Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Labor Weekend means this is the first time since I’ve started work that I’ve gotten to leave early. I mean, I’ve left early before to get to my tutoring training and interviews, but I don’t really count that since it was technically going to more work. Leaving early definitely has its perks – especially on Friday!

I had a chance to venture to my city’s Farmers Market for the first time. I’ve been dying to go and pick out some fresh fruit but because the Market only runs from 3-7PM, I haven’t had the chance to go just yet. I had anticipated a much larger market so I overpaid a bit on the meter but hopefully that’ll make someone happy if they took my parking spot afterward… I grabbed three boxes of berries and $2.50 got me two and a half pounds of red potatoes! Usually at Trader Joe’s I buy the little premade bags and that in itself is about $2 for some pretty dinky potatoes. Potatoes are basically a staple of my diet (I’m not sure how healthy that is….) so I always have them around.

Getting off a bit early from work is certainly relaxing. I have the rest of the day to hang out and relax and get ready for tomorrow’s KICK OFF!! This is the first game that I won’t be on the field for. What a strange feeling. I hope everyone has an awesome Labor Day weekend! And if you’re from other countries, have a Happy September 2nd!

My Glasses Are Here!!

One day earlier than anticipated! What’s better than getting a package one day earlier than you anticipated? Here are some pictures of my new glasses. I can’t wait to start wearing them around the office and just every day in general! My eyes need a rest from contacts all the time anyway.

Jobs: The Movie

I had high hopes for this movie. I really did. And despite all the bad hype it was getting, I still wanted it to be good. I wanted some semblance of the Walter Isaacson’s biography that I read twice before seeing this movie and it had none of that.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t because the acting wasn’t stellar or that the actors was wrongly casted – in fact, the acting was pretty stellar, and the actors all looked like their counterparts but the script, character portrayals, and the format of the movie wasn’t my favorite.

Ashton Kutcher did a great job of embodying Jobs from the hunched over posture to the hand gestures while he talks. Kutcher is more of an extrovert so for him to play an introvert was certainly interesting.

My biggest complaint is with the format of the movie. I felt like the entire thing was a movie trailer for a longer, future Steve Jobs movie. It was overall disjointed, skipped over some pretty substantial parts of his life, and didn’t even cover up some of the most recent events up until his recent passing. While half of Jobs’ story is his building up one of the largest companies in the world, the other half is his arrival back at Apple and how he disrupted the industry AGAIN. Additionally, the movie touches and skips over his familial relations, particularly with Lisa and introduce Jobs’ wife randomly during the second half of the movie without any explanation.

If you’re not an avid Jobs fan or didn’t bother to read up on his biography ahead of time, I’m guessing this movie would have left you very confused. Even with all my reading, I was still confused at the timeline and the parts of his life they chose to showcase. I really wished they had done a better job of capturing Jobs’ life. The casting was spot on, but the story was not.

If I had my way, Steve Jobs’ life would be a mini series on TV and each week, they would cover another chronological portion of his life. Think like the BBC Sherlock series. Two hours just isn’t enough to Jobs’ justice! The audiobook of his biography is more than 24 hours long. Even taking out the author’s commentary and the parts about his adoption process and parents (both biological and adoptive), you’ve still got a pretty hefty amount of material to work with.

Well on the bright side, there’s another Steve Jobs movie coming out by Aaron Sorkin with Steve Wozniak as a consultant. Side note: Steve Wozniak’s character was horrible misrepresented in the movie. He’s more of an introvert and much more shy than portrayed. So I’m going to pin my hopes on that instead.

Yelp Review #3: Standing Room

Are you ready for another Yelp! Review? This one is definitely one of the most unconventional food spots I’ve ever been to but also one of the most delicious! Here’s my The Standing Room review:

When I first walked into the liquor store that houses The Standing Room, it reminded me a bit of a scene from a movie where the liquor store is cover for an undercover operation. It’s a little liquor store that you might drive by regularly and the kitchen is in the back. But once you go inside and order, it’s clear that this little business is a huge hit.

We got there around 1:00PM or so and because we’ve never been there before, we had to take a little time looking at the menu. The Standing Room serves burgers and fries with an Asian twist. For about four dollars, you get a huge order of parmesan truffle fries that I’m still working on today (crisp them up in a pan real fast and they’re good as new!). I also ordered the Hapa Burger – ½ pound pattie, spring mix, onion, sesame leaf, scallion, fried egg, gouchu-q & Korean aioli. I love a fried egg on top of all my burgers and this was no exception. If you’re feeling extra adventurous, I’d go for the Napolean burger - ½ pound pattie, bacon, smoked gouda, cheddar, caramelized onion, spring mix topped with braised short rib, fried egg, &truffle parmesan fries. The fries are actually inside the burger!

