sheenn: April 2005

Showin' the lil sis around

Vina came up last night to spend a day with me :) And boy did we live it up :)

I picked up her up last night at 8pm. I let her drive up to LA in my car. I was feeling crazy :) It was only her 3-4th time driving on the freeway and her 2nd car driving my car. Living on the wild side. Once we arrived in LA, Vina felt like eating buffalo wings so I took her to Hooters. What was I thinking? Hooters during the NBA playoffs? Other than the waitresses, we were the only girls there! Then we went to Diddy Riese. Great diet I'm on, huh? :) We shared a chocolate chip cookie-cookies n cream ice cream sandwich. Yum. A whole dollar. Gotta go there more often.

Today we woke up late... we were supposed to stop by SMC in the morning so Vina could get her materials for registration, but we ended up waking up at 10:30am. We had to rush to get ready and we headed to Barneys for a Shu Uemura makeover. They had celebrity make-up artists from Tokyo Lash Bar in New York fly in to give complimentary makeovers. Well, they aren't really complimentary.... they always somehow swindle you into spending hundreds of dollars on make up you think you need. :) After Soomin, Vina and I got prettied up, we headed upstairs for a lunch of Barney's infamous smoked salmon.

After our lunch, Vina and I headed up to Burbank to go prom dress shopping at my friend's warehouse. She's been eyeing a certain BCBG dress that she saw on the website and lucky for her my friend had one in just her size! Awwww... the baby of the family is going to prom! Sigh, growing up so fast.

Then later in the evening we went to the Grove to eat some crepes. I really should start watching my diet. It's taking double the effort at the gym to keep the weight off when I eat like this. Oh well, maybe after this bag of pita chips I'm snacking on right now. :D

Fajita Pita

Yum!

I've been on the hunt for a "healthy snack"... since I've started working out and getting back into shape, I've also been altering my diet. I've been putting more effort into eating vegetables and trying to cut down on fatty meats. I also hold back on "white" carbs when I can... replacing them with wheat bread, brown rice, etc. when possible.

The one thing that I haven't been able to change is my snacking habits. I've tried soy chips, snacking on carrots, even fruits but nothing killed my cravings for Baked Lay's until now...

I was at Wild Oat's and decided to try a bag of Stacy's Pita Chips. I got the parmesan, garlic & herb flavor... and they are really good! Crispy and crunchy, unlike rice cakes or soy-based chips. The flavor is just right, not too much sodium and very low in fat.

Another new snack I've discovered recently are Healthy Handfuls. They are $1 a bag at Jamba Juice or you can find larger sizes at Wild Oats. They taste like a lighter, crunchier, airy-er version of goldfish.

Sunday Outing

Today Richard & I decided to go up to Sunset Blvd. to have lunch. I haven't been to Sunset Plaza in a long time.. so I kind of wanted to check out the shopping scene up there too.

We had lunch at Le Petit Four. I tried to exercise my new "half" diet that my trainer put me on, which I've been doing since last Thursday. Basically I cut all of my portions in half (so ordering at a restaurant I have to immediately tell the waitress to stick half in a togo box so it doesn't tempt me) and I have to eat a small side salad before every meal. It doesn't mean I'm cutting my calories in half- because I'm actually eating twice as often now, every 3-4 hours. Well I figured since we're eating French, I could eat "light" and still get away with it. I skipped the salad and opted for lobster bisque instead. Then I ordered smoked salmon on toast points for the main course. Well I ate the entire soup... I felt guilty afterwards since I didn't have ANY vegetables... and I only ate half of my portion of the smoked salmon. But then Richard ordered Calamari and I had half of that. And he ordered sausage pasta and I had some of that too :-( Oh not to mention I had 2 pieces of bread/butter before the meal. Then afterwards we walked to Coffee Bean and I had a Pomegranite/Blueberry ice blended. So I failed miserably.

Anyhow afterwards we walked around to check out the boutiques. Unfortunately Oliver Peoples was closed... which sucked because I wanted to go look for some new oversized sunglasses... I am loving that oversized sunglasses are in right now because I've long preferred these over normal types because of the coverage... I can't stand wearing sunglasses where the sun can still peek in through the top or the sides... it defeats the purpose.

