Ice cream and cool tools fix everything

This past week has been kind of rough, since my crappy joints are hating the crazy weather and have rebelled. I delayed this post to give them a break from typing. Luckily, there are other fun things to keep my mind off it!

This week I'm:

• Listening to: Adele. I love 19, especially "My Same" and "Crazy for You". Her voice goes well with the fun beats, the piano, or on its own on the album. Have definitely been listening to this about once a day. :-) I've heard a few technocized versions of "Hometown Glory" in the Forever 21s of Chicagoland, but I think I like the original version best.

• Eating: maple ice cream. Considering how good this is, I'm surprised I've never seen this in an ice cream parlor. I even worked for Ben & Jerry's for a few months and never experienced anything maple. From now on I'll look harder! I think this flavor goes well with other fall foods (pumpkin, anyone??) and might be a nice change from all the cookies and pies we'll be eating soon. Although I've only tried maple and walnut ice cream, here's a recipe from the blog Erin's Food Files that looks delicious...

• Playing with: tools for women!! Whoever thought of this was a genius, mainly because few guys will want to steal a screwdriver covered with floral patterns. Also, I appreciate the gesture to redesign something almost always made for men but definitely used by women. However, making everything pink does NOT count as "designing for women", as some tool companies have done. If you want to hear more about that, check out Femme Den, a group that does consulting on redesigning for women without turning everything pink. I have a similar tool set as the one pictured below, given to me by my mom, a fellow woman engineer.