Busy times! Party like your 92 year young self!

It's starting to hit a major busy/cray cray time. So I'll be posting more sporadically over the next month. Hopefully, I'll pop in with a few photos now and then. Here are a few from my cousin's wedding in Minneapolis a couple weeks ago.

My favorite photo is this first one with me and my 92 year young Grandma! It I really cherish spending time with her, and I hope I am as healthy and happy as her when I'm that age.

Catch-up Montage Sequence

Sorry y'all! I've been gone so long! Too much to catch up on so I'll just focus on some highlights from the holidays in this post. Imagine this as a fast movie montage sequence. By the end of it, you should feel like you totally know how the whole months-long experience of my life went :) j/k

I found this ridiculously awesome Paul Frank fleece adult onesie to bum around the house in around the holidays. Bonus: it has pockets! It makes me so happy that I so don't care that Ev laughs at me every time he sees me wearing it.


Ev's Holiday party was at the sci-fi museum (Cee Lo Green was the main entertainment). But I also totally geeked out at the Battlestar Gallactica exhibit they had going on. (Wearing Betsey Johnson dress I picked up when I met Ms. Betsey Johnson herself!).





Took funny family pics


I love seeing my grandma in these pics! I'm so happy she's still doing so great at 91! I really cherished the time I got to spend with her over the holidays.

Caught up with some wonderful friends

I adore this toothy grin!

I miss my bestie so much since she moved to the East coast!

ha! This guy in back did an awesome photobomb



Last week, I got my very first bowtie! and I even learned how to tie it! I bought it for $2.49 (including shipping!) on ebay. Next I want a cute plaid one!
here's an early morning shot at the bus stop. I was so cold (and pale... ok I'm still pale). And my lips were too chapped to smile!

I took this one at home when I got back. I gotta get my tripod set up again. For now, mirror pic!


I also have been crazy bogged down with writing. With the holidays and the lack of exercise, I've gained 10 lbs in the past six months! I'm still crazy busy, but I'm announcing it to y'all now that I'm gonna work those 10 lbs off (ideally by summer!).

Anyone have any weight loss tips? I've tried keeping a food journal on my phone, but I'm bad at keeping up with it. I've fallen off in running (was due to cold weather, but now it's just due to lack of time and lots of inertia).

"Galileo why are you so suprised?"

As promised, here are pics from the weekend of me in a poofy hat (apparently called a tam - different from the typical undergraduate mortarboard because it is eight-sided and poofy).

These robes do wonders for the figure. Really.

Thank you for all the congratulations. The hooding ceremony was pretty nice. We all gave speeches. I cried. I made other people cry. There were 19827392792392 photos taken.

Here's one with my advisor and my BFF (also in poofy hat garb).

About a third of us going through this year's hooding still have to defend. That's me too. It will likely happen in end of Summer, early Fall for me.

Beneath the purple-y robes was of course Anthro!

My husband couldn't quite get over how much he thought I looked like Galileo (although we can't find a pic of Galileo in this type of hat). So whenever I made a face like this at him:

He'd say "Galileo, why are you so surprised?"

Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend!

Holiday outfits, family, food mash-up (plus Budz update)

My brother-in-law hugging the Budz

So Budz and I went back to the vet today, and it turns out that the antibiotics didn't help. In fact, the vet said that if anything, his condition seems worse. So we'll be taking him to some specialist pet surgeons. I'm at least grateful that we now have a plan, and it sounds like this type of surgery has a fairly good success rate. I can't wait to have Budz back at full health again.

This break Budz got a lotta love. Heck, we all had good times here with my husband's family in town.

We said goodbye to the old dishwasher that came with the house, and welcomed a new one from Evan's parents (which Evan then spent a day installing by himself, lol)

Dishwasher outfit
Anthropologie Pink (looks wine colored to me) Finessed Turtleneck sz XS (sale $30)
Club Monaco gold & beige striped skirt sz 0 (thrifted $4)
Grey belt
grey ribbed tights ($6)
Dollhouse slippers


There was much food preparation and consumption

followed by much merriment... some might say too much merriment ;)

Gift giving/opening was extra full of merriment

...and led the way to more food consumption... hmm... :) ooh personal pies!


Ah, good times!

Christmas Eve outfit:

Kensie Pretty silk shift dress sz XS (thrifted $4)
Adidas black skinny belt (thrifted 99 cents)
Hue bordeaux sueded tights (Ebay $6.50)
H&M multi-chain necklace ($12?)
Anne Klein Bangles (gifted)
Pink INC strappy heels (thrifted $6)

Christmas Day outfit:

Anthropologie Floreat Faceted skirt sz 0 (sale $22.50)
Banana Republic baby blue long-sleeved tee sz XS (thrifted $6)
black tights
Dollhouse Slippers
pearl and jade necklace (gifted)

Recovery Outfit:


Starling embellished hoodie sz XS (Nordy Rack sale $6.50)
Striped ruched H&M long sleeve tee by Divided sz 6 ($13)
Lisa Skinny Jeans by Fire Jeans sz 5 (thrifted $7)
Multi-strand red beaded necklace (thrifted $7)

Guess what? Evan surprised me for Christmas with a new camera body! He's been upgrading my camera piece by piece. Christmas came with a Rebel T1i (aka Canon 500D). He also surprised me with a Star Wars Garden Jawa (his contribution to our yard art), but I'm waaaaay more excited about the new camera... sorry hun! :)

Snippets from Cali!

There. Did you catch them all? All the food, all the fun with friends and family? It was epic. And yes, we also have Chinese food at our Thanksgiving. It's delicious and a tradition!

