HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I'm not doing anything particularly interesting for Halloween today, but on Friday I helped out with Trunk or Treat with my Church's Irvine campus. It was fun! We had a small, but fun group. I have decided that on Halloween, kids are super cute. They are in the most adorable costumes and are generally pretty well behaved (and why wouldn't they be? They're getting tons of free candy).

At our "trunk" (we put a table in front of the trunk, so it wasn't technically the trunk) we had a Hawaiian theme and we handed out free wands that our group's organizer, Courtney, got for the event. As she didn't want to take back the decorations or anything, at some point we started giving away the decorations too! Would you believe that kids were happy to get small decorative trees and paper lanterns? Well, they were! One girl came up and we asked her if she wanted a glow bracelet or something and she said "I want a lantern!" It was pretty hilarious. Our "sales people" were able to push pretty much everything! Good times, good times.

Happy Halloween!

China just might take over the world...

I am being lazy. How so? Well, I really don't feel like driving aaaaaaaaaaaaall the way to Irvine to go to the Spanish speaking group tonight, and I didn't go to the French speaking group on Monday (also relatively far), so I am "practicing my language" by reading articles in both languages. Le Monde (French) definitely won in the Most Interesting Articles category for me, which is interesting because Spanish literature is totally more interesting. Hmm. So it goes, sometimes. Here are the two interesting articles I found (yes, the articles/links are in French, but I'll do a quick summary of sorts, along with my commentary, as always)

iPhone: l'application "juif ou pas juif?" devant la justice (Article)

This one was particularly interesting. It's about an iPhone app that was created that contains a profile of about 3,500 (at least somewhat) famous people of Jewish descent. If I understand correctly, people can also add themselves. Based on the image (the article was less about the app itself and more about the controversy), I'm thinking that it allows people to search the database by name or by job category and things like that. The application was pulled from iTunes France after groups claimed that it was racist and antisemitic. It is apparently still being sold in other parts of the world...yep! There it is in the US iTunes Store ("Jew or Not Jew").

I really do not understand the point of this app. I mean, seriously. I agree that it is kind of racist, and it's not even a free app either. So...my questions are: Who is downloading/buying this anyways? What possible purpose does it serve?

Another interesting note is that in the article is that one of the advocates wants Apple to remotely erase the application from the phone (in France, where it has been pulled) without asking. Umm...I cannot IMAGINE the protest that would arise from such a Big Brother action...especially in France where they protest absolutely everything. It's just interesting...

L'Europe a-t-elle été bradée à la Chine? (Article) 

Well, I learned a new vocab word today! Brader (the infinitive form of the word in the title) = to sell [something] cheaply; to sell off. The article is about how Europe plans to stabilize it's economy by saving Greece and the struggling countries within Europe by accepting help from China. So the article's title asks, Has Europe been sold off to China? I was thinking about how China bought some of our debt too. China seriously might just rule the world! Maybe I should learn Chinese. Clearly Spanish, French and Italian won't be super useful in the world...=D hehehe

Will it cease to be PC to just want girl time?

So I just ran across this article about a boy who wants to join the Girl Scouts (read it here). OK, I understand that things are getting more complicated, but I wonder if it will one day seem very discriminatory to have a group with just girls. I understand not wanting to discriminate, but personally, there are certain things that I like to do with just the girls and including guys, even if they aren't straight, just changes the dynamic of the group in an uncomfortable way for me. I don't know. I have an all-women small group, and I like it like that. I was in a girl only Girl Scout troop and I liked it like that. I wouldn't want to live in a co-ed dorm room, which is another measure being pushed. Somehow I doubt I'm the only one (male or female) that feels that way, but it's just becoming such a delicate, complicated issue. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in time...

You can become unpopular super quickly...thanks Internet

So, I noticed that the Oakland PD was trending on Twitter, and so I googled it to see exactly what happened. Upon Googling it, I found two very different reviews. The Oakland PD has a pretty good review (3.5 stars) on Yelp. But their Google review is only two stars. I clicked through, and pretty much all of the negative reviews took place today because of what happened last night. It just made me think of how quickly things spread on the Internet and how upsetting people makes negative news spread especially fast.

