theinbetweenismine

just a girl living the expat life

Awkward & Awesome

filed under: awkward & awesome

I used to regularly post this kind of post, but it’s been (almost three) years since I last used this format I thought it would be fun to revive it. See the archives here.

AWKWARD

+ Have you bought stuff off of Facebook Marketplace? Or NextDoor? What is it with people? Why do they not have the decency to respond or tell you that an item has sold after you’ve been sending messages back and forth and you’ve been trying to schedule a viewing? I do not get it. Common courtesy, anyone?

+ When people come to cycling class and leave midway through the class. Why? Why do you do that? There were people who couldn’t get a spot and you didn’t even stay for the whole class.

Okay, I understand that maybe there is a time where you have to be somewhere and maybe you gotta leave a few minutes early this one time, but 60% of people in my cycling class last week left before the end of the class. Some left after 30 minutes. I mean, come on.  It’s rude and it’s disrespectful, not just to the people who didn’t get a spot in class, but also to the instructor! 

+ I’ve been getting the “Parents” magazine in the mail for the last two weeks. I am so confused why, because I do not have kids and I definitely didn’t order it, so I have no earthly clue why I would be getting this magazine, but it has my name and address on it. What’s happening??!

AWESOME

+ Even though I had an unpleasant experience dealing with people on FB Marketplace last weekend, we also did score a new-to-us coffee table for a reasonable price. I win.

+ I just found out that the book “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein, which was one of the top 5 books I read in 2017, was made into a  movie. I am usually a bit sceptical to watch the movie, if I loved a book a lot, but for some reason, I am intrigued to watch this one when it comes out on August, 9th! Have you read the book, and do you want to see the movie?

+ ICYMI, J walked the Davis M00-nlight Run 5k with me two weeks ago and I’m so proud of him.

+ Scored a $5 for 10$ Starbucks eGift Card via Groupon. I always take advantage of those offers. I don’t go to Starbucks very often, but this way I also make sure I never pay “full” price when I go.

+ When co-workers, friends, and gym buddies bring you the bounty of their vegetable gardens and you don’t have to buy produce from the store. So far, we have been given zucchini, cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs. We’ve also been able to eat everything up and that feels awesome. (Zucchini Scones anyone?)

Tell me something awkward or awesome! 

Awkward & Awesome

filed under: awkward & awesome


This is a regular feature post on my blog. See the archives here.

AWKWARD

+ Slow computers. Or huge data sets. Or both. I just don’t have patience for this. Especially when I need to get things done.

+ People who talk very loudly. There is this maintenance guy in our office building and he basically ‘yells’ at you every time he comes by to check on something (which he does a lot). I wonder if he has a hearing problem.  

+ We watched the 2nd presidential (town hall-style) debate on Sunday (with my parents, who probably only understood half of what was said, but were able to get the vibe nonetheless and wanted to see the ‘trainwreck’). So AWKWARD.

 

AWESOME

+ Hosting my parents. It’s been so fun having them stay with us the last couple of weeks. I will be so sad when they leave again.

+ Having one-on-one time with my parents. I took my dad to my gym for a workout (I wish we could go work out together more often) and to a pre-season NBA game. I also enjoyed a ‘girls day’ with my Mom at Apple Hill.  It’s just so nice to spend some quality time with each of them.

+ Dutch Apple Pie alla mode. That’s all.

+ Our new couch. Love it so much.

+  I haven’t talked about my homemade granola enough lately. I’ve been having it for breakfast pretty much every single day these last few months and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. It’s just so good (and less sweet – only ⅓ cup of sweetener and oil). I’ve been thinking about switching up the recipe a bit, but I am hesitant to get too fancy. With a lot of other food things, I like the plain versions best. How do you like your granola?

+ Gunther’s Ice Cream. Oh eM Gee. So delicious.  Now I know why there is such a long line out the door all the time.

+ A run on the beach this week. It’s a special kind of treat. I wish I lived near the ocean.

+ A delivery of Stumptown coffee right to my door step. (I am always taking advantage when they offer free shipping!)

Awkward & Awesome

filed under: awkward & awesome

Untitled

This is a regular feature post on my blog. See the archives here.

AWKWARD

+ When a couple goes shopping at Trader Joe’s and both stand there, arms crossed and watch the store employee bag their groceries after ringing everything up. This annoys me especially when there is a long line at the checkout and they brought their own bags and could have just started bagging their own stuff. What the hell?

+ Not having met our next-door-neighbors (the ones to the left) despite the fact that we’ve lived in our house for 4+ months now. We even knocked a couple of times to introduce ourselves, but they were never there. Hmpf. Awkward.

+ Did you notice how much spinach you have to cook to get a decent serving? I am always shocked how much spinach dwindles away when you cook it. I usually buy frozen spinach for cooking which is a little less disappointing than seeing two 8 oz bags of fresh spinach shrink down to the size of a tiny side dish. (What I am saying, though, is that I love spinach.)

