Happy New Year!!

We spent our New Years in what was once called the "Playroom" at Wilton. It's now Denise's space. It was just all the cousins and their sig. others. A few drinking games were played and then came the countdown and that was it! Nice and chill.. just how I like it!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Dinner With the Cousins

Since there was no Christmas celebration on Jeric's mom's side.. the cousins decided to have a dinner together. Jeric booked a spot at Park Ave, a spot we remembered from when we had our homie Christmas party several years ago.

Surprisingly, we totally got one of the rooms all to ourselves and it had a humungoid tree and a little fireplace. Pretty damn snazzy.

Dinner was delicious. I ordered the Roasted Portabello as an appetizer and then for dinner, I had the herb crusted chilean sea bass and Jeric had the rib eye.

After dinner, we all did our gift exchange, which was lots of fun especially since lots of us didn't buy gifts off of their wishlists. Surprises are way better!

We did stay way over their hours of operation (like seriously an hour or so after closing), but they were genuinely nice about it!

OHF Holiday Social

I got an email from Gen about the OHF Holiday Social. Since she wasn't avail to go, I invited the girls, Marianne, Denise & Liz. Marianne was the only one that was free to go, so off we went!

The had some yummy snacks, which was our first stop. There were madeleines, guava rolls, and all sorts of other pastries. They also had some yummy flavored fizzy drinks and hot cocoa.

There were a couple of craft stations setup, an ornament making one and a holiday card making one. Since the card making station was over crowded, we made our way to an empty-ish table.. grabbed our ornaments and tattoos and spent a good time decorating our ornaments. It's a really cute and simple diy too. You just take a clear glass ornament and stick temporary tattoos on it! Looks best with shiny gold or silver tattoos. Anyhow, once we were done, the card table finally had room for us! We made our way there and had fun making Christmas Cards. Which was just perfect because for Christmas with the Samoza's, our little add on to our secret santa gifts, was a diy Christmas Card.

We both had a lot of fun! Hopefully they have more of these fun little socials!

J-E-L-L-O!

I totally want jello and lots of it! Hahaha. I saw a bunch of pinterest posts showing jello with whip cream, so I had to try it. I made a box of grape jello and layered it in a cup with the whipped cream in between.

I must say.. where have you been all my life? LOL. Sooooo freaking scrumptious!

Our Christmas Tree Is Complete!

Finally our Christmas Tree is done!

It was looking a bit bare, so we added a bit of ribbon and some golden roped balls.

Tada!

2nd Yearly Ornament Tradition

Meet our 2nd Yearly Ornament.. Stitch! This time, I got to pick it out! :) Dumbo was our 1st one, which Jeric surprised me with last year.

That AYCE Sushi Tho

Found a new AYCE Sushi spot!

The sushi is as just as good as Joe's Sushi (which is now closed). I'm glad we found this spot! Sushi.. sooo yummmm.. *drool*

Little Thanksgiving Get-Together

We hosted a little family/friend Thanksgiving get-together at our place. By little, we really mean little. Lol. Only Ivan and Marianne showed up!

Really.. we just wanted to try and cook our own turkey and since we knew we were cooking a good sized one, we thought we'd have some folks over.

Anyhow, the turkey turned out great! Very moist and savory. With it we had a lot of garlic mash and a lot of mac-n-cheese! Marianne made the garlic mash and also made a take on strawberry shortcake! It was really way too much food for the four of us. Hahaha. We did give them some left overs though and I guess this was just going to be our lunch and dinner for the next how many days!

Crack Bread

We were hanging out and watching the Pacquiao fight over at Jeric's parent's house. I was pretty hungry and have been meaning to try and make crack bread for months since I saw it on Pinterest.

Well, today's the day! It's actually very easy to make!!

Doesn't it look like melt-in-your-mouth goodness?

Well, it totally is!

Finally Made That Eggplant Casserole!

We finally attempted to make my mom's eggplant casserole!

The turnout? It was alright. Needed more salt! And, the topping didn't turn out exactly as it's supposed to. I'll need to watch my mom again, because the instructions just aren't right!

Still a delicious meal, just not up to par is all.

Breaking My Car In.. Time for VEGAS!

So.. I totally forgot to mention this, but back at the end of October, my car has finally arrived! It took over a month for it to come and I am soo glad it is here!

Meet Oreo!


Anyhow, today we take it to Vegas. This is the first and last time my car will ever visit! Lol. I love my car too much to put it through all of that. So, Vegas bound!!

Ivan, Marianne, Denise and Ray all joined us. Me, Jeric and Ivan got there Friday night while Denise and Ray were going to drive up and Marianne would fly in tomorrow. We got a room at the Flamingo and totally got upgraded without even doing the tip trick! Sa-weet! It was a one-bedroom, but had a super huge living room and 2 bathrooms! Sadly, the couches had no pull-out mattresses. Hahaha. Oh well, good thing we have inflatable beds!

The trip was mostly chill. We gambled the first night and then ate gambled and perused the shopping center during the day on Saturday. Saturday night we went to a club, but we left early cause me and Jeric weren't up to it and the group didn't wanna split. Haha. Clubs just ain't our thang! Sunday, we all had lunch at Burgr! And then that was it.. time to go back home!

Now time to get my car safely home.. hopefully without a scratch!

Happy Birthday Los Tortuga Twins & Marky

We had dinner with the fam for the boys' birthdays. We ate at Lucille's over in Cerritos.

They just ordered the family meals for everyone, which totally included a LOT of food! The best thing was the mac-n-cheese!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Jeric & Ivan

It's their birthday!!

Originally me and Marianne wanted to plan a joined themed birthday party for the boys, but by keeping it a surprise it was waaay hard to schedule. We were originally planning it for the weekend after their birthday, but since my new car needed to be broken in, Jeric planned a Vegas trip that weekend. So, we tried scheduling it for the weekend before their birthday, but things happened.. we got busy.. and some personal matters didn't allow us to properly plan the party, so we ended up nixing it.

