God....Here's another one for you.

Oh...my....gawd.  I finally did it.  I created roadkill.

It's been about 5 plus months that I have been residing here in Jolly Ol' England.   And that means 5 plus months of seeing 100 plus roadkill that decorates the countryside, which I have roamed everyday since I've been here.  And today....just down the street from the my house....I killed a bird.
      I knew that it was only a matter a time that I was going to end a furry or feathery little creature, and was dreading that day.  That day has arrived, and you know what I did?  After hearing what sounded like a baseball hitting my bumper and seeing an object with wings from the corner of my eye,  I screamed at the top of my lungs, scaring the neighborhood, then five seconds later busted out laughing.  Sorry, the bird caught me in a good mood, and I think I was in shock.

I feel horrible indeed, but that shizz was a hilarious moment.....I just hope I don't get visited by the spirit of the poor thing accompanied by ghost bird shit.

And just because....here's a couple of pictures I took at random times of other roadkill, because I'm weird like that.

Junya Watanabe

A few years ago, I had the urge to travel to this fashionable place called Paris, alone.  Although, I was scared shitless the whole time I was there, fearing that a Frenchman would attack me with a burning cigarette or a bum would mug me in the metro, it wasn't until I was in the fashion district where I felt comfortable and at home for some odd reason.

So here I was strolling amongst the great works of wonderful clothing makers.  When all of a sudden, I was at a standstill.  I was in complete awe in the middle of this one department store where my money meant nothing.  I was in Junya Watanabe's section.  Oh Em Gee.  His clothes (although at the time I swore he was a woman) were wonderous.  I have never seen clothing made the way he made them. The lines and quality were jaw dropping. At the time, he had the whole African vibe going on.  Bright colors, wooden beads surrounding the neck of most tops, beautiful patterns....awesome.

I must admit, I haven't really followed him years to follow after that trip.  But every time, I see his clothes, I'm all of a sudden back in Paris.  At a standstill in complete awe.  Check out his masterpieces::

And just recently, he has just revealed his 2010 men's RTW Spring/Summer  collection.  I love what he's doing for the men....hopefully they'll follow.

Comeback

I've always been a fan of Chris Brown. He is so talented and such a natural born performer. I must admit, after that whole Rihanna Vs. Chris moment, my love for him had obviously declined.....but after this one performance, he has redeemed himself.

He's such a true performer and artist. The way he put his heart and soul into this performance was ridiculous. The moves were flawless, his passion was high, the energy he exuded was absolutely fantastical. Talent like this is hard to find.

Pea Porridge

Hands down, best dinner I've had over here in England.  Place is called, "Pea Porridge" and the food is to DIE for.  Well...I wouldn't die for it, but I'll risk the chance of getting a paper cut for it.

So the hubby and I like to splurge on a good dinner once in a while....just to add a little pepper into our lives.  The other day, was one of those days.  Originally we planned to eat at this place in our hood call "The Old Cannon Brewery." http://oldcannonbrewery.co.uk/

It's a cute little brewery with really good beer.  What's even better is that the beer is el cheap-o.  Huge plus on my list.  So anyways, being the lushes we are, we picked this place to live out our splurge night. Only thing is, we were turned down because they were booked for the night, although there was enough room for me to complete 10 sets of cartwheels.  Oh well, their loss, obviously they don't know what kind of heffahs me and the hubby can be.  

So after our cheap delish beer, we walked across the street to dine at this hidden gem.  An English chap at the brewery even recommended this place after he discovered we were restaurantless.  I wish I had a picture of this cute little restaurant.  And I wasn't able to find a picture of it online.  So, please bear with me whilst I describe this place with my choice of vocabulary.  So when I walked in, description that labeled this place was posh cottage.  It's a small little place with wooden furniture, and floors, and floral and lace drapery, splashed with a bit of modern sheek accessories.  It was like nothing I've see before.

