post college life

foodie friday {18}

2012-01-27T11:32:00.000-08:00

Since I've been on a nice little break from school, I've had more time to spend in the kitchen. This week, I attempted to make something I found on Pinterest! I was so excited to try it too.

Cauliflower pizza dough! Say what? Pizza crust made out of cauliflower? Totally awesome. And actually really tasty.

I got the recipe for the crust here.

It actually took longer than I thought, but that's because I'm a newbie in the kitchen and I'm so unsure of everything. I'll eventually get there though! So I had to prep by grating the cauliflower.

Then I added all the goodies. Garlic salt, an egg, mozzarella cheese.

I mixed all the ingredients together and patted it into a pizza shape and baked it with no toppings for about 15 minutes.

This was the fun part. The toppings. I LOVE LOVE LOVE pesto. I think pesto makes everything taste SO much better!! It's like magic. So instead of a red sauce, I used the pesto sauce as a base, feta cheese, TONS of spinach and TONS of mushrooms.

I baked it for 10 minutes with all the fixins and it was ready to go! TADA!

And the verdict: DELICIOUS! I can't wait to make this again and vary the toppings. I love BBQ sauce--especially the kind from Fresh and Easy. :)

from SF to LA to SD and then to LV

2012-01-23T09:32:00.000-08:00

Yeesh! I have been traveling to all the major cities in the surrounding area in the last 2 weeks it's been crazy. Last weekend, I was in Viva Las Vegas for my bestie's birthday celebration. I was fighting a cold the whole week, but I braved the city of lights anyway.

We got in around 11 pm and since it's the city that never sleeps (or is that NY?), we decided to walk the strip and have some fun. We also laughed at how this was totally bringing it back to the beginning of B and I. Nina and Kevin would take trips with me to visit him when he was living there! Anyway, after a night of walking around the strip, we ended the night at Earl of Sandwich inside Planet Hollywood. Which, woah!, I've never been to in all of my trips to Las Vegas!

The next day we woke up with a hankering for our favorite food spot in Las Vegas. Yup, Aloha Kitchen. We don't do the fancy shmancy places when we go to Las Vegas, mainly because we're always on a tight budget and Aloha Kitchen is perfect for us. Cheap, good, Filipino food! Seriously, adobo fried rice omlette, spam and eggs, corn beef hash, kalua pork, ALL SO GOOD!! I didn't take any pictures because we ate the food all too fast! :)

After brunch, we walked the strip for a little bit and ended up at Mandalay Bay to see Jared's band perform! And it was awesome! :) He's such a rockstar!

After the show, we headed straight to the hotel to get ready for the rest of the night! We got into the new club inside Mirage, 1 OAK (1 Of A Kind). And it was a pretty nice club! Had a ton of dancing space, two different rooms with different kinds of music and a pretty diverse crowd. Plus, it was free. :)

We got home earlier than the night before because we're old now. Plus, my feet were killing me in heels! This is why I don't wear heels, EVER. :) Beauty is pain right?

The next day, a bunch of went BACK to Aloha Kitchen for breakfast, this time a bunch of Brian's old childhood friends joined us! I've met most of his really good friends now, so that was cool! Then we headed to see the Pawn Stars shop, just to check it out. And it was just ehh, nothing special or fancy about it. TV really does glamourize things! Plus, the people from the show weren't even there.

Before heading to our last stop, B and I decided to take a picture at the Las Vegas sign, like we did 3 (THREE!!) years ago!

My! How we've changed so much!

After saying goodbye to a few friends, we headed to our one last stop: South Point to play a little roulette, spin some slots, and have some coffee before hitting the road to go home. This trip was a little different this time around because we didn't leave Las Vegas until around 5pm because we weren't in a hurry to be home and beat traffic! Since it was MLK weekend, we didn't stay till Monday, we left Sunday knowing that the majority of the people would be traveling back on Monday! So we beat the crowd. It was nice not having to hurry home for once! I feel like I should always take Monday off when I take trips to Vegas!

Anyway, I hope you have a lovely Monday, stay dry my friends!

filipino foodie post

2012-01-22T22:08:00.000-08:00

I know I stopped posting my Filipino Foodie Friday posts awhile ago, but here's a collection of dishes I made in the last 2 weeks. I've been on a Filipino Food Frenzy lately because I love filipino food! It is one of my absolute favorite foods. Not being biased or anything. :P

Here we go.

Last week I made pork sinigang with lots and lots of veggies. Filipino is notoriously known for being extremely unhealthy, so I try my best to make it healthier! I add more veggies than is called for and try to cut the fat out of the meat I use. I don't have a picture of the sinigang because I was too hungry!

The next night, I made some chicken adobo. A classic filipino dish. I didn't use the recipe linked there, but another one from my friend. The thing about adobo is that every filipino makes it differently. It's hard to find ONE recipe that is similar. I used my friend's recipe with a little bit of my Lola's recipe.

And to start off my new week, I made TWO filipino dishes. One a main dish and the other a dessert/breakfast dish.

The first was chicken afritada. One of my favorite dishes that my Lola makes. I feel like since I'm such a newbie in the Filipino kitchen, I take FOREVER to cook things! I'm constantly looking at the recipe, making sure I'm doing it right. Also, cutting all the ingredients takes me longer too because it's all so new to me! For this recipe, I used my Lola's version, because to me, she's the BEST! SO if you see the recipe linked up there, I DID NOT add hot dogs! hahaa

And the next dish I made tonight is gintaang mais. It's like a dessert/breakfast/pudding type dish. Haha, can't really describe it. But it has coconut milk, sweet rice, and fresh corn. Yup, I cut the corn straight from the cob. I found this recipe from Pinterest and knew I wanted to try it. And it is SO easy to make with just 4 ingredients!

I used this recipe from a filipino blogger who is part of this Kulinarya Cooking Club. And it was DELICIOUS!! I made enough to last me for a few breakfasts since I'm always on the go. I never have time in the morning to prepare a breakfast, so I usually stock up on instant breakfast foods at work. This week, I'll be having this stuff!

So there are a few Filipino Foodie Friday posts to catch me up for a while. I'll be making nilaga later this week. :)

NYE in SD

2012-01-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

I only had one night back at home before I was packing and on the road again. This time it was for SD instead of SF. I was also staying at my parents' place over the holidays so I wouldn't have to drive back and forth. So I was pretty much living out of a suitcase for 2 weeks. It was nice being able to do absolutely nothing for one day before hitting the road again.

I like to travel to other places for New Years Eve just because I can and because it's so much fun seeing different cities. 2008 NYE was in New York, 2009 was in Las Vegas, and 2010 was in LA. This year, 2011, it was SD. For 2012, I wanna go to SF!

It was such a beautiful weekend in San Diego, I absolutely loved it. It was shorts and flip flop type weather, in December? Aah, only in SoCal! We spent the first part of the day eating at this awesome BBQ place...aaah. So yummy!

And the second part of the night, we spent walking around the Gaslamp district, waiting to meet up with Kevin's cousins and friends. Once we met up with them, it was non stop fun after that! :)

Goodbye 2011, HELLO 2012!!

The next day, the first day of 2012, was spent in a tank top and jeans as we had breakfast at this popular spot in PB. And let me tell you, ehhh, don't ever need to go back for any reason! We said our goodbyes to Kevin's cousin and made our way back home, but not before stopping at my favorite cupcake place, Sprinkles.

I'm hoping to go to San Francisco to ring in the new year! Who wants to join me?!

rooooaad triiip

2012-01-17T09:11:00.001-08:00

My Christmas break was jam packed with parties, gatherings, and a mini road trip to SF to bring my Kuya JP back home. And we brought along the two little girlies. It was our first road trip with both of them without their parents. And sitting in a car with 2 little girls is bound to give you some laughs.

After leaving bright and early, we got into SF early in the afternoon and still had tons of time to enjoy the day! We walked from out hotel down to Fisherman's Wharf to see the sights and sounds. Since it was so cold, we had to make sure each girl was bundled up. Peyton is hilarious!

Taylor had her own street. And of course, Peyton wanted her own picture too.

So we sent the girls back to the hotel with Lolo and Uncle JP to rest. (Just the way Taylor likes it!) My mom and I explored on our own.

And the night wasn't complete until we had our clam chowder in a bread bowl! :) We also said goodbye to my Kuya JP that same night since his gf was there to pick him up.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to do more sightseeing. First stop: The Crooked Street

Second Stop: Golden Gate Bridge

Third Stop: Golden Gate Bakery.

Fourth Stop: The Cable Cars.
We waited in line for about an hour to be able to ride on one of the cable cars. And we rode it all the way down to Market and back. And the girls loved it. For the last part of the ride to Market, we got to sit in the front and the girls had a blast.

And last stop: Norman's Ice Cream (after dinner of course!)

We spent the rest of the evening dancing and singing and wearing them out so they'd sleep better!

The next day, we woke up, packed our things, and headed back south to go home. It was a fun, yet short little rooooad trip to SF. Traveling and sight seeing is so much harder with little kids, seriously! Everything takes like 2 hours longer! Haha. But despite that, I know I had a good time and I'm glad the kids got to see SF!

Martinez Christmas Party

2012-01-10T22:47:00.000-08:00

Christmas celebrating wasn't over just yet. The day after Christmas, we got together with my dad's side of the family at my Kuya Jino's house and had a filipino brunch. We also all wore our pajamas and set up the photo booth. This side of the family is much smaller than my mom's but we're seriously growing! Next year, we'll have more babies! The kids will outnumber all the adults. We have Kuya Jino's 3 kids, Ate Aio's 2 (plus 1 on the way). Alyssa's 1 (btw, that was the first time meeting him and he is THE cutest!!), Kuya JP's on the way, and Kuya Miles' twins! :) AAHHH. I'm lovin all the babies in our family. Wow. 10 kids next year! 2011 was definitely a big year for the Martinez clan:

1. Alyssa had Makai (aaah, so so cute!)
2. Kuya Miles and Heidi had their twins, Ethan and Ali (oh boy, the Martinez blood runs strong because Ethan totally looks like my dad!!!)
3. Kuya Marty got married!
4. Ate Carrots moved back to the west coast from NY
5. Kuya JP's having a baby too! (Due in June this year)

We started doing a white elephant gift exchange with the cousins, just cuz the economy is so bad, money's tight, and we all really don't need a whole lot! This year though, we played it a little different and thanks to Kuya Marty, it was SO MUCH FUN! I was sweating from all the fun!! Hahaa. So pretty much, I walked away with some awesome threadless reusable grocery bags! :)

We tried to all fit in one!

Next year will definitely be fun because we plan on having a more elaborate theme. The pjs theme was so last minute, so we went with something easy. And it'll be more fun too because there will be 10 little kiddies running around the house. I can't wait!!

Christmas Day

2012-01-09T10:42:00.001-08:00

Oh boy! Christmas this year on my mom's side was a ton of fun. We're a pretty big family so our house is packed when we get together. And my uncles are not the quiet type. So it gets pretty loud too. And not to mention, there is ALWAYS a Laker game on Christmas day. So you can imagine the craziness that ensues in our house.

We did things a little differently this year by having the kids bring the food for this party. We're all adults now and for the most part, can cook, so we changed it up by letting the parents have a break. Of course, them being parents, they still brought their food!For our family, my Kuya JP made his special korean tacos and they were soooo bomb! We even cooked our own taco shells. I seriously love that stuff!

We also had the photo booth up for everyone to use and my family had a blast with it. Especially my uncles, they're so crazy!

My family is so crazy at our family get togethers and I love it. I wouldn't have it any other way. :) So this Christmas was especially wonderful knowing that our little Reagan DOES NOT have HPE! She was misdiagnosed and now we're praising the Lord it's not HPE. The only thing now is that we do not know exactly what's going on with her brain and what she has, but at least it's not HPE!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

Alright, here I am, finally updating my blog like I said I would earlier and never got around to doing. I'll be doing a few backtrack posts just to get caught up. Work was busy this week that I never got around to updating.

So I'm sitting here at Starbucks, updating my blog instead of doing homework. Oops!

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We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner with just my family (plus Brian) and Lola this time. We had our traditional Sukiyaki dish that my mom makes and did the traditional gift giving around 9. The one thing we did differently this year was have our very own little photo booth! I created a bunch of props and set up the background and used my little iPad to take photo booth like pictures. And it was so much fun! (Once I upload those from my iPad, i'll share!)

The girls especially loved it because they love taking pictures of themselves. Especially Taylor. It was a fun night, spent with my loved ones, making silly faces.

A happy new year

2012-01-02T10:49:00.000-08:00

I know I'm behind on some posts, but I wanted to wish everyone a happy 2012! 2011 ended with a bang and I was able to ring in the new year with another big bang!

As soon as I go back to work, I'll post about the last few weeks, as it's been a crazy last fee weeks in my life! I'll also post some reflections on the past year and some future reflections on ths new year!

So my loves, I hope you had an awesome first few days of 2012 and cheers and blessings to the new year!!

Stonesthrow's anniversary

2011-12-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

Mayer Hawthorne is seriously so dreamy!

I went to Stonesthrow's 15th anniversary show and it was so much fun! They were celebrating the various artists through the years and the many DJs that have been on their label. So since it was mostly about the DJs, Mayer Hawthorne was there to DJ and he was freaking amazing! He's originally from Detroit and started spinnin when he was 16--in 1996. The amazing thing about him is that he spun actual records on an actual turntable. NOT a computer. It was so cool seeing him spin a record and then search through his collection and switch the records. It was bangin!

ps. sorry about that crazy girl screaming in the video. :P

The whole show made me realize how much I miss concerts and how fun they are. And I found a concert buddy to go with too. Brian's not big into shows so I wouldn't really go to them, but now that I've found someone that loves shows, I'll be going more often this year. First show of the new year is 2 weeks away and I'm excited!

a christmas dance recital

2011-12-21T14:24:00.001-08:00

Tay and Pey had their Christmas dance recital and it was the. Unrest thing ever. Peyton is such a natural and she definitely stole the show with her group. She was the only one dancing!

And Taylor was awesome too!

These girls are growing up so fast!!

mr. blue sky

2011-12-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

I am obsessed with Mr. Mayer Hawthorne. He's a white boy that sings soul! And he's got so much soul and his voice touches to my very soul! His music makes me smile and makes me wanna get up and dance. And he's so cute! If you haven't heard him yet, I suggest you take a listen to some of my favorite songs.

