this honeymoon will never end

Project 365: My 30th Year in Pictures

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:29:48 GMT

I turned 30 yesterday and I thought that it would be good for me to get back to livejournal-ing. It really does give me time to wind down if I do it in the evening and it gives my brain a good exercise when I do it in the morning. In addition, I wanted to embark on my on Project 365 where I take a picture of something everyday and post it. At the end of the year, I can look back at all 365 pictures and see, basically, a year in pictures.

I don't imagine that I will be able to stick with this everyday, but you know. It is always worth a shot.

I'll try to make my first real post today. I have a birthday party today. I should be able to get ONE good picture from that right!

Ciao!

april 2009 has been fun

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:35:03 GMT

april 2009 started off pretty crazy portion of my life. so much so, that i felt i was neglecting my home life a lot in the sense that i was always thinking about work. i worked on the hardest most emotionally, physically and mentally challenging event to date. in doing so though, i have become a little stronger. as they say, "problems are opportunities in disguise". and this event was definitely an opportunity to grow and learn things that i hadn't yet learned.

the day after the event, jay and i hosted an easter party at our house. thank heavens for jay as he took total charge of the food, while i dealt with the eggs and the dye and the candy and the dessert. jay also organized a short but fun and easy easter egg hunt for the kids who cam to the house in the park nearby. some old friend and some new friend participated and i think the kids had a lot of fun.

jay and i had a date night the second week of april. rupert was visiting from hawaii and we met up with my brother, julie and all of their friend at cleo's in san bruno. after, we went home and watched a movie from netflix. my kind of date night!

marissa was in town last week and last week proved to be the most busy of all. on monday i took the day off to hang out with marissa. in the day time, her mom, marissa and i went to visit a hotel so she could get an idea of what the cost of having a hotel wedding are. man i have so many ideas for her wedding, but that is so besides the point, cause its not my wedding LOL. in the evening, dez marissa and i had dinner at nama sushi in daly city. so yummy.

on tuesday we had dinner at the in-laws since mitz was also visiting. we also had dinner there the friday before and on that saturday, LOL. wednesday i had en event and that went like gravy

thursday night was THE night of awesomeness. awesomeness = the taste of a kamikaze according to andy. anyway, jay and i met up with andy, nique, mitz and the bongster at double dutch to kick of bong's 21 bday celebration with happy hour. it was all hella fun and i was all hella faded by 6:30 PM in the evening. by dinner at we be sushi i was okay, but bong wasn't. it was really fun though. i haven't really had that much fun or that TYPE of fun on a thursday night since i was in college! obviously, i slept really well. oh yeah joanna joined us midway.

friday we had dinner one last time at the in-law's house since mitz was leaving.

on saturday we went with the sotto's to the bay area discovery museum. it was a really cute place with a lot of attention grabbing things for nathan and sophia to do. and really, anything that grabs the attention of a toddler is okay by me. the ba discovery museum is also totally beautiful scenery wise and there is a lot of play area. we ended the date with the sotto's with lunch at brother's. it was so good.

we had lunch with my parents on sunday and spend the rest of the gorgeous day running errands around town.

i am fully enjoying this gorgeous california weather. nathan helped us wash the cars yesterday and he got a little carried away with the hose.

this post is a little scattered, but that is how i feel right now. everything is organized chaos right now. i just am trying to feel centered. may check out a dance class or two soon.

ciao.

new nest

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:00:59 GMT

a quick post: june offered so many things for my little family and my lovely friends. so much work and outside of work fun! i wish i had time to recount and i will! . . . eventually. the biggest news of july is that jay and i purchased our home (we closed in june) and we are now living in our new nest and we are in love with our home. our baby. our zeus. one another. and life.

challenges will always come. but we will always overcome them. as jdb says, you have to turn within.

happy birthday dez! dirty 30 . . flirty 30.

ciao.

a week from today. last thursday, was awesome.

Fri, 23 May 2008 04:14:57 GMT

last thursday, the lights in my neighborhood went out and it was still wonderfully warm at 8:00 PM at night. nathan was asleep and the air was still. jay and i opened all the windows and doors and sat on our "stoop" and listened to our neighbors in their homes. the windows were open, what can i say. the power didn't go on until we went to sleep. looking back on thursday makes me miss my neighborhood already.

most people in my live know already, but jay and i are going to be moving within the next two months. and my brain is unconciously trying to lock in all the memories that we have made in this house we live in now. every night when i come home and we go through our evening routine, i try and remember what i will miss most about this house and think how we would do the same routine in a different home.

it is gonna be strange, but its gonna be great.

ciao.

uhh!

