excuses excuses

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.

christmas meme 2008

Hope all who celebrate had a fabulous Thanksgiving! I know I did. We had a low key day in the city — first lunch at Victor and Susie’s (Rob’s brother and sister-in-law) and then for dinner we all headed over to the Laos for a huge FEAST. Turkey, corn pudding, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls, pumpkin pie… OMG. ITWASSOGOOD.

Some other good things I did this weekend:
— Went to the Social Security office to officially change my name. CRAZINESS. But now I get to practice my new signature! It’s the little things…
— Hit the Black Friday sales. Wasn’t looking for anything in particular. Just wanted to check out the deals. Bought a bunch of DVDs for Christmas presents. And for myself too. Couldn’t help it!
— Went to Bakesale Betty’s in Oakland and picked up a chicken pot pie and strawberry shortcake for Friday dinner. SOYUMMY. The fried chicken sandwich (you can get it in salad form too) is awesome too. Check it out. Seriously.
— Walked Diesel around Fourth Street in Berkeley. Had the most amazing Meyer Lemon sorbet at Sketch. And visited my little slice of paper heaven, Paper Source.
— Made holiday sugar cookies with Rob.
— Bought and decorated our Christmas tree. Pictures to come.

Since I’m in the holiday spirit, I’m going to do this Christmas meme I found…
Welcome to the Christmas Edition of getting to know your friends!
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
WRAPPING PAPER! By far. Part of the fun is actually wrapping the presents and then embellishing them with bows, ribbons, tags, etc.
2. Real tree or Artificial?
Real. I just love the smell of a real tree. Plus, the whole process of going out and picking the perfect tree is one of my favorite things to do.
3. When do you put up the tree?
The day after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take your tree down?
I try to take it down the first weekend in January… but sometimes it’s later because I’m lazy.
5. Do you like egg nog?
No, although I am a little intrigued by the eggnog latte at Starbucks.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
I feel like I always have a different answer for these types of questions because I have a terrible memory. I think it would probably be the Barbie dream house I got from my aunt when I was really young. Maybe 6?
7. Do you have a nativity scene?
No. We don’t have anywhere to put it even if we had one. My dad has one, though, and he always waits for me to come home on Christmas Eve so I can set it up for him.
8. Hardest person to buy for?
My dad. He’s one of those people who has everything he needs. And is super picky.
9. Easiest person to buy for?
My friends Robyn and Carmen because we send each other wishlists every year. So easy! I don’t have to guess and I know they’ll like anything I get.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail! I love getting letters in the mail and I love passing that feeling on to others.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Nothing really comes to mind… maybe clothes that weren’t my style or didn’t fit?
12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
ELF! It’s the best!
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
No.
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Arrozcaldo. Basically rice porridge. YUM. My family has it every year on Christmas Eve. We eat it a few hours after dinner while we’re waiting to open presents.
15. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Clear/white.
16. Favorite Christmas song?
Classic – “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” (pretty much any version). Pop – *NSync’s “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays.” Hee.
17. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
My dad and Rob’s parents all live in Southern CA so we always drive down there to spend the holidays with them.
18. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Nope, probably not. 😛
19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Both! My family opens presents on Christmas Eve (we’re not a very patient bunch) and Rob’s family opens presents on Christmas morning.
20. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
The (rude) crowds. Too many people out and about grumbling about buying presents.
21. Favorite ornament theme or color?
I have a gold theme on the tree as I do every year.
22. What do you want for Christmas this year?
For Rob to take me to Disneyland! 😀
23. Who is most likely to post?
Sarah probably. I think she just might love Christmas more than I do!

That was fun. 🙂 Happy December everyone!

thanksgiving 07

It’s been an awesome Thanksgiving weekend so far… until yesterday morning when I woke up with a massive headache and sniffly nose. ARGH. Rob and I didn’t really have any plans yesterday but STILL. It sucks being sick during a long weekend.

So what else have I been up to?

On Wednesday after a completely useless 3-hours at work (our network and internet were down so I ended up cleaning my desk and filing the entire time), Rob and I had a “His and Hers” movie night with our friends Ruby and Jason. Ruby and I watched Enchanted and the boys saw Hitman. 😀 Enchanted had its cheesy moments (of course) but overall, it was a really sweet movie. And Amy Adams was *perfect* as Giselle. Loved her.

