Friday Foto: The Dead Fish

Gah... It's been a while since I've updated!  I've been assigned a new project at work and have been busy at the home front planning a weekend getaway for my MIL who turned 50 a few days ago... Anyway, there's lots to post about, but I can't find the time to do it!  I truly admire those who are able to update frequently and consistently.  I need to work on that.

Anyway, since I haven't uploaded any of the fun pictures from the last couple of weeks to my computer yet, here's one taken on my phone Tuesday night at one of my favorite restaurants in the Bay Area - The Dead Fish.

It was our first day back to work from our weekend getaway, so I didn't feel like cooking that night.  Ha! Who am I kidding? I never feel like cooking and we hardly ever eat in...

We were both in the mood for crab and boy did we have lots of it:  crab chowder, crab crostini and a crab caesar salad! Yum!!!

The best part of the restaurant (besides their yummy bread) is the view from the outside.  The restaurant overlooks the Carquinez Bridge and my hubs alma mater, California Maritme Academy.

I could just sit out there all night long... Well, not really.  It was freaking cold!  If you know me, then you know that I never bring a jacket with me (I tend not to wear layers because it adds inches on me and I don't need any more inches on my body! Don't get me wrong - I totally covet outfits with multiple layers - I just can't pull them off!), so I was freezing my butt off outside.  I didn't care though.  The view was beautiful...

Another busy weekend ahead (including a fashion show I'll be performing at), beginning with an overdue dinner with some of my besties tonight!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!

Friday Foto: All You've Got To Do Is Dream

Last night, I saw Dreamgirls at the Curran Theater last night with two of my besties:

A few weeks ago, we only talked about maybe going to catch a show, and knowing us, I thought we'd never find the time.  However, during chat on Tuesday, one of my gals suggested we go that Thursday!

We don't do spontaneous.  Actually, we did once... when on a whim we flew to Vegas for a quick weekend trip that ended with me waking up in the middle of the night vomiting over the toilet without ANY clothes on (different story for a different day)...But long gone are those days because these two besties are now PREGGERS!!  Their due dates are just a couple days apart -- how crazy is that!?!

Anyway, I was shocked when we actually bought the tickets and no one flaked out at the last minute.  I drove straight from work and the two of them met up with each me in the city.  With only 30 minutes to spare before curtain call, we grabbed a quick bite at Chipotle (I know...SO many places to eat in SF, but we chose Chipotle!  Sorry, we needed something quick! Plus, Chipotle is delicious.)

We made it right on time!  We bought cheapest tickets we could find, but since it was a weeknight, there were a ton of empty seats and we were upgraded to a lower section! Score!!

I loved it!!!  The set was impressive and the actors were on point -- their voices did not disappoint at all! The actress playing Deena Jones was Syesha Mercado from American Idol Season 7, which I thought really exciting even though I don't think I watched that season. 

If you are in San Francisco between now and September 26, I would totally recommend you see it!

The picture below was taken right before I got yelled at by one of the ushers, "NO pictures!!!!".  Oops.

Me (left) and the two glowing preggers, let's call them High Maintenance-B (middle) and Bad Influence-F (right)

Friday Foto: Lady Gaga & Giveaway Winner!

The Lady Gaga concert was fantastico!  That woman knows how to put on one helluva show!

My favorite part of the evening though was seeing the different costumes all the fans dressed up in!  I went to the concert straight from work, so sadly I'm wearing not so cute clothing... but check out this gal:

horrible picture of me, but whatevs.

Hot, right? Yeah, my hubs was the one who spotted her --- shocker.  I think the only thing that kept him from being super grumpy that night was seeing all the slutty scantily clad ladies prancing about.  Shoot - I couldn't keep my eyes off of them either! This monster in particular had a loooong line of people wanting to take pictures with her. She must have felt like a supastah!  Check out suspenders dude in the back.  He was rockin' a fierce ensemble, too.

Surprisingly, our seats were decent... Yay for free tickets! Sure we were in the top section, BUT we had the front row in our section and didn't have to worry about people standing up and blocking our view.

