The Last 27 Days of Being 27: Tacos and Gamer Nation

So, as it always is with my self-imposed challenges, I am slowly but surely getting people on board the Crazy Train. My friend Justin is fully on board and has been coming up with idea after fun idea for my Last 27 Days of Being 27. And the best part? He comes along with me and we get to have a good time. This weekend has been so fun because of the challenge and Saturday was no exception. Hiking on Friday with the sibs was awesome and the ever-exciting, ever-delicious, and ever adventurous KING TACO AND NICKEL-NICKEL ARCADE was so fun too! Justin came up with this idea for me and we had a great time....I also made some startling discoveries about my friend Mr. Muller. (HINT: I cannot confirm nor deny that he is a Closet Gamer....)

We started off our Saturday by getting some sustenance at good ole' King Taco in Pico Rivera. Yum-O! I have actually NEVER been to King Taco---which is so crazy, right? It was really good....we ordered wayyyyyy too much food....see the following photos for proof :)


Tacos, Sopes, Quesadillas....OH MY! It was so good and the perfect lunch before we headed over to get our "game" on. Also, I ran into one of my former cheerleaders, which is always a great time and it was wonderful to see her while we were stuffing our faces :)


So the deal with Nickel-Nickel is that it is an arcade in which all of the games ONLY take nickels and they cost anywhere from 1-10 nickels to play. While there are quite a few locations (who knew?!?!) Justin and I went to the one in Whittier off of Whittier Blvd at the Whitwood shopping center.


We proceeded to change a whole bag of quarters into nickels and then Justin (he's such a gem) gave me my own bag of nickels to "knock myself out" and knock myself out I did! We played a few games in which we were pitted against one another, buuuuuut we're both slightly on the competitive side--and I don't like to lose--(he IS a closet gamer after all...keep reading for proof) we had to stop playing against one another. He's good...I swear he hangs out at arcades just so that he can get better as Ms. PacMan. For reals.


As if an arcade where everything costs a nickel wasn't awesome enough, they also have a whole wall full of games that are FREE!!!! Awesome...this is where Justin posted up for a while and was beating all the levels of Ms. PacMan and I couldn't even get past the first level of Froggy (or whatever it's called) without dying....ugh! I suck at games!


I sucked even worse at the motorcycle race game....I couldn't even figure out how to "GO"! Seriously! While I might not have been very good at the games, I still had fun! My favorite game was "Let's Make a Deal"...because it is random (even though according to Justin there is a "science" to it LOL) I won 52 tickets playing it! Awesome! :)


Ahhh....proof positive that Justin is a gamer....he is a resident of "Gamer Nation" and was so engrossed in this weird bubble game for like 20 minutes....I couldn't even distract him with candy or the prospect of me letting him beat me at the boxing game. Nope....he games on. :) "Highest Scorer"...no joke...it was actually kind of funny. :)


Here I am with all of my "loot"! I won a soccer embroidered orange sweatband, a basketball notebook, various pieces of candy, and a football. So fun!


If you've never been to King Taco, GO! If you've never been to Nickel-Nickel, GO! It's a fun place to take kids (or Grown-Up gamer kids like Justin). We had a great time and I only had a teeny tiny headache from the music that all of the games play. A special "Thank You" to Justin for coming up with this idea and for helping me carry it out!

I am really looking forward to this week...Sunday has a really great challenge...get ready! And a couple of other things that I have "up my sleeve" are going to be really fun!

P.S. Hi Greg Lake :) good to see you last night....a little shout out for you, just in case you're reading today ;)

The Last 27 Days of Being 27: Runyon Style

I got my Hike On!

Runyon Canyon style....



Here are my hiking companions: my sister Joslyn, my brother Wes, and my brother's girlfriend Eve! We had so much fun! After work I picked up Wes and Eve (who are here visiting from Berkeley on their Spring Break) and we drove down to the Clevver TV studios to visit Jos at work and then to go for a nice Friday evening hike in Runyon Canyon (which is in Hollywood off of Fuller--or Mulholland--whichever route you choose to take). And it was SO FUN!


There's our destination....if you look reallllllllly closely at the picture, you can see tiny little people climbing up--or down--that hill/mountain (what makes a "hill" become a "mountain"--something else to learn these 27 days I suppose...) Anywho...you can either hike up the front side of that, orrrr choose--like we did---to hike up the back way and then come down that route!


We took a little bit of an "alternate route" at one point...aka...we got slightly lost and off the path and ended up slipping and sliding down a water trench thing...right after I took these pictures, my brother took my phone away because--if you know me then you know this--I don't need anything else distracting me while in precarious/treacherous situations! (P.S. Eve is SO TALL! Those long legs are FOR REAL! No photoshopping took place here!)


