Monday, April 30, 2012

lina in europe part 15: parisian photobooth

 on our last full day in paris, nicola & i fulfilled the challenge we had been trying to accomplish all week - we found a working photobooth & took pictures with it....a lot of pictures : )
 i even took a special strip of photos for miguel : ) he wasn't yet my boyfriend at the time, but he would stay up quite late every night just to talk to me & wish me good morning through video messaging. he was & is so sweet : )

 paris was quite whimsical. it had a certain air to it. romantic. the people were also quite friendly & patient. i loved all the little discoveries nicola & i made while in paris. after spending five days there, living in a flat like locals, we had an experience we will always remember : )





lina in europe part 14: tombees du camion

 nicola & i did a lot of wandering in paris. we did have a few things we "had" to do, but otherwise we kinda went with the flow. when we were in one of the arcades, which are kind of like eclectic mini malls, we stumbled upon the most amazing store! it is called tombees du camion. we had a nice little chat with the lady who worked at the store & she told us that what they sold there was all kinds of antique plastic toys & knickknacks that were discovered in old abandoned parisian factories. it was seriously the coolest thing ever.




 we bought a few odds & ends, but what was really amazing is that nicola found little plastic dolls that were reminiscent to the traveling doll in a blog we both followed called ada the globetrotting doll. nicola bought a doll. we left the store. she showed me what she got & then i had to go back & get a plastic doll too : ) i named mine colette & started to take photos of her around paris. today, she rides in my purse where ever i go, kept safe in a sock. i've been taking photos of her around towns i visit too : )


after doing some research on the dolls, we found out that they are called clonette dolls (or baby deidei) from west africa. we discovered that there was a factory in paris where we could get them & tried setting up a meet-up with the factory. the meet-up fell through & we were a bit bummed. but in the next couple of days, when we were wandering the streets of paris, we unbelievably stumbled upon a store called antoine et lili that was actually selling the real dolls!! we each picked one out for 9euros. mine is pale yellow & nicola's is purple : ) we have yet to name them, but we love them & the amazing experience it was finding them!
if you would like to buy one online, i found a store (located in la) that sells two different sizes : )

Saturday, April 28, 2012

my boyfriend is super cool. he makes his own jerky. just saying.

 miguel absolutely loves jerky & had been wanting to "diy" beef jerky since he saw alton brown making some on "good eats." when he told me about it, even though i am vegetarian, i was totally down to be there when he made some himself. needless to say i was super excited & he was stoked! so this past week we bought a box fan at target & filters & bungee cords at home depot. we then picked up the remaining ingredients at safeway. it was an all-day affair (total recipe time says 20hrs 20min!) here is the recipe & here is the tv show showing alton making it on good eats. it turned out great & miguel said that next time he is going to tweak it a little to make it his own. i'm thinking this may be his new hobby : ) diy jerky!

the recipe has all the steps & ingredients, but i'll just show the steps through the photos too : )
 after trimming off the fat & freezing the 2lbs of flank steak, miguel thinly sliced it (along the grain).
 i helped create the marinade for it & we mushed it in a zip-lock to equally distribute the seasonings.
 he was so excited :D
 after letting the meat marinade for about 5 hours, miguel placed the strips in the grooves of the filters.
 stacking & using the bungee cords to strap the filters to the box fan, miguel set the fan on for about 10 hours to dry the meat out.
 the end product looks quite nice, if i do say so myself : )
 it made a lot of jerky & miguel filled four containers for storage!
i was quite impressed with the whole project. my boyfriend is quite the clever diy man ;)

lina in europe part 13: amelie's cafe







one of the things that was a "must do" for me & nicola in paris was to go to cafe de deux moulins, or "amelie's cafe" & have lunch. it is where they filmed parts of amelie (where she worked)! it was really quite surreal to actually be in the same place that amelie was. of course we had to try the creme brulee : )

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

book hunting




 miguel & i went book hunting yesterday! we were searching for a copy of extremely loud & incredibly close with the original cover. we traveled to a couple of used bookstores & strolled hand-in-hand enjoying the nice weather. although we weren't able to find the book, it was still an amazing day : )

also, yesterday i picked up marie claire for may because zooey deschanel is on the cover : )

today i turned in the first three chapters of my thesis! 33 pages & over 7,600 words. i have data collection & analysis & three more chapters to go. should be done in one more year : )

right now i am sitting on my bed, in sweats, & watching burn notice. finally relaxing!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

instagram 1

i was so excited that there is instagram for android now. i've been having loads of fun with it : )

Saturday, April 14, 2012

busyness

 some of my girl friends from high school were in town, so we all got together & made pizza from scratch & enjoyed the company. two of them are married & own homes. one has a baby! one is a high school teacher. one lives between here & australia. it's crazy how old i feel sometimes - or rather how old i ought to feel. i still feel quite young!
 speaking of time, miguel & i celebrated two months at the beginning of this month : ) he took me out for breakfast at the place that has the amazing custard french toast.

he wrote me a little love note & hid it for me to discover. it was shaped as a heart. he is so sweet & clever : ) & i just realized this now, i am pretty sure the paper he used is from the hotel we stayed at on our little trip! awww hehe.

 miguel had never watched 500 days of summer before, so we had double movie nights & watched it. then the next day we went on a date to ikea : ) it was his first time there too. he quoted the movie & it was totally fun!
 
i found the kitchen & bedroom i want. & he found the ones that he liked : ) it was really a great day.

this is a little out of order, but before all of this it was easter! haha. miguel came with my family to visit my cousins on my dad side. he got to meet more of the family & enjoyed the good food & company. i wore this yellow vintage dress for the easter program at church. my parents were in it (my papi even played jesus!) so i wasn't going to miss it ;)
& now i am feeling a tiny bit under the weather (but i am feeling better already!) & had some ramen with egg & got all cozy & rested a bit. almost all better now!
 tonight miguel & i are going to our city's "old town." i'm rather quite excited! :D

well, i've been quite busy with school & life & haven't had much time to blog or look at all of your blogs! i am taking this afternoon to try to catch up : )

also, is it busyness? or business? i am confused...