Testing Out These Graze Snacks

We got a deal to try out these home/office delivered snacks for free. They’re called Graze. Well, when you mention free, we’re always game… as long as there isn’t a catch. LOL. Well, we tried them and we finally had them delivered today. I was pretty disappointed in the size of what was delivered. I’ve seen the prices and if this is what you get for that price.. fo-ged-aboud-id!

Here are the few that we tried:

Grilled Cheese

BBQ Sub

Strawberry & Cream Granola

They tasted alright, but nothing spectacular. Definitely not worth the price! Glad we got to try them for free though.

Spotted the Hummingbird

I went out to my mom's after work to pick-up some food as well as hang out and chat with my mom for a bit. Anyhow, when it was time to go we went outside and chatted for a bit more. That's when I spotted the cute bird! A hummingbird came around and wanted to eat some of the nectar from my mom's flowers. I kept getting closer and closer and took a pic of the little feller.

The New Cafe at Work

Our new cafe at work is finally open, Cafe M. We went on over to go check it out on one of our breaks and for opening week, they had different types of infused water for everyone to have. I had the watermelon/melon water, which tasted pretty good. I actually didn’t know that the infused water was only available during the opening week. Had I known, I would’ve tried them all! They had pineapple/mango, cucumber/mint, strawberry/lemon, and strawberry/mint.

We actually even made a deal with Starbucks, which was super surprising. Cafe M is all about “The Good Life,” which is a theme throughout MemorialCare that encourages employees to be as healthy as can be. Their entire menu is based on “The Good Life” motto, which means that everything that they produce will be healthy and, in my opinion, I don’t think healthy and Starbucks is a mix. Haha.

Anyhow, I tried out a muffin from Starbucks. Guess they made some sort of deal where the coffee would be Starbucks blended, but all the snacks were on the “Good Life” track. Because that muffin did not taste as expected. You could feel the “healthy” ooze out. Haha. Never again.

I will try their lunch one day though.

Homemade In-N-Out Burger

I've been totally craving hamburgers lately... actually just meat! Meat, meat, meat! Not so much fruit these days. It's so weird! Anyhow, I totally wanted a burger and Jeric offered to cook me one. Of course, I was ubber freaking hungers, so I asked him to make me double-double style! Not only did he make me a double-double, but it had scrambled egg added to it! Soooo yummmmm! We also had some in-n-out sauce and it totally tasted like an In-N-Out burger, but way better! Dang.. as I write (type) this out, I'm totally salivating! *drool* bur-gerrrr *drool*

Happy 1st Birthday Mattox!

We celebrated Mattox's first birthday over at the Gruezo's! I was kind of dreading how hot it will be, but luckily there was a bit of over cast and a nice cool breeze that would come and go throughout the day. At one point, it even began to sprinkle.

They had a pretty awesome jumper. It had different rooms and was setup more like an obstacle course! All the little kiddos came out super sweaty from there. LOL!

The theme was really cute too.. Super Mattox! Everything was decked out in comic book fashion and kiddos got masks and other superhero gear to wear. Love it!

Happy birthday Super Mattox!!

Happy Father's Day!

Dad Mostajo is in the Philippines, so we don't get to celebrate Father's Day with him. We did get to celebrate with Dad Samoza and Lolo Melencio though, and of course New daddy-to-be, Jeric!

We went to good ol' Thai BBQ for lunch. Like always, I ordered the Beef Satay sticks and Jeric ordered the BBQ Chicken. We all actually practically ordered one of those two dishes and then had an a la cart order of Pad Thai and the Seafood Combo Coconut Soup. Everything smelled delicious, but then Dad Samoza's Beef Satay and mine came out burnt. It was like so gross. Like biting into charcoal. So we had to tell them because there was no way it was edible. They were nice about it and just had us put our burnt ones on a plate so that they can replace them. Hopefully they didn't do anything rotten to them. I'd like to think they didn't.

And that was how we spent Father's Day! Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful father's out there!

Our Wonderful Fun Baby Shower

We had our wonderful baby shower today to celebrate the soon-to-be born Zoe Riley! It was held at a park over in La Palma, that my mom reserved. Since both of our mom's were the main planners, I actually had to assist them as they both aren't familiar with party planning. I also had a lot of help from family and friends! Ninang Denise brought the most spectacular cake ever!

