what i've been watching.

Since I've basically done nothing but lay on the couch for the past week and some days, I have watched hours and hours of TV.

1. ID
First of all, I'll admit it. I have a problem.
I am completely and utterly addicted to the Investigation Discovery (ID) channel.

I am obsessed with Dateline, On the Case with Paula Zahn, Disappeared, 20/20, etc. I am absolutely fascinated [almost] every episode. I won't go into details because I know most of you won't be nearly as enthralled as I am. Although, I can not for the life of me understand why not.

Which makes me think...I am pretty sure I should have gone into forensics. What a cool profession. Not that I like blood or think death is cool, but I like the problem solving/logic/putting the puzzle pieces together involved with solving crime. I guess I'm only 23, so I still could do that. But going back to school? Haha, worst idea EVER.

2. Catch Me If You Can
I've also rediscovered my love for the movie "Catch Me If You Can"
I love it. I love the time period. The style and fashion of the 60s. The story. It's all good. If you haven't seen it, watch it. Annnd, it's not even a chick flick.

Oh hiiiiii, Leo.

One of my favorite scenes is (don't worry, this scene is completely irrelevant to the storyline) when Frank is at the movies. Only because all the men there are in suit jackets and ties. Ahhh...those were the days. The days I've never experienced, but the days nonetheless.

3. The usual stuff
Project Runway All Stars (aka, MONDO! The cutest designer to ever be on Project Runway) However, I'm getting sick of hearing the word "garish". C'mon people, there are plenty of other adjectives to chose from. But that's not from Mondo. Mondo can do no wrong. He is literally the cutest designer ever. He's always styled to a T. And he wears these little shorts that just slay me and make me love him even more. And he's so little standing next to his models. I just want to pick him up and squeeze him and make him be my best friend. 

Oh, Mondo!

New Girl. Have you been watching New Girl? Because it is my favorite favorite show. I absolutely love it. I don't feel that I need to express my love for Zooey now. You know how I feel.
New episode tonight. Don't miss it.

Last Man Standing. I like this show for 2 reasons...1. It's about a man who is married with 3 daughters, so it reminds me of my family/childhood/Dad and 2.Tim Allen. Lots of people really don't like the guy, but I love him. Because he's not only from Michigan but he loves Michigan. He always promotes it in his shows by wearing different Michigan college shirts PLUS he's the voice in the Pure Michigan commercials.

I mean...how can you NOT love Tim Allen after that?! I guess if you don't love Michigan then those commercials probably don't stir up too much pride in ya.
Pure Michigan commercials make me cry. I love where I'm from.

So if you ever find yourself sick and laying on the couch for days on end...you've got a nice list of what to watch on the telly. You're welcome.

how to lose 10 pounds in 6 days

Pardon my lack of posts the past few days. I've been rather busy, you know wishing I was dead rather than suffering from a cold slash sinus infection. The usual.

I've decided that a sinus infection is the most annoying pain in the world. My cheeks hurt. My forehead hurts. My entire skull hurts. My jaw hurts. My lymph-nodes are freaking massive and hurt. Even my teeth hurt!! My teeth, people!! But the worst part is there is nothing I can do to alleviate the pain! I've tried it all. Except for the suggestion of one man, to DRINK one's urine. Um, excuse me. Are you joking? THIS GUY DRINKS HIS PEE! AND he uses it in his neti-pot!! WHAT IN THE WORLD?! I thought it was a joke, but I looked up "Urine Therapy" (as he so adoringly called it) on google...and yep. Those nutsos are totally serious.

I had a teacher in Germany that used to eat chalk. Like a lot of chalk. I think he ate 2 sticks a day or something? And he swore by it. He hadn't suffered from any illness in a super super long time. Maybe I should try that...we do have some chalk...and it's not like I can taste anything anyways...

What am I saying? I am losing my mind.
Someone please help me.

Anyways, so I was looking at my shoes today. Because what else am I supposed to do when I can barely get off the couch? And I realized that I never shared with you all what I got with my $50 giftcard to Ruche that I won from Selective Potential!

I got these cute little guys!!

Super cute! I love them!

Also...I discovered something that is truly amazing. No joke, you will all loooove me after this. Well, at least the ladies. I don't remember where I read this trick, whether it was on pinterest or some other blog but that doesn't matter. You know how when you buy berries you have to eat them in less than 3 days or they get all moldy smushy nasty? Well, when you first bring them home, rinse them in 1 part vinegar and 3 parts water. They'll last waaaaay longer. I guess the vinegar kills the mold spores that have already formed on the berries or something...?

I put about 3 tablespoons of vinegar in a bowl and then filled the rest up with water. I left the berries in their plastic container and just plopped them in the bowl. I made sure that all the berries got rinsed, and kind of swirled the container around in the bowl. Then I rinsed the berries under just fresh water because I didn't want any vinegar taste remaining (even though what I read said it doesn't leave an aftertaste because you dilute it with water). I still have some of the strawberries in my fridge and it's been like 2 weeks since I bought them. Granted, normally I would eat strawberries way before 2 weeks, but I've been sick.

