New Beginnings

 

New Year, New Start

Field Trips Aren't Just for Kids

 
Can you guess where I went? I'll give you one guess.

My First Home Away from Home

I ate many meals at the the Dobbs Dining Hall--hello, Freshman 15!

Timeout California

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Do You Believe in Angels?

I believe in these Angels.

Online Dating

Source

Looking for someone to hold my hand (even when it's sweaty and gross).

Young Love

One of my favorite spots in the world.

A Day at the Zoo

 

My first trip to the Bronx Zoo: giraffes and bears and gorillas and…dinosaurs?

Cooking for One...Sort Of

I recently stumbled upon a recipe for a cheesy sausage and wild rice casserole on Eat. Drink. Smile. that I wanted to try out. The first thing I thought after reading it was, "Wow, this is really easy!" So of course I had to try it. It sounded good and it only required four ingredients: a package of Uncle Ben's wild rice, one can of golden mushroom soup, one pound of sausage and mozzarella cheese. Mix it all together and voila...a casserole. I decided to make it today since I was working from home and needed lunch. Here's the result:

I made a few substitutions in my version since I'm on this get-in-shape-make-better-food-choices thing this month, but more on that later. Anyway, I replaced the sausage with veggie sausage and used lite mozzarella cheese. The one thing I forgot to swap out was the golden mushroom soup. I should have used the low sodium version. Don't get me wrong, it was yummy...but I think my taste buds are a little sensitive to salt now.

I realize this casserole is for more than one person, but sometimes it's difficult to slash a recipe by half. I mean, what was I going to do with half a box of Uncle Ben's and half a can of condensed soup? I do have some extra cheese so I think I might buy a head of cauliflower and try making the cauliflower pizza crust I also saw on the blog. I'll let you know how that turns out.

A Little Me Time

The company I work for decided to host an employee day at Six Flags on Friday. Although I'm not a big fan of roller coasters, I really didn't mind just walking around the park, going to the shops and enjoying a free buffet lunch. Unfortunately, since it was on a Friday I couldn't really find anyone to take the day off and go with me. Considering how the day went, this was probably a good thing.

I know it's hard to predict the weather weeks in advance, but oh my goodness was it hot! It was one of the hottest days of the summer. According to the weather guys, we hit a high of 108 degrees. No wonder I almost passed out numerous times during the 3 1/2 hours I was there! No matter how much I stayed hydrated--went through three 32-ounce drinks--I just couldn't take it anymore. So after lunch, which was outside under a pavilion that offered just a small amount of relief, I left the park with a bag of souvenirs and an M&M ice cream sandwich. There was an outlet mall down the road so I stopped there before heading home. I managed to snag a cute navy blue J. Crew dress and a peach Banana Republic shirt I love. I was so exhausted from the heat I found myself going to bed at 9:30.

I spent all day Saturday recovering. The last thing I wanted to do was spend more time in the heat wave. So, I sat at home and watched Blue Valentine and Titanic while I spent the entire day creating sets on polyvore.com. This one was definitely my favorite:

I love the idea of wearing this outfit on a date and going on a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset. The reality is that the heel would probably get stuck in one of the gaps between the wood, my feet would be killing me and my knees would be shaking not because of my date but because I hate heights. Oh well...but it is a damn cute outfit.

The heat today wasn't as bad as the past three days, but I still chose to spend two hours of the day at the movie theater watching Friends with Benefits. It's been awhile since I've actually fallen in love with a romantic comedy so I was a little scared that I'd only be rolling my eyes throughout the movie. So what was the verdict? Loved it. Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis have some crazy chemistry, which is probably the most important element of a romantic comedy since the basic story never really changes. It was funny and awkward and sweet. Of course it was completely unrealistic in the sense that they were young, had great jobs and amazing apartments in New York City. I'm here to tell you--that just doesn't happen.

I think the part of the movie that really got me was when Jamie (Mila) was showing Dylan (Justin) all the great things about NYC, including her favorite spot. This got me thinking about all my favorite spots in NYC and how I'll miss them when I'm gone. Then there was a scene where Dylan was showing Jamie his favorite spot in LA, and that got me missing all my favorite places in California. The relationship part of the movie was cool, too. The banter was great and I found myself laughing a lot. If you're not into romantic comedies, then you may want to pass on this movie. If you love them or you're a huge JT fan, then see it. He's naked a lot and he's dorky cute throughout the movie.

