New year = new me?

Haha… well… maybe not.

I haven’t written a whole lot since my last post. I said that my new hobby will be cooking and to a certain extent, we did start cooking more. I wanted to post pictures up right after cooking but so many changes have happened in life that writing blogs just didn’t seem that important anymore.

However, some changes that have occurred haven’t exactly been good changes. Life just got busy and with that, I got lazy when things weren’t busy. So I found myself sitting on the couch and just watching tv for hours!  I realized after a while that I have wasted so much time doing nothing that life itself was just passing me by!

I told myself a long time ago while I was still in school, that I would be so happy when I’m working because I could do so many other things other than study – i.e. read for fun, cook, learn korean, etc. etc. But unfortunately, my laziness has just got in the way.

So… I’m not big on new year’s resolutions but since I’m trying to change some of my habits, and it’s near the new year… then I guess these are new year’s resolutions. =) I’ve only really told Andrew but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to write it on here:

1) Finish reading the bible – I started it last year. There’s an app on my phone that helps me by giving me daily readings. I’m set to finish early this year and I want to be able to finish without delaying it.
2) Learn Korean – this is definitely something that I’ve been putting off and I think its something that will really be beneficial not only for me but to also grow my relationship with my in laws – who are two of the most amazing and welcoming people that I’ve ever had the pleasure of spending time with.
3) Learn more PT stuff – in my job, i feel the most inadequate when the things I’m doing isn’t helping decrease my patients’ symptoms. So in order for me to keep helping people, I have to continue to learn.
4) Read more books – always wanted to read something other than hw… so it’d be fun to read more books that are also not PT related.
5) Write more blogs – Maybe it will be more fun to write more blogs… but we’ll see. I haven’t done a really good job on it… but we’ll see =)

So in order for me to do this, I’ve decided to give up most of the internet and tv during the weekdays. So far, I’ve been able to do a week of it and I finished reading “I Beat the Odds” by Michael Oher – pretty good autobiography I must say. My next reading is a couple of books written by Mark Twain. I remember I tried reading Huck Finn when I was younger, but I never  got into it. We’ll see how it goes =).

We’ve also cooked more these days… some pics just to prove it

New hobby?

Well… since we are now settled into the new apartment… I thought about making up a new hobby… i guess something to occupy some of my time so I’m not just sitting around watching my soaps… err.. tv.

The one thing I’m not big on in the apartment is the kitchen. It’s so TINY!. BUT I realized that maybe that’s just another excuse to not cook. So I told Andrew that I will try to cook more often… which means more than once every two weeks.. lol. I mean like legit cooking and not just steaming some dumplings or what not. So far, it hasn’t worked too well because we’ve been unpacking and then going out of town over the weekends or having family dinners (which means leftovers, which means no cooking!). Soooo… so far I’ve made only three dishes in the past three weeks.

First one I made was stir fry:

I think Andrew gave it a 7.5 out of 10… hey, that’s a passing grade right?? =) (“C’s get degrees!” )

Then the second one I made is White chicken Chili.. but I didn’t take a picture of it… it looked like this tho:

Andrew gave this one a 9.5 out of 10… so woot woot!!!

And then today I made… dun dun dun!! Afritada! =)

which was pretty good if I do say so myself. Andrew gave it a 8/10… whew! tough critic right??

As you can maybe see.. all of these are chicken dishes… I guess I will try to branch out more to other meats.. but for now.. chicken is what’s in the freezer =)

Anyways.. hopefully I can keep this up.. I’m sure Andrew is hoping too . Any ideas for other easy dishes to make??

 

God’s many blessings

Whoa! I haven’t written in forever! Things have been so hectic lately. Switching jobs, moving, traveling… what am I supposed to do with all these things happening in my life!!??

…

Thank God.

…

So simple right? Yet, it’s probably one of the last things that I do daily, if I even do it at all. These past two weeks have been full of God’s blessings, and I am now only trying to process it in my head and thanking/praising God for His amazingness.

Aside from providing us with a new place so we can be nearer our jobs, I truly believe that God had blessed me with a wonderful family. I get reminded every time I hang out with them. This weekend was a full-fledged family weekend – full with family I haven’t seen in years. And it was glorious!

I see it every time with my family, but this past weekend, I again saw how God really blessed me with family that truly cared for each other. It was my cousin’s 18th birthday party – debut!  And everyone was on deck to celebrate her and how God has worked in her life. I think just seeing how everyone really gathered around to be together just really warmed my heart.

When filipinos gather around, there’s no such thing as going to a hotel. We stay with the fam… no matter how big or small your house is, there is always a space on the floor for anyone! =) It’s how we do.

