Don't Burst my Soap Bubble

So my friend facebook chatted me asking where the photo puzzle I made was. I showed her the picture in my facebook album and asked her what it was for. She said that her cousin was making a collage of “things people don’t really do anymore” like puzzles, flying kites, pillow fights, playing with bubbles… which I actually all had pictures of.

Makes me realize that I should take the time and do the simple things that make me happy even though I’m almost reaching my mid-twenties (that sounds sooo old! -_- )

So take the time and go fly a kite and blow some bubbles. Partying is so overrated anyways :)

The picture puzzle I made for my boy’s 20th birthday. Courtesy of walmart.com

It’s Ash Wednesday which means the start of lent. And though I’m not catholic, I decided to try this out and see what others have to go through for 40 days. Hopefully I will learn something from giving things up. 

First thing: coffee. Honestly, I don’t think it even does anything for me. I just like the taste of it. And it’s free at work. I’ll stick to MORE water! Or tea… haha

Second thing: processed desserts. I could seriously eat this every single day after every single meal. That’s why I think I need to give it up for now. Too much sugar! Hopefully this will push me to eating healthier desserts like fruit! — I heard Denise’s supervisor might bring donuts on Friday though — gotta stay away from her department :/

Third thing: yeah… I think I can only give up two things for now. Considering that it’s my first time I’m doing this, we’ll see how it goes.

Day one: partly successful? I had some M&Ms. Does that count as dessert? I think of it as candy LOL

Valentine’s Day.

If you’re single, you could probably care less. If you’re in a relationship, you’re probably expecting something. What about if you’re in a relationship, and you don’t care much for the holiday? What do you get? Dinner for one.

Since the boyfriend had a quiz on V-Day and a test the next day, he decided to skip the whole weekend AND Monday to study. I told him go ahead. It’s not that big of a deal to me. He should study and ace his quiz/test rather than use his time and spend lots of money on something just because of this “holiday.”

So Monday comes, and I bring in little cupcakes for work that I made on Sunday. And for some reason, every decided that they’ve had to much sweets and I still had a tray full of cupcakes by the afternoon. I offered them again after lunch. Turns out there was a CUPCAKE TRUCK that came to my work and handed out free cupcakes. Just my luck. No one wanted extra sweets. But luckily towards the end of the day, people were having sugar cravings and all the cupcakes were gone by the time I left work :)

I go home and make myself a nice pasta dinner. I invite my friend over to join me and she texted me 2 hours later and said she was going to dye her hair instead :/

So I ate my dinner, by myself, catching up on a show on my laptop, did some homework, and then went to bed.

That was my day. Sounds pathetic? A little bit. But I guess I just have to appreciate the little things: people liked my cupcakes, a cupcake truck came by at work, my dinner was delicious (even though I made too much and ended up eating it 3 days straight), and I got a lot of homework done and caught up on another episode on a show I was watching.

My point - just appreciate the little things. Just because everyone else is getting flower and chocolates and eating out, it really is just another day. Just another Monday. Maybe I’ll get a chance to celebrate it next year, but for now, I’ll just celebrate every other day with the boy :)

Last year’s Valentine’s day: dinner, new dress and boat ride to Coronado

Mini cupcakes - I was sad. My frosting thing broke :(

Picture frame I made him 2 hours before I saw him on Tuesday - It’s the thought that counts :)

He gave me one picture every day with a drawing and a creative line using the letter’s of my name leading up to Valentine’s day - or the day after anyways

What’s better than girl scout cookies and holiday candy after the holiday for half off?

So my baby finally turns one and I decide to throw him a little backyard birthday party. Unfortunately, his birthday happen to fall on the same weekend as Super Bowl Sunday and Chinese New Year, but that didn’t stop him from enjoying some food, fun, and even a few new friends.

Happy Birthday my little cotton puff ball!! <3

Giving a kiss to Lucky

Enjoying the beautiful day with his new friend Coo

It’s never a birthday without a cake

Happy birthday you cute little bear!