I still wanted to surprise Jeric somehow. But our apartment parking situation does not make it easy one bit! We only have one parking spot so our 2nd car needs to find a guest spot, which is very difficult since the building has more tenants than parking spots. So, everyday after work I have to rush home and find a guest spot to save and then when Jeric comes home we switch spots! Which means, I'm totally stuck at the apartment until then, which is usually for a good hour or so. This makes it very difficult for me to go out and get his stuff!

Luckily I figured out what to do. I decided to skip lunch and use that break time to rush over to party city and grab some deco and then rush back to work. I only had a 30 minute window and the drive to and from already exhausted 20 of those minutes. I did have a plan on exactly what I wanted to do already so all I had to do was find everything on my list!

I made it back to work just in time!

Now the hard part! Having only a little over an hour do deco the house!! I wanted to get a sorta Leonardo from TMNT theme going on. So I bought 30 blue balloons and 30 green balloons, found a TMNT "Happy Birthday" banner to string across the living room, some green and blue streamers and these blue and green confetti wands! I also got him a king hat because he's my king!

I started with the balloons. We had a pump, so I knew I didn't need to get one. But about that pump.. it totally didn't work! It was manual pump that you had to push a cylinder in and out of another cylinder. The problem was when I pulled, it pulled back whatever air that was pushed into the balloon! And on top of that, there were places where the air could leak out. Total fail! I began blowing up the balloons myself. But my cheeks started to hurt and I was starting to have a hard time breathing as I blew them up. I did about 4 of them like that and then I totally remembered that we had a Rainbow Vacuum!! It has an attachment made for blowing up balloons!! Total life saver!!! Honestly, without that, I would not have been able to blow up all the balloons. I would either tire out or my time would run out.

Balloons were luckily all blown up and scattered all over our living room floor! I finished hanging the "Happy Birthday" banner and throwing streamers around it. I also had a hand drawn coupon for his surprise birthday gift. It was for the Zombies add on in COD. I rolled it up and stuck it in one of the balloons. I also made sure to stick it in the blue one because it was less transparent. Mwahaha.

I totally wanted to get him a mini cake too, but there just wasn't any more time. :(

Luckily we had donuts and I also bought two king size Reese's Pieces Cups. So I placed a stack of three donuts and the reese's pieces cups around it on a plate.

I seriously finished everything in the nick of time. Sort of.

Midway through blowing up the balloons Jeric texted me that he was heading home (this was at 5 and he usually comes home by 5:30). I wasn't sure if I'd be finished in time so I tried to be sneaky, but that's something I'm no good at. Hahaha. I texted him to call me when he gets here cause I need to move my car. He asked why, and I was like, cause they have movers coming. But he saw the hole in my story immediately!! He calls me, so I have to shut the vacuum off, which also meant I was losing precious balloon blowing time. He's like, "that doesn't make sense. where will I park then?" That's when I break. Hahaha. I could not contain myself. As always, I am no good at lying. Hahahaha. I ended up just telling him, "JUST CALL ME WHEN YOU GET HERE!" LOL! He figured it out of course, that I had some sort of surprise waiting for him. At least, he wouldn't know what kind of surprise!

Back to the deco. I had about maybe 5 minutes when I was stashing the coupon in one of the balloons. I also had to find his card and then prep the gopro so I can record it all.

He calls me as I'm running all around our apartment and tells me he is here! Ahhhhhhhh. Panic ensues.. and I quickly gather everything! I do one last sweep and see that all the deco is in place and as I'm placing the gopro in a good spot the doggies' ears perk up.. crap! I holla.. "Jeric!! Are you at the door?" And he replies, "Yes." Mwahahaha. So I tell him, "Do NOT come in yet!!!" LOL. Everything is ready except for the confetti wands.. where the bloody hell are the confetti wands?? I frantically search for a good minute (but it seriously felt like a lifetime). LOL! And there they are!! I grab them quickly, kick a few balloons to better spots, shut off the lights and yell, "OK, YOU CAN COME IN NOW!"

SURPRISE!!!! *Confetti rains everywhere*

And that he was, totally surprised!!

He loves it! And was like, "you should've recorded it". I'm like, "ah, but I did! look at the gopro". And he's like, "but you didn't. it's not recording." C.R.A.P.! He is right, the red light is not blinking. In all the mayhem for the final few minutes, I forgot to hit record! DOH!

But that's ok. I hit record and start tossing confetti back up in the air and yelling "SURPRISE!" Hahahaha.

I have him put his crown on and sit in front of his faux pas birthday cake. I light a match (cause we have no candles, plus the match is tall enough to fit in the holes of the three stacked donuts) and place it in the middle of the donuts and sing him happy birthday! He reads his card and reads about his surprise gift that he must find among the balloons. Pwahahaha.

He asks if it's covered by the balloons or inside.. I offer no hint. I do allow him to bring in the hounds to help him though. Hahaha.

That was more for our amusement though. Watching Derp play with the balloons, then have one pop and shock every bit of fur on his fat body, and then seeing him go from happy to angry in a blink of an eye and.. ATTTTAAAACCCCKKKK! Which leads to more balloon popping and more anger. Hahaha. It was funny!

Meanwhile, Jeric is searching for his gift. He asks, "blue or green?" This time I help him out and tell him blue. And he notices the method to my madness and says, "of course it's blue, it's not see through!" Hahahahaha.

Minutes later, he finally found it! He reads the coupon and is like.. "What's zombies?" What??? Are you kidding me? Have we not been playing COD for the past how many days and have you guys not been talking about zombies? LOL.

When he realizes what I meant, he's like, "Oh yah, you were sleeping last night. We found out how to get zombies, you have to get really far in survivor to unlock it. So you don't have to pay for any expansion pack." Which means my gift is null, but not really! I told him to keep reading the coupon. I stated that it has cash value. Hahaha.

And that was the end of his birthday surprise!

Now.. clean-up time! Hahaha. Jeric showered while I cleaned up. I wasn't gonna have him help me clean up on his birthday. :)

When he was done showering and getting ready I was still cleaning. I had to pop the balloons quietly so that I don't startle the dogs. Plus I'm sure it hurts their ears. Poor Juno was so scared after the first two balloons popped that she ran underneath our bed to hide.

