What is this thing you call "BEDA"?

Ahem. So, I'm willing to admit my failure. Yes. I failed to blog every day in August. I did pretty well in the beginning, missed a few days, got back on the horse and then completely fell off and kind of just laid there on the ground for the rest of the month. Crap.

I had the best intentions, and I could give a million excuses, but I won't. *cough* Mockingjay *cough*

Anyway, I tried. I failed. But it's okay. It did make me realize that it doesn't HAVE to be super long to be called a blog post. A picture or five, a few paragraphs...call it good. So lets hope that if any good comes from this, it's that I may be inclined to blog more often, if not every day.

On another note, Mockingjay was AWESOME. Surprising. Shocking. Angering, at times. But for good reasons.  You know it's a good book when it raises emotions, makes you care, makes you take sides and argue to the bitter end to prove your point. Wow. That is one kick-butt book.

Read it. Love it. But be prepared to have it (and the rest of the series) consume you life for a good 2 weeks. Depending on how fast you read. : )

Now. On to my next book endeavors.

This is what I am currently reading:

I love it so far. 

Next in line (and just came out today):

This is the first book in a prequel series to Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series. Which I also HIGHLY RECOMMEND. First book in that series is "City of Bones". Wicked awesome. : )
















So these will consume my time for the next little while. I'm a nerd, I know.

Last note: I can't believe it's September tomorrow!! I feel like I should buy school supplies, although I have no real need for them.

Also makes me think of a line in song:

"August, die she must, 

The autumn winds blow chilly and cold; 

September I´ll remember. 

A love once new has now grown old."

--"April, Come She Will"

 by Simon & Garfunkel

Farewell, Summer. Hello Autumn and hoodie weather!! : )

MOCKINGJAY!! YAY!!!!

Have you read "The Hunger Games"? No? Well, what about "Catching Fire"? Huh. Yeah, I guess it would make sense if you had only read the 2nd book in a trilogy....

Anyway. If you haven't, you ABSOLUTELY SHOULD!!! So not kidding. 

They are amazing books. I love them whole-heartedly. 

The 3rd book comes out TOMORROW!!! Yup. August 24th, 2010 is the release date for "Mockingjay". I can't even use enough exclamation points or caps lock to portray how excited I am, so I'm not even going to try. 

You may not see much of me tomorrow. And this is why. : )

Read them. Do it. You'll thank me later.

Technical Difficulties

Hey, all. Sorry I've missed the past few days, but this time it's not my fault!! My laptop has been glitchy lately. Shutting off whenever it feels like it, usually when I'm about to blog. Heh.

So, sorry about that. I'm gonna take it in this weekend, see what the hopefully-not-expensive-to-fix problem is. Until then, I'll do my best!!

Laters!

Closer to the Edge

That is the title of a song. An amazing song. By 30 Seconds to Mars. The lead singer is Jared Leto. I blogged about this a while ago when I went to their concert. Mind-blowing. But that's beside the point.

It also describes me, at this moment. It's hard to put into words, but I'm going to try.

Right now, I feel like I'm on the edge, right at the precipice of something big. Something life-changing. I know it. With every fiber of my being, I know that something's coming. I'm getting impatient because I'm SO ready for it. I need it. Badly. I can't just...stay...anymore.

I'm made enough changes and enough changes have been forced upon me in the past year that I feel more ready for this. MORE ready. Not completely, because by nature I've always been a more reserved person, but being so open to this change, this time of transition, it's hard to keep getting pulled back. It's like I'm on a cliff, ready to dive into the unknown, but there's a bungee cord that keeps snapping back, just enough to keep me...here.

I need release. I need to cut the cord. It's time.

I pray for patience. I pray for opportunities. I pray to be ready.

It's all I can do.

Eat Pray Love

So...I finally finished my book. It took me 2 months or more, which is ridiculous to me. I'm used to blowing through a book in a week! And it's not cause it wasn't interesting or that I didn't WANT to read it. I absolutely LOVED the book and it completely blew my mind. I'm still reeling from it, in fact. I can only say that it took me this long because of...distractions. Life in  general. Lack of sleep made it hard to sit/lie still while remaining conscious. (p.s. it took me a good 5 minutes to decide whether it was supposed to be LAY or LIE. Things lay, people lie, right? I'm still not sure...)