As soon as I walked it, it's like my pinky automatically wanted to stick up in the air.  It was that posh.

So let's get to the good part.  First of all, please take a look at the menu and prepare to salivate.

http://www.peaporridge.co.uk/ 

So the dish I ordered was the Duck confit with something something posh posh.  It was pretty much Duck slightly sear with mashed potatoes and capers over a bed of cooked cabbage and a good sauce.  This is why I do not write menus for a living.  

Before that, they gave us complimentary Pea Croquettes, which look like this...

and tasted like this.....YUMMO!

For appetizer we had this salad that consisted of goat cheese, beets and foliage of some sort.  But was Damn good as well.  They also gave us complimentary asiago ciabatta bread with sea salt and butter.  Another yummy!  Dessert, we had to pass, my stomach was about to kill me for abusing it.

 I was so into the moment I totally forgot to take pictures of the other stuff we devoured.  But anyways.  I hope you get the idea of how good this dinner was.  If you're ever in my hood, I highly recommend. 

Fabio Cannavaro

Check out this hunk of Italian Stallion.  He's the captain for Italy's team in the World Cup.  Although he led the team that won the World Cup in 2006, causing me and my amigas to swim in the Trevi Fountain, he was unable to lead the same unbeatable team this year.  Team Italia, unfortunately, was unable to progress to the 2nd round of the World Cup games this year.  It was such sadness seeing such beautiful men cry with such disappointment for something the yearned for so passionately.   I do have to say though, their game yesterday against Slovakia was THE best game played during World Cup.  The game was soooo good, I cannot stop describing different events during the match to the hubby, who is so totally over me gabbing about it.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/players/player=155957/profile.html

Anyways.  This man is beautiful.

#10 for the month of June

So remember I said that on my top 10, my #10 man is like a wild card?  Which means I can change him because I have such a big a heart and that I love to love.....men?  Well....I have changed my number 10 for the month of June.  When I made my final list my #10 was Craig David.  Such a beautiful man.  Now, with all this World Cup Frenzie, I have now gained a liking for USA's goalie :: Tim Howard.  So my type.  So much my type that my husband called him out as me jocking him even before I was able to drop a drip of drool from my lusting mouth.

OMG,  not only is he an absolute kick ass goalie, but, in my eyes he's gorgeous.  Not as gorgeous as Cristiano Ronaldo of course....but his swagger on the field has got me smitten.  It's the little things that does it for me.  Here's more information about this wonderful player.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Howard

This commercial Rocks!

So I know that I blogged about the commercials over here in England. How I wasn't too impressed with their creativity and stuff like that. But I think I found one that proves otherwise. It's kooky, catches your attention, is super unique, super different, and I LAV IT!!!!!!

Kids do the darndest things

This is the cutest thing. When I have a child, I want them to dance just like this.

I left my heart in San Francisco

I found this picture on the internet, and it made me homesick.

San Francisco is so beautiful.  I love it so.  There's no place like home.

Amy can cook

So as you all know, I'm  a full time wifey.  USUALLY house wives tend to have a good reputation in the cooking department, USUALLY.  Now, because I'm a different kind of wifey, I don't fall into that category unfortunately....for my husband especially.  I seriously have to thank my lucky stars for the fact that the hubby can cook, otherwise we'd be munching on hungry man's TV dinners or going in debt for eating out every day. 
Before I got married, I was known to be a hot mess in the kitchen.  I couldn't as so much boil eggs without causing a dramtic moment, by either burning myself or cracking an egg thinking it was cooked, only to find cracked eggs shells and yolk streaming down my hands 30 seconds later.  Now that I have time to practice with the right tools and get to use my own space in my own kitchen, I would have to say that I have gotten better.  Of couse, I do get visited by the unwanted burn or cut from certain kitchen appliances or food, but I would have to say that I went from being a real big hot mess to just a hot mess.

