Last post of 2009

Well well, long time no blog. Much has happened since my last entry.

Halloween was a fun day, both sets of parents came over to our house and cooked up a fabulous feast of lamb chops, beef steaks, salad, and greeted trick o' treaters all night. As this is our first year of getting to celebrate the holidays in our new house, we have had a lot of fun getting this geared up and in place. I wish we had taken a photo of what our front entry looked like...Chris put up a fancy multi-colored light that is sound sensitive, so every noise would trigger movement. He also got a mister and we carved pumpkins. Most of the kids were pretty cute and polite although we did have one group of kids who thought they could take as much as they wanted.

November seemed uneventful to me until (I mean, besides work) Thanksgiving. We met up with the Lees at the Poulsbo house. Chris and I decided to go a couple days early to help get things set up. The house was filthy! We spent a few hours cleaning the kitchen, the bathrooms, all of the sheets and towels. Why? Because the toilets were growing white molds and smelled horrible. There were mouse droppings all over the beds. If the new washer and dryer had not been installed, we would have had to go to a hotel room. As it was we stayed up until 230am waiting for our bedsheets to dry in order for us to go to sleep. The dinner itself on Thanksgiving day was tremendously delicious as we had a heritage turkey and all of the trimmings. The banana cream pies I made were a hit; I think this was the first holiday in a while that I did NOT make lemon squares! The day after Thanksgiving my parents came over the day, it was then that they told me that Spot (their cat of almost 15 years) had to be put down the previous night.

Yes -- Spot, my favorite orange kitty of all time who used to play fetch and carry a plastic toy dinosaur in its mouth had to be rushed to the emergency veterinarian on Thanksgiving night and there it was decided to put him down. He had been in poor health and was bleeding again. My brother tried to get a hold of me, but the Poulsbo house is so far off the beaten path there is no cell phone reception. At first I was just really upset that I wasn't able to be there with my family and the cat. What good would I have been though - being there would not have made the situation better. In the end it was better that I was not there. My Dad built Spot a casket and they buried him in the yard. He was really a good cat and although I have my own kitty now, I don't think there will ever be a cat just like Spot. I think cats must read minds - as I was typing this, Humboldt just starting staring at me with "big sad look at me because I am cute" kitty eyes.

To make Thanksgiving weekend even MORE memorable, I got sick! I got so sick that I lost my voice. It was the most unawesome sickness I have had in a while. I even called in sick to work. Bleah.

Running the background this whole time is the fact that I know my grandfather's health was not well. The second week of December he was admitted to the hospital and after tests were done, it was determined that he had lung cancer and not long to live. Just 3 days after he was transferred to Keiro (nursing home facility), he passed away on Saturday, December 12, 2009. Double bleah. The entire week following his death of course was having family in town, grieving, and getting ready for the burial. He was buried on Thursday, December 17, 2009. Most of the family was able to attend. The police escort took us the extremely long way from Renton to Seattle via I-5, 509, and eventually 99.

I now no longer have any blood-related grandparents. I miss my grandfather, he was 96 years old. If he and his father had not come to America, then I may very well not have the life I have today.

One positive thing that came from the burial day, we found a local-based butcher in Renton. After the day's activities we went to the shop and purchased some fine meats for dinner to end the day on a happy note. Joe came over and we ended up playing Super Mario Brothers on Wii.

So as you can tell from this entry, a lot has happened. Christmas was kind of the saving grace of positive upswing for 2009. We had an enjoyable Christmas with my Dad's relatives at my parents house. I made 2 trays of lemon squares and a red velvet cake. It was a weird Christmas though, no cat, no grandfather, not even snow or some other weather tragedy. Still I feel good and am "recovering" from Christmas.

Here's to 2009. Really a lot has happened though if you think about it. We accomplished a lot! We traveled to Alabama, bought a house, moved, took a vacation to Canada, adopted a cat, celebrated our first wedding anniversary, celebrated life and death. I am looking forward to 2010. Happy New Year! Gong Hay Fat Choy!

