It has been quite the busy weekend for me. My weekend began on Thursday. Only had to work 2 nights last week. Yes!!! I just have to mention again how I love working 12 hour shifts. They are the best!

Let’s start from the beginning shall we?

Friday I turned a whopping 34. Big Fat F. I can’t believe I’m 34 and inching closer and closer into my late 30’s. Life is moving way too fast for me. My mom was right when I was a young 18 year old. She said, “ Stacy, just you wait. Once you turn 21, it will all go way too fast for you. “ I wanted to grow up so fast so badly. I hate to admit it, but she was so right on the money. Every year seems to go by faster and faster.

I spent the day with my good friend, No Fear. We brunched on some French food and ended it with some good ole’ Mexican Hot Chocolate. I’m so blessed to have No Fear in my life. We spoke for hours about running, work, relationships, our fears, our doubts. It’s so good to have a friend where you can pour out your heart and soul to.

The hubs and I dined at a local restaurant called Boulevard Bistro. It’s located in a part of Sacramento that I would never have thought would hold such a place. No offense, Elk Grove, but when I think of fine dining, it’s really not the first place that comes to mind.

We enjoyed the restaurant very much. It was a good “bang” for your buck. I especially enjoyed the cozy warm feeling of the restaurant. It’s a house that was built in 1908. Inside, it still feels and looks like a regular home; just without all the typical furniture of a home. We sat in front of a huge fireplace that had a gorgeous mantel. Poor hubs was taunted every 20 minutes or so about the gorgeous mantel. I've been wanting a mantel for our fireplace and have been saying to him every single day with our Christmas stockings in hand that, " I wish we had a mantel to hang these!"

At times,  I did forget that I was in the city of Elk Grove, but when I looked out the window and saw the lighted "open" sign across the street, I was taken back to reality. Dam. 

On Saturday, it was my little brother’s college graduation from Sacramento State. He graduated with a BS in Biological Sciences and I’m so happy and proud of him. Attaining a degree is no easy feat. It took him about 6 years, just one year more than me (phew!). But, he did it and I’m an extremely proud big sister! 

 

His girlfriend and friends made some pretty cool signs and blew up his graduation picture. I thought it was pretty funny and cute at the same time!

On Sunday, we were supposed to attend our annual Christmas gathering with our friends. But, sadly, we couldn’t make it. So bummed about it, but hence there is always next year! I can’t believe that we’ve been keeping up this annual Christmas gathering for quite some time now. I think it’s been over 10 year now and we still manage to gather even with all of life’s changes.

I pretty much spent the day baking all day on Sunday. I don’t think I ever baked this much in my entire life! It was fun though. I made a batch of Mexican Wedding cookies that I’ve been dying to try. I even contemplated making these as our wedding favors. What stopped me is the thought of baking a gazillion of them a week before the wedding. I didn’t want to deal with the stress. I also made Giada’s Florentine Sandwich cookies. Instead of using semi-sweet chocolate, I used Nutella. Can’t go wrong with that right? Finally, I had to make some good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies. They looked pretty basic when paired next to the other two cookies, but I’ve been wanting to make them for some time and drink a heaping glass of cold milk.

I’ll be working the next three nights, but I do get to have Christmas day and the day after off! I can’t believe Christmas is literally just around the corner. I have a few more Christmas gifts to purchase and probably will do that all tomorrow. I’m crazy, I know. But hopefully, it won’t be as crowded. Here’s to wishful thinking! Pray for me, please!

The Reminders.

Last night at work, I had the hardest time getting through the first portion of my rounds. I don't think anyone can get over the passing of their close loved ones no matter how much time has passed. At least, that's what I think.  The pain with time eases, but the emotions of missing them seems to just increase.

The passing of my grandma happened 2 years ago this past August and there's not a day where I don't think of her. Whether it be for a few seconds, minutes, or hours. The thought of her always passes through my mind. 

