I am still alive..

It's been a busy two months. I've been meaning to post a new entry, but I got lazy and didn't. Oops. My bad. But to be honest, I've been pretty busy. School and work have taken up most of my time; by the time I get home, all I want to do is lie down and sleep. Sleep is good. I can never get enough of it. In fact, I wish I could be sleeping right now. But these papers aren't going to write themselves... so let me put it off a little longer and finish this blog post... I clearly know my priorities. 

I'm currently experiencing a bit of writer's block (hence why I am struggling with my paper), so I will just post a few pictures of what's been going on these last two months. 

 Currently:

Avocado shake

I've only had avocado in sushi and guacamole form so when I saw this recipe (located here) for an avocado shake, I was curious to try it out. I'm not the biggest fan of avocado, but I like it enough. It was a very simple recipe and the shake was pretty good. It's very creamy and thick. The recipe I used is for one shake, but for some reason, I always end up with more. Next time though, I'm going to halve the recipe because it got to be too much for me half way through. 

I took these pictures with my iPhone. Not bad, eh? I touched them up a little bit with my Camera+ app. 

If you're a fan of avocados, try out the recipe for the shack! The flavors are subtle and yummy. It's definitely not yo momma's shake! 

The month of August!

Can you believe that summer is almost over?

August has been/is a busy month for me. Last Saturday (technically, it wasn't August, but close enough), Dan, Oronde and I went to Jordan's Lobster Dock for some awesome seafood.

And we finally saw the last Harry Potter film! I can't believe it's all over. Harry Potter was such a big part of my adolescence and I'm sad it's over. I think I was more sad when the last book came out though. The movies were good, but I really loved the books. I've reread every single one multiple times. I'm going to miss it for sure.

On Monday, I went out to dinner with two girlfriends from college, Steph and Vicky. We went to this place called Apiary and it was lovely! I'm so good at choosing awesome restaurants. Harhar. I brought my camera out with me because I haven't taken it out with me in a while. Not to mention, I just love taking food shots. I'm such a foodie wannabe. I would love love love to be a food photographer. I think that would be my dream job. Or maybe a food critic... so I can stuff my face with delicious food. Nom nom nom.

We went with the prix fixe summer restaurant week menu (NYC has a two week long restaurant week where participating restaurants offer prix fixe menus for lunch and dinner so that it is more affordable and accessible to people who want to try new restaurants). Restaurant week is usually in mid-July, but it was extended to September 5th, so lucky us!

The food was really good and I loved the decor of the restaurant (I didn't take any pictures of the restaurant itself...)! I would definitely go back there because they offer their own prix-fixe menu on Tuesdays - Thursdays and Sundays. I started off with the chilled corn veloute. It was lovely and very fresh tasting. The soup had a slight smoky flavor to it because of the chorizo oil. Yum! For my entree, I had the confit of duck leg with a parsnip puree, caramelized endives with a cherry jus. The duck was tender and came right off the bone. Mmm'mm good. And for dessert, I ordered the vanilla panna cotta with a raspberry coulis. I really liked it; you can see the vanilla beans in the panna cotta! The raspberry coulis was tart and complemented the panna cotta nicely. The service was excellent. We stayed there for two and a half hours, eating and chatting. We definitely need to have dinner dates like this more often.

Both Steph and Vicky ordered the Apiary green salad (not pictured) as their appetizers; they said the dressing was delicious. For the entree, they ordered the roasted organic chicken with a potato puree, garlic confit and english peas. I tried a little bit and it was moist, tender and flavorful! I'm often weary of ordering chicken in restaurants because I'm afraid it will be dry and lacking in flavor, but Apiary definitely knows how to do their chicken right. And for the last course, they both ordered the blackberry financier. It is a cake made from almond flour and it was bangin'. I tried a piece of Steph's and I looooved the crispy edge of the cake. It was warm and moist. Perfect ending to a wonderful meal.

Needless to say, all three of us cleaned our plates. I can't wait for our next brunch/lunch/dinner installment!

Summer session is ending this week. Six weeks of math classes passed by so fast...! I have two finals and three math lesson plans to hand in by the end of the week. After that's all over with, I'll be doing some traveling! Going to Rochester this coming weekend and then I'm going down to Virginia for a wedding the weekend of the 27th. It's going to be busy, but fun! Lots of driving and catching up with friends :)

Happy August! 

