Lilie's Adventure in Cali

C'est pas la fin du Monde

2012-01-26T23:14:00.000-08:00

Well, hello all!

First of all, I realize that I haven't posted since Christmas and New Year's... so I wish you all a very happy and prosperous New year's. I'm SO over resolutions so won't bug you about these... although 2012 is definitely bringing a LOT of changes for me! Since most French people will say "Bonne année, amour, santé, argent, travail"... I will let you know how I plan to make these happy this year!

Travail/Work: Going well. Big project will take up most of my social life in a few weeks for a month... Ah, 12 hour days, how I've missed you... NOT!! Sigh. But, if it makes our lives easier as of March 25th, that's exciting.

Argent/$$$: well, I don't have to pay $1400 a month for rent anymore, so that sure helps for a house downpayment and wedding to pay for.

Santé/Health: I plan to get healthy... just like every year... but this time, a little more's at stake and I can't just lose and gain 20 pounds like that anymore. Did you know that gaining/losing weight like that will hurt your liver? Anyway... basically, I gotta get my thyroid under control because my November results were a little alarming, and, well, to be blunt, if I don't get it under control and want to have children I'll have a prescription for the rest of my life. Sigh. Ok, That's motivation enough.

Amour / Love. Ah, ze love is in ze air... I'm planning Babe and I's wedding, found the venue, now just need to pick out the judge, flowers, DJ, invitations, and I think that's about it... how exciting! The only thing that sucks is for the next month I'll be so busy with work I want to take care of all of it now and I can't. It's ok, I'll make it work.

House hunting: yes, we visited our first house today in Cottonwood Heights... good first house... needs work... but my philosophy is I want to see a ton of homes so that when the right one comes along I know.

Babe's doing well in school with 20 credit hours and working in a lab as a Research Assistant. He's really busy but learning a lot and I'm really proud of him. He made the Dean's list with a great GPA last semester, and that's while missing 2 weeks of school while wandering through France. You go, babe.

So, for 2012, a lot of exciting things are happening in my life:

-Gettin' married!!
-Gettin' a house!!
-Possibly trying for a little bundle of joy!
-May become a certified Turbokick instructor!

Oh yeah. 2012, bring it on, you're going to be awesome. And it will not be the end of the world in December, Marsha told me because kdate is past December 21st, 2012. 'Nuf said.

Today I'm grateful for 2012 and the many wonderful things that will happen to this family. How will 2012 be a wonderfully grateful year for you?

Robe de Mariée

2011-11-19T23:45:00.000-08:00

Just got home for what pretty much was the girliest day of my life, a really fun day, filled with emotions I've never felt before.

What was the plan today? Go visit 2 fancy bridal stores in Beverly Hills with 2 really good friends of mine. I knew it would be fun, and all about me... and it was... and more.

This was the very first time I'd been to a bridal store. Ok, well, I recall, when I was 14 years old, visiting my cousin during my summer vacation who was living in Nice at the time, and she worked in the bridal area of a department store. I came to work with her one day and hung out in the back. I can't recall if I actually tried on a dress or not, but I did put on a veil - and that made me feel really special for some reason. I mean, I was 14, no boyfriend (good thing), no intentions of getting married right away, but there was something about having that veil on my head... for once, I felt really pretty. I mean, really REALLY pretty. Who knew that a piece of lace could create such a boost in a teenager's self-esteem.

Fast forward 13 years later, my good friend (we'll call her R), said to me over dim sum in Chinatown last month: "You haven't bought your dress yet? Girl, you need to start shopping now, it takes months to order and about another month to hem/tailor."

Um... what? Here I am, engaged for 2.5 years, my wedding's in 9 months or so, and I really need to worry about the dress? I was planning to get this done maybe 2-3 months before the wedding to make sure the dress fits me (instead of me fitting the dress). But ladies (and gentlemen), apparently that is a big no-no, and you have to get the dress in advance. Ok... that means I get to start SHOPPING!!

So R took care of everything and made an appointment at 1PM today to visit a fancy bridal store, then plan to visit another one a few blocks away who was having a store closing sale. This is in the Beverly / Rodeo drive area of Beverly Hills mind you, so totally shopping for fun. I'm sorry but I'm not spending $5k on a dress I will only wear one day. But hey, if we can get pampered... and my guests can sip champagne while they comment how gorgeous I look... well, I still call that an awesome Saturday afternoon :)

1PM: First store, first experience. Tried on maybe 8-9 dresses. All beautiful. Some fit my figure perfectly, others not so much. And then... there it was. A beautiful ball-gown style dress that fit me perfectly. I tried the veil, the shoes.... and as I stood on that pedestal, looking in the mirror and my friends looked really happy, I almost got a little teary-eyed. This is beautiful. I feel beautiful right now. I truly feel like if babe saw me walking down the aisle in this dress and veil, it would take his breath away and fall in love with me all over again. Man, I am such a girl and I need to stop watching all these chick flicks :)

But seriously, I walked around, took some pictures... did not buy the dress as it was not only outside my price range, but also only my first store, and I want my mom to be there... but for a moment there, I felt like a million bucks. I guess that's why ladies shell out the big bucks for a wedding dress. I just don't think I need to spend over $2,500 to feel good about myself when I can do it for much less. But boy did it feel good :)

Second store: although still high end, 70% off everything because the store closes December 31st, which means employees basically don't care anymore. No employees came to help me get into my dress, the carpet in the fitting rooms had big stains on them, the clamps were industrial sized and my friend had to clamp the dress... yeah, but the good news is, found cute dresses that are more reasonable. Nothing like the first store, but still pretty. Plus, my other friend tried on some dresses too and it was so great seeing her light up inside. She is very skinny and I have curvier hips, so it was cool to see how certain styles fitted her in a way they couldn't with me, and vice versa. Most dresses are pretty, it just depends who wears it.

Then we went to happy hour.... then Anthropologie... then R's house for dinner for cornflake crumb chicken (yum!) and Indian desserts. What a perfect day.

Sorry for the guys reading this, as this is definitely a chick's post... but I really wanted to write down this amazing feeling of euphoria, hope, happiness, and overall feeling beautiful, because it's true, I don't think I've ever felt this good about myself in a long, long time, and I want to read back on this someday and remember.

In other news...

I gave my apartment my 30 day notice 2 days ago, and plan to be packing all Thanksgiving long. Tomorrow is Sunday, and nothing really exciting planned except relax - wedding dress shopping is actually pretty exhausting!!

Today I'm grateful for having such great friends taking me to bridal stores, and for our friendship I've treasured these past 3 years, which I hope does not go away when I move back to SLC next month.

Peace out!

Mise a Jour

2011-11-17T19:48:00.000-08:00

Aw man, I should really go to Zumba right now but I really don't feel like it. After all, I just showered 2 hours ago and washed my hair which now smells scrumptious, do I really want to waste it on a class that is a mix of modern day aerobics/middle Eastern/Salsa/ random dance moves?

Don't get me wrong, I like Zumba, but sometimes the routine calls for some "what on earth am I doing" kind of dance moves. Still it's a good workout. And a good place for me to shake my booty because I can't go to a club and do that anymore :)

So... what's new? Well, went to DC and Salt Lake, did costume volleyball, had my crazy week of stress at work which turned out I didn't have to, because our big project's been pushed back... good thing, yet bad thing because I did not have to work for 14 hours those first two days last week.

And I also spent my last birthday in SoCal, and I am now 27 years young, and I feel.... ok, not old, but just finally classified as an adult. I always categorized myself as a "young adult" the past few years, but now I feel like an "adult". Which is good! I feel like I'm finally being taken seriously :) but now the juicy details of the birthday party...

Nov 4th: Friday: get up and have 3 meetings at 9, 10 and 11 (greaaaaat), but at noon I wanted to treat myself, so got a panino at Corner Bakery because panini are the best invention since sliced bread. Then after work, I got a massage, then went to a French restaurant with 13 of my closest Cali friends... all said really kind words to me and wished me good luck in my move back, one of them even sang to me! Aww, gonna miss those guys...

Then the after-party and my friend's house, B made me a cake and R bought a tiramisu, and we all enjoyed each other's company! Got home around 1am, packed, went to bed around 2, then woke up at 5 to go to the airport to DC. Yeah, a long day :)

In DC I found the most amazing bakery... "Paul, Maison de Qualité" - which turns out is a known chain in France - and holy cow, they made all the French pastries and breads imaginable! Quiches, fougasses, chaussons aux pommes, chaussons au raisins, pain au chocolat... even the BEST hot dog ever: hot dog in a French baguette with béchamel sauce and melted gruyere, toasted to perfection delivering that prefect crunch from the bread and juicyness from the franckfurter. I truly, truly enjoyed that. But hey, I also enjoyed company with Mom & B, walking to the capital, Smithsonian, found a great French restaurant (ok, last post about food, I swear) and then the conference which was great to see people I talk to / email often and got to see in person, as well as my boss' boss' boss' boss' boss' boss.

Sigh... it's happening, I just gave my 30 day notice today for my apartment, and I've decided what to do on the rental truck... maybe... so ridiculously expensive. But whatever, a girls' gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Thanksgiving will be spent packing and packing and finalizing stuff, hopefully I'll get invited somewhere for Thanksgiving this year. If not, no biggie... I love Thanksgiving but not as much as Christmas. Now if I had to spend Christmas alone, or wake up in an empty house, that would truly be depressing for me.

Oh, and Saturday, I'm going wedding dress shopping with my 2 girlfriends!! Yay. We were going to go to fancy Beverly Hills stores for fun, but I really don't want to fall in love with a $7,000 dress that I can't afford (even if I did, I wouldn't spend it) and find the David's bridal $500 dresses subpar.

Today I'm grateful for Babe's parents, who let me stay in their home while I was in Salt Lake the past few days. My future mommy in law even made me snacks while I worked, like apple slices and cheddar cheese.. yum!!

Wishing everyone a great evening and weekend coming up!

Holy Moly it's been a year!

2011-10-28T21:27:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been a year since I've posted... and so much has happened, so much has changed... the only thing that hasn't changed though, is that I'm still happy as ever.

Since October 2011, let's see... a little recap:

*Had the most memorable Halloween 2010 ever, walking on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood admiring costumes and hanging out with friends. Also, Costume volleyball! Which I will play again tomorrow...

*January to May I have to say was quite a blur!

*May: I get a new job. Same company, same discipline, but I work from home... which means I can move back to my home town!!

*May - August: Babe came to live with me during summer semester break. It was hard at first, with little arguments here and there because I'm so set in my ways... but we got along just fine and during that time, realized more than ever how much we enjoy being in each other's company. Since this summer, being away from him has been especially hard because I got used to living with him. I miss him more. Not that I didn't miss him before, but I was very much Miss Independent before, and now I need him more than ever.

*Sometime this summer: Mom & B moved into their new home which looks beautiful!!

*August: My dad, stepmom, brother and sister came to visit from France! First time in the US for most, they met Babe, discovered LA, Vegas, Grand Canyon, Cali Coast including San Fran... and we had so much fun together. I love them so much and wish I could see them more often. I'm glad they enjoyed their trip here.

*September: Babe and I go to France together... his first time! Saw where I grew up, met family, ate incredible cheese and other foods, hung out on beautiful beaches and French Riviera towns, and spent an incredible week in Paris just walking around and enjoying the sights, the smells, the tastes... not to mention, the best Hot dog EVER!! Hot dog in a French baguette with spicy dijon mustard, overlooking the Eiffel Tower on top of the Trocadero... priceless. Well, actually like 3 something euros, but the view... priceless :D

*October: planning month. Finally (pretty much) set a wedding date for July 21st next summer, just other little things to plan out... and also planning my move back to SL. Lots of planning to come... Oh, and just learned my future sister in law is engaged too, and getting married May 2012. Wedding dress shopping together maybe? Sounds like uber girl fun!

*November: Super busy month ahead. B's 60th birthday, Traveling to DC, SLC, lots of 12 hour work days I'm sure, and packing / selling furniture and such. Hopefully I will only work 10 hours on my birthday coming up NEXT Friday!!! :)

Future: move into Mom's house to save some dough, save enough money to buy a house by summer 2012, get married, start a family with my wonderful future hubby... oh my, this is too much excitement!!! And the top reasons for my euphoric feeling of happiness.

Ah... I'm sure I missed quite a few things, but one thing's for sure, it's that love is in the air and that's what I'm grateful for today. I love my man, I love my family, people are getting engaged left and right, Babe's sister is getting married, my brother's found a great girl and we all really like her and she makes him a better man, and the best part is... I feel loved by everyone close to me as well.

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend... thanks for reading and I encourage you to think of one thing you're grateful for today!!! :)

Bien Dans Sa Peau

2010-10-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-10-05T21:32:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-19T22:50:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-07T17:27:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-17T21:44:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-02T20:11:00.001-08:00

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!

2010-01-26T18:25:00.001-08:00

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

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

2010-01-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-18T20:31:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-16T22:21:00.001-08:00

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

2010-01-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

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!

Bonne Année!

2009-12-31T17:39:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all of you, may 2010 bring many wonderful things to you and everyone on Earth!

Continue to be the beautiful person that you are, inside and out.

I hope you take the time to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.

May your NY resolutions be cheesy, funny, achievable and thoughtful.

Today, I'm grateful for a great 2009 and an even better projected 2010 (remember, I do projections for a living). A new year of a better me. Because my New Year's resolutions this year... will be focused on my physical and emotional health and well-being. I hate to make this about me, but I'm not out to change others. By being the best I can be by taking care of myself, I can be the best I can be with friends, family and new people I meet as well! More specific resolutions will come next year... (as in, a few days).

Happy New Year everybody! Thank you all for being such an important part of my life.

Une annee en revue

2009-12-28T09:25:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas! What a joy to be amongst family and friends. As I landed in Salt Lake on the night of the 23rd, I shed a small tear of joy, as this is indeed, home, no matter how much freakin' annoying snow there is on the ground.

Christmas Eve was spent at home with M&B, JR, Fanou and Babe. Mom made delicious Beef Wellington (I helped with the egg wash), with gratin dauphinois (think scallopped potatoes, but even more delicious) and french Green Beans, with tiramisu cake for dessert. It was... so yummy!

Christmas Day was spent with family, I woke up and yelled "it's Christmas, it's Christmas!" like a little kid, because I still am at heart. I went over to Babe's in the afternoon, exchanged some presents, talked to his sister who's currently serving a mission in Korea, then went to my brother's new house for Christmas - what a cute house he's turned it into! I'm so proud and happy for him. My mom's side of the family was there all night, then I went to Babe's grandparents house.

This weekend was a lot of "recovery", and I watched Julie & Julia with mom... which was a pretty good show, although Julia's life was more interesting than Julie's, really... but I've got a sudden desire to make boeuf bourguignon. Or cook more in general.

Now....

New

Year

Resolutions!

First of all, I wanted to recall what my New Year's resolutions were last year, and how I've fulfilled them, as you can see here. Let's see how much I've accomplished:

2009 New Year's resolutions. Here goes.

1. Gained 8 lbs in December (gasp!) Would like to lose those again, and some more. (wow, did you know that the first one would be weight-related? Of course you did, I'm a chick) - ok, so did I lose weight this year? No. I'm very unproud to say that I've gained about 11 pounds since I moved to california. As a 5'2'' person, that can be quite a lot. What the flagnard happened???

2. Go back to the wheat-free dairy free diet - may be why #1 failed - although I've mostly been good, there are times when I'd go out and splurged.

3. Get in shape (walk to the beach, use the gym @ work, do sit-ups on the yoga ball, get a kickboxing and/or pilates DVD) - Actually technically achieved this. I did go on walks to the beach, sit-ups, gone kickboxing and got an exercise DVD. I beleive the issue is I did not issue a timeframe or frequency to this resolution.

4. Smile all day long - well, I love optimism, so I do smile as often as possible, and at least once a day, so I'm smiling right now as I've accomplished this.

5. Go to bed at 10PM on weekdays (ha!) - This has been surprisingly easy. I'm in bed by 10PM on weekdays 90% of the time. 97% of the time I'm in bed by 10:30. The other 3% I'm out in Hollywood to movie screenings, which haven't happened more than 10-15 times all year.

6. Be responsible financially (I's got bills now!) - well, look at me, I have a budget file and am keeping it up. I did just slightly spend more than I made this year, but about $4000 of it was furniture related or stuff for my apartment. I think I did pretty good.

7. Try to join a casual volleyball team in the spring - Yes!!! March 1st, 2009 was the day I met what would soon to be my official awesome Cali friends, and I get to play beach volleyball. Win. In this resolution, more good came from it: other people to hang out with when Babe's not here.

8. Limit consumption of chocolate (sigh) - Um, yeah. Again, "limit" doesn't specify a number, so I could say that I limited myself to 10 pounds a day, but that just won't fly.

9. Stop eating brownies and cookies at work! (maybe that explains the need for resolution # 1...) - worked at some point, maybe from January to late spring, but then it started again.

10. Keep loving your family & friends - Absolutely! Don't believe I've failed at that because I love everyone very dearly that is close to me.

11. Get a new PC so that I can play Counter-Strike Source in my spare time... and also because I'm sick of this POS - oh yeah. Still have the POS, but don't use it because Babe built me an awesome computer!!!

12. Make L.A. County my new home for this year and take advantage of this beautiful area - I think I've succeeded at that. I've made my apartment my new home, but most importantly I've got friends who really wanted to show me the area. Thanks to them I've discovered: Hollywood, Pasadena, West LA/Brentwood area, West Hollywood, Griffith Observatory at Night & The Grove. I took advantate of movie screenings, and have discovered: Japanese noodle places, cheap and great Italian, authentic French, delicious Vegan, gay bars, Le Pain Quotidien, an organic tea place, a very "L.A., hip lunch place", and who knows what else... but I couldn't have done it without them.

13. Be the best I can be - at work, at home, with people. - I always try my best at work, but as I'm currently getting a little bored I believe I could do more. I'm just scared. I love analysis but I'm not sure how much authority I have sometimes to make decisions or if I'm looking at the right tools. At home, I believe I do well, but again, could always use improvement. With people, I need to stop being so nice dang it. Haha. Just kidding.

Well, those are it! I will ponder these and come up with a brand new 2010 resolution in a few days. I have a few in mind, but I need to make them more specific I believe.

What's everyone doing for New Year's? I personally have no idea what I'm doing yet... I'm stuck in Salt Lake, which no offense, might not be as lively as LA County... but I'll be with the ones I love so that's excitement enough for me. Have a safe, happy and prosperous New Year!

Vite fait

2009-12-20T16:10:00.000-08:00

So real quick, I wanted to say hello and that I'm super excited to go home for Christmas in only 2 days... I wish you all warm, fuzzy holidays, merry Christmas, Happy new Year & Happy Hannukah.

Last night I went to my friend Lillian's for a birthday party, which was great fun (as always), Leo made his signature key lime martini which was delish (virgin for me of course), otherwise I really didn't do much this weekend! Cleaned, did laundry, packed... oh, and I bought 2 pairs of boots on Thursday - something I've never done before... (mixture of I'm a litlle fashion challenged and my football calves won't fit in them). What do you think?? What on earth am I going to wear them with??

Suggestions welcome.

Today I'm grateful for great friends and holiday hugs. Have a great evening!

