Today is Benjamin’s 3rd birthday. We got him a little “Tough Guy” cap, lobster squeak toy and a new harness.
He fell asleep right after i took this picture.
Some of my favorite pictures of Benjamin throughout the years.
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Las Vegas. We stayed at Aria.. which was nice but i found that a took a lot more pictures at The Cosmopolitan.  Cool lounge areas at The Cosmopolitan.  The Cosmopolitan- retro cigarette vending machine.  Cool water tornadoes at City Center  The only picture i took at Aria. The room had heated toilet seats! It's a nice hotel not sure why i didn't take more pictures.
Santa Monica!  View from hotel room.  The Viceroy.
 Can i has lamp?
 Lunch by my lonesome.
Food!  Steak and Arugula salad- Whist.  Ropa Nueva- Cha Cha Chicken  Chicken Salad Sandwich- The Curious Palate. I am convinced LA has the best food.  Look Benjamin! Christmas!  Benjamin: "Tree is Christmas?"  Benjamin: "What my name look like?"  Squeaky carrot, Giant squeak bunny. Super hero cape.  Happy Benjamin.  Super Hero Carrot Seeker! Benjamin LOVES his carrots.  Hours later, he's still very happy with his new toys. That pretty much sums up our Christmas this year. Oh, and we went out to eat with my parents and sisters.  Not pictured: My sisters, my mom's eyes. So, Alison Stroll had a Twitter about one of her favorite local chocolatiers. So i ordered her recommended Bread and Chocolate. Today, i get this on my front porch.
At first, i thought it was maybe someone trying to steal my package.. but that just didn’t seem right. Packing peanuts were all over the porch and the hole was too small for a hand to get through.. unless it was a very determined 4 year old. i knew then it was those damn fucking squirrels. We have a lot of trees on our property and that means we have a shit ton of squirrels. Luckily, Theo Chocolate packs their chocolate with a ton of packing peanuts and i’m sure it helped that i saw the package not long after it was delivered… any longer and i’m sure that thievin’ squirrel would have had my chocolate. So, IN YO FACE YOU TINY HEADED BUSHY TAILED BASTARD! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, and the chocolate was divine. Seriously, chocolate and salt is like heaven. Gus said it was the worst thing he’s ever eaten… but he’s drank spoiled milk without even knowing.. so that says a lot. Got a call from my mom this afternoon. My grandma is in the the hospital. My mom could barely spit out the words. I feel bad. I had put my mom on speaker phone since i had lotion all over my face when she called. I didn’t quite catch what she said since she said it so softly. I put the phone off of speaker mode and asked her to repeat what she said. The longest pause. “Grandma’s in the hospital. She had a stroke.” i feel bad that i made her say it twice. She could barely say it once. I could hear my mom choke up.. she was at a loss for words. I asked her about the events leading up to her going to the hospital. My grandmother had called my mom the other day. My mom noticed that my grandmother’s speech was slurred. My grandmother had called to tell my mother something was definitely wrong. That she wasn’t well. She said my grandmother was hysterical. That she was crying and screaming how she didn’t want to die or become an invalid and that she was scared. My grandmother is in her 80s and she’s healthy as a horse or i guess… she was. Seriously, my grandmother takes care of herself… but she is getting older. She’s the last grandparent i have. I’m kinda torn. My sister wants to drive down there this weekend (she lives 4 hours away) but i just can’t bring myself to agree to go. I haven’t really kept in touch with my grandmother. It’s been at least a couple of years since i’ve actually talked to her. I’ll send her gifts and stuff like that.. but i haven’t really talked to her. Weird.. since she’s the grandparent i spent the most time with. i guess because i know my grandmother to be so boisterous