I still had a lot of cleaning to do, but Marky and Christian were online so Jeric was like, stop cleaning, we'll do it later, go hop on COD! And off I went! Hahaha. Our priorities are definitely in order!

After COD, we rushed off to Lucille's in Cerritos to have dinner for their birthdays.

Happy Birthday boys!!

COD: Advance Warfare

All the boys got Call of Duty: Advance Warfare today. And since Ivan bought an XBox One and the game for Marianne, Jeric didn't want me to feel left out either, so we went and got me an XBox One and the game! Yey!! Plus, it's way better for Jeric because I wont ask to play his, thus lowering his KDR (that's Kill Death Ration for all of you none COD'ers).

Anyhow, here we are! I have my very own XBox One and my very own copy of COD! Game time!!

Hello Kitty Con 2014

Went with the girls to Hello Kitty Con. It was me, Gen, Jenn, her sister Janice and Janice's daughter, Mia. Cyn and Celly also came, but came way later.


Trying to plan our trip was pretty tough, especially since we knew parking would totally suck! We had plans to carpool to the rails. And then that had to change because we figured not everyone would fit. So next plan was for me to borrow the 4runner and pick-up Gen and meet everyone else at the rails out in Torrance. The 4runner would be best because neither of us wanted to leave our nice cars there. Luckily none of us left our cars there because Mark offered to take all of us in his Dad's van! Thanks Mark!!

I'm glad we didn't take the rails because when we got there, we saw a massive line! Holy cow! It wrapped around three sides of a block! Luckily the badge pick-up line wasn't too long. Also, we noticed that that long line may have been for the tea room because when we got in line, there was this massive break, big enough that we thought it was the end of the line. But then, girls behind us were loudly making comments about us cutting. Whatevs! As long as we get in!

We were given a buncha tips by Joan, since she went there on Thursday. But, funny thing, when we got there, we disregarded every tip she gave us. LOL. For instance, go inside first because outside lines will be shorter later. Nope, we did outside activities first. But that's because we got a warning that a storm may be heading our way.

She also told us that we can pick-up our Target bag at the end because there will practically be no line and they shouldn't run out. We went there first, hahaha! But we did want it so that we can throw stuff in it as we walked around. I'm glad I had it because it was hot inside and I needed a spot to store my jacket.

After we got our Target bags.. which were actually backpacks, we headed over to get fake tattoos put on us. Then we headed to the Hello Kitty Cafe Food Truck. All we wanted from there were the cute $4 water bottles because they were in the shape of Hello Kitty's bow! Lol. Everything else was overly priced there. Midway through that line, me and Gen went over the the First Aid Station because Jenn went there earlier and came back with cute tattoos of Hello Kitty wearing baseball caps for all the baseball teams. I had to get me some too! Hahaha. I tried getting all the teams, but the guy was like, don't take so many! Sadly, there were no Angels ones left.

We finally got to the Cafe Window to order. We all just ordered these cute water bottles that were in the shape of Hello Kitty's bow! They were $4 each, but I think it's the best and only souvenir that I paid for.

We were pretty much all done with outdoor activities and were going to try and stand in line for the main shop. We figured we'd be okay as far as time. Jonah said the line was like 4 hours when she went. So we were hoping for maybe a few at most. But nope! 3-4 hour wait. We were all like.. fu-ged-it!

We went inside instead and walked around the Super Market. That's were all the vendors were. It was pretty damn crowded there too, but at least no lines. We kinda separated from time to time and just looked at everything. Eventually we all met up at Mega Blocks where Mia was making something. They had this cool thing where what you make you get to take home with you. Eventually Jenn wanted to make one too. It was waaay too crowded for me to join in too, so me and Gen went walking around on our own. We left the market area and walked around the rest.

We got to see some cute/weird Hello Kitty Fashion Mannequins, which were soo Tokyo-fied..


Saw some cute vintage stuff as well..

And then, there was this.. the very first coin purse.. but omg! Hahaha, it had it's own display case and room! As Gen stated.. like they were the mother heffin Crown Jewels! LOL.


We met back up with Jenn, Janice and Mia and then walked around some more. We tried getting into the Target Store actually, but ewww, they close off the line when it reaches a certain spot and they say to come check back in like 30 minutes. And when we tried standing around waiting for the line to re-open, we were shoo'd away by some other guy saying we couldn't stand around there.

Soo.. we all walked around so that Jenn, Janice and Mia could see the stuff we saw. And then we went back to try the Target Store again.. nope! Nothing. Boo! Cyn and Celly finally got there so we all said our hellos. They went around to see all the stuff while we waited a bit more, a bit away from the line so we wont get shoo'd again. The line never re-opened for a very long time and eventually Cyn and Celly made their way back to us and we all went outside.

They were hungry, so they went to get food. We wanted to try the Target Store one more time. But ewwww, we had to wait in another line to get back in!! Gahhhh.

Anyhow, still no luck on the dang Target Line!! There was this cool game we saw that had a line though and we decided we might as well wait in line for that while we wait for the Target Line to re-open. Ohh.. if you're wondering what the Target Line is for? Well, there were carnival games inside and you can win Hello Kitty Stuff!! Anyhow, back to the mini game thing. The only ones who tried it were me and Jenn. Your tossed in a box with fans that blow around a bunch of printed paper and all of them are white except for one. To win.. you gotta grab that one! Seems easy, right? Nope! We watched all these people get there's and it looked so easy. But when it came down to it, it was hard as hell! Hahaha. I did see mine too and I tried to step on it, but yah, that didn't work. Lol! The prize was a cute band-aid tin box, which we thought contained cute band-aids! They didn't though, it just had some pins in it. So, not a complete loss. Although that band-aid tin was way cute! When we were done, the target line was still a no go. So that was it!

We headed out and went to find a food spot while we waited for Mark to pick us up.

It was fun, I probably wouldn't go again unless they included all the other Sanrio characters.

