Five Things Friday: Baby Yoda fever is real

Five Things Friday is a post where I share five things that either made my week, what I am thinking about, or would like to share with all of you!

1. Finding our door vendor

In the beginning of November, we ordered a door from Home Depot because their turnaround time was the quickest out of all the vendors we’ve asked. We wanted our new front entry door to arrive by Thanksgiving. Then Thanksgiving past and the door never arrived. My husband followed up with Home Depot on the status of the door and it turned out Home Depot lost our door. Home Depot wanted us to reorder the door but it would arrive either late December or early January. We did not want to take our chances with Home Depot for a second time to have the order again lost in transit. So we decided to find a different vendor.

How did Home Depot lose a door in transit? I’ve heard our door was likely sold to someone else. That’s absolutely unacceptable.

After a little bit of research and going in person to visit different vendors, we have found our vendor. Plus the turnaround time with this vendor was much quicker, plus one of the components of our door was readily available.

2. Waking up at 5:30 AM

My goal for this week was to go to the gym three times which required waking up at 5:30 AM. This week I have succeeded. Let’s hope I keep this up and maybe even increase the frequency of going to the gym before work.

3. Celebrating the holidays at work all month long

I am loving the creativity!

4. Free time

Since I finished my Master’s I have more free time! I can occupy it with loads of house projects like refinishing my dining table and bookshelf.

5. Baby Yoda fever is real

People are calling my Pomeranian, Koda, “baby Yoda.” We don’t have a Disney Plus subscription, so I have not seen “The Mandalorian.”

Weekend Coffee Share: Have Some Cake

If we were having coffee, it would be at my house. I would make us some Vietnamese styled iced coffee and serve this Italian style cake I baked from Food52. For some strange reason, it reminds me of my Vietnamese mother-in-law’s honeycomb cake. Maybe it’s the simplicity of the cake.

I felt like baking a cake because I’ve been making a lot of madeleines in preparation for my friend’s wedding. I’ve tested different flavors from earl grey latte, lemon, vanilla, chocolate, banana, rosewater, and orange blossom. The final flavors that will be presented at the wedding are: rosewater, orange blossom, and vanilla dipped in chocolate.

But I’m not quite done yet though. I needed to figure out how to differentiate between rosewater and orange blossom. Also I need to figure out how to display them, purchase a few large airtight containers, and enough ingredients to make 300+ madeleines total.

My husband and I finally got a new mattress. After 8 years, I traded in my IKEA memory foam mattress for a Purple Mattress. Yes, I’ve had this mattress before I met my husband. So far, it’s promising and our mattress is not retaining heat.

Because we got a new mattress, it meant a trip to one of my favorite places, Home Goods! We picked up new bed sheets, servings plates, and I can never leave without a few more  items like this ceramic pig (plus a candle and new measuring cups)! I thought it was so cute! And it fits so well with the “Eat” and “Farm” signs I picked up from Target a couple of week back.

This Week:

A good chunk of it will be making madeleines — for a project like this, it would be awesome to have a kitchen aid. Today, I’ll start making the batter and get to baking them either Tuesday or Thursday night. FYI madeleines do freeze well.

On Wednesday, I’ll be in San Jose for the day at work. It’s going to be a long day.

Then Saturday will be the wedding day!

Credit: The Smushed Peach

Interested in participating in the Weekend Coffee Share yourself? Come on over to Nerd in the Brain for more details! Check out the link party page or this wordpress tag for inspiration.

Weekend Coffee Share: It’s going to be a hot weekend

If we were having coffee, it would be at my house I’ll serve cold brew but you’ve got some options. Usually at home, the only beverages we stock up are coffee and tea. We have a Brita filter so we drink primarily water. Occasionally we have wine and beer and very rarely we have any carbonated beverages in the house. Because it’s so hot, we have La Croix sparkling water and San Pellegrino sparkling fruit beverage. You are indeed in luck.

Anyways it’s been so hot, the news placed an excessive heat warning and it will carry on tonight at 11 PM. Instead of dinner tonight, I would be happy to get some ice cream.

