Weekend Reading

Serious Stuff!
+ It's a showdown: American Big Mac special sauce vs Canadian Big Mac special sauce. Who won? Neither, in my book.

+ A new vaccine for obesity. Oh yay, let's all skip the gym and be couch potatoes with syringes in our hands.

Fun Stuff!
* Kristen Wiig (a la Bridesmaids) goes glam for Glamour

* Fashion illustrations by Joana Avillez, who works with Refinery29 for their illustrations - love it!

* For my vegetarian friends, a sushi restaurant that doesn't serve fish. Huh. Perhaps they should open one up in Cali.

* LV building in crazy dots

* 10 feel-good movies

* Kim Kardashian sans makeup. I don't know about anyone else, but I love these celebrity-sans-makeup photos.

* A toothpick sculpture of San Francisco - this is insane! And it took 35 years to build!

* A new line of clothing - inspired by the new Batman movie. (Cue the music: nah nah nah nah Batman!)

* And lastly, how to eat lobster in style - just in case you ever wondered, you know.

Random Picture Friday {7/13}

Happy Friday the 13th! I was born on a Friday the 13th, so it's considered a lucky number for me. Not much happened this week, although I did get my fixed car back!! Yay!! I'm so used to driving a SUV that driving the rental sedan made me feel so short, like I can't see anything.


I'm still getting over a really bad/weird cold and H an ear infection, so not many fabulous things this week... Here is random picture Friday - a random collection of recent pictures from the phone!

Happy weekend!

The Kate Upton Incident

Scanning the web today, I saw a lot of articles regarding Kate Upton and how a particular website Skinny Gossip compared her to a cow.

First of all, I had to look up who Kate Upton was: she's a model/actress. (Just in case you wonder, she's in Tower Heist - awesome movie by the way - and The Three Stooges.)

Then I read the original article.

The author called this cannibalism. Excuse me, I think she is only eating a sandwich??

Then the author called Kate a "piggie" here. How does this constitute as being a piggie?? If by piggie you mean cute, then, um, okay, I guessss so. But no, not really.

You can read the rest of the article where she goes on to call Kate plus-size then proceed to get angry like I did. As a dietitian, I know there are lots and lots of personal ideas and beliefs about body size and body image. I have them myself. I don't want to attack on this author persay (although it would be interesting to peruse the "About Me" section where it's suspected that she is pro-anorexia) and I'm sure she doesn't need another virtual enemy after this escapade, but there is a line between where your own ideas belong and where you start calling people names. Granted, "weight" is a double-edged sword, and granted it is your own blog. But talking like that especially in the virtual world where everything is permanent and you can't take it back, in all honesty, makes you sound either jealous or ass-holey.

And Kate isn't even fat! I would love her body. Or okay, her boobs.

Eva Franco

I came across this little shop Eva Franco. Holy smokes, pretty!! They have shops in LA (for us locals) and their goodies are also in Anthropologie, Modcloth, and of course, Amazon.

These are from the Summer 2012 collection.

Weekend Reading

view from my work

I recently came across some interesting stuff on the Internet. Friends, the internet is a fascinating place. It is also a black hole that sucks up whatever little free time you may have. You may sit down to check email and the next thing you know, it's two hours later and you somehow still havn't checked your email and your browser is set on something ridiculous like Pearls Before Swine comics (PS they are awesome). That's like the time I walked into Target to buy creamer for H and walked out with a set of dumbbells. Don't ask how that happened cuz he's still trying to figure it out too.


+ Oil and Garlic shares how it may be better to accept life as it is today, not how you imagined it would be when you were young

+ Fooducate shares a 4-part lesson on whole grains (1, 2, 3, 4)


+ An article about Busy-ness. I too fall victim to the "I am busy!" charade, but I also believe I am a lazy ambitious person.


+ Women's real thighs

+ How to make optimism work for you

+ The reversal of type 1 diabetes?

+ What happens when 20 minutes worth of fireworks accidentally goes off all at the same time. Oops!

Happy weekend!

Fab Five Friday {7/6}

This week was a fabulous one as I was home 3 days out of 5. Un-fabulous in that I was home with a really bad cold versus strep throat for 2 days, and the last day I took off to take care of my car. Yep, the car accident from almost 2 months ago could just be getting resolved, yippie! So this is #1.

2. Sleep. Being home for 2 days by myself while feeling like sh*t, there's not that much to do but sleep. And sleep is what I do best. I think my sleep account is almost at net zero now!

3. I didn't really have a 4th of July celebration (ie no fireworks), but we did have a family BBQ for my nephew's birthday. He's turning 7!

4. Jouer Tinted Moisturizer - one of the best I've tried

5. For you fans of The Office, that show would not be the same without Kelly Kapoor. Or Mindy Kaling. Her book sounds just like Kelly talking to me. Is that creepy? Well it's not supposed to be. I really love this book and I would never watch The Office again after reading this.

{Stylebook} July 4th

This is my first attempt at making a stylebook and I must say, I suck.

