Unbreak my heart

Here is a picture of my basil plant on our two week anniversary.

Why do I even try to love plants?
I'm reminded of the Sandra Bullock movie "28 Days" where at the end of a alcoholism recovery program, the sobriety guru says buy a plant and keep it a live for a year to show that you are responsible and capable before starting a serious relationship. I think the way I treat my plants is a reflection of how I live my life--with lots of passion and feeling and lots and lots of good desires, and a livable amount of knowledge, but not quite enough action. This is a cycle that I will break.

Another crummy thing about my life: the back of my legs (including the ever-tender back of my knees) are horribly sunburned. I'm happy to announce that the crisis portion of the sunburn has past, and thanks to some serious Advil use, it was bearable throughout. But it (the sunburn) is still reminding me that it's there.

Now, for some very happy things in my life.

1. It turns out that my friend Lillie uses "agra-therapy" with the troubled teens she works with (AKA she grows herbs with them). As a direct result, it turns out that she is a literal FOUNT OF KNOWLEDGE when it comes to how to keep basil alive. I am now armed with the knowledge necessary to save my poor little plant. Thank you Lillie!

2. I got to go to the beach!! Sure, it turned out cold and windy, but I went! And friends came with me! And it was fun! I've got the sunburned calves to prove it!

3. Today, at long last, I found nutritional yeast! It occurs to me that this point, that I have not yet announced by new flexi-vegan status to my blog following. So now, let me just tell you all that I've decided to adopt a mostly-vegan diet and so far (10ish days) I am loving it! I am not being super uptight about it (I ate a cookie a co-worker brought yesterday and had about .25 of a ounce of pastrami at Katz's).

In continuation of my good news regarding nutritional yeast (valued by vegans for it's high levels of B12 and it's nutty, cheesy flavor)-- I also decided to buy some soy hot dogs!

I'm excited because hot dogs are the thing I was most sad to give up. I'm optimistic that these will be tasty since it's mostly the spices in hot dogs that make them yummy and as my co-worker says "It's not like there's much actual meat in hot dogs anyway."

and then I got to work and YIPEE!! my first vegan cookbook had arrived!!! I did a lot of research and choose that one and one that focuses on quickness and budget (which has not arrived yet). I'm so excited!
I have been stocking up my vegan pantry (flax seeds, soy margarine, egg substitute, etc) and I am ready to go! Well I do still need a few more things before I"m fully equipped, but I definitely have a good start!

My brother John is awesome.

My little brother John came to visit. He was here for almost a week and, believe it or not, the above is honestly the best picture of the two of us that we got. But we had an awesome time. To give a brief accounting of his visit, I have decided to make a list of why my brother is awesome. (In the order inspired by the photos.)

1. He bought me watermelon!!!!!!
I love love love love love watermelon!!!! And for some reason, it is an expense I can never justify, although when I think about it logically, it is worth it. I've always thought that if a man really wanted to sweep me off my feet, he could bring me a "thinking of you" watermelon. I mean I love flowers as much as the next girl, but a watermelon is super romantic. It says "I know you. I know you love watermelon. I know this is something nice you wouldn't do for yourself." I loved my brother even before he bought me a watermelon, but even more afterwards (which I would not have thought possible). And he is so cute--he didn't eat any of it himself, even though I managed to save him some (for a day or two, then it was gone). Bless him.

2. We saw Patti LaPone in Gypsy!!!!

even though John wanted to "Phantom of the Opera" he went and stood in line at tdf and got tickets to Gypsy because it was what I wanted to see (even though Phantom would have been good too). And he bought my ticket! John is super awesome.

3. We had fun adventures and went some places I've never been. Seen here, Katz's Deli (you know, the one from When Harry Met Sally) John had the famous pastromi sandwich. As you can see, the sandwich is as big as you've heard.

