F·R·I·E·N·D·S Recaps Coming Soon.

A couple of years ago, I decided that I wanted to watch the entire "Friends" series from beginning to end. Back in the day when it was originally in, I didn't get into the game until it went into syndication — this was about the time that Ross was saying Rachel instead of Emily. I'd pretty much seen all the episodes at least two to three times, but that doesn't mean that I didn't forget the existence of an episode and have it be hilarious all over again, not to say that all the episodes aren't still either funny or sad still. One thing that should be mentioned is that my husband loves the show and had all the seasons, which is why I thought I'd give it a go. Also, 25 minute episodes isn't too much of a time commitment, I could at least get one watched everyday OR maybe 6-8 episodes on a day off.

I eventually popped in that first DVD of the first season and let the laughter begin. Imagine my surprise when I get towards the second half of the second season and the disc starts to skip right around the time Ross and Rachel are finally getting together, let alone finding that the disc with the last episodes of that season is missing! I missed all of Monica and Richard!! (This is new because of the titles of the episodes on the case within the case of the second season. Same thing happened in season 4: Disc 4 was missing but there were two copies of Disc 3 -- LIKE WHY!? Season 5 and 6 which are the definitely the best IMO was smooth sailing, then season 7, the disc with the first episodes is gone. Season 8 and 9 were okay, couple of episodes were skipping here and there. Lots of skipping in season 10 and then the last 3 episodes weren't even there, because why you might ask? Oh, that's right, the disc was missing! I think it's safe to say that my husband isn't be best keeper of DVDs -- I mean I shouldn't have been surprised considering how well he takes care of his CD's 0____0

So, I'm sure you can see that I have no closure with the show and feel like I missed some great stuff because I had to skip entire discs because they were either missing or too scratched to play some or all of the episodes they contained. I'm sure you could also guess how excited I was to learn last year that Netflix was going to start streaming THE WHOLE SERIES. I was like "YES! I CAN NOW WATCH THE MISSING EPISODES!" Now that it's April, I've seen some of them, but it's not the same, so I think I'm going to give it a go and try to go through the whole thing again. Along with watching it again, I think I'll do some sort of recap of them as well. I remember during my first go through, I'd be watching an episode and would have commentary but no one to say it to. It ranged from observations of what had changed in the sets episode to episode, a character being crazy and stupid, and well, whether they were all pivoting that couch correctly. I plan on doing the same thing I tried doing a few years ago. I'll  use my husband's DVD's yo watch the episodes I can and then switch to Netflix to fill in the blank spaces -- or more like to make up for the fucked up DVDs. I'm going to try and mainly stick to the DVD's because some of the episodes I've seen on Netflix are edited and missing some of the jokes which I read is because Netflix has the episodes as they "originially aired" backed in the day. I mean, who cares? I want all the laughs. I know I've seen those full episodes during re-runs, so I'm used to them. I will be sure to let you know when I watch a Netflix episode in case anyone is following along with me.

I'm excited that I'll be able to do that. Maybe I can try and solve the mystery as to whether Ross and Rachel were really on a break -- not that you couldn't probably find countless debates about that online already but I'll throw my two cents in anyways.

Recap and Highlights on my Wedding.

Now, if you will recall I attributed a long absence from this blog to planning a wedding -- the second one however, I'm still working on it.

I just want to take this moment to say: THANK GOODNESS THAT'S ALL OVER AND DONE WITH. To be honest, I would never wish planning a wedding upon anyone. Yeah, some will say it's easy and stress free and I would totally agree! Although I'm sure over half of the people who say that probably don't have a budget to stick to. My husband and I were smooth sailing for the most part, that is until his mom decided to do a little too much. I won't get into specifics but I felt that she was voicing her opinions on things that she shouldn't have even had a say in. BUT it the long run, we had the most perfect wedding anyone can ask for. We both were just so happy to have our nearest and dearest there to celebrate with us. I, of course, was most excited about wearing orange shoes and having orange flowers -- and getting married of course.

We (as in my mother and I) were both also very excited because we got to see all that careful planning of an entire year pay off and come to life. I also have to thank my sister and mother for all that they helped with. My mother for holding down the fort and helping me do things (since I don't live where our wedding went down) and being my eyes from afar. My sister for giving me ideas and for taking all the random ideas I had and helping to make them into one concrete idea. It was a very hands on wedding, lots of DYI in order to stay in budget.

One piece of advice I will give you is that you should totally go for it and get a videographer. My brother and sister-in-law didn't have one, and upon seeing our completed video, they both said it would've been kinda nice to have one. I don't know why a lot of people on the internet and by word of mouth advise people against it. Most of my wedding day was a big blur to me. It just went by so fast and so much was happening that I didn't really have a chance to take it 100% in as I would've been able to had I been a guest. Getting our video helped us remember so much that we'd both already forgotten and be able to see things as our guest saw it. We're absolutely happy we spent the extra money for it! If you're lucky enough find someone that will do both the photo and video for your wedding. We got lucky because someone I went to middle school with actually worked with his dad doing photo and video for Quinces, Weddings, and other events. I always vote for the small family business in that sense! I also say we got lucky because since he and I already knew each other we didn't have to go through that awkward first meeting or anything and were just able to get into the details of what we were looking for.

