(All Up) In my head

Christmas 2009

2010-01-14T00:20:00.007-05:00

So, Christmas 2009 was a pretty calm Christmas. We played some games...here's a picture some hostages...er...I mean family playing a game. Let's see, there's Auntie Nelma, Charity, Rosemarie, Eddie and Manong Jester. Lay-Lay is on the floor. She's getting so big!

This is a picture of the hubby ACTUALLY COOKING!!! (Of course...it was the instant pilsbury cinnamon rolls. They were yummy once we scraped off the burnt bottom)

Christmas morning! Last year, my niece was too young to open her own presents...this year, she had a ball ripping up the paper! Here's a pic of her playing with BUBBLES!!! Truthfully...we all had fun with that. =) hehe...

Awww...my nephew is totally rocking the antlers, don't you think? So cute!

Back to the Christmas party...here's a picture of some of the cousins...oh...and dad and grandpa? Hey, how did they get in there?

Cousins Jonathan, Jeremy, Eddie and Charity munching on dessert before dinner!

I like this picture of my sister and my niece. Mom and daughter look so happy!!!

Mom and Savannah. Awww!!!!!

Especially during Christmas do we miss our family, and my cousin Marvin hasn't spent a Christmas with the family in such a long time! We did a little Skype-ing with him and his wife and daughter, Ila and Izzy. It was nice to see and talk to them at least for a little bit. We decided to take a picture all together. They're on the computer screen.

It was a nice Christmas. I can't wait until Christmas 2010. Caleb's going to be Savannah's size and Savannah will be 2+! Time sure flies, doesn't it?

Graduation and Family

2010-01-07T11:10:00.006-05:00

So, the weekend before Christmas, the hubby and I flew out to Florida to see my sis-in-law's graduation from the University of Central Florida. It was the second time I had gone to a graduation at UCF and the first time at the new area. The hubby also graduated from UCF, but he didn't feel it was necessary to march. Surprisingly, the hubby doesn't like to be the center of attention for everything! Like for instance, birthdays and graduations, he would sooner just pass over any recognition of the event...

Anyhow, here's a pic of my other sis-in-law, Carrie, my mom-in-law, Argentina, bro-in-law, Ruben and the hubby right before going into the arena and munching on bananas (disgusting, I feel, in its natural state!!! ick!). Oh...UCF has started to become a larger school over the last couple years. This is the school that Michael Jordan's son now atteds...

Here's a picture of Glorybell throwing out some attitude. Congratulations, Glory!

We spent a LOT of time outside taking some pictures. Here is one of the siblings and their spouses...and Ivan...someday spouse!

Awww...siblings!

Afterwards, we went and had lunch at P.F. Chang's. Surprisingly, Eliasib and I haven't had it since moving out to California - probably because it was in Florida, and hubby likes to experience "new" things since moving to Cali. It was yummy!!! I had my favorite - Dan Dan Noodles! We also met up with Eliasib's best friend, Alex. Here's a pic of him and his son. Seriously, this little man has the most beautiful eyes! He's so going to be a heartbreaker. Alex (and his wife, Alexandra) have a younger son and another on the way. It still baffles Eliasib how he used to hang with Alex as unmarried guys and travel Europe or go skydiving...

Oh...Here's a pic of hubby and I during the graduation. It was so big and there was speeches and stuff...we got a little bored. Ther's lots of these self portraits, but here's my favorite one.

After lunch, we visited hubby's aunts. Here's tia Norma and tio Nene (don't know spelling...)

Here's tia Nena (spelling??? Dunno)

December is also the in-law's anniversary. I don't know why I don't have a picture of the happy couple, but I have pictures of the food we ate at the awesome Turkish restaurant in Winter Park! Here's Eliasib's vegetarian dish. It tasted yummo!

Here's Ivan's chicken kebob-by thingy. Looked yummy!

But...my dish was sooooooooo good! I was sad we were leaving the next day because i really wanted the left overs...but it went home with Ivan who I trust ate the heck out of it!

After flying home, Eliasib and I got into San Francisco and, being that it was 9am, we decided to spare our family and take public transportation most of the way home. We BARTed (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from the airport to the Ferry Building in S.F. and ferried the rest of the way back to Vallejo. Here we are after barely any sleep and flying across the country on the ferry boat. I'm still trying to figure out if the hubby looks cute in this pic or a little creepy...I'll go for cute. =)

I realized that getting pictures of Alcatraz and San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge from the ferry is cool since you can't get those angles from land...so here are a couple shots I took from the ferry.

It was a fun trip! I'll post about some of our other adventures and visits with friends in Florida in another post. Have a great day, all!!

2010!!!

2010-01-06T11:07:00.003-05:00

August 15 was seriously my last blog post? Wow, in a way, that was the last time I had free time before Christmas, that is...

I do plan on posting to this blog...I haven't kept it mostly going since March 2005 for nothin'!!!

Anyways, since its been since August 2009 that I've posted, here's what's been going on -

My friend Kristen Meyer - now Kristen Harmon, got married!!! Here are some of my favorite pictures of the weekend:

Here's a picture of Kristen in her absolutely beautiful dress. Love this picture! It encaptures her happiness and the dress!

Here's the happy couple...

Picture with my Florida friends - Kristen Gleason (now engaged), Kristen and Elizabeth. Miss these girls!!!

Aww...the lucky guy - Joe!

I was able to visit with Kristen more during our quick trip out to Orlando for my sissy-in-law's graduation...it was so nice catching up! And as much as I love California, I do miss my girlfriends in Florida.

Ooh...didn't realize I was running short on time. I'll post more - since I have more to post - later.

Happy 2010 everyone!!!!!

While I'm at it...another cute picture!

2009-08-15T00:07:00.004-04:00

While I'm on the topic of bragging about my nephew, I thought I'd post this pic of my little niece who is now one year old! Could you believe it? I can't...time is flying by!

Here she is in her cute church dress deciding to flip off the shoes and, umm... eat them! That poor rubber ducky better watch out, he's next! =)

Oh, and couldn't resis... the next generation of Adventist Rook Players!

My new nephew!!!

2009-08-15T00:00:00.002-04:00

I've been so caught in life, I haven't had a chance to post a very important family event...

World...meet my new nephew, Caleb (with my lil' bro, the new father)!!!

Here's the proud mommy and the yawning one. Is he not so cute?????

Now that my niece is so big, I completely forgot how LITTLE newborns are! He's an absolute angel, though, from what his parents say, I should come around 2am to see how angelic he is then! =)

Anyways, congrats, Ang and Jun!!!

(I'd post more pictures, but most are on my phone, and I can't seem to figure out how to transfer them to my computer...)

Family & the 4th

2009-07-11T01:14:00.004-04:00

4th of July weekend was so busy! Mostly because we were preparing for my sister-in-law's baby shower. I was so busy during the shower...that I didn't take any pictures. *sigh* but, it was pretty and the food was yummy...so, yeah, it was great and you'll have to take my word for it.

The pictures I do have are of Savannah's first fireworks show and lunch at my cousin Jester's house. Its so nice being back in California because I'm around family. Now, I'm older than most of my cousins, so its so nice to watch them all grow up. I'm not close to them, but maybe one day, we'll all be on the same level and be actual peers. Currently, I'm Manang Valerie. Someone older and someone you respect. That's cool...I'm fine with that!

Here are the pics:

Fireworks!

Angela, Manang Abigail and Savannah
Cousins (and sisters) ~ Mariel, Liziel and Melissa ~ and Savannah
Abigail and Eli. Why does my husband's head look twice as big as my sister's???
My beautiful cousins plus my cousin, Jester's, son, Mark.
Jun, Ang and Mom

Tahoe

2009-07-11T00:52:00.007-04:00

So, this year, my sister pushed us to plan a family trip, even though it was a short one. And you know, I'm glad she did! We had a blast!!! My sister found this really cool cabin that we all pitched in and rented for a long weekend - Thursday to Sunday.

We really enjoyed our trip...though, unfortunately, I was SICK! I was reminded that I have a habit of getting sick before and during vacations - evidence: last year's cruise during our Christmas trip out to Florida. So, I do not have pictures of Sabbath when everyone packed sandwiches and hiked out to a beautiful (I hear) waterfall and see (I hear) a great view. *sigh* Your's truly was back in the cabin asleep. Oh, well...it was still fun, and I hope we can do it again later and for a longer time frame.

Here are some pictures:

Here's a picture of my niece, Savannah. She's almost a year old now and has such a personality. We were sitting outside at a restaurant for my sister-in-law's birthday.
Here's my sister-in-law's birthday "cake," and although I'm not a huge dessert person, that THING was GOOD!!! Probably didn't help my sickness...come to think of it, I was pretty sick the next day. Still, that was REALLY good!!!
Aww, Angela and Demetrio. Cute!!!
On Friday, we went out to the lake. Being Filipino, we set up camp in the shade under a tree. For sure, I didn't get in the water, but that didn't stop the hubby from jumping in to the ice cold water. There was still snow on the mountain tops in the background. Eventually, my brother-in-law, Brad, joined my crazy husband in the water...crazy!!!

Oh, yeah...it was cold!
Friday and Sabbath morning, my brother took charge of breakfast. Yummy!!!
In the cabin Thursday night. Hmmm...what does a family do when they are on vacation? Apparently read a magazine or surf the internet, right???
I'll end with another picture of my adorable niece. =)
It was so much fun to spend time with the family. I hope we make a habit of this!!!

June Activities!!!

2009-06-13T01:38:00.008-04:00

The last couple weeks have been jam-packed with so much fun!!! First of all, my cousin and his family - Marvin, Ila and Izzy - came to visit for the first time in forever! This is the first time I met Izzy, so it was a lot of fun!

We all got together on a Sunday and visited the Oakland Zoo. It was a lot of fun, and the first time WE were part of the parents and grown-ups. Marvin had his daughter, his sister, my cousin, Presmarie brought her two adorable girls, my sister had Savannah, and my brother and the very pregnant Angela were there as well. We essentially had kids (all girls) of all ages - almost 10, about 4, almost 2 and almost 1.

The hubby and I were the only ones without any kids!

It was fun, though, chasing the kids around, passing the babysitting duties around to the closest adult to the escaping child... VERY different environment and life than what I was living just within the last couple years! I know some people enjoy a life free of responsibilities to others, unburdened by kids...but I've never been that. I enjoy spending time with my family since I grew up with large family gatherings, paper plates instead of china, and dodging the occasional game of indoors "tag" while maneuvering my way to the family room. Its exciting to see how us "kids" are now starting to be the adults.

Here's a picture of the fam! (backrow) Izzy, Marvin, Ila, Eliasib, (frontrow) Jun, Angela, Abigail, Brad and Savannah)

Here's a picture of the hubby and Angela. Cute!

The hubby loves to be in the air...free-falling, if possible, but since it was not possible, we opted for those sky/ski-lift things. I am not going to admit that I was still scared of heights while riding, though the picture of me cringing may give that away a bit. =)

June 3, 2009 represented our two year anniversary. Could you believe it? It feels like just last year I was posting pictures of the wedding and honeymoon...crazy!

So, to celebrate our anniversary, we planned a nice, local trip. I took three days off of work and we had such a wonderful time! We started out exploring San Francisco a little more. We had lunch in Berkeley at this yummy Japanese restaurant. On our way into the city, we stopped by and spent a couple minutes enjoying the great weather and views.

We also stopped by the Japanese Tea Gardens. If you have not gone, go! It's a little small thing, but everything is so wonderfully cultivated and kept! After following the path around, you end up where you started - at this little place to order and sip tea while enjoying the beautiful scenery. Imagine and very content Eliasib and Val sipping tea in that hut-thing. Fun!

Afterwards, we spent the rest of the day and night in San Francisco. For our anniversary dinner, Eliasib brought me to this awesome restaurant up the block from our hotel named Asia de Cuba. Fitting, no? Get it - Asia de Cuba??? hehe... unfortunately, no pictures since it was dark and oh, so romantic in there, but the food was VERY good!

After dinner, we went and saw Spamalot. Oh, it was quite silly and fun! I like Monty Python, but its not everyone's humor. Still, even Eli, who normally doesn't thoroughly love MP, enjoyed himself a lot.

The next morning, we hopped in the car and drove down to Santa Cruz. We met up with my sister and family before reaching the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I have memories of going there when I was younger. I remember our 8th grade trip to the Boardwalk... we had so much fun running around, riding the rides...ah, memories. Anyways, here are a couple pictures of the gorgeous day! ...And to think that the weather people were forcasting rain and a dreary day!

Here's a picture of Brad and Eli stretching before getting into "THE VAULT!" When you go in the next room, it is all black with lazer beams criss-crossing throughout the room. The point of the game is to make your way to two specific spots without touching the lazer beams. I took video and tried to upload...but for some reason, its not working. It was hilarious watching them on the monitors trying to wiggle their way around those lazer beams!

Awww... here's a picture of Eli carrying his niece, Savannah. Look at her, all protected from the sun in her cute little hat! Oh, and no, Eliasib didn't all of a sudden get white hair - that's sunblock!

Another "awww..." picture with Savannah and mommy!

Oh, yeah - couldn't NOT take a picture of the hubby and his dark socks and flipflops.

The boys chill-axing!

The next day, we all went to see the Winchester Mystery House. The house was large and odd. There were several theories on why it was so. The most prevalent one is that Mrs. Winchester, who married and then was widdowed by Mr. Winchester of Winchester Rifles, felt guilty for receiving a lot of money as a result of the success of the business - selling Winchester Rifles! She was very into spiritualism, and was supposedly told that, if she was constantly constructing something on or in her house, she would receive absolution from those many, many people killed by the Winchester Rifles.

So... she started building...and building...and building! Her house was not one I would consider beautiful. It was, odd! There are so many peculiarities about the house that it is now known as the Winchester MYSTERY House. There were stairs build up to ceilings, doors leading no where...I think it had something like 160 rooms, though many of those rooms were tiny! Here are a couple pictures:

Since she was a very rich woman, it didn't seem like cost was a hinderance to her. Here is the room where very expensive stained glass and other things were kept. Lots of Tiffany's windows... pretty!

Here is the happy group quickly taking a picture on the tour.

Stairs built up to a ceiling! See... definitely odd!
Marlows in the garden room...

Abigail walking up this very odd stairway. Mrs. Winchester was very short (not above 5 feet) and had arthritis, so she built all these little tiny steps that were probably three or so inches high. Eliasib had fun ducking throughout the whole house since the ceilings were very low in a lot of areas.
Here they are looking up into...who knows! Here's a "window..." or door to the story below???

We had a lot of fun that week. This week was my birthday. My camera died right after we took this picture during my birthday dinner, but it was a great birthday!!! Now I"m looking forward to my 31st year. Yay!

Long time!

2009-05-15T23:59:00.003-04:00

So, its been a billion years since I've posted. The reason is because I like to post with pictures, and since my hubby's had the camera for a various number of reasons and I haven't taken any pictures lately, I haven't had anything to post!

However, I imagine I'll have stuff to post about soon enough. June looks like it'll be my last month o' fun before I get slammed with work. Just looking at my calendar today, I am scheduled out at clients all July, all of August, September, October (except for Mondays and one week each month...so far)...and who knows about November.

But, June will be fun. I have a couple things to look forward to! Birthday, anniversary, family trip to Tahoe (oh, can't wait for that!!!) and another long-ish trip down south.

So, I hope everyone is doing well out there!

Oh, and since I can't post a picture, I'm posting this YouTube video that someone recommended on Facebook...its fascinating! A bit, um...weird looking, but what talent!

Hello!!!

2009-03-25T23:01:00.003-04:00

...so I'm sitting in my hotel room watching American Idol, and I thought I'd just blog about...whatever! Right now, my husband is probably asleep after a long, hard day on the construction site and helping out with VBS and the adult meetings in Chile.

Yup! He's on a mission trip to Chile with our church, and whenever I hear from him, he's excited about what's going on down there. He also says that they're treated like celebrities! I completely understand what he's talking about since when we were in Korea my senior year in highschool for concerts, even though we were just little 16-18 year olds, the korean kids were still asking for our autographs and stuff.

Anyways, I miss him TONS, and I can't wait to see him on Sunday.

Oh...on a sad note...

My sisster's friend, Kristen Ching, and her family died in a plane crash this last Sunday. It is really awful thinking about how young and beautiful she was. Her kids were young and she was pregnant with her third. This just shows how short life is.

What constantly sits on the back of my mind is just that! Life is short...what do I want people to remember of my life? What do I want to look back on my life and see I've accomplished, what I've done? What do I want to lvea behind? Work done? Lots of pictures with my family? Memories of what???

*sigh*

Well, anyways...

Jim's Wedded Bliss

2009-03-13T23:34:00.006-04:00

So my last post was SUPPOSED to be in conjunction with Jim's wedding - the REASON we took our fabulous road trip down to southern california.

Jim, er...Jeremiah...is a good friend of mine who I met at PUC and then spent the next couple years with in Orlando. He was my continuity from being a young college student with no responsibilities to a young single professional girl starting out on her own across the country.

Jim is unpredictable, an instigator, a bad influence, a quarter of the OG's and a great friend. I always told him I would be there for his wedding, and I didn't want to break that promise. So, when Jim told me he was getting married to the amazing Liza, I knew I had to be there!!!

Jim and Liza are unique, fun people! So when I found out that they were going to be married at the San Diego Zoo, I was excited! I asked Liza why the zoo, and she said it was the first place he brought her when they visited San Diego for the first time - Jim's home town.

It was a small, intimate wedding with family and close friends. Before, during, and after, the guests had an opportunity to roam the zoo. It was the first time for both the hubby and I, so that part was tons o' fun!

So...back to the wedding. Here is a picture of the bride and groom. Everyone now...AWWWW!!!

Here we are with the happy family. That was the OTHER thing! It was the first time I was able to meet Jim's daughter, Thea! She was an absolute doll!!!

A picture of the family...seriously...AWWW!!!

Daddy Jimbo!

...and Thea!

Here's a picture of the figurine on their cake.

