Sharks Playoff Game Party

Image taken from http://sharks.nhl.com/

I recently threw a Sharks themed party to support the San Jose Sharks' game against the L.A. Kings.  The Sharks were down two games out of seven, and we really needed to win this one to even up the score.  In an attempt to give the Sharks some much needed luck, I decided to host a game viewing party with Sharks themed food for my nearest and dearest Sharks fans.

The Menu:

1) It's "Chili" in the Shark Tank, so let's wrap those "Piggies in the Blanket." (it's a stretch, I know)

This dish was actually a creation of my hubby's.  We wrapped beef Hillshire Farms Lit'l Smokies in Pillsbury Crescent Rolls dough.  We baked them, then served them with Hormel Chili with Beans.  One can of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls is enough to wrap one packet of Lit'l Smokies.  We opened the crescent rolls, unrolled the pastry, then divided each triangle into fourths before wrapping them around the Lit'l Smokies.  We placed them on an ungreased baking sheet and baked them at 375 degrees F.  I didn't pay attention to how long we baked it, but we checked on it every 5 minutes until it was a toasty brown.  We warmed the chili in the microwave, then added fresh, diced red onions and shredded cheese.  The guests then dipped the pigs in a blanket in the chili before consuming them.  Yum....

2) Niemi's Golden Saves (Pucks)-don't ask

Hiking Adventure Plan

from website: http://www.oocities.org/rhorii/OutdoorPhotoGallery.html

One of the most amazing things about the Bay Area is how close we are to a variety of beautiful parks that offer trails that lead to amazing vistas.  One of these parks is the Santa Teresa County Park.  I've recently hiked to Coyote Peak via the Coyote Peak Trail (see fancy pic above) while visiting Santa Teresa County Park.  Although I've been to Coyote Peak once before, I was amazed by the view and fell in love with this park all over again.  Also, this second time around, I was impressed by how (kind of) easy the trail was and by how many different activities this park offers (trail biking and picnicking).  This got me thinking:  a)  I have a craving to throw a BBQ and b)  I've got to bring more people to this awesome location!

Point Reyes Backpacking Day 2 & 3

Source:  Point Reyes South District Trail Map

The Route for Day 2(see the green trail)
Wildcat Camp>Ocean Lake Loop>Coast Trail>Alamere Falls Trail>Alamere Falls>Alamere Falls Trail>Coast Trail>Old Out Road Trail>Glen Trail>Glen Camp Loop>Glen Camp

The Route for Day 3 (see the red trail)
Glen Camp>Glen Camp Loop>Glen Trail>Bear Valley Trail>Car

The aftermath of our breakfast

Well, the second day of our epic journey through Point Reyes National Seashore started out painful.  We woke up and became screamingly aware of the abuse we put our bodies through getting to our campsite, not to out anyone's sissy status, of course.  After our really filling and motivating breakfast of Spam and egg fried rice, we headed out on the Coast Trail towards Alamere Falls by 11 am.

Clockwise from top left:  View on Ocean Lake Loop, Wildcat Lake up close, View of Wildcat Lake (puddle looking thing on left towards bottom) from the Ocean Lake Loop, and last but not least, the crew making sure we're taking the right trail so that we don't end up hiking the wrong way for miles.  =P

Encouraged by the sign, we continued onto Alamere Falls Trail.

The sights at Alamere Falls

It turned out that there was an extra 0.7 miles each way (0.4 miles on the dagerous conditioned Alamere Falls Trail) to get to Alamere Falls, but it was totally worth it.  Everyone had a fantastic time relaxing and enjoying the sights.  We also had our spicy tuna sandwiches on scrunched (not a new fad in bread style, but actually scrunched) wheat bread.  All in all, it was a great diversion from our mutual pain.  The fun can't last forever, though, so after an hour of frolicking, we continued on our long trek to our next camp.

Vine-y flower wall along the Coast Trail

Counterclockwise from top left:  The junction between the Coast Trail and Old Out Road Trail (despite the trail promising to be a pitch black tree tunnel, we bit the bullet), the Old Out Road Trail (which lightened up quite a bit to something very lush, thank goodness), more on the Old Out Road Trail

A perfect example of how lush the Point Reyes National Seashore is, on the Glen Trail

Glen Camp

Boy, were we glad to see our campsite!  As you can see from the previous pictures, the fog was yet again rolling in, and the day seemed to be getting dark sooner than we would like.  It was around 6:30 to 7 pm when we reached camp.  We immediately set up camp and boiled some water for our (thankfully) simple dinners of dehydrated, pre-packed foods.  Then, we played Bananagrams before going to sleep.  Our only complaint with Glen Camp were the mosquitos.  We were just a tad nervous as we hung out in the open air.  Luckily, no one got severely bit.

