Category Archives: Randomness

Pardon the Interruption: Working for a Living

Life has added a new element to my routine, and I have spent the last couple of weeks incorporating it into my daily activities. I received a wonderful opportunity from my most recent employer to work from home, and I couldn’t be happier! Saving for a house requires more than just one income, and this new career opportunity will fit very nicely into our schedules.

We are wrapping up our holiday weekend tomorrow, heading back to Arizona from Las Vegas. But I will be on the road again at the end of the month to pick up my mom from San Diego and to begin the final stages of officially leaving my hometown.

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, spending time and watching football with the family. Deon and I indulged a little during Black Friday sales and of course, patronized the local record store for Record Store Day. We’ll be heading out again for just a bit more shopping and getting lots of rest for the drive home on Sunday, stopping by Hoover Dam so Dominic can add another landmark to his adventures.

Hope everyone is having a beautiful holiday with friends and family!

(Image courtesy of First Baptist Columbia)

Pardon The Interruption: Family Matters

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted, and I have so much to catch up on! But as you know, life happens and this has been a more difficult month than usual. Although my birthday happened earlier this month, which was wonderful, a couple of other more personal things also happened. As the eldest between myself and my sister, my responsibilities to my family kicked in and family always comes first in our household, so it’s been a very trying month, both emotionally and physically. Things are finally a little more back on track, so I’ll be posting about events that I’ve attended recently, along with a few reviews, so stay tuned, and thanks again for all of your support!

(Image courtesy of First Baptist Columbia)

Pardon The Interruption: Computer Crash!

I wish I could go back a couple of weeks and get updated on posts, because the saddest thing happened: our main household computer crashed! We are working diligently to get it fixed, which I hope will be soon. In the meantime, I luckily had been uploading pictures to iCloud and have also uploaded pictures for my newest outfit post, which will be going up this week.

Sorry for the gap, and cheers until the next post!

(Image courtesy of First Baptist Columbia)

Cave Tools Veggie Grill Basket Review: Grilling for the “Big Game”!

Who’s getting ready for “The Big Game” today? Football is a big deal in our house, and my husband will be grilling it up, of course! Our game day menu will consist of wings (of various levels of spiciness), hot dogs, slow-cooker chili, corn bread and garlic bread. This tri-tip sandwich would also be addition to any game day menu! My husband made this sandwich a couple of weekends ago, and grilled the vegetables using this fantastic Veggie Grill Basket by Cave Tools.

Before we started using this grill basket, my husband used to make little foil “boats” to grill any vegetables, or we would pan fry the vegetables on the stove-top. Although those methods are convenient, it doesn’t really get the kind of true grilling flavor that he wanted. This grill basket is made of stainless steel and has slats to allow the grill to not only heat up and flavor the vegetables, but also prevents any small bits from falling through. To cook the vegetables and prevent them from sticking, he used a vegetable oil spray and they came out amazing!

To purchase your own Cave Tools Vegetable Grill Basket, click the links below AND, you can get 15% off with the following code!

Vegetable Basket 15% Off: VEGGIE15

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Vegetable-Grill-Basket-DISHWASHER-Accessories/dp/B01G2EIW02/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&sr=8-1&keywords=grilling+basket&m=A3IEEDMWTA8OSP&tag=hyacinth12-20

Cave Tools: https://cavetools.com/products/vegetable-grill-basket

FTC Disclosure: I received the product in exchange for a product review. Although I did receive product, the opinions in this post are strictly my own.

Happy Holidays 2017

I hope this season finds you and your families happy, healthy and full of cheer!

In the grand tradition of my blog during the Christmas holiday, I’ve included Dominic’s annual Santa picture. This year, Dominic went with Dad back to Las Vegas to visit the family while he’s on winter break. I had to stay home because of my new job, but Grandma took him to Bass Pro Shops and got this great picture of Dominic hanging out with Santa rather than the standard one where he’s perched on Santa’s lap.

Merry Christmas everyone, and please enjoy my Christmas Mixtape on Spotify!

