Another Celeb Look-a-Like!

If you have ever watched that black and white movie called "Pi," as in 3.14 mathematical Pi, you will know this guy Mark Margolis. He also had a silent role as a grandfather in "Breaking Bad." Wonderful actor. Who looks EXACTLY like my uncle in Korea. I'm sure my uncle would not consider it a compliment, but if he had white hair they would be twins!

Radio DJ's and Commercials

Let's face it. We live in a consumer hungry society where you just simply cannot get away with not seeing, hearing, reading, or listening to advertisements. When I was little I remember commercial breaks being really short in between my cartoons. Today's standard of commercials scoffs at yesterday's practices. Commercial breaks are ridiculously long, but thank goodness for Tvo and DVR's, right. Now wise advertisers are using those pop up ads during the show to promote new shows and what not.

You drive in your car to and from work and especially during rush hour, they play commercials until you are forced to turn on your ipod or iphone. I noticed in the recent years, more and more DJ's are starting to advertise during their time on air about this laser product, cream, car insurance, etc. I guess it is more effective since it has become quite popular (and I'm sure DJ's are getting paid a healthy dollar amount for it!), but man is it ever annoying.

Stick 'Em Up!

When you think of a bank robbery, the first thought that comes to mind are some famous films that depict dramatic and thrilling heists. "The Town," "Set It Off," "Dark Knight," "Point Break" ... these are ones that stand out in my mind.

In real life, it doesn't happen like that. At least not on Larchmont at the Chase Bank. Last week I went to deposit my paycheck (don't ask me why my company doesn't do direct deposit!) and this is what went down.

*Me, at the teller going about my business. Next thing I know, I hear quick footsteps going toward the doors and a 'wham!' when the guy forcefully pushed open the door to escape. Confused patrons turned around wondering why this fellow was in such a hurry to get out.

Teller: "Attempted robbery," as she makes her way over to the phone to call the police. (I think she was calling the police?)

Other tellers looked bewildered and whispered, "is she ok?"

The employees then proceeded to lock the doors and put up signs that said, "EMERGENCY, BANK IS CLOSED."

I was stuck inside with two other customers while other customers tried to come in, knocking on the door, looking completely confused as to why the doors were locked. Literally 10-15 minutes later (talk about SLOW) the cops showed up along with a chopper that flew overhead. My guess is that the guy got away, but without any money, so I guess no harm no foul.

Breaking Bad

I recently canceled my cable. Who cares about regular TV anyway when there are incredible shows you can catch on DVD or download off the Internet? Breaking Bad happens to fall into this category. From the pilot episode, I. WAS. HOOKED. I know I said "Mad Men" was quite possibly the best show ever, I take it back. You've seen Don Draper screw one woman here, one woman there, it's no surprise. "Breaking Bad" however, keeps the viewer on its toes with the twists, turns, and adrenaline pumping action! The thing I love most about it, (besides Bryan Cranston & Aaron Paul) is that the line between good and bad is SO very blurred. Is making meth a true justification for a means to an end?

I absolutely adore Jesse Pinkman and Walter White! Their chemistry (no pun intended) is fantastic. The dialogue is very real and their interaction with each other is the real reason I love this show so much, plus the story line of course.

I am waiting for season 4 to come out... maybe in 2011?

Anti-Candida Diet - Day 10

I'm not gonna lie. This diet is very consuming, and I crave sweet stuff still. It's a lot less than before, but will you catch me longingly staring at that delectable bite sized chocolate going into my co-worker's mouth at work? Hell yes. Not having anything sweet makes me not want to eat my unsweet, boring food, so therefore I don't eat as much, which means I have probably lost about 2-3 pounds, which means I can fit into my pants again! Score!

BUT, this diet isn't all rainbows and puppy dogs... it's very difficult to do and is unrealistic if you have a busy social schedule which requires you to go out, drink, eat whatever, etc. I have skipped out on a few happy hours to stay on track. That said, I am really missing my bread and sweets. My solution? Scouring the internet for any bread-like recipes I can find that don't contain sugar or yeast.

I already had some coconut flour from before when I was experimenting with gluten-free stuff, so I decided to give it another whirl. I've made some pretty good unsweet bread that I can eat with raw butter. Straight out of the oven, I put some butter on it and it tastes almost as good as real bread, but of course coconut flour comes out a lot more dry than regular white flour. But it's good enough for now and it is fulfilling my mood for bread. I also eat it with organic almond butter... yum. I don't know if this I can consume TOO much coconut flour on this diet. Today I felt like I was going a bit overboard with the amount of bread I was consuming. Not sure if I'm supposed to limit this particular food, but I figure it has no flour, no yeast, no sugar... can't I have as much as I want?

Anti-Candida Diet

Yes people. I'm blogging about my dietary habits once again. After the marathon, I was probably in the best shape of my life. I was slim, eating healthy, cut out coffee, and best of all, my pants fit so nicely - even my tight ones.

Jump to 5 months post, and a combination of running only a few times a week (3-5 miles at the most), cancelation of my gym membership, drinking a lot more, eating out a lot more, and consuming chocolate on a regular basis, I was back to feeling bloated. I haven't gone on the scale, but I probably weigh 3-5 pounds more than I did during the marathon - which was 118.

I'm not so much concerned with the number itself, I am more concerned with health problems I may incur in the future, too much sugar consumption, caffeine consumption, and a hunch that I have what is called the candida yeast bacteria living in my stomach. Candida feeds off of sugar, so that explains why I crave it all the time. I also feel hungry and bloated all the time.

When I say "sugar," I am also including the sugars from fruit as well. Of course I'm not planning on cutting out fruit for the rest of my life since it's a natural food that is good for you, but only until the candida is killed off. For now, the only fruit I consume is a green apple chopped up in my kefir, but I'll get to the recipes in a minute.

Here are the foods I was eating almost every single effing day. As you can see, I am lazy when it comes to spicing up the foods in my life...

Morning: banana - [high in sugar], cereal (Joe's O's from Trader Joes or Cherrios) - [also high in sugar], yogurt - [high in sugar]

Lunch: sandwich - the whole wheat bread was feeding the bacteria from the yeast.

Snack: peanuts - [also feeds the bacteria b/c peanuts are considered moldy], peanut butter [same thing, and it has sugar in it], cheese [moldy and feeds candida], chocolate - my favorite is Dove Dark Chocolate.

Dinner - take out... fried foods... wine... beer... fast food... anything really along with some diet coke or sugary fruit drink.

