meet my late gung-gung

day 66: this mural is painted on an apartment building found on Stockton St. in Chinatown. it's been up on the building for years now and every time i see it a little sense of pride fills my heart. the man you see in this photo resembles my late grandpa to a t. now i don't know whether the subject in this picture is actually him or not. my guess is someone took random pictures of people around town and chose to put them in their mural. for all i know it's based on a random guy that just so happens to look like my grandpa. but as long as it's up there, i'm going to pretend it's my grandpa immortalized on a wall. every time i walk/drive by i think "that's MY grandpa! he's watching over us from above and there's our reminder." 

my gung-gung wasn't much of a talker. in fact when he did speak it was usually due to his short temper. i recall him being really stubborn and demanding. this man taught himself to read and write english by slowly figuring out each days newspaper but he didn't speak a lick of it. isn't that amazing??? i think it's insanely awesome. he was really in to wrestling, specifically the WWF. Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant were a big part of my childhood because of him. i also remember him microwaving or boiling hotdogs at random times of the day for my brother and i for a snack. i always viewed that as his way of showing us he cared or was thinking about us without ever having to use words. odd, i know, but it makes complete sense to me. oh, and once he let me wear my favorite tutu for three days in a row after i begged and pleaded. what was i doing with a tutu? i've never attended a second of ballet class in my life. maybe it was more like a leotard but i can say the same for gymnastics. so where exactly did i get these bizarre clothing options? i digress. he and my poh-poh baby sat us a lot when we were younger. we'd sleep over and catch mice in their house. sounds gross now, but when i was younger, it was a lot of fun finding them on those sticky pads. haha!! anyway, my grandpa is no longer with us. i never got to say a proper goodbye. by the time i got to the hospital, he had already passed. that's why every time i drive through Chinatown i purposely drive down Stockton St so that i am awesomely reminded of him. 

catching up with 365

day 62: Muni

day 63: i have been all over this album for a while now. a lot of people don't like her but i think she's talented and intriguing. plus, she's the only real female mc that's come out in a LONG time. more on her later.

day 64: meet the Lady Of The Weekend. our second night in vegas Steph was dressed as a bride while we were all made to look like her groomswomen. 

day 65: the ties we wore day day prior

the best baby shower present ever made

remember this post where i said i'd explain more later? so this is what's up. a few years ago my friend, Meiche, moved to Hawaii for what was meant to be a two year stay for work. well shortly after arriving she ended up finding love, got engaged and decided to stay for life. we miss her here but she's starting a new life elsewhere. she's already engaged, bought a house, and got a pup. what's next? she is now pregnant and nearing her third trimester. because little Bryli (the baby's potential name) will be our first baby, we intend on spoiling it from a distance. oh, and by "our," i mean the group of friends i associate with and consider my family. we are excited for Meiche, however we are worried that due to distance, Bryli won't know her loving aunts and uncles. so i came up with the idea of getting a mobile and putting pictures of each one of us on it so that the baby will see us every night and hopefully recognize our faces. with the help of Kim and Kris, we made that happen. the theme of the baby's room is safari so we bought some  cutouts of lions, monkeys and elephants to color and glue ourselves to. personally, i think it's the greatest baby shower gift one could ever receive and i know Meiche loved it. sadly, we somehow forgot to include Leslie. sorry!!!!

collage made by Kris

Meiche, loving the gift!

Trina, Kim, Me, Jax, Meiche, Kris, Steph. these chicks are awesome. loves of my life!

Jenny, Pat, Meiche, Jessica and B

debauchery

this weekend was one of the most memorable i've ever had. the debauchery that went on was something reminiscent of the Hangover. so much so that the ever so popular phrase "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" need be applied. fortunately i have a lot of pictures but i'll just post a few to give you a glimpse into the weekend.

