kierstein!

well, i’ve managed to keep myself quite busy with unexpeted things.  it’s been lovely. :)

thursday night, i went to emmaus, which was awesome.  please, go to the website and download the audio for “through the looking-glass.”  awesome.  anyway, after that, i ended up in denny’s having breakfast with megan and roderick until about 1:30 in the morning.  i have no idea where the time went, but i got to know a lot more about both of them, see more of their true personalities.  it was wonderful, even if i was so tired the next morning at work.

friday, marke and i had lunch with lauren.  we walked to meet up with her, which is always a nice treat.  and hanging out with lauren is always good, too. :)

friday night, i met up with lauren, roderick, eric, and marke to see “frost/nixon.”  we didn’t end up seeing it.  that was the second time i’ve tried to see that and failed.  instead, we went bowling, which was really fun.  i bowled poorly, but it was awesome.  and eric gave us all very strange bowling names.  turned out “kierstein!” is really fun to yell really loudly, so it has managed to stick.  haha!  anyway, after bowling i went out to t.g.i. friday’s with marke and we sat and talked at the bar all night.  he drank and i had dessert, and we caught up with each other a bit.  it was lovely.  for the second time, i’ve been completely content to miss out on “frost/nixon” for hanging out instead. :)

saturday morning (and into the afternoon), i was lounging around being generally quite lazy adn watching basketball.  marke decided he wanted to meet up for lunch, so we did that.  and then we picked up lauren for a walk at the beach.  and then we drove up to newport for cupcakes.  and then we went to jesse’s birthday party.  and then we went to the harbor house for a late-night meal with chris and katie.  and i never thought i was going to be gone that long so i spent the whole day in jeans, sneakers, and a baseball cap.  it was wonderful.  i have rad friends. :)

so because i got nothing accomplished really yesterday, i had to get on it this morning.  i did grocery shopping, cooked, did yoga, cleaned, and made sure i was all ready to entertain.  i had a ton (way more than i ever expected!) of friends show up to watch the oscars with me.  i made ballots and everyone filled them out before the show started.  we had a three-way tie for the most points (various categories were weighted with various amounts of points).  it was so fun and we all ate some great food.  and if i’m allowed to brag for a moment, i made an apple-blueberry pie without a recipe and it turned out fabulously. :)  so i had a fun night with everyone!

and now i’m ready for yet another busy week. :)

sugar-coated

well, let me figure out where i left off.  i believe it was two sundays ago.  that night, i had jen claire, lauren, and marke over to watch a movie.  and then i couldn’t get my dvd player to work (though i fixed it that night after everyone had gone home), so we watched some tv instead and just hung out.  with friends is always a nice way to round out a weekend. :)

and then i kept myself fairly busy last week.

monday night, i went out line dancing with janet and some of her friends.  i haven’t done that in a very, very long time, and it was so much fun!  i was pretty terrible because i didn’t know any of the dances at all so i was pretty much constantly doing the wrong thing, but it was still so fun to try!  :)  i’ll be back there again soon, i’m sure.

tuesday night, i met with annajoy, allison, and marke to talk about acts.  we’re reading it one chapter a day with all of emmaus and then discussing it in small groups once a week.  that went really well, and i’m enjoying the process of reading along with everyone else.

on thursday, marke and i spent our lunch hour baking a carrot cake.  well, i baked the cake.  he did all the grating of the carrots, though.  we wanted to help lauren celebrate getting into a very prestigious architecture program in london!  so after emmaus, we had a bunch of friends over to my apartment and had cake and celebrated.  it was lovely and fun.  and i’m so excited for lauren!

on friday, i picked up sarah from the long beach airport, and as we have taken to doing, we had a late dinner at maggiano’s before heading back to my apartment.  mmm… maggiano’s!  i seriously love that place.  so.  good.  sarah came to spend the long weekend hanging out with me.