Universal Horror Nights

The Samoza's have been planning on Universal Horror Nights for Halloween. Everyone was a go except for Jeric, me and Patrick. I couldn't go because it wouldn't be a good idea for me and Jeric didn't wanna go cause he'd be singled out since everyone else was coupled up and Patrick never said if he was going. Even then, if Patrick said yes, he would bring a girl. Anyways, Ivan ended up buying Jeric a ticket anyways and was like, you're going, we'll find someone for you. And then, I was able to go, so Jeric bought my ticket. And, well, here we are! We were all scurred, except for Jeric. The worst part? Jeric was not scared, so he volunteered to always go first! Which means I am right behind him. Gahhhh! Stupid things still get me! Lol. I just hate when they're all up in your face with their creepy growls and snarls and also when they pop-up out of nowhere. Or even when they chase you or follow you!! Go away you creepy things!! The mazes were pretty scary, especially the Walking Dead one! The Clown one was pretty trippy too, especially since it was in 3D. The worst part was the freaking lines!!

They all were like 2 hours long! We only made it through 3 mazes together and then the last maze was just me, Jeric, Ivan and Marianne.

In the end we rode Jurassic Park.. and sat in the front. Bad idea? Probably! Lol. Luckily none of us got soaked, just wet.

Will we do this again? Probably not. Not worth $80 a ticket! Then again, if everyone ends up going next year, we probably will too. Who knows! LOL.

Jeric's Friend's Wedding

Jeric's old co-worker, Moyses, is getting married today and we were all invited.

We kinda wanted to skip the ceremony and get their right when the reception started, which we thought we totally did. The invitation said everything started at 3, we got there at 4, but boo, they were JUST starting the ceremony! LOL.

We all couldn't understand anything because it was all in Spanish. So we just took pictures, spoke in hushed voices, and tried to make it look like we were paying attention.

Immediately after was cocktail hour. They had ceviche as an hors d'oeuvre, a candy bar and drinks! We scooped up as much candy as we could and filled our bowls with ceviche as well and then headed out to our table. But then, we were told that they needed to move our table, so we had to get up. When it was finally in its spot we all sat down again. Then the boys went out to the car for a smoke break. Meanwhile, me and Marianne hung out and chatted. But then, they made an announcement stating that everyone had to stand up so they can move the tables because they weren't in the correct order. Me and Marianne were the only ones who listened! Apparently no one should've been sitting since it was cocktail hour. Everyone was supposed to be standing and enjoying the hor d'oeurves. Whatevs. When the boys came back, they just put our number back on our table and told us to come back! LOL

It was pretty chilly and Jeric noticed a bin that had blankets to use! Me and Marianne got one. Totally needed it too!

We spent the rest of the night enjoying the wedding and relaxing. We all also took a bunch of photo booth pictures.

As for dinner, it was buffet style and ewww, our table was called last! Actually, scratch that, they never called us, we ended up just going up anyways. Another table of Asians followed us. LOL. I think we were the only two tables who weren't Mexican. Anyhow, by the time we got to grabbing dinner.. the enchaladas were all gone!! The rest of the food was meh, not bad, but not great.

After taking a photo with Moyses and after the boys did the money dance with him, we were out!

Congrats you two!

Leah's TMNJ Birthday Party

Leah, Jeric's niece, had her birthday party today. They decided on a boys theme and did Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The reason for TMNJ above? Ate Ween had a typo in our group chat and it stuck! LOL.

All the older boy cousins were supposed to dress up as ninja turtles, but because everything was so last minute, only three of them had actual turtle looking shirts. Geoff only had a plain green one. All us girls wore green shirts and tutu's of the same color as our significant others' turtle. Jeric is Leonardy, Ivan is Michaelangelo, Marky is Donatello and Geoff is Raphael. Except, we no one informed Marianne that Ann (Geoff's gf) would be there. So instead of Ann, the red tutu was for Denise. I did get Ann a green shirt though. And now that I think of it, she might not have worn the tutu since she denied the turtle mask when originally we needed some to fill the void of missing turtles because Jeric and Marky weren't going to come until later, when Ivan gets off work. But then, they changed their minds and came earlier with me.

Anyhow, the theme was ubber cute! All the tables were deco'd and Denise made a super cute birthday cake! The giveaways were awesome! It was a pizza box personalized for each kiddo and inside was a TMNJ t-shirt, a turtle mask, and a pair of nun-chucks. Our boys were jelly, they wanted one for themselves. Hahaha. Not gonna lie, I wish I had me one too.

Happy Birthday Leah!!

What's Cookin?

We've finally made some home cooked meals! Hahaha. About time, right??

On Friday, Jeric made some yummy spaghets! We just boiled the noodles and tossed a container of Prego in another pot. We added parsley and thyme and turkey meatballs to the mix. When it was done, we topped our dishes with crumbled pirate's booty!

Saturday morning, I made egg omelet (a different rendition of the one Marianne made). We only had 4 eggs left, so it was smaller. The bigger one took 6 eggs. I added spinach, onions and mushrooms. Topped both of ours with salsa and then cottage cheese for mine only (Jeric is not a fan).

Marianne came by and hung out all day on Saturday too, Jake the Kid was also dropped off mid afternoon. Jeric ended up going to his parent's since he was down there for a haircut.

For dinner, me and Marianne cooked up a delicious meal for us and the boys. We had way too many sides, but it was alright! LOL. The main dish was Pan Fried Salmon with a lemon pepper and garlic rub. The sides were Sauteed Asparagus in butter with pepper and salt, Rosemary Potatoes and Onions broiled, Cauliflower Mash, and Steamed Broccoli. Everything was delicious, but boy was it a lot!

Girly Weekend

While the boys were out on there Boy Vegas trip, the girls decided to hang out for the entire weekend.

Friday, me, Liz and Marianne went out to LA to meet up with Denise and Ray to celebrate! We also met up with Geoff, Ann, Dre and Angel. We all met up at a bar called Next Door Lounge.. I think that's what it was called. The bar was really cute. All the waitresses were dressed up as Flappers.

We got their fairly late, but still in good time to celebrate! Congrats!!

Afterwards, me, Liz and Marianne headed towards the apartment, but first we needed to stop by Fresh & Easy nearby for some necessities and some goodies! Marianne also picked up stuff for tomorrow's breakfast. The girls slept over!

