| thanksgiving weekend |
[06 Dec 2008|07:49pm] |
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music |
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freedom: akon |
] |
i haven't stopped listening to the new akon: freedom album since i bought it. =)
this past tuesday was my work's holiday party. leading up to it, i was nervous about the potential of my ex bringing his baby mama. when i got there, i made the rounds of greeting the bigwigs as well as my friends. and in he walks, with his friends, tipsy. he looked happy -- and he was without her. he came over to talk. it was kinda awkward the rest of the night. not knowing how to act or respond to each other. eventually, we were able to have a semi-sober conversation. we talked and laid it all out -- our relationship, our breakup, our status. it was good to hash it out, even though there were times that i was really mad at him and i couldn't believe what i was hearing. it even got to a point where i punched him really hard in the shoulder. i think i have a bruise from it. of course, he and his large muscles don't have a mark from the punch. haha. i believe we're good now. i still don't know exactly what's gonna happen next. but i do know that we're gonna be all right and we have to continue on, separately.
*****
thanksgiving weekend.
four days off was soo great. wednesday night, i got deals at steve & barry's, ate yogurt at yoswirl and even went scrapbbok supply shopping. =) i got to sleep in on thursday!!! it felt like saturday. for lunch, we had the immediate family over, ate all the usual t-day foods. yummy! then we played board games the rest of the night.
on friday, i went to the mall as well as some other stores with my sister. then rested up before going to dinner with my cousin & his wife from seattle. after dinner at red robin (who knew it originated in washington?), we headed to my ryan & alison's place for games and dvds (Elf and Kung Fu Panda).
saturday, i slept in again (yes!) then did a little shopping before going to my aunt's house in castro valley for Thanksgiving Dinner AND grandma & cousin's birthday. it was fun 'cause my cousin is now a senior and is looking at schools and gave us her senior pics! so beautiful!
finally, on sunday, i had lunch with the peeps who had come back from school for the holiday break. later that night, i spent time with the niecey. sooo adorable! she's so smart too. i love her facial expressions. =) well, here are some pics from the holiday weekend:
( here. )
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| forgiveness |
[16 Oct 2008|12:08am] |
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music |
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officially over - new kids on the block |
] |
i need it sorely...
i need to give it more greatly...
*****
am i supposed to forgive a roommate that poored dr. pepper in my plant? who threw candy in my stuff? who programed her alarm clock to blast at 5am (while she wasn't there)? who snuck a boy into our dorm room to sleep without talking to me first? (like i would let her anyways) who played with the emotions of some of my dear friends?
am i supposed to forgive the friend that betrayed me? and flaunts it? and continues to betray me with every breath? what if the friend didn't flaunt it? would that make a difference? what if the basis of the betrayal wasn't something i could hold on to?
am i supposed to forgive the friend that distrusts me? who wrongfully and unfoundedly suspects me of intentionally hurting them? who never sees it from my point of view? who accuses me of the most terrible things? who contradicts themselves and throws it back into my face? who is always right AND stubborn? who lied and fooled me until i was so deep into it that i was blinded by their charms?
the answer is probably YES. or at least to not hold it against them. the solution might be to forgive them and move on. to put it away and allow them to slip out of my life. i know God calls me to forgive. since i have been forgiven much, i need to forgive much. a friend of mine asked the question, "what if they don't ask for your forgiveness? do you still grant them forgiveness?"
*****
what do you do when they want to be your friend on facebook?
to be honest, these people don't sound like "friends" to me.
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| catching up |
[02 Oct 2008|12:39am] |
i need to stop watching reality tv. it's making me stay up later than i should. last night i was watching making the band 4. aubrey is so messed up. there's something wrong with her face. maybe it's her makeup or or her bleached hair or her injected lips.. i don't know anymore. all i know is that she was my fave when they were competing to be in the band, and now i like her the least. actually i don't like her.
tonight, i'm watching project runway. i wish kenley were gone like weeks ago. and she's still here!!!!!!! still disrespectful and arrogant.
last weekend was pretty cool. went to a coworker's party for their wedding. fun to see coworkers in normal clothes. good drinks. great cheese. funny pictures. not so great "dancing" music. maybe it was just "dancing" from before my time. no wait. i knew all those songs. the songs were just not really danceable.
there's a lot of family stuff going on. tonight, we had dinner for mom's birthday. last saturday celebrated my cousin's son's birthday (farmer theme). and before i know it, we'll be celebrating november birthdays! i guess with the big family, there's bound to be a birthday almost any time of the year. and then the holidays!!!
work is still a busy. still working in the back corner of the store, having to run back to clock out. my legs are getting tired, even sore. and my joints! ack! okay i'll be quiet now, 'cause i feel old now. i also ran into a friend i had known since i was a baby. the last time i saw her, we were in college (different schools though). so hopefully, we can hang out again.. =) yay!
