Feeling Lost

No, I'm not necessarily feeling gloomy today. I forgot my cell phone at home and I feel disconnected with the world despite the fact that I'm logged onto the internet for at least 8 hours a day during the week.

If I have any missed calls and people leave messages, I can easily access those messages through a land phone. But when it comes to text messages... well, that's a complete different story. Let's just say that the key pad to my other phone was worned down due to heavey finger traffic. Damn! I'm missing my phone.

I think I might need o go home for lunch just so that I can retreave my lonely phone from the dark dark loneliness.


-Zen

very very brief and vague

I've been busy lately.... 'll update sometime later.

-Zen

Friday night with a taste of garlic and mariachi

There are a lot of Virgos and Leos in my circle of friends and family. Many birthdays within a month... wuzzup with that? Some of us speculate that since all Virgos and Leos were conceived during the months of November and December which is winter time in the Northern part of the hemisphere, yep, WINTER TIME, then figure lots of cuddling for those cold cold cold nights to keep warm and well, as a consequence babies were conceived. *hemn*

So, it's not surprising that on Friday, I had two birthday dinners to attend... One for a Moroccan Princess at garlic theme Stinking Rose in Beverly Hills and the other for my sister at mariachi theme La Fonda del Camperos near Downtown L.A.

But first, I had to come up with a clever way to bring something to both dinner parties to 1. excusing myself for not staying for the first dinner party and 2. to excusing myself for arriving late to the second dinner party. My friend Kim had given me this great idea to bring birthday party bags and fill them with goodies. So, I bought a couple of spider man theme birthday bags for the guys/men and Disney princesses them bags for the gals.... and of course, a tiara for the birthday gals. Along with candy I had placed necklaces for the gals and medallions for the guys.

I meet my friends a the bar area of the restaurant to wait for the entire party of 18 to arrive. Like always, I snap away making sure I document every second... hehehe...

I had at taste of garlic infused wine for the first time and... uh... no comment on the taste.



Picture on the left: My friend Nydia proudly wearing her tiara, she's a princess after all.... by the way, Nydia is a twin, her sister is this person. Cool huh?


Once we were seated, I thought it was the perfect time to pass out the goody bags and damn, it was a hit!



On the left: Tara, Sarah and Amber, the gals showing off her new necklaces (except Amber, on the right, she brought her own)



On the Left: Me, Donato and Raphael showing off their medallions.

I left Stinking Rose right before everyone else placed their orders and after I had excused myself from everyone else... they all knew where I was going to... I did mentioned to them that they are more than welcome to join me after dinner.

I arrived at the Fonda in record time... the mariachi show hadn't started yet... my family had just placed their menu orders and they were awaiting for the party to begin... in other words, they were waiting for my arrival.. hehehehe

The menu is strictly Mexican cuisine that average $20 a plate. It's a bit pricey for Mexican food but well worth it if you just wait and see by reading the rest of this blog.

Picture above... my sister is the one with the back and white dress... do we look alike?

Like Always, I snap away while taking my first sip of margarita... We are all laughing and joking... it's a typical crazy Solano party like any other... the only difference is that we were at a restaurant. But then, the lights go completely off.... a sign that the show is about to start.

And so it does... so here they come....

The Mariachi finally arrives and to be honest... I'm out of words to describe their sound, the ambiance they bring out in people a good eye candy for me.

But the Mariachi wasn't the only thing for great entertainment... Click on the video below.



I can go on and on how much fun it was... so I'll stop and post pictures instead.



My sister Maria aka Chelo, surprised when one of the waiters brought a personalized cake from her favorite bakery Sweeties Bakery, a Chinese bakery in Gardena California. She was ready to blow out the candles but not before a handsome Mariachi came over and sang Happy Birthday first.



And look who joined us after....


It's Tara and Raphael!!!!!

