mochi the cat

it's a long story, but vic and i are now brand new parents. meet mochi!

we adopted her from the anti-cruelty society yesterday. she's the tiniest little thing, so playful and cute! she's on the skinny side, a little malnourished, so the shelter was like, please make sure you feed her well, she needs to gain some weight. i was like, trust me lady, this cat's going to think she's at the vegas buffets with the assortment we'll be giving her. my parents, vic and i feed perky (who is surprisingly not a tub o' lard but only 9.5 lbs., awww i miss perky, what a cuteycat), as i was saying... 2 kinds of hard food, 2 kinds of soft food, tuna sashimi, shrimp and calamari on a daily basis. so yes, mochi is going to get the same kind of love.

my hub

vic (reading his car magazines): "the new mercedes is really nice. . ." (flip flip) "the audi a5 looks nice too, but it's a gas guzzler with that gas guzzler tax." . . . "we should stop by that porsche dealership." . . . . . "the new model of the acura mdx looks so different now, you can't tell it apart from the acura rdx." . . . . . "there's a new bmw m3 coming out, it looks nice don't you think?"

diana (deep in her own line of thinking): "i'm going to buy 2 bags of onion rings at whole foods tomorrow."

vic: "we are having two separate conversations."

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so our tt got rear-ended a few weeks ago. it's all fixed and pretty now, but at the time it was traumatic. i mean, the TT is my baby.

[in the elevators, it's me, vic and a nice older british couple who had just seen us outside with the TT and getting a police report for insurance purposes]

british gentleman (in a nice english accent): "i say (ok so i added the i say part, but the rest of this quote is true and verbatim), that's quite a shame what they did to the back of your silver porsche out there."

diana (frozen solid from standing outside and dazed and confused from entire scenario): "oh, you mean the TT? yeah."

british gentleman: "oh, it's an audi TT. nice looking car you two have got there. what a terrible shame."

vic says thanks. i smile politely.

diana (exiting the elevator): "that was nice, that they noticed us outside and said what they said."

vic (nodding): "yeah."

we're both quiet as we're walking down the hall to our condo, just thinking about what happened outside. we unlock the door and walk in.

vic: "on the bright side, they thought your car was a porsche."

tv land

i was just sending a work email to clients but instead of typing "Regards" at the end, i typed in "Retards". must be what i not-so-subconsciously think of these clients.

overall, my mood is joyful and excited. this is b/c vic and i went condo shopping this weekend and... WE NOW HAVE A BRAND NEW MONGO LCD TV AND PS3 AND SELECTION OF BLU-RAY MOVIES!!! it went like this: "ooo i like this place. oooo i like this place even more, let's go see it again at nighttime. ok, this place sucks, and it's impossible to park around here. you know what? we need a bigger tv. i can't stand looking at the puny thing anymore."

so that's where we are! stalled in our condo search b/c there are just too many choices, but we now have a fab new entertainment center. the HD on the big tv is spectacular. we turned it on and flipped to a basketball game... i could see the players' sweat droplets and each individual pore. giant! larger than life-size! and the blu-ray thing is amazing. we popped in spiderman 3 and again, i could see tobey mcguire's giant pores.

the best part is our big plasma that was in the living room is now in the bedroom and replaces the dinky 13" LCD. i can finally see the tv from the bed without the use of a telescope!

who needs a bigger condo now. space is overrated. enjoy your time watching big tvs and worry about nothing else.

♥ mochi ice cream ♥

mattress shopping

in my quest to go totally domestic, i am going totally destitute. this is because we are also in the market for a new mattress. you'd think you'd be able to drive it down the street with the amount they cost!!!

y. and i are going to macy's during lunch today to test out the mattresses. by "test", i mean clamber up on top of and butt hop. the last time i was there (about 2 weeks ago) i was testing out mattresses and found one i really liked when this old salesguy came up and announced i had a "princess complex". according to his observations, i was only climbing aboard ones that were high up off the ground "like a little girl because it reminds you of your parents' bed." . . . . . WHACKJOB!!! anyway i found out he isn't working today so it's the perfect day to go. plus, macy's is having a huge mattress sale. that store has a one-day sale every day or a 13 hour sale every 13 hours, it seems. but i am not complaining.

another property!

we have an appt. this saturday to see this condo that's really contemporary/modern. contemporary and modern is a lot of fun, but let's face it, sometimes it's form over function. and if we're being really honest, most of the time it's no function. i am a big fan of this.

this particular unit we're scheduled to see is very poliform-ish (http://www.poliformusa.com/). nice clean lines, lots of whites and very contemporary. while our current condo is more modern, i think our ideal home would be more along the lines of contemporary with a little bit of modern stuff. my favorite showroom is ligne roset (wells & hubbard). white background (walls) with splashes of color (rugs & furniture). this is yet another place i would move into.

so the selling agent for the place we're seeing on saturday was so funny; she was like, "i want you to know that this is a very industrial-looking home. it's very modern and contemporary, so i don't want you to be too surprised." i was like, "trust me, lady, we ARE modern and contemporary." and then she was like, "oh good, because someone else walked through and didn't understand why there wasn't any carpeting...."

i should've told her our current walls are painted bright red, our bedroom is dark purple and our master bath is bright green. trust me, nothing surprises us.

bff

janette just called. before i answered, i knew i was in trouble. she's a very vigilant friend, and i'm... not. so i actually thought about not answering, but while i may not be vigilant, i'm not a jerk either. besides, she's my bff.

me: "hi janette, long time no talk!"

janette: (after a brief pause, probably from surprise that i answered) "OH MY GOD YOU'RE ALIVE!!! NILO (her brother, who was in the car with her), SHE'S ALIVE!!!"

me: "very funny. i nearly died of the flu a while back" (ok, so i never had the flu)

janette: "did you get my invitation? we're having a birthday party next weekend for poknut, you better be there. you're her godmother!!"

me: "um, ok." thinking: oh dear lord, more gifts. MORE GIFTS!!!! >:O

[side note: actually, the gifts part i don't really mind, despite the fact she has a bazillion family members who are constantly having birthdays and holiday parties and weddings, etc. and i am constantly buying gifts for said birthdays and holiday parties and weddings, etc. it's the fact that she lives soooooooo faaaaaaar away. beyond my parents' house. my idea of comfort zone and where i will happily travel w/out complaining is between halsted and the lake for east-west, and chicago ave. and adams st. for north-south. on the few occasions when we travel north of north ave., it's like canada to me.]

janette: "i'm serious, you better show up. your birthday gifts and your x'mas gifts are still sitting under the tree. actually, they're not because we took down our tree. now they're under the sofa. mama toka asked who they were for the other day when she accidentally kicked them."

me: "i know, i have your gifts too. i don't remember which ones are birthday and which ones are x'mas though. originally some were wrapped in birthday paper but around x'mas i just wrapped them up again in x'mas paper with the birthday paper still on. you'll have to peel through layers. it'll be fun for you."

janette: (laughing) "that's what i did too!! your birthday presents all have birthday wrapper with x'mas wrapper over it. you better show up on saturday so i don't have to bust out the birthday wrapping again. and whatever i bought you is no longer trendy. all of it's on clearance. the gift receipts have all expired. if you got fatter from the holidays you're going to have to diet because if it doesn't fit, you can't return any of this shit."

me: (laughing) "ok."

she's a good best friend. she's the kind of best friend who, even though she was 8 months pregnant and working and tired as all hell, she still set up a myspace account because i asked her to, even though her initial reaction to myspace was, "i don't have time for this space shit."

best friends should make you laugh, right? she really does.

we'd have 9 homes throughout the city if i had my way (and 70 million spare dollars)

we had the most amazing weekend. it was filled with…. CONDO SHOPPING!! now there are few things in life more exciting to me than shopping for clothes, but i believe condo shopping is one of them. we had four appointments all over the place in river north/gold coast and managed to make every one of them (and still squeeze in a tasty lunch at rockit inbetween). this is the breakdown of each place, in the order that we saw them, and the stuff in quotes is the stuff going through my head as i see what i’m seeing (most of which i didn’t say out loud, thankfully):

place # 1. 2.5 bedrooms with 2.5 baths as well in river north. walk thru the front door, “oooo should i go left or should i go right? so many twists and turns, i like that! ok, i’ll go left.” well i wound up going right b/c the selling agent shovelled me that way. but on the whole the unit was really nice, so sunny, lots of corners and hallways, ledges all over the place – it really seemed like you were in a house. at the end of the walk-thru, all i could hear in my head was me saying to myself “I WANT TO MOVE IN!! I WANT TO LIVE HERE!!” i might have unintentionally insulted the selling agent though (truly unintentionally, as usually my insults are quite intentional ;)). while the selling agent was opening one of the balcony doors -- this place had 2 balconies, but one of them was really tiny, like a sliver of a space for just one person to stand, so i was like, "it's cute but apparently you can't be a fatty mcfatty pants (my affectionate term for anyone who's kinda big) to fit out there". vic told me later he thought the selling agent was a bit on the hefty side and he couldn't believe i said that. :D

lunch at rockit. YUM-MAY. we also had a booth so it was very cozy. i ordered chocolate chip pancakes, vic had french onion soup and the kobe beef burger with truffle fries. i ate all his fries. the whole experience was great. i drank a diet rite with lime -- i think they’re the only place in the city that serves rite rather than coke or pepsi. we gabbed about how wonderful place #1 was, and i was thinking, is anyplace going to beat it??

place #2. walk through the front door. “THIS IS IT!! THIS IS OUR NEW HOME!!” in fact, my eyes started watering (which happens only on 3 occasions: when i’m scared during a horror movie, when i’m crying or when I want something very badly. obviously, i wasn’t watching a horror movie nor was i sobbing b/c someone hurt my feelings). i walked through the entire unit in a daze. even now as i’m typing this it’s difficult to get words out b/c i keep picturing the unit and then my imagination goes and the next thing you know i’m selecting paint colors and furniture. 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, with TWO PARKING SPOTS included.

place #3. pictured in one of the blogs below. this place is gorgeous. you can’t help but walk through it and say “ooooo” at everything. it hasn’t been built yet, so we walked through the model. i would move into the model if it were an option. an interesting thing i remember: the refrigerator/freezer was subzero brand, so it’s this fancy sleek looking machine. when we opened up the freezer there was a six pack of diet coke that had exploded. i’ve never seen that before.

place #4. walk through the front door. “THIS IS IT!! THIS IS OUR NEW HOME!! I WANT THIS PLACE!! FORGET THE OTHERS!!” the coolest layout i’ve ever seen, try a condo DUPLEX with a master bathroom that’s all modern and marble and big enough to start a spa business in, and with a kitchen that looks like it belongs on a food network show. i could totally picture us living here. i could totally picture us living in the master bathroom. i'm telling you, this place is amazing. when we left, i told vic we had to stop at papyrus so we could order our We Have Moved cards.

definitely a lot to think about, plus there are 5 more places we're going to look at.

on the current condo front, we got a note from our new neighbors sent to all the people on our floor apologizing for their disturbances. apparently someone else complained in a more conventional way. so that was kind of a bummer... we didn’t even get to do our rock band thing. vic and i have been rehearsing sabotage for our rockband bedroom debut: "IIIIIIII CAN'T STAND IT, I KNOW YOU PLANNED IT..."

2% or 98%?

i heard this interesting little exercise on "poker after dark" last night/this morning. apparently 98% of the population comes up with the same answer, while 2% come up with a different answer. try it!

1. think of a number from 1 to 10

2. multiply that number by 9

3. if that number is a two-digit number, add the digits together

4. subtract 5

5. determine which letter of the alphabet corresponds to the number you ended up with (1=a, 2=b, 3=c, 4=d, etc.)

6. think of a country that starts with that letter

7. remember the last letter of that country

8. think of an animal that starts with that letter

9. remember the last letter of the name of that animal

10. think of the name of a fruit that starts with that letter

. . . . .

are you thinking of a kangaroo in denmark eating an orange?

when did i become so domestic?

if i owned this dog, i'd name him wicket. he looks just like an ewok!

on another domestic note, we're currently looking at 3-bedroom condos. what i'd really like is the top unit (it's the only 3-bedroom unit AND it's a duplex) in our building so we could have essentially the same view as now but with more space for all my clothes. unfortunately it's currently occupied by this lady who won't move out. blasted woman. destroying my life!

ok, i guess life can go on, especially when there are options like these:

i don't know about that squid shaped floor lamp, but everything else looks amazing. just look at that kitchen. that kitchen says to me, "girl, you deserve to have your own food network show. let me help you out with that." and look at the width of that refrigerator. it's as wide as i am tall! what a dreamy fridge. on the con side, it looks like i'll have to jump in order to reach the microwave. but who needs one when i'm cooking on that gorgeous stove with my fleet of le creuset pots which i pull out of those spanking new snaidero cabinets!

?

i can't remember what my new year's resolution is. two people today have asked and for the life of me i can't remember. i know i made one, and it was a good one too, but i can't remember! i even told some people what it was after the month just started, but i also can't remember who i told. how embarrassing! so frustrating! and it's not the kind of forget where if someone mentions it, it refreshes your memory and you recognize it. it's the kind where if one of the people who i told it to told me what it was, i'd give them my one raised eyebrow look and wonder if they were trying to trick me.

so i think i'm on my own for this one.

the possibilities:

the most obvious would be to stop eating so many damn cookies.

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

that's all i can think of.

. . . . .

fucken a.

well, i know for sure it's not to reduce the amount of swearing.

. . . . .

. . . . .

it must be the cookies one.

this makes me laugh

rock band brings more than just musical enjoyment to the people in the band...

so we have these new neighbors, a young couple, and the husband apparently snores really loudly (i don't know, i'm always asleep) but vic the night owl says he can hear him through the bedroom walls at 2 am and it keeps him up. what i do hear though is all their yelling earlier in the day whenever i'm in the bedroom -- these people are always in a fight and it's very annoying. vic says we should knock on the wall to distract them, but we haven't yet. anyway, i forwarded the pic of the prototype rock band drums and this is what vic wrote back:

what we need to do is move rock band into the bedroom, and then do the 58 song set whenever that guy starts snoring.

*snorrrreee* ~~~~ AHHHHHHHHH I CAN'T STAND IT YOU KNOW I PLANNED IT I'M GONNA SET IT STRAIGHT THIS WATERGATE

i think we really are going to do this. whenever i picture it, i can't stop laughing.

are you kidding me

i can't even play the plastic ones yet!!!

my math skills are too advanced to remember simple math

vic and i are going to taiwan soon and i'm going to need a calculator watch. the vendors at the night markets are just going to have to damn wait until i finish calculating my conversions.

i dressed up as penny from inspector gadget one year for halloween so i know i have one of these lying around.

wo ai ai sushi

vic and i tried a new sushi restaurant this weekend called ai sushi.
5 stars!!! they had the freshest fish in the prettiest rolls. you know how sometimes you go to a sushi restaurant and they slap all 5 rolls you order onto one plate. not this place. each roll comes on a separate plate with amazing presentation. like for instance, our negi hama roll (which was huge and delicious) came on this mini rich brown colored bamboo mat thing on a fresh green banana leaf on a white square plate. so fresh and so pretty. we ordered a lot of goodies: bagna cauda (shrimp squid seasoned with garlic, olive oil and anchovies), a salmon flight, an assortment of fancy maki rolls, mochi ice cream of the most interesting flavors (tiramisu, chocolate egg nog and chocolate espresso), this dessert called ice something -- it's got green tea ice cream on the bottom with a panko-crusted strawberry mochi ice cream on top, and a bottle of sake. the sake experience was my first ever and so much fun. they come out with this tray of 10 different types of (the cutest) sake glasses and you get to choose the one you want. vic chose a little bamboo one, i chose one that looked like a mini martini glass. i was very pleased with my selection until i saw vic drinking from his bamboo cup. so yes, even with sake it's "you always want what you don't have" with me, so 2 sips into my martini glass, i had to ask the waiter to bring me a bamboo one too. anyways, new favorite japanese restaurant.