We checked out the H.Lorenzo parking lot sale... where I found the softest, cutest Marni brown hobo leather bag... even at 70% off it was a little too pricey. Oh well. And actually I thought that the sunset strip was known for its boutiques but I didn't see anything interesting. Mostly European labels and foo-foo overly embellished clothes- definitely not my style. I begged Richard to stop by Robertson on the way back so that I could get my window-shopping fix. Sunset was a disappointment.

When we drove back I noticed that the weather was turning nice. A little breezy but still light outdoors. Perfect for a long walk! We buckled up Moley and Lulu and walked north towards Brentwood. We arrived just as the Farmer's Market was closing down but we got a chance to stop by Peet's coffee to refuel Richard & the dogs. I swear Richard drinks so much coffee. He drinks a cup of hot espresso in the morning after he wakes up. At work he drinks espresso or he drives to Coffee Bean for a large iced americano. Usually on his way home he grabs another large. Then when he gets home he drinks some hot espresso. Then after dinner we sometimes go to Coffee Bean again and he gets another large iced americano. He can drink 4-6 large cups a day. Geez.

Birthday Girl

Pre-Party!

Today is Lulu's 1st Birthday...

This morning I took Lulu to Wagging Tail to pick out a birthday cake... just a small one for her and Moley. I also picked up a red feather boa (pictured above) for her to wear at her bday party next Sunday.

Then we headed over to Cerritos for a small party. Unfortunately, Coldstone's ran out of human cakes so we didn't get to eat any cake. And actually Moley hogged the doggie cake so Lulu didn't get much of it either :-(

Well we are throwing her a real birthday party next Sunday at her pal Minnie's house in Pasadena... call me if you want to come by so I can give you the details! Since we are throwing it at a friend's house, we have 2 rules... 1) no doggies bigger than Moley, sorry :P Minnie is actually terrified of four-legged creatures so we don't want to overwhelm her with any great danes! and rule 2) is P.U.Y.O.S... you can figure this out on your own. The first 2 words are "Pick Up..."

Punny

from Charles' xanga:

Here are the 10 first place winners in the International Pun Contest.

#1 -- A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger."

#2. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says, "Dam!"

#3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

#4. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says "I've lost one of my electrons." The other says "Quit being so negative!"

#5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

#6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?" they asked, as they moved off. "Because", he said, "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."

#7. A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

#8. These friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

#9. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him ...... A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

#10. And finally, there was the person who sent ten different puns to his friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

my blue suede shoes

moley's shoes came!!

mu hahahaha!

Malibu Country

This past Sunday Richard and I decided to take advantage of the weather and we drove up to Malibu. It was the first time I drove up PCH with the top down in my convertible!!! I've had my car since November but I haven't really driven much with the top down. Well... it was a little bit sunny and there was some traffic so it got pretty hot. But further north it was a little bit more breezy so it was nice!

We had lunch at Taverna Tony's. The last time we were here was waaaay back before we were officially "dating". That time we were looking for somewhere to eat a late dinner and he drove me up there late at night~ it was very random because Malibu is so dark at night that it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere and there was this lively Greek restaurant open in the middle of the night. Well, this time we were there during the day (lunch) and it turns out that Taverna Tony's was right next to Madison, Planet Blue, Ron Herman & Shabby Chic... what a nice surprise :)

23410 Civic Center Way
Malibu, CA 90265
Tel: (310) 317-9667

We had lunch on the patio~ it was perfect eating-outdoors weather. The patio is enclosed but you can still feel the breeze. Also they allow pets on the patio so it was fun dog-watching. Oh and we did some people watching too.. Peter Gallagher (Sandy Cohen from The O.C.) was there. After an oversized lunch of too much bread & hummus, calamari, marithe (tiny fried fish), quail, and baby lamb, we walked it off. We browsed through all the stores in the area- I especially loved the beauty section of Planet Blue... so many hard-to-find lines all in one place. Then before we left we stopped by Coffee Bean for the Pomegranite & Blueberry Ice Blended (yum!).

The Cocker Cut

Before:

After:

Major Update

Wow this has been dead for a while huh?
There have been lots going on- I've just been too physically exhausted to write it up.