Christmas Catch-Up 2008

I am bad. I have not blogged in obviously some time. I apologize as it is never my intent to be unsocial or unsharing. After getting married and sending out thank you cards and all that everything else seems so comforting and normal. Both Chris and I have been working quite a bit and are enjoying our jobs. No massive new purchases, no exciting vacations have occurred. We even planned to take a weekend trip to Yakima in mid-October, but ended up not going as Chris's family was not feeling well.

October was a blur now that I think about it. At least 3 of my friends had birthdays. I'm sure there are more, but my memory escapes me. Perhaps it was the 2 hour nap I just woke up from that is preventing my brain to function at top speed. November was fun of course with Thanksgiving and the Lemon Square party in my kitchen. Notably my good friend Kate decided that it was her time to leave Avanade and we had a lovely and intimate farewell lunch for her at the Avanade office. December kind of snuck up with me and within the past week I have been thankful that I completed all of my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. This past week has been nasty in terms of weather. Not since December 18, 1990 (yes, 1990...) has there been such a snow storm in Seattle. USPS, UPS, and FedEx have not been making it to people's houses - that is a lot of Christmas gifts not being delivered. Other services are also impossible it seems right now such as garbage, finding a gas station with gas, and for many the ability to cure a case of cabin fever and just get out of the house!

What I have noticed the most about this particular year is that I am truly happier. About a year ago I was allowing myself to get really down and upset by my job. So much has happened in a year - I left my former job, got a new job, got married, and am just happier overall. I appreciate the opportunities I have experienced and look forward to many more with this Christmas (only 2 days away!) and of course into 2009. Come to think of it many of my friends have also had quite a changing year. Joe bought a house, Kate also got a new job as well as Patti, Rusty, and Andrew. I will have to see if there was any predictions by anyone famous about 2008 being a "year of change", I mean besides President-Elect Barack Obama. (hee hee)

Tomorrow will be Christmas Eve (as today is Christmas Eve-Eve, whatever) and I will as always be making Lemon Squares and probably wrapping whatever is left that needs to be wrapped. Merry Christmas to everyone and I truly hope that you are safe and warm.

Whiz Boom Bam!

This past weekend was the 4th of July and for once it did not rain in Seattle! We went over to my parents where my Dad yet again cooked enough food for 40 people - somehow all 19 of us managed to consume most of what was prepared. Smaller turn out this year but only because not all of the extended family showed up. It feels like every year there are more things to eat and later on more things to light up and watch explode. All in all it was great fun for everyone. We did not get home until almost midnight in which I immediately took 2 Aleve and went to sleep. Every year I tell myself to take the day after the 4th off and I never do - well this year I did not have to since the 4th fell on a Friday.

The rest of the weekend we spent with the Lees; Saturday we traveled to Poulsbo to see Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Lowell's house (in the process of still being built and finished...), then we decided to travel to Port Angeles to eat at Sabai Thai. SOOOOOOOo good and so worth the drive. Sunday we met up at 99 Ranch and enjoyed some Chinese lunch and did some shopping.

We are still very much enjoying the Blendtec Blender - it definitely blends. I am glancing at a calendar right now and today is July 8th. 5 weeks away is the big date in Las Vegas. Only 5 weeks!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year to you all. It is the year of the rat. Squeak squeak!

Christmas was great, 2007 is almost over!

I forgot to take pictures this past Christmas so I don't have any pictures to update. I could probably re-create some images with stuffed animals as stand-ins versus the actual people... or not. (haha). I hope you all had a great Christmas. I haven't been at work since the 21st and I don't plan on going back until the 2nd of January. I love the break.

Chris and I have been playing a lot of Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. It is a fun game although it has reminded me as to why I don't actually "play" these types of games; the constant motion shifting and "balance" or lack thereof makes me queasy. Luckily for me Super Mario Galaxy is a two-player game in the sense that the second player helps the first player out by shooting things or blocking fire balls, etc. You know the usual Mario enemies. We have taken breaks to go to the curling club so I could time the first round of the Jr. State playdowns, hang out with Johanna and her parents, and today we saw a movie -- National Treasure Book of Secrets.