( pictures )
okay tired now.
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| weird week --> great week |
[23 Sep 2008|11:54pm] |
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music |
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new kids & new edition: full service |
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i hear that last week was a weird and wacky week. was it a full moon? a new moon? i have some friends whose lives were turned upside down, others with emotionally draining weeks.
as for me, last week i was asked out, shut out for the last time and my feelings betrayed. so i'm SINGLE, baby! not quite ready to mingle, though. haha. even though it was a strange and hard week, it's better now. closure, even a necessity to move on. now i know i can be normal around my ex again. it's beautiful. (i just have to deal with that betrayal now. ai ya!)
i've been listening to the new new kids on the block and most recent chris brown records. i'm partly consoled and partly disheartened when listening. i think a lot about what used to be and what could have been. songs in general don't have the same meaning to me now as compared to a year ago. i realized that most, if not all, of these songs are fairy tales. ...but at least it's nice to hear the boys from the block again. =)
monday was great. i hung out with some of the sisters. we went to elephant bar and had free refills on strawberry lemonade, then to target (i LOVE that place), starbucks (for decaf) the back home to watch heroes. it was sooo much fun. i don't remember the last time we did something together...and had so much fun.
tonight, we celebrated my mom's bday. went to sushi avenue and got loads of free stuff. it definitely pays to be a frequent patron. =) apparently, they love us! and niecey was soooo cute! every time the waitress came by, she said, "hi!" haha.
work is GREAT this week. we're decorating for Christmas!!! can you believe that? all i did today was wrap presents. haha! (more of the same tomorrow.) i love my job! =)
i'm looking forward to the weekend. my cousin's son is celebrating his second birthday in the morning and at night, one of my coworkers is having a party in celebration for her wedding. ack! that reminds me. i need to get her something. but seriously, what do you get someone that has everything she needs? (also, she has told me in the past, most of the stuff on the gift registry is actually for her soon-to-be hubby.) so what can i get the both of them?
well, it's officially fall. and the weather keeps on changing. now i think i'm getting sick.
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| need. sleep. now. |
[28 Jul 2008|11:28pm] |
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music |
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damaged - danity kane |
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last friday was the official last day of the remodel at work. i think the unofficial last day is this coming friday. it was 12 weeks of craziness in the store and in the office. a lot of running around and some hard labor too. i actually really enjoyed the intensity and the urgency of it all. it was also cool to work in other departments, like Kids.
but now it's time to go back to "normal." today i finally had a chance to go back and work in my department downstairs. let me tell you. it's a mess. with our new catalog coming out soon, there are tons of new products... and we need to find a logical place for all of them. we also have to deal with the discontinued stuff. i'm looking forward to having a nice, clean, orderly department.
oh and if you want to see my battle wounds from the remodel, take a gander: too bad the bruises faded away already.
***
this past weekend was filled with stuff.
FRIDAY
after work, met up with 3 lees & a chan to watch the dark knight. very good. then we ate at a ramen place, yum yum, but i was totally full 'cause i had some popcorn during the movie (i had to eat, otherwise my stomach would be growling during the movie).
SATURDAY
went to our church's bbq/picnic in dublin. it was hot in the sun there. i got a teeny tiny bit burned on my left shoulder. but otherwise, it was nice in the shade and breezy. after all the old people and families left, we young people hung around and drank jamba juice ('cause the aforementioned people took off with the drinks) and practiced for sunday worship.
next up, i met up with ter and matt c at starbucks where we caught up, talked a whole bunch about batman and had more cold drinks. and then, for the 4th time, i bought food (for dinner) at appleby's. it was pretty good. but, again, i was stuffed.
SUNDAY
as usual, went to church, and then for service, we heard from a speaker who's applying to be our pastor. after church, we ate subway and then helped out the mexico missions team prep for the summer crafts. it was fun, even though it took us a while. i was pretty pooped after that.
and finally, i washed my car after who knows how many months. i didn't have time to wax it, but it's still shiny. cay also helped me put "akua speed" on my car. woo hoo! now i'm cool. =) and then i went to jamba juice again. haha.
i'm tired. gotta go to bed.
