Mom's Weekend!

My mom came to visit this past weekend. Here is a picture of us:

No, this picture was not taken this past weekend, it's from Vegas. But all of the pictures from this past weekend are on her camera and I forgot to put them on my computer. Oops.

The weekend was FANTASTIC. Action-packed, sleep deprived, and lots of fun. She got in late on Thursday, so we just went to the hotel, had a glass of wine, and went to bed. Friday morning, we woke up and went golfing with my roommate and a 9-hole course in Venice. The course was ok - no water, few obstacles, but decent yardage. Plus, it was my first round using my 'new' (aka dad's old) clubs. Let's just say that I like the clubs. A lot. Moving on. After the game, we had a couple rounds of drinks at the 'clubhouse' then dropped the roommate off at the apartment. That night we went to dinner at the Stinking Rose (amazing!) and saw South Pacific the musical, which I enjoyed a lot.

Saturday, we woke up early and took went to my favorite breakfast restaurant, the Griddle Cafe. Now Dad is the only immediate family member who I need to take there. After breakfast, we went hiking at Will Rogers State Park and checked out Inspiration Point, which was a really nice view, though it was a little cloudy. Then it was off to Mom's first pedicure at my favorite place in Santa Monica, a little shopping, and I made Tyler's Ultimate Pork Tenderloin with Chimichurri, Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes, and Mom made her tomato/mozzarella/balsamic vinegar salad. All in all, a very tasty dinner.

Once again, we woke up early on Sunday to play softball. My team was one female short, so Mom got to play, which was fun. Then we played tennis (I won!) and headed to see the Anaheim Angels play. Somehow I picked seats that were right in the sun and the genius that I am sat cross legged for most of the game, so I am now the owner of 1/2 a sunburned leg and a wonderful shorts line. I look like a freak. After the game, we headed to the Block in Orange County to do some shopping and grab a snack at the Alcatraz Brewing Company before heading home and lounging on the couch for the rest of the night.

Like I said, action packed weekend, but TONS of fun! Mom, come back soon, I miss you already!

And Dad, if you're reading this, I think it's time for a Dad's weekend :)

You Tube

For those of you unaware, I am NOT a Lakers fan. I was raised a Pistons fan, worked for the Palace when the Pistons beat the Lakers for the NBA Championship in '04, and regardless of how long I end up living in Southern California, I will never be a Lakers fan. That's right, I said it.

Anyways. I found the following video courtesy of another friend's blog and thought it was absolutely hilarious. I remember watching JJ Redick battle it out with Adam Morrison in college over some national award or another. They were both big names and now they battle out the NBA in relative mediocrity. At least in my world. I don't follow the Magic or the Lakers if I can help it. But back to the video. It may be the only Lakers anything you find on this site, so enjoy :)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, but especially to mine. I realize I'm completely biased, but he's pretty much the best :)

Happy Father's Day Dad - I love you!

Indecisive

In case you haven't noticed, I'm having a hard time designing this blog. I really don't like the background color of the posts being white and this gray isn't really doing the trick right now either. I would prefer the post background be transparent, but that would require a non-patterned background, which I'm not so sure about either. So I'll keep playing around with it. If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment away.

Will he or won't he?

As you know, there are many events going on in the wide world of sports:  

• World Cup - I know very little about soccer, but I do enjoy 'reading' about it. Exhibit A and Exhibit B
• NBA playoffs - Go C's! That's right, I said it.
• NCAA conference realignment - The Big 10 will have 12 teams and the Big 12 will have 10 teams. Huh?
• College World Series - this story is unfortunate
• USC gets a 2 year ban from post-season football - I think it sounds worse than it is. It might temporarily hurt recruiting, but not for as long as everyone thinks. As much as it pains me to say it, USC is like the field of dreams - people will come. 

But let's get the MOST IMPORTANT issue in sports: Is Izzo leaving Michigan State or not? Rest easy Spartan fans - he's staying in East Lansing!

An interesting move considering he could have made twice the money and possibly coached LeBron James, but as a Spartan fan, I love it! (Spartans are second to my Hoosiers but that's a different posting) I almost said it was a gutsy move, but he was not guaranteed King James would be there. Anyways, the namesake of the Izzone has a lot more job stability at MSU and I hope he remains a 'lifer'. Now, he just needs to get back to the Final Four and come home with a championship. GO GREEN!

