12 Things Update, or How I'm Horrible at Keeping Up

It's been over two months since I decided to accomplish 12 Things before turning 25.

Can you guess how much progress I've made?

Yeah...like none.

1. Perfect the tiramisu cupcake
I mentioned in a post that my mom asked me to make 72 of these for my brother's 13 birthday. So I crossed this off last Saturday. Blog story to come.

2. Read 6 books
I just picked up Stephen King's The Shining courtesy of my father-in-law. But I haven't actually finished a book I've started in the last two months. I did, however, make a list! Because I'm really good at those.

3. Explore a part of SF I've spent little time in
Brandon and I headed out to SF earlier this month for a Los Lonely Boys concert. I grabbed one of the most delicious lattes I've ever tasted from this super hipster, pretentious (read: lovely) shop called The Mill, which is down the street from The Independent (where the Boys were playing). Seriously, the latte is divine. No sugar or syrups necessary. Still, I'd been there once before and we didn't explore anything. I really want to go to Chinatown because I've literally never been, which is so dumb. It's right there. I've also heard rumors about a French cultural hotspot in the city but I need to locate it and find out where to go aka where to drink coffee and eat all the bread while there.

4. Finish organizing and uploading my Project 365
Siiiggghhh. Rest in peace my dear 365. I think I killed you after getting back from Hawaii. If not then, then when I broke my phone. Or when I erased all of the photos off my iPhone because I didn't know what I was doing. I will still upload what's left of you, because you deserve that.

5. Practice French everyday for one month
I started this in February because I don't trust myself to maintain motivation for 30 or 31 days. I thought the shortest month of the year would be a breeze! I was wrong. April seems to look pretty open as of now. I'll do this then.

6. Make coffee art
I'm making baby progress with this! I frothed some milk a few weeks ago and poured it into my weekend morning coffee. Then proceeded to sip it/watch Arrested Development for at least an hour before getting off the couch. I've also looked up some neat tutorial vids on YouTube (which I've fallen back in love with recently). I do need to get some real espresso, though. Maybe I can use my Keurig to brew it for me? I also need to find a good milk steaming/frothing/pouring vessel. Mugs are not cutting it.

7. Bake a cake/cupcakes from scratch.
Nothing yet. Maybe next time when I don't have to make 72 cupcakes (can you tell that number is a tad overwhelming for me? Gah!)

8. Watch 10 classic movies I've never seen before
I made a pretty solid list  of the movies I want to watch for this. I incorporated some old school classics, like Casablanca, some cult favorites, like Fight Club and some genre classics, like Alien.

9. Complete 5 of my pins from Learn/Make/Do
Remember when I declared that I would go to Michael's and buy crafting supplies? Well I picked up the mod podge and some other random stuff. But all of the crafts I picked were my most interesting (and difficult) ones. I did clean my makeup brushes! so one down. Four to go.

10. Hand letter something. Turn that something into art.
I've actually been the most consistent with this one. I've picked out my quotation and have been practicing. And I think I've finally nailed what I want it to look like. Just gotta finish it, scan it, and blow that sucka up. I'm sure that will make an interesting post.

11. Volunteer at Coastal Cleanup Day
This happens in September. Can't do much about that.

12. Decorate our apartment
This is another that will have to wait. The lease on our apartment is up in April or May and B and I have decided not to extend it. The complex is undergoing a management shift (we think so at least...they're trying to keep it under wraps) and so far we're not amused/impressed/happy with it. So apartment hunting we will go this weekend! I'll probably also blog about that.


♥ A

Crustaceans, Coffee, a Concert in the City

That up there is my lazy attempt at alliteration and haiku.

I'm pretty sure I slipped in a mention of a Los Lonely Boys concert Brandon and I were going to in a previous post. Well, we went. And it was awesome.

Brandon and I watched a live DVD concert of the Boys (that's my nickname for them, totally not official) sometime before Christmas and Brandon made a remark about how cool it would have been to see them live. We both assumed they weren't currently touring. Then one day at work, I was clicking around my Spotify and bam! There was a notice telling me the Boys were going to be playing in SF in February. Um, it was fate. My plan to get us tickets to a Sharks game was going to fall through because we just didn't have that kind of cash at the time and I needed something. So I got him the tickets.

Sunset loooooovvve.

Flash forward like a Taylor Swift song and we find ourselves in February, four days before Brandon's birthday. I skipped my lunch hour so we could beat some of the traffic into the City. Now, most if not all of you know Brandon. And you know he's incredibly laid back. Like, so laid back that all he wanted to do for his birthday was have his friends come over and play video games all night. I was not going to participate in the "junior high boys' night" as he called it, so I insisted that we grab an extravagant dinner at the Fish Market on the Pier. It's pretty touristy. One, it 's on Pier 39. That's really all it needs to be considered touristy haha. Anyway, we ordered a shrimp appetizer (we never order apps) and delicious lemonade and tea and just ate so much seafood. We even got a bread bowl of clam chowder on the house because our server accidentally prepped an extra one. Who knows if he was just buttering us up or if that was the truth. Either way, we gorged ourselves. We ate so much we were too full to go to our mini donut go-to spot, Trish's.

Off we set to the other side of the city to get to the Independent. We got there without much of a problem but could not find parking to save our lives. Go figure that all the side streets would be packed full of early-comers. Anyway, we eventually found the easiest most perfect parking spot...about a 10 minute walk away. Brandon's tea was ready to burst through him by the time we got to my current favorite latte experience ever: The Mill. An old friend friend posted a foursquare thing on Pinterest a while ago and the place intrigued me. I convinced Brandon to find the place with me on our trip to SF after Christmas. Brandon practically ran to the bathroom once we crossed the entrance's threshold. I quickly went to order a drink to avoid the dirty looks from the hipster baristas. Too bad they didn't see me for a good 30 seconds. I just watched them wash dishes and murmur about the strange man who just shot to the back without even ordering anything. They were definitely judgy. I would have made an actual judgmental face at them and walked out had the coffee not been calling out my name. So I smiled a fake smile and ordered my yummy latte. And I forgave their judgment on my husband because the coffee was so good. And homegirl could pour her milk. That sounds way dirtier than it should.

It was finally time for the show!! The Boys were so down to earth and so chill and so talented. They can really jam. I sound like such a poser saying that, but it's true. These dudes love each other, their music and their fans and it showed. The other cool thing was the fact that literally all ages and demographics were represented in the audience. I'd be the person to notice that kind of thing, but it was cool to see girls I would scowl at in my brain rocking out to the same music I was. Plus, the Independent is s relatively small venue and everything was standing room only so we got pretty close to the stage. It was pretty legit.

Yeah...super proud of iPhone for this shot.

Blurry selfies.

Can we all just appreciate the fact that they're playing the bass and guitar parts on the SAME GUITAR?!

Until next time, Boys.

♥ A

The Long Weekend's Accompanying Long Post

Unlike the lucky desk-job-holding people who've had one or two three day weekends already, President's day my first long weekend of the year. Now, I'm the kind of person who gets really excited about  my free time. So excited, in fact, that I like to jam pack my free time and then plan out my jam packed schedule. I have so much fun being busy. It makes me feel like I'm 100% in control of my time and makes me feel accomplished, but in a way that says  I just did whatever I wanted to all day long just like I planned. It's a little sick, I know. Anyway, true to form, I didn't get all that much rest this weekend.

Friday was Valentine's day...I completely forgot about that. That's how long this weekend felt. OK, so I had this fabulous plan for V day this year. It all started with me perusing the almighty Pinterest. The food, home decor and DIY categories--which are basically the only ones I check--were swimming with V day ideas that no real guy would ever think of doing on his own/spend the time doing. But everything was so cute! And love-y. And for a split second I caught myself starting to feel bummed that my husband wasn't as creative as a stay at home mom.

But I quickly snapped out of it. I thought to myself, THIS is why so many couples fight on special days. It hadn't occurred to me that the vast majority of guys aren't scouring Pinterest to come up with cute ideas for anything. I know Brandon doesn't think about how he wraps my gifts. I know for a fact he hadn't thought about getting me a valentine's day gift. The guy is too busy to play his favorite video games! And let's face it, that's a top priority. My point is, most dudes give no thought to cute aesthetics. If there is a grand gesture, it's the thought that's cute.

Like Marsahll is.

