Same.

Just Adam Levine being the light of my life as usual.

Just came back from my low fat, low carb, gluten-free lunch to this email from the cafe at work. HOW DARE YOU, SKECHERS.

Sometimes I think about how much I love cronuts, and I cry a little.

Local Natives – Ceilings

Thinking of what we’d give
To have one more day of sun
One day of sun

Obsessed.

My work is hosting its third weight loss challenge this year, and I’m joining for the third time! It ends the week before Thanksgiving… just in time to gain some holiday weight go shopping with my winnings 😉 I’ve also decided to go gluten-free during the contest! Yikes. Thank yeezus for gluten-free vodka! I’m gonna need it…

Clearly, my dad has been using my netflix account.

And the years go by
And the years go by

End of summer with my loves! Now I can stop trying to get that summer bikini body and focus on my fall sweater body.

It sure does! So much love with Christine and Jessie last night ♥

You should be watching Orange is the New Black, if only for sound advice from Yoga Jones. (She was the voice of Patti Mayonnaise if that helps sway your decision at all.)

All health is about to break loose.

When we were at Chike’s place in SF, I noticed a calendar in his kitchen with corgis on it. Please tell me every month of this calendar is corgis, I said… AND IT WAS.

Because of his love for weird socks and his shared obsession with corgis, we sent him these awesome socks as a thank you for being such a good host:

And today, he sent me this video:

Cuteness overload. I’m officially dead. Please invite this corgi to my funeral!

On gorgeous days like today, my coworker and I like to eat our lunch outside on a bench like homeless people.

You were so good to us, SF! Till next time…

I literally cannot even. I am unable to even. I have lost my ability to even.

Fuck, Marlon Brando was such a babe ♥

Jesus Christ, Marie. It’s called twerking!

Thank you, Miley Cyrus, for reminding me why I canceled my cable. I regret nothing! Also, after binge-watching all five seasons of Breaking Bad on Netflix over the past two weeks, I can now get back to my regularly scheduled life, yo!

If the smog isn’t an indication that my vacay is over, I don’t know what is.

My Summer of Smoothies pinterest board won me a new Vitamix blender! I’m pretty sure that 90% of my meals will be served in liquid form now. The other 10% will still consist of pre-packaged food and takeout (you know I don’t cook). Time to get my omega swirl on!

After this weekend in SF, I should probably start with a detox smoothie…

Blackfish, beers, and the bernie with Anthony. Brandom!

I haven’t had a vacation in… what year is it now? Can’t wait to go back to San Francisco for Outside Lands next week! And okay, for Bi-Rite Creamery, too…

Indie rock music is more my bag, but I like to get turnt every once in a while! Ha. Fun times with Pammie, Christine and Cat! It was only the best concert I’ve ever been to IN MY LIFE.

(Ask me again after this weekend, though… I may or may not be reliving my youth at the Hoobastank show in West Hollywood this Friday.)

Jay-Z feat. Justin Timberlake – Holy Grail

Or… my worst nightmare!

Jessie was chosen to compete at the Nike Training Club Summer Throwdown in my ‘hood this past weekend, so I had to come support! The girl who won MVP warmed up for that brutal 2-hour workout by running from Santa Monica to Hermosa Beach (14 miles!). My exercise for the day was parking three blocks away and walking to the event at the pier. And I warmed up with half a breakfast burrito, so… I think she has me beat there.

I’ve missed this girl as much as I’ve missed helping her carbo-load for her marathons! Ha. So proud of you, b ♥

• The Blood Orange Sweet Tea at Coffee Bean will change your life, I swear.
• This looks like a shelf at Trader Joe’s, but it’s the inside of my mom’s cupboard. After dog-sitting at my parents’ house last weekend, she sent me home with four jars of cookie butter and some leftover sangria from her wild night out with her friends. Best mom evs!
• This was my view for THREE HOURS on the drive home from SD Sunday night. Too bad all the nerds couldn’t beam themselves home from Comic Con!
• Eileen found a random garlic bulb in her tote bag when we went out for sushi! The weirdest thing I’ve ever found in my purse is an anvil—for a brief window in 2010, I used it for jewelry stamping (or when Wile E. Coyote would sneak up on me).
• I’m not sure what concerns me more—is it that my check engine light just turned on, or that my gas light has been on for the past three days???
• Apartment hunting in Manhattan Beach is the pits. This one place I looked at had an ocean view and was $300 cheaper than the studio I live in now. And when I stepped inside, I found out why: the entire apartment was literally 50 square feet! Multi-tasking is cool and everything, but I just can’t live in a place where I can wash my dishes, open the front door, and grab a beer from the fridge all while lying in bed.

