Princess Bubble Foot Bath

Girl time
Princess Bubble Foot Bath
Mani Pedi under the sun

Bunny Bunny for Lena

Guess who's birthday it is this month!  Sweet Lena!  I have been looking forward to getting her a giant stuffed bunny for a long long time.  I had to wait until she could carry one first. 

Family, Forgive and Patience

Tonight's talk at Teance was about Siblings. Rev. Heng Sure brought his new additions, Hand Puppets to portray Buddhist stories. These puppets were really well made. There was a crowd of 33 people tonight. We all managed to fit comfortably. The tiger is also part of the puppet addition, I can't wait for her to make an appearance, her name is Ginger.

It was great to see Jamal, Brendhoan, Chris and their sisters. They dashed over after their band practice. Emily and Jonas was there too and they are getting married in May. I hope to catch up with them soon, the last time we got together was in October.

Siblings, I am the youngest of four kids in the family. When we were little we had an understanding that the power needs to be even. So when we fought, it really didn't matter what side or issue you were on, the balance of 2 against 2 was enforced silently. It was a way of sibling support. Fights were never about physically harming another, but throwing and breaking things were okay. There were holes in walls and doors. When all was done 30 minutes to 2 or 3 hours of heated fights, done is done, move on, still lingering, well, fight's over missed your chance. We were pretty good sport about this and when eruptions were over we were all cool. Such fights were in the teenage years, it must come with the teens. When any one of us was attacked by a parent, we would unit and stand by each other, it would be four on one. The funny thing was, it was like that, out parents can do that but when someone else on the outside was to do that we stood as a family. As adults, we don't fight, somehow it hurts. Somehow it becomes complicated. It doesn't end like it used to, cleanly and it just isn't over. So we don't fight, because it hurts. The function of releasing steam seems to burn each other, this tool is no longer useful as adults.

On my brother as a sibling, he used his first pay check, after working in an arcade for a month with minimum wage $3-4, can't remember, he cashed the whole thing to buy me birthday present. It was his first pay check ever. I woke up middle of the night to pee and saw two medium sized Gund Teddy Bears from Macy's sitting in front of my door step, pink and cream. They were cute, soft, fluffy, cuddly. Honestly, I really wanted them. In those days, you give people you care about Gund Teddy Bears, a pair. They were $60 each, totally over priced, over rated and this was in the 80's. It's still a lot of money for Teddy Bears at today price too. I hugged them all night and made a strong case to why I can't keep those bears that I had been window shopping at, of which he knew I really wanted. It was his entire first pay check that he worked everyday after school for. I couldn't let him not have any of it. So I persuaded him that I had too many stuffed animals and I didn't need two more and that I wasn't too crazy about them anyways and I insist he returns them. He tried to convince me to keep one. I braved and had him return both. The thought and the surprised was priceless and more precious and dear to my heart than the actual Teddy Bears themselves. A few years later when he was in college and had a better job, he got me a credit card to use in high school and all the way to college. He didn't judge me on what I spent my money on. As long as it wasn't over $300. a month he wouldn't meet with me on it. Even when it did, he politely questioned whether it was necessary and let me know that was a bit over the top in spending for a high schooler in the 90's. When I took many years off from wedding photography and running my own business, he tried to encourage me to return to my passionate photography work by wanting to buy me a Canon Mark II 5D. The body is like three grand alone. Business is really slow these days economy is not on the up and I couldn't let him fork out that kind of money. Still the heart and thought was radiating with warmth.

On sisters for siblings. I have two sisters, Helen and Grace. Grace is the oldest and we are seven years apart. She was like my personal angel. She never yelled at me or scolded me or put me down. When she went out on dates she took me with her. Her boyfriend would buy me presents too. I was not the third wheel. I did not asked to be tagged along, I was always naturally included. Where ever she was she would send me gift wrapped presents from college or Japan. She is a great shopper and some how always find beautiful quality things that I would like for me. I'm not a great shopper.

Helen is my other sister who is number 3 in line. When I was little she was my hair stylist every day. She did pretty things with my hair and took really good care of me. I was her personal pet and doll. As adults we enjoy discovering new places to eat, jogging, crafts, and outdoors together.

My siblings have been impressed by how I treat, take care, nurture and love their children, my 3 nieces and 3 nephew, 6 in all. What they may not recall is everything they've shown me, given me, I return to their children because I learned it from them.

I guess I can't leave out my parents, there is a lot to say but for now, just this, my parents have a strong sense of family. In fact they have not much of religious practice. Family is their religion. This is what they have taught me. Anybody you consider as family, you don't resent, you forgive because they are family. People go through dark moments in life, it is a part of life, see the sunshine in them, never forget and be patient and wait for the clouds and storm to blow over, the sun is still beautifully there and worth the patience of waiting and time.

