why he's the best husband ever.

Oh yeah, we're not going to be total dochebags - we're going to bring a 12 pack of good beer as well.

Oh, and PS - GO COLTS*!!!!

*I have been a Colts fan for years, attended at least 20 games in my life, so I'm looking forward to another Superbowl win by my hometown team. Even though I went to college with Drew Brees, I still want to see the Saints get their ass kicked.

I Love 3 Day Weekends (like, every other week)

First, I gotta say, that even though the company at which I currently work appears to be old school as you can get and run by the “old boys club” – they are surprisingly progressive in certain areas. The best example is that we are on an alternate work week where we get every other Friday off. That means 3 day weekends at least twice a month. Fucking sweet, right?

Basically, we still work 80 hours over a 2 week period… 9 hr days Mon-Thur, and 8 hr day Friday, and if you do the complex math, that should equal 80 hrs. I don’t mind being here 9+ hours during the week – most people work that anyway, and don’t get the freebie Friday off like we do. If anything, that little bonus has kept me here at this company longer than I’ve wanted ... but going back to a consistent 5 day work week is almost unthinkable.

So, the whole point of my inane ramblings is that a 3 day weekend is almost here! K (my husband, who also has the same work schedule) and I try to mix up our 3 dayers; we don’t like to plan every 3 day weekend to do some hard charging travel – we’d be broke as a joke if that were the case. But this weekend we’re going up to Mammoth Mountain for some kick ass snowboarding. We heart snowboarding. A LOT. We bought season passes on the cheap, so we’re making every effort to get up there at least once a month. We found a hotel that accommodates pets, so our fantastic new doggie gets to experience snow for the first time in her life too!

Yay for 3 day weekends!

A Foray into Baking: Flatbread from Scratch

First, I gotta say this – while I love to cook, baking is just not my forte. Sure, I can take a store bought mix, chuck in some eggs, water, and oil and come up with a fairly edible cake. I don’t really count that as baking as much as being literate and possessing the ability to follow directions.

So, oddly enough, I got inspired this weekend to try my hand at baking – like make something from scratch. With yeast. I decided to start with a baked good that I particularly enjoy – flatbread. I figured with flatbread, if it came out tasting like shit, I could always mask the taste with some gruyere cheese, roasted veggies, bacon, etc. I swear, you can put bacon and gruyere cheese on an old moldy shoe, and it still would taste killer.

Anyway. I found a simple recipe that only has like 5 ingredients, including thyme as an aromatic, and thought how hard can this be? Basically, the recipe called for all the ingredients to be thrown into a food processor, and then let it rise for an hour, and then you have flatbread dough. Next, you just have to roll out the dough as big as you want it, and then toss it on the grill (or grill pan, if cooking indoors) for a few minutes on each side and then you’re done!

I just said I grilled the flatbread. In a grill pan. On my stovetop. Shit. I just realized that by using a grill pan negates my attempt at baking. Oh hell.

It still tasted awesome though.

Way to Go, Kindle

So yesterday I was going on a business trip to San Jose area for just the day. An early flight out, meetings all day and a late flight back to LAX. I was super excited for this business trip... no, not because I really gave a damn about the meetings, but because I was actually going to get to use my new KINDLE!

I recently got one for my birthday and have been waiting for just the right opportunity to use it for first time ever. I even purchased stylish hard cover, as not to scratch my new treasure. The hour or so flight up was to be the maiden voyage of my new fancy techie toy. I even planned ahead - I charged it last weekend so I would be all set to go yesterday morning.

So, I board the plane, settle into my seat, get my Starbucks all situated and pull out my Kindle. The long awaited moment is finally here... and here's what I see this message when I opened the cover:

"Critical Power Error. Your Battery is Empty."

FUCK.

I guess I'm such a freaking moron that I forgot to turn the damn thing off after charging.

Half Marathon on the Horizon (somewhere)

So, K (my husband) and I are training for a half marathon at the moment. Unfortunately, we don’t actually know which half marathon we are actually going to run – we were planning on the Paso Robles Wine Country half marathon on March 21st, but that kinda fell through (don’t ask, but it would have been awesome!). But, we’re still sticking to our training plan anyway. Yeah, we’re kinda retarded sometimes.

I am a runner. K is not. In fact, he hates it. But, bless his heart, he is training with me, just to see what all the hype is about. I married a good one, huh?

So, here’s my running background: I have been a runner for about 15 years. I did the cross country/track thing throughout high school, but got burned out on it by the time I went to college, due to all the injuries and wear and tear on my body. But I slowly got back into it as I realized that exercise is a vital part of my existence (and necessary to work off the excessive amount of beer I was sucking down). Moving to Southern California helped get me back into it – with 70 degrees and sunny 80% of the year, there is NO excuse to be just a gym rat, when I can be running alongside the ocean.

This is not my first half marathon… I’ve run two before, both amazing experiences. I can say that I loved every minute of them - I’m totally f-ed up in the head, I know - right down to that moment when I’ve crossed the finish line. Especially when I’ve gotten my best time (PR). For whatever half marathon we end up doing, I hope to beat my current PR of 1:43:38.

In a later post I’ll talk about my training plan, and how well I’m sticking to it, and K’s experience so far. I’ve become a total wimp living here in Cali – the insane amount of rain last week definitely slowed me down some.

