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New Goals and Exciting Times

August 30, 2010 by GraceFace

I never thought I would be so excited about maintaining a blog, yet here I am again!  I am constantly thinking of things to write about and thinking of new things I can get into just so I have material to write about.  Although I wish I had a talent for writing similar to Hank Moody’s, or more realistically, skills like my roommate, Byong, I didn’t think I had it in me to be so inspired and passionate about blogging.  My insecurity of my lack of eloquent wordings took over me for a while  until I managed to somehow get over it.  I realized that I created this blog for myself, not only to pick up a new hobby, but to write about good and positive things, new experiences, and any other random thing that comes to mind, as long as it wasn’t negative.  So far, it has been a good starting point for me to exercise positive vibes, in hopes to erasing bitterness that I’ve been wanting to get rid of.

“The only time a woman is ready for a man is when she doesn’t need one.”

One day last week, as I was day dreaming about all the possible things I could start writing about, I thought about trying to incorporate a weekly goal for myself.  Not only would this weekly goal help me get things done, it would also be fun to write about it here!  Genius idea!!  At least I thought it was.  So I set up parameters.  My weekly goals would have to be a goal or task that changes every week.  The goal should be completed before every Monday morning.  The difficulty or complexity of the goal can vary.  I wasn’t concerned if they were life changing goals or simple goals such as drinking one cup of water a day.  My only concern was that is should be something I could commit to for one week, follow through, and cross it off my list.

This week I decided my first goal for week 1 would be to finish this book I was half through.  I have a bad habit of picking up books, reading half of the book, then suddenly losing interest.  I called it halfway book syndrome.  I have tons of books I started but can’t say I finished.  So there it is.  I made a spreadsheet for my weekly goal, put it in writing, and set a deadline at the end of the week to finish reading “A Piece of Cake” by Cupcake Brown.  I finished it and I feel great!  The book itself was really inspiring.  Cupcake’s story was moving and at times hard to read.  There were several instances where I hated her character.  I was sick of her attitude and I couldn’t stand reading another word about her life.  I finally got over the worst of her life story and it became promising and uplifting.  It’s a good book.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good read.

As I thought about this goal making project of mine, I opened up to Michael to see if he would like to join me in the challenge.  :)   He was definitely up to it, so we talked about what his goal would be for himself, and also a weekly goal for us to do together.  I was overly excited that I came up with ideas and lists in my head.

Together we decided that we will set a night out of the weekend to make dinner together (something we normally wouldn’t make) and find a nice bottle of wine that we both haven’t tried.

Coincidentally, Michael had just signed up for the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Program in Silverlake and came home with a good amount of fresh, organic vegetables.  He suggested we make homemade pizza (since I suggested a couple months ago that I wanted to try that for the first time).

OMG, the pizza was DELICIOUS!  We made a prosciutto, tomato, basil, and mozzarella pizza.

With the pizza, we had a salad and Stanza’s petite Sirah wine and it was soooooooo good too!!  It was definitely a fun night.  We talked, learned new things about each other, laughed, cried (at least I did), ate more, got ice cream at Scoops, talked more, played poker with Monopoly $1′s and $5, and ended the night with WAR (the card game) and another empty bottle of Fetzer’s cabernet singing along to one of our favorite songs, “Woman in Chains” by Tears for Fears.

We had the biggest WAR battle ever!  FOUR war battles in a row!!!  That made our night.

I’m excited for next week’s goal.  I love it!

Posted in Baking, Food, Goals, Reading | 1 Comment »

A Wedding Marathon Weekend

August 29, 2010 by GraceFace

Last weekend I had an overload of weddings.  My cousin, Mark got married last Friday, and Michael’s coworker got married last Saturday.  Both weddings were so beautiful.  And more importantly, both weddings had open bar.  Score!

