Happy 100th!

Why, hello there.
Guess what?
What you're currently reading is my centennial blog post!
(I mean, sure, a decent number of earlier posts are only photos or a line here and there, a boring update, blah, blah, blah...ok. Ok. Leave it alone.)

So, after much contemplation and stress over what to write here (which would explain the lengthy time between this and my prior post) I've decided to write about vitamins.

Still there? Good.
Yes, vitamins.

So, yesterday, I go and pull out my mighty bottle of daily vitamins from the cupboard. They're the gummy kind. Contrary to popular believe (marketing & commercials), I do not get the gummy vitamins so that I can feel like a kid again. I'm Asian. Our gummy candies were awesome. My vitamins do not remind me of my childhood.

Truth be told, I have a slightly easier time chewing on something that tastes like cough medicine rather than swallowing something the size of a basketball which then makes my mouth taste like the waiting room of a doctor's office for half a day. Really, the best is when the large pills get lodged in my throat and I spend a good hour making mild hacking noises or start swallowing crackers and taking large gulps of liquid to try to make the thing go away...and, still, my mouth...doctor's waiting room.

My vitamins are fruit punch (cough medicine) flavored and come in an assortment of fun (expected) "fruit shapes"...mainly lumps and lumps with lots of little lumps on them that, I suppose, are meant to arouse memories of freshly picked raspberries or what have you.

Great. Good for me for wanting to make sure I get enough vitamins every day because I can't seem to live a life of balanced meals. (Yes, I've had carne asada tacos three nights in a row. Don't judge me. I need my protein.)

So, I'm staring at the bottle as I pour myself some cereal. (Can we take a minute to talk about how much I love cereal? I love it. I love it like I love Irish Oatmeal, but it takes 25 minutes less to prepare.)

Right...this bottle. It's called One-A-Day. How quaint and lovely. Makes me feel like it's so easy to keep my body alive and functioning. One a day? Really? That's great. Easy. It's like birth control, except the only thing I need to fear if I forget to take it is, perhaps, a mild lack of pep that might have been there if I would eat a head of broccoli or something.

Oh, One-A-Day, you make life so...
and then I read the directions. I recall now reading them once before when I bought them.
"Chew two gummies daily."

Come on. Really?
They're gummies. They could have made them bigger so as to ensure that you only had to take ONE a day. Instead, I need to take two.
It's a misnomer.

...and very suddenly, reality set in.
Cheerios are not cheery, though, at least, they're O-shaped...Their beigey, grainy texture and cardboardy flavor should translate to a name more like Oh-nO's.
Black tea is actually brown in color.
My God, Cookie Crisp isn't crispy at all!

I could go on, but each time I realize something else, I become a bit more suspicious of everything.
This world is full of misnomers!
Beware!!!

BAM!
Happy 100th!
xo!

*tap tap* Is This Thing On?

Soooooo, yeah.
Hi. It's been a while.

I have a perfectly good reason for why I've been gone for so long.

1. I broke up with my on-again-off-again-long-distance boyfriend
2. I got a new job
3. I got a new apartment in New York City and moved in with one of my best friends
4. I got engaged (to the on-again-off-again-long-distance boyfriend who showed up out of nowhere and proposed.)
   
5. I moved to Los Angeles
6. I got a dog
7. I got married

I mean, those are pretty good reasons, no?
Oh, and last but certainly not least, I forgot my password.

So, here I am, back in action..."Action" being a word that's relative.

I'm definitely dealing with more "action" than a slug.
However, I'm dealing with less "action" than a movie star.
So, that'll give you a vague idea of where I'm at.

So, yes, married. Hyperactively nesting (painting 4 rooms in 1 week counts as hyperactive) and not prepared for children for at least 2 to 3 years. My little Asian pelvis is rejoicing.

What's going on?
I moved west and all this sunshine and flexible-hour living has made me soft.
I'm now working part time for my old job and looking for all kinds of flexible new and shiny things. I've gotten back into illustration and am working with a friend, illustrating her book on the history of shoes (out next year - Harper Collins, title is still in the works. I'll keep you updated.)

And, get this, I'm trying to become a voice actor.
The New York Me would have punched me in the face for trying such a thing, but the Los Angeles Me is saying that at least it won't matter what I look like and I can show up to the studio in sweatpants (dear God, I don't wear sweatpants!) and still get the job.
This and weird Future Planning Me is saying, "well, with a flexible schedule and lucrative career, you can spend more time with the children you plan on having."

