Hey, what's this blog thing?

Apparently I now blog annually on my personal blog. Ha

I love the InterWorld! Our bee biz continues to thrive and a lot of the movement has come from our social media accounts driving people to the site and to Pearl while we were there. Also love it for reconnecting me with friends from long ago and in far away places on Earth. Here are some awesome things I have learned to do/make lately off my bucket list of things I just want to try:

Made an all natural sunblock - yay me! No more stinky, gross for your body stuff from the store.



Now making our own Honey Oats Granola. Love how you can control what goes in there.



Still need to work on perfecting it but I've checked off the Spiced Pecans thing. Too addictive but I'll try again soon.



Caramel Popcorn. Done. It was good but also addictive. Shelving this until we drop a few more pounds. haha



And finally, a not-food item to check off the list - beeswax wraps so we can discontinue use of plastic as much as possible. Still trying to find the best way to apply a thin layer of wax to my fabrics without getting wax everywhere within 2 feet of the action area. hehe



Oh yes, I've made lip balm and deodorant as well. And started stretching again each morning. And praying more. And meditating more. Now if I could just have a little more time to read and craft.

OH! I got to be on TV this year. Totally enjoyed it and decided I need a show where I can just talk about random things and bring friends on to do fun stuff. Actually maybe I should just update my youtube channel...



Okay, that's enough. Later. Maybe I will actually post while in NC next month.

Random Thoughts Wednesday

I'm hungry! Have you ever had a meal or snack or treat and it's so yummy you think about it? Maybe a lot? lol I DO! We had this for lunch yesterday. A glorious omelet with lots of bits of things left in the fridge. We loved it. And the avocado was awesome. I wish I had this plate right now. :)

So now I have some burlap bags - awesome ones actually. What shall I do with them? Hmmm...

Figgies...mmm

Today I finally tried a fig, honey and yogurt treat I saw last week in one of my various recipes email. It was so yummy we can't wait to try my next one - Brie, comb honey and figs. Okay. I must stop procrastinating. I really must blog to the bee blog!!!

Random Thoughts from La China

Hi there. Sorry it's been so crazy busy that I haven't blogged. But here I am again. Because I love to write. And I have a lot to say. :)

RT #1: Fresh eggs from friends and the Pearl vendors are way better. They just taste better and they last longer. I love them.



RT#2: The Working Wonder Twins have now separated into two separate offices. Feels a little weird and I do miss my office mate but I am excited to have my own space in which to do my crafty stuff. Without having to put it away at night. Heck, just having a space for everything is awesome!



RT #3: Haha - a honey bee doing stomach crunches!

Random Thoughts

RT #1
This pair of flip flops is perhaps one of THE most comfortable shoes I have ever bought. Yay! See? You know it's got to be really comfortable for me to make that my first random thought to share. The straps on the flippies are a soft fabric so they rest gently on top of your feet. And cute. Very cute. And just so we're clear, I was on my lunch break so it's okay that I kicked up my feet for a bit. :)



RT #2
All the technology we have is great but often I find that I still like my handwritten lists. There's something satisfying about seeing it all written right there on the paper. And I like that you can stash it in your pocket and then reach for it whenever you want. And if I don't have paper? Yep. I still write on my hand. Remember when you were younger and you'd get in trouble for writing on your hands? I do. And I still get told by some people that I should NOT do that. I don't know why it's a big deal. Maybe because it's like tattooing? Not sure on that.



By the way, that's delicious pineapple icing lemon cupcake a coworker made for a birthday celebration. Pretty and yummy.



RT #3
This is actually an air freshener that was gifted to me. I didn't even peel off the cover because it's coconut and vanilla - an interesting mix of scents. I got to pick it out among a wide selection at Bath & Body Works and while ladybugs and flowers and frogs were adorable, there was just something so sweet about Birdy with her cute little bow. I like having her right above me and she makes me happy when I look at her. I think I may go buy a few more of those little cuties and give them to people in need of a smile.



RT #4
When I saw this cool turtle (you know I love turtles), I automatically wanted a picture and then I automatically got on it. Does that happen to you or is it just me? Maybe it's just me. That reminds me of when I sat on the Boteros at the library. There was just something about the sculptures that just called to me to sit on them.

