First part of May Madness did not disappoint.

Work was busy, what with all the defiant kids climbing fridges and running amok. They were handled. I did not fall into beating myself up over "what I could've done differently". I'm very proud of myself for this. Found out my coworker's putting in her resignation. My feelings over it are bittersweet. On the one hand, professionally, I learned a lot from her. On the other, personally, I took her constructive feedback pretty hard. Overall, I think I'll miss her. She had a way with the kids that awed and inspired me. I'm also jealous that she's leaving before I am. She's doing what's best for her right now, and that's really important. I respect her for that.

I got my wisdom teeth pulled on Thursday. It hurt like a biotch! Not the usual extraction either - impacted. Yep. I waited that long. I drugged myself up for the first day with 4 doses of generic Vicodin (at the appropriate timely doses) because the pain was so bad. I still can't decide whether or not I think the pain was worth the nausea I had. Bleh. I ate solid foods today - salmon with mashed potatoes, which was great. I was starving! We had chocolate ice cream for dessert. Yum. =P I still look like a chipmunk with the swelling, but at least I can sit up without too much pain, be somewhat useful at home, and I can enjoy the rest of my weekend. Woo! We're going to visit The Hubby's cousin for lunch and a trip to the boardwalk tomorrow. =)

The upcoming week will be just as busy. The Hubby's getting his extraction Tuesday. BIL's bday is Thursday. I have homemade gifts/cards to make for all the important mothers in my life. I want to bake now, but I think I should do a little more resting before I go overboard with baking and making. I'm excited. When I've figured out recipes to use, I'll post them here.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their weekend.

It was such a nice weekend, I hate for it to end. Though it was cold and I have a slight cold myself, the weekend was sunny, filled with friends and food.

I had Friday off because I took my licensing test. It was hard. Most of the time I wasn't sure if I was answering them right. I started a bit early, and finished the 170-question exam within 3 hours. As a computerized exam, my score would flash on the screen within minutes of completion. However, the computer held it hostage, while it made me fill out a survey. Ack! *grumble, grumble* After taking a possible 4-hour exam, I'd like to have my score, thank you very much. I guess it makes sense to do it that way, or they'll never get any feedback from anyone. =P Ah, well. It was worth it: I passed my exam! Yayayay! The hardest part of getting my license was over. =D

After the exam, I called my family to tell them the news. I broke down in tears of relief and joy. I was so stressed out for the past couple of weeks, I couldn't hold it in anymore. I did it! The Hubby took me out to dinner to celebrate. Delicious steak and maple butter blondies a la mode. Yum!

Saturday was a continuation of the celebration - this time, with our families. We took them to Minado, a Japanese buffet restaurant. We stuffed ourselves silly, to the point that many of us felt like we needed someone to roll us out the door. The Hubby was so full, he couldn't eat for the rest of the day. >P We spent the evening vegging out, watching TFC (The Filipino Channel) or something we taped on the DVR.

Today was a mellow day. My cold didn't let up this morning, so I spent most of the day sleeping/lying down and blowing my nose. Stupid cold. At least the worst of it is happening now, rather than my exam day. That would've sucked. My cold is a little better this evening, so I was able to be productive. I did a load of laundry, straightened up the living room a bit, leisurely read, and baked some brownies.

The brownies came out pretty well. I have 4 different variations of 1 vegan brownie recipe. I made: (1) a batch with Ovaltine (more cakelike, almost has a light german chocolate cake-taste to them), (2) one with macadamia nuts and toasted coconut on top, (3) one with a melted chocolate center, and (4) one plain. I used my cupcake pans to make them the right serving sizes. I thought I'd bring some into work tomorrow as a "thank you" for their votes of confidence and for helping me out in my times of stress there. However, I did make enough for The Hubby and me to enjoy. ;P

I did the stereotypical girl thing and went shopping with my sis today. Though my only intentions were to buy sweaters and a skillet pan, I bought a lot more. However, I found these great stuff for really cheap prices. I bought two lovely sweaters and a cami from NY&Co., brown suede ankle boots from DSW (very comfy, a rare find), my skillet, and a couple of things from VS. It was great. I got everything for under $100, thanks to additional store sale discounts and the lovely Christmas gift card The Hubby gave me.