Tomorrow is the last day of 2007 and thus far I have no super exciting plans. I will probably bake, do laundry, do some dishes and try to get back into a more normal sleeping pattern, although we'll see... re-entry into work can be painful so why kid myself right?

Oh -- you need to see this Hello Kitty Assault Rifle...http://gizmodo.com/338916/hello-kitty-expands-upon-arsenal-with-ar+15-rifle...

Happy New Year to you all!

4 days until Christmas 2007 and...

Another one of my friends has left Avanade after a long employment...actually make that 3 people. Paul is leaving after 7 years, Ricardo after 8, and Rusty after 3. How the time flies.

I left work early today as it is the last work day of the year for me at least. I am really looking forward to not having to worry about work for a while. Instead I get to worry about the washing machine in my house. I am doing some laundry and well, the basin of the machine won't spin. The water will fill and empty, but the basin stays stationary. I love it. NOT. I just wrote to my landlord - I hope that he is checking his email. If not, then I guess it will be trips to the laundromat or my parents house until this thing gets fixed or replaced. I wish we owned our own house at least then I could easily go to Sears and buy myself a new washing machine...

At least I have all of my presents and they are all wrapped. Just holiday baking to do!

10,000 calories later

Maybe not 10,000 calories, but we'll round up to be safe. Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. We got to my parents house around 245pm and it was non-stop eating. We had to have dessert first to make sure everything was in tip-top order. All in all there was a 20 lb. turkey, a 25 lb. bone-in rib roast (maybe 30 .lb???), 10 .lb of chinese fat pork, oodles of desserts, salads, breads, gravies and sauces...I can go on.

My brother's girlfriend, Sakeneh -- she made this really great upside-down apple cake, very delicious. Jody made some burnt-butter spoon and jam cookies...there were pumpkin and pecan pies, my Aunt Jeannie brought some shortbread-layered-with-cool whip-and-pudding dessert, and then the red velvet cakes and lemon squares. Let's conduct the sticks of butter countdown, shall we?

Apple cake = 1 stick
Burnt-butter cookies = 2 sticks
Pumpkin pie = 1/2 stick
Pecan pie = 1 stick
Shortbread dessert = 2 sticks
Red Velvet cake = 1 stick
Lemon Squares = 2 sticks (1 per tray)
Grand Total = 9 1/2 sticks of butter -- and this was for desserts only...

My Uncle George is my only white relative and he is from Arkansas -- he really enjoyed the red velvet cake, so much so he had two pieces (if he goes into a diabetic coma because of the cake he said he wouldn't blame me); my mom enjoyed it, as did my cousin Tiana who apparently has tried to make red velvet from scratch. I confessed that I used a cake mix -- everyone was surprised because they said it was "so good". "So good" because they may have never had it before? "So good" because of the frosting? All the same, I gave credit to where it was due and perhaps I'll have Andrew supply me with more cake mix because I think my family will want to eat it at every holiday gathering now.

And before I receive an email from those of you out there that want to know my frosting recipe for the red velvet cake, here it is:

Cream Cheese Frosting - for Red Velvet Cake

2 - 8 .oz packages of cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick of butter, room temperature
2 cups (approximate) of powdered sugar -- you can add to your liking
1 cup of sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup of pecans, chopped

Mix everything together with a hand blender until no more chunks of butter or cream cheese are visible -- and sugar has mixed completely. Frost cool cakes immediately; add decorative coconut and pecans on top of frosted cakes if desired.

Notice how I omit any form of marshmallow fluff or melted marshmallow products from the frosting...there are a number of reasons I omit. Why? First there is enough sugar in the thing already, why kill myself even that much quicker? Second I believe that the marshmallow product would cause the frosting itself to set up and possible become too stiff. And lastly marshmallow fluff is nasty. Enough said.

