One of the greatest gifts
That life can give to anyone
Is the very special love that families share...
As years go by,
It's good to know that there will always be
Certain people in our lives who care.
For there are countless things
That only families have in common
And memories that no one else can make...
And these precious ties that bind a family together
Are bonds that time and distance cannot break.
How fortunate we are
When we have relatives to love us,
It makes the world a happy place to be...
Few gifts in life
Will last as long
Or touch the heart as deeply
As the very special gift
Of family.

-Craig S. Tunks

man, so i think with my parents being out of town for the holidays this year it's gotten me really having these family withdrawals. haha silly i guess. i dunno, i just want to be surrounded by all my family since my parents are still in the p.i. didn't think i'd get all sentimental about it all either. maybe i'm just getting emotional bc of pms? hahah.

speaking of emotional, so i was watching clash of the choirs last night. yeah yeah shaddup. i like when they sing all their songs. can't believe team rowland was eliminated first! anyways so yeah, the eliminated teams got to do special performances for the finale. and kelly's team sang one sweet day. geeeeeeeeeeez man, i totally teared up and the tears just flowed. what's going on man? even while watching an episode of what i like about you (haha yeah shaddup again!) on the ride home from the train last night, i got teary eyed too=P. yeah so must be pms'ing. ha, that's it.

so i totally forgot that i can stream kost at work. i usually listen to kroq..sometimes kbig..but today i wanted to hear christmas songs and i didn't have any on my windows media and got all sad. then duh, light bulb clicked that i can stream kost=). yay so get to hear all the songs and get all christmasy spirited.

you know what irks? REALLY poor customer service cashiers! dude at least freaking say hi? is that too hard? i always told myself that if i ever got a rude cashier then i'd initiate the greeting. so cashier chick just grabs my stuff looking down and ringing it all..so i say "hi". and she mumbles hi. then just puts my stuff in a bag and pushes it to me. so i say "thank you" all super loud cuz i got annoyed. maaaaaaaaaaaan..it's the holidays you can't say hi?! haha i must be pms'ing..cuz now that i'm typing i'm feeling dumb for thinking like that..and rationalizing that maybe she was having a bad day and a previous customer gave her a hard time? ahhh..whatevers..just say hi. heehee at least the target cashier was nice after the other store.

oooh we had our white elephant at work yesterday. boo-yah i scored me the new cranium! cranium party anyone?=). the kicker though during the exchange was that someone freaking bought lingerie as one of the presents! not the victoria kind, freaking fredericks! when we first saw the box we were like oh it's not lingerie probably a gift card or something..then my co-worker opened it and out came this see through white teddy with a thong..actually dunno if it counts as a teddy because there was barely any material! haha. so yeah after a bunch of uncomfortable laughter..we're all trying to figure out who brought it cuz the giver of lingerie wouldn't fess up. fbi time..hehe. but yeah we're like..umm did they think this was a gag exchange? cuz the email specifically said no gag gifts. or did they really think that was a good present to give? weird right?

i really want to watch juno and 27 dresses. hmm and enchanted too, only cuz i keep hearing how good it is! hehe all from girls of course=P. all totally opposite movies but still peaks the interest.

can't believe it's almost christmas. we don't get christmas eve off so i'm still debating if i should take it off or not.. guess it just depends on how much food i'll have prepared by sunday? blehh wish they just gave it to us as a holiday too. hehe spoiled=P

Citius, Altius, Fortius [Faster, Higher, Stronger]
-Henri Martin Didon, the Olympic Motto

woohoo rain. does that mean the season is off to a good start? i know last weekend we noticed some snow capped mountains while driving, so let's hope it gets even better for january! sounds like a john, jack, jason day today at work for me. there's just something so soothing about listening to these guys when the weather gets like this. now all i need is a mug of cocoa, my pj's and our quilt. oooh.

man my back is all jacked up! even fifi's too. we can't figure out if it's from the bed or from the train rides to/from work since our seats don't recline. we're either always upright or slouching in our seats trying to sleep. even right now i'm trying to type with good posture but it just feels so uncomfortable for the mid-section of my back. boo. i do notice sometimes though that i'm slouching my shoulders way more then i used to. i remember always sitting up straight and now i'm just a lazy sloucher. need to get rid of that bad habit!

