It Started with a Journal

Just picked up from the library:

- Dr. Who S2
- Merlin S1
- 500 Days of Summer
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish film)

Eeeee!

Still in the middle of:

- Tongues of Serpents (Temeraire)
- Mockingjay (Hunger Games)
- BSG (Blu-ray rewatch)
- The West Wing S1

The BSG series is so awesome right from the start, particularly considering the mini-series was rather slow going. I'm kind of stalled on Mockingjay... just not that into it, partly because I'm loving Tongues of Serpents, even though it might be the book in which the least amount of action/progression happens, at least so far. Not sure I'm going to be able to make it through The West Wing. That speed-talking jabber thing that Aaron Sorkin is so well known for bugs me. I was able to work past it on Sports Night, but that was a half-hour sitcom that only lasted a season, if that. I don't know if I can put up with 7 seasons of an hour-long drama in that style.

Just bought off Amazon:

- Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens. It's supposed to be one of the best if not the best Nikon lens to use in low light, and since I'm often photographing food in restaurants with bad/low light, I'm really hoping this will be awesome for that. Won't know for awhile though, because I had it sent to my parents' house to save over $40 in taxes. Freaking Amazon being based in WA state!

- My very first kitchen apron! I know, WTF that it look me this long. It is so adorable, lol! Fashion and function!

Now that I've been brewing my coffee at home (and not even that expertly), I must say ... the coffee at work is really gross.

I'm sad to be at work this early in the morning. I'm usually not even awake at this time, much less in my office. I'm also hungry and the notice that our Friday bagels have arrived hasn't come in yet. :/ I also have to remember not to eat a lot, because tonight ropo and I are going to Icon Grill! I've been wanting to check this place out, because they supposedly have really good mac & cheese. In fact, they have two kinds. The appetizer version, which are like, fried macaroni & cheese nuggets that you dip into sauces, and the side dish: "This Mac n' Cheese is unlike any you've ever had before. Four cheeses, tomato snow, crunchy topping and a final flourish of even more molten cheese." Mmm.

Afterwards we're going to go see HP6 on IMAX. And take pictures along the way (not, obviously, of the movie).

So far Robbie's visit has been filled with a lot of eating. We haven't even done that much, but still haven't found any time to cook at home or make ice cream, but that's partly because I'm not off work until next week.

Yesterday we went to Third Place Books, which is more of an upscale Half-Price Books. It's better because they tend to have rarer material and they're anal about the condition of the books, but it's not as good because they mix new and used books (so you might get excited by seeing something you've been looking for, only to discover that it's a new copy at new prices), and they sell used books for more than half (how much more depends on the book). Considering you can get 30-40% off books at Amazon and when Borders sends coupons, getting a used book for that price isn't a good deal at all. Anyway, I brought a box of like-new, mostly trade paperbacks to see what I could get, and they only took 3 of them! And one of the ones they took was A Nerd in Shining Armor, which was terrible. So yeah, I don't think their book buyers know what they're doing. <g> HPB isn't so choosy, they always take everything, as far as I know.

The cool thing is that I found Tom Douglas's Seattle Kitchen for pretty much half price -- and it was autographed! Tom Douglas is the most famous chef in Seattle; like, if you were entertaining visitors and wanted them to go back with the full Seattle experience, you would include taking them to one of his restaurants. I also found Alice Medrich's Cocolat, an out-of-print book that I bought for $30 not too long ago, for $10. Grrr. I'm going to try and resell my other copy.

Finally, I just have to mention the fun game jade_okelani devised for us. Robbie and I both like photography and have the exact same camera, so she's got us on a sort of photo scavenger hunt. We get different clues (which add up to a larger puzzle that we have to solve, every 3 photos), and she awards points based on composition, style, and her own whimsy. :)) I'll have to share my photos after it's all over (or possibly after each round, if we're allowed), because obviously I cannot let Robbie know my clues.

BTW subject line is in reference to "How I Met Your Mother," which I am really enjoying so far. (Got 3 seasons of DVDs for $15 each on Amazon! Looks like that deal's over, though.)

Also, happy birthday, corianderstem!

The last photo request comes from 13oct, whose request will expose how totally frivolous I am. What's that you say? That was exposed long ago? Oh well. Of my (many) faults, this is probably the one I have the most fun with.

( Handbags! )

Thanks to those of you who made photo requests -- keep them coming!

I've done a few, with more yet to come.

For jade_okelani:

( My treadmill + not-evil Talis! )

For filia_umbrae:

( Trees! )

For mynuet:

( Under my bed! )

And finally, a couple of pictures of food (homemade butter and chocolate pie -- how can you resist?), as well as two examples of shots I could not have made with my previous camera.

( Click to see! )

Jade totally hates me for the butter (and maybe also the pie), since she's still recovering from surgery and is on a strict low-fat diet. Poor, poor Jade.