A Sweet Sample

A quick post on the workplace this week.  We are testing some new topping options, with Nutella being a popular suggestion.  Not clear on how we would be able to serve it, I asked for a sample to be sent over to my office so that I could fiddle around with it, weigh out portions, etc.


I got an email that told me my sample had arrived and was sitting on my desk.  When I arrived the next morning, imagine my surprise to be greeted by a 5-lb bucket!
I used about 3 scoops for my testing and then I was done with it.  I admit to eating a spoonful of it right out of the jar, but then felt kind of over-sugared afterwards (although I will not deny it's tasty factor when I was enjoying it.)


There was a lively debate amongst the office-dwellers if a person could actually eat the entire contents of the jar in one sitting.  My speculation is no, speaking for myself anyway, I think that I would get sick.  Someone else thought that they could do it.  I left before any sort of challenge was thrown down.


I like Nutella and want to keep enjoying it; eating 5-lbs would ruin it for even the most fervent of fans!

Clean-up on Aisles 2 AND 5

I had quite a start to the day on Wednesday this week.  It is not uncommon for me to wake up between 4:30 and 5:00 am on a work day, do a few chores (the quiet type, like laundry, not vacuuming!) and then be on my merry way to work, usually leaving around 6:00 am.


It was no different on Wednesday, with a load of laundry waiting in the washer from the night before to be hung up on the rack.  I went into the garage, turned on the light and noticed the laundry detergent container in the bottom of the laundry basket sitting in front of the washer.  Upon closer examination, I realized that it had somehow fallen off the top of the washer and into the basket, knocking the top off and spilling it's sticky blue liquid into the bottom of the blue basket.


Marveling at my good fortune of having the basket there to catch the mess, I decided that I would also be able to save the majority of the spilled contents (about 1/3 of the bottle) by pouring the detergent right back into the bottle.  An excellent idea, were it not for the holes in the front of the basket that the concentrated liquid soap started to spill out from.  Oops.  Now we had quite a mess on the floor of the garage.


I slipped back into the house to get some paper towels and in my haste, I kicked one of the dog water bowls, spilling a good quart of water onto the kitchen floor.  This was NOT part of the plan.  I decided to use beach towels to sop up the water in the house first, then out to the garage to try and make some progress on the blue goo.


I ended up laying newspaper across the floor and warning David that there was a "bit of a mess" in the garage.  So much for having an efficient and productive morning!

CHEESE!!

It would appear that I am an easy target for the pack when it comes to treats, specifically for cheese...a favorite snack among the Newton dogs. 

It started with Freddy (center, the fluffy white one), who arrived to our home rather underweight and recovering from some stomach surgery.  I started to give him string cheese as a snack, because he seemed to really like it and I thought that it would be good to put a little weight on him.

He has long since achieved (and is maintaining) his ideal weight, but has not lost his love for cheese.  In fact, he has shared the good news of cheese with a couple of his brethren, pictured here (Penny on the left and Charlie on the right).  It is really a bit ridiculous.  I arrive home from work and Freddy starts following me around, "talking" in his way and sometimes sounding as if he is saying, "Mom, I want my cheese."  Penny, thinking that she might be missing out on something starts to follow at my heels and if I dare open the refrigerator, Charlie is there too.

Shaggy and Scooby (the shepherds) sit up expectantly from their perch on the couch, knowing that I would not dare to feed only 3 of the 5 dogs.  I talk tough as if I am not going to indulge them, but who am I kidding?  Cheese all around!

Penny and Freddy count out the pieces to make sure I have rationed things fairly.  Those dogs are all about equity!

Return to San Juan Capistrano

I had to meet up with a friend for some business today, so what better arrangements to make than meeting at the train station in San Juan Capistrano?  I originally intended to take the train there myself, but the usual bit of yogurt insanity forced me into the office early, necessitating a drive instead of a leisurely train ride. Undaunted, I met the challenge.

Working in an office for most all of the daylight hours during the traditional work week, I am embarrassed to admit that I sometimes forget how nice it is to be outside and in the fresh air in the afternoon. The train depot at SJC is a quaint little station, buzzing with lots of pedestrians and swarms of kids on field trips...perfect for people watching!

The meeting, lunch and time together were great, the birds were chirping, the sun shining...I think that I know why those swallows return to Capistrano every year, it is a good time!

Tri-ed and True!

 

Moms in Motion - before the event!


