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| We came prepared! |
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| My best friends on our first night in Vegas! |
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| Tao Beach |
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| My country partner in crime on our second night! |
Friday, August 26
Another Year Older..means VEGAS!
A year older and of course I must out-do my birthday every year. Last year I brought 20 of my closest friends and took a party bus to LA for a night out on the town. This year as I turned 23 we did it big and went to Vegas where nothing can go wrong.
As always, our Vegas called for hot, hot heat, bottle service, and the perfect outfits to go with our ridiculously fabulous heels ;) I had just bought my Jeffrey Campbell Litas so there was no way I was not going to rock them this past weekend! Until next time...xoxo
Friday, August 5
Talk about Neglect!
I feel so bad neglecting this baby I started way back in March. Work
became constant and the Shawna who use to have all the time in the world
to write in a blog, would be in bed by 10 pm to get up at 6:30 am for
work every morning! Wow, I never thought this day would come!
Anyways, let's see...what has happened exactly since the last post? Well my amazing boyfriend Philip went back home to Sweden which was incredibly hard the first couple days. He left on Wednesday as I took him to the airport where him and his other Swedish friend Jonathan decided to guess on which airlines it was. Luckily we had gotten there fairly early enough to where they wouldn't be late for their flight (which later on got delayed). On that Wednesday, they flew to New York for a couple days and then flew back to Sweden that coming Saturday. It's weird testing out this long distance relationship but I know in my heart that it's totally worth it for this guy.
Yes....I know it's super cheesy and you all may be thinking "Is this girl serious?," "She has no idea what she's talking about..." I know. But when you know, you know.
Since it is a 9 hour difference, our schedules, you'd think would contradict with each other, but it actually works out great. When I get up in the morning for work, he is getting off of work. When he's going to bed, I am getting off work. When he wakes up for work, it's about 8 o'clock here so I'm probably hanging around the house. It works PERFECTLY. We skype 2 or 3 times a day and started up a private blog to where we can write to each other when we can't video chat.
It
has just become a week now since I've seen him physically and it's
getting easier by the day. We have both already started planning when we
plan on visiting each other, but I'm really in high hopes that he
surprises me for my birthday here in the states in August!
Enough about my long distance relationship...all this talk and time spent on this left me NO time to go or even think about shopping! The last time I went to a mall or online shopped...I can't even remember the last time!
As much as a devastation this is, it also amazes me how much money I really am saving from not dropping the dollar bills every day on clothes and shoes and my all time favorite, accessories!
I don't know what is is, but I really feel like I am growing up. I don't know if it's because I'm in love, work all the time, or if I really AM growing up, but I feel like a new me. I no longer have the need to go out to bars and clubs, no longer love being single, no longer scared of commitment. This past year has been insanely busy and insanely amazing, and the year has just halfway begun!
Until next time, :) <3
Next Post: My Northern Californian Adventure Up the Coast!
Anyways, let's see...what has happened exactly since the last post? Well my amazing boyfriend Philip went back home to Sweden which was incredibly hard the first couple days. He left on Wednesday as I took him to the airport where him and his other Swedish friend Jonathan decided to guess on which airlines it was. Luckily we had gotten there fairly early enough to where they wouldn't be late for their flight (which later on got delayed). On that Wednesday, they flew to New York for a couple days and then flew back to Sweden that coming Saturday. It's weird testing out this long distance relationship but I know in my heart that it's totally worth it for this guy.
Yes....I know it's super cheesy and you all may be thinking "Is this girl serious?," "She has no idea what she's talking about..." I know. But when you know, you know.
Since it is a 9 hour difference, our schedules, you'd think would contradict with each other, but it actually works out great. When I get up in the morning for work, he is getting off of work. When he's going to bed, I am getting off work. When he wakes up for work, it's about 8 o'clock here so I'm probably hanging around the house. It works PERFECTLY. We skype 2 or 3 times a day and started up a private blog to where we can write to each other when we can't video chat.
It
has just become a week now since I've seen him physically and it's
getting easier by the day. We have both already started planning when we
plan on visiting each other, but I'm really in high hopes that he
surprises me for my birthday here in the states in August!Enough about my long distance relationship...all this talk and time spent on this left me NO time to go or even think about shopping! The last time I went to a mall or online shopped...I can't even remember the last time!
As much as a devastation this is, it also amazes me how much money I really am saving from not dropping the dollar bills every day on clothes and shoes and my all time favorite, accessories!
I don't know what is is, but I really feel like I am growing up. I don't know if it's because I'm in love, work all the time, or if I really AM growing up, but I feel like a new me. I no longer have the need to go out to bars and clubs, no longer love being single, no longer scared of commitment. This past year has been insanely busy and insanely amazing, and the year has just halfway begun!
Until next time, :) <3
Next Post: My Northern Californian Adventure Up the Coast!
Friday, July 29
My Northern Californian Adventure Up the Coast
Living in California for 22 years, I would have never expected to never had visited the biggest cities in California. Leave it to my foreign Swedish boyfriend to call me out of it too. Since Philip and our other Swedish friend Jonathan had a few weeks left in the States, they invited me to take a roadtrip up the coast to see California.
