Tea Soup

So, I've decided to try or do, one new thing a day. That'll be a running theme in my blog. We'll see how this works.

Anyway today's new thing is tea soup - or - Top Chef Ramen. Joking around with a coworker on how to get creative with my mish-mash meal of Watermelon, Chicken and Ramen, I decide to try something different. The inspiration came from "cooking" my Ramen noodles next to the teas at work. I remembered an old dish we used to have in Malaysia called Bakkutteh. Basically it's a soup made with tea as an ingredient. I decide to spice up my Ramen with some black tea.

After heating up the noodles in the hot water/microwave, I steep the tea for a few minutes, then drain most of the water and add the beef seasoning. I know most people like their Ramen as soup, but I like my Ramen dry with just noodles.

Anyway it turned out pretty tasty. The aroma was good and the taste had a little extra special flavor, not super tea like but still good. I looked up a few recipes and there are quite a few tea based soups. It sounds bizarre, but actually it makes a lot of sense to put tea into soups.

Anyway that's my new thing of today. Black Tea Ramen soup :)

Tram tours

Today we had the weirdest Universal Studios studio tram tour ever. We live in SoCal and have Universal Studios Annual Passes. We had relatives in town & decided to go. We have been on, between all of us, probably over 50 tram tours.

In our car, we saw someone pull the emergency cord. They dropped their cellphone outside the tram. They couldn't get out to get it but the guide said someone would pick it up & have it for them at the end of the ride. As we rode away I watched the phone almost get run over by the tram. Interesting and odd.

Then the ride got annoying. The emergency cord was pulled twice after that because someone had to go to the bathroom, really? Finally our annoyed guide had us stop in the middle of Wisteria lane so someone could pee. So the guy runs back to the tram after he's done using one if the active/real houses on the lot. Then we see a mom holding the hand of her kid walking out to the house too. Really? They decide to go after the other person & not at the same time? So we were holding up all the trams, and had to leave them behind. Very annoyed.

Then we saw new buildings, castle like, on the backlot set. That was cool. The guide said he couldn't say what movie it was but he hinted the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Neat.

So out of our whole tram experiences, this was most definitely the most odd and interesting. Never seen any of the 3 things above happen before, and they all happen on the same tour. Go figure.

Won't you be my neighbor?

It's odd, but in the past few months of living in our condo, we've had some bad things happen but I've had my faith renewed and restored by meeting some very nice people, our neighbors. Not every neighbor is a gem. There are some young college kids across the way that smoke outside and talk loudly, so that can get annoying. There's another family down the way that has their TV on loud sometimes and we have some non-friendly non-chatty neighbors, but overall people have been very nice and it seems like the kind of neighborhood everyone looks out for each other.

We met our downstairs neighbor one week after living in our new place. She leaves a nice note on our door, saying her bathroom is leaking water and she believes it's coming from our place and could we check it out and get it fixed. This was very upsetting and not good news as we were still stressed from the move and settling in. I got defensive about the leak and also very worried about the extent of the cost of fixing, repairing and who was really obligated to pay for the repair.

Anyway a plumber came in, verified it was our leak causing her drip and he fixed it with very little pain or cost. I was thrilled I was just overreacting. Our neighbor was a darling, a sweetheart, and was like "so sorry to bother you guys with this leak, especially just moving in new. I'll take you out to dinner once this is all done". We were like "we're sorry you have to deal with a leak in your bathroom, we should take you out". She could have been so much more annoying, snippy and threatening about the leak, but she wasn't, she was perfectly nice about it. We had such a nice time getting it all figured out, that after it was done we took her out to dinner, and had a good time getting to know her and hanging out. She's still really cool and we hang out once in awhile.

Now just recently, we met 3 more neighbors and here's how. In our new condo, we have a shared garage. It's separate from our house, and it's a 4 car garage with 2 doors. So we have one car parked there and we share with 3 other neighbors. It's small but overall manageable arrangement.

So we recently went on a weekend trip and got home late on a Sunday night. On Monday morning as we're pulling the car out of the garage, I notice that my husband's red mountain bike was missing/stolen. His passenger automatic window was also not working which makes me suspect that whoever stole his bike also tried to break into the car but was unsuccessful. Anyway this was very upsetting least to say. I felt vulnerable, vandalized and lost my faith in people.

So we decided to leave a note to our 3 other garage neighbors. The note said we had our bike stolen from our shared garage, we're going to report it, asking for info, please check/safeguard your things, and please be sure to make sure the garage is closed when you're leaving for the day, and hope none of your stuff was stolen and a generally overall friendly but sad letter. Anyway we ended up talking to all 3 of our neighbors. They were all very nice and very sympathetic about what happened. They reported back immediately that they didn't see anything and they weren't missing anything, but they will be much more cautious from now on. We also got to know each other a little more through some friendly short chatter.

Anyway, we do live in a nice neighborhood where this sort of thing doesn't happen and people feel safe, and so we concluded it must be some teenage kids off for the summer totally causing trouble. Odd thing is the thief stole my husband's mountain bike and left mine, which is I guess, not a total loss. One of the neighbors was like, if I see a kid riding around on a red mountain bike I'll quiz him, tackle him if need be and take the bike back for you. Very sweet.

