Category Archives: life

we cheer + disneyland again

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Congrats to my friend Emma (and Mike) who gave birth to a baby girl this morning! Awww. 🙂

I missed the Girl Scouts this year. 🙁 I even found the dates/times of their booths on the OC Girl Scout website. Oh well. I suppose my waistline is thankful that I didn’t buy any Thin Mints or Samoas. Mmmm.

We bought a new Wii. The broken one was no longer booting up. 🙁 We looked up the “symptom” on the Nintendo site and it advised us to send in the old one for repair. Since we’ve had the console for 2+ years, it didn’t have a warranty anymore and would cost $75. We thought that wasn’t bad. THEN in the part where you enter your credit card info, we found out that they also charge $10 for shipping and tax on top of that, which brought the total to just under $100. LAME. Rob had $125 in Amazon rewards so buying a new Wii made more sense since the difference of $124.99 wasn’t much more than the repair cost.

So over the weekend, I bought We Cheer. OMG, I’m seriously addicted. It took me a few routines to get my moves synced to the game, which was a little frustrating at first, but after I got the hang of it, I was having so much fun! It does look a little cheesy (the cheerleaders remind me of Bratz dolls) and there’s no storylines (just random conversations between the characters that add nothing to the game) but whatever — I skip all that extra stuff and focus on clearing songs and unlocking stages. It’s a pretty good workout too. Thumbs up!

We also made an impromptu trip to Disneyland again on Sunday. I LOVE DISNEYLAND. I now want to spend my 30th (!!!) birthday weekend there. Anyway, we found out Saturday night that there was supposed to be a “storm” coming in the next day so we decided to play it by ear. I woke up at about 7am on Sunday morning and it wasn’t raining. WOOT. I really wanted to get to DL as close as possible to the 8am park opening. So I took a shower and when I got out, it was raining. HARD. UGH. So I didn’t even bother waking up Rob. I went back to sleep, lol. Then when I woke up again at about 9am, it was clear. It even looked like the sun was trying to peek through the clouds. This time I woke up Rob and we made it out of the apartment by 10am. Our first stop was across the street at Starbucks to get some coffee and while I was ordering inside, rain started pounding down again. GRRR. I was ready to go back home but Rob said we might as well drive to Anaheim (about 15 miles away) and see what the weather was like there. I’m glad we did because on the way, the rain stopped (again) and it turned out to be a great day to be at DL. The crowds were really light too, probably because locals didn’t want to brave the rain. We are troopers! 😀

Obligatory pics…



A new “sight” at Celebration Point. Not sure if I like it since it seems totally out of place on Main Street… good picture spot though!



We weren’t planning on spending the entire day at the park so we only did what are now our “must do’s.” First, we walked quickly to Space Mountain to get a Fast Pass. Then we made a beeline for Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters where Rob beat my score again. BOO.



We headed back to Main Street and killed some time by the Partners’ statue because we wanted to have fried chicken at the Plaza Inn for lunch and they don’t take reservations. We got there about 5 minutes before their noon opening and the line was already looooong. Crazy!



The fried chicken was excellent! Mmm, I’m drooling right now just thinking about it.

After lunch, it was time to head over to California Adventure. We walked alllllll the way to Toy Story Mania and found out the wait was 60 minutes. We decided to pass. Next time we’ll have to hit that ride right when CA opens.



So of course, we headed over to the Animation Academy. We found out that the next session at 1:30 is for Jack Skellington but the 2:00 session is for Piglet. Since we’ve drawn Jack before, we decided to wait for Piglet. We went outside to walk around and we found Goofy! The line to take pictures with him wasn’t too long so I convinced Rob to come with me. Hehehehe. My new goal is to find Sorceror Mickey so I can take my picture with him when I’m wearing my Sorceror Mickey ears.



Back at the Animation Academy, I found that Piglet is freaking hard to draw! My drawing is on the left and it suuuuucks. Rob’s is so much better. *pout*

Finally, we went back to DL to use Fast Passes for Space Mountain (my favorite ride EVER). And after a quick walk through Downtown Disney to check out the Lego store, we headed home. *happy* Can’t wait for my next trip.

