Monday Madness

Oh another Monday has come and gone. Which actually was not as bad today, even though at work I cleaned up puke for the first time. If you don't know already I work at a preschool as a teacher, but if my boss ask's I work at an Education Center as a Educator/Caregiver. That's Reggio Philosophy for you. Cleaning up puke was the extent of today's madness at work, a child has the stomach flu, it hurt my heart to watch him on his hands and knees with puke. With all it's madness with puke, poo, pee, accidents/clean up's at the end of the day I actually love my job. Weird right? Something must be wrong with me. haha.

(packed fruit for work to snack on :p)

Besides work I part time actually, full time obsess over material objects recently actually yesterday & TODAY. I've been obsessing over an MK watch and these wonderful heels. 

I've actually been telling myself that I'd "treat" myself to an MK watch soon, I was very close to purchasing this one because its currently on sale at Nordstrom for 40% off and what not crazy person would take advantage of that opportunity. MK watches rarely go on sale if EVER, the only times I've seen it go on sale are half-yearly sales or anniversary sales at Nordstrom. I don't check bloomingdales but I know they have their annual sales too which end up taking 30-35% off their watches. I prefer Nordstrom because of their free shipping online and amazing customer service. In the end I decided NOT to get this watch, I'll be patiently waiting for the half-yearly sale to make a purchase, maybe. After all I recently just got my DKNY watch fixed.

I actually have these color blocked heels that I bought 3 weeks ago. So buying the satin bow heels would make no sense, for now I'll lust over them. I guess I just love these one's so much that another pair of color blocked ones that are comfortable make sense in my mind. It's hard for me to come across heels that are comfortable and are nude colored (that matches my skin perfectly). So if I do come across a pair that I end up loving I get them. Sadly the satin bow heels might have to wait. 

(DKNY watch that I recently fixed because one of the number ticks inside fell when we went to disneyland/ca adventure..must of been california screamin' haha. & all the other objects I tend to use often)

Despite my shopping habits, I am actually quite smart with how I spend my money. I don't put anything on credit. When I first started working the only things I'd put on credit were big purchases. I quickly learned that I didn't like credit, I'd rather only spend the money I have. So from then on I only spend the money I have. I do end up treating myself to things more than I should but my justification is I work for this money so why can't I enjoy it once in awhile. In the end majority of my purchases are smart, I don't spend if I don't have the money or I don't need it. I'm quickly learning the grown up world and how to manage money smart. OH such a headache thinking about being grown up and allocating money to phone/tv/internet bills, luxury items, and savings. 

Two weekends ago I visited Joe and my other dear friends in the Bay Area. Reminded me how much I love my friends and how much I don't like the Bay, I just love certain people living there. It's mainly just driving, somehow every time it's given me massive headaches, you can put me in LA/OC traffic easily and I'll survive just fine but somehow driving/traffic in the bay give me anxiety & massive migraines. From now on I'm trying to avoid visiting during high traffic hours, haha. It's ok headaches are the small price I need to pay because at the end of that drive I'm always greeted with loved ones :). 

(daiso cup, so adorable, even has a topper to keep my tea warm :D)

This next month is actually a very big month, full of so many celebrations! Joe and I will be celebrating our 4 years, who would of thought? It's gone so fast, but just feels like yesterday. Family will be celebrating birthday's and baby showers! April is such a exciting month, I think it's the spring weather that's making me a bit happy. 

Happy Monday! I leave with another Monday Music selection 

Robyn- Hang with Me

This song was released in 2010, but I'm still listening to it 2 years later. I've been a fan of Robyn since the "Show me Love", "Do You Know What it Takes" 90's days. I remember being in the 5th grade singing along to her songs. 15 year's later I'm still listening to Robyn singing along, haha. 

Happy Listening! 

Last Day in the City of Brotherly Love

It has taken me almost a good 3 weeks to finish my series of pictures from Philly. Half of me know's that it's because with work and life in general it just isn't convenient to sit at a computer and write a blog post. The other half of me knows I've been holding on to the idea of Philly/East Coast and looking at these pictures makes me relive the excitement of experiencing something new. 

Last day in Philly with a flight at 4pm, our day consisted of going to Philly's Art Museum to climb up the famous "Rocky Balboa" steps and his statue. This day was actually a lot of laughs and fun, it might of been a mixture of getting a full night's rest to thinking "it's our last day i'm gonna enjoy it and take in everything from air to sites." The picture above is one of many Philly's street art, how crazy does it look, if you look closely it's almost 3D. 

Our hotel is on the left, just wanted to take a street view. I never thought that dead trees would actually be pretty. I'm sure its the idea that it's actually winter and yes tree's do die and somehow get green in the spring. Tree's dont die in winter in California like this, at least not gracefully.