Steph's bachelorette party was in full swing nearly 20 minutes after arriving at the airport. we all went to the bathroom and put on shirts that Kris made and came out to surprise the Lady of the Weekend.

front: "buy her a shot"

back: "she's tying the knot"

this is Meiche, our preggers bachelorette party attendee/Bryli who is currently in her tummy and is our first baby. and by "our" i mean the group of lady friends i've had who i consider family. 

first drink of the trip. i forgot what it's called but it tasted like cherry cough syrup. so gross.

the plane ride was mostly 7 girls falling asleep. but the last 15 minutes included a shout out from the stewardess, a few drinks bought for the bachelorette, and a lengthy and incredibly hilarious convo between me and Ron Burgundy via the seat-to-seat chat function. 

all ready for the night. between now and the next picture was a hilARIOUS (inside joke) ride in a hummer. the driver made this ride from Planet Hollywood to the Wynn awesome with her loud and often interrupted music, her butchy foreign accent, and the fact that we were paying her to fit seven of us in a hummer only to have two people scrunched in the back on top of folded down chairs. 

looks like it's going to be a fun night! we had dinner at Botero, which was delicious. then we drank more at a bar in the Wynn. then when it came time we headed to XS, where we got hooked up. free entrance and 2 drink tickets/person. this is where two older chicks wanted to get in with us cause they couldn't on their own. sooo we glady let them join however we kept the 4 extra drink tickets because they didn't say thanks or anything. ungrateful! debauchery ensued. i'll just leave it up to your imagination, but this night was ridic. i could not have imagined a better time. we could have ended the trip at 6am that next morning and felt like the bachelorette party lived up to everything it could have been, but there was yet another night to fill.

night two. theme: bride and groomswomen. this got a LOT of attention. it's a cute idea, right? much better than just a veil with peni (can that be used as the plural for man junk?), which lots of other much more lame bachelorette parties had going on. 

Steph and i on our respective better sides.

this is at Queue Bar. we were getting free drinkage before heading out to eat in quickest buffet experience i've ever encountered. we were in and out of there in something like 35 minutes so we could make it over to the Excalibur to see Aussies do their thing. i'll just say that was some cheesy fun. maybe a little too much estrogen in one room.

gotta love your bride! 

next stop: Marquee. more fun came out of this night but it was nothing like the night prior. it was a good way to have fun and bring the weekend to a close. 

Kris, Kim, me and Kimmie

Kim showed up around 830pm that night and left around 4am to head back home. what a trooper! 

"this bitch!" who is she? she kept coming around telling us that she "looooooves us" and bought us a round of shots. 

later in the night she asked us where the birthday girl was. "uhhh you mean the girl dressed like a BRIDE???"

we all trickled in to the hotel room at different hours of the day. about an hour before we left for the airport i woke up and stormed in to the other room proclaiming "we have to find kris! i don't know where she is and we have to leave in an hour," only to hear "wait? what? wasn't she sleeping right next to you?" why yes, she was. oops! 

we left for the airport around 7:30am Sunday morning. after approx. 36 hrs in Vegas, we were sooo done. but our flight was delayed, which prompted Kris to sleep on the floor in Michael Jackson form. 

see! just add his Smooth Criminal hat and you have Kris! 

the weekend didn't end there!! remember preggers from the beginning of the post? her family was throwing her a baby shower the same day. so we went over to help set up. then we tried our best to be functional for the rest of the party.

chronicles of a chunk: I

once upon a time....i was a chunk, although i never really realized i was a chubs until probably sometime in middle school. now that i think back, there were hints along the way that i had never pieced together. these are very vivid memories that i have that obviously played a big role in my little fat kid mind, because of all the memories i could have collected from my youth, these have stuck in my mind for a reason. i do, of course, have other fond memories of my childhood playing games, taking trips and such, but today's focus isn't about that.

one of my earliest memories that helped me to identify that i was "different" was a summer day when my cousins were all at my house to play. the day progressed and it was time for an afternoon treat. my mom bought a big tub of bonbons and pulled them out for everybody to try. but when the tub got within two inches of my hand she said "Regina, maybe you should have a popsicle instead." i didn't know the difference in caloric and sugar content at the time or what that would even mean, but today i could give you a pretty good estimate. all i knew from that interaction was that i was somehow different from all of my cousins and brother. for some reason they could eat a bonbon but i should eat a popsicle. i didn't get it. why not? i don't actually remember whether i ended up eating a popsicle or a bonbon that day. but what i do remember is feeling different. i didn't know that "different" meant chubby.

