M.I.A.

Wow, I haven't written in here in a long time...

Nothing much has been happening since the last time. I've curbed my shopping! Sadly the influx of birthday gift cards/money caused me to make a little shopping trip today, but I don't think I'm keeping everything. Shopping by myself is the worst for me. I need a second opinion before I really approve of anything, so I just buy stuff to take home and see if my mom think it looks good. Typically she doesn't like it haha.

UCLA football has been disappointing, as has NFL fantasy football.

DineLA week is being extended to Oct. 18-23 now! I can try stuff that I was originally too busy for these past couple weeks. Hopefully the restaurants I'm interested in are joining in the extension.

Classes this quarter are torture. Way too much to study for, and way too many tests and quizzes. Basically if I don't have a test or two during the week, I have a quiz or two. It keeps me on my toes, but come on, I want some relaxation too! Thankfully I've been able to stay in the high "A" range, so I have some leeway to screw up.

Things I really want to do these next couple weeks:
-Go to Malbec, La Grande Orange, and Elements Kitchen in Pasadena.
-Go to BLD and JiRaffe on the Westside.
-Go to Bottega Louie in Downtown LA.
-Watch Paranormal Activity.
-Watch most of season 3 of Lost.
-Catch up on Grey's Anatomy.
-Catch up on HIMYM and Big Bang Theory.
-Oh yeah, and get "A"s on all my tests :)

I am ridiculous...

I really need to go to sleep at a normal hour this week. I swear I'll go to sleep early tonight (Monday)!

I tried to go to sleep at like 2:30 but I got distracted by my old Xanga entries. They were really lame, and boring. Not that I'm not boring and lame now, but I would literally be like, "I woke up, I ate this, I visited this person, I bought this. I'm bored," every entry. One interesting thing I found out was that I killed a squirrel like 3 years ago hahahaha. I wrote that I hit one on the way home from visiting Darryl. It came out of nowhere and I couldn't react fast enough to avoid it/it would have been dangerous to avoid it. Poor squirrel...

I also found a funny list by Maxim about the top 100 things men need to know about women. It's way too long to post here, but try and google it. It's from 2005.

I heart Shopbop!

One of my favorite online stores is having daily giveaways, and I won today! I'm super excited, and I think I'm going to get these three things when I get the gift card:



1. Madewell Rail Straight Jeans: I already have a pair of these from the actual Madewell store and I absolutely love them! They are so flattering and comfortable I could live in them all day. I was actually going to get another pair from Madewell today but I decided not to since I'm on a shopping ban haha. Good thing I waited!

I'm not sure about the earrings yet since I get such bad metal allergies, but I figure they're free...

2. Gorjana Orchid Gem Hoops: I've been looking for a gorgeous pair of simple turquoise earrings.

3. Kenneth Jay Lane Coral Chip Hoops: I've also been looking for a pair of coral hoops, but hoops tend to sit funny on my ears... I must have gotten my ears pierced in the wrong spots haha.

EDIT: So, after researching "gold-plated" jewelry, I decided that it was not worth my money to get those earrings. Apparently gold-plated jewelry has such a thin layer of gold on it that it wears off extremely fast. Like taking a shower once with gold-plated earrings on will probably cause the coating to come off. Also, daily wear and skin cells eat away at the plating. Not worth $50!

I decided to get the jeans and an awesome LeSportsac Large Weekender bag in zebra print haha. I've had my eye on a new travel bag for a while and figured that this was the right time to get one. I've been waiting to retire my old, red Nike duffel bag!

Souplantation's blueberry muffins!

I love Souplantation, and I especially love their blueberry muffins. I have a blueberry pound cake recipe that I've been using for muffins, but it really just doesn't cut it. I was Googling last night and found the (supposedly) exact recipe that Souplantation uses. The author said that you can even buy blueberry extract from Souplantation! Once I get my hands on some blueberry extract I'm gonna see how these come out...

Wild Maine Blueberry Muffins (Makes about 2 dozen muffin)

1/2 pound frozen blueberries, thawed and drained

DRY MIX

2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

5 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

WET MIX

1 and 2/3 cups buttermilk

1 cup white sugar

2/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup cracked eggs

1 teaspoon blueberry extract

Combine the dry-mix ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Combine the wet mix ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Beat wet mix to dissolve the sugar (I think the eggs should be mixed with the sugar first so that the eggs get mixed in well.) Add the dry mix to the wet mix and combine thoroughly. Gently fold in blueberries.

Spray muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray or line with paper liners. Scoop batter into muffin pans with a 2-ounce scoop. Bake in a preheated 325-degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

EDIT*** Apparently whoever originally posted this recipe put the wrong temperature. I think they meant 375, or maybe even 425. I realized that that is way too low of a temperature...

Busy bee

So much stuff has been going on lately! It's mostly fun stuff, though.

4th of July was quite some time ago but it was really good. Lots of good food, family, friends, and beautiful illegal fireworks. All of my favorite foods are served together one day a year (chicken katsu, somen salad, copious amount of desserts, bean dip, korean sushi, etc.), and I am looking forward to next year's 4th of July already!!

Darryl had his last weekend of real freedom for the next five weeks :( But at least we got to spend it finding out the conclusion to Harper's Island haha. I don't think anyone other than us watches that... Mmm and we had Souplantation and Fosselman's ice cream! I'm glad that Darryl and I both love food haha.

A few of us visited Hanna out in the desert! Loma Linda isn't that bad :) It's just super super hot! Be safe in the Galapagos Islands!

I also just got back (like an hour ago) from the AMAZING Incubus concert at the Hollywood Bowl. My camera sucks so I didn't take any pictures, but I recorded part of their encore on my phone. I also randomly had seats right in front of a friend from UCLA, and I saw a bunch of people I knew while in the concert or right outside of it. Brandon Boyd's voice is so amazing live. It might even be better than the CD.... so talented!

I know there is more that I am forgetting to post, but that's my fault for being so sporadic with my posting.

I can't believe Kacey's going to leave for Japan in less than 2 weeks!!! Must go to Porto's once before you leave!