Me...a roadtrip? Never been on one but who wouldn't want to take a week off of reality and go site- seeing? Our first stop was Santa Barbara where my sorority big sis lived! We made a big rookie mistake by taking PCH up to Santa Barbara during the peak time for major LA traffic. Instead of a 3 hour trip to SB, which is the normal estimated time, we made it there in a little under 9 hours. 9 HOURS. My big sis took us out to a few bars in downtown SB which ended up being packed since it was Graduation week and families were pouring in from all over the U.S. In the morning we headed out to see Santa Barbara which happened to be a gloomy cold day but still nice to do a little site seeing.
Next stop, Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz was a sight to see. We went on the boardwalk and had to play some carnival games, eat ice cream and experience all that is the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. As we only had a week to travel, we had to keep our Santa Cruz trip short in order to make time for our biggest stop..San Francisco.
Next stop we made was Napa Valley. Of course, the one thing to do there is to go wine tasting, so Philip picked a vineyard and we headed to Hendry's Vineyard. Napa was extremely hot especially while the vineyard owner had us hike through in the blazing sun so he could show us the different grapes they were growing. On our way we stopped by my little sisters in Berkeley where they took us around the UC Berkeley campus and showed us around to some really really good hole in the wall establishments. Brazillian food! I've never had it before and let me tell you...after a long day of walking, my stomach surely grew up an appetite!
Last pit stop (for me at least) was San Francisco. It was FREEZING! I've always been a so-cal summer girl (emphasis on SO-CAL) so San Fran was not my cup of tea. It was crazy to see so many landmarks that you'd normally see in movies or on t.v. right in front of you. We did all the "tourist-y" things you possible do in SF like visit Alcatraz, go to Union Square, and of course hit Ghiradelli Square....That's where my trip ends. Back to work and back to reality, I flew back to Orange County a changed and more cultured woman. But seriously! I felt like I had just seen the world and definitely realized I've been missing out on so much.
My boyfriend and Jonathan went on to Yosemite and Grand Canyon for a few extra days before they drove back to Orange County. I must say, this trip was an eye-opening experience and one that tested my outfit choices ;)
Until next time...<3
Me...a roadtrip? Never been on one but who wouldn't want to take a week off of reality and go site- seeing? Our first stop was Santa Barbara where my sorority big sis lived! We made a big rookie mistake by taking PCH up to Santa Barbara during the peak time for major LA traffic. Instead of a 3 hour trip to SB, which is the normal estimated time, we made it there in a little under 9 hours. 9 HOURS. My big sis took us out to a few bars in downtown SB which ended up being packed since it was Graduation week and families were pouring in from all over the U.S. In the morning we headed out to see Santa Barbara which happened to be a gloomy cold day but still nice to do a little site seeing.
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| Santa Barbara Pier |
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| Santa Cruz |
Next stop we made was Napa Valley. Of course, the one thing to do there is to go wine tasting, so Philip picked a vineyard and we headed to Hendry's Vineyard. Napa was extremely hot especially while the vineyard owner had us hike through in the blazing sun so he could show us the different grapes they were growing. On our way we stopped by my little sisters in Berkeley where they took us around the UC Berkeley campus and showed us around to some really really good hole in the wall establishments. Brazillian food! I've never had it before and let me tell you...after a long day of walking, my stomach surely grew up an appetite!
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| Hendry's Vineyard in Napa Valley |
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| Berkeley with my little sisters |
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| San Francisco (it was FREEZING) |
My boyfriend and Jonathan went on to Yosemite and Grand Canyon for a few extra days before they drove back to Orange County. I must say, this trip was an eye-opening experience and one that tested my outfit choices ;)
Until next time...<3
Wednesday, July 13
The Cooking World
So a resolution for 2011 was to try to start cooking since I am and will
always be a terrible cook. On the other hand, my mom is the world's best chef
in the world. I promise I am not being bias just because we are blood related,
but because it is so incredibly true! If anyone knows me, they'd know the only
food I have ever been successful at not screwing up is a grilled cheese
sandwich and mac and cheese..from the box. So this will really be a test of my
womanhood.
If you didn't know already, I work at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine and got inspired to make these amazing short rib tacos. I work closely with our chef partner so he gave me a few pointers on recreating something that I could definitely not go wrong with. With the help of my kitchen-saavy mom, here's what we came up with:
Beef Short Ribs: 5 lbs
Garlic: 6 cloves
Soy Sauce: 1 cup
Seasame Oil: 2 Tablespoons
Sugar: 1 1/2 teaspoon
Brown Sugar: 3/4 cups plus 3 Tablesppons
Peeled Ginger: 1/2 inch
Rice Vinegar (I used White): 6 Tablespoons
Spices:
Red Pepper Flakes: 1 pinch (or however much spice you like)
Salt: 2 pinches
Carrots
Cucumber
Red Chili Peppers
Cilantro
I used tortillas, but what makes it more interesting is using deep fried taro as the shell.