March has shaped up to be quite the busy month.  Sunday was another activity, this one the Pasadena Triathlon, considered by me to be the kick-off to the triathlon season, this one is a little unique because it is actually a reverse, meaning we run first and swim last (plus some fine biking there in the middle).  It is also a sprint (shorter distances), so the two elements make it a great way to either ease into the season or the entire sport of triathlons.


Special to me for this event was the union of two of my groups of peeps - the MIMs - Moms in Motion and Ministry in Motion.  It was the first tri for several of the people there and the first time at Pasadena for most.  I was very conflicted around what shirt to wear, as I have a team uniform for both; I ended up wearing the white version from the Moms team because while it says Moms in Motion, it is a different color and therefore not as easily identifiable.  The costume of course is not as important as the experience!



Ministry in Motion - completed!!



The event was incredible...the weather was great (biblical proportions of rain fell on Sunday, but Saturday was cool and sunny), everyone was enjoying the course and the company, life was good for all!

Everyone did incredibly well in the different portions of the course and while there were a few struggles, everyone kept at it and finished, emerging from the pool dripping wet, a little tired but all smiles.  There are few things as satisfying as accomplishing a difficult task; for me the only thing greater is watching someone I care about do something that they never thought they would or could do and then seeing them persevere until it is done.

THAT is the tri spirit that I love!

We All Scream

I was in the Bay Area for a couple of days last week (Thu & Fri) for work, and while I was there, I mixed in a little fun too.  Barb & Joan are some very fine friends in Oakland/Berkeley who I always enjoy spending some time with; we had a rather enjoyable dinner at a favorite local place (Picante!) and then Barb hauled us over to a shop called Scream Sorbet.

As an ice cream fan, I am of course always willing to try something new.  I wondered how tasty these sorbets would actually be, given the fact that these are vegan sorbets, which means there is no dairy in them.  I've had dairy-free ice creams before and while I would give them a lukewarm, 'OK' rating, they have never been anything to get too super excited about.

Enter super excited status.  Good grief, it is delicious!  Joan stayed out in the car (because there was NOWHERE to park, so she sort of just stopped in a red zone), which meant that the decision making was up to Barb and I.  We were very diligent about our tasting.  Among the noteworthy included almond pink peppercorn, raspberry walnut & peanut vanilla.  After tasting our way through the menu, we settled on peanut vanilla (Barb), askinosie chocolate (Joan) and pistachio for me.

In addition to enjoying the sorbet, we learned that we all possess the skills to scrape out every available drop of flavor, even if that meant licking the bottom of the cup (it was dark and we were sitting in the safety of the car, no one on the street had to witness it!)  I seriously considered going back for another scoop, but some sense of decorum need to be maintained!

Photo Op

Wednesday was a day spent working on-site for a photo shoot.  Yes, this was for work, yes it was a bit tiring and yes, it was for yogurt.  I spent 9 1/2 hours with 5 other people on a glamour shot for a cup of yogurt and several unrelated toppings.  This is very serious business going on here!

 

It is actually a pretty good gig to go to the photo shoot studio; the team is incredibly nice, very talented and I can drink all of the tea that I want using the cool Kruger individual cup brewing system!  We have Internet access to do work in between shots, have lunch brought in and enjoy some cool background music.  It is a nice change from the daily office routine and the finished product is always impressive, plus it is nice to play a role in what the customer-facing marketing elements will look like for each new flavor.

The work is surprisingly tedious, as we striveto get the absolute PERFECT shot and we are working with a perishable product.  There is a lot of staging, practice and discussing, especially when dealing with toppings that don't stay put, such as caramel.

That frozen yogurt can be such a diva!

Every Little Thing They Do is Magic

I have been obsessed with Abbot's Pizza Co. in Venice since ny first introduction to this place a couple of years ago. I was at the Marina yesterday (details to follow tomorrow), and realized that I was close to what has got to be one of the best pizza places on the West Coast...EVER!

I knew that it was meant to be when I pulled up front and got a parking place without having to circle the block. There was only 1 person in front of me when I entered...the crowd came almost immediately after I stepped up to order.

I ordered something that both David (Meat Eater's) and I (Goat Cheese) could enjoy, a 1/2 and 1/2 pie is no problem here! Add to the deliciousness a pretzel crust (we went with garlic) and perfection is only a 20 minute wait away!

The place was jammed the entire time I waited, but I didn't mind as I viewed the crowd and enjoyed jamming along to one of my favorite songs by The Police, Every Little Thing She Does is Magic. Ahh, some 80's music, good eats in my near future and all of the people-watching a girl can handle on a work-night.

