Water Skis Win at Big Bear Lake

Yesterday was so fun!

And... tiring (in the, 'did I just get hit by a train?' way)! I'm trying to hold my eyeballs open after sleeping for 8 solid hours. Oh well, no fear! My coffee is currently brewing, and soon I will be throwing some craziness your way.

Second sip down... Aaaah :)

Okay, so HELLO!

Around 8 yesterday morning, we hopped on the Harley (I absolutely love motos) and hunted down the boat, which was in Corona. From Corona we went straight to Big Bear, with minor hiccups like trying to pull a ski boat through the Taco Bell drive-thru. That was 'no bueno' if you will. Oh, and TRAFFIC. California, I love you... but quit doing road work.

We finally arrived to Big Bear Lake and it was the most gorgeous lake I have ever seen! (And basically the only lake I've seen surrounded by trees... our lakes at home are surrounded by refineries! Hehe!)

Pirate Ship!

Yesterday I made a promise to myself that I would, no matter what, whatever the weather, despite the circumstances, get up on either a wake board or water skis. I'm a diva sometimes but not today. I will be a man and make it happen. I mean, I "surf" in Louisiana, paddle board, I snowboarded once and figured out how to get up on my own. Why can't I water ski? Oh, because it's HARD. Thank you so much. Keeping your skis upright alone was throwing my brain for a loop. I probably should have tried wake boarding, as surfing, snowboarding, and skateboarding all use UNO BOARDO. But after I almost died the one time I tried to get up on the water skis, I kindly declined any offer to try again.  I refuse to die twice in one day. Water skis win.

 

Uhh, someone make these things stay upright!

 

A photo with the winner and loser... the winner is not me, FYI

I decided to tube instead which was easier... obviously. But it was still fun! Oh, and in case you're curious as to why I'm wearing a spring suit... Well, I did decide to be a diva and the water was maybe just a little bit frigid as it does melt from the mountains surrounding and deposit itself into this lake. I can't quite tell whether I like the wetsuit look. I'm still trying to decide if it camouflages/sucks in the muffin top, or simply makes the muffin top more prominent, thus, making one feel like a gigantic floating water buffalo. I'll let you know what I decide.

Feeling gnarly dude... at the lake or something??

After some fun stuff, we were huuuungry. So we stopped at a little place on the water for pulled pork sandwiches the dudes had been raving about all day. I basically vacuumed mine up. Also made a few sliders with mac & cheese on them. Yumola.

We played on the water a little more, mated with a buoy, and brought out a kite!

And house hunted!

Kevin Costner's

This one is still being built... I would definitely take it!

Britney Spears's!

It started to get late, so we hauled our stuff back to the car and rode into the sunset! Literally. I took a picture of the sunset for my mom because she loOoOoOves sunset pictures.

Then of course we had to ride the Harley back, at 10 pm... It was fun. Minus the hurricane force winds on my delicate wittle face. Uhm.. Oh. Uhh oops. Pardon me. Yeah, so no diva-ness necessary. IT WAS FUN.

Nowwww just in case I were to get a motorcycle though, it would be this one.

And did you know that we just passed the 'halfway to Christmas' mark? We did. And also, I would get this helmet.

Anyhow, I had a lovely day at Big Bear Lake yesterday and hope to go back someday!

Look Ahead!

I think "look ahead" would be what I would tattoo on my face if I were to get a tattoo on my face, although I'm relatively certain that I will not be getting a tattoo on my face.

Why why whyyyyyy?

BECAUSE IT'S IMPORTANT!

 

We are all strong, brave, capable, and creative in some way or another, and often times if you've hit a rough patch, you seem to forget all of the wonderful characteristics you embody. So as a reminder to everyone- keep your eye on the prize! You are able to do anything you set your mind to. Larger leaps of faith can result in scarier falls, but realize that the possibility taking a few falls may add a new facet to your already stunning diamond self! Maybe you'll become more knowledgeable and determined, or acquire better methods of communication.