Bananagrams on a table with slits is pretty tricky

The next morning, in great spirits and loaded up on ibuprofen, we headed out on the Glen Camp Trail to hook up with the Bear Valley Trail to get to our car.

Even on the Glen Camp Loop, the scenery is really lush

Don't remember where this was, but it's still absolutely beautiful

I will end this post with pics of random critters and mushrooms on the way back to our car.

Banana Slug

Furry caterpillar on one of the boys' shoe

Oh look!  A furry spider.  Not scary at all.

Cool close up of a random mushroom.  No.  I don't know if it's edible.

Yay!  Back at the trailhead!

Worst First Dance Songs...Ever!

Hi guys!  Long time no see!  It's been a while since my last post, but have no fear!  I've got a fun treat for you in this post:  First dance songs!  After watching "The Wedding Planner" with Jennifer Lopez, I realized that, yes, there are some love songs out there that are much like potential significant others:  they seem great--at first--until you really look closely.  I know: ouch!  I apologize beforehand if I knock one of your faves, though...  Here they are!

CAUTION:  These lyrics may or may not be taken out of context.

I Honestly Love You by Olivia Newton John

I love you                                                  

image courtesy of For the Groom: Worst First Dance Songs

I honestly love you


If we both were born
In another place and time
This moment might be ending in a kiss
But there you are with yours
And here I am with mine
So I guess we'll be leaving it at this

Er, okay.  I've gotta say,  "You're spot on, J. Lo (or whoever wrote the script)!  A couple who chooses 'I Honestly Love You' is doomed!"  First of all, why does she sound like she's trying to convince herself that she loves him?  And secondly, this song seems kind of like it's about two people who are already involved with other people and then fall in love with each other but don't do anything about it except express their feelings...  Sounds like the love of a lifetime, don't you think?  Not.

 courtesy of websters-online-dictionary.org

Stuck on You by Lionel Ritchie

Needed a friend
And the way I feel now I guess I'll be with you 'til the end
Guess I'm on my way
Mighty glad you stayed.

This is the ultimate song of settling.  Why?  Because every other verse has "I guess" attached to it!  If you're wanting to display your love for each other during the first dance, why choose a song that brings to mind a non-commital shrug?

Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images North America

Fall for You by Secondhand Serenade
                                                                                    
But hold your breath
Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don't make me change my mind


There's something about this song that enrages me.  It's the ultimate half-***ed love song.  Look at the artist, Secondhand Serenade (to the right), and the line "don't make me change my mind."  Really?  You're a guido-esque Dashboard Confessional singing me a serenade (secondhand, mind you), so I better not screw up and make you change your mind about arbitrarily choosing tonight to fall for me again?  Man up and take some responsibility for your feelings, dude!

DISCLAIMER:  My creativity stops here.  The following songs were found via an article:  Worst Love Songs of All Time.
                                                                                        
I'll Make Love To You by Boyz II Men

Throw your clothes on the floor

image courtesy of Wedding and Songs

And I'll take my clothes off, too
                                                                                        
Don't get me wrong...I love Boyz II Men.  I love this song.  But, please think of your guests!  You can save this song for the honeymoon.  You don't have to share with your guests a play by play of what you're planning to do to each other after the reception!  I actually witnessed a first dance between a groom and his blushing bride to this song, no joke.  Giggle.  I don't think the (apparently) happy couple really paid attention to what the song was about.  Unfortunately, neither did most of the other guests in attendance, so I had no one to snicker to.  (Boo)  If you were seriously considering this song before my post saved you, you might as well cross "Ignition" by R. Kelly off your list as well...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HoldingHands

Sometimes When We Touch by Dan Hill

On emotional issues:

Romance and all its strategy
Leaves me battling with my pride
But through the insecurity
Some tenderness survives

On spousal abuse:

At times, I'd like to break you
And drive you to your knees

On incest:

At times I think we're drifters
Still searching for a friend
A brother or a sister
But then the passion flares again.

We didn't even address the chorus yet.



