Vegas to OC

No, I didn't go to Vegas this weekend, but I do have a trip planned for March 28-30 :)

Recap of the weekend-

Thursday: I decided to skip class and go to Steve's Match Day at UCI. Match Day is where med school students find out where they do their residency.

Steve opening his letter. I would be such a nervous wreck if I had to open a letter that determined the next several years of my life in front of a huge crowd!

His mother is VERY excited he's doing his residency at UCLA.  

I'm so extremely proud of him. Friends for 9 years :)

We all went to Sam Woo for lunch, then Yard House for some afternoon drinks. 

Later that night I met up with some OC Tweeters at Claim Jumpers for Debbie's LLS fundraiser.  It was great getting to meet and talk to new people. 

Friday: Worked til 6, then Gyu Kaku for the return of our favorite Vegas couple, Carlo and Andrea.  We were celebrating Carlo's belated birthday and decided to do happy hour at Gyu for their cheap eats and drinks. 

Happy Belated C-Lo

The BF decided to go in for the kill

Saturday: Worked til 3. Picked up another acai bowl from Banzai Bowl

So delicious!

Went bowling. I finally broke 100, but still lost. Had dinner with Vy and Vince at a new Peruvian restaurant that just opened near my house called DX Peruvian.  It was alright, but I still prefer Inka Grill in Costa Mesa. 

Sunday: Work til 4 and just relaxing for the rest of the night.

Quote of the day-
Friendship with one's self is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world --Eleanor Roosevelt

New Recipe: Spaghetti Squash

I actually made this meal last week, but finally found a way to upload my pictures from my camera.  So from now on, you'll be seeing tons more pictures :)

In hopes of finding ways to cut my carbs, but still eat the dishes I love, I stumbled upon spaghetti squash.  After baking the squash, the scrapings on the insides tastes and looks like spaghetti.  I didn't want to believe this at first, since I am a HUGE pasta lover.  After months of wanting to try it, I finally ventured out of my pasta bubble

First off, set your over at 375 degrees.

 Cut the squash lengthwise and scrape out all the seeds and stringy stuff in the middle

 Rub the inside and rim with some olive oil and season with some salt and lots of pepper. I also added tons of crushed garlic all over the insides and around the rim. I used about 6 cloves.

Then, Fill the baking dish with 1 cup of water and put into oven for an hour

This is what it should look like after an hour of baking.  Let it cool down for 20 minutes then take a fork and scrape out the spaghetti strands.  It should start to look like the one on the right. 

This is your final product.  A bowl full of healthy spaghetti instead of a bowl of carbs.

You can serve it however you like. I had mine topped with sauteed mushrooms, zucchini, and broccoli, then all topped with some marinara sauce with a sprinkle of parm cheese.

 I give this recipe two thumbs up. Both healthy and filling.  Enjoy!

St. Patty's Day

Remembering back to when I was a kid, St Patty's day meant that you HAD to wear green or you'll come home with bruises.  Some years I would forget to wear green and told people I had on green panties.  When they asked to see, I was quick to tell them my mother wouldn't approve of that ;) 

This morning, I busted through my History midterm and went to TJ's to pick up some pizza stuff all before 11am.  I came home to make my very first green monster.  In my attempt to be healthy, I decided to add some spinach into my breakfast.  I blended up a small banana, 1/4 cup of milk, ice, and filled the rest of the blender with spinach.  For this being my first time making it myself, it was quite delicious.  You can't taste the spinach at all, I promise. From what I hear, drinking this helps with your skin, gives you energy, and super healthy.  This is definitely a keeper, especially since I bought a huge bag of spinach. 

Have a great St. Patty's day and don't forget to wear your green! Don't drink and drive either!

For A Good Cause

A friend of mine is having a fundraiser event at the Claim Jumpers at South Coast Plaza this Thursday night.  She's running her first marathon through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training.  15% of your bill will go towards her fundrasing so come out and enjoy a good meal or a drink at the bar with friends.  This applies for all happy hour items and take-out orders also.  The fundraiser is all day so come out for lunch or dinner.  Don't forget to print out the flyer and give it to your server. I'll be there around 6:30, so drop by and say hi :)

Click here to get more information about the event

Shaking Things Up

It amazes me how people make a minor quake seem like the end of the world. Then again we do live in SoCal where a little bit of rain prevents people from stepping outside.

For breakfast I created quite the yogurt mess. I topped my Dannon Vanilla flavored yogurt with Pomegranate&Blueberry Clusters cereal from Trader Joe's and topped off with some slices of banana.  I find it weird that I don't enjoy eating my cereal with milk, but rather dumping a bunch of cereal into my yogurt.  Does anyone else do this? 

My grave attempt to study in the library failed this afternoon.  I just can't seem to focus these days.  I brown bagged my lunch for school this morning.  It consisted of half a pita with Trader Joe's veggie burger topped with spicy black bean hummus and feta cheese. Do you see the trend here? Trader Joe's is taking over my fridge.  In my attempt to eat healthy, I find that Trader Joe's has great inexpensive options.  I think it's much cheaper than regular grocery stores and they have great prepackaged food items for people on the go.  

Tonight I'm planning on making some spaghetti squash.  My first try at this and hopefully it turns out well.  I'll hopefully post some pictures of this later on, if disaster doesn't strike in my kitchen.  

