Hello Little Girl

My niece’s Beatles themed 5th birthday was a success!  She looked absolutely adorable in her little outfit.  My son had a bit of a cold, but insisted on playing outside with all the kids (as long as it was daylight, it was ok for a little while).  The immediate family all had “tour shirts” made by my sister which had the dates and themes of Mei-Lin’s past birthdays.  The front was a drawing made by our friend Ted who took an old Beatles cartoon and added an image of Mei-Lin in the middle.

My sister and I must love the “rock and roll” themed birthdays because my son’s first birthday was also a music themed.  We ordered invites that looked like concert tickets and all of the immediate family had “backstage passes”.

Two of the food highlights were The Beatles cake (made by my sister’s friend Yolanda) and the mini-hamburger cookies.  I’ll leave the cake decorating to the professionals, but I can give you the recipe for the “no bake” mini-hamburger cookies.  My sister gave me the recipe verbally, so here is how I would follow it:

No Bake Mini-Hamburger Cookies

  • 1 box vanilla wafer cookies
  • 1 package chocolate covered mint cookies (or grasshopper cookies)
  • 1 package shredded coconut
  • 1 package sesame seeds
  • Green food coloring
  • 1 tube red gel icing
  • 1 tube yellow gel icing
  • Clear gel icing (optional)

Prepare the “lettuce” by adding 1/2 cup of shredded coconut to a plastic baggie.  Add food coloring to coconut and shake.  Set aside.

Prepare the “top buns” by spreading water (but I think clear gel icing would provide better adhesion) to the rounded side of the vanilla wafer and sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Set aside.

To assemble the “burgers”:  Add red and yellow gel icing to the mint chocolate cookie for the “ketchup” and “mustard” or “cheese”.  Sprinkle green coconut for the “lettuce”.  Adhere the “top bun”.  Add the “bottom bun” by spreading a little bit of icing to the bottom of the chocolate mint cookie.  Adhere the flat side of another vanilla wafer cookie.

Make as many as you can!

Outfits:  Tour shirts made by Rholnna Jiao (illustration by Ted Meneses)

On Mei-Lin – Apple Bottom girl’s faux leather vest; Old Navy girl’s skinny jeans; Auntie Cyrillynn’s hat (brand unknown); Payless girl’s boots; “My Melody” stuffed doll by Build-A-Bear

On Dominic – Old Navy loose fit toddler jeans and long-sleeved shirt; Converse sneakers; Target knit beanie

Full Time Fabulous: Vogue Gone Rogue

It’s not often that someone gets a fantastic opportunity, and it’s even better when it’s someone who you can help support their effort. As you know, I am a part of the Independent Fashion Bloggers network. IFB is a great place for fashion bloggers to gather ideas from each other on how to build a better blog and also to network, which is very important if this is what you will choose as your occupation. I’ve been on their Links a la Mode three times so far (see the “Featured In” links), which is a great feature on their site where they showcase their top 20 links of the week.

One of the girls that added me as a friend on the site when I first joined IFB is involved in something very special.  As a result, I was invited to view her journey.  Her name is Kristy and she is one of the top 10 finalists in Sunglass Hut’s “Full Time Fabulous” contest where the remaining bloggers are given assignments to compete to win. The prize:  A full-time job as a fashion blogger for Sunglass Hut in NYC!  Here is what the winner will get:

  • $100,000 compensation
  • A fully furnished apartment in Manhattan
  • $1000/month styling allowance
  • VIP passes to fashion shows in NYC, Milan, Paris, and more

Be sure to check out her blog on my Blogroll (Vogue Gone Rogue), and also follow her through her contest blog by clicking the picture below.  I’ve been following her assignments so far and she’s doing such a fabulous job.  Her entries are great because in addition to being beautiful and stylish, she is very insightful and takes fantastic pictures.  Good luck Kristy!

Happy Birthday Mei-Lin!

This post is dedicated to my niece Mei-Lin who turns 5 today. She is as dramatic as she is beautiful. One of her older cousins asked her during Thanksgiving if she has any ugly poses. She responded, “I only have pretty poses!” A girl who takes after her auntie. Her party theme this year will be The Beatles. Yes, you read that right (she can sing all the lyrics to “Yellow Submarine”).

Happy Birthday to my pretty little princess!

Pasko Na Naman

(Title translation from Tagalog to English: “It’s Christmas Again”)

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at my house.  My mom has decked all of our halls already, and my son is loving every moment because there are plenty of shiny things everywhere.  A part of the Christmas decoration tradition at our house is a Philippine Christmas lantern called a Parol.  The one pictured above was brought back by my aunt direct from the Philippines and adorns our front door.  Not only are most of the rooms and the front door in full holiday mode, my mom also made sure sprinkle our front yard with lots of twinkling lights.

This truly is my favorite time of the year.  I love that it’s ok to incorporate Christmas into everything, which includes sports.  My sister gave me a Chargers Christmas ornament one year.  In all the years I’ve been a fan, it never occurred to me to buy one, and it’s the only one I have.  I thought about getting a Steelers one just so that our tree has both our favorite teams represented.  I may order one this year, which will make my husband happy.