Shattered...

I went bowling again this past Saturday, just Dan and I. I think we bowled a total of 12 games in 3 hours. Maybe more, maybe less. We lost track. I'm proud to say that I am much more confident about my bowling form! It feels so much more natural now than it did last weekend. What can I say? Dan is a good teacher :) 

Anyhoo...

I bought a bottle of OPI Black Shatter about a month ago and finally had the chance to use it this past weekend! Please excuse the black spots on my skin. I'm not very good at doing my nails. And to top it off, I'm a lefty and I always have trouble painting my nails with my right hand. Also, my fingers look all claw-like. Roar. But fingers aside, I like the way the OPI Shatter gives an edgy feel to my nails. I wanted the shatter look to be obvious so I put on two coats of white nail polish underneath the black shatter. 

I used Essie's Picket Fence for my two first coats. I like the way this white color came out. It wasn't too white, but it was white enough that the color wasn't translucent when I put it on. Results: I like! I'm going to use some other colors for the bottom two coats next time.

It rained today! Looks like my plea for rain in my last post worked, muahah. Finally, some relief from the recent scorcher. I just hope it will stay this way for the rest of the week...

The sun is hot in the sky, just like a giant spotlight.

This heat wave is serious business. I got this picture off the Weather Channel website. Isn't it CRAZY? The U.S. looks like it's on fire! The entire country is going through a ridiculous heat wave. We're all suffering together. Sigh. I have never wished for cooling rain so much than right now. Rain, rain, please come this way! 

After writing up my entry yesterday (I'm trying really hard to be diligent about updating this blog! I want to be able to look back one day and remember exactly what I did because I wrote (read: typed) it all down), I showered, washed my face and slathered on this deep pore cleansing masque by Kiehl's. I love Kiehl's products. They are the bomb diggity. One of my favorite products by Kiehl's is their eye makeup remover lotion. With a name like "Supremely Gentle Eye Makeup Remover", it definitely lives up to its name. But anyway, back to the clay masque. It is a grayish color and has a cool feel when you put it on your face. I usually leave it on for 15-20 minutes, though I've left it on longer because I lost track of time. There's a slight tingling sensation; that's how I know it's working! After 15 minutes, I wash it off and then follow my regular nighttime skincare routine. I always feel so clean and refreshed after doing this masque. If you're looking to purchase a clay masque, I'd recommend this one. It's on the expensive side ($25), but I think it's a good investment because it'll last you a while and it helps to purify your skin and minimize your pores (with regular use; 1-2 times a week). 

If you notice, the pictures in this post are a bit nicer than the ones in my previous ones ;) I am trying to utilize my DSLR instead of relying on my phone all the time. It's been nearly two years since I purchased my Nikon for my semester in China. When I first bought it, I took my camera with me everywhere. It was my baby. I was in love. You would literally have to pry it out of my hands. I was obsessed with taking pictures.

Now... not so much. After I came back from China, I started up my 365 self portrait project so that I could learn more about photography. But, that was also my last semester of college so I got really caught up in enjoying senior year. I've become very lazy about bringing my camera with me everywhere. It's heavy yo. I've even gotten lazy about just taking pictures. I'm the worst. BUT! I'm trying to take more pictures, whether it be with my DSLR or my point-and-shoot or even my phone. Phone pictures are better than no pictures. If you look through my iPhoto, you can see how the number of pictures has dropped in the recent years. It makes me sad to see that.

Here's a picture of today's lunch: plain yogurt, Special K: Vanilla Almond, strawberries and bananas. Yum! Much better than what I had yesterday. I love mixing yogurt and cereal together. I picked up the habit in college from Dan. The first time I saw him do it, I thought it was kind of weird, but I quickly changed my mind after I had a spoonful of his cereal and yogurt.

It's almost the weekend! I'm going bowling again this weekend with Dan, hahaha. I just can't get enough. My legs are going to be getting another workout. I want to perfect my form and work on my aiming. That is my goal for this weekend. That, and studying for my midterm on Monday... eep.