Anyway, I'm not a silver lining person, but I can't help seeing it now. Two unfortunate incidents, brought us closer to the people around us. We're very lucky because overall our neighbors are nice. After something as bad as a inter-condo leak and a theft, they were all kind and sympathetic and wanting to help and make things better. Of course no one likes when things go wrong, but in a weird way, it's made me get to know my neighbors and made me like them a lot. No one was intrusive, pushy or obnoxious. They were all descent and unexpectedly nice. I expect the worst of people and things sometimes, and it's nice to be wrong in those cases.

And the last thing is, one of our neighbors is an older retired teacher, super friendly, chatty and just a nice guy. He's one of those people you feel lightened after just saying hi. It's just cool being around someone who is sincerely, that cool. He's totally our "Mr. Rogers" and yes we live in his neighborhood.

So anyway, I toast to my new neighbors. I hope we always have descent and nice people living next to us. I thank the universe for having known them. I hope one day we won't need a leak or a theft to knock on their doors and get to know them.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Library

Actually a few funny things have happened on the way to, or in the library. Here are two goofy stories.

We saw a boy about 5 or 6 hysterical and overly distraught, wanting to stay in the library and read. Right? Ya, very cute and amazing to see. Dad was being kind, patient and creative in trying to go home saying "I have to go home to your mother, I can leave you here but she will miss you very much and it's cold at night. You should probably come home with us". But as we left, boy was still bargaining and crying with his father, for more time in the library. Wow.

Anyway today I was in line behind a lady, and an older man with crazy fluffy white hair came up behind her (obviously her husband or brother), snuck up and surprised her. She turned around startled and annoyed but laughing to herself. He saw me behind her, smiled and then looked at her and said "Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there something wrong with the earth's gravitational field?". Holy S this dude just did the perfect impression of Doc Brown in Back to the Future. We all got a good chuckle out of it. Thanks Doc :)

Half a donut

Who puts sprinkles on only half a donut? Honestly!

Goodwill

So there are a lot of interesting things you can find at your local thrift store. The below item being one of them. No doubt a carnival prize or bizarre body pillow.

It's just neat to see what people give away and find some great deals on usable items. We saw a very nice but slightly scratched up black acoustic guitar for $10. We almost got it. I like to buy single fancy crystal drink glasses without pairs. Part of me likes the idea of adopting a lonely glass & so my guests, if we ever have any, have their very own unique wine or drink glass not to be mixed up with all the others. We've bought good condition clothes with some of my best & favorite pieces are from thrift stores.

We also feel it's a bit like recycling and being good to the planet if we buy used. The deals are usually exceptional, but it's harder to find quality items.

Anyway Sherman Way in the San Fernando Valley CA has some great antique stores, thrift shops & specialty item stores we really enjoyed walking through. Chinatown LA is fun for atmosphere & food. Farmer's Markets & Festivals ate especially cool for crafts & art items. So once in awhile, get outside the mall, and visit the gritty thrift store to find something truly unique.

New Orleans

I've fallen in love with a place I've never been before. It's had a very special allure & calling to me for as long as I can remember. It's the city of Nawleens, and I'm planning my visit for 2011.

Originally I planned to go in 2006 for my 25th birthday. We were planning out the dates & getting ready to book hotels, when Katrina hit. Instead of New Orleans I went to the Grand Canyon and had a good time.

Now in 2011 I turn 30, and even with the oil spill in the background, nothing is going to stop me from going. Been doing a lot of research, reading up mostly and watching shows & movies centering around New Orleans. The more I delve, the more I am falling in love.

Perhaps part of my affection for the place doesn't necessarily have to do with the food, music & architecture, but more to do with it's spirit. It's a little gritty, dark, roguish, colorful, fun-loving, artistic, lively and soulful. Most of all, it's recovering with a fighting spirit.

We've all been beat down in our lives, especially now with the recession. Personally we've been laid off, working menial jobs, had our bodies and our spirits broken more than usual these past few years. I feel like I've taken a pretty rough beating, and in some ways I still feel broken. But we go on and we try to live with passion and soul.

I feel akin to New Orleans in that struggle, to regain what was lost, although its not really possible. Sometimes I feel like we must just stay true to ourselves and bear the scar and carry on. It can be so hard to forget the glory and ease of the past. It's difficult to have hope, but life evolves through struggles and we must remake ourselves into something better then our former selves.

It's a little much I know, but I feel like I need to go and see this place which has captured my imagination and soul.

Traces

Sometimes I wonder what anthropologists will say about our society, 100 or even 1000 years from now. What will we leave behind? What will our footprints say about us? Will our culture disappear? Something like Atlantis, where computers and technology will be an ancient mystery. Or will we just slowly fade from history like the glory of Rome. Just curious.

Cars with hats

What is the world coming to?

