Slice of Pink

Visiting the Getty Villa

I am so excited to cross #2 off my 31 Before 31 list: Visit the Getty Villa. Mrs. Curieuse, Jenny, and I spent a lovely afternoon touring the grounds and galleries of the Villa and enjoying the amazing weather in Pacific Palisades.

It had been over 10 years since I had studied Greek and Roman Art--which is what the Villa is nearly exclusively comprised of--and, although I was an Art History major, my focus was Impressionism through Post-Modernism. I could remember very little about the things I learned in the single Greek Art and Architecture course I took in 2000 except a) the styles of Greek columns and b) the vessel they made the wine in (what? at least I remember the important details). Here it is: the krater, a vessel for mixing wine:

There, now you know the important stuff, too.

Perhaps I should take an Art History course this year! Wouldn't it be fun to brush up on a long-since forgotten period or two?

Increase Productivity: January

One of my 2011 Resolutions was to increase my productivity. I even have a plan of sorts. Will bought me a Moleskine weekly planner and each day I am writing down just five small goals--things like send a thank you note, make a dental appointment, pick up a birthday gift--and I am checking off the tasks by the end of the day. I also make a larger weekly goal that I jot down at the top of the page and cross off by Sunday.

Here's a recap of my weekly goals for January:

Week 1 and 2: Get my Address Book in Order
This took TWO weeks. I had over 600 addresses in the address book on my Mac, literally every person I had collected an address or telephone number from since 1999. For instance, that guy I met in the quad at UCSB, exchanged numbers with, and never spoke to again. And a girl in my Islamic Architecture class that I studied with one time, in 2002. And some guy named Fred. I dutifully deleted anyone I was never going to contact again. Then, with the remaining folks, I updated their addresses to the very best of my ability.

Week 3: Clean Out Email Boxes
I'm not too bad at email, but each of my two email boxes had accumulated about 80 messages. I know some people operate with thousands of messages, but I get anxiety when the items occupy more than a single page; so, I set out to empty the boxes. Each day I reduced the box by 50 percent. On Monday, I deleted or archived 40 messages per account. On Tuesday, I cut that in half for a total of 20 per box and, on Wednesday, reduced that number to 10. And so on. It got harder as the week progressed because I started with emails that required only a quick and easy response or a simple click of the "Delete" button. By Friday, I was dealing with just 2 emails, but ones that required some lengthier action on my part.

Week 4: Work on 31 Before 31
I am massively behind on my 31 Before 31 list and I will likely extend the deadline for myself, but I was able to make some progress. I continued my geography studies, visited the Getty Villa, completed some Martha tasks, and did some running. More on all of this to come!

Hooray for Productivity!

We've now entered my birthday week and I have a fun task for the week, one more about giving and less about productivity, which I will tell you about in a few days!

Two Thousand Ten

I resolve to not go on the Internet after 8 PM (spoiler: massive fail). I cross some items off my 30 Before 30 list, including finding a good eyeliner, going on a hike, making an article of clothing, and wine tasting. I get annoyed at Facebook Fan Pages (but later create one for Slice of Pink! The hypocrisy!). I tell you seven random things about me and all about Will's polite contest. I teach you how to make healthy morning muffins.

I almost complete my 30 Before 30 list, and create a 31 Before 31 list. My friend Jenny organizes a perfectly pink Vegas extravaganza for my 30th birthday, complete with pink glittered cupcakes. I blow out 30 candles. I run a 5k, make some decisions, and knit yarn hearts on a chain link fence in Oakland. I get swindled.

Y'all taught me how to buy a dress on E-Bay. I get labeled crazy. My friends and I set up a photo shoot and I take pictures of all of our professors for the annual law school auction. I attend a conference in Denver to discuss the topic of mothering. I make another decision. The lovely Janet and I celebrate a very merry unbirthday at Crown and Crumpet. I introduce you to Greg.

