Before the year ends...

...I'd like to update this blog and greet everybody "Merry Christmas!" Sorry I'm almost 2 days late for that greeting. I've been here in a small town in Wyoming with Brandon since the 24th to spend the holidays with my sister and her husband and in-laws...and her brand-new baby boy! Yay, I'm an aunt now! I'll have to post some pictures of her stinkin' cute babe here later. And since I'm on a vacation, I haven't done anything but sleep, sleep, and sleep.

So, since I don't get around here much often, I feel obliged to write an update of what happened since my last entry. I tried to remember as many as I could, but these are all I can think of for now:

November
I turned 27. That's pretty hard to believe, and even harder to accept that I'm getting older fast. Ha!

December
-I became full-time at my second job so I had to quit my other job last week because me working 2 full-time jobs at the same time just sounds insane to me.
-I became an aunt for the first time. What a blessing!
-I bought a new DSLR camera a week before Christmas as a Christmas present for myself. :)
-Christmas morning was awesome!

Pictures will be up for this post soon.

update (1/16/2011): and here are the photos! :)

We slept in on Christmas morning and didn't open the presents until about 10 a.m. So while the neighbors had already gone back to sleep after unwrapping their gifts, our excitement just started to kick in.

We did this tradition at the Bartons' residence (my sister Kristine's parents-in-law) and I was glad that we did. Why? Because me and Brandon got tons of presents from them, something that we didn't expect at all. They sure are amazing people, and ever since Kristine got married to Justan, I have always felt like Justan's parents are my family too.

We took turns opening the presents, and I was always itching for my turn.

This one is from my mom-in-law. I still don't know where to put it so its temporarily just sitting on top of the fridge (I hope Brandon's mom won't get to read post.) I suck at decorating and I'm so good at procrastinating to decorate.

I normally don't do the peace sign because it kinda annoys me that everybody does it especially when they do it in every picture. So this is probably the only peace sign picture I have and will ever have. Anyway, this was the last bag I opened because I wanted to save the best for last.

The fat guy in the funny red suit was so good to me this Christmas.

I'm inlove with my new baby.

Considering that it was a winter month and we had a good amount of snow 3 days earlier, Christmas morning was unbelievably beautiful in Wright that I honestly didn't care for a white Christmas.

To close this post, I'll leave you with a pic of my adorable nephew. I swear I couldn't get enough of this teeny-tiny guy. Meet my new favorite boy, Gavin!

I'm back!

Oh my heck! I can't believe that it's been 5 months since I last posted an entry here. I swear I almost could not remember my blog address when I decided to make a post today.

So let me give my excuse(s) for being away that long. Well, I've been back to working since the last couple of weeks of May. I started with an on-call position, a month later I became full-time. Two months after being hired for a full-time position, I found a second job which is part-time. So I've been working my tush off 64 hours a week since August. Whew!

What happened during the last 5 months?

-3rd year wedding anniversary on August 15

-We moved from Holladay to Midvale by the end of August.

-like mentioned, I found a second job and that was in August too.

I guess that's all it. Or maybe I just can't recall what happened in July and June.

So, see you again, uhmm...next year? :P

It's been 3 years

...since I stepped on the grounds of LAX. Looking back, I arrived past 8 pm and when I got out of the airport with my husband and his mom, I was freezing. How can I forget the very first food I ate? We stopped by a Taco Bell drive-thru for dinner. It is Brandon's most favorite fast food and he thought that I might love it as well, so he got me 2 burritos. I had 2 bites before I started to feel like throwing up. I don't remember anymore if I threw up or if I was able to hold it.

Food and not homesickness was my biggest problem. I came to the US weighing 100 lbs or maybe a little heavier than that. Two weeks later, I was 95 lbs. For about a month or so, I lived with toasted bread (with butter and sugar on each slice) for breakfast, rice and bacon for lunch, and pizza for dinner. I always prayed for Chinese take-out every night. Americans don't eat breakfast and lunch. By that, I mean they don't make meals in the morning and at noon. They only prepare food for dinner. So growing up in a culture where people eat a complete meal (which means main dish + rice)at least 3x a day, this was strange to me. Thanks to my discovery of Filipino recipe websites on the internet several months later, I was able to eat again my much-craved Filipino dishes.

