What to Do on a Rainy Day?

Grrr... I stayed up late last night to post this entry only to discover that it not only did not post, but it also only saved about 1/6 of what I wrote.

I woke up yesterday morning, or shall I say afternoon, with the intention of going to the gym. (PS If Dominique wouldn't have called me at 11, who knows how long I would have slept.) Then, I heard the rain beating down on the roof and decided that it would be a much better idea to stay in my apt and be productive. The hard question was... What do I do? I am usually so "go, go, go" that it was hard for me to stay focused on any one task when I have a large amount of time. Throughout the day I did some laundry, downloaded music, tried to clean my room, went through papers, mail, etc, got some Bum Bar samples (http://www.luminouskitchens.com/lkproducts.html) delivered, picked up a few groceries, made an avocado sunflower sandwich spread and later a "creamy green salad dressing" and then met Lauren for dinner.

I dropped off the Bum Bars at two new places: All the Best on Devon St, where I picked up some of those strange ear wax candles that I've always wanted to try and licorice root tea and then New Leaf Grocery (www.NewLeafNatural.net ). Besides dinner with Lauren, my trip to New Leaf was my favorite part of the day. It reminds me of a store that I go to in Rockford called Choices Natural Market (www.choicesnaturalmarket.com) and Ethical Planet (http://www.ethicalplanet.com/) in Evanston. There I picked up some macaroni & cheese from Soul Vegetarian East (The best vegan mac&cheese I've had thus far.) and some cinnamon and sugar pita chips that I like to get when I am home. I also learned that New Leaf' provides an affordable alternative to overpriced organic produce by offering weekly organic produce boxes at the lowest cost available. You can buy one of just fruits, just vegetables or a mix of both, and inside each box you receive a couple of recipes related to the produce. What a great idea?! I think I will definitely have to sign up for that program.

Lauren and I met for dinner around 6:30 at House of Sushi and Noodles (http://www.houseofsushiandnoodles.com/). Even though it took me about 3 minutes to get there, and Tessa, my roommate, raves about the place, I had never been there. I am so glad she suggested it. The two of us hadn't seen each other in awhile, so it was really nice to catch up. At one point in our conversation she mentioned that I have changed a lot since my freshman year of college: Bri and I used to call Lauren our little hippie. Just the other week one of the parents at my school called me a "flower child." I took it as a compliment. Our meal started with miso soup, and I was craving seaweed salad. We shared two rolls: a new sweet potato maki and Tofu Tempura Maki: Tofu Tempura with Kampyo (a Japanese squash). I wish they would have had more than mochi ice cream as a dessert option, but no worries... I had one of my chocolate peanut butter brownies dipped in some hot soy milk. so good!

Back to Friday night: I ended up staying at Cristy and David's Friday night. It was so funny. They had to help this really drunk woman (Betty) get into her apartment when they got back. She came into the apartment and literally grabbed Parker out of my arms. She kept repeating "too much, too much." Cristy and I had no idea what was going on.

Luckily I had an umbrella Saturday morning because I walked out the door to have the wind blowing this crazy rain in my face. I don't know if I have raved about these yet via blog, but Lush (There's one in Water Tower.) has some Amazing products! I'm really into these new massage bars. Check them out http://www.lushusa.com/shop/products/body/massage-bars. That afternoon I had a vegan meet up lunch at Ras Dashen (http://www.rasdashenchicago.com/), an Ethiopian Restaurant. Dave, the organizer, asked me to come a little early and check people in. It always feels good to be a little more involved. Emily came, and it was so nice to see her. We spent most of the lunch catching up.

The menu included:
Komodoro salata – Diced tomato, cucumber, onion and jalapeno salad
Yeqaysur salata – Beet salad served chilled with a tangy dressing
Tikil gomen alicha – Mildly spiced cabbage, potato, and carrot stew
Gomen – Chopped kale, slow cooked with mild spices
Misser wat – Pureed red lentils in a spicy barbecue sauce
Kik alicha – Yellow split peas cooked with onions, garlic, ginger, and green peppers

The Ethiopian staple bread, injera, accompanied our meal and was used in lieu of eating utensils to scoop up the food. Injera is unique to Ethiopia and is made from teff, the smallest grain in the world. It’s a tangy, spongy, crepe-like flat bread that beautifully complements the food it is eaten with.

Before babysitting that night I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up a veggie tray, hummus and crackers (Carryn's request) and took it to the Dance Marathon dancers. (I can't believe it was a year ago that Caitlin and I danced 30 hours straight for Bear Necessities.) It was so nice to see some of the girls and take a small part in the 30 hours. Congratulations go to Carryn, Kay, Kim, Shannon, Ralitza, Kirsten, Katie Euphrat, Talia, Andrea... I know there's more!

While they raised a little less money this year than last year, $917,834 is remarkable! On the upside, they were up on dancers (750 in '08 and 1,000 in '09). This year's beneficiary was Project Kindle. Project Kindle's primary purpose is to provide cost-free camping programs, year round support and advocacy for children, young adults and families infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS and to offer innovative peer-based HIV/AIDS education for young people ages 12-24. Seeing all of that made me want to do something philanthropic soon. Maybe a race?

That's all for now... Back to work!