Bien Dans Sa Peau

So, I don't know what's up with me lately... but I've been smiling constantly. I mean, CONSTANTLY, chuckling and smiling at whatever I think of. I'm just happy... maybe it's the fact that I have energy again and have lost about 7 lbs in a few weeks already? Who knows. But I feel.... great. Just fantastic. I seriously can't recall being this happy. I really can't.

Work's been good and not too busy (slowing down at least, busy season is finally coming to a stop...) which is good, because my regimen is now gym 5x a week for an hour each. This Saturday, I'm walking for CMN in the Torch Relay with my company, then I need to do an hour of cardio, then play volleyball for 3-4 hours. After that, it's Happy Hour in Venice Beach for my Greek buddy's birthday! I'll be looking forward to that Shirley Temple, I'm sure, after such an exhausting day...

I also can't wait to celebrate my birthday in less than a month. We plan to go to a tapas place in Long Beach with live entertainment, then who knows? Something fun I'm sure, planned by my friends :)

I'm grateful for being happy... and sure hope this lasts.

Have a great night everybody.

Allez, Courage!

Oh boy, what a day. First, yesterday I finally had the talk with my boss... "you've been coming in a little later lately, around 8am... and you really should be setting up inventories at 7:30" No problem. I just needed her to tell me. I'm now back to work at 7:30. That means also maybe I'll get to leave at 5 instead of 6. She was very nice, it wasn't a concerning talk or anything. Just needed to happen. I need to give up my snooze button in the mornings.

Also - I'm proud of myself. I felt a little crappy today (girl issues), and I absolutely, in no way felt like going to the gym and wanted to blow the homework my trainer gave me. But hey, I put on my workout clothes, and went... and did all my exercises. I also didn't give up when I couldn't figure out how to adjust the machine... It took me 4 minutes and 23 seconds but I did it.

That felt good.

I'm on the path to become even happier by working out... The trainer complimented me on how strong my core is. Yay for the core. Who knows, maybe I'll have a 2-pack by my birthday? And I'm not talking beer here... :)

Today I'm grateful that I had the courage not to give up on my exercises. Way to go, me.

Tomorrow I'm going to see the screening of "Life as we know it", which looks super cute... and you have to admit, Josh Duhamel is super hot.

Thursday night I'm cooking for my friends - French onion soup and Spaghetti a la Carbonara. Ah, the joys of cooking...

Have a great night!

Heureuse @ home

Wow... it's been so long and so much has happened since May!

I have to apologize for not posting sooner, but I blame this on my addiction to Facebook (well, I really have no one else to blame but me). Man, good thing I never started Farmville or one of these idiotic FB games.

So much has happened... in summary:

-France was awesome. I love my family and miss them very much.
-Babe and I celebrated 9 years together.
-Got bit on my nose by my friend's dog.
-My uncle Charles died of a heart attack.
-My best friend since 6th grade is expecting a baby girl.
-Renewed my gym membership and started kickboxing again.
-Has become the West Hollywood queen.
-Went to Disneyland for the first time since 1992.
-My cousins in Orange County had a beautiful baby girl.
-Tried Sea Urchin at a sushi place (gross... but at least I tried it).
-Started introducing a little bit of wine into my life.
-Had the best, most memorable times with my mom and bro over Sangria and Tapas.

and so much more...


My France May trip was an absolute blast. As expected, right before I landed, as I gaze up at these typical clouds of Paris and slight rain... I can't help but shed a tear of joy of mixed emotions. My French experience starts before I get off the plane, as I glance at my neighbor reading "Le Parisien" newspaper, I finish my delicious croissant, and I hear some French people arguing. Ah, I am home...

But the thing is... what I've been asking myself lately.... what, and where is home?

I love France and my family there. I feel happy and sad when I go back. Happy because it is my country of birth and where I spent my first 12 years. Happy because I get to see my dad and siblings (who are now 15 BTW holy crap!!!) and other family. Happy because as I walk on the beaches of Le Lavandou, have homemade paella by grandpa Gigi, run my bike in the Paris 'burbs to get an evening baguette... I feel those childhood memories, back in those times when I was happy and did not have a care in the world. I feel sad because.... well, I love my dad so much, because he's my dad... and my brother and sister... and I love being with them... but I nearly don't spend enough time with them. They are growing up so fast, and I feel sad that I am not a part of their daily lives (now they are on FB so it might help...) Once every two years though is when I should go back... at a MINIMUM. And I would love to go next year actually. I'd really like to plan on it (maybe even with Babe).

