Image Change

This past weekend, I had an image makeover. Well, not quite a makeover but I got a haircut. I haven't gotten a haircut (except the occasional trim every few months) since early 2006. It's been two years! I don't keep my hair long most of the years except in those two years, I had an alternative motive! I was getting married.

The wedding day came and went and I still did not get a haircut. I was toying with the idea of doing a "Trash the Dress" session (more about this session someday) so I continued to keep my hair long. Well...the TTD session came and went but my long hair was still on my head.

Then, a thought occurred to me, I would donate my hair! I did research on the topic and found there was a LENGTH REQUIREMENT plus a bunch of other requirements such as hair cannot be chemically treated, must be clean, must be braided or in ponytail, yadee, yadee, yadee.

Anyway...so I continued to grow out my hair because I did not want to be bald when I decided to chop off my hair. After much contemplation, I went through with the process this past Saturday! My stylist asked me if I was sure. Hell yeah I was sure! Now I have a bob. It's a bit shorter than I had anticipated but I don't really care. The good thing about hair is that it grows back (well...at least for me anyway). ;P

So my brother, who I shall call ECA and his g/f, ECA g/f, came over on Sunday because ECA missed my furbabies and wanted to play with them. (I have six. One of these days, I will introduce you to my six furbabies.) The husband's younger sister (what shall I call her?) also came over with a foot long sub from Vegas. (Yes really, the sub really did come from Vegas but she didn't go to Vegas.) ECA and ECA g/f also brought us all Yogurt Pad! YUM! YUM! Unfortunately, they did not have mochi again. This is the second time they ran out of mochi. I'm disappointed! =( Anyway...we were all in the husband's cave and I remembered that the following item was in his cave:



I proceeded to grab the bag because I wanted to show ECA and his g/f what was in it. Heehee...let's just say they were freaked out by it and told me to put it away! Geez....it was only my hair. I thought it was kind of cool (o.k., so I found it rather entertaining from their expression and amusing) to see my hair in a ponytail.Here are some more pics. Look! My hair is longer than 12 inches! I have the ruler to prove!



What a momentous ocasion!! =)

Too much work!!

I haven't had a chance to blog for a few days now and I miss blogging. Blogging usually means that I have free time so I can talk about random nonsense or not. Unfortunately, I have a bunch of deadlines so the little busy me has been working when after work! =(

I was eating my lunch by my lonesome self in the kitchen today when my middle-aged co-worker came in. (Wait..practically everyone at my workplace is at least 10 years older than me.)

Anywho, my co-worker started to prepare her lunch and while she was doing that, she asked me, "Can I ask you a personal question?"
I said, "yes."
She asked, "Is everything o.k.?"
I nonchalently said, "Oh, I've just been really busy."
She said, "Oh, ok."
Silence for a few seconds.
Then I asked, "Why, do I seem a bit agitated lately?"
She responded rather quickly, "Yes."
I laughed and said again, "I've just been busy. Too many things to do. Not enough minutes in a day."

Maybe I should have also said, if everyone leaves me alone, maybe I can get some work done. Quit trying to engage me in every project. Lately...I get the feeling my boss does not like to interact with the people back east and they don't really like to talk to him either. So guess what? I get the calls!! WTH?!?!

(My dogs are annoying me because they will not shut-up!!)

Bored

Boo...I am currently trying to play Puzzle Fighter online through the PlayStation 3 and no one wants to play me! I guess I have no life since it's a Friday night and the teenagers must be out having fun while the youngsters must have to hit the sack!

Oh, oh, oh.....I finally signed up for my CPE's! That was a goal in itself. Now I just need to study, study, study and take the exams to get my hours.

I'm getting a haircut tomorrow! Chop, chop my hair will fall. This is the longest my hair's ever been! A part of me will have remorse to see my long hair chop off but I really have to get it done. I CAN'T STAND LONG HAIR!!! The only remorse I will have is not being able to curl my hair but on the other hand, it takes me TWO HOURS to curl my hair!!

