Catch up

Behind in blogging again. Well, what else is new? ;) Let's do this bullet-style 'cuz it's just easier that way.

* I took a couple of weeks off from walking to sort of catch up on life, but I'm back at it. This past Monday, I popped some advil before going on a 14 mile walk because of cramps and well, that was a stupid idea. It masked some early signs that I was straining my hamstring, so by the time I knew there was a problem, it was really a problem and I could barely get back to my car. Lovely. Thankfully, it healed quickly and I'm back on track. Only 5 weeks til the big weekend!!

* I went to a book signing for Ferran Adria - the famous Spanish chef of El Bulli - last week and it was really cool. I bought his new book A Day at El Bulli and had him sign it. I tried to act professional, but instead I just stood there smiling like an idiot and saying "Thank you, it's a pleasure" over and over. The funny thing, my co-worker did the same thing! Yeah, we're lame. I'm guessing the fact that he only spoke Spanish threw me off my game a bit. It was still a freaking awesome experience!

* After the book signing, I met up with Wan for dinner. While the food was good, it was far surpassed by the company. We laughed til we cried... always makes for a good night.

* It's finally getting cooler at night so we bought a screen and tools for our fireplace. I had no idea my husband likes building a fire so much! He resembles a kid in a candy store when he starts one and then tends to it for hours. Too funny.

* I've been carving out more time for cooking, which is making me very happy. I've tried new recipes for lasgana, hoisin shrimp stirfry, artichoke and cheese stuffed chicken breast and a whole host of other yummy things. While takeout can be good, I was really missing the food that comes out of my kitchen.

* We attended a surprise birthday party for our friend Dubber over the weekend. His wife was worried that someone would spill the surprise, but no one did. Fun night of drinks and hanging out with friends.

* Saturday we went to the UCLA-Stanford game and tailgated with MoP and T-dogg. The group they tailgate with go all out for games. We noshed on chicken paninis, green salad, mac n cheese, chips and lots of booze and played beer pong (the hygenic version) in between eating and drinking. The game wasn't a disappointment either, as we got our 3rd win of the season - Yay! Still way under .500, but it's something at least.

And just like that, all caught up!

Weekend Recap... almost a full week late!

What can I say? I'm still behind in my blogging. Which means that life is still humming along at warp speed. At this point, I'm content to just deal with the crazy for as long as it lasts and just keep squeezing stuff in where I can find time. On that note, let's recap the long Labor Day weekend, shall we?

Friday:
Off work early (yay!), which meant I had time to run a few errands and do some grocery shopping before getting ready for dinner. Jim and I decided to try the new Roy's in Pasadena after having a really delicious dinner at the one in Downtown a few months ago with my girlfriends.

The dinner started off on a high note. Even with our late reservation the weather was gorgeous and we sat outside on their patio. Our waiter was nothing special, but took our order relatively quickly and we had our apps in a reasonable amount of time. We were in a fish mood, so we started with the Ahi Poke and the Curry Panko Crusted Calamari. Both were excellent, although I'd say the calamari were probably my favorite. That's saying a lot seeing as how it's something I eat because Jim loves it, but I could usually take it or leave it. This version had some kick to it and was served with siracha aioli. So yummy!

And this is when dinner took a bit of turn. We had a really long wait until our entrees arrived. When they were finally served, they were barely meh. :/ I ordered the Hawaiian Style Misoyaki Butterfish and Jim had the Uni Dynamite Roasted Alaskan Halibut. When I had the butterfish at the Downtown location, it was so delicious! But while the menu described a similar preparation for the fish, this dish looked and tasted nothing like what I had a few months prior. Ugh. I tasted the halibut, too, and it was just not that great. For dessert, we split the Molten Lava Cake, which was tasty enough, but still didn't erase the total disappointment in the entrees. Looks like the kitchen and waiters are still undergoing some growing pains, so I'd say give it another couple of months before trying it out if you're so inclined.