Proof. This strawberry has been in my fridge for almost 2 weeks.

Sorry that's all I have to share with you. Kind of boring. Sitting on the couch for a week is very uninspiring. Shocking, I know.

diana cam pics, take 2 [and 3]

I just got my second and third rolls of film from my Diana developed.
Roll 2, mostly pictures I took with the lens cap on. Awesome. Not really.
I did get a couple good pics from that roll though so it's all good. But I'll never know what I didn't capture.
Roll 3, blew my face to pieces. In a good way. Like, "OH MY GOSH THESE PICTURES ARE SO AWESOME MY FACE IS BEING BLOWN TO PIECES! DIE!"

Side note: the guy who owns the place I get my film developed and prints from said to me, "Enjoy! Film is magical!" And I knew that I was giving my business to the right place.


So...wanna see my faves?

My Dad and Mom at John's Roast Pork (with light leaks)

Drake at the dog park (over-exposed, but still cute)

Disney Magic

Flowers from Clark Park Farmer's Market

Clark Park (West Philly love)

I wrote about this one here. Thought you all (well, Julie) would want to see how it turned out.
Not too shabby. Ryan really likes it.

Okay.
Now.
Are you ready to stop breathing? Because of my incredible Diana camera skills?


These are my ultimate FAVEY-FAVES.

Scooter

Levels of abandoned building

A.L. Levis. and light leaks
Soda Water Ice Cream & Light Lunch

BEETLE! and LIGHT LEAKS!
#1 Favorite

Take a moment and compose yourself. I know..they're overwhelming.
Hey, member yesterday when I said I don't like to toot my own horn? Well, guess that went out the window.

what's cookin' good lookin?

Ryan asked me that today. And I responded chicken.

Anyways, for the most part I enjoy cooking. I'm not the perfect homemaker [read: I have the hardest time keeping our apartment clean, I feel like it's a never (never NEVER) ending task...cleaning the apartment and it's just the two of us!] but I'm pretty good in the kitchen. Not to toot my own horn, haha.

When it comes to cooking dinner, I mostly just "wing it." I read a lot of different recipes and take parts of one and this from another and that from a picture I saw and mix it all together...and badda bing, badda boom, ya gotch yourself a fine meal.

Last week I made our favorite creation to date. It doesn't have a name. But it rocks, don't judge a book by it's title. Or something like that.
And it's pretty simple to make.

Here's a rough recipe if you want to try it...
Chicken
Chicken Broth
Mushrooms (fresh)
Baby Spinach (fresh)
Onion (fresh as well...but I don't think you can buy canned or frozen onion)
Tomatoes (I used canned diced tomatoes, but only because I had them on hand already)
Neufchatel Cheese

First, I thinly slice some onion and put them in a skillet on low heat with a small amount of chicken broth (like a tablespoon or two). Cover. Cook until the onions are translucent and softish.

Then I add sliced mushrooms (I cut up 7 for our meal, but I love mushrooms and could have easily added more) and baby spinach (almost half a bag, it seems like a lot but it cooks down) and a little more chicken broth (about 1/4 this time). Turn the heat up to medium. Cover and cook until spinach and mushrooms are well...cooked.

Before being cooked

Then I add diced tomatoes, not with all the juice though. I drain them but save the juice in case you need to add more (if it's not "saucy" enough). Cook for a few minutes. Then add between 1/3 and 1/2 of the brick of neufchatel cheese.

Let the cream cheese melt a bit, and stir it in the mixture.
In a separate pan, sear a chicken breast (I cook with pre-cut tenders, so I used 3 of those) and cut up to bite size pieces.
Add to sauce mixture, let it simmer for a bit.
Then spoon it onto some egg noodles, rice or quinoa, (egg noodles are the best) add a little side dish and voila! A lovely dinner!

when i grow up

When I grow up, can I please be Betty White?

I caught some of her 90th birthday celebration/tribute on tv tonight, and she is just the sweetest. She's so cute and funny. I love her. I also saw her on People's Choice awards a few nights ago, and when the audience was giving her a standing ovation (when someone mentioned her 90th coming up), she was sincerely touched. Same with tonight, she was so thankful to every person who said something to/about her. She was just so genuine. And cute. Because she's Betty White.

Going in to pet the puppy. Adorable.

Plus also (shout out for the Junie B. Jones fans), she was a freaking babe back in the day!

Betty! Who knew?!

pardon the dust. or the digital equivalent of dust.

I'm working on changing my look again. I know I just did this recently, but I was never fully satisfied with how it looked. I know I'm not a professional blogger by any means, but I felt like everything looked really amateur and it bothered me. I'm not sure if I'll ever be happy with something I create but I'm gonna give it a go. You might see a few different looks over the next few days. It's all a work in progress.

jason wu for target.

