Spanish Shirt

You know how certain scents or fragrances remind you of something or someone? Well, I have a shirt that reminds me of Spain. Actually I have two shirts and a pair of shoes that reminds me of Spain. However today, I'm just wearing the one shirt. This one simple white shirt, long sleeve with a boat neck. Thick, so it almost feels like a sweater...ah memories.

When I was in college there was one thing I wanted more than to graduate, and to learn how to write grammatically correct sentences. I wanted to do a study abroad program. Even though I had always wanted to go I waited until that last minute where I had to send the full payment for the trip to be included. So I ended up in Madrid, Spain all June 2007. Best last minute decision ever!

One day during this trip my roommate and I went shopping. I bought this white shirt and she bought a pink one. Needless to say, this shirt will for ever remind me of that trip...and maybe now of the fact that I never did quite learn how to get over my run-on sentence issue.

Also, I think I'm finally going to start blogging again. I took the Spring "off" and seeing as how yesterday was the first day of summer...I don't have an excuse anymore. 

♥always,

Taco Sauce Lessons

I really should have called this post "Death By Taco Sauce!" To be clear, no one died from taco sauce. At least none that I know of. You may want to Google it. Let me explain why...

A little while ago after watching a movie with Claudia, we decided to have something to eat and what I actually mean by that is: I was craving these spicy cucumbers from Taco Dollar (a dodgy looking taco truck in my equally dodgy part of my neighborhood) and made her go with me. Taco Dollar as you might have guesed sell tacos for $1. I dont have photos from that night but here is one I found online:

{source}

Although I called it dodgy, truth is, by taco truck standards this place is pretty legit. Not sure what their official hours of business are but they are open very, very late. They also have a parking lot, a security guard, and a DVD/CD "store."

So we pulled in, parked and walked on over to order 3 chicken tacos plus an horchata for me and 1 al pastor taco for her. We perused the "store" while we waited for our order. Once they were up I immediately stacked my plate with the cucumbers and then I was faced with a choice...what sauce to use? I had 3 tacos, there we 3 sauces. I had eaten there before but always had the tacos brought to me never had to choose anything. Common sense, or maybe even a little bit of a lapse in common sense due to hunger, led me to try all three. Three sauces for three tacos, done!

I was about 15 cucumbers and 1 green sauce taco down when I felt a little bit of a burn. Nothing I couldn't handle, it was actually a nice burn. I ate the second taco (I ate them in taco sauce order from left to right) and ate more cucumbers...still enjoying my burn. Then about two bites into the third taco with the red sauce when suddenly I really felt a burn. First, on my lips and slowly on my tounge then finally in the back of my mouth... I started to feel really hot and like I couldn't breath. Never having had this type of burn before, panic settled in and I thought I was about to die. 

"Oh My God, Claudia! I can't Breathe! I can't Breath!" I may have repeated that about 10 times while I removed my jacket, scarf and rolled down the window...I felt a little like Yosemite Sam at this point. You know when you face scrunches when you eat something really sour? Well, apparently it happens to me when I eat something really spicy. So now I'm fanning myself, not breathing, my whole right side of my face is scrunched up, I'm pretty sure steam is coming out of my ears, my lips are swollen and my eye have started to water, not tear up...just full on water. I drank the horchata but it was no help. Claudia suggested I drink milk because it cures the burn. She doesn't know this, but I was thinking, "Where the *bleep* am I gonna get some milk sitting in my car in a taco stand parking lot!" Sorry, Claudia...she did however have chocolate covered popcorn in her purse. Milk chocolate covered popcorn. And yes it cured the burn! 

 

A few days later I told The Boyfriend this story, I expected a chuckle but instead I got a lesson, "Don't you know the rule of thumb? The redder the sauce the hotter!" Obviously, no. 

So there you have it. Two lessons in one post. 1) Redder = Hotter & 2) Milk chocolate covered popcorn = cure for spicy burn. 

