Lists

This list has been making the rounds on many of the blogs I read so I figured I'd post it on mine too.  This is a list of what every omnivore should try.  The bold ones are the ones I've had which is 55 out of the 100.  Not too bad, but not overly adventurous I guess.  

The Omnivore’s Hundred

1. Venison

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile

6. Black pudding

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush

11. Calamari

12. Pho

13. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi

15. Hot dog from a street cart

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes

19. Steamed pork buns

20. Pistachio ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes

22. Fresh wild berries

23. Foie gras

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn, or head cheese

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters

29. Baklava

30. Bagna cauda

31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl

33. Salted lassi

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float

36. Cognac with a fat cigar

37. Clotted cream tea

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail

41. Curried goat

42. Whole insects

43. Phaal

44. Goat’s milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more

46. Fugu

47. Chicken tikka masala

48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut

50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer

55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini

58. Beer above 8% ABV

59. Poutine

60. Carob chips

61. S’mores

62. Sweetbreads

63. Kaolin

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake

68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette

71. Gazpacho

72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost, or brunost

75. Roadkill

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie

78. Snail

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom yum

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare

87. Goulash

88. Flowers

89. Horse

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam

92. Soft shell crab

93. Rose harissa

94. Catfish

95. Mole poblano

96. Bagel and lox

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! My Christmas was great. I was a bit exhausted the days leading up to Christmas Eve and Christmas. It was baking nonstop for me. I wanted to take pictures and post them on here, but I forgot to with all the craziness going on. I made Magic Bars, cranberry bliss bars, red velvet cupcakes, peppermint truffles, and persimmon bread - loaves and loaves of persimmon bread). Everyone in my extended family loves loves loves persimmons. They all have trees growing in their yards and even go persimmon picking somewhere in Escondido I think. My mom had asked me to make persimmon bread for her one day so I made one. My aunts had some and they all enjoyed it so they all gave me their bags and bags of persimmons they had which were starting to get over-ripe and there was no way they'd eat them all before they went rotten. I probably ended up baking about 30 loaves of persimmon bread. I was wiped out after that and now I don't want to bake for awhile.

I got some pretty great gifts this year. I got lots of make-up, some perfume, a couple of jackets, lots of gift cards and some money. I love that my aunts still think of me as a "kid" and still give me Christmas money. Makes me feel young! I hope everyone else got some good stuff. I spent Christmas Eve at my parents house with all of our extended family and The Boy. I love my family. Now that we are all getting older, we see each other less and less so it's great to see everyone together on the holidays. It's a night filled with lots of food, laughter, and love. We carried on the festivities the next day at my aunt's house. The Boy left Christmas morning to be with him family and I went up there Christmas Day night after the Laker game. I kinda didn't want to go though. It was raining and I didn't want to leave my family. :(

Tomorrow we are going out in LA! I'm very excited. I haven't been out dancing with the girls for awhile now. Happy New Year's everyone! Have fun and stay safe!

Stila Sale Online

Check it out! I have heard that some people had trouble last year with shipping or cancel orders. I'm going to give it a try. Hurry - it ends Monday!

It's that time of year again

Are you ready for the holidays? I'm not. I totally thought I had all this time to prepare. I've been thinking about presents and cards and baking for weeks now. I just haven't made any concrete plans. I kept telling myself that I have tons of time and that I can do it all later. I don't know why. For some reason I just didn't want to be eager beaver about Christmas this year. Now I'm rushing to get things done. I just really didn't realize that Christmas is next week already. I think part of me just doesn't want to deal with the holidays this year. I was already pretty disappointed about the holidays this year since a lot of my extended family won't be around this year and then Max passed away which makes it even worse. Anyways, I'm almost done making my cards and I'm doing most of my baking next week. I had wanted to bake lots of stuff this year, but now I'm scaling back on my baking plans. Partly because I don't have time and partly to save money. :(

I am done with my present buying! It helped that I'm not giving out as many presents this year. A lot of my friends and I have decided to just do Secret Santa or White Elephant gift exchanges this year. We are all feeling the crunch of the economy this year. I did get some great deals on the presents I did buy. December is a great time for sample sales. This weekend I went to a bunch of them and scored big time. The best sale of them all was the Stila Warehouse sale.

Most of what I bought were presents. I only got a few items for myself. I regret that now though. Everything was such a good deal that I should have gotten more for myself. Oh well. There is always next time! Here is what I got:

Blanc Palette

Retail $32, Sale Price $10

Red Carpet Look

Retail $40, Sale $15

Chocolate Palette

Retail $40, Sale $15

Two Lip Glazes 

Retail Price $22, Sale Price $5

The Perfect Face Kit

Retail $45, Sale $20

The Stila Stars

Retail $55, Sale $25

Bronzer

Retail $28, Sale $7

Total retail price of all items comes out to $284. Actual price paid was $102. Plus there was no tax so that's even more savings! Woo hoo! I wish all shopping was like this.

Life Goes On

I want to start this post by thanking you guys for your kind words about my last post. It means a lot to me.

Over the past few weeks I've been adjusting to life without my dog. It's a pretty big change. There is an absence of dog fur. Max was a big shedder. We tried all kinds of remedies to try and reduce the shedding, but to no avail. His fur was everywhere and would get all over our clothes and furniture. When we would go out, I would wait until we were about to leave to put my clothes on so that I wouldn't get fur all over them. I had to vacuum ALL THE TIME. I'm no longer worried about him all the time. When we would go out, I'd feel bad for leaving him alone. He hated being alone. Because of this I would try not leave him alone all day. If we were out all day, I'd want to be home at night. Or if I knew we would be out at night, I would try to stay home with him as much as possible during the day. Like this weekend, The Boy and I were out all day long on both Friday and Saturday. I never would've done that if Max were still here. And the biggest challenge for me is Max's company. It's a lot quieter without him. I miss his companionship and just having him there to pet and hug.

Everybody has been telling us to get another dog. It's always "get another dog already" or "when are you getting another one." Ugh, I'm so not ready for another dog yet. Someday, yes. Just not now.

And here is number three :(

I'm so sad to share with you all number three. I lost my sweet sweet dog, Max last week. He was 8 years and 2 months old. We came home from dinner and found him laying on the floor. We thought he was just sleeping, but he didn't get up. Normally he gets up right away to greet us. That night he didn't move. The Boy went over to try to wake him and Max obviously didn't move. That's when it hit us. From there everything was such a blur. The Boy was so upset, as was I. I won't go into any further detail as it's pretty hard to think about and it's probably not such a fun read.

I miss Max so so much. He was such a good and loving dog. (Although he wasn't so good when he was a puppy. Have you read Marley and Me? Marley and him could so be brothers. They even look like twins!) He totally thought he was human and not a dog. We couldn't get him to play with other dogs. At dog parks he would ignore the other dogs and run up to other people to play with instead. If we left him outside to play with our friend's dog, he would just sit outside the door and cry and wait for us to let him back in. He loved attention and always wanted to be pet or hugged or to sit in my lap (he's a big heavy dog so that wasn't always so comfortable.) He would lay down on me or sit on my chest in the morning (I think he was trying to wake me up). He loved loved loved to eat. Sometimes he would grab a can of his food and bring it to us and ask us to feed him. A few times I even found him laying down on the floor with a can of food in between his legs. I miss him so much my heart hurts. It's still so new and fresh that sometimes I forget he's not here anymore. For example, I'll be talking to The Boy on the phone and I'll start to ask him what Max is doing and I'll stop mid-sentence. When I wake up in the morning I look for him. I've been slowly getting a little better. I was pretty depressed the first few days. I pretty much just slepst all day long. Good thing it happened on a Friday and I had the weekend to get over it. I miss my Max. :(

Killer Klown Halloween

I know, I know.  This post is over a month late.  I had intended on posting about it in a more timely fashion, but obviously I didn't.  So last month I went to the most amazingly extravagant Halloween party in Palos Verdes Estates.  This was my first time dressing up for halloween since I was a kid. I had a hard time picking a costume. I didn't want anything too silly or too sexy/slutty. I ended up being Padme and The Boy was Anakin. Have I mentioned before that The Boy is a huge Star Wars fan? HUGE. Anyways, costumes are expensive. I was shocked at how much they cost. Some costumes were $100 or more. It's not like these costumes are made of the best material or are very high quality.