All of these things I was eating on the regular explains to me why I was always craving something sweet. The more I ate it, the more I wanted more. At my lowest point I was eating 1-2 bars of Dove Dark Chocolate DAILY. I actually managed to cut out chocolate last July and have only cheated here and there. However, I can't say I stopped myself when there were baked goods lying around - brownies, cakes, any kind of bread. YUM! Needless to say, I can't even so much LICK the sugar off my fingers if I were to pass someone a donut.

So I am on day 5 of the candida cleanse and I feel great but tired. Did I mention I am also cutting out alcohol for the next month? Alcohol also feeds the bacteria. So much for socializing! The pants that used to cut into my ever growing muffin top now fit perfectly or are slightly big! I doubt I lost weight, I probably just lost all the "sugary water weight." If there is such a thing.

I plan to stick to this diet for 4 weeks, and then move on to phase 2 where I can slowly start to consume fruits - I can't wait to make smoothies! Thank God for Stevia. Apparently it's the only all natural sweetener derived from the Stevia Plant that doesn't feed the bacteria.

But for now... I'm stuck with eating:

-greens of any kind

-unsweetened kefir -> mixed with some chopped up apples and stevia... it's pretty good!

-almond milk (unsweetened)

-any kind of shrimp, seafood

-lean meats, chicken

-avocado

-eggs

-coconut & coconut milk (my favorite!)

-hummus

It's not SO bad. Sometimes I really crave some sweets, but knowing I've come 5 days without touching it really helps me to stick with it. Do a google search for the anti-candida diet and a lot of the recipes go hand-in-hand with the South Beach Diet, gluten free diets, etc.

Am I Becoming my Mother?

Something happens when you hit your mid-thirties. Things my mother used to do that I scoffed at - I find myself doing more and more. I am my mother!

1. Getting overly excited about fresh picked veggies and fruit from someone's backyard.

2. Wanting to wash my plastic zip lock bags and re-use them.

3. Judging other people who dress inappropriately for their age. Example - "she MUST be pushing 40, is her skirt REALLY that short?"

4. Thinking about my friends and how they all married so well. It makes me happy.

5. Being frugal and sensible. "I'm going to eat all the tomatoes in my refrigerator, they are going to go bad soon."

6. Can't think, talk, and listen to loud music at the same time. It makes me crazy!

7. Getting the pseudo ah-ji-mah hair cut. Not really all the way there yet, but getting there.

Welcome All Wack Jobs!

This year for the Daytime Emmys we had a table set up in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel to help nominees check in and what not. Setting up ANY table in a hotel lobby brings all the weirdos and wack-jobs. There were many funny ones to share, but here are the funniest.

1. Do you like my outfit? (a VERY tanned guy with no shirt on)

2. Can I buy these flowers from you to give to my wife? (referring to a vase of flowers on the table)

3. What do you know about the monorail?

4. What is the Daytime Emmys?

5. Can I come?

Self-Photos

I don't know how I feel about people who have photos of only themselves posted all over the place. It's weird and narcissistic. I once knew this girl who only had photos of herself framed all over her apartment, plus her desktop wallpaper was a photo of herself in a bikini.

My First Marathon Experience

I ran the LA Marathon yesterday. Out of 25,000 runners, I placed 10,426th. In my gender category, I placed 3349th. In my division (women between 30-34) I placed 608th. I finished in 5 hours, 14 minutes, 53 seconds, net.

3:15am - after a restless night's sleep, I just decided to get up, get ready, and get going.

4:45am - I parked at my office in Santa Monica to avoid paying the ridiculous $17 parking fee and walked to the shuttle where they took runners to the starting line at Dodger's Stadium.

5am - I sat next to a guy from Louisiana named Wayne. He came out here just to run the marathon even though he ran one 3 weeks prior. As I looked around the bus, people were excitedly chatting away, or sleeping. It was still pitch black outside and I was freezing with only my marathon shorts, tank top, and thin long sleeve shirt. There was a butt load of traffic - I got flash backs of Korea as the hurried bus driver wouldn't let anyone in his lane and was 2 inches behind the bus in front. Break, accelerate, break, accelerate. I got a headache and ate my banana.

6am - I arrived at Dodgers. I immediately got in line to use the port-a-potty. I was 10th in line. Just to give you an idea, there were about 20 port-a-potties for 25,000 people. As you can imagine, the line was quickly getting long and people, men and women alike, were climbing up the hills behind the port-a-potties to pee. I heard people in line saying things like, "woa! I did NOT need to see her peeing!"

6:45am - I ate my small bag of almonds and decided to throw away my yogurt and spoon (non disposable but I didn't realize it until it was too late). Had to go pee again.

7:45am - I waited for almost 35 minutes in line for the port-a-potty. Well worth it b/c the next time I peed it was well into the afternoon - I didn't stop once while running to use the john.

7:57am - (I think) After wheelchairs, elite women, and elite men, the general runners were finally allowed to start! I was somewhere positioned in the middle, but didn't actually start walking/moving until 10 minutes later.

8:07am - I was runnin' out of Dodgers! In front of me all I could see was a sea of bobbing heads of all different colors, hats, caps, bandanas... all rippling in tandem, up and down, up and down. It was a really crazy sight! I've never seen anything like it! Just getting out of Dodgers was quite exciting, going through the parking lots, over zealous runners booking it only to see them walking a half mile down the road.

Mile 13 and below: It was actually fun! I ran through downtown, Echo Park (it was a bit hilly), down Sunset, through Hollywood, and THEN my feet started to throb. Badly. So much so that by mile 14 I started to get really worried that I would even be able to run the entire race.

It was fun filling up on water and yellow warm Power Aid, offered at every other mile. It was quite a sight to see people chucking their drinks anywhere, people's feet and ankles getting drenched, and trying not to slip on the cups and liquid that was strewn everywhere. Certain stations offered cut up oranges, banans, candy, and Sunny D orange juice, and even the Korean yogurt drink offered by these little Korean kids. I also had a small power bar that I saved from the Expo and I actually ate it and felt a small burst of energy afterward.

Mile 14 and above: I'm not gonna lie. It was hard. A lot harder than when I had trained for some reason. I ran 18.5 miles on my long run before the marathon and I wasn't this tired when I was at mile 14. Feet throbbing, blisters, and more blisters on top of hardening painful caluses made each step a journey. I remember thinking, "when the HELL is mile 15 gonna come up?!" In the meantime, I was pacing myself with the "cross guy", the Hispanic older guy who stuck a giant cross in his shirt that stuck up a few feet in the air and had John 3:16 written on it. I also saw the running Elvises and a funny poster someone was holding that said, "Julia, you could've at least worn a sports bra." It definitely made my run more interesting and fun, but still, I hurt.

