Hollywood Hike

A few of my sorority sisters and I hiked to the Hollywood sign last Saturday. Honestly, it did not seem like a 5-mile hike at all. It was a little rough at the beginning due to the extreme inclines but everything else was a breeze. The view was amazing. Still, it doesn't beat hiking in Yosemite or the Sturtevant Falls. Here are some pictures:

My Big and I

Before the hike

During the hike

Random guys throwing up our crowns

A view of Forest Lawn (MJ was buried here)

"Charlie's Angels" 

After the hike

I HAVE TERMITES!!!!

Termites. Termites.. TERMITES!!! It is such an ugly word. I never expected to have these nasty-infested-blood-sucking bugs in my home. I could not tell what it was at first because I have never experienced anything like it. My first thoughts were.. maggots, or white-clear-nasty things. Then I found out that they were termites. Honestly, I am extremely embarrassed to tell anyone about it. What if my friends doesn't want to come over anymore? What if they think I'm unclean?! So I decided to do some research. The pictures that popped up was not very pleasant. Then I discovered that it is not my fault that I have termites. They can find their way through cracks from outside of the structure. So I called my management up and they are taking care of it. They sent in the Terminix Pest Control guys. Luckily we caught it in time. It is not at the extreme stage yet. Apparently, they have been digging their way through the beam from the outside. The guys are going to clean everything up before I get home today. I also put in a request for them to come and clean my carpet because who knows what could be living there! Overall, the experience wasn't so bad. My management was very professional and took care of everything in a timely manner. I still hate these bugs though. Go eat wood somewhere else please!

Meet My Parents

As I am sitting at work not wanting to work, I went through my old flash drive where I secretly stored pictures that meant the most to me. I have not looked at these pictures in a very long time and it brought back a lot of memories. I forgot that these photos even existed. It's almost as if I had just unlocked a treasure chest. A treasure chest filled not with gold, but nostalgia, excitement, and fun. Everything that is worth more than gold.

Here is a thing about my family, we don't take a lot of pictures. I mean we try to for special occasions, but even then, we don't capture much. In this treasure chest that I have just unlocked, I found pictures of my parents that illustrates their love for one another. My parents are no romantics. I have never seen them show affections, not even a kiss, to each other. Believe me, for a very long time, I was almost convinced that my parents are no longer in love. However, these photos were able to capture the love that they have for one another, the love that I never even knew existed.

What's a V-Day?

I have not celebrated Valentine's Day since the 8th grade. So it was just like any ordinary day for me. I am not bitter, nor am I excited the holiday but it does get annoying when your boss gives out Twilight V-Day cards, and people goes around asking you if you want to buy teddy bears with chocolate roses, or strawberries dipped in chocolate. No, I don't want to buy your teddy bears nor do I want to spend a whole lot of money on your strawberries when I can make them myself for half the price!

Well, this year I decided to celebrate this holiday with my friends Hiba and Rachel. I guess it's better to spend it with friends than cooking at home alone. I wouldn't have mind. But since all of us had no plans... why not.

The first course on the menu is called Rachel's Salad. Why the name? Because she brought it from home. It was pre-bagged though. We didn't have a big bowl to mix our salad, so we used a pot instead. How efficient! Rachel's Salad has: lettuce, cabbage..you know all that salad stuff, then she added yellow tomatoes and carrots, it came with almonds, raisins, and crumbled bleu cheese. We topped it off with a white balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It was healthlisticly delicious.

We made vodka lemonade after we prepared the salad. I didn't have wine at my apartment, so this was the next classy thing. 

Then we went ahead and boiled the water for our farfalle.. blah blah blah. I cooked the mushroom in olive oil and garlic. Then threw in the pre-cooked-chicken-that-came-in-the-frozen-bag. Once that's done, Rachel lightly added the alfredo sauce, when I say lightly... it was like a pinch. She's a health freak! I would have thrown in the whole jar. Oh well, it came out amazing anyway. Then we mixed in the pasta. Voila! We created our version of "light" chicken farfalle alfredo.

For dessert, we decided to go with the double chocolate cake that's been sitting in my fridge since last week. Rocky Road, Strawberry, and Vanilla ice cream were added of course. 

Hiba didn't cook anything, she just came to join us after her class. We all ate and watched.... He's Just Not That Into You. Rachel soon realized that we were just like those sad, soppy, pathetic girls with no valentines. I refused to think that I was one of those. Because I was really content with what I was doing. I was not jealous, nor bitter. Anyway, maybe next year? Haha, just kidding. You say Valentines, I say Vodka. 

