Sunday, December 26, 2004

Lễ Đính Hôn


Cake Cutting
Originally uploaded by kimbalina.
I'm engaged...again. We are officially engaged in the eyes of our families. Yesterday, on Christmas Day, we had our official Vietnamese Engagement Ceremony, also known as Lễ Đính Hôn.

According to tradition, the groom's family asks the bride's family for permission for their son to ask for their daughter's hand in marriage.

Yesterday, Bertrand's family brought gifts called "quả" containing fruit, tea, special cake, and jewelry wrapped in red paper along with a roasted pig. His family walked down the street to the my parent's home holding these packages while walking in a single file line. My family welcomed them at the door. Bertrand's mom stated the family's reason for coming and asked my parents for permission for him to have my hand in marriage. After some prayer and singing, my mom came upstairs to bring me out for the ceremony. Our pastor shared some words of wisdom and Bertrand's mom gave and put jewelry on me. Both sides of the family then introduced all of the relatives and told Bertrand and me what we are now supposed to call them. According to tradition, after the ceremony, we are each officially a part of the other's family. I now call his mom, "Má" (Mom) and he calls my parents "Ba" and "Mẹ" (Dad and Mom). After the ceremony, my dad invited all of the guests to join us in a small reception where the families got to socialize and celebrate.

It was great to have all of our family and close friends together with us not only to celebrate Christmas but to join in the celebration of our engagement.

Friday, December 24, 2004

All Grown Up

I went to a friend's Christmas party last night and came to the realization that we are all finally 'grown up'. When I was younger, I always heard 'older people' talk about how they didn't feel old and still felt like they were kids and I remember always thinking, 'whatever man, you're old, get over it.' At the party last night, someone pointed out that most of the party guests were couples who were dating seriously, engaged, or married. The main topics of conversation were about houses, weddings, careers, and future children.

Where did time go? Before my very eyes, I am one of those 'grown ups' now...even though I still feel like I am a kid.



Vacation?

It's Christmas Eve! I've been on vacation for the past few days to prepare for the upcoming holidays and for our engagement ceremony. Don't let that word 'vacation' deceive you. I have been busier on my so called 'vacation' then I ever was on my regular every day schedule. In the past two days, I have driven around more than I have in the past two weeks. I've been running about a bazillion and one errands all over the Bay area and have dusted and cleaned just about every corner of the house. It's a good thing I'm in the holiday mood which makes all of these things actually enjoyable.

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Sights, Sounds, and Smells


Carousel
Originally uploaded by kimbalina.

Things have been a bit crazy for me this past week. Despite all of the excitement, calling friends and family, and planning that has been taking place, I have still been able to enjoy everything that's going on around me. The holidays have always been my favorite time of the year. I love the hustle and bustle that happens everywhere. Sometimes I like going to the mall just to walk around and see all of the people, decorations in the store windows, and of course catch a glimpse of Santa Clause. I start listening to Christmas music as soon as the air starts to feel a little nippy, even if that means it's only October. I love the smell of peppermint in the air around the coffee shops and bakeries. I love eating warm cookies fresh out of the oven, to hear my family talking and laughing in the other room, and cuddling up on the couch with my blankie. The holidays always bring back happy memories for me of years past and this year another unforgettable memory was added to my collection. This year, on Christmas Day, my entire family on both sides of my family along with Bertrand's family will be getting together for our traditional Vietnamese engagement ceremony along with the biggest Christmas family get-together yet. I can't wait!

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

My Early Christmas Present


We're engaged!
Originally uploaded by kimbalina.
On Saturday evening, Bertrand gave me my most memorable Christmas present ever. Yes, it is true. Amidst a park full of Christmas lights and under the big Christmas tree, he asked me to be his wife. I could not be more happy, excited, or feel more special than he has made me feel.

Friday, December 10, 2004

Communication Problems

Dialogue between me and Bertrand while I was working and he was looking through a book:

Bertrand: Wow, I totally want to go to France

What I heard:
Bertrand: Wow, I totally want to go to Phantom (as in Phantom of the Opera)

Me: Huh? You've never been?
Bertrand: What? I haven't been back since I left.
Me: What? But..you've already been?
Bertrand: Yeah, I used to live there.

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Shuttle Me

The best way to commute to work is listening to your pretty iPod mini, closing your eyes, and laughing at all the stressed people in their cars. I took the shuttle into work today for the first time (soon to be many) and despite the early morning, am having a great day.

I could get used to this.

Monday, December 06, 2004

Not so happy feeling

It's not so great when your neck is stiff after a big fall while snowboarding and you can't move around all day without feeling pain. It's also not so great when you make a massage appointment and look forward to it all day, but when you walk over for it, realize you scheduled the appointment for the wrong day.

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Ringing in the Holidays

There's no better way to ring in the holidays than with a Google Holiday party and snowboarding in Tahoe. The party was as fun and amazing as could be imagined. I even got a manicure while I was AT the party. Yes, that's right, not before the party but while I was there.

Despite reported bad weather, the weather was actually perfect for boarding. It's been almost a year since the last time I've been snowboarding and I basically had to relearn how to board. Around mid-day we tried a long run that looked like it'd be fun on the trail map. That trail kicked my butt due to the random flat spots and my friend agreed to call it a day with me once that was over. Since we were on the Nevada side of the mountain, we ended up taking a detour and grabbed the wrong gondola back to the lodge. After taking an unintentional tour of South Lake Tahoe, we finally caught the right shuttle and got back to the car. Every muscle in my body is now feeling the results of the first snowboarding of the season.

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

My Mini


My Mini
Originally uploaded by kimbalina.
After a morning of shopping and then part of the afternoon Christmas tree hunting, we headed up to San Francisco for the annual International Car Show where auto makers displayed and showed off their new models for the year, concept cars, and where people (men mostly) came to drool over the shiny automobiles. It was pretty neat seeing nearly every auto maker there with every type of car from Hondas to Ferraris and Asten Martens. I got to play around with a bunch of cars I saw on the road but never actually rode in or saw the inside to. I also learned, from several of the men standing around, that taking a picture of a car wasn't just taking a picture but you have to have 'just the right angle, with a view of the front and the side, or the back and the side'. Most of the people were gathered around the luxury cars and sports cars, but I was more excited to see the Mini. I already have an iPod mini, why not a Mini couper too? Anyways, Santa, I've been a good girl this year. I would like this for Christmas please.

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Je suis finis avec mon shopping


Shopping
Originally uploaded by kimbalina.
What time did you wake up the day after thanksgiving? I woke up at 4:45AM, on purpose. My one gigantic shopping day of the year came in full force and I was as ready as ever for it. The night before, I wrote out a little list of what I needed to get from what stores and for what people, and the morning of, went through and started checking things off. It was so much fun aside from watching the cashier who was afraid of the *beep* that her register made everytime she scanned a new item. Hello woman, after scanning 10 items and hearing the beep each time, you'd think she'd stop being surprised by it. I fought the crowds, flexed my shopping muscles, and am now done and ready to relax and enjoy the holidays.