Anyways, the party was INSANE.  The theme was Killer Klowns from Outer Space.  The house itself is 15,000 square feet.  we got to go inside the house. Party goers weren't allowed to go inside, but we knew some of the vendors so we were given access to the house. It was such a beautiful house. They had 2 kitchens and a elevator. I think the house had at least 4 different levels. And the ceilings - the ceilings were painted with clouds and angels and things like that. The entrance to the party was a maze.  There were circus performers, magicians, even a monkey!  It was open bar with the good liqour too, not just the cheap stuff.  There were passed hor's d'oeuvres that were really really really yummy such as truffle french fries in little martini glasses, scoops of cotton candy ice cream on served on little spoons, mini corn dogs, sliders, and basil mushroom crostinis.  There were women "dressed" only in body paint dancing around.  The guest list for the party was 3,000. 3,000 people in one house. Not even the house, the backyard. My backyard probably couldn't fit more than 30 people.  It was said that the cost of the party was equivialent to the price of a house.  I'm sure this party was well over $200,000.  That's a huge amount of money - HUGE!  Can you imagine having that much disposible income that you could afford to throw such extravagant parties?   These people have some serious money. This is the third year they have thrown this party. I hope I get to go again next year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I haven't posted in awhile. I have no excuse really, other than my complete lameness. Nothing very new or exciting as far as updates. Work is work. School is school. I was really sick with the flu for awhile. The timing couldn't have been worse. I just started an 8 week accounting class when I got sick. I wasn't really able to read or study so I had to drop the class. With such a short class, I just couldn't see myself being able to catch up and still do well in the class. I'm already signed up to take the class next semester, but I really wanted to get it over with now.  

I have a few posts that are half written.  I'll try to finish those up and post those soon.  Until then, Happy Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  :)

And the word of the day is

Maverick! Maverick, Maverick, Maverick! Sarah Palin really loves that word. She did perform better in the debates than I thought she would. That doesn't say much though, considering expectations were pretty low. I wish John McCain had chosen a better running mate. It seems to me like Palin just memorizes things and spews out whatever comes to mind without paying attention to the question asked of her. She just smiles and winks and thinks that will do it for her. She comes off as being way too folksy. I couldn't stand it. Ugh. I wish they were having another debate.

Finally!

The Chargers won a game! The past 2 games have been heart breakers! 2 games lost in the last final seconds of the game. Seriously?! You're killing me Smalls! As I watched that game against the Bronocs, aw man, I actually wanted to kill someone. Freaking Hochuli! It does make me feel better that he owns up to his mistake and feels horrible about it. This next game against the Raiders should be fun, especially since The Boy is a Raiders fan (Boo!). I need to go out and by me a new Chargers jersey. Woo hoo!

Update

Remember before, when I said The Boy was taking his medical board exam and how I was excited that all the crazy studying was over and I'd have my fun boyfriend back? Turns out not so much. Unfortunately The Boy didn't pass. :(

It's not uncommon to not pass this test. Most people say that Step 1 is the hardest part of the boards and a lot of people take it twice or even three times before passing. I know it's hard for him right now. So much time and effort had gone in to studying. He was so ready to move forward and get on to the next part of his med school education. He was thisclose to passing too. He has to wait another month before he can take it again. This month will be hard on him I'm sure. He was SO tired of studying for this test. Now he has to do it all over again. My heart breaks for him. To add insult to injury, his mom wasn't too supportive when she found out he didn't pass. One of the first things she said to him was, "What are we going to tell people?" Since then she's also told him that she stays awake at night trying to come up with a story to tell people about his test results. She's decided that she's going to tell people that he missed it by one or two points. His response to that was "why do you have to think of something to tell people. I'm not ashamed of not passing." She said she knows, but she has to come up with something to tell people. This hurts The Boy a lot. He feels as if his mom is embarrassed or ashamed that he didn't pass. I tell him how proud I am of him for all his hard work. I'm sure that makes him feel better, but it doesn't make up for the way his mom feels about it. I can see how depressed and sad he is when he talks about it. Please send good thoughts his way. He's gonna need it.

Why don't you like me?

As I've said before, I'm very close to my family. I have one cousin in particular that I'm very close to. Tony is like a brother to me. He is only 5 days older than me and we lived together for about 3 years in LA. After I moved back to San Diego from LA, Tony started dating this girl named Maria. Tony and Maria have been dating for abou 2 years now. I'm not a big fan of Maria, although I really wish I was. See, Maria doesn't really make the effort to get to know me, which bothers me since Tony and I are so close. If ever I was in LA, Tony and I would plan to get together to hang out for dinner or something like that. Maria would never come. One time I was even at their apartment and I thought she wasn't home. She was home. She just never came out of her room! I was there for 5 hours and she didn't come out once. At first, I was just like whatever. Now Tony and Maria live in Chicago. They fly out to LA a few times a year. When they do, my sister and I always make the effort to go and share a meal with Tony. Maria NEVER comes. I understand that she also wants to see her family, but she could at least get to know our family a little bit. One meal at least. She always come up with the lamest excuses too. The latest one she gave this past weekend was that she had to go shopping for a dress. We weren't meeting up for dinner until 9:30 PM. What kind of store is she shopping at that is open past 9?! When Tony first started dating Maria I was so excited for him. I was hoping that Maria and I would become close too. I hope some day this changes. People tell me that maybe she's intimidated by me, but I don't see why she would be. I don' think I've ever been rude or mean to her. I'm hesitant to bring this up with Tony. I'm afraid he'll get defensive and think I don't like her. Then he'll go tell her what I said and that will make things even worse. Plus, I suck at discussing uncomfortable topics. I'm the post non-confrontational person in the world.

Things in three's?

I've heard a theory that things happen in three's - weddings, births, deaths. I hope this isn't true. Why you ask? Because right now another one of my uncle's is on life support. My mom and many other family members are flying out to Seattle today to be there before they pull the plug. What is going on? Within 2 months there are 2 deaths on my mom's side of the family. My goodness. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. Sadly, the odds are against us. See, my mom's side of the family is HUGE. She has 11 siblings, 5 half brothers and sisters and 5 full siblings. The half-siblings are all getting up in there in years. They're all over 75 and for some, their health isn't so good.

I wasn't even prepared for this one. With my last uncle, he was sick for months and we knew it was coming. This time not so much. Here's what happened. Monday my uncle had a mild stroke. He was doing fine after a few days and then he went home. There was a good prognosis and everyone said he'd be okay. I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought everything would be okay. I didn't think anything of it after that. On Thursday he wasn't feeling well again so they forced him to go back to the hospital. They determined he suffered another mild stroke so he had to stay in the hospital again. He went into the bathroom and didn't come out for a long time. They went into the bathroom to check on him and he was on the floor. He had a major heart attack. That's when he went on life support. My mom called me at work Friday morning to book her a flight to Seattle which shocked me. At this point I thought my uncle was fine. No one told me he was back in the hospital. I might not be able to make to Seattle in time. I have things going on at work that I just can't miss. I'm going to leave Monday night, but have to be back in San Diego by Saturday afternoon. I really hope things to happen in three's. :(

What are you looking at?

