Trina: when she gets bored.

Have I mentioned how easy my pregnancy has been? Not pregnancy itself per se—it’s more difficult than my first—but the whole gist of it is pretty sweet. I have a pretty sweet family you know. They see to it that my needs are fully met and well, here’s my brunch from a few days ago. Trina was just so bored out of her mind that she asked me if she could make me something to eat. How could I resist?

This is a mixture of rice, soy sauce, sesame oil, spicy pepper paste, green lettuce, and eggs! You can add just about anything and it’s one of my favorite quick fixes that Trina happens to enjoy as well. I taught her to make this a few months ago and she’s really good at it now.

In all, I’m so glad she was bored out of her mind. It made my stomach happy and we both enjoyed brunch in my room over some hulu plus. :)

Liebster Award

When I received notice of a comment from Crystal [from Seoul Sold] saying how she nominated me for an award, I was surprised! As a new lifestyle/personal blogger who just shares her days, I didn’t consider myself awesome enough to be nominated for anything blog related. But here I am! So thank you Crystal for giving me this opportunity to brag about myself for a few minutes on the blogosphere. :)

All right, here we go!

Copied and pasted from Crystal’s blog: the Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. So, what is a Liebster?  The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. Isn't that sweet? Blogging is about building a community and it's a great way to connect with other bloggers and help spread the word about newer bloggers/blogs.

The Rules:
1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.
3. Choose 11 people to nominate and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. No tag backs!

 

11 random things about me

1. Of the 28 years I’ve lived, I’ve only lived with my parents for seven years.
2. I get scared walking up the stairs at night. I always picture a damned ghost woman with long black hair in a white gown staring up at me from the bottom of the stairs.
3. I’m the freaking best at laundry. I can remove just about every stain and fold a large basket of laundry neatly in ten minutes time.
4. I knew my multiplications table before I entered Kindergarten. I was homeschooled.
5. I have crooked teeth. That’s why I never smile in photos.
6. I’m the oldest daughter, grandchild, niece, and first cousin. If I was born a boy I’d be a spoiled brat.
7. I dropped out of high school during my sophomore year (I ran away from an abusive home, sue me) but completed my GED with an average percentage of 94.2% in all subjects the first time around. Not my greatest accomplishment but I was a smart kid who made a shit load of dumb choices. The lowest was in science. I hate science.
8. I freaking love books. You can see me walking out of the library with at least three books each visit. I usually have just under a dozen books before I have to force myself to stay away from the library.
9. I have a collection of vintage cameras and Polaroid cameras ranging from the late 1800’s to now. My Husband is the one that started my love for cameras and photography alike with a Canon AE-1.
10. I’d much rather spend money on gadgets than on purses and shoes.
11. I have a steel rod inside my body. ;)

Questions by Crystal [Seoul Sold]

1. Where did you grow up?
   
   I was raised in Seoul, Korea until the age of 9 and finished “growing up” in Tacoma, WA.
   
   
2. Your house is on fire and you have time to grab ONE thing. What do you grab?
   
   Assuming that my Husband has grabbed his cell phone, I’d have to say my camera. I have a copy of every photos I’ve ever taken online so… I’m pretty safe there.
   
   
3. What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?
   
   Right now with being on bed rest and all… I’d have to say a quick walk around the house or in the backyard.
   
   
4. What is one of your talents?
   
   I can relate to just about everyone of any age!
   
   
5. What would you do if you knew you wouldn’t fail?
   
   I’d fly. :)
   
   
6. Where is your favorite place in all of the world?
   
   Anywhere and everywhere so long as my family is with me. If not, the library.
   
   
7. The craziest thing you have ever done?
   
   Just packing up one day to move to North Carolina from Washington State because it just wasn’t working out. Actually, my Mom kicked me out for working at a strip club as a waitress.. the woman wasn’t working and my parents had just divorced. Somebody needed to pay the freaking bills and put food on the freaking table and although it was a minimum waged job, I still made enough in tips to provide for everyone. All this while juggling school to get my GED.
   
