I Link These Worlds With My Words

I did an experiment tonight with the 5-hour energy.... it works!!  Looks like I just might make it through the midnight showing of Harry Potter!!!!!!!!

Robot Amputee

So on Thursdays I normally think of things throughout the day to post here for Three Things Thursday.  The problem is that by the time I get a chance to write my blog I forget what I was going to share..../  BUT today I wrote them down!!!  Genius!  Time for sharing..//... .

01: Borg Implants

HELLO, this is one of the greatest things I own!!!  It is a cosplay implant that I was lucky enough to find and purchase on eBay.  Now I just need the body that looks good in that bodysuit that Seven wears (and the bodysuit itself), and I've got a complete costume.  Wouldn't that be fun to do for Halloween or a convention???!  I'm going to try.  Last year I was planning on dressing as B'elanna Torres for Halloween.  I found someone who can make me the Klingon ridges, and I also found a cosplay website where you can order the Voyager Engineering uniform, but as it turned out I couldn't afford to go through with getting the costume at the time.  I WILL do it someday though!!

02: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hollows Part II

HOLY.... SHUT the front DOOR!!!!!!  I'm working on a plan to stay awake for the midnight showing this time.  Why do we have to wait until July??!/..  That seems so far away right now.  We also bought Part I on bluray today.  We were surprised...//.  It was only 20 bucks!

03: Shemaghs!!

Klicka came to visit on Monday, and he sold me a couple of Arab shemaghs.  They're so pretty!!  Thank you, Mr. Klicka!!!  I love them.  <3

Time to go relax and play Portal 2 with my husband!!  Happy One-Month of Blogging to me!

love.nu

Well Here We Are Again

Helloooo and good night!  I had a great day today, and I just wanted to make a quick update.  Today is Administrative Professionals Day, and my bosses got me a really nice gift!!  A bottle of 7 Deadly Zins and movie theatre gift cards!!  W00t!  Now we get to go see Thor!  At midnight?!  .../Maybe???..  ..... I think so!

I stayed up wayyyy too late last night finishing Portal 2/../  wait.., that was last night, right??  Ok.  It was INCREDIBLE.  The story is just fantastic.  Please, please, please play it so we can share in the glory of the awesomeness that is Portal 2!!!  Wish I had time to start the co-op right now with Mr. Onion, but, alas, I do not.

I FINALLY got my hair done tonight, and I think I just might love it!!  Did I already mention that I'm trying to go back to my natural color?  Well I am.  Gosh, this is weird... I feel like a different person right now.  Yikes!!  Ok.  Extreme.  Tiredness.  Intensifying.  With.  Every  Passing.  Moment.

love.nu

Sweeter Than These

It's Tuesday!  Tasty Tuesday Treats time!!  Here's one of my personal creations.  I've made these several times now, and they're great.  I actually like them better than regular waffles, and they're quick and easy../ especially for being made from scratch!

Rice Waffles


1 cup rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp matcha green tea powder (optional)


Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Add water until the batter reaches a good consistency.  Grease waffle iron with vegetable oil.  Pour batter onto iron.  Cook about 3-4 minutes.  The best way I've found to remove the waffles from the iron is using a pair of bamboo chopsticks.  Serve!!

Add syrup, butter, jelly, jam, peanut butter... whatever you like!  If you go with the green tea version of the recipe, fruits such as blueberries, bananas, strawberries and oranges are excellent.  I'm sure other fruits would be great as well.

I hope you enjoy the recipe!!  It's one of my favorites now.  I have a lot of graphic work to get done today, so I better get back to it!

love.nu

2 Atoms In A Molecule

Annnd...., we're BACK!!  Big Bear was awesome, but after such a busy week we are exhausted!  We got up Saturday morning and packed up the car to leave for Big Bear.  Met up with my family at my parents' house, and we all took off from there.  The drive went fine up until we had to climb the mountains.  The 330 was closed, so we had to take the long way around.  Matt & I ended up going a different way from my parents.  We ran into some intense fog.  It was one of the most frightening experiences I've ever had driving.  At some points I couldn't see more than 20-30 feet in front of me.  It didn't help that the lines marking the lanes on the road were faded for a good portion of the drive, so I was constantly fearing that someone coming in the opposite direction would veer into my lane....// or that I would drive right out of my lane and go sailing off the cliffs.  Haha, no really.  The thought definitely crossed my mind.