I really can't think of any other people that I would rather spend AT LEAST one of my "Last 27 Days of Being 27" with....especially THIS guy. My bro is awesome and I miss him when I don't see him---so when he's here, I smother him with love and bug him and make him hang out with me....he loves me. I know it :)


Jos, Eve, and I and the "beautiful" view of Los Angeles in the background....it wasn't the clearest day, but it was fun all the same!


Here we are....me and my Trusty Hiking Compadres. I am loving this "Last 27 Days of Being 27" because I feel this urge to just get out and do stuff! It really is kind of inspiring and also fun to think of stuff to do that I haven't done before! It just reminds me of how much fun there is to be had and how just when I think that I have done it all, I realize that actually I have so many things to look forward to!


Yes, this is how I balance....It looks like I am about to take flight or something...Wes wouldn't let me hold my phone, so he captured this "gem" of a photo for me :) Whatta guy, right?


This was on our way out of the park...and I had to take a picture, because how true and how fitting it is...especially in light of what I am doing right now. "You're never too young to dream BIG". Dream on. Everything is possible...I think :)


P.S. On a sidenote, Runyon is awesome...just the right amount of people--kind of challenging to find parking, but not so much so that it is too discouraging. Lots of cute dogs (and dogs are allowed to be "off the leash" which is kind of cool) AND Eve says that the past time she was there, she saw Matthew McConaughey running, shirtless, sweating, glistening, glowing, grunting, all manly down the mountain. So if that's not reason enough to hike Runyon, I don't really know what is!

Thanks Jos, Wes, and Eve for indulging my cause and for letting me take lots of pictures! XOXO

The Last 27 Days of Being 27: Taking It Back College Style

Yesterday I walked; today, I did some "construction". With the release of the movie "Project X" (which is all the "rage" with the high schoolers these days), beer bongs have been back on my radar. Now, in college I did my fair share of beer drinking--beer pong, beer bong, Circle Of Death, F the Dealer, the age old "Dictionary Game", quarters....you get the idea, right? But, I have to say that in my 27th year I did not have as much "college style" fun, because let's face it people, I haven't been in college for 5 years. So I decided, by the encouragement of one of my BFF's, sorority sister, and fellow beer partner in crime, Summer Lee Wagner-Janke, to construct an old fashioned beer bong and then find an excuse to use it. (Thanks for the idea Sum!) When we were in college we had a beer bong that we lovingly named "George Banta" after the only male member of Delta Gamma--so, here's how I revived "Banta"...

Of course, I had to go to my FAVORITE local hardware store: The Home Depot. I have many fond memories of this place because my dad used to take Jos and I along everytime he had to go there. That smell of lumber just takes me straight back to my childhood. And now, it reminds me of MY "Project 27"



There are so many aisles in The Home Depot, and I canhonestly say that I kind of love walking up and down them. All of the possibilities...ALMOST as exciting as "Henry's Shoe Experience"....but not quite!


My partner in crime (whose eyes I had to black out--US Weekly "Worst Dressed List" Style) and I enlisted the help of our trusty Home Depot, orange apron wearing worker, Gary. It took him about 10 minutes to cut our tubing and the roll of tubing fell off the shelf and we had to catch it for him....it was a harrowing experience. Good thing we had Gar-Dog.


At first I felt embarrassed to be walking through Home Depot with all of these products, because on their own, they are just a funnel, a turny-thingie, and a rubber tube....but put them together and VOILA! Hours of fun for kids of all ages---over the age of 21, duh!


So here we are, about to test it out...I blacked out my Partner in Crime's eyes to preserve his identity :) Is it working?


He took it like a champ. You never would have known that he only took Greek history classes in college and didn't "Go Greek" with his skillz. Some fraternity really missed out at Cal Poly Pomona: Home of the Cougars.


Ahhh...it feels like only yesterday I was doing this in the garage where Summer lived for all those years. The little turny-thingie (what IS it called???) is KEY, because it enables people like me (who are out of practice) to control the flow of beer. Phew! I still made a mess, of course, but how fun!


So, what did I learn from this?

1. There is a reason that 27 year olds haven't beer bonged since college--this activity is not for the faint of heart. While it is admittedly fun, there is just something gross about kneeling down on the floor in the kitchen and rushing through a delicious beer. In college, we were on a mission to be inebriated. Now, I am on a mission to enjoy my Dos Equis.

2. People at The Home Depot mind their business. That is a place where people who are "for real" go. Lowes may be deemed "nicer" or whatever, but the dudes up in that place (The Home Depot) are manly, wearing construction boots, dirty jeans, and have filthy, calloused hands---ahh so dreamy. Seriously.

