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December 25, 2005: Happy Holidays Everyone!!!
December 18, 2005:
Guess what, folks!?!?! It's snowing in Portland, Oregon!!! We have about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground with heavy gusts of bitter cold winds. I don't know if the snow will last till Christmas but at least we got to play in the snow this year. :-) The boys ran around outside with their little friends for about an hour, throwing snowballs at each other, making snow angels on the grounds and building a small snow fort at the end of the driveway. Then they finally came in for some nice yummy hot chocolate. Their faces were red and raw, their fingers were practically frost-bitten and they were completely covered in snow from head to toe. I wouldn't have it any other way.... :-D
December 15, 2005: Argh, I'm stressed... I just want to state for the record that I'm currently experience a heavy dose of holiday stress. It's 3:00pm and the only thing I've had to eat all day was two peanut butter cookies. Not healthy. Bad, very bad. As soon as I got the kids off to school this morning, I was out the door to do some last minute holiday shopping. I also had to get to class by 11:30am today. (I was a bit late, oops.) Then I got this really cool idea for an x-mas gift during class (when my mind should be on the knee joint lecture) and so when class ended, I raced over to this place in Beaverton to pick up said items and made it home just in time to pick up the kids at the bus stop. *whew!* ***Now, them crazy kids are home...must get them a snack.... must get them to practice their recital piece one more time because their Christmas piano recital is in 1/2 hour... must iron their dress shirts and put them in their holiday best... must remember to bring the digital camera to take pictures...must pick up dinner on the way home 'cuz there's really no time to cook tonight... must give them baths after dinner and then make sure homework is done and then it's off to bed for the chibbles... *** <sigh>
December 6, 2005: Kids can be really funny sometimes. They have their own weird sense of humor. Case in point, so, DJ is curled up on the living room couch fast asleep _snoring_ up a storm... meanwhile, the boys are quietly playing in the same room:
Patrick: "Jarod, do you want to try something funny?" *evil grinning smirk on his face* Jarod: "Try what?" *oblivious to his silly antics* Patrick: "Can you say, 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' .... um, right NOW!" *giggle* Jarod: "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!!" *with a smug expression* Patrick: "No, that was too slow. Do it again but wait........um...and... NOW! *stifled laughter* Jarod: "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!!" *triumphantly* Patrick: "No, no, you're doing it all wrong! You have to say it BETWEEN Dad's snoring!" Jarod: "Oh." *indifferent but feeling slightly competitive* Patrick: "Ready, GO!" *grinning ear-to-ear* Jarod & Patrick: "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!!" *both boys burst into fits of giggles*
December 3, 2005: I updated the chibbles section with some new pics... :) *I did this as a kid, too!* December 2, 2005: Remember that smiley-face that I found in my Ben & Jerry's Uncanny Cashew ice cream last month? Well, DJ just sent me a picture of even more ice-cream smiley's... :-D December 1, 2005: I can't believe it's December already. Sheesh. Time flies. It's like somebody pressed the fast-forward button and things are zooming by at lighting speed. It's gonna be a super-busy month for all of us. I have two quizzes coming up next Tuesday and three weeks later, I'll be cramming like crazy for my finals in Massage 2. Then I'll be done for the semester, yay! The boys and I are trying to come up with something fun/creative for DJ's birthday in a couple of weeks. Hm, I'm open to any suggestions. I also need to pick up the holiday picture cards of the boys and start mailing out our holiday cards soon. I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet and so hopefully I'll be able to do some serious shopping next week after my quizzes are done. We'll see how much I can get done... :) What else... the boys are busy with projects and presentations for school. Jarod's doing this great speech thingie on M.C. Escher and Patrick's studying a science unit on insects. They will also be participating in a Christmas piano recital in a couple of weeks on the 15th of December. I'm so glad they are still interested in playing the piano after all these years. It's so wicked cool to listen to them play! (I wish I could play an instrument!) I'll make sure I take pics... Oh, and last weekend, we put up our Christmas tree in the front window. There's a radio station playing X-mas music 24/7 and so it's slowly starting to feel like Christmas already... :) November 24, 2005:
Wishing everybody a very Happy Thanksgiving! As usual, we cooked up a feast this year and now we're beyond stuffed. I made the usual yummy fare (see previous post) and we've got plenty of leftovers to last us all weekend. I couldn't decide on what new dish to make for the meal until I stumbled onto a recipe for, get this, "Turkey Congee". It's the perfect homage to my frugal Chinesy side (I can't just let a perfectly nice turkey carcass go to waste, right?!?!). heheh... I'll let you know how it turns out... :) Happy Gobble Day to everyone!!!
November 17, 2005: Yay, midterms are over!!! After feeling stressed out all weekend, I don't have to worry about tests again until finals week and then I'll start worrying all over again. Heheh. On top of that, I think I caught whatever bug DJ had this past weekend. My head hurts and I have a nagging cough. The only consolation is that the kids haven't caught it, yet. Nothing else is going on at the moment, other than planning for Thanksgiving dinner next week. Hm, I have a week to plan something yummy. I always do the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato yams and cranberry sauce. This year, I want to add a new dish to the dinner menu but I haven't got a clue. We'll see... talking about food's making me hungry, must go eat something... :-P Oh, and I updated the chibbles' page... They can cook, they can clean, and they're totally stylin'... heheh! Seriously, what more can you ask for from a dude?! (Their future wives can thank me later.)
November 10, 2005: It's a short school week for the boys since the teachers had their in-service day today and no school on Friday because of Veteran's Day. I, on the other hand, had to go to class today. Luckily, DJ was able to take time off from work to watch the boys while I went to school. The boys and DJ had tons of fun doing yard work, going to Mickey D's for lunch and playing X-box games all afternoon. :-) Here are some pics from the last month's award's banquet for the Little League... :-)
November 5, 2005: Oh, and as promised, here are some cool pictures from Halloween...