I star in the law school movie. I help throw a bridal shower for my cousin, Katie, and discover the most perfect-ever bridal shower gift. I watch Katie and Greg tie the knot, then do a routine on the dance floor. I am very proud of my hair and dress. I eat at Fat Face, attend Picnic Day (and enjoy some drama), and make Blueberry Cows. I make some decisions. I complete my last law school class and then go watch the Depraved Hearts play for the last time. The law school coffee cart burns to the ground. My sister turns 20.

I take my final final and graduate from Law School (with an awesome hairdo). We make a trip to the Ferry Building, eat at Tartine, and do some shopping. I cross #17 off my 31 Before 31 list, make Fleur de Sel Caramels.

I gather macaron recipes for you. Nintendo throws a Wii party at my house. I launch Pink University, a series of posts from wonderful guest bloggers who cover Slice of Pink while I study for the Bar Exam. I am an Aunt! Apple caused me to fall even more in love with them.

This is the single existing photo of me from July 2010 as I spent the entire month studying for, taking, crying over, and talking about the California Bar Exam. I basically lost a month of my life. I also answered a few of your questions, did some decidering, and told you some random places I've stood.

I celebrate finishing the Bar in Santa Barbara, where I eat fancy figs and drink champagne, then end up at a club dancing to Pitbul. I make Brown Sugar Cherry Cakes and a bracelet. I sell things on Craigslist, do 13 things on Friday the 13th, and overuse the exclamation point. My mom calls to make sure I'm packing boxes. Instead of packing boxes, I go to San Francisco to pick up a bridesmaid dress and eat at a bakery. I eat a piece of bacon. I attend a gorgeous, lavender-filled wedding.

We move to the beach! My couch does not make it into the U-Haul (which just means we have to buy an awesome new one). I invite you over to shower. I eat a lot of Ben and Jerry's, buy a rocking chair and credenza, and live without a microwave (still going strong!). We celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary, late but in style. Some cute frat boys save the day at the annual Margarita and Avocado Festival. Will turns 35. I buy him a bread machine, get involved in a dangerous enchilada incident, and buy a big cake. I start the Black and Gray experiment. I attend the wedding of the beautiful and graceful Femme Curieuse.

I join the Style Lush team. I wear Black and Gray. I help Kickstart Ben's band. I buy an iPhone (and, even better, a Kate Spade case!). I find out that Buster Posey is, like, 12 years old. I complete the Isla Vista Loop and live to blog about it. We get caught in the rain and eat a lot of pumpkin pancakes.

I start teaching myself about wine (and provide you with some lessons as well). I make a Mighty SLO List and start crossing things off by going to the Drive-in. I make Ginger Molasses Cookies. I buy red shoes from a consignment store and jeans with stirrups from Gap. We go to see the 5 Browns. I check out Dinosaur Caves park. A salesperson talks me into some super fabulous sheets. I pass the Bar Exam and Jenny buys me a cherry pie to celebrate.

I guest post at Gen Pink and give you some more wine lessons (and a champagne lesson, too). I buy a defective Ikea dresser (they've since sent the missing part). I am surprised to find out that not everyone eats green Jell-o salad with their holiday meals. I fix my hair into a side bun, go a little crazy on the holiday treats aisle at Trader Joe's, and start re-reading Little Women, one of my childhood favorites. I find gift shopping complicated, as usual, and vow to simplify next year, as usual. I make some potpourri pies and give you a for realz last minute shopping list. I go to Ojai to ring in the New Year.

Good times, good year (minus July). Thanks for reading about all these adventures, dear friends, and for all the sweet comments! You make my world go round! See you in 2011!

Simplifing Christmas

One of my 31 Before 31 items was to simplify Christmas in two measurable ways. I absolutely love spending time with family and friends. I enjoy eating all the holiday treats (particularly Gramma's cutout cookies of which I only got TWO because I fell asleep during National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation during which time the cookies were brought out). I have a generally decent time exchanging gifts.

However.

