Category Archives: life

this and that

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Oh man. 2 weeks into November and this is my first blog entry? YIKES.

Seriously, life has been pretty low key lately. Nothing exciting to report. But I’ve missed writing so I thought I’d do a random “this and that” type of post. A brain dump if you will.

Starting with some TV & Movie thoughts…
– I officially stopped watching Ringer. I couldn’t stay engaged. Not even the eye candy that is Ioan Gruffudd could save it for me. That’s just sad.
– But I’ve quickly replaced it with Once Upon a Time. This show is miles better. MILES. I’m a sucker for fairy tales anyway so this spin on the genre is so interesting to me. Plus, I’m kinda loving all the little nods they give to each story — like in the most recent episode featuring Cinderella, Henry racing to beat Regina home and losing a sneaker on his way up the stairs. I see what you did there, show. All in all, good stuff.
– OMG. Has everyone seen the Hunger Games trailer? I’m a fan of the books, particularly the first one, so this trailer has made me unbelievably excited. I especially love how it focuses on the set up and ends with the countdown. I got CHILLS.

And some random personal notes…
– Just under TWO WEEKS until our trip to Orlando & Miami. The days can’t go by fast enough.
– I was bored with my hair so I decided to get another digital perm. I suck at styling my hair so YAY for easy “wash and go” styles.
– I convinced Rob to bust out the Christmas tree and decorations over the weekend. YES, I realize we haven’t celebrated Thanksgiving yet. But since we’re not hosting for our respective families this year AND we’ll be on vacation after the holiday, I figure we might as well get as much use of the decor as possible. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
– Because this entry is all text, here’s a random (and LOL-worthy) pic of us playing our new favorite game Dance Central 2…



FUN FUN. And how are you all doing?

birthday snaps

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This past weekend was the first time in a looooong while that I haven’t had to work over the weekend. It felt INCREDIBLE.

So I celebrated my 32nd birthday 2 weeks ago. YAY for birthdays! Not so much for getting older. Waahhhh.

I didn’t do much of anything to celebrate but I did make a few requests and got super-spoiled by Rob. 🙂

I asked for home-cooked spaghetti for my birthday dinner and he threw in some pretty freaking amazing fried chicken. SO GOOD.



Dessert was my FAVORITE banberry pie from Polly’s Pies. This pie also reminds me of my mom — so it’s really special to me.



Then we spent this past Sunday morning at Disneyland. Got there bright and early to try the new Star Tours (verdict – AWESOME! I wanted to go a second time but it closed down right after we got out) and Little Mermaid rides, hit a few of our other favorites (Space Mountain, Buzz), and also meet Mickey’s pal…



Pluto!

I love that Rob will humor me and take pictures with characters. Hehe.

I have one more birthday gift to look forward to next month when the Kindle Fire Rob bought for me arrives. SO EXCITED! Can’t wait to take it on vacation to Disney World. Only 34 more days!

Trip Report: Vancouver Highlights

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This past weekend was probably the most productive 3 days I’ve had at home in a long time. Ok, so technically the house isn’t technically clean yet. BUT! We got rid of A LOT of the mess that’s accumulated these past few months, purged the pantry, pulled out weeds in the yard, and did some re-decorating in the office (moved around furniture and started putting up shelves and artwork on the walls). Phew! I feel accomplished. Still so much more work to do, though.

I have a lot of TV to talk about but I’m going through vacation withdrawals so I thought I’d post some pics and write up some thoughts from our recent anniversary trip (click pics for bigger)…

Whistler, September 28 – 29



Driving on the Lion’s Gate Bridge through Vancouver heading towards Whistler. We had FABULOUS weather our entire stay (cool but with the sun shining). And to think I was worried it would rain!

After we reached the halfway point, we decided to stop at Tim Horton’s to pick up coffee and a snack. Weeelll, we decided to use a credit card for payment since we hadn’t picked up the local currency yet. Unfortunately, they only took Mastercard, which OF COURSE, is the only type of card we don’t have. EEEKKK. I think the employees felt sorry for us, though, since we had already ordered and were about to leave to find an ATM with our tails between our legs… and they proceeded to GIVE US our coffee and food FOR FREE. I have never felt so simultaneously embarrassed and grateful all at the same time. SONICEOMG.