I'm assuming you're all still with me. Given that B was busy (and scheduled to work Friday evening), I took it upon myself to plan our Valentine's day. I built a fort with our couch, chairs, extra bed sheets and pillows in front of the TV in our living room and I named it The One Night Stand to be funny. In hind sight, I think The Stand (one night only) would have been a much more clever name for the fort. But I was building off of The Shaggin Wagon, so it was the best I had on short notice. We all left the office early (thank God) so I also got to make chicken parmesan meatballs, potato wedges, fruit kebabs and heart shaped rice krispie treats. When B (finally) got home, we ate our dinner, snacked on our treats (including the not listed candy) and watched Say Anything (a John Cusack standard and romcom perfect for me and B) followed by That 70's Show aka our new obsession into the wee hours of the morning. I was pretty proud of my accomplishment.

No lie I actually made a similar gesture when Brandon got home.

Saturday I tried my hand at making cinnamon roll hearts out of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (thanks, Pinterest). Except I bought the Cinnabon ones and slightly overbaked them, then left them in the pan for too long and they got stuck. It didn't matter because Brandon and I made so much breakfast bacon and eggs. I didn't eat anything until later when I made dumplings (insert impressive Chinese word here) and stir fry with Hailey. She lived in China for a year and bought everything at an Asian market so I'd venture to say they were pretty legit. Also, delicious. She even let me take leftovers home!

After dinner came The Blair Witch Project. I'm not one for horror films, much less found footage ones because apparently film students nowadays don't know how to hold a camera steady, which gives me motion sickness. Anyway, I was super impressed with Blair Witch. I honestly think it was a brilliant concept, especially for the late 90's. I could go into why I think it was so cool but I'll spare you all my snobbery. Just know that I highly recommend it and urge you to pay attention at the beginning if you do watch it.

Sunday was Brandon's audition for Sac State. We were both pretty nervous/excited about it. We skipped church and didn't sleep in (in fact we woke up WAY earlier than normal). Brandon's really introverted and focused (read: quiet) under pressure, so I took to sneaking pictures of him practicing/mentally preparing for his audition in order to keep my mouth shut.

Secret picture.

Attempting to not be annoying.

Playing air bass.

Hipster hovergram in the hallway.

 I didn't ask about sitting in on his audition so I chilled in the hall forcing my ears to try to hear him play. But some bro on percussion was practicing and there's no mute button on drums so I heard next to nothing.

After his audition we headed back home where we stopped for Subway brunch and watched an insane amount of...you guessed it, That 70's Show, followed by an epic Rock Band party later that night.

Monday was Brandon's last day working for Amici's (YEAAAAHHH). We squeezed in a quick coffee date and settled on a day to go apartment hunting. Which honestly couldn't have come at a better time since we're getting pretty fed up with the new management at our complex.

The rest of the day was filled with yoga and other normal stuff.

Thanks for sticking with me during my novel-writing practice.I realize I'm long-winded. Cool news, though. My mom asked me to make the most cupcakes I've ever made ever for my brother's 13th birthday. And guess what? They're the tiramisu cupcakes I'm trying to perfect. 72 cupcakes sounds like the ideal place to practice. Oy vey. 72 cupcakes...

♥ A

A Random Account of Weeks Past

I have a confession to make.

Brandon and I tore down the Christmas tree five days ago.

Yeah. As in January 30th, five days ago.

I know, I know. It's embarrassing. But it's not like we planned this! We had every intention of taking it down and disposing of it properly.  But we got so busy and tired and kind of just left it there...because we're children who would rather watch TV and eat cereal than clean up the disaster of pine needles that our tree had become.

I almost wanted to pretend like the tree was just too sentimental to throw out. I also kind of felt like Sam from Garden State having my tree up so late after Christmas.

Anyway, my and Brandon's schedules have been so packed that we decided to make time to tear the tree down on Thursday. Brandon ended up going into a cleaning spree, which I honestly had no clue how to handle, so I let him do his thing. He vacuumed, dusted, cleaned the stove, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and even did a load of laundry. He was on a roll! I sat on the couch with a bewildered look on my face.

