MicaPie

From the West Coast

Mica — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:03:23 +0000

Hello! The boyfriend and I are with his family in southern California, celebrating his brother’s graduation from Harvey Mudd College. Bill Nye (The Science Guy!) was the keynote speaker, and he gave a somewhat depressing speech.

We’re spending less than 48 hours here. Today, we’re flying back to Illinois. Tomorrow, we drive to the Outer Banks to spend a few days at the beach with my family.

I still took time to stop and smell the roses, which are abundant here, despite California’s arid climate:

All my friends can attest that I am terrified of California, especially southern California, for its natural disasters and its high percentage of beautiful people (and the high prices and glitziness). On the other hand, the boyfriend loves almost everything about it, especially these stubby palm trees.

Since we’re so unsettled, I see every new place we visit as a potential home, so I’ve been trying to imagine myself living here eventually. (I can’t.)

I decided on the plane that I don’t want to buy a house any time soon, and I’m trying to override my strong drive to settle (which stems from my need for control in my life). If there’s one thing that I’ve learned since graduating from college four years ago, it’s that I really shouldn’t try to plan out my life more than a few years in advance. In fact, last week, I lost my mind and tried to re-evaluate my academic plan for my final year of graduate school.

One step at a time. Today’s step: get ready for the beach!

Beach vacation

Freak-the-F*ck-Out Catering

Mica — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:09:55 +0000

Are you a Korean hosting a baby shower for another Korean?

Are you totally confused by the concept of an American baby shower?

Then you should hire Freak the F*ck Out Catering to provide the cake for your next event.

I will bake a ridiculously humongous cake for the shower. Four sticks of butter? No problem! Two packages of cream cheese? Bring it on!

Flying down country roads with a three-layer, half-assembled cake in the backseat of a sedan? Done and done!

(Recipe here.)

Just imagine your pregnant guest of honor cutting through those delicate swirls of jam and cream cheese frosting…

Your caterer may have passed out on the floor, but at least the layers will be clean:

Seriously, this cake was the most massive baking project I’ve ever undertaken, and it wasn’t even that complex! And because it was for Narae’s baby shower, I was terrified that I would mess it up. All in all, I think it turned out quite well, and the other shower guests said it was very tasty. I’ll definitely make it again, though ideally, I won’t have to drive it anywhere….

Last Day

Mica — Sun, 06 May 2012 17:14:22 +0000

My goodness, I have been in school for a long time!

We celebrated the last day of 2nd year Korean by having class in a campus coffee shop. Then we subsequently had several issues trying to take a class picture.

한국어 수업:

Later, Jenna showed me her Swahili portfolio. Let’s talk about how sad our window-less office is:

Then I proceeded to “read” Swahili:

And then I said good-bye to this semester’s crop of students. One even sang a Carpenters’ song to me.

This week, it’s time to study, grade, pack (for two short trips–to California and then to Virginia!), clean…and also, bake a cake for a friend’s baby shower. I hope I don’t accidentally give the baby diabetes with a sugar overload.

Back tomorrow

Mica — Fri, 04 May 2012 04:17:00 +0000

For some reason, WordPress isn’t letting me upload photos tonight, so I’ll be back tomorrow. In the mean time, check out my post on the Body N’ Sole blog about comparing your PRs to other people’s. Related posts:Bye-bye, Jessica. Womp … Continue reading → Related posts:

Tornado Warning!

Mica — Wed, 02 May 2012 03:19:35 +0000

This afternoon, while I was grading, Ryan alerted me that we were under a tornado warning. After verifying this on weather.com (Rotation had been spotted in a nearby town.), I took my grading and my laptop into the closet under the stairs. Just as I started to feel silly, crammed next to my bike rack, the tornado sirens went off.

I dragged Bodger into the closet and closed the door. After about fifteen minutes, Ryan confirmed that the sun was shining and that it was safe to emerge.(Bodger, meanwhile, took a nap.)

Apparently, there was a tornado about two miles away trying to touch down. Obviously, I did not go stand by the windows to see what significant weather I could observe.

