| Monday, April 20th, 2009 |
| 7:53 am |
Summertime and thinking out loud
I haven't been on Livejournal in well over a year. I remember viewing Livejournal on a daily basis. Life goes by fast. Boy, it feels like Summer. Sigh. What happen to winter? Good thing that we had the A/C maintenance done on Friday. I had to turn the A/C on over the weekend! Things to do today: - Go to infant swim class with Charles at Rose Bowl Aquatic. Forgot to register him so I hope there are openings today. - MOMS supper club at Patricia's. Be there at 3:30. Hopefully some of the other moms made some yummy food. I'm trying an experiment. Pork ribs but cooked in the slow cooker - then grill on the stove with some bbq sauce to give it some nice color. The slow cooker really is just to make the ribs super tender. I was trying to organize our Hawaii trip pics and was a little upset over how I looked. Yes, I had a baby and everything. And no, I rarely exercise because I'm taking care of the little dude. Well, I'm not really keen on sending these pics out to family and friends. It's funny, you have a certain view in your head on how you look. I was looking at old pics and I can't believe that I thought that I looked big then. When will this ever end?!?!!! |
| Monday, February 11th, 2008 |
| 12:10 pm |
Caramels
I'm so happy that I saw this article on Béquet Caramels ( http://www.bequetconfections.com/) in LA Times Daily Dish. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/They are truly the best caramels in the world! I remember trying a couple at a small high end market in the Napa Valley a few years ago and I fell in love with them instantly. I've ordered them online since - which are much fresher than purchasing them at Whole Foods. I got a former employee hooked on them and now she orders them as gifts for friends and family every holiday time. Is it time for me to order more? I think so.... |
| Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 |
| 3:53 pm |
It's King-Cake time!
It seems like there are 20 King Cakes at work. No joke. All on my side of this floor alone! Who the heck bought so many of these suckers? I've never had King Cake before and to be honest, it doesn't look appealing to me. |
| Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 |
| 8:50 am |
The condo
After a grueling 4 months with the construction guys, the small kitchen at the condo is finally finished. It looks amazing!!! My tenant seems really happy and I'm glad that I used her expertise as a interior designer to help with the countertop and flooring choices. The small kitchen looks bigger and brighter and no so old lady. The addition of the dishwasher and the extra cabinet next to the stove really makes a difference.
The plumber came out yesterday to replace our shower fixers which badly needed updating. It looks so nice. And since he's been a family plumber for Mark's family for so long and has this other side business of real estate we asked his opinion on construction people for us. He gave us the names of some guys and some regular day laborer he uses for demolition, moving and they seem so reasonable! And his plumber ass't would help us too! Boy, with the baby on the way, we really need to step up the remodeling so that we can have more space.
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| Friday, January 25th, 2008 |
| 1:29 pm |
rain rain go away
Alright, I'm officially sick of the rain. I love the rain but not for this long. I know that our friends in Seattle and Portland are probably saying that what we're getting is nothing. In comparison to them, yes I would agree with them. However, this is Los Angeles! I braved the horrible weather and walked across the street to a Thai restaurant - I felt like a big bowl of some type of noodle soup. It hit the spot! |
| Sunday, January 20th, 2008 |
| 3:20 pm |
Vegas weekend
We're in Vegas to celebrate Andy's birthday. We left on Friday but Mark had to work so Andy and I drove to Vegas together and Mark would be taking a flight in later in the day. Andy and I had a great time on the drive and we talked the entire time. Andy and I were craving Hash House a Go Go - http://www.hashhouseagogo.com/ I love this place. It's wonderful mid-west farm food like biscuits and gravy but on Steroids! The portions are ridiculous and meals are served in serving platter sized dishes and I wish that I could eat so much more it's so good! I got biscuits and sausage gravy w/ mash potatoes and soft scrambled eggs. This place makes the best scrambled eggs....the way they are suppose to be made...on the softer side. Andy got the 18 oz pork tenderloin - he finished it and felt really accomplished....HA! Andy and I rested in the room and cleaned up. We the walked around our hotel - Treasure Island and then walked over to The Mirage. Then we realized that we should get in the car to get Mark at the airport. Mark was really tired and we stayed in the room for a little bit while he rested and cleaned up. Then we went to dinner at The Peppermill. I was starving but craving something "healthy" so I just had a yogurt parfait. Saturday we went back to Hash House a Go Go for breakfast. Too much food! We then went to explore the new Palazzo which just opened last week. It's ok - the smell of "just out of the box" was really bothering me. The decor is subtle but I didn't think it was too special. Kinda reminds me of the Wynn. The highlight was that we spotted Mario Batali walking around. I got tired and got a small headache because of the smells so we headed back to the TI. The boys went to the Pinball Hall of Fame and I rested in the