It felt like I was going to die

I'm not being melodramatic here...well, not as much as I could be considering what had happened to me last week Monday. It happened after my workout at the gym--I started to itch. A lot. How would I describe it? It was as though I rolled around in tall grass crawling with red ants and mosquitoes. I'm. Not. Lying. It was horrid and I thought that I was going to die. After a while, I was able to calm down. I figured it was from the communal workout mat that I used. It must have been infested with...*shiver* bed bugs. It went away when I showered but as I got ready for bed, it steadily crept up on me. Soon I was stretching harder than a flea-ridden dog. That bad. Promise.

I'd like to say that was the end of my itching episode but instead, it got impossibly worse. The next morning, I woke up scratching. To make a tortuously long story short, my legs, arms, back of hands and feet looked swollen because try were so red and puffy. Seychelle helped me buy cortisone, an anti-itch cream but the relief was really really really short...like 2 minutes short. So I resorted to using blocks of ice. I manage to get a doctor's appointment in and can you believe it?--by the time I got to my appointment, the bumps were almost all gone and I noticed that I was scratching too much. I took pictures of my legs at their worse with the intention of grossing you, my readers out but they helped me show my doctor how bad they were moments before I walked in to see her. Se diagnosed me with hives, saying that had they been bug bites, they would have still been there. She asked me a billion questions about what I ate, what my allergies were, any changes in my diet or routine....she finally gave up an made me get a blood test and told me to go home and take some Benadryl. I still don't know what that was all about but after taking the medication and continuing to ice my legs that day, I saved a life...my own. Like I said, I'm not being melodramatic here, I'm just saying...I coulda died. Seriously.

Oh you thought that I was joking when I said  that I took gross-out pictures...this wasn't even the worse of it...feel lucky.

...bleh.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My Daily Burn

Be proud of me. In 10 days, I managed to lose 2kg...which is about 5 lbs. Wowed? I know. Who woulda thunk? It was with the help of my new app called Daily Burn. I punch in what I eat every meal and keep track of my caloric intake. It even keeps a breakdown of what I ate (carbs, proteins, etc.) and it'll let me know how many calories I'm allotted before I go past it. As a result, I've been eating less and feeling healthier. I even set myself on a special bikini body workout plan albeit, I'm a week behind. Today was arms and abs and let me just say owwwww! I lifted weights today (I know!) and now my arms feel like lead. I'm not entirely sure I like this whole weights thing but I definitely feel the right muscles working. I think I'll add to the workout routine once I'm adjusted to this one.

I plan to lose another 4 kg (...you do the math), by next month but more importantly, I demand that my arms, abs and assets get whipped back into the award-winning shape that it was. So far, so great! Now let's see how long this gung-ho self pep-talk will last....yeah!

Eating healthy with a tofu sampler @ Gazen.

My favoritest brunch buffet ever. I mean, I can hear the angels harmonizing just looking that the sign, can't you? It's so great, it deserves an -est. I need to harp on this place for a sec (speaking of which, they had a harp and a flute player there too). You had better believe that chubbins came out and disregarded my daily burn diet plan for this buffet. So worth it.

The dessert table. It goes for miles!

 

The main buffet...I feel compelled to go just looking at this picture. I forgot to take a picture of the omlette making line and the ice cream sundae section because at that point, I was too excited and couldn't wait to eat anymore. Sorry boo, you'll have to go see it for yourself.

Ahhh yum!!! I will see you in my dreams, Orchids brunch buffet...

In my own defense, I did go to The Loving Hut, an entirely vegan and organic restaurant on King St. for dinner today with my momma. It was pretty good, actually. And I felt like I made up for my gluttonous irresponsibility yesterday...sorta. Still gonna dream about the buffet though.

I'll leave you with my lame joke of the week: if these are Forelle pears, are the rest fake? Ah thank you, thank you!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A day spent with the 6 and under crowd

Yep, you read that correctly. I'm pretty popular with the 6 and under crowd. I'm expecting a nickelodeon award soon for coolest old person of 2010. I'm also up against Justin Bieber and the Fresh Beat Band but I think I've got a pretty good chance at winning.

