I don’t watch American Idol anymore, but I came across this video and it brought me to tears. Such a tragic story for a young couple and I hope they are able to overcome this. Chris is a true inspiration. The strength and character he possesses is something we could all learn from and hope to embody in our own lives.
Crepes
Almost on a daily basis, I reminisce about the good times I had in undergrad at UC Davis. One thing I miss in particular is the amazing crepe place that I can’t seem to find back home.
I was a regular at Crepeville, eating their savory crepes and equally delicious strawberry and nutella crepe. This past weekend I was finally able to find a place close-by that resembles my favorite undergrad jaunt.
At Crepevine, I tried their California crepe, which consisted of bell peppers, onions, cheese, avocados (yum), salsa and sour cream with a side of salad and seasoned potatoes.
See the deliciousness for yourself:
I foresee many, many trips to Crepevine in my future, especially because I still need to try their strawberry and nutella crepe!
The Power of Positive Thinking
I’ve always been an optimist (hence the name of the blog), but this Ted Talk struck a cord with me.
To get through a tough situation, perspective and a positive attitude is key. This 17 minute long video will leave you feeling happy and never wanting to be anything other than that!
Also check out the website Neil Pasricha started, 1000 Awesome Things a great way to find happiness in everyday things that we often overlook.
A little bit of everything
Well, this past month has certainly been a whirlwind! As I mentioned in my last post, we had family coming over for the holidays. What I didn’t mention was that my brother was planning to propose to his girlfriend as well!
He had planned for both of them to see each of their families immediately following the proposal. So needless to say, it was a very memorable Christmas for my family and I.
Once our guests left, we went out of town to visit my soon to be sister-in-law and her family for New Years Eve. Following that trip, we went for a family vacation to Hawaii. It was relaxing and it felt so nice to be in tropical weather.
This picture pretty much sums up my vacation.
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So now that I am all caught up on the last month, here is what is going on currently.
Engagement/wedding planning
I absolutely LOVE having a reason to scour wedding blogs and websites. It’s not that I am one of those girls that has their wedding day planned down to the last detail, I just enjoy looking and reading about them; they give you such great ideas. Also, I love planning events, as is evidenced here.
I have already thrown a few ideas out to the couple/my family, which have been very well received. I can’t wait to show you all the final product!
What are some of your favorite wedding websites?
Getting in Shape
There are quite a few weddings coming up this year (not including my own brother’s), so a few family friends have decided to get in shape through P90X. Last night, my brother wanted me to try Ab Ripper X and this morning I did the plyo video. It is intense! I am so sore, it hurts to even sneeze. Here’s hoping I am sari-ready in a few months. 🙂
Hope you all are having a fantastic start to 2011! 🙂
Happy holidays!
I love the holidays. It makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside, like I’ve just drank a gingerbread latte (my holiday drink of choice!).
I’m so excited to spend this Christmas at home. We have family coming in tomorrow from Seattle and Vancouver and they are staying for a week. We have no real plans except to eat and spend time with each other..and I cannot wait.
I love holiday baking, so I probably have make sugar cookies with my 4 year old niece. Also, we will go see Christmas lights and decorations in San Francisco.
We don’t really do gifts, but we got something for my niece and family that are coming over.
Do you have any holidays traditions or customs? Is there something you are excited to do during this holiday season?
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The arrival of my first paycheck coincided nicely with the holiday season. I made my first BIG purchase and bought the latest Kindle as a Christmas present! I’ve always been a bit hesitant, because I love the feel of books, but after playing around with the Kindle for only a few minutes I fell in love. It is so light and sleek. Plus, I love that I don’t have to wait forever to buy a paperback version of a book now.
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More importantly, this holiday season I am very grateful for all that I have: a roof over my head, never having to worry about when my next meal will be, good health, and supportive family and friends.
I hope that you have a wonderful holiday season, however you are planning to celebrate!
Books turned into movies
Earlier this week, I was wondering when the trailer for Water for Elephants will release. I read the book a while ago and loved it. When I found out that they were making it into a movie, I wasn’t sure what to think.
I love books, I love movies, but the books-turned-into-movies phenomenon has almost always had less than appealing results.
I love the Confessions of a Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella, but the movie? Eh. The Harry Potter books are brilliant, yet most of the movies can’t seem to capture that essence. There is no one to blame as books and movies are completely different mediums and often times books just don’t translate well on screen.
The only book-turned-movie that I enjoyed was The Namesake. It was beautifully done. While it didn’t stick to the book, the changes it made enhanced the movie, instead of bringing it down.
In Water for Elephants..the main character is supposed to have red hair, and yet Robert Pattinson is not a redhead. The most important character of the book, Rosie, is renamed Tai in the film. It makes me wonder why the writers change little things like that. Why not just let is be as it is?
Anyway, the official trailer came out yesterday and here it is. It actually looks really good and despite my complaining, I know I am going to watch it in theaters anyway. 🙂
Now I just can’t wait for the trailer for Something Borrowed to come out!
Are there any books-turned-movies you LOVED or absolutely LOATHED? Let me know in the comments!
Black and Blue: A Bridal Bash
About a month ago, my friend and I put together a bridal shower for one of our best friends who is getting married. Having a lot of family friends that are older than me, I have been to quite a few bridal showers, but never really put one on.
So my friend and I got together one afternoon to plan the location, the food, and the games. The location: my house, the food: Mexican, and the games: toilet paper bride, the paper clip game (where you can’t say certain wedding-related words), and how well the bride and groom know each other.
Then, we took the bride-to-be shopping for her dress, so we can decide on a color scheme. She ended up finding a cute black dress, so we settled on black, blue (with the rest of the guests wearing blue), and silver. Next up came numerous trips to Party City for decorations..lucky for us we found the perfect paper products to complement our theme!
Here are some pictures of the day itself: 
The spread entailed: seven layer dip, Mexican rice, guacamole, salsa, chips, Mexican salad, and burrito rolls. Delicious and all homemade! The paper products are in the left corner..aren’t they cute?! Here is a closer look.
This was probably my favorite part: the candy bar. We found as many blue/black/silver candies as we could and placed them into martini glasses/glass bowls. It was a creative and easy way to add to the decor of the party.
Our decorations.
More decorations.
For dessert we had a hot chocolate bar..the toppings included cinnamon, sprinkles, whipped cream, chocolate chips, and pieces of Andes mints. It ended up being perfect because the weather that day was very rainy and cold.
And of course we had cupcakes (along with cheesecake – which is not pictured). Yum yum.
All in all, it was a fun experience- from the planning (I love party planning) to the actual party itself. Now I feel pretty confident about planning a bridal shower. Just in time, since I know I have a few to plan next year! 🙂
Reviving the Blog
I am finally updating my blog after almost 8 months. I stepped away from it for a while because I wanted to have a clear theme. And yet here I am, 8 months later, with no theme/topic in mind. But I felt that I should just get myself to write, no matter what it was about and eventually (hopefully) a theme will emerge!
So what have I been up to these last 8 months? I honestly have no idea..I went on a family vacation to Peru (Lima and Machu Picchu) and Seattle. I landed an awesome internship which has now turned into a job. All in all, things are pretty good!
I had a random urge to write in here tonight. I thought I would take the advice of my good friend, Pari, and write about three good moments from my day.
1) We have been getting the house ready for family that is coming to visit next week. So today, I pulled out my old kitchen I used to play with, along with my Polly Pockets and Barbies for my niece. I’m so excited for the holidays! Loads of family coming over, good food, and holiday baking! 🙂 What could be more perfect?
2) Over the weekend, our AT&T Uverse went out which meant no TV, internet, or phone. I occupied myself during the daytime (by shopping :)) but at night I was so bored. Then I remembered that I have my Gilmore Girls DVDs. Gilmore Girls was my absolute favorite show during high school/the beginning of college. I know a lot of people were put off by the way the main characters spoke, but I loved it. It was so quirky and witty. I always used to wish I could live in Stars Hollow! Since this weekend, I have been watching a few episodes a night..it’s a great way to end my day!
3) My parents brought me home falafel and hummus/pita from The Falafel Drive In. We have been going there for years and they have the best food. I didn’t even know until recently that it was featured on the Food Network. Pretty cool!