and chatty. omg. she could talk your ear off. When it comes to talking, she’s like Grandpa Simpson in Korean form. My paternal grandmother died like 10 years ago. Before she died, i was there everyday at the hospital for like 3 or 4 weeks to keep her company (she had multiple strokes). i hated being there but i had promised my dad and my aunts that i would stay with her for a few hours in the day. I didn’t go for one week and that’s the week she died. It like destroyed me. I wasn’t as close to her though. Not sure why I’m sharing this.. especially since i come off as being a total shitbag. I mean, it’s not like she’s really dying. I mean, she was able to call my mom up and raise hell that she wasn’t gonna die. i pointed this out to my Mom to reassure her that she’ll be ok. She chuckled and sighed. Anyway, i’m positive this is only a minor setback and my grandmother will be up and running again… spreading church gossip and riding the bus around town. Good thoughts.  Redecorated. New ornaments for this year’s tree. We ended up decorating our tree twice. Our old ornaments were just looking tired and i wanted something new. I sorta moped about after we decorated it the first time around. Ugh. Just the sight of our tree was making me depressed and angry. The tree before.  Before. Lately, i’ve been in a weird headspace. I’m not quite sure what i’ve been keeping myself busy with yet time seems to be flying. I cannot believe its going to be Thanksgiving already. I kinda feel like i’m stoned all the time… like i’m just floating along.. like a peaceful calm. which is totally weird for me. I’m usually really grounded and annoyed by things. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago i tagged along with Gus to the Halo Anniversary launch in Houston. First thing we did was go to Rice University. Gus wanted to show me around his old stomping grounds. I nearly died. It was so fucking humid. I was wearing all black with high heeled leather boots. I was drenched in sweat. I can’t handle humidity. I just wilt. I kinda hate Texas weather. no, not kinda… i hate texas weather. I miss seasons. Gus didn’t even break a sweat.. i guess from his time in Puerto Rico and he’s just a hot weather person. Ugh. i felt so pathetic. i saw super fat people wearing zip up hoodies walking around like nothing and i was there ready to rip my clothes off… not because i was tired but because i was so incredibly hot. Gus had to leave me in the wonderful air conditioned multipurpose hall while he finished up exploring his old school outside. It was kinda sad since his old dorm building was no longer there.. everything he remembered was all different. Afterwards, we went to the Natural History Museum. Gus and my best girlfriend JoAnn kept telling me how great the gem exhibition is in Houston. (I’m a gem freak) I was pretty excited since the New York exhibit was kinda… not so great. I have to agree Houston’s NHM exhibit is much better. Everything was beautifully displayed. They had some gorgeous jewelry pieces. Maybe too much of one particular artist imo… i don’t remember his name. Still, much better than NYC. We also went into the Butterfly Center. Wow, so impressive. seriously. I’ve been to a few butterfly habitats. This is hands down the best one i’ve ever been to. Although, i didn’t see too much variety. I really only saw blue morphos, monarchs, and some really honking big brown moth looking ones. (i hate moths-so i hated those) I was hoping to see some glassed winged butterflies- my favorite. I didn’t see any. Afterwards, we had dinner and i had one too many drinks. by 8:00 i was out. i couldn’t move, i was cold, half drunk, and half asleep. So i missed the launch event. Poor Gus, he was so exhausted when he came back to the hotel room i thought he was gonna pass out before he even reached the bed. Ugh. i feel like an old fart. Here are some pictures.  Walking to Rice University.  Lunch at Rice Village.  Museum of Natural Science Butterfly Exhibit.