I think we got home at around 4:00 am and probably slept at 5?

Saturday morning, Denise was trying to wake us all up. She was texting and calling.. trying to let us know that she's gonna be here soon because Ray has work in the morning and she'd have to leave. Marianne was the only one who responded to her, but even then, she went back to sleep and it took several doorbell rings to get us up. Hahaha.

Thus, began our Saturday morning!

We all just lazed about a bit. Marianne started making bfast, but there were a few things we still needed, so Liz and Denise went out to the market. Marianne also brought these really cute miniature girly champagne and wine bottles!! Sooo cute!

When Denise and Liz came back, it was bfast time! And then we started on our home spa stuff! Originally we planned to go to a real spa, but it was pricy and none of us were prepared to spend that much. So, at home spa it is!

We all washed our faces and then put on a face mask. But funny thing.. we're all noobs! We thought the mask already included the lotion, but it didn't. You were supposed to buy that separately and mix it in with the water used to unfold the mask. Oh well, it was fun anyways!

We also watched movies! We watched Bridesmaids and Pitch Perfect. Both awesome girly flicks!

The rest of the day was spent with us getting ready. I had my niece's wedding to go to. Since Jeric, my parents and Chris couldn't make it, I asked the girls if they wanted to go with me. Liz was the only one that couldn't make it because she had work.

We got all purty for the wedding and then hit up the mall to buy new dresses and shoes!

We were all dolled up, but omg! Talk about fashionably late? We got there well after dinner was served. Whoopsie! I did make my way around and greeted relatives. But we had no seats.. dinner wasn't being served anymore.. and the bar was cash only! That's when we decided to split.. At that time, Liz was getting off work, so we all decided to eat at Club Guppies! We all ordered popcorn chicken and two of the fried rice dishes (kimchi and salmon). Poor Marianne though.. midway through dinner she didn't look to well. She had to make a trip to the bathroom. Must've been the mixed drink.. cause apparently it was too strong. Liz went home after dinner and the rest of us headed to the apartment. Denise also went home because she had to pick-up Ray. Marianne was supposed to go home too. I was gonna drive her over to get her car at the parentals, but she was far too gone so she ended up spending the night again. We talked for a bit and then went to sleep.

Sunday was super chill. We ate leftovers from yesterdays bfast.. the delicious omelet that Marianne made with cottage cheese and salsa. We also ate the coffee crumble cake that Liz bought as well as fruit bowls.

We watched Silver Linings Playbook.

While waiting for the boys to make their way home, we hit up the mall and then chilled over at the parentals. Marianne had some lunch.. I was too full to eat again.

We thought we had more time to chill, but the boys ended up coming home way sooner than expected.. YEY!

So, off we went to pick-up the boys at the car rental spot.

I Survived Six Flags

So this three day weekend started out slow and chill and ended up with crazy thrills!

Friday night, Saturday and Sunday we mostly just hung out at home or at Jeric's parent's house and went out to eat a few times. That was the bulk of it.

On Saturday, Ivan and Marianne said they got season tickets for Six Flags. There was a promo for buy a day, get the rest of this year and the entire next year for free! They tried to convince everyone else to get one. In the end, no one else did.

Then, on Sunday morning.. Jeric says.. we're going to Six Flags! Marianne actually bought both of our tickets. They're Jeric's early bday gift. Lol. So, we're going!!

I have totally not been to Six Flags for maybe over 5 years! The last time I went was when X was new and DeJavu. I was kind of afraid too. I didn't think I could stomach those roller coasters anymore. I mean, Hollywood Tower of Terror gives me the hebee jebee's. And then came Monday. We were supposed to leave around 9:30, but since we all had a late night yesterday (we left Jeric's parent's house at like 2:30am) no one woke up early. And we ended up leaving at 11. And there we were.. good ol' Six Flags!

We walked in and were thinking about which ride should be first. Initially it was going to be Tatsu or X2. But then we saw Revolution and thought we'd get our feet wet first. We took the little trolly up the hill and when we got there, we could not figure out how to get to Revolution. We did see Tatsu though. And since Tatsu was the only major coaster I haven't been on yet, that was our first stop. Jeric and Marianne were the only two that rode it before. We got in line. But ewww. The wait was 90 minutes long and then while we were in line the ride broke down. So we left.

We ended up going on Viper first. Haha. Still a great ride to test the waters with. And! There was absolutely no line! Reminds me of them good ol' high school days. When the park would be closing soon and there was no line and we totally rode Viper six times in a row! We'd run up the stairs.. ride.. exit.. and run back up them stairs!

After Viper, we decided to head back to Tatsu. I must say. That ride isn't as crazy as far as high drops goes, but that G-Force! Holy EFF! It made me stop screaming. Hahaha. Or, more like, it FORCED me to stop screaming. I could actually ride that ride again. I'll still have the fear, but I can do it!

Other rides we rode:

Psyclone's replacement, Apocalypse: It's terminator-like themed. It's just as bad as Psyclone. Fast, jolty, and way uncomfortable. But without as big of a drop in the beginning.

Green Lantern: Looked like a wuss ride. Like a ride to take a super thrill break. Boy was I wrong! There was so much packed into that tiny freaking ride! Spins that made every tiny drop feel worse than it looked.. thrusting forward.. slamming backward.. All kindsa crap. And with it, the pain from uncomfortable bars and what not to keep you strapped in. I probably got a bruise from the ride. Wouldn't be suprised!

Drop of Doom: I did not ride. Yup, that's right, I chickened out! I will never again ride Supreme Scream, so why would I ride this, it's waaay higher!

Unless you paid me 5k or more, I will never ride it. They did though! Haha. This ride is on the sides of Superman. They take you up to the top, hold you, and then drop you! Just thinking about it gives me chills.

Goliath: Same as always. Easy peasy for them, because they had just ridden Drop of Doom, which was higher, and at 90 degrees. But not I. Haha. Hmm, Goliath is like over 200 stories high.. I wonder how high Drop of Doom is???

