Costume Change!

So I've been growing my hair out to have the Miley Cyrus "Wrecking Ball" look as of late.  The other day, I decided to have a costume change for Halloween.  I decided this when I realized that if I only walked around in panties and a wife beater, where the hell would I put my wallet, keys, and cell phone?  I know what everyone is thinking, but these items are not illegal drugs and I am not walking through a metal detector. 

It was brought to my attention that I should just go dressed as Jeremy Lin.  I made the horrible mistake of not being slutty last year and got a lot of shit from my friends for being the red telly tubby.  The costume was masterful and what a costume should be.  I had everything down to the T.  The only problem with it was that I went out with a bunch of slutty "insert anything."  Plus it also got really hot at certain points of the night.  So this year, I'm going to be a slutty Jeremy Lin.  I have no clue what that really entails, so I bought myself kids size Houston Rockets jerseys and shorts.  The jersey came yesterday and apparently a kid's XL is still a little too big for me.  I wanted it to be so tight that my ribs pop out.  The other problem I have with the JLin thing is that I might just be confused for an 80's basketball player or the John Stockton version of Jeremy Lin with the short shorts and the tight jersey.  #sluttyhalloweenproblems

Eating until Sleepless in Seattle

I travel quite a bit for work.  I don't get taken anywhere too exotic (although that will change fairly soon as I'm making some moves), but I don't complain because it's just basically a free wine and dine way of life for me.  I choose to eat at the best restaurants and order things I would never order if paying for meals on my own.  Double shot in the morning for breakfast at Starbucks?  Why not?  Appetizers during lunch and dinner?  Well of course...

Seattle was a little different though.  Before coming here, everyone who has been has only talked about what a great food city it is.  I love seafood, so naturally, I was excited for this.  Before arriving, the only impression I had on Seattle was Grey's Anatomy and that the days are always wet and gloomy.  I got here Sunday and had the entire day to myself to just enjoy and be a tourist.  The place reminded me so much of New York City, or at least downtown Seattle did.  I did all the touristy stuff, the Space Needle (I didn't go up because it was $26 to do so...I work in the 29th floor, so I've seen views before), Pier 70 (aka where the Real World: Seattle house was and where Stephen slaps Irene for calling him a homo and then throwing her stuffed animal down the water), Pike Place Market, I almost even almost went to a Seahawks game.  I figured I would just walk up to the stadium in the third quarter and offer a scalper $5. 

My first interaction with food in Seattle was on a warm sunny October afternoon walking down the pier (it was quite weird that it was a warm sunny October afternoon because I totally thought it would be cold, gloomy, and raining).  I found this cute little place called Anthony's and ordered a fried battered salmon and chips.  Delicious!  It was like eating chicken tenders, but fish!  Perfect paring while watching the Seahawks game on tv.

Eww...and yes, I'm aware that I'm brushing my teeth during this.

Dinner for day two was at Ivar's Acres of Clams, the original seafood house in Seattle as a sign says.  My boss and I had a bottle of wine for $20 and then shared some seafood cocktails before pretty much inhaling our clam chowder.  It was so good!  After taking what seemed to be an hour decided on what to eat, I chose to have the 14 oz lobster tail.  I'm retarded when it comes to weight and stuff, so I thought it was going to be small.  Either that or I thought that it would be like LA portions.  We don't really eat in LA because we're too busy trying to be skinny. I even finished some of my boss' mussels.  That dinner was a big mistake as it kept me up all night.  I was in a food coma and couldn't fall asleep because I was so stuffed!  I thought about going to the gym for a run just so i don't feel as heavy, but didn't have running sneakers and I was not about to join the Westin work out program.  $5 to rent sneakers and work out clothes is kind of disgusting.  #footfungus

Last night for dinner and apparently it's lunch today as well, we went to Metropolitan Grill for some fancy steak.  It was such an old school steakhouse.  The waiters had their vest and spoke of their steak like it was some form of art.  I didn't realize how big the portions were, either that or I was still full from last night's dinner.  I had half and had to make it to go.  I also couldn't decide so I figured surf and turf was the way to go.  Sidebar: I'm distracted at the moment right now because a woman is dictating text message on her iphone and she kind of sounds like a robot.  Suri understands your regular voice!  It was also a dinner with our partners for a fellowship program and by the end of the night, I think I offered to dog sit and play beach volleyball.  I'm not sure how that happened.

Today is my last day in Seattle.  I need to get back to LA and hit the gym HARD!

An offer on my dream home

Barbie's Dream Home.  Mine is similar, but not!

I found my dream home last Tuesday.  It was one of those that I knew was the one and I was willing to put my savings account at 0 for.  It's super cute and in the Hollywood Hills.  It has that mix of big city, yet feeling like you are in the middle of nowhere because you're so secluded.  It's funny that type of environment is my flavor considering I grew up in Manhattan.  Then again, I went to college in the Hamptons, so we totally saw it coming.  I always said the Hamptons was like the quieter half-sister of Manhattan.  It's the same demographic of people anyways. 

After we finished viewing the place, my realtors asked me what I thought, I pretty much just told them I had to have it.  Which is weird too because I normally don't have to have anything.  I just told my realtor to do whatever it took to give it to me.  Needless to say, it's been a stressful week.

Tuesday - saw my dream home!
Wednesday - threw in my offer.  Offers were be taken until 5pm on Thursday, seller had until Friday at 5pm to respond back to me on my offer. 
Thursday - seller decides to go through with an open house on Sunday to see if he can get more offers!
Friday - seller throws out a counter offer to all bidders and I have until Monday to decide what to do with the offer.  I consulted a relator friend and he gave me some valuable advice in that since the seller is only countering with $3K more, I most likely have the highest offer.
Saturday - called my realtor and told her I was sticking with my offer and not a dollar more.
Sunday - Open House
Monday - it's a waiting game at this point.  Fingers crossed as I will find out if I will be a home owner!!!

The Stalking of Mr. Levine

On a beautiful summer evening, I entered the Hollywood Bowl after being sick during the afternoon from some type of allergic reaction.  I'm not sure these days what they can be, turning 30 meant hitting a brick wall and being sick at any moment's notice.  My immune system is failing on me at my old age.

 I got to the Hollywood Bowl right as Kelly Clarkson took the stage.  I'm pretty good at knowing when the opening act tends to finish so I don't have to deal with them.  I was racing to my seat because I really wanted to make sure I was around when she did "Breakaway."  I love that song.  Not because it's a particularly great song, but that song always brings me to a wonderful memory of my teammates and I during pre-season in college.  Stephen, Marc, Sean, and I were driving up Montauk Highway heading back to the house from a visit to King Kullen to buy groceries or ice cream.  I can't remember what it was, but that's not the point.  A grocery store was involved.  We just had a really awful practice because well, the coach was a little crazy at that moment of his life.  As we were driving up, "Breakaway" came on and before you knew it, we were all belting out the song as loud as we could.  I think the best part was that neither of us had any clue that any of us knew all the words to the song.  We just looked at each other after and laughed.  It felt great, it felt comforting, it felt like brotherhood.  I always said the best memories from playing on a team aren't usually the games itself, it's everything outside of that.

Kelly Clarkson also brings back another fun memory at the Jones Beach Ampitheater.  Sam and I went to see Kelly that year, it was most likely 2006 and we met up with Stephen and his then girlfriend Jenna.  This was during Kelly's really famous "Since You've Been Gone" phase.  We met up at the parking lot and just started drinking beers.  For one reason or another, Sam decided that she was gonna get all agro and started smashing beer bottles.  Then her and Stephen started taking turn throwing and smashing beer bottles.  I'm not really sure how we didn't get escorted out of the venue, but that ended up being a kick-ass concert.

Kelly was great Sunday night, she sang great, she looked great, I mean, she's getting married.  You know who looked better though?  Adam Levine!  Maroon 5 just stood out there and performed all their song to the crowds amazement.  I looked around and noticed a good amount of parents and their tweenage kids.  That would make sense, I guess if you were a mom at 25 and was a KC or Maroon 5 fan, you and your kid can enjoy a concert going experience together.  What was funnier was that I think the mom behind me was screaming and crying more than her daughter when Adam came out.  That must have been embarrassing as all hell for the child.

