Crazy Awesome Couple of Days

Quick status update...so much to post, so little time to get everything in my life done! I'm still in New York vacationing with my family (well, staying with them in my childhood home) and I've had a great week.

After dropping my sister off at school in Vermont, I paid a quick visit to a friend up in New England. Back in NY I went to the beach, walked around a cute little local town and had dinner with my best friend, who is in for a few weeks from her Peace Corps assignment in Zambia.

Last night I had a crazy night with another friend who is about to move to Pennsylvania. We went to a huge Korean club in Manhattan and were initially rejected...most likely cuz I'm white. (Yes, seriously! I was sooo pissed since I'd been looking forward to seeing this place for months. Of course, we ended up there on the day there's some obnoxious new lady working the door.)

But a few hours later her friends who are regulars there showed up and we got in...and wow, it was something! I've never seen a club with a live saxophone player jamming along with the DJ. There were fog machines and fake snow and strobes and thumping music and tons of people having fun. (Once I was in the club, none of the patrons seemed to care that much that I wasn't Asian. Plus, my friend's friends were really cool and made me feel totally comfortable, which doesn't always happen when you're out with people you don't know.) We danced until 4:30 am, then went out for Pho in Ktown, and the friends went uptown while my friend and I hopped the rail road back to Long Island...at daylight.


Yesterday I also went out to lunch with my Dad, and it was good to spend some quality time with him. The day before I took my Boston Terrier to the vet -- she's got allergies that are making her paws itch! And on the way back home, we passed my grandmother's house while she was sitting on her porch. So Bon Bon and I paid a visit to Grandma, which she appreciated very much.

In beauty news...my skin is finally clearing up, thanks to cutting back on harsh detergents and treating it with more care. I've started using a new facewash and moisturizer that I am very happy with. I've also been trying out a new mascara, which is going well so far. And after my vacation and a trip to the hair salon, I'm a bit tanner and blonder than I had been before.

It's also been good to indulge myself in good food. It's nice to not have to go food shopping for myself all the time or cook dinner every night. Among the meals my mom has prepared has been lobster....mmm...for a dinner and for lunch, cooked perfectly on our gas grill. I don't know how or why people go out to restaurants to get it because it's such a messy food and expensive to eat out...but our local supermarket sometimes has it on sale for $4.99 lb., which makes it a luxury within reach.

Tonight I'm hanging out with another best friend of mine, the girl I stayed with in Boston, who is back in NY for the Labor Day weekend. I hope you're enjoying the long weekend too!

Casual Mens Clothes Shopping Adventure

I recently went clothes shopping with a male friend who has little (read: almost no) interest in fashion. Sure, he cares about how he looks -- something he lacked when we met as teens, though has happily grown into in his 20s -- but he was clueless about where to get clothing or what to try on.

Thankfully, he was an eager and willing participant when it came to trying on plenty of clothes during our shopping adventure.

Over the course of two days, we went to several affordably-priced retailers with heaps of men's clothes. We saw it all -- from shirts labeled "medium" that looked more like XXL at the regional department store Bon Ton, to turquoise, acid-washed men's skinny jeans at Pac Sun.

Despite its poor size selection, Bon Ton was still the first place he made a purchase: a pair of Calvin Klein jeans with a low-rise waist, straight leg, medium wash. The pants have a grayish/rusted wash which is stylish but subtle. And they are cut much less baggy around the hip area than most of his other jeans, making them significantly more flattering to his physique.


The next day he got a black button down shirt and a plaid short sleeved button down at Sears. Pretty standard fair, but keep in mind we were looking for additions to a wardrobe largely comprised of polo shirts purchased by his mom and screen print tees that went out of style after high school.

The patterns on these shirts look more subtle in person, I took the photos in a dark room so the colors are skewed.

(This would look great with a suit jacket and jeans.)

(Dark jean friendly -- didn't look as good with the new CK jeans, since it was too gray all over.)

Finally, we hit the jackpot when it came to our main quest for the trip -- t-shirts. My friend wanted casual t-shirts he can throw on to go to school instead of wearing one of the aforementioned polos every day. (He says his screen print tees are relegated to in-house wear and don't see the light of day. Probably a wise move.)