on saturday, we decided to go to disneyland together.  it was chilly out, but sunny and dry, so a good day to be there.  it was pretty crowded, but we managed to fit in lots of rides.  and we even stayed for the fireworks and fantasmic.  the day was really fun.  it’d been way too long since i’d last been to disneyland.

on sunday, i introduced sarah to wahoo’s.  and then we went up to newport for cupcakes from sprinkles, the one thing we for sure had to do while sarah was visiting.  more delicious food for us!  and then we drove all the way down to carlsbad to the outlets there for a little shopping.  i tried on tons of stuff and found a few good bargains. :)

sunday night, sarah and i met up with marke, chris, and lauren for dinner at the cheesecake factory.  i wanted sarah to meet some of my friends here, and she agreed to, which was great.  we had an excellent dinner, laughing and eating and enjoying each other’s company.  i love dinners like that one: surrounded by great friends just having a really fun time.

on monday, sarah and i went up to costa mesa for some more shopping.  we had a great lunch and then browsed a few stores.  mostly, we just hung out.  and then it was time to take her to the airport.  we had a nice weekend together. :)

and i’m still busy as ever.  i had a rough tuesday with an insanely busy day at work and my own stress leading me to go a little insane myself.  but that’s all sorted and things seem great once again.

so anyway, lots more fun is on the agenda.  i’ll write again soon. :)

this ain’t a fairytale

i have been amazingly busy.  it’s been really wonderful.  :)

i’ve spent a lot of time in marke’s-birthday mode.  two thursdays ago, after a late night out with the emmaus crew at in-n-out, i went home and baked cupcakes.  and then the next day, we celebrated marke’s birthday (two days early) at work.  jason, james, chris, marke, and i had a delicious birthday lunch at selma’s and then enjoyed cupcakes.  it was nice and a good start to all the birthday things that were to come.  :)

two fridays ago, i went to a really fun birthday party for my friend jamie.  it was 80’s-themed and at the local bowling alley, saddleback lanes.  i got all sorts of crazy dressed up.  i haven’t been i public looking quite that ridiculous in a long time.  and some of my friends dressed up, too, including marke, who was dressed basically just like zack morris from “saved by the bell.”  and in fact, the group i bowled with decided we should all use names from that show as our bowling names.  i was lisa turtle.  the whole night was really, really fun, and you can check out some of the photos here.

the next day, i met up with lauren, cody, and marke for coffee at this place lauren loves called the neighborhood cup.  they were all studying various things, but i brought a novel with me and read.  it was lovely.  i think i could sit all day long just reading and sipping good coffee.  :)  plus, it’s just a nice way to start a weekend.

and after that, lauren and i hung out a bit.  we drove up the coast.  we stopped in lagana beach to walk around and take a few photos.  it was an absolutely gorgeous day out.  and then we went up to newport for cupcakes at sprinkles.  so delicious!  i love that lauren is now the one asking me if we can go there.  haha!  i have her totally hooked, and it’s so fun for me!  anyway, then we headed back toward home and did a little shopping for a project we were putting together for marke and annajoy’s birthdays.

that night, marke and i were going to go see a movie but when i picked him up, we decided we were so starving that we wanted to go get food instead.  so we drove down to the cheesecake factory and had a delicious dinner and sat and talked a while.  we also ran into our friend jessica who works there and got some coupons for free cheesecake, which is awesome!  and then we went to one bookstore.  and then another.  and then we drove around going nowhere for a while.

and then we eventually met up with annajoy, her sister, and allison at this little place called rocks.  it was a bar but had a dancefloor and a bad dj.  and it was worse than a dive.  and everyone in there smoked constantly.  yes, inside.  and it was only fun because of the company.

last sunday was marke’s birthday!  he turned 26!  old man!  ;)  i spent the morning baking black pepper-gruyere cheese puffs and chocolate chip cookies.  and then i headed over to marke’s house for a super bowl party.  there was a ton of food because his mom is a great cook.  lots of people showed up, and it was a lot of fun to watch the game with everyone. :)

on tuesday, i had a lauren-filled day.  marke and i met her for lunch at this little cafe across the street from where we work.  and then she came over to my office after work to help me some more with the collages we put together for marke and annajoy for their birthdays.  we had everyone sign them at their big party (that’s coming up), and they made a pretty cool gift.  and when lauren and i were done with that, we had a delicious dinner at a thai place on del mar.  it was nice to just hang out with her.

