Oxnard Day 1

My family and I took a short trip up to Oxnard last weekend. Why Oxnard? I have no idea, we took out a map and chose any random location.

After a rough ride on the PCH, we finally arrived at the hotel. I ate a bad cucumber and threw up in the car... sigh, my relationship with cucumber will never be the same again. But I quickly regained my appetite when my mom and aunt made 부대찌개 (army base soup?) It's made up of spam, sausages, kimchee, ramen. YUM YUM YUM! Even though I still felt sick from the cucumber, I had to eat it :)

Afterwards, we went to the beach to digest and frolicked around in the sand.

My reenactment of Korean drama scenes:

"Why did you leave me? I loved you!" Then I take off my shoes and walk into the water and never come back. But then 5 years, I show up. Turns out, I washed up onto shore and someone saved me....

Yes, this is how my cousins and I play :)

Did I mention that my cousin is a model?

Before we went on the trip, my uncle said that he had a special surprise planned out for us. What was it? Old home videos! So we spent the night snacking, watching old home videos crowded around a tiny 13 inch screen! It was an enjoyable night with my family. Plus, I forgot how cute I was! JK!

Stay tuned for day 2!

And we're off!

And we're off! I'm taking a short vacay with my family... all 13 of us! It's our first time taking a trip all together, so it should be fun, interesting and really crazy LOL. Have a fun weekend! I know I will.

Happy Father's Day

Daddy, you are amazing. Mom always said that if I marry a man like you, I would be in good hands. The older I get, the more I realize how true those words are. Thank you for everything. I love you! 아빠 사랑해!

Pancake House

All finished!!! Yumm..

Last week, Jane and I went hiking at the Fullerton Arboretum (you can read about our adventure on her blog here). We met around 8 AM for our hike and afterwards we decided to satisfy our stomachs with The Original Pancake House (their name is so legit LOL). It was my first time there and I was really excited to try it after Jane raved about it. The portions are huge there! Jane ordered the chocolate chip pancakes (so typical right?). I ordered this dish called three pigs in a blanket. It was really just sausages wrapped in buttermilk pancakes. But I loved it! YUM!!

Daily Photos

the daily word

My breakfast- tomato-apple smoothie & quinoa cereal

Quinoa honey muffins

sauteed mushrooms & shallots

Essie mint candy apple

These pictures pretty much sum up my day minus a few things. Qt, eating, baking, painting nails, jogging (one of my summer goals is to be able to run 5 miles, more on that later).... What did you do today?

Bruxie

I recently went to Bruxie to see what the hype was all about. I had heard through some friends and Yelp that it was really good. And I definitely wanted to try it before I left. So my best friends and I ventured to Orange to try out some waffles.

It's not really a sit down restaurant, it's more like a stationary waffle stand.

I ordered the Prosciutto and Gruyere

Jessica ordered the Smoked Salmon and Dill Cheese

and Jane ordered Smores (she loves everything chocolate)

Overall, it was just okay, maybe I expected a bit too much. I really don't know if I would go there again. The food was just mediocre. I don't recommend it if you want to sit around and hang out with your girlfriends. It's more like a quick fix joint. Our Bruxie experience ended in a quick 30 minutes. BUT I do think everyone should try it at least once. But once is more than enough for me. I give it a 5.5 out of 10.

Haul

Yesterday, I visited South Coast with my mom and came home with some goodies. I am definitely a bargain shopper. I get SUPER excited when I find something good on sale. Even though it is summer, I had to get something for my favorite season...winter!

I found this at Nordstrom Rack in the clearance section.

It will be perfect paired with my thigh high boots! I can't wait until winter!

I found this striped maxi dress that will be perfect in any season.

This will look perfect paired with a black leather jacket or casually with some sandals.

BUT my most exciting find was...

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A chiffon maxi skirt!!!!!! I have been looking for one of these FOREVER! Isn't she gorgeous?! Right when I walked into Loehmanns, the skirt was hanging there, calling my name. I immediately snatched it. It is so perfect for summer! EEKKK!!