November 4, 2005: I wouldn't say I'm accident-prone but I do get myself into scrapes every now and then. I've sprained my ankle more times than you can count, sliced my ring finger open playing with a cleaver I wasn't supposed to be playing with (sorry, mom), gotten skewered while "fencing" with a sharp curtain rod (thanks, DJ, heheh), been stung in the face by a not-so-friendly @#$#%!$ bee/wasp/yellowjacket, gotten hit by a motorcycle on the way to class, and this past summer I was involved in my first serious car accident. Thankfully, I survived 'em all. <knock on wood> Well, I can add a new injury to this ever-growing list. Would ya believe I got a paper-cut...on my eyeball??? Yeah, so I was in a hurry and was trying on a couple pairs of sunglasses at the store (I lost my pair of sunglasses somewhere) when I inadvertently flipped the price tag inward and gauged my eyeball with the sharp corner of the tag. I winced in pain and when I looked in the mirror I could see a tiny drop of blood oozed from the sclera (the white part of the eyeball). This almost reminds me of the time my brother accidentally poked himself in the cornea with a sharp metal nail file. Ugh. There's something about eye injuries that make people feel queasy... dunno why... anyhoo, click here if you wanna be grossed out...
November 3, 2005: Last night I had the distinct honor and privilege of meeting my absolute favorite literary author of all time, AMY TAN! I've read every single one of her books from The Joy Luck Club to the Bonesetter's Daughter. I have most of her literary works at home including one of her children's books, The Chinese Siamese Cat. She was in Portland for one rainy night to do a book signing and to read from her most recent publication, Saving Fish from Drowning. Before she read an excerpt from latest endeavor, she talked about how her mother's voice was the predominate inspiration for the main character. I just sat there in awe. She was so eloquent and poised. One thing that struck me to the core was her discussion of how one's personal belief system can influence their intentions and how their intentions impact their behaviors towards others. These behaviors in turn will govern one's actions and ultimately, these actions will result in a particular set of consequences. Whether one believes these consequences to be positive or negative is fundamentally determined by each individual's personal belief system. I was so impressed with her demeanor and candor. She even cracked a few self-deprecating jokes as well. It was an utterly amazing experience. I haven't had a chance to read her new book yet but from the description she gave, I know I'm going to enjoy it. :-)
October 31, 2005:
I hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween! We had such a blast this year! Despite the torrent of rain throughout the day, it stopped just in time for the boys to go trick-or-treating with their friend Jordan. We would like to thank all our friends and family who sent tons of Halloween fun stuff for us to enjoy! You're the best! Pics and details to come soon... :-) October 18, 2005: Driving home from massage class today, I waved a car into my lane. Upon closer inspection, the car was from Massachusetts. <grin> On the radio was "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne. <grin> Then further down the road, I passed by a Chinese food restaurant. <grin> Right at that instance I was thinking about my mom (and dad). Does anybody believe in "signs"? My parents just left for vacation yesterday and they won't be back until next month. I was thinking about them and hoping they had a safe flight and then *poof*. I get some cosmic validation that they're doing just fine. I won't hear from my mom for the next 3-4 weeks and she usually calls me on the weekends to see how we're all doing. I actually look forward to these phone calls and so do the boys, esp. Patrick, 'cause he'll talk to Po-Po ad nauseum. I should take a picture of him talking to my mom. It's so cute. He'll lie down on the floor/couch, cross one skinny chicken leg over the other and prop the phone against his ear. Then he'll jibber-jabber about random stuff till I take the phone from him. heheh. Hm, let's see, what else is new? The boys had a couple of games over the weekend. I believe they won Friday's night game (they played in the rain no less) but then they got annihilated Sunday afternoon by the Wolf Creek team, 4-15! <ouch!> Luckily, they're good sports about it all. There are only three more games left to the season. It's been a great experience for them and we'll most likely sign them up again in the Spring. Oh, I almost forgot... the games book ended our trip to the pumpkin patch this past weekend. We went to Fir Point Farms out in Canby, OR. Other than the 100+ mph wind gusts (j/k!), we had a pretty fun outing. I'll post pics when I get the chance... more later... :-)
October 11, 2005: I had my first day of class today. It feels great to be back in school again. Don't get me wrong, I was so happy to take the entire summer off and spend time with family back home in Boston. That was just the break I needed. Now that summer's over and the boys are back in school, I'm itching to finish my massage therapy program . I really like my new instructor, Jon H. Apparently, he's been in the massage field for over 20 years, both in teaching and in practice. I'm confident that I'll learn a lot from him. There are about 12-14 students in my Massage 2 class and they're mostly women. I kinda feel bad for the lone guy in class. Actually I don't. He's in a class with a bunch of cute girls, heheh. Odds definitely play in his favor. I also noticed that there is a huge age range in class. I think the youngest girl is about 20 yrs old and the oldest woman is in her 50's. I guess I fall kinda in the middle. We got to briefly do some bodywork in class today. I met a girl who was even more flexible than me! She could torque/twist her leg into pretzels! Pretty cool. :) Onto other news, had a dental cleaning the other day, and look Mom, no cavities! :P The boys are going in for their cleanings next month. Hopefully Jarod won't puke on his hygienist like last time. And don't even talk to me about the Red Sox. I have a close friend who lives in New York and we've had a friendly baseball rivalry going on for years. We give each other a lot of grief over our respective teams. I don't know how many times I've emailed him with "yankees suck!". He sent me his "condolences" over the weekend. I sent him mine yesterday after the game 5 loss against the Angels. Oh well. There's always next year to look forward to.
