An update, Part IV - Preparations for Danger Zone II

4. Preparations for Danger Zone II. David and I are already preparing for our second summer of gardening...I mean farming (sorry David). We have just obtained our plot and are brainstorming about what to grow and when to start planting. We bought a gardening book so we could read up on some pointers, and have made some preliminary decisions about getting Danger Zone II up and running...

1. We are renting a tiller to till the soil properly before we plant anything.

2. We are going to buy seedlings this year to get everything growing a little faster. We will get some seedlings from the Wine and Herb Fest in May, and some we will buy from Lowe's. I think this will work well for things like tomatoes and cucumbers.

3. In addition to the herbs we will get from W&H, we are thinking of growing brussels sprouts, swiss chard, peas, green beans, pickling cucumbers, tomatoes, and zucchini. Post other suggestions below! I also want to grow a pumpkin too.

Two of David's friends got the plot next to ours, so it should be a fun summer of growing. I can't wait to get started!

An Update, Part II - Fun with friends!

2. Fun with friends! Though we did not travel much in the fall, David and I have been making the rounds this winter and spring. Here are the fun highlights from our trips:

We visited Amanda and Paul in January. You will notice that there are no pictures of Amanda - she was pregnant at the time and insisted she was not camera ready. (I personally thought she looked fantastic, but who was I to argue with a woman carrying a 3 pound bowling ball inside her stomach?)

While we were in Vegas (see part 1 of my update), David and I had oyster shooters at Rick Moonen's restaurant. These were so delicious that we decided to recreate them as an appetizer on Paul's birthday. Here is a photo of the boys learning how to shuck oysters and discovering a live crab inside of one of them.

Paul's more traditional approach to shucking the oysters was balanced by...

...David's more aggresive approach.

I am happy to report that (because this blog post is so past due) Amanda and Paul have welcomed a new baby boy to the Hoertz clan since our visit. Benjamin was born on March 29. What a cutie! I absolutely cannot wait to meet my godson! I am visiting Amanda and Paul again later this month, and will undoubtedly have more adorable photos of my favorite little one soon.

In February, I attended the Gordon Research Conference on Nitric Oxide in Ventura, CA. While I was on the West Coast, I also visited Kim and Brian in San Francisco, and met up with Victoria in Los Angeles. It was a very fun, but very tiring, 10 day adventure.

I will spare you the details of the conference and get to the fun parts of my trip, but check out this view in Ventura! The ocean was a 5 minute walk from my hotel and there were mountains everywhere.

Kim and I went to Palo Alto when I arrived on Friday afternoon. We had P.F. Changs for lunch, and (the famous) Sprinkles cupcakes for dessert.

When we returned from our outing, this pitcher of "special" lemonade was waiting for us in the refrigerator. (The last time I visited Kim and Brian, my flight was cancelled due to snowstorms back east, and Brian made me "special" lemonades to drink while I was on the phone for 3 hours haggling for a new flight. Needless to say, I was very mellow while dealing with what would normally be a frustrating set of phone calls. I now bug him to make this concoction every time I visit.)

In Los Angeles, Victoria and I took a Warner Brothers studio tour. I loved it! Above is where the outside shots of the Daily Planet were filmed for Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (though the Daily Planet globe is now in a separate storage facility). Fun fact that I learned while touring the lot - did you know that Lois's apartment was actually the apartment directly next door to to Clark's (despite the fact that on the show they lived in different neighborhoods)? If you look closely at one scene where she meets Clark outside of his apartment in season two, you can see her place next to his. Also, Murphy Brown's brownstone is on the same block, two doors down.

My camera battery was dying so I did not get very many good shots of the lot. We drove by Conan's offices and studio (but no sign of Conan or Andy, sadly), and also got to tour the set of Two and a Half Men (it wasn't being used at the time because production had already been shut down). Another fun fact - did you know that the tiles on Charlie's stairs on the set of Two and a Half Men are actually stickers rather than real tile? That way if one "tile" gets damaged, it is easily replaceable.

