good riddance

I hope you can see this 2009, because I'm doing it as hard as I can.

merry christmas!

martha stewart & snoop dogg make "green brownies"

Ok dude I've always loved Martha Stewart, even before her little stint behind bars when she was pretty bitchy (I think prison softened her up a bit). But if I hadn't loved Martha already, last week's episode with guest Snoop Dogg would have made me love her fo' sho'.

Martha is all about rappers and has admitted to having a huge crush on Eminem...she is so friggin' bomb! TICK TICK.


Anyway, Snoop Dogg came on the show and they made brownies together and the segment was HILARIOUS. If for some reason you can't watch the embedded video, check it out on her website: http://www.marthastewart.com/article/baking-and-rapping-with-snoop-dogg



Highlights: Martha asks Snoop to rap while they mix the ingredients and he busts out with: "Trying to bake some brownies but we missing the most important part of the brownies...no sticks, no seeds, no stems" and Martha replies, "Oh, you want green brownies? Brownish-green brownies?" Snoop Dogg: "The greener the better." and then he sorta starts talking about something else and Martha keeps trying to get him to talk about weed brownies some more! Seriously, LOLz all around.

Oh also...if ya'll didn't understand the take home message from yesterday's post it was to NEVER send nude photos to anyone unless you want them to eventually be shared...because it will happen at some point.

life lesson #3

Relationships come and go, but nude pictures of your EX are forever.

not the best day ever

little bear, you'll be in our hearts always

Life is so, so unfair.



All Little Bear wanted to do was love and be loved. He was the happiest, most playful puppy I have ever met in my life. He wasn't just a pet, he was a member of my family and his loss has left holes in all of our hearts. He brought so much joy not just to my sister and family, but to everyone he ever met. I feel lucky that I was able to love him, even though it was so brief.


We held a memorial service today to honor Little Bear's memory. My father dug a huge hole behind a large Oak tree on the walking trail and we put Bear in a casket with his blanket and favorite toys and took turns telling Bear how much we love him and will miss him. Tater Tot and my family's other dog Panda came along as well...and Tater even helped at the conclusion of our little family ceremony by kicking dirt into the hole (though I doubt he was aware he was helping).

Again, if you'd like to donate to the Bear Claw Memorial Fund just click the donate button below (you'll need to click through to my website if you follow me on GoogleReader) to help Twin defer some of the costs of the burial.

I know that no one ever knows what to say to someone who has gone through a tragic loss, but I promise you that all kind words are much appreciated and have really help me and the rest of my family in the grieving process.

for all the kind-hearted pet lovers out there

I have some terrible, terrible news. I actually don't even think I ever had the opportunity to introduce Bear Claw to you all. Bear Claw was born almost four months ago, he was the son of my Pomeranian Tater Tot and Mia, a Pomchi mix owned by a wonderful woman who happened to approach Twin about breeding the two when she was out for a walk with Tater.

Twin was there from the day Bear Claw was born, true she did not physically give birth to him, but for all intents and purposes Bear Claw was her child. She loved him just as much as any mother loves their child, perhaps even more. He was a truly wonderful puppy. He was so full of life and energy that people would literally swarm over to see him when Twin brought him out in public for a walk or a trip to the store.

Tragically, Bear Claw was taken away from her and the rest of my family far too soon. In a dreadful accident, Bear Claw drowned in the pool at my parent's house. I should have been watching him the entire time he was outside but I let him play with the other dogs and checked on him every couple of minutes. I didn't even think the pool was a danger because he never went near it when I was watching him. Anyway, I found him in the pool and jumped in and preformed CPR (they call it "mouth to snout" with dogs). My parents rushed home and my mom continued CPR on the way to the emergency veterinary clinic but he was announced dead on arrival.


Obviously, this is an incredibly sad time for my family, but especially for Twin. For the pet owners/animal lovers out there, I'm sure you know how difficult it is when a pet passes away and this passing is especially difficult because we were given such a short time with Bear Claw. I hope that you all will keep Twin in your thoughts and prayers over the holidays because I know it will be especially difficult without Bear Claw on Christmas, New Year's, and our birthday on the 2nd of January.