Mile 18: Some jackass held a sign that said, "Waterfront, just up this way" with an arrow pointing west. I wanted to kill him b/c REALLY there was still a good 8 miles to go which might as well have been an eternity. From this point on, it was hard to tell where I was, but running down San Vicente in the Century City/pre Santa Monica area seemed endless. At this point, firefighters stood on the side of the road with a small hose going for runners to cool off and get wet. I avoided this at all cost b/c I was already cold from the approaching beach weather. Luckily it wasn't hot. In fact, the weather report that said 84 degrees was dead wrong. It felt like it was 70 degrees and overcast. Perfect.

Mile 20: I experienced some massive chaffing underneath my right armpit. I was wearing a tank top and didn't even realize it was chaffing until I felt this sharp pain. Luckily they were offering petroleum jelly at certain stations. Helped a lot, but I scooped too much and ended up wiping the rest on my tank so there were ugly grease stains on it. Oh well. At this point I could see the crowd getting bigger. I even saw some of the same people holding the same posters for certain runners. That's what I call a supportive crowd!

Mile 21-25: At this point, I couldn't decide which was more painful. Continuing to run with everything pulsing, throbbing, aching, and blistering, or slowing down only to feel more body parts hurt that I never even knew could hurt. I think walking was more painful. But so was running, so what to do? I think what motivated me at this point was looking toward the other runners who kept on running and thinking, "if they could do it, so can I." Especially those people who were overweight or old. Sounds a bit shallow, but it worked. Plus my competitive edge felt a blow everytime 40 or 50 people passed me up. What about my time?! I was trying to finish under 5 hours, but so easily gave up that pipe dream during these painful times called mile 21-25.

Mile 25: I saw the American Cancer Society booth and they all cheered for me! I kept thinking, any minute now, mile 26, any minute...

FINALLY...

Mile 26 and shortly behind it I could see the blue banner that said "FINISH." At this point the crowd was HUGE. I'm talking 20 deep and I couldn't even read the signs b/c there were so many. I noticed the runners around me start running. I decided this is it. Run for your life and finish or be a loser and walk through the finish line. So anti-climactic, right? Who walks through a marathon finish line? Please.

I ran. I ignored the pain oozing out of every inch, pore, joint, bone, muscle, folicle and just went for it. I ran past men, women, kids, running as fast as I could. "Let me just finish, I'm almost done, I'm almost done..." I smiled big and crossed the finish line!

I kept going and received my medal. A nice volunteer said, "congratulations! You finished!" Then I went to grab a water, animal crackers, a banana, and my Marathon blanket thingie. I picked a spot to sit down b/c sitting down at that point might as well have been equated to gold. It felt amazing and as I looked around, I saw people laying down on the ground and  to sleep.

It was an amazing experience that I encourage everyone to try, even though I doubt many will ever do. It's more mental than anything else and to push yourself like that is an incredible feeling. I learned that physical is easy, mental is hard. Thanks to everyone who donated and supported me. It was definitely worth all my hard work and training. I will continue to run, but will be taking a break indefinitely from all this marathon business. I never thought the day would come when I would say, "I'll think I'll take it easy and just do a 10 mile run today."

To see my results posted on LA Marathon, go to
http://www.runpix3.com/laa10/00/finord.php?LastName=tak&lan=&aset=0&dist=42

Family Fob Time!

Teenage FOBS. They are very different than American teenagers. Considering this was their (my high schooler cousins) first trip to the states, they sure seemed unimpressed. They were quiet, tired, and uninterested. Or maybe they were just holding it all in? Who knows, but some strong prozac seemed in order!

I am not used to family time or extended family time. My parents have been in Korea for a while, my sister and bro are in Northern Cali, and I only have two cousins in the LA area, one of which I never see anyway. The chaos, confusion, boredom, exhaustion, and activities really took a toll. We were wiped out each night and went to sleep literally at 9pm, woke up the next day at 7am, and were out the door to our next activity by 9-10am.  We managed to see enough: Chinatown, the bridge, museum, Union Square, bike riding near the bridge, Berkeley Campus, Telegraph...

 We saw the Exploratorium... they were not impressed.

 We saw the Golden Gate Bridge... they were semi-impressed?

Mostly this last week/weekend taught me that although the annoyances run high the inconvenience is short-lived compared to the memory of it all.  

15.5 Miles...

Oh. Em. Gee. I ran 15.5 miles on Sunday and let me tell you, it was not fun. It was the first time different parts of my body screamed and ached and begged for me to stop. Especially my damn big toes. Stupid calluses! It used to be only on my left toe, but it's now on my right as well. My neck was even hurting, and the pain in my left calf returned, and went all the way up to my hamstring.

I haven't been this sore in a long time, but I guess that's what happens the further you run. My goal was actually to run 16 miles, but I really had to stop after 15.5. I was close, but the 1/2 mile to get to 16 might as well have been an entire marathon. It was my hardest run ever and I've never pushed myself this hard. I ran it in 2 hours 20 minutes and burned over 1300 calories. When I take a step back and really think about how long I was running for, it's a little shocking, but then imagining adding 2-3 more hours to that makes my palms sweat just thinking about it. Thinking about how dead tired I was afterward, and then realizing that's just a teeny bit over half the marathon scares me. My goal is to finish the entire marathon in under 5 hours. I'm not one of those people who say, "I'll just walk it here and there." I want to jog the entire thing! We'll see what ends up happening...

I wore my new shoes - Mizuno running shoes I got from Run With Us in Pasadena last week and they're a lot better than my Nikes, but my feet still hurt. I guess I wasn't expecting a miracle, but I was definitely expecting my feet to hurt less. Contemplating returning it, but after the 10th mile, I figure my feet will hurt anyway, right?

Each week, I dread my runs more and more b/c I know how hard it's going to be mentally and physically. But then I think about the charity that I'm doing this for and how there are millions of people who can't walk or run or even exercise for that matter, and it keeps me going and shuts me up.

Marathon TIme!

Yes, I'm taking the plunge and doing it. I've been running steadily for about 2 years now, and what greater challenge is there than a marathon? Plus I want to raise money for the American Cancer Society and make it my first really good deed in 2010. (Although I went to a Haiti benefit concert last week - tickets were $100) My dad had colon cancer a few years back and I decided to run for the ACS because of it.

Tangent - I've always been so afraid of cancer (hence I quit smoking RIGHT before I found out my dad had cancer ironically!) and the fact that someone I knew actually had it scared me so much. I hear from so many people how cancer is such an ugly disease that takes over your body and mind slow and cruel path to death. I know there's all kinds of cancer, but let's face it, there's no "good" cancer. I'm praying for all my friends and for Dan to really consider quitting smoking. Please please~! Let this be the year! I am lucky. My friends are all healthy, their parents are healthy, and I can't say I have really known anyone personally who has suffered terribly from cancer or died from it.

