What a nice weekend!

So my weekend was pretty relaxing. Baby and I tried a new sushi restaurant in the Galleria area called Sage 400 Friday night. FYI- this place was phenomenal! Although Baby and I spent almost as much on our two glasses of wine (yes, we're wine snobs and we're not ashamed to admit it!) as we did the whole sushi dinner, it is still a restaurant worth revisiting. I haven't said that about many restaurants lately seeing as I've been disappointed on my last couple of outings to new places, so this was a welcome change. Afterwards, we went home to watch the basketball playoffs and fell asleep to the Rockets getting their butts kicked.

Saturday, I went for a mani and pedi while Baby did some yard work - thank goodness he didn't ask me to help! Then we went to the Galleria. If any of you know me, then you know I absolutely hate the Galleria. I usually hate shopping in general mainly because clothes are not made for short women who are NOT built like miniature stick-figures. 90 percent of the time, I leave the mall depressed and without one item...except maybe another pair of sexy shoes. I have all these great shoes and no outfits to where with them :(

Anyhoo, Baby asked me if I wanted something from Tiffany's but instead I got him to buy me something that was almost PRICELESS. We entered Express seeing I was on a search for a pair of slacks for work. Express is probably the one place I can buy their Editor slacks in a 4-Short and NOT have to get them altered. I'm sure you're saying, "well, I'm sure they have a big selection." Let me correct that thought. They had about 8 different colors of the Editor pant. In the whole store, they were only able to find two pairs. TWO! Damn them! One was in black, which I can always use another pair of black slacks, and the other in grey. Although it wasn't the color I really wanted, I had to jump on the fact that they had them in my size. In addition, I found a short-sleeve dress jacket that could be worn with slacks or jeans that did not require altering as well. I felt like I hit the motherload! You have to understand that these finds are probably the most items I've found at one store that actually fit...EVER! I might walk out of a store with one item (that still had to be taken to the tailor), but never two...let alone three! Baby opted to buy them for me as my gift seeing as he realized that this gift was definitely more meaningful than shiny jewelry that he could buy me at any time. These were clothes that actually fit and made me happy. Yes, it might seem strange that I preferred work clothes over jewelry, but unless you've seen me leaving a mall devestated and almost in tears, you probably would never understand. Granted, these slacks aren't cheap nor was the jacket since nothing I wanted was on sale (go figure!) so he probably spent more on the clothes than he would've had I picked a little silver necklace or earrings at Tiffany's. Oh, well. He loves me and bought me something that made me oh so happy. That's all that counts, right?

We also invited my family over to Baby's house Sunday for lunch. He cooked Chicken Tetrazinni and I made Red Wine Vinegar Asaparagus and Shallots - YUM! I have to say this... Baby must love me to put up with me, my mom, my sister, her husband, and my 2-year old niece. The day was great, but definitely wore us out. We were in bed before 9pm, and I'm sure I was asleep by 10pm. What a weekend!

Ole!

Last Thursday night, the gang decided to get together for a little Tex-Mex for my birthday. Nothing says celebrating your birthday like big sombreros and margaritas. Unfortunately, I was still on antibiotics so I was still on non-drinking mode :( I guess I'll just have to make up for that while I'm on my relaxing vacation in Scottsdale, AZ this weekend :)

Queso makes me HAPPY!

Tres Leches makes me even MORE happy!

Getting Baby to wear the sombrero makes me HAPPIEST! Ha!

Couldn't Dealer pass for my long lost sister?

My Girls

The BIG 3-0!

WOOHOO!!!

Under the weather

For over a week (yes, even when Baby's parents were in town) I have been feeling pretty crappy. So the whole getting vomitted on when you already feel like shit really did help situations any better. It started off as allergies, progressed into a sinus infection, and snowballed into full-blown coughing, fever, and overall just plain SICK! I've been on antibiotics for the last 4 days and have another 6 days to go. Horrifically, that means no drinking on my actual 30th birthday next week. And no birthday celebratory drinks with Doc on his last weekend in town. WHAT?!?!?! Do I even like Doc when I'm sober?!?! Do I like any of my friends when I'm sober over a weekend for that matter?!?!?! Oh, well. What can you do? I can't afford to be sick another week, so I will begrudgingly behave.

Hope you all have a better weekend than I do!

In honor of the lives lost and families trying to cope

"Lady" of the Night

Most of you know that I live in the great kitschy area of Montrose in our great city of H-town. I love the novelty and artsy-ness of the area as well as many of the old colonial homes nestled in the tiny little neighborhoods. The downside is that there are many a street hustlers that wander aimlessly about both in the shadier neighborhoods and the good neighborhoods. I suppose it all falls down to no zoning laws in Houston. Just like beautiful homes can be built right next to a crackhouse, a prostitute will work the corner of a busy nightlife street as much as they will a residential one a block away. Aaahh such is the life of inner city living...