yay friday. can't wait for gladiator action on sunday. i wonder if they're just bringing back the show because of how popular ninja warrior has gotten? i still don't think they can top ninja warrior though. man, we were watching this sorta behind the scenes episode on g4 and they showed this sample course area, at one of the places in tokyo i think? man too bad it wasn't there while we visited. i could see lou, winnie, & ryan going crazy on those obstacles, hehe.

speaking of japan, me & lou were reminded of this seen at the kyoto station while we were walking in union station today:

how freaking awesome is that? their train station was huge! they had like a gazillion steps where all these people sat waiting for the mini christmas show to start:

what reminded us of this was this morning when we were leaving the station they had like this 5-man band playing instrumental christmas songs. and lou was like, it'd be awesome if we had something like kyoto station over here. i wish! so yeah that band was pretty cool too, hehe just no es kyoto.

haha speaking of christmas, we saw santa being escorted by the police last night! okay not in a bad way. we just drove into our neighborhood and saw this police minivan with it's sirens on but saying something about in 5-minutes and playing christmas songs on the loud speaker. we were like, umm are they evacuating us or something? but why would they play christmas songs. so when we leave to go out again we finally understood what they were doing. they were giving santa and his helpers a police escort to our neighborhood. how cute is that? one of the suv's had a trailer hitch pulling the cart for santa and the elves. haha it was sooo funny. okay well at the time it was=P.

woohoo got ate & jason to sign up for the 5k. so cute, weston will be with them too. so hb half, here i come. ahhhhh.

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footsteps on the moon.
-Anonymous

i feel like november always goes by so fast. 3 holidays in one month, ahhh it's fabulous. too much to type so i think it's time for another recap of what's been going on.

-parentals are in the p.i. til january, went home on my birthday to spend the day with them before they left=)
-thanks all for the birthday greets..y'all are awesome peoples=)
-thanks fifi for planning a fun bday w/ everybody. flag football was fun as always.
-it was funny seeing jenn try to grab lou's flag but instead ripped off his shorts pocket. ha!
-woohoo i kicked a 5 yard field goal, haha.
-yo blue team, the game's not over! you can't call "game" during half time just cuz you're winning by ONE touchdown!!!=P
-kudos to je-von and fifi for pulling off the dobash cake surprise, totally thought they took a dump in sync with each other. which i thought was quite odd, but okay i guess cuz they're guys?
-boo to boiling crab for closing early for the holidays!
-we opted for dimsum/chinese food instead. funny seeing everyone's faces everytime the waiters talked to us.
-thanksgiving was weird without the parentals. first year we didn't spend it with them.
-ended up going to 3 thanksgivings. late lunch, early dinner, late dinner, late night hanging out. whoa tiring. but thanks to the fam for welcoming us.
-can we say gluttons?=P
-cabazon wasn't as crazy as we thought it would be. lucky we got to return the rug in time.
-yay finally bought some furnishings for the house..only took a little over a year to complete our dining table! ha.
-yay to ikea's 11.23 sale. woohoo poang.
-boo to shopping and all this budgeting.
-i want a doggy=)
-boo on fuel pumps
-found a new pair of boots i want..hmmm what to do.
-thanks j2 and ivy for hosting thanksgiving
-rock band is sweet.
-haha kenny's funny. "this is not a race..."
-it's raining, does that mean we'll have a good season this time?
-mmm bought some porto's cheese rolls yesterday
-mmm eric bought me an extraordinary dessert..yum.
-i think my love for spicy food has changed my taste buds. watching lou eat his pad see ewe and enjoying it without any hot sauce, i tried to do the same. alas, i HAD to add the chili garlic sauce. it just made it taste that much better! i should cut down.
-need to find a run to get into. still thinking about the hb half. too bad ate can't walk w/ weston.
-finally removed the rest of the boxes in our closet. hard to throw all my old junk out.
-i love japanese stuff. it's so cute!
-december's going to go by just as fast as november
-yay get to put up christmas decorations this weekend
-happy almost your birthday joemama
-aww get to see weston this weekend!
-so hard to set up appointments with everyone having such busy schedules
-by hair's acting funky today.
-i've been treating green tea and tylenol like my own preventative medicine=P
-why go to the gym if you're just going to talk the whole time about how unfit you are, how you don't like working out, how you can't believe people are this serious about working out, how you go on the treadmill at like a 0.5 pace!, how you are twig skinny and keep saying you're not into working out like a gazillion time! c'mon now!
-ahhh i miss that good feeling after a nice run. and like that one song "it's all coming back, all coming back to me now" hahah weirdo i know!
-i miss my office and soon to be heroes. stupid mohinder. stupid maya. stupid peter.
-hunter x hunter anime, where's the other ova's!
-okay too much writing, felt nice though.

