The story of my life

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Livestrong U23 Tricycle Race

A few of pictures I found that I really liked.

New Favorite Cartoon: The Ricky Gervais Show

Is Beer the new Wine?

I sense a pattern among people my age (late 20's, 30's): we are dropping words like IPA, Porter and Stouts versus the traditional Pinot or Cabernet. A growing case of beer snobbery. 
Previously, I've always associated beer with the Homer Simpson's of the world- beer bellied and drunk by the 6-packful. But thanks to the more sophisticated "tasting" instead of chugging, and the fine biological structure of "better beers", the caloric intake is still minimal. So it was a pleasant surprise to find that most of the people that crowd these popular microbrew/gastropubs are fairly young and in good shape. (Could be an LA thing or a deeper circle of yuppie-dom).


Collectively,  we rush to get the new exclusive beer that came from a very far remote microbrewery where the local beer buyer had to sacrifice a finger for or just a little dignity for a keg. Yup. No grocery beers for us- just the stuff worth research and traveling hundreds of miles to taste. And why not? I enjoy going over to the local gastropub/brewery to taste something entirely new and different. Granted, I had to work myself up to the IPA level, but I now appreciate a good beer. As I've always appreciated a well-crafted drink that people put some thought into (like coffee or tea) and doesn't empty my wallet.


Mike introduced this new interest. He and his friends began visiting local breweries near out of town bike races (which is often the case), and now find themselves deciphering flavor profiles and using words like "hoppy" and bold as adjectives. Now, we find ourselves tasting new premier beers nearly every week, but we're far from being the only ones.  PS.  Don't worry we won't judge your PBR, but we'll probably prefer not to drink it.


My favorite beers are Russian River's Supplication, Rodenbach Grand Cru, Russian River's Pliny the Elder and Mikkeler's Beer Geek Breakfast Weasel

My LaGrange Race Report for the 2/28/10 Dare to Race Grand Prix in Ontario, CA

Race: Dare to Race Grand Prix

Where: Ontario, CA

Racers: Jocelyn Pogue, Anne Cuizon

Category: Womens 4

Results: 2nd, 11th

The full moon was still out, the ground slick, and it was a pleasant 41 degrees out while Jocelyn and I approached the course. None of this phased us because we were very nervous about racing since this was my 2nd crit and Jocelyn's very first. Our goals: to finish with the pack and to survive. 

We had a whopping field of 13 girls at the start. There were a few attacks that never stuck for long. Both of us went for primes but didn't quite make it. With four laps to go, I grabbed the wheel of an Ironfly rider who used her magic powers to get a flat right in front of me. Somehow avoiding a crash I was able to bridge a small gap along with a couple Team Possabilities ladies.

After the last corner, we were all in a field sprint, and instead of throwing the tacks (a last resort) Jocelyn found an opportunity to weave around everyone and take 2nd while I finished all smiles with the pack. 

Akeelah and the Bee

Thanks to this heartwarming, poor kids can be smart kids, movie, I not only know how to spell "xanthosis" but also "Akeelah".

Feel my legs, I'm a ... racer?

This is me and my teammate, Danielle, after the Simple Green Criterium. Go LaGrange Womens 3/4!

My best friend/fiend

Is instant gratification


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Channeling: The Secret Life of Bees (the movie)

I love how light and effortless these clothes were. They look comfortable enough to laugh in which is always important to me. Notice the details: Queen Latifah's neckerchief, the medal pins on Sophie Okonedo's top, to Alicia Keys' headband. 

Bonus (as in the Gidget's sailor chic fashion) these women often wore canvas sneakers with their outfits.

Happy Valentines Day to Me!

I won my Vintage Porcelain Poodle Brooch on ebay! ($6!) Vintage finds on Ebay are some of my favorite things.

My Super Bowl Party for the Non-football fans

I've come to realize that I truly enjoy hosting parties especially now that I have a little house to live in. Mike and I like to find any sort of event or excuse to throw one for our friends. Some people asked how it went and here's was the timeline.