Good night!

Hypothetical and Kids

There are certain things in life I don't quite understand. People who are expecting and wanting the very best for their kids that they become blind of their own financial situation. I was browsing through a message board and the topic was putting away money for your children's education.

I'm all for putting away money for your kids' education as long as you've taken care of yourself. Meaning, if you have the excess funds, of course put money towards your kids' education. The problem I see is that many of these soon to be parents do not even have their current financial situation in order and they are already concerned about their kids (who's not even born yet or under 2 years old). So....you are willing to be a renter forever and possibly forgo your retirement just so kids have the best in life? Um.....have you heard of grants and student loans? I just don't get it! It's as if these soon-to-be or new parents have their priorities incorrect or maybe my methodology is wrong.

Soon to be parents are living on the hypothetical factor that his/her child will get into the best college, become a doctor, lawyer, engineer or whatever. That's, like, more than 18 years from NOW!! Eighteen years can bring a lot of changes. Your child may not want to go to the college that you want him or her to attend. You might have more than one child...then what happens? To be honest, if I have kids, I would expect that they work part-time while they are in college. Some parents may not agree with me on this but the experience young adults receive while working cannot be compared to being in a classroom. It's the interpersonal skills that are developed while on the job that kids nowadays lack because their parents want them to stay home, focus on school and stay out of trouble. Parents - quit sheltering your children!!

Sick

I am sick. I think the husband got me sick. I didn't go to work until 1 p.m. yesterday and finally called in sick today. Unfortunately, my wonderful workplace no longer pays for sick days so I either have to take a vacation or unpaid day. I think I will take an unpaid day as I am trying to save up my vacation time for our Asia trip this April.

So what did I do today at home? I didn't wake up until about 1 p.m. That was great! I woke up, brushed my teeth, made myself a ham sandwich, ate the sandwich, watched TV and blogged or message board stalked all day! So unproductive but therapeutic. In my unproductive state, I managed to contact the travel agency for an itinerary to our Asia trip. I received the preliminary itineraray at 5:40 p.m. and have until the end of this month to decide "yes" or "no."

On to other matters, I was supposed to have dinner with my friend at Sinbala in Rowland Heights but I was sick and am not dragging my butt out there today. I love Sinbala! It's comfort food. Oh well, there's always next time.

Today I have a lot of random thinking. One is photography. WTH?? Is everyone becoming a photographer or what? Everywhere I go, I see people wanting to do photography. I'll see comments on message boards stating, "Oh, I want to do wedding photographer part-time." or "Oh, I want to eventually become a photographer." I'm fine with people who are truly artistic and have an eye for photography to go into this industry but just because someone gets himself/herself a DSLR and have taken a few "cool" pictures does not make him or her a photographer. Yes, I know I want to advance my photographic skills but I never said anything about becoming a photographer. No, I do not want to be a professional photographer.

Second random thinking. Dangit...I've been searching high and low for more than a year for reasonably priced flush-mount photo albums. I want to make some parents' albums but it seems like the album companies will only sell to photographers. I really don't want to use Mypublisher. The quality is just not the same but I might have to resort to MyPublisher if I cannot find something better.

Third random thinking. I'm pysched! I have finally found a pilates studio near home!! I'll be checking out that place real soon!

Fourth random thinking. Time to find myself a new skin routine. I've been using the same skin routine for at least 5 years now. I'll be turning 30 soon (oh boy....now you know how old I am).

Anyway, the husband brought home dinner for me and dessert! Yogurt Pad again!! They ran out of mochi!! Boo!!! =( Nevertheless, still yum yum.

Sorry, no pics. I didn't recharge my camera. =(

Yogurt Pad

Today, the husband and I tried Yogurt Pad. (Yes, it is another one of those yogurt joints like PinkBerry, KiwiBerry, YogurtLand, Berry Berry, Cherry on Top or whatever other names that are out there.)

