I'm movie-behind!!

How did I get THIS behind on movies this summer?! Here's a list of titles I need to see, ASAP! (in order of release date)

--Midnight in Paris               06.10.11

--Captain America                07.22.11

--Cowboys vs. Aliens          07.29.11

--Crazy, Stupid, Love          07.29.11

--Rise of Planet of Apes       08.05.11

--The Change-up                  08.05.11

--30 Minutes or Less            08.12.11

--Conan the Barbarian         08.19.11

Yikes, between my movie list and school (two equally important endeavors, mind you) I've got my hands full!!

And, I'm in eager anticipation of:

--The Immortals                 11.11.11

Better get to it!

My Favorite Breakfast

I need to get a better camera...soon.  Today I plan on calling to cancel my gym membership *tear*... but it's extremely pricey, and simply not something that's at the top of my current budget.  I'll just have to be more motivated and do my own exercises to awesome youtube videos or something.  But maybe with the extra money saved every month I can finally look into a camera upgrade soon!

So, breakfast.  Something I frequently run out of time for.  Most days all I have is a glass of orange juice (this is my wake-up-must, as in, don't even bother trying to have me sound coherent before my orange juice! And definitely no luck getting me to eat anything either until I've had my OJ).  But when I have the time, my favorite thing to make is a breakfast burrito!

The ingredients are simple:

-2 eggs

-1 tortilla 

-baby spinach

-cheese (I prefer a 4-cheese Italian blend)

-salsa (the fresher the better!)

-dash of salt

Directions:

1.  Heat up your tortilla in the pan over low heat, just to get it warm and extra soft-about 10 seconds each side. Quick in and out.  I like to use 1 large flour tortilla, it seems big but trust me you'll need it when you wrap.

2.  Scramble two eggs and throw into pan over a little bit of cooking oil. Make sure your heat is low enough to not cook the eggs immediately. 

3.  Stir the eggs around as they're cooking, and when they're about half-way done throw in a LARGE handful of spinach.  Don't skimp on this step! It's what makes the burrito delicious.

4.  Sprinkle a little salt over all of it as you continue to stir, making sure all the spinach leaves get oiled and cooked

5.  Lastly, toss in a LARGE handful of cheese and stir it around until your eggs and spinach are a cheesy goopy mess.  Yummmmm.....

6. Scoop out and put on tortilla

7.  Put about 3 tablespoons of fresh salsa in and wrap it up!

Deeee-ricious!

Rooting For The Home Team

I was very interested when Victoria's Secret first started doing "team apparel," but was sad when initially they only offered merchandise for a select few teams, and my teams weren't included on the short list :(

Well, this year I was thrilled to see that they had included many more teams with their VSxMLB collection, and even more delighted when summer rolled around and they debuted a VSxNFL collection!  I have to say, these are *some of* the cutest team apparel items that I've seen around, and the prices are really great when you compare to mlbshop.com or nflshop.com.  In fact, a far simpler shirt from the team store will more than likely cost you more...

Since these designs are all limited edition, when I saw a Giants one earlier in the year, I was quick to grab it...

 front

back

My experience with the Victoria's Secret PINK line is that their tops actually tend to run large, so I ordered an XS for my Giants shirt, and was sad that it was a little more snug than I'd like.  (I like my shirts fitted, but not tight...looser is better because I love to eat and, well, the "food baby" becomes a little too obvious when my shirts are too tight...)  This is definitely smaller than their typical XS fit.

So when the beautiful scarlet red Niners shirt rolled out, I decided to try a size small...

 front

back

...and it was perfect!!!

I was initially a bit hesitant to order the Niner shirt because of the scoop neck.  Typically I prefer v-neck cuts to crew necks, but I was very happy to discover that this scoop neck is considerable lower/wider than a typical crew, so it worked out just fine.  The shoulders fit perfectly, and there was just enough of a loose "hang" in the body...plus my favorite color of all time, scarlet red?! Win-win, my friends.

The only real difference between the two is the v-neck on the Giants shirt and scoop neck on the Niner shirt.  Both shirts are of excellent quality, with beautiful contrast pipe stitching around the collar, made with a great fabric that's not too thin.  Definitely sturdy enough to roll around in the grass for a while with, or survive a few beer spills.  My camera doesn't do the Giants orange foil justice (it looks too dark in all my pictures), but the foil print on both shirts are also awesome, they're bright and shiny in person--just the way I wanted it!

Plus who can resist the adorable tags that come with it?! (Complete with official licensing stickers no less!)

Ok football, I'm ready, let's go!

Lettuce

Attended a work seminar yesterday morning with my business partner/partner in crime, X, and afterwards we hopped into this little place I've been eager to try!

LETTUCE

1632 Locust Street

Walnut Creek

I ordered a half salad (C.E.O.) half pasta lunch:

I chose the C.E.O. because I have a serious soft spot for capers...and salmon...and capers and salmon together makes for a pairing I simply cannot resist.  In fact, I've decided I love it so much I'm going to start using it as my own personal analogy when someone is truly amazing to me.  "You're the capers to my smoked salmon." Ding!! Do I hear a winner???