Monday, November 29, 2004

Blessed

You should be thankful for all that you have been given and are blessed with every single day and not just one day of the year, but this year, as always, I am thankful that we have a holiday for it to make it easier for families and friends to get together. Thank goodness for four day weekends so that I could catch up on my sleep, shopping, and being lazy. It's funny how your family can be so weird and sometimes annoying and yet, getting to spend time together can be so great. I am so thankful for a loving, loud, and funny family. There is nowhere else I could feel more comfortable or at home with. This year, after eating, talking, and watching football our family got together for our much loved games. We divided into two teams and started the screaming, yelling, and cheering over Taboo and Pictionary. Let's just say that we had a really good time and some fun memories were made (and teasing rights).

For example, the following picture, most people call this a hippopotamus

others *cough* *cough* ....a HIPPO-PO-TA-TA-MOOSE

Monday, November 22, 2004

Kimmy's Holiday Shopping Guide

Now that the holiday season is here, and with Thanksgiving just around the corner, most people are getting ready to tackle their holiday shopping list. For some like me, someone who loves to shop and who has waken up early the day after Thanksgiving to fight the crowds for years, this is the time to flex my shopping muscles. For others, this is a dreaded task. If the thought of holiday shopping sends a chill down your spine and causes you to break out into a fit of perspiration, do not fear. I have compiled a little list of things I've learned from the few times I've dived right into the holiday crowds. I am by no means a shopping 'expert'...although I'm not even really sure what that is, but maybe these tips can help someone be a little less stressed and make your holiday shopping a little more enjoyable.

  • Don't procrastinate. Shop early, plan early, and wake up early if you plan on fighting the day after Thanksgiving crowds. Think of who you want to give a gift this year, if this is something you need to make or buy, and about where you could find what you have in mind. On the day after Thanksgiving, all of the stores have massive sales and if you are willing to wake up a bit early and fight the crowds, you will save a lot money and your checkbook will thank you. The earlier you go, the better. A lot of stores put things on sale for almost 75% off at opening and increase the price of the item throughout the day, so earlier is better. Also, some stores give out free gifts for the first X amount of people in the store. I usually finish all of my Christmas shopping that day and just window shop the rest of the time. This will save a lot of stress and if you hate shopping, just think that you will get it all over with in one swoop.
  • Relax. Shopping is supposed to be fun. Don't be one of those mean cranky people who thinks the world revolves around you who snaps at and orders around the retail employees. As an ex-retail worker I can tell you from personal experience...we hate you, the more annoying you are, the less you will get out of us.
  • Personalize. I absolutely love giving gifts to people, even more than I like receiving them. There is not a better feeling than knowing that someone put thought and effort into picking something out for you. Listen to your family and friends. Everyone mentions something they like or want in passing without even realizing it. I always make a mental note of this, regardless of what time of year it is, and keep it in mind to stay on a lookout for the 'perfect' gift. Gift giving isn't supposed to be 'just for doing it', so try to have meanings behind your gifts. If your friend is a geek, find some geeky gadget that they will go ga-ga for. Fruitcakes are not cool.
  • Pay attention. Some of my best finds were items in the clearance section, below a pile of random junk. Keep your eyes peeled for these treasures. Also pay attention for crazy suburbian moms who feel that they can run you over with their shopping cart like they do with their massive SUVs.
  • Dress appropriately. This tip is also to myself. I can't tell you of how many times I have worn the wrong attire to go shopping. You'd think I'd learn. Wear comfortable shoes. Don't be like me and wear cutesy little boots if you are planning on spending the day shopping. Wear your most comfortable shoes. If you are going to wake up at the crack of dawn on the day after Thanksgiving, wear layers and bring gloves. Standing in line outside at 6AM is a lot colder than you think.
  • Refuel. Yourself that is. Shopping tends to make me thirsty. Maybe because of the heaters in the stores or the walking around...I don't know. My point is, bring a water bottle and even a candy bar in your purse or manbag. There's nothing worse than a hungry dehydrated cranky shopper.
  • Find appropriate shopping buddies. If you are a person like me who likes to browse and just walk around and people watch, either find a very patient person to go with you or someone who also shops the way that you do, if necessary, go by yourself. Shopping is supposed to be fun and the last I heard, listening to complaining, nagging, and whining is not fun. If you are like my dad or brother, and just walk in to pick up what you need and walk out, (aka. complainers) go by yourself.
  • Plan. To avoid unneeded stress, plan out what stores you want to go to before you start and the route that would be the most convenient. You can check out the ads in the papers or online to know ahead of time what stores have what you want/need.
  • Be happy. Don't let rude people or parents fighting over the latest toy craze ruin your day. Ignore them and if you want, take pictures of them to show your friends.
Ready? Set. Shop!

Love is all around


Roomies
Originally uploaded by kimbalina.
The wedding was beautiful. After having lived together for four years and being there for each other through many monumental moments, I felt so honored to have been a part of my friend Joie's wedding. It was so touching to stand there at the front and watch her walk down the aisle with her dad to meet her new husband. Congratulations you two!

Friday, November 19, 2004

Rehearsing

My very good friend and college roommate is getting married tomorrow. TOMORROW! I can't believe how fast this day has come. It seems like yesterday when we were living in Davis together, and she came in my room to show me her newly decorated left hand. Last night we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Everything seems to be falling into place, our dresses are altered, jewelry is shined, appointments made, and cameras are ready. Tomorrow will be great. Let's do this thing!

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

D'oh!

Don't buy things from far away places that you can only return at the store you bought from. I bought a coat from an outlet store in Napa a couple of months ago, that I have been meaning to return for awhile now. Due to the countless amount of weddings and wedding related things I have been involved with the past couple of months, I haven't had a free weekend to make the trek up to Napa just to return the darn thing. Since this past weekend was my free weekend between weddings, I decided I would go to Napa for a visit and to finally return the coat.

One of my friends knew a little local cafe that served really good brunch with ginormous portions. The breakfast plates, were literally 11 sausages, 3 eggs, hashbrowns, and toast....heart attack on a platter. I didn't order the sausage platter but something equally as big and actually finished the entire plate. Normally, I can't eat very much before I get full so we were all amazed at how I managed to fit all of that food into my body. While eating, my friend asked me again why I wanted to head up to Napa just to go to the outlets, and I mentioned that I mostly came to return the coat. That was when Bertrand asked me, 'Did you remember to bring it?'

We woke up early on our only free weekend, drove all the way up to Napa, energized ourselves with a ton of food, and I forgot to bring the coat. Blah.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Smile, you'll feel better

About a year ago, I started a list of "Things that make me smile." I've updated this list over time adding little events or funny moments as they've happened so that I could look back on it later. Today I went back to this list and added one more item. After adding the new memory, I read over everything that I had written down previously and my spirits were completely lifted. I sat at my computer and smiled just rethinking all of the funny moments that I would have otherwise forgotten. In some ways, I wish that I had created this list years ago because I am sure there are things that have slipped my mind, but simply being reminded about them, could completely change my day around. Everyone should have a "Things that make me smile" list. Try it!

Monday, November 08, 2004

I see dots and squigglies

For the past few days, I've had something in my eye (my one good eye at that). I can see the darn little dots and squigglies throughout the entire day. It's almost like looking through a camera when you get the little dust things in the lens and need to wipe it clean, except this is my every day, every hour, every minute. I've tried flushing out my eye, rubbing it, examining it, but no luck. I've managed to deal with it the entire weekend, but today on my drive into work, the grey skies made the black squiggly even more bothersome and my computer screen also highlighted the annoyance. I finally made an appointment with my optometrist to see what was up, and after some careful examination, I was told that I had a floater in my eye and would just 'get used to it' eventually. Get used to it? Hrmph.