J moins 6

2009-12-16T20:48:00.000-08:00

So, only 6 days to go until I'm home for Christmas... and I'm absolutely psyched! Here's what's been happening in the last week:

Thursday: Long Beach in the morning for a conference - saw the people I work for for the first time this year (is that bad?) and worked from home the rest of the day. Went to see the doctor about my knee - and her advice was basically "take it easy" - which is nice for "don't exercise at all for the next few weeks, yeah you'll get fat with all the holiday foods but you should sacrifice that for your knee." So, I haven't worked out in 8 days now... and yes, I feel like crap. That night I went to Hollywood for a screening and completely forgot what I went to see.

Friday night - went to Pasadena for my friend Ben's birthday, to a really yummy Chinese restaurant called the "Oak Tree Inn." The orange beef was to die for! There were 13 of us so we got to share lots of yummy stuff... then we drove around Old Town Pasadena (this was my first time up there by the way), I saw a Leonidas store, bought $8.95 worth of chocolates, and ate most of them that night. And the weight gain begins... lol.

Friday night, my friend Leo says to me: "there's still one more seat to go to the Chipmunks Squeakquel tomorrow at The Grove!" and I really didn't want to hear chipmunk for 90 minutes... but I thought what the hey, it's good company, friends are driving so I'm not paying for gas, and it's the Grove.

Saturday: friends drive me to The Grove for the 10:00 AM movie. Lots of 7 to 10 year old kids in the theater starting to scream and squirm, and the first 5 minutes of the movie, the chipmunks started squealing and I asked myself how I would survive the rest of the morning. Luckily, I got used to the Chipmunks squeaks (Theodore is sooooooo cute) and the movie was overbearingly cute. We then went to an Italian place that was good and cheap, and at 2PM I got home and probably watched TV for the rest of the night.

Sunday: get all Christmas gifts together... and that's about it! Walked to Albertson's 5 minutes away. That's the only fresh air I got that day. What a lazy weekend.

Now, this week!

Yesterday, went to the Grove for another screening: Sherlock Holmes. It was pretty good. I like mysteries that there's no way on earth I would able able to solve them. The theater was packed. Long waiting lines, etc... oh, the things I'll do for Robert Downey Jr. We went to the Cheesecake factory after and I got home around midnight - so I'm exhausted today.

Tomorrow: work lunch at Houston's at 1PM, we're free to go after that, then another Hollywood movie: Did you hear about the Morgans. Should be stupidly funny. I got invited to see a screening of Avatar at 3pm as well, but don't think I'd make it in time... plus, Babe wants to see it with me.

That's about it! Saturday night will be a birthday party and probably when I say my goodbyes and wish Happy Holidays to my LA friends. Can't wait to come home for Christmas!!!

Today I'm grateful for the holidays and the warmth it brings - not by the weather, but from people's hearts. Have a fantastic Wednesday night!

Sapin Coloré

2009-12-07T21:30:00.000-08:00

So, I didn't want to buy a Christmas tree... A fake one would mean I'd have to store it, and a real one would shed, and I wouldn't be able to get it in my car and in my home anyway. Since I'm not spending the holidays here, I knew it wouldn't matter.

Still, I felt a little sadness in knowing that my apartment has no Christmas spirit... and when Boss Lady M told me I could get a 12 in fiber optic tree at Rite Aid for $2.99, I added some AAA batteries and voila, I've got a little holiday cheer at home:

And it's kind of cool! Tonight, I watched "The Proposal" because that's all Redbox had. No problem. It was on my list anyway. See, every first Monday of the month, 3 conditions happen: 1. I'm usually alone, and I survived a Monday at work. 2. Redbox sends me a free night rental by text. 3. Taking 1 and 2 into consideration, I have to rent a chick flick.

And so I did. Story was so-so. I prefer Ryan Reynolds in movies like "Just friends" and "Van Wilder." ah, I'd just be spending all night on Facebook anyway :)

Tonight, I get home, after standing in line at Redbox in that dreadful wind we have today (what I'll put up with to save $1.09...), and as I'm sitting on the toilet I hear what sounds like a cow in my closet. Or someone whose mouth has been duct taped and they are tied down somewhere in my apartment. Now, if I were Quagmire, I'd say: "Dear Diary... JACKPOT!" but, I was more intrigued. So I went to my bedroom... and turns out there must be a small hole in my window because the wind was making it sing. I really hope I get some sleep tonight, it was getting loud.

But with that said, it's cold and windy tonight and I'm grateful that I've got a nice warm bed to fall asleep on, and a working heater. I'm also grateful that I was finally able to get an appointment for my knee on Thursday. Thursday will be a busy day for me; I'm in Long Beach in the morning for a conference, working from home the rest of the afternoon, getting my knee checked at 4:20, and movie night at 7:30 in Hoh - Lee - Wooooood.

Have a great night! What are YOU grateful for this fine Monday evening?

C'est bientot Noel...

2009-12-06T20:50:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a fun week and this weekend sure has gone by fast. Let's see, a quick recap:

Work - the same, although I found out that if we were to lose our jobs, they would've called us by now. So I'm pretty set (Phew). I'm only 90% sure, because we may acquire another property and all... anyway, I'll keep you posted. But I've decided that I'll stay here for another 6 to 12 months if it all works out. Hopefully we can find out before I go on my awesome 2 week vacation to Salt Lake for Christmas!

So - Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, there were about 22 people, lots of different foods, my frozen pumpkin mousse pie tasted good but the consistency wasn't great. I also made oven roasted winter squash with garlic and parsley, and a delicious green mix salad with juicy grape tomatoes, and another salad of field greens, robust feta and sweet cranberries. Are you drooling yet? Good.

The day after Thanksgiving, I went to Bloom Cafe for lunch with some friends, and for dinner Saturday night, "Osteria Latini", in the Brentwood area of West L.A. So good! It was for a friend's birthday dinner. Total came to $75 per person (ouch!) but so worth it. After that, per the birthday girl's request, she wanted to go to a gay bar and club, for fun... so I went too. That's right, birthday girl, her husband, myself and a gay guy friend went to West Hollywood. Nice thing is, I don't get hit on or bothered at all (except for this one chick for a brief second), and, um... different atmosphere than I'm used to. I hadn't been to a club since I was what, 17, 18? So here's to me going out and having some fun and enjoying LA. I'm not going to do this forever or on a regular basis... but it was fun, different experience.

Wednesday this week, I went on a girl's night out to a special screening of "Up in the Air" with George Clooney. It was ok. Kind of a weak story, although a good point at the very end. Oh, and there's a fictional Hollywood character that is more obsessed about frequent flyer miles than I am. After that we went to "Kabuki" in Hollywood. Very good I must say! Oh, and I love miso soup. and I've yet to try tempura but it looks so good, I'll try it next time... what's great is my friends know what they're doing when they order, so I just sit back, watch, and enjoy the food that is presented to me that we share.

This weekend was filled... with a whole lot of nothing. I believe I watched about 5 hours of TV total on Saturday, did some Christmas shopping, and that's seriously about it. Today, I went to get some blood work done this morning (and holy crap, I'm healthier than I thought) then to the beach to try and play volleyball, but after 5 minutes my knee was killing me, so I stopped and watch my buddies play some 2 on 2 games. It was so cold - 56 degrees or so. Brrr. Yeah, I know, all you Salt Lake people think I'm weak. I've grown accustomed to this warm weather, dang it! :) Then, Lillian, her man and I went to In n' out Burger (in honor of Salt Lake just opening one), and went to Costco where I bought - a baked brie (mmmmmm.....) babybel (nothing like gouda in red wax), diced tomatoes, 5 lbs of carrots (for juicing), 18 eggs (can I finish them all by the 21st?), and I was so tempted to buy this saucisson I saw... that, the real French/Italian kind... but they have some in Salt Lake and I'll save the holidays for the indulging part. Oh, and some blueberries. All pretty much healthy stuff.

This week: it's the first week of the period, so yay! Easy stuff at work. Tuesday night I'm going to see a screening of "the Lovely Bones" and Thursday night I'll see a screening of "Invictus." Both in Hollywood. Some fun nights out again. I think I'll skip on the eating out Tuesday night, because I've got some miracle soup waiting for me at home. Plus, It is a weekday... and I do work at 7:30am every morning...

Today I'm grateful that I have my health. My knee may be screwed up still, and I'm waiting for the doctor to contact me so that I can come in and be evaluated, but otherwise I'm in really good health, I feel like on my own I'm taking decent care of myself my keeping active, working out, and despite the occasional chocolate I'm eating pretty well too (I know, I went to in-n-out, but for your info, I had only been there once, it was 4 years ago, and I literally haven't had a cheeseburger in... probably 8 months.)

Good night everybody! Have a fantastic week.

Joyeux MerciDonner

2009-11-25T22:02:00.000-08:00

I'd like to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving! I've grown to really like this holiday.

Now, I must inform you of my background: Coming to the US at 12 years old, I didn't actually celebrate Thanksgiving until then. Considering we usually have Turkey on Christmas, I was wondering why we had to have two immense meals in 30 days. To me, it didn't mean much. Just a family dinner... and Christmas has always been THE most important holiday for me. At 17 or 18 years old, I remember having mussels and fries like at "Leon de Bruxelles" or something for Thanksgiving (remember, mom?) - and it was so good. Very untraditional, but delicious.

And tomorrow, I'm off to have a feast with "a new kind of family". No, not ABC Family, but rather my California buddies, who I have to say are just awesome. So far there are 22 people confirmed for dinner tomorrow. Yikes! It'll be awesome fun. On the menu will be traditional turkey, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce, and some untraditional dishes such as a Korean dish and I was thinking of making squash au gratin or something, but I have to work on my roux and bechamel skills for that.

I like Thanksgiving - and this time of year - because it's the anticipation of the holidays. People are nicer, people are starting to think about what they're grateful for, which technically, is something we should do everyday. In fact, that's what the rule of my blog is, and I apologize if I may not have lived up to it on every post... but today, I'm grateful for a lot of things.

I'm grateful that I have found a great group of friends here and will not be spending Thanksgiving alone. I'm grateful that friends I have known for just 7-8 months are able to seek advice for me and confide in me. I'm grateful for friends that want to help me discover L.A. and are taking me out to a bunch of new places. I'm grateful for my family and friends. My family, just like other families, has its own drama... but we all love each other, and I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful that people change and stop judging others before they get to know them or get their side of the story. I'm grateful to have a loving fiancé whom I love and adore and want to spend the rest of my life with, and I know that he truly feels the same about me. And if you don't see that when we're together and start forming your own opinions about how we're too young and stupid to be in love, then you're judging too quickly, so just stop it already. Please.

So I've been doing some thinking... and I haven't fully decided yet, but a lot of things seem uncertain concerning my job. But basically right now with my job, I may have an opportunity to come back to Salt Lake for good as early as January 4th. Allow me to explain.

My field is creating 19 new positions where one can work remotely from virtually anywhere. With that said, some jobs in our clusters will be lost. Our cluster doesn't seem to be one of them. In fact, we may be able to hire another person, but that's still not certain. So, basically, I'd say there's a 84.37% chance that my job is safe. I'm grateful for that. When will I know though? No clue. Hopefully soon. But if I lose it, I'd like to know soon because the last day for me to apply for the remote position is December 4th, the hiring will be done by December 17th, and the first day to start work is January 4th. You know what's funny about this? That this seems like the perfect plan according to this post back in February. Allow me to post the important paragraph of that post:

From February 28th, 2009:

"So, what's the plan for my next 5 years you ask?

Well, the ideal, perfect plan: I stick with my job for a year and gain some great experience. I find a comparable job back in Utah to start on Monday January 4th, 2010, and my last day at my current job will be on Friday, December 18th, 2009 (I like details, can you tell?). That way I will only have to file one state tax return (quite a pain to do my taxes this year, which Mom and I finished yesterday by the way, hurray!! ). I have a beautiful two weeks to relax for Christmas before I start my new job. I will live at my parents's for a few months to save money, then Babe and I will buy a house ready to go when we get married in August 2010 (I assume August during summer break with school, and so that the Frenchies can come when kids are out of school). We have a wild crazy wedding night. And the rest is... well, we'd like to have kids before we're 30, and I want to know the joys of being a mom before the world ends in 2012 according to the Mayan Calendar. Lol. Just kidding. Sorta..."

Well, would you look at that! To the T. Except that my last day here would probably be December 21st instead of the 18th... sounds like a brilliant plan, right? I could probably live back home for at least a few months, save money as I'll have a comparable salary and no $1400+ rent, and have my life's plan back in place.

Sounds perfect. Except for one thing...

As much as I want to go back to Salt Lake, I'm not sure I'm ready for it yet. I like my little life here in Cali. I like the woman I've blossomed into. I like being independent. I like going out and meeting new people and discovering new cultures. I like all that. Granted, I don't want to raise a family here. But my "fun years" in Cali is plural, so I was wanting to spend perhaps one more year here, maybe 6 months. I do miss everyone in Salt Lake enormously... but I think being away almost makes that bond stronger because you realize it more.

So... the question is, do I apply for the job. If I lose the one I have now, absolutely. It would be meant to be. "Maktoub - It is written." I will apply, hope that I'll get it, and be back in Salt Lake and be happy. But if I get to keep the one I have now... do I want to right now?

Last night, as I was taking a shower, I was fixing the curtain rods. I slipped, tripped, and fell flat on my back. I hurt my elbow. Thank goodness I did not get knocked unconscious. What if I did? I'm all alone here, would anyone notice? What if something happened to me? How long until someone would call me, realize I'm not answering, and start to worry? If this happened on a Friday after work, no one would really realize until Monday when I don't show up for work. That scares me slightly sometimes. Ok, actually I've never really thought of it that much because I don't dwell on it, but things like the tub accident last night makes me think of these things and why living alone can really suck.

So this would be another reason why I'd want to go back to Salt Lake. However, I'm still undecided. This is brand new info by the way, we found out about this on a 13 minute brief and weird conference call on Friday.

Anyhoo, enough about this... I obviously have a lot on my mind and need to go to bed. I've shared a lot more than usual today. But basically, I wanted everyone to know that I'm grateful for everyone in my life and my situation. I'm grateful that, heaven forbid, if I were to lose my current job AND not get the remote one, I could come back to Salt Lake and Mon & Brent could take care of me until I get back on my feet. I am really lucky to have such a loving family.

So... now happy stuff! Thanksgiving starts at 4PM tomorrow, I will be making frozen pumpkin mousse pie and who knows what side dish. Ooh, and a salad too. Because my friends like my home-made balsamic vinaigrette :). And the rest of the weekend is just - relaxing and catching up on bills!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, please don't eat too much but enjoy yourself. I know I will :)

Joyeux Anniversaire Megan

2009-11-16T21:01:00.000-08:00

First of all, a very happy birthday to Megan, one of my best friends from Salt Lake. She's a great gal with many artistic talents that I admire and love! Hope you had a fun day today :)

So this weekend was absolutely gorgeous. I mean, gorgeous. I have never, EVER spent a November in the kind of weather where I can wear shorts (and I NEVER wear shorts unless it's uber hot and/or I'm by a beach). Saturday was spent relaxing, and I bought a vacuum, a crepe pan, and groceries. The rest was filled with nada. But Sunday.... was THE most beautiful November day. Blue skies, not a cloud in the skies, air clear enough that I could see the tip of Malibu... and about 73 degree weather. I played a few fantastic games of beach volleyball, and we all met up at my place after for crepes. But really, it wasn't a crepe party... it was a few crepes made from scratch by moi (and everyone claimed that they loved them, yay!) and they all brought some food of their own, so it was more of a potluck. I somehow was able to fit about 18 people in my 300 Sq ft living room. My friends brought over some folding chairs, I had my couch, my dining room chairs, a yoga ball, a storage ottoman... and we were just fine. We even played charades at the end of the night... not sure what inspired us but I don't think we've ever laughed so hard. I heart my California buddies.

Another exciting thing, is that for Thanksgiving, we're all gonna hang out again. we're calling it the "California Orphans Thanksgiving" - as most of us don't really have family here. Can't wait! I also can't wait till Christmas when I come home!!! I feel very very happy.

Today I'm grateful that I didn't go into my usual melancholy stage when Babe left back home, and that I'm able to find my own happiness even though I'm far from the ones I love. I guess this is what independence is all about (t'was about time!). Still, it's hard being lonely. It build character I guess. Thanks everyone for supporting me - as I've now been in California for almost a year. A year, can you believe it? I still can't. I still imagine - if 10 months ago I could travel to now, and see that I've got a salaried job, live in Southern California, get to play beach vball and live 3 blocks from the beach... I would die of shock. I have to say, I'm kinda proud of myself. And it feels good. It's tough, darn it, I'm sacrificing a lot... but it feels good.

Have a great night, until next time...

Je Retourne a La Solitude

2009-11-13T21:21:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone!

Wow. What a great past few weeks. Babe came to see me, was able to spend my 25th birthday with me, and he got to meet all my Cali friends as they threw me one of the best birthday parties ever. About two dozen people met up at L&D's house, and we had ourselves a feast on their outdoor patio at night around a campfire, with dishes from probably 10 different nationalities, and I even had a made-from-scratch birthday cake with Eiffel Towers and Arc de Triomphe's on them.

The past few weeks have been interesting. Even after 8 years of being together, Babe and I keep discovering new things about each other. I love spending time with him. I love coming home to him and saying "honey, I'm home!" and he greets me with a sincere hug and warm embrace. We talk, we laugh, we cry (well, I cry rather, lol), we enjoy each other's company... what more could I ask for?

Enough with the lovey-dovey stuff. I am now back to me living by myself - which usually means 3-4 days of mild depression, then cheering up again. This time though, I have to say, I'm doing pretty well. After dropping off babe at the Airport Thursday morning and a long day at work, I came home, it was dark, and no one to greet me... it was more wierd than anything. Got used to having someone there. But I'm getting through it - because there are some positives of him being gone - he's not taking over the computer so I can be back on! Yipee! Hahaha.

So, what's new with me, let's see...

*Had a fabulous birthday, thank you everyone for the birthday wishes, always appreciated :)

*Got some cool presents too this year... fondue pots, cash, flowers, Windows 7, edible arrangements, gift cards, thinner eyebrows, 40 year old family picture, and more...

*Had 70 degree weather for my November birthday, which has never happened in my life...

*Coworkers took me to our usual birthday lunch, where they take the birthday person somewhere (my choice, a delicious French restaurant in Culver City, Fraiche) and split the cost between them (had a merguez sandwich - so good!!! The chocolate panna cotta and pineapple upside down cake with coconut ice cream were to die for)

*This weekend, I get to relax, organize my apartment a bit, throw away all the unhealthy foods in my fridge to stop eating all the crap I've been eating lately

*Usual volleyball on Sunday I hope, then possible get-together at my place after from French Crepes - because I feel like it (I don't have to eat them though! All for my guests)

*Thanksgiving: no idea what I'm doing yet, but I'm staying in Cali. Have Thursday and Friday off from work, might see what the Irvine Cousins or San Diego Aunt and Uncle are doing, see if I can invite myself... otherwise, Boss Lady M invited me to her house and her crazy family (her words). Boss Lady M's family is Italian, so you know there's bound to be some delicious food...

*Christmas: I'm so excited, I just booked my plane ticket! I'm coming to Salt Lake and I'll land late on Dec. 22nd and come back early Jan. 5th, ready to go straight back to work.

Nothing else new... except that I might switch to Verizon and get the new Motorola Droid, and I may be getting a cat too... but I have to fall in love first. I went to a few pet shelter places and they really don't warm up to me at all. Maybe I'm a bitter old woman. We'll see. Plus, if I'm going to Salt Lake for 2 weeks, I don't want to deal with it right now...

