panda prius!

i saw a black prius today with a panda painted on it! PANDA PRIUS.

in other news, i skyped with the siblings today. :]

november recap

been behind on my blogging – so you get a november post!!!

at the beginning of november, hammer came to visit. HAMMER! it’s been so long since i’ve seen that dude. he was going to some concert only old people go to. which is very much like hammer. we took him to the ft worth zoo, somewhere i’ve been wanting to go visit for a couple months now. it was enjoyable – they have a baby rhino but i didn’t get to see it because it was sleeping behind it’s mommy at the time we stopped by. :[ but the sloth bear made everything better. the sloth bear = nikon.

second week of november, i made my very first full thanksgiving meal for the pangs! i think it was a success - except for dinner being around 30 minutes behind schedule. boo. i made a pretty good pomegranate punch that got the pangs all red and tipsy... oops. stuffing came out a little salty but everything else was yum!! yay brined turkey!

third week of november - some coworkers and i did the color in motion 5k run. i ran the whole way through (this is the first time i've run since the half), but since this is primarily a fun run, i don't think they kept track of time. g was a wonderful, supportive bf who decided to volunteer bright and early and then take pictures for us after the race. color bash = AMAZING.

pre-race

crossing the finish line!

post-race

getting owned in the face with color

throwing up the color

color bash!!!!!!

post color bash :]

:]

that same night (of the color in motion run) – we went to andrew and jen’s wedding. andrew is one of my brother’s very good friends since forever ago (middle school?), and i was touched to be invited as well. it was a beautiful wedding and i also got to see my brother be in a friend’s wedding for the second time! and i, for the first time, danced with children. quite the milestone. all photos stolen from oliver man. unfortunately, i didn’t take any pictures of the happy couple. :[

teaching little girls how to slow chicken dance – it’s mandatory at weddings now (thanks new girl)

every little girl needs to be twirled :]

obligatory inappropriate shot of me and kat

thanksgiving week! i bored oliver to death since he stayed with us the whole week of thanksgiving, then the mother and oriana joined us on my birthday. we ate a yummy dinner of hot pot. it was very special to me that i was able to spend my actual birthday with my family this year. :] i also think nobody appreciated that i bought my own birthday dinner and cake… SUCK IT. photo stolen from the brother.

the rest of the weekend was a blur. lots of food and ping pong. i’ll just sum it up in photos that i’m stealing from the family since i was too lazy to take any. :]

love cooking with the sister! prepping for turkey day meal

we can never take serious photos

my beautiful turkey! :]

my beautiful family :] <3

and now, we’re all caught up. hello december.

(btw – it was 80 degrees in texas today… yay… winter?)

the night walk

three awesome things happened on our walk tonight.

1. oink picked up a random large leaf and carried it to the end of the street
2. I reached 10k steps for the day
3. we were within 10 feet from our neighborhood skunk

brownie fix

i’ve been in the midst of trying to plan two thanksgiving dinners – one for the pangs and one for the wongs. i’m super excited about hosting and hopefully, both meals will be awesome for my guests. :]

so, while i’ve been going through tons of magazines, cookbooks and online sites to find the recipes i want to use – i suddenly had a random craving to try to make something new. i whipped out the lovely ad hoc at home book and decided… it was brownie time. (one of the few recipes that i already had all the ingredients for)

it started out awesome – the batter tasted delicious (how could it not, with all the butter i had to use?) and as it baked in the oven – the house began to smell like the holidays… amazing!

i couldn’t contain my excited as i took it out of the oven. g hovered over me like a little kid, “when will the brownies be ready??” – i was looking forward to plating this wonderful goodness and taking a beautiful picture to mimic TK’s.

i waited, what, 10 minutes? that’s enough right? (NO) i ran my knife along the sides of my pyrex and began to flip it onto my cutting board…

and as any smart suspecting person would guess… the brownies weren’t cool enough… and therefore crumbled in a gooey mess. this is someone’s way of telling me to be more patient. i was cranky for a little bit, since my awesome picture seemed to be out of the question and ruined. but i think i salvaged what i could.

and they were delicious. :] happy sunday!!

nikon and the wall

I was playing “hide and go seek” with the dogs earlier this evening. basically, I put a towel over their heads and said their names, moved, then said their names again until they could find me.

oink’s strategy: he would stay still until he heard me say his name, then turn his head in my direction while vigorously trying to shake off the towel. if unsuccessful, he would stay still until he would hear me call his name again and repeat until the towel fell off and he could see me. win.

nikon’s strategy: run in the direction of my voice, which ultimately led him head first into the wall. fail.

nikon spent the rest of the night nursing his pride by being very clingy. I wish I would’ve recorded it.

shakin it up

texas vs osu game tonight was intense. hook ‘em!

in other news, our house literally just shook. no news of it being an earthquake or anything, but very odd…

the 5 month surprise

did i ever tell you about the time steph, kat and i orchestrated a 5 month surprise for jessi?