For Thanksgiving we went over to Rob’s brother’s new condo in the city where we stuffed ourselves silly with food. Rob’s sister-in-law Susie made turkey, the BEST stuffing ever, cornbread, green bean casserole, asparagus wrapped in ham, mashed potatoes with gravy and we brought over candied yams, pumpkin pie, and Rob’s special maple chicken wings. WOW… it didn’t seem like a lot of food on the table but now that I listed everything… it seems a little obscene. Besides eating, we watched a lot of football, played with our dogs, and ate some more. 😀 It was a lazy day. Just the way I like it!

Then of course the next day was Black Friday shopping madness! It’s become a tradition for us… Rob and I scour the ads on Thursday night and then wake up early to hit Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and K-Mart. This year we were specifically looking for a digital camera (ours broke a few weeks ago) and a printer (I need one to print out miscellaneous wedding stationery, like programs, etc). The camera we wanted turned out to be least expensive on Amazon so we didn’t even have to brave the crowds for that purchase! Surprisingly though, we didn’t really encounter any insane lines or crowds. But then we didn’t head out until about 8am so we missed the craziness for the big ticket items. Anyway, we managed to get some Christmas shopping done — a GPS system and iPod Nanos for Rob’s parents, DVDs for friends, this HP Photosmart C5280 printer for only $80, and the Justin Timberlake concert DVD and The OC season 4 DVDs ($14.88!) for me. Phew.

Yesterday we bought our Christmas tree! We got a small one this year (roughly 6ft) because we don’t have much room… but it’s so cute! As soon as we get our new camera, I’ll post pictures.

Now I’m savoring the last few hours of the weekend. After such a great few days, I really don’t want to get up for work in the morning. Nooooooooo. *sigh*

easter weekend

Aaahhh, I’m having a nice and relaxing Easter weekend so far. Hope all of you are as well.

I had Friday off from work, which was so great. 😀 I got the chance to meet up with friends for lunch and we checked out the new H&M that opened up near my apartment. Then to top off my day, I got a much-needed pedicure. If only life could be as simple as this…

I’ve recently become seriously addicted to The Travel Channel. I’ve been recording the daily reruns of Passport to Europe. Samantha Brown, the host, can sometimes border on annoying and cheesy (a la Rachael Ray) but whatever, it’s EUROPE. *sigh* I wish there was a way to make travelling my day job. Or just to have the time and money to leave everything and travel through Europe for a month. I even checked out the 5 Takes website to see if they were casting. LOL. (It’s a reality show where 5 travelers are chosen to be immersed in a country and the online community on the Travel Channel site decides their daily activities, their next destination, etc). Unfortunately, you have to be 30-39 to apply. WHAT IS WRONG WITH BEING 27? 😛

The one regret I have about my college experience is that I didn’t take time over the summers to travel. I spent all my summer vacations fitting in summer school so I could graduate with a double major. If I could, I’d go back and change that in a heartbeat. I’d have taken an extra year to graduate or even applied to a study abroad program. Everything’s 20/20 in hindsight, right?

I’m also loving the Travel Channel’s 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. This show chronicles the adventures of a really lucky couple who gets to travel around the world for a few months. (The show’s based on the book of the same name). I found out about this show in Paris from our Segway tour guide. He had just finished filming a segment for the show a few nights before, which featured the Segway tour. I can’t wait to see the episode when they get to Paris. So far, they’ve been to Alaska and Italy and every time the episode is over, I am SO JEALOUS. Can you imagine? 13 weeks. All expenses paid. LUCKY.

In honor of Easter, I thought I’d share this link to the 2007 US State Easter Eggs. It’s an annual tradition that each state (plus DC) submits a decorated egg to the White House. I think it’s kinda fun. My favorites are Georgia, Maine and Washington.

Ok, enough randomness for today… I’m off to watch the first episode of The Tudors. Jonathan Rhys Meyers! WOOT.

return to normal

So I’m back in the Bay. The past week I spent in LA went by way too quickly. WHY DOES IT ALWAYS DO THAT?

