i'm so into cupcakes right now..especially since i got the martha stewart cupcakes book for christmas. after that, i went out and bought a frosting piping kit, gel food color, and a cupcake travel holder. i need to go out to buy some ingredients and will be testing out some cupcakes from the book today. i realize that i love making the mini cupcakes so much more. they're bite size and just oh so cute.

coming soon: recap of 2009. welcome 2010.

sick

this sickness has been bothering me for the last few days. i haven't been sick like this for awhile and it reminds me of when i used to get sick like this at least twice a year. d has been taking good care of me. he's making sure i take my meds, get some food in my stomache when i'm feeling really bad, massaging my aching back whenever i ask him to, and making sure i always have a glass of sprite nearby. just right now he gave me the look and asked "so have you been drinking your sprite?" and i responded "tea" which resulted in a head nod from him. yes, those who know me know that i don't drink tea. it's gross. basically it's like flavored water, which i also don't like but this sickness has been so painful IN THE NECK and head due to all the coughing from my itchy throat that i was going to drink anything that would help soothe the pain. so d got my some jasmine green tea and honey this morning after his finals and haircut. not only did it help soothe my throat just like everybody claimed it would, i can definitely say that i am pleasantly surprised with the taste of the tea (although i'm sure the added honey and sugar is what made it pleasant). regardless, i think i can now say that "i enjoy drinking tea."

christmas is COMING...

last year, we had our christmas tree up during the beginning of november and didn't take it down until the next year in january. i think it was up for way too long but what can i say, i was really excited for the holiday. this year, i put up the tree up on november 30th. yes, i said "i." d did not help me. he was too into watching football that he didn't even hear me talking to him. so sad. but that's another story. after i got done putting it up. i thought, i think i will make it a tradition to always put the tree up on nov. 30th or december 1st from now on. i love hearing about family traditions and i think its great to have traditions during the holidays. it just makes things more memorable as years past by. so, with that said, our christmas tree will be put up on either of those 2 days from now on. the funny part about this tradition is that d has no idea yet. HAHAHAHA. i'll tell him about it later but what does he care, he rather watch football. luckily for him, i actually enjoy putting up the tree and spending time decorating it.

october 09 goals

so here is the result of the goals i set for myself last month. not bad!

keep work/office area organized GOAL MET
visit apple hill again GOAL NOT MET
go to a halloween costume party/event GOAL MET
eat another caramel apple! GOAL MET
send out halloween cards GOAL NOT MET
do billing at least every 1-3 days GOAL PARTIALLY MET
take the dogs out for a walk at least twice GOAL MET
start thinking of x-mas presents (get creative - low budget) GOAL NOT MET
finish my current read - "change of heart" by jodi picoult GOAL MET
get a big bookshelf for office room GOAL MET
create a to-do list for the next day before i go to sleep each night GOAL PARTIALLY MET
blog atleast two more times before november GOAL MET

# of goals met - 7
# of goals partially met - 2
# of goals not met - 3

i'm not feeling too good but i suddenly had this craving for popcorn balls! looked some recipes up and now wanting to make some of these...they're so pretty...............maybe i'll make it for all my tutors and kiddies next week. right before halloween.

photo session

maybe a month ago i won a free lifestyle photo session with kim nguyen-mendoza and earlier today, we finally got to do the photo shoot. i chose to do it at dry creek park in modesto so we can easily include the dogs as well as because david and i used to go there all the time when we were living in modesto. we used to go just the two of us or with friends. here's a picture that kim posted today.

she is super talented. what's so awesome about her and her husband is that they have this eye for detail to find spots to take the pictures! lol. snoopy was a wild one out there today though. he was barking, crying, pushing, and pulling. especially when david and i were away from him. big surprise right? millie was crying for our attention also but i'm so happy she's not loud like the big boy. haha. well, can't wait to see the rest of the pictures, especially the ones with the doggies!

rainy day

the first storm of the season is here. some people have been complaining about not getting a good night sleep because of the weather last night but i slept like a baby. the sound of the rain is rather soothing to me. i actually enjoyed working in my office this morning and looking out into the rain. it makes me happy because my grass will be green again soon!

and here's (part of) the new love of my life. my new sony vaio. i don't know why i love sony so much but i do.

edit: it looks like i met my goal to blog at least twice for the rest of this month. so proud of myself.

halloween cards

these halloween cards were actually made 2 years ago. i found them last week after cleaning out my desk area. hopefully i'll have time this week to make more. i'm kind of excited but nervous to make cards. it's been so long.

o for orange

looking through pictures and found this...taken last year...of the orange tree in front of momma's house....makes me want some oranges. can't wait for the one in my backyard to get ripe.

some homemade halloween cards will be posted soon in the next few days!!

goals

goals for the rest of this month

• keep work/office area organized


• visit apple hill again


• go to a halloween costume party/event


• eat another caramel apple!