His latest single, Dreaming, from his newest album: How Do You Do

An older single from Strange Arrangement:

Who wants to learn the dance routine to this with me??

And his cover of the song, Mr. Blue Sky (my favorite of his)

This song just makes me feel so happy inside! Makes me wanna do a little dance and bop my head to and fro.

AHH. Happy Wednesday, hope this music helps with the mid week blues!

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Side note: I just bought tickets to the 15th anniversary of Stonethrow Records! And Mayer Hawthorne will be performing. AHHH, I'll be seeing him next week!!!!!! AAAH, dream come true.

i love lucy

2011-12-13T10:16:00.000-08:00

Growing up, I spent a lot of time watching TV with my Lola. And one of those shows that we absolutely loved was I Love Lucy. I fell in love with the style, the culture, and her crazy red-headed antics. We used to watch everyday sometime after breakfast and the news and even late at night on Nick at Nite. We loved it even more when they had the summer block party when they would have one whole night every week dedicated to I Love Lucy.

So this past weekend, B and I ventured out to Hollywood to see the I Love Lucy exhibit at the Hollywood Museum. And it was so awesome! I loved everything about the exhibit and it brought me back to those days when I was younger. If you haven't been and you're a fan of the show, it's definitely an exhibit you should check out. It's there until the end of the month.

The Hollywood Museum didn't just have the I Love Lucy exhibit, they had other artifacts from famous movies and tv shows. They also had a big exhibit on Max factor (since that was the old Max Factor studio) and other memorabilia from the glamorous era of Hollywood.

We had a merry time reliving the good ol' days of the 50s! We walked down Hollywood Blvd for a little bit and stared at all the crazies! :)

PS. One of my all time favorite scenes from I Love Lucy.

my inspiration

2011-12-07T09:48:00.000-08:00

Today marks the birth of a very special person. A person that makes the world a little brighter, happier, and beautiful; my Lola. Today is her 89th birthday and I am so blessed to have a grandma at that age! She's still strong and vibrant and continues to shower her loved ones with lots of love and care.

She is my inspiration in life. I aspire to be just like her. Showing unconditional love, patience, and care to everyone she comes in contact with. She treats everyone with respect, never complains, and makes the best food ever! :)

I'm especially close to my Lola because shortly after my Lolo died, I was the one who slept next to her and kept her company. I shared a room with her from the time I was maybe 7 till 13 years old. Anytime I needed anything, my Lola would do what she could to help me out. I was also the baby of my family, so anytime my brothers bugged me, I'd go running to Lola and she'd always be on my side!

Now that I'm older and on my own, Sundays are our days to hang out. I get a call from her every Sunday around 915 asking what time I'll be there to pick her up for church. And everytime I answer her the same thing: 945. It never fails. And so we'll drive to church together and after church, she'll usually tell me she needs me to drive her to one place and that one place turns into 3 different places! Haha!! And it usually ends with us getting ice cream somewhere. I cherish these moments I have with her because I know with her age, that everyday is a blessing. And she tells me that all the time! What a great lesson to learn from a woman with such wisdom.

So happy birthday to the woman I aspire to be like when I get older!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

2011-12-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

We just decorated our office here at work and I'm lovin it! It's definitely feeling more like Christmas now with the cooler weather and the decorations up and the songs on the radio!

I saw this idea on Pinterest the other day and HAD to try it this year. I'm LOVING it!

It's a cheap and easy way to decorate without having to break the bank and it's fun coming up with creative things to say. I wanted to have a reminder of why we celebrate, hang decorations, and give gifts: Christ's birth and the peace He brought us by coming to earth. We have reconiliation with God because of Christ coming to earth and dying on the cross for our sins! The whole reason we celebrate.

So I pray this Christmas I don't forget the real reason and the One it's all about!

A December life update

2011-12-03T02:30:00.000-08:00

Wow. Can you believe we're done with November and already in December? We've only got a few weeks left in the year 2011 and soon enough we'll be welcoming 2012. How weird is that?

So I've been super busy lately with school...I finished my first term of grad school and my second term started 3 weeks ago and this class is definitely a lot more work and reading. Mynlastbclass was focused on the major assignment for the whole credential program so all the work was geared towards passing that assignment.

Which I did not pass on the first try. Did I mention that already here? But that whole 'failure' experience definitely taught me some valuable lessons. When you fail, try, try again! I was always a fairly good student in school and hardly failed anything. Sure I've gotten below average grades before, but it was never something that affected my overall grade and performance in school. So when I found out that I did not pass at all, I was devasted, heartbroken. I felt like a total failure, like I wasn't meant to be a teacher. I started to doubt myself as a future teacher and my ability to teach. All these thoughts not from God flooded my mind and it was a constant battle to believe that God had a purpose for all of this and that I was still meant to be a teacher. I was constantly praying for the Lord to help me trust Him and out my faith in Him. In this program, if you fail the first time, you are given a second chance to do the assignment. So I did it and tried again and by God's grace and providence, I passed! Thank you, Lord!

So here I am in my second term of grad school and everything I'm learning, I'm loving! Who knew going to school to learn about the things you love and care about would be this much fun?? This is really what grad school is about.

There's a lot more going on in my life, but it's almost 230 in the morning and I have a long day tomorrow (actually today!) of cleaning and crafting and Christmas decorating!!! :) I'll share with you some of the stuff I've crafted to decorate for Christmas. It's not much and I didn't wanna go all out, I just wanted to add some Christmas cheer when you walk in. Plus, I'm on a limited budget now that I'm on my own.

So happy december y'all!

give thanks day 30: Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-30T23:31:00.000-08:00

It's the last day of November! But that doesn't mean being thankful stops here, I should be thankful on a daily basis. And I'm really trying to develop that spiritual habit of thanksgiving.

Day 30: I am thankful for YOU! :) No really, for those of you that read this: old friends, new friends, acquaintances, family, and even those who searched for 23 things to do for my 23rd birthday...I am thankful for YOU. Thank you for trying to stay up to date with my life and reading most of my boring posts about food, my family, and conan o'brien. :) I appreciate you!

Side note, that searching for 23 things isn't a joke. That's where I get the majority of hits...it's from people searching on google for 23 things to do! it's so interesting!

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So here's the rest of my post on our Thanksgiving weekend.

I was actually sick for most of the holiday but that didn't stop me from eating! (When does anything stop me from eating?!?) And the food we had was seriously so delicious! My Kuya JP's girlfriend came down with him and she prepared one of her family's dishes for lunch and it was amaaazzzzing. We loved it so much, we had it for dinner too!

Bagna Caulda is a pretty serious dish too. Lots of steps, lots of preparation, and lots and lots of garlic. And the combinations are endless! We had lots of veggies, shrimp, chicken, cheese, and even strips of steak.

And because its cooked in a skillet pan in the middle of the table, it's a community type dish, which I loved! You put whatever you wanted in the pan, let it cook, and then ate it with a piece of french bread. The entire time we were eating, we kept saying that each bite was different from the last because we'd have a mushroom with cheese in one bite, then broccoli and chicken in another. We also kept throwing out suggestions on other foods we can throw in there and I think all of us said at one point that bacon would be perfect! :)

And the best part is when the cheese melted and went to the bottom and got all garlicy and buttery and crunchy! MmMm. So not healthy, but SO GOOD!

After lunch we were stuffed and ready for our naps. We all woke up just in time to do it all over again for dinner! So besides eating, we also spent time with each other and with the girls.

Taylor took that picture of Lolo and Rea!

Of course she would! Hahaa

And of course with Charlie too!

Can't forget this guy!

And as sick as I was, I still attempted the whole Black Friday thing at Ontario Mills at 1 am. Let me tell you, NEVER AGAIN. So not worth it! I would have been so completely happy and warm and comfy sleeping than out shopping with the crazies! I don't have any other pictures because, again, my camera died! Oy, plus, after black friday shopping, I pretty much spent the rest of the weekend in bed, sleeping off my cold.

But I was extremely thankful for my Thanksgiving and the chance to spend time with my Kuya JP and his girlfriend. He's been home more in the last year since he moved up to SacTown than when he was living in LA! So it's been nice getting to hang out with him and talk about life. I really do miss him a lot!

Anyway, I hope your Thanksgiving was awesome and that your November was too. Here's to Christmas and the end of the year! Woohoo!

Peyton's 3rd birthday

2011-11-29T09:46:00.000-08:00

I'm backtracking because I've been doing my thanksgiving posts, so this one is from Peyton's 3rd birthday! I can't believe this little girl is already 3 years old. It's been such a joy watching this little girl grow and seeing her personality develop. She's definitely our tomboy full of life and laughter and joy.

We had our traditional dinner with just the close family and even extended it all the way to Sactown via google video chat! The food was amazing; catered by Selle's friend.

Peyton really makes all of us laugh and smile! Her heart is so full of love, it's the sweetest thing. Whenever she sees me, she doesn't hesitate to give me a big hug and a kiss. And she's hilarious!

What would a birthday be without a traditional ice cream cake and a birthday banner made specially for her?!

Being an auntie has it's perks and seeing this girl smile is one of them! You can't help but smile when you see hers and laugh when you hear her laugh. It really is such a joy being their auntie.

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I didn't forget about my give thanks series!

Day 29: I am thankful that I have a job that gives us sick time AND vacation time. I'm pretty sure I exhausted all my sick time since I was out yesterday and out sometime 2 weeks ago! But yes, I am thankful for that!

give thanks days 25, 26, 27, and 28

2011-11-28T19:15:00.000-08:00

Oh boy. Thanksgiving came and went! I spent most of it sick in bed, being babied by my mom and Lola. It was awesome!

Day 25: I am thankful for being sick. It reminds us that we need to rest, listen to our bodies, and let our bodies get better.

Day 26: I am thankful for wonderful food! Our thanksgiving was spent eating awesome food (that's for another blog post).

Day 27: I am thankful for technology. It's funny to watch old episodes of Felicity and see how they were right on the cusp of the technology boom! The internet was new, laptops were new, websites were a new concept, and graphic design was rising. So interesting! But yes, I am thankful for technology and how it brings people together!

Day 28: I am thankful for good tv shows. I've been sick in bed the past few days so I've spent a lot of time watching Felicity, Big bang theory, and How I met your mother. :)

give thanks day 24

2011-11-24T21:51:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Day: I have so much more to be thankful for! With the day coming to a close, I've been reflecting on the many blessings in my life.

I am beyond grateful for the family God has given me. We are not perfect; we fall, we sin, we fight, and we argue, but we also love each other no matter what. Sure, we may not always agree with each other's lifestyles, but in the end, we're family and we're here for each other.

For that, I am thankful. I know my family has got my back no matter what and that I can always count on them to be my support and back bone.

As I sat and looked around our dining table at lunch today, my heart was overflowing with love for each and every person (and little persons too!) and how amazing it is to see our family of 6 expand to a family of 14! My Kuya JP and I were looking at old family photos last night and it's so funny to see how much all of us have changed over the years and how our family has more than doubled since then!!

So with Thanksgiving almost over, I am thankful for my family and their support, care, and love in my life!

give thanks day 23

2011-11-23T21:44:00.000-08:00

Day 23: I am thankful for God's faithfulness in my life. For his amazing goodness and steadfast love that never changes.

give thanks day 22

2011-11-22T23:37:00.000-08:00

Day 22: I am thankful for old friends. Friends that have been in my life for years. And although we may not see or talk to each other everyday, when we get together, it's as if time has never passed. We can laugh together and share our lives with each other. I am thankful for the memories I have with them growing up in church, running around at the back of the jewelry mart, countless VBS', camps, youth musicals, and typical high school church drama!

They have definitely had a hand in my identity and who I am as a person. I am thankful for their presence in my life. Seriously! I've known these old friends for 20+ years! How many people can say that they're still friends with people for that long?

give thanks day 21

2011-11-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

Day 21. I am thankful for being back in school. I am thankful for the lessons I've learned through my first term of grad school. Without this lesson, I don't think I'd be that good of a teacher in the future. It has definitely shaped who I am and I am thankful that I am finally pursuing my dream and doing what I'm meant to do.

I didn't pass the major assignment for the program, meaning I had to redo the assignment over. It was so disheartening to find out I didn't pass. I think I cried for a good 2 hours...and I had class that night too! But it was so discouraging to see that score and know that I'd have to do it over again. So suffice to say, I was an emotional wreck that entire week. I felt like a failure, like I didn't belong in the program, like I wouldn't make a good teacher, that I should drop out. All these negative thoughts flooded my mind.

And I was trying so hard to meditate on Romans 12:12: Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and constant in prayer. And to be constantly praying, asking God to give me wisdom, peace, comfort, and knowledge and the peace to trust Him through this. So I had to pick myself back up and try, try again. I didn't want this failure to define who I am and will be as a future educator. I knew I had to get back up and do it all over again. Plus, this "failure" has taught me a very valuable lesson: Something worth having takes a lot of time and energy. If it's worth it, it's not going to be easy. If everything was easy, then we'd all be doing it. But instead, this is refining me and making me a better person and a better equipped teacher.

Source

So today, I resubmitted my assignment and I'm praying I pass this time around. If not, oh boy! It'll take more trusting and more hoping, and more praying!

give thanks days 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, AND 20

2011-11-20T21:04:00.000-08:00

Oh boy. Hahaha. I am so far behind. Let's play catch up!

Day 15: I am thankful for my brother JP! It was his birthday on November 15, so I wanted to do a special give thanks just for him! Having him in my life has been an eye-opening experience. He's always giving me a different perspective on life and causing me to think about all the things I've learned and believed in my whole life. He's challenged me to be a better person and to be a critical thinker. And so I just want to say I'm extremely thankful for his presence in my life!

Day 16: I am thankful for the weekends!! After spending 40 hours at work and 5 hours in class, I am so glad we get a break from all that. It gives me a chance to sleep in, explore, and spend time with my family. It's also a time to spend worshipping God with my community of believers on Sundays!

Day 17: I am thankful for the Twilight books/movies. As stupid and cheesy as they are, I get such a kick out of them. TEAM CHARLIE SWAN!!! Hahaa...and it's a time to hang out with friends, act like we're teenagers, and scream whenever Jacob takes his shirt off!

