Must Have

I'm not a huge coffee table book person (as I do not have a coffee table), but I really want this one published by Rizzoli. I love me some John Currin.

Total Heartthrob

A conversation I had last week derived the following short-list of Hollywood men whom I adore. I definitely have a type. And the type is kind of, sort of disturbing.

Conan O'Brien (why not?!)
George Clooney (fun-fun-fun)
Paul Bettany (a Brit with dry humor... how unexpected)
Michael Cera (looks like a bird and has and angelic voice. "these eyes...")
Seth Rogen (I bet he enjoys ice-cream)

Apparently I have a thing for egoless, self-deprecating beta males who trimph over macho men to get the girl. Hmm. What does this say about me?!

Cougar cub, you still regin supreme. I am patiently awaiting your return home.

On a side note, does anyone know what happened to Planter's deliciously unhealthy cheeseballs? I crave them.

Bootie Call

"Without that glass slipper, Cinderella might still be scrubbing floors." Plucked the quote off of net-a-porter's website.

Fall is always a great time to reassess one's wardrobe and try to break out of old style habits. Rrright. Truth is, I have never been successful breaking free of my style rut of baby-dolls. I suppose that's a good thing as this year, because the lifestyle of a graduate student isn't very lux. With no income and bills up the wazoo, I'm going to have to make do with what I've already got.

Guess that means no new booties for this girl. At least not Parisian ones...

Birthday Boy

Am back in LA and loving the weather. Forgot how lovely my apartment here is. Lucky-lucky me.

Still painting. Ugh. Take a peek on my latest UNfinished creation.

Beans turned 2 today. He's practically a pepaw.
Perhaps I should start addressing him as MISTER Beans.
No huge bash tonight--just a couple of extra cookies--as my now tweenage puppy (2 human years is approximately 14 dog years) enjoyed a big par-tay last week.

Battle the Bulge - Day 10
Banana: 110 cal
McDonald's Chicken McNuggets (Only 4 because I shared 2 with Beans): 190 cal
Diet Coke: 0 cal
Sour Apple Gummy loops (3 servings): 330 cal
Caribbean Fruit popsicle: 110 cal
Auntie Chun's Udon (cup o' noodle-ish thing): 220 cal
Haagen Daz Vanilla Bean ice-cream (2 servings): 580
Total: 1,440 calories worth of junk-food. *tsk-tsk-tsk*

Smooth Operator

I want electrolysis for Christmas.

Battle the Bulge - Day 9
4 small bites of Josh's chocolate cake:: 100 cal
Lunch at Subway's
Turkey Breast Sandwich (6 inch w/ cheese triangles & honey mustard): 325 cal
Diet Coke: 0 cal
Baked Lays BBQ: 140 cal
Dinner at R&G Lounge: 800 cal
Total: 1,365 calories

Inspired

My blog inspired. *teehee* Last week, my dear friend, "T.P." presented me with the above-pictured trio of felt softies over a meal at Sweet Tomatoes. Ever-so-attentive to detail, T.P. even used real beans for the puppy character's eyes! The card that accompanied the gift was just as touching as the gift.

Sweet-Tooth

I am craving sour gummies...

Made to Marry (?)

Wedding dress shopping with Pam has proven challenging.
We are not well-studied bridal people.
We are, according to the bridal boutique peeps, "everywhere" in our selection.
Hmm.

Battle the Bulge - Day 8
Lunch at Subway's
Turkey Breast Sandwich (6 inch w/ cheese triangles & honey mustard): 325 cal
Diet Coke: 0 cal
Baked Lays BBQ: 140 cal
Dinner at Subway's
Turkey Breast Sandwich (6 inch w/ cheese triangles & honey mustard): 325 cal
Diet Coke: 0 cal
Baked Lays BBQ: 140 cal
Sour Patch Kids (2.5 servings... Oops): 375 cal
Total: 1,445 calories (YAY! BACK DOWN! But not enough to lose anything.)

Battle the Bulge - Day 7

Somewhere over the rainbow, blue blirds fly...
... and ice-cream is a weight-loss food item. Tried to tame my inner beast today while dining with Pammy. Still exceeded my recommended daily calorie count, but am getting my number back down. Better luck tomorrow.

Banana: 110 cal
M&Ms (2): 20 cal
Turkey Burger at the Counter.
Turkey patty (1/3 pound): 150 cal
Slice of cheese: 105 cal
English muffin: 120 cal
Tomato & lettuce: 20 cal
Grilled onions: 20 cal
Ketchup: 30 cal
Honey mustard: 70 cal
Diet coke: 0 cal
Iced Lemon Green Tea with Honey: 200 cal
Dinner at Southland Flavor Cafe in Cupertino: 600 cal
Yogurtland Fro-yo (less than 2 oz): 100 cal
Total: 1545 calories

Battle the Bulge - Day 6

Hmm. Not only am I not steadily losing weight, I believe I may be steadily gaining weight. Once again, I have exceeded my recommended daily intake to MAINTAIN! I don't enjoy having to watch what I eat...

