stuff about where I live and play, and maybe some stuff about where I work and play.

4.28.2009

crack

i don't know if the mini sirloin burger commercial in my previous post is running nationally? but if you haven't seen it? please watch. it's my flavorite commercial, almost, like, ever. it's highly addicting though. BE WARNED.

my favorite part is that aaron sings "minnesota" instead of "mini sirloin." hilarious, hilarious stuff. the commercial airs pretty much non-stop these days. and every single time, i stop what i'm doing and sing along. freaking brilliant.


anyway.


so remember gerald, my "trainer?" well it turns out once i signed up he's passing me off to some "dimitri" character. DIMITRI? really. i have my first session this friday at the ungodly hour of 7am. which means i am up at 6am to prepare and walk over there. GERSH! MERGH! WHAT THE! NARDS!

should be fun, i bet you can't wait to hear all about it.


here's the upcoming plans for the weekend and beyond. it's going to get loco up in our crib, ya'll.


thursday: aaron's momma in town for a night, crashing at our place
saturday: cooking dinner for heather & brian, crashing at our place? (if we feed them enough alcohol!)
sunday: sarah b. is coming to town for a night, from NYC, crashing at our place
tuesday: josh & jesse arrive from MN, LUCHA VA VOOM is on the menu for cinco de mayo, crashing at our place until.... saturday? i think? in addition to the LUCHA MADNESS they will be attending the lebowski fest and generally getting into some shenanigans.

then! a week after that! my mom and stepdad will be in town along with my sister and my nieces! we're going to disneyland! and other assorted tomfoolery will ensue.

yippee kay yay! MINNESOTA BURGERSSSS!

Minnesota BURGERSSSS!

4.22.2009

like donkey kong!

after that last entry you would think that by now i would have signed in blood on the dotted line with gerald to ensure that i would be in rooftop pool & jacuzzi shape, like pronto.



but alas, n'yet. i don't know what is holding me back. scurred, prolly.



the good news is that downtown living has forced me to walk all the time. walk the dogs, walk to the happy hour place, walk to another happy place, walk to the gym (concept!), walk to the grocery store, walk up and down the stairs in our unit, walk to the parking structure and on and on it goes.



then, mostly, i have been checking in with my mii. we've lost 2lbs since we were first introduced last friday, so heyo, success. my goal is 2 lbs a week for 5 weeks(of pure unadulterated fat) and then we will work on adding some muscle mass back into the mix. additionally, i have been sort of put on calorie restrictions on the suggestion of my trainer and this is my first day and i am DYING OF THE HUNGER. Mostly, because today I have consumed the following:



crab leg eggwhite omelet surprise = 160 cals

chicken fiesta healthy choice meal = 230 cals



TOTAL = 390 cals. I still "get" to have 800 more cals, but I was supposed to have broken my meals into five sort of equally sized portions and eaten them throughout the day... and, well, yeah. not so much.



BORING!



i moreso want to talk about how FUN it is to live downtown during the LAKERS PLAYOFFS. and i'm not even a basketball fan, but it's still fun to get caught up in the excitement of the crowds of people wearing their laker colors loudly and proudly.



we walked over to LA LIVE last night for happy hour #1 at rock'n fish. consumed: one glass chardonnay, shrimp cocktail, crab cake, spicy tuna roll. then we headed over to magnolia for happy hour #2 consumed: two glasses of chardonnay, pita & hummus, chicken satay



it was fun!



then we walked home with not enough food (believe it or not) to balance the wines and then so i had fake crab legs (mmm fish protein) and watched harper's island with a nice little buzz.



before i forget, i want to recap my weekend:



thursday - dodger game with co-workers

friday - stayed in, hooked up the wii fit, WENT TO TOWN

saturday - dinner at panini cafe, free wine, fun times

sunday - drinks @ corkbar with jason & kadee @ 5p, returned home for dinner; drinks @ corkbar with Luis & Mariana @ 8p



fun weekend!!





tonight liana & tal are probably going to stop by to see the new digs and MAYBE you will see me at the gym later on, working on my fitness and steaming the hell out of my pores.



latersssss.

4.20.2009

wiiiiiiii

on friday night, approximately 42 days after receiving the little gem for my birthday, we FINALLY hooked up the mutha effin wii and! wii fit!! and went to TOWN on that bad boy.

oh em gee, i'm in love.

i've already, like, played with the wii and the wii fit at various other people's houses, but there's something pretty awesome about creating your mii and having the luxury of checking in on it every day. hey there, little mii, are you getting any less fat? i heart you little mii!!!

then, on saturday i had my first (real life) training session at my new gym. the first session is free so they can make you feel fat and make you feel like you HAVE to buy 8 million of their proprietary supplements and buy at least 100 hundred training sessions so you can go 3x per week so you can ACHEIVE YOUR GOALS! BECAUSE EVERYONE KNOWS IF YOU HAVE A GOAL, you are 1000% more likely to get your fat arse in shape!

and guess what? i was sold! however, i haven't actually signed up yet because i'm, like, negotiating.