Photos Shoots Are Soothing

It's funny how my friend brings in a tray of cupcakes and the first thing I think is - oooh! I need to shoot those! I love to photograph things and her adorable little creations are fun to snap. And snapping away is a great escape for me. When I am in photography mode, my mind is focused and I could look up twenty minutes later in a blink of an eye. I love it. And I've been enjoying the iPhone 4s camera with its 8 megapixel capability. Not bad when you think it's a great camera without having to lug around the lovely but hefty Nikon D90. And I love that Laurie, my friend and officemate jumps right in on the action now. We start with an idea and then we just start shooting. So. We start with a few props in the office. And we go to this -

And then we try a plain backdrop -

And another great thing about the iPhone? The cool and fun apps that helped me enhance the pictures a little bit. What else helps soothe me? Blogging.

I App'ed My Tacos

Is it possible to be in love with or addicted to an app?? I L-O-V-E Instagram! It is so fun and I love the different looks that the filters create out of one shot. Sigh. It's a real close call as to whether I love Pinterest or Instagram more. lol And I have enticed another friend onto Pinterest. :) I knew she'd love it. She's hooked.

Humor All Around

Whenever I need a chuckle, all I need to do is visit some sort of Asian place. We have such an interesting way with words sometimes. And our way with illustrations amazes me. Sometimes I can even figure out what the meaning is. Sometimes I think there's no meaning. For example, what in the world do any of these characters have to do with bubble tea? Not sure. But I like these so much, I don't care. :-)

Looking forward to what should be a beautiful day tomorrow - sunny and 81 degrees. Yes. Our first day in the 80s. If it happens, I'm sure Mark will be THRILLED!

Grapefruit and a Green Thumb

Mom continues to grow the most amazingly large grapefruits. She has the greenest thumb I know and can bring plants back to life after others have given up on them! lol. She has the most amazing gardens usually, where everything's green and robust. Even BITTER MELON. If you haven't had this, you should try it and let me know what you think. I wish I liked it. It's just too bitter for me but other people in the family love it. I want to like it. I just can't do it. I tried it again last week and my face just puckered up. Still B-I-T-T-E-R. Was hoping I had changed but no. I have not. Oh well. At least I tried it.

Ringing in 2010

Happy new year, everyone! Today we hung out with Mark's sister, who drove in from Austin. We had a really great time and want her to come back soon! It was a great first day of the year - beautiful weather and perfect temperatures.

Took Mark into SA afterwards and celebrated his January birthday early early. :-) It was fun! We got him an iPhone and he's loving it. And so am I. Oh why, why, CMC, will you not let us have those???? lol. I will just live through Mark and have fun with his way cool apps! He's got a cool compass on there! We're having a lot of fun together with all the tech stuff so I'm happy about it and glad we could get him something he'll find fun and useful too. Happy early birthday honey bee! And these SWAT officers sat next to us at the Noodle House. I resisted snapping a shot for a long while but finally gave in. I mean really, when would I ever find myself sitting this close to 11 of them??? And they were so QUIET. It was impressive. I wished everyone in a restaurant could have conversations as quietly as they did. And they all had guns. Cool.

Another fun day tomorrow, woo hoo! Why? Because it's Saturday and we get to see another pretty day and do things around the house and have fun in general. Sometimes I still feel a litlte blue but mostly I am happy. The job's going okay and I'm liking my new manager a lot. I'm not as stressed as I used to be and that's wonderful. Good way to kick off 2010. Just still a little down about how things went this past year but I learned a lot and I know it was for a reason. Can't wait for the bright year ahead. :-)

Should probably go to be now. It's late. Y'all have a wonderful weekend!

Godiva Goodness

I love Godiva. There really isn't a Godiva I haven't enjoyed. :) I may have said this once or twice before. This is Mark's basket this year and he was sweet enough to share some of it with me though I do have my own basket of yumminess. Thanks honey!



This little cookie was really tasty. And cute. Also cute are the little chicks below. One of my fantasies is to own a shop like the main character did in Chocolat -- if you haven't seen that movie, it's really good so I highly recommend it.

