Weekend cornucopia

Thanks, everyone, for sharing the photos of your desks. I'm reminded that my workspace is sadly devoid of plant life. I must remedy that. Keep the photos coming, if you haven't already.

Friday night Brent and I enjoyed one of our new favorite restaurants called Tender Greens. Service is fast, the food is delicious, relatively inexpensive, and relatively healthy (I had grilled veggies, spinach salad and amazing mashed potatoes). I topped it off with one of their lemon cupcakes. I highly recommend that So. Cal folks check it out if they're near Culver City. Josh and Jami took a cooking class there recently, which also sounds like a lot of fun.

After dinner we headed over to Backstage Bar & Grill, a little dive karaoke bar to celebrate the birthday of my lovely friend, Tori. I had the opportunity to catch up with some old friends, which is always nice.

I bought Tori a birthday card, which I forgot to bring with me. (Bad friend! Oops!) When I saw it, I laughed out loud - seriously. And when I went to pay for it, the cashier decided to read it, which threw me off. He confirmed that it was funny, while I laughed uncomfortably. Isn't that an unspoken rule? The cashier isn't supposed to look at the card... right?

Saturday morning Brent and I tried a blink-and-you'll-miss-it restaurant at the bottom of a Travelodge motel called Metro Cafe. We read food blogger Bree's recommendation last week and had to try that exact breakfast for ourselves. Freakin' delicious! It was the perfect amount of food, along with the fruit bowl that Brent and I split.

That afternoon I convinced Brent to see an award-winning indie film with me called Once. It's a musical (but not in the conventional musical sense, no dance numbers or anything like that) set in Dublin. It's about the relationship of two musicians and tells a beautiful story about what inspires music and lyrics. Instead of using actors who could sing, they used singers who could act. The music was very Damien Rice-ish, which I later learned made sense because the main male character and his band, The Frames, toured with Damien Rice. I loved the story and cast, but something about the film reminded me of why I don't go to museums - it's filled with beautiful things, but tires me out. I did really enjoy it, though, as did Brent. Be warned that the camera work is a bit shaky. Brent actually felt nauseous at the end of the film, although I hadn't really noticed. If nothing else, check out the music from the film if you like haunting music, heavy in piano and guitar. I bought the album as soon as we got home.

I spent Saturday evening doing laundry and cleaning out my closet. I know - you're jealous of my raucous night. Both of those tasks were long overdue. And I'm excited to donate three bags of clothes and shoes.

I'm trying to become a "runner." Brent is a runner, and I've always been envious of people who can just go for a jog. I'm currently training myself on the treadmill, in the hopes that one day I'll be able to join my hubby as he hits the streets and in many cases, the beach. (A perk of living blocks from the ocean.) I started a few weeks ago, alternating 1 minute of walking with 2 minutes of running. I worked up to alternating 5 minutes walking, 5 running. Then I managed to walk 5, run 10, repeat (all to total 30 minutes). Well, today I overcame another barrier and was able to walk 5, then basically run for 25 minutes with just a few very short breaks. Excuse me while I pat myself on the back. I hope to keep up the endurance and build up my speed.

I hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day. I, myself, hate this time of year as I'm reminded by a plethora of ads that my dad is no longer here. Having said that, I am thankful to have the best father-in-law. He's a wonderful man who never ceases to amazing me with his generosity, intelligence, love of his family, work ethic and values. (And did I mention that he's the one who introduced me to Maroon 5? That's a fun story I'll have to tell later.) And lucky for me, Brent has inherited so many of his dad's wonderful traits. Although Brent's parents are in Turkey on vacation, Brent, his brother and I pitched in and sent some treats to their hotel room for a long-distance "Happy Father's Day!"

Hope you all had a great weekend!

"My father's name was Dwight Schrute. My grandfather's name was Dwight Schrute. His father's name Dwide Schrude. Amish. I loved my father very much. Every morning he'd wake up at dawn and make us biscuits with gravy. When I was little my dad and I played a lot of games together. My dad cheated a lot but I never busted him on it. I would have, except I didn't know about it. He didn't tell me till years later. I was shocked when I found out. "- Dwight, The Office