Day 18: I am thankful for my BFFFFFF, Brian!!! I am thankful for his life and having someone to share my life and adventures with! I am thankful for his kid-like attitude (although it can drive me crazy sometimes) and his love!! I'm thankful that I can be myself with him and laugh with him and explore with him and eat tons of food and gain weight with him!

Day 19: I am thankful for spam and eggs. No joke. I am so dead serious. I don't get how people DONT like spam! It's absurd!

Day 20: I am thankful for the rain today. It's been such a nice change in weather and I'm enjoying it! And it's so refreshing. And it reminds me of God's grace, pouring down on my like rain.

Only a few more days left until Thanksgiving. I'm trying to put on an attitude of thanksgiving instead of complaining. Because we tend to do that a LOT. I know I do!

Ok, time to go back to doing homework! I have 4 more chapters to read and a powerpoint to go through and a reflection paper to write! Whew...

give thanks days 12, 13, and 14

2011-11-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. I've been doing them in batches! Better than nothing right?

Day 12: I am thankful that I know how to cook. I know that it's not a major one, but I'm still very thankful for it. When I was 16, my dad wouldn't let me get my driver's license until I learned how to cook. So I spent a few days in the week and some Saturdays, learning how to cook from my mom and Lola. At the time, I thought it was really annoying and stupid to have to do something like that, but I'm really glad he did that! I'm not the best cook, but at least I can more than top ramen! :) And I actually enjoy it (for the most part)!

Day 13: I am thankful for a bed to sleep in, a roof over my head, and a car to take me to and fro!

Day 14: I am thankful for the rest of my family. For my dad and 3 brothers! I am thankful for their presence in my life! Each one of them holds a special place in my heart and I wouldn't be where I am without them. They have each played an important role in my life and I love them so!

Happy Monday!

give thanks days 9, 10, 11

2011-11-11T16:21:00.000-08:00

Day 9: I am thankful for second chances. For third, fourth, fifth, chances! God forgives us every time and pours his grace on us. I am thankful I don't need to do it by my own righteousness, but by Christ's righteousness! Really, think about it. All the things we've done in our lives, good or bad, nothing we do on our own can ever earn that! And thankfully, we don't need to because of what Christ has done on the cross. Our unrighteousness and sin was put on him, and his righteousness is upon us (as believers) now! Praise the Lord!

Day 10: I am thankful for tribulations. Woah, yeah. As hard as trials are and tribulations may be, they produce hope and joy. And that even in our trials, we can rejoice and hope in our Savior. And look forward to the future glory!

Day 11: I am thankful for our veterans. For the men and women who fight (and have fought) for our freedom. The sacrifice of their lives, their time, their safety so that we can have lives, time, and safety! Amazing. I'm thankful for my own Lolo who was a WWII veteran. He fought bravely in the Philippines for the US and was part of the famous Bataan march!! So thank you Lord for those who fight on our behalf!

It's going to be a pretty busy weekend for me! So I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Sorry, there's no foodie friday today! But look for it next week! :)

things to be thankful for day 5,6, 7, and 8

2011-11-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

I am so behind. But here goes:

Day 5: I am thankful for God's continued provision in my life. I recently moved out this year and God has been continually providing for all my needs. Even if those needs are met by grocery shopping at my parent's house!

Day 6: I am thankful for my mom. Words can't express what this woman means to me. She has been my backbone and my support in everything I do. And when I fail, she reminds me to get back up and try again. She encourages me to be the best version of myself and pushes me to trust that the Lord has a plan for my life. She's also my travel buddy, my adventure partner. Asia Tour 2013!!! Haha

Day 7: I am thankful for failures in life. If we didn't have failure, we wouldn't appreciate the successes. And it teaches us patience and endurance and to try, try again. I'm getting back up and I'm starting over and I'm going to do it better than I did it before!

Day 8: I am thankful for my sister-in-law, Roselle!She is one of the strongest women I've ever known! Seriously, if you haven't met her, you need to! She'll blow you away with her faith and her strength! And it so happens to be her birthday today too! But I am thankful for her constant reminder to pray and give everything to God, for her strong faith that the Lord has this bigger plan for our lives, and for her support in everything I do!

filipino foodie friday {16}

2011-11-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

This week I made bifstik for dinner. I know I said I was going to make afritada, but I didn't get around to it. I had all the ingredients for bifsteak so I made that instead.

It was a two day process. I had to marinate the beef the night before to let it soak up all the flavor of the soy sauce and calamnsi juice. I'm glad I did that because it made the beef so much more flavorful.

Then I had to cut the onion rings. I love onions so I cut up a lot of them!

Then I cooked the beef and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

and voila! I added brown rice and scarfed it down. There's really nothing like Filipino food.

I know these pictures aren't great, I use my cell phone camera! Plus, pictures of food at night with the lighting we have in our kitchen, also not the greatest. But hey, it helps me remember by blogging about it!

Let's see what I'll come up with next week!

happy end of the month

2011-11-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

October is done and over. And we're nearing the end of the year and the holidays. And I am so excited about that.

I didn't dress up for Halloween this year. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the holiday.

What did I end up doing then? Homework.

But PRAISE THE LORD I am done! I submitted my paper online and now i have to wait for my grade! Eeks.

things to be thankful for day 4

2011-11-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

Day 4: I am thankful for my nieces!

For Taylor and her sassy self. For how inquistive she is. How determined she is to learn how to do something. For her contagious smile and laugh. For her dancing and singing skills (too bad she sings like a Martinez!) For all the cards and pictures she draws for us. And for how she lets her little sister boss her around sometimes.

For Peyton and her silly self. For her contagious laugh and all the silly things she does. This girl seriously makes me laugh so hard I'm crying. For the way she loves Lion and treats him like her best friend. For the way she smiles at you when you look at her. And for how sweet she is! She is such a sweet girl that cares for her sisters and cares for you.

And for Reagan. This little girl has taught me so much about God's grace and trusting in Him. She's faced so many obstacles in her 1 year of life and she continues to fight on. Not letting it stop her from living and growing. I'm thankful for her smiles and her little coos. For hearing her little giggle when I bounce her up and down (she loves that!)

I'm thankful for each one of them! They all have a special place in my life and I love being an auntie! They make my life so much more happier and so much more fun. I can't get enough of them!

things to be thankful for day 1,2, and 3

2011-11-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

So I've been seeing all over Facebook these posts about what people are thankful for. And everyday is a different thanksgiving. A challenge to be thankful for one thing everyday for the month of November.

It's a really good concept considering we forget so many times to be thankful for the things we have (and even don't have) and the ways that God has been so good to us even when we don't deserve it. So I know I'm a little bit behind, but here we go:

source

1. I am thankful for God's unending love and grace and mercy on me!I don't deserve any of it, yet He chooses to pour it on me!

2. I am thankful for the job I have right now. As much as I used to hate this place before, God has softened my heart and made me realize that I'm blessed to have a job right now! With this economy and with the lack of jobs and unemployment rates going up, I'm thankful that the Lord has provided me a stable job.

3. I am thankful for my Lola. Seriously. This woman is amazing. If you've ever had the chance to meet her, you know why. She loves with an unconditional love and gives sacrificially. I know that I can come to her at any time with any problem and she listens. She's been my shoulder to cry on and my best friend. I can tell her anything. And she's an awesome cook! AAAH, I went to visit my parents last night and she made bola, bola...and it tasted amazing! I even brought some for lunch today.

So what are you thankful for?!

filipino foodie friday {15}

2011-10-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have to admit something. I didn't actually cook this dish this week...but I did cook it LAST week. I've been so busy this week that I haven't really had time to cook anything blog worthy! But next week I plan on making either beefstik or chicken apritada! So be on the lookout for that!

Anyway, last week, I made one of my favorite Filipino dishes: Nilaga. And not just any kind of Nilaga. The kind that my Dad's mother used to make. His mom passed away when he was a child, but the recipe stayed in his family and the way they eat it is different from the way other filipinos eat it. And to have this recipe and eat it the way they do, it makes me feel a little more connected to the Lola I never got to know. My own Lola didn't used to cook it this way until my dad asked her to try it and from then on, she's always cooked it this way! And even looking online at different recipes, none of them use the same ingredients!

So what makes this special from other Nilagas? The calabasa and the fact that we eat it with soy sauce. What we do in our family is we smash the calabasa into the rice and then put as much soy sauce as we want in it! The one thing I really wish I did differently this time was cook the meat longer! It wasn't as tender as I'm used to. Bear with me, I'm still a newbie at this cooking thing!

So there it is! I'm excited to try something new for next week. I've done beefstik before, so I think I'm really going to try chicken apritada. YUM.

________________________________________________

So with that, have a GREAT weekend. I'll be spending it finishing up my major assignment for my class! This is the assignment I HAVE to pass in order to move on! And so that means a lot of time and effort and perfectionism needs to go into this project. Pray for me if you remember!

date night

2011-10-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Last Friday, B asked me out on a date and wouldn't tell me where we were going. He just told me to dress up semi formal and wear comfy shoes. :) When I opened the door, he was all dressed up with the bow tie I got for him. So cute!

He ended up taking me to this really cute spot in Pasadena, La Grande Orange Cafe. It's in Pasadena, where the metro line starts and stops. It was such a cute little place! I love things like that.

He had more plans after dinner to watch a movie at Arclight. But that changed because we were too early or too late for all the showings and we didn't want to wait around. So B dropped me off at home....at 9:30! WHAT? When did we become so old?? Seriously, when we were getting close to my place, I looked at the time and I couldn't believe we were calling it a night at 9:30 on a Friday!

Even if the night ended early, I still had a blast at dinner and it was nice being in bed and asleep by 11 pm!

filipino foodie friday {14}

2011-10-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

I've decided I want to switch it up a bit and start doing a Filipino Foodie Friday series. The thing I miss the most about living at home is the home cooked Filipino meals. Filipino food is definitely on the top of my favorites list and to not have it everyday like I used to makes me a little sad. So instead of sulking, I decided to learn from the best, my Lola!

I sat with my Lola one Friday night at Chickfila and wrote down about 4 of her recipes. And oh boy, a woman in her late 80s reciting from memory all of my favorite dishes! Amazing!

So 2 weeks ago I attempted to make sinigang hipon (shrimp sinigang). And it was so good!!! Not bad for my first attempt!

I like my sinigang sour and this was the perfect amount of sourness! MmMM.

And the thing about Filipino food and recipes is that every family makes it differently. But I'm going to be biased and say that my Lola makes the best! :) And the hardest part about living by myself--is cooking for myself! Haha, it's not easy making a meal for 1 person. Seriously. I end up with leftovers for days! And I'm not much of a leftover person.

Anyway, stay tuned next week's filipino foodie friday!

5K Run/Walk for HoPE

2011-10-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

What an amazing turn out we had for this 1st ever Southern California Run/Walk for HoPE! It was touching to see our friends and family come out to support our cause and celebrate Gracie's 1st birthday. And it was awesome to see people we didn't know come out to support us as well! The Lord really blessed the event!

We woke up super bright and early to get to Biola by 6 am to set up the registration tables, signs, and prepare for what was to come. And by 7, the people started coming in, slowly but surely. And it was awesome to hear how some people heard of the event. I even met a family who came all the way from Hermosa Beach to support the cause because they lost their daughter 6 years ago to HPE. It's stories like this that push us and motivate us to spread the word and raise awareness. HPE is a rare brain disorder and there isn't a lot of information out there. There's also not a lot of research being done!

I didn't get the chance to take a bunch of pictures because I was busy with registration and running around. I wish I did though!

Once 8 am hit, it was go time! We started the event off with a prayer and some words from the president of Biola and a little speech from Selle that seriously made me cry!

Before the race was about to start, I got an awesome surprise visit from my college friends, Josh and Sam, that came out to support me and my family! They ran alongside me and sometimes walked and skipped too. :)

It was awesome seeing all these people running alongside us, supporting us, raising awareness, and giving what they could to help Families for HoPE. There's still some good out in this world!

At the end of the race, Taylor's dance studio did a little performance and it was so cute!!! We had the old chaplain of Biola give a short message and we also had prizes! And lastly, we released yellow balloons in honor of those infants and children with HPE that are no longer with us.

And Biola even bought a huge cake for Reagan's 1st birthday!

Like I said, it was amazing seeing my family come out to support us. They woke up bright and early too to be there!

My old college roommate and her husband (and her baby girl in her belly) came to support me too! All the way from Temecula! I haven't seen her since she got married 3 years ago!

Even Brian came down all the way from Salinas (he was visiting his family and got super sick while there) to make it for the event! :)

And my family:

So THANK YOU to everyone that came out, ran, donated, supported, and prayed for this event. God is so awesome in making this happen! It was such a blessed event....my heart is still so full!

To see a highlight video of the day. Thanks to Loyd Calomay for this awesome video! Seriously made me tear up!

5K Run/Walk For HoPE Event from Loyd Calomay Films on Vimeo.

p.s. To see pictures (even better than mine and beautifully captured!) go to John Lauren's site! They did an awesome job of capturing the day's events!!!

Gracie's 1 year milestone

2011-10-17T22:57:00.000-07:00

1 out of every 5,000-10,000 births is affected by HPE. And only 3% live. We're thankful that our Gracie has made it to her 1st birthday. And getting to that year is a milestone. So of course we have to celebrate! We had our traditional 1st birthday party for--with just close family.

And I love these intimate birthday celebrations. It's so near and dear to my heart and so personal. It's just the family--and we get to give the birthday girl lots of love, hugs, and kisses!

And part of this tradition is that I get the birthday girl an ice cream cake. Oh boy, that's getting expensive now that there's 3 of them! And since the family keeps growing, that means bigger cake to feed everyone! Haha, but I love doing it because I know it makes them happy. And even if Gracie can't have any, I'll still buy it for her! I also made her that little birthday banner. Just so she'd have a tiny little sign.

Look at those silly blue mouthed kiddies!

I am so in love with this little girl...and everything she does melts my heart! Seeing her smile, hearing her coo, and seeing her kick her legs (I know she's kicking those legs to make them stronger! she's telling us she's going to be able to walk!!) it all has a special place in my heart. And I definitely treasure those moments!

So Gracie, here's to more milestones and years and cherished memories. Prove the world wrong and show them what you're made of!

happy 1st birthday Gracie!