Food & Exercise

This morning I went for my orientation at the Wellness Center where Mark, Melissa (his daughter) and I just joined -- I'm so excited! If you haven't been there, it looks like it's a great to work out so at some point, I'm sure I'll get a shot of it. Didn't want to lug my digicam around and make people nervous my first real visit. I haven't been in a "real" gym in many years and I am amazed at the new gadgets they now have. For example, I tried out the bike. It is definitely NOT like the ones we had. LOL. It was really cool...they have virtual courses on the screen of your bike and you can race other bikers if you want. AND you can also watch TV or you can even play a video game where you're biking around capturing dragons. I can totally see how forty-five minutes can pass quickly on these. The other neat thing about the bike is that you actually have to change gears AND steer the bike with the handles. Cool! It was a lot of fun. After the cardio stuff, we checked out the weight machines and I now have a "plan" in place. I hope to feel and maybe see results in the next several months! I am so excited!!

A word on food...because other than feeling and being fit, if I stick to regular exercising, I can enjoy whatever food I want without too much deprivation. :) So last week while in Irving, we tried Best Thai off of MacArthur Blvd., near the office. I loved it! This is the yellow curry chicken and I loved, loved, loved the heart-shaped rice. Sweet. I have not seen anyone present rice that way so it really tickled me. The curry was yummy with carrots and potatoes. Nice flavor. Great eating. My friend Susan had the wonton soup and I had a small bowl to warm me up and next to Mom's, it was the best one I've encountered. Great broth and the wontons actually had tasty meat inside. I highly recommend this place.

I Heart Life

Sorry I've been lazy AND busy. :) But life is pretty good and this evening, I felt like this cupcake reflects how I feel. Sweet, cute, full of love, happy, fun. :)

Good night. Off to bed now. Early day at work tomorrow. Again. I just get anxious to get there and get the day started. There is so much to do!!!

Cadillac Ranch

Last week I took a quick trip up to our corporate office in Irving and had a really productive and nice trip. We ate dinner one night at Cadillac Ranch, a place I had not eaten at before, and I really enjoyed it! This is their oven baked fried chicken. Not as good as what's bad for you but pretty close. I have a love affair with fried chicken. I can eat it ANYTIME. And I mean anytime. I had leftovers and munched on another piece of chicken later that night while I worked!

I just loved that it came in a fancy bucket. I don't know why but that really tickled me and made it even more fun. The potatoes were only ok but the corn was very good also. So, thumbs up on the Ranch if you get a chance to go. Oh, we also got their chips and pica (or is it pico??) de gallo. Yum!

A Night Out

It was a crazy week and nothing helps get you ready like a night out with friends, enjoying great talk and awesome food. We met our friends at Big Kahuna in SA, after doing a few shops at the Quarry. It was cold and windy so a good bowl of soup was perfect. The broth was wonderful, very tasty. The chicken and shrimp were also delicious and tasted fresh. We also had fresh spring rolls (or summer, I never remember who calls it what) and sampled the NEW authentic Vietnamese fried eggroll. DELICIOUS. I highly recommend it. No longer do we have to drive to Taste of Asia to get a real, almost like mom's, eggroll. Check it out.

The BK is under new management though the kids are still around now and then. Vicky is the new lady we see and she told us she was going to slowly incorporate new dishes on the menu -- there you go SA peeps, you heard me, get back over there and try them out again. AND Thinh told me that they will soon host a knitting group. He wanted me to invite my friends there so when he gives me dates, I will pass those on. Looks like we will continue to have Knit Nites though just not hosted by US!

Treat Tuesday Tofu

We had another Treat Tuesday at work though this time we were shooting for lunch style eats. For my part, I made pork-stuffed tofu that I've been craving. Just haven't cooked it lately. I was going to make the tofu soup as well but that's not easy to carry or to keep hot at work. But I'll probably make some for home next week.

After frying the tofu, I hollowed them out. If I had a chance to go to Houston, I would have bought some pre-fried; those work great for this. Speaking of Houston, that makes me think of my friend Joel. Sorry I couldn't send some of the tofu to SA for you guy! Next time hopefully. :)

So after I hollow out the cubes, I fill them with the ground pork, which I added salt, pepper and scallions to as I was frying the cubes. I made little meatballs with leftover pork, wrapping the ground meat around some pieces of tofu I had scooped out earlier. Then I placed all of that into the pot that has some scallions I was heating up in cooking oil. Cover it all with two cans of diced tomatoes with basil and a touch of fish sauce. Stewed for about 30 minutes. Yum! I sampled some that night and didn't realize how much I have missed it. Mark had some and my work buds also enjoyed it which made me happy I made it. People have such preconceived notions about tofu it's sometimes hard to even get them to try it but everyone was open-minded. Thanks guys!