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| times have changed. |
[21 Jul 2008|12:46am] |
(has it really been 11 weeks since i last posted?! i think i'm spending too much time on facebook.)
*****
i realized this today (in order to have a clean break-up):
even if you miss someone, you can't hang out with them.
you can only hang out with them when you don't miss them anymore.
but that makes me think, "why would you want to hang out with them when you don't miss them? why continue any type of relationship?"
well, i guess, that's how it goes. at least you don't hate each other. come to think of it, i don't think i ever felt free to post about the whole situation. i know i don't really have to.
for the record, here's a pic. oh how things change. (i'm sorry. i really like this photo -- the composition, that is. i wish there was a bit more contrast and less of my arm, but i'm getting good at self-portraits. hee hee.) oh and he's not kissing me. he's just...close.
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| spring is here |
[03 May 2008|02:35pm] |
another month, another family birthday. that's it for a while. the next family birthday will be in july. for my sister's birthday, we spent the day doing things she loves. we first went to the mall so that she could take pictures with our favority niecey. then todai for lunch, then bowling, then ice cream and board games. oh! and we even watched a dvd.
it's been pretty busy lately. work is just about to start a remodel of the entire showroom. we're gonna have 12 weeks of this. i've been extra busy with a couple of projects to complete before we actually get into the remodel. my boss gave me coupons for free food in the bistro. at least it's something. it's stupid though, 'cause i have all this stuff to do and some people don't have anything. seriously, they're walking around the office saying, "what am i gonna do? i don't have anything." boo.
today, i'm gonna hang out with the sj boys. my bro & sis-in-law are going too. they're gonna meet the boy for the first time. i'm excited about that. we're gonna do the usual: texas road house and a movie. yum!
so here are some pics from the last month:
( here )
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| catching up |
[01 Apr 2008|11:13pm] |
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music |
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hawk nelson...is my friend |
] |
i think it's about time to update. almost 3 months since my last post. craziness.
yes craziness. my life now consists of late nights out, hanging with people i love in places like the jack in the box parking lot. haha. i (it has been such a long time since i've posted that i just remembered that i had a birthday in my hiatus. haha!)
the birthday was filled with good stuff. my coworkers threw me a cheese & basketball-themed party... had lunch with a friend. after work, went to dinner with the family. then i went to meet up with a friend in the starbuck's parking lot. haha. that weekend, my sisters (and mom) threw me a party for my biggest birthday to date. (haha). it was a fun time with friends and family and with the things i love: bowling and mexican food! they threw in a few surprises like t-shirts, a trivia game, crossword puzzle, sudoku, and slide show. here are some pics:
( just the beginning )
k, that's it or now. more pics coming soon from the previous months. =)
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| passion LA |
[26 Jan 2008|01:10am] |
in LA at the passion '08 regionals.
we arrived last night and i was completely tired then. and tonight we had our first session, and i'm sure you can imagine, i'm even more tired. more play-by-play later. i should get some sleep.
night!
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| by the weeks |
[30 Dec 2007|01:57am] |
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music |
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pages - shane & shane |
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a lot can happen in just a week. and now it's been another two weeks. time has been going by so slowly...and yet, it feels like we never have enough time.
last week, i tripped over a ladder at work 'cause i was rushing to finish a display on the sales floor (and i was distracted with being worried about a friend who was arrested in front of my very eyes earlier that day). the last bruises appeared just yesterday...in the shape of the inseam of my jeans. weird.
christmas came and went in such a blur. i had a 4-day weekend that went by in a flash. it was filled with the people i love, from friday to tuesday. friday was the youth group's annual christmas caroling & party. this year, we caroled around castro valley and we even went to my aunt's house. it was cool to visit families and share in the wonderful greetings of Christmas. we had the party at the chan's house where we had dinner, a white elephant gift exchange as well as video games and dessert!
the next day, i watched dvds with a friend and hung out some more. it was fun to just chill and eat popeye's chicken. haha. it was so relaxing that i even dozed off.
on sunday, my mom and i babysat the niecey. she's soooo adorable. i can't believe she's turning one soon!
monday, i was able to sleep in, then clean the house and get ready for the get together that night. it was fun to spend the day with the niecey again.. she's sooooooooooo smart. she figured out how to open a cd case. and when she could open one side, she turned it around to get the right side. so cute. i love how she looks at everything and takes stuff in, just absorbing.