This past semester of college was rather challenging for me! I was taking 6 classes and one was very involved. My mom would remind me during times when I was struggling that in just a few short months I would be in California having the summer of a lifetime! She was right, and I'm thankful for her constant encouragement, and always believing that I can push through even if I feel like I cannot. This summer is more rewarding to me after being so buckled down with school work.

In terms of being here in California, this was also somewhat of a leap of faith. Being such a homebody and family girl, many nights before I left, I would get nervous and think, "Will I be okay living over 1,000 miles away from home for so long? What if something goes wrong and I'm alone!?" I'm glad I "looked ahead" to the many adventures I would experience and didn't let fear of the unknown win. I am having the time of my life here, and although I have experienced a few things go awry, I'm learning new things about myself and about the world that I would otherwise have not. I guess you could say I'll come home a "bigger girl" as far as worldly knowledge goes (hopefully not bigger on the scale..hehe ;)).

Look ahead- even if it's to the molten cuppa joe you'll have tomorrow morning, or a super fun Saturday you have planned, or if it's to a new season that may bring new blessings and a different nature scene. Take risks, appreciate rewards, and most importantly, go make life happen!

Happy Monday, friends. You are all beautiful diamonds :)

It's Officially Summer!

Yesterday was the lovely summer solstice!

Hi, Summer. So glad we've met for the year... you're super cute :) so sunny and shiny!

I woke up, went to a CFR (Cortical Field Re-education) class with Emma-Claire, then went to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 with Amy, then went to visit my favorite boys in all of Newport!

After I got done babysitting, I went to Trader Joe's... did I mention I love that place? Yeah, so mainly I was going to buy some white whole-wheat flour to make some blondies for the beach, but I got tempted by the sushi... I hurried up to the cash register, checked out, then threw my flour in the back to scarf down my spicy California roll! I guess I really like to push the envelope because I mean, I put the entire wasabi packet upon my 8 sushi slices. It cured my headache. Hehe.

We hit the beach, made a fire, roasted marshmallows, made s'morz, and people actually ate my white whole-wheat blondies! I was so proud of everyone!

 



Toasting a hot dog bun for Chris!

This is Chris!

 

Samantha on the left- I LOVE SAMANTHA!

s'morz + blondie = s'mondie

 

We had a good time! Although I didn't get a chance to let any magical stones soak up the sun on summer solstice, I got to hang out with fun people. Happy summer!

Cozy Campfires & Holiday Hankerings

"...Happy birthday, dear Remiiiiiii... Happy birthday to you! Now blow out your candles!"

Or... in my case, blow out your marshmallow!

Okay, so it's not my birthday, but I can dream right? I love birthdays :)

Last night, Mary was feeling down. She's taking online summer classes- they can be quite a pain in the derrière, and I know that if I'm feeling gloomy, what would make me feel better is some good ole fashion F-U-N! So! I suggested that we head to the beach, chillax, and make campfire goodies! Only one beach within a reasonable distance has fire pits, so we ventured over there to get the party started...the party of 3, hehe. I made some banana boats! Basically it's a banana cut lengthwise, filled with marshmallows and chocolate chips, and thrown in the fire! I really liked them, it was kind of like Bananas Foster I want to say. We also had s'morz with Hershey's and Reese's! Yumola.

 

By the way- Emma Claire is the middle roomie! She just got back to the apartment after spending time with her family! Emma Claire, everyone. Everyone, Emma Claire. She is so sweet, plus she laughs at my jokes, so I am forever thankful for her existence!