a similar story occurred a year or two after the last. my mom was driving my brother and a couple of cousins through Death Valley (DV=excruciatingly hot). it was so incredibly blazing hot that we sat in the car pantsless spraying our legs with a squirt bottle of water to cool off. thirsty and nearly dying of heat exhaustion, my mom stopped at a little diner that advertised they had cold watermelon. as we walked to our table i noticed the row of pies at eye level. when it came time to order i said that i wanted a slice of lemon cream pie. my mom exclaimed "what? you'd rather have pie than watermelon? it's so hot. we came here to cool off, not eat more!" i quickly corrected her saying "no, you're mistaken. not only do i want the pie, silly mom, i want both." well, those words didn't come out of my mouth quite like that, but you get the picture. if i remember right i happily got both the pie and the watermelon, which aided in my plump childhood.

catching up with project 365

day 59: this is a fluid bike trainer that Stefan had to have. you know spinning bikes you see at the gym? they're a lot like that except you put your own real bike on the trainer and you can cycle indoors. it simulates outdoor cycling really well. 

day 60: a couple of friends and i are creating a surprise for another friend of ours. it's going to be awesome and i'll share the details once she gets the gift. 

day 61: i had a really stressful day at work training in CT. i made a few mistakes that were easily avoidable, but the work flow pace was really quick and it was hard for my brain to keep up. the first half of the day was frustrating for me, and frustrating=stress to me. but at the end of the day this full rainbow showed up right outside of my work place. it was really pretty and only lasted for two minutes. for something like that to show up in a moment of frustration was awesome. it's the little things in life! 

ultimate bucket list

i'm not sure how crediting photos goes, but here is where i found this pic!

1. see the Aurora Borealis aka The Northern Lights- technically Aurora Borealis is the collision of particles directed by the Earth's magnetic field. there is a ton of physics gibberish behind it that i don't currently feel like trying to understand. and apparently it's pretty hard to see with the naked eye. but just look at that picture. could you imagine seeing that? with no knowledge of the science behind it, wouldn't it seem like a miracle of the world? wouldn't you feel like you were miniscule compared to what's out there and all the amazing things that happen in this universe? this is literally #1 on my list of things i want to see before i die.

where i got this pic

where i got this awesome

2. watch sea turtles hatch and make their way to the ocean-  i want to see the little baby turtles naturally open up and pop their heads out of the sand in hundreds waddling down the grainy path towards the sea as Mother Nature originally intended it. and by "originally intended," i mean that birds might start to come and swoop up little baby turtles and crabs may get a hold of them. don't mistake my intrigue with nature for a cruelty towards animals. Of course i don't wish harm upon the turtles, but i also don't think we should mess with nature too much.it might actually end up being a sad day if i feel bad for the little guys, which i'm positive i will. but at the same time, those that make it out to sea will have started new life in the world and that's something to celebrate. (even though we all know the chances of them surviving are slight due to more animals feeding on them in the ocean). we could use more Crushs and Squirts around!

where i got this pic

3. go dog sledding- i don't mean like i want to finish the Iditarod or anything. i just want some dogs who sled all the time as a pack to bring me around for an hour or so. i know someone else (hopefully their trainer) would be riding with me but that's okay with me. i just love dogs and i want to see them work as a team. oh, and it's got to be in the snow. one time i had a Newfoundland drag me around in a wagon at an elementary school fundraiser, but that hardly counts as dog sledding.

where i got this pic

4. visit Australia- this has chronically been on the top of my list of places i want to travel to. there has never been a specific reason. i just really want to go. something about the place draws me in. along with that, i've always had the fear that a scorpion will find it's way into my boot while i'm asleep and in the morning i'll be met with a poisonous sting. that's plausible, right? haha

where i got this pic

5. go on an African Safari- who doesn't want to ride around in a Jeep fearing life every time you spot a lion in the middle of who-knows-where Africa? nature is amazing and i want to be able to see different animals living together roaming about.