Today I'm grateful for the weekend, getting some rest, not being awakened at 5 in the morning by the smell of bacon... tomorrow I'm going to sleep in till 7:45am... and it's going to feel so good!!!!!

Have a great weekend you guys.

La Fille De Ma Mère

2009-11-06T21:41:00.000-08:00

As I was about to celebrate another year, I decided use my last Costco SpaFinder gift certificates and get new eyebrows. Then I took this picture... and decided, wow. Doesn't this person....

Look a lot like this person??

Yep, I am my mother's daughter.

So I'm totally going to bed, which is really sad because it's a Friday night and not even 10:00 PM yet... but I'm exhausted. It's been a long week. I haven't been getting great sleep and have been getting headaches and been a little grouchy this week. But not to fear, Babe's still here and my vball buddies are throwing Leo and I a fabulous birthday party tomorrow night!

Thanks everyone for making my birthday memorable... I had a great birthday, more details and pictures on that later. I'd like to congratulate my favorite texting buddy, $teve, who is heading off into a new adventure in Lake Tahoe... and I'm just super psyched for him because he's been waiting for that for a while. Congrats, $teve!

I'm also happy for another very important person in my life and a new announcement... but won't announce that until it's official. But I'm really happy for him too :)

Good night everybody!

Semaine Occupée & YogurtLand

2009-10-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

First off I'd like to wish a very happy birthday to one of my best friends, VS. She turns a quarter of a century old today... and I will soon follow in a couple of weeks. VS is a great friend, I've known her since 6th grade (my first year in the U.S). She's also awesome because she's married to a great guy who loves France... so I approve :) LoL.

So this week was busy at work. My colleague was on vacation starting Wednesday, my boss all week (surprisingly, taking a vacation to Utah for some reason). Thursday and Friday afternoon was all me trying to handle the job of 5 people... if the need would arise. Luckily it didn't get too crazy, just really lonely in the office Thursday. Boss Lady M called to check how I was doing, etc... she's awesome. She told me to just work from home on Friday, which I did. I got to listen to 104.3 My FM and tried to listen to the song that would make me win 4 Disneyland tickets... but no luck. Still great day though. And yes, I did get some work done...

Thursday night was fun, I had dinner with some of my friends (Vietnamese noodle salad). The slightly odd part was one of my friends brought her ex-mother in law AND her current boyfriend... which I thought was hilarious... but hey, if they don't mind, I don't mind. I got a phone call from the Houdemon family in San Francisco, about to return to France... thanking me for showing them around when they were in L.A... and it was absolutely my pleasure and I loved hanging out with them. They're good friends of my mom's and I hadn't seen them in 11+ years. They're hilarious and always in a good mood. Their son is fascinated with California so I thought I'd show them Hollywood, MJ's house, Rodeo drive, Manhattan Beach Pier, and Santa Monica Pier & 3rd Street Promenade... all in one day. What a day! Mom & Brent were here too... so it was awesome. Always love to see them.

Last night I watched "Marley and Me" which was ok... I hope I never turn out like the Godzilla wife & mother that Jennifer Anniston was in the movie. But at the end, I bawled my eyes out... I don't want to give away the ending to those who haven't seen the movie. Tonight, it's vegetarian pizza and shrimp spring roll night, "The Proposal" wasn't available on RedBox... so in search for a Romantic Comedy and/or Action night I'll either watch "Legally Blonde" (love that show, I don't know why...) or "Independence Day" (I could watch Will Smith all day...). Pretty low key weekend. It's been gorgeous though, 75 degrees today... hope I can play volleyball tomorrow. Oh, and I discovered "YogurtLand" next to Trader Joe's which is absolutely yummy and cheap...

Babe's probably coming Monday night, and will be here for about 2 weeks... which is pretty cool. I can't wait to see him; I love him so much. The giggling, the talking, the hanging out, the fighting, the make-up s...nuggling... I miss it all. Can't wait to see ya babe :)

Tomorrow will be Volleyball and making crepes for work's October birthday celebration. Next week I get to restrict the heck out of my hotels so that we can make some serious money. Woot woot!

Have a fantastic Saturday night, until next time.

Video

2009-10-12T20:16:00.001-07:00

How do I post a video on blogspot? I upload my video, and when it's done uploading, buffering and all that fun stuff... even after it plays normally... it says "can't upload because the html tag is not closed" or something like that.

A little help, please

Fondue Chinoise & Coupe de Fruits

2009-10-04T12:55:00.001-07:00

So it's safe to say I've worked my full 50 hours this week... and then some (regular weekend morning stuff I have to do). Point is, everytime I got home, especially after kickboxing, I was absolutely exhausted and let my apartment get messier and messier everyday... and that just doesn't fly in Lilie's world.

So I decide to throw a fondue party. That'll motivate me to clean my place up. And I did. Last night (Saturday) I invited Leo, Lyndon, Ben & Renée (Japan, China, China & Spain) over for dinner, and we had tons of fun. And this is when I realized, in a way, that I love entertaining. Well, scratch that, I love doing dinner parties (I really don't think I'm the most "entertaining" person out there). But I love preparing everything, making sure my apartment is clean, everything is organized... especially since this was a group that hadn't been here before. It all has to be perfect. I like to impress, ya know. It went really well, we had good conversation, we laughed a lot... I heart great company. the Cheese fondue was great, I decide to be daring and in addition to bread, I had grapes, granny smith apples, mushrooms and red bell peppers (leftovers, really! lol). I also made nice cantaloupe and strawberry fruit cups for dessert - as you can see below. I finally found a use for my martini glasses:

Friday night I actually had "Shabu shabu" which is basically a Chinese fondue - and it's brilliant. Instead of deep frying everything like a fondue bourguignone, she used vegetable broth instead. It was so yummy! Very different. my friend Lynn is from Singapore, her husband's from Germany, and we had my friend from Malaysia and older woman from Korea over too. I love the diversity that's around me - so many different cultures, and oh-so-much yummy foods that I've never experienced before. Here's what a shabu-shabu table looks like:

So that's about it! This morning I went to a place called "Bloom" for breakfast in West LA, and it was pretty good... owned by a French guy... and suddenly, out of nowhere, the Blues Brothers started driving down Pico Blvd...

Fun day. I'm about to head to volleyball. One thing I want to say though - I'm really, truly, so grateful to have friends out here. I mean, nothing beats being with my babe or my parents or other family and friends... and I've only really known my friends in Cali for 6 months... but really, they're awesome. They're so friendly and hospitable... and when I know I've got the potential to be a depressed wreck, it sure is nice to know that they're there for me when family and loved ones are farther away... and for sure, when I move back to Salt Lake, I'm going to miss them a lot. Utah friends are really hospitable too, don't get me wrong... it's just different out here. Anyway, I'm rambling.

Speaking of rambling, another reason why I love dinner parties now... is because I found a killer deal on clearance dinnerware. I think I just need to find cute placemats (mom, the forest green provencal ones you gave me don't really match anymore), and I'm in business and will throw more parties, that way it'll force me to cook, discover my own culinary talents... I just need test subjects. who wants to be my test subjects???

Updates on who's coming to see me... Mom, Brent & some Frenchies from Cavaliere (or Cavalaire?) are coming on Thursday to discover what is great California after they discover Salt Lake, Vegas, Bryce, Zions and the Grand Canyon. It'll be great to have them over for a few days!!! Then, Babe's sister will be coming back from her mission from Brazil on the 15th - so he's gotta be there for that... then the plan is for him to come live with me for about a month until he needs to get back to register for school. Then, the week before Thanksgiving I get to hang out with Dr Mookie & friends for a few days... Mid-December I get to see JR & L, and Christmas time will come... and a beautiful week's vacation will enable me to spend time in Salt Lake with family. How awesome!

Tsunami

2009-09-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

My heart goes out to those who lost their lives because of the tsunami.

Can you believe there was another one out there and another in Peru too??

Well, apparently the whole state of Ca-li-for-nia is under a Tsunami watch, but I believe that was yesterday. Just a foot or two of inundation. Don't think I'll be affected. If I am, then I'll be able to go to work on a boat.

"I'm on a boat!"

Anyone heard otherwise? If so, let me know. I'm not a great swimmer... :(

New York, Salt Lake & torticollis

2009-09-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!!!

I know you're all dying to hear about my New York City trip. Despite the huge pain I currently in my neck, I will try to describe it as fully as I can and even use descriptive adjectives like I used to at my old job. Please note that uploading pics on blogspot is a pain in the neck (and I've had enough real pain for today) so if you'd like to see more I posted a few more on Facebook, you may access them here. I took almost 600 pictures total so I'll pick out the best ones :)

First off, I flew to Salt Lake on Thursday night (Sep. 10th). Friday I spent most of the day catching up with my sweetie, Saturday I had lunch with my mom, grandma and grandpa who are visiting here from France, and Sunday we departed for NYC. We arrived and had a crazy cab driver take us to the fabulous Marriott Marquis right in Times Square (our first New York experience). I have to say that seeing downtown from my airplane seat was just breathtaking. So beautiful. So many skyscrapers. So much going on on such a small island. We arrived around 5PM, we walked around Times Square a bit and that night we ate at John's pizzeria and had a delicious fresh mozzarella and tantalizing pepperoni pie which was absolutely delicious and not too greasy. We then went to bed early to start our real vacation for the next few days.

Monday, Day 1:

Wanted to bring mom to her conference by 9AM. Wanted to take the subway. After walking a few blocks, realized that we were at the wrong "station." Decided to take a cab. Took mom to NYU in Washington Square, dropped her off, and Brent and I had the rest of the morning to visit some of the city. So we took the subway (the right one this time) to Rockefeller Center and tried to find the today show - but couldn't. Turns out we were only about a block away from the plaza where I could've shaken hands with Al Roker. So we walk back to Times square (not very far, only 10 minutes or so), buy bus/tour tickets that include 3 days of double decker buses, admissions to the Empire State Building, ferry to go to Liberty & Ellis Island, Museum of the City of New York, and a 75 minute cruise on the harbor. So we hopped on the downtown loop bus like a bunch of tourists, went through the flatiron district, Soho, and got off at Chinatown - I had me some beef curry (not that great) and then we went over to Little Italy and suddenly realized that it's where we should've gotten lunch - because everything looked so flippin' good. They had gorgeous dishes and tempting desserts... Mom then met us in Little Italy, we got back on the bus to go downtown to the ferry to go see Lady Liberty. We didn't get off on Liberty Island - it was way too crowded and we didn't have tickets to actually go inside. We went to Ellis Island though and learned a lot about immigrants. We learned even more patience as we waited about 90 minutes in line to get back on the ferry. We got back on the bus, went through some iffy parts of Manhattan and got back to the hotel, fairly exhausted, and we went to "Bourbon Street" for dinner where I had me some yummy jambalaya.

Tuesday, Day 2:

All 3 of us went to the Rockefeller Center to get on the Today Show around 7:15 AM. Shook hands with Al. 'Twas fun. Lotsa people. Had to fight to get a good spot and hope to get on TV. Didn't get on TV. 8 AM - got on the downtown loop bus to get Mom to NYU on a scenic route. Brent and I continued on to go do the Brooklyn tour, which unfortunately didn't start until 11am - so to kill time we walked over Wall Street, saw some rich dudes chillin' by the NYSE, then we walked over to the World Financial Centers to see from above what they were doing to Ground Zero. It was just a whole lot of construction, really... I later found out that there was an actual memorial (and by later, I mean only yesterday at work). We then walked back to meet Mom, took the subway to Times Square, walked about 5 Avenue blocks to take our cruise, in which Mom & Brent fell asleep at the end... but it was pretty cool, another fun way to see New York. We passed by the Statue and admired the Brooklyn bridge from afar too. It's only 3PM and we're exhausted. So we walk back to the hotel, rest our feet, then take the tour bus to the Empire State Building. Perfect timing - it is now about 6:30 PM and it's crazy crowded, but I have some shots during the day as well as sundown shots. I planned it perfectly. We then walked back to the hotel - on the way, went to Macy's that takes up a whole street block and is 9 stories tall. Our feet needed rest - so we took the night bus tour which took us to parts of Manhattan as well as Brooklyn, the views were just astonishing. Plus, our bus had no torque... so going 10 miles an hour on a scary bridge over the water was just perfect for pictures. Because of construction, the 2 hour tour took 3 hours, and back at the hotel around 11:30 PM we were exhausted. Are we all just getting old???

Wednesday, Day 3:

I walked Mom to the subway so that she can go to NYU, and I decide one last time to get on the today show. September 15th would have been cool because I wanted to make a birthday sign for my little brother and sister. Going back on Wednesday, the 16th, I suppose I could've had a sign that said "Happy birthday Mad Scientist" but I couldn't find a marker anywhere. I'm sure they'll understand :) But guess what... this time, Matt & Al and I-forgot-the-girl's-name got outside and I was right there in the background, waving, with my bright red tank top. I then got a pic with Matt. Awesome!! So then Brent met me at the Plaza and we went to a little cafe place - I had an amazing prosciutto, mozzarella and scrambled egg panini. Very different. Very yummy. Excuse me while I stop salivating... ok, I'm good. To kill a few hours we walked over to Grand Central, which is gorgeous, and then over to the public library. The library is an amazing, amazing place. So much culture. So much history. So much marble. Such a quiet place in the middle of hectic Manhattan. I loved it. We started taking a tour and within 20 minutes, Mom called saying that she was done early with her conference - so we met back at the hotel and took the uptown bus tour. Here we rode alongside Central Park, saw some cute places, saw Jerry Seinfeld' s current apartment, Harlem, Morningside Heights, Columbia University, the Upper West and East sides. We visited the Museum of the City of New York, which was pretty interesting. So hungry - we try to find a place... and Mom's iPhone led us to an address which had graffiti tagged window shutters on an abandoned building... too funny. We were in a borderline ghetto part of town - so we got back on the bus, found a panini place a block from the Museum of Metropolitan Art, then walked over to Central Park and admired the Great Pond, the Great Lawn and the Obelisk. Back on the bus, we visited the rest of the uptown tour... passed 5th Avenue shopping and the Ritz-Carlton Central Park and the Pierre Hotel. Back at the hotel, I get ready to meet my friend who was working at Battery Park on task force - so we hung out in Times Square, and had NY style pizza while my parents were on their won to see a Broadway show - The Phantom of the Opera." Becca & I went to the M&M's store, Hershey Store, I bought some bright orange New York flip flops (I got my flippy-floppies!) and I pretty much went to bed after that! We had to leave around 9 to catch our flight, and it was a really fun-filled 3 days of awesome culture, history, diversity, skyscrapers, people watching, different neighborhoods.... could never live there (maybe up to 6 months on task force or something) but I would sure love to visit again...

So there you have it! This weekend I went to Manhattan Beach to watch some professional beach volleyball, got a free massage, did some laundry, made this for dinner, watched "Dance Flick" (as expected, stupid but hilarious), and Sunday morning I helped my friends move from 9 to 1:30, then played Volleyball till 6 and had Korean for dinner with all my buddies. Such good food! They sure know how to pick these places.

Well, I'm really tired... hope I entertained you all...

Today I'm grateful that my neck is feeling much better than yesterday. I was in so much pain last night that I was almost in tears. Have a great night everyone!!

Mise a Jour

2009-09-23T21:15:00.001-07:00

Not Soup du jour...

But just an update - Salt Lake was great, New York City was fabulous, I'm now back in L.A... and as usual, entering the slight depression phase when you realize you're waking up alone. Then a week later, you realize, "oh yeah, this is the life I chose right now for my career" and you get used to the loneliness.

I'll write back in a week when I'm cheerier and come out of that phase.

Today I'm grateful... that next week I know I'll come out of phase 1.

Have a fantastic evening!!

CRAZIEST....

2009-09-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

KICKBOXING....

CLASS....

E V E R ! ! ! ! ! ! !

I can't wait until I go again.

Motivée

2009-09-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I canceled my LA Fitness membership and decided to go to 24 hour fitness instead. I pay half the price, have newer equipment, kickboxing classes as well and on the way home from work - exactly halfway too, so I pass the major traffic and it's smooth sailing home when I get out.

Win?

Win.

No Beach Vball today - we did yesterday instead. Today was a fun day of relaxing, cleaning the apartment and looking for birthday presents for my darling younger brother and sister who will be turning 14 in about a week! I miss them very much and they will be entering their last year of Junior High. Almost like Freshmen. As Lois Griffin would say, "Get the Freshman!"

Martinique, summer 2006

I'm proud to say that I've been to the gym every single day this week except today. Tomorrow I have a free session with a personal trainer, Tuesday and Wednesday night is kickboxing, and Thursday night I fly out to Salt Lake... and embark on a wonderful journey filled with family, good friends, fun, and 10 days off work. Hurray!

Last night we celebrated Oak's birthday, our youngest volleyball player (only a year younger than me). We went to his parent's Thai restaurant for dinner which was a lot of fun - good food and good company. I carpooled with Lillian & Erin, who showed me downtown Los Angeles... and I saw where L.A. Live is going to be, as well as the JW & RZ that have started to build. They're huge!

Tomorrow night I'm going to a labor day BBQ. What a fun weekend! Although I'll be working tomorrow, I'll be doing so from home and ending early. Have a great night everyone!

La Chance

2009-09-02T20:36:00.000-07:00

Well, LA Fitness is darn lucky.

Despite the fact that the oblique muscles ab machine was broken yesterday, all machines are slightly older and and I'm just not feeling that gym yet, tonight's kickboxing class was actually pretty decent.

It felt so good. Half the moves were the same as Gold's gym on Van Winkle, and the other half were new but with the same basic moves. It's been almost a year since I've gone and I'm pretty proud of myself, even though I'm absolutely sore everywhere, I was able to stay the whole time - didn't mess up too much (I couldn't, I was in the front row. I always go in the front row because I'm motivated to do better there).

I'd love to get into kickboxing again. And I have to say, if it weren't for that class I'd probably cancel my membership. I think I'll try it out for a few months though (luckily I'm on a month-to-month membership). That way I can get back into weight training too. My workout videos at home can only do so much.

I know, I know... some of you might say "but you've got a beach right there where you can walk, run and breathe beach air and you play beach Vball 1-3 times a week." Very true, my friend. But here's the thing, Beach Vball is fun but unless I'm playing 2 on 2, it's really not working my endurance much. Running on the beach? I tried it and... somewhat gave up. Running's not my thing. Walking - sure, I like to walk, but again, no muscle toning or real endurance building.

I want to be able to kick some butt... oh, I dream of the day that I will be able to beat Babe in an arm wrestle.

It must be late, I'm hallucinating. Babe's stronger than he looks.

Good night all!

Papillon Social

2009-09-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

Well, it took about 8-9 months, but I finally feel like I have a life outside of work now besides the casual beach volleyball game & holiday BBQ's.

Last Wednesday I went over to Lynn's house who invited me over for dinner because she felt like cooking a bunch of new things or things she hadn't cooked in a while (in other words, I knew I'd be a test subject... which I have absolutely no problem with!!!) and she made delicious dishes of curry, eggplant with chili sauce, some kind of spicy beef and pork and deep fried prawns. Everything was absolutely delicious! She's from Singapore and her husband's German. She also invited Lillian who's from Malaysia I believe -and her boyfriend who's very American and I swear has the same facial hair as a Backstreet Boy. A fun Wednesday evening.

Friday - round 2 - Lynn wanted me to try her apricot glazed salmon that she learned from a past Argentinian neighbor, and so the same gang was invited over for dinner... it was fantastic too. Easy to make too. Maybe I'll try it someday.