You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.
-Johnny Cash

it's hard to not think you could have done better at something. you can prepare as much as possible, but when the time comes they can still cause you to get nervous and blunder. nothing i can do about it except to learn from it and move on. and yes, try try again. trying to be a grown up is hard. yes i said grown up. with all these new responsibilities comes choices we have to make for our future. never really understood the full concept of it all til last year. how our parents were able to make such good decisions for us scares me in wondering if i'll be able to do as well. oh joy.

you know what sucks? when you have this great idea in your head, down to the very last detail. the planning, the preparation..no problem. now comes the execution, and it ends up being soooo not what you had pictured in your mind. why is that? is it just me? it can get so frustrating at times because i'll try all these different ideas that i've thought about..yet they don't turn out as well as i had imagined. oy ve. and what the heck is oy ve. our hs spanish teacher used to always say that, so it just sorta rubbed off.

my parents are leaving for the p.i. this monday. crazy they'll be gone for like a month and a half! no thanksgiving/christmas/new year's with them. it'll be kinda weird bc i've spent every thanksgiving & christmas and practically every new years's with my parents and all the fam. i guess we'll just have more of an intimate type holiday season this year? should be fun, cuz it'll be weston's first of everything with us too=).

i haven't seen a movie in the longest time. anything good out? hehe i wanna watch that one katherine heigl movie. i think it comes out in january? yeah i'm sure it'll end up being a chick flick, don't think louie will want to watch that one.

mmm i'm starting to really enjoy shabu-shabu! i've only had it a couple of times before. i think when we had it in japan turned my tastebuds back onto it because i used to not be the greatest fan. so now i go if anyone's craving it during lunch at work..and we had a shabu shabu night last friday in irvine. yum-o! i wanna have an at home shabu-shabu night. i wonder if it'll end up more as a hotpot night? gotta learn how to make the dipping sauces.

ooh it's my tita's birthday today. happy birthday tita lily! and happy belated to all you scorpio babies out there. and woohoo to jev-on and millicent! hmm what else...oh another woohoo to erica and her fifi! i swear there's something in the water this year! oh and yay to karen and joes..haha i'm shy=P

thanks again you two for queen latifah's "trav'lin light" jazz concert. she was awesome. and yes, she did sing u-n-i-t-y..hahha soooo funny. well she did it in more of a jazzed up version but still, a pleasan surprise. funny how it was such a different genre of people watching the show. somehow i pictured the crowd to be more "set it off" type peoples, yeah yeah say the comment..go ahead! but it is pretty cool that she has such a wide range of listeners now. aww poetry man's so pretty=). and dude her backup singers can sing! probably better than she can, but then again she's got the funky personality that puts her above.

man this was a wordy one..oh well it was catch up time.

There is nothing so easy to learn as experience and nothing so hard to apply.
-Josh Billings

woohoo it's time to get some relaxation in! it's over, ha for now at least. let's just hope for the best and leave it at that=P

y'know, it's really hard sometimes to have parents who are so set on their own opinions that they fail to realize the seriousness of their actions. my parents are the cynical type when it comes to doctors. if they could, they'd opt for the choice to never have to go to the doctor at all. it's really sad because there's so many things that could have been prevented if they just listened/went. but no, what they believe to be true is the teachings they learned about home remedies back in the p.i. and granted, some of those funky ideas they tell us on how to get rid of something or how to feel better do work. but there are times when they need to really understand that medicinal practices these days are waaaay different from what they used to be when they were growing up.