Record Store Day Black Friday & Small Business Saturday

The Thanksgiving weekend is always bustling with family, good friends and even better food, but it also means some kind of sale is going on. Typically, we’re in Las Vegas and my mother-in-law and I head out in the extreme early morning to take advantage of doorbusters at places like Target or Walmart. This year, we’re here in San Diego, and last night, my husband and I actually went out after dinner and braved our local mall. He wanted to take advantage of some Funko Pop exclusives at Game Stop and it was just as busy as if it were a regular weekend. It was a bit much, and we headed home after just a round at the mall.

Although I won’t be giving into the craziness that is Black Friday, something we definitely have taken advantage of is Record Store Day’s version of this shopping holiday and participating in Small Business Saturday.

RECORD STORE DAY BLACK FRIDAY 2017

Just like the Record Store Day listing that is put out annually in April, here is this year’s listing for RSD Black Friday 2017:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/recordstoreday/2017/2017_BLACK_FRIDAY_PUBLIC.pdf

Here’s a list of some of my favorite record stores in San Diego. Share some of your finds in the comments below!

Record City

M-Theory Music

Lou’s Records

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY 2017

I am such an advocate of shopping locally and showing the businesses in my local community love and support. You can do the same by shopping small on Saturday and giving back to the community we live in by participating in Small Business Saturday.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/shop-small/

Here are links to a few of my favorite local businesses in San Diego, which have been featured frequently here on my blog. Show them some love on Small Business Saturday!

Vocabulary Boutique

Wysh Boutique

Carlsbad Village Faire

Liberty Public Market

Seaport Village

Poway Valley Center Renovation Update!

In the blink of an eye, the renovations at Poway Valley Center have made some incredible progress! Along with the top picture, this is the blog post from just three months ago here. Compare them to the pictures below that my sister snapped this weekend. What a difference a few months make!

All photos by Rholnna Jiao

Pardon The Interruption: Career Course Correction

Another crazy couple of weeks for moi: I changed jobs! I left my job in Carlsbad on November 3rd and started my new job on November 6th, which had me closing out and wrapping up in a short amount of time. My new career venture has landed me in the Del Mar area and although I’m still slightly north of La Jolla, the 20 minute difference in drive time definitely decreases the daily wear and tear on my car.

So pardon the interruption again as I get myself situated at my new job, and I’ll be back on my blogging game in no time!

(Image courtesy of First Baptist Columbia)

Can You Give Me Directions to Mark Hamill Drive?

Not long after Comic-Con, Dominic and I attended a truly one-of-a-kind event: Mark Hamill’s street sign dedication! I heard about the event on KUSI News because news anchor Lisa Remillard mentioned she would be hosting the event. It was a hot day, which made it a tad bit rough on Dominic, but he stuck it out like a (Storm) trooper and we witnessed a cool bit of Star Wars history. For those of you who are wondering, “Why San Diego?” Mark Hamill spent some of his childhood in the Clairemont area, where the street sign is located.

We originally had a strange vantage point because we decided to grab some lunch nearby, which meant had lost some prime real estate where we would have had a better view. As a result, we had to stand in an awkward place behind the media staging area. Luckily for us, my cousin Regi and her son Riley had been in attendance and we moved closer to the action right near the actual stage. I’ve included a couple of videos below, which was Mark Hamill’s speech, the unveiling of the honorary street sign and declaration of July 30, 2017 as “Mark Hamill Day”.

May The Force be With You and Cheers!

Clockwise from the left: Me, Regi, Riley & Dominic

Poway Valley Center is Open During Renovations!

Back in March, my sister and I had a wonderful lunch at Bongiorno’s New York Pizzeria at Poway Valley Center (original post here). If you’ve been by there lately, there are some exciting changes happening, with completion planned for this fall. Although updates are underway, all of the businesses are open during renovations! My sister took these pictures this week, and even stopped by and picked up her favorites at Bongiorno’s. We have also made plans to come back and try out Don Pollo, and then get our nails done at Glaze Complete Nail Care.

So if you’re in the area, come on in and visit Poway Valley Center because they are definitely open for business!

Cheers!