Need input

Has anyone been on vacation to Scotland? Or on an Alaskan cruise? Or to the Yucatan Peninsula?

Those are my top three vacation choices... And I need to pick one soon. Any and all input is greatly appreciated!

Really?!?

174 days since my last Tweet and even longer since my last blog post? How sad.

I blame Facebook... And those damn addicting games. I think they sprinkle crack in them. Why else would they be as addicting?

So what's new with me? Let me see...

We're pretty much settled into our house. We haven't done entirely too much to the house. We had the chimney repaired, purchased a new gas log, a few new pieces of furniture, hired Closets By Design, dug up the front planter sprinklers, planted a vegetable garden, and received a quote demo & rebuild the back patio. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things. Hey I can actually build on those for new blog posts!

my crap, i mean scrap room.

The post title is dedicated to Tony. ;-) He keeps on joking that my new office/craft/scrap room is going to be called my "crap" room. He even promised to get me a sign for the door. lol

So here it is. My own four walls that will, actually already starting to, contain my office. Or to my crafty buds, "my craft/scrap room". Crafting has taken a back burner. I hope to move it to the front burner very soon. :-) I know having my own space to decorate and do what I want with (within reason, of course) will get those creative juices flowing again. Even though I haven't scrapped in a long time, I do make cards every now and then, and I've also taken up playing with water colors.

I wish I would've gotten a shot of the closet as well. It has lots of shelves, conducive to storing a lot of craft supplies. lol Those craft supplies will be used.

I love my space. Loads of natural light as it's west facing and has two large windows, bamboo flooring, and as I mentioned a pretty kick-ass closet for storage. I was also gifted a piece of furniture for the room... A library card catalog! Yippee. It should arrive at the end of next week or so. I can't wait to get started. I will be emailing you all for some decorating ideas. Pam mentioned the color scheme at the Paper Source at South Coast Plaza. Anyone else have a color scheme they like, or some decorating ideas you like? All ideas are appreciated!

lucky

That's how I feel. I really do.

Life has had a few twists and turns; however, I've come out relatively unscathed. A better person for it too. At least I think so. :-)

Sometimes I step back and can't help but smile. Life is good.

I. Am. Happy.

To top it off... We're buying a house (in La Mirada)! I've been sitting on this for a while, not wanting to post anything just in case it fell out of escrow. So far so good. We close this Friday, July 10th. We should have the keys by July13th. Very excited. Hoping sometime soon after everything has settled down, I can host a scrap/craft gathering. Which equates to a catch up session with margaritas. :-) Who's game?

Yes, I know. I suck.

It's been almost five months since my last blog update. The blog post title says it all. Sorry.

Between Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, & this blog, you should all know my every move. lol FB has taken over my life. I'm addicted to the various apps. I dream of some of the games. That's pretty sad.

I need to unplug. Seriously.



But then, I'm afriad I'd die. (sigh)

what's your beauty regime?

Ok ladies, and gents. I'd like to know your beauty regime, secrets, tips, do's, don'ts and whatever else comes to mind. I looked in the mirror the other day and was quite shocked at how many wrinkles have popped up.

Seriously. Mega wrinkles around my eyes.

Now, I'm not the kind to get frantic or stress over wrinkles. I want to know what you do to stave off time from showing on your face? I don't want to look like I'm 65 when I'm a very young 25, er, I mean 38. (Did you hear that dear BF? 38, not 39!)

Give it to me. I'm ready to soak in your knowledge.

We had an interesting, fun weekend. We saw a movie and did a self-guided tour of Olvera Street & Chinatown. Photos to follow...

such a hard life... not!

This weekend passed by so fast. Unsure exactly what I did!

Friday evening we had planned on seeing The Wrestler. However we ended up having a longer than expected dinner at La Palapa del Mar in Long Beach. I had the pollo en rollado (Pan seared chicken breast rolled with prosciutto, spinach, red peppers & blue cheese, with mashed potatoes & grilled asparagus. Served with an apple raspberry reduction), it was pure deliciousness. All the flavors worked so well with each other. I'm not a big blue cheese fan either, but it worked. :) My boyfriend (BF) had the salmon (Served with grilled asparagus, mashed potatoes, lemon garlic butter sauce), he said his was good as well. I give their margaritas two thumbs up as well. Quite the kick, but not overpowering in tequila flavor either. Service was good. Our waiter was a bit odd though. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but my BF straight out said he didn't like him. lol They also have various musicians. When we were there they had an Andean band playing. It may have been Andes Trance, which is listed on their website. He was good... When he played Andean music. However, when he he crossed over to flamenco (or rumba catalana) which he did a few times, he didn't seem to have the right sound. He sang a few Gipsy Kings songs, but he didn't do them justice. Friday night was topped off with a new quiet beach walk. :)

Aren't weekends lovely when you can sleep in? At the same time, you lose half of your day doing that.

Saturday night we met my BF's cousin that was in town for a conference. We (I, BF and BF's mom) picked her up at her hotel in LA and drove over to The Stinking Rose. This was my second time to this restaurant and the bagna calda was a good as I remember it being. Bagna calda is their special appetizer. It's basically garlic cloves, oven roasted in olive oil and a bit of butter, with a hint of anchovy. They serve it with their focaccia bread. For dinner I had the gnocchetti. It was ok, not bad, but not outstanding either. The first time I was there I had the sea bass which was excellent. BF had the Forty Clover Garlic Chicken, but he made sure to ask if they actually used 40 cloves. Which they don't. His cousin had the meatloaf, she said it was good. His mom had the Baked Portobello Mushroom, she said it was quite delicious. We also shared a bottle of Mac Murray Pinot Noir, tasty. :) For dessert, we shared a wild strawberry cheesecake à la mode. And on the way back, I got a good dose of reminders to be thankful for what I have. We drove through the skid row area.

Sunday was another low-key day. We slept in. :) Decided to go for a ride on his bike, but unfortunately his back tire was flat. So we stayed in, watched more Charmed, slept some more, then made dinner. Excruciatingly difficult day, huh? To top it off, my BF prepared dinner for Monday night as well. :) Such a hard life I lead. :)