Finally, I was able to get back in connection with two friends from the past - Karem and Mandy. Karem and her husband, Doug, I knew from PUC. They recently had an addition to their family - adorable little Luna! I also was able to catch up with a friend from Orlando, Mandy! She currently lives in Cali, but she's a Floridian. It was great to catch up with these girls.

Here's a picture of the Thompson and Pederson family. Who would've thought in college that I would be posting this picture.....

Hearst Castle

2009-02-14T10:20:00.006-05:00

This weekend, the hubby and I are driving down from Northern California to Southern California to attend my good friend Jim's wedding to the ever lovely Liza! They are such a precious couple, I can't wait to see them at the wedding on Sunday!

Until then, however, I'll document our trip!

We left Thursday evening after work in San Francisco. We drove all the way down to within five miles or so from Hearst Castle, our planned activity for Friday!

Hearst Castle is a wonderful place to visit if you love architecture and luxury. Here's a link to the Hearst Castle website.

William Randolph Hearst, as many of you may know, was VERY rich. He had the moolah to build this castle which cost roughly $10,000,000 back in the 1940's (I think. I was snapping almost 200 pictures during the tour). It took 20+ years to complete, The stats of the house were crazy - something like 50+ bedrooms and 60-something bathrooms...or was that fireplaces? It felt as if there was a fireplace in every room!!! He started building in his late 50's with the help of architect Julia Morgan.

(By the way, the hotel we stayed at Thursday night was The Morgan Hotel. It was very quaint, cute and affordable. Obviously it was named after Julia Morgan, the Hearst Castle architect).

This is the view on our way to Hearst Castle from our hotel. I love the coast of California. I'm not a beach person, but I'm an ocean person. Does that make sense?

From the visitors' center, our tour group took a bus up to Hearst Castle. It was another five miles up the hills/mountain to the castle on windy roads. On the way, we found out that Mr. Hearst loved animals and kept, at one point, the largest private zoo in the world. He had lions, tigers, bears... =) no, seriously, he did! His animals roamed the hills as well, and we caught a glimpse or two of deer while driving back down after the tour.

I am not going to post all my pictures of our Hearst Castle tour. I'll just post enough to give you an idea! We took pictures from one of the many, many grand views from the house. Could you imagine having that type of view?

This is a picture of Neptune's Pool. At first they were just going to make a family pool, but when it became apparent that the house was constantly going to be full of people - movies stars, politicians, etc., they ripped out the pool twice-ish and finally settled on this pool. It is AMAZING!!!

Here's another view of the pool from above.

Here we are outside of the Casa Grande (the main castle portion). Doesn't it look like a church?

Here's another shot of Casa Grande. That's the front door of the house.

The Hearst Castle Living Room. Check out the giant fireplace! I asked the tour lady if Citizen Kane was filmed at the Castle, and it did not appear so.

Hearst loved art and architecture which was a result of an earlier year and a half long trip to Europe with his mother. His estate had tons of art all over.

This was his dining room. Not too shabby! By the way, if the pictures aren't the clearest, it is because I wasn't able to use a flash (Castle policy), so I did the best I could without a tripod!

Since Hearst also made movies and stuff, he had an actual theater in his house.

This is Mr. Hearst himself. I guess back in the day, movie theaters did more than show movies. This is Mr. Hearst's public appeal for people to support US industry.

Our tour conlcluded with an indoor pool. It was an amazing thing as well.

Apparently, the floor had gold in it. Here's a picture of Eli and I standing on gold.

The indoor pool also had a diving platform. The pool was only 10 feet deep, though. Not sure if I would've jumped from it.

It was a marvelous house, really! They have four tours. Ours did not entail the second floor or Mr. Hearst's bedroom. They also have evening/night tours during certain months. If you have the chance, definitely drop by! Oh...I'd recommend budgeting a couple hours and getting your tickets ahead of time.

Happy Birthday, Manang!

2009-02-06T22:44:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday, Manang!!! For my sister's birthday, we all got together and did what we are all good at - EAT!!!

Yummy food at a Mexican restaurant (can't find the name on google! Crazy! But it was soo gooood!)

I can't post about my sister without posting about my beautiful neice! Here she is with the bear. She's the same size as him, if not bigger! She's so going to love all these pictures we're taking with her and the bear. =) But seriously, aren't they cute???

Awwwwwww...............

Tourists!

2009-02-06T21:01:00.004-05:00

Two weekends ago (I think), the hubby and I took a trip down south. My company was throwing one of the partners a retirement party down south. It was fortunate that we were able to combine the Saturday night event with a conference I had to attend the following Monday - Wednesday.

We flew down Friday afternoon and drove around until we found our hotel. This was our view at night:

Sabbath morning, we did a little exploring and decided on attending the Vallejo Drive church in Glendale. It looked like a mini Angwin church! The service was really nice, and I wouldn't mind attending again.

Saturday night, we got all dressed up and attended the party which was held at the California Club. I definitely felt out of place next to the giant fireplaces and ritzy...er...everything! But we were able to relax with some coworkers and have a lot of fun. There were tributes given and dinner and dancing to an awesome live band. Here are a couple pictures:

I really liked the ceiling. I think I'll make it my wallpaper...
The main room for the party.
Sunday, we slept in and took our time moving out of our room and on to the next hotel for the next couple days. On our way, we stopped in Hollywood since the hubby hadn't seen it before. We dropped by the Chinese Mann Theater where a lot of movie premieres are held. We saw the movie Inkheart there. (I liked the movie, but in the same vein, I liked Stardust better.)

We also were in the same place as the Kodak Theater - ya know, where they hold American Idol Hollywood week and the Oscars.

We stayed at a hotel just within walking distance from Universal CityWalk. It was fun to go visit. I'll write more on the conference (hopefully) since I really enjoyed it.

oh, by the way, since I haven't posted in a while, I thought I'd include in this post pictures of our visit with one of my favorite people - Stacey! Stacey is one of my dearest and most precious friends from MBA. Although we don't see each other nearly as much as we should, and we don't keep in touch as much as I'd like, she is still a very, very dear friend. When I received RSVPs back for my wedding, I shed tears only twice when I found out someone wasn't able to come. One was for my cousin, Marvin and the other was when I found out my friend Stacey couldn't come.

I completely understood the circumstances, but the wedding did feel a bit incomplete because these two weren't there.

Anywho...Stacey and her husband were down visiting family over the Christmas/New Year's holiday, and we were able to meet up with them for a couple hours. Here are some pics:

Stacey, I miss you, and I hope to see you sooner rather than later!!!

Holiday Season #2

2008-12-27T01:31:00.004-05:00

So, this year, my mom wanted Christmas portraits...so we all dressed up and went to get some pictures taken. Maybe I'll post of those pictures! In the mean time, here's a pic of the hubby and I in the waiting room.

Here's another...wait a minute...who's taking this picture on my camera??? =)
For Christmas, we all went to my auntie Eding's house. It was another small crowd, but it was one of the most fun Christmases we've had in a couple years! For one, the TV wasn't turned on once during the evening, so we definitely had some family bonding! We bonded through food and games. Here's a picture of everyone there right before opening presents. Our family members absent due to distance, we miss you all!!!

Here's a picture of my (back row), Jun, Eli, Neil (front row), Angela, Jeremy (filling in for me since this is, apparently, a married couples picture) and Faith. Faith and Neil, our newest married couple in the Patricio family are becoming Hawaii residents in less than a week. On the one hand, we're going to miss yet more family around...but seriously, THEY'RE MOVING TO HAWAII!!! Hopefully we can take them up on their invitation to visit. =)

Ah, yes, the head of the family - Inang and Tatang! Love my grandparents. Aren't they cute???

Ooooo!!! Caught the hubby sneaking food before we officially starting eating. Busted!!!

The hubby getting the Patricio family history lesson while looking at some pictures from many, many moons ago.

Here's Savannah's first Christmas with Auntie Eding. She had a good time though didn't quite make it to the presents time since we wait until midnight on Christmas Eve to open presents.

We also had a small family get together at my sister's house. Here are the parentals.

Eli...helping my sister cook? That doesn't seem right...oh, wait, I think he just popped over for the picture. Okay, that's more like it!

Oh, yes, and here's the proud parents showing off how their daughter can now sit up on her own. Well, its either that or they're grooming her for a life in the circus...one of those...

I love this picture of my sister and Savannah. So cute!!!

It was so nice to spend so much time with family. I look forward to New Years, too!

Florida 08

2008-12-27T01:04:00.005-05:00

I'm loving the month of December! It was packed full of stuff, and I'm happy to report, not much working going on! =) hehe... people are too busy with the holidays to schedule audits, and that's fine and dandy with me! It has allowed me to take some time off GUILT-FREE and visit with family and friends and ... wait for it... RELAX! Oh, it has been so great to be happy and not stressed. It has done wonders for me! I feel more like myself, and that is always a good thing, don't you think? In December, I have not worked a full week yet! Here's what I've been doing:

December started out with a trip down south for the weekend with the hubby and my brother's birthday (see below post).

On December 11, the hubby and I flew out to Orlando to be with his parents and family for his parent's 40th anniversary. What they wanted for their anniversary was for everyone to be together, so how more together can we be than on a weekend cruise to the Bahamas?!?!?!?! It was a lot of fun...other being sick for the majority of the weekend and that we were denied our second stop because of bad whether and had to stay on the boat a full extra day!

But, honestly, I only have good memories of the cruise. Here are a couple pictures:

Valerie & Eliasib on the last night of the cruise in the theater waiting for the last show to start.

The Ruban family during the dress-up dinner (Valerie, meanwhile, was sleeping a fever off in her cabin and didn't get to wear her pretty, new dress - boo!).

Picture of our cruise boat. What a pretty day in Nassau!

Valerie & hubby on the first night at dinner.

Carrie & Ruben at dinner. What a cute couple! They were so happy just to be out of freezing, snowy Chicago! We're looking forward to seeing them just before New Years, too!

The happy couple celebrating their 40th. Wish we could live closer so we could spend more time together!

Glorybell and Ivan - my sister-in-law and "future" brother-in-law.

When we got back to Orlando, we had a couple days to do errands and hang out with the family and friends. Here's a picture of dinner with some of our bestest friends:

Sean & Eli. Eli misses his partner-in-crime...er...I mean, his buddy.

Elizabeth (and Ethan) and Kristen...miss you girls! It was so nice to see these two who I miss so much. Wish we had more time!

All in all, our Florida trip was fabulous. Wish we could it more often and for longer!!!

Holiday Season #1

2008-12-27T00:48:00.003-05:00

Well, I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! In order to not fall behind, I have posted a couple things in this post:

Brother's turning OLD! Hehe...although he will obviously be younger than me and be my little brother, he's nearing the 30 club! Jun turned 29 this year, and we celebrated at a very yummy restaurant and ice cream cake afterwards. Here's a picture of the birthday boy!

Here is is "eating" one of his birthday gifts. For all you non-filipinos out there, adobo is a very popular filipino dish - chicken adobo is yummy! Cool shirt, Jun!
I couldn't resist taking this picture of Junior trying to lay the guilt trip on Tammy for some ice cream cake...smart dog!

In other news, the comopany flew the hubby and I down south for our Christmas party. It was tons of fun with food, dinner, dancing, gifts! Somehow, though, I came away with no pictures of the company christmas party and only with these couple few:

Christmas on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills:

View from our morning breakfast in Long Beach, CA:

Palm tree in Long Beach:

Thanksgiving was fun this year! Dulce came up and helped us vege around the house all weekend! Great fun! Here's a picture of the family eating and enjoying each other's company:

...and here's a picture of my grandma next to the traditional Filipino-American Thanksgiving spread: Turkey, yams, pancit, mashed potatoes, fish, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, bibingka...ya know, all the regular dishes! =)

California Living

2008-11-23T20:31:00.008-05:00

Hey! Long time no write! I know, I know...I've been so very delinquent. Well, hopefully life has slowed down enough so I can post a little bit more often.

For a change of pace, I'm going to post about something OTHER than work. =)

This last weekend we celebrated an extention of the husband's birthday by going to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. He had been wanting to go for a long time, and this weekend, Jun and Angela were able to join us in the visit!

We had a ton of fun. We saw lots of fish and animals (stuffed...its not a zoo) as well as saw a 3D bug show and a planetarium program. As much as I would love to say those shows were great, I have to admit that I slept through both programs and only saw a tidbit of them. But what I saw was great! =) The planetarium show was amazing...if you ever have a chance to see it, do!

They had closed the museum down for a bit to renovate it, and it just opened this fall. Part of the renovations included a "living roof." It consisted of covering the roof in flowers, grass, etc. It was really a sight.

The inside was redone as well. Here we are exiting the planetarium show and walking across the catwalk.

Oh, yeah, and Eli couldn't resist making friendly with the, uh, skeletons?

Pretty fishies!!!

For all of our Florida friends, here's a picture to assure you that Eli's still the same guy...hasn't change a bit!

Other things going on??? Our celebration of the hubby's birthday!

And...of course, my precious, most adorable niece. Remember those pictures I posted of her right after she was born? Look at her now! Of course, this is her "boy" outfit. She is, afterall, part Villar...therefore, she has 49er fan blood in her! =) (We're ignoring her Cowboy fan father).

Here are various other pictures of my niece, Savannah:

With Mommy...not only is she the object of a million pictures, already, but we have no doubt she'll follow after her mother in her photography interests.

Here's a picture of me holding Sav when she was a little younger. Cute, huh???

Here's her two month picture with the bear. My sister's taking a picture of Sav with the bear each month to visually see how much she's grown. Her three month picture looked like they were almost the same height! Almost. Isn't this such a funny picture? She is very expressive with her eyebrows, and she always is giving us this concerned look. It makes her look so "old" for her 3 1/2 months.

In October, we also celebrated my parents' anniversary. Don't they look great? I'm so blessed to have such wonderful and supportive parents.

...and somewhere in there, I try to find as much fun as possible. Unfortunately, the girls didn't win this particular "Battle of the Sexes" game. The boys got lucky, for sure!

I'm sooo looking forward to this holiday season. Thanksgiving, Christmas... yay!

...has it been almost a month?

2008-10-24T01:26:00.003-04:00

Where has the time gone?

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I don't EVER remember being more busy than I am now. I'm not exactly sure what is going on with my life. Just today, the hubby called me and I actually found myself saying, "have we already talked today?"

So bad, I know!!!

It doesn't help that I'm working a ka-zillion hours and am in a different environment every week! Just last week I was at a small school in the hills of Watsonville (pretty! I felt like I was a camp whenever the breeze would blow through the window since it smelled like trees, dirt and fresh air!). This week I'm in Southern California.

Of course, before these two stints outside of the city, I had spent the month prior practically living in San Francisco. I am starting to like being in the city. The people are interesting and not phased by the unusual. The restaurants and shops are unique versus the chains I was so used to seeing.

Then again, I resent going into the city because I equate the city to WORK.

Some days aren't the greatest. Frustrations with the job, coworkers, clients...other days, I love the fact that my job changes with each and every client! I like spending time with my coworkers, even if it is at 10:00 pm on a Sunday night and we are all stuck in the office trying to get work done to meet the deadlines!

Anyways, I'd better stop writing since its nearly 11:00 pm, and i'm sitting all alone in the middle of the client's accounting office trying to finish some work. Well, all alone besides the cleaning lady.

I have been getting in the way of a lot of cleaning crews lately since I've found myself in the office much later than I prefer.

Take care, people, and I hope everyone is doing well!

Yay...I get to go home tomorrow!!!

Oh, and I promise to post picures soon. What little "life" I have had outside of work over the last month+ will most likely be documented in the pictures.

I'm getting old...

2008-09-29T23:34:00.003-04:00

You know how I know I'm getting old? I'm getting set in my ways! I don't like learning new things, processes...I am tired of meeting new people...

I'm a grumpy ol' woman! That's so exactly it!

*sigh*

but I'm not.

We're smack-dab in the middle of our busy season, and two years in a row, I find my favorite season - fall - is kicking my butt!!!

(It's fall, right? That's how disconnected to LIFE I am right now!)

Anyways, gotta get back to work. I hope everyone out there is doing swell!

Busy Season

2008-09-06T02:48:00.002-04:00

So I've been a bit busy with our firm's "busy season." I've been working long hours, driving long distances (or dealing with infuriating traffic) and treasuring Sabbaths - my guilt-free-work-free zone. Friday afternoons after I get off work is the happiest time of my weeks!

But the work is mostly interesting, though a bit stressful. I hate that feeling that I should know something, but its just beyond my grasp! Being new, learning new processes, systems and the culture of the new job is always a little stressful. The people are nice, though, and our clients are usually helpful and easy to work with (knock on wood).

...and in the midst of work, I have been spending as much time as I can with family! It is sooo awesome to be able to see my siblings and their families as often as I have. My little niece is the most adorable thing ever. If you haven't already, check out her pictures on their Marlows-in-California blog.

Cute, right???

Anyways, I'm ready to cut back on work, but for now, its Sabbath, and I'm relaxing and enjoying it.

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day and week, and hope you have a happy Sabbath!!!

Joinin' the Auntie Club!

2008-08-13T01:22:00.003-04:00

I'm so excited! I'm an auntie (REAL auntie) for the very first time! And Savannah is perfect. Caused a little bit of trouble for her mama since her water broke at 6am, but Savannah didn't come out until 11:45 pm (making Eli the winner of the guessing game).

She was born 15 minutes before her due date on August 11.

She likes to sleep with her arms up around her ears...so cute!

Mommy is doing well, though she had to stay longer than usual because of some minor happenings. They should be coming home tomorrow. I'm sooo glad I was able to be there when my sister became a mommy.

*yawn*

Now off to bed since I'm in the midst of busy season, and I only got a four hour nap last night. I sleep more during my Sabbath afternoon naps! =) but the new addition to the family was definitely worth it.

It's me again - Oreo!

2008-08-09T01:50:00.002-04:00

...she's slipped away again from cramming in blogs on what's she's been doing over the past month or so, so I thought I'd pop on and post again!

So, what has my last month been like? See the below picture? yeah, that's me in that BAG again. I had to go to the new man who checks me out not once but TWICE! I think his name is "Vet." Apparently my owners think there's something wrong with me since I may have missed my (yucky) litterbox once...or twice...and got the couch once...or twice.

