Une chenille dans mon poivron?

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I hope you all had a great day. It's been a pretty good week! It's the slow(er) week at work, so I was able to work on projects I've been putting off for a little while... so there's a good feeling.

I had a really fun weekend. Too short, though.

It all started on Saturday when I went to NY&Co to buy a really cute pair of shorts and a great pair of pants, for $30 total. I heart good deals! But I know you don't care. So I'll move on.

Saturday night I drove to Orange County to see my cousins André, Pegah, Mesia, Matt & Seneca, my uncles and aunts, and we had a wonderful dinner at André and Pegah's, who have one of the most beautifully decorated homes I've ever seen. It was wonderful to see everyone again and meet Matt's side of the family. We were all in town for Seneca's baby blessing, and she truly is a blessing! I am so happy for you Matt & Mesia for having found such a beautiful little girl and that all the adoption papers went through.

I ended up sleeping over (not planned, I had no clothes for church the next day, and made a huge taboulleh for the potluck Sunday that sat in my fridge), but I did anyway because I knew Pegah would have a sassy outfit she would let me wear the next day :)

After Seneca's blessing and the potluck, we went back to the house, chatted a bit, and they packed a picnic for the beach as I drove home and ended up playing beach volleyball with my new shorts. It was fun! I also went out to dinner with them, there were 8 of us. The guy sitting across from me, a graphic designer (so I assumed would be into video games) shook my hand... because he was impressed that I would still pay Counter-Strike Source. We talked for 20 minutes straight on how gungame deathmatch is awesome, and I tried out my very limited WoW lingo. It was a very geeky conversation. Very fun, though.

That's about it! Not many pictures from the weekend except this one of Pegah and I, but I'm sure Matt & Mesia will post some on their blog.

Oh, and if you wondered what the caterpillar in the bell pepper means... I made a ratatouille last night, and as I cut my Trader Joe's green bell pepper in half, a green worm with legs was inhabiting it. I called Mom. "Mom, do I throw the other bell pepper that was touching it away?" No, you'll be fine." It was a good ratatouille though... and had to show pictures to my co-workers to find out it was a caterpillar. A green worm with legs? Close enough.

Today I'm grateful to have finished a bigger project at work... and still have time to finally take my car for an oil change. I'm also proud that I worked out when I got home after that :)

Good night!

Weekend Chargé

Hi everyone,

Well, it's almost the weekend, and one more day of work... I feel completely blah today after my 9 hours at my laptop. I did my first meeting by myself, which went... fine, I still have a lot to learn with strategy... but I'm sure it'll come later, with time. I have now been in my position for almost 5 months! It's pretty crazy.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. I might go to work Saturday (oh, that's exciting you ask? Well, it may be because if I go for 4-5 hours, I get a whole weekday off, and no phone calls). So, thinking about it. I can only do that once a month.

Saturday night and Sunday afternoon I get to hang out with my cousins, aunt, uncle, and other family in the OC... I'm so excited! Some I haven't seen in about 4 years.

That's about it. Today I'm grateful that I'm home after a long day, watching TV and eating a homemade pork quesadilla. Not the healthiest thing, but hey, I felt like
eating cheese again. Plus, I've got a whole block of cheddar to eat. Does a block of cheese freeze well? How about cooked Spaghetti?

Have a fabulous night!

Arretez de Fumer la Moquette

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to say hi. Work is work. Life is life. It got so hot two nights, ago, it was the first time I had to sleep with the windows open. I'm so glad I don't live on a busy Street like Boulevard Sakakini (yuck!)

So I read $teve's blog and found a celebrity look-alike site, thought I would post it for your entertainment:

So, I figured that the people who made this are on crack, but I, yes moi, found their flaw. Do you seriously see what all of these women have in common with me? Look at where their faces are facing and the way their hair look. That's right. Sorry myheritage.com, I found your secret. Not impressed. Again, as the French would say, "arretez de fumer la moquette" But hey, I got my self-esteem boost today, I think Jessica Alba is probably the prettiest woman alive right now.

Well, I hope you got a good laugh. I sure did. Laughter is the best medicine.

Today, I'm grateful that... I don't know, grateful that I'm happy, and that... ooh, I know, It's earth day! Maybe someone planted a tree or recycled, and that makes me sorta happy. A funny thing I saw today? A license plate that says "BURNFAT." Awesome!! Again, makes me want to get in shape...

