~LOVE~
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
3.15.2011
3.12.2010
Goings on . . .
It's been almost two months since I last updated. Sorry! My life has been super busy. As you saw in my previous post--I'm working and going to school 5 days a week, and my weekends are taken up with homework (reading), chores, and the occasional night out. The good news is, I'm halfway through my semester and only two weeks away from my week-long Spring Break. I've also been sick 4 times since Christmas, which is ridiculous. I was knocked out for two days strait this week with a nasty cold, but I'm finally feeling better.
Here are some pictures/recaps from our recent goings on:
Since I last updated, a few fun evenings have elapsed. In late January, Fernando and I drove down to the OC to attend Juan and Irais' housewarming party, and then spent the night at Fernando's sister's house. The next morning, we all went to brunch at the Cheesecake Factory with the gift card Fernando's other sister, Naomi, gave to us for Christmas. That was a fun trip.
This is the only picture I have from the housewarming. Fernando and I with our 'compadres', Gus and Alma. We call ourselves, Los Vasquez.
We attended an 80's themed birthday party for our new friend, Jen's, 25th birthday. Her boyfriend, Barry, is Fernando's boss/mentor at Pacific Sales. It was a fun night and everybody really went all out on their 80s costumes (including us).
Jen and Barry, our hosts for the night
Fernando and I dressed in our 80's costumes
My 26th birthday came and went. I had class on my actual birthday, but spent the rest of the weekend celebrating with family and friends. My parents took me out to dinner that Friday at the Lazy Dog Cafe, then I had a ton of friends meet me for drinks at The Lazy Dog Cafe afterwards. Tanya was in town from NYC that weekend, so my birthday was extra special. I was so happy to have so many friends come celebrate with me. I was running around like a madwoman all night socializing with everyone. Even though I had several drinks, I don't think I ever even got a buzz because I was running around so much! The next night, just Fernando and I went out for a fancy dinner at Craft (Tom Collichio's restaurant). The food was amazing and the service was even better. We ate veal sweetbreads for the first time and I think I can say that I'm a fan. I also managed to talk Fernando into trying a bite of diver sea scallop--and if you know Fernando, you know that is a feat since he HATES seafood. He actually liked the bite he ate and said it tasted "like bacon."
My family dinner
Fernando and I at the bar
Tanya and Emily joined me
My big sis made a surprise visit!
My girlfriends from "The Group"
Alma and Yvonne bought me this monster of a drink. I made them share with me.
After The Lazy Dog closed, we headed over to TGI Fridays to meet with the SFPS Crew. Here's me and Danny (he was my coworker and Winter Formal date in 11th grade)
Mark and me (he was my Senior Prom date). We go way back.
Fernando and I after we got home from Craft. I love my hubby!
Two weekends ago, Fernando, Gabe, and I took a random trip to San Luis Obispo just for fun. We stayed in a cheap hotel room not far from downtown (only $78 a night). We got into town around dinnertime on Saturday night, so we ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant in SLO, Poncho's. Afterwards, we went back to our hotel room to get dressed for a night out. Our first stop was at The Frog & Peach for some beers and live music. A really cute rock-a-billy band called Motel Drive was playing and we really liked their music. Then we moved across the street to Downtown Brew to meet Mona and Sonya and a couple other friends who were in town. Gabe had never been to downtown SLO before, and he really enjoyed the bars we took him to. The next morning, we stopped in Pismo Beach to visit mine and Fernando's "happy place"--Mo's BBQ. We walked on the pier a little bit. That was the weekend of the earthquake in Chile and the "tsunami" had done some interesting things to the shoreline at Pismo. Finally, we stopped off in Guadalupe to visit with Mona for a couple hours before heading home. Overall, a very fun 24 hour jaunt.
Fernando and Gabe--happy at the Frog & Peach
Me, Mona, and Sonya at Downtown Brew
Hubby and me at DTB
G-Money and me at DTB
Mo's AMAZING garlic fries. Drool-worthy.
Mo's BBQ sampler. Most of this came home with us.