So here's my review of this incredible book. Loved it. Highly recommend it. You should read it, if you haven't already. : )

To me, reading has always been and integral part of life. According to my mom, I started reading Reader's Digest at the age of 6. There were times where she would have to hide my book so I would do my homework. Or she would bribe me with books or reading time so I would do chores. The written word has always captivated me. Taken me to far off places, given me mind-blowing new ideas, filled my head with more awesomeness than I could possibly comprehend. I LOVE READING!

So this book. Fantastic. I loved the travel, the food, the people, the languages, and her writing is so effortless to read. She really is a great author. I'm gonna look up her other stuff.

I learned a lot too. So many things that I never even thought of. So much advice given to Liz that I swear was meant for me. That quote from a couple of posts ago, about being "zapped"? Yup. Totally for me. The book is really quotable, which I love. I even HIGHLIGHTED some passages, which I pretty much never do. I think it's a bit sacrilegious to damage books. I'm overprotective when it comes to my books. You ruin my book while in your possession, you buy me a new one. My sister Ashleigh can attest to that. : ) And NO DOG-EARING. No. That's what bookmarks are for. I usually use a receipt, a movie ticket, a post-it, whatever. I haven't used an actual bookmark in years.

But, anyway. Yes. Very quotable. I think I'll share a few of those quotes.

Liz: 

"...I seriously believed David was my soul mate."

Richard from Texas: 

"He probably was. Your problem is you 

don't understand what that word means. People think a 

soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. 

But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you

everything that's holding you back, the person who brings 

you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true 

soul mate is probably the most important person you'll

ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake.

 But to live with your soul mate forever? 

Nah. Too painful."

"Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark. 

If we truly knew all the answers 

in advance, as to the meaning of life and the nature of God 

and the destiny of our souls,

our belief would not be a leap of faith and it would not be a 

courageous act of humanity,

it would just be...a prudent insurance policy."

"Destiny is...a relationship--a play between divine 

grace and willful self-effort.Half of it you have no 

control over; half of it is absolutely in your hands, and

your actions will show measurable consequence. 

Man is neither entirely a puppet of the gods, 

nor is he entirely the captain of his own destiny;

he's a little of both."

"...I can choose my thoughts."

"I will not harbor unhealthy thoughts anymore."

"This is the supreme lesson of karma--to take care of the problems now,

or else you'll just have to suffer again later when you screw everything

up the next time."

Felipe:

"We must have your hearts broken sometimes. This is

a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we 

tried for something."

"--I was not rescued by a prince; I was the administrator

of my own rescue."

Amazing. Amazing quotes. Amazing book. Read it. I can't wait to see the movie, but there's no way it will compare. Sigh. I need to contemplate some more. Good night, blogging world. Until tomorrow...

: )

CAGED!!!

Hi. Late night post. You ready? Mmkay.

So, "Popular" was one of my all-time favorite tv shows. Incredibly awesome. Seriously.

This episode is SO fantastic!! It's called "Caged". This is what happens when 5 girls have their "lady time" simultaneously and are locked in a bathroom together. HA!!! Love it. : )

The whole episode is on youtube so you can enjoy the goodness in its entirety. But if you don't want to watch the whole thing, at least watch this particular part from 5:00 on. So. Funny. Dramatic, yes, but scarily enough, not that far off.

I may or may not be able to identify with this at this specific moment. *cough*

So, enjoy!! Oh, and watch out for all the actors who went on to bigger and better things! And those who didn't. ; )

G'night!

Wide Open Spaces

Hey, guys. I'm tired. Again. I know, I'm sure you get tired of me complaining about it. Well, I'm tired of being tired too!! Sigh. Shake it off!!!

Ahem. So, I've been looking at jobs. Quite a few out of state. Nothing solid yet, but the idea of a new town, new job, new experiences....SO EXCITING!!! And a little bit scary. Definitely.

Anyway, this song comes up on shuffle on my ipod every once in a while. Totally strikes a chord. I'm ready to move on! Explore! Have my own life!! I'M READY!!! YOU HEAR THAT WORLD?!?

So, I posted this video. It's just the song playing with the lyrics. I like the picture, though. A canopy of trees sheltering a long country road...I like.

So, enjoy!! : )

So NOT Kosher!!