 

Various degrees of healthy

Well, this post has no focus, other than all of the topics all have some relation to health. That's it. Basically, it's about random things that I had to find a common thread between...=D

So, I was looking through some sort of local magazine and I saw the ad below. Umm...wow. And marijuana is not even really fully legalized is it? I didn't think so, but it kinda looks like that won't stop someone from getting some at all...

Status: Unhealthy & Dangerous & Smells Bad

 (No, I did not go to the website. Although I kinda want to to make sure that the places I go aren't to close to these kinds of places because I've heard several stories of these shops being victim to armed robbery and things like that. Plus, just imagine who hangs out there....)



On Tuesday, I went to a cooking class (well, more of a demonstration than a true cooking class) called Decadent Desserts. From the name, I imagined rich chocolate cakes or something, but I should have known better because the Church is doing the Daniel Plan, which is a health program that was created at Saddleback along with Dr. Daniel Amen, Dr. Mark Hyman, and Dr. Oz (more info: saddleback.com/thedanielplan). So the class was on desserts, but raw desserts. The teacher has written a raw foods cookbook and has a restaurant too. I cannot find the recipe sheet with the official names of the 2 desserts she made, but one was an avocado bar and the other was a chocolate ball with strawberries. They were actually both good. I really don't like avocados, but the bar (well, sort of a bar. As raw foods aren't cooked, it was more like a thick mousse or something. I would have liked it firmer) didn't taste at all avocado-y. The crust was super good, and was used to make the chocolate balls (literally, the balls were the crust with added cacao). Here are the pix....

Status: Healthy. Very much so.

On Wednesday, I got to see my friend Jean!!! (Hi Jean! You are one of my like 3 readers, so here's your shout out! =D hehehe). Super cool because VT is super far away. We went to Ghirardelli's which is like the best place ever for sundaes; I try to go there every time I go down to San Diego.

Status: Technically unhealthy, but ice cream has protein! And chocolate comes from a bean, and beans are good for you, so *technically* chocolate is a health food...right? Plus, friendship is super healthy, so any unhealthiness of the sundae is TOTALLY overruled....=D

Recently, in a Nordstrom, I saw a really cool thing in the bathroom! Wow, that sounds weird, but just go with me. You know how we all like drying our hands with paper towels partly because they dry better but largely because we use them to open the bathroom door because the door handle is likely covered in germs and you totally just saw that woman not wash her hands and go touch that handle and you're super grossed out. Well, the Nordstrom had automatic hand dryers (the cool new kind where you  put your hands into it and air blows from both sides), and then by the door they had this dispenser with mini towels specifically for using to open the door. Genius! It saves paper because they're small and thinner than regular towels, but perfect for that job and the hand dryers are more efficient than the classic ones because it dries all around making your hands dryer faster. Excellent idea, Nordstrom San Diego.

Status: Healthy (in that it's sanitary and also good for the environment)

What does this make you think of?

Ok, I want you to tell me what you're thinking of based on the following clues.


A large group of women at a restaurant.

Several Victoria Secret bags on the table.

The women seem to be closely perusing the cocktails section of the menu.

One of the women, at the head of the table, is wearing a furry pink crown.


Well? What are you thinking? Did you not guess that it was a bachelorette party? I figured that out when I saw the Victoria Secret bags. I mean, is there another time when multiple women bring so many presents from Victoria Secret? One or two, sure; After all, they have great scents. But like 5 or 6? Not normal. Each subsequent clue makes it more cemented, which is why I thought it was funny when the guy seated next to me nudged me and said something like "look at that table" and noted that someone gave the woman at the head of the table with the furry pink crown a piece of lingerie. He had a sort of confused, surprised, "why-would-someone-give-her-that" kind of look. And I'm like "It's probably a bachelorette party" to which he nodded but still seemed a little perplexed. Do guys really not know about bachelorette parties, or was it just him? I totally thought that was super obvious...

