happy march

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WOW. February just flew right on by.

I’ve obviously hit blogger’s block! HELP MEEEEE. Give me something to write about 🙂 …

For blogging inspiration, I went back and read through my archives. OMG. I sounded so young. EEEK. And I obviously had more time on my hands because I wrote a lot more — TV comments every few days with the most random entries about my daily life. But I have to admit that it put a smile on my face to revisit my younger years so I’ll keep that in mind when I let days go by without writing anything.

To get myself in writing mode again, let’s start with a good old list (beware the randomness).

CURRENTLY…

Reading:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. According to my Goodreads, I started reading this book in early January. And I’m still only on Chapter 2. That means I’ve only read about 25 pages. In almost 2 months. It’s just that the beginning is so… boring. Although it’s quite possible it’s just me and my brain is saying it doesn’t want to read anything “serious.”

Obsessed With:
Angry Birds. OMG. What a time suck.

Loving:
DAN + BLAIR from Gossip Girl. SQUEE! I haven’t loved a ship so much in years.

Looking Forward To:
Watching Wicked later this month. I saw it 3 years ago and loved it so, so much. I can’t wait.

(Co)-planning and hosting my best friend’s bridal shower. It means so much to do this for someone special. <3

Thinking About:
Cutting straight bangs again. Hmmm.

Watching The Adjustment Bureau. The romantic thriller aspect has me intrigued. Plus, Matt Damon & Emily Blunt! I love them.

Misc:
I have a huge box full of old photos from high school and college. They’re not in albums or scrapbooks or anything. Just in the same envelopes they came in when I got them developed. I’m not sure what to do with them. Do I scan and organize them digitally? More importantly, can someone do it for me? 😉

That’s it for now. I’m excited for the weekend. Hope everyone has a good one!

happy things, valentine’s edition

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February is halfway over and this is my first entry of the month. !!! Terrible.

I did get sick for about a week so… yeah. That helps justify my lack of blogging.

Anyway. HAPPY (Belated) VALENTINE’S DAY!!! It’s time for another Happy Things… Valentine’s edition.

1. Mini carnations. I bought them for myself on Valentine’s Day. 🙂 Carnations get a bad rap but I love them.



2. Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery. Thanks Carms for bringing them over! They were YUM!



3. Rob and I took one last trip to Disneyland before our annual passes expire. We normally “gift” them to each other for Valentine’s Day but we’re considering an international trip this year so we figured we should save the money…



He totally beat me on Toy Story Mania but I got him back on Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters, hehe.



We also finally saw the new water show World of Color, which was both amazing (loved the music) and disappointing (standing room only so hard to see everything going on even from the preferred viewing area).

4. We had such a great Disney day that we’ve decided to renew our annual passes anyway. SUCKERS.

5. We got new top soil in the yard and Diesel ran straight over and started rubbing his face in it. ARGH. He got SO dirty. But he’s still so cute! 🙂



And that’s it! How was YOUR Valentine’s Day?

midseason tv report card, part 2

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Ok, part 2 of the TV report card!

Hellcats – C+
Yes, I’m still watching this show. Heh. It’s not much more than a typical college drama but it’s totally grown on me. I love Marti, Savannah and the rest of the Hellcats (Lewis, Darwin, even Alice!) and the random singing and/or dancing in each episode. I was even pleasantly surprised by the storylines until recently when the show did an about-face and broke up 2 couples (Savannah/Dan, Marti/Lewis) and possibly damaged a major friendship (Marti/Savannah) to develop a relationship between Marti/Dan. UGH. I’m a sucker for romance, I admit, but not when it comes at the expense of the characters’ integrity and their other relationships. Also, the adult characters need to go. They contribute… nothing. (And DB Woodside deserves better).

The Big Bang Theory – B-
I just started watching TBBT regularly this season so I sometimes feel like I’ve missed out on important character backstory by tuning in so late. I may try and catch up at some point. Regardless, the characters are enjoyable and I love all the quirky friendships (is it weird that my favorite relationship is Penny & Sheldon?). I love the show best when all the characters are interacting, like this past week’s episode where everyone (including Bernadette and Amy Farrah Fowler) takes a road trip to a science symposium. Gotta love the musical beds, lol.

