Pammie surprised me with BBQ from my favorite spot in Texas, and I didn’t even have to wait in line for hours to get it!
The first time I ate Franklin Barbecue was years ago on a trip to Austin City Limits. It was day-old brisket reheated in a hotel microwave, but it was (and still is) the best BBQ I’ve ever had.
Drive-by shots with the birthday girl, Christine! She sent everyone home with tall boys and 40s in paper bags. I was going to take my drinks back to LA, but my dad was like, “Leave the malt liquor… I used to drink that when I lived in Oakland.” My bad, gangsta!
So good seeing my favorite girls, if only for a short, socially distant while, with half of our faces covered in Christine’s driveway. I can’t believe it’s been a year since we’ve all been together!!!
39 is staying in, binging Schitt’s Creek for the fourth time, eating your favorite pastrami sandwich, and finding joy in vacuuming all of your crumbs with the dream dyson you just got for your birthday (I’m clearly going hard this last year in my thirties).
That’s a wrap on 2020! Pammie upgraded me to the new Cricut Maker, so 90% of the gifts I gave were personalized (the other 10% was whatever I could amazon prime at the eleventh hour).
Oh, my filipino heart. Are you trying to kill me, Disney??? 😭
They got everything right about our culture, from the mano po to the parol to the sewing kit inside the danish butter cookie tin… Love, love, love this christmas ad and miss my lolas more than ever 💔
When I was in high school, my friend Jocelyn was nominated for homecoming queen. She was ASB president and one of the most popular girls in school, so all my friends thought she was a shoo-in and none of us bothered to vote. She ended up tying with another girl and having to share the crown! If just one of us had voted, Jocelyn would still be friends with us today LOL. Your vote absolutely matters, whether it’s for something as trivial as homecoming court or the next POTUS!
Please exercise your right to vote and be safe out there. A few places in my neighborhood have already boarded up their storefronts ahead of tonight’s election results…
Not only did the dodgers beat my padres and go on to win the world series, they also had to disrupt my beauty sleep with all these fireworks outside my apartment.
Lots of drinks and tears these past couple of months.
My grandma was happiest when surrounded by our loud ass family, and I’m glad we were able to be there with her during her final months (with masks on, of course).
This is my most favorite video of her ever. I know she’s dancing in heaven with Grandpa Robert and finally at peace. Rest in paradise, queen 🖤
I made these cupcakes once when I was dating my bestie’s brother, and their grandpa couldn’t get enough of them. I haven’t seen him in years, but his family would always tell me he still asks about the ‘cupcake girl’ even though my ex is married to someone else now. Sorry, Quinn LOL.
Sadly, their grandpa passed away this week, so I made his favorite cupcakes for my best friend and her family in memory of him.
Kicking off spooky season with some light reading…
Unsolicited fact about me:Beetlejuice is one of my favorite movies. It was one of the only VHS tapes my grandma had when I was a kid, so I’d watch it over and over again. My boss calls me ‘Morbid Marion’ and I think Lydia Deetz would be proud 🖤
Welp, I def won’t be meeting the love of my life at a concert this year (or anywhere really if LA remains on this covid watch list), but I love this story ❤️
Outside Lands 2011 with Pammie, Chris and Jessie was def my most favorite festival ever. So much has changed since then, and at the same time, not much has changed at all…
Since my birthday trip to see Tame Impala in Portland was canceled due to covid, Pammie bought me tickets for Outside Lands 2021, and the girls are planning on coming with to celebrate 10 years since our first music festival together (pandemic pending).
I was supposed to be in Nashville this weekend, and I’ve died a little bit inside every time a show has been canceled this year. Is it 2021 yet???
I got a tiny picnic table for the squirrels who visit my parents’ backyard, and my mom texting me pics of them eating and enjoying the view has been the highlight of my day.
I’ve been working from home for four months now with no distractions (besides my neighbor’s car alarm that goes off, without fail, at least twice a day every time a leaf falls on it). With news this week that California is rolling back reopenings and kids won’t be returning to classrooms in the fall, this quarantine seems far from over. Hang in there, mamas!
This lockdown has only made my department busier than ever, and I’ve been losing my mind working 12-hour days and being cooped up in my studio for nearly two months now. I’ve been in such a mood lately, and yet, my sister postmated me coffee bean and breakfast to make my life easier, my dear friend sent me cookies from across the country, and on the drive home from grocery shopping in Long Beach today, I witnessed this pink ass sunset. I really needed these little reminders that I have a good life and this shit is just temporary. Sorry for everything I said while in quarantine! XOXO
I had a lot of random jobs in my twenties, and for a brief window in 2004, I was a barista at Starbucks. It was a second job I picked up during the holidays for extra cash, and not one I stayed at very long. That was probably the last time I made my own coffee, and definitely the last time I woke up at four in the morning on purpose! Ha.
I mostly caffeinate with canned cold brew these days, but sometimes I’ll indulge in my most favorite iced coffee ever—Blue Bottle New Orleans. At $4 a pop, it’s not something I have on my everyday shopping list (a girl’s gotta pay her rent, after all). But they sell their cold brew kit online and are offering free shipping right now, so I thought why the hell not? What else do I have going on six weeks deep into this quarantine???
This homemade cold brew turned out way better than any coffee I ever made at Starbucks, and I didn’t even have to wake up before the sun to enjoy it. Win-win.
You guys, this quarantine is really domesticating us.
Also, never have I ever texted / facetimed / zoomed so much in my goddamn life. I can’t promise that this blog won’t devolve into just screenshots of me talking to people. Fair warning.
Sameer of Young the Giant played a solo acoustic show for Twitch Stream Aid and performed my most favorite song from when they were still called The Jakes. Also, I have that same case study planter, so it’s basically like he was singing to me in my apartment.
There’s a place where we’re together That’s what I’ll keep on telling myself
I love that artists are live streaming from their living rooms during this lockdown, partly because I’ve missed going out to shows, but mostly because I get to cry sing as loud as I want in the privacy of my own home.
Finally an office with a window! I could get used to working from home…
Now if I only had a bidet, a lifetime subscription to Freshly, and a peloton bike, I’d never have to leave my apartment! Just kidding (like I would ever use a peloton bike).
Because I didn’t get enough coronavirus exposure during my recent visit to Seattle, I’ve spent the last few weeks traveling through the Philippines.
I’m back home now where I’ll be self-quarantining and working remotely for the next 14 days! If anyone needs me, I’ll just be in my apartment tending to my sunburn and wishing I was back on a yacht off the coast of El Nido instead of here in LA where it’s raining outside.
On my flight to Seattle, the flight attendant was walking down the aisle greeting everyone happy valentine’s day when he stopped in front of me and asked, “Are you traveling alone?” I said that I was, and he was like, “Can you switch seats so that this couple can sit together?” I meannn.
This museum was across the street from our hotel and so worth the visit! I’ve always admired Chihuli’s sculptures in Vegas, but his featured work here is incredible. The way he transforms glass is pure poetry.
We stood in a long ass line that wrapped around the building for this chowder… or shall I say Pammie stood in a long ass line while I was off buying crab claw pens at a souvenir shop (@ Pike Place Chowder)
I actually forgot that I had eaten here during my first trip to Seattle… We only tried the New England style chowder, and I didn’t think it was anything to write home about. If you’ve had the chowder from Boudin’s or Blue Bayou or even the cafe downstairs at my work on Fridays, you aren’t missing much.
Between the mac and cheese, grilled cheese, poutin and cheese samples, I was in heaven! Although no one should ever consume all that dairy in one sitting. Don’t ask me how I know.