2011-10-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a year since this little girl came into my life and changed my world!! And I can't believe my little Gracie is 1 year old. Time really is going by so fast. And this girl has overcome so much already in just 1 year. She's our little miracle baby, our special child, and our chubby wubby! And I am so thankful for her and the joy she brings to my heart.

(thanks selle for the picture! hehe)

The first few months of her life were so uncertain and scary (at least for me) because of everything the doctors were saying about her. She would be blind or deaf or even both. She'll grow up to an 8th grade level, she'd never walk or talk. But you know, doctors cannot be certain of that. I know for certain that we have a God that performs miracles and with Him, she can do anything. So yeah, she may not be walking or talking yet, but she'll get there. I have faith and trust that God is holding her in His hands. She overcame what the doctors were saying. She has full vision in her right eye, a contact that allows her to see in her left eye, and hearing in both ears. God has already proven the doctors wrong!

I'm excited to watch her grow and learn to walk and talk and become a bigger blessing to those around her. She's already touched so many lives and God is going to use her for great things!

And she's already had such a great birthday present! Sam Rubin from KTLA Channel 5 morning news did a little plug for Reagan and the race!!! I cried when I watched it!!!

See it here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1571626147867

So we're going to celebrate tonight with an intimate dinner with the family. And tomorrow is her BIG celebration. And we want all of you to join us!

If you're not doing anything tomorrow morning and are in the area, come join us at 7 AM for a 5K run/walk for HoPE at Biola University!!!

Check out Rea of Hope for more information. And i HOPE to see you all there!

happy monday!

2011-10-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

I am in a great mood this Monday morning! It's a beautiful morning (even if I'm stuck in an office all day!) and I am extremely excited about this weekend's festivities!

1. It's our little Gracie's 1st (yup, I said FIRST!!!) birthday on Friday! I can't believe it's been one year since she's been born and definitely changed all of our lives forever. She's our little miracle baby and God continues to show us his grace everyday through her! And she's the cutest baby ever. Our little Tabachingching (haha my mom's nickname for her...it means chubby).

2. The 5K Run/Walk for HoPE (if you're on FB, click on that link and LIKE it!) is THIS Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 7 AM!! It really has been so encouraging to see God's hand work through this ENTIRE event. From the idea, to the venue, to the sponsors, to those participating, God has shown himself to us through all of that. It makes me teary-eyed thinking about every little detail and how God has placed everything together. All the glory belongs to Him. It is through HIM and FOR HIM!

So if you're free and in the area, come out to Biola University this Saturday and support my family and Families for HoPE as we raise support and awareness for HoPE! And if you're planning on participating, get there EARLY as we're expecting a lot of people! So allow yourself travel time, parking time, and finding the registration table time! :) Go to Rea of HoPE for more information!

And if you can't make it to the event, you can donate online here or pray for us and the event!

So let's be HOPE to those with HoPE!

happy weekending!

2011-10-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

I am so glad it's the weekend! Seriously. But what will I be doing and how will I be spending my time?

HOMEWORK. Wooo. I am halfway through my first term!

So enjoy your weekend. I'm hoping to get out of the house a few times to enjoy the sun, but not too long that I end up forgetting about it until Sunday night. I'm trying to be a reformed student by not procrastinating. Because that was my habit in college and I don't want it to be like that for grad school!

So happy weekend-ing to you all!

____________________________________________

Ps. Don't forget to check out Rea of HoPE for more 5k info and stories of hope for those living with HoPE! And also, check out the official FB page we have going on for the event here. And if you have FB, LIKE the page too! I can't believe it's happening next weekend already! I hope you've been training! And I'll see you all next weekend on race day!

the day after the rain

2011-10-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

One of my most favorite things is the day after it rains here in SoCal. And that doesn't happen often because it rarely rains here!

But I love the way the sky is so blue, the clouds so fluffy and white, and the air is so clean and crisp. It brings new life. A refreshing restart to life. :)

Taken outside my office. This is my beautiful view everyday!

I woke up this morning feeling happy that it was a cold crisp morning! But it made it so difficult to get out of bed and get my butt to work!

So happy October to you all! Don't forget to check out the 5k Run/Walk for HoPE next Saturday, October 15! Go to Rea of Hope for more information! And support a cause that is near and dear to my heart.

SF Food Tour

2011-09-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

We did absolutely NO site seeing for this trip to San Francisco. We also didn't take any pictures of the whole group. I traveled up to San Fran with Alvin, Chesca, JP, Owen, and Brian and we don't have a single picture of all of together. It became a 4/5 star yelp tour!

We left Thursday afternoon and made it to SF by 1030. We started the trip off right with a late dinner at this Korean restaurant near our place. Toyose. We ordered what everyone recommended on yelp--the kimchee fried rice. And it was delicious!!

The next day, we woke up and got ready to take on Ikes!!! We ordered our sandwiches and walked down to Dolores Park to eat. It was a nice warm day in SF so we wanted to take advantage of that.

After having one of the best sandwiches of my life, we walked down to Bi-Rite to get some yummy ice cream. Honey Lavendar, SOOOO good!

By that time, we were stuffed and sleepy. We said goodbye to my brother and headed back to the loft to take a nap. We met up with my cousin, Veronica, later that night for dinner at Off the Grid--their food truck fest. OH BOY. SO GOOD!! I was so glad we chose to go because we had a variety of trucks to choose from. And they were all so delicious.

We had sisig burritos from Senor Sisig, empandas from Argentina, garlic noodles, and creme brulee. You'd think with all that food, we'd be too full to eat more. Nope, we headed to Mitchell's for some ice cream!

Ok, so we were finally stuffed. So we headed back to the loft for the night.

The next day, we went to Dottie's True Blue Cafe for brunch. They were featured on that Diners, Drive ins, and Dives (or whatever it's called) so we thought we'd give it a try. I'd rate this place maybe a 3 1/2. We waited for over an hour just to get in! And the place is tiny, probably only sits about 45 people. I'm glad we went for the experience, but the food was just ehh ok! The only thing I was really sad about was that Brian was sick and stayed at the loft for this day! :(

After brunch, we headed to Daly City to grab Silvanas dessert and custard buns! Hahaa, non stop feasting! The silvanas were so delicious! All that buttery goodness!

Not over yet. When we got back to the loft, Brian wanted to order pizza from one of his favorite pizza spots in SF (he used to live there!) And that was pretty good too. I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't so full.

Since we were so stuffed, we wanted to wait a few hours before we ate again. So we ended up having a really late dinner at this awesome Chinese food place. San Tung, known for their chicken wings. This was by far my favorite eating spot! I definitely want to go back and try it again next time I'm up there.

After chicken wings, we headed to The Spot Lounge for yummy sujo! And I can't believe this, but we ate AGAIN--kimchee fried rice!

The next morning, it was time to say goodbye to SF and head back home to LA. We ate our leftovers for breakfast and left SF around noon. Where did we go next? Well, to my all time favorite curry spot in Mountain View!!! St. Stephen's Green. Yup, curry again!

It was the best way to end our SF food tour!

Well, one last stop before hitting home. Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in Pasadena. There you go, around 9:30, we got to Pasadena and ate our last meal of the trip. And it really was a good way to end the trip!

Ok, so that was all we did. See, no pictures of the entire group together. And I'm not exaggerating. I have pictures of Brian or of JP and Owen, but none of all of us together. Haha, see, all we did was eat. No pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge or of Ghiradeli Square--because we didn't go!!

Anyway, now it's time to get back into shape and start eating healthy. Because I came home feeling completely disgusting by the amount of food we ate. I mean, it was all delicious and scrumptious. But I can't be eating like that all the time.

But it was a ton of fun! We laughed so much and talked about zombies and enjoyed the trip a lot! Till next time!

a mini getaway

2011-09-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

I love, love, love traveling. Even if it means going away for a few days to San Francisco! If I could, I'd spend the rest of my life traveling the world!

Today is my Friday! I'm leaving later this afternoon for San Francisco with some friends and it's going to be ALL ABOUT EATING. A food tour. YES! I am beyond excited!

THIS PLACE!!!

So I'll be back on Monday with tons of pictures and stories. And 5 pounds heavier! Haha.

Have a great weekend!

Whatcha Doin?

2011-09-21T23:47:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, October 15?

Nothing you say? Well, how's about you join us for the first ever Southern California 5k Run/Walk for HoPE!

If you've been following my blog, you'll know that I've been plugging this event in almost every post.

This event is very near and dear to my heart. My youngest niece, Reagan Grace, has been diagnosed with Lobar Holoprosencephaly (HPE). It is a rare brain condition that affects the face and structure of the brain. Only 3% live to tell their story.

So join us, Saturday, October 15, at 8 AM to raise awareness and support for HPE. It's going to be a great event, for a great cause, and lots of fun too! We have prizes, live music, and even a tiny little dance performance by Taylor's dance studio! We have a whole program waiting for you!

It's FREEEEE to register! And a free shirt if you donate/raise $20!

Rea Of HoPE | 5K Run/Walk For HoPE from Loyd Calomay Films on Vimeo.

And let's be HOPE to those with HoPE! For more information on how to get involved or how to donate, leave me a comment here or go to our website: Rea of Hope.

20 years ago

2011-09-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

today....my Lolo (grandfather) passed away from this earth and went to be with our heavenly father. And I can still remember that day.

I was only 6 years old and my little mind remembered the events that took place that day. It plays in my mind almost like a movie scene. My 2 other cousins and I were playing in the backyard of my house in San Dimas when my Kuya JP came outside and told us we need to pray for Lolo. He told us that something happened to Lolo. I remember the garage was open, the door to the hallway from the garage was open and I could see the firetruck and ambulance outside. I remember seeing their shadows coming into the garage with a stretcher, them taking my Lolo away, and blood on the wall from his arm. I didn't know that would be the last time I'd see my Lolo alive.

At 6 years old, there wasn't much I knew about death and losing someone. My mind couldn't grasp what happened. I just knew that I was sad. Maybe partially because everyone else around me was sad. So I sat on the couch crying my eyes out until my head hurt and I couldn't cry anymore. I remember seeing my mom walk into the house through the garage and her shadow of broccoli hair (what I used to call her perm) coming towards us. And that's about all I remember about my Lolo's death.

But I remember his life. He loved his grandchildren so much. He took care of us with so much love. He used to take us to McDonalds to get happy meals whenever it was the Barbie/Hot Wheels combo and we'd all get so excited! He used to bring us to school and pick us up. I remember I used to ask him to make me mashed potatoes and he would do it happily. He would make add tons of butter, salt, and garlic powder and heat it in the microwave. I remember standing on a stool in front of the microwave watching it turn, the butter melting (these days, everything in that sentence is frowned upon!)

So yesterday afternoon, the whole family got together at Forest Lawn to remember the man that meant so much to all of us. He was the foundation for our family.

The heart of our family.

Lola with all her grandchildren AND her great grandchildren!

Look at Peyton. What a silly girl!

After Forest Lawn, we headed to my parent's house to grub a dub dub! This time around, it was all the cousins that brought the food and dessert, giving our Lola and our parents a break from having to cook. And I think it turned out well! Minus the fact that Kuya Josel and Kuya JP are the only ones that brought a filipino dish! It's a sad thing that that Kapampangan cooking trait has been lost to us! I wish I knew how to cook like my Lola. She's an amazing cook!

So Lolo, even though it's been 20 years since you've been gone, I still love and miss you so much. You were such an integral part of my life as a child (even if it was only for 6 years) and I know I'll be seeing you again in Heaven.

foodie friday {13}

2011-09-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a foodie friday in a while! But that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. I have. Probably not as much as I should be, but I'm in the kitchen at least twice a week! Haha. It's not easy cooking for 1 person!

This week I cooked steak skillet with grilled onions and mushrooms. And it was actually really good! I'm not much of a steak eater, but I thought I'd give it a try. I got this recipe from my favorite site! Again.

And cooking is all about experimenting. Next time I make this, I'm going to add a little bit more flavor--like soy sauce or more Worcestershire sauce.

Cooking is fun when the dish turns out really well. When it doesn't, that's when cooking isn't so fun! Especially when you have tons of leftovers and don't want to waste. :) But I'm still learning and I'm still trying. Plus, I gotta keep going to feed myself and stay alive. I can't be eating out all the time or spending my money like that!

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

happy 11 months, Gracie!

2011-09-14T16:45:00.000-07:00

Our little Reagan is 11 months old today. And in one month, we'll be celebrating her 1st birthday! What a year this has been for her and our family!

I am so thankful for this bundle of joy. She makes me smile and laugh and get (as Filipinos would say) giegelly(?) hahaa. It has been a year of lots of ups and downs. Discouragement and encouragement. And I know that this is only the beginning. But I am ever so grateful for how this little girl has changed my view on life!

The other day, I was carrying her and making her go up and down and she absolutely LOVED it. I've never seen her smile that big and that much before. It was precious! It's those moments we cherish and those moments that we used to so easily take for granted. Who would have thought seeing her smile that big would be such a huge deal?

To celebrate her turning 11 months old today, go to our 5k page on FB and "LIKE" it please?! The 200th "like" gets a prize! The big 5k event is in a month, so I hope you're starting to collect your pledges and sharing our story! And also, don't forget to stop by the website too: Rea of Hope.

Let's be HOPE to those with HoPE!

we remember..

2011-09-12T22:56:00.000-07:00

...what happened 10 years ago and remember those whose lives were lost and those who sacrificed their lives to keep ours safe.

Do you remember where you were 10 years ago when our world was forever changed?

The crushed world. This used to stand in front of the twin towers.

I found my old journal from high school (I had to do some digging around...) and turned to the date of the attacks because I knew I wrote in it. I wanted to write something because I knew that that day was going to be a big part of our history. Here's the opening of my journal entry:

Today will always be remembered in history. It will be something I will never forget. The twin towers and the Pentagon were destroyed by hijacked planes. It's really scary.

I was a junior in high school at the time and I was going about my routine. Get up, bathroom, wash face, brush teeth, watch the news in my parents room while I brushed my teeth. I couldn't believe what was on TV. It looked like a scene from some action movie. Buildings on fire, smoke everywhere, people running in panic. I asked my mom what was happening and she told me that an airplane crashed into the Twin Towers. Woah, what?

I went to school that day and there was this somber quietness about the whole campus. Mostly everyone knew what happened and there were no words to describe what we were all thinking. We sat through each of our periods, glued to the tv. I felt as if I was a student in the 1960s, watching the news of President Kennedy being shot. We all knew this was going to forever change our lives. We knew this was a historical day. And we were in shock with the rest of the country.