F the Truck

Ok, so late last night we were hanging out, hungry, and realized that the famous Kogi Truck was going to be relatively nearby at 10:30pm. Oh joy! First time to try it and it was early enough, 10pm, that we could get a good place in line, if there was one. Being it summer and the stop by a college, we figured it wouldn't be too crowded. We waited at the intersection listed online and stalked the area for possible stops. My husband even tweeted on the Kogi Twitter account for a specific location for the stop. After awhile we still didn't see it, so we drove around. We found it at 10:45 with a ridiculous line. F that! We were hungry and waited since 10 for that stupid food truck. We decided to hit up Jack in the Box and had a really nice time SITTING at at able, eating late night food and chatting.

Ok, so I understand that gourmet truck food is a novel and cool idea. Have gourmet awesome food in your neighborhood. Plus the LA urban feel of having delicious eats outside and communal feeling of waiting in line with fans. Yes it's cool as a college student when you have the energy to be up at 11pm waiting in line 30 minutes for a Fing taco. But as anyone just hungry and wanting to hang out, standing in line for line up to an hour for a Fing taco, no matter how good it is, pretty much blows. I'm not buying into the Fing trucks, no, no longer. I waited in line for Pink's Hot Dogs and it was a guaranteed good time, sit-down and good food.

From the LA Street Food Fest with "gourmet" trucks being a clusterF, to trying to find Kogi truck multiple times, and never getting fed properly, it's a scam. I'd rather sit at some fast food place or a Denny's and be comfortable, indoors, eating over a table, place with a bathroom and water, and be chatting relaxed with my friends. Gourmet food trucks are no New York hot dog stand, you're just another food fad with an elite clubbish attitude that says "waiting in line makes it more exclusive and worth it". F you gourmet trucks.

I know I may eat my words if I actually eat a Kogi taco and this may be all bitter jealousy, but food places should serve you, not the other way around. Food should be comforting and communal, not elite, exclusive and inconvenient. So far I only feel this way about hyped-up Kogi truck such places. I still fully support the authentic local and long established roach coach taco trucks that have roamed LA since before I was born. If it survives and doesn't give its customers food poisoning, it means they've got really good food, a loyal customer base, no pretentiousness giving basic good eats for a good price. We have one that stops at our work every day, and although times may vary, he knows us, gives us a good meal for a good price and lets us keep a tab on his truck. No waiting in line and no hype. Here's to you Doug and Javi! Go support your local taco truck, explore and have a real adventure and stop chasing the coolest new thing.

Zebras

Creepy painting that stares while you eat bagels.

Ask the Doctor

Flat Beer

New meaning to "flat beer"

From a booth at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.

Turtles

And the turtles, of course... All the turtles are free,
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.
Dr. Seuss

Growing

All my life, I traveled a lot. I switched between parents and they both moved and lived in different places quite frequently. For a long time now, I've sort of felt like a nomad. But, I could easily say that the past 2 years have been the most tumultuous, crazy, stressful and bumpy of my life. I left a prestigious, well paying, highly stressful job for a personal sabbatical of traveling and reflection in 2007. 2007 and 2008 were filled with adventures and mis-adventures throughout California, Asia and Europe. Reconnected with family and tried to re-prioritize what was really important. 2008-2009 There were job/career issues (still are), and a move back home with relatives because of the economy. In 2009 there was a sickness, a death and my own major medical emergency and surgery - the worst moment of my life so far. Along with this, we had an engagement and a wedding to plan and execute. Early 2010 we were focusing on buying a home, a small condo, but a place to finally call our own.

Now, mid 2010, moved into our new home and somewhat recovering from 2009, slowly feeling more like myself again, I finally feel like I can get back to normal - pre-2007 - but with all the wisdom and experience. I'm feeling more like myself day by day. We're out of our parents' homes, we're on our own, we're not making much money, but we're learning to live with less and slowly trying to build our own lives.

All of this made me think of, how important it was to have a place to grow. People, like plants, need a place to establish themselves. Somewhere rooted from which to climb toward the light. I've been feeling more rooted lately, a nice change. The beginnings were rough. Oh, but this could be the start of something good, don't you agree?

Follow Through - Gavin DeGraw
Oh, this is the start of something good
Don't you agree?
I haven't felt like this in so many moons
You know what I mean?
And we can build through this destruction
As we are standing on our feet

Unplugged and Feeling Better

So, lately I've been feeling much better about myself, and I think it's directly related to not regularly checking Facebook. There are a number of things that may be improving my mood I understand. Lately I've been trying to eat better, we've been taking walks after work, we've been not obsessing over our new home and actually had friend/fun time outside the house. Although these things probably contribute to my better mood, I think Facebook may be the biggest factor and largest culprit.

Let me explain. So, in Facebook, you are literally connected to way more people than you ever really talk to or know all that well. You're connected to everyone you went to high school or college with. You see posts from every family member on there. You're connected to coworkers and friends you are well acquainted with or hardly know very much at all. The only connection you need for Facebook, is to know a person's first and last name. The majority of your Facebook family are people who aren't in your regular circle of friends/family.

That being said, the majority of posts consist of the following:
- bragging about something awesome that someone just experienced
- unimportant details about what someone just did
- flattering photos of things that matter to that person
- topics or news articles that range from very to mildly interesting that someone could find if they surfed online for about 30 minutes.
- a funny or clever thought
- bad news or good news

There are other topics out there I'm sure, but I'll just state these ones for now.

