Feliz Cumpleaños~~
Here comes my Spanish b-day wish!

Happy Birthday Victor~~ =)
Victor is my dear cousin at Costa Rica.
He is the coolest cousin I have...wahahaha...He is going to be a dentist in the future to fix my teeth when I get old. =P

May His love be remembered in this Easter season~
Thank You Jesus for dying for us on the cross~

http://www.andiesisle.com/viadolorosa-highspeed.html

I was chatting with Lillian and we talked about the trip we had last year. I'd been to Solvang in March the past two years. Lots of sweet memories from there. It sure is a nice place to walk around.


Solvang in March 2004. My yummy handmade sushi. My hair was so long...

March 2004.

Famous Aebleskiver...yum~ March, 2003.

First time to Solvang, with Eva, ishyjo & fulankazu. March, 2003.

Take 1~ ishyjo's nap time...zzzzz

Take 2~ This looks sweeter...

Take 3~ My Pooh family...=)

Take 4~ One more snowy pooh! heehee

Eat. Eat. Eat...
I think I've been talking about foods too much this week but I love to EAT! For the past two weeks, I cut down my meal portions and tried to be a vegetarian. I did not touch any sweet or have late night snack. I tried to lose weight for the wedding I needed to attend last weekend. haha...Well, I lost 5 pounds. But I went back to my old eating habit again. That means I eat whatever I want without limitation, which is not a good sign~ =P

Last night, I stayed up until almost 3 am talking on the phone with Janice. Her wedding preparation made her really stressful and she needed inspiration!! As a graphic designer, she has extra pressure designing her own wedding. A lot of people are expecting to see something creative and unique from her. I told her that not everyone would appreciate her creativity and designs. Actually she made an invitation and showed us, our family members. The thing is my parents are more traditional and they want something more formal. They don't quite get the message and ideas of her design for the invitation. Oh well, not only that, my mom was talking about her own wedding back in...Um...1977. That was just too funny.

Next week is my spring break at work. It's nice that I don't have to work when students are on vacations. I should start planning what I want to do during the break.

I feel like blogging tonight. =) Maybe it's because I didn't get the chance to use computer that much recently and I didn't' blog at all for the entire week, or I am just too bored!

ishyjo and I bought the Entertainment Book and sometimes we use it to try out some restaurants that we've never been before. We went to "Sandra's Mexican Grill & Cantina" in Chino Hills back in February. The foods were very good and the service was great too. Speaking of having dinner with ishyjo, just two of us, we haven't gotten the chance to have dinner together for a month.

Last night we looked up the entertainment book and decided to have Brazilian bbq but when we got there, the restaurant was closed down. Then we called another Jamaican restaurant and it went out of business too. What's going on with the restaurants in Chino Hills?? Make sure you call before you go!! Finally we found another one in Chino called "Cannataro's." It's an Italian family restaurant.

ishyjo had Linguini Carbonara (chicken, bacon, mushroom, Alfredo) and I had Cannelloni (large pasta tubes stuffed with beef, Ricotta cheese, Romano cheese, topped with Marinara and Mozzarella then baked) along with garlic breads & salads. We also ordered a bowl of Italian Wedding soup.

Thanks hunnie~ =) for a fabulous Sunday!

We Will Dance

I've watched the sunrise in your eyes
And I've seen the tears fall like the rain
You've seen me fight, so brave and strong
And you've held my hand when I'm afraid
We've watched the seasons come and go
We'll see them come and go again
But in winter's chill or summer's breeze
One thing will not be changing

We will dance when the sun is shining
In the pouring rain we'll spin and we'll sway
And we will dance when the gentle breeze becomes a hurricane
The music will play and I'll take your hand and hold you close to me
And we will dance

Sometimes it's hard to hold you tight
And sometimes we feel so far apart
Sometimes we dance as one
And feel the beating of each other's heart
Some days the dance is slow and sweet
Some days we're bouncing off the walls
But no matter how this world may turn
Our love will keep us from falling

The music will play and I'll hold you close and I won't let go
Even when our steps grow weak and slow
Still I'll take your hand and hold you close to me
And we will dance
We will dance

-By Steven Curtis Chapman

(How did Will Chen get our photo of Derek & Connie?!)

Congratulations to the newlyweds, Derek & Connie~
Actually I don't really know them. I think I've only seen Derek twice before. I attended their wedding as ishyjo's guest. =) Their ceremony was very sweet and I had tears in my eyes a couple times...Very touching. Where there is love, there is the beauty of God. Best wishes on their marriage.

This afternoon, ishyjo took me to "Goldilocks," a Philippine food place. This was my first time there and I did not know how to order even after I read the menu. I looked around and noticed that at least one customer at each table had a purple drink. Since I was very curious about that purple stuff, we ordered one too. It's called "Halo Halo with Ice Cream." It has some beans, fruits, jellos, and shave ice on the bottom with a big scoop of purple ice cream on the top. The purple stuff is taro ice cream. haha, this reminds me of Joyce's blog on taro. I still like the 8-toppings shave ice at SinBala. =P A lot of people came in to have that Halo Halo. Amazing. Maybe it's something popular like Boba milk tea at the Chinese place.

I think we were the only non-Philippines there. We kept looking around to see what other people ordered. It was very funny that ishyjo ordered some interesting foods by pointing at other people's orders. heeehee =)
Lumpiang Shanghai: I guess this is the best food there. It's like the mini-sized egg rolls. Crunchy.
Barbecue Pork Skew: This tastes yummy too.
Fresh Lumpia: I don't' like the combination taste of sweet and salty. It's a crepe with different vegetables inside with garlic sauce and sweet peanut powder.
Ensaymada with Ube: Ube=Taro! Ube, what language is it? Well, we ordered this because we didn't know what Ube is. It's the purple yam, like the dark purple ice cream.

Happy Birthday Michelle~ =)

Will...You look awesome!

Janice, you are so beautiful~ =)

My dear sister, Janice, and brother-in-law, Will, are coming home tonight from San Francisco. They are coming back for their wedding photo shoot. My dear cousin, Erin, is coming here for her spring break from North Carolina. They will arrive at midnight at the same airport. Good. I don't have to go twice.

Humility. Gentleness. Patience. Forbearance.
I lack all of these. I need God's help.

Why is it so difficult to obey and follow God's Word?

"Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS~" This is the Bible verse I've heard countless times but I think it is impossible for me to do. Always means at all times. How can I be rejoiced in the Lord when I am angry, depressed, or frustrated... I think what I am saying is very discouraging.

Please remember me in your prayers.

Happy Birthday to Tim~ =)

Jack, Happy Birthday~ =)
Sorry, can't make it to your birthday party...Hope you'll have a great time~

I've known Jack for more than 10 years. It was when I first started high school in the United States. Wow, that was long time ago. In 2003, Jack was diagnosed with Wilson's Disease. He and his family have gone through a lot tough times through these years and we celebrated his birthday at the hospital last year. Thank God that he is getting much better now. I am really happy for him and I really treasure our friendship. =)

Jack's parents opened a restaurant called "HoHo Sandwiches" couple months ago. If you are interested & want to try out the BEST sandwiches, here is the location:

10053 Valley Blvd., Unit 8 El Monte, CA 91731

My heart was so touched by God at SOP WNW last night. Yes, I am His beloved child.

Often we wonder why God allows difficulties, hardships & challenges in our lives. God loves us and wants us to have a fun and enjoyable life. He is also more interested in developing our characters. And his tool of choice to mold us is using difficulties, hardships & challenges in our lives.

I learned to look at 3 ways how life challenges can build God's character into us:
* Challenges enlarge our capacity to trust in God
* Challenges reveal our true self to us
* Challenges teach us to live by grace, and not strive

When we face life challenges...
* Don't complain
* Don't say words of discouragement
* Don't ask why

Pray, and wait for God's action, preparation, & His presence. =)

I am amazed that there are so many languages in this world. I've learned about different names of the languages at work these couple days. I even looked up the dictionary to find out where those languages are from. These are the primary languages students speak at home. It's something new to me.

Bengali: The modern Indo-Aryan language of Bengal. Where is Bengal? Between Pakistan & India.

Somali: The Cushitic language of the Somali. Where is Somali? Region of east Ethiopia.

Tigrinya: A Semitic language of northern Ethiopia.

Croatian: A south Slavic language spoken by the Croatian people and distinct from Serbian chiefly in its use of the Latin alphabet.

Ilocano: The Austronesian language of the Ilocano people . Where is Ilocano? In Philippine.

Pashto: The Iranian language of the Pashtuns. Where is Pashtuns? Eastern and southern Afghanistan and adjacent parts of Pakistan.

January and February have come and gone so fast. It's hard to believe that now I am looking toward my spring break.