I don't really know how to do it (aka make it look nicely) nor the patience/time to get everything right. So I resorted to using a website called Kaboodle to help me. Kaboodle is just like Beso or Net-a-Porter where you can browse a whole bunch of different shops all in one site. Say, you are looking for a red top. Just type it in and it will do the search for you. It's like Google for shopping.

Anyway, I'm not big on July 4th fashion (as in the flags and stars) but I thought these outfits would be nice for your barbecues and July 4th get-togethers. Something easy-breezy. Something I wouldn't be doing as I will be working that day with a really terrible cold then going to my nephew bday party/barbecue.

Happy July 4th!!

July 4th by lyndagp


* I was not compensated in any way for my mention of Kaboodle. Just sharing a tool, 'tis all.

Recent Food Adventures

I'm trying to learn Photoshop (in my "free" time - ha!) and have experimented with some pictures from recent homemade food. They are by all means not perfect - and criticisms/suggestions much appreciated.

Homemade food from mom, sister, and sister-in-law for Father's Day. My parents are in town and that just means a lot of food in general. Too bad I don't live at home anymore.

Also for Father's Day, my 8-year nephew opted to make his specialty - bacon-wrapped asparagus. He loves meat while his younger brother loves vegetables, so this is one dish they will scarf down together.

Some cherries my parents and brother's family picked from Cherry Valley.

Some coffee drink my brother made from his new Nespresso. It's a nifty little thing that makes coffee from capsules! (not unlike Keurig but fancier)

I made chicken quesadilla with spinach and mushrooms for dinner one night. I didn't realize they were so hard to stuff (or the tortillas I got were too small). Anyways, they were a hit. H loved them, whee!

In efforts to eat healthier, I also conjured up this pasta and bean salad for H's lunches. (There's still a good batch left... which says they must not be very good. Humph.)

Fab Five Friday {6/29}

Every Friday, I share 5 things that I'm loving this week.

1. I'd like to think that I have a wide taste for music. I'm into pretty much anything except techno, (some) country, and (some) gospel. Last week I shared Gotye, and this week it's going to be Rise Against.

They are one of my all-time favorite what-I-call "young people rock." (Yes, I'm one of those people who refer to the 'other group' as "young people" now that I am about to cross the threshold of the big 3-0. Sobs.)

2. Speaking of rock, my all-time favorite Linkin Park released their Living Things album last week!
This is their Burn It Down mv.

3. Being an Asian, I am cursed with hooded eyelids. I have ashamed and excited at the same time to share that I have rediscovered deep within my stash of goodies the double eyelid tape. It makes my eyes bigger and pop, appearing more energetic. Which is good cuz I've been feeling super tired and somewhat down the last two weeks or so.

4. Playing basketball with H. More like... chasing the ball.

5. Lastly, check out this trailer for a documentary about Jiro, the world's greatest sushi chef.

It is so dreamy and of course makes me hungry. I love sushi!

In other news, I've been trying to deal with my and the other person's insurance companies since my car accident in mid-May. Can I just say how much I HATE dealing with car insurance stuff? the accident totally wasn't my fault and there is already a police report, but for some reason the other insurance company now wants my statement of what happened. I've already called twice and left voice messages but no callback. ARGH!

Have a happy weekend!

Huntington Library (Part 2)

Last time I shared pictures from my trip to the Huntington Library, and this time I will share pictures specifically from the subtropical garden. It's very unique with all its weird plants and odd cacti.

Some barren trees. This was a few weeks after the unusual, major wind storm that traveled through the area.

But these flowers! They grow amid the barren-ness (is that a word?). They are fighters.

These are the normal cacti.

Pretty flowers! I wish I knew my flowers to give a name.

Uh oh... the cacti is starting to get weird here...

Another lone, barren tree. This looks like it could be something out of a Tim Burton movie.

Some willow-y looking plant. Or a gigantic monster with some serious hair issue.

Flowers and cacti.

I love the red in the back.

Another name-less pretty flower. Can you tell I'm a flower kind of gal?! Ha.

Another Tim Burton prop. Maybe the trees come to life during the night and start grabbing at things. Too much imagination? Yah I think so.

Prickly cacti! I once killed a cactus plant by overwatering it. True story. No one ever trusts me with their plants after that.

Cacti garden. It's a good way to ward off burglars 'cuz it's hard for them to get away!

I call these, Christmas cacti.

These remind me of ribbon roses (something way too complicated for my simple mind to figure out).

I have no idea what this is or what kind of plant it is...

Or this... Although this looks like a gigantic girl alien... (Imagination at work again, sorry.)

Anyone called for a ultra-large ginger root? 

I'm starting to wonder what the red things are.

These remind me of a popular Asian fruit called the loquat. They are really sweet and juicy. I call them Asian cuz I've had them in Asia but very rarely in the US (only from someone's backyard).

Firecrackers or chili? Your pick.

I've seen these around but am not sure what they are. They look so puffy!

Flower garden.

Berries? I don't think they are edible though.

Another willow-y plant but I love the lightness of it.