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Great day filled with positivity: everything seemed to be tasting great, all my situations had positive spinoff no matter where I look. I only noticed it at the culmination of the day, while recapping day's worth of experiences. 

I have been thinking about getting chopsticks and eat with those instead of fork to slow down my intake and enjoy food more, and subsequently eat a little bit less. I mentioned it to Michelle on Wendesday (21st). On Thursday, my manager asked me to help him out with cleaning unoccpied cubicles, which people haven't been using for months or even years. Naturally there is a lot of random crap there, along with some treasures too. I happen to stumble upon a great looking black bowl with decorations and, yes, chopsticks with it. it has a hole on the side to put them into the bowl. Great find, and even greater the accidental coinsidence of finding something I was just talking about the day before. Along the lines of the book "The Secret", where you wish for something and envision it and it becomes yours.

Chicken Liver with onions was prepared and consumed. I do love liver and especially chicken hearts, which are abundant in the United States. back in mother country, you'd have to buy a whole chicken and take out the organs yourself. That's what my grandma used to do back in the day.

Purchased "Peace Tea" from Mountain Rose Herbs along with Oregon Chai, Honeybush, and Health Tea. By far, Peace tea blend is my favorite, full of floral scent and sweet aromas. 

Finally went to movies on Tuesday and saw "The Hunger Games". It was a good, intense movie, though i was going in with preconceived notions about it being made from the book. I guess all the fuss about it made me overthink it, but i did enjoy the intensity and overall action and character play. 

Weekend outlook: There have been thoughts about going to Boston with Michelle, but I have to admit I wasn't fond the idea, nor was I looking forward to spending yet another weekend without her. It is tough; she either works or goes away. at it has taken a toll on me. I understand that there are reasons and events that she should attend but i am being selfish in this regard for once, and expressed my discontent with Boston weekend. That being said, she is staying in CT and will enjoy my company (or so i think). We are planning on going to Jones Vineyard to enjoy some delish wine and purchase a bottle of something yummy (as a reward for her four continuous vegetarian days once a week, which is a big deal for meat-and-potatoes gal). 

The smell of new clothes

Michelle got me a new hoodie upon returning from Boston. It is a nice one, one that i would wear, so i did. Since I rarely do get new clothes, the fresh smell, that coats new pieces of attire, struck my nose with surprise. Now I have an idea why some people enjoy buying new stuff. I was feeling renewed in my new hoodie, and not only I carried that rejuvenated sense with me, but the smell also reminded me I'm not crazy. Is this the reason people buy-buy-buy new clothes?

Decorations

Besides my hoodie, she also brought several bags worth of decorations and other random stuff her mother and her bought for our place. Candle holders, small colored glass bottles, fake flowers, and other questionable goods. Though i understand that her mother enjoys decorating and part of the shopping is certainly bonding, I feel that some of these decorations are being imposed on our household and therefore me. Michelle did say 'no' to a bunch of things and i thank her for that, but i don't think the fake orange flowers that are on our kitchen table should not be a staple, no matter how much they match the curtains. Aren't we entitled to decorate our own place? I strongly feel so. 

In other thoughts:

Are some people destined to be alone? are some people really not into the whole 'couples' business or they just haven't found someone who makes them more than they thought they could be? I don't know. I feel that there are some lone wolves who need no company but their own. 

This feels like a, not a blog..

Finally got internet and a new computer at our place. I went on facebook and quickly realized - I don't care much about every single thing all my connections are doing. On the other hand, I found a potstickers recipe and pinned it. Next day (Tuesday 3/14) I went to grocery store and bought some ingredients to make the dish. Michelle loves those, so i figure i treat her to some dinner from scratch. I got ground turkey (instead of pork), scallions, water chestnuts, ginger as a filling. Quite fenomenal must I say. Exceeded both hers and my expectations. Only next time I will add more seasoning to it.

Current Gas Prices: $3.96 - 4.05 in Central CT. Gets more expensive as you get closer to NY border. Weather is greatly improving, mid 50s-60s the whole week. Jackets are obsolete. For now. Presidential debates are all over CNN. News, please...

Friday (16th)

Well, it's the weekend, and Michelle is going to Boston for the whole weekend and I will go to Greenwich for few days. There isn't much fun being here without her around, besides Gill invited few peeps for a poker game at his place.

This is a very hard time for her, St. Patrick's has a very different meaning after a tragic loss of someone special last March. We sometimes expect to lose our job, or to break up with someone, but we never think about losing a family member. This just doesn't occur to us often. 

Tuesday (20)

Gill had another Poker Night this past Friday, and again several friendly faces gathered in his basement to discuss random topics and throw chips on the table. I even saw Sophie, who I have not seen in almost five years. Interestingly, she is running (or has ran) away from her fiancee and is moving to another state to live. Good for her, I guess, so long as she is making the right decision. Because I have no real idea as to what kind of person she is now, I can not judge her decision to break off with whoever proposed to her. Who knows. i am glad people are growing up from high school, and are at least acting a little more mature. I'm such a 24yr snob, who looks down on all these 22 and 23yr olds as immature. I think that makes me immature myself. I keep thinking "why won't people just be a little more like me and a little less like themselves". Now, that's a thought....Obviously, this is silly. 

St. Patrick's day came and went. I hung out with Chris and Art and we did a lot of talking and planning and are definitely set on going to Florida at the end of May. This should be so much fun! It's right on the beach, so getting away from CT and into some warm weather, relaxing with few friends. Just have to figure out the dates and buy the tickets.  