Mark and Kelly had their wedding at this cute house in Orange called, The French Estate.  The ceremony was held on the front lawn and reception followed in the backyard.  It was a very small wedding, only select cousins and their spouses or significant others were invited.

I’m truly happy for my cousin and his new wife.

Welcome to the family, Kelly Modino! :)

I love this picture.  These are the Modino boys.  We all grew up together when we were younger.  Our parents did a good job in making sure we spent time with our cousins.  I’m glad that I am still close to all of them.

(L-R: Andrew, Robert, Roland, Cairo, Michael…then Mark, the groom)

I didn’t know the couple at the second wedding.  I was just there as Michael’s plus 1.  It was a very nice wedding, outdoors also, and well planned.  The ceremony was so beautiful that for some odd reason my eyes were watery!  My favorite part of the wedding was when the couple greeted their parents and exchanged words and hugs.  Ahhhhh, I tried so hard to hold back the tears.  It was so touching.  Man, I don’t even know these people!

I’d have to say, this wedding is going to go in the books for one of the best weddings I’ve been to.  The guest book was like nothing I’ve seen before.  They took a Polaroid picture of you and your guest and posted it next to your name in the book.  How cool is that idea?  Hmmm…I think I want to steal that idea for my wedding.  Hehe.  Their wedding gifts to their guests were tea cups!!!  Genius idea!

So of course we sat with other coworkers from Capital Group.  Interesting group, I must say.

Here’s a fun fact:

My mom worked for Capital Group 10 years ago, and she was there for about 6 years.  Weird huh?

Congrats to Austin and Sharon Lee.  It was definitely nice meeting the lovely couple.  I loved the filet mignon, pinkberry yogurt, and your guest book idea. :)

Posted in Family, Love, Weddings | Leave a Comment »

Mmmm PBB for Dinner?

August 27, 2010 by GraceFace

I recently picked up baking here and there a couple months ago.  Since then, I’ve only tried one baking recipe, and yesterday I decided I should try out another.  My first baking project was banana cupcakes with cinnamon honey frosting.  I didn’t perfect it until the 3rd time, and the first 2 times, I made the SAME mistake.  I need to read more carefully, because the only reason my cupcakes turned into rubber was because I forgot to add butter.  Ooops.  They were still good, I thought.  My roommates still ate them. :)

I knew I didn’t have much time to bake since I had to run, do laundry, and cook dinner, so I picked a simple recipe that I found online.  My goal for these baking projects isn’t to attempt try out complex recipes, but just to try new things out.  I feel that as long as I’m putting in some time and effort into making something, it doesn’t matter if it I’m going to make something from a box.

I found a recipe online for Peanut Butter Brownies.  Mmmmm!  A lot of the recipes for PBB’s required me to bake brownies from scratch.  But luckily I was able to find one that let me use boxed brownies instead.  Whew!  I wasn’t too thrilled about spending 2 hours on baking brownies from scratch.  But, I’ll definitely try that later when I have more time on my hands.

The one thing I did not understand about the recipe was that it required me to bake the brownies on top of foil.  Well, I did it anyway, but it took almost an hour to make sure the brownies were fully baked.  I wonder if it’s because of the foil.  Hmmmm….

Overall, they turned out great!  Yvette said I made them well because they stuck  to the roof of her mouth.  I guess that’s what good brownies are supposed to do?  Michael said he could eat them for dinner if he could.

Well, I’m glad they were a success.  I LOVE peanut butter, and they go so well with brownies and almond milk.  Mmmmm!

The one thing I didn’t like was that they crumbled so easily.  Is that supposed to happen?

Well, here’s another recipe to add to my repertoire.  :)

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies
adapted from Martha Stewart

Brownie Batter:
Your favorite brownie recipe or mix (I used Ghiradelli Double Chocolate Brownie Mix)

Peanut Butter Filling:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a buttered 8-inch square baking pan with foil or parchment paper, allowing 2 inches to hang over sides. Butter lining (excluding overhang); set pan aside.

