Macaron Thank Yous

My bridal shower and bachelorette party (yet to be blogged about) were so fantastic that I wanted to do something a bit extra so I decided to give my ladies a couple of treats along with a thank you note!

I bought 2 dozen macarons from Paulette Macarons.  

I recommend ordering online b/c they run out of certain flavors as the day goes on.  I wasn't able to pick up my order until 45 min to closing, so thank goodness I pre-ordered!  I made the Thank You cards from an template I found online.  Since I was sending them to 11 girls..I had 2 left over for myself.  Score!

I ended up purchasing vanilla as the universal flavor for each girl, and then a fun flavor to round out the pair.  Believe me, it was HARD to not eat them all myself!

I wrapped each pair in wax paper and then sealed it with painter's tape.  

I added some foil for more padding and noted flavors on a post-it.

I was able to hand deliver to 5 of the ladies, but I had to mail the other 6.  I used padded envelopes from Staples and thankfully they remained relatively intact!

Everything took a bit of elbow grease to figure out, but it was well worth the effort.  It's a small, but tasty, extension of my thanks. :)

TM-Everything

I really enjoy being part of social networks (facebook, twitter, blogging, yelp, foursquare, gowalla, etc) b/c by nature I'm a curious and nosy person.  I like seeing what other people are up to, what they are wearing, and what are their thoughts.  Many of my close friends don't have time or aren't as committed to the various forms of social media as I am so I end up browsing blogs, scrolling through tweets, clicking on pictures, reading yelp reviews, etc of people that I don't really know-know, whether it be total strangers, friends of friends, or mere acquaintances.

Now, let me preface this by saying that I do respect freedom of speech and that people, including myself, are pretty much entitled to say what they want and post whatever they feel like.  And as a reader, I'm entitled to shut up and stop visiting/reading if I don't like what I'm seeing.  And I have done that.  I can't be the first person who's blocked people's statuses on FB or un-followed someone on Twitter right?  And I wouldn't be surprised if people would want to tune me out b/c I've been known to overshare and go on and on and on about something w/o shutting up.  I think Jerry wanted to block me on FB cus I was checking into Foursquare too much :P  Anyways, feel free to tune out, readers, if you think what I'm about to say is too much!

So.  I am pretty disturbed by the amount of over-sharing that I've seen or that has been pointed out to me lately:
My friend told me about a profile picture she saw on FB.  It was a couple in bed, they were in between the sheets, and she had her hand over her breast.  How the hell did that one get past the censors?  We reported it right away but last I checked it was still up.  So gross.  What's even more gross?  In the same album, there's a picture of a stain.  On the bed sheet.  I'll leave the rest to your imagination.  Seriously, TMI.  Keep it in the bedroom, folks.  No one needs to see ANYTHING.

People have been using social correspondence to publicize the state of their finances.  I also think that's over-sharing.  Nothing wrong with privately telling a friend how much you paid for your new car/house/toy, but don't write in a public forum.  Less than a handful of people should know how much is in your bank account- yourself, your significant other, maybe your parents, and your accountant/auditor.

Finally, I'm quite irked by folks who feel the need to (over)share their affections for their significant other.  I've had to block several people from my FB wall (including my cousins and former schoolmates) b/c really.  No. One. Gives. A. Crap. That. You. Are. In.  Love.  Only 1 person needs to know and that is your significant other.  Not the other 500 friends.  There are 3 times that you get a pass to be publicly mushy on social media- the first week you get together, the day that you get engaged, and when you get married.  Privately I'm a very mushy person and Jerry has absolutely no doubt that he's awesome b/c I pretty much tell him 50 times a day unless I'm grumpy and then it drops down to maybe 25 times.   The point is that we really make an effort to not force the status of our relationship on anyone by avoiding excessive PDA while out (we all know of couples that use each other as chairs) and while online.  That's the line that I've personally drawn for our relationship publicly, but others may have different lines.