 

 

It was pretty chilly outside, and the smell of a (softly) roaring fire made me think of the holidays! Cold nights, friends, music, fires, roasted marshmallows... I love how California has summer days and mild winter nights. Two seasons in one day! Since holiday thoughts were swirling in my head (I wonder what desserts I'll make for my friends this year! I can't go crazy though, I still have to get a 6-pack at some point..Ugh. I hope I take a cute sweater/scarf picture for instagram... Maybe this year I will pull off a beanie. OMG CHAI TEA AT STARBUCKS. I wish I had a Chai Tea colored sweater... too bad my skin tone doesn't work with the color "Chai Tea." I'll take a picture with my Chai Tea? I kinda want to make some lotion or something for my friends.. all 3.4 of them. Mom will decorate the house so cute and put on the holiday smell goods! GRISWOLDS. Can't wait to see what old Cajun family recipes Dad decides to try this holiday season!) I came to the conclusion that I'd make sweet potato oatmeal to remind me of sweet potato pie.

 

I had half of a sweet potato in the fridge from when I baked it the other day for supper. I just threw the sweet potato in the uncooked oatmeal, cooked the oatmeal, added cinnamon, honey, vanilla, and decorations and bam! It was....okay. I mean, I  put honey instead of sugar because I had just put 48 tablespoons of sugar in my coffee, so having a different sweetening medium made me feel less of a piggy. It did need some more sweetness for me! And unfortunately I had no good food stylist ideas today. So voila my breakfast.

 

 

 

Happy Thursday! I think I shall go browse the malls as my method of exercise for the day :)

 

Huntington Hangs

Well... This would be the second Father's Day that I am not at home to give my daddy a hug! So I spent the day with my surrogate Dad, Jeff!

The day started off right with us going to church- Jeff was one of the lectors today! After church was over, we put on our beach attire, loaded up the bikes on the bike rack (a little harder than you'd think hehe... we managed), and ventured over to Huntington Beach! Thankfully we got lunch right when we got there because I have this condition where I am ravenous when I get out of church. It doesn't even matter what time I go to church! I'm sure I can go at 4 A.M. and I'd probably be ravenous when it's over an hour later awaiting a steak and baked potato dinner. Today, I was thankful for pizza.

 

 

It was... so super lovely and cheezy and crispy and just what I needed. Thank you, pizza. I love you.

 

After we munched, we beached. I love this floppy hat! It's like head sunglasses or something. I don't know.. it was nice to have the sun out of my eyeballs, and provide a little sun protection as well!

Snacky time!

 

 

Bongo people!

 



More food at Hurricanes... not without having to convince security that I would not underage drink... Heavens

Mister Fancy Pants thought he'd wear my hat.

Trying muscles... loved them!

And my fave veggie, zucchini, fried!

Pretty sunset!

After a long, fun beach day, the hot tub was where I wanted to be! Jeff had DVR'd Bastille on SNL so before heading to the tub I watched my boys sing! I was googly eyed at the TV... duh. But then we finally made it to the hot tub where there were two people from Ireland so naturally I wanted to question them on everything Irish. I didn't... anywho. Today was a success! I absolutely loved Huntington Beach :)

IKEAn't Even Believe Myself

I'm either a grandma, an adult, or hopefully just a young woman, but I am by no means a "teen" or "child." (My English teachers always said, "Never say 'In my paper I'm going to tell you...'") So, in this blog, I'm going to tell you why I kind of think I'm a 67 year old trapped in a 19 year old body.

Today, I met my love. My soul. My entire heart. In a store!

IKEA!

My life is now going to revolve around IKEA... Or maybe not. Hopefully not. BUT I REALLY LOVE THIS STORE.

