It’s Beginning to Look Like Sweater Weather

It’s finally starting to get cool enough to wear sweaters and boots.  I’m very excited because I just got a new pair of boots that I’ll be sporting in future posts.  In the meantime, I’ve paired these boots that I’ve worn before in a few outfit posts with one of my new favorite sweaters that I bought in Palm Springs.  I love the stripes, the pockets, and how the boxy cut makes the sweater drape just so.

Outfit – Linda Matthews sweater; Steve Madden Luxe boots; Fossil denim leggings; Rebecca Minkoff MAC purse; Coach sunnies

If You Don’t Know This Next Song, You’re at the Wrong Gig!

Hooray for set lists!

A couple of Sundays ago, my sister and I saw OMD again, this time at the beautiful Humphreys by the Bay.  I already reviewed this concert earlier this year (see post here), so I’m just going to touch on the highlights of this fun concert.  People were definitely happy in the haze of a drunken few hours, yours truly included.  The opening act from Australia called Washington, was oh so good.  Lead singer, Megan Washington has a hauntingly beautiful voice and is quite the comedian (“I’ve never played at a gig like this, or seen so many ducks!”).  I don’t know much about them, but I really enjoyed their set and you can be sure that I’ll be on the look out for more.

Smiles partially induced by Stella Artois

Aussie awesomeness: Washington

Then OMD came out as if unleashed, with all of the enthusiasm and energy they had back in March.  Andy McCluskey thoughtfully stated that this venue was lovely but “far too sophisticated” and reminiscent of a high school graduation (funny, Alan Wilder said the exact same thing about his Recoil gig last year).  By the encore, he had encouraged the crowd to “rush the stage”, which just meant a surge forward of stumbling intoxicated middle-aged one time New Wavers.  I don’t remember it being so difficult back in the 80’s.

(Please note that this time, I finally got to meet DJ extraordinaire, Steve West of 91X.  Hard to believe that I first listened to him back in 1983 at the tender age of 13!)

A song that was definitely included in this set because Andy mentioned that they received hate mail for not including it previously was “Secret”, to which the crowd enthusiastically sang word for word.  My sister was quite delighted because it’s her all time favorite and because the lead vocals were provided by Paul Humphreys (Andy jokingly stated that he owned the venue).  I would have included it here, except that the song was practically drowned out by some fantastically inebriated fans next to us.

Please find below a song that I did capture quite well, “If You Leave”.  Andy introduced it by saying “If you don’t know this next song, you’re at the wrong gig!”  Yes sir, a perfect post title was built right in, enjoy!

Foodie Fever: Color Me Pink & Chocolate

As I mentioned previously, my best friend Janice took me out on a night on the town a couple of Sundays ago which consisted of dinner, dessert and a fun concert.  Our first stop was dinner at Pink Noodle, located on University Avenue.  Pink Noodle is a cute Hello Kitty inspired cottage style restaurant, featuring Thai cuisine.  As the name suggests, the restaurant and menu items features splashes of pink.

I decided to keep with the color theme and had the Pink Princess cocktail and the Pink Lady noodles.  Janice had the French Kiss cocktail and the Pad Ze-Ew.  The Pad Ze-Ew is a stir-fried noodle dish with chicken, brocoli and carrots.  It reminded me of the Filipino rice noodle dish, Pancit.  The Pink Lady that I had is described as follows:

Imagine, this dish reserved to Thai royalty.  The forever splendid flavor of “Pink Lady”, soft, thin noodle with chicken, tofu, onion lightly pan-fried then lathered with coconut milk.  Accompanied with fresh bean sprouts, scallions for the true taste of Thailand.

All I have to say is that they had me at “pink noodles”!  The portions were perfectly sized and incredibly tasty.  I loved that although my dish was inspired by ladylike royalty, it still had a bit of kick to it.  The coconut milk sauce gave it a curry-like taste that I enjoy so much.

For dessert we had a few options to choose from, but Janice decided introduce me to a place she visited recently.  The Melting Pot is a fun and fabulous fondue restaurant located in the famous Gaslamp District, on 5th & E.  I already love the exterior and interior because it reminded me of a couple of restaurants I went to last year in New York: cozy yet refined.

Each table had a heated surface used to keep the fondue dip of your choice nice and warm for all of the wonderful “dippers”.  We had “The Original” dessert fondue, which is described as a their “signature milk chocolate with a swirl of crunchy peanut butter.”  The dessert dippers consisted of fresh strawberries & bananas, Rice Krispies Treats, marshmallows, pound cake, cheesecake and brownies.

