Foxed In

Mayday!

May 16, 2013 Kitsunami Leave a comment

I’m still alive!

Here’s some things I’ve knocked off my list since we last talked:
Had a picnic (on Angel Island)
Watched a movie at the drive-in (Evil Dead)
Went to a concert (Lindsey Stirling)
Visited Hearst Castle!
Saw the Pulgas Water Temple
Went Kayaking under a full moon!

► Hearst Castle was amazing! We even got to catch one of the most brilliant sunsets we’ve ever seen. During the spring/fall the night tours include a host of volunteers that dress up in vintage clothing and talk/act like they’re from the 1930′s. <3 How fun!

► The Pulgas Water Temple is only open on weekdays, during work hours… so it’s been really difficult getting out that way to see it and take pictures. Of course the one day I was able, it was overcast. I’m going to try to go back this summer for some better pictures.

► KAYAKING! Under a FULL MOON! YES!
Christie and two of her friends joined in the adventure as we headed up to Larkspur, to paddle out into the bay with Outback Adventures. We left soon after sunset and listened to some thrilling shark-encounter stories. The moon was a glorious, orange ornament above the city and I wish I would have risked bringing a camera. I could have spent many more hours out on the water…

Well that doesn’t sound so busy when I lay it out like that, does it? On average I only have 2-3 hours of time to myself each (work)day, which has been consumed by cleaning, homework and general living management lately. I feel like nothing has gotten done the last 2 months…

Spring semester is ending next week – 2 finals to go. Diet is still wonderful, and I’ve started jogging each week (asthma seems to be getting easier to manage). This week I’ve tossed 7 pairs of pants that are now too big to wear, to assure I won’t be going back up to the size 12 I’ve been hanging out with for about 13 years now. To celebrate, Ryan and I went pants shopping for a pair the next size down (10), so I’ll have more than 2 pairs of pants in my wardrobe. I came home with an 8! <3 I also started a routine of waking up at 5am every day to pick up/complete P90X.

This is probably my last weekend off work for a while. It may be a bit of a challenge to remain eating healthy during the next month, while also working 15 hour days… Makes it hard to fit in time to make my own meals. But hey, I like challenges?

Categories: Day Zero Achieves, Goals, Life

Guinea Pig Adventures

March 24, 2013 Kitsunami 2 comments

On hair cuts:

We have to cut Benedict’s hair just about every month. This is how much comes off each time.

Looking fabulous after a bath, haircut and nail trim.

Categories: Life Tags: 2013, Benedict, Guinea Pig

Meatless March?

March 18, 2013 Kitsunami 1 comment

Last week Justin had told me he was thinking about going back to being a vegetarian, stemming from how mass-produced farms abuse and mistreat animals. I’ve watched plenty of videos in the past on the lives of factory farm animals, and it’s just plain outrageous. I grew up on a family farm and went hungry any time we made dinner out of one of my “pets”. I can’t eat meat off the bone or eat rare steak, but I *do* love the taste of meat.

So I agreed because I feel the same way. No more meat… mostly. If we have alternatives, why not take them? If I really get a craving for non plant matter, I will buy from local farms. I volunteer on a veggie farm in Sunnyvale that houses some chickens, I can buy eggs from them. Best of all I can get a good majority of groceries from the farmers market on Saturdays. I bet I can even find some local-made cheese.

CHEESE: Perhaps the main reason I don’t think I could go with a vegan diet. I could stop with the meat for long periods of time, and I don’t drink milk (I use almond milk)… but I LOVE cheese. I know they make “vegan” cheese, but it’s so processed it ruins the illusion of eating healthier. It’s basically vegan Velveeta.

I would like to work towards eating more raw foods, but… baby steps.

Here’s my menu for the next week or so (some modifications required) ~

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/veggie-lasagna-florentine/detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/old-fashioned-potato-soup/detail.aspx

http://www.sohowsittaste.com/2012/06/blueberry-raspberry-baked-oatmeal.html

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/summer-squash-casserole-with-nuts/detail.aspx

http://greenreset.com/blueberry-smoothie-recipe/

http://vegancajun.blogspot.com/2011/11/vegan-enchiladas.html

http://www.food.com/recipe/vegetarian-blt-224390

http://indonesiancuisinerecipes.com/soup/how-to-make-tasty-lima-bean-soup-mix/

http://healthishappiness.com/2012/05/04/roasted-pepper-sweet-potato-soup/

http://www.food.com/recipe/sweet-potato-curry-with-spinach-and-chickpeas-84474

How can being a vegetarian be hard with all this lovely food? I’ll just have to start doing more research to make sure I’m eating the right vitamin/mineral substitutes.