After spending more money and time than we intended at the mall, we headed off to have dinner with her boyfriend at a Portuguese restaurant. The food was delicious. We had calamari with a spicy marinara sauce and codfish bites for starters, then charged into the seafood paella and a barbecue chicken and beef ribs combo. The seafood and the rice in the paella were cooked perfectly, and melted in your mouth. The chicken and ribs were moist and thoroughly cooked. We topped the meal off with a couple of cappuccinos and their "sawdust" dessert (a vanilla whipped cream-like pudding with crushed vanilla cookies). I slipped into a food coma shortly afterwards. =P

Luckily, the food coma did not affect my driving. I got home around 11:30, and I'm still up because The Hubby's still up. I just sent a text to my sis now to say I got home okay because I'm a spaz and forgot to do it when I get home. I did warn her. Doh.

I think the post-holiday shopping-for-me kick is almost over. Thank goodness. I don't know if my wallet can take anymore. o.o

♥ Cutting back to fit the page requirement is hard. Hopefully it makes sense. At least I finished my paper, with more than an hour to spare. Woo!

♥ Policy paper deadline EXTENDED to Thanksgiving week. I'm still going to try to finish it for next week. =)

♥ Bought tickets to the Chocolate Show for Saturday. The Hubby's going with me. CHOCOLATE! Squee! =D

♥ Going to a friend's birthday party Saturday night. Burgers and FRIES! Yummyummyummy. =P

♥ It's sunny outside.

♥ It's time for breakfast. Mmm. Rice with eggs and dilis.

Can you tell I'm hungry? *L*

I went to Shoprite today and got 8 packages of Ramen for $1!!!  Needless to say, I am very happy about it. We're having Oriental flavor for dinner tonight. /drool

Today's been a pretty nice and productive day. Despite the occasional bouts of anxiety about pending schoolwork and future encounters with the oppositional clients at work, I've been able to keep myself relatively calm and positive. Food creating, shopping, and house straightening helped with the anxiety. I got a lot of things done today.

I'm almost done with the Earl Grey chocolate truffles I promised to make for The Hubby's birthday, and I'll be baking his cookies shortly. I've been craving cookies all weekend, so this is good. =P

The dean of students for my masters program finally contacted me about my January graduation. There's a form I can fill out, but I'm still deciding on whether to have it mailed to me in my tiny mailbox, or to pick it up at my Registrar's. I'm so excited!

I went to A.C. Moore and I found some pretty good stuff I've been looking for to use for some presents. I'm getting into some simple jewelry-making, so I bought some elastic cord for bracelets. Hopefully I can figure out how to do what I want to do with it. I also bought some candy boxes for the truffles. =)

The Hubby will be home soon. I'm hungry. I want some pasta. =P

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If anyone can help me with a legal question:
For the past couple of years, I've used a creative moniker to label my creations: cards, candy boxes, crochet projects, etc. I've been thinking about it more and more, and I wonder if I should get a copyright on the name. I've been making so many things and using the name for them, it seems to make sense. I guess it would make the most sense to get a copyright if I decide to start selling some of the stuff I make because I don't want to step on any legal toes. Does anyone have any idea how I'd go about doing that? Would it make sense to do it, even I make small sales?

The Hubby and I watched CSI tonight on the DVR, and I found a few things intriguing:

• The new chick, Ronnie Lake, made reference to being offered a position to the other CSIs in Miami and NY. Yeah. Not too exciting, but the intriguing part was me catching this tidbit before The Hubby did (he picks out everything).
  
• They briefly made mention of a delicacy in my culture (Philippine culture): balut. ( Don't read this cut if you're easily squeamish. ) I have never eaten the stuff 'cause I think it's gross, but the reference was kinda cool. Random though. It had nothing to do with the story plot. *shivers at the thought of balut*
• They had bees featured in this episode, but their appearance was also random. This tidbit stood out because in the last couple of weeks, we've had 4 or 5 bees dropped dead in our home office, in front of the window. 2 questions come to mind: where are they coming from, and why are they dropping dead?  =/

Gotta love CSI. The random facts they put in go very well with the random thoughts in my head. =D

It's dreary outside, but I'm happy it's almost the weekend. Here's a few updates:

• I finalized my new schedule with my supervisor. I drop my extra morning hours next week, and I go 80% the following week through to Christmas week.
  