nope, didn’t think so. :]

5 months ago, jessi picked up her life and moved from dallas to new york city. we always knew it would happen, she’s always been pining to go back to the northeast – closer to her new jersey roots. although it wasn’t a surprise she was leaving, it left a hole for us back in dallas.

so, what would three girlfriends decide to do? VISIT of course. but not just any normal type of visit. 5 months from then was close to jessi’s birthday. wouldn’t it be awesome to surprise her for her birthday? then the wheels started turning.

with some back and forth, we decided to go the weekend of august 24th. although labor day – during jessi’s birthday – would’ve been perfect, there were other obligations/weddings to attend and it didn’t work out. however, it turned out to be the best timing as it was the last weekend jessi had free before she started school. tickets booked. good to go.

but what about the lead up? we can’t just randomly show up on her doorstep and say “surprise!” – that’s not our style. 5 months. 5 care packages. the countdown to our arrival.

unfortunately, i was terrible at documenting this and didn’t take pictures of each of our care packages. but here’s a quick recap:

#5
a package full of things jessi mentioned she didn’t have in NYC, things she would need for her place in NYC, etc. we got her bowls, silverware, a small green cutting board and other random things like a sippy cup for fred. and the number 5.

#4
turns out steph was able to fit in a mini visit between this time. jessi had been asking steph for make-up advice and what not, so we decided to get her awesome make-up, selected personally by steph :] included the below and the number 4.

#3
with school coming up, we wanted to make sure jessi was fully prepped with supplies. notebooks, a 2012-2013 planner and pens galore! and of course, the number 3.

 #2
just a little something, as the next ‘package’ would be the big one (three big ones, in fact). it’s been a hot summer, including up north, so we went to bloomingdales and picked out a super cute romper that we thought would look perfect on jessi. and the number 2.

#1
save the best for last, right? kat was going to be in NYC during the week before steph’s and my arrival on thursday, the 23rd. she planned to meet up jess on the night of the 23rd to “catch up”… and she was an awesome decoy for the surprise. we had prepped an envelope that had the number 1 taped to it and kat had bought her a cute silver bracelet that had a “1″ charm.

the plan was we would be in contact with kat when we landed, got to our hotel and started on our way to angel’s share – the speakeasy where kat and jessi were meeting up. kat had changed my name to “michael” so jessi wouldn’t be suspicious in case she saw kat’s phone. as steph and i arrived at the place, we texted her as we were headed up the stairs – butterflies in our stomachs, smiles on our faces and giggles caught in our throats. kat had gotten an awesome spot in the bar – far towards the end and with jessi’s back facing us.

we quietly stood behind jess as kat handed her the bracelet, then handed her the envelope. apparently, jessi picked up on the fact that kat was “acting a little strange” but figured “maybe this is the way kat’s always been…?” she didn’t really understand when she opened the envelope to find the #1 and a creepy note that said “we see you” – and not until kat urgently started motioning with her eyes behind her did jessi turn around. SURPRISE.

we think she was more in shock than anything. steph and i rushed up to her and, with her eyes as big as saucers, she stammered:

“wh… where did you come from?”

we gave her hugs and she scooted over to make room for us

“how… how did you get here??”

“when did you get here????”

then she started rambling about all the places we could go eat, all the while having the menu in front of her face like she was hiding from us.

“i feel so weird!!!” jessi exclaimed, shivering and rubbing her arms.

i think it took about 1+ hours for her to become normal and actually settle into the fact we were there to visit her. :] that night, we stayed out late and enjoyed another cocktail and angel’s share, then to eat yakitori, and finally to consume some watermelon soju – which was everything that jessi claimed it to be.

the trip was really amazing. we didn’t do much but just hang out together, which is what the goal was of the trip anyways. love you jess.

now, i will leave you with photos :]

ultimate fail

I got distracted by a Vespa and a speeding car today while walking the dogs. the consequence was sprawling head first towards the concrete sidewalk. now I have three band aids, lots of little scrapes and bruised pride.

saturday DIY

g and I spent all afternoon making dumplings from scratch. now, I am full. :]

cardio max

i had an eventful saturday for once, without even planning for it to be that way! went to the gym to do my very first class – kickbox cardio! it’s amazing how lazy people get in those classes… what’s the point of doing it if you are just going to half ass it? after about 1 hour of that, went back home, ate a quick lunch and scheduled a last minute hair cut. and now my head feels much lighter than it normally does. hoorah.

then, steph organized a water basketball game, so we went over to her place for a good 3 hours in the sun. we also watched stephen learn how to swim, which was enjoyable.  i was the weak link in water basketball… i think i’ll blame it on being short.

another spontaneous adventure followed with the trek to off the bone, bbq place out in the middle of nowhere in dallas and it was yummy. stefan and steph raved about the butter cake at the porch, so we got it to go and ate it at starbucks where we ended the night.

now i’m at home… recovering from a lot of cardio from the gym and basketball… and also the food that equalized out my workout efforts.