Tim Burton Exhibit at LACMA

Tim Burton is one of my favorite people in the whole world.

On October 9, 2011 I was finally able to visit his exhibit I had been dying to see for months!  The exhibit was held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  The drive was such a pain, Will and I got a little turned around thanks to the vague directions we got.  Thanks a lot Google Maps!  My boyfriend is such a trooper for driving us around all over the place!

When we reserved our tickets we had to pick a specific time to be able to enter the exhibit.  We decided on noon and were a little nervous that they wouldn't let us in since we were a few minutes late.  Lucky for us, they weren't as strict with the time as they had made it out to seem.  They were still checking tickets and hadn't let the line in yet.

The exhibit was as amazing as I had pictured it!  They had some of Tim Burton's personal sketches, personal notes and write ups of his movies and models of his characters as well as movie costumes.  I loved every bit of art work!  Will and I had a wonderful time :)

Unfortunately, they told everyone right away that pictures were not allowed to be taken inside the exhibit.  There were some rebels in there who did it anyway, but I was too paranoid since the employees were watching everyone like hawks and yelling at the people they caught breaking the rules.  Luckily though, I was able to hunt down pictures of some of the artwork so I could give you all a little taste of the awesomeness I was able to experience.  Enjoy!

Edward Scissorhands' costume!

The awesome entrance to the exhibit.

Thank you, Tim Burton, for allowing your incredible art and personal collection to be displayed for the public to see!  It was such a great experience!

My Chemical Romance and Blink-182 Honda Civic Tour 2011

I'm a little bit in love with My Chemical Romance.  And by "a little bit" I mean a whole hell of a lot a bit.  It had been 4 years since I had last seen them live, which is way too long.  The moment they announced their Honda Civic tour with Blink-182, I knew I had to go.  But of course, responsibility called and I had too many bills to pay, therefore crushing all hope of getting tickets to the tour.  Damn you responsibility!

Flash forward to July 27th.  My amazing boyfriend surprised me with tickets to the October 6th show in San Diego!  They had just announced the new tour date so he was able to snag some good seats!  I was so stoked!

October 6th came before we knew it.  We got there about a half an hour before MCR went on and hunted down our seats.  The Cricket Ampitheatre is one of my favorite venues and the second venue I saw MCR at for Projekt Revolution in 2007.  That was an amazing day!

The show started and I was instantly ecstatic!  I kept grabbing onto Will and shaking him after every song!  He liked it ;)  MCR was absolutely incredible as always.  They never disappoint, they always put on such a great show.  They sang a lot of their older stuff which made me super happy!  It's been so long since I've heard them sing Helena live.  I was able to get a few pictures and a couple videos before their set sadly ended. :(  Gerard ended the show with Cancer before saying goodnight.  I was so bummed when they left, it felt like they played for less than an hour!  I can't wait for them to go on tour again.

It wasn't long before Blink-182 came out and started their set.  They were really great!  It was my first time seeing them live.  They were really funny and put on a good show!  I mean, not as good as MCR but I'm a little biased when it comes to my Jersey boys.  Blink played for about an hour and a half or so.  The cold wind started to pick up towards the end of their encore, so Will and I were freezing and couldn't wait to get out of there!  

Blink's set ended and while I was sad to leave, I couldn't wait to get back into the warm truck.  Will and I sat in the truck and waited for the long lines of cars to clear out.  Little did we know that we'd be stuck there waiting for an entire hour before anyone was finally able to move.  It was a packed house that night!  

After the hour of waiting, the almost 2 hour drive home and trying to hunt down food for a good 30 minutes, we finally got home at about 3am.  We were so exhausted, but it was all worth it!

BIG thank you to my wonderful boyfriend for giving me such an amazing birthday present!  I love you so much! <3   

I've Got A Fever And The Only Prescription Is More Pumpkin!!

Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts!

Pumpkin Spice Eggo Waffles!

Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses!

Pumpkin Spice Soy Milk!

Pumpkin Frozen Yogurt!

  

And, my personal favorite, Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino!

So much Pumpkin goodness, so little time.  There are so many yummy looking pumpkin products out right now, I can't even express how stoked the Pumpkin enthusiast in me is! 

This Friday night I'm making breakfast for dinner for me and Will. Well, I should call it more of a "Breakfast Dinner Feast" since after seeing the Pumpkin Spice Eggos and the Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts, I decided to add them to the menu for that night.  I'm hoping that I can find them, from what I've read you can find them at Target.

