End of year rituals

In my family, we have a tradition to go to the beach and watch the last sunset of the year on December 31st. It's a wonderful way to reflect on all the things that had happened throughout the year, and a nice opportunity to kinda finalize the new year's resolution list.

Here's what the last sunset of 2010 looked like from Huntington Beach :)

Amazing, isn't it?

The rain and the wind and the confession.

I went to confession tonight, and the priest said that I don't need to do penance because I came despite having to brave the rain and wind. What more can I ask from the Lord who has forgiven my sin and not making me pay for anything in return? Such unconditional love, such merciful God.  I feel as though a load of weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It's been about 3 years since I went to confession. Even though I felt queasy and nauseous before the confession, I felt a wave of relief and at peace after the whole thing is done. Needless to say, I promised to be a better person and to not do all those bad things that I did before.

It's 5 days before Christmas, and I feel like I'm finally ready to welcome baby Jesus into my heart.

Now I Know

School is out, work is enjoyable, life is wonderful and God is good.

I woke up this morning with no worry in my mind for the first time. I'm done with the finals, and for some reason, I can accept that I have done my best and whatever the outcome, I'll be alright with it. I don't have a full-time job, but that's ok. My partnership with my sister is going good. She's so smart and professional. I need to do a better job in helping her out. My relationship with family and friends is warm and comforting. Even though I don't own a lot, I feel so blessed with countless, invaluable, immaterial things that only can be found if you just let go of your worries and just live.

I remember six years ago, crying my eyes out while saying goodbye to the life I knew back in college. Pursuing the 'American dream', I packed my two suitcases and three boxes and drove from Indiana to LA. I didn't have a place to live yet at the time, but my parents (who were along for the journey and very supportive) were optimistic and very supportive. With lots of prayers and luck, my friend found me a place to live when we were just a day away from arriving in LA. Six years later, here I am. I am still pursuing the dream, but slowly I'm realizing that I am actually already living the dream. Who would've thought that the unsure, scared 21 year old girl, would end up like this? With time I realize that the best things in life is indeed free: the smell of pine trees in the woods after a weekend of non-stop rain, the good morning kiss from a person who loves you unconditionally, even if you don't have a job. Stuff like this, you know?

This Christmas season, I would like to wish you all the true peace and joy that Christmas means to bring. Live life to the fullest. Give without expecting anything back. Love earnestly.

daylight savings

Daylight savings time ended about 2 weeks ago. Every year, this is the one day that we get an extra hour to sleep. I love it. Not only you get to stay in bed longer, but you also feel so refreshed and eager to start your day. I really do wish I can wake up early everyday. I can definitely get more stuff done in the morning since I used to be a morning person.

The only thing that I don't like from the end of daylight savings time is how dark and cold it gets at 5pm. I"m posting this blog entry while waiting for my bus in front of the campus. It's great to be able to post this entry using blackberry, but the cold wind is making my thumbs moving slower and slower... At times like this (and especially when it's raining), I wish I don't have to use the bus to go to school. It's only November, so I'm sure it'll get colder soon. I guess it's time to bring extra jacket and shawl. Another problem is.. my bus is not very punctual. I really have to wait 15 minutes before it's scheduled to arrive because (like this morning) they might come early and you won't even know that they've left. Other times, they are late for 15 minutes and you have to wait in the cold for 30 minutes total. Hmm... I guess I just have to be thankful that there is a bus in the first place. I'm quite lucky in this aspect. Anyways.. I hope my bus comes soon. I've been waiting for 20 minutes!

Monterpiece

So, the Clippers lost on Friday. Despite everything, I think this team is definitely a lot better than they were last year. They still need to work on their defense and calm-under-pressure mentality, but at least they put up a very good fight against the Pistons, even extending the game into overtime. All of the fans were standing up during the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter, and you can feel that the crowd was really rooting for them to win it. That was the first time I see Clippers fan excited about a game!