It certainly did feel magical and it tasted even better!

If I Were a Dog...

I posted a Facebook status update yesterday that started out, "If I were a dog...".  It got me thinking that on some level, that wouldn't be a bad thing.  Of course, I would not enjoy the absence of free will to do as I pleased, but it is fun to just think for a moment what I would be like as a dog and I decided, I probably wouldn't make it in the pack!

I would be one of those dogs that needs to be kept busy, is always in something, needs a lot of exercise and probably would have to be monitored around mealtime so that I didn't wolf down through my food too fast and start working on the next bowl that was sitting out.

Our nice, calm dogs would be about over me after the first 30 minutes or so.  They can handle me now because I get them cheese..without opposable thumbs, I would be useless to them!

It is a good thing that I am not a dog, it works out better for everyone that way!

Chased by a Hippo

The running of the inaugural Safari Park 1/2 Marathon occurred on Sunday.  13.1 miles of combined road and park running, up and down hills...a few more hills than I had factored, but the terrain grousing aside, it was a fun event.

I ran with my peeps - Kris & Ebe - and we did the majority of the course in the interval style that I learned from my new friend Cyndie (you might recall that I met her and Sue at the Surf City 1/2 back in February).  Kris was our official timer, 2 minutes running, 1 minute walking.  It was for the most part very effective, except in a couple of instances where the incline was significant enough that 1 of the 3 of us would declare it time to walk, and then we would get back on the path again.

There was some mysterious knee pain in the last 2 or 3 miles, I suspect that it had something to do with the long climb back up the main road (I think that it is part of highway 78 or maybe just the access road into the park), which was angled in such a way that things felt off-kilter.  The good news is that we just walked it out (Ebe for the record declared herself OVER IT at mile marker 12) and still finished at the 3-hour mark, a personal record for both Kris & Ebe and within 15-minutes of what I had predicted.

We didn't see too many animals in the morning, as I suspect the time change and thunderous hooves of 3000+ runners was more than they wanted to deal with as the sun was rising.  We did see quite a few animals in the last short stretch to the finish line, such as a cheetah (super sleek, I am pretty sure that he could have outrun us!), a giraffe and a baby hippo with its mother, pictured here.

Fortunately, I had Ebe to point out to me the hippo is a rhino.  Glad to know I have such a strong grasp on my wild animals.  I am blaming my apparent lack of observation skills on the run.  That may not be the real reason, but we'll go with it for now.

Next up...the Pasadena Reverse Tri THIS Saturday (yep, 6 days later).  I wonder what wild animals we will encounter there?

Kazakhstan Bound!

There has been talk of this happening for quite some time now, but it has happened...Brittany (aka Little Britty) has left for her Peace Corps assignment in Kazakhstan. 

It is a bittersweet milestone, because we are naturally proud and excited for Little Britty to be selected for the Peace Corps (it is no easy task to get accepted, believe you me!) and her assignment is impressive (teaching English...the first step is going to be learning either Kazakh or Russian!), but sending her off means that she is gone for 27 months! (A 2-year commitment plus 3-months of training)

The farewell at the airport was hard, yet still a very exciting thing.  Brittany looked a bit like the celebrity, between her entourage, pictures and big sunglasses...it is safe to say that she is our own little celeb and as such received an appropriate send-off.

Brittany had a full day of orientation in Washington DC, then got right onto a plane for something like 12 hours to land in Kazakhstan slightly after midnight on March 11th (it was still the 10th for us back home, as we get our news of Little Britty from the future, clocking in 14 hours behind her while we are here on the west coast).  Safe, sound and ready to get on with the adventures, Brittany has arrived and will be chronicling her adventures soon.

We are seriously proud!

Lent Light

Ash Wednesday was of course this week, signaling the start of the Lenten season,...the longest fasting/preparation season of the Christian church year. I always feel a stronger connection to the season when I have followed the entire journey from Ash Wednesday through Good Friday to the whole Easter celebration. To accomplish this, I had to play a bit of planes, trains and automobiles to get from work in LA to church in Mission Viejo Wednesday night, but it was a journey that was well worth it.

Craig challenged us all to have a GREAT Lent through peace, holiness, grace and love. That is no small task, but the good news is that we have 46 days to work through it. The timing generated quite a conversation between Ebe and I later that evening...what is the deal with Sundays? DO they count in the discipline of "giving up", or are they considered "mini Easters" and allow us to step away from whatever discipline of taking on or giving up that we have assumed for this timing?