Make brownie batter according to recipe or mix directions.

Make filling: Stir together butter, confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, salt, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth.

Pour one-third of brownie batter into prepared pan, and spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Place dollops of filling (about 1 tablespoon each) about 1 inch apart on top of batter. Drizzle remaining brownie batter on top, and gently spread to fill pan. Place dollops of remaining filling on top.

With a butter knife, gently swirl filling into batter, running knife lengthwise and crosswise through layers. Bake until a cake tester inserted into brownies (avoid center and edges) comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet, about 45 minutes (the peanut butter may still be wet). Let cool slightly in pan, about 15minutes. Lift out brownies; let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Posted in Baking, Food | Leave a Comment »

“Without you, things go hazy”

August 18, 2010 by GraceFace

Finding new [GOOD] music is like finding gold. Thank you, Doug, for sharing this song with me.

…because sometimes, all you want is to know that the one you love will be there for you when you’re at your absolute lowest.

Posted in Love, Music | Leave a Comment »

He likes me, he likes me not?

August 12, 2010 by GraceFace

Telling someone that you liked them seemed so much easier when you were younger, didn’t it?  I remember writing my first “do you like me” note when I was in the 3rd grade.  Of course I was shot down with a circled “NO”.  I felt pretty stupid and ugly, but I didn’t know any better!  I just thought that meant I wasn’t pretty.  I remember telling my dad that the boy I liked didn’t like me back.  I’m sure that made my dad’s heart sink.  How could his little princess be shot down by some stupid boy, right?  Then, that is when my dad told me to wait for the boy like me first, or in filipino terms, wait for them to “court” me.  WTF?  I was confused. As I got older, I sent a couple more “do you like me” notes and never had one return with a big “YES”.  I finally learned my lesson after the 3rd time of rejection.

I wonder how that would work out today if we used this note system instead having a guy propose on ONE KNEE asking me to marry him.  I’d rather have this note instead of the one knee gesture.  But that’s just me. :)

I guess it’s already happening….on twitter.  Whatever works.

Posted in Childhood, Love | 2 Comments »

Baby Minds

August 11, 2010 by GraceFace

Emily Jaymes Modino & Ethan James Andrews

Siiiigh. Babies. They are SO cute!  How can you NOT love them?  It warms my heart when I see babies smile and laugh, especially my niece and my nephew.  In less than a year, they’ve grown so much!  Time is going by too fast!  They are crawling and growing teeth now.  Everyday, they are getting bigger and learning new things, like clapping their hands, pointing, and speaking their first words.  And even at even at such a young age, you can already see their personalities develop…and it just doesn’t stop.  It’s mind-blowing!!

Here’s a picture of both of them playing with the same toy.  Ethan is upset because Emily is playing with the toy.  It’s pretty funny to us, but I’m sure it’s frustrating for Ethan.  For Emily,….I guess she’s thinking, “Why are you crying?  I thought we were just playing?”  Hehe.   Do you ever wonder what goes on in their minds?  What are they thinking about when they’re eating or playing?  How are they feeling when someone else is playing with their favorite toy?  I never really stopped to think about what goes on in their minds, until I saw this picture.  Ethan looked upset!  Poor baby.  But we never really know.  We kind of just assume he is upset from his facial expressions and loud cry… and whatever makes him stop crying should mean that he is OK and happy again, right?  Ack, child psychology…there’s so much to know learn!

Babies.  They can change your world.  I guess I wouldn’t know just yet, but I can only imagine how they can be the greatest gift.