In my campaign to get into shape, I've been trying to make it to the gym at least once a day (sometimes I have a trainer session then go back at night for a cardio class) although usually I skip weekends. It's been about 2-3 weeks now and I can already see a difference, but I also feel different. I work out with a trainer twice a week and the rest of the time I either do cardio on the elliptical machine or I take one of the fitness classes. I love that the elliptical machines and treadmills have personal TV's... and I love that TNT does Law & Order reruns during the day :) Makes the time go much faster. I'm going to have to remember to pack my gym bag with Sex & the City DVD's to watch there the next time I cardio.

One of the reasons I decided to join Bodies in Motion is because of the variety of classes they offer. So far I've taken Ballet Barre (an intense ballet workout!), Pilates, Cardio Salsa, Uplift (Upper body workout), Hard Core (Abs workout), Extreme Vibe (taebo/bootcamp) and Executive Boxing. The executive boxing class was pretty hardcore... if you stay the entire class you can burn 950 calories in one hour. I lasted 30 minutes. Then my arms turned into jelly.

Because of my BIM schedule I haven't been able to make it to Yoga Works regularly. So far I've gone a total of 3 times in 3 weeks... so I don't think I'm going to renew my monthly unlimited membership. Plus they offer Yoga at BIM. But next week I am definitely going to try Bikram Yoga. (Anybody want to go with me?) I already have my accessories ready... I bought a set of skidless super-absorbent microfiber towels to use during the class :P

Other than working out I've been eating out a lot. The other day I met up with Soomin, Elaine and Ling-Ling at Chi's on Sunset Blvd. It's been a while since I've been in the Sunset area, and we had a lot of fun. It's embarrassing how low my tolerance for liquor has gotten. But anyhow it was the first time I've been to Chi's. I've always wanted to go but Richard is against frou-frou LA restaurants that serve fusion. He complains that the portions are too small. I was pretty impressed by the food- even though Chi's is advertised as a "Chinese dim-sum" sort of restaurant and there was almost NO Chinese food on the menu. We ate family style and had the lobster rolls, yellowtail/tuna sashimi, crab cakes and mongolian duck. I will definitely come back to people watch. , I mean to eat.

Let's see, what else have I been up to? Moley & Lulu had another "spa day" at Chateau Marmutt. Since summer is coming up I decided to try out the "cocker cut". I still have a pretty good laugh whenever I look at the two of them :) I'll post a picture later. Oh! And they accidentally put glittery purple nail polish on MOLEY!! Auuugh! Poor kid :( I guess I can't take him to the dog park until those grow out... I wouldn't want the other doggies laughing at him :)

Lately I've been watching a lot of DVD's. I still have my membership to blockbuster.com... it's proving very convenient. Every weekend I do about an hour of "program picking" First I sit in front of the Tivo and go through channel by channel and record anything interesting that's coming up. It's getting very frustrating though because all of the good programs come on at conflicting times. I need to think about getting a second directv line in the bedroom... I haven't seen an episode of Joey in months :( Well after my tivo-program-picking I go over to the computer and choose dvd's for my blockbuster account. Once I've browsed through the new releases and the older sections, I go to my queue and spend another 5 minutes rearranging all the movies... which brings me even more frustration because half of the moves are "very long wait" and only about 2 of the movies are "available now"... ??? If Blockbuster.com doesn't expand soon then I'm going to switch over to netflix.

I've started reading books again. Well, mostly because I am so sore after working out that I soak in a bubble bath every chance I get which gives me some reading time. I've run out of books though. I'm waiting on the next Harry Potter, the next Sophie Kinsella and James Patterson... all are due out in May/June. Today I went to Barnes & Nobles to make a list of all the books I want to read. When I get a chance, I'm going to look them all up on Amazon.com :) Or go to Costco to find them. I can't stand paying $25+ for a book that lasts me 3 hours. But I did pick up Fast Food Nation today. Yona rented Supersize Me and mentioned that I better look into McDonald's French Fries before I eat them again so I did a little research online... and turns out that there is Beef Flavoring in their fries? Well... more on this issue later after I do my reading :)