made u a song -gdlt

 

His song made me so happieeeee

Almost...almost...two more days!

Cuteness overload

until then...

Until then...but I can see the end. I can finally see it!  I wish I could add long hair and a bolo tie from my childhood to this picture, then it would be most appropriate.

Happiness, ThankYou, More Please

These last few days have felt so zombie-like. Its not that I am overwhelmed (well, not now at this moment anyway), but I think I am bored of school. I guess its because I am doing less learning now more than the busy work of putting things together...presentations, reports, finals, THESIS. Also, I keep daydreaming of eating, sleeping, and traveling in Europe...and watching PBS travel shows doesnt help. How is it possible that I feel nostalgia for a world Ive never know??? I dont understand. I want to be grown up with a job sometimes so nostalgia leaves me alone.

For now, I think my only choice is to continue walking around like a zombie for the next month or so. I dont think I can break plates like this guy, its just way too opposite of what my brain wants to do, but watching him do it is something my soul enjoys.

Float on...

Today is the start of something new. I realized how much I actually hate drama, so I let go of stress (and its embodiment) and welcomed happiness.

I started writing what will (hopefully) be my first publication: Integrated Decision Support System for Material Selection in Construction using LCA and First Cost Analysis. (note: title will be potentially modified)

So what now? As my good friend put it, we all float on...

My thesis = this finger

I want to give it the finger...one more month, one more month....this love-hate relationship is too complicated.

A Sichuan Anniversary

There is no better way to celebrate four years of happiness than by doing what we love; discovering delishious foods!

This time, we took an adventure with  the Atlanta Culinary Tours and explored the art of Sichuan food. This type of food is so interesting, and it is like nothing I have ever experienced before. Sichuan is a province in China, and its food is famoulsy known for málà (麻辣), the numbing and spicy sensation created by a combination of Sichuan peppercorns and chilis.

This 3 hour tour took place in China Town, near Buford Hwy. As soon as we arrived to China Town, it was obvious who was part of the tour: a bunch of white people standing outside intimidated by the true ethincity of this place. Well, we too were intimidated, until we saw a Mexican man walk out (yes! even in "hole-in-the-wall", real Chinese spots can you find a Mexican doing something!).

Part 1: Chong Qing Hot Pot- This place is owned by a very intelligent man who came straight from the Sichuan region in China a couple of years back. His food is as authentic as it gets! We shared a family style dinner (the only way Chinese should be eaten) of 10 different dishes! Everything was so good that I wanted to take each plate and run away with it! My favorite was a pork belly dish and a a fried eggplant dish...yum. I was way too into the dishes and into the tour guides' commentaries that I forgot to take pictures :(

Part 2: Chinese version of the american dollar store-From fresh orchids to big and small figurines of typical Chinese figures...I wanted it all! The best part was when the store owner, Nicky, gave each and every one of us (16 ppl) a gift bag with goodies like candles and those things you hang on your window that are made out of colourful glass made for the sun to shine thru...wooo, yeah, it was great.

Part 3: Authentic Chinese Market- talk about cultural shock...frozen sea cucumbers, aaaall kinds of cookies imaginable, and yes RR's favorite dried anchovie chips (Sorry RR, didnt buy them bc I was falling behind on the tour). I could spend hours in that store.

Part 4: World Journal Bookstore- the extremely nice pople there hosted us for dessert and tea in their new tea room (only people from the community know about it). After eating a lot, then walking around, this was the perfect way of ending the tour. After the tour guides said their thank you's and goodbye's some of us stuck around to drink more of the delishious tea (my favorite was the cool jasmine tea). We got to talking to two other couples. One of them was a married couple who were there as part of their weekly date night...i guess to spark their relationship, I dont know. The other couple were pretty young (late 20s), who are also food lovers. The woman is a post doc student working on HIV and the man was a half-Korean, half-white guy who recommended his favorite Korean BBQ spots. I hope we can find them in another tour and make them our eating buddies (more people = more food to share = places to explore!).

This was by far the best anniversary! A million thank yous to my favorite person in the world. We are definitely doing their next tour: Cuban sandwhich tour at a farmer's market with live demonstration! Cant wait...

Cochinita Pibil

I thought I was ready to get back to work...and I am, but still miss having my buddies around. All that is left is the unecessary need to eat and drink near the point of erruption, and my new pandora station: la arrolladora banda el limon. For the sole purpose of reminding myself of the weeklong extravaganza, heres a list spring break adventures:
Atlanta brewery-closed
Ormsby's with B&M
Party cab
Antico's
Dekal Farmer's Market
Ethiopian iced coffee and balcony
Hanger steak
Spicy Mango Paletas
Havana Night Club
Pura Vida Burritos
Stone Mountain
Stuffed car rides
Tasty China
Ormsby's with M&R
GD's stuffed french toast
World of Coca Cola
Korean food
Winterbone
Le Petit Marchet
UGA (jk, maybe)
Bar food
GT tour
Stir fry
Sublime donuts
Atlantic Station shopping
Turkey Burgers
Fox Bros BBQ
Taco Mac
Bloody tissue...
Octane coffee
Road trippin
TED talks
Florida oranges
Tampa club
Taco truck
Popusaaaaas!
Sangria and Banda
Belly dancing
Greek food
Yuengling
Clearwater Beach
Colombian food
Ybor town
Batman
es ticket

Gangsta Bride

Gangsta Bride: The X Factor
Im in love with this video. Everything! The dress, the style, the HAPPINESS. I shouldn't have watched the Bachelor season finally. Ive entered my romantic freak phase yet again. ugh.

Unbelievable

The devastation is unimaginable to me. As if this wasnt bad enough, a nuclear meltdown is possibly underway. Mean time, the middle east is still in crisis. Maybe the end of the world IS coming...

