Fun Friday

I was off today, which is always nice. And I needed to do something to keep my mind off of something I'm waiting to hear back about (yeah, never heard anything, so it's good that I didn't keep myself glued to the internet), so I headed out in the late morning for some shopping and whatnot.

First stop, Century City mall to return a birthday gift the hubs wasn't wild about and a pair of shoes that didn't fit quite right. Maybe because it was Friday or maybe due to the beautiful weather, but everyone just seemed to be in such a great mood today. Totally great vibe from other shoppers and sales people. Love that! When I was returning my shoes, the guy happened to mention the Lakers, which started a whole long conversation about the team and Kobe and what it takes to be a champion. What should have been a 5 minute in-and-out return turned into a 15 minute chat session with several guys on the floor and the store manager. By the end, I had the original guy's card and a promise that he'd order in some shoes in my size so that I could come in and try them on without having to order everything online first. <3 Seriously made my day!


Next stop was J. Crew so I could order a swimsuit from their catalogue that I sorta fell in love with. Hopefully, it fits well, but I think it'll look adorable with my Juicy Couture tube dress cover-up that I bought last season. When I gave the girl my home address, she totally broke out of her customer service rep persona and exclaimed "OMG, I am just so excited, my team from LA won last night and I am still just so happy about it!" I'm telling you, everyone has Lakers fever! Love it!

My last stop was Border's to see if they had the Ben & Jerry's ice cream recipe book that Kay had suggested in my previous post. They did, and it was much less expensive that I had expected. Score! I briefly flipped through it in line and it looks great. Thanks for the suggestion Kay. :)

After finishing up at the mall, I swung by Williams Sonoma. There were a few sale items from their website that I wanted to see if they had in store, but sadly, it was a bust. I did take a closer look at the food processors and am a little closer to figuring out which one I want.

I finally made it home in the late afternoon and had a quick lunch and watched an episode of Top Chef and Step It Up and Dance. Then it was time for a short walk to the grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner. Lately, when we've had dinner in on a Friday night, I've made either pub grub or takeout-type foods as it's a fun way to close out the week. And since we haven't had mexican food in, oh, at least a couple of days, I opted for chicken fajitas for dinner. Combine that with chips and salsa and margaritas and it was a great end to the week.
And oh yeah, GO LAKERS!!

Too many thoughts in my head...

and no real place to let them run around and sort themselves out. I told Jim yesterday that I'm just agitated. For no real reason and at no one in particular, I'm just in an agitated state right now. Too many things to think about all of which require too much brain power. Blah!

I'd chat about my weekend, but really, it's just more of the headache-y craziness from above. Oh, but I did spend some time in the kitchen, which was fun. Let's talk about that shall we?

I read a post from Ruhlman's blog last week about homemade mayo. I've never really considered the substance to be all that inspiring, but well, take a look at the pictures from his post and you'll see where I became a bit enamored with the idea of making mayo from scratch. So, I tackled the project first thing when I got home Friday night. Like his recipe said, I started with an egg yolk, some salt, a little lemon juice and water. Simple, right? Well, yes, but after whisking those together, it was still pretty liquid-y, a bit creamy, but definitely not able to hold its shape. Poo.

I started again. Same ingredients, same liquid-y, vaguely creamy substance. At this point, I just kept going. If it broke, it broke. I'd just try it again. I dribbled in my vegetable oil - drip, drip, drip. And whisked the hell out of it. And it still didn't hold its shape. Ah, for the love of.... But, I kept at it. Drip. Drip. Drip. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. My arm was starting to burn, but I just kept going. And all of the sudden, it started to get thick. And wouldn't you know, by the time I had about a 1/4 cup of oil whisked in, it looked like mayonnaise! I started squealing like a little girl and Jim just looked at me like I was crazy. But, really, it was SO COOL! Okay, maybe I'm a big dork for being this excited about mayo, but oh well. It tasted great and I had a real sense of accomplishment by the time it was done. Yay!

To eat that delicious mayo, I made sliders for dinner using the "Nancy Silverton" buger blend I picked up at the Farmer's Market. The meat was delicious and made even better with some sharp cheddar, grilled maui onion and that lovely mayonnaise. So yummy.
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To keep the kitchen activities flowing, I also tackled a banana ice cream recipe that I've been meaning to try for at least the last couple of years. Why in the world it took me this long to christen the ice cream maker we got for the wedding (almost 3 years ago!) is beyond me. Anyways, Alton Brown's banana ice cream recipe has always looked delicious to me and I finally made it this weekend. The recipe itself is pretty good, although it is a very strong banana flavor and leaves a bit of an odd after-taste. I think next time I'm going to try adding mini chocolate chips and some chopped walnut, kind of an homage to Ben&Jerry's Chunky Monkey if you will. If you love banana, you'll love this recipe!

I also learned that I am in desperate need of a real, honest to god food processor. My little mini one is just not cutting it, like at all. It's on the top of my list for my next kitchen purchase.

