being thankful

since september/october, i've been waiting to find out what my future with the company that bought us out. they promised us that they would tell us by december 1st. well, i found out yesterday that i would be in the "transition bucket." that means i would stay to help them with the transition/support work during the merge. my last day will be june 26, 2009. my incentive to stay is double pay plus 2009 bonus (prorated). on top of that, i get my 16 weeks of severance. so i must say i was really happy with the package. however, on a sad note, some of my co-workers were not as fortunate and got the 60-days notice. our happy family is broken. =(

so this thanksgiving, i am thankful for caring managers looking after me, great, fun co-workers, and of course, jayant and joel, who i can count on to make me laugh and smile at work. so thank you!!!

happy thanksgiving to everyone and remember the real things you should be thankful for!!!

time to eat!

i finally got to enjoy a nice peaceful dinner with g tonight! big thanks to ms. jessica, aaron's favorite teacher at creator's corner (pre-school) for babysitting!! the chilean sea bass at opah was awesome and i got to enjoy an adult conversation with my hubby!

i am going to be spoiled again tomorrow with a brunch at mimi's cafe for michelle's baby shower! no kids!! whoohoo! sunday will probably be payback time when we go to disneyland... =(

anyways, have a good weekend everyone!

lobstered-out

i can't believe this, but for the first time in my life, i am sick of eating lobster! my brother went on a lobster trip on roger's boat yesterday (it was opening day for lobster yesterday). they limit out within the first couple of traps; they each caught the limit, which is 7 lobsters each! the biggest lobster my brother brought home was around 8 pounds! anyways, it was good eating!

poor bambi

boy, talk about being absent! it's been a crazy week for the financial market. so can you imagine the anxieties at the office?!? watching the stocks going down and hearing all the speculations and wondering how much worst it can get.... it still amazes me on what's happening to these big companies.... well, i hope it only gets better and for people to learn from all of this!

anyways, i got to take a little weekend trip to bridgeport (a little fishing town 45 minutes north of mammoth) last weekend. it was a nice relaxing trip. the boys enjoyed themselves. g even caught some fish! trout... blah. well, the highlight of the trip was our drive up. we left around 7:30 pm and we gave martin a ride to silver lake(?). on our way back to the main highway, g encountered a deer on the road. g couldn't swerve 'cause there was a lake to the right of us so we side swept the deer. we just heard a big bang on the side of our car and continued driving. my biggest concern at the time was the deer; i was hoping that it didn't have to suffer. the next morning we finally realized the damage the deer made on our mdx - a decent size dent on the side door and snagged deer hair!! ew... the funny part of this though, is that when i told this to my mom and my oldest brother, they both responded, "did you bring some deer home?" i don't know if my brother was serious or not, but my mom was totally serious! (btw, my mom's a vegetarian. haha)

k, gotta do some work... on a friday night. how sad. =(

6 drinks too many

on saturday my neighbors had a block party. there were lots of kids, toys, and food on albee avenue! the adults even broke out alcoholic drinks (i'm sure our hoa didn't approve that =p). after 6 drinks, i thought i had a pretty good buzz until i got home and that's when it kind of hit me. i forced myself to upchuck before going to bed. then in the middle of the night, i woke up having the need to upchuck again. that one was awful; it was one of those acidic ones. ew.... after all these years, i thought i would learn my lesson and avoid tequila; even if it's patron. so for sure, NO MORE TEQUILA!

good times.... lol

M.I.A.

so i have been missing in action. work has kept me busy. i'm taking friday night off! whoohoo! i feel the need to just vegitate so i'm just watching CSI reruns. the writers of this show must be nutso's. they have some crazy jacked up stories.

anyways, not much happening since i've been tied up. i OD'ed on caffeine the other day. it was worst than my first can of pepsi after i had aaron. i had a large coffee and a large vietnamese ice coffee in the morning. i felt jittery and my stomach turned all day. i attempted to hit the sack at 11 pm only to toss and turned all night. i finally fell asleep at 4 am in the morning!! then i had to get up at 6:20 am. auh, never again!!! lesson learned.

hope everyone have a nice labor day weekend!!! i actually have no plans!

watch it giggle

watch it wiggle!! no, not my cards. hehe my work had a jello party today. it was a very unique and interesting party. here's a picture of all the jellos.