Saturday:
I woke up at 7am and went for a 10 mile walk in and around the neighborhood. For the last part, I actually walked down to the local farmer's market and picked up some fresh produce for Sunday dinner. The market is so cute and so vibrant! I then headed from there over to Whole Foods to pick up some last minute stuff for dinner that night and then Jim was nice enough to pick my tired and sweaty bum up so I didn't have to walk all the way back carrying bags of goodies. :)

We spent the rest of the afternoon running errands and cleaning up the house. Around 4pm we had our friends Dubber and Party Girl over to hang out by the pool and have dinner. The rest of the evening was spent lounging around the pool, eating dinner while watching Cal in their football season opener and playing rock band. I'm sure our neighbors love us, especially when Jim screams Sabotage at the top of his lungs. :P

Sunday:
Nothing! We had absolutely nothing planned! This happens like maybe twice a year so it's always cause for celebration.

In reality, I cleaned the kitchen and did 395658 loads of laundry, while Jim did some work. We also squeezed a Target and 21 Choices run in there, too and ended the evening with a really awesome dinner. Ruhlman posted a loose recipe for pasta with fresh tomatoes and basil on his blog last week and ever since reading it, I've been obsessed with making it. Honestly, it was even better than I expected it to be because on my first reading, I missed the sentence saying that a bunch of butter gets added to the sauce. Butter makes everything better! So simple to make and so freaking good! Before tomatoes are out of season, you need to make this dish. No really, you do!
Monday:
We slept in. Yay!

After finally rolling out of bed, I made breakfast, took care of a few things around the house and then it was time to pack up the car and head out to the Rose Bowl for UCLA's season opener against #18 Tennessee. It was a beautiful day, perfect for tailgating and being outside. The parking was packed as usual and we had a good time enjoying our chicken fajitas and hanging out with friends.

However, we figured the game itself wasn't going to be pretty. I mean, yes, we have the holy trinity in coaching right now (Neuheisel, Walker and Chow), but we also have an offensive line that can't seem to block much of anything and we're on our 4th string quarterback. There is only so much that coaching and the crowd can do. Or so we thought....

The first quarter sucked. Our quarterback threw a lovely 4 interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. We were down 7 going into the half, which was only because our defense and special teams kept it close. Lord knows our offense sure wasn't gettin' it done.

And then, something happened during halftime and wouldn't you know it, the offense got a clue and started playing well. Like, they stopped throwing the ball to the other team and they kept blocking and the passes were connecting with receivers and ... well, they just looked a lot better. If you're a Bruin you know what happened next. We were up by 3 points after a beautiful drive that marched down the field and led to a TD. Tennessee answered with a field goal in the final seconds and we were pushed into OT. For the OT coin flip, we only had 2 captains left (a total of 4 veteran players left the game with injuries), but we managed to score a field goal and then it was Tennessee's turn. We held them, but then it was time for them to attempt a FG themselves. AND THEY MISSED!!! WE WON!!! HOLY CRAP!!

The fans had been loud the entire game, but the stadium just erupted! The players started running around like crazy people. The Volunteers just looked dumb-founded. I screamed until I literally didn't have a voice left. Such a great win for our team and our new head coach. This feels like a new era in UCLA football. No, we're not gonna be great this season, but we're gonna fight and we're gonna have heart and we're gonna try to actually win!

A really fantastic way to end the holiday weekend if I do say so myself. :)

Weekend Rewind

Friday
My workday ended at 3:30pm (wheee!) and then I was off to run some menial errands (drycleaning, grocery store, etc) before meeting up with my trainer at 6pm. Fifteen minutes into the session and I asked him to remind me that the next time I wanted to reschedule our Wednesday session for a Friday night, to tell me it was a dumb idea and that he wouldn't do it. :/

After the brutal hour was up, I headed home, took a shower and changed into comfy clothes. Hubs had followed the directions I left for starting dinner to the letter, which left me with grilling the steak, dressing the baked potatoes and quickly making a salad. Add in a bottle of red wine and there you have it. Simple, but so good! I can't remember what we watched on TV, but I do know we turned in around 11pm. We're so old!

Saturday
Such an early morning. Ugh. We needed to be at the Rose Bowl by 9am so that we could participate in the new "select a seat" program for season ticket holders. It was gray and chilly outside, but the fans were all surprisingly chipper. Once our group was called in, we were ushered into the locker room to listen to a brief intro on how it was all going to work. The guy was funny and straight-forward and the locker room itself was just beautiful! Millions of dollars of renovations transformed it into a space where a board meeting would be just as at home there as a collegiate football team.