It doesn't help that I work in a hospital. A hospital in which majority of the patient census is elder senior citizens. I enjoy working with these patients as I love hearing their stories and watching them light up as they reminisce about their younger days. But, there are times when just for a moment, I look at their wrinkles fingers and hands or even their eyes and see my grandmother. 

I. Miss. Her. So. Much. Last night just made me miss her so much more. It's the things that I see family and friends do when its time to say their goodbye's that makes me miss her even more. 

One example was when I witnessed a mother that is just a few years younger than my own mother to which death was nearing and her children were calling their relatives and allowing those relatives to say their goodbye's to her. Hearing the caller's crys and words expressed to their mother made me well up with tears.

I couldn't help but think of when my own mother was doing the same thing for her mother. She too, held the phone to her mother's ears to allow some of our relatives who were far, far, away to say their goodbye's. 

Grandma, if its true what most people say which is that you are looking after us all the time, I just want to say that I truly missed you even more last night. It was so hard to get through work at times without breaking down. I wanted to give that family a hug and tell that I know how they felt and what they were going through. Regretfully, I didn't. I wish I had the strength and courage to have said what I felt. 

So Glad to be Home.

It's been a whirl of a weekend. I'm so happy to be back in the comforts of my own home and bed for that matter.

Let's start how my weekend went shall we?

The hubs and I went to Las Vegas so that I could partake in my 2nd Half Marathon of the year. I don't know what I was thinking to schedule two half marathons one month apart. Who does that? Oh that's right. Me. Ofcourse.

You can read about my race here.

When we returned, we made a quick stop home because over the weekend, we received a phone call that our house alarm inadvertently sounded off. It's pretty frustrating to be hundreds of miles away and receive a phone call from the alarm people and tell us that they aren't quite sure why the alarm went off. Why the hell are we paying you then? Morons.

The hubs graciously asked if they can have the police swing by to make sure everything is okay and fortunately, everything was okay. The house is secure! But, we just wanted to see for ourselves before we headed off to my parents house to pick up Maddie.

Thankfully, our front door was locked and nothing was taken away. Phew!

We were so excited to see Maddie. I always miss her whenever I leave out of town. She's starting to get along better with my parents little dog, Jordan. Err, I mean, Jordan is starting to "tolerate" Maddie more. I don't blame him. She's like a gazillion times bigger than him.

I haven't even begun decorating our house for the holidays. So far, I have a snowman rug outside and a Christmas runner on our table. Just purchased a fresh wreath at Trader Joe's for $11.99 and wondered if I should have splurged a few dollars and got the eucalyptus one instead.

Hopefully, we can get our tree this weekend. My parents are going to give us their 9ft fake tree that they hardly use as we were telling them that we want to invest in a fake tree. Hey, I'll take it. It's beats fighting the crowd post Christmas and hello, it's FREE!!!!

How are the Holiday decorations coming along in your household? Are you like me and have like a handful of items up or are you already way ahead of me and have a slew of stuff hanging all over your house?

A Second Chance of Life.

As most of you know, I work as a Registered Respiratory Therapist. Since the summer, we have been hit with the H1N1 and I have to admit that at times, I would get scared of this H1N1 epidemic because of how fast it can affect your body and sometimes cause the patient to deteriorate quickly and/or expire.

In September, we had a patient come into our ER. I remember working this night and my friend/coworker, " No Fear" was working the ER. I think I had the floors that night. Anyways, she was just in disbelief how a patient that was experiencing the usual flu-cold symptoms comes in with extreme weakness, shortness of breath and lungs that appear so shot on the xray that we were already wondering if he was even going to make it the next few days.

This patient was in our hospital for 30 days. We aggressively treated him respiratory wise by placing him on all kinds of machines in order to assist him with his illness. Some of these machines we don't often use at our hospital, so it was quite the adrenaline rush at times to have to monitor these machines on a patient.