I think everyone has such different views that you can't ever please anyone.  Others might consider the Outfits of the Day bloggers to be oversharers.  Or people who post about their travels on FB to be oversharers/braggers.  But I personally love reading those kinds of blogs!  Sure, they're hella showing off what they're buying/what they can afford but I totally sponge that shit up.  While on the other hand, there are plenty of people who enjoy reading about mushy relationships and consumerism that I've mentioned above as my personal pet peeves.  (Inappropriate pictures will NEVER be okay.) 

But guess what?  Thanks to a simple click of a button, we don't have to read about anything that we don't want to! :)

Okay, I'm off my soapbox.

In other news, I promise to return to regularly scheduled programming and overshare my wedding planning progress/projects (or lately lack there of) and reviews of restaurants I've been to!

About Meetings

I'm back to attending a zillion meetings every week. 

Good things:
I don't snack on empty calories anymore since I'm too busy actively listening and taking notes. 
I also walk (0.4 miles each way) to some of my meetings so I get in a wee bit of exercise.
They make my day go by faster.
Some of them are calls/webinars.  I can participate from the comfort of my desk!  (The mute button is my friend.)

Bad things:
I tend to touch my face a lot when I get bored and I get mini pimples along side my face and chin.  Bad habit!
Some of them end pretty late.  For example, last week I was in South Pasadena until10pm!
My emails pile up b/c my whole day was spent away from my computer!
Some of them are calls/webinars.  I can get easily distracted, so I should turn my monitor off b/c it's so easy to tune out people on calls.

About 2 weeks so far on the new gig.  I'm surviving.

Hayat's Kitchen

Ventured to this part of town for some Lebanese food at Hayat's Kitchen!  

Complimentary.  Not everyone was a fan.

I really liked this.  Everyone else was "eh."

This was a hit!  We ordered another round of this!

This was AWESOME.  That garlic paste (top right corner) was THE BOMB.  We ordered another round of this as well.

The 2 awesome dishes above made this dish not as stellar.  My dining companions let me hog all the veggies. :)

Tea was nice and fragrant.

This was sooo good.  Complimentary.  I would have gladly paid for this!  Fantastic way to end a meal.

It's a very homey vibe.  They seem to know all their customers!

Great food, fantastic dining companions, and lively conversations.  I love our reunions. :)

Summer Shows

It's nice to know my taste in TV aligns well with my tween cousins.  "Who do YOU think is A?"

The only way I'm going to enjoy this show is if I stop comparing it to Alias. 
 

Jerry is obsessed with this show.  I sort of pay attention when he watches, but I prefer my fluff over his substance. :)

Yes, we did cut our cable, but we're able to enjoy these shows via hulu and this nifty cable which allows us to hook up our laptops to the TV screen.  Sweet!

Recipe for Disaster

I made these today and they were pretty much a disaster.

Check out their results.

Check out mine.

I don't know what happened.  The only changes I made were to halve the recipe and to substitute in whole wheat flour for white flour.  I also used kosher salt instead of regular salt, and instead of fresh chives I used dried thyme and oregano.  Okay, maybe I should have stuck to the recipe...

Maybe my yeast is dead or something.  I knew something wasn't quite right when I checked a couple hours later and the dough hadn't doubled, but I decided to roll it out and bake it anyway just for the hell of it.  And so I could blog about it later.

TGIF?

into the office before 8
conference call at 10
mtg at 11
farmer's market for agua fresca (i brought my own lunch but i didn't want to be anti social by staying in the office while everyone else went out to pick up lunch)
mtg at 2 in WeHo
DMV #1 (doesn't do drivers license renewal)
DMV #2
paulettes for macarons (except i made the mistake of parking 0.6 miles away, so i walked 1.2 miles for these suckers)
BM's house to drop off said macarons and birthday present
the nasty 405 to go home
quick dinner at home
nordstroms
men's warehouse
worked out
ate macaron
called it a night

tomorrow:
vege

Summer Produce

We get our produce from a variety of ethnic markets, friends/family trees, and also farmers market.  Once in a while we will sell our soul to Ralphs when they have a really good deal.  I do agree that farmers market produce can be superior in quality and taste, but we cook dinner nearly everyday and I make all our work lunches the weekend beforehand, so really, $3/lb for broccoli every week doesn't make sense to me when I can get it for $0.50/lb.  Once in a while we'll splurge and buy high quality potatoes for mashed potatoes.  Man, I never knew the merits of a really good potato.  Now I know.  Same goes for avocado/guac.