No related posts.

Homeless Bandit

Mica — Tue, 01 May 2012 02:40:40 +0000

Spectating the races on Saturday was really fun! I thought I would be a little sad that I wasn’t running anything, but all in all, I’m glad that I got to cheer on my friends.

I was especially excited to run a few hundred yards with Lena as she finished up an awesome 10K!

Her boyfriend Mike snapped this photo as we ran past. I was trying to get out of Lena’s way, but apparently, she wanted me in the photo too.

I think I look like a homeless race bandit.

I’d also like to point out that I’m wearing the hat that I knitted a few weeks ago. And also, my foot is doing some kind of wonky pronation.

Also: since my 10K split of my last half-marathon is four minutes faster than my 10K PR, I should probably run another race. Except caring about times makes me hyper competitive and neurotic, so many I should just not run races anymore.

Overheard at a race expo.

Mica — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 02:42:29 +0000

Customer: Ugh, rain tomorrow! I’m worried, especially after all the perfect days I trained on.

Me: It’s better than hot. It’ll be cool. I ran my PR on a rainy day.

Customer: Well, I ran my PR on a really hot day…with hills…you know, St. Louis.

Me: Er…well….

Customer: Really, I’m just concerned about the wind.

Me: Ah, just find someone large to run behind? You know, draft!

Customer: A large person? Hm…I don’t think there will be any fast enough for me.

…Dude, take your need for validation elsewhere because I’ve rung up way too many packets of GU to care.

Then I learned how to ride my bike.

Bye-bye, Jessica. Womp womp.

Mica — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:45:57 +0000

Jessica’s last day.

Boo, I miss you already.

I can’t handle this!

And also: Check out my recap of River-to-River on the Body ‘N Sole blog.

BodyNSoleGoSlugs!

Mica — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 03:51:32 +0000

Our 2012 River-to-River relay team was so full of badassery, I can barely stand it!

It was an awesome experience, and it got me jazzed about running again. I’m so honored to be part of such a talented, fun team.

Recap forthcoming, but first, I gotta’ sleep.

I eat dessert regularly.

Mica — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 04:20:05 +0000

I may not have trained a lot for River to River, but you can’t say that I’ll show up unprepared:

I’ve been working on eating more intuitively, namely eating when I’m hungry and not eating when I’m, you know, not hungry. Oddly enough, this is a deceptively difficult concept!

I eat dessert almost every night, though usually not in excess. I’m pretty sure two conflicting schools of thought are at work here. On one hand, I want to enjoy myself and eat a tasty treat in the evening, especially after I’ve done homework and gotten settled in for the night. On other hand, I’m not particularly hungry when I eat dessert (most of the time). Moreover, the dessert serves no nutritive function, so I’m mostly eating out of habit or desire to nom-nom something delicious.

(Post-race blondies? Don’t mind if I do!)

I think that overall, I have a very healthy and normal approach to eating, though I do often eat past the point of fullness for reasons that I have yet to identify. I don’t deny myself foods because that seems like a dangerous and unpleasant path to start upon.

I’m pretty sure that I will continue to eat dessert on a regular, if not daily, basis. Nevertheless, I would like to approach it in a more mindful way. For example, if I’m feeling full, eating a cupcake is not a logical decision, nor will it be terribly enjoyable. (I am very good at convincing myself that eating dessert is always the answer!) If I’m going to eat dessert, I should enjoy it, right? When I was little, my dad always told me that we should “savor the flavor.” I used to find it maddening that he could eat a cookie in so many small bites, when I was more inclined to shove the whole thing in my mouth, but like most things, my dad knows best. Let’s savor the flavor, okay?

I’m not sure what kind of impression people have of me from this blog, though most of my readers actually know me in real life. Maybe to some, I give off the false impression that I never think about my weight or what I eat, and that’s not always true. I wanted to be honest and write that like almost all women I know, I sometimes struggle with my weight and with the way I approach food.

And with that, I will leave you with a picture of chocolate chip banana bread.