eringee

Oh, baby.

2010-01-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

My friends had a baby over the weekend. In order to help, I thought I'd leave a little bag of good eats for them. I made a Shepard's Pie on the fly that turned out a whole lot better than I thought it would. Goes something like this:

Sautee a large sweet onion in a few Ts of evoo for about 15 minutes (getting it on its way to caramelizing). Then add a few stalks of celery, a few big carrots, and a medium-ish sweet potato (all diced pretty small) and a few cloves of crushed garlic - sautee another 5 or 10 minutes. Add a couple of cups of nice veggie broth, some thyme, pepper, and rosemary, and let it simmer on medium heat for another half an hour.

In the meantime, boil a big pot of water, toss in diced Yukon gold (or fingerling as I had them on hand) potatoes - maybe 1.5 or 2 pounds worth. Boil until soft. Mash em with a good amount of salt and pepper (and soy milk and non-dairy margarine if you're feeling indulgent, which I was - telling myself it was a gift helped).

While the veggies simmer and the potatoes boil, toss some veggie crumble (like Boca that you can buy in the freezer section) into a pan with a little oil and cook on med-high with about 1/2 cup of marsala until the marsala is all burned off and the crumbles are browned up and a little crispy.

Throw the crumbles down in a layer on the bottom of a glass casserole. Throw the veggie mixture on top (during simmering if it dries up, add water, when you're ready to use it, if it's too wet, add some flour or cornstarch to thicken it up), and finish with your nicely mashed potatoes. Bake at 350 for about a half an hour. Let stand for 10 minutes as to not loose the roof of your mouth. Enjoy!

Fresh.

2010-01-10T18:37:00.000-08:00

Last night we watched "Perfect Getaway" (just scary enough with a good twist) while I satisfied my craving for Thai food. I made a spicy peanut sauce (which is generally some combination of soy milk, peanut butter, garlic, ginger, sirracha, corriander, sugar, vinegar, onion, salt, and sometimes hoisin sauce) and put that over rice noodles. Which, in a really-reaching sort of a way, is a poor man's Pad Thai. And then I made spring rolls, well my kind of spring rolls, which are more Vietnamese than Thai, but just go with it.

The spring rolls had spicy tempeh, green onion, red pepper, lettuce, carrot, and cilantro. We dipped them in a sweet hot chili sauce that was pretty awesome. The trick is to boil sugar and vinegar together just long enough to get a syrup and then add a little chili-garlic paste (enough to make it burn just right). The combination of that sweet, super spicy, sticky sauce on a chewy, cool, fresh spring roll stuffed with cilantro and fresh veggies is really delicious. If you're in to that sort of thing, and I am.

I ran a few miles at the gym today and then came home and spent three or four hours working in my yard. I had to transplant quite a few things and do some cleaning up and freeze-preparation in the garden. It was pretty fun, if you're into that sort of thing (and I am).

Italian Thursdays

2010-01-08T12:46:00.000-08:00

I have two confessions to make. The first is that I love pizza. The second is that I watch The Jersey Shore on MTV. Okay, one is significantly much more embarrassing than the other and we all know which it is.

Last night was the premier of Italian Thursdays. The plan was to eat pizza bites and watch the leather-skinned kids of The Jersey Shore make trouble.

I stuffed the pizza bites with caramelized onions, red peppers, sundried tomatoes, and kalamata olives. I made a tasty marinara and a warm, gooey "cheese" sauce. I laid the golden puffs of pizza on a plate, then ladled the sauces into ramekins. I sat down happily on the couch, a smile on my pizza-loving face, until we realized the new episode of the aforementioned embarrassing show wasn't on until 10pm. I don't even stay up that late, much or less eat that late.

The pizza bites ended up accompanying season one episodes of Veronica Mars. Now that I think about it, Veronica and her father often comment on their love for Italian food throughout the course of that series. I guess the premier of Italian Thursdays didn't go so wrong after all.

Getting to it.

2010-01-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had tea with my friend Laura. Laura always manages to shed light on any thing I am struggling with. I told her I'd been thinking of starting a new blog. I told her I missed what it felt like to just "put something out there". I told her I didn't know if it should be about cooking, about running, about photography, about writing. Laura told me, "Well, it should just be about you." Laura's always right.

Isabelle started running with me this week. It's great to have someone to run with for a lot of reasons. I can run outside without the irrational fear that I'm going to fall, injure myself, and be unable to scream for help (I said it was irrational). I can run at night without the rational fear of being killed in any number of ways one might be killed at night. I can feel good about the fact that I'm getting someone else to run. I can feel better about the fact that it inspires me to run more.

So last night we ran 2.5 miles. I'm using "ran" really loosely here, but "jog" and "walk" and "limp" are far less sexy. And after that run I baked some tofu, heated up some leftover piccata sauce and roasted some asparagus, zucchini, and yellow squash. It was pretty delicious. But aren't most things when consumed following major exertion? (I'm using "major" really loosely here).

Coming around.

2009-03-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

I found myself writing a letter
that summed up the last four years of my life
as I re-read what I'd been able to write
I sat back and smiled

I realized the way my story unfolded
was pretty amazing
I'd been:
semi-happy and extremely broke in New York;
then I'd been extremely unhappy and semi-broke in St. Pete;
and now I'm very happy and not really at all broke at home

How far I've come in four years
Now a vegan.
Now a runner.
Now a graduate student.
So many things I never dreamt I would be.
Maybe life starts at 30.
At least it has for me...

Why I Became Vegan.

2008-10-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

I've never written much about being vegan, even though I keep a vegan food blog there is nary a mention of the whys and hows of my "extreme" lifestyle. So, if you're interested even a little bit, here it goes:

I was at dinner with my dear friend Jen about a year and a half ago and she was telling me about some of the books she'd been reading and how they'd affected her eating habits and more importantly her reality. She no longer saw meat and dairy in the same way, the veil had been lifted for her.