Salt Lake, UT? Yeah, it's also considered home.... but that's my safe spot. My spot to be with family and get married, pop out kids and start a family with a home and a white picket fence and raise children in a very safe area. The American dream. And as of a few months ago, when I was unhappy and stressed at my job and was hoping to get laid off or something, all I wanted was to go back to SL and go back to that safe place. Well, things have changed...

I think it may have started with this dream I had, which really got to me. I dreamed that I moved back to Salt Lake and got a $10/hr desk job. Still with the company. The job was very uncomplicated. In a way, it was what I wanted to go back to Salt Lake for and do after living the daily stresses of my work. But in the dream, I was MISERABLE. Thinking, the whole time, "why on EARTH would I leave L.A. for this? Leave all the great friendships I've made? The beach? West Hollywood? (haha)".

And then I went dancing in gay clubs in West Hollywood (WeHo). It is SO much fun, and perfect fun too. I get to shake my booty to top 40 songs but no guys are hitting on me (I've yet to be hit on by a girl though, should I be self-conscious? haha! That's totally fine!!). Plus, I get to hang out with my favorite gay guy friend from volleyball, who has become my BFF and can talk to about almost anything.

Home is... many different places. Different places which arouse different emotions. Basically I still expect France to be home as where I get to be a kid again... and Salt Lake to where I can raise a family... and then there's good old Los Angeles... which I have now realized, is really, truly, NOW MORE THAN EVER, my current home. The place where a girl in her mid 20's should be and have the time of her life.

So now... for the first time in a while, I can truly say... that...

I

AM

HAPPY.

So happy.

Really, really happy.

I wake up everyday with a smile on my face, because of how great my life is. My job's doing better, although I still have challenges, I embrace them and finally enjoy learning new things. I have some of the greatest friends in the world. And I have truly the best of both worlds. Babe and I still love each other after 9 amazing years, and when he comes out we have the best time together. And then when he's gone... I get to go out and have fun with my friends, doing what a single girl in her mid 20's would do, all while staying loyal to my man.

Life.... is SWEET.

And don't get me wrong, I still see Salt Lake as the ideal place for my future and raising a family... but now, I just don't want to go back just yet. I can easily see myself living in SoCal at least another 2 years.

This has been quite a lot for today... I actually have to go hit the gym right now because my personal trainer gave me homework (I haven't had homework since 2007! Haha!) and then it's beach volleyball time. I want to write on this blog more often because I feel happier when I do, expressing my emotions.

I hope everyone is doing well... I would love to hear how you are doing also (most of you I catch up with on the bookface) but I wish you all, lots of happiness.... and a fabulous Sunday!!!

J - 4

Well, I leave for France in 4 days and am really excited and a little stressed out. I can't wait to not only be on vacation for 11 days straight, but also to see my family and native country, a trip that is much overdue.

Work has been a little stressful lately with a lot of changes, but I'm adapting. I just want to make sure that everything gets done properly before I leave so that I have very minimal worries. I really, really want to enjoy this vacation. I will be laptop free and don't want to think about work. I know I'll be checking emails though. Sigh...

This week has been fun, Babe's sisters stayed here for the week on vacation and for a dance audition in LA, and Babe's been here since Thursday, and I absolutely love how we can do nothing and enjoy each other's company. He finished the semester and will not be going back until fall, so he may be living here with me for the summer - not set in stone yet, but that would be cool.

The past month has been great too, $teve's on his famous road trip and we were able to hang out, so I've had a lot of visitors lately!

Hope everyone is well. Have a great weekend!

Ca fait un bail

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted... but I finished my New Orleans post which you can see below. I've been sick with a sore throat since Wednesday, while my colleague was gone so I worked 11-12 hour days and was exhausted, almost to the point of a small meltdown. I'm ok, though :) just resting today. Dang, resting feels good. And doing laundry. And watching Shrek on Comedy Central. And giving good advice. Yeah, I actually did that today, kinda proud of myself :)

Today I'm grateful that my throat is getting better (at least I can speak now!) and that tomorrow, work should be normal again. Hope you're all having a great weekend.