One day. :)

Posted in Family | Leave a Comment »

Days & Days of Jam Packed Fun

August 9, 2010 by GraceFace

The view of downtown Los Angeles from The Standard Hotel

This past week has proven to be one of the busiest weeks that I’ve had in a very long time, and about 70% of it consisted of birthday celebrations.  There was something going on everyday this week, and I’m relieved that it’s over and glad I survived.  Now I can recover and rest.  :)

This week was all about spending time with friends and celebrating birthdays.  It’s nice when a big group of friends come together for another friend’s birthday, and that is all we did this week: go out and have drinks to honor days of births.  Byong’s birthday was last Monday, Sheila’s was last Tuesday, and Jamie’s was last Wednesday.  Jamie had her birthday at Nodaji in Rowland Heights on Wednesday night.  Sheila had hers at Angels & Kings in Hollywood on Thursday.  Both of them had hangovers the day after. :)   Byong isn’t a fan of celebrating his birthday so he was MIA.

Have you ever been to the Century City mall?  Isn’t their parking system AWESOME?  As much as I hate looking for parking at a very busy mall, this parking lot blows out all the rest out there.  I think it’s the coolest thing ever!  Michael, Erin, Warren, and I came here to watch Toy Story 3 and we loved it.  By the time we finished the movie, it was a little after midnight and too late to go anywhere, so we headed back to my place for bagel bites and Rockband!  It was a great spontaneous Friday night.

On Saturday, we had a joint birthday celebration for all 3 of our friends at Swimming with Sharks at The Standard Hotel.  (Johnboy calls it “Swimming with THE Sharks” heheh FOB.)  It was a beautiful summer day to have a roof top pool party.  We had a couple rounds of beers, a couple bottles of champagne, and a very drunk friend named Kyle.  The funny thing about birthdays is that sometimes it becomes another person’s birthday, so in this case it was Kyle’s.  :)   He kept running around saying, “Dude, I’m so smashed man!”  Yeah, he was!  A lot of us have tons of pictures and video of him celebrating his “birthday”. :P   Eventually he was passed out and we had to leave the hotel.  The cool thing about having great friends is that no matter what, they are always there to help you out…..or at least, that’s what they’re supposed to do, right?  So as you could imagine, it nice seeing that we all came together to take care of one drunk Kyle, but at the same time it was HILARIOUS.

Recently, I learned that Michael has never been to the fashion district in downtown Los Angeles, so Erin and I decided we should take him there to see it on Sunday.  I haven’t been to the fashion district in 10 years!  I think it’s always fun checking out that place, especially Santee Alley.  You can’t beat 2 pairs of sunglasses for $5, 2 straw hats for $5, chucks for $20, and hilarious graphic tees.  I found the cutest little shirt for my nephew, and I HAD to get it.  I wanted to post a picture of it, but it’s a gift for this 1st birthday in a couple weeks.  :)   I’ll post it later.

Michael was finally able to find his “rice picker” hat and was able to get 2 different kinds for $5, total! He was really happy about that because he’s been looking everywhere for it.  What a steal, right? You can’t really go wrong with the fashion district.  That place is fun to go to every once in a while.  I definitely need to remember to buy my chucks there from now on.  :)

To top off the my evening, I napped, I ran, and ate dinner while finishing up season 2 of Californication with Michael.

Siiiiigh.  I love my friends.  I love LA.  This place is great, and my friends are awesome.  Life can be great when you allow it to be.

Again, happy birthday to Byong, Sheila, and Jamie!

I love how happiness overflows in this picture.

This summarizes my weekend in a nutshell.

:)

Thank you, LA, for another memorable week.

Posted in Birthdays, Friends, Los Angeles | 1 Comment »

The Price of a Haircut

August 1, 2010 by GraceFace

Mimi’s Salon, Riverside CA

I’ve had numerous people compliment my haircuts and ask what salon I go to.  And after I tell them, they give me this weird look, a look that says, “You are crazy for driving all the way to Riverside just to get your hair cut.”  Maybe I am.   But I [almost] always try to plan out my trips out there.  I wouldn’t drive out there JUST for a hair cut.  I plan it so that I visit my mom in Corona or end up having to run errands in Orange County.  Something like that. It’s never a trip ONLY to get a hair cut.  Sometimes I try to refer my friend’s to Mimi’s and we carpool there.  It always works out.  And quite honestly, the drive and the $30 is worth it.  I haven’t had a bad or unsatisfactory haircut in YEARS!