I'd stopped eating red meat more than a decade previous, but (in the interest of full disclosure here), I'd actually had a few steaks that year because when I'd been in Paris it seemed the thing to do and I did it...and I won't lie, it was pretty tasty. So then a meatball here, a few ribs there, and I was surprising myself by my new intake of animal flesh. (For the record, I was very vegetarian when I lived in New York and Brooklyn, only occasionally indulging in sushi when the mood struck).

Jen gave me a few books that night, and when I went home I opened Peter Singer's The Ethics of What We Eat. I read the entire book in the following week. I cried a lot, and ingested even more. I was outraged and so, so angry. How did all of these things happen to millions of animals each year and yet the general public was virtually unaware. Or rather, unwilling to be aware.

I started researching, I bought more books, I read a lot and watched a little (I could hardly stomach but a couple of PETA videos). I stopped eating animal flesh immediately. I mentally punished myself for the mistakes I’d made in the previous year (taking many steps backwards instead of forward by that occasional steak indulgence). I actually felt moved enough by what I’d read to go vegan. I realized even reverting back to my vegetarianism wasn’t enough.

By the end of November I was intaking my last vestiges of my non-vegan life. Funny enough, cream in my coffee was my biggest concern. I hated the way soy milk or nut milk or even flavored soy creamer tasted. I was so used to the way standard dairy flavored my coffee. But I stuck with it and finally stopped using cream and started using Silk. And then, if I remember correctly, I actually had mozzarella cheese on a pizza as the very last serving of dairy. That was right around Thanksgiving last year.

So I took the plunge. I did nutritional research, and I got educated enough to feel comfortable with living a vegan life. And it wasn’t long before I started to reap the benefits of cutting out animal products.

I think the most important thing about it, for me, and what I’d like to communicate is how amazing I feel on the inside. Yes, I am healthier than I have ever been in my entire life (have the full blown blood work up to prove it). But what I’m talking about is how special it feels to know that you are part of an elite, evolved group of people that do not put their habitual nature and their taste buds above compassion and doing what is so clearly the right thing.

Now, I realize I ate a standard diet for 29 years, many of them were years in which I was making the choice to do so. I can feel bad about that all I want, but mostly I feel good about leaving it behind. And I try to remember that when I’m getting angry at the people around me as they hit the drive through for lunch or grill up burgers for dinner. Occasionally I lose the fight and lose my cool. But more and more these days I am working toward a even keeled delivery of information if I know the person is open to hearing it.

And, if you’ve read this far, I am only asking one thing of you as a person who is in my life and how hopefully cares about me. Do your research. Understand what you are eating. Make conscious choices. Ignorant bliss is just plain ignorant. So here are some links, maybe you’ll read an article. Or, if you’re daring you’ll go over to PETA and watch a video. But at the very least think, think about where your lunch came from. Contemplate the suffering the was caused so you could bake a meatloaf for dinner. Ask yourself why you’re scared to know more than you do right now about why chicken is so damn cheap in the face of rising grocery costs.

If you have a minute read about…
factory farmed animals,

lab animals,

animals used for entertainment,

dogs and other animals forced to fight,

puppy mills,

homeless companion animals,

fish, and

animals used for fur

All in a day's work.

2008-09-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

First a note about my photos...I got some albums posted on my website thanks to google. Go here, eringee.com, and click on the "smile" link to see them if you'd like. I'll add more soon.

Second, I've been volunteering each Wednesday in my mom's first grade classroom. To say it's been an experience is an understatement. I've liked it so much that I now wonder what would have become of me if I'd had the experience 10 years ago. Alas, I have to assume this is my ideal path as it's the one I've walked down, so perhaps I'm only supposed to understand now that teaching was truly always in my blood.

Anywho, the kids are hilarious as 6 and 7-year-olds can sometimes be. They are good group, my mom would agree, and some of them really like having me there. I took their first day photos and tomorrow I'm taking some action shots. You can see their funny faces in the Mom's Class album on my photo page mentioned above. Devin-Michael and Semaj are my favorites right now. Devin wears a harness on the bus and Semaj is about the size of a 4-year-old. Apparently I have a thing for the special cases.

Alright, alright, new site.

2008-09-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

I got an email from Aunt Susan the other day that said, "Where is your blog?" To which I thought, "Hmmmm, where is my blog?" Turns out when I changed hosts that my blog did not migrate in the way I thought it would. To boot, many of the images I had stored in my blog over the last 18 months or so are gone (Well not completely, but from my blog, which makes reading old posts less exciting). In any matter, this has given me opportunity to give my website a facelift (check out eringee.com) and shortly there will be many new photos available there (where I know they won't disappear).

In any matter, as with many things (and in the wise words of Ms. Joni Mitchell), you don't know what got 'till it's gone. So, I'm going to try and post in my blog more regularly. That is, unless we are flung into a full-on economic depression and I am standing in line waiting for bread rations. In which case - I'll see you there and I'll just tell you about my life in person.

Powerful Stuff.

2008-08-11T09:18:00.001-07:00

My women's studies list serv sent this out, it's very powerful. I was super-pleased to see the charity link after the video played is to my absolute favorite charitable organization, Global Giving. They've organized the projects that empower girls in poverty under a new movement called "The Girl Effect". Watch the video and then visit this link: Girl Effect

Around the House.

2008-08-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

While a good lot of the people in my life have seen my new place, plenty have not. These are by no means a perfect replacement for an in-person tour (so stop on by and please bring wine), but they might give you a little insight into my little place...(click the images to make 'em bigger)...

