The Timbits Post

Full disclosure: I have PMS and I was in a suck mood when I wrote that last post, but I thought you, my loyal reader(s), deserved a little somethin'. You know what they say, suck-mood Gillian is better than no Gillian at all!

Anyway, I went for a (sucky) run and followed it up with a nice phone call and a delicious cheddar & avocado sandwich (even though there are about 8 servings of veggie moussaka in the fridge - sometimes a girl needs cheese). I'm now self-medicating with Nutella and the internets.

The Other Gillian's comment on my last post and my gluttonous enjoyment of Timbits last weekend have inspired me to write tonight's post.

I'm not kidding when I say that I ate a lot of Timbits last weekend. In a 3 1/2 hour drive, two of us consumed almost an entire box of 40 Timbits. When we were down to about a dozen, we started a Timbit "drinking" game, wherein we would only eat a Timbit when we passed a Tim Horton's (which, at least in Ontario, is about as frequent as you pass a Starbucks in New York City, that is to say, A LOT).

I am happy, then, to present:

The Official Ultra Fine Flair Guide to Timbits

1. This dude used to be the Timbits, uh, dude. I don't know what happened to him (and I'd forgotten he even existed until I started googling images of Timbits). I'd forgotten about him, actually, but I used to have a stuffed one. I know. Weird.

2. The best Timbit variety: Chocolate. That's one there on the right, behind those two honey dip Timbits. Chocolate Timbits are perfectly chocolatey and cakey, but not too sweet. When I open a restaurant, chocolate Timbits are going to be on the dessert menu. I'll serve up maybe 3, in a little box that looks like a full-sized Timbits box. It'll be awesome. So will the profit margin.

3. Speaking of honey dip - they used to be my second favourite, until I discovered the French Cruller. It has just the right ratio of icing-y outside to creamy, puffy inside, and I'm kind of amazed that Tim Horton's gets the texture exactly right.

4. After chocolate, French Cruller and honey dip, my next favourites are: Sour cream glazed, apple fritter, old-fashioned sugared and old-fashioned plain. I'm kind of medium on the jelly-filled varieties, although I like them better than filled doughnuts (again with the better ratio, kind of like Hallowe'en-size chocolate bars - yum).

5. Down with Dutchies. Raisins don't belong in stuffing, and they certainly don't belong in doughnuts. Nature's candy, my ass.

6. If you want to smugg^H^H^H^H^Hbring Timbits across the border, stop at a Tim Horton's BEFORE you enter Terminal 3 at Pearson International, or you will be very, very sad. There is a Tim's on the Canadian side, which you can see through the glass once you're at your gate. It's heartbreaking.

Long Time No

Did you miss me?

Once again I'm grateful for the magic that is RSS.

Anyway, here's what's up:

Last weekend was spent in The Bruce, hiking and eating lots of delicious meat (and don't even talk to me about the number of Timbits I consumed. Also, any good intentions I had of running remained just that - good intentions. I did hike, though, and took some pictures with Sirrah! & Gregoire's camera, which I won't see again until I upload them somewhere myself at Christmas.

Memphis is the feline queen of BP:LE, and has on multiple occasions put Grapple in his place.

I still have a bunch of unpacked, unstored boxes. I tolerate them for a few days at a time, but today they are seriously adversely affecting my feng shui, and I got on a bent this afternoon to find them a home. According to a nice gentleman at American Self-Storage, a 4x4x4 space should do it and will only run me $31/month. Now I just have to get off my ass and move them.

That's all you get for now. I'm going running.

Happy Birthday :-)!

:-)
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

Today be the Smiley's 25th birthday! Arr!* I was lucky enough to visit its birthplace yesterday.

The eternal question: Nose or no nose?

*It's also, apparently, Talk Like a Pirate day, as evidenced by the pirate flag on Flickr's logo. Who thinks of these things?

Best. Quiz. Ever.

You Are Orange

Bright and intense, you embrace the world and all its opportunities. Change does not intimidate you, even if it's a complete life overhaul. You're a very real person. You aren't scared to show the world who you are.

What Color Orange Are You?

(via How About Orange)

Martinis and Marathons

Last Thursday DC Dave was in town and invited me out for dinner with a bunch of Sales people. We were at a relatively swank restaurant in my 'hood and were waiting for a table, so I ordered a martini (Grey Goose, straight up, olives, very cold). I have fond memories of my first martini - it was on my 28th birthday at Daniel, also waiting for a table, and I decided I could be Grown Up and order a martini, and that at a place like Daniel it'd probably be as good as I would get anywhere. For better or worse, it was delicious. Anyway, while I can remember the first time I had a martini, on Thursday I couldn't remember the LAST time I'd had one, so I decided to splurge.

