Une annee en revue

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

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

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

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...

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. 

Fondue Chinoise & Coupe de Fruits

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!

Last night in Cali

Hi everyone,

Well, the boyfriend finally made it last night... with a 5 hour delay. Meaning, we didn't get home till 1am, and we were so excited to see each other (it's been... 3 weeks?) that we talked a bit, and basically I got about 4 hours of sleep last night as I had to go to work around 7ish.

It rained all day today but started to clear up a few hours before sunset, so when I got off work I thought I'd show him the beach nearby - and it was extremely windy and a little cold, but I just loved that ocean breeze and the ocean was churning. Dinner equaled improvisation with the leftovers I had to cook before it went bad and my man liked it (yay! Got a picky eater, you know...) and we were both exhausted so we're going to bed soon. I'm just packing up because... we're driving to Vegas tomorrow! I'm getting off work at 2 and then here we come. Hopefully we can arrive early enough to go to the Paris and get a crepe for dinner or something. That'd be sweeeeeeeeet. 

Well, it's almost Christmas... and I'm grateful and excited to see a bunch of family and friends, as well as New Year's Eve - I'm seeing a few cousins I haven't seen in a few years. Something unusual today - My man volunteered to clean up after dinner while I pack. What a thoughtful, unexpected and delightful surprise. Also, be sure to check out the one day photo project - I haven't posted my pics yet but I see that Dr. Mookie Love did, and I know many more will follow. Good night!

First Sunday in new "Chez Moi"

Hi everybody,

Well, it's been a fun weekend, and the first one really in my new home. Today I slept in, cleaned the apartment a bit, did some gift wrapping, walked to the bank to get cash to break into quarters to do laundry, went back to Kohl's because this candle I thought said "Noel" on it actually said "Believe," so I went back to exchange it and got one more Christmas present. I also found out that next to the Kohls' there's a BBB and a Whole Foods. Now, if there were a Trader Joes in the same complex... I'd visit that shopping mall everyday. But hey, there's one within walking distance instead! I could deal with that :)

So I've been trying to get pictures for the one day photo project, and I warn you, I really don't have that many... Right now I'm waiting for the boyfriend's airplane to get here... yay! (that's my exciting thought of the day) But it's been delayed almost 2 hours already (rrrrr), so maybe I'll take some pics of the 405 or something driving there... HA! Nah, I don't want to bore you with that.

So I didn't go to the beach today... :( but I'm still grateful for that view from my window, the warmth from the sun's rays in the living room (yet another beautiful day with 65ish degree weather), finally finding a parking spot at Kohl's about a mile away from the store (needed the exercise), and that I get some company tonight through next weekend... Christmas & the bf are coming!! 

Nothing really unsual today, except the neighbors had been quiet this whole week and now they're blasting their radio (sigh). Oh well. As long as they they stop by the time I go to bed, they do whatever they want. It's a free country.

So, work this week: Monday, go have lunch with a sales manager at what looks like a yummy organic Mexican grill, work as hard as I can (have to cram a week's worth into 2 days), and Tuesday go to work at 7 so can leave by 2 to start driving to Vegas. Wednesday morning, drive from Vegas to Salt Lake (hoping for good weather, or at least non-icy roads). Good night and hope you all have a fantastic week!

I know you're all jealous...

So I've been to the beach today - in a t-shirt and rolled-up jeans. And I wasn't too cold. What do I want to say to most of you? Nanner nanner na-nner! Sorry, for the Frenchies: nananananè-reu! So, I'm being kinda mean, because Salt Lake, Denver, Vegas, Seattle, Paris I'm sure, and even parts of California are snowed in, and I have friends & family in all of those places. Hope you may find your warm weather soon!!