Well, fortunately, the patient survived and wanted to personally thank the staff in the ICU that cared for him. What better way to do it than by bringing in with him a news crew! Two of my coworkers are in here. One of them being our Clinical Coordinator who had absolutely no clue that she was being filmed. Odd because there's like a huge camera in your face. Haha.

Anyways, I'd just thought I'd post this touching story as I am just so happy that this patient was able to pull through and spend the holidays with his family in his own home and get a second chance to live!

Please click here to view this special occasion.

Turkey Day is fast approaching.

Last year, since we just purchased our first home and got married that year, we figured, why not host a Thanksgiving mealat our house. I didn't realize how much work goes into hosting a Thanksgiving feast. Like, I REALLY didn't realize. So much cooking and cleaning and good Lord, the post cleaning and the impaction of your refrigerator. Good God! How does one stay sane?

During the week of, we did a lot of cutting and cleaning. It didn't help much either that I had to work majority of that week,too! The night before, the hubs and I prepped the turkey with the whole brining method and hoping for the best that it turns out ok. It was our first time preparing and cooking a turkey and so you can say we were a bit nervous of what the outcome would be since, afterall, it is the main star of the meal!

This year, Thanksgiving is "thankfully" at my parents house. It's usually is and has been for many, many years at their house. Phew! Took the pressure off of us. Plus, I'm glad it's back at their house as their house is a midway point for everyone. Poor family last year had to endure a 3 hour drive up to Sacramento at a snail pace. I handed them a beer once they came through the door as they looked like they needed one.

I can't wait to see my family as it's always quite the fun event. We drink, play games, watch tv, sing karaoke, talk, gossip, and just pretty much lounge and enjoy each others company.

Where's Thanksgiving for you this year? Will you be hosting it at your house? Are you making any entrees, appetizers, desserts for Thanksgiving?

The Weekend.

This past weekend was a semi- eventful weekend.

It was raining on Friday but it didn't stop me from going out shopping. I remember seeing an advertisement in the Sunday paper a week ago for World Market. They were selling mugs that replicated the to-go mugs for $7.99. I've always wanted one of those mugs and nearly bought the one that sells at Paper Source for $20.

So, off I went to WM in search of those mugs. They had a solid a red and green ones and a odd looking plaid one. If only the plaid one was in much better colors, like umm, Burberry plaid colors? Right? That would make a pretty delicious looking cup. I should write to WM and let them know this.

I snagged one for myself and two more for Christmas presents. Wanting them to be used year round, I got all green mugs even though I loved the red mug. I'm a sucker for the red cups at Starbucks. But, I knew getting the green mug would be the perfect call.

The mugs are porceline and have a silicone top. It's also dishwasher and microwaveable safe. Love that!!!!

On Saturday, I ran my very first 10K race. If you are at all interested, you can read about it here. Slept pretty much majority of the day once I got home from the race which made Saturday a big fat dunce. Oh wells, there's always Sunday right?

Well, Sunday I woke up to make a heaping pot of Colombian coffee and enjoyed it in one of my newest mugs, a San Francisco mug. I found out that Starbucks puts out each year a series of collection mugs for cities. You can only purchase them in those designated cities. So far, I've collected Sacramento, San Francisco, and most recently because the hubs visited Chicago for a speech, I got Chicago! They also have state mugs, too! Ofcourse, I have the California one already.

Ran a lot of errands on Sunday. After running the 10K on Saturday, I've realized that I am in super dire need of outdoor winter running clothes. So, we headed to the Nike outlets and I guess it was meant to be because they were having a pretty good sale! Additional 30% off all the clearance items as well as some other items around the store which so happen to be the items that I really liked. Score!

I got two pairs of micro fit/dri fit pants, two long sleeve dri fit shirts and a headband to keep my little ears warm for $2.49! I've never worn a ear warmer before and I'm not sure how to wear them, so I tried it out in front of my bathroom mirror. I think I need to fiddle with this warmer, yes?

