Hello Readers!

You probably think I've abandoned this blog... You'd be right about that assumption. I've been posting at a different address: http://emdowneyhaiti.blogspot.com/

My heart and mind have been in Haiti for months now.

Read all about it there. :)

Patio Stop 2b: My Porch

After being out around town, I had to make a special stop: home. I had some reading to do before small group, and I had forgotten to bring the book with me. And, the poor kittens needed to be fed. So home I went. When I got there, it occurred to me I had been neglecting a very special patio: my screened in porch.

I have a porch on the front of my building that I sometimes neglect. Partly I neglect my porch because its leaking and the landlord isn't doing anything to fix it, and partly because the leaking has lead me to neglect the condition of the porch (which means there is a growing accumulation of stuff that needs a different home)...

My porch is a little special because I don't have usual porch furniture on it- I have a bed on my porch, a full sized bed. It is beyond luxurious to relax on the bed on my screened in porch, red a book, and sip a glass of wine. The only thing that would make my porch better (besides the landlord fixing the leak) would be less traffic on Briarcliff road. Unfortunately, being the front apartment means I get a front row seat to the traffic on Briarcliff road. Its not insufferable, but its not exactly peaceful either. Which means I have only attempted to sleep on the bed on my porch 2 times. Neither time did I get a whole lotta sleep. So the bed is mostly used for reclining and reading on lazy afternoons.

So between patio stops, I stopped at my own porch. The parking isn't bad- I have a pass in my own lot! There is no food service unless I make something for myself... And, as for plugs outside, I don't have one. The porch faces the east, which means in the afternoon there is no direct sun- which is nice in the summer, but cool still in the early spring. When I compare it to the other patios on the tour, it ranks pretty high because, after all, it is attached to my home. But, its not quite high enough on the scale to keep me home and off other patios around town. And so onto other patios I go, in search of the perfect place to get out into this early spring weather!

Patio Stop 2: JavaVino

Patio Stop 2: Java Vino

JavaVino has this tiny corner of space carved out in the Highlands, and if you don't know where it is, you'll probably drive by without noticing. I have been once before, and remember loving the atmosphere, and I knew they had a patio. So JavaVino was my goal for patio stop #2.

JavaVino has a little parking problem- that is, their parking lot is tiny and you can't tell if its full until you drive down this steep hill into the parking lot. If the lot is full you have the difficult decision of trying to back up the hill you just drove down, or try to turn your car around in a tight spot... Fortunately the handicap spot is usually empty, so you can use it to turn around. There are other plentiful parking lots all around, but they are all marked "Parking for Manual's Tavern Only." I think there must be some kinda of parking lot wars going on in our city, at least in the Highlands there is. Why can't these neighboring businesses get along and share parking lots? I might be willing to patronize both businesses if I knew they one of them wasn't going to tow my car away while in the other establishment.

After solving the parking puzzle, JavaVino is a great stop on the Patio tour. The menu has loads of options for the hungry and thirsty. Loads of light varieties if you just want a snack, but whole meal options too if you're there for breakfast or lunch, as I was. The guy in front of me in line was surprised at how cheap his total was for coffee and a cookie and a coke. So, good prices too! They have couches and high-top tables, and free wifi! Unfortunately, I didn't use the wifi so I can't say whether its easy to log on or not. And yes, they did have one plug on the patio for us with dead batteries in our laptops!

I do have to say, both times I have eaten at JavaVino, I thought that my food took a peculiarly long time in arriving, however they apologized for the wait. And, it was delicious. So, I guess since I was sitting around working, the wait wasn't a big deal.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience at JavaVino. Mostly positives with just one wish for better parking . Definitely one of my favorites places in the highlands. Next time I need to order one of the glasses of wine!

Patio Tour 2011

So the weather is beautiful in February, I am on break from school, and I don't want to work inside my apartment. I don't want to be inside my apartment period. The studio is closed and I have "homework" from kindergarten that is threatening to take over my life. Solution? Take advantage of the local patio's in my neighborhood that offer outdoor escapes from my apartment and free wifi. It seems like the perfect arrangement! I can be outside and get my kindergarten homework finished...

Which is the beginning of Patio Tour 2011! I live in a community of amazing local businesses that I have not taken full advantage of and that is a pity. So today I begin my patronage while fulfilling my need to get out of the apartment and be out in the pretty weather.

First stop is an easy one because I needed to start with a warm-up stop. Warm-up because I had my hands full and I was familiar with the franchise (yes, franchise, not locally-owned...), warm-up because sometimes I feel a little shy when I go into a new business all by my self, and warm-up because I wanted my first stop to be successful.

So here I am on my first stop of my patio tour: Caribou Coffee in Edgewood! When I was at home checking out yelps list of local patios with free Wifi, I completely forgot about Caribou Coffee here in Edgewood. I used to come down here a lot when I first moved to the neighborhood. I totally forgot they have a patio. So here are the pluses: easy to get to, ample parking, huge patio, and a familiar menu. My tea only cost me $2 and change, and its not crowded outside. Oh, and the wifi is easy to get on, no asking for a password or log-in code.