So now I'm on my second set of antibiotics. I much prefer the pills being shoved down my throat then the liquid nastiness that was...shoved down my throat. And as for my freedom around this big house...well, let's just say its nonexistent! I'm stuck in the room unless one of my owners is able to watch me closely outside the room.

I swear...its not like I'm a kitten anymore, PEOPLE!

On the plus side, I found a new "favorite thing!" To add to my list of hair rubberbands, treats, table scraps (yum!) and having my belly rubbed...I've found...GRASS!!!

TA-Da! Yummy...yummy...yummy!!!

I don't know why I like this grass so much, though I think my owner's mom thought I'd like a refill of the other stuff I liked so much.
I hope I get better soon. I could tell my male owner is getting tired of cleaning up after me. I know I used to be such a low-maintenance cat, but hopefully my innards will get better soon.

Berkeley Kite Festival '07

2008-08-09T01:11:00.002-04:00

Yup, you read it right...KITE FESTIVAL!

It was the first one I've been to, and frankly, I'd totaly go again! Here's a pic of Eliasib, Jun, Ang and Abigail...and lots of kites in the skies! I didn't even get any good shots of the BIG kites...
Here's a pic of Brad and Eli discussing kites...because now, of course, all the boys want cool kites to fly.

I tried to post a video of one of the awesome kite routines, but I'll have to look into that later...

Soquel

2008-08-09T00:35:00.003-04:00

When I was a kid, one of the highlights of the summer was going to the Central California SDA Conference Soquel Campmeeting. The conference owns this huge area in this little town about 10 minutes or so from MBA, my beloved old highschool.

Anyways, growing up, it was one of the few places my parents let us just go out and have fun. We ran around with our friends, made new friends and were just free to be kids out and about!

'Til today, my parents go every year, my mom normally staying the full 9-10 days. I haven't been since probably the summer of 1997. THAT was a fun Soquel campmeeting!

Ah...memories...

It was fun introducing the hubby to the "camp"grounds - which consisted of rows and rows of either tents or RV's.

Here's a pic from the top of the mountain:
Here's a row of tents...or two...
The main auditorium was where the meetings were held. Now that I'm an adult, I attended the grown-up services. No Youth tent for me anymore! As you can see, the meetings on the weekends were quite well attended. The first weekend we didn't even get to sit! We made sure we got seats the second weekend.

Part of the reason I also went was to catch up with old friends. It was so nice to see Dulce.

Here's a picture of my family and a childhood friend and his family, Mike and his wife Gemma with their son, Max. Although you may not know Mike, he's an awesome guy, so please keep him in your prayers. This picture was taken a week or so before he was scheduled to report for military duty...notice his wife is about to have a baby in September and his baby boy isn't even two years old! It has to be tough being a military family.

Here's a shot of the inside of one of the tents with my dad and Tatang lounging out front. What is my mom doing? Why assisting in putting the Sabbath potluck together, of course!
Finally, here's a picture of the fam hanging out in front of the tents. Dad, Jun, Hubby and Ang.

If you ever get a chance to attend the campmeeting, go! It was a blessing to fellowship with others and listen to Henry Wright and Doug Batchelor. Can't wait until next year! Maybe we can stay the whole time next time!

4th of July = FOOD!!!

2008-07-05T12:08:00.005-04:00

What is it with holidays that makes us want to ingest large amounts of food? Well, this past holiday wasn't any different.

For us, 2008's 4th of July celebrations consisted of food, food and MORE food. Since Friday was the holiday, we started our "vaca" on Thursday night! The hubby and I came home from S.F. (working is good, but holidays, even better!). We dropped by my sister's house and hung out for a bit. We introduced them to our first season of 'Til Death. The first season is the best and is a really awesome show to watch with married friends or with your spouse. We watched a couple episodes before noticing my brother-in-law snoring away.

Oh, and we also watched the results show for this season's "So You think You Can Dance." That show has to be my favorite summer show. =)

Afterwards, we went to my brother's house and watched "Vantage Point" for the second time, and then while Angie and I fell asleep, her in her nice bed and me on the floor, my brother and husband explored the new world of the PS3. Oh, yes... boys just flock to a new gaming system!

Well, needless to say, we didn't get out of there for a while, so the 4th started with us sleeping in, a bit, and a semi-large breakfast with my parents. We hung out for a bit and went to our next food destination - my sister's house!

Now, anyone who knows my sister knows she can put on a dinner party. She did not disappoint when she mentioned a casual lunch. Nope! I took some pictures:

Here's her 4th of July themed table. Yum!

Here's more food on the table. Love the presentation and colors! We had steak, hot dogs, veges and other stuff for the vegetarians.
Here's the fam around the table post-lunch. Eating laughing, bonding...good times. We were minus Angie and plus Morris.

We cleaned up and watched some tv and a movie ("Look Who's Talking." Remember that movie? My very pregnant sister felt like watching a movie about babies. cute! )

When we were done, we looked up and saw that we were late for dinner! Yup! We were scheduled to go to my aunt's house for another barbecue. We went and once again loaded up on the food. We were there with other family and friends. Here's a picture of my cousins Jonathan and Jeremy loading up on the salmon.

Here's another shot of the food-laden table.

Elizabeth...here's a picture my cousins (Jonathan, Jeremy, Melissa, Mariel and Anthony) thoroughly addicted to "Sequence." I thought they'd love it, as do it. =)

This is the first 4th of July I've spent with my family in who knows how long. I hope everyone's holiday was just as good!!!

Anniversary - #1

2008-06-15T15:05:00.004-04:00

Could you believe it? We've been married a whole year! One year. Uno Anos. And, let me tell you, its been quite the year. Marriage, new jobs, stress, moving back to California, job hunting, being on opposite coasts for two months, starting a new job. It's been crazy!.

Our anniversary was on June 3, and to celebrate, our gift to each other was to take a couple day trip down to Monterey. Later, I found out that the hubby wasn't completely stoked to go, but he gave it a shot since I wanted to go (see, already learning!) and was pleasantly surprised. I guess he didn't realize how cute and quaint the area was!

We stayed at this brand new hotel called The Clement Monterey. At that time, the bellman said it was only open for about 10 days. The views were beautiful and the room was gorgeous. The little fireplace was great since it was quite chilly at times for those of us with Florida blood still running through our veins. I would definitely recommend the hotel since its right there on Cannery Row and literally next door to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We mostly parked the car while we were there and walked where we wanted to!

Here's a picture of Eli and I behind the hotel overlooking the ocean. By the way, you'll see this pose quite a bit whenever I wanted a picture of us together. He has the long arms, and there wasn't always someone walking by to take our picture.

Here's a picture of the back of our hotel. We sat by the outdoor fireplaces for a bit and just looked out over the ocean. Pretty!!!Since this is how the pictures loaded, I'll pop over to our drive over 17-Mile Drive. This area has beautiful scenic views over the ocean. Pebble Beach golf course is also on this scenic drive. Every once in a while we'd stop and just take pictures or just take in the views. LOVE the houses on the drive, too. Let's just say, some of those houses were over $10M, I'm sure!

Here's a picture of us overlooking a piece of the golf course.

Yeah...there were signs to not feed the animals. What do you think...were those signs effective? Poor little big-boned squirrel!

Here's another shot I took. I don't know why, but I love this picture!
One of the stops was overlooking this lone Cyprus tree. It really old and has withstood a lot of weathering. In addition, I believe the logo for my old highschool, Monterey Bay Academy, is based on this tree.
Before taking the car out to 17-Mile Dr., we walked over to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It wasn't the largest aquarium I've been to, but it has really spectacular exhibits which beat out other aquariums. We were one of the first visitors, so we were able to have some exhibits to ourselves before the school groups started coming in. That was nice since there is something about water that is very calming to the soul.

Eli took a picture of me in front of this HUGE aquarium, and he captured this school of fish perfectly! I was fascinated and felt like a little girl mesmerized by what I saw.
One of the exhibits started by the people walking in to the room and looking up and seeing a 360-degree tank of fish just swimming in circles. It was awesome! We just stared and stared.
My favorite part of the aquarium was actually the jellyfish. I couldn't stop taking pictures! Since I accidentally left my camera charger at home, I wanted to conserve my battery...but that was very hard with the jellyfish exhibit!

After 17-mile dr., we ended up walking around Carmel. There were tons of cute little shops and quaint little restaurants.

We were walking near this park, and I had to stop and take a picture of this statue sitting on the park bench. It was of this little old couple still looking very much in love. I thought how I hoped we'd be able to get to that stage in our life. A complete life together with kids and a family and a lifetime of memories together.

All in all, it was an amazing trip, and I'm so glad we were able to have it!

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-06-11T00:41:00.003-04:00

...and I'm 30!

I am a happy 30-year old, though. No regrets, I am happy where my life is, and I can't complain! Here are my birthday highlights:

Breakfast at Mama's on Washington Square. This is what showed up on our table. It was good food and even on a Tuesday morning, there was a line at least 15 people deep (you have to wait outside since there's no room inside except for those eating). After breakfast, we hung out at Washington Square just people watching. There were asian people visiting with each other and performing Tai Chi...or something close. There was the drunk and the people walking their dogs. We also went into a nice church. I have pictures of those things, but I didn't want to get carried away with this post and take too long and then not post...ya know how these things go.

COIT Tower. This is the third time Eli's been to the tower but only the first time up to the top. I took lots of pictures of the city from the top of the tower. Pretty!!! I'm starting to really like the city!
Dinner at Skates on the Bay. The fam all went to this beautiful restaurant. Although the majority of the menu was sea food, and I don't tend to order in this area, the views were awesome, and it was great turning 30 with my family around.

Here's my favorite gift from my very thoughtful husband. My very own Coach laptop bag! LOVE IT! This was the biggest thing he's ever kept from me. and just in time for when I start my job tomorrow.

Yes, I'm starting my job tomorrow. It's been a fun three months off, but back to the grown up world I go. My husband is here in beautiful California. We've spent time together and celebrated our one year anniversary (pictures and post to come, for sure), I'm starting a new job which hopefully I'll enjoy, and I'm 30! A lot of things have happened in the last year.

Here's to a new year of life!

ROADTRIP!

2008-06-07T02:36:00.003-04:00

Well, I wish I had more interesting pictures or something to go along with my account of our roadtrip from Florida to California, but alas, we pretty much just drove! We left late-late Tuesday night and drove as long as we could each day. We weren't able to do much sight seeing on our trip out, and I was so disappointed we weren't able to visit with our friends Kristin & Isaac and Jim and the fam. If I could do it again, I'd give it a week for us to really enjoy the drive...that and a carload less stuff, but hey, we still had fun. It was a great way to reconnect with the husband of mine I hadn't seen in about two months!

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Somewhere on our drive we came upon a lot of smoke...then the fire! I think it was controlled, so that's good.

We looked at maps. A lot! Whether they were big maps or little maps. Maps of the country, of the state we were in or of the county, it felt as if we were looking at them. I think the hubby likes maps. I, personally, am sick of looking at maps.

We saw a lot of pretty scenes throughout the trip. This is one of my favorite pictures of a view. I think we may have been in New Mexico.
Surprise! SNOW! This was in the Flagstaff area of Arizona. This was the hubby's first sighting of snow in years...according to him. Yeah, I was the recipient of his first snowball in years, too! Lovely. I was in flip flops walking through the snow and bit down a canyon walkway! You could definitely tell I was "not from 'round here!"
Our destination was Leoni Meadows - Northern California's SDA Camp. We got there just in time for Filipino Campmeeting! My family faithfully attended every year on Memorial Day weekend. I just hadn't attended since either highschool or college! It was nice to go since all my family - both immediate and extended - were there! Mom, dad, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles...all there! We were able to catch up on some sleep and hang with the family a bit.

Here's a picture of the hubby bonding with No-Cal nature. Doesn't it look as if they have matching smiles?

Here's the hubby bonding with my cousin's daughter, or as filipinos deem it - my niece! Saturday night , after the programs, there were a lot of games. Of course, there were a lot of spectators. Here's a picture of some of the Patricio clan. It's so nice being around family again!

Anyways, I'm glad I don't have any pictures of the car breaking down or running out of gas. We were blessed driving out that there were no major glitches in our plans to drive across country. We're now here safe and sound!

Recent Life

2008-05-17T00:07:00.004-04:00

As I previously posted, my dad's computer isn't the greatest to post my pictures from, so I just haven't, but now that I'm here with the hubby and using his computer, I thought I'd post a few I've taken over the last couple weeks.

That, and he's asleep because here in Florida, I have "a lot of energy" at 12:10 am, whereas really, I'm still on California time. So, I'm going to take advantage of this jet lag to post!

Here we are at the A's vs. Mariners game in Oakland. This picture consists of Andrew, me, sister, Bro-in-law, sis-in-law and brosky. Andrew used to rent a room from us in Florida. Now, he's renting a room from my parents and the hubby and I are also living with my parents. Weird!

My sister felt like barbecuing, so she set a pretty table and we ate yuuuummmyyy food. They have such a beautiful backyard, huh??? (That's passively saying I'M SO JEALOUS!!!)
This last weekend the family got together for a rare picnic since the weather was so nice. We were all surprised at how many of the fam could actually get together with all the nurses' schedules, cousins out of town, etc. Even my cousin on leave from the military was able to be there. It was soo nice to see everyone. Of all the pictures, I chose the picture of my cousin's little girl. Isn't she adorable???
For Mother's Day, we piled into my parents' LC and brunched in San Fran. Afterwards, we walked around an outdoor art fair, BR and Chinatown. It was so much fun hanging with the family. Here are my parentals at the art fair.

Oh, yes...ever the boba addict, my brother had to stop for one. My parents also decided to partake.

I'm here in Florida gathering my husband. We will be making the drive out to CA starting Tuesday. I don't know our route yet, it depends on how much time we have. I will definitely be posting about that trip. In the mean time, its so nice to see the hubby and celebrate Elizabeth's birthday as well as see some good friends while out here. I keep thinking how it seems as if I have been gone a long time...yet...not.

2008-05-01T14:30:00.000-04:00

Check out my "movie post" below...

Hola!

2008-04-30T14:23:00.004-04:00

I'm still here. Sorry about not posting for a while. Ya see...I don't have a computer here in Cali, and my dad's computer, although pretty new...HAS PROBLEMS! I can't wait until the hubby gets out here so he can heal this computer of all its woes.

For instance: I can't really plug in an external drive! I have a couple little thumb drives and a larger 60 gig that has pictures and documents and stuff. Anyways, when I plug one of those suckers in, the computer freezes up!

Computers are a blessing...when they work properly. Just like everything else in this world, you don't miss or appreciate something until its GONE. A fast connection, a computer that doesn't freeze up...I miss that.

The hubby can make it better, I just know it! Can't wait until he gets here in a couple weeks. Can't believe I haven't seen him in over a month! What was that saying - "Absence makes the heart grow fonder"? It's true!

I heart Movies!

2008-04-11T13:49:00.004-04:00

One of my myspace friends posted this movie "test" and I thought it was interesting. Here were the instructions:

"SUPPOSEDLY if you've seen over 85 movies, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. There are 202 movies on this list. Copy this list and paste this as a bulletin. Then put an X next to the movies you've seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click "Post" at the bottom. Have fun!"

In addition to stating whether or not I've seen the movie, I'll list a comment.

(x) Grease - Reminds me of Stacey M. and college.

(x) Pirates of the Caribbean - Great movie!

(x)Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest - Good movie!

(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End - Haven't broken open the DVD to view again...

( ) Boondock Saints

(x) Fight Club - awww...Casey!

(x) Starsky and Hutch

(x) Neverending Story - a classic!

( ) Blazing Saddles

(x) Airplane - "Striker! Striker!"

(x ) Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy - Didn't love as much as others

(x ) Napoleon Dynamite - so many quotes, so little space!

( ) Saw

( ) Saw II

( ) Saw III

( ) Saw IV

( ) White Noise

( ) White Oleander

(x) 50 First Dates - Valentines Date!

(x) The Princess Diaries - I love kiddie movies!

(x)The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

(x) Scream - Saw with David C. in college...

( ) Scream 2

( ) Scream 3

(x) Scary Movie

(x) Scary Movie 2

(x) Scary Movie 3

( ) Scary Movie 4

(x) American Pie - the whole theater was cracking up!

(x) American Pie 2

(x) American Wedding

(x) American Pie Band Camp - don't judge! someone gave me the dvd! which went in the trash soon after viewing.

( ) American Pie Naked Mile

(x )Harry Potter 1 - I have the movies, too!

(x) Harry Potter 2

(x) Harry Potter 3

(x) Harry Potter 4

(x) Harry Potter 5

( ) Resident Evil 1

( ) Resident Evil 2

(x) Resident Evil 3 - Since I didn't see the first two, thought the movie was okay.

(x) The Wedding Singer - LOVE Adam Sandler!

( ) Little Black Book

(x) The Village - Only watched after finding out the ending. I'm a total wuss, I know.

(x) Lilo & Stitch

(x) Finding Nemo

( ) Finding Neverland

( ) Signs - Does it count if I saw the movie but didn't listen to the dialogue on the plane?

(x) The Grinch - One of the first movies I saw after moving to FL

( )Texas Chainsaw Massacre

( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

( ) White Chicks

( ) Butterfly Effect

(x) 13 Going on 30 - THRILLA'! Didn't love, but I like the guy.

(x) I, Robot

(x) Robots

(x) Dodgeball - surprised one of my older ex-coworkers loved this movie!

(x) Universal Soldier

(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events - Heard the books were better.

(x) Along Came Polly

(x) Deep Impact - I was surprised I like this one as much as I did!

(x) KingPin - I was so grossed out a couple times during this movie! The old lady? Seriously?

(x) Never Been Kissed - We rewound the video several times to watch him come down the bleachers over and over and over again! BEST PART!!!

(x) Meet The Parents

(x) Meet the Fockers

( ) Eight Crazy Nights

(x) Joe Dirt - I'll never get the hours I spent watching this movie back. Unfortunately.

( ) King Kong - Heard it was long and boring. Was it?

(x) A Cinderella Story

(x)The Terminal

( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie

( ) Passport to Paris

(x) Dumb & Dumber- Casey and I at the movies. Good times!

