I could eat instant ramen everyday.

My dinner for tonight... lemon chicken and instant ramen. And yes I love Chinese parsley on everything!!! Even my burgers :)

BTW, I DIE.

Just had to share I got this as a belated bday present from one of my kiddie's that I babysit. So sweet right? I was pretty stoked cause I hadn't even checked out the new HK line out at Sephora. I got the HK perfume and eyeshadow & lipgloss palette. I loveee the perfume bottle the little pump thing to squirt out the perfume~* Surprisingly it smells pretty good. It's light and has a fruity flowery scent which is actually what I like! Seeee.. Hello Kitty and I our meant to be ♥ The eyeshadow is really nice too. The one I got has a violet, purple gray and black shade. It comes on really nice but I do recommend putting eyeshadow primer before hand to make the color pop a little bit. I can't wait to get the rest of the collection.. eep.

Indian food love ♥

So recently I've been eating A LOT of Indian food thanks to Russell's new obsession with cooking Indian food. He even bought a huge cook book called "The Best Ever Indian Cookbook." When Russell's really into something, he's REALLY into it. Like how he was going through a Thai/Indian curry phase and I had to eat curry for like 2 weeks straight ;_; Thank goodness his food actually tastes good or else I'd have to pretend to like it! We actually go to the Indian Market (located on S. Beretania St.) to pick up the ingredients. It has pretty much everything you would need to make Indian food! They even got Indian movies and jewelry. Here are a few of his Indian dishes he has made so far!

Pork vindaloo... kind of like a curry but has a more ginger taste to it.

Another pork curry type dish

Some kind of lamb lentil soup dish (sorry don't know the exact name!) and Russell's homemade naan......... jusssst kidding. We actually bought the naan already made haha. Just had to put in the oven for a minute and voilà, it's done and ready to eat! It's so good too!

Ok Russ didn't make this. We actually went to an Indian Restaurant called Cafe TajMahal that we randomly found on our way to The Big Fat Greek. I wasn't in a Greek mood so decided to try here. It is is a small restaurant right behind The Big Fat Greek. I was happy to find "lassi" on the menu which for those who don't know is an Indian yogurt type milkshake. Something I discovered when I went to India Cafe. I love it!! And I think it's actually better than India Cafe. It's more thick and a little bit sweeter. Taste just like a yogurt milkshake lol. It helps a lot with the spicy foods!!

Fish curry... that was my fav.

Indian lamb curry... this had HUGE chunks of lamb. Normally I'm not a big lamb fan but this was soft and tender. Taste just like beef but softer :)

Their fresh out of the oven naan... I think this was the best I've ever had!

And this is what I ate tonight... Russell's version of an "Indian" burger.

You'd think by now I'd be sick of eating Indian food but actually I still want to try out some other Indian restaurants. I loveee spicy food so that's probably why me and Indian food mix so well :D

Happy 25... or er.. not so happy 25.

See I told you I wouldn't take a 957485735375 million years to update again. So my 25th birthday was this past month. Jan 18 to be exact. It didn't really hit me that I was 25 until a couple days after my bday and then I officially felt like an old fart :(

Anyways, I decided to celebrate my bday on the 16th (Sunday) since my real bday fell on a random Tuesday. It was Martin Luther King Jr. weekend so I figured most of my friends would have Monday off. This year I decided I wanted to go full on out since I was turning 25... that's quarter of a century!! I had this whole idea in my head that I just wanted a party with all the things I love... which is of course Hello Kitty & animal print!!! I chose to have my party at Ichiriki Loft which I thought would be the perfect little place to throw my bday bash. I hadn't been to the Loft in over a year but I knew that the setting was exactly the pefect place to have a HK party. I was in total party mode and even went to Party City (which seriously has almost everything you would need to plan a party) and got decorations and little party favors. I was so excited that I almost thought party planning could be a new career for me. Boy was I wrong!!!

The day of my bday party, I was kind of in panic mode. Not ONLY was I sick and coughing like crazy.. I also found out last min that another guest was coming and I didn't have enough party favors (NOTE TO SELF: Always buy extra just incase!!!). I didn't want that person to feel left out so I actually went all the way back to Party City which is kind of out of the way for me and got extra party favors.