October 6, 2005: Here are the pics from the Green Day concert! It was a pretty awesome show! Jimmy Eat World was amazing and they played my all-time fave, "The Middle" as well as a whole bunch of other cool songs. During intermission, some dude in a pink bunny suit was chugging beer on stage much to the delight of the screaming audience members. Then the big pink bunny got the crowd pumped up with his own rendition of "YMCA". When Green Day finally came out on stage, pandemonium erupts! Highlights of the show include Billie Joe mooning the crowds, special lighting FX's, ticker tape cloud of confetti, amazing pyrotechnics (the heat from the flames was intense!), simulating self-love on stage during "Longview" and Billie grabbing the water cannon & spraying the audience with the hose. They played a lot of my favorite songs like "American Idiot", "Holiday", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "When I Come Around", and "Good Riddance (Time of your Life)". It was a touching moment when the lights dimmed low and the coliseum was suddenly lit up in a colorful sea of cell phones & lighters during "Wake Me Up When September Ends". It's such an amazing song! Lastly, one of the coolest moments of the night was when Billie brought up three lucky fans from the audience to jam with them! Then that freaked-out, geeky-nerdy dude got to KEEP Billie's guitar! The night finally came to an end with Green Day's version of "We are the Champions". All in all, it was truly an unforgettable night! :-)
Another turning point, a
fork stuck in the road
-
"Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"
October 2, 2005: BOO-YAH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 30, 2005: Happy 15th birthday, Andy! I still remember the day my little cousin came home from the hospital. He was a tiny little bugger. If I have some free time, I'll try to scrounge up the pictures of me holding him over at my aunt's house. (don't hold your breath...heh)
September 27, 2005: The past couple of weeks have been such a blur. After months and months of "intensive" training, (heh-heh) I finally did the Race for the Cure. I was supposed to do the race with my friend Emily and her friend Karin (plus her daughter) last Sunday but unfortunately Emily had to drop out last minute. Her brother-in-law was admitted into the hospital due to an undiagnosed illness and unfortunately he passed away. I babysat her kids while she went to her job, and then rushed home to pack her suitcases to fly to Florida to be with her sister at the funeral. It's really sad. Then I get a call from my friend telling me that she and her bf had to put their dog to sleep. This dog had a lot of behavioral problems stemming from living in an abusive environment and home. It was a hard week for them as well. On a brighter note, I went to my classmates' graduation ceremony last Sunday. We all started out in Massage 1 together with Debbie Taylor, a wonderful instructor. They're done with school but I still have another 9 months to go. (I'm part-time, whereas they were all full-time students... had I done the full-term schedule I would be graduating with them, as well.) Later on that week, I went to Molly's graduation party at her friend's house. I had such a fun time! Great food and great drinks! Everyone I met there was so super sweet and friendly. I'm gonna miss them... <sigh>
Anyhoo, you'll never guess where I'm going tomorrow night! I am going to see Green Day live in concert! :-D Oh, and Jimmy Eat World will be the opening act! This is gonna be so wicked cool! I'm very, very excited! I can't wait! I haven't been to a concert since the Goo Goo Dolls/Bon Jovi concert back in April of 2003. I'll post the concert pics later on this week, but for now enjoy the updated pics of the kids playing over at Jordan's house. Her dad lives right next to the Hillsboro airport and last weekend was the big Oregon Airshow featuring the Thunderbirds. Afterwards, we headed over to their baseball game. (They won, btw!) :) September 15, 2005: Today was one of the coolest, most spiritually uplifting days of my life. I went on my usual morning walk with my friend Emily today. Every day we try to take a different route on our walk just to mix it up a bit. Well, half-way thru our walk we passed by one of those "lost cat" posters on the mailbox. I stopped immediately because I recognize the cat in the poster. This poor, pathetic fat cat was roaming my neighborhood just yesterday meowing this pitiful meow, almost sounded like a crying baby. I tried to coax it to my house for some food and water (the cat looked very pregnant) but it wouldn't go any further than the edge of my porch. We called the phone number just to let the owners know that the cat was spotted in our neighborhood. She was relieved that _he_ was still alive and that _he_ (Goliath was his name and a very fitting name, too) had been missing for over a month. We told her we'd keep an eye out for him and let her know if we find him again. She sounded so happy to know that at least he was ok for now. <happy feeling> We continued on our way and walked passed the boys' elementary school just as the bell rang. It was a good thing that we went by the school because Emily's daughter came running up to her to tell her that the chain broke on her friend's bike. Emily took care of the problem and we headed into the school so I could deposit the lunch money into the boys' accounts. We walked down the hall and spotted Patrick and gave him a "high-five" and he gave us a look like, "hey what are you two doing at school???" and then we walked into the 3rd grade pod and surprised Jarod in his classroom <happy feeling, too> and then left to continue on our walk. Towards the end of our walk we turned and headed back up Emily's street to go home. Before we got there, we encountered two odd people, a frumpy middle-aged woman and an older Asian gentleman, who seemed so out of place standing there on our street. The woman was looking for an address concerning a job or whatever but she wrote down the wrong address. (I didn't catch her whole story.) But turns out that she was just looking for a part-time job and Emily suggested that Costco might be hiring and she was grateful for that bit of info since she lives so close to that store. Meanwhile, this other person was an old Chinese grandfatherly guy who was urgently speaking to me in Mandarin. I tried to gently explain to him that I only spoke Toisanese and I couldn't understand what he was trying to say to me. We asked the woman if they were together and she told us "no" and that he followed her to this address. Because of the language gap she couldn't do anything for him and he clung to her like flypaper 'cause she was the only other person he saw this morning. We wanted to help him but we couldn't communicate with him and he was on the verge of panicking. So, I asked to borrow Emily's cell and I called my friend Li-Ying to talk/calm down this poor man. You should have seen the expression on his face as soon as he heard my friend speaking Mandarin to him. He was talking a mile a minute and talking feverishly and pointing in every single direction. He was very animated and I could see him give a heavy sigh of relief that _finally_ he was able to communicate with someone. When he handed the cell phone back to me, I was able to get the story from my friend. It turns out that he went on his morning walk and got all turned around, and got lost. (Trust me, it's very easy to get lost in our neighborhood because all the houses look identical and all the streets have very similar-sounding names and so the confusion is understandable.) The problem was that he just moved to Portland to live with his son & family and they just bought a brand-new house. He didn't know the telephone number nor the street address to his son's house. <d'oh> The only piece of information he had was the number on the house. He would draw the numbers on the palm of his hand and we would hold up our fingers to figure out his house number. 