So the Super Bowl...

2 weeks beforehand
Mike and I decide to have a small party for those people who don't have plans. (ha)

These were my challenges:
• How do I make football fun for my artsier, less footbally friends?
• On top of that, I'm having a majority of vegan and/or health conscious cyclists that would prefer "healthier" snacks
• Prepare for 15 by myself while Mike is bike racing in San Diego
• Honestly, don't care to spend too much

A week beforehand
Mike and I work on a menu. We decide on a healthier turkey chili. He chose a recipe from Rachel Ray. We agree on cornbread, vegetables, and something with guacamole. Head to Costco and Whole Foods for all the ingredients. We expect to make food for 20 and figure if we don't have enough guests, we'll have some leftovers.

I began to start to ask people what they were up to for Superbowl Sunday and let them know I'm going to throw a party unofficially. A reality of this is that most people our age forget about parties and so I will most likely text message or email a few days beforehand.

3 days beforehand

Mike packs up and heads to San Diego for the Boulevard Road Race with his teammate, Dedrick. They are sent on a mission to get beer from Stone Brewery in San Diego, since it's responsible for most of our favorite beers. They'll be back on Sunday just in time for the kick-off.

Sent out a reminder text message for rsvps. Everyone responds! 15 people it is! Suggest that vegan buddies may want to bring something to eat.

I begin to clean up the house and defrosting meat. Pulling out our partyware. I chose nothing remotely football themed. It was just our minimalistic square black and white trays and bowls with plastic flatware. Lots of snazzy napkins from Ikea. Easy to clean, my least favorite part of parties.

Day of the Party

Send out a morning text to let everyone know that if they want to come early, they can watch Babe the Gallant Pig with me. (It's a great movie!) Also decide on what I will wear. Something casual but still accesorized, of course! (As was necessary, because my friends are always adorable 24/7.)

I also put together a playlist of some mellow and fun oldies music (Beach Boys, Jay Z, Lady Gaga) to lighten the mood for when guests get here. Also, I decided to play Babe silently just because. And remember, my guests aren't the biggest on sports commentary.

Baking and cooking commences. (I purposely chose recipes I could do quickly since I tend to be such a scattered chatterbox when guests start to arrive) Guests start to trickle in with even more snacks! A pleasant surprise. Meghan and Gary brought a great walnut salad and a date and banana pie (entirely vegan and raw).

The Game
Mike and Dedrick arrive with their cases from Stone. Excitement everywhere! The chili and cornbread worked well with the Arrogant Bastard and or the Pale Ale. Mixed reviews.

We started watching by first choosing sides. (So what if I chose according to the colors of the uniform.) Who we were rooting for added a lot of drama and excitement as we watched. Most importantly we viewed the commercials searching for our favorites. Since majority of this crowd worked in the commercial industry, there was plenty of funny, yet harsh, criticism. After all, commercials are the best part.

By the time The Who (halftime show/sing-a-long) began, we were all ready for Jocelyn's caramel brownies and the Stone Porter made for a perfect pairing.

All in all it was a great game, great party and we all had a good time. Mike finished off the chili by eating near 6 servings.  So no leftovers there, but we did have tons of Stone Beer. Good lord. We'll have to see what happens on the next one.

when asked about my personal style

I like to tell people that it's Audrey Hepburn meets a homeless hippy hobo named Fred, who I met on the Metro. Fred was pretty cool.

This is one of my favorite movies ... Rebecca, 1940

Rebecca, 1940
Dir. Alfred Hitchcock

Clearly, I have plenty to learn about ... life

The Oscars, 3D and neon: My thoughts on Avatar, the ride

OK, so the Academy just announced the Oscar nominees for the coveted, Best Picture. And of course, Avatar, was nominated. I can't help but think that Avatar was miscategorized. Rather than Best Picture, I argue that it should be up against Disney California Adventure's Toy Story Mania and Don't Mess with the Zohan for Best Amusement Park Ride due to its common goal of spectacle and amusement.