Saturday was Volleyball at 11am with a very "different" crowd. Instead of the really nice and gentle same-sex couples I regularly see on Sundays, these were hard-core tatooed 250 pound 40-50 yr old hockey players shouting & swearing like there's no tomorrow. I was laughing so hard inside. "COME ON! YOU'RE THE STRAW THAT STIRS THE DRINK! F*** I'M SWEATING. OH F***, I'M SWEATING REAL BAD. F*** I GOT SUNSCREEN IN MY EYES DAMN IT!" A little too much swearing for my tastes... I don't think I'll make Saturday vball a new weekly thing.

Saturday night was a Filipino friend's birthday party in Orange County, where at least 10 different nationalities were present, including another Frenchie. We had awesome food, even French cheeses that I can't believe when I went for it it was gone - but there was foie gras leftover so I thought I might have a little taste even though I'm not a huge fan.

Sunday was usual Beach V-ball, cleaning the house, dinner at an Italian restaurant, and last night Lillian invited me over for dinner because she "felt like cooking" so we had a ladies night in (4 of us) and had yummy spicy food.

Also - I got a gym membership to try out LA Fitness for the week - I'm not uber impressed yet (went to pilates tonight and it was boring as heck) and yesterday they spent over an hour convincing me to join that I barely had time to work out. I'm going to go everyday this week though and can cancel by Saturday if I choose to do so.

Today I'm grateful to be in a state with so much diversity. Also for friends I get to see and for trying all these delicious new foods. My heart goes out also to those who have lost their homes in the SoCal fires. For those who wonder, these fires are north of LA and are at least 25-30 miles away from me thus are not affecting me directly, so I'm fine. The fires in Palos Verdes were a lot closer (5-10 miles) but those were extinguished pretty quickly.

I wish everyone a fabulous week - and hope to see some/most of you on my next trip to SLC in two weeks. Yeah, baby!

Best things

2009-08-25T19:39:00.001-07:00

Best things today:

*Got an email from my dad telling me about his vacation - miss you Daddy!

*Finished my analysis at work and I actually think it holds water. Can't wait to present to boss tomorrow and GM on Thursday.

*Drove home listening to my favorite song

*Am currently having great conversations with my favorite texting buddy :)

Happy Tuesday!

Les Russes

2009-08-23T22:49:00.000-07:00

Played Volleyball briefly with some Russians today.

"What's your name?"

(I say my real name)

"Hor-e-ny?"

So that's a first. My name sounds like "Oh Really", "Orally", never heard "Horny". Hope he wasn't just asking. Or maybe I just need to speak up more.

Ca fait drole

2009-08-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

It's such a weird feeling, when you go from 3 people living in your apartment for 5 days... then 5.... then 2 en amoureux... and then it's just me again.

Sigh.

Well, at least I had a blast these past few weeks! My best friend from elementary in France, Laure, came to visit with her boyfriend, Maxime. I hadn't seen her in at least a couple of years and it was my first time meeting him. They discovered LA, Malibu, took a day trip to Vegas (yes, a DAY trip... I told them they were nuts and should just spend the night there...), Hollywood and Orange County. Not bad for 5 days and crazy 9 hour jetlag!

I wanted Maxime to try something very American: a root beer float. Problem is, from past experience, I know that most Frenchies do not like root beer. "It tastes like Coke that tastes like medicine." That's what I used to think ages ago... but I'm pretty americanized now. However, Max likes Mr. Pibb. So I told him to try a Mr. Pibb float when we stopped for ice cream. When they first saw it, dropped the ice cream in the soda and saw the chemical reaction, the look on their faces was priceless. He loved it! Laure also tried some kind of shake with melted marshmallow cream (also very American) and loved it. It was really fun. It was a really hot day in Hollywood/ Here's proof, because I usually never wear shorts unless I'm on the beach...

Babe and I had a few days to ourselves and we always try to make the most of it. To give you an update, he decided to start school in the spring. I was a little pissed at first (ok, really pissed because I'm like that), but all of his counselors highly, highly encouraged him to start in the spring because a) all the good classes for fall are pretty much taken b) he should start job shadowing to see what he wants to do and start doing some volunteer work because the college of law and other fields he's thinking of going into really look at that stuff c) it's important for him to get good grades and get in classes he's interested in. Well, whatever works best for him... I trust him to make what he believes is the best decision. It'll just take a little longer than expected to graduate, but that's ok. Many people get married and have families while going to school. I know he wants to be better prepared for everything and I know he'll do very well and make me proud :)

August 13th was Babe's birthday. His younger brother, Ty-Dogg, came here for the week so that they could spend some time together on days when I was at work. On his b-day, we went to "Spark Woodfire Grill" (Right by the RI Beverly Hills) and he had the best kobe burger ever. I had a tasty shrimp pesto pizza. We then ventured through L.A. and visited the automobile museum, wanted to go in, and it turns out we got in for free. We got tricked by the Johnny Rockets waiters who told us we could go in through the restaurant, and suddenly we're inside. It wasn't until we were finished that we passed the admissions office. Oops! Well, we were only able to spend about 45 minutes anyway because of parking. It was really interesting. We saw really old cars and such. Something different. Always up for that...

Happy birthday to my man who doesn't look a day over 22.

That's about it! Getting really excited for my next trip, which will be a Salt Lake/ New York combo the week after labor day. Meanwhile, I've got a month to do the following; We'll see how I progress every week. How's that?

*balance checkbook

*eat healthy

*exercise at least 5x a week

*try either bikram yoga or 7 day complimentary gym pass

*enjoy the last few weeks of summer.

By the way, I haven't been to volleyball in a while - been spending time with the man and letting my left wrist rest a bit. I'll start it up again this Saturday, followed by a great BBQ with friends.

Today I'm grateful that even when I'm lonely, I still get phone calls, sweet emails and quirky text messages. Thanks for those who are thinking of me. I think of you guys too :)

Have a great evening & a la prochaine.

Dark & Bitter

2009-07-31T19:43:00.000-07:00

Well, today was such a fun day - was able to finalize my stay in New York City in September (can't wait!) and was able to get an employee rate in Idaho Falls by calling them directly for my mom and some friends in October.

Otherwise, short day at work, got almost everything done, and at 3PM our GM was hosting a BBQ with all the managers. He's got a beautiful Mediterranean style home in Manhattan Beach and we ate yummy bratwurst boiled in beer and onions before they hit the grill. Really good and hit the spot. Especially considering I just had a donut for lunch (bad, I know).

Now - a few weeks ago, we were all given a sheet for each manager and to write what we thought about one another. Funny, sentimental, etc... and it was hilarious. There were about 20 of us or so. Some of them included:

"Hot mama"

"His hair never moves"

"Looks like Tom Cruise's older brother"

"could be a stunt double for Sergio" (another manager that was there and I swear they look like twins)

"I like my women like I like my coffee: Dark and bitter"

It was a lot of fun. Everything that was said was nicely printed and framed. Here's what people think about me in the office:

*She's a breath of fresh air

*Very positive attitude

*She's an adventurer

*Independent, kind, smart

*She fits right in!

*She brings a little European culture to the office

*I need my sunglasses... that is one beautiful engagement ring

*Loves to play Beach Volleyball

*Willing to learn more and more

*I've heard her crepes rival Chef Dean's

(Chef Dean is the executive chef at the hotel, the one who likes his women like his coffee)

So that's about it!

Plans for this weekend: Saturday night small Get-together and BBQ with friends, maybe go to Manhattan beach or Hermosa Beach for the surf festival during the day, and usual beach V-ball on Sunday.

Coming up: Babe should be here next week, the week after my best friend from elementary in France is coming to visit with her boyfriend (haven't seen her in a couple of years), in September I'll be in Utah for a few days then taking off for NYC to discover this fabulous city.

Today I'm grateful for the weekend and am extremely excited to see friendly faces everyday.

Here are some pics from today's work BBQ.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Qu'est-ce-qu'on se marre

2009-07-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while... but it's getting busy at work and budgets and such. Now, for the not-so-boring stuff...

Mom came over for Pioneer Day weekend and we had a blast! So fun to have company, and my mom's always a treat to have around. We can suddenly burst out laughing till we cry... like that one time at the post office, remember mom? (j'etais dans le bus et j'ai vu une femme sortir.... ENORME... et puis le conductuer du bus avait un pif..... ENORME). Qu'est-ce-qu'on s'est marrés!

So it all started when I picked her up at LAX late Friday morning, and we went straight to Santa Monica. We had lunch at Mr. Marcel, and had fun stroll on 3rd Street Promenade, bought goodies at L'occitane, got myself a leopard print bikini top and blue dress shirt at H&M (not planning to wear them together), and had fun on the roller coaster on the pier, watching the ocean from a few dozen feet in the air with a few thrills. We went for a walk on the shore - it was packed, by the way! I then introduced her to the gigantic Whole Foods in El Segundo... and this is where we both had the time of our lives. So many goodies! Sushi bar, handmade pizza bar, mozzarella balls bar, little lemon raspberry tarts bakery... we grabbed some things and had dinner while watching "It Could Happen To You", with Nicholas Cage. I had never seen it but got the DVD one Christmas from the in-laws to be. It was kind of cute!

Saturday morning we walked on the beach for an hour and a half, then had brunch at "Yellow Vase", a cute French style café that's very yellow and sell awesome gourmet chocolates as well as flowers! Their roasted vegetable garden salad and my green chile omelet was to die for. We then got ready and I decided to show my mom Orange County and bring her to my favorite Beach, Salt Creek Beach at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel. "Why don't I take the 55 South and we'll get out at Newport Beach and just take PCH down to Dana Point? PCH is cute down that way. And although it was cuter than I remember, it took us 2.5 hours from my place to our final destination... that's just nuts, it was only 60 miles away! But once we arrived at the Beach and the waves were awesomer than I could imagine... the water wasn't too cold... we went in and the waves took us away... so strong that I even had a slight unintentional wardrobe malfunction in the left torso area I'm embarrassed to say... but we totally had a blast. Isn't it funny how you get really hungry after being exhausted from the being in the water?? Luckily coming home only took a little over an hour (Thanks, Interstate 5) and we watched "27 dresses" while eating leftovers and went to sleep.

Sunday was more of a chillax day, we walked on the beach for an hour, did squats for the last 5 minutes in the sand to get buns of steel, and Mom helped install a bunch of stuff in my apartment! The clock in the dining room, the filtered showerhead in the bathtub, we went to BBB to get a space saver above the loo, and some cute decorations above the dining room table. We then went to Beach V-ball, played for a few hours (A big thumbs-up to Mom who played very well for not having played in 30 years!!!), we then went to a fabulous place on the Riviera that I wanted to try called "Turquoise", a delicious organic place of Mediterranean tapas, surprisingly delightful blends of flavors, and an exquisite experience - with a really handsome & charming waiter to top it off. I'll be back! For the food, not the waiter... :)

So that's about it! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend... I'm excited because I get to see Babe soon, hopefully early next week.... it's been 6 weeks already and it's just too darn long!!!

Today I'm grateful for great friends, a great mom, a great man by my side and just life in general. Have a great night!! Here are some pictures...

Salt Creek Beach

Mom & I @ Salt Creek

Sandy toes...

Santa Monica

Thanks, Mom for a great Mommy-Daughter weekend!

Café Marmalade

2009-07-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

Busy day today:

Had to do practically everything at work by 10:00 AM, then meet with boss, then strategy meeting @ 11, then Café Marmalade for colleague's birthday, followed by another meeting at 2, then back to work to finish a few things. I have to get used to this fast-paced thing called the real world.

Tomorrow I get to work from home and I couldn't be more exhilarated. Since everyone else is, if I have to work alone, I'd rather do it at home in my leopard PJs.

That's about it! Today I'm grateful I had a good meeting and that my hotels are doing well this week. How about you?

Later, Gator.

Quand Yen a marre, Ya Malabar

2009-07-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

Friday - Work & Beach V-ball

Saturday - Groceries & Beach V-ball & huge steak with ice cream cake

Sunday - Beach Vball & crashing on the couch

I am.......... so.......... sore.

YAY!!!!!

So that was my weekend. I also have this really annoying fever blister that won't go away though. I hope it disappears before I meet the event management team on Thursday.

Today I'm grateful that my new webcam arrived, I can now have crystal clear pictures and video in HD and sing and put myself on youtube. Last time I sang, someone told me not to quit my day job, but I'll prove them wrong. mwouahahahahahahahahahaaa!!!

May you all have sweet dreams.

I'm Committing Carbocide!!

2009-07-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

What a week!

First off, last weekend.

Friday - tried to get a Volleyball court at 3PM on a Friday that everyone has off. Fun. I walked up and down the strand and finally found one that just vacated. After a few hours, we had a potluck at Ben & Renée's, and it was really fun! Ben can sure BBQ...

Saturday - woke up at 6:30 and left at 7 to get V-ball courts again as it is the busiest day of the year and people have gotten in fights before trying to hold a court that early.

Why was I assigned to get the courts you ask? Is it the fact that I've got great big muscles and can fight off a gang of pissed off middle aged men? Is it because I look intimidating enough that they won't even dare try to fight me?

Good guesses, but no. It turns out I live the closest. And there's nothing like a morning workout on the beach on a beautiful day, so I volunteered.

Except that the morning V-ball turned into an all day feast, and moralité: I was there from 7:30 AM to 6 PM with 75 degrees and clear afternoon skies.

Please, aloe vera, and my sweetie to rub it on, I need you NOW. MAINTENANT. AHORA.

Sigh.

At least my face isn't peeling anymore - now it's going to my shoulders. Gosh darn it.

Did I learn my lesson? Yes. I will not only apply sunscreen everywhere but I will re-apply every 3-4 hours. and maybe go home from noon-3 on similar days.

It was so much fun though. We played 2 on 2, 3 on 3, 4 on 4, and you guessed it... 5 on 5. At night we watched fireworks from the beach and Ben & Leo gave me big hugs as they are so happy that they have found me because they think I'm such a nice person. But the truth is, I'm so glad I found them. They're really cool people, most in their late 20s to early 30s, married or gay, and they want me to hang out with them a lot. And honestly, I'd love more friendship... in this state too.

Last night actually, Leo, Lillian, Renée and I went to a special screening to see "Brüno." I thought it wouldn't be as bad as Borat. Borat just plain disgusted me. Brüno was.... WOW. I was cracking up a lot, but seriously... sex-wise, I think it was worse than Borat. At least I had a fun night out in Hollywood, and went to a Thai place: "Palm Thai" after with an Asian guy doing Elvis impersonations. Went to bed at 11:30 and got very little sleep... but it was worth it to have a weeknight off the couch :)

Not much else going on! If you want to see pictures of the 4th of July, they're on Facebook. If you don't have to Facebook, I guess you'll have to beg me to post them here.

Deal?

Today I'm grateful for meeting great friends. For my well being today, I'm eating negative calorie soup. That's the kind of soup that takes more calories to burn than digest.

Tomorrow - work and beach V-ball.

Saturday - relax and run errands

Sunday - more Beach Vball.

Yes, yes, I'll remember sunscreen. Have a great night!

A L'instant Critique, Quand Tout L'Monde Craque, La Tactique C'est L'attaque

2009-07-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

Wow.

What better way to spend a Thursday night than spend a few moments on YouTube watching old cartoons that I grew up on... in France and in FRENCH. Awesome!!

Tic & Tac, Rangers Du Risque (Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers)

La Bande a Picsou, Ooh-oo-ooh! (Duck Tales) > Listen to both the French & English version. The Ooh-oo-Ooh in French is about 2 tones higher. When I first sang it, people thought I was way off key. Well ok, Maybe I was. But not as much as you thought :)

Bisounours (you guess this one)

Super Baloo (Tailspin)

Ok, time for Counter-Strike or something. I get to sleep in tomorrow!! Woohoo!

The Art of Doing Nothing

2009-06-30T18:30:00.001-07:00

I'm having a lazy day. Although I worked my full 9 hours and stared at Marsha all day, my neck and back are absolutely killing me. I just don't want to do anything. I rarely have those days, so I hope I'm okay.

I'm going to cook some hamburger meat tonight, probably on a bed of spring mix lettuce. Pretty boring. At this point, I just want to crash on the couch and watch 2 full hours of Family Guy.

Why am I feeling this way? It's cloudy so I don't want to go to the beach, and I really don't have the energy to work out. I guess I can skip a day. I think that I just can't wait until the 3 day weekend and hang out with great company along with some beach v-ball.

Today I'm grateful that I get to relax and do nothing, with no one telling me to do the dishes or something. I'll do them on my own terms :). For my well-being today, I shall take a nice hot relaxing bath. Yeah, that sounds just delightful.

Until next time... hope you all had a fabulous day!

Le Festival

2009-06-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

I actually ended up spending about 3 hours at the festival yesterday walking around. Great people watching. If I had kids, they would've had a blast. If I had friends to hang out with, we would've had a blast. If I had my sweetie with me, it would've been even better. But going by myself was tolerable. There was food, music, arts and crafts, and a henna tattoo stand. I'm sooooo tempted to get one on my lower back. But one day, I was told it means Bull's Eye. I still want to because it looks darn cute. Any objections? It only lasts 2 weeks! :)

Here are some pictures. Enjoy.

Prizes...

Giant waterslides...

Polynesian dancing

Pet adoptions

Music & a beer garden

Tons of booths with arts & crafts, jewelry, inventions...

Dr Mookie Love, this was just for you...

Ferris wheel!

Overall, a pretty good day! Got a massage at 6PM, made a delicious homemade dinner of curry jumbo shrimp with rice and lentils, and watched "Confessions of a Shopaholic," which was so-so. At least the actor was easy on the eyes. I then played Counter-Strike Source for about an hour and went to bed!

Today I'm grateful that I just got invited to a BBQ after Beach v-ball today. I heart company! Today, for my well being & exercise, I'll play volleyball for probably 4 hours. Works the legs & the arms. Have a great Sunday!

Yes, White Bread Contains Wheat Too

2009-06-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

So I just wanted to say hello on this fabulous Saturday morning.

Last night I was going for a run, but ended up playing volleyball (very poorly I might add) for about 90 minutes. Went to bed at 11pm, woke up at 6:55... and felt refreshed, although I was awakened by my room shaking. I think there's a homeless person living above me who periodically jumps up and down for fun. Great.

So far today I've talked to my sweetie on the phone, watched some funny videos from collegehumor.com, watched half of "National Lampoon's European Vacation," made a delicious zucchini, bacon and avocado omelet (protein overload) and seen what my friends are up to on Facebook.

So today, my to-do list:

-Go to an AT&T store and see about getting my own plan (still on a family plan at home), see if I can get a great deal on a snazzy new phone while I'm at it because mine is over 2 years old

-Walk to Von's for some groceries (organic summer berries on sale! Yum!!)

-75 degrees today and the marine layer's gone, I'm going to get some sun and show off my new bikini

-Clean the apartment a bit

-The rest is free time. There's a festival at the Hollywood Riviera today and tomorrow. It won't be as fun alone, but I might check it out.

Today I'm grateful that I get a day off. Today, for my well-being I shall walk and breathe beach air. Here's to a great weekend :)

Au Revoir Les Stars & Arrete

2009-06-25T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well, you may all know by now that Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson are gone... that's too bad. I'll listen to "Thriller" for old times' sake. If you see my mom, ask her about how my French is so bad that I told her that a fishbone got in MJ's heart. "Arrete cardiaque!"

Pssss, Psssss.....