Now all I need to do is find a damn half marathon to actually sign up for…

Sophie

Doggie Adoption, A First for Me

Here’s some background information in regards to me and dogs. I was not what you call a “dog person” in any sense of the word. I grew up with cats, which suited my independent lifestyle as a kid, and now as a adult. I believe a few bad experiences with dogs as a kid caused me to write them off as adequate pets forever. You know what I’m talking about, playing at your friends house and accidentally walking through shit in the living room, ruining your brand new Reboks; riding your bike down the street only to be chased by a ferocious beast of a dog; valiantly trying to kick a dog away from sniffing your crotch or jumping on your chest; and not to mention the endless barking coming from your neighbor’s garage. See, those experiences culminated into one thought: All dogs are evil, living room shitting, crotch sniffing, annoying barking assholes.

My husband, K, is a dog person, and gradually he has worn me down into to accepting that not all dogs are that bad. As I have come to realize, usually the misbehaving dog is the victim of a mean/lazy jerk of an owner. So we agreed – we were going to adopt a dog, but I get to pick. We have been talking about getting one for about a year now, but with wedding planning, honeymooning, and extended work trips, it was not feasible last year. So now that all the craziness is behind us, we decided to go for it. I’ve always liked the look of fuzzier/sillyface dogs like Chows and Shiba Inus, so that’s where we started looking. We also agreed that we would rescue a dog that needed a home, versus spend an outrageous amount on a pure bred puppy. So, last Friday we finally got our doggie! She’s a 2 year old gorgeous rescue from the ghetto. She was seriously on death row in Compton. Pretty devastating to think about, huh? Anyway, she’s very shy, but has come around over the last 4 days with a lot of love and patience, and I have to say, I AM IN LOVE! What drew me to her was her sensitive nature, the fact that she doesn’t bark or chew, was surprisingly house/crate/leash trained and her breed (mostly Shiba) hates to be dirty. Sounds like a cat, but she cuddles like a dog!

Here’s a pic of our new puppyface – how can you not love this??

I'll Give You My Chapter and Verse

As someone who reads blogs, I find it much more interesting to know something about the person who is sharing their opinions and musings. In fact, sometimes it captivates me or makes me decide that I have serious disagreements with the writer. Both of which is the hook I need to be a consistent reader.

Without further ado, here's the key stats about me:

Preference for Anonymity: I prefer to write this blog under my pseudonym, Sophie. A mere ruse to keep my identity secret for various reasons; probably the same reasons many other bloggers decide to not share their identity.

Background: Raised in the Midwest until moving to Cali after I complete undergrad about 7 years ago. My immediate family (parents, step parents, 2 brothers) is now scattered across the US from Chicago to Seattle to Los Angles, but we are still very tight.

The person that makes me happiest: My darling husband, K. Not to be cliche, but he literally IS my best friend. In fact, we were best friends for a few years before getting together; relationships are so much easier when your sig other already knows about all your dirty laundry before you even get together. I can't relay how comforting it is knowing that there are no dealbreakers before entering into a relationship. We got married the summer of 2009, in an almost flawless ceremony that was seriously the best day of my life. Yeah, another total cliche.

Education: I have a BS in engineering from a highly rated engineering school and recently acquired my MBA from a not so highly rated business school. Can't win 'em all, right?

Physical: I gotta say this now, I'm a lucky bitch. I have pretty good genes in that I can eat gourmet/decadent fatty foods every now and then, spend 30 mins running 3 days a week and maintain my 118 lbs on my 5'5" frame and not think twice. Please don't hate.

Work/Career: I've been at my company since college graduation - about 5 years longer than I thought I was going to work there actually. I have a like/hate relationship with my job (more hate than like these days). I would describe my job as number-crunchy and too boring to really go into, but it pays well so I can't complain too much. Even though Monday's are increasingly becoming more and more painful.

Life Passions: As I eluded to earlier, I love food, passionately. I love watching Food Network, hearing about what people ate it which restaurant, hearing about what people cooked for dinner last night, eating at the amazing restaurants here in California, and of course, cooking up my own culinary creations. In fact, I love food so much that one of the main priority's for our honeymoon was going somewhere for the local food (good thing K is all about food too!). Of course, wine is a close second. I was lucky enough to have a liberal father growing up in that he allowed me to drink wine with my meals starting at 15 (he's a big fan of the French's methods of child rearing). Living here in California just intensified my love of wine, and I've dabbled in the possibility of a career change into the wine industry. Perhaps someday... In addition, I love traveling (spent 10 weeks in Europe in 2009 for work and play), and running. In fact, I'm currently training for a half marathon, but I'll leave that to another post.

Ok, I gotta wrap this up cause all this talk about me, is making me sick of myself. Whoever said blogs were one of the most narcissistic form of expression was right!

Sophie

Blog Rebirth

I wonder how many people abandon their blog out of nowhere. You spend hours sweating out engaging and witty blog entries, collecting followers, commenting like crazy on fellow bloggers to gain more said followers, not to mention all the formatting, adding pictures, slides shows, whathaveyou. All of that work, and then one day, you wake up and decide that you're over it.

In the past year, I have seen many blogs suffer a similar fate to my first blog. One can blame the demise on various reasons; lack of time or interest, a lifestyle change, a few too many posts that ruin relationships, acquiring a stalker, etc. I lost interest in my first blog because I began to find myself writing the "20 something, getting married, love my husband, life is dandy" standard issue posts. I feel compelled to offer up something different to the blogasphere. While I have a glorious life I love, a husband that is phenomenal, I found that my more realistic side needs an outlet too. Now, this blog is not going to be a litany of bitchy posts, complaints, criticism, and general woe - who wants to read that shit day after day? - I will be writing more honestly, with hopefully more careful thought.

Welcome to my slightly ironic, but more genuine treatise of my life experiences.

Sophie