Lotsa updates

It's been just over a month since Staycay concluded, and I can definitely feel that I'm slipping backwards in some ways. Writing frequently had become more or less natural and fun, but now I don't feel as motivated. Work has ramped up to be legitimately busy and will continue to be so through September, which means a large portion of my weekday brain is taken up by all the picky little event coordinating details I have to tend to. In general I feel like I'm super busy and just trying to keep up day to day, both at work and at home. Staying in the cool, calm and relaxed Staycay mode has been pretty well impossible, which I suppose is to be expected. It was meant to carry over but nothing lasts forever, eh*?

On the upside, I do feel as though I'm doing things rather than just blogging about doing them. I described something similar in an earlier post about photography. I can either take photos and be fully immersed in the experience, or I can (half ass) take photos while obsessing about how they're going to turn out after the fact and about who I'm going to show them to, etc. Better to actually be experiencing life rather than just talking about wanting to experience life!

On that note, here's what I've been up to lately.

1. I made GGC's chile rellenos!
   
   Firstly, GGC = Girl's Gone Child, and specifically for this point, her Eat Well posts written by her mother, Wendy. About a month ago Wendy posted how to make chile rellenos, their associated sauce, and assorted side dishes, including the best Mexican Rice I've ever laid lips on. For this visual/kinesthetic learner, it was awesome to have both a traditional ingredient recipe to follow and pictures of each step.
   
   I LOVE mexican food and make some pretty good enchiladas and refried beans but that's about it. Wendy's recipe for the rellenos was challenging but in a good way. For instance, I've never done the separate the egg whites/yolks thing where you whisk them both separately and then fold them back together. In fact, I've never whisked an egg white into a foam (similar to a meringue for those of you not kitchen-oriented), let alone whisk an egg yolk to the point where it turns lemony yellow. Who knew? Fortunately for my right arm, my birthday present from Honey Bunny this year was my treasured Cuisinart hand mixer with whisk attachment.
   
   All in all, it was a fun dish to make and quite delicious. I didn't get my eggs quite right so the batter was a little not puffy/flat on the chiles but no matter... they tasted super yummy (and tasted "correct" for what that's worth) and that's what counts. If you're inspired to try something new in the kitchen but don't want to dick around with whisking eggs and roasting chiles, I highly recommend trying the Mexican Rice. It's easy enough, utilizes fresh ingredients and I suspect no matter what you'll get tasty results. (Use broth instead of water, though!)
   
   
2. We planned our week-long vacation!
   
   Yee-freakin-haw. I can't tell you how many times Honey Bunny and I have sparred trying to plan our vacation this year. I wanted to go to NYC, he has no interest. He wanted to replicate our road trip from last year, which is fine but I want to do something new. Eventually we both agreed to drop the issue for awhile and see if a good idea would naturally spring up... which it did. His coworker went on a family vacation and came back to tell HB how fun it was. The next day we outlined a plan and made all the reservations. We go at the end of September, just after Hell Work Week & Month for me concludes. I can't wait!
   
   
3. My Meetup group has taken off!
   
   This is what I'm most excited to post about. All of my angst over the membership volume of my Meetup group went away when I did my first meetup last week. There were originally eight confirmed for Happy Hour but only two ladies showed. To top that off, they were both super friendly and it was fun hanging out and chatting. Small groups are really my thing (especially when there are no personality conflicts, yay!), as they're much more conducive to getting to know each other on a level that is neither surface (blech) nor deep (scary). We had a good enough time that we committed to hanging out together again today at a farmers market! This time, three new and very cool ladies also joined and now I feel like we have a good core group for future outings. Total membership is now at 32 (32!) and with several great ideas in the works for future meetups.
   
   ps. After the farmers market, we sought dessert at That Takes The Cake. It was delicious (highly recommend!) and I even made them pose a la Real Housewives with a cupcake. Hee.
   
   
   
   
4. I interviewed other personal trainers!
   
   I decided for sure it's time to move on from Yoga Trainer. I want to work out with a woman who understands some of the challenges that come with being fat, whether that means knowing how to coach me through a meltdown or whether it's as simple as knowing that large breasts in a sports bra means you can't put your chin against your chest in a forward fold. I thought this would be akin to searching for a needle in a haystack but it was actually quite easy to find two very qualified women with the help of Yelp (which I usually hate but - argh - it can be helpful too). I met them both last week for interviews and both went extremely well. They are very different personalities from one another but both with similar backgrounds, and I have to make a decision. Ack! In Scott Pilgrim speak: "but... but... it's harrrrrrrd to make a decision!!"
   
   
5. I practiced my facilitation skills!
   
   This is actually an older item that didn't seem particularly interesting to write about. If you don't know me, I'm a really shy person and I hate public speaking. And, if you can believe this, I got up in front of 15 coworkers and facilitated something called a Consensus Workshop, which is, well... exactly what it sounds like. I spent just over two hours facilitating a fairly difficult group of people, several of whom are loud and dominant types, and one of which is the Assistant Director of my agency (who I strong-armed into a decision the group as a whole wanted but she was resisting, ah thank you very much!).
   
   The day prior, I spent about four hours in preparation, with a script and all. I didn't sleep well that night, and as I started the workshop with a contextual introduction I literally got light-headed and thought I was going to pass out. Thankfully this facilitation method requires you to sit with the group for portions (so you don't stand out as the "leader", as the model is based on tapping into group intelligence) and so once I was sitting it was all good. Several coworkers came up to me afterwards and told me they didn't know I had it in me. As I said to both those coworkers and peeps I've told the story to since, "Once you strip away the shyness and anxiety, there is a very bossy person in there."
   
   Since that meeting day in early August, I've gotten involved in another facilitation project with a group of coworkers who seem hell-bent on sending me to the nut house. I really don't do well in teams. It's a stretch, which I guess is a good thing. We'll see.

Oh hey, and I also rode my bike again. For whatever reason, riding has become strangely addicting and I've thought about doing it often since my "first time" two weeks ago. (Long story why I haven't actually done it.) Yesterday I did six miles in Golden Gate Park and while fun, it was also much more difficult than the previous time. Wind is a killer, lemme tell ya.

Lastly, I've been trying to continue to take photos but it's proven to be difficult. When I'm immersed in work, I feel like I'm on autopilot and don't really see the world around me. As Honey Bunny would say, "it is what it is" but I do find it disturbing that nothing seems particularly interesting visually when I'm not relaxed. Nevertheless, here is some randomness from the past couple weeks. Take it away, Hipstamatic!




* You'll have to excuse me, I've been reading the Scott Pilgrim series. It's Canadian. Eh! Loved the movie and love the books even more.