Well, it's been a pretty good week - I'm able to catch up on work as there's not much going on right now. I've been doing good on my declaration of well-being. I did 45 minutes of strenuous ab exercises yesterday and 5 minutes abs + 40 minutes cardio today. I also ate a delicious dinner of baked halibut and ratatouille. Healthy AND delicious? Yes, the combo exists. And I feel great.

Right now, just listening to some bootyshaker songs. Last night I watched "My Fake Fiance" with Melissa Joan Hart & Joey Lawrence. Why you ask? I wonder that myself. I've seen stupider, but this just topped it. Sigh. I'm lonely though and need a good romantic chick flick once in a while, no matter how cheesy.

The office smells semi-terrible still from the drain leak, but once you're in it you get used to it. Then you get up to go to the restrooms, come back 5 minutes later and it smells terrible. I should never leave. Ha!

Today I'm grateful that I got home in under 30 minutes. And that I made my mom laugh so hard today. And that I have a goal and I'm sticking to it.

Have an absolutely perfect evening.

Apres aujourd'hui...

2009-06-23T19:20:00.000-07:00

That's it, after today, it shall start.

What shall start you ask? First of all, can you believe that this costs $13???

Prosciutto stuffed mushrooms appetizer at Buca. And they weren't that great. Good thing I had a $10 coupon I had to use so they only cost 3 bucks.

But that's it. I've decided... for realz this time... that I'm going to be committed. Really. I'm sick and tired of having dark circles under my eyes again. I'm sick of having lost my two-pack and toned arms. I'm sick of it. I want to be healthy and look the best I can. I'm almost 25 years old. And that picture above, I'm already not proud of. Tonight, it ends. Tonight, I shall write my declaration of Lilie's well-being.

I. No more dipping into the bag of chocolate chips when I have a sweet craving. If I crave something sweet, I shall reach for a piece of fruit.

II. I will not only eat yummy veggies and protein from legumes, but I will eat smaller portions. I'm not going vegetarian, but I'll eat lots of lentils, black beans and chickpeas for awesome protein & fiber.

III. Back to the no wheat, no dairy. This is what's giving me dark circles under my eyes. Only indulge when I have to or when there are special occasions. In moderation, still.

IV. Losing weight is not my goal. Losing inches, toning up and increasing my endurance are.

V. I shall do some type of exercise everyday, and something for my mental well-being everyday as well.

I think that's good for now. I am now also officially adding one more thing to each blog post. Say something good I did for my well-being today. As always, I encourage you to do the same, but hey, I'm not forcing ya :)

So today... I'm grateful that I received an email from a very nice former landlord in Salt Lake, we were catching up and he told me how he always considered me like the daughter he never had. He's a great guy. I'm so happy that he remarried and I wish him the best. His email brought a small tear of joy and made me really happy. I'm also grateful that I consider my boss like part of the family. I went over to her house and gave her a big hug as she's going to the East Coast for a week. I heart my job and my co-workers.

Something funny today? Oh yeah, the office flooded... again. But that's old news, because it flooded Sunday. Good thing I went in to work to notice it in time. But that means I got to work from home yesterday and today. Tomorrow I should be able to go in.

For my exercise/well-being today: I rollerbladed for about 30 minutes, walked for about 35, took deep breaths of beach air, and declared my declaration of well-being. Here's to many more good things I will do for me [don't worry, I'm not selfish, I'll still do good things for others :)].

Have a great night! What did you do for your well-being today?

The flood - Part Deux

2009-06-22T22:08:00.001-07:00

Sigh...

I'm going to bed.

Les Hauts & Les Bas

2009-06-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday and I've had a pretty interesting day so far running on little sleep.

Went to bed at midnight last night, watched AMC: "True Lies", "Die Hard 2" (never had seen any of the Die Hard series) and about half of "Commando." It was a pretty relaxing night on the couch with my sweetie. We woke up at 2:58am to call Jetblue to confirm, then we woke up at 5:23am (alarm was set for 5:00 but I hit snooze too many times), realizing that, oh crap, we have 2 minutes to get ready and head out for the airport. He made it, which is good because he gets to spend Father's Day with his fam, bad because we could've had one more day together... but it's all good. That's what standby will do :)

I was home by 7:30 am and went to Kohl's, went grocery shopping, and I've pretty much been watching TV since. Fell asleep during "Romi & Michelle's High School Reunion" (can you blame me?), watched "Vegas Vacation" with Chevy Chase, which was fairly funny, then "Spanglish" which is a movie I can kind of relate too, being foreign. Now, I know, you'll say it was a pretty unproductive day - but I've been doing chores in between commercials.

So It'll be probably another 6 weeks till I see my man - until then, my mom will come visit me Pioneer Day weekend, which 'll be fun. I also have my best friend from elementary in France who might be coming to visit me mid-august.

So nothing much planned for the next month... except a potluck party on July 3rd if I end up staying here, which I probably will.

Today I'm grateful that I was able to spend a great week with my man. What made me laugh today: trying to down a 16 oz energy drink in 5 minutes, before passing security at the airport.

Wishing you a fantastic weekend!

La Vie est Belle

2009-06-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

Just a quick hello to say that I'm spending a wonderful week with my man here. After he arrived early Friday night, along with the whole Salt Lake Real Soccer team, we went to a delicious & cheap Thai restaurant. Saturday we got his hair cut, saw the Real's Assistant Coach there who remembered Guru, and later that night we saw "The Hangover" which was absolutely hilarious. Fat Jesus made the movie. It is rated R though, for lots of swearing and the famous end credits.

I've been getting to work early each day (7am) so that I can leave early (4pm) and spend time with my man. Not only am I getting off early, I'm getting home in 25 minutes vs. the usual 40! It's awesome!

Friday I'll be working a little from home, then get the rest of the day off. Tonight I made my famous lasagna and used about 2 lbs of cheese (no kidding!). Yum!

This week I'm grateful for great company. On Sunday, we went to my work party and everyone finally got to meet Guru. Here's what made me laugh all week long:

Monday:

Boss Man J: So, um, how old is Guru?!?!?
Me: He'll be 27 in August.
Colleague K: What?!? No way!
BMJ: yeah, I don't buy it. I though he was at least 2 years younger than you.
Me: Come on, didn't you see that he's graying already?
BMJ: What? I thought that was painter's dust or something
Colleague K craking up.

Tuesday:
Boss Lady M comes in: "Good morning! So it was great to meet Guru, he's so personnable and seems like a great guy... but, um, how old is he??!!
Me: He'll be 27 in August.
BLM: What?!! No way!!! I was thinking about it. He looks about 20, but you started dating 8 years ago so he would've been 10 something... so that can't be right
Me: Cracking up. "Come on, didn't you see that he's graying already?"
BLM: well, my sister started graying at 18... hmmm...
Me: Yeah, Guru doesn't age. We even got ID'd to go see the Hangover.

Wednesday:
Stand up meeting.
BLM: So what did you guys do last night?
Me: Oh, we decided to go to Buca Di Beppo. It was good!
BMJ: Why, because kids eat free?

and we all started cracking up again.

I work in a laughter filled office. It's great :)

Good night everyone!

Jesus Préfère Sprouts a Trader Joe's

2009-06-10T21:49:00.000-07:00

Well, hi!

Back in LA County. What a fun week I spent in Salt Lake! Saw tons of people and had good times. I'm going to bed soon, so I'll go into details another time.

It's so nice and sunny here... and SLC is cursed with rain, I hear. Who wants to come here on vacation? LoL. Well, it's not that warm... maybe 68 degrees by the time I get off work. But so, very, very nice. I'll tell you though, Tuesday after work I took a walk on the beach... and just realized that much more how much I like it here. I REALLY like it here. I love my apartment, my location, my job, my co-workers... I better stop before I jinx myself :p but seriously, I'm grateful for that.

At work, my co-workers like my new highlights in my hair. That's good, because I love them too and keeping them :). However, I looked really sick and pale this morning (maybe because I only ate 800 calories the day before), and I think the blond washed me out. Hmm. Gotta get that tan going again. And maybe eat a few more calories too.

What are you grateful for today? I'm also grateful that I get to show my mom this cool license plate I saw on my way to work this morning:

Have a great night!

Les Vacances...

2009-06-03T08:09:00.000-07:00

Jamie: "Beach, septic tank. Beach.... septic tank... hmmmmm... why would you come to Utah on vacation?"

LoL. Well, I am indeed in Salt Lake... for a vacation. "But you live in a vacation," said 2 or 3 people yesterday. "Well, sometimes I need a vacation from the vacation."

:)

Well, it's been a great week so far. My brother came to Cali Wednesday night, Thursday I worked and he walked around the neighborhood and beach (the sun didn't make an appearance once), and Friday we went to the Santa Monica Pier and 3rd Street Promenade, which was a lot of fun. We had a late lunch at "Monsieur Marcel" and it was delicous - and very French. We just had a charcuterie & cheese plate - and a delicous tartin tatin with ice cream for dessert. Yum - or should I say "Miam."

I even found an H&M - and bought a really cute leopard print bikini. When you live at the beach, 2 swimsuits aren't enough... and we walked around shops and stuff. My brother likes to shop so it was actually fun.

Saturday, drove up to Salt Lake... left around 8:40 (9:00 if you don't count the stop for gas) and arrived at 8pm. We made great time! 10 hours and about 4 stops. Probably because my bro was driving. I swear I closed my eyes after we passed Baker and 30 minutes later I could see the Vegas skyline. After I got home and freshened up, I went to see my sweetie... for the first time in 6 weeks. It was great. Sunday we hung out basically all day and saw a movie, and it was actually really good.

Guru: "What should we see?"
Me: "I was thinking T4... or Star Trek"
G: "You've never seen the Star Trek original series though... let me ask someone that's seen it if they think it's ok"
M: "Do I need to? Can't you just brief me on it?"
G: Well, I could... ok, let's see what you need to know..."
M: "Here's a question: is this happening in the future?"
G: "OMG..." (unstoppable laughter) "Ok, maybe T4"
And the clerk says that she saw it, loved it and was able to understand it even without seeing the original movies. So we go see. Guru briefs me first on Star Fleet Academy, the space Federation, Spock's control of emotions... and the movie was GREAT! They explained it well in the beginning, too. "I might even start watching old Star Trek movies," I say. That is, only if the special effects were that good... which I know they're not.

So it was a great day. We had chicken on the BBQ and ratatouille for dinner, and that was Sunday. Monday I brought my car to the dealership for service, besides needing new brake pads it's in fine shape (woo-hoo!), took Roxy on a walk to wheeler farm, I ran 7 minutes, and on the way back Roxy had to stop and rest - she was exhausted, the poor thing. I actually carried her for about 5-10 minutes (she was probably thirsty too, it was a warm day), then she was fine again. I then got Guru from class, went to dinner and hung out.

Yesterday I went to my old work around 11:15 to see former co-workers, had lunch at the Chubby Toad with $teve and The Mad Scientist, and ended up hanging around for 3 hours before leaving to get Guru from class. We then went to the Gateway, came back home, then I was going to play Petanque at Liberty Park - but a crappy rainstorm ruined it, so we went to Gourmandise, my uncle's bakery instead.

Today, I'm having lunch at Gourmandise with my mom and my aunt, then getting highlights!!! So excited. I think that sun-kissed caramel streaks in my hair will go just perfectly with a California tan. Pictures maybe on the next post...

Today I'm grateful that Salt Lake doesn't really smell like a septic tank. Have a great day!

Joyeux Anniversaire

2009-05-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

Just a little note, because it's getting late...

Happy birthday to my very young dad and my very old cat!

That's right, Myau the cat is now 17 today... this was back when she was actually cute:

And my dad is just an awesome dad and it was great talking to him today. I really don't get to talk to him often. Maybe the fact that he's on the other side of the planet might have something to do with it. He's doing well, and he was about to devour a delicious couscous, which I'm sure wasn't as fabulous as the one he spends days making in the winter... but I hope you had a great day, Papounet... Je t'aime beaucoup! :)

2009-05-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

Yum, Chorizo & cheese crustless quiche from Trader Joe's... 30 minutes to bake?!?! Ok, I hear the blog calling my name anyway...

So, what a fun weekend! Saturday went to Ikea, got a killer deal on a bookshelf that I'm using as a TV stand as you can see:

I just finished decorating it tonight. It's not great, but it'll do for now. I need to get the DVD player out of there (and my old PC too).

Seriously, will you stop??? I think my neighbors are gettin' it on next door again and it sounds like the beginning of an earthquake. And you know how paranoid I've been the past few days.

Back to the weekend... Sunday was Beach V-ball all day, 10am to almost 4pm... at 10 am the water was so serene, and a couple of dolphins were really close to the shore... it was pretty cool. It never gets old even after the 20th time you've seen it. When I got home I baked a scrumptious frozen apple pie and claimed it as my own recipe, and then brought it to a really fun BBQ. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

Clockwise, from top: Lillian, me, Mayou, Tak's evil spirit, Christine, and a guy taking up 1/4 of the picture. May I clarify that I am not standing next to a naked chick and Lillian is indeed wearing a strapless dress, $teve...

Leo and the girls...

We were way too happy that we won all those games today...

So, that's about it! I worked today from 8 to about 2, got home, did some cleaning, brother's coming Wednesday night, I get Friday off, Saturday we drive up to Salt Lake... and that is where the real adventure will begin :)

Today I'm grateful that I was able to re-arrange furniture all by myself. What are you grateful for this beautiful Memorial day? Have a great night!!

Acteur a Los Angeles

2009-05-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

So, I forgot to mention this yesterday, but I swear that when I got in the elevator after work to get to my car, I saw Jean Reno get out. Why didn't I say anything?

Well, today's been a good day otherwise, work was good, got home and went for a beach walk, talked to my British neighbor about the earthquake, and now I'm about to eat a bun-less Turkey Avocado burger while watching the waited-for American Idol Finale. I'm so jealous, Boss Lady P gets to go to the finale and find out before me who wins. So will 3/4 of America East of PST, because the show won't start until... T - 40 minutes in Cali, when it's started just about everywhere else. Sigh.

Good night! Go, Adam!

Et un Autre...

2009-05-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, we had another earthquake today. I thought it was the huge cooler coming on! No biggie, just a 4.2 magnitude and it lasted about 3-5 seconds and there was light shaking. It originated only about 5 miles east of work though...

Sigh... why did I come to Cali again? Oh yeah, the beach, a great job opportunity, sunny weather. Ok, good. Just had to remind myself for a second :)

Today I'm grateful I get to watch the American Idol Finale! And that lunch at work was actually decent, it was chicken with a tomatillo sauce. Yum!

Well, not much else to say. I'm getting really excited for Memorial Day weekend and my week long vacation in Salt Lake... The only thing planned for this weekend is Beach V-ball all day, starting at 10AM on Sunday, followed by a BBQ with my buddies. Will be oh-so-fun! And I'm excited to see family and friends in... less than 2 weeks now!

Till next time, Ciao.

Le Mot Du Jour

2009-05-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

So, when I eat a delicious meal of peas with a nice green pea flavor, I wouldn't quite use that word... sigh. If she can get hired as a food critic, why can't I?

http://failblog.org/2009/05/18/food-critic-fail/

So by the way, if you don't already check out failblog for your daily laugh/smile/chuckle fix, I suggest you do.

Today was a pretty good day, although Boss Lady M is still sick, as well as her whole fam. It's really sad, she sounds aweful. I called her to see how she was doing and if she needed anything from the store whatever, and she said I was so sweet. I'm always there to help out :)

Today I'm grateful for an earthquake-free day, yay! And for Family Guy night. And that my brother might be coming in a week and we'll drive up to Salt Lake together. That's about it for today. Have a great night!

Shake & Bake

2009-05-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

Ah, my good old Geology 1010 class I took in college: Earthquakes and Volcanoes. Otherwise known as "Shake & Bake." I really loved that class. The ideas of earthquakes and volcanoes fascinate me. Just like every other natural disaster, such as tornadoes, etc...

Except, that when it happens to you, it's suddenly not fun anymore.

Yes, I just experienced my first Earthquake. What was I expecting? It's L.A. I had to get broken someday, right?

Well, in case you're wondering, I'm fine. It lasted only about 7-8 seconds, but that was one of the most terrifying few seconds of my life. It had a 5.0 magnitude and only two things fell over from a table and my bathroom sink. Breathe. It's ok. "Wait for the aftershock" Stepdad tells me as I call home... Thanks a lot, man :). I stood below a door frame but next time, per suggestions, I can do that, or below my computer desk, or even my closet. Any other suggestions?

After that, I heard people talking outside in the apartment complex, so opened my door... everyone was looking at each other making sure that they were ok. That was pretty cool.

Well, otherwise Volleyball today was fun... my work party got cancelled because Lady Boss M, her husband and son are all sick. I'm grateful today that I'm one piece. Here's to a wonderful (hopefully earthquake-free) week!

Enfin Tranquille

2009-05-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I made a to-do list for a Saturday.

9:30 - check out an apartment

10 - get hair cut

11 - grocery store

1230: get waxed

1 - check out another apartment

The rest - whatever else comes along.

So here we go. I get to my first apartment, or at least what I thought was an apartment. One bedroom, $1200 a month Craig's List tells me. I park on the driveway in front of a dated house, and the truck next to me has big cat moving below it. It starts to cross the street. Wow, that's a huge cat! Wait... holy crap, that's a big racoon! And he's making his way into the neighbor's garage. Nice. I was greeted by an Eastern European woman who had either really bad morning breath or really bad coffee breath, that I could smell from a few feet away. She shows me a room, a bathroom attached to it. "Oh, so it's not the whole thing?" No, she says, chuckling a bit. "Here's your kitchen" and she open a closet door, and in this closet in a mini-fridge, a toaster, and a few shelves. Are you fracking kidding me? I was in and out of there in 2.5 minutes. Now, here's my question to the world. Who in their right mind would rent out a room, unless it's got huge bay windows and is so close to the beach that if I threw a rock it would hit the water, for $1200/month?

Moving right along. Went to get my hair cut, I had a $15 coupon. The salon is... so-so. I didn't feel really comfortable in there. Basically, I got my hair shampoo'ed, rinsed, conditioned, rinsed, towel dried, cut, blow dried, paid the guy, in 26 minutes. Who cuts ladies hair in 26 minutes??!! I probably should've waited until I'm in Salt Lake to see my aunt who knows my hair like I know chocolate. Thank goodness it was only a trim, it could have been a catastrophe.

I'm way ahead of schedule. I get groceries, make lunch (quinoa pasta with ground beef and fresh cherry tomatoes), watch a little TV, get waxed, go see apartment # 2.

Apartment # 2 was actually semi-decent, everything was remodeled, the kitchen was big, but the living room was smaller than the kitchen. The area was very decent, although there were power lines buzzing just a few homes away. $1150 a month with utilities. Not bad. Conclusion from today: I'm still going to stay here. I really do like this apartment and even if I find something just as good for $100 less a month, the whole move won't be worth it. So, that's that. I still had fun visiting the places and the people yesterday and today... each prospective landlord was from the Eastern Hemisphere. So much diversity here in L.A.

Well, about to play some counter strike against my man... wishing you all a fabulous Saturday!

They Shouldn't Have Won

2009-05-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today was a busy day at work, and I left at 4:30 to see a place to rent. I decided to start searching again... just in case I see an absolutely incredible deal. So click here to see here's what I visited.