 Not only have my dishes slowly gained taste, but the quantity and the variey have grown as well.  Before marriage, the most gourmet dish I cooked was psta salad.  Now my cooking portfolio varies from Kare Kare (a delish filipino dish), to my infamous Pulled pork,  to lasagna, and green bean casserole.

Although I am able to cook a plethera of dishes, my hubby is still not fully satisfied with the tastes of some. You see, fortunately and unfortunately my mother in law is a bomb ass cook.  So, I am constantly getting compared, which sucks, but at the same time motivates and brings out the Rachel Ray in me.

So last night....I have hit a climax in my kitchen career.  Rick finally liked a dish that I cooked.  So much, I actually got a "that's good babe," instead of an " it was alright."

I cooked Thai Green Chicken Curry, and my oh my was is delish.  I was so proud.  And you want to know what the best part was?  It was made from scratch...sort of.  Well anyways, heres the recipe ::

1 TBLSP Veg oil

2 oinions chopped

1 cup of chopped mushrooms

3 TBLESP Thai green curry paste

1 kg bonless chicken thigh or breast fillets, chopped

4 TBLESP fresh basil leaves

6 Kaffir lime leaves, shredded (due to reading the ingredients wrong, I actually used 6 mints leaves....which also tasted nice.)

2.5 cups cocnut milk

2 TBLSP Thai fish sauce

3 Chili peppers (optional)

1:: Heat oil in a saucepan over a high heat, add oinionsand muchrooms and cook for 3 minutes or until oinions are golden. Sti in curry paste and mix for 2 min. or until fragrant.

2:: Add chicken, basil, lime leaves, coconut milk, peppers, and fish sauce and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until chicken is tender or sauce is thick.  Serve and garnish with extra basil.

I highly suggest trying out this recipe.  It's yummers. Now if you would excuse me, I got sme left overs to conquer.....

World Cup Frenzie

Once upon a time, in a land called Italy where the gorgeous people roam,  it was the year 2006 and I found myself amidst an entire country cheering for dear life whilst waving their country's flag with such pride and swimming with fellow Italians in the Trevi Fountain.  Which, by the way is an illegal thing to do.  I like to live like in the fast lane.  It was a moment in my life which I will never forget.  It was also a time where I learned how much of an impact the World Cup can have on one country.

Whilst we were watching the 2006 World cup  :: Italy Vs. France, me and my pals were watching the game amongst the Italians on their native soil.  After they won the World cup, I finally discovered just how much these people LOVE this sport.  It's A-mazing.  They joy and pride that they exuded that night was so contagious that for a quick second I felt like I had Italian parents and felt like chanting in their native tongue, although the only thing I knew how to say was "Quanto es?"

Four years later, and now I'm in England.  It's pretty fucking cool that I get to be in a foreign country when a World Cup occurs once again.  So anyways, here I am, and here are my thoughts about one of the best sports ever invented.

Now, it's World cup 2010 and I get to see the type of hype that goes on leading up to that final game.  I would say a month before the World cup games started over here in England, I saw the pride slowly creep up to take over this country.  For the longest time, I thought that England's St. George flag, which is the flag they use to represent their football team,  was the Swiss flag, and that the people that had these flags hanging out of their windows were Swiss people.  Yeah, that's how much I knew about this God given game.

So now, the games have begun....and so has the country's pride and celebrating.  I swear, everywhere you go over here, all you see are the England flags.  They seriously are invading this country, and I'm not exaggerating.  Here, let me prove it.

First, let me prove it in pictures.

Get the message?  Yes, they are everywhere.  I must admit, I have jumped onto the English bandwagon and bought me an inflatable St. Georges hand and put in our window, hoping to prevent a tire slashing.  :)  Plus, it was only 50 pence.