The highlight of the tour was getting to visit the real set of Central Perk from Friends, one of my all-time favorite shows. The tour guide let Victoria and me sit on their famous couch, which is the photo above. The weird part about this set is how close together everything is in real life versus how it looks on TV. The tour guide explained that because of where the cameras were positioned during filming, they could capture more depth on screen and make things look further away than they actually were.

Almost two weekends ago, I went to visit Elliot in NYC while David went to visit Bryan and Jen in Long Island. (The dog in the above photo is Figgy, Elliot's roommate Jenn's dog.) Elliot and I had an amazing time together. Right now he is currently starring in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar (congrats again, friend!), and I attended a rehearsal while I was in town. I know I am totally biased, but I must say how amazing he sounded singing the part of Jesus. I am so glad I got to see the rehearsal since I will not be able to attend the show, which is being performed Easter weekend.

Elliot and I also had high tea at the Plaza hotel, which was a lifetime dream of mine. It was breathtaking...like a trip back in time to the 1920's. (I half expected Gatsby to be at a neighboring table.) The tea / food was yummy too. There were so many little girls having Eloise-themed birthday parties when we were there that Saturday, and they were beyond cute. The Plaza Hotel is also right across the street from Central Park, so after we were done with our tea and our sweets, we took a nice stroll through the park in the beautiful spring weather.

Here is a photo of Elliot and me before taking the city by storm on Saturday night. We had an amazing adventure full of ridiculous and random behavior that could only happen when the two of us are together in action. I wish we lived closer so we could do it again more often. I love our "Sarah and Elliot" time together.

And the best part...the fun doesn't show signs of stopping anytime soon, as there will be more fun with friends AND family in the weeks ahead. My parents visit in two days, I visit Amanda and Paul for six days at the end of April while David goes on a brewer's weekend with Bryan in NH, and Elliot and I are headed to Boston together in May!!

An Update, Part III - Lots o' cooking

3. Lots o' cooking. Living with David is like living with my own personal chef, and it is fantastic. Though I cook good food from time to time, David has a talent for the gourmet that my meatloaf just can't compare to. Over the last few months, he has made some amazing dishes, which I complemented with dessert.

At Amanda and Paul's, David made us homemade ravioli with a homemade roasted tomato sauce. It was delicious. Amanda took meticulous notes so that she too can make her own ravioli, so maybe I will have this meal again when I visit???

I have to brag (again - I posted about these last year too) about these mini pineapple upside down cakes that I made for dessert at Amanda's. They are the cutest cakes ever, and I am so glad I got this pan for my birthday.

David watched a video of Jacques Pepin where he completely deboned a chicken and stuffed it with a spinach-based filling and baked it. He thought this sounded so yummy that he made it himself. It turned out to be a really impressive meal.

Here is the chicken after it was deboned.

From the wings of the chicken, David made little meat lollipops, which I thought were cute. He seasoned them with Indian spices and rolled them in couscous.

These are two of the stuffed chickens waiting to be cooked. David made three chickens in total, which was a crazy amount of food. (We should have had a party!) One was stuffed with spinach, Parmesan cheese, and cream of broccoli soup. Another was stuffed with sage, prosciutto and swiss cheese, and another was stuffed with rosemary, goat cheese, and figs.

The finished product, which turned out to be one of the most amazing meals David has made to date.

The chef! Jane sent him a card for his birthday that contained this paper fireman's hat, so he put it on while cooking. Naked chef he is not (there are red shorts underneath that apron), but he does look good.

I made cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day following this recipe. They were incredibly rich, but also incredibly delicious.

This is what Ipita does while we slave away in the kitchen!

A much needed update - part I

In the spirit of the Lenten season...forgive me, friends, for I have sinned. It has been almost four months since my last blog! (Though I have been doing very well with what I have given up for Lent, which is caffeinated drinks! How I miss you, morning latte...) As you will see in our pictures, it has been a fun and eventful few months. I could tell you that the lack of documentation of all the fun we have had was due to how busy I was this winter, and that would be partly true. But the truth is, for reasons big and small, it was also because I was feeling a little down this winter. It was hard to find the motivation to write upbeat posts about all of the great things in our life (and there are many great things) when on the inside, my brain was focusing on the not so great elements. I am glad to say the clouds have lifted, I am in much better spirits, and am now once again a proper narrator for the ongoing story of our Hokanson household.