3. If you have the right people with you, you can have fun doing anything. My Partner in Crime and I had more fun tracking down the supplies and constructing the beer bong than we actually did using it. It's all about WHO you are with for the journey--if you've got fun people with you, you will have fun. If you have "Fun Vampires" aka people who suck the fun out of everything and make every experience horrible--then you will have a horrible time. (Thanks, Dude)

Life Lesson Learned: Fun is relative. So make it happen.

A Braid A Day: Day 3

HEADBAND BRAID!!!!

Love this look! So easy and fun, I end up wearing a headband OR putting my hair in a braid almost every day, so I thought "Why not do both?"

Here's the result:



It's super easy...just gather a section of hair (it's up to you depending on how wide you want your "headband" to be) and make a regular braid. I have found that it needs to be a tight, neat, clean braid in order for this to look okay. Next you just take the braid and cross it over your head from ear to ear and then bobby-pin the end of the braid behind your ear. I went from right to left and did not put a hair-tie in the end of the braid because it would have been too bulky.


Give it a try!

Last 27 Days of Being 27: I Walked TO Work

So last night, as I was trying to decide upon something to accomplish today, I was asking myself "What are some things that I have NEVER done in my 27 years of life?" And something that I realized with a sense of embarrassing priviledge, is that I have NEVER, not one single solitary time, walked to school. In my whole life as both a student AND a teacher. The most embarrassing part? I live literally .76 miles away from my work. So, due to my quickly heightening sense of embarrassment as an able-bodied human being, I made the decision to walk to work today. Yay! And let me tell you, it was an adventure...complete with spilling an entire cup of coffee all over myself while walking through a major intersection. Yep. IF you ever have the opportunity to take an alternate form of transportation to work, do it! It has totally given me a different perspective on my day. I had way more energy early on than I usually do! And I am going to attribute that to my morning walk to work!

To accomplish a feat such as this, I needed to "suit up". This meant that I planned ahead by packing my backpack (with my heels to switch into upon my arrival at work) and bundling up in my jacket and scarf and wearing my trusty gray Chucks to speed the process along (I would have fallen FOR SURE if I would have tried to walk in heels!)


Here I am getting ready to walk out into the Great Unknown--I think I look kind of scared, but that is mostly because as I took this picture, the weird dude who never wears a shirt and lives in my apartment complex came lurking around the corner. YIKES! The things you see when you get out of your car and explore your neighborhood will astound you.

I'm walking, I'm walking, one foot in front of the other. Just to get an idea, this picture was taken right before I spilled my coffee all over the front of my pants. Apparently multi-tasking (and by "multi-tasking" I mean walking AND doing ANYTHING else at the same time....) is not my strong suit! Whatever, I was jamming out to my Notorious B.I.G. Pandora station--I couldn't be bothered to pay attention to a task as difficult as walking, could I???

Here's the crosswalk where a car tried to go before letting the PEDESTRIANS HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY! Can you believe that??? It was me and a bunch of high school students and I was going to wait, but the kids, being kids, just went ahead and walked. So, I'm a follower--I went too....and gave the driver of the impatient car a nice little teenager-esque smirk :)

ALMOST THERE!!! By this time, I saw like 15 students who were SO confused (why is Miss Davis walking by me?) AND got honked at by a car full of ASB kids on their way back from McDonalds. No, they DID NOT offer me a ride. And YES, they DID laugh and point at me.

Ahhhhhh I have reached my destination. And look at that sunrise. Gorgeous. I am trying to pause and appreciate the little things in life--like the sunrise. And the fact that 5 planets are visible in the night sky during the months of March and April. Did you even know that? How awesome and stunning and inspiring.

The remnants of my coffee. Sad day. My poor students---a coffee-less teacher is an unhappy teacher. :/ grrrr

Ta-Da! Me in all of my "Walking Glory"--backpack, converse, frizzy hair and all.

So, what did I learn from this jaunt into the Great Unknown? A couple of things jump out at me:

1. If I'm going to walk in the morning, put my hair in a bun so that it does not get so frizzy! (I look like Miss Frizzle---you know, "The Magic Schoolbus" teacher?)

2. Planning ahead is key--bringing my backpack, with extra shoes (extra outfit--just in case?)

3. Invest in a coffee cup with a lid. Plastic--not glass...

4. Most importantly, walking to school is not as a big a deal as I made it out to be. In fact, I felt quite "metropolitan"...like I was a New Yorker wearing my business suit (Orrrrr jeans and a blazer LOL) with my sneakers and taking public transit (aka my "Chevro-legs) to work and changing into my fancy shoes upon my arrival.