• send out halloween cards


• do billing at least every 1-3 days


• take the dogs out for a walk at least twice


• start thinking of x-mas presents (get creative - low budget)


• finish my current read - "change of heart" by jodi picoult
  
• get a big bookshelf for office room
• create a to-do list for the next day before i go to sleep each night

edit: i need to add another goal. to blog atleast two more times before november! HAHA

a thrifty project

i want to find a beat up chair...and reupholster it...just like this chair...

thrift shopping

last night, as i was looking through other's blog, i came across these cute vintage matchboxes that ali edwards found at second hand places that inspired me to go thrift shopping! i love how she used it to decorate in her home..so cute...

so today, i went thrift shopping by myself at the goodwill while d stayed home to watch football and hopefully the puppies. HAHA. i went to two of them. these are the things i found at the first goodwill i stopped by.

five letter trays for $5! they're pretty much brand new! perfect for work to seperate all my papers.

this blue bucket to put our mail in. it was 3.99. i wish it was cheaper but since i always wanted to find some type of mail holder for the hallway at the front entrance of our house, i just took it anyways. and now we have something for our mail. yes! i love the size and color of it... like how the goodwill flyer is in front? HAHA. totally incidental.

and at the second goodwill, i was able to find these books!! all three for $4! i was so excited because i always wanted to read marley and me and my friend loved the movie the sisterhood of the traveling pants, so i wanted to read that book. lastly, i got the other book, house of sand and fog, just because its a book from oprah's book club.

okay, now off to clean and rearrange the house!!

sweet baby girl

this little girl. 9 weeks today. so very sweet. so very gentle. loves to be held. knows how to sit on command. knows how to lay on command. loves soft blankets. sometimes loves kisses and other times don't. likes to play with our underwear and drag it across the house if we don't catch her. has terrified us at least 3 times in medical/health emergencies. we thought we had to take her to emergency vet once. is weary of coming out of her cage and sometimes wants help since the incident where she got her claws stuck between the holes of the cage when trying to come out. needs to go potty around 4-5 am each night. when taking her out of her cage to go potty in the middle of the night, she will immediately push her butt up against my legs to have me pick her up to go outside. loves following us around the house, including snoopy, when she is not busy playing with toys. is very scared of our garage and we're not sure why yet. she will shake tremendously and then flop her body to the ground without moving anywhere. likes to eat snoopy's food instead of hers. will get excited and jump up and down when we ask her if she needs to go potty. and of course, she likes to take naps like her older brother.

edit: one thing i forgot to add - she yawns and makes a yawning noise every single time she wakes up from a nap. sooo cute!

so ready for fall

i'm sooooooooo glad the fall weather is coming around. it has been good this weekend and i hope it carries on tomorrow and for the rest of the week. love the nice breeze. it was the perfect day to make one of my favorite soup!...potato and broccoli soup! delish!

remembering 9/11/01

exactly eight years ago around this time of day, i started to secretly cry to myself after seeing people jump off the windows of the twin towers to death, some holding hands or hugging each other. it was only a few days later that i cried even more as i watched the news and heard the voice messages victims left for their family members to confess their love for them during the last few minutes and seconds of their lives.

i remember telling everybody the sadness i felt to watch what was going on on the other side of the country. i told them i cried and and it got passed around it seemed, as one day, somebody came up to me and said, "i heard you cried watching the 9/11 attack?" and smiled at me mockingly. i thought to myself, "of course, who wouldn't after seeing such a tragedy." that person was just a year or two younger than me and maybe, less emotional. yes, nobody i knew personally was in the attack zone but how could i not show emotion from hearing that thousands of innocent civilians lost their lives so suddenly and so tragically. it's hard not to think of the family and friends who did have to experience the lost of somebody they held close to their hearts.

a tragic day it was. and it was only during that period of time in my life in which i ever felt an ounce of patriotism. i remember feeling angry and hurt that there are people out there who are so evil to have caused such destruction. i wanted so badly for somebody to find these people and punish them for their wrongdoings.

however, i felt even more angry at the americans who attacked other based on their race. i started to think that these people maybe should have been the ones who died in the attack instead as they are ignorant and stupid. RIP all the victims who died as a result of the 9/11 and I will cont. to be thankful and grateful for mine.

puppies!!!!!!

picture heavy post.... but look at all the cute puppies. they are much cuter in person.

snoopy and milly sleeping

misty trying to fight with snoopy for the ball and who knows what milly is doing

misty doing her creepy crawly move

misty

misty loves david's shoulder

what are you looking at milly

eli looking up.

eli sleeping. he loves being on the sofa. that's when he's calm and not getting buck wild.

eli resting on david's arm. he fell asleep shortly after.

all three sleeping. milly is sleeping all funky. left to right: milly, eli, and misty

they are much cuter in person...so too bad for you guys. hehe.

i have not been feeling my best the last few days. i hope i feel better soon because i feel like an unorganized mess with work. i hate not being organized and it stresses me out. but today, i had one of these...and it made me happy for a little bit. i love raley's poppy seed muffins. so yummy.

five more days until we can bring baby milly home...so excited...

sushi day 2

we went to costco this evening and found some sushi grade tuna (by accident) so for dinner tonight was sushi...again. yummie.