(top l to r: lulu lounging, dining room pendant, hanging succulent; bottom l to r: porch lantern, vintage dishes, siam noodle cart turned liquor stand)

(top to bottom: jewlery box, herb garden, reading corner, cactus, bathroom decor)

Another year older.

2008-07-08T08:24:00.000-07:00

Well, it's done, I'm out of my 20s. I thought I would handle it gracefully and then as it approached I thought I would die from fear of being older than 29. And now it's done and it was totally fine and really fun. Amber came to town, got to see my new place and celebrate with me. It was a great weekend that reminded me of how great my life is and how amazing my friends are.

More Birthday pics!

2008-07-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

And more pics!

2008-07-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

And, yep...a few more...

2008-07-08T08:21:00.001-07:00

yep, yep...last ones.

2008-07-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

On the brink.

2008-06-09T12:27:00.000-07:00

I will be 30 in less than a month. For the umpteenth time I find my life in transition. I am getting ready to move, I am getting ready to start some graduate program or another. I am on the way to places, but feel nowhere just yet. I never thought an age would bother me, did not imagine I was the type. And yet, there are milestones that make you take stock and I am rapidly approaching a big one. So how do you weigh the life in your years and decide if the years in your life have been good ones?

Send money and moral support.

2008-05-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

I'm moving, and isn't it about time?! I have been thinking for a few months I would wait until my friends Chris and Janet vacated their place (a great old cottage on Round Lake), but their move to Miami is up in the air and just a plausability at best. So when I saw a listing for an entire private property with a garage apartment on the back of the lot just one block from my mother I had to check it out. Turns out it is perfect for me. I move July 1. I will happily accept cash gifts and well wishes at any time!

I Used to be Someone Else Entirely.

2008-05-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

I’ve been researching nutrition schools in the past week. Most programs will require me to have or earn, as the case is, a B.S. degree. This would make my course of study some 4 plus years. Not that this is scaring me off entirely, but it’s certainly making the idea less attractive. I have found shorter programs, one wonderful one in particular (that’s in New York City, of course) that might satisfy my needs. The problem is, I’m not really sure if this is what I truly want to do, or if I feel disheartened by the unfoldings at USF and am looking to force myself down a new path (instead of finding it naturally). I suppose regardless, it is still amusing that I (of all people) am considering nutrition school. I remember the Super Size McDonald’s value meal girl that I used to be and I laugh. Well and I cry a little. I think of all the wasted years when I ate poison and sat on the couch while the world moved around me. I am glad I know better now, some people never figure it out. Our ability to shift and change and adapt is simply amazing to me.

The End of the Beginning.

2008-04-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

School is over for the semester. I got an A in my class. We had a party Monday night at my professor's house to celebrate her final graduate class (she is retiring and stepping down as director of the department). I cried and asked her to have dinner with me, and she was happy to accept. It's nice to have a mentor, even if she won't be wandering the halls of the department anymore.

There's a lot up in the air at USF with budget cuts and graduate student funding loss and potential department dissolution. I am not sure what will happen, or if I will even return to school in the fall. But it's been a great ride, and it's changed me in the most positive and wonderful ways. I see now that we can be reborn as often as we want to be. We just have to do the work to grow up all over again and again.

Tooting my own horn.

2008-04-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

I got my official GRE scores in the mail yesterday (which included my not-yet-revealed analytical writing scores). The writing score was the only thing I didn't know, so as I tore into the envelope I thought about all I'd read...the writing pieces are scored by three official readers (mostly college professors) and graded by the half point between 0 and 6. You are given the mean score of the three scores and it is rounded to the nearest .5 point. The average writing score for the GRE population is 4.1. Anything above a 5 is hard to get. I got a 5.5. I was astounded and delighted. The official ETS testing site (people that administer the test) says:

Score Levels 6 and 5.5
Sustains insightful, in-depth analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with logically compelling reasons and/or highly persuasive examples; is well focused and well organized; skillfully uses sentence variety and precise vocabulary to convey meaning effectively; demonstrates superior facility with sentence structure and language usage but may have minor errors that do not interfere with meaning.

As I said to my mother after I gleefully revealed my score to her last night, "if I'd known I could do this well on the GRE I would have gone to Grad school for something really hard years ago." Ha.

Vegan Vacationing

2008-04-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

I got back from a fun-filled weekend in New Orleans late last night. While we were there for the star-studded 10th Anniversary performance of the Vagina Monologues at the SuperDome, it also happened to be the pretty famous French Quarter Jazz Festival.

Driving into New Orleans past neighborhoods abandoned and still in utter disrepair from Katrina is heart wrenching. Pulling into the French Quarter and see bustling streets and open businesses is heart warming. I hadn't been to New Orleans in ten years and I feared the damage from Katrina would act as a dark cloud over the trip, though quite the contrary it made me appreciate the resiliency of such an amazing city and the warrior-spirit of its people.

I got to eat west African food, go on a Haunted History tour, trek from one end of New Orleans to the other and back again, walk along the Mississippi, tour a historic above-ground cemetary, listen to some amazing activists talk about the work they do interntionally to help women who are victims of violence, see an awe-inspiring cast perform an incredibly moving version of the Vagina Monologues, and take some great pictures along the way.

I left New Orleans thinking, "I could live here." The city was as vibrant and inspiring as I found it all those years ago. That does not overshadow the many devastating and real problems going on right outside of the tiny area where the tourists flock. Problems that inspire me to do continue down the path I'm on, to help women and promote human rights. Perhaps one day I'll even do it in New Orleans.

Grrr! The GRE.

2008-04-01T11:36:00.001-07:00

So, I took the dang test yesterday after 48-hours of straight studying. It went like this:

Metal detector, pat down, put your things in a locker, swear yourself in, sign in blood, show two photo IDs (most of that is true) and then get led into a dismall little room and into your very own cube.