My family is completely heartbroken over such a tragic loss of an amazing animal, pet, and friend. Because Bear Claw was like a son to her, Twin plans to have a small memorial service and wants to purchase a small casket as a way of honoring his short time here on earth. He will be buried on my Grammy's ranch. To some, that might seem like an extravagance, but I think it's a beautiful way to honor his memory and I think it will help us all through the grieving process.

If you would like to donate a small amount (.50, $1) to help defer the costs for my sister it would be incredibly appreciated and kind. I've set up a Bear Claw Memorial Fund on Pay Pal and will be accepting donations all week long (and will be mentioning them in each of my posts this week, which will include some of my favorite Bear Claw memories). Of course, any form of support would be amazing, even if it is simply in the form of a kind thought or prayer sent our way.

I hope none of my readers take this as being greedy. I don't expect donations from anyone, I just wanted people to know that if they could spare even a small amount of change to go towards The Bear Claw Memorial Fund it would mean the world to my sister and to me. Thank you all in advance.

do I even need a computer anymore?

Since getting my iPhone I rarely do anything on my actual computer because duh, why would I? Now that I can even blog mobiley...I don't think I'll ever need to leave the couch.

Anyway, this is mostly just to test my handy dandy blogger app and also to share a picture of Tater Tot looking sad and pathetic:

I was gone for six hours and came back to find the little guy stranded on the patio table. Apparently he was brave enough to jump up there, but not brave enough to jump down.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

thx. srsly.

In regards to my last post (and subsequent lack of posting), a Delta Gamma sorority sister lost her fiance in a tragic motorcycle accident last week. Her fiance was a wonderful man and though I didn't know him well, I have many memories of him being around the DG house at Pacific and he was always full of laughs and smiles.

So remember this Thanksgiving to be thankful for the people/things in your life and not just gorge yourself on turnkey. Tater, for instance, is thankful for popcorn. But then again, aren't we all?


Things I'm thankful for (other than popcorn): my mom & dad, the Santinis, family in general, Tater Tot, my BFF, my Jeep Wrangler, Trader Joe's, Bandera's banana cream pie, non-stop flights, Dave Matthews, my great-grandma's quilt, hand written letters, my B in Kentucky, my friends in SF, massages, Matt Damon & Leonardo DiCaprio, my iPhone, the farmer's market, blue skies, and pizza.

What are YOU thankful for?

life is short (but sweet for certain)

Not much in the mood to write anything.

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. The Wonder Years

My heart goes out to my friends and their family members during this sad time. To quote Emily Dickinson, “Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality." XOXO & ITB.

everyone loves a slanket

If she wasn't already my best friend, this post listing things you can do in a slanket would, at the very least, motivate me to begin stalking her on the internet. Not that I think you should stalk her on the internet. Stalking is generally super creepy. But you should add her to your blogroll/reader because she's hilarious and has a subscription to Skymall (I had no idea you could find that magazine outside of an airplane!).

Let the slanketeering begin!

retro living guides: who did it better?

Shock therapy is usually #1 on my to-do list...other than that I totally relate to A Lady's Guide to Throwing a Party.

Favorite line: "Address cats by their full name, but dogs as 'Mr.' and then their dog name. Because cats are girls and dogs are boys."


For Halloween I was Betty Draper, which was more a convenience costume than anything else since I: 1. have a similar hair color/style 2. have a ton of vintage-style dresses 3. love pretending to drink and smoke. Twin went as a cupcake, which was also a convenience costume since she is usually dressed like a cupcake.

DA BEACH.

Tater Tot is hardcore wishing he was back on the beach in Cabo San Lucas working on his tan.

different styles, same ride

ARGH!!! How could I have forgotten my FAVORITE TIME OF THE ENTIRE YEAR?!?!

Ok...it's ok...we're only 12 days into the month. We can still do this. And by "we" I mean all the bros out there.

Because you know what time it is? It's MOVEMBER TIME!!!