The details are absolutely adorbs! Later, at the end, we all tried the cake, and it tasted so delish! We chose strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting. Sooo yumm! Unfortunately, the cake didn't withstand the heat though. When Denise started helping us cut it, it was sliping and sliding everywhere as the melted frosting ran.

Megan and I worked on the theme/decorations. Me and Jeric decided on a cute Monster's Inc. theme. This was quite the feat since everthing we saw online and on Pinterest leaned towards a little boy. Luckily I found a candy bar that had the cutest Monter's Inc theme that was geared more towards little Zoe. So it was settled. We decided on purples and pinks as the main color with light splashes of blue and green. We also had a lot of help with everyone that came early to setup. We had pink and purple balloons, pink table clothes, one purple table cloth for the candy bar, a super cute banner, and streamers! Everything came together beautifully. But, for next time, we'll probably fluff them purple streamers ahead of time. LOL! We thought it was going to be an easy task that we can handle early that morning. Had it not been for all the help, it probably wouldn't have been done in time.

Jeric's co-worker, Krystal, came by with her boyfriend, Raymond (also a co-worker), and her son, Preston. She's been excited for our baby shower as well and offered to help with the floral arrangements that were to be the centerpieces. All we planned for the centerpieces were mason jars with purple colored water and baby's breath. Funny thing though, we tried to make purple water that day, big mistake! Hahaha. I wish I had had some more time during the week before to test out the food coloring. Our purple water kept turning brown! Hahaha. Gross! You would think, blue and red would make purple, right? Nope. It was just not cute with everything. With time constraints, we decided to opt for a pretty blue, which goes perfectly with the theme anyways!

Krystal also made a few of her own personal arrangements for any special tables, like the gift table, games table, and candy bar. It was really sweet of her to do so! And the arrangements were such a lovely addition to everything else!

Krystal, Raymond and Preston even got us cute Monster's Inc. Cake Pops!

While setting up, I had placed the balloons around the bags that held the table clothes and other necessitites. But as the boys were grabbing table cloth after table cloth, we all didn't realize that they provided most of the weight that kept the balloons tethered. And then the balloons flew! Luckily we were under the park gazebo, but even then, they looked way too high to reach. I was seriously sad when I saw them fly. Had they completely flown towards the sky, I probably would've teared. Luckily, all was well! Jeric borrowed a ladder from the maintenance guys. But the ladder alone wasn't tall enough. He had to prop the ladder on top of a table! Hmmm.. just missing some steel chairs, right? TBL!! TBL!!! Hahaha. I did fear that he would fall, but thankfully, the boys helped him hold the ladder straight and he was able to grab the balloon strings!! YEY! The balloons are saved and Jeric remained unscathed!

The food started coming in as well. Our mom's went out to a filipino restaurant nearby and ordered a ton of delicious food! Caldereta, beef steak, lumpia, fried chicken, spaghetti, and a veggie dish. They also had some puto, kutsinta, sapin sapin, and turon. Auntie Del even baked some filipino desserts for us too! Everything was super delicious and I totally regret only eating one plate of food. It was sorta like the wedding though. Not enough time! Hahaha.

The candy bar as provided by Ninang Chi and created/setup by Denise and Ray. There were tons of cany all in the colors that went with the theme. Totally love it all! Grapeheads, purple taffy, caramel sour apple lollipops, green jolly ranchers, pink airheads, blue gummy bears, blue and pink twizzlers, blue, pink, purple, and green lollipops! They even brought these little popcorn style boxes that were in blue, green, purple and pink!

The games were setup and coordinated by Gen and Jonah. They had a fun "Guess the Baby" board which had baby pictures of me, Jeric and our siblings as well as some celebrity babies. They also had a guest the item game, guess how many kisses, guess how much cash, guess the song, and guess the size of my belly! All were a lot of fun. I even played, but I noted that I don't win a prize if I actually won. Hahaha. I just wanted to play.

Everything turned out really adorable and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The one and only problem we had throughout the shower, was that darn freaking heat! I was dying! LOL! Apparently my body knew it too as it kept salivating for water. I drank about 9 cups of water in the span of 4 hours!