Present your perspective on an issue - 45 minutes of timed writing.
Discuss the presented argument (how reasonable and sound it is) - 45 minutes of timed writing.
Qualitative exam - 30 questions in 45 minutes
Verbal exam - 30 questions in 30 minutes
Random section (can be anything, may or may NOT be experimental and ungraded - you don't know so you have to treat it as real) - Qualitative (OF COURSE!) 30 more math questions.

Both times I did not finish all 30 qualitative questions in time. The first time it happened I started to freak out. Second time, I was so over it.

At the end of this three hour plus journey the computer says, "Would you like to see your scores?" Which actually means, "Would you like to report these scores to the schools you are applying to?" Which actually means, this is going on your PERMANENT RECORD.

So...drum roll...I got a 1280 (perfect split, 640 on each). I am rounding up to a 1300 to sound really smart:) I am very pleased. Prior to 2001 those scores would have gotten me into Mensa. Now they just get me into grad school, and that is just fine with me!

Sentimental Heart

2008-03-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

I sit for the GRE in about 36 hours. Terrible. My shoulders are locked up six inches above where they normally sit. I ran a 5K this afternoon just to avoid algebraic equations. Yay for the run, boo for the quadratic equation. I'll never need to find inverse angles in an isosoles triangle EVER AGAIN (shit, I can't even spell isosoles!) I took a "real" practice test given by the people who actually administer the GRE this afternoon. I scored higher on the math section. I think in all my worrying about equations and statistics I let my vocabulary completely fade into oblivion. Terrible.

It'll be over soon. Until then I am eating my perfected vegan chocolate chip cookies with wreckless abandon (I did do all that running after all) and listening to Zooey Deschanel's new album, which soothes my aching heart. I am pretty sure my four-months vegan anniversary came and went. I'm pretty proud of myself.

"What can you do with a sentimental heart?" - zooey deschanel, "Sentimental Heart"

Guts and Brains

2008-03-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks to some ironic (or perhaps telling) timing, my greatest intellectual achievements are occurring in tandem with my greatest physical ones. And this forces to me really think about what I’d rather be valued for: my brains or my gut (or lack thereof)? It seems an easy answer, but when you’re getting attention for your physical merits (that you’ve worked very hard to achieve) for the first time in your life, it’s really intoxicating. Having people tell me how great I look and how cool it is that I work so hard (most folks know that I spin, and I run, and I have a personal trainer – and if you don’t know that, now you do) is really amazing and never ceases to feel good (though I am often embarrassed by the “how much weight have you lost” question). My dear cousin even said I should be in People Magazine the other day, which really got me thinking about how far I’ve come. And even though the feminist in me knows that my brain and my heart are what really counts, I’d be lying if I said a smaller waistline wasn’t pretty great as well.

I hope in time I can reconcile the two new versions of myself – the inside and the outside – and figure how to live what seems (on some days) a completely new life. And what I do know is, it’s a better life, a healthier one. For my brain and my body, and I guess that’s what counts.

Healing Yourself.

2008-02-19T08:16:00.000-08:00

School is amazing. Every Monday at 9pm when class is over and we still all sit around for a while longer and talk and then some of us stand around outside and talk some more and then sadly part ways to drive home, I feel so invigorated. Sharing my thoughts and my time and listening to all of these amazing like-minded women is really like nothing I have ever experienced. I’m in awe of how safe we all feel to share personal stories that relate to our women’s health readings and to bare our souls to virtual strangers each week. We grow closer as the weeks pass, of course, but still our unadulterated divulging delights me each week.

I told myself when I started grad school that I had to be alright with it going nowhere (meaning, I might get a Master’s degree and never use it). And I know for sure now that it would be perfectly fine if I never went further in my studies, and never used my degree professionally. Though I think I will do both, I would be just as happy for just having had this experience. There is a lot to be said for personal enrichment.

In other news, I’m on my third week of working with a personal trainer. I now go to the gym almost every day of the week. For a girl who used to hate the thought of belonging to a gym…well, I’ve come a long way. Laurie has even agreed to let me run with her. I’ve been practicing on the treadmill, but I am sure I’ll still slow her down. Hopefully my company will make up for it

2008-01-29T12:31:00.000-08:00

Last night I (finally!) had my second meeting of class. The second week was cancelled because we were to go see Maya Angelou speak on campus (didn't go - long story), and the third week was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So, last night we all finally gathered to talk about our readings on sexism and racism. The class basically went like this: someone started talking and then no one in the room ever shut up. It was this incredibly classy elbow-throwing conversation in which 15 incredibly different people (who have intelligence and open-mindedness in common) all tried to weigh in on subjects from acculturation’s affect on healthcare access to the cultural construction of gender. My head was spinning on the drive home. I had to stay up half the night reading one of the YA novels Aunt Jane gave me for Christmas so I could stop thinking about how white, sheltered, and privileged I am.

Next week we talk about global health and economics.

Tonight I am going to see Eric Hutchinson open for One Republic (I'm into both) at the State Theatre. I love seeing bands in small venues, even though I'm getting a bit too old to rock it until very late on a weeknight. Ha.

Right now I'm cleaning up my office so I can meet Max Mayfield in a minute.

Let the games begin...

2008-01-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

Sping semester got underway this week. I had my first real graduate course (well in Women's Studies that is), on Monday night. The course is called Women's Health and Politics. The reading level is really intense (I went through all the assigned readings for this week to get a rough page count for myself...and I'm guessing the page count is between 500 and 600 hundred). Mind you, this volume of reading is out of a medical journals and dense text books. None of it is an easy read. But, alas, the subject matter is all very interesting to me and though not half way through yet, I have faith that I will finish it all by Monday night.