After I got that done, I told myself OK I have lots of time to get ready for my party. I also told myself... I want to be there EARLY so that I can set up the party favors before my friends arrive. Well I guess my timing was off cause I ended up being late. Even the cupcake girl who delivered my cupcakes had to wait for me to get there... how sad. I was running around like a maniac and when I got to The Loft, 2 of my friends were already there!! Thankfully they helped me set up and calmed me down a little bit.

My party deco came out a lot cuter than I thought... thanks to the peeps at The Loft! I was pretty happy. All my friends came in animal print like how I wanted! I did find out though that the guest who I went out and got the extra party favor for ended up not coming!!! So I really didn't need to go all the way out to Party City!!! But that's okay. I was just happy all my friends & lover was there with me to celebrate.

Despite being sick... I wasn't going to let that stop me from having my party. But it did make it a lot harder for me to enjoy my time cause I was hacking away. Why of all days did I have to get sick around my bday??? *sigh*

There was, however, a few bday blunders... like Uhhhh the 2 HOURS wait we had for our nabe. Seriously... so unlike Ichiriki.. but we literally waited 2 hours to have something that we had to cook for ourselves anyways. I was a tad bit annoyed, especially since we had to be at Oceans by a certain time for our vip table.

Not only was the wait long but our servers weren't very attentive and we had to like literally go up to them and ask for where our food and drinks were. We even had to ask for utensils to eat with! I don't know if we came on a bad day but they knew there was a 15 ppl party coming in. They should have expected it!!!

The plus side, the food was pretty good but I couldn't thoroughly enjoy it since I was rushing to eat it so that I could get to Oceans on time. Food wise.. great. Service wise.. HORRIBLE.

As if anything else could go wrong.... I was also dissatisfied with my $93 Hello Kitty red velvet cupcakes that look like something I even could of made at home. Ordered it from Frosted. Be warned, if you want superly over priced cupcakes that look like an amateur baker could of made.. then order from them because that is what you'll get.

Although things didn't go as expect, I tried to make the most of it and just had fun with my girlies n hubby at Oceans. We got a vip table and drank & danced the night away~

Alcohol + being sick... was probably not the best idea though!!

I decided this will be the last time I'll throw a big party for my bday lol. Or at least until I'm 30!! Seriously, it takes too much work!!! Plus there's not much to look forward to after 25? I am still gratefull , however, for all my awesome friends who came. They are the best =) And so is my hubbster ♥ Ok on to the pics!!

HK Fiesta @Ichiriki LOFT

Party deco~

Party favor for the girlies~

Kawaii ne?... thanks Sascha for the confetti idea!

Brent & Sascha in the animal print spirit!

Even Brent joined in the animal print fun~

My bday nails! mix mix ♥

My bday shot glass ;)

Drinky drink time

The Russpoo & I


My lovely friends ♥

My pretty in pink prezzies

Table setting

My $93 cupcakes.

Should of just asked my mom & sis to make a ginormous cupcake like how they did for their friend's bday

The girlies

Cran vodkas @Oceans808

January babies

My friends Candi & Tiana


My sis Tiffany and I

Da boyz in their white tees

Celebrated my real bday at Taormina... had no complaints there!! Food is delishhh.

My grandma & cousin Erica


Isn't my obachan cute?

Even the caesar salad was good

Seriously best bolognese pasta everrr.


My sister and her super cheeesey lasagna

Tiramisu love.

wee happy bday to me.

so gooood...

I literally ate almost the whole thing :X

The fambam

All my goodies :)

One of my kiddies that used to be my class brought this for me at work :) Zippy's chocolate dobash cake... how thoughtful!!