Wedding: Decor

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The wedding recap continues…

When I left off last time, the bridesmaids and I had finished getting ready and were heading over to the Grand Newport Plaza, our ceremony and reception site. We were going to get ourselves set up in the bridal suite and then meet with the boys for pictures.

All photos taken by Apertura unless otherwise noted. Please feel free to click for bigger.



Here we are arriving at the site.

While we were all getting ready, my fabulous coordinator Angel, the GNP staff, and our vendors had been prepping the site and setting up all the little wedding projects Rob and I had been working on. I was nervous that the end result wouldn’t look the way I envisioned but I was not prepared at how overwhelmed I would be when seeing everything come together so beautifully. The sight as guests walk into the lobby…





Close-up of the lobby — I just love it! The gorgeous guestbook wish tree (made by the awesome Allie is the focus of the table, baskets of ceremony programs are on both sides next to pictures of our parents at their own weddings, and the “Rob and Kel” letters round it all out. (Rob painted those letters!)





More wish tree! It’s such a fun alternative to the traditional guestbook. And it doubles as floral decor! I made tags by taking flat notecards (I bought some with fun expressions on one side from Paper Source), then punched a hole and strung pink or brown ribbon through it. These tags were laid out in a glass bowl with pens and guests were instructed to write us a note and hang it on the tree.



Better view of the tags. Oh, see the pens! My cousin helped me make little paper flowers to attach to the tops of the pens. They were really hard to make. :/ But I couldn’t have plain pens on the table! I’m silly.



The programs. This was one of the hardest projects. Seriously. Actually, I think I just made it hard. I’d never used Illustrator before but for some reason got it in my head that I should use it for this project. Smart. Then I chose Stardream bronze paper to use as the cover. Too bad it was so thick that folding it created creases if not done exactly right. I stuck Rob with that job — he was much better at it than I was. Finally, the inside pages all had to be cut by roughly 1/8 of an inch (!!!) after printing because when putting all the pieces together, they stuck out ever so slightly past the cover. UGH. The paper cutter I have for scrapbooking came in handy for this but getting the measurement correct was a PAIN. Oh well, I think the end product looked great!



On the other side of the round table was a birdcage that served as a card box.

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february update

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Random entry alert! I’ve wanted to do a “what I’ve been up to” post for awhile now (really an excuse to post some pics) but am always too lazy… here’s a quickie version. 🙂

Back on Valentine’s Day, Rob and I went to the happiest place on Earth, Disneyland. We bought annual passes for each other for Christmas and finally went to get them activated. The best thing about having annual passes is that we don’t feel the need to do EVERYTHING in one day. We can totally take our time, relax, and visit select attractions. The most important thing we wanted to do on this trip is ride Toy Story Mania at California Adventure. It’s an interactive midway ride and it is SO FUN. Seriously. It’s a MUST.



Here I am in my Mickey ears and the Toy Story 3-D glasses. Spiffy.



Of course a trip to CA is not complete without visiting the Animation Academy. This time we drew Goofy. My drawing is on the right.



Lunch was at Cafe Orleans. We shared French Onion soup, Pommes Frites (garlic fries with the yummiest aioli ever), and a Monte Cristo sandwich (turkey, ham and cheese fried in a light batter with berry puree). Not the healthiest lunch but SO GOOD.



Before we left, we made sure to get on Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. I had a measly 46,300 points. Rob totally beat me with 93,700. Too bad for Rob the picture got our scores mixed up. OOPSIE. Hehe.



The following weekend we celebrated our friend Sebastian’s birthday with pizza at Round Table (his choice) and dessert at Guppy House. There were 9 of us and we shared a large mixed fruit shave ice. It was GINORMOUS. We barely finished it.

I’ve been going through lots of Netflix movies lately too…

Eagle Eye
Entertaining but not very good. :/ Reminded me too much of I, Robot. Not very original. Also, I guess Transformers didn’t really require much acting from him because this movie made me realize Shia LaBeouf is a pretty good actor. I liked him a lot here.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Another Shia LaBeouf movie! Only meh. Lots of potential too. I just didn’t care for the storyline AT ALL. And the dialogue was so predictable. I lost count at how many lines Rob would guess before the words even came out of the characters’ mouths. Disappointing.

Wanted
I had no expectations before watching this movie so it was a pleasant surprise to find myself really enjoying it! Lots of thrilling action sequences and a well-constructed storyline. Plus, James McAvoy!