Our Youth

I don't think we realize how special our youth is. I mean being young has its perks. Everybody wants to be so much older than they are, well, if they are under the age of 21. Once they hit the age of 21, everyone just wants to be young again. Kind of odd isn't it? My whole life, I have always wanted to grow up fast. I have always wanted to be an adult. But when I hit 18, I still did not feel like an adult. That's an "adult age" isn't it? Now 19, I still want to grow up, but faster. I have always felt young. Even though people have said that  I am mature for my age, or I do look my age, I still don't feel that. I feel like I am still a 16 year old girl living in a 19 year old body. Everywhere I go, I put myself in that situation. I shut myself down and pretend that I'm young. I can't accept the fact that I am a young adult. My body won't let me feel that way. Anyway, that's beside the point I was trying to make. What I am trying to say is appreciate the youth. Whether it's ours, our sibling, our niece, our nephew, our children, etc. Capture our youth. Record it with a camcorder, take a few pictures with a camera (but make sure you print them out). Capture all of the special memories. Once our youth is gone, the videos, the pictures will be all that's left. Cherish our youth. Enjoy it. Live it. Just remember, not only to appreciate our youth, but also others' youth, the ones that we care about the most. 

New things.

My head's been all over the place lately. Spring semester of my sophomore has just begun. I have the worst schedule out of all of my college years so far. Required to be on campus at 8:00a.m four out of five days, with  useless one and a half hour breaks throughout. What was I thinking? Obviously I wasn't. If I wasn't so selfish, this wouldn't have happened. I purposely signed up for an 8:30a.m. class just so I wouldn't have to open for work in the morning... Did I not think that my work does not care? Wishful thinking. Of course, nobody at work could open... so there was my schedule, 8:00a.m. shifts. I chose my own fate this time while trying to avoid it. Sigh. I'm still on my first week of work and school. Already have a headache. Not sure how I am going to pull through for the next 13 or so weeks. I might not make it before that last week gets here.

Classes are alright. I'm taking most of my major classes this semester. Business Writing, Economics, ISDS (an EXCEL/ACCESS class), and a History class for my GE. My advisors warned me to not take so many business classes at once since I'm barely just getting my feet wet with this major. I honestly think I can do anything I want as long as I believe I can. I know, that was really cheesy but hey, it's true. I guess I'll listen to them this time. I'm only taking 12 units which once again puts me behind the rest. The average units required to graduate in four years is 15. Looking forward to summer school... yey. Here's a thing about summer school though, I actually don't mind it. I get better grades and learn better. Everything goes by way quicker. I might need to try an intercession here and there...but I'll deal with that once it's needed.

Anyway, so my hectic schedule during the day doesn't leave me with much in the evening. Here's how my schedule goes:
8:00a.m.- 5:00p.m: On campus.
5:00p.m.-10:00p.m: Cook dinner, eat dinner, watch Netflix, do the dishes, shower.
10:00p.m.-the next morning: Sleep.

Yeah, there goes my schedule on the internet for the world to stalk. It amazes me that my new bed time is at 10:00p.m. That's not real life. I never ever sleep that early. I know this will only last for a week or two. Until I get used to my schedule at least. Even though I sleep that early, I still cannot wake up in the morning. I love to sleep.

Oh yeah, "cook dinner," that's new too! I'm living on a budget now. I should have always been, but I'm really enforcing this whole budget thing this time around. I want to be able to do so much. I have cut back on shopping and eating out. No more shopping sprees, can you believe that? Me neither. No more eating out. I actually went grocery shopping the other day and only bought things I need. I have been cooking delicious meals. Like chef quality food. A lot of pasta. I love pasta. I swear I'm going to be such a great mom. I am still going to marry a chef though. Haha. Anyway, I actually surprised myself. I can't cook, ever. I was able to create my own recipes based on some recipes I found on the web and in my cookbooks. Let's see if I can keep this up. I have been snapping pictures of the creations that I have whipped up in my little kitchen. I'll post them soon.

Gosh I sound so old. Well, that's all for now. Until next time. xoxo.

Running on all four time zones

I am finally in Boston after 10 hours of flying, not counting the overlay hours. This was the worst travel/airport/flying experience I have ever had. I departed from Sacramento, had an hour overlay in Phoenix, and a drop off/pick up in Chicago. The flight from Sacramento to Phoenix wasn't that bad, but the flight from Phoenix to Chicago was horrid! I took so many naps. The flight was 100% filled. A very large man sat right next to me. It was fine though because he was a very attractive baseball player with a carefully built body.

I was so glad to land in Providence, RI. Well, glad...except for the fact that my ride went to the wrong airport. It wasn't her fault though because no one ever told her where to pick me up. Haha. What a day. What an adventure. I'm excited to see what's going to be in store for the next few days!