La Nouvelle Orleans

New Orleans was a blast, I must say. Definitely wouldn't want to live there, but the French Quarter was really cute, balconies galore (Mom and I kept saying "T'as vu? T'as vu?" Like, a million times) 

and depending on the street you were on, the atmosphere was trendy, dirty, artsy, yummy, cultural... it was really really cool (not too fond of the dirty part - wouldn't bring my kids there at least). I'm so glad too that we're able to go and spend some money and their tourism is able to still flourish after Katrina... because even on a Sunday night, Bourbon Street and everything else was really crowded with tourists.

So here we go.

Friday, Day 1: fly to Memphis, meet Mom & B, see Elvis memorabilia & have a southern pulled pork sandwich at the airport (mmmmm...) fly to NOLA, stay in Kenner, go to the Treasure Chest Casino for a seafood and lobster buffet, listen to some live jazz, inhale some casino smoke and ruin my lungs, go to bed.

Saturday, Day 2: Taxi to downtown NOLA, check in the hotel, got lost in the morning for about 2 hours trying to find Café Du Monde. Stupid iPhone - told us it was somewhere in the business district. Nope. Funny thing is, another group of tourists with iPhones did the exact same thing!! By the time we got to the French quarter where it actually is, it was lunchtime... so we ate at Maspero's, where I sampled sausage with red beans and rice and jambalaya... very good.

We then finally found Cafe du Monde and had delicious beignets for desserts! I used to make those with mom years ago. I think I'll make them again soon :)

What is a beignet (beh-gnay) you ask? This delicious thing of fried dough you see above with way too much powdered sugar. We then went through Jackson Square with lots of artists, and dancers/performers who want your money and make you laugh. 

We did Royal Street, Bourbon Street, Canal Street, enjoyed some live music and people watching. My, oh my, the people watching!! By 3PM we had walked probably 4 miles total and were toast. We went back to the hotel, rested our feet, actually fell asleep (and I'm SO against naps!), and at night we ate at "Mulate", a cute Cajun restaurant with live music and the best bread pudding ever. I had gumbo - which wasn't that fantastic I decided. We then went to bed (or at least tried to, because the club outside the hotel room window was happenin' till at least 3am. What happened to double paned windows??)

Sunday, Day 3: B bought a "Who Dat" hat @ the Rivercenter, took the street car to the French Farmer's Market:

I tried some alligator meat (tastes like really spicy sausage), saw some cool stuff (love Farmer's markets! Anywhere, Salt Lake, LA, Le Lavandou, you name it!)

So we walked around... a LOT again. We had lunch at a restaurant, forgot the name, but this was really tasty: 

During the day, we went to the Garden District and walked around. After waiting 45 minutes for the streetcar to take us back, we decided to walk the 2 miles back, strolling through the neighborhoods, and man were we toast... and that sun was brutal... and my feet were killing me. Luckily, my knee was fine!! That's a good sign, I think it's almost healed. 

The garden District... beautiful Victorian homes and leftover Mardi Gras beads GALORE

At night, we walked to Bourbon Street and did balcony dining at a yummy Italian restaurant, "Tony Moran's." On a Sunday night, Bourbon Street was still crowded. We took a cab back to the hotel as we were super, super exhausted from all the walking all day long.

Monday, Day 4: last day for me. B went to the WWII Museum, Mom went to her conference and I slept in, checked email, and took care of some work items. You know, in a way, I dream of the day I don't have to worry about work while on vacation. But I just can't wait till retirement, ya know? I then met Mom at noon, we walked back to the Museum to get B, and one of my favorite parts of the trip: We ate at Emeril's restaurant! We had a 3 course lunch menu which was super, super yummy. Great experience. Then I took a cab to the airport and flew home!

Great trip, things I'm grateful for on this trip:

*Discovered a different culture and area of the country.

*Hang out with Mom & B which are always great

*Surrounded by many things with French roots

*The food. Oh my, the food!

*Walking towns. There's so much you can discover on foot.

*Oh, and did I mention that there were balconies everywhere?

I must clarify my fascination with balconies: no, I don't like them because of things I could do on them for Mardi Gras... but there's something so pleasant and satisfying in eating lunch or dinner on a balcony while taking in some sun, fresh air, and watch people below as they wish they were as happy as I look right now.

The end. Have a great day!!

Pleins de voyages

Well hi everyone! Hope you're all doing fabulous and getting excited for Spring Equinox. I, myself am very excited because I will get to travel extensively these next few months, which means that I have to be super careful with my budget!!! Haha.