3D glasses and long lines and bright colors. That fits both Avatar and TSM. Frankly, I enjoyed TSM more because I got to shoot things at things. Both had talented cgi artists and huge corporate backing to develop a well-sought out thrill. Neither of these projects demonstrated a bold educational contribution to humanity's intellect, but rather decided to just please the masses with a great experience. There's nothing wrong with this; especially in economic climate when most people commonly find themselves in terrible situations.

Avatar was an amazing visual experience. The digital artists behind this film did a great job, and were hopefully paid what they deserved. The writers, however, were lacking. Has James Cameron decided that special effects are more of a priority than a good story? Yes. Come on, you have to admit that story was plagued with predictable and cheap resolutions. At least Toy Story Mania fully engulfed me into the world of Toy Story with unexpected outcomes via competition and interaction- banking on the genius of video games. So for Best Ride, my vote goes to Toy Story Mania. Sorry, Zohan, your sense of humor wasn't enough in this category. You weren't even in 3D.

A few steps backwards and rewound, I define film like Wikipedia: "Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment and a powerful method for educating — or indoctrinating — citizens." So by definition, Avatar, is a film and so is Toy Story Mania! But as far as BEST PICTURE, I would expect a more challenging, definitive emotional and educational cultural statement instead of a more crowd pleasing, multi-bajillion dollar "DUH!" and fancy remake of Pocahontas.

Is it a crime that I appreciate simple visual gags?

Artist, Florentijin Hofman, knows exactly what I like.

I like things either very tiny or very big. I also like people in inanimate object suits. I digress.

Here's a photo my cousin, Marisa, took that I enjoy very much.

Your Poisonous Life: My Thoughts on Jersey Shore and Cannibalism

My funemployment has given me the opportunity to become more pop culture relevant. In other words, I have been watching tv. And I couldn't resist checking out the show that everyone's been talking about: Jersey Shore. After watching a few minutes of it, I couldn't help but feel instantly disgusted by not only their poorly chosen wardrobe and hairstyles, but also their unbelievably useless bravado. All so grossly force fed by MTV along with bad music and a neon color palette: this generation's pollution. Plain and simple, this show is terrible, yet everyone is talking about it.

So cannibalism...

Cannibalism, for the sake of this entry, will be defined as a species eating their own species. Gross, right? Well in a sense I'm beginning to feel that with the media. We corn feed and raise the images of people just to shoot them down and eat them alive, because it feels good.

My good Vegan buddy, Meghan, had a brilliant revelation one day. She explains that just as we are particular about what kind of meat and vegetables we eat (i.e. pesticides, hormones, etc), that Cannibals should have healthy options available. She would like to be as organic a human as possible, hence her healthy chemical free diet choices. She will be a healthy snack for the cannibals she might happen to meet later on in life.

Food for Thought

Thoughts, too, can be considered food. After all, this is the fuel we use to motivate and evolve and mature. With this is mind, I would like to offer a feast of organic brilliant ideas for all the thought eaters out there. Not so much a hydrogenated mush of tabloids and reality and marketing ploys and other things qualified to be God's debris.

Our brains (like Krang, the brain-man from Ninja Turtle cartoons) cannot possibly become healthier feeding on the spray tanned vulgarity or those ass-tastic lyrics we find in most pop music or those images of unrealistic body imagery or anything that makes us need unecessarily that we see splattered across our giant flat paneled televisions and laptops and phones.

A Balanced Diet?

As a human participating in the human race, I'd like to suggest that we just expose ourselves to more quality, less quantity. It's just too easy to feed on media garbage. Brain eats healthy then, the rest of idea consumers/thought cannibals in all of us may just flourish.

Although I can't possibly be human without wanting some sugary junk food, however, I promise to only have a little of it. Feed me knowledge. Eat my brain.

If I had an iron fist

I would probably have a hard time clapping hands for Christmas lights next year, but I would surely enjoy using it as a gavel or a meat tenderizer.

A thought on apathy

don't care