Getting closer! You can see the mountains!



Arriving at Whistler Village and being welcomed by the Inukshuk.



Before it got too dark, we took a stroll around the Village and found the Olympics rings. I’m a HUGE Olympics junkie so this was so exciting for me. 🙂



So I pride myself on doing thorough research when making vacation plans. But I totally messed up in Whistler. The entire reason we made the extra trip there was to take the Peak 2 Peak gondola up to see Whistler & Blackcomb Mountains. I somehow missed the fact that the gondola was closing for the end of the season a mere 3 days before we arrived. ARGH. So yeah. That’s why the above pic is completely empty. We were there and didn’t even get to go up on the mountains. EPIC FAIL. I was so pissed at myself. Oh well. Gives us another reason to go back? I guess?



Instead we did some more wandering around the Village. We went back to Olympic Plaza, tried the coffee at Blenz and admired the mountains from afar.



The views on the Sea to Sky Highway back to Vancouver were so beautiful.

Vancouver, September 29 – October 1



I love walking along Robson Street. It’s so vibrant and has such great energy. It has the feel of a big city without losing its intimacy.



We had such a fantastic time biking along the Seawall last year that we did it again. Sadly, Rob injured his foot while biking (he used the wrong part of his foot to pedal) so we had to take it easy the next few days. Regardless, biking the Seawall is probably my #1 favorite thing to do in Vancouver besides eat.



Speaking of eating, our beloved Japadog was closed! Waaahhhh.



But we more than made up for it with nommy meals at Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar and Hapa Izakaya among others.



No Joshua Jackson sighting but we did see this notice for Fringe filming as we walked from Chinatown back towards Downtown. So cool!

All in all, we didn’t do much but still had a FANTASTIC trip. It reinforced my love of the city and I can’t wait to go back again. Next time I’d really like to explore the Kitsilano and Granville neighborhoods, possibly visit Victoria, and actually go to Whistler when the gondola is open (d’oh!).

Now I’m finalizing our plans for our next trip to Orlando & Miami, which is just over 6 weeks away. I’m totally counting down the days…

life… briefly

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Ahhh, I love October. Mostly because it’s my birthday month and I incessantly remind Rob about it every chance I get. 🙂

So work has pretty much taken over my life. Working until bedtime. Working on the weekends. Working while in Vancouver on vacation. Ugh, it’s been insane. I feel myself hitting a wall. There’s so much to do and no end in sight.

But this past Monday, I received a promotion along with a raise so… YAY! I guess? I don’t know how to feel about it. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet.

Vancouver was fantastic (gawd, I love it so – can I move there?) although Rob managed to injure his left foot while biking. Poor guy. :/ I’ll post some trip highlights and lowlights (I royally screwed up our plans in Whistler) once I download our pics.

Super behind with TV (what’s new). But I managed to watch the premiere of Hart of Dixie (so far my favorite new show) and caught up with the first 3 episodes of The New Girl (Jess is a little *too* quirky but the guys make me laugh).

I plan to use my upcoming 3-day weekend catching up with TV and finally getting around to unpacking (I know, so lazy).

How are you all doing?

this year’s travel

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My friend Sebastian linked to some awesome travel-themed videos on his blog. They’re so great I wanted to share them here too. But for some reason I can’t embed the videos. GRRR. So I’ll have to settle for the links.

My absolute favorite is MOVE. But EAT is a very close second. It also makes me supremely HUNGRY. They’re only a minute each so… no excuses. Watch them!

I LOVE to travel so these videos give me a serious case of wanderlust. Unfortunately, I don’t have the funds or the time to travel often. FAIL. My ultimate dream is to go on a Round the World trip. Someday…

For now, though, Rob and I have 2 trips planned before the end of the year. First off, we’re heading to Vancouver at the end of the month for a belated third year anniversary trip. We loved it so much last year (see my trip report here and here) that we really wanted to spend more time there. And this time we’re going to spend a day in Whistler! Then after Thanksgiving, we’re taking a longer trip to Florida where we’ll spend 10 days at Disney World (with a side trip to Universal Studios for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter) and 3 days in Miami.