at night, we went over to my cousin's house for the tsang christmas eve dinner. fun times.. we had tons of food, cute babies and a gift exchange. i walked away with a $25 itunes gift card. yippee! i had to steal it from one of my cousins, but haha too bad. after the party, my immediate family went back to our house and we waited until midnight to open presents. after we opened all the presents (baby went to sleep by then), we attempted to play some board games and steve and i started watching my new transformers dvd. i couldn't finish it, so i went to bed.
christmas morning, i woke up in time for our annual tradition of having dim sum. the usual.. and then, kaitlyn was sooo funny. after a bit, she realized she had an audience, so she kept putting a spoon into her mouth and holding it there, taking it out, laughing, then putting it back into her mouth... haha unk took a video of her. he threatens to bring it out when she gets married. haha! as we were leaving dim sum, i ran into three coworkers from ikea. pretty cool to see them outside of work. they were enjoying the time away from family, actually.
in the afternoon, hung out with a friend, but not before we accidentally ditched his sister...as she was walking in front of my parents. we played dominoes and ate gumbo with his fam. again, the time flew by and soon it was time to go back home for dinner with the fam. for dinner, we had a thanksgiving-style meal with all the fixings. i finally got to eat my cranberry sauce! yay! it's soo good. after dinner, i watch niecey open her present. so cute. (of course, i took tons of pictures!) then we attempted to play more board games, but since i had to work the next day, i tried to go to sleep at a relatively reasonable time. =)
the work week, dragged on. it was only 3 days, but i was planning during most of it, so i was in a small room with two other people, sitting in front of a computer trying to fit pillows and quilts into the allotted space in the store. it's harder than you might think. and it was then, that i could feel a cold coming on. sicky, sicky. i couldn't wait for the weekend. when work was finally over, i headed over to berkeley to hang out before having dinner at the mexicali rose and going bowling in albany. good times, good times. since i didn't get home until pretty late, i slept in today, saturday, until like 4 in the afternoon. i woke up every now and then, but yeah, i rested a lot. i think i needed the time to catch up on all of my sleep. haha.
can you believe that the new year is coming so quickly? pretty soon, i'll be celebrating my niecey's 1st birthday, meeting matt barnes and turning 30!!!!!
pictures from the festivities coming soon....
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| yay for december weekends |
[17 Dec 2007|10:19pm] |
great weekend.
food, movies, and friends.
i'm smiling, just thinking about it.
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| two weeks, part 2 |
[14 Dec 2007|01:01am] |
3 concerts recently. it almost feels like i'm back to my old self again (concerts all the time!) although, nothing else is in the works. oops. let me take that back. i might be going to a radio show next week. haha!
so, first up was switchfoot and relient k. good stuff. so after work, megan and i drove down to meet up with mich who was already standing in line. we got dinner (as she and her friends were in line) and then rushed back to line to get into the venue. when the doors opened, we were able to stand in the second row. sweet! the only problem was that there were all these teenagers pushing us and stepping on us practically the whole night. not to mention a drunk girl with a friend telling her to quit pushing (i wish they just left). i'll never do it again. the only that made it worth it was touching jon foreman's hand. hahaha! here are some pics:
( switchfoot & relient k pics )
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| two weeks, part 1 |
[06 Dec 2007|12:46am] |
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music |
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(itunes on shuffle) |
] |
a lot has happened in two weeks.
i'm trusting God more each day with His plan for my life. i know this in my head: that He only has the BEST for me. but it's still hard to trust that it's true. with each day that passes and interactions with people around me, i've come to have more and more peace about what is going on in my life (or even, what's not going on). and not because there's a new potential opportunity in front of me (the timing seems impeccable). i still have to stop and think. right now, i'm thinking this opportunity wouldn't have presented itself, if i hadn't gone alone.
*****
also in two weeks, there've been family get-togethers (thanksgiving), a friend's awesome birthday, youth parents' appreciation dinner and concerts. here are some pics...everybody loves pictures!
( pictures )
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| in denial |
[20 Nov 2007|10:41pm] |
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music |
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troubles - alicia keys |
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i should have known. people even told me to let go. the signs were already there, but i tried to ignore them. so i started to be hopeful again.
now.
i'm.
not.
this must be the end.
it's hard to let it go.
i still want it.
God must have something better.
