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Last week I was tagged by Lori at Wildflowers and thought I'd work her questions into today's post.  These are always fun to do so here we go!

• What is your favorite time of the day?  Ooooh this is a tough one for me.  I'd have to say late afternoon when the sun is shining through the windows in the living room.  I love to curl up on the couch and take a deep exhale while Nancy Grace gives someone a grand rip from the television.  That toasty light makes everything seem right in the world.  Or is that Nancy Grace? hehe

• Where and when did you meet the love of your life?  I met the Chef about 10 years ago and, honestly, he kinda annoyed me (he knows this so I can say it).  I mean I thought he was nice and everything, but he was always bugging me with his jokes.  Little did I know he thought I was the cat's meow...cut to present and we've been dating for 2 years.  It's a long story.  Kind of like a novel - met through friends and kept in touch, I was dating someone else and living in Washington state, eventually moved to California but he was living in New York and we reconnected a few years ago.  I used to try and help him get dates and my bff Corey would always say he thought the Chef liked me.  I thought he was nuts.  So much for that! 

• What 3 words would your friends outside the blogging world use to describe you?  Loyal, feisty, smart.  (and shoes).

• What country would you like to visit and why?  There are so many I'd like to visit, but Italy tops my list right now with Israel being a close second.  Italy because I visited once for a couple weeks and don't feel as though I really got to take it all in.  There is so much to see and the pace of life makes sense to me.  I want to take in the little towns and the big cities - as much of the country as possible - and soak in every bit of the rich culture I can.  Maybe not come back?

•  What is your favorite dish to cook?  Roasted chicken.  I know that sounds weak, but it truly is.  All you have to do is throw it in the oven with potatoes and carrots around it, but I've had some messed up chickens in my time and this is one that I do well!  Wait.  Is cheesecake a dish? (or only in my world?)  Because I'm very good friends with cheesecake, too.

• Salt or sugar?  This is a tough one for a girl whose favorite afterschool snack was Old Dutch Ripple Chips dipped in vanilla ice cream...Both!  I can't choose!!  Chocolate covered almonds, cashews, macadamias, walnuts - salt and sugar!  help!

• What are your must have make-up or beauty items?  I am not that great with make-up and, as a result, don't wear much.  As a teenager I was convinced that having to wash it off - especially mascara, eyeliner and eyeshadow - would cause wrinkles.  Yes, even then I was thinking of what lies ahead. There are a few things I do feel lost without:

• What are your favorite flowers?  Gerbera Daisies, Peonies and Orchids.  All three have the ability to brighten my day in an instant.

• What do you think are your worst vices, honestly?  I need to learn to slow down and consider that what I'm doing may not be the top priority for the Chef.  (hangs head in shame)  I also need to get away from the computer and learn to have better balance in my life - outside, outside, outside.  It's not so fun to be around someone who is always attached to their phone or computer.  It's a hot mess.  And when I'm stressed out I can be a hot head.  I always say - I'm the verbal cuisinart, don't get caught in my blades.  And I'm not kidding.  My friends laugh when I say it, but it is true and it's not always the best quality to have.  Confessional over and out.

•  At what time of your life were you the happiest and why?  You know this is a great question and I've thought about it off and on all week.  Do you ever have those seasons in your life when you pause for just a moment and realize it's one of the best times and you need to savor it?  I feel very blessed to be able to say this has happened more than a few times in my life.  When I lived on Day Island in Washington - hands down one of the best, if not the most content I have ever been.  I had a great community of friends that were more like family, I loved where I lived - the most amazing renovated older home right smack on the water, my boss and the job I held was just wonderful - it was almost idyllic. And most importantly I remember it as the first time in my adult years where I was truly comfortable with myself and at peace with my life.  Every room had a water view and I had the best landlord ever.