Since I'm obsessed with creating these polyvore.com collages, I created one to sum up my weekend:

Hope you had a great weekend and were able to enjoy a little "me" time as well!

Bits & Pieces of This & That

Every day I come across things I find interesting or trigger random thoughts in my head, so I thought I'd share a few of them here to make room for some new ones.

New Online Distraction: Polyvore.com

One of the blogs I read regulary is by Bethany Joy Galeotti, an actress on One Tree Hill. I'm a huge fan of her personal style--it's quirky yet feminine, classic yet edgy, comfortable yet pretty damn cool, at least in my eyes. One of the things I love about her style is how she personalizes her pieces to create something that's one-of-a-kind. In one of her posts she talked about buying a necklace from a popular retail store and transforming it into something personal and unique. Yesterday she posted a collage and I noticed it was created on Polyvore. I'd heard of it before but never took the time to explore. Well, after two minutes on the site I'd already signed up and started creating my own inspiration board. I had so much fun. It reminded me of actual boards I created for my interior design classes back in the day. I've already created two more! Here's a look at My Sweet Dreams Seaside Bungalow and The Summer Look I Wish I Could Pull Off.

My Sweet Dreams Seaside Bungalow on Polyvore.com

Orange & Turquoise Summer on Polyvore.com

Pleasantly Surprised Me: Ice Loves Coco

I admit it, I judged this couple based on what I saw on the outside, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was completely wrong. After watching the first few eps of their reality show, I have to say that they have one of the healthiest relationships I've seen on reality TV--and even in reality. They understand what a marriage means and they do what they need to do to make it work. I know you can't believe everything you see on TV, especially when it's reality TV, but their relationship doesn't give me the fake vibe. They talk about supporting one another and loving each other, but you also see that they have their disagreements like any other couple. At the end of the day, they know what really matters and they've somehow managed to keep it together for all these years.

Made Me Geek Out a Little: Green Lantern

I watched it this weekend and loved it. When I started to get my feet wet in the world of comics, I discovered there was a comic book writer that was being praised for giving new life to DC Comics characters that weren't as well known and beloved as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. One of those characters was the Green Lantern. I didn't end up reading the comic books, but my research did lead me to others he'd written that I really liked. As I became a fan of Geoff Johns, it was hard not to become familiar with the Green Lantern Corps, so when the movie came out I felt I needed to show my support and watch it. It didn't hurt that Ryan Reynolds was the lead, but as the movie progressed, I found myself appreciating the meaning behind the Green Lantern. Most people, like myself, wouldn't think much about a superhero with a lantern, but I definitely changed my tune after this movie. The lantern and its power are awesome.

Totally Craving: The Buttery Bakery

About two weeks ago I went to Santa Cruz for my cousin's graduation. While I was there I visited an old friend and asked her if she knew where I could get a graduation cake. Without hesitation she recommended The Buttery. Wow, that place is amazing! I had one of their fruit tarts and a macaroon--both so yummy. Although their signature chocolate cake, which is what we ordered for my cousin, was simply amazing. We had them add fresh strawberries to the buttercream filling, and that only made it even more perfect. I'm drooling just thinking about. Wish I had a picture of the slice, but this one will have to do.

Interesting Read: The California Dream is fizzling out

I came across this article on CNN.com and as I started reading it I found myself thinking about the Orange County, California, I knew growing up. Sadly, it barely exists anymore. The orange groves that lined Irvine Blvd. and the smell of strawberries in the summer air are now gone and have been replaced by strip malls and housing developments. I'm no stranger to change--I know it's inevitable--but it's still hard to see pieces of my childhood disappear each time I go back for a visit.

Music Monday Playlist #1

I was looking at my iTunes library, and I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of playlist my iTunes DJ could come up with today. Take a look:

Use Somebody—Kings of Leon

Don’t Waste Your Heart—Dixie Chicks

Suffer—Staind

I’m Only Me When I’m with You—Taylor Swift

Little Children—Everly

Smells Like Teen Spirit—Nirvana

Everything You Want—Vertical Horizon

Take a Bow—Lea Michele from Glee

So What Does It All Mean—Gould & Fitzgerald West

Waiting—Trapt

Selah—Lauren Hill

Holiday—Madonna

You and I Both—Jason Mraz

Mexico—James Taylor

Hmmm, an odd collection of songs. There were two more, but the Christmas song and classical piece only made this list look even more random. Let’s see, of the 13 songs listed here, I’ve only listened to seven in their entirety. Can you guess which ones?