(x) Dumber & Dumberer

(x) Final Destination - Jim made me watch this!

( ) Final Destination 2

( ) Final Destination 3

( ) Halloween

( ) The Ring

( ) The Ring 2

(x) Surviving Christmas

(x) Flubber

(x) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

(x) Practical Magic

(x) Chicago - Disappointed that I didn't LOVE this one.

( ) Ghost Ship

( ) From Hell

(x) Hellboy - And they're coming out with another one? Ah...I'll probably see that one, too!

( ) Secret Window

( ) I Am Sam

(x) The Whole Nine Yards

(x) The Whole Ten Yards

(x) The Day After Tomorrow

( ) Child's Play

( ) Seed of Chucky

( ) Bride of Chucky

(x) Ten Things I Hate About You - I can't believe he's dead!

(x) Just Married

( ) Gothika

( ) Nightmare on Elm Street

(x) Sixteen Candles - What a classic!

(x) Remember the Titans

( ) Coach Carter

(x) The Longest Yard

( ) Gridiron Gang

( ) The Grudge

( ) The Grudge 2

(x) The Mask

(x) Son Of The Mask - I liked the actors...just not the storyline.

(x) Bad Boys - LOVE Will Smith

(x) Bad Boys 2

( ) Joy Ride

(x) Lucky Number Slevin

(x) Ocean's Eleven

(x) Ocean's Twelve

(X) Ocean's Thirteen

(x) Bourne Identity - First movie I really liked Matt Damon in!

(x) Bourne Supremacy

(x) Bourne Ultimatum

( ) Lone Star

(x)Bedazzled

( ) Curious George

(x) Independence Day

( ) Cujo

( ) A Bronx Tale

( ) Darkness Falls

( ) Christine

( ) ET

( ) Children of the Corn

( ) My Boss's Daughter

(x) Maid in Manhattan

(x) War of the Worlds

(x) Rush Hour

(x) Rush Hour 2

(x) Rush Hour 3

( ) Swimfan

( ) Miracle on 34th street

(x) Old School

(x) The Notebook - What a great movie. Seriously!!!

( ) K-Pax

( ) Krippendorf's Tribe

(x) A Walk to Remember - Senior year lock-in, right???

( ) Ice Castles

( ) Boogeyman

(x) The 40-year-old-virgin

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring

(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers

(x) Lord the Rings Return Of the King

(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark - I hope the new one isn't dumb.

(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

( ) Baseketball

( ) Hostel

( ) Waiting for Guffman

( ) House of 1000 Corpses

( ) Devil's Rejects

(x) Elf

(x) Highlander

( ) Mothman Prophecies

( ) American History X

(x) Three kings

( ) the Jackal

(x) Kung Fu Hustle

( ) Full Metal Jacket

(x ) Shaolin Soccer

( ) Night Watch

(x) Monsters Inc.

(x) Titanic

(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail - All my college guy friends loved - had to watch! Loved!

( ) Shaun Of the Dead

( ) Willard

( ) High Tension

( ) Club Dread

(x) Hulk

( ) Dawn Of the Dead

(x) The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

() Orgazmo

( ) Phantasm

( ) Waterworld

(x) Kill Bill vol 1

(x) Kill Bill vol 2

(x) Mortal Kombat

( ) Wolf Creek

( ) The Hills Have Eyes

( ) The Hills Have Eyes 2

( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman

( ) The Last House on the Left

( ) Re-Animator

(x ) Army of Darkness

(x) The Matrix - Still don't know how people slept through this movie. Loved it!

(x) The Matrix Reloaded - Some love...

(x) The Matrix Revolutions - Not much love for this one. What a disappointment!

( ) Evil Dead

( ) Evil Dead 2

( ) Team America: World Police

( ) Silence of the Lambs

( )Hannibal

( ) Red Dragon

( ) Anger Management

( ) Silent Hill

(x) Fun with dick and jane

(x) I am Legend

I've seen 110-ish out of 202 movies. I didn't feel like doing a recount, but "ish" is about right. If I haven't seen a movie that you feel I HAVE TO... let me know! How many have you seen?

Weekend

2008-04-08T17:33:00.002-04:00

Well, I had a full and fun weekend! I hope you did, too!

I'm going to start off this post with a picture of my mom at her 60th birthday party. This didn't happen this last weekend, but I thought I'd post it anyways. Doesn't she look great? Love my mama.

So back to the weekend - I went to go visit one of my dearest friends, Dulce! She has been working long and hard at completing her Interior Design degree, and the end is nearing. She is graduating this May, and I am sooo proud of her!

I don't know if I'll be able to attend her graduation, but I was able to go down there for her Senior show. Every year, the Interior Design senior class showcases some of their work. They have a Professionals Night where all the local businesses come to check out the local talent. After that very stressful night, the same show is put on for friends and family.

Here is Dulce's board. Bright green is a very appropriate color for her, for anyone who knows Dulce well.

Here's the proud (almost) graduate.
It was such a fun couple days there, I can't wait to see her again. Hopefully with the hubby.

I had to get back home early because I was attending the wedding of Jerald and Amy. Amy, I haven't known very long, but Jerald, I've known since almost forever. The wedding was beautiful. Pretty flowers, pretty cake, pretty dresses (Amy had two wedding dresses!)...everything was so nice. During the ceremony, I probably saw more people discretely wiping away tears than any other wedding. Probably because when a groom shows such love and emotion for his bride that he's choked up, the audience is usually right there with him. Here are a couple pictures:

Here's a picture of my brother-in-law (a groomsman) and pregnant sister. Aren't they too cute? Although my brother (another groomsman) is tall, he was seeing how many shots he could jump into. I have a couple of him doing just that over the evening. Thanks, Jun!

Here's Rhyan and I at the reception. We hijacked the sweetheart table and were toasting with Jerald and Amy's glasses. Don't worry, we didn't drink out of them...didn't want just-married cooties! =) I have enough of them already!
Finally, here's a shot of the happy couple. They look so happy, and why shouldn't they be? They just got married and are about ready to jet off to Europe to experience it for the first time together.

Aren't they adorable???

Last Days in Orlando

2008-03-28T00:19:00.005-04:00

My last days in Orlando were packed with seeing as many people as we could, moving, fixing up the house(s) for our renter(s) - THANK YOU, HUSBAND! - and good-bye parties. We also fit in a couple theme parks! So, let's get started!

The man and I have had season tickets to Sea World Orlando the majority of our relationship! It was something we thought would be fun to get together, and we never discontinued the membership because it was a lot of fun to use on a lazy day or when the man was missing seeing animals. We decided to take one last trip out to Sea World with Kristen and Elizab-eth(an) [get it? Elizabeth AND Ethan were made into one name? heehee...]

The whale show is usually a must-see...

and the animal show where they get birds, dogs, CATS, mice, and a pig or so to perform tricks. This one has to be our favorite show at the park. So clever and fun to watch. Always makes us wonder how we can train our cat, though we usually laugh at ourselves afterwards for even SUGGESTING such a thing would be possible...train Oreo...heehee!!
At work, my department was so nice to throw a going-away party for my co-worker and me. I still say it was mostly for her because she had been there a zillion years longer than I had been! But either way, it was a lot of fun. After the department party, there was cake and punch for anyone who wanted to see us off. We saw a lot of people which was really, really nice.

oh...yummy food!!!
Before we left, we were able to celebrate with Kristen her latest and greatest birthday! A couple of us went to The Melting Pot and had the cheese and chocolate fondues. What is it about gathering around a hot pot of melted cheese or chocolate and dipping stuff in it that is so much fun??? We had two types of chocolate and two types of cheese. Can't remember what they were, but they were SOOO GOOD!

Here are the fondu-ers...minus Sean and the picture taker - me!

Kristen was so sweet to also throw us a going away party. Here's a picture of the girls...at the time. People were coming and going all evening, but it was nice to see some people before I left. Such good friends, those Floridians!

Oh! The second theme park we visited was "The Holy Land Experience." We always wondered what it was like in there, and we got the chance to visit along with the church group Eli's cousins belonged to in Miami. We figured we could see family and the theme park we always passed while going to the mall. We barely got in, though, because of everyone trying to visit during the Easter season!

The park was interesting. There was a temple area where musical plays were performed. I do have to admit that the music and performers were really great.

The exhibits were interesting, though we did get caught (trapped) in a very LONG exhibit which walked you through the evolution of the Bible. A sign that an exhibit should be shortened is when little old ladies are practically knocking people over to get to the doors! Standing all day and then trapped in an hour-ish exhibit with no place to really sit was not the greatest feeling.

The last program of the day was Jesus carrying His cross, Him being crucified and then rising from the tomb. Here's a picture of Jesus stumbling with His cross.

Picture of one of the musicals:
Here's a shot of people lining up to see the tomb. Not actual, of course.
My last days in Orlando were so busy, but it was nice to see and spend time with family and friends before I left. I already miss Orlando - I made a lot of great friends and memories there and met my husband. We'll now be Orlando tourists, just like half the people driving I-4 in Orlando from now on when we visit. But don't worry, we'll visit lots. We still have family and friends there!!!

2008-03-23T13:37:00.004-04:00

Hello! This is Oreo writing. I hijacked the computer while that chic over there is talking to that tall guy who's been around a lot lately.

Anyways, PLEASE...SAVE ME! I'VE BEEN TAKEN, AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE HECK I AM!

This has been my life over the last couple days:

Here's me, sitting by my favorite window in Orlando. Yeah, there normally isn't a blow-up air mattress by it, but considering all the furniture disappearances going on in my house, I wasn't too weirded out by the air mattress. Well, it was a nice day last Tuesday! Things were as normal as they could be with my owner around all the time. Something about her last day at work was last Friday or something.

What's a Friday?

Anyways, I was minding my own business, when...

I'M IN A BAG! For you cats out there, if there are treats in a bag...DON'T JUST GOT FOR THEM! At least there were windows in the bag. It wasn't the roomiest thing, but at the same time, that wasn't the worst thing about the day! I was in that bag forEVER! I was carried around in this place called an A-I-R-P-O-R-T and lots of people were around me. I didn't get to see a lot of them because I was always shoved under the seat near my she-owner.

It was a long trip but it didn't feel as bad as when they would take me to the vet. For some reason I was just sort of mellow...something about kitty tranquilizer pills from the vet. What's prozac? She said it was like that.

So we get here. Whereever HERE is...and look what they are now forcing me to put up with! I mean, what IS that thing! Is it a stuffed animal, is it one of those annoying "DOG" things? Ick, gross...and apparently, even though he's HUGE, he's only, like, five months old. Seriously...soo immature! Always wanting to play and stuff. I've put him in his place a couple times...when I wander out from my room downstairs.Oh...and my owner aparently has a mom. It's her birthday today, so you know what I'll be doing! Hiding under my bed, of course! She seems nice, but she's always carrying me around like this! SOO unflattering... just because the vet says I'm 17 pounds doesn't me I'm fat! I mean, I'm big-boned! It's in my genes...its not my fault they don't let me out to get exercise. I don't care if they say there are coyotes around...I could take them!

Anyways, this is my new perch and view. It's not bad, but its not home...yet.

In the mean time, my owner took a picture of me from my GOOD side. All this stress, moving, flying...and I'm still as AWESOME as can be!!! Dang...she's back! See ya later!

Moving...

2008-03-04T21:39:00.004-05:00

Oh, how I despise moving! I swear, in the last almost eight years, I've moved:

- to Orlando from No-Cal: Apt. #1
- to Apt. #2
- to Apt. #3
- to House #1
- to House #2
- to No-Cal from Orlando

This is what I'm living with...and this is the "clean" room. Ugh...although I'm not someone who has to have everything "just so," I like a clean and orderly room. This MESS is driving me nuts!!!

Anyways, as you can see, we're definitely doing this! We have the house scheduled to be rented out, we're squaring things away with the other house... this is really happening!

Funny thing, though, is that its still not really hitting me that life is changing pretty darn soon! We're so busy wrapping up this life, we have barely had a chance to prepare for the life coming up! So many details, so little time!

Well, anyways, pray for us, yeah?

2008-03-04T21:30:00.002-05:00

I couldn't NOT take the picture...way too cute!

2008-02-26T21:05:00.006-05:00

I had to post this since I posted the video below. I thought it funny, though not as funny as Sarah Silverman's.

Here is Jimmy Kimmel's response to Sarah Silverman's video (posted below). There is a lot more gratuitious *bleeping* of the F-word with the added references to two men being together. This does seem, however, to be a reunion of sorts for actors and musicians including the very unlikely, and thus funny appearance, of Josh Groban who I would never picture saying the word let alone sing it out with all his might.

2008-02-19T21:16:00.004-05:00

Okay, I debated whether or not to include this video, but it seriously cracked me up! Watch where you watch it since there's a lot of gratuitous *bleeping*!

We've been busy!

2008-02-19T20:05:00.003-05:00

Well, its been a while since I've posted, but there's a very good reason for it!

Over the last month, a lot has been happening. For starters, I gave my notice to my job and have plans to move back to California towards the end of March.

Yes, the hubby and I are still together, and no, I wasn't "let go."

=)

There is so much to say, but I've already been writing and re-writing this post for the last 20 minutes and don't really know what to address or how much to cover... maybe I'll finish this post later.

Questions?

Jewelry Stand

2008-01-25T21:34:00.000-05:00

I like to have my jewelry all in one place. I don't have a lot, but what I had I wanted in a centralized location. Also, my dangly earrings were always being thrown together and were always tangled! I found the stand online from another vendor, so I was very surprised to find the exact item I was looking while browsing in Urban Outfitters at the mall. I love it!!!

Oh, you see the pretty black pair of earrings with two black beads separated by the silver thingy??? I made it! Yup! I did, I did!!!

Ethiopian & Tavern

2008-01-25T20:25:00.002-05:00

So last week, the hubby and I decided to finally get out to that Ethiopian restaurant we've always wanted to go to. The Nile Ethiopian Cuisine was not a busy place when we went. The service was, therefore, great! The waitress tried to seat us at a regular table, but, the hubby being who he was, asked to sit at a more "traditional" table such as the below picture.

The waitress took off the cover and explained that, since in the Ethiopian culture usually shared food on a large plate, they didn't need a large table...they just crowded around one. Since we each ordered a different dish, she brought over another table for my dish.

As an appetizer, we ordered the tomato fit-fit:

The hubby ordered a vegetarian dish. There were four different "sides" and a salad. Since there wasn't any silverware, the method of eating was to use the spongy bread to scoop up the food to eat.

I decided I wanted to taste one of their chicken dishes. It was really good! Because you have to use the spongy bread with each bite, we found ourselves feeling full quickly.

All in all, it was a fun and yummy meal!!!

A couple days later, on Sunday, the man and I decided that we wanted to try something different. For brunch, we went drove down by the Millenia Mall and noticed that the Village Tavern looked open! Since the last time we saw it was during its construction, we decided to check it out.

The first thing I thought about when we first walked in was that we must have been under dressed...but I did not get the impression that they were judging us, so that was already a plus.

The second thing I thought was how odd it was that the place looked busy...yet there wasn't many customers seated! Hmmm...

They greeted us...then asked if we had a reservation! Nope, we didn't, but they were okay with that. Then they proceeded to inform us that, if we would consent to being used as test subjects, we would get a free meal with them! Apparently, last Sunday was the first day they were open for brunch, and they were still training their staff for service and on their menus.

Great! Free food, and we get to critique them!

Our first dish was the appetizer - french fries/chips and ranch. I'm serious! The ranch part was part of the dish, not just my request! It was yummy!!!

Since it was brunch, the hubby got some sort of egg dish, potatoes, a muffin and fruit. It was very, very good!!!

I received the salmon, rice and vegetables. I normally don't order fish, but I thought this dish was excellent! The fish wasn't dry and was very flavorful. The vege's were good...probably because they must have made it up with butter and spices.
For dessert, we got a chocolate torte. It was so yummy, it was gone before I thought about snapping a picture. =)

I'm sorry I'm not a very good reviewer of food...I just know we enjoyed our meal very much! Also not pictured was the bread basket and drinks. The bread was good, though the hubby did offer the suggestion of defrosting the butter a bit before serving to the patrons. The drinks were also served in pretty glasses. =)

All in all, I definitely will be going back to the restaurant. Our server was so good that we spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how we could tip the guy even though neither of us had cash! In the end, they could not process our credit card (their computers weren't yet set up to take). If you get a chance, check the restaurant out!

Peace...through violence?

2008-01-19T05:31:00.000-05:00

This morning, I turned to my Bible for comfort.

I will be the first to admit that I need to rework my devotional life...because it is nonexistent! I turn to my Bible in times of need and sadness... but it is not part of my everyday growth and stability in God. I'm working on that.

In the mean time, I thought I'd share what brought a smile to my face this morning.

I love Psalms! Mostly because it reminds me that I am not alone in what I am feeling. David went through trials, he felt alone and full of anxiety and turned to God for reassurance.

Psalm 55 holds several passages that I turn to often during these times:

"Listen to my prayer, O God. Do not ignore my cry for help! Please listen and answer me, for I am overwhelmed by my troubles. My enemies shout at me, making loud and wicked threats, they bring trouble on me, hunting me down in their anger.

My heart is in anguish. The terror of death overpowers me. Fear and trembling overwhelm me. I can't shop shaking.

Oh, how I wish I had wings like a dove; then I would fly away and rest! I would fly far away to the quiet of the wilderness. How quickly I would escape - far away from this wild storm of hatred." (verses 1-8)

*sigh* Oh to have wings like a dove to fly away and REST. Those eight verses really spoke to me because...wow! David felt that way, too? Reading further down the chapter, you come to the following passage:

"But I will call on God, and the Lord will rescue me. Morning, noon, and night I plead aloud in my distress, and the Lord hears my voice. He rescues me and keeps me safe from the battle waged against me, even though many still oppose me. God, who is king forever, will hear me and will humble them...Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you." (verses 16-19, 22)

Isn't that great? Morning, noon and night, the Lord hears me.