This time of year also means lots of baking, so I went to Target and bought Christmas themed cookie cutters and a rolling-pin so that my niece and I can have a little fun in the kitchen.  She’s been asking about the eggnog cookies I made a few weeks ago (recipe found here) because she saw me putting the ingredients together, but couldn’t stay for the finished product.  I promised her that I would make them again and when I do, I’ll be sure make her my sous-chef de cuisine.  Here’s to the start of a great holiday season!

Careless Memories

Objects, places and even clothing can stir up a lot of memories.  For some reason, striped shirts and Oxford flats always remind me of Duran Duran in their early days (except they had white jazz Oxfords).  I could never find those shoes back then in white, so I always wore Vans or Keds when I was trying to dress like them. 

Duran Duran had such style and they still do today.  I consider them one of the best dressed bands of the 80’s (Spandau Ballet is another band that comes to mind).  They were one of my favorite bands during the early part of my teens, until I discovered Depeche Mode (and everything shifted).  But when I think of impeccable suits and luxe in the 80’s, I always think of Duran Duran.

We found these electrical boxes painted as Rubik’s Cubes while driving on the way home from work one day.  I thought it very appropriate since I felt that I was channeling early 80’s Duran Duran with my outfit.

Outfit:  Old Navy “Prep Coat” and skinny black cargo pants; The Limited striped shirt; Jeffrey Campbell canvas Oxfords; Burberry sunglasses; Tiffany & Co necklace

Photos by Deon Chen, except for the Duran Duran photo (source unknown)

Back to Basics on Black Friday

Dominic stayed with Deon’s parents while we ventured out on Black Friday, so I accompanied him to the Wildhorse Golf Club in Las Vegas.  I really can only handle the front nine holes, and Deon being the intuitive husband that he is, said that I should go shopping for the back nine holes.  Not wanting to spend the time parking at the nearby Town Square Mall (although I absolutely love that mall), I decided to go to a local strip mall to get my shopping fix in.

I found a few very cute things at Old Navy that were mostly basics.  I found out recently that my sister had commandeered my father’s military pea coat, so I needed to get one of my own.  I found the perfect navy blue “Prep Coat” for only $29.95.  This is a classic that will stay a staple in my wardrobe. 

Right next to the coat, I found another prefect item: black skinny cargo pants that I’ve been on the hunt for (they are the same exact ones in the picture, just black).  At $10, I felt fashionably and frugally fabulous.  Because the deals were just so great, I was able to get my niece’s birthday/Christmas outfit, a nice little outfit for my son and and outfit for my husband.  But I’ll definitely be working these great basic items into my wardrobe in the days to come.

Images of Thanksgiving

I know my most recent post was about my adventures in boy band land, which I posted right in the middle of my Thanksgiving weekend.  It was a post from a few months ago that I kept meaning to put up but just never got around to it.  Since I didn’t have my regular computer and just my little Nokia Netbook (no photo editor), I thought it was a good time to post it.  Now that I have my regular computer, I am posting images from my Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas with my in-laws.

The reason I have a picture of an almost skeletal turkey was because it was the first time we ever had a deep-fried turkey.  My mother-in-law bought a Butterball Deep Fryer to see if it’s as good as we have heard.  My husband injected each side of the 10 pound turkey with creole butter (seasoning).  Then he cut a slit into the left and right breast and inserted two tablespoons of butter in each side.  Lastly, he seasoned the outside of the turkey with poultry seasoning and pepper.  Then he deep-fried it in just under two gallons of Canola oil for only 40 minutes.  The result was the most moist turkey I’ve ever had in my life.  It’s no wonder it disappeared so quickly!

The yeast rolls my mother-in-law got were also completely amazing.  They come frozen and rise in the oven.  Even the next day, they were fantastic with a little bit of melted butter.  I didn’t get a picture of them, but she also makes the best yams (made with brown sugar, butter and marshmallows).

The final image is of my son in his new little Thanksgiving outfit.  Technically, he should only be wearing the San Diego Chargers gear because my team had the better record last season without reaching the Superbowl.  The way my husband and I resolve which of our favorite team’s gear Dominic will wear each year is determined by which team has the better record or the team that goes to the Superbowl (this is until he can pick his own favorite team).  My mother-in-law didn’t know we have this little “wager”, so she bought him the little Pittsburgh Steelers track-suit.  But he looked too cute, so I’ll let this outfit slide this year.  Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Adventures in Boy Band Land

With O-Town at Knotts Berry Farm 2001

With O-Town at Knotts Berry Farm 2001

My husband was backing up our computer one night and was talking about how many pictures we had saved on our laptop, which was really taking over some space.  I ended up looking at some of those pictures and came across some old pictures from back in 2001…  

How many of you out there remember a show called “Making The Band” back when it was on ABC?  This is long before the P-Diddy version currently on MTV. If you do, you’ll recall that a boy band called O-Town was born out of that show.    

Now, I pondered on how much I would divulge about my adventures in boy band land, especially since I am so very much more a Depeche Mode fan.  But I think I should just embrace my time in that world because it was actually a lot of fun.   

