I don't get it really.. and the link, while an actual website, doesn't match the picture? But it got my attention, so I guess that's the gimic. And made me think of this blog.

Help Me.

As you may or may not know, I'm wildly in love with the Olympics. I'm not quite sure what it is about it, but I get the super warm fuzzies during the theme song, love watching opening ceremonies, and get so amped about the games and the competition. I have VHS tapes of games when I couldn't watch it (due to school/work/time zone differences) and consequently have applied to like 18 different positions for the 2010 Games in Vancouver. It would be so bad ass if I could work for the Olympics. The next best thing is going to the Olympics. I sort of had the opportunity a year ago (Whoa.. the last Olympics were only a little over a year ago!) when some of my family members were going. Except I was working like a crazy person and didn't get to go. Super. Freaking. Sad. Face. I even contemplated flying to China for a weekend just to go. *sigh.


Anyhoooooo... I know while I could go, Microsoft is having this contest for a student blogger and a female blogger to be on their blog team for the games. How neat would that be?!?! I debated telling you all about it, because I don't need any more competition than there already is - but hey - if you win, you totally have to bring me along. But before you enter, I need help. One of the things you can submit is a photo of yourself, in your blogging environment. I spent a few hours taking pictures of myself in my room (it is WAY harder than it looks) and don't "love" any of them, but kind of luke warm like. So, if you were a judge and the criteria was "featuring you in your home/personal blogging area. The photo will only be eligible for bonus points if it features the entrant (and no other people) AND is the environment where you traditionally blog." I also can't include any third party logos - so besides the Macs (which I'm sure Microsoft will love to see two of them in the wide shot pictures) if there is anything glaringly obvious let me know!

The picture above is just them arranged on my desktop. I uploaded them to a set in flickr so you can examine them closer. Which one do you like best? Which one should I enter?

Eating and Drinking our way through the City

Because I am entirely too far behind to write a single blog about everything that's been going on, here's a photo post with extended captions. This isn't everything, but just a sample of a few things Dre and I have been doing. Notice how most of it centers around food.

We were both craving dim sum and finally woke up early enough on Sunday to do it. We trekked to Sea Empress in Gardena because that's the place I like best. We ordered way too many dishes, like we always do at chinese restaurants, and happily ate mini plates of yummy yummy goodness.

Afterwards, we both needed a caffeine jolt and decided to head to Intelligentsia in Venice. Like many places, we talk about going there, but it takes awhile for both of us to get together to go there. In between our schedules, our random "not eating out" purges, and life, we make a little bit of time for our adventures.

It's cool and hip and coffees are $5, but it totally makes you want to be one of those people who just sit around in a coffee shop all day "working" on your laptop. I'm not quite sure I could afford to sit there all day, because I would just chug their drink and try every dessert in their dessert case, but maybe one day. Below is Dre's "excited to have coffee" face! Look at their cute sign in guest book and cakewiches? YUM.

When you want to keep in touch with people, it's all about "let's do lunch" or "let's grab drinks". In this case, lunch was Big Jo's. Big Jo's is a hole in the wall burger stand in Santa Monica with some of the best burgers and fries ever. It's not fancy or processed fast foody, but real grilled diner like burgers and you can put this amazing seasoning on their fries, which are so good. It's kind of like Steve's in the South Bay, but a tad bit different. But basically was an institution in Friday lunch plans when I used to work. Now it's a novelty for me. But my favorite is the bacon cheeseburger with mushrooms, french fries and a pepsi, because you know, if you're going to go down, you might as well go down in flames of glory.

With the total burst of food trucks, we've been trying to try as many as we can. That doesn't always work out so well because sometimes you aren't hungry or have time to stop when you pass by them on the street, and then when you really crave them, you're not near where they're at. And then since they're mobile, you say "oh, I can get that next time" Dre and I went to the "opening" of the Nom Nom truck - serving vietnamese sandwiches call Bahn Mi and the Fishlips Sushi truck. Both were super excellent, and although the wait was a little long, I think that's the benefit of parking at the Brig. You walk in and get a drink while you're waiting for your food, eat, get hammered, have more food. It's so simple, and so effective.