After the spree, B and I settled into a night of our new favorite show, That 70's Show. I've always enjoyed the random episodes on ABC Family (or whatever channel I used to watch it on) after class in high school. As usual, watching form the beginning is pretty sweet. I don't know who my favorite character is or what my favorite story line is yet, but it's only season 2. And what I do know is I love it.

Are the gifs too much? I think they add a bit of fun to my otherwise pretty boring posts.

OH! What I will mention to you five is that Brandon's getting a new job! Yup. No more delivering pizzas for my music-playing guy. Allow me to a get a little churchy right now and tell you that I was freaking out over how we were going to survive once Sac State became a reality for B. The plan was for him to not work and focus on school and possible gigs, but I was skeptical as to how we'd manage with only my paycheck. FinAid is only a maybe and I'm not great with "maybe's" and "we'll see's." Anyway, I was suppressing my anxiety. But Sunday I was reminded that God provides for us. I keep getting that reminder slapped in my face time after time, mostly because I keep looking back to how my life could have been different (i.e. happier for me) had I made different decisions right after graduation. But you know what? A perfect grad program will pop up for me, I'll be focused and ready to tackle a dissertation. And B and I will find a place to settle. That's just not for now. And that's OK

Brandon and I are headed to a Los Lonely Boys concert tonight. I'll  write about our City adventure and what I'm sure will be a fantastic show.

I leave you with one final gif of girls who know what it's like to have an extremely shallow air of sexy mystery in honor of me (finally) finishing 30 Rock on Netflix.

May it rest in peace.

♥ A

Ayy-boo-boo

You know how people who religiously practice yoga are called yogis?

Yeah, every time I hear that I think of Yogi Bear.

The 2013 holidays were very different for me. Brandon and I never fully split holidays between our families before getting married, so this year's Thanksgiving and Christmas was a bit of shock to me (I know we're in 2014 but I'm too lazy to keep saying "last year's" because hello, it hasn't even been a month since Christmas). It was obviously hectic but also tons of fun. And I ate so much. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not one to eat a lot. My sister routinely pokes fun at the fact that I tend to leave like two bites worth of my meal "because I'm full."

But I really am full!

Anyway, this year's holiday season left me feeling...uncomfortable. I have a favorite pair of jeans that I wanted to wear a little after Christmas and I seriously had to take them off because they were so tight they were making my back hurt. I freaked out. I kept asking Brandon, How the hell did this happen? and his response was, Well, you've never been married before.

As if marriage causes women to gain weight or something. Maybe it does? I don't know.

I know what you're thinking. Oh my gosh, Alex, just get on with it. We get it. You couldn't fit into your jeans. Big whoop. That's so tragic.

I know. I'm sorry I sound whiny. I'll move on now.

My point is, I found this 30 day yoga challenge by some internet happenstance. And I decided that since my attitude toward cardio is:

 then this would be really kind of prefect for me. And it has been. The instructor is just the kind of personality I like. It's not cliché yoga at all. And it's 15 to 20 minutes a day...so doable.I don't even have a yoga mat! I folded up a blanket and that's what I'm using. And I actually look forward to this part of my day. So much so, I'm trying to get in the habit of doing some yoga in the morning before work, but lately I can't seem to leave my warm bed before 7 AM.

Someone (as in, one of the five of you who read this) should join in with me. Pleeeeeease?

♥ A

Learn/Make/Do

{If you read my 12 Things post, you know I'm trying 12--well, more than 12, really--new things this year. This is my first of 5 things to do based on my Learn/Make/Do board on Pinterest aka #9.}

Do you ever have moments in your life where you finally think you've got it right? Like, you've sat down, figured out a routine that will keep you sane and healthy and are so utterly committed to seeing it through you surprise yourself? And you think that this resolve and motivation is a sign that stars are aligning and that you're on the precipice of growing as a human being.

And then Monday happens. And no matter how strong your resolve is when you get up and while you do yoga, stretch and even make/eat a breakfast and pack your lunch, you'll inevitably hit a bump in the road. Like not being able to find the dress you planned to wear and spending too much time looking for it. And then, once you find it and get dressed, you might just spill an obscene amount of your loose powder blush all over yourself, the counter, the floor and your makeup brushes.