I'm surprised the boys had time for a bball game. Jeric actually wanted to play some of the shower games, but the boys needed a 6th man to play. Oh well. As long as the boys weren't bored! Hahaha. But still.. it was HOT!

We definitely enjoyed every bit of it! And we just wanted to thank everyone that helped throw us a wonderful baby shower!

Now we wait for little Zoe Riley to greet the world!

Dinosaurs Are Real!

Finally watching a movie in the theaters!

We're quite picky about what we decide to watch in theaters because gone are the days where you could watch a few movies, back-to-back, for like $4! LOL.

Now, if the movie isn't worth it, we just wait for bluray and "rent:" it.

Jurrasic Park seems to be that movie that's deserving of a theater sit-in. At first, though, we were iffy since we've heard mixed reviews. But then, Jeric's cousin's and brother said that it's worth it.

Originall, we were supposed to watch the movie yesterday, but the 7:00 and 7:30 showings were both sold out and we didn't want to stay at the theaters too late. Booo!

So, here we are.. movie time!! And thanks to Costco, tickets aren't too bad! Marky, Liz and Ivan came out too!

In the end.. totally glad we watched it! It's as good as the first! Not going to spoil anything for anyone. But, if your hesitant, I'd say go go go!

Here Kitty Kitty!

My very first finished crochet piece! Mind you, it's missing eyes, nose, mouth and whisk-aaaas!

It's a cat! LOL! Oh, and I totally didn't buy poly fill yet as I'm just learning how to crochet. So I totally stuffed this feller with good ol' T.P.! Hehehe. I'll eventually add a face to it. I think. I'm sorta over this little kitty and wanting to create Disney Plushies!! I think I got the hang of it, so I'm going to attempt to create Baby Mike Wazowski soon. Hope it turns out super adorbs!!

Almost Scored Free Mason Jars!

Me and Maegan met up to go shopping for some decor stuff for our baby shower coming up. I had already an idea in mind that was cute, tied in the theme, and not so pricy.

We hit up Party City and got almost everything we needed there. They were only lacking the cute banner as well as cute matching plates. We also needed some mason jars for the centerpieces. Maegan went to Target the other day and thought she'd check the party deco area just to see what they had. She told me that they had really cute plates there. She even had pics to show me. I loved them, so we made our way over to Target right after.

We quickly found everything we needed. We also saw that they had quart sized mason jars for a cheaper price than Walmart. So we tossed it in the bottom shelf portion of our cart. We checked out and headed to the car. We unloaded and then I sat in the car while Maegan returned the cart.

When we got home and had to bring the bags of fun stuff into the apartment, I noticed we were missing the mason jars. That's when Maegan was like, oh sh*t! Because we had left it in the bottom part of the cart! Funny thing though, she doesn't recall the cashier ever scanning it either. I checked the receipt and yup! We weren't charged! We rushed back over to Target, but by the time we got there, we saw that the carts were already picked up by one of the workers. Booo!! Maegan saw the guy though and we thought we might as well ask him if he saw it by any chance. Sadly, he didn't. Luckily we totally didn't pay because that would be hard to argue, plus if we had paid and left it in the cart outside, that's our own fault for leaving it behind. Target wouldn't owe us anything.

Well, we had our chance for free mason jars, but we blew it! Hahahaha.

Baby Moon in San Diego!!

I wanted to have a baby moon way early because I didn't want to be extremely uncomfortable, which I knew I'd be if we went in another month or so. We both also decided to do it somewhere nearby rather than flying out somewhere and spending an entire weekend out. It was a toss up between Santa Barbara and San Diego. San Diego was the winner!

I wanted to try different food spots too. One's we've never been to. Jeric's only stipulation was that dinner had to be Phil's BBQ. So the search was on! I had a few good spots in mind by last Thursday (a few of them were suggested by Gen.. Thanks Gen!). I also found an awesome spot out in La Jolla where we can be up close and personal with Sea Lions! You get to admire them in their natural habitat and there's no wall or fence or anything between you and the funny little fellas. And that was it! We'd have brunch at one of the spots on my list, head over to visit the Sea Lions, then grab dessert at Extraordinary Desserts, grab dinner at Phil's and head home!

