melcreada | Recent Entries

I haven't given up on LJ, but I must admit it's been distressingly easy to not post for over a month. Hope all y'all are well. I've been busy, mainly working and watching a lot of Netflix. I recently bought a fitbit and am enjoying playing with it. It's the nicest, most high-tech pedometer I've ever seen. But I'm trying to make an honest effort to exercise and document what I eat. Fitbit even records my sleep patterns (apparently, I fall asleep in 3-12 minutes and wake up 3 or 4 times a night, on average).

Last weekend was the San Japan con and JP and I attended as panelists. We hosted an all-day cel and toy showroom every day of the convention. It was exhausting! We barely got to see the rest of the con, but had a blast talking about cels to the people who wandered through. JP shot a quick video of our room. We set up and broke down that whole thing three times, LOL!

In other news, nearly naked Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy gets two thumbs up from me! I know a lot of people were bummed when Matt Damon bowed out, but I really like Jeremy Renner's take on the assassin who starts to ask too many questions. There is a scene between him and Edward Norton that lasts only a minute or two, but is so powerful. Sin eaters, indeed. Rachel Weisz is also awesome. I have a total girl-crush on her and always have had since The Mummy (incidentally, she does not age. Fact.)

I am trying to be good about money because poor JP's root canal became abcessed and we had to take him to a specialist who basically undid the crappy job his crappy dentist did in the first place. Of course, the insurance wouldn't cover a second root canal on the same tooth (DON'T get me started) so we had to pay $1100 out of pocket. That's gonna leave a mark!

So, no more clothes shopping for the time being, although I am seriously lusting after this coat (because it will be so useful to me here. In South Texas):

blackcoat

Okay, I guess that's it. I'll try and pop in here more often.

Current Mood: tired

My brother and his wife are expecting their first baby! I am so excited for them. This kid, who my brother, JP, and I are now referring to as 'the wee baby Seamus' (for you Archer fans), is going to be SO spoiled...

Current Mood: ecstatic

This weekend, we went to see Moonrise Kingdom and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (I HAVE NO REGRETS!).

Moonrise Kingdom is just wonderful: funny and sad and strange and poignant. If you grew up in the 60s/70s, there is something about the whole flavor of the movie that will really resonate. I am actually not a big fan of Wes Anderson (I have to be one of three people on the internet that did not enjoy The Royal Tenenbaums) - most of his stuff just depresses and confuses me, but this movie is lovely. Hearts in my eyes, you guys.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (STILL NO REGRETS) isn't as horrible as I thought it would be. The action sequences were actually pretty bad ass. The story was just eh and I am still not a fan in any way, shape, or form of vampires. But overall, I'm glad we went to see it and I would see it again for the fight scenes alone.

I feel like I had more to report, but what a surprise! I can't remember...

I did get motherfuckin' BOX seats to Madama Butterfly with my email discount. I'm gonna live like the rich folks! LOL...

Only one more week (and a day) until my vacation! Woohoo! The Kid and Traci will be here and it will be party time!

Current Mood: chipper

Have been out of touch because my life is both busy and humdrum. Not that I mind...I used to crave constant change and now...eh, not so much. I guess in my heart, I love ruts.

My mom and I went to Houston last weekend to see the ballet. It was Romeo and Juliet and the dancing was sublime! I love the balcony scene and also the death scene in the tomb. Romeo dancing with the unconscious Juliet is so sad and beautiful. *sob*

Mom and I stayed at the swanky Lancaster Hotel, enjoyed some cocktails, and generally had a smashing good time. The company sent me a coupon to get tickets to their next show for 50% off, so I think we will go again. It's Madama Butterfly, which I love as an opera, so hopefully the ballet will be just as wonderful. I will use the discount and spring for better seats because we were in the balcony six stories up, and mom got wicked vertigo until they killed the lights.

This weekend, we went to my cousin's wedding and it was a typical Tafoya experience. My dad scared the Hell out of us driving to the venue in the Hill Country. All the winding, tiny roads are not meant to be taken at 55 mph. Then, the ceremony was outside and it was so hot, one of the bridesmaids passed out. Down like a ton of bricks. Then my sister got into it with not one, but two of the wedding coordinators/staff. To be fair, both were incredibly rude and trying to hustle a bunch of old people around, including some of our relatives. So my sister let them have it. Otherwise, the event was lovely. The lady who owned the mobile bar recognized me from my friend's wedding two weeks ago, where she was also set up. So embarrassed because everyone was like, "Of course the bartender recognizes Melissa!" >_<

And finally, just wanted to give my dad a Father's Day shout out: he is the best father a girl could ever have. He doesn't always agree with the choices we make, but he always supports us. He sacrificed so many things for our family and has always taken great care of us. My sister was remembering the best piece of advice my dad ever gave us: always walk away from a fight if you can, but if they back you into a corner, throw the first punch and hit them so hard they can't/won't want to get up. LOL - oh, my dad...

