The 'Spark'...

What makes someone want to be better than they already are? Is that something hereditary? Is it something you're taught when growing up, that you should be the best you should be?

Why is it that some people have it and others don't? Sometimes I think I'm too ambitious, and its true that I often put too many things on my plate of to-do's, which means only half of it gets done (Which is truly more than the average Joe anyhow).

Sometimes I really think I should have take some type of sociology or philosophy major that would have kept me in school for 20 years of my life getting masters' and phd's, but then I can spend my time thinking freely about inane ideologies that no one will ever really have the answers to.

I'm looking for the right 'spark' right now, the one that makes everything else make sense. It may just be adding something to my life that wasn't there, getting into a good routine or eliminating something completely. Who knows? Sometimes I think I may just need a little more Vitamin D intake and then all my energy would be well cooked and 'out there'...whatever that means.

See you when I see you!

Julie/Julia and Ronjini....

First and foremost, bacon is always the secret ingredient.

I was watching Julie/Julia the other day and saw the great scene of Julie eating that bruschetta. It made me want to make some crispy, tomatoey bruschetta. At first, it seemed like there was no way that it could be a full meal, boy, was I wrong!

Anything is possible, when bacon is your secret ingredient. Immediately, I made the recipe my own. I headed over to Trader Joe's to pick up some goods:

French Bread - check

Firm tomatoes - check

Basil - check

Garlic - check

Applewood smoked bacon - check

I got home to a spunky puppy, just waiting for a walk. We went out and then I began my cooking.

First, I made my bruschetta mixture:

2 medium tomatoes

3 garlic cloves

1 bunch of basil finely chopped

grated pepper

grated sea salt

Next:

for flavor and protein, grill bacon on the grill pan

I should have made it crispier, but it turned out well nontheless.

and thennnn......

grill the bread on the grill pan in the bacon grease....

Last, but definitely not least:

spoon the bruschetta onto the toasted French bread and add bacon crumbles on top. Perfection!

That was my Julia Child experiment for today. Assignment completed. I have a surprise coming this weekend though. Don't worry folks its just a phase, enjoy it while you can.

Do I dare?

After seeing Beno continue to pursue his marathon running (after completing LA Marathon #2 in the pouring rain) and listening him rattle on about how much of a 'runner' he is, I've been thinking about starting to train again for a marathon. We were talking about possibly doing the NY Marathon in November. Well, he was talking about himself, while I was secretly thinking about it.

I don't really know if my knee can hold up, but I can always start with a half marathon. The SD rock and roll is coming up in June (June 5) and I have more than enough time to prepare for that one. I would love to join a running group, but most of them that are associated with the races, want you to raise money. I'm not very good at soliciting funds.

Anywhoo. I am highly toying with the idea of training and using the SD Marathon as a dry run to see if I can actually even get half way done. It would kill me to not be able to finish. Training begins this Sunday.

What Makes You Tick?

Beno, Chaka, Food, Cooking, Running, Playing, Yelp, Shoes, Snuggling and Watches.

Random Rant: WHAT IS HAPPENING TO the World?

I feel like something has gone awry with the world amongst so many recent disasters. Not to make light of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, but it feels like that just led to a series of ridiculous situations. What am I referring to?

First - Last night, Nate Dogg passed at 41. What a sad moment. People don't realize how much impact his smooth G-funk sound had on West Coast hip hop. Nate Dogg was featured in 45 albums with 255 popular songs (both solo and collaboration). That's quite an impressive body of work when you realize that most of those songs were great. When you hear almost any rap song that you can sing to in the last decade (not including the past couple of years, that's T-Pain), you can be almost positive Nate Dogg was in it. All of which were staples of West Coast rap, one of the most memorable for most being "Regulators".

Second - WHO is Rebecca Black? Please tell me this is a joke...I have nothing more to say.

On a lighter note (#3)....I was NOT chosen for PC World's Twitter Top 100, which I think was a miscount and a sham. I could have at least been #100. I have a lot to say dammit and it's important.

Fourth - Gas is a hitting a ridiculous $4/gallon, which means it's nearly $70 dollars to fill up my tank. Which also means that it's costing nearly $500 RT to Philadelphia, WHY?????

Fifth - the country's obsession with cracked out alcoholic, Charlie Sheen. WHO CARES? He is really not that entertaining other than the fact that he is so screwed up. Why do people find celebrities that are unraveling and in despair so entertaining?

Last but not least, it's nearing the end of March already. How is the time passing so fast? Did I also mention that apparently Talib Kweli (@RealTalibKweli ) is at SXSW and I'm not.

What else can go wrong? Wait....just kidding, I really don't want to know. There's my random rant for the day.

DETOX: Day 12?

According to the calendar it's day 12. I'm sure I should have something to write, but my mind is blank.

I will say, however, it never ceases to amaze me how SORE your body gets when you have spent time away from the gym/working out. That and how hungry you get when you work out more and eat less....really...amazing.

That is all.

DETOX: Day 1

I am starting another path towards body detoxification, which means cleansing, re-organizing and getting back in shape (-30 pounds now). If you have read my blog before you know I'm a little obsessed with staying in shape. The problem is my follow through, with all the other little things, fitness is where I let myself slide the most, I think this is an area that is tough for a lot of people. It is easy to make excuses not to go the gym, but in reality it should be as important as grooming yourself.

Don't get me wrong, I love to workout and it frustrates me when I'm too tired or get out of my schedule. Today will be the start of a new schedule. I'm starting by heading over to one of my favorite places, Burke Williams, to get all the kinks out, relax and just breathe a little bit.

Detox includes so many things, in fact I just got this coupon from Living Social for boot camp, that I may just have to incorporate into this new regimen. Here's my list:

1) Getting the kinks out and sweating it out @BurkeWilliams

2) Workout schedule/regimen - the most important part for me is getting back into a schedule I can't live without, which means I'll be working out every morning.

3) Groceries - healthy eating plan - I love to cook, but have shirked because of this whole moving thing, expect a trip to Whole Foods today.

4) New Tennis schedule - Ideally, I want to play tennis about 3-4 times a week (including the weekend), I found several partners through Craigslist for early AM tennis.

5) Meditation - more commonly known as alone time.

6) Relationship Time - Last but not least, I'm getting married this year, so I look forward to getting the stress out of the relationship and getting back to our dates and weekend workouts.

With detox goes soda, milk, juices and probably cheese (but that's going to hurt). We'll see how it goes, Iwill report back.