joy eats

hmb pumpkin festival

2008-10-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

last week, a group of us went to the half moon bay pumpkin festival. we woke up before the sun came up so that we could avoid the traffic.

even then... by the time we got there, there was already a long line for the pancake breakfast.

we were so hungry, we decided to explore for other options and we found the moonside bakery. the place was so busy that they mixed up our orders and we ended up with doubled the portions.
then we walked up and down the street, browsing the various booths. we took a group picture by the winning pumpkins for the weigh-off, but with so many of us, you could barely see the pumpkins behind us.

the most exciting "event" at the festival was meeting mrs. meyers at her booth! she was really nice and told us about how her daughter and her started the whole business selling environmentally friendly household cleaners.
after all that walking and talking it was time to eat again!

pumpkin pies and garlic fries. pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin ale.

we were pretty pumpkin'd out by the end of the day. so we went to eat lunch at the flying fish.

too bad that i was sort of full, so i couldn't eat more.... so sad....
the fish tacos are definitely worth coming back for.
that was the end of a satisfying eating trip!

mike's 30th!

2008-09-23T16:48:00.000-07:00

i'm way behind on my blog... lots of stuff has happened since i last blogged, but i have been very busy with the new school year starting. i finally have a weekend where i don't have anything to do. to put the last 3 months in a nutshell: summer school was very labor intensive and i don't think i've fully recovered from that still. in mid July, mike and i finally went on our delayed honeymoon -- which was the highlight of our summer. the trip was wonderful and we both really enjoyed it. we took over 1000 pictures and it took me forever to sort through them. but i did manage to put the scrapbook together!

Right after we got home, my parents came to visit for the first time since we got married. Then second week of August was the church retreat at Asilomar, third week of August was a & a's wedding.
here's a picture of the newlywed andrewa.

last week of August we had our friends dan & tiff coming for mike's 30th and we had a small dinner party at home.
this is mike's ice cream sandwich birthday cake.

this is dan & tiff's cutie pie Elizabeth

The following week, mike's family came to visit us for the first time also and we went down to Carmel for a day.
here's a picture of mike and chuckie

and mike's parents

that sums it all up. i'll upload all the pictures on my smugmug eventually... heehee

graduation

2008-06-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

heehee... today when i was going to blog about my honeymoon, i realized that i had started this blog back in june but never publish it...

the kiddos had their long-anticipated preschool graduation on friday. We have been practicing the song Grow Me Up Like You , and a couple of them thought they might have stage fright, so we pray about it during class. At the end they all got really into it and did a fantastic job memorizing both verses and the hand motions.

the farmer planted his seeds
he put them in a row
but some fell on the rocky soil
they didn't want to grow
but soon the seeds they fell again
upon the fertile ground
the roots went deep from the care he gave
they bear fruit all around

grow me up like you
Lord in all i do
plant God's words within my heart (3x)
grow me up like you

the fruit of the spirit comes when we grow like him
love, peace and joy
and kindness never ends
i'll plant the seeds of love
so everyone can see
the Savior's love has come
to live in you and me

i get chocked up everytime i heard them sing the song because i often wonder how effective i'm at planting and watering the gospel in their hearts. all the academic stuff will continue to be a big part of their future education, but for some of these kids, they might not ever hear that there's a God that loves them and died for them again. But the good news is that God's plan isn't doom just because of my imperfection, so i'll just have to trust that He will make himself known to them.

i'm an auntie!

2008-05-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

Izzy is here!
all 3000 grams which i think = to about 6.6 lb.
she actually has the same birthday as her grandma(my mom) which grandma is ecstatic about. she even went to the salon and got her hair done before Izzy was born just so she would look good for the pictures afterwards, heehee.
being an aunt is a funny feeling in a good way of course. all of a sudden, there's a new member of the family... she's related to me! i haven't seen her but i feel close to her already.

gue-ning

2008-04-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

we're back from our que-ning; a make-up wedding banquet usually hosted by the bride's side of the family literally translated to "our daughter coming home".
the week in taiwan was really short but most enjoyable. here are the highlights:
the most crazy:

the banquet itself! everything turned out just fine but just an hour before the banquet we experienced the most stressful wedding nightmares ever. first, the banquet room wasn't ready, so we had to cancel the rehearsal. second, the room diagram drawn by the wedding coordinator wasn't to scale, so our stage didn't fit. third, they dropped our cake. after three mishaps in a row, people were very upset... there were lots of yelling and sweating. =p

the most shocking:

the green party decided that Chiang Kai-shek doesn't deserve a memorial because his contribution wasn't consider meaningful. so they changed the name of the memorial to Freedom Plaza and covered up the statue with gaudy kites and masks. imagine if the democrats decided one day that Lincoln wasn't that great of a guy and decorated his memorial with fish and fruits....

the most funny:
after the que-ning banquet, we received this welcome letter from the hotel in our suite...
carefully read the addressee,

nice engrish... heehee

the most yummy:
well this was a hard one. every meal was the most yummy.

most interesting:
since we were in taiwan during the presidential elections, so we witnessed a bunch of campaigning. the blue party had a huge stage in front of the president's office with several supporters doing the irish river dance.... hrrm?

most memorable:
hanging out with my parents. they were so excited to have mike around, my dad took a few days off to show us around town. he took us to the National Palace museum to see the famous jade cabbage!

most cute:
mike trying to speak chinese to my mom.

that wraps up our list of top 7 "the most of". until next time.

we're married!

2008-02-26T17:21:00.000-08:00

a lot of things had happened since i last blog...
the most recent news is that mike and i are married!
the week leading up to the wedding was just insane between all the last minute details and entertaining our out of town relatives we've never been that stress before. the wednesday before the wedding, on my way to meet mike at the church site i had a melt down. i had been running around doing errand all morning already so i was feeling very tired, and on top of that, i got lost in a bad neighborhood in oakland. so i just sat in my car crying and hyper ventilating telling mike that i didn't want to go anymore.... now thinking about it was kind of embarrassing.
here are some of my favorite shots
our program designed by jenie:

here's a picture of the girls getting ready

the groomsmen's GQ shot

my bouquet

me and daddy

mike waiting (one of my favorite part about weddings is "the look"from the groom)

mr and mrs. pih

portrait shots at Claremont hotel

anyways, those are just a few of my favorites from our photographer augie. he's one vendor that we would highly recommend. you can also see a few pictures of us on his blog.

after the wedding, we spend a few days in napa and mendocino.
influenced by dessert expert maria; i tried the macarons at this french bakery in napa call bouchon. they were crispy and airy on the outside and creaming in the middle; not too sweet but nutty and flavorful. i was addicted to these divine little treats immediately. now i'm on the look out for for the best macarons.

the drive down the coast was cold but still pretty in its shades of grey and silver.
i had booked the same b&b as 3 years ago when my parents and i went to mendocino. i just love that charming little house with all the modern fixture. that's the type of house i have always dream of having.

well, now the wedding is done and the trip is over. back to reality.... marriage life is good and we're both adjusting. the first week back, i must have ran up and down the stairs 6 times within 10 minutes in the morning just to get all the stuff i needed for work. mike is having a hard time finding cups and plates because i have reorganized all the shelves in the kitchen.... it's humorous at times really.
our first joy cooked meal at home

now we're on our way to taiwan for our second banquet, yay!

star wars lyrics

2007-10-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

some of you have heard me talk about this little boy in my class who's really into star wars...
or lives for star wars i should say. his entire day at school consist of telling me stories about star wars, pretending to be darth vader, and making life sabers in the art counter! now the best part is that he had actually made up lyrics to the theme song.
well, i finally figure it out what the words were....

"star wars, nothing but star wars
if you don't like it, get out of here."

=) hilarious!
his friends love it so much too that they would request it every once in awhile.

2007-08-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

i had to blog so those ugly photos wouldn't be the first thing on my blog. =)

let's see....
yesterday was mike's birthday! yay!
i originally had planned a surprise hamburger bbq for him last sunday after he played basketball, but i found out two days before that he was suppose to drop off his brother at oakland airport at 6:30. i freaked out and said "but you're suppose to play basketball." then with a puzzled look he asked "why does it matter?" so long story short i had to tell him the plan.
despite the lack of surprise the burgers were good tho...
we made fat ones like these

everyone brought an ingredient for the burger and this was mike's appetizer.... he had 3 all together.

topher was so cute when he eats his corn.

we also had an ice cream cake! "the best cake ever" according to mike. each mini ice cream cones were his favorite flavors. =)

on wed. his actual birthday we went to Dona Tomas in berkeley, a gourmet mexican place.
and we had halibut cheek and carne asada.

personally, i would be content with mi pueblo. =p

the birthday date ended with matt damon demonstrating how to survive a car crash... just wrap the seat belt around your forearm a couple times.

puffiness

2007-08-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

it started out like hives....

i'm not trying to pout

it got 3x bigger than my normal lip (the bottom lip) so now i look like i have major over bite.

