the weather is so nice...

Even the cherry trees are confused. Don't they know it's February?

soup season

Three recipes are calling to me right now, and all of them are soups. Perhaps I can feel it in my bones that the weather is about to nosedive, or perhaps I'm getting a cold - hopefully neither. Maybe if they sound good to you, too, then I can verify that their appeal has nothing to do with the weather or my general health!



1) Black Bean and Pumpkin Soup, from Smitten Kitchen. I wasn't all that into it until she started raving about it so much, and after reading through the entire post, it's all I can think about. I'm also a sucker for anything pumpkin, as you know.



2) Mushroom and Farro Soup, also from SK. Tim would never forgive me for this one, but it looks super flavorful and nourishing.



2) Garlic Soup - from 101 Cookbooks, which calls for 10-15 cloves of garlic. Good thing I already have a boyfriend.

I'll give you guys reviews as soon as I get around to making them. Anyone want to come over for taste tests?

zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

Sara has been raving about the benefits of meditation for months now, and I think I'd like to go on a meditation retreat sometime - maybe this summer. After the month I've had, I'm so ready for a mental break - and places like Spirit Rock and Tassajara offer discounts for people under 25!


I've tried meditating before - briefly - and had a pretty rough time. My butt hurt. My back hurt. My nose itched. I couldn't concentrate on not concentrating. I kept thinking about things, like what I was going to get from the grocery store, and what my plans were for the weekend. And that was only a 30 minute session!

But from what I understand, these meditation centers offer a very Bay Area-influenced experience (i.e., the food served is very tasty, made from local, organic, sustainable, vegetarian ingredients).  And especially after reading a recent article in the Times about how meditation may change the brain:

M.R.I. brain scans taken before and after the participants’ meditation regimen found increased gray matter in the hippocampus, an area important for learning and memory. The images also showed a reduction of gray matter in the amygdala, a region connected to anxiety and stress. A control group that did not practice meditation showed no such changes.

Pretty compelling stuff, hmm? So, who's with me?

Reading: Cat's Cradle
Listening: Magnetic Man, Getting Nowhere

the saddest story ever told

I am not a happy camper.

As you may already know, I've had my eye on a Vince leather jacket for about a year and a half. It fits perfectly, has the butteriest leather, and feels delicious when I put it on. I went to visit it so often that the Vince salesperson at Bloomingdales even came to recognize me. But at the end of the day, I couldn't part with the thousand (!!!) dollars that the leather jacket costs.

Oh hello, lover.

But ever since Rachel got on her eBay kick, making tons of money selling everything from Forever 21 to Tory Burch, I've had my eye on eBay scoping for a good deal. And I found one.


The perfect size! The perfect color! The seller had a 98% approval rating, over the course of 170 sales. And much to my shock and awe, I won it for $400, which is over 60% off if you consider San Francisco sales tax.

I paid on PayPal moments after winning the auction, and waited with mounting anticipation for the package to arrive in the mail.

And I waited...



And I waited...



And the estimated arrival date came and went. I've contacted the seller twice with no response. Finally, last week I escalated the issue to eBay, who will give me my money back if the seller doesn't address the issue within 7 days.

I don't think there's a lesson here, but I hope you share in my gloom. I guess the deal *was* too good to be true.

So the search continues...

Reading: Cat's Cradle
Listening: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Maps (Cosmonaut Gretchen Remix)

lions, tigers, feathers, oh my...

Do we think feather earrings look A) edgy or B) trashy? I'm talking about this kind:


Not the Ke$ha kind:

I hope you guys go with option A. I just bought a pair...