C'est dur, la vie

Hi everyone!

Yes, I'm back to my French blog titles... because this blog needs a little "oomph."

How is everyone? I hope you all had a fabulous week, weekend, easter... I sure did.

It all started last week when my sweetie and his family arrived last Friday night, we spent Saturday at the Long Beach Aquarium, and the afternoon and evening in LA at the Getty Center (awesome place) and Pink's Hot Dogs. How long did we wait in line for a 12in Japapeno dog with chili, guac, onions and chopped tomatoes? One hour and 20 minutes. The funny part is that as we were almost there, we realized that they don't take credit cards or checks - and had to find an ATM pronto. Good times...

Sunday consisted of an Easter egg hunt in my apartment which lasted about 5 minutes (I still can't believe I somehow was able to sleep 5 people in that 600 sq ft box), making my famous delicious crepes, chauffeuring to two churches, decorating Easter eggs with food dye (never done that before), going to the beach, making spaghetti and meat sauce for lunch, and for the first time, for dinner I made stuffed pepper with the leftover meat sauce and rice. Sooooo good!

My sweetie's been here all week with me, and it's been awesome. So many things this week.

First of all, it's no secret that it's tough times... and we had a shocker Friday last week. They had to let go one of our managers that sits behind me. It's a shock, not just because it's tough times, but because if we had to let one person go... we all knew it all had to be me. Why? Seniority. Although I've been with the company 6.5 years now, the other two managers have been there 12 (the one who got laid off) and 14. If I had gone, they would have combined the duties of the two manager positions left.

Although I am very grateful that I kept my job, I felt horrible for my colleague. She is one of the sweetest people you've ever met. She has an incredibly amazing resume however, has a good head on her shoulders and has been to work everyday after the news to look for jobs and make sure that all of her duties are being taken care of. I wish her the best, but know that she will find something great, because she's got a great attitude toward life and a great work ethic.

Now, I'm a big believer of "everything happens for a reason," and this was a big wake-up call for me as well. I've now been doing Hotel Revenue Management for the past 4.5 months, and I have to say that although it's challenging, I absolutely love it - and do believe that it's the career path for me. The fact that I didn't get laid off - I take it that I was meant to do this. At least for now. In fact, I am so excited to learn more everyday and feel so much more comfortable with my duties than when I first started (that should be a given).

But with that said, my heart goes out to those who have been laid off... but I also know that you'll make the right decision. I just don't want you to settle though. I know it's a tough economy, but please take a little time to find something that you'll still enjoy, if your budget permits. It's tough times. But we adapt. We move on. We learn and grow strong.

Did I just create a haiku?

Well, it's been a busy week though, because not only was it the busiest week, but with my colleague gone, the other managers took her duties with an already hectic week - and my other colleague was gone all week on vacation, so I did the job of two people. It was stressful, a little overwhelming at times, but overall, I was able to do it. I believe well, too. I'm relieved she's coming back tomorrow though.

Now, this weekend: Saturday my sweetie and I had lunch at "Creme de la Crepe," one of my favorite French places. They actually had "Menthe a l'eau" and "sirop de grenadine!" You know that it's been 10 years since I had that? Sweetie tried the Menthe a l'eau but didn't like it, so I sipped it... and enjoyed every minute of it. I love that place. If I ever want a little bit of French food, flair, and/or memories, I know where to go :)
We then went to Manhattan Beach, the beach was p-a-c-k-e-d!!! It was a beautiful 73 degrees, we picked up cool rocks that I'll use as decoration. We also indulged in Thin Mint ice cream for me and sundae for him. It's funny though, you see California TV shows with good looking hot people everywhere that are super rich and all, and you'll think "it's just tv." Well, Cali's... kinda like that when you really expericence it! And all these good looking people in swimsuits makes me want to work out again. Oh, I can't wait for bikini weather!! I know cancer's not sexy, but I can't wait to lay out on that beach on weekends, or even after work, and get a nice golden tan. Volleyball starts at 3PM today by the way, let's see if I can talk Sweetie into going and start on my tan.

This week I'm grateful that I was able to do my work and my colleague's successfully, and come home to a man who is extremely happy to see me and cleaned the apartment AND... oh my gosh, I forgot! I bought a brand new PC. By that I mean, I bought $700 worth of PC parts and sweetie built me a sweet $1400 system. It was about time... it works awesome. I can now play Counter-Strike Source! LoL. Boom, headshot!