room. The Vegas smoke was really trying me. I later treated myself to a wonderful late lunch at Mario Batali's restaurant. http://www.venetian.com/ENOTECA.aspx I got a trio of cheeses - a buffalo mozzarella, a triple cream goat cheese, and parmigiano reggiano. The cheeses came with these amazing condiments - honey w/ black truffles, apricot w/ chili, a type of brandied cherries. Wow! It was so delicious. I got a the Bavette Cacio e Pepe which is a type of spaghetti w/ butter, cheese and black pepper. Such a simple dish but really elegant and tasty. I was only able to eat half...not because the portions are large because the portions are not large. I was just full from the cheese. I saved room for dessert which was a trio of gelato - I chose chocolate malt, salted caramel and lemon sorbet. The salted caramel was my favorite! The salt crystals really set off the creamy texture of the caramel gelato. The lemon sorbet was so wonderful too! I was really happy. Sunday - I went to the Bouchon Bakery for a quick lunch. The bakery is nice but pricey. I got a ham & cheese sandwich, pain au chocolate (for later) and a caramel French macaron and a coke. It cost $20.01 and I had to sit at the food court to eat my meal cause they didn't have seating. The bread for the sandwich was very nice. The caramel macaroon was nice - I have had some really nice french macarons in LA at Boule. It's just pricey for an on-the-go baked goods store behind the escalators at The Venetian. I ate the pain au chocolat later in the evening. it was really nice and flakey and I can only imagine how it would taste if I ate it earlier. We left Monday night. I had a really fun time and the three of us were in really good spirits. More smoke than I would have liked and I had to take frequent "breaks" from the smoke by either going outside in the freezin' air, going to our room, or to an area of non-gambling. The smells were really getting to me and ventilation in hotels vary. I won't be going to Vegas again until after the baby is born. The smells were just too much for me. |
| Thursday, January 10th, 2008 |
| 11:01 am |
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| Monday, January 7th, 2008 |
| 1:28 pm |
Maternity Clothes
First - I'm really cheap when it comes to certain things. I'm steaming that I've already spent hundreds of dollars buying maternity clothes. Buying expensive clothes is one thing but maternity clothes...no way. I bought a dress on sale from Mimi's Maternity. It's a simple black silk dress and I bought it for $60 and it was originally $240. $240....Really? Why would I want to spend that much for maternity clothes? I didn't get pregnant to buy the clothes. I don't think any woman looks forward to buying maternity clothes.
So I have bought maternity clothes from Mimi's Maternity (a total rip off in my opinion - they don't even accept returns just credit returns) and Target (trendier but not the best quality) and even at a used clothes store near work (I bought a really cute Japanese Weekend purple twin set for only $7.50 - it would have cost me over $100 if I bought it new at the JW store).
On Saturday, I told Mark that I desperately need new maternity undergarments and the Gap at The Grove sells maternity stuff. I bought underwear and a work cotton button down shirt. They had cute stuff but I wasn't totally happy with the cost of the underwear.
Shauna told me that Old Navy sells maternity clothes. I can't remember the last time Mark and I went to an Old Navy. It has to be years. For women's and men's clothes - we can't stand that store - it's very flimsy and poorly made. It's like Forever 21. However, for women's maternity it is rrrrrreeeeeeeaaaaalllllllyyyyyyy cheap when it's on sale. I got a pair of black capri exercise pants - $3.97. Wow!!! The underwear, which looks exactly the same as the kind I bought from the Gap earlier was only $9 versus $23 at Gap. |
| Friday, January 4th, 2008 |
| 9:09 am |
Yesterday
My boss urged me to make the announcement to my co-workers that I'm pregnant. I feel like I "popped" in the last week or so and it looks pretty obvious. So I announced it at our lunch and people were excited. I feel "guilty" for being pregnant so early in my career at Disney but it was nice to hear people tell me that it never is a good time. Yeah, it really isn't ever a good time. Even if I were at my old job the timing of the pregnancy would have been unfortunate. It was weird. One of my co-workers who had a baby last year came up and put her hand on my belly. That's the first time that someone other than my husband and brother has done that. I guess it will happen all the time now that I'm showing so much more. |
| Friday, December 28th, 2007 |
| 8:34 am |
WE'RE PREGNANT!
After 3.5 years of trying (which is always fun), doctors appts and fertility treatments (not so fun)....Mark and I are finally expecting our first child. I am already at 12 weeks and everything looks great to the doctors so far. Luckily, it's only one baby - it's common for those on fertility treatments to have multiple embryos and it appears healthy at this time. This was the best Christmas present of all!!! Current Mood:  thankful |
| Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 |
| 8:29 am |
Xmas already
Dude, I can't believe that in two weeks that it will be Xmas. Mark and I have barely gone shopping for our families - I think we've only bought a few things. We just got a tree over the weekend and only had time to put on the lights! Aack! Where does the time go? |
| Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 |
| 10:41 am |
Day so far...