Categories: Life Tags: Cheese, Meatless March, Vegan, Vegetarian

Full-swing February

February 26, 2013 Kitsunami 1 comment

I got a notice in the mail today about our upcoming lease renewal (in May), meaning a whole year has about gone by! Woh.

In April, I’ll have been with Apple for year, surviving 2 rounds of layoffs (one this past month).

In April I’ll be 29 (Christ!).
My 20′s were one hell of a roller coaster. What will my 30′s be like?
Time to really hunker down and make my goals happen for the next few years.

In the meantime, here’s some things I did this month:

Went hiking
^ @ Pinnacles National Monument
Watched a sunrise
^ From the top of Twin Peaks in SF
Had a girls night out
Played some mini golf
Got my palm read
Went for a day-ride on my motorcycle
Tried to photograph some stars
Spent a night listening to Justin’s old records (Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, The Beatles…)
Got my website on its feet (mostly)
Started a “Meatless Monday” tradition (I’ve already had a Seafood Sunday thing going)
Gave a 100% tip (to my hair stylist – $35)

Pinnacles had a bit of everything. Rock climbing, caves, cliffs, streams, foresty areas… pretty neat place. Also, it just became a National Park! I braved the freezing temperatures that night to get a good look at the night sky outside of city limits (it’s been a while). Unfortunately, I’ll need a better lens if I really want to capture some quality pictures of the stars.

I’ve gotten up in the wee hours of the morning twice this month to try and capture some sunrises. In Capitola, I was greeted with fog for my trouble. I liked how the picture turned out anyways.

So here, enjoy some of what my February has looked like:

Categories: Day Zero Achieves, Goals, Life Tags: Capitola, February, Pinnacles, Stars, Sunrise, Twin Peaks

Foxed In

February 12, 2013 Kitsunami Leave a comment

www.foxed.in

So I’ve had this domain name parked for years now. I actually decided to do something with it last year and had half a website up and running, using the HTML/CSS skills I learned in some online classes I took. (That actually might be the reason I got the job at Apple). At some point I got stuck on something and asked a friend for help. They recommended converting my page to WordPress (which I’ve never used other than to throw up a blog post here). I let him have a go at it, but lost interest after it was converted. I got busy, had a full to-do list, who knows.

Fast-forward to January. I decided to wipe everything and start over with a clean slate. I looked into WordPress, got it installed, found a theme I liked and ran with it. Two days of figuring out how to use it and maybe one more for tinkering around with some settings/images, and what you see now is the product of those three days. I’m going to officially say my “new” website is up and running. I still have a bit of work to do customizing it, etc., but I’m not too horribly embarrassed to show off now, as a beta version.

I will be using foxed.in as my catch all collection of blogs/photos and anything else I can think of.

Categories: Day Zero Achieves, Goals, Life Tags: Websites, Wordpress, www.foxed.in

Embarking On 2013

January 31, 2013 Kitsunami 2 comments

So long January. Bring on February; the rainiest month of the year for us.
Last month, the entire Bay Area had above normal rain totals.
What this means to me:

Lots of snow around Tahoe, which means dog-sledding!
…and hopefully the Antelope Valley poppies will bloom this year.

Dog sledding was neat. But it makes me want a dog again…
So! Tahoe! I learned that you do not go to Tahoe unless you want to
A) Go snowshoeing or B) Ski.
EVERYTHING else is closed. Did I forget what real winters were like? All trails and parks are buried under 3′ of snow. Guess we’ll have to add a return trip this summer for some hiking!

Things I’ve done this month!

Donated blood
Paid for the person behind me at a drive-through
Ate vegan for a week
Helped fund a kickstarted project (Benign Kingdom)
Got a new board game (Balderdash) This is a great game!
Baked a cake from scratch (DELICIOUS)
Bought something from Etsy
Beat a video game
Visited the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
Toured the Jelly Belly factory
Went to House of Air (WoW!)
Took an archery lesson
Created a budget
Went dog sledding
Tried acupuncture
Watched a silent film (Underworld)
…and set up a media server at home to watch our DVDs from.

5,000 miles on the car and had its first “check-up.” I love my Mazda!

I’ve been meaning to check out House of Air for a while now. I finally looked into it, seriously, this month and found out they have Saturday morning “workout” classes. I jumped (har har) on it! I had a lot of fun and would definitely go back for more.

I feel like this year is going to be a lot of hard work for me, and it’s hard to explain. Lots of harder personal goals to meet, and also seeing where this job at Apple takes me. Oh, life.