My favorite extracurricular activity...

Here is something you should know about me: I am a pole dancer by night. There it's out in the open now. Phew! I guess I should follow that with saying it is a pole dancing for fitness class; so no I am not working for the dolla dolla bills y'all. But I am super obsessed with learning how to become a better pole dancer. Fact or Fiction: The highlight of my week was leaning how to climb the pole? That friends is a fact! Not only can I climb the pole, I can also do multiple kind of spins and turns, though I have yet to master any upside down tricks. There are always more things to aim for and I need to have goals in my life, so that is one of them: to go upside down in my pole dancing class.

Pole dancing is no laughing matter, those strippers need to be given some mad props because this sh** be hurd (that's right not just hard, it's hurd). At one point my entire left hip was black and blue from doing a simple fan kick and the other day the top of my right foot was bruised from learning to climb said pole. I totally need to think of a good name for my pole since we have such an intimate relationship, I mean we have gone to at least second base so I guess that deserves us being on a first name basis with each other.

Me: Hi, Pole, my name is Veronica. My favorite color is blue, I enjoy spinning around your svelte frame, and my favorite food is Indian.

Pole: Hi, Veronica, my name is Rupert. My favorite color is silver, I enjoy jammin' to moody girl groups, and I think you should lay off that butter chicken for both of our sakes.

Me: Uncalled for, but point taken.

So pole dancing is hard, and you will definitely gain some upper body strength but I would be lying if I said there weren't amusing parts to learning pole dancing. Hilarity 1: Part of our class involves spanking our asses and learning how to move one butt cheek at a time. You just have to take it in good fun and go with the flow because everyone else is doing it. Hilarity 2: my teacher is a very hot and very pregnant woman and the fact that she will always be sexier than me doing hip circles, even when she is 5 months pregnant, is just god's little way of putting me in my place. Hilarity 3: Mighty Grip. So this actually more of a story, an anecdote let's say. There is this fun little liquid we use called Mighty Grip which allows you to do all of these tricks without slipping/falling from the sweat that will encase your body. At my last class I put some on to practice climbing, went up Rupert twice, slid down, high fived myself, and made my way to get ready for quiz night. As I was getting dressed I was having real issues putting on my tights (as in they would not budge) and that's when it dawned on me....Mighty Grip. I had slathered the stuff on my hands, thighs, and top of my feet and now I had a protective coating that is not easily removed and would not allow my tights to be pulled up my legs. It took a good 10 minutes for me to wrangle myself back into them, and I was sweating again. Is this a lesson learned? Probably not because Mighty Grip is a pole dancer's liquid gold, and you can't give up liquid gold.
There is pain, bruises, ass spanking, big heels, and tiny shorts, but it is also seriously fun. Go try it if you can, and you will get addicted as well.

The squash has been sitting on my counter way too long!

The theme of tonight's dinner was to use up the produce that has been languishing on the counter for almost 2 weeks now. Who knows, it could be longer. With influx of snow all the days began to mesh together and I lost track of everything. But now DC is almost back to functioning and I guess that is a sign that I should start doing so as well. Off to the kitchen I went with my main task to use my butternut squash and onion that needed to be given some attention.

I think what amazed me about myself is that I had no freaking clue what I was going to do but I just made it work. After digging through my cabinets and spice collection I decided to go with a Moroccan feeling meal. Butternut squash and onion sauteed with cinnamon, chili powder, cumin, and white wine. Once all of my ingredients began a happy little dance in the pan I added chickpeas, chicken sausage, cranberries, and Greek yogurt (to thicken all the juices up!). With some couscous to catch all the delicious sauce I had an easy dinner in front of me, and plenty of left-overs for a few lunches.

I also was just plain happy with how my pictures turned out. Living in a basement apartment I do not get much natural sun light which is one of the most important things when taking pictures of food. But playing with the angles and trying different locations on the counter I was able to snag some paparazzi worthy pics.

Bears have invaded DC!

Not only was DC blanketed in 30 inches of snow, which has put the District into a stand still, but bears have invaded as well. It's amazing but true. I will take you on a tour of my time in Snow-mageddon 2010. I swear I was just walking around, trying to take some nice pics of the neighborhood blanketed in snow and then I saw it......

My street

The Mall

The Capitol

AND.........

AAAAAHHHHHH! It's a bear! A skinny, scraggly bear. And look, he likes to fit in with the tourists and take pictures of the snowy events as well. But don't be fooled, because this what that bear was taking pictures of:

That's right people, he was scoping out potential meals on the sledding hill.

And with more snow on the way I expect that more of these furry creatures will be coming out.