Better Day

I have to admit that last night I had one too many Belgian beers, ate one more slice of meaty pizza than I needed, and played Risk with Jesse until my eyes nearly gave out. It was an awesome end to a somewhat mediocre birthday morning. We didn't get to bed until after midnight and I couldn't seem to find a comfortable position after waking up with a sore neck and shoulder.

This morning the 7am alarm was the sound of death. I must have been in the middle of my sleep cycle because I literally could not pry open my eyelids because they felt so heavy. I also had a screaming headache, courtesy of Sint Bernardus Peter 6, Trippel, and Abt 12. (Don't worry, they were only 12 ounce bottles and we shared.) This morning I felt like I had been rolled over by a dump truck. However, the shoulder oddly felt much better. I initially intended on leaving the house to drive to Eugene to do research at the University of Oregon at 8am. In reality, I made out closer to 9:30. Even after a giant iced coffee I wanted to roll back in bed and try life again around noon.

By the time I reached Eugene all was well and it felt invigorated by the act of researching again. It was weird, however, to be on a college campus full of people who are more or less a decade younger than me. I sat out on a bench in the open park in front of the library to get some fresh air before I hopped back in the car. I paused for a few minutes to take in all of the activity. It was the top of the hour, so the students all poured out of buildings like ants in their green and yellow gear. It was fun to watch, but after a few minutes I breathed a sigh of relief to go home. As much as 29 years bummed me out yesterday, I don't think I ever want to be 18 again!

For dinner tonight we made black bean veggie burgers from my How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook that I got for Christmas. I seriously read it every night before bed to figure out what I'm going to make next. I LOVE this book. So far I have only made two recipes (the first was a soup that had a base of veggie broth and a ton of fresh herbs). The veggie burgers were definitely tasty and I made enough for leftovers tomorrow -- a nice counter to the meaty, delicious pizza that I plan on having for breakfast. Yum!