I had such a nice 4th of July weekend at my aunt and uncle's cabin, and this is the only photo I have to show for it (taken last night, back in the cities), because I dropped my point-and-shoot in the lake an hour after I got up north. Big fail. But I basically had the most idyllic Minnesota-summer weekend, otherwise, so it's all okay.

I took Henny up with me to the cabin, which is about as far away as my folks' cabin, but in a different direction. And on a lake. Several other aunts/uncles/cousins were there, too, and the weather was perfect all weekend long. We went for rides on the boat (with Henny in her ridiculous doggie life jacket), sat around on the dock, grilled food, and slept in tents. There would have been room for me in the cabin on the second night, but Minnesota's state parks are closed right now (thanks, government shut-down), so I've got to take camping where I can get it.

Henny was a trooper, but she most definitely doesn't care for fireworks. She doesn't whine or bark (thank goodness), but she silently trembles and looks for places to hide, which is extra sad and pathetic. I'm pretty sure she would have crawled inside my chest if she could have, but she had to settle for burrowing under my arm. I didn't even realize why she suddenly started acting odd on Sunday night until I took her outside and could hear fireworks waaaaay off in the distance, on the other side of the lake.

In other Henny news, it turns out she can swim, but she's not very good at it (she needs more ballast). She wasn't really digging the lake, but I walked her out about six feet from shore a couple times (and had my camera destroyed in karmic payback) to watch her swim back. Despite her feelings towards the water and loud noises, she seemed perfectly happy on the boat rides. Snug in her life jacket and settled on my lap, she quickly fell asleep both times.

I drove back to the cities on Monday, and I celebrated the 4th with Rob (who is house-sitting for my folks at the moment). We had veggie burgers (homemade with chickpeas!) and chips for dinner, which I forced Rob to eat outside. And when it started to get dark out, I built a fire in my parents' chimnea -- it was the first time I'd ever been responsible for making a fire, and now I get why people are always so goofily proud of themselves for it. Something very primally satisfying about that.

Oh, and I also have been picking a ton of ripe raspberries since I got back. Summer win!

I keep meaning to write a post, but then I get distracted. I'm enjoying it here more than I thought I would. Obviously, I knew LA in January would make a nice break from the winter back in Minnesota, but I wasn't prepared for how right it would feel. Maybe it's just an overdose of vitamin D, but I feel almost uncontrollably happy. In much the same way as I suddenly realized I'm a camping person when I finally tried it, I feel like I've secretly been a SoCal person this whole time -- just never had the opportunity to learn that.

Let's consider. An abundance of interesting, healthy, vegetarian food, both at restaurants and in supermarkets. Warm, sunny days. Huge expanses of wilderness, in the form of state and national parks, with technical and beautiful terrain for hiking. An OCEAN just off to the side, there, with a flat path for running. I understand now why people live here, despite the threat of earthquakes (and, as my mom keeps reminding me, the fact that it's going to break off and sink into the ocean, like, next week).

I really should have been posting every day, to tell you what I've been up to, but there have been many restaurants visited (I'll have to do a round-up post when I get back). One of my favorite outings has been to Kinokuniya in Little Tokyo. It's a Japanese bookstore, and it's basically everything I love in the world all in one place. We went on Tuesday, but I had the feeling I was taking too long for my friends, so I went back today on my own.

There's a Japanese supermarket on the floor below, and that's where I got a slice of the cake pictured above (pretty, but bland). When I stopped in today, I got some nice little raisin biscuits and a package of maple Caloriemate, since I see it on Ai's blog so often. I haven't tried it yet, so I'm interested to see what's it like -- similar to SoyJoy? More like shortbread? Only one way to find out!

Oh, hello. I'm in Los Angeles right now, and I might not ever leave. A) This is not real winter; B) dogs are allowed in stores. Of course, if I did move here, all I'd be able to afford would be the mankiest little apartment in a seedy part of town -- nothing like Alex's parents' amazing house in the Palisades (they're having their own holiday, so Alex is housesitting).

I was immediately taken by the little snack/topping station on the kitchen counter. There are four kinds of nut butters, honey, agave, crackers, almonds, etc, etc. Usually the big downside to traveling (food-wise) is having to go without the staples, but there was a box of PG Tips here when we arrived, along with almond milk and Ezekiel bread -- perfect!

I'm on a working holiday, in a way, since I still have been doing the usual proofing and typesetting and so on. I moved my little nest to this area today, because I realized I could sit on the sofa and stretch out my legs comfortably. Alex works from home, as well, so it's actually a bit easier to settle into a work routine without the usual household distractions.

Awesome stuff that's happened so far: Went for a run down to the seaside and back. Ate a tempeh club sandwich. Saw dolphins jumping in the ocean. Sat in the backyard in a tanktop. Lounged in the hot tub. Got Menchie's self-serve frozen yogurt. California dreaming, indeed.