For 3 years of living in the U.S.A., a completely different country with a completely different culture, I've learned a lot of things such as:

1. Americans don't know what the word viand is. When you're referring to "ulam", just call it main dish. Lots of them don't know what nape (back of the neck) is either.
2. Say "fridge" instead of "ref" if you want to be understood.
3. Even if there's not a bath tub or a shower inside, it is better to say "I need to go to the bathroom" instead of "I need to go to the C.R.".
4. Americans call different footwear differently from how Filipinos call them.
   • Flip-flops- are those thong rubber-made footwear that we call slippers in the Philippines (although more and more Filipinos have adapted the term flip-flops).
   • Slippers- those are the fluffy close-toed ones we wear inside the house, which they only wear here during the cold season.
   • Sandals- anything wearable on the sand (this makes sense!). Your pair of Islander are not slippers, they're sandals. In Philippines, sandals are those that look more formal, like the high-heeled and strappy ones.
   • Shoes- In Philippines, what we call shoes are usually those that are black and made of leather or faux leather such as those that we wear to school and church. They also call those shoes here, but what we call sandals are also shoes to them.
5. Filipinos call it bag (the kind that a woman slings on her shoulder), the Americans call it purse.
6. During the Spring and Summer seasons, the sun sets at 8 pm or later.
7. Unlike what Filipinos think, just because you're dark doesn't mean you are attractive to Americans, and likewise, not all fair-skinned girls are unattractive to them.
8. American use forks to eat, even with rice. They only spoons for soup.
9. It's not true that American's rarely take a shower. In fact my husband showers more often than I do. He does it twice a day.
10. Never upstage the bride. Whether you're one of the bridesmaids or just attending the wedding ceremony or reception, you can't look more beautiful than the woman being married. I've actually heard funny stories about some brides purposely planning ugly dresses for the bridesmaids to make sure they won't steal the "spotlight" from her. So keep your dress simple.
11. People in the US call more than they text.
12. Americans are generally animal lovers. They treat their pet like a family member.
13. In the US, they pay much respect to the cops, military, and other members of the US forces. Usually, before a show starts, the host would call any army in the audience to stand up, then ask everyone to give them applause...something that I had never seen in the Philippines.
14. Americans are generally polite. They don't push around no matter how long the line is. They ask "how are you doing?" whenever they get the chance to. They probably don't always mean it but the point is, at least they make an effort to greet. And they always say thank you.
15. Americans are book lovers.
16. They pronounce a the same way that they do e that's why they always misspell than for then, and that's just one of the words always misspelled. Example: Instead of writing I'm better than you, they always write I'm better then you. Americans are not as conscious with spelling as Filipinos are.
17. Spaghetti is a dinner food, not a dessert. And unlike how Filipinos make spaghetti, they never include ketchup in the recipe.
18. Never never never use the term "niger" unless you're looking for trouble. Although African-American is the politically correct name, black is also acceptable.
19. Most Americans don't eat fish that still has it's head on.
20. Cereal is the most common food for breakfast.
21. Grandma is pronounced as gran-mah, and grandpa as gran-pah.
22. Their biscuit is not the same as what Filipinos call biscuit. This is what they call biscuit:
    Note: Not my own photo. Click the image to see it's source.
    
    
23. They don't call it washing machine. They just call it washer.
24. While we Filipinos are content with either steaming; boiling; or frying rice, Americans have more ways of making it.
25. I don't think Americans can live without paper towels in their homes.
26. It's definitely not true that all American girls are no longer virgins by the age of 14.
27. American women are not as wild as they are portrayed on TV...unless they're from bigger cities like New York, and many American parents are not as tolerant of their children as Filipinos think. Many are actually still conservative. In the Philippines, little girls wearing skimpy and sexy dance costumes are allowed even in schools and most parents don't mind because they find it cute. But here in the US, as far as I know and have observed, schools and parents don't allow little children and even young teens to unnecessarily expose skin.
28. I used to find all black people unattractive (since I was raised in a culture where dark skin is less appreciated). Now I know how to identify which ones are beautiful and good-looking.
29. Regardless of her marital status, use Ms. + her first name to address a woman politely, such as Ms. Karen, Ms. Jill, Ms. Ann, etc.
30. White guys don't like big butts for women. Black and Hispanic men do.
31. Those who grew up in the US don't peel pineapples. They just cut 'em.
32. You can rarely find a calendar hanging in an American home. So far, I've only been to one house where I saw a calendar hanging on the wall.
33. Everything here is in jumbo size/portion. I was like "OMG!" when I first saw how big their burgers, drinks, bell peppers, tomatoes, etc. were. The large McDonald's drink in the Philippines is the regular size here. Double the size of the sandwich you get at a fast food there, that's how big their sandwiches are here.
34. They don't eat their Oreo without milk. :)