My first class went something like this: in a small room in the basement (yes basement!) of the Faculty Office Building on the USF Tampa campus, 16 women of varying backgrounds gathered and waited quietly for Dr. Myerson (the Director of the Women's Studies Graduate Program at USF). She came in at 6 on the dot, all smiles, with hugs for her returning students, and arms full of healthy/yummy snacks to share with everyone. She explained that she always brings food to her graduate students for she is the only one being paid to sit there and that she always starts her classes off with a 5 minute meditation to help us clear our minds and join together in the room. She dimmed the lights and led us in breathing exercises and said some nice things about washing the day away and making our minds clear. And damn if I wasn't genuinely more relaxed when she was done!

We passed the hummus and carrots and fig newtons and terra chips and talked for two hours about what a "woman" is. She felt it would give us the framework for a course in women's health.

I left the room that night excited and elated and eager to get down to reading those 500 pages so I could participate in what is bound to be riveting discussion next week. I didn't even mind the 40 mile drive home...I had so much to think about, the time hardly mattered.

I'll be 30 in a matter of months. I think I found my place in the world not a moment too soon. Every woman in her own time I suppose:)

Stay tuned for school updates, GRE drama, and Presidential primary talk.

2007: A year in review

2008-01-02T13:25:00.001-08:00

A list!!!

2007: A Year in Review

1. What is one thing you did in 2007 that you'd never done before? Experienced veganism.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn’t make any, nor do I ever.

3. Did someone close to you give birth? Leslie Burket!

4. Did anyone close to you die? People close to my family yes – Uncle Dick and Jennifer Jones.

5. What countries did you visit? None! I think my international travels are an every-other-year thing…so I guess I better get planning this year.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? I think I want to get my own place. I love my mother, but I also love my privacy.

7. What days from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? The day my grandmother went into the hospital. My first day of school. My 29th birthday. The day Drew went into the hospital.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Going back to school. I am very proud of myself for finally doing something I’ve wanted to do for many years.

9. What was your biggest failure? I’ve done pretty alright this year. I’ve been good to my family and personally been moving in the right direction.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I almost cut my thumb off…still paying those bills, but nothing serious. It was just everyone around me who decided to almost die.

11. What was the best thing you bought? My health. It hasn’t been cheap, but worth it.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My grandmother has been very strong and resilient this year!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled? I could start a list of strangers that could go on forever, starting with our President, but I’ll stick to people I know…and in that arena I can’t really think of anyone. Well actually I can, but I’m not into mudslinging in my journal.

14. Where did most of your money go? Paying off my debt…which it took me more than seven years to do…but it’s done. I do not have one credit card with one balance to my name. It’s an amazing accomplishment.

15. What did you get really, really excited about? Being debt free, and going back to school.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? I love this question…but it’s so tough. Let’s see…oh gosh I know, Amos Lee’s “Supply and Demand”.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or hardened? Both, but happier if I had to choose.
ii. thinner or fatter? Thinner! Thank goodness.
iii. richer or poorer? Better off financially for sure.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? I always wished I’d traveled more and I also wished I’d communicated more in a couple of the relationships in my life. I can see now that I’ve gone too far down a dark road to turn around. And I think talking along the way could have fixed that.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Whine. I felt like my family was having a really bad year and I realize now I whined about that a lot. No one likes a whiner.

20. What was your favorite TV program? I didn’t really love anything that much this year.

23. What was the best book you read? Olivia…which was one of my text books for my class but also a very well written book about a very amazing women who’s led the most horrific life and managed to turn it around.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery? I think that would have to be the Everybodyfields.

25. What did you want and get? A return to school.

26. What did you want and not get? An apartment.

27. Favorite film of this year? I have seriously seen so few movies this year it’s pathetic…I can’t even think of one to jot down here.

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 29 and I went out bar hopping downtown with friends and it was really surprisingly fun.

29. What kept you sane? My friends. I marvel constantly at the amazing relationships I have in my life. My friends and family are just amazing.

30. Who was the best new person you met? Easy – Dr. Marilyn Myerson…she is the director of the graduate program I am studying in and she is so completely amazing. She is everything I didn’t know I wanted to be in this life. I can’t wait to start taking her women’s health seminar next week. I’m so nervous!

2007: a recap

2008-01-02T12:12:00.000-08:00

So I looked back in my old blog to see what I said around the New Year last year...and here is the entry I made right before we rang in '07:

2006 brought me...
A better sense of self.
A new career.
A new/old home.
A renewed relationship with my best friend.
A once-again-close relationship with my family (in that I get to see the more and enjoy them more again).
A belief that love often lives in the last place you look (perhaps the place you've just left).
The realization that truly nothing is better than laughing with your closest friends (even when they're far away).

What did 2006 bring you?

So here is the same thing for 2007. Oh what a difference a year can make...

2007 brought me:
Back to school...finally.
Much better health.
A love for spinning.
New friends.
Vegetarianism and the holier-than-thou attitude that goes with it:)
Lots of new books and new ideas.
A constantly-evolving version of myself.
Longer hair.

What has 2007 brought you?

What a great time to talk about STUFF!

2007-12-27T07:07:00.000-08:00

In arguably the premiere month for consumption, certainly in our country, I'd like everyone to take a minute (or twenty - but even if you don't watch the whole thing you get the idea in the first few minutes) and watch this absolutely amazing, succinct, thoughtful, and entertaining Story of Stuff (which is a cool little video that gets to the heart of the problems we are causing on this planet). Watching this video will enlighten you if you let it and move you if you sit through more than a couple minutes. And maybe it will even provide you with a little insight into my life. For anyone who questions my vegetarian diet or my vegan morals or my recycling bins or my desire to empower young women to get out of ghettos and get into government, question no more...

The Story of Stuff

Reasons to Celebrate.