So I know the goal was to stalk Adam Levine, but I was at his concert and a couple hundred feet away from him.  That's as good as it's gonna get as far as stalking is concerned for me.  I don't really have time or the energy to stalk.  I feel like that's like something only unemployed people can pull off...

October Goals

I am in no way supporting the new "Notes" look on iOS7.

September Recap

My Halloween Costume!

 Oh October 1st has arrived.  Baseball season is officially over.  Well, as a Mets fan, baseball season was officially over during spring training.  To think, they swept the Yankees.  Such promise wasted.  Now even as a Giants fan, I'm not going to have to wait until January to see their season end either.

This was not a good month for me in accomplishing goals which is sad since I was hoping to build on the momentum of last month.  Life just happens sometimes.  September was very busy on the traveling side.

Goal #1: I was not able to exercise 15 times this month.  I was only able to squeeze 10 days in.  Most of this is due to traveling and the rest is due to condo hunting and the world just getting dark faster.  However, what I find most impressive is that of the 10 days of exercise, three of them were done at a hotel gym.  One even being in Vegas.  I know, crazy, who really works out in Vegas...I still did meet 2/3 of my goal for this one and I've never been so happy to give myself partial credit (.67).

Goal #2: I couldn't get Boo to the bunny spa.  I called about making some appointments, but they are only open on weekends and Wednesdays.  You can see how this can be challenging for me.  I had every intention of bringing her this Wednesday since I have the day off, but that's Oct 2nd, so it's a moot point.  I will move this over to October goals. (ZERO)

Goal #3: This wasn't done, so clearly I don't really care about having friends come visit.  Or I just go out of my way to find a parking spot in the streets and let them park in mine.  It's so much better than driving to Van Nuys or going to the Parking Violations Bureau to pick up permits.  Trust me, there is nothing cute about sitting there.  You wonder where half of the people there crawl out of.  (ZERO)

Goal #4: Looking at condos are a tiring process.  I didn't only look at 1, I looked at 7 this past month.  With the exception of the first place, the other 6 were done in intervals of 3 within a 1 to 1.5 hour time period.  Driving all over LA like that is god awful, especially after work hours. (1.6).  Why the .6 you ask?  Extra credit of a tenth for each extra house I looked at.  After all, this was a major reason why I couldn't go to the gym after work to reach my first goal.

Goal #5: I totally had a speech I didn't need to use.  Awesome.  We all kind of were a little worried the best man would try to throw the mic at us. (1).

Goal #6: Got my hair done did.  Check. (1).

Goal #7: The first two are about crazy shit white people do to understand the world better and humble themselves.  Here's the thing, I didn't grow up living in poverty, but I don't need to take a trip to the slums of India to figure out things like that suck.  I just know it does and accept it... 
http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/south-african-family-trades-suburban-comforts-for-slums--stirring-controversy-183911585.html
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/panera-breads-ceo-tries-eat-153810950.html

This one is about Sino-Africian relations.  Essentially, Asians (specifically Chinese in this article) are just super racist! http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/08/on-being-african-in-china/279136/

This last one is just there because I geek out to higher education news.  http://articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/19/local/la-me-loyola-law-20130819

So I guess this goal is checked off. (1)

Goal #8: Giants are 0-4 and I didn't start bitched about it until October. (1)

Goal #9: There's so much tv to watch the DVR matrix wasn't help.  I can only record two shows at once and watch one live while doing it, so I will need to catch up on shows online as well.  Please don't judge me as I list off all the shows I watch. 

Monday: How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls, Mom, and Hostage
Tuesday: New Girl and Mindy Project
Wednesday: Criminal Minds, Agents of Shield, Trophy Wife, Modern Family
Thursday: Glee, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal
Friday: Drinking
Saturday: Drinking
Sunday: Revenge and Betrayal

Then we have the revolving summer/winter shows that come in from time to time: Suits, Covert Affairs, Drop Dead Diva, Devious Maids, Newsroom, American Horror Story, Breaking Bad (although, that's a moot point now). 

Yes, I'm aware I watch way too much tv. (1)

Goal #10: I'm totally gonna be wrecking ball Miley.  Not naked on a ball, but wife beater and white panties while licking a hammer (see reference above).  (1)

Final tall is 8.27/10 goals.  A step down, I guess I'll need to try harder in October...