Without further ado, here is a condensed look at our wedding as well the amazing work that our videographer did as well. Such a beautiful treasure for us! Enjoy!



Chris + Stephanie Wedding Highlights from BRG Photo & Video on Vimeo.

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...

Film Fanatic Friday: Gone with the Wind

I don't know if many of you have heard of it but, for the past year or so, the movie theater company Cinemark has been doing this seasonal special which they've dubbed the "Classic Movie Series." The premise is that they run a series of about 5 to 7 films, all considered classics, playing a different one every week until they've gone through their selected film list. I think the best part of it all is that the films are completely remastered. Not remastered in the way Disney remastered and inadvertently ended up bastardizing it's Blu-ray version of "Sleeping Beauty" (quick sidebar: I only know it's ruined because they were playing it in the Disney store at the mall a few years ago and the voices were completely different and it just looked WAY different; Now, back to the story), but remastered in the sense that they've restored the film to the glory of from when it was first released and it's clearer and the sound is immaculate.

Doesn't make any sense? Well, for example, during the summer the series during that time included the films: A Clockwork Orange, Cabaret, North by Northwest, Citizen Kane and Cool Hand Luke -- which I'm bummed I wasn't able to make -- amongst others. Now, this isn't the same as Fathom's "One Night Only" movie classic events, but something special the theater chain has decided to do and I find it an amazing idea! To go off topic for a little bit in relation to Fathom's movie classic events: My fiancé and I went to their 70th anniversary special screening of "Casablanca" -- a film that I'd always wanted to see but would always find it halfway through on the channel TCM (Turner Classic Movies). When I saw that they were advertising this in the theaters I told my other half that we had to go and I was surprised how on board he was with the idea. I should mention that we're both big movie buff and it's his goal in life to see as many film as he can on AFI's List of "100 Greatest Movies" List. I'm not as in a rush and that's mainly due to the fact that I've seen nearly half of the films on the list, which is about 12 more films that he has -- and Casablanca happens to be #3 on that list so he wasn't about to miss the opportunity to see it. Long story, we both loved it, it was unexpectedly funny, dramatic in all the right ways and just a wonderful testament to the brilliant film making of the past. Back to the film at hand...

Seeing Casablanca in theaters this past Spring is what made me yearn to go see "Gone With the Wind" when I saw that they were going to be playing in theaters for the classic series, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to go see this film that I quite thoroughly love but at the same time I don't and that's due to the film's main character, the infamous Scarlett O'Hara, not to mention that the film has a running time of nearly FOUR hours. While fiancé ended up not going due to attending a baseball playoff game, I went with one of my best friends and we had ourselves a little date night (as we often did in college).After buying our tickets, and finding our interpretation of the best seats in the huge theater, we sat back to enjoy a timeless classic.

Four hours later, I'd seriously just had my  mind blown. Seeing the film on the big screen was such an amazing experience. Like I told my mom the next day, seeing the movie every time after that night is going to be a such letdown. I think what I enjoyed the most was the viewing experience. They didn't skimp out on making sure we got to see it the way it was intended to be viewed. The opening overture, the intermission music and at the very end more music (kinda makes you wonder if all movies had opening overtures and closing numbers back in the day). It didn't seem like we sat there in the theater for four hours watching it.

One of the main differences this time is that I didn't utterly and completely hate Scarlet O'Hara at the end of it all. This go around, I finally put my psychology degree to work on the film without trying to. I kinda had some sympathy for her during this viewing. Every other time I couldn't understand why she was so selfish and  a raving bitch, but this time I felt no such hatred for her. I came to understand that she was so driven to be the best of the best mainly for the fact that she and her family really hit rock bottom during the Civil War and she was only trying to restore them to their pre-war glory and lead the very privileged life she once lead. I know a main focal point of the film is her obsession with Ashley Wilkes, after this viewing I felt some of outcome of the film's end wasn't entirely all of Scarlett's doing. She held onto Ashley (a reminder of all the good her life was before the Civil War) and he also lead her on heavily; he went on and on about being bound to his wife, Melanie. I think after many years of nothing but neutrality towards him, I like him a little bit less now. Rhett, I think his character only gets better and better for me every time. His passion for life always shines through, and each and every time I watch the movie  I only notice more how much he loves Scarlett and only wants her to say so. I think what breaks my heart every time is that the scene where Rhett returns from Paris with Bonnie and how you see how happy Scarlett is to have the both back but since he comes off a bit indifferent she doesn't say anything. So many missed opportunities there.

In the end, this movie is definitely one of my favorites and it'll probably be another three years or so until I see again (I mean, it is a 4 hour long movie which requires a whole day off to watch it comfortably).

Here's the trailer for any of you weirdos out there who have NEVER seen it.