I hope everyone had as much fun on their Thanksgiving as I did!

Desserts are done, turkey here we come!

Red Velvet Cake and Lemon Squares - done! We had to run to Safeway for a few things including more pecans and shredded coconut so that I could complete the frosting for the cake. Chris is currently finishing up his homemade cranberry sauce which has pineapple and orange zest. Should be good especially since it smells delicious and extremely sweet in our house right now.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and as I have stated before -- everyone will be gathering at the Chinn Compound in Redmond. I called and my Mom said that she was trying to make the picnic table look nice; they apparently moved one of the picnic tables inside the house so she was attempting to drape table cloths all over it. Our conversation ended with her yelling at the cat to get off the table.

I hope all of you have an enjoyable Thanksgiving!

Everything is fine... Happy Easter!

For those who have called or email or stopped by, thanks for all of your well wishes for my dad. He is doing remarkably well! He was able to leave the hospital Friday April 6th in the late afternoon. I know it sounds fast considering he was rushed to emergency surgery on Tuesday April 3rd, but like I said he is recovering "fairly well" as the hospital would say after a septuple-bypass surgery.

What else is happening (like there is room for anything else in my life right now) -- my friend Andrew is here visiting for a short time and today is Easter. The local paper has this Peeps contest and you should check out the photos: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/living2003652932/1.html

Other than the above, there is nothing more I can say except whew!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

I'm a little late, but better late than never. Happy Chinese New Year or Gung Hay Fat Choy! It is the year 4704 and the glorious little piggy gets his year. The above picture is of 3 piggies, but as you can see there is only one looking at the camera. Isn't he cute? I enjoy this other picture as well, I got it from the last woot-off...
And of course, there is my favorite Pearls Before Swine character, Pig:

We celebrated Saturday night at my parents house where my Dad made everything... soup, rice, soy sauce chicken, fat pork (with the crunchy skin), taro with pork and pineapple, beans with foo yee, gai lan, bittermelon with beef, you name it he made it. I was quite surprised he didn't make a roasted duck as well, but I guess he was under the weather just the day before, so that probably threw a wrench in his shopping schedule. My Grandpa was able to join, so it was definitely good times. On Sunday I treated myself to a facial -- well Jody really treated me, he got me these gift cards for Gene Juarez and I used them, so I had a facial, relaxed and went curling.

What else...this weekend we are probably going to Yakima, but it is dependent on the weather -- it has been snowing in the pass. Work has been...worky that is what I will say, worky. Let's just say -- that I bought $20 worth of scratch tickets at the grocery store today, so you get the idea. Vacation is only a few weeks away, Oregon Coast here we come!

Happy Heart Day

Happy Valentine's Day. Or as one of my friends says "Happy Single's Awareness Day". I don't see any harm in wishing someone a good Valentine's Day. So what if Hallmark, candy companies, and jewelers want you to believe that Valentine's Day is all about pink, red, shiny, sweet things for others. Treat yourself! There is nothing wrong with being single. There is nothing wrong with being in a relationship. There IS something wrong with believing you have to spend a couple hundred bucks on flowers and a new outfit so that you can prove your love on one "fancy" day of the year.

What am I doing for Valentine's Day you ask? I woke up and dressed myself in a nice pink shirt. I went to Starbucks, did my morning dances for the baristas and bought my friend a beverage. I am bringing home fancy cupcakes for Chris. I get to watch LOST tonight and eat popcorn. Need I say more?

I think Christmas is over

I don't believe I've ever had a Christmas last so long. I say this with all of the best thoughts, nothing negative implied. I posted some new pictures (see my album, the link is on the left side you can find it, I know you can!) so that is exciting. Basically we started Christmas on Friday 12/22 in Redmond...it then quickly moved to 12/23 - 12/25 in Yakima, then driving back to Seattle to then have Christmas dinner itself at my Aunt Jeannie's house in Fall City. FOUR DAYS OF CHRISTMAS. Whew.

