I love these baby spoofs that are popping up everywhere

For everybody who doesn’t know yet, I’m engaged! Believe me, I feel so happy and lucky to get to share a future with boyrobot. I can’t wait! But there is one thing I’m sorely dreading, and that is the actual wedding. Most girls can’t wait to plan this day but for me, there are a million and one things I would rather do than wear a dress and makeup and be the center of attention. In fact, every time I think about it I get really agitated and stressed!

Other things that make weddings really annoying are that my parents are uber traditional. It’s so funny because when I talk to them they think they are so carefree and we’re so lucky that they aren’t enforcing all of these rules that were so important back in the day. But still, there are tons of other rules that we definitely have to follow. I have a deep respect for my culture and background and everything but to be honest I was born in America and am very americanized. A lot of the traditions aren’t what I envisioned my future wedding day to include but because I care about making my parents happy, I will do them. This includes wearing the vietnamese wedding dress (not the white one everybody else wears!) while walking down the aisle. Sad!

Also, my parents are hardcore buddhists so I will most definitely be having some type of “temple” wedding where a monk will reside the ceremony. So this means I’m limited in where I can have my wedding. I’m not even sure how the whole “walking down the aisle” part goes in a traditional buddhist wedding. And even though I’m buddhist by association, I don’t really personally practice it or anything. It has no meaning to me. But don’t tell my parents that! Sigh.

For the reception, my parents expect that I have a viet/english speaking emcee. I have horrible visions of a cheesy, fobby viet person dictating my wedding while new wave music is playing in the background.

Lastly, I predict seeing a lot of red on my wedding day. Red is considered a lucky color. My wedding dress, the ceremony decorations, etc…will be red. I hate red.

There are a million reasons why I don’t want to have a wedding. You don’t even know! :( :( :(

Boyrobot tells me that it’s just 1 day. I keep telling myself that. I can’t believe that “1 day” can make me feel so much distress!

I decided one of my new year’s resolutions is to keep better track of my finances and to try to maintain a budget. Since I’m thinking about buying a house soon (in a year or 2), I really want to know how much I can actually afford without being house poor. Basically, I don’t want to give up my life and fun just to buy a house!

Anyways, after doing a ton of research on all of the different online web tools that are offered now, I’ve actually settled on an offline excel type sheet called PearBudget. It seems to be the most simple and straightforward way for me to easily see where my money is going and how much I’m actually saving each year. It’s supposed to only take about 10 minutes a week to update. I think I can handle that! Also, it was free.

I’m also going to keep track of my networth by using networthIQ. This way I can see how my investments are doing and where I need to improve on.

I tried out a few different websites but it came down to a combination of these two for me. I’d really like to use Mint but more than half of my banking institutions did not hook up to the service so it was pointless for me. Others might have more settlement loans land I highly recommend going that route if you can. Anybody out there using any cool web finance tools?

*edit: After writing this post, I discovered BudgetPulse and Money Manager EX. I think I might try these as well for a month and then ditch one for the other depending on which I like better. My initial look at them seem promising though!

As the last Friday Links of 2007, I thought I would highlight some year end related links:

Bush’s out of office countdown calendar 2nd best selling calendar for 2008 – #1 is the Far Side. if you’re interested in getting yourself one Amazon has them
The definitive top 25 list of movies in 2007 – slashfilm used a combination of IMDB and rottentomatoes to figure out this ranking. I NEED to see king of kong! (#2 and not even nominated for an oscar!)
The best and worst ads of 2007
Pitchfork’s top 50 music videos for 2007
VH1’s best of 2007 – I love their celeb crazy talk posts
Most popular stories on latimes.com for 2007 – surprisingly, I’d never even read the top article!
Reuters pictures of the year

Christmas can be an extremely wasteful holiday. I know that after we finished opening our presents our living room was filled with torn open wrapping paper everywhere! You could barely see the ground! Also, I never know what to do with all of the Christmas cards I receive. I end up guiltily throwing them away in the trash. This year, I decided to do these things as a way to recycle what would have been trash.

Wrapping paper
– shred it with a paper shredder and use as stuffing for my next gift bag

Christmas cards
– cut out the ones with cool designs and use as gift tags for next year
– cut out the front and send off as a postcard

I also found out there are tons of other things you can do with leftover wrapping paper and creative ways to recycle cards (like make this box for Hakushaku :))

Well 2007 is winding down. In terms of movies, it wasn’t too memorable for me. Harry Potter was really good though and I am looking forward to seeing No Country For Old Men and Juno before the year ends (movie hop anyone?)

Here’s a great list of the movies coming out in 2008. I can’t wait for these movies especially:

21 (trailer) – It’s a movie about those MIT students who counted cards to win tons of money playing blackjack. I love stories of geeks using their brains to do something cool or make lots of money! Plus, you can’t go wrong with Kevin Spacey.

The Changling – I really enjoy Clint Eastwood directed movies and Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich are in it too! Story sounds totally creepy

Cloverfield – Probably the most anticipated movie of 2008.

Fanboys – I love movies that make fun of geeks, especially the biggest of them all Star Wars fans!! hehe

The Happening – Even though I don’t always like M. Night Shamaylan’s movies, I always want to see them cuz I know they will be different!

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – I hope it’s as good as the last one!!!

Sex And The City: The Movie – One of my favorite tv series….how could I not include this?