Friday, November 05, 2004

What do you do when you can't sleep?

I read blogs.

You'd think that working for Blogger, being engulfed in the world of blogs, and staring at blogs all day would make me tired of them.

Monday, November 01, 2004

If I ever feel old

Occasionally I'll have a little bout of realization that I am getting old. I see my friends getting married...buying houses...and just doing 'adult' like things. Little kids call me a 'lady' and on occasion, I will find a grey hair or two. Tonight, I put on a warm old sweatsuit with my High School's name on it and handed out candy to the cute little fairies and goblins in the neighborhood. When I opened the door, one group of kids said, "Trick or Treat! Oh Foothill!" I handed out the candy and asked, "Do you guys go to Foothill?" The group proudly said, "Yeah, we're freshman...are you a sophomore?" Sophomore??? hahaha. That's a good one. They thought I was nearly a decade younger than I really am...they must not have seen the grey hairs. A little taken back and amused, I told them that I had already graduated college and was much older than they thought. The expression on the guys faces was of complete shock. Thank you random kids for making me not feel old but at the same time making me feel ancient.

Friday, October 29, 2004

High on the hill was a lonely goatherd



Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo.

Inspired by one of my favorite musicals, The Sound of Music, I am a yodelling goatherd this year and Jason and Graham are my goats.

The whole idea actually started out more as a joke after we were all discussing how much we loved The Sound of Music and especially the goatherd song. Then when I suggested the idea of dressing up on Halloween to the guys, they surprisingly agreed to be my goats (Graham is the girl goat, hence the giant pink bow). That's when I got crackin' and found my costume on E-bay and then did my own little modifications to it. With the help of my mom, we sewed together the goat masks for the guys, and tadaa it actually all worked out!

Happy Halloween!

Worst Nightmare


You know when you have one of those dreams where you're in a crowd and you're the only person who isn't wearing clothes? I had a similar experience today...but with clothes. Since Google is having a big party extravaganza for Halloween, I of course had to get dressed up. I spent all morning getting all done up and on my way into work, started looking around at the other drivers. Hmm...why isn't anyone else dressed up? I pulled into the parking garage and looked at my fellow coworkers...none of whom were dressed up. Did I get dressed up on the wrong day??? Oh my goodness. Instead of getting out of the car, I sat there for another ten minutes calling various people to see if it was the right day, but none of the people I called picked up. Finally I asked one of the people walking into the office, 'excuse me? is this the right day?' while pointing at my getup. Luckily it's not a bad dream and I'm not really that confused.

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Really Long Week

Why is it that this week feels like it has dragged on for so long. It's only Thursday? Usually my weeks fly by, one day it's Monday, the next I'm a couch potato consuming all my Thursday night shows. Maybe it's the weird weather or maybe I'm just feeling overwhelmed. I'd like to be a spontaneous person, but in reality my head is always spinning thinking of what I need to do next or how I can be more efficient. I've had a non-stop headache for two days now (probably from the fact that I switched my earphones to huge headphones that squish my head). It's funny how when I have nothing to do, I don't take advantage of that free time to do other fun things. Now that my calendar is booked, all I want to do is watch a movie, play golf, or spend the day reading.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Ouch

Note to self: Don't stand up while ear phones are still connected. Leads to broken earphones and ringing ears.

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Rainy Days

The first big storm of the season is here. I love it when it rains except for when I need to be out and about. The traffic is always worse increasing my already long commute. I don't like it when my pants get wet and stick to my legs then feel warm and gross once I'm inside a heated room. Other than that, rain is a wonderful and beautiful thing. The air smells fresh and the trees are greener. I sleep better at night when it's raining and my bed feels so much warmer and more comfortable. Rainy cold weather is the perfect time to be wrapped up in a big blanket, sipping my hot chocolate next to the fireplace.

Monday, October 18, 2004

Friend or Stranger

Since Bertrand had some groomsman duties, I drove myself home from our friend's wedding on Saturday. Once I exited the freeway, I noticed a car that kept trying to pass me and then started honking at me. Huh...what did I do? Once we got to a light, the guy in the car honked again and lowered his window and started waving. Thinking it was one of my old high school friends, I also lowered my window to say hi, but once I got a better look I realized I didn't know who he was. The guy smiled and said, 'Hey! What's up? Pull over, let's talk.' So he pulled over and I slowed down unsure if it was my friend or not. Then, a little voice in my head told me to keep going so I kept driving and didn't pull over. I either escaped some random freak, or totally just ditched an old friend.

Friday, October 15, 2004

Home Safely


My ball
Originally uploaded by kimbalina.
I almost had a heart attack this morning. While working from home this morning, I heard the familiar jingle of my baby, Toby's, collar outside. I looked out the upstairs window into the street and saw him running around my neighbor's front yard. My heart started racing and I ran outside to see that the gate was wide open. When I got outside, I couldn't find him anymore and started panicking. Luckily, on my way down the street, I saw my neighbor come out of her house holding him by the collar to bring him home. We let Toby out early this morning so who knows how long he was out and about. At least he knew his way home and didn't get lost or hurt. I'm so happy that he is home safely now. I squeezed him and squeezed him as soon as we were home again and he rested his head on my lap.

Monday, October 11, 2004

Girls Day Out

My very good friend and roommate from college is getting married (very soon!). I am honored to be one of her bridesmaids and this past weekend, the other bridesmaids and I took her up to Napa for a day of pampering, girl talk, and of course shopping. We arrived in Napa early in the morning and had brunch at a quaint little cafe. After having been away from each other since living together for four years, it was good to catch up and reconnect. It's amazing how comfortable it feels to be around people who are like you and who understand you. Regardless of how often you see each other, things just fall back into place when you are together again. There was plenty of teasing and laughing which also lifted my spirits after having been sick for an entire week prior.

After much coffee and gossiping, we headed to the Spa for an afternoon of pampering. We each got in her gigantic fluffy robes and pretended to be elegant women with our cups of tea by the fireplace, but couldn't help but laugh at the seriousness of it all. We then went our separate ways into our massage rooms and drifted into blissful relaxation. Once we were all pampered out, we got dressed and headed out for some hard core shopping. A new tip of advice from one of the married girls, was to go on a shopping spree and buy all you could without feeling guilty before getting married. We followed this tip of advice the entire afternoon and each left with our arms full of shopping bags truly looking like we had our own little spree. We stopped at nearly every store and consulted each of the girls on fashion and fit and if anyone debated whether or not to get something, we reminded her of the married girl's advice.

We had a glorious time in Napa with the soothing atmosphere, good company, and beautiful scenery of the wine country.

Friday, October 08, 2004

Absence makes the stomach grow fonder

I've been really sick for the past week. This past week, I learned the hard way that although the mind is strong, the body isn't always on the same path. My body took over and I was pretty much knocked out the entire week. It's been hard to eat food so I've pretty much stuck to bread and soup. After a week of not eating normal food, it is starting to smell and look very tempting. I never realized how much I loved food until now. Food...yum.