The only part that sucked was getting home at 1 in the morning on a week night!  Waking up 4 hours later for work was not fun.  I think there should be a rule that all concerts should either be on a Friday or Saturday... who's with me?  Sorry folks, I'm not 21 anymore and can't be functional after an all-nighter.  Heck, I only had a handful of those nights in my prime and didn't do it well then! (Ha - I'm lame) Point is, I think I still have some sleep catching-up to do this weekend, so I am glad it's Friday!!!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Almost forgot! I need to announce the winner of my first giveaway!!  Thank you to everyone who entered!  Hopefully we'll have more giveaways in the future!

Congrats to Susan Mc!  I'll be contacting you soon with the details!

It's "A" boy... and a Lulu*s coupon for you!

A few cousins and I are throwing a baby shower for my dear Cousin M this Saturday.  I volunteered to be in charge of the decorations, of course.  It's been a while since I opened Photoshop, and I was itchin' for a new project.

She's having a boy and her husband is a huge Oakland A's fan... naturally we went with that theme.  The decor will be sweet and simple. I think it took me a total of just 2 hours to complete all the DIY stuff.  Here's a sneak peek for ya:

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In other news, here's a treat for you and me! (Awesome coupon below)

The other day I discovered Lulus.com and fell in love!  In a matter of 5 minutes, I ordered three dresses and a top!  I don't normally buy clothes online because only certain styles fit my body type and I like to try on stuff beforehand...  even though I know that all stores have magic mirrors in their fitting rooms.  90% of the clothes I thought looked fantastic on me in the store end up making me feel like a bloated cow at home.  Lulu*s has a pretty good return/exchange policy, so I thought I'd order online anyway and give it a shot! 

I made the order last Wednesday and the package arrived at my doorstep by Friday! Everything fit really great, though the material for the dresses I bought were a bit thin and definitely require a slip underneath.  Otherwise -- loving my new purchases. Here are a couple of the dresses I bought:

Cute, right? Now I have something to wear to the baby shower on Saturday!

On to my main point: Lulu*s contacted me and is offering us a 15% discount off our next purchase!

Just use the coupon code SIMPLEEVERYDAY during checkout for 15% off your entire LuLu*s purchase. It's available now through September 12th!

Friday Foto: Glider Plane Ride

circa 2005

Here's an old school photo I found recently while trying to figure out what picture to post today.  One of my BFFs, Bon, and I went on an impromptu Napa weekend trip many summers ago.  Since turning 21, we never really took advantage of living 20 minutes from wine country until that weekend.

We hit up a few wineries and somehow came across a flyer for "Glider Plane Rides".   We had no idea what they were about, but it looked like fun so we jumped at the opportunity!

I'm no expert, but a glider plane is pretty much a tiny ass really small plane without an engine.  I have no idea why we thought floating in the air in a machine that did not have power would be a good idea... but I guess we were drunk on wine when we made our reservations.

Since the glider plane doesn't have an engine, it is launched into the sky using an aero-tow.  Basically, a "real" plane with an engine tows the glider up into the sky using a long rope, which is then released when you reach the appropriate altitude, leaving you floating in the air with a pilot who navigates the plane as it ascends to the ground. 

It was scary!!! First, do you see how tightly squeezed we are in the passenger seat?!  Bon is like 80 lbs and I was still surprised we even fit!  Secondly, our pilot thought it would be really fun to do some spins and dips after we were released by the aero-tow! Naturally, we were freaking out thinking we would plummet to our death doing all those crazy tricks without an engine!

Luckily, our pilot was very experienced and assured us we would be fine.  I was able to calm down and open my eyes to see the view from the air...  it was unbelievable! I would totally recommend it the next time you're in Napa.

Every time I look at that picture, I can't help but smile thinking about the fun memories from that weekend. 

I heart friends.

Friday Foto: Blue Sox

Matthew plays softball on Thursday nights.  Here's his old team, "Blue Sox".  Boys in a uniform always make great eye candy. It's that darn Cheerleader Effect (HIMYM reference, anyone?!) -- though I have to argue that the hubs looks handsome with or without a large group... but I might be biased there :)

He didn't play this past season, but in a couple weeks, he will be joining a new co-ed league.  They don't have a name. And, no, I'm not playing.  Hahaha! As mentioned before, I suck at sports.  Seriously, I do.  I played badminton in high school... but I sucked. At badminton. Isn't that like the easiest sport to play*?  The surface area of the racket is so much larger than the birdie, it should be hard to swing and miss.  Not for me!  I was ranked next to last on the team, so I only competed with equally sucky players from other schools.  My winning percentage was decent, but I was still horrible.  I'm pretty sure I hit my doubles partner with my racket on more than one occasion... sorry, Tiff.