God showed me His goodness when we stayed with one of my mom’s cousins. They showered us with love and hospitality and laughter AND food! I still can’t help but smile when I think about all the things that they did just to make us comfortable. And I realize… that wherever we stay, just as long as we were with fam, that’s how I’d always feel – comfortable (and well-fed ). How many people can say that?

God also reminded me of His love during my cousin’s debut. Seeing the love in her parent’s eyes… man… anyone could melt just seeing that. Then I looked at my mom and I knew that she felt the same way about her kids. Ever felt so warm and fuzzy when you watch those family flicks?? I felt like that this weekend.. the whole entire weekend. (tear)

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in thinking about what I don’t have… that I don’t see all the things that I do have. This weekend was a wake- up call on how blind I’ve been lately to one of the greatest gifts that God has given me – my family.

I guess I just wanted to share that.. because I feel like I take a lot of things for granted… so this is just a reminder for me… to not take my family for granted. Because just like God’s many blessings, they are amazing =).

Growing pains

As I am another year older, I guess this is appropriate to talk about… =P

Growing pains… you’d think this will all be done once you’re an adult. Wrong wrong wrong… I’m sure people still go through it into their adulthood. And if you ask my elderly patients, they would say it especially follows you after you hit 50. Eep!

For people like me, I guess for what now is considered at the “prime” of my life, growing pains is probably more emotional than physical… though a few can argue the latter can still apply =P.

In any case, a few weeks ago I decided to do some soul searching… to grow more. And I’m pretty sure i’ve only gotten to the surface of it… and it already hurts. =(… I’ve always known I was pretty sensitive to things around me. Call it “insightful” … hehe… maybe… but I guess I didn’t really know to what extent until recently. So I think in order to “find” myself, I’ve been reaching out to old friends. And most have been such a blessing, most have been fun, and some have been… eye opening to say the least.

I think through talking with old friends and old “friends”, I realized how there’s this one glaring aspect of my life that I haven’t grown in… seeking approval from those who are no longer my friends and those who continually make me doubt my own self-esteem/self worth. I’ve always been amazed at people who can just let someone go. People who don’t care what others think… because though I put up a front about not caring, I know deep down, I care whether or not these people like me… even if it’s been proven again and again that they really don’t care about my feelings. I guess that’s where the “pain” in growing pains come from. Learning to let go of the past. No matter how great of a friend they were in the past, what do you do when they just continually disappoint you in the present? How do you let them go and just not be bothered about what they do when it almost seems intentional? Ah, such are growing pains I guess.

My old youth pastor has told me before I was insightful… and my spidey senses tell me that there are old friends that I just have to let go… no matter how painful. Because though I would like to hang on to the good times in the past, I just know that holding on would most likely bring my self-worth down completely.

Man… two serious posts in a row! What is going on in this world?!?! =P. God has been so good to me and blessing me with the most understanding husband, the best of friends, and the best family to support me in these “growing pains.” Most of them don’t know, but they have been the reason that I’m not going into deep depression as I go through this whole soul-searching thing. So thanks guys! These days, I’m learning not to take you guys for granted… and that’s the part of growing that I have no problem with =) <3!

Getting to Know the Real me…

Well, it’s that time! My monthly update =P… sounds weird…

Anyways, so I have pretty much forgotten again that I have a blog… I think I only remember this when I feel like lashing out at something and want to tell the whole world. And then I chicken out, and hence… no real deep thoughts on my blog. Oh well…

Here’s one though… not of lashing out… but maybe a deeper thought than what I’ve been cooking lately.

The title of this blog is actually for me. For the past couple of days I’ve really come to this weird point in my life where I’ve questioned a lot of the things that I think symbolizes me. I never really know how to express these thoughts because I will probably just come off wacky to a lot of people since putting my emotions into words was never really one of my strong points.

So in the simplest way I can put it: I think I’m starting on this weird journey to actually get to know me again. I’ve been racking my brains trying to figure out why I believe what I believe. Christianity, for example. Was I just born into a family who believed God and that’s why in turn I believe Him also? In my heart, I know that’s not the case. I’ve had so many experiences in my life that have proven that God does exist. And even now, I am somehow being pulled to reading the bible more and more to learn more. I’ve never really had the “thirst” to read the Word… not like the “thirst” I have right now anyways.

I guess I was inspired…. or burdened. I know many people who can proclaim their faith and have the knowledge to actually defend their views. But it made me think… if someone came up to me and asked me about my faith, would I fully be able to defend my views? Hence… the “thirst.” I’m not really sure where this will take me… but God has a way to always get my attention and tell me I’ve been going the wrong way. And right now, I think He’s pretty much telling me to get it together fast.

This is kind of hard to post. And even right now as I write this, I don’t even know if I should click the word “publish” on the side of my screen. Not sure why I have to make these thoughts “public” either… maybe to present myself with more of a challenge.  Dunno… hence the “getting to know the real me” and I guess I still have a long way to go… =P

One thing I do know about myself for sure though… is that no matter how hectic it could be or no matter how confusing my life can seem, I can count on these guys to help keep me on the right track. I love them =)

Lent and cooking

So my good friend Lisa came over to my house for a visit and she inspired me to start writing on my blogs again. Nothing big. I just haven’t written in a while and lost motivation.

I think initially I started this blog because I wanted to express my opinions on different things that are happening in my life. However, that really hasn’t been the case lately and I think this just ended up being what I’ve been doing with my life recently. Like my old xanga account. Anyone else still use xanga?

In any case, oh well.. whatever. I guess it’s ok. And though my blogs have no kind of pattern, this is my lame way of telling friends what I’ve been up to lately (because I am really bad at keeping in touch through email, phone, mail, etc.).

So things that have been happening in my life lately… lent started. Wikipedia defines lent as the period of time for Christians to prepare – “through prayer, repentance, alms giving, and self-denial” – for holy week (which is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ).  I grew up learning that lent is a time for us to sacrifice something we love to get a taste of what Jesus had to go through to save us. Also, it’s a time to pray and reflect on God’s glory and grace.

This year I gave up junk food – something I love love love, and youtube – something that takes up so much of my time that I literally can come home from work, sit at my computer watching youtube and then have it be so late that I just go straight to bed after my hours on youtube.

So far it’s going ok. I also somehow picked up that Sundays are ok to “break” lent during the week… so I’ve been indulging on Sundays… hmm.. maybe I’m going about it the wrong way =(.. oops. But what I’m learning so far is that I have so much time to waste on everything other than spending time praying or reading the bible. Man… I don’t know how many excuses i’ve come up with before actually sitting down and reading my daily devotions. I mostly end up just reading my devotions really fast before going to bed instead of really trying to meditate on the Word. Sad… Definitely something I need to keep working on.

I’ve also learned that prayer is a powerful thing. This is something that I seem to keep learning over and over. But every time I get tempted to break my lent (except for Sundays.. hehe), I’m learning to pray for a little help and I seem to get a lot of help =P. Starting with self control. Which evidently speaking, I don’t have much of! eep! Again, something to keep working on.

That’s it so far for lent. I still got a couple more weeks to go. Wish my luck on that! =P

Another thing going on in my life is trying to cook =P I made jambalaya yesterday when Lisa came over, but we didn’t get to take a pic of it =(… But she says it was delicious! Today, I made dessert for Andrew. Banana pudding! Here’s a pic:

Pretty easy to make: mix vanilla pudding, water and condensed milk together and refrigerate; then whip heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks; then fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream; then layer vanilla wafers, banana and combined cream over and over and viola! Banana pudding!

Since I can’t eat it, he promises to bring it to work and share with his coworkers =P. How nice.. hehehe…

Oh and as proof I’ve been trying to cook more. My friend Susan came over a couple of weeks ago and we decided to make pinakbet and ginataan. Seeeee?

Ok this post is way long now… I’ll leave this with a picture of our most recent family gathering =). Oh how I love time with the fam =)

1 year already??

Well, since I haven’t written in a while, it seems almost expected to write one today (or yesterday). In any case, I woke up today and I thought, “whoa… time does really fly by.” It feels weird – I feel like we’ve been together forever, but at the same time I feel like we’ve already been married a year??!? So yeah.. kinda weird.

In any case, I’ve never been happier. I’ve learned a lot in just one year and I’m sure I’ll learn lots more in the years to come. I know people tend to cringe when there’s public mushy-ness so I will try to make this post as un-mushy as possible .

Favorite thing this year: Either I’m really boring or I just love the simple things, but my favorite thing that we’ve done this year is sit on the couch and talk til 3 to 4 in the morning. It’s those spontaneous talks that I love. Starting off with “how was your day?” and ending with “crap! It’s 3 in the morning! We have to go to bed!” Those times have been my absolute favorite times this year. And I know that later on, that will be hard to come by so I’m enjoying it as much as I can before the kids come (which won’t be for a while so don’t ask ).

Things I’ve learned: Ummm.. it’s impossible for me to write down everything so I will try to write fun things I’ve learned. First is that, I actually really love watching football… with Andrew. I’ve learned to condition myself to come home after church and sit on the couch and watch as the Jets win and or lose and I’ve learned to love it. It’s really fun when they win… but really sad when they lose. Lol… It’s weird not watching football now after coming home from church.

