As some of you might remember in this post I talked about how my mom throws a Valentine card making party every year. Well this year I threw my own, and I thought it was great! I just wish I could have invited more people but our apartment is only so big :( It was a great day of eating, visiting and creating. Everyone’s cards turned out so cute I should have taken more pictures. I didn’t get a picture of every one, but there’s always next year!
These are just a few of my favorite blogs at the moment. I thought I would share so others (aka my mom) could enjoy them too.
Sheena from Little Red House
Sheena is awesome, she has awesome recipes, pictures, and tips on everything. I hope to cook like her one day.
Kendi from Kendi Everyday
OK, Kendi is freakin hilarious. I actually laugh out loud, plus she has great style.
Mary from mary plus vince
Sometimes I feel like Mary is my twin. Photographer, enchilada and In-N-Out lover, and husband obsessed.
Rachel from Rachel Thurston Photography
She makes being a mother look so incredible. Her blog is great because it has her photography (which is breathtaking) mixed with her personal life.
Danny & Mara Kofoed from A Blog About Love
This is definitely my favorite blog right now. Their stories are just beautiful, and they are so so positive.
Emma from Emma the Joy
Just a good read of everyday life.
Katie from Color Me Katie
Katie’s life seems so fun! Her blog is super creative and colorful!
Jordan from Oh Happy Day
I really want her life, she lives in Paris! Also, she has insanely cute party ideas.
Here are a few new recipes I tried and their results: Also, I’m rating them the same way we rated our movies last year, rating them 1-5 where 5 is the best and 1 is the worst.
Most of these recipes are from Pinterest and my friend Alyssa’s blog (click on the title of the recipe to take you to the original source).
Zucchini Chips
If you like zucchini these are pretty yummy. If you don’t like zucchini, they’re still pretty yummy.
Kelvin: 4 (and I don’t really like Zucchini)
Jilleun: 3
Whitney Chicken Enchiladas
I think I make some pretty good red sauce enchiladas but Kelvin prefers more American versions (aka white people enchiladas). I’ve been trying to find a recipe that we both enjoy, and I was glad my friend seemed to have it!
Kelvin: 5
Jilleun: 5
Crispy Coconut Chicken Fingers
These were good enough, but nothing to write home about. I’ll probably make them again because it was pretty easy. Even though I didn’t cook them for the full time they were a tiny bit burnt.
Kelvin: 4
Jilleun: 3
One Pot, Stove Top, Creamy Mac and Cheese
In the recipe I didn’t put in the Mustard powder or Nutmeg, but it was still super good. For the bread crumbs I actually just crushed some salad croutons, I like the texture and little bit of favor it added.
Kelvin: 4
Jilleun: 4
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars
This was delicious! But had a lot of little steps and it took awhile. It also used a lot of dishes which I kind of hate (thanks goodness we have a dishwasher). I don’t know if I’ll make it again, at least next time I’ll be more prepared for how long it takes from when you start making it till you can eat it.
Kelvin: 5
Jilleun: 5
Andes Mint Cookies Recipe
SUPER easy! I though they actually tasted gross right out of the oven but I thought they tasted fine the day after I made them. I also thought the mint was a bit too strong, so I used half a mint per cookie. I brought them to Kelvin’s work party and a lot of people asked for the recipe, which I was kind of surprised by, because I didn’t love them.
Kelvin: 3
Jilleun: 2
For Christmas we went to California to see my family, we invited Kelvin’s mom and little brother but they didn’t come with us. Another reason why it was a smaller Christmas this year than last is because my older brother and his wife in moved to India for a while, but Christmas was still really good! Although this was the first time my mom’s dad came for Christmas Eve dinner.
My family traditions on Christmas Eve:
- My dad makes a super good meal
- With a delicious dessert and we all stuff ourselves
- Usually my mom reads the story from the Bible
- My dad reads The Night before Christmas
- We watch the Little Drummer Boy
Sometimes a few little different things are in there but those are the things we always do. Sometimes we sing, or read additional stories. Like this year we watched A Christmas Carol.