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| where YOU at? |
[31 Oct 2007|08:15pm] |
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music |
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thousand foot krutch |
] |
i'm worried about my friend. she had a medical emergency about a month ago. i was able to talk with her shortly after it happened, but since then... i haven't talked to here in over three weeks. i'm not sure where's she at (here in the bay? portland? nyc? paris? seriously, she could be in any of these places. i've texted her, left voicemail messages on her phone, called her at her house, emailed her. the only thing i haven't tried yet is visit her house. but the strange thing about that is that we sent her a card and it came back, "no such address." i don't get it. that's the one she gave me. i don't get it. no one has heard from her. it's like she evaporated. i hope and pray that everything is okay. i miss her so much. she was the most positive, amazing, generous person i know. i've never met anyone like her. i miss her laughs. WHERE IS SHE????????????? even if she didn't talk to anyone else, i thought she would have at least stayed connected with me. there's sooo much i want to tell her and share with her. where is she? i'm at the point where i want to cry or something emotional like that.
the funny thing is that we used to joke and laugh for hours about the boost mobile tv commercials. one particular one goes like this:
"so i two-wayed my chicken head on my boost mobile phone"
"where you at?"
"i'm in fabolus' fly ride, gettin' my freak on"
"ohhhh yeah. break me off some of that yo"
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| friends |
[21 Oct 2007|11:21pm] |
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music |
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the runaways - anberlin |
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today's one of my high school best friend's birthdays. i think i should email her. i have half an hour left in the day to do so. this weekend has also been good for me. i basically chilled the whole time. shopped at craft stores, napped (i slept for 4 hours this afternoon...and will prob go to bed at the usual time), tidied up & organized my room, and went through my email inbox that i've had since i graduated from college. i guess i feel productive.
as i was looking through my inbox, i read a few emails from friends (from like two years ago). it's crazy to think that just two years ago i met some of my friends and now, well, they're some of the dearest people in my life. it's been such a indescribable journey. concerts, travel, hanging out. man, oh how the days flew by. right now, i'm also iming with a one of my cbm counselees. how cool is it that God preserves some of these relationships. just somehow you click and are able to care for them and they for you in ways you don't expect.
i recently received some senior pics of my high school students. i'm so very proud of them. i'm thinking of putting them up on my bulletin board. hee hee. this year is gonna fly by so quickly. i just know it. and then it'll be summer again and time for cbm camp.. haha!
oh and by the way, i've got plans to scrapbook a bunch of stuff. it makes me so excited! haha.. i think i've bought enough supplies (maybe way too much), but now i just have to pick the pictures and get them printed. yay!!! yay!!! oh but wait. i've got to find some time to actually sit down and scrapbook. oh boy. that might not happen for quite some time. haha.
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| it's gettin' chilly! |
[09 Oct 2007|12:25am] |
maybe it's because a bunch of people have visited my xanga and haven't posted comments or because it HAS been that long... but i feel like i haven't posted in forever. so what is new with me? what could i mention that would be of any interest? hmm.
eversince i got back from my work trip, i've been needing to get back into the swing of things. i haven't been able to work in my departments since i got back. we've been working on the next event. last week we implemented all of the christmas displays in the warehouse. this week, we're working on the rest of the store. the display i'm working on is in the stairwell, up some 20 feet. and since it's in the stairwell, up 20 feet, i need to use the ladder -- only when the store is closed. needless to say, it'll take me a longer time to complete my display, prob a whole week. (usually a display would take 1-2 days.) so when the store is open, i've been training a new visual merchandiser. she's cool. she likes challenges and likes to figure stuff out on her own. but she's also good about asking questions when she doesn't know where to start. so between the two of us, we have 2 displays downstairs, one upstairs and one in the stairwell. the only bad thing is that these displays are only gonna last for four weeks (as opposed to the usual, 3 months). so we'll be changing them again soon.
i'm a little sick right now. nasal congestion mostly, even though all of my colds start with a sore throat. but now, 'cause of the sudafed i'm taking, i'm totally dried out. i need to drink tons of water. probably the amount i should be drinking anyways. i'm hungry now too. good thing i have snack-size packs of cheez-it in my room. yum!!! my favorite.
my niecey is growing up soooo quickly. she's 9 months old now. how adorable is she? she makes a bunch of faces (copied from her mommy), she plays peek-a-boo, kisses (with sound effects), kinda says "hi" as she raises her hand, tries to stand up, and is sooo enthralled with any new thing put into her line of sight. i just love this girl. my youngest sister is also back from her trip to europe. she had gone with our cousin and two friends for a whole three weeks. oh the life of newly graduated young people. that's what my friends and i were supposed to do. we were supposed to go to new york. oh how our dreams were so small back then. honestly, i don't talk very much to my high school best friends anymore. that's kind of a sad thought. at the same time, it's been good to catch up with a few of them when we get a chance. i think i saw them last in august. oh how fun they are. some of the memories. haha.
a bunch of new music has been released this fall. i think i preordered like 4 albums. haven't received any of them yet. maybe they're waiting for all of them to be released before they send me the shipment. :( so i'm waiting to receive:
david crowder* band: remedy
thousand foot krutch: the flame in all of us
jars of clay: live monsters
jars of clay: christmas songs
falling up: captiva
also went to see mute math last month and i'll get to see switchfoot and relient k. haha.. i'm getting back in the concert mood!
here are some pics of my most favorite person in the world:
   
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| finding our way 9/22 & 9/23 |
[28 Sep 2007|02:19am] |
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music |
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minutes to midnight - linkin park |
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new york, day 2
hotel breakfast
guggenheim
central park
lunch: caffe grazie
grand central station
times square
- hard rock cafe
- virgin megastore
- m&m world
- hershey's
dinner: vezzo
chasing liberty
we checked the weather forecast and it was supposed to be 80 degrees with a 20% humidity. that meant shorts and a sleeveless shirt. the hotel breakfast wasn't that good. well, we get what we paid for. first of all, the breakfast room was down in the basement. then it was pretty basic. and what was worse was that they rebagged the bagels to put out the next day. which meant that the food we had just eaten was leftovers from the day before. ew. so we decided that we weren't going to go back the next day. blech.
we walked to the subway station to go see the guggenheim museum. but get this. there are 4 ramps and 4 annexes with artwork. only 3 of the annexes were open. sure, they lowered admission price, but we didn't get to see the fullness of the museum, inside or outside. yes, that's right. they were fixing up the exterior too, so all we could see were construction tarps and scaffolding.
by the time we got out of the museum, it was still overcast and a bit chilly. as we walked across the street to central park, it started to rain! yes rain! cold rain! good thing, i had an umbrella! (thanks sara!) but it was too small for two people, so my left side was all drenched and bena's right side was equally soaked. we were freezing. we decided to find shelter and wait out the rain ... and eat! so we found a great place about town called, caffe grazie. it was soo yummy! i had a turkey mushroom ciabatta sandwich and bena had pasta. after lunch, we did a little shopping as we walked to the subway (to head to times square).
we had to transfer trains at grand central station, so we got off the train and went up to the terminal. DUDE! it's soooo gorgeous! i took a million pics. man, i wanted to spend more time there, but yeah. we also had gelato and sorbet down in the food concourse. yummy!
when we got to times square, it was a little intimidating... but it was so exciting; seeing the hustle and bustle of things. we took tons of pictures... of billboards & ads, including ikea ads (dude, we can't escape it!) but we also went to a few stores and got souveniers. yay! for shotglasses! ;) eventually, we got hungry, even though i think i could have endured the hunger to be able to spend more time there, but we decided to go right then to the pizza place by our hotel (the thin crust pizza looked soooo good every time we walked passed the place). so we took the subway, walked back to the hotel, freshened up and went to dinner. the place was callled, vezzo. so we had pizza, salad and cheesecake(!) for dessert. =) it was such a lovely day. i think the humidity warmed up the evening so it was perfect to sit outside and enjoy great food under the stars. it would have been such a romantic place. later that night, we washed up and watched chasing liberty on dvd. i totally love that movie. you should check it out.. there's a hot guy in it named matthew goode. hahaha!!! after that, we we were soo exhausted that we went to bed. actually, bena was fighting it all the way through the movie.. haha.