I have wonderful siblings and parents.

Ellie's Eight Today

Jelly Beans are a hit! All the kids wanna do is eat the jelly beans. The jumping house was fun, a lot of fun. It's quite tiring but a good workout. Even Rocky made it into the jumping house. Fun birthday!

Speech On Hero By Kevin

My nephew Kevin was selected to represent his fifth grade class to a speech contest on the topic of Hero.

Mexican Buffet

I decided to skip Indian for lunch today, although I almost pulled over to India Sate just to check it out for the first time. But I stayed on course, it was gonna be Acapulco or El Torito lunch buffet. I thought I would try El Torito for the first time. I have to say they have different flavors in their salsa. Acapulco's lunch buffet is served with corn tortilla which I love, hand made right in front of you. It taste really good. They also have a wider selection on their buffet bar like 3 times more and a dessert bar. At El Torito, the food was good but the selection wasn't very wide, it could be I failed to see the first part of the buffet name "Fajita Buffet" hence there was fajita choices and enchilada, beans, rice, salad, sweet corn cake to accompany. Now that I know, I will pick Acapulco off Lawrence Expressway instead, it's $8.49 while El Torito is $8.99. Actually my goal today was Ethiopian food but decided to be adventurous and try out El Torito Buffet for the first time. I have to say the Fajita for meat lovers looked great! But none for me, no thanks! hm... what shall I eat tomorrow?

I also talked to Naji for the first time online with video camera. The whole time he couldn't see me and didn't bother to mention it. I saw him. Towards the end he finally told me he can't see me. I failed to click on the video icon. When I did, video was on. But the sound went off. I have no idea what's going on. Will have to fix it next time. Missed Naji, he showed me his place, it looked really nice, even his parked car and his mail ordered work out equipment. He even did pull ups with his new pull up bar. Cool, now that I can see him, I can watch him box some more!

I tried to pick up Lena and Helen today from San Jose. Helen jogged to Rainbow Park while Lena rode her bike without training wheel and packed snacks and drinks on her pack for the park. I figured they'd be tired. Well, the little one was but she insisted that she wanted to take the bus home instead of riding in my car. I saw her lay on the bus bench tired and refusing to change her mind to wait for the bus to come. It's a big deal to ride the bus with your new pink princess no training wheel bike as a 4 year old. Helen patiently with nurture, waited for the bus to let Lena manifest her choice of a bus ride. What a good mother she is! It was already 1:30pm, and the bus still hadn't arrived and they haven't had any lunch yet. I tried to lure Lena into frozen yogurt, ice cream etc... but she proved with determination that she shall not be moved, even if she needed to lay on the public wooden bus bench while she waited for the bus. The little girl has will power. She's tough!

Special Person of the Week

Ellie with her best friend Cloey whose brother Shawn is also Ellie's brother Kevin's best friend.



Ellie and all her favorite trinkets in her very pink school bag. But now days, kids need school bags that come in a roller. Is it really necessary to let life become this way for kids?

This was my first time picking up Ellie and Lena from school. It was a surprise pick up for them. It was fun to surprise them at school. I had fun letting them show me their school and tell me stories of this and that. They are both very wonderful and special girls.

Veggie Corn Dog at Valley Fair

I have discovered Veggie corn dog at Valley Fair. I love corn dog. I don't know why I haven't noticed they had veggie hot dog here, I guess I just assumed they didn't, I have been missing out. I shall make up for lost time.


Our first massage, pedi and manicure together. My feet does like getting attention. This is addictive, can become a regular habit.


I wanted mermaid feet so I got a mermaid looking color with sparkles, red. Now I can't go swimming, I don't want to ruin the paint job.

Girly Things

Ellie is so fun to photograph and to hang out with. Her mother used to bribe me to braid my hair when I was her age. Now I do her hair every chance I get, it's fun, a girly thing.

Dirt in Nails

I worked on the garden with my dad. He didn't want me to get my hands dirty or lift anything heavy. But I did anyways. I like doing things with him. My dad is more of a doer than a talker. In a matter of a few minutes we filled a 20 gallon box with weed. It was heavy. I enjoyed it working with him like this. He does not stand around and criticize me or undo everything I did. Instead he didn't want me to get my nails or feet dirty.

Gloss and Polish

The day was spent with girls doing hair, nails and glossing lips. It was fun and we made quite a mess. But it was fun to giggle and be silly and try on different colors, combinations and hair dos. My sister used to do my hair when I was little, now I do her kids' hairs. Karma comes back to you in different ways.

Melting Cake

It's my niece Ellie's birthday today. She likes pink so I decided to make her chocolate cake with pink frosting. I put the icing on too early while the cake was still steaming hot and the icing melted. It was a fun hot pink cake with fresh black berries and cherries. I also got her a giant stuffed unicorn as a gift.