Current Mood: amused

On Thursday night, JP and I went to see Shakespeare in the Park. They were doing Othello, which made me a little nervous because the troupe normally performs children's theater and comedy is more in their wheelhouse. However, the two actors who played the main parts, Othello and Iago, were really wonderful and made the play one of the better ones we've seen so far. However, I cannot with audiences anymore. People were laughing during some of the most tragic scenes. Bitch, a man has been mentally undone and is strangling his wife. Not hilarious. I just don't know.

Disappointed in you, Shakespeare audience.

Anyway, when I got up for work on Friday, I felt like HELL. Like I was hungover. Only I hadn't been drinking. Shakespeare hangover, LOL. Thankfully, I only worked half a day and went home before...

Michelle's wedding! My co-worker, with whom I've experienced many ups and downs over the past 10 years, finally married her boyfriend yesterday at the lovely Spanish Governor's Palace. I offered to help her, so I got to the venue a couple of hours early to direct the caterer, the bar staff, and the band. I decorated all the tables and set up the side courtyard where they were getting married with candles and rose petals. I was drenched in sweat by the time all the guests arrived, but everything looked beautiful and went off without a hitch. Yay for our side! I really liked that she had music the whole time - a guitarist while people arrived, mariachis during dinner, a jazz band for the rest of dinner/dessert/mingling, and then a DJ for the last hour and a half for dancing. I helped clean up afterwards and then went home to take a 30 minute shower because I felt (and smelled) so gross.

This morning, I am completely stiff from all the running around/dancing I did.

Wedding hangover!

Current Mood: awake

Tranquil, eh? Someone better tell my blood pressure that. Everything else is lovely...

Thanks for the meme,

annearchy!

Your rainbow is intensely shaded violet, indigo, and blue.

What is says about you: You are a tranquil person. You appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it. Friends count on you for being honest and insightful.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

We went to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which is completely awesome, touching, funny, and the best travel commercial for India that I have ever seen. I swear, if work ever gives me the chance, I am totes going!

Current Mood: curious

Anyone else jonesing for a proper vacation? I need to get away from work for more than a day or two and I need it stat! Unfortunately, the mechanic looking at my Jeep today will probably be getting that vacation money. *cries* My broken things, let me show you them.

But seriously, for the Jeep being 11 years old, I'm not surprised that I've been having car trouble. Hang in there, darlin' - I can't afford a new vehicle yet!

So, 100 Healthy Things memage! I have three!

4. I started working out again this week. It hurt. Do not want.

5. I went to see my opthamologist today in spite of my loathing for visiting doctors and also the fear that this will be the visit that she finally diagnoses me with glaucoma (it runs rampant in my family gene pool, among other things). My exam went fine, although every year she gives me more tests, scaring the beejeezus out of me.

6. As a reward for not crying (she always does double burn-y drops because my eyes are so hard to dilate), JP and I went to see the Darwin exhibit at the Witte Museum. It was great - they had a bunch of his notebooks and letters, as well as fossils and original plant specimens. As much as we biology geeks know about natural selection, we knew almost nothing about Darwin himself, so learning more about him was awesome.

Near the end of the exhibit, there were some notes and a video with modern-day biologists talking about creationism and intelligent design. The most startling thing? A poll taken in the U.S. about 10 years ago stated that 57% of the people questioned believed in creationism. Why don't we let that marinate for awhile.

Current Mood: disappointed

So lazy with the memage and LJ in general. I don't want to come and blather about work (it's mostly going well) and we haven't been doing much lately because I work a lot and also, we are boring.

Although, last weekend I went to see Nay-nay in Austin and she took me to the best place on Earth: Pinballz, an old-school arcade with hundreds of pin ball machines, also air hockey, skeeball, and 80s games like Pole Position, Donkey Kong, and (my fav) Ms. Pac-Man. As if this cacophony of awesomeness wasn't enough, they were also giving (GIVING) away Dos Equis beer because it was Cinco de Mayo. There weren't a lot of people there, so we (I) drank up and played old-timey games (I rule at the Star Wars pinball machine). I feel as if this visit should qualify as a good thing for my mental health, LOL...

