Laurnesto does Vegas

A few weeks ago, our friends Ernesto and Laura were both going to be in Phoenix and we really wanted to be there, but we couldn't make it happen. Luckily, Chris was able to join them in Vegas a couple days later ... but since Chris never writes blogs anymore, Laura agreed to write a guest blog. Enjoy!

So Ernesto, my cousin Eddie and my friend Nikki made a short but very sweet trip to Vegas to feed our (or mine mostly) Vegas itch. Short is an understatement as we were there for just about 24 hours. So the question was how much trouble could we get into in such a short amount of time. After a long car ride that consisted of a lot of “ would you rather” (in which we all learned a little bit more about each other) and lots of pictures of the new Hoover Dam bridge we arrived.

So we had a crazy fun night of boozing and gambling.When we woke up the next morning Ernesto was missing, there was a tiger in the bathroom, Chris was missing a tooth......oh wait I am thinking of a different trip to Vegas.

Ours was not as crazy as the Hangover, the highlight of the night was when I sat next to a fun old lady who helped me play Pai Gow Poker. After I was up $100 dollars, she said to me, “raise your bet el cheapo.”

The rest of the night consisted of some dancing in a bar, me outlasting everyone, then everyone thinking I got lost when I was just out gambling still, taking a short nap, getting breakfast at noon at Denny’s,a little bit more gambling and a very long car ride home.

In other news Ernesto and I got engaged 2 days earlier, if you know who we are or just want to see something that might make you cry in a good way, check out this video.

Miguel's Meat Cake!

Guest blog brought to you by Tammy's sister Marina:

I love to bake. As you can tell by Tammy's posts, it's somewhat of a family trait. But the problem is Miguel has more of a savory tooth than a sweet tooth. So this year for his birthday I thought I would try to make something that he would enjoy eating as much as I would enjoy baking it. A friend of mine had the solution - a meat cake! It was perfect, I found a good recipe online, and got started.

6 lbs of meet, prepped and ready to bake

cooked and cooling, tops cut off

filled with gravy made from the drippings

(the recipe called for ketchup glaze but I thought gravy would look and taste better)

some boxed mashed potatoes and a little food coloring...

and ta-da - it's a cake!

Happy Birthday Miguel!

Guess what!? It's meat!

I knew it was a smashing success when Miguel tasted it and said, "this is the best cake I've ever eaten."

A Tale of Two Vegas Trips: Part I - The Ned's Reunion (by guest blogger Marina)

When Tammy and I realized we would be visiting Vegas only one week apart we thought it would be fun to both share our stories on her blog. I can't speak for Tam, but I personally had an amazing time on my trip. It was my first trip to Vegas and one of the funnest weekends of my life. There are so many things to say and so many pictures to share that I don't know how to fit it all in, but I'll try.

Enjoy!

Ned's is a bookstore in Berkeley where I worked in college and where Miguel and I first met. We had so many amazing friends and memories there that when our friend J.R. suggested a reunion in Vegas over his birthday weekend we jumped at the chance. Lucky for all of us, J.R.'s parents have retired to Vegas recently and they helped to make our trip unforgettable. We got to our suite on Thursday night to find it fully stocked:

We started off the night getting reacquainted, waiting for the rest of the Nedlings to arrive, and anxiously awaiting the surprise J.R. had promised.

Once Jeanette arrived, having narrowly escaped a NY blizzard, we finally got to open our surprise... matching onesies!!!

By this point we were anxious to see the sights and hit the strip at about 1am.

Nedlings in Paris

After playing some slots and enjoying an early morning meal, we returned to the room to relax in the onesies:

Blaire and J.R. working the Onesies.

The next morning was J.R.'s birthday and his parents brought over a huge Phillipino lunch with enough left overs to last the weekend and then some.

Afterwords, we got back into our onesies, headed down to the lobby (attracting quite a lot of looks and comments) to wait for the last of us to arrive.

Steve is finally here!!!

We couldn't stay in pajamas forever, so that night we got dressed up to hit the town.

The girls

The boys

We saw some sights...

Did some dancing...