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

No Producers for me

While at a party, one of our friends handed us a wedding invitation to another friend's wedding. I opened up the invitation and showed it to Bertrand, excited to see our friends get married. Instead of being immediately excited, he stood there contemplating for awhile and then finally told me that he had planned a surprise weekend for me the weekend of the wedding. A couple of months ago, he got tickets to see the critically acclaimed musical The Producers which is only in town till the end of this month. I have been dying to see this show for so long but would much rather see my friends get married since it is a once in a lifetime event (hopefully). I put the tickets up for sale and they were sold in literally, a minute. These two had better be really in love!

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Handy Woman

Over the past two weeks, I have been focused on getting as much done as possible. As soon as I'm done with work, I jet home to either run errands or do some sort of handy work. Since I'd decided to re-decorate my room, I have spent every night being productive and working towards the final goal of having a fresh new look. I have been living a sheltered life and haven't done that much physical handy work...actually, I've never done it period. In the past week, I have painted a room, sanded and painted furniture, screwed in and unscrewed things, attempted to hammer and fix a couple of things, and done a bunch of shopping and hauling (all with enjoyable and supportive help). I'll be putting in the finishing touches tomorrow night after work and will finally be able to enjoy my hard work. I've had so much fun despite the busy-ness of it all and am actually ready to do more. On to the next room!

Sunday, September 26, 2004

Take my junk, please


It's been a week of insprirations. Earlier this week, I decided that I wanted to hold a garage sale to get rid of a lot of the extra furniture we have around the house along with other random trinkets. I love going to garage sales myself, so having my first own garage sale was pretty exciting. I called the newspaper and put in the classified ad and started moving out junk immediately. On Saturday, people started showing up at the crack of dawn and the garage sale was a huge success. It was actually a lot more fun than I was expecting it to be and was amazed at how excited some people were to inherit my stuff. The saying, that one person's trash is another person's treasure, rang true this weekend. The house is now neater and ready to be re-done. Thanks for taking my junk...and for giving me money for it.

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

I heart Digitalinet

I love you Digitalinet. You rule. I am so happy that I dumped my previous relationship for you. You treat me how a woman should be treated. I didn't even know how poorly I was being treated until you came into my life. Much thanks to our mutual friend Denny who introduced me to you. When the prior sucky relationship decided to leave me hanging high and dry yet one more time, it was the last straw. I wrote you a little email just to inquire about what you were about. I wasn't expecting you to write back to me for awhile, but 45 minutes later, yes, 45 minutes, you didn't just write me back, but you called me. Even then, I was still somewhat attached to the abusive relationship, but once I got the email that chewed me out, I knew you were the one for me. You even emailed me this morning just to see how things were going and how the dumping process was going. Thank you for setting things up so quickly without even a glitch. Thank you for writing to me personally to tell me things were all good and ready and thank you for giving me the username 'kimmy'. What more could a girl ask for? I love you.

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Inspired to Decorate

I have been inspired after watching all of the design shows on TLC. For the past year, my room has been a complete jumble of things from my previous apartment and the furniture that existed in my room prior to moving back into it. I was inspired this weekend to finally do something about it. I'm no longer in college, my room shouldn't look like a dorm room any longer. Last night I went out and bought everything I needed for the makeover including new bedding, candles, and other decorations. Tonight I am going to buy the paint for the walls and furniture, and tomorrow night I will begin sanding and painting. My total cost for the new room is $250. Thanks for the inspiration TLC!

Monday, September 20, 2004

In need of rest

In the next two months, I have:
4 weddings
2 bridal showers
2 road trips
1 dress fitting
1 anniversary
1 family reunion
...and a partridge in a pear tree
I am longing for a 'relax' weekend to do nothing but sleep and be a bum.

Thursday, September 16, 2004

Under Pressure

It doesn't take much for a song to get stuck in my head. Every so often, I'll find myself subconsciously humming or singing to some random tune. This is cool to start with, but after having the same song stuck in my head for a day, it's not so fun. On the drive to the volleyball tournament this past weekend, my brother turned on some 'pump up' music to get the guys ready for the games. One of which was Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie. Ahhh...I can't get the 'dun dun dun da da dun dun' out of my head. Darn earworms.

Sunday, September 12, 2004

Gooo team!

Some good clean competition can be so much fun. My boyfriend, brother, and some friends played in a volleyball tournament this weekend. We all came wearing our personalized team jerseys sporting our names and favorite numbers. I've learned from previous events that I help my team more by staying off the court and cheering in the stands, so I wore my jersey and prepared my vocal chords for the day event. I screamed, hollered, and jumped up and down as I watched my team beat it out with the others. We made it to the finals and I can't wait until next weekend to cheer my heart out again.

Friday, September 10, 2004

So full

I picked my brother up from the airport today and the first thing that came out of his mouth was, "I'm hungry." Why, hello to you too. Not two minutes into our drive back home, he announced that he wanted to go to a buffet. I have never seen anyone eat as much as this guy can eat. Once everyone has hit their max and are sprawled out on the couch, he is going for his fourths and fifths. If he doesn't eat every two hours, he starts to feel 'weak'. Since he and Bertrand are playing in a volleyball tournament tomorrow, we decide that a buffet isn't such a bad idea after all. We went to dinner at an all you can eat Asian seafood buffet. I literally had 3 plates full of lobster, crab, sushi, korean short ribs, and every other yummy entree. I'm so full, but my mouth and my tummy are thanking me.

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Ribs, Reno, and Relaxing

We went to Reno for the Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off this weekend. Once we got there, we wandered the streets with the other thousands of rib lovers to enjoy the weather, people and of course the food. Although there were record high temperatures in the Bay Area, we were lucky enough to have absolutely warm comfortable weather in Reno. We stuffed ourselves with ribs, roasted corn-on-the-cob, funnel cakes, and a jugfull of fresh squeezed lemonade before wandering around and hitting the tables at our favorite casinos. At Circus Circus, Bertrand showed off his mad skills at darts and at getting a rubber chicken in a pot and won me a gigantic stuffed unicorn, a cow, and a pink stuffed dog. On our way home, we stopped in my old hood, Davis, for some yummy Thai food.

I love three day weekends, especially on Sundays when you realize that you get to relax one more day. I spent almost an entire day this weekend sleeping, lounging around, and watching movies and it felt great. Since today was Labor Day, I spent most of my day laboring at the mall shopping my heart out. I feel like I got so much done this weekend but at the same time absolutely nothing. When is my next three day weekend?

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Go Giants!


San Francisco Giants
Originally uploaded by kimbalina.
There are many things in my life I haven't yet experienced, most of the things I don't even realize what I'm missing out on. Last night I went to my very first baseball game, the San Francisco Giants vs. The Colorado Rockies at SBC park. Steve and Tine took care of me and made sure to let me experience everything there is to experience about going to a baseball game. I learned what an inning was, saw a couple of home runs, and got to have some yummy garlic fries. Much fun was had and the Giants brought it home winning 9 to 5.

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Another obscure reason to chew gum

An announcement on the tour bus at Hearst Castle:

Food and drink are not allowed. Chewing gum is permitted to clear your ears.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Eventful week

Highlights of the past week:

Me and the Mini


I have a new favorite toy. I finally got my pink iPod mini and it is even more cute than I ever imagined. The interface is so intuitive, it fits perfectly in my hand, and it is oh so pretty. Even the packaging it came in was pretty. According to some bystanders, I jumped pretty high when I opened up my birthday gift from my absolutely wonderful boyfriend. Some really cool people also got me some accessories so that I could be iPod'ed to the max. Now I can rock out wherever I am in style.