Pismo Pier--look how far the water had receded
Fernando and I, of course
Okay, so I think that just about catches you up. Life is busy, but humming along. Fernando ordered his cap and gown for graduation this week. Getting pumped for that. I even went out and bought dresses already for Alma and Fernando's respective graduations. We filed our taxes early this year and already got our refund. We went ahead and bought two leather armchairs for our living room and they should be delivered on April 7th. I'm excited for those to arrive. We've also settled on some bookshelves for our living room's back wall. Once we install the shelves and get the chairs, our living room won't be so bare. We'll finally have someplace to put all our books and picture frames (still in boxes since we moved in LAST December). I'll definitely post pictures once everything is moved in.
~LOVE~
4.24.2009
Run
I'm feeling very emotional today. Not sure why. I'll chalk it up to the gloomy weather.
I still haven't updated about New York, but now that I've uploaded the photos, I might be able to do a proper update THIS weekend.
Last weekend turned out alright. On Saturday I had big plans to wake up early, clean the house, cook dinner, and have my friends over. Well, I woke up late, and spent most of the day cathing up on shows on my DVR, but I did actually get a lot of chores done. I watered plants, washed dishes, swept, mopped, cleaned the chinchilla's cage, and made it to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for tacos. I had my friend, Jenn, and her boyfriend, Eric, over for tacos and maragaritas. This marked the first time Fernando and I had guests really sit down to eat at our new kitchen table.
Later that night, Fernando and I made the trek out to Studio City to go to Xenia's 21st Birthday party at Saddle Ranch at City Walk. The place was just too crowded, so we didn't really have a lot of fun. I'm starting to think I'm getting too old to be going to 21st birthday parties anymore . . .
On Sunday, we slept in. I was so tired from staying up late the night before. I tutored for just an hour on Sunday, and since I got done with tutoring early, I stopped at the book store. I had a gift card from Christmas that I was itching to use. I also had a craving for Starbucks. So I ended up picking up the complete Persepolis and the third Twilight book, Eclipse. I went home and started reading, and about an hour later, our friends, Andrew and Amy, stopped by. We drove all the way to Simi Valley to eat pastrami sandwiches at The Hat (I actually had a grilled cheese) and then drove all the way to Canyon Country to have Menchie's (yummy frozen yogurt place). It was a nice end to a pleasant Sunday.
This week has been moving pretty slow. I think I'm going to go for an extra long run/walk today. Maybe I'll run to my parents' house and back? That would be kinda cool. Yeah, that's an idea.
~LOVE~
4.16.2009
New York City, Baby!
I'm a terrible blogger. I've been dependent on Twitter for the past couple months, which would explain my lack of real blog posts.
I promise a more fleshed out post later (this weekend), but here's my NYC experience as seen through my Twitter posts (tweets). Of note--these times are all PST, even though I was in EST most of the time.
~LOVE~
3.13.2009
The Stars Align
So, as far as an update regarding my last post--my plum tree currently has about five tiny white blossoms on it. Nothing to report in regards to the peach tree. My lemon tree is COVERED is just-about-to-bud blossoms. I'll keep you all updated on that situation. My pomegranate tree has a few leaves on it now, too.
Last night, the stars aligned in the most amazing way. Both of my tutoring appointments were cancelled AND Fernando's class got cancelled. So after work, I stopped by Urban Home and ended up buying a kitchen table. It's counter-height, European-rustic looking, and comes with four sizable and comfortable chairs. It should be ready for pick-up next week. I am so excited to finally be getting a kitchen table. Now I get to pick out place mats! After paying for my table, I headed home. Fernando and I pulled into the driveway at the same time. We decided that in honor of our both being home early on a weekday, and the fact that it was still light outside, we were going to do a BBQ. We swung by Albertsons and bought some vittles. For dinner, we made Angus beef hamburgers with Muenster cheese, avocado, and all the fixings. We also threw some zucchini on the grille. It was a delicious dinner! We capped off the night with a new episode of The Office.
My grad school application has been into Cal State Long Beach for two weeks now. I still have at least four more weeks to wait until I discover my fate. If I do get in, my first day of classes will be August 31st. I have been charmed by the idea of going back to school. Mostly because this means I'll finally be able to quit my day job. If I get in, I think my last day will be August 1st. This will free me up to go camping with my family in August, a luxury I was going to miss if I kept working. I'll still going to be tutoring in the summer, so I think taking a whole month off will be financially do-able (not to mention a dream come true).