We've all heard the term "not kosher", right? It usually means something's not okay or not allowed. Yeah, well, I had the privilege of learning the literal meaning of the term. Lucky me. : )

NOTE: I apologize in advance to any Devout Jewish people I may inadvertently offend with this post. I know next to nothing about being Kosher except from preparing the food for 2 weeks. I'm 87.4% sure that none of you will find this blog, but you never can be too careful. So sorry! And shalom...or something. : )


Hi, peeps!! Sorry for that disclaimer above. I just wanted to cover my bases cause I'm about to complain. Ready?

*clears throat* KOSHERIZING AN ENTIRE KITCHEN AND BAKERY FOR 200 PEOPLE AND KEEPING IT THAT WAY FOR 2 WEEKS IS A PAIN IN THE BUTT!!!! ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU KNOW NEXT TO NOTHING ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!!

Whew. Glad I got that out of my system.

So, basically, there was a group of 200 who we know was coming months ago. We were prepared. Or so we thought. Preparations involved scrubbing every single surface and sanitizing, buying new equipment and labeling it correctly, keeping red and blue items separate ( I'll explain that in a sec), designating areas in the fridge and freezer for kosher, and finding somewhere else to prepare food for the OTHER groups who are at the resort at the same time.

So, red and blue. Basically, those who keep Kosher don't eat meat with dairy. At all. Which means every meal was either a "meat plate" or a "dairy plate". Red for meat, blue for dairy. So when preparing a meal for a meat plate, no dairy products can be used and all red-designated equipment must be used. Here's a few pics to illustrate:

Red-taped tongs, spatulas, and whisks 

for meat plate

BLUE.

Blue on the left, red on the right.

The fridge. It's Kosher.

Oh, and we had to line the shelves

with foil. Mm. Good fun. : )

So there were some visuals for ya. Awesome, right? Uh huh. So, once something has been kosherized, it is designated meat or dairy and stays that way for the duration. No switching around. BAD. Yellow was used for things that are neutral, like flour, sugar, oats, nuts, etc. You can use a yellow item for meat or dairy, but once it's used for one or the other, it stays that way. However, you can "kosherize" something and re-designate it by steaming the piece of equipment for 15 minutes, boiling it for 3 minutes, and then letting it air-dry. Dunno why, but them's the breaks. Oh, and NO equipment with wooden handles. Not allowed.

Oh, and after the cleaning and taping things and stuff? Yeah. It had to be okay'd by the Rabbi. We got a certificate and everything. Whoop. And he hung around for a while every day just to check up on us. He also helped himself to whatever food he could find, mostly without permission. Definitely has a sweet tooth. Lucky us. 

So, this went on for 2 whole weeks. And then we were DONE!! YAY!!! But then we had to put things back to normal and some of the new equipment for kosher got packed away for next time. NEXT TIME!! I really really REALLY hope I'm not here for that. Gah. 

Well, that was my little spiel. Lovely, I know. Now lets NEVER speak of it again. Mmkay?  

Playing Catch Up

Hey, y'all. Geez. I can't even type that phrase without sounding lame. Some people can pull it off. I can't.

Anyhoo. This is going to sound incredibly pathetic, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed....by tv shows. Stupid, I know. But there's so much good tv on these days!! There's definitely a lot of crap, too, but there's A LOT of good shows I'm trying to keep up with.

You see, here's my problem. I go to bed super early, so I can't watch them when they're actually ON. I, however, don't have OnDemand or a DVR or Tivo or whatever. I do have a super lame old school VCR!! Yippee!! Problem there is cause of the stupid little boxes Comcast required us to get for full cable, it doesn't run directly through my VCR. I can record what's on RIGHT NOW, but I can't program it and all that jazz.

So. My only other option is online. Yay for Hulu!! You have to wait sometimes, but most of them make an appearance days after airing. Good news for me! But, like I said, I get overwhelmed. Hard to catch up in the 4 hours I'm actually home and conscious. Yowzah.

Here's a list of shows I'm trying to keep up with right now:

Covert Affairs
Pretty Little Liars
Huge
White Collar
Leverage
Make It or Break It
Lie to Me
Psych


I think that's all of them. I also may or may not also be rewatching the entire series of "Veronica Mars". Heh.

Ahem. So. What about you? Any tv shows you're hooked on? Any you can't get enough of? There are some shows I see a promo for and I WANT to watch it up all I can think is "I can't fit it in!!". Sad. And pathetic. Alas, I must retire for the evening. Sleep tight. : )

Failure

Um, so I come to you all with my tail between my legs. Yes. I have failed to blog the past 2 days. I know. Each day I knew I should, and yet...nothing. I'm sure you'll all be very gracious about it because you're awesome like that, but I'm always the hardest on myself.