Today...I am recovering and getting some laundry done. I think we need to go out and buy some new cell phones sooner than later though, the batteries on Chris' cell phone don't last very long. I probably also need to go out and buy some milk or something important like that.

I received quite a bit of stuff this Christmas. A lot of kitchen stuff (I asked for it, so very exciting), a Nintendo DS (which is the coolest thing ever), practical things that are useful including a lot of emergency prepardness kits (emergency flash lights, emergency kits, etc.), a folding card table, but what was will probably be the most useful is the $50 Shell gas gift card I received from my cousin John. Talk about a cool gift! Who doesn't use gasoline (presuming they drive a car regularly)??? I think the next time I really want to just get someone a gift card, I'll have to remember that.

I am fortunate and I took the rest of this week off of work (we get two days for Christmas so technically today is a paid holiday for me). I am SO glad. Reminds me of the days when you get a lot of time off for Christmas break. I am going to spend some time with my friends I hope; Johanna and Mark are in town; Heather is also back; and so is Allan and Amitoj. Lots of people to see I hope!

Ok, back to laundry. I hope you all had a good Christmas too!

Reflections upon Christmas past and present

Less than a week now until Christmas. I'm still dutifully going to work everyday. You know it is a crime to work between Thanksgiving and New Year's? No one is around, everyone is checked out or taking long lunches to go Christmas shopping, or people are "sick" (they just want to save vacation days and burn up sick time). I am planning on taking my usual time off between Christmas and New Year's though - I need time for me. No work, no pressure of missing work since everyone else is gone too, just time for me. I have some miscellaneous medical appointments, perhaps I'll do some light cleaning, my friend Johanna and her fiancee Mark are in town so we'll visit, and I'll probably hang out with Heather as well.

We recently went through a very bad wind storm that left over 1 million people in Western Washington without electricity. We were lucky and only lost power for about 15 hours, but even as I type this in my 68 degree house, stomach full of hot freshly prepared food, listening to a Charlie Brown Christmas -- there are still people even in Seattle who have no electricity. I have read reports that some will be without electricity through Christmas. Ugh. As much as I may rant about work or other trivial things I truly am grateful for a warm house, a roof over my head, food, my friends and family, and my job.

This Christmas we are going to Yaki-vegas....er, Yakima. I was telling Andrew tonight that this Christmas will be only the second Christmas in my life that I would not have spent it with my family. Christmas 1997 - The Huskies made it to the Aloha Bowl, I got to spend a week in Hawaii and away from my family. I know, how horrible. Spending a whole week with friends, getting paid and all expenses paid for to go to a bowl game. Christmas Eve night rolls around and I was very homesick. It was also the first Christmas after my Grandmother had passed away, so I was very sad indeed. The Huskies went on to win the Aloha Bowl, and we were flying back to Seattle on Christmas Day. We approach Seattle and there is too much fog so we had to land in Portland. My friends and I got to spend the night of the December 25h 1997 on the floor of PDX. A greyhound bus came to PDX to drive us home on the 26th. I came home very sad and tired to an empty house. My parents weren't home for some reason and my brother was at work. I remember opening a present with my cat watching me.

Christmas 2006 in Yakima -- shouldn't be so bad. It couldn't be any worse than Christmas 1997, right? I'm not going to be sleeping on the floor of a PDX terminal. I'll be with people who are almost like family (we are not technically family yet as Chris and I are still dating). I understand that it is quite chilly (single digit temperatures) in Yakima right now. I hope the drive over will be fairly easy, the thought of chains and a potential 4 hour drive does not thrill me to say the least. This Friday I'll be at least having dinner and a pre-Christmas but really Christmas celebration with my own parents.

All in all as the days get closer to Christmas, the happier I feel. There is just something about Christmas -- how everyone is generally happier and friendlier. I can't wait for the day where I'll have my own kids and the excitement they will have for the holidays. :)

Lemon Squares!