Now, you may be wondering about the title of this post - "Peace...through violence?" As I was reading through the book of Psalm, I did have to smile at something. In the middle of David describing his woes and prayers to God for comfort, it sure looks like David got MAD! And when you're mad...as other humans do...we wish bad things against those who are against us. Is that right? Probably not...yet, it made me smile to picture David muttering under his breath the things he would like to see to his opponents:

"Let death seize my enemies by surprise; let the grave swallow them alive for evil makes its home within them." (P55:15)

"Break off their fangs, O God! Smash the jaws of these lions, O Lord! May they disappear like water into thirsty ground. Make their weapons useless in their hands. May they be like snails that dissolve into slime..." (P57:6-8a)

I like that last one - seriously, David? Snail slime? Okay, that had to make me smile since, could you picture actually saying that phrase to someone who's grating on your nerves?

Anyways...I do feel better and at ease, for now, after opening up God's word. I know my fears and anxiety will be back, but I know, too, that support is there from my Heavenly Father, in so many forms.

Playing Catch-up...Again!

2008-01-12T08:16:00.000-05:00

Okay, since I'm running out of time, here are some pictures of my life over the last couple weeks:

My mom finally got the dog that she wanted. World...meet Truman! The name was going to be either Truman or Reagan. He is 3/4 poodle (for my dad's allergies) and 1/4 Golden Retriever...and ALL living, breathing stuffed animal! At this picture, he wasn't yet four months, so as you can see, this pup's going to be a big dog! My family is not used to owning dogs (or pets, for that matter), so it'll be interesting to see how he's raised.

Eww...love the picture of the dog, hate the picture of me just waking up...but hey, I'm not that vain to let a great picture of the dog (in a calm state) go unposted!

Oh, and my dad and the sibs & sibs-in-laws are doing well, too! =)I snapped this picture during our family Christmas Eve party. The next generation of this filipino family, and only one of them's full-blooded filipino! This family is definitely going to be multi-cultural, for sure. Aren't they cute???

Ahh...the order of my pictures are scrambled...back to Florida post-Christmas! This is my aunt and Harry.

Eliasib and I also visited Disney's Animal Kingdom. I was jealous of the relaxed life this Tiger had...so I snapped a picture to remind me to do just that when stress comes around.

The hubby loves bamboo. All around the park, they had planted them, so I shot a couple shots of them.

Finally, here are a couple pictures of the Kohleys on the eve of their leaving Florida for their beautiful home and life in Texas. Kristin & Isaac, we already miss you around here. Hope to visit soon!!!

2008-01-11T19:34:00.000-05:00

I took this quiz from the Camachos site and, *sigh*, looks like I'm a goner!

20%

Find Sonography schools near you

HAPPY 2008!!!!!

2008-01-01T11:30:00.000-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

This year, we did something a little different. Eliasib, Sean and I first started out our evening with dinner with Eliasib's parents at Bosphorous in Winter Park. This Turkish restaurant was exactly what we were needing. It is a little pricey for a normal dinner, but for a special occasion, it was a lot of fun and so yummy.

On a side note, after we left the parentals after dinner, Eliasib's mom wasn't feeling well and is now in the hospital for observation. She says she is okay, but please keep her in your prayers as this is not the first time she's been in the hospital for heart problems.

After dinner, Eli, Sean and I drove through downtown to see if it was somewhere we wanted to stay...since drunken, stumbling people didn't exactly sound fun, we decided to skip it. We then relaxed at home a bit before meeting up with Kristen and Elizabeth. They picked us up and we headed down to Disney to watch the fireworks from outside the parks.

Long story short, we got turned around once, twice or five times (Kristen, Sean and I left the arguing/navigating to Elizabeth and Eliasib), demonatrated that one didn't have to be drunk to be singing old camp songs and fake cry/laugh one's head off while "trapped" in the back of a car whose navigators didn't know where they were going while avoiding eye contact with the police and resort staff.

Anyways, after all of that, we got to our "secret" destination (perfect view of the fireworks, limited crowd and NO MONEY REQUIRED!), flipped off our shoes, sat in the sand and waited for the Disney fireworks. We didn't have to wait more than five minutes for the show to start, and it was really great. They even had fireworks that shot out numbers for the countdown to the New Year!

All in all, it was a great evening spent with great friends and family. Hope you had a great one, too!

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-30T22:13:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in SOOOO long, and I have so much to post about! Hopefully I'll be able to find a minute in the next month to post the pictures I want to and post about what's been going on.

In the last month, our good friends Kristin & Isaac have left Orlando. As much as I'm excited for them to start their life in Texas, we will really miss them here. We also had a great Thanksgiving and then Christmas in California.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season!!! Hope to catch up soon!!!!!

In Time Por Christmas!

2007-12-01T16:26:00.000-05:00

If you haven't checked out my cousin's tee shirt website lately, you should! This is one of his recent designs which I think is awesome!

Also, I got this tee shirt for a friend of mine, and he's always being stopped and asked where he got it. It says: ...and it looks like this:

Anyways, check out his site at ExclamAsian.com.

One Week Jobs

2007-12-01T07:58:00.000-05:00

Did anybody read the article in the NY Times about the guy working a different job a week in order to help him find his passion? You can find the article here.

It's quite fascinating, really. Apparently this guy, Sean, graduated from college with a Business Administration degree. He was having dinner with his dad, an accountant, by the way, who asked his son what he wanted to do, job-wise! Sean replied that he wanted to find a job that he was passionate about, to which his father replied, "I've been around for 60 years and I've yet to find something I'm passionate about except your mother."

I thought that was both a very sweet thing to say about his wife and the exact words that would depress a poor 25-year old into doing what he currently is doing - working a different job every week for a year.

It sounds as if this guy has, among other things, taught bungee-jumping, sold tee shirts at the Toronto Music Film Festival, worked as an aquarium host, radio DJ, tattoo artist (scary!) and a brewmaster!

The article spoke about Gen Y'ers and their tendencies of short attention spans and laziness, of how they grew up with parents and people telling them to explore their options since anything was possible for them. And they're willing to do so! Since many look at their parents and see how unhappy they are in their jobs, they vow to not end up like them in thankless-passionless jobs they are condemned to wake up to for the remainder of their lives.

What do you think?

The article does mention that jobs where you can start, work a full career and retire in do not exist as in the past, so what are we expected to do? Honestly, I don't know many people who would be happy to retire doing the job they're in right now. I know nurses, doctors, accountants, lawyors, artists, personal trainers, teachers, engineers, sales people in real estate and ski resorts, interior designers, farmers...and just the other week, I met someone who made prosthetic limbs! Are they all happy and passionate about what they're doing?

I can admit that I have put a lot of thought lately into what else I could and would do if I was given the chance. I know the older I get, the less likely I will be actually doing this. I've invested a lot of time and effort into the "track" I am currently on. Would I want to scrap it all and start over?

Can I? I now have a family that may be growing in the next couple years. Should I put them on the backburner just so I can check out another career choice - which, let's face it, may not be what I want either!

Well, anyways, I thought the article interesting. Check out Sean's own blog - One Week Job - searching a Passion, not just a career - documenting via blog posts and video his learning experience. I believe he's in week #32.

I have tried to post since the last one!

2007-11-17T07:42:00.000-05:00

Well...i tried to post once, last Sunday, and wouldn't you know it, my internet wasn't working! Anyways, I saved what I wrote, so here's my world about a week ago:

***
So I'm sick. But I'm unwisely ignoring the congestion, runny nose, scratchy throat and cough. I don't know why, but I've always been the kind to just go ahead and take the Tylenol and tough it out. I mentioned my sickness to my mom yesterday, and that's actually what she said to do!

We Villars don't take much stock in being sick. Heck...my dad drove himself to the ER last year. We just don't make big deals out of being sick. I mean, isn't most of it just a state of mind?

Yeah, not really, but I still try to view it in that manner.

In the mean time, I'm sick but having to take care of business - in both personal and work life. The girls upstairs are moving out! Kristen M. is the proud owner of a brand new townhouse, and Kristen G. is going to be her first roommate/tenant. Yes, half the people living in my house are named Kristen. Hehe...

So you know what that means! The hubby and I will be living alone! Of course, they're leaving this week, and we will then be busy with friends and family from out of town coming to stay with us/visit over the Thanksgiving holiday. I will hopefully have lots of pictures and stories from these visits to post in the upcoming week(s). One of my most precious friends, Stacey, is coming to Orlando with her hubby and friends, and we'll be able to spend time together! She wasn't able to come to my wedding, so it'll be so fabulous for her to finally meet my hubby.

Anyways, today was spent laundering, organizing, cleaning, sweeping, separating, etc. It was then followed-up by a group of people getting together to watch The Amazing Race.

***

So I'm back, and guess what! The sickness came back and plagued me all day Monday. I stayed home from work that day and rested. Therest of the week was a fairly good one! Hmmm... now, when I say "a fairly good one," that means I wasn't stressed completely to my wits end, and no one I was responsible for at work killed anyone else. There is still tribulation and strife at work, but not as much, so we can leave it at that, right?

Anyways, Friday truly ran together! Someone from my department is leaving next week, so I was responsible for picking up a good-bye cake-ish thing. Now, Friday, we were also having the department Thanksgiving dinner! We had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries, greenbean casserole, corn casserole, apple and pumpkin pies, etc. We had the whole spread, so i decided i was going to be cool and original and get her a cookie-cake! I ordered it in Orlando planning to pick it up Thursday night before I left before dawn on Friday for work and an 8am meeting! At about 10pm Thursday night, I remembered that I forgot to pick up the cake! Fantastic! *sigh* This resulted in me having to wake up earlier than usual to drive the hour to work and still have time to pick up a cake at the grocery store!

Story doesn't end there! I pick up the cake and ask them to write "Best Wishes Tara" on it. I snuck a peak at my cake on my way to the check out counter, and what did it say? "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TARA." So, yes, I had to go back there, and DEMAND that they fix their mistake!!! oh, it was actually easier than i thought it would be, and it was done within 10 minutes!

Well, long story short, Tara had a birthday cake, and my husband, for his early birthday party, got a:

I'm such a good wife, aren't I? =) There were 11 candles on it!

He got an ice cream cake, too, with 11 candles on it...

And a Krispy Kreme donut "cake" with 11 candles on it as well (one's in the back). Yes, the hubby is turning 33! His task, which he took on, was to blow all 33 candles out on all three "cakes" in one breath. Here's him taking a deep breath...

...and here's him losing his breath after Sean yelled out, "WAAAIT!!!" That was pretty startling, and funny! =)

In the end, he blew out 24 out of the 33 candles. Not bad for an old foggey! =)

After we ate, some people left, and the rest of us stayed for a very rousing game of "Apples to Apples: Bible Edition." It was a ton of fun and quite memorable. Let's just say that I don't think any of us present will be able to forget the MVP play of the game.

All in all, it was a lot of fun seeing and being with friends and the perfect way to end a work week. Eliasib's birthday is actually Monday, November 19, so if you weren't able to come out, be sure to harrass him on Monday! =)

I miss, among other things:

2007-10-27T21:13:00.000-04:00

Summer Vacations
Sleeping in
NOT having to wear nylons
Being a kid with no responsibilities
Seeing my friends more than just on the weekends
Hills,
Family,
Friends - too many to count,
Soquel & Leoni Meadows Campmeetings,
Changes in seasons…
in short – California!
Traveling
Singing in choirs
Playing Rook until 4-in the morning with the OG's (Jim, Cristina, Bruce...)
My old 13-minute commute to work
Guigni’s (link is to a blog hailing the wonders of the world's GREATEST sandwich shop)
“My Boys”
“Psych”
“Monk”
Sweatshirts
Vespers
Mist...

Sights and sounds

2007-10-13T18:24:00.000-04:00

So Eliasib and I went out today, and this is one of the things we saw while on the road. The wording all around the car is all religious! Like, "Fill Up With God's Love," (on the gas tank) and Bible scripture. What a way to get someone's attention!

Here's a close up on some of the doo-dads on the car - birds, tweety, Noah's ark, Donald Duck...

The hubby loves animals, so we have season tickets to Sea World. We like going into the shark exhibit, though it was especially packed with people today. And, for some reason, there were a lot of English people there! I love the English accent, so I was forever following them around just to hear it. English kids are too cute!

Look! Flying fish! Just kidding, the aquarium is large with the viewing area under a big tube through the tank.

After we came out, we were handed tickets to play a free round of a carnival game. The curvy wire thing was turning in circles, and the point was to move your circle all the way to the bottom without touching the wire thing. It's much harder than it looks, and although he was concentrating tons, he still got buzzed. So did I...grrr...

Anyways, it being Sea World, Anheiser Busch Sea World, that is... we got to see some horseys...

A donkey...(both from the commercials)

And some human blue people moving around all artistic-ly...

Fascinating...don't you think?

Until next time!!!

Ft. Lauderdale

2007-10-13T12:25:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, we were invited by my good friend Casey to stay with her in Ft. Lauderdale. We stayed in this beautiful suite overlooking the beach and pool. Unfortunately, my camera lost battery after three pictures with not one of them being with Casey.

Here's a picture of Eliasib relaxing on the beach with the hotel in the background.

Pretty much our weekend consisted of sleeping in, going to the beach and pool and going out to eat. Yup...just what I needed!

Casey, it was sooo nice seeing you!!!!!

In the mean time...

2007-10-03T21:43:00.000-04:00

Sorry my last post was such a debbie-downer. I assure you, I am doing better. =) Work will definitely be work for a while, so I am learning and adjusting and all that good stuff.

In the mean time, let's see...what's been going on with me?

We had beach vespers a couple weeks ago! The weather was really nice, and it was good to see and fellowship with friends in a beautiful atmosphere.

One of the husband's favorite shows is Monk. The whole last season kept plugging the Monk bobblehead which he "had to have." Yes, exactly like a four-year-old boy "had to have" that latest and greatest action figure toy.

Anyways, as I like to tell my husband, "what my baby wants, my baby gets!" So I surprised him and got him his bobblehead. Oh yes, I like to buy people's affection.

Saturday night, our church youth group put on its version of "The Amazing Race." Our team consisted of our roommates Kristen M. and Kristen G. (we're working out the confusion) and my husband and I. Here's their picture along with with one of our rivals in the background - Team Orange.

They had us, amoung other things, racing around town through the mall and an outdoor festival, chugging salsa, jumping in a pool and shoveling dirt...out in the boonies.

It was great fun, though we were quite tired at the end of it all.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to our weekend away visiting my good friend, Casey in Ft. Lauderdale this weekend. I'll be sure to post pictures!!!

Lost

2007-09-23T19:52:00.000-04:00

Does anyone else out there ever feel lost? Right now, I feel lost. And I'm not just talking about losing my way. Have I lost my destination! There have been so many transitions in my life, so many stepping stones...I feel as if I'm constantly trying to find my footing.

Of course, its always difficult to steady the footing when I'm not sure exactly what I'm standing on!

For those of you who are starting to lose my analogy...let me be blunt.

Life feels really hard right now. Too hard. I'm all for challenges. I can stand up to those. I'm determined, I'm stubborn, I can weather the tough times and not give up. But its usually easier to do that when I believe in the results.

Job-wise, am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing? Sometimes I feel as if I'm not. Some of the things I'm feeling I know are natural - being the "new kid" on the block, learning the culture of the job, not having any friends...

It's like going to a new school or something!

But, deeper than that...am I doing what God wants me to do? Am I being too safe and not putting my life out for Him to do what He's planned all along to do? Or am I being a baby and not wanting to accept how my life is seeming to lay out?

Does this make sense to anyone??? Oh, well...

Movie Reviews - Death Sentence / Balls of Fury / Halloween

2007-09-06T19:50:00.000-04:00

Latest movie reviews by Mr. YTC:

Ratings scale is 0 - *** with 0 being the worst rating and ***.

More specifically:

*** See it.
** Rent it.
* Download it off the net.

Death Sentence: The film was so-so. It's basically about a father (played by Kevin Bacon) who takes extreme revenge on the gang members who killed his eldest son. The film was directed by the same guy who did the first Saw film so I was eager to see how he would do in an action-type film. The film had some graphic gun battles (especially towards the end). However, the film dragged on a bit too long. As well, there were some interesting plot elements in the film that I thought could've been explored further. Overall a *-**.

Balls of Fury: You will find this film quite funny if: 1) You are a Christopher Walken fan ; 2) The mere mention or sight of Ping-Pong makes you laugh hysterically; 3) You are a Def Leppard fan; 4) You find gay stereotypes funny. If you don't fit into any of the above categories, then I don't think that you will find the film THAT funny. You may chuckle here and there, but you won't be rolling-out-of-your-seat laughing. I fit into all 4 of the above categories so I was laughing quite a bit! Overall a *-**.

Halloween: This film is basically a remake of John Carpenter's original Halloween. What makes this remake "special" is that it is directed by Rob Zombie. One of the coolest horror movie directors! The film was good. It stayed true to the original but offered a bit more insight into the main character (Michael Myers). The ending was also different than the original film, but I think that it worked in this case. I think the majority of the cast in this film were in Rob Zombie's 2 prior films (House of 1000 Corpses and the Devil's Rejects). In true Rob Zombie fashion, there were some graphic and violent kill scenes (essential to a Rob Zombie horror flick!). Overall a **-***. But as usual, it's a definite 0 for you guys [who do not frequent horror movies].

Movie Review - War

2007-08-29T12:41:00.000-04:00

So, I have a good friend who seems to love movies more than I do! He used to give us his reviews verbally, but now that we don't see him everyday, he's taken to emailing his reviews out to a select few.

I really value his reviews and take them into consideration whenever I'm considering the movie. My friend likes a lot of action and does not do chick-flicks or childrens' movies (unless I can get him to attend with me). He also does not prefer period movies, but that depends on the content. I persuaded him to allow me to post his reviews on my blog because I thought they were really good, so, here goes!

His ratings scale is 0 - *** with 0 being the worst rating and ***.

More specifically:

*** See it.
** Rent it.
* Download it off the net.

He's not really telling you to download it off the net, but still, * isn't much better than not seeing it at all.

Anyways, here's the review for "War."