♥always,

March Randomness

Today I found a file with a bunch of Photos from an afternoon I hung out with Meri. Since it was back in MARCH I don't remember much. But the photos did help trigger some memories...

 

Memory: We asked the shop owner to take our photo a few times but this is the only one that made it into the file apparently. I remember we had lunch at the restaurant you can hardly see in the background HT Grill I believe. I had a tuna melt, it was lovely. Or it might have been a turkey melt.

Memmory: We also has some tea and coffee at this place called The Coffee Cartel, It's pretty cool and they have thousands of old books you can read and sit in old chairs and sofas. The barrista kept talking about being "high on life" and about wanting to throw a "onsie party" I think we were invited.  I also think he was high on something other than life.

Memory: We went shoe shopping at this place... I think we were lured by the "All Shoes $20 always" sign. They were in fact all $20.

Memory: This is also the place where we found out that cowboy style rain boots exist along with neon green pumps. We did buy some shoes but not the ones pictured. 

Memory: We came across this little garden that had a shed with cute little stuff in it. I want those retro swimwear dollies! How cute would they look on a book shelf? I specially like the on in the red suite.

...and finally coming full circle back to the store where we had our blurry picture taken...

Memory: We walked around this quirky little store where they had the most random assortment of items. My favorite were the the black and white birdie salt 'n pepper shakers. (Push it! Sorry couldn't help it.)

So where did all this take place? On S. Catalina Street Redondo Beach. There are a bunch of little shops where you can spend a little time perusing and getting a you're in a little town in the middle of nowhere type of feel. Must go back and purchase mentioned dollies, salt 'n pepper shakers and a pair of shoes... not cowboy rain boots though. 

♥always

Marisol

Tea Party Bridal Shower

July 2 was my best friend's wedding, but before we get to that event there were two other events that came before. The Bridal Shower and the Batchelorette Party. My other 1/2 MOH, Doreen and I talked about what we would do month's ago. We decided to have an Afternoon Tea Party for the Bridal Shower. After months of preparations and tons of thrift store shopping for tea cups, the day finally arrived. Unfortunately we were still chopping cucumbers by the time the guests started to arrive so I didn't get as many shots of the set up as I would have liked...but what is important is we had fun and there were plenty photos taken of that!

Here we are in all out hosting glory, although it looks more like I'm giving lesson on how to do the chicken dance...

You can't have a tea party without tea! Our tea options were English Breakfast, Fruit Tea variety, White Tea and Green Tea.

and tea sandwiches of course...

We opted for your traditional cucumber sandwich, egg salad sandwich and smoked salmon sandwich options.  We also threw in greens salad (not pictured) and a fruit salad. And for dessert, we had yummy scones (not pictured), cupcakes, ginger thins, Madeleines, and some other berry filled cookie.

After we ate.... and ate...it was time to get the inevitable part started, the games. Starting with the What's In Your Purse? game.


We read a list of items you would find in a woman's purse and gave them a point value. The one with the highest points wins. At first it was very normal items like wallet, phone, keys but it got interesting when we started naming things like gun? Condom? One lady in the older crowd asked why would a lady have a condom in her purse. She will question the condom but not the gun!

The Draw The Bride On Your Head game...

This was the most hilarious thing to watch as everyone really tried to concentrate hard to create their masterpiece. If you ever play this game make sure your pens work and the canvas you choose is not flimsy paper. We though these paper doilies would be cute but they were too thin and some ladies were poking their pen through which resulted in poking their heads which resulted in a game that sounded painful.

But the game that ensued the most hilarity was the Toilet Paper Wedding Dress game..

We split the ladies into teams and gave them one roll of toilet paper and 5 pieces of tape to create a wedding dress. Then they had to model the "gown." Some dresses didn't make it one piece down the brick runway.

After the food and games it was time for her presents...I think she really enjoyed this part.

