End of June.

I survived. I did keep busy...and if I did blog this month, you would have known just how busy I kept myself so that I didn't have time to think. But I didn't blog, and I don't regret it...but I will write a very fast up-to-date that end of month thingy...just the highlights...some ups and some downs.

I got to talk to my parents several times this month! I would be so happy to get off of work to see a few miscalls from my parents...knowing that I was able to call them back and talk to them for a few hours. Yep, a few hours. I miss them so much.

Things with the new teacher has been pretty up and down. I have to hold in a lot of my frustration; I tell myself every day that I was once new...so just help her. But seeing everything that I worked so hard with the children to learn come apart just frustrates me. But it definitely is not as bad as it was way in the beginning. I'm getting used to the idea that I have to really go out of my job description to get the day going  with a smile on my face. Maybe I'm just exaggerating just a little bit. But there is no doubt that there is that one co-worker that you really don't get along with. Oh well...it's not as bad...and there can be worst things in the world, so I'm good...for now.

My birthday was fun. I went to work, but got to come home early...and I was happy about that. The kids knew it was my birthday so when I got to work, I was bombarded with hugs...like I am every morning, but this time instead of "Good Morning Aunty...!" It was "Happy birthday, Aunty!" Oh, I love all those kids...it wasn't only the kids in my class but in all the other classes too. When I got home my family and a few friends of mine went to my favorite local restaurant, Saigon Noodle House, and then I came home and opened presents. I loved everything I got...my family and friends really do know me and what I love. :)

Thank you Tracy for my birthday Roses; I love roses. Pink Roses. :)

The sad part was, on my birthday also, my friend's family back in California/Washington had an accident...the little girl [7] died on the spot, the little boy was in critical condition...died a few days later...but the older one to my knowledge made it...but is not talking...I assume he is overcome with grief. I would be too. I think he was 18 years old. The mom was the one driving and she lost control of the car when the tired popped...and the van rolled several times throwing two of the children more than 50 feet [about]. Very sad. The family is in my prayers.

I still love swimming in the ocean. One of my favorite things to do on this island. The beach. I still hate swimming in the shallow...the deeper the better...but I like it better when I can see the bottom. I do not like swimming above coral...I realize that I'm much more at peace if I'm swimming at least 8 feet above the coral...other than that...I start panicking...but I can do it. I know it's all mental, and I'm working on it. Still I don't like swimming next to coral. And the jellyfish continue to scare me. *laughs* I'm more scared of jellyfish than I am of sharks! *laughs*

On June 19, 2011 we had a BBQ at our house in celebration of the June babies and Father's day. That was a lot of fun. So. Much. Good. Food. So I will not complain about the mess that my family and I had to clean up afterwards. But it was a lot of fun. During the party, my friend told me that his boat was "totaled" [LONG story!]...and I'm bummed about that...coz I love boating! But he's going to get it fixed, so hopefully in a couple of months it will be okay...a lot of damage. But yeah.

I'm getting use to the shock of being around so many hot guys at the gym now. *laughs* I still am kind of self-conscious when I go...but I love how they are all so friendly...in a way that you KNOW that they are not trying to make you self-conscious. They are so helpful when they see that I'm struggling...but I still struggle at running on the treadmill...so I don't think that I'll be doing that...I will be just running the 3 mile loop around my neighborhood if I want to go jogging. *laughs* Much better that way.

I still would be so much happier if June never exist...but since it does, I will have to live with it. It wasn't as bad as I thought that it would be...but my heart is still heavy with all of the loved ones that I lost at the same time, this time last year. And I know that if I dwell and think about it...my heart seems so heavy it feels like it would stop. But it's the end of the month, and I will be able to move on once more.

http://pinterest.com/pin/52718315/

It's by the ocean, in the middle of a field of pink flowers, reading a book. Seems to me this is the ultimate happy place! :)

Beginning of June.

June. My birthday month. A month full of heartbreaking memories. I think I will not blog this month. I need my strength to keep strong. Maybe next year I won't be so sad. RIP my Baili. I love you.

End of May.