• The prof who seemingly picks on me told me yesterday that I'm "doing much better" now. Ya mean I wasn't before? 0.o  *scratches head*
• It's dreary outside. Today should be a stay-inside-and-sleep-'cause-it's-raining day.
  
• Oppositional people still get me really, really anxious. Luckily, I have great coworkers helping me learn to deal with them more appropriately.
• I can focus my efforts this weekend on cookies and truffles. Yay!
• I'm feeling really motivated, and I think I'm going to try to start some research this weekend for my paper due at the end of the month.
• I'm feeling much better. Thanks for the support.

After getting all worked up that my barbecue might not happen, the clouds broke and God blessed me with sunlight for a good part of the day.

The Hubby and I awoke early to prep everything for the split-second decision we would make about going forward with or cancelling the event. We were tired and we easily got on each others' nerves. However, our moodiness subsided when headed out to scope the picnic area. We pushed our thoughts to *BBQ-happening MOJO*, while the sunlight danced between the clouds. We talked about what we would still need to get, and who said was coming. A few times during the drive, I'd say out loud that I hoped the weather would keep, especially with the forecast calling for 30% chances of thunderstorms/showers all day. Just the worrier in me. =T

We arrived to the site, happy to see that the area wasn't as mucky as we thought it might be after lots of rain, and decided to have the barbecue. Yay! We quickly headed over to ShopRite to get some last minute barbecue items, and went home to pack and get ready. We had to be at the site at 10:30am, so we needed to hustle. We took turns getting ready and standing watch at the picnic site before our guests arrived.

( I had so much fun at the barbecue that I'm exhausted now. )

I'm happy and grateful. The Hubby was just as happy as I was that we were able to have it. I know he recognized that I needed this decompression. I think he needed it too.

I feel really good today. Tired, but content.

/Lamar from Revenge of the Nerds II

I woke up in a funky mood, which lasted until early in the afternoon. ( The rest of my Sunday was relaxing and pleasant. )

We finally got home about an hour ago. The Hubby's watching The Sopranos right now, and I'll be watching some CSI soon. I can't tell whether I'm feeling tired, or restless, but I know I'm rambling now, so I think this shall be the end of the entry. Good night!

This is a recipe I discovered, while watching the Food Network. I tweaked the ingredients a bit, to cater to my tastes and what I had on hand.

( Recipe here )

I made them without nuts, and they came out somewhat cake-like. They also tasted like the Vegan brownies I found on AllRecipes.com. I liked them this way. Very tasty. It definitely satisfied my chocolate cravings. =P

I've been a bit preoccupied with food lately (translation--baking and craving chocolate like there's no tomorrow). Thus, I baked some triple chocolate cookies today, and I lusted after the chocolate pizzelles I made the other night. I haven't tried the cookies yet, but one has my name written all over it. After lunch, of course. =P

Since rice is for dinner, I made myself a spicy tuna salad rollup, toasted on the Foreman. Yum.

I have about an hour or so before I head out to work. I'm deciding between watching an ep of CSI, or napping. Or both? *ponders*

20 minutes later...

Tasted the cookie. It's very chocolatey and delicious. They kinda taste like the vegan brownie recipe I have, except it's a bit more cakey, which I like. =P I'll have to make it again. =D

Yep. I think I'm gonna watch CSI and nap. I believe I have enough time for both.

Despite the forecast for rain on the CW11 this morning, there was none. However, the excessive rain for the last few days caused some major traffic delays around the area. Thus, my class last night was cancelled, and I had to reschedule my counseling appointment today because I wasn't getting anywhere in the awful mess. I checked my school email account, which stated that NB (where Rutgers is located), was in a state of emergency because practically all the roads around the area were flooded/affected by the storms. 0.0 Crazy.

So, after doing some grumbling and mentally kicking myself for not checking the traffic reports and leaving sooner, I headed home, and proceeded to do some work on my presentation for tomorrow's class and wrap some prizes for my friend's bridal shower this weekend.

