Goal for the week:

I've recently had a revelation in my battle to fight laziness or procrastination or whatever you want to call it. I think laziness is really at the heart of the matter. But the progress is that I've realized that "goals of the week" work much better for me than open-ended "to-do lists" which I write in my red notebook and then never really look at again. short-term goals, in accomplishable numbers, work much better. And posting them on my blog holds me accountable. We saw how it worked with the veggie garden. (p.s. my goal for last week was to get a haircut, which i didnt blog about, but i did accomplish. bangs are now part of my life, and although it was a slightly traumatic experience, i think it worked out in the end.) So here it is for this week:

1. paint something: preferably the living room, but there are other things such as the book shelf and a window pane project that could suffice too. my dad stocked us up with lots of much appreciated painting supplies this weekend.

2. change my name. (a trip to the social security office.)

3. make chicken and cashews in lettuce wraps.

in other news:

• in case we were wondering if my allergy medicine works...i forgot to take it this morning and i think i have sneezed literally 50 times. 30 of those time while i was driving to work. dangerous. i may really begin counting and let you know how it turns out.
• we spent time at home (in marietta) this weekend with many dearly loved friends and our families (mine whose time in marietta is too quickly waning). a highlight was a 3 hour breakfast with Ashley and her boyfriend Drew who now reside in Philly. I look forward to more sweet moments of our long-distance friendship with them. they gave us some music recommendations that i'm excited about too, and even though i havnt listened to them yet, they come from a good source and i'll pass on the advice. from the mouth of ashely russ, check out: vampire weekend, white rabbits, beirut, and devotchka.
• we were walking on the square this weekend and we passed a man with his wife and daughter, wearing sunglasses and a brimmed hat. but when he looked at me he looked SO familiar. i stared and he gave me a small "i know you recognize me" smile and nod. my gut instinct was that he was famous, but then i racked my brain for where i could know him. church? where have i seen that face? oh my! it's Alton Brown! i grabbed Keith and said, that guy is on the food network! he has like three shows! Keith proceeded to run down the sidewalk after him assuring me that i wanted to talk to him. I stopped him before it was too late, but it was a pretty exciting experience. apparently Alton lives right off the square and has been spotted often, including in keith's dad's store.