The dish was completely and utterly decadent and delicious.  We shared a “small” version of The Original, which I thought was quite a bit of food for only one person.  Janice said that we should dine with a party of three or more for the large (Regi, I think that means you are coming with us!).  Other than the fact that this was one of the most fantastic desserts I had ever had, we got it for half price because they have happy hour every night from 5pm-7pm.  If the dessert was this good, I can only imagine what all of their other fine fondue dishes must taste like!

And if you remember from my previous post (seen here), this fine evening of sensory experiences ended with dessert for my ears in the form of the sold out Erasure concert at The House of Blues.  I think we will have to repeat this combination of food and fun for the next concert!  Hope you had a good weekend!

Random iPhone Pictures: New Toys

Cheap subscriptions at Valuemags.com with no auto renewals.

My niece stayed with us a few weeks ago and brought home some goodies after a shopping trip with my mom.  I love watching children get new toys.  What’s great at their ages is that the reaction is the same, regardless of the price of the toy.  They light up in a way that can’t be described, except with that old saying “like a kid at Christmas”.  That’s why it’s fun to give a little bit of that Christmas feeling throughout the year to my son and niece.  Have a great weekend!

Mei-Lin “Fancypants”

Happy children with their new toys!

“Dominus Prime”

FTC Disclosure: Although this is a sponsored post, the opinions, pictures & content of this post are strictly my own.

Old Print, New Tricks

I’ve worn this shirt before during my “40 for 40” remix.  This is also the outfit I wore when I went to dinner with the girls for Restaurant Week.  I paired the shirt with new pants that I almost didn’t pick up because of the odd color: dark green.  It’s not even a deep emerald or forest green.  But I liked that they are not black, which would force me to create new combinations.  It’s also a great color for fall.

It’s been a busy concert month already!  Not only did I get to see Erasure last week, but on Sunday, my sister and I saw OMD again but at Humphrey’s by the Bay.  Last night, I saw Howard Jones in concert at 4th & B , which was another fun night with Janice (and we met up with my friend, Merrick).  I’ll be sure to include pictures of what I wore along with pictures of the show for an upcoming concert review.  Hooray for more 80’s concerts!

 Outfit – Old Navy pants and shirt; Forever 21 tank; Matiko shoes; Rebecca Minkoff purse; Michael Kors watch; Cotton On hoop earrings; Wendy Brandes ring; Coach sunnies

More Weekend Pictures: Surprise, We’re Seeing Erasure in Concert!

Last Sunday, Janice took me out for what I thought was going to be a simple night out on the town with my best friend, which actually ended at the sold out Erasure concert at The House of Blues!  She first took me out to dinner at Pink Noodle and dessert at The Melting Pot (pictures & reviews on those places later).  Then we took a mini detour by heading to Horton Plaza (a mall in Downtown San Diego), which threw me off.  I now realize that she was stalling a bit because the concert wasn’t to start until 7pm, and we finished dinner and dessert earlier than planned.

Finally, we headed to House of Blues because Janice mentioned that she wanted to buy tickets to the upcoming Bangles concert she was planning on attending in November before we headed home for the night.  We saw a very long line and asked the couple at the end of the queue what it was for.  She said it was for the Erasure concert, which I had forgotten was happening that same night.  Since we missed Duran Duran the night before, I was about to tell Janice that we should just stay in line to buy tickets, but felt slightly deflated when we were told it was sold out.  Then, as if planned, Janice said, “Well it’s a good thing I already bought tickets!”  SURPRISE!  I squealed with delight and people in line looked over as I hugged Janice, still trying to figure out if this was really happening.  I felt like I was on a television reality show and won a contest!

Frankmusik getting funky!

The concert started off with Frankmusik, an English electropop musician who produced Erasure’s most recent album, Tomorrow’s World.  I was not familiar at all with his music, but was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.  It was an upbeat and very danceable set, which was the perfect segue into Erasure’s set.

I loved the gargoyles and circular theme throughout Erasure’s stage set.  Andy Bell was just as energetic as ever, his voice as beautiful now as it was back in the 80’s.  They rounded out their vocal sound with incredibly impressive back up vocalists, Emma Whittle and Valerie Chalmers.  Vince Clarke stayed behind one of the gargoyles for much of the show, but came out to play guitar.

Erasure at the start of the concert

The last few times I saw Erasure was back in 1987 when they supported Duran Duran, and then in 1988 for The Innocents tour.  I must admit when I saw them last week that I wasn’t as familiar with some of their later music and music from their latest album.   But of course they played quite a few hits from Wonderland, Circus and The Innocents like “Sometimes”, “Chains of Love”, and my all time favorite “Oh L’Amour”.  Although they closed with “Stop!”, I felt like “A Little Respect”, “Victim of Love” and “Love to Hate You” (a cover of the ABBA classic) received the most audience reaction.