AWESOME

+ My bff finished her proton-radiation therapy (don’t google this. It’s awful and I am so proud of her for going through it!)  and I really, really hope that it did what it was supposed to do: kill the leftover cells of her brain tumor. The sucker needs to be gone for good now.

+ Running at Santa Monica Beach. I can’t tell you how excited I was to be training in a different environment from my usual running route. I (feel like I) don’t have too many options when it comes to running routes around my neighborhood (the park it is! And to be fair, I like our park. A lot!), but being able to run a long run at the beach two weeks ago was awesome!

+ Weekend Netflix catch-up sessions. I don’t really watch that much TV during the week (besides the news) and I’ve been enjoying some Netflix catch-up time on the weekends lately. A couple of uninterrupted me-time (watching whatever the hell I want).

+ Watching my little (potted) garden grow. I hope I’ll see some fruit-bearing soon.

+ My Mom put together a little photo book from our birthday party in March and sent it to me as a surprise in the mail. What a sweet gesture! I love it! Thumbing through the pages made me realize though – we barely managed to think about taking pictures that day. Time flew by so quickly and there are so many photos with people I wish we would have taken, but didn’t (for example: a picture of my sister and me with both our parents *fail*).

+ Homemade granola. No, seriously. I feel so stupid that I hadn’t tried making granola at home yet until I had an a-ha moment a few weeks ago. It’s so easy, relatively cheap (cheaper than store-bought stuff for sure), you have full control over the ingredients (mostly the amount of sweetener that you use!), and it’s a healthy (and may I add: delicious!) way to start your day. Why wouldn’t everybody do that??

19: Awkward & Awesome

filed under: awkward & awesome, NaBloPoMo

Untitled

This is a regular feature post on my blog. See the archives here.

AWKWARD

+ When the landlord of the apartment building next door has the roof cleaners come out to blow all the dirt off their roof with leaf blowers and have your windows covered in dirt as a result of that. Seriously?

+ Trying to make sense of what is going on in this world. I saw some people quit Facebook yesterday. The overload of hateful posts, unsolicited opinions that were shared in response to posts, and general disrespect is a little quite demoralizing. Come on, we’re better than this!

+ Feeling a little bit frustrated with work right now, because I am currently splitting my time doing odd jobs for different people on different projects. I’d rather have a couple of dedicated projects to work on than so many different small tasks.

AWESOME

+ Fresh bread with French preserve. Yum!

+ I’m looking forward to the long Thanksgiving weekend. We’ll host a dear friend from Germany for Thanksgiving this year and I couldn’t be more excited to have her visit! 

+ I added some cinnamon to my coffee this morning and I am declaring that the holiday season begins now!

+ Inspiring new blogs and interesting and awesome ladies who run them. ♥

+ Last night, I made my first casserole for this winter and it was so delicious! I love how easy it is to throw all the ingredients in a baking dish and let the oven take care of the rest! If you have a good recipe, please share it with me!

+ Have you guys seen the “Charlie Brown Christmas stamps”? Oh goodness, they’re so cute! I almost don’t want to put them on any letters. 

+ My evening routine includes at least one or two cups of tea again. My favorites are vanilla-cinnamon and rose hip-hibiscus right now.

Awkward & Awesome

filed under: awkward & awesome

Untitled

This is a regular feature post on my blog. See the archives here.

AWKWARD

+ I ordered something from Amazon (well, actually through the Amazon Market Place) and I – as usual – tracked my package (because I am always so excited for stuff in the mail) only to find out today that my package was delivered – yay! Only, it wasn’t delivered at my home, but at an address in Washington, DC.  Not sure what happened… if I was provided a false tracking number or if they actually messed up the recipient/delivery address, but I’m telling you, I kinda had it with the USPS screw ups lately.

+ Transitions into new jobs. Why can’t that ever go smoothly? I submitted all my paperwork on day one (over three weeks ago), but nothing has been processed correctly or in a timely manner.  I am kinda tired having to make sure that other people do their job.

 

AWESOME

+ Super-excited to be ordering another Inkwell Press planner for 2016 again in the fall. I switched from the ECLP last year and I haven’t looked back. I don’t know if you’re a planner person, but I’ve been using (paper) planners ever since I can remember. It’s calendar/planner/journal/to-do list all wrapped up in one and Inkwell Press is an awesome company all around.

+ I am really intrigued to buy wish for a Fitbit (or other fitness tracking device). Give me your opinions, guys! Do you own one? Do you like it? Which one would you recommend?

+ I’ve been working on some new cards for my Etsy shop, if you wanna take a peek.

+ I bought a Groupon a couple of months ago to try out Farm Fresh To You – Organic Produce Delivery and we received our first box this week. So far, I am really impressed with the freshness and taste of the produce. I’ll have to figure out if this is a good investment or if I should keep going to the Farmers Market instead. Have you tried produce box delivery before?

+ I am really excited about the 4-day weekend that is coming up. I’m looking forward to some down time (Excel has been killing my brain this week!) and seeing my friend Susi on Saturday! We haven’t seen each other since our awesome day at the Willow Stream Spa in Sonoma in April!