Movember rules so hardcore. Last year in Shanghai I went to a Movember celebration with a bunch of Aussies, the creators of the annual month-long celebration of the 'stache.

...oh and it benefits some men's health issues blah blah.

Over the years, the mustache has gotten a lot of criticism. But you know what I have to say to all those 'stache trashers out there? Ya'll are just bitter 'cause you can't grow one. Ya, I said it.

I strongly encourage everyone to participate! After all, it's for a good cause and it's also mighty, mighty fine. On top of all that, I'd like to take a moment to announce that I am an official member of the American Mustache Institute which works at "promoting the rights of, and fighting discrimination against, mustached Americans by promoting the growth, care, and culture of the mustache."

So, do your duty as men, grow a 'stache this month and wear it with pride...like these sexy fellas:

Michael Imperioli (aka Christopher Moltisanti from The Sopranos)
shows us that a retro mustache can be both authoritative and adorable. Yum!

Mustaches are a great complement to "Come hither" eyes
as modeled by James Franco.

Orland Bloom proves there ain't nothin' nasty 'bout a 1970s porno mustachy.

Jude Law demonstrates that like a great pair of wayfarers or a thin scarf,
mustaches are the perfect accessory to any outfit. They also
help in detracting from receding hairlines.

Brad Pitt proves that it is indeed possible for him to
get more attractive than he already was--just add a 'stache and voila!

shut the door. have a seat.

Draper is dreamy, but Sterling is sassy. I like that in a man. Plus, he's totally rockin' the Bill Clinton salt n' pepper hair. With, well, slightly more salt than pepper. But still, I dig.

Pretty decent collection of Sterling's one-liners but I can't believe they left out one of my favorites from this season: "...and now you're sniffing around because I have a golden pork chop dangling from my neck." I'm a vegetarian...but a dangling golden pork chop? Don't think even I could resist that.

mmm, love the taste of a meme in the afternoon

Frank, you're the bomb! TICK TICK.

Five items in my freezer:
1. meatless meatballs
2. French toast
3. one 100-calorie pack thing of guacamole
4. cheese enchiladas
5. black bean burrito (clearly I was craving Mexican food on my last TJ's run)

Five items in the closet: well I officially don't have a closet since all of my stuff was packed into boxes and shoved into my old room...but I'll just go with what I have placed randomly around the main house which has become my "closet"
1. turbie towel (best invention ever)
2. two psychology textbooks
3. a storage container filled with all my purses
4. 3 reusable grocery bags
5. a selection of yoga pants and old college t-shirts

Five items in the car:
1. one green flip flop
2. a miniature bottle of Abercrombie&Fitch perfume from 10th grade
3. six library books from University of the Pacific, all on Chinese cinema (crap! They're overdue, too. Argh.)
4. several unlabeled mix CDs on the back seat
5. emergency supply of hair ties

Five items in my purse:
1. two pairs of sunglasses (aka one pair too many)
2. movie ticket stub for The Hangover on Friday July 3rd at 4:10
3. Trader Joe's Food Pilgrimager newsletter
4. a box of heartworm medication
5. tweezers

super cute packaging

I found this awesome site called box vox...their whole shtick is "packaging as content" aka awesome boxes, wrappers, and cans.

I love when a company spends time on their packaging to make it creative, clever, or gorgeous. I like "gorgeous" packaging for bath & body products because they're often out on display, but overall I'm more of a "clever" packaging fan. Clearly, I need these candies ASAP:

Meow.

blame it on the alcohol

Yesterday was AMAZING!!! My cousin looked absolutely gorgeous, the wedding was beautiful, and the reception was so much fun. A little too much fun, in fact. Needless to say, I spent the last few hours on the bathroom floor rather than on the dance floor.

I can't wait to see the professional photos...here are a couple of my favorite shots of the bride from my crappy little camera:

time for the best day ever!!!

Woah, it's totally surreal to me!

We've been setting up for the past 4 days but it's hard to believe my cousin's wedding is actually here. I wonder how she's feeling this morning, I can't wait to see her in a few hours. I know I'm gonna cry, damn it.