You see, I've only had PinkBerry. Although I have heard of all these other joints, I have never actually tried anything else besides PinkBerry. Why not? Partly because I like one topping, MOCHI, and I know PinkBerry carries that topping and it's usually fresh. There's nothing worse than stale mochi topping! Oops, I lie, I have also tried CeFiore but they don't have mochi. =(

Today, I wanted to be adventurous and asked the husband if he wanted to try the new joint. He replied sure and off we went. Yogurt Pad is slightly tugged away in the corner of a stripped mall. Like all other yogurt joints I have seen, the interior walls are painted of bright colors like orange and lime. You start in one corner, pick up the size of the cup you want, and head down the journey of the yogurt aisle. To my surprise, they have a lot of flavors. (Yes, I know that other yogurt places also have multi-flavor but remember, I've only been to PinkBerry.) I saw strawberry, banana, peanut butter, coconut, raseberry, original tart and vanilla. (OK, these are the only flavors I remembered. I believe there were a couple of other flavors as well.) The un-adventurous me, tried original tart and a little bit of coconut. For toppings, I had MOCHI (YES, they have MOCHI. How happy was I? Very!), chocolate chip and strawberry.

Overall....I didn't really care too much for the coconut but I did like the original tart. The mochi tasted fresh enough to me as well as the strawberry and chocolate. Total price for a 9 oz yogurt, $ 3.10. I thought that was a pretty good price. The husband and I shared our yogurt dessert. (We're watching our weight. =P) Would I go back? Yes, why not....it's conveniently close to where we live and I can live with spending $ 3.10 versus about $ 5 for a small cup of PinkBerry.

Unfortunately....I was too eager to eat the yogurt in the car so I did not take any pictures. And no....I am just not want of those people who carries her camera everywhere she goes. Also...after yesterday's painful picture uploading of Sprinkles, I nearly wanted to give-up blogging with pictures but I must try again.

Good night! =)

Sprinkles

This past Saturday, I went to Beverly Hills to meet with my bride. Oh...I forgot to mention that I am getting into the wedding business. It is a slow process developing a name but I think it will be worth it. I am looking long term. Oh yes, I forgot to mention exactly what I am doing in the wedding business. I am turning into a part-time wedding coordinator but I am still a full-time bum. =P

Anyway, this post isn't about my wedding business. It is about Sprinkles! So...as I stated...I went to Beverly Hills, which is about 40 miles from where I live. Since I was in the area, I stopped by Sprinkles. I wanted to get some of these famous cupcakes for "The Husband" to try as he's never tried them, whereas this will be my second time trying Sprinkles.

Parking was a pain in the butt! I must have circled the stupid area about three times until I found a spot that was about 2 blocks from Sprinkles. I got out of my car and approached the parking meter to put in my change and realized that it was a 20 minutes only parking stall. Of course....here I thought that was sufficient to walk to Sprinkles, buy the cupcakes and head over. Unfortunately, when I got to the Sprinkles store, there was a freakin' line!! I can't believe there was a line for $ 3.50 cupcake (each). What the hell, I drove this far and found a parking so I might as well stand in line. After about 10 minutes, it was my turn. I ordered 2 red velvet, 2 strawberry, 1 vanilla and 1 white chocolate vanilla. My total came to about $ 20. ($ 20 for 6 cupcakes! Talk about a rip-off!)

My opened Sprinkles box...

I eagerly took the first cupcake out of the box and cut it in half. (Yes, cut it in half, I was sharing with "The Husband" and besides, I didn't want to consume a whole entire cupcake to myself at the moment. I was counting calories!)

Red Velvet!! One word! YUMMY! By far, this is my favorite cupcake from that place. The chocolate cake is sweet but not too sweet. The frosting is slightly tart but still sweet. YUMMY! Next time I get Sprinkles, I will definitely get this one!!

The second cupcake we tried was the strawberry one. This was also good. The concept is similar to the red velvet except instead of chocolate, it is vanilla with a tint of strawberry flavoring. Same thing for the frosting.