Something I did not consider? WALKING HOME. At the end of the day. We'll see how THAT goes. Stay tuned.

Last 27 Days of Being 27

March 27th marks the beginning of my 27 Day Long Countdown to turning 28 years old! Yay! Instead of focusing on the year to come and trying to come up with goals and ideas for what I want to happen in the upcoming year, I am instead going to focus on my "Last 27 Days of Being 27". My goal is do some stuff that I have been putting off for the past year--being the procrastinator that I am, there are quite a few things that I wanted to do this year (being 27) that I did not do. So this means that I MUST try to get to them before the clock strikes midnight on April 24th! (my birthday!) One of the first things that I want to do (and am going to accomplish simultaneously along with this blog idea "Last 27 Days of Being 27") is "A Braid A Day". I have realized that I end up putting some kind of braid in my hair almost every day, so I am going to document this phenomenon for all (all 7 of you!) of my loyal readers! :) So, here is goes....my "Last 27 Days of Being 27" AND "A Braid a Day".

Here are the first 2 days: My inspiration is Katniss--you know, the fictional female protagonist from the blockbuster movie and more importantly best-selling novels "The Hunger Games"? Anyway, she rocks this kick-ass braid in her hair WHILST she is kicking ass in the movie...and I just love everything about her. Her tenacity, her perseverance, her awesome BOW AND ARROW skillz....what's not to love?

Any ideas for what I should do in my "Last 27 Days of Being 27"? I have a few:

1. Go to Bingo Night at the "Knights of Columbus" Hall on Rives

2. Go to O'Malley's on 2nd St. and try to get through part of their beer challenge (who am I kidding? Try to get through ALL of it!)

3. Ride my bike from home to the beach and back (you know I've NEVER done that?)

4. Finally learn how to skateboard

5. Go indoor skydiving (because, let's face it, I'm not REALLY going to jump out of an actual plane)

Those are just a few that have been lingering in my mind.....

Trendiness Abounds: The Colored Denim Phenomenon

Have you ever said "I will NEVER do that! I would rather be caught DEAD than do THAT! When pigs fly you'll see me doing that!"? There have been quite a few things in my adult life (and my entire life, I am sure--I just don't count anything that happened before the age of 18 as really being valid evidence for an argument!) that I have said I would "never" do. Fast-forward to me wearing boots over my jeans ("ew, that's too European"--Ali, ca.2005--and now that's all I wear in 2012), wanting my hair to be "the bigger the better" (hair was as flat/straight as possible in the early 2000's--all you need to do is look at a Delta Gamma composite to see what I am talking about---those were not good times for girls with big poofy hair like me!...thank you, Victoria's Secret Runway Models, for making big curly hair popular again), and now wearing COLORED DENIM. Even one month ago you couldn't have found me in a pair of denim that was any color other than black or somehow in the "blue family". I had deemed colored denim too "Justin Bieber" (and maybe purple denim STILL is!), too teeny-bopper, and just too much. This is interesting because, if you know me, you know that I am ALL ABOUT THE COLOR. I rarely match my clothes (Punky Brewster is my original American Idol), and I always say that a {POP!} of color can make any outfit special; therefore, I can't believe it took me so long to catch on to this colored denim craze. Well, my friends, here it is----COLORED DENIM. A day that I never thought would come!

I went to my favorite trendy store (Forever 21, duh!) just to peruse the racks, because I was bored out of my mind the other day after work, and stumbled across these beauty's. Salmon denim. ALMOST--but not quite--in the pink family, and just so darn cute. I cuffed them up and paired them with my favorite brown ankle booties. My reasoning for buying them from Forever 21 is what it always is when I talk about shopping there...buy trendy stuff at cheaper stores--that way, when it goes out of style (which it inevitably will--hello! The last time colored denim was popular it was the 1980's!), I won't regret having bought them. (Plus, they only cost $15.50--I spend that much money on dinner!)

I decided to straighten my hair (in honor of the early 2000's Delta Gamma composite reference!) and realized exactly how LONG it has grown. I really can't remember the last time it was this long--high school? I like it. I'm going to go all "Rapunzel" soon.

I wore my denim with a sheer, nude, polka-dot shirt and my trusty Black Blazer. LOVE. I am in love with this outfit today. Also, I already got 3 compliments from kids as I was running to the restroom between 2nd and 3rd period this morning. I never can decide if a compliment from teenagers is a good thing or a sign that I need to grow-up. I'm going to go with the compliment option--I'm not ready for mom jeans--not now...and probably not ever! Viva Colored Denim!