At first, we were set to leave wee in the early morning. But, we stayed out late to celebrate Mike's birthday, so when we got home, I was like, we're totally gonna not set an alarm and just go when we get up. Which was totally fine with both of us. I really just wanted to eat and see the Sea Lions! Hahaha. There was also some caves out in La Jolla and Belmont Park as other suggestions on things to do out there.

Anyhow, we got up at around 10, but didn't start getting ready until 11/12. Haha. We ended up with an ETA of 3:30 pm. By then, all the really good brunch spots were closed. So on the way there, I checked our list. On Gen's list was Lucha Libre Tacos. I also saw that they've been on Man vs. Food. Wrestling themed spot and Man vs Food? That was a definite stop!


They were known for their Cali burritos and their nachos. We were both very hungry and instead of splitting a burrito and having nachos, we decided on ordering a burrito each. Jeric got the Surfin' California, which was a typical Cali burrito, except it included grilled steak as the meat and shrimp! I wanted to venture out from the norm as we've both had Cali burritos back home (Cali Tacos). I've heard great reviews about mole from Jeric's co-workers and have been meaning to try it for awhile now. It turns out that they have a Cali Mole Burrito! So I Ordered me one of those.

Jeric's tasted so much better. I'm totally not a fan of mole. Hahaha. It wasn't disgusting, just not my thing. We both killed our burritos and were pretty stuffed. It was time to head over to see the Sea Lions!

La Jolla Cove was about a ten minute drive from where we were, which wasn't bad at all. But when we got there, boy was it a feat to find parking. I think we circled around 3 times. It was worth it though! We got premium parking! Right across the street from where the Sea Lions were! Woohoo!

We enjoyed the view before we decided to go past the gate and down to the Sea Lions.

Then off we went! We opened the gate and found the spot where we'd head down to see the Sea Lions.

Unfortunately, the way down wasn't something that seemed safe for me. So I stayed up top, while Jeric made his way down and got up close and personal with the little sea buddies. He didn't get extremely close though as there is a sign that states that they will bite! He told me that one did kind of charge towards a girl that was too close. Hahaha. He even got that on video. Hilarious. Her significan't other kept saying, "Tell me if their going to attack," too because it was his turn to have a pic with them and having his back towards them was pretty scary. LOL!

I had to admire from far, but I think it was a whole lot safer for me and baby. Plus, Jeric said it smelled horribly bad down there. Hahaha. From where I was, I could smell fish. Jeric said imagine what I smell.. triple that.. and then add poop. LOL! Plus, me trying to walk down this steep dirt path is not smart. I was fine where I was and close enough to still admire the Sea Lions.

There were also these weird black birds. Hahaha.

The entire view was super beautiful as well!

We're totally taking Zoe here when she can appreciate it all.

When we had our fill of the Sea Lions, we decided we were too full for Phil's BBQ. We did have room for dessert though! So, off to Extraordinary Desserts.

We didn't want to dine in, so Jeric was going to drop me off and I'd call him to see what he wants. Before he left to drive around or find parking, I went to see if they had a menu he can look at. Sadly, no menu for desserts. They pretty much just bake whatevers every day and that's what you select from. As I was telling Jeric that there's no menu and that I'd call him, a lady who worked there who was on her break over heard us and said that since we aren't dining in, Jeric could just park in the loading zone real quick. That was really nice of her!

As we checked in, we were handed a clipboard with a sheet of paper. We were to walk around and write down the desserts we wanted, then hand it to the lady working the register. There were sooo many pretty looking desserts!

Jeric decided on the Chocolate Lava Cake Bun and I got the Creme Brulee Bun.

We each also got a Froissant.

We took all our lovely desserts to go and decided we should head back home to beat the traffic and also so we weren't out so late.


STAY CLASSY SAN DEE-AGO!

Happy Birthday Mike!

We celebrated Mike's birthday out at TGIFridays over at Long Beach Towne Center.
At first, all the girls were sitting across from their sig other so that the girls were down one row and the boys were down the other. This was hard for all the girls to easily talk with each other, same for the boys. Conversations were kind of split, or we'd have to super lean over to talk to someone 2-3 seats down. Hahaha. Sooo, we decided to have the girls take up a few tables on the right and the boys take up the few tables on the left. That was soooo much better!

Everyone (except the prego gals and any DD) got their drank on. The girls drank casually while the boys went all out. The girls had some deliciously smelling sangria's.

