You wish you were a Maghanoy...

2009-07-03T17:50:00.001-07:00

Dear Portland,

I don't come visit you to experience weather in the 90s. Please stop it now!

2009-07-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

Just cause...

This is a terribly blurry picture but they are both so adorably goofy I just couldn't resist.

2009-07-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

And the cow jumped over the moon...

Right now we're in Seattle visiting family and friends. Alanna is a friend of mine from our PDX year. Alanna is superloveable for many reasons, not the least of which are her foodie passions. She is very serious about food, but not snobby. The first day I met her she took me out to an all you can eat sushi bar. As we sat down she told me the following.

I want you to know that I am going to eat a lot. I am going to MAXIMIZE my food capacity so I don't want you to feel like you can't eat in front of me. I am probably
going to have to undo the top button on my pants after this meal.

Obviously, I have friend-loved Alanna ever since that first day. This week she's been taking us on a whirlwind culinary tour of Seattle. We have eaten pastries by someone who one the world baking contest in France, cuban sandwiches, gay cupcakes and the official white house candy. But if I have a clear food memory from this trip it will be Molly Moon ice cream. I know, I overuse this phrase, but truly it changed my gastronomic life.

2009-06-30T18:12:00.000-07:00

I love this...

All over Seattle's Capitol Hills District they have the basic step to numerous dances printed on to the sidewalk. This is the Rumba!

2009-06-26T13:22:00.000-07:00

Butterfly, oh, oh that's old. Let me see you tootsie roll!

Okay, this song has little to do with the post but everytime I think Butterfly I hear it. Anyways, some of you might remember that during our last swim class experience I learned how to Butterfly... sort of. I mean, I can get myself across the pool (with great effort) but I'm not really sure if I'm doing it correctly. I fear that I look like one of those crazy people who do the crawl without putting their face in the water i.e. totally wrong. However, I'm getting really bored of doing freestyle laps in swim class so I decided to suck up my pride and try to do a lap of butterfly. And it went...

Well I got across the pool. Thanks to my newfound cardiovascular strength(thanks 1/2 marathon training!) I made it, but the whole time I was kind of tortured by the possibility that all the good swimmers were sniggering at my floppy butterfly. It's not really a subtle stroke. I was displacing A LOT of water. At the end of 25 looooooong meters I steadied myself for possible humiliation as I leaned up against the wall to re-catch my breath.

Then something wonderful happened.

The guy in the lane next to me opened his eyes wide and said "Ohmygosh. I was watching you under the water. That was hella cool." Charmed by his enthusiasm, flattery and impossibly adorable chicano accent I immediately went into girly 7th grader mode. "Ohmygosh, thank you so much, I'm not sure if I was doing it right." I think I might've even bit my thumb while I did gushed. I mean what else could I do? I'm a Bay Area girl and he said "Hella!"

Renewed by a strangers compliment I took a deep breath and butterflopped my way back to the other side.

2009-06-25T22:42:00.001-07:00

Wes called me today and said "Can you believe Michael Jackson died?"

And of course, no I can't. It's just too strange.

I went to SoCal today and saw that he died on the news in the Sacramento airport. Walking through the airport it seemed like everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare at the screens. I of course did what any sensible person would do... I called my co-workers. Shauntay picked up the phone and said "I know we can't believe it either. We're totally on it right now." It's hard to get your head around the idea that someone so influential has died.

Thriller was one of the first music videos I remember seeing as a child. His influence on music and dance was just off the charts. Who in the world doesn't know a Michael Jackson song? Who hasn't tried to moonwalk? It seemed like he lived a crazy and tragic life. Hopefully he can find some peace and rest now.

2009-06-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Baby Boom

I kid you not, my aunt just sent me the following e-mail about my cousins.

Subject line: BABIESS!

Rommel & Mareavel due in Sept

Robert & Marissa due in Oct

RonRon & Jasmine due in Dec

Roderick & Veronica due in Jan

Whoa, that is 4 babies in 4 months. BABIESS! Indeed.

2009-06-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Misadventures in Tahoe

Every two years or so we get the pleasure of hanging out with our good friends Brie and Shelle. We met them when we lived in Portland and although they now live in Philly we still keep in touch. Even better... they come with perks! We see them when they come to their family house in Tahoe and we get invited too! But there's a catch... of course there is always a catch.

Brie and I are somewhat disaster prone. You know, the kind of people who would both forget their wallets on the same day while trying to rent a video. And then if that's not humiliating at all maybe one of us would knock over a big display on the way out of Blockbuster. (Hint: It wasn't Brie) I think that together Brie and I create a forcefield of misadventures that is strong enough to affect people around us.

Last time we went to Tahoe it snowed crazy hard. It was astoundingly beautiful; the first time I've been in Tahoe during a really heavy snow like that. The whole weekend was a winter wonderland until we needed to go home. It only took 12 people 2 hours to push our car up the road. And our car was the easiest! Needless to say Brie missed her flight.