Anyway!  Thanks so much for tagging me, Miss Lori.  This was fun!!  And now I will pass this along to the following people:

• Marcie at Lemons & Laundry
• Katie at Fashion's Maven
• Lou at Lou, Boos and Shoes (if she hasn't already done it)
• Heather at A Measure Of...
• Claire at Bicoastally

And really - anyone who wants to take part.  Please let me know if you do.  I love reading these things and would be interested to hear your responses!

I realized something when I went out yesterday evening.  I don't get enough time outside.  I haven't walked briskly in the open air along the trail by the beach in months (I used to do this almost every day).  When was the last time I read a book cover to cover?  I cannot recall.  And how about Pilates?  (something I used to love and look forward to just for the sheer joy of stretching and relaxing) Honestly?  I can't remember the last time I did a full work out or Pilates session more than a day or two in a row.  It's been months.

My heart sunk as I stood in the open, breezy air as people walked by with their dogs and each other or alone.  All the things I'm neglecting are healthy for my heart and soul in the most intrinsic ways.  They make me who I am.  When I was thinking back on all the fun tourists I've met out on walks...oh the conversations I've had and stories I could tell.  And books?  Books are some of my best friends!  I have been robbing them of my time.  Truthfully?  I've been robbing myself.  Of just slowing down and pointedly taking time every day to focus on living and thinking, not doing.

Do you ever feel like this?  Like you're just going, going, going and you know things are slipping, but then one day the weight of it all bears down on you in a passing glance, a visit from a friend, or the wind in your hair?  Things have got to change.

And no I don't mean my abdomen.  Although if donuts keep swirling 'round my gluten-free mind you just might find me under the wheel of the gluten wagon at Le Donut say around, oh, 3am right smack on the dot when Mr. Le Donut let's the glazed cinnamon twists out of the glaze.  Not that I'd know anything about that or anything.  Ahh the good old days last week.

Rather, what I am referring to in this case dear friends is the neeeeeeed for appropriate staples in the wardrobe.  Now before you run off or slip into a coma (if you're even remotely like me the words "wardrobe" and "staples" cause inevitable head nodding) just bear with me a moment as I feel your pain and share a tale that occurred yesterday.  I had a meeting that required me to leave the house (work required rarity) - and before 10am.  This is a red alert in Carrie-land.  I am not a morning person.  As a matter of fact my mind does not even function properly until 10:30 or 11am - it must be in the DNA because I've been this way since birth.  In addition to this early morning allergy - I don't own a suit (waves victory flag!).  Even the word makes me break out in a hive.  For 8 years I have consulted with one of the most fancy-shmancy retained executive search firms in all the land and successfully avoided the suit.  You don't understand dear people...this feat requires the attention of Guinness Book.  I am the last of a dying breed - a population of one.  How have I done this you ask?  With craft and skill and diversionary prowess, friends.  Last week I feared my city of "Hell No To Suits - Population 1" may have been on the verge of extinction when I (was coerced into) agreed to meet the President of a company.  For one entire day I fretted and sweated the possibility of having to purchase the suit ixnay.  But victory was mine when I dove into my closet with fierce determination and came out with a slough of basics that resulted in a brilliant outfit that in no way, shape or form said "I belong to 'the man' " (one of my biggest fears ever).  And so I say to you fine women - incorporate at least these simple staples into your wardrobe and you too will be victorious.

Just when I thought it was safe to pack up my summer wardrobe and head into fall, someone apparently pushed Mother Nature off the merry-go-round and in her confusion she's decided it's still summer.  Either that or seeing as we didn't get much of a summer here in Southern California, I can only assume she's been on that ride since last fall and is trying to warm up now that she's been let off.  Poor thing.  Speaking of poor things, this morning when I went to get ready to meet Shannan (from Merci Blah Blah) for brunch I didn't realize it was, oh, 80 degrees outside.  Niiiiiiice.