Oh. my. goodness gracious.
Kill me now.

I am excited and jittery and doing that shaky-clapping my hands and squeeling thing I do when I get super ecstatic.
You know why...
Jason Wu.
For Target.

It's TO DIE FOR.
I want basically every single piece in the collection.

Oh my goodness. It's pathetic how excited I am, but I can't even type. I can't even form words to describe my feelings.

Here, lemme show you my favey-faves of all the looks.

Siiiiigh...it's beautiful right? I love it all. Socks and shoes included. (But not the hair. What the heck is the deal with girls and these dumb milkmaid braids. A little advice: you look stupid)

I used to not think I really had "a style", you know like when people see something and go, "That is SO so-and-so?" I felt like that couldn't be done with me because I was kind of all over the place.
But hello, this collection screams me.

I already have plans to get up bright and early on February 5th and head to Target before church. You may think I'm crazy, but do you remember Missoni for Target? It was insanity. And the Target website crashed. People were nutso for the stuff. And I mean, did you SEE that collection? 100x better than freaking Missoni for Target. So, I'm just insuring that I can at least get one thing from the collection. Or 15. You know, either one, but preferably the later.

(You can view the entire lookbook here) 

change. "vacation." a trillion pictures. not really.

Holy moly. I feel like every post now-a-days is like... "whoops, haven't blogged in a few weeks...and here are my excuses why..."
Sorry all 10 of my regular readers.
It's about to change.

I think New Year's resolutions are a waste of time and energy. And they make the gym packed for the first 3 weeks of January and messes with my schedule. I thought maybe that was only a college thing, but our tiny gym in our building has been PACKED lately. Not cool. Annnd back to my point...so, I don't really make resolutions. However, this year I started making little changes for the better in December.

I only added this picture to break up the monotony of all the text

 Our small group read the book "The Divine Mentor" by Wayne Cordeiro which is about why it's crucial as Christians to read your Bible daily. He goes through the "soap" method and journaling and yadda yadda...it was a good book and since then I have been almost daily reading my Bible. Our small group started with a 21-day challenge...read your Bible for 40 minutes for 21 days in a row, because "they" say it takes 21 days to form a habit. I took this challenge one step further. I made a print out sheet of the next 21 days and included work-outs and organizing a part of our apartment as a part of my challenge.

    Yep, this one too

And well, 21 days is manageable. 1 year, not so much. I did pretty good with my 21-day challenge. And now that I have reading my Bible and regular work-outs under my belt, I've made myself a new calendar for the month of January. Which includes...of course...2 blog posts a week. Not because I feel like I have to, but because I want to. I really do enjoy blogging, I do it for me (obviously, I've been blogging for years now and I literally have 10 people who read this). I don't want to not do something I love just because it takes time.


Moving on.
Ryan and I went on "vacation" slash visit-everyone-on-the-planet-trip. We were living out of suitcases for 3 weeks. I packed a suitcase 6 times in less than a month. I repeat 6 FREAKING TIMES. It was insanity, and something I never want to do again. Not to say that it wasn't fun! We did get to see almost everyone we wanted to, and even if time was short with people it's always better than nothing!

Oh, and I also was super sick for a week and practically died. So that was nice.

And here's a photo summary of our trip. Kind of.

Lunch with our dear friends at one of the many fantastic GR restaurants

Cookie decorating with sisters and nieces and nephew

All of Ryan's Grandparents. Who are so different, it cracks me up.

We had an intense game of Bocce Ball. Exact measurements were required.

I repeat: intense game.

He's adorable. Or if you speak Julie, "dadorable"

WALT DISNEY WORLD! FO' FREE!!

 Okay. So I know I always say Ryan is still a child at heart and it shines bright in most situations, but well...I looked like most of the 6-old-year girls there when I saw Cinderella's castle. Most definitely an audible gasp. C'mon though, how could I not?! It's CINDERELLA'S CASTLE.

Bug's Life 3D Show at Animal Kingdom

CINDERELLA'S CASTLE AT NIGHT! WITH FIREWORKS!

You know what else turns me into a child? Fireworks. We knew this before Disney. But oh, guess what, there's fireworks at Disney. BEHIND CINDERELLA'S CASTLE! And a freaking fairy with lit-up wings zip lines from the tippy-top of the castle across the park. WHAT?!
While at Disney I also decided that my dream job would be to be a Disney Princess. Probably Snow White, but I think you have to be kind of Asian for that job. Not because I think Snow White is Asian or because I'm in anyway racist...but because I know Disney has crazy standards for those princess roles and all of the Snow Whites I've seen are kind of Asian. But I would settle for being a stilt person in the Lion King Show. Just gotta learn how to dance and jump with stilts. Should be no problem.

As you can see, we had fun.
More importantly though, I hope you noticed I got bangs. I figured it was a logical next step for my obsession with Zooey Deschanel.