X2: Scariest one! I read the enhancements. They cut holes through out the seat boards in order to lessen wind resistance, which means it'll go faster! And then they just added special effects.. fog, fire and music (our music did not play though). Anyhow, as far as speed, yes, that shit went faster than I remembered! We accidentally rode the front for this one (we usually get the back, since they get the most pull).. I was kinda happy.. cause I was thinking we'd be halfway down the drop before it fully releases. But boy did I forget! That mini dip at the beginning? Yah, that allows the full release before the drop! SHIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT! LOL. None-the-less it was fun!

I did it! I rode the craziest rides there and I survived!!! YEY! *high five*

By the way.. they're tearing down Colossus.. but before you go boohoo'ing in some random corner, you must know.. they're rebuilding it! YEY! And it will be dubbed.. Twisted Colossus, which is a total hybrid coaster! Half wood half steel! So it will have parts of Colossus (like that first big drop), but will have loops, corkscrews and all the other glory of a steel coaster! Oh and I forgot to mention.. ride time will be almost 4 minutes long! Holy eff!

Can't forget the funnel cake!

RAW. IS. JERIC(HO).

So I get off of work and my phone has been flooded with text message from Jeric! LOL! He's outside of my work with Marky.. and we're picking up tickets to RAW! Woohoo!

The tickets were $28 each and seats were up in section 439. Yup, nosebleeds. Honestly the seats weren't too bad. As for RAW, it was aite. Best part was when Roman Reigns interrupts Rollins' eulogy for Ambrose and beats the crap out of him, but before he can spear him, corporate Kane pulls him out of the ring. Booo. And then, they decide to force him into a handicap match. Which was also awesome!

The main event, was meh. It was Cena.. and we're not a fan. Hahaha. Not only was it Cena, but they had a buncha irrelevant wrestlers in a 6 man tag team match.

Jeric says.. waste of monies. I thought it fun! Roman Reigns was worth it! Of course, this doesn't beat my first time to RAW.. The Rock came back! Yah, that definitely sets the bar way high.

Mid Week Girly Fun!

Gen texted me and said that there’s a possible girly hang out after work on Wed (August 20th). She asked if I was down. I was a maybe, but after work I decided to go. It’s been awhile since I’ve hung out with the gals.

It only ended up being me, Gen and Joan. Just as great though. Especially since I haven’t seen Joan since our birthday hangout! That was in April!

Our plan was to head out with Joan as she picked up a check from someone, grab some Half & Half boba and then dinner at Din Tai Fung! We also had Jonah’s boys with us who are always fun to watch.

I’ve never had Half & Half before. I must say. Way delicious! So much so that I killed my drink before we got to Din Tai Fung! LOL.

When we got to Din Tai Fung, we totally were not expecting it to be busy! Since, you know, middle of the week.. late night.. people have work tomorrow. But nope, still busy! 45 minute wait! Boooo! We ended up just ordering to go, which was a 20 minute wait. So you can imagine. If we ate there.. 45 minutes to be seated and another 20 minutes to get our food. And then we’d eat and chat so that would be another 30 minutes to an hour! Yah, not gonna happen.

The food was yum! Thanks for a fun time gals!

PS.. missing the rest of you girlies!

WWE Summer Slam

I became a wrestling fan because Jeric got me into it. Hahaha. I was a bit into it while we were dating, but now that we’re married and we live together, we watch the same things and so, I became an avid watcher of Monday night Raw, Friday night Smackdown and all the pay per views! And I became a real fan! Engrossed in all the drama.. shocked by all the betrayals.. amazed by all the finishers!

And last Sunday (August 17th) was my first time watching a PPV event live! I have been to Raw years ago (which was way fun, the Rock came back that time!) But never have I been to one of their PPV’s. Definitely excited!

The crowd was fun. Not as crazy as expected, but they did chant at times. And I had fun chanting with them.

The best match was the Lumberjack match! Sadly, no broken tables. And apparently there should’ve been one. They had 3 announcer tables out there and according to the guys, there’s usually only 2. Also, the 3rd table was for German announcers. Yah, the guys thought one table would be broken for sure. But, nope. Just a teaser!

The guys were a bit disappointed, but it was still fun!

Afterwards we headed out for dinner. We went to Kariya, which is this spot that has both Shabu Shabs and KBBQ! What? YUP! It’s out in Artesia, off of Norwalk and South. Good stuff!

Samoza “Housewarming”

Many of the Samoza’s wanted to see our new home. So we had them over last Saturday (8/16/14). We did want to actually cook something, but we totally had no time to prepare. We ended up catering from Panda Express, which was actually just enough food! Everyone that came also brought goodies with them. We had monkey bread, biko, puto, turon, empanadas, watermelon.. and more that I can’t remember.

The kiddos all took a dip in our pool along with a few of the adults. The rest of us just hung out and chit chatted.

Jeric put on old home videos for them to watch as well. He had a vid from his and Ivan’s 3rd birthday. The funniest part was when his mom and aunt’s saw themselves. They went up into crazy hysterical screeches! It was hilarious! They were squealing because of their old hairdo’s and the clothes they were wearing. Hahaha.

We didn’t have many pictures, but we did have a vid (edited by the hubby) of the kiddos in the pool!

Enjoy!

Chewy's Surgey

So, I went to my parent’s house one day and since I was there for awhile, I played with Chewy (my very first dog that was completely mine.. Jeric got her for me back in 2002). Anyhow, while we were playing I wanted a picture of her and wanted her to sit still. So I went to pick her up and that’s when I saw it. Large mass on her chest. We’re talking bigger than a golf ball here. I was so devastated.

The next day we took her to the vet immediately.

Luckily the Dr. said that she’s still very strong and can handle surgery. And that was all we needed to hear. We scheduled her surgery for the next day and left poor Chewy Bluey there over night. We also scheduled her for dental cleaning as well as spaying her (she was still producing milk!).

The next day was great news. The Dr. said she probably has quite a bit more mileage left in her. Apparently she was mighty feisty. LOL. They also did find two masses, both were cut out and thankfully neither of them had spread. They ended up being Stage I Carcinoma. Poor baby.

