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.

Give a little

Take 5 seconds of your day and help provide food to those in need. Visit The Hunger Site and click. Two little clicks. It's that easy.

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.

Very late Christmas update

Awhile back I had promised an update of my Christmas festivities. Due to my recent sickness, I have yet to blog about it. Here it goes. I got a bunch of great presents. I got a couple of dvds, gift cards to sephora and coffee bean, Kiehls products, ca$h, and the following:

Speakers for my ipod


Dolce & Gabbana Parfum - The One



8 inch Digital Frame



Christmas Eve with the fam was great. All my aunts, uncles and cousins were there and let me tell you there are A LOT of us. There was lots of good food such as lobster, prime rib, mashed potatoes, cheesecake, and more. Christmas songs were sung. Family board games were played. Good conversation was had. Ever since we were kids, one of our dads would dress up as Santa Claus and pass out the presents. Now that we are older and there are a new set of young kids around the dad's have passed on the tradtion to our male cousins. This year, the boy got roped into playing Santa. He was such a good sport about it, made me fall in love with him all over again (I know, I know, cheesey). Christmas Day my family gathered at my aunt's house for more food and family time. Overall, it was a wonderful holiday season and I'm sad it's gone. Only 11 more months until the next one!

Come out, come out, wherever you are

So it's de-lurking week. On the off chance that I have any lurkers, please make your self known please and thank you. I have de-lurked on a few blogs I read. That is all for now. Good night.

Wedding Fever

I'm at that age where everyone I know seems to be getting married. This past wedding season my sister and 4 other couples I know got hitched. So far, next summer 4 couples I know will be getting married. I found out about one of the weddings yesterday. It got me to thinking of when it'll be my turn. Hopefully, it won't be too far from now. Ideally, I'd like to be married at or by 30. That means I have to be engaged within 2 years, which really means I'd need to be engaged within one year so that I'd have one year to plan the wedding. This is just my ideal timeline. The actual timeline will probably be about one year off, meaning I'll be married at 31. Not too bad, but I'd still prefer to be married by 30. I know 30 is by no means old, but I'd like to get married sooner rather than later. Why the rush? I don't know really. Part of me thinks that I just want to get to plan a wedding where I get to wear a pretty white dress.

Target After Chirstmas

I love Target and I love getting good deals on things, combine the two and I'm one happy camper. Because I had work (BOO!), I didn't get a chance to go to Target the day after Christmas, so I missed out on some items that go fast such as hand soaps and dishwashing soap that have Christmas themed packaging that are normally half off. I did get some great gift wrap, boxes, and bags at 50% off. I went back a few days later to check out the 75% off stuff and I was able to score some more bags and boxes. Yesterday I was at Target again. This time I was there to buy non-Christmas items such as shampoo and bar soap. I decided to check out the Christmas stuff to see if I could scrounge up one or two items that were marked at 90% off. Unfortuantely for me, there was nothing left but bags of bows and some really ugly christmas tree skirts. There were a few bags and boxes, but those were damaged. On my way to check out, I passed by the stationary section. Since I like to make my own greeting cards, I decided to check it out. I scored a few super cute christmas items that were 90% off. Yay!


I got all of this for $1.15. Retail price would've been $11.82. Go me!

TV guilty pleasures

cue music. "I don't need to be anything other than a prison guard's son
I don't need to be anything other than a specialist's son" I love hearing that song. When I hear that music blaring from my television set, I know one of my guilty pleasures is back. One Tree Hill - I love it. I've been hooked since the beginnging. Cute guys playing basketball, high school drama, girls being bitchy - count me in. The new season of One Tree Hill is back and I'm so excited. I can't wait to find out what Lucas, Brooke, Nathan, and Peyton have been up to.


Another one of my television guily pleasures is yet another high school kid drama, Gossip Girl. I don't know what it is about these shows high school drama shows, but they draw me in. (although, technically the oth crew are now out of high school and 21 years old).
For Gossip Girl, one of its main draws for me is all the pretty pretty clothes they wear. Also, I think that kid that plays Dan is cute.



I'll be a craddle robber for him any day :)

What does one do at 4 am?

It's almost 4 am and I'm wide awake. What to do? What to do? There's nothing good on tv this early in the morning. I've watched all the shows I have saved on tivo. I'm all caught up on celebrity gossip. Sigh. Tomorrow is gonna suck.

Update:
I finally feel asleep around 5 am and I woke up at 7:30. Surprisingly, today doesn't suck as much as expected.

Happy New Years!

Happy new year, everyone! I hope everyone is feeling better than I am at the moment. I've been feeling sick since Saturday - boo! I was hoping it was just a cold, but it turned out to be the flu. Monday was the worst. Something must be going around. So many of my family and friends are sick right now too. Get your flu shots everyone! I'm going back to bed :(