geeez looks like i haven't blogged in ages! can't forget all that's happened in this past week =) let's recap:

1/28/09: i was right. my car was having troubles again. this time, instead of not being able to switch to 3rd gear, my car wouldn't go around 20-35mph which is about 2nd gear. i remember having to ditch traffic and manuevering into lanes that were going faster so i wouldnt have to stop and go through 2nd gear again. 2001 accord..not at 70,000 miles yet..with transmission problems?? so my mom went with me to drop off my car at the honda dealership and i waited for her to come home so i can take the van to work..turns out that yes. transmission is messed up and they need to replace the whole thing! thankfully my car is still under warranty and i saved my ass almost $3500!! won't get it back until friday night..

1/29/09: i decided to be nice and instead of having my mom drive my siblings to school and then bring the van home again for me to drive, i would drop them off to school and head straight to work! woke my ass up hella early, and gathered the kids. i let vicks drive and drop will off, and when she got to school she just handed the car over. i was making my way down decoto which took about a half a fuckin hour because of the crazy traffic getting onto the freeway..when the van broke down! i was like..holy shit!! i gassed and it wouldnt go. looked like the engine was off so i put it on park and tried to turn the car on again. i just made funky noises and wouldnt budge. after panicking to find the damn emergency signals since i was hellla holding up traffic and the woman behind me wouldn't go around me cuz she was stuck, i called my mom and was just trippin out! i finally got the car to start after awhile while talking to my mom and she told me to just go home so she can drive me to work since it was too risky to drive the van again. we took the my uncle's car and i wasted an hour of my morning.. grreeeat!

i had to ask my uncle rob to drive me to his house after work so my parents can come there and pick me up. we got there and ate a really delicious dinner and me ben and vy watched some short films on youtube. it was pretty good! then we watched abdc and my parents called me to go. we stopped by the grocery store and by now i'm pooped cuz i still have to go home and pack for my short trip this weekend! go home, gather a limited amount of items, packed extremely lightly and finally called it a day!

1/30/09: got everything ready and brought what i was going to bring to socal with me to work. my mom dropped me off at work and finished some stressful stuff from the week. let me add, work this week was so stressful! i'm breakin out in pimples and canker sores (which happens when i'm stressed cuz of my very very very weak immune system) and let me add i have a cold through all this too! time flies and my dad picks me up after work and drops me off at the airport.. ONLY TO FIND MY FLIGHT IS DELAYED FOR 40 MIN! geeezz..what a long week! everything transportation wise is giving me such a headache! so i'm heading to socal because of stephie's miss vietnam of southern california pageant. and it was supposed to start at 5..but luckily got pushed to 6 since i couldnt get off earlier..but then my flight gets delayed..so i miss a huge chunk of it anyway.

i finally fly and land at sna where jake and his mommy pick me up. and he came with flowers =) for stephie of course! so we head right over to the pageant and take forever to find parking cuz garden grove park is stupid and they love to block off parking lots when there are empty spaces. we end up finding a pretty good spot 3 blocks down! hahah. entered viet town for $5 and went straight to the main stage to look for my little sister!

unfortunately, we missed the first whole half of the show and she didn't make it to the top 10 finalists =( it's ok. i really did try to make it there on time and actually to even come this weekend! jake and his mom sat a few rows in front of me and i sat next to these guys. they were like..were you in the show? well...NO. but i told them it was for my sister and asked if there were many english speakers. then they said yeah and went off on how this one girl quoted tupac. hahahahha omg. how did i know that was stephie. she WOULD do something like that! i was just laughing to myself because she would. i actually confirmed that YES, she did. hahahah omg. so we were hungry and wanted to get some food so i got to see stan and fati for a quick sec and said our hellos!

we walked around all the food court scouting for some delicious food and they had all sorts of things from chao long (porridge), thit nuong (bbq'd meat), noodles, spring rolls, bun bo hue, pho, dried squid, and even balut! they had everything almost! and sugar cane drinks too =) yummy! we ended up getting pho..which was DELICIOUS especially in that cold weather! actually..it wasn't that cold. when i got to socal, they said it was about 70 degrees lol. then me and jake scavenged for some spring rolls and brought some to steph. saw my o dool's for a quick second! along with tons of other dpg folks! then after we ate, we decided to sit back down and watch some performances. the lady that hosts paris by night was even there! the heeezy! then they finally announced the winners for the night and stephie won miss photogenic! apart of the royal court without having to answer any questions! we gave her the flowers and then headed out to our cars and back to jake's place.

you know when you sleep and you have a crazy dream and you jolt and wake up?? well we were hugging each other when we were sleeping and both did this crazy super jolt and almost hit our head on the damn headboard!! hahahaha oh maan! turns out we both had a crazy dream and jolted at the EXACT SAME TIME!! it's that secret love connection we have ;d

1/31/09: me and my baby woke up and got ready to go out on a lil day outting! i've been waiting for this day for a realllly long time and was super looking forward to it!! just quality time with my loooove <3

first we had lunch at my faavorite sushi place (is it your fave too baby? heheh): yen sushi! when we walked through the door, we were welcomed not only by the chefs..but also by marears and kat!! i was super excited to see them and it was so random! well not really cuz i always see marears here hahah. so i got to talk to them for a bit and while we were eating as well. our meal started off with some soup, salad, rice, and sashimi. we had tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and albacore. DELIIIICIOUS!! we seriously need to get sashimi more often!! then we did the volcano roll, hungry roll, and the island roll. this has seriously got to be the best combination of rolls that we've gotten! volcano roll for the spiciness and spicy tuna, the hungry roll for the unagi, salmon, and shrimp tempura, and the island roll for the albacore, more spicy tuna, and a jalapeno at the top!! then the chefs even brought out something on the house. it was fried salmon skin soaked in their unagi sauce and spicy mayo? TO DIE FOR, I TELL YOU!! one of the best meals i've had in a while. and it makes it a kajillion times better because it was spent with someone that means the world to me!

after, we went over to albertsons to buy some ingredients to make our blondies! blondies are basically brown sugar brownies =) like the white version of the brownie haaha. we bought some pans and chips and all that good stuff and headed back over to his place to make them! we gathered and mixed the ingredients and i just thought it was really cute and fun to do together.

since i've had a really stressful week, my baby (the most sweeetest person in the whole wide worlllld) asked if he could give me a full body massage (and yes, it was JUST a body massage for those of you who are thinking otherwise! haahah) to relieve some of the tension. gosh, it was the most relaxing thing ever!!! and the best full body massage a person could ever give!! it was just like a real spa: very calm setting, dim lights, and even great relaxing music. and he also used baby oil (lavender), the best scent ever!! thanks baby..you're such a sweeetie!! i appreciate how you put me first and just wanted to make me feel better. smooth gesture = d of course i returned the favor, but i bet it wasn't half as good as his, nor half as long!

after, the blondie's were finished cookin so we decided to try it out. it would've been great if i didn't decide to put it in for an extra 10 minutes! at least jake loved em! at least i think he did haaha. we got ready to go out for dinner. and thiiiis..ive been waiting for forever also!!! we headed over to the district and got some thai bamboo =) we ordered a hot pot of spicy vegetable tom yum soup, drunken chicken, and green chicken curry. man, that hot pot served 8 bowls of soup!! hahah i was soooooooo full and couldn't eat much afterwards! but you definitely need to try their drunken chicken..that shit is so tasty!! keeps me wantin more afterwards!

we headed over to the amc and bought tickets for my bloody valentine (in 3D!). we got these cool glasses too haahh. so we walked off our food for a bit and then headed in the theatre to grab bomb seats. i really liked the movie!! the story line was like a regular slasher movie's but i liked the little twist in the end. also, there is a WHOLE scene with a naked chick. like complete frontal and everything! hahah so random. i hate scary movies because yes, i really do get jumpy and scared. i did a double jump at one part of the movie. pretty fuunny.

we stopped by stephie's after to give her some leftovers and to exchange some stuff. man, the weekend's over already!

02/01/09: i always dread this part of my trip. the part where we have to say goodbye =( we woke up and showered and ate the leftover sushi. had about 8 pieces left, equivalent to a whole roll haha. hungry eyes dude. i had packed the night before already so we headed out to the airport for jake to drop me off. me so sad. after a great weekend, i hate having to say 'see ya later' and with that, we actually never know when we're going to physically see each other again. it's just something that we've forced each other to get used to cuz..let's face it..i'm here for another year. we have no choice but to get used to this. so we say our goodbye for nows and i catch my flight back to reality.

i actually headed back earlier than usual because my mom is leaving for indiana the next morning. i wanted to see her and hang out with her before she leaves. this too, i am dreading. i am going to miss my mom soo soooo much!! i actually like having both my parents / family around.

so i'm back and we actually head over to santa clara to check out a car my dad found. 03 blue accord. very nice neighborhoood. i would totally live there if i ever get to keep my job at nvidia. lots of town houses and beautiful single homes. 3 bedroom town houses over there started at about $800,000. it should be down to like $500. my dad test drove the car and ended up really liking it. they made a deal and the next thing you know..my parents are on the way back to get the money and to purchase the car!

it was the superbowl sunday and my house was rowdy. there wasn't much to eat so i went to togo's and bought a hot pastrami sandwich and vix a turkey and avocado. headed over to my grandma's house to finish the game and had dinner there.

02/02/09: my mom wakes us up at about 5:30am to say goodbye to us. i forced her to hug me hahah. her and my uncle's new nail shop is open in indianapolis and she's going back there to run it! we probably won't see her until june for my sister's graduation and my brother's 8th grade promotion. i want her home, but she's doing only what's best to raise her family. i respect her a lot for that.

so my baby had his written test for irvine today! i hope it went well because he totally is smart and deserves being able to pursue his dream 100%.

and with that..monday's monday. i help my brother now. correct his math hw as well as make him do practice problems and make sure he does well on it. i'm his new free tutor. haahha.

02/03/09: i'm waking up early for work again! out of the house by 8:10 to make it to work by 8:45. i come home earlier now too =) and that left me some time to do my dark laundry, eat dinner, watch a full hour of american idol, correct my brother's hw x2, and make it to bed by 10. of course i don't fall asleep until later because i'm talking on the phone, but i still get enough hours of sleep!

02/04/09: and now it becomes routine. this time, i do my light laundry..and the same shit as the day before!

02/05/09: today is my baby's interview with the city of orange police department. i know he did well but he keeps doubting himself. i pray he gets this! and i pray he hears from them soon because i know that they know he will be a great contribution to their department. crossing fingers! abdc was on!! and yes, it was great as always! then i caught the last minute of the lakers vs. boston game!! OMG, the most exciting game ever!! seriously heart attack status. and for them to go overtime?! my heart was pounding out of my chest out of nervousness and excitement. im so glad the lakers pulled through!!! i watched grey's afterwards and the show's stilllll good! and the private practice too. i like how the two are linked!

02/06/09: what a stressful day at work! i went home and we had banh uoc for dinner. my dad asked if we should get my mom about 3 dozen long stem roses sent to her shop for valentines day. i think that's so cute! and my dad said that would be the first time. i just thought it was funny how he was questioning later on if he should really do it or not. they've been married for almost 25 years <333 my dad said that she was only 23 when she was married! and he was like..that's the age that you're at right now! i was like..im not getting married anytime soon. hahahah.

i also watched dr. phil and the episode was "what's wrong with men." man that was something to remember. i'm actually kind of glad i didn't have to date these past 4 years (and hopefully many more hahha) so i don't have to deal with all the bullshit guys out there. that's that. after i just got ready for bed and watched some 20/20. you see the life i'm living? there's no time to do shit anymore! i'm just glad i get an hour of tv in each day. i think that helps take me away from this crazy reality. i need an outlet each night, and i'm starting to accept this as one of them (besides jake!).

finally..all updated. for the past week and a half. i need to do this so i don't forget where my time goes. at least i know i'm alive and living!

until then!!