It should be noted here that a martini is not a slippery slope to drunk. As Bob put it, it's a big hole. And I stepped right into it, voluntarily. My martini was followed by a glass of Zinfandel, which was followed by the dessert cocktail (which was SUPPOSED to be shared with the other three people at my table, but by the time it arrived one person had left, another was on her way out, and DC Dave is, apparently, a lightweight). I made the sacrifice and drank 'er down, because I am just that generous.

Those drinks were followed by a shared bottle of wine at BP:LE, which was followed by a late bedtime (1:30 a.m.) and an early morning. By 4 p.m. on Friday I was considering freebasing coffee to get the caffeine into my bloodstream faster, and I was asleep by 9:30 on Friday night.

Despite that tale of woe, Saturday morning I managed to haul myself up to Central Park at 7 a.m. to run - GET READY - 18 miles! The last two of those were particularly tough, and I did think about the martini (and the subsequent fermented beverages) and figure that with 47 (yikes!) days left, I'd better stick to that promise I made back when there were 60 days to go and lay off the tasty beverages.

But I'll tell you right now that November is going to be a fun month.

Hard at Work

Paws
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

What she did while I ran 16 miles.

DYKWIL? Volume 3: New Neighbourhood Edition

1. Seeing Cameron Diaz filming a scene for a new movie right outside the door to my new apartment!

2. That my routine training run takes me across the Brooklyn Bridge and back.

3. Seeing the Empire State Building every morning when I step outside.

T-Minus 60 Days and Counting!

Last night I decided to trek to Central Park to join the TNT group there. I am SO GLAD that I did. For one, I didn't have to run the same loop around Prospect Park for the upteenth time. I also found a running partner who was slightly faster than me, and managed to stay with her for the 6 mile loop, which resulted in my fastest 6 miles EVER with a pace of 9:25/mile! (Since the first mile was a warm-up and took me 10 minutes, I averaged 9:19 for the 5 mile tempo run!) I went to practice feeling tired and a bit under the weather and came home feeling like I could have run another 6 miles. Good times indeed.

The NYC Marathon is just 60 days away. This last 2 months is where all the training will really count. In addition to my weekly TNT group runs, my training schedule includes:

The NYC Marathon Long Training Run (18-20 Miles)

The NYC Marathon Tune-Up (18 Miles)

2 Half-Marathons (Grete's Great Gallop and the Nike Women's Half-Marathon) (I love that half-marathons are part of my training schedule for something else!)

+ Some other 20 mile run (hopefully a trail run with TNT)

It's time for me to buckle down with eating properly and drinking less. The acquisition of a new kitchen was well-timed!

Where's The Door?

Where's The Door?
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

Just as boxes are irresistible to cats, a cat at the end of a lamp box is irresistible to me. She crawled in, and I set the box upright. I know I'm going straight to hell for this, and the hilarity was totally worth it.

So far BP:LE is working out just fine. I have unpacked many, many boxes. One stack has been designated for storage, and there's still more stuff to cart to Goodwill. (I know, makes a lot of sense to move that stuff in the first place, right? Shut up.) Yesterday I did laundry WITHOUT LEAVING THE APARTMENT and this evening I baked cookies and made dinner ALL AT ONCE with stuff on the counters (did I mention there are counters? More than one, even! Good times). Memphis is quite content (when she is not trapped in a box).

More pictures soon.

New Digs

New Digs
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

We moved into BP:LE today. Memphis has already hissed at our new roommate (one of the humans; she hasn't met the other feline yet). She seems content, if a little suspicious.

People I Love: Lisa

I interviewed Lisa in Fall '06 as a co-op student for the team I manage. I hired her because during the interview, she didn't know an answer to a question I asked and said as much, and when I explained what the answer was, she said, "Oh, cool, yeah, I didn't think of that," so incredibly sincerely that I kind of loved her.