2007-08-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

work has been really stressful and i'm breaking out in hives all over almost everyday =(
a few weeks ago, my director gave me an opportunity to take over the pre-k class next year which at first i was very excited about. i've been prepping for curriculum and getting my classroom all set up. however, just these last two weeks, 3 out of 6 of my co-workers are dealing with illnesses in the family and one of the full time teacher who's been around for 20 years is leaving to teach at another school. so by default my director is putting all their task onto me. i went into work last monday and find that my task list is just getting longer. now i not only need to prep for the the pre-k class, i need to prep to get the whole school ready. i asked if the part time teachers can come into work the week before school starts to help do all the chores, but the answer i got was that "oh, because the part time teachers are being pay hourly, so we don't want to do that."
i know it's just the season for us right now and i need to understand and cover for my co-workers but sometimes i'm just screaming about how unfair this whole thing is.

onto a happier note. i did enjoyed the two trips that i was able to take this summer. even though i didn't blog about them, i'll list the favorites and here are some pic.
bath
-cute 19th century town and the jane austin tea room
scotland
-best tour guide and loved haggis
ireland
-giant causeway is breath taking
alaska cruise
- haven't quite decided how i feel about cruises yet. it was pure luxury because i can get what i want all the time, and the abundance of food but it also makes me feel very wasteful.
best part about alaska though was the excursion for a helicopter ride up to the glacier follow by the dog sledge ride in skagway.

we're engaged!

2007-07-21T21:10:00.001-07:00

we're engaged! mike popped the question during what seemed like a normal food trip to berkeley. we started out with lunch at la note and then met up with byron and maria at the gourmet ghetto for the usual round of gregoire's, cheeseboard, and love at first bite. afterwards we headed to campus to walk off our meals. at some point byron and maria disappeared because they "really had to use the restroom." mike took me to the campanile and gave me a letter to read. after i finished reading mike got down on his knees and proposed.

more photos

going to space

2007-07-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

this week's theme at our preschool is space/planet.

joy: "who wants to go to the moon, our space shuttle is ready for take off!"
children: "me! me! i want to go."
joy: "come line up by the music room door."
D: " um... i don't think i want to go to the moon today."
R: " but it's just pretend."
D: " are you sure?"
R: "yeah, it's just pretend."
D: "ok, then i'll go too."

spring break recap

2007-04-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

had a productive and restful spring break. i love the feeling of waking up without an alarm clock. even though i still woke up early because my body is used to my usual work schedule, but there was no stress about having to be somewhere at a certain time. i was able to reflect and journal which is something i needed, because lots of times i feel as my body is moving faster than my mind.
the productive part of my week was the gazillion errands that i've been meaning to do for weeks; one them being getting my car fixed and replaced my break pads. =D
i also had the time to try making a few more new dishes!

shrimp, asparagus and carrot tempura
(this one didn't turn out very well because i used the wrong batter mix, so the texture was more like a tonkatsu than tempura.)

yamaimo and sashimi salad

bacon and onion risotto

steamed fish with black bean sauce

lion's head

hoisin sauce lamb chops with orange cranberry couscous

oh and of course i also spent a lot time playing with my new friend here; it was given to me as a surprise by someone very thoughtful... =D

tulips, tulips and more tulips

2007-04-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

visited filoli garden on sunday.... there were lots and lots of tulips, my favorite!

my favorite picture of the day (above)

i was happy as a clam in a tulip garden!

face lift

2007-03-22T23:53:00.000-07:00

thanks to genius mike for looking up all possible shades of pink.

like my new look?

visual dna

2007-03-18T22:52:00.000-07:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

pictures

2006-08-28T17:33:00.000-07:00

after much procrastination i finally uploaded all my pictures from july and aug.
here are some pictures of food that i tried to make...

inspired by jean at olivia's bridal shower...
these are my version of bake brie and chocolate croissant

i think i put too much chocolate in the pastry dough so the choco ended up exposed...

sometime in mid july, maria and I hosted a french/fondue dinner… so I tried two new recipes;

filet with gorgonzola and porcini mushroom sauce

scalloped potatoes with goat cheese

more pics from the dinner
i also went on two domestic trips; dc by myself, and chicago with karen. i know... crazy.... but i found good deals for both of them and i had vacation days, so why not?

you can check out some pictures through those links... i'm more convince that i need smugmug... this yahoo photo thing really isn’t working too well

washington dc

chicago

well my summer vacation is ending soon. this friday will be my first day of full time work. my new position will be teacher/assistant director. the teacher part i'm very familiar with. however having to oversee some big projects as an assistant director is pretty new to me, and being the youngest person at work doesn't help. nonetheless, i'm still very excited about work.

tag- 10 simple pleasures

2006-08-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

hehe and it took me a few days to realize that i've been tagged by chris....
here is my list of 10 simple pleasures not in particular order:

10) travelling- it doesn't even matter where. i like adventures, seeing new things and experiencing new cultures.

9) eating something really good. from hot dog to a piece of steak, good food just makes me happy! some of you might have witnessed how i bobbed my head around and smiling when i eat yummy food... hey what can i say, my body just naturally react to good food.

8) reading a suspenseful murder mystery in bed with my blanket over me.

7) cooking for people.... as long as i don't get them sick.

6) going out on dates with God- i enjoy times at the park or the beach with Him; just reading His words, talking to Him and thinking about Him.

5) laughing til it hurts- i agree with chris on this one and i would add being silly on top of it. there's something about being able to loosen up and just be out of character every once in awhile is very refreshing.

4) piano music of all types- especially jazz.

3) rain. i just love the sound of raindrops and the misty look of the city when it rains. one of my favorite things to do is walking in the rain with an umbrella.

2) seeing an "ah-ha" moment in children. it's a rewarding feeling seeing children discover a new concept, or accomplish something on their own.

1) creating something pretty; crafts, decorating, design, scrapbooking, even organizing things makes me happy....

okay, i tag

anais
alice
george
jacob

new book

2006-07-07T19:25:00.000-07:00

my new desk top is HERE!!!!!
now it's just matter of getting it ready to use.... haha

currently reading this book call the curious incident of the dog in the night-time that i would really recommend especially for teachers. it's written from the perspective of an autistic child and it’s fascinating. most autistic children are brilliant in subjects like math and science, but have no understanding of human emotions. they perceive the world literally and have hard time with abstract ideas. it made me think about the autistic student i have at school and wonder if it’s possible for him to know God or have a relationship with Him. Even though he says his prayers with the whole class before lunch, but now i’m thinking that it’s more for the sake of having a routine, since autistic children need routines as their “hiding place” in this chaotic world. i don’t know the answer to my own question…. but the thought of that just breaks my heart.

4th of july weekend

2006-07-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

i feel like recaps are all i've been writing in my blog.... but i guess it gives all my friends an update about my life.

here is a quick version of my four day weekend
i went to 1 surprised birthday party -but of course, andrea was not surprised at all

visited 1 museum- legion of honor, the monet in normandy exhibit

2 concerts-
take 6 at yoshi's

and s.f. symphony at shoreline amphitheater

saw 2 fireworks

tried 3 new restaurants-
clarke's

overall pretty good but not the best "ever"

the one i'm really looking foward to opening is The Counter in p.a. i first had it in l.a. and it was SO good. =p

bistro vida

very good onion soup

and park chow

yummy grill fish sandwich.

saw 5 movies-superman, failure to launch, casanova, the producer and match point
superman was good, but i thought it's funny how ppl couldn't tell that clark= superman. that one scene when lois dropped her purse and knocked clark's glasses off was funny, the whole time i was thinking in my head "just look up lois, look up."
failure to launch was surprisingly good, it wasn't as predictable as most romantic comedy movies. and sarah jessica parker was better at her charcater in the movie, but still had her carrie squeal which was annoying
the producer was really funny and lots of catchy phrases and songs. the best song "ever" from the movie was Der Guten Tag hop-clop
the other two movies.... i wouldn't suggest

and here are some more pictures from 4th of july weekend

okie dash dokie, that's about it.

weekend recap

2006-06-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

had a fun-filled weekend with my friends visiting from l.a.
they were so entertaining that we really didn't need to do much; quote from byron "never a dull moment"
fri night- dinner at left bank, then just mess around in mt. view.
sat. - s.f

the rose garden in golden gate park

fountain in front of the de young museum

andy and mike walking through the japanese garden

silly picture on the bridge

all the boys at baker beach-
luke and andy posing for prom pictures

dinner at a german restaurant suppenkuchen-
my yummy venison

sun. - after church we watched last 10 min. of world cup then the guys went to play b-ball. had dinner at fusion korea, then mess around some more in mt. view.