There's a piece of my personality, the perfectionist piece, that drives me absolutely bonkers around the holidays. It's the piece of me that means I'll be in Pottery Barn six times in the weeks before Christmas attempting to find the perfect presents (I am actually on a first name basis with one of the girls at Pottery Barn and, no joke, she suggested I apply for a job so I could get the employee discount). It's the piece of me that requires a perfectly tied, wire-edged gold ribbon on each and every package (I went through three Costco rolls of the stuff. THREE! And the Costco ribbon has many, many yards per roll (i.e. a whole lot) in case you aren't in the business of buying Costco ribbon and did not realize that the amount of ribbon I used could circle the globe at least once).

I've long found the holiday season to be stressful and exhausting and, despite my attempts to simplify, this year was actually no different. One of the ways I simplified was to buy a fair number of gift cards and presents online. A second thing I did was wrap my immediate family's gifts before driving home for the holiday (which meant less middle-of-the-night wrapping). Both of these things helped, to some extent, but I still felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things to do.

I actually went into a Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve Eve to pick up something that could be found no where else in the universe at midnight on the Eve of the Eve of Christmas and, while pushing my cart through the disaster of a store, I threw a pre-wrapped DVD in the cart for my sister. When I got home, I took off the outer layer and, just as advertised, the DVD was wrapped in shiny red paper. I almost broke down and cried with joy at the wonder of that perfectly pre-wrapped DVD. I swear, I almost forgave Wal-Mart in my weakened state for all the bad things they have done. Almost. I mean, I could wrap a DVD in my sleep. Had it been a perfectly wrapped fishing pole or perfectly wrapped hanging plant, I might have kissed Wal-Mart on the mouth and been best friends forever with the place.

Anyway, next year, I'd like to further simplify the holiday so that I can spend more time sipping eggnog and watching It's a Wonderful Life. In fact, next year, I think I might like to wrap everything in brown paper packages tied up in string--a method which almost look better when slightly uneven and lumpy.

Were you able to simplify this season? If so, spill your secrets!

Bubbly

I'm back to my wine lessons, focusing this week on Champagne. What better time to learn about Champagne than the week that ends with a new beginning and millions of glasses raised in toasts to a new year. Here are a few things you ought to know about Champagne:

+ Champagne is produced exclusively within the Champagne region of France. Which means that any bubbly produced elsewhere is actually sparkling wine--not Champagne.

+ Champagne is produced using the Méthode Champenoise, a second fermentation process during which yeast and rock sugar are added.

+ Champagne should be served cold, between 45 and 48° F.

+ Still need to pick up some bottles for New Year's Eve? Here are 11 Champagnes worth seeking out.

Champagne is, of course, delicious alone, but all week I'll be posting some fabulous champagne (or sparkling wine) recipes for your New Year's celebration. Cheers!

Wine Lessons, Week 3

Uh-oh! I'm slightly behind in my studies (this is what happens without a professor setting deadlines). It's all good, though, because I'll just extend the lessons through December. Which, of course, just means more wine!

+ Marta Stewart has a list of Wines to Buy By the Dozen. When you can get a discount for buying in quantity, go for your "house" wine, a mixed case, or rare finds.

+ If you don't plan to serve white wines right away, keep them at room temperature. Before serving, chill for about an hour in the refrigerator.

+ I'm loving these fantastic wine maps from Wine Spectator.

Wine Lessons, Week 2

Did you know that nearly ninety percent of American wine is produced in California? If California were its own country it would be the fourth largest wine producer!

And, in fact, lots of it is produced right here in my backyard. We have bright sun and cool nights to make the grapes happy.

Here's a great list of California's Best!

Wine Lessons, Week 1

I'm finished with Week One of my Wine Lessons. It's fun and interesting learning about wine which, as it turns out, is an incredible intersection of science and art. Here are ten quick facts I learned this week:

1. It's a common misperception that all wines are meant to be aged. In fact, 90 percent of wines are meant to be consumed within a year of bottling. In other words: that wine on your rack? Drink it!