Back to Marathon Time... as far as training goes, I think I am doing pretty well. Even though I'm only really training once a week, I feel good. I think a big part of it is really mental. The only thing I'm afraid of is injuring myself during the run and not being able to run the whole way. I would like to finish the marathon in under 5 hours. Right now I am running 6.5 miles per 60 minutes, so as long as I keep up that pace, I think I can do it. My injuries up until this point have been my feet. I didn't realize you have to get shoes one size bigger b/c of swelling, so I went out last week and bought new shoes (Izuna - I think that's what it's called). I haven't been able to test it out yet as it was raining all day today, but I will definitely report tomorrow when I go out on a long run.

If you feel compelled to donate, please do so! Every bit counts in finding a cure for cancer!! Thanks!

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/DetermiNation/DNFY10National?px=13960024&pg=personal&fr_id=25744

Happy New Year!

So, it's 2010. The end of 2009 was crazy. I was working part-time seasonally at Crate and Barrel (big mistake) and started up my paparazzi gig in Santa Monica too, so I was a busy Christmas bee this holiday season.

Crate and Barrel... let's just call it my retail experience, or shall I say my retail curiosity is satisfied. Dan kept saying, "you're gonna regret it, it's hard work..." my sister said, "why the hell would you want to work retail?! You're crazy..." Tritia said, "Oooh! I worked at Pottery Barn one season and it was sooo fun!" Alaine said, "Ooh! I was gonna apply for a seasonal job at Off 5th!" So I decided to just go for it. It was fun until I discovered 85% of the job requires you to be in the stock room as much as you can to grab items and keep the floor stocked. I always thought they had people specifically for this role. Not! 

Ringing people up, boxing things, and looking at all the nice shiny merchandise was always fun, but I loathe the stock room. It smells, it's cold in there, it's dusty, and they're always blasting Tu Pac or Madonna. Needless to say, it was an experience. I definitely bought more than I made, but at 30% off, I didn't feel so bad doing it. Will I ever work retail again? Fred Segal, please hire me!! That's the only store I will work retail. 

Bad Weekend

I went up north a few weekends ago and when my flight was delayed twice, I should've stuck with my gut instinct and just gone back home. Oh why didn't I just go back home?? Here is what happened...

1. Flight was delayed twice - the first time it was delayed I was able to get on an earlier flight even though it put me in group B and I was group A in my original flight. Then my new earlier flight got delayed EVEN LATER than my original flight! 

2. By the time I finally got to Oakland my sister did not even leave her house yet to pick me up. And when she finally came, we missed each other so I was standing in front of my terminal like an idiot and she was way down at the end. 

3. When I got in the car, she was drunk. (My brother was driving)

4. When I got out of the car, she was a hot mess. She had broken out in hives earlier in the week, so she was not a happy camper. 

5. The next day, we went to my sister in laws to eat some BBQ (even though it was freezing). We got there and didn't even see them b/c they had to go to the hospital - her father in law had collapsed (turns out he was OK). So me, my bro, and Dan were just milling around their condo and decided to just leave and get food elsewhere. 

6. Each night, I did not sleep well. Either my brother was watching TV too loud too late, or I could hear the clickity clack of the dog's nails on the floor... people going to the bathroom... 

Anyway, that was my weekend. I've had more fun serving food to homeless people. 

Traditional Foods, the NEW Organic

In an effort to be more health conscious, I saw a naturopath and got a food allergy test done. It's basically dropping 5 huge drops of blood on to this postcard and then waiting a few weeks for your results. The doctor had to prick 5 of my fingers because the dang blood would not come out. Ouch.

Got my results back and found out what I knew was inevitable. I am allergic to dairy - eggs, milk, yogurt, and cheese - coincidentally ALL the things I eat on almost a regular basis (except cheese, I gave that up months ago). I'm also allergic to asparagus and wheat or gluten. I was also eating wheat on a daily basis because it's good for you and it's a good source of fiber. It's now been almost 2 weeks that I have (almost) cut out wheat, gluten, dairy (except for raw milk - I'll get to that in a minute) yogurt, and eggs. I lost 2.5 lbs without changing my exercise habits and I feel lighter. My next challenge will be trying to really cut down on coffee (have at least 1.5 cups or less everyday).

I started reading this woman's blog recently (www.cheeseslave.com) and it has really shed some light on the kinds of foods we are putting in our bodies and the link to harmful and sometimes deadly diseases. She also has a lot of alternative recipes for people who are gluten intolerant - like using coconut flour to make muffins. Don't worry, I'm not turning into some granola eating, birkenstocks wearing, health psycho, but I have started to really believe that the source of many ailments and problems stems from the digestive tract - i.e. what you eat may be causing the sickness. This woman healed a lot of her issues on her own by making the switch to whole foods - not just organic, but traditional foods (think Little House on the Prairie) full fat cheeses, butter, wild fish, and yes, even raw milk.

Many people probably wouldn't think raw milk would be safe because it's not pasteurized. In the process of pasteurization however, a lot of good bacteria gets killed off. She also goes on to say that people who label themselves as lactose intolerant can actually drink raw milk and tolerate it better than the store bought kind. The chipped enamel on her tooth grew back 80-90% just by drinking raw milk. There were many anecdotal stories posted on her blog that lead me to want to at least try it. Especially since I LOVE milk. I went to Erewhon (a health food store) and bought some and I absolutely love it and it tastes wonderful. I've been drinking it all week, and so far I haven't had any digestive mishaps or headaches or anything weird happen. So I will continue to drink it despite my food allergy test saying I am allergic.

Now if I can only get my husband on board...

Pura Vida!

My sis and I went to Costa Rica in September for a week. We had planned for months via IM at work regarding activities, hotels, and transportation. It was mostly her sending me a million links and me not looking at any of them and then lying and saying I did and then saying yes to all of them.

We flew in to San Jose, the capital, and stayed only one night because we heard there isn't much to do or see there. The next day we were picked up by shuttle and taken to Fortuna/volcano area where it rained like a mother but wasn't so hot. Humid like a sauna, but not that hot. Our hotel was awesome. There was another door that lead to a backyard where you could see a view of the volcano with clouds hovering above it.

Activities we did here: canyoning and repelling down a waterfall.

Zip lining. Despite thinking it would be comparable to the Dumbo ride at Disneyland, it was NOT! We were 600 feet in the mountain high above the tree tops and the first zip was the scariest! I thought my fanny pack was going to fly off and I had tears coming out of my eyes because of the wind!

We went to Tamarindo, the beach area next. It was a 3 hour drive there doing up and down curvy roads in a shuttle. When we arrived it was HOT and humid. I was never one for the pageant style hair, but my hair experienced a new side of curly that I never knew existed.