It's a cute beach cottage! I'd have my own small backyard, off street parking, and live in a tiny house. The Patio is tiled and the landscape is cute. The only problem? If I move out of here, I want a bigger kitchen. You know how tiny my kitchen is. Well, this kitchen... was literally the size of my bedroom closet. The whole thing too was probably half the size of my current apartment. And if I gained 10 more pounds, I don't think I would fit in the shower. It felt like on a cruiseship in a way. A stand-up comedian said "wow, I almost fell out of that shower.... good thing the bed was right there to catch me." Seriously. I'm not giving up the size of my apartment and my beautiful ocean view for a patio, and savings of $55 a month.

The landlord lady, however, is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Cute lady from London, we talked about anything and everything and she made it clear that France shouldn't have won the 2008 World Cup. Too funny. Talked for over an hour on the patio. Very nice. She encouraged me to go make friends. Good point. I've got my volleyball buddies though, which is just perfect for me. I don't mind just hanging out at home on weekday nights. It's the weekends I get bored, so then comes in Volleyball. Speaking of that, Memorial Day Sunday will be Beach V-ball all day and BBQ at night.

Today I'm soooooo grateful it's the weekend. My back is shot. Maybe I'll go get a massage or something. Ugh. I'm actually going to visit another apartment tomorrow at 1PM. I'll have to tell you all about it :)

Best Thing Today?

2009-05-14T19:27:00.001-07:00

I just jogged nonstop for 10 minutes and 30 seconds.

It's a record so far. Best part? Way more than I could do in Junior High or High School.

Remember running the mile? I'd have to stop less than 1/4 of the way through. What does this all mean? At 24, I am in better shape than I was as a teen. All thanks to a beautiful beach a few minutes away who is motivating me. I can watch the waves and don't even need an iPod to keep me going.

I don't know how long I'm going to live by the beach. My lease is up next month. I know I have to sign another 1 year lease or go month-to-month, which means they'll probably rack up the rent anytime they want. I don't think I want to sign a one year lease because I don't know where I'll be in less than a year. I may be in Newport Beach, Murray, Half Moon Bay, Atlanta, Hong Kong... who knows (well, maybe not the last few), so I'm taking advantage of this beach to get in shape and a beautiful summer glow. I'm savoring every minute of it.

Here's to you, hoping you are savoring every piece of your life.

It's a beautiful day for a blog posting.

2009-05-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

Well, just thought I'd say hi while I try to heat up last night's dinner... what's my microwave-free method you ask? Put my dinner on a plate, put plate on top of a saucepan filled with boiling water, and cover. How have I been living with a microwave for the past 5 months?? I don't know, but I'm surviving :)

So just a recap of the past few days:

Monday night is Movie Night because I get a free Redbox Code (you know you're cheap when you can't pay a buck to see a movie, you have to wait for a free code... but I think I've mentioned this on my blog before), and watched "Bride Wars" with Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway. It was cute, whatever, it was a chick flick and it was about weddings and girlfriends. If there's one thing I can take advantage of while my man is away, is watch chick flicks.

Tuesday after work I cleaned my kitchen, I made one of my favorite dishes: Curried chickpeas and gingered black beans. So good. But to make it even better, I added the rest of the goat cheese crumbles and burratta cheese. TO DIE FOR. In fact, that's what I'm heating up right now for me to devour when I'm done posting. I then watched American Idol, and for all the years that I've watched it, because I get 200 texts a month, I decided to vote by text for the first time in how many seasons? So I vote. And I feel proud and happy. And then I get a text back saying that the voting window has closed. WHAT?!?!?! All because Cali's showing is 2 hours behind Utah's and I still have a Utah phone number. LAME.

Well, tonight I'll just hang out on my couch and watch who's going to get kicked out on AI. Nothing too exciting planned for the next few days, except that I'm getting my hair cut on Saturday (about time, it's been 7 months) and going to a work party on Sunday.

Today I'm grateful that I get to indulge in simple healthy and protein-filled curry goodness. I'm also proud that I decided to try out 2 more workout videos that came with the ones I ordered 8 weeks ago. Lost 2.5 inches in the waist since then by the way:)

Have a great night.

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well, if you weren't across the country, I would've cooked this Chef D'oeuvre for you:

Grass-fed Filet mignon steak with organic green beans, mixed mushrooms and crumbled goat cheese.

But it didn't stop me from splurging last night :)

Happy Mother's Day to my awesome mom!

Paresseuse

2009-05-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Well, it's the happiest morning of my week - the day I get to sleep in till 7:30 or so. Yes, that is sleeping in for me. I love it!

The weather's not great this morning though. But guess what - it's clearing up! So instead of being lazy this morning, here's my to-do list before go enjoy the near future sunshine:

-Laundry

-Bills & Budget

-Vacuum (there's sand everywhere, it gets stuck in my shorts when I play Beach V-ball)

I already ate breakfast, looked at my inventories and cleaned my kitchen, and it's only 10 AM. Not bad. If I finish everything else by 1300 hours, I might go tan or something if it looks better out there... or maybe buy food, the fridge is empty. Hmmmm... buy food, or get skin cancer.... I have to decide which one is more appealing. I'll get back to you on that.

Other than that, nothing too exciting... volleyball's scheduled to start at 2:30 tomorrow, so I'm excited for that... tomorrow is Mother's Day and in case I don't post tomorrow, I'd like to wish a very happy day to all you wonderful moms out there! It's also my StepMom's birthday tomorrow, so I'd like to wish her a happy birthday! (Mother's Day in France is in June I found out). As to my wonderful mom, she is off to a fun 9 day trip on the East Coast... I hope you have a blast! I'm so glad to have her as my mom, because she rocks and I miss her so much! Sorry I couldn't see you this year... we'll have a mother-daughter day next month when I come over, I promise. I also would like to wish a happy Mother's day to my future mom-in law, who is one of the most caring individuals I know and I know she sees me as one of her daughters... Happy Mom's Day!

Also I'd like to give a shout out to... me, because I worked out 45-60 minutes everyday this week, and lost 2 pounds in doing so! I can do this! Woo-hoo!

Today I'm grateful that it's the weekend, which means free minutes on my phone... lol. Seriously, this is killing me. I get about 4 hours a month, and last night I was having the best conversation with my sweetie, but being the cheapo that I am, after 40 minutes, I said "holy cow honey, it's been 40 minutes... do you mind if I call you back after 9?" Sigh. Long distance sucks. I miss you hun... and hope that I can see you before next month.

Wishing everyone a fantastic weekend.

Cheering for Dick

2009-05-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the teaser of my title... but I'll talk about that in just a bit.

Today, I had the privilege to work from home... today they decided to replace the carpet in the office after the flood (finally!). The office has been so stinky anyway that we wanted to prove a point - that we just can't work under these conditions, so we all worked from home. It was... really interesting! I am at my laptop all morning, went to the dentist at 11 AM, had a steamed artichoke with home made vinaigrette and sweet potato pancakes for lunch... all while enjoying a bright apartment and an ocean view and working most of the morning in my PJ's. I could deal with this :). I missed the office interaction though, everyone at work just cracks me up.

I'm grateful and proud of myself because I rollerbladed for about 30 minutes today and 45 minutes yesterday. I'm really trying to be good again so that I can be ready for bikini weather!

Last night I watched "City of Ember," which I thought was pretty creative. If you want to see a fat Bill Murray, and find out why he's on the chunky side... and want a little fun and adventure and creativity... I recommend it.

So, Sunday night's dinner was pretty fun! I had really spicy Malaysian food... and good company. There were 12 of us total, at a round table with a lazy Susan and shared some seafood curry, seafood crispy noodles, chicken curry, spicy crab, spicy beef, and other spicy stuff... and what looked like a Japanese Tiramisu, but it was more of a sponge cake. Here's a picture of some of my volleyball buddies:

Now, when Frenchies are about to drink, lift up their glass and say "Cheers," we say "Tchin Tchin." Well, everyone's asking me to speak French, as they drink their sake and beer and I sip my ice water. They say Cheers and I say "Tchin Tchin". Being with a lot of Asians, it turns out that means (or at least sounds very similar to) "penis" in Japanese (or was it Chinese?). So yeah. My whole life I've been cheering for Dicks.

Good night everybody!

I feel swine! Uh, I mean, I feel fine!

2009-05-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

Ah, ze weekend, she is very exciting, non?

Well, it's been a good week... I finished my project I work I wanted to finish! Woo-hoo!

However, I forgot to mention we basically have a very stinky office... how you say? Well, our office is on the first floor... the room above us on the 7th floor had a toilet pipe leak Tuesday morning at 3 AM... it leaks down to 7 floors to us... chairs, carpets, desks and 1 laptop are drenched... and yes, it smells. Not the fact that it's toilet water, cuz technically it isn't yet, but it smells because the ceiling absorbed water and the carpet absorbed it. This sucks, although luckily for me I'm in the cubicle area where nothing got wet, just boss lady P & M's offices. And boss lady P came to work from her lovely cruise to find that her laptop may be gone. What a fantastic week!

So, basically, I've been sneezing most of the week... and everyone has, because it really isn't the healthiest environment, we have to leave the windows open and have huge fans blowing... so I'm working an a 55 degree environment. With that said, boss Lady P also happened to come back from a cruise from Mexico, so yeah. Don't worry, we've all been washing our hands and sneezing in our sleeves... wow. I feel swine! Uh, I mean fine!

Now, for the exiting news, because I know toilet water isn't your cup of tea... (nor mine!) I have been approved for my next vacation, which will be the first week of June, and I'm coming to Salt Lake! I chose that week because it's Ty-Ty's High School graduation, and it's a good week to come to Utah, I think. When I think I avoided all snow this year (except the week I came in March), that is so exciting! Who wants to hang? I expect a housewarming Rock Band party at $teve's house, I want to see all of you!

Today I'm grateful that it's Saturday, and although the weather is crapy, I get to clean the apartment and organize my office. This is absolutely boring, so I'll leave it at that. Oh wait, Dad's online! Awesome! I get to chat with my daddy! Talk to you later.

Une chenille dans mon poivron?

2009-04-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-06T20:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-01T19:23:00.000-07:00

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.

And Then There Was Snow...

2009-03-30T18:49:00.000-07:00

It's Monday, and I am home from work... why is that you ask? Me, yes, moi, decided to take a spontaneous weekend getaway in Salt Lake. I left Thursday after work, drove to the Long Beach airport and got there around 10:30 PM, then spent a wonderful weekend with friends and family - although I missed a few people. Mad Scientist - I apologize, I said I would stop by work but I was so congested and tired.... rrrr it would have been fun to see you and other co-workers!

So I spent time with my mom, Roxy (our dog) - who was super happy to see me Thursday night by the way, my brother, step brother & step sister in law, stepdad before he went to Colorado for his ski trip, had brunch with my girlfriends, and spent time with my man and his family. My man had the flu - and I unfortunately, probably caught it. I'm congested right now and have a massive headache, so I came back home this morning vs. tonight so that I could rest all day and be prepared for tomorrow's craziness at work.

It was a fun weekend! Babe, his brother and I went to see "Knowing" with Nicholas Cage. It was pretty good. The end makes you question a ton of stuff... and it was creative... and there was definitely a twist in there... anyway, I won't give up the ending or anything else. You should see it if you're into disaster movies, like me.

We were also going to see "Watchmen" and "Slumdog Millionaire." Watchmen I heard was a little disapointing... but I've seen mixed reviews. Slumdog I hear was awesome but I'm ok waiting a little longer to see it or waiting for it on DVD. Any opinions/ comments/ disagreements with my statement?

So today I got home around 11 AM, checked work emails because I'm a work-aholic, called Lady Boss M to tell her I was sick but got home safe and that I should be in tomorrow, and she offered to go to the grocery store and pick me up any groceries I need... which I thought was really sweet and I said that I'd go there later. If I stay inside all day I'd feel miserable so I had to get out.

I then took about a 3 hour nap and woke up once, then decided to walk over to the beach to get some ocean breeze for my nose, went to Trader Joe's for some groceries, Albertson's for some Zicam and Redbox for a free DVD. I got "Rachel Getting Married," since I heard it was good. So tonight consists of a delicious broiled salmon with an olive oil glaze and a appetizing salad of organic mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, sliced avocado and sweet basil, a DVD and a warm bath. I'm working on my food verbiage so that I can open up a restaurant in my alternate life. How am I doing?

Today I'm grateful to have spent a weekend with the ones I love, and even the snow didn't bother me. Ok, that's a lie, I dislike snow, but I had to see it at least once this year, right? I was glad to be home or a bit though. It felt weird. I felt like I was in my mid-thirties coming back to a home with memories and old school stuff stuffed in boxes in my room. I've only been gone for 4 months!

Well, I wish everyone a pleasant week, and hope that I get better before $teve comes to visit this weekend so that we can go to Disneyland or Knott's Berry farm or something. Yay for company again!

Some Sunday Randomness

2009-03-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

Here's what happened this week/ weekend:

*Discovered tofu cream cheese and actually am addicted now

*Decided to learn how to roast garlic, and plan to make homemade roasted garlic hummus later

*Have a beautiful fridge full of colorful veggies, tantalizing meats and creamy yogurt

*Had a smashin' omelette this morning with andouille sausage, garlic, onions, sliced mushrooms and avocado

Ok, enough about food... although, did I mention I love food?

Speaking of food, I went to my volleyball buddies' BBQ last night, and it was pretty fun! We had really tender BBQd steak, juicy chicken, cheeseburger (I had 1/4 of a cheeseburger), some kind of transparent rice noodle dish (very eclectic bunch of people), and some good conversation. I didn't drink (no surprises), and the cheeseburger is the only thing I went off the diet from. Not too bad. The weather was fairly nice, but there was a cool breeze and got cold quickly. I still managed to spend time there until about 9pm, as they lit a bonfire to keep us warm... they were out of wood so started breaking old chairs... so, whatever. I smelled like campfire so went home, took a quick shower and watched "The Holiday" - I really like Jack Black in it as a sweet guy, and Kate Winslet's adventure in LA.

So today, might not play volleyball because it's really windy and cold... although it was supposed to rain all day but the wind chased the clouds away. It's like Mistral! Maybe I'll just go for a nice walk after lunch on the beach in a sweater and watch the angry ocean.

Other plans coming up not involving food: clean my apartment today, hang a fun print in my bedroom that I found at Michael's, vaccuum, and just chill. I'm thinking of getting a membership to Netflix because a) you know my TV's snowy b) Convenient c) I get 2,500 bonus Skymiles for it. To be honest, "c" was the best reason for me. Can't wait to go to France for free! Although it may take a few years... if only I could pay my rent with my Skymiles Amex...

Today I'm grateful that although my man's got the flu, he's feeling better today. I hope to see him in 10 days or so. I'm also grateful that for the past week and a half, I notice in the shower that I'm not losing as much hair as I used to. Maybe my thyroid is back to normal? I've got a doctor's appointment on April 3rd and we shall see.

I hope you all have/had a great weekend. A fun week, too! Au revoir.

Bum on Fire

2009-03-16T20:27:00.001-07:00

I love eventful days, don't you?

Had one of the best days this month.

*I had a great hair day
*I put on a cute business outfit
*I was smiling on the way to work
*Heard "Right Round" By Flo Rider Ft. whoever, and it's a song I love to crunch my core with in the car
*Got to work, found out that we got our bonuses from last year - and I didn't think I'd get anything cuz a) hard times and b) I was only there for a month. I did get something I thought hey, maybe enough for a gourmet sandwich - but it was more than that. Yeah, made my day.
*Got some work done... and finished a project I wanted to do today... I love the satisfying feeling of accomplishment!

Then I got home, it was a beautiful late afternoon, did my core workout for 45 minutes, burned some calories, then turned on the oven for a scrumptious salmon dinner I was going to make, so I started preheating the oven. By the way, try this: Salmon with dijon mustard spread on top and lemon cut in thin rounds. It's delicious! (I like whole grain mustard better, personally). Preheat to 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes if frozen. You're welcome.

Well, I didn't get my salmon. In fact, my bum - and much more important things for that matter, like, you know, my belongings, and my life, almost got on fire. Yep, my oven caught on fire.

Luckily the smoke detector started beeping, I ran toward the oven, the dutch oven on top of the stove (which wasn't on by the way) had black smoke coming out of it. I thought, "Did I accidently turn the stove on intead of the oven?" Well no, I opened the oven... and flames are coming out of the rectangular holes by the oven door. What do I do? I turn off the oven, open the front door, windows... the flame finally went away but it took about 90 seconds. That was a long 90 seconds. Meanwhile, my legs are shaking and I call the maintenance lady on site and left a message. She came over 20 minutes later, was scared for me, and looked at what was up. She's really great by the way, you could tell she cares. She looked at the oven and under the oven (where some people put cookie sheets and stuff). Well, my muffin pan was in there, with a piece of what looked like burnt paper on top (ashes by now), and we determined that was probably it.

Hold on... phone call...

Ok, that was the maintenance lady that called, wondering if I tried turning the oven back on again and if everything was ok. I haven't turned it back on but the stove's going with black beans right now. I'll try my salmon tomorrow... and make sure the place doesn't burn down.

So anyhoo, I started cleaning since it looked like this:

And the oven's fine. I grab the sponge to get rid of the black on the stove, but realize I didn't want to use the same sponge I clean the countertops with. Why don't I use the older sponge I used to clean the oven with the other day? Where did I put it... oh yeah that's right, under the....

Oh, Sh*t.

I guess sponges aren't flameproof...

Babord ou Tribord?

2009-03-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

The weekend is coming to an end... but it's been a good one!

The Queen Mary, in Long Beach, was doing a free admission special for SoCal residents, today being the last day. I thought I'd check it out since it normally costs $20+ and it's only about 15 miles from my place. It was... well, a giant boat. Here, see for yourself:

And I'm glad I went, because I wasn't too into it... it smelled like wet wood the whole time and felt like... being on a big boat. Why am I glad I went? Because if I had actually spent money on this I would be a little dissapointed. Now I don't have to go back or tell family and friends that it's a "must see." I stood in line for 20 minutes, and when I got out there was a line, I kid you not, probably .75 miles long. Again, aren't we in a recession? LoL.

The parking was the fun part. Being the cheapo that I am, I wanted the best bang for my buck and knew there was a free bus from downtown, and I found a $3 spot for 2 hours. Allrighty!

Here are a few pictures from today:

View from the boat, Downtown Long Beach

Russian Submarine (that one was $10... too claustrophobic to go...)

Oh yeah, it's a hotel too... I'd rather go on a cruise!

Captain's stateroom...

And then what was probably the highlight of my day: I saw an Irish store with lots of imported foods from Ireland and England. I grabbed a "Lion" bar. Haven't had those in over 10 years:

That's about it for today! Went to the beach to find my volleyball buddies, but they weren't there. I texted Leo and he said most people were out of town and we'd do it next week. I just got an email too for a BBQ this Saturday with the team. Sounds awesome!

Otherwise I walked on the beach for about an hour, and the rest has been fairly lazy. Oh, except that I did laundry.

Today I'm grateful that even though I got lost (stupid google maps directions) getting back home, I still found my way - just because I found Pacific Coast Highway. Once I'm on PCH, I know exactly where to go! See mom? I'm doing fine without a GPS or iPhone...

I wish everyone a great week!

Un Peu De Paris Dans Ma Chambre

2009-03-14T21:46:00.000-07:00

It was about time I started doing my Paris collage and started hanging a few things.

Today was very productive I have to say. I went for a walk, bought $7 worth of Macarons (the French ones, not the coconut macaroons), watched "Big Fish," went to Target to buy SuperGlue and vaccuum bags, went to Pier one to return a piece of furniture, went to Michael's to try to find art to put in my dining room - something that represents food - and I've yet to find my bonheur. I then went grocery shopping, got home, ate some California rolls, got a 1 hour massage, put my Paris collage together and hung other items. The aparment is feeling more "homy," little by little. Wow, after reading this sentence again, the word HOMY looks like HORNY. That's kinda funny. Sorry if I confused anyone...

Got some updated pictures for you:

Hung paintings and got a side table

Found a place for my plant

I love candles... even above the loo

More candles in the bedroom

My Paris collage up close:

And what it looks like above my bed.
It would look way cooler if I had a bed frame...
and cooler bed sheets...
but it's a start.

So that's my day! Today I'm grateful that I get a little Paris in my bedroom, and I had a huge smile on my face after I hung everything. It's a good feeling to accomplish things that will make your living environment more pleasant. Sometimes the ocean view just isn't enough :)

My interesting thought of the day - as I hung the Paris frames, I saw the very first spider in this apartment. Not that I'm scared, but I wanted to kill it - so I hopped on the bed, took a paper towel up to it... and thought I had smashed it... but no, as I took the paper towel off it fell to the ground and started running, so I screamed really loudly. I caught it in time though... and the apartment is now spider-free. Or, so I think.... I wonder where the little bugger came from?

I hope everyone's having a great weekend, I'd like to give a shout-out to my sweetie who became an uncle a few days ago, and who will come see me hopefully very soon. I'd also like to give a shout-out to the non-dairy "Tofutti" cream cheese I bought today, because hey, it doesn't taste that bad!

What made your day/weekend? A bientot...

Nouveau PC S'il Vous Plait

2009-03-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

That's it, I've had it, and it's about time... My PC is so fracking slow, and the wireless mouse GD@#$%^%*FGBDF#@ that it's driving me *&^$($%@@%G!!

So, now, on a positive note...

It's Tuesday night, and I feel... pretty good. How about you? I got a lot done at work today, left at a decent time (4:40pm), and with daylight savings... it's still not completely dark at this hour and I'm just loving it. I got home and felt like running (what?!!?) so strolled down to the beach and ran in the sand for 4.5 minutes, after not running at all for quite a few weeks... so that's the accomplishment for the day. I then ran another 3 minutes or so on the way back.

Tonight's dinner consisted of yummy Costco Chicken Apple sausages and a salad with cherry tomatoes and my homemade vinaigrette. I think I'll have some yogurt and fresh strawberries for dessert. Yum!

You know what's awesome? I had a terrible headache all morning (slept funny), but the day still ended just great. I find myself smiling in the car even during rush hour Cali traffic. I don't know about you, but that's quite a task.

So tonight I'll probably watch AI or Family Guy, haven't decided yet (probably go back and forth during the commercials).

Things I'm grateful for today: Organic Cherry Tomatoes on sale for $.99/pt, and sweet golden ripe pineapple $1.25 each. I told you it doesn't take much to get me excited/grateful [especially if food's involved :)].

What made me laugh today? Found a tiny snail beside my lavender plant. How on Earth did you get in here?

Good night & Happy Tuesday.

Le Basilic, Ca Sent Bon

2009-03-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

Hey! I just wanted to say hi and wish everyone a happy Sunday. A few things I'm excited/grateful for today, this week, and next week:

*Bought a nice basil plant and it smells so good (hence the title)
*Finally hung up some candle holders in the bathroom, it gives it a little extra character
*Going to hang a painting with a sailboat (very appropriate) above my couch when I get back from volleyball
*Oh yeah, I get to play volleyball again
*I'm hoping to see the fiancé soon
*Went to Ikea & got a $30 side table that works awesome with my new lamp
*Finally took care of my finances for the month
*Bought 6 Martini glasses at Ikea for $5 - they're awesome for chocolate mousse, parfaits, bath salts, and decoration
*Been working out with my DVDs and feel great about it

Well, that's all I can remember right now. I've got a busy work week ahead of me, a Manager training session on Monday, meeting on Thursday, trying to implement another thing on Friday... and all the usual 2nd Week stuff... looks like it just may be another 50 hour week unless I can organize it better and save about 30 minutes.

Here's to being grateful to have a job and all the other things and people that get you through the week. I shall toast that tonight in one of my Martini glasses full of delicious greek yogurt, trail mix, and fruit. Have an awesome week!

Mid-Week Excitement & Cubism

2009-03-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

Just an update to remind everyone to have an awesome day...

...and tell you about my plans starting... tonight!

I ordered the "Core Rhythms" workout DVDs on Sunday, and to my surprise, got them today (it was supposed to take 5-7 business days). Now, don't make fun of me, I did order them on an infomercial... but I've been watching that infomercial a bunch of times for about 6 weeks and wanted to order it, but I'm not spontaneous, I wanted to think about it... and finally made my decision 2 weeks ago. Sunday, it came on, so I ordered it. I have to admit, the ordering process was a pain and took 30 minutes because they tried to add on a bunch of stuff for me to buy. No thanks. We're in a recession.

Now, I've decided to try and work out everyday for 45 minutes, if not, at least the 20 minute workout. the DVDs came with a success tracker and measurement tape, so I'm tracking my weight and inches... and we'll see. In a nutshell, I'm giving myself 6-8 weeks to lose 8 pounds and get a fabulous bum... Next update in.... a month!

So, work is going fairly well, it's a slow week but I'm learning a lot of new things since we had to lay off our part-time assistant. Today I'm grateful that I have a job... Tomorrow is Boss Lady's birthday lunch (we all split the bill except the birthday girl), and I plan to eat well. No veering off the diet... I've been doing really well since Tuesday. Actually, that's yesterday.... how funny... well, I've got hope.

I'm not a huge fan of Picasso, but appreciate any kind of art... anyway, I'm not a big fan of cubism is what I want to say, but I thought that this idea of cubism above my stove works well at holding all my stuff:

Also, the flowers are really beautiful and fragrant on my dining room table. I love coming home to this aroma! I leave you with these pictures and hope everyone's happy and grateful for what
they've got. Ciao!

Volleyball sur la Plage

2009-03-01T19:26:00.000-08:00

Well, 'twas a productive day today!

*Cleaned the apartment & did laundry this morning

*Went to Pier 1 to get that lamp on sale I wanted, plus a pedestal to put it on

*The flowers on my dining room table are blooming

*It was another 75 degree day, so wanted to walk on the beach for an hour or two... but found what I was looking for instead....

... A VOLLEYBALL TEAM!!

And I couldn't be more excited. I played fairly well for not having played in quite a few years. It turns out they play every Sunday from 1PM - sunset. I'll be there next week! Everyone was very nice. Now I have something to look forward to every Sunday... they even go to dinner Sunday nights (didn't go tonight) but it could be really fun, I thought. They're mostly people in their late 20's, maybe early 30s it seems. Awesome!

Tomorrow it's back to work... and it'll be somewhat busy. Looking forward to next weekend already! Have a great night...

Quiche, taxes & flowers

2009-02-28T20:47:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Just chillin' here in my apartment this calm Saturday night. What a gorgeous day - it reached 82 degrees today, and it was only about 64 yesterday... awesome!

I took Friday off of work, Mom, SD & Grand-Mere arrived around noon from the Inland Empire, we went to Manhattan Beach to walk around, visited the aquarium on the pier, tried a "rassi" chocolate croissant from Starbucks, and enjoyed the sunshine. We then went to Hermosa Beach and enjoyed walking in the sand, and I decided to take a drive in the Rancho Palos Verdes/Rolling Hills Estates area to see what the beach looks like from up there. It's quite a hill! I think that's where most of the rich people live who work in L.A. I saw some gorgeous homes! Here are some pictures from the view from the hill:

I bought some flowers to bring oxygen, beauty and fragrance to the apartment:

I love lavender!! It's the Provencal in me...

Saturday we had breakfast at "Creme De La Crepe," such a cute little French place with yummy food. So now, family is gone, Babe is gone, my brother's not coming next week... so it'll be just me again for... who knows, at least a month, either/and when Babe will come back, my brother comes to spend a week on the beach, when $teve comes to visit early April.

Well, I've got a few projects until then.

I bought some cool yet simple photo frames from Target today, and Mom brought over my 2007 Paris Calendar with lots of awesome black and white Paris pictures on there - I'm going to make a Paris collage in my bedroom. It's about time I put some art on the wall...

I would also love to have a piece of art above my couch. I saw a really cool canvas in an art store close to my house, but it's $700. I'll find something at Ikea... or maybe take a high res picture of the beach in my 'hood and have it blown up for $20? Sounds like a plan. I need the inner photographer in me to come out... or maybe just talk The Mad Scientist into coming over to take a gorgeous picture for me :)

So I've been doing a lot of thinking this week. I don't know how well everyone knows me, but basically I'm the kind of person whom if I don't have the next 5 years of my life planned out, then I feel lost. Well, just like for everyone, life throws you a curveball once in a while. Which means I have to re-plan my life, LoL. Well, when I got the job here, I imagined every different scenario that could have happened... be here forever, a year or two, eventually go to Newport Beach, raise a family in Orange County... Although I didn't have a set plan, I was surprisingly ok, because this is something I wanted to try out. If it didn't work out, then I'd come back to Utah, but at least I would've lived my Californian dream for a little while, and that's the satisfaction I wanted.

I've discovered... that whether I spend the rest of my life here or in Utah, I'd be happy. But with certain circumstances and realizations, I'm leaning towards Utah. Here are a few reasons why:

* Babe's going back to school in Utah for free. We're getting married (we're getting married!!), and if he can continue to go for free, then I totally support that and want to be there for him.

*HOW IS THERE STILL TRAFFIC IN CALI AT 6:20 PM????

*I love the beach. But as Boss Lady P would say, "Cancer is not sexy." Good point.

*With that said, I love the beach so much - but also because it's something I only get to see while on vacation. If I'm working 10-12 hour days, I don't see it. What's the point?

*I've actually gotten sick of the beach. WHAT?!?!? That's right. I get headaches if I stay in the sun too long and want to do nothing but sit on the couch for the next 2-3 hours. And I hate being a couch potato.

*Pollution. the beach is pretty, but that smog across the ocean... isn't very appealing to my sight or lungs.

*Cost of living is way too high. I can afford my apartment, but have barely enough money set aside for that downpayment on a house I'd like someday.

*Babe and I plan to be parents someday. Nothing thrills me more than the joy of knowing that I will be a mom at some point :). I would rather raise my children in Utah than L.A. Plus, grandparents would be in Utah (except mon Papa adoré, tear), and I would like them to see the grandkids as often as possible. Not just for baby-sitting favors. Family is important to me, and I want them to have a close connection. It's the Fritalian in me :)

*I never thought I'd say this... my I like my little city of Salt Lake. I'm not a mountain/ski person, yet I love the mountain landscape. People are friendly. Vegas is a 6 hr drive away. Cali only a 10 hr drive away. SLC-CDG just started last June with delta. I'm set :)

So, what's the plan for my next 5 years you ask?

Well, the ideal, perfect plan: I stick with my job for a year and gain some great experience. I find a comparable job back in Utah to start on Monday January 4th, 2010, and my last day at my current job will be on Friday, December 18th, 2009 (I like details, can you tell?). That way I will only have to file one state tax return (quite a pain to do my taxes this year, which Mom and I finished yesterday by the way, hurray!! ). I have a beautiful two weeks to relax for Christmas before I start my new job. I will live at my parents's for a few months to save money, then Babe and I will buy a house ready to go when we get married in August 2010 (I assume August during summer break with school, and so that the Frenchies can come when kids are out of school). We have a wild crazy wedding night. And the rest is... well, we'd like to have kids before we're 30, and I want to know the joys of being a mom before the world ends in 2012 according to the Mayan Calendar. Lol. Just kidding. Sorta...

Well, aside from the apocalypse, I love my plan.... and it's way too detailed and of course, in another 6 months another curveball will be thrown at me and everything will change again... but it's okay. Everything will work out anyway. Considering I love planning, if I have to re-plan my life in 6 months, I'm okay, it's kinda boring here by myself anyway... plenty of time for that. Ooh, and although I have a year and a half, I have a wedding to plan... sometime. How fun! I've been watching "Whose wedding is it anyway," and although I'm not going to have a $40k wedding (which believe me, I have no problem with that), I'm getting some fun ideas... and with my frugal abilities... it'll just be the best darn $2k wedding ever :)

Oh, before I forget, today I'm grateful that I spent an awesome day with my parents. I love company. What made me LoL today was an old angry guy with a pipe in his mouth in a small car yelling at the guy in front of him because he didn't see the green arrow to turn left. You really think he's going to hear you? Just honk nicely! Wow. It just looked like it was straight out of a cartoon. Ah, older people. Gotta love' em.

That's enough for tonight... Hope you were entertained, if not, then I'm sorry. I'll go back to talking about food and diets and work in my next post. Have a great Saturday night!!

Zee Best Weekend... Ever

2009-02-25T19:46:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a while.

So I last left you on the night of Friday the 13th. After I wrote my blog, I just watched TV. Around 8:30 or 9pm, I get a call. It's my sweetie!

Me: Hey babe, how's it going? It sounds like you're outside...
BF: Yeah, just going for a walk...
Me: What's that sound in the background?
BF: Oh, that's just people passing by in a car
Me: Um, babe, it kinda sounds like you're at an airport... omg, are you at the Salt Lake airport?
BF: No... well, I'm actually at the Long Beach Airport
Me: WHAT?!?!?

So I go get him. I couldn't believe it, he said there's no way he'd get on a plane before Sunday. He surprised me, the sneaky boyfriend!!

He really wanted to be here for Valentine's. What a sweetie... and Valentine's turned out to be probably the best day of my life. We grabbed a jamba juice, walked on the beach and did other Valentine's Day things... so much fun. I was so happy to see him. Ditto for him. It had been about a month...

Since I didn't know he'd be here for valentine's, I didn't make any dinner reservations. We walked by a few places, most were sold out. We decided to just go to Buca di Beppo since it's close to my house. We had a lovely dinner of penne pasta, artichokes, sundried tomatoes and chicken, and a tiramisu heavy of the rum for dessert. After dessert, BF puts a small box in front of me...

Me: "For me? Do I open it now?"
BF: "Of course!"
Me: open, see a big beautiful ring, gasp silently.. "Is there something you want to ask me?"
BF: "Um, yeah.... will you marry me?"
Me: "Of course!" I get up, kiss him, shed a small tear of joy.

We go back home. At the restaurant, we had a tiny table right by the kitchen, so probably didn't want to get down on one knee... so he did it at home to put the ring on... it's beautiful.

BF is now the fiancé, and I couldn't be happier to confirm that I'll spend the rest of my life with the man I've loved for the past 7+ years...

He stayed the week, and it was really great. We cooked together, took walks on the beach, had great conversation, had fun just hanging out. I can't wait to get married... although we've decided on Summer 2010. Plenty of time for me to plan!

He, however, will stay in Utah as he got the opportunity to go back to school for free and should be starting this summer. I'm so happy for him. In a time when it's hard to find a job, why not get an education instead so that when we come out of this recession he will have an advantage with a degree.

Of course, this means that I'll spend the next 18 months probably living alone here in SoCal, and am thinking about going back to Utah in the spring next year. Who knows! I'll survive.

It's now lonely here again, and I'm adjusting. My parents are in Palm Springs for the week though and will come visit me all day Friday and spend the night before they drive back home. Hurray! I'll have Friday off - well appreciated after yet another stressful week at work.

And now, I leave you with a picture most of you probably wanted to see.... Have a great night!

De La Folie!

2009-02-13T19:06:00.000-08:00

So excited it's Friday...

I basically didn't want to jinx it yesterday, but Friday the 13th is usually a lucky day for me.

Today, work was... slightly stressful, very busy, and extremely eventful.

What happened today:

Twice today Boss Lady M told me good job on something I took the initiative to do.

Something got screwed up because a certain someone changed something in one system and not the other, nothing I could really do, let's just say that work on Tuesday is going to be an interesting day for me, perhaps a nightmare for others.

I've got awesome coworkers who helped me through this busy day today. We also had really good laughs. I heart my coworkers!

Today was officially the first day these past few weeks where my life made sense again, that work is hard but I'm gettingoing through it, I'm noticing things and pointing them out, I'm asking questions, things are working out again - and my thirst for knowledge keeps growing. What an awesome feeling.

I left work at 5 in the middle of what would usually be rush hour, yet it only took me 30 minutes to get home. I was smiling the whole time.

Since it rained most of the day today, It got dark early, and knew I couldn't get home in time to walk to the beach... so took a scenic drive home along the beach, and took a few pictures for the one day photo project, which I shall post soon. What a peaceful end to a busy day.

BF and I had a two hour conversation last night, and he reminded me what a talented, smart, caring person he thinks I am. That + my mom's email the other day just brought a big, huge smile on my face. I love you guys!!

So, I'm still in Cali if you're wondering... because BF just might get here... although not in time for V-day, but at least in a few days, and will probably stay for a week. I'm uber excited. Older Bro is in San Diego this weekend, maybe I'll give him a call if BF doesn't arrive tomorrow and we'll hang out in Orange County or something...

Happy Valentine's Day, be sure to tell those you love that you love them and care about them and will always be there for them. Don't just say it though, mean it and do it :) Thanks for being such awesome friends and family!!

Voyage gratos? Count me in!

2009-02-12T18:21:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody,

Well, work was a little less stressful today, especially after my depressing meeting was over. I got home and got surprised by the two last things I was waiting for to be a true Californian: my checks and my Delta Amex card. Skymiles, here I come! Can't wait to get a free flight... because I was looking to perhaps go to Salt Lake this weekend, but it's a big ski weekend with president's day... and the first price that popped up LAX-SLC was $1100 and I almost pooped myself... but then found a reasonable $227 round-trip, but it would make me get back Tuesday, which is too important of a day at work to miss... so I think I'll just stay. I'll see. If I do fly over, I'll be sure to let everyone know.

Otherwise, nothing too exciting, except that I get to cook tonight again - "Unstuffed peppers" which is basically a lot of bell peppers and ground turkey (except that I'll do ground beef instead). It'll be awesome! Oh, and I guess we might get new toilets in our apartments... whatever, the one I have is fine, but if my neighbors can have more flushing power, then more power to them.

That's really it for today... I'm grateful that I won't have to spend as much time on the laptop Saturday since it won't be as busy as I thought... and I get my stand/hand mixer (5 year anniversary gift) on Tuesday!

Tomorrow's Friday the 13th, which can only mean one thing... absolutely nothing. Actually, it's the One Day Photo Project again, so I'll see what I can take pics of... maybe me freaking out at work?!?! LoL. Have a great night... and happy Friday the 13th...

Un Peu de Philosophie

2009-02-11T18:39:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Well, as I try and relax after my most stressed out day of the year, I thought of something I learned back in college. For once, a class where I'm thinking about AND using the material. The problem is, I forgot what the process is called.

This class was taught at the U as part of my Biz Management major called "Leadership in Organization: Power, Persuation and something else." Well, I truly enjoyed that class - but only because it was mostly a lot of philosophy and the professor gave us real scenarios where we'd apply what we've discussed and studied. One of my best college experiences.

Why was I stressed out today? Oh, just a few freak-out moments that turned out to be just fine. But also the fact that Friday and Saturday we'll be super busy at the place I'm maintaining, so I have to be on my toes to make sure it all goes right. Got some great help today, which I'm grateful for. But Saturday morning, it's just my laptop and I, baby!

