Baby Monkeys

Back in San Jose, one of the things I did most was chillin' with my best buds, my niece Ellyse and nephew Elliot. My niece is now 4 years old and my nephew is only 2. They both talk so much! Ellyse was always talking about her day, what she did, and what she wanted to do the rest of the day. She also asked me a bunch of questions about what I did, what I liked, and why I am in Hawaii. Elliot was curious about the new necklace my mom gave me. The necklace has a circular pendant and Elliot seemed to like it very much because everytime he saw me, he would ask for me to carry him, and then he would grab my pendant and say, "Yoon Goo Look", meaning "circular object". He was always asking questions and repeating them, making sure we were not lying to him. They are both so adorable.

I took so many pictures of them I had to pick the best ones and also merge them so I wouldn't be blogging about 20 photos in one post. The photo below was taken at their house during Ellyse's 4 year old birthday party. Before dinner, they were playing with the piano and dancing to the Christmas music. Gong Gong (my dad) and Elliot were the DJ's.

Cake time for Miss Ellyse the Princess. She requested a princess cake from my sister and she got one. Popo (my mom) and I went all over to search for princess items to decorate the cake. We ended up getting a Cinderella candle, carriage icing, and a princess tea set which she loved. My sister did a great job on the cake. It was light and not too sweet, perfect for those with 7 cavities and still craving for more sweets (that's me). You can see that Ellyse wore a Belle princess dress to celebrate her special day. She was so happy. Read more about the cake on my sister's blog.

The day before I left home, everyone came over for dinner. I commend my mom for cooking such a great dinner even with a little fever and cold. Lucky my sister came over to help. After dinner, I put Elliot right next to Gong Gong on the sofa in front of the TV. He didn't move for half an hour. He was watching Dirty Jobs the whole time. Everyone came over to poke him, pat him on the head, and talk to him. But, he did not blink, move, or talk. He was watching Mike Rowe doing some dirty manly jobs the whole time. He is so cute!

There you have it, my niece and nephew taking over the world, and our hearts. They put smiles on everyone :)

Christmas Celebration

The day after I returned home, we had a gigantic dinner to celebrate Christmas and my two sisters' birthdays. There were lots of food! We had honey-roasted ham, yam, cranberry-orange sauce, vegetables, fish, and turkey. Although the turkey was a little undercooked in the middle, the seasoning was yummy! I also really enjoyed the fish, which was coated in batter and panko crumbs, then lightly pan-fried.

After dinner, my niece and nephew helped make madeleines for our LA trip the next day. They did a little "real" mixing before it became a game of who-can-throw-more-flour-on-the-carpet.

This year's birthday cake was beautiful. No, my sister didn't bake a cake for herself, which she shouldn't. She went and bought a cake that she loved and shared with everyone. It was a chocolate cake with winter theme decorations.

Mmm...I still like her cakes more :)

Bye bye la...

So long, farewell, la dee la dee doo... I am going on vacation for the next two weeks. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Before I sign off, I want to leave you with this picture that signifies a beautiful memory. Nope, not telling you what happened. Ooooo, the suspense is killing you, whoahahahahaha! Happy Holidays :)

Honolulu City Lights

Once again, this post is long overdue. It's already New Year's for goodness sake and I am posting pictures of Christmas in Honolulu. My life is so behind I could really use a vacation. ~Sigh~ OK, Honolulu City Lights...it's the same-o same-o lights. We have a gargantuan tree in front of the City Hall, the tree contest in the main hall and then the wreath contest in the back. This year is quite interesting because there is a feral pig in one of the displays. Celebrating invasive species for the holidays, that's the way to go!


The BIG tree in front of the City Hall. It actually feels quite scary when you are standing at the bottom and looking up at the blinking lights...like you are high without the drugs.


The invasive species theme with the feral pig as the reindeer. Ha ha, how original.


The same display as above but close-up of these little green creatures I found amusing. If I am not mistaken, I think these are coqui frogs!


My favorite coral wreath (ha ha, rhymes with coral reef) from the wreath contest.

Christmas at Work

This is my cubicle at work, where I spend 9 hours of my life everyday, just sitting in that chair and staring at the computer. My cubie looks festive right now because I decorated it for Christmas and New Year's. Even though this is not my first job, this year is the first year I decorated my cubicle to celebrate the holidays. Now I just dread the week after New Year's when I have to take out the decorations, along with the holiday spirit :(

This is the back side of my cubie where I display pictures of my friends and family. It is also where I show my love for greenery. My bamboo and crazy plant (upper right corner) are adapting nicely to the cold air conditioning of the office.

Still in La La Land

I am back from vacation x( Yeah, I don't sound too happy because 1) I miss my family at home - the lovely yummy food and the cozy atmosphere with a beautiful christmas tree, 2) I am still lazy from all those days of doing nada in San Jose, 3) I contracted a cold from HappyOblivion so I couldn't play with my niece and nephew for the last two days, grrrrr, 4) I finished all the yummy chocolate almond cookies my sister made for me, and 5) SCHOOL. On the good side, I bought a bunch of crap from CA and I had a fun time unpacking and redecorating my apartment xP.


A set ot Le Creuset spatulas my sister got me for Christmas.


New quilt cover from Ikea that only cost $25.


A set of mini-hampers for my many many private-wear (sorry, no details)


A cube set to stick in the corner for all my stuffed animals.

Christmas Lights

We went chirstmas lights hunting all over Oahu the other night. It's always fun looking at what people have done to brighten up the holiday season. These houses were also on the news, that's how we knew where to look. First we went to Hanapaa street in Kapolei. Three houses were fully decorated from top to bottom. One house even had a christmas tree made with empty beer bottles.
This house had a choo choo train that smokes up every 10 minutes or so. It's really cool! The little guy in the middle moves his hands up and down playing the drums. The next house had a family of snowman and cute looking penquin. I bet the 2 ballons at the very top were bought at Costco, hee hee. Then we went to Kaiakua street in Ewa. The entire street was decorated with christmas lights. This house tood out for obvious reasons. People were actually singing carols at this house. We got scared so we ran away. This was at somebody's backyard. The entire entrance was blocked off by all these Costco bought decorations. Well, at least remember seeing them at Costco. So creative! The most creative and cutie gingerbread boy and girl I have ever seen. They are so adorable. Last stop for the night was Honolulu City Lights. The decorations were the same as last year's so nothing too dramatic. Of course, you can never miss the shaka Santa and the beautiful and gigantic Christmas tree right outside of City Hall. Every year the City Hall display the Christmas tree and wreath contest. These are the ones I like the most even though they may not be first place.

X'mas R2D2

Hallo everyone! HappyOblivion bought me a really super duper cool Christmas gift. Well, he gave it to me a couple days ago but I didn't have time to blog it. It is a 17-inch R2D2 robot! It responds to commands, dances for you, and plays games with you too. If you pat him on the head too hard, he gets mad and doesn't listen to you. Oh and if you yell at him, he runs away. For some odd reason, he never listens to me but always listens to HappyOblivion. I say bad R2 and he shines a red light at me. I tell him to go patrol the room and he wants to play hide-n-seek with me.