La Vie Est Belle

Bonsoir bonsoir,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I wish you all a fantastic holiday weekend!!

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!

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!

Jesus Préfère Sprouts a Trader Joe's

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!

Soirée Tranquille

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!

Gotta get some muscles

Hi everyone,

Well, today I got off at about 2:30 PM, visited the Sales Office, met some really nice and friendly people, then finished packing... as I switched hotels today. My mom had told me (considering I'm carrying pretty much everything I own with me) that I had to stop being cheap and just get assistance with my luggage. Well, it's not that I didn't want to tip somebody (although I do hate tipping, the awkwardness of handing a few bills at the right moment, I don't know... anyone have tips on tipping?) and I DO hate spending money when I don't have to (I'm a salesman's worst nightmare), but I decided I needed the workout anyway. So I got my huge suitcase with about 80% of the clothes I own, 3 or 4 duffel bags, a few tote bags, my mom's laptop and my purse to my car in 4 trips - while taking one set of stairs to the garage (couldn't do all 7 floors!). That felt good, got some muscles and saved a few dollars in the process.

This new hotel isn't bad, but the walls are paper thin (who knows WHAT's going on to my right right now) and it's small, but it's just me. There's a kitchen so I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow and probably buy some lettuce, veggies, and some kind of protein I don't have to fry, like beans or lentils. I know, boring... but sooooo good. I'm happy to be healthy again and not eat scrumptious greasy stuff :). Dinner tonight is banana and almond butter sandwiches, tamari seaweed brown rice crackers, yogurt with trailmix, and I'll indulge in this Trader Joe's chocolate bar with raisins and pecans. Yum! All while typing this and watching "Wedding Crashers" on TBS.

Tomorrow I'll probably do laundry too, as I'm running out of underwear and don't really want to go commando. I'll also check out the area more, buy some chocolates for the office Christmas party tomorrow, unpack, iron some clothes, maybe go to the beach if it's warm enough (supposed to be 69 degrees). I'll keep you posted.

So I'm grateful for the weekend, and my unusual thing today? The concierge lounge employee from the first hotel actually was there when I checked in at my second hotel today. He remembered my name since I introduced myself a few days ago as the new manager. I also felt embarassed because when I checked in today I was in jeans, tennis shoes and a t-shirt and looked like a teenager about to kick it and relax. Oh well, give me some credit, I'm not going to haul a bunch of heavy luggage in a suit.

Have a great Friday everyone! TGIF!!

'Been a long day...

So today's been a pretty long day... I think I'm just taking in so much information at work, and my boss even told me "you're falling asleep!" (in a nice way) Well, I wasn't quite really, but at some point it seemed that everything she said went right above my head. I spent about an hour reading this development program book made for me (It's about 6 inches thick of blabber) and it seems that in an hour I only read about 8 pages. I don't know why, but I'm really having trouble concentrating these past few days. I have a few theories: I have ADD somewhat and

1) My coworker is playing Christmas music, which is fine but a little distracting so when I read this thing I have to plug my ears (I'm too nice to tell her to turn it down)

2) I'm so psyched about everything that is happening to me right now that I keep thinking about other things - my new apartment, where I'm going to put the couch, when I'm going to call the electricity company, oh, and can't forget internet, where I'm going to buy my kitchen stuff, and planning out my strategy for next weekend... oh, by the way, if you haven't guessed, I GOT APPROVED FOR THE APARTMENT!! Not that I should have had any problems, but you never know, somebody could have framed me :) I'll move in next Sunday as planned!

3) I've been eating pretty badly. As you may or may not know, I've been on a wheat free dairy free diet since June (and have lost 15 lbs since then by the way), slipping up only once in a while. Well, this week I've been slipping pretty much everyday, and I feel.... down, bloated, tired, having trouble concentrating, which is proof that eating healthy is the way to go.

Speaking of eating, I didn't do so well on my vegetarian plan today. Now, I did eat my banana and almond butter as planned, and for lunch I finally finished my P.F. Chang's vegetable curry from last weekend (it was still good, miraculously!) but work had some kind of beef/pot roast thing with a mushroom sauce... and I had to have some. I've been eating way too much, for lunch and at the hotel lounge every night. But I figure, tonight's the last night, tomorrow after work (I get off at 2 by the way, yay!) I'm moving to another hotel with no hors d'oeuvres but I'll have a kitchen, so I'll start cooking and eating healthier. I also spent a pitiful 15 minutes at the fitness center today, after not having gone for over a week.... yeah, my job is great, my life is great, but my body feels like crap. Gotta change that!!

I hear there was a Christmas tree lighting ceremony tonight at 6 not far from here. I didn't go, it's just not the same when you're all alone, plus it's in a dense city where parking is horrible... and I promised myself I'd go to the fitness center and go meet the sales team at the hotel... yeah. Excuses, excuses. Well, hope you're all having a great day... and planning a fabulous weekend. This weekend for me? Saturday - rest and do laundry in a coin-up washer and dryer (never done that before, welcome to the real world) and rest, and Sunday is my work's Christmas party. Maybe I'll go to Ikea or something and start checking out prices for furniture :)

Oh, sorry, I almost forgot. Today I'm grateful that I got the final approval for my new kickin' apartment, and something unusual? On my way from work to the hotel, I saw a guy on a motorcycle, and the license plate said something about balls, and below it was a balloon with two round things dangling at the bottom, next to one another... and you guessed it, looked like balls. And the balloon was blue. Kinda funny. Good night everybody!!