This weekend, March 12-15 is New Orleans, baby! I know $teve will be very jealous, but because he's pretty awesome, he's going to tell me all the places that are worth going to so that I can make the most out of trip with my parents. Thanks, $teve!

Easter Weekend I plan to go to Salt Lake to see fam, go to Babe's cousin's wedding and see friends hopefully.

In May I'm going to France for 11 days!!! I am very, very excited for that. I haven't been in 2 years and it's overdue. I can't wait to see my dad, brother and sister, and other family. I just can't wait! I keep imagining me landing in Charles De Gaulle, hearing those Frenchmen yelling at one another (it's Paris, yo), there are heavy clouds and it's raining (it's Paris, yo), and I suddenly share a small tear of joy... as it's still my childhood home... and I feel all melancholy and happy and sad at the same time. It's going to be great.

So, that's the near future... let's focus on the near past now. In the past month I've been to KoreaTown twice, sang my heart out on karaoke for what amazingly ended up being 3+ hours, finally done my taxes, been to Palm Springs twice, had my 17 year old cat put down, still haven't played volleyball, and probably other stuff I've forgotten by now.

Today I'm grateful that I get to go to my home country soon to see those I should see more often but don't get to. I'm grateful that my work was able to grant me 11 straight days off, because my colleague's going to have to pick up most of the slack. Thank you!!!

Hope you all are doing well, enjoy the rest of this weekend!

La St Valentin

Had a great V-day with my babe. No, scratch that, had an amazing whole Valentines weekend!!! Babe flew in standby Thursday night after work, and left Monday night back to SL. We had a lot of fun. Among the things we did, we particularly enjoyed:

-Great Thai Food

-Getty Center

-Cheese AND Meat Fondue at home by candlelight

-Go to Old Navy

-Get engagement ring cleaned

-Wake up at 5 AM to try and catch a flight he did not get on

-Ate at a terrible restaurant in Long Beach for breakfast

-Went to a Chinese New Year Party

-Had a ridiculous wait time at Creme De La Crepe for breakfast (which turned out to be lunch)

-Jamba Juice and YogurtLand

-Manhattan Beach

-Gorgeous 70+ degree weather

-3 whole afternoons of taking pictures for an assignment

-Each other's company

Bottom line, it was great to see him, and I can't wait for next time. Now, some of the things on the list were a pain... but we did them together so that's what counts :)

What's cool though is that I will now have another round of family visitors - Mom & B are coming to LA this Friday night, and we'll spend the weekend together here and in Palm Springs with my grandma. Yay for seeing them again! 

Today I'm grateful for friends and family that love me and that I get to see them once in a while... I sure love that! Have a great night everybody.

Un Petit Weekend a Vegas

Vegas, Baby!

Yeah, that's where I was last weekend. It was fun, there were 6 of us, wish babe were there... we left Friday afternoon (left work at 3, by the time we picked everyone up it was 5, we got on the 10 freeway at 5PM on a Friday afternoon... craziest thing ever). Finally got out of L.A. two hours later, and got to Vegas around 10:30 PM. We ate at an authentic Japanese place (west of the Strip, would never venture out there!), had to take off our shoes and everything, checked in the hotel at midnight, and went to bed to get ready for our Saturday.

Saturday - let's go to the Strip! A few fun things:

*Wheel of fortune

*Sex and the City Slot Machine

*Delightful pastries at Jean-Phillippe Patissier, such as these:

Visisted the new Arya and Vdara hotels, which I believe had incredible architecture and decor, not particularly my style but I still loved its contemporaryness...

Then we went to Wynn's buffet for an early dinner, and had $50 worth of crab legs and other fabulous food. I was so stuffed... better go out dancing to burn off all those calories. We went to Eve, Eva Longoria's club, where apparently Fez from That 70's show was celebrating his 30th birthday. Happy birthday, Wilmer! Do you recognize him with the mike?

Overall, a great weekend, nice to do something different and hang out with friends in a different place. We got home Sunday around 5PM, I had dinner with L&E, and went home afterwards to rest and get ready for the work week.

Work's been pretty good, I actually had my yearly performance review, which, I won't go into details, but there's great, good and bad stuff, and basically I'm glad my boss opened up to me and she truly inspires me to do great at my job, so that's exactly what I'm going to do for the next year!

