Graduation at UC Berkeley and Casual OOTD with Nail Polish of the Week

Time is just flying by when another one of us graduates from college.  My youngest sister walked her UC Berkeley commencement ceremony this past Tuesday with her 2013 graduating class.  Sitting there at the ceremony, I realized she's not a little girl anymore and that she is now a young woman who will go out into the real world soon and experience the best and worst moments of her life.

When I graduated college, I never realized how hard it would be to assimilate into the work force.  I had to learn how to be less naive and develop a tougher skin.  The thing is, I thought I would have figured out my true calling by now, but I'm still as lost as I was when I graduated six years ago.  Do you follow your passion and dreams?  Or do you just settle for a job and a paycheck?  This is a big conflict I'm struggling with and I hope I can figure out the path I should follow that will bring true happiness to me and others around me.

The clock tower at UC Berkeley.  It was a gorgeous day for an outdoor commencement ceremony.

Light refreshments and food were served after the ceremony.  

Just a casual OOTD from yesterday.  One of my favorite striped shirts (I also own it in a blue/lime green combo).  I have a pretty good collection of striped apparel; it's just classic and effortless.

Jacket: Garage

Striped top: Forever 21

Jeans: H+M

Shoes: H+M

Bag: Forever 21

Watch: GUESS

Ring: Forever 21

My nails of the week: Zoya-Vanessa.

What's for dinner?

Trying to figure out what to cook for dinner shouldn't be that hard. But somehow me and the boyfriend make it way more complicated than it needs to be. We had beef in the fridge and decided to stick with our choice to make beef stew...Vietnamese beef stew. The good old internet is always handy with recipes, so we just had to buy a few ingredients to make our meal. Prepping the meal always feels like the longest part of the process, but when you team up for this task it isn't so bad.


We had to marinate the beef for 30 minutes with fish sauce, lemongrass, five spice powder, etc.

 
This is after an hour of cooking, but the recipe called for almost 2 hours. It was getting a little late, so we couldn't wait.


Add a bit of Thai basil and serve with rice, pretty tasty dinner and now we have leftovers for lunch and tomorrow's dinner.  The beef wasn't as tender as the usual beef stew because the cut we had wasn't as fatty and we didn't cook this in the recommended cooking time.

Cooking the meal isn't the hard part, it's thinking of "what's for dinner??". If only I inherited the creative cooking gene from my dad. Much love to all the chefs out there!

And the Grammy goes to...

What an interesting night at the Grammys. Not that the nominees aren't an eclectic bunch, entertainment is their specialty. Most of the performances were just alright, well, the ones I watched (or wanted to watch). I can't live without music though, so cheers to all the musicians out there!

One of Arcade Fire's performances was 'seizure inducing' as my bf put it. Flashing lights...teens riding around on their BMX bikes... Caught Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" performance and her entrance was...different, I guess. Can't expect anything less from Lady Gaga, she's full of surprises. Miranda Lambert went after Lady Gaga, and I actually like her performance. "House That Built Me" is like a nostalgic song, and she sang it nicely and not overly dramatic like some artists tend to do. Should check out more of her songs. I think it's pretty cool how the Grammys showcases a wide array of music genres and it's peaking my interest in artists I've never considered listening to. Esperanza Spalding was someone I never even heard of, but she's a pleasant surprise. I was just glad she beat Justin Beiber, but she actually has great music out there (can't go wrong with jazz). Glad popularity didn't win in that category.

Cee-Lo Green's getup during "Forget You" sure was muppet-like and Gwyneth Paltrow is not that great of a singer, but I still like the song! Didn't care for Rihanna and "Love the Way You Lie", but Skylar Gray and "I Need A Doctor" is a better song in my opinion. I'm sorry, but I never liked Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" (overrated and overplayed). Don't get me started on Rihanna and Drake's "spcial" performance (lackluster). Her white ruffle dress was real classy for the Grammys, NOT. None of the dresses really caught my eye either. Oh well, I'm sure the Oscars will make up for that. Always look forward to seeing the designer gowns. A girl can only dream @_@...

Long Time No Blog

Listening to: "How It Ends"-DeVotchKa

I used to do that when I posted blog posts on my Xanga. Xanga was all the rage when I was in high school. Wow, I feel old...well, older, haha. So, I keep wondering what I should blog about. Should I write a style blog? baking blog? There are endless possibilities. Except, I'm not a very big expert on fashion and some of my baking experiences have turned out less than great. Random blogs don't sound that interesting though. Not that my life is very blog-worthy right now.

I'm still contemplating whether I should take a trip down to LA or not. I really need to learn to plan things better, maybe I wouldn't be in the predicament I am now. Well, planning means I need to be more decisive, which is still my worst flaw. Maybe I should write children's books for the sole purpose of teaching kids why indecisiveness leads to nowhere. Yes, my indecisiveness is that bad. That plus my lack of confidence isn't a great combination. I really hope that I find my way out of this dark hole soon.

Bossa Nova is very relaxing music. It makes my brain want to go on a vacation. Just stop thinking and relax...

To Blog or Not to Blog? That is the Question...

So here I am with my second blog post, over a month after my first one. I had a feeling this would happen, haha. But I think blogging would improve my writing skills, at least I hope it could. I've been getting these free VOGUE magazines in the mail and sometimes I wish I could write like those writers do. The words they use to articulate and contrive their subject matter is a special skill I'd like to acquire one day. I'm not even sure what 'contrive' meant, but I think I used it in the right context. I know I need to gain more confidence and stop doubting myself, but I just don't know where to start.

I'm sitting here blogging and wondering which job posting I should apply to next, or if I should take classes or go back to school to get another degree...but the big question is WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH MY LIFE? The problem is that I never really found my true passion in life. I just went through school trying to get the best grades and thought that would lead me to my future. I need to get my act together because I don't want to be this big failure.

So, I was supposed to check out this Peruvian restaurant for dinner, but hunger was not on my side. Maybe tomorrow? Been thinking about baking something again...cookies? The last thing I baked was carrot cake (with the help of my 2 friends) with a cream cheese frosting. It was actually my first time even tasting carrot cake, and it was better than I expected. I love cinnamon and I couldn't even taste the carrots, haha. It was moist and the frosting was creamy (a bit too sweet, probably should've lessened the powdered sugar). Not bad at all.

Lately, I've been in a ring phase and purchased two pretty awesome looking rings at NY&Co. My favorite is a white stone cocktail ring with a silver finish; so nice! The other one is a mildly sparkly cutout ring also with a silver finish and the filling is black. It was BUY ONE GET ONE 75% OFF and if you are a AAA member, just show them your membership card and you get an extra 25% off; such a great deal. I don't usually wear accessories other than earrings, but these rings stood out to me (the white one was practically calling out my name...). I also got two pairs of earrings from Express (they were BUY ONE GET ONE HALF OFF). The color of the earrings are kind of hard to describe...like a dark greyish-blue? But they look pretty bad-ass to me. My fave is the one that isn't a full hoop but loops into the earhole (ugh, I suck at these descriptions). The other one is like a multi-layered/tiered hoop. And I finally got to use the $10 giftcard I received my the Japanese Club in high school (high five for giftcards that don't expire!).

There's not much to watch in the summer. Thank god for Law and Order: SVU reruns! That show is a must-see, trust me. I think I'll try to blog some more tomorrow or the day after. I might try to change the template and layout a couple of times to see what I like. Blogging...To be continued....

Monday nights are for dancing

Lately, I've wanted to start my own blog, but I couldn't think of a specific topic to blog about so as my friend has suggested, why not just blog about life. I'll probably blog most about my favorite show (well, reality show), Dancing with the Stars. I'm not as obsessed with it as I used to be...I can't believe I'm actually admitting that. My other friend suggested that I should bake something new a day and blog about that. I haven't baked since my red velvet cupcake disaster. It didn't turn out the way I thought it would. But I think I should start baking again, just so I can reap the rewards... I'm going to try to make molten cupcakes this week, let's hope that won't turn out like the red velvet fiasco (I don't like to waste food). I also need to finish a scarf I started knitted last December, I'm almost there! Maybe this year, I should finish what I start -_-. I really need to be more decisive...that's why I don't feel like a 25 year old =/. That is something I DEFINITELY need to change.

Something that might never change is my 'addiction' to Dancing with the Stars, haha. So here are my comments on tonight's show so I can get it out of my system...

No wonder I didn’t like some of the costumes tonight, I totally forgot the celebrities designed the costumes this week. Poor Chelsie.

Jake and Chelsie-quite sloppy, wasn’t feeling the rhythm of the samba. Looked like he was tripping on himself. I still think he is overdoing it with his facial expressions; it’s too cheesy looking! Didn’t really like Chelsie’s outfit, sorry Jake, didn't know where you were going with that look. judges' score: 21... my score: 19

Evan and Anna-thought he was better than Jake. Didn’t have as much hip action though, and he used too much of his ice skater arms/moves. Definitely not on the same level as Jake though with the score of 21. judges' score: 21... my score: 23

Niecy and Louie-It was entertaining and her dancing has improved. I liked the ending where she watches Louie eat a cookie. She is a funny lady, I must admit. judges' score: 21... my score: 22

Erin and Maks-I don’t like Erin’s outfit, not very flattering. The purple feathers reminded me of a feather duster; it was too distracting when she was dancing and I was trying to watch her hips. I thought she did pretty good though, probably earned extra when Maks took his shirt off. Didn’t expect the 9’s though. judges' score: 25... my score: 24

Chad and Cheryl-Cheryl looks extra tan tonight. Chad did better than last week, I’ll say that. But it looked as if Cheryl was doing most of the dancing at times. Cheryl’s Argentine Tango routines are usually pretty good, Cheryl’s dress flattered her figure (nice job on that one, Chad). judges' score: 24... my score: 23

Nicole and Derek-I figured she would knock it out with the samba, but I guess there was a bit much of the chest popping (and gyrations, as Len calls it). I didn’t think it deserved a 7 from Len though. Nicole still looks like she could almost compete with the pros. Didn’t like her top though. judges' score: 26... my score: 25

Pam and Damian-I just figured out what Pam’s wig reminded me of, Tina Turner. Why does Pam always get the jacked up hair-do’s? Her legs were too bent, which didn’t make her lines look as refined. The passion was there though, she does a great job getting into the character of the dance. Let’s hope she doesn’t go home tomorrow night. judges' score: 22... my score: 23

Swing Dance Marathon-I guessed right when Jake got knocked out first, haha. I didn’t expect Evan to get knocked out as early as he did. Pamela and Damian got farther than I thought they would, which is helpful if they want to stay out of the bottom two (people need to vote for her, she’s a pretty good dancer!). As expected, Nicole and Derek win the marathon. It’s getting too predictable with them, but I do enjoy the good dancing.

Let's hope I update this blog at least once a week... (>.<)