The Napolean Burger - fried egg and fries. There's a burger bun under all that somewhere...

The perk of having the burger shop inside the liquor store is that you can grab a drink (non-alcoholic too!) since you just pay at the front anyway. Be forewarned, grab extra napkins! My Hapa burger was bursting with flavor and with flavor comes lots of liquids: the aioli, the gouchu-q, the fried egg – all of that makes for some drips while eating. You can ask for cutlery but when it comes to burger, I find that devouring it like a savage makes it all the more tasty!

My Hapa Burger

There are still a bunch of menu items that I want to go back and try: the pan fried edamame, Danger Burger, Bully Sammy, and even the Portobello Mushroom Sammie. Parking is a little tight since it’s a tiny store and there are some posts in the ground that could potentially wreak havoc on your car if you’re not careful but there is plenty of street parking as well. This little hole in the wall joint is definitely worth a second visit, and third…and fourth!

Parmesan truffle fries. SO delicious and SO many of them!

The League

At the suggestion of my bosses, I started watching “The League.” It’s about a group of friends that play in a Fantasy Football league. I am hooked.

I’m not a huge fan of the NFL and opt to watch college football any day (Go Bears!) but I have to say, “The League” is definitely piquing my interest in the NFL. I’m recognizing some Cal alums on the draft boards and that always gets me excited.

After doing a little research on “The League (read: looked it up on Wiki), I found out that the show is semi-improvised! That is amazing to me. I’ve watched several seasons of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and am always so impressed by their ability to make up something from nothing. To find out that this show is semi-improvised is kind of amazing.

While I was looking for a photo for this post, I came across this article on mint.com. Mint is the app I use to keep track of my budget and it’s super useful. But anyway, it’s an article that uses “The League” to teach financial responsibility. It’s a little generic and some of the analogies are a bit of a stretch but it’s still a fun read!

Happy Saturday Night!

22 Things List Update

Just thought I’d give you guys a quick update on how I’m doing with my 22 Things list. I’m close to two months in and have a few things checked off. I hope I keep up the progress!

1. Run another half marathon
2. Visit Dawn in Charlotte
3. Visit JHU to see my sister
4. Run 100 miles
5. Write 5 Yelp! reviews

• Joan’s On Third
• Blue Plate Oysterette

6. (re)Learn HTML and redo my blog theme
7. Save one entire pay stub
8. Meet a blogging friend in the offline world
9. Have and ocean side picnic
10. Try a fad diet
11. Read 20 books

• Flowers for Algernon
• The Storyteller
• And the Mountains Echoed
• Ready Player One

12. Get a Sprinkles cupcake
13. Send 50 letters &/or postcards (I think I've sent 3 so far?)
14. Donate blood (again)
15. Take a yoga class/spin class/dance class at least one a month
16. Buy an impulse plane ticket
17. Tailgate a football game
18. Try a barre class
19. Try an aerial silks class
20. Try a salsa class
21. Attend a stand up comedy show
22. Learn to make 5 drinks

Cardio Barre Revisited

As of two nights ago, my Groupon for my cardio barre classes was used up and I've been dying to go back. I thought I could be sneaky and buy the 10 class Groupon but the lady at the desk said that you could only use the Groupon if you were a new client. So now I'll have to start paying the actual prices and let me tell you, cardio barre isn't exactly the most affordable class to take. Single classes at $16 each and you can save a bit if you stock up but it's a lot of money to forgo in one sitting.

So I'm stuck dealing with this dilemma of whether to keep paying for classes or not. I really do love it and I'm positive I'll be able to push myself through however many classes I buy, and I need to make a decision soon since class prices are going to go up next month. I'm thinking of maybe buying 20 classes and that'll last me at least two months if I go twice a week. Maybe even longer since I start tutoring soon, if I pass my teach back tomorrow, and that'll cut down on my times to go to cardio barre class.

I've already gone to class twice this week and I'm thinking of maybe trying and advanced class soon. Maybe not...But I do know I want to go to class this weekend if only to swoon at the adorable instructor. *sigh*

How many classes do I have to go to to look like this?

Consuming Pop Culture

I’m a self-proclaimed pop culture fanatic. I get obsessive about TV shows and movies and certain celebrities and I need to know everything and anything about them. I’m sure I’m not the only one (I am well aware of all the fandoms that exist) but sometimes I find it exhausting to keep up with it all! I follow 146 blogs on Tumblr and almost another 20 on Feedly. But I cannot stop!

