3 Toast!

Epic

2010-08-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend showed me this video last night and I couldn't stop laughing. It was really well-done.

Original Video:

The REMIX!

It's A Celebration!

2010-07-06T23:05:00.001-07:00

My friends and I decided to hit up the Alameda County Fair on July 5th (since we were all off that day anyway). Let me tell you right now that San Franciscans are not internally equipped for bright, sunny, 90+ degree weather. Whoooo, boy! It was a lot of fun, though. Jeff and I went on our own last year and were really excited about this one. We're probably going to see about the state fair coming up within the next 2 weeks. It's suppose to be crazy and huge.

The Couples:

Me & Jeff
It's called trust, baby!

Chris & Jasmine
The folks from the fog don't bake well.

Rob & Joy
Isn't it good to know that your lady's lap is always there when you need a rest?

He had been craving one of these since last year... *snicker*
I had been craving chocolate-dipped strawberries covered in Oreos, but settled for ones covered in whipped cream instead. :(
There were a bunch of little kids taking pictures before us and we sort of wanted to get them out of the way. We were thinking along the lines of, "You kids aren't even old enough the fully appreciate the CHARM of the Berenstain Bears!"
My favorite shots of ALL... TIME...
And don't think for a second that we forced them to do this.

Yup, we are the lucky girlfriends of these fine gentlemen.

Joy, Jasmine, Rob, & Chris all left early, so Jeff & I walked the rest of the fair on our own. It was kinda nice since everything was being lit up and the weather wasn't slowly baking us to a crisp brown anymore. We were hungry and bought sandwiches from Big Bubba's BBQ. As a general rule, I like to eat at places that contain "Bubba" in their name.

Mine: Pulled pork & His: BBQ beef

And what else could we possibly have for dessert other than deep fried Snickers & Oreos? We were both extremely grateful that these aren't available on a a regular basis. It was like eating delicious, delicious guilt.All in all, it was a great day spent with wonderful people.

I hope everybody had a worth-while holiday!

Well... crap...

2010-06-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

My computer is up and functioning once again after who knows how long. I won't lie. I wasn't exactly rushing to fix the thing. My eyes needed to readjust to reality. But now that this glowing screen is once again in front of me... I have all sorts of crap that I need to catch up on (most of which I won't due to laziness and confusion). Also, there were so many things to write about that have come and gone.

The main thing I want to post up? I got to see my favorite group of all time: Bone Thugs N Harmony. Literally resting my drink on the stage and touching their shoes as they passed (while resisting the urge to grab ankles,which would ruin the show).

My next post will be on that, including videos and pictures.

This post is simply: I'M BAAAAACKKKKKK!!!

See It

2010-04-20T13:48:00.001-07:00

Cheap Addiction DIY

2010-03-12T22:32:00.000-08:00

If you've never heard of www.luxaddiction.com, you should check it out. It's a site that carries all sorts of custom phone cases... I can't even describe them. You just have to check out the site for yourself.

I was ABOUT to put down the $80 for a case. I seriously was. But then the cheap in my blazed to life and I though, screw that... I'll make my own. I love the designs. There are some that caught my eye, but none that made me think, "I HAVE to have that!" And I wasn't about to shell out that amount of money on something that I had luke-warm attraction to. Nuh-uh.

So I ordered a cheap case off of Amazon (I probably could have gotten one cheaper off Ebay, but I'm an Amazon fan) for around $3.00. The cost was mainly shipping :/ It's a matte, hard plastic one that snaps into place.

Also ordered a red one.

Then, I headed off to Michael's art supply store and bought a bunch of jewels and pearls. Here's what my work area at the kitchen table looked like:

Gorilla Glue!!

Bling Bling

I didn't really have a design in mind. I just figured that I'd make it up as I go along and cross my fingers. I sacrificed a couple necklaces and earrings to my little project, too. It's fine since they were pieces that never made any special appearance anyway.

I didn't get to use the owl because it didn't go with my color scheme :/ Next time.

Work in progress.

And then....

...

*drum roll*

...

I am incredibly proud and satisfied with how it turned out. >.< I'm actually considering making a second one, a more colorful one. The total cost for everything was actually less than $30. So, if nothing grabs your attention on the site, I think that you should just grab some Krazy Glue (But be careful with it. Use toothpicks to position the stones you use.) and get to work!

Really quick...

2010-03-02T22:09:00.000-08:00

Loreal Studio Secrets Anti-Dull Skin Primer...

I hated it.
It made my foundation cakey & my face look dry.
I regret spending money on this.

That is all.

Stress-Reliever

2010-02-08T00:03:00.000-08:00

(Have I mentioned that I love my camera?)

I spent most of today with my family. Nice and mellow. Yea. Yea. Superbowl Sunday. I'm not a football nut... anymore. In middle/high school, my best friend (Jen) and I used to watch the Superbowl together. We'd buy a crap=load of snacks and set up in my living room. I haven't watched since the Niners beat the Packers years ago. :P

Anyway, I just wasn't feeling it today. After the week I've had, I just wanted to be surrounded by the people I love this weekend.

The sun was out today and everything! I forgot to take pictures, but Les made steak, potatoes au gratin, a mushroom gravy, and broccoli with cheese. ^.^ It was all so good.

Gave Mariel some milk tea tapioca... and Tito Miguel took it :/

It's ok. She still loves him.

Les was the only one really watching the game.

Both babies in the stroller.

Lola's always ready for the camera.

Dad and Tito Johnny busted out a bottle of wine.

She kept asking because they made it look good... bleehh...

We swapped it with prune juice :) Sneaky... sneaky...

Last night, we finally got to meet baby Xavier! Ate Liza and Kuya Gus brought him by. He was actually born a few day before we were supposed to have the baby shower. :) I loved listening to Gus talk about the birth. I don't know if Jeff would be as calm as he was. He said that the nurses kept eye-balling him, expecting him to faint.

He's so tiny!

He is so adorable! I love babies, but they feel so delicate in your arms!

Ahhhh... family therapy is good.

GAAAHHH!! twitchtwitch

2010-02-03T23:04:00.001-08:00

This is a pharmacy-related rant, just to warn you. Well, truthfully it's not really a rant. It's just a situation that got me so frustrated I couldn't help but start laughing about it. These are faxes going back and forth between myself and a doctor's office.

My fax : This medication is no longer available to order. Please change to an alternative if possible.

Their fax: Yes. This medication is okay to refill 3 times.

My fax: This medication is NO LONGER AVAILABLE. Please change to an alternative if possible.

Their fax: Please order the medication and call the patient once it comes in.

My fax: This is NOT AVAILABLE, meaning we CANNOT order it. We have tried several times, but it may be discontinued. Please change it to an alternative.

Their fax: Please refill this medication. We have already faxed you ok-ing it.

My fax: THE MEDICATION CANNOT BE ORDERED, therefore this cannot be refilled.

Their fax: Why?

o.O <--- me reading the last fax.

OH... MY... GOD...

New Toy: Day 1

2010-02-02T23:22:00.000-08:00

My Nikon D3000 came in yesterday and I took it out for a test spin today.

Side-story: I went to Target to buy my camera last week, but when the cashier rung it up, my card was declined! I was so unbelievably bummed... not to mention confused, since there was no reason for my card to be declined. Jeff suggested that I just order it on-line because it would most likely be cheaper. I looked on Amazon and it was about $100 cheaper... no tax... and free shipping. Woo-Hoo!! I ordered it right there.

When I checked Yahoo for my confirmation e-mail, I also had an email from my bank. They reported that there had been some suspicious activity (my thwarted attempt at Target) on my card and that they had locked it! BAH! I suppose you could call it a blessing in disguise, since I got such a deal afterward. :)

Here are some test shots. There aren't many because I only had a 64 MB SD card on me, but I'm planning on ordering a larger one later on.

Trying to enhance his blue-ness.

A Japanese pinball machine from Mocha 101.

You've GOTTA know what this is.

Ummm... yea...

I am seriously in love with my camera. The pictures come out so crisp and detailed, even in dim lighting. I think that was my main issue with my little point-n-shoot Cannon. Couldn't take night shots for shit. But not my Nikon. :) I'm so happy! My last splurge for a while. Gotta let my stack recover.

I Gotta Get Free!!

2010-01-18T22:08:00.001-08:00

It's been literally YEARS since I've had a real vacation, so I'm trying to plan a get-away for my birthday. I already requested a week off and am trying to find out where I should head out to. LA? Vegas? Chicago? Canada? Australia??? Don'tcha love it when you have have family all over? :) Heck, maybe I'll drop by Guam. We'll see. I'm really looking forward to just busting the hell out of this cage. I feel like I'm about to lose my mind. I DESERVE some friggin' time off!!

I've been talking to my dad and he wants to come along, too, which I don't mind. He needs a vacation just as badly (if not worse) than I do. Besides, I miss spending time with my dad.

Oh! My mom's birthday is tomorrow!

And I'm in a conundrum. You see, whenever my mom wants something. She drops the bills and buys it on the spot. There is NOTHING left for me to buy her! Perhaps flowers and a cake?? Any ideas? :/

Well, I'm gonna head out early and see what I can find. Wish me luck! Definitely getting a cake, though. My mom has 2 favorite ones and I guess I'll buy the lesser of the two evils (ie: the less sugar-engorged one.)

Sneaky Sneaky

2010-01-10T22:08:00.000-08:00

I'm sick of my image-less posts :(

My camera up and decided to crap out on me, so I'm in the market for a new one. I'm eying the Nikon D3000. It's definitely bulkier than what I'm used to, but I'm determined to get some quality shots of this year. Videos, also! Like this one...

This was awesome! Let me give you the background on this video.

I wanted to get Jeff a gift that would knock the air out of him, but in order for me to do that, it would have to be car-related. The thought of even ATTEMPTING to buy car parts makes my eyes cross, so I decided I needed to send it a spy for reconnaissance. I messaged his friend Rommel on Facebook and told him the situation. Rommel started texting Jeff and relaying the information to me while I searched on-line. The sites I found were legit, but I figured I needed a little more help.

Queue the folks at Vision Performance (Thank you, Mike, Crosby, Jimmy, Kevin). They're actually friends with Jeff and Rommel and were happy to help me order the gift: a pair of Sparco Torino II racing seats. There was more messaging on Facebook, phone calls, and visits to the shop. Basically, they did the work and I put down the cash :P

The seats came in and I plotted. I usually work on Saturdays, but took the day off. If Jeff had gone by the pharmacy, I had an alibi ready to be delivered by my co-workers. I went to the shop to look at the seats at around 12, then had Jimmy call Jeff to come by to help him with something after work (heheheh). Jeff gets off work at 1, so it was good timing. We decided to take one of the seats out of the box and hide me inside. Crosby manned the camera.

What was on the video was basically my favorite part. :) I wanted to edit the video because there area actually 5 parts to it, but Movie Maker is acting up. It was priceless because he was not expecting it AT ALL. In fact, Jeff told me that he was skeptical even as he was opening the second box. He seriously had no idea what I was doing behind his back.

I love surprises!

So Far, So Good

2010-01-05T22:24:00.000-08:00

My resolution this year is not to work out more. It's not to lose weight.

It's to connect.

Or reconnect.

Basically, I want to spend more time with people. Meet new people. Hang out with old friends. Add more folks into my contacts list. Because of my home situation and the fact that my time is never really MINE... I've lost contact with folks... missed out on opportunities to get to know great people... just generally been trapped in a bubble. Don't get me wrong. I love spending time with Jeff and my family, but those are the ONLY people I've been around (outside of work).

I get so lonely and feel seriously isolated because of the way things are. Even Jeff told me over the phone, "You're always by yourself." Pretty pathetic. This year, I'm going to try hard to put myself out there and connect before I go insane. :)

Things are going very well so far. On new year's DAY, I went out for ice cream with a friend from high school who I haven't seen in I don't know how long. I know. "Big deal. You got ice cream." But it meant so much more to me than that.

I'm trying to set up events where I can get together with people and it's great. Rock climbing. A day in the snow at Tahoe. Working out with co-workers. Tomorrow night, another friend from high school is going to be in the city to visit and I plan on having dinner with her after work. I haven't seen her in yeeeaars.

Why now? Because they cut my hours at work and shifted the hours that I DO work, so I have a little more free time. Turn a negative into a positive, right? I plan on using that time wisely.

PS: Updating my blog more regularly will be another way to connect :P

First of The Year!!!

2010-01-01T10:16:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY!! I hope you all had fun celebrating. I also hope that your hangovers aren't too bad and are easily remedied :P

I don't party on New Year's Eve. It's not really my cup o' tea. I've always ushered in the new year with my family and enjoy it. My mom says her prayers. Lola give us all change to put in our pockets. My dad... well, he goes to sleep and has me wake him up at the countdown. We also bang pots and pans and yell :P Mariel loved that part. The, we feast. Noodles for long life! Last night we had shrimp lumpia, pancit, so much crab, ham, and cake. And I had Taco Bell :/ Why? Because my dumb ass ate before I got home and I was too full to eat the good stuff. So it was fun and low-key. We all sat in the living room and watch the Las Vegas performances and ate. I fell asleep on the couch for a little bit with Baby (my Bischon) laying on top of me, her head under my chin.

As for my resolution?
It's a secret. Let's see how it goes :)

All Over the Place

2009-12-14T00:21:00.000-08:00

Relationship Ramblings...

Many times, I believe that people enter a relationship and forget that they function completely fine without their "other half." Actually, I don't like that term. My boyfriend is not my other half. I am whole by myself. He doesn't complete me. I love him to the core of me and if he ever walked away from me, I'd feel as if he crushed my soul in his palm... but I wouldn't be DESTROYED.

You have to be able to stand on your own.
Have your own security.
Realize your worth.

I've been in relationships that, through the course of the whole thing... I felt worthless. I truly believed that what I was getting, what I was being put through... was what I deserved. I guess I slowly evolved and hardened my shell. You could say that a bad relationship saved me from the worst relationship and helped clear my heart and mind up for my current relationship.