Somehow we made it through all that.  We came out of the fog as we caught our first sight of the lake.  It was GORGEOUS!!!  The last short leg of the drive was really beautiful.  We pulled into the resort parking lot and took some photos&videos while we waited for the rest of my family to arrive.  Once they got there, we all got settled in to our place.  From where we were staying we could walk right down to the lake, so everyone went for a nice walk.  Afterward, we climbed into the car and went downtown to walk around and look in the shops. We all got excited when we saw the candy shop with delicious fudge inside.../..  We just had to have some.  Not the best store to go in when you haven't had dinner yet!!

The view from our room.

Back at the resort, Matt, Mom & I started getting dinner ready.  Matt made his specialty, pad thai and he stir fried some veggies too.  Everything tasted great!  Ally made little bird nest desserts, which were super tasty too!!  After dinner, we were all ready to settle down.  We played a HILARIOUS game of Catch Phrase, and shortly after that we went to bed.

Everyone had trouble sleeping in the uncomfortable beds, and it got worse when a car alarm in the parking lot kept going off.  It lasted a couple of hours.  So terrible.  In the morning, we drove to Boulder Bay Park and shot some more photos.  It was so nice and sunny out while we were taking pictures, and we must have been lucky because once we got back in the car the clouds rolled out over the lake, and the sun disappeared.

Matt & I made some yummy brunch.../special eggs w/rice, green onions, mirin, etc, and we added sausage.  I made rice waffles for everyone and then improvised and discovered a new favorite!  Matcha green tea rice waffles.  They were fantastic!!  At least I thought so....  We did a little more shopping downtown, and then it was time for Matt, Ally & I to head home.  We had a similar problem with the fog on the way down the mountains, but we made it home in pretty good time.  I'm happy that we were able to make the trip up there.  It was a really unique and fun way to spend Easter.

On Friday I got to call up one of the girls that we interviewed at work and offer her a job!!  It was really fun to get to do that, as I know how hard it is to get a job right now, and a job offer is an exciting thing the receive!  Today was Ashlee's first day on the job, so I spent a good part of the day training her.  She's really cool, and I'm looking forward to getting to know her better.  When I came home, Matt had Kristine come over to shoot a little more footage with me.  Then Matt & I went out to Kinaly Thai... Mmmm!!!!!//  Amazing food!  We cooked some miso soup and hard boiled eggs for the week when we got home, and now we're just hanging out.  I think that David Klicka is on his way over now!  It will be good to see him.

Well, there's a monster update for you.  What did everyone else do for Easter?  I hope everyone had a nice weekend.  I'm getting close to finishing Portal 2, so I'm going to wrap this up so that I have more time to play tonight!!  Busy busy again this week, but it feels good to be doing so many interesting things.

love.nu

Technicolor Dreams

Happy Earth Day!!  Tonight we are getting things ready to go to Big Bear for the weekend!  We're spending Easter up there with my family.  Should be fun!  We'll take pictures.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend!!!  <3<3<3

love.nu

P.S. .../Pretty sure I dreamed about Portal last night..

Stars Crashing 'Round

Ok... it's Thu-thu-thu-Thursday!!!  Three things Thursday, to be exact.  And I'm soooo incredibly tired.  This has quite possibly been one of the most personally challenging weeks of my life.../  and I mean that in a good way.  Oh yes, Tuesday my phone decided that it didn't want me to be heard anymore.  It broke.  It was inevitable.  But why did it have to happen when I was on the phone with my boss, when he was travelling.... when I really needed to be able to communicate with him??  Sabotage.  Sooo... once Matt got home from class, we had to go to the Apple store and get it checked out.  They ended up giving me a new phone because it was a hardware issue.  Yay!  New phone!!