After the briefing, we were released onto the field to survey the available seats. We opted not to donate this year, but we were still able to move 1.5 sections closer to mid-field and move over into actual seats as opposed to the benches. Score!

At this point, it was only 10am, so we took the next few hours doing some house-hunting. We found a few neighborhoods that appear to be somewhat affordable and very cute. [Really the term "affordable" is all relative, we're still talking Los Angeles here folks.] There were a few houses in particular that we really liked from the street and planned to see the inside later in the week. Alas, we found out the next day they were already in escrow. Wah! :(

For lunch, I was craving the "after-school special" (cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese) from Doughboys and talked Jim out of visiting Phillipe's for it. Big mistake. Our lunch was just icky. My soup had a strange smoky flavor to it and the grilled cheese was basically flavorless. Jim's breakfast quesadilla should have been called a "grilled onion quesadilla" as that is the only thing you could taste in it. :/ Phillipe's would have been a muuuuch better choice.

To make up for lunch, we visited the Ice Pan, a new ice cream shop that makes your ice cream right in front of you. Jim had vanilla with berries and I had low-fat chocolate with strawberries. Both were tasty, but I think the whole concept is just a fad and won't last long. I'd still rather have Golden Spoon. [shrug]

We also quickly ran through Target so Jim could check out the latest Wii stuff and I could try and get some new sports bras. And wouldn't you know, it looked like they had just restocked their activewear section so they actually had ample sizes and colors. Yay! I picked up 4 of the seamless camisole sports bras from the C9 line. Jim tried to also convince me that we needed DWTS for the Wii, but I opted out, especially as we already have Rock Band on pre-order.

By the time we got home, we were both exhausted so we flipped on the NBA playoffs and Jim napped while I read a book and kept a half-eye on the game. I managed to not get up the rest of the evening though, as we ordered PF Changs for dinner and Jim was forced volunteered to go pick it up by himself. It was just okay, but it still meant I didn't have to cook. The rest of the night was spent watching Sports Center and our favorite show, 48 Hours Mystery.

Sunday
We both, finally, got to sleep in for a bit. I doctored up some frozen Kashi waffles for breakfast and then we got ready and headed down to my ILs house for lunch. A quick stop at DSW and Bristol Farms provided gifts for the mommies. I ordered my own mommy a Sigg bottle earlier in the week and the silly company didn't send it until Saturday. Ah well, I called her to wish her a happy mother's day and say the gift was on its way.

We had a pretty large group (ILs, both BILs, MIL's bestie and her son, hubs grandma) and it was good to see everyone. One of Jim's brothers picked up El Burrito Jr. on his way to the house (my jr. super deluxe veggie burrito was delish!) and then we capped it off with strawberry shortcake for dessert. Mmmmm. I spent some time after dessert chatting with my MIL about her elbow (it's still a mess and they are considering a 2nd surgery to try and fix it; they've even told her she may never be able to pick up a bag of groceries with that arm again) and I could hear the ridiculousness that was the 4th quarter/OT of the Lakers game from the other room. The dejected look on everyone's faces said loud and clear that things hadn't gone well. Boooo!

Jim and I headed back to our apartment in the early evening so he could get some work done and I somehow managed to motivate enough to go for a short run (gotta make use of those new sports bras). When I got back, I was all energized and made quick work of 4 loads of laundry, cleaning the kitchen and getting my stuff ready for the next day. And again, yet another weekend that went by far too quickly!

Longshore for President!

Yesterday, Jim and I woke up at the crack of dawn to meet our friends to tailgate before the UCLA-Cal game. The game was a sell-out so cars were stacked 3 deep and most everyone arrived early to have plenty of time to eat, drink and be merry before the game started. And let's be honest, for us UCLA fans, the tailgate party could very well have been the highlight of the day. The last home game was a crushing loss to Notre Dame, we were playing a team that had been ranked #2 in country 2 weeks ago and well, our offense just sucked.