I’ve also learned that I like to cook/bake… but only when I know I’m not working the next day or something because it takes a lot out of me! Maybe this is the first step to becoming a good wife… right now I don’t like sacrificing my time and energy to cook (not saying I don’t.. i just don’t like it… ), but it really makes Andrew happy to come home to a good home-cooked meal, so still learning to stop watching my soaps and actually cook him something in the middle of the week. Eep!! (But in my defense, I cook a lot more than before).

I’m still learning to share… I think that’s the hardest part for me. Because before this was my apartment, but for a year now, it’s been ours. So lots of sharing going on. LOL. I don’t think I realized how selfish I was until I got married. I’m sure i’ll realize how much more selfish I am when I have kids, but hey, one step at a time. Andrew has been very patient with me and it always helps to have that. So I’m working on it =).

Lastly but not least of things I’m learning. I’m learning to trust God more with even the simple things in life. It’s funny how He’s showered us with so many blessings and yet we still doubt His knowledge most of the time and try to do things in our own power. But yes, this is by far the hardest thing to learn as we make decisions together such as jobs, buying a home, church, etc. We can definitely grow a lot more in this area =).

Anyways, that’s all I can put into words about learning. I’m looking forward to learning lots more and just getting to know each other deeper. I think it’s really cool that we’ve been together about 4 years (1 year married) and still find things we didn’t know about each other.

I would write more about Andrew and things that I’ve learned about him, but that will go against my un-mushyness rule and so I won’t do it. All I know is that this year has been a great year. I know people say that marriage is hard, and I agree. But I guess since we’re probably still in the honeymoon stage, the hard work just seems to be overshadowed by the great experiences we’ve had this year.

So here’s to many more years together! Looking forward to growing and learning lots more. =)

King’s Contrivance for dinner. It’s in Columbia and we highly recommend it (Yelp review coming up soon )

Distractions distractions distractions…

As if my life adjustments weren’t enough, I’ve picked up a new “hobby” or “interest!” And I don’t think it’s a good hobby as I think it will definitely cost me a lot. What is this new hobby you ask? ….

Playing with make-up.

Gah! I never really was the make-up type… but I picked it up a couple of months ago…well, like 4 or 5 months ago when I went to this Mary Kay thing with one of my friends. First it was just skin care that really mattered to me. I just wanted to keep looking like a 14 year old… ok not really, but I wanted to keep that “youthful glow” or whatever they call it. Then for whatever reason, I started to watch youtube videos on how to put on this make up or that make up or whatever. And bam… i got hooked.

I never really wore make up until my last year of college… some girls cut their hair after a break up… I started wearing eyeliner. LOL.. and that was the extent of my make up… nothing else really. I think a year later, I started wearing those powder foundations? But very rarely.  Then PT school started and my “would be hobby” got kicked to the curb as there was no time to pretty yourself up when all you’re going to do is cry anyway and have the make up run down your face right?? LOL…

When I started working, I wore the eyeliner… I thought it made me look older. And that was pretty much it. I worked for a year without wearing anything else on my face. Then bam.. 5 months ago I got mistaken for a 14 year old and so my quest to look a little older started. Hahaha. I went to a Mary Kay thing with Doordoor and the rest was history. LOL. Andrew said i’m crazy because I’ve bought more make up in the past 5 months than I have my entire life.. oops… (wait, don’t get me wrong… that’s still a whole lot less than most girls, so I don’t think I’ve gone too crazy).

Anyways, I mostly just play with the make up at home. Which leaves less time to do other things that I was supposed to be doing. Oops… ok, I need to tone down this new distraction and focus on the other stuff on my adjustment list. In the meantime… i took pics of my play time! he he…

Ok seriously, I need to boot this “hobby” fast =P. (On the upside, I seem to be writing more blogs, I worked out today and done my devos for today…. so if I add learn korean to that… I guess I’m not doing so bad right? =P)

2010 was a great year =)

I’ve been wanting to write about 2010 for a while, but I always came up with an excuse not to because maybe I didn’t really want to say good bye to such a great year. Many things happened in 2010 – I got married to my best friend, Andrew graduated from Pharmacy school and got a job that he loves, my dong-saeng got engaged to an awesome lady, my cousin got married to a wonderful lady, we had our first thanksgiving together, and our first christmas together, and my older brother and his family moved closer to us. What could be greater than that!?!?

I’m sure that 2011 will have great things too. Just gonna have to wait and see what comes up. In the meantime, I think I would like to reflect a little on 2010.

