Life is crazy... so I guess business as usual :)

Things have been getting busier and busier, but alas, I think I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Fingers crossed, it's not a freight train :) In the meantime, I shared a bunch more pictures on my other blog, and I have much more to share but no time right now. Time has just flown by this year, I can hardly believe it is already July... That being said, I am really really looking forward to August and the big move :)

Some pics from New Zealand

Hey Everyone! Sorry for not posting that often lately... I've been extremely busy with a project that needs to be finished in the next couple of weeks. I've been living in my office more than at home. If you are thinking I'm at the office right now, you would be right! I'm in here 10-12 hours a day, so that doesn;t leave room for much else.
One bright spot in my day has been the pictures my sister-in-law sent me from New Zealand. I love, love, love the ocean! So stop by my other blog and take a look. I posted two batches in the past few days. If I had money, and if I had time, I would totally run to the beach for the weekend... but maybe someplace warm not to New Zealand... What do you think? What's your favorite weekend getaway?

Cool New Contest/Advergame/Prize giveaway

Mountain Dew and WoW are launching a joint promotion for Mtn Dew Game Fuel. You get tokens by watching WoW videos or clicking on the promo banner in Facebook, Twitter or Myspace and then you use the tokens to bid on prizes every 15 min. Seems pretty cool.. I just wasted a whole our goofing around with it... Makes me miss WoW a whole lot :( My game time expired a few weeks ago :( Anyhow, I thought someone else might be interested in it. The whole thing is supposed to go on all summer. So best of luck, I hope someone wins something... I already bid on two prizes and won Zero...:(
Oh, yeah... almost forgot... the website link is here... OR, you can just click on the banner above, which will give me a few tokens to bid on prizes :) Let me know if you need me to return the favor.

Must watch!

Just finished watching the inspirational and incredibly touching commencement speech delivered by Larry Page, one of the Google cofounders, at U of Michigan. By the end of it I was so touch I almost started crying... and now I really miss my dad :) You must watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfNayaL9MYc

A few of my favorite quotes from Larry's address:

"A healthy disregard for the impossible"

" What is the one sentence summary of how you change the world? Always work hard on something uncomfortably exciting!"

"On a day like today, you might feel exhilarated — like you've just been shot out of a cannon at the circus -- and even invincible. Don't ever forget that incredible feeling. But also: always remember that the moments we have with friends and family, the chances we have to do things that might make a big difference in the world, or even to make a small difference to someone you love — all those wonderful chances that life gives us, life also takes away. It can happen fast, and a whole lot sooner than you think."

There's a little glitch in the video, but the full transcript is here:
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/annc/20090502-page-commencement.html
I am so incredibly moved by his speech... I always was a big Google fan, but I am an even bigger fan now if that is possible. Let me know what you think after you watch it.

I'm back....

I'm back yet again after another long absence. I'm sorry for being off the grid for so long. Please be kind, I did not forget you... I just let work take over my life again and, let me tell you, it never ends well when that happens. Suffice it to say, I thought my blog had become depressing enough as it was... It might also have had something to do with some unprocessed feelings relating to my brother's recent visit and then my "crap, I'm a year older, none the wiser, and still stuck in the same place" bday... but it was probably mostly work... But no more, I am reclaiming some time for myself, let's see if the sky falls...
BTW, what is it with men and comparing you with other women? So and so does this, why can't you.... So and so looks like this.... Normal people do this... Well, I'm me, and I am doing the best I can!

Bdays... ah... they used to be fun...

Bdays used to be such happy moments... Last year, it sort of sucked... this year it was much better... although I had some mixed feelings... Is it age, is your bday supposed to be less important as you grow older? Is this some sort of social rule I am missing?
Right now, I am having tons of those mixed feelings. I am not sure if I am just being childish, or I have an actual reason to be upset. It is 8:20pm and my brother just called to wish me Happy Bday... at 8:20 pm... Granted there is a 2 hour time difference right now, and he is attending some conference or something, but still...I was offended he couldn;t find 5 minutes earlier in the day to wish me a Happy Bday. Or just 2 minutes... Am I being childish? I need a second opinion!

Bad weather and sadness...

I miss the sun, I miss home, I miss happiness... A strange and shocking thing happened today... I was reading one of the blogs I follow and the question of the day was what do you daydream about. And the first thing that popped into my head was "I daydream about a time when I felt loved, confident, and happy..." I really hope it is just the bad murky weather outside that is the cause here and not my life in general, because if it was true in general it would be really sad... Who knows, maybe it is true... Last night I was pretty much told that unless I fix a zillion things about myself, no one will ever accept me... Today I was told that somehow, somebody had overinflated my confidence for whatever wrong reason... So now, what can I do... I cannot give up, so I am on a mission to fix things. Some of those things, I understand... they are true... I let myself slip... somehow life took over and I ended up on the last spot on the priorities list.. more like I fell off the list altogether. But other things... I am not sure are fixable. So where does that leave me... Maybe alone... who knows... the future will tell... For now, I am just sad and hopefully somewhere inside I still have the power to fix things... but what about the unfixable ones? What if I am unfixable, broken, forever?

Cake, family and flowers

All in all it was a good weekend... lots of ups and downs for different reasons, but today I am starting the week on a more positive note, so I guess it;s all good. On Saturday I got to spend half the day with my brother and his wife. They gave me a beautifyl buquet of daffodils, 3 or 4 kinds. I posted pictures with them and a few others on my other blog. It was great, we grilled, we overate, and we stayed out in the sun... S. makes the best tandori chicken on the grill! Yamm.. whish I had some left just about now because I am starving!
The pineapple cake I "made" was deeelicious! And so was the second cake with cappuccino ice cream... A German thing, got it from Aldi's and I am going back for more so if you are interested I can post a picture of the box later on. It is the lightest, not too sweet cake I have ever bought... but I am partial, I love coffee flavored pretty much anything.





If I had to choose a favorite between the two... it would be really really hard... maybe the pineapple one because it is somewhat healthier. Here is the very very simple 15 minute recipe:

Just take a small loaf of angle food cake, 3/4 box of whip cream, and 1/2 can crushed pineapple. Cut the cake in 3 equal layers. Mix some of the whip cream with the very, very well drained pineapple (I actually just squeeze it in my fist to make sure I get all the extra juice out). In the meantime, use some of the pineapple juice in the can to moisten the 3 layers. Then simply put the pineapple-whip cream mixture between the two layers (you can lay it on almost as think as the cake layers, almost...), and use the rest of the whip cream to nicely coat the entire cake, and voila! You can serve it or keep it in the fridge/freezer for later. You can decorate it with other fruits (strawberries, kiwis, bluberries, etc.) as you wish.
When I bake it from scratch, I use the other half of the can to put inside the cake mixture before I bake it and then it will have an even stronger pineapple flavor.