And we found them at (drum roll please)...Old Navy. Five dollar tees that look awesome and feel awesome.

For $25 he left with five well-fitting, attractive, versatile shirts. In black and light gray he got this classic tee with a round neck, though it's also available with a v neck.

My favorite shirt though was this ringer tee with contrast trim that he got in greenish turquoise, charcoal gray and navy blue. It feels soft and really makes the shoulders look broad. I think it's one of the most flattering, effortlessly cool things I've ever seen my friend wear.


And to think he was relucatant to go into Old Navy! It typically isn't the first store I hit either, but from what I recently saw, I think their quality has significantly improved in the past few years.

Passing on Some Love - The Triple Award

JennBee over at Bare Budget Beauty (which just celebrated its first birthday!) made my day brighter by awarding me with this Triple Award. Naturally I want to pass the love on to some other fellow beauty bloggers! Even though I haven't met you guys, I appreciate that we share a common bond in this blogging thing. Not to mention the great and varied content you provide, and how you steer me in the right direction as far as what products to try...so thanks for your continual insight. :)

The "rules":
1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

There are so many blogs I adore, so picking ten (I have to get back to doing work for my job now) wasn't easy, but here goes:

Alheessa 4 Realz
Beautiful With Brains
A Digital Angel
Ichigo Bunnie
Kimbabot
Life as ICEY it
Mayaari
Makeup Masala
Peace.Love.Makeup
Vanity Treasure

Everything Old is New

Hey hey....Once again, sorry I'm so behind. As soon as the wedding passed and I was getting better from the virus, my throat became very sore. After frustrating few days of throat decline exacerbated by having to smooth out issues with my new health care plan (oops, never picked a primary-care doc so no one would see me or accept my insurance!) I finally got things worked out and my throat checked out. (Note: I hate throat cultures. Sigh.) My tonsils and the glands under my neck are more swollen than I've ever seen them. I looked so bad my boss sent me home from work. Restful sleep has been almost impossible to achieve. And on top of it all, I'm writing this month's cover story for my job. Awesome timing to be hit by everything, right? :)

Thankfully I had some good emotional support (even though I'd just left my mom's home to go back to work and the group house where I'm currently living)...and a hot plate in my bedroom so I can make tea whenever I want. I just started taking antibiotics four times a day for a week, plus ibuprofen for the pain and I feel like I'm getting better. I also got very lucky to come across a very nice medical practice and am going back Friday to have my throat reexamined. And my story seems to be going okay at work, so it's all good. (Done whining.)

Anyway, a very relaxing activity while I've been sick is crocheting. For those of you who aren't super familiar, knitting is done with two needles, whereas crocheting is done with only one hook. I've been shown how to knit but I don't do it on my own. Maybe one day. With crocheting, though I've worked on fancier things like doll t-shirts, hats and blankets, I like to fall back on the classic scarf. I promised a friend of mine I'd make her a teal one, so when I can't sleep, that's what I've been working on.

Once you pick it up, crocheting can be relatively easy and a real stress reliever. It helps me clear my mind and focus on one thing. Plus, it's nice to see the fruits of your labor at the end.

I originally started this project using the dark teal and white yarn, and crocheted about a foot worth of the scarf but took it out because I didn't like it. That was a few hours worth of work, in and of itself. But if the project didn't look right there was no sense in finishing it. This scarf though looks nice in person and I'm excited to finish it up and give it to my friend. Hopefully by the time I get to the end I'll be all better too. :)

Happy New Year!

Wow, it feels like forever since I posted. Thanks for the words of encouragement! Unfortunately this past week I got very little done that I set out to do while taking a vacation from work. I'm at home (my mom's house) in New York, but spent most of the time being sick. Blah. Just some virus I probably picked up at the office, but it was bad enough to prompt me to go to the doctor, which I really dislike.

Anyway, I pulled myself together in time to go to my college roommate's wedding on Jan. 1.

It was absolutely fantastic. They are so cute! The affair took place in Connecticut, so the morning of the 3 p.m. ceremony I hopped in my car wearing my dress, sweatpants, an athletic jacket and sneakers. It was almost a three hour drive so I wanted to be comfy! And the zipper of the dress gets stuck in the material -- despite the fact that I got the original zipper replaced -- so once my mom and I properly zipped it up in N.Y. I figured I wouldn't take any chances with a wardrobe malfunction at the wedding hall...

