Dream Summer Vacation

Blog Challenge: what is your dream summer vacation?


A challenge on 2peas that got me thinking. For as long as I remember, summer vacations (the whole 2.5 months) was for traveling. I would always end up at one destination - Singapore. It was meant for me to spend the time I don't get to spend during the year with my family. A very important time for me. As I grew older, summer vacations were a time for me to get away from the stress of life here. Time for me to recharge my battery. Although mostly you would find me back in Singapore, I could also be found in other countries in S.E. Asia for a couple weeks exploring and doing missions. Every summer there's something to look forward to.

After college when summer vacation came to an end... It consisted of job hunting and going back to school. My dream summer vacation would be to travel somewhere I've never been before with Mike and make a stop at Singapore for a week or so. If only we didn't have to worry about work, school or money...

Now that scrapbooking is such a part of me... I would think that one of the luggages I bring along would have to be my Scrapbook Tote Bag (mine's blue)
Especially if I go for the whole summer! Otherwise, I'd bring along a travel journal and make sure I capture all the moments and memories of the trip.

Catch Up

The last 2 weeks has been so incredibly BUSY that I barely had time to sleep. Now that things are starting to go back to normal... here's what my last 2 weeks consisted of

• Grandma was in town and it's always fun to have her here! She's like a mom to me and because I only get to see her once a year, time with her is very precious.
• She cooks all our favorite dishes when she's here which means I literally eat every 2 hours. I don't think I felt hungry in the last 2 weeks!

• Brought her to Disneyland/California Adventure and got a wheelchair for her cos she can't walk for long before her legs start to hurt. She loved it! Her favorite ride in Disneyland is pirates of the Caribbean but now she LOVES Soaring Over California and Aladdin.
  
• Now that she's back in Singapore, I miss her...
• My sister graduated from High School. Cerritos High does put up a pretty impressive ceremony with fireworks. I remember when I was graduating and the fireworks went off... It was emotional for me cos it was like... a celebration of an end of a chapter and a beginning of another. Got a couple of shots as the graduates watched the fireworks show.
• Yesterday, I got to scrapbook! First time in 2 weeks... felt so good. Finished the CJ for Marlo. Very fun!!
• School has been ok. Surprisingly, I'm doing well. I tried as hard as I could to keep up and it's been working.
• I even started swimming yesterday... I'm SO out of shape. I usually swim 30 laps, but yesterday, after 20 laps I was so tired!
• This always happens... I let thoughts build up in my mind for so long that when I do have time to "catch up" with those thoughts, I don't remember half of them.

Well, hopefully now i'll be more consistent with my updates =)

My happiness today is:
being able to slowly catch up with life.

21 Day Challenge - Day 1

I decided to join Rhonna Ferra's 21 day challenge to make or break a habit. I wanted to inspire myself to journal everyday and make it a habit, but this actually helps me incorporate all 3 things (mentioned in the post below) that I want to do more consistently. By doing this challenge, it'll get me journal daily (the habit i want to form) and because on Rhonna's blog she posts quotes (i love quotes) - I can scrap the quotes to put in my journal. (so it takes care of the scrapping part) and whatever I scrap, I gotta post... so it takes care of the blogging part.

Here's day 1 (i'm 3 days before, so i gotta catch up soon)

Some Random Thoughts

• I was counting down till the day where I didn't have to face a 3 hour communte each day to work (back and forth work) so that I can go to school full time... and now that it's happen... I kinda miss it.
  
• Being a full time student again is... weird. Still getting use to it. My life span psych teacher is INSANE. He thinks he's a psychic or a real therapist where he can diagnois everyone in class by just looking at them and not hearing any of their story. I don't like him AT ALL.
• My abnormal psych prof is really cool. I rarely find GOOD profs... and I think she's one of the few. However, there's a risk that the class might not make because we need 15 people there and there's 12. I want her to write my letter of recommendation for USC... so I'm REALLY praying that the class will make it
• My grandma's in town and I haven't seen her in 2 days. I miss her already. Mike & I are going to try to go down for dinner tomorrow and on thursday, I'll bring her back to my place and I get her for the weekend. Can't wait!
• Have you ever just realized how much you love your husband (or wife, or significant other)? I get those moments where I'm doing something and I'll get the.. "i really love mike" feeling. I really can't imagine not having him in my life. And then I get the "i'm so thankful for him" feeling cos where else will I find someone that loves and adores me the way he does? He really is the best husband ever!
• I haven't had time to scrap and that's probably when I REALLY want to. It's been so difficult adjusting to the new schedule. I thought I'd have more time on my hands not working, but the day goes by so fast! Before you know it, it's time for bed.. and the day starts again. I really need to scrap. It's theraputic for me.
• I don't even have time to surf 2peas. That makes me sad. I use to on ALL day at work... now I only get to check it for 5 mins in the morning before my first class and at night when i'm suppose to be studying. haha (like now)
  
• I'm addicted to shopping for scrapbook stuff. I've had to really stop myself from going to Michaels, Joannes, any LSS or else it's FOR SURE that I'll come out with something. I need to scrap more and buy less (for now)
• I would love to be more consistent with 3 things. Blogging, journaling and scrapbooking.
  
