Little Lulu's Song

CLICK HERE To Listen To The "Little Lulu" Theme Song in MP3 Format (63K).

"Racing through the pantry, sliding on the floors,
Hiding in the closets, slamming all the doors
How can a lady as little as you,
Raise such a rumpus and a hullabaloo?

"Little Lulu, Little Lulu, with freckles on your chin,
Always in and out of trouble, but mostly always in.
Using Daddy's necktie for the tail on your kite,
Using Mommy's lipstick for the letters you write.

"Though the clock says 7:30, it's really after 10;
Looks like Lulu's been repairing it again.
Though you're wild as any Zulu,
And you're just as hard to tame,
Little Lulu, I love you-Lu just the same, just the same,
Little Lulu, I love you-Lu just the same."

Vegas, here I come!

Well, not til January :-D

I've just finished booking our mini Vegas getaway... the entire strip is sold out for CES! Called up Amex Platinum and they got us a room at the Bellagio...

Our flight is set... now I just need to find good seats for "O"!

Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait...

Aww poor lulu...

All doped up on Petromax... doggie equivalent of vicodin?

Lulu just got spayed yesterday. Poor girl has a 3" scar on her tummy :-(

Fall Fashions

All geared up for a walk in the rain.

Lazy Monday

What a long and tiring weekend! I spent the weekend at Pottery Barn, Z Gallerie, Restoration Hardware, Expo, and Home Depot: we're redecorating! With the painting all finished in the living room, we decided to go shopping for some furnishing.

We bought new pieces to mix in with the old pieces we've been collecting. We also got new window coverings to match. Well, I won't spoil the surprise! We're about 80% done so I'll post a picture soon!

Resolutions: Day One

1) Woke up at 10am
2) Spent 1 1/2 hours cleaning the bedroom, vaccuuming and deep cleaning the kitchen.
3) Cleaned the living room, put furniture away (still a mess from painting), and measured empty pots/vases.
4) Took care of phone chores, calling credit card companies and other financial institutions to get my $$$ in order.
5) Went to Century City to buy my lasik prize: new sunglasses ~.~
6) Went back home to open the door for Richard, who forgot his key.
7) Went to EXPO in Westwood to look at window treatments and pick up a replacement bathroom mat for the master bathroom.
8) Had lunch at the Farmer's Market.
9) Went to Fred Segal's to pick up my own pedicure kit -- screw going to the foot spa for $60 when I can get a set of foot stuff for $60 and reuse it at least once ~.~
10) Went to Sephora on an impulse because I can't control my impulses. Got a gift for my freezing friend in Illinois. (Yup-- that's you Spark*)
11) Went to Michael's to buy foam and fake flowers to make 2 arrangements.
12) Bought Anton's bday present.
13) Went home and finished my floral project (see below for picture)
14) Cooked a meal for four: 3 main dishes, all Indonesian.
15) Washed dishes and cleaned the kitchen after I cooked.
16) Baked honey scones for Moley & Lulu.

... and that brings me to right now :) If I can only convince myself to crack open a book... imagine how productive my day would be!!!

My first floral arrangement for our *new* living room:


View from the couch:


You likes?

I can see clearly now...

Okay, it was unfair to leave my previous Lasik entry at that. People (you, Rosanna!) are calling me as if I've been through a terrible ordeal so I should clarify.

I can, at this point, honestly say, "Why didn't I do this sooner?" Every other hour I think to check on my contact lens, whether they are dry or need drops, and I realize WOW! I'm not wearing contacts! My vision is better than ever before -- finally 20/20 (except at night where the halo/glares are even worse than my contacts, but I'm told that should go away soon) and my eyes have been great- no itchy, swelling, irritation like my contact lens. They stay nice and moist and otherwise healthy.

I love it, I love it, I love it.

Who knows, maybe when I come back in for my check-up on Friday I'll have better than 20/20 vision! (20% of wavefront lasik patients can see better than 20/20)

Other than Lasik, the warehouse sale on Sunday was a huge hit. Too huge, in fact. We only had one credit card machine so we set up 2 cashiers which was not enough to handle the crowd of 722 that we pulled in that day. I had to stop what I was doing to help out at the cashier for 5 straight hours without taking a breath. I heard that at some point, the line got to be 2 hours long for the cashiers. I think someone was overexaggerating. Nevertheless, I'm very sorry! We did exceed all expectations and I think we will refine our strategy and plan for another one in the near future, before the Christmas shopping rush.