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:25:08 GMT

i just finished cutting chayote in an effort to get ahead of the game for tomorrow's dinner. as a result, my fingers on my left hand feel very . . . uhh! so grody.

reality must set in.

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:52:24 GMT

today is my final day of my maternity leave and though i am not feeling much of anything (sad, happy, anxious, nervous) i do feel that in the past four months i have been able to do so much with nathan, witness so many of his firsts and allow him to get to know me better. i hope these past four month have impacted him so, so that when i pick him up every day from him PoPo house, he will smile his silly smirk and kick his legs in recognition of me.

these are the things i will always remember.

places that nathan and i have traveled to:
- target
- serramonte
- stonestown
- hillsdale
- burlingame avenue
- stanford
- downtown SF
- valleyfair and santana row
- trader joes
- lucky's
- starbucks
- westlake village
- lunch with my friends and jake

things nathan has learned to do:
- smile
- laugh
- mini push up during tummy time
- roll over back to front
- roll over front to back
- suck all his fingers
- suck just his baby thumb
- "coo" to get your attention
- nap longer (phew!)
- pull out his nuk nuk and put it back in his mouth
- hold his bottle for the early part of feeding
- grab his stinky little feet
- scream

things i will miss when i go back to work:
- him looking up at me after he is done eating and smiling with a milk mustache (i don't even know how you get a milk mustache when you BF)
- laughing when i give him rasberries
- being the first one he sees when he wakes up from a nap
- being the only one who can put him to sleep without rocking him

it is definitely gonna suck, but worth knowing that my income will give him a better life.

thank you daily candy.

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:03:22 GMT

thanks to daily candy weekly deal, i purchased my cute as a button pendant from white trash charms. i'm glad i waited!

What Do You Have To Say? - Music: My First Favorite Band

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:55:26 GMT

What was the first band you became a fan of?

Brought to you by HP | Contest | Vote for Winners!

View 500 Answers

same. NKOTB. i liked jonathan mcknight. i don't know why. NKOTB and the spice girls! i loved Posh Spice!

interviews kind of suck.

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:56:40 GMT

so we are basically interviewing for another admin. and the whole process just sucks. i feel like my director is so one track minded and only thinking about one sole aspect of a job that have dozens of aspects and requires more than just a pretty face and knowing when to put on the kid gloves.

but this time i'm not making the decision. the decision is all on her. both my coworker and i have valid reservations about the two we have interviewed so far. i don't know. i think i can deal with one more interview and that's about it. and really, i'm only going to recommend. i'm not making the decision.

ni hao kai-lan

Thu, 03 May 2007 20:33:48 GMT

suckered by a teeny bopper

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 16:04:49 GMT

so as i was saying in my last entry i went to stonestown to pick up lunch and to see if my shoes were available for pick up. while i was waiting round i saw this super obnoxious looking young lady, bangs in face with sunglasses on inside. i was annoyed with her cause she was tryning to use her boyfriend discount when the lady at the counter specifically told her that they have a stricter policy now. so anyway, i was staring at her purse. it was a beautiful tan color shuttle handbag. upon closer inspection, i realized it was a vintage dooney & bourke british tan shuttle bag. at first i thought it would be an awesome color for spring/summer. and it goes with everything.

so when i got home i went on ebay and i found a good amount of them. and they were cheap. like $35.00 cheap. upon more vigorous searching i found another vintage d&b all british tan doctor's satchel bag. and i fought hard for it! but i got it! and i am really happy with my purchase. i think this is my bag for the year. all this was spurned by that obnoxious taste who probably got her bag at crossroads . . . or her mom. either way. thanks kid!

the one i wanted and the one i ended up getting. i'm excited for it to arrive already.

on other news i've kinda been on an ebay kick. i hate it when this happens. it all started when i was able to get spring waltz for 20.00 on ebay. this series is new so it costs about $90.00 from a regular retailer. i was pretty happy. than i was able to score a really nice of dark brown leather boots for $21.99 and THAN! i found a free people shirt i wanted last year for 15.00. i need to quit it now before jay gets sick of bringing packages home.

Ciao!

a miracle in progress.

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 01:11:32 GMT

because everyone knows i'm a killjoy, jay and i scheduled an ultrasound to find out what gender this little person is inside of me. though i'm not ready to tell the world whether it is a boy or girl we are expecting, i really just wanted to tell you how beautiful this baby, and probably any baby is when you can see them in the womb.

my baby is no bigger than an avocado right now, but when we saw the baby on the screen during the ultrasound, it look like a full fledged person. it was waving it's little skinny arms around and kicking its little legs back and forth. SO CUTE!!!! our baby was also being a little modest and kept hiding it's genitalia from the radiologist, trying to close its legs or move its arm down. she has to rub my stomach a little before it finally resisted. it was one of the greatest 30 minutes i've ever experienced. and really you should have seen the smile on jay's face. . from ear to ear.

I'M TOO EXCITED! BABY COME NOW!!

anyway, this weekend was a little uneventful. on saturday, jackie and i worked until 1:00 pm. which to us, was great because it wasn't until 5:00. i was so tired by the time i got home. i just sat on my ass and read nineteen minutes by jodi picoult and finished it. by the time i was done, jay and i went to chinese new year party at my po po's house. not everyone was there, which kinda sucks cause it really, when my brother and i were their age, we were always all up in there, instead of hanging out with our friends. kids.

today we juts laid in bed for a really long time before readying ourselves to run our errands. jay took me to lunch at macaroni grill. i don't know wht i like that place so damn much. maybe its the ciabatta. then we went to our appointment. then we hit petsmart, target, bevmo and than finally albertsons. i'm about to cook dinner, but already have dusted around the house. i'm kinda tired. i could easily take a nap, but am debating.

time to cook dinner yo's!

CIAO.

We are back. And tired, too. Part I.

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:36:11 GMT

I have three days to write about but thought ii should unveil this anyhoot.

!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!

I am trying to work on a whole trip journal, as a made a rough outline of the days spent with Jason on vacation, but in the meantime and while I wait for pictures to download, I might as well update my livejournal. I have been sourly ignoring it for too long. With the hectic last few weeks of work and the packing all my energy was put towards something else. Now, with my week off, I can just chill and recapture all the memories we have made in Japan and share them with ya'll.

Let me start off by saying that Jason and I have always wanted to go to Japan. From the instant we meet, we would always talk about "when we go to Japan". Given that my work gives its employees two weeks off during the winter and Jay's flexible "take it when I need it" vacation, we thought that this would be the best time to go. Other factors were put into the decisions. One being that my coworkers, Jackie and Kim, all went to such fabulous places for vacay this year, Singapore/Bali and Europe, respectively, we just had to go somewhere! And finally, I wanted to prove to myself that Jay and I could actually do this. Not just talk about it, but actually do it and be a part of Japan for a few days. We only wish is was a few weeks.

Jay and I totally fell in love with the place. It's practicality amid technology, its order among the chaos, the modernity set upon the history. We often would say, how are we gonna get to stay longer, i know we will write an email to our parents and say, "We lost our passports, send Zeusy while we await a new one". That should buy us a few more days, right? So here goes:

day one: thursday, december 14
this technically was a travel day, but it was an adventure in itself. my mommy dropped us off at the airport and we proceeded to check in. if you ever travel to japan, try packing two giant hardshell luggages with four wheels. it may be big, but its easy to control and its hard so if you drop it (or if you bring fragile items home) it's all good. we flew northwest airlines and check in was all automated, even down to the scanning of the passport. it was fun. we then changed our USD to YEN and decided to have breakfast at lori's dinner before we hit the airplane.

jay and my seats were pretty cool. we were the last in the row, so we could recline without bothering people in back of us and there was tons of legroom. only thing is is that our seats where right next to the lavatories. awesomo. jay also bought food cause him and airplanes and airline food don't mix. i, on the other hand, love airline food. remember when they used to give you real silverware, but like mini? we got plastic, but the food was good. we were also able to watch movies, played games versus one another and trivia with the rest of the plan. the eleven hour trip seemed like forever, but finally we landed in Narita, Japan.

day two: friday, december 15
the first thing we noticed when we got off the plane, walked through the airport and waited in line at immigration was how quiet it was. there was tons of people! it was just really calm and silent. i was the loudest gal out there and jay kept having to tell me to be quiet. our first official order of business was turning in our rail pass voucher for the real deal. basically our japan rail pass entitled us to ride any JR Line train in Japan. this also included the Shinkansen or what we know it, the Bullet Train. i believe we used its worth within the three days we were in japan and definitely when we went to kyoto. it was a GodSent and it made using the train all the more easy. as i picked up the passes for use, the JR Representative also booked reserved seats for us on the Narita Express or N-'EX. a train which goes from Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of Narita Airport and stops at the Tokyo Station and Shinagawa Station where our hotel was.

even on the N-'EX, we got first rate treatment. a young lady walks a cart down the aisle carrying drinks, treats and dinners for people to buy. the trip was an hour total from the airport to Shinagawa.

when we got to Shinagawa, we were in for a big surprise. rush hours last from about 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm as people work late out of guilt, face, etc. and Shinagawa is a station that has most JR Line trains, subways, metros and even the Shinkansen coming and going from. we were hit with waves of beautifully dress men and women. the men in their suit and tie and burberry trench coats. the women in the skirts and shorts tights and boots and equally beautiful winter coats. luckily, i read the hotel address before had and remember that it what exit from the station we were supposed to take. we were checked in and floppin onto our bed in 1/2 an hour.

like everything in japan, our room at the shinagawa prince hotel was small, but only by American standards, we had a queens size bed, a heated mirror, a bidet and a hot water boiler and tea awaiting us. my cousin, cecilia was also there to great us. so after a quick lookover of ourselves, we went out to meet her.

all around shinagawa are companies and malls and restaurants. we chose to eat an udon house with shabu shabu. we skipped on the shabu shabu and ate udon. we were beat. jay was falling asleep walking home. we made plans to meet up with cecilia and her family in two days and we went back to the hotel to sleep.

day three: saturday, december 16
saturday morning brought us our first official trip onto the train. the main train is called the Yamanote Line and it connects most of the popular district of Tokyo. from our station, Shinagawa, we traveled 10 minutes to the Tokyo station. the cool thing about the trains Yamanote is that they tell you how many minutes it will take you to get from your station of origin to the next three stops. not only that, but they are super puntual and super dependable. however, if you dally around, the doors with open and close in your face so you gotta be quick about it.

tokyo station connected us the three sites we wanted to see: (1) the imperial palace (2) the Electric Town of Akihabara and (3) Ginza. the royal family still live in the imperial palace, but a lot of the area is wardened off for public viewings. for our first official japan sight, it was impressive. surrounded by a moat, the walls are built thick and sturdy. the walls are extremely smooth to the touch and the corners of very angular, surprising artsmanship for being built in 1659. because the temperature has been unusually warm for the season, a lot of the trees haven't turned yet, so we got some awesome shots of orange-red leaves juxtaposed against the greenery.

it took us about an hour to walk through, and we needed sustainence. at tokyo station, there is a mall and tons of restaurants. on area in particular is called kitchen street. we found an yummy donburi place (because the pictures looked yummy) and we were off on our very first japan dining experience. it was the freakin' best donburi i've ever had. jay has his usual egss and chicken and i had chicken. hella good. in restaurants, they don't have napkins. i guess japanese people eat carefully and cleanly. they do however, give you a hot towel to wipe your hands with first.

after lunch it was off to ginza where shopping designer wear and lesser brands is the key. but before that we stopped over at the Pokeman Centre. Pokeman is still really big in Japan and the store was crazy packed with kids. and all the kids had nintendo ds's. i was uber j.lous. i bought some notebooks and jay bought a squirtle for zeusy.

oh and the people are unbelievably dressed and everything is impeccable. seriously. they closed down the main street so you can walk freely. Ginza is made of 6 city blocks and very deep into the alleyways. they also have a huge sony building. i however, focused by attention of the most fun chanel christmas display. they used qee bears to present thier pieces and they had a xmas tree with chanel no. 5 perfumes atop it. using our shopping map, we found beams where i bought two dresses/tunics.

okay shopping in japan is difficult. not only it is really european, but a lot of stuff, like raymond beams stuff is one size fits all. i also bought a jacket from olive de olive from the oi young department store and that was one size fits all. if they do have sizes, its small, medium and free. i would say that the largest size is equivalent to a size 6 in womem's. maybe an 8.

our best find in Ginza was strawberry and red bean past filled mochi. freakin' delicouso! we bought half a dozen and ate them right when we got back to the hotel. i still think about them today.

our final stop of the day was akihabara. i will admit that little time was spent here. we took the wrong station exit and i was so tired (read: jet lagged) that i didn't have the patience to deal with the crowds and the heaters. we did stop in the really cool video game store where jay made the decision that he really wanted a psp. they had several different colors, all of which we do not have here. but he was smart and also decided that he wanted to buy it from the sony building so that the warranty would be direct.

we got back to the hotel at around 6:00 pm and i feel asleep and never woke up until the morning after.

day four: sunday, december 17
due to our early bedtime, we were up at 5:00 am. we decided to take our time and get ready, then head down to the yahoo! cafe to have breakfast. japanese breakfasts are cool in that you get tons of variety on a small plate. their american meal consided of a huge one inch thick piece of toast, eggs any way you want it, ham, two baby weinies, salad, fruit combo and a cup of tomatoe soup. they are huge portions mind you, but small ones where you never tired of the taste. well except the huge ass toast.

and hour later, we found ourselves meandering the streets of crea mall, an outdoor mall in Kawagoe. Kawagoe is the last stop on the JR Seibu Line and is a relatively quiet town. the appeal of the town however, makes itself known if you walk about ten minutes north from the station, over 2 dozen kurazukuri, fireproof buildings that housed shops still stand. before there were 200. after a quick cup of starbucks (they are everywhere), we met Cecilia, her husband Moto and their son, Jet at the station before the took us the the kurazukuri street (along Chui-dori). it was seriously amazing. a lot of the windows were charred from fires and the buildings were weather worn, but still, they stood there. it was a really cool town. we also stopped at an artist house so we can see the inside of a japanese house. there they served us green tea and red bean cookies. moto also took us to eat sushi at a restaurant in a kurazukuri where we sat on a tatami and ate.

we were kind of beat, so we made plans again, to have dinner with cecilia and moto, this time in tokyo, after we came back from kyoto.

on our way back, jay and i made a short stop at Shibuya. Shibuya is where the trendsetters roam. Have you ever seen the Japanese girl who is crazy tan with super bottle blonde hair with shorts up to here and a tube top? all those trends were set in Shibuya. the place is packed with mostly high rises, lights that would rival vegas and tons of people, pachinko and karaoke. we didn't stay long, cause it was kind of pointless once you realize what the place was all about. so we went to the hotel to rest.

after a quick rest and the body and the gams, jay and i went to Roppongi Hills. Before, it used to be a red light district, these days it is yet another uber trendy mall and catwalk for the fashionable japanese boys and girls. we went specifically to go to the cityview where we were able to see all of tokyo 360 degrees. it was massive!!!! the city. there was a special event going on at the museum that housed the city view so we left early and walked around Roppongi Hills for the rest of the evening. I also like to reminesce on this evening as the evening that I caught a cold.

day four: monday, december 18
monday we actually decided that we need to hanker down and buy some presents for people. first stop was tokyo dome and tokyo dome city home of the yumiuri giants. the stadium also is connected to a mall and hotsprings spa called la qua and an amusement park with a really scary roller coaster (we rode it) and tons of little arcades. our main stop was to do, a store that carried baseball paraphernalia for most of the teams in the japanese baseball league, mostly the giants. we bought a whole lotta stuff there. jay got himself a lot and i bought my brother a jersey for his birthday. who cares if we don't know who the best player is. the stuff is hot.

then we rode the rollercoaster that made my eyes water so bad it looked like i was crying. it was so fast, they made me take my headband off cause it might fly off. it was crazy.

then we were off to the infamous harajuku. jay thought it was extremely busy (because all roads lead to the train station), i however thought it was a tad overrated. but it was only because i thought there would tons of shopping to do and so many different people to see when in fact, it was all very tame. what got me excited was snoopyland, mono comme ca (where we bought many a gift) and a special beams store with custom tshirts. what we both found extremely disappointing was pharrell's billionaire boys club/ice cream shop store. i mean seriously. you make money how? hype? $150.00 tshirt that tells people its not about the money? weird. harajuku did house the bathing ape's various stores. BAPE is the epitome of underground wear. they had a baby bape (milo) store, a bapecuts (barber shop) a bapecafe (where we ate dinner) and a bape store (called fool's rush) where they carried everything BAPE, Milo and, guess what, BBC and Ice Cream. while pharrell's store only carried about ten products, this store carried everything! it was bananas. we bought about three tshirts.

it took us forever to find too. even with our superfuture maps. on the same street as BAPE and BBC are tons of sneaker stores that carry NIKE, from new, to limited to vintage. the tightest store was a vintage nike store that carried all vintage nike wear (even the rollerskates). but nothing was under $200.00. i was actually surprised they had so many as i had seen very few people sporting nikes like we do here. little by little i began to see how japanese hip hop is a little unlike american hip hop and underground stuff. it was not what i expected.

we walked to the borders of aoyama and omotosando (read more shopping) but decided to head back home because we were leaving for kyoto the next day.

day five: tuesday december 19
we had a 10:00 am bullet train on tuesday, so with our light bags packed we headed to the train station and boarded a Hikari Shinkansen, a limited bullet train which made a few stops on our way to kyoto. it was a two hour and some odd minutes to Kyoto and so we arrived at 12:30 pm. our first mission was to find our ryokan or japanese guesthouse. oh man it took us like 45 minutes seriously. even with people helping us. we were bunch of sad human beings when we finally saw Ryokan Shimizu in bright lights down a small alley. after we checked in, we had to kill time because our room would not be ready until 4:00 pm, so we went to eat at kyoto station a colossal modern structure that houses the train stations. we ate at some random curry place and then took the bus to the handicraft store to buy gifts. like the trains in tokyo, the kyoto bus system is puntual, reliable and easy to use.

we ended up buying the bulk of our gifts at the handicraft store in two hours. they had everything and everything was beautiful. too bad we are not much into japanese woodblock prints, we could have totally savored the prints. we just bought a whole lot of kokishi dolls. and cute paper mache dolls.

we finally made it back to ryokan shimizu, dolls in hand, to get into our room. it was pretty spaceous with two futon on the floor and the same amenities that shinagawa prince had, sans the heated mirror. since we had a limited amount of time, we decided to hit up shinbashi in gion. Gion is most known for being the quarter of the city for "flowers and willows" or geisha (artist) as we known them. Shinbashi is one of two streets that feature machiya, longe townhouses that are connected are 100 m deep. the restaurant we choice was on one such street and it was a shabu shabu parlor that featured japanese sage.

knowing that we were foriegners, they were so nice. jay and i have done shabu shabu a plenty, but we didn't know what to do with the sage, they prepared all our dips and told us in what order to cook the food and even did their best to communicate with us. i was ever grateful because we probably wouldn't have had that experience. that restaurant was by far best meal we had yet.

day six: wednesday december 20
since we only had one day in kyoto, we decide to get an early start with breakfast at 7:30 am provided by the inn. it was hella filling and really good. it had salmon and eggs and several other small bowls of food like mini shrimps, picked cucumbers, etc. we check out and headed for our first temple, Kimkaku-ji. it was first built to be a shogun's retirement villa. after he passed away, it was converted into a zen temple. it now houses a rebuilt golden pavilion, complete with gold leaved walls. it was an amazing site to see. the grounds are very unassuming and then once you turn a corner, the golden pavilion appears and it totally take your breath away. and the mirror lake really makes every picture you take of the pavilion professional.

our next stop, which we got lost going to, was the Ryoan-ji, Japan's most famoun Zen Garden, where you can sit for hours and contemplate what the formations symbolize. we didn't do all that, but it a curious thing to see. what did people really see in it?

our third stop was in the center of the city, Nijo-jo or Nijo castle. the castle housed two palaces inside, one was the alternate residence for a Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. this place was sick!! the wood floors were made of a certain kind of wood and put together a certain way so that when you walked across them, it would sound like birds singing. they were called Nightingale Floors and were used to warn when someone was coming. the walls and sliding doors were adorned with the most famous artists of 1600. we couldn't take pictures as the flash or any light might cause damage to the walls, but the place is pretty massive.

fushimi inari was my pick and we had to take the subway five minutes out to get to this shrine. it is amazing and very serene and beautiful. it was also feature in memoirs of a geisha. a long path is lined with large and medium size tori gates, breaking at clearings that hold smaller shrines that people can pray at. the walk from the station (it lets off right at the first tori gate of the shrine) to the top of the hill is a two hour walk. we didn't do it. but we did leave a prayer tablet at the shrine.

as most temples and shrines close at 4:30 pm during the winter, we half heartly made our way to kiyomizu-dera. it was a 15 minute walk up a ginormous hill and i was tired. it was already 4:00 and they usually stop selling tickets by then, so i jay and i pulled our the trusty guidebook and found that this particular temple didn't close until 6:00, so we continued our walk up the hill. From Kiyomizu-dera's wooden platforms, you get a beautiful picture of Kyoto. it is also called Kiyomizu becasue of the clear water well that was found on the premises. if you drink from it, all your ailments will be cured. i didn't drink from it cause of like parasites and stuff, but i pretended too!

after squeezing in five shrines/temples/castles in one day, we picked up our luggage, then some train food and headed back to tokyo on the bullet train.

guess what's in the box!

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 23:17:10 GMT

from the church billboard

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 16:22:01 GMT

going to stonestown: "do a good deed and tell no one about it".

me is now an us.

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 17:58:03 GMT

this past week, i've followed many on my peers in turning my journal into a friends only journal. i've been writing in livejournal since 2003 and have always wanted to keep it public and open. however, that was when only a few people read it and they were all people i knew and all people that i did not mind knowing. nowadays, there are people who read my journal, that i don't think i've even meet in my entire life. it is a weird feeling to share my everyday experiences, emotions, and sometimes inner thoughts with the public. of course that is too expected as the world wide web is just that, world wide.

but considering the fact that i am recently married and hope to start a family one day, "me" in now an "us". and while the "me" part of me doesn't mind being shared with the world, i now have to think about "us" and the privacy that we need to have, more so when we start our own family with a child. i don't want the first people to know certain things about my life the entire world, i want it to be my friends and family who read my journal, not to be curious but because they genuinely care about the goings ons in my life.

in past times, i've asked readers to at least let me know who you are so i would feel more comfortable sharing, but now one has, and by the looks of my site meter, they are from all over the country and at time in an entirely different one all together.

hope ya'll understand.

in the words of heidi klum Auf Wiedersehen.

01. Eyeliner or mascara? eyeliner. i don't always gotta rock mascara.

02. Louis vuttion or dooney & burke purse? i am so not a fan of the LV. i loves my Dooney & Burke satchel!

03. American eagle or hollister? ae. hollister is for kids in middle school.

04. Dolce and Gabanna or Louis Vuttion? i'm a chanel girl and that is simply because my mom is. no more explanation needed.

05. Skirts or pants? pants, until i get my legs back in shape.

06. Socks or leggings? neither du!

07. Hoodies or jackets? jackets. i'm not a hoodie wearing kind of gal

08. Heels or sneakers? ya'll now me! i'm a heels wearer FOR LIFE.

09. Straight or curly hair? straight. my hair is to asian for curly

10. Hoop or dangling earrings? danglies cause it slims my face.

11. Side bangs or one lengthed? side bangs cause my forehead is big and if its all one length than i look hella fobbed out jpop super kawaii.

12. Gemma ward or adrianna lima? i think adrianna lima is adorable.

13. White or black? white

14. victoria's secret or bath and body works? ummm. . .for like skin care stuff? neither

15. Smoothies or lattes? neither.

16. Diet or regular sodas? regular. although diet coke is actually quite tasty

17. Water or daquiris? water

18. Pearls or diamonds? why not both.

19. Vintage or boho? boho

20. Marykate or Ashley Olsen? i LOVES MK!!!!

22. Ipod or cell phone? neither i think both are the bane of human existence

23. Friends or family? family

24. Lip gloss or lip stick? lip gloss from benefit

25. Manicure or pedicures? both!

26. Mac or sephora? sephora

27. Tank tops or beaters? tank tops. my shoulders are too broad sometimes to sport just a beater.

28. tiffany's or chanel? you can't compare tiffany to chanel. that's kind of fucking wrong!

29. Love or peace? the opposite of war isn't peace. it's creation. *flashes peace sign*

30. Sunglasses or purses? sunglasses cause my eyes aren't used to not having them shielded . so i gotta wear that all the frickin time now.

X what you have:
[x] a computer.
[x] a cd player.
[x] a stereo.
[x]a spice girl cd.
[ ] a cosmo girl magazine.
[x] a cosmopolitan magazine.
[x] a teddy bear.
[ ] a build a bear.
[x] american eagle purse.
[ ] hollister jeans.
[ ] hollister skirt.
[ ] abercrombie skirt.
[x] a hot topic shirt.
[x]a cell phone.
[ ] an aeropostale shirt.
[] the mean girls dvd.
[x] a TV in my room.
[x] a big bed.
[x] a brother or sister.
[x]a pearl necklace.
[x] a book.
[x] a myspace.
[ ] curious perfume.
[ ] g-unit sneakers.
[x] a black shirt
[x] a black skirt
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