Tim McGraw

A little delayed, but I needed something to blog about today. Two weekends ago, my friend Ami and I went to see Lady Antebellum and Tim McGraw in concert at the San Manuel Amphitheatre. The venue was far away and traffic getting off at the exit was completely inconvenient, but it was totally worth it. First, we got views like this when we looked to either side of the stage (I'm talking about the mountains, not California's 'finest' country fans):

But more importantly, the concert was AWESOME. I've seen Lady Antebellum before, but this was the first time seeing Tim McGraw live. We had lawn seats, so the seats weren't great, but we still had a decent view of the stage. Exhibits A and B:

Next time Tim McGraw is in town, I plan on splurging and actual getting seats closer to the stage. He sang for an hour and a half straight, with very little talking in between. Phenomenal show. The only sad thing is that Ami recently moved, so now I have to find a new friend to go to country concerts with :(

Tyler's Ultimate

Wow, third post this week. I told you summer was slow :) Actually, I'm just trying to make this blog thing more of a habit, which for me, requires me to work on it almost daily. Let's see how June plays out.

Anyways. As mentioned in the previous post, I like to cook. I watch Food Network shows and want to cook most of the food I see the pros make. Tyler Florence from Tyler's Ultimate is one of my favorites. He calls everything - aromas, textures, etc - "beautiful" which gets a little annoying, but eventually you learn to love it.

The other day I watched the episode where he made Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars. Normally I'm not a huge fan of lemons, but I thought I'd give these bars a try. I had to use my cheese grater to zest the lemons, and I only had an 8" baking pan, but other than I followed the recipe exactly. It came out looking like this:

I had a hard time telling when they were done, so I may have overcooked them a little. Also, the wax paper kept ripping, which made it hard to lift it out of the pan (definitely not as easy as Tyler made it look on TV). I was going to show a nice picture of the plated final piece, but due to the difficulties with the wax paper, the cut up version did not look as pretty. Didn't affect the taste though - I'll make these again :)

Testing Out the Green Thumb

I've never been a gardener. I think flowers look great in the apartment, but I rarely get them to last more than a week. However, I do like to cook. And all the cooking shows I watch (like this and this) and cooking websites I read (here and here) always say that fresh herbs make a huge difference in your dishes. I've bought them a few times at the grocery store, and would definitely agree, but at the store, it seems like I have to buy way more than I use in the dish I need them for.

Enter IKEA. While shopping for frames for a work event, I came across these little plastic containers with dirt and seeds ready to go, just add water. For $2 each, I figured, why not? I'll give it a try. If it works out, maybe I'll search out some more herbs to try. Anyways, I bought the parsley and basil (it's all they had) and added water. I think I almost killed the parsley, but with the lack of wording in IKEA directions, can you really blame me? Anyways, it's been almost three weeks and I haven't killed them yet. Check them out:

I'm guessing that at some point I will have to transfer them to bigger containers, but I'm going to put that off as long as possible because these fit way too nicely on my window sill. If anyone has any tips for making these not die, feel free to comment away.

Summer...

So the school year is finally winding down, which means free time has increased and hopefully the blogging will as well. What will I do this summer? Excellent question. A few definites:

- Check out the free stuff LA has to offer. Like this. And this.

- Become an expert at Zuma's Revenge

- Work out more - it makes the work day go WAY faster. I'm trying to get through this and possibly run a 5k. Wish me luck, I'll need it.

- Go to the wedding of some friends from grad school.

- Go home at the end of the summer and do the ol' Midwestern Tour.

A few maybes/hopefully's:

- Finish sewing Mom's Christmas stocking.

- Try out a new hiking trail or two.

- See Sugarland in concert. But first I have to find people who like country music...

- Play golf. Maybe at one of these courses.

- Go on a road trip. I have no idea where.

- Read at least four books.

Well, those are my summer 'goals' if you will. Let me know if you think I should add anymore. And if anyone wants to come help me accomplish some of these, visitors are always welcome :)