The wedding is going to be so absolutely gorgeous, I hope my camera cooperates and takes some decent photographs. Alright, time to shower and get ready....we probably won't go to bed until this time tomorrow! WOOHOO! <3 parties.

Also love matching my Kate Spade purse to my real life.

school's (not) out

"School? All due respect _____, school is out."

NAME THAT MOVIE! (I left the blank because revealing the character name would've made it too easy)

Even though I'm mostly done with my thesis work...school isn't exactly "out" for me yet. I decided to take two on-line classes in psychology for S&Gs and they've ended up being a ton of work but I'm really enjoying them because I'm actually learning stuff.

Learning stuff. In school. Hmm, imagine that.

Like today I learned that humans spend 1/3 of their lives SLEEPING! Isn't that awesome?! I freaking love sleeping...and plan to go spend some time doing just that. Gotta get my beauty rest for the wedding tomorrow! I'd hate to be the bridesmaid that ruins all the wedding photographs. You know the one I'm talking about. Hate her.

Now for your DDTT:

Keeping with the sleep theme, this is Tater's favorite napping location:
the spot between the window and the couch in the living room. ZzzzZzz.

yo ho yo ho a tater's life for me

Tater (aka Tot Sparrow) gets his cast off on Monday and I'm gonna be honest...I kinda don't want him to. He looks so hilarious when he tries to maneuver around the house with it hanging in the air and when he runs across the slate floor it makes this "thunk thunk thunk" noise, much like I would imagine a peg leg would make if a pirate were running around in my house.

This is him in his ORIGINAL no-thrills cast, but it's essentially
the same now only his new one is much larger and purple.

This morning I left my room holding Tater Tot, two bags full of my make-up and potential wedding rehearsal outfits, four pairs of high heels, and my purse and--just my luck--the house alarm went off (my room is detached from the main house)! So I dropped everything to run to the main house to turn it off before they sent the police and figured it'd be safe to set Tater down since his movement is clearly impeded by his ginormous cast.

Ya. Dumb idea.

He took off like a bat out of hell with his purple cast flailing in the wind. Thankfully I was able to disable the alarm and snag a squeaky toy from Tater's toy drawer in under 30 seconds. Tater's main goal in life is to escape the house (every time he goes outside to go to the bathroom he first checks to see if the gate is open for him to flee to the walking trail sans supervision), but as soon as he hears a squeaky toy he comes right back.

Hmm...this is one of those stories you get three sentences into while you're telling it and you think to yourself "This is the most pointless, boring thing ever why the heck am I repeating it?" and yet, you can't stop. Sorry folks.

we're gonna need a bigger boat

it's a nice week for a white wedding

My cousin is getting married this upcoming weekend!!! I feel like she got engaged just yesterday...it's hard to believe that it's been over a year since her high school sweetheart popped the question.

I was lucky enough to be asked to a part of the special day as a bridesmaid and am going to be helping out the rest of the week with last minute prep stuff. I also clearly did not learn from my last teeth-whitening ordeal and went a little nuts with the bleach last night. Luckily I had the foresight to experiment with appearance-altering substances several days before the wedding, so hopefully the only tears I'm crying come Saturday are tears of joy...not tears of pain from tooth sensitivity.

Her dad (my mom's brother/my uncle) is a peach/almond farmer and completely renovated an old barn on his property that is going to be the site of the reception. It's going to be such a beautiful wedding, I can't wait to post pictures! They had their engagement photographs done during a trip to Louisiana they took earlier this year and they all turned out amazing. Here are two of my favorite shots:


I picked today's DDTT (daily dose of Tater Tot) because he's looking all fancy schmancy and wedding ready in this picture! It was taken right after my graduation ceremony last year and he had just been groomed so he was lookin' hot to trot.

it's beginning to feel a lot like christmas

2009 has FLOWN BY, next thing I know it's going to be Christmas...so I've tried to prepare for that fact and did a bit of Christmas shopping over the weekend. I even picked up a few things for myself, had them wrapped, then told my mom, "Hey I bought myself some gifts from you. You owe me $50. Here they are, sign your name on the card."