Ok, so on top of everything being decorated with the St. Georges flag, England has also come up with deals.  What deals?  You ask?  Well, according to some of the commercials I've seen on the telly, apparently, some financial company has advertised that if England wins the world cup, all their clients will receive a bonus in their account.  Also, tons of restaurants are giving customers 50% off their meals on weekends, and some are even giving a free meal if England wins the world cup.  Therefore....yes, I do root for England a tid bit deep down inside.  Another thing, you literally can buy a loaf of bread or frozen pizza big enough to feed a family of 7 for only 1 pound.  This too is amazing.

Another amazing thing that I must add that I wish the states honored is this one thing.  I heard this just over the weekend.  Apparently, if you are working during the same time your home country is playing, you are able to take that day off just to watch your team play.  

Hmmmmm.....no wonder the World loves this sport so much.

GO USA!

sigh.....

Let's reflect

Before you read this blog....please follow these instructions.

-Click play on this link

-Clear your mind~~~~~~~~~

-Read on

So, again, as I was walking this morning I had my moment to reflect. Whilst reflecting, this gorgeous song came up on my ipod. It's called "Stereo Love" by Edward Myer. What I love on this song is the little accordion part and the cool relaxing house beat.

Before I went on my walk, I was feeling a little "blah" and kinda worthless. I was thinking, "why the hell am I here? What's my purpose? And when will I complete it?" Then when this song came on....I closed my eyes (only for a second, otherwise I would have hit a bush) and pretended I was in Paris or Italy, some place romantic. I seriously was in the zone when I was moving to this song. It's like I was in another place, and all of sudden my "blah" was sucked away and replaced with "Yeeeeyah Bitches!"

Again, I felt that the world's such a beautiful place, and I'm lucky to be in it. Especially lucky to be on this side of the pond and living this life that I was blessed with. Yes, I do encounter plenty of downfalls and negativity in my life, but that's only a speed bump that will help me learn to become a better person to other people and to myself. As for this purpose that I want to figure out....it will happen. Hey, I may be even in the process of completing this purpose. Whatever it is....I should just learn to live in the moment and enjoy what is given to me. You only have one life.

Around the world in a day

So, I know that I have blogged and professed my undying love for Camden before.  But I don't think that I have done enough justice for this heaven sent piece of Earth.  Since I have last blogged about it, my hubby and I, along with a friend went back so that I could prove to him that all that hype I was talking about this place was true.  Boy oh boy, did I prove it, and then some. 


So apparently when I first went to Camden, it seems that I had only gotten my feet wet.  Because when I went back a second time, my body got drenched and I almost drowned in this cultural town. I kept telling my friend, who went with us, that we literally went around the world in a day.


Here's the story.  So, when we first arrived, naturally, acting like a tour guide sans the waving flag, I brought Rick and our friend to the sights that I visited before.  To the cool market, the yummy food court with the scooter seats,

 the eccentric shops, accompanied with knowledge from my prior trip.  Now, because my memory capacity has almost reached it max at my time and age, naturally, we kinda got lost.  But it was all good, because all of a sudden, we were whisked away into another world and I almost drowned.  


This is where traveling the world in a day took place.  My God.  Words cannot describe the sights and sounds that I swallowed that day, but because this is a blog, I will try my best.  Also, I will provide pictures for the parts that I suck at.


The place we discovered was called Camden Lock. 

 And here in this world, you were able to smoke shi shi pipes in Morocco,

 enjoy Thai furniture with matching relaxing music, beat on African drums, 

touch Indian Jewelry, wear Mexican wrestling masks, shop for jewelry in Asia, bob your head to Jamaican music, gawk at American vintage merchandise, stop walking and every so often take pictures with VERY well detailed metal horses that were sprinkled here and there, 

and even shop at an Euro style rave, complete with go go dancers. 

 And you want to know what?  I did everything and then some.


Despite the fact there was so much to look at with such awe, there were also so many people to look at with the same amount of awe.  One in particular that I would like to blog about was this waiter that we had at the moroccan restaurant where we took a shi shi pipe and moroccan mint tea break.

My favorite part of the restaurant were these....