Another lunch date was set at the new cafeteria style place lemonade. There are a few other locations, but this location set on the corner of Venice & Abbot Kinney is hoppin'. There's always a line when I pass by, and I didn't get to actually try their various lemonade flavors, but I had the pot roast mac 'n cheese sandwich and it was kind of amazing. Also, the cream cheese brownie (not pictured) is to die for.

Last but not least, the Dodger game. (Go Doyers!) Friday nights in the summer, they let the crowd on to the field and shoot off fireworks. It's pretty cool and we all ran around like little kids once we got onto the grass. They cordon off the infield (of course), so I'll somehow in my lifetime find a way to play on that, but it was fun nonetheless. And you know, I pretty much love fireworks of any kind.

What's next? Likely a Halloween post, possibly a concert post, and hopefully at least some pictures from some more food trucks. And we still need to go on the Xiao Long Bao adventure. (Yes... more eating...)

Your Window Says What?

("Mommy" and her 2 dogs)

I love dogs. And I'm looking forward to my future as Crazy Lonely Puppy Lady. But this is taking it too far. Even for me.

Is this a Challenge that Needs to be Met? I think so.

Apparently October is Official Taco Month. Who knew? But I'm not going to complain. I'm sure there are different versions of this, but there are also rules for Tacoctober... Let's begin:

Official Tacotober Rules

These are the rules as dictated to me by the father of Tacotober, Brian K .

• 1.Any mixture of two or more traditional items in a folded tortilla constitutes a full taco.
• 2.Traditional items are: beans, meat, cheese, salsa, rice, avocado, guacamole, lettuce, cilantro etc. You know, taco stuff.
• 3.Choco Tacos count as a full taco
• 4.Mini tacos and taquitos only count as 1/2 a taco.
• 5.Fusion tacos (Tacos with ingredients like Daal, Korean BBQ, and haggis etc.) only count as 1/2 a taco.
• 6.You must eat 31 tacos during the month of October to be considered an official Tacotober member.
• 7.After the great taco shortage of 2007, it is no longer necessary to consume a taco at every meal. But, it is smiled upon by the great taco God, Cilantro the Conqueror.
• 8.Spread the word of Tacotober at work, with friends, at your house of worship and via your social network.
• 9.It is suggested that you create a “contest” with your friends and co-workers to determine who is most deserving of Cilantro the Conqueror's love by eating the most tacos during the month.

Who's in?

http://web.me.com/strngwys/Tacotober/Taco_Flavored_Kisses.html
(via Angelee)

Metaphorical Faces

We discovered something tonight

They're Identical, but Opposites!

NEWFLASH: Diablo Cody (Who I HAAAATE, but, after Juno, she's allowed to do whatever the fuck she wants, like make Jennifer's Body, run red lights, and scalp babies) is slated to write a script for a new full-length feature film based on....

(wait for it)



SWEET VALLEY HIGH.

Don't even act like that's not the best news you're going to hear all weekend.
Jean and I will see you in line on opening night... you know... because I'm going to force her to come with me.

Don't Go Shopping with Andrea

"I'm such an enabler when I shop with other people, and I just read Lucky magazine so you're screwed."

Snack Food Epiphany

Andrea: hang on. i'm going to walk to the drug store and get some junk food.

quick! talk me out of it!

Kim: what the

what kind of junk food?

Andrea: i dunno yet...

maybe pringles

Kim: ewwwww!!!

don't bother

if you had said cheetos you woulda had my blessing
Andrea: OOOH! i was just thinking about those this morning

i don't know why i forgot.

Kim: lol
Andrea: i was!

that's pathetic, but i was literally thinking about cheetos at 9:15 this morning

Kim: cheetos are bad for you!

stay and talk to me

Andrea: hah.

but i WANT them

(OMG - story of my life.)

Sent at 2:05 PM on Tuesday

Time Traveling

Okay, time for a real post about our adventures, because there have been a few.