The Boy and I attended the Robin Thicke concert at the House of Blues the other night. It was a great show. Robin Thicke's new album is going to be sooooo good. I can't wait until it comes out next month. The show could've been a little bit more pleasurable though. I say this because it was super hot in there. It was as if there was no air conditioning up in there.  Part of me wanted to leave it was so hot.  Some people actually did leave.  Also, The Boy is kind of annoying at concerts.  He's always people watching and then he points out the funny people to me.  If I don't look he keeps bothering me.  When he does this, I'm thinking to myself "Dude, I didn't come here to look at these other people.  That's insert performer's name up there.  I'd rather look at him instead."  I've noticed he only does this at concerts where the performers are male.  Coincidence?  I think not.  

I'm baaaaack

It's been over a month since my last post. I started writing, but never finished a whole slew of posts. I decided to just delete them all. Nothing new or exciting going on in my life lately. The Boy has 2 weeks until he takes the first part of his medical boards. He is NOT fun to be around lately. I've spend pretty much the past few weekends in LA watching him study. Exciting, no? Can not wait until he is done with this test. Then I can have my fun boyfriend back. However this also means that he may potentially be leaving. See, once passes this test he'll start his clinical rotations. He may do these in New York, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Detroit, or a number of other cities. My vote is for some where in Los Angeles, as close to home as possible. He doesn't get to choose were he does them though, so where he'll be is pretty much up in the air right now.


I start classes again soon. I'm so not looking forward to it. I'm taking a bunch of accounting classes next semester. I hate accounting it's so hard for me. Mainly because the classes I'm taking are online. Accounting is hard to learn on your own! My friend Lana was taking the same classes as me before and we would help each other out. She's in law school now so I'm on my own with these coming up classes. I have nobody to be miserable with. Gotta get back to work, but I'll try to post a little bit more frequently from now on. :)

Viva Las Vegas take 2

Off to Vegas again. This time we're flying. I'm actually at the airport right now.

Unfortunatley, the premise of this trip isn't as happy as our last planned trip to Vegas. My uncle passed away over the weekend. The funeral is tomorrow. On a happier note, The Boy's birthday was Monday so we're staying in Vegas until Sunday to celebrate. We have some friends that were already planning on being in Vegas for the weekend and some of my cousins have decided to stay the weekend in Vegas as well.

I hope our travel to Vegas isn't as eventful as our previous trip.

Breakfast of Champions

I've posted before about my love for breakfast. I think it's something that was instilled with me since I was young. I always had breakfast in the morning. My Dad would wake up early in the morning and make be breakfast EVERY morning before school. After which he would go straight back to bed. He would actually wake up at 6:30 am, cook me breakfast, then go right back to bed. He was retired so he didn't have to get up to go to work or anything.

My new favorite breakfast meal is greek yogurt. Greek-style honey yogurt from Trader Joe's to be exact. I sprinkle it with some granola and a little bit of honey for some extra sweetness (I have the world's biggest sweet tooth). I prefer Greek yogurt to regular yogurt because it's creamier and thicker. If you haven't tried it, you should.

One good thing

that came out of the Vegas fiasco, is that I discovered a new shampoo and conditioner that I now love. We slept at Ed and Jen's house that night. Since we were supposed to be staying at a hotel in Vegas, I didn't bring any shampoo and conditioner to use. I was planning on just using whatever stuff the hotel had so I had to use the shampoo that Jen had in her spare bedroom. It's Herbal Essences Helio Hydration. It smells so good and makes my hair so soft. Last week I went to my favorite (Target!) and bought myself two bottles.

To sue or not to sue

After last weekend's road trip to Vegas fiasco, a lot of people have been telling us we should sue the rental car company and/or Jeep. I don't know though. I don't want to be one of those people who sue for no reason. As long as we aren't liable for the car and the company compensates us for what was lost in the fire, I'll be happy. I have to admit, the thought of suing is pretty appealing. We did miss out on a Vegas vacation. We could've potentially been hurt in the fire or ran over or hit on the freeway as we ran away from the burning car. And the thing that bothers me the most is that I didn't get to see my uncle one last time. My uncle has been very sick for the past few months and it's getting down to the end for him. He's been in the ICU for a week and a half now. That weekend we would've been in Vegas would've been the last time I would've seen him alive. That lost opportunity right there is priceless.

Happy birthday, Max!

Max turned 7 today, although he is a puppy at heart. He's the world's biggest baby and I just love him to death. Today The Boy and I are going to take Max to the park to let him play and by play I mean with other people. Max doesn't like to play with other dogs. He prefers people. I bought him some new toys and some special doggie treats for him to enjoy later.

The Boy says I spoil Max too much. It's true, I do. It's hard not to. I can't help myself. My poor guy has been through a lot the past few years. What can be so hard on a dog, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. A little over 2 years ago Max suffered from Fibrocartilaginous Embolism or FCE. Basically, it's like a stroke to the spine. He lost use of his back right leg for a week or so. It was horrible to watch him deal with it. Normally Max is a happy go lucky kinda dog, always wanting to play and run around and eat. When this happened, all he did was lay down for days. He didn't want to play fetch. He didn't want to eat. He just laid there. He was depressed. Not even food got him excited. His leg would drag behind him when he walked and so that started to get scratched up and bleed. We had to keep it taped up until he was able to raise it off the ground when he walked. It was a sad sight to see him walking around with his leg dragging on the floor after him. I just wanted to follow him around and hold his little leg up for him. Slowly but surely, he began to regain use of his leg. It's still a little bit weak. He falls down a lot and sometimes his leg shakes when he's standing, but my little guy is a trooper! Within a week of his injury he was back to wanting to play again. It broke my heart, because we weren't supposed to let him walk a lot, let alone play, for a month or so.

Flash forward to June of last year. We had taken Max to the dog park to play fetch. Keep in mind that this is one of the first times I'd taken Max to the dog park since the whole FCE thing. I'd been wary of bringing him to such a big open space to run around in. I didn't want him to over exert himself and hurt his leg. I finally thought his leg was getting to be strong enough to go to the park. We had been there, playing fetch all of 5 minutes, when Max jumped up for the ball. He starts to walk back to The Boy and I when I notice he isn't using his back right leg. Yes, the same leg that was injured due to the FCE - the same leg! He wouldn't put it on the ground. He just kept it raised and was limping around on his other 3 legs. I was so scared. I didn't know what to think. Was it the FCE again? The Boy picked him up (which is not easy as Max weighs about 100 pounds) and we took him to the vet right away. The vet examined him and knew right away that Max had torn his little doggie ACL and would need surgery. He had the surgery 3 days later.

As my little guy gets older, I worry about him more and more (Yes, I'm a big worry wort). His leg is weak sometimes and all of the injuries he has had makes him more susceptible to arthritis. He walks with a limp too. He moves like an old man sometimes. The Boy says I worry too much, but Max is my baby. I'm his mom. I'm supposed to worry.

Let it burn

We never made it to Vegas. 30 minutes outside of Ontario this happened:


We didn't get in an accident or anything. We were just driving along on our merry way when the car started to slow down. At first we thought it was a flat tire cause we heard a popping noise when the car started to slow down. We tried to pull over, but the car wouldn't move. Then the hood popped open and flames started coming out of the front passenger side of the hood. We all got out of the car and ran to the side of the freeway. Some truck drivers stopped and called 911 for us. The CHP and the local fire and police departments came out too. They were all super nice and very accomodating to us. They really did all that they could to help us out. They called rental car companies for us and gave us rides.

Thankfully everyone got out safe AND it was a rental car, so nothing was lost. We got all of our stuff out safely, too. Unfortunately our trip got ruined. We were stuck in Hesperia with no car and all the local rental companies were closed. We have a friend that lives in San Bernardino and we called him to pick us up. We spent the night at his house and he drove us home the next day. According to the CHP on site, Chrysler jeeps are prone to catching on fire. Keep that in mind if you ever plan on purchasing one or if you're renting a car and they try to give you one - don't take it! The car we had was a Patriot and we were told by the company that it was only 4 months old. So a brand new car caught on fire for no apparent reason. This was NOT good times.

Viva Las Vegas

I'm off to Vegas for the weekend for a birthday celebration. The Boy's friend, Choco, is turning the big 3-0! I'll try to post a recap as soon as possible. Wish me luck! :)

and as a a side note . . . Cheena still doesn't wear her engagement ring.

Lazy days

The last week I had off from work was nice. Made me want to never have to go back to work. Here's a quick run down of what we did:

Went to the gym every day - EVERY DAY! The Boy is a monster! He pushes me so hard at the gym. It's funny sometimes. I'll be doing weights and he'll want me to do heavier weights and I won't want to. One time there was this older lady working oujt next to us. She had a personal trainer and they were doing the same exercise we were doing, but the old lady ywas doing about 15 more pounds than I was doing. The Boy kept saying to me, "See that old lady? You want here to beat you. She's doing more than you. Don't be a wuss. She's beating you."

Did some shopping. Checked out the Nordstrom half yearly sale and bought a dress.

Ate at 3 Square Cafe in Venice and Jinky's Cafe in Sherman Oaks, two places I've been wanting to try

Ate at a bunch of restaurants in LA that I miss, such as California Roll Factory, Zankou, and Toast

Picked up some red velvet cupcakes from Crumbs AND Buttercake Bakery (I LOVE LOVE LOVE red velvet cake. I liked the Crumbs version better.)

Watched a whole lot of basketball. The Boy loves him some Lakers.

Went to a Midnight showing of the Sex and the City movie with Lana, who had won tickets that were only good for the Friday Midnight showing. Good thing I didn't have work the next day! Loved the movie!

Overall, it was a relaxing, very chill week. I'm just sad it's over.

Off for the week

I have the week off from work. Originally, I had hoped to take a road trip with The Boy for a few days, but his parents are going out of town so we got stuck are housesitting instead. I was disappointed when The Boy told me we wouldn't be able to go a trip. His parents told him just a few days ago that they were going out of the country and need him to house sit. I'm thinking, "thanks for the heads up." Granted, The Boy and I didn't have concrete plans for our trip. We were just going to head up the coast to stop along the way. Play it by ear, you know. Since that's out of the question now, I figured we could make the most of it. We're going to use this week to visit places in LA that we've been wanting to go, but just haven't had the time to go to yet. Try some new restaurants. Visit with friends that I don't see regularly. Hit up restaurants that I used to frequent when I lived there and now miss. Things like that.

In those jeans

Last week, I went to another sample sale. It was a William Rast/People's Liberation warehouse sale. Samples sales are hit or miss. Sometimes there are good deals to be had and sometimes it just sucks ass. This was not an ass sucking sale. It wasn't crowded AT ALL. Usually, people line up an hour ahead of time and it is super crowded inside. I was so happy when I showed up 20 minutes before the sale started and saw somethingI've never seen before at a sale - ZERO people waiting! At first I thought I was in the wrong area. I double checked that I had the right address and did a little happy dance that there was no line. Then I started wondering why no one was there. Maybe the sale was canceled and I didn't know it. Maybe everyone knows the sale is going to suck ass. I was hoping neither was the case. I did see a few other girls driving around and looking at the building. At 9:00 I headed inside and found out that there was a huge selection. In my size, there were probably 4 or 5 big racks to look through. Granted, many of them were the same styles, but still. There was a huge selection and a good amount of each style so there was no fighting over a small selection. Not only that, but the prices were unbelievable. $50 for a pair of jeans. Can you believe that? $50 for jeans that normally retail around $189 to over $200. That price is just too good to pass up I say. I got myself two pairs, which I was happy with. That's 2 pairs for less than the price of one. It really doesn't get any better than that.

Here's a picture of what I brought home with me that day. Both jeans are William Rast. The one on the left is a pair of skinny jeans and the pair on the right have flared legs.

Updates

I haven't posted in awhile. Sorry about that. I have a bunch of half finished posts that I've written and never got around to finishing. Until then, here's a few things I've been up to lately:

• Went to the Alicia Keys at the Sports Arena in San Diego with The Boy, Lana and her boyfriend. The show was SOOOO good. Jordin Sparks and Ne-yo were the opening acts. I'm not too familiar with Jordin Sparks and I don't really follow American Idol so her stuff was all new to me. She has some pretty decent songs. I've been a big fan of Ne-yo since he came out. I love all his songs. Alicia Keys put on a great performance. She has an amazing voice and she looks so good right now! I know some people give her a hard time about her weight and say that she looks big, but whatever. She looked good. She put on an amazing show. Before the concert, we ate at Phil's BBQ. When we first got there the line was way out the door. Not to worry though, the line moves super fast. We were seated and got our food within 20 minutes. Even if it had taken longer, it would SO be worth it. The food is that good. And the onion rings! Ah-mazing! Here's a pic I snapped. Please excuse the craptacularness of it. It's from my camera phone.





• Had the most wonderful dinner at Nobu inside of the Hard Rock Hotel in downtown. My friend's brother works there so we were given special treatment. We didn't even have to order. We just sat down and course after course was brought out to us. We seriously ate for 3 hours. 3 hours! A lot of the stuff we had wasn't even on the menu. All of it was super yummy. I don't even know what it was. The food just came out to us. Probably one of the best meals I've ever had. I do remember one dish we had was lobster salad. I'm not a real big fan of lobster. I like it just fine, but I don't love it as much as others do, but this lobster salad was definitely a winner. And the bill, oh $60 each. There was 5 of us at dinner so that's only a $300 dinner bill. Pretty good for Nobu if you ask me. I know most of our bill was comped and the rest of the meal's price was discounted. Nobu is a great restaurant, though a little pricey. The atmosphere is nice, very young and trendy. I wouldn't mind going back.

Other than that, it's just been work and school, work and school. I'm sure there are other exciting things to share, but at the moment I just can't remember.

The new love of my life

I brought this baby home with me as a birthday present to myself a few months ago. I've been wanting one for awhile, but had been putting it off because it's quite pricey. I haven't made good use of it yet. Mainly because I'm trying to lose some weight and I have very little self-control. If I had a house full of baked goods, I'd probably eat them all myself. Plus summer is right around the corner. I'd try to share my baked goods with my friends, but most of them are pretty lame and are so worried about their weight so I know they won't eat them.

Happy Administrative Professional's Assistant's Day

Be sure to thanks your administrative assistants's today. Here are 2 cards I made for the girls in my office.

Lunch time fun

Target is right across the street from where I work. There are times when I'm in there practically every day, twice a day even. Lately though I haven't been frequenting it so much. I don't know why. Probably because I've been trying to curb my spending lately and its easier for me to do that if I'm not tempted. Not going to Target = no temptation. I did pop into Target the other day during my lunch break on the premise of getting some plastic storage bins. I did get the storage bins and a few other items.

I got this for my bathroom:


And this cozy hoodie:


I'm totally bummed that I missed out on a totally cute dress. It's been so long since I've been to Target, I totally missed out on scooping up some of the super cute Jovovich-Hawk items that are only available for a limited time. I saw this cute little number, but they only had 3 left, none of which were my size.



While I was walking past the clothes section, I saw my ex-boyfriend's older brother out of the corner of my eye. I quickly turned into the clothes to hide. I did NOT want to see him. I haven't seen him or my horrible ex in 10 years and I did not want to make small talk with this guy and have him go tell his brother he saw me. My relationship with his brother was the WORST relationship ever. I regret ever going out with the guy. Ugh - I cringe just thinking about it. What was I thinking?! Why in the hell did I ever date that guy? My friend, Natasha was with me at Target and she ran into the ex's brother. I saw them talking so I made sure to stay far away. They chatted for a few minutes and he did mention to her that he had seen me from far away. I did feel a little stupid hiding from him, but that feeling is better than having to talk to him. Ugh, I hate living in the same city as my ex again. This never happened when I was living in LA.

How did you get here

I have a site counter attached to this blog. I check the stats every now and then. One thing I find interesting is how people find my blog. Sometimes it's from other blogs and sometimes it's from google searches. What's interesting is the searches that people do that lead them here. One of the most recent searches was "why are my panties soaking wet by morning." This search lead the user to this post about how I sat down on a wet seat at church. I doubt my post had anything relevant to the user, but I sure hope that she eventually found the answer.

Autism Awareness

April 2 was Autism Awareness Day, so this post is a few days late. Autism is something I've been reading a lot about lately. One of my cousin's (he's really more like a baby brother to me) is border-line autistic. He's a senior in high school now and is very high-functioning. He's a very smart kid, he's just is a little off sometimes. He doesn't have very good conversation skills and is very very socially awkward. It's really hard to talk to him. I can only understand about half of the things that come out of his mouth. Lots of what he says in nonsense. He talks mostly about cartoons. He's like a a 10 year with bad manners. The worst thing about it is that his parents ignore it like there's nothing different about him. They never took him to classes or anything of the sort. It makes me so sad and upsets me when I think about it. He was such a good kid growing up. He's very sweet and considerate. Classes could've helped his development so much. He gets frustrated and very easily upset, especially when he's talking to people. It's very hard for him to express himself. Because of this, he gets frustrated when he's trying to talk to somebody and they can't understand what he's saying. So if he's talking to me and I say to him "What did you just say? Can you say it again?," he'll just say "Nevermind. Forget it" and start rambling again about something else. Recently I found out that another one of my cousin's has been diagnosed as autistic. He's three years old. He hasn't started speaking yet, which is why his parents were getting him tested. He can say "hi" and "bye" but that's pretty much it. Thankfully, his parents are taking him to classes two times a week.

This whole autism thing is pretty scary. It seems like more and more kids these days are being diagnosed as autistic. I saw this article on CNN the other day that I found it pretty interesting. Hopefully they can find out what causes autism. I know it will be awhile from now. I do what I can to help. Have you ever heard of Good Search? It's a search engine powered by Yahoo! With every search you do, money gets donated to an organization or school of your choice. I use it as my search engine and I've designated my organization of choice to be Cure Autism Now. You should try it too. Pick an organzation you like and help them out too.

A little TMI

A few months ago my doctor switched the type of birth control I was on. It's one of those low dose estrogen ones. I was told to give it a few months to see if it was a good match for me. All was going well until last month. Normally that time of the month comes for me like clockwork. It comes on Wednesday and is gone by Sunday. Last month it came and went. Then 2 weeks later I had it again! This time it lasted for 10 days! I chalked it up to my body adjusting and what not so I didn't do anything about it. Yesterday I had some spotting again. This time I made a phone call to my doctor and I'm scheduled to go back in next week to switch the type of pills I'm on. I'm told the problem has something to do with the low levels of estrogen. I hope things get back to normal soon.

Maybe I should just quit

At my job, we work one Saturday a month. For some reason, the Saturday we work always happens to fall on a day where there are some good sample sales going on. Since I can't go, maybe those of you that are fortunate enough to NOT be working can go instead.

Seychelles Warehouse Sale
4/4 (10am-5pm) and 4/5 (10am-4pm)
Save on women's flats, pumps, wedges, boots, sneakers and more
202 N. Nash St.,
El Segundo 90245.


The Warehouse sale
Los Angeles Convention Center
Petree Hall
1201 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015

RSVP Now for FREE admission
$5 Admission without RSVP


Sunday April 6, 2008
10:00 AM - 04:00 PM

Or join us a day early at our VIP Private Sale.

Saturday April 5, 2008
10:00 AM - 04:00 PM



Buy VIP Ticket now for $15
or at the door for $25

A GIFT BAG for the first 200 customers.
(VIP Day only)

Sunday morning surprise

You know what really sucks? Going to church, sitting down and then jumping right up out of your seat because it's all wet and then having to sit through the whole service with wet pants. That happened to me Sunday morning at church. The first thought that ran through my head was "Oh god, I hope its not pee." Ew, can you imagine if it had been. Luckily for me it was just rain. It had been raining Saturday night and apparently the roof at church has some leaks in it. As soon as I sat down, my butt felt wet. I immediately got up and went to the bathroom to try and dry off as much as possible. It's not like my pants were soaking wet or anything. They were just wet enough for it to be annoying and uncomfortable. And I was wearing leggings. Leggings! Let me tell you, sitting for an hour with wet leggings right against your skin is not a good feeling.

The wheels on the bus

Recently, a bunch of my friends and I went wine tasting in Temecula. We took a shuttle tour from Go Grape. So. Much. Fun. We did the vineyard picnic tour. It's really a good deal as you get a box lunch, transportation to four wineries, and at least 5 glasses at each winery, all for about $100 a person. We were lucky and got to go to 5 wineries since our tour was running ahead of schedule. I started out drinking every single glass that I had. By the third winery, I couldn't do it. I was getting so drunk. I only drank the ones I really like, then I gave the others to The Boy.

The tour starts in the morning. They pick you up from your hotel, along with other groups that are going on the tour. You all pile in and go from there. It's funny to see how the atmosphere on the bus progresses throughout the day. At first everyone is quiet and talking only to their group of friends they came with and using their indoor voices. By the end of the day, when everyone is good and liquored up, all of that is thrown out the window. Our bus was pretty rowdy by the time we left the last winery and were on our way back to our hotel. Girls started dancing in the aisle. People were hooting and hollering. It was some good times. I highly suggest everyone try it some time.

A little time off

I've been off from work this whole week. I've been doing a lot of nothing. I've been sleeping in (which I never do. I'm an early bird), playing with the dog, and watching movies on On Demand. It feels good to just hang out for a few extra days. I did drive up and hang out with The Boy for a little bit. This is what we did.



Yup, that's Kanye West. I know it's hard to see, but it really is him. He was at the club Area in Los Angeles Tuesday night along with Common. It was crazy crowded up in there. I'm talking standing shoulder to shoulder with some sweaty/smelly people, but it was worth it. They basically did a little mini-concert. They performed Go, Flashing Lights, Stonger, Good Life, and a few others I can't remember right now. What makes it even better is that it was free to get in. My friend has the hook up and was able to get us in without a cover charge. Perez Hilton even posted about it.

Where have all the girl scouts gone?

