Mini Ventura Road Trip

Why hello there beautiful people!

In early October, a few of my girlfriends and I went to visit a friend of ours in Ventura. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2014 and the cancer came back this year after two years of remission. Her spirits have, understandably, been a rollercoaster of ups and downs.

My girlfriends and I had an idea to visit her. Three of us drove up together. The lady of the hour had no idea I was coming. I was the surprise. I waited at cafe table out on the street patio and when they walked by I had said, "Brenda, is that you?" Then were girly screams and shrieks of happiness. 

We ate some Thai food at Rice Thai cafe and got our nails done.  After that we had dessert and coffee at Palermo Cafe.

Done at All Star Nails salon in Ventura, CA

Spicy Thai beef salad :p

I had a pumpkin cobbler bar (far left) and a lavender mocha iced coffee

It was such a beautiful day from start to finish. I was living on the adrenaline for the whole week. My biggest joy was seeing how happy my friend was to see all of us. 

When you're going through a tough time, you can sometimes feel isolated. I am happy we were able to lift up her spirits. The smile on her face is something I will remember and cherish for the rest of my life.

Life is short everyone. Tell your loved ones you love them. And enjoy life. Overnight, life can change in an instant without any warning. 


Xoxoxo

Last Seasonal Starbucks Meal of 2014

I am one of the biggest gimmicky consumers out there. Slap on "Limited Edition" or "Seasonal" on a product and you know I'm on it.

As much as I detest the cold, Fall and Winter are my favorite seasons because of all the seasonal flavors - pumpkin, chestnut, gingerbread. And then there is the savory like stuffing! OOH STUFFING.

Starbucks is my biggest weakness this time of year! The amount of money I shell out each year on their holiday drinks is pretty embarrassing...though I must admit, half of my purchases were for others. Sharing is caring! :)

This year's holiday favorites included: chestnut praline latte, holiday turkey and stuffing panini, and the frosted snowman cookie.

In late December, Starbucks will stop ordering new shipments of holidays flavors (or so I was told). Whatever you can find in late December and early January are the last stock. I just had to get my last fix before they disappear til Fall 2015.

My Starbucks holiday favorites

I actually had to drive to two different Starbucks to find the frosted snowman cookies. The first one were all out with nothing coming in anymore. Thank goodness for living in a big city like Los Angeles where there are Starbucks everywhere. I found the cookies at a nearby Starbucks. Oh the joy!!!

Trust me when I say I was so close to buying nearly all of them just to stock up! My little nephew loves them. One of my best friends loves them. We would all be in seasonal cookie heaven.

Until next time holiday menu....you will be greatly missed and craved.

<3<3<3

November Grateful Challenge Part 4

This post is 3 days late! Got lost in the grind of life. Oops -_-

Last week has been a tough week for me. The silver lining to tough weeks are the blessings that come buried within the chaos.

1. Ben. Three little letters that, when put together, mean so much to me! Last week was a challenging one. I was vulnerable, sad and had many a meltdowns. He picked me up each time. He listened and validated. He let me cry, rant, and whine, but he also stopped me from getting carried away in my emotions. He pushed me to pick myself up after the tears dried instead of letting me drown in them. In my moments of helplessness and vulnerability, he made me feel safe. It is no wonder I have loved this guy for nearly 3 years <3

2. Baby O. Big surprise, right?! I always talk about him. It's hard not to. this little guy has stolen my heart. I am very so grateful to have him in my life and to witness him grow. Last Saturday, we attended a children's event at Glendale Community College where they had ice snow (which was pretty hilarious as it was 80 something degrees), crafts, pictures with Elsa and Olaf, face painting and more! He spent nearly an hour just jumping in the icy puddles. The sparkle in his eyes when he got to sit in and on the firetruck just melted my heart <3

3. Seasonal treats. I am the biggest sucker for anything seasonal/limited edition. This time of year is my most favorite time at Starbucks. This year they came out with Chestnut Praline. YUMMMM. ANNNND they came out with a turkey, stuffing,gravy, cranberry panini. I am not a turkey person, but when you combine stuffing (my most favorite!!) into a Thanksgiving blend of cranberry and cravy, I cannot resist. If you have this at your Starbucks, you must try it. It would be a crime not to.

4. UCLA Runs LA. UCLA beat U$C in Los Angeles' biggest football game of the year. The two crosstown rivals have been going at it since their very existence. This year's victory marks UCLA's third consecutive year of victory. If you are unfamiliar with how monumental this is, UCLA has experienced an extensive dry spell/losing streak in previous years. This is so exciting for us Bruins (past, current and future) to stomp all over U$C again! GO BRUINS!!!

5. Health. I had so much negative energy within and around me last week. I decided to release that toxic energy into positive energy. I started working out (I haven't gotten to the gym since February, I know, I know.) in order to release all that bad aura. Sometimes I do get lazy to go, but so far I have gone everyday. I'm going to be real with myself and I know that I can't go every day forever. I'm aiming for 3x/week. I'll keep you posted! :) I did see the Instagram post below and it was a great pick-me-up. We only have one body for the rest of our lives so let's be kind to our bodies and treat them with the utmost care.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow. I know I have a lot to be grateful for. We all do. I hope that amidst our long table spread of a yummy Thanksgiving feast, we all find the time to reflect on our many blessings and fortunes. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

<3<3<3

Fall Treats: Oh My Pumpkin!