(current update)

Her cone is off, her wounds have healed and she is the Queen of doggies. LOL. She puts Derp in his place. Which is as it should be. Queens > Kings! Hahaha. I kid I kid. Seriously though. She barks at him and right now, he knows she means business and is actually respectful of her. We’ll see how long that lasts though.

Oh yah, we decided to keep her with us. I miss her! And now I can have her roam around as much as I want. Our home, our rules!

TMNT

TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) was a definite must watch for us. Yes, we know, Michael Bay is probably gonna totally butcher the movie. But still, you can’t have TMNT as part of your childhood and not watch the movie!

The Verdict

It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great. The effects were just too much like Transformers. It’s like, common, pay homage to old school TMNT! And then there were the voice-overs. Johnny Knoxville? Really? You couldn’t do any better? *ROLL ‘EM!* And Master Splinter sounds waaaay too young. He’s supposed to have plenty of age in his voice! Gaaaah. And of course there’s Megan Fox. You are no April O’Neil! Such horrible acting. Yes, she has a pretty face. But c’mon, there’s other girls with pretty faces but with far more superb skills at acting.

Then there’s the storyline. Nothing at all like the original.

Definitely disappointing, but not by much since we already expected it to be meh.

There is a part 2 by the way! And yes, we are still watching it. Hahahaha.

New Job

Yup, that’s right. A new job! I’m hoping this is my last job swap for years and years! It wasn’t like I didn’t like my previous job as a Collections Specialist at Care Ambulance, but seriously, timing is everything!

I was still a temp with no news of Care Ambulance keeping me on permanently and in the meantime I was observing the company and I’ve overheard about many of the changes. Like, company picnics and such are no longer the same. The amount of extra goodies were no more. They catered the main entrees normally, but before they used to also have all these goodies.. cakes, cupcakes, cookies, brownies.. the works! Now, nothing but the entrees. There were other things too, changes in cashing out PTO, department salary caps, and increases in cost of health insurances were just a few that I saw.

Anyhow, since it looked like the new owners were trying to decrease extra spending as much as possible, I figured the company’s outlook wasn’t so good. So, I decided to start searching for a new gig. I landed a few interviews and they seemed to go well. And then, seriously, within that week or the next, someone resigned from Care Ambulance and I was offered his job. Of course, not knowing where I stood with the few other companies I interviewed for, I took the permanent position at Care Ambulance. Of course, a few days later, I get a call and was offered a job!

Now I was faced with a decision! So I weighed the Pros and Cons.. New job vs old job. The new job had higher pay, in fact, it was back to the amount I made before I was every laid off. The new job was also the same position I had back with Divine Hospice Care.. Executive Administrative Assistant. But I had no idea how big or small the new company was. I also was unsure of their stability. Care Ambulance has been around for 35 years. The new company.. only 6. I was super comfortable at Care Ambulance already. Knew the people and had a good daily routine. But, the job was boring. Very boring. Same task all day erry day. Old job was more lax with phone usage. New job, totally strict since they deal with government contracts.

The major factor that swayed me towards the new job. Pay of course! It’s a difference of $5/hour! Which we need now that we live on our own. All the bills are ours! LOL.

I did love the people I worked with at Care though. So I met with my manager and I let her know that I was offered a job and said that I’d love to stay if they can match my pay. Unfortunately, they could not. So, decision has been made. Off to the new job!

(long post.. I know.. but there’s a bit more! LOL)

Life at the new spot.. there’s good and there’s bad. The good.. the company is bigger than I thought (100 employees!). All the folks here are just as friendly as the folks at Care Ambulance. Jeans day erry day! (except when we have important guests of course). Job tasks are waaaay better than what I had at Care Ambulance. Much more challenging and very diverse. The bad.. no more gchat! Waaaaaaaah waaaaaaaah. They block all email clients and chat clients. *cry*. Our phones are never allowed to be seen either. I mean, it makes sense. We deal with government clients. Everything has to be ubber secure. But mang, how do I keep in touch with Jeric, Habibi, Fungangang, and Joany? That’s the only major upset. Other than that, the job is great!

Chicago Day 3 (pictures coming soon)

Good morning!!

Today's our last day.. which is bittersweet. We love being on vacay, but we also miss home sweet home!

Anyhow, our traditional Chicago bfast awaits us! Time to try out the Doughnut Vault! We already knew exactly how to get there, so it didn't take long. Sadly, they didn't have many to select from. They only stay open til like 2pm or until they sell out. I guess they're very popular and you gotta be an early riser to get the good stuff. No thanks! The spot was literally a hole in the wall. You walk in and the inside is probably about 10 feet long and 4 feet wide.
[[picture - donut vault]]

Anyhow.. They only had Buttermilk Old Fashion and an Almond Old Fasion w/ Vanilla Glaze.
[[picture - donuts]]

They were alright. Glazed and Infused was way better. And our bar (Donuttery) is far too high. LOL.

Now that we had food in our stomachs and the weather was decent, we headed off to the very last spot to check out, Navy Pier. There honestly wasn't anything special about it. Santa Monica Pier puts it to shame. We did spend a long amount of time there, leisurely walking around. Guess it was enough time and energy spent because our appetites were back. Time for lunch!
[[picture - navy pier]]


Giordana's (the spot that competed against Gino's) wasn't far. We just took a bus up the street and walked the rest. The wait was still pretty long (about an hour or so). So we put our name down and then walked around. At least all the stores were open this time.

We checked out the Disney Store first, then hit up the Apple Store and Nike and then we got the text. Time to eats!
[[pictures]]

This time we ordered a deep dish that had meatballs in it. Must say, this is our fav!
[[picture - pizza]]

Since we checked out all the sight seeing spots on our list, we had to at least try and get all the food spots on our list. There were a bunch that were too far to go to, but the one that we wanted to try was iCream, which was ice cream that was made fresh! They use Nitrogen to freeze it up super fast, which I thought was pretty cool! You get to watch the whole process. We got strawberry ice cream with oreos.
[[picture - icream]]

It was delicious, but nothing spectacular. The best part was when they made it for you.

