My how time flies. Today is my 29th birthday which means, I have 365 days until my 30th. Oy vey! Thirty used to seem so far away but now I have a year to accomplish some of the goals I set out to do. Feels like I always start to do my goals but I put them on the back burner for life. I had plans to do big things in 2011 and I blogged about it here. Being that I am my worst critic I was disappointed I haven’t accomplished more but this year I’m going to do my best to lighten up and stop procrastinating on my bucket list. I may not accomplish my 30 before 30 but I’m going to try. My motto for this year is ‘Carpe Diem‘. Planning to
I know it’s cliche to say that “life is short” but having lost important people in my life and seeing all the sad news around the world all of the time, my main goal is to do more of what makes me happy with people who support me and lift me up.
While I am on a diet (more like making lifestyle changes), I figured because I was really good all day I could eat grilled cheese for one meal and it was worth it!
We had whole wheat bread, bacon and tomato so I had the idea to make a BLT grilled cheese. To make it a little more exciting we bought pepper jack and it was good to go. In honor of National Grilled Cheese Day dinner was yummy and I tweeted
It’s been one week since we’ve been Pasadena residents. Today we went back down to San Diego to do a walk through and get signed off so we can get our deposit back. Since we are from northern California we don’t do much for Easter (Happy Easter btw) so we also got to hang out in La Jolla. In preparation for moving and even after a week away there are numerous things I love & will miss about San Diego. I’ve compiled a list of the top 10 things I will miss about San Diego (this list won’t include all my fabulous friends because that’s a given):
La Jolla – I would say La Jolla (LJ) is my favorite neighborhood in San Diego. It is the home of my alma mater (UC San Diego) and the first city I ever lived in San Diego so it has sentimental value to me but it is also the home to many of my favorite spots throughout the city. La Jolla Shores, Windansea Beach & the cove are all beautiful locations with some of the best people watching, swimming and surfing. Downtown La Jolla is also a fun area to walk around because of the good food, cute shops and relaxed atmosphere. On Sundays the Open Aire Market is an excellent farmers market for the family to get fresh produce, great local items and enjoy a meal. If you are in San Diego, a trip to La Jolla is a must. (Picture below – panoramic of La Jolla)
Mexican food – Living in San Diego for the last 7 years, I am biased to say San Diego has the BEST Mexican food outside of what my grandma/family makes at home. SD is the home of the California burrito and carne asada fries, which you either can’t find outside of SD or they just don’t make them right. (Picture below – California Burrito)
Commute free of traffic – if you know anything about LA, you know everyone hates the traffic, which was never an issue for me in San Diego. Definitely going to take some getting used to having to sit in traffic all day everyday.
Being a short ride from the beach – living in SD I really took living so close to the beach for granted because I didn’t go as much as I could have or should have. Now, we live about 30 plus (depends on traffic) minutes from a beach and we’re in the valley so we will not only have a farther drive to get to the beach but we won’t have the great ocean breezes like we did in our apartment in SD. (Picture below – photo I took on my last weekend in San Diego at Sunset Cliffs)
Del Mar – home to my favorite beach and is a great sleepy little beach town. (picture below – photo I took while lounging at Del Mar beach)
The weather – As “America’s Finest City”, the weather is excellent most of the year and I find that it is rarely ever too hot or too cold, which with the smog and living in the valley I think LA will be a lot different.
Balboa Park – I am biased but I would say Balboa Park is the greatest park in So Cal. It is beautiful, always has something to see or do and is home of the San Diego Zoo which is the best Zoo in California. (Picture below – pond in Balboa Park)
Fave food – So many to list but the main ones are: Valentine’s which has the best Mexican; Niban has good, cheap sushi; Tabe BBQ truck has my favorite fish tacos; Living Room Cafe has my favorite coffee; Pizza Port has the best pizza and beer; Fig Tree for my favorite brunch; and Harry’s is my favorite for breakfast. If you can’t tell food is my obsession and while I will miss the San Diego food, I can’t wait to see what LA has to offer because they are known for their food.
Scenic view – San Diego has a great scenic route along the ocean. It is a must see.
