Life Coach Needed

I have pack-rat tendencies. I like to keep anything and everything that has some sort of meaning and can be revisited for the nostalgia. I suppose it's okay when they're little things that fit into shoeboxes like ticket stubs and cards and receipts (which are some of my favorites and two-fold: I can either admire the foreign address of the restaurant from a trip, or remember some of the meals and conversation had at that particular time), but I also have a collection of about 10 shoeboxes full of this stuff alone, and don't get me started on the rest. Going through my boxes I was finding a leopard purse from middle school (perfectly in tact! talk about memories!) and a folder from sixth grade, still decorated in pictures of cats and the US Women's Olympic gymnastics team who had just won team gold in Atlanta the year previous. So, I think I may have some excessive stuff.

When I was leaving New York, and needed to pack all the belongings that I had both brought and acquired during my years there into a much-smaller-than-originally-thought rental car, I had my friend Sri over to help me load up the car, and he became the resounding voice of reason in what I should be tossing and what was essential to bring. I really needed that additional voice (and that "I'm doing you a favor by telling you to throw that out" haha) but part of my willingness to listen at that point was also the rush to get things settled so I could hit the road already since I was driving all the way to Raleigh that day.

Still! It seems that I'm going to need a new life coach to whittle down my things at this point. But don't you think about some things later, or see them in pictures and think "whatever happened to that?" or "I wish I still had that!" or wish your grandmother had saved some of that stuff to show you later?? To be clear, I'm not a hoarder. Just a generally nostalgic person.

In other news, I'm sporting grandma's shoes today and walking on air and the rest of you should be jealous.

Aaaaaand yesterday I was able to put together the cat tree for Khaleesi. She seemed pretty interested and was crawling in/around it and it looks so cute for her.

I still may be more excited about it than she is but wutttttever.

Barbie Party

On Saturday I got an invite to a 3-year-old's birthday party. You might be thinking "well how fun could that be?" but I'll tell you, a Mexican 3-year-olds party is funner than yours. Pinatas, a DJ, dancing, a taco man, and my cousin Brianna's original homemade micheladas... recipe for success! It was Barbie-themed and they had made a Barbie box for a little photobooth and no one was climbing in... so me and my aunt christened it ourselves!

Then we all started jumping in! Here's me and Brianna on the right and her friend Tiffany on the left. Triplet Barbie!

In case you needed any more proof of just how darn classy I am, my newest favorite thing is shopping at Goodwill, thrift stores and antique stores. I would be at yard sales too if they were still around when I was waking up on the weekends, but they're usually cleared out of the good stuff by then. I'm not saying you won't find junk at Goodwill, but you can also find some AMAZING stuff and I love it! And considering I'm working on furnishing an entire one-bedroom, I loves it! So you'd think that since I found a drop-leaf kitchen table from an antique store plus decorative lighting, bathroom accessories and shoes yesterday, that that would be the major finds, but you would be wrong.

Visiting grandma yesterday, we discovered that we had the same shoe size, and then she disappeared into her bedroom and came out with a new pair of shoes that she had bought but found to be too uncomfortable, and gave them to me. And guess what? I love them! They're old people shoes, so I feel like I'm walking on air, and they're sandals around the toes with one strap around the ankle that is even velcro so I don't have to hassle with those annoying tiny buckles. That was the real score of the day! Del-Taco-Eatin'-Fashionista-At-Almost-97, that's my grandma! Stay tuned for pictures of those!

Oh and today my coworker brought me in her three-tiered cat tree! She had mentioned that her cat never uses it and brought it for me. So excited! I'm probably more excited about it than Khaleesi will be, now that I think of it.

BANGARANG

I am legitimately sad about Robin Williams. I know I'm not the only one, but it's still devastating. I mean, who didn't like Robin Williams? Was there ever any bad press? Did anyone ever say anything negative about him, ever? Aside from just being funny and entertaining, and loving him as the Genie, Peter Pan, and Mrs. Doubtfire (and thank God for that and inspiring Mrs. Featherbottom) I remember him really striking a chord with me in Dead Poet's Society. I was in middle school when I first watched it, and I remember being so surprised that he wasn't being funny... but he was still so inspiring and great, and I can remember even then thinking that he was such a good actor. He reminded me of my own very inspiring teacher, so I think I connected with that.

In high school a friend showed me Robin Williams' Live on Broadway DVD, and I went out and bought it myself after that, I loved it. And it's weird because I recently watched him in an episode of Louie, and I was just on his Wikipedia page last week (no joke!) and saw that he even went to college in Claremont, just 10 minutes away from Riverside, which only confirms his status in my eyes.

I really am sad. I am basically fully-functional, but I don't feel right laughing - I can't read The Onion or look at WhatShouldWeCallMe today. I think it's the suicide part that makes it unbearable. I wish he would have called me!

Bangarang, Peter!

Grandma Dorothea

My grandmother was 4th born out of 12 children to strict German parents. My grandmother grew up on a farm, suffering through midwest winters in Michigan. My grandmother eloped with my grandfather and went back to the house she was nannying at after the wedding. My grandmother raised 8 kids between Michigan and California and worked on space shuttles. My grandmother gave birth to my mother at age 45. My grandmother got her first passport and went to Mexico at age 95. But her greatest achievement to date, I think, is downing some Del Taco at age 96.