So what is new, you ask? Here is part one of our adventures.

1. Vacation! David and I decided to go to Las Vegas to celebrate his 31st birthday and to take a much needed vacation. Here are the highlights:

We stayed in the Paris hotel, and it was truly fantastic. Here is a daytime view of the Eiffel tower outside the hotel. For a small fee (which of course, we paid because I insisted), we went up to the top of this structure and had a fantastic view of the entire strip (even if it was a very COLD view). I will not post those pictures because my camera was really unqualified to record them, but check out any panoramic view of the strip and you will get the idea.

We saw two great shows while we were in Vegas, though I do not have any photos of them to share because I was too busy enjoying them. David wanted to see Bite on his birthday, and we also saw Zumanity, a Cirque du Soleil show. Neither of us had ever seen a show by Cirque du Soleil before, and it was truly worth the wait. I couldn't get over how beautiful it was. From the lighting, to the costumes, to the music, to the dancing / acrobatics of the performers, everything was spectacular.

Being the foodies that we are, we also ate at two great Vegas restaurants, and enjoyed wine at this bar in Mandalay Bay. The wine bar was amazing because if you ordered a bottle rather than a glass, they sent an acrobat on a harness to get it from a tall tower of bottles (and do flips while she was at it). We happened to pick a bottle that was pretty far up the tower, so we got to see her do a lot of acrobatics before she brought the bottle down to us. The restaurants we ate at are both run by two chefs from Top Chef Masters - Hubert Keller's Fleur de Lys and Rick Moonen's rm Seafood. Both were delicious!

Here is David's birthday dessert that was brought out at Fleur de Lys. I am glad he shared it ;) We also had yummy lobster mac and cheese at this restaurant too.

Surprisingly, though Hubert was our favorite personality while watching the show, we liked rm seafood better. But maybe that is because we met Rick Moonen! While we were dining, we mentioned to our server that we were huge fans of Top Chef Masters, and so our waiter asked us if we wanted him to check if there were any signed cookbooks for us to purchase. We said sure (though at that point I am not sure if we were totally interested in buying a pricey cookbook). When the waiter came back, he said he had good news and bad news - the bad news was they had no more signed cookbooks in the back, but the good news was that Rick was in the restaurant and would sign one for us momentarily...

...and I looked up to see him across the room! (I know it's hard to see from this not so great photo, but the restaurant was dark AND Rick Moonen was wearing black. If you squint, you can see that he is in the center of the photo below the light on the right side, laughing at something someone else said.)

Here we are with Rick Moonen. He was incredibly nice, and stayed to chat with us for several minutes before working the room. I now take back all of the snarky comments I made about his ego during his season of Top Chef Masters.

Our cookbook page. I like how he said "Best Fishes." Cheesy, yes, but also awesome.

Also during our vacation was the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New York Jets playoff game. Despite the fact that it was David's birthday, I selfishly made David change our dinner reservation at Fleur de Lys so that we could watch the game first. Here is me wearing my fancy dinner clothes AND my Steelers jersey (I did take the jersey off for dinner and the show). I think this may be the start of a fantastic fashion trend, provided there is an NFL season in 2011.

I was so excited to bet on the Steelers, but didn't have the courage to bet more than $10. I should have bet more, since they ended up winning by 4 (which is exactly how much they needed to win by in order for me to win money), but I still won $9.

And finally, what would Vegas be without gambling? I became addicted to a slot machine game at New York, New York's casino called Slingo Bingo. This game brought me so much happiness, and I did also win $6.

Las Vegas was definitely more fun than I could have expected, and there is still so much I would like to see and eat!! We will have to go back again sometime.

I love the holidays!