Maybe I have been before when I was a small tot, but I haven't been since I can remember. I drove up to this beautiful store and was in complete awe. Hello, pretty blue building! I was immensely lost when I began my IKEA adventure as I was walking against the arrows on the ground. I was so confused. How am I walking against the arrows!? I just came through the entrance! I got nervous and turned around. I think I was in the wrong area anyway. My mission was to buy some plastic containers because I'm getting anxious looking at my open pound of sugar which is exposed to the elements in the pantry, and I'm wanting to start meal-prepping! I came upon these gems that I saw online :)

THERE ARE 17 FOR $4.79! ISN'T THAT OUTLANDISH!? I mean, maybe they'll break or something, but I'm looking more for quantity over quality at the moment. They're BPA free, which I know my mum will appreciate, and they come in such useful sizes! I washed them all and am waiting for them to dry so that I can transport all my poorly packaged food back into a safe place! And so what 19 year old cares about food safety/storage? Voila... Me. And who is so inspired by their visit to a Swedish store that they dedicate a blog post to it? She who shall not be named (Remi).

Okay, so I had a ball browsing through IKEA as we all now know. I also picked up a super cute pink and navy spatula for future macaron making, and some hangers because I needed some more!

After I left, I made my way to Newport Beach. I really wanted to get my dad a shirt from the Newport Brewing Company. They have a super cool logo, right?

I think it's totally legit! So I picked it up and went to mail it to him for Father's Day. He sure is a spiffy dad.

Today was a somewhat busy day! I woke up around 7:30 and got all of my errands done by 1! I took an hour lay down and am about to go hit the gym!

YAY FOR TODAY! (and my new Tupperware)

Maleficento!

O.M.G.

MALEFICENT!

Best movie I've seen in sooooo long! Seriously, it was just fantabulous. I suppose I'll be nice, and to the 2.5 people on average that read this blog (thank you mommy), there may be some spoiler-type info in case you haven't seen the movie yet...

Is Angelina not the most gorgeous human being? Look at her! I want to be her! I'm seriously considering being Maleficent for Halloween, but I think some drunk slobokus would knock my horns off. Gosh dangit. But I mean, I'd have such a ball doing some severe cheek contouring with makeup, and I'll probably be crazy pale by October, and maybe my eyeballs will look extra light on Halloween... but like, what would I even wear? A big black robe? I don't know... I'm still in the drafting process. I'll probably get my child cousin to craft a gown for me. Oh, and I'll need some lip implants, or I can do that nice trick where you "draw your lip liner outside of your natural lip line" and it's "really subtle" if you "do it right." Yeah, no. That's all the way incorrect, so let's think of another trick. I've tried cayenne pepper flavored Vaseline and let me just tell you, that didn't work either! No surprise.

About the movie though, I thought the graphics were stunning. I was wondering the whole time how the CGI people made the movie come to life like it did! How did they make the glowing fairies so gorgeous!? If I had mad skill, I would love to do CGI for movies. I bet it's very taxing though! I was on an emotional rollercoaster with the movie! When Maleficent was sad, I was sad. So... when Aurora is in her bed in the castle after pricking her finger, I could have lost it. When Maleficent said that Aurora stole the only piece of her heart she had left, a tear was ejected from my eyeball. It didn't stream down my face- it seriously fell from my eyeball to my chest. Emotions everywhere. And Mister Prince, your kiss didn't work man! He was sure cute though :) Also, my roomies are telling me I'm insane for thinking that Maleficent's wings were cut off to save her. Like, if the king saw her wings, he would know she was dead, and then they wouldn't look for her and kill her, thus, she could live a "normal wingless" life. Apparently he did it because he was a butt hole. Either way, two thumbs up!

Mom, I'd love some feedback. Remi as Maleficent for Halloween!?!

Un Macaron Vert, S'il vous Plaît?

Bonsoir!

Or... Good evening! You know what's a lovely color?

Green.

Four leaf clovers which symbolize luck are green, zucchini's are green, money is green, Sprite... comes in a green bottle... the list goes on and on. Buuuut... the reason green is quite exciting for me today is because we made some green macarons- pistachio flavored. HELLO. They were soOoOoOoOoOo good. I mean, visually... they're considered rustic. They don't exactly look like they would be found in a prestigious French patisserie. Before your pupils become extremely dilated due to the gorgeousness (or rusticness) of these macarons, let's warm those pupils up with some delicious pistachio buttercream filling.