NO COFFEE?!?!

So, I just got back from my Philly/Ithaca trip. I flew to Philly first, where I saw my dad's side of the family, then went with my sister back to Ithaca. This post is just about random thoughts and things from the trip. 

 I know that you can fry anything, but cheesecake bites? Suspect. Probably delicious, and 1,000 calories each, most likely.

On Sunday, we (my sister & I)  took a day trip from Philly by train to NYC to see How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. It was really cool to see it because: 1) We were both in that musical at school. It was the only play that we were both in together. 2) Daniel Radcliffe was in it. =D He was actually really good. I mean, I know that he's an actor, but he can master an American accent and sing & dance & everything. The title of this post ("No coffee?!?!") refers to a song in the musical when everyone goes on a coffee break but the machine is out of coffee so they sing this song, which includes this line: "If I can't take my coffee break, something within me dies!" =D I remembered that line because I was totally into Starbucks by the time I was in this play (though I was a frappuccino girl, not an espresso drinker), and we wanted to put "No Starbucks?!?!" on the back of our play shirts (we always got a line or slogan from the play on the back, often referring to something that was kinda like an inside joke or a defining phrase), but the director wouldn't let us, so we put "NO COFFEE?!?!"

If ever you're in NYC soon (before January, I think), you should go see it! If you travel from the Trenton station (NJ), be aware. It is quite possibly the most suspect, ghetto town that I have ever been to - both the state of the buildings and the people. Not to be judgmental, but...beware.

 So I tried a Pumpkin Chai at Starbucks (as you can see above if you read Starbucks, I got a regular chai with 1 pump of pumpkin spice syrup). Yumm. It's sweet (the pumpkin spice adds sugar and somewhat blocks out the spiciness of the chai), but good. A nice fall drink.

 The above are two pictures of a waterfall in Ithaca.

 I saw these in Target. Fruity Pebbles treats made with marshmallow...yuck. I LOVE sweet unhealthy things (why do you think I work out so hard at the gym?), but these just sound gross. Super gross. They may only be 90 calories per bar, but I really don't think it's be worth that. I'd rather apply those 90 cal to a latte...

My sister's guinea pig, Chester, getting a bath. He was pretty calm, and it was super cute when he did that thing that dogs do to dry off.

FLIGHT STORIES

• During my layover on the way to Philly, I got some chicken & noodles from an Asian food place. I didn't notice that there was a sauce, so I wasn't too careful taking it over to the area with forks & napkins and everything. The box tilted, and the sauce came out and got ALL OVER my newish carry-on bag as well as my skirt and my newish off-white Coach bag. I was able to get the stain out of my Coach bag, thank goodness. My poor carry-on though...it's black, but I could totally still see traces of sauce when I got back home to the OC over a week later. That poor bag is only a few months old (I bought it right before my Dublin-London trip, so...in early/mid-July?) and it has noticeable ugly holes from when I tried to iron on patches before realizing that it is not a normal fabric. Now the sauce stain. It looks totally beat up and it's the newest suitcase that I have. *sigh*
• I flew Delta, which for whatever reason would not let me choose my seats or get my tickets (other than the first flight) early. Ridiculous. That's how I ended up in the middle seat on all of the longer flights. So annoying. On the way back, I had a really short connection in Atlanta, but they couldn't give me my ticket before the previous flight, which also had the nerve to leave late. I BARELY made my flight; they had closed the door in the waiting area/at the gate, but not the door to the plane, fortunately. And then the flight was fairly bumpy for the first 2 hours. Turbulence kinda makes me nervous, and at 40,000 feet (which seems unnecessarily high), it is especially nerve wracking. But I made it back and plan to fly American. =D

On another note, my new Target (in San Clemente) and my Starbucks (well...one of them. It was closed for renovations for the last 2 weeks or so of September) are open!!! I went to the Target, but have yet to visit the Starbucks. But I will!!!