I picked up these wedged sandals for $20! Aren't they a steal?

I thought they would go perfectly with my new chiffon skirt!

YAY! for lovely finds!!!

Quinoa Cereal

I used to be sort of a health nut. I cut out soda, junk food, candy from my diet. But lately, actually it's been a while now -_-, I've been eating so much crap! So these days, I've been trying to switch back to my healthy mode... it's really hard.

I came across this quinoa cereal recipe from Eye It. Try It. It looked really delicious so I decided to try it. The recipe calls for maple syrup, which I didn't have, so I put in agave syrup instead. And instead of Chia seeds, I put in ground up pecans.

Recipe

1 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa

1/2 cup of ground pecans

3/4 tsp of cinnamon

1 tbsp of vanilla

2 tbsp of agave syrup

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Mix all the ingredients together

Pour it onto a sheet of parchment paper on a baking pan

Flatten out the quinoa mixture with a spoon

Bake for 20 minutes then stir it around and bake it for another 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool.

Store in an air tight container

I think I baked it for too long...I baked it for more than 40 minutes on accident. It was a bit too crunchy. And next time I'll have to try it with maple syrup so it can stick together a bit more nicely. Overall, it is definitely worth trying and super healthy too! Enjoy!

Hunters

This post is long overdue. For my graduation gift, my thoughtful cousin gifted me these amazing Hunter boots. She thought it would be useful when I move to the East Coast. I have always wanted Hunter boots but I figured it wasn't really necessary in Southern California. But now I have a perfect excuse! And these will be perfect and most necessary when I tread through the snow.

Aren't they gorgeous?

I am keeping them tucked away in their box until the rain and snow comes :) Look for an update with my Hunters in the snow!

Oh! All pictures were taken with my new Canon G12. Isn't the quality amazing? I love it!!!

Decisions...Decisions...

I have been wanting a Cambridge Satchel for some time now. The only problem is... I don't know which color to get! They are all so pretty and unique. Which one should I get?

patent black via (Asos)

this green one via (fashionsquad)

this neon yellow one via (fashionsquad)

or this red one via (Vanessa Jackman)

Which one do you think would be best? I am leaning towards the patent black one...but I like all of them!!! Decisions...decisions...

New Toy

For my graduation present, I asked my parents for a new camera. I thought that it would be a good way to capture these last months at home, as well as, making new memories when I move to Philadelphia. I originally bought an Olympus E-P2, but it just wasn't for me. I returned and bought this one instead.

This is my brand new Canon G12. It's like a point and shoot but a lot bigger...it's really BIG. I'm really excited to take it out on a spin when Jane and I go hiking tomorrow!

A Hiking Adventure

My best friends and I all used to live within a 3 mile radius of each other. Things have changed since then, and while the 3 of us remain, 1 had to move away. We try to see each other when we get the chance, but it's not often. The three of us that still live close to each other, rarely see each other too.

Luckily, I had the chance to spend some time with Jane the other day. We wanted to do something that didn't require a lot of money. Out of all of us, I would say Jane is the most outdoorsy (which isn't really that outdoorsy at all LOL). So, of course, she suggested hiking. My response was, "but there's sun..." Can you tell I don't like the sun? After much persuasion, I gave in and we made our way to Sycamore Canyon Park (a park we found on Yelp). Yelp gave it 5 stars saying that it had a lake. Jane was really excited for the lake...which we found driving into the park. It was the lamest lake I had ever seen.

We went up the trail, which lead us to manmade stairs and more manmade stairs

and graffiti, which lead us to another "lake" that Jane got really excited about. I thought it smelled funny and sure enough that lake was leakage from the sewage plant in the park. YUCK!!! So much for nature right?

But we continued up for hopes that the trail would get better...

We found cars instead. But nevertheless we took victory shots at the top :)

Can you tell how differently we dressed?

Me in long sleeves and long pants and Jane in a tee and shorts. I really don't like the sun :)

Despite the disappointing hiking trails, Jane and I discovered a new excitement for the outdoors. We even made a pact to go hiking every week. Our next stop is the Fullerton Arboretum!