1-5-3-9-0. oh, and he said "QFC" which was the grocery store down the street. So, having nothing more to go on, I decided to drive him down to QFC and go from there. I pointed to him and then I made a driving motion. I think he understood. (Man, times like these, I wish I took Mandarin in college!) We drove around for 1/2 hour trying to find his son's house. No such luck 'cause he was all turned around and nothing looked familiar to him. Ok. No name. No phone number. No address. No way to contact his son @ work. I knew his son's last name and that he worked for either Microsoft or Intel but his son's last name is so common that it's like asking how many Smiths work at Intel? Anyhoo. Then I remembered that the school district had a link to a Washington county website where you can punch in your addy and it spews out detailed info on what schools your child is eligible to attend. I recalled that you can type in partial addys and it will list all the streets with that same house number. Hm, well it was worth a try. So I told him that we were going to drive back to my house so I could go online to try to find his house. Ok, so I knew he didn't understand a single word I said to him, but it was better than driving around in awkward silence. When we got back to my house, I invited him in but he politely bowed and waved his hand. I gestured again, but then he smiled, waved, and shook his head and just walked onto my driveway. I felt like I should invite him in and offer him a cup of tea or something. (The way he walked with his hands folded behind his back kinda reminds me of my dad a little.) So, I hopped on the computer and access the Washington County website and found four listings for houses with that particular house number, and I picked the two closest to QFC. Then I googled his addy (www.maps.google.com) and printed out a map of the area. We drove to the first house and luckily it was the right house. YAY! Mission accomplished! I was so happy that we found his place and he was so relieved to be back home. I called my friend again just so I can have her confirm with him that this was indeed his son's house and if there was anything else he needed. He wanted both our phone numbers 'cause he wanted to take us out to dinner. (He's such a playa. j/k! lol! ) Anyway, so this was our good deed for the day. I'm grateful that we were in the right place at the right time to help out these people. It was so bizarre because Emily and I commented earlier in the morning (after calling about the missing cat) that this morning walk felt a little different. We even joked that we might be called upon to rescue a litter of helpless kittens from a burning house or something. Anyhoo, here's my all time favorite inspirational quote:
"Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty."
- Anne Herbert
September 12, 2005: Mickey passed away two years ago today... I still miss him terribly. He'll always hold a very special place in my heart. Last year, DJ commissioned an artist to paint a portrait of Mickey from old photos. It was such a beautiful painting and it was one of the sweetest things DJ's ever done for me. I couldn't bear to look at it 'cause I'd get all weepy and sad. I finally hung up the portrait up on the wall this weekend in his memory. Now when I look at the picture, it makes me smile. I also printed and framed four Chinese characters to place adjacent to the portrait: happiness, spirit, loyalty and devotion. Mickey epitomized all these four qualities, especially devotion. Even though he was a bit dopey at times, I knew he loved me unconditionally. <sniff, sniff>
September 3, 2005: It's feels like summer is just about over. <sigh> The boys are going back to school in a few days and I'll be doing the same. Kinda bittersweet feeling, no more lazy summer days, but there's the beautiful fall season to look forward to. The boys' swimming lessons are done and now it's the start of Little League season. It's going to be a little more challenging than T-ball but I think the boys are up for the challenge. As for myself, I've been walking/jogging with my friend Emily for the past couple of weeks. Our "training" is progressing very well. She's lost some weight and feeling good about herself and I'm feeling like I have more energy now. The Race for the Cure is coming up in a couple of weeks. We've made a pact to encourage each other to adopt a healthier lifestyle as well as make a positive difference in this world. Every little bit helps, right? Hm, what else? Oh, I went to see a movie last night with a bunch of friends from school. My friend suggested we go see Transporter 2. Now, I did see the first one and I actually kinda liked it, so I thought how bad can the sequel be? Well, it was pretty bad. I kept looking at my friend Molly and she and I both had the same "ugh" look on our faces. We decided that this was the last time we let a guy pick out the movie. heheh. The other guys thought the action sequences and fight scenes were cool. Granted there were some pretty nifty moments, especially the incredulous scene where the protagonist disarms the bomb from his tricked-out Audi right before it explodes, but it's not my type of movie. Afterwards we went back to her house and hung out for a bit. Oh, and on Thursday, my friend Tina took me to "First Thursday". It's pretty cool. On the first Thursday of each month (hence the name) lots of art galleries stay open late to showcase different art work from various Portland artists and beyond. It's a fun event, and it's great to just walk around the Pearl district and people watch. Later on we went to eat at Manzana Rotisserie Grill. I got the roasted chicken sandwich and fries. The portions are large and the prices are decent. I got a yummy but potent "peartini" drink. Overall, a fun couple nights out with the girls. :)
August 25, 2005 Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Annie, Happy birthday to you!
August 23, 2005 I can't believe how fast the summer's flying by. The boys start school in exactly two weeks. I think we're going to try to make the most of the final weeks of summer. So far, the boys are progressing nicely with their swimming lessons. We've also signed them both up for Little League (they will start in a couple weeks.) What else? Oh, I had an awesome time last Wednesday with my friend, Li-Ying. We got our lovely pedicures and a wonderful foot massage. Personally, I'm indifferent towards gettin' my toes painted, but rather it's the awesome foot rub that's worth every penny. Last time I got a guy but this time around, it was the sister or wife of the owner. She wasn't as good as the owner dude but I had a nice time nonetheless. We went out to eat afterwards at Papa Haydn's. I had a delicious warm baby spinach salad with this yummy citrus dressing. MMM. For dessert, I chose a decadent chocolate truffle cake with hazelnut/chocolate mousse topped with chocolate ganache. And trust me folks, it was every bit as good as it sounds. :P~~~ *drool* Then later on that week, my friend Tina and I (and the boys) went shopping for some stuff. I was looking for some school clothes for the boys and she wanted to find something to match this skirt of hers. We went a couple of outlet malls here in Oregon, relatively new places I think. The first place was the Woodburn Company Stores. Lots of name brand stuff at discount prices. We got the boys some cargo pants (Patrick's impossible to shop for 'cause the kid's so skinny, he needs like a freakin' size 7 super-slim or something!) Then we went to Bridgeport Village in Tigard. Now this place is cool! Not only do they have tons of cool stores, but they also have a movie theater, summer concerts at the gazebo, a play area for kids, and get this, valet parking and free umbrellas that you can use at your discretion. Pretty cool, huh? I gotta go back for some Italian gelato. Last Friday night I went out with a couple of my friends to this dive bar called Gators that had karaoke night. I can't carry a tune to save my life but we were treated to some cool songs by my friend's friend who had one of the most beautiful singing voices I've ever heard (with a bod to match). It was fun, very different, not really my kind of place to hang out but still it was an interesting experience. At the end of the night, I heard some random guy with an amazing singing voice belt out "New York, New York." I turn around and see this scruffy old biker dude with a salt-n-pepper beard, black leather chaps and studs, standing at the mike. I had to do a double-take. Shoulda brought my camera... heheh.
