presenting...holland!

went down to LA for turkey weekend. had an awesome time with the kiddies and precious holland.
i have tons of cute stories but i'll just tell you the best two:
-london was at staples with mommy. she found a computer game and asked if she could have it. mommy said it's in spanish! london said i speak spanish! uno dos tres!
*ha ha! dora the explorer has proved to be very educational.

-london, do you want to be a model when you grow up? yeah! i wanna be a monorail driver!
:P

chase and london are even cuter than before. last year they were rambunctious kiddies running around the house. now, they are just plain cute and behave pretty well. chase is so smart! he's only 5 he can read, tell time, and add! london has been in good health for the past 4 months. praise God! we hope she will grow out of whatever she has. her personality is just hilarious. holland is a precious little baby. quite a good little girl. she's only six weeks old and has gained like 4pds! can u tell i am a proud auntie or what? i miss these kiddies sooo much. they call and ask me when i'm gonna go play with them again. :P i can also proudly say i have changed all 3 of their diapers at least once when they were babies! gross. i think i did my duty. i am in kiddie withdrawl. :(

i have pics up! click on the title link.

gobble! gobble! gobble!

my family had our turkey one day early. it was yummers! we're heading down to LA tomorrow for more turkey! :P this will be my first thanksgiving away from home (as i can recall). sniff sniff! thanksgiving is my fave holiday!
sorry, no turkey bowl this year! x) karen, put those guys down to shame! :P

yipeee! i get to see my new niece and kiddies! yipeee! can u tell i'm not excited at all? yipeeee!

hApPy TuRkEy day everyone!

tahoe!

tomio, alice, oski, caroline, and i headed to tahoe for the weekend! we had tons of fun EATING, hiking, and playing with OSKI! i'm oski's new best buddy. karen has been replaced. :P we had some bonding time playing fetch b4 heading to tahoe. what did we do? click here! we ate really yummy hot pot caroline prepared. it was the best hot pot i have ever eaten! we also went hiking up to eagle falls which has an awesome view of lake tahoe and emerald bay. afterwards, we hit harvey's buffet for dinner! the next morning we ate very yummy waffles made by alice and headed back down to sacramento. hm, can u tell we had an eating trip? :p we were like kids going wild on junk food without parents around. we had: 2 cartons of ice cream, PUMPKIN ice cream is GOOD! 5 bags of chips, which we mostly ate for breakfast. :P hot pot that lasted us 4 meals. smores. seafood buffet and the list goes on... it was tomio's goal to gain 10 lbs. i think we gained at least 10 lbs all together! we made ourselves go walking after each meal because we were so full. it was a great get-away weekend! we even watched the last 15 mins of the big game!

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driving back from sacramento was an experience. i just thank God that He protected us from a very serious accident. it was around 6:30pm and we were in walnut creek. i just woke-up from a nap and heard a car breaking. i looked up and i saw a car violently swerving to the right and its passenger side heading towards us. i felt helpless and had no control as i watched it coming. thank goodness caroline was alert and prepared. she saw the car move over from the slow lane to the next lane without signaling. she thought it was weird. next thing we knew it was swerved to the right and we heard heavy braking. caroline thought fast and swerved over to the left, really close to the divider. i heard the car crash right behind us. we stopped at the next exit to survey caroline's car. not a scratch. as i look back on the almost accident, i remember seeing the lanes clear ahead, behind, and to the left of us. there are a lot of "what if's" what if there was a car on our left? what if caroline didn't think fast? i know we would be seriously injured or even worse. especially since we were in a hatchback. it's amazing how God protected us at that moment of time.

the effects of pollution

the weather woman said our air quality was chunky today. xP

whoever knew?

whoever knew that you could rent bikes and ride dangerously around golden gate park? well, that's what we did! joy and maria's joyce, pauline, and grace came up to visit. we ended up finding a lake in g.g. park that had bikes to rent. this lake is awesome it has an island with a waterfall, paddle boats, and bikes! the double surrey (that's wat the bike we rented was called) experience sure was memorable. the best quote was "i think i need a helmet!" as we zoomed down the first hill. i think i screamed "we're going to die!" it sure was a super duper fun time! i have fotos up! just click on the link above.

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vegas, baby, no vegas! i think it's funny that ppls are surprised to hear that i have never been to vegas. well, i don't know why i have never been either. the opportunity has come up to fly there for free for me. i don't think i will take it. i'm in no hurry to go to vegas. well, i guess i should go visit my cousin. :P i just don't want to get stuck flying stand by like my mom. she ended up sleeping in the airport overnite and taking united airlines from LV to LAX to SF! luckily she works for the airlines. i on the other hand would prolly still be stuck in vegas. eesh.

lexicons

something fun to read and learn...

beighborhood
n. Area populated by good-looking people. ("Let's go downtown. Fifth Street has turned into a total beighborhood.")

