I can't wait to see Broken Embraces. I'm waiting for you, Shobes, unless you already have someone who equally loves Almodóvar to watch it with. It's a beautiful morning, and I had a good night's rest... but now I have to wean myself back to sleep again within the next couple of hours to prepare for work tonight. Bah.

The day after Thanksgiving and I'm having cheesecake for breakfast =) And turkey too.

While prepping for the big meal, we busted out the Kitchen Aid mixer for the first time. I don't know why I haven't used it earlier-- it really makes baking so much easier! Mandy and I made red velvet cupcakes, which were delicious. Mandy brought over ice wine from Pellar Estates, which we visited last week on our way to Toronto.

More cooking: I made (pretty awful) cornbread for Neil's (really good) oyster stuffing. He also cooked us up a beautiful breakfast of steak, eggs, and asparagus with his new sous vide machine.

Other news: I have wasted about 20 hours of my life in the past 3 days playing Scramble on my phone.

On another note, here are pics of the concert we went to see with Lang Lang and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. I think even if you don't like classical music, you would be moved in some way by Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. But then again, Neil didn't seem to be too impressed. He said, "It was alright."

I can't remember the last horror movie I saw, but I would have watched 100 horror films if it meant I would never have to see Old Boy, a movie I watched tonight at home in Toronto with my sister and Eddie (who is Korean by the way... how dare he not warn me!) Since I am now very disturbed, the only remedy I can think of is to watch this:

As usual, my sis and I are now the only 2 people awake at 4 in the morning, unable to sleep. Boo. But at least I'm not Oh Dae-Su.

Ouch.

Columbus Day Weekend

Drove to Vermont over the weekend to pick apples and buy fresh produce from Dwight Miller Orchards, Scott Farm, and Walker Farm. Neil cooked a nice dinner with the vegetables from the farm and lobsters from Fairway. I made an apple pie with the following heirloom apples: Calville Blanc D'hiver, Greenings Rhode Island, and Bramley's Seedling

Coco Before Chanel Rated only 65% on the tomatometer but I still went to see it and I liked it. Partly because of Audrey Tatou, partly because I like French movies, but mostly because there was a lot of tweed!

Wake up, wake up, it's the first of the month.

Came home after work this morning to the smell of burnt paint, only to discover... it really is burnt paint! The radiators are working and the heat is turned on! For the last 4 days that I've been back in NY, I have worn 2 layers of clothes to sleep and buried myself under the thin blanket. And to think, one week ago, I was in the Philippines. The thought of abandoning blog has crossed my mind multiple times. But alas, I continue forth.

Afternoon Tea at the Peninsula Hotel, Hong Kong

To Manila Via Korea Air, Layover at Incheon

Labor Day Weekend in Toronto

I usually feel pretty nauseated if I'm awake before 4pm-- even with Claritin D and some strong English breakfast tea-- but somehow, right about sunset I always seem to feel much better. So it's official: I am a "night person". My cousin brought up a good point the other day... am I even gonna wake up in time for my own wedding?!

Eight of us nurses, nursing assistants, and a respiratory therapist gathered around a computer at work last night to watch this video. And now that I'm home, I can't stop watching it... it makes me so happy!

A pic from Elizabeth Dye's blog of the beautiful dress she made for me.

Neil's cooking again: 1) cold tofu salad 2) sweet corn and edemame salad 3) striped bass wrapped in potato over sauteed leeks (with my favorite drink of choice-- grey goose with fresh grapefruit juice)

From NYkette

So I was off this entire weekend, but failed to switch back to day schedule. I need to get off this laptop and catch up on other things... like practicing the well-tempered clavier!

Gad Elmaleh & Audrey Tautou in Hors de Prix (2006) I have finally finished the Herzog documentary that Netflix sent me from about 2 months ago and thought I should make up for all my lost movies by watching one of the "Play Now" flicks. This cute French romantic comedy was just the movie I needed to see-- I can't remember the last time I did absolutely nothing and didn't feel guilty about it! Even if it wasn't good, I would still watch it because Audrey is so pretty in this movie. On another note:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

-Maya Angelou

So said the e-mail from my boss this morning. And so I shall aim to do tonight. But first, must get some beauty sleep. I know it's about time for me to go to bed when I can't tell whether Neil is sleep-walking or really stumbling into the kitchen for a glass of orange juice at 5 in the morning.

I was going to blog about a play I saw the other evening, but it seems pretty trivial to me now. Something so terrible happened at work last night to one of our patients, a night we thought was going to be relatively easy, with only 5-6 patients each. I can't even go into details because I'd like to keep my job (at least for now), but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I can't believe I chose a job where every single thing I do and every decision I make has a direct effect or consequence on another human being. There's no room for error, which makes going to work pretty scary. It doesn't matter if I didn't get enough sleep or didn't even eat or I have other things on my mind. I can't mess up. Last night was a wake up call. On top of what happened at the hospital last night, while I'm taking care of other people's family members, I'm also worried about my own who are in other people's care half way around the world, and who are also not in great shape. Sigh. I shall try to heed the words of my wise cousin: "Always look on the bright side of life" (whistle, whistle) I know I can't be the only discouraged RN out there. So in attempts to find solace, I searched for some blogs. Here are a few:

• Call Bells Make Me Nervous
• Doctor Grumpy in the House
• Reality Rounds
• At Your Cervix
• The Man-Nurse Diaries
• The Adventures of Bob the Nurse

[From Dazeychic etsy store]

 What a long night... at work for 14 hours. Now I'm gonna sleep so I can get up later to do it all over again. Sigh.