After finally getting a parking spot, breakfast burritos, muffins, mimosas and bloody marys were enjoyed by all. A pre-medication strategy was being employed by most of us --- if you're tipsy enough, a loss just wouldn't hurt as much... or at least that was the general thought. Around 11:45 or so, we finally made our way over to the stadium, took our seats and settled in for a long, hot day at the Rose Bowl. We are lucky enough (insert sarcastic tone) to have our season seats right next to the visitor section. To say that the Cal fans were obnoxious would be an understatement. Jim and I were already annoyed before the game had even started. Thankfully, we had a lot of fired up UCLA fans around us, which made the day much better.

The game started fairly well for us. Thankfully, we had our 2nd string QB back from a knee injury and he was playing well. Our offense didn't look nearly as bad as they have in past games and our defense was still playing great, as to be expected. At the half, the score was 14-13 Cal, keeping us still very much within reach. Nice!

Entering the field at the beginning of the 2nd half

Both teams scored TDs in the 3rd quarter and we started the 4th quarter still only down by 1 point. Late in the 4th quarter, UCLA capped off an 11-play drive with a field goal, putting us ahead by 2. Ugh, Cal got the ball back and made it down to our 30 yard line with very little time left. They only needed a field goal to win and it looked like they were going to be in a good position to get it. The only thing they couldn't do was turn the ball over. 3rd down and Longshore throws the ball to the left looking for his wide-receiver.... BUT NO!!! Interception! UCLA's DB Verner catches it and runs it back 76 yards for a UCLA TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!!

The crowd going nuts!

Very happy Bruin fans

I don't remember screaming this loud in recent memory. The crowd just went crazy and amazingly, those obnoxious Cal fans got reallllly quiet. CAl got the ball back with 2 minutes left, but a lob downfield by Longshore led to another UCLA interception and that was the ballgame!

The beautiful final score

Jim and I are both sun-burned, have no voices and massive headaches, but it was so worth it!! UCLA is now tied for #1 in the Pac-10 (unbelievable) and if Cowan can stay healthy, we might actually be in good shape for the rest of the season. There is nothing else to say really except

GO BRUINS!!!

Computer update and weekend review

No, I have not forgotten to post pics and stories from our vacation. Yes, I am still without consistent internet at home (I get to jump on the hubby's work laptop from time to time, but it's not with any regularity). However, we did place an order for a new computer for me this weekend. Yay!! And here she is:

I. cannot. wait. But sadly, I have to. She isn't due to be shipped until October :( Oh well. At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel....

I had a long weekend (no work on Friday - wheeee!), but it still felt far too short.

Friday:

• Woke up early and lounged on the couch catching up on TV. Caught a little of The View --- having Whoopi Goldberg as the new lead host is a HUGE improvement over Rosie O'Donnell. The show is much more fun now and I'm actually looking forward to watching it again on my next day off.
• Haircut in the late morning. My hairdresser is on maternity leave starting next week, which means she won't be back until sometime in January. I'm happy for her, but selfishly, totally bummed that I have to use someone else for the next few months.
• Shopping for new fall clothes! Scored a couple cute pairs of pants at BR, a skirt at Ann Taylor, some assorted sweaters and a couple pairs of boots. Bring on the chilly weather!
• Hubby was exhausted from a long week so pizza delivery, a bottle of wine and Blades of Glory capped off our night (I thought the movie was funny. Jim thought it was hilarious)

Saturday:

• Had breakfast at home and watched college football with the hubs while straightening the apartment.
• Lounged around until 3pm when we packed up the cooler and headed to the UCLA game.
• No rain at the game (thank god!) Seated next to some hilarious fans and had just a great time. Bruins 44 - Huskies 31!

Sunday:

• Hubs left early for the office -- booo!
• Made a couple of wedding cards for a co-worker. Would post a pic, but see computer problem above. :(
• Supposed to have a volunteer meeting for alumni that wanted to help with sorority rush at my alma mater. Um, it was canceled... but no one bothered to email this little fact out to everyone. Bitter, party of one.
• Farewell dinner at Wokano for Mrs. Madisen. We'll miss you m'dear!

And now it's Monday again. Only 5 more days til the weekend....