Two weeks from now, I'll be preparing to board a plane to Las Vegas for Yvonne's bachelorette party bonanza. I am thrilled about this mini-vacation. I'll be taking a half-day from work that Friday, and my dad has agreed to drop me off at the Burbank airport so I can catch my flight. All the girls are staying together at the Luxor. The first night will be the "official" party night with games and drinks and presents, followed by a night at the new LAX club inside the Luxor. The second night will be themed. All of us girls have been asked to wear "little black dresses." We're doing a nice sit-down dinner at the P.F. Chang's inside the Planet Hollywood and following that up with a night at the Pure nightclub inside of Caesar's Palace. This will be somewhat of a pricey weekend for me, but I've pre-paid for a lot of it (including my flight, hotel, outfits, gifts for Yvonne, etc) over the past couple of months, so I think the expenses incurred over the actual weekend won't get out of hand. As you can tell, I am very excited!
More house news--we're finally getting a washer and dryer on Monday! One of Fernando's vendors from work is having a crazy sale on scratch and dent pieces. We're only paying about $300 for a matching, front-loading washer/dryer combo! Also, we've decided to go ahead and re-do the smaller bathroom (the one attached to our bedroom). My dad already ripped out the sink and built-in cabinets. Even though we're loosing storage space, switching to a pedestal sink is going to make it seem a lot more luxurious. I'm thinking a white and soft mint/teal color combination will work well--a smooth transition from the taupe and white in our bedroom.
Did I mention that I'm less than a month away from my week-long trip to NYC? Not only do I get to see my BFF, Tanya, but I get to spend a week with Kenia. Also, my sorority sister, Daisy, will be in NYC the same week as me, so we're definitely going to spend some time together. And finally--Danny is going to fly into NYC for the first weekend that I'm going to be there. It will be a Cal Poly, SLO reunion in the middle of New York City!
~LOVE~
Last night, the stars aligned in the most amazing way. Both of my tutoring appointments were cancelled AND Fernando's class got cancelled. So after work, I stopped by Urban Home and ended up buying a kitchen table. It's counter-height, European-rustic looking, and comes with four sizable and comfortable chairs. It should be ready for pick-up next week. I am so excited to finally be getting a kitchen table. Now I get to pick out place mats! After paying for my table, I headed home. Fernando and I pulled into the driveway at the same time. We decided that in honor of our both being home early on a weekday, and the fact that it was still light outside, we were going to do a BBQ. We swung by Albertsons and bought some vittles. For dinner, we made Angus beef hamburgers with Muenster cheese, avocado, and all the fixings. We also threw some zucchini on the grille. It was a delicious dinner! We capped off the night with a new episode of The Office.
My grad school application has been into Cal State Long Beach for two weeks now. I still have at least four more weeks to wait until I discover my fate. If I do get in, my first day of classes will be August 31st. I have been charmed by the idea of going back to school. Mostly because this means I'll finally be able to quit my day job. If I get in, I think my last day will be August 1st. This will free me up to go camping with my family in August, a luxury I was going to miss if I kept working. I'll still going to be tutoring in the summer, so I think taking a whole month off will be financially do-able (not to mention a dream come true).
Two weeks from now, I'll be preparing to board a plane to Las Vegas for Yvonne's bachelorette party bonanza. I am thrilled about this mini-vacation. I'll be taking a half-day from work that Friday, and my dad has agreed to drop me off at the Burbank airport so I can catch my flight. All the girls are staying together at the Luxor. The first night will be the "official" party night with games and drinks and presents, followed by a night at the new LAX club inside the Luxor. The second night will be themed. All of us girls have been asked to wear "little black dresses." We're doing a nice sit-down dinner at the P.F. Chang's inside the Planet Hollywood and following that up with a night at the Pure nightclub inside of Caesar's Palace. This will be somewhat of a pricey weekend for me, but I've pre-paid for a lot of it (including my flight, hotel, outfits, gifts for Yvonne, etc) over the past couple of months, so I think the expenses incurred over the actual weekend won't get out of hand. As you can tell, I am very excited!
