Cozy times in DC

Pictures from a recent trip to DC to visit close friends.  They live in the quaint Georgetown area . . . I fell in love with all the row houses with their cute doors and stoops.
It was my first time on the East Coast and I loved it.  And this probably sounds really cliche but good friendships are truly something to treasure.

Winner

I was the lucky winner of Inger Marie's giveaway (I never win these things)!  I love my new teaspoons and the lovely floral paper she wrapped the package in.  The package was quite beautiful and thoughtfully wrapped.  Thank you, Inger Marie!  Her blog is such an amazing source of inspiration for me.

Side note: Blogging can be such a great way to connect with people who share your interests, and a great way to meet new people from all over the world.  Blog connections are kind of like modern pen pals.  And winning these teaspoons was so cool since I got to connect to someone in Denmark who bought the vintage teaspoons at a farm in Sweden.  Now they have a new home in LA where they'll accompany many bowls of ice cream and cups of warm tea.

New project

New weaving that I started this week . . . it'll be an awesome Thanksgiving weekend project.

Have a safe and joy-filled Thanksgiving!

Persimmons in fall and winter

Eating persimmons has always been a large part of my culture and childhood.  We used to live in a house with two giant persimmon trees and we'd share the bright orange fruit with all our friends and neighbors.  My favorite is the fuyu (the harder kind) versus the hachiya (the soft, almost pudding-like kind).

A beautiful day

Ghost Dog

I really like this movie, and I really like this scene.  The soundtrack is also amazing.   

A post about food

Confession: my eating habits have been horrible since I started my new job almost six months ago.  The reason being that my schedule can get overly hectic, and I'm constantly working at these catered events where there's tons of leftover food (case in point--for dinner I ate some leftover fried chicken from a reception a few days ago).

But I've been trying to take time to cook and eat healthy but oh man, it's been an uphill battle.

Here are some things I'm trying:

 

Oatmeal with sliced dates instead of brown sugar (read this in a magazine), and it's really good!

 

Veggie pasta sauces (take whatever vegetables are in the fridge and blend together with olive oil--I used carrots, tomatoes, and onion).  I then sliced in some sweet red peppers and added canellini beans for protein

I just have to get more proactive and plan better for my meals during the week. 

The nice thing is that a lot of people at my church eat healthy, cook a lot of wholesome meals from scratch, and garden or are part of CSAs.  And since I spend a lot of time with church people, these good habits rub off.

The other nice thing is that my work hosts a vegan cafe twice a week where I've discovered kitchari and other delicious vegan foods.  Yum.