Saturday, March 29, 2008

Disoriented



  1. Leave your debit card at home
  2. Carry zero dollars in your wallet
  3. Forget your laptop charger (towards the latter part of the trip, that is)
Those are all things "NOT to do" when traveling for business. Of course I ended up committing all 3 blunders and tried hopelessly to ease my furrowed brows with long salt baths. Tip: works for the calm, but not the neurotic.

As with every work-related trip, there wasn't any expectation for sightseeing opportunities. In this case, I really wasn't expecting brutal crime to happen 3 blocks down from where I got my dinner, especially not where I was staying. If only kids knew to think before they do stupid things. May Sean Patrick Conroy rest in peace. I hope all is well with his family.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Leo & Geisha's birthday party pics






Orange cupcakes with chocolate orange ganache frosting, topped with puppy-themed cookies




~ Obsession ~
the collage



J & Geisha having a moment




Mei & me



Ethan & J - Happy Times with Coca Cola


Leo tearing Teddy apart


Teddy. Dead.


Someone's writing which scarily resembles the bf's handwriting!


Shinta's baby, Shinta & me


Yoshi


Shinta, J & Mei

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Crumbs from Saturdays' Puppy Party


More pictures to come later. I'm beat from the weekend


Jasmine chocolate French macaroons for serenity.
The ganache is made with jasmine-infused cream and velvety Valrhona 33% to allow a milkier texture, thus offsetting the usual bitterness of dark chocolate


Missing very much:


Bouncing on the bf's lap



Oh-so-creamy and yummy Lancôme Hair Sensation products. Why did Lancôme have to discontinue them in the States??!


Thursday, March 20, 2008

More shots from Casey's visit

...each captioned as they were named:


Sandwich.jpg
Casey, Casey's bro Chris and me at Slanted Door


Mr lee, chris n case' arm.jpg


Unenthusiastic Bastardo.jpg
(from Casey's cam)


Group - chris lookin thrilled.jpg
(from my cam)


Sad lil boy.jpg
We saw this little darling in tears on our way to lunch, and when I said hello, he tried to follow us to the restaurant - with his poor mom calling behind us!


The handsome guy.jpg
3 guesses on who named this one. I can't tell if he meant the statue or...


CC = Creepy Crab.jpg


Creepy Crab King.jpg


Creepy Crab Queen.jpg


Danielle.casey.jpg


Danielle.Lee.Bastardo.jpg


1 Million USD Candid Shot.jpg
This was Casey getting back at me for always taking candid shots


Calpico hello kitty macho casey n thirsty chris.jpg


Calpico hello kitty n macho case.jpg


Calpico hello kitty.jpg
J-town always brings out the best in people


Dinner at houstons.jpg


Case n lights.jpg


WFH in the middle of the night


I brought work home with me again tonight. Somewhere between writing yet another creative brief, I took a 10-minute break and rummaged through old receipts in my kitchen drawer. Dog-eared and browned, some were dated 2006, most 2007. It's almost heartbreaking to see the places we've been in just months. Restaurants we picked to try over the weekends, and random markets we chose to explore during week nights.

I miss him dearly, and can't wait to be in his arms again.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Jumble . Hodgepodge . Mishmash


It's hard deciding what to post when your week's been a mishmash of events. First I meant to express my disdain for the gut I've developed due to a recent week-long alcohol binge in attempt to remedy an unexpected turn of events - yet again. That was a freaking long sentence, I know. Then I wanted to write about Casey's visit over the weekend. How we had dinner at The Slanted Door, whose service I absolutely abhor to this day, and spent the rest of our time doing touristy things I would never dream of doing if I didn't love him that much. After all, it's been 5 years since we last met. Of course I'm not forgetting my first visit to a strip club per someone's request (not mentioning any names here) where an "exotic dancer" came up to me and expressed empathy sympathy on the fact that I work an office job. Darling, I'm doing fine. I've also been learning Chinese on my own focusing on jian's this weekend: 见 (see), 渐 (gradually), 间 (time-related), 尖 (sharp) and 捡 (can't remember). FINALLY, I wanted to welcome the new Bumblebeegrad masthead, which I'm especially proud of because of its honest representation of a snippet in my life.

So there. All in 1 lousy paragraph.



Casey and me with the Marc by Marc Jacobs Easter Skunk.
I did it Laurie!


**Apologies for the excessive use of negative adjectives on this post. Just trying to make a point here.

Something missed in that daunting paragraph:

I had a terrible nightmare of tragedy and death last night, and woke up sweating. In the horrified state that I was, I txt'd my mom who in response wrote: Think about your (insert secret wish here) and you'll have sweet dreams. Sleep well. Love you. Moms are probably nature's greatest gifts.



Monday, March 10, 2008

This weekend's account



Sunday dinner


On my way to Whole Foods today, I walked through the Tenderloin by accident. Despite being in an iPod "shield" mode, I felt extremely uncomfortable. First of all, the scent in the air was by itself, offensive. Part sewer and part dog poo, I couldn't fathom how an open street could smell like that. Then there were crack smokers openly sharing pipes, meth-addicts walking around in circles, kids my age laying on the ground covered in trash and half-naked people shoving each other as if it were a game. Once I even saw a homeless man with long straggly white hair and a boob job. I consider myself an open person for the most part, but when a lady decided to squat by a parked car and pee on the street, that was the last straw. I am never walking through that part of the city again.

It took a long walk down the pier, and an In-N-Out meal at the Maritime Park to feel better about the day.





Prior to the Tenderloin experience, I visited a nutritionist whom I had met through work. She happens to live up the street from mine, and has the greatest view possible. Coit Tower, the Bay Bridge, Washington Square Park - you can see all of it through her windows. It was just amazing. We sat for an hour drinking freshly-brewed green tea and chatting about food (what else right?). Of course I didn't go empty-handed, and had macaroons to share.




Vanilla bean with Valrhona chocolate ganache center


The 1 in the middle is green tea


Yesterday's highlight was wine country with Shinta, Erick and Sayaka. Pictures of Napa and Sonoma always speak for themselves. I will add though, that 3 wine-tasting stops and a simple dinner makes 1 very good day.










Dinner at Celadon


Totally random, but worth a mention. This Marc by Marc Jacobs dress replaces the oh-too-expensive Moschino skirt