I think my depression last week started when, I think it must have been a Monday morning or at least felt like one, where I read the news feed and 4 people posted something fantastic or wonderful that happened in their life. Got a promotion, got a surprise trip to Europe, pictures of us at Ascott and just had something amazing happen. It's like getting that annoying Christmas letter from that uncle who spends an entire letter bragging about his kids - my cousins - who all went to Ivy league schools and who are all ridiculously rich and successful. Except it's not once a year, it's pretty much a few times a week. I'm not an envious person, but I had nothing really fantastic happen to me in the past 72 hours. Life was normal/good, but not in a "post it on Facebook for everyone to read" kind of way. It made me very depressed for the rest of the week, because I felt so small, inconsequential and unimportant in my day to day life. I felt like a failure because someone else was a high powered lawyer or someone else made a small fortune gambling in Vegas or another person who I went to school with was suddenly incredibly successful. Who was I, living day to day with this not so extraordinary existence.

So I stopped reading Facebook posts after that, and slowly, my mood and general unhappiness in my life started to lift. I started taking joy in the little things in my life that made me happy. I stopped looking at what other people were doing and started doing my own thing, and shock, was finding myself fulfilled and happy and satisfied with what I was doing. Then I started to think, why all of a sudden, was I ok with my lot in life. It's because I stopped looking at what everyone else was doing.

Facebook is tough to beat, because you find out about event plans and friend updates that are important. People automatically assume if you're on Facebook and they post it - you'll know what's going on with them. What ever happened to the art of conversation or an email saying - hey how are you, this message is just for you?

But the more I haven't been checking it, the more I don't know what i'm missing. I'm not seeing the giant network of people's "this is why my life is so much better than yours" posts. I'm very competitive, and the fact is, it makes me feel bad in comparison to see other people doing so much better in life. Then again, if you look at mine, I'm sure people are jealous and I really do have it pretty good compared to a lot of other people. The thing is, I don't post every awesome thing that happens to me, for everyone to see.

Anyway, I think I officially am not a fan of Facebook. I think i'll check it irregularly. I might avoid the news feed and just go on people's pages and see what they're up to. The people I really care about, not the person I went to high school with that I hardly know who is going on an amazing ski vacation in the Alps. I'll check on my good friend from college who is a mom with 2 kids and just wants to pay her bills on time and raise her kids right. Plus I might start really appreciating all the stuff around me, instead of wishing I was someone else.

Time

We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery.
- H.G. Wells

Motivation

Why do I want to be healthy? It's important to know this when you start, so you can think of it on those days you really want to sleep in, be lazy and don't want to be motivated.

I once wrote down the pros and cons of working out and eating healthy, and found the pros far outweighed the cons, and so were important in my daily routine and thinking about health. Below are a few.

Cons
Bad food tastes great.
I'm lazy, tired and not in the mood to workout.
My tv show is on.
I don't want to spend the time doing it.

Pros
Better health against heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
Sexier feeling and looking.
Builds strength and energy for myself.
Feeling better.
Compliments from friends and fewer criticisms from family.
Being athletically superior.

They also say "imagine yourself" at your goal. I want to be sexy :) No matter what with kids, or grandkids, I always wanted to be a sultry and sexy older woman. Not necessarily a Cougar, but one of those women you meet, where you're like "wow she takes good care of herself". A woman full of charisma, emotionally balanced, smart and sassy. So my inspiration may have to be Lucille (Carla Gugino) in Sin City. In fact any woman from Sin City is pretty much an awesome badass that I'd like to emulate one day. Just oozing with an inner toughness yet gentleness. Or possibly Angelina Jolie, but that's too easy and too common. Maybe a character like Catherine Zeta Jones in Zorro. I also love the classic elegance of Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe.

Anyway, just a few photos and women that are inspirational below.

Tough & Sassy - Carla Gugino in Sin City

Classy & Quirky - Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face

The one below being my favorite photo of Sophia Lauren by Alfred Eisenstaedt, during a break from filming.

I hope one day to be that beautiful.

Below, a little something by Audrey Hepburn. Ciao Bella!

I Am An Excel Wizard!

So I just created an amazing spreadsheet that calculates and tracks our expenses in an easy to read and enter manner. It took awhile, but after fixing some excel mac formatting issues, and customizing with color and style, I have a working and usable spreadsheet. Now, we just need the discipline to enter all the information regularly.

It feels really good to know where your money is going and keeping our financial status in good health.

Tea

In my quest to be healthier, I've decided to switch out my daily coffee for tea. My usual coffee drink was a packet of hot cocoa, half a cup of coffee, a creamer of hazelnut and a creamer of french vanilla, and half a cup of warm water to cool off the concoction. No doubt there are tons of unnecessary calories in that, but it was my warm comfort drink at work in the mornings. Now I switch to tea, knowing tea has just as much caffeine, is overall proven to be healthier, and as a loyal iced tea drinker, should be a manageable change.

I think the thing I miss most about coffee is the flavor and the texture. Mind you I had mostly hot cocoa and sweet stuff in there. But I also enjoyed the thickness and warmth it gave me first thing in the morning. Tea is so watery. I still drink coffee occasionally, but it's a good switch for the calories, the sugar and the health. I drink straight tea, no sugar or cream, and have 1-2 cups a day, alternating between black and green teas.

