I will be back.

I really wanted to blog tonight, but lots of awesome things are happening, I can't focus! Hah!
So I will be back soon to update (ok, with a recipe too), so please hang in there with me!

moonbeams & bunny kisses,

Rima.

ps: in the mean time, please enjoy my favorite song from my favorite band... That I will be seeing tomorrow night (hence, the excitement!)

I'm not a Runner...

... and I think I'm going crazy.

As you may all know, I'm going to participate (with the Pillow) at Sacramento's The Color Run 5K in August. Seriously I can't wait.

One of my favorite bloggers, Rubyellen from My Cakies, did the Color Run this past weekend in Irvine, and here's the team that she joined. Seriously I'm super stoked. I can't wait.



Aaaaaannndddd...

I just joined the 5K Foam Fest this May 26th in Temecula, CA. Seriously. Foam. Foam Party. You run thru mud, then run thru Foam. Think Wipeout and Foam. Foam = Bubbles. Who doesn't love Bubbles??!?!?!



How F.U.N is that???

Yes, I am not a sporty girl, but this year I want to challenge myself (I started it with that Honduras trip of mine) and this year I'm gonna do 2 5Ks. Say what?

moonbeams & bunny kisses,
Rima

I am inspired.

I was browsing around for some baking class... Stumbled upon the AI - Orange County Culinary program, and my eyes went wide when I saw the tuition cost. Damn.

Then the Boyfriend said, "Education is not cheap."
My reaction, DUUH.

Yet, the Boyfriend said, "If you want pastry school, got to do Paris! There's probably some 3-6 months courses..."

Hence my research begin.

It would be the BIGGEST dream of mine to live in Paris and learn about baking and pastry. God, I got goosebumps just thinking about it.

Why not just spend a couple of month in a foreign land learning something that I love... Love to do?

Thanks my love for giving me the drive!

(this is a MAJOR bucket list)

moonlight and bunny kisses,

Rima

Care to join me?

Yes.
I'm doing my first 5K in my life's history.
And most of you know that I DO NOT like running. Walking is fine, not running.
Good thing is... this 5K is special. Special? Yes, special. Why? Because it's COLORFUL.
I've always had interest in the Holi celebration. But I missed it. Boo. Then I found the Color Run, which is quoted, "The Happiest 5K on the Planet!"It's not about who finishes first, but it's all about having fun. And I am game for fun. Why do I want to do this? To fulfill my bucket list of doing a 5K. This may be my first and last 5K (I am not a sport/work-out chic).

Still need convincing? Watch this.

I watched this video, I was sold. I want to be one of those happy people, full of color. You start plain, you end super colorful!

I'm going to participate in the Sacramento's Race in August 4th. This Sunday there will be one in Irvine. Too bad I found out kinda late on that. But... hah, a reason to head up NorCal, no?

moonbeams and bunny kisses,
Rima

Food Time: Maple Blueberry Scones

Stars. Yes. I see stars. No I did not bump my head against the cabinet again (true story. twice!) The other day at work, a co-worker offered me a scone that she got from Target, and I told her, "Oh, I used to love making scones!" Then an epiphany happened today and I was inspired to make, er, scones. Yet I want to have fun with it so I decided to get my star cookie cutter and made star scones. It came out pretty funny... with some of the star legs crooked. Who cares. It tasted good. 

I browsed around and found this recipe from The Shoe Box Kitchen, who she adapted from Smitten Kitchen (one of my favs!).

Things I Love Monday, week 14-15

Hi Bunnies.

Still recuperating from the crazy weekend (week 15) that I had with my girl friends. The infamous "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" definitely is the motto for all 5 of us girls. Too much fun. I even have a bruise to prove it. So sad. Haha...

Despite I celebrated my 28th last week, the true party was this past weekend. Well, not true party. Mainly, crazy party. I had an intimate party last week with my lovies, this past one was a crazy party with my girls.

I won't bash about my birthday week (week 14) because there's a entry about it, so I will bash, a little, about week 15.