So much to look forward to… CAN’T. WAIT.

end of summer’s happy things

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I can hardly believe we’re heading into Fall. I enjoy summer and warm weather but I love the back half of the year so much more. Bring it on!

So yes, this means it’s time for an end of summer Happy Things post…

1. Going to Knott’s Berry Farm last Saturday to celebrate a good friend’s birthday. I haven’t been there since high school so it was definitely an eye-opener to see what’s still around (Montezooma’s Revenge!) and what’s new (uhhh… pretty much everything else). Sadly, I felt every bit my age by the end of the day. LOL.

2. 4-day Labor Day weekend! AWESOME.

3. TV marathons. So far this summer, I’ve watched the first 2 seasons of True Blood and started season 3. AND I recently discovered that Mad Men is available to stream instantly on Netflix so that’s probably the next show I’ll try to catch up on.

4. The local dollar movie theatre. Well ok, it’s really a $2 theatre. I’ve missed quite a few summer blockbusters (Super 8, Bridesmaids, etc) so I’m looking forward to catching them here.

5. Last weekend Rob was in Las Vegas for a boys’ weekend and he came home with MACARONS for me. Probably one of my most favorite treats EVER. IAMSOSPOILED. Obligatory pic because they’re so YUM.



Bonus happy thing!

6. Watching old episodes of So You Think You Can Dance. Specifically seasons 2 and 3. I still love the show but I mourn the earlier seasons when there was more variety — in terms of dancers, genres, and choreography. The show has become WAY too contemporary-focused in recent years.

Annnndddd that’s all folks. Have a FAB weekend. 🙂

comic-con 2011: days 3 & 4

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The last installment of my Comic-Con report. Woohoo.

Saturday, July 23



Ok, here we go! Downtown.



Before going to the convention center, we headed over to Nerd HQ to check out their gear. I ended up with this NERD t-shirt and I love it.



Went over to the exhibition hall for a bit and had another celebrity sighting! This time Eddie McClintock and Saul Rubinek from Warehouse 13. YAY.



There weren’t any TV panels we wanted to see so we decided to try our luck getting into Hall H. Normally this is the ballroom that features all the major studios and their upcoming tentpole movies so it’s typically packed with a line forever long. Not this year. I think we spent maybe 5 minutes in line AND the room was not crowded at all. Definitely a completely opposite situation from Ballroom 20 where TV panels were filled to capacity and many people were being turned away. I think it’s because the movies scheduled for this day weren’t very… errr, high profile.

Anyhow.



The first movie up was The Immortals. It looks interesting, I guess, but the panel was totally forgettable. The only thing I clearly remember is that Kellan Lutz wasn’t taking any of the questions seriously. When describing his character (he plays Poseidon), he kept saying he’s the “god of wetness and moisture.” He said that multiple times during the panel. Weirdo.

Oh! I also remember thinking that Freida Pinto and Henry Cavill are gorgeous. 🙂



Next up was Knights of Badassdom. I’d never heard of the movie but it featured lots of actors I was familiar with — namely Ryan Kwanten, Danny Pudi, Peter Dinklage and Summer Glau.

I thought the director was trying a little *too* hard to hype up the movie and actually talked over a few of the actors (ugh, annoying) but besides that, this panel was an unexpected treat. The movie is about Live Action Role Playing (aka LARPing) and features a supernatural twist. A couple of tidbits I remember —

— When describing his character, Peter Dinklage said “Howie’s the opposite of Tyrion. He’s miscalculating. His nickname is ‘Hung,’ for reasons you can guess.” HEH.
— During fan questions, someone asked the actors who they would dress up as for Comic-Con. Jimmi Simpson chose Master Chief from Halo, Ryan Kwanten picked either Han Solo or Astro Boy, Summer Glau selected She-Ra, which prompted Peter Dinklage to say, “Summer just took mine.” He’s pretty awesome on panels.