Banana: 110 cal
Gummies (8): 280 cal
Lunch was a meal of dimsum at Joy Luck in Cupertino.
1 cha-siu-bao (steamed pork bun): 150 cal
1 nai-huang-bao (steamed egg custard bun): 120 cal
1 sao-mai: 58 cal
1 xia-jiao (shrimp dumpling): 65 cal
3 pieces of xia-chang-feng (shrimp flat noodle): 75 cal
2 fong-zhua (chicken's feet, er phoenix claw): 180 cal
1 luo-buo gao (turnip cake): 70 cal
Some steamed veggies: 20 cal
Tea: 20 cal
Yogurtland fro-yo (less than 2 oz): 100 cal
Dinner was a meal of sushi at Kabuto (my favorite sushi joint in SF): 600 cal
5 bites of cookies n' cream ice-cream cone from Joe's: 100 cal
Total: 1,908 calories

Battle the Bulge - Day 5

I'm spiraling downwards. Somebody help!
Pictured: Me & Pammy on The Grizzly at Great America. Yes, she took this mid-ride. She's a beast!

Fried egg: 92 cal
Great America (amusement park) Treats
Half a churro: 58 cal
Half an Icee: 128 cal
6 pieces of brown rice California Roll sushi: 100 cal
Half a large serving of Dippin' Dots: 275 cal
Buffet dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. Uh -oh
1 cup Won Ton Chicken Happiness Salad: 150 cal
Miscellaneous Veggies: 100 cal
1/8 cup Tuna Tarragon: 60 cal
2 cups Minestrone soup: 240 cal
1 small blueberry muffin: 140 cal
1 cornbread: 140 cal
1/2 cup jello: 80 cal
1/2 cup vanilla soft serve: 140 cal
5 bites of chocolate lava cake: 187 cal
Total: 2,165 calories

Battle the Bulge - Day 4

Things aren't looking so hot for me. Dining out does my diet no good. I will have to step it up tomorrow in order to make up for my poor performance.

Massive bowl of Emily's azuki red bean soup: 400 cal
Delicious mayo-drenched tuna sandwich in San Mateo (6 inch, no cheese): 550 cal
Cup of minestrone soup (it came with my sandwich): 180 cal
Orbitz (2): 20 cal
Cup of tea: 30 cal
Dinner at Burma Superstar: 1,000,000 cal
Small Fro-yo at Quickly with strawberry topping: 180 cal
Total: 1,001,260 cal

IF: Detach

"An old thing becomes new if you detach it from what usually surrounds it." French film-maker, Robert Bresson.

Using the words of others has proven inspiring. Pictured: Detached arm-pit hair enjoying a second life. He-he.

Nedko Solakov

Fear #37: A balloon and a cactus became friends. For the time being – everything OK. The cactus’ pricks are minding the tender balloon, and the balloon keeps itself close to the ground for a better chat with the cactus (even though the balloon can easily go 56 metres high).”

Came across Nedko Solakov collection of drawings, "99 Fears" in Drawn this morning. The worries he illustrates and describes are really funny. Check it out.

Battle the Bulge - Day 3

I was not very disciplined today. I went out for a meal of shabu shabu (Japanese hot pot) with friends, and ended up having a little more than I'd hoped to. But I did do a little more walking than usual during the afternoon. Does that make up for the excessive calorie intake? Probably not. *Sigh* Better luck tomorrow.

Green beans and almonds (Cascadian Farms package): 120 cal
Two egg whites: 40 cal
Coke (3 sips): 50 cal
Orbitz: 20 cal (I had 2 sticks)
Hotpot (lots of veggies, 8 pieces of thinly-sliced beef, no rice): about 800 cal
Green tea ice-cream: 280 cal
Emily's red azuki bean soup (5 spoonfuls): 70 cal
Total: 1380

"B" is for Beans

... and birthday cake!
With the help of his love-oozing-doggy-godmama-baker-extraordinaire Emily, Beans had himself a dog-gone fabulous early birthday celebration tonight. (Early because much of his actual birthday on the 27th will be spent driving back down to LA). Behold the talent of Ems--see above. She baked Beans a delicious smelling (and probably tasting), exquisite banana-cinnamon-carob double-decker cake frosted with cream cheese and carrots. Notice the attention to detail! The sakura blossom shaped carrot slices even spell out a "B"! Beans gobbled down two ginormous slices of Em's dog friendly creation (two slices for turning two?!?)... the slices placed into his new bowl set from me. Cake consumption was followed up by much necessary exercise. Fetch with his new rubber ball--his last and final gift. Every dog deserves to be this happy.