Some highlights…

— Attending my cousin’s college graduation. Finally, she graduates! Hehe.
— Christmas shopping for 12+ hours with my dad at 2 different malls. He decided to wait until the last minute to buy ALL his gifts.
— Playing with the Wii for 6 hours on Christmas Eve. Rob brought it over to my family’s get-together and instead of dozing off like we normally do while waiting for midnight, we played video games. LOL. Even my dad!
— Spending 2 days with my best friends in LA.
— Receiving holiday cards in the mail from Alie, Sarah, Marianne, Jill, and Kelly.

And, of course, PRESENTS! I had a pretty darn awesome haul…
— diamond heart necklace from my dad. Awww.
— massage gift certificate to Burke Williams
— $100 Victoria’s Secret gift card
— $100 American Express gift check
— $50 Target gift card
— $50 Banana Republic gift card
— $50 Macy’s gift card
— $25 Amazon gift certificate
— a few Starbucks gift cards
— AMC movie gift certificates
— some cash
— black goose down jacket
— red sherpa robe. Mmmm, so soft.
— VS PINK velour lounge pants
— Anne of Green Gables book set
— South Beach Diet recipe book
— Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger
— Eragon by Christopher Paolini
— Beverly Hills 90210 s1 DVDs
— 24 s5 DVDs
— The Devil Wears Prada DVD
— 2 pairs of fingerless gloves. LOVE THESE.
— trouser socks
— scarf
— Harry Potter scene it
YAY.

I don’t want the holidays (and my vacation) to end!!! *sniff* Only 3 more days til… WORK. ARGH.

But first, New Year’s Eve! I’m almost positive Rob and I are going to have a low key night at home as usual. Do any of you have fun plans? 🙂

holiday party

Work is making me so stressed this holiday season. I’ve been incredibly busy and I still feel like a total newbie. And I’m dealing by EATING JUNK. Clients have started sending holiday gift baskets to the office and I don’t seem to have any self-control when stuff like chocolate is staring me in the face. In the past week I’ve received a Tower of Treats from Harry and David, an enormous basket of assorted cookies/pretzels dipped in chocolate (so good!), a huge box of Hershey’s chocolates, another basket of goodies from Coffee Bean, and other stuff I can’t remember right now. I stuck everything in the office kitchen to get it away from my desk. As if I need to be eating all this stuff and packing on more weight. I could stand to lose about 10 pounds actually. 🙁

Enough of the pity party.

What else have I been up to lately? Let’s see… Oh! My company had its holiday party this past Thursday. In LA. And I found out I had to fly down for it on Wednesday. The day before! So yeah. I had to finish all my work on Wednesday since I would be out of the office for the rest of the week. STRESS. !!! But I had a great time and I got the chance to meet the President, the COO, and most of my co-workers from the other West Coast offices. We started off at Chaya in Beverly Hills. I’ve been to the San Francisco location a few times and it’s AMAZING so I was really looking forward to dinner. We all shared an assortment of sushi roll appetizers and then I had the BEST kobe beef entree ever (it was so tender and juicy!). For dessert I had the butterscotch creme brulee… OMG, yum. There are no words.

Next we went over to the Hotel Roosevelt for drinks at the Tropicana Bar. It was a zoo because the premiere for We Are Marshall was just finishing up across the street at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and people were making their way over to the Hotel Roosevelt to continue the party. The bartender told us they expected Matthew McConaughey and Kiefer Sutherland to make appearances. I would have DIED and gone to heaven if I saw Kiefer. Sadly, though, I didn’t see him — I don’t even know if he showed up… but I did see Slash! Though that’s not nearly as exciting. 😛 Our last stop for the night was a club called Les Deux, which was interesting but not really our scene. It was so crowded that there wasn’t enough space to dance and if you tried, you’d inevitably elbow someone. We only stayed for about an hour, long enough to have a few drinks and marvel at all the girls in ridiculously short skirts. I felt completely overdressed.