Sara takes it all in...

And made some new friends...

The next day we slept in, lounged around in the hot tub and got ready to EAT.

Spice Market Buffet

After a little digesting, we got dressed up again to head out to Tao, where J.R.'s cousin got us on the guest list and Kim Kardashian was having a party for the release of her new perfume.

Tao

We didn't get to see Kim, but we had a great time...

Taking advantage of free vodka for the ladies

Posed with Tao's famous Buddhas...

And got our groove on...

After leaving Tao, we decided to take it down a notch and headed into old downtown Vegas to play at the Golden Nugget.

J.R. tries to hit it big

Miguel, Katie, and Jeanette fishing for cash

"Enjoying" the local cuisine

Mingling with the locals

The next morning, we saw some more of the sights...

Me and the King
and one-by-one said goodbye to our friends.

Lucky for me and Miguel, J.R.'s parents got us a room for our last night, where we enjoyed our amazing view...

helped ourselves to some room service...

and rested up for our last morning in Vegas.

Before boarding the plane, we played some more games (this time we actually won something).

And finally, left Vegas with heavy hearts, but a lot of great memories and exciting new plans...

New Orleans 2012???

Guest Blog: Run for your life

Hello readers! Here is Julia's new guest blog, running tips - as promised!

I went for my first run last week. I was outfitted with my sparkly new shoes ...

... and picked a beautiful day to go out.

I had previously read up on a few "beginning running plans" online and had talked to my former P.E. teacher so I felt plenty prepared to start.

I found that some of the running plans out there pre-suppose that you can go bang out a 1.5 to 3-mile run right out of the gates. To those people I say ... what do you need a running plan for? My first tip: Don't pressure yourself at the start. Go slow. I found that the more I made myself feel I needed to accomplish a certain time goal, or a distance goal, the more pressure I felt and the less I wanted to go. I found a plan online for beginners that will slowly work you up to a full thirty minutes of running without stopping. I have modified the plan for my own use, so feel tree to adjust the times up or down depending on your fitness levels. Because I'm a lawyer, I have to remind you to consult a doctor before starting a running plan so none of you run out, overexert yourselves and then sue me later. I'm just protecting us both, you know? Here's the unmodified plan:

• Week 1: Walk for six (6) minutes, jog for one (1) minute. Repeat three (3) times. Aim for three (3) times per week.
  
• Week 2: Walk for five (5) minutes, jog for two (2) minutes. Repeat three (3) times. Aim for three (3) times per week.


• Week 3: Walk for three (3) minutes, jog for four (4) minutes. Repeat four (4) times. Aim for four (4) times per week.


• Week 4: Walk for two (2) minutes, jog for five (5) minutes. Repeat four (4) times. Aim for four (4) times per week.


• Week 5: Walk for two (2) minutes, jog for eight (8) minutes. Repeat three (3) times. Aim for four (4) times per week.
  
• Week 6: Walk for two (2) minutes, jog for nine (9) minutes. Repeat three (3) times. Aim for four (4) times per week.
  
• Week 7: Walk for one (1) minute, jog for eleven (11) minutes. Repeat three (3) times. Aim for four (4) times per week.


• Week 8: Run 1 of week 8: Walk 5 minutes, jog 20 minutes, walk 5 minutes. Run 2 of week 8: Walk 5 minutes, jog 20 minutes, walk 5 minutes. Run 3 of week 8: Walk 1 minute, jog 30 minutes. Run 4 of week 8: Walk 1 minute, jog 30 minutes.

While I am still new at this, I have come up with a few tips for those of you who are interested in starting a new running program or just want to try and get out and be a little more active. Here is what I found helpful:

1. If you are running, don't listen to those people who told you to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth - it's an urban myth! I looked this up and, as my lungs suspected, breathing through your nose doesn't give you enough oxygen. Breathe through your mouth.

2. Keep a running log. If you are into list and check marks and stickers, this is the tool for you. I like to see my goal all typed out, so I can ceremoniously mark something off and feel proud about it.