  So, it was this cool Moroccan man who is a resident of Paris, and was living in England for a bit only to learn English.  What was so badass about him was that he was cleanly groomed, wore a sports cap, shiny black jeans, yummy accent, and said "fo shizzle, my nizzle."   He was just my favorite. This incident right here made me want to move into one of the stores, and live there.  I mean, I wouldn't mind waking up to the sounds of different languages infesting my eardrums, seeing the different styles of the cultures.  


   There were so many different characters swarming the place. Plenty of what I love most, Harem pants.  Lots of tourists wearing button up shirts and the sweater thing over your shoulders, stylish french girls with pieces of clothing that I wish I had, funky knee-hi wearing Asian girls, men wearing zebra print leggings with matching purple mohawks, Japanese men with eye-liner and perfect eyebrows and looking pretty, Muslim women who's outfit only showed their exotic eyes, bright colored saris, and dread-locked rastafari.


Also, to top off this "around the world in a day" trip, my hubby and pal, decided to take the Underground ( the only way to travel in London) to Soho, another district in London and drink at a pub, then later eat Chinese food in Chinatown.

God, I can go on an on, but my battery on my laptop may die.  So, till the next visit....

UK pop lesson :: JLS

This posting is for the people who are interested in learning more about another country's pop culture.

Subject today :: JLS

What exactly is JLS?  If you were to ask a British citizen, the answer you would receive is, "A  boy group of 4 fit blokes who are bloody fantastic."  Translation?  "A group of 4 fine ass men who fuckin rock!"

They were actually formed about 2 years ago.  They appeared and competed on this show called X-Factor, which is very similar to American Idol.  Although during the finals, they were beaten by the ever so talented Alexandra Burke,

 who, by the way is FANTASTIC, they still are a badass group that is very close to putting Westlife to shame.

 JLS right now is a hot commodity over here in this royal country.  They seriously are some hot shit who make every girl melt and boil when they perform.   Pretty much everywhere you go over here, you see and hear JLS apparel,  JLS posters, JLS merchandise, songs, special guest appearances by them, and JLS, JLS, JLS.  It's ridiculous, but it a good way.

 Yes, I do admit to succumbing to jumping on the JLS bandwagon.  Whenever I hear their songs on the radio, just like a regular fan I yell, "JLS!," get a stare from the hubby and turn up the volume.  Then, I sing along and give the husband a private kereokish type singing performance sometimes sans the dance moves.  What got me that connection of loving them, is that one of the guys ALWAYS wears harem pants.  I give mad props to men who sport that beautiful piece of clothing.

A little FYI to those who like to be ahead of the game in the US, JLS are planning to do a Leona Lewis, who also BTW won the first X-Factor, and cross-over to the America scene.  So keep a look out for them.  You won't regret it.  I mean harem pants....come on... LAV it!

As a treat, I have included their newest song that they have over here.
It's called "The Club is Alive."


Here's their website  for more info :: http://www.jlsofficial.com/gb/

I love to random talk

Random 1
The look of Brass knuckles.  Whenever I'm in an accessory or urban style type store, I usually tend to gravitate towards things with brass knuckles.  I don't know what it is.  The design?  The color?  The sleekness and elegance of something whose main job is to do something that is totally the opposite to the targeted victim?  They're so beautiful.

Now despite the fact that I love their look and all, I actually do not own one or anything with brass knuckles on it. I feel like if I do, the cashier may judge me for some reason.  Like they may think I'm some certified husband beater or something.  I've always wanted to own a pair, but didn't want the label as a criminal.  My mind is twisted like that.  But I like it.

Random 2 

Another thing that I love is this type of style for decorating my house :: 

Love that old vintage Parisian look.  I slowly try to encourage my husband to buy certain elements that would complete this beautiful equation, but he tends to feel uneasy about me wanting to spend 100 pounds on a shelf that looks like someone's been scratching off the paint for the past 50 years.  