Anyway, there was one time Matthew and I went to the batting cages so he could warm up before a game.  I saw little kids practicing and they made it look really easy.  I had an extra few bucks, so I decided to try batting myself.  THIRTY pitches later (we're talking SLOW pitches for softball, not fast pitches)... I made contact with ZERO balls.  "You're not watching the ball!!" Matthew would yell say to me... but I really was!!! The bat just wasn't hitting it!

Whatever.  I'll just leave all the sports playing to my hubs.   

*No offense to professional badminton players out there.  I know a lot of skill and talent is involved in being good at the sport; the poke is meant to emphasize how uncoordinated I am at anything...

Friday Foto: Sydney Bridge Climb

We went to Australia for our honeymoon last year. We visited Lizard Island, Port Douglas and finished our 2-week trip in Sydney.

Of course, one of the things we had to do there (beside see an opera at the famous Opera House), was experience the Sydney Bridge Climb.  They make you wear those super snazzy jumpers and a latch that attaches to a static line on the bridge, so you won't have to worry about your safety.  They don't let you take cameras or cell phones with you since there's the possibility of dropping them on to oncoming traffic below - that would be no bueno.  The sunglasses we were wearing had to have those neck straps connected to them, so they don't fall off our body.

source

Here's an excerpt about the climb from their website:

The Bridge Climb is a 3 ½ hour guided journey to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It takes you along the outer arch of the Bridge on catwalks and ladders all the way to the summit, 134 metres above Sydney Harbour.

The steady incline to the summit leaves you free to focus your attention on your Sydney experience, with opportunities to witness 360 degree views of Sydney, including east to the Sydney Opera House, west to the Blue Mountains and the Harbour city surrounds.

When you reach the top you will have a sense of achievement that you will remember forever - you've conquered an Australian icon recognised the world over!

The Bridge Climb is the ultimate Sydney experience.

It truly was an amazing experience to be on top of that bridge!  The view was breathtaking - and not just because we were at a higher elevation :) If you ever have a chance to visit Sydney, I would definitely recommend the Bridge Climb -- worth every penny!

Friday Foto: Corneal Ulcer

Some time last year, I woke up with a feeling that something was in my right eye.  I checked in the mirror and didn't see anything, so I went about my morning ritual, including putting in my contact lenses. Ed note: I cannot believe I missed the typos earlier... The first sentence read "Some time last year, I work up with a feeling that someone was in my right eye." Hahahah. I'm an idiot.

I've worn contacts since I was 15 (glasses since 13) and never had an issue, but that morning, when I put a contact in my right eye, it hurt like a mother!  Still, I hate the way I look in glasses, so because of my vanity, I told myself to suck it up and left the contact in.

Throughout my drive to work though, I kept blinking because the irritation didn't go away.  At a red light, I inspected my right eye closer and saw a teeny, tiny white speck on my iris (the brown part of my eye).  Rubbing it away didn't work, and I began to worry. As soon as I got to work, I removed the contact from my right eye... I still needed to keep the contact in my left eye because I am pretty much BLIND without them.

I don't know if you wear contacts, but wearing only ONE is super difficult.  My spacial awareness was all off and staring at my computer with two different visions was starting to make me dizzy.  So, I decided to make myself a patch to cover my right eye:

I'm obviously not very happy in this picture...

Cute, right? Ha... I thought it would be funny to draw an eye on the patch, but as you can see, my placement was all sorts of wrong. 

Long story short, I went to an optometrist who told me I had a corneal ulcer in my right eye, due to bacteria from my contacts.  Basically the bacteria from my dirty contacts ate away at the first few layers of my eye.  Yuck. So I WARN all you contact wearing folks, be sure to clean your contacts AND contact case every night.  Also, don't try to wear them longer than what's recommended.  I had 2-week disposables that I would sometimes wear for a MONTH before throwing out.  Stupid.  Having an ulcer was probably one of the WORST experiences in my life.  I had to put drops in every 30 minutes (even throughout the night) for 2 weeks straight!

Thank goodness my loving husband gifted me with LASIK/PR-K surgery for Valentine's Day this year.  It's a whole new world waking up with 20/15 vision.  I love not having to worry about taking my contacts out every night before going to bed or ruining my glasses after falling asleep with them on.