• I'm thinking of doing Rhonna Farrer's 21 day challenge to help me get those 3 things to become a habit...
  
• God, thanks for blessing me with so much...
  

2 Cards & a CJ

Here's a peak to the very first CJ. I'll get it back in a little over a year and it'll be FILLED with grreeat LOs from the peas in this group. yay for GPAC!!!





Here are 2 cards I made last week. I really liked the way it turned out...

• black cardstock
• K&Co. pp
• Katie & Co. stamp (flowers on pp)
• MM Brads
• American Crafts Ribbon
• Prima Flowers
• 'Congratulations' tag

• black cardstock
• K&Co. pp
• Katie & Co. stamp (flowers on pp)
• MM Brads
• American Crafts Ribbon
• Prima Flowers
• 'Birthday tag'
• '24' tiles
  

The Roommates & Food

Here we go again... the roommates and food is like batman & robin... we just go hand in hand. I dunno why I still continue to call them "roommates" but I dunno how else to address them. hahah

We met up on Wednesday and went to a restaurant called "Home". Nice place... ok food... GREAT time. When we asked the waitress to take a picture of us, Annie said "smile! it's for their scrapbook". Jeymi & I are CRAZY about scrapbooking and the rest of them just make fun of us about it.






Of course, after eating a full dinner, we had to go get coffee and dessert to chat more about life. We really have grown up in the last 2 years. Our conversations now include buying houses, how to invest, what to invest in, how to save for retirement... gosh... 2 years ago, that was what we were being tested on in corporate finance and was stressing if we'd pass the class... now we voluntarily talk about it. So we went to a coffee and dessert place down the street from the restaurant and got these:





Here's us with our dessert:




A night FILLED with laughter (till the point of tears) can't be explained in words for anyone else to fully comprehend and appreciate. I guess to sum up Wednesday night would be one word, "Shredded".

Projects to complete

• Make my CJ Pages
• Make our 1 year anniversay reflection page
• Finish up Album for Mike

Blog Challenge: If you could relive your life, and change only one thing, what would it be?

hmmm, it's weird because in the moments of hard times, I'm always thinking "what if this never happened... would i be happier?" But after I get through it and onto the other side of things... I realize that I'm the person I am because of what happened... so I'm never really sure if I'd ever relive my life and change things. I wouldn't be who I am today if I didn't experience what I've gone through the last 23 years.

Our 1 Year Wedding Anniversary (June 4th)

Can you believe it's been a year since we said "I do"? (actually it's more like we said "I will") It's been a crazy year of getting adjusted and learning how to live with each other, growing together and discover one another in deeper ways than we ever imagined. The year has been filled with lots of good times and not so fun times, but in the end... The picture above shows it all. I can't imagine my life without my best friend. He has showed me what love truly is over and over again.

God has been ever so faithful to us in the past year. Blessing us with more than we need and everything that we want. He has opened up doors for us to better understand each other and ourselves in the last year. It's been a tough journey- spiritually, but as we reflect on the last 365 days together as husband and wife, we are thankful that God never left our side.

We didn't do anything fancy this year. Simple breakfast at Carl's Jr. followed by a movie, some coffee bean... a nap and a nice dinner at 3rd st in Santa Monica. We closed off the day with some shopping at GAP. It was just a nice day to hang out together and not have to worry about being anywhere or meeting anyone.




Can't wait to see what the next year has in stored for us...



To many more years, memories, love and growth together

A Beautiful Wedding

Erin & Donn's wedding (June 3, 2006)
She had the most beautiful wedding at the beach. It was held at a private club in Santa Monica. The weather was perfect and it was all a lot of fun. Wedding are a good reminder for Mike & I because as the couple say their vows for the first time, we're reminded of the vows we exchanged on our own wedding day and how important it is for us to uphold each other in our vows.






The ceremony was held RIGHT on the beach....






The reception was held in the club house. With good food and fun company... it was a fun day.