Usually on Christmas morning we’d get up (not too early), have Christmas explosion (as some like to call it), and head to both my grandma’s, which are both about an hour away and do Christmas-y things there. But, this was the first year we didn’t go, not to either of them! It felt pretty strange, but way more relaxing. One thing I did miss is that when we go to my mom’s moms house she always has THE best cinnamon rolls, (she makes them from scratch) and everyone looks forward to it. But, because we didn’t go this year, and she refuses to give out the recipe*, my dad and I attempted trying to make some… They didn’t turn out bad, but they were a little disappointing compared to the usual Grandma’s cinnamon rolls.
I hardly took any pictures =/ and half of the ones I did take are of food. Haha what I can I say, I love food. It’s just hard for me to pick up my camera and think about f/stops and ISO’s. I rather just sit and hang out with my family that I only get to see three times a year.
My family Christmas Eve minus Kelvin O.
*My Grandma won’t give us the recipe because she says she doesn’t want to curse us! It’s so much work she has to wake up at five on Christmas day, so that why she refusing to give it to anyone. Not because she is one of those crazy ladies that wont share.
We have continued our adventures in Kyle XY, but still have not finished it. We completed Season 2 and are halfway through season 3. It’s not as good as it used to be, since it has basically turned into a High School drama and less about the coolness that is Kyle XY. On to the movies!
Flyboys (2006)
Watched on: 14 Dec 2011
Rated: 
Three actors: James Franco, Jean Reno, Jennifer Decker
Reaction: Kelvin- I liked most of this movie, but the ending really killed it for me. The fighting was cool, the acting and cinematography was great but I wouldn’t watch it again and probably wouldn’t recommend anyone else watch it either. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
Jilleun- This movie was really well done, and I love the characters, as well as the acting.. BUT it was based on a true story and because I didn’t get the ending I was hoping for, it wasn’t my favorite. In fact several hours after we had watched it I was still mad about and so was Kelvin. So here is your fair warning.
Rating: 3/5
Larry Crowne (2011)
Watched on: 23 Dec 2011
Rated:
Three actors: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Reaction: Kelvin- We’ve seen this one (see July of this year), and it’s still a good movie. Her parents had not seen it, so we watched it with them.
Jilleun- Good movie again, I love Tom Hanks.
Rating: 4/5
Prep & Landing (2009)
Watched on: 24 Dec 2011
Rated: 
Three actors: Dave Foley, Sarah Chalke, Mason Vale Cotton
Reaction: Kelvin- This was an okay kids movie, again, we watched it with her parents. It was fairly short so it wasn’t hard to bust through it one time, plus it was Christmas-y so that made it a little more okay. Rating: 2/5
Jilleun- This was surprisingly good, it was clever, funny, and cute. I’m not the biggest fan of that Santa guy but I thought this was more like 4/5.
A Christmas Carol (1999)
Watched on: 24 Dec 2011
Rated: 
Two actors: Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant
Reaction: Kelvin- With so many different versions of the Christmas Carol story, it’s hard to watch another. Not that this was a bad movie, it’s just that I’ve seen/heard the story so many times I am kinda tired of it. Unless there is something really unique (Muppets version, for example) about the version, I try to skip them. This one didn’t have anything particularly distinctive about it, other than Patrick Stewart.
Jilleun- Ugh this story is over-told, depressing, long and kind of creepy.
Rating: 2/5
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
Watched on: 25 Dec 2011
Rated:
Three actors: Jane Powell, Howard Keel, Jeff Richards
Reaction: Kelvin- Never seen this one before. I generally don’t venture into the land of old movies all that often, but this one wasn’t that bad.. especially for a musical.
Jilleun- This is definitely one of my favorite musicals, probably in my top three!
Rating: 3/5
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Watched on: 26 Dec 2011
Rated:
Three actors: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams
Reaction: Kelvin- We watched this just minutes before we left to head to the theater, on our way to see the second Sherlock Holmes. Doing that gave us a bit of juxtaposition between the two movies. I think the second movie was a little bit better, and slightly more entertaining. Still, this was a good film.
