Where did the weekend go??

the weekend went to SCHOOL, JANICE, DISNEYLAND, and MONOPOLY, DISNEY EDITION (of course). but it was WAY too short. almost got to meet up with glo & mike at dland but the weather was painfully hot (definitely not within my 65-75 degree range) so they resorted to yogurtland. GOOD CHOICE.  but dino and i spent a good couple hours there and had fun. side note to glo: we totally found your little fun photo spot at grizzly river run. HILARIOUS. we were cracking up forever.

janice’s bday party….pictures to follow. enough said. good times.  HAPPY MARCH 20th BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE MAAAN JANICE!

apparently i took a blog vacation and completely skipped 4 days….which means…i had to think of FORTY life appreciations for my assignment!… i did it over the course of today and it was a bit easier than i thought. granted, i had to keep checking my previous blogs to see if i repeated anything (i don’t have bad short term memory, i don’t have ANY short term  memory). i know some of my items are starting to sound pretty lame and desperate but hey, almost done with the assignment and it’s been a good exercise for me.

FORTY (count em! 40!) things i appreciate in life (in no particular order): Day 10, 11, 12, 13 

1.    Clean bathrooms

2.    How trash is never on the ground longer than 5 minutes at Disneyland

3.    That dino has similar family values as I do

4.    How America is very focused on making everything handicapped accessible.

5.    Seeing-eye dogs

6.    That I speak English fluently

7.    Good customer service

8.    Clearance sales

9.    Lifetime warranties

10.    When pam waits to watch a show we DVRed with me

11.    When my parents trust my judgment

12.    When my parents get along

13.    When I get a chance to really sit down and talk with my brother.

14.    When people know their drinking limits

15.    That dino doesn’t get mad when I call him too late

16.    Snowy mountains and beautiful beaches are both within driving distance

17.    That I always have a friend I can count on in rough times

18.    That my parents’ house is always welcoming

19.    Reusable bags

20.    The effort that dino’s parents make to get to know me better

21.     metaphoric stories with moral endings

22.     reality television (ah, the guilty pleasures in my life)

23.     inside jokes I will always laugh to with my friends

24.     that my roommate has a creative imagination

25.     people who understand sarcasm

26.     restaurants that stay open late

27.     microwaves

28.     that pam’s parents bought this condo near school for us to rent out

29.     pam’s dad’s home cooking!

30.     That I can text pam’s mom and she texts back

31.     romantic comedy movies

32.     that I can actually get a lot of studying done at libraries

33.     when professors don’t require expensive textbooks

34.     that my parents took us on family trips to every tourist attraction in America

35.     that pam drags me to the gym even though I HATE IT.

36.     That Janice and I are really close again.

37.     That sitting in the sauna burns more calories than 30 minutes of cardio

38.    the alarm system for my condo

39.    digital video recording

40.    free blog-hosting websites

Purpose

as grad school comes to a close i must admit, it’s totally freaking me out. being in grad school for the past 3 years has given me this sense of purpose, as if i was moving in a forward direction towards my “career goals” and all that blah blah but now that it’s coming to an end in exactly 2 months, i’ve been feeling a little uneasy about moving on into the working world without my little cushion of “purposeful comfort”. but today at work, i saw a little shed of light, when my boss told me that she actually submitted a marketing report that i’ve been playing with for about two weeks to the chief marketing officer. despite the fact that i shit in my pants, she told me that he actually thought the reports were helpful and definitely something he can use in his annual report and told her that i should continue to manage that report for future company use. OMG what a freakin moment of relief! i know it was probably such a trivial comment coming from the CMO but to my newbie professional life, it was completely awesome! it really gave me hope, a little confidence, and perhaps a new sense of purpose…yay.

10 things i appreciate in life: Day 9

1 – When you let truck drivers in your lane on the freeway and they signal a thank you with their blinkers.

2 – Listening to other people tell me stories

3 – When I’m able to help someone solve a problem

4 – Scenic views along california’s coastline

5 – Times when all 5 of the girls (including me) can meet up for lunch/dinner with our busy schedules.

6 – Large parking spaces

7 – Clean beaches

8 – Well-lit neighborhoods

9 – E-mail

10 – Traffic-free roads

Finally a Grad Student…

so, i decided to take this intensive course during my spring break that i’ve been bitching about forever and i have to say, half way through, it’s probably one of the best decisions i’ve made in my grad school career! this is the third class i’ve had with this particular professor (she’s the marketing chair so i need to milk out as many marketing classes i can) and it’s cool cause she finally remembers my name now without my damn name tag. all through grad school i’ve been the BEST wallflower, managed to get away with MINIMAL class participation, and was lucky enough to be part of the best teams for group work. for the first time, i finally feel like i “belong” in this class, i’m not afraid to answer discussion questions and represent my group and speak up in class. i know this seems pretty lame and blah blah but it’s such an amazing feeling for me. i’ve always been intimidated in class and now i look forward to it! and the best part is that after one week, it’s OVER! 17 weeks of class rolled into 6 days and it’s done! and the prof is so cool she lets us out super early cause 6 straight hours of class is just “too much,” even for her. i love it! it’s a shame that i finally became a grad student during my last grad school class ever. but it feels awesome.

twenty things i appreciate in life (in no particular order):

1 – When professors are passionate about what they teach

2 – My roommates’ blogs (ditto from Jeymi’s list)

3 – Fabric softener

4 – When Dino tells me the good and bad stuff about his day

5 – Lunch hour

6 – Calculators

7 – News radio

8 – Sigalert.com

9 – Cold drinking water

10 – Antibacterial soap

11 – Apple brand products

12 – Midweek date nights

13 – Weather between 65 and 75 degrees

14 – People that don’t litter

15 – Carpool lanes

16 – that Dino and I both love sports

17 – Hugs

18 – Chapstick

19 – Air conditioning

20 – Teamwork

Quickie!

Aww man! i JUST missed the midnight cutoff to post “yesterday” and I just spent forever trying to come up with 20 (again) appreciatives and now, technically, i’m supposed to come up with 30!…but i’m sleepy dammit so here it goes:

twenty things i appreciate in life (in no particular order): Day 5 & 6

1 – When teachers remember my name

2 – Thai traditions

3 – When my first and last names are pronounced correctly

4 – Good service

5 – Nice people

6 – Good communication skills

7 – Patient people

8 – Bluetooth technology (when it works)

9- Common courtesy

10 – My strict parents (ironic, but true)

11 – Home-cooked meals

12 – Participative management

13 – My computer

14 – My cell phone (I’m getting desperate)

15 – Warm hoodies

16 – When traffic yields to ambulance sirens

17 – Greeting cards

18 – Good movies

19 – Holidays

20 – Happiness

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER JADE!!!!!

Black and White!!!

last night pam, dino, and i met up with my friends from riverside at Medieval Times in Buena Park. I had so much fun and learned the hard way that mixed drinks: NOT the way to go for me….ugh. i felt soooo sick. after 3 “maiden’s kisses” we were freakin GONE. i remember cheering for our knight, the black and white knight, and the dumb bastard was the first to die!!! we had the BEST cheering section too, complete with standing, screaming, cheering, booing, and miscellaneous chinese girl that paid way too much for her royal section flag!! but, we lost. i think there was more excitement going on in the ladies restroom during our bathroom break. but i had a blast. and it’s always great seeing my friends from riverside. i love them so much. despite the fact that i haven’t had a chance to really hang out with them this semester, they’re still the most awesome friends that keep me laughing and give the BEST hugs in the world. can’t wait for a sushi night sometime soon…pictures to follow shortly.

posting this on a saturday night when i should be pretending to study for my class on monday DURING MY SPRING BREAK. so i guess ill keep it short. and why lie, im going to read everyone else’s blog, chat with pam, call dino, myspace stalk, watch tv, and eat something i shouldn’t in the kitchen before i even open my book tonight.

twenty things i appreciate in life (cause i forgot to do this yesterday): Day 3 & 4

1 – hot showers.

2 – incredible california weather

3 – flannel sheets

4 – my own room to sleep in

5 – when people hold the door open for you.

6 – designated drivers

7 – drive-thru windows

8 – tuition fellowships

9 – forgiveness

10 – alone time

11 – words of encouragement

12 – contagious laughter

13 – good driving directions

14 – when dino plays the piano

15 – traveling

16 – half-days at work

17 – canceled classes

18 – the Internet

19 – pets

20 – music

GEEZ. my prof wasn’t kidding…this is getting harder each day. and i’m only on day 4!! it’s kind of ridiculous how little time i spend reflecting on the things i appreciate most in life. and im trying really hard not to get to that “the green grass and the majestic mountains” stage of this exercise when it all starts going downhill from there… but i have found that this exercise is a nice way to filter out my stresses for the day and get me back on a more positive track. yay for self-management and positive psychology.

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” - Frederick Keonig

Wonderful Tonight

last night i got to hang out with dino at D&Bs. we usually do the dinner thing, and catch a movie or shoot some hoops and call it a night. turns out, we ended up talking in the car for almost 3 hours and it was the best date ever. i love that we don’t really have to be doing anything for me to be reminded of how much i love the guy. he makes me happy. i kinda like it.

finally finished my first set of hope notes to play my part in the HopeRevolution. i left my first one today at lucille’s restaurant after dinner. i realized that restaurants MIGHT not be the best place to put hope notes cause i think our waiter might have been a bit discouraged if not offended….ill probably hit up the bookstore or something. maybe schools or hospitals. lately i’ve depended a lot on hope to get me by. time for me to give some back….

10 things i appreciate in life (in no particular order) – Day 2

1 – good memories with my friends

2 – my understanding bosses

3 – childhood memories with my brother

4 – photographs

5 – my family in thailand. my ENTIRE family minus me, my parents, and my brother.

6 – my irreplaceable neighbors who watched me grow up. we’re a pretty close neighborhood.

7 -my own mode of transportation

8 – family trips

9 – sleep.

10 – weekends.

“Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.” - Bill Cosby

Appreciative Inquiry

First of all, i’d like to start off by mentioning how disturbing it is to me how excited i was to submit my midterm to my professor so i could finally have some time to blog. it’s ridiculous. i blame gloria completely. =P

anyway….moving on…

i’m currently taking this self-management class and one of our assignments for the upcoming weeks is to keep a log of things we appreciate in our lives. we’re supposed to write down 10 things every day for two weeks and we can’t repeat anything. seems simple enough, right? apparently it gets harder each day and you start writing stupid things down like, “i appreciate the green grass and my middle toe..” but i’m going to try it anyway. i decided my log would be on my blog…it’ll give me a chance to reflect on the things i appreciate anyway.

on a different note: i spoke with my aunt the other day over the phone and she told me she likes talking to me because i make her laugh. what an awesome compliment. i realized that i love making people laugh; seems like there’s nothing to lose. my aunt told me that as you grow older, laughing is what gets you through the day. and if you are able to share the gift of laughter with someone, consider that a good deed for the day. i love seeing people laugh..it’s as if for that brief moment, they are able to forget all their troubles. and i played a part in that?? awesome! my favorite memories of my family and friends, old and new, are all about laughter. i remember the day my friends and i met up for lunch to celebrate gloria’s engagement and we were all laughing about old times and good times (kinda like a scene from sex in the city). an old man came up to us and asked in a gentle voice, “excuse me ladies. can i ask you…what are you ladies laughing about?” and we told him that our friend just got engaged and we’re excited. the old man replied “well, congratulations! sounds like you ladies are having a great time! i wish i could laugh like that…” and we all pausedfor a moment, and realized what a great feeling it was to be able to share moments like that with loved ones.

10 things i appreciate in my life (in no particular order):

1- my family. my amazing family.

2- my friends, old and new. everything about them.

3- roommates. who all know just way too much about me, and still love me.

4- the boyfriend.

5- my senses. often taken for granted.

6- my education. and the opportunity to continuously learn and grow.

7- the essentials: roof over my head, food on the table, clean water to drink, clean air to breathe, clothes on my back, etc.
8- good health

9- my faith: provides some sort of direction in life.

10- the time i spend with my parents: which ive realized is not infinite, and have grown a new appreciation for, even if i get annoyed at times. i know that it won’t be readily available forever…

well, now that ive included every aspect of my boring life in that list, i guess this two week assignment is going to be harder than i thought. =\ …but im glad i can take some time out of each day to really think about what i appreciate in life. i don’t seem to do that enough.

“If every word I said could make you laugh, I’d talk forever…”

Daylight Savings.

decided to take advantage of the fact that my boss won’t be in til 9am today and couldn’t wait to blog for a bit. (although i am a bit upset with myself that i didn’t check my voicemail from home and could’ve slept an extra hour) today was painful to get up. i was brushing my teeth in the dark! why is it that daylight savings time makes you change on sunday!! the last day of the weekend that you want to extend as long as possible yet, we have to “spring forward” and LOSE an hour! completely threw me off and now im exhausted and apparently bitching to a computer about it. =P why can’t we spring forward an hour on friday evenings at oh, say around 4pm?? wouldn’t that be dandy.

on a brighter note, i had a chance to have brunch with my fabulous girls on sunday afternoon and it was definitely the most refreshing experience of the weekend. i just can’t help but walk away from our not-frequent-enough get-togethers feeling absolutely blessed to have them in my life. when im with them, i feel like we’re in our own little world (granted we were the only ones inside the restaurant for a while) but we’re able to take a step away from our chaotic lives we have outside of this group and just reconnect on levels that others just wouldn’t understand. i think we’ve been through so much together, both good and bad, that we’re all able to meet on common ground and just enjoy life together. i mean, for two hours, we sit there and listen to each other’s hardships, good times, happy moments, career changes, life changes, wedding plans, future plans, life complaints, mid-life crises, parental problems in our mid 20’s and through all that, i can honestly say i walk away EVERY time we meet feeling so blessed to have them in my life.

Inspired – First Post.

So, it’s inevitable. I was bound to start another blog again sometime. and here we are. I’m going to try to update this one more often. In fact, i’m depending on this to keep my sanity as i finally start to grow up and realize it’s just about that time to get my life together. it’s scary. and exciting. all at the same time. how nauseating is that?? but i’ve been inspired by my good friend Glo to keep track of my thoughts, dreams, hopes, and memories in a blog and i’m going to give it a try. and…here we go. Day 1.