Ahhh, being an adult takes a little bit of the magic out of the holiday season, doesn't it? If anyone feels like surprising me, I'd really like these crazy glorious mustache salt and pepper shakers:


I have a bit of a mustache fetish. It's totally in the realm of a healthy obsession, though.

Now for your daily dose of Tater Tot, all dressed up for the holidays:

sephora friends & family sale!

Had to pass along the message! Use code FF2009 at checkout to receive 20% off any item at Sephora.com!! This is an epic deal, and right in time for the holidays...but act fast because it's only good through tomorrow, November 2nd.


Many thanks to Well-Heeled for the heads up (and the picture!).

nablopomo...no, it's not a chronic skin condition

Ain't no ointment or steroid cream available...the only treatment for NaBloPoMo is to post on your blog every. single. day. NaBloPoMo (aka National Blog Posting Month) is an annual blog-based challenge to post on your blog every day for the month of November! The site encourages bloggers to make any month a "NaBloPoMo" month, but November is by far the month with the most blogger participation---you can even win prizes! A big thanks to Andy for reminding me about this!

So all you bloggers out there...hurry up and get writing! Remember to pace yourselves, you have 30 days of this and don't want to burn out mid-way through the challenge.

And now for your daily dose of Tater Tot, which may or may not be a running theme in my contribution to this year's NaBloPoMo:

So sleepy on his drive down to Cabo San Lucas this past April. Zzzz.

Also...I eventually need to make a new header for this blog since I uh, am no longer in China.

merry last day of october!

Happy Halloween from me and this very festive house I snapped in San Francisco Yesterday.


Hope you spent it the right way: hiding out from trick or treaters by turning off all your lights and eating dinner in the dark.

Love & snack size Reese's Peanut Butter cups,
Strawberry

p.s. googlereader

I wish edits made to posts showed up in GoogleReader!! Sorry for the couple of typos in my Tater Tot post...I've had way too much "mind time" today. I'm surprised I was even able to produce semi-coherent sentences. Anyway, corrections were made, ya'll just can't see 'em if you're reading this on Reader.

poor little ball of fluff

Alright, so this isn't a total Debbie Downer post I'll begin by saying that I bought an iPhone two weeks ago (my 5 year old Palm Treo finally kicked the bucket) and it. is. EPIC.

I had no idea how sad and empty my life was without an iPhone until I got an iPhone.

There's so many amazing apps available and the picture quality on the camera is AMAZING. It's hard to tell that they're from a cell phone camera most of the time. I can check my mail, post on Blogger, browse Facebook, get movie times, pay bills online and 72 other things that I have apps for. The only thing the iPhone can't do is cook me breakfast in the morning...and come to think of it, I bet there's an app for that.

Now...onto the Debbie Downer part of the post. Wahhh wahhh wahhhhh.

Sunday morning my little sister's huge dumb dog got in a fight with Tater Tot and in the process of trying to break them apart my mom somehow pushed or tugged or something and Tater Tot's elbow dislocated from the rest of his arm. My parents took him to the emergency vet in town who charged a small fortune to put a very poorly applied splint on him.

I took him to my personal vet today (who is very sexy and very nice and very married, lame) who had to re-do the splint and gave me instructions that he needs to wear it for two weeks and has to be kept in crate and/or closely watched so that he doesn't walk much. He's pretty much only allowed to move to go outside to go potty.


Here he is as we left the vet's office. He's either still doped up on the sedatives they gave him to reposition his elbow and put on a new splint or drooling over McDreamy vet doctor. Errr wait, that's what I was doing, so, ya, he's definitely high on life in this picture.

He's generally okay but he's in a lot of discomfort. He's actually really happy that he gets to spend so much time with me (previously he'd just hang out at my parent's house during the day) and loves that I carry him everywhere. He's such a snuggle bug.

um, quite possibly the best theme park concept EVER

Apparently a company in China is undertaking the daunting task of re-creating the Great Wall and famous terra-cotta warriors...in chocolate. This may not be the #1 greatest idea of all time, but it definitely ranks in the Top Ten.

Love me some giant chocolate!