The final movie panel I attended was for Snow White and the Huntsman. They hadn’t started filming yet but they had some pictures of the costume design to show and this definitely looks like it’s going to demystify the story of Snow White. I mean, she’s wearing full armor! A few highlights —

— Kristen Stewart was asked if she’s well-behaved or a prankster on set. She said “I’m very well-behaved. You better not mess with me because I take myself very seriously.” Then Charlize Theron piped in and said “You’ll be fine, Kristen. I’m an Oscar winner so we take work really seriously here.” BWAH. Charlize was surprisingly hilarious throughout the panel.
— One of the producers was talking about his choice of Charlize for the role of The Evil Queen and he said that she’s had experience playing imposing characters. She responded by saying, “So basically you just said you hired me because I’m a bitch.” LOL.
— A fan was asking Chris Hemsworth about the casting challenges for the Huntsman and mentioned other actors in consideration for the role including Viggo Mortenson and Tom Hardy. He said he took the role because “the teaser was impressive, the script was fantastic. I’m pretty simple. Either I like it or I don’t. This sounded like fun. Plus there was no one else left.” Awww.



The final panel we attended was for the new TV show Alcatraz where they aired the entire pilot and series stars Jorge Garcia and Parminder Nagra were on hand to answer a few questions afterwards. The pilot was… ok. It’s intriguing but I think it’s basically going to be a procedural.



Later that night, after dinner at Hooters (LOL) with friends, we all went back to Nerd HQ for drinks and video games. Fun night to close our time at the Con.

Sunday, July 24

After 4 days, we were TIRED. So we took one more spin around the exhibition hall for last minute purchases, then hit the road back to Orange County.



All the stuff we came back with. The free loot included books (Game of Thrones!), TV show t-shirts (Psych, True Blood, Covert Affairs), magazines, reusable bags, a Ringer stool. We also bought Nerd t-shirts, Mighty Muggs – Avengers and Spider-Man (Rob), Polly Pocket She-Ra (me), Domo & Bender figurines. Whew.

And that’s a wrap on Comic-Con 2011. Til 2012!

All the other pics are on the Flickr here. 🙂

comic-con 2011: day 2

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The amount of blog entries I write decreases exponentially as I get older. F.

Oh well. I guess that’s life. You just have to keep trudging forward. With that in mind, here’s the next part of my Comic-Con trip report. From over a month ago. LOL.

Friday, July 22



The day started out promising. Here we are SUPER early in the morning heading first to Starbucks before making our way to the convention center.



We took a few moments to admire the view of the marina while our friends picked up their badges.

We spent the morning walking around the exhibition hall and taking pics with…



the Justice League and…



Darth Vader. SO COOL.



For lunch, we went over to the Hard Rock Hotel where SyFy had taken over Maryjane’s again and converted it to Cafe Diem. The fries were excellent. Mmmm.

Afterwards, we decided to try and check out the Eureka and Warehouse 13 panels. BAD MOVE. We thought getting in line at 1pm for a 3pm panel would be enough time but it wasn’t. There were at least 5,000 people in front of us and we should have seen the writing on the wall. But we stuck it out until the bitter end — we got so close! We were about 40 or so people back and could literally see the door to the ballroom. Frustrating.

BUT.



Rob and I did make it to the 5:30 True Blood panel. YAY! Welllll, ok… YAY for me and not so much for Rob. I’ve only watched the first season, though, so parts of the panel went right over my head. Some interesting tidbits (not sure if any of these have already aired in the current season) —

— At some point, they’ll reveal how Eric made Pam.
— There will be a moment on the show where Sookie and Eric are in a shower together. And it may be weirder and dirtier than the scene in the book.
— When a young fan asked Deborah Ann Woll a question about Jessica’s relationship with Jason, she said “Oh, you’re too young to watch our show.” She was SO CUTE when she said this.
— Before asking a question, another fan told Alexander Skarsgard that she loves him. He responded “I like you a lot. ‘I love you’ is a little strong. Baby steps. But there is potential.” LOL.