pictures from the day:
( here you go )
************************************
new york, day 3
checking out
breakfast
empire state building
shopping
- barkers
- steve madden
- h&m
- macy*s
- forever 21
lunch: cucina's
airport
dinner: papaya king
delayed flights
we pretty much packed the night before so in the morning, we checked out, had breakfast next door, then went shopping... our main destination was macy's. on the way there, we took pictures of the empire state building as well as other cool buildings. we visited a few stores before getting to macy's, so by the time we got there, we got hungry... went downstairs to the cellar and got some lunch. then we went to the top floor and worked our way down. there wasn't really much to buy since we HAVE macy's back home. granted, they aren't this big, but what's the real difference? NO SALES TAX on clothes, that's what!! but we didn't really find anything. so we headed back towards the hotel, but not before we shopped some more and took more pictures on the street! =)
by 3:30pm, we were on a taxi to the airport which took about 30 mins. check-in and security only took 10 mins. we had dinner in the airport at papaya king. i heard somewhere that they had the best hotdogs (and papaya juice) in town, so that's what i got. hotdogs & papaya juice. but i neither of us liked the juice, so we ate the hotdogs and bought a coke somewhere else. after dinner, we were waiting a while for bena's flight at 6:20. after she boarded her plane, it was just one more hour until my flight (7:45), so it wasn't a big deal to wait there by myself. then i heard someone ask the guy behind the desk, "is the flight to oakland on time?" "no, it's delayed to 8:55." what? so i decided to go online, but i couldn't... so i started watching dogma on dvd. but since i was wearing headphones and the only available power outlet was on the opposite side of my gate (so i couldn't tell what was going on), i decided to move. just then, i saw an asian dude that looked like my friend. it WAS my friend!!! so i went over to him and i hung out with him and his friends. it turns out that they had the same flight...and that my seat was literally next to one of them (so then he switched seats so i could sit next to my friend). wow. God totally provided! how could that be a coincidence? there's just no way. He gave me company and safety and even some fun (they were cool guys).
we finally boarded the plane 1.5 hours after our initial flight time. BUT we sat in the plane for another 40 minutes. (it turns out that bena sta in a plane for an hour after she boarded.) we took off about 10:00pm and landed at 3:00am, east coast time. i didn't sleep on the plane. maybe i should have tried. but i just watch some tv (yay for jet blue!!!) and then watch the rest of dogma on my computer. when we landed, the airport was completely deserted. and then you should have seen how quickly the people took off. haha.
here are the last of the pictures:
( here they are )
well, i'm glad to be back. it was quite an adventure. now, i just have to get reimbursed for the work parts of my trip. and i also heard from lindsey. she's on the mend now. that's another answer to prayer. and one last thing. i'm definitely gonna have to go back. as early as next spring. so woo hoo!
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| where am i? |
[24 Sep 2007|06:54pm] |
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brandon heath |
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new york, day 1
philadelphia
amtrak
penn station
borders
borders
borders
borders
ramada
dinner: arby's & manhattan mall
ramada
so, thursday, i get a text from lindsey's bf saying that something came up that morning. and this brought up some things. i was going to meet up with her and bena in new york the next day. we were supposed to stay at her place and she was gonna take us around town. it was going to be my first time there, so i was relying on her a lot. so all day, bena and i tried to contact her, but we never got a hold of her. at this point, i was still hoping that she'd meet up with us there, if not at the originally planned time, then later. all of our plans up in the air, all i could do was pray for God to take care of us and work things out.
i planned to wake up the next morning and check out, take the hotel's shuttle to the subway station, then take amtrak over to nyc. everything was good, until the hotel told me that the shuttle wasn't working. WHAT?!!! it was working last night! this was the same story they told me the day before (and caused me to walk). so the guy at the front desk told me that i had to walk a couple blocks and up a few steps and over to the subway station. well, instead, i had to walk with all of my luggage a few blocks, up stairs, across an overpass, and down to the subway!!!!!!!
dude, by the time i got down to the station, i was all hot, sweaty and sticky. and then! after i went to the kiosk to print my boarding pass, i couldn't tell which stair to go down, so i had to ask someone. when i got down to the tracks, i thought i'd avoid the crowded train car and move to the front of the train. but i had forgotten that business class and snack cars were up in front. SO... i had to go down, through the cars, leaning in front of people in order to let other people go by. i must have said, "i'm so sorry" like 20 times. it was the start of a stressful morning.
so i get into Penn Station in new york right on time. instead of being totally excited that i finally made it to the city, i was apprehensive. i had no where to go. i had no clue. no clue as to where i was, where i could go, or where i needed to be. there wasn't even a place to sit. seriously. no where. fortunately, after exiting the station, i found a borders. sweet! i could sit, rest and pass the time until bena arrived. of course, there was no where to sit in borders. i guess it was, by comparison, a small store. i ended up sitting on the floor in the children's aisle for close to 5 hours, reading books and getting hotel rates. i seriously thought, "is this a good time to cry?" "i want someone to be here to save me." i don't remember ever feeling that lost, uneasy, or helpless.