on wednesday morning, marke brought me coffee.  he made my day.  he’s such a good friend.

i bought myself new running socks finally.  i’ve been doing lots of running lately (well, lots for me, anyway), and i only had a couple pairs of good socks.  a long run in bad socks nearly killed me, so it was finally time.  anyway, it makes me feel like my dad.  he loves good socks.

thursday morning, i accidentally slept through my two alarms.  oops!  i woke up 5 minutes before i was meant to be at work, so i rushed around to get ready and head there.  and then i rushed around all day at work trying to make sure i got everything done that needed to be done that day.  i knew it was going to be a busy one.  and it was strangely still a really, really fun day at work, even though i felt like i was rushing around constantly.

after work on thursday, i went to emmaus and then out to in-n-out with everyone.  and then i went home to bake.  except first, i needed to stop at a grocery store to get ingredients for (more) cupcakes.  so i went to the huge albertson’s near me, but it closed at midnight and it was 12:06.  so i called marke because he tends to know things like which stores are open late.  though really, i think grocery stores should all be open 24 hours.  anyway, he pointed me in the right direction, but it was nearly 1 by the time i got home.  and then i baked 40+ cupcakes.  and then allison met me at home during my lunch break on friday and we frosted cupcakes.  they were for marke and annjoy’s birthday party that night.  it was good to hang out with allison (and her daughter, grace) for a little bit, too.  she’s really sweet.

also on friday, i snuck out of work an hour early because there was almost no one left in the office.  and i thought about going to the gym in my stolen hour.  and i thought about a nap.  but ultimately, i decided to just sit still for a minute and watch a little tv and sort of just calm down.  i hadn’t done that in so long, and i really, really needed it.

and on friday night, we had a huge party to celebrate marke and annajoy’s birthdays.  the two of them started the planning but then pretty much turned it over to allison and me, so i was in red robin an hour early to make sure we’d have tables for all 30+ people.  anyway, we had a great turnout, and everyone seemed to be having fun!  dinner was good. and then we all went over to dave and busters for some video games and  pool.  i played a little, but mostly i hung out with lots of friends and had a wonderful time.   and i was out way too late and loved it all.  so anyway, i hope they had great birthdays!  i enjoyed celebrating with them. :)  there are some photos here.

yesterday, i slept in nice and late, which i needed after being up until 3am the previous two nights.  and then i met up with marke, annajoy, and her son justin to see the movie “coraline.”  i thought it was pretty cool and very beautiful.  plus, i was so tired that sitting in a movie was about as active as i felt like being at that point.

in the evening, i went to an emmaus oral history night.  we had a potluck dinner (i brought a delicious marionberry pie from trader joe’s) and then jr shared his life story.  it was really wonderful, and i love these events.  then i hung out talking to different friends for a while until it was suddenly late and i headed home.

and this afternoon, i met up with aunt nancy and her friend kim, who were in san clemente on vacation.  we had a nice lunch on the pier, and it was so beautiful out, even though i rained earlier and i won’t be surprised by more rain later today.  anyway, it was good to catch up a little bit and also to just get outside.

and so that’s what i’ve been up to.  more fun things are coming up, as well, so stay tuned. :)

25 things about us

i’m reposting this (from my facebook).  it was supposed to be 25 things about myself.  instead, it’s 25 things about my friends and me.

1. Marke and I like to do crossword puzzles from the New York Times but read the Wall Street Journal.  We used to dislike each other.  Now he’s my favorite.

2. Katherine and I eat too much ice cream whenever we’re together, and it’s always her fault.  Also, I start to laugh like her whenever I hang out with her for more than about an hour.  She’s known me forever; she has all the dirt.