Finally, at 2am, we all headed back to our hotels. I was staying at the Bel Age Hotel, which will always remind me of Beverly Hills, 90210. ‘Cause if I remember correctly, Dylan used to live there, right? I know the hotel was mentioned or featured in the show in some shape or form, heh. It was so nice to rest finally after a loooong day of traveling and hanging out. Ahhh.

Now it’s back to reality and… Christmas shopping. !!! I haven’t even put a dent in my list. It looks like Rob and I are spending our Sunday at the mall. EEEK.

Photos for the meme coming tomorrow…

thanksgiving weekend

Happy [belated] Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

I am absolutely loving this 4-day Thanksgiving weekend. Work has made me so tired recently… I definitely needed the break. Plus, I’m enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers as I type (pumpkin pie!) and really, there’s not much that’s better than that. 😀

Yesterday Rob and I hit some of the Black Friday sales to pick up toys and DVDs for Christmas presents. We went to 2 Best Buys, 2 Circuit Citys, 2 Targets, and 1 K-Mart. LOL. Aside from presents, I finally bought myself a photo printer — this Photosmart 475 by HP for only $49 at Circuit City. I’ve been itching to print out some of my Paris pictures and now I can! Whee. Rob was also looking for a Nintendo Wii but it was sold out absolutely *everywhere* we went. I hope he finds one… the interactive games look like so much fun!

I’m going to try and convince Rob that we need to buy our Christmas tree tonight. *hopes*

I also need to finish my Paris diary…

Hope everyone’s enjoying their weekend. 🙂

lake house

Ahhh, it was a great weekend. It’s beginning to feel like summer in the Bay Area. I loved it.

On Saturday, I went into the city to meet Nicola for breakfast (or I guess it was lunch since it was around 11am). We went over to the Farmer’s Market at the Ferry Building, grabbed some breakfast sandwiches and took them over to the benches that overlooked the Bay. It was absolutely gorgeous. *happy sigh*

After a walk over to Union Square, I went dress shopping. I have 2 weddings to attend this summer (one of them in 2 weeks!) so I was on a mission. My cousin’s wedding isn’t for another month but I had to look for a dress in a particular color (sage green). That eliminates about 99% of all dresses. I started the dress search back in April so it’s been a frustrating couple of months, lol. But I finally found one! YES. Surprisingly, it’s strapless (I NEVER thought I would find a flattering strapless dress) but the best part is that it has a fun, swing-y skirt. Awww. I never did find a dress for the wedding that’s in 2 weeks so I just ordered a bunch online… I’m crossing my fingers that one of them will work. Guh.

In pop culture matters, I also saw 2 movies this weekend…

Lake House
This wasn’t a *great* movie but Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock made it work for me. I spent the entire movie wanting them to get together, hehe. I haven’t seen a good chick flick in awhile so this fit the bill.

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Rob and I have had this movie from Netflix since APRIL. BWAH. We just never got around to watching it. I ended up really enjoying it… except for the fact that I didn’t like any of the kids! Well ok, I take that back, I liked Peter but that’s it. The other 3 bugged me so much. I don’t remember having that kind of a reaction to them while reading the book. ??? I guess it’s time for a reread.

I’ve also been meaning to finish up my season finale commentaries… this is my goal before the summer is over. 😀

Vacation Update: Rob renewed his passport so it looks like we might be headed out of the country. *pumps fist*

season finales, part 2

OMG, I am so exhausted. It was a fun but really tiring weekend. On Saturday, a friend and I went up to the Vacaville outlets (on the way to Sacramento from the Bay Area)… it was so HOT, about 95 degrees! I was dying. And sadly, I didn’t buy a thing. Then on Sunday, I went in to San Francisco for a denim sample sale. I LOVE jeans. I tried on a TON and only came away with one. What a disappointment. But then, I’m just glad I was able to get a few over my big hips. Heh.

Anyway.

My season finales commentary… continued (again, SPOILERS ARE AHEAD)…

24
I’m such a 24 junkie. You totally have to suspend belief while watching (ie. Evelyn managing to record the incriminating conversation between the President and Henderson and Miles deleting the recording with what looked like a laser pointer) but I’m willing. I love Jack! I was so glad when Logan got his comeuppance in the finale. *pumps fist* Jack showed you with his super-spy pen. HAH! And the smirks that Mike and Martha threw Logan’s way were pretty awesome. But was it just me or did we never get resolution on who (or what group/company) orchestrated the events of the day? Not Logan but the men with the earpieces who were ordering Logan around? I don’t remember finding out what their motives were. Or maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention. Oh well, I guess it doesn’t matter now that Logan is in custody and Jack is headed to China (EEK!).