My Secret

My friend Misia recommended a website through FB called postsecret.com. Of course, I went through the website for a good 5 minutes before I came across this image. My first though was "wow, thats depressing", followed immediately by my second thought "crap, I do that too". The more I think about it the more I realize how compulsive it is and maybe I should delete my messages to get rid of this. But that's too sudden. I think Ill keep them for a little while longer...

Sublime...

I have found gods gift to humanity...Sublime Donuts! My favorite is the heart-shaped dark chocolate fudge donut (my mouth is watering). Its the fluffiest chocolate dough I have ever head, and ontop of that is the tasties dark chocolate coating.

Call me a fatty, but later that week I revisited for a half dozen of those. Yeah...thanks for the awesome genes parents!

Accepted!

Happy Dance as we speak! PhD here I come.... :)

Note to self

Song of the Week

Thanks to the recommendation of a friend, I have found my favorite new artist. Adele on Pandora 24/7 :)

Story of my life...

Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty

I found this in the Art Institute of Chicago with some friends over the summer.

I wish you enough

From Paulo Coelho's blog:

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more..

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting…

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good- bye.

Meera House

So sexy. This three-story modern home in Singapore has one of the most awesome concepts Ive seen for home design. The architect wanted to make each floor feel like it had its own garden!. It also has tons of other green features. I need this house, I need a job. ASAP.

Visit freshome, and be amazed.

Valentine's Day- Part II

My VDay surprise seven course meal was off to a rough start when my valentine took this little creature out of an ice-cube filled bag. I wont lie, I was a little speculative, but I trusted him (after all, he is a professional chef). As he cooked, and stirred, and fried, and chopped, I sat waiting in the living room, waiting for the so-longed-for first dish.

Plat Un: It was delishious: orange and jicama slices with thin onion slices sprinkled with paprika and lime (so good). It was so fresh and reminded me of street fruit from my Chicago neighborhood. Unfortunately, I didnt record this plate...I guess I was too excited and probably too hungry to document this. To substitute, I give you a picture of the wonderful dinner setup (yes, with flowers) and the amazing wine.

Plat Deux: As the chef put it "Its a classic with a twist, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised". Fried corn cakes topped with cheddar cheese and bacon. I love his corn cakes.

Plat Trois: Slices of whole grain baguette topped with tomatoe and garlic on a lemon sauce and (my favorite)with parsley and lemon pieces with drizzled bacon fat. This is probably my favorite dish of all, and I think because it surprised me the most. I have terrible sense of what things taste like (in case you didnt know) and when I bit into the parsley and lemon slice, I could swear I tasted chicharrones...and I was right (somewhat)!

Plat Quatre: What a themed dish, dont you think? This is whole cooked shrimp with jalapeno and onion. This plate was meaningful because he got the recipie from Super Pan's Hector Santiago, one of my favorite chefs in town. So thoughtful, but I was still a little perturbed (the shrimp had eyes).

Plat Cinq: The last of the main courses, a golden piece of chicken on a delishious pan sauce with a parsley branch. Soooo good.

Plat Six: Orange candy on vanilla pudding! My valentine made the orange candy from the left over peel from the very first dish, and cooked it with sugar. Sustainable cooking :)

Plat Sept: Finally the last dish of the night. The bowl was actually full of home-made dark chocolate dipped strawberries, but again, I forgot about taking pictures and dug right in. GD apologized saying it was such a cliché dish, but I loved every part of it.

In conclusion, he is the best. I loved every dish and waiting was so worth it, but the best part of all was all the though he put into giving each dish a meaning to a small piece of our lives...ok enough of that. (Best Valentine's Day ever)

Valentine's Day- Part I

Yes, the video to one of my favorite songs is out! I must say I feel a little dissapointed though. Im not sure exactly what I was expecting, but I was expecting better. What I didnt see coming (at all) was Shakira ripping off her shirt...

On another note, Valentine's Day is off to a great start. Breakfast in bed <3

Youre the nicest thing ive seen

I like to listen to this song when it rains. Makes the day a little more sad, yet a perfect companion to the gloominess.

"I wish that you knew when I said two sugars, actually I meant three."

It needs to get sunny, asap.

Traveling Dreams

Last night I dreamt I was in Sweden. I am not sure how I knew that, but I knew. It was a gloomy day, much like the ones Ive been experiencing lately. It was strange...I was wearing a red gown and I was running through the streets. I did not see people, only the lights from deserted shops. Suddenly I stopped running and sat on a bench. A yellow bird fell from the sky to the bench next to me. It got up and sang me a song. And it only sang my favorite part of the song:

Que desaparezcan todos los vecinos
Y se coman las sobras de mi inocencia
Que se vayan uno a uno los amigos
Y acribillen mi pedazo de conciencia
Que se consuman las palabras en los labios
Que contaminen todo el agua del planeta
O que renuncien los filantropos y sabios
Y que se muera hoy hasta el ultimo poeta

This lasted what felt like four hours. Not sure what this means, but I liked it.

Slim and Rich

So....the richest man in the world is Mexican. His name is Carlos Slim and is worth $53.5 billion as of March 2010 (according to Forbes Magazine). How can the richest man in the world be from a country where middle class citizens are basically non-existant? As a friend put it "donde hay justicia no hay pobreza".

My Strange Addiction

"Im just gonna die extremely hot". Enough said. If you want to cringe, watch this video.

Coffee with Paulo



http://paulocoelhoblog.com/e-cards/





A friend shared an amazing blog with me and it quickly became my new addiction. This e-card caught my attention, and really brought a lot of perspective. I wish I could sit with Paulo Coelho with a huge cup of coffee (or two) in Italy or France, and listen to him speak for an entire day of pure inspiration. For now, I'll settle with his blog <3