Mimi is a cute little Chinese lady.  She always has a funky hair cut with perfectly placed highlights.  She’s always talking about exercising, fitness, shopping, and beauty products.  You should see her skin! It’s FLAWLESS!  She owns her own salon and has been in that very same location for as long as I remember.  I remember my mom used to always get her hair cuts from Mimi’s salon since I was 10 or 11.  I got my first hair cut from her when I was about 12.  But that was the first and last since I came back for good in 2004.

I’ve had my fair share of bouncing back and forth to different stylists around Southern California, even Carlton Salon was one of them.  Salons like Carlton charge $50-65 for a haircut!!!  And what made me frustrated was that I was never 100% happy with them.  They were OK, good enough to get my by, and not bad enough to leave me crying in the chair.  I thought about looking for salons around my area, but I’m always skeptical of the trial and error process.  Who wants to gamble that at the price of a BAD HAIRCUT?  Eeeeek!  No thanks.

Although the 55+ mile drive from Los Angeles isn’t easy, the results I get from Mimi’s Salon always makes me feel like it was worth it.  Then maybe a lunch or dinner with my mom or cousins is the extra bonus.  $30 and 1/4 tank of gas is all you need, and maybe a 3-4 hour window for drive-time and TRAFFIC.

So if you’re ever in the Inland Empire, I highly recommend Mimi’s Salon for a great hair cut!

Posted in Beauty, Riverside | Leave a Comment »

The San Francisco [Half] Marathon

July 30, 2010 by GraceFace

This was the main attraction for the first half of the San Francisco Marathon.  Beautiful, isn’t it?

One of the best things about participating in a marathon is the health expo.  A lot of cool vendors come out and give out free stuff.  My friends and I love coming to expos and checking out what we can pocket for free….free pens, drinks, cliff bars, granola bars, raffles,   I just learned recently that it is better to sign up for future events at expos because they don’t charge you processing fees that they do online, and sometimes they have “$10-20 off” coupons.  Erin signed up for the San Jose Half Marathon, got $10 off, and a FREE T-shirt!  I was jealous.

We found the California Dreamin’ booth and found out that the series will end in February 2011.  With this series, if you complete any 3 events between San Francisco, Long Beach, and Huntington Beach, you get a special California medal AND a cool running jacket.  Before  I thought we still had 2 years to complete the series, but good thing these girls told us that the last race is Huntington Beach.  Michael and I were already signed up for the Bike Tour for Long Beach in October, but we upgraded our registration to the half marathon so we can get this series.  Heck, we were already doing San Francisco, so why not do the other 2?  We even got to try on the actual jacket and I must say, the jacket is NICE.  I can’t wait!  More runs to look forward to.  :)

This was Michael’s FIRST half marathon, EVER!!!  He started to train with my friends and I about 2-3 months ago.  At first, we was very against running, but my friends and I were very persistent in getting him to join.  I told him that I will bike with him if he runs with me.  It was a good compromise.  I’m glad he’s running now.  He thought his knees would give him too many problems after running, but surprisingly they are getting better and stronger.  He has to ice them from time to time and take aleve, but even I need icing and pills.

Through all the training we have done as a group, I learned that training and running is more than that, especially when you run with other people.    You get into talking and discussing interesting topics.  You really learn a lot during those runs.  I know I did!  Sometimes you get so engrossed in talking that you finish running before you finish talking about a subject.  From my own experience, I know I have gotten a lot closer to my friends JUST from running.  Exercising and bonding?!?  Who wouldn’t want that?

Overall, it was a nice first marathon for Michael.  The experience was GREAT!  Now, he is signed up for 3 more half marathons!  I’m telling you, it’s ADDICTING!