So yesterday I got off work at 3:30 are drove straight to Oceanside. The 405 was of course a total mess. It took me an hour and 15 minutes just to go 20 miles. The rest in Orange County was surprisingly ok. I met up with the parents, they have a timeshare a half block from the beach... it was fun! Went to a seafood dinner, slept in this morning, walked on the beach to the pier, visited a 2.9 million dollar amazing contemporary condo (open house), then drove back home. I spent an hour and a half at Kohl's doing Christmas shopping (I think I'm done now). It sucks. I've been so busy with the move that I was only able to do Christmas shopping this weekend. I'm really hoping to be more organized next year. I usually have about 75% of my shopping done on black Friday, but this year I drove for 11 hours that day so could not do so. And every weekend was spent apartment shopping. Rrrrrr... Anyway, hope to make it up to you all by just wishing you a merry Christmas and hope that you will find your happiness, whether it be a Wii fit, a day with Tokio Hotel, a diamond bracelet, laughing and drinking hot chocolate with your loved ones, Megan Fox for a night, a BMW, Chanel No. 5, j'veux un scooteur!, or whatever else you want or need, hope your wishes come true and you remember that the true meaning of Christmas is about giving, love, friendship, and happiness (well, that's my opinion at least).

So today I'm grateful that as I got home from Oceanside, my apartment was bright and warm from the sunlight coming in, and something unusual? The guy selling the open house used to live in Murray. I decided not to buy the house though when he said that he went to Olympus High... LoL, just joking. I graduated YEARS ago, I don't care about the rivalry :) Good night everyone! Here's some pics of Oceanside so that you can all envy me:

Nothing too exciting...

Hi everybody,

Well, it's a Monday night and the only real exciting thing is that I just watched 2 full hours of Family Guy. Futurama's now in the background while I'm typing this. A funny thing I saw today was on the way from work to the hotel, I saw a sign that said "Stupid lot sale!" And wondered what the heck that could be. Is the lot stupid, or the sale stupid, the seller, or is it stupid cheap or expensive? Who knows. Well, it made me chuckle, and that's all that counts. :)

Oh, speaking of Family Guy, you know what really grinds my gears? Those Kay Jewelers commercials. "Every kiss begins with Kaaayyyyy." I mean, wow, can you imagine if every guy really had to buy their girlfriend/spouse/significant other/lady GPS a diamond or some kind of jewelry to get but a mere simple kiss? LoL. 

I really feel like I didn't grocery shop enough - I forgot the lentils and stuff (well, didn't forget, my basket was getting way too full and heavy with the olive oil and OJ), so tonight I had another chicken sausage (not the best) with a can of green beans, microwaved (I remembered to take the beans out of the aluminum can before microwaving). I'm really not making an effort yet, but it's because I really don't feel at home - and my appliances are limited, so I'm not cooking mouth-watering stuff... but I'll shop more next Saturday for the new place. This morning though I had a wheat-free dairy-free waffle (don't be appalled, tastes just like a regular waffle really) with almond butter and bananas. Soooo good! At work, one of my coworkers bought some home-made toffee with chocolate, and it was to die for. I ate 3 pieces by 10, no wonder I had a headache all day. Isn't that funny? I know that when I eat chocolate I'll get a headache, but it's so good that sometimes I'd rather deal with the headache. Oh, there's the weight gain too, maybe that'll make me stop. We shall see. I don't have a scale with me, so have no idea how my new Cali lifestyle is affecting me. Well, I won't bore you anymore about weight, I know guys read this blog too, so, in other news...

Mom suggests making a list of stuff I need for the new apartment, especially for those who wonder what to get me for Christmas. I think that's a fantastic idea, although I already got my killer deal on my pots and pans, what more could I need? Well, I'll start that tonight since I have nothing better to do.  If only this laptop could handle Counter-Strike... oh wait, maybe it can! Hun? Well, with a laptop mouse it really isn't the best though...

Well, good night everyone... today I'm grateful that it'll be in the mid 70's this week, which means I just may go to the beach after work. That IS why I moved here, right? Later!