This was our hotel. Nice huh?

The next few days in Tamarindo were chill. We just ate, drank, hung out by the pool, saw lots of stray dogs, cats, and even an iguana that I fed bananas to! We also met a lot of Americans who had moved down to CR in the last 1-10 years. They told us how much they loved CR and how they had fulfilled their dreams by moving there.

These are actually some shops owned by a woman from L.A. She used to live in Koreatown and now she has a jewelry shop in CR.

I highly recommend CR to anyone thinking about going to Central America. The people are very friendly, the food is so delicious and cheap, and as long as you go in the slow season you really don't need to plan too many things in advance. There were tons of hotels, inns, and hostels where we could've stayed an extra few days for a mere $30 bucks (average). Also, we never had to change any of our money to colones, which I saw as both good and bad. Good because we never had to step into a bank, bad because I wanted to experience CR in it's entirety. If you do end up going, be prepared to ONLY see fellow Americans. Everyone speaks English too, but of course everyone is encouraged to practice their Spanish no matter how foolish they sound.

We sadly said good-bye on September 4th to CR. Pura vida forever.

Mad about Mad Men

The ONLY reason I started watching Mad Men was because of my undying devotion to Kevin and Bean on KROQs morning program. They speak so highly of it, I just had to see what the fuss was about.

I finished seasons 1 & 2 in a jiffy on Netflix and although season 1 took a while for me to warm up to, but it really grew on me and I LOVE MAD MEN! It's quite possibly the BEST show EVER. That's right, I said it.

I've never watched a TV series where I couldn't predict what would happen eventually. I had many ideas on what would become of Peggy, Betty, and Joan for example in season 1, but realized I was completely wrong. I stopped trying to figure out what each character represented and what would become of them in the storyline and just watched it. Each person has their own story, but are not entirely evil, good, or in between. Is Pete Campbell a bad person or isn't he? Does he truly love Peggy? Will Betty continue drowning her sorrows as a housewife at the stables? Does Don Draper actually have a conscience? Speaking of our main man, at first I thought they made him a little too slick, with his dashing good looks and pretentious attitude, but then I realized that he is a selfish cheating bastard who happened to have an unfortunate childhood. (What? Not in love with the main character? That's a first for me!)

The show constantly has me changing my judgments on the characters because the level of writing and story plots are so deep and so beyond any other show I've seen! The writing is impeccable, dramatic, and very era appropriate. I also didn't think that I would be interested to see what life was like in the late 50's and early 60's, but now that I have seen it, I am very intrigued and surprised at how society functioned back then. Sexual harassment at the work place? Alcoholism? Depression? Lung cancer awareness? Child abuse? All considered nonsense in the world of Mad Men!

You simply MUST watch this show!

What's with the British Accent?

I recently watched "Valkyrie" and realized Tom Cruise did not even attempt to do a German accent, but the audience assumed that he was in fact German. The rest of the German soldiers had the all-too-familiar British accent, which lead me to ask, "why Hollywood, why?" Cut to any kind of ancient Rome movies/shows, "Rome," "Sparta," and "Troy" - ALL British accents.

Over the years I have realized how much it gets on my nerves. Why can't you do an entire movie in Latin? What's wrong with keeping it historical and more realistic? I had to applaud "Passion of Christ" because the actors actually spoke in Aramaic, Latin, and Hebrew. In "Braveheart" everyone had Scottish accents so therefore the movie was much more believable. I think Hollywood makes movies and thinks, "ok, this doesn't take place in America, British accents, everyone!"

Damn you automatic toilet!

I'm not going to lie, my life is SO anti-drama, I just had to blog about this.

Last Saturday I went out to a place called Rush in Culver City. The bathrooms were very nice with a bathroom attendant and all her goodies and of course automatic toilets. Here is the drama that ensued that night.

Me, walking into bathroom stall after someone walked out. What's this I see? Oh, the automatic toilet must not have flushed everything down, no worries, I'll just push the side button and flush my bowl is nice and fresh.

Again, me, walking into the bathroom and after doing my business, I walk out of the stall. A girl walks in right after I walk out. Here is the dramatic re-play. I will call this girl Ashy Face because in the bathroom light, her makeup was way too ashy on her dry and parched skin. Not a good look. Maybe that's why she was in a bad mood?

Ashy Face: "Eww! FLUSH THE TOILET! You don't know how to flush a toilet?"

Me: "It's an AUTOMATIC TOILET, whatever goes down goes down. If everything doesn't flush, PUSH THE BUTTON. You never used an automatic toilet before?"

Ashy Face: "NO! YOU should flush the toilet (closes the stall door) before you come out!"

Me: (Washing hands in the sink) "Push the button! You can't push a button?"

Other patrons looking wide eyed and confused: "Is that your friend?"

Me: "No that's not my friend! She's crazy!"

Ashy Face: "I'll give you a dollar to push the button! This ain't Korea!"

Me: "OK, give me a dollar, I'll push it for you since you obviously never used an automatic toilet!"

Ashy Face: "NO! YOU should push the button!"

Bathroom attendant fully enjoying this shouting match with a smile on her face.

Me: "Push the button you stupid bitch!"

Great story, huh.

Mammoth

Per the request of my one fan who reads my blogs (thanks Grant) - I am updating. Wow, it's been 5 months since my last post.

Last weekend Dan and I drove up to Mammoth Lakes and had a blast. That's me in the picture at 10,000 feet elevation walking past some dirty snow in the hot sun.

While driving there Dan kept saying, "when you drive past these little towns, make sure to go the speed limit, I always get pulled over when I've gone skiing with people." Fast forward to 5 hours later... we are having a deep conversation about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and how his iPod is filled with "noisy music" and I see him straighten up to view the rear view mirror... he says, "Uh-oh," and then "Oh no!" We were so not paying attention. This cop actually saw us from the opposite side of the highway, made a U, and then caught us going at 86, even though he so forgivingly put 80 on the ticket.

Fast forward to getting to Sherwin Villas, AKA Allis' condo in Mammoth Lakes. We pull up to the parking lot and the leasing office is closed. There are combination lock boxes where the leasing office leaves guests a key after hours. It took us a minute to actually even open the box, and when we did... SURPRISE! No key. Dan says sarcastically, "maybe there's a secret compartment in there somewhere..." After many back and forth phone calls with Allis and Dan cursing under his breath. We decided to stay at EWWWW Motel 6, the most discusting place ever.

That was just our first night. The rest of the time was fun. The weather was sunny and hot and we fully took advantage of it. The remainder of our stay there we went mountain biking, rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain, went running at a nearby trail, and hung out in the jacuzzi. I think this little get away was even better than we had imagined because the town was so empty. No lines, no crowds, nothing was packed. Kind of like going to Disneyland on an off day and being able to ride everything.