Treat at the Spurs Game

Last Friday night, we went to the Spurs/Heat pre-season game and while the boys did not win it, Mark and I still had a great time. Here I am enjoying hand-dipped ice cream at the game. It was divine though totally overpriced. But then again, most things are overpriced at sporting events, especially the professional ones.

I love watching football but I always love it when the Spurs start their season. I don't know what I'm going to feel once Tim Duncan retires. It will not be the same. It's one thing to watch the Spurs with no David Robinson, but to not see Tim either? Gonna be hard. Tonight the season officially started with the Celtics and Cavaliers. Tried to get into it but I think for me, the season doesn't officially start until we play Phoenix tomorrow night! Go Spurs!

The weather has been fantastic but the allergens have been HORRIBLE. :( There is nothing worse (to me) than a beautiful day wasted inside because going outside means having a really bad headache that turns into a migraine by the evening. Sad. It's been sunny and in the 70s during the day and 40s at night and we've been enjoying walks after dinner for the past week. Glorious. But the last two nights really got to us and last night we both noticed a lot of head pressure after the walk. Boo. Tonight, no walk. I just can't deal with migraines three nights in a row.

I am in a funk again with posting to the Seguin blog. I have really been enjoying it and last week, I got into that don't-want-to-post-and-no-one-can-make-me funk. On top of that, I haven't felt inspired with the digicam either. Don't know why. Sometimes I sit here, like now, and I think of all the things I want to do....knit, sew (learn to), visit blogs, read, clean up, organize, bake, whatever. And I feel sort of overwhelmed. So I just try to pick one thing to do. Ugh. And sometimes I don't do any of it! I just sit on the sofa and read! Oh, I guess that's one of the things on my list so that's ok. LOL. Ok, I'm going to try and post something on the other blog now.

Cooking is so relaxing

This is one of my favorite dishes to make. It's relaxing to come home and put on some music and then start preparing a great tasting dish. I love the flavors of the alfredo sauce on the pasta and I also love the spinach in the crusty chicken. Nice texture. Yum. I cooked the spinach with garlic, pine nuts and mozzarella. Then I rolled it inside the tenderized chicken breast, pinned it with a toothpick and then rolled the whole thing bread crumbs and parmesan. Baked for 40 minutes.

Travel update: Since my last post, a trip has been added. :) End of the month, back to the west coast; San Jose area down to Claremont area again. LOL. So much for no traveling until mid-November.

Wasabi Yoda

This picture makes me laugh out loud. :) Can you see Yoda??? See that cool light saber?

This is an abstract creation by my travel buddy. I have really enjoyed our trip together; it's our last one for the Kronos team as we are moving on to other projects and other and new team members will take over future site visits for rollout.

Here's where the wasabi came from prior to the art session.

Dessert Time

It's nice to start getting back into a routine at home with Mark. I can't believe I didn't even nap yesterday OR today. Normally after a trip, I'm out the first day or two, catching up on sleep. However, after four weeks of pacific time, it's still hard to wind down at the end of the day. When it's 11p here, I still think it's 9p. Anyway, next week I go back to Eastern time so that'll be easier for traveling and adjusting. I'll be in Summit, NJ. Never been to Jersey so I'm curious to see what it's like.

So today, we had a bake sale at church and I bought Ms. Savior's pie b/c it smelled wonderful and b/c I was so curious about what a buttermilk pie was like. I'll have to ask her what's in it as I was too busy today selling baked goods to visit with anyone. All I can say is that we really, really like the pie. It's got many wonderful flavors and I was just telling Mark that when I take a bite of it, it actually makes me think of a memory though I have yet to fully recognize what it is. Weird? Maybe. But it's as if the memory is just right there. I just can't quite catch what it is right now.

We watched The Bank Job today. Second movie this weekend! It's nice to be back together. :) Anyway, we enjoyed it. I like that Jason Stathom. That accent is crazy. Good fun movie. The other movie was The Forbidden Treasure with Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Light fun with great martial arts. Made me think of the fun we use to have when we were young playing martial artists ourselves. LOL