3½ years of hell... a few months of emotional boot camp... then I found The One.

I feel stronger in this relationship than I ever did with anybody else. I feel more cherished, wanted and loved than I ever have. I found a good man with a kind heart. I found a man who can also stand on his own. He's a hard worker. He's focused. He handles his business. When he sees his goal, he follows that path until the end. He has a wonderful personality and has the power to draw people to him. He is a great friend and truly cares about people. Of course, he's nowhere near perfect, but neither am I. Perfection is boring and is not what I'm looking for.

I know for a fact that he'd be fine without me.

That is my point. I came into this relationship knowing my own worth, which is a first. Toward the end of "hell," my now-ex-boyfriend accused me of thinking I was better than him. You know what? I told him I was. I had a job. I took care of my family. I cherished the people I cared about. I handled my business. I was a good person no matter what he did to me, how low he tried to bring me, or how badly he tried to make me think of myself. A little slow in the realization, but I got it eventually.

The second relationship was slightly better than the first. Went into it with my head high because of what I knew then. When that went badly, I was sad, but I walked away without looking back because I deserved better. He agreed to that and we remain friends.

Failed relationships sometimes mess with your self esteem. I felt very different in the months after "boot camp", but not in a negative way. I was happy. I felt that I had become stronger and more myself without somebody smashing me down at every turn. I became more secure with myself. It was an incredible feeling and I still feel it.

I enjoy my relationship because I don't have the insecurities I had when I was younger. I know who I am and what my positives are. I know what I bring to the table and what I'm worth.
I also know my faults and I'm still working on those. I know how to stop and think. I realize when I'm over-analyzing something simple (that was something hard to learn, by the way).

Mostly, I don't take it too seriously. Obviously, I'm serious about being with him, but the relationship itself... I think that life is already stressful enough without analyzing your partner's tone... posture... vague gesture... relationships... texts... random phrases... facial expressions. It'll drive you insane! For example, my boyfriend has many female friends that he's close to (and a few that he used to have crushes on, but I'm not gonna bust him out in case one of them is reading this :P). They hang out, talk, spend time together and it truly doesn't bother me. These people are important to him and are a part of his life. It's that simple to me.

We drew our lines in the beginning. What we'd put up with and what would be crossing the line. Cheating means no second chances. No "breaks," just breaking up. We don't want to hear that the other person needs a break from the relationship. Time alone is different, because sometimes a person just needs space to breath. But a break from the relationship? No.

Where am I going with this?
I'm all over the place.
These are just thoughts rattling around in my head, looking for a place to spew.
There's more, but it's 1:17 am and I'm sleeping.
Bye!

Say It Ain't So!

2009-12-02T23:00:00.000-08:00

I am an admirer of pretty girls. If my boyfriend tells me he just saw a hot girl, I HAVE to see her. Can't help it.

That being said, there's an import model by the name of Tokki that I came across and I was in awe immediately.

Gorgeous!

This is where Jeff and I butt heads. I think she's hot and he doesn't. Well, I THOUGHT she was hot... until I saw her recent photos. At first I thought it was just the thumbnail messing with me, but no.

What happened to my goddess?? I actually prefer more curves (Beyonce... Alicia Keys... etc...), but she was fine the way she was. Now... she looks like she's wasting away! *sad face x 10,000* I seriously hope that this was Photoshopped.

(Sorry about the random post out of nowhere, but I had to put this up because it upset me.)

Quick Sick Tip

2009-10-10T20:14:00.000-07:00

If anybody else is out there, sick out of his/her mind... and blowing your nose like crazy: Apply Polysporin (or Neosporin or WalSporin or any variation thereof) twice to three times a day. It really soothes the skin around your nose and above your lip. Also, I've BARELY seen any redness at all in the area.

It's usually used to treat minor cuts... burns... etc... on the skin, which is why it's helped me out so well. All that redness and irritation is basically abrasions to your skin due to all the tissue/skin friction.

All right... gonna go back to the chicken soup and gargling with salt water. G'night folks!

(sorry that my only update in such a long time is a short one)

Mushroom Love

2009-09-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I went to the Gilroy Garlic Festival a little while back and there was only ONE thing that I wanted to eat: stuffed mushrooms. Unfortunately, I kept putting off buying some until the very end and guess what... they were all GOOOONNEE!! -sobs hysterically- Then, afterward, I kept hearing about how good they were and how I missed out. Damn it! I might go to the festival next year just to get 'em... cause the rest of the festival was just alright for me.

(My condolence gift: garlic fries with crab)

Back on point, though. The craving never really left me, so Jeff and I decided to dust off our cooking skills and make some crab-stuffed portobello mushroom caps! (c lick here for recipe) It's Paula Dean! It's gotta be good. The woman loves everything delicious and heart attack-inducing! Luckily, Jeff's always down to tinker around in the kitchen with me. I just have to suggest a recipe I want to try ^_^

The ingredients!

Jeff removing the gills and stems from the MASSIVE portobellos.

Good job, babe!

I guess the mushrooms reminded him of me?

I got the hang of it after a while.

Bringing the stuffing together.

Seriously. The caps were huge.

Panko bread crumbs.

We made 2 versions. Jeff likes the ones with more bread crumbs on top because they were crunchier. I like the one with less and pepper jack on top. Nom Nom Nom.

I do believe it was a success. We didn't realize how filling they would be, though. We weren't able to finish the 4 that we made. :/ Hope you guys give it a try! So good!

My Main Supporter

2009-09-02T22:39:00.001-07:00

Day 2! I warmed up with the radio for a little bit before hopping on You Tube. No, that's not the workout part. I subscribed to this on-line training series and... well, let me tell you right now that I'm sweating like crazy. That may be half due to the fact that I haven't worked out in a few months and fell out of shape, but sweating feels good! lol

Anyway, I had just finished doing this set twice:

After that, I was in the kitchen, trying to find out how to do the second part of this video (I did the first part on the table :P):

Lola walked in on me doing exercises on the kitchen table and just went on to wash her plate. When she saw me watching the second half, she asked why I wasn't doing it. I told her there was no room. The woman SIGHED! She sighed and told me to move the table. Before I even moved, she started moving it to the side. lol. Before she walked out, she said, "That one's easy, you should be able to do it 5 times." OMG! I just got challenged by my grandmother!

What more motivation did I need than that!? haha. I love her!

DAY ONE

2009-09-01T08:42:00.000-07:00

I am officially starting my diet today. I'm not trying to really LOSE weight. I'm just trying to get myself nice and toned. I mean, I weighed myself this morning and I'm 100 pounds. Wait! Don't judge me before I tell you that I'm 4'9". I'm tiny and according to the body mass index (I think that's what it's called), 100 pounds is okay for somebody who's 4'll". I'd be okay with my weight if I was 3 inches taller, but I enjoy being travel-sized (Or conveniently kidnappable, according to friends and co-workers. Gee, you guys are the best :P)

However, I want those extra pounds to be toned muscle.

I won't go into detail, but I wanted to write about last night. I went to the super market to get some healthy stuff so that I can start this on the right foot. Tell me why, when I was in line to pay, the guy behind me looked at my stuff, nudged his friend, and I distinctly heard, "Pffft." Stupid fucker (sorry). So I looked right at him, looked at his 2 cases of beer, bottle of vodka, large bag of chips, box of donuts, looked at his gut, and rolled my eyes. I mean, I looked him up and down, focusing on his bloated-ass mid-section, then rolled my eyes. It looked like his friggin' stomach was distended. His friend was only half-way there, but I guess they were taking care of that last night.

Ugh.

Whatever. I'll be out enjoying my healthy new (and hopefully hot) body when your liver fails.

End rant.

Supergirl

2009-08-30T23:03:00.000-07:00

"I'll fly one day."

This is going to be a quick one because I just took this picture of my 3-year-old cousin, Mariel and thought it was adorable. She wasn't posing, either. She was looking out that window for a good while (which is the only way I was able to get a good shot of her). Her shirt is perfect for the shot, too! She told me she liked the colors in the sky ^.^

Alright... alright... back to watching YouTube videos...
I mean, cleaning my room.

Rawrrrr!!

2009-08-27T09:43:00.001-07:00

I keep forgetting to ask Jeff to bring over his camera so that I can get the pictures from the Gilroy Garlic Festival off it, but here's one:

I was very proud of myself :P The left hand looks better than the right, but I think I did a damn good job.

Dun Dun DUUUUNNN

2009-08-23T13:31:00.001-07:00

How the heck did I forget to put this up? This a video that Tito Miguel made with footage he shot from FanimeCon. I think he did a great job. He even picked out music for it and everything! I love my family. Thank you to Les, too!

And while I'm at it, here's my nurse walk.We shot twice because a group of cosplayers asked if they could record it, too.

My Most Favorite!

2009-08-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

Rafting at Rancho Cordova is easily one of my favorite things to do on a hot day. Jeff and I took 3 friends this past Tuesday and it was as relaxing as ever. I'm telling you! Having a weekday off together is the greatest, since everything is so much busier during the weekend. :) Luckily, Jen & Pat also have Tuesdays off. We had been trying to get together for this for a while.

Jen, Pat, Jeff, Me, & Mark

It was about 98 degrees out, so you bet your ass we slathered on the sun block. It didn't stop the tan line, though. Damn it! Now I have circles on my hips from the damn bikini bottoms! Oh well, it was fun.

My favorite part of the river!

We were able to just hang out on the rocks and the water wasn't even that cold. Perfect.

Me & the boyfriend (don't tell him, but I only use him for his body).

I love chillin' on the river so much that for my birthday, Jeff actually planned a rafting party for me! Soooooo fun! Except for the fact that half the electronics got soaked :( At the end, there were phones and cameras laid out on the towel, desperately trying to dry in the sun. We called it the electronic graveyard. Even on Tuesday, Pat forgot that his iPhone was in his pocket when he jumped into the water. I guess the excitement makes you forget? *shrug*

Our group converging on the parking lot!

Had to rest up before carrying the rafts on coolers to the river.

READY!!

This was only half of the party. The other half stole a water cannon and bolted :P
It was war!

The enemy ship!

The lovelies (and Chris) finding sanctuary in the shade.
Jk... Chris is lovely, too.

Treating the wounded... well, a lesson in how to.

I love being on the river, surrounded by beautiful women in bikinis! ;)

Transformers!

2009-06-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

I liked the movie and I want to smack the critics who are banging it so harshly.

What did you expect from a movie...
based on a cartoon...
about transforming, alien robots?

Seriously? It's as if they were expecting a life-altering experience. Or a second Schindler's List. C'mon now. It's fantasy. Pure escapism. That's all I was expecting and I got it ten fold.

I wasn't sitting through the preview thinking to myself, "This is sure to be a thought-provoking, complex film that I can discuss with my friends over lattes." I don't go to these kinds of movies to analyze character development and plot complexities. Please.

Giant robots... hot girl... relatable hero... explosions... good shit. Sam's parent's were hilarious, too. I love them in the first one and I was happy to see that they were in the second one even more.

HOWEVER. Oh yes, I have a "however." It wasn't enough that they killed off Jazz in the first one. Now these stereotypical twins are plopped in there? Really? Was that really necessary?

That aside, I enjoyed myself. I "oooh"ed and "aahh"ed to my hearts content and left the theater amazed at how far special effects and computer graphics have come. I also left the theater wishing I had my own Bumble Bee. -sigh-

Ventilation

2009-06-28T11:39:00.001-07:00

I'm sure we've all felt this way at one point or another...

I get tired of putting everybody else first and still feeling like crap at the end of the day.

I wish that I didn't have so many family obligations, but I still love being able to be there for them.

I hate putting everything I have into what I'm doing and not even getting a nod of acknowledgment for it.

I can't stand being put on the spot by people who don't deal with a FRACTION of the things I go through, who only have themselves to worry about and nobody leaning on them for support.

I especially get pissed off when lectured by those people.

Primarily, all I want is a little time to breath and enjoy myself with out being overwhelmed from all directions with responsibilities.

I realize that when I'm being pulled in one direction, something else gets neglected.

Sacrifice is a part of my life, but I know I have my priorities straight.

We all know that most of the time, need comes before want.

I just want to relax for a day

ONE day a week.

Because I deserve a day off... a REAL day off where I don't have to think of anything negative.

ONE day to have the weight lifted off me... without it being replaced with something else.

"It's not fair," is a very childish way to put it, but it's how I feel so much of the time.

A Distraction Blog

2009-06-04T23:10:00.001-07:00

So much is going on right now and I need to keep my mind from imploding on itself. That being said... time to blog as a diversion! Don't act like you've never done that before.

So Jeff and I went to Fanime for the first time and definitely not the last. We had SOOOO much fun, but were unbearable exhausted at the end of the day. I purposely kept up a constant babble on the drive home because he looked like he was about to pass out at the wheel. But let's backpedal for a bit.

The excitement didn't really hit me until we arrived in San Jose and got closer and closer to the convention center. There were cosplayers E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E!! I was ready to pull over anywhere, throw on our costumes, and go. Instead, we found a parking lot by McDonalds. We even went in in our costumes (along with every other person scarfing down McWhatevers)! Every day should be like that. ^.^ Ahhh... heavenly...

I won't go into detail because I have to get to bed, but here are a few photos! We have over a hundred, so I'm just gonna throw in a handful and get more in-depth later on. Enjoy and good night!

Hooray for ME, Billy!

2009-05-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I went to Fanime in San Jose yesterday, but I'll save that for my next post. This one's for my birthday! Alright, so my birthday was actually on May 3rd, but... well, y'know how I am!

On the actual day of my birthday, my family went out to dinner to one of my favorite restaurants: Banana Island! The food is delicious there, but not over-priced. It's Thai, Singaporean, and Malaysian... which you can probably tell from the sign. It was completely unnecessary for me to write that. Meh.

My favorite: #101 Indian pancake (aka: Roti) & curry
Lola snatched the potato slice before I got to it, so mom ordered another.