3. Meg and I always get mistaken for a couple whenever we go to Benihana together.  Or other restaurants.  In high school, we wrote notes to each other in composition notebooks that we’d pass back and forth between classes.  She’s known me forever; she has all the dirt.

4. Melissa is in charge of my makeup.  She’s my makeup guru.  She can put on makeup better than most professionals.  Whenever I am putting on my makeup, I am really just trying to do what I think she would do.

5. Sarah and I have traveled together in (at least) 9 different countries.  England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain, France, Belgium, and the US.  That’s a lot of miles.

6. Annahita and I love to talk about food together.  Love love.  And boys.

7. Adam can’t read.  And I’m fat.  This is what I call sibling love.  Also, we love to watch college basketball together, and because we don’t live near each other, we watch together on the phone.  March Madness is our favorite time of year.

8. Elizabeth knows me like only a roommate could.  She took out the trash and I cleaned the bathroom.  We threw excellent dinner parties together.

9. Dana got me to dance to a car stereo in a parking lot in the middle of the night and have fun doing it.  I appreciate this more than she probably knows.  I hope there’s more of this in my future.

10. Chris and I could sit around listening to country music together for entirely too long.  He’s my country-music-loving friend.  I don’t really have others.

11. Holly and I used to share a bed.  A bunk bed.  In the London house.  She crawled into my (bottom) bunk with me to be funny on more than one occasion.  Also, I still wear a perfume that I first noticed on her; she has good scent sense.

12. Roderick and I both love our birthdays.  It makes me happy that I’m not the only one.  Also, we’re filipino cousins.

13. Theresa and I went Christmas shopping together one year.  We decided to split up for an hour so we could buy each other gifts.  We ran into each other in the same store about halfway through that hour as we were buying things for one another.  Surprises over!  Also, she loves to laugh at me, even when I have no clue why.  She does it pretty much constantly whenever we’re together.

14. Lauren is now hooked on Sprinkles cupcakes, and it might be my fault.  I brought her there for the first time.  Now she is bringing me there all the time.  I love spending an afternoon with her eating a cupcake and enjoying a little sun.

15. Jan takes my favorite photos.  I want him to photograph me.  The wedding photos he takes make me want to get married, even though I’m certainly in no position to do that any time soon and in no actual particular hurry.

16. Lindsay and I both love Gossip Girl and grammar.

17. DJ and I used to use the London House’s supplies for “encouragement cards” to write each other “discouragement cards.”  Because we’re awesome and funny… and mean. ;)

18. Wednesday did my hair fabulously.  Twice.  For the London House’s two large banquet dinners.  She’s as good as a trained hair stylist but more fun to talk to, and she figured out what to do with my crazy mane.  Also, she’s some of my favorite Disneyland company.

19. Maria and I used to play store at her parents’ house using all the Amway products they sold.  Also, her uncle died in a motorcycle accident when we were just kids, and I’ve never much wanted to ride one since.  I often think of him when thinking of motorcycles.

20. Jessica and I went to see an art exhibition solely (pun intended) about Manolo Blahnik shoes.  And also one on Ansel Adams.  We looked at art together, Jessica and I, when we lived together in London.

21. Roxanne and I both loved the Backstreet Boys when we were too old and were pretty much the only people left loving them.  We went to see them together.

22. Becke was the first person I ever worked an even with at KRTY.  She was late and I was scared and confused on that first day.  After that, we worked tons of events together, and I always enjoyed her company.  She was never late.

23. Patrick lived with me and my family for a summer.  It was only supposed to be a few days.  That was a crazy summer.

24. Dante was the first first real crush I had.  And while I don’t have a crush on him anymore, I still think he’s a really great guy.  I’m so happy for him and his new wife!

25. Josh and I cooked breakfast for the London House after staying up all night during finals week.  And then we slept through the day while other people were taking exams.  We often stayed up very, very late together for no good reason other than that we’re rad.