More house news--we're finally getting a washer and dryer on Monday! One of Fernando's vendors from work is having a crazy sale on scratch and dent pieces. We're only paying about $300 for a matching, front-loading washer/dryer combo! Also, we've decided to go ahead and re-do the smaller bathroom (the one attached to our bedroom). My dad already ripped out the sink and built-in cabinets. Even though we're loosing storage space, switching to a pedestal sink is going to make it seem a lot more luxurious. I'm thinking a white and soft mint/teal color combination will work well--a smooth transition from the taupe and white in our bedroom.
Did I mention that I'm less than a month away from my week-long trip to NYC? Not only do I get to see my BFF, Tanya, but I get to spend a week with Kenia. Also, my sorority sister, Daisy, will be in NYC the same week as me, so we're definitely going to spend some time together. And finally--Danny is going to fly into NYC for the first weekend that I'm going to be there. It will be a Cal Poly, SLO reunion in the middle of New York City!
~LOVE~
6.11.2008
Feeling Great
So, I suppose it's time for a proper update. I've been feeling really good lately. It might have something to do with the new routine I've fallen into now that my tutoring has taken a dip in hours. I have more time in the afternoon to focus on myself--eating right, working out, reading, not watching as much television, etc. Fernando is currently taking a summer course and he doesn't get home until after 10pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays. He's already in the third week of the course and it's only six weeks long, so it's not as bad as it sounds. Without Fernando at home, I am not tempted as much to just sit on the couch and veg out, drink beer, and mindlessly snack. With the arrival of my Wii Fit two weeks ago, I have a renewed interest in doing exercise and actually losing some of the weight I've put on since graduation from Cal Poly. I have a goal of thirty pounds and I've already lost five. I haven't exactly seen results in the areas I'd like (upper arms, inner thighs), but my waist has definitly shrunken. Also, without Fernando at home, I have no one to cook me dinner, so my dinners are simple, healthy things like turkey sandwiches on whole wheat bread or salads with a little tuna in them.
With the drop in tutoring hours, I've also been reading a lot more. I finished The Time Traveler's Wife on Saturday after a marathon four and half hour reading session. Now, I'm already thirteen chapters into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Once done with that, I have A Thousand Splendid Suns waiting in the wings. And after that . . . I suppose a trip to the bookstore is in order (unless somebody out there wants to let me borrow a good book they've recently read).
I've been watching a lot less television because most of my regular TV shows are on summer hiatus. The Top Chef finale is tonight, and after that, I don't have anything to watch until the next season of Project Runway starts in July.
Another reason I've been feeling good lately is because I have an honest-to-goodness job interview this Friday! The company is here in Santa Clarita and it is a non-public company that provides behavioral therapy to children and adults with Autism and other developmental disabilities along the Autism spectrum. The position I am applying for is Behavioral Therapist Level 1. It's an entry level job and it usually is reserved for people with Bachelor's degree in Psychology or a related field, but the woman I spoke to on the phone said that having experience working with children can compensate for the fact that my degree is in English. If hired, the company provides extensive paid training and I would be working under direct supervision for my first year. After a year of working for the company, they can promote you to Level 2, after two years, you can become a supervisor. The opportunity for growth and possibility of adding "work with persons with deveolpmental disabilities" to my skills set is definitely intriguing. The work would be traveling to different home or school sites and working directly with students. Milage and time between jobs is paid, and the company has health, dental, life, 401(k), and partial TUITION REIMBURSEMENT FOR HIGHER EDUCATION. This is possibly the most important incentive they could offer me since I do plan on pursuing a Master's degree.