November / December have been pretty busy for us. Elliot came to Ithaca for a weekend in early November, which was absolutely wonderful. After that, we visited Florence, SC to see the Hokansons for Thanksgiving. While we were in the South, we took a day trip to Savannah that I really enjoyed. Savannah is really beautiful! I should have taken pictures while we were on the bus tour, but I was far too mesmerized to remember to find my camera. (I still haven't eaten at either of Paula Deen's restaurants though, so there is at least one reason to visit there again!) In December, David went to the American Society for Cell Biology meeting in Philadelphia (sounds so...exciting...doesn't it...) while I visited Durham and Chicago in one weekend - I visited Amanda to celebrate her PhD defense at Duke (she passed) and I visited Kristen just because she is awesome.

And now, after one weekend back in Ithaca, the traveling continues! Today is my last day at work before my holiday break officially starts! Yay! David and I are spending the 22nd - 27th in Butler and then traveling to Utica, NY to hang out with his family until Jan. 1.

In between our many trips and visitors, we did decorate the apartment for Christmas. We went to Moore's Tree Farm to pick out what I think is our best Christmas tree yet!

If you look closely, you will notice Ipita under the tree. I often find him waiting there for me when I get home. I almost want to put a bow on his head!

Last year, my parents got us this ornament because 2009 was our wedding year. I was very excited to find a wedding photo and hang this on our tree!

My parents also got me a "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Kit" from the sale rack at Bon Ton. I think it really looks like the one from the cartoon, and I am kind of obsessed with it.

Even though we are not exchanging presents this year (because we are going on a trip to Vegas in January instead), we still hung up our stockings. We have no fireplace, so we hang them from the windowsill instead.

Happy holidays!!

A weekend full of team spirit

After a successful trip to the endocrinologist last Friday (SUMMARY: It turns out I have both Graves and Hashimoto's diseases - both types of auto-immune thyroid disorders - which is why my levels are all over the place), I went on to have a really fun weekend here in Ithaca. The doctor gave me a new prescription for propanolol (a beta-blocker medication) to lower my crazy heart rate to more normal levels, and so I was able to run in a 5K race for the Finger Lakes Cancer Resource Center on Saturday. Several of the people in my church book club formed a team to run this race in honor of the people in their lives that battled/survived cancer, and it was my pleasure to be a part of both their running and fundraising efforts.

Here is a picture of our team before the race. Our team was called Team Millennium Falcon, and I was so excited that we had a Star Wars theme because I found a really cute Lego Star Wars shirt in the boys' section of Target! My character was R2D2.

After the race! This was my first 5K race since I used to competitively race in high school and college, and I have to say that it was interesting to line up at that starting line again. So many Saturday morning memories! When the gun went off, I immediately zapped into "race" mode and for a brief second, I wanted to run ahead of my teammates in order to see what kind of a time I could run after all of these years away. I am so glad that I got over this and chose to pace my teammates toward their goal of finishing in under 45:00 instead. I am sure that my time would have been terrible/disappointing in comparison to what I used to be able to run, and more importantly, there was something really special about motivating people who had never finished a 5K before to keep the pace. Ironically, it was my slowest finish that I have ever had - 35:25 - and yet, it is also one of the finishes I am most proud of. Everyone that ran in our group ran the entire time, and we had a lot of fun along the way using our trusty lightsaber to guide us to our next milemarker!

On the next day, David and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Pittsburgh vs. Miami game. I was so excited to go to watch the game that I almost forgot to put shoes on!

It was a close game, but ultimately the referees decided to hand the victory to my Steelers. (Thank you refs - your check from the Rooneys is in the mail I am sure...) During the game, we also did the Blazin' Challenge, which we have been wanting to try since we started going to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch football games. In this challenge, you have to eat 12 Blazin' wings (the hottest wings there) in 6 minutes without any drinks or napkins. Both David and I accomplished this task (I ate them in 5:53, and David in 5:18), but our victory was bittersweet because the Blazin' wings absolutely destroyed our digestive systems for the rest of the day.

This weekend = low key. We have tons of leftovers to eat, Rescue Me episodes to watch, and Red Dead Redemption quests to complete! :) Oh, and of course we will hand out yummy Halloween candy to any cute kiddos that come by our door on Sunday. Happy Halloween to all!

October already??