This time we tried to go for a picnic and a hike. We ended up choosing a hike with mosquito swarms so intense that we ended up eating in their rental Kia with our sweatshirt hoods up while the little monsters taunted us through the windshield. Did I mention that before that we tried to visit a farmers market that wasn't open? Or that we never even found the hike we originally intended to take?

If I sound like I'm whining don't be fooled. The best part of hanging with Brie and Shelle is that they are always down for an adventure. When we hang out things seem to go wrong in spades but the weird moments: the champagne spilled in the spa, the foodstamp lunches and the snowdrifts always turn into memories that are a million times better than the best laid plans.

2009-06-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Everybody to the Limit - Weekend Edition

1) I made mayonnaise from scratch this weekend. I've wanted to do that ever since I read Julie and Julia. I can't believe how delicious it was. Plus one point for me.

2) I watched High school musical. Thankfully I still think it's kind of lame. Two point for me!

3) Today Arnold said "What are you and Nutella planning to do for me for Mother's Day?". I said I didn't remember what they had done for Mother's Day. Aww.. snap.

4) I found out that my Dad mis-dialed my phone number and ended up calling some stranger honey on the phone repeatedly until she hung up on him. 10 points for my Dad!

2009-06-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day!
When are you taking me on a trip to Siquijor Daddy?

2009-06-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

Mystery Leg

I love my puppy but she is weird. WEIRD!

2009-06-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

Tia Cecilia

This morning Arnold's aunt Cecilita passed away in Bogota, Colombia. Last week Carmen and her three sisters had made the trip to Bogota to say their goodbyes and help Cecilita cross over to the other side. Although I met her only once, she is the kind of lady who makes a strong impression. The oldest of six children, she was like many people in Colombia, the epitomy of strength in the face of adversity. When she and Carmen were in there 20s they were in a horrible bus accident. Carmen escaped with just a a dislocated shoulder. Cecilia was not so fortunate. Thrown from the bus with serious injuries; she was paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of her life. Anyone whose been to Latin America knows that life there is not kind to the wheelchair bound. Despite her physical limitations she managed to leave a bad marriage and raise her two sons as a single mother. Somewhere along the way she also started what Arnold affectionately dubbed the "Charismatic Catholic Empire". Arnold met his two closest friends Bill and Hernando when he lived in Cecilia's boarding house his first year in Bogota and the three of them swap stories about that time in their life with wide eyes.

May you rest in peace Cecilita. Your family will miss you but we know you will enjoy your new life on the other side.

2009-06-18T15:01:00.001-07:00

Holy Crap. I finally got on board with using google reader. It has changed my internet existence. I now deeply apologize to everybody for not having an RSS feed on this site. I'll figure out how to do that soon. In the meantime... SYTYCD Thursday! This time it's contemporary with Lacey and Kameron from Season 3. I love when you she throws herself against him and then somehow bounces off... crazy!

2009-06-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

Swimming Update

For the most part swimming is going well. Last week we did something called the Cooper test. Luckily since I trained with Sacfit, I've done this before. The Cooper test is when you basically try to run/swim as far as you can in 12 minutes. It's a cardiovascular endurance test. The instructions they gave us for running where something like "If you did it right by the end you should feel slightly nasesous." Yay! Sounds like a fun weekend activity.

Wisely, our swim instructor did not give us those instructions because you can die in a pool if you get too tired. If you run too hard, you'll probably just pass out or barf.

Anyways, because Emily (my friend Emily, this isn't some weird third person thing) and I are both kind of competitive we tore it up in the pool. Well, we tore it up as much as the fastest remedial int. level swimmers can. I swam 575 meters! This got me into the "Good Fitness" ranking. 2nd highest ranking! I couldn't believe how much easier swimming is now after having run for so long. I guess there is something to this whole "excercise makes you heart stronger" malarkey.

2009-06-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

My Pimp Ship

I love all three of these artists and this song is full of hilarious lines. a la "I used to be commander-in-chief of my pimp ship, flyin high". Watch out, I think I'm going to start using that line daily.

PS - Music video makers, please feel free to use this video as a template of how not to suck.

2009-06-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

Cabbage Convert

I've never really liked cabbage that much. I find it too... something. And then I learned about fish tacos! (I also used to dislike fish, but that's another story). And then you know cabbage is all cancer fighting and low-calorie and healthy and what not so I started eating more.

But then cabbage and I had a little falling out when it started showing up too much in my CSA. It was there every week! And let me tell you a head of cabbage is a lot for two people. I was really about to tell cabbage, "I think we should go on a break"... and then Molly Wizenberg changed my life.

Molly is really famous for her food blog Orangette. Google it and read some, you won't regret it. She recently published a book which is wonderful. It's sort of a cookbook/short story book. I read it in about two days. I'm not too embaressed to say I cried a few times.

The real trick to the book are Molly's seductive descriptions of food. She is so good that out of all the delicious recipes in the book the one I most wanted to try was cabbage braised in cream. I know, right? Ew....../weird. But I made it and Arnold and I ate a whole cabbage for dinner. Only cabbage. and it was DELICIOUS! Arnold is already hounding me for more cabbage. Normally it's not so healthy to eat cream, but when the only other ingredient in your dinner is cabbage it becomes so not a big deal. Bonus points to Molly for that.