2007-12-05T10:28:00.000-08:00

The holiday season means something quite different to the college student. In addition to eggnog, gingerbread, and bloated consumerism, I must deal with taking a final and presenting a final project. Today said project was due (so now I simply have to sit for a multi-hour cumulative final in class next week - ugh), and I am so very relieved. So much so that I just might make some cookies and spend some money on gifts tonight!

Stay tuned for more holiday posting, and in the meantime if you’d like to see my final project for class you can view my Public Service Announcement (aiming to educate the public on the reality of the prostitution problem in the United States), you can view it here:

Click to watch (please turn on your speakers as the song is half the gut-wrenching goodness!)

Thankful.

2007-11-27T10:44:00.000-08:00

Oh, oh, oh, I have not been a good blog poster. But, today I was reading the news (read: the world’s atrocities) and it made me realize that I hadn’t yet written an “I’m thankful for…” list this year…which traditionally I do enjoy doing. It’s the only part of the celebration of Thanksgiving that’s even worth it (well, except for playing games with the family and eating Uncle John’s paella! Those are great too).

So, make your own list if you like…

This year, I am thankful for…

1. Grad school and how studying for tests makes me feel whole again.
2. Feminism and all it has taught me.
3. My family’s prevailing health, despite all the gut wrenching moments.
4. Constant reminders of how precious and fleeting life really is.
5. LuLu’s unwaivering devotion and hilarious personality.
6. My wonderful, wonderful friends and our constantly-evolving dynamics.
7. A job that doesn’t care if I go back to school and even supports the decision.
8. New friendships that crop up when you least expect it.
9. Great, great music that continues to sneak through the cracks and rise above the pop-terrible Top 40.
10. The new game tournaments at family holiday gatherings.
11. Spinning and how strong it makes me feel.
12. Vegetarianism and how good it makes me feel.
13. My remaining awe at humankind, though it often lets me down.
14. Great new books (text books at that!)
15. Breaks in the weather that let me wear sweaters.
16. New boots and the weather mentioned above in which to wear them.
17. My friend’s children’s birthday parties.
18. Wednesday night darts.
19. Retractable sharpies (now if they’d just make the keychain mini retractable!)
20. Reminders that this path is the right one.

Alright, 20’s enough – how about you?

Two posts in one day...isn't that always the way.

2007-11-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

Well for hours and hours and weeks and weeks and even months and months I have been working on a product line my father is putting out of spices and spice blends (primarily intended to be custom branded as real estate closing gifts - but also good for gifts in general and regular people)...and I'm finally just about done with the project, which makes me wanna jump for joy. It's been a long, interesting road doing package design and building an entire e-commerce by my lonesome. I still have lots to learn. But i did a pretty good job: www.carolinaspices.com

Spooky!

2007-11-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been one month since I've posted. Drew's on the mend, I'm more than half done with my first semester back in school, I'm off to New York in a few weekends, and the holidays are upon us. Ferris Buller said it best: "Life moves so fast, if you don't stop to take a look around once in a while you might miss it."

Last night was Halloween, I played darts as a pickle (sorry, no photo evidence), and Lulu handed out candy as a panda bear. I carved two wicked pumpkins and, as always, my mom made the house look super scary!

Lulu told me she wants to be a cat next year (I fear this is purely for evil, sneaky reasons).

Oh the OLOGY survey!

2007-10-01T11:42:00.001-07:00

MOUTHOLOGY

Q. What is your salad dressing of choice?
You know, I have a HUGE issue with salad dressings, I really hate most of them. I would take a homemade vinaigrette if I had a choice.

Q. What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
Evos!

Q. What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
I love Red Mesa...they don't ever disappoint me.

Q. On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant?
20%, or more, I'm a good tipper.

Q. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
Guacamole...and I bet I have done that before.

Q. What are your pizza toppings of choice?
When I make my own (which is more than when I order it out), I put on onions and peppers and mushrooms and cheese and sometimes something fun like shrimp.

Q. What do you like to put on your toast?
I don't eat toast...I put egg beaters on my toasted english muffins though.

TECHNOLOGY

Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer?
Lulu in her raincoat.

Q. How many televisions are in your house/apartment?
2, but I reign over neither.

BIOLOGY

Q. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right

Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
Adenoids.

Q. When was the last time you had a cavity?
Just once, many years ago.

Q. What is the last heavy item you lifted?
one of those televisions when I was losing control over it.

Q. Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
I don't think so.

BULL[CRAP]OLOGY

Q. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
Oh goodness no.

Q. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
This is so funny (b/c I used to HATE IT) but I would go by my middle name: Lee.

Q. What color(s) do you think looks best on you?
Red and Emerald Green.

Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake?
I'm not sure, I know I stuffed friendship beads up my nose as a baby and had to go to the hospital...wait, maybe that was Drew?

Q. Have you ever saved some one's life?
Well each day I make it without killing Drew right now is a miracle...no, kidding...I think Amber saved a girl's life on the highway the night of her 25th birthday and I was standing beside her with a first aid kit. She did more to help the girl, I just called 911. Though, we're not sure if the girl died (it was a bad, bad accident on Georgia 401 at 4am btw. a motorcycle and two other cars...I help one guy with major road rash get some blood cleaned up). We gave the Amber's number and begged them to call us to tell us they were all okay but they never did.

Q. Has someone ever saved yours?
I've never really been in a life-threatening situation. Though, I'd say my friends have saved my sanity on a number of occasions and I am sure my mother's wanted to kill me many times but abstained:)

Q: Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
Hardwood. Of course, the house is not mine.

Q: Do you sit or stand in the shower?
Who sits? I stand.

Q: Could you live with roommates?
Oh how I miss living alone...how I dream of the quiet, the solidarity, the do what you want, watch what you want, eat what you want, sleep when you want, sing when you want, say what you want...wait, what was the question?