Also, we went on the Staten Island ferry. Here are some pics. (oh my goodness--sometimes I think I could explode I love New York so much!) (in true manly fashion, John was very interested in all the forts)


4. John is a good photographer. I like this one of the George Washington bridge.

5. With John in town, every event became another chance for Team Bluemlein to dominate. John did an awesome job at the "Paper Bag Game" which involves mass amounts of flexibility. You have to bend over and pick up a paper bag with your mouth--the catch is the bag gets progressively smaller and smaller. John made it to the final round! And he was the tallest one by far, which was a major disadvantage on this game.
(he was so fast, it's blurry!)

6. John was so excited about the Indiana Jones premier, he was my inspiration to accept an invitation to go to a midnight showing. We had a fun time. My review--the movie is good to the extent that you are willing/able to suspend your disbelief. And overlook some faulty props. And plot holes. But the ninja monkeys were cool.
(this picture is a shout-out to the Lego Museum that we wanted to visit, but we found out it was in New Jersey, so we didn't go)

7. The event I have been waiting for happened--28oz cans of tomatoes went on sale for a dollar! Luckily John was there to help me pack them home. Here's a picture of him with 30 pounds of canned tomatoes on his pack, hiking up the hill.



Here's a picture of the contents of the bag I was carrying (as you can see it was pansy light). John is the embodiment of a gentleman and insisted on carrying anything heavy that we came across during his whole vacation. I love him.







8. John has a great sense of humor. Any of you who spoke with him know what I mean.

9. It was so nice to be with someone who saw the city with new eyes and was delighted with or intrigued by things I take for granted--street performers, the candy sellers on the subway, beggars, parking lots with elevators for the cars

10. John is such an incredibly person! It was so wonderful to have him around. He is so kind and charming and thoughtful. I was discussing it with a friend and we decided and that is the epitomy of masculinity.

Called Out

I'll confess every time I get in the elevator with someone else at work in the morning, I feel a little glee when I push a higher button than anyone else. Because I always do. (Feel glee AND push the higher button in case that was unclear.) Today it was me and lady who pushed "18." I got in directly behind her and with no small amount of relish (which I mistakenly assumed was kept discreetly to myself) I pushed 20. She said "Alright, alright. Your 20 beats my 18." I was shocked and slightly embarrassed (name that quote) but we then had a delightful discussion about the fruit we had each just purchased for breakfast, how excited we were about said fruit, and she recognized me as "a Christian sister" resulting in my first stranger in an elevator high-five.

True, this story is not more worth-telling than any other 15 things that happen to me in a day, but it is part of my goal to blog more often and perhaps share more of the small things that bring me joy.

Also, I wanted to brag that my friend Jeff just taught me how to insert links in my blog. All the way from Provo. Good job Jeff!

PS the elevator buttons pictured below are NOT from my building. our buttons are WAY classier then those

So many life adventures, so few blog posts

I would estimate that approximately 5% of the blog posts I write in my head actually get typed and published. I think largely it's because I think no one is interested in a post without a picture. I will ponder on this. And without further ado, present you with this picture:

I have been nesting lately. Although I have never in my life had any sort of interest in plants, gardening, etc about 6 months ago, I saw a plant at Ikea that I HAD TO HAVE. I bought it. It died. I was heart-broken. To help heal my broken heart, for my birthday Becca and Richard gave me a new plant and some Miracle Grow to help me out. That plant also died. I was very sad.

I've decided my next attempt will be an herb garden. Above is the first member of my herb garden family: Basil. If I keep him alive for a week or two I will get another and grow from there.

In the photo above, he is fresh from the farmer's market and sitting happily on my desk at work. He has since been transplanted in a cheery yellow pot and is at home.

And while we're on the subject, I really really want a garden. I am just longing for one. Sigh.

Who is this person I've become? I didn't even know what basil was when I moved to New York. (well, I knew it was an herb of course but I couldn't recognize it by smell and wouldn't have known what the actual plant looked like.)

I know it's cliche and everyone's doing it, but I couldn't help it.

I do fancy myself a speed typer.

90 words

Speed test

I'll confess it took some practicing. My goal is to break 100. I'll keep you posted.