And lastly, speaking of kitchen purchases, a couple of weeks ago, I bought a new cutting board. Not just any cutting board, mind you, a big, beautiful Boos board that takes up almost the entire width of my counter. It's absolutely gorgeous and beyond functional. I'm not sure how I made due without one quite frankly - it holds a ton of stuff, so you don't find yourself with items constantly rolling off the board. Yes it requires regular care, but so do good knives and pots and pans. If you're in the hunt for a new cutting board, I can't recommend the Boos boards highly enough.

SYTYCD... again

This blog post sums up my thoughts and feelings about the show so well! I really couldn't have said it better myself.

note: There are a few spoilers in there from last night's episode, so if you haven't seen it and want to be surprised, I'd advise waiting until later to read it.

Whole lotta ugly

This is one of my mom's favorite expressions for describing a day at the mall where everything is just crap. And it perfectly sums up my feelings towards clothes shopping over the past several months -- just a whole lotta ugly out there. :/

I am far from a fashionista, but I still like to dress cute and somewhat contemporary. My style is fairly tailored and maybe a little bit preppy with lots of neutrals and the occasional splash of color thrown in for good measure. Since my style translates well to the office I don't really keep a separate wardrobe for after-hours and weekend fun -- most of what I own easily transitions from work to play. However, I'm in dire need of new summery tops and cardigans for the office and I can't.find.a.darn.thing.

All my usual haunts are failing me - BR, J. Crew, AT, etc. For some reason, everyone is featuring the babydoll and empire waist silhouttes that I am so over. For a pear-shaped girl, that whole volume look is just awful. Terrible. Hideous. It hides everything I like (chest, waist, torso) while drawing massive attention to the parts I'd rather forget about (hips, bum, upper thighs). And yet, there aren't a lot of alternatives in the stores. Sure, I've found a few things here and there, but overall it's slim pickings. I had this same problem last spring, too, but figured I could make due until the following year, when the stores were bound to stock better styles. Um, wrong.

I've even tried to branch out and give stores that I usually breeze right by a chance. I know Miss Diabolina loves it (and lord knows I love the clothes on her), but Forever 21 just isn't doing it for me. I'm not nearly trendy enough for the store. H&M was a similar bust.

I mentioned the trouble I've been having to several co-workers and they echoed my dismay at what the stores are currently offering. While we share a smiliar style, these girls are not only a different body shape than me, but are also considerably thinner, so I feel like we aren't the problem here. Granted, the bouts of cool weather are helping things a bit, but at some point in the near future we're going to be back in the 80s and 90s and my fall/winter sweater collection just isn't going to cut it. Blah!

So dear readers, where do you get your cute and interesting work clothes? Is there some store out there that I'm missing? Or am I going to be forced to learn how to sew to ensure I actually have something to wear to the office this summer? Help!

SYTYCD!

Season 4 starts tonight folks! Easily the best show of the summer. If you're not already an avid viewer, tonight's the night to become one. :)

Update

Thanks for everyone's good vibes and thoughts and prayers. The bad news is that the situation didn't quite work out the way we had hoped, but the good news is that in retrospect, it actually worked out for the best. For now, we're taking a bit of a break from the crazy, trying to just get back to normal life for a minute and then will dive back into everything again in a week or so. There is still lots of other fun stuff going on though, so it's still never a dull moment in our house. :)

Looks like this weekend might actually be somewhat calm... or at least calm for me. Ha! And tomorrow, I get to swing by a local bridal shop to get fitted for a bridesmaid dress for Vino's wedding. We all know bridesmaid dresses can be scary, but this one is a pretty style in a pretty color, so I'm really excited to wear it for the wedding and likely afterwards as well.

Happy Hump Day everyone!

Butterflies and another busy weekend

It's been an insane last few days. Can't really go into details right now, but suffice to say, our weekend took a very different shape than we had anticipated. Nothing bad, but your good vibes and prayers are appreciated. :)

In other news, the weekend was again, jam-packed! I swear, my weekends have got to start letting up soon, but I'm not really sure when that is going to happen. My brother-in-law graduated from USC on Friday morning and it decided to be one of the hottest days of the year so far. Lovely :/ Somehow we all managed not to melt into puddles on our seats and got to see him walk across the stage and hear his name announced. Congratulations to you, Herbie! That afternoon was a whirlwind, but we ended the evening noshing on pizza, sipping red wine and watching the Lakers tie up the 2nd round of the playoffs. We actually had tickets to Game 7 and are thrilled that we don't get to use them. Western Conference Finals, here we come!

Saturday morning I woke up before 7am to meet a friend at the Rose Bowl to go for a morning run/walk. Even with the heat and the fact that I was exhausted, it was such a great start to my day. We ran about 2.5 miles -- the longest run I've done so far -- and then did another 3 mile loop at a brisk walk. So much more fun than the treadmill not only because I had company, but because the scenery and number of people out just gave the place a great vibe. I can't wait to do it again!

That afternoon Jim and I ran around taking care of more craziness and then ended the evening with homemade greek salad and a bottle of pinot grigio -- light and cool and more than deserved after our long day.

We finally had a morning to sleep in today and enjoy breakfast and some TV at home before heading out for an afternoon appointment. And now we're back, trying to stay cool at the apartment and not let the butterflies in our stomach get the best of us. We're not doing well on either account. Wheeee!