This week was nice. I was on vacation at Lake Nacimiento which is north of San Luis Osbipo. On the way from Lake Nacimiento, we thought of taking a little road trip along the Central Coast. We explored San Luis Osbipo and Solvang. We did not spend a whole lot of time in each town because the drive was so long. Also, we had plans to meet our friends in Calabasas later that day to see their new apartment.

Come to think of it, I don’t have any photos of our walk around downtown San Luis Obispo except for this photo of Koda. It looks like he’s got a big smile.

Solvang is a cute little town with Danish influences. Solvang means “Sunny Field” in Danish. I wish we stayed a little longer to explore. It’s likely we’ll come back when the weather cools.

These are photos I took from Solvang to Calabasas because I wasn’t driving. The State Route 246 is a fun drive. From the hills I can see the ocean and Santa Barbara.

I mentioned in an earlier post, our housemate is in the process of moving out. I have to say, she moved out fast. She came back her 3-week vacation in Europe, arrived home on the 4th of July, and moved her stuff out the following day. I guess she really wanted to live that West LA life. We are not looking for a housemate to occupy the spare room. My husband and I decided we’ll bootstrap and enjoy the house to ourselves.

Next week: 

Well I have all 5 days of work. It looks like this coming Friday and Saturday would be more bearable. Hopefully it means I can hike somewhere.

Also on Wednesday, I have a presentation. Wish me luck everyone!

 

Credit: The Smushed Peach

Interested in participating in the Weekend Coffee Share yourself? Come on over to Nerd in the Brain for more details! Check out the link party page or this wordpress tag for inspiration.

Happy birthday to our puppies!

You’re another year older, Teddy and Koda! Happy birthday! We will get you some dog cupcakes this weekend!

Five Things

A quick post on 5 things or thoughts at the moment.

1. I am currently reading The Handmaid’s Tale, it’s disturbingly parallel to the news of today’s world. I’m completely hooked!

2. Bullet Journaling – I love the room for creativity and possibilities in this book. So far I’ve created a page for my books I’ve read so far this year, wardrobe capsuling for the seasons, writing an overview of the month, tracking my hiking, etc

3. Pay Yourself First – Not to brag, but I had an awesome public school experience growing up. In high school economics, I learned the concept of “Pay Yourself First”, a practice I carried well into adulthood. Throughout the years, I’ve been teaching people this concept too.

You don’t know what Pay Yourself First (PYF) is? It means you Pay Yourself First by puting away money from your paycheck to your savings account. The rule of thumb is to pull out a minimum of 10% of your gross pay into savings — it must be the first thing you do when you get paid. So this means before you go shop for groceries, pay bills, fill up your car — put out 10% to your place to your savings account. The savings can be used for certain things such as an emergency fund or a big project. This practice helps make savings a priority, create a plan, and developing good financial habits. On one end, some may say it’s not enough to save for their study abroad trip — but those few dollars do add up. On the other end of the spectrum, some may say “you’re kidding me?” Can it be painful? Yes. Can it be unsexy like paying bills? Yes. But the times we’ve needed it, it’s been a blessing.
4. Thrive Global – I love the mission statement. It’s inspiring going through the blog and learning all these tools and techniques have a wonderful read this week.

It’s been a rough month as far as (work) load goes. I want to focus on finding opportunities to thrive next month in May. I’m going to start fixing the burn out epidemic starting with myself.

Thrive Global’s mission is to end the stress and burnout epidemic by offering companies and individuals sustainable, science-based solutions to enhance both well-being and performance. Recent science has shown that the pervasive belief that burnout is the price we must pay for success is a delusion. We know, instead, that when we prioritize our well-being, our decision-making, creativity, and productivity improve dramatically. Thrive Global is committed to accelerating the culture shift that allows people to reclaim their lives and move from merely surviving to thriving.

5. Let my husband cook some nights – that is something to be grateful for. It’s a bonus that he is good at cooking most of the time.

Koda’s got a haircut!