Save Trees Get Rid of Stupid Catalogs

I can't stand unwanted catalogs in my mailbox.  I hate paper waste especially when I know I can look at the same products via e-mail or online AND especially when I get catalogs that I never even ordered (for ex: Parenting Magazine - this one scared Ryan since he thought I was trying to trick him into thinking I was preparing for a baby, which I have none)

My advice is to sign up for this service called Catalog Choice, it's free and they do all the back end work to the mailer to get you off the lists.  It's easier than going to each site and trying to figure out where you can unsubscribe from their catalogs/direct mailing lists.  It's a little bit harder than you would think!
Try it out!  http://www.catalogchoice.org  Save the world one Parenting Magazine at a time :)

Tempura SHO Easy

I have been meaning to make tempura for quite some time now but since James has my frydaddy I have been reluctant to do any frying at home.  I found this sweet recipe for a baked tempura and thought I would try it out!  This is a yummy delicious tempura recipe for a muggy San Francisco night.
Veggie Tempura Supplies

• Brocolli - Cut into florets about the size you see at the japanese restaurant
• Zucchini - Cut the whole thing up at a diagonal
• Onion - 3-4 half circle slices (looks like a half moon)
• 3/4 cup cake flour (or rice flour)
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 cup ice water
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
• nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, ice water and egg lightly. Don't overmix. It's okay if there are a few lumps.

Bake in preheated oven until lightly browned, approximately 20 to 30 minutes. Spray a large sheet pan or cookie sheet generously with nonstick cooking spray. Dip broccoli florets in batter, one or two at a time, shaking off excess. Then roll in Panko crumbs. Place broccoli on a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining broccoli pieces. When all the broccoli is done, take your nonstick cooking spray and spray generously over the tops of the broccoli pieces. This will help browning and make the crust appear to be fried.

Tempura Sauce

• 4 Parts Memmi Soup Base
• 1/2 cup hot water

That's right...yumble bee in my tumble bee it's only 236 calories too!

Cleanse Really Works!

So it looks like the GM cleanse works pretty well....I didn't lose as many pounds the diet suggests you will but then again I only did it until the morning of day 6 since I went to Vegas that day :)
If you decide to do the diet I would recommend not using the french onion packets it gives the soup a very distinct taste that gets weird after a while.  I ended up diluting the soup with vegetable soup broth.
The first 3 days I had intense cravings where I would kill people to eat a doughnut or a taco, but by day 4 I didn't really have cravings or feel very hungry.
I definitely noticed a difference in the tightness around my mid-section and I liked that I wasn't eating as much as I usually do.  I think the thing about the cleanse is it makes you realize the things that you really enjoy eating and how much you will miss them.  I don't normally crave sweets but I guess when you aren't having an iced mocha everyday that longing will come up.  I also realized how much I used to eat bread and cheese, big no no's I guess since they're both processed and full of carb goodness.
When it says absolutely no alcohol on the cleanse (except for the last day) I totally know why.  On day 6 the morning before leaving for Vegas I had some watermelon and then a grilled cheese at the airport ( I know cheating but I basically was done with the cleanse if I was leaving for Vegas).
Get on the plane and Rosalie pops out these free drink tickets BAD NEWS.  I had one shot and I felt AWFUL on the plane I turned completely red (even after taking Pepcid) and felt nauseous.  I had to take a nap before I felt better and then I had a nasty headache for the rest of the day.  So I might do the cleanse a week BEFORE I go to Vegas next time.  Other than that first reaction drinking on the trip was totally fine I didn't have any of the same symptoms for the remainder of our time.  Here's the results you can be the judge of whether it worked or not or if you want to try it:

Goodbye Hawaii Hello Vegas

So the Tom Tom definitely did not work out as hoped in Hawaii citing delicious food places that were not there when we followed the map.  I was also very disappointed to find how difficult it was to use the Tom Tom it was much more confusing then using the Garmin for ex: we couldn't figure out how to see the future areas of the trip without panning out to see the whole trip from an aerial view so we had no idea if we were going to be on certain highways, roads, etc,  So goodbye to Tom Tom as well.
Hawaii was extremely fun and relaxing filled with days of gorging on pork, rice and mac salad but no vegetables :(
Thus I have become quite robust and encouraged to try the General Motors cleanse recommended by Marisal: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/%7Ejajoo/gmdiet.html
All this work to get retoxed in Vegas and to fit into these stupid things:

I'M BACK!