And here we are, 10 years later. And so much of our world and our reality has changed because of that very day...but we still remember...

mom's 60th bday bash!

2011-09-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! The weekend went way to fast and I'm back at work and reality. I'll have to post pictures later from this weekend's events.

A few Saturdays ago we celebrated my mom's 60th birthday with the rest of our family since we were in Maui. And it was a small little gathering with tons of food!

And yummy chocolate cake from Costco.

And fresh coconut juice!

And napping.

And bingo. But I didn't get any pictures of that. Our family loves to play bingo! Happy 60th birthday Mama!

26 1/2

2011-09-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

Today is my half birthday! Woah, noooo! Pleasseee, time, slow down! I'm not ready!! Hahaa

Anyway, happy friday to you! We made it through the week and the weekend is here and I am so ready to relax and enjoy my weekend. This is my last weekend of freedom! Why you ask? Well....I'm starting grad school Monday night!

Did I mention that already here? I can't remember. Anyway, this is a pretty big deal for me. I've been out of college for 4 years now and I've thought about going back to grad school a number of times. I even checked out a few schools and thought about different paths to go down. But it all eventually led back to what I originally wanted to do with my life when I was an undergrad. And that was to teach.

I think the moment I knew I wanted to teach was during Valentine's Day when Brian and I got voluntold (hehe, a Pastor Alex term) to babysit the kids so that they can have a special Valentine's day event at church on a Saturday night. So we went and there were about 15 kids total, varying in ages. And once the kids came up, something in me just knew what to do and how to keep the kids happy and entertained. And at the end of the night, Brian told me that I looked like a natural working with those kids. Like it was something I've been doing my whole life. And that's when I knew. Teaching is what I'm meant to do with my life. I knew it back in my undergrad, but somehow I got really confused and pushed in all kinds of directions after that, and it took that moment for me to realize that I've known all along!

So I'm really excited to start this journey again. I'm opening up that door to get my credential and masters from APU with hopes that it'll lead me to another amazing door that will have amazing opportunities. And I've seen God's work in my life in the past 4 years. I had to go through all sorts of other directions to finally come back to this point. Because now I know for sure that this is it! I look back at older posts about my life and where it was going and what I thought I wanted to do, and none of them felt right like this does! I prayed about this decision and God gave me my answer! This is where He wants me at this point in my life.

So if you remember me, pray for me! It's kind of scary thinking about grad school and the idea of reading tons of material, writing papers, and creating lesson plans! Whew. I'll be busy for the next 2 years of my life! But I am thankful for where God is bringing me and where He's going to take me!!!

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfareand not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

So happy Friday to ya'll! Enjoy the weekend and stay cool mah babies!

NorCal meets SoCal

2011-09-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

Once I got back from Hawaii, a few of Brian's good friends from back home came down to visit. They went to Disneyland one day and sadly we weren't able to join them since our passes expired! :( We won't be renewing them for right now. Maybe for my birthday...?

Anyway, we met up with them on Sunday afternoon in Santa Monica to go for a nice bike ride. It was sweltering hot here in SoCal so we thought a nice trip for an ocean breeze would be nice and it was! Brian and I loaded his little Honda with both our bikes and the rest of the group rented bikes. We biked through Santa Monica and into Venice and had a blast. We even stopped to watch a Venice Basketball League game. And it was hilarious! Definitely not your typical NBA style game.

And after bike riding for 2 hours, we walked around the pier, walked up to 3rd street and found this odd britsh pub to have dinner at. And the food was just ehhh. I'm never going there again!

Anyway, it was a fun way to spend my Sunday after coming back from Hawaii and before going back to reality. Although I probably should have just rested and slept all day. Because work was horrible Monday morning! Haha :)

aloha day 7!

2011-09-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

Our last full day in Maui before having to head back home to reality! We had to say goodbye to my Kuya Jino, Selle, and Gracie, because they were leaving early.

We spent the majority of our day at the pool soaking up the sun and enjoying the cold water. We tried going to the beach first, but the waves were a little too strong (and the water too cold) for the 2 girls. But we did catch a sand crab while we were there. We took it back with us to the pool but it somehow escaped from the cup we had it in!

Our amazing cook made us his awesome adobo tacos for lunch that day! And they were the best yet!

And then we headed to Lahaina to do buy our pasalubong! :) Which meant, buying tons of those awesome cookwees! Even Taylor bought herself something.

We went back home and went back into the pool to catch the last of our Hawaiian sun before having to head back home to Cali. And because we bought all that food from Costco, we spent our last dinner eating loco moco made by my brother. MmMm, delicious!

And my cousin got married back in Cali while we were in Maui, but they were in Maui for their honeymoon. So they came to our condo to visit us and we took them out to have the best shave ice ever! Thank you Ululani's for being the best Hawaiian shave ice I've ever had!!!

Funny thing, everyone in Maui thought that Marty was a local, even though he was trying NOT to look like one. He wore your typical touristy hawaiian shirt, slippers, and a camera, and people STILL thought he was a local! Even a local thought he was a local! Hahaha!! So when we got out of the car, some guy stopped him and asked him for directions!

And then we said goodbye to them. And then we packed up all our stuff to get ready to leave the next day. Peyton and I had a slumber party and she slept next to me. She cracks me up! Everything she does and says is so cute and so funny, we had a blast!

This trip was one of the most fun and relaxing ones for our family. I know I truly enjoyed my time with everyone, especially since my Kuya JP lives in Sactown now. So it was so nice being with everyone. I know it was something all of us needed! And it was the perfect way to end summer!

Plus. I got myself a nice little Hawaiian tan (that is sadly fading already!!!)

See the rest of our Hawaiian adventure:
Day 6...
Day 5...
Day 4...
Day 3...
Day 2...
Day 1...
*I'm working on creating a video of the trip because I took a ton of videos!
______________________________________
And don't forget about the 5k Run/Walk for HoPE that we're having, October 15, 2011!

aloha day 6!

2011-09-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

This was a special day! It was my mother's 60'th birthday and reason why we came to Maui in the first place! What a blessing my mom has been in all of our lives as a woman that loves the Lord, loves her family, and encourages everyone she comes in contact with!

We started the day with breakfast at this amazing little diner, Da Kitchen Cafe! Oh boy, we got there 15 minutes before they even opened and there was a long line of people behind us when they opened at 11AM! It's that popular. And the food was soooo delicious! I think that was my favorite spot in all of Maui! We tried pretty much everything on their menu and nothing disappointed!

My mom is never ready for the camera!!!

Look at Peyton sleeping. Hilarious!

After brunch, we headed to Puu'nene, the birthplace of my grandfather. We thought it would be cool to visit his birthplace on my mom's birthday because we knew it would hold a special place in our lives. Because of my grandfather, we are here in America! His father came from the Philippines to work on the plantations and his mother came from Spain with her family to vacation. They met, they fell in love, they had a few kids in Hawaii, which made them US citizens, which in turn made my mom a US citizen, which caused her to move here to the States from the Philippines! Crazy isn't it? How God knew all that and had it all planned out! There's not much left of Puu'nene because it's mostly just a sugar cane plantation with a sugar mill! So we went to the museum there to learn all about the sugar plantation!

After the museum, we had to drive a little bit further to an abandoned church and an old school building (used as offices now). We got out and took a bunch of pictures of the place, trying to reconnect with our grandfather and the life he had here when he was a child. I'm sure they lived on the plantation in one of the sections (as we learned from the museum).

The three generations of Polintans. If only Lolo could see his family now, he'd be so proud! He'd absolutely adore the three little ones and smother them with love the way he did with us! I'm sure he'd buy them happy meals and make them mash potatoes too! :)

After visiting Puu'nene, it was time for some dessert! So we headed to our favorite dessert spot: Ululani's! Seriously, if you're ever in Maui, you HAVE to go to this spot. You will not be disappointed, especially if you get the Haleakala flavor!!!

For the rest of my mom's birthday, she requested we do a luau! So we went to the Royal Lahaina Luau to spend the rest of her special day. She had matching outfits made for her and the girls (the rest of us refused to match with her)! It was so hot and humid while waiting in line to get in!

The luau was a lot of fun and we had a blast watching the show! I'm sure it's not the best on the island, but I still thought the fire sticks was pretty cool! And the buffet wasn't bad either! And the open bar! :) It was a wonderful day to celebrate my mom's birthday and I know she loved it!

Day 5...
Day 4...
Day 3...
Day 2...
Day 1...

___________________________________________

And don't forget about the 5K Run/Walk for HoPE event we're having October, 15, 2011 at Biola University! To find out more information, go to our new website! Rea Of Hope!

aloha day 5!

2011-09-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

This day started out with lots of cuddling with the 3 little girls and doing a little therapy for Reagan!

After a home cooked breakfast, we were on our way to find something adventurous to do. Since most of the days before that were spent just lounging around. So we headed to Kaanapali (the ritzy, fancy area of Maui) to do some snorkeling because we heard Black Rock was where it was at!

We got there and it was incredibly hot! The sand was on firah! So off to find some snorkeling equipment to rent we went. We got our equipment and we were off to see what we could find underwater. It was just me and my brothers and they all got into the water right away, while I waited a little bit because I was tad bit anxious about it. But I overcame that fear and I got in the water. I swam towards the Black Rock because they say there are tons of fishees there and they were right! It was amazing seeing all the different colored fishes, different sizes, and different types! I put my head back up and heard someone say there was a sea turtle, so I swam in their direction. And sure enough, I looked down and saw a huge sea turtle at the bottom! What an amazing sight!!! I figured I saw enough and was getting tired, so I started to swim back to shore. As I was swimming back, I felt this sharp pain on my left side, like something cut me. I touched it thinking there might be blood (and thought to hurry, hurry, hurry back to shore in case a shark smells it!!) but there wasn't any! I hurried back to shore and the pain got worse! I looked and I had this long, skinny mark about 2 inches on my left side. Sure enough, it was a jellyfish sting. Have you ever had an injection? Well, that's what it felt like except like the needle was just stuck in my skin! We found a booth by the hotel and they sprayed it with vinegar to dissolve the acid from the jellyfish and told me to wash it out with sea water. The pain eventually went away after about an hour, but I still have the mark to prove it!

Since it was so hot, everyone stayed under the umbrella we rented!

After about an hour after snorkeling, we were done and ready to eat some lunch! It was getting way too hot to be out on that sand! Goodbye Kaanapali!

At Lahaina, they have these Banyan trees that are absolutely beautiful. It's one tree that stems out its branches and creates another tree by rooting itself in the ground. It's amazing!

Yelp was our best friend in Maui because anytime we wanted to eat somewhere, we Yelped it to find the best spot to eat! This time, it led us to The Cool Cat Cafe in Lahaina, where they have the best burgers in Maui! And they weren't wrong. The burgers were delicious. The only thing is, they sat outside where it was hot and humid!!

In Hawaii, it felt like time was going so slow for us, which was so nice! We got back from lunch and it seemed like we had tons of time left in the day. I think we took some mini naps and then headed to the pool again. This time at the pool, we put Gracie in the water and she loved it. She was so relaxed and calm. And she was floating! We were only holding her neck with two fingers and the rest of her body would just float. It seemed therapeutic for her!

And then we had another home cooked meal at home, which was so yummy! My brother really knows how to cook a really good meal! 5 days down, 2 more left!

Day 4...
Day 3...
Day 2...
Day 1...

___________________________________________

And don't forget about the 5K Run/Walk for HoPE event we're having October, 15, 2011 at Biola University! To find out more information, go to our new website! Rea Of Hope!

aloha day 4!

2011-09-02T08:59:00.000-07:00

For day 4, we were planning on going to Kihei to see what was over there. Beach and more beach! But along the way, we stopped at a fruit stand and bought us some fresh cut fruit! They had all kinds of fruits, exotic fruits and guess who loved them all? Peyton! AAAAND, they had fresh sugar cane!!!! (Sugar cane will always remind me of my Lolo, because he planted a mini sugar cane field in the backyard of our childhood home!)

Our little Island girl!

We spent the majority of the morning at that fruit stand. We would buy fresh cut pineapple and eat it, see the coconut, drink and eat that, get sugar cane and eat that! But we love, love, loved it! After that, we headed towards Kihei to see what they had there. We found this cute little shopping village but decided against buying anything until the end of our trip. So we headed to lunch at Pita Paradise! And it was so yummy to my tummy!

And after lunch, my brothers went to one of those never-ending wave stimulators! Hahaha, it was so funny watching them try to get up on their boogy board and then get wiped out

After watching them attempt this for 30 minutes, we went to a nearby beach to catch some rays and cool down in the ocean because it was so hot that day! But the wind was so strong and the waves were pretty big, so we didn't stay too long. But I was able to catch a few waves to body surf (which was so much fun and the first time I've done that before!)

So we went to the pool at our condo instead. :) We loved it at the pool because we were the only ones in there and it was safer for the girls to play in. And we ended the night there with dinner by the pool. :)

_______________________________________________________________________|

And ps. Don't forget about the 5k Run/Walk for HoPE on Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 8 AM at Biola University Bell Tower. For more info, check out the FB page: 5K Run/Walk for HoPE!

aloha day 3

2011-09-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm back! But I won't stop leaving little reminders about the 5K happening October 15, 2011 for HPE.

So day 3 was the first full day of the whole family being together. We started the day out with a run/walk in the rain...in the rain!!! It was the first time I've ever done that and it was actually a ton of fun!

And as usual, we cooked our own breakfast before heading out for the day.

And then we headed to a craft fair in Maui. They had a bunch of cool stuff handmade by the people of Maui and a lot of commercialized stuff too. But hey, we had fun! And it was extremely hot and humid that day, especially after the rain subsided.

Well, after walking around in the heat, we got hungry. And tried to eat at Aloha Kitchen again. This time the wait wasn't 45 minutes!And while we waited, we had a few nice cold drinks to cool us off.

After lunch, we decided to head back to our condo, walk down the beach, and spend the day there. So I don't have too many pictures because I was nervous about taking my camera out in the sand! I've broken a camera or two before by bringing it to the beach! This trip was definitely about spending lots of time playing, laughing, swimming, and playing hide-and-seek with the two older girls. They are so much fun to be around and (almost) every moment brings tons of laughter!