 Super cool butterfly. I followed it and asked it to land and he obliged. Then i asked it to open its wings so i could take a picture and i swear right after i said it he did!  Freaky looking frog  This thing was seriously the size of my dog. JubJub  At the Gem Exhibition. I want to put this on a cardigan.  224 carats aquamarine. Wish it was on rose gold instead of yellow gold. You almost never see aquamarine set in rose gold anymore.  434.5 carats Aquamarine. Do Want.  Blue Sapphire and diamond necklace. It was the biggest piece of jewelry they had on display. Not my style but would gladly take it any day. Well thats it. My most boring blog entry to date. ::sigh::  Wanna comb it? Spent a few days in NYC while Gus was working NYCC. I’ve been meaning to blog about it.. but i got lazy. Anyway, it was a total blast since my best friend JoAnn came up. I didn’t take too many pictures since i used to work in NY and have seen most things there. The only thing that sucked was that i didn’t get to see The Book of Mormon. Bummer. Most shows were sold out. It was either that awful Hugh Jackman one where he sings his favorite show tunes (barf) or The Lion King. We decided to pass on both. Also, there will be no pictures of me. I’m in the process of growing out the worst haircut i’ve ever had in my life. Thats a blog entry for another time. I did take pictures of the view from my hotel room. We didn’t get to eat at any of the places i was hoping to…. mainly, Jung Sik Dang.. not even Danji. We just didn’t have time since i was running around trying to squeeze as much New York as i could since it was JoAnn’s first time there. But didn’t care since i was so thrilled to spend time with her. I only get to see her twice a year.. if even that. We stayed at the Intercontinental at Times Square. The restaurant in the hotel Ça Va Brasserie is owned by Todd English. Ate a few meals here. I’ve seen his show on PBS. So that was kinda cool.  Todd English  The breakfast is phenomenal here.  Awesome chicken salad. We hit up the Natural History Museum. It was my first time there. I always meant to check it out when i lived there but i just never got around to it. We sorta breezed through everything trying to get as much in as possible. I did see something that i want to share.  i have no idea why but this guy reminded me of Gus. HAHAHA! i told this to Gus and i thought he was gonna murder me. Central Park. When we first got to NY it was muggy as fuck but the day we went out to Central Park it was gorgeous.
Here’s something fucked up that happened. While on the subway, i found myself sitting across from my old boss. I was so terrified that he’d recognize me i could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I fucking HATED that guy. HATE! And there he was sitting across from me nearly 7 years later. He gave me the double take like he recognized me but then sorta shrugged it off and went back to looking at his phone. Whew! Of course i got a picture!  Don't worry you're not missing much. London! The last time i was in London i was 15. I went with my high school ap art class.. but anyone could go. I made JoAnn go as well as my friend Michelle who went to a different high school. I remember eating JuJubes for a week. Jujubes are terrible yet we ate them because they were better than the food there. We ate them like it was manna from God. Gah! Jujubes… fucking filling destroyers.. so hard and chewy.. i remember buying the giant movie size box at the airport just because i wanted to try them. Little did i know it would be my food ration for the week. We fought over that stupid box of candy. Anyway, so i remember London as having terrible food and being super overpriced. Eh, not much has changed… maybe the food. I had the best Indian and Thai food. So, Gus and i had the opportunity to cash in some serious frequent flyer miles. We were able to go first class to London but we’d come back economy. I swear the only reason i went to London was to ride first class on an international flight. Domestic first class flights are pretty sweet so i was super psyched to go international. I took pictures of both flights to and from London to compare. Tv.  First Class Tv.  Economy Tv. Seats and Leg Room.  First Class Seats. Gus checking out the amenites bag that was given.  Economy Seats. Gus' 6'1" frame crammed into his tiny seat.  First Class Leg Room.  Economy Class Leg Room. Pictured: Gus' gams.  First Class Seat Configurations. I was able to sleep on my stomach. Awesome. Seat configurations on economy international is the same as economy on a domestic flight. Stiff as a board upright and the the 2 inch recline. I was gonna post more pictures of all the bells and whistles that come with a first class seat but i don’t think i need to … you get it. It’s fucking awesome. I will however post pictures of the differences in food. In first class you get served a 5 course meal and you have choices.  