as i waited for bena to get downtown from the airport, i booked the hotel and dropped my stuff off. it was so freeing to plop on the bed. it was a thermapedic mattress. NIIIIICE. i didn't want to get up. after we met up, we went to dinner in the food court at the manhattan mall and shopped a little. we were pretty drained from traveling and waiting around, so we called it a night after we planned our activities for the next day. by the way, the room was the same size as my room at home, although the bathroom and closet were both smaller than mine. oh boy, let me just tell you about the hotel room. apparently the curtains were hemmed unevenlyl by hand, with multicolored thread to accommodate the air conditioning unit AND there was a big wad of hair and lint in the corner. yuck!!
not very many, but pics from that first day:
( here )
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| philadelphia, 9/20 |
[20 Sep 2007|09:58pm] |
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music |
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blueprints for the black market - anberlin |
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thursday, day 5
wow. today was tiring. i walked about 4-5 miles today. maybe more. i spent about 9 hours downtown. i saw historical stuff like the liberty bell but also went to some attractions like city hall. and of course, i went shopping. hee hee. i couldn't resist h&m with the cute cashier named josh. *sigh. i bought myself some souveniers but had a hard time finding things for people back home. i mean, c'mon. what do you want? a copy of the declaration of independence? what are you going to do with that? there were some cheesy stuff too, like a shot glass with ben franklin hanging off the side...haha. he wasn't drunk either. it was just weird.
my coworker, harjinder and i checked out this morning (with a bunch of ikea people in the hotel foyer). then we drove into the city with the rest of the commute traffic. after she dropped me off at my hotel and left my luggage in the hotel's storage, i walked a few blocks to some historical sites. i basically just followed the map and looked around at things in the general vicinity. then i headed over to the visitor center and went on a tour of independence hall where a docent talked about the founding of our nation and showed us a couple of courtrooms. it was free!!! yay. i walked around in the historical area for a few more hours, taking pictures of cool architecture. i actually missed a couple of things that i marked last night, but i wasn't going to go back, it was too much walking.. haha!
after all of those historical buildings, i got a few pressed pennies for my sister and actually paid money (the first of the day -- it was 2:00pm) at the national constitution center. there was a presentation about the constitution and a museum (mostly of graphics and other media) where you couldn't take pictures. boo!!!!!!!!!!!! but i snuck a few pics in... 'cause there was this one section where you could get into a voter's booth and vote for the best president. (see pic below... haha!!!) so i was disappointed that i couldn't take pictures, so i didn't spend too much time there, 'cause that would mean that i have to read all that stuff (instead of just take a picture of it...i a visual person!!!) there was a room at the end that you COULD take pics.. you could also sign the constitution. there's a rare picture of me...and i'm signing it. =)
i had planned to go to chick-fil-a for lunch, so i was holding out until i got down there. it was about 3:45 when i got lunch. i was pretty tired, but i made it. then i headed over to get dessert at Rita's where i had water ice for the first time. i asked the guy for his recommendation since i've never had it before. his response? "are you from california?" "yes." "everyone who says they've never had it is from there." haha! pretty funny. so he recommended the mango. and boy, was it YUMMY! when i sat down to eat it, the sample girl came over to ask if i liked it. AND the elderly dude at the next table started to talk to me. asked where i was from and stuff. he told me how he visited there 'cause he had been in the armed forces... people are nice here... without being creepy. =)
after my meal, i headed over to the hard rock cafe for my shotglass and then more pics of city hall and then to jfk plaza/love park. then i wandered around for a while, checked out some shops, like h&m and borders. now i'm here in the hotel room, filling you in on my day and uploading my pics. i'm about to go to bed. boy am i tired. one last thing that's cool is that my hotel is on the waterfront. i can see new jersey from here and i'm right next to the benjamin franklin bridge. it's gorgeous at night!
these are the places i visited today:
old city district
- elfreth's alley
- besty ross house
- christ church
- national constitution center
- independence national historical park: independence hall, liberty bell, old city hall, congress hall
- carpenters' hall
- second bank of the us
- the bourse building
- library hall
- b. free franklin post office
- merchants' exchange
- bishop white house
- the us mint
washington square district
- tomb of the unknown soldier
- washington square
convention center district
- national constitution center
- chinatown, chinese friendship gate
- the gallery, chick-fil-a, rita's
- hard rock cafe
parkway/museum district
- jfk plaza/love plaza
- city hall
- arch st methodist church
- masonic temple
- thomas paine plaza, municipal servies building
- ymca
- pennsylvania railroad suburban station
rittenhouse square district
- the shops at liberty place
- h&m
- borders
there are still more places that i'd like to see, but no time and no car. =( so i'll have to do it the next time i'm in town. =)
for your viewing enjoyment:
( here you go )
****
i tried.
good night!
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