Afterwards, we headed to another WM location because I wanted to see if they had another pattern for those mugs in which they didn't have at the first WM location that I went to. Boo, they sold out on all of the mugs. Couldn't believe it. So, I ended up just mosing around and found these lick- your- lips hot chocolate flavors! They are $1.99 each and I think, that is, if they taste as good as they sound, I am going to include them with the mugs I bought.

Weekend Roundup.

Super busy weekend this past weekend. I was able to switch shifts with a coworker to get Saturday off so that I could host and watch Manny Pacquiao kick Cotto's bootay!!!! It sure was a great fight and glad that it lasted 12 whole rounds. It's really true that when Pacquiao fights, the Philippines stops. Every single Filipino is watching the fight, literally. Not to mention, constantly updating their Facebook while watching the fight. Hilarious comments!

Hosting a family gathering is no joke. While I enjoy having the family over and noshing on good, the cleanup is always the aftermath of it all. Dam, there was so many dishes and pots and pans to clean. Ugh. I'm still trying to clean up the mess we made.

Parents brought over a couple of succulent plants for me. I decided to display them in the front of the house. So pretty! I love succulent plants. The best part, you don't have to water them as often. Hopefully, I kill them even with the lack of watering that they need.






Target boots came in last night. While I like the way they look, I am not liking the shortness of them. They fit just above my ankle. Wish they were just a little bit higher. Should have purchased the taller ones. But, I'm going to give them a whirl out on the streets or play with them with various outfits and decide if I want to keep them or not. They are comfy, though!

Maybe I should just get the UGGS. Ugh, dammit!!!!

Cooking and Days Off.

When I am on my 7 days off from work, it's the time me and the hubs cooks and sometimes try different recipes for the first time. I think after living together for a year, I've developed a system when he cooks. I try to clean up as much as I can when he cooks. I'm basically his assistant per say. I remember in the beginning of us living together, I was wide eyed with the amount of mess he makes in one sitting while cooking. So, now, I just bite my lip (at least I try to at times!) and just clean up as he cooks. I sometimes, pray that he'll just adapt to this way of cooking and cleaning through the years.

Anyways, this week we tried two new recipe's. There was a sale on the sirloin beef at the local market and the hubs brings home 4 pounds worth of the meat. Ugh.

We decide to try out Sandra Lee's Crispy Orange Beef with Broccoli. I've never made a Sandra Lee recipe before, although I've watched her show countless times on the Food Network. Whenever I watch her show, I always think to myself, " why couldn't I think of that?" She never fails to come up with clever way to come up with recipes and this Crispy Orange Beef with Broccoli is one that doesn't disappoint! Its definitely a "fake out" of Chinese food and easily satisfies your craving for Chinese food in my opinion. We loved, err I loved it so much that we made it two nights in a row!

No picture was taken of our meal, but trust me, it was really good.

Last night, we tried a Thai Peanut Turkey Burger. After reading about this delicious recipe on KimberlyMichelle's blog, I made sure to bookmark the recipe and try it. The picture isn't mines, but is taken from the website of A Good Appetite.

It sure was good. The hub was trying to figure out what the flavors reminded him of. After a few bites, he realized that it reminded him of a gyoza dumpling sans the yummy wrapper. Just the inside of the gyoza. I suspect it has to do with the fresh ginger I grated in it. Maybe, I put too much?

Do you and your husband cook often? Who does the majority of the cooking in your household? Do you like to experiment with different recipes?

Too Cute for Words.

I'm a honest to God, cross my heart, true sucker when it comes to little details. So, when I saw this on How About Orange, I smiled warmly. How can you not?


It's an easily attainable detail to do. She uses a plastic lid that she got from her local deli and cut out the words using an exacto-knife. Hmmmm, I still have a lid from the potato salad I bought from our grocery store. What shall I write?

A Steal of a Bargain.

I've been digging the knit boots by UGG for a few years now. But, I just can't seem to muster myself to prop down the $139 for them. I already have two pairs of UGGS that I barely use. I think I'm traumatized from them a bit because the last time I wore them, I was watching a movie and suddenly in the middle of the movie, I became extremely hot. Like hot enough to take off my boots. Thank goodness that your feet doesn't sweat in UGGS, but still. I felt weird taking my boots off in a movie theater. Don't worry. I didn't lay my naked feet on the floor. I put them on top of my boots.

Anyways, on a whim, I decided to check out Target's boots. Lately, they've been having some cute shoes. Guess what I found! Their version of the knit boots. I couldn't believe it. It's called Muk Luks Horizontal Tree and they sell for $44.99. A huge steal, yes?

They also have them in a lower cut which is what I purchased. They sell for $18.99. Even though, they are called "booty slippers," you can still wear them outside as they have a hard surface on the bottom of the shoe.

The only down part is that they don't come other colors. The lower cut comes in just one other color and that is creme. I wished they came in black or grey. But oh wells. I can't complain given the price. Hopefully, when they arrive, I'll instantly like them as I did when I first saw them online. A full post boot report will be posted shortly. I promise.

Backyard is done!

Our backyard is done. Yaaaaay!!!! So happy to be looking outside to trees and plants, instead of dirt and weeds. The even better part, Maddie can go out and do her biznatch-- privately! For a year, we've been taking her outside to the front lawn and I would get embarrassed when people would walk by and see her do this. It's bad enough that our lawn showed it, too! We would have random yellow patches on the lawn.

The stain lady did a really good job. She's a one woman worker and I can't imagine how she does lots that are way bigger than ours alone. Much kudo's to her! Thank you, stain lady. You rock!

This is a picture that is in front of our door. I caught Maddie doing "sprints" back and forth and through the bark causing some of the bark to get loose onto the cement. Oh yeah, also caught her putting her nose in the bark. Luckily, I caught her in time before she got to the tarp to do some serious damage. So, needless, to say, whenever we catch her on the bark, we tell her to get off. Sorry, girl! It's way too early to be messin' up the backyard.

Now, all we need to get now is some patio furniture. Having to wait on that since patio furniture is pretty expensive. It's like shopping for indoor furniture all over again. If you have some places where you can suggest for some reasonably priced patio furniture, send them my way!

Nearly Done!

Today, the landscapers kicked butt! They planted all of the plants and trees and placed the bark in between the greenery. It's looking really good and I'm just loving how its turning out.

Tomorrow, the stain lady will be coming to stain the concrete a brown color. I'm really more excited about this part if anything. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

I took my very first video of our backyard. Eeek, I hate hearing my voice. Maddie makes an appearance, too!

In the Works.

Our postage stamp backyard is slowly coming along. The landscapers started working on it about two weeks ago. Starting with putting in all the drainage. We were and still are a bit worried since our backyard had a bit of a slope. We got mixed reviews from our estimators saying that we should put a small retaining wall because of the slope to no retaining wall is necessary; it's all in the draining placements. Ultimately, we decided to not place a retaining wall and go with placing a proper draining called "decko draining."

The area we are located in is partly known to flood. So far, we haven't experienced any flooding the few times it has rained. Let's hope it stays that way!

Last week, they just slabbed on the salt cod concrete. So far, it looks really good! I can't wait for the acrylic lady to come and stain it with the chocolate brown/light brown colors we chose together. We chose to go with the salt cod concrete because it was more reasonable. What I would give to have either stamped or pavers, but it was just way out of our budget. I guess you can say that the salt cod concrete is a ghetto version of stamped? They place salt all over the concrete for a few days . After a few days, they wash off the salt and BAM, you see all kinds of dibbits in the cement.

Here, we plan on putting lawn. All for Maddie. Parents kept insisting that we get the fake grass. The one that looks and feels like grass. It doesn't look like the Brady Bunch backyard grass or the mini golf turf anymore.

But, I just kept thinking about when she poos and how gross it will be to wash that stuff off. Like, what if it still smells and such? Eww. Plus, since we weren't asking for alot of grass, alot of landscapers won't give you the fake grass or recommend against it because it cost more. So, that basically solved our dilemma.

I can't wait for it all to be finished. I'm hoping that once its all finished, we can throw a little bbq to celebrate and break it in.

The hubs has been doing quite the research on gas grills. Fortunately, we have a gas hookup for a grill, so we don't have to deal with propane stuff.

We found out that all Webers hardly ever go on sale. They are like Apple Mac's. The closest to a good deal we found on Webers was no tax, free delivery and no additional fee to put it together at California Backyards. That's how they compete with the other competitors who sell Webers. It's a good deal and we nearly got one there. So glad that we found out this information as we would have been going through all these stores comparing prices of Webers. As much as we would love to splurge on a Weber, I think we are going to go with Weber's other brand called, Ducane. Its made by Weber and has all the Weber like qualities, has great reviews, but not the price.

Sandwich of the Week!

The hubs and I are pretty into eating gourmet sandwiches. When we started using our panini presser, we used it for days. We would think of various ways to make a mean tasting grilled cheese sandwich. Experimented with pears, various cheeses, breads. You name it. I think we narrowed our choices of bread to ciabatta and sourdough exclusively.

A few week ago, we were wondering what to have for dinner that evening. I had a plan of just making lasagna, but honestly, we weren't really feeling lasagna that night. When we saw Giada's, pork and fontina cheese sandwiches that afternoon, I think we both knew what we wanted for dinner.
Not your best picture. Darn iPhone doesn't have a flash. But, dammit, this sandwich was absolutely-finger-lickin-smack-your-lips- delicious!

The lemon and basil aoili added a refreshing and kick to the sandwich. I think that was pretty the main star of the sandwich besides the soft texture of the ciabatta bread. Oh, and the creaminess of the fontina cheese. Perfect blend, I tell yah!

I highly suggest you try this sandwich out the next time you are wondering what it is to eat for dinner or even lunch! It's super easy and cheap, too!

I got banged!

I finally bit the bullet and got bangs! I've been eyeing this bang trend for quite some time now and ultimately decided to dive into it with no reservations. A bit nervous? Hell Yes! A bit excited? More than you can ever imagine. I love changes. There's something about it that makes my adrenaline pump out like crazy and inspire me to try new things even more or to help me battle my security blanket insecurities.

During the "cutting" I had to keep my eyes closed as my hairstylist shears were close to my eyes. During this time, I was thinking, Did I make the wrong decision? I don't think I have the right size forehead for bangs. F. F. F. F. F

Finally, I opened my eyes and exclaimed, quite loudly, " OH MY GOD, I LOOK HELLA ASIAN!"

Poor hairstylist had to stop and laugh and honestly didn't know if that was a good or bad statement. I laughingly told her that yes, it's a good statement. I dig the new look. I look like a whole new person. A whole different ethnic person, mind you! ha ha. But, it's all good and I'm loving the new change.

Decorating the Walls.

I'm really picky when it comes to purchasing pictures for our walls. I have to have that feeling of " this is the one." I know, weird, right? I saw a picture that I got all giddy for at Target.com and had that feeling. But, I knew that I needed to first check it out in person.

I learned my lesson last week when I saw the sunburst mirror pictured in the Young House Love mood board for one of their clients. It's item number 7. Cute, yes? On sale for $39.99, too!

I headed over to Pier 1 Imports to check out the mirror and was sorely disappointed. I thought it was a wood mirror and it turned out to be a iron metal mirror. I also thought it would be much much bigger in person. Rather, it was a small mirror. Boo. I had my heart set on it too! I knew it was too good to be true.

So, you can see how I was cautious when it came to checking out the picture that I got all giddy for at Target.

Well, today, I finally got a chance to visit my local Target and low n' behold they had the picture!!!! Meant to be? Maybe. There was only one left. The size wasn't too bad at all. It was a pretty descent size, too! I heart it! I still had the giddy feelings!

So, I took it home with me and now it's sitting on a wall between our laundry room and our kitchen pantry. What I fell in love with was the message. " Share a Random Moment."


I'm now eyeing the set of 4 convex mirrors at Target. The price isn't too shabby either. $29.99.

Rambles.

Feels like October is just flying by. I can't believe it's already mid month. It probably has alot to do with so many events going on this month. Lots of birthdays, a wedding, a marathon, landscapers, etc. The list is endless!

So far, I celebrated the hubby's birthday down in so cal. We had a dinner with close friends planned at Michael Mina's XIV that was a disappointment from the get go. If you are looking for a Vegas like social environment with "okay" tasting food and don't care about customer service than this is the place for you. But, if you prefer a dinner that is elegant, quiet and has GREAT food with excellent customer service, then pass on this establishment. Trust me.

Going to Disneyland that weekend did make up for the disastrous birthday dinner though. Love to have friends that get in places for free! Thank you Ediboo for using your work benefits. I couldn't pass up on the Mickey bling. When I saw people walking around with headbands, I said, " I could sport those!" Plus, Ediboo gets 30% off the merchandise, so I took full advantage!

Disneyland was all decked out for Halloween. Haunted house was already decorated with the Nightmare Before Christmas theme, too! I've seen it before, but it's always nice to go through it again, despite the 60 minute wait time. Yes, 60 minute wait time and that was at alot of the popular rides. Space Mountain was 90 minutes.

Shopping for a costume as I'm attending a costume party for one of my coworkers/friend's birthday bash. I'm thinking of doing the whole slutty girl scout girl. If only I bought some girl scout cookies though so that I could use the cookies as a prop to make myself look more legit. Hah. Are any of you getting dressed up for Halloween?

Miss Domino Mag?

Miss Domino magazine? Check out LonnyMag.com.

My college friend, Michelle Roque is the design director for this new and upcoming online design magazine. They just released their first online issue today and I am super duper excited for her and the magazine. They have received alot of support from vendors such as West Elm, Williams Sonoma, Design Sponge, Shelter Pop, etc. So, hopefully, they'll be able to produce more issues. Word is that more issues may come out since the editors are going to Paris for the next issue. Let's keep our fingers crossed for this online magazine's success!

Michelle was one of my kick it buddies back in college. I'd always go to her house after class to just hang, eat, and whatnot. I remember, I was taking a pottery class in my last semester of college. I really thought I'd enjoy the class. Shit, that class was hard as hell. The movie, Ghost, made it looks so easy, yes? Anyways, the stuff I put out was so fugly. They were heavy, thick rimmed and just plain shitty! Till this day, I'm surprised I got a B in the class. At the end of the semester, we had to take the stuff we made home. I thought it would be nice to gift some of the stuff I made to Michelle and her roommate. Now, I was planning on gifting them the best of the best, which was probably like 2 or 3 items, if that.

The looks on their faces when I dropped off my pottery was priceless. I wish I could hear the shit talking after I left their apartment. Boy, oh boy. What is sweet is that they still have the stuff I gave them because, well, I made it and gave it to them. So sweet, huh? I think it was. They are too, too kind.

She was one of my first friends to take the fatty risk and move to NYC to attend Parson's college. Parsons as in Tim Gunn. Gotta give it to her for making that change. It takes alot of courage to decide to up and move to NYC and on your own for that matter.

She also does freelance design work. --just sayin'. :D I was lucky enough to have her design my table/menu signs to match my invitation design. Loved her for that. She even was able to do some very last minute changes to a couple of them on the day of my wedding. OMG. I think that and my hairdresser team coming late was my two stressful moments.