"You really can't go wrong with a film that features guns and martial arts! The film is basically about an FBI agent (played by Jason Statham) who is searching for an elusive assassin (played by Jet Li). The film was okay. There was lots of gun violence and some graphic kill scenes. The martial arts scenes were a bit of a disappointment. They weren't very inventive and there weren't that many scenes. I was expecting more since the martial choreographer is very well-known. There were a couple of plot twists. One of the plot twists, I figured out pretty quickly, the other one came as a surprise. Overall a **. "

Random Things

2007-08-20T21:13:00.000-04:00

What's the point of taking pictures of I don't post them??? Since we hadn't gotten together in a long time, we thought we'd have a dinner party with good food and friends.

These next two pictures I risked my life for...well, sort of...but either way, i found myself in a different lane than i started in after taking the picture, and i don't think i should do that again anytime soon. Either way, there must have been a weird bus convention in town since these two buses were right behind each other. I don't know why the convertible school bus didn't take off...

Okay, seriously, isn't this the cutest picture? He looks like a cat puppet, don't you think?
Sabbath afternoon, in order to beat the Florida heat, Jeff, Kristen and Kristen decided to hit the village pool. Looks like fun!!!
Oh...and here's me at work...well, my old work. Like the hair chop? Must've been 4-5 inches I took off.

Okay. I'm officially an old lady...I am usually in bed by 10pm! Today, I was playing the "well, i think i can drive with my eyes half closed so it'll be like being awake AND asleep!" game. Another thing I shouldn't be doing while driving. since i drive such long distances every morning, i try to be awake.

so...off to bed! i'm paying the price for staying up late this last weekend!!!

Honeymoon

2007-08-17T22:05:00.000-04:00

Okay, so since I have pictures from our honeymoon, I thought I'd share some of them! I uploaded a bunch, and since I don't feel like organizing them, I'm going to hope there's some sort of order in their upload-ation and comment on them as they come up! So...let's start!

The hubby and I took a Royal Caribbean cruise out of Miami on the Freedom of the Seas. This ship and its sister ship (with the same ship layout) are currently the largest cruise ships out right now. You'll see why!

Here is our ship docked at our first stop: Labadee, Haiti. It is quite a large ship, so I wish I had something nex to it so you could get an idea of how large it is, but you'll just have to take my word for it...the thing was huge!!!

Here is the man looking out over Haiti while we breakfasted. The food on the boat was yummy! There was the main dining room, the upstairs and downstairs, then there was the buffet area which was a good alternative in case you didn't want to get dressed up for dinner. There were also the snack areas where there was always food served! There were two nicer restaurants where you could pay a cover price but got to eat whatever you wanted otherwise.
Speaking of our dining room, here's a picture from the top floor looking down. We had a table on the first floor. I swear, the first night, I felt as if I was on the Titanic movie! I kept thinking the place was fancier than I had expected, and with the live violinists behind us, well, it felt as if we were going to sink, like Titanic!

Here we are running through the mandatory life jacket drill before we could sail...or right after we set sail...one of those...don't we look dang seexy?!?!?!
Here is a picture of part of the ship. There was a promenade which was a hub of the ship. It was the most interesting way to cross the ship while inside since it had shops, the snack shops and information desks.

We went to all the evening shows every night. They had a lot of comedians which were really entertaining. They put on two broadway-type shows complete with singing, dancing and all the great sets and costumes. They also had other acts which impressed me as well.

In the evening, we'd go for walks around the cruise ship.
I thought this was a great picture off the back of the boat.
Here we are on our way to the Cayman Islands...I think. Yes, Grand Cayman! Doesn't my man look great in that hat?

Oops...here's us in front of our ship back in Haiti!
Royal Caribbean is really good with attention to detail and what they offer their customers. I liked this monkey fruit "sculpture!"

So our boat had an ice skating rink. Yes, I did say ICE skating rink...on the cruise ship...in the caribbean! We didn't take the time to use the rink, but we did go see their ice show. I was very entertained since their choreography was very fun!

Here we are in Grand Caymen...the man wanted him a coconut drink. As I like to say, "what my baby wants, my baby gets!!!"
Our cabin stewart was very crafty with his towel origami. I liked this one.
Here we are in Jamaica eating some Jamaican hot pockets! Or...were we still in Grand Cayman...

"Hooo..t Pockets!" (Jim Gaffigan, comedian, quote, for anyone who knows the act I'm talking about...oh, nevermind...but that's what we were saying to each other while eating these yummy pockets of goodness!!!)
Yeah...we were in Grand Cayman. I don't think I took any pictures in Jamaica since we were mostly climbing Dunns River Falls.

Another of my favorite towel creatures!
And another fruit carving.
While my sister and I were talking about the honeymoon, we found out that we were going to be in Mexico in the same area at the same time! So, when our ship docked in Mexico, we hooked up with the Marlows for a day of snorkeling and shopping! Unfortunately, our underwater camera did not make it...or I should say, apparently we only took pictures of dark matter since nothing came out as a result of our developing...so gone are the snorkeling and underwater helmet "diving" pictures. They would've been great!

At least I was in the boat able to take this picture of my man and brother-in-law under the glass bottom boat we used to get to our snorkeling sites.

Here's the four of us in Mexico!
Oh, did i mention we actually rented a car in Mexico? I handled it well...yup...Eli behind the wheel in a foreign country...
Here's one of the acts in the evening. He was very entertaining!
Yet another towel stealing my glasses. Doesn't the guy next to the monkey clean up well???

Oh, here's Eliasib deciding to show everyone in the boat just how much hair he has on his body... looks like someone else will be showing their family and friends back home picture of "that hairy guy under our boat!"

I asked the man to show you out there just how enthusiastic we were about food by the end of the week. Yes, I didn't think I'd ever be hungry again!!!

Here's one of the broadway-type shows they put on. It was actually quite good!
Well...i hope you liked the 50-cent slide show of our honeymoon! oh, wait! the story doesn't end there. On the way back to Orlando from the cruise, guess what happened! Yes, we ran out of gas. Luckily, we were able to hitch hike to the gas station with the guy that, and I kid you not, was drinking alcohol while driving...with his teenage son sitting in the passenger seat checking 20 lotto tickets he made him buy while at the gas station...and listening to the local Christian radio station. Yup...that was interesting!

Needless to say, it was a wonderufl trip - eventful, fun, relaxing and much too short. I would definitely recommend our cruise to anyone. Of course, by the time we got home, our kitty was ready for us to stay home since we'd been gone for three weeks. It was nice to be home.

Newest Wedding Gift

2007-08-17T11:47:00.000-04:00

Laura, one of the Mister's good friends who we don't get to see often enough has given us our newest wedding gift. One of her paintings which I love oh so much!

I can never fathom being artistically talented...therefore, when we received our latest wedding gift, I was very excited about it. I mean, I've seen the painting hanging up during one of her art showings before, but, I mean, how cool would it be to be able to produce such an amazing portrait?

...how does one just know to shadow just so or blend the colors in a way to make something that is so lifelike?

Laura, you're a talented artist. Check out more of her art at her website.

Pick-up Line

2007-08-14T12:31:00.000-04:00

"If I wasn't married to you, I'd be stalking you!!!" (my husband)

Funny as it may sound, this line has been ringing through my head all morning! Why? Because I loved it! After four and a half years together, he still flirts with me!

We'll See!

2007-08-13T12:31:00.001-04:00

Okay, so hopefully I'll still get some readers now that I've (hopefully) made access to this blog private.

Life has been so very hectic since taking this job out here in Ormond Beach, but its actually going okay! The Mr. also decided not to be left out and has also taken another position within his company. So far, he is very excited about it because he has a better schedule and less supervision. For him, that's ALWAYS great. =)

Anyways, I definitely owe you a post, so I'll get right on it, okay? I figure, however, that I should do it from home, right?

How much change can I take?

2007-07-15T15:50:00.000-04:00

Well, its official. I'm leaving the world I've know for the last seven years, the reason why I moved to Florida. I will no longer be an Auditor, though the ironic thing is, the Auditor has now become the Auditee!

I have been offered the opportunity to be the Director of Accounting at the three-hospital Florida Hospital Memorial System and have decided to own up to the challenge and accept.

They have just completed the beautiful Flagler facility and are in the process of constructing the Ormond Hospital. It is an honor to be offered the job, and I'm excited to join them.

My first official day is two weeks from tomorrow, July 1, so please keep me in your prayers!

I'll be commuting, at least in the beginning...its about 60 miles one way. So, if anyone has any suggestions on a new, commuter-friendly car, please let me know!!!

Once again...let me know if you'd like to be added to the approved blog-reader list! This blog will be going private pretty darn soon! I'll try to add as many people as I can think of (if I have their email), but just to make sure, please let me know, okay???

Wedding Pictures!!!

2007-07-14T18:47:00.000-04:00

For those of you who weren't able to get to the wedding, we finally have all the wedding pictures online!

Check out the the photos here.

Oh... and everytime I see this picture, I laugh. I SWEAR I didn't coerce the guy to marry me!!!

VH1's World Series of Pop Culture Tournament

2007-07-10T20:46:00.000-04:00

I love pop culture, tv, movies, music, etc. I love to read celebrity gossip and look at the latest red carpet fashions. I am a movie buff, though I'm not a lover of scary movies. The husband marvels at how I can associate the extra on a movie with a tv commercial I saw a month ago!

Of course, I never thought knowing that type of useless knowledge could be beneficial...until now!

Last year, I discovered, towards the end of the tournament, VH1's World Series of Pop Culture. Teams of three square off one on one. One player from each team goes up against a player from the opposing team and answer questions from a category. The winner of the tournament comes away with the title of champion and $250,000.

Categories I've seen have been about Seinfeld, '80s songs, Quentin Tarantino movies, and movie/tv awards. I absolutely LOVE this tournament and was pleasantly surprised that my DVR automatically picked it up for my viewing pleasure!!!

Check it out sometime!

Privacy

2007-07-10T09:11:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone!!!

This blog is soon to be private, and if you want to be able to keep accessing my site, let me know and I'll add your email address to the "approved to read about my fabulous life" list.

Email me if you want to be added!!!

If you don't know how to contact me (gmail, myspace, hotmail, yahoo...), email me via our wedding JUNK email address which will most likely be deleted within the next couple months at:

evwedding@gmail.com

Life is getting hectic, people!!! I have TONS to blog about, and not just about the honeymoon, or our recent trips...or the other stuff which I'll soon blog about. =)

oh, and its NOT a baby...sheesh!!! People!!! Lay off on the baby-business!!! We'll let YOU know when it happens!!!

Some of my favorite wedding pictures

2007-06-25T22:48:00.000-04:00

Since it seems life is way more busy than I thought it would be post-wedding, my poor post is going to consist of some of my favorite pictures that I've stolen from wedding guests...if you're in possession of wedding pictures...please...please send them to me!!!!!

Here's a picture of most of the groomsmen: Ruben, Sean (the Eliel stand-in), Demetrio Jr. and Alex. They're carrying the very cute Tristan.Here's a picture of the sponsors during the rehearsal.
Very cute flower girl - Alliah and Tristan, her attendant.
I'm not sure I uploaded these pictures in order, but here's one of my favorite pictures - my beautiful bridesmaids and me. Dulce, Abigail, me, Casey and Glorybell. I soo can't wait until the official pictures get to us and are available online!!! =)
Ah...the Kohley's - Kristin & Isaac. Isaac...might as start taking smiling pictures...never know when you'll be published!!! Love you guys!!!!! Thanks for coming out to the wedding!
Picture of the small flower centerpiece.
Oh...back a couple days to the girls mani-pedi day...aren't they cute...for semi-gangsta's...
Picture of the girls at my brothers house for Sabbath lunch. Jenna, Kristen, Amy and I are in the back, Cristina and Dulce in the front.
Ahh...back to the rehearsal...bridesmaids and flowergirl and her Elmo!
Flowerball from the ceremony brought over to the reception.
Awww...my wonderful parents, dad and mom!!! Aren't they so cute???
Here's a picture of us at the reception...yes, I had some sort of food in my mouth...i figured I'd better get a bite in while I could not estimating the amount of pictures I'd have to pose for.
Kristen holding the bouquet she caught!!!
Eliasib and I with Florida friends - Elizabeth, Kristen, Eliasib, me, Kristin, Amy with Sean and Ethan in the front.
Here's our guestbook. Still have to read everything! It'll be framed and put up...over the fireplace, if we had one!
My lovely sister came up with this awesome idea. We had these large metal platters which we covered in moss and placed the seating cards on top. She handwrote each of the cards while Angela, Dulce and Casey put the flowers on them...too cute!
Our cake. It was as yummy as it was beautiful.
Our large flower centerpieces. I love this picture because the setting looks so perfect!
Our favors which my sister, brother, sister-in-law and mother put together. They were yum-yumm-yummy!!!
My handsome groom. Who would've thought that he was sick and throwing up both days before the wedding??? Of course, with him being sick, he didn't have time to feel the cold feet. I swear I had nothing to do with him getting sick!!!!!
Here's us sharing a laugh...i mean, what more could we do when the wedding already had as many glitches as there was??? Sorry, everyone, if you couldn't hear what the Pastor was saying, or worse yet, only hearing every other word... we had some words with the powers that be...

Another cool shot.
Oh...apparently my cute flowergirl was a bit bored at the wedding!
...so she decided to entertain some of the guests.

I'll post more pictures later...or the link to the wedding website, whichever happens first!!!

Once Upon A Wedding

2007-06-19T23:35:00.000-04:00

So many things to talk about, so little time!!! We'll see how much I can get through tonight.

I took the week before the wedding off and spent the time in California with my sister and Dulce, one of my bridesmaids.
The first day back, my sister and family threw us a fabulous shower. Unfortunately, Eliasib couldn't make it, so I was left to be the center of attention...*sigh*, what one does for their loved ones...

So here are a couple pictures of the shower. My sister and family did soo much, and everyone had such a wonderful time and ate TONS!!!The rest of the week was spent meeting with people, running errands, picking friends and family up and the like.

Here's us picking up Eliasib, Raul and Sean and going to San Francisco to pick up the marriage license. The San Francisco city hall was so beautiful, we had to stop to take some pictures:

After the girls got together from all over the country, hmmm...what could we possibly do that sounds like fun??? Why, card games and mani-pedi's, of course!!!

Directly following the mani-pedi's was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Since, in the end, the man and I got married, I am not going to describe the trials and tribulations we went through with the ceremony and reception. However, let's just say, there were some definite trials!!!

So, with that being said, and the hour as late as it is, I'll put the rest of the story off for another day...more pictures to come!!!

It's Done!!!

2007-06-19T12:08:00.000-04:00

The wedding is done, the ceremony happened, we honeymooned...and now we're back.

TONS of stories and pictures coming soon!!!

Pre-wedding activities

2007-05-31T09:29:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I'm getting married in three days! Whoa!

Who would've thunk it - the time passed...and the wedding day is actually here!

I've been in California for the last couple days taking care of stuff. I would post pictures except I can't seem to get my sister's card reader to work...but I'll do that later...

Sunday, my sister and family threw me an awesome shower! Of course, I was dillusional in thinking my family and church I grew up in would give me a nice simple shower. My sister and family made a whole meal! It was not only delicious (people were asking if my sister was also catering the wedding) but it was all presented so nicely! Pictures to come...

Then we played some games and opened presents.

Presents...*sigh*...

I almost made it through the whole pre-wedding era without opening a gift that made a filipino blush. Not that there was anything SUPER intimate...but when you're sitting at the front of the room...by yourself...family and friends from my CHURCH that I grew up in sitting and standing around watching and laughing, old and young...and I open up a bag that has something that I could only wear behind bedroom doors...I try to put it away but the crowd mentality kicks in resulting in a collective call to see the tissue-wrapped item in the bag...so I have to pull it out, but I don't know exactly how the thing works, so I get flustered and more red...more crowd hootin' and hollerin'...Valerie sweating...must please crowd...

...wow, that was just a weird flashback...

so, yes...thank you, MOM, for supplying such entertainment for the insatiable crowd...and to all you others who thought it'd be fun to throw in the occasional "special" gift amidst the towels, toiletries and Pyrex products, THANK YOU! Though, if I hear another collective crowd "Ooooooo..."

But, it was tons of fun, and I thank all who came and gave gifts...and especially to my family who spent countless hours on the handmade invitations, "borrowing" church tables and chairs, driving to Berkeley just for that $1.50 tomato (and more) - I REALLY appreciate ALL of it... I had a fabulous time!!!

That was Sunday. The rest of the time since has been spent shopping and meeting up with people helping out with the wedding. My sister has definitely put her creativity to good use for this wedding, and I'm looking forward to seeing everything put together on the wedding day.

People started coming in yesterday, and today is pick-up-future-husband-and-friends-and- marriage-license day. Oh, and we're bringing a bunch of Floridians to In 'N Out, too. That'll be fun!

So, I sit here yawning my poor head off. Unfortunately, my body has moved to California time in the evenings but is trying to hang on to Florida time in the mornings.

Someone, please slip me a sleeping pill Saturday night...yeah?

Showers!!!

2007-05-23T01:18:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm still alive and well. Sane, too!

I am in my last week in Orlando leaving Saturday for California! At the moment, its nearly 1:30 in the morning, so please pardon my inability to convey my extreme excitement over the upcoming activities.

Over the last couple weeks, we have been the recipient of wedding showers and parties thrown by our wonderful friends and family. Since it is now 2am, I will leave the pictures in the weird format that its in for now.

The first set of pictures are from the shower thrown for us at work. My coworkers were sweet to decorate one of the conference rooms for the party. As much as I like parties, I don't normally prefer to be the center of them, but they were so sweet.

The second set of pictures are from the party thrown for us by our good friends Kristin & Isaac and Kristen. There was yummy brunch food and games... one game was to have Eliasib go through a household-chore game where he had to preheat the oven, load the dishwasher, take out the trash, vacuum and bring me a glass of water. He went up against Sean and Tyson and won. That's reasurring! =)

There was also a cake decorating competition where each group was given the chance to showcase their creative sugar skills...they all did a great job.

Eliasib's family also threw us a VERY nice shower a couple weeks ago, although I do not have any pictures from it. The shower was a surprise, and it was a great surprise.