The vast majority of my summer clothes are in bins so high in the closet it would take something akin to a circus act for me to get them down.  I was already running late and in no mood to swing from the hangbars, so decided to remain in present season and make.it.work.  A few jersey/caftan things stay hanging year round, so I grabbed one and mixed it with denim (rolled a la Isabel Marant seen here and here) and a pony hair clog that has been crying for fall freedom.  Despite the warm temperatures I was able to keep relatively cool while surrounded by people in shorts and t-shirts.  This weather really is getting confusing.


After some wonderful conversation and laughs over some equally delectable pavlova, the Chef and I bid farewell to Shannan and her husband, Tom so they could go enjoy the remainder of their day in Laguna.   We're hoping this fun couple ends up in California some day - it was one of those meetings where you feel like you've known the other people forever.  The best!  Mid-way through our drive home we stopped to take in some of the late afternoon sun in a quiet neighborhood near where the Chef grew up.  It was very much a perfect summer day.  In fall.





Not exactly sure how the superheroes made an entrance into this post - a touch too much of the sun perhaps.  How was your weekend?  I won another CSN gift certificate at jammer's giveaway, but fear they won't let me pile them all together to get my much sought after bazillion dollar fondue set.  Oh no, not you again Monday!

For the first time in, like, 10 years, I won't be doing The Big Sit from my birding tower at Indigo Hill in southeastern Ohio. This officially bums me out.

I will sorely miss all my Indigo Hill Big Sit buddies this October 10. However, I will be someplace birdy on Planet Earth, and I shall endeavor to conduct a Big Sit if I possibly can.

Details to follow as I am able. Happy Big Sitting to all my fellow sitters around the world! May the birds pass by your circle in great variety, wearing their least-confusing plumage.

On the heels of yesterday's post indeed the weather has taken a turn for the warmer.  Today only moderately, but the weather girls (Dallas Raines where are you when I need you?) were going off tonight about how it's going to be in the 80's by Saturday for reals.  

I'm so confused. One minute we're wearing sweaters and boots, the next it's back to the shorts and tanks.  Yeah I still had some shorts out for wearing with tights, but it's the mindset people, the mindset I say!  To top it all off I had a bout of temporary insanity yesterday and consumed contraband.  Yeah that's right -gluten-filled. I think I thought I was in Whole Foods or Sprouts or something because I was focusing on warm-weather like dinners on the weekend, and the next thing you knew I was in some swirly whirly little shop with a lemon cream cheese cupcake stuffed in my mouth. (I always wondered what those places were all about).  What?? It had a piece of lemon on it!

I returned to the land of the living just in time to find the baseball playoffs still on (don't those things only last one day??)  and the Chef bellering at the top of his lungs to, well, the television (Jesus take the wheel).  Just as I was about to bake a load of brownies and crack open a bottle of wine to ease the pain, he asked if I wanted salad for dinner.  I was almost afraid to respond thinking it could have some sort of baseball-theme to it given his mindset at the time.  (dodger dog salad? uh no thanks.  i think i'll pass)

Luckily he was thinking seasonal goodness.  And so I share with you - just in time for the weekend.  Hope you have marvelous plans.
 
Poached Pears with Butter Lettuce, Blue Cheese, and Pomegranate Vinaigrette. 
Ingredients - Serves 2

*Pears 
1ea pear peeled and cut in 1/8
1C white wine
1/2C sugar
1/2C water
1t ea. allspice (whole), nutmeg (ground), black peppercorns (whole)
  
*Vinaigrette
2T olive oil
3/4T balsamic vinegar
2T pomegranate seeds
salt &pepper to taste 

*Miscellaneous 
2T blue cheese crumbles (goat cheese will also sub in great)
1C butter lettuce leaves

Method
Pears
Combine all ingredients except the pear and bring to boil.


Peel and cut the pear into eighths while bringing liquid to boil.  Once ingredients on stove top are boiling, drop the pears into the pot one at a time, turn off heat and cover.


Allow the ingredients in the covered pot to cool on the stove until they are room temperature - the residual heat will poach the pears perfectly.  It should take approximately half an hour.  Once cooled transfer to fridge and store in liquid.
Vinaigrette