I love girl scout cookies. My most favorite of them all is the thin mints. I could eat a whole box of them all by myself. Seriously, I love them. This year I haven't seen any girl scouts at the stores, which is odd because I go to the grocery store A LOT. Once a week at least. I didn't realize that this Sunday was last day of girl scout cookie season. I am so sad. If I had known, I totally would've driven around to find me some cookies. The Boy actually bought some cookies a few weeks ago, but he didn't buy the kind I liked. What good is he to me if he can't even buy me one little box of cookies? He just might need to be replaced.

It's getting hot in herre

It's like it's summer outside. The sun has come out and the air conditioning has been turned on. You know what that means? A trip to the mall. I'm in need of some new tank tops and short sleeved clothes. I picked up a few tops at Nordstrom and Forever 21. This was my first big shopping trip in awhile. I wanted to buy so much stuff. I forgot how much fun shopping can be! My bank account, however, does not agree. More than half of my new clothing is for work though. That makes me feel a little bit better about my purchases. This shopping trip is definitely helping me get out of my weird funk.

Where ya been?

It's been awhile since my last post. I wish I could say it's because I've been so busy with fun and exciting activities. Alas, I cannot. I've been around, just reading other people's blogs. I just haven't posted in awhile. I've been in a funk the past couple weeks. It's not really a depression, but depression-like. I come home at the end of the day and just want to be alone. Didn't want to go anywhere. Didn't want to do anything. It was an overall blah feeling. I started writing a few posts, but never finished/posted them. I've been uninspired and unmotivated lately. I think it's over now. I'll try to post something less depressing and more exciting tomorrow. For now, I have an accounting book calling my name.

The most important meal of the day

I love me some breakfast. It's probably my favorite meal to go out for. Yesterday I had breakfast and Cafe on Park with my friend, Lana. It was my first time eating there and it was SO good. Whenever we go out for breakfast, we order a sweet dish and a savory dish then we just share them. This time we ordered the Captain Crunch Pancake and a meatloaf, sundreid tomato, spinach, onion, and mozarella cheese egg scramble. When they brought out the pancake I was surprised. It was the biggest pancake EVER. It's kinda hard to see its humungousness from this picture (which I got off of yelp), but trust me - it's HUGE! And super yummy too.

The egg scramble was also very very tasty. Cafe on Park is a definite winner. I've heard good things about their waffle. I'll have to go back soon and try it.

Happy almost Valentine's Day!

Tomorrow the boy and I are going out to dinner. Nothing too fancy or expensive though, just a simple and relaxed dinner. We don't even exchange gifts. He gets me flowers, but that's it. It's okay though, because I'm not really into Valentine's Day.

I was going to just cook dinner at home. Then I realized that I can't even remember the last time the boy and I went out for a nice dinner alone. We've been together for so long, that we often find ourselves just hanging out at home or only going out when there are other people involved. Me thinks that we need to have date nights more often.

1500 Ocean Review

Restaurant week was a few weeks ago. We went to 1500, which is located inside of Hotel del. I failed to recap about it for two reasons: laziness and a lack of pictures. The boy forgot his camera! Instead, I've gathered a bunch of pictures that I found on other websites or blogs.






Here's what we ordered:
Appetizers: Celery Root Soup: Grilled mushroom, chive oil and Cured Yellowtail: Jicama, chili, avocado mousse

Main Course: Seared Diver Scallops: Squash puree, shaved brussel sprouts, almond brown butter and Grilled Angus Beef Culotte: Olive oil crushed potatoes, smoked bacon, persimmon salad

Dessert: Warm Chocolate Chipotle Cake: Caramel ice cream, banana and Mango Crème Brulee: Fennel compote

Everything was very very good. They also start you out with bread for the table. There are 2 kinds of bread, cheese biscuits and something else. I don't remember what the other bread is because I didn't like it and I LOVED the cheese biscuits. I probably had about 4 of them. I really wanted to have more, but I was being self-conscious about how many I had. Nobody else was eating as much as I was. Everything we had was perfectly cooked and tasted so good. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough of it! Not that the portions were small, I just wanted more :) My meat was perfectly cooked and the crushed potatoes were the perfect compliment to them. The bacon added a nice touch to the potatoes. The scallops, were again, perfectly cooked - brown on the outside and nice and buttery on the inside. The cake was sooooo good. I'd never had chocolate that was spicy, so I was really excited to try this out. I enjoyed the little kick the spice gave to the desert, the boy not so much. The mango creme brulee was just as good, smooth and creamy. Perfect for anyone who doesn't really enjoy chocolate.

Bread basket (Following pictures stolen borrowed from Alice Q Foodie)


Chipotle cake


A few notes, not food related. It was difficult to get a reservation. When we got there it wasn't very busy and I saw lots of empty tables the whole night. Weird. Maybe people didn't show up or they underbook so that hotel guests won't have trouble eating there if they want? The service was great. The waiter was very attentive. There was also a guitar player at the restaurant. We were seated a few tables away from him. At first I thought it might get annoying, but he wasn't overly loud or anything. It ended up being nice background music. The decor was elegant and nice. It wasn't as stuffy or old as I had expected since the del is an old hotel. It would be nice to go back when the weather is warmer so that we could eat outside and enjoy the nice oceanside view.

Overall, it was a great meal. And at $40, a definite steal!

Time to stock up

In need of some wine? Check out Wally's tent sale in Westwood this weekend. I sound like a commercial, don't I?

That's it for this post. I tried coming up with something else fun and/or witty to add, but I got nothing. That's all. Just go by yourself some good and cheap wine.

Happy early birthday to me

I scored a pair of Lanvin ballet flats at the Barney's sale this weekend. The boy actually bought them for me as part of my birthday gift. They were quite the splurge. I also got a Top Shop top. The boy picked up a pair of shoes. I was hoping to find some boots. No such luck. I only saw two pairs of boots in my size. Both pairs were just eh. I didn't spend much time browsing the racks of clothes at the sale. By the time we got there, I had a horrible headache and just wasn't in the mood. There are many things that can cause me to not be in the mood. Headaches. Uncomfortable clothing and/or shoes. Crowds. All three non-shopping mood causing factors were present on Saturday.

Before heading home, we ate at Bossa Nova over on Pico and swung by Beard Papa's for some yummy cream puffs.

Here is a rundown of my Sunday

• Slept in. Missed church - oops!
• Walked the dog. Had breakfast then gave the dog a much needed bath.
  
• After everyone was clean, the boy, the dog and I all fell asleep on the bed. Can we say lazy?
• Woke up from aforementioned nap and did homework while the boy watched basketball and played xbox.
• Had dinner with the boy and his parents before driving back home to San Diego.

Currently

• Wishing it wasn't Sunday night and that I didn't have to work tomorrow
  

going to see Barney

No, not that Barney. A better barney. On my way to Santa Monica to check out the semi-annual Barney's warehouse sale (oh, and to see the boy too). I'll let you know how it is.

40 days and 40 nights

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. During this time, you're supposed to give up something such as chocolate or candy or smoking or drinking. It's a sacrifice you're making. In the past, I've given up soda, coffee, and chocolate. I've been trying to think of what to give up this year. I was having a hard time coming up with something. I don't drink soda or snack as frequently as I did in the past. I don't smoke. So instead of giving up something, I decided I would DO something everyday instead. I'm going to do some kind of exercise every day. Some sort of exercise for at least 10 minutes a day. I won't necessarily go to the gym everyday, but I will at least do one of my work out dvds or yoga here at home. In a way, I'll be sacrificing my time. Lately, I've been too lazy to go to the gym and I come up with a gazillion excuses to not go. I have to much to do. I'm hungry. I'm tired. I don't feel good. It's too cold outside. It's raining, etc, etc, etc

Burger Lounge

Last night I ate at Burger Lounge in Kensington with the boy. I was looking forward to it, as I've heard so many good things about the place. We both had the Grilled Lounge Burger with cheddar cheese. We also had french fries, onions rings and a chocolate malt. The food was good, just not amazingly good. Nothing that I'll find myself craving. I'd go back if someone else wants to go, but I probably won't go back on my own. It's basically fast food, only higher quality ingredients such as tall grass fed beef. Maybe I just had high expectations going into it. I was expecting a mind-blowingly good burger. The fries and onions rings were really good, probably my favorite part. The breading on the onion rings is nice and light. Both the fries and the rings were seasoned with parsley and kosher salt, making them deeeelish.