Bones – B-
Still a good show but I feel like it’s slowly becoming another procedural. I know it technically is but the characters have always elevated the show beyond the traditional formula. Unfortunately the past few seasons they’ve all been running in place.

Grey’s Anatomy – C+
I go back and forth all the time with this show. While I love the characters, the ridiculous storylines make my head hurt. Last year it was Mark’s daughter (I stopped watching while she was around; she bugged me) and this year it’s Callie’s pregnancy AND Teddy marrying a patient (Scott Foley!) so he could have insurance (they’re totally going to fall in love, I just know it). ARGH. Cristina getting her surgical groove back took a tad too long but Sandra Oh is so awesome she made it work. Random — I saw McSteamy (aka Eric Dane) and his wife in LA a few weeks back. He looks smaller in real life somehow but just as cute. 🙂

Nikita – B
Honestly, I never thought I would still be watching at this point in the season… but I’m really liking it! It definitely needs some work but the show is improving each week. The winter finale, in particular, was a good episode — it set up Alex as an agent working on the outside and it FINALLY addressed my biggest issue when Nikita’s shell program was discovered. Seriously, to have Nikita and Alex basically chatting online whenever they felt like it required too much suspension of belief. Now, if only the show would bring back Owen and get rid of Jaden (ugh, she’s such a one-note character), I would be a very happy camper.

Smallville – C+
I might be an episode behind. Not sure. This season has been a little off for me — the storylines seem a little stale and overall there’s missing something. Maybe it’s the loss of Chloe? Or maybe it’s that the show takes itself way too seriously? I can’t put my finger on it. I also don’t know what happened to me because suddenly I like Lois/Clark. They’re actually kind of cute. I was really hoping that Kristin Kreuk and/or Michael Rosenbaum would reprise their roles as Lana and Lex since it’s the final season but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. It would have been a nice way to close out the series, especially for the fans.

White Collar – A-
Gawd, LOVE IT. It may not be the best or smartest show about the FBI (case in point – the larger mythology storyline involving the music box doesn’t always make sense) but it’s so light and fun that I don’t really care. Besides, it’s the chemistry between Neal and Peter that makes the show so great anyway. The reason it doesn’t get a straight A is that so much of Neal’s backstory is centered around his ex-girlfriend Kate who, unfortunately, is not very likable or sympathetic (thanks largely to the actress that plays her).

Pass:
CSI
CSI Miami
No grades for these shows. I watch each week because it’s become a routine but I’m not too invested.

Dropped:
V – *yawn*
Supernatural – Watched the first few episodes of the season and it felt a little “been there, done that.” Then the episodes kept piling up on the DVR until finally last month, Rob & I deleted all of them. I enjoyed the earlier seasons (and of course love Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki) but honestly, I just got bored.

Need to Catch up on:
The Vampire Diaries. I’m about 4 episodes behind but this show is SO good it automatically gets an A for being so AWESOME.

midseason tv report card, part 1

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It’s midway through the 2010 – 2011 broadcast TV season and I thought it was about that time to do a midseason TV report card (gosh, it’s been awhile since I’ve done this)…

Chuck – A
One of the few shows I have to watch immediately. I love it. The past couple of seasons have been really solid with the story arcs about The Ring and Chuck’s mom and I’m so happy that Chuck and Sarah are a REAL couple! And they’ve been together since last season! I’ve always hated how fleeting TV relationships usually are. Chuck and Sarah prove that there’s always drama to mine in any romantic relationship (especially since they’re spies!).

Hawaii Five-0 – B+
This show isn’t reinventing the genre or anything but I enjoy it. Doesn’t hurt that Steve and Danno are totally HOT (and totally in a bromance — come on, they banter back and forth every single episode). But as much as I love Scott Caan, I’m not sure why he was nominated for a Golden Globe for this show. He’s basically playing himself!

