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.

A Challenge for Me.

I think I've reached a time in my life where I need some challenges thrown my way. Funny. 10 years ago, I had a hurdle of challenges and unknowns in my life. I just graduated from college and had no clue where I was going to venture off. It was my bad for being a slacker majority of my college years. Why is that I always seem to find myself doing superbly well at the tail end of my school years? Didn't I learn my lesson the first time, ahem highschool?

My first job out of college was at E*Trade as a Customer Service Associate. I stayed with the company for 2 years. I was absolutely miserable at that job. It was a complete opposite angle for me. Finance, really? I hadn't taken a single business class in college and I was in the financial world? What the heck was I thinking? Ahh yes, I was motivated by being on my own, financially, and to experience the world of "the real world."

Finally, I said, I'm quitting. Peace Out.

Moved back in with the parentals. Took a temporary job with the county. Went back to school. But, the question was, for what? Master's? Another bachelor's? What? What?

Its obvious that I ended up getting a degree in Respiratory Care and ultimately became a Registered Respiratory Therapist. After completing the last exam of my boards just recently. I lagged big time on taking it. But hey, I passed!

Now, I'm finding myself just bored. I know I need something to challenge myself and my mind. It's starting to eat at me. So, now, I'm reconsidering getting a Masters in Public Health and getting my Asthma Educator Credential, or just taking up a course at the local community college. The latter seems just the easier thing to do, considering the costs involved. But? I don't know. I just have this " but? wondering".

Do you often find yourself bored and in need of some sort of challenge?

Happy Friday!

There's nothing better than realizing that you don't have to work this coming Monday. I have a set schedule at work and the days prior to me having my 7 day days off, I work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Well, I forgot that I had to rearrange some days in my set schedule and so in the month of September, I work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Yes, it cuts my 7 days off by one day, but who cares? I don't work Mondays in the month of September. Isn't that better?

This weekend, I'm excited to try out a fancy schmancy Filipino restaurant, called Intramuro's. It's in the heart of the Filipino community which is South San Francisco.

My family tries to have a cousin get together at least once a year and we were finally able to set a date after months of exchanging emails.

I'm very interested to see how their Bibingka souffle tastes like. See, I told you this restaurant is fancy! Normally, this dessert, which is a Filipino cake is made on a sheet pan and is cut up into squares or diamonds if you are like my grandma. Sometimes, you'll see it at Filipino stores baked in banana leaves for aesthetic purposes.


We are also attending one of our friend's daughter's red egg party. He's one of G's good friends and fraternity brother. Yay for free Chinese food that is good! Yeah, I said it.

Other than that, will be relaxing and enjoying the weekend. What are your plans? Anything fun? Or are you just going to relax and take it easy?

California State Fair

The hubs and I try to attend the California State fair each year. Its been a tradition since we started dating 11 years ago. I think, the entire time we've been together, we only missed one year. Not too bad, yes?

I think over time, we've unconsciously developed a nack for eating the same things every year. One is hands down, having a buttery ear of corn and a jumbo corn dog. However, I, have started to get rebellious and a bit more daring.

Last year, I ate a fried snicker bar and that was just bleh.


This year, I had an inkling to try the fried smore. I love smores, so I really thought it was going to be absolutely delicious! In my mind, I was picturing two graham crackers, melted chocolate and oozing marshmellow goodness falling out as soon as I cracked that beautiy open.

Nope.
The gooeyness of the chocolate and marshmellow was there, yes, but the graham crackers and deliciousness wasn't. There were just mere crumbs of graham crackers and the rest was fried batter, which made for an absolute mess and disgusting taste.

I have to tell you that prior to purchasing the fried smore, I did endulge in some berry forest gelato. I don't know why I got it. I wasn't even feeling it, but when I saw the BFF and her baby daddy have one in their hand, I just had to get one.

These zuchhini curl were just nasty. Too. Much. Grease. Was not worth $8. Heck, a zuchhini doesn't even cost that much. WTH?

Had my traditional jumbo corn dog. But, my friend was feeling frisky and got a SUPER corn dog. It was 10 inches long and he finished it way before I was even halfway done with mine's.


Ever since tasting these bad boys last year, I knew this had to be on our list for years to come. I just love their cinnamon rolls. Wished that I had a cup of joe to go with it.


We had a great time at the fair. Amazingly, I didn't waddle out of the fair. I can't wait for it to come by next year!

Life and Motivation.

I'm going to certainly try my hardest to write what I have been feeling for a few years now. The frustrations I felt when talking with some people. The wonder of what it really takes for someone to fight their emotions of fear, failing, making changes, setting personal goals rather than have pipe dreams.

It's so easy for one to dream and think about the " what if's" in life. You can talk about what you'd like to do in life or what you wished you've done in life but didn't. But, how can one even talk about the " what if's" in life when one doesn't even try to go in unchartered territory? I totally understand the feeling safe attitude and being in a comfort zone. However, when does one say, enough is enough? When does one obtain the motivation and courage to take steps in order to reach their personal goals?

Why doesn't one, sometimes, want to crave that feeling of being challenge? Does it stem from the way they were raised?

Our mental emotions has so much power over us. It's amazing how different it affects various people. How it causes that person to create excuses and have them actually believe those excuses to be very true and thus convince themselves that, really, they just can't do this or that right now. How it can create an overwhelming motivation for that person that all they see is attaining that goal that they set.

It's just amazing and this subject shall be continued.....

A True Chic Flick.

Was excited for this weekend. Had lots of activities planned and one of them was to see the movie, A Time Traveler's Wife.


Caught the first show, which I found out is the early bird matinee. The ticket was only $5.50! Saw it with my EG girls, bernbaby and ceearn.

A few years ago, I read the book and looooved it. I do have to admit that it was definitely a slow start for me. A few others agree that it was the same feeling for them, too!

It took me awhile to fully understand what the book was all about because of the transitions. But once I got into it, there was no turning back. I couldn't put the book down. I was intrigued with Claire and Henry's love story.

Watching the movie was a bit like seeing the story for the first time. I tend to be a dumper of a mind. In other words, I read it, comprehend it at the time, and then a month or so later, dump the information.

So, when people ask me if the movie followed the book well, I really couldn't answer them immediately. I had to read bits and parts of the book, including the ending, to give them a satisfactory answer post movie.

The answer is yes, the book pretty much followed the book well, but when Claire was a full grown adult. In the book, it focuses on Claire and Henry's relationship in the meadow when she was young. How they came to get to know one another.

Regardless, I enjoyed watching it. I also had a bit of delay getting into the movie just like the book, but eventually was hooked into the plot.

Bring tissue girls, because this movie will most definitely make you cry.