THESE DAYS

June 3, 2013

Ooooh, you know, it’s JUNE ALREADY. As crazy as that sounds, I’m so looking forward to summer. In fact, it already feels like summer, what with the extreme heat and all. But, bring it on. I’m ready, I’m sunscreened, and I just bought a new beach blanket. Things are looking up. As for what I’ve been up to lately, well, I’m glad you asked! Here are just a few things keeping me busy:

^^^I’m certainly not the only one who took advantage of Trader Joe’s’ 2-week peony inventory, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t the best 2 weeks of my life.

^^^Ok, green juice, you got me! You’re kind of delicious. That right there is a combo of kale, apple, cucumber, lemon, and ginger (with a side of almond butter toast)

^^^One of my goals for 2013 is to turn my house into a jungle. Not pictured: the package of bandaids that the nursery owner gave me as a gift for buying so many plants there. Errr, thank you?

^^^I’ve been rotating solely (pun intended) between chucks and madewell boots lately. Take THAT, summertime, because who needs sandals anyway? Speaking of sandals, I need a new pair for the summer. Suggestions welcome.

^^^I’m sorry, what is ice cream? What is frozen yogurt? Because I ONLY EAT SNOW CREAM NOW. There’s this new place called Blockheads Shavery Co in LA that serves shaved ice cream and we’re addicted big time. Pictured is black sesame snow cream with strawberries, mangos, rice cake balls, and strawberry puree on top.

^^^Putting together a little “Welcome to LA” gift for one of my BFF’s who’s moving here!

^^^Stumbled upon (literally because I tripped over a stack of rugs) the most amazing hole-in-the-wall rug joint I’ve ever seen in all my days on earth. So long overpriced Rose Bowl flea! I don’t need your rugs! So long sketchy international eBay transactions! So long money because we spent all of it at this rug place.

^^^Pasadena, if you’re not the most adorable little town, then I don’t know what is. Also, you’re the hottest. 90 degrees? Really? But like I said, bring it on!

THOUGHTS ON A MONDAY

April 15, 2013

+ I’m a notorious over-packer when I go on trips. NOTORIOUS, I tell you. Also, I usually pack at the very last minute. We’re talking 3am the night before an 8am flight. But I have a 9-day trip coming up in a few days and shockingly, I’ve already laid out everything I want to bring and it’s not that much. Is this what growing up feels like?

+ This weekend was for hanging out in sweatpants and watching the live stream of Coachella. The best kind of weekends, am I right?

+ In January, I got a brand new iMac and it’s now DEAD. Wtf, Apple? Thanking my lucky stars we got the warranty, otherwise I guess we’d be SOL?

+ Anyone have any last minute recs for Montreal? I’ve gotten some amazing recs so far (thank you!), but would love to know if there are any places I MUST go/see/eat/shop?

Happy mid-April! (WHAT?)

AFTER WORK

March 15, 2013

Instead of a Friday Love List today, I thought I’d share what our Thursday evening looked like.  Super low-key and nowhere to be.  Those are my favorite kind of nights.

As soon as I got home from work, I relaxed a bit and went through the mail.  The new Madewell catalogue kept me occupied for a solid 25 minutes.  That thing is pure gold.  GOLD, I tell you.

Then I decided to make dinner: a rice bowl with veggies, fried eggs, and some leftover thai curry broth from this recipe.

While I cooked, Kyle put on music and we danced between sautéing the mushrooms and steaming the brown rice.  This is very typical.  We get our dance on almost every night during/after dinner.  Not pictured: the final product of our meal, which was pretty dang tasty.  In fact, I wish I could insert a “thumbs up” emoji right here.  I can no longer express how I truly feel without the use of emojis anymore. #2013problems

We kept dancin’ and spinnin’ and groovin’ and movin’.  In these photos, we’re listening to Smooth Operator.  I’m serious!  Everyone needs a little Sade in their life.  Although, we eventually switched over to the new JT album.

ALRIGHT, YOU GET IT, WE’RE CUTE SOMETIMES.

Then on to dessert.  Not pictured: handfuls upon handfuls of Trader Joe’s dark chocolate covered almonds with sea salt and turbinado sugar, as seen here.  I mean, I can’t even put into words how addicting these things are.

After dessert and dishes, it was straight up to the office for some blogging, pinteresting, and Google Reader-ing.  Dear Google, WHY OH WHY are you getting rid of Google Reader?  I use it ALL DAY, ERRRDAY.  Also, I’m taking a few online classes right now so those were on my Thursday night t0-do list as well.

That was one exciting Thursday evening.  Hope yours was great!

As for the weekend, I have little to no plans except for soaking up the LA sunshine.  Happy weekending!

On crown braids and starting anew

February 27, 2013

Please forgive me for posting a picture of myself with my dang eyes closed.  No one blinks in blogland so this kind of pic is pretty unheard of.  But you know what?  My boobs look nice and my hair’s lookin fly so my eyes can be closed if they want to.  And yes I just gave myself 2 compliments.  We’re turning a new leaf this year.

Speaking of this year, I celebrate the New Year on the day after Oscars.  Award season is the busiest time for me because of work, so when it’s all over, I can finally take a deep breath, reflect on the past year, and start anew.  That means I need to stop eating handfuls of M&Ms daily and start being a little more healthy.  Maybe workout a bit?  Find a goal and achieve it?  Most people have these kind of resolutions on January 1st.  Not this gal.  It’s all about February 27th.

Last year’s resolutions? No offense to me circa 2012 but they sucked.  I didn’t keep a single one.  The only productive thing I did last year was learn how to crown braid.  Also, I lied.  I learned this like 2 weeks ago but I still consider that last year since it was B.O. (before Oscars).  I am pretty proud of myself for this accomplishment.  Mainly because it was my only accomplishment.  We can’t all be winners.  Oh but the braid goes all the way around my head!  So fancy!  Here is the tutorial I used in case you want to test yo’ braid skillz.

Now that I’m taking a deep breathe and starting fresh with new goals and resolutions (in late February), I just have an inkling that this is going to be a great year.  I’m taking about you, 2013.  I think you’re going to be pretty darn good.

Sometimes we walk to dinner

February 26, 2013

On Fridays, we go out to eat.  It’s become somewhat of a tradition based purely on laziness, dwindling groceries at the end of the week, and long work days.  Sometimes we go big and make reservations at a fun restaurant across town.  But let’s be real…usually we walk across the street, have Oaxacan mole at a questionable hole-in-the-wall (aka the best), and then hop over to the diner a few blocks down to eat pie and drink milkshakes.  Oooooh yeah, we’re crazy kids.

As much as I love crowded restaurants and hip meals and fancy cocktails, sometimes all I need is a simple evening of pie and milkshakes.  Oh and some tamales.