Also, he's a very matchy match type of person, whereas I love to mix and match colors and play with contrast, but with good taste of course.  But because, the lover is not as visual like his wife, it's hard to convince him that they really will look good together.  Sigh....I think I really should persuade the man to go to Paris and show him what good taste really looks like.

Random 3

Lady Gaga is my all time favorite LOVE!  Her passion for the arts, her randomness, her balls, her voice, her style, and her view of the world is such an inspiration to me.  She totally motivates me to do such outrageous things.  I'm so glad her parents switched love juices to create such an extraordinary person!

An Apple a day

So, my good friend Kim introduced me to this chick on youtube, because he was tempting me to get an iphone. lol. The youtube clip he showed me was where she performed the song "Pokerface" by Lady GaGa using only iphones and her beautiful voice. You can look up that video here ::http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzh2UygPwDU

Well, recently I have looked her up on youtube again and saw that she did a few other songs with the almighty iphone (s).  God I love her.

This video is my favorite, because her voice is so pretty as well.

This girl right here really motivates me to keep up my singing skills...and maybe learn more about this crazy thing called technology that seems to be taking over the world.

Drake is green

This is why he's still on my list

So loving this.

I hella love Singing

Music truly makes the world go round.  Singing is my #1 passion.  Of course, closely followed by designing and shopping.  I heart singing with all my heart that it's incredibly ridiculous, but in a good way.  It's my drug that keeps me sane, without it I'd truly be sitting in a dark corner, cursing the world and everyone in it and trying to zap people with my evil eye.

Back in the states,  I was hugely involved in my Church choir and another kick ass little choir called Lavoz.  Check us out::

Not to be biased or anything, but we were pretty Badass.

The Church choir I was in involved in was St. Patrick's Festival Choir :: http://stpatsfestivalchoir.com/StPatsFestivalChoir/Welcome.html

So now that I'm a gazillion miles away from my hometown choirs  I'm left here in England....well.....musicless.  For a while, the closest link I had to singing were my private shows given by me in my shower.  So after getting bored by my own spotlight, I decided to do some intensive research and look for another way to express my musical talents.

By the powers of the internet Gods, I was blessed with stumbling upon the Bury Bach Choir, which is a choir....uh here's there link for more info.  http://www.burybachchoir.co.uk/ not in the mood to give info.  My bad.

So anyways, yesterday I went to one of their rehearsals to check out the scene.  Right away, my heart opened up and became a beautiful butterfly.  I. LOVE. THIS. CHOIR!  It's everything I was looking for and more. I instantly felt at home.  The choir had the same scatter-brained conductor who always thought he was right, although he was wrong, the Diva soprano, the choir "secretary" if you will, she was the go to person for music and was always on top of things, and there was even the group of people that never listened and asked the conductor questions to provoke more repeated answers that we have heard 5 minutes earlier, which would only cause him to make smart remarks that would belittle the people asking....just like home.

Not only was the choir similar to the ones back in the states, but I feel like I'm in a music theory class.  Not only do I learn more challenging classical music to makes my vocal chords satisfied, but I learn more musical terms, and shizz like that.  ALSO, another huge plus, they sounded beautiful.  Sweet sweet music to my ear....literally.  Sigh.  Life is good.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to join till I come back to England in January, because they will be on summer break till Sept., which is when I leave for the States.   But it's all good in the hood.  It keeps me motivated and excited in my pants.  Something to look forward to.

Jaden and Willow

Will and Jada Smith did a good job.

Their kids are beyond Fierce!

Rompers unite!

So, I've been finding myself obsessing over rompers/jumpsuits.  Pretty much an outfit where the bottom and the top are connected....I'm there.

I don't know what it is about these pieces of clothing.  The easy access of just pulling it on?  The fact that you don't have to stand in front of your closet for about 30 minutes thinking what will match?  The way it looks? I dunno, but whatever it is....LAV them!