Do you have a horror story about contacts?

Friday Foto: Harvy

My mom is funny. Not in the she-tells-great-jokes kind of way... She immigrated to the United States about 30 years ago from the Philippines and can speak English fluently but still has a slight accent. Sometimes the fob in her will come out and she'll say or do things like this:

[Mom and I are driving on the freeway when all of a sudden, someone cuts her off causing us to swerve and almost hit the car in the other lane] Mom: Look at dat stupid guy! He almost hit us! Me: I know! What a jerk! Mom: I hate him [she makes the "thumbs up" gesture with her hand and pumps it in the air for the car in front to see] Me: What are you doing? Mom: I'm showing him how angry he made me! Me: [laughing] Umm.. no you're not! You're telling him "good job"! You're supposed to use your MIDDLE finger if you want him to know you don't like him.

See? She's funny. I love her.

Also, she can never tell our two dogs, Harry and Marv, apart. They have distinct looks, but no matter how many times we tell her who's who, she never gets it right and more often than not, she refers to Harry as "Harvy" - unintentionally combining the two names.

I kinda like it. Instead of H&M, I might start using "Harvy" to refer to both our little bullies:

iPhone pic

Friday Foto: Blue Sky

This is a view from our little commuter car, on my way to pick up the hubs after work. It was taken using my 1st generation iPhone 2G (yup, I haven't upgraded yet) - hence the horrible 2MP quality.

Still, check out the blue sky.

I'm inside of a building all day long, so I often don't get a chance to appreciate the beauty of the world outside of these four walls.

I think I will eat lunch outside today. My skin needs some Vitamin D and the weather over here has been rather wonderful lately.

Friday Foto: Raider Nation

RRRRRRRRRaiders!!!!

This picture was taken at a tailgating party of the last Oakland Raider game Matthew and I attended last season. We lost that game, of course. The past few years haven't been kind to our team, but we still support them no matter how many times the Raiders disappoint or how scary the other fans are. Seriously. You should see the parking lot after the games -- totally looks like a scene from Armageddon.

Matthew has been a loyal Raider fan since the day he was born and has literally gone to 100+ games (including Super Bowl XXXVII). You would be hard pressed to find a more dedicated and knowledgeable fan. Our whole downstairs family room/bar area is decked out in Silver and Black paraphernalia -- even the walls are painted with the official Oakland Raider grey. He gifted his groomsmen personalized Raider jerseys at our wedding. He's a super hardcore member of the Raider Nation.

I, too, have always loved the Raiders and can recite the entire roster since 1979 by heart.

OK.

You got me.

I never cared about football until Matthew came along. I had no idea what a "down" meant and was totally baffled by the scoring system - if they kick the ball through the funny looking yellow thing field goal posts it can either equal 3 points or 1?! Too confusing. I used to only watch the Super Bowl with my parents because they had money on a pool and needed the teams to score a certain number to win. That used to be my only exposure to the game.

Not long after we started dating though, Matthew took me to my first sporting event, and I fell in love with the sport. Well, not quite, but I did have a really good time. The energy at the Oakland Coliseum is unmatchable and you can't help but be fully invested in the game. Since then, I became a Raider fan and excitedly await for football Sundays every fall. Sometimes, I'll even turn the TV on to ESPN even though Matthew isn't in the room. One day, I plan to be knowledgeable enough to join their Fantasy Football league... my hubs and his friends are super passionate about that, it makes me a bit envious that I can't get in on the fun!

Did you learn to like something only after your significant other introduced you to it?

Friday Foto: Disneyland Half-Marathon

I realize that yesterday's "Thursday Mashup" is not an alliteration and most bloggers who have themed days make cute, witty, titles for them (i.e. Tuesday Target Finds, Would you Rather Wednesdays, etc). I failed. Oops.

So, I'm going to try again with Friday Foto. If I don't have anything to write about (like today), I am going to just post a random picture on my hard drive.

This is what you get today:

This picture was taken in 2007 at the Disneyland Half-marathon weekend... I thought I would post this to re-motivate myself to get my butt off of my couch and stop watching Weeds (current obsession.. it's soooo good!) That's the hubs, partially at least, to my right with the grey shirt and red laces. He stayed with me the whole time, even though I cried at mile 8 and wanted to give up at mile 11....