Earnest Hemorrhage
n. A man who is oppressively forthcoming with every thought and feeling. Antonym: Ernest Hemingway, linguistically stingy author.

foxymoron
n. One who is incredibly dumb but incredibly cute, who simultaneously attracts and repels. ("I'm so ashamed. I hooked up with that foxymoron last night.")

GHaG
n. Acronym. Girl-Hating Girl. The one whose only friends are guys.

hobeau
n. A less-than-hygienic boyfriend. ("Better open the window. Here come Gloria and her hobeau.")

nontourage
n. A group of undesirable sycophants. ("The party was fun until Justin showed up with his nontourage.")

pharmasecrecy
n. The secret bond one has with her pharmacist. ("Only Mr. Myers knows the truth about my little Klonopin/Paxil/laxative habit.")

showflake
n. Person who chronically misses every appointment (e.g., haircuts, doctor visits, dinners). ("Is Louisa going to show, or is she pulling a showflake again?")

SoDeeWah
n. Socialite/designer/whatever. The model/actress/ whatever of the '00s. You know the type.

staremaster
n. Gym dandies who constantly check themselves out in the mirror. ("If that staremaster touches his pecs one more time ...")

-from www.dailycandy.com San Francisco edition.

this week

i spent this week relaxing and detoxing myself from all the stress from last week. my stiff joints, face war ;P, and sleepless nights have subsided. i'm preparing for another battle in about 3 weeks for my last test and end of semester warfare. this week has gotten me back to normal sleeping habits. i've been waking up at a decent hour at 9am and going to bed at midnight. no more going to bed at 2am and waking up at 11am for me, i kinda enjoyed it. unfortunately someone pointed out that going to bed late causes pimples hence my face war. :P we'll see if it's true. i'm the experiment.

skool notes
last night for class, we had a "social" gathering at my prof's home. it was supposed to be a mood booster from the conflict that happend last week. long story short (well, i'll try) there's a woman who's ~64 and is very difficult to get along with. she has caused a lot of personality conflicts in our class this semester. tension has been built up between my classmates and her because of the exhibit we have been planning. the tension was brought by the not-so-lovely emails the older woman has sent to the class. a lot of the students felt that her tone was very condescending and they were upset. so basically last week there was a harsh discussion (aka. a fight trying to remain professional) and of course, nothing was settled. the older woman did not admit fault, while everyone else was admitting to it on their part. it was sad to see that the older woman does not realize fault in her personality. she has a lot of walls built up because she feels that she's the one w/ the most experience (aka. she has a master's and ph.d. already) and we're inadequate because we have little experience. which is a sad thought. is it because she's older and set in her ways? that's what i have come to the conclusion. since i'm in charge of the exhibit i've been stepping around toes because she is on my committee. it has been a great test of patience working with her and trying to have a loving heart on my end. unfortunately, other students don't feel compelled to do so. i feel like a lot of people have given up on her, even our professor.

personally i think artists have interesting sensitive egos and it can get it in the way of trying to get along with others. i try to stay balanced and maybe, i'm not so sensitive. :P

oh boy, here comes the emails again...

this week

study, study, re-write a stinking paper, study, study, deal with difficult ppls, study study, resist IM, study, study, write progress report, study study, more white hair growing, study, study, grumble, grumble...
why do i always have stuff due the same week?
i'll finally be able to get some fresh air after my test on sat! woohoo!
ok, back to study, study...

1 hour 15 minutes...

is how long it took me to vote! augh! i painfully waited and voted which took all of 3 minutes. the voting took place behind my backyard at my elementary school. nostalgia hit me while i waited in the multi-purpose room. i thought of the times i spent in there playing, performing, making crafts, participating in the science fair, and sitting on the nasty floor for assemblies and plays. :P
next time i am absolutely going to do absentee voting!

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so it turns out the nasty looking bites on my dad's body is a result of shingles (he was susceptible because he didn't have chicken pox.) my poor pops. he was supposed to go to a conference in seattle yesterday but canceled out because of his poor health. :( man, those bites are so weird. it looks like when termites gnaw on a piece of wood-all squiggly 'n stuff. there's even a "u" shape! he leaves in a few days back to kauai. please pray for my dad for a speedy recovery.

1 week, 4 chickens

the start of this week ends the chicken extravaganza. from last sunday to this past sunday i have made 4 whole chickens. 2 were rotisserie and the other 2 were bbq'd. let's say i do not want to touch chicken innards for a very, very LONG time. if anyone ever needs any chicken advice, just ask me.

a few lessons i learned:
- dry rub works wonders on a chicken especially with a secret ingredient.
- cayenne pepper burns your fingers so use gloves when marinating.
- no 2 bbq grills are the same. you'll prolly be seeing that in karen's pics some day. ;P
- beer can chicken is the best. altho some may say coke can rivals it.

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i just got "approved" to finish my master's program next semester! that means i'm on my way to graduatin'! crazy, huh? i'm in limbo on wat i should do afterwards. i'm tempted to go for another degree...sigh. we'll see.