The Rock Church – I really developed my faith in my early adulthood and I found The Rock Church to be a great home church. I love the sermons and the main Pastor, Miles McPherson. (Picture below – The Rock Church sanctuary)
If you can’t tell, San Diego really is home to me and I will miss a lot of things about living in San Diego but here’s to a new city and a new life.
Happy first day of Spring! I feel like I always say this but 2012 is flying by. We officially have 12 days until we move to our new place and leave San Diego for Pasadena. After finding an apt in Pasadena and the bf traveling to Austin for SXSW, we’ve been focused on packing and preparing for our big move. Just look at the chaos in our apt.
Although we are only moving 2 hours away, for me it’s a big move. I’ve lived in San Diego for the last 7 plus years and I’m leaving behind friends and parts of my life that have really made me who I am now. I attended & graduated from college in San Diego (UCSD), I’ve experienced some of the most pivotal moments in my life, found friends who will be in my life forever (even some who will be bridesmaids in my wedding someday) and some I may never talk to again when I move, but overall San Diego was a great experience for me and a big part of my adult life.
It really is bittersweet. I’m going to miss San Diego but I’m very excited for Pete and I to start a new life in Pasadena/LA. New jobs, new friends, new experiences and enjoying our lives together. It’s going to be fun, exciting and scary but I’m glad to be moving forward. In 12 days, I’ll be starting a new chapter in my life and I’m ecstatic.
to my new website & blog. I updated the theme and look & feel. Working on getting my resume and contact form up and running but I’m taking it one step at a time, I migrated my personal blog here so it can be a mix of personal & professional.
Congrats to the NY Giants the new Super Bowl XLVI Champions.
As a San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints fan I wasn’t really all that interested or excited about this years Super Bowl. If you ask me, the game was pretty boring until the last 3 minutes and I think most people would agree because in the final 3 minutes of the game, there were 10,000 tweets per second (via Techcrunch).
Like many non-fans, I thought the highlight of yesterdays game was the commercials. If you haven’t seen them check all of them out on Mashable. I would say my favorites were:
The Free to Pee TaxAct commercial
The Chevy Happy Grad
The Dog Strikes Back 2012 VW ad
It’s Halftime in America Chrysler Commercial
NFL Timeline because it’s so relevant
Matthew’s Day Off CRV commercial because I loved Ferris Bueller
Think Fast Hyundai Commercial
Bud Light Here Weego Commercial
Samsung A Thing Called Love
M&Ms Just My Shell
Of note were the:
Best Buy commercial about the creators of certain cell phone technology because I’m obsessed with my cell phones & apps.
The H&M Commercial with David Beckham because he is so hot & it’s nice on the eyes.
I wasn’t a fan of the Coke Bears, the Pepsi Elton John & the Go Daddy commercials.
Also if you haven’t heard the halftime show was Madonna with special guests LMFAO, Nicki Minaj, MIA, Ceelo Green and MIA flips off the camera. I wasn’t a huge fan of the halftime show because Madonna was a little awkward in her performance but having a mixture of young and old performers was nice. Decide for yourself.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyfdoZldrS4&w=560&h=315]
…and life is so different. The year is like I made an 180 degree turn in a whole different direction than where I was going on Jan 1, 2012. I went from working full-time for Sony Electronics to looking for a job full-time. As usual I haven’t been a great blogger but since I am officially unemployed and am searching for a job full-time means I have more time to dedicate towards writing regularly.
That being said, my last entry was about the Clutterfat Challenge which I would say was a halfway success. I got the ball rolling but didn’t get through the challenge. I won’t make excuses I just decided to put my efforts in another area which is my unemployment status and figuring out my next move. The year started off with a bang when I decided rather than continue with a career in human resources to go back to my passion of marketing communications. I had dedicated a lot of my time and energy to talent acquisition and it just wasn’t where my heart was. So with mixed emotions I decided to step out of my comfort zone and focus on my marketing career.