During the song “A Little Respect”

The pictures in this post were from my iPhone, which was the best I could do from where we were standing.  But since I didn’t have my edited “concert” purse (usually a cross-body purse with just my essentials), I thankfully had my Flip camera with me.  I was able to capture “Oh L’Amour” relatively properly and have included it below.  Thank you Janice for a wonderful evening!  You really surprised me, and I will definitely return the favor.

Weekend in Pictures: Miramar Air Show 2011

Last weekend, my sister and her daughter joined us to see the annual MCAS Miramar Air Show.  If you are not familiar with this show, it is an annual event featuring civilian & military aircraft, with a breath taking demonstration by the world famous US Navy Blue Angels.   It’s a major event that draws hundreds of people in October to the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, which is east of La Jolla in San Diego.

My family has been attending this even since I was a little girl.  My sister and I reminisced about when we went with our parents and our dad used to park the car either right outside the military base or along the freeway (as did many other San Diegans), just to watch this show.   We are no longer allowed to watch along the sides of city streets or the freeway due to safety reasons, so we joined other spectators at the Marine Corps Air Station to watch the show.

This was the first time I remember actually being on the base to watch the show, because you can really see it anywhere within the area of Miramar.  My sister has been to a few shows recently, so she knew what to expect when we arrived inside.  Just as suspected, it was quite crowded, especially heading towards the central area of the base where the grandstands are located.  The golf course doubled as a parking lot, and we saw lots of people with their folding chairs making camp near their cars.

We had lunch already, and my sister said that it’s mainly booths for souvenirs and food near the grandstands.  Not wanting to catch a shuttle to take us to the innermost part of the base, my husband asked one of the soldiers if it was worth it to go all the way in.  He stated that the view from where we were standing would be exactly the same as the view near the grandstands.  That sealed the deal and we parked our folding chairs just a few feet from our car.

I forgot my good camera, so this is the best I could do with my iPhone.  The two lines are Blue Angels, honest!

It turned out to be a perfect spot because while we could see the formations out in front of us in the distance, the Blue Angels also flew right over our area, in some cases directly overhead!  Although it was a fantastic sensation for all of our senses, it posed a bit too much for Dominic’s ears.  It was still a great time because it just reminded me of wonderful times and traditions with my father, and that we can carry them on with our own families.  Hope you had a great weekend!

This was the queue of cars heading towards the exit!

(Pictures 1 & 2 courtesy of Gavin Arts and Miramar Air Show)

Today is Plaidurday!

I was invited last week on Facebook by Bella of The Citizen Rosebud to join Plaidurday, which is today.  To commemorate the event, of course I will be wearing plaid (outfit post to come).  No matter how many trends come and go, I will always return to two favorite patterns: stripes and plaids.  Here I am, wearing the classic pattern, in a few different incarnations (click on the pictures for the original posts).  Happy Plaidurday and have a great weekend!

Randomness: Me, Myself & I From A to Z

I saw this great “All About Me” post on All These Pretty Things and Beautifully Invisible (who got it from Smaggle Style).  I loved how simple it is, yet how much it allowed you to get to know the person posting it.  I hope you like mine and if you are so inclined, please participate and post a link of your own A to Z!

A. Age:  41.  Yes, it is true.  If I were going to lie, I’d say I was at least 30!

B. Bed size:  Queen right now.  We need to get a California King to properly fit my 6’4” hubby.

C. Chore that you hate:  Tidying up.  With a two year old, I have to do it, but I hate it.  If I didn’t, I’m sure I’d appear on Hoarders or something.

D. Dogs:  We don’t have one, but my husband wants one badly.

E. Essential start to your day:  A little nosh & nom in the form of some kind of breakfast food & espresso.

F. Favorite color:  Cobalt blue and black.

G. Gold or Silver:  Truly, silver but rose gold is really growing on me.

H. Height:  5’4”.  Yup, a foot shorter than my husband.

I. Instruments you play:  I am a classically trained pianist.  I own a piano, two keyboards and a drum machine.  I guess I was also training to be a future member of Depeche Mode.

J. Job title:  Operations Supervisor for a pharmaceutical development company; Mommy; Wife; Blogger.

K. Kids:  We have a beautiful boy named Dominic who is currently two and a half.  He’s kinda cool.

L. Live: San Diego, CA.

M. Mother’s name:  Colita.

N. Nicknames:  Cy (used by most everyone); Ate (Tagalog loosely translated as older sister pronounced as “ah-tee”, used by my sister); Cyril (used by my mom); Auntie (used by my niece); Honey (used by my hubby); Mama (used by my son)

O. Overnight hospital stays:  Only when I had my son.  We were there for 3 days because I had a scheduled cesarean section.

P. Pet peeves:  Ignorance, lack of hospitality, impoliteness, condescension.

Q. Quote from a movie:  

“People are always saying that change is a good thing. But all they’re really saying is that something you didn’t want to happen at all… has happened.” Kathleen Kelly from You’ve Got Mail.  