Last year, there was an 80's Prom Party and I missed out. Partially because I was working like a fiend, and partially because I avoided it. I HATE dressing up in themes and I HATE costumes. It's all this effort to look stupid. Or Awesome as my roommate would like to call it, but really, along with Karaoke and not wanting kids, these are things that she and I will disagree on. This year, she made 80's prom her birthday party, so I "had" to go. We went thrift/online/Urban Outfitter shopping for all the neon, sparkly, outdated but currently in, huge poofy things we could find. Andrea came over, helped me crimp my hair, poured half a water bottle full of vodka in her "starter" drink and we amassed ourselves with bracelets and rings. And this was only the beginning.

After the shady cab driver - we finally arrived on the scene. We were greeted by Finding a Way Back into Love and Alex P. Keaton... or what he may have started out as... The 80z All Stars are a band that plays at Disneyland and I hired them to play at a Halloween Party and it rocked. Andrea found out they were playing here, and my roommate (who looooves the 80's and dressing up) decided to make it her birthday party - and that's how we find ourselves here. and Andrea being too cool for school.

You want to know why Drea thinks she's hot shit? Cuz she is. And she's wearing a GIANT BOW on her ass. You might not be able to see it too clearly here, but it's totally awesome, for sure.

I posted pictures of the night and Andrea comments "wait, I drank that?" - yeaaaaa... that probably led to the picture on the right. And my shoddy shoddy framing of it as well... which, to be honest, I barely remember taking this picture... and the other 5 like it.

=

There was good music, lots of dancing and singing, people's fun outfits, vodka shots in honor of Dorina's birthday, more dancing, photobooth pictures, late night cabbing to Denny's (the disappointment of no potachos was an EPIC FAIL), and the day after - trying to regain composure from the night before and get the hairspray out of the hair. You want to know what Andrea remembers?



Thank goodness for cameras.

Like a Fat Kid Loves Cake

From LAist featured photos

Literally, No Subject

Hi, I don't have shit to say. Mostly because it's SO. FUCKING. HOT. And I want you to rip my limbs off and fan me with them.

I cannot wait for this summer to be over. Any day now, People.

Lavabear

Meet Lavabear. He's one of the many fine creations from Mr. Nathan Hamill, and sibling of Boris. Are they related? Are they both Picnic Land characters? Or just related by association since Nathan is both their daddy? You should ask him for yourself.

Here's Lavabear... isn't he cute?

www.nathanhamill.com

also on twitter: @nathanhamill

Congrats Hungry Girl!

So it's not a secret that Dre and I like food. We like it, a lot. We like eating it, we like smelling it, we like making it, and we like people who appreciate it. There's a very cool blog called "A Hungry Girl's Guide to Taipei". It's an english blog dedicated to reviewing the best eats in Taipei or Taiwan and has even expanded to LA or SD or other Asian countries this Hungry Girl happens to be in (Korea, China, etc etc). Even if you don't live in Taipei, there are the LA reviews (I'm assuming most of our readers are LA based... so far :P) it's a fun read and nice to see food from other countries that isn't Panda Express (or Taipei's take on foreign foods to them!) I think it started out as a personal blog to remember or recap food experiences, and possibly share with some others since at its inception there were no other English food blogs for Taipei, and it's blown up into a pretty big deal where last time I was in Taipei, my friends who had just moved there said "I use that site!!" and like a religion. I think I especially like that it's not just about restaurants, but food carts and night market spots too, which are SO OFTEN my favorite foods.

Anyways, I digress. There was recently a tidbit in Taipei Times about how her blog was their staff's favorite blog! I think that may be the first print "review"? How Awesome.