And I'm sure we somehow ended up at the pool because the sand got too hot. And again, we spent our dinner at home, with a home cooked meal by my brother, JP. It was such a relaxing day, with nothing on our agenda but being with each other!

pausing for an important announcement.

2011-08-30T23:55:00.001-07:00

No, it's not what you're thinking, so stop that!

But I wanted to take a break from posting about our Maui vacation and blog about this big event that is coming, October 15. This event is near and dear to my heart and to the hearts of my close family and friends. As most of you know, my 10 month old niece, Reagan Grace has been diagnosed with a rare brain condition known as HPE (holoprosencephaly). It's not a very well-known condition and there's very little research regarding it.

But God has been so gracious to our family in giving us a special child, a child that is teaching us so much about life and about His love. It's not easy (and I say this being an auntie) having to deal with what comes along with HPE and I'm not gonna lie, there have been times where I've asked God why He chose to give us a special needs child. But God is still good and faithful to us and gives us HoPE everyday! And we love Gracie just the same!

So, this big event that's happening has really been because of God. Everything has fallen into place perfectly; from the idea, to the venue, to the sponsors, to those involved, God's work is so evident in this. From the very beginning.

So mark your calendars and save the date:

Saturday, October 15, 2011 @ Biola University

A 5k Run/Walk for HoPE!

Take a look at the flier below for the rest of the information!

And if you want to learn more about HoPE (which is the purpose of this race):

Check out the official FB page for the event here and 'Like' it!
What is HPE? Click here to learn more.
Families for HoPE
Join the FB cause for HPE here.
Make a pledge for the event with this pledge form!

Much love to all of my reader(s) out there! Tell all your friends about the event, blog about it, tweet about it, Facebook it, and shout it from the rooftops! This is going to be a big event for our family and for the HoPE community as it's the first big event in SoCal.

aloha day 2!

2011-08-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

We all woke up way too early for own good since we were still on California time. Which meant we should take a walk down to the beach and behold the beauty of God and play in the water. So even if it was 6 am, the water felt perfect. Both the girls loved it.

Uncle JP and Peyton hiding from the water!

Taylor and I

My dad doesn't like sand! Haha

Our home cooked breakfast

After breakfast, we had some time to spare before my Kuya Joem and Kuya Jino and Selle would arrive. So we checked out the pool, drove down to Lahaina for the best shave ice I've ever had, and even stopped at a spot for happy hour!

Even Lion sunbathed!

The Haleakala. Theeee BEST shave ice!

And then Kuya Jino and Selle arrived with Gracie safe and sound and we were all finally all together! It was wonderful!

We drove down to Front street in Lahaina (which is where there are tons of shops, restaurants, bars, and most of the excitement happens) to find dinner. The place we really wanted to go had an unbelievably long wait, so we ended up eating at the food court inside the mall. Haha and the girls were so pooped by that time that Peyton fell asleep while eating!

Now that the entire family was in Maui, it was time to begin our family vacation! As you'll see in the next few posts, we didn't have a lot of plans. We did a lot of relaxing, sun bathing, and shave ice eating!

aloha!

2011-08-29T12:48:00.000-07:00

Oops. I've been back from the beautiful island of Maui for a few days now and haven't had the energy to blog about it yet.

It's like you need a vacation day to recover from your vacation! I'm pooped and jetlagged!

So day one went like this:
1. Woke up way too early to make sure I got to Ontario airport in time (which is easy, cuz that airport rocks!)
2. Boarded the plane to San Fran where I had a connecting flight to Maui
3. Surprised my Kuya JP at SF where we had the same flight!
4. Boarded the plane to Maui where my brother and I were able to sit next to each other!
5. Met up with my parents and the two little girls at the airport
6. Had our first Hawaiian meal...at Costco! (where we shopped for 1 weeks worth of groceries)
7. Walked down to the beach from our condo (took us 3 minutes)
8. And enjoyed our first night in Maui

It was such a beautiful first day, minus the icky airport/airplane feeling. The two girls made it through the day without their parents and both had a blast with us. And both my parents survived the whole airport fiasco and airplane ride with 2 crazy little girls! :)

we {heart} LA

2011-08-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

I think I could see myself living in LA at some point in my life. I know that a part of my heart wants to work as a teacher in LA. Which means I'd have to live out there!

Brian and I ventured out to LA this past weekend because I had to go to Chinatown to buy some stuff for Taylor. I went there for something cheap and I walked away spending more money than I anticipated. I'm not a pro yet at this haggling thing, I knew I should have brought my mom!

After Chinatown, we were getting pretty hungry for some lunch so we headed to Umami Burger. As we were driving we noticed all these little coffee shops, thrift stores, tiny restaurants, and bikers all along Sunset. Such hipsters! :)

Both Brian and I are such foodies. We love food. All kinds of food. And we love dessert! He developed a taste for something sweet after having lunch or dinner, thanks to me! I had a deal for Umami so that's where we decided to go. Their burgers are good, but not our favorite. Back Abbey still wins! It's too greasy for our liking. But...the cheesy tots! SO good!!!

And because we just had lunch, we HAD to get dessert! So off to Milk we went. I'm thinking it's time we tried other dessert places because we always go there! There are a ton of other dessert places I'd like to go! But this trip, we were sooo glad we went because they finally had Thai Tea Ice Cream! Yup. And it was delicious! Brian's been asking me since he moved down here if there was a place that made that flavor and sure enough, we found one! And we couldn't go to Milk and NOT have the blue velvet cake. It's one of our favorite cakes.

Nom nom nom!

2 more days until Hawaii! I have 1 more work day here and Friday I'm off to the glorious sandy beaches of Maui. AaaaAhh. I can almost feel the sun on my skin and the clean Maui air!

i {heart} sprinkles!

2011-08-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness! Working here has it's perks. I know I've complained before, but it's not all that bad!

As part of HR's attempt to bring the community together, they had the SprinklesMobile come out to us! Oh, joy! It was the highlight of my week last week. Especially since the nearest Sprinkles is still so far away from me. The cupcake came to me! The red velvet cupcake is my absolute favorite. I have yet to find a cupcake that even comes close to it!

And summer is slowly coming to a close. I think that was the last of the fun events that we'll be having here. And I truly enjoyed it!

So now I'm just looking forward to my one last hoorah! Maui is calling my name and I will soon be on the warm, sandy beaches! Enjoying my last few weeks of summer. What a perfect way to end summer and start another chapter of my life: grad school!

Happy Tuesday ya'll!

happy monday!

2011-08-15T14:01:00.000-07:00

{days left till i leave for Maui} 4

AAH. I'll be leaving soon for my Hawaiian vacation and I am so excited! This is a much needed vacation for rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation!

So with that, I had a really fun weekend. Brian and I spent our Friday night babysitting the 3 little munchkins. The 2 bigger ones are crazy! I had to go to Target so we took them with us. Boy was that an adventure. Peyton is one crazy little monkey and Taylor just wants to talk about the latest Disney star. :)

foodie friday {12}

2011-08-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

So here we are, another Friday. I made a crockpot dish this time. Hawaiian BBQ chicken sliders. I love Hawaiian bread right now (maybe it's because I'm leaving NEXT Friday for Maui!).

I took frozen chicken breast, added some of my favorite BBQ from fresh and easy, and a small can of diced pineapples. I let it cook on high for 3 hours. And then shredded the chicken to put into my sliders. Yum yum!

That's all for now! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I'll be in a blissful, relaxed state this time next week!

sunday night blog.

2011-08-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

woah. i never blog on sunday nights. mainly because i didn't have a computer to do it from. especially since my laptop went kaput.

well, i'm writing to you from my brand new macbook pro! i got a new laptop for grad school! to get me through all the papers, research, studying, and lesson plan writing. with our world becoming more and more digital, papers are supposed to be emailed to the prof instead of turned in physically. so i figured this would be a good time to get a new laptop.

anyway, it's been a weird day. and i'm having a hard time formulating what i'm feeling into words. so i'm going to sleep and pray that i'll wake up refreshed, ready to start a new week.

i'll be busy this week with work. i have three presentations! aaah, i guess this is preparing me for being in front of the classroom!

so, goodnight friends.

foodie friday {11}

2011-08-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

So I'll include TWO different food postings. The first one is not something I made, but my mother did!

We celebrated my oldest brother's birthday with the family Monday night with some of my mom's home cooked Japanese food. My mom makes the best Japanese food, I swear! Our family loves Japanese food. (We get it from our dad. He went to high school in Japan and developed a love Japanese)

My brother requested some Gyu-Don. So my mom happily made it and we eagerly ate all of it!

And secondly. The dish I made. I made my first fish dish (say that 5 times fast)! I bought these individually packed frozen fish from Albertsons because they are perfect for cooking for one. It's not easy finding recipes that are good enough for 1-2 people. Most recipes are for families of 5 or something. I pretty much looked up a bunch of recipes online for salmon and combined what I thought would taste the best. And let me tell you, it was yummy! I paired it with some brown rice and I was good to go!

I'm always on the lookout for new recipes. Especially recipes that are cheap, healthy, and quick to make!

happy august!

2011-08-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

Sheesh. We're more than halfway through the year and Christmas will be here before we know it. I know I'm still majorly behind in posts and I have no valid excuse!

So a few weeks ago, B and I headed to Disneyland for the last time with our passes! He took me to Ariel's Grotto to finally see what the fuss was all about. And let me tell you, big thumbs...DOWN! It was terrible! The best thing about the meal was the free bread they served you and the fast passes for World of Color!

The whole concept is that it's a fixed menu at a set price. So no matter what you order, you pay all the same. And as nice as the place is, I wasn't impressed at all. And I wish Disney did more to spruce it so you get what you're paying for! At least the dessert plate was somewhat good and plentiful.

We finished up dinner and finally got to ride the new Little Mermaid ride! And it was a sweet little ride, definitely aimed at the little kiddies. But we were glad we got to see it!

And since we ate at Ariel's Grotto, we got fast passes to see World of Color from a reserved spot. Woohoo!

After WoC we headed to Disneyland to spend our last few hours there. We didn't do a whole lot because the park was on the crowded side, but we still enjoyed our last day at Disneyland. Our last ride was Buzz Light Year. And it was a close game, but I still beat him!!! BOOYAH!

I have more pictures on my camera, but my camera is dead right now and it's currently at my parents house.

I'll miss my Disney day(te)s a lot! I don't think I'll be renewing for right now. It's just too dang expensive. So until next year (hopefully!)

foodie friday {10}

2011-07-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

Woo. Foodie Friday 10! I actually made 2 dishes this week. But I'll just share one with you.

I made an egg muffin dish from skinnytaste (my fave recipe finder) for my coworker's last day at work!

I made two types: Hash brown egg nests! And mini broccoli egg omlettes! And both were delicious! And healthy. Yum yum yum!

They were so quick and easy to make. I think I'm gonna make a huge bath of these and store them in the freezer for a grab and go breakfast.

Anyway, happy friday to you all. Enjoy your weekend! :)

OC Fair

2011-07-28T09:25:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love going to the OC fair. It's probably one of the things I look forward to the most in the summer. It's the foodie in me that loves it because I go for the food. Yeah, sure, the whole carnival thing is cool, but not when it's $20 for 20 tickets and one ride costs 10 tickets!

Anyway, we ventured out this year with the newly married couple and had a blast! So what did we eat this year at the fair? [Get that] CORN [outta mah face!]!!!!! The corn at the fair is my absolute favorite and one of the main reasons why I love the fair so much. And cowabunga jumbo corndogs. Yup. GIANT CORNDOGS. As you can see, we were both really excited to try it!

The aftermath:

I only ate half of mine and B forced himself to finish his. As you can see by the look on his face, he wasn't feeling good after eating it! Hahaha. He said it was really salty that he started having the shakes afterwards! Let's just say, I'm never having another corndog ever again!

To calm our tummies down, we walked around the fair, browsed the vendors, and watched this amazing hypnotist! It was a ton of fun. I wanna go back and be picked to be hypnotized. The things the guy was making them do was too funny! And apparently, they don't remember a thing!

I can't wait to go back next year and see what else they come up with to deep fry! After the corndog, we couldn't handle anything else! So we didn't get to try the newest deep fried food: Deep fried Klondike bar and deep fried Kool-Aid! Really, how is that even possible?

Anyway, happy Thursday to you all!

Nina and Kevin's BIG day!

2011-07-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, I know I'm super behind on my postings. But here I am!

Nina is finally married! And all the planning, crafting, parties are over! Whew.

Everything happened so fast that day. We were all awake by 730 and all getting ready together. Our hotel rooms became hair and make up central. And Nina looked absolutely stunning as a bride! Here's Neen with her entourage.

I was a crying mess that day. Even before the wedding started, while we were getting ready, I was already crying! I was practicing my speech and I started crying. I tried to pray for her and I started crying. Wow. I was one big ball of mess!

Once the wedding started, it was non stop from there! Like I said, everything happened really quick! Brian took the rest of these pictures since I was up there, crying like a baby and holding Nina's bouquet.

Kevin waiting for his bride. Look at that smile!

The entourage. Wow, that's a lot of people up there.

THE kiss!

Presenting, Mr. and Mrs. Gruezo!

Yup, they would!

Once the ceremony was over, we took pictures, pictures, and more pictures. And the entourage had some time to say hello to friends and family. So I went out and looked for my family.

Once we were done with pictures, it was party time! Time to eat, stuff our faces with sweets, photobooth, say our speeches, and dance the night away!

You know how at weddings, couples try to eat, but people come up and take really awkward pictures of them? Yup, that's what I was going for.

Remember baking day? Yup. Here they are. This was a hit! Who doesn't love cookies, cupcakes, maacrons, krispy kreme donuts?!?! It was amazing!

And during the feast, I gave my MOH speech. I was a crying mess. My table were making bets on how long I could go before I started crying. I made it almost to 30 seconds before I started crying.

Once all that was over, it was time to partaaaaay! Nina and Kevin both love to dance, so what would their wedding be without dancing? We danced the night away! We were so pooped by the end of the night!

The happy couple waiting for their ride!

What a fun and beautiful wedding! Everything turned out so nice and all the crafting, planning, and baking looked so good! Nina looked stunning and Kevin looked so handsome! What a perfect pair. I am beyond happy for the both of them and am excited for where God is going to lead them in life!

foodie friday {9}

2011-07-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

Wow. I am so behind on my foodie Friday posts! Eeeks. This week's foodie Friday comes from B's kitchen!