I hear the turkey burger is better than the beef burger. If I go back, I'll try that instead.

Happy Super Tuesday

Well, I didn't technically vote today. I sent in my absentee ballot awhile ago. I've never been to an actual polling place. I've always voted via absentee.

Suggestions, please

A group of my friends would like to go wine tasting in Temecula. Any suggestions on wineries, tours, or hotels we should look into?

It's picture time

My lazy butt finally found my camera and its cords and stuff. Here's some pictures of what I cooked over the weekend.

Lemon blossoms

I would highly recommend the lemon blossoms. They are probably one of my favorite things to bake. Plus, they are super simple to make. Anybody can do it. No special baking skills necessary. They are lemony, sweet, and just a bit tart. I could eat the whole batch in one sitting. They aren't the prettiest mini-muffin, but they are soooo good.

Here's the recipe (from Paula Deen):

18 1/2-ounce package yellow cake mix
3 1/2-ounce package instant lemon pudding mix
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
Glaze:
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 lemon, zested
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons water


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray miniature muffin tins with vegetable oil cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour a small amount of batter, filling each muffin tin half way. Bake for 12 minutes. Turn out onto a tea towel
To make the glaze, sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil, and 3 tablespoons water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.

With fingers, dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they're still warm, covering as much of the cake as possible, or spoon the glaze over the warm cupcakes, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips. Let the glaze set thoroughly, about 1 hour, before storing in containers with tight-fitting lids.



BBQ chicken pizza

I like making this because it requires very little prep and effort on my part. Just cover with toppings and put it in the oven. Done. The hardest part is chopping all the ingredients.

I wanna rock and roll all niiiiiight and party every day

I played Rock Band for the first time this weekend. SO. MUCH. FUN. I have Guitar Hero 1, 2, and 3. I could probably just get rid of all those games now that I'm the proud owner of Rock Band. (I'll keep them though, just because they have some good songs.) Rock Band is better than Guitar hero, I think. There's drums, guitars, and singing so more people can get involved. It's a blend of karaoke and guitar hero - it's 2 games in one. Is karaoke a game? Not really, but for arguements sake, we'll say it is. I guess you could say Magic Mic is a game. You get scored on it. Tangent, I know. The drums were really hard for me at first, but now I think I'm better at the drums than I am with the guitar. The game is a tad bit expensive, but it's worth every penny (especially since I didn't technically buy the game - my roommate did).

Here's a recap of the rest of my weekend:
Last night I had dinner with my friend, Lana. We ate at a Thai restaurant in Hillcrest called Celadon. The food is good and the atmophere is nice - classy and clean, yet chic and trendy. Then we hung out at her place, drinking wine, eating lemon blossoms that I baked, and chatting. Good times.

Today I didn't even bother watching the Superbowl. Lame, I know. I guess my heart's just not into it. I played Rock Band, did some grocery shopping, and did accounting homework instead. Can it get any more exciting than that? I don't think so.

Snickerdoodle what?

I've been cooking and baking a lot lately. I've been meaning to take pictures of my results to post here, but I always forget and/or am too lazy to get my camera stuff out. I moved over the summer and during the move I seem to have put my electronic/camera stuff in different boxes. Since then, I've been too lazy to gather it all together and I just rely on other people (aka the boy) to take pictures. I'll just have to post links to what they should look like.

The other night I made a batch of snickerdoodle muffins. I got the recipe here.Here is a picture of what it should look like, courtesy of Peabody.



Mine didn't come out looking quite as pretty as those. They were mighty tasty if I do say so myself.

Over the weekend I baked chocolate espresso cookies. I woke up with a craving for freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. I wanted to bake something a little bit different though. Something with a twist. I searched on the Food Network website and allrecipes.com. On both sites I found a recipe for the "Neiman Marcus" cookie. I must live under a rock because I've never heard of this cookie before. I decided to try it out. I went to the store and I couldn't find espresso powder. I decided to substitute some instant coffee crystals since I have some in the pantry. Since I've never tried the Neiman Marcus cookie, I can't compare to how it tastes to the original, but they turned out pretty good I think. Now I just need to get me to Neiman Marcus and try out the real thing.

The ULTIMATE couch potato

Yesterday as I left for work, the boy was laying on the couch watching Heroes season one on DVD. Yesterday, when I got home from work, the boy was laying on the couch watching Heroes season one on DVD. He had been watching Heroes the whole time I was at work! To be fair, I didn't go into work yesterday until noon, but still, that's a good 6 hours of dvd watching. He didn't even shower! He was supposed to go back up to LA yesterday too, but he was "too sick" to drive. He claims he's sick, but I think he's just being lazy and wanted to watch Heroes all day instead of driving 2 hours back home.

I'll take a small popcorn with butter, coke, and some bon bons. Oh, and some dramamine please

Last night the boy and I watched Cloverfield with a few of our friends. Here's a plot synopsis I pulled from IMDB: Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives. I couldn't watch half the movie. I started to feel very nauseous. Because of the hand-held camera point of view, I had to look away from the screen every now and then, which really sucks because I missed seeing a lot of what was going on. I thought it was just me, but when I looked around the theater there were a lot of other moviegoers looking away too. Everyone I was with, except the boy, complained that they also felt nauseous. I seriously thought I was going to throw up there in the theater. The movie itself was alright. Nothing too exciting. Predictable.

What's on tap for the weekend?

I am so glad the weekend is here. This past week was a lot longer and harder than I had expected it to be. Don't you just hate when that happens? This week was supposed to be easy breezy, but things got busy at work and we put in extra long hours.

Today is one of my cousin's birthdays and there is a party for her at my aunt's house. The boy is driving down from LA and we'll be heading over to the party around 2. We'll probably hang out there all day and then come home and watch some tv or something else equally boring relaxing. I may try to sneak in a quick visit to the gym before the boy gets here, but my lazy self may win over my wanting to get back into shape self.

Sunday is church, bright and early at 10am. Afterwards, we'll probably head back home, have some lunch, and be lazy some more. Maybe we'll go to the gym. In fact, the boy will probably make me go. He's not as lazy as am I. I'd also like to go shopping - just one store so that I'm not too tempted to buy stuff. For dinner we're going to 1500 Ocean at hotel del! For the past few days I've been obsessively checking to see if they had any last minute openings and they did! Not only did they have an opening, but we able to get reservations for 6 people. It'll be a triple date. The boy and me, my sister and her husband, and another one of my cousins and his girlfriend. I wish it were Sunday night already. Well, not really because then the weekend would be over, but you know what I mean.

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Changes

My post last week about the sample sale and how I wasn't going got me to thinking about how much my life has changed over the last year and a half. It's amazing how different your life can over such a short period of time.

A year and a half ago I was living in LA with my cousin. Now we both have moved - me to San Diego and him to Oregon. This move has changed a lot of my relationships with people. With some, I've gotten closer to and with others we've drifted apart. A lot of this has to do with logistics and ease of getting together and hanging out.