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces.” Bridget Jones from Bridget Jones’s Diary 

(I like this quote thing, so I added more of my favorite quotes that are not from movies.)

Quote from a TV show:

“If you prick me – do I not… leak?”  Lt. Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Naked Now

Lt. Tasha Yar: What I want now is gentleness. And joy… and love. From you, Data; you are fully functional, aren’t you? 
Lt. Cmdr. Data: Of course, but… 
Lt. Tasha Yar: How fully? 
Lt. Cmdr. Data: In every way, of course. I am programmed in multiple techniques. A broad variety of pleasuring. 
Lt. Tasha Yar: Oh! You jewel, that’s exactly what I hoped!

(Above quote also from Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Naked Now)

“[In response to a stupid comment] You have to stop the Q-Tip when there’s resistance.” Chandler Bing from Friends

Quote from a song:  

“Let tomorrow and today/bring a life of ecstasy” Alan Wilder, If You Want

“Easily and elegantly/Tear my world apart” Martin Gore, Surrender

“I survive on the breath you are finished with” John Mayer, Come Back To Bed

R. Right or left handed: Originally left, but my mom switched me to right when I around four years-old.

S. Siblings: One amazing younger sister who has an equally amazing daughter.

T: Time you wake up: 4:30 am because my shift starts at 6am.

U. Underwear: Always!

V. Vegetable you hate:  Eggplant, bitter melon & okra. Ewww.

W. What makes you run late:  Me.  I am my own worst time enemy.

X. X-Rays you’ve had:  Lungs, teeth & other parts that I won’t mention here.

Y. Yummy food that you make:  Most any baked good.  No, really.  My father was a great chef, especially baking.  I feel I have taken after him.

Z. Zoo animal:  Pandas, koalas, penguins, tigers and elephants (oh my).  I love the San Diego Zoo.

(Top image courtesy of TechPP)

Weekend in Pictures: Relaxing in the Desert

Visit us and buy wine online today!

As I first mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago, we decided to take a few days off during the week to relax in the desert of Palm Springs.  We had actually planned and scraped two different trips, and finally settled on a simple and budget friendly get-away for the whole family.  Once we arrived, you can see that it didn’t take much to get Dominic to relax!

Deon had planned a couple of early rounds of golf, which allowed Dominic and to leisurely sleep in and grab breakfast before heading out as a family.  In line with our budget-friendly theme, we enjoyed a couple of delicious yet inexpensive restaurants that were family friendly.  When we went to the pool during our first day, we met a fun couple who turned us onto a little pizza place that was walking distance from our hotel.  It was called Cafe Pallette.  While Dominic snacked on french fries, Deon and I had a pizza called Rich’s Choice, which was a thin crust pizza topped with cheese, spicy Italian sausage, pepperoni, bacon and red onion.  It was one of the best pizzas we had in a long time, quite possibly since Italy.

The next day, Deon drove us to a place recommended by a co-worker called Sherman’s Deli & Bakery.  She had mentioned that this was one of the best deli’s she had been to, and since Deon is someone who I consider a sandwich expert, we didn’t mind the drive to the Palm Desert location (the one close to our hotel was closed due to renovations).

I want to thank our co-worker from the bottom of our hearts because Sherman’s did not disappoint.  The staff was inviting and friendly, getting on Dominic’s good side by showering him with attention in the form of a toy, crayons and something to color on.  Our server gave us his recommendations, which included selections from their “Famous Sandwich Board”.  I chose the French Dip while Deon chose the Corned Beef, Pastrami & Swiss sandwich.  Dominic chose his staple, the chicken strips, but mainly ate the pickles and cottage fries instead.

Both of our sandwiches were so incredibly good.  My French Dip was already fantastic with provolone cheese melting on top of their brisket.  But it quickly became one of the best sandwiches I had ever had when I dipped it into the au jus.  Deon’s sandwich was just as tasty with the piles of corned beef and pastrami.  Since we practically had to be rolled out after our lunch, we took our chocolate cake and cherry cheesecake slices to go and enjoy in our hotel room, which we definitely did.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention just how incredible lovely our hotel was, as well as Palm Springs itself.  It was nice to walk around early in the morning, enjoying the quiet & empty streets, towering mountains and the quaint details of our hotel (Dominic loved the little waterfall).  I was also able to get a blurry shot of the windmills that are seen en masse as you first drive into Palm Springs.  We will be returning because I was just too relaxed to get in much shopping.  So once the weather cools down just a bit, you can be sure that Palm Springs will be a new and recurring family destination.  Hope you all had a great weekend!

FTC Disclosure: Although this is a sponsored post, the opinions, pictures & content of this post are strictly my own.