I do have a couple wishes too... I wish the patio had plug-in's, because my battery isn't going to last long. I wish the patio wasn't covered in shade, but when summer comes around the shade will be a plus.

2 wishes versus 3-4 pluses is great for my first patio stop! I don't know how long I'm gonna be able to sit out in the shade though. I might be hitting my next patio, hopefully sun-drenched, sooner than planned. Now, to the whole reason I am working and not playing: homework!

Don't Use All the Washing Machines

This might seem like a insignificant annoyance to me on any other day, but today it was the thing that confirmed that I am in a grumpy mood. Let me start at the beginning... 

Around 9:30 I was laying in bed, when I heard pounding on the door. I wasn't entirely sure it was pounding on my door because I still had my ear plugs in and was somewhere between asleep and waking. Regardless, I jumped up, ripped out my ear plugs, and hobbled to the door. And when I opened it, there was no one there... Strike 1. 

After an abrupt start to the day, I woke up remembering I didn't have peanut butter for my bagel, so before having a cup of coffee or eating anything, I went to the store. I decided to get some quarters to do laundry, and while doing so the teller at the bank counter proceeded to try to interest me in a home loan... Let me paint the picture. I was in a t-shirt and jeans, no make up, and a cap. Clearly I had just woken up. When I cashed my check, I couldn't even remember my account number. I know this guy is just doing his job, but I think the signals were clear that I wasn't lucid enough to come close to thinking about when I would be needing a home loan. Strike 2. 

I took my time getting motivated to do the laundry. I was groggy when I got home and although I drank 2 cups of coffee, I wasn't in my brightest mood! When I finally gathered everything together to go to laundry it was probably about 3. So I made my basket full of clothes, grabbed the detergent and bleach, and headed to the laundry room, in the basement (which is at the end of the hall, down two fights of stairs). When I got down there another girl was casually sorting her laundry and I asked if there was a free washer. As she continues to toss things in the washer she says, "that one is broken, and I am using the others..." There ought to be a sign that says, "Its not cool to use all the working washers at one time. Other people might want to use them. We don't have multiple washers so you can do all your laundry at one time." But there isn't a sign. So she continues on saying, "But, this is my last load, so in 30 minutes there will be one free." Typically I would just shrug my shoulders and be cool with the whole thing. But today after starting off a little rough, I was, honestly, extremely annoyed. I wanted to tell her that its not very considerate or thoughtful to not leave at least 1 washer free for the other tenants. I wanted to tell her that even if she had 5 more loads, she was going to let me use it after this one. I wanted her to relinquish the washer to me pronto! Of course, I didn't say any of those things and of course she didn't relinquish the washer. So I carried everything back up to my apartment and waited. Strike 3. And I'm officially in a grumpy-pants mood. 

I tried to snap out of it! Really I did. It wasn't until I scored a point playing ultimate frisbee later this evening that I felt the grumpiness start to ease off... And that *is* a good feeling. Hopefully tomorrow won't start with pounding on my front door! 

The Secret to Aging

So, I was watching Dr. Oz this afternoon after a run at the YMCA, and he was sharing his prescription for aging well. To start his show, he introduced a couple of older gentlemen who were *much* older than they looked, one was 88 and looked about 70 and the other was 64 and looked 45. He asked both men, what is your secret to looking so young? Or, in other words, aging well? And both men started their answers with, "Love life..." Both men had found what they love doing in life and hobbies they loved, and spent their lives doing it. Then, they both said, "I have a great wife." They both had partners whom they loved sharing their lives with. The third thing on their lists? Eat veggies. So, while I was expecting some strange list of things to do or not to do, it boiled down to common sense things. 

1. Love life.

2. Spend your life with people you love.

3. Eat your veggies (and yes, they talked about restricting calories)

4. Get some cardo and strength exercise weekly (cardo 2-3 times a week, strength 2-3 times a week)

Then! He has some interesting little "experiments" to test yourself. 
First- how many push-ups can you do? 

Second- when you pinch (gently) the skin on your hand, how long does it take for the crease to disappear? This demonstrates the elasticity of your skin. 

So what's my point? There isn't a special secret to aging well! Just use your head: Eat well, Live well, and Love well! 

Blogging from my itouch

It's Saturday morning, I'm still in bed, and here I am blogging :) I am trying out the blog app on my iPod and enjoying that it might motivate me to start blogging regularly again! It's pretty amazing what I can do from this little device... I can check my balances, pay my bills, find a car or house to buy, my nearest starbucks (or any other nearest thing). I can do a yoga session, manage my schedule, stream pandora (or radio paradise!), catch up on the medal standings at the olympics, send email, chat, figure out what constellation that is, or cheer with a cow bell! Now if I could just get it to make me coffee...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone