And I'm Hooked.

Sometimes, I wish I was atypical man and have blinders when walking into a store. I swear, you smack the word, "miracle", "established since 1840 something", or heck, are claimed to be quite the popular best of the best by many consumers and you have me handing you some green moola. Daaaaaaaaaaam. I hate this weakness of mine's. It gets me into trouble.

So, a few days ago, I was watching The View and they were doing a feature on the Best Makeup Products. One of the products they featured were the smartshade by Almay. It supposedly when placed on your skin, can blend very well with your skin color, hence the name, "smart" shade.

I got curious. My facial skin is all kinds of colors. So, instead of just purchasing just one of the smartshade, I had to get a smartshade blush. Boo on me. I think I purchased the wrong color in blush as I couldn't see it on my cheeky bones. It blended a little too well. As for the concealer, ehhh. It's alright. I guess. I think I like my Benefits Ooh La La Lift way better. It's light and it seems to give me the umph under my eyes which a person who works nightshifts really needs in her life. For reals.


Then, I spotted a little section that contained all things Boots. It's a brand from England that dates way back into the 1800's. I'm all about these kinds of products because it tells me that they are substantial products given that they've been around for ages. Would you agree?

I really want to purchase the vanishing cream they sell. But, I'm having trouble finding reviews about it and more importantly, what the hell does vanishing cream do????

A Lil' Bit Late, But Here's My Weekend Roundup.

What a better way to kick start the weekend than by enjoying a satiable happy hour at Zocolo's with some of my favorite friends. Thought I'd be adventurous and ordered their " Honey Ale", thinking it was going to be yummy! Not!


But, I had some fabulous fish taco's, guacamole and warm black bean dip! Oh, and I can't forget the fro-yo.


Can you believe that there are still some people out there that have yet to try fro-yo? Beeeellliiievvvee!!! In this past month, I've saved two people. But, I have to bring up an important subject. What is up with virgin fro-yo'ers wanting to have chocolate as their first flavor of choice? No! No! No!


Got to spend some QT with the BFF. She's about ready to pop at the end of next month and still looks adorable. Her shower was a huge success, considering there was about 90 people expected to come. Dios Mio!!! Can you imagine?

It was tons of fun getting to see people I haven't seen in such a long time and being able to catch up with them. I guess they felt the same way as some of us extended it to getting drinks afterwards.

I was so pooped on Sunday, but had big plans of shopping. Yeah, didn't end up doing that. Just napped all day long.

I'm Bicolored.

Been mildly shopping around for curtain panels for our family room. Our windows, while they have perfectly working wooden blinds on them, they are rather too bland for my taste. I need framing. Need a focal point. Need more texture. Need something to just say, " tis' is complete!"

West Elm has an array of curtain panels to choose from. One in particular has always caught my brown eye. So much, that I'm actually, like seriously, like for reals, thinking of making the leap in on them.

I am lovin' their Bicolor curtain panels. They just make a bold statement in a room. Yes? Apartment Therapy seems to love them too.

Ofcourse, I just had to seek the lovely internet to see if there were any inspired Bicolor curtain panels for a wee bit cheaper. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to immediatly find any.
Will keep looking though.

Random Blurbs on my Mind.

It's what ?!? Day 1,565 of me not completing my "green" guest room in our home. I know for sure I have to get it done no later than July 9th as my sister in law and her kids are going to spend a couple of weeks with us. I tell you. I really need to be pushed in order to get things done. It's such a sob story.

Saw these two pictures on Design Sponge and got motivated to get my brown bootay moving to the nearest Lowe's and buy that last can of paint to finish that room. I am determined.


Makes me wish I'd seen these pictures way before I painted the room because I think I would have done this type of design. I really like how a portion of the room is isolated with a burst of color. Pretty, no? I'm thinking this may be the perfect solution for our office that's connected to our loft area.

Been curious to know how coconut syrup taste like. I love coconut. Well, except coconut filled malasada's. I found that out over my trip. Barf. Oops, sorry. I went on a tanget here.


My oh-so-precious cuzzo, totally ruined it for me. When I asked what he wanted from Hawaii, he immediately responded with, " coconut syrup." It's really good, but it looks like sperm. " Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

Indeed he was absolutely right. I saw it on the shelves in the store and was like, " why would you want to eat this stuff knowing that it looks like this?" Why?

Right now, it's in our refrigator and every single freakin' time I open up my fridge and see it, what do you think I think of?

I swear, ever since the whole technology thing switched over to digital, it has been made me lazy, and lazy, and lazy to 1.) hook up a cord and upload onto my computer. 2.) upload pictures onto a website and 3.) print my photo's out. I used to scrapbook up a storm into the wee hours of the night when I used a film camera. Not to mention, get so excited to see how my pictures turned out. Remember those days?

But now that we can see in advance how our pictures look like, the appeal is just all too gone. It's just a nostalgic now.

It's all about sitting in some photo website waiting for my butt to hit " add to bag" and pay. Ugh. I get all cheap, too! Like, I'll tell myself, hmmm, I'll get it next time which turns into another time, and another time... and the sad part is that it's only like a few dolla's! yah feel me?

So, with that said, I hardly took any pictures in Hawaii. Bad! F! Especially since it was our honeymoon--- 1 year wedding anniversary trip. Way 2 go, Stace! I'm a winner, yeah? and I know that I will deeply regret not having documented pictures of our wonderful momentous trip.


What do I have to show for our pictures? Well, thanks to Facebook, I've become quite the poser with my food and my food alone. It's as if I went on a honeymoon with food and not with G.

So what did I do on my trip to Hawaii? Drive to North Shore and ate a Giovanni's Shrimp truck. Had Matsumoto's shaved ice for the very first time. Cracked up by the amount of Asians posing with their shaved ice like me. Heh. But proud of myself that I didn't pose as if I was "acting" like I was eating it. Reminds me of the scene from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go rent the movie and you'll know exactly and chuckle to yourself.


Eat at Chef Mavro's. Wanted to try a different restaurant other than Alan Wong's but deeply regretted not sticking with the original plan. Chef Mavro's sucks, yo! Don't eat there. Food is average for what you pay for. So. Not. Worth. It. Is it sad that the two items that I enjoyed there were the palette cleansers?



Took the infamous drive to Hana in Maui and had a fantastic banana bread made with taro. Drive sucked. Sorry to those that enjoyed it. I wasn't all about the windy and narrow road and being stuck in a car for 6 hours. I mean, yeah, the scenery was all pretty, but after awhile, you kinda get the jist of the drive. Let's see, greenery on both sides of the road, ocean on left side, waterfalls here and there (if there were any b/c the one's we saw were dried up or required you to walk into the greenery and see it). It was the same shiz for 6 hours!

But the banana bread was good.

Ate a Lahaina Grill because the hubby so badly wanted to dine there since it's like the best restaurant in Maui coupled with the fact that one of his best bro's told him it's a "must place to go" when in Maui. No picture of food, but I must say that the food was very delish and omg, their lime tart was the best ever I've ever had in my life thus far.

But, for the most part, we just lounged at the pool. I mean, who could resist this view every single day?

i'm Back!

Ahh, as strange as it may sound, I'm glad to be back from our long awaited honeymoon-1 year wedding anniversary trip in Hawaii. I missed our dog Maddie terribly. Makes me wonder how I'll be when I do have a child and have to leave them at home. F.

We spent 9 refreshing days shared between the islands of Oahu and Maui; Maui being my most favorite ofcourse.

Our first leg of the trip, we attended a wedding. It was our very first gay wedding to attend to and it was faaaaabulous! Just fabulous. The wedding was held at the beautiful Kahala Hotel & Resort. This was our second wedding we attended at this site and it never ceases to amaze me of how private and beautiful this resort is.

It's one of G's good friends/fraternity brothers at Cal. Beautiful ceremony it was and they ensured that every detail of the wedding was not spared.

Funny though. The groom, which I'll call " The tennis player," chose espresso colored dresses from J.Crew and bought baby blue silk fabric and had pashmina's made for all his gm's. Heh, groomsmaids..... They even had matching shoes!!!




The reception had three different flower arrangements which were just gorgeous white flowers. Oh! and turtles were part of the theme. " Tennis Player" loves turtles, so it was no big surprise that it was incorporated into the wedding somehow.


They also got a cereamic cake topper from the talented, Nicole Clark. Sooo cute, it was. It totally matched them for their ceremony atttire. I couldn't get enough of it.





If every cute detail wasn't enough, they had to come out with a fab disco inspired first dance routine! OMG! I was smiling from ear to ear and so happy to see that " tennis player's" own father was eating it up, too! He absolutely loved it and sure was a proud papa. Click here to view the first dance!

The Art of Packing.