Speed Racer – Lots of hype about what the Wachowski Bros are doing to this remake

Star Trek XI – I’m not a trekkie but I heard JJ Abrams is going to bring something totally new to Star Trek and I love his work

Wall-E – I think this has been one of the most talked about Pixar movies ever to come out. Many are touting that it will be the best Pixar movie yet. All I needed to know was that it was about a robot and I’m sold!

Where The Wild Things Are – Loved the book when I was a kid and interested in seeing how it’s adapted

Zack and Miri Make A Porno – The latest Kevin Smith movie. A direct quote from his blog: “Granted, I’m biased because I wrote it; but I really dig this script. It’s funny, bawdy, sexy, dirty, titillating (emphasis on the tit) and dripping with heart. If you were gonna do that movie-description thing, I’d say it’s like Chasing Amy meets Clerks II, with a dash each of Boogie Nights and Bowfinger tossed in.” Sounds like a winner!

Check out the link or IMDB for more information about these movies. Most of them don’t have trailers yet but I’ll be on the lookout for them!

When I first saw the jellyfish aquarium that Spencer bought on The Hills, I was so jealous but I knew I could never afford an extravagance like that. Plus, I’m the laziest person and I would hate to have to clean the tank. I don’t know what it is about jellyfish, they are so mesmerizing! Anyways, I saw this new fad in Japan. Fake jellyfish aquariums. And they seem to look pretty real! This would be pretty cool to have in your house. Especially if it looks as real as the pics and video seem to depict it. Check it out here:

You can buy the product at AudioCubes for $159.99

Some holiday related links:

Web 2.0 Secret Santa – helps you set up secret santa with your friends and has a lot of nifty features. I’ll def have to use this next year and plan a secret santa with my friends!

Creative wrapping at wrap art – I swear, next year I’m going to start planning presents earlier so I actually have the time to try these techniques out!

NYC is known as a major shopping destination and their window displays during the holidays are very popular. If you can’t make it to NYC to see them in person, you can still view them with Fred Flare’s NYC Holiday Window Display Tour

Last minute handmade gifts – don’t bother clicking unless you are crafty inclined!

Really elaborate xmas light show that is played to a techno version of jingle bells – it’s cool but I think it would be annoying to be his neighbor hehe

Holiday recipe inspiration – The italian cheesecake looks sooo good! and easy to boot!

Meet the real Secret Santa

How to make your own xmas lollipops

Cool story about tracking santa then and now

Cool website that let’s you buy a personalized message video from Santa!

This last link is not xmas related but help this girl get in the Super Bowl. She’s a great singer and made this funny digg song.

Ok everybody, Happy Holidays!!! I will not be posting tomorrow since we’ll all be busy playing with our new toys right? Hope everyone got everything they wanted this year!

I’m having a nice time relaxing at home. It started snowing yesterday so I was stuck indoors but I’ve been eating yummy food, perfecting my Guitar Hero skillz, and watching funny videos like this one:

This is the actual recipe that was “used” in the movie Rataouille. The recipe is actually from Chef Thomas Keller of The French Laundry in Napa Valley. Which is definitely a restaurant I have to eat at once in my lifetime. (Click here for how to get French Laundry reservations).

Onto the recipe!

Ratatouille

FOR PIPERADE
1/2 red pepper, seeds and ribs removed
1/2 yellow pepper, seeds and ribs removed
1/2 orange pepper, seeds and ribs removed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion
3 tomatoes (about 12 ounces total weight), peeled, seeded, and finely diced, juices reserved
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig flat-leaf parsley
1/2 a bay leaf
Kosher salt

FOR VEGETABLES
1 zucchini (4 – 5 ounces) sliced in 1/16-inch rounds
1 Japanese eggplant, (4 – 5 ounces) sliced into 1/16-inch rounds
1 yellow squash (4 – 5 ounces) sliced into 1/16-inch rounds
4 Roma tomatoes, sliced into 1/16-inch rounds
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/8 teaspoon thyme leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR VINAIGRETTE
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Assorted fresh herbs (thyme flowers, chervil, thyme)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

1. For piperade, heat oven to 450 degrees. Place pepper halves on a foil-lined sheet, cut side down. Roast until skin loosens, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest until cool enough to handle. Peel and chop finely.

2. Combine oil, garlic, and onion in medium skillet over low heat until very soft but not browned, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes, their juices, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf. Simmer over low heat until very soft and very little liquid remains, about 10 minutes, do not brown; add peppers and simmer to soften them. Season to taste with salt, and discard herbs. Reserve tablespoon of mixture and spread remainder in bottom of an 8-inch skillet.

3. For vegetables, heat oven to 275 degrees. Down center of pan, arrange a strip of 8 alternating slices of vegetables over piperade, overlapping so that 1/4 inch of each slice is exposed. Around the center strip, overlap vegetables in a close spiral that lets slices mound slightly toward center. Repeat until pan is filled; all vegetables may not be needed.

4. Mix garlic, oil, and thyme leaves in bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle over vegetables. Cover pan with foil and crimp edges to seal well. Bake until vegetables are tender when tested with a paring knife, about 2 hours. Uncover and bake for 30 minutes more. (Lightly cover with foil if it starts to brown.) If there is excess liquid in pan, place over medium heat on stove until reduced. (At this point it may be cooled, covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Serve cold or reheat in 350-degree oven until warm.)

5. For vinaigrette, combine reserved piperade, oil, vinegar, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl