I don’t know if I will always remember you. Truth be told, you were relatively uneventful. (That is, except for the sweet handbags that accompanied you.)

I suppose that if I ever become a famous blogger, I will remember you for being the year I started blogging. You might also be remembered as the year I decided to go back to school [but then sort of wussed out temporarily].

Don’t feel bad, 2009, for if I ever do remember you, I’ll only have wonderful things to say.

In 2009…

Kenobi turned 1.

Eric and I turned 2, 23 and 27!

The Social Chameleon- early summer

My grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary which brought the Diaz side of the family together for an intimate and absolutely lovely celebration.

Eric and I discovered our favorite restaurant The Social Chameleon.

Animal Kingdom- November '09

Arts and Crafts '09

I improved my culinary skills by making more unique dishes than I’ve ever made in an entire year.

I reunited with one of the most amazing friends I have, her husband and her beautiful baby girl. (Who is growing up way too fast, if I may add!)

I crafted and crafted and crafted! I made scrapbooks and headbands and apartment gardens.

We saw Authority Zero, Streetlight Manifesto, MC Chris, Gogol Bordello, and 311. (Side note: I saw the Rockettes with Grandma!)

I took out my nose ring and vowed to stop getting piercings. (I am clearly getting too old for this!)

I learned my lesson about handbag prices that are too good to be true. (Thanks JoJolie!)

Thank you for all the great times, 2009. And I’m sure you’re very sorry for the less pleasant moments!

Hopefully 2010 brings a more exciting farewell letter!

Love,

L

Now…onto reaping the benefits of my garden! I made pesto with thai basil from my windowsill herb garden. But not just any pesto…white wine pesto chicken. After watching Julie and Julia tonight, I’m inspired to share with you my very own chasing education original recipe. (side note: I’m feeling so inspired by movies lately first Love Happens made me want to be a gardener and now Julie & Julia is making me want to cook. I wonder if I should be watching movies at all in my current malleable state)

you’ll need:

1. 8 to 12 sprigs of basil (My measurements are impeccable, aren’t they?)

2. 1 cup of cooking wine

3. 6 cloves of garlic

4. one pack of boneless, skinless, thin-sliced chicken breast

step 1: season chicken breast with salt and pepper

step 2: put wine, garlic and basil in the blender for a quick spin– don’t liquefy it completely because aesthetically it’s just not appealing

step 3: pour pesto mixture into a pan and heat on medium/low for 5 minutes

step 4: add chicken to pan, cook for 7 minutes on each side, be sure to spoon pesto over the top of the chicken occasionally

step 5: sprinkle fresh mozzarella over chicken before serving

As a side, I tossed some lightly sautéed red and yellow peppers with a tablespoon of goat cheese and a spoonful of whole-wheat rotini (just a spoonful…pasta will not spare your waistline)…voila!  Relax, let us pull up a chair as the dining room proudly presents your dinner!

Eric's 27th Birthday Bash

Dear Life,

You’ve been lovely these past couple of weeks.

Eric’s Surprise 27th Birthday Bash went off without a hitch. The party was held at our favorite little restaurant, The Social Chameleon, and more then 40 of our friends and family joined the festivities. I’m not sure if I will ever be able to out-do the birthday festivities that went on this year!

Halloween 2009

We had a very merry Halloween. Despite our last minute shopping we truly looked like something straight out of Wonderland.

And I still have things to look forward to! Brecca, Chris and London are coming to visit–they are even going to spend the night!

In preparation for their visit, I’ve made jalapeño scones, spanakopita triangles and blondies– All courtesy of Smitten Kitchen.

Keep the good times coming, but maybe give me some extra time to get some school work in…if you can.

Cooking Extravaganza

I will hopefully be writing something lovely regarding education later today. Come back and visit.

Thanks!

-L

Little Lady London

In the spirit of Brecca’s love letters. I have my own letter to write. It’s not quite a love letter. I’m actually bidding farewell to a bitter-sweet internet obsession that I’ve recently developed.