Nice job... hope you make even more people drool. Go check it out! (There's this post about Westside Tavern that makes me want to go there so badly.)

a hungry girl's guide to taipei
http://hungryintaipei.blogspot.com
twitter: @hungryintaipei
hungry girl's facebook

to keep you occupied

there are few blogs that need to be written, but for now.. this one is the easiest. hopefully it will entertain you and tide you over as we get those other posts rolling.

i volunteered for this film festival in LA for the last week and a half. it was okay, i learned things from it, met a few people and hopefully somethings can pan out from it. i got to semi-produce/edit daily pieces of festival coverage. as much as i tried, i couldn't quite control what or how things were being taped, but i think i did an okay job on a few pieces, which hopefully shows my strength as an editor. i find myself wondering if my previous yearning of editing full time is still 100%, but the situation wasn't ideal, so it may not have been the best test for it. regardless, here are some of my favorite ones that i worked on.


this one is my was my favorite because i felt like it was the most well put together.. but then someone tinkered with it after i finished and i don't love what they did, but i think it's okay overall, i'm just not 110% about it. :/ like the guys say at the jungle cruise, if you like it, that's what i did, if you don't, it's the other guy's fault!


i worry about this one being cohesive, but i like this one because i translated the entire interview and then edited and added subtitles for all the pieces that are in spanish. yup, i'm a bad ass.


this is one of the earlier ones we did, so most noticeably the titles aren't as fancy. i didn't have the best b-roll either which contributes to some lacking of cutting to the right shots, but i didn't want the interviews to drag on either. but i like what they are saying and mostly i like it because of jordi laforge & luke wilson :P

there you go! the earlier one we turned around that night mostly.. so edited in a few hours. the later ones we took a little more time on because we would get the footage so late at night it was impossible to turn it around that night, plus we realized we didn't have to, so we allowed ourselves to wrap it up the next day.

(shameless plug: we edited these on a mobile editing bay CONFIDENCE BAY - a RV gutted and outfitted to be used as editing stations! pretty neat actually. any filmmakers/commercial producers out there should consider it for your needs! confidencebay.com)

tell me what you think!

OC Super Fair

Hi, again. Long time, no see.

Just wanted to share this picture that Jean took at the OC Fair last month. Because it's pretty and doesn't it look like fun!?

This is why, when I invite you somewhere, you really should come along. BECAUSE WE ARE FUN.

The end.

Holy Shiba Inu Puppy Cuteness, Batman!

more Mango here.

How Will You Celebrate?

http://www.nopantsday.com/

It's tomorrow, I think you should start planning now.

Trust Me

So, I apparently attract all the crazies. Something about me, or I have "SUCKER" written on my forehead, or I'm just a good person - they can tell! Last night I was dining outdoors with my sister, aunt and a friend. It was in a large plaza area, and people walking to and fro, but no one really bothers you. Until someone asked how old my nephew was. My nephews are CUTE, (Way cuter than yours, especially you Darrell.) So that question doesn't really phase me. Until the crazy started stroking my sleeping nephew's face and saying "Trust me. Okay? Trust me. Even if he wakes up, he'll be very happy. Trust me." Umm.. no thank you Crazy Lady? I didn't quite know what to say. I have this problem where I can't lie or be mean to random people and strangers, unless obviously there's a reason to or a direct affront... but you know Crazy People have feelings too... I think. So my sister starts saying how we don't know her and she doesn't want Crazy Lady touching her son. And I'm like yea, she's the mom, listen to her. You'd think she'd just be like "sure, sorry" and keep walking right. No... she starts grabbing my jacket (and my hair a little bit... ow) and yammering on about how you should follow your heart, listen to yourself, don't have any regrets, that she gets feelings deep inside and knows I'm a good person and to "TRUST ME" (she said that about sixty four times.) She said that I was good and that I shouldn't trust anyone if I get bad feelings about them, even if I think I know them. Not to go to temples because they'll brainwash me and read my fortune tell me bad things (and she said that she's been affected deeply by this) - and although I really am not a fan of having my fortune be told anyways, it was all kind of a little too much. She kept telling me that the people I was current eating dinner with weren't to be trusted and she "normally" doesn't really just bother random people (really?!) but she saw me and HAD to talk to me. Somewhere in the conversation she said "You probably think I'm drunk" out of nowhere and then later was like "yea... I'm drunk" - although she didn't really reek of alcohol or walk crooked, so my sister just thought she was crazy. She left to go to the bathroom and then came back and started talking to me again and telling me how the people in my life were bad... and finally I just had to tell her that I didn't appreciate her insulting my friends and that she could leave. And she did.. so it wasn't too terrible. It just got old after the first twelve "TRUST ME"s. My sister was cracking up to the point of tears in the background and the Crazy Lady was increasing her grip on my jacket/hair. Not cool lady....

