happy 5

happy 5 years... and here's to an even happier 5 more.

the fashion blog

so who knew the fashion blog would turn out so popular eh? the la mimi 'interview' was awhile back.. but last week someone from lucky style spotter contacted me to write an article for their site... i'm not a great writer.. but i threw something together.

and my etsy store is currently empty... i guess i should really get to sewing.. but i feel like taking a hiatus for the holidays and start up again in the new year... we shall see!

cold weather renji!

renji loves cooler weather so he can wear his clothes. he's such a divo.

november recap

omg i missed an entire month! november seemed to just fly by, from the time between halloween til now.. i really don't have much excuses, except the skirt business has been thriving and taking up most of my time, as has trying to get in training for the half marathon in january. but other than that we had some visitor's from canada for a weekend and went to a texan's game.. Mr. Rocks went to Vegas on another weekend.. and then it was pretty much thanksgiving time... and now christmas. and can you believe i'm not even complete with decorating?!? it's already a week into december and here i am with my mantle barely done and my tree at 20% and with a christmas party every weekend it's hard to cram in decorating plus christmas gift shopping too not to mention skirt makings... busiest time of year, but it is still the most wonderful time of the year.

here's a few more photos from thanksgiving:

happy halloween.

festive for fall.

my fall/halloween decor.

issarocks.etsy.com

finally started my etsy store... click on the image above to see :)

political?

with early voting already starting.. look who came by the neighborhood.

shuffle up and deal.

so on saturday i attended a coworker's poker party (see cupcakes below). like many guys these days, my coworkers like poker. and they like the hefty $20 buy in. now normally i don't play poker.. i'll watch it on tv.. but yeah the hubby plays but i just don't.. i feel like i get high anxiety deciding when to hold 'em, fold 'em or walk away or run.. er.. wait. and both me and mr. rocks had agreed upon my poker skillz amounting to crap.
but for fun, when i'm invited i'll play along.. and donate my $20 for the gathering... this time i seemed to have luck instantly winning the first few hands. how strange! my chip stack slowly grew and the other players at the table were like what the heck while i was equally in a oh my how lucky am i state. i think they figured i was the new hustler in town.. fake acting like i didn't know what i was doing.. while i really didn't.. seriously! eventually my lucky cards cooled down.. and i let the other players play the cards and slowly knock each other out while i hung in there with a decent stack.. sometimes at times dwindling down slightly.. from bad calls, and early folds. once it got down to the last 5, i was the only girl remaining.. but i was chip leader.. oh yeah. one by one the guys left the table until it was me and the birthday boy playing heads up. now i didn't mind counting up our chips and splitting.. but he wanted to earn back more.. and go for winner take all. needless to say... it ended up winner take all after he went all in. the board was a bunch of low numbered cards and a king... we both paired the king... he had a king, nine. i had a king, ten. and with that i am almost certain will be my only poker tale.

maybe being this close to john juanda at the WSOP gave me some luck.

more birthday cupcakes

so i've been practicing different ways of frosting cupcakes instead of the standard swirl...
roz's birthday weekend began with a friday SATC night.. where the crew finally gathered together to watch the movie.. i made the tiffany and co. themed cupcakes for the event. they were chocolate cupcakes filled with a mocha ganache.



last night for my coworkers poker themed birthday gathering i made poker cupcakes! yeah.. i'm just a little terrible at piping spades and clubs... actually only the hearts really turned out up to standards. - dark chocolate cupcakes filled with a hazelnut chocolate ganache.

i should start catering cupcakes!

not just words.

this was just too amazing not to share...

