18 days to departure (for Christmas and New Year's in tropical Manila)! I taught 10 classes in a week for the first time. It was surprisingly good, but whew am I tired. I taught two 6 am's, which meant I was up by 4:30, to be in front of the desk by 5:30. That night, because I only had late classes the next day, I slept--for 9 hours straight. The next night, I slept for 8 hours. Wow.
Tonight, even after a salmon burger dinner, I still ate A LOT. Seriously. Let's see. One peppermint cup, one peanut butter cup, some peanut butter cereal, a gingerbread man, a fibrey muffin, then a fillet of tilapia and some asparagus. Before this, I was craving sugarsugarsugar; strangely, after this binge, I feel a LOT better--calmer, saner. Does that make sense?! Well, before this, I had some salmon for lunch at the Hobbit Café, then washed it down with a delish Starbucks peppermint mocha frappuccino! Well, it just didn't agree with me. I had the same case the last time when I went to Raven Grill and had a pasta primavera with cheese and salmon. It also had some tomatoes and cheese, just like today's salmon burger had tomatoes and I had a drink with dairy after. Well, today my stomach went on death throes. Man oh man. But I'm better now, obviously! *Makes note to self to avoid tomatoes, caffeine and dairy in the future*
Not using my new computer yet for Internet; will do that once I get it connected to the studio's internet system. But I'm still thinking of what name to christen my new MacBook. Was thinking Tilly.
Apple sent me the wrong keyboard protector, so I am sending it back (thank you, Angelina!). At the same time, I finally rode on the Spiderwick series and You series bandwagons; looks promising. Got them all at least half-off on Amazon. Yey.
Houston is nice, once you get to explore it, like what I did last Thursday after a nice lunch at Raven Grill, a nice semi-upscale resto along Bissonnet, in the search for better water bottles (they say bad quality plastic leak out into water molecules: best is supposedly the Nalgene brand), food that doesn't come from a can (because the parents said so), the perfect yoga top (Prana Sabin Racer in Coral Paisley, thankyouverymuch) and a cold-weather mule. I found everything except the top, which I found the very next day, online, after looking and looking for it in San Diego and their online store. I got these shoes in the eco-store, Whole Earth (no relation to Whole Foods the super-expensive grocery superstore): Merrell Encore Chill, size 9.5 in black. Very snuggly and warm, and with a sole good enough to walk the town with, plus with a waterproof exterior (though I just found out it's pigskin, oh well)! I found Bookstop/Barnes and Noble, too, right next to Whole Earth, and as I said, there's this gorgeous cupcake boutique bakery called Sugarbaby's along the same road (South Shepherd) that I visited on my way back, where I got to taste-test a cupcake! I also saw an independent jewelry shop, and a fresh-foods cafe that had a Greek flair to it (Zoë's). And along Shepherd is also Star Pizza, which serves one of the best pizzas in the US, supposedly. You can order by the slice and even choose your own toppings: it's pretty good.
Then last Friday, I went with a friend across town and we walked another friend's two dogs. He has two dogs, and the younger one that he rescued runs in front of cars, and goes ballistic when she sees other dogs. They wore us out, haha.
So if you are ever in the Houston area and want to hang out with me, bring your walking shoes as I do not drive. We can start on a nice leisurely walk by going to the museum district on bus, maybe even catch a movie nearby, or by straightaway walking along Shepherd and stopping at Star Pizza which supposedly serves one of the best pizzas in the US, then walking along further and stopping at Sugarbaby's, a gorgeous cupcake boutique (closed on Sundays). A few blocks more will find us at Whole Earth, a fantastic eco-store, with a Barnes and Noble next to it. If we walk a bit farther, we reach Westheimer, where there is St. Anne's, a Catholic church (I finally found the way to walk there!). Then on the way back, walking along Kirby (parallel to Shepherd), we can turn in to West Alabama, where the eco-superstore Whole Foods is, and either eat dinner (if we still have space!) there, or Tex Mex at Mission Burritos (where they have fantastic fish tacos corn chips, a tortilla soup, and gigantic build-your-own-burritos!), or eat veg-friendly/macrobiotic at Field of Greens. So yes, I have obviously been walking around, haha. Next mission is to stake out Kroger on Westpark by foot and explore the fantastic eateries around, not to mention Tapioca Express!
It's been fogging up lately, or raining the whole day (additionally making the heat/humidity in the room a true balancing act!). Houston weather is weird like that, but it also is humid, something California isn't, making Houston much kinder on the skin than dry California. I do admit, though, San Diego weather is plain gorgeous...except when it comes to termites. I do not want to have to deal with that, if ever. Yikes.
*Purchase-wise: I am waiting for muh Skinny Jeans (will they really make my legs look skinny?), stuff from Dr. Schulze (long overdue!), the Spiderwick box set and fairy book, the two You manual books, Mom's Rex Ray book from Amazon, and the iSkin from Apple.
Sometimes, sometimes I wish time would slow down. Dang, I wish I could be a kid again and have no worry in the world. Growing up is overrated. But then again, it IS cool, just...a bit too in-your-face sometimes, you know?
And now Christmas looms up ahead. What to give, what to give; that is the question.
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