Dude studying sucks...it's weird having free time now I don't even know what to do with myself.
My brother's sweety b fiance bought me a new GPS since we were having some "technical difficulties" with my Garmin.  I can't help it that I used the shit out of my Garmin and the wire got all messed up and doesn't really charge it unless you put the stand at a certain angle :)
This is what the new one looks like TOMTOM XL 350TM:

I haven't used it yet but I can't help but be biased.  I have always had a Garmin mainly because I did a research project in college discussing the reasons why Garmin is #1 in GPS technology.  I never really had any problems with my old Garmin except for the charger.  Does anyone have a tomtom and what has your experience been like using it?  I am trying to be positive and hoping it will be just as good if not better than my old Garmin especially since it utilizes all the new top of the line GPS features.  WOOT!

Asian Color by Bare Escentuals

Sorry to be so MIA with studying it gets hard to update all the time.  However, I really wanted to let people know about a new asian color by bare minerals.  
I'm not sure where I've been for the past year and a half since this color came out with Bare Escentuals but I had no idea they had a color for asians (maybe they didn't do a good job marketing their new shades or maybe I'm just a dummy).   
The only reason why I find out is because I was starting to run out of my normal color medium.  I always thought the color was pretty close but didn't quite match me all the way. So being inquisitive I checked out the BE site and found out HEY what do you know there's a new asian color in my shade range called Golden Medium.
I wanted to see if it matched so unfortunately I went to Sephora to have them match me which was a horrible idea.  The girl tried to convince me I was light, which I am not, and then I said I just wanted her to try the golden medium.  Clearly, compared to the light swatch she put on me it was a better match.  This all took place last week on Thursday?  So I tried it out and was telling my boss about how great this new asian color was.  
She gets all excited and wants to buy it as well!  However, she also makes the mistake of going to Sephora to get color matched....somehow they matched her to tan which you will see in the picture below there's a pretty big difference (they also give her a tinted mineral veil to make her even darker.....):

The next week she comes in to work and she's not quite sure if she made the right decision. Ok I get it she's half Chinese half Filipino and that might be confusing for someone to match her color if they haven't dealt with asian skin types.
Anyway, she looks pretty tan the second week I see her and I can't tell if it doesn't match or if she's just looking tanner than usual.  She keeps pretty covered up so it's hard for me to compare it to her normal skin color.  
All week she keeps getting comments from people like, "Oh wow where did you go you got so tan!," and she starts freaking out and doesn't know what's wrong.  She feels self conscious and hides her face behind her hair.  On Friday, the last day of the week :), it finally gets to her when our director, who hasn't seen her in quite some time, says the same thing again wow when did you get so tan!  This is the last straw for her and she makes a sad frowny face at me and says she needs to get her face fixed.  So after we go to lunch in the SF circle mall we decide to go fix her face at an actual Bare Escentuals store.
One of the makeup artists, an asian girl with similar colors to my boss, helps her to figure out what her right match is.  She ends up telling my boss that she was matched to a color that was WAY too dark for her and to top it off the idiot Sephora salesperson had given her tinted mineral veil to make her even darker!  
We get back to the office after she's all spruced up and I ask our Manager what he thinks.  He says, "It looks like they undarkened you and you look more natural."  We all laugh and then she and I swear to never ever ever get color matched at Sephora since they clearly have no idea what they are doing AND to only go to an Asian girl to get color matches.
My happy ending story of the week!