That's it! No more food stops on our list, at least none nearby. We did want to get more donuts from Glazed and Infused. Jeric wanted one to share right now and then 2 more for our bfast tomorrow. Luckily there was one near us. But it was super small! Smaller than the Doughnut Vault. You order through the window and as you look inside, you see they only have a small booth inside of a restaurant/bar. Since they don't actually bake the donuts there, they only had a small selection. We got the maple bar with bacon for


iCream
Glazed and Infused
Batman - Rain
Lightning Storm
Go me home

Chicago day 2

We got plenty of rest! Like 12 hours! Woot! Revived and ready to go!

First stop? Breakfast! Which would be doughnuts of course. We were supposed to go to doughnut vault but we were so hungers and the next bus wouldn't arrive for another 11 minutes. So Jeric yelped and found a closer spot called Glazed and Infused. We decided to walk since it stated that it was less than a mile away. It wasn't really too bad of a walk as far as distance goes. But ughers, it was so humid! Anyhow, here we are!


Their best seller is the Old Fashion donut, so that's what Jeric got. As for me, I got the Blueberry Lemon..


They were both delish. That blueberry lemon though. As you sink your teeth into the soft cakey dough the subtle hints of blueberry and lemon shock your senses! It was that good! The old fashion was pretty moist and delicious as well.

Now time for a trip to the United Center! It was very plain, especially when compared to Staples Center. But! They have the amazing Michael Jordan Statue!


Of course, it's only absolutely fitting for Jeric to take a photo mimicking his pose!


We stayed there for a good amount of time admiring the statue of thee greatest player in NBA history.

Afterwards, we decided we also should visit Wrigley Field. We weren't quite sure exactly what the easiest way to get there would be. So it was definitely a journey. We thought we could take a bus that would eventually lead us to the subway. But as we were trying to find the right bus, we just kept walking through the neighborhoods. It wasn't too bad, but then we came across an area where a bunch of ghetto looking guys were, so we decided to make a quick detour. Luckily the area we detoured at allowed us to spot the subway! Phew!

The subways were waaay waaaay waaaaaaaay crowded. That's when we realized a lot of Cubs gear.. guess there's a game! Some young guys (probably barely 21 or even younger) were prepartying on the way there. One totally couldn't handle his liquor though. He just barfed right there. LOL. It was gross and smelly, but we couldn't help but laugh cuz we've been there before. Haha. And here we are!

Wrigley Field was in the weirdest spot ever. It was just right smack in the middle of a neighborhood! It was probably a block away from where we exited the subway. The surrounding houses/apartments even sold tickets so that you can get up to their roof top or some of the top balconies and watch the game.

It was kinda cool too because it was crowded with all the fans! They were playing Atlanta Braves!


Since we were there, we decided it was also probably a good spot to find me my Chicago Dog. Jeric yelped it and found Chicago's Dog Haus. It wasn't too far, maybe a block or two away. The only thing that sucked was that it started sprinkling on our way there. And these weren't LA sprinkles, nope. These were FAT DROPS! Luckily that's the worst it got on our way there.

The spot was like a hole in the wall. Very small and not very busy. Reviews were great though. I ordered a Chicago Dog and Jeric ordered a Bacon and Cheddar Infused Sausage.


They were alright. Nothing special to be honest. A Chicago Dog just adds a pickle with all the other normal condoments. And the Bacon and Cheddar Infused Sausage.. it's pretty much like Adele's, except Adele's is waaay better.

Time to head back! By the time we got back, it was pouring down hard! Booo.

We were even stuck in the entrance/exit way for awhile. We decided we best head back to the hotel and dry off. So we waited until we saw our bus coming and then made a run for it!

At our hotel, we dried off and changed clothes. By that time, we took a look out our balcony and saw that it stopped raining. Time to head back out! First, we must make a stop and get us umbrellas. We don't want to get stuck again!

We only had a few things left that we must see and that's the Sky Deck and Navy Pier. Since it was late already and chances of rain were highly likely, we decided on Sky Deck.

Sky Deck was pretty cool. You get a wonderful view of the whole city. It was crazy high though. They had these full glass balconies too that you can step out on. It was completely surrounded by glass, so as you stepped out, you can see below you, which was waaay scary! I'm afraid of heights, so that view made me super shakey. Haha. Before hand, I was thinking of cool poses to do, like the jumping pose or planking or a push-up, but when it was time, I totally wussed out. We did sit on the floor though!


Afterwards, we decided to take a walk down Michigan, which is the street along the lake. Jeric wanted to try Dunkin Donuts coffee and grab more donuts as well. He got the Oreo Coffee Latte and I got the Butternut donut. The Butternut donut was one of the better don'ts from Dunkin, but still sub par.

Since we were along Michigan, we decided to check out the Bean again. I'm glad we did too because we got to see what it looked like in the evening with a grey sky, which I think is when it looks best.


We also got to see the fountain that we missed yesterday.


Dinner time! We decided that we were going to try deep dish again. Maybe yesterday's pizza was meh because we ordered the wrong thing (personal pans). Time to try out the other spots. It's either Gino's or Giordana's (both are seriously on the same street and only a couple thousand feet apart. Talk about competition). Gino's was an hour wait and Giordana's was a two hour wait. We put our name down for both and just waited to see who'd text us first. Meanwhile, we walked around. We found the Disney Store, but boo, it was closed. We ended up just standing around there since it was already too late for anything else to be open. Then we got our text! Gino's was the winner.

We ordered a small deep dish pizza with sausage and pepperoni. When we got our order, we realized yes, we ordered wrong yesterday. This is what a deep dish should look like! And taste like! Sooo good!


We were quite stuffed only ate half the pizza. But that's okay! Save the rest for later! We spent the rest of the evening hunting down the spot where they filmed Dark Knight. It was the scene near the end where Batman faces off with Joker.

We ended up walking the Chicago River to find our spot.


As for the Batman scene? It was a total bust. We were trying to find it and couldn't quite find the exact spot, only spots that looked like it. That's when Jeric checked online again and found that it's actually two parts of Chicago pieced together. Booo.. Oh well, it was still quite an adventure.

Back to the hotel!
Good night!