 

 

Do you see this? Do you see this? There are little baby pistachio nuggets floating throughout this butter and sugar cloud. I winged this filling, mainly because I wing everything and am very opposed to measuring devices. So, if you want to make it, here we go: one stick of room temperature butter, a navel orange sized mound of powdered sugar, a flick of salt, vanilla- kind of a lot, and of course, the baby pistachios. I also added some green food coloring because I thought it would make it gorgois (gorr-jhwah). Easy enough to follow, right?

 

But now for the star of this party, DA MACARONS. Remember- they're rustic.

 

 

Cute enough, yes!? They are a little misshapen, a little crackly, a little bit... salty, and a little sweet! They're like mini people. It's what's inside that counts! Which is heavenly pistachio crème. First attempt- I'd say it's a success! Next time we will have a sieve for a smoother batter, a spatula for proper folding of the batter, a piping bag... to pipe the batter, and... yeah! Those items will make them a little bit cuter I believe. I took inspiration from this recipe, but of course I didn't follow it to a T. 

 

Happy baking friends! And remember- even if you're a little bit rough around the edges, as long as you're sweet on the inside, someone will value what a lovely macaron you really are :)

 

 

 

Lets Hear It For LA... Auto Jungle Where People Can't Drive...

... And they're sort of rude tooooooo!

Well, hi! Glad I got to serenade ya a little bit! For those unaware, I revamped Alicia Keys's song "Empire State of Mind."

Yesterday was just a big piñata of fun! Mary and I went to Los Angeles for the day! The original reason for the trip was to go to a Tyler Ward concert in West Hollywood, but we decided to make a day of it as I wanted to see more of Los Angeles than I have so far.

We got up, got ready, and made our way North. Our roommate Amy has been in Los Angeles for a few days visiting her friend Wesley whose spot I'm currently taking in the apartment! Thank you, Wesley! We met up with them for lunch at Wurstküche. It's a gourmet hotdog place. I'd imagine it's similar to the place we have at home downtown. They had rattlesnake hotdogs... and like... other things... but I went with a good ole bratwurst with sauerkraut and spicy peppers! I wanted to be adventurous, but just not yesterday... Although sauerkraut is adventurous for me as I've never put it on a hotdog before! 1 point for Remi!

Isn't it so stunning? Look at that dawg! It was really good, and I think I could appreciate that it wasn't Oscar Meyer and that it was a freshly made sausage. Of course, I wanted fries. Duh. We got them with sweet & sassy BBQ sauce and chipotle aioli. Mmmmm.

And then here I iz with my plate o' goodies.

Mary and I shared the fries.. have no fear. Although, I do have the appetite of a growing teenage boy... Oh, speaking of Mary. We took a picture too!

I was trying to nonchalantly capture the coolness of this place. I love the exposed brick wall and there was also wood everywhere. Yeah, I'd be one to gawk at the interior.

We finished up our delicious lunch and made our way to LACMA which is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art! Did I tell y'all Mary is an artist? Basically everyone is except me. I do want to get schooled in graphic design though... so yes I am an artist as well. This museum was really cool!

These were little pouches to carry money or any other small items since kimonos don't have pockets!

Omg I'm in(front of) a movie!

Peek-a-boo!

"Hurry up! This is probably illegal!" I love being extreme.. hehe.

Bonjour, Buddha!

Elllloooo :)

So that was fun! And here's some expert graffiti that I can't quite wrap my head around...

I figured I should be super edgy since we were in LA, so here's my edge contribution.

Yikes. I could stab you with that spike, yessir I could. See my glasses peeking out too? Yeah, it's fun being blind and unable to insert contact lenses.

After strolling about, we went to this lovely place called Milk for sweet treats! Mmm, you know I got me some sweet teef.