Anyway, yesterday Matt had a whole slew of people over to our house to shoot a sitcom/artsy film for one of his classes.  He wrote the script, directed, and filmed!!  Awesome, yes?  And he cast me as one of the characters.//...  so I had my first taste of acting.  It took awhile to get things set up so that we could begin filming, but once we got going it was really fun.  We didn't finish until like 10-10:30, and I was exhausted afterward.  I can't wait to see how it turns out though!  I hope I did ok with my acting!!  I will definitely post the video when it's finished.

Today, was a new challenge as well.  My workload has become somewhat overwhelming recently at G&A, and there's more on the way soon, so we started looking to fill a clerical assistant position this week.  I put up a craigslist ad for all of 3 hours and received around 80 resumes!!  Yeah/... crazy, right?  So we narrowed down a list of people to call for an interview, and those who were available came in today.  I am going to be managing the new hire, so Greg had me take the lead on several of the interviews.  Honestly, I was a little nervous at first, but it turned out to be pretty easy.  I've never been on that side of the interview before, so it was definitely an interesting experience.

Came home from work today, and there were people at my house AGAIN!!  Haha... /Nice guys though, and it was cool to talk to them and get to know them a little bit.  Well, I guess I should get going on my 3 things, eh?  Then I can FINALLY sit down and play Portal 2!!!!!//

01: This Zelda Theme Remix

02: Acting In Old Earth Productions

03: High Fives!!

"Relapse high-five! That's where we high five, then it gets awkward for a bit, and then we high five again."
- Barney Stinson

Happy National High Five Day!!!!!

love.nu

Hive Mind

Today felt completely surreal. No idea why. Maybe these dramatic changes in the weather are messing with my head.. /Wasn't it nice this weekend though?

I finished Twilight Princess on Friday night../. AMAZAZING. Oh my, it's so good!! I'm just bummed that it's over. I started Wind Waker on Saturday. Love it too! It's so adorable!! I'm already through the first couple dungeons.

On Saturday, my Mom came over, and Matt & I went shopping with her at Chai & fresh&easy. We are going to Big Bear for Easter. Matt is going to make pad thai for dinner while we're up there, so we were shopping to get ready for all that. After shopping, we had a nice lunch with her at Money Pit. Met with Nikki later that afternoon to discuss her grad announcements. I'm so glad I get to design them for her!! Can't wait to get started.

Oh yes, the whole.. "hair thing"..// I called a hair stylist Friday night when I got home. Went to see her for a consultation today, and now I have an appointment set for the 27th. So I will finally get it done. I feel the sudden urge to knock on wood for some reason/.. Wish I could have fit it in before Easter, but maybe it just wasn't meant to be...

More on video games.... /Portal 2 just got released a few minutes ago!!!!!!!! We are downloading it out on the living room computer to check it out at least a little tonight. We won't be able to play until tomorrow night, as far as I can tell. So excited!!!!!

That's all for now!!

love.nu


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Seriously?

Since WHEN does it cost $95 to have a STUDENT put highlights in my hair?!!???

No, thank you.

love.nunwin


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Three Things Thursday: You've Got Pollen On Your Nose

It's already Thursday again and time for me to tell you three things that I love.  How do I narrow it down?  There are so many things I love and enjoy.  Well, here's a little a taste of what's on my mind this week.

01: Portal 2

This morning, Matt Chewiwie reminded me of the fact that my game is coming out in 4 days!!  I am SO anxious to play this!  I love Portal.../  it has a special meaning to Matt and me..  Remember these?

I bought Matt the PS3 copy for his 30th.  With that version, you get a free PC copy if you link your Steam account, which is a pretty sweet deal.  He bought me the PC version on Steam, so we will be able to play co-op.  I am SO EXCITED!!!!!/

02: She & Him

I have been listening to the She&Him albums a lot this week.  I just love the mood their music puts me in.  I have a great pandora channel going too, and a lot of good, fresh artists pop up in there all the time, which makes it refreshing to listen to.  This week I've been working on a lot of graphics, and I think this is some of the best music to listen to while I'm doing that.  Love.  Love.  Love.  <3

03: Tavern Bowl

This new place recently opened up in the North County mall, and I'm looking forward to paying a visit!!  It sounds awesome.  If you get the Get1Free coupon books in the mail, you should have a couple coupons in there for Tavern Bowl.  We're going to have to go check this place out soon!!  Oh, and I love their logo!