I think it’s part of my curiosity that I need to know everything about certain things. I love reading Wiki and those “20 Things You Didn’t Know About _____” on BuzzFeed. I love reading and reading about pop culture is so easy for me. It’s almost brainless – except for the fact that I seem to remember all the miscellaneous details about all these strange TV shows: NPH from HIMYM is married to Scooter (David Burtka). Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan) is married to Giles from Buffy. Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) is actually Canadian and married to Taram Kilan from SNL who also plays Sandy in some episodes of HIMYM. I think it’s partially because I’m fascinated by the 6 degrees of separation between celebrities. It really seems like everyone knows everyone.

I’m debating seeing a movie by myself today. I feel like it’s a bit of a lonely person thing to do but it’s a movie, you’re supposed to be sitting still and watching it anyway. Not gabbing away (like I normally do). I have a ton of movies on my “To Watch” list: The Wolverine, We're The Millers, Kick-Ass 2, Jobs, just to name a few so perhaps I’ll go cross some off and treat myself to a movie today!

Though I did hear this story on a radio the other day that there was a woman who decided to go watch We're the Millers and was sitting by herself in the back row and during the Jennifer Aniston strip tease scene, the guy sitting a few seats away from her was doing things to himself that are not supposed to be done in public... So I'll have to be wary about that...

New Glasses from Warby Parker!

I’ve always bought my glasses the “traditional” way. I get my prescription from my optometrist and then head over to the nearest Walmart where I can purchase glasses using my insurance and getting the cheapest deal possible. The quality of glasses you get stuck with sucks. They’re obscure and strange brands and not at all stylish. As of right now, I’m sporting some Paula Dean frames that are much too big for my face and this odd pink color and the glasses just don’t fit right. No matter how many times I take them in to get tightened, I always end up with loose fitting glasses that slide down my nose.

Now that I’m making my own money, I’m in charge of budgeting it and I’m splurging on some new glasses. The company that I’m going to get them from is Warby Parker! It’s a start up that my company happens to work with but I’ve wanted to get a pair for a while now. I’ve just never put my foot down to actually do it.

The company was started by four Wharton grads that upset the glasses industry by making affordable frames that are still stylish and wearable! They also offer a “try at home” option where you can pick up to 5 frames and they’ll ship them to you for free. Then you can try those frames on at home, see which ones you like best, and then order those. You can then upload your prescription, have them call your optometrist for your prescription, or just give it to them later.

I tried my first pair on at one of Warby Parker’s traveling bus stores and fell in love with the Colton frames. They’re smaller frames that sit much better on my face and they come in four different colors. I’m going to get the tortoise colored ones for now. Who knows, I might order more!

I can’t wait for my glasses to come and I highly recommend that you check out their website! It’s super cool, beautifully made, and who doesn’t like to shop for glasses!

Planners and Agendas

It’s about that time of year again when school is gearing up to start and planners and agendas are becoming the hot item on the shelves. I love planners. It’s no secret. I get a new one every year and I love writing in them and making plans with friends and filling out everyone’s birthdays. Unfortunately, my planner doesn’t end till December of this year so I won’t get to buy a new academic planner like I usually do but it makes sense since I’m no longer in school anymore. But with all these planners popping up everywhere, I have to share some of my favorites!

designtaxi.com

This is my current planner and I'm completely in love with it. I only recently read "The Little Prince" maybe five or six years ago and the story is near and dear to my heart. The story resonated a lot with my life at the time and I think it's about time to do a re-reading so I can tell myself to visit some new planets soon. This planner is great because it has each day blocked out with a considerable amount of space and the right side is completely lined so you can doodle or write notes to yourself.

Of course I'm going to have to mention Lilly Pulitzer. I'm not a sorority girl, nor am I from the South, but a lot of the Lilly Pulitzer prints have just been calling my name lately. This cute Tusk in Sun print with the elephants is just so darling! I've heard these are great planners and they have both academic ones and full year ones so it caters to both the student and the working types. Lifeguard Press is a great place to look for Lilly planners!

Kate Spade planners are so classic and fit everything. It doesn't matter what your style is, Kate Spade has a pattern for you. I can't find another to describe it other than classic but they are oh so cute and I wish I could have one of these too. If only there was a justifiable excuse for owning so many planners.