Masonic temple when we were driving to the Art Museum, reminded me of National Treasure! & Of course all the Philly art museum pictures. So breathtakingly beautiful! The view from the top of the steps of the DT Philly was also beautiful. & YES we did run up the steps, I ran up in my boots! My sister and I ran up together and we were laughing the whole time. It was a combo of us running with each other despite her wearing flats and me wearing boots, also knowing everyone was watching us laughing with us thinking she's running in boots! haha.

View from behind the museum overlooking the boat houses. Our last day was really meant for the "look at all the last historic sites and take pictures for lasting memories" (of course) even if we look like asian tourist :) 

For some reason this picture turned out odd, I keep forgetting that my camera is a bit more complicated than a point and shoot, so if someone else ends up taking a picture it doesn't turn out the way it should. 

After this we took a walk by the delta, actually not on purpose, I thought it'd be a faster route back to the car, but it wasn't. My sister and her bf were actually freaking out the whole time, they should of trusted me, it did end up being around the corner, just a scenic walk. A lot of people were just exercising or taking a stroll near the delta, we felt kinda funny with the way we were dressed but regardless it was nice to do something local. 

Before our flight we had lunch and I kept forgetting to get Dunkin' Donuts so I just got it at the airport. The funny thing is we were doing a count on how many Dunkin' Donuts we saw walking around we must of saw 20+ without recounting, Dunkin' Donuts are everywhere, every corner, the shops underneath at the 15th/16th street entrance for the subway. The east coast loves their Dunkin' Donuts! I guess it might be the equivalent to a Starbucks for the West Coast. I don't get it! Actually I probably never will, well besides that their coffee is actually yummy, that was the only thing I had at the shops underneath the Market entrance for the subway. The only donut shop I've ever loved is the one in the town my parents live in, so I guess I'm biased. 

After looking at all the pictures from Philly, (at least for this last post) i'm longing to live in a city with four seasons. I know that sounds ridiculous because most of the time people from the East Coast coming to California always use that excuse but it's actually a very legit reason. California just really has Spring all year around! Okay so that's not really a good reason, but honestly the main reason is I'd love to live in a city with so much history, dating back to the founding fathers, the first colonies. I'd love to soak in the history and appreciate holiday's like fourth of july, have summer bbq's/block parties etc etc. I know i'd love to live on the East Coast for at least a handful of years, before I start a family with children. I'll try to make it happen, one of these day's, after I accomplish all my career & academic goals. I'm glad I made this trip with my sister, and hopefully next time it'll be a bigger east coast trip with other people that are important in my life, so they can fall in love like I did. :)

Happy Saturday! 

the rhythm of a brand new day

Thought I'd update a personal post in between my Philly Day 3 so it doesn't look like a jumble of entries. Another via instagram life update :) 

I've recently been obsessed with making sushi. Part of the reason is lent and no meat friday's too. I made these without a sushi maker, just saran wrap and being very careful. I used half brown rice aswell! For the longest time my parents have switched to having half brown rice and half white rice, so naturally I've taken their eating habits and now incorporate them into my own. I also recently noticed how healthy both my parents eat. We always have organic meat, eggs, fruit, and vegetables. If not organic usually home grown or from local farmers that my parents have made friends with. They also handle their own meat, this is probably the upside of having a family in the agriculture business. I know these habits have been with them since their Philippine day's but it's made me think how I'll be eating when I have a family of my own. I hope to eat just like my parents though, even if it's a bit pricey, I know it'll be the most healthy. 

I was lagging on my exercise habits but I've slowly been back to working my way up to exercising often. I found something new to keep me motivated in gaining weight/fitness goals. Myfitnesspal counts my calories for the day also keeps track of my "goal" calories. The sad thing about all this is I actually never realized how much I ate a day till now. I'm glad I decided to do this because it's keeping me on track instead of just stuffing my face with unhealthy food to gain weight. I'm actually finding healthy ways to eat while building my calorie intake. 

This is actually from earlier today, i'm trying to color block more often. That explains the touch of red/orange bracelets and  the statement teal pants. I wore my Zara Knit that's actually quite revealing since it has a whole bunch of holes in it, but I wore a bandeau under since it was a nice sunny day out. I added my Tom's Wedges (I know I did say I was boycotting them but I already bought these plus their my skin tone, which is so hard to find in shoewear if i'm going for a nude look). My bag is actually thrifted from a retro/vintage store in Berkeley when I was visiting my beau <3

The reason I went out today, along with other organic face products. I've recently been experiencing horrible dry skin. My skin is severely sensitive to most products and I know for a fact that usually if I choose all natural products for my face, it is 100% effective. My lips have recently been acting up, they've been so dry that they were starting to blister, been so bad that they won't take anything but 100% aloe to heal them.  I was using Cetaphil & Proactiv for a while and both seem to be drying for my face now, and when I do wash my face it's hard to miss my lips. The combination of dry weather and face products must of been the cause of horrible dry skin. Today was one of the first day's my lips haven't been so bad, thank goodness because I was in pain for the past 2 weeks.