I've been writing like a mad scientist (a mad scientist who needs grant money and needs to publish papers, lol), so my pics from last week in California got somewhat backlogged.

In between bouts of writing (luckily my family goes to sleep earlier and wakes up later than I do), I had a jolly good time with people near and dear to me.

On Monday last week, my family headed up to Geyserville (where Ev and I got married). We specifically made a trip to Meeker winery. It's one of our favorite wineries and we had a lot of their wine at our wedding. Here I am with my mom and her mom (my grandma).

Their tasting room is in an old bank, and they actually keep all the wine in the big vault!

What the heck am I pointing at? I think I was just pointing for the sake of pointing :/

Wine tasting OOTD Specs
Calvin Klein red zip-up dress ($50)
Martin & Osa black seamless core turtleneck sz L/XL ($8 sale)
Xhilaration raspberry pumps (thrifted NWT $7)
Black tights ($8)


Later in the week, my fam exchanged some early Christmas gifts since Ev and I will be spending xmas with his family this year. My bro got this African mask from my Auntie and cousin. I proceeded to act normally with the mask. *ahem*

Ooh and look, I had heard there was a field game cardi look-a-like at TJ Maxx on various blogs, but I hadn't had a chance to visit one. There is one near my parent's house, and I found this one on sale for $20. My mom said I looked like a candy cane.



Ev also finally opened up his Kinect that work gave him. The whole family had fun playing with it. My favorite moment of Thanksgiving weekend was seeing my 90-year-old grandmother elated to play virtual ping pong on the Kinect. Priceless. I want to be like her when I'm 90.

And finally, my favorite pic of the week. You might be able to tell which side of the family I got my silliness from...

This blue and beige dress was my Thanksgiving outfit. It's a BCBG Paris dress I got at the outlets near my cousin's UC Davis wedding (I think it was about $50). It's got a great poofy skirt, a vintage vibe, and pockets!

Sweet time with the family

That's a pic of some of the sticky buns I made for my family this morning as a surprise. They're absolutely RIDICULOUSLY easy to make. No one ever believes me though. Try them and impress your family and friends (recipe posted at the bottom of the post). They'll think you're a baking god/goddess and you can bask in their sugar-induced glow!

I've been having fun with my family (while working electronically with my collaborators on a grant application! Sweet multitasking!). Sunday when Ev and I got in we went grocery shopping with my dad and Nai Nai (grandma on my dad's side).


dang, look at those bags under my eyes. I was tired from travel and from going to the five different grocery stores my Nai Nai and dad wanted to go to. Seriously. Five. Because there were specific brands and prices that were better at each. At least my Nai looks cute here!

One of the grocery stores was this Mexi grocery that I LOVE. They carry my favorite tortillas (La Finca - made in Oakland!) and they make the most delicious fresh pan dulce. Seattle Mexi bakeries I've been to don't seem to have enough foot traffic to bake fresh everyday. So a lot of the Mexi breads I've tried up there have been disappointing. Not the case here in the Bay Area. So I got my fill. Check out that platter of goodies!

droooooool. There were too many tasty looking things. I couldn't take them all home. I woulda made myself sick.

You see my dilemma, right? ;)

okay, no Mexi baked goodies for you, but you can make the sticky buns from the top of the post. :)

Easy Sticky Chocolate Pecan Buns
adapted from Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) recipe

Ingredients

•8 Tb (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
•1/3 C light brown sugar, lightly packed
•1/2 C pecans, chopped in very large pieces
•1 package (2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted

For the filling:
•2 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled
•2/3 C light brown sugar, lightly packed
•3 tsp ground cinnamon
•1 C chocolate chips or raisins or something tasty

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a silpat-lined sheet pan.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 8 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.

3. Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with the melted butter. Leaving a 1/2-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips. Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down.

4. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2 inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.

5. Bake for 20 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. Be careful - they're hot! Allow to cool for 5 minutes ONLY (or less! seriously, once these suckers cool you will not be able to pry them from the tins without breaking the buns. The sugar will act like a glue!), invert the buns onto the silicone-lined sheet pan (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon) and cool completely.


btw, check out this pic of our house in Seattle!

My parents have been complaining that it's been in the 30s-50s here in the Bay Area, but it was 14F in Seattle this morning! It snowed while we were gone!

Other photos to post, but I gotta go do some fam stuff and then get back to grant writing! :D

Happy Birthday Mommy!

My mommy's birthday was last weekend, see look how happy she looks!



Since it was a big birthday for her, I flew down to the Bay Area to have a birthday brunch with my family (weird to be there less than 24 hours!!!)

We had a lovely birthday brunch at Skates in Berkeley despite the morning clouds. Then we went home to have cake and open gifts.

It was also great to see my grandma. I haven't seen her since February or March. In late March, she turned 90! She still has long tennis rallies (26 in a row!) with my Uncle Jason when she visits him in Minnesota. Dude, I wanna be like that when I'm 90! Go grandma!



My mother directed me to wear something red on her birthday (seen as good luck among Chinese). So for the occasion I wore Anthropologie's Oroya Dress by Eva Franco since it has an undeniably bright red/orange sash. This was the first dress I discovered I could go down to a size 0! I had an immediate identity crisis, but I've since learned in trying Eva Franco items that

1) her styles always run big on me,

2) I LOVE LOVE her designs,

3) I cry because her pencil skirts NEVER fit me - ones that fit my hips will never be small enough for my waist (such was the case with the Dreaming in Green Skirt, and the Lincolnshire Skirt