Anyways, check out the magazine and I hope you like it. Don't forget to bookmark it!!!

Who Knew??

In the beginning of our planning, we were looking at paving and/or stamped concrete. There was just too many things involved with each one that it was becoming all too consuming. Plus, these two options are pretty expensive.

It's a good thing that I spoke to our landscaper about salt finish concrete as he brought up the option of staining the concrete in two colors. Since the "stain" lady is his wife, he was able to get it at a reasonable price per sq. feet.

I found out on a whim that salt finish concrete was fairly reasonable and add staining, its not too shabby. It pretty much lowered our total a good $4K. Crazy, huh?

Met with the "stain" lady today. Never knew that this option existed for concrete. Then again, I didn't know much in the beginning stages and I'm continuing to learn each day. She provided a simple one page sheet that had colors in square boxes. Fortunately, she provided pictures of previous jobs to give me a better picture. Love me some pictures.


Staining is freakin' awesome. It gives the appearance of expensive flooring at a fraction of the cost. You can stain the concrete in a variety of colors. From white, green, red, yellow. The colors are endless.

I chose the stain color, bark brown, that is very much like the picture shown to the left. We will be having borders along our concrete and I chose a dark chocolate brown to outline it (picture on the right). I'm crossing my fingers that it will turn out great. No wait, awesome.

It's Been a Long Time.

Just noticed that my last post was on September 3rd. Hey, it's still September. So it's not a terrible drop in blogging, no?

I don't know what is with me and blogging lately. I just haven't had enough energy to hit the " new post" button and write something. Perhaps it's because nothing big has happened to me these days. Or, does something big have to happen for me to blog?

Last I left you guys with was eating at a fancy schmancy Filipino restaurant, called Intramuros. Fancy, indeed , it was! So posh and modern. Never seen such a Filipino restaurant like it before. I later found out that it was a mortuary. Crazy, right? Was taken aback especially since most Filipino's are superstitious and opening up a restaurant where the dead chilled out for a bit sounds insane! I mean, who does that???

Wish I could say the the food was absolutely to die for. We had a variety of dishes ranging from shanghai lumpia's in which one was made out of ham and cheese. (That caught me off guard, and I thought it was slightly ghetto. At least use good cheese like gruyere or brie or something. ) to pork sisig, bicol express and such. Quite frankly, we were a hungry bunch and ordered a whole lotta food.


We also had the Intramuros paella that was made with longonisa (Filipino sausage), salted duck egg, clams, adobo, squid, tomatoes in saffron and bangus. Sounded delicious on paper, but when we got it, it tasted mediocre. Sure wasn't worth the $25!

The dish that I enjoyed the most was the crispy binagoongan over grilled eggplant. Translation: diced crispy pork lightly glazed w/ shrimp paste over grilled eggplant, topped w/ diced mangoes & tomatoes ($13). If I could and didn't have to worry about clogged arteries, I could eat this dish nearly every day of my life. It was that good!

In other news, the hubs and I are finally getting our postage stamp of a backyard landscaped. Woohooo!!! We got tons of estimates and in the beginning it was a bit intimidating because we had absolutely no freakin' clue about landscaping. All's we knew was that we wanted concrete, lawn, and plants and trees. But, if you ask us to be specific, you'll get a blank stare and a curt smile from us because we are thinking, " WTF?"

We finally settled on salt finish concrete that will be stained with a color. So far, it's looking like it may be a brown color. We are having a little side lawn for Maddie because for some reason, she will only do her biznatch on grass knoll. Also, we will be having a few ornamental trees, plants, and shrubs and bark.

They will be starting on the week of October 18th. Hopefully, they'll be done by Halloween so that we can throw a little bbq shindig with the familia. Currently, we are shopping for a natural gas grill to inaugurate the event.