That first semester I didn't spend a lot of time with her, but she always showed up for events (even dressed up as a Happy Camper [at left, with Giselle aka Joan] for our Hallowe'en party - although I admit it hurt a little when I told Lisa that I was going to an 80s party as Cyndi Lauper and she asked, "Who's that?") and had just wonderful spirit. I saw her once during Winter term when I was in Waterloo to do interviews - she and her sister Laura came out for drinks with Sirrah!'s husband and me, and when Greg and I returned to the very pregnant Sirrah! Greg announced that he was sorry but he was in love with someone else. That's how charming this girl is.

Lisa came back to NY to work for a different team this summer, and ended up in a sublet about 6 doors down from the BP. We had regular Monday night movies (including "Josie and the Pussycats," "Charlie's Angels," and most recently, "Adventures in Babysitting") and shared countless pints of i.c.e.c.r.e.a.m. (she spells it every time she says it, and now I do too). I beat her once at Settlers of Catan (it was totally an upset - even MY money was on her). She taught me about improv and biters and Teen Girl Squad and reminded me that persistence works. And even though she's an athlete and an engineer and a writer and a sister, she is totally uncategorizable.

Lisa, if I could write and cast the role of Gillian's Little Sister (GLS), it would be all you. Thanks for being an amazing friend this summer. I love you (metric) tonnes.

P.S. This post is totally biting Lisa's People I Like series.

15 Things I Do To Avoid Packing

1. Poke people on Facebook
2. Go to the deli
3. Pet Memphis
4. Call Sara
5. Rip CDs (seriously. SERIOUSLY)
6. Eat ice cream
7. Send text messages (LATHE'D!)
8. Reminisce
9. Look at the intarweb
10. Hope someone calls to invite me out for a beer
11. Drink the last beer in the BP fridge
12. Listen to Gwen Stefani (OK, there is singing and dancing involved here too)
13. Miss Lisa
14. Read Get Naked
15. Blog

Procrastinate This, Sucka!

Saturday I move into BP:LE. A few weeks ago, with the help of about half a dozen kickass girlfriends, I packed up loads of crap from my old apartment in preparation for the move. Sadly, the BP (v1) remains intact. I've looked around a few times to approximate how many boxes I'll need, and mostly thought, hey, it'll be fine. How long can it take to pack this place up? I've only lived here for a few months!

And so, in the week leading up to the big move, I have cleverly overbooked myself so that my packing follows the law of all packing (and software development and wedding planning): It will take as much time as is available to do it.

Last night, La Farlow came over to watch a movie. Then I baked banana bread, which I took out of the oven at approx. 12:30 a.m. Tonight, we had game night at work! I got home from that at 10:30, and now I'm blogging, but it's ABOUT packing so that kind of counts, right? I actually canceled my plans for tomorrow night (a leftover birthday mani-pedi) just so I'd have an evening to pack, which I'm SURE will be long enough, right?

Guys?

That, Too

Gillian: I love xkcd today
Gillian: SO MUCH

Brianna: you would
Brianna: i found it a bit overly sugary

Gillian: I am nothing if not overly sugary

Brianna: you're just shockingly uncynical

The Under 3 Set

Dig my mad toddler skillz, yo.

And while we're on the topic of kiddos, you totally have to check out my godson Griffin hip-hop dancing:



(Via Accidental Ocelot)

Adventures in Cooking

For those of you just joining us, this is the "kitchen" in the BP.

OK. It's a bit better now. I painted and fanagled a bigger fridge, and put up shelves. But that sink is useless.

I haven't cooked a lot this summer. See above. This past weekend, already feeling nostalgic about leaving Park Slope, I hit up the Green Market at Grand Army Plaza. Sans plan, I picked up a few delicious items, including heirloom tomatoes, beets, scallops, goat cheese, a French baguette, and New Jersey white peaches. A quick surf of Epicurious and a call to Candace inspired a menu of Spinach and Beet Salad with Walnut-Crusted Goat Cheese (based on this recipe for Hazelnut-Crusted Goat Cheese Salad), Bacon-Wrapped Scallops with Port Reduction served with heirloom tomatoes, and Peaches & Cream (freshly whipped, sweetened with a bit of maple syrup) for dessert. If your mouth isn't watering by now, you should really have that looked at.

The best part about the menu was that I had almost everything in my tiny pantry (I even had bacon in the freezer). My trip to the grocery store was quick and painless, and a bottle of ruby port only costs $10.99 - who knew? Also: I got to light stuff on fire (that's the port reducing over there on the right). Good times.

I'm psyched about cooking this Fall, and to take full advantage of the delightfully large kitchen in BP:LE, I might even trek back to Park Slope for the market. You never know.