My least favorite cupcakes. (See Below.) The frosting on both cupcakes were super sweet. I will not order these cupcakes the next time I am at Sprinkles. It's not worth it for $ 3.50 a piece. (I know I've done a poor job reviewing these two cupcakes but I've spent the past 45 minutes trying to figure out this damn blog and how to upload pictures. I'M TIRED!!)

2008 Goals

I originally started a blog thinking that it would be nice to keep track of my life. Unfortunately, I am such a lazy blogger but since I am on a roll tonight, I will try to list some of my goals for 2008.

1) Donate my time to a charitable organization. I have not decided what type of organization but I am thinking of the following orgs: Animal humane, cancer cure or battered women's shelters. I am going to try to do some research this weekend to get the ball rolling on this goal.

2) Get updated on my continuing education. I am so behind and I probably have about 100 hours of CPE's that I must complete for my licensing. I already know the company I want to use for the CPE's but I'm being cheap right now and do not want to fork over the $ 450 to sign up for the courses. I really should just bite the bullet (is this the correct saying? I am so bad with these cliches) and pay the fee.

3) Spend more time with my family. Hmm....this will be a challenge. My parents have decided to work on Mondays now (their usual day off) so I am not sure when the "quality time" will happen. Maybe the weekends but it will be at least nice to keep to some commitment to see the parents.

4) Visit Japan!!! We are trying to plan a trip this April to celebrate our 1 year anniversary (wedding), 10 years anniversary (of being together) and my birthday! Yes...it all happened in the same month about a week a part. Even our engagement party happened in April. However, the husband actually purposed in December 2005.

5) Hmm....I really want to visit Canada and Arizona too but I am not sure about this as the more we spend on vacation, the less we save. (sighed) It's a give and take. I emailed the husband our 2008 budget and he told me that I did not have an allowance for vacationing! Haha...I told him that vacationing dips into savings....so if we take a vacation, we will just have to subtract from our savings.

6) Eat vegetarian once a month. This was my resolution for 2007 and I would say that I probably met it halfway, meaning I probably ate vegetarian about 6 times out of the whole year. I must try harder this year.

7) Learn to cook more. (Another sigh here.) I don't like cooking. It's such a pain to prepare the food and it takes about 20 minutes to devour the food but I will try. I love collecting cookbooks but I don't like cooking. I guess I like to "appear" like I cook. HAHAHAHAHA

8) Finish at least one book a month. Gone are the days when I would spend endless nights reading. Now I spend my time blog stalking but I can't say I really read the blogs all that much. The good news is that I met my quota for January (I must give myself a pat on the back). I finished The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Maybe I will write a review of what I think about the book one of these days.

9) Get my wedding coordinating certificate! Again...another education thing. I don't think this certificate will be too difficult to get. I am currently doing wedding coordinating for some brides and it will be nice to build a bigger portfolio of brides. This business will help keep my creative energy going! =) (Hmm...I must learn how to post some of those neat emoticons I see some other bloggers do.)

10) Learn more about photography. I will be starting a digital photography class at a junior college at the end of this month and I am hoping that I can take some nice and fancy pictures to share on this blog one of these days. (I've taken a black and white photography class but that was back in 2001 and that was with the regular SLR. Now technology has advanced to the DSLR. I purchased the Canon Rebel XTI last year and although I think it is a nice camera, I will have to admit that it is a beginner camera (good for someone like me who's a novice). I want to move onto the better camera (like the Canon 5D) but I refuse to spend the money until I know I am capability of taking nice pictures.

OK....I have some other personal goals but I think they are too personal to share on this blog so I will just keep those to myself for now. ;P

Exercising

So the goal like year, as in any other year, is to get back into shape. I've gotten a bit out of shape since getting married in April 2007. However, it seems that I am a bit unmotivated to go or the driving force is not in me. (Sighed)

On a brighter note, I have at least gone to the gym twice so far this month. Now I just need to go for another 10 times and will have submitted the quota for the month.

Also, I want to go back to pilates but why are the classes offered in the mornings or while I am still at work??? I really have to tone up!