Matt and our friends went to a taping of the Jimmy Fallon show on Saturday (March 27), and I was able to see them on TV! One of our friends even got on the show, participating in a “Glenn Beck vs. James Cameron” face-off. Here’s a screenshot of them at the end of the show, when Jimmy goes through the crowd shaking hands…

A co-worker told me about a website called Spokeo.com which, eerily, knows a lot about people. Actually, it’s hit-or-miss. My co-worker’s profile says SHE is a man.

If you look up Matt, there’s a LOT of information about us on there, including an old photo of our house. The part that cracks me up is the list of interests. It sounds like they combined both of us…unless Matt really does enjoy knitting and taking self-improvement classes. And has he been riding a motorcycle??! Our deal is if he gets a motorcycle, then I get a tattoo - two things both of us will not budge on for each other.

The list is eerily accurate, right down to “reads the Bible.” I think the list is compiled in part by the type of mail we get. We’ve gotten a lot of magazine subscriptions over the past few years (most of them just appear in our mailbox without our subscribing to them): Food & Wine, ReadyMade, Sunset, Real Simple, Car & Driver, as well as other gardening things and community college catalogs. But how do they determine that we’re self-driven, read fiction books, and like jazz music??!

Then you look at my dad’s profile, which says he’s Caucasian, is not interested in politics, and enjoys shopping. His profile also said that my parents’ house was built in 1979 (not true, since I remember watching it get built), and that he’s married to my mom who is in her 40s.

I apparently don’t exist under my married name, but my maiden name pulled up a few entries. As usual, with these white page-type sites, my maiden name is associated with the rental house in San Bruno, as well as our landlord’s house in South SF, although I never lived there. For some reason, I really like looking at these sites, especially when I can see pictures of homes where I’ve lived (or homes where my friends or family live).

(Dorc, your profile says you’re married…and is that your dad mowing the lawn?? And Keba, you’re male and “in a relationship,” but apparently you have kids and are not interested in politics. Yeah, sounds about right. :P)

OK, obviously I have too much time on my hands. Matt left for NY tonight for a week, and I should be working on my Toastmasters speech. No wonder why I’m procrastinating…

Today during dinner, a conversation that started out as Matt and I recalling the ethnic demographics of our high school made me realize that my 20-year high school reunion is only five years away. “Is that right?” I thought aloud, making sure my math was correct. “I graduated in 1995 when I was 17, so if the 20-year reunion is in five years, that means I’ll be…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence. It hit me. In a mere five years, I’ll be 37. Five years may sound like a long time, but Matt and I have been married for almost five years; we’ve lived in Seattle for nearly four years - that time has passed by amazingly fast. If the last year or so is any indication of the speed of the next five years, it will be 2015 in no time. And I will be 37. Just three short years of 40. No disrespect for all you who are beyond that age, but to this 31 (almost 32) year old, 40 sounds frighteningly old.

“Look at Jonan,” Matt said, naming one of our friends who is a little past 40. “He doesn’t seem old, right?” (Carolyn, hopefully Jonan will be flattered to hear that.) I agreed with Matt that he doesn’t seem old, but still. To think of myself as 40 seems absolutely unfathomable. How can I - who can still pass for a high schooler, who was recently asked what I wanted to be when I grew up - be in my 40s? To see myself as a 37-year-old (although that is my favorite number) is much scarier than the thought of reaching the 20-year anniversary of my high school graduation.

What a wake-up call. I guess the best I could do is to keep trying to live life to the fullest as I slowly grow ancient. ;)

While it’s felt like spring for awhile here in Seattle, the first official day of spring is finally here! People say that winter feels so long here, but I tend to differ. The short days are tough, and the cold temps can make you want to curl up and hibernate, but before you know it, the days start to get longer and longer. I gauge the daylight by whether or not the sky is dark when I get off work.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that my spring perennials were already starting to appear. One thing I love about my perennials is not only that they add color and life to the yard, but that they remind me of the community aspect of gardening. A lot of the perennials that I have in the front yard have come from other people who have shared a part of their garden with me.

At first, it seemed like this way of gathering new plants seemed so counterproductive. Sure, it’s free, but what use is a few stems of one plant? I didn’t realize that everything grows fast. For example, the picture below (left) shows two clumps of the same plant. The large mound on the left started out as a clump smaller than the one on the right. Two years ago, I bought a handmade potting table from a family down in Federal Way. The family very generously dug up perennials from their yard so that I could plant them in mine.