What else? Hmm… a couple of random things…

I love when DVDs have digital copies included. I load them right onto my iPod to take with me to the gym. As much as I love listening to music when doing cardio, my mind inevitably wanders, I get bored, and I stare at the clock. Watching and listening to episodes or movies definitely keeps me occupied.

Our Wii broke. 🙁 I tried to use it yesterday but the console was eerily quiet (you couldn’t hear it booting up) and the TV just had a blank screen. After checking all the connections and looking up the problem on the Nintendo site, we determined that we had to send it back. Unfortunately, the repair would cost $75, $10 shipping, and CA tax, which was almost $100. !!! We might as well buy a new one. UGH UGH UGH.

Wedding: Getting Ready

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About a month ago, Rob and I received our wedding album and high-res proofs from our fabulous photographers. Seeing the pictures again took me right back to the wedding and all the anticipation, excitement and sheer happiness that came with it. Sure, it wasn’t a perfect day (there were minor gaffes — candles not lighting, slideshow with no sound, etc) but it was our day and I loved every minute of it. I know it was 7 months ago but I hope you don’t mind indulging me… over the next few weeks (or months, knowing me), I’m going to put together a short series of posts highlighting some of my favorite pictures along with some of my memories.

All photos taken by Apertura unless otherwise noted.

First up: Getting Ready!

I booked a suite at the Fairmont Newport Beach so that all the bridesmaids and I could get ready together. The day started early for us — we had to be awake by 9am when my awesome hair/makeup artist Nicole was scheduled to arrive. I was not exactly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed but after a Jamba Juice smoothie for breakfast, I was ready for my makeover…



(Picture by my friend Robyn)

No makeup – the horror! I got these personalized spa wraps for my bridesmaids as part of their thank you present — of course I had to get one of my own.



(Picture by my friend Robyn)

Nicole working her magic on me. Poor Nicole was feeling really under the weather that day but she powered through… I absolutely loved the job she did on my hair and makeup.



I totally over-estimated the time it would take for hair and makeup because all the girls were finished by noon, which was way ahead of schedule. Funny story – around this time, my aunt and cousin (aka super Maid of Honor) ordered room service so we could all have some lunch before we had to head over to the ceremony site at 3pm. We ordered finger foods like popcorn shrimp and chicken nuggets that would be easy for us to eat and not mess up our makeup. Well, room service brought us buffalo wings instead. Yup. Probably the messiest thing they could have brought. We did eventually get the correct order.



Watching TV… and trying to keep calm. Can you tell? 🙂

In the meantime, what were Rob and the groomsmen up to? They all met at the Turnip Rose to get ready — they had their very own “Tommy Bahama Lounge” complete with bar and TV.



Getting their official wedding socks! Pink and brown argyle, of course.



Rob putting on his tux — it took him all of 10 minutes.



Back in the girls’ suite it’s time to get dressed! My MoH and aunt helping me retouch my makeup. It was so great to have them by my side that day.
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my macbook

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A few people have asked me how I like my MacBook Pro. Overall, I LOVE IT. Sure I’ve gotten tripped up by having to “quit” applications instead of simply clicking on the red “x” on the window. And yes, I made the novice mistake of not properly installing a new application by failing to “eject” the dmg file.

But those are little things…

I mean, who knew iTunes could load in a few seconds? I didn’t. And who knew I could have more than 2 programs running without slowing down the whole machine? NOT ME. So performance-wise, it’s been pretty freaking amazing. It’s also really really good-looking (is that a quote from Zoolander?) — the aluminum body is sleek yet sturdy and the 17 inch display is crisp and gorgeous.

The best thing is the fantastic deal I got on it since it’s an “old” model (as “old” as a MBP can be when it has a 2.5 GHz processor, 4GB RAM, and 320 gb hard drive). When I was at the Apple store in Costa Mesa last week, I had no idea that a new 17 inch model was going to hit the stores in another week. All they had on display were the old ones. After testing out the computer and pacing around the store for almost an hour, I finally decided to take the plunge. I located a sales associate only to be told that they didn’t have any in stock yet. *sad* I didn’t realize at the time that he thought I was asking about the to-be-released model.