Jilleun- This isn’t my favorite type of movie, its well done for sure, but I just felt lost till the last 10 minutes of the movie.
Rating: 4/5
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
Watched on: 26 Dec 2011
Rated:
Three actors: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Jared Harris
Reaction: Kelvin- Pretty good movie, much more funny than the first one. I like Robert Downy Jr. as an actor, so that makes it much easier to watch. It kept me guessing the entire movie, and finished out in a pretty creative way.
Jilleun- I like this movie more than the first, I didn’t feel quite as lost. I think this one also had a little more humor too. But I didn’t like the girl the gypsy one (I don’t even remember her name) yeah could have done without her.
Rating: 4/5
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
Watched on: 28 Dec 2011
Rated:
Three actors: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie
Reaction: Kelvin- Again, we watched this one already back in March.
Jilleun- One of my all-time favorite movies.
Rating: 5/5
Some stats
8 movies
- 5
- 1
- 2
Favorite movie this month-
Kelvin- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Jilleun- The Adjustment Bureau
Better late than never right?
This year Kelvin and I got to meet my family in Santa Barbara to have Thanksgiving with my sister-in-laws parents Rick and Lynne. It was so, fun we stayed in Santa Barbara for two days and then went to my parents house in Coalinga. It was so good to visit family, eat wonderful food that others prepared for us, talk to my brother and sil in India, see the beach, and do other fun things like shopping and hockey games. I’m so grateful for all the many blessing I have in my life, especially my family and friends. And thanks to my Hub for driving the whole way 24+ hours (round trip), you’re such a champ.
We just put this up…
While listening to this…(the only Christmas music I even like)
Our home smells like this at the moment …
We think this is the best hot chocolate ever…
and nothing to do with Christmas but I started reading this to Kelvin, and he’s totally hooked…
Well first of all, we didn’t watch that much stuff this last month.. oh well! We did start watching Jericho (2006-2008) at the request of our friends. Turns out that we didn’t like it that much, even though they loved it. Didn’t care for the characters or the acting, which made it really hard to continue watching. We stopped after about 8 episodes, that gave us enough time to really get to know the people and where the plot was going, long enough to decide that we didn’t want to continue it. So, we started watching Kyle XY (2006-2009) instead, which we have gotten through the entire first season and a few episodes into the second season.
Source Code (2011)
Watched on: 11 Nov 2011
Rated:
Three actors: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga
Reaction: Jilleun- This movie was really interesting, I enjoyed it a lot. (sorry, my keyboard is broken and this temporary one is really hard to type on)
Kelvin- I don’t think I had much of an idea of what this movie was about before watching it. Let me tell you, the name has nothing to do with what the movie was about. At all. I don’t think it was a good choice for a title and actually kind of bothers me that they “wasted” the name on a movie like this. This film had a similar theme and feeling to FlashForward (the many-worlds theory). It’s a pretty interesting premise, which I won’t divulge, so that I won’t ruin the movie for the people who have not seen it. I won’t say that it is totally impossible, but the technology that they use is many many years out in the future. Pretty good acting, intriguing plot, solid and gratifying ending, overall a good movie..
Rating: 4/5
A-Team (2010)
Watched on: 17 Nov 2011
Rated:
Three actors: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley
Reaction: Jilleun- I’m glad I was warned that it was a bit ridiculous but it was still entertaining and amusing.
Kelvin- We watched this with some friends at their request. It wasn’t bad, it was just silly.. a few parts were totally unbelievable, but such is the genre. Funny movie, pretty entertaining, don’t know if I would watch it again, but I would at least recommend watching it one time.
Rating: 3/5
Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011)
Watched on: 19 Nov 2011
Rated:
Three actors: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Reaction: Jilleun- Pretty lammmmmmmmmmmmmme.
Kelvin- Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, then it does. Wow, what a terrible movie.