Thought of the day:

Do you have a mentor? Someone that has helped guide you through life. Is there a certain person that you look up to?

My professor asked this in class last night and only a couple of students put up their hand.  I was with the majority on this one and realized that I don't have a mentor.  I've never really had anyone that I truly look up to for help in life.  This isn't just a person that you call when you get into a fight with your bf/gf, but someone that helps guide you through life. 

It's just another manic Monday, I wish it was Sunday...

...cause thats my funday
my I-don't-have-to-run day
It's just another manic Monday...
-Manic Monday-Bangle


My Monday consisted of the following:

-made it to my 9:30 class (yay me!)
-lunch at Full Moon sushi w/ my dad
-being a CHAMP and sitting through two back to back 3 hour classes.

The weather was amazing today. I'm glad its starting to look more like Spring.  Although I'm bummed I spent the first real day of Spring sitting in class.  Maybe I should lightly mention to my professors to have class outdoors on the grass.  I wonder if any of them would go for that, worth a shot right?

I wish I could find my camera cord so I can start taking and uploading pictures again. It really is a pain in the ass when I have a perfectly good camera, but no way of uploading pictures. Sigh...I guess I can start taking pictures with my blackberry, although the quality won't be nearly as good. 

And here is another spring time picture, just because I love sunflowers so much :)

Breaking the Bank

After a weekend filled with shopping, here are a couple of things I talked myself into:

(F21 Patent Leatherette Canvas Tote $24.80)


This is definitely gonna be great for school.  It fits my laptop and other junk I drag around campus.

 (F21 Ponte Capsleeve Dress $11.50)


Such a cute LBD and for $11.50, how can anyone pass this up!

(F21 Linen batwing sleeve top $22.80)

I love the way this flows when it is unbuttoned.  Great for spring nights with a cute floral tank.  I'm pretty sure I'll go back to get this in black.


(F21 trinket charm necklace $5.80)

(F21 Maritime necklace $5.80)

(Payless, Kendal Canvas Knot Wedge on sale $19.99)

Surprisingly comfortable and great to wear for spring.  I needed a pair of basic black wedges and you can't beat the price on these.

(DSW, Ven Rosette Platform Wedge $39.95, in black)

When I saw these bad boys I knew I had to have them.  I absolutely love the rosettes, they add a bit of oomph to the shoes. I'm considering exchanging the black and getting the yellow. 

And two tops very similar to these:




(F21 Silk blend floral top $16.90)




(mine didn't have the ruffle, F21 woven calico floral top $17.80)


Both of these tops will be so great for spring. I love the florals and the light colors.  I'm super excited to pair these tops with my new cardigan.

It's (always) Sunny in California

It is official, Spring is here in OC.  The weather is warm, the sun is shining, and girls are prancing around in little girl shorts.  I can't wait to play hooky from class, go to the beach and tan. Maybe I should take note from Jersey Shore and get my GTL on. Rewind back to the weekend:


Friday:

We had free tickets to the Ducks game thanks to the BF's dad.  Seats were 3 rows up from the glass with free VIP parking, alcohol, and food.  No fights=uneventful game. Ducks lost to Nashville 1-0. 


Saturday:


It was spent doing tons of shopping.  It started off at the Boutiquing sale at 10am.  Me and V were able to make it there early enough to get a swag bag full of goodies.  We had a 2 for 1 admittance coupon, but later to find out the lady never gave me my $10 change. I was way too caught up in my swag bag to even notice she hadn't given me my change. Bummer. It's ok because I made out with more than $30 worth of stuff from Foot Petals.  What can I say, I love free stuff and it really eased my $10 loss.


After the sale, we hit up Banzai Bowl down on 17th St in Costa Mesa.  Their acai bowls are AMAZING.  Our acai bowl was topped with blueberries, fresh strawberries, banana, coconut shreds, granola, and drizzled with honey. Don't tell me this doesn't sound delish!

(picture taken from Greers OC)

Shopping continued after lunch.  Off to the new Forever 21 at Cerritos Mall where I spent my life savings a little more than I could afford.  What I bought this weekend will be a separate post :) After all the shopping, we took a much needed nap.  Met up with the BF and some other friends and off to dinner at Banana Bay in Rowland Heights.  Sorry, but no pictures of dinner. We were gonna attempt to bowl at Fountain bowl, but we didn't want to pay the $22 for Cosmic Bowl.  We decided to head over to Silkys for some drinks. The night ended pretty late and with the time change, we knew we were in for a rough early morning.

Sunday:

I had another slumber party with V and woke up early to head out to the OC Marketplace. Walked around and dropped by Trader Joes for some week eats. Had some lunch of pita bread and a newly discovered spicy black bean hummus that I picked up at the Marketplace.  After lunch, we headed out for some more shopping at Metro Pointe.  Spent some more money that I didn't have and snatched up two pairs of summer shoes (will show you in another blog). Dinner was Korean BBQ at Shik Do Rak in Garden Grove with the BF and some others. Exhausted after another shopping filled day and calling it an early night.

It was a wonderful and expensive weekend. I'm glad I did my shopping early and pretty sure I won't shop again for a very long while. Now I'm in bed about to catch up on some McDreamy & McSteamy :)