Time is flying, and I realized it has been over a month since my last blog post. David and I have been spending a quiet fall in Ithaca, and it has been nice to be at home and do things around here for a little while. (I am not stir-crazy yet with our no travel pact, but I have a feeling by November I will be itching to go to the airport and go somewhere just in time for Thanksgiving!)

I'd say that the reason I haven't written much is because there isn't much to say, and that would kind of be true, since we are typically doing normal things that I wouldn't want to bore everyone with. However, the real reason for my absence stems more from the fact that I have been feeling physically out of sorts lately, which has thrown my moods and state of being completely out of balance. My thyroid levels are totally out of control (my normally low levels have spiked to ridiculously high levels instead), and I find it is affecting me more than I would expect or even like. In fact, I don't even really like to talk about it all that much because I feel silly admitting that something as small as a thyroid imbalance is causing chaos in my life when so many other people have to deal with real diseases like cancer or diabetes.

The main problem is that my heart rate just won't go down. I have always had a naturally low heart rate (the one good thing distance running did for my body), and so it is totally strange for my heart to be racing at all times. My heart rate is 120 as I write this from my desk chair, I feel like I have extra adrenaline rushing through my veins, it is hard to focus, and the worst part is, when I can focus my mind starts to race to keep up with my heart beat. I start to worry (even more than I already do) about stupid things, or even worse, the smallest irritation will take my mood from mellow to Incredible Hulk in less than 60 seconds. (Is this how people on steroids feel when they are juiced up and angry? I wonder if this is a different sort of 'roid rage?!?) And so, I am a strange version of myself that desperately wants to maintain her usual happy state of mind, but is instead taken over by flashes of panic and uncontrollable anger.

I also can't exercise even remotely without elevating my heart rate and inducing scary chest pain (that my PCP doctor has assured me is nothing to worry about even though I feel like I am having a heart attack), and so I am beginning to feel like an old, 300 lb. woman. Today David had to slow down his walking pace because I was breathing heavily and struggling to keep up, and it continues to frustrate me. I keep telling myself this is not a reflection of my physical shape, but it is hard to maintain that attitude as I am huffing and puffing up the stairs of our apartment building!! :)

*sigh* The good news is, after months of being 'roid crazy and waiting to get into the endocrinologist, I am finally going to see the doctor on Oct. 22. Hopefully he can fix me up.

This is much more personal than I usually get with this blog, but then again, I am not the type of person that shares any piece of news that 1) is remotely personal or 2) does not involve the adjectives, "happy", "exciting", "fun", or "cute". It's just not how I usually work, because talking about anything else means that I am not working hard to focus on the positive things in life, especially all of the things I have to be grateful for. Also, it is also really hard for me to admit that I am struggling with anything, because as someone with a type A+ personality and perfectionist tendencies, I'm not supposed to struggle. However, David has taught me recently that if you can't share your flaws and your struggles with your family and your friends, who can you share them with? And so, with this blog I am taking a step to be a little more open...just like he is.

Hmmm...so what else has my (limited) blog audience missed while I have been away dealing with my self-absorbed 'roid issues? We took down our Danger Zone garden two weeks ago now that our crops are done producing and the cold weather season is fast approaching. It was kind of a sad day, though I am already looking forward to next summer when we can improve on what we accomplished this past summer. Also, speaking of things to look forward to - Elliot Roth comes to visit in just three weeks! And soon enough it will be November, which is always a happy month because I start listening to Christmas music!

I think I will end this incredibly long post with a list of things that make me happy because it will make me happy to think of them, and it will be more uplifting:

1. David's laugh, David's kisses, David's cooking, and David's tickles...okay, just David.

2. One Day, by David Nicholls (even though this book made me cry extensively)

3. Tuesday and Thursday night TV (and today is Thursday!)

4. Angry Birds

5. The fact that my research project is finally leading towards productive results

6. Apple cider, caramel apples, pumpkin spice lattes, kettle corn, and fall foods in general

7. New songs by Taylor Swift

8. My new Gap cardigan (that I am wearing right now)

9. Getting lots of mail (hint hint)

10. Book club (we are reading The Hobbit for November, and I am making cupcakes for our snack)