P.S. Beans does not look as joyful in the final photo for he'd just finished his two slices and noticed that his bowl wasn't being refilled... What? No thirds?! But it's my birthday!

Which leads right into one of my favorite quotes by George Harrison of the Beatles: “All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.”

Nobody Told Me...

... that I've been running about with crazy eyebrows! I hate taking photos. Hate, hate, HATE! I suppose I have self-confidence issues, but no need to get into that today. Let's focus. Let's focus on the issue at hand. My BROWS. After looking through photos that were taken of your's truly within this past year, I noticed that my brows, as compared to my female classmates' and friends', are wild and untamed. Not knowing how to discpline them myself, I turned to a professional -- the Vietnamese lady at "Nails Feel Good" on Arguello. Huang does nails, so she must do brows as well. So I assumed.

And I was right! I had my eyebrows waxed for the second time in my life yesterday and am pleased with the results. I wish I could bring Huang back to LA with me. Without her, I just might start looking crazed again. See above.

Battle the Bulge - Day 2

Turns out I miscalculated. Thank God I'm bad at math!
In order to maintain my current weight, I can actually consume up to 1522 calories! However, in order to lose weight, I should not be exceeding 1000 calories per day. So I went a little overboard tonight. Oops. Probably shouldn't have had fro-yo. But I'm super glad I did! He-he.

Wakame soup - 35 cal
Spinach - 20 cal
Strawberries - 24 cal (4 cal each)
Egg - 70 cal
Starbucks turkey & artichoke sandwich (not tasty) - 200 cal
Pellegrino - 0 cal
Meal at Tanto - 700 cal
Yogurtland frozen yogurt - 100 cal
Total: 1149 calories

Battle the Bulge - Day 1

I'm hungry.

According to the internets, a person of my size (5 feet) with daily physical activity as limited as mine (read: sedentary) should only consume 975 calories (yes, we're in 3 digit territory) in order to maintain my current weight. I did all my homework. I calculated my BMR (basal metabolic rate) and then factored in my daily activity level. In order to lose anything, I'd have to consume less than 975. Insane. What's sad is, I bet my favorite US Weekly starlets consume even less.

Needless to say, I'm no Hollywood starlet. Friends of mine know that portion control has always been a difficult task for me. It's not that I'm unhealthy in my choice of eats. I just happen to enjoy everything in larger portions. You're going to have one bowl of Heart to Heart cereal for breakfast? Yeeeeah. I think I'll have two. Want a snack? Have a handful of almonds! No. I'll take the bag. Debs, you want to share this bowl of noodles? Sure. And I'll order a second bowl to "share" as well. Ugh. I'm full. Maam, want to see the dessert menu? Uh, YE-AH. I have a whole separate stomach for dessert. *tsk-tsk-tsk* Just for kicks, I kept count of my caloric intake last week, and get this, my average daily intake was actually over 2000. All this said, being "good" has been extremely challenging.

Grapes - 180 calories (6 calories each)
Wakame (seaweed) soup - 35 calories
Spinach - 40 calories
Chicken apple sausage - 120 calories
Orbitz - 30 (10 calories each)
Coke (sips) - 33 calories
Grilled pork Vietnamese sandwich - 300 calories
Strawberries - 120 (4 calories each)
Air - 1,000,000 calories (or so it seems)
Grand total: 838 (not including Air)

Have You Seen the Muffin Man?

Dude, where's my waist?

This past weekend in Yosemite, after a massive breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes, Will and Johnny agreed to a "Six Pack Challenge" somewhat similar to the one that our other friend, Larry imposed upon himself. See here. The two will be heading off to Hawaii for a wedding ten days from now, and the challenge is to get their abs in tip-top shape by then. As much as I hope the two will succeed, I think this is a mission impossible. I have no doubt that Will and Johnny are capable of working out like mad men, but the caloric consumption of Will alone is well........ not quite Phelpsian, but it's close! Anyhow, this challenge is going to take a whole lot of will power and discipline and should be fun (or funny) to follow. See their progress here and here!

Inspired by their desire to get in shape, I am going on a low carb diet. Kind of funny that this vow should come from a girl who owns a tee with I "heart" carbs scribbled across the chest. But as stated in previous entries, my tummy's been smiling way too much. See the reason for my food-baby weight. I want to remain fun-size, not king-size. Let's hear it. "I don't think you're ready, for this jelly... I don't think you're ready, for THIS jelly!" Am clearly delirious due to hunger. *Sigh