Haystack

My friend D started blogging again after a 2 month hiatus. Check out her latest post, replete with pictures of Sunny's garden which is at its most perfect this time of year. I'm sad to be missing it.

Also: Read about her Fluevogs, which cracked me up (and I have those same shoes!).

Public Record

GILLIAN is walking along the Brooklyn-bound platform of the Metropolitan Ave. G Train stop. She hears someone singing on the Queens-bound side and looks up.

BILL: Duh du duh du du du-du duh duh

GILLIAN: Hey! Tee hee! Where do you live?

BILL: Greenpoint.

GILLIAN: Sucka!

BILL: Uh, you have further to go.

GILLIAN: Good point.

BILL: So, when are you going to give me a project?

GILLIAN: Next week - I'm off tomorrow and Friday. I'm baking Aaron's wedding cake.

BILL: Aaron's getting married? I didn't know that. When?

GILLIAN: Saturday.

BILL: Will you bake my wedding cake?

GILLIAN: Of course! I told you last year that I would.

BILL: For free?

GILLIAN: Duh, yes. When are you doing that?

BILL: I don't know if I'm ever getting married.

GILLIAN: But I thought you guys... This year? Or next year?

BILL: I don't know what we're doing. I am so afraid of commitment. I don't know what I'm doing next Tuesday.

GILLIAN: I hear you. [pause] I'm getting divorced.

BILL: WHAT? You're joking.

GILLIAN: No, for real.

BILL: Whatever, you're not serious.

GILLIAN: No, I am. [holds up ringless left hand]

BILL: Oh my God! That makes me so sad!

GILLIAN: No, really, I'm OK. It's for the best.

BILL: [looks around, realizes they're yelling to hear each other and there are other passengers on both platforms who can hear the entire conversation] [clasps hands in front of heart] Aw, that sucks! Come over here! I want to hug you!

GILLIAN: [looks at the train tracks and rolls eyes] For real, Bill, I'm OK.

BILL: What? But... But, you just celebrated your one-year anniversary!

GILLIAN: Yeah, but we weren't living together at the time. I moved out earlier this Spring.

BILL: Oh my God! This breaks my heart! How long were you together?

GILLIAN: Almost 6 years.

BILL: [hands still clasped in front of chest, bows dramatically]

GILLIAN: Really, Bill, it's for the best. Trust me. [pause] Also, it's kind of surreal that we're having this conversation across two sets of subway tracks.

BILL: [titters] Yeah, I know! [pause] But, I read your blog! You guys seem so together!

GILLIAN: OK. You know on the right side, the Favourite Posts section? Go read Late Night Blogging Gets Serious.

BILL: I read that!

GILLIAN: Well, read it again. Use your mad reading skillz this time.

BILL: OK OK. So...

GILLIAN: So, I moved out, and in September I'm moving to DUMBO.

BILL: I love DUMBO! It's so different from anywhere I've lived or know. [crosses arms in front of chest]

GILLIAN: Yeah, it's a 3,000 sq. ft. loft shared with 3 other people. I'm psyched.

BILL: Who are you living with?

GILLIAN: Strangers. I met them briefly last week.

BILL: I can't believe you're moving in with people you don't know. What if one of them is crazy?

GILLIAN: Then I'll move out. It's month-to-month.

BILL: Huh. [crosses arms in front of chest]

GILLIAN: [Glances at other passengers on platform] I feel like this is some kind of performance art and we're reading from scripts.

BILL: Totally.

The Queens-bound train pulls into the station at that moment, and Gillian and Bill wave goodbye across the platform. Gillian watches Bill through the moving windows of the train, then watches the train pull out of the station.

LOL Caturday

Thanks to Dog for the caption.

Perfect Moments

This morning I went for a run, and after Tuesday's cross-training extravaganza I felt cricky and sore and, well, not awesome. It was overcast and humid, and I ended up walking the last mile. As I approached the park exit, I noticed the light was just lovely, and the trees were that perfect August green, full and layered. The sun squeaked through the clouds in places and dappled the trees and in that moment everything felt perfectly beautiful.

An hour later I was waiting for the subway, listening to Cyndi Lauper on my iPod and a line in the book I'm reading made me laugh out loud:

When somebody tells you that a certain boy isn't good enough for you, that person has usually not just moved all alone into a crap apartment in a city known for being south of a city that people have heard of.

If you pay attention, the Universe comes through.