The Year of the Opal

Happy Anniversary to my parents.

34 years in this day & age is quite a feat~ Well done!

CANNOT WAIT!

Sorry, folks.
Don't know why the video didn't load for you.

You can watch the trailer here.

Have I mentioned lately...

I hate Statistics?!?!

Our first test tonight kicked my butt. Chewed me up and spit me out. Trampled me like a herd of cows. Punched me in the gut. Wowza.

Let's hope I'm being dramatic and my test grade doesn't reflect how hard it was.

***UPDATE: Statistics doesn't hate me as much as I feared (though I wouldn't say it wants to marry me...yet). I like you again Statistics! Just let me keep my A-average, please, pretty please!

Well said, Frank, well said.

"Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.
~Frank Lloyd Wright

Wedding, Wine & Road Trip Fun

I love weddings. They are a feast of fashion, food, decor and, of course, romance. Friends Katie & Josh, now Mr. & Mrs. Higgins, certainly provided a feast for their friends and family.

The bride, beautiful, and gorgeously gowned. The groom, so sweet & in love (and of course, handsome)!

The location, an intimate vineyard in Camarillo, cozy and quaint.

And the road trip with friends, entertaining, to say the least.

Summer Psychosis

(Please note the alliteration. It was intentional. Thank you.)
.....................................
psychosis. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Science Dictionary. Retrieved July 19, 2007, from Dictionary.com website:

"A mental state caused by psychiatric or organic illness, characterized by a loss of contact with reality and an inability to think rationally. "
........................................
When the summer school term started a mere 9 weeks ago, some thought I must surely be insane to take the number of summer intensive courses that I was signed up for: Abnormal Psychology, Personality Theory, Statistics, Business Ethics, and Data Analysis & Presentation. Rather than 16 weeks as is common in a semester, each class would last only 4-6 weeks...but with the same amount of material to cover.

Allow me to toot my own horn.

4 of 5 classes are hereby completed!

Most impressive of all, however, is that it was actually manageable and I did it all without losing my sanity. Sure, I spent many a sunny Saturday and Sunday reading pages and pages about Schizophrenia and Psychoanalytic theory and writing papers about ethical conundrums, but it was, for the most part, very interesting. And dare I say... enjoyable?

Ok, I must surely be psychotic.

Chi-town, in the HOUSE!

Just booked my flight to Chicago!

Going to check out The Chicago School (of Professional Psychology). My friend Lauren is going with so we can explore the city and visit our friend Liz.
And perhaps.... do a little shopping?
Have a Ferris Bueller Moment?

I want to see what the city has to offer. I've never been and I can't claim to know much about it (except that it's my aunt's top pick and Liz seems to like it!). I have no doubt, however, that there is plenty to keep us occupied.

Just arrived!

A belated birthday gift...Thanks, Mom & Dad!

Oh, the pestos & pie crusts I will make!

TGIF!

Let's greet the weekend with another little Statistics/probability problem, shall we?

In Hungary and there are two women who sit at the same obscure, sign-less crossroad to advise passers-by whether they should turn left or right. Direction-giver-A is known to be right 60% of the time. Direction-giver-B is known to be right 30% of the time.

Which direction-giver would you choose to ask directions from--A or B? And why?

Fun stuff!

(I promise I'll stop soon.)

Not too bad...

68%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Speaking of Statistics...

A.) I'm in love with my sweet, little (literally, he's on the short-side) Statistics professor. He's so adorable and nice and he tells funny stories in his sometimes-hard-to-understand (but he tries so hard!) accent.

B.) 3 days in... I love Stats! It's so logical and practical. Just yesterday a friend told me about a family that has 14 children--1 girl, 13 boys. We jokingly wondered what the chances of that happening are. Last night in class we learned about calculating probability: P(E)= n(E)/n(S). In this case, just 7% (or 1/14) chance. See? So logical! So practical!

C.) Here's a riddle for you: There is a family with 5 children. Half of them are boys. How can this be? CLARIFICATION: Half of the children (5 total) are boys.

1 in 5 students...

I started a 6-week intensive Statistics class yesterday.

Other than having a quiz already this evening, I don't think it's going to be as bad as I thought.

In fact, I think I may actually enjoy it.

My (former) glory

You know that one "thing" that you are known for, that you fairly regularly get compliments on? For some years now, my hair has been that thing, whether it be the cut and/or the color. I've even been told by a couple people that I'm described (at church at least) as "the girl with the cute hair."

That's always nice to hear.

Which is why my recent hair cut (scheduled deliberately the day before my big birthday so it'd be nice and fresh!), is such a disappointment. I know this obvious vanity is somewhat head-shaking-worthy, but I am sad. It's just not what I wanted. I just wanted what I had last time. Is that so hard? It was a little funky/edgy, a touch Euro, and still felt like me. But for some reason, my long-time hair stylist could not recreate the look he had done just 7 or so weeks before. We were having some communication issues. I even cried a little while sitting in the chair.