He cooked me dinner one night to show me he knows how! And he made a Filipino dish! Nom nom nom. Beefstik! And it was actually pretty good. Except that he used too much lemon in it so it was a little on the sour side. But I still enjoyed it. And I thought it was really sweet of him to cook me dinner for once. I look forward to more meals cooked by HIM. :)

from Salinas to LA

2011-07-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, B's parents came down to visit him and visit LA. His dad had some childhood friends he was going to meet up with in LA so we took his mom out to LA to enjoy the sights, the sounds, the smells, and the shopping!

Friday night, we took them to San Manuel to eat at their seafood buffet and gamble for a little bit. It was my first time going there! So I had a blast and the all you can eat seafood, so good! His parents really enjoyed the night!

The next morning, we headed to LA and were dreading carmageddon as people were calling it. It turned out to be amazing! There was no one on the freeway! It took us less time to get to LA than on a regular day. Our first stop: Chinatown.

We shopped most of the day away and walked a lot. I know his mom totally enjoyed the experience because she's heard about Chinatown from all her friends who have gone before. After Chinatown, we headed to Santee Alley to finish up our shopping. I didn't get any other pictures because I was too busy shopping with B and his mom. But the night was not over yet. After shopping, we headed to to dinner at an AYCE (all-you-can-eat) Korean BBQ place! His mom loved that too!

His parents really enjoyed their short weekend here. And it was nice being able to see them again and show them around our town. They told all B's sisters about the shopping and now they're all itching to come down here!

nina's last night of singleness!

2011-07-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

As a thank you to all bridesmaids and maids (matrons) of honor, the bride took us all to get manis and pedis. It was a nice relaxing day of being pampered. Who doesn't love that?

After getting our nails and toes done, and some personal grooming, we headed to CPK for one last dinner with her as Ms. Villarin!!! We laughed, we talked, we joked about the wedding night, and we celebrated her!!

After dinner, most of us headed to the hotel to take care of last minute details, write our speeches, and be with Nina on her last night of singleness. What happened at the hotel, stays at the hotel! :)

an engagement party

2011-07-19T08:45:00.000-07:00

Sheesh. Everyone and their mamas are getting engaged/married these days. One of them being my favorite cousin, Josel! He finally found someone to share his life with and they are so happy and in love, it makes me happy!!! Our family threw him an engagement party and we got to meet her side of the family. It was a day with tons of food, lots of desserts, and hanging out with the family.

Taylor made a welcome sign for them. She's working on her writing and spelling skills.

And a little fun with Peyton. She's one crazy little girl!

Praying for all the food and for the couple.

My crazy family. Uncles, aunts, mom and dad!

And the happy couple. I can't wait for their wedding day!!

It was a really hot day too. But we braved the heat and had a party. And again, since our backyard is big enough to hold a lot of people, it was at our house. And we had a blast. But my day wasn't close to over. But that's for another post.

So anyway, happy tuesday to you!

harry potta!

2011-07-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

I am a huge Harry Potter fan. Maybe not as big as some people, but I read all the books and have seen the movies. And with the last movie of the series coming out, we HAD to see it at midnight as part of tradition. The line at Harkins theater was insane! KCAL 9 news was there because it was so crazy. Good thing our friend got there at 12 pm to hold our place in line.

Yup, we're wearing HARRY POTTER SNUGGIES! We waited in line for a few hours and they eventually let us in early and we got really good seats! To kill time we watched Harry Potter 7.1 to prepare for the last one. The thing about midnight showings is that the fans get really into it. They dress up, they play HP trivia games, and they talk, talk, talk about HP. It makes the experience so much more fun.

So if you're wondering how I liked the last movie? I LOVED it.

baking day

2011-07-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

You know all the desserts Neen had at her wedding? Well, someone had to make those! And that someone (people) was us! Some of the girls got together to bake some goodies and boy did the house smell scrumptious!

And yes, we ate some goodies while we baked. How can we say no?? It smelled too delicious to say no!

Anyway, these posts are mostly having to do with the wedding. Because that is what my life consisted of in the last few weeks! And this blog is mainly for my own purpose because I have a hard time remembering things, so it helps me with my memory. So if some of these are super boring, sorry!

The more interesting post of the actual wedding day is coming soon, don't worry. A lot happened that weekend, so it'll take me a few posts to get there. But it's coming!
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In other news, the last Harry Potter comes out tonight. Where will I be? Waiting in line with the rest of the crazies at 3:30 PM. Yup. So with that, have a great Thursday, I know I'll be enjoying the day!

the wedding rehearsal

2011-07-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

So before Nina's BIG day, there had to be a rehearsal right? With so many people a part of the whole wedding, we had to somehow come together to make sure the ceremony went smoothly. And the wedding planner they hired was awesome!

Practicing with Pastor Alex.

And the happy, soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs!

After the rehearsal was done, we headed to Salo-Salo (Kevin's favorite Filipino restaurant) for some grub, grub! We pretty much dominated the restaurant with the whole wedding party and both families! And boy, was the food delicious!!!

our july fourth

2011-07-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

This is how behind I am! I'm posting July 4th pictures in the middle of July!

We pretty much spent the day lounging inside the house where the ac was a'blastin because it was just so hot outside. And by lounging, I really mean napping. Most of us spent the day napping. Haha, what a great way to celebrate our country's independence.

And this silly girl couldn't sleep with all of us talking in the living room. So she found her own spot to nap. At the top of the stairs!!!! Crazy girl.

We also BBQed and ate tons of food. But like I said, most of it was spent resting and relaxing. It was the perfect was to celebrate. Towards the end of the night, we headed to the Diamond Bar City Center to watch the fireworks over the city and the surrounding cities. It was such a pretty sight watching the night sky light up in red, white, and blue.

what a weekend!

2011-07-11T14:57:00.000-07:00

So I'm way too exhausted to post pictures right now, but I promise this week, I'll get to it because I'll have more energy and time!

Let's just say, I'm so happy for Nina but I'm also so happy the wedding is done! Time to catch up on life! :)

So stay tuned tomorrow, I'll be sharing pictures.

Happy Monday.

I'm trying to survive this Monday at work and failing. I'm tempted to call someone to pick me up (since my car is in the shop right now). But I'm trying to stick it out. 2 more hours to go!

foodie friday week {8}

2011-07-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm super behind on my posts! But once the wedding is over, I'll have more time to blog!

So this week I actually got to cook one meal for myself and it was delicious! Since it's summer time, it's time for some burgers and fries! But the healthy kind, done the healthy way.

BBQ Turkey Sliders with carmalized onions. SO GOOD. Oh, did I mention, on Hawaiian bread?!? (Ok, not exactly healthy). But oh so yummy! And I paired it with baked sweet potato fries. Delicious! I can't wait to do this again. I made some for B and he absolutely loved it! He said it was his #2 favorite dish that I've made. That made me happy.

Anyway, I've got an extremely busy weekend ahead of me. The BIG day for Neen is here!!!!! Finally! So expect some major posting next week, I promise!

Have a great weekend, and stay cool mah babies!

my half day friday

2011-07-05T13:10:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my previous post that I get half days on Fridays in July here at APU and it is so glorious. It's a wonderful way to say "thank you" to the staff for their hard work throughout the school year!

So I spent my first half day Friday at the happiest place on earth! It's been awhile (and I by that I mean 2 weeks) since we've been there. And boy we missed it! We started out at California Adventure to get some of the worlds best soft serve ice cream and ride B's favorite ride: California Screamin'. We couldn't believe how short the line was that we rode it twice in 30 minutes. Amazing! But after going on that ride twice in a row, I couldn't handle a third time so we decided to check out the new Little Mermaid ride! We were pretty excited to see what it was all about. But we were sadly disappointed. They could have done so much more with the story and made it a much more fun ride!

Taken at our favorite spot inside Disneyland.

We headed to Disneyland to see the new parade and dance with Panchito! :) We attempted to ride the new Star Tours, but that was a fail because it went down and by the time we came back around it was a 2+ hour wait and we didn't wanna do that! We left the park early because we were pooped! But it was still a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to more Disney days since we'll be renewing our passes again! YAYYY.

happy july

2011-07-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

WOW. July, really? You snuck up on me! June was a really busy month and July looks like another really busy month.

I don't have a foodie friday post today because I didn't cook a decent meal this week. In between working out, the gym, crafting with Nina, and life in general, I haven't had the time to cook a meal. Not even breakfast!

And today is a Friday Half Day at work. All Fridays in July are half days! (One of the perks about working here!) So I'll be getting off work at 12 and heading to the happiest place on earth. Its been awhile since I've been there so I'm definitely looking forward to this trip!

Other than that, it's a 3 day weekend and it's supposed to be a scorcher this weekend. So in the words of Conan O'Brien (my love), "Stay cool mah babies!"

she's cooing

2011-06-27T11:27:00.000-07:00

Gracie likes to suck on her hands all the time. It's adorable. So this time, we were holding her hands so she couldn't suck on them just to see what she would do. And she started smiling and cooing!

This is such progress for her!! And she's also starting to hold her head up. Praise the Lord!

Like I said, she's making a lot of progress and growth. If you didn't know, Gracie's been diagnosed with HPE. It's hard to explain what it is, because I don't know everything about it either. But we know that we love her the same. She's faced a lot since birth, but the Lord has been gracious to her and has shown us so much through her. Even a little baby girl can teach us about the grace of God. She really is a testament to her namesake and it's amazing to see her make progress and growth and beat the odds.

foodie friday week {7}

2011-06-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

This post is going to be short and sweet. I attempted to make ribs and mash potatoes for dinner this week. Let's just say, I have a lot of learning to do. And this was my first time. So it was experimenting mostly. I think I'll follow a more precise recipe next time. But the ribs didn't turn out too bad. I ate them for lunch the next day too.

I also attempted to make my own mash potatoes from scratch instead of from a box. Those turned out fine, minus the fact that I didn't boil the potatoes long enough. Oops.

And I thought I took pictures of the meal, guess I didn't or my phone is tripping!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the weekend.

Summer is here which makes me so excited. Longer days and warm evenings make for perfect summer nights. And I can't wait to explore this summer! I already stated my adventure with going to my local farmers market! It was such a perfect evening for it. Sun was still out. Warm air, cool breeze! And tons of yummy food and locally grown produce. :)

So I hope you all have a great weekend, soak up the sun, enjoy the breeze, and find time to ne thankful for what the Lord has done!

father's day

2011-06-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

Summertime is definitely here! Which means more and more outdoor BBQs. Which means more time with the family spent outside, hanging out, talking with each other! It's so nice.

This Father's Day was spent doing just that. Eating in the backyard, grilling burgers and corn, and watching the girls play in the backyard.

Lolo and Gracie.

The family. Not sure what we're all doing? Haha.

Lolo and Lola with the girls.

Kuya Jino and Lolo and the girls.

It was a nice evening with the family. And a great way to spend time with our dad and celebrating him and all the hard work he does for the family and for the Lord.

the jacksons

2011-06-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, another one of my APU friends got married. Wow, another one bites the dust. There's only a few of us left from our group of friends that aren't married!

It was a beautiful day for a wedding. The sun was out, the breeze was a-breezin, and the setting just felt so right for the both of them. I've known {Jonathan} Jackson since sophomore year of college where he was my next door neighbor in our apartment complex. Him and his roomies became really good friends with me and my roomies! Oh, the memories! We've all come a long way since those days, he just graduated from Loma Linda from dentistry. Dr. Jackson!

What love! It was beautiful because they took communion together and they wanted the rest of the congregation to partake in the Eucharist with them as well. As a body of believers, partaking in remembering what Christ has done for us. Isn't that beautiful?

And finally, what everyone waits for: their first kiss! How romantic and lovely!

They literally skipped down the aisle instead of walked. It was so cute and perfect for the both of them. They look so happy and in love.

And an APU wedding means a little APU reunion for us. Which meant I got to spend time with one of my favorite people: Sam.

And Charlie!

The rest of the wedding and reception was wonderful! We danced the night away. Literally. We didn't stop. We love to dance! And since we didn't stop dancing, I didn't take too many pictures after that. :) I was too busy getting down on the dance floor.

Congrats to the happy couple. To the Jacksons!

foodie friday week {6) on a monday

2011-06-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

I know I missed it last week, but I didn't go to work on Friday so I didn't have access to a computer to blog!

Last week I made chicken fajita tacos on Taco Tuesday. And I even made the seasoning from scratch (to lessen the amount of sodium).

First I seasoned my veggies with a little olive oil and pepper. And grilled them.

Second I cut up chicken and seasoned with my home made seasoning. And grilled it in the pan in a little olive oil for a few minutes.

And third, I grilled the tortillas and added a little cheese and sour cream and voila! Chicken Fajita Tacos. Nom nom nom!

I'm back to a somewhat regular routine now that things have calmed down here. I'll be cooking more often this week and finding ways to creatively and healthily (is that even a word?) feed myself!

down and dirty

2011-06-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

Oh boy! That was one hard, yet fun, challenge! On Saturday morning, my Kuya Joem, Kuya Jino, Selle, Doreen, and Brian all ventured out to Camp Pendleton to participate in the Mud Run. And it was so much fun! I've never been a part of anything like that and it was fun seeing how excited people got to run at the marine base. And it's not easy. At least for me it wasn't easy. I'm not gonna give away anything here just in case you wanna try it someday!

There were teams that got super creative with their costumes. It was fun seeing all the people dressed up in cowboy outfits, superhero outfits, brides, where's waldo?, and even jersey shore characters. The run is meant to be more fun than anything else, and I know I had a blast doing it.

I had a waterproof disposable camera with me during the run. Too bad I don't have a waterproof digital camera! Haha, cuz I wanna see the pictures already of all of us in action.

Before and after shot of our shoes after running through dirt and mud and swimming through lakes:

I can't wait to do it next year. It was a ton of fun getting down and dirty and knowing I was doing something good for myself! It's a great feeling crossing that finish line knowing we worked hard to get there!

foodie friday week {5}

2011-06-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

My life has been so busy lately that I haven't had much time to cook. Most of this week, I went out and bought my food (which I've been trying to avoid!). But what can I do? When I don't have the time, it's just easier to buy your food already cooked for you.