The weather's warmer now, and the birds are chirping. Put's me in a bit of a good mood. The batteries are finally done charging, so now I can finish off my presentation. I hope to get it done before The Hubby gets home, so I can make pizza and bake some cookies tonight.

Someone has coffee in my class. I smell it. Mmm. I don't like the taste of coffee, but I do like tea. So, that's what I feel like right now. I want some tea with milk and honey, and a milk chocolate toffee wafer from Janam Tea. Or chocolate chip oaties. Yum!

The rest of my weekend wasn't very exciting. Instead of catching up with phone calls, I spent the rest of my Saturday taking naps and cooking/baking, while The Hubby finished up his laundry and started packing.

I made a pork stew from a recipe I found via AllRecipes.com. It was supposed to be for dinner, but the potatoes weren't ready as quickly as the recipe stated, so we had our backup dinner: rice and dinuguan. So, while the stew bubbled in the crock pot, I baked a yellow cake and tried to perfect my recipe for honey-roasted pecans. The yellow cake came out beautifully, and The Hubby was very happy (he was craving cake since Friday). The pecans didn't fare as well. About half of them came out burnt beyond saving, but the other half survived and travelled with The Hubby. Downtime was spent watching many back episodes of Scrubs, finally catching up to Season 5.

Sunday morning we woke up early so The Hubby could finish packing. We went to Church, and then I made one of our favorite brunch meals: lox and bagels. The Hubby and I left for JC about an hour later, and he left for the airport with my FIL and MIL shortly afterwards. I miss him. *sniffle* To put off going home to an empty condo for 2 weeks, I spent a few hours at my parents'. I brought over some of the stew that finally cooked, and a portion of the cake I baked. It was nice spending time with them, talking and laughing about PI, family, and food. I stopped back at my in-laws house (up the block) to visit for about an hour, before I dropped off Marco and headed for home.

Hm. Looking back on it now, I made a lot of food this weekend. Maybe I was making sure he'd miss me and my cooking? ;-P

Tonight, I go back to my ritual of classes and internship. I think I'm supposed to meet with a classmate tonight for coffee before class, but I'm not sure. I'll have to give her a call later this afternoon.

Got to sleep in for the first Saturday in a loooooong time. I woke up about 30 minutes ago because the sun was just too bright and weird dreams about wedding stuff again. Now that I've been up for a bit, I'm hungry. Not sure what to have. Maybe some eggs and rice with tuyo (these stinky little fish, yum!).

What does the rest of the day hold? Not sure, except there are a few people I wanted to call, and a load of laundry that needs to be done before The Hubby's trip. Right then, I should get to it.

I'm running on 30 minutes of sleep right now. I made chocolate oatmeal for the caffeine. I might have to take a mocha frapp to my internship this afternoon, though I don't think I'll need it. All of my appointments are back-to-back tonight, so the constant movement should help keep my mind focused and awake.

Though I'm disappointed that I was such a slacker (again), I'm so relieved that I'm done with my take home. After 2pm tomorrow, my spring break will begin!

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I did a lot of arts and crafts stuff in the last few weeks and accumulated a few pics for viewing; so, they will hopefully go up by Friday. I'm also in the mood to change my layout, though I'm not exactly sure what I want to do. I think there will be green or violet in it somewhere. =P

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It's snowing outside. Roads were a bit slippery, but not as bad as a couple of weeks ago. I think I might go to Panera for soup in a bread bowl. It's definitely that kind of day.

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All righty. I think I should pay attention to my prof now.

Once the sun came out, I started to feel much better. Well, that, and the verbal rant to my counselor about what's been going on for the past couple of weeks. =P

The Hubby's been pretty supportive through my funky mood swings, of which I'm grateful. As a treat, tonight will all be about the comfort foods: breakfast for dinner! The Hubby even said I could buy some ice cream and we now have Starbucks mocha frapps in the house! *hops around in excitement* Lots of chocolate-flavored things in the house make me very giddy. =D

Though I already went grocery shopping, I still have to get a few things to buy at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I think I should do that now.