Jason Van Genderen is the director of a very short film called 'Mankind is no Island'. Shot on a mobile phone - and a shoe-string budget - the movie has just won both the 'People's Choice' and 'Best Film' category at the New York Tropfest short film festival.

where is this politicalness coming from?

i'm usually quite the unaware citizen when it comes to politics.. and generally i just don't discuss it. why? because i don't like debates, heated discussions, etc. everyone has their own beliefs, ideas, points of view and so on.. and they are entitled to that as am i so i just see no point in arguing over things like politics, religion. yes i am that person. you know.. bunnies and rainbows.

but i must say....

this years presidential race has just been so incredibly interesting.. enough for me to want to actually check out cnn (and not just to look at anderson cooper) instead of just the daily show and colbert report for news. i even tried to watch most of the presidential debate.. but mccain's creepy smile started to scare me.. so we had to change the channel after an hour.. though i'm tons more excited about the vp debate this thursday... because i am certain it will be tons more entertaining. :)

oh it should be noted that..

sarah palin is ridiculous. and no you should not feel sorry for her. i mean srsly she lives so close to foreign countries and read newspapers and magazines.. ALL of them in fact.. so cleary she should be able to actually answer a question.. with an answer.

and if you haven't already.. you betta register to vote. the clock is ticking.

domokun for target

attention domokun lovers: if you haven't made it target yet.. now is the time.. it seems they have selected domokun as their spokesperson for halloween.. seriously domo everything.. i guess it was about time for the masses to be introduced to him.. some of the products at target are ridiculous.. but hey the plushies are quite good..even if they are in costume.. and the animation.. is awesome. a better version on the target site.

misleading

tonights sunset... the houses across the way are boarded up.
it seems ike is coming... and i doubted it all week... everyone be safe!!

numa numa returns.

so i ended up watching a replay of the MTV VMA's last night.. and when the above performance began.. i more than chuckled. more like i could not believe they sampled this song... let alone imagine this being on the radio.. all the time.

the question remains.. will T.I's "numa numa" feat. rihanna video beat out the version that took the internet by storm? i think they should totally stick him in their video. i'd vote for that on TRL.



ps. this is my 200th post. woohoo!

made the cut.

i thought it was time for something new... so i got bangs.. 'real' bangs.

i prefer blue.

birthday olympics

Cupcakes for P's surprise birthday party (China/Vietnam colors) 2 weekends ago.

It was an olympic themed party, and we were split up into Team China, Team Vietnam, and Team USA, and made to play random relay races. It ended with the championship match of kickball between Team China and Team USA. Team China won gold.


kickball!


of course i was on Team China

issa likes dogs, dogs like issa.

me and maverick.
photo taken by studiodru.. so he could test out his marble background... and prior to the WWT photoshoot.


"there, there mommy.."
renji consoling me after my wisdom teeth were removed.

mediocre music challenge

so a couple of weeks ago TGFO figured out how to play jason mraz's i'm yours by ear. he's captain awesome. then last week he decided that he would add singing.. and post it on his blog for the world to see.. and hear. and would be calling me out to do the same.. i insisted that the world is just not ready for my singing and guitar skills.. which are borderline terrible. but still i frantically began recording and rerecording vids (prior to wisdom teeth extraction)... which seemed to go from mediocre to worse...
finally after having a non ear bleeding rendition but slightly fast cut of letter to elise (the cure).. i waited.. and waited.. until i was almost over it and second guessing that this vid was apparently 'ok'. and now that my mouth is less sore and singing (i use that term loosely) is a possibility, i began trying to rerecord things.. then today mr. TGFO finally posted his video. and since i really badgered him about starting the challenge and not actually doing it.. i will post mine with a quickness.

be satisfied.

no more wisdom...

wisdom teeth that is.

i surprisingly didn't swell up that much.. nor did i pass out most of the day. i'm a soldier.

first time's a charm

so over the past week or so i made pizza for the first time, a frittata (see his birthday post below), and truffle mac 'n cheese. and i completed all with rather spectacular results if i do say so myself. the truffle mac 'n cheese was about the best thing ever.. but that's pretty much anything with truffles.. black or white... and i pretty much winged it.. but for those curious it was super easy.. so here's an approximate on the recipe for 2 people.