And to my friend cabbage. I'm so sorry, I took you for granted. Please come back, I'm down on bended knee.

2009-06-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Sunny Morning at Casa Perez

To give a sense of scale, she's sitting under our dining room chairs.

2009-06-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

Read this great article about Arnold's school!

http://www.sacbee.com/1130/story/1919880.html

2009-06-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

I want to see this...

Working in public health you learn a lot about things it's easier not to know. Like how what you put in your body affects both you AND other people. For a thrifty girl like me it's hard to spend money on higher quality food when I can go to WinCo and get so much more for so much less. For better or worse, now I know better and I totally agree with the sentiment of this trailer "Everytime you buy food you are voting on the future."

Better food is expensive. I get that, but that's when it's time to make sacrifices. Arnold and I eat beans every single day to be able to afford better produce, fair trade coffee etc. etc. And if you know how much I love eating meat and how I hated beans for years you'll realize that I am super serious about using my pennies to vote for safer, locally produced food.

2009-06-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

SYTYCD Thursday

My total favorite choreographers out of everybody are Napoleon and Tabitha. I so want to be just like them when I grow up to be part of an awesome husband-wife hip-hop choreography team. So many reasons to love them:

1) They are a Wilipino couple and the especially rare breed of Pilipino man and white woman, just like my parents!

2) One day they will have adorable Wilipino dancing children!

3) They're amazing. They choreographed two of my favorite routines of all time "Bleeding Love" and "No Air"

4) His name is Napoleon D'umo. Can you have a more Filipino name than that? Awesome!

5) Their style has actually turned into a new genre; lyrical hip-hop. They are not just making up routines they are breaking new ground! Loves it.

2009-06-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

SYTYCD

I know that I've been talking about this silly TV show lately, but what you might not realize is that my friends and I are VERY SERIOUS about So You Think You can Dance. On Thursday, anywhere from 5-15 people come over to Casa Perez for our weekly viewing party. We're all about the parties at Chez Perez and we always encourage people to invite their friends. Weirdly this means that even though we are the hosts we usually only know 1/2 the people at any given events, but I digress.

We have a potluck and then settle in to watch. And we don't just watch... no, no, no this is serious business. We are like an Oscar party, dance club and book club all rolled into one. We break down why we love or hate a performance. We have to take polls about who we think will get kicked off . We'll make grand speeches about how should go home and why. Obviously we also have to break it down afterwards and try out all the moves we see on the show. Sometimes it gets a little out of hand. When we lived in our last apt. I was a bit concerned that Betty might fall out our 2nd story window doing a tour j'ete (spelling?) Then there's all the possible accidents from b-boying and lifts. Maybe I should consider having people sign liability waivers before attending?

2009-06-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

Sexy Back

We started swimming lessons today. This time around I signed up for Intermediate. Woo-hoo! During orientation yesterday our teacher made a big speech about how we're all going to be "cut" by the time she's done with us. She followed this up with a short speech about bringing "sexy back." Obviously I love her. I was however concerned about the whole "getting cut" scenario... not because I'm against muscles, but because it sounds like hard work. And I think y'all know my policy on hard work.

All my apprehension was assuaged today when I was moved into the fastest lane of the beginner group! Woo-hoo! I love being at the head of the class... even if it is the remedial section.

2009-06-06T09:00:00.001-07:00

Lazy Saturday

2009-06-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

Overheard at work - "OMG you guys it's National Donut Day!"

Love my supervisor so MUCH!

2009-06-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

Somuchcrazy.com

Update-Strangely the night I wrote this was the most INSANE electrical storm
I've seen in a long time. There was like 15 minutes of strobe like light
lightening. Then it hailed. Did I mention it's June?

I think that I'm pretty well known for my many paranoias. Flying, glass elevators, open-water swimming, grates in swimming pools etc., etc., etc. etc. ... Truthfully I don't think that I'm actually crazier than anybody else, just more vocal. Despite the fact I'm scared of flying, I do it all the time. I'm taking swimming lessons this summer. I'm generally very good about keeping the crazy inside.

However...

you knew there was a caveat right?

I have a recurring problem with anxiety about the GIGANTIC trees around our house falling on us in our sleep. I saw a huge tree fall in my Grandma's backyard when I was a kid and I think that it's given me some PTSD. About a year and a half ago we had a horrific storm in Sac that downed a lot of trees in our neighborhood, it was absolutely terrifying. Branches were falling every couple of minutes, I felt like I was lying in bed waiting to die. I ended up forcing Arnold to take me to sleep in our car in an Olive Garden parking lot because I could not handle being in the house and strip mall parking lots are one of the only places in Sac without trees.

Sounds crazy, right?

It was, both the storm and I were completely crazy. I topped it all off with FUH-REAKING out on my friends later that day. Fun times!

Incidentally this was the same day that Britany Spears was committed to a mental hospital. That's right, me and Brit, so unstable together.

Am I totally crazy? Or does everybody have at least one fear that makes them feel like a total looney-toon?