maria and i making green tea cupcakes and andy just being san-ba; his usual self

byron exhausted and crashed on the floor

more pics from luke & andy's visit
it was so nice to see you guys! come visit again and next time i promise to show you more places other than mt. view. =p

memorial weekend part II

2006-06-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

after sunday service, my parents and i took a little road trip up highway 1 for a few days.
the road wound along the cliff which made it hard to drive but the view up the coast was breath taking. it took us two days just to go up to mendocino stopping along the way whenever we see something interesting. we didn't book any hotels in advance because we werent' sure how far we could get each day, that made the "j" in me very unsettling, but it turned out just fine.

point reyes

one of my favorite part about this trip was staying at the bed and breakfast places. they were all so cozy and cute!

this b & b is owned by these two swedish americans, so there were lots of decorations from sweden and they served swedish breakfast.
it makes me want to open one myself when i can't teach anymore...perhaps i'll can have a chinese theme b & b!

view along highway 1

Elk- one tiny city on the way to mendocino

the b & b we stayed at in mendocino

mendocino art center - this bench was made with left over parts of an abandoned train which i thought was interesting.... if you look closely, you would recognized parts of kitchen appliances and tools in there

on wed. we drove further north just a bit to fort bragg; a big city just like mountain view with norml stores like safeway and starbucks. after lunch we took the 101 back down; and that's when i realized we were only 3 hours away from the southbay even tho it took us two days to drive up.

back to the southbay
mom and dad enjoying the view of s.f. from tiburon

more pics of mendocino

it was a lovely trip with my parents, since i don't get to see them all that much so it made these moments more precious.

memorial weekend part I

2006-05-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

the week leading up to my graduation was just crazy.....many mishaps and discouraging incidents happened all at once so i was not in the mood to celebrate at all. But god was still in control and we all; minus one, made it in one piece.

Here are some pictures; courtesy of maria and stewart.

i just learned the significance of these colors.

my purple gown= school color
blue hood= education major

(it dawned on me after reading jen post for her graduation that i noticed her hood color is also blue)

after graduation, we went to legion of honor.
it was rather windy and cold so we just sat in our cars and ate snacks except for this one picture.....

the girls at china beach

At night, my parents hosted a dinner for me at fontana’s.

my sweet parents!

canaan folks

more canaan folks

friends from l.a.

more friends!

i know this photo is over exposed... but i had to post it to prove that gracie really gave me a kiss!

more pics from graduation 06

that was just the beginning of my memorial day weekend....
but i want to say a big thanks to everyone that came and celebrated my graduation with me, especially those who live 500 miles away. =D

almost there....

2006-05-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

two more weeks to the end of this school year for the preschool. so it means reports, profiles and everything is due by next tue., but since i only work part time, so i need to get these things ready for the parents by tomorrow. i've been working on these profile books in the last month, all 24 of them.... and as tired as i'm feeling right now yet it's rewarding to see the progress that these children had made since last year.
i asked one of the child today during assessment to point out one similar qualities between the "little people" i was holding. after much thought, he answered "they are both made by God!" it took me awhile to discern whether he passed that particular concept that i was looking for, but isn't that just too cute. =D
anyways... after tomorrow i'll get the long weekend to relax, and the best part is that my parents and some LA friends will be visiting! yay!

cap and gown

2006-05-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

went on campus today to pick up my cap and gown. i'll be wearing a purple gown with baby blue color hood =p woo-hoo! haha yes, i thought they were not such complimentary color.... but who cares.
and since there were no more extra free tickets left for the commencement i had to search on craigslist.... some ppl are really making a profit out of it...$40/per ticket??? shocking!!! that's kind of wrong don't you think?

tag

2006-05-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

Tagged by bob

1. Four Jobs:
a. data entry for my dad's company in taiwan (just a summer thing)
b. cashier at a bookstore in college
c. teaching- infant/toddler
d. teaching- preschool

2. Four Things I Wish I Had Done Earlier In My Life:
a. live in a city (new york or england)
b. learn more languages
c. keep up with my piano lessons
d. speak up more often

3. Four Places I Have Lived:
a. taipei, taiwan
b. tokyo, japan
c. alameda, ca
d. los angeles, ca

4. Four Countries I Have Been To:
a. australia
b. norway
c. thailand
d. spain

5. Four Countries I Would Like to Visit:
a. italy(tuscany and coastal area)
b. israel
c. scotland
d. greece

6. Four of My Favorite Dishes:
a. dim sum (i like almost all of them)
b. sashimi (salmon or yellowtail)
c. hamburger
d. steak

7. Four Sites I Visit Daily:
a. gmail
b. yahoo

i don't surf on a daily basis unless i'm looking for something...

8. Four Software Applications I Cannot Live Without:
a. firefox
b. microsoft word
c. trillian
d. picasa

9. Four Things I'll Never Forget:
a. missions trip to jamaica in 1995
b. my fellowship group from cfc in berkeley
c. the day i rededicated my life to christ
d. growing up in taiwan and childhood memories with grandparents

10. I Tag....
a. pauline
b. andrea
c. jen
d. jacob

barb wire fence

2006-05-10T11:01:00.000-07:00

our community group watched the third session of Exposing the Matrix by andy stanley on freedom, and it really hit home for me. often times, i think of god as a strict asian father; no this, no that and it’s all about rules and what not to do. even though mentally i know it’s not true, but it sure could feel like that when god closes doors/keep distance from the things i think is good. andy stanley started the sermon by pointing out that our god is actually all about freedom and not rules. from the beginning, in genesis, after god created man and woman he gave them only ONE rule that is to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. he gave that rule because he wanted to give man the freedom to choose to obey or disobey, and also to establish his authority over man. other than that one rule, adam and eve could enjoy anything and everything in the garden of eden. but later when adam and eve decided to disobey god they lost all the freedom that was there before. it was sin that caused men to loose freedom; they lost an intimate relationship with god and with one another and they are not free of shame and guilt after that . but it wasn’t god who took the freedom away, but sin.

later on in the sermon he also gave an illustration from his experience as a child. when he was about 9 or 10 years old, he and a bunch of his friends were walking in the woods. after awhile they noticed that on the other side of the barb wire was a field of green pasture. then they all thought why they should walk in the woods with all these bumps and rocks when they could be walking on an easier or nicer path on the other side. so they climbed over the barb wires and started walking on the green pasture. they could see a flock of bulls further out in the fields, but they didn’t think much of it. after a few minutes, they noticed those bulls were all coming closer toward them, so they panic and started running and of course the bulls began to chase after them as well. somehow, they managed to climb over the barb wire fence again and as they fell to the ground panting for air, he saw those bulls on the other side of the fence with their heads sticking out of the wire panting for air as well. at that moment, he realized that the same barb wire that he thought were preventing him from having something better became his salvation. his story painted a vivid picture for me and shed light into my current life situation. there are times i like to think that “grass is always greener on the other side.” or to think that my life would be better if this or that. perhaps i haven’t seen any bulls coming toward me and I complain about the fences that god placed in my life. but in reality i can trust that those fences are actually there to protect me and to give me more freedom.

lastly, andy stanley pointed out that the focus is not to “keep out” the fenced area, but to really know the fence maker. many christians struggled to follow god’s will in their life, because they don’t’ know who god is; rule without relationship = distrust which leads to rebellion. in other words, i don’t have to know why the fence is there but i want to know the one who put them there.

summer vacation?

2006-04-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

THE BEST OF ITALY ZB - 12 days incl. air, or 11 days Rome/Rome

Vacation Overview
Start in Rome for this unforgettable 12-day vacation. Visit the excavations of Pompeii with a Local Guide, drive to the charming resort of Sorrento, and sail to the Isle of Capri where your two-night stay includes guided sightseeing with a visit to Villa San Michele in Anacapri. Next enjoy an orientation of Naples before continuing through the Apennine Mountains to St. Francis’ Assisi. Along the Adriatic coast via the Abbey of Pomposa to Venice for two nights, visit St. Mark’s Basilica and lavish Doges’ Palace with a Local Guide, and watch Venetian glassblowers at work. Continue to Pisa, to take pictures of the Leaning Tower, and to Tuscany. Your walking tour through Florence includes visits to the cathedral and the Academy of Fine Arts to admire Michelangelo’s David. Via Siena back to Rome where highlight visits are included in your sightseeing tour: St. Peter’s Square and Basilica, the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.

last time i was there was 10 years ago and mi amore italia! i've always wanted to visit tuscany and the coast of italy, so perhaps this summer...we don't have to go with this itinerary just something to wet the appetite. =p
anyone intersted?

personal dna test

2006-04-23T15:45:00.000-07:00

interesting....

