for the love of tater

I just had a heart attack. Seriously, I think I was very close to having my heart explode.

I was watching Moon on Netflix "watch instantly" and Tater Tot had been alternating between laying next to me on the couch and sleeping on the floor during the movie so when it was almost over so I called him to come back and sit with me on the couch so I could take him for a walk right after the movie ended. He got up on the couch and I went to start petting him and he sort of clamped up. Have you ever had a bad leg cramp and you can't flex your muscles out? It was sort of like that.

I freaked out because I thought something was wrong so I jumped up and turned on the lights and put him on the floor and tried to get him to walk but he couldn't.

Then I go into panic mode which is not a good mode for me to be in. I've heard that some people get an adrenaline rush from panic and can move cars and shit. Not me. I'm just a deer in headlights. A crying, screaming deer in headlights.

So my heart feels like it's going to pound right out of my chest and I'm trying to figure out what is going on with Tater because he's sort of walking now but his hind legs are dragging and not really moving. I literally had no clue what to do. My first instinct was to call my parents which makes no logical sense since they are 100 miles away from me. Then I called 411 on my cell phone but the automated system couldn't understand "vet emergency" probably because I was crying so much. At this point Tater is starting to act more like himself (maybe two-three minutes have elapsed) but I'm still scared as hell and finally gain a bit of composure and have the presence of mind to look up emergency vets on the Yellowpages website.

By the time I actually get the information I need--which is now taped on my fridge AND stored in my cell phone--Tater Tot is totally fine and looking at me like, "WTF is your problem I thought we were going for a walk?"

Then he ran over to his tennis ball and started playing with it and I had a complete nervous break down. I have never been able to handle extreme stress well but after the incident with Twin's puppy I especially cannot effing deal with an animal scare.

Little Man is totally fine now and I'm on my way to calming down but my heart is still pumping like crazy.

cute stamps from the US postal service

I send a LOT of correspondence through the United States postal service. Like, an abnormally large amount. I'm pretty sure I'm single-handedly keeping the Belmont post office from closing its doors or laying off employees (as seems to be a trend with anything paper media related, these days).

Because of this I buy an embarrassingly large amount of stationery and always have a ton of stamps on hand. Sadly, the US postal service doesn't really give a crap that I want, no, NEED cute stamps to accompany my adorable personalized stationery and the closest I've been able to come in months to "cute" stamps is TV Land stamps.

Meh. Not cute. Except for Mr. Ed, he's ok.

Imagine my excitement when I logged on to the USPS website (to check to see where the closest drop-off box was to my office, of course) and saw that they're releasing a whole new set of pet design stamps!!! Animals?! ON STAMPS?? This brings cute to a whole new level for the post office.

Boom.

I pre-ordered four sheets of 20 each. I'm not even kidding. I gotta stock up on these puppies (haha, literally) while the gettin' is good!

If you want to purchase these adorable dog and cat stamps, head on over to Stamps to the Rescue.

vanity plates galore!

I haven't been writing about myself too much on Strawberry Says recently because I'm currently gainfully employed (HOLLA!) and sorta working on my thesis (emphasis on sorta), so my personal life is pretty effing boring as of late.

For the time being, I'll continue to post about random awesome crap.

I have this thing for vanity license plates which I'm pretty sure I inherited from my dad, who has been the past owner of such vanity plate gems as IHUG and WHYW8T. When I turned 16 and got my Jeep, my primary focus was picking out a sweet, sweet personalized license plate that perfectly complemented my sweet, sweet ride. I remember actually polling my friends at the time (via LIVEJOURNAL, ha, old school) and the top two contenders were 2XDEFUN and PLYTHNG, I went with PLYTHNG which was a good choice since my parents insistence that the Jeep would have to be shared between my twin sister and myself--hence the "2x" the fun--lasted only about three months until they caved and bought her a car, too.

Sometimes people ask me what I mean by "play thing" which is such a stupid question to me. What do you think I mean? It's a friggin' vanity license plate, it doesn't need to make sense, douche. Over the past couple of months I've been documenting as many vanity plates as I safely can, since I mostly see them while I'm driving and um, taking pictures and keeping your eyes on the road = not easy to do. There's actually an entire blog devoted to personalized license plates, if you want to check out even more.

WEHEARTBOWL - And I love you for loving bowling. Say it loud and proud, bro.

1ROBOTC - Trasnsformers...robots...in..disguise.

ZR8DERZ - You are a rehtard.