it's so difficult trying to explain this to them. to my parents, the doctors and all the medicine they prescribe to us is just a way for them to make money. and while sometimes i do agree that it's just the man's way of cheating his way in the system. ha like when the doc prescribes a generic brand of robitussin to make me feel better when i knew i should've just done that in the beginning=P. there are those other times where the doctor is RIGHT! gosh, dangit freaking listen to what they're saying and don't try to second guess it and play down the seriousness of the issue. arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh frustrating trying to get them to understand.

anyways. hope everyone had a great happy tommyween..haha i mean halloween=). last night was fun. good food (thanks chef cat and sous chef joes!), good laughs (camo/blazer/work/usc/chi-town/zooyork/lounging/rvca tommy costumes are the best! hahaha and so are toothpaste eyebrows??!), and yummy take 5..mmmm..too bad we all have to come in to work today. boo felt like a friday last night. so looking forward to the weekend. not as relaxing as i'd have liked to after last weekend draining all my energy. but no complaints here. have a wedding and some birthdays to celebrate=)

finally my slobby self was able to run on tuesday. and today? get to hit the gym. need to get to work man! i really want to sign up for a half, but i'm not sure if i should be spending the $$ on it right now..hmmm decisions. i miss races, zey are fun.

You must never feel badly for making mistakes," explained Reason quietly, "as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.
-Norton Juster

man, i love korean bbq! so freaking good every time i eat it (okay almost, there are those places that i've been to where it doesn't quite taste as great. stupid false advertising!!). if you're ever in the downtown area and are craving for some korean bbq or don't know where to eat-well, i shall steer you into the right direction my friend! can never go wrong with that place=). not to mention the little chewy candies they give to you afterwards, a plus in by book! ha.

woohoo it's friday. boo-hoo that i'm feeling a bit sick right now. i started feeling really sleepy last night at like 730pm. not a good sign, so i took some tylenol (my new alternative to airborne- i think i became dependent on it. once i stopped taking it, man i got sick ALL the time!). anyways, i took tylenol last night and this morning. let's hope with some good sleep tonight that i can prevent the sick bug from spreading. i can't get sick this week, out of all the weeks..this is one of the worst times to get sick!

man the past 3 weeks at work have been bzzzzzy. yup, that much. oh well i guess it kinda makes the weeks go by faster when i forget what time it is. can't believe november is already creeping up on us. yay, so begins the holiday months! nov-january seem to fly by because of the holidays. everything's passing by so quickly these days, it's a trip i tell yah.

i miss running. haven't ran in like 2 or 3 weeks. so much going on lately that i haven't worked out in so long=(. man i feel like a slob too! it's such a good feeling though to take that morning run or having a good workout. i like that "i feel good now" feeling. haha. well after next week things should start going back to normal! ha, as long as fifi doesn't go all tyrant with these crazy workouts for me to do!=P

okily dokily, y'all have a great weekend now.

ayeeee, 9 more more months away=P

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
-Dale Carnegie

hmmm i think i like his quotes..i was reading a whole list of them and they're those get your ass up and get motivated type...ha, just what i need right now=P.

anyways onto some exciting news...tun tunna nahhhh..
Congratulations you two!


awww true love..eating danger dogs after a kings game.

hahhaha okay a nicer pic=)







awww now isn't he such a cutie patoots??? man he's getting heavy=P.

you know..i've been listening to my i-shuffle lately at work opposed to my media player on my computer..i think mainly cuz i keep forgetting to put in new songs. anyways..my point. music makes the world go round=). making the working environment such a nicer place cuz i can just listen to some good vibes all day long! haha kinda like that one commercial where that guy is eating his cereal and is munching so loud and is so engrossed in enjoying his food that he has no idea what his boss is saying to him. hahah funny.

man the mornings are sooo dark now. well for those of you who are up at 5am too you agree right? i guess this is when daylights savings should've taken into effect? but now it's like after halloween right? all so that the big corps. can make their money during halloween candy sales..nice eh?

arghhhhhhhh i can't wait for the next sunday. i'll be tired as heck after friday/saturday..but it'll be over..again. booo stupid stupid..i'm such a procrastinator. why is that? why do i feel the need to have that adrenaline rush to keep me going? whereas if i just managed my time better i wouldn't be so stressed out? ahhh, but what would be the fun in that? blehhhh, then again..this is never fun to begin with.

yay for mondays...