My interview is on Friday at 11am. I have to fake a doctor's appointment to get some time off work to attend. Please send some positive thoughts/prayers/vibes my way on Friday. I'm going to be very nervous for this interview--I haven't gone to a job interview for almost two years! If hired, this will have some interesting reverberations in my current work life. I'll obviously need to put in my two weeks' notice here at ATM, but I will also have to quit tutoring for Xamaze. Both of the clients that I have lined up for summer school tutoring this summer are very clingy to me as their tutor. When they talk to me about tutoring, they talk as if I'm going to be a part of their children's lives until they graduate high school. I've spoken to these families many times about my limitations as a tutor (for example, I don't tutor math past Geometry), but they still seem to have a hard time imagining having another tutor other than me. I know if I cancel with them for the summer that they will indeed survive, but I still can't help but feel a little guilty for "leaving" them. Hopefully they'll want to keep me in their back pocket as their "emergency" tutors on weekends and such. I can make a lot more money per hour getting paid directly by my tutoring clients under the table.
All in all, there is a lot of promise for good things coming in the next couple of months. I'm looking forward to this weekend--my cousin (on my dad's side), Michael, is turning 40 and his wife is throwing him a Las Vegas themed party that we will be attending. I bought a new dress and shoes and earrings for the event. It should be a lot of fun. Oh, I almost forgot to mention--my mom and dad are flying up to Portland today to visit my mom's friend, Connie for a few days. We'll be house sitting from tonight until Friday when my parent's get back.
~LOVE~
With the drop in tutoring hours, I've also been reading a lot more. I finished The Time Traveler's Wife on Saturday after a marathon four and half hour reading session. Now, I'm already thirteen chapters into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Once done with that, I have A Thousand Splendid Suns waiting in the wings. And after that . . . I suppose a trip to the bookstore is in order (unless somebody out there wants to let me borrow a good book they've recently read).
I've been watching a lot less television because most of my regular TV shows are on summer hiatus. The Top Chef finale is tonight, and after that, I don't have anything to watch until the next season of Project Runway starts in July.
Another reason I've been feeling good lately is because I have an honest-to-goodness job interview this Friday! The company is here in Santa Clarita and it is a non-public company that provides behavioral therapy to children and adults with Autism and other developmental disabilities along the Autism spectrum. The position I am applying for is Behavioral Therapist Level 1. It's an entry level job and it usually is reserved for people with Bachelor's degree in Psychology or a related field, but the woman I spoke to on the phone said that having experience working with children can compensate for the fact that my degree is in English. If hired, the company provides extensive paid training and I would be working under direct supervision for my first year. After a year of working for the company, they can promote you to Level 2, after two years, you can become a supervisor. The opportunity for growth and possibility of adding "work with persons with deveolpmental disabilities" to my skills set is definitely intriguing. The work would be traveling to different home or school sites and working directly with students. Milage and time between jobs is paid, and the company has health, dental, life, 401(k), and partial TUITION REIMBURSEMENT FOR HIGHER EDUCATION. This is possibly the most important incentive they could offer me since I do plan on pursuing a Master's degree.
My interview is on Friday at 11am. I have to fake a doctor's appointment to get some time off work to attend. Please send some positive thoughts/prayers/vibes my way on Friday. I'm going to be very nervous for this interview--I haven't gone to a job interview for almost two years! If hired, this will have some interesting reverberations in my current work life. I'll obviously need to put in my two weeks' notice here at ATM, but I will also have to quit tutoring for Xamaze. Both of the clients that I have lined up for summer school tutoring this summer are very clingy to me as their tutor. When they talk to me about tutoring, they talk as if I'm going to be a part of their children's lives until they graduate high school. I've spoken to these families many times about my limitations as a tutor (for example, I don't tutor math past Geometry), but they still seem to have a hard time imagining having another tutor other than me. I know if I cancel with them for the summer that they will indeed survive, but I still can't help but feel a little guilty for "leaving" them. Hopefully they'll want to keep me in their back pocket as their "emergency" tutors on weekends and such. I can make a lot more money per hour getting paid directly by my tutoring clients under the table.
All in all, there is a lot of promise for good things coming in the next couple of months. I'm looking forward to this weekend--my cousin (on my dad's side), Michael, is turning 40 and his wife is throwing him a Las Vegas themed party that we will be attending. I bought a new dress and shoes and earrings for the event. It should be a lot of fun. Oh, I almost forgot to mention--my mom and dad are flying up to Portland today to visit my mom's friend, Connie for a few days. We'll be house sitting from tonight until Friday when my parent's get back.