Rating: 1/5
Some stats
3 movies
- 3
Favorite movie this month-
Jilleun- Source Code
Kelvin- Source Code
The Friday before Halloween we threw a little birthday party for Kelvin! Who doesn’t love a reason to dress up and eat food?
So this month we pounded through an entire TV Series! FlashForward. An entire series is pretty admirable, you say? Well, when it gets cancelled after the end of the first season, it’s easy to watch the whole thing. It was a little bit hard to get in to, I think the budget they had for computer animation was a little short, but they really hook you fast with the plot. FlashForward explores a few physics(?) or math(?) concepts like: the many-worlds theory, and/or the chaos theory plus probably many others.
Basically: everyone in the world blacks out for a few minutes, and while they are blacked out they have visions of the future. It’s really interesting and both of us enjoyed it a lot. We’re pretty sad they cancelled the show, they leave it a little bit on a cliffhanger… but nothing you can’t deal with. Recommended.
Battle Los Angeles (2011)
Watched on: 8 Oct 2011
Rated:
Three actors: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Ramon Rodriguez
Reaction: Kelvin- I was actually really surprised at how bad this movie was. No character development, hardly a plot (and the miniscule plot that it DID have, was ripped off straight from War of the Worlds and/or Independence Day.) It was an action movie, and not even a good one.
Jilleun- I thought this movie was pretty lame. Who were these people? I don’t know, therefore: I didn’t care if they got eaten by the aliens or not.
Rating: 1/5
Real Steel (2011)
Watched on: 15 Oct 2011
Rated:
Three actors: Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo
Reaction: Kelvin- I really liked this movie. You could almost see the end from the beginning; entertaining anyway. I was also really surprised at how good of an actor the kid was (you know kids usually suck pretty hard at acting, so when you see one that’s half-decent, you notice). A little bit sad, but had a nice exit.
Jilleun- Even though this is geared towards guys I really enjoyed it, it’s a good story and super entertaining.
Rating: 5/5
Monster House (2006)
Watched on: 16 Oct 2011
Rated:
Three actors: Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke
Reaction: Kelvin- I don’t know why I think I’m going to like kids movies. Why do we watch them? They’re dumb. Reallllly dumb. This one was no exception. Stupid plot, terrible animation, and you have to let your imagination stretch pretty far (it’s even animated!) to let this movie fly. Bad, bad, bad.
Jilleun- This is a kids movie but I still like it, I think the characters are funny. I also think it’s good to get away from and be different rather than just another Disney fluffy happy movie.
Rating: 3/5
True Grit (2010)
Watched on: 18 Oct 2011
Rated:
Three actors: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld
Reaction: Kelvin- Not totally sure how this movie came up. We were trying to decide what to watch and the cursor had stopped on this movie, so we watched it. Didn’t have any idea what it was about beforehand. I liked it enough. Pretty good story, nice acting (especially by the girl), pretty believable environments/sets, overall well done. It just isn’t my type of movie, I guess.
Jilleun- Hmmm I’m not totally sure how I feel about this movie. It was well done for sure, the actors did great, and the story was interesting. But I thought it was just OK for some reason.
Rating: 3/5
In Time (2011)
Watched on: 29 Oct 2011
Rated:
Three actors: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy
Reaction: Kelvin- Watched the preview, which gave away more that I would have liked. I thought it was an interesting subject, so we saw it. The underlying concept of how it all works wasn’t very well explained, how it came about: the fact that time literally equals money, and when you run out of time you die. There are a million directions that you could have gone with this concept, and this one wasn’t a bad one. I felt it was somewhat political–it follows the same idea that the Occupy Wall Street movement is pushing–except this movie was being produced before the OWS started… obviously. The movie was really well done, the plot might have had some holes–but it was good, the acting was excellent, the music was fitting, the cinematography was admirable, and the cars were cool. Pretty awesome.
Jilleun- I thought this movie was awesome, I don’t know why it got such bad reviews.
Rating: 5/5
Some stats
5 movies
- 4
- 1
Favorite movie this month-
Kelvin- Real Steel
Jilleun- In Time
