This was the only weekend we both were free since Alicia’s birthday nearly two months ago, so I went up to Murrieta to visit the bestie. Her kid planned the itinerary, so we went blueberry picking at Temecula Berry Co and ate sandwiches at Great Harvest Bread Co.

At night, Alicia and I watched Micheal at Temeku Cinemas, a luxury movie theater that reminded me of Angelika by my sister’s old apartment in Carmel Mountain.

Sidenote: When Michael Jackson suddenly died in 2009, I was working as a graphic designer for a jewelry company in Mission Gorge. It wasn’t a customer-facing job, so I never had any calls. I don’t even think I had a phone at my desk. I was plugging away at an email that day, when someone told me I had a phone call. There was another employee named ‘Mary Un’ (full name) in customer service, and people would always mistakenly think people were calling for me (Marion) when it was always for her. ‘No one calls me here, guys. It’s probably for Mary.’ They were like, ‘Nah, they asked for Marion Choa.’ So I pick up the phone and it was Alicia hysterical on the line telling me MJ had just died! At first, I was like, ‘WHAT?!?’ then after I calmed the fuck down, I was like, ‘How did you get this number?’ LOL. She had never called me at work before. I DVR’d hours of footage on TV after his untimely death, but that was several cable boxes ago.

All that to say, we were huge MJ fans and were absolutely crushed when he died.

There was this mini series back in the day on VH1 about Michael and The Jackson 5 that left me wonderstruck as a 10-year-old kid. Angela Bassett played his mom, and I still quote her flawless performance to this day (I don’t want you, I don’t want you, I don’t want you no more LMAO IYKYK). When they dropped the trailer for the new Michael, I was like, ‘Ain’t no way this is better than the VH1 series’ and had no desire to see it.

But, we were celebrating Alicia’s birthday, and what the birthday girl wants, the birthday girl gets. And the birthday girl wanted to watch Michael for the THIRD time (my first). IDK if it was Jermaine Jackson’s son’s portrayal of Michael or the micheladas, but your girl got emotional 🥹

After the movie, we went back to her house and I was getting my stuff together to drive home around 11pm. Did I have everything? My hand-picked blueberries? ✔️ Cinnamon Burst bread from Great Harvest Bread Co? ✔️ Leftover Milk Duds from the theater? ✔️

‘Do you have your keys?’ I checked my clear crossbody (that I’ve used since I went to a ballgame last season and haven’t changed back to my regular purse 😅). It wasn’t in there, or inside any of their cars we took to the blueberry field or movies. I have an AirTag on my keys, so I opened the Find My app on my phone and pulled up the location of AirTag.

Actual footage of me seeing that I left my keys in the blueberry field:

They were closed till the next morning, so I had no choice but to sleep over! We woke up at an unholy hour and went to the blueberry field. Before he handed over my keys, the guy at the farm stand was like, ‘Describe the picture in the Rocky keychain.’

‘Umm, he’s a yorkie… and the goodest boi ever?’

Keys secured, we caffeinated at Better Buzz and stopped by Bruegger’s Bagels for breakfast. There was a line almost out the door, but living in LA, I’ve gotten used to waiting in line for food – It doesn’t turn me into a monster, no matter how hangry I am. We were just standing in line, minding our own business, when this Karen ass lady starts yelling at the cashier. ’35 minutes I’ve waited in line for a plain bagel with no cream cheese!’ Then as she’s leaving the resto, she’s huffing and puffing and addresses the line like we give a shit, ‘They’re working on a $600 catering order and that’s why this line is taking so long!’ We were all looking at each other like, ‘Is this lady forreal?’ A plain ass bagel with no schmear. Like, we are literally next to a Sprouts, you could’ve just went there and got a plain bagel, but instead you waited in this 35-minute line so you could complain about waiting for 35 minutes. This woman in front of me was like, ‘That was wild. I’m gonna be thinking about that crazy lady for the rest of my day!’ 😆

Anyway, my East Coast Pastrami Egg & Swiss was *chef’s kiss* and well worth the wait! Although the egg was overcooked for my tastes – I love a runny yolk. Not sure if I can ask for an over easy egg next time, or if they take salmonella poisoning seriously 😅

When you have three kids 10 and under with birthdays days apart (@ Jump Around)

We all tried to help Christine get tickets to Katseye for her girls to no avail 😅 I slept outside a Ritmo Latino once in a seedy part of town for *NSYNC tickets when I was a teenager – Kids these days don’t know about the struggle 😅

…or how we bribe our team to pick up rush jobs 😅

I usually reserve my skeleton bone nails for halloween or Dia De Los Deftones, but I was inspired by Jung Kook’s gloves 💀 I had to wear them to the BTS concerts in Vegas! He doesn’t always wear them, but he wore them again on D1!