...cut to New York Me punching me in the face again.

So, there you have it.
I'm back and plan on posting on the regs again.
Yes, rejoice, my minuscule fan base of (probably) zero.
I have returned.

I'm the same me, but now I'm with someone that I would need to be legally separated from if I wanted to book it. (a.k.a more grown up...a.k.a married...a.k.a who am I kidding, I'm still the same person AND, for the record, I love my husband.)

random & scattered

my thoughts are everywhere today. i suspect it has something to do with my trying to re-quit smoking.

yeah, that's right.

i failed my first attempt this year and i'm pretty disappointed in myself.

...but, yes, i'm trying to re-quit and today is day 1.

i've already dealt with a handful of urges and have been diligently sipping water and slowly chewing raw almonds.

now, usually my best defense for not smoking is to eat healthy and exercise so i feel even worse if i have a cigarette...

the problem is that it's not working out so well today.

i had a doughnut and a brownie before noon...

and i actually became upset when i got to the last bite (yes, that's what the photo is of) of my sandwich for lunch...

i want to eat everything...

this doesn't help me...at all.

in other news, i had another bizarre dream last night about being in a spaceship.

...i also really like compressed air.

ok. back to work.

ma boulangette, susan (the ice cream edition)

yes, you're looking at a cake.

yes, this is an ice cream cake.

of course, it's been created by susan.

it was created all in the name of my boss...it was his birthday yesterday.

sidenote: i've decided to call susan "la boulangette".

i might be mangling my french, but a boulanger is a baker...so, i'm assuming that one of a petite stature would be deemed a "boulangette"...

whatever. if it's wrong, i'm sorry, france. i didn't mean to murder your language...in fact, i think it's a very nice language and i promise to learn it inside out...as soon as i can get my hands on the rosetta stone...

i couldn't keep up with my french classes. (i'm a horrible person, i know. so non-committal.)

...but back to more exciting things. the cake.

imagine an asteroid made of chocolate and a planet made of vanilla...a meteor shower comprised solely of thin mints, space dust made of cocoa powder, two rocket ships (one made of chocolate ice cream and one made of vanilla ice cream) and a very large space capsule lazily floating around filled with homemade whipped cream.

...now...

imagine if, by some catastrophically aggressive gravitational force, all of these things came crashing together in an deliciously epic (delepic!) "big bang" moment.

...leaving only rays of happiness in its wake...

and wishes for a siesta.

this is how i believe this cake came into existence...

except susan was the gravitational force and all the components were not in space...the "big bang" was the moment susan decided to put everything together.

...in other words, i just really like making up stories to try to express how i feel about certain foods.

this cake was like a planet.

...with its sheer existence, it could support a small race (in this case, a boutique company) for many years (in this case, the rest of the work day), while keeping them happy (in this case, awake).

can i just take a moment to say that i'm fantasizing about this cake as i write this post?

yeah. it's true.

in short, the boulangette successfully strikes again!

this time...with ice cream!

initiation...

so, i've been placed on the back of the winged god of ovens and been taken for a soaring ride...straight into the fiery mouth of baked-good-culture.

...and ya know what?

i like being nestled in the belly of the baking beast...there's something cozy about it...almost like knitting...though much less convenient to do in the subway or on an airplane.

i've decided that it's time...

i've reached that point in my life where i need a stress-relieving hobby. i've realized up until now that most of my hobbies have been stress-inducing (illustrations have to be perfect, photographs have to be exactly what i want, graphic designs need to be accurate down to the pixel).

so, i've discovered baking through my dear friend, amit, and we have been giving it a spin as a duo. so far, we've had 2 successful cupcake rounds, 1 successful brownie round and 2 failed frostings. it's all very exciting.

i even purchased a 9-speed handmixer.

9 speeds!...i haven't even tried the 9th level yet...but i've never been able to beat egg whites into peaks so fast in my life...

in a way, i feel like i'm trying to carry on my mother's legacy...one she let go of decades ago.

her lemon-poppyseed cake, baumkuchen, and cream puffs were epic.

...and this reminds me, i need to learn to make those baked goods, stat!

my co-workers won't know what hit 'em.

excitement abounds!

in other good news, the website re-haul is finally complete.

now i can tick that off my new years resolution list. the joys.