The full title of this post should be 'What Happens in Las Vegas Doesn't Really Have to Stay in Las Vegas if It's Not Particularly Scandalous' -- here's one last post about my trip.

Free Stuff

This was a great weekend for the collection of Free Stuff. I have no time for bits of paper and flyers (both at the race expo and the book fairs I've been to, I always wonder what the appeal is of collecting vast reams of printed matter that booths are handing out; some people will pick up anything), but I do like useful items. Namely, things I can eat. Among all the free samples, I also wound up with two bananas to bring home, which amazingly made it all the way back in my carry-on without getting banged up.

I was also rather enamored with the hotel pens (small, sleek, but with a nice heft and good ballpoint), and when we were at the Team Challenge pasta dinner, I helped myself to one that was on the table for filling out raffle tickets. My roommate, Amy, took a picture first of a friend holding up the tickets he was buying ('Here's Adam, doing good.') and then of me with the pen ('Here's Anna, stealing things.'). When we were packing our bags before driving out to Lake Mead, I had to make note of an address, which caused me to exclaim, 'Oh no, I have nothing to write with, because I stole all the pens!'

Food

Being a vegetarian in Las Vegas isn't the most awesome thing. There was a Whole Foods a short bus trip away, but whenever I would have had the time to go there, I was totally exhausted (and usually starving). More than anything else, I was disgusted by the price of eating out in Vegas. It was awful, and most of the food really wasn't worth it. I did enjoy a good veggie burger the first night, and I had some nachos the night after the race which were delicious. I think my favorite thing was the breakfast buffet, despite its ridiculous price. Both times I went, I had a pastry, yogurt with fruit, and scrambled eggs, which doesn't sound like all that much, but it was enough both times to keep me full well into the afternoon. I'm looking into how to get a breakfast buffet installed here at the house.

The Race

So, how'd the race go? Overall, I'm very pleased. After I injured myself in September, I was worried about whether I'd even be able to run 13.1 miles by December. I kept my training light -- two short runs (3-5 miles) plus one long run per week. The result was that I continued to recover even as I started running again, and I didn't injure myself at this race. After looking at my pattern of having great training runs and miserable races, I realized I'd been overtraining, and taking it easier this time definitely worked out for the best.

Because I couldn't work on speed for the past few months, I let go of any time goals I had had (namely, getting a sub-2:00 half-marathon this year), which allowed me to enjoy the race without pressure. My finishing time was 2:16:30, which isn't the fastest I've ever run the distance (on my own), but it is a personal record for a race (see: history of miserable races). And in my mind, there were two races: the first eleven miles, which were great, and the last two, which were a slog. I had zero pain, which was a fantastic and new race experience, but I just hit the wall, and my muscles couldn't move me along any faster. I was fueling with Gu gels and drinking plenty, so I don't know what happened.

But those first eleven miles are much more important, in my mind. I felt good, and I enjoyed myself. The course was along the strip and very flat, which was nice. I didn't enjoy the bands along the route (this was part of the Rock 'n' Roll series) -- not because of the bands themselves, but because they were so loud that it made running past them quite uncomfortable. But the banks of Team Challenge supporters were awesome. Every time they saw a runner in an orange singlet, they went wild, which was definitely a boost. I saw Andrea, our new region manager, twice (out and back) during the race, and she even ran with me for a short time after mile nine, right when I needed a good distraction from how many miles were still left.

So, in short, I had a great time at the race, and I loved the Team Challenge experience. They run another half in Napa during the summer, and I have no idea how I'd manage the fund-raising again, but I'm sure tempted to try...

Yesterday, my Team Challenge roommate (Amy) and I decided we had had enough of Vegas (well, I'd had enough by Friday afternoon), so we rented a car and drove out to Lake Mead. Our room had a great view of the strip, but I feel like every day, I'd point at the mountains in the distance and say, 'I want to go there.' I do not enjoy heavy drinking, partying, conspicuous spending, gambling, or garish architecture. I do like hiking, driving on open roads, and marveling at nature.

The first stop we made was at the recently-opened (in October 2010) Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which connects Nevada to Arizona and overlooks the Hoover Dam. We parked in the lot, climbed some stairs, and then walked all the way across and back. It was high enough that I didn't like looking over the railing unless I was holding on really tightly (and maybe keeping most of my weight on my back foot), but I didn't think too much of it.

After that, we drove down to the dam itself, and once we were on that level, we suddenly realized how dizzyingly high the bridge was. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to convince myself to walk over it if I had known. I won't even drive over the High Bridge in St. Paul, and (according to wikipedia) that's only 150 feet high, compared to this one's 900 feet. Whaaaaaaat!

