LOdgings, as of April 2010

What are your thoughts?

Original underwater artwork, courtesy of David. Printed on canvas by Costco's online photo center.

Love my pillow collection!

Crepe Night

At work on Monday I received an email from my roommate Manu. He mentioned that he was planning on making crepes for dinner. CREPES! I came home after work suuuuperrrrrrr excited for the crepes. At about 7 pm Sarah and I went to her friend's house to cut into the fabulous birthday cake she made. (Alternating layers of Funfetti and German Chocolate Cake with chocolate frosting all over? Yes please!) When we got back, Manu was already mixing the crepe mixture. After a little complication with the milk being too low in fat content and pasteurized, Manu got the crepe-making under control. (BTW: pasteurized means the milk has undergone a process of partial sterilization and it makes the milk safe for consumption and improves its keeping quality.) We paired our savory crepes with sauteed mushrooms & onions, sliced turkey, and cheese. The sweet crepes had sliced peaches, peanut butter, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. They were so good! Manu said that he plans on making them again, next time using whole milk.

I had a lot of videos on my camera, recorded via Tyler. Here is an excerpt from what I assume is a new blog that is mostly video blog posts?

To Do List and a shout-out

1. Gym
2. Shower
3. Eat yummy crepes!! Manu is cooking tonight :)
4. Catch up on blog posts
5. Catch up on shows I've missed (MIOBI, Greek, Vampire Diaries, etc) - NOT ENOUGH TIME!
6. Clean my room
7. Possibly make cupcakes? Carrot, banana, or oreo? This would require a trip to SAFEWAY!!!! Do I want to drive and spend $$ today?
8. Read!!

Just wanted to quickly congratulate my sister for doing so well last weekend (her solo placed 6th!) at the Homestead dance competition. I'm so proud of her!!! I can't wait until I go see the competition at Monte Vista HS. Any PHS dance team alums want to come with? (I'll check to see what day it is and update later)

Just walking around...

We woke up, ate a yummy breakfast that my roomie made (waffles, fried bananas, breakfast potatoes & ketchup) and then set out on a walk! I showed Kyle where I work and then we tried to locate a trail to walk on behind my building. After roaming around like safari people, we found a dirt trail. (It only took 12 seconds, so we weren't wandering for long.) Fast forward 5 minutes and we were already walking back. We wanted to get going down to Monterey/Pacific Grove and start our bike ride!

While walking back to the duplex, we saw this DOG/HORSE thing. It started barking like crazy and I thought to myself "hold up. I've heard that bark before!" It ended up being the mysterious-neighbor-dog that I always hear, but I've never actually seen it! The guy was H - U - G - E! He put his paws on the top of the tall fence and could peer over! Ridiculous!

New Home & Turtle Bay Taqueria

Turns out someone already put a hold on the duplex that my roomates and I were in love with. So, we had to relook at places in Seaside. I was able to convince my sister Nicole to come down to Monterey with me. It was really nice to finally be able to share the car ride down! After looking at a few places, we settled on a duplex that had carpet in the living area, something that we were trying to avoid. This place was just too good to pass up in other areas though. Close to work, young people, good location, neigbors that didn't have kid toys EVERYWHERE. The current plan is to take off your shoes when entering the front door to keep the carpet clean. Also, if we ever have people over for drinks we will try to limit the drinking to stain-free areas.

After picking out the new place, Nicole and I went to downtown Monterey and looked for a place to get lunch. We settled on Turtle Bay Taqueria (431 Tyler Street). We ordered the "Seafood Combo" burrito wrap that they describe as "a meal in your hand - a party in your mouth" for $8.95. We also ordered chips & salsa for about 2 bucks. Nicole and I split the burrito wrap in two. She ate hers fork and knife and I ate mine the old fashioned way - in my hands. I wouldn't say that the burrito was stuffed full, but it was enough food when split in half. While we did ask for the seafood combo, I thought it was too fishy smelling. The place was packed!

I'm already done, ha!

They make their own salsas and had a salsa bar! They had a fire-roasted habenero chile salsa called X'NIPEC (left, below "38").

When leaving, I saw this sign. Basically if you show up on your bike on Thursday then you get 15% off your order (excluding alcohol). I can't wait to take my new bike (named Lukefrancis) and my tandem (named Murray) there!

After we ate we walked around the downtown area. I found a crepe place that I want to try (Nicole wouldn't go because of a bad experience with crepes at Disneyworld. Poo.) Then we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Note to all: do not go to the aquarium on December 28th! It was packed! I'm sure it was a fire hazard in the seahorse exhibit. Too many people! Good thing I've got a season pass and can go whenever I please. We stopped for dessert (Nicole got some fro yo and I got a peanut butter truffle and two sour belts) at different spots in Cannery Row. Sweet tooth satisfied, we headed home!

Model Home

After consulting craigslist, I found two amazing roommates. Sarah found a place close to CSUMB - and it's close to work! Sarah, Manu and I went to check out a typical model home. I think that it will be perfect for the three of us!

Each duplex is completely rectangular and indistinguishable. However, you can paint the insides!

The kitchen is another rectangle! Nothing like the open kitchen we had in MO8. Both roommates enjoy cooking :)

Living room, with a large window (shown) and sliding doors out onto the grass. We may get a fence.

This will house the old MO8 dining table. I really want to paint the old table black. That would mean hours of sanding down the old one.... and that just sounds.... tiring.

The house has three bedrooms, each with a CLOSET!! There's also a huge storage space thats about 3x the size of a normal pantry. A double bed could fit in it!