They might be ugly, but they taste great!

As I wrote about in Something's baking...and Happy Thanksgiving!, sometimes I get an inkling to do some baking.

For the past several years, my mom and I've been getting together during the winter holidays to bake cookies. With the weather so cold and dreary, it's a perfect time to bake! We pretty much spend half or the whole day cranking out cookies like elves.

Union Square does it best...but more isn't always better

If a little is good, then a lot must be better, right?? Well....maybe in some cases (who couldn't find a use for more money!), but not always, and especially not holiday lights.

More isn't always better, Linus. Sometimes it's just more. ~Sabrina (movie)

As I wrote about in Happy holidays!, I like tastefully done holiday light displays.

5 years....already?! WOAH. Happy anniversary to us!

Today my husband and I are celebrating our 5 year anniversary. (And before you ask -- YES we were married on Dec 24, and YES we realize that's Christmas Eve.) It's been 5 years today since we were married in south Asia under a tent that was beautifully lit with party lights that were like the twinkling of stars and decorated with fabrics and streamers that perfectly matched my wedding dress. We still remember our wedding day -- and the exuberant days leading up to and surrounding it -- fondly and as if all of those events happened just yesterday.

Sometimes it feels like if you blink, you might miss everything that's going on. One thing I find myself saying a lot is "Time flies." That's so true in this case too, so I want to take a few moments to reflect on the last 5 years (on today of all days).

For those who don't celebrate the December holidays...

....(not that celebrating them is a bad thing), CNN wrote an interesting article today: For many, December's a dilemma.

I liked the part about teachers being mindful and understanding that Christmas is not the only holiday that kids (and their families) celebrate.

Happy holidays!

Mother Nature about to dump some cold on the Midwest

Well, according to CNN, the Midwest is bracing for a winter storm and a potentially icy Christmas.

If you're in the Midwest, I hope you've already stocked up on food before the big hunkering down begins. STAY WARM!

Everything's fake in California

When I was younger, I used to be a natural…blonde, that is. These days my natural hair color has taken on more of a dirty blonde look with my roots being a little darker than the rest. Even when I don’t dye my hair, my roots make me an obvious shoe-in for someone who just forgot to keep getting color touch ups.

With regards to my beauty regime, there are at least 2 important people in my life: the manicurist/pedicurist and my hairstylist.

Breaking up is hard to do...

Love can be a difficult thing. Some days it can be all sunshine and roses; other days it can be a kick in the pants. It can treat you well or leave you out in the cold. In this case, it can leave you sharply dressed or without anything to wear to your function.

Happy holidays!

As you might have guessed from reading my How Meliha stole Halloween and Something's baking...and Happy Thanksgiving! blog posts, I'm not too big on celebrating holidays.

Officially, I don't celebrate Christmas. Unofficially, I DO like SOME aspects of this time of year.

iPhone app review > Mark the Spot

"Can you hear me...now?"

Ok, so that's really a Verizon slogan...but this blog post isn't about Verizon, it's about AT&T and their coverage...or lack thereof.

Ever since AT&T started selling iPhone, people have complained about dropped calls and poor service, which is completely understandable since what's the point of having the coolest phone if it doesn't work?!

Hiking by moonlight

I've hiked Mission Peak in Fremont quite a few times. We used it as a training hike when we were preparing for our Yosemite Half Dome hike several years ago.

The hike itself is 5.6 miles with an elevation change of 2200 feet. It's steep and not easy!

Channeling B.O.B.

In Dreams and goals, I blogged about considering an MBA. Well, I managed to procrastinate booking the test just enough to miss getting my preferred test date, Dec. 19. Normally, I'm not a big procrastinator, but this committment involved a fee of $250, so as you can imagine, there was some hesitation on the part of my wallet. After checking the available test dates a few days ago and seeing that not only is Dec 19 now not available for the closest testing center, but it's also not available at the next closest one (over 45 mins away!). I think my wallet came to its senses. So I booked the next available weekend test date that I could get: Jan 9.

T-minus 34 days...and counting.