Annnnnd that’s it for Day 2. We were so tired from all the waiting (it’s crazy to think how WAITING can make you so tired) that after the panel, all we did was meet up with friends and have dinner.

Last Comic-Con post coming soon…

comic-con 2011: day 1

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UGH. So busy! But in the midst of it all Rob & I celebrated our 3rd year anniversary. YAY!

AND today is Rob’s birthday. 🙂 It’s a big week in our household.

SO. Here’s the next installment of my Comic-Con trip report (click pics for bigger).

Thursday, July 21
On this day, our plan was to spend the ENTIRE day in Ballroom 20 and catch most of the television panels. The first panel was at 10am for Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe and we got in line at 7:45am. Even 2+ hours early, there were at least 1,000 people in front of us. We were pretty much guaranteed a spot, though, since the ballroom seats 4,000+. The only thing to do was… wait.



So close! The entrance to Ballroom 20 is in sight!



Annnnddd… we’re inside. YES. So much closer to the stage than last year.



The Burn Notice panel featured actor Bruce Campbell (he is freaking HILARIOUS) and creator Matt Nix. They were the highlights of Comic-Con 2010 and they didn’t disappoint this year. Some gems —

– Bruce Campbell opened the panel by poking fun at attendees — he said that the # of showers taken by Comic-Con attendees is 0 and reminded everyone that showers are free at the hotels. He also said that Comic-Con sees the most people wearing basketball shorts who don’t even play basketball. LOL.
– Then he even took a shot at a show on his own network — “For all you sleep-deprived fans, the Covert Affairs panel is up next.” EEEKKK.
– Unfortunately, Jeffrey Donovan had to work and couldn’t make the trip but that didn’t stop Bruce and Matt from talking about him — aka making fun of him.
— We learned that Jeffrey directed The Fall of Sam Axe and he was STILL #1 on the call list.
— Bruce discussed how Jeffrey started going up the list of potential directors for the movie. Apparently Jeffrey approached him and asked “Did you enjoy working on that episode I directed?” He responded “Sure, you did a great job. What do you think I’m going to say to the star of the show? It sucked. You were an asshole?” BWAH.
– During the question and answer portion, a fan dressed as Draco Malfoy went up to mic. Before she even asked her question, Bruce said “Harry Potter’s dead. It’s over. Might as well put a chain saw in his head. Oh, I’m sorry, am I making fun of your most beloved character ever?” She looked SO PISSED. LOL. Matt Nix covered the awkward pause by saying it was “important [for him] to keep [his] hostile relationship with [his] fans.”
– A fan asked what Bruce did to prepare for the TV movie. He responded by saying “I did two things to prepare for Sam Axe. Jack and shit. Thank you for asking.” OH MAN.

Pure entertainment.



I don’t watch Covert Affairs so I was pretty lost during the panel. It was pretty awesome to see Peter Gallagher, though. He even joked that he’s excited that they “used one of [his] eyebrows in the Comic-Con poster.” Hehe.



Next up – Psych! The panel opened with the creator Steve Franks and the writers singing the theme song live. Awesome! The best tidbits —

— Learning William Shatner will be guest starring next season. Other guests include Malcolm McDowell, Joey McIntyre and Danny Glover.
— The announcement that the season 7 premiere will be a musical episode.
— And Dule Hill will be tap dancing in a future episode. YAY!
— When discussing similarities to The Mentalist, James Roday said that “The Mentalist may have more viewers, but we have better fans.” Awww.
– Dule constantly with his head down… tweeting! Case in point. When asked by a fan whether he and Roday are friends in real life, he looked up, paused, and said “Sorry, I was tweeting. What was the question?” LOLARIOUS.
– Sometime during the panel, Dule tweeted that fans asking questions should end with “hashtag get Roday to tweet.” Someone finally did and he told her to “hit me up and I’ll hit you back. Say hi it’s meeee!” OMG, he’s so awesome.