I think I loved 2010 so much because I was surrounded by so many wonderful people. Since there were so many events that happened, I got to spend time with my extended family more often than usual, which is always such a fun time (pictures on my fb account). I think I was a little sad when I knew we would have to split our times between two families, but to be honest, I loved every moment with either family. I think that I’ve been so blessed with such great company and that’s really something that I would not want to ever take for granted.

A couple of months ago, I said I wanted to make life adjustments. Those adjustments have been put on hold since the holidays =P. But I guess it’s time to go back to them. Not for new year’s resolutions mind you… just continuing my life adjustments. Also, I’m adding getting to know the new and old members of my family to that list (as if the list wasn’t long enough… lol =P). Oh well… 2011 will be a bigger and better year right? So my life adjustments have to be bigger and better.

So let’s go 2011! I’m ready for yah!

 

Before Christmas

Well…. I sure thought I was going to be able to write on here more than I have been.. but oh well. Just like November, December is also flying by pretty fast. Lots of learning and lots of growing this past month.

First thing’s first (something light =))… I am now back (and actually a tad below) to my wedding weight. Yay!!! Haven’t worked out since Thanksgiving, but am consciously watching my junk food intake and it’s helped a whole lot. Before rolling the eyes (which I get from my coworkers all the time when i turn down junk food… ahem ), i’ve just been really sluggish after i gained the extra poundage since the wedding. Though friends will say they haven’t seen the weight gain, I’ve definitely felt it… and my family has definitely mentioned it more than once (how about every time I visit?… lol.. you’d think i’d be three times my size now since I do visit a lot and i hear “tumataba ka yata” which means “i think you’re getting fatter” every visit… lol… it’s all from love i know ). In any case, I definitely have more energy nowadays and even more when I was working out, so time to get back on that hip hop abs. It’s great working all day and coming home not tired. The benefits of eating right and exercising has it perks… I feel I’m able to do more. The weight thing was a little obsessive… but I’m not going crazy with any diet because it’s hard to diet when you’re married to someone who has such great taste for great food! Lol… so portions people! portions! =) So I’m learning to eat more veggies these days (bok-choy anyone??) and hope to start up working out again so I can keep having my ice cream! That’s one thing that will not be taken away from me =P.

Second, I’m learning to connect with my new family. GCC has been really awesome and getting plugged into women’s group has been a blessing. The girls are great and they really care about each other which is always so refreshing. It’s hard for me to step out of my comfort zone and just be open, but that’s one of the things I’m learning too. It’s been great so far. =)

Third, learning new things about the gospel. So crazy… grew up hearing about stories but it’s so cool finding out more things about the same passages that I’ve read so many times. I’m so looking forward to diving deeper and sinking into the Word and hopefully, living it more.

Fourth… learning what it means to be a good wife. Somebody asked me once, “do you ever think about where you would be right now if you’re not married?” Well.. yes, sometimes. I feel like I would be free to do whatever I wanted without thinking about how it would affect another person… or spend my money on things that I want no matter how unreasonable it may be. But I wouldn’t really trade that for what I have right now. I’m learning that being a good wife means sacrificing some things… but ultimately, what I gain from it is so much better! It’s weird that sometimes I want to clean the apartment, or I want to cook, or I want to do the dishes… weird right?? but it’s because I know that someone appreciates it and he never forgets to tell me so. It makes me happy when he’s happy… and hey, “happy wife = happy life”  could be turned into “happy hubs = happy wife = happy life” right? *end mushy-ness here*

Anyways this entry is getting long! I think it’s time for pictures!!! =)

Thanksgiving was way awesome! I had two! One with my new fam and one with my fam… what could be better?!?

So the first pic is the turkey.. the second is to show how giganto the turkey was compared to us, the third pic is more food (we made vietnamese spring rolls), and the fourth pic is when we tried to be touristy in manhattan

This was my family thanksgiving… i forgot to take a pic of the food AND i accidentally deleted the only family pic we had with Andrew and Kati in the pic… SAD!!! =(… so the first pic is me, mikey and my mom; the second is me and mikey playing kinect (uhh… soooo hard) and the third is my mom cheering me on to beat mikey in the race… maybe…

THEN my brother in law came to visit the week after and we ate the whole weekend

I made banana pudding

and tiramisu!!

our meals… honeypig, lamb chops, sausages.. yay for good food with good people =)

And lastly… since I said I would try to cook more often…

Kimbap anyone??  And Andrew made soondubu too. YUMM!

Ok, well… i figure this entry is long enough. (Thanks for reading my ramblings Elizabeth and saying so on FB… LOL) Until next time =)