Mindless eating book is already halfway read in just few days. it is a very easy read, with some pictures and diagrams and other non-word mass. Very interesting to not only read how nobody is immune to the tricks, but how even the writer himself is often caught in turmoil of food and consumption, though he knows every single trick and understands thoroughly the concepts. 

Sidenotes:

I NEED  to hang out with creative people more. Great benefit will come from that, so I need to be pursuing friends who are in the process of creating. Anything really, so long as they're doing it overtime and consider themselves creative.

Oddly, I have more in my savings (1750) than my actual checking account (1690). I have spend my tax return on mostly paying my loans and putting money into savings. I use SmartyPig for my savings, which has better APR, compared to banks, and i can take out the money or transfer it anytime, unlike CD's where the money is locked.

March Reflection

March 3rd Reflection:

We called the ATT to install our internet service, but it will only be ready on 12th of March. Until then, we're still looking into buying a desktop computer either from BJ's or online somewhere. Things are going well. I am grateful to hear that Michelle will do anything to make this work out, even go against her patterns of living to accommodate my needs of beliefs. I must recognize her little sacrifices and changes she's willing to make for me and continue being receptive and fair. I want to contribute as much as she does, and I want her to know that I also care and am willing to change my ways of doing things. We talked yesterday about putting up some decorations and we weren't just talking about it - we were collaborating, listening and trying out different possibilities. Ultimately it is her decision to put the two plates on the walls and i like how she goes through various ideas before arriving to her solution to put them together, one above another. I like her openness, which is very important if two people are living together. 

March 6th:

Upon leaving the Black Rock Library branch I thought to check out the craiglist add for moving sale. Some guy was moving to Urugway and was selling everything he owned, pretty much. The street was just a block away from where Michelle and I live so i figured why not look into it. John was selling things outside his place, shirts glasses, tables, books, CDs, kitchenware. He invited me upstairs and showed me the couch and a seat and computer desk. Needless to say I grabbed Michelle, who was boiling a bunch of water to take a bath, grabbed some cash and went back. We ended up getting several shelves, tables, kitchenware, books and CDs, computer desk and sofa and love seat combo (for $15) and the most expensive thing: Scrabble Deluxe Edition with rotating table for $35. (more than 1/3 of our spent money went on one board game). Since it was only 1.5 blocks away from our place, John agreed to help me carry the couch to our place. That was tough. My shoulders and triceps are sore. I am quite proud of myself though for accomplishing that. I'm sure my friends would be impressed too. The couch was too wide and we took the front door off the hinges. It was big enough still not to fit through out apartment door. Out we go, and John removes a window from the living room. The couch got inside in a matter of 2minutes through the window. it was getting cold. The second piece was brought up through the window too. Next challenge: putting the window back in place. Handyman Michelle did all the figuring out and fixings. We were exhausted my that time. Quick boil of some cheesy shamrock pasta ended our first vegetarian Monday. It was also cat's birthday: Zoey  & Zelda are 1year old and had some dinner special from the can too.

Morning of Tuesday we met John for some coffee and breakfast at Port Cafe (link). He is going to Uruguay to teach for few years. I hope i get to see him again sometime, he's quite the friendly fellow. 

March 9th: Friday

Yesterday was an interesting day at work. I thought it would be a low key no-business day stretching in the afternoon. Lunch was accompanied by Michelle, who stopped by my work to partake in shopping from Company Store, a place with great discounts on products Unilever makes. Fun was it. Then, at once, two chemists wanted our help in the afternoon: one with jarring their lotions in tubes, and the other with preparing an oil phase for lotion creation. My co-pilot, Sunita, went for tube stuffing, and I did my best with weighing some unpronounceable chemicals into a beaker. Both were time consuming and we didn't leave the building until after 4pm. I had an appointment with Boys and Girls club in my area and completely missed it. I want to get involved, and am doing so, but i hate leaving a no-show first impression. It wasn't until late evening, when Michelle and I (well, just Michelle) were assembling a Furinno Desk for our PC that i realized I missed my meeting. The desk was also a total crap: Didn't come with directions, all pieces or all holes drilled in right places. We should read the reviews before buying something.Mistake.

We watched Scott Pilgrim vs The World to finish our evening. 

Vegetarianism. Michelle and I started with vegetarian Mondays and it's going great. She even went on to do vegetarian Fridays as well, due to lent. I'm all down. I can not wait one day for her mom to ask her if she wants some [insert meat food here] and Michelle replying "Oh, It's vegetarian day, no thanks". Wouldn't that be something?

I have also finished reading "Blue Zones" which was a great book. Quite insightful. Two big things I got from it is ikigai - or "the reason to wake up in the morning", a purpose. Another is "Hara Hachi Bu"   - a little Okinawan prayer to be said before meal to remind oneself to only eat until about 80% full. 

Surprise Party

I came home to a surprise party, convinced that the gathering would be on Saturday, not Friday. Picked up Joey and Melissa who purposely stalled me, which was a bit annoying but they did a great job. I had few drinks a tequila shot and an awesome company of people! My girl did so well, i could not stop smiling and telling her how great the party was. She even baked Sharlotka. People had fun times and my kitchen was large enough to fit most people to chat without discomfort. Even our cats, Zoey and Zelda behaved well. We met neighbors from upstairs, Chris and Sara, who are also easy going couple and are down to earth. Great to have great neighbors.

Saturday, my mother Michelle and Jenya got me an awesome kettle and herb teas I will be enjoying every morning. So excited, it's exactly what i wanted. My birthday is so great this year, I surely appreciate all the love I am receiving from people around.