IHEARTQUOTA - Not sure if it's possible to get any nerdier than having a financial vanity plate.

MOHEARTPHIL - This dude lives in Modesto (my hometown) and is named Phil...but I know a guy whose nickname is "Moustache Phil" so I like to pretend this license plate is about him.

JEEP4JK - A Wrangler owned by someone with the initials J.K., or possibly it's a Jeep for joke.

HALLABAC - Holla back shorty, woot woot.

GREKLDY - There's a huge Greek population in Belmont so I'd be willing to bet there's hellza women jealous of this Ford.

FRYZEIT - Ok, this plate could have one of three meanings: 1. "Freeze it" as in a cop shouting at someone to "Freeze it, buddy!" 2. "Freeze it" as in fro yo as in my one true love 3. "Fries it" as in French fries as in the second best thing after fro yo.

stuff white people like

I'm hoping ya'll have read the blog Stuff White People Like because it effing rules. During some down time in our Korean vacation me & Romy went through the full list of stuff white people like and checked off each one that was true for us, tallied our results, then compared them to see who was whiter. I won, obviously. (Ain't nobody whiter than me, yo.)

The staff over at SWPL must be mind-readers and know that I've been looking for a poster or two for my bedroom because they now sell Stuff White People Like posters featuring some of the best posts from their blog.

The top white people stuff I like include: breakfast places, dogs, and San Francisco.


In terms of color-scheme, the SF poster makes the most sense. Plus, I live in the bay area so it's like, relevant to my living situation and whatever.

delicious spring recipe round-up

My family started a new tradition for Easter this year and will (hopefully) be celebrating the holiday in my uncle's barn from here on out. My cousin had a barn wedding reception last fall so my uncle fixed up the old barn on his property and now that it's all fancy-schmancy it's the perfect place to hold a party.

We seriously had SO many desserts it was out of control: Sprinkles cupcakes (from yours truly), chocolate chip cookies, lemon sugar cookies, mint chip ice cream cake, wine cake, chocolate Texas sheet cake (not sure what that really means but Grandma Kitty kept calling it that), chocolate torte, cheesecake, chocolate covered strawberries, and fruit salad.

Sadly, I was "being good" so I only ate fruit salad. I spent the rest of the evening thinking about all the delicious desserts I could have consumed, and thought I would do a nice little round-up of some incredible looking desserts I've found recently.

1. Strawberry cream cake from The Busty Baker. Obviously I needed to start out with a strawberry dessert.


2. Heaven and Hell cake from All Cake's considered via Project Foodie. I'm not a huge angel food cake fan, but this combination sounds delicious.


3. White fudge-dipped oreos by Picky Palate. Oreos pwn all cookies.


4. Errr...except maybe these: Chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes from Annie's Eats.


5. Vegan coconut banana cream pie from Kirsten's Kitchen. I'm not a strict vegan, but I hate eggs (barf) and don't drink milk, plus I LOVE banana cream pie so this recipe = amazing.


6. Sweet wild blueberry baskets with almond mascarpone cream from Fresh New England. These would be so sweet for a tea party!


7. Butterscotch bunny tarts from My Recession Kitchen. Another vegan recipe, yummm! As is these are pretty Easter-specific, but you could use any shape cookie-cutter (like a snail cookie cutter, to be random and hilarious).


GET IN MY BELLY!

on the fritz

Not to be confused with being on the ritz which would be a bomb thing. My blogger app is all kinds of whack and isn't letting me post any of the entries I just made, wahhhhhh.

ATTENTION BLOGGERS

A couple of things:

1. if you don't have a "contact me" section or post with your e-mail GO MAKE ONE RIGHT NOW. In a perfect world everyone would just comment on your posts, but trust me your readers want to be able to e-mail you privately to ask you questions.

2. never EVER EVER change your blog domain. I know it's super tempting and I did it back when I first started this blog (I used to be ThePinkReview.com, remember?) but that's because I really had no idea how Google/the internet/blogs work. If you keep changing your blog from domain to domain then Google won't be able to keep up with the changes and you'll lose a lot of ranking (this is important because you want people to read your blog right?). If you feel the need to make a change, just give your blog a new layout or change your header title (mine is currently "The Sparkling Cider of Blogs" but it used to be "The (Mis)Adventures of a Redhead in China."

