Rocky

I think I have talked about losing 20 lbs for the last 6 years give or take a year. I will take measures to better my health and stick with it for a long time but I never seem to actually take any real steps towards losing weight. I will better my flexibility with yoga, build my stamina with interval running or try to distinguish my thighs from my butt with stairs but nothing definitive is done for my weight. I think that it just seems so elusive and impossible that I am not intentional enough or something. Then while talking to my friend the other day, she told me I need smaller goals in order to reach the larger goal. She said I should focus on losing 5 lbs and then once I achieve this I should focus on another 5 lbs. I know this concept, and have applied it to so many things before, but I had no clue I wasn't applying it to this one area of my life. So my goal is to lose 5 lbs by our banquet in May and to have toned arms by that same time. I want to lose it in a healthy way too...

I grated the tip of my middle finger while trying to grind nutmeg for my oatmeal this morning. This is not my fist mini-grater infraction but this time it drew blood. My once favorite kitchen gadget now seems menacing and eeevil. I worry now that it has had the taste of human blood, it will just be thirsty for more and therefore I will shy away from using it. It is strange how just a little cut like this one can 1) sting so bad and 2) make me involuntarily cater to it. I can't type properly and when gripping anything my finger makes sure it isn't involved in the grip at all (causing me to not only flip everyone off but also not be able to have a handle on whatever I am holding and almost drop said object.) On to a more serious note, I feel like I had taken an unintentional break from cooking for a while. Sure, I baked a little here or there and made a few things for a couple events or parties but not really anything substantial. Then came the most epic of all dinners, the night...

There was an unintentional theme to my weekend. It all started Friday night at our International Student Friendship pot-luck that we held at my home and my friends' home next door. We introduced the students to an all-American movie, Rebel Without A Cause. James Dean (ahem... heart throb) plays a rebel teen who is in a rift with a gang of other rebel teens. The movie is rife with pompadours, shiv fights, cigarettes and denim jeans coupled with members only jackets. The theme was continued Saturday night when we celebrated my friend's 30th at a roller derby event (Is it called an event? Or maybe a game? What have you.) Evidently a roller derby is like the unspoken casting call to all those associated with the rockabilly style. One of the girls I saw literally had an alligator tattooed across her thigh, which I could see through her fishnet stockings. We were surrounded by short shorts, blunt banged and red lipstick clad girls (very pin-up-esque), tattoos and a variety of hosiery...

A day late but it still stands true. (Note: I am not one to do the 'heart' symbol with their hands but I couldn't resist just for Valentines day.) PS I tried curling my hair with those foam curlers, that's why I look like Shirley Temple circa 1934.

I haven't made a food post for some time now. So I thought I would share just one of my recent creations. I decided to break-in my hand mixer this weekend. Usually I bake in the traditional manual style but when I moved to LA my mom bought me a lovely hand mixer. Once I plugged it in it felt like a power tool. Which makes me think of one of those SAT questions... hand mixers are to a Rachelle like a power tool is to a handy man (I was going to say to a man, but that would be presumptuous that all men like power tools, but then I worried that it would seem like I was putting myself at the same level of a handy man which I clearly am not. So do what you will with that comparison.) Anyways, I made a chocolate bundt cake with a macaroon filling from scratch. It wasn't the best dessert I have ever made but it wasn't too shabby either. Can I just say that whipping egg whites into firm peaks is a million times easier and enjoyable with a hand mixer. I can be quite the messy baker...

In the beginning there was an all pink (with the exception of the dark green carpet) little room. The little room was then painted a pretty sea breeze blue with bright white trim and ceiling. Then furniture was moved in the little room after carpet was installed. Then the furniture was configured to maximize space. Room evolutions are seldom fully mutated but I do believe it will stay as is for some time. I just thought I would give you a progress report on my lovely humble abode. Here are a couple other views of the room. The closet is of modest size so the top shelf is rather packed. Don't judge.

I would like to say happy birthday to my little sister Autumn! She turns 15 today. We had her "gotcha day" six days ago, which means she has been with our family for 14 years baby!