It wasn't the first time for me at the Fonda... My first time there was back in May with my brother's Japanese host family... The Japanese family was visiting for two weeks and the day before going back home, we took them to the Fonda to experience a bit of our Mexican culture... they had an great time... Let's just say that lots of alcohol was consumed that night and as a going away present... my brother's gave the head of the household, whom we all referred to as Papa-Son, two giant Don Julio Reposado Tequilas bottles. When they saw the Costco size tequila bottles, their eyes lit in either amazement or shock. I couldn't tell the difference.

enjoy,

-Zen

P.S... I learned my lesson... Never let a drunken person take a memorable picture of you when a cute handsome musician is trying to play the violin just for you. The picture below, explains for itself, it was taken by my drunken brother Tony... you will have to trust me and believe that's part of my face in the lower left hand corner.

What's in my mind?

Hmmm....



Hmmm...



Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm



My mind is blank today... I have completely forgotten what I was going to blog about. I guess it wasn't that important.



Hmmmmmm





Hmmmmmmm





Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Here are a few random things about me:

I began to walk when I was 8 months old.

I have toddler memories... I remember we were living back in Mexico, my mum put me on the bed so she could make fresh corn tortillas for supper. I vividly remember looking at her back as she clapped her hands molding a tortilla, she was wearing a green plaid apron. I must have been younger than 8 months.

My mum says I was a chatterbox when I was a little girl and that I used to ask a lot of questions.... coming to think of it, I'm still a chatterbox.

All of my siblings and I refer to my mother's siblings as Mamá or Papá... never as tio or tia... For example, my aunt Lidia, we refer to her as Mamá Lidia. My mother's brother, uncle Adrian as Papá Lian. To call them anything else is disrespectful. It's actually a family tradition that goes way way way back.

-Zen

Beer pong party and ending with a Quinceñera

I was going to wait until the end of August to post about this... My plan was to blog about all of August birthdays at the end of the month (there were so many that it was a bit hard to keep up really). But, this past Saturday was unlike any other, I mean come one, three birthday celebrations in one day? How can I not blog about this colorful day.... Get ready for a picture ride.

First off, I get up early enough to help my brother's girlfriend, Nitzy, with her make-up. It was her sister's quinceñera, Leslie, and she had to be picture perfect all day long. She wanted a natural look and she has great complexion so it was easy (she's beautiful anyway so it wasn't hard to enhance her natural beauty). Check out the picture on the left, did I do a good job?

Let me back up a little... A Quinceñera is when a girl turns 15 years, it's a right of passage; when a girl is now considered a woman and her family puts on a big celebration that requires much planning in advance. It's like planning a wedding. It's an all day celebration that also involves a religious ceremony in the morning to mid afternoon. After mass, everyone who was involved in putting together this grand celebration, is invited to come along, go somewhere pretty, usually a nice park, and take pictures by a professional photographer... Lots and lots of pictures are taken... Pose after pose, the quinceñera is usually exhausted only to realize that the day is not even close to over.


Leslie, the Quinceñera, outside church awaiting her grand entrance. Notice a crown in her hand, she has not yet been blessed by a priest.


Leslie after officially recognize as a woman by the church... notice she has her crown well placed on her head.

Anyway, being the heathen that I am, I didn't attend Leslie's quinceñera mass. Can you imagine me stepping into church? I would probably melt or go into convulsions when all the demons try to escape my body.

Actually, I didn't go to church because I went to a Beer Pong/BBQ birthday party instead... Yep, I prefer beer over the blessings of the church.
I spend my earlier part of the day with the guys in the picture above celebrating Donnie's (on the far right) and Joey's (on the far left) bday... playing Beer Pong.

The theme of the party was "Sports," so you had to come dressed as an athlete and/or wear your favorite team's jersey.

I know what your going to ask, what did I wear? right? Well, I could have easily worn a Laker's jersey... that's way to easy. So instead, I wanted to do something ethnic and different.... so I thought, I'll just take Ronaldo's #9 jersey. You know him right? Ronaldo from Brazil's national soccer team. So, I look for his jersey only to find out that it's still deep in my hamper... and there's no way I will take a dirty shirt to a party.... no no way.. so I settled for my nephew's Cruz Azul , a Mexican soccer team, jersey instead.