Wanting to make sure I got there on time, I went straight from my house to the reception, not to the motel where I was planning to crash with my friends later. The venue was pretty empty when I arrived around 1:45 p.m. Then, out of the blue, the groom and his best man pulled in next to me. The groom is also a friend of mine so I got out of the car to chat with him and give him a huge hug (while looking like a mess with my sweatpants and sneakers under my dress, no makeup, my hair all screwed up and that long-drive glaze, lol). Not like my appearance really mattered, since he was was so excited for the big event! This day was a long time coming -- the two of them had been dating for four years, even though we're all so young...just 22 and 23 years old. It was nice to chat with the groom for just a couple of minutes, then he was called inside and I gathered my things to do a quick change in the bathroom. ;)

I bought them a futon cover from their Bed Bath and Beyond registry and brought a little gift to the reception: A silver-plated fortune cookie in a decorative box, in which I put a hand-written 'fortune' that said "To good health, good fortune and a great life together!"

I also made them a card (though forgive the crappy photography).


Another card I whipped up recently was this holiday-themed one, which I included in a care package to my best friend who is a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia.

Another not-so-stellar photo. I could have put something really classy or professional-looking in the middle, and toyed with a bunch of options, but ultimately I just grabbed a crayon and wrote that. In this case, I felt like it was a more personal throw-back to days past in our friendship. We've been best friends since seventh grade. Plus, sending funny cards is sort of our inside joke. I know this, with the glittery paper, the presents and the 'wooting' heart-person, will make her burst out with a big smile!

So that's what I've been up to while not sleeping or vegging in bed. Now I'm finally off to see my dad for the first time this week, and then....who knows what adventures await.

Tasty, Foolproof Meatball Recipe

I spent Saturday night one of the best ways I know how: cooking with two good friends. We made fresh spaghetti and homemade meatballs. If you've never had this meal you have not lived my friend! Pasta and meatballs is one of my most favorite comfort meals ever, but particularly when made from scratch. And when made in a kitchen full of love, not to sound too cheesy, hehe. :P It's true though - my mom taught me to cook and it's an activity I really enjoy sharing with special people in my life.

Victoria and Jason work intently...

I personally had never made spaghetti before...and I really didn't this time. Jason brought his dark blue Kitchenaid standing mixer, for which he has a spaghetti roller attachment and an attachment that cuts the dough into linguine. He did that while Victoria and I made the meatballs.

Flour, water and eggs, baby! Yeah, that's a hanger from my closet.

As for the meatball recipe...Meatballs are very easy and fun to make. Not only that, but the recipe is flexible for varying tastes. The recipe I used this weekend was taught to me by my mother and originally adapted from the recipe of a family friend's Italian grandmother, who brought it over from the Old World:

Meatballs:

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 2 oz. grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• A teaspoon of salt
  
• A handful of chopped curly parsley (to taste)
• Seasoning such as oregano and black pepper (to taste)
  

Sauce (to finish cooking the meatballs in):

• 1.5 - 2 regular sized jars of tomato sauce
• Half an onion, diced
  

Instructions: Put both ground meats into one large bowl. Add eggs, bread crumbs, cheese and parsley. Mix thoroughly with your hands. Season as you see fit while continuing to blend the ingredients.

Don't be afraid to get messy, mash it all up between your fingers! The consistency should be solid enough to form balls that won't slip apart or lose their shape, but not too dry. Even though I list amounts of ingredients above, when it comes to the dry ingredients and parsley it's not paramount that you measure everything to a tee. More important is to eyeball it for texture. The one rule I'd stick with is that you should use one egg per pound of meat.

Heat oil in a medium to large sized frying pan - enough to entirely coat the cooking surface. I'm partial to olive oil. Roll 1 to 1.5 inch-sized balls from the meat mixture and drop them in the hot pan, leaving about half an inch or an inch between each. (You need enough room to flip them all over.) Cook until they are browned on the outside but not totally cooked all the way through.