Started off with an assortment of warm nuts (not pictured. also, no peanuts) and a selection of warm breads and butter.  In Economy, our starter was a fun sized bag of pretzels and a canned drink of our choice.  First Class Appetizers: Lobster bisque, coconut shrimp, and a spring roll. Economy: Still working on that massive bag of pretzels.  First Class Salad. Economy Salad: In economy, salad comes with your meal not before… but you do get a salad.  First Class Main. A chicken and rice dish with a side of vegetables.  Economy Main. Salad. Cold Bread. Fruit Cake. Chicken and Gnocchi.  It was disgusting... but i ate this $0.65 cafeteria meal like it was my last meal on earth. You become a savage in economy. Food is all you have to comfort you while smashed in that tiny seat. You eat like prisoner all hunched over your food. It's mine dammit! MINE! FOOD MINE!  Meanwhile in First Class, you get an ice cream sundae anyway you want it. Yes, you read that right an ICE CREAM FUCKING SUNDAE. I opted for vanilla ice cream with caramel and walnuts. I also got an assortment of petit fours.  First Class. An assortment of cheese and crackers. Grapes. Port wine.  First Class Breakfast. After a comfortable sleep, you have your choice of cereal or fruit with your pick from an assortment of muffins and sweet breads. I opted for fruit and yogurt. Economy: After a few hours of bobbing your head around with your eyes closed, you get a drink. (not pictured)  First Class Breakfast. Sausage patty, Eggs, Ham, Potatoes, Mushrooms.  Economy 2nd Meal: A cold sandwich. Potato chips. Twix bar.  Took one bite of this ham and cheese sandwich and i had to spit it out.  Butter in my sandwich.  Not a little butter either. Look at that! Just look at it! A thick slab of cold butter. wtf. What is this madness? What a difference, right? Anyway, we stayed in Docklands which is near nothing. I was lucky enough to meet up with Lauran from the RT site. I spent a day with her in the city. She showed me a bunch of cool market places and vintage shops. I bought nothing. It was my 2nd day there and i was just a zombie. I didn’t know what i was saying and i had no opinion about anything. I was so jet lagged. I was in a dream. I had a great time anyway. She’s a fantastic tour guide with great taste. Ok, gonna end this blog entry with pictures from London. Gah! The longest blog entry ever! I guess i could have broken it up… but whatever.
 Super cool seating for outdoor eating at the market place.  Fish and Chips!  Braised Faggots. Don't look at me. I didn't name the dish.  Hotel Room View.  Again, from our hotel room.  And again.  From the sky. Yesterday while getting out of the shower my foot missed the bathmat, i slipped and my body flopped on to the cold tile. After the initial WTF? i did the whole girl-cry. Pathetic since no one was around and i did it anyways. i landed on the side of my knee and it felt pretty sore when i got up. I was so stunned that i really didnt feel any other pain other than the slight soreness in my knee. When i fell i thought i heard a pop but wasnt for sure. My knee felt fine after an hour or so… but i noticed my pinky toe was turning a nice shade of blue and was pretty painful to touch. Fuck! How does my pinky toe ALWAYS find its way to the center of all my injuries? I swear i’ve broken my pinky toe so many times, it should be dead.. dead as in i should be able to hit it with a sledgehammer and not feel it… but it’s not. That was yesterday. Today, i pretty much feel like i got hit by a car. All my muscles hurt and my pinky toe is nice and swollen. Walking is a bitch today. So i’m all laid up on the couch bored out of my mind. Stupid pinky toe. I swear it grabs on to table legs, chairs, fucking doors, ANYTHING anything that is at toe level that bitch digit will grab it and take me down. Yesterday after staring at the walls and reading about Steve Jobs for the billionth time, i had an epiphany. Maybe my pinky toe isnt out to get me. Maybe he’s always saving me. I tweeted about this yesterday.
And since i’m stuck on the couch today, i decided to illustrate this in bad drawing form. It’s been awhile since i’ve done one of my crappy drawings… so forgive the poor subject matter as i’m trying to get back into the swing of things.
Look i even took pictures. You should probably play this while looking at them. Actually, i’m going to insist you play the video while looking at them. So hit play… now!
