santa the cheer spreader

santa claus is coming came to town! what better way to start off the Christmas season than with a visit from old st nick himself! every year, santa and his sleigh drive up and down the streets to spread cheer around the city. it's a tradition sponsored by the torrance police officers association. i heard the announcement being called out over the police speakers while i was watching tv earlier.. so i grabbed my camera and then ran outside to see him. haha. i felt like a huge dork, especially since i was by myself while the rest of the people out there were with their kids. i guess santa didn't mind, though, 'cause he gave me a candy cane! woohoo! haha. yay.. it's the most wonderful time of the year!

jelleeh the house warmer

i had to drive out to cerritos tonight to drop something off for work, so to make the most of it, anthony and i decided to get some dinner out in that area. we ended up getting chicken flautas from taco san pedro! yum!! and since we were out in their hood, we asked jenn and mark if we could have dinner with them at their lovely new home! it was my first time being to their place, and i thought it was so cute! it totally suits them as a couple. they're not completely moved in yet, but i could already see both of their personalities represented through the few things that were on display. so of course, the place was lined with all kinds of cute things, including jenn's jelly donut pillow!

aww.. jelleeh and mesteeh are growing up! haha.

jose the pizza chef

tonight rianne and i drove out to bellflower to meet up with christine and jimmy at the pizzeria. jimmy and jose cooked us a pepperoni pizza, buffalo wings, and french fries for dinner. the three of us girls left to go to the cleanest store on earth (walmart) for a while and then met back up with jimmy after he closed the restaurant up. then the four of us headed over to guppy's in cerritos for dessert. while we were there, we asked each other really personal questions. i've always been dying to know their answers to the question, "what's your favorite color?" haha.

gribble the music teacher

happy black friday! instead of waking up early to go shopping, i slept the day away and caught up on some ZZZs! it felt wonderful. in the evening, rianne, anthony and i met up with his family for a peruvian dinner at el rocoto in gardena. food was good, but we were stuffed afterwards. after dinner, the three of us went to bed bath & beyond and old navy for a little shopping. then finally, we stopped by 7-11 on the way home for some hot chocolate and to rent a movie from Red Box. we didn't know what to rent, so rianne suggested the marc pease experience since she just read about it in an email. we knew nothing about it except that ben stiller was in it. when we got home, anthony looked up reviews and found that people were calling it the worst movie ever. he decided not to watch anymore. haha. rianne and i watched it anyway, and even though i don't think it was funny, i still thought it was an enjoyable movie. ben stiller's character is such a cheeseball.

andy the phrase catcher

happy thanksgiving!! anthony and i had a nice holiday. we celebrated with his side of the family first at the gilbertson residence in sylmar, and then ended it with my side at the rivera residence in anaheim hills. of course i wish we could have separate days for each family, but instead of feeling annoyed that we had to travel all over so-cal, i feel blessed and thankful that we have too much family instead of not enough! knawmean?! (=

so anyway, we played "catch phrase" at auntie bab's house and it was hilarious! since the words were "so small," none of the aunties/uncles could read the phrases that they were supposed to describe.. so the young person sitting next to them had to read it and then whisper it into their ears. andy was his dad's translator. haha. such a fun game!

queen-of-hearts the stress reliever

yay!!! after many headaches and sleepless nights, i am finally DONE with the busy work crunch that's been keeping me indoors for the past couple weeks. i still have a lot of work to do, but i met my deadlines for all the projects that were due today (including the most annoying project of the year). it was such a relieving feeling to drop the packages off at UPS. ahhhhh. i barely made it, too. i delivered the last package just 10 minutes before UPS closed. but really, i love the feeling of accomplishment. so anyway, to celebrate, anthony and i went to disneyland to meet up with his siblings and cousins. we went to CA adventure first 'cause i wanted to ride Toy Story Mania. that ride is so much fun! then after that park closed, we went over to disneyland to go on a few more rides. i had a good time. and with all that weight off my shoulders, i was very happy to be at the happiest place on earth. i love disneyland!

priscilla the violinist

it's always fun to get texts from priscilla. today, she texted to let me know that she learned how to play "jingle bells" on the violin. how cute! first the piano, now the violin.. what's next, silla?!

no other exciting news for today. again, i stayed home to work all day. i have several big projects due tomorrow. until then, all i can do is continue working. great.

hiro the time freezer

once again, i spent my whole day working. work work work. and just like last monday, the only break i took was when i watched heroes. sometimes i wish i could be like hiro. i am SO tired, and yet i can't stop working because i have to finish these darn projects. i wish i could freeze time so i could stop working for a while and insteadddd, do the things i feel like doing.. like sleep!

mommy the celebrant

happy birthday, mommy!!

i told you november was full of birthdays! to celebrate my mom's birthday, we had lunch at her favorite restaurant: hank's bistro in hawthorne. it's been a while since i last ate persian food. after lunch, we met back up at the carson house for dessert. rianne bought my mom a delicious fruit tart cake from king's hawaiian. so cute! and for more cuteness, priscilla joined us in singing the birthday song to my mom via speakerphone! (=

ricky the pillow

happy birthday, auntie!!

today was my auntie fely's birthday, so to celebrate, we bought a ridiculous amount of chicken wings/strips from wingstop and had ourselves a delicious dinner. after stuffing ourselves with chicken, we had some fresh baked cookies with vanilla ice cream. yummmmm! but anyway, since i haven't been at my parents' house as often as usual, meli has downgraded me and selected ricky as her new favorite human. haha. how cute.

geoff the go kart driver

anthony and i headed over to west covina tonight to meet up with carla and geoff for some good times. first, we had dinner at pondahan 'cause we were craving filipino food. it was good! and then after getting some boba, we went to speed zone so the boys could race on go karts while carla and i cheered them on in the bleachers. haha. geoff was not comfortable taking a picture by himself, so carla joined him in the shot. (=

thanks again for dinner, friends!

ramon the thanksgiver

today for lunch, i met up with my coworkers in laguna beach for our company thanksgiving celebration. we ate at las brisas which was a really nice restaurant that overlooks the ocean. i had a shrimp special and it was delicious. lovely place! so anyway, during our lunch, we heard announcements about how our company is growing. while a lot of our competitors our struggling right now, we are fortunate enough to be thrivin' and survivin' (lame, i know). we have a lot to be thankful for. go GPSI!

karen the vampire

so as you can tell from my messy hair and pale complexion, i am turning into a vampire. haha. i spent another entire day inside the house working. no sunlight for me.

by the way, i actually prefer working in the dark. when i used to work for the old company back in irvine, i shared an office with two guys and we always kept the lights on dim. one time, my friend walked in and turned the lights on and said she just wanted to see if we would get scared and scurry under our desks like cockroaches. haha!!!

'toine the manager

i was having a pretty horrible day. it started off with bad news that my niece caught the H1N1 virus. =( so along with all the things i have to do for work, i now have another thing to stress and worry about. so when i walked into subway to buy my lunch earlier, my mind was all over the place. i think the guy who was helping me could sense that i was not okay, so instead of asking me what i wanted to order, he just stood there and smiled at me with the cheesiest smile ever. haha. usually, that would either gross me out or piss me off, but today it was exactly what i needed. i instantly snapped out of my bad mood and ended up having a nice (though short) conversation with him. thanks, 'toine, for being the nicest subway manager i have ever met.

sylar the mind freak

i stayed home to work all day long. i never saw the sunlight. but at least anthony was home to keep me company. i'm gonna be super busy like this for a long time, too. what a life. the highlight of my day was watching heroes (even though i was still working while watching). i love sylar. he's great.

sheryll the mommy

i know it's kind of cheating that there are two people in this picture, but if you knew sheryll, you'd know that there is always a baby boy attached to her. hehe. she has three sons who are always trying to get her attention. so yeah, i think i have a good excuse. (= so anyway, we had lunch at back home in lahaina earlier right before the minnesotans had to go to the airport for their flight back home. aww. their visit went by pretty quick, but i'm glad we got to spend time with them. after saying our goodbyes, anthony, venus, grace, and i went to magic mountain to meet up with the rest of chad's birthday celebrants. i only went on three rides (jet stream, ninja, and colossus), but that was good enough for me. i'm getting old! roller coasters are not exactly my cup of tea anymore. =P

uncle leo the construction worker

today was priscilla's big mad hatter birthday party! we asked the guests to wear their "maddest" hats, so we were happy to see all the funny things people showed up in. overall it was a fun party. i was distracted 75% of the time due to an emergency (which i will not state.. i am trying to stay positive here). but other than that i think we all had a good time. the rowdiest moment of the night was during the pacquiao fight. haha! it was hilarious to see everyone's reactions whenever he would throw a good punch. (=

kai the cousin

happy 10th birthday, priscilla!! after spending the day at california adventure with her cousin, kai, priscilla came home around dinner time for some filipino food and a cupcake decorating party! each family member had to design their own cupcake. i was clearly the winner. haha, jk! (or am i?) after the cupcakes, we stayed up late cleaning and decorating for tomorrow's party. the decorations turned out super cute! i am excited!

jenny the french maid

i woke up a little later than usual today 'cause i stayed up late last night making a birthday cake hat with priscilla. the only reason i ended up getting out of bed was because silla told me she was bored. haha. after working for a few hours, the two of us headed out to culver city because i wanted to bring her to the "three apples" hello kitty exhibit at royal-t before she went back home. it's probably not a good idea that i keep encouraging all these little girls to like hello kitty. i feel like i am creating monsters. haha! after spending the day with priscilla, i spent the evening hanging out with serena. her parents took a night off from baby duty tonight. i didn't mind at all!

auntie au the traveler

it's wednesday night, and just like old times, priscilla and i are having a sleepover! before coming to my house, though, we did other fun stuff. first, we had dinner with venus, grace, and chad at blenders. when we got back home to my parents' house, she, rianne, my mom, and i started making decorations for the big party coming up in a few days. we made pom pom flowers out of tissue paper. they turned out super cute. then right before we left to come to my house, my mom picked my auntie au up from the airport. auntie au works for united airlines, and since she missed her flight from vegas back to her home in chicago, she decided to head to LA instead to spend the night. what a jetsetter.

albert the pin trader

happy birthday, chad! we celebrated chad's birthday the same way we celebrated mine.. disneyland and guppys! anthony actually forgot to bring his annual pass today, but thankfully they gave him a courtesy pass which allowed him to get in without it. after getting into the park, we only had about an hour left before it was going to close, so luckily our friends let us join them in line for the matterhorn. i felt like everyone in line behind us was mad that we cut, but the worker didn't seem to care, so i guess that's good. haha. after matterhorn, we said bye to our friends and then then anthony, his siblings, and i went to ride alice in wonderland. cute! we pin traded for a short while after that, and then headed to guppys to meet up with the rest of the family for dinner. hope you had a happy birthday, chad!

serena the cupcake

yay! the minnesotans arrived for their mini california vacation today! woohoo! we celebrated their arrival with a taco party. everyone loves my mom's tacos. after eating, priscilla and i made a quick trip to blenders because she's been craving it ever since she moved to minnesota! when we got back home, i was excited to see serena try on the cupcake hat that i bought her for priscilla's mad hatter party this saturday. i think she looks adorable in it. don't you agree?! i also like how she is semi-winking in this picture. (=

p.s. you can buy a cupcake hat here.

emilie the funny talker

november is full of birthdays! today we celebrated eanna's birthday at the mejia's favorite restaurant.. sam woo! anthony typically does not care for chinese food, but he loves going there 'cause of their house special beef (or as emilie likes to call it: house special bip). she's so silly! after dinner, we went across the street to guppy's for dessert. i am going to overdose on that place pretty soon. too! much! brick! toast!

lucille the mother-to-be

what a busy day!! anthony and i started our day off bright and early at st. philomena to commemorate his uncle's 1 year death anniversary. after mass, we joined the rest of the family for breakfast at manila sunrise, and then i went to meet up with rianne. she took me to get a pedicure for my birthday present! now my toes are lovely. haha. after rianne dropped me off back at home, i took a nap for a while and then woke up shortly before mark, jenn, and john stopped by. good thing they came over, 'cause otherwise i probably would've slept the day away! later in the evening, anthony and i went to lucille's sport-themed baby shower. lucille has always been super petite, so i guess i should not be surprised at how incredibly small she still is. but seriously.. it looked like she was just hiding a cantaloupe under her sweater. haha. after the shower, we picked up jenn, and then she and i went out to royal-t in culver city to check out the hello kitty exhibit again. it was pretty crowded there, but we were still able to see most of the artwork. we stopped to get some boba on the way home, and then after dropping her off, i went to wingstop to buy some lemon pepper wings. the guy who worked there laughed when he saw my hello kitty ring and wallet. good thing he was unaware of the fact that i just got back from the biggest hello kitty party ever!

wow.. who actually cares to know this many details about my day? haha.

marcelo the waiter

tonight we had our fifth and final birthday dinner.. this time with our friends at el pollo inka! our server was so polite and patient, even though there were 19 people in our party. the funniest thing i remember about dinner was when the live band played "jingle bells." we all clapped and cheered for them when the song was done, and the lead guy had the proudest, happiest look on his face. it was so cute! after dinner, half of us came back to our house to hang out some more. ricky and i tried to make pizookies for everyone, but for some reason, the cookies and brownies came out completely burned!!! they were like charcoal. yikes! and even though the whole house smelled like a bonfire after that, i still had lots of fun playing "catch phrase" with everyone. we probably kept our neighbors awake with all the shouting that was going on. haha! fun stuff!

thank you, friends, for coming out to celebrate with us! you guys/gals are the best! (=

yosh the friend of a friend

isn't funny how you can know so much about someone, and even feel like you know them on a personal level, when in reality you've never met the person? haha. that's how i feel about a lot of my friends' coworkers who i always hear stories about. i actually have met yosh (anthony's ex-coworker) a couple times, but never chatted with him long enough to know all the things i know about him. haha. i just think that's funny. i'm actually really close to all of my coworkers, so i know all of their families, but i wonder if any other random people know all kinds of things about me! anywho, anthony just switched over to t-mobile, which means he now has unlimited text messaging. he used to get mad whenever someone would send him a picture text 'cause it would cost him 50 cents. but now he can send and receive all the pictures/texts he wants.. so text away! this is what he sent me earlier while he was having dinner with yosh. haha.

p.s. yosh's name is actually steve. there's another example of me acting like i'm close to the guy. i refer to him by his nickname, even though only his close friends call him that! (=

david the warrior

we had our fourth birthday dinner tonight! this time, we ate at olive garden with my family. love that place! i always want to eat there on my birthday, but we always end up eating next door because nobody ever wants to wait for a table. but this year, my parents promised that we would wait no matter how long it took. luckily, we got seated right away! i was supposed to ask our waitress to pose for today's picture, but she was busy helping other servers when we were leaving. so instead, i took a picture of the great king david. and right before i snapped the shot, my mom decided to pick his nose. haha.

buzz lightyear the gentleman

it's my birthday! we celebrated this great occasion by going to disneyland for the second day in a row. and this time, chad came along to join the party. we rode indiana jones and buzz lightyear. mr. lightyear was quite the gentleman! when i was taking his picture, i noticed that he would stop to pose whenever my camera's flash was pointed at him. haha. i did it three times, and he stood still for the picture each time. what a nice guy! =) so anyway, after disneyland, we went to guppys for dinner. i felt like eating soup, but the soup i got there was super weird. it wasn't even soupy.. it was thick and gooey. yikes. at least the shaved ice was good.

ursula the villain

happy birthday, anthony!

i woke up super early this morning because i had to bring toni to the greyhound station in LA. she slept over last night, and we tried to stay up all night to chat, but toni ended up sleep talking instead. haha. i realized that she was not making sense anymore, so i told her to just go to sleep. =P

but anyway, we celebrated anthony's birthday by going to disneyland with venus and grace. the park only stayed open 'til 8:00 tonight, so we only got to ride buzz lightyear and big thunder mountain. we spent the rest of the time pin trading! it is SO much fun. i love it. but what i did NOT love was when one of the ladies working there rejected me when i asked if i could take her picture for today's post. haha. oh well. after leaving disneyland, we went to have dinner at cpk. i had a fun night. hopefully the birthday boy did, too!

uncle edmund the mochi dropper

anthony and i went to dinner at furaibo with his family tonight to celebrate our upcoming birthdays. we had so much food! and even though uncle edmund was stuffed from dinner, he was still excited to have some mochi ice cream for dessert. but one second before it went into his mouth, his arm was bumped and the mochi fell straight onto the floor. hahaha! it was so sad but so funny. so anyway, anthony and i both got cool presents! i got lots of hello kitty stuff and lots of disney pins for my soon-to-be pin trading hobby at disneyland. yay!