2. "Vintage" indicates the year that the grapes were harvested--every year is a vintage year.

3. You should swirl wine before smelling it to allow oxygen to get into the wine. This releases the bouquet and aroma. The bouquet is the total smell of the wine, while the aroma is the smell of the grapes. The bouquet plus the aroma equals the nose. That's some fancy math. Here it is simplified:

Bouquet = smell of wine
Aroma = smell of grapes
Nose = Bouquet + Aroma

(Aren't you feeling wine savvy already?)

4. Grapes turn to wine via a process called fermentation. Here's some more math: Sugar + Yeast = Alcohol + Carbon Dioxide. So, what happens is the sugar converts to alcohol and the alcohol kills off the yeast. The carbon dioxide dissipates into the air (unless you want your wine sparkling, in which case you trap it).

5. White wine can be made from red grapes! It's the skin on the grapes that determines the color--remove the red skins and you can make white wine! The Champagne region of France produces mostly white wines, but a large percentage of the grapes are actually red.

6. Tannin? A natural preservative.

7. Brix? The measure of sugar in grapes. As sugar increases, acidity decreases.

8. If you can't finish a bottle of wine, cork and refrigerate. Even if it's red. Drink within 48 hours.

9. There are 1,000 names you must memorize to become a Burgundy wine expert (I will not be becoming a Burgundy wine expert this month (or probably ever)).

10. How to Taste, according to Kevin Zraly, my professor: look at the color, swirl, smell three times, take a sip and leave in your mouth for three to five seconds, swallow, concentrate for 60 seconds before discussing.

{Sources: John Cleese's Wine for the Confused; Windows on the World Complete Wine Course}

Wine Syllabus

I'll be spending November learning about wine! I've started with Jon Cleese's Wine for the Confused and have a set of books and films to follow. Plus, lots of field trips and tastings, of course, and a box wine party this Friday. I'll check in each week with some fun facts so that you can learn along with me.

Ten Ways to Know You are Probably Too Old to Be Back in Your College Town

1. You attend a house party as the sober, designated driver.

2. The girls are wearing clothes that you wore the FIRST time they were in style.

3. You pace yourself on The Loop (the 13 bars that, well, form a loop), rather than going balls to the wall.

4. When asked to sign the wall with a Sharpie, you proudly sign "Class of '03, Baby!"

5. Most of the people around were in junior high in '03.

6. You organize in advance so that the whole crew has matching t-shirts.

7. A falling-all-over-the-place drunk girl apologizes to you for her behavior.

8. You get three rooms at the Best Western and take cabs to the bars, rather than sleeping on some random couch.

9. Instead of fearing the cops, you strike up a friendly conversation with them.

10. Almost everybody makes it to the end.

31 Days to Mastery

As part of my 31 Before 31 Project, I need to spend a month learning about something new. I need to get on this project pronto, and need your help deciding what that something should be. It would be nice if the learning consisted of something other than book learning--visits to a museum, time spent in the kitchen, or outdoor activities maybe?

One more guideline: it can't be TOO complicated. I want to conquer the subject in a month, but it's not like I am gonna quit my day job to do it (or lose any sleep). I need a topic I can master in about 30 hours. In other words, learning classical piano or advanced calculus is out.

Bonus points if the topic is something you guys would actually like to hear about.

Go.

#6: Make a Piece of Jewelry

I don't know how, exactly, number six--make a piece of jewelry--ended up on my 31 Before 31 list, but I did know exactly whose help to enlist in completing the task. You may remember Mary, my friend who pledged to spend $0 on clothes, shoes, and accessories in 2010. While she is not allowed to buy accessories, she is allowed to make accessories. Which means she has become absolutely stellar at beading in the last six months.

Mary signed us up for a wiring wrapping class at the local bead store. This was my first time in a bead store and I just about lost my mind over all the bazillions of beads to choose from. It took me thirty minutes to choose the eight beads for my bracelet. And another 15 minutes to choose my toggle (that would be the little thingamabob on the end that keeps the bracelet on your wrist).

