Nature/Big Sean/Buffet Brunch Birthday Weekend

Posted on by melomorpheus

Last week, Tai posted about her surprise birthday–her first celebration in L.A.–that I organized for her. The weekend after her festivities, we then celebrated my birthday in Utah and Las Vegas. Actually, my brother’s birthday was also around the corner, so we pretty much were also partying it up for him, too! Yes, we are all #teamCapricorn! Anywayz, If you’re from Southern California, you know that driving from L.A. to Vegas only takes roughly four hours–which is why so many Angelenos spend the weekend there (some even every weekend). So, it was a no-brainer for me to go to Vegas, since it’s relatively low maintenance (distance-wise) compared to going to New York. But, of course, Vegas is far from being a “low maintenance” destination! However, before we “turned up”, we took a nature detour first to Zion National Park in Southwest Utah. Continue reading Nature/Big Sean/Buffet Brunch Birthday Weekend

First Birthday in LA!

Posted on by tainambrown

I mentioned earlier in the week in this post that Melo had planned a birthday surprise for me and that I would tell you about it later.

This is later. And this is me telling you about it. Continue reading First Birthday in LA!

Cha Cha Cha Wednesday

Posted on by tainambrown

How many people out there have birthdays around the holidays?

*raises hand*

Both Melo and I have birthdays just after the holiday season. Hers is early January and mine is at the end of December (my mom, brother, nephew, and several cousins also have birthdays in December; it’s a fun month).

This past year, we were actually traveling on New Year’s Eve. We had flown back to the east coast to spend time with my family for Christmas and we flew back to LA on the NYE. We actually landed around 11pm, so we quickly Uber’d to see some local family for the countdown and some pancit (a Filipino or Pinoy noodle tradition) before heading home. I was a little bummed, but in the long run, it was nice to spend a couple of weeks with my family for Christmas. It had been a few years since we were all together for the holidays and we all had a really good time. Unbeknowest to me, however, Melo had been planning a little surprise for me for the weekend (more on that later!). Continue reading Cha Cha Cha Wednesday

Lemon Lavender Sugar Cookies

Posted on by tainambrown

Before driving across the country from Atlanta to Los Angeles last summer, Melo and I took a visit to the Dekalb Farmer’s Market to stock up on spices and herbs that would otherwise be too expensive to purchase in California due to the sunshine tax. One of the herbs we purchased was lavender.

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Shortly after arriving in Los Angeles I experimented with the lavender: putting it in french toast, tea, and cookies. Oh. My. The cookies. Definitely the best lavender experiment to date. Continue reading Lemon Lavender Sugar Cookies

Flashback Friday: Beer Belly

Posted on by tainambrown

One of the graduate students in Melo’s program first mentioned Beer Belly to her last summer. When my mom and her husband came for a visit in October and she mentioned it to us after having seen it on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, we decided we needed to try it out sometime in the near future. Continue reading Flashback Friday: Beer Belly