Curb your Enthusiasm

Curb MY enthusiam! I can't believe I had the box set DVDs for seasons 1 and 2 and never cracked it open until last week. It was a lazy Sunday and I thought I would see what the show was all about. Personally, I'm not a Seinfeld fan. I don't think Jerry Seinfeld is all that comedic. Sue me.

This show, on the other hand, is genius! I'm just afraid that as I approach the last season, it'll be all too predicable, with Larry coincidentally running into the same people who seem to misunderstandingly disapprove of him for one reason or another. Hopefully that won't happen.

I have never laughed outloud this much before, not since "Gran Torino." God Clint, you crack me up. The world of Larry David is hilarious with all his self-imposed rules and procedures. My husband tells me Seinfeld was based on Larry David, and I can clearly see that, I just think it's much funnier when it's Larry David on screen. Not only that, I think his wife and manager's personalities mesh very well with his.

I'm not crazy about the music though... I think they could afford to mix it up every now and then, but I guess that's the whole point of the show. Definitely one of my favorite shows, can't wait to see the rest!

Tomato Juice

It's been a well-known fact that tomatoes are high in antioxidants and can help prevent cancer. I like tomatoes, but I'm not crazy about eating them just by itself without it being in a hamburger or something. Here is a little regimen I'd like to share - it's so easy to do and oh so good for you.

You're going to need a blender or mixer.

Each morning I take 5 little tomatoes (from Trader Joe's) and blend it into a mixer with fresh squeezed orange juice and flax seed. Blend it well so it's like a juice and drink. It's really good actually. Then when I get home I will cut up some strawberries and blueberries (another superfood) and blend to make another drink. It actually keeps me kind of full and I figure it's packed with good stuff. Try it, it's so easy to do and so good for you!

A First for Me...

Last Sunday my cousin and I were driving to Kings Road Cafe and I as pulled into my parking spot she said, "That man is taking a dump on the street." I turned to look, and sure enough, there he was, hunched over on the gutter of the main street. Nice.

Three's Company

I'm not much into old sitcoms, except for Three's Company. It's my all-time favorite sitcom. I can't explain why I like it other than watching that fake apartment in fake Santa Monica somehow brings me comfort. And of course I am a huge John Ritter fan.

The premise of the show is that two chicks live with an all-American dude in a two-bedroom apartment run by (at first), a grumpy, asexual man named Stanley Roper - who is the non-Korean twin of my father - (refer to the pics from my earlier blog). The show was considered to be dicey for the 70's and 80's, but it was actually a very wholesome show, maybe too wholesome. I've often had my own Three's Company theories on what I think was really going on underneath the bubbly exterior of the show. I believe that each of the rommates had a thing for the other, except the girls of course. There were many episodes where one person thought the other was sleeping with Jack and of course did not approve.

After watching every single episode many times - I realized that the show is one big oxymoron and I often wondered whether the show meant to do that, or whether the writers and producers just didn't care to notice.

Contradictions are listed below:

- All three roommates are supposed to be in plutonic relationships amongst themselves - but they are seen constantly hugging, kissing (on the lips), and being groped in many episodes. Jack's sexual innuendos are non-stop, especially when it comes to Chrissy. Not only that, Janet gets jealous when Jack doesn't give her the same attention. In fact, all of the roommates tend to get slightly jealous when someone is dating another person.

- The girls act extremely prissy when Jack comes in their room. (Seems very 1950's, doesn't it?)He isn't allowed in there, even though Chrissy prances around the apartment wearing her next-to-nothing, see-through nightgowns.

- Jack has the reputation of a "playboy" but never really goes all the way with a woman on the show, nor does any boyfriend or girlfriend of the characters ever sleep over. Prime example, Lana, the sex crazed, slightly older woman who occupies a unit in their building. She is in love with Jack and doesn't hide it, but Jack avoids her like the plague!

- When Chrissy comes home late from a date, Jack and Janet stay up late worried sick.

- In one epsiode, Larry's younger sister comes into town and hangs out with Jack. When they are no where to be found, EVERYONE goes crazy thinking the WORST ~ that they *gasp* slept together! Of course you know they didn't.

- Jack is also supposed to be homosexual so that the landlord will allow their living arrangement, but they never ever say the word homosexual and rarely if ever, mention the word gay. That's just a comment on how virtuous the show was, not really a contradiction.

Things I've noticed after watching every single episode:

- They use the same guest characters over and over.

- Jefferey Tambor played many different characters in the show, including Terri's mental patient, a dentist, and the Roper's neighbors after they moved to a condo.

- The show was never the same after Chrissy left the show.

- No character ever had a long-term boyfriend/girlfriend until the last season of the show when Jack and Janet got married, not to each other of course.

- The only place the characters ever went was to the Regal Beagle. Once, they went camping and to Will Rogers Park - which I am guessing was the same set. Seeing a new set was a treat for me.

I think I've tortured Dan with enough episodes of Threes Company to last him a lifetime. But for me, I think the characters are funny - with the exception of Janet - and even though they all act like cartoon characters, I will still watch it. I even used to watch the spin off, Three's A Crowd.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Happy New Year's Eve! Let's hope 2009 goes by just a little slower!

Random Random Random

I recently came back from a trip to Manhattan and when I boarded the plane, I saw my old boss and her husband from a job I had almost a decade ago! So random. Did I stop and make small talk while inching my way through the narrow aisle? Hell no. 

Kind of reminds me of the time I ran into my ex-boyfriend on a Southwest plane coming back from Oakland to LA. Only that time, because of Southwest's sit anywhere policy, I ended up awkwardly sitting next to him and "catching up" for the next 50 minutes. Thank God Jetblue has assigned seats. 

Question for those who fly

Everytime I fly, I'm always stuck in a long line of people trying to get through the security check point. When I am patiently waiting in line, I take off my shoes, jacket/coat, scarf, hat, belt, and take out my lap top and be as prepared as I can so I can simply dump it on the tray. However, there are those who do not. Frustrated in line then peer over and use the "stare" tactic to try and get that person moving faster. What I've started seeing is people just cutting in front of the person still trying to take off her (it's mostly women I've noticed) boots and going through. Is this right? What are your thoughts? Please share so I can get a better understanding.

Road Rage and Rude Tourists

I hate turning into the devil woman when I'm driving. If you think that's bad, other people are worse, trust me. When it's you that fucks up while driving of course. Last week, I was pulling out of my driveway at work and was trying to make a left, didn't see this car, and stopped just in time. But it wasn't like we were inches or millimeters apart, it was still a pretty decent amount before we actually were going to collide. I raised up my hand to say "Sorry." Oops. She was in a maroon beat up Camery, me in my cute silver mini with the top down so I could hear all of her cursing with no barriers.

