chills!

July 15th better hurry up!

home improvement... the 2011 edition

BEFORE: Sad, pathetic back wall being held up by either a) my neighbor's tree or b) the pony shed ... depending on which way the wind was blowing.

AFTER: New gray (to match my house) cinder-block, reinforced wall that my neighbor kindly handled all the details of building. I love just having to say: "Yes, we DO need a new wall" and "Who do I write the check to?" :) Added bonus: They had to pull the pony shed down to dig the foundation for the wall.  Woot!

PS: This was actually done back in March, but I'm a little behind on posts and photo taking.

read and be happy...

...then be cautiously optimistic till Tuesday ;)

Kings power up to tie series with Sharks

peep-tacular art

In honor of Easter next weekend, and everyone's favorite Easter treats, enjoy The Washington Post's annual "Peeps Show" Diorama Contest. The Chilean Miner Peeps rescue won, but my faves are #29, The Muppeep Show, and #31, "Peep Hoarders" :) Thanks to James Utt for sending the link!

damn you delicious grilled cheese!!

So yesterday, in honor of National Grilled Cheese Month, there was Grilled Cheese Cook-off in my kitchen. It destroyed my possibly achieving my 3-month Wii Fit goal that is due tomorrow. I now have 3.2 pounds to lose instead of the 1 pound I had left as of Saturday morning. (So my deadline may get pushed back to this coming Saturday, with two more trips to Runyon, plus Pilates, in between, but I digress...)

What made me gain 2.2 pounds you ask? Well, other than too much delicious Taco Dip, it was yummy recipes like this one for "Sophisticated Grilled Cheese" and other yummy concoctions including roasted garlic and truffle cheese; bacon, gruyere (I think) and loganberry preserves; caramelized onion and cheddar... ooh all washed down with freshly-squeezed margaritas.

Yep. I knew that damn grilled cheese would do me in. Oh well. At least it was delicious! :)

let the playoffs begin!

So my LA Kings made the playoffs (barely). By losing their last two games to the Sucky Ducks of Anaheim, they dropped from a potential 4th place finish with home ice advantage to 7th place, which was only thanks to Detroit beating Chicago and saving them from a sure first-round death against Vancouver, the #1 team in the NHL this season. No Anze Kopitar and no Justin Williams has meant practically no goals the last two weeks :( That won't bode well against San Jose, who has the #2 power play in the league. Let's hope the Kings' #4 penalty killing unit can shut them down and our little 12-year-old-looking goalie Jonathan Quick becomes a brick wall. I'm not deluding myself into thinking we'll make it out of the first round. Everything points to bad news. But the Kings have proven lots of people wrong before. Remember 1993... Game 7 vs. Toronto...



I believe (for now ;)

Plus, the good part of not having home ice advantage is our first home game isn't till next week. Which means I get to take my baby brother to a game for his bday. Yay :)

long time, no type

It's been two months since I've been on here. It's been a rough two months. My workplace has been torpedoed and my professional support systems removed one by painful one since December. Been doing a lot of thinking... and pouting... and thinking. The last week finally started to feel normal there somewhat... a new normal, I guess. I was actually busy for the first time in a long time. But still thinking. However, I don't want to dwell on that here. This blog is supposed to be my outlet from that, to focus on entertaining nonsense that means nothing in the grand scheme of things but still makes me smile. So, in keeping with that, here are some of the few bright spots of the last two months...

I discovered an amazing singer a lot of people cooler than I probably already know about... the awesome Adele. I bought her CD "21" on iTunes in March and have been listening to it non-stop at home as I cook and garden (yes, I've been cooking and am welcoming spring so I can get back to my beloved yard work ;) Here's her current video "Rolling in the Deep" -- amazing! (Have I said that already?)




Since January 12th, I've been sticking to my "Get Healthy" goal, and have been working out on my Wii Fit 4-5 days per week. I've also being eating healthier food (lots of salad, lean cuisine and yogurt) and less of it, with just one cheat day per week. I've lost 11 pounds and have four more to go by April 12th to hit my first 3-month goal on the Wii so my little animated Wii Balance Board won't yell at me :p Last week, I decided it's crunch time and I needed to kick it up a notch, so I went back to Runyon Canyon for the first time in more than a year, since my knee problems. I finished the stair-side loop in one hour exactly...just in time to save my car from the "No parking after sundown" ticket in the Mulholland Parking lot.

Finally, my LA Kings have been playing awesome, despite losing our top two leading scorers six days apart last week. They are one game away from securing a playoff spot. They could have secured it today had the Sucky Ducks of Anaheim beaten the Stars, but alas, the Sucky Ducks of Anaheim never do anything Kings fans want them to do. So now we wait till tomorrow night for a hopeful win against the Sharks (eek).
The Kings' magic number remains at two - latimes.com

That's all for now... I'll try to be back here before June ;)