This week marks week 3 of my last quarter at UCLA. Classes I'm taking: Psychology & Law (it's like 2 hours of Law & Order every week!), Sexual Rights (It's like 3 hours of SVU every week!), and Architecture/Urban Development History. I kind of like the batch of classes I'm taking-- everything is very interesting. Being my last quarter and all I kind of feel like I should have paid more attention before and that I might actually miss school. But not enough to make me go back for my Master's.

Today is Anton's birthday, I think he's 31. He stopped admitting his age at 30 and I *think* that was last year. We had a group dinner at Koi (finally!) and my verdict is... in terms of food, I can tell that Rod worked Koi before Yi. The dishes were underdeveloped but still quite tasty. Especially the Kobe Filet Mignon and the Spicy Tuna over Crispy Rice. I definitely like that ambience at Koi better, I think that's their winning point.

Other things going on lately-- I am in bad need of a pedicure. Haven't found a place yet that zaps my dry heels AND does a perfect long lasting french mani/pedi. I think I might try the place on Montana tomorrow.

Actually, I have a few resolutions. I've realized that I sleep too much (Sleep at 2am, get up at around 11am if I'm lucky-- hehe) so I am going to wake up earlier and get more things done. I always have a long to-do list on my cell phone and nothing ever gets done.

Here are some things I am going to do regularly:
- Clean up around the house
- Laundry
- Cook dinner
- Go to Pilates
- Pick up dry-cleaning on time
- Keep regular appointments (like mani/pedi, hair, eyebrows) rather than wait until conditions get really bad
- Go to class
- Call up a friend and have lunch or at least coffee

And one last note... am I the only person in the world without an ipod?

Supervision

It's done!

My lasik surgery was at 10am. They gave me a valium and in 20 minutes I was ready to go. Actually, I should have asked for another one because as soon I walked into the surgery room I was extremely nervous. The entire procedure was very fast, as I expected, but it was more painful than I was told. They put a speculum to stretch your eyes open which felt very weird and unnatural and then they put in drops to numb my eyes. The anasthesic drops stung really bad for about 15 seconds and then they started poking at my eyes. Not painful, but very discomforting. Then they lowered a small suction tube that felt like heavy pressure on my eyeball and proceeded to cut away a flap of my corneal tissue. The laser itself was the least painful- I didn't feel it at all. However, it was very hard to focus on the red light as I was supposed to, because my eyes felt very tired and I really wanted to blink. When it was all over my eyes were in a lot of pain and they stung really bad- I couldn't open them at all. They gave me a vicodin and I went straight home to sleep it off.

I woke up 4 hours later and... I could see! My eyes still stung a little bit but I could see just as well as I normally would with my contact lens. Of course I still had to wear my spiderman goggles but at least I could open my eyes. The rest of the day I had to sit and rest my eyes whenever it stung, which was about every 3 minutes. It also felt like a random pin would prickle my eye every couple of minutes. The doctor described this sensation as "a small grain of sand stuck in your eye"... but no.. it really felt more like a pin prick.

In the evening the stinging started to go away and my vision is getting clearer by the hour. I still have a hard time focusing but I'm not supposed to be using my eyes anyway. Supposedly, when I wake up tomorrow my eyes will be almost completely healed without any discomfort and I will be able to see clearly!

So... it's time to sleep :)

...

I'm leaving now for my lasik surgery. Wish me luck.

Trouble Two's

Happy birthday to you~
Happy birthday to youuuu~
Happy birthday dear MOLEY!
Happy birthday to you!

Just saw Taxi...

Very funny... Jimmy Fallon very funny... Queen L pretty good... nice BMW's...

But geeeez. Gisele is HOT.



P.S. Anyone know who these shoes are by? :-D

LASIK Update

I went in today for my LASIK pre-op measurements at the Surgi-Eye Center on Wilshire. First I sat and endured a 7 minute video highlighting all of the things that could possibly go wrong with the procedure. It was called the "consent video". At the end of the video, I had to fill out a quiz to make sure that I was paying attention.

Let's just say I almost stood up and walked out at that point.

All of a sudden I was faced with questions such as:
What if the doctor cuts my flap wrong?
What if my flap falls off?
What if incorrect measurements are taken of my eye?
What if I still need glasses after the surgery?
What if my flap doesn't heal?