anyway, during my first session Gerald asked me how long it had been since i had consumed foodstuffs. this was at 10a on saturday morning. i pondered... um... 7:30p last night? so he refused to do a "real" workout because you need to have food in your belly at least 1.5 -2 hours prior to working out and i was
a) a little hungover due to some wii sessions that lasted until 1a enhanced by wine and
b) my stomach was a little bit growling right there in his office, like, pretty loudly

however! he still weighed me and let me test my body fat (so nice of him!) but before that he was like, let me guess! your body fat is probably in the teens. and i laffed pretty hard, because, yeah, NO.

so then when it came back as definitely NOT in the teens, he was like ruh roh. so it turns out that my whole starving-myself-before-working-out scheme has actually burned more MUSCLE than FAT and so therefore my body fat/muscle ratio is all kitty wompus.

you heard me.

so my BMI (height/weight ratio) is healthy, but my body fat % leaves much to be desired. MUCH.

awesome.


but i knew there was a reason i felt uncomfies in my skin. and now i know. and now i know how to fix it!

so he still gave me a "fitness assessement" and let me know that he was "going easy on me" due to the whole "no food in da belly" sitch. but yeah, that was a hard workout even if he was going "easy" on me. and then he offered a free session the next day so he could show me what it would really be like.

cut to the next day where i died whilst getting trained. because.so.hard.it.was.

it actually hurts to do most everything today. good lord.

but i think i'm ready? to be trained? YEAH I AM READY!

between the wii mii telling me my fit age is 10 years older than my actual age and then my gold's trainer saying my muscles were in some dire shape (he actually used the term muscle atrophy... )

i think, it's time for me to get back to being mii. (i know! huge nerd!)


it's time to get myself in downtown-rooftop pool & jacuzzi- bikini shape, my friends.

and it's ON!

4.14.2009

and then!

well! when we last left off i had THOUGHT so hard that i was d.o.n.e. our friends from MN called me as i was en route to the new place with the stuff from the old place and i was all like, "yeah dudes, imma jump in the shower and then i think it's bidness time circa da 8-spot!" and i came home and the cable guy was still hooking stuff up (note: this was 5p and he had been scheduled to appear at 12p... YEARGH!) and then i promptly sent aaron to finish up at the old place, because, remember, i was DUNZO.

but about a half hour later, i got a call and it was him saying "sorrry honeyyyy, one more load!!" and NOOOOOOO, but yes.

and then i was realizing i had had nothing to eat all the damn day long! and it was now starting to verge on 6p! and soon it would be 7p! and then i would still need to shower and was there anyway i would be showered, dressed, glossed and heeled by 8p? highly.doubtful.

ah well.

hither and yon, lickety split.

but when i returned i realized that i had no idea how to unlock my new door with my new key. call it mover's fatigue, call it sheer lack of coordination. all i knew is that i was locked out, it was 7:55pm and my friends were scheduled to arrive a 8p. HARUMPH.

within nanoseconds, magically, aaron appeared, unlocked the door, i showered, heeled, glossed, sparkly eyeshadowed, and waited downstairs while aaron finished his showering ritual upstairs.

somehow, it all worked out.

the rest of the weekend went like this:

  • dinner, bottles of wine and shmoozing with the owner of the corkbar
  • yoga at our *new* gym down the way
  • chicken boobs from ralphs fresh fare
  • rooftop BBQ at liana & tal's with our MN friends
  • SO MUCH FUN and FUN
  • thai food delivery
  • pass out at 10p on the couch
  • puddle of drool

then monday morning i took the METRO to werk. !! !!

and i took it again today.

both days i got off the train and aaron & the dogs were waiting for me. because, hallelujah, we live 1/2 a black from the metro stop.

booya.

lifestyles of the what and the what

Hi!

So the last few days of my life have been some of the most awesome! And also! The hardest EVER!
Moving is a bitch, ya’ll. But you already knew that.
and so.

friday i spent most of the day at our old place, cleaning out what I could whilst the movers moved stuff. they arrived and 12:15 and we were headed to our first drop-off destination by 3:15. after that, we were headed to the new place where aaron had been spending the day with the cool dudes who were installing our surround sound, 52" TV, wii, PS3 & etc. only! the cable guy had come and wasn't able to reach our cable box (?!??) and so he had to reschedule for the next day. this will become important later.

so the movers did their thing and by 6:30p or so, all of our lovely stuff was now populating the new digs. AND IT LOOKED GRRROOOOD. we were totally excited. we had them place the majority of the boxes in the front, in aaron's "man cave" which left the main kitchen and living room area pretty much void of boxes, which was awesome. we arranged various items on the new entertainment center and removed all the clutter from the kitchen island and around 8p, jason and kadee arrived with FOOD! and WINE! yay! we toasted the new place, nommed on some noms and tried desperately to maintain our energy level to hold a conversation for the duration of their visit.