What is better than having people share their food with you at work? A fresh tamale for breakfast, a chocolate chip bagel following after, girl scout cookies for dessert after lunch, ice cream cake for a mid-afternoon snack and more cookies from my supervisor to get me to file something late. The best part is, the bagel and ice cream cake was for someone’s birthday in another department and I get to share that joy because I sit right next to them!

Too bad in return, 2 girls from my department were gone today and we had extra work to cover their part. After 9 1/2 of work, I can finally enjoy my Friday night… full of studying! But if my boyfriend cooks me dinner, I’ll call it a good Friday :)

Enjoy! Happy Friday! :)

Chinese New Year once again and unfortunately, I am not able to celebrate it with my family in the ultimate Chinese town of SAN FRANCISCO. Still, it is not going to stop me from going out and enjoy the beginning of yet another new year.

Luckily, I have this chance to start over as I think 2011 didn’t turn out so great for me so far, but I’ll make that time up and start everything over again today.

Hope this year is going to be as great as 2010, and being the sign of the rabbit, I hope my luck with continue throughout the year of the rabbit!

I wish everyone good health and good fortune! Eat lots and be happy :)

Cheers to another year of love, food, great friends and family,happiness, health, fortune, good times and whatever the year may bring us!

Red shirt, gold necklace, and a more optimistic outlook for the year :)

…Now off to enjoy my night with good company and all I can eat

I think I’m a decent cook sometimes. With a little help from a recipe book and a tad of personal touch (aka cilantro on everything!) = lots of delicious creations.

Now, who doesn’t love pizza? I could seriously eat it everyday for at least a week. How about a gourmet pizza? Easier than it sounds… :)

- Flatbread for crust

- Alfredo sauce     …and for the toppings…

- Mozzarella cheese (which I accidentally forgot to put after the Alfredo sauce and had to put it on top of everything)

- Red onion

- Crushed up pieces of salmon burger (had to improvise - didn’t have fresh salmon)

- Bacon bites

- Garlic

- Cilantro!

- and black pepper to top it off

Suggestion: marinate the salmon to give the pizza more flavor.

Tip: you don’t have to follow the recipe exactly. Put whatever you like more on the pizza (recipe actually didn’t call for cilantro or garlic)

Recipe courtesy of Costco cookbook

Do you ever wondering… if so many people are able to do it, why can’t I?

I guess I finally put my fears of parallel parking to the test as this was the first day of class at a school that I’ve never been to (except yesterday to check it out) and the closest parking to my “modular village” classroom besides the overly crowded, never going to find a parking spot unless you come at 5 in the morning parking lot, was one thing I’ve been avoiding this whole 9 months (and I can’t believe I lasted this long) of driving… parallel parking. Either that, or park in the most likely going to find parking and walk by myself in the dark parking structure exactly on the other side of campus.

So I’m thinking, my class is at night and I get out at around 9:30pm every Wednesday and the faster I get to my car, the safer I’ll be. Still, I desperately circle the parking lot with no luck. So I find a spot on the street where there is plenty of parking and for some reason, I pick one on a slight incline WITH a curb. Bravely, I attempt this challenge and pull up to the car in front of me. Then I back up like I see everyone else do it and was really far from the curb. Then I spent about 10-15 minutes shifting my car from drive to reverse just to straighten out and get closer to the curb. Eventually, I was close enough although the back was sticking out and the front wheel was touching the curb. BUT I MADE IT!!!

And then I thought, maybe if I actually really tried to parallel park before today, I could have made it. Especially if there was guidance from someone that I was driving. It took me this long to finally do something that everyone who drives are practically a pro at.

So moral of the story: if you put your mind to it and actually try to go for it, you might make it 

Great feeling of accomplishment! Minus the plastic barriers I hit trying to back out of a parking space before class while I was getting a delicious Vietnamese sandwich hahaha. One step at a time :)

Yay! I made it! :)