My family's intense when it comes to eating.
Too focused to even smile.

Well, except for this little ham right here.
AND she causes a domino effect...

Jeff's present for me!!
Okay. Okay. It was SUPPOSED to be a surprise, but here's how it went down:

I was watching TV in the living room (At Jeff's request, so that I wouldn't be able to see out the window). Les suddenly stepped up next to me, also to block the window. We were good. I couldn't see anything coming to the front of the house. Then, Tito Miguel walks in from the other room and looks out the window and says, "Oh! Jeff got you a bike!" WTH, man!? lol

Another gift from Jeff.I soooo want to make this little Spartan guy. He's adorable! I could make a bunch and declare war! Jeff even went to the arts & crafts store to help me pick out needles and yarn.

Oh yea. This is how I roll. :)

Fast forward:

Afterward, Jeff and I saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine with 2 of my co-workers: Jeff & Virginia. That was funny, too, because Jeff (bf) & I were already seated and waiting for them to show up. When that did, they had this HUGE balloon with them that blocked the aisle. I swear, they got the girliest one they could find! Fairies and flowers. They were cracking up when they saw my face. After that, we all ended the day by having dinner together at BJ's at Tanforan.

T'was wonderful. Friends, family, food, love & Hugh Jackman.
But wait!
There's more!
Which I will save for another entry... g'bye!

Fanime Update!

2009-05-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

Fanime is ONE day away. Jeff came over tonight after work to help me put the finishing touches on my costume (after surprising me at work with flowers ^.^) I think everything is coming together nicely:

Drying my head.

A little paint...
(had to keep Mariel away from my work area)

Almost done with the head piece!

Jeff mixing up some blood for me.

Baking my dress to a golden brown.

Jeff smearing around some blood.

I'm so excited for Sunday! I can't wait! I'll post pictures of us getting ready in the morning... WOOOOOO!!!

And she's off!

2009-05-07T22:26:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I are heading off to San Jose at the end of May for Fanime 2009. This is the first time either of us has attended something like this, so we want to do it right. Of course, that means that we're dressing up. Mmm-Hmmm. Matching his and hers costumes in sickening couple tradition. Haha. We both love Silent Hill and decided that he would be Pyramid Head and I would be one of the deformed nurses. He's been working like crazying on his helmet. If you want to see his progress, just click ->HERE<-. That link actually goes to an older post off his blog, so he's actually much further along. Here are some of his latest pictures:

I got my "sexy nurse" costume in the mail. It's the smallest they had, but considering that I'm smaller than your average lady... it's still not small enough. Heh. It's fine. I have other things to worry about before altering that and dirtying it up. I'm going to post a video on it later, because I have a couple qualms on the quality. I'm focusing on my head piece at the moment. Here's what I've gotten done so far...

I didn't draw eyebrows...

I had to mark off where I was gonna cut the eye 'cause they were way too low.

See? Much better, right?
(Not that I'm going to be able to see anyway.)

Me: "It it the size of my head yet?"
Nikki: "No. Need to be bigger."
Me: "Err... thanks."
I'd say that's about right.
*sigh* These two...
So it won't stick.Ready to get down n' dirtay.
I really should've changed out of my good clothes,
but I was excited to get started.

Nikki had baked oatmeal/raisin/ chocolate chip cookies earlier, so I decided to have one as a reward after. I'm currently waiting for it to dry before starting on another layer. I'm having fun on this project! It's been a while since I've made something and I can't wait to see how it turns out. Cross your fingers for me!

Oh yea! My birthday was this past Sunday, May 3rd. I'll post on that later. I HAVE to show you that day!

Alright then. G'nite, everybody! Sweet dreams!

Salon of Looooove

2009-04-27T22:21:00.001-07:00

You know he loves you when he'll do your nails... and actually put some real effort into it.

We were trapped in the kitchen with nothing to do, so Nikki and I whipped out the nail polish and went to work while Jeff hunted car parts on the internet. It was funny because Jeff was getting so frustrated with the thin Art Deco brush. He was trying to do tiger stripes on my right hand because... well, I'm right handed. You know how it is.

I love my man.

She's rocking that purple leopard print, ain't she?
Threw in a dragon tattoo for good measure.
Lisa Frank, anybody?

She was very proud of how they came out.

And with that... I'm off to bed!
G'nite, you beautiful people!

Putting Myself Out There

2009-04-26T18:49:00.001-07:00

I have a blog, a YouTube, a Facebook, and a MySpace. I also have Twitter, but I joined on a whim, updating once every 8 months or so (whenever I remember, actually). I actually only remembered Twitter because of the recent hype (the whole Ashton v. CNN thing), but I can't force any more interest in it. Facebook and MySpace are only to keep in touch with folks I would otherwise lose track of. They're doing a great job, too. I just found my friend, Jen... I haven't seen her in almost 5 years! Now she's married with 2 kids... it's crazy. Things change so rapidly that it scares me.

Jen & Anthony (the last time I saw him, he was only 3!)

AnnMarie & Salsa (this is the first time I met her because the last time I saw Jen, she was pregnant with her and didn't even know yet!)

Me, Jen, & Katelin
Reunited and it feels so gooooood!

It was a very happy reunion.Just like old times.

Anyway! I'm just putting myself out there, aren't I? Scattering my business all over the internet like bread crumbs. I'm trying to limit any negativity, though. I want to look back on my entries and videos and only remember good shit. Maybe my kids will find it and be like, "Mo-om! You were such a nerd!" lol I get a big smile thinking about it.

4 - 19 - 2009 Mocha 101

2009-04-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

I love crepes. Dessert crepes with plenty of ice cream. My all-time favorite has to be Belly Good Cafe & Crepes in J-Town. Sooooo good! I'm a regular customer, sad to say, so they like to make little designs on the crepes if they're not to busy. Try and tell me this isn't friggin' adorable!

I even posted a request on Facebook, asking for good crepe places in San Francisco, and spent a day sampling. They were all okay, but nothing beats Belly Good, in my opinion.

On that note, Jeff's friend, Eric started a cafe of his own. Could you imagine my euphoria when I found out that they would be selling crepes!? Of course, Jeff and I dropped by on occasion and helped out with what little we could. I did a lot of painting -proud smirk-. I painted the bathroom door (Jeff finished off the hard parts, though), the banister at the entrance, and the numbers above the door. Wooo! Team work! Jeff brought in a stream of friends to help patronize the grand opening. It was great, especially since the grand opening happened to fall on one of the hottest days we've had in a while. So much fun, I'm tellin' ya!

Here's a video of me trying an experimental crepe. I went into the kitchen and basically said that they could throw whatever they wanted into the crepe and I'd eat it.

I ended up with a bunch of fruit... includeing watermelon with vanilla ice cream.
Interesting and good.

A bunch of people showed up, which was perfect. In fact, even when they weren't open yet and we were just cleaning, painting, and setting things up, people were peaking in to see what was going on. I wish I had a video of them putting up the steel signs at the front of the building, but I was eating another crepe and couldn't spare a hand.

Here are a few shots of the inside:

Eric invested a lot of time, money, and effort into his cafe and I'm really hoping that it does well. I'm already seeing very positive feedback on Yelp (oh yes, I Yelp.) And he's a really outgoing guy. He'd invite in random, curious, pedestrians to take a look around during the renovations and he's always asking for the customers' opinions. That's good business right there.

Plus, the crepes are BOMB. I'm still a bigger fan of Belly Good, but it's so far away... lol.

Day Off

2009-04-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

Hot tubs

Fast cars

Sushi

Exorcisms

&

Falling asleep in his arms

That's a good day off.

And then there was darkness...

2009-03-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

A lot has been going on lately. So much drama. The kind of drama that only your family can put you through.

My heart seriously feels like it's breaking, but it's for the best. It's in their best interest and to do otherwise would be incredibly selfish.

I'm not going to go into detail because I'll just start crying, but... as long as they're well... taken care of... healthy... happy... and kept together...

As long as they both grow into beautiful women, inside and out... which is not something that will happen in this environment... it's fine.

I just wish this wasn't so painful.
It's just a temporary good-bye... till-we-meet-again type good-bye.

It just keeps on giving...

2009-03-15T22:37:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend doesn't like getting gift cards. I'm all for it, though... I friggin' LOVE gift cards. 2 of my boys chipped in and got me a $100 gift card to Best Buy once and that was... -sniffle-... that was beautiful, man. It was like being given a key to the happiest place on earth for me. Next to Target, that is. Would've torn that store up.

ANYWAY! My point is, as long as the people giving the card to you KNOW you... it should be fine. They know what you like and what you don't. Gift cards are the safe bet.

Buuuuut... if they don't, you're just stuck with something you're either not going to use or will end up being passed along (with much guilt, since it WAS intended as a gift for you) to somebody else. Why would somebody who knows so little about you get you a gift card anyway? Suspicious.

For example, giving me a gift card to... let's say... Banana Republic would be equivalent to giving a penguin a trumpet. All you get is a perplexed face followed by a polite smile of gratitude. Or vice versa.

I just thought I'd throw a topic out there since I hadn't blogged in a bit. Hope everybody's weekend was bloody terrific!

Kidnapping Is Great Fun!

2009-03-08T22:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Jeff and I decided to give the girls a break from the indoors and take them to J-Town. I've been working most Saturdays and haven't been able to take them anywhere. :( So, after Jeff got off work, we headed out.

We had crepes, took the girls to Sanrio, had garlic fries, bought them little presents... the whole sha-bang! We even hit the Purikura booths. Is that right? They're basically picture booths on acid trips... which makes them that much more fun! Should I be mentioning small children and acid in the same entry? Anyway!

^This one is Jeff's favorite.^

Here's a video of Jeff and Nikki decorating the pictures:

Mariel got bored waiting, so I let her loose on the props.

When she came out of the booth, Nikki wanted a piece of the action:

They had fun, which was all I wanted. Plus, they were completely worn out by the time we headed home. lol. They were knocked out in the back seat.

After we dropped off Mariel and Nikki, Jeff and I drove off again. This time, we met up some friends at Century Daly City to wath Watchmen. It was pretty good. Possibly too much glowing, blue penis, but whatever. The plot was solid. I might get the DVD. My favorite line was definitley when Rorschach said, "I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me." So badass. I loved it.

That was my Saturday. Today was spent indoors for the most part, aside from grocery shopping and a quick round at the mall. Jeff had homework to do, so he was on the computer most of the day. Luckily, he got most of it done. Such a good boy. Haha.

Hope everybody enjoyed their weekend!

A Little Too Comfortable

2009-02-25T00:10:00.001-08:00

Text-Exchange:
(Side-note: I really text in full sentences and words. I didn't bust my ass in school just so I can forget how to spell.)

E - That place you told me about is no good.
J - crepes?
E - Yea. Got any other recommendations?
J - ltr
E - NOW! I'll check it out on my next day off.
J - stop texting me while im having sex
E - STOP HAVING SEX WHILE I'M TRYING TO TEXT YOU!
(end of transmission)

Post-VD

2009-02-16T23:24:00.000-08:00

Jeff and I both had to work on Valentine's day, but that was fine. He surprised me by having flowers delivered to the pharmacy on Friday. I can't believe I let him surprise me again! I mean, he ALWAYS gets me flowers, but he told me that he couldn't afford them this year. Of course I told him it was no big deal and didn't think any more of it, so I really WAS surprised by the delivery. ^.^

He made the flower girl make a matching bow for the vase.

Despite having work, though, we still exchanged presents. I wish that I had pictures of the gifts I got him. We both got each other very random things. For example, I got him a Nightmare Before Christmas diorama, some spicy, instant ramen and things like that. I have pictures of my presents, though. This is proof that he loves me the way I am because not only does he accept my nerdy ways... but he encourages them, too!

Meet Yuki Nagato

So adorable! You should see the detail! I was eyeing this and drooling over the displays whenever I went to J-town. The smaller one comes in tiny boxes along with a bunch of other characters. All their boxes look alike and you choose one at random, hoping to get the one you want. I never got her! I kept getting the ones I didn't want. Hmph. Jeff got here somehow, though... and even bought me the larger display model. I love her! She comes with different faces, hair, arms... you can even take off her glasses. Big and little Yuki sit by my bed and read with me. :P

I Hate You More Than Anyone... volumes 4 through 6! He was going to buy me books 7 and 8, too, but they haven't been released yet. I love Jeff! This one really surprised me because I didn't even think that he was paying attention to which comics I read, let alone what volume I had left off on. He got super bonus points because he noticed such small things.

On to dinner!

We ate at Sam's Chowder House in Half Moon Bay on the 15th. The food was soooo good.

Just arrived & in the car. The flash reflected off the stickers on his hat.

The bread that Jeff devoured.

He always has to have his root beer.

Spicy Popcor ShrimpMaine Lobster Roll
(yes, still an appetizer and oooh so deserving of its spot as one of America's top 5 sandwiches)

These people sure knew their seafood!
New Zealand Bluenose Sea Bass
Scottish Isles Salmon

Like I wrote earlier, these people know their fish. The fish and whatever they're paired with were perfect together. When I tried some of my sea bass with Jeff's lentils and kale, it didn't taste right. Same with his Salmon and my wild mushroom risotto. But when eaten with what they came paired with... the heavens opened and cherubs played on their little loots and... y'know, good shit. Rich and flavorful and... I want some right now.

My warm chocolate cake. It was tiny, but I could barely finish it because it was so rich, thick, and had even thicker chocolate fudge on the inside...
Jeff's key lime pie. He let me suck on the limes to help me through the richness of the chocolate.

All in all it was a very chill V-Day. Didn't go overboard, but had a great time with the man I love. I hope everybody had a great day, V-Day or not... single or taken... alone or in a huge group... I just hope you all had a fun time!