Dear Mommy-Bloggers,

Though one of my closest friends is part of your posse and you are all wildly entertaining and your children are adorable and your love lives are…well…lovely. But I’m going to have to bid you farewell. (With the exception of Brecca, because how else will I watch London grow up?)

You see, you’re playing mind games with me. I’ve lost myself in your wedding pictures and pregnancy diaries. I’m starting to wonder if life is better as a mommy-blogger. But our lives cannot be compared! I am getting my aspirations in order and I am struggling to pursue my dreams. Torturing myself with your Cinderella-stories only serves to obstruct my focus. I’m working on a Master’s degree, not a nursery.

I never had plans for fairy tales weddings and baby-making. As I child, I never dreamed of prince charming and big white wedding dresses. I set out to pursue intellectualism, to travel the world and write books about it. I dreamed of chasing education! Being responsible for the life of a child is an inundating thought for me.  I mean no disrespect to you mommy-bloggers! I think your life is beautiful. I think your babies and your photography and your reading lists are charming. I’ve just known what I want for a long time now and sometimes you make me doubt myself.

Thanks for sharing your happiness, but I need to go find my own.

- L

I discussed the fairy-tale mommy bloggers with Eric recently. I was debating whether it was religion or drugs that made them so happy. Then he reminded me. A person makes a decision to be happy. Maybe their family or their beliefs influence that decision, but the decision belongs to them.

I’ve been struggling to find happiness. I work all night I work all day to pay the bills I have to pay…ain’t it sad? I can’t find a balance between business and pleasure. I want to read; I need to study. I want to write; I need to work.

Turns out all I need to do is turn on the happiness, by doing the things that make me happy.

1. Reading
I have a stack of books that I’ve been collecting all year. Classics like The Catcher in the Rye, The Hitcherhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and more modern works like The Year of Living Bibically and Love Warps the Mind a Little. They keep piling and I’m dying to read them. I will give myself at least three nights a week of reading for at least a half hour.

2. Writing
I love to write. I write web content for work, but I want to write a novel for pleasure. Come on…you know you’d buy my novel. I vow to work on my novel every weekend. Sometimes I’ll work on it even before I do my homework.

3. Art
I have paintings sitting on my music stand that I started over two months ago and haven’t finished. I will finish them by the end of this year! I will also get back to scrapbooking…once I start remembering to carry my camera with me!

4. Listening to music
I stopped expanding my music library when I started my career. The two things are seemingly unrelated, but somehow as the amount of time I spent at work increased, the amount of new music I discovered decreased. That is going to change!

5. Playing music
My piano has been complete abandoned. Well…not completely abandoned. It serves as a stand for my unfinished paintings. This week I’ll dust off the piano. Next week I might actually try to play something. I’m not going to get too ahead of myself. The goal of becoming a real musician might be one I have to save for when I have more time.

6. Indulging my inner-child
I want to play in the park or build a secret fort in my apartment. I think it would be freeing. Different than the kind of freedom adults want (e.g. financial freedom, independence, etc…), but freeing nonetheless.

7. Riding my bike
I had high hopes when I first purchased my lovely green beach-cruiser-road-bike hybrid, but life got in the way! I suppose I will never get to ride it quite as much as I would like to, but twice a week is a reasonable goal.

8. Dating
Dating my one-and-only love― of course! I’m thinking I can combine some of the other things that make me happy (like indulging my inner child and listening to new music) with dating and it could make everything twice as much fun!

9. Cooking
Deb at Smitten Kitchen (she just had a baby; this does not make her a mom blogger. This blog stays!) makes me want to cook something different every night for a year. Unfortunately, I don’t have quite enough cash for all of those ingredients nor do I have enough time to cook every night. But once a week I vow to make something we’ve never had before. I started this week with Smitten Kitchen’s own 44-clove-garlic-soup.

10.  Keeping a cleaner home
This one is bittersweet. I don’t really want to spend every other night wiping counters and putting everything in its place, but I do feel at peace when my humble abode is clean. I will devise a method of keeping my apartment clean without having to spend hours cleaning. I will publish this method once it has been tested.