Ringer marks the return of fan favorite Sarah Michelle Gellar to TV. I’m a huge fan of hers and I have high hopes for her new show. My favorite moments of the panel —

— Learning that Kristoffer Polaha auditioned for the role of Riley on BtVS.
— Ioan Gruffudd hadn’t heard of the CW before working on this show.
— Ioan also said that at age 37, he’s happy they even allowed him on the network.
— On the switch from CBS to the CW, SMG initially thought “Yes! I’m getting better clothing!” LOL. A girl after my own heart. Also, SO TRUE.
— When asked what she would wear if she participated in Comic-Con cosplay, SMG said “If I dressed up as Buffy, you guys would tell me I was a lame version of Buffy. I want to dress up as a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills.”

I really really want this show to be good.



And our last television panel of the day was for Game of Thrones. We’re really lucky we got into ballroom 20 so early in the day. This panel was incredibly popular — supposedly upwards of 7,000 people were in line but couldn’t get in because there wasn’t a lot of turnover from panel to panel. It sucks and I wish there was a fair way to handle admission into each panel but I don’t know what that solution is. So, the highlights —

— Emilia Clarke. She’s stunning! And has dark hair.
— Jason Momoa yelling in Dothraki in the middle of the panel.
— George R. R. Martin was the moderator and he asked the actors about their favorite scenes. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) said “Well, Isaac was really annoying, so pushing him.” As the audience laughed, he quickly shook his head to take it back. LOL.
— One of the creators (can’t remember which one now) promised lots of supplementary material on the DVDs/Blu-ray, like the actors’ audition tapes, of which Jason Momoa’s was a highlight. He said “No offense, but I hadn’t heard of you before. I hadn’t kept up on my Baywatch.” Hee!
— Jason Momoa talked about reading the book and discovering that Drogo died. Talking directly to GRRM, he said “I f*!#ing hated you, man. I was like f*!# this.”
— A fan asked the actors how they would end the series — Peter Dinklage said “Dance number.”
— GRRM is asked about the books and he reveals that he’s a fan of bittersweet endings and that’s probably what we’ll get when the book series is complete.

Excellent panel!



Later that night, we had dinner with friends and decided to check out Nerd HQ, which was a bar taken over by The Nerd Machine, Zachary Levi‘s company. As soon as we arrived, we spotted the entire cast of Psych! SO COOL! I think they were heading to a party nearby. We weren’t quick enough to snag pictures with them but I did manage to take a random picture of them posing with some other people. LOL.

It was a great day at the Con — but looong. And there were 3 more days to go.

To be continued…

comic-con 2011: day 0

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PHEW. July was a busy month and after almost 2 weeks away, I’m finally back HOME (sweet home). With my doggie. 🙂

Doing “trip reports” helps me re-live my vacations so I guess it’s finally time to start my Comic-Con recap! I’m going to do this in 4 parts (click pics for bigger) starting with a (very) quick post on preview night…

Wednesday, July 20
We left late morning to get to San Diego by lunch.



Domo kept me company in the backseat and we got there in no time. WOOT. After lunch (at Hash House a Go Go – yummers), we headed downtown.



See those people in line under the tents? They’re waiting for the Twilight panel, which wouldn’t start until the next morning. !!!



The new pedestrian bridge that connects the convention center to Petco Park. It looked cool so we walked across it. LOL.



View from the bridge – pretty!

Finally, we went over to the convention center to pick up our badges and check out the exhibition hall. I’m glad we had preview night tickets because the crowds were pretty light (especially compared to the crowds we’d see when the Con actually started) — plus we got to scope out the merchandise ahead of time!). I didn’t do a great job at taking lots of pictures but I’ll share what I have…



I found Chewy and Domo!



Marvel’s Avengers booth. Excited for this movie! I think they were giving out free t-shirts but I didn’t get one. I was too lazy to try and get in front of the crowd.



Ooohhh. Lego Hogwarts!



The DeLorean. So cool.



There was a large Voltron figurine on the floor and a live one walking around.



There were quite a few gaming stations on one end of the hall so Rob tried out the Captain America game in 3D. The 3D was so crisp!



The aisles were crowded but not nearly as bad as it would be in upcoming days.



After 3 hours of walking the floor, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for the next day. Bye for now!

To be continued…