See, today I went to my second 3rd birthday party with Miss Vicki, everyone's favorite preschooler teacher. After getting to spend some

Vicki @ Cafe Laufer

quality time with the bestie and her entire class of 3 year-olds (bouncy house included), I hung out with my sister for the rest of the day. Like not just go home and watch tv and sleep like I was sorely tempted to do. Salena got in to the car as I picked her up from my mom and told me that she'd like to do something fun..."like go play games." By "fun," she meant Fun Factory and I did not feel like doing that so I suggested a Halloween costume hunt with her after letting her know that Fun Factory is closed today (hey, don't judge me for my little lie. It was for the greater good, trust).
Anyway, she didn't object too much and had her heart set on being Sleeping Beauty so off we went to the Disney store, only to find out that everyone else had the same idea as we did. After she tried on a few princess shoes (that lit up!) and I had convinced her that sleeping beauty was a bad idea since she'd get hot with the long sleeves, she decided on being Belle from Beauty and the Beast. As we stood in an abnormally long line of parents and kids clutching various costumes and accessories, I looked again and the $50 dress we were about to waste my money on. "Hey Salena? I bet I can make this for you," I said with sudden Sascha-like gung-ho-ness (oh groan, you say?). Well she jumped on the idea of doing a project together so we ended up buying her $16 shoes and $10 crown (to go with her dress, duh) and we walked out with a renewed pep in our step. I mean, why go the simple route and just buy the damn dress when clearly, there are much more complicated ways to go about arranging a Halloween costume for a 6 year old...sigh
....Long story short, a cheaper $30 Target-version of the dress + $17 of material later (I know, I lost on this one but it sounded like a great idea at the time), we were at home dissecting the cheap, itch-inducing dress. I mean, the end result what nothing short of fantastically brilliant, but, it was a lot of work. Oh well, I did get a "I had fun today, Sascha," so it was worth it.

The $50 Disney Store version.

The back.

The $150 Disney Store Belle dress I was determined to out shine.

The end result of a Salena-Sascha collaboration.

The back. I wish I took a picture of the "before" dress to show you the difference. We took off the sleeves, the ugly skirt and pink flowers and then added those gold flower that we made on our own, a big bow in the back, a pink sash like the one from Disney store, none itchy sleeves and the fabulous glittery tulle skirt. Good job us!

The real Mickey Mouse Club.

A quick stop at cafe Laufer for some Italian cream sodas (and *ahem* a cream puff) with Vicki before hanging out with mini me.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I'm a big kid now.

So as you all know (or perhaps have vaguely suspected), I haven't exactly kept up with my gung-ho New Year's resolution about running the Honolulu Marathon..which happens to be right around the corner. As in December. No, instead, I had deceptively titled my blog and given a description about my workout goal and challenges while managing to find the time to write about everything else. Such as food and Brent. I'm not complaining because, hey let's face it, I love food and I love Brent and I could dotingly discuss those topics forever but I should probably give you a heads up first, or in the very least I should warn you about this completely altered course of my blog.

  This may sound off topic but bear with me as I have a little heart-to-heart with you about my plans for the future. I've been pretty much in the dark about my work-life in my blog with the exception of introducing a few key characters to the fascinating story of my life. I feel like I owe you an explanation, although I'm still going to insist on being pretty vague about certain details. I am the Associate Editor at a publication company where I am extremely fortunate to have met and worked with very talented people. To top it off, I also get to work on a range of publications, not just one. This position has given me plenty of opportunity to find topics I seem to be best at, and while I've written about and worked on various topics, the one that seems to always come to me most happens to be fashion. This seems to have lead me to a point where I feel like it's almost necessary to start incorporating my behind-the-scenes-at-work adventures in my posts on this blog. To make things even more interesting, I've decided to be really gung-ho (like, for real this time) and post a few of my articles like a--gasp! Do I dare say it?--portfolio. I know, I know...I'm starting to act like a big shot blogger with real, tangible ambitions but, I think it's time, don't you? Especially since next weekend I get to meet Tim Gunn (spoiler alert!) and interview him. I'm super starstruck about this but I mean, you know, guess this is what they called perks of the job... :)

Anyway, to sum it all up, I'm going to keep my blog titled the same but from now on, it will be taking a new and exciting direction towards fashion, writing and of course food, family, friends and Brent. To celebrate, I've changed the look and feel of my blog. Enjoy!






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I like that I can post from my phone now

Haha, I'm sorry if you don't find it as amusing as I do but I think it's freakin' awesome that I can post to my blog directly from my phone...what's even better is that I can take pictures and post them directly. Like instantaneously. Ah...it's the simple pleasures in life you've got to cherish.

Speaking of which, the other morning my mom and I were picking up breakfast when we walked by this storefront that was still closed. The store is a hotchpotch of an organic cafe/ kava bar/ music venue with a bunch of funky items displayed in it's window. Anyway, just to give you a visual of the display, there was a surfboard with a caricature of a laughing blond woman with her legs in the air (yes the display looked as scandalized as I felt). Luckily, there was a handwritten sign discreetly placed over her crotchinal region. But perhaps it was done that way on purpose. The sign, what I initially thought was a list of the daily specials or something tongue-in-cheeky like that, turned out to be an inspiring Gandhi quote that said,

Keep your thoughts positive because thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive because words become behavior.
Keep your behavior positive because behavior becomes your habits.
Keep your habits positive because habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.

Sent from my iPhone