august 2011

this sunday was a productive one. i rounded up my fiance's mom, dad, and sister (my side of the family couldn't go...boo!) to go with us to a potential restaurant where my wedding reception will be held. if you're not familiar with chinese wedding banquets, think of gaudy gold, huge double happiness chinese characters, golden phoenix and dragon decorations, and lots and lots of red paint which makes for a cheesy fobolicious time. i have no probs with that since i'm such a fobmonster myself, but if i can find a hybrid venue that serves the banquet food, but looks less fob and more mod, then i'd pick that one hands down! trust me when i say that venues like these are hard to come by!

anyways, i think i've found the place! they were closed down for a bit for remodeling (per my future mil's intel) but recently reopened the exact same way it was before...perhaps the economy socked them a big one as well. anyways, i'm pretty sure this is the place i want (plus the fact that i don't really care to look some more...yup, no bridezilla here). it satisfies the not so fob requirement that i wanted in the decor, but now, it'll have to pass the food test as well, being the pudgy roaming belly that i am :) both sides of our family will have to go back to try the banquet style meal (a whopping 10 courses! burp...) before my fiance and i can decide....to be continued.

a look at their historic tree.

staycation!

what a great, great saturday it is! the day is warm and the sun is glorious! and what am i doing but sitting at home and blogging? but in my defense, i just ran back into the house and am taking a breaky cuz i was in my wee garden pulling up weeds for a bit and got a little too burnt and smelly for my tastes...and besides.....*drumroll please....* i'm going to be on a 6 week staycation! yes!! love it!!!! one of the mucho fabulous perks of being a teacher. so although this is a glorious saturday and i kinda "wasted it," i'll have like 41 more of them to go so day in, or day out, i have days to burn baby! even though i still have a lot of work to do for my 2nd to last semester of my masters classwork, i am playing the procrastinator for now and will enjoy a day of pure relaxation. perhaps my fiance and i can go catch alice in wonderland...FINALLY.

and of course, staycation means i can blog more. so yes, another lovely breaky and a wonderful creme brulee cheesecake to start it all off....forget what i said about trying to lose weight :)

oh ruby :)

a friend once asked me if i remembered THE moment in which i knew that my fiance was "the one." do you? i responded with, "it wasn't ONE moment per se, but a series of moments that made it clear for me that he is the guy for me." how ironic then that one of those moments involved a chanel.

so to give you some background, if you've read some of my past blog entries, you might be aware that i've lusted after chanels since 2007. i even made a mention that "i would want to buy a black one to be practical, BUT i would also want to buy a red one out of LOVE. *tisk, tisk*"

well, since christmas of LAST YEAR (talk about holding out! muhhahhahaha) i've had my red chanel...everybody, i'd like you to meet RUBY, my newest and LAST chanel (i promise!!!).

ruby, you're gorgeous!

at the time that it came out for the 2009 cruise collection, ruby's color was the first red to come out in a long time in caviar leather (any chanel experts out there can correct me if i'm wrong). this red came out with a lot of buzz and you had to make sure that you knew a s.a. somewhere so they could lay dibs for you. since i knew a few s.a.'s in different places, when it came out, one of them in vegas called me and my finace (boyfriend at the time) actually OFFERED to drive me to the chanel boutique there so i can see it for myself and pick it up. omg, i thought that was so nice of him! i think most men would have rolled their eyes and told me to shut up, especially after only 2 MONTHS of dating! what a keeper right?!

so he drove me there and i went through my uber picky process of picking the best ruby of the bunch and i did. i brought her home and have enjoyed her gorgeousness since then.

my ass shot cuz you know you like it.

so a year later, chanel came out with ANOTHER red in their 2010 collection which is a much truer red than my ruby which has a darker, burgundy undertone (i kinda think that was their way of increasing sales cuz the economy was tanking by then and red was always an elusive chanel color). the 2010 red is HOT and wasn't available at chanel boutiques. you had to procur one at neiman's or saks if you had a hook up there. but at that point i already had decided to STOP. i think you can ALWAYS try to find a bigger and better one to top what you have, but the whole point is to know when enough is enough. so what i'm saying is, i think ruby is the bestest and she will grow old with me like all my other bags. her red color is elegant and fits my wardrobe color to the tee and you'll probably fall in love with her just like how i fell in love with her when you see ruby.

folks, i'm finally DONE with chanel i think. come on now, look at what i've already amassed. besides, i have a newfound obsession for jewelry since getting my engagement ring...hahhaha. it never ends, does it? as always, to be continued......

my secret ssshhhhhanel

muhahhahahhaahahhaha!

girl scouts blamed for obese america

every year when girl scouts cookies are made available to the general public, i get a crazed look in my eyes and i foam at the mouth a little. it's a pavlovian response that started back in college when i saw these cute little girl scouts pimping their cookie wares on bruin walk at ucla. at the time, i only picked up a box. talk about restraint.