Anyways, today is Monday again, and it's time to feature the Monterpiece of the week. I used to post Monterpiece (Monday Centerpiece) series regularly. I think it's time to bring out the tradition again, don't you think?

Let's see.... it's November, the leaves are starting to change colors, and Thanksgiving is coming up. Here's what I have in mind for today's featured centerpiece:

Source:  Al.com

Instead of using pears and roses, you can use pumpkins, apples, persimmons, branches of red leaves from your backyard, and add feathers as accents into the arrangements. I love persimmons because of their brilliant orange colors that always reminds me of Autumn, but you can mix and match the colors yourselves. I like to add the red dragonfruits too if I can, but they are so expensive here...

Pics from clipers vs. pistons game

Can you tell this is us?

clippers nation, rise up!

Do you ever feel like a higher power is telling you that you're supposed to do something for unknown some reason? Well, last week my friend offered to guve me some tickets to go see the clippers. Well, apparently I responded late to her email and she ended up giving the tix to someone else. We were kinda bummed out, but the next day, Mr. B's boss suddenly gave him 2 tix to watch the same game. So here we are, right this minute, row 7 seat 3 and 4 on the clippers vs. Pistons game. I hope clippers can win this one. They've been doing much better this season compared to last season.

Oh! Btw, we got caught on the kiss cam!!! That was pretty cool :)

Rose Bakery

This post is a little late, but better be late than never, right?

Last Saturday, Mr. B and I went to Laguna Beach for our morning bikram yoga session. After burning about 800-1000 calories, we got pretty hungry and decided to venture out to find a new breakfast place. We're pretty big fan of breakfast and brunch (especially on the weekends), so we were pretty excited to find Rose Bakery Cafe that's rated 4 stars on Yelp.

Sure enough, the place was packed at 10am! We didn't have to wait for too long though. I think we were able to get our orders placed in 10 minutes, and the food came out about 15 minutes later. Mr.B tried the deluxe breakfast burrito, and I got the eggs benedict. Overall, the food was delicious and affordable. I didn't like the eggs benedict so much, but maybe that was my guilt talking. I really shouldn't be eating like that right after yoga...  Anyway, I read that the donuts are really good, but I didn't feel like eating them, so... maybe next time.

Glee!

I love, love, love Glee :) Apparently I'm not the only one. Here are two creative Gleeks taking their passion for Glee into product of love:

Glee Cookies by Susan S

And... don't you just love how the character Emma Pillsbury dresses on the show? I think she looks adorable in her cardigans and matching accessories. Here's a blog that lists where you can find the majority of the stuff she wears :)

Garden mums

Gardening time!!! I got these flowers from Lowe's this morning. Aren't they just swell?

Is It Too Early For Christmas Shopping?

The youth group coordinator for my church was trying to sell some Christmas Wreath for their group fundraising last weekend. She said "as we all know, Christmas is just around the corner". I was kind of falling a sleep, but those words really woke me up. Suddenly I thought of putting up the Christmas tree and cleaning up the house and getting ready for the new year. It's actually only October. Is it really necessary to rush things like this? After all, there's Halloween and Thanksgiving that we should enjoy first. Sometimes life just fly past by you when you think too far in advance.

Anyway, that didn't stop me from sticking my nose and lick this little doll from etsy through my screen... Wouldn't it be the perfect Christmas gift for dear friends with eclectic taste?

Find it at MonsterEtc Shop on Etsy!

Bikram Yoga

A few weeks ago, Mr.B and I started going to a bikram yoga class in Laguna Beach. It's a really good way to exercise 'coz it's actually just a bunch of stretching exercise that can be practiced by anyone, at any level of difficulty. I'm so out of shape but it makes me feel really good. Sweaty and a little stinky, but it's all good. I must say that it also helps me eat better and strive to live healthier too. Mostly because the instructors and the advanced students there all look so lean and hot! It's quite inspiring, actually. I hope I can be just as lean :)

I think I'm adding "being able to touch my forehead to my knees without bending the knees" into one of my bucket list.