Today I'm grateful to have a particular characteristic I think is a good trait: I don't take things personally and I don't offended easily. If somebody offends me, I usually turn the other cheek. Or if it's really meant to be taken seriously, then I think about the situation and say "you know what, you're probably right" or "you must be saying this for a reason, you've got good evidence, and I see your point, so I believe you." Not bad, considering I'm known to be as stubborn as a mule sometimes. Maybe I'm maturing (maybe).

:)

Have a great night!

Sad news. An Optimist Drowns in Half-full Tub.

Tout Va Tres Bien, Mada-meu la Marqui-seu

It's a typical Tuesday night, I'm listening to the kind of music she doesn't like...

Wait, what?

It's Monday!

The start of another week. But a week can't start until I tell you about my weekend:

Friday night: really nothing, except that I got an email from my doctor saying that my knee x-ray came out normal. So all's well, I'll just keep letting it heal slowly but surely, and will try physical therapy. Rather good news to start the weekend, don't ya think?

Saturday - errands, walk on the beach (5 day storm made a new 5ft cliff down there), went to friend's house for dinner (Malaysian curried noodles - oh so so good), poker and Apples to Apples.

Sunday - Beach volleyball (I actually played this time! I stayed by the net as the setter, didn't move more than a step... and I have to say, my knee does not feel any worse at all). I then went out to dinner to have Pho, and saw "The Book of Eli" with a couple of friends. Very good movie! I don't want to spoil it... but in a way, at the end you feel like "The Sixth Sense" where you go "Oh, that makes sense and I want to go watch the movie again to confirm it!"

Anyhoo, I've said too much. Really good movie though.

Yesterday and the night before, while watching some TV, I started doing bicep curls, triceps exercises, and shoulder exercises with these 5 LB weights I have. I love doing it in front of the TV! It's brainless! Except for one thing. After only 2 days of working those arms, at work today, in the middle of my meeting, I put my elbow down on the table and rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriip! Shirt rips by the elbow. They all thought I was going to turn into the Incredible Hulk. My complexion has been rather green lately... :)

So this weekend I should be going to Vegas, baby! That's right! Vegas with the Volleyball peeps. They want to party and dance, and I'll just go to the all-you-can eat restaurants! Lol. Who knows. I'll keep you posted and post some pictures!

Today I'm grateful that I had a great day at work, left at a decent time, and have been on Windows Live talking to my sweetie for 3 hours. Saves my cell phone minutes :)

Good night everybody!

Cartes de Visite

Oh, another thing to add to my New Year's resolutions:

Not a biggie, just more for a fun factor:

Collect business card from every single place to eat I visit. That way I'll keep them and look back someday at my California years. Again, I'm not staying here forever, and I'm all about souvenirs... and I can reminisce about how much I used to go out to eat and why I like food so much. I'm grateful to have discovered so many places last year... may this year be just as great.

That's all, folks! Hope you're having a great day!

La Vie Est Belle

Bonsoir bonsoir,

It's getting late and I will be going to bed soon... it's definitely been an interesting week. Even after working 50-52 hours I still haven't gotten everything done at work... we are so busy! Great thing, the economy is recovering. But man, have I been exhausted this week! No energy to cook or anything. Let's see, this week's recap...

Tuesday night, saw "Un Prophete" ("A prophet") a very good French movie. It was a special screening at Sony Studios in Culver City (that place is huge!) in a tiny theater that seats perhaps 30 people comfortably in black leather seats. It doesn't officially come out until the end of February but I recommend it. Lots of violence thought, be ready for it. After the movie I went to an Indonesian place, apparently a food joint that most UCLA students love to go to. I had myself some delicious chicken lime soup and browsed their grocery stores with lots of good stuff. I even found an Indonesian version of French chocolate cookie thingy's - "Prince". Remember them? So tempted to buy... but I'm trying to be good.

Speaking of being good, I'm proud to say that I've lost 7 pounds since I got back from Salt Lake... simply by cutting my calories a bit and doing 100 sit-ups every morning. Hurray! Now, back to the week in review...

Wednesday I saw the doctor about my knee and another kind of pain. Again, just take it easy, but since it's been two months now why don't you get an x-ray to make sure nothing's broken. She can give me a cortizone shot or take advil to ease the pain. "Will it help me heal faster?" "No, but alleviate the pain" Well, I don't care, I can tolerate the pain even though it's a real pain in the buttocks (or in the knee, rather). If it won't let me heal, I'm not putting unnecessary drugs in my body. She suggests physical therapy since I like to keep active and right now the knee's preventing me from doing that. Oh, and you need to get an ultrasound for your other kind of pain you're having. Greaaaaat.