Q: How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
Oh man, so many! This is florida. I have a whole bin under my bed. I'd guess 20 pair.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Wise. And fulfilled.

LASTOLOGY

Q: Last person who called you?
Blockbuster...funny story actually...whoever had my phone number before me owes the BB some serious cash...so I get automated calls about twice a week reminding me that I don't pay the $185 balance due on the account it is going to go into collections. As I keep getting the calls, and have had this new number about six months, I am guessing Blockbuster doesn't actually send you to collections - perhaps good to know.

Q: Person you last hugged?
Lulu...not a person, but close enough.

RANDOMOLOGY

Q: First place you went this morning?
to the back door to let lulu out.

Q: What can you not wait to do?
start grad school.

Q: What's the last movie you went to see?
I haven't been to see a movie in a long time, but the last one I watched was Silence of the Lambs. Fava beans, anyone?

Q: Do you smile often?
I laugh a lot, so I am sure I do.

Q: Are you a friendly person?
I am friendly to strangers, it is only once you know me that you discover what a negative nelly I am.

What a Month!

2007-10-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

Well, as most of my blog-readers know, it's been quite a month for the Griffins. My brother decided to get the worst kind of Staph known to man and had to be hospitalized and then sent into emergency surgery to get a chunk of his body cut away to attempt to rid him of infection. He's now living back at my mom's as he receives daily in-home healthcare from nurses that help with IV antibiotics and wound dressing changes and all things medical. While he's likely hating quarantine and certainly not happy about the estimated length of his recovery, I think he might slightly enjoy the service he receives as Casa Ann.

I'd say, it's good to have family (and medical insurance). I feel truly sad for anyone lacking either.

PS - in case you are reading this as news, the other interesting part of my September came when I nearly cut my thumb off and had to sit at St. Anthony's for half of a Friday while waiting to get stitched up.

You Can't Win 'Em All

2007-09-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

Well, Jessica did not make the finals. As there were 10 very deserving women, I am happy for the five that the public vote narrowed it to. I hope whoever wins enjoys their 5-star New York weekend. As a former resident of that city, the trip wouldn't have exactly been a major life highlight for me - so I hope someone who has never been to Manhattan gets to go and experience it!

As for me it's back to reading The Female Offender and being obsessed with all the crime shows on Discovery Times (I think if my mother has to listen to one more hour of "Crimes that Shook the World" she'll take away my television privledges).

The First Day of School

2007-08-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

I had my first Gender and Crime class this morning (funny they changed the title from Women and Crime to Gender and Crime last week and enrollment shot up, filling the class, just two days before the start of it). The professor is awesome; I am really looking forward to listening to her lecture for a semester. She is primarily a criminology professor, but her interest within the field is female offenders.

The highlight of the first session went something like this: Dr. Cecil was giving a very brief history of feminism and feminist criminology and asked the class who believed in women's rights...I'd say 70% of the class raised their hands (disturbing to me that it was not everyone, or at least all of the women - which is most of the class, save for 5 or 6 guys), and then she followed up by asking us to keep our hands up if we considered ourselves a feminist. Only myself and one black woman in the front row kept their hand up. Our professor smiled at each of us (all two of us) and said, "Well, good to know I'm not totally alone." Which served to bond us three a little bit. And then she went on to read the dictionary definition of a feminist (which is, for those who do not know, "an individual who believes in social, financial, and political equality for all.") She noted that most studies show that when people are asked if they believe in, "insert definition here," more than 75% of peopled polled (men and women) agree, that number drops to less than 1/3 of that percentage if the question contains the word feminist.

Needless to say this is going to be a great class for me, and I already made friends with the middle aged black criminology major who I talked to after class.

AND! Crazy small world...a friend I went to high school with is in my class. We haven't seen each other in 11 years, yet both chose the same semester to back to school and the same class to take first. Funny, that.

Oh and one post script – I found this cool little ‘what is women’s studies’ thing on the Emory University site (they have one of the best PhD programs in the country) and I thought it might serve as explanation about my studies to my friends and family:

What is women's and gender studies?
Women's and gender studies draws on the humanities, arts, social and biological sciences to explore the broad range of intellectual questions concerning both the social positions of women and the gendered constructions of knowledge, identity, and culture. Students in the program have the opportunity to study theories of feminism, gender, and sexuality; the diversity of women's experiences and representations past and present; and women's movements in the United States and around the globe.

What can I do with a degree in women's and gender studies?
The women's and gender studies curriculum prepares students for a wide range of careers. Graduates of our program are applying their skills and knowledge to academic and professional pursuits in medicine, law, education, government, social service, public policy, religion, counseling, international relations, journalism, publishing, business, and the arts. Click here for a list of what some of our graduates are currently doing.

Glamour's Woman of the Year

2007-08-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

Weeee! She made it!

So, per my previous post I nominated an author and feminist activist whom I admire very much for the Glamour Woman of the Year Award and she made the finals!
Jessica's nomination

You can vote for her there (or any of the finalists - they all sound amazing - all the finalists) and if we make the semi-finals (I think) we both go to the gala in New York. It's stiff competition, so either way I will be happy. It's funny how you do little things like that assuming nothing will come of it. And in the end she won a spot in the finals, some major national recognition, and I got the inspiration I needed to get off my a*s and go back to school.

How funny, I start class tomorrow morning at 8am! Wish me luck.

A student once again...

2007-08-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Well, here's my big news of the week: I am going back to school. After nearly a decade of talking about it, I finally jumped off the cliff. I am going to seek admission to the graduate program for Women and Gender Studies at USF in the spring. I have a lot of work to do (essays to write and a GRE to take - and score well on - in the next few months). I am starting this term by taking a class I can transfer into the program: Women and Crime. What could be cooler than profiling female serial killers all term!?