Scrambled Egg Whites
Turkey Bacon
Hash browns
Pumpkin Spice Waffles
Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts for dessert

Good thing I'm going to the gym before dinner!  We are going to be so stuffed with deliciousness.  I can't wait!



It's Friday, I'm in Love

Happy Puppers says "Happy Friday, boys and girls!"

He's just as stoked as I am that it's the weekend!

This picture just made my day, so I wanted to share the happiness with all of you. :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Pumpkin Protein Shake Deliciousness

Fall is finally upon us my little ghouls and goblins!  Which means I have Pumpkin Fever!  I love everything pumpkin from pumpkin pie to those heavenly Pumpkin Spice Creme Frappuccinos from Starbucks! (Seriously, if you haven't tried one yet you NEED to. They are beyond delicious. I usually get the Creme version but all of their Pumpkin Spice drinks are yummy. Try one! You'll thank me later.)

Since I've been working out like crazy, I thought it would be a good idea to add some protein shakes to my diet. Now don't cringe, not all protein shakes taste like pure nastiness.  I have found that the tasty factor heavily relies on what type of protein powder you use.  I've had such bad luck in finding a good protein powder, every kind that I tried always seemed to leave this disgusting after taste in my throat.  So gross.  So I asked my Dad what kind of protein powder he and my Mom use, and he directed me to Biochem Whey Protein Powder.  I made a trip to my local Sprouts (formally Henry's) and picked up the Vanilla flavor and the Chocolate Fudge flavor.  I tried the Chocolate Fudge protein powder in my Pumpkin Protein Shake a couple days ago and it is absolutely delicious!!  I highly recommend trying Biochem Protein Powder if you haven't already.

Because I am so in love with this protein shake, I figured I'd spread the wealth and share it with the world.

Pumpkin Protein Shake

6-10 Ice Cubes

(depending on how thick you like your shakes. I use 10)

1/3 cup Pure Canned Pumpkin

(make sure to get 100% Pure Pumpkin and not Pumpkin Pie filling. I use Libby's Canned Pumpkin. You can find it at Ralphs.)

1 1/3 cup Soy Milk

(I use Silk Light Original Soy Milk but you can use the regular or Vanilla as well)

1-2 scoops Chocolate or Vanilla Protein Powder

(I use Chocolate since I'm a chocoholic, but Vanilla is good too! I personally like to use 2 scoops of protein powder)

2 packets of Splenda

Cinnamon to taste

Blend it all up and you'll have yourself a yummy, healthy and festive protein shake!  Make sure you have a BIG glass handy, this recipe makes a huge shake.  It's guaranteed to keep you full for a good while!

Nutrition Facts

Total if you follow my exact recipe:

Calories: 227

Fat: 2.3g.

Fiber: 4.6

Protein: 29.3g.

Breakdown

2 Scoops Chocolate or Vanilla Biochem Protein Powder

Chocolate: Calories: 120
Vanilla: Calories: 110

Fat: 0g.

Sugars: 7g.

Fiber: 0g.

Protein: 20g.

1 1/3 cup Silk Light Original Soy Milk

Calories: 80

Fat: 2g.

Fiber: 1.3g.

Protein: 8g.

1/3 cup Libby's Canned Pumpkin

Calories: 27

Fat: 0.3g.

Fiber: 3.3g.

Protein: 1.3g.

Enjoy!! :)

Massage Therapy...and not the dirty kind!

For the last month or so I have grown more and more unhappy with my job.  Not because what I do is difficult and not because the company I work for treats me poorly.  My current job is actually great, they offer full benefits, good pay and the environment is pretty laid back.  I just sit at my desk all day, not having to really interact with anyone, creating charts and updating information in different systems.  And THAT, my friends, is where the problem lies.  I'm bored out of my MIND, I'm not being challenged and I'm doing the exact opposite of what I wanted to do with my life.  I want to make a difference, I want to help people and I want to help animals.

Unfortunately, due to my queasiness, I would never be able to help animals in a veterinary hospital.  I will leave that to Will. ;) I plan on volunteering with I.C.A.R.E. Dog Rescue in October when I will have more free time.  So, the helping animals part is covered.

My mom recently had hip replacement surgery on her left hip and she had her right one done back in April.  Both surgeries were a success!  I realized though that every time I'm in a hospital setting now, I wish I had the ability to be a nurse or a doctor.  I would have loved to be a Pediatrician.  But, I think I would terrify the already nervous kiddos even more if I passed out in front of them (thank you very much queasiness) so that wouldn't have worked out very well.  When I see incompetent nurses, I want to strangle them because I know I could do their job so much better and make their patients feel a hundred times better.  But, again, thanks to my inability to be around blood or even fathom sticking a needle into anything, I wouldn't be much help. 

So, I've been really reflecting on what I want to do with my life.  I'm 23 years old, I wanted to be married with a kid by now.  Since neither of those glorious events have occurred yet, I need to finally focus on my career.  So, I began narrowing it down.  I want to help people.  I want to be able to set my own hours or work from home.  When I do have kids, I want the flexibility of being able to stay at home with them and have my career at the same time.

I began my search last week for virtual employment.  Virtual assistant, virtual customer service representative and so on and so forth.  I found nothing.  I started thinking about being an Esthetician again, but the schooling is SO expensive and it would take me about 4 years to finally get there.  I don't have 4 years for a few reasons.  1.) Will is possibly going to transfer to a UC next year, 2) I can't stand the thought of being bored and unhappy with my job for another 4 years and 3) I might finally be a mom by then.

Then it hit me.  I remembered coming across this website for a local Massage Therapy school called Healing Hands School of Holistic Health.  I remembered they had good prices and they offered night classes which is perfect since I work full time.  So, I began looking into that.

They offer four different programs: Massage Technician Training (100 hours and $990), Massage Practitioner (250 hours and $2,475), Massage Therapist (500 hours and $4,950) and Holistic Health Practitioner (1,000 hours and $9,900).  I, of course, want to be a Holistic Health Practitioner.  Looking over all of the different techniques you can learn in that program really interested me and got me even more excited about the idea of becoming a Holistic Health Practitioner. I would love being so diverse!

Being a Massage Therapist or a Holistic Health Practitioner would be perfect for me.  It meets all of the requirements of my dream job, plus depending on where you work, you can get full benefits.  I've decided that I'm going to go for it.  I'm going to see what kind of financial aid I can get and go from there.

I'm excited! :)

P.S. I have lost 2 pounds already using the Lose It! app. I love it! :) 

Sammy and Sushi Deliciousness

Before I begin, let me just clarify that when I say "sushi" all I mean is "California Rolls".  I don't eat the raw stuff, it freaks me out.

Last night I had a very fun, long overdue date night with one of my closest friends Sam.  We went to Minato Sushi in Lake Forest, which by the way is freaking delicious and very well priced!  If you're a sushi lover, you definitely need to try Minato.  Check out their website, they have a huge variety of sushi and appetizers and also offer a great All You Can Eat option. 

Usually, when it comes to sushi, I can really only eat four maybe five rolls at the most before I'm full.  Last night I really surprised myself.  I ate eight California Rolls, four small veggie egg rolls and a scoop of Green Tea ice cream before I was finally satisfied.  I was semi impressed with myself and semi grossed out until I realized that I had basically starved myself all day by not eating nearly as much as I should have earlier, plus my crazy workouts cause me to be hungry every couple hours.  So I guess my sushi binge eating was justified after all. :P

This is completely off topic but I'm super excited about it and want to share.  Thanks to my amazing boyfriend, I have discovered the Lose It! app.  I downloaded it last night on my phone to check it out and so far it's awesome!  It allows you to set a goal weight, how much you want to lose a week (up to 2 pounds), tells you when you will acheive your goal weight (apparently I will reach mine by November 1st), tells you the amount of calories you are allowed each day, you can log everything you eat (it has a HUGE database of almost every food you can think of) and you can log your exercise routine (which of course causes your calories allowed for the day to automatically rise).  I'm really entertained and having a lot of fun with this app so far! (Only child = very easily entertained)

It's not just a phone application, you can use Lose It! on the computer for free too! I plan on sticking with it and seeing just how well it works, so I will keep everyone posted on my progress.  Let the weight loss begin!

To The Best Dad Ever...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY PAPA BEAR!!!
I love you, Daddy!

Lazy Tuesday

This is all I wanted to do today. Just sleep! But since eating and paying bills are somewhat important, I had to drag my lazy butt out of bed and go to work. Being responsible is no fun sometimes!

So, my weekend didn't go quite as planned.  A pipe under the house Will is living at broke and semi flooded his room, so we didn't have our date night on Friday. I felt really bad that instead of going out and having fun, he had to move all of his stuff out of his room. We're going to have date night this Friday though, same plans that we had for last Friday. I'm excited :)

My massage on Saturday wasn't enjoyable for the most part. I went to a massage therapist that I had never tried before and it was not relaxing at all.  She was really rough and was massaging really quickly.  It seemed as though she was trying to rush through it.  I will give her this though; she gave a great scalp massage!  Even so, I'm definitely not going back to her again.  My mom on the other hand had a wonderful experience with her massage therapist and might be slightly addicted now. Uh oh! It was her first massage ever, so I was more concerned about her having a good experience than myself.  It made me happy that she loved it so much, she deserved it.  And especially with her hip replacement surgery quickly coming up next Monday, she needed a nice relaxing girl day!

Sunday ended up not being a "fun in the sun" kind of day for me and Will because by the time we got to Elsinore, everyone had already had their pool time. So needless to say, I'm still just as pale as ever. ;) It worked out though, I really wasn't in the mood to swim afterall and we all had a great time just hanging out.

Monday it RAINED!!  There was thunder and everything.  Oh, I was so excited waking up to a rainy day.  I threw on a long sleeve shirt and a pair of shorts and walked outside where I was greeted by a lovely wave of HEAT!  Ugh, it was so disappointing!  I want it to be COLD!  I'm so over it being hot and I'm tired of having to run my A/C constantly!  Oh well, at least it's already September, my season will be here before we know it!

Even though the weekend wasn't exactly what I had in mind, it was still a lot of fun and much, much needed.  I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day weekend as well!

Happy Three Day Weekend!

I am beyond stoked for this weekend!

Tonight after work, Will is taking me out to Laguna Beach where we are going to look at art galleries and enjoy the beach together. I've missed our regular date nights. With life being so busy though, it's easy to let things like that slip. Plus, we do see eachother almost every night. But, we have decided to bring it back and have one date night every week. Pretty happy about that!

Tomorrow, my mom and I are spending some girl time together and getting massages at Total Woman at 10am. I'm going to try and get up when Will gets up for work at 7am so I can get down there to work out and shower before the massage. (I'm finally back in my workout routine so I don't want to break it!) The rest of Saturday is going to be spent celebrating my Dad's birthday! It's going to be so much fun. :)

Sunday, Will and I will be going to Lake Elsinore to spend time with his family. Food and fun in the sun at the pool are on the agenda for the day! I have a feeling I'm going to be quite tan after Sunday! I'm very lucky, Will's family is wonderful and I love spending time with them.

Monday is Labor Day and I'm not sure what the plans are yet. My parents mentioned they might be barbecuing, so I might head over to their place for some more family time.

I've said this before and I'm going to keep saying it FOREVER...every weekend should be a 3 day weekend!!

Update on the doggies

Chisholm and Missy have been rescued!  It was made possible by everyone who donated, so THANK YOU to everyone who chipped in!!

Chisholm is on the left and Missy is on the right. :)

Donate to dogs in need!

We are trying to rescue two beautiful dogs that are currently on death row, Chrisholm (a 2 year old Siberian Husky mix) and Missy (a 1 year old Pit Bull Terrier mix).  A rescue has stepped up and will take them, however they need our help with the pull fees and a weeks worth of boarding fees.  If you are able to donate, please do, even if it's only a few dollars.  Any donation is greatly appreciated and will go directly to saving these babies. For more information, you can check out Pet Connect.US' facebook page.  If you are interested in fostering or adopting one of the doggies, please email Pet Connect at: info@petconnect.us
You can donate using the ChipIn I have attached below.  Just click the "ChipIn" button and it will direct you to the donation page where you can donate using PayPal or a credit/debit card.  Thank you all! <3

To New Beginnings!

Two victories in two days! These two young, adorable dogs were saved from the Devore Animal Shelter's death row! All thanks to facebook.

This sweet boy is only 11 months old and was just minutes away from being put to sleep when I.C.A.R.E. Dog Rescue saw the post about him on Pet Connect.US's facebook and stepped up to take him in! His new foster family has named him Chance and thanks to them and the wonderful people at I.C.A.R.E., he will be able to live a happy life full of love.

This sweetheart is only 2 years old and was originally scheduled to be put to sleep at noon today until a wonderful girl who saw the post called the shelter and begged for an extension.  The manager said he would give the dog until 5:30pm and if no one picked him up, the dog would be put down first thing in the morning. After a few hours of watching the thread on Pet Connect.US's facebook page (they post animals who are on death row in the hopes that someone will rescue them before it's too late) and helping to spread the word about this poor dog, a woman commented saying that she and her family wanted to adopt him!  Someone else had offered to pay for the pull fee and the neuter fee, so all she has to do is give him a loving home!  There was already a puller down at the shelter waiting to get the OK to pull the dog for whoever stepped up to rescue him. The newly saved doggie will be neutered tomorrow, then will get to meet his new family for the first time.  Such a happy ending for such a sweet baby.

Stories such as these make me so happy and restores my faith in people.  It's nice to know that in this crazy world, there are still kind hearted, loving people out there willing to help.

Just Another Manic Monday...

I think Mondays should just be a part of the weekend.  Work four days, then get three days off, I don't think that's unreasonable!

This weekend flew by, but it was a lot of fun!  I make sure to dedicate one of my weekend days to spending time with my family every week.  This week, Saturday was family day.  We ate lunch at Wahoo's and stopped by an adoption event the German Sheperd Rescue of Orange County was putting on.  Seeing all of those sweet dogs and puppies just made me want to start an animal rescue of my own even more.  And when I have the money to do so, I'm definitely starting it!

After drooling over all of the cute doggies and wanting to adopt them all, we purchased some baked goods from their bake sale and headed over to Kohl's to do some shopping.  I immediately went to the baby section and started shopping for Chanelle's little bun in the oven.  I LOVE looking at baby clothes, it's so much fun!  When I have my own kids, they're going to be the most stylish kids around, you can count on that! 

After picking out a few cute outfits for little Kylei and getting hit on by an older guy walking around with his teenage son while doing so (creepy, right?), my parents and I headed back to their place where we just hung out for the rest of the night and spent time together.  I love my days with my family. :)

Sunday started out with me getting up at 11am and cleaning the kitchen.  I'm slowly, but surely, cleaning my entire apartment.  I'm thinking tonight I might clean my bathroom...or just lay on my couch with Mellow while watching my box set of Friends, who knows! :P

Will's work was hosting a bonfire at North Beach in San Clemente in the evening, so I started getting ready for that after I cleaned the kitchen and ate some breakfast.  Mellow was being a little cuddlebug all day, which of course made it difficult for me to get anything done in a timely manner.  But, I managed to resist his unfailing cuteness long enough to throw my makeup on and do my hair in time for us to leave.

Will, his brother Seth and I all drove down to the beach together.  It was gorgeous down there and wasn't hot at all.  There was a really nice breeze and every time it blew, you could smell the salt water.  I love that!  There was tons of pizza and other food there.  Of course I filled up on pizza before any of the other food arrived and was so stuffed that I turned down s'mores and chocolate cake.  I know, a chocoholic turning down s'mores AND chocolate cake, crazy right?! 

The sunset was absolutely beautiful.  I haven't seen a beach sunset in years, so that was awesome.

 When I got home from the beach, Mellow was still being a little cuddlebug, so it of course took me forever to gather my stuff and mosey on over to Will's for the night.  I mean, come on, who could resist this sweet lovebug?!

Mellow snuggling with me last night. :)

I hope everyone has had a quick and painless Monday!

Happy Friday!

I'm a little obsessed with Pon and Zi.

Well, it's officially baby season! It seems as though all of my friends are getting pregnant right now, which in turn gives me Mommy Fever.  Since I won't get to have my own baby for a few more years, I will settle for stealing someone else's.  Lucky me, my little nieces Mckenna, Lilly and Brooke are moving back to Orange County next month! I've missed those little munchkins and I will be stealing them quite often.

I'm sending out a package of baby stuff to my little vampire sister Chanelle who is due in November. This pacifier is definitely going in! The moment I saw this, I knew she HAD to have it!

 Happy Friday everyone and congratulations again to all you Mommies and Daddies to be!

Good Morning Sunshine!

Breakfast of champions! And my messy, messy desk.

I wish it was raining.  I'm over Summer, I'm a total Fall and Winter kind of girl. I want it to be October right now so I can go to the Pumpkin Patch, drink my delicious Pumpkin Creme Frappuccino from Starbucks and visit Knott's Scary Farm for the first time ever. And just to add to the awesomeness that is October, I get to see My Chemical Romance and blink-182 on the 6th with Will! Very excited about that! 

In other news, for all of my fellow tea enthusiasts out there, my Mom has introduced me to my new favorite tea. Yogi Green Tea Super Antioxidant!

Seriously, if you haven't tried it, you need to. It's very healthy and soo delicious. I usually drink two cups in the morning and one at night. I'm slightly addicted. You can find it at either Trader Joes or Target for only $3. Add a little bit of honey and it's like Heaven in a cup.

Welcome to my blog!

Hello there boys and girls!  Welcome to my blog!  I have a lot of fun and exciting adventures coming up, so stay tuned.  Since I have nothing exciting to write about today, here is a cute picture of Mellow snuggling with me :)

Mellow's favorite place to sleep, above my head on my pillow!