Thank You

I was clearing up my drawer and saw a little book of mine where I’ve written down some of the meaningful quotes that inspire me. I saw this piece at the nurses station during my final semester’s clinical rotation. I like it very much because I can relate to it.

“Happiness keep you sweet
Trials keep you strong
Sorrows keep you human
Failures keep you humble
Success keep you glowing
But only GOD keep you going.”

(Picture was taken at the Longwood Garden, Pennsylvania.)

Without struggles, I may not have learned to be strong and be endurance but without happiness and success, I may not look back and feel grateful that I’ve come a long way. Thank You for everything…

The weekend at the Hampton

This trip of mine to Amagansett, Long Island was 2 weekends ago. I was busy and haven’t been able to talk about it.
Amagansett is next to East Hampton, both are places of the wealthy living in New York, they usually have their mansion or beautiful cottage in this part of Long Island.

Since I was there for my training, hubby thought it would be nice to meet me there and travel to Montauk together to see the light house, that’s at the very end of the island. And it’s just another 40 minutes to Montauk from East Hampton.
It’s really beautiful over there, I heard about Montauk a long time ago and we were talking about going there but we never been able to drag ourselves to travel there because it’s a 3 hours drive from New York City to the end of Long Island.
However, due to the limited time and it was pretty chilly, we didn’t spend that much time in the East Hampton but I will be going back there in the summer and we’ll share more of the pictures of the beautiful East Hampton.

This is part of East Hampton, it’s very quiet and peaceful. It reminds me of Europe.

On our way to the light house at Montauk.

Here’s the light house at Montauk, Long Island.

I think hubby’s photography skill has improved a lot.

We wanted to get closer to the water but it was very windy and chilly that Easter morning.

I was collecting some beautiful stones and pebbles, they are so round and polished.

And we will be back in the summer when the weather is much warmer…

My friend got up early in the morning and cut these daffodils from the garden for me before I left. They were lovely on my dinning table.

Babysitting Ivan

The 2 days babysitting Ivan was quite fun even though I didn’t expect he is that attach to people and having separation anxiety.
Day 1 :
He willingly stay with me after John(his daddy) left for work but even if I left him to go to the kitchen, he’ll be calling out “yeee,yeeee…” all the time and he would be waiting for me right at the door when I go to the bathroom @.@ LOL!

Day 2:
Now, hubby was working from home that day and Ivan was soooo happy to have him. I mean, Ivan REALLY adores uncle Tony. Every second, he would charm uncle Tony to carry him. “ Chu chu, Bao bao” with his arm wide open and hubby would carry him but since he had to work so he put him down and said “Sook sook has to work, I’ll play with you later” but then he said his heart melt when Ivan keep calling for his attention. hehehehe, so we realize that I’m the “discipliner” and he’s the “spoiler”. I’m a strong believer of discipline no matter how much you love them…I told hubby, if your words does not match with your action or you’re not consistent, they know. Anyway, I think it’s ok to spoil him a little for 2 days, so we’ll just have fun and hand it back to John & Gigi, hahaha!

Ivan kept checking on hubby even though I’m with him, he wants to make sure uncle tony is in his seat.

Having fun stepping on uncle Tony’s belly, woopsi

Hubby was wrestling with Ivan trying to put him to sleep. LOL!!

And there, Ivan charms uncle Tony to carry him

However, he willingly lay down on uncle Tony’s arm and fell asleep pretty soon.

Ivan was smiling wide when he saw uncle Tony the moment he woke up…

and lay joyfully in his arm.

I asked hubby to lead him an example of drinking water, Ivan was having fun, like men drinking beer, hahaha

A-gong, I love you, I will always miss you…

I cried out so loud together with my mom when she delivered the news that my grandfather had passed away. Even though I had experience the loss of someone close, like my grandmother from my dad’s side and one of my aunt (in-law), however, this time it hurts me so much… Maybe before I kind of expected they would be leaving us soon, aunt was suffering from cancer and grandma was very old and was not ambulating well. Or more likely because they passed away not long after I saw them and hold their hands.

The last time I saw my grandpa was three and a half years ago. He was strong and healthy and his voice was still loud and clear, you can hear him from far before he enter the room. He was still always out and about on his bike. However, last year he was hospitalized and got all his children worried but after several procedures, he’s out from the hospital and functioning well. He’s 85, you kind of ready for that to happen…I guess…but who will be ready for the death of a loved one?, of their parents? My mom was crying out loud over the phone… My brother said my other aunt was crying uncontrollably and he could hardly hear her over the phone. My uncle trying to hold back his tears but I can hear his voice cracked when he was trying to comfort me that grandpa was already 85…and that he has been on & off with his illness…
I was crying with my mom and mumbling that I haven’t been able to go home for so long, and that after seeing my grandparents pictures in my cousin’s wedding recently, I had made up my mind to go home this year but now he will not be there…
I haven’t seen him for so long…and now he’s gone forever.

Most of my friends envy that I have the chance to live overseas but the reality is it’s not as good as it seems or imagined, most of us in overseas are so homesick but due to many circumstances we could not go home that frequent or some are stuck because of the document or the complicated immigration procedures…A few of the fortunate one are those who can go home every year.
I miss home so much. And I miss you, a-gong!

Introducing Hot Pocket!

I am usually the one who cook or prepare meals but whenever I feel lazy or too tired to do so, hubby will do it.
If everyone in the household is working or if you live by yourself, preparing a meal can be a tiring task, all the washing, cutting and cleaning…. nevertheless I believe that nobody should be deprived of wholesome meal. Still, it doesn’t mean if you always eat complicated cooked meals it is wholesome or nutritious because one can cook all the nutrients/vitamins away. So I usually watch the variety of colors (of the veggies) that I’m eating and to include beans or legumes, squash, leafy vegetables…etc. in my diet. At least, I tried. I realize being a vegetarian makes us eat more of the variety of plants and after some researches I did over the years, nope, I don’t think vegetarian will deprive of protein or B12 because you can get that from plants or supplement! and if you eat right.

Hubby usually prepare the dinner on Wednesday since I will be home late after my Pilates and dance classes.
Anyway, here’s one of those quick, simple and easy meal he came up with the other day and I’m loving it because it’s not only yummy and nutritious, the most important thing… it’s FAST! LOL!!!
And I named it Hot Pocket, hubby doesn’t agree with the name, he said it’s just pita bread but I like to call it Hot Pocket. Okay to warn you, it’s not like a fancy woo wow kind of meal, hahahaha, just that I’m thrill we discovered something simple and easy to prepare at home which is much healthier than instant noodle. Of course, you can get this kind of food or wrap anywhere in the restaurant but at anytime a home cooked meal is better, right?

These are the ingredients we use:
Pita bread – warm the pita bread on a pan
Stuffing:
-organic pre-washed salad mix
- stir fried chopped celery, soy ham, organic sweet corn, organic green peas, and pine nuts
- sliced olives
- sliced avocado
Sauce: we use Kewpie mayonnaise (In M’sia- you can get it from Jusco), (in US- in Chinese supermarket/ Japanese supermarket)
I also love it with my homemade salad dressing made from Dijon mustard.

Bipolar weather

Okay, this is what I called a bipolar weather, one day sunny, one day snowy, what?!?! If you guys are familiar with the bipolar disorder, where they have manic phase and a depression phase. Manic is when they are all up and energetic, then the depression is, you know, depressed and all down…

So, it was all warm on Sunday and we visited the New York Botanical Garden(stay tune for more flowers story :P) and I was wearing a feather-weight sweater without jacket…feeling the warmth of the sun touching my cheeks. It was so nice…

Yesterday, when I leave my apartment, my jaw dropped when I open the front door, “Is that snow?” OMG, snowing in April? I have to wear my thick winter jacket again -_-

Now, today is all sunny and warm again… truly bipolar. But I am going to seize the opportunity to enjoy when it’s nice today!