Friday: had my first on-property strategy meeting, which went well, although went way longer than it should have because the GM has a short attention span (he admitted himself), but they're always glad to see me and keep saying they love what I do... so that's a good self-esteem boost. The rest of the day there was so much I planned to do at work but didn't get to do because, you guessed it, other stuff came up. That always seems to happen, doesn't it?

Today was fairly relaxing, drove by an open house and decided to go in, because that's my hobby. The house was up for 2 million. You know, I thought, if it were 1.7, 1.8 million, I would've put in an offer... but 2 million was just a little off budget. :) Now, I hate lying. It doesn't feel good, and I'm horrible at it, so I don't lie. Worst case scenario, I just don't tell the whole truth... "What kind of price range are you looking for?" "Um, well, really more like under a million." (That's not lying, right?) and the questions continued... the agent really wanted to find a house that's ideal for me.... really nice lady, and she actually gave me some really nice tips, advice, and overall know-how on what to expect when I'm ready to buy a home, after she got the hinch that I'm really looking for a cheap-o house. Not that I'm looking to buy here or now anyway, I just love visiting homes. I love getting ideas on architecture, tiles, paint, molding, decorations, landscaping, etc... and if it's got a Mediterranean look and has charm, you've won me over. Nice lady. Hate lying, though.

Next I went to KP to get my ultrasound... I ran across the road by PCH to avoid a cop giving me a ticket for jaywalking (I guess they're pretty strict here), and running wasn't the best for my knee of course... why do I keep doing that?? Right after the ultrasound I got my knee x-rayed. then I stopped at Whole Foods, got my vegan food for the week and indulged in a slice of pepperoni pizza and orange chicken for my linner. At 8PM, my friend calls me as I'm in the middle of my TBS movie "Hey, we're heading to that Mexican place for margaritas, wanna join?" "Sure!" "Ok, we can pick you up. We're actually right around the corner." Lol. I got ready in 3 minutes and off we went. Of course, margaritas for them (3 of them) and coke for me. Chips and salsa too. More fun than not doing anything, right?

Tomorrow's laundry and other boring crap. No volleyball - it's actually supposed to rain the next 5 days, that's nuts!! Should've taken advantage of walking on the beach today or something.

Monday I'll be working from home and hopefully get all my projects done. I've been feeling rather happy lately. Not sure why. I mean, I could be miss pessimist and think, "Great, I'm 25 years old, my knees are giving out on me, I have pain like a 50 year old and other crap happening to me". And I did think that way briefly. But you know what? I'm lucky. I have a great life. I have tons of people in my life that I love and love me for who I am. I have a great career right now, live in a great location, have great friends, am in love with the man of my dreams, my parents would do almost anything to help me if I need it, life is good. When you think of the tragedy of the Haiti quake, we have a lot to be thankful for. And please, I encourage donating to help them out. Texting was easy and felt great!

And also, life is short. I'm living it up. I'm going out with friends and discovering LA County without spending a fortune. I'm going to Vegas in 2 weeks with my buddies (nothing too crazy), will spend a lovely weekend with Babe for Valentine's, the next weekend in Palm Springs with M&B, Mom's coming back in April to Orange County, $teve is planning to visit SoCal in April/May too... the next quarter is all planned out! LoL.

I wish you all a fantastic holiday weekend!!

Les Bonnes Resolutions

I started typing this blog a few days ago, and am continuing today…

Tuesday 1/5:
Well, it’s 7:12 AM and I’m still not flying over the Salt Flats or Vegas. Unfortunately, the airplane had an overheating issue, and because the maintenance guy seems brand new and careless, he said “Um, I don’t know how to fix a 439”. Great. Let’s all unboard the plane and get on a new one. Sigh… At least, we know before we’re in the air!!

Man, I took this early flight and went to extra lengths of doing only carry-on luggage so that in LA I could get out of the plane, grab the shuttle and go straight to work. I’ve got work to do and most of it should be done in the morning!! Now I’ll probably be at least an hour late. But considering that from 8:15 to 9 we just have our morning chat about “what did you do this weekend” anyway, if I miss that, I can just catch up with everyone at lunch or something. No biggie. I’ve only been gone for 2 weeks and there’s so much I need to catch up on!!

While I’m here and super tired as I got about 4 hours of sleep and about to embark on a 2 hour flight followed by a 9 hour work day, why don’t I start typing out my lovely New Year’s Resolutions?

So this year, as I mentioned on my last post, will be focused on my physical and emotional health and well-being. Intellectual well-being too while I’m at it. So here goes.

1. Choose and stick with a healthy lifestyle – for life. Which means, very minimum to no wheat and no cheese. Limit chocolate & sweets. PORTION CONTROL. Chew and enjoy your food. You’ll eat less that way and enjoy the flavors.

2. Do sit-ups in the morning on the yoga ball. I’ve got a song I can do them to, which amounts to 106 crunches. This will take 5 minutes out of my morning but give me energy to get ready 5 minutes faster.

3. Exercise at least 4 times a week. Muscle toning, cardio, Beach Volleyball and walking are all great, but I need to be careful with my knee, so choose wisely.

4. Keep going to bed at 10 and waking up at 6. Get to work by 7:30 every morning. I’ve been a little lazy this year at getting to work around 7:50, and although Boss Lady M is flexible, I get more work done that way. Plus, I can leave earlier, avoid traffic and gain 1 mpg. Yay!

5. Go to work with a purpose. Preferably not to be “to get through the day.” Learn and keep learning. Do more than expected. Do it right the first time. I came out here because I wanted to gain work experience; I should take full advantage of the resources, tools and opportunities that have been given to me.

5. Read. This is a new one. But when I think about it, I’ve started 2 books since college and never really finished them. I never read. Usually because I find books boring. The only book I’ve ever read and found interesting was a Harry Potter and one on health/nutrition. I want to read and be more knowledgeable. I’ll aim for reading 15-30 minutes before going to sleep. I know it’s what 60 year-olds do, but hey, I live & sleep alone :)

6. Cook more. For myself and for others. For myself to test it out, for others to be the food critics and have a good time. Use healthy ingredients. Use spices. Add flavors and deliciousness to healthy, wholesome foods.

7. Go out more. Explore the state you live in. Enjoy the company of friends. Be more outgoing. Do something nice for everyone you meet.

8. Stand/sit up straight. No one likes a slouch, and hey, I may gain an inch, reverse that scoliosis (haha, or at least prevent it from getting worse), prevent neck and back pain, and overall look a little more attractive. I know Babe will love this resolution. Oh, and mom, too. Tiens-toi droite! Tiens-toi droite! Tiens-toi droite! Tiens-toi droite! Tiens-toi droite! Ok Mom, I got it :)

Now it’s Saturday morning… and I feel good. No, great. I slept in (till 9, a little too much!!), am eating banana and almond butter for breakfast, am cooking some beans to make my delicious “Curried chickpeas and gingered black beans” for lunch, have lost 6 pounds already since Tuesday night by carrying out my resolutions (yes, I HAVE been doing the sit-ups, controlled my food portions, and stopped wheat!) Bottom line is, I feel great.

Tonight I’m going to be having dinner in KoreaTown and play some cranium with friends. Should be lots of fun, I can’t wait! I’ll try to stay true to resolution # 1.

This week has been pretty interesting. Work was crazy busy (still is), my boss was stressing me out a little, because basically she told me I’ve got the easiest job out of us 5 and other branches (which is true) and I should be all over this particular issue at work that blew up in our faces last week while I was gone, and partly because I asked someone to double check on something and she did not, but hey, it IS my fault, even though I tried my hardest to figure it out before I left on vacation, I AM the manager and I should’ve caught it sooner I guess… or been more authoritative or something with her, even though she’s not my direct subordinate… but guess what, people are out of town, or there are time zone differences of 15 hours, and not everyone does what they’re asked and ugh… what a pain. And what a long sentence! I think my boss is good for me, because she expects a lot out of me and she should, it’s been a year now and I need to be all over this stuff. She just stresses me out a bit though.

Today I’m grateful… to have friends and family wherever I go it seems. I mean, I absolutely loved my Christmas and New Year’s Eve vacation to Salt Lake and it was great to be home and see everyone. The only thing – it doesn’t feel like home right now, at this stage of my life. At this stage of my life, SoCal is home. When I go back to Salt Lake in a year or so, that will be home again. I can’t wait! Well, I can, but still looking forward to it :)

Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic weekend… just like I plan to!