Anyway, I enjoyed seeing the dam. Because I've been indoctrinated by my friend Monette, I Just Say No to changing the natural course of rivers, but still. That's a big ol' feat of human engineering. I had just been commenting to Amy that I hadn't bought anything in Las Vegas, and then I saw the Hoover Dam gift shop and made her pay $7 so I could park in the ramp and buy trinkets for people (we actually split the cost of the daytrip, of course).

We stopped into the Lake Mead Recreation Area's information center and got a map of various paths by the lake, and I bought a reproduction of a 1930s postcard of Boulder City -- the only souvenir I brought back from the trip (not counting a huge pile of food and samples I squirreled away whenever anything appeared free). We chose a short hike up a steep hill because it promised that we'd be 'rewarded with stunning views', which I'd say we were. We were also reminded with a message from our legs that we'd both completed a half-marathon the day before.

It was kind of silly, but we kept alternating between saying, 'Oh, wow! Look at that!' and 'Why on Earth would anybody live here?' It's a stunning landscape, but nothing about it says hospitable to me. Give me my lakes and trees and grassy prairies any day of the week. (Except for the days of the week that we cover all that with snow, of course.)

I think it's safe to say that the best part of Las Vegas was when we got out of Las Vegas! You can see a few more pictures here. I'll write more about my race experience, but for now I'll just say that I had a good time and didn't injure myself (my two top priorities!). I much prefer being able to hike around the desert the day after a race to being totally out of commission!

I'm in Las Vegas! A huge THANK YOU to everybody who contributed to my Team Challenge fund-raising and helped me get here. The race is tomorrow, so all I have to do until then is take it easy and eat!

Well, it's 2010 in most of the world right now, but we've still got a few hours of 2009 left here in the American Midwest. Just enough time for me to do some reflecting on the past year.

I'm having a quiet night in this New Year's Eve, which suits me just fine. It's cold out, and it seems like staying in was the thing to do for a lot of my friends. As I told a couple people today, I could use the evening to look inward and focus on becoming the best me I can be... or I could watch silly movies with the cats. Movies and cats it is!

I did clean the stove extra well after doing the dishes earlier. Just a little something special for 2010!Anna to wake up to. I know that 2010!Anna will never let soy milk boil over, so it's only fair to scrub off any lingering traces of how remiss 2009!Anna could be.

So, let's see... 2009...

In January, my pal Rob came to visit. We went to the Science Museum and the Como Park Conservatory (the best place to visit in the dead of winter). I discovered dark nail polish.

In February, my mom and I took a trip to Fort Meyers, Florida. Okay, THAT is the best place to visit in the dead of winter. Temperatures in the 80s and absolutely nothing better to do than sit on the beach.

In March, I realized that the worst of winter was over, and it really hadn't been so bad. I think that was in large part due to settling into a routine of going to the gym in the morning and then spending time at the coffee shop, working on my laptop.

In April, I went to the UK for the London Book Fair. Rob and I also had a week or so in Ireland. I met my nephew Rowan (my friend Em's son) for the first time and decided he was the best baby ever.

In May, I went up to my parent's new cabin (which they'd closed on in April) for the first time. It was still cool-ish there, even though it was starting to warm up in the Cities, so I decided I didn't like it. I did a heck of a lot of manual labour in my back yard and created a huge amount of new garden space. Then I began planting various things to eat. May was nice.

In June, we had a long stretch of dry weather. My grass all but died, and I thought for sure it would be a miserable growing season. I made my first dress from a Japanese pattern and realized that patterns are much easier to follow without all that pesky language comprehension getting in the way.

In July, Rob came for another visit. I saw Elvis Costello in concert. We (Rob and I, not EC) went to my parents' cabin, and I decided that I actually really like it, after all. There are trees and nice breezes and a cafe where you can get breakfast for under five bucks. And tiny donuts. I went back by myself at the end of the month to enjoy the solitude. We started getting much more rain, and my garden took off.

In August, my garden continued to flourish. My lawn looked amazing. The tomatoes started ripening and then wouldn't quit. I spent another week at the cabin, reading submissions for work. Alex and I went apple picking and ate cider donuts.

In September, I had two patio 'parties'. The first was an effort to get rid of my glut of tomatoes, and the second was to celebrate the amazingness of seitan ribs. I found a Minnesota-shaped cookie cutter and made apple cookies.

In October, I went to Germany for the Frankfurt Book Fair. I had a really nice time, despite getting something suspiciously flu-y as soon as the fair was over (and my vacation began), and I also knit two hats. And ate my weight in pastries.

In November, the entire state reveled in glorious, above-average temperatures. I made a LOT of pumpkin puree from the pumpkins I grew. I started drawing little paper houses. I upgraded to a new version of Movable Type because of a dream I had.

In December, I started selling the paper house pattern downloads. Many, many thanks to everybody who bought one; it's definitely been a success! I had one of my best birthdays ever, and I also had a nice Christmas-time, even with all the snow we got.

