Monthly Archives: July 2011

Happy Birthday, Limzer!

07/30/2011 – 11:05 PM

Yellow Polka Dot Top – H&M, Sunglasses – Prada

Okay, so Limzer’s birthday was actually some time this past week, but his birthday party was today. He had a combined birthday celebration along with a few of his friends, kindly hosted by another one of his friends. BeiBei, Allan, and I hit up Limzer’s friend’s house in the LBC (Long Beach) sometime in the afternoon. Their little shindig was complete with DJ, bar, and a ghetto dog/taco cart! Sweeeeet.

When we arrived, Limzer was standing in as DJ. It was definitely nice seeing him as we hadn’t seen each other in a while. He used to work with us, and we haven’t really hung out since he left the company. He’s an awesome dude – I think we should definitely hang out with him more often.

The party was filled with fellow Filipinos (I’m half). Most of the highly-Filipino populated parties I attend are family occasions, so it felt a little strange for me to be surrounded by so many Filipinos at a party yet only knowing one of them. (Haha). In any case, the party was good. I only regret that I didn’t try a ghetto dog or taco because I was just too full from the food and drinks I had earlier.

I hadn’t had any coffee yet when we got to Limzer’s friend’s house, so I decided to look up coffee shops around the area. I figured we could stop by to grab some coffee while we waited for the taco cart to arrive – it was scheduled to arrive at 4PM! I used my handy-dandy Yelp app on my phone and found Portfolio Coffeehouse on 4th Street. Luckily, we were very close to 4th Street – only a few blocks away!

What struck my interest were the number of stars this joint received on Yelp (4 stars!) and the fact that they were supposedly voted the “Best Coffee House in Long Beach.” It was a short walk from the house to the coffee shop, but I still wished I had my bike with me so I could have gotten there faster; it was a hot day!

I opted for a regular latte and indulged in a slice of Oreo cheesecake. BeiBei got an iced Mexican mocha and a Napoleon. Allan purchased a paradise iced tea. Everything was pretty good, though nothing really stood out to me in a special way. Walking over to Portfolio did remind me of how long it had been since I had visited 4th Street. That street is known for its plethora of vintage shops. I think I’ll just have to visit 4th Street again sometime soon and do a little bit of shopping.

Tags Allan Chiou, BeiBei Chen, Birthdays, Coffee, Friends, Limzer Lagrimas, Long Beach, Parties, Portfolio Coffeehouse | Comment (0)

Biking Outdoors & Recreation

2011 Mercier Kilo TT Pro Road Bike

07/28/2011 – 11:25 PM

I recently purchased a fixed-gear bike (yes, indeed, I purchased a fixie). In fact, BeiBei and Allan did too! I opted for the 2011 Mercier Kilo TT Pro (thus the title of this entry), BeiBei opted for the Mercier Kilo Stripper (yes, we are milking the name of that bike and basking in the plethora of jokes that can be had regarding BeiBei and her Stripper), and Allan opted for the Windsor Timeline. We ordered these bikes via BikesDirect per my cousin’s recommendation and various online recommendations for best places to purchase beginner bikes.

To our delight, all three of our bikes arrived on Monday; thus, we had a bike assembly party!

Pictured above is my bike in the middle of the assembly process. Pardon the photo quality, as this photo was taken with my cell phone. Assembling the bikes took longer than expected. Needless to say, it was great once we were done (or mostly done, that is. More on that later.)

I must admit I’m beginning to like my bike more and more as I look at it, even though this wasn’t initially the bike I had set my eyes on. For some strange reason, the brake cables that came with my bike seem super long. As you can see from the photo, I totally ran my brake line along the diagonal and up the back of the frame because it just seemed too long to run across the top of the frame. Obviously, this is not correct. In addition, my tires still need to get pumped.

Luckily, thanks to Yelp, I happened to come across this small bicycle shop near my house called Lakewood Cyclery. It has received great reviews and has been in operation for many, many years. Even better, reviewers have referred to the Asian man that runs the shop as the “Mr. Miyagi” of bikes. How cute!

I love the idea of little neighborhood shops with a long history and regular customers. Indeed, that is exactly what this shop seems to be. Before heading off to work, Allan and I took his bike over to see “Mr. Miyagi” to get a full tuning. The shop is quaint and filled with various bicycle parts and used bicycles. Upon entering, there was a couple of old men, who seemed to be regular customers, chatting it up with “Mr. Miyagi” (okay, his real name is Ben) and checking out the used bikes. You can immediately tell this shop has been there for quite a while, but that’s all part of the charm. Hopefully the service being done on Allan’s bike turns out to be awesome, at only $29.99 for bike tuning. I’ll be dropping my bike off tomorrow to pay a visit to Ben as well. Hopefully we can get this whole brake thing sorted out and make sure my bike is well and ready to go. I can’t wait to ride it!