As the meatballs are done browning, transfer them to a large pot on a separate range filled with the tomato sauce. Turn this pot onto medium heat. You can either brown the meatballs and then put them on a plate with paper towels to soak up some of the olive oil, or you can transfer them immediately from the frying pan to the sauce-filled pot.

Once all the meatballs are finished, saute the diced onion in the frying pan until the pieces are slightly transparent and beginning to caramelize. Add to the tomato sauce and meatball pot.

Fold the meatballs into the sauce. You want to have enough sauce to almost entirely cover the meatballs. Cover the pot and let sit for about 10 minutes, to give time for the sauce to heat and for the meatballs to finish cooking through.

Enjoy!
So good!! Paired with cold cream soda....yum. Looking at the photo is making me hungry now.

Notes: You're not married to using pork and beef. Flavor-wise, I like using two different meats with at least one of them being beef, but you can also try ground turkey, ground chicken, ground veal, etc. You can also stick to only one kind of meat, though I'd really suggest using two, it gives a much more unique taste.

Same goes with the seasonings and with the cheese. I like Romano, but Parmesan is just as good. You don't even necessarily need to use cheese, though I like the slight flavor it gives and the way it helps the consistency of the meatballs.

Pick ground meats with a higher fat content if taste is your first priority. I used 90/10 beef in this recipe, though being somewhat health conscious, I usually cook with more lean packages. Ground turkey is a good way to make the meatballs slightly healthier while keeping tasty.

Field Trip and Interview Clothes

I'm taking my first trip to Tysons Corner today, a huge mall in Northern Virginia. I can't even bear to read through the list of all the stores, it's so extensive...But first, my two friends and I are going to a Smart Car dealership for one of them to take a test drive. Have you seen these little things?

My friend says they are supposed to be very safe because the frame is built like that of a race car, and that they are gas efficient and easy to park. So I need to hop in the shower now and get ready if I plan to meet them on time...

The second thing on my mind, though, is a job interview I have Monday. I have no idea what to wear. I feel like I should look very polished, commanding and confident. A little tough too. I have black slacks, a black suit jacket and black heels, but what color shirt to wear is a mystery to me. Black doesn't seem right. Black checkered seems too busy. My pink shirt isn't a professional enough fabric. And my light blue shirt fits funny.

FYI, I'm very happy at my current job -- where I wear sweater sets most of the week -- and why I'm doing this other interview is a long, involved story for another time. It's also a bit late to back out now.

Okay, what I'm thinking is that a dark, emerald green shirt would be perfect. Serious with a punch. Subtly exciting. With gray pearl earrings. Maybe?

Let's see if this actually exists in my size! I mean, this super mall should have everything, right? Wish me luck...

Ellen is the New Face of Covergirl - Yay!

I can't say that a product spokesperson has ever really swayed me to buy from a particular company, but that may change in light of the fact that Ellen DeGeneres is going to be the new face of Covergirl.

I really applaud the company for picking someone who isn't your typical 18-year-old Hollywood "it" girl or another maturing-but-still-glamorous actress. Don't get me wrong, Ellen is very pretty -- I can't believe she's 50! She's aged so well and her skin looks great. But she's not the classic beauty you'd think a cosmetics company would seek. She's got her own style and vibe and personally I adore her for that. I think it's fantastic that she's being rewarded for being her awesome self, and I hope it sends a message to young women who look up to her that they too can be successful while being true to themselves.

Ellen is simultaneously a safe choice yet a not-so-safe one: she's very upbeat and likable and her humor isn't very offensive, but she is also an openly gay, middle-aged woman with a clean but slightly quirky look....not exactly one who screams makeup poster girl.

But maybe she should. Or more importantly, why shouldn't she? Come to think of it, Covergirl has picked quite a few slightly unexpected spokeswomen lately. Like Queen Latifah, who doesn't fit into all the traditional paradigms of beauty. Even Rihanna and Drew Barrymore are slightly edgy gals. Sure, for each of them there have probably been half a dozen gorgeous models with perfect cheek bones promoting Covergirl. And there's nothing wrong with that either. We don't have to throw all our conceptions of beauty out the window, we could just expand them a little bit.