Shame On You

2009-02-05T09:55:00.000-08:00

So this lady came up to the pharmacy and asked that we rush her prescription through the line. Typical. We get a lot of that. I told her that the wait was 20 minutes (there were many people who came before her... back of the line!) She came back 7 minutes later (the computer records what time the prescription is entered) and I said, "I told you 20 minutes" and she tried the whole, "It's already been 20 minutes!" Uh-huh. I told her, "Your dropped it off at #:##, it's only #:##. That's NOT 20 minutes."

She kept coming back! Finally, John talked to her and guess why she was rushing me?

Not because she had to get to work.
Not because she had an appointment.
Not because her baby had an painful ear infection.
Not because her elderly mother was in the car.
(These are acceptable reasons that we get all the time.)

It was because she had illegally parked in a handicap spot and was afraid she was going to get a ticket. What the hell was that shit!?

No! I should have taken longer with her prescription! I should've blown the whistle on this woman and made sure her windshield got PLASTERED with tickets. Fucking trying to rush so she wouldn't get a ticket. Then your ass shouldn't have parked there in the first place. It won't be the pharmacy's fault you got a ticket!

Dumbass. The only reason I got so pissed was because all these images of our customers who actually ARE disabled flooded my head... AAUURGHHH! You had some nerve, woman!

Spider Pig!

2009-01-26T22:09:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, 1-25-09, I went indoor rock-climbing with some friends. We usually go to Mission Cliffs on Harrison and 19th in the Mission. It's always fun, especially when we're with people who've never gone before. The group consisted of me, Jeff (boyfriend), Benji (Jeff's brother), Jeff (co-worker), & Rebecca. There was initially going to be a larger group, but we had flakers. It's alright. Next time.

Anyway, I'm incredibly sore right now. Like... can-barely-open-my-car-door sore. I guess that's what I get for waiting so long between sessions. It's a good kind of sore, though. Very satisfying.

BF-Jeff & I were urged into a race by the others, so of course we had to step up to the challenge. Unfortunately, I lost. It was because the rope ended up wrapped around my left leg, but a loss is still a loss. I demand a re-match!

Can you see where I got stuck?
Can you see where Jeff kept going, made sure he won, THEN went back to help me out?
Ass. Haha.

We took a ton of pictures, but here are a few of my shots:

Taking the test. The instructor got all strict about not helping each other. Pshh! Isn't that what we're s'posed to do when we're climbing anyway?!

Benji's figure-8 knot. First-timer!

Jeff being... Jeff.

Jeff: "MY BALLS!"

Benji & I just bein' our awesome selves.

Jeff & Rebecca watching a climber.

She put up with me because I was her ride home :P

I love my giant... even though he left me to dangle on that wall...

My personal favorite: Benji in a Jeff sandwich!

After all of that climbing, we headed to Hard Knox on Clement & 25th. I had been dying to try this place for the longest time. Especially since CW-Jeff made it a habit of letting me know whenever he ate there and describing how good the food was. Are all Jeff's asses?? JK... sorta. It's a soul food place and everything on the menu had me drooling. I was curious about how the fried chicken would be, but went against it because I thought that I could get chicken any ol' place. I regret it now. I should've just ordered the damn chicken because now the curiousity is killing me. I told Mary that I passed on it and she was told me, "You should've just got it. It's like biting into heaven." DAMMIT! Anyway, here's the food:

My favorite: THE CORN MUFFINS! Screw that lil' packet of butter. It didn't need it! Soft in the center with a slightly crunchy top. Sweet. I could've just kept eating these by themselves. That's my peach soda on the side. Also bomb. I loved their mugs!

BBQ ribs, fresh-cut fries, & mashed potatoes. Rebecca, Benji, & CW-Jeff ordered this (but with different sides: mac & cheese... corn on the cob... y'know)

Mine: Red snapper coated in corn meal and deep fried, candied yams, with mac & cheese. It was even better with hot sauce. But thoughts of chicken lingered in the back of my mind.

BF-Jeff's: Cajun meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and rice & gravy. I stole a piece and it was goooood.

So, basically, all that weight we lost climbing? We got it all back at dinner. But it was soooo worth it because we were ravenous by the time we were seated. It was a damn good Sunday spent with friends and ending with delicious food. All Sundays should be this good.

Cheers & G'night!

January 13, 2009

2009-01-17T22:27:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know. I know! At least it's being posted. Haha.

Warning:
Random
Picture-Heavy
Long

For once, Jeff and I had a day off together. I mean, we have the weekends, but he works until about 1:30 pm on Saturdays and Sunday is family day. During the weekdays, we see each other after work, but that's usually at my house... exhausted... surrounded by a hyper teenager, yelping dog, screaming two-year-old, and variously aged other inhabitants. We don't get much time alone together.

Okay, side note. Everybody knows about our situation and how our time together is really not time alone, so... inevitably, I got asked, "Then, when do you guys get to... y'know... Y'KNOW ...??" lol. Don't worry. You'll remain anonymous, oh blunt one. I'll spare you the response, as well. I really treasure any time alone that we actually get. It's not like, "We're alone! Time to do the horizontal polka (as I like to refer to the very mature act of copulation)!"

This day was more like, "We get to be alone!? What do you wanna do? Should we go out to eat? See a movie? What do you feel like doing??" I can't really describe it. I get very excited at the thought of a whole day together alone.

Okay, back on track. I straightened my hair. That's how excited I was! It takes me roughly 1.5 - 2 hours to straighten my hair, so I rarely do it. Also, it's not healthy to do it often. But I had to, especially since Jeff loves it when my hair is straight. I look very different... or so I've been told. It was worth the time and effort after I saw the huge smile on his face when I stepped out of my car. ^.^

We played Left 4 Dead on his 360 for a while. It took me a lil while to adjust to playing a 1st person shooter, because I'm accustomed to the controls being inverted, but I got it. It's pretty fun.
The concept is essentially:

1) Kill zombies
2) Don't die while killing said zombies

There are missions, of course, and you have a team you're working with. Blah Blah Blah. I loved it, though. Jeff didn't think I'd stick it through a whole episode, but I made it! I survived! -sobbing hysterically-

I'll admit it. I mainly survived because I would have kicked his ass in real life if he had left me behind to die. :P

Next, we took his other girlfriend to Ocean Beach:

I think he loves her more than me :(

Now, I'm not one of those girls dating a guy because of his car. If anything, I don't really enjoy riding in it as much as he does. (I'm sorry, babe, but I really don't.) I can't hold his hand while he's driving because it's stick. I have to yell if I want to have a conversation even when the bass is off. Shoot... even when the radio's off completely, because the engine is so loud! lol Not to mention is sets off every car alarm it passes and attracts the attention of any police within a 5-block radius. Yeesh.

He loves this car, though. He's loved it since it was only a 3rd-grader's dream and to me, it represents his passion. No matter what, he loves it. No matter what people say or think, this is his baby. That's the only reason I like it. And I'm not jealous of her, either! Hmph. At least they're cute together:

I was going for an MTV: Cribs look

It was a great day to go to the beach. Sunny, bright, and warm. Perfect day off weather!

He ran into an old classmate and had him take this picture.

Jeff tried to force a photo shoot on me. Didn't quite work out.Jeff: "Babe, pose!"

Jeff: "Babe!"

Me: "Fine!"

Afterward, we headed downtown to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Along the way, we spotted...

A rat... sleeping on a cat... laying on top of a dog.

Yet another side note! Jeff went up to take these pictures and I hung back because there was a small crowd forming. Literally a couple seconds after he left my side, this guy comes up and starts hitting on me. Obviously, he had seen me with my BOYFRIEND because it was seconds after Jeff had walked away. I was in shock and all I could do was give him this dumbfounded look. When Jeff came back, I was holding the guy's business card with his number on it, wondering what the hell just happened.

Me: "That guy just hit on me."
Jeff: "What? I thought he was just selling you stuff."
Me: "He told me to call him, then gave me his number." -holding up card-
Jeff: "WHAT?!" -takes card and throws it in the garbage "Why didn't you tell him I was your boyfriend."
Me: "I thought he knew! He came up RIGHT AFTER you walked away!"
Jeff: "Then, why didn't you call me over?"
Me: "I though you saw it. You were RIGHT THERE... like, three steps away."
Jeff: "I thought he was selling you stuff!"

lol. Oh man. People are getting more and more scandalous.

Onward to Cheesecake Factory!

Waiting for the elevator to take us up the the restaurant.

Since it was a Tuesday, there was no wait and we were seated right away. The menu was huge, though, and it took us a while to finally order.

Mine: Wasabi-crusted raw ahi tuna. FRIGGIN' BOOOMB! I want more!

His: Crispy, spicy beef. He said it was okay, but he wouldn't get it again.

His: Chocolate peanut butter cookie dough cheesecake
(pushed him over the edge and into bloated territory)

My hot fudge sundae. It was okay. I've had better. I got extra fudge, though!

...

And that was our kick-ass day off together.
G'night & value your time with your loved ones!

BrrRRRrRRRrrrRRRrrrr...

2009-01-14T22:19:00.000-08:00

(Caution: Picture Heavy)

I forgot what day this was from. I should really blog right away on the same day that I do stuff, but... meh. Who's got time for that sort of lack of procrastination??

Anyway, dad, Jeff, & I took Nikki ice skating. Mariel was with us, too, but we weren't bringing here anywhere near the ice. It was freeeezing!

Here we are setting off to find some hot beverages. Nikki was waiting in line to skate.

Mariel wanted to push on her own. Not happenin', missy.

Pumpin' the baby full of caffeine.

Kidding! It's a hot chocolate. Pinky up!

The effects of the hot chocolate kicking in. Caught her!Helping Nikki re-tie her skates. I think I cut off circulation to her foot.
I think she had a little fun. Just a wee bit.And I'll end it with that impromptu photo shoot.
G'night, folks!

Blessings In Disguise

2009-01-07T22:17:00.000-08:00

I did a lot of driving today and accompanied it with equal parts thinking. I think I needed a day by myself to clear my head considering what's been happening. I allowed myself to be overwhelmed and wasn't able to do what I'm usually good at: Taking the bad with the good/ Seeing the good behind the bad.

Let me use a couple recent events to give you an example.

1)Lola was hospitalized and had to get a pacemaker.
HOWEVER...
After she came home, my aunt's been dropping by more often to help take care of her. She's been MIA for I don't even remember how long now. Nikki and Mariel are getting to see their mom more often, basically. Also, I think that it's helping Lola to see that she's okay.

2)My dad's 2nd father (basically) passed away.
HOWEVER...
The death itself has no positives, but my dad flew back to the Philippines for the funeral. Though he doesn't say it, I know my dad gets stressed out by the family and all his responsibilities here. I think that, despite the reason, it's good for him to get away... be in a different environment and with a different set of people. Also, he's surrounded by family and love. What's better than that?

3)My hours were cut, so I'm now only working 3 days a week instead of 5.
HOWEVER...
This is my chance to go back to school like I've been wanting to do for so long. I got a registration form from City today. Even if it's too late for this semester, I'm still going to try. The extra time will allow me to study and take classes. I'm actually very excited about this.

See? Mind's clear at the moment and I'm feeling much more positive. Thank you for the support, also. I really appreciate it. Even just a few kind words can boost somebody's spirits, so don't hold back!

Oh, yea. Jeff and I went to the vet and picked up Bo-Bo's ashes. They're no on the mantle above the fireplace. The vet put them in a wooden box with a plaque engraved with her name. That also made me feel better because I was actually tense about it having been 2 weeks and not hearing anything. Thank goodness they called me today, otherwise I would've had to cause a raucous.

Anyway, I'm a little less freaked out and hoping tomorrow is bright.

OH... here's a video of my boyfriend. He'll probably smack me for putting this up, but it makes me laugh...

Happy... Sorta... Birthday

2009-01-05T22:31:00.001-08:00

Today's my dad's birthday, but it's also the day he flew out to the Philippines for the funeral. I didn't get to see him in the morning before I left for work, so I left his card on the kitchen table, along with a print-out I knew he'd need on what he'd be able to bring on the plane (medicine-wise). Luckily, I got to see him on my lunch break. He thanked me for the card (Lola said he cried when he read it), I double checked the things he packed, then hugged and kissed him good-bye. He also called me from the airport after I got off work.

I promise I'll take care of everything while you're gone, dad! :)

Also, Lola's back! She's still recovering from having the pacemaker put in, but I'm happy having her home. Mariel definitely missed her. Her sister (Lulu) is here with her husband to help out for the next 2 weeks while dad's gone. Another good thing is that Tita Eva appeared out of nowhere after being MIA for so long. She was actually the one who picked Lola up from the hospital and brought her home. Hopefully, this means that she'll be around more for the girls.

I hope my mom will be okay. I think she'll be fine as long as there are other people around to help and keep her calm.

Things are sort of looking better, 'cept that now I miss my dad. lol

We're still crossing our fingers.

Deep Breath

2009-01-02T23:35:00.000-08:00

So, the new year is starting off with a bang. Not a good bang, mind you... a sort of kick-you-in-the-crotch type of bang.

I was originally going to to got a pot luck with Jeff for New Year's Eve, but after being on my feet all day and being thoroughly drained by work, I was in now shape. So, I told him to be safe and have fun, then sent him off into the night. I kept fading in and out of sleep. I tried so hard to fall asleep! My body was exhausted... but Lola was walking around the house, banging metal pots with metal spoons. Mom was no the phone talking to anyone and everyone in her phone book... the kids were running all over the place... and dad was rolling his eyes (haha).

I set my alarm for 5 minutes till midnight, though, so that I could call Jeff and have him on the phone for the countdown. lol... Ok. So I gave up trying to sleep in my room and was sitting on the couch with my mom during the countdown. Lola was still bangin' pots in the next room. I looked over and my mom looked like she was hiding under her blanket. What the... Later, she told me she was praying. Do you really need to pray under the blanket? Really? As if I was going to eavesdrop on her conversation with the big dude.

Next day (the first), I was off... thank God. Dad, Jeff, & I took the girls ice skating on Embarcadero. SOOOO cold! OMG! The moment the elevator doors opened it was like a blast of, "FREEZE!" After a while of that, we went to Lori's Diner on Powell for dinner, which was cut short because my mom kept calling us frantically to come home.