First place peeled ginger and garlic into a food processor along with soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes and blend til mixed thoroughly.
Place short ribs into the crockpot and pour your mix over the short ribs. My family loves spicy foods so we chopped up red chili peppers that we grow ourselves in our backyard and add them into the crockpot. Next, turn on the crockpot and let it sit overnight for about 6-8 hours on low heat or until the meat is very tender and fall straight off the bone.
Let cool. Remove the excess fat over the top and use the leftover sauce at the bottom to use as a spread.
For your slaw, we used cucumbers and carrots and sliced them with a food peeler and mixed them in a mix of sugar, salt, red pepper flakes and vinegar and let it soak for a few hours. And there you go!
Let's just say my dad was our #1 fan as he always has been with my mom's cooking. He was quite surprised that I helped create an amazing dish (mostly my mom's doing). From now on, I'm sticking to a crockpot to cook everything...it does all the work for you (an my mom)!!
If you didn't know already, I work at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine and got inspired to make these amazing short rib tacos. I work closely with our chef partner so he gave me a few pointers on recreating something that I could definitely not go wrong with. With the help of my kitchen-saavy mom, here's what we came up with:
Beef Short Ribs: 5 lbs
Garlic: 6 cloves
Soy Sauce: 1 cup
Seasame Oil: 2 Tablespoons
Sugar: 1 1/2 teaspoon
Brown Sugar: 3/4 cups plus 3 Tablesppons
Peeled Ginger: 1/2 inch
Rice Vinegar (I used White): 6 Tablespoons
Spices:
Red Pepper Flakes: 1 pinch (or however much spice you like)
Salt: 2 pinches
Carrots
Cucumber
Red Chili Peppers
Cilantro
I used tortillas, but what makes it more interesting is using deep fried taro as the shell.
First place peeled ginger and garlic into a food processor along with soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes and blend til mixed thoroughly.
Place short ribs into the crockpot and pour your mix over the short ribs. My family loves spicy foods so we chopped up red chili peppers that we grow ourselves in our backyard and add them into the crockpot. Next, turn on the crockpot and let it sit overnight for about 6-8 hours on low heat or until the meat is very tender and fall straight off the bone.
Let cool. Remove the excess fat over the top and use the leftover sauce at the bottom to use as a spread.
For your slaw, we used cucumbers and carrots and sliced them with a food peeler and mixed them in a mix of sugar, salt, red pepper flakes and vinegar and let it soak for a few hours. And there you go!
Let's just say my dad was our #1 fan as he always has been with my mom's cooking. He was quite surprised that I helped create an amazing dish (mostly my mom's doing). From now on, I'm sticking to a crockpot to cook everything...it does all the work for you (an my mom)!!
Monday, March 21
from the land from down under...
While we're on the subject of weddings, let me take you back in time a couple months to November when my cousin Vi got married to her Australian hubby, Robin. Let me tell you, Australians can party. From Vegas to Orange County, this crew definitely came from the land down under.
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| the blushing bride |
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| the thunder from down under And when I say party, I mean non-stop party. We went from Vegas, to the wedding and reception and it didn't stop there. We trekked out to Main street in Huntington Beach where we hit Black Bull Chophouse and Vi and Robin hopped aboard the mechanical bull. |
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| looks like i'm getting married soon :)...first i need a boyfriend |
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| That's Robin's dad...dancing machine. |
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| that's Jason...dancing freak. |
I promise my next post will be about something more fun and exciting and not all wedding-y.
Sunday, March 20
march madness. wedding fever.
This past Saturday the 12th, my uncle Sonny got married to Lesley. Being the last one of 11 children to get married was a huge deal! Since Lesley is part Chinese, they decided to have a traditional Chinese tea ceremony which was quite new to all of us. Since my mom's side is Buddhist, wedding ceremonies usually consist of going over to the bride's parent's house and pretty much showering her with jewels and gifts and essentially giving their daughter away. The ceremony started at 10 am and lasted for a couple hours but then we had a huge gap of time til the reception which was scheduled for about 7 pm. Luckily for me, I had enough time to hit the mall to go shop for a dress since I'm the type of person who hates to "reuse" dresses if I already have pictures in them. Call it weird, but I can't help it!
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| the table. |
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| the cake. |
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| the decor. My favorite part of weddings has to be the reception. I don't know what it is about it, but I LOVE them. Everything about weddings excites me. Having four sisters makes me even more excited. Knowing that one day we will all get married, I know I'll have 4 weddings to look forward to in the future. With wedding talk overwhelming our "girl's only" table, we all were debating who's wedding would be the most fun and who's would be the most boring (we're mean like that), who would get married first, and what fun games and "shock and awe" things we would have at our weddings. What we can all take away from weddings is that love really is in the air <3  |
Thursday, February 10
Hello Blogging World!
I'm gonna keep this short and sweet. I am so excited to finally start my very own blog. I've been wanting to start one up for a really long time, but just never had the time to do so or have any ideas of exactly what to even write about. This will definitely be a challenge for me to find time to keep on top of this blog, but I know I can do it!
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