We have one more shower ahead of us this weekend thrown by my lovely family in California. I can't wait to see what they have in store for ms (Eliasib will still be here in Orlando).

Hopefully I'll be able to post more pictures next week!

Thanks sooo much, everyone! I'm off to bed now!

Remember Me???

2007-04-24T23:24:00.000-04:00

So, yeah...I haven't posted in a while, huh??? Sorry.

I have so many excuses I can give you, but I figure I won't murk up my first post in a month with them, so let's move on, yeah?

Life has been a flurry of activity, mainly of the wedding form, but still, quite busy. I always wondered why those brides out there seemed so flustered with all the wedding plans. I always figured that I'd be able to plan better or handle the stress easier... well, let's just say I didn't know better.

But I'm excited, actually. I'm sooo ready for my three weeks of vacation, of hosting all my Florida friends in California, of seeing all my precious California friends...oh, yeah, and getting married, of course.

=)

My camera has been unusable for a while, but now its all better...I just haven't taken pictures in about five months...or so. Rest assured, good people, pictures will be taken and posted shortly.

But for now, I need to get to bed. I, who am usually quite resistant to headaches, has a mother of one right now...although I should've taken my Tylenol PM sooner, I think the two I did take is starting to take effect.

Good Night!!!!

A Pessimist's World

2007-03-18T16:31:00.000-04:00

The world of a pessimist, what can I say?
It's bleak & hopeless, yet we live day to day.
"The grass is greener on the other side,"
Yet I'm sure when we get there, we'll find someone's LIED!

We can win the lotto for a million or more,
But all we'll think of is, "Taxes! What a chore!"
We can get promoted - more money! Sound great?
Nah...more work - gotta stay in late!

And love. Yes love - how could that be affected,
By living life so pessimist-ed?
I'll tell you how, I'll tell you why:
Because a pessimist shall never, ever TRY.

Yes, try. One thing we true pessimists won't do.
Why TRY when dissapointment follows you?
"Perfect," you say, "he is for me?"
Hmmm...let me think, no, we shall see!

His eyes, though kind and enveloping they are,
His smile, so comforting you don't want to stray far.
His manners, his laugh,
ALL POINT TO YES!!!

*sigh*

But in the end...alone always proves...best.

[right?]

Grump...

2007-03-08T13:06:00.000-05:00

I’m such a total grump…and a brat!

Does anyone remember that Uncle Arthur story about the little girl who was so nice and sweet to everyone outside the home, but when she got home, she was a total brat? The story goes on with her mom calling the little girl downstairs one day to help set the table, and the whole time she was downstairs, all the little girl did was complain, whine and mutter under her breath about having to help. When the table was set the mom comes out, looks at the table, then tells the girl to set another place at the table for their guest who was sitting in the next room the whole time the girl was complaining. The little girl turns to look in the next room only to see her favorite teacher from school looking at her as if she didn’t know who this little girl was in comparison to the sweet girl at school.

I think of that story…a lot. Why, you may ask? Because, unfortunately, I am that little girl. (Well, not literally, but you know what I’m saying)

I would hope that I keep my grumpy little girl in well, but I can’t lie to myself! I get irritable, I get tired, I get annoyed…I like when things go my way, I don’t like it when they don’t. I pout, I grumble…and unfortunately, I say things under my breath that just show how much of a meanie I can be!

I don’t like that “me.” That “me” sucks. I wish I was nice and sweet, kind and understanding ALL the time! Why can’t I be like that all the time?

*ugh*…anyways, thought I’d just get this off my chest so I don’t completely surprise any of you if the little grump ever gets out.

Life and TV

2007-02-20T19:55:00.000-05:00

Okay, I’ve been writing this over a couple days…

It’s been a long time, People! Sorry about that. Life hasn’t seemed to settle down yet, but you know, its not often that it does…so hopefully I’ll be able to prioritize and blog more.

So I did allot some time last week to watch one of my favorite shows: Bones.

Hmmm…while we’re at it, maybe I’ll list my shows to watch/DVR by day:

Sunday: Grease: You’re the One that I want / The Apprentice: L.A.

Monday: How I Met Your Mother / The Class / Two and a Half Men / CSI: Miami / Studio 60

Tuesday: Gilmore Girls / American Idol

Wednesday: Bones / American Idol / Beauty and the Geek / CSI: NY

Thursday: Ugly Betty / The Office / ‘Til Death / CSI: Las Vagas (last ½)

Friday: Numb3rs

Saturday: Saturday Night Live

Various DVR’ed shows throughout the week: Hannah Montana, Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee, Jeff Corwin Experience, Dog Whisperer…

Anyways, back to Bones. I never really got into the Crime-Fighting-through-Forensics shows such as CSI (All three), Crossing Jordan, Bones, etc. However, based off of the above DVR schedule, one can’t help but notice the number of those types of shows that I now like to watch! It’s quite fascinating, though sometimes not the greatest thing to catch up on while eating dinner.

I like how today’s technology can really help in catching the bad guy, though, it truly makes one wonder why EVERYONE isn’t caught and jailed for their crimes.

Wow…never REALLY got back to Bones, huh? =) Anyways, last week on Bones, a new character was sort of introduced. He was “filling in” for the FBI agent (David Boreanaz, you know, the good vampire from Buffy the Vampire Slayer who got his own spin-off show, “Angel?”) and ended up being the new love interest of Bones. Anyways, at first, she didn’t get him because he wasn’t your typical FBI agent (not that I know …any!) but instead had the mindset of “this is what I do until I find what I’m REALLY going to do.”

Who becomes an FBI agent to pay the bills? Isn’t that sort of “career-ish?”

Yet…sort of cool, don’t you think? He was of the mindset that he didn’t want to be defined by being an FBI agent (though I still think that’s still a pretty cool ‘definition’) and was constantly trying to broaden himself.

Life in a nutshell

2007-01-21T16:43:00.000-05:00

Okay, for you people out there that actually check my blog, I great apologize for not posting since Christmas Eve. Life has pretty much rushed me HARD, and sometimes it feels as if I'm barely hanging in on. I also have been VERY negligent on taking the needed pictures to document my life. I will be better.

Anyways, since my last post, here's what has been going on:

- New Years: spent home with friends. We ate a little, played a little, and what self-respecting party would we be having at Fern Ave. if we didn't have a little fireworks to keep the neighbors up at 1am in the morning. I actually may be able to dig up some pictures on this one.

- Roy and Catherine's wedding: congratulations to my good friends Roy and Catherine. It was a pleasure being able to help you guys out as needed. Roy, thank you for making your wedding a tough act to follow.

- Amy's Birthday: Wow...a birthday that spans two days is always a fun event. Sorry we were late...both times.

All in all, the weekends have been pretty busy. but its almost been tame compared to what I've been needing to do to bring home the bacon.

I believe I've worked about three week's amount of work in the last two weeks. I've put tons of miles on my poor little car (the same one I've had since college...trust me, I'm keeping it until it chokes), and Friday night, I fell asleep and other than being awake for probably about an hour in total, I didn't wake up until 6:15 pm Saturday night.

Seriously, when you LIVE your life working, you start to wonder if its ever going to change. You start rationalizing that everyone lives life working until they find the next thing they think they want to do...then they do that until the next "best" thing comes. And then...you retire.

Really? Is it how life is?

Oh, and I'll report on the wedding later...

Hopefully life will calm down soon!

Merry Christmas Eve Day!!!

2006-12-24T01:16:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas Eve Day, Everyone!!!

Christmas Eve is the "big day" for my family. We get together, eat, play and then open presents at midnight.

Whatever day is your family's day, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!!!

Eliasib

2006-12-04T23:27:00.000-05:00

So the other day, I'm laying on the couch with my left hand near my face and my hair all over the place, and the fiance looks over, pauses and says, "You look pretty!" To which I say, "Thank you!" You see, he's a typical man...compliments are few and far between...which make them mean a lot when they do come.

And then, I kid you not, he says, "Yeah, you look like one of those asian mail order brides - because you have that ring."

That's my fiance, folks! Gotta love him. =)

I was reading him my "100 Things About Me," and afterwards, he mentioned that he didn't think I could write 100 things about him. Of course, I said I bet I could and took on the challenge. Here, my friends, is 100 things about my fiance. For you observant ones out there, you may pick up on the fact that he and I are quite different. Heck...we have the administered test to prove it!!!

100 Things About Eliasib:

Eliasib is tall and left handed.

Eliasib used to play the saxophone.

Eliasib has made more than 60 skydive jumps.

He once landed on a cactus.

Eliasib likes getting mani’s and pedi’s.

His favorite food is Mediterranean.

But then again, he doesn’t like to say that anything is his “favorite” since he doesn’t like to commit to anything.

Eliasib’s decided he could commit to me.

Eliasib claims the white hair he has in his beard is from Valerie.

Eliasib has an older brother and younger sister.

Eliasib’s birthday is five days after his mom’s and three day’s before his brother’s.

Eliasib has a scar from a trumpet his brother threw at him.

Eliasib was born in Chicago and grew up in Michigan – Berrien Springs.

Eliasib’s best friend is Alex Perez.

Eliasib backpacked around Europe with Alex.

Eliasib once let a pigeon eat a piece of food out of his mouth in Europe.

Eliasib took pictures of the Sistine Chapel even though he wasn’t supposed to.

Eliasib is obsessed with home improvement.

Given the right tools, Eliasib would claim he could make anything…

If dared, Eliasib would most likely perform the dare (provided it didn’t go against his moral code).

Our friends often take advantage of this weakness of Eliasib.

Eli is against the consumption of meat.

Eliasib thinks milk is bad for you.

Eliasib doesn’t read fortune cookie fortunes.

Eliasib isn’t afraid to talk to anyone…anywhere…at any time.

People oftentimes mistake Eli as a store employee since he is usually knowledgeable of the products and has been known to step behind the counter.

Eliasib is all about the “journey” versus the “destination.”

Eliasib used to like playing basketball with friends.

Eliasib likes people to read to him.

Eliasib once flunked spelling because he cheated and was caught.

Eliasib grew up in Michigan but since moving to Florida, cannot stand the cold.

Eliasib loves the beach.

Eliasib once went to an amusement park wearing short-shorts because a girl told him that wearing short shorts deemphasized how skinny his legs were. Since he thinks he has skinny legs, he decided to give it a go…

Eliasib’s leg hair stops WELL before his ankles because he always puts his socks on right after he showers and the leg hair hasn’t grown in.

Eliasib loves animals but gets offended when they don’t really pay attention to him.

Eliasib has owned a monkey in the past.

Eliasib has received more tickets than I have in my car.

At this moment in time, Eliasib has an outstanding ticket in another state.

Eliasib has hosted only three people in his current car.

Eliasib is a mild hypochondriac.

If it’s free, Eliasib will take it. If you wanted to kidnap Eliasib, all you’d have to do is advertise a location with FREE STUFF!!!

Eliasib can’t resist picking up pamphlets, brochures or informational packets.

When screwing in screws, Eliasib HAS to leave the screw groove perpendicular to the floor.

Eliasib likes to listen to talk radio but only if it is informational, NPR-ish type of talk.

Eliasib used to work for a travel agent booking people’s cruise vacations.

Eliasib has never been on a cruise.

One of Eliasib’s favorite songs is “Pooh Corner.”

Eliasib can sing most of the songs off the “Evita” soundtrack.

Eliasib likes to draw and paint although he hasn’t done it in years.

He believes drinking distilled water is best.

Eliasib has had elective plastic surgery.

His elective plastic surgery was free.

Eliasib doesn’t like to backtrack since he’s already “gone that way.”

When Eliasib feels like seeing animals, he’ll pop into a pet store to get his “fix.”

Eliasib learned how to build his own computers.

Eliasib doesn’t like to watch sports (although his fiancée does and wishes her man would).

He likes to help people begging out on the streets.

As much as Eliasib likes to perform home improvements, he does not like to do anything with landscaping.

Eliasib likes to work on projects that END…versus projects that have to be constantly maintained. Example he would rather tile a floor than mow the lawn.

Eliasib belongs to a man-spa where they cut your hair, shave you, give you facials, wax your eyebrows, etc.

Eliasib likes playing videogames. (I can’t really say anything more since they’re all the same to me).

Eliasib is a procrastinator.

Eliasib is oftentimes running late.

Eliasib likes wearing colognes.

Eliasib’s a closet cat lover.

Eliasib thinks he’s the Dog/Cat Whisperer after watching the TV show.

Eliasib likes to shop around a lot and then not purchase anything (refer to #27).

Eliasib likes to shop around for new and different beverages.

Eliasib is a marketer’s dream: if a product says “New & Improved” or “The Last One You’ll Ever Need” or “Best…” he’ll want to purchase the product…just to see if it’s as good as it’s claiming.

It has been remarked that Eliasib doesn’t hold any thoughts back…as in whatever he’s thinking, you’ll know.

Eliasib likes both tea and coffee…(refer to #68) though he likes them both sweet.

Eliasib once rented a wheelchair and pushed Valerie around Sea World all day because her foot was hurting her, and he didn’t want her to hold him back from seeing all the animals.

Eliasib likes to be the driver when carpooling.

Eliasib likes museums.

He is a tireless explorer who wants to see everything and considers vacation NOT a time to rest since one can do that back at home.

He likes to be pampered.

He wants to own his own business one day so he could be his own boss.

I’ve always said that Eliasib was a walking think tank. If someone followed him around to write his ideas down, there could be a lot of money made since he’s constantly looking at the world to see what could be made better.

Eliasib once tackled an innocent bystanding duck. I have the pictures (and a previous blog post to prove it)

Eliasib likes to window shop.

Eliasib isn’t very good at remembering people’s names.

Eliasib is a pretty loyal friend.

Eliasib is all for alternative medical treatments.

Eliasib isn’t afraid of many things, but he is afraid of jelly fish. This stems from a jelly fish incident while swimming off the coast of Italy – the island of Caprese.

While snorkeling in Kauai, HI, Eliasib had too much food in his hands and an overzealous fish took a bite out of Eliasib. Eliasib had the bite marks to prove it.

Eliasib is slow to anger and forgives easily.

Eliasib doesn’t fold his clothes when he puts them away – he rolls them.

When things aren’t balanced or aligned or centered, it really bothers Eliasib.

It is difficult for Eliasib to make up his mind (refer to #27). For example, he belongs to a website where you pay about $20/month for two audio book download credits. He currently has 12 credits to his name which he has not spent – that is equivalent to six months of books. He has 36 books on his “Wishlist,” however since it is difficult for him to “commit” to purchasing a book, he has not applied any of his credits to any of the books.

Eliasib likes watching the animal planet, HDTV, History Channel and National Geographic.

Eliasib wouldn’t mind owning a rat or pig since he watched animal planet/national geographic shows on them which painted them as super intelligent.

Cereal is a staple in Eliasib’s life.

Eliasib has a cat stuffed animal he’s had almost his whole life. He has a baby portrait of him almost the same size as the cat squeezing the life out of it, and his face is all lit up and he’s laughing. The picture is really cute…and funny because the cat’s permanent face sort of looks scared.

Eliasib has tiled my kitchen and bathroom as well as a room in his parent’s house.

Eliasib almost enjoys public speaking.

Eliasib doesn’t like schedules or anything that insinuates structure.

He can’t be inside a building the whole day and claims a headache if he feels “cooped” up inside.

Eliasib doesn’t like cards – doesn’t like to purchase them or write anything inside.

Eliasib’s fiancée is awesome – he can’t ask for a better fiancée!

Eliasib is excited about the future and what it holds.

Villar legacy lives on...

2006-11-27T22:29:00.000-05:00

My brother sent me this video of this cool guy on YouTube...

Watch here!

Oh, and yes, it is my brother...

100 Things About Me!

2006-11-23T08:01:00.000-05:00

I've seen people post 100 things about themselves, and I thought I'd give it a go...have fun reading! You may learn something new about me!

I have not lived-lived at home with my parents since I was 16 due to boarding highschool, college and now…Florida!

My favorite number is three.

Most of my mom’s 10 brothers and sisters had three children.

I used to want to have three kids…now it’s looking like two is a good number.

I love having a big family and lots of cousins. I think there are almost 30 of us…

When I think of family, I think of my mother’s side of the family.

I like using “…” when I write. I think its because I’m usually writing what I’m thinking and, since I get distracted easily, what I’m saying usually leads easily into something else…plus I don’t like to really end a thought. That air of finality… don’t like too much!

I consider my life having consisted, so far, of four phases: Phase 1 (1978-1994), Phase 2 (1994-1996): Two years at MBA, Phase 3 (1996-2000): Four years at PUC and Phase 3 (2000-Present): Florida. Each phase has represented a different environment, friends and focus.

Only one friend has existed through all four phases.

I don’t like to use the term “best friend.”

I like to get things done…no dilly-dallying. It bothers me when people can’t make decisions.

I like things to happen on time. I like being on time.

I have always thought I’d do something in the Accounting field ever since I was a little girl watching my dad work on the dining room table with his 10-key.

I took my first Accounting class as a senior in highschool. I hated it and made it the first class I ever dropped.

I had concluded I was going to be a teacher of either Math or English when I was deciding on a major the summer before my freshman year at PUC. I ditched the idea of being a teacher when I heard tollbooth collectors make more money than teachers.

My brother’s a math teacher and loves it.

My mom’s a nurse and my sister’s a nurse.

My dad’s an accountant and I’m an accountant.

My sister and I used to tell my brother that he was adopted after we found him outside. I can’t believe we were so mean…yet he is much taller than everyone else in our family…and looks Chinese…

When we were kids, we told the younger kids at our church that the plaque on front of the church that listed the year the church was built (or something like that) was actually a headstone for the grave that stretched out in front of the plaque in the grass. To emphasize the story, we told them it was disrespectful to walk over graves, therefore, we always either jumped over the space in front of the plaque or made a small detour around the supposed “grave.” It was fun to watch them do it when they thought no one was looking. I still walk around the “grave” to this day out of habit.

We made up a sort of “tag” game to play at church while our parents were meeting inside after potluck. We called it “Eric’s Game.” Named after Eric.