Lastly, this is going to kill me but there's a planner that you can customize yourself online and you can insert pages of games or grid/graph paper in there to make it your own. It's a bit like this, but this isn't the site I'm thinking of. It's more minimalistic and toned down. Anybody know the site I'm thinking of??? OH MY GOD. Thank god for Google. I found the site!! It's called Bound For Anything and you can create your own customized journal/agenda with calendar pages, graph paper, maps - their selection is endless. I am so happy I finally found it. I've been dying for one of these but haven't been able to quite justify the price. Maybe this upcoming January...

boundforanything.com

I’ve been very very bad

I do apologize for not writing as of late but I did warn you, sister time does not leave much for writing time. But alas, I promised to write here every day and I have broken that promise to myself and to you, readers (although I know my readers consist of a few moms and occasionally toilet readers). So here I am with updates!

I just got back from my tutoring training and I was actually quite surprised by how fun and entertaining the whole thing was! I spent a little time going back and forth between whether I wanted to take on this tutoring job because I have a full time job already but after today’s training, I’m much more sold. My trainers are hilarious and we do a lot of role-playing as tutor and student. It definitely helps that my trainers are aspiring actors so they take the role of the student very seriously. Flip plays the most convincing teenager. Joss Whedon, please cast him in some role because he would just be amazing. We also got fed for dinner and our parking paid for so I’m pretty happy.

Because I’m taking two half days this week from my full time job, it’s going to be a rough week. I’m going to have a lot of catching up to do so I might have to stay a bit later tomorrow night to get everything done. As of right now, I have 49 e-mails sitting on my phone waiting to be addressed so I’ll probably go through some of them tonight but it’s nothing an hour or two extra won’t be able to fix.

Everything else in my life has been normal. The sister left today so I’m left to fend on my own again. I have some leftover soup from Sunday and I hope it isn’t going bad. I think I can eat it for dinner tomorrow. Hopefully I don’t give myself food poisoning. Well until tomorrow, I promise to do a better job of posting!

Orange is the New Black Links

My sister just started watching “Orange is the New Black” and so I have no choice but to sit through all the episodes…not that I mind! I love the show and I jumped at the chance to rewatch the series! I’ve also been doing plenty of research on the show (and by that I mean reading every online article ever) and here are some of my favorites:

A Guide to the Characters of Orange is the New Black:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/louispeitzman/a-guide-to-the-cast-of-orange-is-the-new-black

23 Surprising Facts about Orange is the New Black:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lyapalater/surprising-facts-about-orange-is-the-new-black
My personal favorites: Yoga Jones was the voice of Patty Mayonnaise. Laverne Cox’s (Sophia) real-life twin brother played her pre-transition in the flashback sequence in Episode 3…

The actual article written by Larry about his relationship with Piper:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/fashion/28Love.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Books of Orange is the New Black – someone actually took the time to document all the books seen/read by the characters!
http://booksofoitnb.tumblr.com/

Have you jumped on the “Orange is the New Black” train yet?

DocStoc Fireside Chats

Remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned the DocStoc Fireside Chat my coworkers and I attended? Well, the video is finally up! Check out the chat with the CEO of Get Satisfation, Wendy Lea:

What do you find most interesting about her chat? 

Cardio Barre

I’ve been crossing things off my 22 Things List left and right! First a salsa class on Tuesday and today, I took my very first cardio barre class. It kicked my butt but I’m so happy I went and I can’t wait to go again!

Cardio barre is this new fad exercise class that’s taking over LA and it’s like ballet on speed. It’s fifty minutes of intense cardio that utilizes a free standing barre and incorporates some familiar ballet movies like plies, battements, and releves but done at a much faster pace. It’s one of those classes where you can really push yourself by lifting your leg a little bit higher, stretching a little bit further, just doing everything a little more.

I already know I’m going to be sore tomorrow but it was so worth it. It felt so good to sweat and doing something that was somewhat familiar to my body. I’m surprised I was able to do 50 minutes of cardio when running usually knocks the wind out of me after 20 minutes. I can’t wait to go again and maybe try out some of the other instructors, though I did love Sabrina. I wonder how hard it is to get cardio barre certified? I’d love to teach a class.

Cardio barre classes aren’t cheap either. I was lucky enough to find a Groupon where I bought five classes for $29. Usually, single classes are about $16 a piece. They give you a little keychain card that you scan and it keeps track of your classes for you. If you ever get the urge to do a little ballet while sweating like there’s no tomorrow, cardio barre is for you! Check out their website here!

This seems to be the default cardio barre picture everywhere...but this was one of the many things we did.

Salsa Class and Taco Tuesday!

I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday because our Taco Tuesday festivities put me right to bed! But it was such a fun Tuesday, I have to share it with you!