Gossip Girl – B+
This season’s major story arc (so far) involving Juliet and her obsession with revenge against Serena is so ridiculously over the top. But that’s what I love about this show. I may not care for her but I have to admit that Juliet brought new life to the Upper East Side with all her mischief-making. Minimal Jenny and Vanessa is also a good thing. It’s too bad because I actually like both characters — the writers just don’t know what to do with them and they no longer have any redeeming qualities. I’m also intrigued by the thought of Dan/Blair. I used to ship Chuck/Blair but that relationship is seriously MESSED UP and beyond repair (I loved them so this is really disappointing). Blair deserves much better.

No Ordinary Family – C
Ehhh. I don’t know. This could actually be a decent show (they have the acting talent!) but it’s just so bland. There’s no spark. I expected much more from Greg Berlanti. But I’ll probably stick it out until the end of the season to see if it gets better. If not, I probably won’t tune in next season (if I’m being honest, I don’t think the show will get renewed; the ratings are pretty dismal).

Glee – B
I have a lot of issues with this show (treatment of Will and Rachel’s characters, portrayal of women, Kurt making everything all about him, etc) but I can’t help it. I love the singing! And sometimes there are flashes of brilliance as evidenced by The Duets and The Substitute, which are episodes that reminded me why I love these characters and why I continue to watch the show. I also discovered Darren Criss this season — he’s a new favorite!

One Tree Hill – C-
Same old show. I seriously can’t believe it’s on its 8th season. WHAT. As per usual, the show is slow-paced and isn’t scared to put its characters into unbelievably melodramatic situations (the stalker turned shooter comes to mind). At this point, I’m only watching for Brooke and Julian’s wedding and to see if the writers can give Nathan and Haley a storyline worthy of their awesomeness. I could care less about Clay/Quinn (OMG, most snooze-worthy relationship EVER) and Chase/Alex (I’m *still* in shock that Stephen Colletti is on this show — from none other than Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County).

The Good Wife – A-
A favorite. This season hasn’t been as good overall as the first. It feels like the writers are trying too hard to match the magic of the first season. Even still, it’s miles better than most other shows on the major broadcast networks. Anyway, I’m torn about the new characters — I wanted so badly to like Bond (Michael Ealy) and Blake (I’m a huge fan of Scott Porter’s from Friday Night Lights) but they’re not layered enough characters for me to understand their motivations. All I know is that they’re taking away precious air time from the characters I love, like Kalinda! But the season seems to be ramping up for some interesting reveals and I’m looking forward to it.

Modern Family – B+
I’m normally not a sitcom person but this one is HILARIOUS! The kids are the best. Especially Manny! It’s nice to have some levity on my TV schedule.

Part 2 in the next few days… 🙂

off the map

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A TV post! It’s been a long time. This TV season has been pretty underwhelming for me so I haven’t felt compelled to write about it.

BUT. New midseason shows are premiering and I remembered to catch Off the Map, a medical drama set in an unnamed South American jungle.



The show’s been getting mixed reviews but I love Zach Gilford so I figured why not. The pilot was… ok. It didn’t wow me or make me fall in love with the characters but it wasn’t so terrible that I wouldn’t watch it again.

But seriously, as much as the producers want us to believe that Off the Map is not Grey’s Anatomy in the jungle, I’m here to tell you…

IT’S TOTALLY GREY’S ANATOMY IN THE JUNGLE.

At least as far as I can tell from the pilot.

I know Shonda Rhimes didn’t create this show (a former Grey’s writer/producer, Jenna Bans, did) but it sure has her fingerprints all over it. There’s a scene in particular when Lily, Mina and Tommy (the newbie doctors) are at the bar standing in front of an oscillating fan to beat the heat. They’re complaining about the craziness of their first day and Lily (who appears to be the Meredith Grey-type lead character) smiles, says “Just follow the fan” and they all simultaneously lean to the side. So quirky. So Shonda.

As an aside, what was up with drinking and then going immediately to check on a patient? So it’s not a requirement to be sober while at work?

Something else that bothers me is that none of the doctors (aside from Valerie) seem to speak or understand even the tiniest bit of Spanish. You’re moving to a foreign country to practice medicine and you don’t know basic words and phrases to communicate with patients?! Argh. I learn the basics when I travel and that’s just for a few weeks not for a prolonged length of time.