So... who wants to hang out with me now? Free entertainment! And I'm good person... even crazy people can tell.

Brought to you by Bacon Salt

Yup.. this is what we do for fun on a Saturday night. You know you're jealous. I'm still waiting to try this on top of Fries... or Popcorn. mmmmm...

http://www.baconsalt.com

Be Kind to your Neighbors

So I have this friend. Said friend has gotten into a relationship and spends mass quantities of time (read: everyday) with their new loved one, and has fun doing quality couple things. You could say that it's cute. Or you could say that it's grossly annoying. It depends on which end of the spectrum you like to be. Sometimes, if you're friends with said new lovey dovey couple, you just kind of suck it up and grin and bear it. You want to be happy for your friends right? Or you just don't spend as much time around them, which isn't that hard because you're not one of the people in the relationship and that's all they have time for anyway. But suck it up and grin and bear it doesn't apply to people who don't know you. And people who don't know you that you disturb. At least not forever anyways. I've "heard" through the grapevine (not through any actual experience of my own), that some of these activities (not the ones where said couple is just making out on the couch in plain sight, but the kind that are behind closed doors) are kind of disturbing to people outside the room in the same apartment. That's never fun. I spent a whole year of college with not that kind of fun. The crappy part about apartment living is sharing very thin walls. Noise doesn't just travel within the apartment, but apparently throughout the whole building as well. How would you like to come home and find the note below taped to the door? It's a good thing you guys are moving.



Best. Letter. Ever.

I'm Your Huckleberry

Okay.. cheesiest title ever. Sorry. But it seems... fitting. Plus - this place can be my Huckleberry anytime it wants. I'm okay with that. What is this place? Huckleberry in Santa Monica. (brought to us by the people behind Rustic Canyon, which is another place I've been meaning to try...) Way back when on some drunken night, Andrea, Kirk and I had noticed that "hmm.. this place is new" and pondered what exactly it was, and thought "maybe it's a furniture store".. or something like that. But then I found my UrbanDaddy emails and saw a new breakfast food place in town! They don't just do breakfast, but they're a day cafe, and for some reason, I feel as if they were advertising it that way. So I excitedly email them and say that we need to try this place. 2 months later, we actually did - but it was worth the wait. I wouldn't say that the food was OMGSOAMAZING, but it definitely was good and not something that you just say "oh.. I could make it better", because while food is really hard to get amazing, it's really easy to screw up.

The second we stepped in we ogled over their decadent display of sweets and pretty much said "yes" to one of each, in our heads. We ended up having the bread pudding and the coffee cake, both of which were great. (*Side note, my frame of reference for bread pudding isn't great because I'm actually not the biggest fan, but Andrea seemed really happy about it and is probably more of a bread pudding expert.. so we'll stick with "both of which were great".)

The greatest part about eating with friends [who like to share] is that you get to try more than just your dish. This is why you have to be choosy about who you go to eat with as well. Friends who don't like to share food generally don't get invited back - unless it's by other people who don't like sharing food either. That's not me.

So, for Sunday (not particularly Easter) Brunch, I had a Turkey Meatball sandwich (with gruyere cheese!), the Fried Egg Sandwich (mm.. niman ranch bacon) and the Green Eggs & Ham sandwich (the green was pesto). All three dishes were quite tasty and I wouldn't hesitate to go back, for breakfast, or lunch, or to stop in to get one of their take home shepherd's pies or $4 cinnamon sugar croissants or MONSTER donuts. I've heard only stories about how crowded it can get, but we went on the late-ish side, so it was actually really nice. Too bad it wasn't warm enough to eat outside, but we've got a whole summer [of next day brunch post late night drinking nights] ahead of us.

Huckleberry www.huckleberrycafe.com
1014 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica CA, 310)451.2311
Wed-Fri 8am-7pm, Sat/Sun 8am-5pm, Open on Tuesdays starting in May!

That's What You Said

On making bad decisions...
Jean: It's after midnight, this should not be happening!
Dorina: At least it's not after 2am

~~~~~~~~~~

Talking about exchange of favors
Jean: "Well, it makes up for all the times you took me to school when I missed the bus."
J's Dad: "You should have taken a taxi."
Jean: "Sure, you just would have had to pay for it."
J's Dad: "I'd take it out of your allowance."
Jean: "Okay, I didn't get allowance anyways."
J's Dad: "Sure you did, we gave you money for lunch."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Random Musings in Our Apartment
Dorina: "You know what are awesome?... Jolly Ranchers"
Nicole: "Are they the candy or the people?"

Dorina: "Movie! Movie!"
Jean: "Get up and put it in."
Nicole: "That's what she said."

Drea's birthday @ The Brig
Andrea: "Can I leave you alone to go to the bathroom?"
Jean: "I think I'll be okay."
Andrea: "Don't let weird people talk to you."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday "morning", January 4, 2009 - @ Backstage & Our Apartment
Dorina: "Does curated mean catered?"
Us: "No"
Dorina: "Shit."

Andrea: "I'm not unhappy for them. I'm just unhappy for the rest of us."

True story.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday night, December 26, 2008 - watching Bedtime Stories
Movie: "We'll combine the romance, and the action, and make it a ROMACTION story!"
Nicole: "I need some Romaction."

(ps. Andrea - at karaoke Saturday night - we sang Torn for you.)

~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday night, December 5, 2008 @ Gaslite - West LA, CA
Mix girls and alcohol and some awesomeness, and here's what you get:

Dorina: "Sorry, I had to move. I didn't want to get uglier."

[while Natalie Imbruglia's Torn comes on]
Andrea: "This is why I don't come to karaoke. Cuz I would totally be THAT girl"

News at Blu Jam Cafe

I have some good news, and some bad news, and some more good news!

The good news is, Jean and I got together this morning and had an adventure!

The bad news is, at some point during that adventure, Jean admitted that she was terribly pissed off that I didn't blog at all the entire time she was in Ireland! She knows I was having adventures without her, and I didn't share any of them, which is, frankly, incredibly disappointing.

The rest of the good news is, she's not actually pissed at me! She's mad at Kirk. (Hi, Kirk!) Because, naturally, this is ALL HIS FAULT. Naturally. Because he makes me "boring." Right? Right. That is how that works. (Mission: Be not boring.)

To make up for it (because of course I don't want Jean to be mad at Kirk) I picked up our brunch at Blu Jam Cafe on Melrose. And I even took pictures so I could blog about it. I fucken love brunch, by the way. It might be my favorite thing about weekends, even more than drinking a lot (mostly because I like to do that on weekdays) and sleeping in (mostly because I sometimes wake up really early for no Goddamn reason, like today.)


Jean had the Kamil's Breakfast (Kamil being the chef de cuisine) on the left. It was eggs scrambled with bacon, cheddar cheese, garlic, chives, and elbow macaroni. Whoever thought to throw pasta into their egg scramble is a genius. Or was incredibly hungover that morning. And a genius. I had the Eggs Bohemia, which was 2 eggs fried over bacon and black forest ham and topped with chives, served with their home potatoes and [wheat] toast. Sometimes I forget how good eggs and bacon are. And, because of that, I am retarded stupid. Also, the potatoes? Really good. I hate it when you go to a breakfast place and the potatoes are an afterthought.

At some point or another during the meal, I found myself asking, "Nice brunch with my workBFF? Could this get any better?"


GUESS SO. Crepes with strawberries, bananas and Nutella. Don't you get dessert when you have brunch? No? Well, do you get a third entree for two people? Again, no? Never? In that case, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU. Let's make it a point to never have brunch together.

Well, three entrees for two people is a lot of food. Per Jean: "You win, breakfast." (And that was before the complimentary teensy chocolate chip cookies.)


Blu Jam Cafe
www.blujamcafe.com
Open daily from 8:00am - 4:00pm and
Friday nights from 7:00pm - 10:30pm for various "International Bistro Nights"
7371 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 951-9191