Anyway I found this cute product while searching for a tea photo. It's a Penguin Tea Timer. Also here is an article on how tea is good for you - 33 Health Benefits of Drinking Tea

Drink up and cheers!

A day that will live in infamy

So Tuesday was a very wild roller coaster ride with my health.

The weekend left me feeling very sneezy, stuffed up, sneezy and sick on Monday. Overall it was a good weekend but tiring. We had stayed up late on Sunday night to watch LOST and the Jimmy Kimmel show. Had family over Sunday along with a day of bike riding and walking through downtown Ventura California on Saturday.

So Tuesday morning rolls around, and I feel tired and stuffed up, but overall ok so I decide to go into work. I carpool with the husband - and he drops me off and takes the car and house keys with him far far away. I get to work about 7:30am and slowly start to feel terrible, and I mean terrible! I was ready to clock out and sleep on the couch or walk to the Library next door and sleep off my sick until I could get picked up to go home. My wonderful department offered to take me home, and I almost did for lunch, but I had no house keys. By about 9:30-10am I was so nauseous I considered calling my sister-in-law to pick me up and let me sleep at her house. Last resort I decided to stand outside for a bit of fresh air to see if it helped, and it did.

Oh my goodness, how the fresh air helped. Not sure what it was, but I would feel very nauseous indoors, and go outside and slowly start to feel better. For a little while I was walking outside every few minutes, but that was drawing too much attention so I stuck my head out the window for a bit and turned on the fan in the office. This all seemed to help.

By the time lunch came around I felt better, and able to do work and manage, but still had a headache. A coworker said it looked like I had a sinus infection - why I had the headache and the sneeziness. He recommended a sinus flush - gross - and some nasel sprays. Later in the afternoon I thought to myself, since I was feeling so sick and taking all sorts of pills and trying to eat fruit to make it go away, I completely forgot my regular cup of tea or coffee. The headache might be from caffeine withdrawal. One cup of tea and an hour later, I'm feeling oh so much better. It's about 4pm, and I went from almost throwing up on people to jazzed and feeling great. The great feeling that comes after feeling like shit for most of the morning and some of the afternoon.

Oh how important it is to pay attention to your body and your health. I took sinus sudafed, multivitamin, vitamin c, got some fresh air and caffeine, and I think all that put together put me right again. Just wanted to share that. It really does feel great when your day ends so much nicer than it started. I actually feel better - really better. Now I will pay much more attention to my sinus issues, perhaps schedule an appointment to see a doctor finally, and also keep track of my caffeine intake. Overall I think my sinuses need attention, as I usually get weather headaches and they can definitely take over when it gets bad.

Christopher Robin

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.

Christopher Robin to Pooh

LOST

I don't get it?

Coconuts

Sitting outside with coworkers during lunch can be very entertaining and eventful. One coworker brought a coconut to work, proceeded to cut a hole in it, stick a straw in it to suck out the juice. Then after slipping the final drops, threw it high into the air and dropped it to crack it open. Then proceeded to much away at the coconut inside. It was a really fun and nice lunch, with lots of lovely laughing and good jokes all around.

Makes you think of I've got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts and You put the Lime in the Coconut :) Where would we be without all these coconuts in our lives!

Naked

Recently I was looking in the mirror, and I weighed myself, and realized that I had gained about 5 lbs since the last time I checked. That was nearly a month ago, before all the fuss and stress of home stuff was in the works. But I've been out of shape and not very healthy for quite awhile now.

I got some perspective end of 2007/beginning of 2008. I decided to start taking care of myself, so I focused on body, mind and soul and started exercising and eating healthy. I was doing really really well. Started out at almost 150lbs, and after about a year I was eating tons of fruits and veggies, could run for up to 30-50 minutes and lost about 25 lbs, averaging 125lbs for my 5'4" body. Then real-life happened, some issues came up, and I started gaining the weight again, but more importantly, I started picking up my bad habits of eating badly and not exercising.

I'm all about "healthy", not about thin. So now that things have started settling down with the house, I've decided it's time to start getting back into my healthy habits. Now that we have our own home and our own kitchen, I can finally control the foods we eat and concentrate on getting the healthy stuff in our system. Also, this morning was the first morning in a long series to get back into shape. I woke up early and went for a walk. It wasn't a hard walk, it was rather easy, but it was a good step in the right direction. I was a bit tired/sleepy on the drive into work today, but I've had a morning workout routine before and if I can keep it up, it'll be a big help to my health and my sanity in the long run.

So, this is the beginning of my health diary. I kept one when I was unemployed and was very successful at being healthy. But now that I have a job, and all the work and stress that goes with it, a personal journal isn't cutting it. So now, I'm going to post it online. One factor they say to help with healthiness - is to be accountable. So if I post online, I know I'll be accountable for my actions and their results. Plus I can share some wisdom and success/failures of my health journey.