over the years, that one box grew to become two, or three, and one year, i even freaked myself out by buying five! holy crap! although i didn't consume all five boxes on my own, it would be a lie for me to say that i didn't consume most of it. my serious weakness were the somoas UNTIL i finally realized how many calories there were in just one!!! even though the other girl scouts cookies are just as bad, they are not as addictive as the somoas so i've stopped buying them completely. dude, just helping the crack addict here by removing the crack.

this year, i ordered three boxes, one tagalongs (to try) and two boxes of thin mints since my sister loves them, too. the tagalongs are not drool worthy so i'll tell my dear fiance to take the leftover to work and i'm sure they'll be gone in seconds. the thin mints will require no help in consuming because my sister eats them like chips.

BUT if there's any left over, thin mints taste best when they are frozen. i'll try to snatch a roll of them and put them in the freezer before my sis polishes it all off. but then again, maybe it's not a bad idea to distribute the fat girl scouts ass to her this year since i'm SUPPOSE to make better eating choices right now. have i? nope.

so loverly

on the last day of school before our three day weekend, the whole school celebrated valentine's day on friday, 2 days before the actual love event. every year, i get some chocolates and flowers from my students.

but this year was especially sweet because my student sergio just plain stole my heart. he said, "ms. bagnatic, this is for you." it was a huge box of rocher chocolates (which my sister promptly demolished when i brought them home).

AND then he said/did possibly the sweetest and most thoughtful thing ever. he said, "and ms. bagnatic, this one is for charlie." omg, he got charlie a chew bone!! i was floored how thoughtful he was and i told him "charlie is such a lucky dog! he is going to take this bone and run to a corner and chew it and he only does that with his favorite things." i guess all the stories i told them about charlie when i used him as an example to teach my students about different concepts really "hooked" them in. i'm just amazed more than anything else. and yes, charlie demolished that bone.

another student who told me every day of the week that she will bring me something because she said she pestered her mom incessantly and her mom had agreed, ended up not bringing me anything. OF COURSE i didn't expect gifts, but it never ceases to amaze me the things parents tell their children just to shut them up. of course they forget their children are little human beings and will remember promises as much as the next person, if not more vividly. well, on that friday, she kept apologizing to me because she couldn't deliver and it just made me feel bad to see that SHE felt bad, kwim? i don't ever need anything from my students other than their effort and willingness to learn. throughout the year, she's given me that and that's all that matters to me. as they were putting away their backpacks, i see her digging into hers and she offers me her own gifts, erasers and a mini notebook that was probably for her own use. she insisted that i keep them because she really wanted to give me something.

now THAT is sweet. all these little things reminded me of my 3rd/4th grade teacher ms. tang. omg, i LOVED her so much and i always made my dad take me to kmart or a drugstore to get her gifts for the holidays because i just wanted to GIVE her something even though we didn't have much. at that time, that was the best way i knew how to show her my adoration. i'm not saying my students adore me, but it tickled me to no end remembering how hard it was at the beginning, and how far they've come along. my god they've blossomed so much, as learners and good little human beings!

it's not the presents but the thoughtfulness that my students show me that reminds me why teaching is an awesome profession. even with the threats of another slew of cuts in the budget, i know that for as long as i've taught, i've had a hand in churning out some amazing learners, and YES, i will take my share of the credit in that.

i hope you all have a lovely valentine's. love and peace! smooches, bagnatic ;)

the pedometress

i'm still fat, but now i'm a fat girl with a pedometer. check this out!

i know the best weight loss solution is to reduce caloric intake and to go to the gym to work out, maybe run about in the open air like an antelope, or just doing SOMETHING....ANYTHING active. but after reflecting upon my hodge podge schedule, i also know the best solution will have to fit into what i already do on a daily basis if i want to see a small measure of success rather than complete failure. since i walk anyways (pacing around like a nazi teacher making sure kids do their work), i'm thinking i can just "up" the pacing a bit and see if i can clock in the 10,000 steps that are needed on a daily basis. mind you, i've read that 10,000 steps a day is a SLOW ASS way of addressing weight loss, but surely it's a step up from blogging and dreaming about chocolate donuts don't you think?

anyways, i tried it for a day and clocked in over 10,000 steps. i admit, i was aware of it so i paced a lot more than i normally would have. example, walking around my students several times to check on the same question. unneccesary? you bet. then you think about the tons of people that have office jobs that drive to work (getting the closest parking spot of course), then heading straight for their office chair just to sit in front of their computer THE WHOLE DAY. i wonder if they can clock in 10,000 steps a day without having to do extra?

here's my first day with the ped. the weekend was definitely NOT as productive (sunday in particular) since i cleaned and weeded for a large part of it. no walking involved with those kinds of chores. i'll check in again in about six months (8/7/10) and tell you if it worked or not or if the chocolate donuts got the best of me.