Anyway, that is all I have for today.. It definitely won’t be 8 months until I write in here again! 🙂
My guilty pleasure.
Everyone has a TV show that is their guilty pleasure. A show that brings you nothing but mindless entertainment (although one could argue that is MOST shows :)). The Hills, 90210, Gossip Girl are a few that come to mind.
When I heard about Vampire Diaries, I assumed that it would be a show that is so bad it’s good. But I was wrong..it is actually GOOD. Period.
A brief disclaimer: I haven’t been too caught up in the entire vampire phenomenon that’s going on. For the record, I have read all the Twilight books and seen the movies that are out, but that is mainly at the insistence of my friends. As an English major and an avid reader, I wasn’t really impressed with the books. So, I assumed that Vampire Diaries would be along the same lines.
The concept is similar, yes. A vampire falls in love with a human teenage girl. There is romance, drama, and a whole lot of blood.
But what I was most impressed with was the speed at which the story lines progress. It is fast and not long drawn out like most shows nowadays. Each story line is quickly and neatly wrapped up as the episode draws to an end, but in the last few minutes a new issue is brought up to keep you on your seats until the next episode. With the fast pace that the show has adopted, I assumed that it would run it’s course rather quickly. But that has yet to happen. Every week, they are constantly introducing new story lines that are fresh and exciting.
Seriously, props to the writers (once again, the English major in me comes out :))!
If this doesn’t entice you enough to watch it, then let me tell you that the cast is one of the prettiest on television right now. Two words: Ian Somerhalder. 🙂
$1 million from baking? Not bad.
Baking is one of my favorite things to do. Whenever I have people over, I love to bake something for them. Whether it’s cookies, cupcakes, or a cake..I enjoy it! (Red velvet is my favorite, just so you know :-))
A good friend and I never pass up an opportunity to bake. We’re always on the lookout for new, fun baked goods to experiment with. Lucky for us, I came across exactly that today!
I caught the end of Oprah’s show, where she announced the winner of Pillsbury’s Bake Off. The grand prize being one million dollars. Can you imagine? That is pretty amazing. Who knew that my insatiable cravings for baked goods is worthy of a million dollar prize?
Anyways, the winner was a woman from New Jersey whose item was Mini Ice Cream Cookie Cups. They look amazing and not to mention delicious! It also looks pretty simple, with room for your own creativity.
I’m excited to try them soon..perhaps at the next party/get together? (Hint, hint friends! ;-))
Thanks, Oprah!
Here is the recipe:
Servings: Makes 24 tartlets
Ingredients:
Mini Ice Cream Cookie Cups
- 1 package (16 ounces) Pillsbury® Ready to Bake! refrigerated sugar cookies (24 cookies)
- 4 tsp. sugar
- 1/3 cup finely chopped Fisher® Chef’s Naturals® chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup Hershey’s® semisweet chocolate baking chips
- 1/4 cup Smucker’s® Seedless red raspberry jam
- 1 1/2 cups vanilla bean ice cream , softened
- 24 fresh raspberries
Directions:
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Start to Finish: 45 minutes
Heat oven to 350°. Spray 24 mini muffin cups with Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray. Place 1 cookie dough round in each muffin cup. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Place 2 teaspoons of the sugar in small bowl. Dip end of wooden spoon handle in sugar; carefully press into center of each cookie to make 1-inch-wide indentation. Cool completely in pan, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix walnuts and remaining 2 teaspoons sugar; set aside. In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips uncovered on High 30 to 60 seconds, stirring after 30 seconds, until smooth.
Run knife around edges of cups to loosen; gently remove from pan. Dip rim of each cup into melted chocolate, then into walnut mixture. Place walnut side up on cookie sheet with sides.
In another small microwavable bowl, microwave jam uncovered on high about 15 seconds until melted. Spoon 1/2 teaspoon jam into each cup. Freeze cups about 5 minutes or until chocolate is set.
Spoon ice cream into cups, using small cookie scoop or measuring tablespoon. Top each cup with fresh raspberry. Store in freezer; let stand at room temperature 5 minutes before serving.
Shots of Happiness 