In brief

1) The series finale of The US of Tara was pretty good. Would have been much better without the weird 3 minute guitar solo by John "I'm oddly attractive" Corbett, right?

2) I'm on my second day of trying to reform my caffeine habit and honestly it's been pretty nice. I think it was oddly messing up a medication I take. In any case, two days of one cup of coffee or tea has been great. I stick to water outside of caffeine already. I'll keep ya updated, it might be kind of different in two weeks.

3) We're heading to Nashville for a close friend's wedding, and it'll also be a reunion for lots of our college friends. This of course includes some of my very best friends, so I've spent the whole week ready to get on the road!

The Getty

California Love, a set on Flickr.

Here are some of the photos we took while at The Getty. I have another batch coming of the sculpture garden and the flower gardens.

Summer Favorites

Urban Lights at LACMA

Hey, look at that! A photo actually taken by me on my blog. So good to be back in business! The LACMA was definately a highlight of my trip to LA, along with The Getty! I thought I'd share a few other things I've been loving so far this summer:

-Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. I received this cookbook as a gift from a very sweet friend. It's pretty great, with lots of unique uses for fresh produce.

-Bensimon sneakers. Specifically the Ballerina in Rose pair. So comfy.

-This book. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Game of Thrones was too much for me, so I picked up this nonfiction piece instead and it's been great so far!

-This. Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Rosemary Countertop Spray. It makes cleaning my kitchen smell so good. I physically threw out the old bottle of Method stuff we were using.

-This exhibit. A Revoluntionary Project: Cuba from Evans to Now. We saw this exhibit at The Getty while we were in LA, and it was fantastic.

-This drink. Smitten Kitchen's Watermelon Lemonade. It's super simple to make and trust me, go ahead and add some vodka.

-This photo project. "If your house were burning, what would you take with you?" See people's answers here.

Quick Quote

"But compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use, and the regular exercise of choosing kindness over cruelty would change us." Jonathan Safran Foer, from Eating Animals

This book changed a good bit of how I felt about eating animals, and Foer directly means the act of not consuming factory farmed meat. I think it's a good notion in general, that choosing to be kind and compassionate is not just about one act, but the growth of those traits in general.

Advice

I spent a little time in my hometown this weekend as part of a spontaneous mini-road trip that took us through there. I came away from a short visit with family with some advice: "Your blog would be more interesting if you two would have a baby."

In the spirit of this advice...I'll be posting even more photos of our sweet dog, June.

Checking in

I'll be back to posting photos and other goodness eventually, but lately life is a big bundle of travel. This is nice, and I have lots of great photos to share! I might not get them up until September but they're great.

Am I the only person still watching The US of Tara? Probably, since it's been cancelled after this season ends. It's gotten seriously crazy, and kind of creepy now. Other than that, I'm reading A Game of Thrones and I'm actually enjoying it despite not usually liking fantasy novels. After it was recommended to me a sixth time I thought I'd try it out. So far so good!

Recipe wise, there hasn't been much time to cook anything, but I did have a vegetarian udon soup the other night at Nagoya that might have single handedly cured my summer sniffles!

Life Check: Before I Wreck Myself

We got home safe and sound after a whirlwind of Los Angeles, I'll post photos once I go through all 700 of them! It feels like a hectic week, but there's a birthday party Friday. The summer feels packed and busy, but with all good things. Here's a life grade report:

Apartment: a total mess, but no dirty clothes or dishes (C)

June: alive and well, she stayed with my sister-in-law while we galavanted (A)

Workout routine: totally off kilter, hoping to rebalance this weekend, an attempt on the elliptical this morning reminded me that I didn't work out for a solid week (F)

Food: zero in the apartment, I'm making a run for basics (rice, spinach, bananas, peanut butter, almond milk) today (C)

Schedule: off, way off, we're in town for the next week and a half so maybe that's enough time to get back into a groove (D)

Life: I'm giving it a C+, average, busy but good. It's maybe worth noting that once I have some peanut butter and at least one banana in this place it'll be a solid A-!