Tag Archives: diesel

first half 2014 photo dump

Posted on by

Just got back from a quick long weekend trip to Las Vegas. Rob & I did our usual round of eating, shopping, gambling (for him), and relaxing at the spa (me). But this time I also got the chance to meet my long-time online friend Sarah who was there for a conference. I’ve “known” her for probably around 10 years now (!!!). I’m naturally shy so I was nervous about our meeting but had absolutely no reason to be. Sarah was warm and awesome and we had no problems finding anything to talk about. 🙂 So happy our paths finally crossed in real life.

So it’s photo dump time! Here’s a look at what I’ve been up to over the first half of the year.

Ok ok… it’s more like a look at what I’ve been eating… 🙂 With some Diesel thrown in for some balance.

In March, I was in Miami Beach for a few days for work. It was a great opportunity for me to spend time with colleagues but I have to admit I really (REALLY) am not a huge fan. It’s such a scene and it’s just not me. The food scene, though, is a different story…



We went to the famous Versailles for lunch one day where I had the delicious ropa vieja with the yummiest side of plantains.



Lunch the following day was poolside at the Clevelander Hotel. It was a warm day and this Miami Vice hit the spot (it’s half pina colada and half rum runner).



On my free night, I walked over to Lincoln Road to dine at Shake Shack. Amazing! It’s seriously my favorite fast casual burger (yes, over In N Out). I CANNOT WAIT until Shake Shack opens in Las Vegas later this year. !!!



Here’s a look at what was my office for two days — yes, that’s a double decker bus!



On my last morning, I finally made it to the beach for a long walk followed by a refreshing iced cafe con leche.

Continue reading →

diesel’s 4th birthday

Posted on by

Damn. Where did April go?!

It’s been a little crazy here lately. Rob was traveling the first 2 weeks of the month then I was in San Francisco last week for 4 days. I’m so happy that both of us are finally home together this week. Except that I have a ton of laundry and cleaning to do around the house. UGH.

Anyway, we celebrated a big milestone this month — Diesel’s birthday! 🙂 We got him a carob cupcake treat that he devoured.



I can’t believe he’s already 4! My little doggie is growing up. *sniff*

weekend recap

Posted on by

Had a really mellow weekend. I took some random snaps so thought I’d post them here…



Wicked on Friday! (I know you hate it, Ricardo. :P) I loved it but overall I don’t think the singing voices of this touring cast (save for David Nathan Perlow as Fiyero) are as strong as the LA cast I saw a few years back at the Pantages. That’s ok, though. I totally have the original Broadway soundtrack on repeat right now anyway.

Rob got really sick on Saturday morning so he pretty much slept the entire day. I hung out with Diesel and watched The Romantics (it wasn’t very good – Katie Holmes was miscast; her role needed a more subtle and nuanced actress — she and Anna Paquin probably should have switched).



I recently downloaded the Instagram app for my iPhone and LOVE playing around with it. Diesel is my favorite subject. Of course.



Another Diesel pic from last week for good measure. He can be such a lazy bum sometimes.



Rob felt much better today so we ran some errands (Target, I love you!) and picked up frozen treats at Pinkberry.



To close out the weekend, we made a really yummy gumbo for dinner. My friend Jason used to cook this on cold, rainy nights in the Bay Area and while it was neither cold nor rainy here in SoCal today, this gumbo really brought me back to those days. Love that food can evoke good memories.

And that was my low-key weekend. How was yours? 🙂

happy things, valentine’s edition

Posted on by

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?

holiday 2010 recap

Posted on by

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!

december’s happy things

Posted on by

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.



first post of november

Posted on by

How is it November already?!?

Work has been kicking my ass. The house hasn’t been cleaned and is a disaster. Laundry has been done but not folded or put away. TV hasn’t been exciting me (well ok, except for Hellcats, The Vampire Diaries, Chuck and sometimes Hawaii 5-0). And I seem to have hit a complete and total blogger’s block. ARGH.

BUT. I’m heading into a long weekend and tagging along on Rob’s business trip so maybe time away will be good. So I can recharge and relax like Diesel does every day of his life…



the weekend

Posted on by

I like doing weekend photo recaps so even though I was sick and didn’t do anything exciting this past weekend, I took photos anyway.



There’s grass in our little yard now and it’s getting loooong. So Rob was on a quest to buy a lawnmower. YES, these are the things that we do over the weekend. We’re old and boring now. 😀



While we were at Home Depot, I couldn’t help checking out the faux Christmas tree display.



Rob decided he wanted the new iPhone 4 (and was going to buy me one too!) so we headed to the Apple store. Crowded as usual but we got our phones in record time. So far I LOVE it. It’s so much faster than my old 3G and the screen looks impeccable too.



Aside from those errands, I stayed home most of the weekend nursing a cold (still am, which suuuucks). Lucikily, I had all my October/November magazines…



… and Diesel to keep me company.

🙂

diesel’s 3!

Posted on by

Yesterday was April Fool’s but it was also Diesel’s third birthday!

We celebrated by taking a trip to Dogma and picking out doggie cupcakes and donuts for our favorite little guy.



Where did the time go?!? *sniff* He’s grown up way too fast.

family portrait

Posted on by

Back on Valentine’s Day, my apartment community was offering a free portrait session and an 8×10 print for all residents. Because I’m a sucker for anything free, I dragged Rob AND Diesel and we took a family portrait. Thought I’d share but I’m much too lazy to clean up the scan…



🙂