My stupid mother called from Thailand at 4:57 am (our time) this morning.....she called to tell me to call later today to wish my father a happy father's (Thai) day...and then she told me that she had a kidney stone. I'm soooo tired today and I have the Disneyland Xmas party from 8-12:30am....I don't know if I can function. |
| Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 |
| 7:40 am |
Chicago weekend
Had a really good weekend in Chicago. Work went well and visiting childhood haunts didn't prove to be as emotional as I thought. It's funny how you romanticize things from your past. Our childhood home looks so small. I really love Chicago and its suburbs. I stayed at 3 different hotels and they all had wonderful views of the Chicago river. The architecture is so amazing! The city of my childhood is a wonderful quiet town and soooooooooo close to bustling Chicago. I wouldn't mind living there again. Next time I would like to bring Mark back there so that he can experience more than the Wrigley field area (when he went there for a bachelor party about a month ago). |
| Thursday, September 13th, 2007 |
| 7:42 pm |
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| Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 |
| 7:59 am |
Hell and no A/C
Our a/c broke on Friday and when we called to get it repaired (it's only just over a year old) they already left for the holiday weekend. AAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! So fucking hot! The house was in the 90s during the day and cooled off into the 80s at late night. We stayed in a hotel on Friday night. Tried to brave it Saturday night. Stayed in a hotel Sunday night. Stayed at my neighbor's last night. Hopefully, the company can come out today to fix it.
Oddly enough, when I called the hotels to book the rooms they told me that there were a lot of people in our position who either loss power or a/c. |
| Thursday, August 30th, 2007 |
| 7:00 am |
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| Tuesday, August 28th, 2007 |
| 12:48 pm |
Last night's meal
My vendors were visiting from Philadelphia and they usually want to wine and dine us when they're around. My boss' bday is today so we did a celebration. My boss wanted to go to Mastro's steak restaurant in Beverly Hills. He's pretty high maintenance. Heard of it. Now that I don't eat meat, I'm not too excited about eating at steak houses even if the seafood is to die for. We had six to our party - me, my boss, my co-worker, 3 vendor people. They asked me if Mark would be joining us and told me to tell them hi. Guys and hockey - there's a bond. We got a Zinfandel (Rosenblum) bottle of wine. We started getting this huge tower of seafood that was filled with lobsters cut in half (about 3 full lobsters), enormous shrimps, king crab legs and oysters. I had a lobster claw, and a crab leg. Their presentation was very nice. They utilized dry ice so it was billowing dry ice smoke on our table. It was really delicious and the quality was outstanding. Everybody at the table ordered steaks (except me) - 4 bone in ribeyes each 22 ounces. They were gargantuan and these were the smaller cuts of rib eye - the larger one is 33 ounces. It did smell amazing. All the plates are apparently at 400 degrees and I believe it. I was afraid of getting burned. My meal consisted of spoon fulls of 4 different side dishes and we ordered a boat load of them. Lobster over mash potatoes (I had some of this) Gnocchi w/ crab and shrimp (I had some of this) Sauteed mushrooms asparagus potatos au gratin (I had some of this) mac n cheese (I had some of this) Another bottle of wine - Cabernet Sauvignon (Jordan) No one finished their meals. It was so ridiculous. Those steaks were enormous and the sides were so generous. Even though I was stuffed I had to have some dessert. In addition, I chose a dessert for my boss' bday - chocolate torte. I had a cappucino and ordered the warm butter cake w/ ice cream and fresh whipped cream - I was so please with this dessert. The whole table ended up sharing that. The bill of this incredible meal was exorbitant (I snuck a peak when the bill came). Considering that I didn't order meat or an entree for that matter - it averaged, with tip, about $166/person. Yikes! My stomach was in a lot of pain. It was just too much food but it tasted so good!!!! |
| Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 |
| 7:26 am |
Job/Career
I went to lunch w/ my boss yesterday and had a very candid conversation about my job/career and what the future holds. He said that my concerns were more than fair and that he would be discussing w/ HR - and I believe that he will. We'll see what transpires. |
| Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 |
| 8:26 am |
I crashed
I got a different type of haircut. I went to Supercuts rather than the salon in Beverly Hills (I just don't want to drive there anymore) and Jenny (Supercuts) did a really nice job. All for just a mere $15. Even w/ buying 2 products, a round brush and tip...it was less than what I spend at Umberto's for the haircut alone sans tip. I got tired last night right after dinner w/ Shauna. We ate at Malagueta's and I got some type of pizza the vegetarian waitress recommended and that was ok at best. Patagonia is having their bi-annual sale and the lazy environmentalist in me wanted to support them so I bought 3 t-shirts. My co-worker forwarded me another company which started with former Patagonia executives. Nau ( https://www.nau.com/homepage/index.jsp#) which is a little more urban but more pricier. It started in Portland, Oregon. Leave it those guys to be even further environmentally friendly. There was a huge line for Pinkberry in Old Town Pasadena and people across the street were intrigued by the line. It's frozen yogurt w/ fruit on top people! Eh...fads. |
| Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 |
| 7:18 am |
Validation
I'm not sure why I need validation about the weekend but I really wanted to speak with Shauna over my weekend with my "Gina Drama". I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't over-reacting. Shauna was really understanding and even offered for us to go to make up for the fact that my weekend turned out so lousy. I'll probably take her up on that offer. |
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