For dinner, I ordered the Cajun Shrimp Pasta and Jeric ordered a hamburger.

Afterwards, Jonah had a take on strawberry shortcake sent out for Mike and the staff also sang Happy Birthday! The boys didn't want any of the dessert, so it was pushed on to the girl's tables and we all dipped in!

So delish!

Happy Birthday Mike!

Happy First Birthday Wren!

We came to celebrate Wren Grace Dy's very first birthday! It was over at a park near Mark's parent's house. The deco was really cute and really girly. As for food, they had a taco man who also made hot dogs!! Yumm!! I couldn't have any hot dogs, but I sure got my fill of tacos! I went up for seconds!

It was also nice to see most of the homies again.

They had a photo booth too and we all jumped in for a homie group pic! Me and Jeric also had our fair share of fun with the photo booth.

At the end was cake time!

Wren is just so adorable in this pic!

Happy First Birthday Wren!

Crochet.. Learning the Magic Circle

I learned a new way to begin my crochet piece. It's called the magic circle! It's also known as the magic loop or magic ring. It's a really good technique to use when creating little plush animals. It basically starts off with a circular pattern, but instead of leaving a little hole by connecting chains, it allows you to pull on a the starting string to close the hole! Pretty cool!

Hankering for Some Ice Cream

When we parted ways with the LA folk, we decided to hit up Milk because the majority of us was still craving dessert, mainly some scruptious ice cream! Also, Liz has never been there.

I also needed to use the bano mighty badly. I was kind of wondering how the lines would be as well as parking. But, funny thing, there was no line and we totally found parking easily. Of course, it didn't hit any of us until we were right smack in front of the entrance. Shit was closed! Why mama whyyyyyyyy! LOL. Still, we were very determined to get our ice cream and I was super determined to find a bathroom.

I pulled up Yelp and started searching. That's when I came across Salt & Straw, which I totally remember Denise talkinga bout while we were deciding on a dessert spot when we were all at The Grove. She mentioned that they're just like Bi-Rite, the delicious ice cream spot we hit up in San Fran.

It wasn't too far either and was on the way to the freeway that would take us home! Everyone was game. Once we parked, Jeric noticed that there was totally no bathroom in the ice cream shop. We saw that there was a sushi spot a few doors down. I went in and asked if I could use their bathroom. The chef immediately said something, but I didn't understand him. He then told the hostess that basically you can't use their bathroom if you aren't a customer. I was fuming. Like, gosh damnit. You'd really turn down a preggo lady? Apparently, I was a lot louder than intended (Jeric said he heard me from outside). I was like, "Are you kidding me? I'm freaking pregnant!" It's like, omg, I understand, yes you need to keep the public bathroom for customers because it's LA and you don't want random people always coming in and causing a ruckus. But seriously? WTF am I going to do? I just need to quickly use the bathroom. Ugh! Whatevs. I really really needed to go #1 so badly! Which is a gazillion times worse when your pregnant. That's why I was unbelievably pissesd.

There was a Rite-Aid in the opposite direction, but ugh, walking around in LA late at night in an area we weren't familiar with, just wasn't ideal. Still, I had to go. So on we marched. Jeric was thinking there wouldn't be a bathroom, but oh thank the heavens. There was!! I was so relieved that I finally got to use the bano!

And now, I can enjoy some ice cream. I immediately ordered the Salted Caramel thinking it would be fairly close to the one I had in San Fran. Jeric ended up sharing with me since it was a decently sized scoop. I thought the Salted Caramel was just alright and Jeric didn't like it at all. He thought it was too salty. He was right, it was pretty salty! Booo. Still, I kept eating it. It wasn't too bad and the caramel was delish. Next time though, I should taste test before buying. Oh well.

Dinner Date w/ Mama

It was Mama and Papa's anniversary on Monday so the cousins decided to take her out for dinner today. The choice for tonight was Maggiano's. We also chose to have it over at The Grove with the chance that we can walk around Farmer's Market for some tasty desserts.