Her: "You stupid bitch, learn how to drive!"
Me: (Silent, kept driving. Uh-oh, red light ahead and she was pulling right up next to me.)
Her: "Learn how to drive you stupid bitch (hand motions going all over the place), what the fuck?!"
Me: "I didn't even hit you AND I said I was sorry so shut the fuck up!"
Her: "You better not have hit me in my baby otherwise I woulda sued you for every penny you have, you can't afford to hit me...(acting like she was going to get out of the car and beat my ass)"
Me: "If you can even AFFORD a lawyer driving that piece of shit! Fuck you! (Flipped her the finger)"
Her: "Blah blah blah blah (as she finally turned and drove away)"
Me: (Still giving her the finger and hoping she is looking in her rear view mirror)

I know. Immature, stupid, and petty. I was pist driving all the way home. That's me, devil lady road rager.
__________________________________________________
Last week I was at the Beverly Center. They have a new parking policy now where you have to pay before you get out of the lot. You CAN pay as you are leaving, but it's only with a credit card and those machines suck and people get annoyed if you are stuck there trying to push your ticket in the slot then your credit card and it taking forever, you get the point.

Anyway... the line was long. There were three slow elderly up front, trying to pay their $3 with all the change in their fabric wallets. One dime, one nickel, one dime... Finally, their stupid ticket came out. The next girl in front of me obviously had to stand there and watch that fiasco, so being polite, she already had her money out but the machine wasn't taking cash. She quickly turned to me and asked for help. Nope, it definitely wasn't taking cash, so she too started depositing all her coins from her wallet. One nickel, one quarter... Then these rude, loud mouthed German mother and daughter got in line behind me. I guess they don't realize that a lot of words in German sound exactly like words in English. Talking their crap behind me. I could just tell you know. The machine was slow, so it took some time before her ticket was spit out. The stupid ignorant German girl thought she wasn't pulling out her 5 cent change, when really she was waiting for her ticket. She rudely announced that she has to grab her change from down below. (There of course was a long line formed during this time)

Rude German: "You hof to take change!"
Me: "No, she's waiting for her ticket to come out. (Immediately after, ticket finally comes out. Me, satisfied.)

Then it was my turn to go and I already had my credit card out cuz I knew it didn't take cash.

Rude German: "Crezit card un due dollarz!" (basically saying I am trashy for putting a measly two dollars on my crezit card)
Me: "For your information, this machine doesn't take dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!" (People behind in line - I noticed their eyes getting bigger.)
Me: (Walking away and wanting to turn around and cuss that bitch out.)

WHY AM I SO ANGRY!?!

I LOVE technology!

So after months - literally months, of me deliberating whether or not I should buy the Nike ipod sport kit, I decided it was worth it. Ipod kit - $30, Nano $150 (I already had this so it was worth it), Nike shoe - $80 (Zappos.com).

My shoe arrived yesterday from Zappos.com (they overnighted it for FREE - gotta love Zappos!) and I tried it out when I walked home from work. I already knew that my work was 1.5 miles door-to-door one way to my house. While walking home and listening to my music, a pleasant voice came out as the music was slightly lowered and said, "half a mile completed." HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! Then it keeps going from there, "one mile completed, 300 meters to go.." etc.

It was right on the dot 1.5 miles as I walked up the front steps to my apartment. Not only that, when you press the middle button to finish your workout, it tells you how many calories you've burned, your pace, what pace you should be walking/running, AND you can even go on the Nike website and challenge yourself or other people - imagine a Myspace, but with Nike ipod kit users. It's truly worth it if you love walking/running. Even if you work out on the treadmill at the gym it's worth it. In case anyone decides to do it, my Nike log in name is RunningF001 (that's a 001 at the end.) Who's with me?

My uncle is the Korean Robin Williams!

Another separation at birth? My uncle and Robin Williams! Strangely, Mr. Roper and Robin Williams don't look that much alike.

Random thoughts and rants

Why is it that some people never change lanes from the fast lane even when there are cars behind them going fast? Rude!

Why do Hispanic and Asian ladies always carry parasols?

It bugs when I hear people on their cell phones inside stores and public places. Can't you do that crap when you're driving or something? Sheesh, I don't need to hear what happened Friday night after the club.

What bugs me worse than that is that crying kid throwing a tantrum in the store and the mother continues to shop.

Men's shaving razors work great and never cut your legs!

Man, isn't Oprah looking more and more haggard lately?

My Website

Took me a week to complete, but within the next 24-48 hours, my website should be up and running! Check me out at www.clairetak.com. <-- scratch that. I ended up canceling because GoDaddy is the WORST web hosting company to go with.

Feel free to send me comments!

Life after my cleanse

Seriously, what's up with the weight gain?? I've gained 5 pounds after that damn cleanse! I thought I was doing so well too. I didn't realize that depriving myself - a chocolate fiend - would take such a huge psychological toll. Post cleanse, I kept telling myself, "oh, I can eat that. I've lost some weight so it's ok." Or "I haven't had that in sooo long" to justify it and make myself feel better.

If I hadn't done the cleanse, I think I would've been about 3 pounds lighter, or at least maintained my normal weight. But I can't blame the cleanse, it's obviously me being a pig and always having to have that cookie after lunch, dinner, etc. Now my pants have gotten so tight I can't even pull off wearing it with a fluffy shirt.

I guess I'm not too surprised though, this always happens to me. I gain and lose 5 pounds every year or so. That being said, I've slowed down on my sugar intake, try not to eat too much at night, and load up on fruits and even make strawberry/blueberry/yogurt/orange juice smoothies. (Saw it in a magazine.) I've also been running about 5 miles everyday and let me say how amazing I feel about running. I love a good work out, but I hate running on the treadmill. Now that the weather is cooling down I've been going to the Silver Lake reservoir to jog and it totally beats being inside a gym! I'm giving myself one month to lose 5 pounds. Who's with me?

Twins?

Member Mr. Roper from "Three's Company?" I swear my dad and Norman Fell were separated at birth.

Day 6 & 7

Day 6 was yesterday July 5th, I just didn't post anything.
I actually ate breakfast (a juice shake) and lunch (cauliflower) because I was planning on preparing for my liver cleanse. You must eat breakfast and lunch so that your liver can produce bile to push out stones. At 6pm, I drank 3/4 epsom salt water. Repeat at 8pm. Then at 10pm drink 1/2 cup of fresh grapefruit juice + 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil juice. After that you have to immediately lay down and relax for the stones to start moving out of your liver. I, however, could not b/c I ended up going to the bathroom literally 10 times. No stones.

