Shokufeh is... home

Happy Birthday to the /hi

Five year ago, through the kindness and generosity of a friend, I moved here to lay-c.com/hi. In celebration of that anniversary, and once again thanks to Lacey, I'm moving over to a Wordpress blog at: lay-c.com/shokufeh.
Come visit!
It's not that I haven't enjoyed my time here. It's just time for a little change. Please bear with me while I continue unpacking.

Spreading hope

Yesterday, on Andrea's blog, I found out about the Hope Revolution. I love it! I think one of my Ayyam-i-Ha projects will be creating these little notes of hope and releasing them into the world.

Leaving the prefab behind

Every morning, we pass this architectural feat that defies the laws of physics.

As dilapidated as it is, I know I'm going to be sad the morning that it's in a pile, having finally succumbed to the weight of the rain, or the vibrations of the surrounding construction, or... gravity.

What I PIFed

Since they've received them by now, I thought I would reveal what I paid forward to Holly, Arin, and Hannah. These lovely necklaces from Random Acts of Craft. Melissa has been selling these at craft fairs here, and happens to be my coworker in her other life. But I'd buy her stuff even if she wasn't. She lacquers beautiful paper to small wood tiles and gussies them up even more with various findings, including neat buttons as clasps. Arin's is one of Melissa's new styles - while the fleur de lis one wears around one's neck is a somewhat personal choice for New Orleans locals, I thought it would be a neat choice for someone that has ties to the city but doesn't actually live here. And I had a hard time parting with Holly's and Hannah's necklaces. Every time I look at Melissa's creations, I want to take all of them home.

Counting my lucky stars

This morning, I was thinking about how lucky I am, how I love our routine. We all leave the house together, get in the car, arrive at MrMan's daycare. We wave to the security guard, MrMan and I say goodbye to Sam and head inside while Sam drives a few more blocks to the parking garage. I take MrMan to his classroom, wish the security guard a good day, and walk one block to my office. How many moms are lucky enough to work one block from their children?

Later this morning, I was again thankful - I wanted some coffee, but realized I'd left my wallet at home. So I walked the few blocks to Sam's office and met up with him to visit the nearby ATM. Got a kiss and a $20 bill. And in both directions, got to spy on MrMan playing outside. Love it! These moments of watching MrMan, doing his thing, oblivious to my presence, make me feel like I might burst with joy.

Shirted, yet naked

What does it say about me that, this morning, so that I wouldn't look like a grinch, I made a point of wearing a pink shirt (no special pink shirt, one I wear, on average, once a week), but a few hours after I got to work, I realized I'd missed putting on my wedding ring (and earrings, for the record)?

In unrelated news, when I went to the gym at lunchtime, I discovered that the instructor for the class is pregnant. I overheard her saying eight months pregnant. It didn't stop her from jumping up and down, squatting, and lifting weights. I got my ass kicked by a pregnant woman. Maybe not as hard as she kicked it five months ago. But still....

Keeping the heart in working order

"High five, Shokufeh! Good job!"
"Thanks, Shokufeh!"
My internal dialogue.
Sam is often amused/concerned/annoyed with the fact that I like to address myself, by name, often with words of praise. But, people, this is big! Today. I. Went. To. The. Gym. For the first time in like four months. The influence of Lent? The nice weather? The concern that I've eaten so many pieces of king cake*? Who cares? The point is, I went. I stopped going months ago, due to the head cuts and concerns that I'd spring a leak. Doctor's orders, but who was I to challenge them - the anxiety of round two and the pain of round three made me very compliant.
I'd like to achieve the similar regularity I was hitting last summer - usually a few times a week, for a brief lunchtime visit. Not the best, but better than none. I'm working on cultivating this attitude of "good enough," as I often suffer from focusing on perfection. Last year, I heard a phrase I though very applicable to my life in general: "perfection is the enemy of done." Between that attitude, and adopting GFF's exercise tracking system, there may be hope.

*Since my last king cake update, I achieved my goal of eating ten different kinds of king cake, adding two varieties of Whole Foods cakes to the list - pecan praline (I'd rank it a 2, as it's very sweet) and cinnamon (classic, tasty, a 1 in my book). Charla, we'll have to see if this was the source of the hives. I'd wager it's the source of a few extra pounds.

Happy Mardi Gras!

I'd say this weekend was a success. This afternoon, as I was trying to get MrMan prepped for school tomorrow, I was asking where he'd be going tomorrow. "Office?" He's been there a few times in the past couple of weeks. "Parade?" Nope, but it makes me happy that they've become so important to you.

Below are a few pics from my Flickr set of Mardi Gras 2008. Those of you who've never experienced Mardi Gras might want to read my descriptions of the photos, for a little more info on what goes on during this unique celebration.

It's carnival time, everybody's having fun

This is one of my favorite times of year. Last night, as we walked down the neutral ground, between the streetcar tracks, I couldn't help but grin. Despite the cold, despite the hives on my legs, and despite the fact that twenty minutes earlier I'd seriously been considering going to bed. Last weekend, I found myself in a bit of a funk. I think that was because the only parade I made it to was one I will not be going to in the future - one that features dogs: Barkus. It was fine enough, except that it grew boring after a while. And going to it meant missing real parades. So, last night, after a leisurely dinner and some McKenzie's!!! king cake, Sam and I headed out, leaving MrMan with my parents. I was quite pleased with the fact that we could take things leisurely, since there were four parades last night, Muses having been postponed from the night before, due to weather. This was my first Muses. I now understand the appeal. I think this was also my first time being at a parade at 11:00 at night - even though we were not far from the start of the parade, with four parades, it's bound to backup.

Today, we went to Tucks (blessed by gorgeous weather), where MrMan particularly enjoyed the horses and the "jazz" - his new name for any music that involves horns. I think this is one of the aspects that makes me so happy - getting to share this with MrMan, who's appreciating things more this year. Last Sunday morning, we went to pick up Sam from church, and a parade was starting to lineup in the area. A band was practicing right in front of the church, so MrMan and I watched, both very much enjoying it. I didn't realize quite how much he liked it until Sam came out and MrMan called to him, pointing out the marching band. Good times. It's not all about the king cake. Though that is good stuff. My mom was laughing at me and my father last night, having a rather focused discussion about king cakes. This season, I've eaten (with ranking indicated):

1) Whole Foods' raspberry cream cheese - really tasty, in all of its components, except the excessive sugar on top
1) McKenzie's brand from Tastee Donuts - very enjoyable, even if they did make it a bit too thick and yeasty. But the awesome flavor still shown through, and I think they do the best colored sugar. I so appreciate my dad having gone to get this and waiting a good twenty minutes for it.
1) A tasty cream cheese one from PJ's on Camp Street - I'm not sure who makes them, but my dad thinks it's a bakery on the north shore. Somehow they had the flavor I so enjoy in the McKenzie's one, but maybe even did it better, if that's possible.
2) Whole Foods' berry chantilly - good, though not as good as the raspberry cream cheese one, nor as good as their berry chantilly cake
2) Randazzo's regular/plain - yummy. This is probably the one we made the biggest dent in in one sitting.
3) Random regular/plain I don't remember the source of - nothing to write home about
3) La Madeleine's french style - okay. Nowhere near as tasty as La Boulangerie's french style, and the weird part was that their pastry was a bit sour.
3) Rouse's super plain - we've discussed the error of their ways