Tags Allan Chiou, BeiBei Chen, Bicycles, Bikes, Biking, Fixed Gear, Fixies, Kilo TT, Kilo TT Pro, Lakewood Cyclery, Mercier, Road bikes | Comment (0)

Fashion Life Memories My Outfits

Manhattan Beach & Polka Dots

07/15/2011 – 11:25 PM

Summer has finally picked up – the temperature is warm and the sun is shining. What better way to enjoy this weather than hitting the beach?

I found this sign to be awfully ironic, considering right behind me you can see that people are clearly swimming in the ocean. I suppose that’s Manhattan Beach, for you!

Polka dot dress – H&M, cardigan – H&M, hat – Ross, Bag – Tylie Malibu, Sunglasses – Prada, shoes – Ralph’s

I was glad to finally have an opportune moment to actually wear my hat within an appropriate context so as not to look silly. It was also a great day to finally wear my thin, polka dot H&M dress that I had purchased a few weeks ago!

I was actually wearing my L.A.M.B. Guru wedges today, but found that the $2.99 jelly flats I bought at Ralph’s (yes, you heard me – Ralph’s, the grocery store!) that I had packed in my purse came in very handy for hitting up Manhattan Beach.

Cheers to 15 and counting.

Tags Beach, Fashion, Life, Manhattan Beach, My Outfits, Summer, YL | Comment (0)

Coffee Drinks Food Museums Restaurants & Cafes

Dinosaur Hall Member Preview at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles

07/10/2011 – 11:59 PM

Today was the members-only preview of the new Dinosaur Hall at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. Fortunately, I am indeed a member. My Sunday afternoon was well-spent with the dinosaurs!

Upon entering the dino hall, you are greeted by a triceratops and a brontosaurus (I believe it is a brontosaurus. Please correct me if I am wrong). The long neck of the brontosaurus left me awestruck!

I tried tweeting a photo of the fossils upon entering, but unfortunately, I had no signal in the hall.

This exhibit seems to love T-Rexes. It seriously seemed like they were everywhere!

These little guys are oddly cute, despite how strange they look.

Apparently no blog post about a museum visit is complete without obligatory photos of me looking at some type of interactive display or looking at my cell phone. Alas, I am doing both in the above.

The sizes of some of the fossils are amazing. Can you believe this is only half of a dinosaur’s leg? It’s as big as I am!

This dinosaur was found with an unborn baby inside! If you look closely, you can see the fossilized fetus in the center, through the bones on the bottom.

I fell in love with this quote upon reading it. I completely agree with Proust. I am a sucker for quotes.

I was very pleased to find that the Dinosaur Hall actually extends into two halls for more dinosaur fun.

The second hall is home to the Tyrannosaurus Rex family – adult, teenager, and child!

Overwhelmed by all the awesome displays, I had almost completely missed this guy! This stegosaurus is definitely one of the exhibits I found most interesting. The poor stegosaurus has to fight off the T-Rex, who is about to attack him from behind! It is amazing how this stegosaurus display consists of mostly casts of fossils, with a few actual fossils connected. Apparently a T-Rex fossil was found with a stegosaurus’s spike (from its tail) stuck into it. Defense!

Overall, I was very impressed by the Dinosaur Hall. I wish I had more time to read each and every description for all the displays. That shall be my goal on my next visit!

With a few minutes to spare and having never seen the Butterfly Pavilion yet (even though I’m an NHM member!), we headed over to catch a glimpse of some butterflies before closing!

I have never been very intrigued by butterflies and moths, but the two above were pretty interesting! Butterflies attempting to make butterfly babies? Oh, my!

Dress – Banana Republic, tote – One Language “Moi” Tote

The great weather and beautiful natural sunlight was too good to pass up!

I love the grassy park area right outside of the Natural History Museum, and I apparently also loved this tree.

Right before arriving at the Natural History Museum, I was on a quest to find good coffee close by. I hadn’t had my coffee fix for the day yet! Using my handy-dandy smartphone, I was pleased to find Spring for Coffee. Granted, Spring for Coffee is a few miles passed the Natural History Museum, but it was totally worth it. Spring for Coffee is a tiny little coffee shop on Spring Street that serves a wide array of different coffees, including Blue Bottle! Apparently the owner of Spring for Coffee has exclusive rights with Blue Bottle, and only his establishments can serve Blue Bottle coffee in the Los Angeles area. Blue Bottle Coffee is a small chain of coffee shops available in the San Francisco Bay Area, with, I believe, one location in New York. I absolutely loved my latte at the Blue Bottle location at SFMOMA on my last visit to San Francisco! Back to Spring for Coffee, I don’t think they used Blue Bottle coffee for my order, but regardless, my latte definitely goes on the list of one of the best lattes I’ve had. Remember to order a “regular” size as the “small” is seriously quite small.