I’m sure Rob detected my sad face because he asked if I wanted to check the Apple store at the Irvine Spectrum. Well, of course I did! Now I was on a mission. I called first so we wouldn’t waste our time and when I asked about the 17 inch MBP, the sales associate said they would be available at the end of the following week. But before I could thank him and hang up, he did the MOST AWESOME THING EVER and told me that the current 17 inch MBP’s they had in store were on promotion for $1599 ($900 off the regular price of $2499!). I asked what time they closed and we headed over there.

After an initial scare with a sales associate who didn’t know about the promotion, I finally found someone who knew what I was talking about and all of a sudden, I was forking over my credit card. All in all, I saved $1100 because I also used my company’s 8% corporate discount.

😀

Diesel would like to introduce you to his mommy’s new favorite toy…



SQUEE.

all for wordpress

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Last Friday I had this BRIGHT idea to switch my current blogging platform from Movable Type to WordPress. I’ve wanted to do this for awhile now — I haven’t been very happy with MT (rebuilding the site after a layout change takes FOREVER) and wanted the functionality and ease of use that WP can offer.

So things started out well enough — I installed WordPress to a test site and I even managed to convert all my old entries. SCORE!

BUT THEN. This is when I could kick myself. I decided that none of the default WP themes would work for my site and I was too lazy to learn how to create a theme myself so I went tooling around the net for one that I liked. All of a sudden, pop-ups started coming out of nowhere and a freaking toolbar hijacked my browser. NOT COOL. I freaked out, screamed for Rob to help me, and he ran some anti-virus/spyware programs. ARGH. %$#@!*&%$

My laptop’s doing much better (thanks to the hubs) but this little episode has made me want a new laptop even more. Preferably a MacBook. Because it’s pretty (only kidding, kind of). I’ve had my Dell for 6 years now and it’s served me well but I think it’s about time… hmmm.

Anyway, I’m not sure when I’m going to officially switch my blog over to WP. I still haven’t found a theme I like… and I’m not about to go looking for one again. *sigh*

excuses excuses

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My friend Ricardo reminded me that it’s been almost a week since my last post. Here are my excuses…

1. I’m still unpacking. Yes, STILL! The kitchen and office are pretty well organized but there are still boxes and piles all over the floor in the living room and the bedroom. It’s taken so long because we’ve been waiting on a few large pieces of furniture (TV stand, bookcase, bed frame/mattress) and didn’t have anywhere else to store our stuff. We have everything now except for our bed frame (it’s coming next Tuesday) so YAY.

2. I’m too busy living at Target. HEH. I’ve been to Target 4 TIMES in the past week. And I’ve purchased many, many items during each trip. Moving is not cheap.

3. I haven’t watched TV regularly in over a month so have nothing to blog about. I know, right? What is wrong with me?!? One of our Tivos broke during the holidays and OF COURSE, it was the one that I used to record my shows (aka the shows that Rob refuses to watch like Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Private Practice, Grey’s Anatomy, etc). Shows were on hiatus around that time so it wasn’t a big deal but then in January, I got caught up with packing and planning for the move that I let weeks and weeks go by… now I am so behind. 🙁 The good thing is that we now have a DVR to replace the broken Tivo. SCORE.

4. I’m lazy. HEE! This really sums it up. Case in point, take a look at the navigation on the left. It badly needs some TLC. For one, I am now 29 not 28. For another, all the site links no longer work (I took the pages down awhile back). I really need to a huge site overhaul. But again. I’m lazy.

In other Kelly news, I have a 3-day weekend coming up (thank you US Presidents) and Rob has agreed to go to Disneyland on Valentine’s Day. I have THE BEST hubby in the world. We actually bought each other annual passes for Christmas so we’re going to activate them on Saturday. I hope it doesn’t rain. I’m so excited to wear my Mickey gear again. 😀

Random picture of Rob today during office hours. Isn’t he such a hard-working employee?



Finally, WTF Chris Brown. WTF. You are dead to me.

welcome to the oc

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Rob and I are now officially Orange County residents! Crazy. 😀

The move went pretty well — the movers arrived on time last Wednesday and man, they were FAST. We had about 30 moving boxes and 13 large pieces of furniture and they hauled everything out in a few hours. SO WORTH IT. All our stuff arrived intact on Super Bowl Sunday. Well, ok, one of my decorative Halloween plates broke in transit but whatever… at least they didn’t lose a box of my clothes or something. CAN YOU IMAGINE?!? I would have died. Anyway, we’ve been organizing and putting things away since Sunday but there’s still tons of boxes everywhere. All I can say is that we have WAY too much stuff.