Lest I be over dramatic, I won't say that my hair is awful or anything; it's just not what I wanted. And that is disappointing. And, I suppose, a good lesson in vanity.

I'm Melting...

In this So Cal heatwave. But The Melting Pot restaurant was nice and cool. And TASTY too.

Since this was Mom, Dad & Mike's first time at a fondue restaurant, we decided to splurge and do the full 4-course "Big Night Out Big Feast" meal. For our cheese fondue, we chose Traditional Swiss & Wisconsin Trio to dip our apples, veggies & bread cubes in. We then nibbled at our salads (we didn't want to waste too many calories on frivolous food).

Our 2 entree preparation methods were Coq au Vin & Bourguignonne, with a selection of potstickers, seafood, chicken and steak.

And to round off the gluttony, 2 styles of dessert fondue, specifically the Flaming Turtle & Cookies-n-Cream Marshmallow Dream, complete with dippers of brownie bites, bananas, pineapple & strawberries, pound cake, graham cracker and Oreo coated marshmallows and cheesecake.

YUM. It was indeed a feast.

Thanks to Mom, Dad, Bran & Mike for continuing my birthday celebration!

These boots are made for walkin'

And that's just what they did yesterday.

Friends Andrea & Al hosted a festive Western-USA themed 4th of July party at their home in Hermosa Beach on the Strand. So before my own festivities (see below), I got all gussied up, Country-Western style, complete with my cowboy boots that I dug out of the back of my closet.

Only problem was, it seems that nearly everyone else had the same idea to head to the beach. Suffice to say I had to park a little ways away from their place. To be precise, I parked and then had to walk over 30 minutes down to their place. Both ways. In the heat. On the beach.

And yes, I looked decidedly out of place amongst the hundreds of red-white-blue bathing suits frolicking about. In the heat. Wearing cowboy boots. At the beach.

Did I mention I had to walk 30 minutes each way?

30

What can I say? I have some of the most amazing friends & sisters on the planet. Seriously. And they just happen to be awesome party planners too.

In alphabetical order...Abby! Brandi! Ginger! Kirsten! Lauren! Molly! Sarah! (did I miss anyone?)

Together, this group threw me a fabulous 30th birthday party, complete with several flavors of margaritas to taste, a pineapple pinata full of fun stuff, tasty Mexican food, and a cake (by Lauren!) that is just about the cutest, most perfect cake ever. But for a few much-missed exceptions, I had over 20 of my closest friends there!

And did I mention all the great presents?! Suffice to say I scored. :-)

I feel so loved. Truly.

Being 30...So far, so good!



PS. Thanks to Molly for the photos! As the guest of honor, I wasn't thinking about taking any. If other people have some, please send them to me. Thanks!

Excuses, excuses

Birthdays really are great excuses to get pampered.

Today: hair, mani & pedi
Tomorrow: fabulous party given by friends & family
Thursday: dinner at The Melting Pot with family
Saturday: massage at The Massage Company
(Just $39 for 60 min or $59 for 90 min! And word on the street is that every therapist there is great. I'll report back.)

I love turning 30.

Just for fun I Googled "thirty" for images and there was some CRAZY stuff! For some reason, there were a lot of exposed and/or mangled body parts and frail, anorexic-looking bodies, and one extremely large, nearly naked German woman with her tatas covered in whipped cream, each of them lying on a half of watermelon. People are strange.

Among the strangeness was this cartoon on toothpaste for dinner, which I thought was kind of funny, even though it's about wishing for death to avoid work.

The Great Highlighter Debate

Suffice to say that with taking 5 summer intensives, I've had to do a lot of reading. Just this weekend I've read over 150 pages. It goes without saying that I've highlighted quite a bit. Which brings me to this post.

I'm a highlighter snob.

Staples brand stinks. Accent is pretty good. Sharpie is the best.

I'm a fan now.

For years now, I've heard about the wonderfully fabulous facials given by my esthetician friend, Melissa Samuels. As a busy mom of 3, she works limited hours & days, so it's been difficult to find a time to see her. That is, until last night.

And oh boy, was it worth it! It was relaxing, soothing, my skin felt smooth and looked glowy and oh-so-clean afterward. My previous experirences with facials left something to be desired. After Melissa, however, I can say that these will become part of my (quarterly) beauty routine.

In addition to wanting to experience a facial by Melissa, I wanted to pick her brain about my skin, the best products for it, etc. I've been using Dr. Perricone products for a few years now and have been fairly pleased with the results. With my desire to cut back on my spending now, in anticipation of when I start grad school next year, I thought I should start using less expensive products now. Melissa recommends Dermalogica (which, though not inexpensive, costs less than what I currently use), and was able to advise me on which products were not only best for my skin, but which are actually necessary for maintaining good skin. As soon as I run out of my Perricone supply, I'll be switching over.