Usually when I eat dinner (I don't really have anyone to eat dinner with so I usually just eat alone) I watch T.V (yes, I know horrible habit) and Hair Spray was on! Well at least the last 20 minutes. I was reminded how much I absolutely LOVE this movie, the era, and musicals. Ok I never forgot about how much I LOVE musicals, haha. Anyways I leave with one of my favorite songs from the movie. Welcome to the 60s and the reason for my headline ;) 

Philly Day 3

I guess I won't get too fancy with headlines since I'm way behind on posting about Philly day 3. I decided to stay in on this beautiful saturday night to watch the back to back movies of National Treasure on USA. Ok yes I did stay in all day watching these treasure movies, but can you blame me? National Treasure is an awesome movie!! My favorite line is "Do you know what the preservation room is for?" ... "Delicious Jams & Jellies?" oh so funny. harharharityharhar. :D

Our second day we weren't in a rush again so we met my sister for lunch at Reading Terminal Market. We really wanted to try fresh baked pretzels since we read that PA was known for pretzels. Words cannot describe Miller's Pretzels! It's not like Auntie Anne's Pretzels or Wetzel Pretzels. No hard shell for pretzels just nice and soft pretzels with no added fancy sugar just plain ol good soft slightly salty pretzels. Just thinking about it is making me miss yummy pretzels!

The center eating area had gospel singers which attracted quite a bit of people. The whole place ended up being super crowded. On our way out we heard funny one liners like, "If you stop your causing traffic just like the express way!" & "This place is CONGESTED!" haha. Oh and also one fun conversation, a young man in his mid-20s stopped me to ask if I was registered to vote! I was in mid chew when he asked so I nodded my head and he went on and asked "How bout new Address. In this area?" haha so I chewed and of course answered "I'm from california!" So does this mean I look like a Philly native?!! Better yet, EAST COASTER? haha. I excitedly told my sister and anyone else who would listen haha.  

After eating Pretzels my sister had to go back to work so we decided to take full advantage of tax free shopping. I only really shopped at stores that I knew I've been wanting a few items from, and having them tax free would end up saving me quite a bit of money. Ended up going to American Apparel, Steve Madden (because of the buy one get one 1/2 sale), and Zara.  On the way back Jon bought Gyro's from the Halal Cart. Jon was a trouper and joined me shopping but he actually ended up spending way more than me. 

When we got back to the hotel we knew my sister should probably do a little shopping as well so we went out again. The first few pictures with the Organ is actually Macy's! Crazy how a shopping store can have an Organ that was actually playing super nice classical music. Macy's itself was nice and big with multiple stories full of white marble and mahogany furniture. On the way back there's a few building's that change lights every few minutes. If you see in my last picture of the lights you can see city hall in the background, out of all the buildings I saw for some reason city hall was probably one of my favorites to look at. At the hotel we once again enjoyed complementary desserts in concierge, this was actually our second round, the first round had different cakes and cookies. 

After resting a bit we decided we were gonna go to Pat's for dinner before we saw a show at the Laff House. Pat's is the steak house across from Geno's which actually Pat's is very good! Not as brightly decorated as Geno's but the food speaks for itself. 

We literally only had 20 minutes before the show started yet I don't know why we decided to get flights at a local bar. We were all troupers and finished it...well kind of except my sister. BUT she took one for the team because I couldn't drink the last stout I had in my flight which was the Brooklyn Chocolate Stout...it was so strong that I couldn't stomach it, so she gave me her last one instead so I could finish all 4. It was quite funny because she ended up leaving it on Jon's so it looked like he didn't finish and we did, the bartender got a kick out of that. 

Excuse the hagard look I drank way too much to look cute. BUT it was funny going to Laff House and hearing it was an an all black comedy house. Orlando Jones was entertaining but his opening acts were actually more funny. 

After drinking pizza post Laff House. Yes I know how ridiculous I look, after adding to super strong beer + chocolate martini's at Laff House, it was an interesting next few hours. After this we went to shop for souvenirs to take back home for our family and some of my close friends. Shopping with alcohol in my system might of not been the smartest thing because I ended up getting wrong sizes. But that's ok..totally my fault. 

Preview of our last day in Philly <3