After work, Polly and I headed to our very first salsa class. It was a salsa basics class so we learned how to count the steps and how to do a basic turn. We didn’t have enough guys to girls so I volunteered to be a leader. I wish I had a chance to turn and be a follower but maybe next time.

After salsa class, we headed over to Hudson House for Taco Tuesday. It was packed and we thought it was going to be a while before we got a seat but luckily, our new friends knew all the bartenders and we were seated right away! The tacos were only $1 and they were delicious! I had four (that’s right, 4!) of the carnitas tacos. SO GOOD. We had a lot of fun with our new friends and I’m definitely going to try and go back to Hudson House to try some of their other foods. The head chef made it to the finals of Top Chef so her food is pretty well known now, hence the packed restaurant.

I think yesterday night has been the most fun Tuesday I’ve had here so far! Here’s to many more!

Masterchef

My sister is addicted to Masterchef, and as a result, I am too! It’s an interesting cooking competition where you can actually sabotage the other opponents and winning certain challenges really gives you an advantage the following rounds. My sister’s gone through three seasons in about three days and I’ve been tagging along and watching on the side. It’s such a nice night when we order in food and watch television together!

We also watched the two new episodes of Video Game High School. Video Game High School is a series that was created by a bunch of YouTube stars. The first season is now a movie on Netflix and I’ve watched it several times over. Now, with Kickstarter funding their second season, they’re releasing new episodes and they are just as hilarious as before. If you haven’t checked out the series, I highly recommend it! It’s amazing how amateur YouTube videographers can make these high quality videos! I mean, I don’t think they’re even amateurs anymore in my book!

Sister time is the best time (no mummies alowed).

Universal Studios: Take 2! And Sangria!

I took my sister to Universal Studios today before my 2 day pass expired and so she could go and use up the extra ticket that my dad had bought but never used. It was actually a really quick trip because we hit up the tram tour first and then went in the single rider line for the rest of the rides. We took a picture with the Despicable Me photo booth and while we were doing that, a mummy snuck up behind us and gave me a big scare. I screamed much too loudly, much to the delight and amusement of some other patrons.

The scream in this picture was planned. The one after when I turned around was not.

After Universal Studios, we went to Trader Joe’s to pick up some libations. At the check-out, with three bottles of two buck Chuck in hand and some fruit, the cashier asked us what we were up to tonight. “Not trouble of course!” We didn’t have any plans to go out but we did end up making some pretty awesome sangria and ordering Chinese food delivery.

One of the top ten tastiest things I've ever made, I'd say!

After watching several episodes of Masterchef, making a walrus face, and eating a lot of my sangria soaked fruit, I’m a bit at a loss for what to do for the rest of the night. Perhaps a movie and more sangria! Though I’m supposed to drop my sister off at Disneyland tomorrow…

Walrus face. Inspired by sangria.

Stacked – Food Built Well

I had originally tried to leave work a bit earlier than usual so I could take my sister to happy hour at Ra Sushi but I ended up getting swamped so we had to postpone our plans for sushi. We did, however, go to the mall anyway and shop around and have dinner. Polly wanted to buy some Levi’s jeans and when she was trying on a pair of straight cut ones, one of the retail clerks asked if the pants were a fit and “if they made her calves look less like sausages.” Needless to say, it was hilarious.

Instead of Ra Sushi, we went to a place called Stacked where they boast that their food is “built well.” It’s a sport bar-like place with several large screen TV’s playing various ESPN channels and it serves the American classics: burgers, pizza, mac & cheese. The cool thing is that everything is customizable. After being seated, a waiter doesn’t come to take your order – you order on an iPad at your table! They’ve built a custom app where you can actually swipe to add toppings to your burger/pizza/mac & cheese and then when you’re ready, you can send it to the kitchen where a cook will put your order together. It’s pretty nifty and for those of you who are quick to order, you can send your order in first while your slower friends hem and haw over their orders.

We ordered a small fries with their garlic aioli (DELICIOUS) as well as two custom burgers and a milkshake. I had originally checked in with my Yelp! account but I completely forgot to use my 50% off a milkshake! Alas, next time then.

The burgers were well made (and well built, I suppose) though I think P went a little overboard and put too much on hers. She couldn’t even take a bite out of it because it was so large! We left stuffed but happy. It’s a pretty cool experience even if the food is nothing out of the ordinary. I’m a sucker for anything that’s modern and technological and I’m hopelessly awkward around strangers so the iPad interaction was perfect for me. Next time, I’m going to try one of their “adult milkshakes!”

Not an "adult milkshake" but still delicious!

Look at the monstrous burger.

No need to bring lunch tomorrow since we’re having a luncheon at the office. Can’t wait!