reference success! (and other happy stuff)

today, a patron at the library approached me and started in with a meandering request that went something like this, “a few years ago, i saw this documentary on pbs about a man.” and i settled in for the long haul. he went on to elaborate (slowly and very small bit by very small bit) that this man may have lived in wisconsin or possibly canada, but definitely somewhere remote and that he built his own log cabin and that he may have used a knife and there might have been some bears involved. that was all he remembered. here’s the joyful bit: i found it. our library system only owns 6 copies and there are 101 holds on it, but i found it. woo hoo!

lunch with mr. happy stuff: because i had a meeting across town, i was free to have lunch with my favorite man. we ate at our favorite little specialty sandwich shop (mmm….muffaletta sandwich…) and treated ourselves to a slice of turtle cheesecake afterwards.

one other joie du jour: after the meeting, i thought i might have time to run over to the library at the university and get some information for a paper that’s due next wednesday. but then i realized that i only had a half hour to get across town and parked and into the library before they closed and that even if they could find the obscure information i was looking for in the last 5 minutes of being open, they probably wouldn’t feel all that charitably towards me. so instead, i took a quick detour and stopped at a specialty chocolate shop that i’d been searching for for a few months. i knew it was somewhere around first and main, but the few times i’d driven around that area i hadn’t had any luck. today, i followed a hunch and found the shop and treated myself (with a little help from grandma’s birthday money–thank you!) to an assorted box of 6 plus two “golden belly buddhas” filled with green tea infused chocolate ganache. oh yum.

also, it was warm enough today that i didn’t need my coat.

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a car-free day

i decided to try to make today car-free for me and i succeeded! i ended up biking a total of 29 miles. after doing the aids ride two years ago, that doesn’t seem like a huge number anymore, but when i realized that i had saved the world from the exhaust of an entire gallon of gas, then it seemed pretty significant. i probably wouldn’t have biked quite that far today had i realized that my meeting at 3:00 was downtown instead of 5 miles on the other side of downtown from my house. where i biked at 3:00. and then furiously biked back downtown. oh well, i got some excellent exercise today that might possibly have justified all the cheese and crackers i downed at choir this evening. plus, i’m tired from exercise and that is a wonderful feeling.

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travel

one time, when my family was travelling, my mom brought along a book of 100 questions that will spark conversations (or something like that) and she flipped through and picked her favorites and we would talk about them. one of the questions was, “if you could take any vacation to anywhere in the world and have the time of your life, but you (for whatever science-fictiony reason) wouldn’t be able to remember taking the trip, would you still go?” i found this to be an intriguing question and if i were writing it myself, i might also add the second question, “if you could go on your dream vacation but you had to leave within the next six hours, (everything has been planned for you) would you enjoy the trip as much?” or something to that effect… i find that the anticipation of a vacation is sometimes almost as good (or better?) as the vacation itself.

i found out a little while ago that mr. happy stuff is going to be travelling to california for work. this trip was going to take place around the time of our anniversary, so i was bummed out a bit because i figured he probably wouldn’t have the energy to do anything special if he’d just gotten back from a long work-related trip. i was bummed for just a few minutes. until we came to the brilliant conclusion that i could just travel out to join him and extend his stay through the weekend and make a vacation out of it! so that’s what we’re doing. both of us get to travel for basically the price of one plane ticket (plus lodging, etc.). and i get to see the west coast for the first time!

i realized that our trip to europe last year, while it was fun, was also a bit stressful for me because i had done so much research that my wish list of fun things to do was a mile and a half long and i felt obligated to run around all over town, trying to see and do everything. for this year’s trip, i think maybe i’ll leave it up to serendipity.

Posted in stuff that makes me smile | 1 Comment

happy birthday to me!!

what a busy weekend! it started with a concert. we went to see “eddie from ohio” at the majestic–a new music venue in town. what a cool theatre! they’ve re-vamped this old theatre so that all of the seats on the main floor taken out and replaced by comfy seats and sofas and tiny tables. so we got to sit in a pair of comfy chairs with high backs and a tiny round table between us. it was so cute! and the whole theatre was very intimate. no seats were very far from the stage. it was a lovely concert with one acapella song (not my favorite one, but a nice song, nonetheless). and for the first time in my life, i was at a concert, where we clapped them back onto the stage for a second encore even after the house music had been turned on (they turned off the house music and efo proceeded to perform one of my favorite songs–it was great!).

saturday, i spent the day spring cleaning (some pronounce it, “procrastinating on my homework by doing housework.”)–my laundry room looks really nice! and the rest of the house looks ok too.

sunday was my birthday. mr. happy stuff took me out for brunch (his good idea!) and we both got completely stuffed with yummy food–including a beignet with powdered sugar and peaches, those french people really know how to dress up a doughnut! then, we stopped at the bike shop (which is having their big annual sale) and bought me some new biking shoes–hooray! and then i suited up and met friends for the first real bike ride of the season–sixteen miles. it was a gorgeous day. great weather, sun shining, good friends….