Phantom of the Opera

I finally got the chance to watch the original broadway on tour production of Phantom of the Opera. Wowwww.... all I can say is that it's one of the most magical and beautiful musical I've ever seen. The characters, the music, the stage... everything was perfect. I can't stop thinking about it the whole week. It's just..... amazing.

Bad Heat, Good Heat

Last Monday, time seem to stand still between 10am and 6pm. The air was heavy and hot and dry, and all in a bad way. What little breeze that blew through the window felt even hotter with a scent of crackling pavement heat. Can you feel the threats in the air? Surely there will be another wildfire starting soon with the bad combination of dry air, hot sun, and merciless wind.

People say California is the best place to live due to the perfect weather. Isn't that why we are paying the high cost of living around here? Speaking of which, I'm still debating if I should turn the air conditioner on or not. Well, not much further thought is needed. It's 100F outside. Yup, Heat 1, Me 0 on this battle.

Speaking of heat, my friend Domo was raving about Bikram Yoga for months now. So when a deal came up on Groupon, I didn't hesitate to grab it. It's such a great deal. It normally costs about $15-$20 to go to a class, but this deal allows you to attend 10 @90 minutes sessions for *drumroll please* $25! That's like $2.50 per class! The only downside is the class is about 30-45 minutes away from my house, but what do you expect? We live in OC anyway... 30 minutes to any destination is considered close :)

So, anyway, we attended the first class last Saturday, and I must say.... it was really fun. Exhausting, but fun. Bikram Yoga is a series of 26 poses done in a heated 90-105F room. Yikes! I don't think I ever sweat that much in my life. Seriously. But man.... after I got over the feeling of "save me... I can't go on any longer", it was actually pretty cool. I can definitely get used to this. I looked at the scale, and I actually dropped 3lbs. It's probably all the water weight from sweating that much, but it made me feel like I've accomplished something. Needless to say, we're going again this weekend. I'm hoping to make this a routine and hopefully I'll be a better healthier version of myself :)

Happy Friday!

My mom just told me a cute story yesterday. She babysits for my sister's 15 month old baby on weekdays while my sister works. It's funny how babies grows so fast. Especially when you're not looking! The last time I saw baby Liv was in February, and she was barely standing up. Now, 7 months later, they're telling me how fast she is running around the house and how they were teaching her to pray before eating her meals. The way they do it is: before meals, they would ask her to look at the cross, put her tiny hands together, and say "Amen". Well, anyway, my mom was telling me that baby Liv is very picky with her food lately. They spend a lot of time around the dinner table to coax her to eat her meals. She would ask for her favorite food: yogurt, noodles, etc. One time, after the prayer, they started feeding her some noodles. Immediately after the first bite, she put her hands together, looked at the cross, and say "thank you, Amen! OMG... how cute is that? I wonder how she were able to thank God instead of thanking the ones who were feeding her :)

Can't help it

This face is too cute to not be posted here :P

trying to post a new posting from mini opera on bb.

Will it work? So far it seem pretty good!

Testing testing :)

Back to school y'all!

Officially a student again!

I got home yesterday with a migraine, but lo and behold, a letter was waiting for me from CSU, congratulating my acceptance to the school. I'm quite excited!! :)

Growing out of the terrible two

My little darling puppy is growing out of the terrible two stage and is finally legal (3 human years = 21 doggie years, right?) We celebrate it properly with an actual birthday cake and candles this time. I think we were more excited about the cake than Pix... but Nina and I both had a feeling that while we were baking the cake, Pix knew exactly that the cake has his name written all over it :)

Happy birthday, Pix :)

I got the recipe from one of the websites.... just type in "peanut butter delight" doggie birthday cake and you should have quite a few results pop up. It's actually very very easy to make. The ingredients are just 1 cup of wheat flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 cup peanut butter, 1/4 cup veggie oil, 1 cup shredded carrot, 1/3 cup honey, and 1 egg. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes. I mixed some lite cream cheese and peanut butter for the icing. Yummyyyy

What I've been up to

1. Enjoying summer
2. Stressing out over work
3. Wrapping up things at work as I end my 4 years journey there
4. Applying for full time MBA school
5. Trying to find out other way of making moola

It's such an exciting time in my life. In a way, I feel like I'm at that intersection where my decision will change everything. I think I'm making the right decision because I don't feel sad, but feel energized and excited. I'm so lucky to have such supportive friends, family and husband that supports my decision and gives me invaluable advice.