Anyway, there’s potential here. The premise is intriguing. And the cast is amazing, particularly Mamie Gummer, Caroline Dhavernas and of course, Zach Gilford (though sadly his character’s backstory is the weakest which saddens me because he deserves much better material). I just hope the writing improves and the show can somehow differentiate itself from Grey’s. Right now there’s too many similarities — from the characters (Lily is totally Meredith, Mina is Cristina, Valerie is Bailey, etc) to the dialogue and even down to the patients acting as the week’s “life lesson.” It needs more spark and less familiarity. I already watch and enjoy Grey’s. I don’t need to watch a forgettable, average version of the same show. I’ll give it a few more episodes to see if it finds its footing.

Did anyone else catch the premiere? What did you think?

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2011 resolutions

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My 2010 New Year’s resolutions were pretty much an EPIC FAIL. I only accomplished 1 of them (buying a house). So my 2011 resolutions are basically the same with a few new additions.

Repeat Resolutions aka The Resolutions That Continue To Haunt Me
1. Save more money.
2. Blog more often.
3. Exercise regularly.
4. Drink more water.
5. DRIVE.

I feel like I am forever chasing these resolutions. Maybe this will be the year that they click? I think I can I think I can I think I can.

New Resolutions
1. Reconsider and finish up forgotten projects around the house — like painting the remaining rooms and organizing the garage.
2. Clean regularly. I have a tendency to get our house in order only when we’re expecting company. I need to be better at frequently taking care of the little things so they don’t pile up.
3. Be more discerning about my “fun” purchases. I’m a shopaholic but I recognize that I already have a lot of stuff (clothes, makeup, etc). I want to put more thought into what I buy and buy what I love.
4. Wake up earlier. Because I work from home, I am lucky to get extra sleep on the weekdays. But lately I’ve been cutting it WAY too close and waking up with barely enough time to take a shower and get ready for work. I’d like to wake up early enough so I can eat breakfast before I start my work day.
5. Cook more at home and meal plan during the week. Rob and I opt for take out more often than not because it’s sooo easy. Cooking at home would make us save a little money and because there’s only 2 of us, would provide us with food for additional meals.
6. Find a primary care physician. I know, I know. In the 2 years that we’ve lived back in SoCal, I’ve put this off. For no other reason than laziness. I go to the dentist and optometrist regularly but have to get this sorted out as well.
7. Finally, this is less of a resolution than it is a reminder to myself to really think about what I want to do with my life long-term. I’m no longer concerned with the ambition I had (and have since lost) when I graduated from college. Now what I really want (what I really really want), more than anything, is to have a job that doesn’t intrude into my personal life. Where holidays and vacations truly are days off and where late hours are nonexistent. I’d also like to love what I do and but let’s not get too crazy. All this to say, I don’t really know what I want and if I’ll ever find it. I just know that I’ve been feeling restless, unsettled and unhappy with my job and this is something for me to figure out.

How are you all doing with your own resolutions? Please share! 🙂

holiday 2010 recap

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I’m in denial that the holidays are over. I haven’t even taken the decorations down yet (yes, I know you’re judging me right now :D). I should probably be doing that at the moment but instead I thought I’d write up my holiday recap…

I love having a house to decorate but besides the Christmas tree, I didn’t really go too crazy (Rob would probably beg to differ).



We had a wreath on the front door…



… garland on the banister with our mini stockings…



… and a few little touches in the great room, like the ornament-filled hurricanes on the entertainment center and the random snowmen hanging out on the bookcase.

Next year I’m hoping Rob and I (ok, mostly Rob) can figure out how to put up lights on the exterior of our house.

My family celebrated Christmas a week early because my cousin Riz was heading to the Philippines for the holidays. She and her brother both had birthdays earlier in the month so Rob and I made our signature cupcakes (chocolate cake with an awesome strawberry frosting). We made one giant cupcake to go along with the regular-sized ones.



I made Rob pipe the frosting, hehe. We’re not going to win any decorating awards but it was yummy, which is all that matters. 🙂



On Christmas Eve, my dad came over and instead of cooking for just the 3 of us, we decided to go out for Chinese food. Too bad everyone in Irvine had the same idea and we waited about an hour and a half to be seated. ARGH.