~LOVE~
2.06.2008
Birthday
***Originally written on 2/4/08****
It's my birthday. Yup, yup. So . . . 24 feels like . . . sitting at work--bored--sipping the coffee. All in all, a lot like 23.
Birthday plans are as follows: Monday, February 4th: My co-workers are throwing me a little lunch today. I got to pick the restaurant, so we're ordering in from Chili's. Mmmm . . . I love the black bean burger. So tasty. And after I'm done with tutoring this evening, Fernando and I are going out to dinner at South Point Grill. Their steaks are awesome. Fernando is also busy doing the laundry for me today. Usually I go to my parents' place on Sundays to do the laundry, but I was driving back from SLO this Sunday and didn't get home until the fourth quarter of the Superbowl. By that time, I wasn't willing to leave the house because the game was so good. Amazing even.
Friday, February 8th: My dinner with friends at Mojito. It should be a smaller crowd, maybe ten friends getting together for dinner. I'm really excited for this. Mojito serves Carribbean food and makes amazing cocktails. And on Friday and Saturday nights after 10pm they have live music for dancing. The food is a bit on the pricy side for dinner, but it's gourmet quality. I'm going to make sure we order plenty of appetizers for my friends. I'm thinking of ordering the paella. I've never eaten mussells before and I feel like trying something new on my birthday.
Saturday, February 9th: I'm going to make an appointment at a local salon to have my hair cut. I've been growing it since October of 2006 so that I can donate 10+ inches to Locks of Love. I picked my birthday as a good milestone time to make this big change. I haven't had really short hair since my senior year of high school. The past couple of months have been hard--I feel like ripping my hair out about once a day because it is so long, but now I finally get to get rid of it and pick a totally new style.
Sunday, February 10th: Dinner with my family--I picked BJ's as the place. We were originally supposed to go out tonight, but my dad is having surgery today to fix a hernia, so we just pushed it to this coming weekend. Since my aunt Yolanda's birthday is also getting close, I'm wondering if it would be better to combine our birthday celebrations together. We'll see. This weekend seems pretty far away at this point. Alrighty then, guess it's time to go back to work.
~LOVE~
It's my birthday. Yup, yup. So . . . 24 feels like . . . sitting at work--bored--sipping the coffee. All in all, a lot like 23.
Birthday plans are as follows: Monday, February 4th: My co-workers are throwing me a little lunch today. I got to pick the restaurant, so we're ordering in from Chili's. Mmmm . . . I love the black bean burger. So tasty. And after I'm done with tutoring this evening, Fernando and I are going out to dinner at South Point Grill. Their steaks are awesome. Fernando is also busy doing the laundry for me today. Usually I go to my parents' place on Sundays to do the laundry, but I was driving back from SLO this Sunday and didn't get home until the fourth quarter of the Superbowl. By that time, I wasn't willing to leave the house because the game was so good. Amazing even.
Friday, February 8th: My dinner with friends at Mojito. It should be a smaller crowd, maybe ten friends getting together for dinner. I'm really excited for this. Mojito serves Carribbean food and makes amazing cocktails. And on Friday and Saturday nights after 10pm they have live music for dancing. The food is a bit on the pricy side for dinner, but it's gourmet quality. I'm going to make sure we order plenty of appetizers for my friends. I'm thinking of ordering the paella. I've never eaten mussells before and I feel like trying something new on my birthday.
Saturday, February 9th: I'm going to make an appointment at a local salon to have my hair cut. I've been growing it since October of 2006 so that I can donate 10+ inches to Locks of Love. I picked my birthday as a good milestone time to make this big change. I haven't had really short hair since my senior year of high school. The past couple of months have been hard--I feel like ripping my hair out about once a day because it is so long, but now I finally get to get rid of it and pick a totally new style.
Sunday, February 10th: Dinner with my family--I picked BJ's as the place. We were originally supposed to go out tonight, but my dad is having surgery today to fix a hernia, so we just pushed it to this coming weekend. Since my aunt Yolanda's birthday is also getting close, I'm wondering if it would be better to combine our birthday celebrations together. We'll see. This weekend seems pretty far away at this point. Alrighty then, guess it's time to go back to work.
~LOVE~
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