The class itself was three hours long. You are probably wondering how it could possibly take three hours to create a bracelet with eight beads. I was wondering that myself, actually. As it turns out: wire wrapping? Hard. This was an advanced class and it took nearly two hours to create my bracelet. Okay, so nobody actually said it was an "advanced" class, that's my own interpretation, but wire wrapping was much more complicated than just stringing some beads on a piece of string. All those wire bits between the beads? Handmade by me!

I'm super proud of my bracelet. The thing cost $17 ($7 plus the class fee) and took me two hours to make, after all. As a result, I've been choosing my clothes for the past three days to match the bracelet.

Fat Face

I'm working on No. 8 on my 31 Before 31 list: try five new Davis businesses.

My new favorite lunch place: Fat Face, a gourmet popsicle shop (current flavors: strawberry lemonade, strawberry coconut, kaffir lime & avocado, thai tea & sweet potato). I had already tried the fantastic popsicles at the Farmers' Market, but had been eagerly waiting a chance to try the sandwiches, which are only available at the Fat Face shop during lunch on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

My order: a pilsner-poached fig "sammich" with caramelized onions, arugula, and goat cheese, paired with a Mexican Coca-Cola, followed with a popsicle. Yum, yum.

31 Before 31

My 31 Before 31 list is completed (and with bonus items to boot)! I've already started on number 1 (Give 31 Gifts in 31 Days) and I've committed to completing at least three items this month. So exciting!

30 Before 30, The Epilogue

Almost a year ago, I set out to complete thirty tasks before my thirtieth birthday. Some of the tasks were simple (bake something for a potluck), while others were decidedly more difficult (visit a foreign country). What a crazy, lovely, wine-filled, lively, sweet adventure it has been!

Some of you have written to say that you are creating 30 Before 30 lists of their own, which I think is a phenomenal idea. I am completely serious when I say that this list changed my year. I've always been the type of person who finds herself mixed up in some extraordinary adventures, but this list upped the ante on fun. Without this list, I probably wouldn't have dragged my sister to a trampoline house or ate only locally grown foods for thirty days or swam in Cancún's turquoise blue water (which reminds me, I have so many photos to show you, still, from our trip to the Yucatán).

I probably wouldn't have joined a conga line for free shots at a Señor Frogs. Then again, maybe that's something I would have done anyway.

But, I definitely would not have run a 5K. I can't tell you how many times I said to Will, panting during a slow training jog, "I'M ONLY DOING THIS FOR THE LIST!"

Best of all was the support from some amazing friends: Sarah who invited us to the A's home opener and an ice cream festival, Jenny who planned my So Pink 30th Birthday Extravaganza, my lovely sister who made peppermint hot cocoa marshmallows with me on Christmas day, April and Savannah who jumped around with me at Sky High, Professor Feeney who assigned a cop ride along as extra-credit in Criminal Procedure (nothing to get something crossed off your list like a little extra credit), Remy who sent me the Apple-Pear Crisp recipe (and Ms. Appetite for Conversation who organized the potluck), Michelle who visited the de Young with me (and provided lots of gentle reminders about keeping up with the list), and, of course, Will who went along for the entire ride, bless his heart.

And, of course, all of you lovely readers who made comments and suggestions and provided lots of enthusiasm! Thank you!

(I'll tell you, if you are going to make a list, by all means, publish it!)

My 31 Before 31 is almost complete--a whole new list of fun adventures (and some not-so-fun tasks, too (California Bar Exam, I'm talking about you)).

My cousin Mike suggested that we attempt the Isla Vista Loop (which is visiting all the places in Isla Vista that serve beer, and having a beer. By going to all beer-serving establishments, a loop is made). I put it on my list. Are you in? I'd love to have you join in on the merrymaking! And what's more merry than spending a day in a college town drinking beers? Alright then, it's settled. We're gonna party like we're 21 (not, um, almost 31).