Tis the season for PUMPKINS! Just like most of the world, I am wholeheartedly excited with the seasonal appearance of pumpkins. My family, my friends, and even my coworkers know how much I love pumpkin! They always make my day when they see me and bring me a pumpkin goodie telling me, "I saw this and thought of you." AWWWWWWWW. I am loved! or either very loud about my pumpkin obsession....HMMM ;)

To kick off the beginning of Fall and Fall yummies, one of my best friends and I had a mini pumpkin kitchen party!

Here's what came of it:

Pumpkin oatmeal cookies with pecans and dark chocolate chips

Homemade pumpkin spiced lattes

I take no credit for the recipes. I found both via the web:

Pumpkin oatmeal cookies

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/10/02/favorite-pumpkin-oatmeal-cookies/

I actually stumbled across this recipe by chance on Instagram. I "clicked" on #pumpkin and the first picture was of pumpkin oatmeal cookies. I had to ask for the recipe. And the woman so graciously shared it with me. The online world can be a kind, kind place :)

Pumpkin spiced lattes 

http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/234849/quick-pumpkin-spice-latte

It was delicious and not so sweet like the PSLs that you buy at coffee joints. I prefer my coffees not sweet so it was perfect! Of course, you can add more sugar if you like that extra sweetness.

The only thing I would need for the future is a mesh cloth or cheese cloth to strain the milk after everything was mixed. That's the only tool I didn't have. 

Future menu includes:

Pumpkin ravioli 

Pumpkin martinis

Pumpkin poptarts

Stay tuned! 

<3<3<3

Bear Latte

A few of my favorite things all in one: latte, taro, purple, mug, bears, and coziness. 

And to top it off, it was just as tasty as it looks! Mmmmm!

<3<3<3

What I Ate Wednesday

I love Anna Saccone's weekly "What I Ate Wednesday" posts and have been inspired to do them as well, but I always forget! I end up gobbling up my meals and by afternoon, I think "Shoot! I forgot to take pictures!" 

Today was my first success in remembering to take photos, HOWEVER, today was not an ordinary today. It was a crazy crazy day at work so I was unable to eat how I normally would. 

Oh well, it is what it is..just keeping it real ;)

BREAKFAST

Non-existent. I know. Not very good for you. I had a 9:30am appointment with my patient and pretty much just dashed out the door. My patient ended up flaking on me so I went to the hospital, which was nearby, and bought one of my fave $1 gourmet coffees. Today, I got a medium hazelnut latte.

I bought this coffee around 10am and because I am one of the world's slowest drinkers, I finished this bad boy at around 6pm. Embarrassing. It was delicious though! I just drink ridiculously slow and can make any drink last all day.

LUNCH

I had a late lunch today, but this is somewhat normal for me. My job entails me working in the field so lunch really depends on when I do not have appointments with my patients. Today, I had lunch around 2pm. 

One of my best friend's mom had taught how to make this. It's really easy. There's not much to learn. For me, it was just finding out that it existed! I would have never thought to put these foods together. 

It's 3/4 of those ready-to-go salad bags. I used an organic spring mix. I added tomatoes, onions, a green chili pepper, and pepper jack cheese. For extra flavor and kick, I added a few dashes of garlic salt and a whole bunch of cayenne pepper. I LOVE spicy! To hold it together, I put in two eggs. I put it in a frying pan, NO oil, and just poured the mixture in. It's basically a quiche I suppose. 

When my mom's friend made this for me, she used a whole bag of spinach, 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites. I just used what I had. It's healthy, it's delicious, and it's a new twist on salad.

Because I didn't have a proper breakfast, I was starving while this was cooking. I had a Filipino polvoron that I got in the Philippines. Polvoron is a Filipino delicacy made of powdered milk, toasted flour, sugar, and butter. They can be plain or have nuts, little rice crispies and more.

AFTERNOON SNACK

For my afternoon snack, I was craving something sweet. I grabbed a small packet of fruit snacks. I only ate about half. It was way too hard. It was getting stuck in my teeth. It was awful.

DINNER

I had a big piece of leftover BBQ chicken and some veggies. The picture doesn't do justice to this chicken. Don't you worry, I was satisfied. Also, I'm the type of person that likes to eat small meals throughout the day. I am a snacker. At work, I'm notoriously known for "always eating." I love food, what can I say? ;)

Along with my dinner, I had my first glass of water. I know this is awful. It's horrible. I'm just not a thirsty person. That's no excuse to not drinking, but I just forget about drinking. When it's really hot, I drink a lot of ice cold water. When it's really cold, I drink a lot tea. When the weather is anything in between, I forget. I know that's bad. I know, I know. I'm working on it...

EVENING SNACK

I had a slice of peanut butter and jelly on a slice of lightly toasted wheat bread, light on the jelly please.

EVENING SNACK #2

My favorite fruits come out in the summer. I'm enjoying a bowl of cherries and blueberries as I catch up on blogs and YouTube. Mmmm. I had planned to drink my second glass of water, but at this point (10:11pm), I'm not even done with my first. I fail. 

I hope you enjoyed my very first What I Ate Wednesday. I think it's a pretty cool to concept as I can learn the foods of different cultures. Overtime I also get to go back and see what I ate. I'm a lover of food so I love food in all forms, even pictures!

What was on your menu for Wednesday?

<3<3<3