To keep me posting on a more regular basis, I think I’ll make this a weekly thing. Happy Music Monday!

Everything’s New Again

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve stopped here for a visit. A new job has been keeping me busy the past six months, and although I haven’t quite gotten used to the new gig yet, I figured I needed to get back into a routine outside of work. I need something to try to keep me sane when I’m feeling out of control.

Don’t get me wrong—I love the new job and I’m so thankful for it—but like any job, you have your good days and bad days. The one thing I’m struggling with is adjusting to working for such a large corporate company. I’m slowly catching on to the game and trying to figure out the best way to approach it. Let me tell ya—it’s mentally exhausting and I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get it right. The truth of the matter is I really have no right to complain about anything at work. I have a job, a better boss and a steady paycheck. Right now, that’s all that matters.

Other than work, well…not much else is going on right now. The winter weather has kept me indoors most of the time. It’s officially spring, but the weather still hasn’t changed much. Last night I actually went out into the city and had a girls’ night. It almost felt like SATC. I was sitting in this lounge taking in everything around me and it was weird to actually be in the middle of it all instead of watching the entire scene on a TV screen while sitting on my couch. Yes, I really do need to get out more often.

Anyway, AR invited me to an event TBJ had at the Alphabet Lounge featuring two of the artists she manages. After my bad week at work, I needed something to take my mind off it and this was the perfect distraction. AR and I started off the evening by having sangria and tapas at Tapeo 29. We stumbled upon it while walking around and were so glad we decided to take a chance on it. The tapas menu looked great and the specials that night smelled amazing. We opted for the patatas bravas (piquant fried potatoes and yams served with aioli and romesco sauces) and chorizo al sidra but they made a mistake and we ended up with the chorizo al vino (chorizo glazed in red wine), which was pretty fantastic so we didn’t complain.

We got to the lounge just in time and saw TBJ doing her thing. She was like a mama bear taking care of her cubs. She’s so good at what she does and I’m amazed that she gets all this done while raising one of the cutest two-year-olds I’ve ever seen. After giving her big hugs since we hadn’t seen her in forever, she introduced us to the poet and singer performing that evening. Let me tell you, these are two very talented guys. Justin Baron was rocking that keyboard and singing his heart out. At one point, I could hear TB mumbling next to me about how he needed to sit back down on his chair before he busted a knee. Then Miles Hodges went up on stage to perform his poem “From Head to Toe” and he killed it. If you ever get the chance to see these guys perform in person, you definitely should. They’re so engaging and did I mention incredibly talented, too? Added bonus for the ladies—they’re adorable and very charming. If I were younger I’d be one of their groupies, but stalking them at my age would just be wrong, very wrong.

Once the show was done, AR, TBJ and I decided to get some dessert and catch up at this cute little place we’d passed earlier called Cocoa Bar. They served a bunch of chocolate desserts, wine and a bunch of cocktails. While AR and TBJ opted for the wine selection, I had something called a French hot chocolate, which was dark hot chocolate with cognac. We ended up sharing the Chocoholics Platter that had a flourless chocolate cake, two chocolate patties and six chocolate bonbons. It was pretty much the perfect way to end the night.

I’m hoping as the weather gets better I’ll be able to spend more time in the city. I miss it and I like that I miss it. Now that I don’t have to commute into it every day, I have a newfound appreciation for the sights and sounds of NYC. It’s nice.

Stand Still & Move Forward

My horoscope was so right on today I just had to share it:

At the moment, there's nowhere else you'd rather be than home, and while you can't click your heels together and get yourself there, probably because of a work situation, all you can think about is shuffling through the front door, pulling down the shades and curling up with the cat on the couch. Fade to black. That's not the kind of thing you'd ever do, though--unless you'd really had it with the entire world.

Yup, that's kind of how it's been lately. I'm Dorothy clicking the heels of my ruby red slippers together over and over, but it's just not working. Don't get me wrong, nothing horrible or catastrophic has happened in my life lately. I've just kind of had it with all the little annoying things and stupid people I have to deal with every day. What I need is a real vacation AND a trip home.

Things are happening right now that I'm not ready to discuss yet until a few things are ironed out, which is why I've become an anxiety-ridden ball of stress. Even complete strangers are asking if I'm OK and telling me I look tired. Sadly, I don't think a real vacation is possible anytime soon mainly because of the "work situation" mentioned in the horoscope, and I may not make it home until Christmas.

In a previous post I talked about initiating change and starting new things, but I'd forgotten how stressful change can be even if it's something you're willing to embrace. It's scary and exciting and nerve-wracking and completely necessary if you want to move forward. I just wish I could fast forward through a couple of things and get to the part when I finally go on that much-needed vacation where I wake up to the sounds of a gentle breeze and a small bird's chirps, stretch out in the biggest, fluffiest, most comfortable bed I've ever slept in, and then open my eyes to see the most beautiful view Mother Nature has ever created.

The Kindness of Strangers

One of the things I actually love about my job is how it can sometimes pleasantly surprise me on any given day. Friday was one of those days.

Maintaining a Twitter page for our company is one of my job responsibilities. I retweet what others post and I comment and have conversations with people from time to time. There’s one person I interact with mainly because I find him interesting and entertaining. He drives across the country doing something he really loves for a living, and you can see it on his website and in his tweets. One of the things he tweeted Friday morning included a picture of a popular burger chain out west called In-N-Out. Since I’m from that side of the country and love that burger joint, I tweeted back, “I’m so jealous.”

From that point on we were engaged in a bunch of direct messages. Long story short, he basically asked for our company address and before I knew it a delivery guy from the deli around the corner was handing me a box full of cupcakes:

This virtual stranger I had exchanged pleasantries with a few times online had a dozen cupcakes sent to our company from across the country. What was his reason? It was very simple; he wanted to thank us for being so kind to him and thought we at least deserved cupcakes for working so hard. Sure, there could have been an ulterior motive—some strange marketing ploy, I don’t know—but my gut tells me this was just an act of pure kindness. Well, at least that’s what I choose to believe. There are so many things in this world that make me lose my faith in humanity, but it only takes one small ray of sunshine to erase it all and give me hope.

Let the Creative Juices Flow

I'm feeling motivated and I hope it lasts long enough for me to accomplish something. After enduring one bad work week after another for the past few months, I've decided to pick myself up and do something about it. Work sucks? I updated my resume this weekend and my Monster.com account and sent out resumes. I'm also looking into a freelance editing gig to earn some extra bucks. Personal life sucks? I teamed up with a co-worker to write a crappy screenplay about how our lives should have turned out. When it's finished, we're hoping that some production company that produces cheesy TV movies will buy it. Bank account depleted? Stay at home and write, write, write so we can finish the cheesy TV-movie screenplay and make some money.

I also have three ideas for a novel bouncing around in my head. They're all very different from each other, but I think each one has potential. As long as we're still on the whole writing thing, I'm trying to make a conscious effort to keep up the blogs, especially the TV one now that I have a Twitter account. BTW...10 random followers already. Woohoo!

My last two projects involve editing a comic...er...graphic novel and a story my friend has been working on, which is actually pretty interesting and has me wanting to know what's going to happen.

Yeah, when I decide to go full steam ahead it's pretty much all or nothing. The abnormal amounts (at least for me) of iced coffee I've been drinking lately might have something to do with all this hyperactivity. I used to feel this way about work, but I think it would be better for me to use this energy for my own projects.

So what exactly triggered this frenzy of activity, you ask? My boss will be adding another person to our tiny team, probably next week, and I'm not too happy about the new hire. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure this person is absolutely lovely, but I already don't like her because she's basically going to be me. Instead of hiring a full-time, on-site developer that we desperately asked for and need, she's hiring a person who has the skills to do my job and is asking for a salary that's $20k more than mine. This means I'm never going to get my 10% back and I'll probably be forced to be the go-to technical person while she gets the creative projects I wanted. So, to avoid getting sucked into this drama and becoming a raging ball of fury, I've already asked for my own office (which was offered to me before but I declined because I didn't see the point) to help keep me sane and I've started looking for a new job. I got a call from a recruiter today about a pretty kick-ass job, so fingers crossed that the hiring manager thinks I'm worth interviewing and hiring.