Some words on weight: It's a reflection of your lifestyle. Losing weight shouldn't be the goal, but it's an indication of how healthy your body is. That's my perspective, and although weight loss is not my goal, it's a perk of being healthy, getting muscle and being fit. It's also a good measurement for how well you're doing. When I was being very "good", I lost weight. When I wasn't being good - it tended to stick around or gain. So that is why I'm listing my weight on here. As a general indication of progress. I also plan on listing other aspects of physical well being, but we'll come to that when we get there.

Weight - 133lbs

Not bad, but not great. The goal is to be fit, healthy and well - awesome. More to come :)

Bread

The Joy of Cooking :) I really do love to cook. It's like chemistry or wood-shop, putting things together, using heat, and hoping everything comes out alright.

I think the kitchen is quite possibly the most important room and heart of the home. We gather around it, chat, eat and live from the kitchen. I have very fond memories of hanging out with family around the kitchen island, chatting, cooking and being fascinated with how things are made. My mother never cooked, so this only happened at big family gatherings like Christmas or Thanksgiving, so we celebrated food along with time together.

I didn't actually start cooking myself until a friend of mine started showing me how to cook things from scratch. I'd watch in wonder how easy she made everything look and how awesome delicious her food was. She gave me The Joy of Cooking cookbook as a gift, and it's one of the best gifts I've ever had.

One of my favorite things to make is bread. It's not that hard, but it takes a long time to wait for the bread to rise before you bake it. I love the smell of baking bread and the work your hands do kneading it. Yes I knead with my hands and without a machine. It's actually rather therapeutic. Anyway it's been years since I've made bread from scratch, and I did so last weekend and it was a lot of fun.

There are a few kinks to work out in the recipe and the process, before I start making it for other people. My brain and hands are a bit rusty for cooking, and I'm still getting used to the gas burners and oven in our kitchen. But overall basically a success. I'd give my bread a passing C or B.

With my cooking, this is one of those things where the journey is much more important and interesting than the destination. I love to eat, of course, but making bread is just way more fun than just eating it. I hope one day I'll perfect some recipes, and possibly inspire someone to start cooking from scratch too.

Mis-Matched

Our condo has a few quirks that are worth sharing. Mainly mismatching that I find charming. I actually hate anything that matches too much. If husband and I accidentally wear the same colors, we will joke about it and then promptly change if possible. For the most part, I believe there's good in variety and it adds spice to life.

After we moved in, we noticed that with some doors, one doorknob is silver and the other one is gold. It's kinda cool and bizarre actually. Our kitchen cabinet knobs are also a variation of gold and silver. Reminds me of the Girl Scout rhyme "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold".



Not so cute mismatches - some of our bathroom tiles are old and some are new. The old ones are hidden behind the master bathroom, so we didn't notice it til we started cleaning.

We bought a lot of black furniture - barstools, bookcases and couch. A lot of our old furniture is brown. We have a brown dining table, and we got cheap black Ikea chairs with red cushions. We also have a black couch and brown coffee table. I actually love the mismatched look of it.

So overall, just a commentary on matching. Just because things are different, doesn't mean they don't match up :)

Unicorns

Candles

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
Buddha

Home

Home is a place we all must find, child. It's not just a place where you eat or sleep. Home is knowing. Knowing your mind, knowing your heart, knowing your courage. If we know ourselves, we're always home, anywhere.

Glinda the Good - The Wiz

Judy Garland Quote

Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of second rate version of someone else.
- Judy Garland

Introduce Yourself

"Pick one room and make it yours. Go slowly through the house. Be polite, introduce yourself, so it can introduce itself to you." This is one of my favorite quotes from "Under the Tuscan Sun".

Lately, that's what it's been like with the condo. Been feeling overwhelmed with fixing up the entire place, even though it's such a small area. So take baby steps, small moves and slowly but surely the place will start to feel more like home.

Unfortunately, it's bringing me more stress than relaxation. I find it's not feeling homey or comforting, but rather, everything is not clean and nothing is in place. The walls are still bare white. The furniture is in but there are very few personal touches. We've been living under someone else's roof for so long, I think I've forgotten how to decorate a room or a place to make it your own.

The master bedroom, master bathroom and kitchen are the most settled in. Functionally it was very necessary to get these in shape very quickly. Spiritually, the place does not feel like home. I think this is the most disturbing. I'm still getting used to the noises, the quirks and they're not all cute or adorable. It's only been 2 weeks, but I've never taken this long to settle into a place. Perhaps it's time to really decorate, because it's the personal touches that make a place yours. Currently I feel like we're living in a model living room in Ikea.

So, it's not quite home yet, something's missing. I don't know what it is, but I hope it starts to feel more like home soon.

Marilyn Monroe Quote

If you can't handle me at my worst, then you don't deserve my best.
- Marilyn Monroe

Fridge Follies

Another highlight/incident from moving day. We love our families, but sometimes planning is not always best and bodies are not at their prime. My father-in-law is in his 60s and isn't in the best shape. I was very concerned when he started huffing and puffing with some of our furniture, and I was very clear to him, and my mother (in her 50s) that they need to take it easy and not strain themselves, and let us younger ones do the heavy stuff. So father-in-law has the truck. Brother-in-law and husband and father-in-law all go to other house to get a fridge and bring it back. Our condo has a staircase to the main apartment on the 2nd floor. It's fine for large pieces of furniture, and manageable, but for a heavy large fridge, that staircase was a very scary place.