Torrance Farmer's Market

We currently are stocked with plums, peaches, nectarines, red grapes, bananas, and pears.  Yum!  With the exception of seeded watermelon, I much prefer stone fruits over melons when it comes to summer fruit fare.  I really enjoy how fruit tastes from the farmer's market and I like supporting local businesses, so I try to contribute whenever I can.  This time however, all our fruit came from Valu +, Costco, and Food 4 Less.  I don't want to turn into a fruit snob!  Since I eat fruit 2-3 times a day...I can't afford to be snobby or picky. :P

Although if I had all the money in the world I would eat gaviota strawberries as snacks all summer long.  They smell AND taste good!

Things I Have Eaten Before 10am

4 gummi bears
a banana
1/4 of a leftover greasy peanut butter cookie
a handful of dried fruit
5 ritz crackers
a few pieces of cashew pistachio almond clusters
3 mugs worth of tea

Breakfast of champions, indeed.

Newb

I'm no stranger to public transportation (have ridden the Metro, Metro Rail, BBB, and Culver City Bus extensively) but this commuter express thing is really make me feel like a newb:

First day of public transpo-ing it:
Parked at the opposite corner of the park n ride b/c I didn't know that the Commuter Express pick up is OUTSIDE of the station
Wandered around 7th/Fig b/c I couldn't find the Metro station.  Turns out it was the opposite corner from where I was standing
Got to work all sweaty
Wandered around the 7th/Metro Station b/c I couldn't find the Flower exit, so I went out on Hope
Comm Express was 15 min late
Got home all grumpy

Second day
Went to the wrong side of the park n ride AGAIN b/c I forgot that pick up is around the corner
Wandered around the 7th/Metro Station b/c I couldn't find the Flower exit, so I went out on Hope again
Missed my Commuter Express stop!  Jerry had to pick me up from the next stop 6 miles away, although ironically they are both equidistant from home.  Except my car was still at the park n ride.  So embarrassing.
Went home and cooked rib eye.  Cow cures all.

One of these days, I'm going to get it right.

Inching My Way to an Ideal Commute...

...One job at a time

Job #1
Lived in SGV
Worked in South LA/South Bay
Worst commute, no option to use public transpo b/c of nature of job

Job #2
Lived in South Bay
Worked in Mid-City/Bev Hills
Decent commute, bad parking situation (think having to take 30 min just to get to and from my car and the office for the better part of my stint there and it wasn't free either), no direct public transpo options that made sense

Job #3
Living in South Bay
Working in K-town/Downtown
Commute varies greatly from 30 minutes to over an hour, great FREE parking situation,  a few public transpo options (but I can't decide if I want to commit to a monthly pass, or carry dollar bills and coins at all times)

Job #4 TBD
Living in South Bay
Working in South Bay
One can dream, right?

What Happened to Summer?

The weather has been really weird this week in LA and it's somewhat matching my mood.

There's drizzles in the morning (I even had to use windshield wipers!).  Since I work indoors all day I can't tell what it's like during the day but from my window it's been looking pretty dreary.  When I come home it's just plain chilly since the South Bay is about 5 degrees cooler than the rest of LA.  Poor Seattle.  I can't imagine how the folks cope and I can't even begin to commiserate with said residents!

I've been really lethargic this week.   It's not due to poor sleep or lack of nourishing meals, as I've had a steady supply of both.  I'm not sick or catching anything either.  I just feel like all the energy has been sucked out of me!  Anyone else feel this way?  I know I'm not alone!

Anyways, one more day of work, and then a weekend of fun starts, courtesy of my bridal party.  I'm declaring my bridal shower/bach party to be my official start of summer, weather be damned!