August 15, 2005 The boys had their very first swimming lesson of the season! They had such a blast! Check-out some of the pics from this morning's lesson in the KidStuff section... :) August 14, 2005 Patrick's birthday party was a success! He and his little friends had tons of fun @ OGA. I'll post some pictures of his birthday party some time later this week. (update: pics are up in the KidStuff section now!) Tomorrow is the first day of swimming lessons for the boys. They have such a natural affinity towards the water and so hopefully they'll learn to swim this summer. As for myself, I'm going to take it easy this week. I'll be going to get a pedicure with my friend Li-Ying this Wednesday @ Vogue Nails... ahh, some much needed pampering for yours truly. heheh.
August 9, 2005 We just got back from a nice 3-day camping trip this weekend. Highlights include rafting on Timothy Lake, having a lazy afternoon lunch floating along in the middle of the lake, making smores at night with the kiddies over a roaring campfire, and riding bikes and swimming in the water. Unfortunately I got stung in the face by a wasp or yellowjacket (I doubt it was a bee 'cause I didn't see a stinger). Now I've been stung a few times in my life but never in the face. The little bugger somehow flew right in between my glasses and cheek. It stung me on my right cheek, just an inch below my eyeball. I guess I should feel lucky that it didn't sting me directly in the eye. Ick. Anyhoo, it's been a few days already but the swelling still hasn't gone away. Also, the itching is driving me batty!!! Ugh.
August 8, 2005 I need to get stuff ready for Patrick's birthday party on Saturday. He's turning SEVEN years old. There's tons of things to do! The party favors and goodie bags still need to be purchased... I need to get a final head count on the number of guests, (slow RSVP's)... the cake has to be ordered really soon... oh, and we haven't even gotten the poor boy any birthday presents yet, etc, etc, etc. After this weekend, I'm going to schedule me some down time. We've only been back from Boston for just two weeks but the vacation seems like eons ago. My friend and I planned a girl's night out for tomorrow night but I'm probably going to re-schedule for some other time next week instead. We were planning on getting pedicures and eating at this nice restaurant Downtown, called Papa Haydn's. More later... July 27, 2005We're back from our Boston vacation, safe and sound. I would just like to thank all our friends and families for making our trip so unforgettable! Your generosity and kindness overwhelm me. We are truly grateful for everyone's hospitality. We've shared in lots of laughter and smiles and I just wanted to let you know how much we appreciate you. We will cherish these memories for a lifetime. Warmest regards and deepest gratitude to everyone back in Boston. We love you and we miss you! Here's a pictorial summary of our time in Boston:
Dinner @ my aunt & uncle's restaurant
Over the river and thru the woods to Grandma's house we go! :)
Family outing to Davis Farmland in Sterling, MA
Day trip to Rockport, MA
Ice cream cones @ Emily's in Rockport, MA
Hangin' with Grandpa @ Hamlin Pond in Ostervillle, MA
The boys with their Grandpa and Great-Grandma Rita
The boys with their Uncle Peter June 21, 2005 I'm done, I'm done, I'm _so_ done with this semester! I took my final today and I passed with flying colors! It's like a weigh has been lifted from my shoulders and now I can concentrate on the summer ahead. I'm going to miss all of my classmates/friends that I've made this past semester. Good luck w/ your finals, guys! I have about a week to pack and get ready and stuff. I have a wedding to go to in Boston and I'm trying to figure out what to wear. I have this summery black/magenta flower thingie that's slightly retro and hip but I also have this purplish/pinkish skirt thing that might be nice as well. Hm, maybe I'll bring both. It's a great feeling when the biggest "worry" is what to wear to a wedding. j/k! It'll be nice to attend a wedding sans chibbles. DJ and I will be going to the wedding while the boys are going to be on an extended playdate with their 10 yr old Uncle Peter. They'll have fun and we'll have fun. And I'm going to make DJ dance with me at least _once_ during the wedding. heheh.
June 16, 2005 It's the last day of school for the boys!!! They are done for the year!!! They did it!!! Woo-hoo!!! Jarod will be going into the 3rd grade and Patrick will be a second grader next year. I'm so very proud of them! I'll be done with my anatomy/physiology class next Tuesday after I take my final. I asked if I could take my A/P final early so I can spend a couple of days hanging out with the boys. So, after I mentally recover from my semester, I'll probably need a few days to pack and get all the necessary stuff together for my Boston trip. It's one thing to pack for a week or so but it's another thing to pack for _four_ weeks worth of vacation for myself and the boys. (DJ's a big boy... he can pack for himself, heheh.) It's been a busy month for everyone and I'm looking forward to my vacation. I've put some pictures in the KidStuff section, namely Jarod's birthday party, the boys' piano recital, Patrick's baseball award banquet, swimming class and eating @ McDonalds with their best friends.
June 2, 2005 Happy June, folks! You can get a free donut at Krispy Kreme tomorrow. Come get your fill of processed sugar, fats and carbs. Woo-hoo! You know you wanna... :P But if you ask me, I'll take a Dunkin' Donut donut over them any day. Nothing compares to a Dunkin' Donut... I suppose it's an East Coast thing but DD is _way_ better than KK, imho. Anyhoo, everything is winding down to a close. Jarod is done with his art studio lessons and Patrick's last baseball game is this Saturday. He'll have his awards banquet night next Monday and I'll be sure to take pics when he gets his trophy. I'm in the midst of planning Jarod's birthday party which will be held at Oregon Gymnastics Academy on the 12th of June. I need to order his cake soon and make all the goodie bags for his little friends. The boys will be done with school on June 16th and I will be done on the 21st, after my FINALS, ugh. I need to find time to study for my last three quizzes as well. So far, I have a 4.0 average @ school. Yeah, I'm a nerd, and proud of it. :P Then, as soon as classes are over and done with, I need to pack our bags because I'm going back to BOSTON, baby! I miss everyone back home and I can't wait to see each and everyone of you. It's been about a year since we've been back and sometimes I wished we lived closer. We'll be having an extended vacation and so hopefully we'll be able to spend lots of time with everybody. TTFN... May 24, 2005 I can't believe it's June next week. I have tons of things to do before this weekend. I need to send out birthday invitations for Jarod's 8th birthday party. Yup, my Snuggle-bunny will be turning 8 years old in two weeks. Time flies...<sigh> and soon they'll be teenagers... yikes! I also have to volunteer at the kids' Jog-a-Thon on Wednesday. It's going to be in the mid 80's when the kids at Jacob Wismer Elementary run around in the crazy hot sun to raise money for new laptops. I have to remember to put tons of sunscreen on them before they go off to school. (Patrick burns easily...) There's also a Volunteer Appreciation Tea thingie on Thursday that I was invited to attend. The teachers serve tea and cookies to all the volunteers that have helped out during the school year. It's amazing to see such a big group of moms, dads and grandparents give so much of their time and energy to make the school a better place for the kids. It gives you such a mushy feeling inside to know that there are so many dedicated people out there making a difference in their children/grandchildren's lives. We definitely have a strong community spirit in our neighborhood and I'm so grateful that the boys are growing up in such a loving, nurturing environment. Anyhoo, we have a 4-day weekend coming up and I'm skipping class on Friday (shhh, don't tell anyone!) and maybe taking the boys somewhere fun. We'll see... :)
May 16, 2005 I have a mid-term tomorrow... ugh. I've been studying off and on all weekend, and so I'm fairly confident that I'll do well on it. The mid-term covers about 100 pages of text and it deals with everything from cells, tissues, muscles, nerves, central and peripheral nervous systems, etc. The exam is worth about 50% of our final grade. No pressure. heheh. I did get a chance to have some fun over the weekend though. My friend had a sushi/movie night on Friday and invited a few massage students over to do trades in preparation for the midterm. It was pretty fun to take a break from all the craziness. This weekend, the boys are going over their friends' house for a sleepover! Yay! This means DJ and I will be doing our usual dinner and movie night. We will be going to see some Star Wars movie thing. I think it's called Revenge of something or rather... :P
May 8, 2005 Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! I had a great Mother's Day... The boys took me out for a nice lunch at Red Lobster. Then this is what we did afterwards... :) Overall, it was a great weekend... I got to hang out at my friend Li-Ying's house on Friday, and I went for drinks with DJ and his co-workers. My friend Tina, her bf and I went to this dessert cafe/bar place that had live music and artwork hanging in the restaurant. Neat.
May 5, 2005 It's 05/05/05. Neat. When I took the MAX back home from school today, I saw all the Cinco de Mayo festivities down on the Waterfront. Random fact: Cinco de Mayo commemorates the defeat of the French army by the Mexican army at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Eventually Mexico would go on to gain their independence and freedom. I suppose it's sorta like a Fourth of July for the people of Mexico. Or an excuse for people to party, heheh. I'm thinking about maybe taking the boys downtown sometime this weekend to check out the Cinco de Mayo festivities. There are tons of things to do... food, music, and fun arts n' crafts for kids as well. May 1, 2005It's the first day of May! When I woke up this morning, the first thing Patrick did was hand me a beautiful bouquet of coffee-filter paper "flowers" for May Day. He's such a sweetie! I love Mondays... it's the one day of the week that I don't have any commitments or schedules of any sort. (other than studying for my Tues quizzes, I guess). The only thing on my agenda today is to return library books, get an oil change for the car and meet DJ for lunch. ***later*** We went to a new Indian restaurant out in Hillsboro called Swagath. I'm still an Indian food newbie but the stuff they had during their lunch buffet was pretty good. They had some spicy bbq chicken thing, some potato and broccoli curry thing and some chicken thing with a buttery curry sauce that went really well with their flavored basmati rice. It was really good.. I might have to go back for some more. :) May 24, 2005I can't believe it's June next week. I have tons of things to do before this weekend. I need to send out birthday invitations for Jarod's 8th birthday party. Yup, my Snuggle-bunny will be turning 8 years old in two weeks. Time flies...<sigh> and soon they'll be teenagers... yikes! I also have to volunteer at the kids' Jog-a-Thon on Wednesday. It's going to be in the mid 80's when the kids at Jacob Wismer Elementary run around in the crazy hot sun to raise money for new laptops. I have to remember to put tons of sunscreen on them before they go off to school. (Patrick burns easily...) There's also a Volunteer Appreciation Tea thingie on Thursday that I was invited to attend. The teachers serve tea and cookies to all the volunteers that have helped out during the school year. It's amazing to see such a big group of moms, dads and grandparents give so much of their time and energy to make the school a better place for the kids. It gives you such a mushy feeling inside to know that there are so many dedicated people out there making a difference in their children/grandchildren's lives. We definitely have a strong community spirit in our neighborhood and I'm so grateful that the boys are growing up in such a loving, nurturing environment. Anyhoo, we have a 4-day weekend coming up and I'm skipping class on Friday (shhh, don't tell anyone!) and maybe taking the boys somewhere fun. We'll see... :)
May 16, 2005 I have a mid-term tomorrow... ugh. I've been studying off and on all weekend, and so I'm fairly confident that I'll do well on it. The mid-term covers about 100 pages of text and it deals with everything from cells, tissues, muscles, nerves, central and peripheral nervous systems, etc. The exam is worth about 50% of our final grade. No pressure. heheh. I did get a chance to have some fun over the weekend though. My friend had a sushi/movie night on Friday and invited a few massage students over to do trades in preparation for the midterm. It was pretty fun to take a break from all the craziness. This weekend, the boys are going over their friends' house for a sleepover! Yay! This means DJ and I will be doing our usual dinner and movie night. We will be going to see some Star Wars movie thing. I think it's called Revenge of something or rather... :P
May 8, 2005 Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! I had a great Mother's Day... The boys took me out for a nice lunch at Red Lobster. Then this is what we did afterwards... :) Overall, it was a great weekend... I got to hang out at my friend Li-Ying's house on Friday, and I went for drinks with DJ and his co-workers. My friend Tina, her bf and I went to this dessert cafe/bar place that had live music and artwork hanging in the restaurant. Neat.