Dinner with The Hubby's old classmates was nice. I had a big dish of pasta, which of course, I took home in a doggie bag when I couldn't finish. It was a little strange, just because these are people with whom The Hubby even felt weird about sharing good news (i.e. our marriage, him owning the condo). It's interesting to me how some people hold on to relationships, that others might see as not working past their initial usefulness. In this case, their relationship's based on working on class projects together, but it didn't really go beyond that. Strange. Heh.

Sunday started out really early at 7am. The Hubby and I went to mass, then attempted to donate blood in the school cafeteria. The Hubby was able to, but my iron count was too low. =? So, while I waited for The Hubby, I was flirted up by the blood drive snack man and munched on homemade baked goods from the Church's bake sale. The man was sweet, but it made me feel very shy about how often he would compliment me, especially since I was there for quite a while. It wasn't creepy, just weird; so, to offset my discomfort, I watched a bunch of people register for a Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament on the other side of the caf.

I was intrigued as to the number of people there, and how official it looked. The ages ranged from middle school to late high school. Once The Hubby finished donating, we took a look at some of the wares presented. On the way home, we discussed our interest in learning how to play, and then The Hubby surprised me with a starter deck for the game! Though there aren't enough cards for both of us, he figured we could share it, and figure out how to play, and slowly build it up. It was sweet that he was waiting for a special occasion to give it to me, and even sweeter that it became a random surprise. =) We're such geeks. =P

Shortly after getting home, I got ready and spent the afternoon with lizabug and Carissa, having lunch at Red Robin's and dessert at Cafe Eclectic. We talked for hours on end, and I even forgot how frustrated I'd been with some of my relationships. It was just nice to get out and do something. Some of the wedding stuff came up during conversation, which I'll probably post about later. Needless to say, quite a bit was cleared up. We talked for so long that it got really dark and snowy by the time I headed for home, though not before spending a little qt with my parents. My mommy gave me a gorgeous top, which I wouldn't normally buy myself. She's so cute, and has really good taste. Before heading for home, my papa helped me clean the snow off of my car with a broom, and stayed outside until he was sure I was driving carefully. I love my parents. =D

Driving 40mph on the Turnpike, I got home around 9:30. The Hubby and I ate a late dinner, and watched a few shows before heading off to bed.

So, that's the rest of my weekend. It was full and nice. How was yours?

My weekend's packed, so I've had little time to catch up on my f-list in the last couple of days. What I've been up to lately involves a lot of food and cleaning. I've also been very happy and motivated, so I ended up doing stuff not on the comp. I'm proud to say that I cleaned 3 different rooms in the condo, from top to bottom, and cooked a huge meal with my sister, to serve The Hubby, sister's boy, my bro, sis, and me. We had lots of leftovers ^.^

The sibs and my sister's boy came over last night, and we had a huge Japanese and Mexican themed meal. My bro's girl couldn't make it, so we made sure she had a sampler dish. What my sis cooked on the menu: Mexican-seasoned steak, and lime-infused shark steak. She also brought some homeade truffles she made, with the most popular one being the chipotle-coconut truffle. Yum. I prepared kani sushi (I also tried to do a crispy kani, but it wasn't too crispy), tempura broccoli, sauteed mushrooms, and Grilled Salmon Kyoto. At the end, everyone was pleasantly full. While fighting Teh Itis, we watched Las Vegas and 1 Vs. 100. My sis helped me clean up, and then headed home.

Today was work, which wasn't too exciting. Instead of our scheduled trip to the Y's Open Gym, we brought our kids to a Chinese buffet place for the activity. I'm still feeling full. =P I'm hoping I'll be hungry in an hour because The Hubby and I are meeting up with a few of his grad school classmates for dinner. We're heading to Carabba's, which is an Italian food place. I'm in the mood for Italian. =)

Tomorrow will be QT with lizabug and Carissa. I haven't gotten in touch with Carissa, so I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow. I'm also planning to donate blood after Church. Yeah. Busy, food-filled weekend.

I planned to put up some pics, but I haven't painted the bedroom samples yet. I also haven't figured out which PI pics to post, so that's still pending.

I hope you all are having a nice weekend.