The hubs and I had a 10 year long distance between nor cal and so cal and you would think that I would have "packing" for a trip, short and long, down pat. Right? You would? Heck, I would and I wish I did.

My problem is that I think of every possible situation I could be on the trip. Which makes me super overpack. Plus, I'm never really happy with the initial outfit that I choose for the day and have to try on multiple articles of clothing in order to be satisfied. It sucks and I don't think I will ever, ever, ever, resolve this problem. I try. Oh, do I try to lessen my clothes in the suitcase, but I'm just afraid that when I'm away on my trip that I'll have regrets of, " dammit, I should have packed that top, or those pants, and oh yeah(!), those shoes. Ugh.

Woah is me.

I'm actually not minding.

I'm actually not minding the fact that I have to go back to work today. Strange, but true. Ok, I have to admit that part of it has to do that I've been off for 7 days, and I'll be off to Hawaii soon for 9 days. It gets better. You'll really feel sorry for me even more. I swear. I work my usual three days. But, here's the catch, I have to scramble to pack in between my 3 night shifts. Ugh. Sucks, huh? I told you.

Had a very eventful weekend this past weekend. I had the pleasure of attending my very first Western Region Greek Association {WRGA} conference. Learned a lot and got to meet some great people to guide me. Thankful for the hubs for also being a part of it because, honestly, without him, I don't think I would be as involved as I am now in my sorority.


Gotta give a little shout of " Congrats" to my bestie, Bernbaby {pictured on the left in black + white}. She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and I couldn't be more happier for her and her hubby!

Thinking about ordering the book, Adventures with Ari: A Puppy, A Leash and our Year Outdoors, by Kathryn Miles. I'm an avid fan of anything that has to do with dogs when it comes to movies and books. I looooooooooved the book Marley & Me and loooooooooved the movie, Air Bud. Primarily, Air Bud ONE as I don't think the subsequent movies lived up quite well or had the same nostalgia as the first one. But, that's just me.

Now the burning question is, should I purchase it via Kindle or get the actual book? This book looks like something I would absolutely love as I was looking through the inside pages on Amazon. But, part of me thinks that I may not enjoy it.

This Really Is!

I subscribe to a ton of food blogs and really, there is only a few that I actually bust out my pots and pans for. Some of the recipe's have been hits + keepers, while some turned out meh and I was just glad that I tried it for myself.

My latest recipe is a chocolate chip cookie recipe. I've have my share of chocolate chip recipe's and never really thought they were the best. Then again, I was never really on a search for " the best chocolate chip cookie" recipe. But, as I was reading Wan Life to Live's blog, which she talks about her daily life as well as shares a ton of her family's dinner recipe, I just had to try this recipe even though it had the "cliche" title of " the best chocolate chip cook recipe." I trusted her and was so curious to find out for myself if it was just as good as she says it was!

For some reason, I thought 8:30 am on a Friday would be the perfect time to start baking. Call me a crackhead. I know. Weird, huh?

But, the recipe wasn't at all complicated. It was easy peasy. Thought the scant 1/2 cup of dough ball and then half'ing it was a bit much, but I did it anyways and baked the first 6 just to see how the size of the cookies would be. I thought for sure they were going to be mini pazookies, but hellz no they weren't! They were the size of cookies you buy at a bakery. Yeah, that's right. I baked bakery sized cookies. I'm a professional.

Ladies and Gents, you must try this recipe at least once in your life. It truly is a good recipe.

Eatin' My Young Words.

I thought I knew it all when I was a young buck. Dam Straight. Hated going to the various nurseries with my mom and wishing that she would hurry the help up and pick the flower she wanted. Hated going to furniture stores and/or discount home stores. Didn't think that I would delight in the endulgement of these "boring" stores.

Well, I'm eating my "young" words now. Yes, sir! Lately, I've been finding myself pushing my shopping cart ferociously through the cement aisles of the garden centers of stores. What. Has. Happened. To. Me? Is it my turn now? I giggle at the thought to take my future child to these stores and to see their exact same face that I made when I had to accompany my mother to these stores.

Scored some pretty awesome stuff, thanks to This Young House's tip on the drum side tables. Been eyeing them at West Elm, but couldn't make the splurge of $160..... and that's the sale price!

I was able to get two of them for way less than the sale price of one at Home Goods. West Elm eat your heart out!


Currently have one in our guest bathroom, to, yanno... hold some mags and such.


And an orange that I'm still trying to figure out where to put it. The places are just endless.