Oysters, Running,and Portable Toilets

I must say that I have had a pretty eventful weekend. Here's a partial recap, if you are interested.

Oysters in Marin

It all started on Wednesday when I went to Marin for some picnic and oysters. One of the most awesome days ever. We drove up to Tomales Bay to get some fresh oysters from Hog Island Oyster Co. (the farm, not the bar). Armed with a dozen (plus one extra!) Kumamoto oysters, we settled on a nearby spot and had a picnic of oysters, wino, bread, and japanese food. Here are some pics:



Here's a close up:

Kumamotos, wakame salad, tuna sashimi/sushi


I just like this picture:



My artistic skillz. I think the knife is a good touch




Running and Portable Toilets



The next day, I started my trip down to So Cal for the Ragnar Relay. I had no idea what I was getting into. It's a 24+ hour race covering about 188 miles. Each team gets two vans and 12 runners. It's basically a relay race from Santa Barbara to Dana Point. We started at 10:00 on Friday morning and finished around 3:30 in the afternoon on Saturday.

Even though I only got 2 hours of sleep, slept in a van, and wore the same clothes for almost two days, I had a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again. My only complaint would be the portable toilets. I can't deal with them. I actually fear them. I think it all started with this nightmare I had a while back. I dreamed that I fell into a portable toilet. Ever since then, my heart races when I have to use them. And during this race, I had to use about 4 1/2 of them. The 1/2 is for when I went inside but couldn't pee because the toilet was on a hill and rocked when I was inside.

Anywho, it was an awesome experience. I met some cool people and even got to see Tiffany Amber Thissen (you know, Kelly from Saved by the Bell). She was also running the race.






























I can't complain when I'm running down the 1 and it looks like this:

Cupcakes Part Deux

Today I made another attempt at cupcake baking. The cupcakes from the post below were cute and pretty (I'll at least give myself that). But they were pretty hard and way too dry. I couldn't figure out the problem until Marie informed me that they were suppose to bake for 15 minutes instead of 24. Ooops. That explains why they were hard as a rock.

Oh well, I decided to re-focus and try another recipe. And since I absolutely love dark chocolate, I made dark chocolate cupcakes. I used a recipe found on some Seattle lady's blog and they turned out pretty good. Just the perfect amount of chocolate and very light and fluffy. I am one tiny step closer to domestic goddess-ness.

I didn't post any pictures because they look pretty simple. Just imagine a black cupcake with pink muffin paper things. That's how they look like. Next step: cakes

Happy Birthday Marie!

Make a Smilebox greeting

White Cupcakes

After getting some inspiration from my friend Emily's blog, I decided to make some cupcakes. They looked so pretty on her blog, I couldn't resist. Plus it's spring. So I followed a recipe that Emily uses and created these:



They were pretty good. See, I can be artistic AND a baker. I am another step closer to attaining domestic goddess-ness. Now about finding a job . . . after I eat another one of these.

Love Not Actually

This past week, I watched Love Actually. It was billed the "Ultimate Romantic Comedy." I should have known. I normally wouldn't have cared for a movie like this but some people told me that I would actually like this one. Wrong. I guess I should not be too surprised. But it got me thinking: "What happened to romantic comedy-loving Natasha?" About three/four years ago, I would have LOVED this movie. Somewhere down the line, I have morphed into this jaded, rom-com bashing, cynical HATER. H to the R. HATER.

But I don't just hate on rom-coms. Apparently, I hate on baby showers, bridal showers and all sorts of organized party games. Is this the real me? Have I been romantically screwed over so bad that it is necessary to roll my eyes everytime I see goggly eyes and romantic declarations of love? Nah. Every girl has met a couple of a**holes in their lives and I am no exception. But I think I've been pretty lucky.

So, as of today, I am making a new change in my life. Since I seem to be changing my hair, my lifestyle, my friends, my life direction, I mind as well change this as well. I will now strive to be less jaded. I will cuddle. I will not cringe at the Ultimate Romantic Comedy. I will touch my feelings more often. And when a special boy looks into my eyes, I will actually look back.

Another Reason to buy an Element

This is another reason why my next car will be a Honda Element. Honda just previewed a "Dog Friendly" version of its Element. Not only is the interior easy to wash, this new version will include a cushioned pet bed with safety restraints, spill proof water bowls, a ramp to help those "less agile dogs", and even an integrated pet carrier in the back.

I love it. I want it. Now must work on getting a job to buy Miso his new ride. How can you not spoil this face?

Baseball

It's that time of the year again. Baseball season has begun and I cannot wait. Due to my current unemployment, I can spend my days watching my Giants and drinking beer. Our starting rotation has a lot of promise (we have the most overpaid No. 4 starter in the MLB) and I can't wait to get over .500 this year!

Go Gigantes! Please don't let me down this year.

B/c I love Corn

As most of you know, I love sports. Espn.com is one of my everyday websites. I particularly look forward to reading The Sports Guy's column. I might have given up on reading his book (I guess you have to be a Bostonian to love it.), but I love his Mailbag (comments and questions submitted by his readers). And since I love sports and corny pick up lines, this section of the Mailbag made giggle:

Q: If I had to pick a worst sports pick-up line about someone on the ESPN staff, it would be: "John Hollinger's playoff odds projects you and me in the finals."
-- Matt, Durham, N.C.

SG: Come on, there's no way that beats, "Hi, I'm the Talented Mr. Roto." But you got me thinking, what would be some other terrible ESPN-related pickup lines? Here's my top 10:

1. "Jim Rome isn't the only one who's burning right now."

2. "How'd you like to make my Mount Rushmore of hook-ups?"

3. "Who's up for a Daily Quickie?"

4. "I'm like Mike and Mike -- I can go for four straight hours."

5. "How'd you like to stump the Schwab?"

6. "Pardon the interruption ... around my horn!"

7. (Taken out by my editors.)

8. "How'd you like to sit on my Budweiser Hot Seat?"

9. "When I saw you, I thought we ... COULD ... GO ... ALL ... THE ... WAY!"

10. "Who's now? You and me, that's who."


I especially love Number 8. Here's the full Mailbag.