My hope is that in some even tiny way, Ellen as a cosmetics spokeswoman helps to broaden our interpretation of beauty. That we can appreciate genetic outliers like Halle Berry and Heidi Klum (I think she's absolutely radiant), popular actresses, supermodels, and the seemingly nameless slew of girls who grace each season's makeup ads...but also realize that beautiful doesn't have to be 18 years old, 5-foot-11, 105 pounds with blond beachy waves.

Again, Ellen is no ugly duckling. She has really nice features and a cute personal style. She may not be Portia de Rossi (though being married to Portia is probably the next best thing), but she's a far cry from Dr. Phil, if you know what I mean. (By that, I mean that Dr. Phil is really ugly.) But even a decade ago, the public wasn't ready for Ellen as the person she is. Her sitcom rapidly declined after she came out in prime time.

Now, the tabloids cheered when she and Portia tied the knot. Ellen is a beautiful, smart and talented woman who's come such a long way, and I'm glad to support a company that recognizes that she's a deserving spokeswoman.

Now, if only they'd stop testing on animals, or I definitely knew that they did....then I'd be really extra happy.

Shower Pouf Power

Many of you probably already understand the awesomeness that is the shower pouf. Yes, I'm talking about the fluffy, synthetic kind you can pick up at any drugstore for $3 or so...what a great invention!

See, I wasn't a believer in shower poufs until my recent mini-vacation, when a friend with whom I'd been crashing convinced me that using a pouf is a far more effective method of getting sudsy than using body wash alone. He even has a whole rhythm down as far as how to soap-up (it's his thing), and though I rolled my eyes at first, I eventually figured it couldn't hurt to try it out.

Well, it really did make a difference. With the pouf, the soap gets into a nice lather and is thus much easier to rub all over my body. Of course I'll be replacing my poufs with some frequency or putting it in them dishwasher or something to be disinfected, since these things can start to harbor bacteria. (Yuck.) Still, I can't wait to go home and start using a pouf with my regular arsenal of body washes...

And so, here are things I've liked lately (unfortunately I am not home and couldn't pull ingredients up on-line, so below are just my opinions from using these products on a regular basis):

St. Ives Whipped Silk Ultra Moisturizing Body Wash ($3.99 at CVS online) -- My former roommate from Duluth, Minn., says this is the only thing that keeps her skin moisturized without additional lotion during the cold, dry winter back home. I tried it and liked it. I also like the Swiss Vanilla Moisturizing Body Wash, which is what I borrowed from my friend this week. Whipped Silk doesn't have much of a scent, but Swiss Vanilla does in a very subtle, sweet way. I also like its consistency and can vouch for the fact that it gets quite sudsy with a shower pouf. I might switch to Swiss Vanilla when my Whipped Silk is done, but I think both are worthy choices.

Aveeno Positively Smooth Shower & Shave Cream ($6.49 at Ulta online) -- A creamy, unscented wash that I find quite moisturizing. I can't gauge how well this works in enabling you to shave less. I have used it while shaving my legs though, and it's thick enough to keep me pretty nick-free. I prefer something with a bit of a scent and next time will look for the Aveeno body wash that another friend of mine described as almond-smelling.

Bath and Body Works Creamy Body Wash in Midnight Pomegranate (normally $9.50, I got it on sale for $5 a few weeks ago!) -- Alright, now we're talking when it comes to scent! This wash is the most liquid-y of the bunch, with the consistency of thick hand soap. Don't be confused, it's opaque like creamy soap, not a clear bath gel. I love the scent. To me, it's light, fruity and not super synthetic smelling, and I like that it leaves a soft trace of the scent on my skin. (Like, you can smell it only if you're very close and, well, sniffing my skin, lol.) Smell is a very personal preference though and I'd encourage you -- if you're gutsy enough to handle the barrage of scents -- to go into B&BW and hunt down your own nose's favorite.

I don't have any complaints about the body wash when it comes to cleaning me off too. We'll see how it fares when the weather gets cooler and drier. I have a good feeling that this product's consistency will lend itself very well to sudsing on a shower pouf, so I think it will be the first one I use when I get home Saturday night. :)

Does anyone know the perfect scented + moisturizing body wash? And what do you use to apply your soap?? Are you down with Shower Pouf Power?