I finished my third day of working from home and… I like it! I was a little worried that I’d be too tempted not to work and watch TV all day. Hee. Not the case, though. Who knew I could be such a disciplined person! 😀 Since Rob and I are both working from home now, we have our second bedroom set up as an office with our individual workstations. So even though we’re at home, we’ve tried to make a real distinction between the “office” and the “living” spaces. And it works!

I’m hoping we can get the apartment in some kind of working order by the weekend so we can go out and explore “The OC!” YES.

moving update

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Moving day is coming up so FAST! We still have so much packing to do! ACK. The movers are set to pick up our stuff on Wednesday and we’re going to drive down to Orange County on Thursday morning. CRAZY. I really can’t believe it’s almost here. It doesn’t seem real somehow. A lot of people are asking if I’m more excited or sad. Definitely both. In equal amounts. I’ve lived in the Bay Area for almost 12 years — since I was 17. So my “adult” life is rooted here but Southern CA will always be “home.”

So I haven’t mentioned it here because I was waiting for official confirmation and I got it on Friday… my company is letting me keep my job and work remotely from home! YAY. When I gave notice back in December, I mentioned to my boss that I would be interested in working from home if she was willing to try it out. She sent a recommendation to corporate weeks ago and they finally approved it. 😀 Right in the nick of time since my last day in the office is tomorrow (Tuesday). I’m so relieved I don’t have to look for a job! Phew. Plus, I can wear jeans every day. WOOT. It’s always the little things that make me so happy.

Anyway, Rob and I have been plugging away at our “To Do” list and as expected, we have hit all the foodie items. 😀 OINK OINK. Here’s what we managed to do:

1. Have the BEST RAMEN EVER at Santa Ramen. CHECK!
2. Have 1 really nice (but not necessarily expensive) dinner in San Francisco. CHECK!
We went to Michael Mina this past Saturday night and it was amazing. I was too chicken to take pictures (hee!) so here’s a rundown of our meal (we both got the 3 course dinner):
Appetizers – Ahi Tuna Tartare (mmm, melt in your mouth good) and the Trio of Dungeness Crab
Entrees – Maine Lobster Pot Pie (this was mine and it was so good I wanted to lick the plate) and the Trio of Brandt Farm Beef
Desserts – I opted for the Trio of Chocolate (the white chocolate panna cotta was the only memorable item) and Rob picked the Root Beer Float (awww)
3. Have ice cream at Sketch. CHECK!
4. Walk around 4th Street in Berkeley. CHECK!
5. Have the most AMAZING chicken and waffles breakfast at 900 Grayson. CHECK!
6. Visit the UC Berkeley campus, look at the view of the Bay from the top of the Campanile, and purchase as much school paraphernalia as possible. CHECK! And I have pictures too!


The Campanile!

It was pretty hazy so we couldn’t really see across the Bay but we could see the “Big C!”

US. 😀

Finally, last weekend Rob and I were treated to our very own farewell BBQ. Thanks to Jimmy, Eleen (happy anniversary to you two!), Victor and Susie for organizing and hosting! We will miss all of you very much! *sniff*

first family

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I felt a little disconnected from the world today. While my whole office was watching the inauguration from the TVs in the lobby and the conference rooms, I was stuck at my cube. Doing work. Nope, I’m not bitter.

Ok, fine. I TOTALLY AM.

So I’m watching the highlights now on CNN. My computer must suck because the videos keep stalling and the images don’t always correspond with the sound but that doesn’t stop the overwhelming feeling of emotion from welling up inside me. The hope and optimism of everyone involved and everyone in attendance jumps right through the screen. It’s a good day for America. *sniff*

In shallow news, I just love the Obama girls (Michelle, Malia, and Sasha)!



Photo courtesy of Daylife

And I especially love this cute video of Sasha after President Obama’s inaugural address. CUTE!

Moving Update: 8 DAYS! Holy moly. Gotta get moving on the packing…