Well, today is my last full day with dark brown hair.  Tomorrow it goes away.  Back to classic.  Say goodbye!!

One more thing before I am done.  Matt & I watched this video a few minutes ago.  I don't think I have ever laughed so uncontrollably at the same time as feeling terribly sad.  Just watch it.  Poor baby duckies.  But I love how they just get up, shake it off, and go back to walking in a line as if nothing ever happened.

Konbanwa!!

love.nu

Oh, What Can You Do With A Sentimental Heart?

Man, this week is just zipping by..../  I can hardly keep up.  And somehow, I'm not tired..... ..yet.  About an hour after I woke up this morning I felt like I had just downed a few shots of espresso, but I actually hadn't had anything.  What the... ?

On Friday I am getting my hair done!!  For reals this time, I promise (I think).  Hoping for the best with that.

Stacy&Kyle got back from their trip a few days ago.  I met up with Stacy yesterday for coffee, and she brought me a couple of macaroons (one for Matt) straight from Paris, France!!!  I had the raspberry one and saved the chocolate for Matt (although he let me have a bite).  They were delicious!!  The perfect, light little treat for a spring afternoon.  Oh, but here I go talking about food (<3) again...//  It was really nice to catch up with Stacy and hear all about her trip.  Sounds like it was unbelievable - the trip of a lifetime!!

That is all for now.  Just a quick blip.  I'm still around..../.

love.nu

Poppycock

This has been a crazy, busy week!!  Wow.  Work has gotten very busy, but I'm really loving it.  I was stoked on Wednesday... /everyone was going out to lunch, and somehow I got invited to join them!  We went over to R. O'Sullivan's Irish Pub on Grand.  Cool little place.  The food was great and the conversation even better.  I really enjoy hanging out with my bosses outside of the office.  Always a good time.  A LOT of big changes coming up at work (in a good way!), and I'm going to be getting even busier!  New clients&files means more work for me, and we may be hiring some clerical help.  Should be a huge step up for the company.

.../. Yesterday I felt like crap most of the day.  Just one of those days.  It happens.  I'm so frustrated with the weather right now.  I love the cold.  I love the sunnier warm (not hot) days, but this back and forth is driving mE INSANE.  Please just do one or the other!!  I liked what I heard someone else say: "Welcome to California, where our weather is as bipolar as it's residents."

Jumped on the scale this morning, and was excited to find that I'm down another pound!!  Matt & I started a Japanese food diet back in... February.  Hey, I didn't realize it had been 2 months already!  Exactly 2 months in fact!  I don't remember why exactly we decided to start it, but it's been quite a significant change for the better.  It's something that I don't see myself straying from in the future because I'm not depriving myself of anything, and I don't really feel like I'm missing out on other foods.  Actually, when I think about eating the fattening foods that I used to eat, I'm totally turned off to the idea.  First of all, because the grease, fat, etc just sounds gross (for the most part), and also because when I do break the diet and eat those things on occasion, I feel sick afterwards.  It's so awesome to be eating fresh, healthy foods all of the time and to be losing as much weight as we are!!  We've both lost a lot of weight eating this way, and we don't even feel like we're trying!  So far I've lost around 12-13 lbs since we started this diet.  I now weigh less than I did in high school.... !!

Here's a sample of what I eat on a typical day:

Breakfast
Miso Soup (with tofu)
Matcha Green Tea
Hard Boiled Egg

Snack
Rice crackers

Lunch
Teriyaki Chicken
Veggie (usually carrots or sugar snap peas)

Snack
Rice Crackers
Seasoned Seaweed

Dinner
Meat Dish w/Rice or Rice Noodles (pad thai is my favorite, but we eat curry or orange peel chicken a lot too)
Edamame or Stir Fry Veggies

Part of the secret is to eat small portions and eat with chopsticks instead of a fork.  One thing that I've learned is called "eating with your eyes", which means to enjoy the appearance of the food and slow down the speed that you're eating at as well.  We aim to eat slowly until we are about 80% full.  We based a lot of our diet off of this article.  I would definitely recommend trying this diet or at least trying to eat more like this.  Before we started, I thought for sure I was going to miss cheese, but I honestly don't miss it much at all.

One of the other things I love about the diet is that I'm learning to cook a lot of foods, and I'm actually a lot more excited about learning to cook Japanese food.  There is a youtube channel that we like to watch called Cooking With Dog (NOT eating dog ../.lol).  It's cute, and there are a lot of interesting recipes there.  My new favorite breakfast is Tomagoyaki, which we learned to make from this video.

Here's hoping I can continue my weight loss and reach my goal!!  I should get back to work now, and stop thinking about food so much/.... haha.  It's almost time for cocktail hour!

love.nu

Three Things Thursday

I would love to write more tonight, but I have to keep this short&sweet because I just don't have the time right now. Things I'm digging right now..../

01: Floral Prints




I love all the floral prints that are in style right now for spring! So pretty! This is one of my bandeaus that I LOVE as well. That print is one of my favorites, and it's pretty versatile.

02: My Office





My firefly/serenity posters are now up on the walls in my office! Everything is coming together nicely. I'm still looking forward to going shopping for more office decor with Shellie sometime soon. I have a couple more walls to fill. I love decorating../ especially when it includes subtle geekiness//? Is that a word?

03: Seeing Matt do the things that he is talented at.




Today after work, I went to meet up with Matt where he was filming a group project for school. It's so awesome to watch him take charge as a director and be creative. He is so talented. He put me in his film as an extra (I am victim to a vampire). I didn't want to go tonight because I wasn't feeling well, but I'm glad that I did. It turned out to be very fun.

That's all folks!! Maybe you'll hear more from me tomorrow.

love.nu

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Tasty Tuesday Treats

Tonight's dinner is.....//. Japanese Baked Salmon!! This is my first time trying this recipe, but I'm pretty confident that it is going to turn out delicious. Salmon is one of my favorite fish, and it's so healthy too!





Recipe:


• Salmon fillets (about a quarter of a mid-sized fish)
• Mayonnaise (preferably Q-P)
• Soy sauce
• Brown sugar (& sometimes a splash of maple syrup)
• Lemon


Lay out the salmon fillets on aluminum foil, pick out some of the bones with tweezers if a few bones bother you, and season lightly with salt. In a bowl, mix two big spoons of mayonnaise, a spoon of brown sugar, a half spoon of soy sauce, and squeeze in a quarter of a lemon (I also added the dash of maple syrup). Mix then spread on the salmon. Wrap in the foil and bake for about fifteen minutes at 325 degrees. Try not to overcook. Salmon is best just tender.


---------------------

I'm feeling pretty happy lately.// other than being tired and a little over-emotional. I haven't really brought it up yet here, but dealing with the loss of Tobi... however trivial it may seem to non-cat-lovers.. has been a daily struggle. It doesn't hurt any less. It never hurts less. The pain is not going to change, and I don't expect it to. Accepting is the most difficult thing. Knowing that it's going to hurt, and deciding to keep it with you and make it part of how you enjoy life. I want to experience more now... do more../ live more. Life really is fleeting, and it's not meant for dwelling in awe of its transience. I think of it like this... "You don't [get over it]. Well, one day you'll wake up, and you'll find you don't mind carrying it around with you." -Kate Beckett (Castle). I don't mind. I want to carry it around with me. I want to always have Tobi in my thoughts. I fear the next time that I will have to deal with loss. It will inevitably happen. And it won't hurt any less that this has. But maybe now I will be able to sort it out and cope with it a little bit better.

/Change of subject.. I had a little credit to spend at Kohl's today, so I went over there after work. I was trying to decide between a couple of different things. Does anyone else ever do this?