Papa Ma

Conversations I have with my dad:
Dad: Since you're home what should I make you for breakfast tomorrow?
Me:  I can eat the soy sauce egg
Dad: Just one!  That's not enough eggs
Me: Dad, I eat one egg every morning, trust me it's enough
Dad: Well I want to eat bacon since I don't get to eat bacon so should I make you an omelette?
Me: Sure.....
Mom: You know she doesn't like it when you put green bell peppers in the omelette.
Dad: OH SHIT sorry I will make you special one. No green bell peppers :)

This morning:
Me: Dad when are you getting a hearing aid?  You know I get sad that you don't hear me and I can't talk to you
Dad: I can hear MOST of what you say, I'm not ignoring you
Me: Dad why are you ignoring me! (he can see me moving my mouth and he smiles at me)
Dad: Still smiling, he turns back to his computer and starts working again without saying anything....

Virgin and Banana Republic Discount

Planning to go to Vegas?  Might be a good time to get your tickets now. There's a promo I just received from Banana for discount off flights and/or Banana stuff.


Book between 2/21-3/2 for travel between 2/21-6/9
Is it excessive to go to Hawaii and think about going to Vegas right after or before.....:) just a thought

Peace and Clarity One Day at a Time

I am so thankful to have Ryan in my life.  Without him I wouldn't be able to go back to yoga for a while.  He bought me my yoga membership back for my birthday and I haven't been able to push myself to go back until today.  At first, it was tough and I didn't know if I would make it through the whole session.  But in the end it was worth it all.
Those last 10 minutes in savasana where my being is in between awake and asleep, I leave class feeling so clear inside.  I never think about work when I am in yoga or else I will fall down.  I leave yoga feeling a sense of clarity and appreciation with my life.  I love yoga and I love Ryan.  My new favorite pose the standing bow:

I leave you with a quote from the Dalai Lama that I thought about when I was in savasana to help me stay calm:
"Try to help others.  If you are not able to be of help, then at least do them no harm."

GMAT

Dudes....going to be MIA for a while as I study for GMAT to go back to school.  Wish me luck!
For now I leave you with:


20% off at UrbanOutfitters.com until 2/14/10 use code: THINKSPRING at the checkout

Birthday Blues

Every year I get the birthday blues.  Not sure what causes it really but it affects me in ways that make me not want to go to work, do anything, make any decisions, etc.  However, I am thankful to have so many wonderful people in my life that do things like surprise me with onion glasses and getting me yoga lessons so I can get my health and wellness back together.  Here's to renting a car and being able to take a child to D&B's though I have no idea why I would do such a thing.....

Boots and Gloves

I was a fool to wait until after Christmas to get my Hunter Wellies...they were out of stock in my size and color not to be restocked until next season everywhere I looked.  Until lo and behold I found an obscure supply through Restoration Hardware.  Thank god for attentive coworkers that send me random links about these things I crave.  So my boots came in an excessively large box today and I have been stomping around in them ever since.  If you ever need someone to clomp through rain, animal poo, animal oils and fats, snow, etc. then I am your girl!

Another fun surprise that came in the mail today were my gloves!  As many of you may know I am a sensitive hoe, but I also have sensitive skin with sensitive problems.  I have been lucky enough to get out of dishwashing duties by feigning issues with my dry, damaged hands.  However, I want to be a good girlfriend and do my part of the cleaning so I decided to buck up and get some gloves, ones that won't make my hands smell like condoms of course!  So I found a nifty pair that are latex free, machine washable, AND with a cotton liner to absorb sweat to reduce skin irritation.  Here's to a new year, new cleaning habits, and good skin!

Hoppy New Year!

Starting off the new year strong by closing my stupid WAMU/Chase Savings account due to their pithy excuse for an APR and signing up for Mint.com to get all my monies in one place.


Every new year is a chance to start off fresh...right?  So here are my resolutions for this year:

1. Be Happy
2. Save at least $500 each month
3. Bring lunch to work at least twice a week 
4. Save up so I can go back to yoga at least once a week
5. Finally take the GMAT

I want to be as happy as a clam this year :)