End of 2010 & Beginning of 2011 UPDATE~

So I guess my attempt to update my blog more has failed once again. I really was on a blogging streak at one point and blogged almost everyday! But of course, that didn't continue for very long because one, I got really busy with work, the holidays & just life in general and two, I was lazy. Plus I was still getting adjusted to my new life with the fiancé! Which btw, has been fun and great.. but definitely learned a lot about each other that we didn't know before (even after being together for 5 years!) It is nice though being able to wake up to him every morning and going to bed with him every night ♥ Anyways, my goal this year IS to blog more! Lately I've been really into Yelp. I seriously love Yelp cause it's real people writing real reviews so you know it's not bullcrap.. well most of the times at least. I even found my new hair dresser from Yelp! See I got a new hair cut =)
I almost feel like as if it was fate because I randomly decided at 7 in the morning to get my haircut but wanted to try someone new. I typed in "hair salons" on yelp and the first thing that popped up was Winam Hair Studio which was a minute away from me. I was like wow that's convenient AND Hillary (the hair dresser) had all 5 star reviews so I figured she must be good. Lucky for me she was available that morning and I was able to schedule an appt at 9AM! She gave me the "I can't stop looking at myself" haircut. I was so happy with the results. Finally a hairstylist that is able to cut my hair the way I want it!! She has her own private little studio and it's pretty much by appointments only. I feel like I found the jackpot!!

Anyways besides finding my new hair dresser... I also found THE perfect boots..

Thanks to Bamboo Sky =)

This past Christmas was Russell's and I first Christmas together in our new apartment. I decided I was feeling in the Christmas spirit and got our first Christmas tree!

Yes, of course a fake one. And yes, that's a BBQ ornament.. I just had to get it for Russell.

All my prezzies.. feeling a little *spoiled*

Unfortunately Russ was working on Christmas day so we decided to spend Christmas Eve together at his parents' house.. which btw I have not seen in years. So I was a tad bit nervous but dinner turned out great! His dad made a feast for us and I brought over my pathetic sausage stuffed mushrooms. Russell's dad actually made stuffed mushrooms too but it was clearly obvious that his was much better appearance and taste wise than mine. They were nice enough to compliment mines and in fact, liked the crunchiness of the sausages (in other words, I burnt it). Oh well at least I tried!

My chocolate peanut butter toffee turned out pretty amazing though!

Russell's dad prime rib

Yummy samosas!

Ally girl

On Christmas day I spent it at my mama's house. We had a Chinese feast... way more food than we needed!

Had this box awaiting for me when I got back to my apartment :)

From the hubbster!!! Yes I do love my Louis ;)

.... And it's initialed!

Been really into crepes lately. My friend Maiko & I have been on a crepe hunt. We discovered Harajuku Crepes at Shirokiya.

I must say these were pretty damn good crepes. Almost as good as the ones in Japan. But beware of the scary korean lady who is not so friendly....
Maiko & I will continue our crepe hunt.. but for now, Harajuku Crepes is the best we've tried so far.

My cooking has also gotten a lot better!

See! I have proof. Even my sister liked it and that's saying a lot.

My beef quesadilla

Pork belly fried rice and stir fried veggies.. I think even Russ likes my cooking but hates to admit it ;P

New Year's was pretty mellow this year. Russ & I decided to stay in since he had to wake up early the next morning for work.
My New Year's outfit...

My New Year's nails

Pop champaaagne!

Time for some bubbly~

Fireworks from our balcony


... as you can tell with this pic, I still don't have the iPhone4 :(

With the fambam on New Year's Day 2011 @New Otani Hotel... definitely not the same without grandpa :(

So I made a few New Year's resolutions and I am DETERMINED to accomplish it all within this year =)

1. To be on time and PLAN ahead of time.... in other words no more procrastination!! (This however, didn't go so well for my bday party haha... but will update you more on that another time).
2. Start wedding planning (I guess this goes along with the first one).
3. I should probably, however, figure our wedding date first!!!
4. Stop shopping every weekend and spend WISELY. Yes, I need to follow the footsteps of my friend Maiko who is a smart shopper and doesn't buy everything she sees in site like I do =)
5. To be a cleaning maniac like my fiancé. Normally in most relationships it would be the other way around... but in my case, Russ is the clean freak!! Not me.
6. Make a trip out to CA to see the BFF Sarah.
7. Make another trip out to Seattle to see the other BFF Chiri.
8. Save all my babysitting $$$ for the wedding.
9. Work out.
10. Brush up on my cooking skillz.

I have a few more.. but those are the main ones. Oh and not to stress out so much!!!! Cause I tend to do that to myself a lot =)

I was going to post some bday pics from my 25th bday party but this post took me forever. I'll leave that for another update =) Promise I won't take another 94758759838 million years to write up an update.

Hope you all had a wonderful new year~! Btw, new layout for the new year!!

P.S. This is my motto for the year...