Animated Designer

my test report

About Me

As a DESIGNER, you are receptive to ideas and experiences, and enjoy the beautiful things in life, yet you are also grounded and realistic about yourself and the world.

You have a quiet appreciation for beauty in all its forms – in nature, in people, and in human creations from architecture to movies.

Instead of only focusing on functionality, you try to incorporate your good sense of style and taste into your choices.

At times you feel unsure of yourself, especially when confronted by other people.

You aren't the kind of person who insists on having things your way all the time – you are willing to go along with other people's opinions, even if you disagree.

Others may not know this about you, but you are very interested in new ideas, thoughts, expressions, and experiences. You enjoy learning and trying new things.

Although you are practical, you are anything but boring – you have depths to you that others cannot see.

The idea of doing the same thing every day for the rest of your life scares you – you need more excitement and challenge than that!

You have a remarkable eye for detail and precision, noticing things that others miss.

You are balanced in your approach to problem-solving, not letting your emotions hold you up.

You are a fashion maven, up on trends, but distinct in your own style. You don't follow trends, you set them.

Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.

If you want to be different:
Have faith in your ideas, and voice them more often. Your unique perspective needs to be shared!

Allow yourself to become fully immersed in your dreams now and then. You can develop your aesthetic vision even further by allowing your imagination to flourish.

Be as open to your own wishes as you are to those of others.

How I Relate To Others
You are Animated

You are outgoing, comfortable with others, and up for anything, which makes you ANIMATED.

Some people find crowds and parties exhausting, but not you! You are able to be yourself in many situations.

Sometimes it is hard for you to understand why others feel the way they do, but that doesn't stop you from trusting them or having faith that they are good people.

You know the world is complicated and that there is often more than one side to a story, so you are careful not to make judgments about others too hastily.

You would rather experience the world than sit back and observe it—you are not one to sit on the sidelines.

You are an independent thinker and don't get too worried about how others might perceive you—you are not self-conscious about being the active, engaged person that you are.

Although you have a keen understanding of different people's life circumstances, you occasionally have trouble seeing why people get so upset and emotional about things—they should just lighten up and have fun!

In addition to having faith in the world, you have faith in the people around you—you trust others to do the right thing and to be honest.

getting old

2006-04-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

pull an all nighter chatting with maria.... c-a-n-'t f-u-n-c-t-i-o-n right now.

never doing this again

re-purposing my career

2006-04-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

my director took me out for lunch last week because she told me that "we needed to talk". that phrase made me nervous the whole week leading up to thurs. but it turned out to be really good news. she not only offered me a full time position starting in sept. because i told her that finishing my thesis is my first priority right now, but she's also willing to train me to become a director.

i've been praying about this offer for sometime and at this point i think i'm gonna take this job. for a few of you that had heard me share about teaching knows that it wasn't an easy journey because my first job burned me badly. by the time i quit my first job, i literally hated every part about teaching. But there was a teachable moment for me recently... it's kind of long just to warn you.

back then when i took that job, it was my first real full time job without doing anything else on the side. there was so much issues to deal with at work that it became my whole life. the strange tension at work didn't allow us to express our frustration, so work was all that i could think about and talk about outside of work. i didn't like who i was turning into but i didn't know what i could do to change that. exclude the natural stress that came from the fact that it was first time where i had my own classroom, a teaching team and curriculum to plan, there were lots of other issues that was going on at the same time... i was framed by co-workers for something i didn't do. parents yelled at me during our first parent conference because they had a bad day at work. people were stealing money from the school. there were rumors and hurtful comments from co-workers that I wasn’t a competent teacher. There was a ghost situation that happened whenever this particular child was in school...blah blah blah… and the list goes on. in all honesty, I couldn’t focus on teaching with all these other stuff happening every single day. toward the end of my second year there, I had to quit; I didn’t want to be in that environment anymore, and i started to think that i wasn’t made to be a teacher.

So for the last two year, I’ve been praying about career path and direction. I was so set that I’ll not step into a classroom ever. i told God that I would rather stare at a computer for 8 hrs a day than to teach again. Then when it was time for me to write my thesis, it required me to be in the field, so I found this part-time job at a Christian preschool where i’m currently working at. even then I thought it would be a temporary thing, but that wasn’t what God had in mind. During one of my afternoons with the children we were practicing the bible verse of the week. I’ve heard them recite different verses every week but for some reason, that afternoon, I was really moved by it. I tear because i was so happy for them. It amazed me just how bless they are to know God, their creator, at such a young age. It was then that I felt God speaking to me “You can make an eternal impact on these young minds. don’t run from it, and don’t let others tell you that you’re not good enough.” That momemt gave me a new strength, a new purpose to what I do. it's hard to explain; it was short but precise. the insecurities that i held onto from my past teaching experience don't seem that big of a deal anymore. i mean they were still bad, but i'm not scare going forward. i'm certain that difficult situations will arise in the future, but at least I know that if I’m doing what God has calls me to do, he’ll give me the power to do it well. actually the funny thing is that i don't really know why i choose to get a masters in child development, but it falls into part of His plans.

afterall, i guess i'll be in nor-cal for a few more years...

2006-04-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

finally finished my scrapbook for Japan... all 48 pages of them, the book is so thick that it's bulging out, oh well.
it really gives me a sense of accomplishment to get it done; i feel rather productive when i do a few pages every time. although i really should be getting that feeling from writing my thesis, but a scrapbook is faster and more aesthetically pleasing.

one thing i like about scrapbooking is the different kinds of paper that makes all sorts of possibilities.

i write quite a bit in my scrapbook to capture the feelings i had at the time and the things i learned. so when i was putting this together, it was like re-living the three months all over again. and it's a funny feeling to think that was the time when i was praying about the job in nor cal... and 4 years later, i did.

2006-04-08T17:31:00.000-07:00

today maria, andrea and i went to berkeley for our little food trip!

since we had limited time there, i called in advance to place an order on all the stuff we wanted just in case they ran out. it was actually rather embarrassing... the pictures will explain it.

first stop was cheeseboard, and between the four of us (including karen's order) we had four grocery bags full of bread and cheese.

second stop was gregoire; this small, cute french take-out place off of cedar ave.

the three dishes we got were all pretty good espcially,

the smoke salmon with avocado on puff pastry

and deviled eggs three ways stuff with crostinis

the packaging was too cute that i had to take pictures of them.

after lunch we went to a bakery called love at first bite and picked up our pre-ordered cupcakes... all 23 of them =D
showing here from the top left:
vanilla cupcake with raspberry buttercream
choco cupcake with choco frosting
strawberry cupcake with strawberry buttercream
lemon pistachio

here are more pictures from our berkeley food trip. and that was more than satisfying for our tummy.

my revived hobby

2006-03-27T18:36:00.000-08:00

after seeing joyce's and anais' scrapbook, i was inspired once again to pick up my old hobby of scrapbooking!
bought a bunch of new stuff from joanne and michaels this weekend since every craft material was 40% off. then this morning, i went down to my storage room and digged out all the old tools and papers...

and here are all the stuff i need to make one scrapbook. =D

i decided to start with my japan trip in 2001. a huge target.... because i was there for 3 months, so i have a ton of pictures just for that trip.

and these are the rest of the trips from my pre-digital camera era that awaits to be in a scrapbook....

i don't even want to think about my post-digital camera days, because since i got my digital cameral last year i stopped caring if i was "wasting film". so i think i took about 3000 pictures for my london/spain trip... hm.. i might need two books just for that.

2006-03-18T16:52:00.000-08:00

cute story that happend at work on fri:
during snack time jonathan in my class wanted a second serving. so the teacher who had the snack trays told him that she would cut the last muffin we had into 6 little pieces, and each of the children could have more. she thought she might just take this opportunity to teach the kids about fraction, so everytime she cut the muffin she made a point to show how the muffin pieces would multiply. the children watched intenselywhile yelling out the number of new pieces it made. Then out of no where, jonathan yelled out in excitement "wow, teacher, you can be just like Jesus!" i couldn't help to laugh out loud.... too cute.

at night, i had maria and karen over for their be-lated birthday dinner. we had a fondue meal with orange duck and mediterranean salad.

one thing that i was a bit disappointed about was the green tea cupcakes.

some of you who were my taste testers know that i've tried three different recipes before presenting them to the birthday girls. but it still didn't turn out as flavorful as i had wanted them to be. i'm not much of a baker because i've never been good with following instructions, but this one i'm determine to perfect, haha....
actually i want to try making prime rib too, anybody want to volunteer to be my taste testers? =p

btw, thanks to karen, who figure out the puzzle that i had, so all the pieces fit neatly now. =)

here are more pictures from maria & karen's b-day dinner
oh i finally uploaded pictures from the scavenger hunt from last week also.

jen & jerry's wedding

2006-03-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

congrats to the newlywed!

some highlights from the weekend:
1) there were lots of funny things that happend in the girls hotel room.. one of such you would have to look at karen's smugmug. and some of which i'll keep private, but let's just say that it didn't smell too nice in there....