I take pictures of myself trying things on sometimes and text them to Matt to get his opinion. Haha... and make strange faces too. That is the fedora I ended up choosing. I thought it was cute & spring/summery. Of course, now it's supposed to rain again this week, so I probably won't be wearing it for a bit.

Oh, and I'm not getting my hair done tonight. Hah.. It's being put off for a little bit, but I'm still hoping to get it done soon.

That is all for now. I wish you luck if you decide to tackle the salmon recipe. Although, it's pretty simple, so I don't think you'll need much luck...../.

Goodmornoonevening!!

love.nu

Tiny Chopsticks

Monday, Monday....// , you are not so bad when I only have to work a half day. :)

Can I just say... I have the greatest, most loving husband in the world!!!!!!! He has always believed in me wayyyyy more than I ever believed in myself, and his love & care for me is evident in everything he does. I can't imagine anyone making me happier. I love you, Onion. <3





We played tennis again today. Somehow we keep choosing the hottest days to go play, but it was nice to get out in the sun. Matt worked on my front and backhand swings with me today, and I'm definitely seeing some improvement. You know how a person can say one thing, that just makes everything click? Well, that happened last week, and ever since then it's just gotten easier and easier.





We couldn't resist picking up robin eggs at the store today. They are so YUM. I tried their spicy california roll for dinner. It was... /eh. I guess I'm pretty spoiled with food now because we cook at home so much. The only time we eat out is for awesome sushi, and the fresh&easy sushi, like most grocery store sushi, just doesn't compare. We have found some good stuff at Ralphs though, and they actually have a sushi chef there. They also have tiny octopuses that I haven't yet been convinced look good to eat. Who knows/... Maybe I'm missing out?

I just downloaded the BlogPress app, and I'm testing it out here for the first time. So far, I'm lovin' it, like McDonalds. No hassle uploading pics to my computer to use in my blog. Now I can add them right into my post on my phone. Handy. I'm such a geek.

Ok, time to munch on robin eggies and watch Castle (Nathan Fillion is aMAZING!!!/).

Hasta luego from San Diego.

love.nu


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

[untitled]

I love how quiet, calm & refreshing Sunday mornings feel.  Soaking it up, and starting off the day right with a bowl of miso and a cup of matcha....  Oh, and a little blogging too.

Playing tennis on Thursday was EXHAUSTING but really fun too.  Matt is a good teacher, and I'm starting to get the hang of it a little better.  We played a set, and the competition pushed me to try a lot harder.  Funny how that works.

Friday we had a great time entertaining Ally.  Matt made his amazing, magically-delicious pad thai.  Yum!  We went to fresh&easy to grab a few groceries, and then Ally & I made Missouri cookies (aka no-bake-cookies, dirt-clods, and caca cookies/via Facebook)!!  Our grandma used to make them for us all the time when we were little, and it had been years since we'd had them.  They were just like I remembered.  Soooo easy to make though, and I think they're a great cookie to make when it's hot out because you don't have to heat up the oven.  We watched Seven while our cookies cooled, and later we watched an episode of Dollhouse before going to bed.

Yesterday, we met up with Mom to go shopping for some baby gifts!!!  Naturally, I always love shopping for baby things..., and I have to admit I had a slight case of baby fever...  We got some SUPER cute things, and had fun spending time together.  I bought Matt a peanut butter cup from Godiva, which was the worst $4.50 I have ever spent!!  It wasn't even very good.  :(  Back at my parents' house I dug out a ton of my stuff from storage, and packed it into my car to bring home.  I'm looking forward to going through it in the next few days.  Matt & I were planning on playing tennis when I got home, but we were both tired, and I wasn't feeling very well, so we opted out.

Today is all about relaxing and catching up.  I have a free photo book from Shutterfly that I want to put together with photos of Tobi.  Hopefully I'll get in some Zelda time today too.  I'm playing through Twilight Princess right now.  Such a fun game!!  I love the art style they used.

Happy Sunday!!

love.nu