When we were kids, we got a newly wed pastor and his wife for our church. We used to sit behind the pastor’s wife and tally up the number of times he looked at his wife during his sermon. He looked at her a LOT.

I get motion sickness. It sucks!

I don’t like going into big cities for the heck of it.

I’m a homebody and would much rather stay in than go out.

I don’t like strawberries.

I don’t like sour things… and sour cream isn’t sour.

I grew up around a lot of kids (mostly younger cousins when we were younger), yet I don’t know what to do with little kids.

I don’t know how to “play.” As in…play with dolls and doll houses, cars, etc.

I fear I lacked imagination in coming up with Barbie and Skipper storylines since it didn’t make sense to me…like…who cares if Barbie has a whole kitchen set! She can put the fake turkey into the oven as much as she wants, but it’s already fake done…so why put it in the oven? Also, there is just so much dressing Barbie in different clothes that one can do… one outfit is as good as another when Barbie’s just walking around her fake kitchen…not like her clothes are going to get dirty from the fake gravy she’s fake making!!!

I think I’m funny and witty. I used to think that someone could make a funny sitcom about my family since its funny being the first generation in the US.

My dad once sent me on a fieldtrip with a frozen orange juice concentrate (the kind you mix with three cans of water). I think it was the first time they had to think about packing juice in our lunchbox because my family always subscribed to receiving milk during the lunch hour. My friends made fun of my, and my teacher was baffled.

I once made a kite at school out of a paper bag and was embarrassed that it wouldn’t fly like all the other kids’ kites in my class. It may have been because my parents gave me rope instead of light string to complete the construction of my kite…no amount of additional running got that sucker up in the air!

I like the mountains better than the beach.

I’ve never been to Europe. I want to go so terribly bad.

I would move to another country…tomorrow!

Christmas is my favorite time of the year.

I’m listening to Christmas music right now… today’s the day before Thanksgiving.

I don’t like going to the post office and mailing things.

I would much rather be cold than hot.

My favorite outfit consists of jeans, a tee shirt and sweatshirt or jacket with some tennis shoes.

I depend on my sister to figure out what makeup looks good on us…then I stick to it until she convinces me otherwise.

I just learned how to keep my eyelashes curled.

I like things organized…even if I’m not always organized.

I like things clean. If the kitchen is clean and my bed is made, the rest of the house can be caked in mud, and I’d be okay. The more stressed I am, the more I need things organized and clean. If I’m stressed, the first thing you’ll see me do is clean.

I hate cleaning the bathroom.

My friend, Casey, and I used to have tag team wrestling matches with my brother and cousin.

The typical guy I have fallen for has been a tall, left-handed Caucasian guy with a variation of the name John or Jonathan.

One of my favorite guys I liked didn’t have any of the qualities in #45.

My fiancé is tall and left-handed.

I love to read fiction. Sci-fi, adventure, mystery…

Red roses are my favorite flowers

I got my ears pierced so I could wear pearl studs since I always thought they looked classy. Now I want a pair of diamond earring studs to match my ring.

I don’t like theme park rides designed to scare you with dizzying heights and gut-wrenching drops. I prefer fast rides with lots of turns.

I love watching television and movies.

I prefer exercising in a gym and playing team sports.

My favorite game is volleyball but wasn’t good enough to make the team.

My next favorite game is football. I made the team and played Center.

I’m addicted to Peach Fresca.

I like listening to talk radio…but not constructive, thought-provoking radio, no, I’m talking about the DJ’s in the morning just gossiping or inviting people to call in and give their input on the topic of the morning.

I love rain. And Wind.

I want it all – the career, the kids, the marriage, minivan, the house in the suburbs, dog and the picket fence.

My instruments include the flute, piccolo, piano, violin. And I love to sing in a choir or with a group. NEVER by myself. I did all of these things fairly well but not great.

I don’t mind dancing…but I find it easier to dance with someone you don’t know.

I always considered myself someone guys had to get to know before they started paying attention to me. I wasn’t the one guys noticed upon entering a room. I didn’t mind being the one with the “good personality.”

I like to be involved in lots of things, but I often times feel taken for granted and worn out.

I’m not very good at cross word puzzles or sudoku. I suck, actually.

My favorite thing about my appearance is my hair. Without my hair, well, I’d wear a wig. I’m one of those girls defined by her hair.

I’ve noticed that in this Phase of my life, I’ve become more take charge, bossy, cynical and irritable. I wonder often why this has occurred.

People think I’m perpetually in a good mood…and I’m not.

The last time I remember publicly being emotional about something was during a Rook game. I think I shocked everyone, including my partner, the pastor when I practically threw my cards at another player and walked off. He had been annoying me throughout the evening and I had had enough.

I love to cook and wish I could do it more often.

I want a maid. If I had a maid, I would be a much happier person.

You will not see me debating politics any time soon. I’m a registered Republican, but I told my mom I registered as a Democrat to see her reaction. I then told her the truth but admitted that I could see myself switching…just to see her reaction.

I don’t know my father’s side of the family very well…I only know my father’s mother and one cousin by name.

I was named after my father’s mother. Her name was Valeriana, and my dad calls me that sometimes. I think it’s sweet when he does that since I know he loved her very much.

My grandmother lived with us for a couple years but only picked up a couple English words: asleep and garage. She used to shine the kitchen floors with car wax. Many people have slipped and fell while running through the kitchen in their socks.

I look up to my sister in many aspects of life, however, we are more different than similar.

We didn’t grow up with any pets because my dad is allergic to animal hair.

We got a dog when we were young. My parents told us, after a week, that the dog ran away. I just found out a couple years ago that they lied to us and had given the dog away. I remember feeding the puppy Doritos.

I once collected rolly-pollies in a Frisbee and stored them in my dad’s car. I went back for them a couple hours later, and they were all gone.

My favorite Christmas movie is “Holiday Inn” with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.

I don’t like shopping. I’m dreading Christmas shopping this year.

I used to want to wear suits for my career…now I want to wear scrubs.

I like salty foods better than sweet foods.

I like perfume but always forget to put it on.

I have a morning internet routine: check emails (work, hotmail, email, google-wedding account, google-personal account and yahoo…in that order…HAS to be in that order). I then check specific comics for the day (Baldo, Bob the Squirrel, FoxTrot, 9 Chickweed Lane, Luann, Pearls Before Swine, Pooch Café, Get Fuzzy and For Better or For Worse…HAS to be in that order).

I like to play the Rabbit-Rabbit game with fellow players.

I like to sit by the window on the airplane so I can lean against the side of the plane. I don’t like to talk to people I don’t know on the plane.

I’m on my third cell phone.

The only phone numbers I know by heart (besides any that used to be mine) belong to my fiancé and a lady at one of the hospitals who I call a lot for work.

I just wrote something and erased it because I didn’t want anyone to know…

…it had something to do with owning a Britney Spears CD. J

I can have a temper that I don’t like. Few people see it.

I like to take care of people and things…but I don’t necessarily have to be in charge of things. But I don’t mind being in charge either.

I’m scared of heights.

I don’t like the texture of slimy food.

I have unfinished business with people in my life that I have accepted will never be truly finished…satisfactorily.

I like to receive flowers, but I don’t ever feel that I “should’ve” gotten flowers. I think this is because I don’t think I’m a romantic person.

I’m happy right now.

Corn Maze

2006-11-13T21:44:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we went to Long & Scott's Corn Maze! There was something like this in California, but it sure wasn't made out of Corn! The weather is starting to get really nice, and it was so fun to be outdoors with friends...but, in a corn maze?!?!?!?!...you may ask

Here's a picture of Jeff, Kristen, Brennon & Brandy. This is a picture of us about halfway through where our two parties met on the "bridge" overlooking the corn maze.

I had to get a picture of Cowgirl Amy & Ghetto Sean - yes, it was much like this the whole way through.

..."their love was not a likely love, yet through all the odds, they persevered..."

Here's a picture of one of our fearless leaders - Ying-Tsin! It's still pretty weird seeing how high the corn stalks were. It wasn't the easiest of mazes since we didn't have very much direction on whether to turn right or left...whether to stay on the blue-lined path or go into the orange...and, of course, once we started the maze, that was when we all realized that we were hungry...or thirsty.

I must say, though, that thank goodness our group consisted of the people it did...I mean, could you imagine going through the group with more than one person strongly feeling as if we should've turned right instead of left...or gone straight? It could've been ugly!!!

But it was fine. We relied on our "leaders," and the rest of us had quite a nice walk through the maze.

Here's Ying-Tsin and me at one of the stations...
and a picture of Amy when we finally finished the course...about an hour and 20 minutes after starting.

All in all, I felt like a city girl in the country, more directionally-challenged than I like to admit I am...and hungry the whole time. I would, however, recommend it to the next person any day.

2006-11-07T21:48:00.000-05:00

Here's our wedding website. As of right now, I only have pictures and basic information up.

We will be updating the website as often as possible, so check out the link whenever you can!

My life in pictures...

2006-11-04T11:53:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures of what I've been up to over the last couple weeks:

The fiance and I went on the Winter Park Boat Tour. Although I've been on it twice before in the last six years, he's never been on it in the last 10-15 years. Here are a couple pictures:

Really nice house...looks like they're getting ready for a small wedding or something!

One of the canals we went through connecting the lakes.

Here's our boat...mates.
Here we are!!!
Here's a bird Oreo brought home a couple months ago. We were able to save one bird he brought home, but this one didn't make it through the night. it was kinda sad.
Here are my cousins and a cousin's daughter...cute Patricios!!! =)
Two weeks ago Eliasib bought two hermit crabs. Unfortunately, we lost one of them. He literally climbed out of it's dish and jumped off of the table and wandered away...in my house. I know...how could we lose a crab in a red shell??? One week and two days after it's escape...it came back. IT CAME BACK! could you believe it???
We also went to Orlando's "Street of Dreams" where they featured eight million dollar houses with an average size of 9,000 square feet. These houses were absolutely amazing! We should've taken more pictures of the inside...the decor, kitchens and bathrooms were so awesome.

I also bought a picture made up of three separate pieces. You could put them together or keep them apart. We finally got them up on my wall...helps make the room more homey...LOVE IT! =)

Okay...until next time I empty out my camera. =)

2006-11-03T14:14:00.000-05:00

Love is never having to say "Thank You."

What say you on this?????

2006-10-29T12:02:00.000-05:00

Isn't is terrible when someone asks what you've been up to lately, and all you can say is...work?

When the world you live in consists of the stores and streets between home and the building you work in?

Is it better to be responsible and look forward to getting that done...then have fun? Or get the fun "out of the way" before you buckle down and be responsible?

Why do some people just can't seem to quite be in the right place at the right time...or catch any lucky breaks?

Why do some people know just all the right people, while others are overlooked all the time?

Would you rather be given something you didn't quite deserve or not get something you know you've tried your best to get?

I know all these questions may sound odd, but thoughts like this have been running through my mind.

How much does being popular and know the person who "knows the person" factor in our lives?

Is it "just life?"

Where does the time go?

2006-10-17T22:12:00.000-04:00

Okay, wow...its been forever since I've posted anything, and I'm so sorry!!!

I kinda-sorta lost my camera, which has since been found, however, since I haven't psted any pictures in a long time, well...my mission is to charge my new rechargeable batteries and then take pictures! =)

In the mean time, I thought I'd post a picture my dear cousin, Kimberly, took this last weekend.
Last weekend, Eli and I took off to Melbourne to hang out with my family there as well as their in laws and my Auntie Bing and Uncle Jerry from California. Apparently, they're here to scope out Florida as a possible place to retire. Okay...family isn't supposed to move here, I'm supposed to move OUT of Florida! Goodness gracious, people, get it right!!!

Anyways, while we were at Mrs. Baylen's house, they whipped out all these videos from the Vallejo children's choir and other things we did. We sure did a lot growing up! I saw videos of one of our Christmas cantatas (is that how you spell that?), Filipino campmeeting at Leoni Meadows talent show...church choir singing...we definitely weren't hurting in the extracurricular activities section of our lives while young.

It was really fun, though, to see what everyone looked like 15 years ago. The big glasses, the big hair, the puff sleaves, and the big bows tied around our neck for our choir uniforms. Oh, yes... good times...good times. :)

So life has been hectic lately. My friend who is getting married one week before me already has her dress, church, reception room, photographer...heck, she's already going to take her engagement pictures!!! What the heck...I'm sooo jealous!!! I'm so not there.

Would anyone look down on me if I admitted that I'm really not HAVING to do the wedding thing? I'm totally all for a package wedding! I can show up, put on the dress they hand me, walk down the aisle and stand before my friends and family with my man...say the vows, and have the officiant pronounce us man and wife. Then...we have a nice dinner and call it a day.

I know...I'm such a failure at being a chic.

Oh...one more thing about the wedding plans (sorry...but bear with me over the next 7-8 months), WE DON'T HAVE ANYONE TO MARRY US!

We don't have anyone we definitely want to marry us. We don't have a pastor that we're close to as a couple...we've both had pastors in and out of our lives...and the one pastor I wanted is unable to attend. Does anyone out there have the ability to marry us??? I'm envisioning "Joey" from the tv show, "Friends." =) Tell me you know what I'm talking about!?!?!?! =)

Okay, just because I haven't posted in a while doesn't mean I can ramble on forEVER...

=)

What a week...

2006-10-08T21:23:00.000-04:00

This week has been pretty rough.

I found out from a super close friend of mine that a guy we went to highschool with was in a motorcycle accident and didn't make it. I wasn't close with George, but I knew him, and he was so very precious to my friend...well, death, combined with the deep sadness of someone near and dear to you really made me sad.

I've been super sensative, emotional and empathetic since then.

However, I was looking forward to meeting up with my bestest friend, Casey! Yay! I love Casey to death, and I NEVER get to see her...so when she told me she was going to be in Ft. Lauderdale for business and invited me down...well, how could I pass that up?

My wonderful fiance was going to stand in for me at church and afterwards, which was awesome... so I happened to find myself all alone at home at 11:30 am when usually I'm at church. I was running out the door with my whole grain waffles in the toaster and my overnight bag and purse in my hand, when I see my Oreo out on the back porch. Since I didn't want my kitty outside all day until someone else came home, I tried to coax him inside...which normally wouldn't take much coaxing.

However, yesterday, he just wearily looked up at me, then looked away. Since I was in a hurry and really didn't want him outside all day, I went to pick him up to bring him in...and when I picked him up, he let out a groan-ish meow. Now...my Oreo isn't really a meower. He does it to sometimes get your attention, but really, he's not a meower.

I put him down on the tile floor, and took a closer look at him. He had scratches on his face, and his stomach looked especially puffy. He tried to get up and walk over to the carpet, and he could barely stand up, he was so wobbly...and he was meowing the whole time. I started petting him and just seeing him there, obviously in pain, was killing me!!! I started crying while I dialed Eli.

This is the short version of what happened:

Vet #1 - "Sorry, we are closing in three minutes...take him to Banfield Veterinary..."

Vet #2 - "We only have one doctor in right now, and he's in surgery. You should try VCA just down the street..."

Vet #3 - "We can take him, but if it's serious, we're only open for two more hours, and you'll have to transfer him over to an overnight/emergency place since we can't watch over him. Here's the number..."

A kind man gave me a business card for the next place, and I could barely say thank you before I just rushed out of the vet place I was in tears. My cat was in pain in my back seat...and all these people could say was 'SORRY?!?!?!?!?!' Tell that to my kitty who's practically hyperventilating since he hates being in a carrier...in a car... and WOUNDED!!!

By now, I'm a wreak. I wait for my fiance to catch up with me at the third vet, and we make our way to the fourth vet. They are able to see us, and they would be equipped to watch him overnight if need be. While we wait, I'm able to lean on my fiance's shoulders and look at all the animal pictures on the wall. Apparently the vet place is good enough to treat some of the Orlando K-9 unit dogs, so I'm confident they'll be able to take care of my Oreo.

Two X-rays and blood tests later, it's evident that someone hit my Oreo with their car. Seeing as how my Oreo could barely take a few steps before collapsing, and he obviously was not hit on my back porch, my Oreo must have somehow-some way, dragged his little self back to my back porch where he knew someone would take care of him. He's my little hero of the week.

He'll be okay. He's currently confined to a large dog kennel equipped with a bed, food, water and litter box for the next six weeks. This is so he doesn't try to walk too much or jump. Of course, since he needs help into and out of his litterbox, I'm not too worried of him trying to run off or anything.

I'm incredibly sad for my Oreo. Just watching him in pain to turn around or go to the bathroom is breaking my heart. I'm very much a doting/spoiling type of person. I like to see people be comfortable around me, hence people calling me 'mother' at certain points in my life. Other than administer the medicine given, there's not much I can do for my little Oreo, just pet him and see him through this.

I wonder what I'll be like as a mother. I definitely can see myself as a disciplinarian...but I'm also the empathetic one. It must be hard to see your little ones get hurt...i don't know how I'll do when I have real little offspring running around.

Please keep my little Oreo in your prayers. He's only a cat, but he's my cat, and I love him very much. He'll be alright...he's a fighter. =)
Thanks, Casey, for understanding. I sooo want to come visit soon.

I'm Home!!!

2006-09-05T06:12:00.000-04:00

It is about 6am in Florida, and I've been up for abut three hours! I woke up, tossed & turned, watched a little bit of tv, went to the neighborhood gym and exercised a bit, caught up on some email...and now, thought I'd post a sentence or four. Work is NOT going to be a pretty thing today.

But...

it is so nice to be home! =)

I think I'll be able to be home for a bit, which, I must say, feels really good. Yesterday, after working a stint, I convinced three other guys to go watch The Illusionist with me. I saw it in Chicago, not realizing it was a limited release a couple weekends ago. Ever since then, I've been trying to get people to watch it with me since I LOVED IT, but unfortunately, it was only widely released last Friday. I was unsuccessful in persuading my dear brother to see it Saturday night, but last night, I was able to see it again, and I must say, I may go and see it again with a friend of mine.

Matinee, hopefully, but evening price, if that is the only time we can go. I wholly recommend this movie to all audiences. =)

Anyways, I'm glad to be home. This last weekend was definitely bittersweet, but at least, for now, life is good.

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day!