2) la traffic really sucks.. but riding in crystal's pt cruiser killed half of the pain.

3) minor mishap at the wedding... the audience stood for maria's entrance. =)

4) a conversation from the acura;
b: "joy's out because of food coma." (announced to the other cars via walkie talkie)
j: "well, no food coma, i have cramps." (while fainting in and out from the pain)
b: "ah, do you need to stretch?"
j: "huh? no not that kind of cramps."
b: (silence)
oh bob.. maybe we should have gotten that book for you.

here's a picture of the happy couple

the gorgeous bride and her bridesmaids

the church was so dark that this was the only picture that came out ok.... =(

canaan girls doing silly poses

yay a kissing picture!

here's crystal getting down.

more pictures from the wedding

well it was a beautiful day; wonderful ceremony, gorgeous bride, pretty flowers, yummy cake, and lots of blessings, what more can you ask for. =)

taiwan trip

2006-02-15T17:40:00.000-08:00

been back from taiwan for a month now... here are some highlights and pictures from my trip:
my brother's wedding;

they looked so cute and happy that you would never have guess that both of them caught the stomach flu and the bride was actually hospitalized til the day before the wedding...

it was a huge wedding, but it was still very nice. =) more pictures here.
and now i have a sister-in-law.

after all the craziness my parents and i took a mini trip to tainan (where my mom grew up) and taichung.. actually the focus of the trip was food, but i will spare you with a post of just food. however if you want check out taiwan 06

this used to be my grandparent's house in tainan, but after they passed away, they rented to Adidas.

the only thing that remain unchanged is part of the garden in the back.... i almost cry when i saw what was left of it... so many good memories.

below is an old district of tainan. after the city tear down some of the old houses, the government decided to beautify the city by using creative art to cover all the left over walls with huge murals and photographs.

from tainan we went north to taichung- sun moon lake:

this is a shot of the pool from the hotel that we stayed at

the next day, my dad woke me up at 6am to watch the sunrise... pretty colors, but we weren't facing the right side to actually see the sun comes up

i love these two pictures with the light fog over the water.

after sun-moon lake, we took the train back to taipei.
we were too full to eat a railway bento box, sigh...

the end!

kids...

2006-02-15T13:34:00.000-08:00

got it from work this week... too funny

The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about
an Urgent problem with one of the main computers,
dialed the employee's home phone number
and was greeted with a child's whisper.
"Hello."

"Is your daddy home?" he asked.
"Yes," whispered the small voice.
"May I talk with him?"
The child whispered, "No."

Surprised, and wanting to talk with an adult,
the boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?"

"Yes."
"May I talk with her?"
Again the small voice whispered, "No."

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the
boss asked,"Is anybody else there?"
"Yes," whispered the child, "a policeman."

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home,
the boss asked, "May I speak with the policeman?"
"No, he's busy", whispered the child.

"Busy doing what?"

"Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman."
came the whispered answer.

Growing concerned and even worried as he heard what sounded like a
Helicopter through the earpiece on the phone the boss asked,
"What is that noise?"

"A hello-copper" answered the whispering voice.

"What is going on there?" asked the boss, now truly alarmed.

In an awed whispering voice the child answered, "The search team
just landed the hello-copper." Alarmed, concerned, and even more then just
a little frustrated the boss asked,
"What are they searching for?"

Still whispering, the young voice replied along with a muffled giggle:

"ME"

obsession

2005-12-28T11:30:00.000-08:00

my new toy

the day i brought it home, i stayed up til 3am reading all the reviews for different accessories that goes with this little thing... =(
i have spend hrs now downloading songs, pictures and video for my trip in jan. i have to say, figuring out how to install this and that and doing all the geeky stuff is kind of fun, just never thought i would be that kind of person. haha...

iron chef

2005-12-22T13:17:00.000-08:00

this tue. was our last bible study for the year, so joyce decided to have an iron chef style potluck lunch... can you guess what the theme is?

too bad three other ladies couldn't join us...

but here is the end result after 30 min...
starting from top to bottome:
nicole-green bean with red onion
charlene-egg with white onion
me-beef with green onion
joyce-green onion pancake

i think we have pretty much cover every kinds of onion that we know of haha...

what a good idea joyce, and thanks to all the ladies for the super yum lunch.

should i? or should i not?

2005-12-14T19:39:00.000-08:00

today i had to get a chest x-ray again to prove that i don't have TB ... sigh, being a fob my result for the skin test always comes out to be positive.
actually my doctor suggested to me that i should consider taking medicine to completely get rid of it. even though it's not active right now but i guess there is a chance that it could be. but as i'm reading this letter and procedure form for this treatment, i have some concerns and i don't really know if i should do this or not.
if i decide to do it, i will need to take isoniazid (INH?) and Vitamin B6 everyday for 9 months?!?! i have no idea what isoniazid is and if it will have any negative side effects... also i will need to go in three time to have blood-work to monitor for liver dysfunction and hematologic abnormalities??? what in the world??? hm... i don't want to harm other parts of my body trying to get rid of a latent tuberculosis.
what should i do?

oh, on a happier note, thank you guys for praying, i got my passport on monday, yay! i can go to my bro's wedding now, praise God!

passport

2005-12-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

please pray for my passport.... i found out that my renewal process might take another 4 weeks. i'm leaving for my brother's wedding in a month, so if it doesn't come in time, i won't be able to make it. i would be so disappointed if i can't be there, so would my family...i don't know why it's taking longer than the standard 6 weeks, but i'm worry that christmas and new years may affect the timing also... =(
oh God, please let my passport come soon....

thanksgiving

2005-11-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

had a wonderful thanksgiving and the long rest before finals come up. thanks to so many families invited me in for a meal during the holiday season, being the parachute child i really can't express how much i appreciate and feel grateful to have a 'family' to be with.
wed. night/thurs.
stayed up til 2am watching 6 episodes of first season 24 with maria. we woke up thurs morning around 10am and the first thing maria said to me was "hey, let's watch two more episodes before i have to leave." we watched total of 8hrs of 24. haha.. so much for self-control with 2 episodes a week. at night i went to andrea's for thanksgiving dinner with her family and phoebe. huge free range turkey stuff with wild rice... yum.

fri.
started a new sims game. i recreated everyone and gave them new jobs. the only people that i kept was byron and maria, i just deleted their daughter naomi from the family bin... haha, it feels morally a little wrong. i'm thinking about getting the sims night life, so that my sims characters can have more options. at night, i went to my aunt's (the famous sherry cake lady) place up in SF and had another turkey dinner asian style. she made gravey, spaghetti and the side dishes with a chinese twist.

sat.
charlene and pdan invited me over for hotpot with the yang's. then we watched these Cantonese version of csi that joyce rented. the stories were pretty good, but it's rather graphic and bloody... at night i watched the Shining with a few ppl at mike's. it was a good movie, but really scary. i still have some of the images from the movie in my head. i slept with all my lights on that night and i was literally hidding in my blanket even tho i was sweating underneath.

what am i most thankful for?
how real God is.

2005-11-25T12:48:00.000-08:00

for your entertainment, i guess i'm a wannabe geek.... but who really needs to be one, when i'm surrounded by them? heehee...

The Poser Geek
You answered 42% of the questions as a geek truly would.

As a poser geek, you're trying too damned hard. There's a strong possibility that you think you're a geek because you own your own computer, however you're truly missing the bigger picture. You aspirations of being a geek mainly come from your friends, who are probably slightly cooler.

Get rid of those thick black-rimmed glasses. Being a geek isn't about style, it's about substance!

So what's this all mean? It means you're probably a pretty cool person. You've probably got social graces and are well liked by many people. While not a complete conformist, you do prefer to follow along with popular culture. True geeks probably laugh at you behind your back.

In a nutshell, you answered most question how you thought a geek WOULD answer, but your misconceptions deceived you. Truth is, 60% of people are geekier than you.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 0% on geekness

beard papa's coming to SF!!!!!!

2005-11-18T22:53:00.000-08:00

OMG!!! beard papa's cream puffs are coming to nor cal!

the best eclair ever... actually they have a store in LA already, and two more opening soon. that will definitely be one of the must visit place when i go down in dec. =)
oooooohhh... look! the one in Hawaii has green tea cream puff! let's go!

ice cream....

2005-11-16T10:06:00.000-08:00

man, all i have been eating and wanting to eat is ice-cream and ice-cream and ice-cream...
my all time favorite is Haagen-Dazs' rum raisin, it never disappoint.
a new flavor that i tried this week is Haagen-Dazs' vanilla swiss almond. it's making its way up my list of favorites... nothing beats a good vanilla ice-cream from time to time.
but of course eating 20 grams of fat for every 1/2 cup is more than my conscience can bear since i don't exercise, so thanks to Lloyd, i found another substitute for my ice-cream diet....
dreyer's slow churned light chocolate fudge chunck which only have 4.5 grams of fat. i normally wouldn't touch low fat ice-cream because i think they are just gross. but this one is surprisingly creamy and it's not too sweet either which i like. it's not bad for a 'healthier' alternative. =p

2005-11-14T12:17:00.000-08:00

weekend recap:
alice and tomio came down this weekend for a visit. first time seeing alice since she's pregnant, she looked so cute; still as tiny as usual, but with a big tummy. i was trying to feel the baby kicking all night, but with no success. according to tomio, i have the touch of "calm-ness" to the baby... haha, i think he's just trying to make me feel better.

sat night, out of boredom, andrea and i decided to go "kidnap" the guys and we went on a little "adventure". at first we wanted to do something wild... but since it's with bob, mike and andy we forgo our original idea and took them somewhere tame. we walked around s.f. maritime national historical park area and had ice cream at Ghirardelli. andrea and i had this peppermint bark sundae that was way yummy!

sunday afternoon, in preparation for hanlin and lloyd's stm, they came over to learn how to make a thanksgiving meal. we went grocery shopping for the ingredients and they followed the recipe that i had typed out for them. i have to say, tho it's funny to watch them figure out what's what, but it was a success! we had a pre-thanksgiving meal last night with 3 side dishes and a home-made pumpkin pie! here are a few pictures by andrea.
at night, a few of us went to the rock in sf. i had a hard time concentrating during the musical worship. the band kept changing the tempo of the songs in sudden matters (to make it more dramatic i suppose) which i thought killed the momentum of the set. and like many worship leaders these days, he would talk in length in between songs with loud musical instrument playing in the background. something i thought was random was that in the middle of the set, the worship leader felt the need to pray for persecuted churches around the world. i mean it was good to do that, but there were no transitions. i think in general, i find that style of worship leading more distracting to me, so that's just my personal opinion.

yup, and that pretty much sums up my weekend. i'm staring to like mondays now, since i don't have school or work, it has become my day of rest...

thesis proposal passed!

2005-11-07T17:19:00.000-08:00

Yay!!!!!
just got an email from the the office for the Protection of Human and Animal Subjects that said my thesis proposal has been signed and will be forward to the graduate studies office. Praise God!
it's so nice to receive a good news from an email that i have been waiting for. =)
happy happy, so now the research begins.....

by the way.. i have finally uploaded my pictures from Seville... haha almost forgot about it.

birthday weekend

2005-11-01T16:45:00.000-08:00

thanks to all my friends.. down south and up north. i had a few wonderful days of birthday parties.. =)
Thursday:
thanks boys for gracing me with your presence...
new and interesting things i found:
Nick LOVES k-soap.. he even forsake poker for it.. i don't know which i should be more concern??

brandon lost a poker game, so he had to put on lipgloss... he looks pretty gross

Friday:
on friday, my parents and i went to P.V. (where we used to live) just for a drive...
i have to say, it was surprisingly gorgeous. i'm sure it's always been like that, but it's just because i don't see this pretty view everyday anymore so i can appreciate it more now when i do.

after they treated me to a super yummy lunch, we shared a little birthday cake before i had to head to the airport....

cheers! pretty apple flavor drinks. =)
our gathering is always so much fun.

Saturday:
the "surprised" hot dog party for chris and i

poor bob the hot dog

yum! i think i got a little too excited when i saw the hot dogs.... just for the record, i have never eaten 5 hot dogs in one sitting.. and the scary thing was i wasn't feeling that full either.. until the sodium kicked in and i had to drink tons of water then it got kind of painful after that.

Sunday:
Byria invited mike and i over for b-day dinner. yeah.. mike's dinner was overdue for a few months.

it was a gourmet four course dinner:
-french salad with blue cheese and pear
-tuna tartar with citrus dressing
-sea bass and stuffed mushrooms
-strawberry & raspberry parfait

here is a closer shot of the entree.... just for you gourmet chef maria!

and that concludes my 4 day birthday parties! a big THANKS to all of you who have put thoughts, energy, time and effort to make this day so special and memorable for me. =)
check out more pictures from my birthday weekend

a celebration in heaven

2005-10-30T15:47:00.000-08:00

congrats to frank and vivian of their public declaration of new faith in Jesus Christ!

this post is for my brother and his fiance. i didn't have the courage to speak up during the baptism on thurs. because i started tearing while we're singing the hymns... so i knew if i were to say anything i would start crying.

i just want to say that i'm so happy for the both of you to come to know Jesus in a personal way. i've been praying for you guys for years so have many others. it's amazing for me to see how God chose to answer those prayers. the last few months have been very intense for you guys with the marital counselings and bible studies, but i'm just so surprised how you had the desire to study God's word so diligently. i knew that it was Him who gave you the desire to want to know Him better. during the baptism, hearing you say " i do" for confirmation with such boldness and sure-ness gave me chills down my spine, because i knew that no men can come to this saving knowledge of Jesus Christ without Him working in you.

frank and vivian sharing their testimony after the baptism.

all the people that were there to share your new 'birthday' with you.

vivian, i'm so glad that not only will you become my sister-in-law in a few months, but we have a spiritual family that's everlasting. =)
you know.. i am so overwhelmed with joy for the amount of blessings that God had shown to our family this year.

freedom trail

2005-10-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

we started our leisure day by waking up at 12:30pm EST and riding the T into the city (finally). we learned quite a bit about our american heritage by walking boston's freedom trail, a 2.5 -mile historical walk (see the red line) through the city.

highlights were:

quincy market - the touristy food court where we had the best chocolate eclair ever. period. the eclair was so good that i smelled them before i even saw them. they were so good we had to take many pictures of them from different angles. they were so good that joy full-on shoved me aside to get a better view.

old north church - where we sat in box pews thawing ourselves while we listened to the real story of paul revere and the british invasion.

bunker hill monument - the end of the line, the grand finale, and it had closed an hour before we got there. that didn't stop us from milking the experience (see maria and i showing off our victory sign).

one thing's for certain... the road to freedom is very wet and very cold. we only managed to survive the gusty winds and freezing rain by taking shelter in various sites and shops to defrost and eating gummy candies (our "comfort" food).

another picture to emphasize how cold and wet it was... "there is no place like California."

-Mike

everything but boston

2005-10-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

greetings from boston.. kind of...
we've visited salem (north of boston), plimoth plantation and cape cod (east). we live in quincy (south, in the suburbs). we just haven't quite made it to the actual city of boston yet...maybe we'll get around to it by the end of the trip.

highlights so far:
1. living the "high life"--high in fat and cholesterol, that is. shrimp, lobster, scallops, sherry garlic butter (yum) and lots of chowder.

2. it's way too cold for us californians; traveling outside of a state with the most wonderful weather on the planet makes you appreciate home more. there has been a running list of what's so great of living in california: top of the list so far is ethnic diversity, weather, driving habits...

3. beach hopping along cape cod: we saw the most beautiful sunset at mayflower beach. all the stress of finding it and catching the sun while it's still in the sky was well worth it.

4. funny moments and lines:
"this isn't a pretty beach...do you guys still want to get out of the car?" (pauline)

"you don't know what a good pastry shop could do to redeem your experience of a place" (maria and joy, in reference to "rainbow-flagged" provincetown)

falling asleep everytime anyone of us got into the car...and then fogging up all the windows

trying to take jcrew catalog pictures (poor mike had never seen one and didn't know what we were trying to achieve)

this is chestnut street in salem: a beautiful street lined with historic homes

the best clam chowder at legal seafoods (served at seven presidential inaugurations)

that's all for now...we'll write more when we actually visit boston.

maria

2005-10-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

You Are Chinese Food

Exotic yet ordinary.
People think they've had enough of you, but they're back for more in an hour.

What Kind of Food Are You?

You Are 20% Boyish and 80% Girlish

Even if you're not a girl, you're very feminine.
You're in touch with your feelings, and your heart rules you.
A bit of a emotional roller coaster, one moment you're up and the next you're down.
But no matter what, you try to be as cute and perky as possible.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Your senses are pretty sharp (okay, most of the time)
And it takes something big to distract you!

How Observant Are You?

yummies

2005-10-10T18:09:00.000-07:00

of course i wouldn't blog about my weekend in LA without any food.. haha

this is tempura curry udon at Matsui for sunday lunch
Japanese style parfait with green tea ice-cream, mochi, fruit, red bean, jelly and cookie - sunday afternoon snack
all of us eating dinner at Furaibo

the yummiest chicken....
grilled rice ball and sweet potato croquette

oh.. almost forgot, the strangest conversation we had this weekend....
grace: "i just had an epiphany. jacob, you would be perfect for martha stewart apprentice!"
luke: "yeah, that's what every guy is waiting to hear."
jacob: "what?! i'm not that overtly ...!"
mike: "overtly what? so you're more subtly ... ?"
joy: "hahahahaha"
brandon: "zzzzzz"

last wedding for the year...

2005-10-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

Yay! Andrew and karen had tie the knot! congrats!
i'm so happy for the both of you..
and just for the record, this is byron's first time being a groomsman, so maria wanted me to capture the moment...
it's amazing that these guys actually made it to the wedding. the wedding starts at 1pm but at around 10:40am bryon called maria and told her that he had forgotten his black socks, cufflinks and had no black shoes.. then when they were finally ready to leave the house, the groom and half of the groomsman took off without byron. good thing the other best man haven't left the house yet so he came to get him... sigh what a mess.

the guys are just being affectionate to andew...
these are picture that andy yoon would call "vanity"...

anyways, congrats to the newlywed again, it was a beautiful wedding.

more pictures here

tagged

2005-10-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

i got tagged by pauline... this is really getting around...
here are my 20 random facts:

1) i had kidney infection when i was 7 years old because i refused to use public bathrooms. if you have been to Taiwan 20 years ago, you'll understand why... so i had to miss school for half a year and ate boiled veggies and unsalted crackers for 6 months.

2) in highschool i used to sneak out at night with my gangster friends and go to compton to watch car racing

3) i dont' like fish all that much except sea bass and cod.

4) my favorite TV show is Sex and the City even though people give me a hard time about it. The four of them reminds me of me and my friends, except there are five of us and of course exclude the sex part.

5) in college the one subject i hated was linguistics. it makes me frown just thinking about it.

6) before i moved up to nor cal i didn't think i need internet at home... yeah i don't know how i survive back then.

7) like pauline, one of my comfort food is sweeten thick oatmeal floating in milk. as far as i can remember, my mom made that for me every morning in elementary school.

8) i hate flying, but i love trains.

9) vacuuming is the one house chore i don't enjoy doing.

10) in college i had a boyfriend that i didn't know about. he asked me "so you think you're ready to date in this point in life?", and the next thing i know, people were congratulating us. you can imagine the confusion....

11) i love food and i eat a lot...in fact i think i can out eat some guys..

12) when i was little, i didn't like taking showers, so some nights i would turn on the water to let it run and just sit there for 5 min. then change into my pajamas and pretend i'm clean.

13) i've always been very proud that i have a good looking brother (opinion by most females) who can sing too...

14) all my aunties and uncles can't prounouce joy as one syllable.. so they would called me jo-ee. so for 26 years of my life, my cousins thought my name was Joey.

15) i've been send to the ER once because i bruised my tailbone sledding, lost feeling on my lower body for about 10 min..

16) other careers that i have thought of pursuing in the past; chef, interior designer (influnce of my mom), event coordinator, and an owner of a book/coffee shop.

17) i used to be angry at my parents for not killing bugs for me, but now i appreciate it.

18) red is my favorite color

19) some of favorite movies are; Mean Girls, Father of the Bride, Shawshank Redemption, Step Mom, Infernal Affairs and Saving Private Ryan.

20) oh my goodness, i thought this would never end... i am running out of facts, but i did go to the DMV today to renew my driver's license and got a new photo and signature too. can't wait.. because i had the same picture since i was 16.

alright. done. i will tag... whoever is left.
jacob
myron
anais
Bryan

walk by faith

2005-10-05T01:53:00.000-07:00

Will I believe you when you say
Your hand will guide my every way
Will I receive the words You say
Every moment of every day

Well I will walk by faith
Even when I cannot see
Well because this broken road
Prepares Your will for me

Help me to win my endless fears
You've been so faithful for all my years
With the one breath You make me new
Your grace covers all I do

Well I'm broken- but I still see Your face
Well You've spoken- pouring Your words of grace

Well hallelujah, hallelu
(I will walk by faith)

listening to Jeremy Camp's song "walk by faith". feeling small to know that there is nothing i can do to calm the stom in me; nothing is in my control.
flood of fears wash over me, and i can only ask Him to hold onto me.

2005-10-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

pictures from Granada is ready. our longest day in spain from 7am-12am because of the three hours train ride each way. but it's worth it tho. granada

2005-09-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

here are the Madrid pictures....tapas

2005-09-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

here are the pictures from Barcelona... Gaudi
more to come!

reality

2005-09-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

as much fun as it is looking through my spain pictures and blog about my trip... i am actually feeling super stressed... have been thinking about my thesis proposal for weeks, and still can't decide on a major point that i want to focus on ....and time is running out. i need to turn in the proposal to my department by oct. 2nd (next sunday). And i still need to choose who i want my adviser to be because it will effect a million other things. Then i have to consider whether my study is workable, otherwise Human Subject Committee might not pass the idea if my procedure isn't clear enogh, if this if that... blah blah blah...
back to real life... =(
AAAAHHHH......

2005-09-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

London pictures are ready! yay..
the rest will come soon i promise.. Fish and Chips

back from Spain!

2005-09-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

just got back from Spain yesterday.. and i miss it already...
it was a good trip. we had a lot of fun together, got to know everyone pretty well being with them 24/7. we also ate lots of good tapas too...top priority for joy. =) learned a lot about spain from Brick Steve.. aka bob lin. he practically read the Rick Steve guide book from cover to cover.
some of the sightseeing highlights are:
- Gaudi's work in Barcelona (Sagrada Familia, Case Mila, Casa Batllo, and Park Guell)
- British Library
- Flamenco show in Seville
- Granada; especially the Alhambra area with Moorish architecture
experiences of spain:
- outdoor cafe
- street musicians
- cobblestones
- second hand smoke everywhere
- flower box on the windows
- lack of deordorant.. Europa!
yummy foods:
- chocolate con churros
- croquetas de gamba (shrimp croquettes)
- melon con Jamon (melon and ham)
- spinach and gorgonzola pockets
- rabo de toro (bull tail)
funny moments:
- andrea's "Oooo-Kkkk"
- joy's flying all over the place on the bus and "i am okay!"
- karen and the black cat "why aren't you a dog??"
- joy's Marilyn Monroe incidence
- photos of the Khakis and huge...
- andrea walking down the escalator backwards
- joy and andrea bleeding chocolate
can have less of:
- ham and sandwiches
- Bang
- waiting around at the airports... our flight was cancelled going into Barcelona, so we wasted a whole day at the airport. =(
can have more of:
- an extra day or two in barcelona would be nice... actually a whole week more would be nice.

well, that sums up my two weeks in spain. i will try to upload the pictures from spain soon on my yahoo photos. you can also check out our other blog. http://chipsandchurros.blogspot.com/

LA tourist

2005-08-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

i feel like such a LA tourist... my friend and i went and bought a $7 star map and drove around the beverley hills area looking for celebrity houses... at first it felt a little silly because everytime we got off the car to take a picture, people who walked by us would look at us funny. But then we saw a lot of other people with the same star maps driving around too. =) who knows if the map was for reals.
we also went to two celebrity hang-outs. one is call Urth cafe which serves all organic food with a very cute ambience. the second one is call nate n' als which is like a diner that serves really good kosher foods. both i would recommend people for going just for the food. anyhow, after two meals we still didn't see any movie stars.. sigh.. such luck.

new song LA

2005-08-14T23:16:00.000-07:00

went to new song LA for worship service today. it took me awhile to adjust to my environment, because it was the other extreme of what i am used to from bread of life or canaan. the age range of the people is around 25-35. people dressed very casually but very trendy. the whole service was very simple and to the point. i love how they stress the importance of "reaching out". the pastor dave gibbon is soon to move to thailand as a missionary, and he encouraged the congregation to live out what we already know, so that we're not just christians with tons of knowledge without a change life. since it's a big church, so there are a lot of opportunities for ministry and missions locally or overseas. it was overall a really good experience for me to be at a church that's different than what i am used to. i think if i ever move down to LA, i would definitely consider it.

ebay

2005-08-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

i had my first experience with ebay this week. well.. the process of preparation actually started a few weeks ago. since it was my first time, so i had no clue how and what i was doing.. thanks to a friend who i will remain unnamed.. because he said he'll be embarrassed. =p He spend a good amount of time taking pictures for me and editing each one for the web. Then he spend another hour or two trying to write up the perfect description for my item. we looked through hundreds of similar sites to get an idea which information are needed to post. He was trying to put in as many key words as possible to maximize the chances of my item showing up when people do the search. The item was finally ready for bid late last week! yay right?? but the game had just begun...
i had to keep watch the progress once a day. then when people who showed interested started asking me questions. =O "what do i say to ___?" became the most frequent one line email that i've send to my friend during the week.
But before i know it, the week was over and the item was sold! i was a little surprised that the whole transaction was so quick. now i just have to wait for the check to be clear, then ship the item away. today as i packaged the item for shipping, i got a tiny little bit sad.. it's really leaving.. =(

the way God works...