Destination OTown Flier

 

My sister and I started watching the show because there was much hype about the fact that it was basically a made for TV version of *Nsync.  At the time, I know it reminded me of when Beatles fans were upset when the Monkees hit prime time (a whole decade before I was born).    The premise was the same as “Real World” and actually was the predecessor to “American Idol”:  potential candidates tried out for the band by auditioning and submitting videos.  The final 10 actually lived in the house together, went through eliminations until the final five were picked.  The final five were as follows:  Ashley Parker Angel, Jacob Underwood, Trevor Penick, Eric-Michael Estrada, and Ikaika Kahoana.  Due to family issues and differences with the band members, Ikaika was later replaced by Dan Miller.   

Cy&Ash

As with many reality shows, “Making The Band” built a following, and we followed right along with it.  We went to appearances and concerts.  I created a Yahoo Group dedicated to the guys, which somehow had it’s own following.  Soon, the Yahoo Group wasn’t enough to contain my creativity in the way I wanted to present the information I had, so I created a website.   

I made sure to create a site that was anything but the typical fan site.  A graphic designer friend created all the images for the site after I bought the domain name, and soon the phenomenon that was Destination O-Town came into being (see the flier image).   I had a staff that I affectionately named the Destination Crew, later abbreviated as the D-Crew.  We were fans from all over the world, including my sister.  We really hit the ground running and passed out fliers at concerts and events.   Due to a few contacts in the entertainment industry and contact with family members of the band by different D-Crew staff, the guys in O-Town knew us by name and often mentioned our site during their radio and TV appearances, which always increased our traffic by thousands.  We were invited backstage often by their families, and at one show Ashley Angel himself saved meet and greet passes for me and my friends.   

Me_Erik_Otown

Whenever we attended a concert or event, we covered it on our site and we became the next best O-Town resource to the official site.  Their management and record label recognized us, so we always had exclusive interviews, pictures and news stories because I could guarantee the authenticity.  My site appeared in domestic and international pop magazines and I was even interviewed by Ladies Home Journal because I was a fan over 30.  Our most prized feature was “D-Crew Radio” which was a radio graphic that you could “play” and hear exclusive interviews with the band, their crew and their families.   We even had a mini promotional spots where the band themselves would say “Hi, We’re O-Town and you’re listening to D-Crew Radio on Destinationotown.com!”  As our sites’ popularity grew, I personally would receive gifts from fans (both in person and by mail).  I even had a difficult time attending concerts and events because fans would recognize me and my crew and bombard us with questions and requests to meet the guys.    

Wow, that was a lot of memories that just came flooding through!  I have some friendships that remained from the whole experience:  one of my crew members remains a good friend today and was a bridesmaid in my wedding; I keep in touch with a great gal who worked on their tour crew; and I even still have contact with one of their mothers.  It was an insane time in my life, but through the craziness, I had great fun.   It’s amazing the memories a few pictures can trigger.

Thankful

It’s a very busy time for friends and family to gather together and celebrate, so my post today will just be about how thankful I am for the many blessings in my life.  It’s been a wonderful and eventful year so far, and I need to say thank you to everyone in my life for the encouragement and support they have given me, especially my wonderful husband and beautiful son.  I am surrounded by their love every waking moment, which allows me to give it back in abundance.  

The only difficult part of this time of year is that I remember my dear father, who I wish was here physically with us to share the holidays.  It’s in times like this that my mom misses him dearly, although she knows he is with us in spirit.  Like me, I know she thinks about what his reactions to my son and my niece would be as they get older because she is here and able to watch them grow. 

So everyone, just take a moment to remember to thank your friends and family for all the love and support they provide.  But most of all, thank yourselves for who you are and your contribution to the world we live in.

Have a safe and wonderful holiday.  Happy Thanksgiving!

(Photos by Ashlee Espinoza)

Speaking of Mr. Darcy…

He’s been called “The Thinking Girl’s Hunk”. I don’t think it takes a whole lot of thinking to recognize the talent (not to mention sophisticated good looks) of Colin Firth.  I’ve come to admire Mr. Firth ever since “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and the BBC mini-series “Pride and Prejudice”.  I then began building a mini Colin Firth DVD library for myself including movies like “Girl With a Pearl Earring”, “The Importance of Being Earnest” and even ordering an import of “Fever Pitch” (the Amercian version with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore was based on the book by Nick Hornby, and Colin Firth appeared in the original British version of the film). 

Now it seems that Mr. Firth is everywhere.  After getting the critical acclaim he so richly deserves due to the film “A Single Man” (directed by Tom Ford), Colin’s star is truly rising (although I thought it had been doing so for quite sometime).  But my worlds collided when I saw the article in the newest Vogue.  Check out the picture of Colin Firth for “Holding Court”, an article about his newest movie “The King’s Speech” (which is getting buzz of a possible Oscar for Colin).  Photography for this article was done by Anton Corbijn.  Not only did he direct one of my favorite movies, “Control” about Joy Division (see my post here), but he was also the long-time main photographer and video director for Depeche Mode.  

Now when someone asks me to do “Six Degrees of Separation” with Colin Firth and Depeche Mode, it can be done.