Waiting for the race to start always leave me anxious.  To see thousands of people up at 5:30 AM, dressed lightly with trash bags covering them is truly inspiring.  I overhear a lot of conversations while stretching and people are always amazed at how crazy they must be for getting out of bed SO early to RUN 13.1 miles in 60 degree weather.  I agree!  We are crazy!  But the accomplished feeling you get when you cross that finish line is definitely “worth the hurt.”  Trying to describe the feeling and experience doesn’t do justice.  You have to experience it yourself to know what we are talking about.

I love trying to recruit people to participate in events like this.  Now I know why my friends recruited me!  The registration fees add up, and it starts to get pricey, but eventually your priorities start to line up and you find yourself wanting to run more and spend money on that instead of blowing it on a drunken night in Los Angeles.

Running on the golden gate bridge wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be.  But I’m sure if you weren’t already warmed up from the first 5 miles, you would be freezing.  It was a little foggy, but not so much that I couldn’t see across the bridge.  It was just the tops of the bridge that were covered with thick fog.  The bridge felt like the longest part of the run.  I think it was about 2.5 miles back and forth?  It was pretty crowded and was hard to cut in and out through other runners.  On the run back to get off the bridge, I slowed down a little bit.  My GU was slowly wearing off and I didn’t have anymore to keep my going.  I was hoping to stock up on more GU packets at the turn of the bridge but they RAN OUT!  My friends and I were SO BUMMED.  The slower I ran, the colder I got.  My body was slowly running out of energy.  GU!  Must. Eat. GU!  Luckily Erin  had an extra one to spare, and I took that a mile after I got off the bridge.

After the bridge was nothing but rolling hills.  Oh boy it was tough.  I TRIED to push myself to run up some hills, but the burn was too much and I felt my heartbeat increase and body starting to overheat.  The good thing about uphills is that after the hill, there’s always a downhill.  I love to bolt down the hill to make up for the lost time I accumulated on the uphill.  Ahhhhhh!  I love it when gravity helps you out.  It helped a lot of have Erin, Creese, and Michael to push me.  “C’mon Grace, you can do it!  Take it easy, small steps, let’s go!”  I would try for a couple steps, then stop.  Haha.  Hey, I tried, right?

Ahhhh, mile 12!!!!  Almost there, but not quite.  Mile 12 ALWAYS kicks my ass.  Mile 11 I’m feeling some pains, and mile 12 is when it hits me most.  Mile 12 was a really steep hill, hence me bent over and catching my breath.  It’s like a weird psychological thing that my mind likes to torture me with.  I see mile 12 and think I am close and for some odd reason, it feels like the longest mile EVER!  Tony was telling us that the finish line was just over that hill.  No it wasn’t.  It was over the hill, curve to the left, go straight for a little longer, and THEN it was the finish line.  Haha.  Pain pain pain, from my hips down.  Oh mile 12, so bittersweet.

Annnnddddd….we finally crossed the finish line.  As soon as I stopped running, I felt so much pain in my hips, legs, and feet.  Ouch.  It still felt GREAT.  I beat all my other times and crossed the line at 2 hours, 48 minutes.  WOW!  PR baby!  I’m very happy with the time I got, especially with all the hills.  It wasn’t an easy course, but it didn’t feel like it was too much for me to handle.

Thank you, San Francisco for a very memorable run.  I definitely won’t forget how much fun I had running through “the city.”  And even though the medals looked rinkydink (hehe, I love that word), I’m still happy our tech shirts were very nice and our goodie bags are reusable!

Next up on deck is Long Beach in October.

July 25, 2010, San Francisco CA

Posted in Marathons, Running | 2 Comments »

Hello blog world!

July 30, 2010 by GraceFace

I’ve always been interested in starting a blog but I never came around to actually doing it.  Well here I am now, with my purchased domain name, and many stories to share.  I can’t wait!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »