A man's point of view...

I saw this posted in a friend's blog... I don't approve of it or anything, just thought it was funny! :P

One evening last week, my wife and I were getting into bed. Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says "I don't feel like it, I just want you to hold me."

I said "WHAT? What was that?"

So she says the words that every husband on the planet dreads to hear..."You're just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man."

She responded to my puzzled look by saying, "Can't you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?"

Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep.

The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big, big unnamed dept. store. I walked around with her while she tried on several different very expensive outfits. She couldn't decide which one to take so I told her we'll just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes, so I said lets get a pair for each outfit.

We went on to the jewelry dept. where she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. Let me tell you...she was so excited. She must have thought I was one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn't even know how to play tennis.

I think I threw her for a loop when I said, "That's fine, honey."

She was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement.

Smiling with excited anticipation she finally said, "I think this is all dear, let's go to the cashier."

I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, "No honey, I don't feel like it."

Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled WHAT?

I then said, "Really honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while.

You're just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman."

And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me I added, "Why can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?"

Apparently I'm not having sex tonight either.

A glimpse of 1977

Vina recently got the haircut of her dreams. It's a little bit short n spiky near the top, longer bangs, and even longer back. Basically, it's a mullet. Then you know, I started thinking about the four of us, and how growing up we went through so many different styles of clothing. A lot of the times, my mom would yell at us before leaving to go to school or etc. and complain about our outfits.

Well, she can no longer.

While I was at home in Cerritos today, I found an old album... dated 1977. My mom was even younger than I am now. And you should see the things SHE wore...

Addicted again

The thing with eBay.. once you buy one thing, you just can't stop. I always go on these little mini eBay splurges. Today it all started with (of course) camcorder accessories. I was searching around for case/bags from Sony that were available in Japan or other countries but not here. Then I saw an aluminum memory stick cover.. I know, I know... it seems utterly useless right? But if I think about it... I get so many free little space memory sticks whenever I purchase a camera, phone, etc that they're lying all over the place. In the retail boxes, I have one in my wallet, one in my laptop, and one in my dig. camera case... if I had a memory stick case then they would ALL be in there and I wouldn't lose any! Right??

Then I started looking around for the Miss Saigon CD... the original London recording. Then I remembered that I have a Les Mis & Miss Saigon program but I don't have a Lion King program, so I bought one of those too. Then I was just messing around and looking up authors, and found that Sophie Kinsella just released another book in the US that won't be available in the U.S. until this September... so I bought one of those too.

It's eBay's fault. Once you log in, you stay logged in so it's really hard to resist a Buy it Now. And with Paypal, it makes it all so easy. Easy schmeasy. Can't wait for the mail to come. I love packages in the mail. They're like gifts. You never know what'll come in the mail that day, and when you get a package it's all too exciting. Tee hee. Addicted.

Culture night

I just got back from watching Miss Saigon at the Pantages Theater. Tonight was their closing night for the touring cast. There is just something about watching a live musical that makes a story more intriguing. This time Richard & I sat in the 8th row.. wait.. row F.. that would be (abcdef) 6th row I mean =P. For Lion King we had 2nd row seats and you could see the sweat on the actors' foreheads! But this time was pretty good too.

I didn't know a thing about Miss Saigon- just that it involved a Vietnamese girl and an American soldier falling in love. The story was simple but the music really added a lot to it. I loved all the melodies and the songs- unlike Les Miserables where the music was all dark and just eerie. I fell in love with the two main characters- Chris and Kim. Just the way everything fell into place makes you feel an instant connection. The Engineer was played really well too.

Of course being so close to the stage/speakers it was a little tough sometimes to hear the lyrics to the songs- and well if you can't hear the lyrics then you don't really hear much because there is zero spoken dialog. I thought Jennifer Paz was awesome... I really wanted to see Lea Salonga in the role but Jennifer did pretty well also. Also we saw in the playbill that one of the cast was born in Surabaya, Indonesia so Richard and I were trying to figure out which one she was :P

The ending really surprised me- I wasn't expecting it and I was just lingering on every moment that right when she shot herself my mind just stopped to try to take it all in.



Well after the show we decided to try Balboa restaurant in the Grafton Hotel. I actually wanted to eat at Chi (teehee) but it was closed, and plus Richard really wanted steak. I had heard that they had four different rubs and several different sauces to choose from: I like steakhouses that focus on flavor and not just the meat. The restaurant was very cute- the decor was very meticulous. It was very modern, and cozy. I really liked the restaurant... just not so much the food. In Richard's words, "The meat was tough, not good, and tasted like Denny's. It was a waste of $160. Tasted like a Norm's T-bone." Okay.. that was a bit harsh. The Voss water was very cute... the crab cakes weren't bad... the steak was flavorful for the first couple of bites, but towards the middle you can tell the quality isn't that good. They did have Kobe on the menu though- so I wonder what that would have tasted like. The berry dessert was very pretty- but it wasn't that good. I just told Richard that it was so he didn't feel bad :P Ok- there was one thing that was REALLY good- they have these Garlic String Beans as a side.. they were really tasty.

But I think I've been to enough steakhouses now to make a list....

Top Steakhouses ever
1. Mastro's
2. Arnie Morton
3. Flemming's (in Palm Springs)
4. Balboa
5. Ruth's Chris
6. Pacific Dining Car

And while we're at it...

Top Crab Cakes in LA
1. Mastro's
2. Tangerine
3. Gladstone's
4. Balboa
and LAST on the list... Cheesecake Factory (ew yuck!)

Cutting in line

After a quick nap at home, Richard and I drove around looking for a place to have dinner. I wanted to eat something small and tasty, he wanted a big steak. But since we're going to have steaks at Balboa Lounge tomorrow night, I begged him not to eat at Mastro's. Well, we ended up at Lawry's... on a Saturday night at 7pm. I told him it will take us WAY too long to get a table but it was too late- he had already pulled into the valet. It was REALLY crowded so I told him, why don't you pretend that we had the AMEX concierge make us a reservation for 7pm, since we were there on the dot- and they fell for it. But since we were not in the books, all they could do was cut our wait time in half and we had a table in about 20 minutes... not bad considering the other patrons had to wait an hour!

I've never been to Lawry's before 8pm... maybe my earliest dinner there was about 9pm, so I've never had their meatballs and chips in the waiting room. This time, since we were there early, there was a fresh pot of meatballs- man they were good! Even the fresh-baked chips were good. Or maybe I was just really, really hungry since I didn't have any lunch. So, a California and Diamond Jim Brady cut later, we were too full to have dessert, even though their hot chocolate cake is probably the best I've had.

And that was my Saturday night.

Weekend at work

Hangin' around at work n a Saturday... took some photos in our studio of the pups but forgot to set my white balance so the pics came out a bit pink...

Moley took up the entire seat!!

The kids in the back...

Moley lookin' out at the road.. where we goin??

Stocking up

Do you ever notice, when you go to Costco and start picking out foods and snacks you feel like you are buying SO MUCH stuff, but as soon as you go home and you put it all away you realize that you didn't even buy that much?

We had a full cart of frozen foods, snacks, cereals and etc yesterday yet today when I looked around for food to eat I feel as if there is nothing to eat. Why is that? I mean I see exactly what I bought yesterday but it just doesn't look as appetizing or abundant as yesterday at the store.

Maybe I just felt like I bought more variety because I also tried a lot of sample foods that I didn't actually purchase. That's something I love about Costco. Well, either love or hate. They have all these little samples that seem to taste so good when you are there. But of course, when you get home and actually cook it, it never tastes the same. Whenever I go there on the weekends I used to eat every single sample until I was actually partially full. And now, they even serve drinks samples so you don't have to walk around thirsty! But I don't really like any of the drinks that Costco carries. I wish they carried Vitamin Water.

Ooooh I'd be SO happy.

Jibber Jabber

What a long day.

I spent the entire day with just Lulu today, and she is such a BABY! A whiny, crying, howling, I-wanna-sit-in-your-lap-the-whole-day BABY! I've never had her away from Moley for that long, so she was really different.

This morning I went to one of my vendors, and it was way too hot outside for Lulu to hang out in the car so I begged and begged to bring her in. One of the ladies there looooves puppies so I got to bring her in with me while I picked out merchandise. At first it wasn't that bad, I just carried her around.. then she started getting heavy. Then I just let her down and she slept by my feet while I walked around. What a cutie. But then she asked to be carried... and she cried.. and she whined... all the way back to the car. Then she peed on my back seat. So now I guess I know when she whines that means she's gotta goooo...

Then for lunch I met up with an old high school friend in Van Nuys. Neither of us were familiar with the area, plus I had Lulu with me, so we ended up eating at this Korean Teriyaki place. What is up with all of these Teriyaki/Japanese restaurants with the owners being Korean??? They're everywhere. Teriyaki, sushi, cutlet, ramen, all Korean! I'm not saying that they're good, but just saying... have you ever seen a Chinese sushi place? or a Japanese Thai place? Nope- but there is Korean pho, Korean Chinese food, Korean Thai restaurants, ... ACTUALLY!!! In front of my church, in Koreatown, there is a "Louisiana Fried Chicken and Chinese Food" restaurant... and it's in K-town! It's gotta be Korean! teehee...

So then since I was in Van Nuys I stopped by the office, just to get a few things done and to pick up Moley. That's when Lulu turned into her old devilish self again. By the way- I was thinking the other day... I had this dream that I was registering Lulu's AKC papers and her official name was Luella (in the dream, not in real life) because I named her after the British designer, Luella Bartley. Then one day while I was recalling this, I actually considered it, but then thought Luella sounds too much like Cruella... and that's not a good name to name your dog! and THEN I started thinking... hey "De Ville" sounds like Devil! I never made that association before! How weird. Just never thought about it that way!

On my way home from work (after horrendous traffic on the 405) I got off the exit early and drove by Sunset Blvd. I decided to stop by the little dog store in Barrington Village for some Wellness treats and to get Lulu a cute collar. I found a cuuuute pink one with 3 enamel hearts on it. I decided to dedicate the 3 hearts to the past 3 female dogs that I've had- Helen the German Shepard, Helen the Cocker Spaniel stray, and Helen the Golden Retriever stray. :D (I tried to take a picture of Lulu with the collar on to post here- but it's impossible)

Had dinner at Terried again. Yum! Yummy baby squid. Yummy asari butter. and yummy green tea ice cream (with extra pocky) yumyum. And you know, I was actually starting to lose weight again. I could tell, because I fit into my True Religion jeans again. That's how I monitor my weight (since my scale seems not to be trusted) I just see which jeans I can fit into. And I know that I ate too much for dinner because afterwards it hurt to have the TR jeans on :(

And as for my handycam... I haven't used it enough to write comments yet. But it does have one AWESOME feature that I've always wished I had on my mom's camcorder. You know how sometimes you play a tape back then you have to cue it EXACTLY for the next time you record otherwise you either record over some footage or you have that annoying grainy scene in between? Well my camera cues to last recorded moment automatically at the push of a button. WooHOO!

Puptrition

When we first got Moley, the breeder was feeding him Iams Lamb & Rice formula so we just continued. Then at the store we realized Eukanuba was the "higher" end food from the Iams company so naturally, we switched. I was pretty happy with the choice, because of all the other PetCo dog foods, Eukanuba seemed pretty premium. That was until I learned about corn.

As it turns out, dogs do not digest corn very well. Also, since corn and cornmeal are so cheap and abundant, most major pet food companies use it as a filler for their foods. It is often listed as the 2nd or 3rd ingredient in the ingredients list, oftentimes dog food contain more corn than actual meat... and dogs don't even digest corn! So not only is this a waste in calories, a strain on their stomachs, I found out that dogs are much better off without it-- they can live longer healthier lives.

So of course I set out to try to find the perfect food for my pups. After searching the web and even consulting pet forums, I settled with Wellness dog food, made my Old Mother Hubbard. You can't find it at PetCo or Ralph's, but they are carried by almost all other small chain pet stores. It's the same price as Eukanuba and it's a whole lot better. The food is human quality with lots of nutrition. Also it smells like fish and dogs love it.



Now my new problem is... Lulu likes the adult food and Moley likes the puppy food =( I can't get them to eat their own food! Grrrr!

Starting a blogging cult

Spent the whole night helping little sister vina start her blog. Every little thing. From signing up, to "how to post an entry"... now we're going through the more intermediate steps of how to post a picture- fun. Step into Vina's world...

Okay, ok. Spent half helping Vina, and spent the other half giving my blog a face-lift. =) Likes?

An early Christmas

Well I couldn't stand it anymore! I opened the box =D Screw finding a cheaper price!! Tee hee... Well I played around with it a little before I charged the battery, and here's a small clip that I saved to a MS Duo... Of course the quality won't be as good because I had to compress it to upload..

**The embedded video thing was too much of a bother, just download it here:
Test Video

Sitting on pins n needles...

I sucked it up and finally went to Good Guys to buy the PC109. I got 10% off so I got a bit of a discount. I have the box in front of me... but there is a 15% restocking fee if I open the box and return it (in case I find a better deal elsewhere)...

So should I open it?

Comment better

I've grown tired of Haloscan comments leaving errors on my page and messing it up (although the popup comments box was really cute). So I've gone back to basics and added the Blogger Comments, which are in the same spot below each post. Feel free to leave a comment to test it out. Please. I'd really like to know who the hell is out there reading this =)

My research project

It all started about a month ago...

Vina called me one day, Ci, can I borrow your digital video camera? What? I don't have a digital video camera! Why do you need one? Oh, I just thought you would. I need to video tape a skit for my class.

Which got me thinking... hey... I don't have a digital video camera. I don't have any type of video camera. In fact, I don't have any event within the last 5 years of my life on video tape. Coming out of someone in my family, that is really weird. When I was about 6, my dad bought our first family camcorder and we have videotaped every holiday and major event since then. Even the not-so-major ones like band performances, amusement park outings, family bbq's... you get the picture. Not just that, Yona and I used to video tape ourselves when we were bored, we made little skits, paraded around the house giving tours, and even attempted at our own episodes of Candid Camera. A camcorder is a must-have in my family. And ever since I moved out, I never even thought about it. I think the last time I was on tape was my high school graduation.

Well, then my UCLA graduation came around and of course, my mom brought the camcorder. (Not the one we bought in 1986... tee hee. They've replaced that one since then! Still, ours is a Hi8... starting to be outdated) Actually, maybe it started a little earlier. When we first got Lulu, I wanted to catch her on video so I used my wimpy Sony P9 (digital camera) to catch a few shots of her fighting with Moley, chewing things she wasn't supposed to, etc. But watching those clips in a small 320 px window on my laptop was frustrating. I wanted something I could plug into my TV and watch with everyone. And she's getting so big so fast...

And that's why I decided yesterday that I want, I need, I absolutely must have a digital video camera. So I started on my hunt. Of course I started at sonystyle.com... I mean come on. My Sony Ericsson P900, our big screen TV, my laptop... everything takes the Sony Memory Card so my dig cam has to be Sony. (I'm a sucker for good branding) I found that they had two types of digital cameras out now.. the MiniDV which has been around for a few years, and the newer MicroMV which launched in 2001 but hasn't become mainstream until recently. But everywhere I searched, I couldn't find any thorough reviews, not even an article comparing the two types of digital camcorders. I had to really fish around for information.

Finally I narrowed down the choice to two contenders:

The Sony MiniDV DCR-PC109

The smallest out of the MiniDV group... Lots of nice features, including a touchscreen LCD display. I can even stick in my Memory Stick Duo and take stills. (Although why would I need to with my P9 and P900 cameras?) But anyways, it has all the features that its predecessor models do, plus some extras. It's also very small and compact, a good size to tote around. Even comes with a docking station that can connect to your TV and computer for viewing and also charges the cam at the same time.

And then there is the MicroMV DCR-IP1


Retailing at $300 more than the PC109, this tiny, I emphasize tiny camcorder is slightly bigger than a deck of playing cards. Seriously. It's very sleek, boasts a lot of nice features and 530 lines of resolution, and my gosh it's pocket sized! 8oz!

But is it worth the $1199? I started calling up some stores that carried both models and the consensus seemed to be that the IP1 far surpasses all other digital camcorders in terms of quality and convenience. But could they really pack all those things in such a small package? Aren't these salespeople just out to make the extra commission? I *finally* found a store that carried both models (okay, not "finally"... I only went to the Best Buy on Pico, then the Good Guys in Cerritos) and I got to play with both of them.

My verdict: The MicroMV IP1 is small, it's cute, it's damn impressive to look at... but I just couldn't get the damn thing to focus! It zooms very quickly but the focus lags. It feels like a toy. Even though there is a built-in SteadyShot stabilization system, I just couldn't help shaking, the thing's so tiny it's hard to get a good grip on it. There's no viewfinder, the LCD is small and grainy- so I assume the video quality will be grainy also. It felt more like an oversized digital camera with an mpeg feature than an actual camcorder. I think it would be great for digital manipulation, downloading video clips into your computer and playing with it... but I don't think it serves my purpose.

When I played with the MiniDV PC109, I really felt like I was playing with a miniature camcorder. It packs all the features in there nicely, in a portable package.

I think I'm 10- wait, 99- wait.. at least 90% sure... that I want the MiniDV PC109. Errr, make that 85%. (The IP1 is so cute!)

Anyone else have any comments? suggestions? adivce?

Yum yum dim sum

Here are some pictures taken during lunch after my graduation. We all ate at Empress Harbor in Monterey Park. There were actually 4 tables, but I forgot my camera so I only have pictures with my mom's extended family. My immediate family was there, along with some of my cousins on my dad's side. Some of Richard & my friends came also, they probably ordered the most food. Soo came along with her fiance (the jester). I'd forgotten what good food they have there... especially the Peking Duck (yum!)


My aunt Linda and her daughter Audrey.

This is my great-grandmother... my mother's grandmother. My grandmother was her first child (daughter), my mother was my grandmother's first child (daughter), and I'm also the first daughter. Ever since I was a child, we've been taking photos like this, sitting in a row. My grandmother has passed away so now there are just the 3 of us left. 4 generations....

Here's a picture of all the kids. From left to right, Me, my sisters Joanna, and Vina, my cousin Audrey, Yona, and my uncles (yes, uncles!) Charlton & Aaron.

My great-grandmother and two of my great-aunts. (My grandmother's sisters)

Linda, Audrey, me, and my great-aunt.

Graduation Photos on Imagestation

Well here are a few of my graduation photos... you can see (1) how much darker I've become now after tanning and (2) the results of my snack-splurging during finals. Wow. 48 hours of continuous snacking... my face is so round =o)

Finally!!!

Richard, me, and Catherine. (At this point my left arm was beginning to get tired of holding all those flowers)

My happy family. (They waited a long time for this moment... haha!)

Edward & Me. My ~ONLY~ friend in the department :) Actually, my only friend in this entire graduating class. At least I got to take a picture with you! (He had to rush & leave for his twin brothers' 10:30am graduation at UC Irvine)

Jennifer, Me, Richard, Anton, and Catherine in front of the Ashe Center. I chose to take the picture in front of the Ashe Center rather than the adjacent John Wooden Center because I go to the Ashe Center way, way more frequently than the Wooden Center. The Ashe Center is the student health center, and the Wooden Center is the gym.

UCLA Class of 2004, Department of Psychology ... I am in the right column about 6 rows from the back. I can't see me either :-(

sniff sniff

How can I study with a distractor like this! I couldn't! That's why I sent her home with my family for the next couple of days. Poor Moley is missing Lulu...

I just found out about G-Mail today, I know, kinda late! Anyways I was at work when one of my friends who recently signed up sent me an e-mail. Needless to say it thwarted my efforts to study at the office and I ended up spending the entire work day setting up my G-Mail account.

Well first came the task of finding someone who was capable of inviting me. My friend had just signed up and didn't earn inviting privileges yet. Thankfully Rudy happened to be online and had an extra invitation. Apparently his friend works at Google so he's been using it for months.

Because of all the extra space and cool features, I decied to make it my primary e-mail address for personal correspondence. I was really disappointed when I found out "sheena@gmail.com" was taken... I mean seriously, how common is the name Sheena? So I gave in and just chose "warmin", since my yahoo and ucla accounts are already warmin@. Then I played with the features for a bit and sent out e-mails to update my friends of the change in address.

After all this I was so exhausted I took a nap until it was time to go home.

There you go. An entire day wasted. It's already 11pm and I still haven't cracked open a book. I am getting ready to do so now though-- I have Bagel Bites cooking in the oven, one of my textbooks is in front of me, open to the first page... just gotta get a fresh glass of fruit punch and I'm ready! And maybe go to the bathroom real quick, so I don't have to go later. And maybe get a blanket? It's kind of cold. Should I take my contacts out first and use my glasses? That way when I get really tired I can just go to sleep. Oh I wonder if Richard wants me to cook him any snacks. Oooh my bagel bites smell like they're done.

When in the world am I going to start studying!?!?!?

P.S. Check this out: G-Mail Swap... all the people desperate to get a Gmail invite :D

I think crate-training Lulu is going to be harder than I thought. Sometime last night (maybe 5 sometimes) Lulu peed so when I took her out of her crate this morning she was drenched. Her whole lower half was wet and so was the bottom of the crate. She just pees and then sleeps in it! She didn't even cry out or anything. Oh well, at least she doesn't poop in her crate.

I've been so busy cleaning up after these two that I didn't get a chance to start studying at all this weekend. I will start studying today though, I promise. I went to Ralph's to do my studying prep. I bought chips+salsa, drinks, cookies, crackers, frozen snacks, and chocolate covered strawberries. Actually, I spent $150 on snacks. I still haven't got this grocery shopping on a budget thing down. Sometimes I go and buy raw ingredients for cooking and I spend about $50. The food lasts me about 2-3 days. This time I'm hoping $150 of snacks will last me throughout the week. But then Richard brought up a good point, if I hadn't gone to the grocery store at all, it wouldn't make a difference. It just means I wouldn't be snacking this week. So was it a waste of money? Of course not, who can study without snacks? But it is true though. No matter how much we spend on groceries, we spend the same amount every week going out to eat... so grocery shopping is probably pointless.

We had dinner at Crustacean again on Saturday night. At first I was thinking that I was sick of it and didn't really want to go... I went too many times in May. Even when I got there I was hesitant about ordering crab, etc. But then as soon as I whiffed a scent of the garlic noodles... hehe. Good stuff.

I'm in a grooming slump again. I am in need of an eyebrow waxing and a pedicure. I'm also overdue for my weekly bake. I just feel so guilty leaving the house... or actually I'm lazy to leave. I know that if I leave I have to bring Lulu out to pee before and after. And I feel like I should be at home studying, even though I'm wasting time sitting here blogging. Here are the plans for my week... today I am going to the office in a couple of hours and I will be studying there. I'm bringing the choco-strawberries to reinforce myself while studying. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the Bloomie's sale. I'm going to go there first, then go home to study. Then in the evening I have a Final Review for my motivation class, then I'm going to rush home to catch the end of the Laker game. (Or is it technically called the Pistons game?) Then on Wednesday I'm going to study then take a final. Then Thursday is finals all day. Then Friday I can start partying!! Yay~ Wait... I have to make time to stop by UCLA to pick up my Cap/Gown & Commencement tickets. damn. I've forgotten all about that. So maybe today I stop by school before I go to the office. Oh and today I have to stop by Centinela Feed to get more dog food. Arrrgh.

All these two ever do is sleep!

When I brought Moley back to the Vet today, she told me that he was actually in pretty bad shape. He has really intense bruising all over the area and will probably take longer to heal. She said that about 1 in every 100 dogs get bad bruising like this. She says that it's common, yet it's rare. What is that supposed to mean?

After that, I took Lulu to "Pet Salon" to get her nails cut and her hair trimmed around her feet and her "anal glands". She was very wiggly- very soon she will get the complete grooming package there with Moley =). I can't wait until I can drop the two of them off there together for the whole day, muhahah!

Today I got an invitation to the Bloomingdale's private sale along with coupons to use during the sale. It reminded me of when I used to live with Marcela and we went to this annual sale. When you purchase a certain amount (I think it used to be $250) you would get an additional gift certificate to use the next time. We used to go for a couple of days in a row, rolling over the savings =) Well I guess Bloomie's is in a slump this year cos they sent out $25 off $100 purchase coupons and for every $100 you spend you get a $15 gift card on top of it. Can't wait til June 15th.. hehe.. I'm going to get some more Juicy flip-flops, some t-shirts, and maybe some jewelry. I'm kind of sick of clothes shopping~ who wouldn't be in my position? I go out to do the buying for the company 3 times a week.

I'm thinking of doing another gym membership. This time I want a gym with pretty good classes. Come to think of it, I should just work out at the Wooden Center. I could take a tennis class, and I'm sure they have yoga or pilates by now. They have kick boxing aerobics. I guess I have no excuses. I should just get off my lazy butt and start!

Oh Mooooooley :'(

The poor baby.

I picked him up last night after his castration and dental cleaning. The poor kid has blue balls. Literally.

He was very excited to see me, he even peed on me twice. (Oh no! So the problem didn't go away?) And then after he settled he rested his head on my feet and looked up at me. Awww :( I brought Lulu back to the vet too- she had a nasty red thing on her tummy which turned out to be a broken stinger. It was removed by the vet and she's healing now.

Anyhow since Moley could walk a little, at home I parked and carried Lulu and walked Moley on the leash. About 15 steps later, Moley sat down and refused to walk. After 2 minutes of unsuccessful coaxing, I had no choice but to pick him up and carry the both of them upstairs. I must have looked silly... a huge bag, carrying a tiny pup and an overgrown pup with bleeding balls. Awww poor kids.

When we got home Moley tried to find a comfortable place to sleep but I think it hurts him to lie down. Sometimes he just sat up with his head hanging down and his eyes closed and you could see his body whimpering. And also he kept getting near me to cuddle up on my lap. Finally I couldn't take seeing him in so much pain so I gave him one of his pain killer pills early, and let him sleep in my lap. In about 20 minutes he was knocked out so I replaced my legs with pillows and he slept like that on the floor for a while.

This morning he woke up with more energy but I can tell it still hurts him when he tries to jump on the bed. He got about 10 minutes of play with Lulu and now I'm preparing to take him to the vet for a quick check-up.

I'm starting to feel the weight of this responsibility. I woke up entirely exhausted today (Lulu had another 5am potty break, then refused to go back to sleep). I have a million things to do including studying for finals, prepping for graduation (buying the cap & gown, etc) and cleaning the house.

I just hope I can survive until my graduation next weekend.

Picture of the Day... (Yes- she is actually sleeping!)

I am officially satisfied enough with my results at Sunset Tanning to recommend them. I go to their new West LA location:

1856 S. SEPULVEDA
ACROSS FROM SPORTS CLUB/L.A.
TEL: (310) 268 8262

I bought a combination package of the S-Class and Sunboard bed.

Spray Tan: I haven't tried the Mystic Tan but I have tried another Sunless Tanning Spray at a different tanning salon. The spray I used sprays your body vertically once on each side and has an instant bronzer in it. I hated it. It's no different than applying a self-tanner. The instant bronze was a weird color and it dripped all over my body, leaving streaks the first day. Then the actual self-tanner that was supposed to develop in 3 hours wasn't dark at all, so I felt it was a waste. I hear the Mystic Tan is supposed to be much better: you stand on a magnetic field that attracts the solution to your body evenly. Catherine did this a couple of days ago and her results were much better than mine. She got good, even color with minimal streaking.

Sunboard Tanning Bed: Very intensive on the upper body. It is supposed to be a high pressure system that distributes the UV rays throughout the entire bed but I felt like it was only on my face/shoulders. It was VERY hot and uncomfortable, good thing I turned up the music to distract myself. It was cool that it didn't close though, so I did not feel clausterphobic. I was on the bed for 10 minutes and did not get any redness afterwards. I did feel that I got darker on my upper body but did not notice a difference on my legs. One of the technicians told me afterwards that this type of bed is best used after the other bed. One of them was UVA Ray intensive and the other was UVB but I forgot which is which.

S-Class Tanning Bed: So far my favorite. This bed is airconditioned and built in aromatherapy and water mister. All very fun to play with while you are bored in the bed. Also another cool features is that both the body portion and the facial portion have 5 different levels of intensity that you can adjust. That way, I was able to adjust how much I wanted to expose my face. I usually turned the facial portion to a level 2 and left the body at a Level 5. The first time I did this bed I stayed for 9 minutes. The second time, I stayed for 11 minutes. I got more color instantly but my back was itchy/red for a day. Not any worse than a sunburn though.

So anyways I've been 3 times and I'm pretty happy with my color so far. My skin is a little bit dry though. Here are my recommendations for first-timers.

- A week before you begin tanning, get into the habit of exfoliating yourself in the shower. MOR makes a great Green Tea Sugar body polish that does the trick. Exfoliate once every few days to get your skin used to the cell renewing process.

- Always moisturize. After the shower, before bed, the more you moisturize, the better your color will turn out.

- Start off with a spray tan. This will give you a color boost and get yourself used to having a little color. (Since you will probably have to change the make-up you use, etc.) Also, do a session on a tanning bed the same day. Start off with the S-Class for at least 3 sessions then move on to the Sunboard. From there to maintain, switch back and forth between the two machines. There is a technical reason behind doing this that the lady explained to me but I forgot what.

- Buy a package. Individual tanning sessions can get very expensive and you don't get any results from just going one time. A package will give you a good deal and usually they throw in a couple of free sessions if you are a new customer.

- Buy an accelerator. I use the silver/green bottle of the CFX (I think that's what it's called) because there is also a little bit of self-bronzer in there.

- Just as you would soothe red skin after sun exposure, treat your skin after your tanning sessions too. Moisturize, use cooling lotion, whatever it takes.

- For the first couple of sessions, go every 3 days. No matter what the person says, I don't think you need to go everyday. Give your skin some time to settle down, moisturize, and repair itself before going back.

Lulu is getting naughtier by the hour! She is fighting with Moley a lot. Moley gets really annoyed when she bites, i.e. his ears or my feet. He growls at her then she throws a hissy fit. She definitely has a lot of energy. Anyways, enough about her! I have done too much thinking and talking about her since I’ve gotten her so it’s time to move on to other things…

Moley is getting neutered tomorrow! I’m so worried. I hope everything goes okay.

Okay, okay. No more about dogs. How about a little bit about food? I am SO FULL! I ate dinner at Kagaya, a shabu-shabu restaurant in Little Tokyo. This place wasn’t like the usual Shabu-Shabu places we go to… their specialty is the Kobe beef dish… $98 a plate! … and I ate probably 3 plates to myself! Okay, let’s say I ate 2 plates. I ate King crab legs, raw oysters, sashimi, beef tongue, and who knows what else. It was a BIG meal. Oh and I had a yummy banana dessert. There were about 18 of us- we ate with Anton+ Jen, and Lia’s family who was visiting from Indonesia. The tab must have run up to about $5 grand! I think we just paid for the restaurant’s rent for the month. But the savory melt-in-your-mouth beef was delish. Just the right amount of plumpness and fat =) The raw oysters were pretty good too, rather than the traditional horseradish/cocktail sauce/lemon, these were served with ponzu sauce, daikon radish and green onions. And just for Yona's reading pleasure: In case you forget, Kobe beef is Japanese, where they take the cows and feed it lots of Sake and massage them so that they become fat and lazy... and juicy to eat =) But enough about food...

I saw Harry Potter sometime over the weekend. We saw it in the IMAX theater at the Bridge. I’m glad that theater has assigned seating so we don’t have to wait in line for 40 minutes before the movie like AMC Century City. It has been such a while since I’ve read the 3rd Harry Potter book that I didn’t remember too many details. The movie was okay~ I thought it was a bit confusing and I actually read the book. For people who haven’t read the book, it might be too confusing. Richard fell asleep and I had a tough time explaining the movie to him. Also, I didn’t really like the style of this new European director. I thought the movie was a little dry, and lacked the creativity and cinematography of the first two.

Well, since I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a while, I better get to bed early. Wait, it’s already 1am? That’s not early. Let’s just hope Lulu doesn’t decide to go poop at 3am again.

Here she is again bothering her big brother... and since he wouldn't wake up, she fell asleep on his arm! Augh. How cuuuute.

How can I resist taking pictures? This little girl can fall asleep ANYWHERE.. I was just sitting at the computer with my feet crossed when a little head finds its way on them. Now I'm stuck...

Puppies just make the world such a fun place to live in. :)

Unless they wake you up at 3am begging to go out and poop.

This morning I set up an appointment for the two kiddles to go to the vet. Lulu needed her puppy exam and Moley went in for a checkup before we get him neutered this Wednesday. I actually had a little bit of time to kill before the vet (I errr... skipped class) so I stopped by The Wagging Tail (on Montana Ave). They have the cutest things in that store (but pricey). I got Lulu a little harness/leash so that she can start walking on the ground with her big brother. It was pretty quiet, I think I got there right when they opened, so I was able to let the two of them run around the store trying things. Then this girl came in and Moley started playing with her, jumping up at her and asking to be pet. She was kneeling down playing with the dogs and asking questions and I thought her voice sounded familiar. Then when she looked up, it was Reese Witherspoon. She was getting collars and such for her bulldogs. I'm sure they aren't as cute as Moley+Lulu. Here's Lulu with her new hairpiece:



She's very clumsy- and does a lot of the same behaviors as Moley. I don't know if it means that maybe it runs in their family or if all Cockers act the same. She loves to play and bite. She has a mean, nasty bite.

Well, they're both taking a nap on the bed. Time to take more pictures =)

My new little girl!

Album: Lulu



Born: April 13, 2004

We brought her home on June 5, 2004. The original family that was going to take her home cancelled at the last minute, so Richard, Moley and I hopped in a car and drove to Yucaipa first thing Saturday morning. There were 3 buff puppies available, 2 boys and a little girl. They were all from the same litter. One of the boys was really cute and friendly. He was all buff except for little white rings around his eyes- like a reverse panda! He was really friendly and kept coming towards me and cuddling... but deep down I still wanted a little girl! She had a couple twists of white hair on her head, like Moley. She was really tiny too, only 7 weeks!

Moley and Lulu met in the car.. he is really gentle and protective over her. They actually share a father, so Lulu is his step sister! Which means we will have to neuter Moley ASAP, like, Monday. He already tried humping her once... but then I think he realized she was too small because he hasn't tried again.

She's a naughty little one! She was very sleepy and cuddly at first but as soon as she got some food in her, she started romping around the living room bugging Moley. She's very feisty and chews a lot (on your fingers... very hard too) Her daily cycle is sleep, pee, eat, poo, play, sleep. And that is about every 3 hours or so! I will be home a lot this next week! She got a mini-crate which we put next to Moley's. She whines (tiny whiny) when we put her inside but she slept in her crate last night... and woke me up with her crying at 6am! I had to take her out to pee/poo... that's why I'm so sleepy today.

Anyhoo, I'm exhausted so I'll keep this short for now. Lookie~ they're already cuddling! It's time to go pee/poo Lulu for the last time and catch up on my Z's.

P.S. I went for another tanning session today and jumped up to 11 minutes- I toasted my back and I'm so dark. It's very weird to look in the mirror... my upper body seems darker than my lower body too. What's up with my legs??

Last night I finally Watched the Day After Tomorrow. I had read previews on Yahoo the day it opened, and they weren't very nice reviews so I wasn't expecting much~ so it was much better than I expected! I mean of course- you can't go into the theater thinking "Oh goodness global warming is going to happen sooner than we thought and this movie is scientifically correct"- it's a movie for goodness' sakes. When we planned to watch it with Jennifer earlier on she was like "Oh I heard all these scientists are laughing at this movie." well... come on, must we take the scientific value of movies such as T3, Twister, Independence Day seriously? It's for entertainment! And for that, this movie was great. There were really good special effects, the detail was amazing. The story was satisfactory~ I like Dennis Quaid in his part. I had a good time, one of the better movies I've seen in a while.

Other than that I spent the whole Memorial Day weekend doing what else- eating! Since we've been looking into restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, Richard and I drove over there to eat on Sunday and Monday. On Sunday we drove around then decided on dinner at Din Tai Fung. I can't believe how many dumplings I ate. (To make things worse, on Monday I cooked fried dumplings at home for breakfast. hehe!) Then on Monday we had dimsum at a newer place, called Sea Harbor. I thought it was pretty good~ maybe I'll have my graduation lunch there! Then afterwards I had crepes. Can you believe how much I eat nowadays?

Anyhoo on Monday we had originally planned to drive by Yucaipa~ yes Yucaipa.... to visit Moley's family! Okay. I think 10% of the reason we were going there was to let Moley play around and for his old breeders to take a look at him. The other 90% was a litter of 6 week old buff coloered (same as Moley) puppies that were available :) Eeeeeeh! Moley's getting a little brother! It's kind of scary. We're really on the verge of getting a second puppy~ Moley is so lonely! It's just that I really wanted a little girl and all the little girls are taken. They only have 2 baby boys left but one of them has freckles on his nose! Aaaugh. But that would suck to wait until this weekend to get him cos then he'd be 7 weeks old and with puppies you need every day you can get!

But school is wrapping up, finals are coming up, my graduation, etc. I guess right now is NOT the best time to be getting another puppy. Oh but they'll be so cute together! Fighting over greenies, sharing the crate. Awwwww~

Oscar winner Nicholas cage has proposed to a 19 year old Sushi Waitress with an emerald and diamond ring.

Cage was out for a meal at the restaurant where the brunette works; Sushi Avenue in LA when he fell for the 19 year old, Alice Kim and he became so smitten with her, tht he invited her to the oscars with him the following month.

Since then, the besotted star has whiskes Alice off in his private jet for a series of romantic dinners in Chicago and New orleans where he has been filming

Asked about the proposal to Alice, a pal said: "Nic has really fallen for this girl. She lives with her family because she can't afford her own place. Alice loves the ring Nic gave her and she was totally amazed by his actions. She keeps pinching herself to check she's not dreaming. It's not every day a hard-up waitress is swept off her feet by a Hollywood movie star."