Christmas day was spent at the in-laws watching the terrible Lakers game.



Thanks Carolyn for the pic!

The day after Christmas Rob and I hosted a get together for our friends. We had a ton of food (with leftovers for days) and lots of great company. It’s so nice to have the space to have everyone over! I hope to make this some sort of tradition. 😀 We did a white elephant gift exchange and Rob got a Justin Bieber calendar. BWAHAHA. But seriously, I have no idea what we’re going to do with it.

In between the holidays, we took the time to take care of things around the house. I cleaned out my ridiculous stash of makeup and Rob set up a pegboard to organize our garage (sadly there’s still a lot of clutter and boxes to conquer).

New Year’s Eve was low-key as per usual. We had a few friends over and one of them brought his taco cart (thanks Ricardo)! YUM. I was super tired that night and struggled to make it until midnight. Darn old age.

Now here we are in 2011. All in all, it was a wonderful holiday break (though I do have two regrets — not taking more pictures during the holidays overall and not making it to Disneyland to see it all decked out) and I’m definitely looking forward to this upcoming year (weddings, another trip to Comic-Con, possible vacations).



One last picture to close out this entry… Diesel wanted me to share his awesome holiday card that we sent out this year. 😀 Now I gotta work on making my New Year’s resolutions!

hp and the deathly hallows, part 1

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Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I sure did. 🙂 I didn’t take many pictures but I’ll try to post a holiday recap over the weekend.

So… this review (of sorts) is super late. But I wanted to write it for posterity. 🙂

I loved Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1. I really, really did. The movie felt less like an adaptation (the way Prisoner of Azkaban was) and more of a faithful translation of the book but it worked. It was dark, intense and suspenseful when it needed to be yet it also had moments of humor to temper all the emotions.

I have to say that the trio is amazing. The producers really lucked out many years ago with the casting of Dan, Rupert and Emma. This movie features them so much and they delivered.

Cutting the rest for spoilers…
Continue reading →

kinect adventures

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If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know that Rob and I went shopping over the weekend with the intent of buying Christmas presents aaannnndddd ended up taking home an XBOX 360 + Kinect for ourselves. Ok, more for Rob. We’re considering it his present to himself. Besides, we couldn’t pass up the 20% off coupon that Microsoft sent us in the mail for use in their store. 20% off!

The Kinect came with Kinect Adventures which we opened and played right away. SO FUN! And unfortunately, there’s photographic evidence…



Obviously Diesel thinks we’re crazy.



BWAHAHAHA. Oh man. That last picture is especially embarrassing! I have no idea why I’m hugging Rob and why he’s posing like that. LOL.

Now if I can convince Rob to buy one of the dance games.. Hehe. 🙂

december’s happy things

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It’s been a really tough past few weeks at work and I haven’t felt much like blogging. It’s the kind of tough where I’ve been waking up in the morning absolutely dreading the day. 🙁 But things are calming down now (dare I say it’s even slow?) and I’m eagerly counting down the days until our holiday break… I need it!

But that’s enough of that. This is a no-work zone. I want to think about my current 5 Happy Things!

1. Putting up our Christmas tree.



Rob and I always put up our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. What can I say? We’re (ok, *I’M*) always super excited to usher Christmas into our home.

2. Girls’ Weekend in Palm Springs with the BFFs.



We stayed overnight at the Ace Hotel and despite the unusually cool weather for this time of year, it was an awesome getaway filled with lots of food, girl time and even a viewing of Eclipse. Perfect.

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.



OMG. The movie was amazing. Probably one of my favorites of the 7 so far. I’d love to watch it again. I’ll get to a review soon.

4. Next week’s 3-day trip to San Francisco. Yes, it’s for work so I have work obligations but I’m looking forward to seeing friends and just being in the city again. I miss the hustle and bustle!

5. My domain! The server hosting my site failed earlier this week so it was down for a couple of days. And I missed it! OF COURSE I wouldn’t be able to access my site at the exact time I’m itching to blog. But now it’s back. YAY.

Do you have any happy things to share? 🙂 Diesel wants to know.