So doesn't do the mess justice

Good thing you'd already been thinking about cleaning those bad boys. I pulled up my pin and a bit of shampoo and EVOO later, my brushes were clean. I think I might have to redo by foundation (?) brush...you know, the one covered in pink dust in the photo? I don't know its name. It's a little awkward. I mean, we see each other every day and I never know what to call her.

Speaking of work (no, we actually weren't, but I'm 100% switching gears right now and don't know how to transition us out of my bad joke about makeup brush names).

I was under the impression that a person from our German HQ would be in the office on Wednesday. I was wrong. She came in Thursday, which threw off the whole first impression I was trying to make. See above paragraphs chronicling how things just go wrong sometimes. Anyway, I took a more than normal interest in planning my outfits this week and am pretty proud of what I came up with. Here's a peek at my workweek fashion (minus Thursday which was too hard of a day for me to remember to snap a pic). Hashtag OOTD! *eye roll*

Monday. Note the sparkly dress on display.

Tuesday. Didn't actually wear these heels on that day.
Not that it really matters.

Wednesday. I'm most proud of this one.
So classy (and comfy...shh). Also, WEDDING shoes!

Casual Friday. Knit on knit and boots.
Oh! and Game of Thrones inspired braids in my hair.

I'm going to go on record and say that felt insanely weird. That being displaying my outfits on the internet. This might be the last time I ever do that. Probs for the best.

♥ A

Purple Soup

If you'll recall, I mentioned in my last post that Brandon and I hadn't bought groceries in like a month.

Well, that all changed!

What didn't change: I have no clue where to begin when it comes to menu planning. I'm a solid cook, so I feel comfortable doing more than boiling pasta and heating up some meat sauce. I like following recipes. I think they're fun (Yay instructions!). Still, with so.many.options out there, I get lost. I set all interesting information aside as soon as the next appealing recipe title comes along.

Long story short, me and Brandon's menu planning went something like me asking Brandon what he wanted for dinner, him not being hungry at the time thus not having any idea, me mulling over options and finally freaking out at the sight of the kitchen because I still had no clue what kind of protein or side we were in the mood for that night.

After finding some wonderful Pinsperation, I got to work picking recipes I really wanted to try as well as finding healthy recipes for more everyday use. Brandon and I are pretty picky (he's pickier though) so we're not going to jump in on a recipe that calls green beans. We hate green beans. But he and I had decided we need to eat real food with vegetables and nutrients and...stuff. So with a shopping list in hand and all of my reusable bags, we went to the stores to get food. When it came time to buy the carrots, I noticed a bunch -- literally, a bunch -- of randomly colored carrots. I'd seen purple carrots somewhere before and thought they were really cool, so I convinced Brandon to let me buy them.

Score!

I tell you all of this because I finally cooked with the large purple carrot two weeks ago. Brandon and I have been under the weather (him more than me) and I got the urge to make homemade chicken soup. I found this recipe for chicken and veggie soup from the blog The Detoxinista, but made a few changes as Brandon and I hate green beans with a passion. You know, in case me saying it above didn't let you know how much we hate them.

I did not chop this time. It was still yummy.

Accidental Purple Soup

What I used:

2 large carrots, chopped

3 large celery stalks, chopped

4 chicken thighs (or breasts), cut into bite-sized pieces

1 tablespoon of butter

1/2 cup of chopped onion

2 spoonfuls or 2 cloves of minced garlic

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, plus more for taste

black pepper to taste

5-6 cups of water to cover

What I did:

1. Chopped my carrots, celery and onion. Cut up your defrosted chicken into bite-sized chunks.
2. I melted the butter over medium heat. Added in the two spoonfuls of minced garlic from a jar, onion and chicken and cooked for about 5 minutes.
3. Added the carrots, celery, thyme leaves and enough water to cover the vegetables (6 cups was great for me). Brought everything to a boil, then simmered over low heat for 20 minutes.

Tadaa! So easy. And it's so, so yummy. The best part: you can totally double the recipe and should still have room in your large stockpot. I think a doubling is in order for the next time I make this.

Purple soup a'brewin

In case you're wondering why I called this "Purple Soup," the purple carrot I chopped up turned my broth and chicken purple! No biggie, though. Brandon and I loved it because the taste is truly epic. Also, I'm digging the name "Purple Soup."

♥ A