Guys like to be guys and like to think pushing objects and brute force will take care of things. I was like "how are you planning to get the fridge out of that corner in the stairwell?". Brother-in-law replied "we'll figure it out when we get up there". Mind you, fridge was LAST on the list of items to get that day, so we were moving it when everyone was worn out and tired from the day's moving. First mistake. Second - everyone helping us move was in the potential path of that fridge falling on them. Third - Thank God we had a Forearm Forklift strap to wrap around the Dolly to move it up, otherwise it would have been impossible to haul it up on the forklift. Fourth - Do not ask retired father-in-law to be one of the main people moving the fridge. Not that he wasn't a good guy or strong, he was very strong. But he started breathing very heavily, obviously straining himself and being crushed by weight or dolly at various times, and I just was not comfortable. And I do not think I was over-reacting.

I think part of the non-concern of everyone else, was the guy factor of "we can do this". I love them, but they need to realize that they shouldn't try to DIY with everything.

So I have some advice for moving large pieces of furniture or appliances. Try doing it in the beginning of your moving day, so all your strength and clear thinking can be used for the largest items. Only people under 40 should really be moving large pieces of furniture. Hire experienced movers or many strong men for large objects. Best yet, if you buy new they'll move it for you. Make sure you have the right tools and a sure gameplan. Using a fridge dolly and/or having a plan before moving up would have made a big difference. We used just a regular dolly and were like "we'll figure it out when we get up there", wasn't the best plan looking back.

After the fridge was moved, there were large scratches and scuffs in the wall and the floor. This may have upset me if I didn't see the whole fridge moving drama unfold. But, with everything that happened, I was just glad no one got hurt. I said a little prayer of Thanks, and will work on getting some touch-ups for the floor and wall. Makes you not sweat the small stuff and appreciate that everything was ok in the end. Be safe out there people!

Under Where?

We moved into our new condo last Saturday. Although I dreaded the amount of work involved in moving, I was also excited to be settling in.

We intended on sleeping-over Saturday night, but our moving plans were fairly ambitious and we didn't get everything done that we had hoped. So we went back to our original location to have dinner, shower and spend the night. There is nothing like showering after a long hard day of work, to find that after the shower, all your clean underwear was moved to the other house.

I sat on the bed in my towel after the shower, too exhausted to move, and very sad I did not have any clean clothes. Luckily I had a stash of clean stuff in a drawer that was left behind. The overly ambitious plans to move everything fail turned to win.

So some advice if you're ever moving and planning on sleeping over. Pack an overnight camping bag or backpack when you're moving. If you can, pack a week's worth of toiletries and necessities, and keep it with you whichever house you go to. Sort of an emergency pack. Luckily our condo and old house was a very short drive away, but it would suck if you found yourself 30 miles away from all your clean underwear and your toothbrush. Buying new from stores are an expensive and not so convenient alternative.

A place to call home

Recently we've been condo hunting - first time home buyers. That's one reason why I haven't blogged at all lately. On April 15 tax day, we closed and finally got a place to call our own. So much goes into a home buying process, and below are some thoughts on the process.

Paperwork: Get ready to read, sign, scan and send more paperwork than you really ever wanted to. The closing documents we signed with a notary was 80 plus pages. That doesn't include all the other documents we had to sign and send before, including the offers, loan approval documents, escrow papers, forms and etc. I read through most of them and tried to get a basic understanding, as I hate signing things I don't understand. Luckily in California home buying goes through Escrow, and we don't have to have lawyers like some other states.

People: We worked with 4 parties - Realtor, Seller, Lender and Escrow. Here's how it worked. We worked a lot with Realtor and Lender. Then we all worked the Seller. Then all 3, plus us, work with Escrow to get everything submitted and finished before closing. I must say - if you ever buy a home, try to make sure everyone you work with is awesome. Our realtor and lender people were fantastic. The seller was on top of her stuff too. Escrow was a bit disorganized but overall came through in the end. Our realtor also worked with the HOA of our new condo - and our new HOA people were fast to reply and quick to act in fixing things, so that made everything work really well. Overall, we were also quick to respond and accessible. So with everyone working together and accessible at all times, it made it a very easy and smooth process to go through. I highly recommend you get great people to be on your team for home buying. You can't always choose them, but if you get them on your side that's really helpful.

Decisions: The other most stressful part is deciding. Deciding location, deciding unit, deciding square footage, renovations, etc. What are you ok with and what are you not ok with. Husband and I had long discussions over what we needed and wanted. We were torn in choosing great units in not so great locations, and great location and a not so great unit.

During our home hunt, we found that we have a lot of the same preferences, Thank Goodness, and it made shopping and deciding a lot easier. Good and bad thing is, we saw a LOT of places we liked. We often got beat-out on time or money for bids, and didn't actually get the first places we bid for. Competition with other buyers was there, even though this was a buyer's market.

Our realtor suggested an 80/20 satisfaction factor. We should be 80% ok/like a place, and 20% compromise. Luckily, I'd say the place we ended up choosing was 90% like. It's got a great location. The area it's in is considered nice and well maintained. It's very close to the freeway, but we don't get freeway or street noise. It's next to amenities like church, grocery store, giant park for walking and overall a very safe and pretty neighborhood. Also there's a bowling alley, gas stations and small businesses within 5 minutes walking distance. It's a condo on the edge of housing development too, so it's not a sprawl of condos/apartments. We plan on getting dogs, so nice area to walk in was important, and safety was very important to me. Our area also has very highly rated schools, and although we don't have kids we know this is important in rent or resale.

The only issues I have, and still have with the place, is the amount of space and perhaps parking/yard. We have no real yard but a balcony and small front porch, and I really want to grow a garden. Also, parking is one half garage and one space outside. Not ideal, but ok. Overall it's got 2 bed 2 bath with only 900 sq feet, which are small rooms by my standards and small closets - Ack! But in the essence of "living with less", we're going to do our best to get rid of non-essentials and live in a smaller space.

Advice: Father-in-Law said this "You will always have buyer's remorse for any place you buy. It's such a huge purchase, and you will always be second-guessing your decision that there might be another place that's better." He didn't give a solution to this problem, just stated that this is most likely to happen. Unfortunately, part of me is always wondering "is there something better out there" and is worried about our decision and choice being the "best" one. But from what i've seen so far, and what i've looked at since, it seems like a good decision. Not the best one, not the greatest deal, just a good solid one.

I've also had a lot of anxiety over the actual place. I suppose it's because we haven't lived there yet, but it's not yet "home". Every day, more and more, it gives me the warm fuzzies, but a lot of times just anxiety. Then I figured out, it's because it's not home yet. We haven't moved in. We haven't made it ours yet. It takes a few months, even a few years, for a place to become home. For years now, I've been in this weird transition place with places. This is the first real permanent place I've had... ever. Every other place has been, "when we get a house", and now that we have one, it won't make all our dreams come true, but hopefully we'll make some of them come to life, and we'll make some great memories. I'm looking forward to making memories in this new place. I think our realtor's congratulations card said it all.

A house is made of walls and beams
A home is made of love and dreams

It's a little more sappy for my taste, but I do like the message. Looking forward to making memories and really making it ours.

And, I come back and think of this. Nothing's perfect. No place is perfect, just like no person is perfect. But you should fall in love anyway.

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

Empress Pavilion - Dim Sum!

As a foodie, and fan of dives and food trucks, we planned on going to the LA Street Food Fest downtown LA Street Food Fest LA this past weekend. It looked really cool, a bunch of gourmet food trucks getting together and you can try various trucks all in one place. Unfortunately it was in a very small venue in downtown LA, and way too many people. We were there around 11:30, it started 11am, and the line was around the block and around a parking lot - approximately 2 hours. Also once inside, it looked like a crazy line zoo, and we weren't interested in lining up for 3-4 hours just to eat. Turns out it was a good idea, as later on we found out it was a bit of a disaster with too many people and not enough food trucks or space.

So we brought our hungry stomachs to somewhere even better, DIM SUM! As the day before Chinese New Year, we went and had delicious Dim Sum at Empress Pavilion, a local favorite Dim Sum place in Downtown LA. Dim Sum is cool because you sit down, women with carts of various food roll around and you point and say "I want to try that". We had an assortment of things including pot stickers, pork dumpling shiu mai, shrimp har gow, steamed and sauced Chinese broccoli, roast duck, pork shao mai, deep fried something, and other delicious delicacies. For dessert we had sesame rice dumpling balls. So yummy! The whole time you are also served a very nice hot tea.

One really really cool incident. As we were walking out, I swear that Michael Voltaggio - winner of Top Chef Las Vegas was there. We walked by him and I was like, he looks familiar. Then he sat down to eat and I could see the tattoos on his arm and it looked exactly like him. I was seriously debating to go over there and bug him and say "are you Michael from Top Chef? Can I get a photo with you?", but I chickened out plus I really didn't want to bother him or be an annoying fan, so I didn't. I just thought it was awesome that he was there and really wanted to take a photo with him, but didn't. Who wants to be bothered while about to eat. So 2nd celebrity sighting of all time. Pretty cool.

Anyway, afterwards we had Lollicup Thai iced tea boba and walked around Chinatown for a bit. Then we got some dim sum to go for my mom and sister (pictured here too). A pretty awesome afternoon.

We plan on going back quite a few times and trying different things. The white guys we were with enjoyed the food as well, especially the pot stickers and other items they didn't know what it was but thought it tasted really good. We'll have to plan more trips with more people so we can try more things :)

Life and food are good - eat up!

Traveling Gnome

Recently we took a trip to Mexico, and I thought i'd write a little bit about the Traveling Gnome. It all started, for me, when we watched the movie Amelie, and it was a great and cute part of the story. Then a few years ago I received a "Wee Little Garden Gnome" as a gift. Since then we've been taking the gnome on trips with us. He doesn't need a passport, and we've named him Gnome (pronounced ga-nome). The Traveling Gnome was around before Travelocity. Anyway, here's a photo of Gnome in Mexico. Enjoy! :) And remember to get out there and travel.