Have a fantastic week.

Any excuse to go to Laguna...

What an awesome weekend!

Went to Knott's Berry Farm on Saturday with $teve, the Wingmans, $teve's mom, aunt and niece. It's so great to have company once in a while, and good company is always a bonus.

Great memories:

* Amazing garlic fries
* Pony Express - you're on a steel pony going 100 miles an hour on a roller coaster
* Went on a log ride - was the only one that got wet - and was wearing a white shirt (what was I thinking?)
* Staying at a theme park past 5pm for the first time in my life
* Best memory: Mrs Wingman grabbing a teenager's butt, asking why he wears skinny jeans and why they are so low "Don't you have to fold your ding dong in there?" The look on the kid's face - priceless.
* Making new friends, turns out I knew Mrs. Wingman from work over 2 years ago... and we all had a blast.
* Relaxing in the hot tub after a day of roller coasters that stop way too suddenly... my neck did not appreciate that.
* Got to open a Kinder surprise, ate the delicious chocolate... and my toy was a carousel. Haven't hada kinder surprise in over 10 years!

Sunday, $teve and the Wingman's stopped by my place, I showed them my apartment and the ocean view, and they loved it. We went to the beach, stopped by an Italian place to get Kinder Bueno and other Kinder chocolates... then went to a park to eat BBQ chicken sandwiches, and drove to my favorite hotel in the whole wide world... the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel. There, we walked to the beach (which is way better than mine, by the way!), went back up on the cliff and watched an amazing sunset, just the 4 of us, while eating kumquats. We then went for baja fish tacos, and did more hot-tubbing for about 20 minutes... then I went home. I lef tthe hotel at 10:40PM, knew I had about a 1 hour drive ahead of me.... with work in the morning. It was totally worth it:)

I have pictures! But that'll be for another day this week. Today I'm grateful for the amazing sunset I saw over the beautiful Pacific ocean... although I wish Guru would've been here to enjoy it with me. Oh well. It's only an hour away :)

Tant de bonnes choses

This is the week when I decide to be happy again.

Not that I was ever down really, but I decided, why not be extra, extra happy?

I recall about 6 weeks ago staying at work until about 7:45 PM on a stressful Thursday night trying to finish up my projections for the next period. It was the first time I was really doing it by myself. My colleague showed me her way of doing it, so I used that + my common sense and voila, projections were finished and I could go home to my sweet guy and enjoy the next day off and the weekend with the man I love.

Today - I get an email... saying kudos to me after getting the results that my forecasting accuracy was within +/- 3 %... and it was the best in the region.
If that wasn't the icing on the cake, we were also nominated for exceeding budget and sales (I have nothing to do with the sales part though).

Holy Moly. Here I am, 3 months into my new job, first time doing something by myself, and a kudos. I don't want to get cocky - but that was a huge self-esteem boost, a very big smile again and a sign of hope and encouragement that "hey, you know, I do like my job. And apparently, I may be good at it too. This ROCKS!!!"

Now watch the next period will be way off... LoL.... just kidding.

Well, otherwise, nothing much happening for a Wednesday night except that I threw out my lavender plant because a) it no longer smelled like lavender and b) a spider was making its home in it. I'm not sure if the American Idol results show will be tonight or tomorrow, but either way, I just wanted to share how awesome I think Adam Lambert is. Each week I can't wait to see how he's going to entertain us.

Tomorrow, we're doing another birthday lunch (yay for glorious food), and $teve will be arriving at LAX around 8PM, so I'll go get him, he'll visit my place then I'll take him back to the hotel and he can prepare for Disneyland the next day. Not me though - Friday will consist of going to work before 7, leaving by 1:45 to get to the doctor's, then chillaxing at home, finishing up work if needed.

Saturday I will certainly go to Knott's Berry farm with $teve, his mom, aunt and niece. This should be fun! Also Sunday we'll hang out and go play volleyball. Babe might come see me this weekend, and that's just awesome. We can all hang out together! Hold on.

(cell phone rings)

Ok, I'm back. That was Babe. He doesn't like the idea of me calling him "Babe" because Babe is a pig. So his code name shall now be "Guru." Allrighty hun.