Now, I have two major decisions to figure out, where I am going to work and where I am going to live. I’m sure you are aware of the current economical climate so I won’t go into that but I will say San Diego isn’t a great job market and so I am torn. I love San Diego. It’s a beautiful, peaceful place that I love because it’s a mixture of city, beach town and suburbs…which is ideal for me BUT I’m 28 and I need to really focus on my career. That being said, I need to go where the jobs are and right now they are few and far between in San Diego so I am thinking about moving to the OC or Los Angeles which brings me to another challenge…saving money to move. I feel so scattered brained and indecisive but really life is about money and opportunities. I really have to keep it moving and make sacrifices to take all the opportunities I can to make money (which makes the world go round). This past weekend we spent time in Los Angeles. I’m not a huge fan of the traffic and smog that is LA but I did some research and Pete has a co-worker from Monster that lives in Pasadena so we hung out there. I really like the Old Town/Downtown area of Pasadena and so we are on a mission to find our new home.
Prior to my clutterfat challenge I said I was going to work on branding myself which I have begun with my personal site: ambrissrembulat.com and because I am a huge proponent of social media I have created accounts at several of my faves: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Quora, About.me, Google+, Path, & Instagr.am. It’s sort of digital overload but I’ve connected a lot of them together and it makes it convenient to share with friends and other social media lovers.
Late last year I also created a website for my sister, Ashley Rembulat, who is a small business owner. She runs a hair business and is starting to pursue her personal training career so I created her site and I’ve been helping her get her blog going. Check it out at ashleyrembulat.com. She’s also on Twitter: @ashrembulat.
My digital life and my personal life have been taking up a good amount of my time so while I haven’t been blogging you can check out my life on one of the social networks. As tomorrow is a new month, I will refocus and try and get this blog back up and running with my adventures in finding a job, looking for a new home and SoCal living. If anyone is reading this, I hope you enjoy.
Today I am starting the Clutterfat Challenge I found on Zen Habits since the bf and I would like to move but also because I’m a lightweight pack rat. When I saw the challenge I immediately thought I had to participate. My sister and her bf were visiting us over the holiday weekend and she made a comment about how I keep things for a long time and it made me realize I need to let go of things that I don’t use.
In our apt it is just the two of us and we have a two bedroom but it just fills like we have no free space and we have a lot of STUFF.
Have any interest, check out the webinar and get started today.
So after registering my domain name: ambrissrembulat.com I finally am in the works of having my own website. It’s under construction but getting there.
is almost 1/2 way over. July 1st is this Friday which marks the 2nd half of 2011. Time is flying and the 2nd half of this year has a lot in store.
This Friday my sister will be down for the 4th of July weekend. I know this weekend will be packed with food, fun & sun and we’ll ring in the 4th of July near the bay. Pete, Ash, J, David, Irene & I will be celebrating with fun in the sun…either beach or park or somewhere in between. I just want to see fireworks my sis wants to go to the beach and everyone just wants to chill. Shall be a busy weekend. Following the 4th is my sisters 25th birthday so I’m sure we will be celebrating this weekend. Maybe a club? Unsure.
At the end of the month we’re celebrating Melissa’s bachelorette in Vegas. My flight is booked and I’m ready to party. I haven’t gone clubbing in Vegas in years.
Not sure what is in store for August, except I know there is a bridal shower for Mel. Maybe take a trip up north to see my family?
Sept is Hawaii. =) & Mel’s wedding in Hawaii is 9/10/11
Oct is my bff Jaela’s wedding. 10/1/11 which is also the bf’s bday.
Nov is my cousins wedding on 11/11/11. Then Thanksgiving.
Dec is Christmas.
We have something every month and I’m excited to live it up in 2011.
Here is my top 5 of the 1st half of the year:
1. New Years in San Diego with my 2 bff’s Pete & sisterhood.
2. Visit Julian for the 1st time with the boyfriend for Valentine’s Day. The apple pie & the apple juice were to die for!
3. Birthday weekend with my family. They came down to San Diego and we were able to celebrate mine and my mom’s bday.
4. Los Angeles with the bf. Highlight was the food and Santa Monica. I loved Kalbi Burger…can’t wait to go back.
5. San Diego Fair. I always look forward to the fair every year and we went twice…$3 Tuesday and this past Saturday. Loved the Aussie Potatoes and corn on the cob. Tried the deep fried kool aid and brownies they were good but too sweet.
2011 has had it’s ups and downs but I just want to stay focused and positive. Life is too short to dwell on the bad things.
My name is Ambriss, and I’m a Northern California girl living in a Southern California World. This is my personal website and blog. I'm currently seeking a marketing position so I can get back to my passion.