Like i said, too much time on my hands. i know. I. KNOW. I want to start out CFC Part Three with a disclaimer. We never eat out like this. I nearly shit bricks when i saw the bill for both L20 and Graham Elliot. Maybe i didnt shit bricks but a possible angry turtle head might have bumped my seat. Anyway, i just wanted to make that clear. Today is Gus and i’s actual anniversary. Yay! For lunch we made sandwiches and we had a romantic dinner for two at WhichWich. It was ladies’ choice. Ok. Now on to the food crawl. Day 3 Lunch: Rick Bayless’ Topolobampo. I know him from his PBS cooking shows but he’s also been on Top Chef and Iron Chef.  Rick Bayless. We wanted to go there for dinner but they were booked. We called 7 weeks in advance. All we could get was a lunch reservation. The interior is something to be desired. It’s that typical bright color scheme that most mexican restaurants are decorated with. As soon as we sat down, i quickly assessed which kidney we’d sell off of Gus’ body to pay for this meal. I was so very happy to see that it was very reasonably priced. Gus wasnt feeling that well this day and i kinda was pissed off about it. This was the restaurant that i most wanted to go to. I was afraid we’d end up leaving early and me getting a to-go box for my food. He knew this and soldiered on. What a guy! Chips and Guacamole: This was free. Chips were slightly greasy but had a good thickness. The guacamole was good. In Texas, its hard to get a bad guacamole. It wasnt extraordinary but it was just as good as any guac in Austin…. but in Austin you pay for guacamole typically only salsa is free.  Chips and Guacamole. Sopa Azteca. I ordered this as a starter. It was so good. It’s a thin broth but so flavorful. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  Sopa Azteca: Dark broth flavored with pasilla, with grilled chicken, avocado, Meadow Valley Farm hand-made Jack cheese, thick cream, crisp tortilla strips. Pato en Pipián Rojo de Nuez (Duck Carnitas). This was super surprising. When our server poured the red chile pipian sauce over the duck, i kinda got bummed. The smell of chocolate was so overpowering. I made the mistake of running my fork through it and tasting the sauce on its own. First impression was not good- all i could taste was the cacao but I took it like a food champ and made my carnitas with the sauce. The first bite won me over. The sauce really worked perfectly with the duck. I could immediately taste the complexity of the mole sauce. I normally hate mole sauces… but this, i got. Wow. It was fantastic. The chocolate flavor that was so prominent on its own went far into the background when eaten together with the duck.  Pato en Pipián Rojo de Nuez: Gunthorp duck (breast, carnitas), red chile pipián (pasilla chiles, pecans, cacao), wild green “nuggets,”charred patty pan and tatume squash, corn masa crisp. Total bill was about $60. Not bad…. AND it’s a Michelin star restaurant.. thats pretty good considering what we paid before. We had a few meals at Seasons in our hotel.  Short Rib Slider. One of the best things we had in Chicago. Crispy Brick Chicken, Veg and chanterelles with a sauce i cant remember and a side of cheese grits. So good. Chicken was tender and crispy and the grits.. fuggetaboutit.  Crispy Brick Chicken and Grits. Gus ordered a Wagyu Burger with duck fat fries. – I tried his fries. :/ It wasnt my thing but Gus liked them.  Wagyu Burger with duck fat fries. Late night room service desserts! Apple Pie with Cinnamon ice cream (me) and Chocolate layer cake (Gus).  Apple pie with cinnamon vanilla ice cream.  Chocolate layer cake. Some more pictures from the Four Seasons.  Gus at the bar.  First day there. Champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate truffles, and a hand written note from the staff. All arranged by Gus. <3  We had an amazing corner suite. Gus surprised me by seriously upgrading our room. What a view. Random sightseeing photos from our trip.  Millenium Park  Giant silver bean thingy.  Waiting forever for the face to spit out water. It wasnt that impressive.  Giant Marilyn Monroe statue surrounded by tourists.  Across the street from Marilyn, this guy. Probably some important historic figure who did something great but who cares Marilyn Monroe is across the street! And the MOST important person in my life. He gave me the best 5 years and the best vacation a girl could ask for.  This Guy! |
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