one mile

anthony and i went to wilson park tonight to run one measly mile. haha. i've been meaning to start exercising regularly again, so anthony suggested just one mile to start it off. i was pooped. haha. how pathetic.

doing work

we FINALLY started reinstalling the floors in anthony's spare room. halfway there!

peru

my cousin, mark, emailed me and rianne a few weeks ago to tell us that one of his best friends from peru was going to be moving to torrance! tonight we met the peruvian, ryan, at our favorite peruvian restaurant. we took this picture to make mark jealous. haha.

chinatown

the three amigos had dinner in chinatown tonight. as usual, we ordered waaaaay too much food to feed just the three of us. we have enough leftovers to feed our entire families. haha. after dinner, we walked across the street to take pictures like tourists. (=

club nguyen

we had plans to spend our evening at marquee. after dressing up, rushing to the cosmopolitain, trying to find each other, trying to find the correct line to stand in, and then standing in line for an hour.. we ended up NOT going into the club and instead just went back to our hotel to hang out there. i don't regret any of it. we had a funny adventure at the cosmo, and then had lots of fun laughing back at the hotel. it was a very fun night.

m buffet

we went to the m resort this afternoon to have an early lunch/late dinner at their delicious buffet! we initially thought the buffet didn't open until 4:00, and since we got there at 2:30 we all went to the snack bar to eat a small lunch to keep our stomachs satisfied while we waited. right after ordering our food, though, we found out the buffet actually opened at 2:30! haha woops! an hour and a half later, after gambling a bit (anthony lost $10), we finally chowed down. it was so good!

walking the strip

hello from las vegas! after sitting in the car for four hours, eva, jeric, anthony, and i went straight to planet hollywood to meet up with everyone else. we gambled a bit. i lost $21 to the slots. that's $1 over my limit. doh! haha. we also walked the strip. tonight was pretty chill, but still fun.

messy bed

look at my bed. do you do this, too, when you're trying to decide what to wear? haha.

p.s. i should have just cut out my face entirely. haha. yikes.

curry and froyo

it's been a while since venus and i have hung out, so i was looking forward to seeing her tonight. we had dinner at curry house and then got dessert at pinkberry, of course!

mirror

rianne let me borrow a bunch of dresses for an upcoming trip to las vegas. i can never make a decision on my own, so i took pictures of each dress and sent them to jenn to seek her advice. haha.

bomball

mike is leaving me.. again! this time, he's moving to the big apple to start his new gig at the college center of a catholic high school in the city. sounds exciting! i've been wanting to try bomball since i found it on yelp last week when i was looking for a boba place that stays open late. it was perfect for tonight since the two of us met up after dinner. boba was meh. haha. next time i'll try the bomballs. but anyway, i'm excited for mike and his new endeavor.

happy hour

the girls and i had dinner at gyu kaku. it's happy hour all day on mondays! good company and delicious, cheap food. what more could i ask for?

carla's hood

i drove out to carla's hood today to spend the afternoon with her. we had lunch at the creperie in chino hills and then she took me to hacienda's new bakery, 85C. that place was poppin'! i had a lot of fun catching up with her and filling each other in on everything that's gone on since last time. haha. love that girl!! (=

comedy show

gen invited us all to the brea improv tonight to watch the filipino kings of comedy. we found it funny that after the show, it was mostly the non-filipinos who were excited about talking to the so-called kings. haha. the show was pretty funny, though. good times!

brunch

when gennie found out i was going to be husbandless for the weekend, she also offered to keep me company! i met up with her this afternoon before she went to work. we had brunch at the loft and then got boba from yami. yami in my tami! haha.

husband-free

since anthony and his biking buddies are spending the weekend in mammoth, jenn invited me over so i wouldn't have to spend the night home alone. jonah, mike, and the kiddies also hung out for a while. this is what we did all night. sike!

thursday with j&m

anthony and i had another thursday night double date with jenn and mark. after having dinner at kotosh, the boys went bowling while jenn and i stayed home to do what we do best.. chit chat! haha. we could talk forever.

good morning

uncle tony and i got up early this morning so we could hang out with the minnesotans before going to work. they flew back home this afternoon. next time we see them, they'll be a family of 5! wow!

pusoy dos expert

since it's the minnesotans' last night in LA, we all went straight to carson after work to hang out. serena is so funny and full of energy. while us older kids played a few rounds of pusoy dos, she observed and decided she wanted her own turn. sooo, when all eyes were on her, she threw all her cards into the middle and yelled out, "ohhhhhh!" hahaha. funny!

photo opt

before saying bye and heading home in all different directions, we decided to do a photo shoot since it's quite rare for all of us to be together, let alone in such a beautiful estate home. we took over 10 shots in each of the three different locations around the front of the house. haha. overall, cousin weekend was a success!

the sign

losing a pet is tough. i remember a few years back when bentley (my sister's bulldog) died, i was a wreck and told myself i never wanted to go through that again. pets are such a blessing, but the pain that comes with losing one is quite a heavy price to pay. i know that death is inevitable, but i am just not good at dealing with it. i dreaded the fact that someday i'd have to go through the same pain when it was meli's turn. i am not sure why i am writing this, because i'm still not exactly ready to talk about it. but maybe just saying the stuff out loud (or in writing) instead of trying to bury these feelings deep inside will help me deal.

so anyway, the other night when meli passed, i prayed for a sign that meli was up in heaven. i know its a controversial subject, but in my heart i truly believe that God allows such sweet souls to join Him up there. it may sound silly to you, or even a little immature, but that's what my heart tells me. so i prayed with all my heart for a sign that meli was up in heaven. i needed to know that she was up there with Him, and that she was happy again and not in pain anymore.

the day after bentley died, i was leaving work and started crying as soon as i walked out the door to go to my car. right then, a giant butterfly flew in front of me and i took it as a sign that bentley was up in heaven with my grandma, who just passed a month before. my grandma was such a lovely lady. she would always write me and my sisters letters and decorate the envelopes with stickers of flowers and butterflies. anytime i see a butterfly, i think of her. losing her was also super rough, and until now i don't think i've properly dealt with the pain. i never like to talk about these things, and instead the sad feelings come back to haunt me every now and then. but seeing the butterfly that day gave me peace that my grandma greeted bentley as soon as he got to heaven.

today while i was sitting by the jacuzzi, two baby butterflies (like the ones in this picture) came flying across the pool and tried to land directly on my leg. i shoo'd them away before realizing that they were actually butterflies. right at that moment, i knew God was finally answering my prayer. i take those two baby butterflies as a sign that meli and bentley are reunited along with all my loved ones up in heaven.

i write this with tears streaming down my face, but with a joyful heart that they are all up in heaven, free from pain. thank you, God, for blessing 12 years of my life with my sweet meli. i miss her tremendously.

rimando reunion

here's a group shot of everyone who attended our rimando family reunion. my parents, christine's parents, grandma, and auntie fely all drove out today to see all the out-of-towners, hang out, and help us cook. good times with the family!

sitting poolside

today after work we drove out to temecula for the long-awaited cousin reunion. cousins from minneapolis, sacramento, san diego, oceanside, anaheim, and torrance are all gathered under one roof. we've rented out a HUGE house with a huge yard. we've read online that people even rent this house out for their weddings! so fancy! tonight was pretty chill. we hung out by the pool and sat around to talk and listen to jokes. yay for cousin day!

nieces

as you can imagine, it's been a pretty melancholy day. i was super tired all day long because i wasn't able to sleep at all last night. i have to keep myself busy to avoid just crying my eyes out. the convention for work was a good distraction. i went to visit my family afterwards to distract myself some more. thankfully, these cuties were there.

cal con expo

one of the reasons i've been so busy at work lately is 'cause i've been preparing for the California Construction Expo that our company went to today at the pasadena convention center. we are trying to expand and reach out for new business opportunities, and luckily we were the only "aerial survey and mapping" company there. i'm proabably biased, but i honestly thought our booth had the most interesting things to look at. we actually had a constant flow of people who were interested in seeing our stuff. woohoo. go GPSi!

happy memories

rest in peace, my sweet. i will love you forever.

weena

woohoo! jennifer, ryan, and serena flew in from minnesota today! serena was excited to see everyone! she yelled, "hi ten!!!!" and ran to give me a hug as soon as i walked in the front door. i still can't get over what a cutie she is!

fresh baked cookies

we had a sleepover tonight! while chad played video games, the girls and i did our nails and ate chocolate chip cookies in the middle of the night! haha. i'm such a responsible guardian.

vampire teeth

since i stayed home with a headache all day long, i'll just show you a picture of the caricature we got from sebastian's party yesterday. i know mine does not really look like me, but i think he did a great job on anthony. everyone at the party recognized anthony's drawing right away. we were actually only the second couple to pose for the artist, and he did really well on the rest of the caricatures after he was more settled in. i still like it, though.. vampire teeth and all. haha!

sebastian's party

today we drove out to anaheim hills for sebastian's first birthday party! he was sleeping during a lot of his party. haha. there was a giant jumper with a slide, a caricaturist, and lots of food! yay, ian!

kevin's 30th

today we went to rowland heights for kevin's 30th birthday celebration! we had tons of seafood for dinner at the shack, shaved yogurt for dessert at class 302, and then just hung out at banana bay afterwards. happy birthday, kevin!

stress relief

anthony's been wanting to try this lebanese restaurant in torrance called aristo cafe, and even though i got there late because i was stuck at the office, we finally went for dinner tonight along with jenn and mark. the food ended up being good and i really want to take my parents there. (mommy and daddy.. when do you want to go?!) i've been so busy with work lately so i really enjoyed just hanging out with them and not having to think about my job. after dinner, mark and anthony went bowling while jenn and i stayed home to chat. she and i could chat forever!! in this picture we are "hiding" from the boys like we do everytime they walk into the house. haha. what's funny is that we were both still smiling for the camera even though our faces were covered. =P

no worries

clearly i did nothing worth mentioning today.

gotham city

for sebastian's upcoming batman-themed birthday party, christine asked me to create a gotham city backdrop. two twin sheets, one piece of yellow felt, 8 sticks of hot glue, and about three hours later, this is what i came up with.

baby doll

jennifer sent me this text today. which doll is the cutest?