2005-08-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

"now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us," Ephesians 3:20

have you ever have those days where you expect it to be just an ordinary week, but God has something else in mind and it turned out to be the opposite, but perfect?
just a few hrs after the mexico team send off last sat., i got a phone call from my dad about a family issue. then i was on the next plane to taiwan.
my week there was intense, tiring but a blessing. although i didn't expect this meeting to take place so soon or rather "NOW" but God's timing is always perfect. things came together in meticulous ways where most people may attribute to them as "coincidence". when it's all part of his will, everything falls into place; the right people at the right time and place. relationships were restored, sins confessed, and there is a sense of hope for something new and growing.
i come back with an awe of who my God is...

Banff

2005-07-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

After 10 years, i finally got to see the beauty of the rocky mountains in Canada. My parents and i met up in Calgary and rented a car for the week. we started in Calgary and drove all the way up to Jasper and back. I didn't know the flight up to Canada was only 2 hours and 10 min. which was a good surprise, since i hate airplanes..
the beauty of the mountains and the lakes are beyond what i can describe. the mountains are so grand; it stretches all along the highway. it felt like i was being protected by two rows of huge walls. The water in the lakes has a deep blue/green hue from a distance. but when i stood next to it, it looked clean enough to drink. everything look almost a little fake because it's just so picture perfect. =)
here are few of my favorite places that i visited..

this is the famous Banff Springs Hotel. it's a beautiful castle in the morning, but it's kind of spooky looking at night especially with that kind of sky light...supposely, one of the ballroom in there is haunted... the paintings in that room are pictures of train crashes and unfortunate events...

2005-07-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

we had fondu for one night and this was our view from the restaurant.

2005-07-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

sunset at Pyramid Lake in Jasper

2005-07-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

just a view from the icefield parkway

2005-07-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Peyto Lake

2005-07-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

a beautiful reflection of the moutains on Bow Lake

2005-07-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

my dad decided to splurge for one night and we got to stay at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. now i can cross out an item on my list of "watashi no yume".

a view of Lake Louise from our hotel room!

2005-07-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

Moraine Lake

2005-07-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

Castle Mountain.
it was such a relaxing trip and the sun doesn't set until 10pm, so there were lots of time for us to explore and walk around. during the trip i kept thinking to myself that God must had lots of fun creating all of these... while the hymn "How Great Thou Art" is playing in the background.
anyways, if this didn't convince you to go visit Banff, i have uploaded all my pictures from the trip on my yahoo photos under Banff 2005.

for those who are curious...

2005-07-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

it's funny how people are concern about my sims... since i have promised some people that i would reveal at least some of the info about your occupations and marital status, so here it is:
andreas, as most you know is married.. and he turned out to be a good guy. work in the medical field. =p
Esther is a lab assistant and Joseph is a field researcher. single.
Bob is the mayor of sim city, he goes to work on a helipcopter.. cool eh. married.
George is a theorist and he just recently got engaged!
Mike is a detective..which i think suits his personality. married.
Karen, a paramedic. she's also married.
Byron and Maria have a child now name Naomi.. just for you, maria =)
Byron is a commander.. haha totally does not fit him...
Scott Joe is an executive at a huge sim coorperation.. =) (i gave you a sweet job).. still single, because he only wants to marry rich sims.
Andy Yoon is a resident in the medical field. he fell in love with a sim, but she's married to someone else... how unfortunate..
Joyce Su is a city council member and single.
as for myself, i am a celebrity chef! i guess that's kind of like Rachel Ray in real life.. and i have my own Asian fusion cookbook too.. hehe what a life.
well that's about all the drama with my sims game.
i hope that satisfy some of your curiosity.. no more details.

4th of July weekend

2005-07-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

just some updates about my week...
Jen came up north this weekend to visit... jerry. =p
saw Batman Begins on Fri. which i thought was very good. it made more sense now seeing Batman develop into his character. i think i like this one better than the other superhero movies, except X-men of course.
Sat. was Andrea's birthday! a few girls took her to Fresh Choice for dinner because she was craving for salad... along with many other things. Then we had a dessert party afterwards.

oh.. look at my flaming birthday cake.

2005-07-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

woa.. one breath

2005-07-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

It took us five tries to get a group pic where veryone is smiling...

2005-07-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday, some of us went to see Mr. & Mrs. Smith after church. it was entertaining. not much of a plot so don't expect too much. but the actor and the actress made it worth watching.. Angelina Jolie was hot. even from a girl's perspective.
after the movie, we decided to head up to S.F and had dinner at Brother's

korean bbq at Brother's

2005-07-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

andrea and esther wishing we had more food..

2005-07-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

after dinner, it was too late for us to catch the fireworks, so we went to Greco's cafe and ate more! what else...

yummy coffee and tiramisu at Greco's Cafe...

Monday- the north san jose guys hosted a BBQ. it was madness.. about 50 people showed up so there were people everywhere. but it was still good; meeting new people, lots of food, fun games, cute babies to play with and interesting conversations. =)
and that officially was the last party for the weekend.

hitch and korean soap opera

2005-06-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

saw the movie Hitch yesterday but it wasn't as good or funny as some of my friends had claimed it would be. the relationship between the girl and will smith just didn't seem to fit. they weren't very cute together either. her job as a gossip columnist made her annoyingly mean and rude.
on the other hand, the korean soap that i just recently saw "Lovers in Paris" was SO good. i usually am pretty good, i mean self control, with soap operas, but this one totally sucked me in. i finished it in four days. I just love the interaction between Tae-young and Ki-joo. it cracked me up everytime Ki-joo just grabs her arm and takes her away when other guys tried to flirt with her. Maria and i have been learning these short korean phrases too that we tried to use. one thing i find interesting is that the terms of endearment in korean don't sound very sweet at all... =p

summer time

2005-06-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

i am really enjoying my summer break. it's just so relaxing, it makes me feel like i have all the time in the world! even though summer school is pretty intense but it's only five weeks, so it's not too hard to just tough it out...
this weekend was one free weeknd i haven't had for awhile, so i really made a point to do "nothing". fri. i went to the library and read for hrs. exercised with the Denise Austin dvd. then played this compute puzzle/adventure game for another few hrs before going to sleep.
on sat. i went to the farmer's market with joyce and charlene in the morning. then i went to Golden Gate Park for a picnic with a few of my classmates.
sunday morning was church. after lunch i went to the Stanford shopping mall to run some errands. then i just sat at an outdoor cafe and people watch; for some strange reason, there is something soothing about that. At night, i talked to a few friends on the phone and also made some travel plans for the summer. looking at my calendar now, i realized i will be out of town at least once a month from july to oct. =p
that was my whole weekend of doing "nothing" in a nutshell!

shoes

2005-06-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

yay! i finally found the perfect pair of silver sandals that i have been looking for. i wore them around the house last night feeling pretty.
oh and that reminded me of my weekend trip to napa. a few close friends of mine came up north this weekend and we went to Angel island and Napa for two days. we took a ferry over to Angel island and we biked around the whole island. the different views of the bay were just beautiful. then we head up to napa and thus started our "eating trip"; basically we ate very well and too much..we also visited three different wineries, and my favorite had to be Coppla. the atmosphere was very relaxing and the service for our wine taste was excellent. though we didn't know much about wines, but the person helping us was very informative in a kind way. oh, so back to my point about shoes....we walked by this chocolate shop that makes chocolate shoes in st. helena! they were so cute and pretty that you wouldn't be able to tell that they are edible ... i just love shoes.

my perfect silver sandals

2005-06-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

chocolate shoes

2005-06-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

bike route along the island

2005-06-01T16:57:00.000-07:00

a poem written by a chinese immigrant

2005-06-01T16:54:00.001-07:00

view of downtown SF

2005-06-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

view of the GGB from the island

2005-06-01T16:53:00.000-07:00

arriving angel island

2005-06-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

snack at the Greystone cafe

2005-06-01T16:50:00.000-07:00

just lounging

2005-06-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

wine tasting at Coppla, napa

2005-06-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

CIA in napa

2005-06-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

black cod with shiso broth

2005-06-01T16:45:00.001-07:00

chilled soup shots

2005-06-01T16:45:00.000-07:00

creamy scallops

2005-06-01T16:44:00.000-07:00

iron beef skirt