The big month...

While I have until December to complete the list, this is the month - I turn 30 on the 30th of September! Still unclear on what exactly we'll do to celebrate, but like it or not, it is coming fast. Grant usually very nicely (and patiently at this point) asks me what I'd like to do to celebrate and I say something like, "That's a really good question!" and then I forget about it within two minutes or something happens that makes me think about something else. I should really consider adding working on my attention span to this list...

In other news, I got my Eastern Market artwork! In my six years in DC, I've purchased earrings, tomatoes, roasted nuts, lemonade, birthday cards, cheese, and other random goodies from the market. Up until now, I haven't supported our local artists who offer up their photographs or paintings for purchase. After a yummy brunch this Sunday at Tunnicliff's Tavern and an iced latte from the local coffee spot, we wandered by several artists and browsed. I found this lovely photo spread of the Jefferson Memorial showing it at all four seasons. It's perfect! Grant and I got engaged on the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson is one of our favorite DC landmarks. It's matted, framed and ready to hang. The where to actually hang part is still TBD but it's set to go on the dining room table just as soon as we decide.

Non-snoozing is still a work in progress. Work has been, to be kind, CRAZED for the past two months so it's been hard to get into any kind of routine. Excuse? Perhaps, but I'm working on the snooze. I've been keeping my alarm clock on the windowsill away from the bed so I actually have to get up when it goes off. When that happens at 6:30 am, I'm all set. When that happens at 5:00 am, it's a different story. Friends tell me to have a baby and then I'll be getting up at 5:00 am no problem. For now, I'll stick with our fish, Po, and continue to nearly fall to the floor as I stumble toward my beeping alarm.

For my non-alcoholic month, welllllllllll. Hmm. I REALLY TRIED! We're going to have to bump this one to the month of October. Grant and I went home to ABQ and were wedding venue searching - one of the spots was a winery. You think I'm going to consider a venue that only serves their wine if I haven't tried it?! No. However, I did make the super delish cucumber cranberry sparkling beverage. It was delightful! Nice and crisp. I would recommend using less of the cucumber simple syrup than the recipes calls for. It was a little too sweet. I added in some additional sparkling water as well as the sparkling cranberry juice and it worked out nicely. Just play around with it. But try it! Yum.

More to come in September! Planning for a segway tour, Skymall purchase, and trapeze lessons are underway. Here's to the big 3-0!

Sans Snooze – and alcohol!

Success! For the second day in a row, I got up sans snooze button. I can't really count Sunday though since I woke up at 8:30 AM and was actually sort of awake already. But today, I hopped up at 5:30 AM to turn off the alarm and head to the gym. The good news - I loved both the no snoozing and the getting up early. I went to the gym, took a shower and got ready, ate a warm, healthy breakfast, and watched The Today Show for 30 minutes before heading out - at 7:30 AM! I'm sure I'll be completely exhausted by 3:00 PM, but it'll be well worth it. All is well for now.

In other news, August is my "no alcohol for one month" month. With this crazy heat, it's a tough month. After a sweltering 101 degree day with a heat index of 110, what is more refreshing that a freezing cold, fruity sangria?! (Water, you say? Whatever.) In August, instead of a spiked fruity delight I'll be experimenting with hugely refreshing, ice-cold non-alcoholic drinks.

One of my favorite NA drinks is the cucumber cranberry cooler at Founding Farmers. I get the darn thing and have to use every bit of my willpower not to chug the whole glass immediately. It tastes clean and smooth and oh-so-delightful. It isn't too sweet and the cucumber is a stand out. I started searching around for recipes and found this one below on an awesome blog - Cake, Batter and Bowl - that I'm going to try. You'll see it's a cocktail and calls for gin - we're just going to substitute that for some crisp, sparkling water. Stay tuned for an update - or try it yourself and let me know what you think!

Cucumber Cranberry Cocktail

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup water

1 cup shredded English cucumber, plus 6 slices for garnish

1 cup gin (or sparkling water!)

1 cup sparkling cranberry juice

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

Directions:

Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat over medium high heat for 2 minutes or until liquid is boiling and sugar has dissolved. Stir in shredded cucumber and remove from heat. Allow simple syrup to cool to room temperature, about 1 hour, and strain out cucumber.

Combine 1 cup cucumber simple syrup with gin, sparkling cranberry juice, and lime juice and stir until well combined. Serve over ice and garnish with extra cucumber slices. Makes 6 servings.

Serial Snoozer

Oh, that extra 9 minutes. There is very little that can get me out of bed without hitting the snooze. Except for waking up late when I’m supposed to be at the airport or waking up at 2:00 AM to a fire alarm going off in our building, I always hit the snooze button. And I don’t mean I hit it once or twice. Three – four times per week, I am consistently guilty of hitting the snooze for at least an hour. Grant does the same – I’m confident our neighbor want to punch us both (fortunately he plays the guitar LOUDLY until 2:00 AM [until the fire alarm goes off] so we consider it even).

It is difficult to find reliable research about the ol’ snooze button (but there are a lot of blogs out there with strong opinions). I did find a NY Times article by Martica Heaner about snoozing which shares that, “Although scientists have not specifically tackled the question, sleep researchers agree that short bouts of sleep are far from ideal. The restorative value of rest is diminished, especially when the increments are short, said Dr. Edward Stepanski, who has studied sleep fragmentation at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. And a teeter-totter effect of dozing and waking causes shifts in the brain-wave patterns.” Additionally, “sleep-deprived snooze-button addicts are likely to cut short their quota of REM sleep, impairing their mental functioning during the day.” Yowza. I’d like to keep my mental functioning at a high, please.

So, I’m adding this to my list. When I go to bed, I have the BEST of intentions – “At 5:30 AM I’m going to leap out of bed, go to the gym, and really take advantage of the morning hours!” Reality - “BEEP! BEEP! Snooze Snooze Snooze BEEP! BEEP! Snooze Snooze Snooze BEEP! BEEP! Snooze Snooze Snooze. You get the idea. My goal is to be snooze-button-free, by the end of 2011. If I’m going to sleep in, set my alarm according to that time (or not set it at all!). If I’m going to get up early, I’ll set the alarm and GET UP. This is an epic challenge for me. Let the games begin…