From crazy parking-lot dressing room, to AMF galore, playing "Hangover" the movie, girl's version (finding the birthday girl!), free entries to Marquee 2 nights in a row (Heather is the man!), sing-a-longs to 90s boyband/girlband, the Ox-Tail soup hunt, LOTS AND LOTS of INSIDE JOKES (two fingers up!), the Sanitary Pad laugh-off, running around in the cold in DTLV, major Chris Brown/Rihanna playlist, Topshop, surviving the days with minimal sleep, sober clubbing and trash talking on all the girls in the Marquee girls bathroom, food coma @ Wicked Spoon, instant McD's craving in Barstow... zOMG. So much fun.

But really, I don't think I can't party 2 nights in a row in heels. My feet were not happy :(

Now, pictoral time.

Food Time: Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

What's a girl to do on her bored day off? Bake! 

I went out today to do errands, and decided to go to Target to buy some stuff. Got my basic ingredients to fill up my pantry and I decided I want to bake today. After a week plus hiatus, I miss my kitchen/oven/mixer. I did make those cookies on Sunday, but since today I have plenty of time on my hand, I decided to try out baking on my brownie bar pan. Never used this before, so I browsed around for some recipes about brownies or cookie bars.

The original recipe calls for a 13X9 pan, which I don't have, and to be baked for about 35 minutes. For the bars I made, it reduced it by 10 minutes to 25 minutes. Feel free to follow which ever you want :)

Food Time: White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

You know that feeling, when you're bored and there's nothing that suits your feeling on what to do at the time? I had that feeling today. After spending hours and hours on my macbook, I had that itch to bake. I was too lazy to go to the store so I opened my pantry & fridge to see what I have stocked. Oatmeal and butter and white chocolate chips were in stock. Thus, White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies was made in the oven.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday, I celebrated my 28th Birthday. Yes, 28 years ago my little self was born in Pasadena, CA. Holla.

Thanks to my lovely boyfriend, he treated me and a some close people of mine to dinner in the wonderful Laguna Beach. We spend the afternoon relaxing by the beach in Diver's Cove and walked around the mighty rocks of LB and took some random pictures. He also bought me a pair of Rainbow Sandals which I've been ranting about. Yay. 

I'm excited in what God has in stores for me in my 28th year. Hopefully more fun stuffs and surprises will pop up. I do have some plans lining up, such as Las Vegas next week with my girlfriends, Coldplay in May, Warped Tour in June (I haven't been to this in the past couple of years! Super excited!)

Yay!

moonbeams and bunny kisses,

Rima

27 -> 28!

As I creep my way on to the age of 28, I want to recap awesome things that happened in the past year. I've been blessed abundantly by God (thanks!) and I am glad He's been giving me one day at a time to live. Honestly I haven't been using my time wisely and it seems I've been wasting it a lot on... the internet. Escapism at its best. Facebook, Tumblr, Gossip Blogs have been raping the time off of me that I haven't been able to stop and "smell the roses" (ok, I'm not a fan of roses).

This year I'll try to slow down my pace and try to enjoy more of, well, time. I'll try to stop... and take a deep breath. I want to enjoy life.

Things that I did when I was 27:

• I moved to another department. I became an Interventional Radiology Nurse. I left my first love, ER, to become a procedure nurse... which is now my new love. 1 year has passed (this week marks my 1 year anniversary), and I still love it. I literally spent my birthday at work. I've gained more experience in nursing and I'm glad that I did. Still lots of things to learn since Nursing is a pretty broad specialty. The benefit of being a nurse is that you can change to any kind of specialty you want, as much as you can. We'll see how it goes for me, haha.
• I received my first surprised birthday party. Apparently my sister, Jeje, and my beloved PillowMan decided to throw a surprised party for me at my very own home. That was the day I called Robert a Jerk (in a happy, giddy, way). It was so thoughtful of them and I had so much fun. We had a game night, a tradition that Jeje started last year. The next day Rob & I went to Universals Studios and we got the year pass. I haven't been there in such a long time so it was nice to roam around the studios and experienced King Kong 3D. Pretty cool. 
• I went the Venice Beach for the first time... and I didn't find any dirty needles.
• Planned two parties with my sister, Jeje, for our 2 sisters, Nia (baby shower) & Icha (bridal shower) with great success. 
• Lots of summer hang-out at Rob's in Newport/Costa Mesa
• A special moment between me & Rob happened in the summer. 5565 forever.
• Las Vegas trip with my family, including Rob & Otin's girlfriend. Pretty fun.
• I got a promise ring from Rob... which I eventually broke :( I'm such a bad girlfriend.
• Finally watch DAVID BECKHAM live in action. Wow. Surreal for me. Growing up watching him on TV back in Indonesia when he used to play for Manchester United. Even though the seats weren't the greatest, but still. Haha.
• I got hooked on couponing
• My sister's wedding. One of the funnest yet craziest weekends of my life. Never again I want to be a Maid of Honor. Also it was a partial Cha-Cha reunion (minus Dinda). 
• Rob & I watched our favorite band of all time (in our relationship haha), Coldplay, live at UCLA. Epic. I was in tears when they played Fix You.
• Attended 2 co-workers' wedding. One in Temecula at a winery, another one in Vegas. 
• Went to San Diego Zoo with the Pathfinders.
• Watched my first NFL game: Green Bay Packers vs San Diego Chargers. Epic game... in the rain! Rob got us front row tickets (!!!) and we were surrounded by legit Cheesehead fans that flew all the way from Wisconsin! Super awesome game. Got to see Aaron Roger's sexy ass. Also Clay Matthews. Oooo.
• Celebrated Rob's birthday at Catalina Island. It was my first time there and it's such a nice island. We ended up Ziplining. Totally WORTH IT!!!!!! One of the best $100 spent ever. No regrets.
• Went to church with Torrey. Well Torrey visited my church for a project. Yay.
• Robert started travelling a lot this year ever since he moved to ASP. 
• I started this blog. Bolu by Rima was born on 11/23/11. Yea boi.
• Planned my annual UNISDAC youth Secret Gift Exchange party with the theme of 90s. As always, great success. I can't wait to do it again. So much fun.
• I decided that it's time to accomplished on of my bucket list, to go on a mission trip, so browsed around an stumbled upon Global Brigades. Alas in March '12, I flew with a bunch of college kids that I've never met to Honduras, and honestly, it was one of the best weeks of my life. I wouldn't trade that experience with anything else. It was a fun yet blessed week. 
• Finally got to meet Rob's mom for the first time. Nerve-wracking at first (for me!), but she's such a sweet lady. I really do hope she likes me.
• Rob & I did apartment "shopping" for him, and now he is settled in Newport Beach (it's part of his own bucket list)
• I decided to go Vegan for 1 month. Instead of losing weight, I gained. Never again.
• I officially became an Aunty to Baby Cameron in October and will be an aunt to my future Xylo/Adam in September. Super excited!
• The power of Facetime cured our long distances between me and Rob
• My first photo shoot ever. I collaborated with Ollie of A Sight Of Love to do a romantic photo-op with Rob involving my baked goods. I haven't seen any of the final images so I am super eager to see it. asdkjfal;skdfjals;
• I got addicted to the Hunger Games phenomena. Katniss over Bella.

Reading back at this entry, I actually did some cool stuff when I was 27 and I'm glad I did.  

I hope for a better year as I turn 28 this Saturday. I can't wait for surprises.

moonbeams and bunny kisses,

Rima

Things I learned...

while I was in Honduras...

How sacred clean water is over there. Most of them have poor source of water, or even have a hard time getting water. Their piping is pretty bad, that we can't flush our toilet papers down the toilet. Not to forget drinking water. I'm pretty sure bottled water there is expensive for the common Honduran. Meanwhile here in America, I often brush my teeth with the water running, take extensive hot showers, open multiple bottled water at a time. Shame on me. This trip reminded me to conserve clean water.

How bumpy the roads are. Like I said in TiLM, we spent most of our days there on the road and rant on  how uncomfortable it is to sit in a van/bus for a long period of time while trying to catch some sleep. For those who sleep by the windows, I don't know how many times I grin and giggle seeing my fellow UCSDers banged their heads against the window. Or for those who are in the middle seat, with no headrest, seeing their head bobble back and forth, or doing some extreme leaning against their seat-mate (Hi, Katie!). Meanwhile here, we have smooth asphalt roads, great traffic laws and speed limits. In Honduras, the drivers are fierce and they don't care. And you see lots of cattle or dogs wandering around the streets, and I believe those drivers don't care about them, which makes me really sad. I saw a dead deer or mule on the road on the way to El Canton, and for a moment I was traumatized. Those moments made me realized how thankful I am for having great traffic laws here in America, and also great Animal Rights.

