Julia Child.

Even though it's a gazillion degrees out, I came home from work today, pulled on my apron and went to work making a chicken pot pie. I don't know - it seemed like a good idea when I was grocery shopping yesterday. It came out the way it usually does - the first two pieces fall apart and I curse a lot and WHY is there so much damn liquid inside this thing and then Tim and I eat and it's delicious (though fragmented) and then the other four pieces come right out of the pan, looking beautiful. And then I dump them into tupperwares and they break apart. No one will ever see my true artistry.

I have decided to make a carrot cake and some carrot cake cupcakes for my birthday next week. I am already getting excited about baking and frosting (ginger cream cheese!) I am also excited for Tim and I's Friday night date to see Julie & Julia. I really enjoyed Julie Powell's book, and Julia Child's My Life in France, both of which inspired the movie. Plus it's Norah Ephron - so what more could you want? Reading those two books was part of what inspired me to start learning how to cook.

Speaking of cooking, I shared my mom's pie crust recipe with my friend Anne, and her pies won second place at the Ventura County fair. YEAH BOY. It looks like I am turning into an old lady who exchange recipes. I am looking forward to cookie swap parties in the near future. I'll bring the snowballs!

After all of my cooking was done tonight, I walked over to the library. Strolling to the library is one of my favorite things to do. It's about a mile, and I pass by the community center, the pool, the park, a couple of little churches and a coffee shop. And Sony Pictures Studios. I returned three books and got three more, including Kristen Chenowith's autobiography, which I am enjoying thus far. I stopped and got frogurt on the way home from the frogurtarium across the street.

In other news, I have signed up for another 5K. Ugh. But I have been feeling a little soft around the middle lately, and having a race seems to be the only thing that consistently lights a fire under my ass. I am not paying $30 to go and embarrass myself on a race course! I also figure that if we do in fact get pregnant this fall, and if I do in fact want to have a sub 30 minute 5K to my name, I better get my buns in gear. I went running last night at the gym and am slightly crippled today. The good news is that I can still run 3.1 miles without needing to stop (okay, I stopped last night when my shoe came untied... but then I ran 3.15 miles to make up for it.) Even though I hate running, I also loved knowing that I could run, and run far, and run pretty fast, back when I was pounding out 10Ks last summer and fall. Now when I get on the treadmill, I can't even imagine managing that distance, but I know I have it in my somewhere. Deep down past my lazy-genes and my overwhelming need to skip the gym in favor of a nap.