less than three

Boyfriend got me this cool <3 ring for my birthday (with a gentle suggestion on my part). It came today! Birthday in September!

fancy meeting you

I skim Facebook once or twice a day now, so a lot slips through the cracks, but I happened to check this afternoon, and a college friend (who rarely posts) happened to post a complaint about Apple maps, and happened to geotag it in Mountain View, so now we're getting dinner in Wednesday before he leaves town again on Thursday. What are the chances?

fifty percent

I'm halfway to my goal of losing ten pounds! I started exercising in mid-July, and started watching my diet this month, and the last couple of weeks, I've finally been seeing real results. This means that I'll have lots of jeans again soon!

doorbell

I totally bought a cheap, wireless doorbell and put the button next to the bed so that I don't have to yell through the door to get Boyfriend's attention when he wakes up before me.

bird plane shuttle

I wasn't planning on watching the space shuttle Endeavour fly over work today, but happened to be in the parking lot a few minutes before it happened, and decided to stay and watch with a few coworkers. I'm glad I did, because it was a surprisingly moving and emotional moment that doesn't come across in photos or videos of the flight. I hope we find new ways for science to reach out and inspire people, or find a way to bring back the manned space program, now that I've seen what it looks like when it's gone.

one two punch

One of my clients recently sent me an email saying how much he missed working with me, which was really nice. It's good to be appreciated and missed. Today, I met a new client, and she mentioned my former client, saying that he had been talking me up as one of his top favorite lawyers to work with. Secondhand compliments are extremely effective, especially when paired with direct ones.

saison

We had dinner at Saison for Boyfriend's birthday. The food and service were excellent, and we got to go meet the chef in the kitchen. I think that my favorite thing, though, was that they played this nostalgic 80s playlist to keep the atmosphere light. They even played Rick Astley. Yes, the fancy restaurant Rickrolled us.

benefits of ocd

Today marks eight weeks since I started doing this gym thing (although two of those weeks were vacation and shouldn't be counted), which is much longer than I usually last (especially without a buddy). Part of the success so far is because I really want to lose a few pounds and not have to buy new clothes, but part of it is that I've found an app that lets me track food and exercise down to a level of detail that has triggered my weird obsession with numbers. As much as I hate exercising and skipping treats, I'm oddly enjoying finding ways to put in smaller food numbers and bigger exercise numbers. I think it's actually working, too... I've got lots of TV loaded onto my tablet, and I've ordered a couple more pieces of gym clothes, so I don't have to constantly do laundry, so I'm hoping to hit my goal by the end of the year.

painted lady

Legal picnic today, and I took advantage of booth the face painting booth and the henna booth.

kindness of strangers

Never underestimate the power of a random compliment from a stranger. In this case, it was the checkout girl from the pet supply store, commenting that my skin was "glowing." I stammered out that I had just been sweating at the gym, but have been rejoicing in it ever since then. I may be another year older, but so far, so good.

dreamy

I had a dream last night in which Boyfriend was inexplicably wearing a hydrangea print romper to a party at Walmart. I wish I could record my dreams, because he looked pretty hilarious.

ice ice baby

I've wanted to go to Iceland since I first started listening to Bjork in high school (and to a series of Icelandic bands ever since), so it was exciting to finally go. It was a wonderful, alien, fascinating place. Amazing graffiti, late sunsets, random live music, great music shops, geysers, geothermal baths, lava fields, waterfalls, tectonic plates pulling apart. I can't even describe what it was that made it so awesome, but it was really awesome.

visitor

Now that we've moved offices and I sit one building over from my clients, I seem to have fewer impromptu meetings and huddles, which means that for the first time in ages, I'm going to spend the whole day sitting in the Legal building. It's good to be back.

still at it

I've shocked myself by continuing with this fitness kick. Other than when we were on vacation, I've been going to the gym 2-3 times a week, and this week, I've even started making a conscious effort to eat more healthily. This is the longest I've managed to stay on the workout wagon since 2006 (which isn't saying that much, since I only go every few years, for 5-10 visits each time). Watching terrible TV while at the gym helps. I am determined to get back to my normal weight, and it seems like my determination and my effort level are matching, this time.