Well, this month started out like a normal month and then quickly became into a very challenging month.

At the start of this month, my whole household decided to support K.Neal in his run at the end of this month by not eating any junk food or sugary food in excess. That was hard. It was a hot month and I wanted ice-cream! Wahhh! *laughs* I just felt bad because we didn't have a cake for K.Neal's birthday...no sugar thingy...oh well, we still had fun eating out for his birthday.

This month at school was pretty chaotic. We had our graduation for our little 5 year olds...and I am super proud of them! Some of them will be staying behind to be "Explorers"...which is a summer program that our school designs that allows the 5 year olds to be explorers of our Island Oahu...and they get to go see the sites and basically go to the beach and park of the "days off" of site-seeing. Pretty fun...but we'll see how that goes.

The new teacher also came into my 2 year old class. Nicole is now teaching the older 3 year olds...and I miss her. But I was told that I will join her after this summer. My boss told me that she wanted me to stay with this new teacher so that I can show her the ropes and also so that my 2 year olds won't get too emotional from all the change. You know babies and change...do not go.

I'm not going to lie, it's been a challenge. A super big challenge working with this new teacher...but then I won't really say anything negative because I was once new too. I'll give her a few weeks until I start getting really upset. *laughs* Naw...f'reals though, she's nice...but I do get frustrated a lot...every school is different, and if you choose to work at a new place...PLEASE try to have common sense to understand and get to know how the new place works. But that is all I will say about that.

I've been going to the gym a lot more. My nerves have been going out of whack so I need to release more energy. I'm still okay though. *laughs* I will always be okay. I'm glad that this month is over...but I'm not too hot about the month of June, even though it's my birthday month. But we'll see how it goes...here goes to the month of May...thank you for the memories!

Hibiscus 1/2 Marathon.

So early this morning, my brother [with my sister going to support] left the house at 4.am with Uncle Rod to run the Hibiscus 1/2 Marathon. I know, I should have gone to support him too...but that's okay, coz my younger brother and I went later at 7.30am...just in time to see Uncle Rod pass the finish line!

The run was at the place where we go swimming every Sunday...so that was good, what was NOT good was the parking! If we were only 2 minutes earlier...we would have been there to see Kuya Neal pass the finish line, but it's okay...but I'm so proud of him...can you imagine!? MORE THAN twelve miles at 5 in the morning...yeah, seems a lot...!! But he's been training and was running 16 miles before the race.

I really appreciate Tracy and Kaleo in my life because without them, I don't think I'd be into exercising as much. Well, no, I take that back, I might be...but with no motivation. *laughs* They are so encouraging and motivating! And even though they are FAST FAST FAST...they are so patient! Always waiting for us when we are running...well, namely me. *laughs*

But I'm not that much into running. I'm more into swimming...and even with that, Kaleo is so patient and encouraging. I can't believe how far out I swim in the ocean now...or how far and long! I remember swimming like 30 feet or so back and forth and being super tired after like doing that only ONCE! *laughs* Now I can swim more than a mile at one time and believe it or not, I like swimming deep and far into the ocean rather than by the shore. *laughs* Coral scare me! Not to mention the shadows they create...yeah, I'm still a slow-ishy swimming...and there is no way I can out swim some scary sea monster! *laughs*

But I hope that my bro-in-law continues to run now that this race is over! Hey the full marathon is in November! I remember going to it to support Uncle Rod and Jade who were running in it...and I was so motivated watching all the people run! Super old people...and people with disabilities...and look at me, I'm healthy, yet still I don't...but like I said, I'm more into swimming and I would rather race a swim meet than run. But it's good to know that with the right mind set and good people to encourage me I can do it too! *laughs*

Well, congratulations to Kuya Neal, Uncle Rod, Kaleo, and Tracy for finishing this race...time to train for the next one! :)

The winners!! I'm so proud of all of you!! Yay!!

My sister who went early with K.Neal took this starting shot like at 5 in the morning...pretty cool looking!

You can get so hungry after a race...*laughs* Oh Ciccio...