So, back to what I learned in that class... which made perfect sense... and either tells me that the worst - or best - is ahead. Here is a curve. The curve represents my life (or rather, my emotions, which control my life, LoL)
Now, Think of these as happy and not so happy moments. The rule would be that as you move somewhere new (we talked about this in my Leadership class because we were talking about business professionals moving away from their town, or even overseas), you get high points and low points. As you arrive, everything's brand new, fabulous, people greet you and are nice, you experience extreme euphoria. But then, reality hits: your job's hard, you get homesick... and basically eventually it evens out.

Now, when I first moved to So Cal - it's obvious that I was at Point A. I got a sweet apartment a few blocks from the beach, I finally found a good paying job that gives me the responsibility and challenges and math I wanted, and I was excited to finally become an adult. I think (or at least hope) that I was able to convey that message when I first started my blog.

I now find that - since I've been living alone for a month, I'm pretty darn bored. I miss company. TV, the phone and the computer helps... but it just isn't the same. Not only that, but my job that I love has become... well, realistic we'll say. It's HARD. There's still so much crap that I don't know that I feel I should know by now. Today my neck is so cramped from all the stressing I've done, and I had a big stomachache, I thought I was going to get an ulcer. I don't even know what an ulcer is. No wonder I'm losing my hair. Plus, the bills. Dad was right - even after my first electric bill (remember?), you get a ton and it's not that fun after all.

Now the question is... Am I at point B, or C right now? Well, that depends how you look at it. I could think I'm at B and it's still going to get worse still, or I like to think a little more optimistically and think that I'm at C and this is the worse it's gonna get (for a little while at least), and things can only get better from now on. I just have to keep my head up.

Unfortunately, at Point B or C, some people can't handle it and go back home. Not me. I'm here to tough it out. It's time I become emotionally strong. I'm 24, darn it.

With that said, I can't wait for Point D! That's probably the time I'll go on a 2 week vacation to Tahiti in a few months. Nah, I have trouble flying over that much Pacific Ocean. Realistically, Point D will be when I get to visit Salt Lake and see the ones I love :)

Eventually, I'll be at Point E... and that's basically I would say 9 months to a year from now, when I'm fairly settled and feel uber comfortable with my job. Can't wait for E.

So there you have it... I took a nice walk on the beach after work to decompress, saw dolphins actually jumping out of the water... how majestic! I took a ton of deep breaths... and man, that felt good. Me in a good mood right now. Just wishing for an upper back massage...

Well, I'm going to finish the ratatouille for dinner tonight and add some scrambled eggs to it, in France we call that a "brouillade" I believe. It's good! have a good night.

Ah, C'est Bon La Ratatouille

2009-02-10T20:28:00.000-08:00

Tonight on the menu was ratatouille - it was yummy! I think it's the second time I ever make it by myself. If you ever want the recipe, just holla. My recipe comes from my mom, an excellent Fritalian cook.

Anyone seen the Disney cartoon? It was a really cute show. And it taught me that "anyone can cook," as that chef would say. Heck, if a mouse can cook, so can I, right? That's a little bit of inspiration and encouragement :)

Mom's used to add crushed tomatoes. I used fresh tomatoes and a little bit of spaghetti sauce. I think it looks better with just real tomatoes and no sauce or cans. You tell me.

With real tomatoes:

With tomatoes and extra sauce:

Thoughts?

Grateful for not indulging in a Milano cookie today, although I was tempted. My feel-good thought of the day: I couldn't wait to get home and cook. I think I'll make a good wife someday, and that makes me happy :)

Assurée - Rassurée

2009-02-09T18:13:00.000-08:00

Good feelings of the day:

* Got my medical insurance card in the mail

* Got a check from the DMV for $52 because I overpaid when I registered my car

* I was actually done with everything at work at 4 and left at 4:30

* Got a reminder that I haven't ordered my 5 year anniversary gift with my company, which was over a year ago, so I browsed the catalog, and there I found it... a stand mixer which duals as a hand mixer - perfect for making crepe batter, chocolate mousse and whipping up some good stuff. And it's FREE!!!! Now, if I can only find room in my kitchen for it...

* Ate really well today. Home-made fruit Smoothie for breakfast, steak and lots of veggies for lunch, apple and almonds as a mid-afternoon snack, and tonight - about to cook some lamb with green beans and maybe some applesauce for dessert.

So, most people liked the apartment pictures, which is good, considering I don't have great interior decorating skills. Mom & SD say that my kitchen counter is too crowded - which is true, but I still have the counter space I need...

Wait!!

Omg! I'll be right back.

(Hold Musak)

(6 minutes later).

Wow, I just had an epiphany again (been having a lot of those lately).
I knew that the dish drainer is what's taking up half the space.
Since I have two kitchen sinks that are a fairly decent size, and I'm only one person, why don't I just use one of the sinks to put the dish drainer in?!?!

Voila! Look at that counter space!

The dining room is still a bit messy, but it's all paperwork I gotta file...
Huh? HUH??!!!!!! My genius days show up once in a blue moon.

Have a fantastic week.

Promis: Les Photos!

2009-02-08T14:37:00.000-08:00

Happy Sunday!

Well, what a fun day today. As promised, I'm posting pictures of my apartment!!

First, I just want to say... that I went to Whole Foods this morning and forgot how heavenly this store is. They had so many yummy things and I just wanted to try them all... they have a sushi bar, this one had a whole wall of ready Asian hot foods, paninis, gelatos, breakfast buffets... holy crap. Good thing I've got self control, since it's the last day of the fruit flush - and I need to be good. My self-control is what I'm grateful for today :). The store is neat and clean... much better than Sprouts, where I've been going... and full of organic goodness. Given, it's a little more expensive... but that just means I need to be extra careful, and dang it, I want to take care of my body.

Not much else going on today, it poured rain this morning as I went to the store, and now it's cleared up and the sun's rays are warming up my living room couch, where I'm typing this... it feels nice. Maybe I'll go on a nice little walk later.

So here are the pictures of my apartment, as of yesterday, Saturday 2/7, after 7 weeks of moving in:

Kitchen (counter space as maximized as I could make it):

Bathroom (going with a beach theme, lots of white, sand and ocean colors):

My bedroom with the new furniture & bed:

Living room with new coffee table:

And that's about it for today! It's starting to look decent... although I still need more (bedside table(s), lamp for the living room).

Another thing at Whole Foods - I was actually looking in the wine section, something I've never done (I don't drink) to try and find a bottle of Marsala wine. There's this fun Chicken Marsala recipe that I'd like to try and although I could probably use 2 Buck Chuck, it says going for the Marsala is totally worth it (although, would I really know the difference?). Is Marsala considered a cooking wine and maybe I was supposed to look in the cooking aisle? How expensive is a bottle of Marsala? Is Marsala a name of wine like Merlot, Chardonnay, etc? Can I just buy 1.5 cups of Marsala? LoL. Thanks in advance for the advice. By the way Mom - Costco has a TON of organic wines.

My feel-good thought of the day: I'm all caught up on my bills and got my work laptop to work with my wireless connection last night - for the first time. I may be able to work from home from time to time now! Maybe President's day? I'll run it by boss lady :).

Cuisiner, C'est Facile!

2009-02-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

Awesome, it's Saturday...

Yesterday at work was... interesting. I mentioned how this week there wasn't much to do, right? Well, at 2-3 PM I found out that because I changed some things around in one system, I was supposed to fill out a form and email somebody too, the whole process takes 7-10 days and it might look screwed up until it's complete. Great. So I got right on it, and basically didn't leave work until 6:20 PM. It was pouring rain too, so no way I'd take PCH - it still took about 35 minutes to get home.

Yesterday was my least favorite day of the Fruit Flush, because I'm not a big fan of protein shakes. I had an amazing salad though with baked orange roughy. Today's fruit all day, I just got back from the store and got some good stuff, and tonight's salad will consist of arugula, salmon, avocado and perhaps squash and baby carrots. Yum! See? Being healthy has its yummy moments.

Speaking of food... (LoL, when am I not speaking of glorious food?) I've been looking through this cookbook that Mom and I got at a women's conference at the Salt Palace. It's called "Lickety Split Meals" by Zonya Foco. It's awesome - the first recipe I made in there was LaZonya (my famous lasagna that everyone really likes), and I've never really made anything else besides maybe a breakfast casserole... but now I'm really looking through it and just loving the great, fast and healthy recipe ideas! A lot of them also call for spices - curry, ginger, cumin and chili powder. I love spices! The book also has a dry erase board where you can write in advance your menu items under the day of the week. I think I just might do that... what else am I gonna do by myself on weekends but enjoy planning my whole week of food?

So I'll do that this weekend, along with I'll probably finish cleaning/decorating and look for bedside tables that are tall enough for my tall, super comfy bed. Maybe go for a short walk too (can't work out during the fruit flush).

I have some fun news on people who might come visit me - Mom & SD are coming for sure on Feb. 21st to spend the day with me, then I'll drive them to the timeshare in the Palm Springs area. My brother might come the first week of March to relax on the beach all week (hope it doesn't rain!) and $teve might be planning a trip to So Cal with family, and better stop by! Remember, I've got a comfy couch and an aerobed waiting for Rocky Mountain visitors!

Today I'm grateful for being healthy, and trying to better my nutrition so that I can become uber healthy. A funny thing I saw was while walking to the bank this morning, was a kid with headphones on doing a mixture of the robot and dancing around like some idiots at a rave would. Made me chuckle a bit. Have an awesome weekend!

Soirée Tranquille

2009-02-05T19:24:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Well, it's been another great day. Work was easy as 2 hours of it were spent in a French restaurant called "Fraiche" for Boss Lady P's birthday. It was fantastique! For me, it was a pasta dish with clams, pancetta, chili powder and herb breadcrumbs. It was good, but too much butter. Wish I got the prosciutto panini instead. We all shared 2 desserts - one was a creme caramel with a dash of cinnamon - very good, and some kind of chocolate torte with sour cherries and chocolate malt ice cream. Yum.

Well, enough about food... although I could talk about food all day... it started pouring rain in the afternoon so I left before 5 to avoid heavy traffic. I came home to a 63 degree apartment when the past week it's been about 78. I've got a working heater now, so no problemo.

Tonight I looked over my bills, cleaned up the dining room table full of bills, had organic butternut squash soup (yum!) and after posting this I'm going to make a salad. I've also decided to do the fruit flush again starting tomorrow. I've been bad with the pasta today, as well as the cookies the sales people brought over this week...

Today I'm grateful that I get to spend a tranquil evening in front of the TV - "Click" is on FX. I loved that movie. The dog humping the stuffed animal got old fast, but still a cute show with an awesome message. Plus, I get Adam Sandler Goofiness. Good night!

Patins & limonade

2009-02-04T18:32:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Well, since $teve's having fun decoding my last French blog title, I thought I would continue the trend. Booty letters... you crack me up, Dr. Love :)

So what a day! I actually took the day off from work for a few reasons:

1. Meet up with family that's staying in the Palm Desert area for the week
2. Time off to finish assembling the furniture & clean this place up
3. First quarter is tough, boss Lady wants us to take as much time off as possible.
4. There's pretty much nothing to do this week at work. Reason for #3.

So I slept in till 7am today, finished assembling my dressers - I'm done! Then drove to Riverside - it was exactly the half way point between LA & PD. Ha! LA & PD! That's funny in two ways. You Frenchies will know the 2nd way.

When I say the exact half way point, I mean it. I surfed the web and found a place we could meet my aunt, uncle and grandma (all by marriage) at a State Historical Park called California Citrus. I google mapped it - 1hr 16min for me, 1 hr 18 minutes for them. Can it be more perfect?

I know everything there is to know about citrus now! Well, not really, it was 87 degrees, so I was distracted by the heat and the awesome smell of oranges. We tasted about 5 kinds of oranges - mandarin, tangelos, blood, some name I can't pronounce, and another. So good! We also saw lemons the size of grapefruits.

We then went to a Chinese buffet and for $6.49 I had sushi, cream cheese wontons, some kind of seafood bake, awesome chicken Teriyaki, sweet and sour pork, and a bunch of other stuff one might find in a Chinese Buffet. I was proud - only took one plate, did not go back for seconds. I still felt full though. On the way back, I was ready to take a nap on the freeway.

Speaking of roads and freeways - what a day. A bunch of accidents waiting to happen on CA-91. First, 3 cars in front of me slam on their brakes on the freeway, causing me to do the same - there was a huge piece of cardboard with something in it that would be tall enough to ruin a car, so we had to dodge it. Second, I watch my family in their car in front of me and a piece of palm tree falling about to hit their car. They dodge it :). Third, an orange cone in the middle of the freeway. Fourth, a car that just got rear ended and front-ended (is that a word?) right in my lane, everyone had to merge somewhere else going freeway speeds. Fifth - total Fail moment - a guy in a truck with a huge dog park cage thingy, about to go under a bridge, but the thing is too tall. Traffic is stopped from miles afar. Wish I took a picture for failblog! Check it out if you want a good laugh. Ah, zis Cali traffic is terribleh, non?

Another fun reason that we met is that they brought down a few things for me from Utah - one of them being my old rollerblades! Oh, how I missed you... I haven't put you on since... since going to Classic Skating and waiting for the guys to pick the girls during a romantic song (it was called Snowball, anyone else remember this?) I was waiting for this guy I had a crush on, Ryan, to pick me... but he picked the three prettiest girls in school instead... sigh). Well, this roller skating phase was in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. So it's been a while. I got home around 4:30 and went to the beach and rollerbladed for 20-25 minutes. Gotta get buns of steel. I'm gonna feel it tomorrow!

So tonight, nothing too exciting except finish cleaning the apartment, fill up the furniture, watching either "Mr. and Mrs Smith" on FX or "Ever After" on Oxygen or Lifetime or one of those estrogen channels (Hmm, passionate and unrealistic and violent yet fun to watch sexy movie or a good old chick flick? Hmmmm...), and tomorrow we're going to lunch for boss lady P's birthday at a French restaurant... her pick! Awesome!

Today I'm grateful for getting the courage to put on those rollerblades after 4 hours of driving time for the day and my right butt cheek being numb. I did it - it's a good feeling.

Funny thing of the day - saw that guy on a Segway going 5 MPH with a helmet on again at the beach. Somebody please remind me what's the purpose of Segways?

Have a happy Wednesday night!

Boite au Lettres

2009-02-03T22:09:00.000-08:00

What did I get in my mailbox today when I got home from work?

MY CALI DRIVER'S LICENSE!

My face looks way tanner in it than my Utah one. It makes perfect sense.

I am now officially... a true Californian. I'm going to celebrate... by assembling my last dresser...

Per the request of The Mad Scientist, I will post pictures of the apartment with the new furniture once everything looks in place.

Also, tomorrow, got the day off from work, and I'm going to Palm Desert for the day. I'll take pictures. Which doesn't matter because my PC is so fracked up that I can't download them. Sigh. I'll find a way.

What's your happy thought for the day? :)

Food, gloree-ous food!

2009-02-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while.

It's been a busy and productive weekend.

Friday I went to the DMV and got my Cali license plates :)

Saturday I went to Ikea, bought furniture and set up delivery for Sunday. I got my bed delivered around 2pm. It is, oh so very comfy. And high. That mattress is just massive. I have to jump to get on.

Sunday, did absolutely nothing related to football. I got my Ikea furniture delivered at 9AM, built two dressers and a coffee table. That's right, all by myself. I also made crepes to bring to work on Monday. On the way to Von's to buy Nutella, I get hit on by a 40 yr old Iranian. Great. Nice guy. I'm taken though, and you're... well, kinda old. But thanks. I'm flattered :)

Today, went to work - and welcomed the newest member on our team, Boss Man J, who started today. We did a breakfast potluck to celebrate him and me (although I've been there two months now) coming to the team.

Holy crap it's been two months!!!

On the menu for breakfast today:
Crepes, Nutella & Raspberry jam by me
Bagels, whipped cream cheese and lox by Boss Lady M
Yogurt & Granola by Boss Lady P
Juice & milk

It was a great way to start the day. And we all started watching Super Bowl commercials. Umm, aren't we supposed to be working? Oh well, not much to do this week. Let's enjoy!

That was the fun-filled weekend.. and first day of the work week.

Running update: ran 4 minutes Saturday, 4.5 on Sunday and 5 minutes today. I also saw 5 Dolphins close to the shore travelling in my direction along the shore today. With the sunset in the background, it was absolutely magnifique. That's what I'm grateful for today.

I'm also grateful for having a man in our office. I love my lady co-workers, but there is way too much estrogen in there. Need a good balance. :) He also seems like a fun guy. Yay! We have a really fun office.

Something funny today? I came home to an apartment that's a total mess. There's still boxes laying around, I moved everything that was on my bedroom floor to the living room floor this weekend, until I get the last dresser assembled... YEAH. You may wonder why this is funny to me - but I hate messy apartments, yet I live in one. Oh well... will clean it tomorrow. Tonight I'm relaxing on the couch with my awesome coffee table and watching Family Guy.

How was your weekend? Hope it was a great one. Feel free to leave me a note and tell me about it!

What a deal

2009-01-25T19:05:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody,

It's Sunday night... and tomorrow will be a brand new week at work. Pretty excited, to be honest. I feel refreshed. These past 3 days off have been good to me.

I decided to start looking for bed sheets since all I have are full sheets for the aerobed and my previous bed... so I went to Target to see what I could find. I knew BBB would be way too expensive. I also wanted to indulge in the higher thread count (at least 300). Everything was around 50 bucks, on clearance, for the $250 thread count... sigh. Then, a clearance shelf was glowing. I went over, and Ta-Da!! Brace yourself... found a whole queen sheet set... (fitted sheet, flat sheet, two pillowcases) with 1000 thread count... for only $25. What?!?!? Is this for real? Well, it was on the clearance sticker price... originally $100. SOLD! Actually, why don't I grab a second one, since it's such a good deal. Yeah, it's kind of a boring Ecru color, but I felt the sample... and it feels just delightful. And I can deal with ecru. It's close enough to beige. Yay for deals!

At lunchtime, I did something I haven't done in years... went to Quizno's. (As you guys may recall, I don't eat bread anymore). But darn it, it was there, it was lunchtime, I was hungry, and I remembered how much I loved their chicken carbonara and their mesquite chicken. Mesquite chicken it is. I savoured it, it tasted good... but paid for it later. Although I walked to the beach about 1-2 hours later, for an hour and 30 minutes :), I tried to run... and did it for 4 minutes (my next goal) but it was really hard and I kinda felt like crap. I hate to say it, but bread and cheese and yummy meats and creamy sauces are evil and bad for me. I learned my lesson (not really, went to the store and bought some Camembert later today (gasp!) and have eaten a quarter already)... ok, I'm cheating a little this week, but I promise it's not an every week thing. I felt like cheese, darn it... and right now is my "cranky" time, so comfort foods are awesome.

The walk to the beach today was kind of fun though. I walked clear to the Redondo Pier, there were lots of people, a wind so strong that seagulls were flying in place or backwards (please don't poop in my hair, please don't poop in my hair), people playing volleyball again on the beach... the sky really cleared up from the past few days, and I guess that rain is now greeting most of you back in Utah with 3 ft of snow in the mountains. Babe, you know how much I hate it when you attack me with snowballs? I almost miss it :)

Hope you all had a great weekend... I still haven't decided on the furniture thing because no one's left comments for me, lol. Just kidding. I'll make a decision on my own, but I just like support :)

A demain.