Yep, that's me in the front middle. Check out Lucy, the one on the front far right, she's wearing my Mexico National Soccer team jersey.


Anyway, it was Joey's and Donnie's birthday celebration, so it was good enough an excuse to skip on Leslie's church ceremony. Besides, did I mention that I'm a heathen and that I love beer?

Playing beer pong above: Team Austria above, Timo cheers after his partner Lucy had scored against team Boston. Check out the spectacular view in the background.

Team Boston, Sarah and Amber on the defence... defending what was left from what was once 10 cups of beer cups... Team Mexico (that would be my friend Ravi and me) beat team Boston after the above game.

Anyway, I did put into practice my beer pong skills but sadly, my team Mexico lost in the third round... if we had won, we would have had advanced to the semi-finals... awww... But, it was good thing because in a couple of hours later, I had to drive off for Leslie's reception. I'm a law-abiding citizen so I refuse to drink and drive.

After Donnie and Joey blew out the candles, I took off like a maniac (no, not really) and get home in time to meet with my brother before going to the reception. So, I first do my make-up, do something with my hair, and change into the the green dressed I blogged about. all this in a record breaking 20 minutes... It takes me longer to get ready but I was in a time constrain which meant that I couldn't be picky.

My entire family was already there and my brother and I were the only ones missing... As soon as we got there, that's when the party started... literally.... Leslie had finished dancing the traditional quinceñera waltz with her male escort (referred to as Chambelan, picture on the right) and then with her father. Father-daughter dance is one of the most emotional part of the entire waltz... it usually brings both to tears. After the waltz comes the toast.... everyone stands up while the quinceñera remains center stage... she thanks everyone specially her parents... each table gets a bottle of apple cyder (not champagne due to underage invitees) and as they pour pseudo champagne into their glasses, the quinceñera gives a brief speech followed by the parents. The father is the one who first gives the toast and everyone else follows. Then after, music, dancing and partying.

I barely made it when the lights dimmed for dancing.. I gave Leslie a big hug as I hand her her present.

My family are not a bit shy when it comes to dancing... seriously, no matter what type of gathering it is, we always end up on the dance floor. So as soon as the music started to play, we all got up and started to dance. We even took turns with the Quinceñera... put her in the middle of our dancing circle and pushed her around whenever she stopped dancing... Haha.... here's what happen; when she first refushed to move and shake, one of my brothers pushed her to the other side of our dancing circle ending up in front of another brother of mine.. he then pushes her too, she lands in front of my sister.. my sister, keeping up with the pushing theme, pushes her too... then it was my mother's turn, then mine... it was like playing hot potato... all of a sudden, her parents and her family relatives began to push her a well... it was the funniest thing.

Leslie above, getting pushed around within our dancing circle.

We continued to dance until the wee hours of the night. It was so fun and yet sooo tiring. Oh yeah, did i forget to mention that no matter how high the AC was blasting, with lots of bodies dancing in close proximity, it was HOT! Not to mention that it was one of the hottest days of the week. But we had tons of fun nonetheless.

enjoy,

-Zen

Happy Birthday to my Lovely Sister

Happy Birthday To you Chelito. Love you with all my heart.



Con mucho amor y cariño,

-Zendi

Hanging out with the members of NAAP

NAAP, it stands for National Arab American Professionals.

NAAP was first created by college students in Washington D.C. in 1996. It's purpose was to keep in touch and to create a network of other Arab Americans across the country. Now, there are several chapters across the Nation including New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco Bay Area, Orange County, and Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles chapter was started about two years ago by Lara, a great friend of mine, who also happened to be my college roommate. I invited myself to go with her to NAAP's national conferences held in Washington D.C. to petition for a new Los Angeles Chapter back in October of 2005. (on a side note... Wow! I can't believe I've been blogging that long!). Ever since then, I have become an non-Arab member.... they like to refer to me as the Mexican-Arab member and a pseudo Salma Hayek (I love the Salma Hayek reference). Check out NAAP's myspace profile here.

Anyway, I met Lara back in 1999 when a mutual friend of ours introduced us because at that time, Lara needed a room on Campus and I (along with my other roommate) needed a 3rd roommate in our campus one bedroom apartment. So, I learned a lot from her and about her culture, she's Lebanese-American. Let me say that Arabs are one of the most welcoming people I have ever met. Her mother is sooo genuinely nice and caring that she still refers to me as a daughter. How sweet. Arab men don' t let women pay, no matter if they just met you... if you are in their company, they make you feel very special (It's a good think I'm a girl, er, woman).

Before 9/11 attacks, Lara has always been involved in her community, but after, she was even more determine to become more involved. During that time, she was working with others putting together an Arab-American film festival in the Bay Area, but due to the negative publicity surrounding anything Arab, it was cancelled. It was such a shame.

I learned a lot from Lara, she is very smart and very aware of the world. Well, she kinda has to since her career is in Politics... as a matter of fact, she is currently working on Kucinich for President 2008 campaign along with keeping up with her NAAP dutties.

Oh yeah, I forgot this blog was about hanging out NAAP members... Oops... hahaha... hmm, let me see... oh wait, I have pictures.


Omar, Lara, and Me... Omar was the host on Friday at his North Hollywood home. Gals, I know what you're thinking but I don't know if he's single. I'll introduce you to him if you like. hehehehe.


Dance off competition between the Omar, the host, and Ken (another good friend of my and practically my other college roommate in college).


enjoy,
-Zen

BONUS:
Ok gals, here's another picture of him and yes, I have to be in it.

The best concert at the pier with Ms. Patti Smith

Every summer, Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation and the Santa Monica Arts Commission puts together a series of FREE concerts with a diverse lineup at the Santa Monica Pier. This year, the one performer that caught my attention and eager to watch was Patti Smith.
I knew the pier and surrounding parking spaces were going to be a nightmare... who doesn't want to watch Patti Smith for free? So it was easy to just rollerblade to the pier and not worry about parking.

Rollerblading there on a beautiful night was a great idea, plus I was in great company with my friend Lucy and Mark. I got to see interesting characters as I passed by Venice Beach boardwalk... take a look a the guy on the right. I was on the bike path and going about 5 m/h (or less). So when when Lucy and I spotted that guy, I just had to take a picture. He had an awesome body and you can tell he's proud of it too. Just before taking this picture though, he was riding his bike and he got off to adjust his bikini, hence the picture with his well placed hand on his woo-hu. It must be uncomfortable riding a bike dressed like that.




Alas, we continued our way to the pier.... as we passed Ocean park, the sun began to set. The skyline lit in orange-pink glaze... look.

It was gorgeous...way too beautiful to describe or capture on camera.

Last night, I had the best of two worlds, listening to music by a legendary musician and playing the sport that I love. I has to be the best concert I've been to this year (oh wait, I haven't been to many concerts this year). But this is no ordinary musician, this is a Rock Enroll hall Famer AND... Flea from the Redhot Chilli Peppers joined her on a few songs. The music was great! She played for an entire 2 hours! I don't have a last night's set list but I found a link where you can listen to her songs, click here.

Enjoy

-Zendi

Big Bertha's registration and the art of procrastination

I was going through my sh---stuff on Tuesday (the 14th) evening and I realized, holy poop... Big Bertha's registration is due on the 16th. Big Bertha is the piece of poop that takes me to and fro highways, roads, bridges, freeways, and streets of greater Los Angeles (and other parts of California, Nevada, Arizona, etc). I drive a two door, six cylinder Ford Explorer Sport, I'm never ever ever ever getting an American made car... EVER!

How did Big Bertha get her name? Adorable Marnie was the first to refer to her as Big Bertha (Marnie, you're officially her godmother).

So, not only did I need to pay my registration fee but, I also had to pay off a parking ticket Bertha got back in April AND... a smog check. So, I take a short day at work yesterday to take Bertha to a licenced smog check establishments (what are they called?). Sure enough, she passed the test and then off to the DMV...but then I remembered, I hate going to the DMV specially in the afternoons when the waiting time is just ridiculous. So I spare the stress going to the DMV and decide to wait for early morning today (the day my registration expires).

So early morning today I get into the DMV office at exactly 8:15 a.m. I get called to one one of the windows a few minutes later. As the clerk looks at my paper work and types away, I look up and I see a picture of Ahnold with his bland gray suit sitting in front of the American flag. It was odd, it seemed surreal. I was a bit confused questioning myself if that picture was to be taken serious. "It's $__" says the clerk, and that's what it took to bring me back to reality... so I guess I should take that picture serious.

By 8:30 my brand new 2008 stickers were already well placed on Bertha's rear licence plates. Big Bertha is legal again, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

-Zen

A grandmother's bday and the mexican way

My younger brother's girlfriend, Nitzy, has become part of our family. She grew up with in a house full of progesterone and had to deal with the monthly women rituals and all the great things about being a woman... Until, she met my brother and the rest of his family. My other brothers, my sister and myself already consider her a sister and the the guys get a kick out of her (literally).

For someone who grew up with only women, quite a contrast from myself, she's definitely tough enough to handle my brothers. Believe me, they don't have mercy on her, just as they don't have mercy on me... My sister on the other hand... well let's just say they don't mess with her, they know better.

It was her grandmother's surprised 72nd birthday celebration on Saturday and we had to be there and finally meet the rest of her family.

Above: Nitzy's grandmother, I don't remember her name... by now you should know that I have limited capacity in my short term memory along with my short attention span.

It was a typical Mexican party... with the Birria, frijoles, rice, the aunts, the uncles, the cousins, the nieces... and most importantly, the Mariachi. That's right, there was Mariachi. I appreciate live music a lot... but I love it when there's Mariachi at a small intimate gathering (well I'm speaking in Mexican terms here because having 40+ people at a bday celebration is considered small and intimate to Mexicans).

Speaking of Mariachis, when I turned 24 years old, my sister threw a surprise Quinceñera theme birthday celebration for me. She even hired a Mariachi. She transformed my mother's back yard into a beautiful banquet hall with pink colors and lots and lots of white orchids. I remember when I walked in, I didn't recognize my mother's back yard. So yes, I was surprised. As I was greeting and mingling with my guests, I suddenly hear a violin, guitar, and a trumpet harmoniously playing the recognizable spanish birthday song. It was a sudden burst of music that I had to confirm with my own eyes if it was indeed what I suspected. I search to find where it was coming from when finally the guys in black come out of nowhere singing and playing happy birthday to me. I was deeply touched, it meant so much to me that I cried in happiness and one of my brothers had to walk towards me to embrace me. Mariachi's are hired for special occasion or hired for someone who is truly loved. It still remains the most memorable moments of my life.... yes, I'm sobbing right now as I write this.

Anyway, before I get any more pathetic and sentimental, as the Mariachi played, Leslie, a future Quinceñera and Nitzy's sister, kept us well entertained by dancing with the Mariachi... She's so adorable and witty as hell. We love Leslie (picture on the left), she give us all a big laugh with her comebacks... I remember the one time she burned oMog pretty harsh and all he could say was "uh... she got me there." Yes, she's fierce for her age (she turns 15 on August 17).

I love small, intimate gatherings like these... so, I'll end in a good note....

One of the Mariachi players handed me his bandolon (a guitar but smaller) and asked me to play and sing along... I complied and here's a picture of it.

Enjoy, -Zen

Downtown Bargains... hell yeah!

Ever since I was young, I hated going to Downtown Los Angeles. It was one of the unsexiest places to go during the day, going there during the evening or night time was definitely out of the question. Los Angeles downtown area is, hmm, how shall I say it? Unappealing compared to other major metropolitan cities like San Francisco, Chicago and the big apple. Yeah sure, Los Angeles has it's high rises and pretty buildings BUT, it was surrounded by cheap housing, gangs and well, violence. Oh yeah, it's also notorious for it's skid row area... trust me, it ain't pretty.