And that brings us to the present.

I don't have much of a sales pitch for this, but I created a type of yearbook or annual with many of my photos from 2009. It sort of covers the general categories of my life: home, garden, cats, travels, food, etc. I wanted to have a hard copy of some of what I produced this year, photographically, and it made a really nice Christmas present for my family. It's forty pages, full of pictures, and it's not just a blog-to-book project. And it's available here, if you find you have some holiday gift money that's burning a hole in your pocket.

Happy New Year, everybody!

-- Whew, what a week! Tuesday was my birthday; Wednesday was spent finishing up the last of my presents and then wrapping them; Thursday was Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family; Friday was Christmas with my parents; and yesterday was Christmas/Boxing Day with my dad's side. That's a bit too much holidaying!

-- I had one of my best birthdays ever this year. My cake went together without much fuss (that's it above, and here it is pre-cutting -- it's 'German Coconut', with filling/icing made using this recipe; the coconut cake itself isn't worth making again), and then I spent the day with my mom, eating good food, getting massages, and finding ridiculously good deals at Old Navy. AND I received two packages with products for review -- Zevia Sodas and Newman's Own Organics. More on that at a later date.

-- One of my birthday presents was a little Sony point-and-shoot. I had an Olympus that I really liked until it mysteriously stopped working after six months. Now I can take photos when I'm out and about without having to lug around my SLR, which isn't always convenient. And the new camera takes nice photos.

-- It started snowing on Thursday and didn't really let up until Saturday evening. And then it snowed a bit more today. Since the cats and I had packed up and were at my parents' for three days, that meant I had to shovel all the snow this morning. Luckily, thankfully, some kind neighbour had done my front path, so I only had to worry about the back path and the driveway. It took about an hour, but it was sunny, around 20F (which isn't too bad, don'tyaknow), and I had a new Elvis Costello album on my iPod. Snowy.

-- The bad news with the snow was that I had to hop through it while packing up the car on Christmas Eve, and I managed to hurt my ankle. I didn't even land on it very hard or twist it much, but I knew I'd landed wrong as soon as it happened, and it's been bothering me ever since. It's nearly back to normal now, but it gets achy every few hours. I've been slightly distressed, because I've been enjoying running lately, and I don't this to mess it up.

-- Christmas itself was very enjoyable. My dad's side of the family usually celebrates in the afternoon/evening, but the gathering was pushed to Boxing Day, due to the snow. So my parents and I (and the cats and their dogs) did our usual thing in the morning (presents, brunch) and then lazed around for the rest of the day. I read comics and drank tea out of my new favourite mug, which I got from my aunt on Christmas Eve (which is when my mom's side of the family gathers). Perfect.

-- Even though I only turned one year older last week, it seems to have had a dramatic effect. After I got home yesterday, I kept thinking about how I could assemble and use my new vacuum in the morning and then clean the floors with my new slippers. I think I might have had my most excited reaction to opening that particular gift. I hadn't even asked for them, because how could I have ever imagine such perfection existed?

Ah, the day after Thanksgiving. The day on which I do NOT go shopping, because I find that particular activity tiring and annoying on even a regular weekend. (I don't mind shopping during the week, but I'm still good for only three stores that require driving in between, tops. If I'm in a good mood.) But it's a great day for leftovers.

Despite my plans to not investigate the sales, I woke up at 4:00am. Four. In the morning. Why? I tried to fall asleep for an hour and then gave up and played iPod solitaire for almost another hour (you'd think I'd get bored of it, but no!). I dragged myself out of bed and had some breakfast and contemplated the day's possibilities. I don't know about you, but whenever I wake up significantly earlier than expected, I find myself thinking -- while still in bed -- that I could use the 'extra' time to go to the gym and get out of the house. How virtuous. But then I put my feet on the floor and remember what it's like to be awake after only a few hours' sleep, and any gym plans go out the window.

I had a very satisfactory pre-lunch nap, however, which got me primed for the real star of the day: the leftovers. I made an outstanding sandwich for lunch with Quorn Turk'y and roasted veggies (it was missing cranberry sauce, but I made do). And later in the afternoon I had a slice of pumpkin pie, which is mandatory.

And then the rest of the day just slipped away, between working on paper houses and going to Mill End Textiles. (All the fabrics were half off! And I needed to get stuff.) I have that strange sensation of today feeling both exceptionally long (having woken up at 4:00) and also puzzlingly truncated (using the end of my nap as a 'starting' point).

I had a really excellent dream while I was napping, though. Not much happened, but I had a new home out in the woods/country, so now I know exactly how I should build my house. Hey, the dream-inspired Movable Type upgrade turned out -- how much harder can a house be?

p.s. -- Oh, frabjous day! On a whim, I went to Hulu's page for Lost, and they've uploaded the remaining episodes from season five. I know what I'm doing the rest of tonight!