We thought that she was being her usual, neurotic self, but it turned out that Lola was feeling really sick. She had thrown up and was feeling weak. At one point, I sat down next to her, put my arm around her shoulders, and asked, "You okay?" She immediately threw up. It was completley inappropriate for me to laugh, but I couldn't help it! The timing was perfect! Anyway, the fact that her teeth fell out didn't help the situation. Or that she was laughing, also. Or that she was yelling, "Don't throw that away! My teeth are in there!"

Fast forward to later than night...

My dad end up taking her to the emergency room and having to leave her there for observation.
And this morning, we found out that she was having a pacemaker put in because her heart was beating so weakly that it stopped at one point. Tito Miguel drove up from San Jose to see her. Tita Eva finally made an appearance to visit her, also. We're hoping to be able to visit her tomorrow. Jeff, also. He stayed at my house while we were at the emergency room to watch over my mom and the girls.

Fast forward to later this afternoon on my lunch break...

Our relative from the Philippines called my dad to let him know that the man who was like a second father to him had just died. It was strange because my dad was telling me on the drive back from the hospital that he was going to be flying out to the Philippines to visit him in late February/ early March. He was telling me to take out the garbage, watch mom, and take care of the family while he was away. Then... this afternoon's phone call. I hate seeing my dad cry. It happens so rarely that it's an almost physical pain to see it.

And now, we're just waiting and hoping.

Christmas Haul

2008-12-28T22:40:00.000-08:00

So, here's my list of Christmas gifts. I just thought that I'd post this first before my more important family gathering blog, since that one is going to be endless pictures and words and all manner of nostalgia.

Ok, here it goes:

From my husby...

1) He went to the container store to find me a place to store my makeup. Heheh.

2)A printer/scanner/copier. I've always wanted one, but had no idea which one to get. 3)A Bamboo! This is going to be so much fun for editing pictures and just being a nerd. 4) I think this is called a neckerchief. Right? Anyway, it's green, it looks kick-ass, and he bought it at Metro Park. Thank you so much, babe! >.< style="text-align: justify;">
From the family...

1) My mom gave me cash and movie tickets. 2) Ate 'Chel & Mike gave me super-soft white gloves and a Coach... er... card/cash/key chain thing. lol. I have nothing resembling high-end... well, anything, really... but I really appreciate this!

I thought it was kinda cute that it came in its own tiny satchel.

3) Ate Mar gave me MAC pigments! Wooo!!!4) RJ & Alizah gave me these cute slippers. I thought it was hella funny because Tito Miguel used to always say this to me when I was younger (which means I can forgive them for being pink):"You're funny... looking."
5) Ate Liza gave me this cute Ulta palette. Yeesssss... more colors!

The cool part that it comes with this magnetized, customizable compact.

6) Tito Miguel (who confessed to taking Les' money and running out the front door, yelling, "Im going shopping!") got me a Hollister zip-up hoodie. This is another brand I'm unfamiliar with, but he assures me it's what the hip youngsters are wearing these days. It was cold and I didn't feel like taking it off just to take a picture of it :P
7) Nikki got me a mini abominable (sp?) snowman and very colorful bracelets.
Do you remember the old claymation Christmas specials? Abominable snowman was scary, boy!

Alright... now that that's out of the way, I'm going to start picking out which family pictures to put up and editing home videos to post on my next blog. I hope everybody had a great time and got to spend the holidays with their loved ones! Gnight!

Rest In Peace

2008-12-25T23:04:00.000-08:00

Tonight, my dog, Bo-Bo was hit by a car. We rushed her to the vet, but it was too late. They're going to cremate her body and let us know when the ashes are ready. My dad's completely heartbroken right now because, like I said in my earlier entry, she was HIS puppy.

Baby was mine and she was his.

I hope that she died quickly and wasn't in too much pain.

Even now it's so quiet. She's usually snoring in her bed next to Baby.

Rest in peace, Bo-Bo. We miss you so much already.

Winding Down

2008-12-21T22:23:00.000-08:00

It's the end of my roller-coaster weekend and tonight was a good night. Stayed in all day and froze. Wrapped some more presents. Updated the YouTube channel I've had since '06, but never got into.

Jeff let me use my epilator on his chin! Heheh. He was fine until it got closer to his lip. We also watched Red, White, & Brown. It's the new stand-up by Russell Peters:

He's Jeff's favorite comedian. We even saw him live at Cobb's Comedy Club. He did jokes that are on this new DVD, plus more. The guy's hilarious.

Oh yeah! I realized that I hadn't blogged about the Diamond Heights Christmas dinner last weekend. It was fun. We had it at Momo's on Embarcadero.

Always drove by it, but never went in. It's a very classy restaurant. All my co-workers were dressed up. The girls were planning on wearing dresses, but it was about 40 degrees out, so that wasn't going down. I wish so hard that I wasn't sick and that I could taste the food, but I heard that it was very good. I heard that my food was good, too. haha. I ordered a whole lot of meat, though, and I didn't even come close to finishing it because I wasn't trying to stuff that much dead animal into my system so close to bedtime. Not good for the diet, y'know.

These are the gifts for the White Elephant.

White Elephant? Basically, everybody brings a gift and pile it in the middle of the table. It can be anything, literally. Then, we pick numbers. Generally, you want a higher number because the people who go before you pick whichever mystery gift they want and open it. This way, you know what's out there and you have to option to steal other people's presents. My chocolate cookbook was taken from me, but I got a Stewie throw and a luggage locator, so it's all good.

We also had Secret Santas... and Jeff had me. Not boyfriend-Jeff. Co-worker-Jeff. Anyway. Jeff's a butt who likes to pick on me. Look... just LOOK at how he "wrapped my gift."

Not only that... but he left the receipt in there! Punk! lol
Anyway, I got Chucks and I'm happy... so... THANK YOU, JEFF!
Oh yea, while we're on the subject of him, let me show you the birthday card he gave me:

We're constantly in a state of war.

Steve, the pharmacy manager, gave all of us chocolate. The man knows his staff.

I wish we had gotten a shot of everybody, but I have a video. I'm not going to post it up on here, though, because it's too long. It's a video of everybody opening their Secret Santa gifts AND White Elephant gifts. However, I will end this the way our dinner ended...

Yup. The moment we stepped outside, fireworks went off across the street right by the ball park. Good shit or good shit? :)

My Puppies and Ruthless Benevolence

2008-12-19T18:47:00.000-08:00

White Bichon Frise: Baby Phat... or just Baby. My mom named her!
Brown Pekingese: Jon Bon Jovi... or just Bo-Bo. Her previous owner named her.

(I mention a written portion in the video, but I deleted that because it was just a whole lot of emotion. Lots of anger and cursing and it's not something I want to look back on later and remember. Better to just let it out, then let it go.)

Let me just list the good things that happened:

1> The nurse at the screening window and the lady at the cashier's office were real sweethearts and were so helpful while I was frustrated to tears at the hospital.
2> I got a promise of being treated to dinner from an old friend. He said we could only get Round Table, though. And I could only have a personal pan pizza, small drink... and MAYBE I'd get to pick at the croutons at the salad bar.
3> Re-connected with 2 MORE old friends from Facebook.
4> Got an e-mail from my Japanese exchange student, Reiko. She and her brother, Ohiro, invited me to Japan! Heheh... we'll see. Gotta get the finances in check first.
5> Got a Christmas card from Jasmine out of nowhere!

^.^ Hmmm... when I think about it that way, today wasn't SO bad. It's better to keep the good things and the people who make you smile in mind, otherwise this world might drive you into the ground.

I'm going to go wrap presents , drink some hot chocolate, calm down, and watch something romantic (or violent, whichever catches my eye first).

I Promised

2008-12-17T23:40:00.001-08:00

I was home sick today, so I had time to make that video I mentioned before. Here ya go! Now I have to go heal... like Wolverine, except... smaller... and not. Whatever. G'night.

(DAMN THESE STILLS!)

-snicker-

2008-12-14T18:21:00.000-08:00

Jeff likes to show me random videos that he finds on YouTube. See? He doesn't just watch car videos. Here's one I thought was hella funny. The guy's channel is MrChiCity3 and he has some pretty funny shit on there. In this one, he's trying to kill a bug on his wall. He's trying really hard for such a big, tough guy. Haha.

I just thought I'd share that. I'm working on a video that actually has me in it. Sorry my voice was so soft in the last one, but everybody was asleep and all sounds radiate from the kitchen all over the house. : I'll do better this time 'round. Pinky swear.

And the verdict is.... PUSSIES!!

2008-12-12T22:14:00.000-08:00

lol... I kid. Sort of.

I tried out the Emjoi this morning and I have to say that it stings at most. I first tested it on my leg because I figure the skin there has endured more than pit-skin. Not bad. A shock at first, then I got used to it. I don't think I'll be using it to try and keep my legs smooth, though. I imagine that it would take a lot of time and patience. I have neither.

Now, the area I was focused on torturing: my underarms -dundunDUUUUNNN-

Again, I jumped, but then again, I got used to it. The only time it came close to real "pain" was when my skin got caught. Haha. When it tells you to pull the skin taut while you're doing this... follow the damn directions. Also, I was a bit impatient and I probably should have waited until the hair grew a bit longer, but I felt like a little boy with a brand new BB gun. I was ready to shoot my eye out ASAP. It grabbed more than I thought it would be able to. Definitely satisfied with my new epilator. I don't mind the loudness, either. It actually sounds louder in Purse Buzz's video than it does in real life.

Two thumbs up!

Bring the Pain!! AAUUURRGHHHOOOOO!!!

2008-12-11T21:59:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I got something in the mail that I am very excited/anxious about using. After watching this video from Purse Buzz...

... I just HAD to give it a go. So, I ordered from Beauty Choice and received my Emjoi Soft Caress Gold Cordless Epilator. -deep breath- Okay. I have a pretty high thresh hold for pain, but I don't know. I keep reading the comments and reviews and I can't decide if it's really painful, or if these people are just pussies. I'm just going to have to try it to see which category I fall into. I feel like I'm going into battle!!

HELL YES!

2008-12-07T23:14:00.000-08:00

Jeff went with me to Costco this weekend and I FINALLY have my contacts. I'm still half in shock at how clearly I can see without my glasses. This is friggin' GREAT. Now my eyes won't be obscured by frames and glass. I can finally show off what I've learned through all your blogs and YouTube channels! Haha. He won't admit it (to spare my feelings?) but the boyfriend prefers me without my glasses. I do, too, but I was lagging on getting contacts. But now there' s a 2-year-old grabbing at my face and executing secret ninja moves to get her chubby lil' fingers on my frames whenever I leave the room. I just hope that she doesn't get bored and decide to jab me in the eyes.

I only have clear ones for now. We'll see about colors later.

Damn. I'm excited. I can drive without fear!

Patience, Grasshoppa.

2008-11-28T23:20:00.000-08:00

Why not Turkey Day posts yet? Because the weekend's not over yet. There might still be relatives deciding to pop in. More picture and video opportunities, y'know?

While we wait on that post, though, I have another video to shoot your way. It's a bit long and it's the first time I've intro'd & actually spoken into the camera, so forgive me if I'm fidgety and distracted. It's just me and Jeff joking around from earlier tonight. Enjoy!

(OMG! Why did stupid Blogger choose THIS as the still shot!?)

Oh yea! Did I mention that a regular customer gifted the ladies in the pharmacy with Etude lipstick? Very nice man. Yes'r. I wonder how popular with the ladies he was back in his younger days...

Day Off?

2008-11-28T14:48:00.000-08:00

(Thanksgiving blog coming later with videos/pictures.)

I actually requested today off and got it! How excited was I? -slap to the face-

I woke up at 9 this morning and was instantly put on figurine duty. What's that? It's me taking a roll of paper towels, a spritzer of Windex, and polishing my mom's 100+ figurines AND the surfaces they hibernate on. After that, I lugged water back and forth from the bathroom to my mom's... umm... I don't know what it's called. She has sliding glass doors in her room that leads to a useless alley between the wall of the next door house and our dining room window. -shrug- She wanted it cleaned, so I went splashing and sweeping away until the accumulated soot had drained away.

Gave Mariel a bath, dressed her, and did her hair.

Mom's in the shower right now. Nikki's done. I'm not sure if I heard correctly, but my mom wants to go out and buy something. I thought I had stated and re-stated the fact that I wanted absolutely nothing to do with Black Friday, which include stepping foot anywhere outside the safety of my house.

I just want to sit here and watch the carnage through my magical box of moving pictures. -sigh- Maybe she meant tomorrow? -crossing fingers-

Food Coma

2008-11-26T22:47:00.000-08:00

The work day was long and arduous. Our computers went down. Our printers went down. Our thermals went down. To top it off, the bathroom flooded. I think it was somebody up THERE saying, "I see you're looking forward to your day off tomorrow. Here. Let me throw a wrench in there for ya..."

However, I just got home from Jeff's house, where I had a bomb-ass pre-Thanksgiving dinner with his family. I love dinner at his house. The food is always perfect and I feel good while I'm there. I didn't want to show up empty-handed, so I bought a sansrival from Goldilocks during my lunch break.
"What the heck is that?," you may ask. Sansrival (as defined on the Goldilocks websited):

"Four layers of cashew-flavored meringue
filled and iced with French buttercream
and chopped cashew nuts."

Back to the topic. Jeff's parents are bomb-ass cooks. I love eating at his house, even though I don't get to as much as I want to due to situations. Tonight we (Jeff, Benji, their folks, their grandmother, & myself) had...

1) Smoked turkey (moist/delicious, even without the gravy)
2) Baked potatoes/ sour cream (I got to slice open my own!)
3) Salad (w/ cherry tomatoes grown in their garden)
4) Cream of mushroom soup (courtesy of Jeff's dad)
5)Casserole (so friggin' good!)
6)Sliced/baked potatoes (very good, although gone way to fast)
7) Pumpkin cheesecake (had a bite, too full at this point)
8)Custard pie (didn't even touch that one, otherwise I'd explode)
9)Sansrival (had a piece that almost did me in)

Sweet Jesus! I'm still trying to digest it all... -groan/wheeze- We also had sparkling apple cider and sparkling grape cider.

