Saturday, July 09, 2011

he always in the air but he never fly coach

I had a perfectly lovely day - it's rare when I manage to squeeze so many of my favorite things into such a short span of time, but I managed to hit the swampler trifecta today by enjoying a masala chai from Samovar, getting a facial, and buying office supplies from a Japanese stationery store within the span of three hours. And that's not even all the fun stuff that I did today - aren't you excited to read the rest of this post?!?!

The morning started by rolling out of bed, checking twitter, and realizing that I could catch the last space shuttle launch live on tv before leaving for the south bay. So, I watched the shuttle take off while eating the most amazingly delicious peach I've had in ages. Surprisingly, the shuttle launch made me feel like bursting into tears; it really is a glorious achievement for mankind, and I'm quite annoyed that we don't seem to have a solid commitment to space exploration (even though, according to some stats I saw which may have been of dubious origin and I don't feel like verifying tonight, the lifetime cost of the shuttle program was less than the combined total cost of the 2008 bank/insurance/auto bailouts). Granted, my mother should be happy since less space exploration = decreased chance that I will sign up for a one-way ticket to Mars on a whim (although I would only do it if I could blog), but still.

After the launch, I sped down to the glorious south bay and trained with Alyssa, which was lovely in a v. sweaty sort of way. Unfortunately, I wasn't really paying attention post-launch when I was cramming things into my gym bag, and I ended up with two tshirts and no bra. Oops. Perhaps no one that I ran into noticed, but even though I felt more comfortable physically sans underwires, I was psychologically quite uncomfortable all day. But, I got ready, grabbed a quick lunch at Chipotle, drove back to the city of sin, and had a quick masala chai at Samovar while writing some gargoyle stuff for an hour or so. Then, I went to my stylist to get a quick bang trim in preparation for my Germany trip before walking over to the spa (where I still keep meaning to cancel my membership and never quite manage to bring myself to it) and getting a facial. The woman was v. brutally aggressive with extractions, but my travel-ravaged skin looks great (which is why I keep going back).

Post spa, I sped (or rather crawled, since I was trying to get out of the financial district/Union Square at the worst possible time) home and met up with Terry to discuss dinner plans. We agreed on a relatively late dinner, which gave me time to procrastinate and shower before leaving the apartment. We drove to my old neighborhood and had dinner at Mission Beach Cafe, which was utterly delicious - we split a mango/avocado/feta/mixed-green salad, and then I had this filet mignon that may have been one of the best steaks I've ever had. It was served with green beans, heirloom cauliflower, etc., and some v. decorative sauces, and overall was amazing. We ended the meal by splitting a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie a la mode, and I had a fantastic latte that reenergized me for the rest of the night. All in all, it was a great meal, and while I mourned the fact that I've officially become a pretentious foodie, I still loved it.

Our evening took a strange detour after that - rather than going home, we went over to Adit and Priyanka's and visited them for a couple of hours. They're surprisingly well settled into their new place, with tons of photos and paintings (mostly Marina's paintings, mostly Adit's photos) on the walls and a bunch of lovely midcentury modern furniture that Priyanka has scoped out. We drank a fairly delicious wine out of v. nice glasses while discussing the royal wedding, romance novels, midcentury modern design, etc., and it was all quite lovely. But by midnight, Terry and I were both tired (Terry moreso than me, since she went with decaf rather than full-strength coffee at Mission Beach Cafe), so we came back to the lovely, foggy Marina. And now, I should really sleep; I have grand plans to organize my bedroom tomorrow, and I intend to stick to them. Goodnight!

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