I make Lemon Squares twice a year; once at Thanksgiving and once more at Christmas. My house smells of Lemon Squares right now and boy oh boy it is getting me even more excited for Thanksgiving. I've been making Lemon Squares for at least the last 16 years (if not longer). Seeming as how I'm 30 years old now...you can imagine how many sticks of butter that has been! I used to go bake-crazy around the holidays. Seriously, I would make batches and batches of cookies like non-stop from Thanksgiving all the way through Christmas Day. Snickerdoodles are still my favorite -- there is something about how they are FRESH and HOT from the oven. HHhhmm. I would like to make Chocolate Crinkles as well although admittedly they weren't as tasty as Snickerdoodles. And of course, Russian Tea Cakes (aka Mexican Wedding Cookies). My dad just LOVES those, he can eat a whole batch (one batch yields 60 cookies) in one sitting. I remember years where I would make at least 4 batches of Russian Tea Cakes.

I was talking with Shawn today at work about how your perspective of holidays change as you get older. We decided that the holidays are so much more exciting as adults; you appreciate them more because you don't have as much time to yourself it seems. As a kid admit it--Thanksgiving kind of sucks. You don't get any presents, there isn't any fun music to listen to, there is no candy, and all you do is sit around the small table at Grandma's house and eat turkey with your cousins. Not exciting. As an adult, Thanksgiving is about gossiping and getting to talk to your now "cool" older relatives and realizing -- "hey, I'm an adult now, this is fun".

Not much has happened since. I mean, work has been busier than ever. Getting my boss ready for her maternity leave, still transitioning knowledge to people, catching up with research, and at the same time planning events for April 2007...aaaaahhhhh! The weather here in Seattle has been crappy. Lots and lots of rain. Its raining right now, big surprise. Oh hold the phone, what am I saying -- there has been some excitement -- there was another woot-off on www.woot.com. The Huskies surprisingly won the Apple Cup this year (yay!). I just finished watching season 2 of LOST. And tomorrow, I get to eat Lemon Squares. Maybe I'll make some Snickerdoodles too... hahaha.

And now to save myself another blog entry, I'll post the Lemon Square recipe for those of you (you know who you are...) who will ask me for the recipe...

Lemon Squares

1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of butter
1/4 cup of confectioners' sugar

2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. lemon juice
zest of one lemon
2 drops of yellow food coloring (optional if you want your squares to be YELLOW)

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, butter and confectioners' sugar thoroughly (best with semi-cold butter so that the dough is crumbly and not like cookie batter). Press evenly into a square pan (8x8x2"), building up a 1/2" edge. Bake 20 minutes. Beat rest of ingredients together until smooth (sugar should be almost completely dissolved and the color will turn lighter yellow, I like using a whisk). After crust has baked for 20 minutes, pour yellow mixture over crust and bake for another 25 minutes. When cooled you may dust the tops with more confectioners' sugar. Makes 25 squares.

Total baking time: 45 minutes
Prep time: 15 minutes
Eating time: 5 minutes

Happy Eating...er, Thanksgiving.

Aloha and Happy Halloween

I'm here in Kihei, Maui...yes, Hawaii. We arrived on Saturday and have done nothing but eat it seems. We have discovered this place called Sansei--very good food. There is an early bird special and a late night special, overall the prices are pretty good considering we're in Hawaii and that Sansei primarily serves sushi. Weather has been in the upper 80s, low 90s kind of thing. Makes me glad that we're here and not back in Seattle right now. I read that there are wind storms and a major cold front in Seattle. Boo. Speaking of boo we were in Lahaina today for the big Halloween parade. We stayed long enough to eat more and watch the Kids Parade. There is an Adult Parade that apparently in the past is a lot like Mardi Gras, but we didn't stay long enough for it. Yesterday we went to the famous Lahaina Luau which was very cool. You would forget that you were at a luau until you heard the crash of the ocean waves.