While I was in SD this past weekend, my friend was telling me about the new Donut Bar that just opened a few months back, but I know better than to go anywhere downtown during the shit show that is Comic Con! Donut Bar is known for their ‘cro-bar’ – a croissant/donut hybrid recently made famous by a pastry chef in NYC. After googling pictures of it, I decided that I needed that sorcery inside of me ASAP, so I made it myself!

Get the recipe here.

I love that my new Apple TV allows me to stream episodes of Modern Family from my iPad mini to my HDTV while freeing up my macbook pro for some light internet stalking.

I entered this pinterest contest to win a $500 blender after Anthony made me a smoothie with his Vitamix when I was sick (and shortly before he handcuffed me, and Pammie took pictures while he went to get the key, but that’s a story for another time).

I found a ton of popsicle recipes while making my Summer of Smoothies contest board. It’s been crazy hot lately, so I thought it would be the perfect time to bust out my popsicle tray, Vitamix blender or not.

One of the things I miss about San Diego is Teresita’s Fruiteria. I have to travel to a seedy part of LA to get a good chamango around here—the one place I found was next door to a barber who sells Herbalife in the back of his shop (don’t ask me how I know). Now I can have chamangos in the safety of my own home, and even better, on a stick!

Chamango Popsicles

12 oz mango chunks (1 frozen bag @ Target)
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp chamoy
Popsicle mold tray
Popsicle sticks

Blend 12 oz mango chunks, water and sugar until smooth. If it’s too thick, add more water.

Add half a tbsp of chamoy to the bottom of each popsicle mold.

Pour the blended mixture into each popsicle mold and leave a quarter inch room on top. I filled up 8 molds and had some left over.

Take a popsicle stick and swirl the chamoy around.

Freeze overnight. Once it’s frozen, you can dip the popsicle tray in warm water and the popsicles should slide right out.

Enjoy!

Lunch at Bottega Louie with my loves ♥
Best. Macarons. Ever.

This may just be the vodka talking, but I’m pretty sure Nick Lachey crept back into my freebie five last night.

I somehow got swindled into going to this concert tonight.

Shi offered me her extra ticket, and I said I would go on the condition that 98 Degrees performs ‘Invisible Man’ and we embrace through the entire song.

98 Degrees – Invisible Man

While I was sick last week, I downed emergen-c cocktails and fireball whiskey and entered a bajillion pinterest contests. Today, my lazybones dream board won me a $50 gift card! I can’t wait to put it towards one of their $300 quilts haha. I already have one from Anthropologie (okay so I really bought it for my sister on her birthday and I’ve been ‘borrowing’ it ever since), and anyone who’s had the pleasure of sleeping in my bed knows that it’s well worth the price. And so is the quilt 😉 Ha.

I also got a notification today that my dairy max board won third place! While I didn’t win the grand prize of a kitchen aid stand mixer (yes, I already have one, and yes, I’m greedy like that), I did win a dairy prize pack. I have no idea what that entails, but I’m hoping it’s sticks of butter from different lands.

Either they haven’t cleaned my desk out since I left my last job (almost a year ago!), or some squatter has taken up residence underneath my old desk…

I told the bestie to tell my favorite third grader that it’s easy to get confused… sometimes I have a little bit of both in me 😉 Ha! Just kidding (I’ve never have Chinese in me).

Happy 2nd birthday to my favorite chumbawamba!

Uncle Anthony says that you color like how Auntie Mayan drives (how dare he!), but keep coloring outside the lines, kid… Life’s more interesting that way ♥

The highlight of my work conference was the free food trucks at lunch, obvi.

I start making bad choices around hour 13.

Finally starting my weekend after working 17 hours of overtime! Super bummed I missed cicLAvia and Anthony being in town. If there’s a silver lining in this, it’s that I can drown my sorrows in the beer he left at my apartment…

…or how I wake up my coworker when we have to work on a Saturday.

They recently let go of all three of our web freelancers at work (a.k.a. my lunch buddies!).

One of them said that she misses hearing my laugh from across the office. She is the second person who has told me that. Today.

Sound must really travel in the advertising department! Yeah, that must be it…

Lorde – Royals

Let me be your ruler
You can call me queen bee
And baby, I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule
Let me live that fantasy

NO STOPPING ANY TIME.

When my mom texts me to call her ASAP, I expect there to be some kind of emergency. Like my grandma is back in the hospital. Or there’s a new episode of Scandal on that night and her DVR isn’t working again. Yes, she considers that an emergency. And yes, I inherited her flair for the dramatic, obviously.

She just wanted to make sure that I got her earlier text to stop by Porto’s and bring home a dozen potato balls when I visit SD this weekend. I meannn. She also thinks that since I live in LA, I’m close to everything in LA. It will probably take me an hour to get to Porto’s after work on a Friday night! She’s lucky I love potato balls her.

When I told my coworker I’d hang out with her yesterday, this is not what I had in mind…

Does anyone know how to get a Kogi BBQ burrito grease stain out of a white shirt??? Asking for a friend……….

If you ever lose me at Target…

“There’s a lot of white people here!” – Marcus Mumford @ San Manuel Amphitheater

Mumford and Sons – Timshel

You’ll be sick or feeling troubled or deeply in love or quietly uncertain or even content for the first time in your life. It won’t matter. Out of the blue, beyond any cause you can trace, you’ll suddenly realize things are not how you perceived them to be at all. For some reason, you will no longer be the person you believed you once were. You’ll detect slow and subtle shifts going on all around you, more importantly shifts in you. Worse, you’ll realize it’s always been shifting, like a shimmer of sorts, a vast shimmer, only dark like a room. But you won’t understand why or how.

…or me watching the final episodes of The Office. I CAN’T EVEN.

OneRepublic – I Lived

Me, too, ‘Nard Dog.

It took me so long to do so many important things. It’s hard to accept that I spent so many years being less happy than I could’ve been. Jim was five feet from my desk and it took me four years to get to him. It’d be great if people saw this documentary and learned from my mistakes. Not that I’m a tragic person, I’m really happy now. But it would just make my heart soar if someone out there saw this and she said to herself, ‘Be strong. Trust yourself. Love yourself. Conquer your fears. Just go after what you want and act fast! Because life just isn’t that long!’

These are obviously in order from least to most important.

Concert season is here!

We kicked off last summer by shaking our sandy parts to Santigold, so it only seemed fitting to do the same this year.

Santigold – Creator

All my favorite vampire couples are breaking up. Nothing lasts forever. Not even the love between immortals. Why even bother setting up an OKCupid profile???

Outta my way, kids! Upside down animals are only my favoritest thing in the world.

It’s been 21 years since I last went to SeaWorld in the fifth grade (do the horrifying math). Yesterday, I went back there with the BFF and her kiddos, and the only souvenir I took home was this walrus photo and a fierce sunburn.

Not gonna lie, I wouldn’t be mad if this happened on the regs.

tessism:

Lucius – Until We Get There

What do you say, is this the time
for one more try at a happy life
What do you say, is this unwise
to think my fears will not reprise

My mom just texted me a screenshot of this puzzle she’s been doing on her iPad.
You guys, this is my future.

The Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather
[audio:http://www.mayanrocks.com/blog/The Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather.mp3]

Use the sleeves on my sweater
Lets have an adventure

Oh, so that’s where you’ve been.

Hanni El Khatib liked my instagram post. I can die now.

Hanni El Khatib – You Rascal You

It’s like watching myself on TV.

LSP is my spirit animal. BUMPS ♥

NICK CARRAWAY: You can’t repeat the past.
JAY GATSBY: Why, of course you can.

All I want in life.

CC: Shirley May

First an iPad mini, now, my apartment elevator is back in service after 10 months of being out of order. My karma must be way up there.

Damn, it feels good to a) be a gangsta and b) have your boss give you an iPad mini!

I only had to work on a Saturday. And sell my soul. No bigs!

Proof that Mindy Kaling and I were separated at birth.

The Weeknd – Wicked Games

Just let me motherfucking love you

I’m pretty sure I just got pregnant from this song.

$10 and 100 ring tosses later, I am still without a rastafarian banana monkey.

Ticket purchased.
Vacation days requested.
Spotify playlist made.
Is it August yet???

Cotton candy cloud @ SpringFest 2013.

Would it make me less of a fatass if I told you it was thin crust???

After working twelve hours of overtime yesterday, I deliriously spent the rest of my night listening to the new Strokes album and watching pole dancing videos on YouTube with this clown.

STEFAN: How does anyone ever seem to move on?
CAROLINE: I think that someday, you’ll meet someone new, and you’ll fall madly in love, and you’ll have moved on without even realizing it.

Many have eaten here, few have died. Just kidding.
(Not that many people have eaten here.)

yellowbricks:

Hiking Chantry Flats was like being in a goddamn fairy tale. It’s pretty much my favorite hike that I’ve done thus far. Unlike the Potato Chip Rock hike that tested my friendship with Pammie and Shi, not once did I think, “Fuck this bitch, I can go on without her!” Ha. Ask me again after we hike the Hollywood Sign…

I REGRET NOTHING.

I would eat this up in the morning. And then have him cook me breakfast afterwards 😉

Trying to stay awake while looking through hot model pics on my new iMac for this microsite I’m designing at work.

My life is so hard sometimes.

It’s been a drinks for dinner kind of month.

• Much needed mule @ Tin Roof Bistro, Manhattan Beach
• Cape Cod @ Forbidden City, LBC
• Sangria @ Phil’s BBQ, SD
• Lost & Found @ Eureka!, SD
• Anthony’s fruity ass cocktail + my back pocket mule @ Brooklyn Girl, SD
• Shock Top Belgian White @ Buffalo Wild Wings, Torrance

Same.

I don’t know whether to be offended or impressed! Ha.
This made my day, Jesse.

Trying to make dinner plans with Jay is like trying to find meaning in a Pauly Shore movie.

From the voice of reason ♥
#notyouanthony

bryarly:

Coincidentally, this is also what I like to hear when I’m sad.

I need new friends. Preferably with lower triglyceride levels and more years to share.

I’m taking the $79 I saved on in-home assembly and buying some fucking booze.

Girls = new obsession.

I just need two more things to make this overpriced studio a home. Anyone know where I can get a good deal on a french bulldog and/or a couch in the south bay? I went furniture shopping this past weekend, and nothing seemed worth carrying up three flights of stairs or testing my friendships over.

This show is depressingly relatable. Also, you can get this book on Amazon.
(Don’t ask me how I know.)

For my sad bears, drunk bears, and #whyareweevenhere bears…
The right person won’t need convincing.

Say goodbye to ugly white vertical blinds, and hello to wood blinds and linen curtains. And if you’re wondering if the drapes match the carpet, I’ve got hardwood floors. And so does my apartment! Ha.

I know this is just a rental, but I like to fill the void in my life with home decor.

City and Colour – Of Space and Time

I don’t know what drugs to take
To successfully alter the state
That my mind has been in as of late
Something is eating away at my brain

New album = new tour! I love me some Dallas Green.

Nahhh, I’m good…

File under ‘reasons I can’t go out this weekend’.

Like seriously mini. Is it too much to ask for a double-bowl sink in LA???

24 Hour Fitness??? I’m screwed.

You have nothing. You have a pile of secrets and lies, and you’re calling it love. And in the meantime, you’re letting your whole life pass you by while they raise children, and celebrate anniversaries, and grow old together. You’re frozen in time. You’re holding your breath. You’re a statue waiting for something that’s never going to happen. Living for stolen moments… you keep telling yourself they all add up to something real, because in your mind they have to, but they don’t. They won’t. They never will, because stolen moments aren’t a life. So you have nothing. You have no one.

Ikea frame + Target hooks + my own subway-inspired print = a little piece of San Diego in my home away from home.

Yes, that’s pepper spray hanging on the far right. COME AT ME, BRO.

I should probably go grocery shopping.

Hey girl.

I’m officially settled into my new home on Manhattan Beach Boulevard! I hired a moving company because I live in a third-floor walk-up, and I may or may not still be sore from bringing my TV up the other night! Ha. I was hoping the movers would look like Ryan Gosling à la Blue Valentine, and they did—except they looked less like Ryan Gosling in the first half of the movie and more like Ryan Gosling after they fast forwarded a decade and ripped his heart out (along with most of his hair). Them’s the breaks!

This is pretty much how the rest of my day went.