Vegging out

Last week, I saw a nutritionist. She didn't tell me anything earth-shattering that I hadn't already heard before. Eat better. Eat less. Exercise more. I've been attempting this week to do all of the above. Some days went better than others, but I know I can't just expect to be perfect at this off the bat, and she can't expect that of me either.

Anyway, here's the deal. I don't eat veggies. I hardly know anything about them. I could probably only even name a handful of them. And now I'm supposed to eat double the veggies to whatever else is on the plate. I tried this week to have more salad, but that got real old real fast. So I'm turning to you. Tell me your favorite (easy) veggie recipe(s). And don't assume I know anything, like how to "steam until soft." Cause I don't, k?

Ready? Set. Recipe.

Look fast!

My Ted Kennedy cover made Newseum's Top 10 today. Here's the link, only visible today!



While I would love to claim total responsibility for this page, the truth is, it was a team effort between me and Benn, the art director. Here's the rundown:

Idea to blow out teases and run photo behind banner: Me
Processing/placement of photo: Benn
Idea to pop heads out over banner: Benn
Headlines/placement: Me
Black bar tease: Benn
Name plates to solve any possible confusion: Me

In all, a successful team effort.

Best. Weekend. Inareallylongtime.

So, I said on Facebook that this past weekend was one of the best I've had in a really long time. And it was. Since we've moved to New York, Scott and I have less than a handful of friends here, and spend a lot of weekends wishing we knew where to go to have fun, but mostly sitting around at home or frequenting the mall. It gets old. But this past weekend, we rented a car and headed down to Media, Pa., for the wedding of friends from our church in Philadelphia.

After a rough start (we left later than we wanted to and missed half the wedding), we saw the last half of the ceremony, which is all the good parts: exchanging vows, rings, and kissing the bride. It was fun, but for me, the best part was that ALL our friends from Philly were there. Unfortunately, I was so busy socializing, I only got a handful of photos, and none of the bride and groom. BUT, thankfully, their photographer posted some on her blog, which are amazing.

At the reception, I got to talk to everybody. It was fantastic. Also got great news that church friends who were married last year and now live in D.C. are expecting! And Seth and Sarah, the first couple to take us in in Philly, are expecting a baby girl in early November. Also in attendance: a just-married friend who moved to St. Louis, my two favorite Ra(e)chels, and lots of friends from the two small groups I attended. It was really, REALLY good to see everyone, and to be surrounded by friends.

Not to be outdone by the people who drove 30 minutes from Philly to Media (or three hours from NY...ahem), my friend Patti, who spent some missions time in India with the groom, came all the way from Kansas for the wedding. That, I did get a picture of, because I don't think any photos of us existed before. Just ignore the fact that we are shiny and sweaty...the reception was outside on a hot and humid night. But fun nonetheless.



The only photo I got of me and Scott that night...


We wished we could've stayed in Philly for the weekend, but we came back home after the wedding Friday night. The good part about that was the we still had the car until about 3 p.m. the next day. So what do you do when you have a car? Go someplace you can't get around here, that's what.



(That's a Chick-fil-a cup to anyone who doesn't know. And if you don't, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??) It was totally worth the 40-minute drive there and back and the extra gas we had to put in the car. Mmm-mmm. After that, we had a quiet evening at home, watching the Mets game and relaxing. I went through a desk drawer full (and I mean so full the drawer above it wouldn't open anymore) of cards from holidays, birthdays and just because. I found lots of love and $50. And when I was done with that, I dumped our overflowing change tin and sorted and counted coins for a while. (Blog post coming on this.) Guess I was in the mood for a little monotonous work.

On Sunday (I'm counting this as a three-day weekend, even though we had to work as usual on Sunday), we met up again with Patti and her other half, Ira, who came up to New York for a few days after the wedding Friday night. We went to Shake Shack for lunch, which is an NYC burger hotspot in Madison Square Park and usually has an at-least-30-minute line snaking around the park walkways. If you don't believe me on the line, you can check out their Shack Cam, which shows how long the line is. Thankfully we didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes or so, cause it was really hot out. But it was nice to sit and talk with Patti and Ira for a while, since they were across the room for most of the wedding reception. After lunch, we poked around a flea market nearby, and then Scott and I had to go to work.

So yeah. It was great. Anyone got plans next weekend?

I don't usually blog about work...

*Blows dust off blog* Cough, cough, cough...ah-choo!...ahem...

So, I don't usually blog about work, but this is going to be a positive post, and I'm gonna toot my own horn a bit, cause I think it's about time, don't you?

This week, I got a "promotion" of sorts. It's not really a promotion as much as it is taking on some new responsibilities in addition to what I currently do at work. If you don't know, I design pages for a newspaper with three editions (New York, Boston and Philadelphia), including, but not limited to, the main news page inside, local news, and covers. But now I'm the photo editor too. This isn't so much editing photos as it is bringing ideas for art for the covers. It can be news art, entertainment art, something graphical. But it's now my responsibility to make sure we have great art on every cover every day.

So today was my first day in this new role. We had a great package on the news page inside about how many people are calling Obama a socialist, but really don't know what true socialism is. (No political commentary here please, that's just what it was. Let's stay objective like good newsies.) So I came up with an idea for a cover photo, and as it turns out, my editors loved it, and it wound up on all three covers for tomorrow.

Here's what the Boston cover looked like (sorry about the gray at the top, the Metro logo isn't showing up):


Click image to enlarge

Here's to Day 2 and beyond.

What did you expect?

The other night I was talking to a friend online, and it struck me that her life has pretty much turned out like the thought it would, and/or wanted it to. Husband, two kids, house, etc etc. Maybe coming to those things didn't happen as easily as one would have hoped, because life is always full of twists and turns. But for the most part, and I'm taking a liberty here, I think her life is what she expected and wanted.

Now, God-willing, each of us still has a lot more living to do. But I asked myself: Has my life turned out like I thought it would? The answer? Absolutely not.

I married a man I met online. I moved hundreds of miles away (ok, maybe that part I wanted, but didn't necessarily expect). I've moved six times in five years. I live, for all intensive purposes, in New York City. I work on Wall Street. I don't own a car. My apartment is 721 square feet. Probably the only things that have turned out like I thought they would are that I am married and work for a newspaper. I'm not by any means saying I don't like my life, or that it would've been better the other way, 'cause it's going pretty well. But no, it has not turned out like I expected. And I'm sure there are still more surprises ahead.

So what about you? Has your life, so far, turned out like you thought it would? Like you wanted it to?