Then I decided once and for all to push those questions out of my mind and focus on a life free of glasses and contacts, a life full of waking up in the middle of the night to view the clock in 20/20 vision. I went on with the rest of my appointment and sat patiently while they measured my cornea, pupil size, prescription, pressure, and other goodie things. The optometrist told me that even though they were going to dilate my eyes, that I wouldn't need a driver, so I drove myself. Bad idea. My eyes were really dry this morning because of the weather and the dilating drops made them worse. I had to drive with my eyes 85% closed because my eyes were too sensitive to the light. Good thing I lived just down the street, although it took me almost a 30 minute drive (of about a half mile down one street with stop signs) because I had to keep pulling over and slow down at each intersection trying to figure out whether there was a stop sign or not.

Well, anyhoo, I still can't wait til next Friday.

Bling

Model Tomoko Misawa shows off the alleged world's most valuable diamond in Tokyo Friday, Oct. 1, 2004. The diamond is certified as 100-carat, D-color and flawless and will be on a special display at a Tokyo department store with a price tag of 2.94 billion yen (US$26.6 million) from Oct. 9. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)

pass it on

be a friend, tell a friend. share the joy. warehouse sale, oct 17th. 70% off marc jacobs, bcbg, theory, juicy, blah blah too much to mention. and, we take plastic!

for info and directions: http://www.blvdstores.com
please share with all your friends :) this is seriously going to be THE shopping event of the year so please, be prepared.

thanks, sheena.

p.s. if you are a boy, kindly forward this message to girls. esp those who love to shop. thanks :D

Night Vision

Today I went to my first lasik consultation. I've scheduled 3. I am completely freaked out about the procedure and I want to make sure I get it done at the right place.

I've been wearing glasses for 16 years and contact lenses for 11 years. Neither have ever corrected my vision to 20/20 because of my astigmatism and other aberrations in my cornea that prevent me from seeing with perfect clarity.

Today's consultation was with TLC Laser Eye Center in Torrance. Richard did his right eye there with Dr. Wong 2 years ago. Tiger Woods and Sean Hayes are among the celebrities that have been "Wonged". Seriously, Richard has a T-Shirt that says "I've been Wonged" Well, anyhoo I found out today that I'm definitely a perfect candidate for the new "Custom Lasik" (Wavefront technology) which is the newer, more expensive procedure. Then they gave me a quick tour of the office and showed me the Operating Room. Bad idea. I'm more nervous now than before.

Tomorrow I'm going to stop by the Surgi-Eye Center on Wilshire, which was formerly the Kawesch Eye Institute which is better known as "the place Jessica Simpson went to". Turns out Dr. Kawesch was convicted with tax evasion and isn't allowed to practice anymore (or something) and the Lasik center is no longer affiliated with him, but they're running a special for the month of October that will give me over 50% off. Sounds shady, but I'm going to check it out. This is by far the cheapest option for the procedure.

I've also made an appointment with the Maloney Eye Institute which has the best reputation for Lasik procedures around here. Dr. Maloney was the pioneer in Lasik and basically wrote the book on it. However, they charge around $6000 for the entire procedure. Is the reputation and good name worth the extra $1500?

Well, I have a few days to make my decision so I'll keep you updated. Meanwhile any advice would be appreciated. ~.~

All-nighter

Ever since Richard bought his condo, we've always wanted to paint the walls. We planned on hiring an interior designer when we were ready, to pick the color and finish the job. After several episodes of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and the renovations at the new office, Richard decided to do the job himself. He brought home a gazillion brochures from Home Depot and asked me to pick a color. Smart little me decided to pick a base color, trim color, and a faux glaze finish for the walls... about quadrupling the work.

Richard made me decide this yesterday, Sunday, 5pm. I figure, we research it, go check it out at Home Depot and start the project next weekend. But no, Richard wanted to do it now.

So.. we went to Home Depot and picked up all of our equipment along with gallons upon gallons of Behr paint in Toasted Sesame, Autumn Oakleaf, and Faux Glaze. We got home at 6:30pm and started painting.

Bad idea. Why didn't we start in the morning you ask? Well, the idea didn't pop into Richard's head until 5pm. So we painted the base onto the walls and portions of the ceiling in our entry-way and our main hallway. It only took us until about 8pm. We were going to leave it at that, and do the "ragging on" of the glaze (to add texture) next weekend. But, no, Richard wanted to do it tonight.

So to make a long story short... we stayed up until 4am. I'll let the pictures speak the rest.

It's not quite finished yet... we still need to paint the ceiling the same trim color as the pillars. Then... on to the living room!