Also, we did go see The Avengers (twice!) and it was excellent (both times!). While I do not proscribe to the 'Joss Whedon is a god!' theory, I do think he is one Hell of a storyteller. The humor and the chemistry and the flow were just great. And yay for him getting some serious mainstream love.

Oh, and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye? Hubba hubba!

hawkeye

Current Mood: cheerful

So, my brother was back in the hospital today having an outpatient procedure done. He's been in and out of the hospital for so long, it's like I don't even blink at it anymore. Also, my aunt was just diagnosed with breast cancer. That's the third maternal relative who has had it. : /

In the healthy me news, I thought I would talk about my red wine habit. Normally, I like sweet fizzy wines but once I pop the cork, I don't like the bottle sitting around, getting flat. So, I have been branching out and trying different kinds of wine. I thought I'd be all about the white, but I get mad cravings for red. Can't explain it. Among the ones I've tried, I've really enjoyed certain Pinot Noirs, blended reds like Cupcake Vineyard's Red Velvet, and even sweet table reds (Cowgirl Sisterhood is yummy). I generally don't spend a lot and because of the strong flavors of red wine, I can't drink a lot. Plus, red wine has lots of health benefits. I enjoy experimenting and hope to come across something extraordinary. For about $10 a bottle...

Current Mood: exhausted

Today, my healthy thing was...I had vegetables with two of my meals. Sure, it doesn't sound all that impressive, but it's a conscious decision to be mindful of what I put in my body. I love veggies in general, but somehow they tend to rot in the crisper. I buy frozen, too...but nothing is as good as the fresh stuff.

Current Mood: chipper

Back from the coast, covered in mosquito bites. But had a fab time anyway. Itchy, so very itchy. Then, dear

rakshi posted this and it just made my day!

{Take the 100 Things challenge!}

I am going to blog about ways I plan on improving my all-around health. Not just physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. I figure it's a fitting topic to cover because I am not very good at looking after myself sometimes.

Current Mood: awake

I need to post more often...I miss everyone!!!! I'm sad LJ is not the busy, thriving community it once was, but I don't think I will leave it. I try to get on Facebook but I just can't like it the way I like LJ. And don't get me started on Twitter! My verbosity will not be bound by 140 characters! LOL...

Work has been going well. Although we are ridiculously busy and I feel like my head is going to explode, my boss recognized me in a great way - she arranged for me to get tickets and passes to the company suite for the Spurs vs. Lakers basketball game last night. It was a great! Of course, my boss' new boss was supposed to be hosting, so JP and I dressed up and I was mentally preparing myself to be in business mode...but then he didn't show up while we were there! So, we ate fajitas and blondies, had a couple of sodas, and went to watch the game from our plaza-level seats. And yay, we won! So much fun.

Today, we are packing up the car and driving to Mustang Island (North Padre) for a couple of days in the sun! See y'all on the flip side...

Current Mood: hungry

I am pretty sure I am sick, but can't really pinpoint what's wrong. Low grade fever, upset tummy, constant headache. Oh, yes and my EFFING period. Ugh. I have been forcing myself to go to work but this weekend I am going to SLEEP like no one's business!

Aw, I hadn't seen this before...reminds me of JP. The video is a bunch of 80s cartoons set to Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For A Hero (best song off the Footloose soundtrack TBH). Gives me the warm fuzzies!

Current Mood: sick

Something about spring always makes me want to travel. So I am sitting here, daydreaming about trips. Also, we are going to the coast in a couple of weeks. Yay!

Okay, that's it. Have a kitty pic! Here is Tut-tut (he has black lines around his eyes, like an Egyptian painting), who enjoys watching His Girl Friday:

Current Mood: cheerful

I have been so bad at updating and commenting...I apologize, dear friends.

Why is the weekend so damn short?!

Last night we went to the Arneson River Theatre downtown to see The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged):

Although plagued with sound issues, the performance itself was pretty funny and they get major points for covering all the histories like a football game, complete with a Howard Cosell impersonation.

Otherwise, this weekend was spent in front of the TV, mainlining episodes of Lie to Me. Although the story lines are a bit farfetched, I love how Tim Roth plays the character and also the chemistry between him and his partner. Good stuff...

I have been working OT for the past two weeks, taking projects home with me, but I was so fed up, I gave myself the weekend off. Hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the butt.

Next few weekends are jumping...must make a list:

4/5 - Tosh.0 tour in Austin
4/8 - Easter with the familia
4/14 - cousin's bridal shower
4/20-22 - weekend in Corpus (hopefully)
5/5-6 - weekend with Nay-nay (tentative)

The list goes on and on, but I'm getting tired thinking about it, LOL...

Current Mood: chipper

Work continues to be ridiculously busy. I don't mind, but it does seem kind of pointless - in a company of this size, hundreds of projects get kicked off, only a few are ever completed 100%, and of those, even fewer have serious benefit. Seems like a lot of wasted time to me, but what the Hell do I know?

So, instead of blathering on and on about that twaddle, I give you: DREAM VACATIONS! Yes, I have many places I wish to visit and only a handful of them are financially possible right now (and let's face it, the grand ones are only happening if I win the lottery). So let's start with a biggie. Bora Bora!!! I would love to stay in one of those huts right on the water, with the glass floors and the stairways that sink into the clear blue water...

Current Mood: full

We've had Netflix for 3 days and already JP is hooked. I shouldn't have started him on the strong stuff, letting him do his own searches and signing in on his PS3. I'm not much better, with my 11-part miniseries on the British monarchy, but I've had Netflix before. I can handle it. I can quit any time I want.

I did finally watch North & South, the BBC miniseries that I've heard so much about. And while it was a bit melodramatic (people dropping like flies, family members on the lamb, and every single man in love with the same woman), I LOVED IT! Mainly because of him:

Love the character of John Thornton. Imagine Mr. Darcy as a tradesman. Hubba, hubba. I'm such a sucker you guys, I kid you not.

Current Mood: tired

Ooooooh....

Can't wait for live action Kenshin! I am riding such an anime nostalgia lately. I want to re-watch all the series that brought me back to anime as an adult - Sailor Moon, Kenshin, Esca, Bebop, Fushigi Yuugi. ^_______^

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: sobakasu - judy and mary

I closed on my refi - the notary told me that I picked a good time to refi because the rates are going back up. Lucky! Hopefully, I can save up some fundage to fix a couple things around here and take a couple of vacays later in the year. Also, by this time next month I plan on having my last remaining credit card paid off.

Everything's coming up Milhouse!

I have this little pocket of happiness that I wish I could seal up and save for later.

Next week, everyone and their mother is gone from the office for Spring Break, which is fine by me. Sweet freedom!

In not terrific news, my older brother was admitted to the hospital two separate times over the past week and a half. They want to do a procedure on him, but it's complicated because he is on so many different meds. All we can do is hope for the best.

Also, my poor little Jeep is still having some problems so I had to call the service center and chide them for not fixing it. They were very nice and offered to take me right away, but I am slightly grumpy about the whole thing.

I'm contemplating on doing Netflix again, just the streaming. Most of our evenings in Yuma consisted of a cold 30-pack and watching whatever was in the Kid's queue. We watched the entire Kennedy mini-series in one night! It was pretty good, although methinks it was a little loose with the facts.

And finally, for some reason I am still watching American Idol. Phil Phillips (I know, poor kid) is adorable. Love him. Heejun is darling, too...but I'm not digging the singing. Sorry, Heejun.

Current Mood: optimistic
Current Music: my only love on repeat like a mofo!

Happy 20th anniversary, anime Sailor Moon! Everyone seems to hate Usagi, but I love a girl who loves to eat! LOL...

Memories of watching anime from this time frame just make me so damn happy. Holler, cel folk from back in the day!!! *hugs*

Current Mood: nostalgic
Current Music: my only love (you know you love that song)

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melcreada

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February 2018

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You're so Vain, You Probably Think this LJ is About You

Come for the bitching, stay for the pointless rambling

Recent Entries

I'm alive!

Yay!

Movies, movies, movies (no spoilers)

Happy Father's Day!

Shakespeare hangover

Where the Hell did the weekend go?!

Go it, Charlie!

Wow, something to report (kinda)

Oh, the inhumanity...

Healthy Me!

Yay, purpose!

I am sad about Dick Clark...I used to love watching AB

Blast from the past!

Nothing new to report...

May the Bard be with you!

Yes, I have nothing else going on right now...

Daylight Savings is kicking my ass

Battousai

Good news, everyone!

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