I made it 7 days!! Why couldn't I keep it up?!? Lame.

So, I'm sorry. I'll be better. I promise. : )

Sweet dreams.

Travel

Hello. Um...so, once again, it's past my bedtime and I'm trying to blog while half-asleep and slightly brain-dead. Yay, for BEDA!! Heh.

Anywho, I mentioned the other day that I'm reading "Eat Pray Love".  Ah-MAZING. Still not done. I am in the third part, though, where she's in Indonesia. Bali, to be exact. Reading this book makes me INSANELY JEALOUS that I have yet to truly travel. I have all the intentions in the world to do so. I WILL. I'm just still working on the specifics....like money.

I'm getting closer!! See?

This is my Europe Fund. It's 3/4 full!! 

Very exciting. : )

Yup. That's part of it, anyway. We'll see where the rest comes from. And that's an amazing black and white picture of the Eiffel Tower behind my jar. Love it!! I have posters and maps all over my walls!! Inspiration. I WILL GET THERE!!!

Paris la nuit. Paris at night. Gorgeous!!

My favorite, I think. A park in Paris just

off the Champs Elysee. In Fall. LOVE!!

"London Calling" and a map of the

United Kingdom. Woot!!

See? Big HUGE plans. And it's gonna happen. All in good time. Sweet dreams, all!! I shall dream of Europe... : )

Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version

If you have not seen this, you must. MUST!! Caution: empty your bladder before viewing. : )

Zapped

Hi, everyone. Sooo I almost forgot to post today. ALMOST. My head was about the hit the pillow and BAM. I remembered. Aren't you glad?

Obviously this is going to be a short one cause I'm half asleep already, but I just wanted to share a quick thought.

I've been reading the book "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. It's completely amazing. I wish I had more time to read it!! I hope to finish it within the next couple days cause there's so  much for me to learn from it and there are SO many other books I want to read. I'll probably give you a full review of sorts of this book after I finish it.

Anywho. The thought. It's a quote that really hit me. Advice given to Liz from Richard from Texas in India.

“Big deal. So you fell in love with someone. Don’t you see what 

happened? This guy touched a place in your heart 

deeper than you thought you were capable of reaching, 

I mean you got zapped, kiddo. But that love you felt, 

that’s just the beginning. You just got a taste of love. 

That’s just limited little rinky-dink mortal love. Wait till 

you see how much more deeply you can love than that. 

Heck…you have the capacity to someday 

love the whole world. It’s your destiny.”

Amazing, right? I love it. Well, thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully with a more prepared and thought-out post. Good night, dreamers.        : )

Demotivation

Hey, peeps. Look! I'm posting a blog!! This one's sort of a cop-out, but hey, I'm tired. Which is kind of my constant state of being....Anywho. I also may have spent a bit too much time on the website www.verydemotivational.com. Cause sometimes you really need to laugh at other peoples' misfortunes. : )

Here's a few examples. Enjoy!!

There. Now, don't you feel better? Sweet dreams!! : )

The Day the Oven Rack Attacked Me

In my line of work, there are quite a few hazards you have to be careful around. Knives, hot ovens, hot pans, heavy objects, and in my case, doors, door knobs, the corners of tables, large mixers, and much more. Sadly, I have been injured by pretty much ALL of them. No joke. But there was one more I hadn't considered. Until one particular Wednesday...

Dun Dun DUUUUNNNNN!!! 

The Culprit

This is an oven rack we use at work. We put sheet pans on it and roll it into the walk-in oven. We don't actually call it that cause it's creepy, but that's pretty much what it is. It's like a walk-in closet that heats up to 500+ degrees Fahrenheit. We can fit two of those racks in the oven at a time. Yup.

A picture for height reference. 

Don't I look pleased with the thing? 

So, on this particular Wednesday, I had opened that day (4am) and I was wrapping things up and doing pan-up at about 1:30pm. Pan-up is when all the frozen pastries and everything are put on trays then on a rack, and rolled into the fridge to be baked the next morning. Anyway, it had been a long day and somehow I ended up being the first person in AND the last person out. This happens way more than it should. 

So I had just started and put one tray of pastries on the rack and I decided to pull it closer to make it a bit easier on myself. Yeah, well, I kinda pulled it the wrong way. I really should know better, but alas, I did it anyway. It's a little unsteady if you pull it width-wise as opposed to length-wise. So, yeah, I pulled it, I turned around, had a split-second thought of "Hey, what if that fell on me..." ---and then it did. 

The damage. Minutes after. 

You can see blood on my sock too. 

I had my back toward it, so it hit my back, struck my left hip bone, scraped down my left calf (pic above) and landed on my foot. Which it also scraped. But at first, I didn't realize how bad it was. I just thought, "Gall, that was stupid. Ow." and then I just picked it up and the tray of pastries and went about my work.

About 10 minutes later I realized my pants were sticking to my leg. Looked down. Uh oh. Blood.

Blood-soaked pants with my finger 

through the hole it ripped through. 

So, I went into the office to inspect the damage. Ew. A lovely scrape. I grabbed some tissues and the First Aid kit (which I use more often than a normal person should have to) and proceeded to patch myself up. 

The fix. 5 large band-aids, which I'm pretty 

sure are meant for fingers...

I finished my work and went home for the day. I didn't notice until later that it had ripped my pants AND my chef coat where it had hit my hip. Man, that rack was thorough!! I told my family the whole story. Only THAT would happen to ME. Accident-prone to the nth degree.

The next day. Lovely, isn't it?

I removed the band-aids the next day to let it air out and *gasp* what a surprise!! A lovely bruise to go along with it. I dreaded going to church and wearing a skirt. And our family vacation began the next Monday where I would be in shorts and/or a swimming suit the entire time. Eh. 

A few weeks later. Mostly healed.

Anyway, it healed pretty quickly and not many people noticed except for my sister, Ashleigh, who had the decency to scream, "HOLY CRAP, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR LEG?!?!". Yeah. Thanks for that. : ) 

So, this has been another chapter in the Chronicles of Anika's Injuries. Hope you "enjoyed" it. haha. 

Workaholic

Hey, everyone. Day two of BEDA!! So far, so good!

So, remember how I said that I tend to jump into things without thinking? Yeah. Case and point: today is my ONLY day off work this week. Yup. I worked the past 4 days (Thurs-Sun) and I work the next 6 days (Tues-Sun). Sounds like the perfect time to commit to a month-long blogfest, right? Uh huh. I'm a bit crazy. Haha!

Oh, and keep in mind that I will  be waking up at 2:30am every single one of those work days and working 8 to 10 hours as well. Yay!! *shakes head no*

Now, I do enjoy my job. Most of the time. : ) And I've gotten used to the getting-up-early and the being-on-my-feet-for-10-to-12-hours part. Doesn't mean it's easy, though. Getting up that early means going to bed at 6:30 pm (well, more like 7:45pm...). Kind of limits my social life. Actually do something with friends, or get enough sleep to make it through the workday? A constant battle. And it can be hard on my body. Sore feet/ankles/legs from standing and walking and I already had surgery on my right wrist from tendinitis (also known as Carpel Tunnel) as a result of repetitive movements at work and in Culinary school. It still gets sore sometimes. No fun.

I've been at my job for over 2 years. That's quite a while in the food industry. At this point, I can honestly say that I am awesome at my job. I know what I'm doing and have a semi-managerial position in the bakery. First is the Executive Pastry Chef Anna, then Pastry Sous Chef Cynthia, and then me. I don't really have a title. Except Baker 3, which isn't really that great sounding. But I can do ALL the duties of the Sous Chef and I did just that for about a year before Cynthia came back. I actually was next in line for the position, but Cynthia had more "experience" (grumblegrumble). Yeah, whatever.

Anyway. I'm feeling the need to move on. I'm not sure when or where that will be, but I'm keeping an eye out for new opportunities.

Wish me luck!! : )

BEDA

Hello, all. It's late. I'm tired. But here's a little snippet of news.

I've decided to join the BEDA crowd. That stands for Blog Every Day April (but in this case, through the example of Maureen Johnson- author extraordinaire, I'm doing it in August. See? It still works. : ] ).

Ahem. So. Yeah, I'm going to try to blog every single day in August. Starting with today. Which probably means they'll be pretty short most days. That should be a nice change, eh? HA!!

We'll see how this goes. I have a habit of jumping into things without really thinking them through ( *cough* vegetarian *cough*) so, wish me luck!!

'Til tomorrow....

Anika