Right now I'm doing some laundry in the condo's tiny washing machine. It is one of those stacking units where the washing basin is about as big as my carry-on luggage. Good times. :) We treated ourselves to First Class air fare on Hawaiian Airlines--VERY nice. It was so worth the upgrade. I highly recommend it as the food was outstanding (can you believe that we got full with airline food that tasted good?) the service of course was unbeatable. It made the 5 hour and 40 minute flight go by a LOT faster.

Tomorrow we are planning on scoping out some good places for snorkeling. After that who knows. I have already visited Hilo Hattie and got myself a new pineapple dress. Maybe we will eat more because that is apparently all you do in Hawaii. I am really looking forward to going to the beach (finally!).

We broke down and bought some of these Crocs shoes. I wish they didn't look so butt ugly or else I'd wear them to work. Speaking of work you know I had over 500 emails in my box (I was only checking it for junk mail, that is all)??!! And it is only Wednesday! You are probably wondering what I have been doing besides Hawaii, eating, checking junk mail...last weekend I traveled to Los Angeles to visit Heather (hi Heather) and we saw.....RANDY JACKSON. Yes, we were eating at this burger joint called The Habit and in walks Randy Jackson -- judge from American Idol -- and his family and they were looking all Hollywood like that.

Ok, back to some laundry I suppose. And eating in Hawaii.

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!

So it's Christmas, almost... ok, so it's Christmas Eve. I'm listening to Charlie Brown tunes and having a good time lounging in my pajamas. Our house smells of baked goods (lemon squares, yummy), porridge and toast. Not the usual smells on any given day, but nonetheless I am getting excited for the upcoming holiday-day.

I say holiday-day since yesterday was Christmas Eve-Eve as some call it. I heard it at work on the day before Christmas Eve-Eve (a.k.a. December 22nd for those you not following this weird linguistic phrase), I heard it on the news, I heard it on the radio. Crazy. I can't help but feel all warm and fuzzy by the whole week, but there are those out there who feel that saying Christmas is offensive. As those of you who know me know that it takes quite a bit to offend me, I just wonder how in the world then has the English language accepted the usage of Christmas Eve-Eve and so forth. Perhaps this is much too much of an intellectual thought for today as I am now realizing that my brain is mush. What a great use my Linguistics degree is, eh?

Tonight we are heading over to Redmond to spend a quality Christmas Eve with my immediate family. On Christmas Day itself we are going to spend time in Renton and Fall City with more of my extended family. Good times. More lemon squares. Hhhhhmmmmm.

And now, the Top Two things so far this holiday season that confuse me....

1) The Coca-Cola TV advertisement with the polar bears and the penguins.
Yes that's right--I don't get this commercial. First of all, everyone knows (as this was also acknolwedged by a recent IM conversation I had with my friend Andrew, hi Andrew!) that polar bears live in the North Pole. Penguins live in the South Pole. What gives, Coca-cola?? Secondly, I think that if a polar bear ever saw a penguin he (or she, forgive me) would more than likely EAT the penguin. Would the thought of sharing a carbonated beverage excite anyone? Hhmmm, likely not. In fact, it doesn't exactly make me want to have a Coke product either. Andrew said the commercial should show the polar bears with suitcases--and the suitcases could have stickers on them saying "Migrating Vegans".

2) The statement of "avoiding butter" or anything else bad for you during the holidays.
Ok I know that there is this epidemic of people all around the globe getting fatter and unhealthier and yadda yadda yadda. I am one of those millions of people alongside like 80% of my co-workers (IT with laptops, go figure). But not have tasty food during the holidays? That's like, like, like... not having milk with cookies, like peanut butter without jelly, like believing that polar bears and penguins actually drink Coke! Ridiculous. I was watching our local ABC affiliate (KOMO-TV in Seattle) for some reason (I prefer NBC) and there was an actual news story about "avoiding butter" and being healthier during the holidays. Cook your vegetables in a marinade of vinegar and lemon juice, no one will notice the difference!! Uh...right. No one will notice that their vegetables have no cream sauce or butter or salt. If you must have that slice of pie, don't eat the fatty crust, only eat the filling--and only if the filling is fruit, avoid the cream pies and no ice cream. Instead, serve angel food cake as it is fat-free.... Uh...again, what? NOT EAT PIE?? That is so unAmerican it makes me want to have a slice of pie out of spite and to prove pie is not a sometimes food.