Before it was all over we took turns in front of the camera... you know to take lady like photos.

And not so ladylike photos...

And some more photos..

It was a lot of planning, a lot of thrifting and a lot of cucumber and egg chopping and hours of learning how to make tissue paper poms (Martha Stewart makes it look so easy!) but you are worth it my friend. We love you. I hope you really enjoyed your party!

♥always,
Marisol

Over The Weekend: Showers and Shows and Sushi

It finally happened! The Tea Party Bridal Shower finally came...and went. (I will share more about the shower in a later post this week and this coming Saturday is time for the Bachelorette Party) After the Bridal Shower it was time to clean up and relax. G and I went to check out an artist play in Old Town Pasadena, check out the one of the songs I liked below. Claudia and Manny (bride and groom) came with us. It was a cool night and a relaxed show. A little crowded so we couldn't see that state much but it was still fun. We ended the nigh with dinner at a Sushi place... Sushi..... mmmm... *snap* back to blog! Sorry about that. We were also intrigued by this giant statue, there may or may not have been some inappropriate touching of said statue.

Sunday was a lazy day. Nothing exciting...not even a pictures worth... I was bummed because I though "I'm ten pounds heavier than I was this time last year" According to my new plan to get fit and fitness changes this was not supposed to happen. I also used a freight scale, right after lunch so accuracy was probably not at it's best. All this was confirmed in my Dr visit today. Turns out I'm only 4 pound heavier. Well, I definitely worked out more than I did last year so still not sure what those 4 pounds are... lets just say they are all muscle! You can't see it but I'm flexing over here.

♥always,
Marisol

Fortune Cookies Don't Lie

Last week I had a fortune cookie. There may have been an obscene amount of Chinese food before that but now that I type it I realize that it's not relevant to my story.  Inside my fortune cookie was the following fortune:

Yet Friday night came and went and there was nothing exciting about it. I watched King of the Hill. That cartoon?...show?...animated series is hilarious and I don't care what anybody says. But not exciting. Thursday night was exciting though. We went to Zanzibar in Santa Monica. Every Thursday night they have Afro Funke night where you will hear the best music ever. Great night, lots of dancing and laughing. The AC was leaking over us but we didn't care.  We ended the night with eating at Swingers. I think I finally fell asleep at 4am-ish.

Lauren was whipped around by a sweaty, Asian little person...

Girls Night Out and also Date Night :)

But now I realize.... the fortune cookie didn't say Friday NIGHT it just said Friday. After midnight it was Friday and it was a very exciting time for me! Therefore fortune cookies don't lie. Even if you get get a lame non-fortune like "You are wise and courageous." Uh, I already know that, where's my fortune?

♥always,
Marisol

The Day After Cinco De Mayo

It's May 6th. Or more appropriately Seis De Mayo. Nothing special is celebrated today - Correction - I Just found out that 6th of May it is actually International No Diet Day!! Now I don't feel bad for having a plateful of burrito/quesadilla/nachos for lunch at work. Plus, how appropriate is it that I woke up craving chilaquiles (a Mexican breakfast dish) on both days? But alas, there was no time for me to make some. Nor do I actually know how to make some. Good thing I have plenty of great friends, three whom so kindly have promised to make me some. The competition is on Karla, Veronica and Doreen!! But I will probably love all 3 anyway.


Speaking of food, Mexico and friends... We had a mini Cinco De Mayo dinner last night. Everyone made/bought food and we sat around listening to Veronica tell her horror travel stories. Listened to some Mariachi and ate a lot of food. Specially, a lot of beans! For some reason, Veronica decided that a giant pot of beans was necessary. And some gooooood flan for dessert.

There was some confusion on what I was supposed to bring. They were all under the impression that I would be "making" ceviche. Well, I made the time to go buy some so it counts.

Doreen, drunk of Horchata!

Dont bother us, we're eating!

Yes It is!

laughing at Veronica s comment...You had to be there!

That may or may not have been my third helping of beans...

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Lots of fun and great home cooked/store bought/ restaurant ordered food was had by all :)

And please, please tell me that you know what was celebrated yesterday. Please tell me that you know it was not Mexico's Independence Day. That would be September 16. I will let Wikipedia inform you some more. What? Wikipedia is reliable!

I still don't understand why it's such a big deal in the US, there will even be a parade around my neighborhood this weekend. ut whatever, fun is had, food is eaten and plenty of drinks are had. Que viva Mexico! Hope you had a great Cinco De Mayo and Seis De Mayo aka International No Diet Day! And while I'm at it Siete & Ocho De Mayo.


♥ always,
Marisol

Guest Post: Claudia

December's guest blogger... yeah I know it's January, there were some setbacks I had to deal with, you'll learn about them later this week. Anywho... like I was saying, December's guest blogger is my BFF Claudia. Or Awesome Claudia, well that's what I call her. Her post made my day, scratch that it made my month :) She definitely falls under the one-of-my-favorite-people-in-the-world category, so here's my Bosom Friend, Claudia:

Now & Then

  

I know Marisol for about 19 years now. We met in third grade at Eucalyptus Elementary in the 80’s, (that explains our outfits in the picture), but lost touch in High School and found each other again as adults.

The old saying "You don’t know what you have until its gone " is very true. When Marisol and I were kids I didn’t realize what good friend I had until I had lost her. I don’t like to make quantities of friends by calling my acquaintances, friends and allowing them into the secrets of my thoughts, instead I keep a selected few as quality friends, which is why I am very selective of who I call friend.

Marisol is what I call a super friend. She has been not only a good friend but also showed character and kindness to others, which is a quality I admire in her. She isn’t afraid to speak her mind or be independent and strong when the occasion calls for it. She is a born leader and doesn’t waver in her beliefs.

I on the other hand, according to the personality type indicator test, Myers-Briggs given to me and Manny, my Fiance, by our priest (for wedding purposes) showed I am an Introverted Intuitive individual with Extroverted Feelings. What’s that you ask? According to the Briggs, I am artistic and creative and live in a world hidden in meanings and possibilities. I put a lot of energy into identifying the best system for getting things done, but I constantly define and re-define my priorities. On the other hand I operate intuitive and spontaneous. I know things intuitively, without knowing why, and without detail knowledge of subject at hand, but am usually right.

One of my down falls in my personality is my determination, because it makes me focus on one thing and one thing only, the goal at hand. This makes me shut out everyone and everything else around me, family, friends, work, or school, what-ever is not my goal at the time. I guess its true that I re-define my priorities constantly. This is hard on my loved ones and me. I am very concerned about others feelings and hate hurting anyone in the process. I often find my self-reflecting on my actions to make sure that I have not hurt others. Most of the time I think I am not good enough and push my self even further to limits I thought I couldn’t reach before. This creates a paradox within my self because I can’t ever go back to ordinary or where I was before, because I know I could do better and refuse to go backwards. 

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/ (World within worlds)

I am a forward thinking individual and often think too forward and scare even my self. I have theories of ancient aliens, God is an alien, and worlds within worlds. I have others but those are my favorites. I am very emotional and cry when I am happy, sad, mad, sick, nostalgic, depressed, you name it I cry. I feel weird around too many people and feel socially uncoordinated unless I am drinking liquid courage.

In a way Marisol and I are similar in our personalities; we like to find the most efficient way to get things done. We like to plan out what we are going to do, but I am more emotional and get sidetracked by my emotions and act impulsively at times. We are both caring and loyal. We share similar family values, but I tend to be a little more liberal in some views willing to bend the line when I see fit. Even though we have some differences the major thing we have in common is our kindred spirits that are intertwined in a friendship that has withstood time.

In case you are wondering, no, this is not me and Claudia... this is Anne & Diane from Anne of Green Gables...