While I was away...

...THIS happened.

Any free time that I had to spare outside of school and work to focus on writing something for this was dedicated to planning my wedding.

Let me be the first to tell you that planning a wedding from far away ("far away" and is I live in Northern California and my wedding was to be in Southern California) was no easy feat. I had to rely heavily on the help of my mother and some bridesmaid to help me get things done from far away. All that work over the course of months for a six hour party at times wasn't worth it -- especially when you add in the unnecessary drama -- but it sure was a lot of fun. Now, I'm just settling into life as a wife and a grown ass woman; although since it's still fairly fresh it's weird to think about.

I have many posts that I've saved over the months that aren't either fully completed or just plain uploaded, so I hope to get those uploaded sometime soon.

Now, if I could only get those thank you notes/card to write and mail themselves out....

Dear Daphne Oz,

Your latest literary venture: "Relish: An Adventure in Food, Style and Everyday Fun" is going to be my new life bible. I've only just finished an extended skimming of it (you know, where you read some tid-bits here and there instead of page flipping), but I have a feeling that I'm gonna be all over it.

Much Thanks in Advance,

Stephanie.


Okay, so now that I've written my quick letter of gratitude to Ms. Oz, I can give you all an explanation as to why I feel this way.

Hopefully, you've heard of Daphne Oz. If not, I'm sure you HAVE to at least have heard of her dad (Dr. Oz, anyone?). I first came across her beautiful face one afternoon when I was visiting my parents and my mom happened to turn on the Daytime-TV talk show "The Chew" -- a personal favorite of hers that she'd mentioned to me several times before. Upon, watching this show for the first time, I knew I wanted to watch it whenever I could. The only setback to that is that it's on weekdays at 12 noon, so I tend to be at work/school on those days; BUT, on my days off, you can bet your balls I watch it! The show is just full of all kinds of advice young people like me need! I think what makes the show even better are their mutil-background collection of hosts. First, there's Clinton Kelly (of "What Not to Wear" fame) and he gives fashion tips, home craft ideas ("Clinton's Craft Corner) AND delicious looking and sounding recipes - all these options also tend to be aimed at getting that "bang for your buck" that we all want (as do the rest of the co-hosts). Then there are professional chefs Michael Symon & Mario Batali (of Food Network fame) and Carla Hall (of Top Chef fame) along with Daphne Oz. They all on the daily contribute some tasty new dish, on the cheap and healthy side. For example, as I'm writing this I'm watching yesterday's (Thursday, 4/25) installment of the show and Clinton just whipped up some delicious "Chicken & Shrimp Dumplings" at a cost of $0.50 per serving! Either way, it's a well-rounded show with all kinds of tips and tricks that I'm all over. It's kind of like a TV form of pinterest.

Anyways, back to the book I'm kinda sorta already in love with. Upon glancing through it, there's all kinds of healthy recipes that vary from the vegetarian variety ("Grilled Vegan Ceasar Salad"), delicious breakfast-fare ("Banana Pecan Buttermilk Pancakes") to delicious desserts ("Chocolate Fudge Pops"). So, my soon-to-be husband can expect all kinds of tasty treats in the upcoming weeks! She also gives several fashion and beauty tips from what I glanced at and quickly read and gathered. She definitely aims the book as us gals (and gents I guess) who would like to live a healthier and fulfilling lifestyle, but neither have the time or cash most of the time to do it.

I think one of my favorite chapters of the book is going to be the one that covers quick crafts and decorating tips. Since, I'm getting married in the fall, those are definitely gonna come in handy when it comes to officially setting up our new home together. I mean we already live together, but our house/apartment is gonna need some sprucing so when people come in they get that sense of "a-young-and-stylish-married-couple-lives-here" style instead of the "we're-young-and-still-finding-our-style-and-footing" style I'm sure that it currently gives off when people come to visit us. In her book, Daphne talks about getting to know the lighting of your house and how you can use this newfound knowledge of your home's lighting to decorate. She also has a tutorial on how to arrange flowers. I know some people are naturally talented at arranging flowers, but if you're me, you want to make sure your flowers and perfectly and beautifully arranged, which means, this tutorial will definitely come in handy.

Lastly, I love the personal pictures she has scattered throughout the book. The few pictures of her wedding that are included are very sweet and just gave me the feeling that she didn't just write this book to preach, but she also lives by the words in her book.

Overall, even though I haven't read this book in it's entirety, I would already recommend it to all you young gals out there!

P.S. - If any of you gals out there are going/still in college I would check out her other book: "The Dorm Room Diet" If I would've known that sucker existed when I was college, you can bet your balls I would've been all over it. And if judging by "Relish" and the reviews of the aforementioned "Dorm Room Diet" it's definitely a book to read! Especially with the fast-track life of a college student.

This is me.... (Part II)

...living THE life. Just another Friday night, thinking about how not awesome my life is. And by "not awesome" I mean I'm not where I wanted to be/thought I would be. But oh well gonna take my fresh new blunt to the movies.

I'm cool. Definitely gonna have some stories for the kids....

This is me....

...living the life right now.

Mainly it's just been a loong day and it's doubling as a celebratory bowl since I know I aced BOTH of my tests in my accounting classes today.

Ah, to be living the life of a quasi-adult with no REAL job responsibilities. Trust me, it's not all it's cracked out to be BUT like I've always said it's important to keep it recreational (as I've always had).
Here's to better things to come in the future!! (I'm toasting you guys with that bottle of Cab, btw).

Only in America.

Now, before anybody tries to sass me about the post title, when I say "America" I mean the US. America just had a better ring to it.

To the point of the post:

The United States is the so-called "melting pot" and every now and then the proof of it slaps me in the face. Because honestly, where else but in the US can a Guatemalan-American share a fat blunt with her awesome Iraqi-immigrant co-worker?!? I ask you: WHERE?!?!

Probably not top many places, eh...? Well, that's exactly what happened last week. ALWAYS and ONLY after work, he and I hotbox a car and just chill and have nice chats. You might find it odd that we hang out like that because its no secret that's he's a married almost father of four (the last one is still in the oven). That fact makes many forget that he's only 29 so, when you throw that in, it's easier to understand why we get along so well. Anyhow, last week, I needed a ride home and he was kind enough to help a sista out (turns out he doesn't live all that far from me either) and we smoke a blunt on the way home. He's a super cool and chill guy and, as per usual, had me laughing the entire ride home. My favorite is when he talks about his friends/acquaintances because they're all "motherfucker assholes;" while that's not generally funny, the way it sounds with his Arabic accent is quite hilarious. Kinda stoked that I have a new smoking buddy (and a new friend in general) since I don't have many of those here in Sac that aren't by association with the fiancé.

Point of the story? Weed + American + Iraqi + hot boxing = only in America.

The Naughty Corner

This is probably one of the most random thoughts I've ever had in a long while, but you (and I mean me) have to enjoy the random thoughts and epiphanies I have at work. These thoughts have lead to us selecting our wedding date and other ideas and plans for it, as well as dinner ideas; not to mention they've lead to some creative, yet delicious sushi rolls.

Anyhow, I was thinking the other day how fiancé and I have a spot in the house which I have deemed "The F**k Corner." What is this aforementioned corner you say? Well, it's the place in the house where we always seem to bang (outside of the bedroom) and get all kinds of creative with. Now I won't identify where in our apartment the corner is in case any people who know me/come over to my place read this. We tend to be traditional for the most part, but, every now and then, we just don't make to the bed/bedroom floor and this tends to be our go to spot. We had a similar thing like this in our old place, but instead of a corner it was a more like a spot where fun times would go down.

Point of the story? This corner has resulted in many a good time in the short three months we've lived there and who knows the corner might be abandoned for a different spot in our little love nest. We definitely play a game of favorites...

Updates on Life: Lack of Internet Leads to a Lack of Posts

It's been about 6 months (I'm guessing) since I last showed signs of life on here. In that time span I've been working like a beast, going to school, moved out of one place and into another and not to mention planning a wedding as well. I think the biggest contribution to my lack of post is not having regular internet access since mid-October.

At my old place, when fiancé and I still had a roommate, our internet started acting up for no reason so we couldn't really use it. I had to go all the way to Starbucks to mooch their free interwebs and even then I only had time to do homework. Now in our new place, fiancé and I are too cheap to get internet- granted we both have smartphones so we're not completely cut off. I do have the mobile app for my blog, but I don't like using it since there "keyboard" on a phone is WAAAYYY too small. Anywhoo, I will now have regular internet access thanks to the local library being right across the street and they have Wi-Fi. PRAISE ALLAH AND ALL THOSE OTHER DEITIES!

Now, onto updates as to where I will be going from here on out:

1. I'm still in school so there rants about frustation, too much reading, figuring out what's next is to be expected.

2. I still plan on doing those book/movie reviews I talked about once upon a time and have lots of those planned so an onslaught of those should also be expected in the upcoming weeks.

3. I still love eating and cooking/baking anything I can so I expect to get more entries with recipes for things I've made or things I've eaten and found delightfully delicious.

4. As I've mentioned before, I'm planning a wedding so I'll post some sneak peeks to somethings. I've seen girls that post EVERYTHING about it on specialized wedding blogs, but I feel that takes away the surprise of it all (especially is all of your friends are reading those posts).

5. Life happens. That should be self-explanatory.

Lastly, the actual update part: Fiancé and I have our own place now and I love it. We can bone anywhere we want without worrying if our roommate is gonna walk in on us (except the couch- that shit is brand new and I'm not trying to defile it especially since I haven't gotten around to buying Scotch guard for it). I feel like I'm actually finally becoming a resident of the city I live in since I'm starting to know where stuff is - not just the basic things. I still miss home terribly but I do try to go back as often as I can. Braces fucking suck. I don't understand how all the kids in middle school had them. It especially sucks right now because I can't have beer. Pliny the Younger 2013 is happening though. Weight loss is happening and I'm excited about it; I have a wedding to look good for. Definitely been charging through the books, so I have lots of material to write about. Movies: I feel like I live at the theater so that's something to be excited about as well.

Well, that's it for now. Until next time...