2 tbs nonsalted butter
1 chopped shallot
2 tsp flour
1/2 cup heavy cream (i totally free poured this)
1/4 cup milk (this too)
1.5 cup swiss/monterrey jack/aged cheddar cheese (whatever your preference.. and i just grabbed like 2 handfuls)
1/2 pkg macaroni (cooked and drained)
2 tsp truffle oil* (i didn't measure this either)
salt/pepper

melt the butter in a pan on low-med heat. then add the chopped shallots.. after a couple minutes add the flour and cook for about a minute. Slowly add the heavy cream and milk, stir and once it starts to boil lightly add the cheese. stir and add more milk or cream if sauce is too thick. once the cheese is melted through turn off the heat and stir in some truffle oil. finally mix in the macaroni, salt and pepper to taste and serve while hot.

* we actually got our truffle oil from italy but you should be able to find black or white truffle oil from oil&vinegar (woodlands mall) or places like central market, whole foods, william sonoma or sur la table... though this is not verified. oh and black truffle oil is less expensive. i used black truffle oil and it turned out deliciousness.


antipasti pizza | bbq chicken pizza

this was a super easy and delicious dinner. i used the pillsbury pizza dough and whatever else i had in my fridge to come up with this 2-sided pizza.

first, spray cookie sheet with cooking oil, then spread out dough. i spread freshly chopped garlic across the dough along with 1/2 cup of italian mix cheese and some red chili flakes. then i cooked the dough for like 7 min or until the cheese looked cooked in. after that i let it cool slightly then on one 1/2 i spread bbq sauce and lined cooked chicken over it and topped it with cheese. on the other 1/2 i spread sliced roma tomatoes, artichoke hearts, roasted red pepper, and topped it with cheese and dried basil. i put it back in the oven for about 10 min or until the cheese looked good and melted. overall the antipasti side was our favorite, although the crust could have been crisper.. probably cook the crust longer before adding the toppings. next time i'll do anchovies and capers.

his birthday weekend.

mr. rocks bday celebration started on Friday evening in rice village at the gingerman.. he had enough beer to actually request that this photo be taken.

after sleeping in saturday morning, i made a tomato and garlic frittata for brunch.




saturday night we ate dinner in bellaire then hung out at Y&P's for a bit and dru brought over a homemade fruit tart for dessert. dru is pointing to his extra special filled strawberry.



on his actual birthday, i made congee for lunch (he can never get enough of that) and he wanted to forego the usual fancy restaurant and have dinner at home.. and he requested indian food. so i whipped up 2 different types of curry (chicken curry, and lamb vindaloo) and some riata.. and picked up some naan. we also skipped the birthday cake for some delicious but expensive french macarons.. a little reminder of our recent vacation. hopefully he had a wonderful birthday... it seemed like he did. :)

spur the economy.

we spurred the economy by purchasing a new coffee table.. and a coat rack/umbrella stand (i've always wanted one). sorry for the craptacular photos.. terrible lighting.

i'm sorta feeling vacation withdrawl.... yann tiersen and craving macarons is not helping.

dr. horrible

josh whedon's private project during teh writer's strike...

and neil patrick harris sings!

dr. horrible's sing-along blog

watch while it's still free. *no longer free... too bad.

BFF [canadian edition]

last week T's bff and his wife came down to visit. it was a jam packed 7 days of shopping and eating.. and a bit of drinking. it was great hanging out with them.. and hearing the stories of the apparently mischievous duo back in their younger years. and we can't wait to get together again.


after arrival we immediately head to downtown for an astro's game.. which we left slightly early to check out discovery green and have a drink at the grove.


the next day was dedicated to shopping at the galleria.. and dinner at chuy's for some tex-mex and their "texas martini's"... the night ended with lots of mario kart.

i celebrated independence day with a bunch of canadians, on a roadtrip to austin. we shopped to the limit at the san marcos outlets.. and spent the remainder of the evening on 6th street for more drinking and catching up. the next day we headed to UT campus to get some longhorn gear on the drag.. and for some tower photo ops.


we headed back to houston on saturday in time for dinner at texadelphia, more shopping at a nearby mall, some winebar action.. and bw3 to catch the forrest/rampage fight.


sunday we still ended up doing a bit of shopping.. and then had a bbq in the backyard... took a stroll around the neighborhood.. and the boys played more wii while the girls sat in the patio with wine and cheese.


and on their last night in houston we finally took a group photo after dinner at grand lux cafe.

more photos.