The chocolate creations are going to be part of an entire THEME PARK DEVOTED TO CHOCOLATE which is set to open in Beijing in January 2010 under the name of "World Chocolate Wonderland." I seriously hope they have a chocolate river.

A chocolate Oriental Pearl building would be way cooler than this!

Chocolate Ben Hur with horses...impressive.

Chinese-made chocolate isn't very tasty, so hopefully they'll be outsourcing. One of the investors in the project is quoted as saying, "We hope the theme park can help the Chinese become more knowledgable about chocolate in innovative and interesting ways," which for some reason makes me lolz hardcore. For more info on this delectable dreamland, check out this article and this article.

K, time to go play some video games with my huge chocolate controller. Thxbye.

cupcake clash 2009: chocolate, butter cream, and...mustaches?

It's been two days since the SF Food Wars Mini Cupcake Clash and the dust has finally settled here in the Double the Yum household. The dishes are clean, the serving platters have been stowed away, and the remaining cupcakes have finally been eaten. All in all, it was a crazy awesome experience. I LOVE the concept of food challenges and think organizer Jeannie Choe is the bomb. TICK TICK.

The line outside the Stable Cafe started forming 30 minutes before the doors even opened. Look how far back it goes!

Obvi a lot of San Franciscans love mini cupcakes (and rightfully so!).

My BFF Kate (above) of So You Think You Can Blog came out to support It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time! and subjected herself to a food coma in the process. I had a great time competing but wish all the competitors had arrived earlier so I could have gotten a good look at EVERY entry. I think I captured most of them, but I did miss a few here and there because once the Clash began it was too hectic to sneak away from our table. For a full list of competitor names and their entries, go here.

Team Sweetiecups: La Vie en Brie. They even had small shots of wine to go with it! Such a cute idea.

Team The Dynotologists: Green Tea Cupcakes of Glory.

Team The Muffin Tops: Mocha Mania. This team was a couple of young girls (12-13 maybe?), they were so cute!

Team Nali Cupcakes: Bombay Elvis. Such a fab selection of vegan treats!

Team Full Windsor: Sparkling Fruit Cupcakes. Okay, this guy RULED. Seriously. I love a man in a suit, but a man in a tux...with cupcakes...AND champagne?! Dream.

Team TimeCube: Autumn Apple.

Team Chomp: Viva Currito! These minis had a tiny churro on top! To. die. for.

Team Zaftig Sweets: So What Spiced Mocha.

Team HunnyBunny: Piggycakes. These minis had maple syrup (I believe) and a bit of bacon on top. Not quite sure since I don't eat meat and didn't try them!

Team Pound: Fromage A Trois. Bahaha, love the play on words. These were our neighbors (HI!) and also one of the few savory entries...they had three cheeses and some bacon. I didn't try them but I heard great feedback.

Team Little Miss Muffin: Tiny Treasures.

Team Mustache: Guiness Gasm. Clearly I was OBSESSED with these cupcakes. Effing mustaches?! FOR REAL??? So epic. The two lovely team members were super sweet, too!

LOL. These ladies rocked it.

Now...for the winning entries!

Team Cinnaholic Sweets: Blueberry Dragon Fruit Chocolate Ganache Cakes.
Winner: Photographer's Choice AND Judge's First Place

Team Hella Fat: My Grandma's Bananas. These minis were crazy delish. I also had the chance to speak with the team members briefly and they were very very nice! They def earned their prizes.
Winner: Judge's Second Place AND People's Choice First Place

Team Mission Minis: Cinnamon Horchata.
Winner: Judge's Third Place

And of course, there's Team Double the Yum with their People's Choice Second Place Winner It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time! That's my grammy and mom in the pic above! Thanks for coming out and supporting us! I'm the twin with red hair, haha.

More love from our fans! Check out the super cute cupcake apron I'm rocking...Kate made it! Big thanks to the Fosty Ladies who also came out to eat our cupcakes and vote for us! Love you all so bad.

If any competitors/Clash attendees have more pics up/recipes to share...leave a comment or send an e-mail and I'll link back to you in a future entry!