   
8. Have you been in love?
   
   Yes. :) I married him.
   
   
9. What is a piece of wisdom you’d like to share?
   
   Live for the moment, forget the past, and work for a better tomorrow.
   
   
10. Why do you blog?
    
    This is the only place that I can express myself without feeling like I’m burdening anyone with my stories. I’m the friend that listens and gives advice… I don’t like being the friend that asks for advice.
    

My Questions for YOU!

1. Do you have a bad habit? What is it?
2. Which superhero would you like to be?
3. Name a skill you wish you were good at.
4. If you could vacation at one place in the entire world free of charge, where would it be?
5. Are you brave enough to share one of your weakest strength/trait/character flaw? Come on, don’t be a wuss.
6. A lesson that you learned in life.
7. What is one of your pet peeves?
8. If you could send a one sentence note to yourself 8 years ago, what would it say? Don’t cheat.
9. If you could be any animal, which would it be and why?
10. How do you unwind after a long day?
11. Since you were brave enough with question #5, what is your strong/positive trait? If you weren’t brave, go back to #5 and do not pass Go.

My Nominees!!

Biruté Sim from Love Life
Rowena from Designs by Row
Joanna –From the Inside Out
Shannon and Courtney from All Things Loverly
Bree from Bree With Two E's

I wish I could nominate more people (with under 200 followers) but the ones that I want to nominate have already been nominated or they have over 200 followers. :(

Father’s Day.

Because the Heats vs. Pacers game was yesterday, we celebrated Father’s Day at home with BBQ! It was sort of funny though because the men (Ariel and Thomas—my brother-in-law) did all the cooking! I was able to enjoy the fresh air in the backyard while watching (and comfortably seated, of course) Ariel work the grill while the kids threw some balls around.

  This might piss off some people but I promise we’re not abusing public property or “having fun” while purposely damaging this tree. We have a few trees in our backyard and one huuuuge tree. This one branch in particular was hanging low and the kids didn’t have a clear path to throw the ball so Ariel solved that problem by breaking it off. The kids had a good giggle at seeing their strong Dad/Uncle struggling to break off the branch though. We do hope that they didn’t take this as an example of some extracurricular activity…

  
I came across this idea on pinterest but made it my own by attaching a note on each bottle with all the reasons why Trina thought her Daddy is the best Daddy in the world. This was a must-do gift because root beer is his favorite soda and a Bevmo! had just opened up nearby my home. I was able to gather everything before the whole Wednesday ER visit and slowly finished putting together the gift throughout the rest of the week. He already finished three bottles out of the thirteen we bought (one is obviously not shown in the photo) and I was surprised to learn that each root beer had its own distinct taste. I’m wondering if there is a professional root beer connoisseur? Anyways, although I prefer every other soda but root beer, I did enjoy some fizzy root beer float!  :D

Why I’ve been MIA!

 
Have you met my Husband Ariel? No? What a shame! He’s such a kind and understanding person and I believe everyone should have a friend like him. He’s really a one-of-a-kind man and I can’t be grateful enough that he asked me to be his wife.

This past week has been a little crazy and as much as I already appreciate everything Ariel does, I didn’t think it possible to be more appreciative of him but I am and here’s why.

Last Wednesday I made a visit to the Emergency room due to some mild bleeding. After a thorough examination, I’ve been diagnosed with something called complete Placenta Previa with a mild Placenta Abruption. I’ve been on strict bed rest since then and was instructed to very limited pretty much no activity. The bleeding has stopped but Ariel won’t allow any sort of housework, any sort of lifting, sudden movements, and standing around for more than a few minutes. I’m not even allowed to bend over to prevent any pressure being put on my uterus. You would think that I would feel completely worthless and you’re right. I have. I bawled my little eyes out the first few days when no one was around and felt like my body was failing me and I was failing Ariel. I know this is completely miniscule compared to what other women may be going through and I apologize; but I always trusted that my body was fully capable of what it was created for—to carry a healthy child. So since then I’ve been relying heavily on Ariel for every basic need (besides relieving myself. I refuse to go down that road so young). He never squeaked a complaint when I’d ask him for some late hour food craving—something I attend to during errands in the afternoons. He would always make sure I’d have a cold cup of water to drink because I need to drink extra fluid and would leave me snacks on the bedside table before he left for work in the mornings. Although he was allowed a few days off to take care of me, he hasn’t had a chance to rest.  Even so, Ariel still begs me to sit down (since I’ve stopped bleeding I’ve begun to sit up now propped on against pillows) when I’m sluggishly walking around the house to help out as much as I can and prepares my plate of food so I won’t have to stand. He’s been running around the house practically working two jobs doing dishes, laundry, and prepping food all with a smile on his face.