sushi dinner

tonight we made sushi for the first time by ourselves. a lot of time was spent out buying the supplies but the actual sushi making process was fun for us. we took lots of pictures. also, we couldn't believe how easy it was to make. too bad we couldn't get any sushi grade raw fish at the stores. it would have been great.

ingredients: sushi rice (japanese rice, sugar, salt, and rice vinegar) nori, smoked salmon, imitation crab, steamed asparagus, carrots, cucumber, avocado, cream cheese, black seseme seed, wasabi, and soy sauce.



sushi rice:
1 cup of japanese/sushi rice. rinse rice 2-4 times until water is clear. put rice in pot with 1 1/4 cup water on high heat until boil, uncovered. once boiled, put lid on pot and let simmer for 20 minutes. after 20 minutes, remove from heat and let rice sit for 10 additonal minutes with lid on.
mix together 1 TBSP rice vinegar, 1 TBSP sugar, and 1/2 TBSP salt. put in microwave for 30secs-1min.
put rice in wooden or glass mixing bowl. mix in rice vinegar mixture. continue to mix and fan rice. rice is ready to make sushi with once it is at room temperature.

we made one roll each.

ready to eat. yummmieeeeee. another 3 rolls were made a few hours later =)

kiddie drawings

i love kiddie drawings. when i have my own kids, my office + their rooms will be flooded with their drawings. this one is a picture of me created by one of my current kiddies. she is super cute. i was trying to get her to cut the circle out. she insisted that she needed to color it first.

savy: "okay, lets cut the circle."
kiddie: "wait. color it." (she grabs a crayon and made eyes, nose, and mouth)
savy: "who is that?"
kiddie: "you." (continues to draw)
savy: "i don't have pony tails!" (after she drew two long lines coming out of my head)
kiddie: "that's your hands."
savy: "my hands don't stick out of my head!"
kiddie: said nothing and continued to draw............

don't you love the dress i have on?

the choices we make

Whatever comes our way…
Whatever battle we have raging inside us…
We always have a choice.
It’s the choice that makes us who we are…
And we can always choose to do what’s right.
-Spiderman

eggs

i love eggs.
fried eggs.
eggs salad.
eggs on my salad.
scrambled eggs.
hard boiled eggs with lime and salt.
egg omelet.
i love it all.
after trying eggland's best,
i love eggs even more.
they truly are the best tasting eggs.
and now i don't want to eat any other.

Apologies to Mr. Blog

Dear Blog,

i am so sorry that i abandoned you for what seems like a long while. i've been either very busy or very lazy. i don't know if those reasonings are good enough for you, but i apologize. i never wanted to let you down. afterall, i did make a promise to you at the beginning of this year. so here I am. i am back. and i will try to not dissapoint you from this day on. unfortunately, there's a good chance i will, so i am just going to apologize to you in advance. just know that i mean well. and that i won't just leave you forever without saying goodbye.

for now, here are two random pictures that i am loving right now.

1. snoopy waiting for his daddy to come home.

2. pretty fresh flowers sitting on the pub table at joylyn's parents home. these little things just makes me happy.





more randomness and ramblings later...

p90x update

i think we only did it for 3 or 4 days and stopped! man oh man. what losers we are. we need to get back on that routine...maybe we'll start june 1st. =)

next blog entry will probably be next week.

10 things I'm loving (today)

1. having a nice breeze come through the house in the evening
2. pretty flowers
3. getting homemade birthday cards in the mail
4. three hour power naps like the one tonight
5. mac 'wedge' eyeshadow
6. sitting at my kitchen table working during the day and looking out the window
7. rite-aid thrifty icecream. especially mint chip.
8. being girly. wanting to shop for clothes/shoes/makeup/nails/hair items or products
9. thinking about the 2 upcoming weddings we're attending
10. honey nut chex cereal

p90x

d and i started the p90x workout routine tonight. i worked on abs and legs and back tonight. broke out in sweat after 5 minutes of ab workout. our legs are all sore from the leg and back workouts. we are determined to workout everyday for the next ninety days. i am ready.

new things

wow, sorry everybody for being absent in this blogging world. i've been feeling like i don't have much to say but because it's been awhile and for the sake of blogging, here is a new blog. finally.

1. we got a dining table. yes! so excited that we made sure we at every meal on this table instead of sitting in front of the couch. this was the very first meal made to eat on the table =)


2. snoopy showed interest in a not-red ball. wow. shocking.


3. hung out with a gay person for the very first time. he is totally awesome. what a down to earth, sweet, loving guy.


4. lastly, i think i like playing black jack =)

spring flowers

the other day we took snoop dog for a walk. we went into the contruction area near our house and walked into this cute little grassy flower patch area. i love the way the flowers grew. so random. but so cool.





i wish those flowers grew in my backyard on the grass. well maybe they are there but i can't see them because my grass is 4 feet high. who knows. i was going to pick some to bring home and put in a vase but we saw a huge bee hive in the tree above. then i just noticed bees everywhere. the last thing i wanted was to get attacked by bees.

that's the bee in the flower...