Yes, I made the skeleton bones on my cricut and yes, they glow in the dark 💅🏻

He’s totally my stee – tattoos, piercings, always wears black, loves horror and skeleton shit 🖤 I have piercings that are older than him, but we can’t all be perfect ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Still recovering from back-to-back BTS concerts and Memorial Day weekend in Vegas. I’ll just leave you with this view of the Sphere from our hotel room at The Palazzo till I’m ready to talk about it 😅

Will they be accepting expired Bed Bath & Beyond coupons??? Asking for a friend.

(It’s me. I’m the friend.)

Fun Fact: I once won a $1,000 gift card to The Container Store over a decade ago in a Pinterest contest that I totally forgot I entered. I used most of the money to buy me, my sister and my mom Simple Human Trash Cans that we all still use to this day!

Doing all the brujería to make sure the Padres beat the Dodgers tonight ✨

S/O to Mark at QuePadreShop for the Tatis Jr. prayer candle 🙏🏼

#22 ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

Update:

My coworker, Luis, always likes my Padres posts even though he’s a born and raised LA Doyers fan 😜

Update #2:

I didn’t light my Tatis Jr. prayer candle after that first night, and the Padres lost the next 2 games against the Dodgers… Am I single-handedly responsible for this series loss? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Maxin’ and relaxin’ before the chaos that is Memorial Day weekend in Vegas!

Since my mom has been vacationing in the Philippines with her sisters, my dad has been ‘bored and lonely’ at their house. I was gonna drop off Milo this Wednesday so my dad could watch him while I’m in Vegas, but I dropped him off today so he could keep him company 😆 My parents love Milo like the grandchild I never gave them 😅

As I was driving off, I was like, ‘He’ll be okay…’ (Milo’s super attached to me and cries when I take a shower and he can’t see me LOL). Pammie was like, ‘Are YOU gonna be okay, though?’

I miss the little nugget, but I’m happy to have some ‘me’ time before my trip!

The Del Mar San Diego County Fair announced their free concert series (with admission to the fair).

#1 – My first ever concert was Gladys Knight at the Del Mar Fair with my parents in the 1900s 👵🏼

#2 – I fucking love the fair. I always said if I ever got engaged and was the type of person who took engagement photos (I most def am not), I would take them at the fair. I love the food, the mini pig races, the petting zoo, the shit they sell in the convention centers (where else can you buy Oxiclean and mini donuts in the same place?), the Footsie Wootsie machines, the concerts (Mayer Hawthorne, Bruno Mars, OneRepublic, Hall & Oates LOL)…

#3 – My first ever blog post was about Hoobastank’s free 4 o’clock Fridays show at Del Mar Fair! Over two decades later, and I’m still doing the same shit 😅

Anyone want to go back to the scene of the crime and relive their youth with me? Meet you at Chicken Charlie’s!

Sublime with Rome – Goodbyes (Post Malone cover)

I want you out of my head
I want you out of my bedroom tonight
There’s no way I could save you
‘Cause I need to be saved, too
I’m no good at goodbyes

Kimie Miner – By Your Side (Sade cover)

You think I’d leave your side, baby
You know me better than that

NIFANA – Risk It All (Bruno Mars cover)

It’s crazy, but it’s true
There’s nothing I won’t do
I’d risk it all for you

I used to hate island music – then I went to Kauai 7 years ago and it altered my brain chemistry. I love Hawaiian/Reggae covers of songs now, especially songs I didn’t particularly care for before (except Sade’s By Your Side – I’ve always loved that song 🥹 I said it would be my wedding song when it came out in 2000 😅 26 years later, I’m still not married, but I still love that song).

When I worked in the office, I’d visit Nori in her office and she was usually playing a Hawaiian radio station (unless she was super busy, then she’d play a Spanish radio station LOL – She’s Japanese on her dad’s side and Mexican on her mom’s side). Maoli’s cover of Bonnie Raitt’s I Can’t Make You Love Me was playing a few different times I went to her office, and I was like, ‘Is this our song?’ 🤣

When I was in the office, I’d get sick all the time. I easily picked up coworkers’ germs! Since I started working from home during the pandemic, I rarely ever get sick. I got Covid once after traveling to Spain, and it was still not as bad as when I got sick last month. I was down for a couple weeks, and I felt miserable! I def didn’t get sick from fucking physical contact with anyone, so I’m thinking the culprit could be all the keypads I have to touch on the daily in my apartment building – the ones in the elevators, the ones on the parcel lockers, the ones to get back in the building after walking Milo… Besides the keypad I use to get into my own apartment, all the tenants touch the other keypads.

And so I Amazon Primed a Handy Non-Touch Door Opener. I also stocked up on hand sanitizer like it’s 2020. And downloaded the Parcel Pending app so I can just open the locker from my phone instead of punching in the code on the keypad.

And for even more protection, I don’t walk Milo downtown without my stun gun, pocket knife, or pepper spray. Come at me, bro.

When you hate the Dodgers, but your brother-in-law is Shohei Ohtani’s biggest fan.

Inside: A Murakami Ohtani baseball card from the MLB Tokyo Series ⚾🌸

If you’re new here, I used to live in LA and do unspeakable things…

I’m back in SD and I remember where I came from 💛🤎

I was working at my dining table when I heard yelling and a commotion outside (the joys of living downtown). My dog ran to the window to see what was going on bc he’s a chismosa just like his mama 😆

Also, I took Milo for a walk to Petco Park earlier bc the Padres are away in Milwaukee (Holy Sheets, what a game!).

I put my hair in a top knot, wore my headphones, sunglasses, leggings, and my dad’s Jimi Hendrix shirt – my dad is left-handed and plays the guitar upside down just like Hendrix did.

And yes, I can name 3 Jimi Hendrix songs:

1. All Along the Watchtower
2. Purple Haze
3. Voodoo Child

Anyway, along with my rad outfit, I just looked in the mirror right now and realized I’m still wearing a pimple patch from last night on my forehead! And not the cute star-shaped kind the kids wear these days, but a very uncool, very visible Mighty Patch.

The good news: My pimple is gone.

The bad news: I have to change my identity and move out of my neighborhood now.

I’m not usually into Asians or even guys who work out, but guys in gray sweatpants??? 🫠

I am, however, always into boys with beards who can BBQ.

You guys, I woke up like this.

💯

Logan Sandoval (owner of ZEF BBQ in LA, winner of Barbecue Showdown, contestant on BBQ Brawl, Supermarket Stakeout, and light of my life) is competing on a new Food Network show, Chopped Castaways. Nobody bother me on Tuesdays from 6-7pm PST.

File under: Things I miss about living in LA

Fuck the Dodgers, but your girl enjoys the suite life 😜

Jess sometimes gets behind-home-plate Padres tickets from her husband’s company. She invited me once when she got extra tickets, and it was amazing – access to the Home Plate Club lounge, free food, free drinks, great seats behind home plate, and the Padres scored a grand slam and won that day.

I had 300-level seats later that season for a playoff game against the Dodgers, and it’s hard to go up that high when you’ve experienced behind-home-plate seats 😅

Shh, mama’s show is on, y’all 🤠

Update:

BRB crying over a BBQ show 😭

Contrary to popular belief, I don’t like it raw – Food, at least 😜

Raw sushi, sashimi, poke, tartare, carpaccio… I respectfully decline ✋🏻 It’s a texture thing for me. I feel like I’m eating human flesh, and I can’t get past it 😅

I went to Nobu with friends, and while they did the omakase tasting menu ($200+ and like 80% raw), I opted to a la carte the cooked food only – Black Cod with Miso, A5 Wagyu Flambé, Rock Shrimp Tempura…

I’ve made a dupe of their famous Black Cod with Miso, using Chilean Sea Bass instead, and got rave reviews from everyone. I haven’t made it in a while, though – Miso is soy, and Pammie’s soy-free now, and last I checked, a pack of 5 frozen Chilean Sea Bass fillets was $70 at Costco!

Anyway, I was craving sushi (the cooked kind – your girl loves a spicy California roll LOL), so I made this Salmon Sushi Bake, complete with cooked salmon, imitation crab, sriracha mayo, furikake and sushi rice. I was watching Carnival Eats on Food Network the other day, and the host was in Maui. He ate furikake salmon at one of the booths, and I was inspired.

I was also annoyed bc he ate at another booth that sold dessert lumpia and he kept calling it ‘loom-PEE-ah’. The vendor was ‘Nanay’s Lumpia’ and ‘nanay’ means ‘mom’ in Tagalog (Filipino language). The lady demonstrating was Asian, so I knew she knew how to pronounce it correctly (‘loomp-yah’), but she kept calling it ‘loom-PEE-ah’ too, and I think she was only calling it that bc the white host was calling it that. Ain’t no way she pronounces it that way forreal.

I usually have Food Network on in the background while I’m working, and I’ve never heard so many people mispronounce espresso (ex-pres-so), mascarpone (mars-car-pown), chipotle (chee-poll-tay) and jalapeño (ha-la-pee-no). I don’t expect a Green Bay fan white dude in the midwest to be able to roll their R’s and say birria, but how about you learn how to pronounce it first if you’re gonna make it on national television? I was plugging away on an email, and I was like, “If this guy says ‘beer-ya’ one more goddamn time…”

You guys, I’m at the age where shit like this bothers me and I yell at the TV 👵🏻

Happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate!

You guys, I’m a mommy. Like of a dog, not a human child 🤣

I even have a sweater with ‘dog mama’ emblazoned on the front and ‘milo’ on the sleeve that the girls got me for my birthday. I would’ve worn it on Milo’s walk today, but we’re having another heat wave, y’all. This ain’t sweater weather!

Yes, I know I have to charge my phone 😅

My mom is on vacation in the Philippines with her sisters, so we celebrated Mother’s Day last weekend before she left. She usually gives Milo his weekly bath – I would do it, but she enjoys doing it bc she used to bathe Rocky for years 🥹

So I gave Milo a bath today, scrubbed the tub, then treated myself to a bubble bath while watching the Padres win in OT, tying the Dodgers for first place in our division again! LFGSD ⚾💛🤎

One of the emails I designed this week got recognized by the Senior VP of Merchandising – a welcome contrast to the comments we received last week about our emails not being ‘sexy’ enough.

I rewarded myself with an Iced Horchata Oat Milk Latte from Peet’s and homemade avocado toast.

Look at that perfectly poached egg! Thank you for the tips, Pioneer Woman! I went to lunch once with Nori at Urth Caffe in LA and ordered a breakfast pizza. Before I dug in, I was like, ‘Nori, get this shot’ as I sliced through the poached egg expecting to get a perfect runny yolk vid for the ‘gram. It was cooked solid! I’ve doordashed the same order and the poached egg was cooked solid again. Perhaps they could learn a thing or two about poaching eggs from Ree Drummond 😜

We’re v serious about our ice cream 🍨

Also, I was driving in Little Italy, and saw they were building a Handel’s there. They’re also building The Boy & The Bear there, another coffee shop near my apartment in Redondo Beach. I love that my LA haunts are opening spots in SD!

Update:

Handel’s in Hillcrest still serves ‘Spouse Like A House’ ice cream.

Today’s edition of the I Hate the Kardashians Club digital creative team Slack chat…

(via @annoyedwitheverything)

(via @woowoobestie_suzy)

You guys, it’s been a fucking week.

I walked Milo to Petco Park even though I knew there was a game going on. I couldn’t walk him till after work and it was getting late. East Village isn’t very safe after a certain hour, but I knew there’d be lots of people on the way to the ballpark.

I turned on the game when I got home, saw the score, and immediately turned it off. I don’t need that negativity in my life 😅

I almost impulse bought a new laptop to make me feel better, but the site I usually buy my Macbooks from was closed for Shabbat. I’ve been buying my laptops from B&H Photo for over a decade now, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen that. Shabbat is a weekly thing. Have I never tried to buy a laptop between sundown on a Friday to nightfall on Saturday? Or was B&H Photo acquired by a Jew since my last purchase? Anyway, mazel, and thank you for saving me from dropping $3K 😅

Jess sent me this post about a chubby sea lion in SF and lifted my spirits. All the other viral animals I follow on Insta are across the world in Asia (Moo Deng the hippo in Thailand and Punch the monkey in Japan LOL). Coincidentally, my boss told our web team today that this creative platform company that we work with offered us free admission to their conference in SF in June as long as we can get there on our own. I have hella Southwest points so my flight would be free, I’d get to not work for 2 days, I’d get to catch a glimpse of Chonkers 🤪 I would have to pay for a hotel, though, and your girl has grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle traveling with Pammie’s rich ass 😜 I will already be strapped for cash after back-to-back BTS concerts in Vegas later this month, and after I probably buy that laptop tomorrow after nightfall 😅