Needless to say I am scared to death, but very excited. I can't say that I've felt so good about a decision in a very long time. I think I spent most of my young adulthood resisting a life of academia, assuming that it could only lead to teaching (which I thought was something I would not enjoy doing). It is only as I've gotten older, I've realized two important things: a) teaching is in my blood and I probably would enjoy it and b) there are other ways to apply a graduate degree.

So, off I go to read about female killers and study for the GRE. Boy I loved the smell of freshly sharpened pencils!

What a Wonderful World

2007-08-20T12:41:00.001-07:00

I have been experiencing one of the cooler things to happen to me in this life today. The story goes something like this:

About a month ago I nominated the author of a blog that I read daily (www.feministing.com) and a book that I enjoyed very much (Full Front Feminism) for the Glamour Woman of the Year Award. Then, about a week ago, I got an email from a staff member at Glamour asking if she could get more information from me regarding my nomination and some photographs of the woman (Jessica Valenti) I nominated. My back and forth with this staff member made me think perhaps Jessica was seriously being considered. The staff member was clear in that she could not say if Jessica was going to make the 'finals' (all finalists are asked to attend a black tie gala in New York City in the fall with the person who nominated them - that would be me), but that I should watch Glamour's website in the coming weeks to see if that was the case.

THEN! Then, then, then...this morning I get a phone call from another staff member at Glamour asking if she can interview me about my nomination. But of course! I happily (and hopefully intelligently) answered all of her questions and explained that, thanks to Jessica's writing and activism, I was considering going back to school myself in order to pursue a passion and take my writing more seriously. At the end of the conversation the Glamour staff member had to get all of my contact information including a physical mailing address which makes me think Jessica might actually be a finalist! Which would be absolutely amazing.

Past winner include amazing women (activists, politicians, environmentalists), and plenty of good intentioned celebrities too (Queen Latifah, Sandra Bullock, Katie Couric). If I get to go to the ball I bet I will take some amazing photos! (And I will get my camera in if I have to hide it up my dress, taped to my body).

Oh me Oh my

2007-08-14T13:45:00.001-07:00

I am already bad about posting! Gah!

Here are some fun things though. First, a cute quiz-deal:

My name is: Erin
But you can call me: the greatest person you have ever met.
Never in my life have I: walked on hot coals.
The one person who can drive me nuts is: Peter Loui.
My high school is: St. Petersburg High School
When I'm nervous: Attempt to not puke in an inappropriate place.
The last song I listened to was: Something from the Chocolat Soundtrack
If I were to get married right now it would be to: I wouldn't get married, I don't believe in it.
My hair is: in need of a dye job.
When I was 4: I lived in Marietta, Georgia.
Last Christmas: I was with my family and happy to not be rushing back to Brooklyn.
I should be: Doing some work! Terrible.
When I look down I see: a black leather office chair.
The happiest recent event was: This is sad, I can't remember the last time I was really happy. Oh wait, I won darts the other night...it mad me obnoxiously happy.
If I were a character on 'Friends': I would be terribly happy that I lived in a HUGE apartment in New York City for, apparently, very cheap. I would buy said apartment in fiction-land and then sell it in the real world for a very, very large profit.
By this time next year: I better not be living in my mother's house...but it's hard to say.
My current gripe is: the state of politics in our nation.
I have a hard time understanding: Calculus.
If I won an award, the first person I would tell would be: My mom.
I want to buy: a new car! And a house. Oh just a few little things;)
I would like to visit: the West Coast and go on a wonderful, aimless road trip out there.
If you spent the night at my house: I would put clean sheets on the guest bed and fresh towels in the shower.
The world could do without: Oh the list is so long!
Most recent thing I've bought myself: I am on the verge of buying the camera of my dreams (seriously, the shopping cart of B&H Photo is open in another window on my computer)
Most recent thing someone else bought me: Probably a drink?
My middle name is: Lee
Last night I was: watching a terrible movie, but in good company.
Tomorrow I am: working on my future.

Well now I have run out of time, but I will post more tomorrow!

It's Friday.

2007-08-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

Thank the heavens! I don't know why i could use a break, my life is not that hard. I am busy at work these days and doing multiple freelance projects right now. My dear friend Chris needs an online portfolio so that is underway. And my dad's branded spice blends business and really moving full steam ahead so I'm building the site for that. Toby and company have lots of things for me to do day to day right now, so...for the first time in a long time...a weekend is once the week's end to me. There was a while there when Saturday and Tuesday were not so different for me. That was both blissful and boring for a while.

I wish you a wonderful weekend, and if you have a minute (and a desire to be driven TOTALLY INSANE) you can play this game:
pop the bubbles
(TIP: don't click the bubbles, it pauses the game, just 'touch' them with your mouse as they move across the screen in order to pop them before they get to the opposite side).

What's shakin?

2007-08-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

You might be wondering what I've been up to. And even if you haven't...here it goes...

I've been spending time with LuLu:

Spending time with Laurie:

Spending time with Amber (Happy Birthday to Amb by the way, she turned 29 yesterday, a mere three weeks after me - that bitch!):

And spending time with my family. My grandmother had quite the health scare this summer...but she is home after a long stay in the hospital and doing well!

Oh, it's a new blog!

2007-08-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hello journal fans! You may have wondered (and some of you have even asked), why on earth hasn't Erin posted in such a long, long time!

Well, partially I'm just lazy and forgetful. But, I have also been having problems with Live Journal. I made a few posts that never appeared and I've never been able to easily post pictures (and you know that is my favorit thing!) But I do miss staying connected in this small way to my friends and family. So, here it is, eringee's new blog!

I'll put up a few long-overdue posts in short succession and then try to post more regularly now that I have this fun new toy to do it with!