It was a good ending to a long day. I'm going to bed with my latest book: Body Brokers by Annie Cheney. It's really disturbing and informative at the same time. I'll write more about it later. Gotta drag my ass to my room. G'nite!

No Class

2008-11-24T22:18:00.000-08:00

What the fuck is happening to people nowadays!?

I swear to God... every time... every SINGLE time I watch the news, I see something that makes my blood boil. Make me shake my head in disgust. Morals... manners... class... decency... all that is just being flushed down the toilet.

I just watched this report on an 80 year old woman who was attacked by 3, 20-something "men" while collected cans and bottles. What the fuck is that shit?! And, from what was reported, they did it just to fucking do it. They didn't rob her. None of her possessions were taken. They just fucking attacked her, started kicking, and beat her with a stick until the stick broke.

How the fuck do you do that?! She was completely defenseless and just a sweet, little, old lady (according to the neighbors, who were also pissed off). Every time I finish watching the news, my jaw is so tense. I swear to God! That poor woman. She was under 5 feet tall AND under 100 pounds... and now she's unconscious in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. I hope the witnesses come forward.

I hope those three assholes are found, convicted, and become prison bitches. It's less than what they deserve.

OMG! I can't even write any more!

Another One? About CORN!?

2008-11-23T22:36:00.001-08:00

So, instead of wandering out into the cold night to get ourselves the highly addictive corn (it has a name, but I don't know what it is) from the corn lady (she has a name, too, but same situation), Jeff and I got our ingredients together and tried to make our own. Very basic ingredients:

1) Obviously: Corn

2) Mayo 3) Parmesan cheese

One healthy ingredient + 2 not quite there ingredients = good balance for me! Anyway, it wasn't the same. Maybe they're different brands than the ones that the corn lady uses. Yea. That's most likely it. She probably uses special, magical corn sprinkled with delicious fairy dust. -shrug- The corn was devoured regardless. I mean, look at these two!

I don't think there's a "neat" way to eat this, so whatever.

The aftermath.

I usually have regular floss, but it's been swallowed by my room. This is the stand-in. Can't eat corn without floss for dessert! At least, I can't, because I have a constant paranoia that I have gunk in my teeth. I have floss in my purse, in my car, in my locker at work... it drives me crazy!

That's about all I wanted to share. I'll leave you with this video (can you tell that I'm loving my new camera accessories?)

Red Robin... Yummmmm...

2008-11-23T00:04:00.000-08:00

Today started off early because my puppies decided to have a yelping contest at 7 in the morning. BAH! An early start isn't a bad thing, though. I was able to dye Lola's hair. She's always stylin' and never tryin' to leave the house without getting done up. I'm talking fitted out, hair done, makeup in place. I love my Lola.

Ok... onward! Jeff and I took the girls and hit up the Best Buy across from Tanforan mall to buy ourselves copies of Wall-E. Disney/Pixar movies are among the few that he'll actually go out and buy. Red Robin was literally only a few feet away, so that's where we had lunch.

I was able to put my new SD card to use! I wish I had brought my mini tripod, though. Dammit. There's always next time. I did sort of a half-assed job on putting the video together because I was just testing to see if my Movie Maker is up and working again. IT'S ALIIIIIVE!!! I am extremely happy.

After lunch, we dropped Mariel off to nap with Lola, then headed back out because I promised Nikki we'd take her to see Bolt. The movie is friggin' hilarious and cute. I highly recommend watching it... perhaps instead of Twilight? -nudge nudge- I was loving all the previews for upcoming movies, too. They look very promising. Fantasy-related plots with crazy special effects. I can't wait!

That's all for now, ladies and gent (singular, because Jeff's the only "gent" who read this that I know of :P).

Video Junkie!

2008-11-21T08:26:00.000-08:00

I'm extremely excited about my battery and SD card coming in today. You just don't understand. I love taking pictures and shooting little video clips of everything around me. I need those two things so that my camera can keep up!

Here are some random videos. Thank God they weren't destroyed during the re-formatting process.

Seriously. Look at this. I caught her first steps! Always filming:

Here's one of John being crazy while we were stopped at a traffic light:

This one was something I was working on for fun and out of boredom. I used clips from when I went rock-climbing with Pat, Jason, & Jeff. Like the song? Mulan, baby!:

And this last one was a Mother's Day project I burned onto DVD.

That's all for now, because I have to go and get ready for work. I can't wait! Maybe they'll be here when I come home for lunch. IhopeIhopeIhope...

Drug Zombies! (rant)

2008-11-19T20:36:00.001-08:00

Today was friggin' endless. I swear to God. Prescriptions were coming in non-stop through the 8 hours. They were being called in over the phone, coming through the fax, being handed by the stack through the in-window. (Some) People were giving us crap about the wait time, getting pissed off that their prescriptions weren't ready... blah blah blah. Holy crap, man! -wheezing- Buuut, on the upside, it's better that we're busy then inexplicably not. With the economy the way it is, today was sort of reassuring albeit exhausting.

I'm so happy that my co-workers keep their cool and know what they're doing. lol. I see that stack building in front of me and I just start to lose it little by litt.e Whew. I'm at least holding my own, considering how much a newbie I am.

Also, a larger portion of our customers are understanding and patient. They far outnumber the irritating ones who wants things not now, but yesterday. The "all you have to do is count some pills and give me my medicine" customers. -sigh- We just keep having to remember that they don't know what goes on behind the counter.

The calls to the insurance because of rejected claims, new IDs, impropersly entered birthdays (as in the patient gives us their birthday, but the insurance has a completely different one on file which throws off the billing process), the prior authorizations, the treatment authorization request, dealing with MediCal.

The calls to doctors because one medicine has interactions with another, the drug doesn't come in the form/strength written for, there was information missing. Just this month, I've gotten 3 prescriptions where the doctor didn't even sign the thing and 1 where the doctor didn't write the right patient's name on it.

So, no... we don't "just count some pills."

However, so many customers are just gems. They're fun to deal with, talk to, joke around with... are very patient and realize how much we actually do for them and genuinely appreciate it. They're great and I actually look forward to seeing them in line. Well, I'm not happy about WHY I have to see them on a regular basis... but you understand. All you can do is hope they get better.

All in all, a very long day and I'm satisfied. Exhausted and ready to be in bed by 9 o'clock, but satisfied.

Yay For Weekends!!

2008-11-16T22:08:00.000-08:00

(Sidenote: Barely any pictures as I would have liked because I didn't have my 2GB SD card, only my 256MB that already had a couple videos/pictures I couldn't delete. Phooey.)

SATURDAY: November 15, 2008
I had a pretty full 2 days off. Family fun sort of things. On Saturday afternoon, I took Nikki and Mariel to meet Jeff after he got off work at the FedEx station for a BBQ. It wasn't just a little grill and some people. Oh no. They had it catered... with a DJ! It was a lot of fun. The food was damn good, especially the BBQ sauce. Just a little bit tangy and spicy. Perfect. They had this HUUUUGE black grill that was attached to the catering truck. It sort of looked like a giant oil drum that had been turned on its side. The guy would lift the lid and smoked would spew out. Tray after tray of chicken, ribs, & beef kept coming out of that thing! Of course, there was potato salad and other healthy things as well. Is potato salad healthy? Maybe borderline? I don't know. What I was looking for, but was surprisingly missing, was macaroni and cheese. What the heck, man? I'm all about my side items. lol

Jeff's co-workers were all so nice. I always enjoy seeing them. ^.^ The weather was great, the food kept coming, music was blazing... so everybody was feeling friggin' fabulous. The girls had fun playing with all the kids and running around in the station, too. I seriously wish I had brought at least my video camera. They were climbing all over the trucks, riding on the palettes, screaming, and running. I'm surprised they didn't knock out early after we got home later that night, because we didn't go straight home after the BBQ. It was still early when it started wrapping up.

So, we went home after... only to change diapers and things like that. Re-stock on diapers. Then we were off again and decided to take them to Japan Center. 'Scuse me. I meant J-Town. It was kind of disappointing, though, because everything was starting to close! It wasn't even 6 yet, if I rememeber correctly. Anyway, Nikki at least got a crepe and Mariel got what was supposed to be MY lychee shake. Since all the shops (Which were filled with sweltering heat. Bastards.) were already shutting down, we drove off into the night again. This time, we were in search of food, so we went to Mel's.

We were doing really well up until the end, when Mariel spilled water all over her and Nikki's side of the booth. At least it was only water, and not something sticky. Oh yea! I've been on a chicken pot pie kick lately. Nothing's been able to beat the one I had at the Blue restaurant, though. The one at Mel's was gargantuan! A man at the next booth had ordered one and his came before mine. I saw it and my eyes bugged out. BUT it was just a big ol' pot pie full of OKAY. Not an adequately sized pot pie full of HOT DAMN!

And that was Saturday. Now, onto today...

SUNDAY: November 16, 2008
Les & Tito Miguel came by today to show us the movie they shot of Mariel's baptism. My uncle love shooting and editing videos. He had 2 video cameras on that day, so he was able to shoot at multiple angles at one. One camera was in a fixed spot by the altar and the other he moved around with the action. The movie he showed us this afternoon isn't the finished product, though, just what he has so far. He says he'll be incorproting more stills, so I gave him a CD copy of the pictures I had taken from my camera. I can't wait to see it when it's done, because what he's got so far is amazing.

Since Les is Mariel's godfather, he has a slot at the end of the movie where he's narrating over some footage of him and Mariel in Marlon Brando's voice. It was hillarious.

After they left, Jeff came over and we (Jeff, Nikki, Mariel, & I) went to pick up my dad at the restaurant. We we to Serramonte for some frozen yogurt. Let me say this again: These places are popping up like weeds! Did some shopping at Target. We actually didn't visit any other stores inside the mall, now that I think about it. Target is a dangerous place for me, though. I did buy some things, but I'll ge to that later.

In & Out burger was our last stop before heading home. I'm not a huge fan, but that's just me. AAaaaanndd... that wraps up that section of this blog.

Purchasing and Technology:
I swear, if I were to give in to what I REALLY want to buy... I'd be completely broke. Anything that has to do with electronics, gadgets, DVDs, computers... dear Lord. I'd be doomed to bankruptcy. This is my current status with the DVDs. Imagine! (PS: That red bowl chair and blanket were birthday gifts from Jeff ^.^ He doesn't care when I just slob around all day.)
Aside from buying another season of Family Guy, I got this little cutie:A Targus table top tripod that extends to about 6 inches and has a head that can rotate 360*. I can even take vertical pictures with this baby! The one I have right now (right on to Tito Boyet for sending it to me) is much taller, but I can only take horizontal pictures. Is that called landscape? Sorry, but I don't know any photography terminology.

Oh! Do you see that black pillar-like thing behind it? The one on the left. That is my life saver.
The Seagate FreeAgent desktop external hard drive. -muah- This has 250GB of storage! Jeff recently had to re-format my computer because I downloaded a game I wasn't s'posed to -innocence smile- I was so lucky that most of what I didn't want to lose was on this thing.

Speaking of which. I made 2 more purchases off Amazon: a backup batter for my camera and a 16GB SDHC card. Let the good times roll!

Okay. Was that enough reading and nerdocity for you? Good. I won't bother you for another few hours. G'nite, folks!

Bad Girl. Baaaad!

2008-11-15T07:58:00.000-08:00

First of all, look what husby bought for me while he was doing his route downtown! The Moofia Toki Doki mints! Isn't Mozerella cute?

But look at what's inside! Awww... a little mirror. He had actually bought one for himself with a different character (Bastardino) and, after seeing the mirror, said, "That means there's one inside mine, too. I feel a little gay now." lol He likes it :P

So, after work yesterday, I was trying to turn left to go home... but somehow I turned right and ended up at Serramonte mall. Eeep. Everything was on sale because they're scurrying to draw people back into shopping. Of course I had to take advantage of that desperation :) I bought a lot, but spent so much less than I would have if they hadn't been on sale. There was a lot left despit the fact that I got there at around 7:45, after all the teeny boppers had gotten out of school and ransacked the mall. Luckily for me, the place hadn't been gutted.

The earring were 2 for $8. I really liked the first pair and the second... well, I was trying to venture in to more... erm... adventurous territory.

This gray top is also a bit out of character. I'm very much into t-shirts and jeans. Baggy cargoes if I have the time to hem 'em a bit. I have a bottomless pit of safety pins in my room. I needed a sweater, though.
Black thermal, beaters in black, green, white (2, cause I love 'em), and a cute scarf. There were a bunch of theses carves on the rack and yellow seemed to be the only ones left. I don't know why. It's completely rock star status, in my opinion.
T-Shirts... T-Shirts... T-SHIRTS!!! -wheezing-
The sales lady laughed while she was scanning me out and saw that I had bought this one :)Adorable, menacing, and insulting all in one!Jeff has a "No Animal Prints" rule regarding my wardrobe, but he's just a boy and I'm awesome. Yup. More purples. I bought these together, but actually wasn't considering wearing them together. That would be a very purple outfit, so I don't know. They're cute individually, though.
And that's it for now with the expenditures.

I need to get the girls ready to go to Jeff's FedEx BBQ/ car show. I'll take pictures and videos. Fuuuun! Have a great weekend, everybody!

Gazongas (Pre-Blog)

2008-11-14T21:30:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to pre-blog (I'm going to clean up my room, then post about my shopping splurges today after work... Baaaad, Elisa.).