What a delish dessert! It was a grasshopper ice cream filled macaron. So, it was mint chocolate chip! Oh my holiness. The texture of the cookie was just outstanding. Like, chewy yet not chewy. So good! They had many flavors like Thai Tea (haven't tried Thai tea yet), salted caramel (Mary got that one.. it was good also!), red velvet, cookies and cream... it was hard to pick! I would have chosen red velvet, but I was trying to strategize. Okay, I saw a really yum looking cookie called a snow cap cookie. It was chocolatey with powedered sugar all over the place, and red velvet is basically just red colored chocolate flavor, so I should get the chocolate cookie for chocolatey flavor and the mint macaron for a light refreshing flavor. I put my brain to work for this one! I want to maximize the taste buds! Please don't tell my mom I got two desserts, I think she would be a little ferocious with me. PORTION CONTROL. ONE IS ENOUGH. But I'm healthy starting today. Plus, I walked all through LACMA... in wedges. I needed energy!

We were so tired by this point. Where was the sugar rush? It was more like a sugar coma. We were trying not to fall asleep in the bakery! We finally decided it was time to make our way down to the Whiskey a GoGo for the concert!

Can I just say that driving in LA is seriously something for crazy people? I got honked at so many times! Like, excuse me for not taking a left on red. Drivers Education said that was a no-no. Oh, did I take too long to parallel park? Maybe tell these idiots I'm trying to squeeze between that they don't know what they're doing either! Is going the speed limit too slow? Sorry, my car doesn't like sprinting up a 90 degree mountain. UGH!

We made it there, thankfully. Doors opened at 6, and I think by the time we circled Sunset Boulevard about 78 times and finally got a spot, we were there at 6:15. The line wrapped around the building already! I was standing in my wedges on a very steep downwards slope. Can you say ouch on the pink toes? All toes for that matter. We got in, and around 7 the first opening act came on. She did maybe 5 sllllooowww guitar songs... and everyone was yelling for an encore. I'm like, must we, folks? Like, let's get on with the show. SO SHE DID AN ENCORE. Omg. Anyway, on comes opening act 2. It was two guys, a piano/guitar player and a violin/cello player. It was a unique duo! I liked them. However, both of the opening acts would start off "So I got broken up with and here's the song..." or "My heart was broken and I went through a rough time so this one is called 'I hate my life'" Like, FRIENDS! Have you ever had SpongeBob easy mac? LETTUCE BE UPLIFTING! Now I see why my mother doesn't immensely dig my slow YouTube covers. I'll be peppier from now on. I was sure Tyler Ward was next! I mean, he had to be! Oh, but nerp. He wasn't. OPENING ACT #3! Heavens. This guy was a little bit way too much for me. It was like folksie/indie guitar one man thing. He also had a heartbreak and I was like, wait... why do you have a significant other and I don't? I'm confused? He was kind of obnoxious and I was like.. hmm what's up on Instagram? He finally was like, and I have one more song. *choir singing alleluia* SURELY TYLER WARD IS NEXT. Omg. NO. He was not next! WE HAVE ANOTHER FEMALE GUITAR PLAYER. She was sporting the hippie outfit. Oh, she had a heartbreak too. I can't write a song yet to save my life, but rest assured, I will have 0 heartbreak songs. I will rather write about bottled water. She did her thing forever and FINALLY TYLER WARD CAME OUT. He did great. He chatted with us a bunch which was nice! He shared his story about going to college to be a teacher, but taking a break to pursue music. He's such a nice guy! Mary liked him, too.

 

It was such a fun show! A lot of dancing. We left the concert and made our way back home only to run into LA traffic at 11:30 at night... mucho convenient! Anyway, not only did I enjoy the show but I am also excited to maybe try to really start working hard on music. It's too bad that my friend Barrett and I entered a contest to be Tyler's opening act for a concert in Dallas and didn't end up winning ;( but I would love to be up on stage having fun with the crowd while doing something I really enjoy!