I have never been more proud to have her genes.

There is a great life ahead, knowing I have 68+ years of Del Taco to look forward to, if I am anything like her.

#B*TCHESLOVEFREEBOOZE

I was starting to forget that any pictures ever existed because our self-designated photographer with all the pictures never bothered to post them! Welp, just shy of 2 months and they have surfaced! There are no real appropriate stories I can share with them really, so feel free to just enjoy the view!

Time to relive the magic...

On our way to be poolside all dayside

Hanging out in the pool during the day

"Lounging" (?) on our inflatable raft

Dinner on the first night before heading out. It was windy.

Some random guy who liked pictures

I think I'm auditioning for a shampoo commercial>>

I think I'm excited for the bachelorette

I have no idea but the bachelorette clearly supports us

L: My BFF Mel, C: Shannon taking all the attention R: Me, trying to steal aforementioned attention

After the club on the second night, waiting for our taxi home

It was such a fun group who was present for the bridal shower, bachelorette party, and then the wedding

I need another friend to get engaged! Or maybe just a group of people willing to go out to Palm Springs again sometime soon!

Cat Furniture!

Et voilà! The crafter in me has a completed a project! When I was in New York City, one of my friends showed me how he had created a litter box home for his cat by using a dresser that he essentially hollowed-out and cut a hole in. The point is that both the site and the smell of the litter box is hidden, but the cat still has easy accessibility and your home just looks furnished normally. I thought he was a cat-owning GENIUS although when I told some people about this they all seemed aware it was a thing, although these pre-made ones go for extremely expensive online and in-stores. So I had been keeping an eye out for a piece I could use for that and finally found one at that huge yard sale I helped out with at the end of May.


Thus began the journey to converting it for Khaleesi.

First I sanded down the entire piece and stripped the layer of lacquer from the top

Jim helped me cut a hole in the side, where Khaleesi can enter through

I tested the two colors I had gotten from Home Depot: A muted gray and a Tiffany blue

I filled a lot of the nicks and holes on the surface with wood putty

I cut apart a wooden picture frame (which may have been the most strenuous part of the entire ordeal) to fit over the top of the hole to give it a more finished look

Side view

The painting was my favorite part, but it was looooong. The bottom and inside was all to be the Tiffany-blue

The outside gray, and I changed out the knob

Finished product...?

In the end, I didn't like the look of the Tiffany blue in that large scale. It looked sky-blue to me and just not fitting for my little Khaleesi for some reason. So I went and bought more paint and re-did the inside in this "Lavender Wash" shade

Plus that new crystal handle

Finished product!

Now I want to fix up moreeeeee things!

Paging Dr. Wong

I don't really have any memories of a consistent doctor, or a family doctor, or someone who had all my records. Trying to get my medical history is like those metaphors for rumors: when someone throws a handful of feathers into the wind and then you have to go and try to collect all the feathers. I also have never really found a single hairdresser or nail stylist or anything, which is odd because I'm generally very loyal to my brands and affiliations, but there it is.

When I got my first job with benefits in San Diego, I wanted to find a doctor that I would actually like, and thanks to Yelp of all things, I hit the jackpot on my first try. Becky Winn had an office in walking distance from my apartment in Hillcrest and I LOVED her. I actually fainted once in the office after she and I were done and she came rushing back and sat with me until I felt better, distracting me with stories about visiting her family in Vietnam or getting food poisoning in Indonesia on her honeymoon. I loved Becky Winn. I used to tell Pam and Priya and Palak that if we needed another roommate, I wanted Becky Winn to come live with us! I was always sad to have to leave Becky Winn when I left San Diego, and the goal was always to find another doctor as good as her.

Well, I think I may have found Becky Winn's match here in Riverside! And this is such a relief after the slough of DISASTERS in New York City, and yes, they were DISASTERS. But now that I have Dr. Jenny Wong I can live free again!! Jenny Wong is amazing, also with a convenient office location, and she even has a ring like mine. My gift to myself for my 28th birthday was a Tiffany's ring from their sterling silver Atlas collection, and I bought it from the Tiffany's in Bellagio on the Las Vegas strip. I wanted the ring for a myriad of things that it represented to me, and Pam and Priya were also very enamored with it when they saw it, so much so they considered getting it for themselves too, and I tried to convince them to buy one for themselves and they could be our sister rings! But in the end they didn't. BUT - leave it to my new BFF Dr. Jenny Wong to point out that we had similar rings. Where my ring is cut-out silver, her is a thicker band of solid silver with the Atlas design engraved and then bands of diamonds encircling both edges. In short, she has the bling-bling upgrade of my exact ring, which only further confirms that she and I are soul sisters, and the rest of my appointment confirmed that she is my new favorite doctor and I am so happy to have found her!

I had taken off work to see the doctor but was still meeting Marisa after work for yoga, so I had some time to kill. I happened to be right by the shooting range, where my mom and Jim were, so I met up with them and got in for free for some more archery training. I was able to take the finger guard off and try shooting without it, which wasn't too bad.

I didn't get as many bullseyes, but then again I was in heels. Hey, the Zombie Apocalypse can happen at ANY TIME. Even between the hours of 8a-5p, Monday through Friday. So whose better prepared now?