Anyway, so I thought it was funny that right after I gave my 2 weeks notice, I get this from my fortune cookie:

Movies

I can't seem to stop talking about the movie Inception that came out a couple weeks ago. Wow, what a great concept! I think it's the best movie of the year so far.

Definitely must buy. In blue ray if possible :)

Rock Band

New Post! Yay! It's been... how long?

Anyways, today I feel like posting about PS3's rock band game. My friend Ivan introduced me to this game 2 weeks ago, and i can't stop thinking about it. Once in a while I will be in the car or about to go to sleep and the thought of playing the rock band drums just pops up in my head.

Mr.B probably have had enough of me whining about buying the rockband game, so with his usual savvy deal-finder skill, found a great deal for the game. Needless to say... I'm on the edge of my seat, waiting impatiently until that package arrives at home. Hopefully it will arrive by the end of the week so I have the weekend to work on being a real rocker :)

june six twenty-oh-ten

Last Sunday, Mr.B and I celebrated our one year anniversary. It's an important date to us, and I'm glad we get to celebrate it properly, even with all the drama and problems we have in our lives.
We went to see Chorus Line for the first time at Broadway LA. It was very interesting. The show was about 2 hours long with no intermission, and yet, when it was all over, I felt like I want more! To me, that's a sign of a good musical. Definitely in my top 10 favorites.

After the musical, we went to this place called "The Hobbit" in Orange. It's a small, quaint house 7 minutes away from our house that serves french food with a fixed menu for the day. Long story short, they basically serve a fixed fine dining menu: 7 course served over 3 hours with intermission and option for wine pairing. Needless to say, everything was very delicious and well presented. There were only 7 couples that made reservation that day, and all but one couple were celebrating their anniversaries. 2 first year anniversary, and the rest were celebrating their 26th, 29th, 35th, 46th anniversaries! What I love most about this place is not the food... nor the wine... but the atmosphere. It was our first time there, and everyone was just so nice. You can tell that they love their jobs and they want to create a really sweet dining experience for each person that goes there.

Anyway, you can read all about the hobbit at their website. For me, I'll let the pictures do the talking below:

The pics are a touch dark, but they all still look yummy, right? I'm drooling again just thinking about them...

So, since the dinner was a little long, we had so much time to stare into each others' eyes... until the food comes for us to gobble up, that is. Really, when the food comes we're just like two malnourished children of third world country, devouring the deliciousness in a blink of an eye... During the intermission, we also got a chance to relax and just take a few moment to talk without interruption. We don't get a chance to do that a lot these days. Most of the times, we're always eating our meals in a rush... or having diner in front of TV or something. I know it sounds corny, but it truly is a one of a kind romantic dinner. It kinda felt like a royal retreat. A few moments throughout the night, Mr.B would say thing that brought tears of joy to my eyes... he's just such a wonderful husband. Happy anniversary, darling! Here's to many more years of "for better and for worse" :)

It's been a while since I last blog. I guess I've been having a writer's block.

Anyway, the number one thing in my mind right now is: problems. What are the problems in our lives that we can find solution for? I'm subscribed to the Entrepreneur magazine, and just a few days ago, I read an article about the top 100 entrepreneurial ideas of 2009. One particular idea/company that caught my interest is this company that delivers customized toiletries straight to your hotel room. This company allows you to pick and choose your personal care products from a wide range of brands selection. Furthermore, you can order it when you check in at the airport, and your order will be waiting in your room when you check in to your hotel. Amazing, isn't it? Way to turn a problem into a solution. At around $10 for your fave shampoo, soap, toothpaste, deodorant, and razor (already includes tax and shipping), it's pretty affordable for such a convenience.