3. Find a visual inspiration, whether it's a picture of yourself in great shape, or a picture of someone whose shape you admire. I took the latter route and picked a few photos of Drew Barrymore. My friend Heather tells me I remind her of Drew Barrymore shape-wise, and since she lost 20 pounds a few years ago, I like to keep pictures of her as inspiration. See her cuteness!

4. Find time to fit it in. I know you are busy, or busy being lazy (like me) and mainly really don't have the energy to exercise (otherwise you wouldn't be reading this silly post about running!) My amazing cousin Daelene has two young girls, a full-time job, a husband, a home and a large extended family to fill her days. I saw her this last weekend and she is training for a triathlon! I asked her how she found the time to go, and the long and the short of it is she just makes the time. To get motivated, she focuses on a competitive goal, instead of just working out for working out sake. Instead of waking up super early (which she hates) or going after work (and cutting into her family time) she pops into the gym at lunch. She works out for about an hour, brings cleansing cloths to clean up, fluffs her hair under a dryer, and goes back to work. She clearly sees the value in focusing on herself and her goals, and makes fitness a priority. Along with Drew, she is my new inspiration!

5. Don't spend all your time preparing to run, researching running and creating logs about your running. Go running! This is really my worst habit: I like to read a lot about the subject, know a lot, do little preparatory things like getting shoes and fill water bottles, and then I run out of steam or interest and just don't do it. If reading your way thin was a possibility, I would be Nicole Richie by now. Obviously you have to go out and actually do the thing you've been preparing for. And that's what I'm going out to do now. Wish me luck!

Would you like to write a guest post? E-mail me and let me know!

Guest Blog: Marina, on life in D.C.

Hello everyone, here is my sister Marina's guest blog all about living in D.C. Enjoy!

When we moved to Washington, D.C., about a year and a half ago I had no idea what to expect. I had only been here once before, in high school for a leadership conference. On that trip I was shuttled around in a bus from monument to monument, event to event, and had a very limited conception of what the city was actually like. After we moved back from Beirut and Miguel came to visit a friend here for a couple weeks and had a great time, and a former roommate of ours offered to let us move in to his family's townhouse in a sub-suburb, we decided that it sounded ideal - cheap rent, tons of jobs related to the Middle East, an exciting new move!

Once we arrived - in the dead of winter - we realized that maybe our new move was not as exciting as we had told ourselves. Still adjusting to being in the U.S. after 2 amazing years away we found ourselves isolated in D.C. with no jobs, a less than ideal home life, and very few friends or acquaintances. As we began to settle in we found D.C. to be cold, not just the frigid temperatures, but the people. I guess we should have expected that one of the world's biggest seats of power would draw certain types of people - hyper-competitive, judgemental, networking, calculating. It seemed like everywhere we went out and met new people the first question out of every one's mouth was "what do you do?" And if our answers were not satisfactory, which they never were (Miguel - "I work at Kramer Books." Marina "I work at a small human rights non-profit.") the person talking would immediately turn their attention somewhere else. For two people who had always taken pride in the fact that we made friends with diverse groups of people and were able bridge a lot of gaps, this was especially harsh. We would share our frustrations with other people and the response was always the same - you just need to find a good group of friends and you'll like it here. Wah? That just means you like your friends, not that you like this city.

Usually when I move to a new place spring time is when it all turns around - the sun comes out, and I start to feel at home and comfortable with my surroundings. I remember the exact moment I had this feeling in Berkeley, and then in Beirut, but that first spring here it never happened. Part of me blames it on the fact that we live far away, or that we don't really like our jobs, or that we never have enough money. But I still have the sense that if all of those things were remedied there would still be something missing, something about the culture here that we just don't connect to. You rarely meet people from here, and when you do they are often bitter about the way people move into D.C. and use it for their own purposes and move away. You rarely see neighborhoods where people have been there for generations or old people sitting outside. And you rarely see acts of compassion between two people (I saw my first genuine act of kindness on the metro the other day when a younger man helped an older man with a cane up the stairs with his bag, not a good statistic after a year of riding the train).

