Outfit chosen…

…and ironed and ready to go.

Thanks to everyone who voiced an opinion on my outfit for the orientation and reception tomorrow evening. I’ve closed comments on the previous post and tallied the votes. There were 3 votes for Option #1, 8 votes for Option #2, and none for Option #3.

While I actually prefer skirts to slacks, and I like Suzanne’s observation that the monochromatic scheme under the jacket of #1 would make me look taller, I’m going to go with the majority. I worried that Option #1 would be a bit too bright, and the darker colors of Option #2 will look nicer and more professional.

Thanks again. I’ll be sure to post a follow-up Thursday or Friday to let y’all know how the lobbying went.

Help! quick!

Did I mention Congress?

I’m going to Congress on Wednesday this week as part of an army of scientists being brought in to lobby on behalf of science funding. I’ve already figured out what I’m wearing to Congress on Wednesday (I bought a new outfit &#150 see it here).

However, there is an orientation and reception Tuesday night for the members of the lobbying team. Presumably, I could dress for this as though I were coming straight from work, but the problem is that I wear shorts or jeans to work. So, I need your opinion on what to wear. Here are three options from my wardrobe (click on the images for a full-sized view and keep in mind that the outfit may not be completely ironed and I’m not wearing the body-constricting undergarments that I’ll be wearing Tuesday).

Let me know in the comments ASAP which outfit you think I should wear.

Option 1	Option 2	Option3

Baking without gluten

My Mom recently discovered that she has trouble digesting gluten, so has switched to a gluten-free diet. For those of you unfamiliar with gluten, it’s in everything, or at least seems to be. The main thing is flour, but also cereals, grains, pasta, breads and many processed foods. It’s everywhere! Check out the table on this page (it starts about halfway down the page) for a good summary.

Mom has tried a few gluten-free products, and found a few she likes and a few that she doesn’t. But, I think she’s gotten tired of trying new, potentially weird-tasting things. So, I’ve taken it upon myself to try a few things for her. A couple weeks ago I tried a gluten-free brownie mix that was really quite good. Andrew picked up a couple packages that we’ll send off to her soon.

The last time we were at the grocery store, we found an “all-purpose” gluten-free flour, which says it’s good in baked products. Tonight I tried to make chocolate chip cookies using that gf flour, and the results are, um, mixed. The dough had a weird, metallic aftertaste (and, as anyone knows, eating the batter is one of the ultimate pleasures of making home-baked cookies). The cookies spread out a lot – they got very thin and, as a result, crunchy. Oh, and these crunchy cookies stuck to the cookie sheets – Andrew had to listen to me cursing and grunting as I tried to get one pan of cookies free. On the other hand, the cookies actually taste pretty good. There’s a small aftertaste, but not overwhelming and fairly subtle. If I were to try this again, I’d try adding a third egg to the dough (eggs are a binding agent, and may help the cookies from spreading out – Mom tried adding extra flour to a pancake recipe for the same reason without good results, so I don’t think I’d try that first), and definitely grease the cookie sheets.

Anyone else out there have good gluten-free baking tips?

Tags: baking

Fall is near

Someone seems to have flipped the weather switch. We went from hot, humid, and hazy to cool and rainy overnight sometime a couple weeks ago. I kept hoping that it was just temporary, that summer would come back, but I’ve been sorely disappointed. That, and my week of migraines that accompanies the beginning fall happened Labor Day week. I can’t bear to think that this will happen twice this year.

I’ve also started feeling inexplicably sad. I really don’t want to call my doctor yet for Prozac – maybe it’s just the change in weather, and I’ll feel better soon. Right? Right? I didn’t start until October last year.

I already miss summer, and technically it doesn’t end for another two weeks.

It’s not all bad, though, right? The windows are open more often, letting in the crips smell of the outdoors. Ares has started snuggling at the computer again. He’s also been on the bed a couple of nights (Artemis and Duncan stay on the bed almost year round, at least for part of the night). I stopped at Target a couple weeks ago and bought a bunch of school supplies – I love office supplies, and the selection is soooo much better in the fall. The new TV seasons are starting. Biking is less a sweaty sport these mornings. Oh, and Halloween is on its way, and I’m making new costumes for me and Andrew.

Tags: comfort, suckitude

Ahhh….

…back to full speed. Yay!

Bugger

Our DSL modem is toasted – possibly from all the power flickers Friday night (darn you, Ernesto). That means we’re on dial-up until they get a new modem out to us. Granted, they’ll overnight it, but this is a holiday weekend…holiday weekend, for the love of FSM…so we won’t be back up to speed until Wednesday. Grrrr. In the meantime, I won’t be updating here much, and probably won’t be reading your blog, either.

Hope you’re all enjoying your long weekends!

Tags: suckitude

What more could a person want?

Tags: tv

Another 30 miles…oof

  

For the second time this summer, we’ve done a 30 mile ride! Yay us!

This time we drove the bikes out to Ashburn, where the W&OD trail crosses Belmont Ridge Road. I thought this was the location of the convenience store that we’ve often biked to from Herndon, but turned out to be the next crossing out. Good thing, though, because our goal was the end of the trail, in Purcellville, and back, and I’m not sure I would have made it even the extra couple miles.

Today was very, very humid, but the temperature wasn’t too bad. On the stretches of trail with lots of tree-cover, the ride was very pleasant. However, on the few stretches without any shade, it got to be opressive – especially on the ride back when I was already reaching seat-intolerance.

  

It was a lot of fun to get back out to Purcellville again, though. We stopped in at Final Draft Books, browsed for a little while and picked up some well-earned drinks and snacks. Then we walked down the street to the cool toy store we discovered on our Honeymoon. There, I found an awesome toy for my brother’s birthday (can’t say what it is, just in case he stumbles upon this entry). All-in-all we spent about an hour in Purcellville before bopping back on the bikes and returning.

I have to say that 30 miles, after several weeks of too-hot biking conditions, being on travel, and pathetic rides, was perhaps a bit too much. I mean, yes, I made it, but a muscle in my right leg started hurting around mile 20 and I reached seat-intolerance at about mile 25. As long as I didn’t do any real damage, though, it does feel good to push myself.

Trip miles: 31.0 miles
Season miles: 273.5 miles

Tags: bike

Friday Kitten Check

Yup, it’s that time again. Telecommuting on a Friday means that I have to fend off the cuteness of our three fuzzy residents. Ares spent much of the morning following me around, and finally settled near the window in my office, so he was easy to find:

Artemis was on our bed, with the “Vegas chick” toy (a feather and pom-pom toy that reminds me of the hideous head-wear worn by some Vegas showgirls):

And Duncan was watching out the front window:

Tags: pets

Short ride

Despite the perfect biking weather today, we still had some trouble getting out of the house for a ride. So, we decided on just to tool around Vienna. We headed up to a nearby cemetery that we’ve been meaning to see, and then just putzed around the back streets of Vienna. It was a short, short ride, but it was good to get out on the bikes finally.

Trip miles: 6.2 miles
Weekend miles: 6.2 miles
Season miles: 242.5 miles

Tags: bike