This past week has been a complete mess but he makes me laugh, holds my hand, and reassures me making it (almost) seem like any usual week. It’s incredibly awkward being catered to because I’m not used to it and it’s taking me quite a while to accept help so naturally. I even felt like I should have been the one pushing the old nurse in the wheelchair instead of the other way around because I felt capable—I’m still young with two strong legs! Ariel has also been looking into getting a wheelchair because he hates seeing me stuck in the house and I had to reassure him that this is only for a short period. Plus, I really don’t want to be in a wheelchair just yet.

Bed rest

Stopping by real quick to say that I'm on strict bed rest until coming Wednesday. I won't be blogging until after that or longer... It depends on what the Doc says on Wed! 

Team Perfect Storm!

We finished off our last game of the season yesterday with a little party from Godfather’s pizza. This was Trina’s first time playing soccer aside from some soccer during PE at school but she did great! The coach depended on her greatly to defend the goal the entire season and although there were times when Trina wanted to be out on the field, she knew that nobody on the team could guard the goal like she could—I’m not just bragging! All the parents agree that Trina is a natural goalkeeper. :) It also helps that Trina gets plenty of practice with Ariel.
Trina will (hopefully) be playing with some of her former teammates from Team Perfect Storm during the Fall season! The parents of a girl on this team felt that Trina would be the perfect addition to their Daughter’s Fall soccer team so we swapped contact info to keep in touch along with the name of their Fall coach.


These girls that Trina is standing in line with are the same girls that Trina’s team played against earlier that day (we won 3-0!). These girls are all great sports and had fun playing some table hockey together after the game as well.

Strawberries

Nearly everything that my family do is out of spontaneity. We rarely plan an activity because we rarely follow through with it. So like every other thing-of-the-day, we woke up yesterday morning and said “hey, we should go pick strawberries!”. It has been on our to-do list for this month so I guess it’s not really spontaneous…

Anyways, self pick at the farm we went to don’t start until next weekend but we did get a box of strawberries for just $12! This was my first time buying local strawberries and I don’t know if it’s because I was so giddy about how cheap it was but they tasted sooooooo much better than store bought ones. We haven’t done anything with them yet (except stuff our faces with them) but I’m planning on making my own strawberry jam! I’ve been into DIY/homemade stuff lately that I’m beginning to feel like my age. I guess it’s a good thing because I was beginning to wonder when I’ll feel like a “grown-up” or like how my parents are. You know, actually enjoying housework/handiwork/decorating/making-your-own-bread-kind-of-thing instead of slapping down a few bucks on the counter at the grocery store. I even plan on making my own eco-friendly weed killer, yo. That’s right.

 
 


I can’t wait until next weekend and yes, that kidney/tomato/pumpkin/butt shaped strawberry tasted delicious!

Saturday BBQ

A true Pacific Northwesterner takes advantage of a nice, sunny weather because we don’t get it that often here. Heck, I’m sure everybody in the world goes crazy over nice weather but we like to celebrate it like a holiday.

Ariel was released early from work Saturday and we decided that the weather was too nice to have two hyperactive kids in the house. An idea of taking the kids out to the park led to the idea of BBQ-ing so off we went!

     

Besides about half an hour of eating, Ariel and the kids played till their heart’s content for a little over four hours! I got tired just watching them play but it was fun nonetheless. We couldn’t believe we had been at the park for that long but that’s how much fun we all had.