eyes like a gold fish

my eyes...... it's the age or the lack of sleep, or maybe both. i have huge eye bags that can hold an elephant!!! i need a great great eye mask....... any suggestion???

**mole update

I got the stitches removed today. Biopsy result is normal, nothing to be worried about. Looks like the doctor left a tiny bit of mole still. I guess it was not a mole removal surgery. They "shaved" the mole. :( I guess i will still have some sort of a burden in my life... smaller burden kkeekek >.<

jingle bells... jingle bells....

I cannot believe Christmas is just around the corner. Can't wait for my 2 weeks time off.... everybody can use a little time off every now and then, but I could use more every so often. :) although we have no plans this Christmas, i am still very happy and looking forward to the 2 wks off. i'll be bumming around the house or doing whatever. I am sure it will be just as fun. ;) It's kind of a waste of a holiday with nowhere to go, but we both have decided that we would rather use vacation money for a house. We have other priorities that we should be focusing on. Plus, they have announced that we are officially in recession right now. I guess since last dec they said? So i guess we shouldn't be spending unnecessary money. It's kind of scary to think that we could lose our jobs- the future holds so much uncertainties. However, I try to think positive at all times! =)

If i can go somewhere this holiday season, i really wanted to be in NY. There is nowhere else to be during christmas than NY. The holiday spirit, the christmas decor at Rockefeller center... the white fluffy snow.... oh how much I miss it.

Hehhee if i am lucky... i might get to go Disneyland! Here are some pictures of the making of our fake 7 1/2 foot tree.....john fluffing the leaves...

we re-used our Christmas ornaments we bought from couple years ago
not done with Christmas shopping yet... only 2 gifts under the tree now.

And here's a picture of rockefeller center in NY... now you know why i want to be there....

image source

To Maintain A Healthy Level of Insanity

Actually i got this in the email a few months ago... as i was cleaning up my inbox today, i stumbled across it again and had a good laugh. Thought i'd share it here with you guys...

To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity


1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label it 'In'.

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks . Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write ' For Sexual Favors'

7. Finish All Your sentences with 'In Accordance With The Prophecy'.

8. Don't use any punctuation.

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is 'To Go'.

12. Sing Along At The Opera.

13. Go To A Poetry Recital. And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme?

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area and Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In the Mood.

16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream 'I Won! I Won!'

18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling 'Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!'

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Economy , We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.'

20. And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity . Send This E-mail To Someone To Make Them Smile.

Its Called ... therapy and they will know that you are crazier than they are. It will do wonders for their self esteem.

for better or worse, for richer or poorer...

NOT!!! definitely not in this case. I am officially bidding farewell to my funny looking mole that has been with me through thick and thin throughout my life so far. It was located on my left back shoulder. Lately the past few weeks, i had been picking at it which caused it to become inflamed and bleed. Hence the idea of removing it came up. After all i have heard not a single good thing about a mole on your shoulder. I guess the Chinese believe that it is a burden in your life? or something like that ... not quite sure. I went to a specialist and found out that the cost of removing it is outrageous. The other day when john was at the urgent care, i casually asked the physician assistant that was helping john the cost of doing it. Turned out i only need to pay the co-pay. so i hurried and made the appt 2 days later. Tonight i finally had it removed. I wasn't feeling nervous at all until i got the the doctor's office, then i started to panick. The way she described how it is going to be done sounded really painful, although she kept assuring me that i would not feel a thing. Sure enough i didn't feel the pain at that time. it didn't hurt at the time she was removing it but it started to hurt an hour later. it only took her about 2 min to get it removed. thank god for novocaine, i didn't feel a thing when she was removing it. just the way she explained how it was done sounds gross. she had to actually put 2 stitches after she took the mole out. john went with me so i don't have to drive even though it is less than a mile drive. :)
here's how my mole looked like....

not too big but certainly is bigger than a normal one
some numbing cream before she injected me with novocaine. john took these pics for me at the doctor's office
after the "surgery"... just a bandaid. i guess it is really not that big a deal. i am supposed to return a week later to get the stitches removed. i felt some pain after 1/2 hour i got home. the pain wasn't unbearable but i took tylenol just in case.
john taped me up with plastic wrap so i won't get wet when i take my shower.
he changed out the bandaid after the shower and put some neosporin on. I refused to have him to take a picture of the stitches because i don't want to look at it. it must be gross...... eww..... !

What an adventure.... now i just got to figure out a way to sleep without hurting it.

this year thanksgiving

Thanksgiving eve potluck. It's a tradition that john and his friends do every year. I guess apparently it started at Shane's house, where John and Shane hosted for several years. For the past few years the deed has been taken over by Eric.