3. make a favicon and take the Blogger banner off your page. Two very simple things that will make your blog look more polished and professional.

happy easter! love candy-focused holidays

Went shopping at Target this weekend. How freaking legit is that store? I cannot emphasize enough how much I LOVE Tar-Jay. It's one of the main things I missed about the United States when I was in China (they had Walmart and other American stores like Best Buy...but no Target).

I managed to find a super cute outfit for Easter within 20 minutes even though I spent a good TWO HOURS scouring the mall in San Mateo and couldn't even find something decent to wear that wasn't triple digits. I also found these crazy cute carrot Reese's pieces:


They're shaped like a vegetable...so that makes them healthy, right?


Bah, peanut butter is my arch nemesis. So, so good...and yet not incredibly good for you (especially if you eat an entire jar in one sitting, which has never happened but I believe I'd be capable of it).

RIDDLE ME THIS

The answer to my riddle the other day (what do my Chinese name "Miao Miao," an Asian lucky cat figurine, and a tattoo station all have in common?) is:


BOOM.

I got this kitty over Christmas break, in fact Santa hooked it up with a gift certificate for part of him (kitty's a boy). He's not completely finished yet, the artist still needs to fill him in with white and do lots of super sweet shading, but he's practically done.

Here are a couple "progress" pictures. I got all the outline and black shading done first, then next came the color details that I have now.


The artist surprised me with the collar design, I LOVE IT SO BAD!!! I didn't really have anything specific I wanted so I told him to design it himself ...couldn't help sneaking a peek with my iPhone:


Instead of the traditional text that goes in the lucky cat coin, I had Earl (my tattoo artist) put my Chinese name because it's the bomb.

Meow.

vroom vroom

How sexy is this car?

I spotted this vintage corvette outside the San Mateo Trader Joe's (awesome things tend to occur at this location, btw) and just HAD to take a picture even though I thought it was sort of creepy of me. Later, I creeped it up even more by telling the owner he "probably hears this a lot, but you have an absolutely beautiful car."

Ya. I said those. exact. words. I've never used a pick-up line in my life, but apparently they get stored away in some part of your brain, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

I got really embarassed and started blushing because I swear the words just came out of my mouth without me even making the conscious decision to speak! Whatever. Old Man was flattered. But his wife gave me the stink eye.

Next time I'll stick with a Ferris Bueller reference and tell him his car is "so choice."

the cat's pajamas

First off, that expression is totally weird.

Secondly, what do my Chinese name Miao Miao:


An Asian lucky cat (this one was a birthday gift from my BFF):


And this tattoo work station:


Have in common?

And finally, The Daily Tater was seriously the best idea I've ever had.

the daily tater

Haha. Ok. Before I go any further I'm gonna go ahead and admit that I'm very much NOT normal, and I accept that. It makes life more interesting.

I was talking to my boss about blogging the other day and was saying how I wanted to buy Tater Tot a domain name so he could blog (it was understood by all parties that I meant I could blog "as" Tater...I'm normal enough that I recognize my dog can't actually blog).

Anyway, my boss is all, "Would he even have something to post every day?" to which I was all, "You clearly are not my friend on Facebook or you would know that there's a plethora of Tater Tot posts to be made on the daily." and then he was all...actually he didn't say anything he just gave me a weird look, I just wanted to say "was all" one more time.

And so, The Daily Tater was born. It's a work in progress, notably the header image which will eventually not look so pixel-y once I get my hands on the Photoshop CD I left at my parents house.


I figure I'm already taking a ton of Tater Tot pics every day...might as well have a formal outlet for sharing them with the world!

handsome men's club

This is seriously one of the funniest videos I have ever seen. Jimmy Kimmel is hilarious, he doesn't get enough credit as a funny man in my opinion!



Favorite line: "Spanx?! Fucking Spanx." - Matthew McConhaughey

BAHAHAHA! Notice the People Magazine with scribbles all over Matt Damon's face? I LOVE when shows have running jokes.

clothes on dogs...amazing or lame?

I have to admit, I've put Tater Tot in a few doggy outfits over the years. Some of the stand-out moments include:

Prom 2003. No, my dog was NOT my date (I swear people have asked that before) I took a human to the dance but couldn't resist dressing the Tot in a tux.

Christmas 2006. Tater hates Santa.

Summer 2006. My twin sister Noelle did a photo shoot of Tater and entered him to win some cute dog contest.

Christmas 2007. Tater loves this scarf!

Halloween 2009. Shark eating a person costume...not Tater's finest moment.

I'm still on the fence as to whether I think human clothes on dogs is extremely weird or incredibly adorable...obviously I've done it before so I guess I'm leaning more towards the "incredibly adorable" camp, but I'm not one of those kooky pet owners that has a whole wardrobe for their dogs. That is decidedly NOT normal nor incredibly adorable.

Since moving and bringing the Tot with me to a one-bedroom third floor apartment it's a necessity that I take him for at least two walks a day. I've always loved going on walks with Tater Tot but this is the first time I have to do no matter what the weather is...and lately it's been raining A LOT. His fur is so thick and fluffy that he ends up getting totally soaked while I stay dry under my umbrella, so I've been toying with the idea of buy him a doggy raincoat.


I'm afraid that the combination of his cuteness, fluffiness, and tendency to bark at any dog and act ferocious will make him look silly in a raincoat. Bah, whatever, people are always laughing at him anyway.

Maybe if he was more refined and mature and had a doggy mustache people would think twice before they giggle at him.

Hau, hau, hau, I am French.

mad men barbie dolls

I'm on the verge of hyperventilating right now. Mattel announced yesterday the launch of their Mad Men Barbie dolls which will be available later this summer.


EFF YOU, MATTEL! Don't you know I'm trying to be financially responsible? Then you go and release the most adorable Barbie dolls I have ever seen (how TDF is Joan?!) and expect me to NOT immediately drop $74.95 per doll? THANKS. Thanks a lot.

If you have a cool three hundred bucks to waste on something, might as well waste it on these! You can buy the Betty, Don, Sterling, and Joan Barbies at the Barbie Collector website which I had no idea even existed until today...but you better believe I signed up for a free catalog!

academy award winners!

Best Picture
should win: The Hurt Locker
will win: The Hurt Locker
WON: The Hurt Locker
Called it! Seriously though, this is an awesome movie and Jeremy Renner is from Modesto (my hometown). HOLLA.


Best Actor in a Leading Role
should win: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
will win: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
WON: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
should win: Christoph Waltz
will win: Christoph Waltz
WON: Christoph Waltz

Best Actress
should win: anyone but Sandra Bullock
will win: Sandra Bullock
WON: Sandra Bullock
Blech. Sorry, I really don't like SB.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
should win: Mo'Nique, Precious
will win: Mo'Nique, Precious
WON: Mo'Nique
Hell yes! Very, very deserved.

Best Animated Feature Film
should win: Up
will win: Up
WON: Up
I wish Dug was there to accept the award!

Best Art Direction
should win: Sherlock Holmes
will win: Avatar
WON: Avatar

Best Cinematography
should win: The Hurt Locker
will win: The Hurt Locker
WON: Avatar

Best Director
should win: The Hurt Locker
will win: please don't be Avatar
WON: The Hurt Locker
First female director to win!! Rock on.

Best Documentary Feature
should win: The Cove
will win: The Cove (though Food, Inc. got waaaay more press)
WON: The Cove
Go see this movie!

Best Film Editing
should win: The Hurt Locker
will win: Avatar
WON: The Hurt Locker
So glad THL won for this category! You should watch the film with director commentary, they explain a lot of the editing choices it's great.

Best Adapted Screenplay
should win: Up in the Air
will win: Up in the Air
WON: Precious
Looks like Oprah matters in Hollywood, too.

Best Original Screenplay
should win: Inglourious Basterds
will win: Inglourious Basterds
WON: The Hurt Locker
Eff that. I liked The Hurt Locker, but how could they ignore Tarantino's genius like that? I mean, OBVIOUSLY I thought THL was an awesome movie because I pegged it to win Best Picture, but in terms of words on paper...Tarantino should have won.

national cereal day

Happy National Cereal Day!! I don't know where/how/why people make up these "holidays" but when something is so awesome it doesn't matter much.

I LOVE cereal. I knew immediately I would love my new work environment when they gave us a tour of the office and pointed out the 6 cereals they keep in stock all the time in the kitchen.

My three all-time cereal favorites are:

Barbara's Bakery Puffins in either Original or Peanut Butter (PB is out of control crazy good).


General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch which is essentially just sugar. And cinnamon.

Betch, don't try to convince me that you're healthy to eat. One serving has effing 10g of sugar, which means you are not a "good source of" anything. Except sugar.

Quaker Oats Cinnamon Life which is one of the six cereals my office has available for me to EATALLDAYLONG.

Natalie Dee knows what's up. And so does her escaped hamster.