I had quite the entertaining thing happen to me last night. As I pulled into my street to park my car, I saw a not-so-attractive tranny prostitute working the corner a street away from my place. As I noticed that my normal parking spot was taken by some random car (neighbors must have had company over), I had to drive to the end of the street and pull back around to park on the opposite side of the street across from my humble abode rather than right in front of it. The next thing you know, the tranny starts walking up to my car. I start thinking, "Oh, great...'she' thinks I turned the car around to pick her up." Nice... At the same time, I was on the phone with Doc who thought the unraveling situation was pretty entertaining. The second I put the car in park, the tranny tries to open the passenger car door. I crack the window to inform her that I live here, and am not looking for a score. "She" looked quite embarrassed (do prosts get embarrassed about misunderstandings like that or simply consider it part of the job?), and quickly walked away. She headed down the street and back to the main road. Poor tranny prostitute. I think she's new to the game. She didn't sound like she spoke English well, and is probably new north of the border. Suppose that's why I don't think she realized that even just a couple of blocks away from the gay nightlife scene makes a world of difference and puts you onto a quiet, sleepy, family-oriented neighborhood. If for whatever reason, the life she's living is one she cannot or chooses not to change for something more respectable, I hope she learns the ropes soon. If "she" keeps mistaking heterosexual, little Asian women coming home from their night job as a new "John", she will definitely starve.

He is such an exaggerator...but things still went well

So I've decided that Baby has this weird notion that people are more conservative than they truly are. Granted, I know he usually gets all uptight and P.C. around work people - which can be understandable depending on your work environment - but he tends to do that with just about everybody. Which for me, as we all know my nature to be outspoken and forthright, can be a polar opposite of Baby's ways of interacting. I suppose he wanted me to be on my best behavior with his parents, therefore, telling me all these things. What did he think I would do? Show up in leather chaps and no pants, and talk about how Baby and I rarely know what a weekend is like sober?!?!? Jeez... I love shock value, but I usually wait until at least the third time I meet someone ;)

First off, the meeting of the parents went extremely well. The whole "they don't curse, they don't drink" thing was not entirely true. Although they didn't spout off four-letter words like sailors, his parents did enjoy a glass or three of vino. All in all, I didn't feel like such a heathen. I found common ground with his mother that she enjoyed eating every hour just like I did. And I saw exactly in his father where Baby gets the whole rolling of the eyes accompanied by a "why are you always hungry? What's wrong with you?" scenario.

Saturday, I met up with Baby et al at his place before the performance of Wicked so that we could ride together. Let me inform you that the performance was everything the reviews have said about it...it was SPECTACULAR! The sets, the lighting, the acting, the singing, the choreography were phenomenal. I would be willing to see it again...and again...and again. Maybe I will take Doc the next time I visit him in NYC since he has yet to see it.

In addition to a great Saturday of theatre and an extremely tasty dinner at Grotto Ristorante, we decided to take them to the Museum of Natural Science for the Rome exhibit on Sunday afternoon. Coincidentally, the International Festival was going on in the park across the street from the museum, so we walked around there for a bit prior to heading to the museum. Japan was the country they honored this year, and there were performances, tea dances, and food galore. After taking in enough of that, we started off to the museum.

That is when a complete Rice Spice moment happened...squeamish beware that you are being forewarned that this story is not for the queasy...

Once we entered the museum, we realized the ticket line zig-zagged throughout and the wait would be quite a while. I decide to take a quick trip to the restroom. As I was washing my hands to leave said public restroom, a young girl (about high school age) comes running in to throw up in the trash can next to me. In her effort to get sick in the trash can, she back splashes her vomit all on my back, the back of my jeans, and a bit in my hair. Horror washed over me, then a wave of absolute rage. The girl continued to vomit, therefore, I felt it would be a cheap shot to punch her in the back of the head so I refrained with all the energy in my body. A woman was nice enough to use baby wipes to assist me in my cleaning efforts, but the damage was done. I smelled of puke and was not a happy camper. The girl's mother was in there helping her, and made no effort to make eye contact or apologize. Where were these people raised that they couldn't even offer up a simple, "I'm sorry"?!?!?! Huh?!?! Where I ask?!?!? The second she finished getting sick, they simply walked out of the restroom. Bitches!

After regaining my senses, I ran to Baby (because his cell phone was dead...damn him for never charging it!) to inform him and his parents we were leaving. Luckily, I caught them right as they were at the window to purchase the entrance tickets. So there I was in the car, the first weekend meeting Baby's parents, on my knees facing the rear window in the backseat as not to get any of the excrement on Baby's new car seats (he just bought the new Jeep Grand Cherokee last week), windows down to help air out the foul smell as Baby drove me home to get cleaned up. What are the odds?!?! At least his parents will forever remember me and why we didn't get to see the Rome exhibit...ugh! I'm sure that'll be a great story to take back home to their friends in Florida...

Well, I suppose that things couldn't go smoothly the WHOLE time they were here. Even though I think the meeting went well, I could've lived without getting thrown up on! Makes me wonder what I should do for an encore the next time they come out to visit...

Meet the Parents

As some of you, if not all, know that Baby and I have been together for over 2 years now sans the couple of months of his brain falling out of his head and rubbish spewing out of his mouth - all of that is water under the bridge now though because I am wonderful and forgiving ;) Even though we've known each other for many years prior to our relationship entanglement in addition to the years together, I have yet to meet his parents. It shocks many people that it has gone this long. To be honest, part of it was that for a long time since my last long-term relationship, I had the whole "I don't do the meeting of the parents" bit down to a tee. The other part was that they lived in a different state, so it is not something that could easily be done should they live in the same city. Also, Baby never brought it up so neither did I....which caters to my first reason of never liking to meet parents.

They arrive tonight to spend some QT with Baby all by his lonesome which I think he really needs to do. I, on the other hand, will be with Doc since he is in town - woohoo! I will officially be introduced to Ma and Pa Baby tomorrow afternoon before heading to the Hobby Center to watch the Tony Award-winning Broadway show Wicked. Baby was lucky enough to find matinee tickets on eBay at the last minute and snatch 4 seats together. What are the odds? I'm muy excited! Afterwards, we will do an early dinner.

So now I have to worry about a first impression. Hmmmm... According to Baby, they are Southern Baptist who don't drink and don't curse. Don't DRINK?!?! Don't CURSE?!?!?! Do they even know who their son is???? The first thing I thought was, "Shit, how the hell am I suppose to pull this one off? I need a glass of wine to think about this." Ha! Seriously though, I'm sure things will be fine.

I'm know many of you who know Baby and my history and some of the adversities we faced regarding our relationship will be extremely curious as how this meeting will turn out. No worries. You'll get an update after the weekend. Cross you fingers that they don't smell the devil on me the second they get a whiff of my pheromones...

A new blog I stumbled upon

I have found a new blog that I am now addicted to reading. Check this out! Her blogs are extremely entertaining and well-written. Why can't I be this witty?!?! Ehhh....I suppose it's because although I have spurts of amusing posts, I often times am to lazy to be witty and simply give you updates of what's going on in my life. Oh, well... I accept I am no Dooce, and will never be able to quite my day job for a life of blogging. Man wouldn't that be nice to have your blog support your income!!!

In addition, I added my new find as a link to my blog under Those Who Blog and Do It Well. I think that by doing that, she was able to link back to me seeing as she left a comment in the previous post of my super sexy pineapple picture. Aaaaahhhh technology! Gotta love it.

Today taught me that I really am turning 30

Not that I'm at all scared of the big 3-0. I actually enjoy the idea of being in my 30's. I still have 13 more days to go, but I have yet to feel like the sky is about to fall or that I'll become depressed because I'm not already married with wee-Rice Spices running around. That part I can handle. I accept that I don't follow the standard Southern mentality that I should marry young, raise children young, and then live my life. Because to be honest...when do you REALLY get to "live life" after you've had kids? When they're adults and married themselves? Jeez! I'll be 50 by the time that happens. Call me selfish, but I prefer to have some fun before I become shackled to the responsibilities of a family.

The reason I got the five fingers across the face today about my age was at about 6:45am this morning as I was almost done with Day 2 with Trainer. The first day, we went through the basics of using most of the machines and some free-weight techniques - stuff I pretty much already knew. Today was my full fitness assessment. I filled out this long drawn out questionnaire about where I want to be physically, what my goals are, yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah. I could've summed it up in one sentence: I want my 21-year-old body back! Seeing as Trainer did not know me back in my six-pack days (the stomach, not the beer), I filled out the stupid forms. I decided that I just wanted to lose a bit of weight and just overall get toned. Not too bad, right? We'll see...good on paper does not always translate as good in reality.

After all the forms and body measurements (MY THIGHS ARE HOW MANY INCHES?!?!), we did a few things to measure my physical capacity. We checked my strength and balance while doing squats, how many push-ups I could do in a minute, how many sit-ups I could do in a minute, and how long it took me to fast-pace a mile on the tread. I don't think I did terrible, but let me tell you something. I recall the days when I could do double the push-ups I did this morning as well as more than double the sit-ups. It was an eye-opener into how much my body has changed. Luckily, Trainer has given me a glimmer of hope that I could be back to what I was or at least pretty damn close. I've set attainable goals, but just need the time to squeeze it into the schedule....grrr!

Overall, I'm happy that Trainer didn't laugh his ass off at me during the assessment or found my inability to do 100 push-ups in the allotted time frustrating. He made me feel that we could reach my goals pretty easily. Although, he could just be blowing smoke up my ass so that I'll keep using him. From here on out, his sessions with me will be $60 an hour...yikes! I better look like Madonna after a month seeing as I plan to use him twice a week for the first month, then ween him off to once a week, then to not at all. I figure this is a much better way to spend my money than going out to eat or binge drinking with friends. Why can't they develop an alcoholic beverage that makes me as thin and sexy as I think I am when I'm drunk?!?! That manufacturer would make BILLIONS!!!

Pictures that make me :)

I was going through my Kodak Gallery photo albums trying to find a specific picture when I got side-tracked and started going through all the other old albums. These two pictures made me smile...

~Me as a Pineapple at the Dole Plantation in Hawaii~

~Diana Banana on her birthday last year copping a feel on Axel Rose...NICE!~

Wish me luck!

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment with a trainer at my gym. The goal is to lose 10 lbs by mine and Baby's trip to Peru on Memorial Weekend. Possible? Absolutely. Will I need the assistance of a young, beefy, certified workout expert? Probably not, but I figure I might as well have eye candy to pass the time. And I figure he could put me on a better workout plan to work on all my "problem areas" aka everything between my neck and knees. Everything outside those zones I'm pretty happy with ;)

Anyway, he's already forewarned me that we'll be working on upper body during our first session. I can tell you now that I'm in trouble. I have great cardio and leg strength from running, but my upper body is one big ball of saggy, flabby mush. Maybe he can make me look like Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. That would be awesome. Honestly, I'd just be happy to not have arms that jiggled as much and thighs that aren't double the size of Baby's chicken legs.

Wish me luck that my first meeting with Trainer doesn't kill me...

Rewind...

Here are more pictures from the Gala from Firecracker. I actually like these pictures better because I don't look like people found me napping at the bottom of an empty tequila bottle like some of the previous ones :)

~Me and Baby looking oh so HOT!~

~Me and Firecracker~
I'm guessing that since Firecracker is half-Caucasian and half-Filipino, she may be the mold of my future children

~Clockwise: Dealer, Blondie, Firecracker, Curly-Haired Wonder, and Me~

~The Ladies once more~

Still waiting on two people who had great pics...

The beach house was an absolute blast! We had 15 people running in and out of the house throughout the weekend. Friday night was a bit a smaller group of us (maybe 8 people), so it was a lot more intimate and nice. We drank, talked a lot of trash, and created some pretty funny memories (i.e., JAG wanting to put me into the dishwasher because for some reason he always found me next to it like it was my new BFF or something...yes, lots of scotch makes this little lady love her appliances, I guess).

Here is just a few photos from the beach house last weekend celebrating Grove and my combined 30th birthday. Two other people have great pics, but haven't had a chance to download them yet...slackers! Here are just a few.

~The Beach House Gang helping Grove and me celebrate our 30th birthdays~

~Why is it that the kitchen is ALWAYS the place of congregation?!?! Closer to the drinks, I suppose...~

~We should never be left alone to our own devices...Grove found a life jacket that he decided to wear for the rest of the night. Getting suited up thanks to Blondie and Grill~

~Late-night crew - I title this photo "Pajamas and Watermelon Shots"~

~2 Words: Ghetto Nachos~

~Blondie and me eating the infamous ghetto nachos at 3am~

There were pictures of the crew having turned the living room into a dance floor. Unfortunately, I didn't get any real good shots of that. I'm still awaiting those pictures. All in all, I wouldn't mind doing this all over again next year. Maybe not specifically for Grove and myself, but maybe for the entire March and April birthday troop seeing that there are at least 6 of us. Good times, good times...

Just to keep you entertained until I update...

This little girl is absolutely adorable!!! She's not Filipino, and I can't understand a word she's singing, but you have to give her credit for enthusiastic dramatics. I'm guessing I was just as dramatic as this little girl when I was a kid seeing as I use to sing, of all things, "Hello" by Lionel Richie to my grandparents on home videos we sent to them in the Philippines. Good GAWD I was a ham!



If you have problems accessing, here is the link to the longer version if you can't get enough of her :)

Also, I found this absolutely sweet. It's me and Baby...hehe.



Have a happy Tuesday!

I know it's like I'm neglecting this blog...

Yes, I had a fantastic time at the beach house this weekend even though it rained the ENTIRE time we were there...I mean, except for when we were leaving, that is. Typical. Anyway, I'm still camera-less and awaiting people to send me photos of the weekend. Once they do, I will post a formal update.

Hope all is well for all my four readers ;)