sorry.

San Diego
I went to San Diego for work two weekends ago. I was there for less than 48 hours and the full day I had there was dedicated to an 8-hour training - so between that and jet lag I didn't have a lot of free time. The evening I got in I met up with my ex who now lives in SD and her fiance for dinner. They took me to Vegan Zone which was phenomenal. The next day the training kicked my ass, so I went back to my hotel after and passed out. I was heading out the next day, but I had time to go on the morning walking tour of the gas lamp offered by the hotel I was staying at before catching my flight home..

Phipps
Once I was back in Pittsburgh, my mom was in town as well and we went with Steph to Phipps conservatory to see the Thailand exhibit. It was a nice way to welcome spring.

DC
At the end of last week I went to DC for 24 hours for a three hour training at AFGE. I was really excited because I had found an affordable hotel on Capitol Hill and booked a room. The training I was facilitating was on Capitol Hill and I was having dinner with an ex that lives on Capitol Hill (I know, it was the week of the ex's) so it was very convenient, especially for such a short trip. When I got to the hotel they told me that they were overbooked but would pay for a room for me at another hotel - I said I didn't want to be shipped out to Crystal City and they assured me that the hotel would be in DC. Of course I thought anywhere within city limits would be fine - what I didn't know was that there is a hotel on Gallaudet's campus in NE. Not quite as convenient - but I sucked up since it was only one night anyway and they had a shuttle to union station. The hotel was actually quite nice, just not on Capitol Hill.

Edie
On Friday, April 25th Edie Carey played at Hoi Polloi!!! jb and I have been Edie fans since we met and she was on the soundtrack to our falling in love. We first saw her live at CMU in 2002 and last saw her at the velvet lounge when we lived in DC. jb wrote to her never thinking she's play our dinky little cafe - but she did! And it was awesome! She played my favorite songs and was so funny and charming - and she liked the cake I made. It was Rik and Sara's birthday that night so they came for the show and I baked a cake. Despite some stress leading up to the event - it was a really great night.

Sugar
I'm still off the sugar. It hasn't gotten any easier (I've read that cravings are supposed to subside after a couple of weeks - no dice) but I have to admit that I have felt a difference. My head is clearer, it's easier to wake up in the morning, my mood (while not perfect) is a little more even, and I've even lost a pound or two. Which is great - except that I was kind of hoping it wouldn't make a difference and I could run back into the arms of a brownie fudge sundae. May 6th (Tuesday) marks the end of my sugarless month and I will be marking that occasion with something involving ice cream - but am going to try to limiting sugar to once a week. We'll see how it goes.

SB 1250 Hearing

jb and i attended yesterday's hearing and we're famous. In the picture on the Post-Gazette's coverage you can see our ears and hair. I'm in the pink headband and jb has the (disheveled) short blond hair.

Sugar Sugar

When jb and I were in Cleveland for our anniversary we visited their botanical gardens and jb got me these two little jars - one with crystals that absorb water and grow to 300x their original size and one with wheatberries.






I'm hoping to juice the grass once it grows a bit taller.

In other news I haven't had sugar in a week. Well, refined sugar anyway - I'm still eating fruit, dairy and occasionally a bit of honey. I thought I'd give sugar a break, thinking I wouldn't last through the day, but a week later I'm still going strong. I'm now aiming for a month. The hardest part has been avoiding all the hidden sugar. I thought I'd cut out desserts and be home free - but of course nothing is that easy and after a few days of reading labels, it seems if I really want to avoid added sweeteners I have to avoid anything processed. There is sugar in salad dressing (sugar is listed before and dairy in ranch), hot sauce, lean cuisines, everything. Luckily I'm pretty well equipped for this since the cafe is stocked with natural foods and natural sweeteners. I'm still using our juice sweetened jam and may try baking with honey or agave nectar. I've actually felt kind of sick all week - but hopefully the feeling good part will kick in soon.

Ignore Our Ugly Linoleum

Talula is usually more photogenic than Icarus, so I tend to favor her when taking pictures of the puppies (which I admit, I do more often than is healthy). But today I was taking pictures of Talula, and she was hamming it up as usual - when Icarus sat in front of me and barked until I took a picture of him. Too cute. The puppies are very happy to have weather suitable for opening windows.