Would this be too over-the-top for me?

Rain, rain, rain, and a chance of rain!!!

Fri 90°F | 70°F

Sat 81°F | 65°F

Sun 79°F | 65°F

Mon 81°F | 67°F

In the last few weeks, I have (in not any particular order): moved; bought my wedding dress (though it seems I'm the only one that really likes it); bagged & tagged my first body; been chased by Neil in his sleep; waited nearly 2 hours for sushi in Portland; bowled under the name of The Dude; had free breakfast at an IKEA in Washington, DC; ate garlic fries at Yankee Stadium, my first Yankee game; been lovingly bridal showered by family & friends in California; celebrated Neil's 30th birthday with Domino's pizza and Carvel ice cream cake; toured the huge Nike campus in Oregon where they provide their employees with Olympic-sized pools, gyms, soccer fields, basketball courts, and lots of leisure time for reflection; spent $381 at the Nike employee store; wished I was an employee of Nike... so I don't have to go back to work tonight after a nice vacation! It was only a week, but it was long enough for me to realize that I may be living on the wrong coast. Yup, I said it. I don't know how I'm going to stay awake and alert tonight, after over a week of living like a normal person and not as a zombie. Wish me luck!!!

For most of my life, I have not worn any makeup. Which is why it's so odd that I spent a significant amount of my hard-earned money on a lot-- I repeat LOT-- of beauty products last week. It all happened when Mandy suggested we check out the L'oreal sale at the Metropolitan Pavilion the week before Mother's Day. I thought I would just pick up a couple of Kheil's lotions. But no... it was more like I hoarded a whole year's worth of gifts for myself and all the women in my life! I won't reveal how much I really spent. I'll just say that the receipt was as long as a scarf! But seriously, there were some really good deals considering department store prices are 3-4 times more. Above are some of the steals we got:

• Giorgio Armani hydra glow foundation - $16 (retail $57)
• Kheil's lip gloss in "downtown peach" - $3.50
• Vichy dermablend concealer - $6.40
• Lancome lipstick in "chiffon blush" - $7.20

Tonight, second trial for wedding makeup with Mandy while the boys jumped up and down and hollered along to the Yankees game.

My new Timex which I got on sale for $19.99 at Century 21. Like the women in my family, if I like something, I tend to buy more of the same. I had this same watch but with pink straps for the last 2 years and when the battery died a couple of months ago, I thought it was probably covered with speckles of bacteria and unseen spores of C. diff from work and decided it was too gross to continue using again. So I put it in a bag of things to donate to the thrift store. I'm just kidding. Anyways, now I have a brand new watch!

Neil has been making delicious food lately-- as always really. -chicken liver terrine, roasted honey walnut brie, & fresh French baguette -salt-brined heritage pork shoulder -braised pork shoulder with sesame pancake, fresh cilantro, pickled carrots & jicama

So glad to be back home. Now I can try to forget about work and wind down by eating leftover congee from Big Wong and watching one of the two Netflix movies I get every month. This time it's Herzog's Encounters from the End of the World. I will take advantage of my time home alone to watch this one since I think the last Herzog documentary I made Neil see (Grizzly Man-- quite grizzly indeed) was probably one of the strangest things he's ever experienced... Well, perhaps it is a bit odd that I could watch 8 hours of Ken Burns straight, but I find documentaries so calming! From the folksy violin soundtracks, and the grainy clips of old footage, to the neutral, soothing voice-over.

In the Mood for Love. I could watch this beautiful movie over and over again. Especially when I can't sleep. Sigh.

I found the best carrot cake. After spending 5 hours at a salon to straighten my hair (yes, I know... it's already straight), I happened upon a cute little bakery called Pinisi. Nothing else I've tried there is really that great, but I'll refrain from saying bad things about small shops-- this carrot cake is amazing! It's got this delicious crumble on top with really moist cake and yummy cream cheese frosting, of course.

Another day at the hair salon

The things we do to look beautiful =)

Tonight I met up with a friend who I haven't seen since I was probably 10 years old. We used to be childhood pen pals and we recently reconnected through Facebook. We went to Grimaldi's in Brooklyn for some thin-crust pizza and soda. Then we decided to try Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar, where we had crack pie, soft-serve ice cream, organic strawberry milkshake, and pistachio cake. Momofuku is getting some serious press-- we happened to see Padma of Top Chef grabbing some dessert to go. My new (old) plates from an Etsy seller arrived today!