"The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what? After you start doing the thing, that's when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it."-John C. Maxwell

K.

I saw this picture and it made me laugh coz I hate it when I take the time to text someone and all they reply back with is "K"...*laughs*

 http://mirabi.tumblr.com/post/1635917626

Dessert Buffet.

Wow...so Happy Sabbath to you!! Starting on Thursday, our refrigerator has been empty of food that we can eat. It was nearly empty...basically it was unless you wanted to count the ketchup, bbq sauce, honey and what nots in the door part of the fridge...yeah, I was like where is the food...then my sister started to bake...

....and bake....

....and bake....

....and bake....

and you get the point.

I didn't realize that she was going to be baking SO MUCH different kinds of desserts! And poor us in the house, we are on a no sugar/no sweets diet for this month to support Kuya Neal and Tracy and Uncle Rod on their 1/2 marathon run tomorrow! Believe me, when I got home Thursday and Friday and all day today I have never been so tempted until them to eat one of my sister's yummy creations!

So congratulations to Pastor Jesse who was ordained today at Kaneohe SDA Church. The church that he grew up in. It was about an 1 1/2 program and afterwards we had a "feast"....and the main "attraction" was my sister's dessert buffet. And I have to say it looked really nice. Of course everyone in the house helped and them Josh, Tracy, and Kaleo helped when we transfered everything to the church. It was funny because everyone crowded around the dessert buffet rather than the "real" food...and we had to watch them...there were about 300 people in attendance.

Well, here are pictures that Tracy and my sister managed to take before the table was bombarded with hands grabbing this and that...oh how I wanted to try...

My sister and my two brothers helping my sister out in the kitchen. I'm so proud of all of us...we didn't try one thing...and let me tell you it was pretty tempting!!

The amazing Lemon MeltAway...and literally these cookies melt in your mouth...and they are not even that heavy in the stomach nor too sweet in the mouth...these are pretty yummy.

Mini Chocolate Torte topped with mint leaf and a raspberry....I've never tried these ones before...but these sure went quick! I hope she makes them again soon!

Fluffy Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting topped with an orange mandarin. These are one of my favorite cupcakes that my sister makes.

Miracle/Magic/Ooey Gooyey/7-layer (whateveryoucallitt) Bars. One of my top 5 favorite things that my sister bakes...no make that top 2 things that my sister bakes...these are the best ever! They taste like almond joys/mounds but in bar form or something...these I absolutely love!

I'm not really a peanut/peanut butter fan...but these were a top hit at the reception...I believe these were the first one out...nearly a tie actually with the chocolate torte and oreo torte things...but basically my sister puts another recess pieces cup in the middle for a peanut butter/chocolate gooey surprise.

Little oreo cups with a decadent layer of chocolate and fresh strawberries topped with freshly whipped vanilla cream. These went really fast too...I didn't get to try it, but at least I got to eat all the extra strawberries that we didn't use!

The Double Chocolate Chip and Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookies...[well, if she had gingersnaps up in there,  I would have been happy too! *laughs* Those are my top favorite!] that my sister makes! Towards the end, my friend Robin ended up dumping the Double Chocolate Chip Cookies on a plate and sneaking them home! *laughs* I even told him where the extra ones were! Oh, they were sooo yummy...well, I don't know about these ones...but when I did try them before. *laughs*

My sister also made other creations...her signature red velvets were there...and her new red velvet mini cakes [I haven't tried those ones yet]...but this picture was take before everyone touched anything! *laughs*

And a congratulation to the newly-ordained Pastor Jesse and so happy for Shilhi [yep, my wedding designer/florist boss!]

Well, it was a long baking day...and we even took down the whole place so I am very exhausted. I'm out!

Astrid & Phil Wedding.

I finally got the pictures of a wedding that I did last December! This was the first wedding that I did the floral work on my own...it was really nervous at first...but it really wasn't all that bad. My sister helped me wire the orchids though...that took FOREVER!!! But all in all, I think that it turned out pretty good.

Thank you to Renai Photography for the pictures...and congratulations to the newly wed couple, Astrid and Phil!!