So, a few days ago, I decided to use my $10 off card on the new Victoria's Secret Miracle push-up bra and... Holy crap, man. I'm adequately-endowed. Of course I have those moments when I'm like, "Damn you, genetics!" But overall, I'm satisfied. They're proportionate with my small stature :P

But I tried on the bra when I got home (the same one pictured), and I swear I went, "Sweet Jesus! I have implants!" I don't know if I want another one of these. I feel as if they're a bit much, y'know? How can you buxom beauties deal with those things!? Years of practice? I applaud you for being able to deal with the attention, because after a few seconds, I felt as if I was sexually harassing myself. Oggling my goodies and what-not. I guess this will be my "Special Occasions Only" bra. I should've gotten the regular one, not the lacy one, because the lace on the edges tend to bend forward. It looks strange. Great OOOMPH factor, but I should've nixed the lace. Sexy enough without.

Alright. Enough of that. Gotta roll up the sleeves.

(Sidenote: For some reason, I was having random flashbacks of guys in high school telling me I looked "hot" in the passenger's seat of their cars (some sort of come on, possibly)... me getting annoyed/pissed... and thinking, "I'm gonna look even hotter in the driver's seat of my own.")

No Intiendo!

2008-11-11T22:26:00.001-08:00

I was talking with the closing pharmacist, John, and we both don't understand why 2 girls will fight over 1 guy.

Okay, here's the situation: Girl comes across another girl flirting with her man and proceeds to fly into a rage at that girl. Buuuuut... consider the fact that:
*** Her man wasn't doing a damn thing to stop the flirtations (possibly encouraging it, even?) ***

Isn't the rage a bit misdirected? Personally, I would smack my guy upside the head and demand to know why he wasn't doing a damn thing to stop it. I don't care if it results in him pushing her on her ass to get her off, but it's up to him. Obviously, it isn't the other woman's responsibility... and definitely not her INTENTION... to preserve your relationship. So why take it out on her?

I don't know. It's a mystery. Any thoughts? Are we programmed to be so territorial?

Where's my cigar?

2008-11-10T11:37:00.000-08:00

Mariel's baptism! She slept through almost the whole thing. Poor baby. My tito Miguel isn't in the picture, cause he was being super photographer. Also, I became a godmother. Where's my reclining leather chair and cigar!?

Jeff & I

The ladies. My face is like that 'cause I was saying, "SMILE!" hahaI think this picture is friggin' precious! Right after she finished her mountain of food, she was running, jumping, screaming... had the time of her life. I was planning on going to the gym before work today, but I hurt my ankle. 4-inch heels and little children do not work well together.

Also, I took Jeff to Cold Steel in Castro to get his ear pierced. Well, OUR ears pierced. If you're thinking of getting pierced or tattooed and live in the Bay Area. I highly recommend this place. It's clean, the people are experienced and nice, and they have many references.

He hates the little spiked stud, but he has to keep it in for 6 weeks. He actually set the alarm on his phone for the day that he can take it out. Goober.
Jeff held my hand while I got mine. The pain didn't bother me as much as the sound of the metal breaking through my cartilage.
We finished off with some BOMB-ASS chicken pot pie at the Blue restaurant a few shops down from Cold Steel. So good. Flaky, creamy, freshly-made... -drool-

So, yes, happy happy weekend. Now I'm sleepy, though... Mmm... but I have work in 7 minutes, so I should probably head out soon. Have a good Monday, folks!

I've Been Tagged!?

2008-11-09T19:56:00.000-08:00

Hey, this means that somebody's reading my ramblings. Good for me! -pats self on back- Thank you for the tag, Diane! Wooo! I'm excited.

Rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

# 1 : I met my boyfriend on MySpace and we've been together for over 2 years. We actually just got our ears pierced this past Saturday at a place called Cold Steel in Castro. Who would've thunk that I'd fall in love with some weirdo I met on the internet? :P Naw. I actually hit on him with a pretty lame line about one of his pictures and it just developed from there.

#2 : I'm one inch away from legally needing to be in a car seat. 4'9" is the magic number! I also qualify to have a handicapped plaque in my car. Jeff keeps bugging me to get one, but my stupid conscience nags me into doing the right thing. Dammit. The moment I start thinking of it, I start picturing grannies with walkers and men with one leg... it's irksome. I have no problem with my height, though, except for the constant reaching and stretching and getting ID'ed. Not cool, Mr. Officer!

#3 : In middle school, I got so jealous of all my friends having had at least one nosebleed (they were accident prone/ sensitive to heat/ reckless) that I gave myself one on purpose. I ran face-first into a metal bar. My eyes teared up, but I was ecstatic. I rushed into my mom's restaurant with blood running down my chin so that she could share my joy. She didn't.

#4 : I'm hardly ever IN any pictures. I like to run around with my camera, snapping away, but I rarely stand and pose. I tend to ruin pictures by making faces, standing awkwardly, or looking miserable. Just not interested. I should probably stop that, though, for the sake of future references and alibies.

#5 : I talk/sing/laugh in my sleep. My boyfriend and best friend are witnesses. Shutting up is hard! Umm... I also take off pieces of clothing. My friend Jen was sleeping over and it was kind of embarassing. We fell asleep on the couches in my living room (my old apartment) in our street clothes. I woke up without pants... and they were tight jeans, too! And where were they? I had, at some point, thrown 'em behind the couch. (Jeff's reading this, loving it, and wishing we lived together.)

#6 : I have a love/hate relationship with my hair. It's long, thick, and extremely curly. I get it from my dad. It makes me feel wild/unique because I barely ever see anybody with hair like mine. BUUUT... at the same time, I hate it because it's so hard to take care of. I'd love to be able to just get out of the shower and go. Well, get dress and all that crap first, of course. I dunno. I'm trying to decide whether to straighten it or not. Hmmm... I also don't trust anybody with straight hair to cut mine. NONONO. You've gotta relate with your clientele! One lady cut my hair as if I had hair like hers and... OMG... she turned me into a frizzy mushroom. RAWR!!

HERE'RE THE PEOPLE I'M TAGGING!
1 - JEFF
2 - THEA
3 - MIRIAN
4 - KRISYEE

Umm... everybody I'm subscribed to has already done this :( so that's all I have.

Finally!

2008-11-05T08:23:00.001-08:00

November 4, 2008... last night Jeff and I were at the gym and everybody literally froze to listen. Well, not in the room where there was a class going on since they had trance pumping into their ears like nobody's business. I can be proud of my president again, instead of sulking in shame and feeling horribly misrepresented to all other countries. So happy that there was a polling place at the Boys & Girls club just 2 blocks from my house.

All I have to say is... HELL FUCKING YESSSSSSS!!!

I'm pretty sad about the passing of Prop 8, though. All the comments I've been hearing... shit like "It's not about love, it's about lust"... have been pissing me off and I had really been hoping that it wouldn't pass. -sigh- One step at a time, I s'pose. I'm sure it'll come up again.

I didn't hear anything about the (hopefully) George Bush sewage treatment plant. I hope that passed. I'll ask at work.

Anyway, from the bottom of my heart, I believe that this is a huge step in the right direction. Let's see how the next 4 years play out.

OBAMA NATION! ^.^

Boys

2008-11-03T22:53:00.000-08:00

This picture just makes me smile. They followed me into Ulta and were like, "Oh, my God! This is like girl heaven or something!" Haha.

Halloween '08

2008-11-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

The first thing I did on Halloween... the VERY first thing... was to wish my boyfriend a happy birthday. 12 AM. He loves his birthday to no measure. Who wouldn't?? It's friggin' Halloween!

The SECOND thing I did on Halloween was wake up at 6 am to do Nikki's (my cousin) makeup for school . Why so early? Because after, I have to drive her to school, my mom to work, and then come back home to get ready for work by 8:45am. So, yes. Very hectic Halloween morning. I didn't get to START her makeup until 6:45, though.
She was still in the shower and I had to wait. You swear I'd be able to knock out and get back up. Anyway, I started by gluing on the fake wounds. Bite wounds. Bullet wound. What-have-you wounds.
And the the "decaying" skin"...Random things that just popped into my mind at the moment...
-drum roll-

... and the finished product!
I think it came out alright for the time I had. I would have added more blood, but her school has this dumb rule against it. Meh. I'm a little dissatisfied because I really wanted to to more, but I was so crunched for time. There was this paste I had bought that I wanted to put under the gray cream makeup that, when it dried, would have made her skin look like it was cracked and peeling. I wanted to do a better job adhering the wounds to her skin and blending it out more believably. Oh well... maybe next time.

>>> FAST FORWARD>>>
Halloween night, immediately after work:

My Hubby & his birthday present.
Mariel before makeup (not from the actual night, since I don't have a REAL before picture).

Mariel (& my dad) after her makeup and costume were put on.Posing with Lola (who was extremely proud/amused).
Heading out.
Met up with Thea (that 80's girl on the left :P)
Posing at the mall. Sorry, I don't like to be IN the pictures.
(Ok, side short: So, the 5 of us were walking through the mall when I looked over and notice my zombie cousin was no longer with us. I look around, then back. The people working at one of those cart-shops were around her, poking her wounds and going, "eeeww." It made me feel all warm and fuzzy.)

Jeff's turn to take the baby up.She would only say, "trick or treat" while the door was closed. :/

Lastly... a shot of me! G'night! :P

My Keys

2008-10-30T22:44:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a bit restless and bored. I'm also exhausted, but for some reason my body won't let me fall asleep when I rest my head on my pillow. Perhaps it was the pumpkin-shaped sugar cookie I just ate. Or the mug o' hot chocolate? -shrug- Anyway, I decided to blog myself to sleep. Eddie Izzard is playing in the background... actually in another window on You Tube. He's a stand-up comedian. HIGH-LAR-EE-US. My co-worker, Mary introduced me and now I'm hooked. His bits on religion have me cracking up.

On to my random blog about my keys! Not so much my keys, actually, as the things attached to them. I see a lot of my friend with just a little something dangling by their keys, but not me. Oh no. I need MANY things to dangle and distract me. The pretty, shiney things! OOOHHH!! lol

First attachment:

Turns out I was wrong in my previous post. The bar code hadn't rubbed off on my Best Buy key card... thing. It might as well have, though. Can you imagine them trying to scan this thing?? HOWEVER...
THIS is the part that rubbed off. So how can I tell that this was the right one? Well... you can't quite see in this picture, but there are few fragments of Best Buy blue still on there.

Jeff brought this 'E' back for me from his boy bonding time in Vegas. ^.^ M&M's roooock!

This is one of those plastic deals with the bug preserved inside. Jeff bought one for me while we were walking around the cherry blossom festival in J-Town. What can I say? He know's what I like. It's even green!I'm a wee bit abusive with my belongings, though. He's about ready to escape. Imagine me reaching over for my keys and having little beetle legs come off in my hands. Poor little guy. You deserve a more delicate owner. This is why I can't have nice things! lol... an iPhone wouldn't last 3 days in my clutches.

I saw this at Hot Topic and HAD to get it. Brings back great memories. Like trying to clean the cartridge by blowing into it repeatedly. -sniffle- Such simpler times.
The guys see this and ask right away where I got it. Of course, I HAVE to tell... even though it's basically like telling another girl where you got your favorite top... then seeing her wear the exact same one, pretending that it was her "great find." -grits teeth- I should slap you with my decomposing beetle-cube.

Lastly, but not leastly... does anybody know what this is? Jeff has the other one ;)

I'll bid you good night with that last one. Haha. Toodles!

MY MUUUUUUSE!!

2008-10-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

And when the heavens part...
a light shone down...
revealing...

... ZOOOOMMMBIIIEEESSS!!

This is yet another thing my boyfriend and I share a great fondness of. How proud was I when my little cousin turned to me and said, "I wanna be a zombie for Halloween." -big grin- Not a fairy princess (although she won that year when I did her makeup)... or some girly what-have-you. A zombie! Let the creative juices flow.

I went down to Spirit during my lunch break and picked up some blood, black and white cream makeup (Zombies are not white. They are gray, or some other decomposing hue.), liquid latex, a bite wound kit, and a bullet hole kit. I'm having second thoughts on the bullet holes, though. At first I considered having them on her forehead, but any horror fan knows that a zombie that's been shot in the head is just of no use to anybody. Maybe in the arm or leg?

I've been searching YouTube for some do-able tutorials, too. After watching a few... I think I'm going to need more liquid latex.

I need to find time to get to Good Will and find some clothes we can mess up. I don't know what direction to go on that one, either. We'll see. I'm so excited!

(Sidenote: Little-known fact about Elisa? I desperately wanted to be a worker in Jim Henson's Creature Shop when I was in middle school.)

Daddy's Girl

2008-10-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

I've always said that my dad is one of the few people who can shop for me without having to ask me what I like, especially when it comes to clothes. He'll buy me a random piece out of nowhere and 9 times out of 10, I'll love it. I'm very picky when it comes to shopping for myself. I can completely love a top... the color, the fit, the texture... but then I won't like the stitching and it will be flatly rejected. This is why Jeff never shops for clothes for me (Except for hoodies. That's a safety zone.)

Here's a great example. These are boots that I bought while out shopping with Jeff:

I love them so much! I especially like the buckles. Can't go wrong with buckles. Adorable.

Now, here's a pair that my dad just sprung on me:

Mmmm-Hmmm...

I love my pops. Not because he buys me things. I haven't asked him for anything since I started working, but he likes little surprises. I get most of my personality from him.... not to mention my crazy, curly hair. I'd love to post a picture of him from back in the day when he had his 'fro, but he's hidden it from me :P We've dodged the cops together, explored the City, traveled to Canada, went bridge-climbing in Australia. We're homies. ^.^

Also, my dad's hilarious!

Dad (while driving insanely the way he usually does): "See this? See what I'm doing? Don't EVER do this because it's dangerous and illegal."
Me: "Then why are YOU doing it!?"
Dad: "Because I'm stupid."

Hahah... I LOVE YOU, DAD! You's the greatest.

On the Defensive

2008-10-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

I'm not starting work until 12:45, but I've barricaded myself in my house until then... and I've been up since 7:30 this morning! "Why?", you might ask (but most likely didn't). To save money.

