Lunch Time!!!

I made a delicious dinner last night for Jake and I. Beer braised shrimp with vegetable rice and a side salad. Mmmm mmmm mmm. I even had leftover shrimp that I brought to work to make this beautiful salad.


To cook the shrimp, I heated oil in a large pan and added the shrimp. After 2-3 minutes, I added hot sauce and worcestshire sauce. Reduce heat and add a full bottle of beer (we used Budweiser because thats all we had). Let the sauce reduce for 5-7 minutes. Add the juice of one lime and chopped green onions, then serve over the vegetable rice. In the meantime, the vegetable rice was cooking in our handy dandy rice cooker. I added garlic, celery, red onions, green bell peppers and thyme to the rice along with chicken stock. The chicken stock really make a huge difference in flavor!

(Disclaimer: I saw this recipe on Rachel Ray's show and looked it up online. It said to use 1/4 cup of hot sauce, but we found that to be way too spicy. So just too warn you.....Rachel likes it hot hot hot!)

I absolutely love cooking and Jake even helped me clean up last night :) I think we make a good team!

Fathers Day Weekend

My weekend started with dinner with two of my good friends and out to a bar afterwards. We had a great time, and it was much appreciated after the news I had received just a day earlier (see previous post).

The next morning I was able to go volunteer at a Health and Wellness Expo put on by the Alzheimer's Association of Orange County (AAOC). My great-grandmother (or Mama Mannino as we used to call her) had Alzheimer's and passed away when I was about 8 or 9. Her disease always confused me because I would often wonder why she acted so differently than the other adults in our family. She would not know where we were sometimes and would ask questions that made me think she was very child-like. As I got older, I came to understand that Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia that is in-curable and there are no known causes. About a year ago, I decided to get more involved with the AAOC to learn about this disease. I have learned many things in my training sessions at the organization's headquarters, but mainly that treatment at the first signs of the disease often prove most effective and delay many of the its symptoms. The AAOC puts on many events to inform senior citizens and baby boomers of the importance of regualr health screenings to prevent the disease from advancing into later stages without treatment.

I participated in the Alzheimer's Memory Walk awhile back, which was such a rewarding experience. The Wellness Expo this weekend was a great event as well. It was held at Laguna Hills Mall and was an informational event to help senior citizens and their caregivers plan for the future. My responsibility was to go around the mall and pass out flyers to get people to come to the event. It wasnt exactly glamorous work, but I did see people turn up at the event that I had recruited in the mall :) Once we got people to the event, I was in charge of getting signatures and address cards filled out to send to our California representatives in Washington DC. The petition was to get $125 million of funding for Alzheimers research. There have been recent budget cuts that have eliminated many senior day care centers. Without these centers, Alzheimers patients will not get the treatment they require and according to professionals at the Expo, could end up costing the government 5 times more than it would have cost had the senior centers remained open. I feel this is an important issue because our budget deficits are at an all time high and we have many baby boomers retiring. They will soon need access to these senior centers, but we are not providing them with proper treatment. I hope the government will fund future research for this terrible disease and we can find a CURE!

The next day was Fathers Day and I went to the Angel vs. Dodgers game with my dad and brother. Although our Angels lost, we had a good time and I'm glad I got to spend time with my family. Here are some pictures from the game and of a recent hike I went on in Newport Coast.

Some not so great news.....

I found out this morning I didnt pass my last test for the CPA :( I took the test on April 23rd and just now found out. The wait was killing me, but now I know I have to buckle down and get it done. I know I was not in the right mindset for the last test, but who would have been? I was leaving for Las Vegas the very next day for one of my best friends Bachelorette parties and we were going to see Miss Britney Spears. We had such a blast! But now its time to get serious. No more joking around.

I plan to start studying after the 4th of July and take the test by the end of the month. I need to push myself this one last time and hopefully it pays off.

Now.....I'm ready for the weekend with my girls! Jake and Tuttle are gone for the weekend , sooooo its time for some reality TV (I need to catch up on my Tivo) and wine to drown my sorrows :)

Probably the coolest thing I've seen all week

Someone decided to throw 1 million bouncy balls down a street in San Fransico and this video ensued. I love SF and this video makes me so so happy. I wish I was there! Enjoy!

What I'm listening to...

Intro To Me!

I figured before I started blogging, I should tell everyone a little more about myself. I’m 24 and love my life! I enjoy laughing, eating, running, jokes, wine nights, frozen yogurt, yoga, and the sun! I have a wonderful boyfriend who I love dearly. I can’t believe it, but we’ve been together almost 5 ½ years! I am blessed to have amazing friends and family who I know I can count on for anything. I can tell them anything and I know I will get great advice when I need it. I live in gorgeous Anaheim Hills, with my boyfriend, Jake, and our roommate, Tuttle. We are a happy little family!

I currently work as an analyst at an hedge fund of funds firm in the Investment Operations department, where I am responsible for accounting for many large investment clients (my clients are confidential, so don’t ask!). I have almost completed my CPA (Certified Public Accounting) license. The certification entails four subject based tests and I am proud to say I have passed three so far. I am waiting to hear my score on the fourth and final test, then I will finally be certified. Woo hoo! Anyone who knows me, knows I have spent many hours studying for these stupid tests, so I will be so relieved when they are over with! Oh! And you must know….I love all things USC! I graduated from there in 2007 and I’m absolutely obsessed with Trojan football and all of the traditions of the university. Jake and I have even started our own USC room in our condo. We hope to add many more collector’s items over the years, but all good things must start small.

I have many goals for the future. I am most looking forward to getting married and starting a family of my own someday. I would also like to run and own my own business, not sure what yet. It is very important to me to have a well balanced life that is rewarding and fulfills all of my desires. I look forward to using this blog as a means to get to know myself and document my life. I hope to share it with my kids someday and hopefully entertain an audience along the way!

I also wanted to set some ground rules for myself before I post any more: I want this blog to be a positive place and for every negative post (should one slip), I will have 5 more positive entries that follow. I will take many pictures and post them here. I know its boring just to read a bunch of text all the time. I would like to have theme months too, but we’ll see how it goes. The first one I was thinking about was “Green Month.” Great tips to “go green.” Well, this is all for now. Hopefully I didn’t bore you to death. If so, look at some cool pictures of me and the most important people in my life!

My boyfriend, Jake, and I!

My best girls!

We all love our Frank!

Told you we were USC fans!

New Year's Eve 2008

Hello Out There!

Soooo…I’ve been reading many blogs lately, some by friends, some by people I don’t even know, and some by professionals that use it as a means of business. It got me thinking, can I keep up with writing a blog myself? Would anyone want to read it? I guess that remains to be seen :) I originally thought, maybe I should just keep a journal. But I knew I would never keep up with it on my own. (I've tried it before and it has only ended up with hand cramps and a total sense of not getting out what I wanted to say.)
I kept reading and reading and reading, more and more blogs. Soon my thoughts started to sound like blog posts in my head. Things would happen to me, and I would think, “This would be a good blog post!” I have so many thoughts swirling around in my head that I decided to give it a go. So here it is. My first blog entry. I’m going to try to spiff up my page a little bit before I write any more. But trust me, I have many ideas for my new site! Until then……