How nice it is to be phone/internet free for one week. One word: LIBERATING. The only time I used any means of technology aka my iPhone/iPod was to take hipstagram photos and read on my Kindle App. Other than that, I completely had no service whatsoever, besides when I was at the airport & pizza hut. It was so nice to cut off completely for awhile. It gave me time to think about other things, living behind all the problems and dramas that I currently have going on while I'm in "my world". It helped me focus more on the real purpose of why I joined the brigades, which is to help the people with the skills I have. Yes, there was the sense of escapism in this trip for me, but mostly I just wanted to be there to help others. Of course there were times that I wanted to just screw it and turn off Airplane mode and risk the fees of international roaming and minutes, but thank goodness I didn't. Being tech-free, it allowed me to converse more, in person, with another human being, and also interact with nature and enjoy what God has created. I appreciate the cleaner air and the cool breeze, whenever that comes along. I enjoyed the views of cows, donkeys/mules, horses, and stray dogs that roamed around the country. I enjoyed the blue skies contrasting the white, fluffy clouds. I enjoyed watching how obnoxious the girls from West Virginia are. I was able to party like a college girl. I was able to wake up without worrying about the posts on facebook or replying emails. It was awesome.

How grateful the people are getting free medical care because, well, they can't afford it nor have any great resources. Working in the medical field in California, especially having a background in Emergency Medicine, I've witnessed multiple times how people here abuse the system (don't get me started). While there, people will bring everyone in their family to take advantage with our services, which I personally don't care. I'm actually glad that they did. If I was in their situation, I would do the same exact thing. I've seen that kind of thing too, here, but for a reason, this one is different. Why? They appreciate what we do/did. They shook our hands. I saw tears. We received hugs. Little kids wave at us and say "Gracias!"And all in sincerity. That's what made me do what I do. I receive great self-satisfaction knowing that my labor and skills made a difference in a person's life. And, a simple thank you and smile pays the price of the hard work that I/we did.

I really hope that one day I will be able to serve/do this kind of thing again. In a way, it is a great way to do some soul searching in a foreign country, touring around and helping deserving people at the same time.

If you have the opportunity, then do it. Trust me, you will not regret it.

moonbeams and bunny kisses,

Rima

Things I Love Monday: Honduras Edition (week 12-13)

Bucket list: Checked!

One of my dreams is to serve a poor community in a Medical Mission Trip. That particular dream came true this past week. From March 25th - April 1st, I was able to achieve this task, and boy, I am very happy that I did. 

As you probably know, I've been talking about my trip to Honduras since November. So here I present you some of the pictures that I've taken during the trip. I guess this is my souvenir to all of you.

rainy day in LA

My dad dropped me off at LAX and I remember it was raining like a mad house here in SoCal. Mother nature was going crazy. Mild anxiety and nervousness kicked in on the way to the airport due to several things: leaving all of my loved ones behind (plus knowing that in some random time, my crazy neighbor can maybe, well, go crazy) with no means of telecommunication, my future encounter with tropical bugs (eek!), figuring out how to manage my skin and hair (yes, this is a serious condition! haha) and the fact that I'm going to spend a full week with people that I have never met in my life. 

suitcases full of donated medical supplies!

Once I got to the airport, after roaming around and texting the group's leader, 3 students from UCSD approached me and asked if I was Rima. After confirming, I gave my dad a big hug and joined the rest of the Brigades from UCSD. For those who don't know, I did my trip with students (mostly Pre-Meds) from UC of San Diego through Global Brigades. I was so happy that these students accepted me in their circle. I could've not ask for a better group of people. These students are amazingly funny, smart and awesome. 

After a transit in Atlanta, where I almost got smashed by the airport train's door, we headed to San Pedro Sula, in north Honduras. Small airport. Right upon exiting the plane, I embraced the damp, humid air and got all giddy. "This is it!" I told myself. Good thing the airport offered free wi-fi, I texted the Pillow right away and did some cute text exchanges. I got kind of teary because I know that I will miss him through out the week. But what do you do... A fun adventure was ahead.