(clockwise: kelly's lime-pineapple-7up-marshmellow jello; below that is my strawberry cream jello; joel's green coconut jello; lynn's store bought jello - a joke; kevin's strawberry jello; mike's almond jello w/ tropical fruits; my coffee jello shots - minus the alcohol; jayant's strawberry shortcake jello; lynn's 7-layer jello)

here are the honorable mentions:

• joel's filipino jello - most expensive dish; $18!!
• lynn's 7-layer jello - most effort
• jayant's (or shall i say, deepali's) strawberry shortcake jello - most original
• kevin's strawberry jello - most traditional (lol)

thanks to everyone who participated. all the jellos were yummy!

here's the coffee jello recipe i made. it's a keeper =)

• 2 packets of KNOX gelatin (unflavored, 1/4 ounce each packet)
• 1/2 cup cold coffee (or kahlua)
• 3 cups of good hot brewed coffee
• 1/3 cups of sugar (or up to 3/4 cup according to desired sweetness)
• a pinch of salt

1. in a large bowl, combine gelatin and cold coffee
2. allow to sit for 10 minutes to soften
3. add hot coffee, sugar and salt; stir until the sugar is completely dissolved and mixture is clear
4. pour into individual serving dishes and chill till set
5. serve with sweetened whipped cream or half and half

serves 8

oh, i added some whipping cream to some of the coffee jello shots. i couldn't really taste the difference....

happy birthday to my mommy!!

just wanted to shout out a happy birthday to my mommy!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

btw, i DO have the wash and go hair! i finally got to wash my hair for the first time since i got it straightened. whoo-hoo!! low-maintenance hair!!

i didn't get to work on any cards tonight because i had to make jello for my work's jello party. (no, it's not that kind of a party where it involves a kiddie pool and wrestling.) anyways, here's a card i finished up last night. it's just ok. the mistletoe word is somewhat covered with glitter and the berries are 3D. can't really tell from this picture.... oh well, don't think this is a keeper....

5 pounds lost!

yes, i FINALLY cut my hair! 12 inches off and i'm donating it to locks of love. here are some before and after pix.

it was one of my longest hair appointments ever. my usual hairdresser left christopher perry (salon) so i got a new one. i requested a male because they're normally better at the details and boy, did i get one that was meticulous! as i sat in my chair, i watched a handful of clienteles come in and out and yet, i wasn't even half way through. i thought the sun was going to set pretty soon.... finally, after 2 and half hours, i was done and 5 pounds lighter! haha the nice thing though was that he gave me a 20% discount because i was donating my hair. it only came out to $40!!! i felt so bad for him that i gave him a $20 tip.

so now my next mission - permanent hair straightening so that i can just have the wash-n-go hair that i so long for!

getting fit with wii fit?!

in lieu of making another card tonight, i finally stepped on the wii fit tonight. my center of balance is good, but it said i have a body of a 41 year old! yikes! the wii fit just reconfirmed how out of shape i am. =( anyways, i tried yoga, hula hoops, skiing, running, soccer, aerobics, etc. my favorite is running and hula hoops. lol but boy, the simple yoga poses already were a challenge to me.

hopefully, i can step on the wii fit at least 3 times a week. my goal is to lose 5 pounds and tone up! maybe all i need to do is cut my hair. oh! there goes 5 pounds! hehe

ok, so since i didn't make a card tonight, i'll post a card that i gave to katie chamkasem for her first birthday and a wedding one for brandon and kuulei (congrats, btw!).

welcome!

my very first blog. whoohoo!! i thought i'd start this blog to share my creations (from my little boys to my handmade cards) with friends and family.

okie-dokie, that's all for now! ta-tah!