Anyway, that's what's been going on with me lately. Time to get back to work. I have some notes to incorporate into our screenplay outline that I want to get done before bed. Night!

If You Can't Beat Them, Follow Them

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I now have a Twitter account. I know, gasp. It's not a "personal" account with my name and this blog on it, but it is linked to my TV blog. So why did I sell out? I did it for a job...well, a job that I really want. If you read this job description, I guarantee you would think it was created for me. Unfortunately, one of the job requirements is: Significant personal presence on a variety of social media sites.

While I do maintain our social media sites at work, I don't have my own. So I decided to jump on the bandwagon and start one. Although, the chances of me actually getting this job are pretty much the same as my chances of winning the lottery. I'm sure a million people have already applied during the four days the ad has been up on the site. Even if the economy were in good shape, there would still be a ton of people applying simply because the job is for an entertainment site.

Anyway, the point to this post is that I'm on Twitter now so it's only a matter of time before it completely consumes me. Could Facebook be next? Possibly, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

What’s in a Dream?

Last week was the week of anxiety dreams. I’m not sure exactly what triggered them, but they were very vivid and made me wake up way before my alarm.

In one of them my teeth were falling out. I was talking to someone, I believe I was trying to help a guy who looked like one of the football players on Friday Night Lights, when my teeth just started falling out. At first my tongue pushed against my bottom teeth and shifted them. I tried to push them back into place, but I was just pushing them more out of position. Before I knew it my teeth were falling into my hands, but my hands didn’t look like my hands. They were these old, wrinkled hands with bony fingers, which were basically skin and bone. The minute I woke up I checked to see if my teeth were still in my mouth. It seemed way too real.

Then on another night I had a dream that a married guy, who looked like Tom Welling at times and some guy I knew in high school named George Park at other times, kept trying to get me to go out with him. Sadly, even in my dreams it’s impossible for me to be the bad girl. No matter how much I wanted him, the only thought that kept running through my head was that he was married. I woke up feeling annoyed with myself for not just going for what I wanted, even in a dream.

I can no longer remember the other dreams that plagued me last week, but I suppose that’s a good thing. Even in sleep I seem to be feeling restless, which is really annoying since I really love and value my sleep. I’ve taken advantage of this three-day weekend and spent most of my time trying to clear my mind. Of course, my mind will never be totally clear, but I did my best, got some rest and am hoping this week will be much better.

Beauty

I've never really been a big fan of musicians. Hmmm, let me re-phrase that...I've never followed the career of any particular musicians from beginning to end. Sure, I like listening to music and I respect the talent it takes to write songs and perform them, but I've never been that person who has favorite artists and goes to all their concerts and buys every one of their CDs. I have a lot of friends who do and I think it's awesome that they know every word of every song and have collections of ticket stubs and cool T-shirts. I guess I just never connected with an artist like they did. Sure, there are songs that have spoken to me and conveyed everything I've ever wanted to say, but those were one-shots. I found that the rest of the songs on the album didn't really say much to me at all even though it was fun to listen to them.

However, there is one musician I've been following regularly since I heard her song on an episode of Smallville two years ago: Marié Digby. The minute her first album came out I knew I had to have it, because every song I'd heard on her MySpace page touched something in me. The album definitely didn't disappoint--it was on heavy rotation on my iPod for a very long time. In fact, the song on Smallville has a permanent spot on my "Songs I Listen to on the Commute" playlist because I smile every time I hear it. I also began reading her blog posts, watching her videos and checking her Twitter updates. I even went to one of her concerts in NYC. I guess you could say I became a fan.

The only reason I'm mentioning her now is because I read something she posted today about beauty and I thought the message itself was, well, beautiful. She obviously isn't the only artist out there who feels this way and this is by no means an original idea (Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" is the anthem for this topic), but I think what I like about it is how she explains it all--with a good story.

Anyway, if you want to read it, you can check it out here: "What is beauty to you?"

Little Miss Snowman

Here's this year's comic strip. Enjoy!

Part 1:

Part 2: