Nature's wonders that California cannot offer

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To coincide with my last post, even with the sun beaming down on you every day, there are still many things that California cannot give you. 

Last tuesday I drove with Dina back to Tucson.  After a long drive, as soon as we hit phx it started getting dark.  I finally opened the window, and to my amazement took a breath of the freshest, crispest air that I have breathed in 7 months.  I forgot what that kind of air felt like. It was awesome. 

Then as it got darker, I got a glimpse of the stars.  I was seriously in awe of all the bright shining stars in the sky.  I thought to myself "WOW this is what I have been missing.  No wonder people live here."  When I got home I immedietly took my dog outside and laid down looking at the beautiful night sky. Orion's belt was SO bright.  Amazing. Amazing.  You can't see the sky in California past all the nasty smog.  How can God not exist out there in that brilliant array of shiny things above our heads?

And the forecast says...

SUNNY!  Duh!  What else would the weather be like in Southern California? 



Jungeun and Newton are coming to visit on Thursday!  NICE! I can't wait to see them. I am sending them to Disneyland on Thursday.  I had to smirk to myself when I got an email from Jungeun saying "Yea, let's first check the weather on Thursday. and if it's nice or partly cloudy, then get us the tickets!"

It is not Jungeun's fault for saying that.  Because anywhere else, that is the norm.  You must check the weather for the week before scheduling any outdoor activity.  It only took me SIX months of saying "Wow it's beautiful today" to realize that it is beautiful EVERY day here.  There is no need for weather.com in Southern California.  It was interestingly, the funniest email I've read today.  I couldn't help but snicker.

Ironically, I went on weather.com to see if I can post the week's weather on this blog.  It's supposed to rain next week.  Hahahaha.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas in Review

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So since I reviewed spring awakening, I felt obligated to do the same for the Grinch.  However this review will not be as thought out as my last. 

HY and I went to watch How the Grinch Stole christmas at Pantages Theater in Hollywood on Tuesday.  Susan sent me a deal for $30!  I was so excited.  It took us 2+ hours to go 15 miles from El Segundo to Hollywood.  O M G.  That was horrible!  It took me less time to go 40 miles to Orange County.  Ridiculous.

The Panteges Theater is awesome. it's so pretty inside.  However, the side seats were not so good.  I hate when you can't see one side of the stage.  But then again, who likes it.  Now that I've been there, I know never to sit on the side. 

The cast was semi good in my opinion. The judge from the show Night Court was old max. Hahaha.  Awesome.  I used to watch that all the time.  As for the preformance, I felt like their voices didn't carry out throughout the theater.  They didn't have "full" voices.  Or full movements.  I can't explain it.  They didn't draw me into the show.  Which is surprising because everyone in the cast had a long list of accomplishments to their name.  But this could also be because the lady behind me would not shut up. 

I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.  Maybe because it wasn't a drama like spring awakening, miss saigon, rent.  Obviously..it's a Dr. Seuss book!  I thought it would have awesome set designs and costumes like Lion King.  The set was good and costumes were cool, but honestly, it just was not that great.  I think HY enjoyed it more than I did.  I don't regret watching it.  But I would not pay another $30 to watch it again, whereas I would pay full price 100 to watch spring awakening again. 

But I will have to say...your kids will love it.

side note: I really have an urge to go home and watch rent.

Spring Awakening in Review

RATING: TRUE RELIGION!
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Wow!  Wow Wow Wow!  Last night I drove all the way to Orange County to watch Spring Awakening in Costa Mesa.  Michi introduced me to goldstar and I found tickets for $13.75 with fees and everything.  I didn't know anything about the storyline.  I just knew it won a lot of awards on broadway.  I googled a few reviews, but didn't read much into it.  I just read that it was contraversial. The reviews were either horrible or spectacular.  Nothing in between.  So I didn't look into it any further.  I told Jackie it was some show about sex and asked her to come with me.  Haha. she said she read it was about masturbation.  We just really had no idea what it was about.


Storyline: The story is about adolesence.  Not just sex.  Everything you go through during that time.  Usually you hide it from your parents. You try to figure it out with your friends.  And your parents pretend like those things you are going through don't exist.  There is this cry for help that is outright ignored by adults.  The time is set in the olden days in Germany. HA! I call it olden days.  Everything for me falls into that category.  The play was written in 1891-ish, so I'm going to say it's that time period?  They were wearing colonial type clothes. 

The music:  The music is Indie-rock.  It was awesome!  They had a band in the back.  The music was so so awesome!  It made the play even better because the setting was not in our time.  But the music was so in the present.  The issues they touch on are so relevant just the same as they were 100+ years ago.

The cast:  I don't really know how to critique a cast.  I do know though, when I think they are awesome or they are mediocre.  I thought the cast was good.  Their voices were moving.  I think if I was closer to the stage, it would have been very different. 

The Venue: This was showing at the Orange County performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. This place is huge. I mean HUGE.  Since we got $14 tickets, we were sitting at the way top (3rd tier).  You could see the whole stage like an aerial view.  You cannot make out their faces whatsoever.  You just see shapes of bodies.  You can hear very clearly when they were speaking. But when they sang, some of the words were muffled so it was hard to hear what they were singing about.  I wish I was able to sit closer to get more involved with their emotions.

Final thoughts:  In the beginning I was confused what was going on.  There is a sort of raunchy part in the beginning so after that I thought "oh great, this is going to be some very liberal statement kind of show.  I'm going to hate it because of my very conservative beliefs."  But halfway through the first half I was surprised at how they portrayed adolescent issues.  It was the raw truth.  It made me go back in time to when I was that age and thought about what I went through.  The main point I walked away with was that it really is the parents job to teach kids about life.  About changes we go through as children, to teenagers, to young adults, to our own parenthood.  Even though there may be very contraversial and um..rated R scenes, I encourage all parents and well everyone to go and watch this.  It has moved me in a way to have so much more compassion towards teenagers.  We truly forget or make ourselves forget what it was like to be a teenager.  This is a reminder of what it is really like to be that age.  With so much crime and tragedies taking place in younger kids today like suicides, rampant shootings, etc we need to take a front seat in what we teach them.  In how we raise them.  In the values we instill in them. And the love and joy we should give them.  We need to take responsibility, not just for parents, but all of us, to be role models for our youth.

Visit http://www.springawakening.com/ to see if they will be touring near you.

DIY H E double hockey sticks

When I first started my Christmas Present DIY project I was so excited. I had a very long list of people to present a DIY gift to.  Let's just say that i have since Xed people off that list.  Haha. I am soooo sorry. I love you the same. I just couldn't take it anymore. Mass production is not fun at all.  Instead, i will run with the masses on black friday and get you another oh so cool present.

However, I am happy with how my project is turning out.  Please let it come to completion very soon.  I will not be visiting DIY land anytime soon after this. 

Hilarious Moments...aka embarressing moments

As I was walking through the hallways at work I started thinking about the most hilarious moments in my life.  Everyone has moments in their life that will be remembered forever. When getting together with old friends, these stories will always come up. And everyone will laugh as hard as they did the time it happened and the 20th time it is told.  These are probably the best moments with friends.  When you think of an old memory and laugh so hard your stomach hurts and your face is flushed.  It's so great sharing good memories together.  It is not only a great feeling because of the laughter, but also because you can see how far you have come since then in your friendship.  You know they are definitely laughing with you and not at you.

I could think of 4 hilarious moments in my life that I will never live down.  And yes, they are all somewhat embarressing.
1.  Passing some gas in showker very silently, but having eugene and eric notice because I started waving my hand behind my buttox.  Why I did that, I don't know.  But they were laughing violently and would remind me of it everytime I saw them.
2.  Giving Jisun the case for Christ book for her birthday.  You can ask eric what happened.
3.  Falling in my parking lot in Rosslyn on my 25th birthday.  Rolling under a car.  Screaming "YANG JI SUN YOU PUSHED ME."  Supposedly jisun was 10 feet away from me.  I'm pretty sure she pushed me.  From then on, I was forever named rolly polly. 
4.  My fortune cookie costume.  Which I still LOVE. My greatest idea ever.  No one agrees with me.
(Why do 3/4 of these stories contain jisun?)

There are also great stories of other people that I just can't help but mention. I will not divulge details to spare embarressment.  Some are truly stories of sheer embarressment.  These are all "you had to be there" moments.  And I hope whoever reads this, was there.
Yoojung: Valentine's day '99, stairs. AND missing soda, secret service
Dina: Halal Center, Stairs, Flying. AND vodka, rose garden.
Lisette: Orangina
Eric and Eugene: Camping, mysterious jungle animal...aka dog
Jungeun: Vegas, Trash. 
Jisun: STOP TICKLING ME!
Michi: This is not really a hilarious moment - but something we will all always remember about Michi.  Everyone throwing tobasco in their food before Michi showed up to chapter so she wouldn't eat it.  Which is even funnier, because this story is about her, but she will never really know what happened 5 minutes before every Chapter.  It went something like this. lookout person: "shes coming shes coming!!!"  everyone in the room:  give me the tobasco give me the tobasco.  "put it in the styrofoam!"  HOWEVER! i did not take part in this ritual michi.  Mostly because I do not like tobasco. Hahaha.
Yamuna:  Coastal Flats, Rain, Miriam picking us up


It's good to live life with a sense of humor.  Cheers to making more hilarious moments with you.

Tokidoki at yogurtland

SO cute. They even have tokidoki spoons which I am collecting
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Squash Face

So you will only truly understand this post if you speak korean. I will try my best to explain.  My mom arrived last night!  She is really into gardening these days and always brings things from her garden. I think her most proud veggies are these korean zucchinis called HOBAHK.  I don't really know what the actual name for them are in english.  Hobahk is used for zucchini/squash/pumpkin family veggies.  She wrapped them in saran wrap and wrote my name on them.  It says JEE IN on it.  My korean name. 

Well she hands me this giant round Hobahk with my name on it and the first thing that comes to mind: "Hobahk gah teun neh uhl gool!!!"  OMG.  THANKS MOM! 

Translation:  There is a korean song that little kids sing.  And the translation is this:  (obviously in english, it doesnt rhyme or sound like a song)

My face is like an apple

it is very pretty

my eyes are bright

My nose is bright

My mouth is also bright

My face is like a pumpkin

It is very ugly

My eyes are crooked

My nose is crooked

My mouth is also crooked

YOU GET THE POINT: she gave me a BIG Hobahk with my name on it!!!  All she did was laugh at me when I started singing the Hobahk song.

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I L<3VE DIY

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Ghetto Martha is back!  November is DIY month for me.  I have been itching to do some crafts, and now is the perfect time.  Christmas is just around the corner and I need to get all my gifts together. As we get older it seems like: 1) It's harder to think of gifts to give to your friends who you have been buying gifts for at least twice a year for the past ten years.  (ie, I just gave Lisette her Birthday present last weekend because I really couldn't think of what to get her.  Her birthday was in May)  2) Everyone has enough money to buy whatever they want whenever they want.  3) With more and more responsibilities, our expendable income is not as large anymore.  Birthday gifts are one thing, but Christmas gifts have to come in bulk.  But I love gift giving.  I love when the gift getter is so happy to receive something nice in a beautifully wrapped package.  Although sometimes they don't understand my gift.  Like one year I made Jisun this quilt with photos ironed on.  But it turned out pretty raggedy looking.  It looked so cool in my head, but the execution just wasn't there.  From then on, I would forever be known as Ghetto Martha. 

A few years ago some of my friends and I decided to do secret santa instead of exchanging gifts with everyone.  We would each get one person a present of around $20 and then have a nice Christmas meal together.  It was more about spending time together and not about buying each other presents.  It's so hard to get everyone together unless there is some kind of celebration, so that Christmas meal means more than any gift.  (Although, I can't lie.  It is fun when you get to go home with an armful of presents!)  But this year, I'll be on the other side of the country.  I cannot take part in the joyous Christmas meal.  So I decided to forgo Secret Santa this year (not that anyone asked me to join in Secret Santa anyways. Haha).

I got this really cool idea for my Christmas gifts this year. Michi helped me a lot too with some really great ideas!  It's amazing how two heads are really better than one. You just keep building upon each others' ideas.  So last night I completed Craft Project #1.  Six more to go!  I am so excited about this year's Ghetto Martha christmas gifts!!!  Come back in December to see my blogs about the actual crafts!

Marine Layer visits in November?

I feel like I live in Seattle today
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My virtual planner

Life just got busy all over again!  This is a love hate relationship. 

Nov 6th:  Mom comes and kim gun mo concert
Nov 13: I think jackie's last weekend. PLEASE take me sailing
Nov 20: Dina comes again and Sharon's wedding
Nov 25: Thanksgiving and off to tucson
Dec 3: Jungeun and Newt visit
Dec 10: John visits
Dec 19: My birthday! and mom here for 2 weeks
Dec: 25: Christmas of course!
Dec 31: NYE!  Vegas with Dina...IF she comes?  Shes coming to the westcoast every month. is VEGAS still possible for NYE?
Jan -  2 weeks of ME time finally. =D
Jan 21: SF to visit Michi. (even though i already cancelled 2 SF trips, i might cancel again to prepare for 2 bparties at my house 2 weekends in a row)
Jan 27:  VA girls in LA for Jisun's bachelorette. YAY!
Feb 4: Michi's bachelorette in LA

And then FREEDOM! 

March 18: VA for Jisun's wedding!

Dosa Truck

Rating: Forever 21
This is my first real bad review. When susan was here we saw the Dosa truck in venice. It is not good at all. Its more for vegans. Yuck.

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The Long Awaited Red Velvet Pancakes

Larchmont Bungalow now open! 
Rating: TRUE RELIGION
After reading about Larchmont Bungalow's Red Velvet Pancakes last week, I have been dying to go.  They are quite good.  It's not "melt in your mouth" good, but definitely something to try.  I took the last pancake home and ate it at night cold, and it was actually better.  We also got 2 mini omlets which were also really good.  I got the cajun omlet which had chicken, sausage, and shrimp.  HY got the caprese omlet which had caprese stuff in it.  This has become one of my top brunch places.  As a promotion they were giving out free coffee and hostess cupcake looking cupcakes!  I didn't eat mine yet.  I might take a bite and throw it out. Their cupcakes are HUGE by the way.  I have picked up on dessert eating from HY and I've been eating way too many desserts lately. 

This is also the first time I've been to Larchmont.  I really love it.  It has a "georgetown" feel, but a little less uptight. 

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Tea Party

I finally joined a small group. YAY!  The girls had a tea party this weekend. It was AWESOME!  An awesome spread of tasty treats.

This is what I made. This is a sandwich my mom used to make me when I was little. I think I kind of mixed up the recipe with her mexican salad. But whatever, it was still good.  apples, cucumbers, carrots, spam, rasions, egg, walnut, mayo. 

I don't like those marang thingies. But lemon squares!!!  I was craving them a few weeks ago and I got to have these homemade ones.

These are my FAVORITE!  Special cream cheese and cucumbers.  YUMMY!

Caprese Salad

Delicious desserts. 

This tea holder is so awesome. I want one.

Chicken curry sandwiches. It was really good.

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