It was great debate without resolution, other than the declaration that going back on the discipline every week felt a little bit like we were trying to live Lent LIGHT...all the intentions of the regular Lenten season without as much of the pain and difficulty of adhering to it the entire time.

Looks like we've got a long way to go to really declaring ourselves filled with the GREATNESS of Lent!

All the Time

The Emmaus weekend has ended and the 23 pilgrims plus 50 team are now back in their "regular" day to day routine, absorbing the wonder, glory and amazing gift that our 72 hours together brought for each of us.

The cross pictured above was crafted by David for the walk and has officially come back to our house to live out its 'retirement' years. It is an amazing symbol of the love and work that was performed in all of us over the weekend.

I am typically a wordy one, with plenty to say about everything, but in this case, I am going to leave it to the simple phrase that my Emmaus friends use when something is going particularly well.

God is good...ALL the time.

Just the Two of Us

A friend from work sent this to me today as a joke and reference to sometimes feeling like we are in the minority when it comes to sane people in the building. Just the two of us...this made for an unproductive but enjoyable 5 minutes as she sent it to me, I played it so she could hear it and then we had a good laugh.

Maturity reins at the fancy yogurt place!

I owe tons of info that I hope to start logging tomorrow; this is just something fun to acknowledge that I am back on the grid and the work life is as silly as ever!

Be Bold!

I am blogging to you from the future...or is it the past? Either way, I know that Ebe does not fully approve, but understands that the commitment to blogging sometimes means that I have to multi-task and take advantage of the efficiencies of technology.

The Channel Islands Emmaus (known in the community as CIE) Women's Walk #44 is underway, with yours truly at the helm as the Lay Director. The Walk runs from Thursday night through Sunday afternoon and there is very little downtime during those 72 hours. There will be 24 women attending the walk, all of whom are in for a great experience in their spiritual journey, and who will be affectionately referred to as "the pilgrims" for the duration of our time together. Add to the group of pilgrims a support team of 50 or so, and you have a full house of amazing women.

The scripture for this walk is 2 Corinthians 3:12, "Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold." Bold and hope are two great words in our faith vocabluary, as I have shared in a previous post, and I hope that this scripture inspires our pilgrims to come to understand and embrace their faith in a different, actionable way.

Bold we are, no need to hope that it shines through for the weekend!

Donut Deliciousness

While at Farmers Market on Tuesday, I made a quick stop at Bob's Donuts, an LA institution when it comes to not-good-for-you-but-still-very-tasty foods. I had been once or twice before with some friends who are big donut aficionados, so I remembered that they were good. I knew that David would appreciate a little treat, so I shuffled right up to the window, ordered a few and sat in the common area for just a bit to enjoy the scenery.

What amazes me about a place like Farmers Market is how diverse and eclectic the patrons are. Tourists, local business people, employees, locals who just hang out and "old Hollywood"... people that I would suspect were very much a part of the scene back in the 50's who are living on residuals or trust funds and still come out to be seen.

There was one particular woman who just fascinated me. She was a generously -sized woman, decked out in FULL makeup including fake eyelashes and Cleopatra-like eyes, a full-length fur coat, purse with some kind of rabbit fur on it and a leopard-print cane. Nails done, big bling rings and some kind of gown under the coat, it was very fancy. She was sipping some coffee (from Bob's - it is LA's best, after all) and scratching off some lottery tickets. Not sure what all of that together means, but it made for some good people watching nonetheless.

The donuts made it safely home, David had one for dessert and we split the other two for a sampler the next morning. It is hard to deny the delicious taste of a fresh donut with a nice hot cup of tea. Perhaps I should buy some lotto scratchers...

Fancy Farmers

The dinner tradition for Holly and I is a bit mucked up this semester, so we have been working on lunch instead. Because I work on what feels like the other side of the world, getting here is at times challenging for the young Schnoogs.

We had some scheduling complexities this week, making the prospects of us getting together even less likely; a sad prospect for us both.

Things opened up a bit when Holly and he roommate Cassie got tickets to a concert last night at the Roxy. Located on Sunset Blvd, the girls were reasonably close to where I was, which happened to be at Farmers Market. A quick detour and there we are, meeting up for a quick visit!

I sent the girls out to get a bite while I did some work, then we chatted, visited, walked around and took a few photos. Nothing incredibly significant or major, but a nice spell of time to see my girl and appreciate some of the local LA flavor that I rarely take advantage of.

Leave it to the Schnoogs to bring some culture to my life!