Anyhow, we got there and parked in the structure as we normally do. We started walking around, but for the life of us, could not locate the restaurant. Jeric thought it was probably near Farmer's Market so we started walking there. Meanwhile, I plugged the address into my phone to start GPS and it told us to go the opposite direction and walk around the street. So, I was thinking it was probably facing outside. That's when I tell everyone and we begin walking all the way back, then out to the street and around. It was a pretty far walk, especially for my fat prego feet! And that's when I had an "OH-DUHHHHHH!!" moment. I just realized the GPS wasn't taking into consideration the different suites. It was sending us to the general spot marked for their main address. Ughers! We basically walked all the way the eff around and ended back at the Farmer's Market. But funny, even when we got there, it didn't look like the restaurant was there either. So we kept on walking and then saw that there were other stores and what not along the other side of the parking lot. That's when we also saw the Container Store, which was a landmark that Denise gave us when we asked her where the restaurant was. And of course, right when we turned the corner, there was Maggiano's! Thank goodness!! Because I'm so starving and my poor fat prego feet were tired! I also felt bad, since it was entirely my fault that we walked so much to begin with.

Dinner time!!

Once we were seated, I immediately had to get back up to find the restroom. I must say, the way to their restroom is mighty creepy. In fact, the whole ambiance of the restaurant sent off creepy haunted vibes. Or, as Jeric stated, "It's like the Haunted Mansion!" LOL! So picture a very dimly lit restaurant in a house type setting with creepy old decor that mimic that of the Haunted Mansion, more so the entrance, lobby, elevator and hallway decor. Well, I couldn't find the restroom, so I spotted the bar tender and he said that it was actually upstairs! The stairway was pretty effing long and there was no way I was going to climb that! So I took the elevator. That thing was so creepy! LOL! When the elevator opened, the 2nd floor was even creepier! Probably more so because it was pretty much deserted. There was nothing but a lounge area, the walkway from the stairs and then a mini hallway leading to the restrooms. So creepy! I used the bathroom super quickly and then headed back to dinner.

Now time for the good stuff.. FOOOODDDD!!

Everyone pretty much knew what they were going to get and that was the buy-one-take-one home special. It was only listed for standard pasta dishes. You basically pick a pasta dish to eat for dinner and then pick a second one to take home! Not a bad deal! But of course, I was craving something different and I ended up being the only one to order outside of that special. LOL. I ordered the Chicken Marsala.

Jeric ordered the Baked Ziti and then asked for the Fettuccine Alfredo to take home.

Hoestly, both were not as great. Macaroni Grill is way better. So is Olive Garden! I'm thinking, maybe it's more authentic, which means it would lack in flavor.

The funniest thing.. Marky ordered the Fettuccine Alfredo and Ivan ordered the Light Fettuccine Alfredo and when they got their dishes everyone was suprised to see that the standard order came with just pasta and sauce, while the "light" version was with the addition of chicken. LOL! Sadly, Jeric also ordered the standard version for his take home. Booo.

After dinner, we all wanted dessert, but unfortunately, everything was closed! *cry* Oh well.. there's always next time!

Crochet Anyone?

I decided to learn how to crochet. But only because I totally want to make these tiny adorable crochet stuffies for Zoe! Mike and Sully! They're just so adorable.

Yesterday, while running errands, I was at Michaels looking around for soft foam or some kind of stuffing for another project. Couldn't find any, but totally ended up in the crochet section and bought me some learning tools!

I was told to just buy cheapie yarn and one hook to learn. So that's what I did. I also saw some really cute yarn that was on sale, so I decided to grab the pack. Now, time to learn! I searched a bunch of youtube videos for some good beginner tutorials. I pretty much learned the very basics; how to create a chain and how to create a double stitch. I get the whole idea, but boy do I need to work on the tension and the hooking (hooking.. pwahahahaha. I need to work on hooking! hehehe.. ok.. enough of that). But as you can see, my little block here is kinda crooked and not uniform. LOL! It's supposed to be a perfect rectangle, but somehow, it's got a bevelled edge when it should have been very sharp. I have no idea what I did!


Oh well, for now, I will just keep at it until my hands can get into a good rhythm. Oh, and maybe I shouldn't keep going because my hand did start to get a little cramped. It sort of sucks if you ask me. I could've gone on and on and on for hours and hours if my hands haven't cramped. Maybe I should work in breather breaks. Haha. I'll probably need to set a timer on my phone too because I get so into it that I don't realize how long it's been and then the hand starts to cramp. LOL.