But I was able to get one meal in this week. I made my mom's "sick soup" recipe. There's no name for it really, but we call it that because whenever one of us gets sick, she makes this soup and we somehow feel all better. Maybe it's my mom's TLC that makes us feel better, but either way, we like to call it "sick soup." And since the weather has been kind of funky and gloomy, I thought it would be perfect for dinner.

This was really simple and easy to make. I think it might have been one of the first recipes I've ever learned from my mom.I always use ground turkey. I rarely use ground beef for any of my recipes. I'm trying to stay away from the red meats. (Unless it's in a burger...like...the Back Abbey!) So my freezer is usually stocked with tons of ground turkey!

Do you guys have any websites to share where you get your recipes? I'm looking for websites that offer healthier alternatives? Healthier recipes! Let me know if you do, I'd love to know!

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And yet again, I have another busy weekend. I'll be in SD for the Camp Pendleton MUD RUN! Wish me luck, I need tons of it. I'm not a runner, so this should be an interesting run for me. I'm doing it with my brothers, sister in law, and Brian and Doreen. We got matching running outfits and everything, you won't miss us! And it'll be fun too because we'll be there the whole weekend.

So happy Friday to you! I hope you have an amazing, fun filled weekend!

For Reagan Grace Martinez

2011-06-09T11:31:00.000-07:00

My brother JP wrote this beautiful poem for my niece Gracie. And I think he wrote the words that none of us could fully express. He does a wonderful job of saying what we know in our hearts. Gracie is our gift from God and shows us what great grace God bestows on us.

The doctors might try to tell you
someday that you can't do this
or can't be that.
Perhaps they believe
that your limits are already found
in the tender body you carry
so gracefully. You are your namesake
and you wear it so proudly.
So presumptuous, doctors
say you will only learn to the capacity of a
3rd grader if you are lucky.
And you are lucky.
Cause I remember how much
I loved the third grade.
And how being all "grown up"
totally cramped my style.
If you are always a kid,
then you are fortunate to never have to see the
world through the lenses
which they force us to look through;
plain without imagination.
And trust me, it isn't such a pleasant sight
to behold.You will still see the wonders
of what it means to be alive.
Still know what it means
to breathe the air that gives us life.
Still hold the moments of being loved
deep in your chest.
And when you cry
You will remind us all
what it sounds like to be so innocent.
Cause I remember that being a child
meant the whole world
was still in front of me.
That endless possibilities
were never cut short
by doctors who can't ever
know what you are capable of doing.
Cause I know
that you can do anything.
And I will always tell you this.
Till you take your first steps to your daddy
and you smile your big smile
I will stand strong to believe that
You are everything you need to be
in that blessed body you carry.
You can do anything Rea Rea.
And I hear you speak this back to me
in the depths of your eyes
the way they shift back and forth
looking past our fears
to see us as we already are.
Your vision is your gift.
The lenses from which you see the world
will be the new focus we need to understand
that You, already know all this.
I never needed to tell you.
You are just trying to get us to believe it too.
I love you Reagan.

-Uncle JP

viva las vegas

2011-06-07T12:29:00.000-07:00

Vegas was a blast! But since what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, I can't reveal anything here. Just know that we had fun, we relaxed, we soaked up the sun, and we ate a lot of good food!

We ate at Roy's in Summerlin and it was delicious. Every dish was delightful and every dessert was scrumptious.

The next day, before leaving to head back home, we ate at Hash House a Go-Go for brunch. The portions are HUGE so we shared a few plates. Their portions are made for giants! The food was good, but not our favorite. Its a place you gotta try at least once.

And since I can't share any other pictures, that's it! Haha. Like I said, we ate a lot of food! Devoured lots of candies, snacks, and chips, and had a good time celebrating! I'm looking forward to another trip to Vegas so soon.

foodie friday week 4

2011-06-03T11:22:00.000-07:00

So I haven't been cooking much lately just because I've been crazy busy, I've been having things to do after work almost everynight. I'm looking forward to next week when I can kind of get back into a schedule. But this time, running after work to train for the mud run next weekend. I am swamped!

So here's a picture of a waffle I had from Cafe Haus in Diamond Bar on Sunday. It's this little Korean cafe that's similar to the cafes in Koreatown. We love this place!

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So I'm booked this weekend and next weekend. But this is one weekend I am LOOKING FORWARD TO! Viva Las Vegas, baby! We're going for a bachelorette party and I'm so excited to get away for a little bit and celebrate. This is going to be a fun weekend! I hope everyone has an amazing, restful, fun, adventurous weekend.

brian's big 28th birthday bash!

2011-06-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

Brian has been here in SoCal for a little over a year now! I can't believe that time has flown that fast and we made it through the first year.And since I had more time to plan his birthday out, I was able to do more than just a family dinner. I celebrated with him at midnight with a special "cake" for him. He loves my version of baked spaghetti, so I made him a whole pan for his birthday.

So the day of his birthday, I took a half day at work and took him out to celebrate turning 28 years young. Stop 1 was Kalbi Burger in LA. His favorite burger spot!

Stop 2 was Scoops off Melrose. It's this small little ice cream shop that has unusual flavors of ice cream. Pistacio/rose water, really? Strange, but yummy. They're known for their brown bread ice cream...and let me tell you....delicious!Stop 3 was supposed to be at the Bicycle Kitchen, right next to Scoops, because I bought him bicycle parts for his birthday and I wanted him to be able to put it on before Stop 4. But I didn't do enough research because at bicycle kitchen, they ask for a suggested donation of $20 to use their tools. I thought it was cheaper than that. But it's the thought that counts right?!

And stop 4: Santa Monica Pier for bike riding! This is one of our favorite things to do. We love coming here because we get to bike next to the beach, feel the breeze, see the sun, and smell the ocean. It's so beautiful. Not only that, but we get to see all kinds of weirdos and play at the pier! I can't wait to go back. This is gonna be our go to spot this summer for some summer fun.

So Brian took me to this spot in Santa Monica that's an open beach house. You know, next to it are all those foufy bougie private members only beach clubs. But this one, this one is open to the public. Anyone can go in and use the pool, take classes (at a small price). It's open to the community. Like a YMCA. And it is so pretty!

Then we biked up to 3rd street promenade to walk around the shops a little bit before heading to stop 5. But not before trying to take a picture of the both of us using a timer. I'm no good at that timer stuff and it was super windy, so I was nervous about my camera falling! So this is what happened:

FAILed! haha :)

After Santa Monica and a fun bike ride, we headed to stop 5 where our friends were waiting to surprise him. Well, I thought an hour would be good enough to get from Santa Monica to Pasadena...boy was I wrong! It took us an hour and 45 minutes. LA Traffic! Sheesh! And there was no way to make us go any faster. I couldn't tell him where we were going or why I was rushing. Everyone was pretty much waiting for over an hour for us to get there. So they all ate before we got there and were nice enough to stay till we got there!

We got to Stop 5: Dog Haus and he had to use the restroom, so I went to the group and told him we were there...so a bunch of them ran to the bathroom and knocked on the door and acted like an impatient person, needing to use the restroom. It was so funny cuz I know B and I know he'd be pretty mad if someone was really doing that. So he walked out all mad and saw us standing there!

Thank you to everyone that came out and waited forever for us! I know Brian really appreciated you guys being there and celebrating with him. We had a blast. And the food was so delicious! So here's to another year of being a kid at heart and playing and enjoying life! I pray that it'll be a year of growing in grace!

memorial day

2011-05-31T07:13:00.000-07:00

Every year we get together for Memorial Day with a BBQ at my parents house. Because my parents have such a huge backyard, our BBQs are always outside, where the sun is just right, the breeze is perfect, and it fits our growing family. And with the weather being so nice lately, we didn't want to be cooped up inside for this.

We do a lot of BBQing, eating, laughing, talking, more eating, and watching the girls play in the pool or put on a show! This year, we have another addition to our growing family: Gracie. And it was her first time being in the pool with her big sisters.

Tay is a little diva. She put on a show for us. Kelley Megan's Water Show. Pey is the silliest of the 3. Free spirited, energetic, and crazy! And Rea is our little sunshine. She's content just being held, watching her 2 Ates play around.

And we're still growing! We have B, Shea, and Doreen now, added to this mix! Our family just keeps growing. And not to mention, our good friends that we consider family now: Nina and Kevin! They come to most of our family parties now, because they're like family to us! (Oops, they came later in the day, so they weren't in this picture!)

a long weekend

2011-05-30T22:55:00.000-07:00

I love having 3 day weekends. They don't happen often, but when they do, I love them! So for the long Memorial weekend, I spent it at Disneyland, biking around Glendora, and watching movies. Nothing wild or crazy, but really simple and relaxing.

We started it off at Disneyland to see the new parade and the new fireworks. We had so much fun! We even got to see RJ shake her booty in the new parade. We knew this was going to be our last trip to Disneyland for the next 2-3 weeks!

I'm starting to get the hang of this biking thing. I'm really enjoying it and it's been good for me since the price of gas is going up! I'm getting a workout, feeling good about myself, saving gas, and making $1.50 everytime I bike to work.

So Brian and I biked to downtown Glendora to explore the new city I'm living in. It's a cute little spot with little boutiques, nail salons, hair salons, bookstores, and yummy restaurants. It was a pretty gloomy day, but it wasn't going to ruin our day of biking.

We stopped at this cute little Vietnamese restaurant with a yellow awning. It was an adorable little place and the food was delish! Nom nom nom!

The next 3 day weekend is in July for Independence Day. And I am sooo looking forward to it!

I see London, I see France!

2011-05-24T14:46:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we threw Nina her first bridal shower of the season and it was so much fun! It was a perfect, beautiful day to have a bridal shower outdoors. I am so thankful for my mom and dad's backyard because it was just right for us to have a small, intimate bridal shower.

And because Nina and Kevin went to Paris, we wanted to throw them a Parisian themed bridal shower. We probably didn't get everything right with the theme, but I think it turned out so lovely. Especially considering we didn't have all the resources in the world. I loved the simplicity of it all!

Our parties are always about the desserts. It's rarely about the food. We love sugar and sugar loves us!

It was a lot of fun getting together with the girls and hearing their advice about married life. They were hilarious! And not exactly rated G. Hey, they're married! It's allowed. We couldn't stop laughing at how open and honest most of them were!

We played a few games, had more desserts, laughed a lot, and opened up the "fun" gifts! I can't show any of the gifts from the party, let's just say there were a lot of pink bags!

And my camera died! So I didn't get to take a picture of the whole group. Either way it was a beautiful day for a bridal shower and everything turned out great. I know I had a blast laughing with all the ladies and hearing them talk openly about what it's like to be married and I know Nina appreciated it too.

foodie friday week 3

2011-05-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

Because of the (oddly) cold weather this week, I decided to make some vegetarian chili. I used my mom's recipe this time and it was perfect! Exactly what I needed for the cold, gloomy weather. And this could easily be turned into a non-vegetarian meal if you add ground beef, but I prefer ground turkey (healthier and leaner). I think next time I'll add some meat to give it a little extra oompth.

I also made some low fat honey butter corn bread from Marie Calendars. Yummy. Was a perfect pairing. And the recipe is so simple and easy, anyone can make it. And you can customize it to your taste and liking, so every recipe is different. And I especially like mine a little spicy, so I added a little red pepper flakes AND sirracha (the rooster sauce). And I made enough to last me a few meals, which is perfect. And cheap. I spent $6 for all the ingredients! And it made about 6 servings, that came out to $1 a serving. Amazing!

happy mother's day

2011-05-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

This post is a little late, but better late than never!

Mother's Day was a busy day since my mom is so involved with church stuff. So we celebrated during lunch and hung out with my lovely mother for the day.

We took pictures with the family at church and the little girls are just too silly! Peyton is so silly with her faces and her poses. She didn't want to take pictures so she laid down instead and pretended to sleep. Crazy girl.

It was a simple day because we were going to celebrate another day when the whole family could be together.

And so we went to dinner together 2 days later to take my mom, Lola, and Selle out to dinner. To thank them for being awesome mothers and showing us what it means to love unconditionally. Thanks Mom!

it's that season

2011-05-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

Almost everyone I know is either, about to get engaged, getting married, or having a kid. And my lovely cousin is one of those 3!

She's having a baby!!! And she's having a baby boy. I can't wait to meet this bundle of joy. She's about 7 months in and so cute as a pregnant mama!

So I spent the other part of Saturday at her baby shower. She came down from San Fran for this shower and it was so great seeing her and her pregnant belly. I know her family is really excited for her and they're anticipating his arrival! I know I can't wait to meet him!

our 4th annual cinco de mayo party

2011-05-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast time has flown by. It's been 4 years since I've graduated from college, 4 years that I've been working full time, 4 years since I've started on this post-college life. And let me tell you, life only gets more interesting as you get older. I've learned a lot about myself in these last 4 years and I've grown up a lot too. And even though it hasn't been easy, it's been such a good life journey.

And I graduated on Cinco de Mayo. Which means that every year, my friends and I get together to have a Cinco de Mayo party/APU Reunion. It's a time for us to catch up, laugh, sing kareoke, and eat lots of Mexican themed food. And it's always fun seeing their familiar faces. A few of them are married now, none have kids yet, but I know that'll change really soon, and some of us are still trying to figure out our lives. No matter what phase in life we're at, we somehow have tons of fun laughing with each other!

And booo, I didn't take too many pictures from that day. Just because I was too busy talking, eating, and playing games. I also didn't stay very long because I had about 3 other parties to attend. UGH.

Charlie's really good about decorations. He always makes things so fun and festive and really puts a lot of thought into making it seem like it's Cinco de Mayo.

foodie friday week 2

2011-05-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

Oops. I'm gonna back track this post because I missed it.

For this week, I made a turkey melt sandwich with baked zucchini sticks. (I'm obsessed with them!)

I really need to work on my photography skills. But oh well! I loved this stuff. It was so good.

And I've been super busy lately so I haven't really done much creative cooking. But stay tuned, because I'll be cooking more soon!

may day

2011-05-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

Shoot. May Day came and went and I didn't get the chance to do anything fun or special. Oopsie.

Anyway, I can't believe it's May and that we're almost halfway through the year 2011. It's been a busy year for me and I can't wait until Summer is officially here and I get to relax, adventure, and explore. I'm looking forward to this!