I had a hard time deciding what to make. I finally settled for sweet potatoes casserole. It's a super easy recipe. Here's how it looks like, fresh out frm the oven.

lots of marshmallows....

pretty good for a 1st time. not a big fan of it though... too SWEET! i had even cut down the amount of the brown sugar it says on the recipe... and it is still too sweet. can't imagine if i use the brown sugar according to the recipe. +_+

lots of food.... 2 diff flavor turkeys


my plate- salad, stuffing, turkeys, mashed pototes, my marshmallow yam, green beans casserole


of course steve's potluck is vodka... hey, at least it is a GOOD one. :P
good to see the groomsmen gift is put into good use
i waited all night and finally found the opportunity to grab him from whatever he was doing
kept him distracted a little bit so he would stay in my arms
haha... literally less than 1 min, he cried and couldn't wait to get away frm me... nope. he wants nothing to do with me. hey like Katie said it's getting better. there was a picture frm shane's bday last year, he was screaming in my arms. he was like maybe 2 months old? and you can see my expression in that picture.. "pls take him away frm me!!!" :-) hopefully next time will be better ;p

anyway, the dinner was great and we had fun. And now it's time to pack for our trip tomorrow... vegas baby! woot woot!!!

the wedding story- part VII (ceremony)

Now for the most important part of the wedding.... the ceremony!!! My favorite part! Like i have mentioned before everything was a blur on the wedding day. I am thankful i have lots of pictures that can remind me of the sequence of that day. :) After taking some group pictures, the girls went back to the room to powder up before the walk. I had forgotten to mention that while we were taking the group pictures, my wedding coordinator, Ann Marie interrupted us to get my bakery phone number because the cake hadn't arrived yet. So as soon as the photo session was over, we went back to the room and i called my bakery right away. That's when i found out the tragedy of my cake. Amy apologized numerous times and told me the replacement is fast on its way. I looked at the time and was relieved that we still had plenty of time until the reception. John came to me to tell me the bad news despite Ann Marie's advice not to let me know.

haha... here's a frantic look picture. On the phone with Ann Marie. Probably saying "what...??!! cake is not here yet!" and then back to taking pictures... all smiley & happy. Probably didn't think how serious the problem was. seriously, i think i was retarded that day.

Moments before the ceremony began....

here's the groom side of the family and friends

the bride's family and friends... maybe some are john's friends too. Waiting patiently.

And then the music started and it all began.... I think the bridal party walked down to Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring. I don't know what version Dean used, but i like the piano version more. This youtube clip is the closest thing i can find if you want to get an idea of the music. It was tough looking for the ceremony songs. I decided to stick with the traditional church songs except for bridal march. I love canon d major so much that i chose to walk down with that song myself. The korean movie "the sassy girl" inspired me so much. After watching that movie, i was determined to use that song for my wedding. I don't remember what song we used for bridal recessional. haha... actually i don't remember any of the songs were playing at all. all i can is my own heartbeat as i was walking down. yep, it was that blur and scary.

john and our sweet kimber lee, the officiant

john's parents

shane escorted my mom

my mom looked so beautiful that day....

we paired steve and eng jo, they are both tall.

tim & jocelyn following behind

and then matt & michele

finally shane & janet

Meanwhile back there, i was nervous as hell waiting for my turn.

don't remember what we were laughing about here... sir is really good at capturing the moments... but if only i could remember the moments... :))

everything is sinking in now...

jacob... looking grumpy. we forgot his ring pillow, left it in the room. haha... we don't know how well he is going to hold the ring pillow anyway. just as long as he walked down the aisle was good enough. we didn't actually think he would walk. on rehearsal day, he was so fussy and refused to walk. surprisingly he performed so well on the wedding day.

jasmine looking so pretty in her little flower girl dress she picked her own

daddy releasing jacob

jasmine tried to hold jacob's hand. her instruction was to hold jacob's hand and if he refused she would have to let go of his hand and let him walk himself. In this picture, you can see clearly jacob refused his sister's help. :P

and there they were.... so darn cute. everybody loves them. i guess apparently jasmine was nervous too and forgot to throw petals along the aisle

as she reached john, john reminded her to throw her petals and there she was throwing the petals high up in the air... everyone was laughing at how cute she was

petals high up in the air....

my gorgeous bridemaids

me getting ready with the help form ann marie.

i was so happy and excited walking down to canon d major

i definitely love love this picture here below. definitely a picture i want sir to capture. john' s expression at the end of the aisle waiting for me to arrive. gotta love it... to be continued....