But although we dream of moving away, and have started to put out some feelers in other places, we are slowly beginning to feel at least that we live here and are making the best of it. We have some good friends, and more that come into town for visits; we are becoming more familiar with neighborhoods and restaurants and bars that we like; we are enjoying spring by going for more walks and bike rides. And the other day I came close to having that moment of happiness about where I live when I went down to the National Mall to play softball and realized our field was directly in front of the Washington Monument with the White House in the immediate distance. I felt incredibly lucky to be able to look on these sights whenever I want and decided right then to be more appreciative of the unique things this city does have to offer. For the remainder of our time here, however long it is, I will try to hold onto that lesson.

Guest Blog: Introducing Julia

Hello dear readers, here is our first guest blog post as promised, written by our friend Julia. We had some technical issues here at HQ and so if there are any editing errors, we promise it is all our fault and not hers.

Hi everyone, my name is Julia and just to set the record straight, I am no longer wearing the 1980s shell-pink Sally Jesse Raphael glasses.

Don't try to act like those glasses weren't awesome at the time - I was so on top of my fashion people!

Anyways, recently I was having this deep philosophical conversation with my friend Laura about our collective feelings of self-dissatisfaction. Despite our otherwise happy homes (jobs we like, supportive families, two fantastic husbands, one great cat) we were both feeling kind of blah and disorganized. Laura was lamenting how much she hates putting away the laundry; I admitted I could barely recall the last time I had a haircut. Despite sporadic attempts at fitness, neither one of us has yet to achieve a "nautalis body" (although Laura is far further along on this goal, having run two half-marathons).

Further, neither one of us has whipped up a fantastic dinner party since back when Britney Spears was still a virgin (or so she claimed). We are smart girls - and avid women's magazine readers! - and are therefore well aware of exactly what we should be doing to be healthy, organized, confident girls-about-town. We read the articles: "Declutter your life!" "10 steps to easy weight loss" "Make it yourself ... for less" "Put yourself back on your to-do list." We know we should take our vitamins, wear sunscreen, eat walnuts (the omega-3s!) wash the dishes before bed, exercise three times a week, bake cakes (the cake I should be making) host cocktail parties and take the aforementioned fantastic husbands out on creative (and sexy) date nights at least once a week.

So why, we wondered, do we routinely find ourselves coming home exhausted, eating cereal, glancing sideways at our mounting piles of laundry and our scraggly hair and crashing in front of the TV? Neither one of us has kids, so why weren't we spending our child-free years pouring time and attention into ourselves? Here we are, young, minxy and carefree and we're blowing it! Why?

While I could delve into all the many layers of biology and social programming and Family Circle cartoons that might answer this questions for us, I have decided that, for me, the reason is sheer laziness. In January, Oprah admitted at length all the ways in which she had failed to put herself on her own to-do list.


I realize that I have done the same. In the last year and a half, I have done a lot of things: I took the California bar exam, got married, moved and started my own business. While this may be all in a days work for some of you (I'm looking at you, Martha Stewart!), this was a lot for me. I think somewhere in the mix, I lost my focus - I almost totally forgot that I like to have my toes painted! When I saw Tammy last week, I was telling her how I needed to get it together. I suggested that she have me do a guest-post on her blog as motivation for me to do something that was creative and productive. And so now, here I am - freshly motivated out of my fear of public failure. So, in my little guest posts, I am going to venture to do all those things that Oprah and Real Simple remind me I should be doing. To make my closet look more like this:

and less like this:

(While I don't exactly have a pig in my closet, I have often lost my cat in there)

To dress up like this:

(I could use a little more Grace in my life)

And throw parties that look like this:

Instead of settling for this:



Next post, I will focus on fitness. I will give you my tips on how to start running when you a) hate running, b) are out of shape, and c) ran a blistering 12.5-minute mile in high school! Luckily I live right next to my high school P.E. teacher,who is full of hot running tips! (Editor's note: for my QHS readers, Julia lives next to Mr. Powell, not Mrs. Bissell, in case you were wondering.) Stay tuned ...

Check back next weekend for our next guest blogger, my sister Marina! And don't forget to let us know if you'd like to try your hand at it, too!