So there you have it!  The worst first dance songs you can ever choose for your wedding according to me.  What would be your picks for the worst first dance songs you can ever choose?  I'd love to hear it!

I've Acquired a Fiance!!! - My Engagement Ceremony

!!!

With a fiance comes a lot of planning. When I set out to plan my traditional Vietnamese engagement ceremony, I got a lot more planning than I bargained for. To start, how was I supposed to fit my HUGE family in my tiny house? I had to fit around 60 guests, so using the backyard was a must. Luckily, I have a decent sized yard with a lot of open space. I measured the space and then played around with it to see what table configuration would be best to fit everyone. I even set up a few tables and chairs to measure how much space is needed between the tables or the table and the wall in order for everyone to feel comfortable.

It looked like I needed an 18' x 20' area to be covered, because my engagement ceremony is in July, and the heat was promising to be tremendous. Renting or buying a tent of that size was not an option due to cost reasons, so we decided to construct our own tent, circus style. We bought a giant tarp with UV protectant to cover the whole 18' x 20' area. How it was constructed is a whole post in itself, so stay posted. I must warn you, I will get pretty technical. =P

It turned out so awesome I wanted it up forever! What helped was that my super awesome bridesmaids showed up to help me decorate it! Fellow blogger: SanJose. Love (check out her blog! It's listed on the left) jokingly suggested we could do a maypole to decorate the center pole. Which I took seriously, to everyone's cautiously intrigued dismay. 1.5 hours later, et voila!! See below:

The twists got a little flat overnight due to the dew... (and not of the Mountain variety, either) Not sure how to fight that though.

Like my lanterns from Vietnam? I KNEW they would be useful one day. Unfortunately, I found out they are kinda one time use...

Another thing I haven't bargained for was testing out my seamstress abilities. We had to set up a fancy altar, which we don't have. So, we made our own out of my fireplace, a makeshift shelf and some satin fabric. My mom and I cut and finished the edges of the fabric. The store where we rented all the altar stuff didn't have the right wording on any sign, so we had to buy the paper words and I had sew them to the fabric so that it would hang above the Moon Goddess.

My mom was in charge of picking out the food, and she chose so many dishes from so many different locations, it was crazy. We had to pick up a lot of it the morning of and be back at my house by 10.

So how were we able to do that? Again, I'm so lucky to have such helpful bridesmaids. I paired them and my brothers up into teams. I then divided 2-3 locations for each team by location. I thought it would be fun to make it sound like a mission, so I wrote out mission letters to each team with the directions, order of the pick ups, and what they are picking up. Also, I included the cash plus $20 needed for each location, in case we got the price wrong, or whatnot. The morning of, as each team arrives, I handed them each an envelope containing the letter an the cash. I must say, it went pretty smoothly and I was able to not worry about the food and focus on beautifying myself.

The most important thing is to give yourself a lot of time and relax. Don't be afraid of taking a day off the day before to do things at your own pace or delegate things that need to be done. Looking back at the pictures, I realized that everyone, including myself had fun, and that's what's important.

Seeds for the Feed

So here's the deal: I'm an inveterate planner. I plan things. All the time. For example, I've already planned my wedding. Haven't gotten a proposal yet, don't know when or where it will be, but almost every detail has been worked out, down to the songs I'm gonna request the dj to play...and in what order. I've planned parties, ski trips, honeymoons, vacations, dinner table settings...most of which I haven't executed, but that's the thing: I don't even have to execute it. I just love the planning process. What I need is an actual wedding, an actual party, an actual something for me to plan for. And then I need to make money off of it. But that's for later. Possibly much later.

So why blog about it? I had a misconception about blogging being an extra vehicle for self absorbed people to moan about people they hate. But then after reading my friends' blogs and watching Julie & Julia, I realized that blogging is not just a public journal, it's also a rich resource borne of normal people going about their lives. Genius! Not to mention, it's useful information wrapped up in an entertaining package. I'm not saying that I have a lot of useful information to share, it's just who knows? What if one of my 0 followers actually get something out of one of my postings? Nevertheless, with this blog I can pretend that I'm planning these events for whoever might "actually" go through with one of my plans.

Here's what's in store for you, dear reader(s):
I will post my endeavors to plan. Whether it be a never-to-be-vacated-by-me vacation, an actual party for my friends or family, or the planning of my career in planning, it will be posted. At least weekly. Cross my heart.