The next morning (today) I woke up feeling queesy. At 6am you have to drink another 3/4 epsom salt and water, repeat at 8am. It was not easy. The epsom salt water tastes like weak soju and after being queesy and not really eating for 7 days, it almost made me vomit.

I am re-thinking whether I should do the liver cleanse again tonight and tomorrow. I will keep you posted.

All in all, as soon as I did the liver cleanse, my skin felt amazing. Over the course of 7 days, I have lost 5 pounds and I have gained a new found respect for hunger. I can now deal with the pains of not eating chocolate, coffee, sugar, and instead eat fruits and veggies. I always managed to eat somewhat healthy, but now I can see the effects of what it can do for you if you go for it all the way. I hope everyone who reads this tries this detox. Remember, you don't have to go so hardcore like I did. There are other detox methods - the lemonade one just happens to be the fastest way to get results. I recommend this to anyone and everyone! Good luck!

Day 5 - SUCKS!

I never cared much for the 4th of July until I realized I couldn't eat anything. No BBQ's, no meat, no beer, no fun. I stayed inside all day today and was SO sick of that damn lemonade, I only had about 2 today. I also had 16 oz of mint tea.

By the end of the day, I was SO hungry I couldn't take it anymore. I did some research online for the liver cleanse b/c I want this to be over. Plus I have a last minute looming trip to DC for work (for a whole week!) which means I have to speed up the process so I'm not a big poopin' mess while I'm traveling. Plus it's so hard to eat healthy while on trips.

Anyway, for the liver cleanse you have to drink organic apple juice for 2 days before starting. So I went to the supermarket and bought a bunch of ingredients I needed for the liver cleanse. I also did some detox research while I was online and found out that fresh fruits blended into smoothies are also acceptable detox foods to eat! The lemonade cleanse is the #1 fastest way to detox, followed by consuming fresh fruits and veggies as another way to detox. I guess as long as you are having 2-3 bowel movements per day, you can move on to the liver cleanse. So therefore, I am compromising this detox. I cut up an apple with 4 strawberries and blended it into a delicious smoothie. Yes! I cheated! I decided to cut the detox to 7 days followed by a two day liver cleanse due to my DC trip coming up. As I write this I am drinking my smooth move tea which will be followed by the wonderful salt water drink in the morning.

Total number of lemonade consumed today: 2 8 oz glasses
Total number of bowel movements today: 4
Number of mint tea consumed today: 2 8 oz glasses
Fruit: 1 apple and 4 strawberries blended together
In between: drank 4 glasses of water (I'm sick of peeing all the time! I know I should drink more though!)

Day 4

I woke up today feeling less hungry. Meaning, the insane hunger pains have somewhat gone away. Or maybe I'm just used to them now. I have more energy today, and my tongue is pinker - not quite all the way pink yet. I could probably even start working out today if I wanted.

Bowel movements have definitely increased today. I probably went to the bathroom 4 times today. Stomach doesn't hurt like it did yesterday.

I am getting sick of the taste of the lemonade and maple syrup. I stopped putting cayenne pepper in it. At first, it was a surprise - like, "oh! it's spicy!" Now it's like, "yuck." Can't take it no mo. But what I've found is the mint tea certainly helps break the monotony of lemonade all day long. I also discovered that when both drinks are cold, it helps. I've just been drinking the lemonade luke warm and it's just not that good. Drinking the mint tea cold is also a nice since it's been so hot lately.

My friend was thinking of trying the cleanse too and when I said I felt great today, she assumed that it was only difficult the first day! I told her it's hard EVERY DAY. Especially when going out with people usually means a meal attached to it. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will have to be a hermit until July 9th. Wish me luck!

Total number of lemonade consumed so far today: 4 glasses (8 oz)
Bags of mint tea consumed so far today: 1

Day 3

Day 3 goes like this - uncontrollable bowel movements. Uncontrollable, so be near a bathroom. So far I've had two 8 oz lemonade drinks supplemented by mint tea which is supposed to be considered a "treat." I drank only 1/2 a quart of salt water this morning b/c my stomach was kind of hurting. I actually woke up at 3am b/c it was hurting.

I am finally less hungry, but if I don't have my lemonade, I feel nauseous - like the day after heavy drinking and when you're hungry. I had to skip dinner with Dan yesterday while he ate dinner with my bro somewhere fun and delicious.

But here's the good news! The skin rash I had on my back since last winter suddenly stopped itching and went away! Brown spots on my face have gotten lighter! I fit better into my clothes and don't have to worry about my jeans being so fricken tight!

I have decided to take the plunge!

I know many people are curious about how I am doing.. I have decided to detox my body and rid it of all the poisons that have developed in my organs. I am doing the Master Cleanse using the following ingredients: fresh lemons, cayenne pepper, dark maple syrup, and water. (Do a google search "lemonade cleanse.") They say you should stop when you have 2-3 bowel movements per day. After 10 days, I plan on doing a two day liver cleanse which consists of olive oil, epsom salt, and grape juice. 

Reasons why you should do it:

cleanse your colon and intestines, get rid of excess copper and other toxins in your body, if you are bloated all the time or retain water, clear acne prone skin and other skin problems, get better sleep at night, be more regular (if you are constipated or go too much)... the list goes on and on!

The day before I started, I took a laxative tea called "Smooth Move" from Trader Joe's. The next morning I drank 2 cups of sea salt water, although it says to drink a quart, I couldn't do it. 

Day 1

I'm not gonna lie to you, I felt very very hungry on my first day. I especially felt depressed at work b/c I couldn't munch on my usual snacks... which are actually pretty  healthy snacks, but of course I always stick in that small piece of chocolate or cookie. I pushed through and made it through the day. I drank my lemonade and by the end of the day, wasn't enjoying the cayenne pepper as much. I got home, drank some smooth move tea and went to bed early.  

Total number of drinks consumed (8 oz) - 8 (the more, the better)

Day 2 (Today - July 1, 2008)

My tongue is white and I feel like I have bad breath. (Gross!) It's just a sign that your body is detoxing. When your tongue is nice and pink it's an indication that your body is done detoxing. I'm less hungry but when others are eating around me I feel like I could break down at any second. It's definitely hard, but when you prepare yourself mentally and a little physically (I ate a lot less this past weekend) it's not so bad. 

Total number of drinks consumed so far today 4. My goal is 8.  (Just a side note - lemons are expensive!)

Chicago

Finally I have time to post on my blog! Went to Chicago last week and was able to take some scenic pictures.

Near North Shore close to Chicago University.




South Side of Chicago.








Downtown.