Prison Break
So nothing really happened in the finale. I have to admit I was kinda disappointed. Well… sure, T-Bag had his hand cut off, Sara overdosed (she can’t be dead, right? RIGHT?), and the VP has taken control… but in terms of the escapees, they didn’t really get anywhere. OMG, it’s so frustrating! They aren’t much farther than they were at the end of the penultimate episode. And now they have no plane! Damn. I do like the tension that was created between Scofield and Pope, though. The warden is PISSED. That’s a great driving force for the second season.

CSI
SARA AND GRISSOM. What?! I can’t decide if I want them in a relationship anymore. :/ It wasn’t as great a finale as last season but it was decent. I’m SO glad Brass didn’t get killed off. The show wouldn’t be the same without him. It was nice to see Ellie again too. I didn’t realize until this episode that the actress also plays Louise on the Gilmore Girls. I knew she looked familiar. Yeah, I’m a little slow on the uptake. 😀

Now I’m off to watch the series finale of Everwood. *sob*

christmas wishlist

ARGH. I am SO SORRY if you tried to visit my site on Thursday and it was trying to make you download some evil trojan virus. I didn’t do it… I SWEAR! I think someone hacked into my blog archives and remotely tried to execute some code. I took the entire Movable Type installation down, re-installed it, and also had my host do a search for any other malicious files that might be lurking about… the site has been given the all clear. PHEW. Again, so sorry. 🙁

So… I need some help. I went shopping ALL DAY on Wednesday and did not find a single thing for my dad. He’s absolutely the hardest person to shop for EVER cause he doesn’t *need* anything and offers no help whatsoever. For every other holiday (birthday, Father’s Day), I usually get him some sort of clothing item. But that’s getting a little tired, you know? So… I’m wondering what all of you get your dads for the holidays? Any suggestions?

And I’ve been meaning to do this meme…
Christmas Wishlist
* Make a post to your blog. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related (“I’d love a Snape/Hermione icon that’s just for me”) to medium (“I wish for _____ on DVD”) to really big (“All I want for [insert seasonal celebration here] is a new car/computer/house/TV.”) The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
* If you wish for real life things (not fics or icons), make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it’s your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
* Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your blog so that the holiday joy will spread.
* Surf around to see who has posted their list. And now here’s the important part:
* If you see a wish you can grant, and it’s in your heart to do so, make someone’s wish come true. Sometimes someone’s trash is another’s treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don’t want or a gift certificate you won’t use–or even know where you could get someone’s dream purebred Basset Hound for free–do it.
* You needn’t spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn’t to put people out, it’s to provide everyone a chance to be someone else’s holiday elf–to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not–it’s your call.
* There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just…wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you’ll have the joy of knowing you made someone’s holiday special.

1. Holiday cards!
2. A tutorial on how the heck to customize the layout for a Coppermine gallery. I just DON’T. GET. IT.
3. Wallpapers of my ‘ships (Pacey/Joey, Harry/Hermione, Ephram/Amy, Nathan/Haley, etc). I prefer 1600×1200 (that’s the optimal resolution for my laptop) but anything 1024×768 and higher works too.
4. Music recs. I listen to pretty much everything but country (sorry). Some favorite artists are NSync, Britney, The Postal Service, Kanye West, Jack Johnson, Death Cab…
5. On that note, an iTunes gift card/certificate.
6. Starbucks gift card.
7. Your favorite quotes from TV shows, movies, songs, people.
8. A Pacey/Joey mood theme. I know I don’t ever post on LJ but maybe I can figure out a way to use it here.
9. Anything from my Amazon wishlist.
10. Suprise me. 😀

Send me an email if you need my address. And if anyone has also posted a wishlist on their blog/LJ/mySpace, please let me know in the comments so I can be sure to take a look. 😉