Check it out here: http://suitearrival.com/index.php

IMG00314-20100523-1053.jpg

Cigarette machine at ruby's... Hasn't worked since 1947 :)

Conquering your fear at disney

All year long, from May '09 to '10, I've been maximizing the use of my disney annual pass.. But out of all the rides they have, there was ONE ride that just.. Scares me with a capital S. Yup, capital Scared of the capital Splash Mountain. Well... I avoided it at all cost. But... Since it was the last day before my pass expires, I forced myself to look past the height, the speed, the angle of the dip, and all the splash.. And just go for it. Turns out, it's not that bad! I actually quite enjoyed it!

Multi Function Glasses

I know it's not Monday, but I stumbled into this image from a DIY Baltimore Zoo wedding recently, and I just need to post it here :)

source

It's funny 'coz my roommate, Nina just 'inherited' these lovely crystal glasses from her friend. It looks exactly like the one in the picture, but in different brilliant color: green, blue, yellow, and red.

So if you like these kind of centerpieces, make sure to stop by your local thrift stores to look for great bargains on crystal glasses. Or you can also find some in Amazon if you like brand new ones.

Search Amazon.com for crystal glasses

2010 Weddings

I think definitely this year's popular theme for wedding includes: green (both color and lifestyle), and birds! I'm really liking it.

That little house

My friend Dhee and I were walking down the Orange Circle a few weeks ago, hunting for treasures among the many antique stores around the Circle. Somehow we started talking about the Little House on the Prairie that we both read when we were children. Dhee just told me that they apparently have more than the Laura Ingalls' stories! Apparently there's the Caroline books, Rose books, etc etc. Wow, what a wonderful way to discover a little bit about America's past and history.

Some of the best things in life is $3.50

Like this churros in disneyand :)

End of an era...

I just realized yesterday that my first ever disneyland deluxe pass is expiring on cinco de mayo.... so we went to disneyland yesterday and we're planning to go again today... it's really too bad that we haven't used the pass as much as we could. But I think so far we've went there for 10+ times, so it's still well worth it.

I love disney.... :) should I renew the pass?

Speaking of Disney, this book has a lot of insider information that all disney lover should know:

Loquat

Wow, I didn't know that there are so much resource in the internet about things you can do using Loquat fruit:

http://lalunchbox.com/content.php?cid=2&aid=53
http://food.lizsteinberg.com/tag/loquat/
http://www.tipsytexan.com/2008/06/loquat_feast.html

yummyyy

http://food.lizsteinberg.com/tag/loquat/

Bacon and Eggs!

I spy... a bed, comforter, pillows, body pillows..... two sleepy eyes and a wet nose..

Can you see the little cutie pie sleeping on my white bed? :)

Pj abbey's

And these, my friends, are the actual yummy pictures from the oh-so-comfy pj abbey's in orange. This is how you do brunch right :) I was very happy with my smoked salmon eggs benedict :) it's soooo good!! We went there last Saturday. You can see my previous wishful post about pj abbey's here.I'm so glad we get to go there finally.

While we were there, there was a group of round 15-20 ladies with pearl necklaces and fancy Easter dresses... it turns out to be the Ladies of Orange association! Boy do they know how to have fun!

Roses are not just red!

One of the good things that came up from the kitchen sink fiasco last week is that I found a square vase under the sink that I forgot I had.. All the roses were blooming so beautifully in the garden, so I thought I'll try making a multi-color arrangement to celebrate the earth day :)

Island Clutters

I felt really good this weekend! I overcame my laziness and finally got around to do some serious cleaning around the house. I'm still kinda recovering from my flu, so I tried not to get out so much... I think the spring wind does not have quite a positive effect with my health... but I mopped the floors, cleaned some counters, and scrubbed the bathrooms. Clean house feels so good.

But.... on the downside, the kitchen sink was clogged. again. Boy, the plumber must've not done a not so good job! Plus, when I called them up again, they said that there's no warranty with the service that they did on Friday. So that means that they will charge extra for coming back to re-fix the sink. Oh... these are just some of the joy of owning a house, right?

Good thing we still have some loquats on the trees to sweeten the bitterness of paying extra $120 for re-fixing a sink. Pictures and stories about loquat coming soon :)

Anywayyyy.. originally I wanted to post about the 3 tiers servers that I wanted to purchase for the kitchen island. Here's some that I'm seriously considering to buy:

Source

source

I kinda like the bamboo one better.... but... the 2nd one is so vintage that I can't help but to swoon all over it...

One of those days

This is one of those days where everything is just not going so well...
The kitchen sink that I just cleaned on Wednesday got clogged, couldn't wake up this morning, and got into a minor accident on my way to work. Nothing major, thank God! Just some scratches on the back bumper... but still enough to kinda ruin my Friday. Got to work late because of the accident. Have to make up the 30 minutes of lateness by having a short lunch. Didn't bring lunch. Hungry and cranky and sad and mad at the whole situation.

So, the best thing to do? Plan for a nice Saturday brunch and hope things will go better from now. I had so many plans for this weekend... Disneyland tonight maybe... brunch tomorrow at PJ Abbey's.... go to a friend's baby shower... and go to the pet expo on Sunday.

I found some pictures here from PJ Abbey.... looks delicious, right? Hmm... brunch... I feel better already. :)

 I can't wait!

Power clean

My stove never looked this good since my mom left last June!! I had to enlist the help of Mr.B to scrub the toughest spots coz I couldn't do it no more, but boy... The satisfaction of having a nearly new stove again is endless :)

April Fools!

I'm loving Google's serious take on April Fools' day :)

"topeka"

"ran out of vowels"

Still on the topic of breakfast, I just found this new recipe for ricotta filled pancakes with blueberry sauce...

yummy! Can't wait to try making these at home :)

Breakfast

I must confess.... I don't eat breakfast on a regular basis. In fact, I skip breakfast 99% of the time on weekdays. However, there's just something special about making breakfast for my husband or being served breakfast on the weekends... Something special enough that makes me *choose* to get out of bed early in the weekend instead of sleeping in. Well, maybe not every weekend, but.. you get the point. :)

I don't know what it is about having breakfast on weekends that fascinates me so much. Is it the fact that you get away with substituting a full meal with a dessert? (Come on, let's be real here... "chocolate chip pancake with maple syrup and strawberry whipped cream" does not exactly fall into the "normal meal" category.) Or is it the reminiscence of your childhood memories, where you're transformed back to those lazy Sunday mornings in your Mom's kitchen, watching her mix the pancake batter?

Either way, I just thought today I'll share some pictures of the breakfast feast that I've made recently:

Animal style choco-bacon pancake

Can you believe that someone actually came up with the idea of introducing bits of bacon *inside* the chocolate chips? Genius, I tell you!

Here's a picture of my new favorite breakfast recipe:

It's poached eggs on toast with grilled muenster cheese, topped with pesto basil sauce. Asparagus and bacon is tagging along 'coz that's what they do in the weekend.

Yummyyyy :)

I really want to try this recipe next. http://willowbirdbaking.wordpress.com/2010/03/30/carrot-cake-waffles/ Anyone wants in?

Spring bloom

Proudly presenting the first spring bloom from the garden, featuring queen tulip :)

Woohoo!!!

I'm so excited that finally I can blog on the go using my blackberry!! Technology just keeps on amaze me..
Here's another picture that I took on my last vacation in Bali... It reminds me of the movie stardust (starring Claire Danes) it's actually a kite that the locals were selling.

I have so many more pics that I hope to upload soon :)

Bali trip

I just miss Bali so much... The only place in the world where modern western life does not affect the local traditions at all..