May 5, 2005 It's 05/05/05. Neat. When I took the MAX back home from school today, I saw all the Cinco de Mayo festivities down on the Waterfront. Random fact: Cinco de Mayo commemorates the defeat of the French army by the Mexican army at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Eventually Mexico would go on to gain their independence and freedom. I suppose it's sorta like a Fourth of July for the people of Mexico. Or an excuse for people to party, heheh. I'm thinking about maybe taking the boys downtown sometime this weekend to check out the Cinco de Mayo festivities. There are tons of things to do... food, music, and fun arts n' crafts for kids as well. May 1, 2005It's the first day of May! When I woke up this morning, the first thing Patrick did was hand me a beautiful bouquet of coffee-filter paper "flowers" for May Day. He's such a sweetie! I love Mondays... it's the one day of the week that I don't have any commitments or schedules of any sort. (other than studying for my Tues quizzes, I guess). The only thing on my agenda today is to return library books, get an oil change for the car and meet DJ for lunch. ***later*** We went to a new Indian restaurant out in Hillsboro called Swagath. I'm still an Indian food newbie but the stuff they had during their lunch buffet was pretty good. They had some spicy bbq chicken thing, some potato and broccoli curry thing and some chicken thing with a buttery curry sauce that went really well with their flavored basmati rice. It was really good.. I might have to go back for some more. :) April 25, 2005 I'm still not feeling well... no appetite for anything and I slept most of the day away today. I have a quiz on Tuesday (tomorrow) that I really should be studying for. It's on action potential, ion channels, sodium-potassium pumps and depolarization/repolarization of plasma membranes and such. I also need to know the different types and components of muscle and nerve cells, too. Believe it or not, I think it's really interesting stuff. Anyhoo, in my sickly state of dorky delirium, I composed my very first haiku, in binary form, of course. :P I thought it was pretty funny, so I'm sharing it:
010010010010011101101101001000000110100001101111011101000010110000100000 011101000110100001100101011011100010000001001001001001110110110100100000 01100011011011110110110001100100001011000000110100001010
0100100101110100001000000110001101101111011101010110110001100100001000000 1100010011001010010000001110111011011110111001001110011011001010010110000 1000000100100100100111011101100110010100100000011000100110010101100101011 011100010000001110100011011110110110001100100001011000000110100001010
010010010010000001100011011011110111010101101100011001000010000001100010 011001010010000001100110011100100111010101101001011101000010000001101101 01101111011011000110010000101110
Click HERE for the translation.
April 24, 2005 Ugh, I'm sick. I'm sickity-sick-sick. I have a temperature and I'm achin' all over. I hate that hot, prickily feeling in your skin and my throat feels like it's on fire. Not fun. I should have stayed in bed today but the boys had a playdate with their friend Jordan at Chuck E. Cheese. So we went. They had tons of fun and got a lot of prizes. When we got home, the boys and DJ played WOW for most of the afternoon while I slept for three hours. As soon as dinner, bath and bedtime routines are done, I'm crawling right back into bed. Nite-nite.
April 18, 2005 Today's gonna be a jam-packed day... I'm going over my friend Tina's house this morning to give her a one-hour Swedish massage. Afterwards, we're going to head over to this new cafe/bar place called Dessert Noir. It just opened a couple months ago in Beaverton and apparently their desserts are to die-for. Then I need to do a quick grocery run and maybe Target/Rite-Aid run as well. I need to be back home by 3pm before the kids get home. Jarod has his Art Studio on Monday afternoons and Patrick has a baseball game in the early evening. We're probably gonna have leftover pizza for dinner tonight. Oh, but tomorrow night I'm making this roasted chicken dinner but with a few um, "improvements". If you know me, I just can't stick to a recipe. I'm going to use fresh herbs like basil, thyme and rosemary in a butter-garlic rub. Yum... Anyhoo, I'm off to study some more. I have my first quiz of the semester tomorrow. Wish me luck... :)
April 12, 2005 Incredible... it's the middle of April and it's HAILING outside. Crazy. Anyhoo, today was the first day of Anatomy/Physiology class. New semester and new classmates. Some old familiar faces from last term but mostly new people. The instructor's a geek, and I mean that in the most sincerest way. He was throwing out quotes from Napoleon Dynamite and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. None of us gals knew what the heck he was talking about. When I got home, I was compelled to figure out what the heck he meant by "42". Obviously DJ knew what he was talking about. I suppose it was a "guy" thing, or a "geeky guy" thing. heheh. The class itself is reminiscent of my freshman Intro to Biology class back in college. Should be fun, I love biology. :) Oh, and on an icky note, Patrick's got a really nasty, croupy cough right now. He woke up this morning and was barking/coughing really bad. We kept him home from school today and it looks like he'll probably miss school again tomorrow. Sometime in the afternoon, he lost his voice. We've got the humidifier going and dosed him up with meds and stuff but so far it's not working. (It's way past bedtime and he's still upstairs in bed coughing...) *sigh* poor guy... April 8, 2005 I got to see Fever Pitch with DJ last night. I entered an essay contest in the Willamette Weekly last month and I won free tickets to the sneak preview. I never win contests and so it was a big surprise when I got the tix in the mail. :D Cool, huh? We dropped the boys off at my friend's house for an extended playdate and drove across town to the movie theater. I really enjoyed the movie, esp. the