My sister is married now. I have a brother!

I have a new job, but now I'm poorer than before. In fact, my closest friends are all poorer this year than they were last year. This is due to job changes and school. This has significantly changed our lifestyles. There are fewer weekend shopping trips with the girls, fewer nights out on the town. We used to party like rock stars almost every weekend. Now we're all too poor, too busy, and too tired to go out like that. A typical night of us getting together now is eating dinner at my place and watching movies on On Demand. Not that it's a bad thing, just different from before. We do go out every now and then, but only on special occasions. My Coffee Bean ice blended consumption has also gone down significantly.

The boy was in school in Miami and I only got to see him once every 3 months or so. Now he's back in LA and I get to see him just about every week.

What will this new year have in store for me . . .

Gotta love Restaurant Week

Next week is Restuarant Week in San Diego. For those of you that don't know what that is, it's a week where a bunch of restaurants offer prix-frixe dinners for $30 or $40, depending on the resturant. This is great since dinner at many of these places would normally be well over $50 a person. I know I said in one of my previous posts that I've been trying to save money, but this is one thing I just HAVE to splurge on. I can't help it. I love eating. I really really do. I'm always looking forward to my next meal. The boy gives me a hard time about it a lot, in a joking and loving way of course. This year I'm trying two places, Market Restaurante and Bar and Azul. I really really really wanted to go to 1500 Ocean at Hotel del, but they are already completely booked on the nights I wanted to go. Oh well, there's always next time.

There are so many restaurants in San Diego that I've been dying to try. I enjoy cooking at home, so I rarely go out to eat. When I do go out, we always go to some nearby places(read chain restaurants). If we do venture outside of our comfort zone, we tend to hit up the same places, such as Rama or Casa Guadalajara. What can I say, I'm a creature of habit. Here's a partial list of places I want to try soon:

Jayne's Gastropub
Burger Lounge
Mama Testa's

Any suggestions on what I should add to my list?

Here's to a great season

Sadly, the Chargers lost yesterday. They were the underdogs and they played very well. It was a respectable loss. The Patriots are undefeated and, due to injuries, LT only was in for about three plays. The Chargers did great this season. There are a lot of doubters out there who say the Chargers suck and they always choke. And so to those people, I have to say: Shut it. They DID NOT choke this year. The Chargers are an awesome team. Next year, baby, next year.

Sample sale anyone?

There is a premium denim sample sale in San Diego this weekend and I'm not going - Boo! It makes me oh so sad. I love me some premium denim. True Religion, Frankie B, Rock and Republic, William Rast, oh how I love thee! The reason I'm not going is a lack of funds. The job I'm at right now doesn't pay as much as my previous jobs. Plus, I've been trying to save money for the future, which is the responsible grown up thing to do. The not responsible and not grown up part of me really really wants to go. I tried to see if my sister and our friend H wanted to go, but they are both in the lacking funds department too. H just recently went back to school and no longer works so she's living off her savings and student loans now. My sister has a mortgage to pay and in a few months her husband will be leaving his current job for a lesser paying job. Had it not been for all of these situations, the three of SO would've been there. A year ago we hit up all the sample sales there were from here to L.A. What a difference a year makes, huh.

p.s
I should show you my jean collection some time. It's so pretty! Although there have been no new additions in an incredibly long time. :(

p.p.s
Dinner with my friends got bumped up to last night. My friend's boyfriend, Fisher, ended up not coming. Since it got moved from Saturday to Friday, no other boyfriends were able to make it and Fisher didn't want to be the only guy there.

My life expectancy

What's yours?

Case of the disappearing engagement ring

No, not mine since I don't have one. One of the boys best friends recently got engaged. We will refer to the newly engaged couple as Choco and Cheena. Here's some background on their relationship. They live together and have (what I'd consider)somewhat of a rocky relationship. They are fighting/bickering constantly. They both get jealous easily and they keep each other on very very short leashes. They are probably the most co-dependant couple I know. Because of all this, Choco has had his reservations about getting married. He's always complaining to the boy about how Cheena gets "crazy" when they fight and that she is spoiled and lazy. He wants her to change before he marries her *cough* yeah right *cough*. Choco bought a ring for Cheena awhile ago and Cheena was aware of this. Choco finally gave her the ring for Christmas, but she's supposed to not wear it. It's like a "secret engagement." The other night the boy was with Choco, Cheena and some other friends and Cheena was wearing the ring. One of their friends said congratulations to them and Choco just brushed it off. Yesterday was the first time I've seen Choco or Cheena since they got "engaged." I was excited to get to see her ring, but she wasn't wearing it! I didn't want to ask about it because I know it's kinda sorta a secret and they don't want a lot of people knowing. I suspect that she purposely didn't wear the ring in front of me because Choco probably didn't want me seeing it and asking quetions. Is this not the strangest engagement ever? If I was Cheena, I'd be a little upset. I wouldn't want to hide my engagement. She should be able to proudly wear her ring and share the good news with everyone she knows. I love Cheena and think she's a really great and fun girl, but I don't know if these two should be getting married . . . at least not yet.

Three day weekend . . .

but not for me.

Boo: I have work on Saturday :( My weekend will only be two days.
Yay: All is not lost. Saturday should only be a half day with me heading home by 3:30. The boy will be coming down to hang out with me this weekend. He has a big test to take Friday and Saturday will be his first worry free day in months. He's taking the first part of his medical board exams, which he's been studying for for months.

Yay: The Chargers have won TWO playoff games this year.
Boo: They play the undefeated Patriots next. LT, Rivers, and Gates are still hurt.

Yay: I'm having dinner with my friend H on Saturday night in downtown.
Boo: She's bringing her boyfriend, Fisher, with her. Not that I don't like the guy, he's just not very much fun to be around. He's hard to talk to and doesn't engage in conversation, so it makes me uncomfortable. She's been dating this guy for over a year and I still don't feel like I know him. Maybe it's just a little hard to get him out of his shell, but come on - talk already! I'll ask him a question and he'll reply with the shortest answer possible and then that's it. He doesn't ever talk unless you talk directly to him, otherwise he just sits there quietly. It's just weird to me that I hardly know one of my best friends boyfriends. Especially since we live in the same city. It'd be one thing if they lived out of state or even in another city, but they don't.

Yay: I have tomorrow off!
Boo: I have to pick my parents up at 8am! They are coming home from a 5 day cruise. AND I have 3 chapters to read for my advertising class I'm taking.

BOO: I have to get back to work now.
Yay: There is no yay response to having to do actual work now.

Happy happy joy joy!

My Chargers won! Without LT nonetheless! Well, he played for the first 2 quarters and then was out due to a knee injury. QB Rivers sat out the entire fourth quarter because of an injury too. The rest of the team really stepped it up during their absence. It was SUCH an exciting game! I think my voice is a bit hoarse now from all the yelling. I don't think I've been so nervous watching a game before.

I feel kinda bad for Peyton Manning. He's such a great player and he seems like such a good guy. Today's loss must be hard on him. Next week the Chargers face the Patriots. This game will be much harder, for sure.

Goooooooooo Chargers!

I forgot to mention in my earlier posts how happy I am that the Chargers won their last game! The Chargers haven't won a playoff game in over 10 years. The last playoff game they won was back in 1995, the year they went to the Superbowl. This year, the streak is over! They won against the Titan's last Sunday and face the Colts next. Let's hope they can make it to the Superbowl again this year.



This time around they have LT. Hopefully he can help bring San Diego a Superbowl win.