X ordered the same thing, except with a chicken caesar salad, which looked amazing:

And even though we got the same pasta, hers looks better because she said "yes" to cheese.  I had a strange moment of "oh no must watch calories and keep off the weight I lost in china" and said "no" to cheese, but really?! Who am I kidding?! Who in their right mind is crazy enough to reject fresh grated parmesan cheese with their pasta?! Me, apparently, but take note that I never make the same mistakes twice.

Anyway I was really impressed with Lettuce.  Their menu is extensive, though the concept is simple.  Their portions are enough to really make you full, and the produce is so obviously fresh and delicious with each and every bite.  My favorite part was, they had two glass jars of free iced water, one was with mint and the other with citrus fruits, and boy...I could sit there and just drink their water all day!

Verdict: lives up to the hype, definitely will return.  Go check it out!

Worth its weight in gold

I got this in an email from a long-time student's mom today:

"I always remind J that he is so lucky to have such a good teacher! You not only teach him piano, but also teach him about life."

In a week that has come with more crazies than the law allows for, this was like an arm around my shoulder, a pat on the back, a warm hug, a genuine smile.

This-this reminds me of why it is that I do what I do.  Amidst all the madness that comes with teaching, to know that at some point, I've been able to affect just ONE person in a great and positive way, makes ALL the crazy worthwhile.

Having this kind of feedback and affirmation is more valuable to me than any paycheck, and makes me feel I've truly reached a new level of personal accomplishment.

Someone Like You

Dear world, this is what you call a Voice.

Extreme Heat + Humidity

What do you wear when it's about 110 degrees plus 98% humidity?!

Dressing has always been a huge challenge for me when I go to China.  Since everything you're wearing sticks to your body about 5 seconds after you walk out your front door, I always have to fight the urge to just stay in my birthday suit all day.

I really wanted to stick to outfits that were simple (think: no layering and minimal fabric), breathable (cottons only please) and yet still age-appropriate (since it's so hot there that I keep my makeup to a minimum, it's totally easy to get mistaken for a 12-year-old depending on my outfit choices.

This year I found that sticking to simple yet classic pieces with a few choice accessories, helped me to look put-together, yet still stay cool.

I was having too much fun at first, and then quickly became too sick to take too many pictures, but here's one example of the types of oufit I wore:

Haha, terrible picture I know, but I was running out the door and after 3 crazy weeks abroad this was all I had.

Pink cotton shorts from Express 

White v-neck pocket tee by Tilt 

and camel leather belt from H&M

You can't see them, but for almost the majority of the trip I stuck with these shoes:

Payless Airwalk "Hope" in Tan

and they were amazing! For only 20 bucks (and obviously a straight knock-off of Tom's, which costs more than double), they were comfy enough to walk all over Shanghai in, and I could wear them all day in aforementioned heat + humidity and my feet never got sweaty or stinky. (Hey sorry, but it's important to know when considering summer shoes!) The color was also great, it went with everything and is a great, elongating nude color.

When I bought them I was told they were a temporary item, part of this project Payless was doing:

...but they are so amazing and such a great bang for your buck, I'm thinking about going back just to see if they're still carrying them, and perhaps pick one up in a different color.

Home Again!

Wow! It's been a month exactly since I last updated.  Might have seemed like I died, but I was actually on vacation.  This summer has been a good one, and I am winding down from all the excitement; tomorrow marks my first week of back-to-work, back-to-regular-practice, and back-to-school as well. Going to be one more little get together next weekend which should be fun, before everything completely gets back into grind mode.  For the rest of the year, the only trips I have planned are one short one to LA to visit my family, and possibly one to NYC at the end of the year.

This summer has been great.  I've had the joys of going to not one...not two...but THREE conventions!  That's definitely the most I've been to any year, but it was truly, truly amazing and I am grateful for all the experiences and memories that came along with it.

I was glad to have been able to make some amazing new friends...and of course, also spend time with the special ones that have been in my life for much longer :)

My adventures allowed me to spend some amazing time with my family in Shanghai, eating my favorite foods...

and doing all things Asian, such as...going to get groceries and carrying them home in my tote, and forgetting to put real shoes on when I left the house...

I'm also so happy that thanks to dad's great sleuthing, I was able to practice piano in his adorable little studio I took the subway to, nearly every day.  I had the best intentions of taking pictures to make memories of the cute location, but unfortunately quickly became too ill to return, and then we left, so the pictures never got taken :( Next time!

Then the family got to go to Hong Kong together for our second time...

and I was thrilled to be able to have another visit with this beautiful and friendly city! 

Well that's about it folks! I missed California SO much and was having some serious withdrawals, and actually felt tears well up in my eyes when the plane descended into my beautiful, perpetually-foggy, city by the bay.  I realized that though this is my 4th home, and in the past 5 years I've been to China 8 times, I've never once lived permanently anywhere outside of the Golden State.  And never will I want to, so long as I can help it! California girl for life :)