Oh! And she gives a foot/leg rub too! An unexpected, heavenly treat. All for just $90.

Ask for her specifically at salon Madison 101 @ 626.683.1188 (101 S. Madison Ave, Pas).

A week from today

I'll be tasting these.

Thanks be to my friends & family who want to see me properly celebrated.

Looking forward to it!

"Here we go, a Portland-ing, amongst the leaves so green!"

That's right folks, Portland here I come! And I do expect that Portland will be very green, what with all the precipitation they get.

BAM were interested in exploring the Portland area, so we coordinated our visits for the end of August. While there, I will meet with an admissions rep and visit Pacific U/School of Professional Psychology, perhaps do a little wine-tasting at Ponzi, and hopefully also get a chance to visit with my friend Phoebe and her family (and new baby, due mid-July!).

I'm also looking forward to trying out the TRI-MET public transportation system, which looks SO handy! I love taking public transportation when it gets you where you need to go easily and efficiently.

I've heard so many great things about Portland; I'm excited to check it out and imagine myself living there. If you have suggestions of things to see or do while we're there, let me know!

Where will I end up? For that answer, you'll have to check back Spring 08.

When the going gets tough...

(Or, say, you get "released" from your job)...You make a martini, of course!

Although any alcohol may do at that point.

Make sure to have good friends around too. That helps.

Ab-I think I'm still in denial about your leaving...Maybe it will hit me only when your moving van is driving away. Can't say I'm looking forward to that day.

Holding Out

So...I've been holding out on sharing some really fun stuff. Namely a blog I stumbled across several months ago while blog hopping (it's AMAZING what you'll find if you visit a blog and then links on those blogs and then links on those blogs, and so on...Try it.). You see, I wanted to hoard all the gorgeousness for myself. :-)

Allow me to introduce you to... Oh Happy Day!

It's chock full of beautiful, creative, inspiring ideas for home, fashion & entertaining. Blog owner Jordan really is a super-star when it comes to finding things. She recently posted about a boutique closing and showed pictures of these signs that someone named Miranda July (??) does. I thought this sign was so funny I had to share it (which then required me to adequately acknowledge my source, hence my revelation about OHD).

May you enjoy many happy hours in blog archive surfing!

Nobody walks in LA

Which means that everyone drives. And I think that without exaggeration, every single Angelean was out driving on Saturday.

The goal: a mini-shopping expedition with Denise down to what we believe is likely a very cool store with Danish furniture, housewares and such on Melrose

The reality: nearly 5 hours on LA freeways without ever reaching our destination, with only York chocolate covered mints to sustain us on our ill-fated journey.

But here are a couple things did see...

At least D & I got a chance to catch up. We kept each other sane.

Coconut Cake

I don't actually like coconut cake, but I think it's pretty, all the flaky coconut pieces sticking to the frosting.

Two weeks!

Does anyone remember that line from the Tom Hanks movie, Money Pit? It brings back all sorts of childhood memories and every time a contractor promises that something will only take 2-weeks to complete, I shake my head and chuckle. Thanks Tom, for that valuable lesson.

So anyway...it's been 2 weeks since I last posted and some of you are worried. Thanks for worrying about me; it makes me feel loved. Rest assured I'm doing just fine.

My absence has been a combination of a.) no interesting pictures taken to blog about, b.) no inspiration of interesting tidbits to blog about, c.) trying to be good about using my extra time to study and stay on top of things with my classes so that I don't give myself a heart attack.

But a random comment to a friend just inspired me and I HAD to rush to my blog and share this thought with my world:

I HEART 100-Calorie Packs.

I'm sure you've seen them and maybe even tried a variety or three. And so won't you concur that they really are a bit of genius? Yes, I realize that it would be financially advantageous of me to just buy a box or bag of these same snacks & treats and insert them into those snack-sized baggies, but come'on, do I really have time to do that? PLUS, they do something (I think) so that you get more for your calorie count. And we all know that sometimes, quantity really is more important than quality.

My favorite varieties...

*Lorna Doone (so buttery!),

*Honey Maid Cinnamon Thin Crisps (cinnamon graham crackers remind me of licking the cinnamon/sugar off as a kid),

*Planters Peanut Butter Crisps (it's the cookie part of the nutter butter),

*Chips Ahoy (and I'm not even a crispy choco-chip-cookie fan but these hit the spot),

*Baked Cheetos (I think these may be even better than the original crunchy...the Cheetos Asteroids are pretty good too)

*Ritz Snack mix (I love me some variety!)

*Cheez-It "Right Bites" (by Sunshine, NOT the Cheese Nips by Nabisco (unless you prefer the Nips, then you may like those instead; I just never have)...I just had these for breakfast. It was either that or run down to Coffee Bean for a tasty blueberry scone!)

Try them! The variety packs are a good way to start.