panoramic views of the Boston skyline. Waxing nostaglia. Then we grabbed a bite to eat at Chili's, picked up the boys and went home. It was a pretty fun night! What else? Oh, I finally updated my artwork section. yay! I did most of the sketch work during my kinesiology course last term. I felt surprisingly inspired by my class and the course materials. The paintings were done sometime during '04. Most of the calligraphy stuff are from my old college days. I've been wanting to frame some of them for the longest time but I haven't gotten around to doing it. One of these days... :) I'd love to do some more calligraphy projects but with classes starting in 3 days, I'm not sure if I'll have any free time anymore. Oh, and speaking of classes, I can't wait for my Anatomy/Physiology class to start. I'm so excited! I've heard great things about my A/P instructor and I'm sure I'll learn a lot from him. I miss seeing all my friends & classmates from last semester but hopefully some of them will be in class with me this term. It's amazing how close we've all become since last fall and I'm enjoying every single moment of it... :) April 6, 2005 My friend Emily treated me to a pedicure today. She's such a sweetheart! My tootsies were in desperate need of attention but the best part of all was the relaxing foot massage...ahhhhh!!! I felt so pampered. heheh. Here's a pic of my pedicure:
April 5, 2005 Despite the rainy weather, I decided to go to the Japanese Gardens today. I wanted to take some scenic pictures to add to my photolog. There's something about the rain that brings out the natural beauty of the trees and flowers. Dunno what it is but it made everything seem more _alive_. I sat underneath one of the pagoda-shaped resting places and took in the scenery. It was a great spot to just sit and think. I took some really cool pics today and you can check them out yourself in the photo section. April 1, 2005 Happy April Fool's Day to everyone! Hope y'all didn't get punked today. Last year I got DJ really good. I decided to play a trick on him. I thought to myself, "Hm, Self, what is DJ's most prized possession?" His car. heheh. So I drove to his work and moved his car from one side of the parking lot to the other so that when he came out, his car would be "missing". oooh. I then stuck a Post-it note to his window saying "April Fool's!" :P This year, I didn't have much time to plan anything but then I thought of a fun little prank I once read about. I unscrewed the caps to the bathroom sink faucet heads and filled it with BLUE Kool-Aid powder mix. Then I screwed it back on and waited...patiently...for him to go take his shower and BRUSH HIS TEETH. (I was hoping to either turn his toothbrush blue or give him a set of Smurf hands...heheh.) 1/2 hour later, I heard "&#%$@#*&#$!!!" from upstairs. :D I'm pretty lucky he has a good sense of humor. He's pretty lucky I didn't fill the _shower_ head with Kool-Aid powder mix. :P March 31, 2005
There are still some minor details to address but for the
most part, I think I'm ready to officially launch my new and improved
website. Woo-hoo! The conception and designs were
created by yours truly! ***applause if you
must*** I know, I know, it's been like eons since I've done anything with it. Sorry, lame. I've been... uh... busy? Heh-heh? Busy with what you might ask? Well, you'll just have to read and find out what I've been up to. Pull up a chair and stick around. I'll try my best to amuse you. :)
March 29, 2005 I'm tooling around with DHTML right now. Shhhhh, don't tell DJ. heheh!!! I'm reading a book called, FrontPage 2003 for Dummies and I'm trying to figure out some of the cool special effects you can create. It says, "...as you can imagine, coding DHTML takes some geeky mojo. Good thing FrontPage comes with tools that do all the work for you." I suppose I could just ask DJ to help me but can you imagine all the _fun_ I'm having right now geeking-out like this. LOL! ;-)
March 28, 2005 Jarod lost his first baby tooth yesterday morning at breakfast time. He said his tooth was _really_ wiggly and so I jokingly told him to just pull it out and he did just that! He's really excited about losing his first tooth. Hopefully the tooth fairy will come tonight...hee-hee!
March 27, 2005 Happy Easter to everyone!
March 26, 2005 Currently re-vamping the entire website... got rid of some old stuff and created some new stuff. It was definitely time for a change. Change is good, very good. FYI, I totally stink at FrontPage 2003 and so if there are any broken links or spelling errors, just let me know. Thanks!
March 23, 2005 Finals are over YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 20-26, 2005 The chibbles are on Spring Break! Who-hoo! Unfortunately we're not gonna go anywhere during break 'cause I'll be taking my finals during that time. Bummer. Hopefully, we'll plan some fun playdates, sleepovers and day trips instead. February 26, 2005 I just signed Patrick up for Little League! He's totally obsessed with baseball and this is the perfect outlet for him. He's turning into a little Johnny Damon. I'm so proud of him. Maybe I'll let him grow his hair out like Johnny. Heh-heh. February 21, 2005 We're gonna meet DJ for sushi @ Sushitown.... yum....
February 16, 2005 Quizzes, and midterms and papers, oh my!
February 9, 2005 Happy Chinese New Year to all friends and family! I wish I could be there to help you celebrate and eat! :) Hope everyone has a prosperous New Year!
January 28, 2005 It's my birthday! I'm officially 31 years old. I got a cake from Beaverton Bakery and tonight for dinner, the boys are gonna take me out for my bday dinner at Chili's. yay!
January 21, 2005 Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dearie LISA, Happy Birthday to you! :D
January 18, 2005 To my favorite Irish twin, Happy Birthday, Al! :D
January 11, 2005 Today's the 1st day of my Kinesiology class! Wish me luck!
January 1, 2005 Happy New Year to all my friends and family back in Boston! Miss you guys!
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