10p rolled around and they bid their adieus as we collapsed into the couch and listened to the subdued noises of the bustling city right outside our window. at that point, we decided to walk the dogs to the nearby ralph's and grab some provisions. two blocks later, we were there. We met so many frenchie admirers along the way! You would think these people had never seen such precious creatures! And lo and behold, at 10-something on a Friday night the Ralph’s Fresh Fare Market was BUMPIN’. So many people, super long lines. It all made me feel SO MUCH like I was in da NYC. Because that’s really all I can relate to on a downtown living level. I’ve never actually lived in, like, a real city before. Los Angeles, as a rule, is not a city. But downtown LA? Well, it’s trying it’s heart out to be one.

The next day I had to go back to the old place and clean all the damn day long. IT SUCKED with the suckage of 10 million babies sucking on pacifiers. SUPER SUCK! And, in the meanwhile, aaron “got” to wait for the cable guy back at the new ranch. SO LUCKY, that devil. After about 7 hours of pure hell and suckage, I finally threw in the towel and cried mercy. And then I filled up my car with about 1/3 of what was left to bring back, and matter of factly declared! “I’m D.O.N.E!”

To be continued…

4.09.2009

THRESHOLD



when i walked out of work at 6:27pm tonight i was in a state of reflux.  maybe i'm excited that i'm not going to have to work in an office and show up at a pre-determined time, but MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, i will be working for the next few days.  like a damn dog.



so yes, i'm on vacation.



but this is SO NOT a vacation.



yes! it's exciting!  YES!   but, also, the anxiety dreams this week have been k-i-l-l-i-n-g me softly.  mostly, i was worried about the damn glassware.   all the fancy waterford crystal wine glasses (that PS we never use, but maaaybeeee someday!) and the memories of all the wineries that we visited on our honeymoon and all 7 martini glasses that will FOR SURE come in handy when i go through another "martini" phase.



anyway, i was having anxiety dreams that i think i can tie back to my fear of breaking the glasses.  even though, hi, we never use them, really.  because we are high-class trash and we drink our wine out of low ball glasses, kids.   don't be jellis.



anyhoo, so yesterday WE GOT OUR KEYS!  TO OUR NEW HOME!   i got home from werk and aaron and i decided to move some stuff in, like, offically.  not a lot, because the painters were coming today (and by were i mean, they did, but my tenses are all wonky now).  and so!  we moved in (3) boxes of breakable glasswares and (2) boxes of expensive wines.  and then!  we decided to wash them and dry them and put them away.



BUT before i really even got into it, i promptly DROPPED one martini glass for no apparent reason.   i guess?  just to get it out of the way.   anxiety = gone.



OH!! most importante!   i had this mini-fantasy that aaron would carry me over the threshold since, this is our first house and all.  and as well were walking towards the door, i said something to the effect of - so did you want to carry me over the threshold?  and he was like omg, how did you know?   and i thought it was supah cute because, like a duh, that is just what you do when you have a new home, right?   but hi, it's been 8 years since we did the whole marriage thing.. so is it too late?  heck no.



and, fyi, he did carry me over the threshold of our apartment waaaay back when.



BUT.   this. was. awesome.  





a memory i must crystallize.   :: commencing crystalization ::





aaaaaand, well, scene.



housewarming flowers from good friends (aaron & kelly) in Minne:





aaron chillin in the window:





the view from upstairs:


4.05.2009

sproing!

had sort of kind of wanted to sleep in today, but the alarm clock did it's business at 8:00am and once that happened, as it turns out, there was going to be no more snoozing today. not today.

weird dreams are populating my brains lately. i wake up in the middle of the night sort of ready to take some sort of action as dictated in the dreams, only to realize the only action i need to take is to back to god damn sleep, already.

yesterday when we went to the gym, i started doing the dramatic exit dance and turned to aaron and quipped, "this will be my last saturday at this gym." which in fact, it may or may not be as we may or may not actually be staying in our current place on friday night. but in fact, this will INDEED be my last sunday at the gym. and then when/if i go any days this week, it will be the last monday, the last tuesday and so on. i know, it's very dramatic.

i am going to miss all the gym characters and the ambience that i've grown to love. i'm going to miss being able to say that McDreamy AND carrot top work out at my gym. i'm also going to miss 60-year old detective mike who's run 13 marathons giving aaron and i marriage tips that always included aaron putting me on a pedestal. that is one wise old man, that mike. i'm even going to miss anorexic-looking erin who's been kicking my arse in sculpt class for the past few weeks ever since she took over the saturday morning class.

but a new gym is on the horizon. this one actually has allll the amenities that a true gym rat requires: pool, steam, sauna, jacuzzi, salsa classes, aqua aerobics, pilates, hip hop and dance classes and so on and so on. it's also conveniently located at my transfer stop on my metro ride to and from work, so my excuse jar is going to be coming up pretty: EMPTY. i will be at the gym more often, oh yes, i will.

as the memories and experiences of living in this area continue to rise and bubble over in the brains, i am starting to anticipate all the new ones that will be coming in soon. first metro ride to the airport! first metro ride to the beach! first winebar experience downtown! first chicken wing experience downtown! and so on.

our first night in our new place is less than a week away.

sproing!