after church, i invited some friends over for eggrolls and chimichangas. i bought myself an electric deep fryer so we could fry on the porch and not make the house smell like hot oil. basically, i haven’t found a decent eggroll in town, so i’ve resorted to making my own. mr. h-s is not so hot on the eggrolls and we discovered that chimichangas are very similar in concept. we use eggroll wrappers and fill them with refried beans, taco meat and cheese and then fry them up. apparently, they’re yummy too, but i can never tear myself away from the eggrolls long enough to eat a chimichanga. so, despite long lines waiting for the fryer (it only fits about 3 rolls at a time), i think my friends had a good time and enjoyed the eats. and i certainly did!

other birthday notes:
–mom actually got my birthday presents to me before my birthday so i had things to open on the actual day! (this is a pretty impressive feat in my family–be impressed.)
–i think i had more people wish me “happy birthday” with no prompting on my part than i have in a long time. maybe it’s because i talked about it too much in the days leading up to my birthday, maybe it’s because my expectations have now been sufficiently lowered so that pretty much any acknowledgement of my birthday comes as a pleasant surprise, but either way, it was very nice.
–the porch, where we were doing the deep frying looked festive because i finally got a chance to turn on the white christmas lights that i had wrapped around the porch posts late last fall sometime and had never gotten to use yet. it made me smile.

thank you to everyone who contributed in any way to making my birthday be a happy one. you succeeded!

Posted in fun stuff, yum | 2 Comments

pudding cups

i’m not sure why pudding cups appeal to me as much as they do. i never had them as a child. maybe it’s the convenience of single serving packs that don’t even need to be refrigerated (?!). maybe it’s licking the lid. maybe it’s the almost plastic-y smoothness of commercially produced pudding. maybe it’s because i never got them as a child (although twinkies never held any appeal for me and i never got them either). all i know is that for the last few years, about once or twice a year i indulge in a four-pack, much to the amusement of mr. happy stuff. and they make me smile every time.

Posted in stuff that makes me smile, yum | 1 Comment

a snapshot of the 60’s

so for this class i’m taking, we have to do some research into underground newspapers of the 60’s. we’ve each been put into small groups and assigned a specific newspaper to do some research on. (the classes before us for the last few years have had to do research on “dead dictators” so this topic is much better.) the paper i’m working on was called “the helix” and it was written in seattle. on tuesday i got myself into the historical society to do some microform research. my first impression of the paper is that it was pretty groovy. the early issues are heavily illustrated with pretty nifty artwork. my favorite little bit from a 1967 issue was in a section labelled, “unclassifieds” where we find the following items:

“capable jug player wants job with jugband. also plays washboard and slide whistle.”
“kittens: 50 cents”
“trade: a ’63 honda with flat tire and about $10 of other repairs–will trade for turntable and amplifier. will consider turntable alone if it’s really good.”

wow. what a different era–where one might be willing to trade a four year old vehicle for a stereo.

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sing it, brother!

yesterday, i biked to church (woo hoo! first time on bike outdoors this year!) and while i was going through the woodsy bit at the beginning, there were a lot of runners and walkers out enjoying the sun. one man that i passed was jogging with headphones on and he was crouched over a piece of paper that was apparently lyrics to pink floyds’ “the wall”–he was singing along. pretty passionately (hey you! out there in the cold, can you hear me?). i’m not sure if he just wasn’t aware of how loud he was singing, wasn’t aware that other people were around, was practicing for some type of performance, or… if he just didn’t care. anyhow, he made me smile.

(if you noticed the edit i made above, you can thank my good friend, galetea. if you didn’t notice, then you’ll just never know…)

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mommy had a little lamb

lamb

my mom called yesterday morning. their little farm got a new lamb this weekend! i remember a few years ago when i visited a sheep farm (storytime field trip) and saw new baby lambs for the first time. i never knew they actually bounced around so cute like they do–i figured it was cartoonists taking liberties with nature. if you’ve never seen a bouncy lamb, seek one out. it will make you smile.

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little yellow flowers

spring is getting nearer. i can tell because the first flowers that come up each year have bloomed! there are a crop of tiny yellow flowers in my neighbor’s yard that i have a perfect view of when i wash dishes. i have committed photographic trespassing once again to bring you this cheerful image.

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successful baguette

mmmm... bread...

last night, i made lasagna, salad and garlic bread for supper. i came up with this menu about an hour and a half before i needed to have food on the table, so i didn’t have time to make bread from scratch, so i bought a 99-cent loaf at the grocery store when i went to pick up a few other missing ingredients.

this afternoon, i made a few baguettes from scratch to take to a fondue party this evening. can you tell which is the bread that i made? aren’t they pretty?

p.s. i love the way this photo (above) turned out. i think i’m starting to get the hang of getting cool shots with my camera (although i haven’t explored even half of the bells and whistles…

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