The picture on the right shows coriopsis from a co-worker. She gave me about 10 stems. “What difference will this make in my yard??!” I thought. By the end of summer, that 10 stems grew to the amount that you see below. Not a big deal, you may think. Well, the group in the picture is only one of five groups (of similar sizes) that those 10 stems have expanded to over three years. Pretty amazing.

When I talk to nongardeners about my garden, I feel almost nerdy about how much joy I get from seeing things grow. Each new leaf or bud, or each stem that I see poking through the ground, does not get overlooked, and the growth process is almost more exciting than seeing the final result in full bloom.

I hope you all enjoy this spring season of new life and growth!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!!

As green is my absolute favorite color (in case anyone didn’t know), this holiday always makes me giddy. After all, green is everywhere I turn. This year, I’m aiming to wear green each day this week. If I run out of green clothes by Friday, I’ll just sit in my car all day.

This year, I celebrated by doing the 3.8-mile St. Patty’s Day Dash in Seattle with Makeba. It was a very cold Sunday morning (especially when I woke up at 5:45 a.m.!), but by the time race started at 8:30, the sun was out and warming us up. Keba and I were dressed as…well, not even we had names for what we were, but I guess you could say we were M Superheroes. We wanted a bit of glitter and glam without being too girly. We left the backseat covered with glitter from the fabric of the capes.

I was slightly nervous about the run. As short as it sounds, the most I have run lately is 2 miles - and maybe once a week. Keba was even more bold - she’s run maybe twice since the half-marathon last June. Yet we both did great. We ran the whole way and felt great the whole time. There definitely is something special about running in a race - the energy and enthusiasm of other runners and spectators keeps you going. It fuels you and distracts you from the fact that running isn’t the most fun thing in the world. And the fact that 99% of the other runners were wearing green boosted my spirits. There was the barefoot man with his feet painted green; the man running with one hand holding up the plastic “pot of gold” around his waist; the father-son duo dressed in lime green and white gorilla suits; and the men in head-to-toe bright green spandex bodysuits.

Toward the end, my breath got a little short, as in “I might need my inhalor” short. At the time, I thought, “So this is what it feels like to push myself.” Also, one mistake I made was wearing cute St. Patrick’s Day socks in an effort to be as green (as in the color, not environmentally friendly) as possible. Normally I wear moisture-wicking socks, but instead, these green socks left me with a blister in my arch that was beginning to make itself painfully known for the last mile.

All in all, it was a really fun time not only running, but also making the costumes with Keba. And, more importantly, it got me super psyched for the Rock ‘n’ Roll half-marathon in June which, yes, I’ve decided to run again.

Check out my Picasa gallery for the rest of the pics from the race.

Before I end, here’s an Irish blessing for you all:

May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind always be at your back,

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

May the rains fall softly upon your fields…

Call me old-fashioned or uptight, but this is what I’ve been hoping for!! Hooray!!!

Came to work to find a bunch of e-mails and announcements about this tragic event.

I know that people who tend to post comments tend to be outrageous and do it simply to rile people up, but it’s sometimes hard not to want to roll up my sleeves, put on my boxing gloves and set people straight. They obviously don’t know anything about WV’s long-term development methods, policy not to proselytize (or work with agencies who do so) as a prerequisite for receiving help, or the fact that many national offices around the world are run by locals - including the Pakistan office, which has a staff of mostly Muslims.

As emcee of tomorrow’s Toastmaster meeting, I’m trying to find some interesting tidbits about random March 2 holidays. I’ve discovered that March 2 is National Banana Cream Pie Day (ick), Read Across America Day (in celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday), and also Old Stuff Day.

This last one is most interesting to me. Old Stuff Day is a day when you recognize the mundane boring stuff you do every day - and then try to add something new to spice things up a bit. Here are some things you do on Old Stuff Day:

How many times have we asked someone how they’re doing, and we get the same old response (probably because we don’t really care to know how someone is doing, and they don’t really care to tell us). Dig a little deeper when you ask someone how they’re doing, and try to find out something new about them - or encourage them to explore something new.

Challenge someone to pursue their dreams and goals, as small as they may be. Encourage them to make this day a little different. Go along on their adventure!

While encouraging others to do something new, do something new yourself, too! Don’t do the same old stuff on Old Stuff Day. eHow says to go to work with different-colored socks. Wear jeans when it isn’t casual Friday (ooh, don’t tell HR…). Take a friend to lunch and pay (anyone want to treat me?). Do the dishes when it isn’t your turn. Enjoy the day by not doing the same Old Stuff.

If you decide to honor this day, tell me what you did!