Friday, August 20, 2004

Surprised!

Bertrand has reserved this weekend for awhile now and told me that he had some special plans for my birthday. While having dinner with my family earlier this week, my mom asked if we would be busy on friday night and if we could have a family dinner on my birthday. Assuming that we had plans already, I looked at Bertrand for a confirmation and in response he told my mom that we had 'no plans' and that we could have dinner with them. I was a little shocked after all this 'reserving' that was done especially since he knew that I wanted to spend some time with my friends. Later on, I asked him if we were going to do anything with my friends since he seemed to not have made any plans at all. He told me, "You ask too many questions." I talked to Tine about it and vented to her about how I wanted to spend time with my friends on my birthday and was kind of bummed that Bertrand hadn't made any plans despite what he had told me previously. She just listened to me vent and then said, "You just wait until Monday and you're going to come in telling me how stupid you are." I thought about it a little more and thought that maybe he was planning a 'surprise' for me on Saturday with all of our friends. I soon convinced myself of this and was satisfied with waiting until Saturday to see what all was planned.

After a pretty exciting week, we planned to have a date night out at Armadillo Willy's tonight for some ribs. On our way there, Bertrand suddenly groaned and said that he was having some stomach problems. Somehow, he was sly enough to get me to make the decision to go home to his house before dinner so that he could do his business. There were many following little events that happened that I somehow did not clue into and that just fell into place. As we turned the corner to his house, I saw a long row of cars on the other street and said, "hey look, someone's having a party." Right then, the car started jerking and I turned my focus onto my sick boyfriend who was having trouble driving. We got to the house and I decided that I would sit in the car and wait for him, but after a second thought, followed him into the house only to be completely blown away by the faces of my closest friends screaming 'SURPRISE!'

I still can't believe that my friends were willing to drive all the way up to where we live during rush hour traffic, that my friends and family knew about it for weeks and were able to keep it a secret from me, and that someone loves me enough to put all of this together.

I am the luckiest girl ever!

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

FHS Reunion

I went to my five year high school reunion this past weekend. Usually high schools have reunions every ten years, but our high school has the first one after five years and then every ten after that. Five years doesn't seem like that much time to really accomplish that much. A couple of friends and I debated for a long time about whether or not we really wanted to go to a reunion so soon after actually graduating, but curiosity got to us, and we ended up making a decision to go at the last minute.

The first word that comes to mind about the whole event was...weird. Everyone looked the same and yet different. Some of us have changed a lot and most of us have rarely changed at all. Almost 75 percent of the people there had gained weight since high school, a bunch of people went to college and graduated, a handful were married, a smaller handful with kids, and everyone was mostly just 'hanging out'.

I'd always thought that I was good with names and that I had a good memory. I can remember the most minute details from almost any event in time, but this event just proved to me that my memory really sucks. I could hardly remember anyone's name outside of my close group of friends. Everyone's faces looked familiar but I couldn't put a name to the face. I spent most of the night leaning over to hear my friends mention people's names and identify who was who. At one point in the night, when I asked who someone was (who I was actually pretty good friends with back then!), my friend said, 'Did we go to the same high school?'. Sad.

I'm glad I went. Although there were no big surprises, like seeing the nerdiest girl come back as a supermodel, it was interesting to see where everyone was headed. I'm definitely looking forward to the ten year and twenty year reunion now when we all come back and see where everyone ended up.

Friday, August 13, 2004

2004 Summer Olympics!

My happy time has arrived. I absolutely love the Olympics and plan on either being glued to the T.V. or have my VCR set to watch as many events as I can. Opening ceremonies start tonight. Go USA!




Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Ancient

While visiting some friends, I went into their office and happened to catch their pre-teen daughter chatting online. I noticed that all of the screennames on her buddy list were about three words long or sometimes even full sentences. I thought it was kind of funny and pointed out to Bertrand how I guessed the 'new thing' was to have long screennames like, 'iLikeButteredPopcorn' or whatever it happened to be. We both kind of chuckled about how different things were even with chatting styles or screennames with different age groups. It made me feel a little old especially when Bertrand mentioned to the girl that I'd been chatting online since about 1996 and her jaw dropped open. The kicker was when she said, "I didn't think you knew what it was."

Friday, August 06, 2004

Grow old along with me



When we were at Innoventions at Disneyland a few weeks ago, we tried out the 'aging machine' that showed what you would look like when you got older. Of course I jumped at the chance to catch a glimpse of what I might look like. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, my 'older' picture looks a lot like my mom and lucky for me, my family ages very gracefully. In fact, whenever I am with my mom, we are mistaken for sisters. Unfortunately, Bertrand's run in with this machine wasn't as fortunate. He somehow ended up with a third eye and a deformed face.

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

One Year!

*Dun Da Da Daaa* Today is my one year anniversary since starting work at Google. Wow. Time flies.

Sunday, August 01, 2004

Hoarsey

A lot of fun was had when I went to Paramount's Great America, a roller coaster theme park, with some friends yesterday. I hadn't been there in about five or six years and was nervous with anticipation as we walked into the park and heard all the screams from the people on the roller coasters. I spent the entire day screaming my lungs out and laughing until my stomach muscles couldn't handle it. On the ride Invertigo, every two rows were set to face each other during the ride. My brother sat facing my friend and I, and it took him almost 20 minutes after the ride to recover from his laughing fit from watching the two of us scream and cry to our death. After our long day, we went to the awesome Michael W. Smith and MercyMe concert. Today, I am suffering from a hoarse throat from all my screaming, laughing, and singing.

Thursday, July 29, 2004

Multilingual

It's pretty convenient to be able to speak more than one language. If you are in a crowd of people and want to say something to the person next to you without others understanding, you just switch to another language. Tonight while hanging out with some of my girlfriends, we were having a hard time making a decision about whether or not to go to an upcoming event. After debating for awhile, we settled for doing rock-paper-scissor. When a couple of the boyfriends called, instead of saying "hi" we said, "yes or no?" Without knowing what the question was for, both guys who called said, "yes." While I was asking Bertrand this question, one of the girls put up two of her fingers and said, "Ask him how many fingers I'm holding up." I spoke to him on the phone and said, "Hai" and he responded with "Two." The girls were in awe. How did he guess? "Hai" in Vietnamese means "Two", but all the girls heard me say was "Hi."

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Savoring the memories

I went to a scrapbooking party tonight with some of my girlfriends from high school. It's funny how none of us scrapbooked back then and how even though we've been apart for awhile, years later, end up having the same interests. I love looking at pictures and especially love to look through scrapbooks which are made with so much time, energy, and love.

Some people can just sit down with a bunch of pictures and just crank out a beautiful scrapbook in a couple of hours or weeks. It takes me years. I have boxes of pictures from over the years that I have been meaning to put together and now a ton of digital pictures that I need to print and then put together. During finals spring quarter of my senior year in college, rather than study, I decided I would scrapbook instead and cranked out a good 15 pages of photos. I've been working on a scrapbook for me and Bertrand for about 2 years now. Originally the goal was to have it done for our one year anniversary but now I have finally accepted the fact that it will be an ongoing project that will take forever. Maybe I'll finally have it done by our 5 year anniversary.

Monday, July 26, 2004

Musical Flashbacks

My brother can't remember events that happened a year ago...or sometimes even a day ago, yet while watching T.V. together tonight, he started singing a line from a song and humming the rest of the tune. I looked at him and he said, "Remember that? From A Cowboy's Dream, the play you were in." Um yes. When I was in 2nd grade!

Saturday, July 24, 2004

Surprises are good

Bertrand surprised me tonight with a night out in the city. We went to North Beach and had dinner at a cute Italian restaurant. We arrived a bit earlier than our reservation, so we took a walk around the area. We passed by a crowd of people standing in line outside of a theater and he said, "I wonder what they're all waiting for." I agreed but didn't really care and kept walking. Instead of walking with me, he turned around and walked up to the building. I stood on the street wondering why he even cared what these people were waiting for and started getting frustrated when he disappeared for awhile. When he finally came back out, I asked him why he cared so much and he said, "Oh, because we're going to that show after dinner." When I thought he was just being nosy, he was instead going to will call to pick up our tickets.

After dinner, we went to see the musical/comedy show Beach Blanket Babylon. We arrived later than most of the crowd had, yet when we walked in, we were seated at the very front of the theater dead center. San Francisco's own Steve Young sat a couple of rows behind us with his wife. I spent the first half of the show completely nervous that I was going to get pulled up on stage. Not only could I see every detail of the performer's costumes and facial expressions, but they could also see mine. Throughout the show, the performers looked straight at me and I almost felt like I needed to be a little more enthusiastic just so they could be assured that they were doing a good job. After the great show, we ended the night having yummy crepes at a little crepe shop down the street.

Thank you for a wonderful night Bertrand.

Thursday, July 22, 2004

Geekin' it

I am a geek. I admit it. Things that other people might find nerdy or dorky excite me. Finding out that Apple has improved their iPod and that I now have the option of getting a 20GB iPod for the same price as the 15GB one used to be makes me happy. But aside from being geeky, I'm also a girl, and girls like cute things. Therefore, the iPod mini seems oh so appealing also.

I love the fact that my sweetie 'gets' my geekiness and also joins in on my excitement. It's so nice to be able to talk to him about techy things without getting a blank stare in return. If anything, I'm the one with the blank stare after some of his technological banter. I told him about my mini dilemma over what iPod I wanted more and then told him about how we could get a BMW and then even iPod our BMW. The fact that that made him excited too makes me a very happy girl.

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Yoga'ing

I've thought about trying out Yoga for some time now, but it was always something I'd do in the future...whenever that time would be. It's kind of like when told my grandma when I was six that I would leave my parents and come live with her when I turned ten, because I didn't think ten would ever come. But I'd toyed with the idea and my uncle even got me 'The Everything Yoga Book' to peruse.

Last week, John, one of my coworkers bounced over to me on one of our exercies balls and asked if I wanted to go to a Yoga class with him and a couple of the guys in an hour. I thought about it for a little bit and told him I'd probably try it out sometime, but not that day. Besides, I didn't bring any workout clothes with me and I surely couldn't do yoga in my jeans. But John had gone to Walmart earlier that day and bought a couple pairs of sweatpants and told me that I could wear his extra pair. He went so far as to place the new sweatpants on my desk to taunt me for the next hour. I came up with more unconvincing excuses until I finally relented and decided to join the class. It was something I'd wanted to try out anyways, and I thought that I might as well get off my lazy butt and actually do it. (Btw, The pants were horrible on me. Guy's sweatpants on a little girl do not go together. The crotch went down to my knees and the tapered legs were hiked up over my socks.)

I came to the class late and walked in after everyone had already started. I tip-toed in and started trying to get in the zone and imitate the instructor. Yoga is hard. Any flexible'ness' that ever existed in my body went away and this class definetly proved it. I fell over a couple of times during the balancing/stretching poses and was embarrassed when I could barely touch my toes. The first half of the class was incredibly hard for me, but the second half got a lot better. At the end of the day, I felt worn out but good.

I have class again tomorrow and in preparation, I did some additional stretching this evening and practicing. If I keep this up, I'll soon be a yoga pro.

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

The grass is greener on the other side

Every time I'm not feeling well, I try to remember what it feels like to feel "normal". Sometimes, it's so hard to remember how it felt to just go about my day without being conscious of what my body is doing or feeling. Those are the times that I appreciate good health and the regular things that I take for granted every day. Normal sounds really good right now.

Thursday, July 15, 2004

Breathe

I had a pretty stressful drive into work this morning. I usually see one or two accidents on my drive into work but never am I the one who is almost in all of these. I'm still shaken up from the whole thing. Breathe...breathe...

Sunday, July 11, 2004

25 years ago

Two crazy kids decided to get married and spend the rest of their lives together as a family.



Happy 25th Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Friday, July 09, 2004

Kimmy the Defender

I ran into an old friend who I hadn't seen in awhile this past weekend. After a bit of the small talk, she turned around to introduce me to her boyfriend. Before she got a word out of her mouth, he looked at me and said,
"Oh, I know you Kimmy, but you probably don't remember me. We went to the same church in Anaheim when were little kids, about 6 or 7 years old. You were the only girl who was "normal", you know...you didn't think that boys had cooties. There was a bully picking on me and you walked right up to him and said, "Hey, leave him alone." You saved my life and are my hero. That's probably why you've stuck in my head all these years. So yeah...I already know you."
Haha! I don't remember any of this, but he swears it is true and that I am his hero.

Thursday, July 08, 2004

Long, fun 4th


I had a blast on my long July 4th weekend. We left Friday afternoon for SoCal and got there late Friday night due to the crazy traffic. Bertrand got to meet my entire family including grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and my parent's friends who I call family. He handled himself very well and the reactions from the family were great. I felt especially loved when one of my uncles asked him if he treated me well, and when Bertrand said, "I try", my uncle said, "You'd better, she's my baby."

On the night of the fourth, after visiting some friends and their new baby, Bertrand, my brother, and I headed to Downtown Disney in Anaheim to watch the fireworks. I love being a tourist and feeling like a little kid when I go to theme parks. We woke up crazy early and went to Universal Studios in Hollywood. We were all excited, especially Bertrand who hasn't been to Universal Studios or Disneyland since the 80s. Somehow we managed to be lucky enough to be the very first in line to enter the park and got in every single ride and attraction by the end of the day. There was one attraction that followed the movie Van Helsing that literally nearly scared me to death. It was scarier than any haunted house I have ever been to in my entire life. At one point, when the werewolf jumped out at me and was a centimeter away from touching me, I ran screaming afraid for my life into the stranger ahead of me.

After getting a short night's sleep, we headed to Disneyland for another fun filled day. I love Disneyland. Disney has always been a big part of my family, especially since my brother is an Animator. Since Bertrand hasn't been there in years, we made a whole plan to hit every single ride so that he could catch every attraction. With great timing and fast walking, we managed to also see almost every show and ride. We ended the night with the amazing Fantasmic show and a final ride on the Matterhorn.

Now I am home and exhausted, but very happy.

Makeover!

I won a makeover from Mary Kay awhile ago and today, the representative came to work to give me and Tine a makeover. You like?



Note: Yes, we tried not to smile and look as sad as possible in the "before" pics.

Friday, July 02, 2004

I'm going to Disneyland



*dance* *dance* *dance*






Technological Advancements

I'm up late chatting online and getting some work done before going on vacation for a few days. It's amazing how many people are online at 1:45 in the morning, does nobody sleep? Thinking back to my days in college, late nights chatting were always the best times for long interesting conversations. I chatted with an old friend whom I haven't had a long conversation online with in about a year which is a long time considering 6-7 years ago when we used to talk all the time. After talking for awhile and seeing how nice it was to talk again, we reminisced about the time when we used to stay up late chatting on ICQ with the real time typing feature. Every time he'd type something and pause or backspace, I'd call him on it and make him tell me what he had hesistated to do. It's amazing how much technology and the internet has become so much of our society. Without it, this friend and I could not have kept in touch over the years with all the various places we've been and with all the things that we've been experiencing. I remember the days when my dad taught me what 'e-mail' was. I used Juno to dial up only to download my messages and send them, and since nobody else used email, I only emailed my dad and uncle who was a professor at a university. Now, I literally live and breathe the internet. I hardly know what to do with my computer if it isn't online except play Freecell or Solitaire.

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Gender Supremacy

This weekend I went to get some copies of one of my keys. The man who helped me looked at my key and said, "Oh, this must be a 78" and pulled out a gigantic key and started making a copy of the key. Once he finished, he handed back the original and the copies. I started walking away and then put the two keys on top of each other. My original key was a small key with a round head...the key that the man gave me was a humongous square headed key. The key he gave me was almost 1/3 longer than the key I gave him. I immediately turned around and showed the man the difference in the two keys. Rather than matching up the entire key, he matched up the part where he had cut the pattern and looked a little confused. "This key is longer than my key", I said. So the man turned around and said, "Oh okay, it must be a 76 then" and made me another key...still square headed but this time the same length as my key but with different grooves in it. I really wonder what this man's thought process was that would make him choose a '78 or a 76' rather than just find a key that looked like the original. At this point, Bertrand thought we should just leave and come back another day since this guy was obviously incompetent.

We went back last night and there was a lady at the counter. We told her the situation with the wrong keys and she rolled her eyes, "This doesn't even look like the original." Within minutes, I had the right copies of my key with keys that actually looked alike. I think the lady put it best when she said, "Never let a man do a job a woman can do better."

Monday, June 28, 2004

I won! I won!

I never win anything. I've entered so many drawings for some things that I really wanted but sadly...I never win. I just got a phone call that I actually won a drawing! I entered a drawing for a makeover and some products from Mary Kay at a Health Fair we had here at work. I'm so happy right now that I actually won something regardless of what it is. The lady is going to come out to work next week to give me and a friend a summer makeover and to drop off my eye-shadow prizes. Yippee!

Friday, June 25, 2004

Sun, Sand, and Screams


Being the true Californians that we are, a bunch of us went to the Santa Cruz beach yesterday to enjoy the absolutely perfect weather. The sun was shining, the ocean was gleaming, and the people were screaming (on the rollercoasters). We had a blast going on all the rides and screaming our heads off and then trying to kill each other on the bumper cars. We also attempted to "play" volleyball and I managed to bruise my arms when I hit the ball the whole four times that I did manage to hit it. I am definetly not a 'sports' type of girl and think I am just better off cheerleading on the sidelines. Courtesy of the free airbrush artist hired for our party, we all got tatooed and attempted to make the ugliest faces during the process. I had a blast yesterday and am now suffering the exhaustion of it all...wait, the weekend just started?

Friday, June 18, 2004

Advantages of working from home

I can sing my heart out and and break out into dance whenever I feel like it without having to worry about any stares from my co-workers.

The food and company are missed though.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Counting Steps

My entire life I have done things a little different than others without realizing it. Things that I thought were 'normal' and that everyone did, I have recently found out are not that normal. The other night, the lights in my parents' house were turned off during the remodel of some of the rooms. Since the hallways were dark, I ran up the stairs to put something away in my room and saw my mom walking very slowly up the stairs. I was like, "Come on Mom, there are 14 steps, just count them." She was surprised that I knew the number of steps to get to the second floor and after knowing the number, also went up the stairs quickly. I know the number of steps it is to get upstairs, the number of steps from my bedroom to the bathroom, and from the stairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I guess since I was a little kid, I've always counted things. This has made navigating through the house in the dark faster and less scary for me. I'm surprised that nobody else in my family or the friends that I've asked, know the number of steps it is from one room to the other. This random number counting has especially helped me since getting my new pair of glasses which initially made me very dizzy and which threw my depth perception off a little bit. If there is blackout, just ask me how many steps there are to get where you need to go, it's just one step at a time.

Monday, June 14, 2004

Drive-thru

Last night, we had a random craving for In-N-Out so me and Bertrand decided we'd go pick some up for dinner. Right before entering the parking lot, we started wondering if it would be cheaper to buy the burgers and fries seperately or to order the value meals. Since neither of us go to In-N-Out often enough to know their prices, it was a bit harder for us to figure out the whole deal calculation beforehand. Peeking inside as we drove by, I noticed a line to order food and also noticed the nice empty drive-thru. Bertrand wanted to go inside since he didn't want to be rushed into making the order but I was too lazy to actually get out of the car and suggested that we pull alongside the drive-thru. We pulled up along the outside of the clearly marked lane, rolled down the window and looked across the lane to see the prices. Once we'd figured out what we wanted, we backed up and pulled up into the proper lane. Since it was a gorgeous day out, there were plenty of people eating at the tables outside of the restaurant which also meant plenty of people seeing us two retards pull up alongside the drive-thru to 'order', roll down our windows, then realizing our mistake, back up into the real lane. As soon as I realized what these people looking at us were thinking, I completely lost it and couldn't stop laughing, which probably confirmed to them our mistake. Honestly...we knew what we were doing.

Friday, June 11, 2004

Stuffed

I finally got myself motivated enough to go to the gym for the first time in a long time yesterday. I worked hard on my non-athletic body and felt pretty proud of myself when I woke up this morning feeling a little sore. It's the good kind of sore where you feel like something is actually working. As a result, I celebrated with Krispy Kreme this morning and Coconut Creme Pie for dessert. Yum.

Monday, June 07, 2004

Goodbye, so long, farewell

My dear fishy died sometime this weekend and Bertrand found his body this evening. I came downstairs and Bertrand said, "Kimmy, I have some bad news..." Fishy has been my friend for the past 2 years living in a bowl on my desk. He was always there to welcome me home from school and work and always there to keep me company while I studied. He flared up when I held a mirror to the bowl to show his pretty fins. He was a good fishy.

Give and take

My friends had their traditional Vietnamese engagement ceremony this past Saturday. It was a big ordeal with plenty of people, food, and music. It was sweet seeing a couple, especially two friends, so in love. After the ceremony and during the reception, the groom-to-be got up on stage to sing a song to his new fiance. In the middle of singing his song, amongst the cheers of the rest of us, he decided to show off and started spinning his microphone. The end of the microphone went flying across the room while he stood there embarrassed and holding the cord. He climbed down, picked up the microphone, plugged it back in and continued singing to her as if nothing had happened only hoping to please her. Although it took awhile for the crowd to stop laughing, it was still very sweet that he was willing to put himself out there and even embarrass himself for her.

At church yesterday, one of the pastors told a story about how before getting married to his wife, he had some concerns about how he felt that he might be losing some of the love that he shared with his parents in speaking Chinese with them after he married his girlfriend. Since his girlfriend was Caucasion and he was Chinese, he figured that would be the thing that would make or break their relationship. When he told her this, he said that her face lit up and she said, 'Oh, that's not a problem, I'll just learn Chinese!' Learn Chinese? He said for the next couple of years she took classes and practiced hard so that now, when they are with his family, they can still speak primarily Chinese, which to that family is their 'love language'.

Love is pretty cool.

Thursday, June 03, 2004

I'm falling apart

My body is failing on me piece by piece. I shouldn't even be typing right now since I decided earlier this week that I wouldn't use the computer at night since I use it all day long. My wrists have been hurting me and my back has also been acting up on me. I came home for dinner tonight with my visiting aunt, uncles, and cousin and one of my uncles generously gave me an accupressure massage. Ahhh, all I need now is a hot cup of tea and my cozy bed to rest my weary body.

Saturday, May 29, 2004

The Little Things

I am a very sentimental person. It's the little things that make me happy. Despite being completely exhausted after coming home from a night out with friends, I stayed up until four in the morning going through my closet and sorting through some of the stuff I had stored in there.

I have a box where I keep all the notes,cards, and letters I have received over the years. While sorting through some of my boxes, I decided I would open up that box and read some of the things I had saved. Suddenly, I wasn't tired anymore. I read through some happy, sad, funny and all memorable notes from my loved ones and was filled with an amazing warmth. memories and milestones came flooding back.

In my box, I found a little fluorescent pink friendship ring that my friend had bought for 10 cents and given to me years ago. We had been so proud to wear those rings around and wore them everywhere we went for several weeks. I found a note written to me by one of my best friend's meant for me to read if I ever felt down telling me how much I meant to him. I also found a guitar pick that had fallen out of Bertrand's pocket on his first visit to Davis to see me before we started dating. I'm not really sure why I chose to save that at that time, but finding that little pick now has so much meaning and I am so thankful that I chose to hang on to that and put it into my special box. I've been having some restless nights of sleep lately but after going through that box of special memories last night, I had one of the most peaceful and rested nights of sleep in a long time.

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

I am not a good boycotter

After the travesty on American Idol when Jennifer Hudson got voted off, I started to have my doubts about watching the show anymore. But when my all time favorite (and local!) Bay area girl, Latoya London got voted off, I declared that I'd be on strike. No more American Idol for me. How could America vote for such terrible singers and let go of such talented people? Surely, I couldn't support this show by helping their ratings anymore. Tonight is the 2 hour season finale. I washed some dishes, cleaned my room, petted my dog...anything to not watch that show. But 8:15 rolled around, and my weakness took over and here I am remote control in hand waiting to see who the winner will be.

Monday, May 24, 2004

No, I am not winking at you

My face is itching me like crazy. A bug bit me right on the eyelid and the little bite is starting to swell up, probably from my constant scratching. I'm trying really hard not to scratch it but instead keep twitching my face. The thing with me and itching is, once it starts, I start to itch all over. Thank goodness for the Hydrocortizone in the medicine cabinet.

Saturday, May 22, 2004

Must be something in the air

This morning I was awakened by my cell phone to hear the news that yet another one of my "couple" friends got engaged last night. Within the past three days, I have heard the news of three engagements. One of the announcements was from a friend who we had seen just nine months ago and who was single at the time. Somewhere in that nine months he met someone, fell head over heels, and then proposed. Crazy. Last night a group of us went out last night for some late night food and drinks and were actually talking about how it felt like, everyone was suddenly getting married all at once. I guess the timing is just right. Little did we know that the reason one of the couples wasn't there was because they were in the middle of getting engaged themselves! Really, it must be something in the air.

Saturday, May 15, 2004

Born on the same day

Last night at dinner, there were a couple of other groups around our table with little kids. The table right across from us had two little girls about the same age doing little ballerina dances together. A lady at the table behind us started talking to the little girls and one of the fathers said, 'Yeah, they are best friends, born on the same day.' How cute is that. The parents of these two little girl appeared to be close friends too. I would love it if one of my close friends had a baby the same time I did, and if the kids ended up growing up as best friends. That would be so cute. But I guess being able to do something like that would take some planning, and that could get a little uncomfortable. Both couples would have to conceive a baby at the same time. Can you imagine calling your friend up and saying, "Ready? Go!" Yeah, that'd be a little weird.

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Midlife Crisis?

While filling up my car at the gas station today, I saw a black sports car pull up on the other side of the pump. Rap music was blasting from the speakers with the bass booming like crazy. As I was cleaning my windshield I was half expecting to see some young guy with baggy clothes to be on the other side (talk about stereotyping). Instead, when I went to put the pump back into the holder I looked right into the face of a fifty something year old man with a head full of white hair. I gave him a big smile and he smiled back while he did some head bopping.

Sunday, May 09, 2004

Pretty Blogger



Did you see the new Blogger? Blogger.com has a whole new look and added a ton of new features, just for you. In celebration, Kimbalina.com has also had a little makeover.

Friday, May 07, 2004

Start Posting Mister!

A year ago, I managed to talk Bertrand into starting his very own blog. Of course him being him, he didn't want to use any blogging service but instead wrote his own program to do it...all those 4 times he posted in an entire year.

Lessons learned

I've always been really close with my parents. I've always felt comfortable talking to them about almost everything. Through the years, my relationship with my parents has changed from being just a parent-child relationship, to a really close friendship. My friends have also found counsel in my parents. It's not a rare thing for me to come home and hear my mom talking on the phone with one of my friends, counseling them through their problems. Sometimes it's kind of weird thinking that I can share some of the stuff that I do with them. When I moved back home after graduation, we had a few rough months getting through the transition and re-adjusting to me being back in the house after being away for years. There were a couple of times when I was packed and ready to move out and start my apartment hunting. But things have settled down since then, we have reset our boundaries and things are working out really well.

In the past week, I have learned so much from my parents. As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes they just 'know' the right thing to say at the right time. Through the comfort and support that they showed us this week, I think that Bertrand and I have learned a lot from them as an example of love. Today is my mom's birthday and this Sunday is Mother's Day. This year, Mother's Day has even more meaning to me than it ever has before.

Thursday, May 06, 2004

Family Reunion

My family is having a big reunion to celebrate my Grandfather's 75th birthday this weekend. That means another trip to Southern California for me. Luckily I really enjoy driving otherwise commuting to work and as of lately, to L.A. would be pretty sucky. Family reunions are always fun although loud and a bit stressful. They have been the same as long as I can remember. My grandfather is on a 'fish only' diet, where the only type of animal flesh he eats is fish. As a result, when the family gets together, we all have this huge 'fishfest'. All of the aunts and uncles sit together at the dinner table while the rest of us, 90% of whom are over 20 sit at the kids' coffee table in the other room. One day when I'm married and have kids, I'll probably still be stuck at the kids' table. After dinner, everyone will gather together in the living room to either talk about who's getting married next, who's having kids next, or who is going to retire next. Let the interrogating begin!