For the past couple of years, ever since it was announce that downtown LA would be the home to the lavish The Staple Center, developers began to transformed the area to attract residents, businesses, and tourist to create a thriving peaceful community where everyone can walk, hang out to mingle, hold hands and have pick nicks under tress.... and live happily ever after.

It's been a bit over 5 years since the downtown area has had it's first face lift and yes, the nigh life is somewhat active but not as developers would have liked. But with the housing crisis right now, I know it's pretty hard to attract residents to overpriced Los Angeles area, nonetheless to the downtown area where it's not yet sexy enough.

The commercial areas next to the high rises though has not changed a bit... I'm referring to the fashion district, the garment district, the flower district, the jewelry district etc... these places during the day is crowded with bargain shoppers and yes, including myself... I've been to the garment district where I got the material for my window treatment for $6 a while back... Been to the flower district a couple of times, including the time when my sister-in-law and I spent $300 on flowers for my cousin's lavish wedding three years ago... and the fashion district for cute tops and dresses for dirt cheap prices.

This past Saturday I went to the fashion district located between San Pedro and Saint Julian, and between 3rd and 13th street. I have a quinceñera to go to next Saturday so I shopped around for a cute cheap dress.... But, I also needed some accessories for my every day life as well.



Yep, those are some funky looking, gold rim aviators that I had to buy... they were only $5! Yeah, Yeah, you can laugh at my taste but that won't stop me from really loving those shades... They are soooo funky looking that I can't say ewww! The white bracelet (is that what it's called) was only $1.

Oh yeah, I also go these white shades for $4.



I'm not going to post a picture of the cute green dress I bought for $10... I'll post one, with me wearing it, after the Quinceñera.

After the fashion district, my party and I went over to Chinatown for some food. We were starving and we drove past the Walt Disney Concert Hall... am I the only one who doesn't find the hall cute... I know there was a big hype about it's architecture but I find it tooo industrial and hot, literally hot!... it looks like an oven. I bet it bets hot in there.



Anyway, I'll end this post with a picture of Chinatown next to Downtown LA.




-Zen

i feel happy today

I heard some great news yesterday and I can't help it, it makes me really happy.

-Zen

P.S. Es sobre sponjasponjasponja... hehehe, yes, I'm writing in codes... but I'll tell you if you ask me.

Eating my words

FINE!... FIne, Fine, fine!

You probably notice my "Find me on MySpace and be my friend!" link on the top left hand corner of this site (just below my profile picture).

I'll take back my words from an earlier post ... As a matter of fact, I'll take back the entire post... Ok, I wont just yet. For those those of you who are new to this blog, for those of you who have no clue of what I'm talking about or for those of you who have not read my previous blogs (SHAME ON YOU!)... I'm talking about my "I tribe, I don't myspace" blog I posted a while back.

It took me long enough to resist myspace, and Yes, I'll admit to it... I'm a hypocrite, but who isn't these days? Well, to be fair to myself, I changed my mind because... hmm... because... well, I just changed my mind.There! Do I need an explanation? hehe.

But hey, isn't my myspace avatar cute... take a look.

Yep, that's me.

-Zen

Dessert before dogs

No, no, no you crazy minded people. I don't mean those types of dogs. But to answer your dirty mind, yes, I prefer dessert over men. hehehehehe, I mean oops. I can't believe I just wrote that...Hmmm... now that I think about it more closely, I stand firm on that statement because after all, cupcakes are sweeter *hemn.*

Anyway, with no further delay about dessert and men, I mean dogs (oops)... I MEAN hot dogs. There! confusion over... I had this for lunch on Sunday:



Don't they look delicious?

Yep, I went to LA Cupcake Meet-up Group organized by my dear friend Tara. Thus far, I've been to two out of three cupcake meet-ups.

If you are ever in or near West Los Angeles and you are a sucker for cupcakes, my opinion; I like Susies Cakes better because so far, I liked their Red Velvet cupcake version. BUT, I adored the small pint size cupcakes at Vanilla's. By the way, I like to thank Tara for my cupcake craze.

On Sunday I didn't have breakfast in the morning simply because I though that having cupcakes for lunch on a clean tastebud pallet would give me a better taste of those rich cupcake flavors. Well, bad idea. Apart from the great tasty-sugary flavors, not only did it give me a sugar high but it also gave me a sugar crash which required a nap. Yes, I napped in the middle of a beautiful Venice/Santa Monica day when I had the opportunity to rollerblade and enjoy the beach. Now I know not to do that again.

When I woke up from my two hour nap, I felt somewhat unbalanced.... you know that feeling right? Like the sudden urge to eat something salty? Well, don't you?... I feel I'm talking to myself... oh wait, I am!

After searching for salty food on the fridge and cupboards, the only thing I could find was popcorn. I was too lazy to walk next door to buy something so, I did what any normal person with an urge for salty food would do. I popped buttery rich popcorn and ate the entire bag. But I wanted more... but again, I was too lazy to walk next door and believe me, I was thinking about it long and hard when suddenly, I get a phone call. It was Arwin inviting me to Portillo's in Buena Park for some Chicago style hotdogs.... How could I say no to that!



Arwin was even nice enough to pick me up and carpool to a restaurant 40 minutes away without traffic. Why Portillo's you ask? Because this is the only place where you can get authentic Chicago style hotdogs. What is a Chicago style hotdog you asked? Well... Pretty simple really

1. Poppy seeded bun
2. Lots and lots of chopped onion
3. Lots of chopped tomatoes
4. Perperchinni
5. Most importantly, Vienna sausages oddly enough only made in Chicago
6. and a Pickle to top it off

One important thing to remember when eating at Portillo's, don't ask for ketchup! If you forget and you ask, this guys would certainly say something about it



Yep, that's a guy with a machine gun guarding Portillo's... hehehe... Portillo's is very specious with both inside and outside seating. We sat outside so we can enjoy beautiful So. Cal. weather. The inside has this industrial decor with some Chicago Mafia splash, hence the guy above. It's cute and colorful.

It's perfect for a family outing.

I ate two regular Chicago Style hotdogs (there are several hotdog options but I highly recommend the regular), one large Bud Light, and I shared two large fries with a side of cheese (no, don't you dare eat those fries with ketchup). The food was worth the drive.

Happy Birthday Joey (Arwin's husband who is a Chicago native).

-Zen

*Side note: Right now, I'm extremely hyper which explains my crazy, silly and playful tone on this blog*

I'm a woman and i love music, so i'll write about women in music

I was listening to Le Tigre's Hot topic. Here's an excerpt of that song's lyrics

Stop, we won't stop
Don't you stop
I can't live if you stop

Tammy Rae Carland and Sleater-Kinney
Vivienne Dick and Lorraine O'Grady
Gayatri Spivak and Angela Davis
Laurie Weeks and Dorothy Allison

Stop, don't you stop
Please don't stop
We won't stop

So this got me thinking right... no, I don't always think. I love music, hmm, how many women musicians/artists, that I truly admire, can I come up with in 5 minutes. Well, I came up with the following (click on the playlist to listen).

UPDATE: I realized that there's a big bug on the following code and it won't display the list... However, I'm not tooo savy on HTML and/or any other Internet language, but tried fixing it... If you still cannot see the list you can still view and listen to my list by simply clicking on the "LAUNCH STAND ALONE PLAYER" at the bottom.

The above artist are also in my iTunes catalog (it's a very long catalog) so I definitely missed some great women in music, but remember that I only gave myself 5 minutes to come up with a list. I do have to say that I discovered about half of these artists if it weren't for oMog, I call him the walking human music encyclopedia... his collection and knowledge in music is endless and impressive.

Anyway, please enjoy the music and hope you like what I picked, er, what I could come up with in 5 minutes due time.

-Zen

I'm going to see a hunk do comedy

Yep... I'm going to the comedy show mentioned above on August 31.... Does he look familiar?

I briefly mentioned him here and here.

Don't forget to follow the muscle comedy link...

-Zen

vball on a beautiful night

The image above says it all.... Beautiful night playing vball next to Santa Monica Pier.

-Zen