Merry Christmas and all that to you all. Go have some pie. Two scoops of vanilla? :)

What a 4th of July.

First of all, let me say that once I run out of ginger altoids, I think I may have to go home. My stomach is really upset and I didn't sleep well at all last night. The power of all of the food I ate over the weekend I think is catching up with me. :( Nonetheless it was a good weekend!!!

Saturday and most of Sunday was spent with Chris's family--they came to town briefly to celebrate Chris's birthday. What I don't get is--is there a certain point in a guy's life where people only buy him one thing? Like with my Dad, he's a DVD guy. He doesn't wear ties, he actually could care less about clothing styles in general. He has every tool in the book and thensome. He isn't the kind of Dad that you get a gift certificate for, like not even to Blockbuster kind of deal. So every holiday occasion in which Dad should get a gift, I get him a DVD. Chris is becoming a shirt guy. I got him some new shirts mainly because I do all the laundry and he needed more shirts. But his entire family--they all get him shirts as well. We have boxes of new shirts waiting to be laundered by yours truly. No books, no money, but shirts. I don't get it.

I also don't understand the concept that "girls are harder to shop for than guys". If you ask a guy, they will say "oh, girls are so hard to shop for", and I think we are?? I would totally content with time at a spa or a new outfit or a nice dinner out, etc. GUYS are hard to shop for. I go through this dilemma every time I have to get a guy a gift. My brother--he is impossible. He is too picky. Chris--he has EVERYTHING already and if he doesn't, he goes online and buys it for himself. My Dad--he also have everything, but he could care less about material goods (as mentioned before). My friend Joe--ok, well he is a bit easier in the sense that he, and also my friend Andrew--they are really into board games and playing games in general. So as long as I find a good game that either of them do not currently own, I am safe.

I digress. This post is about my weekend. So after Chris's family left, we relaxed and then the 4th was a day of eating a lot and lighting off fireworks. The 4th started off kind of bumpy in the sense that there was some confusion and also lack of time to do something like going out to golf, but my friends and I ended up walking around an outdoor mall for a while and then ventured to my parents place to eat, eat, eat, and eat. Oh and fireworks too.

Half a tin of ginger altoids to go and my stomach is still feeling semi-nasty. What a day. :)

3-day weekend! Why do I have a headache?

This morning I got to go to Redmond to visit the dentist. And get this, I have a cavity. My dentist seems to think that in my case, it is hereditery that I have cavities because my plaque levels are low if nil, and my gums are healthy, I floss, etc etc. So I got to decide if I want to get composites or gold. It isn't that I want sparkly golden teeth, but gold lasts longer, so I am going for the gold. I think all of that thought about what kind of material to get in my teeth has caused the headache that I have--and still have.

Of course, coming into the office and being the only one there to answer 4 inboxes, that didn't exactly ease my headache either. I thought that it (the headache) would go away if I had lunch, but not really. Oy. Other than the headache, I am excited that it is a 3-day weekend (for me at least). I got to Redmond so early this morning that I stopped at Safeway and took advantage of the super excellent sale on pop. Joe told me about it last night, 5 12 packs for $10. That is a good deal, no? Since my Dad doesn't believe in diet pop, I thought I would bring some to the festivities for Monday.

Being like any good Chinese family, we are really and I mean really like fireworks. The 4th of July is my Dad's favorite holiday, I really believe this even though he has never come out and said it (he isn't a vocal man). He gets to cook a lot of steak and chicken, minimal veggies, have a cold one and light a bunch of fireworks when it gets dark. Some of the relatives, myself and some friends and maybe a few more--will be gathering at my parents place on Monday.

And now just thinking about food--I am hungry. Time to find some nibbles.