I'm very serious about moving out next year and I'm finally in a position to really start saving for it. I have a bit saved up, but not enough to suit me. I'm not trying to run home to mommy and daddy, asking for their help. What would be the point of moving out, then? My student loan's just about out of the picture. I think I can have it knocked out with my next 2 pay checks if nothing jumps in and screws me over. After that... it's scrimp, save, pinch, pull, steal, stretch, and gamble.

I seriously can't wait. Everybody is telling me that I HAVE to throw a freedom party when I'm finally out. Anybody close to me knows just how restricted my life is at the moment. I barely have any contact with anybody outside of my family, Jeff, and co-workers, but I'm grateful for even that.

Jeff's been a rock through all this. He's complained, but that's understandable. Overall, he's just been pushing me forward while staying by my side. I love him so much.

Family is family. It's the only one I have and even though at times I might feel like running out the front door screaming... I'd always come back. Haha.

I like going to work. It's sort of an escape. My co-workers kick ass and I get along with them really well and they make things FUN.

Friends have been trying to keep me in the loop. I'm surprised the invites out haven't stopped coming. Hopefully, by this time next year, I'll be able to spend as much time with you guys as I've wanted.

Bit by bit I'm losing my grip on my sanity. But... I have to just tough it out a little longer.

Back to the initial topic. I'm saving money by staying home. No walking through the mall. Not even to the corner store. I already know I have to fill up my tank today and even that made me flinch. Shouldn't have put it off since last week. "It's not in the red just yet..." lol I'm not even leaving the house with my atm, which is kinda genius, but also asking for trouble at the same time. All those "what if" scenarios keep creep into my head.

Now... if I could just block these on-line shopping sites...

DOY!

2008-10-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

I just read (then accidentally closed the window) to a blog about de-stressing techniques. One of them was to get my butt away from the computer when I get home. I thought to myself, "But... that's how I destress..."

When I read past the first sentence, though... it made sense. I spend basically 8 hours a day in front of a computer screen (squinting is more like it), so why would I go home and hop right back into that same routine? Forget that. I'm setting a restriction for myself. No more than 45 minutes in front of the computer after I come home, because normally, I'm in this seat until it's time for bed.

No wonder my right eye's been twitching like mad for the past 2 weeks!
G'night, all!

In Need of A Muse

2008-10-12T22:39:00.000-07:00

Halloween's just around the corner and one thing is bugging me... how to do my little cousin's makeup. She wants to be something scary since she got such a great reaction last year. Not only did she win scariest costume in her school, but she also made a guy jump behind a parked car while we were trick-or-treating. I was so proud because I'm the one who did her makeup and hair (if you count putting baby oil and separating as "doing hair")

I loved the movie "Ringu"... even the American version. Scared the wits out of me and I fell in love, so of course I had to pay tribute:

I know that there was no blood in the movie, but I thought that it would be a nice touch.
How the heck do I top this?!

Deuces Wild

2008-10-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

So, Jeff has been putting up with me for 2 years. Craaaazy, isn't it? I swear (and he agrees as well) that it seems longer/shorter at the same time. As if we've known each other forever, but the time's flown by without us realizing it. I love my hubby.

I love my hubby's gifts, too ^.^ I swear, this man tunes in to every time I pick something up or comment on something I like, then stores that information away for future reference. He's the greatest.

Looky! (I'm showing you because I'm a spoiled brat.)

Marc Ecko wallet:

(Okay. Every time Jeff and I go to Best Buy and it's time to pay, we both race to whip out our Reward Zone cards. I had one that was attached to my key chain, but it got taken out so often that the bar code is virtually gone, save for a few black dots here and there.

And that is the story of why you see my Best Buy card instead of my ID in the wallet window.)

Next up is my Coastal Scents palette!
He knows how much I love makeup and encourages it ^.^
Ooooohhh...

Aaahhhh...
He told me that he got the neutral one because I already had the colorful one:

SIDENOTE: I've been able to create 2 looks so far with the 88 palette. It doesn't seem like much, but I'm a noob to all this.
Look 1:Look 2:

BACK TO THE TOPIC!

This one is my absolute FAVORITE! He bought this 3-4 months ago and has been hiding it since!

This is Gloomy Bear.
Creator: Mori Chack
Description: A 2-meter tall, violent, pink bear that eats humans. The design is an antithesis to the excessively cute products produced by Disney, Sanrio, and other companies. Chack believes that humans and animals ar incompatible, and an animal is wild by nature.

Story? Gloomy is saved by a little boy named Pitty.
As a cub, he's cute and adorable, but the more he grows, the more violent
and aggressive he becomes.
He attacks Pitty and that's why he's got blood on him.

SOOO CUUTTTEE!!

And he surprised me at work with flowers! They are so beautiful. I love bright, crazy colors. A dozen roses is ok, but I prefer explosions!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, BABE!
You make me feel like a queen even when the whole world's on my shoulders.

It suddenly occurred to me...

2008-10-05T22:41:00.001-07:00

that I should have probably posted the recipe for the dish that we worked on. Here's a link to the site: Dhanggit's Kitchen.

If you're too lazy to click that, then you're probably too lazy to cook for yourself as well. Haha. I kid. Sort of. Anyway, to save you the finger strain of clicking. Here's the recipe, haphazardly thrown together as an afterthought:

Ingredients:
500 g of fettucine pasta
250 g of prawns
250 g of mushrooms (champignon de paris)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 a tsp of cayenne powder (more if you desire)
some sliced chili if you desire (optional)
1 onion
20 cl of fresh cream
1 tsp pg ginger powder
2 tsp of curry powder
some olive oil
salt and pepper
some parmesan cheese

(you should probably have your spices ready to be tossed in, measured and everything)

1) Clean and slice the mushrooms. You should probably go ahead and start dicing the garlic and onions while your at it. Get those tears out of the way early.
2) Shell and gut the prawns. Really get in there. Think of yourself as some seriously hard-core laxative. Keep the shells, because you're going to add those to a half a cup of water and let them simmer. Boil it until it reduces to a quarter. This is going to be the broth you'll use for later. Don't forget it!
3) Put your garlic and olive oil in a sauteing pan until it browns. Chuck in the onions, then mushrooms. I repeat, onions THEN mushrooms.
4) Add the prawns last and let it cook for about 3 to 4 minutes.
5) Mix in the spices: curry, cayenne, ginger... the tobasco and chopped chili , if you decided to go that route... and stirstirstir.
6) Pour in the broth that you smartly did NOT forget about and let simmer for 5 minutes.
7) Pour in the cream and cook for a few more minutes.
(salt and pepper optional at this point)
8) Let stand for a few minutes if you want the sauce thicker, then pour over the fettuccine that I obviously forgot to tell you to cook earlier, but being the clever cookies that you are, you had done it already anyway...
9) Top with Parmesan cheese and devour.

Okay, that out of the way... on to more food talk!

Jeff and I were running around my neighborhood a little earlier, scavenging. No. No. Not scavengers. Hunter-gatherers. Yeeeesss... We were hunting and we were gathering.

First we hopped down to my favorite Salvadorian restaurant for some pupusas. The wait was 20 minutes, so we walked over the Safeway and bought a cheesecake sampler (Y'know. Those frozen cheesecakes where each slice is a different type. Mmmm.). Jeff didn't want any pupusas because he's an alien butt, so we headed over to his favorite taqueria for a super burrito.... BUT, WAIT! We stopped by a new taqueria that just opened (as if 2 on every block weren't enough), not to go in, but for what they were selling out front. I sooo wish we had streetside food vendors. I want to vacation somewhere that has droves of them.

Anyway, a lady had her station set up, selling corn.
Not just, *bam*, "Here's your corn, don't burn your mouth."
More like, *BAM*, "Hold on while I slather this freshly-cooked ear of corn with a layer of butter, coat it with Parmesan cheese, sprinkle some spices on it, and finish it off with a squeeze of lime. Oh, and I hope you're ready to have your lips and tongue catch fire, but be so completely enslaved by deliciousness that you are unable to stop eating." -diabolical cackling and suspicious lighting flashes inserted here-

THE SHIT WAS BOMB!
That's all. G'night!

Priceless

2008-09-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share the fact that...

Jeff got slapped on the ass by a priest at my church.

AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!

I love it!

For the Nerd in Me

2008-09-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

I'm not allowed to buy anything for myself from now until our anniversary dinner *Jeff's and mine*

We already had a mishap because I had bought the Bizarre Foods DVD from Bestbuy.com (after driving to the actual store every other weekend and them never having it in stock). When I told my boyfriend that I had finally caved and just ordered it, he got upset because it was one of my presents. So, I had to cancel my order ASAP, but I still knew what my present was. Through some puppy-dog-eyeing, I convinced him to give up the DVD since I already knew what it was. I've been happily watching it every morning while I get ready for work. Mmmm... hagis.

Thank you, honey! I'm still very happy!

Something else I ordered (from Amazon and BEFORE I promised not to buy anything else) came today!

Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage (001)

This is a picture of the DVD case, which is actually a black, tin case. You can put the rest of the season in it because there are 4 extra slots. I'm hoping that I'll love it and I can fill up those slots. I'm also hoping I'll love it, because I bought disc 002. Haha. I couldn't help it! It was a sale! Besides, all the reviews were great and I love action/comedy anime.

I'm off to clean until I fall asleep. Bye!

We Made That Shit!

2008-09-21T23:18:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to use Movie Maker for this, but it's acting up and keeps freezing on me.

Anyway, the hubby and I wanted to test out our culinary skills today. We had actually been trying to decide what recipe to try our hands at and decided on spicy fettucine curry with prawns and mushrooms (found this on Tastespotting.com). It was a bit ambitious for two people who opt for microwaves over stoves, but hey, we've got skills like that. I also have a cookbook and Jeff picked out a banana cream pie for dessert. We were out most of today, hunting down ingredients at the Asian markets (soooo much cheaper). Whatever we didn't find at Pacific Super, we got at Lucky's. One ingredient (fresh cream) was elusive. I even called Katelin and bothered her at work, but no go. Thanks for the effort, though!

Our supplies gathered, we headed back to my house and got down to it.

Slicing up the bananas for Jeff's pie:
Jeff mashin' them up for the filling.

Jeff actually started on the crust (crushing the cookies + mixing it with butter + spreading it over the pan), but I smoothed it out for him :)

Okay, so the recipe said we needed whipped cream. Genius that I am, I bought the one in the carton instead of the one in the can. This is a picture of Jeff trying to whip the whipped cream. lol Our arms started to get tired, so we poured it in the blender to speed things up. Another genius move. We ended up with half milk, half froth. Not attractive. So, we went off to the corner liquor store to grab a can (wondering all the while if we looked suspicious ONLY buying whipped cream). We had images of the clerks nudging each other as we left with knowing smiles. IT'S FOR PIE!!

The (somewhat) finished product.
It said to refrigerate for 4 hours. Honestly, do you think that happened?

With dessert in the freezer, we started on the main course. Truthfully, I was a little intimidated and nervous about how it would turn out, but you never know until you plunge in! In this picture, Jeff is shelling the prawns and I'm gutting them. Who wants dirty intestines messing up the flavor? Spew. Nikki being helpful.
A nice, long one!

Honey using the skins to make a broth for later.

Jeff is basically just a big baby, so guess who ended up chopping the onions.
-sniffle-

Browning the garlic.
I think that this can pretty much be considered his cooking outfit.We like to keep things spicy.
Can you say, "Ticking time bomb"?Try n tell me that doesn't look great.After we added the prawns, spices, & broth:
Jeff adding the cream to thicken it up.
Oh, yes. We grubbed tonight!

It was fun! And everything turned out delicious, even the pie. I say, "even the pie" because we took it out and ate it prematurely and it was still mushy. Mouth-wateringly mushy. lol I realized that Jeff and I were all-business while we were cooking. We didn't really crack jokes, but we were really in sync with each other's actions. I love him so much and his willingness to not only try new things, but just do ordinary things together.

It's almost 2 years!

The Battle Rages On!

2008-09-20T23:31:00.000-07:00

No luck on the dress. No sign of it in the whole store, so I'll just cross my fingers and hope that they'll re-stock.

On another note, I have a band-aid on the side of my neck at the moment. Not exactly on the side. More like right behind my ear. What is that called? The nape of my neck? Right where all my little baby hairs are sprouting. It's going to hurt like nobody's business tomorrow when I take it off. I had to re-position the thing ONCE because it wasn't (Alright. Why is spell-check going homicidal on my conjunctions?? I just tried to type didn't and... Yup, those little red dots just marched along the bottom.) directly over the wound and I ripped out literally 6 defenseless babies. Poor things.

My skin and I have an on-going battle going on.
I want it to do one thing.
It does the complete opposite.
I break out my skincare arsenal.
It goes, "So you wanna play rough, bitch?"
It re-doubles its efforts.
I counter-attack.
It just goes on and on like that!
The latest casualty just erupted on my neck.

-sigh- TMI. I know. lol.

On yet ANOTHER note (what a terrible song!), my middle school reunion is next weekend. So expect pictures and possibly some videos. WOOT WOOT!!

and another one

2008-09-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

I'm torn. I want a dress (yes, yet another for my growing collection), but it comes in two colors. Both of them are so beautiful, but I told myself I would only get one because of my money crunch. They no longer have any smaller size on-line, so I'll have to drag my ass downtown the the actual store (Urban Outfitters... I LOVE THEIR CLOTHES!) Yes, I'll actually have to see daylight. -sigh- And I know that if I go downtown, I'll pass Sephora. And Forever 21. And all this craziness will ensue with the credit card. Why won't they just re-stock!?

Ok. Ok. Here's the dress in brown:
And here it is in white:
Sooooo adorable! Maybe I'll pick one up tomorrow. A face-to-fabric encounter may help.

Woot Woot!!

2008-09-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

-doing her 'it's Friday, beetches!" dance-

It's Friday. My nails are green. I'm good to go, baby!
Hope everybody's day goes well!
Don't let anybody with a bad 'tude get to you cause... IT'S FRIDAY!