These are all I can think of for now. It's 3:46 in the morning and I need to go to bed, haha. I will update the list later. Oh, and if you can add more, please do. :)

Bye-bye Meat (again)

Any vegetarian in the house?

I tried this lifestyle a couple years ago and was surprised that I did it successfully...1 month? 1.5 months? 2 months? I don't exactly remember how long I had been eating meat-free. So why am I claiming to have succeeded at vegetarianism if I stopped? Well, in all honestly I did not miss meat, although in the first 2 weeks I did. I stopped because I was horrified looking at the mirror and seeing how skinny I had become. I wore size 00 jeans and XS shirts. I felt really light and looked starved. Well, I was starved! And it was all my fault. I dived in immediately to the decision of being a vegetarian without much preparation. I just woke up one day and decided to stop eating pork, chicken, beef, and even dairies. Weighing under 90 lbs. after several weeks, I was desperate to win my normal weight and healthy physique back that I had to quit vegetarianism. It was kinda sad for me because I felt like I failed and all my efforts went to nothing.

Two days ago while viewing some videos on Youtube, out of the blue, the thought of looking for PETA videos suddenly popped into my head. Really, that was very random. I don't even know why the letters P-E-T-A came to my mind. I hadn't been thinking of going vegetarian again or whatever. So I typed "PETA videos" and different heart-breaking and disturbing footages on animal cruelty displayed.

The video below was an enough wake-up call for me to go back to living meat-free. While watching it, it just broke my heart so much that I came to this realization: "How can someone enjoy something that another creature had to suffer for?" Without a second thought, I made the decision to stop eating meat again. The next day, I planned my meals for the rest of the week. For those who do not know, there are many types of vegetarian diet. I decided to start with being a Pescatarian. A pescatarian is a vegetarian who does not eat all types of meat and animal flesh with the exception of fish. Aside from pescatarian diet, I also consume dairy products. I don't want to rush again into being a vegan (a vegetarian who refuses to eat all types of meat as well as every food product that comes from animals), so I'll do this little by little, takin' short strides at a time.

Warning: The following video is heart-breaking. Watch if you want to know why YOU SHOULD NOT EAT MEAT.


We understand things differently. While your opinion may differ, mine is that animals are supposed to be our friends, not our food. They struggle to live just like we humans do. They breathe, they think, they cry, and they feel pain. So what gives you more right over the animals? If you're saying that they are here for us to eat, humans can survive without eating meat. Humans choose to eat meat to satisfy their tastebuds. You may say that you eat meat but you also love animals and are against animal abuse. My opinion is that, if you love animals, you won't support the idea of killing them for food.

"My body will not be a tomb for other creatures." ---Leonardo Da Vinci ( a vegetarian)

Visiting the Sunshine State Part 4: Into Parenthood

This is the last part.

Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 2
Click here for Part 3

Brandon and I don't really have a timeline on when to have our first baby. It's not that we don't want one, we just don't feel ready. Well, actually Brandon is ok about having one soon but it's me who always say no. Before I got married, I used to think of bearing a child immediately after the wedding, like within a year. Maybe because I grew up in a country where babies come either before marriage or shortly after. Living in the USA and seeing the Americans' way of life definitely gave me a better understanding on a lot of things, parenthood being one of them. I feel like I woke up to the reality that being a mom is a lifetime responsibility, and without a doubt the biggest responsibility a woman can place on her hands. And I don't want to be faced with that responsibility financially, emotionally, mentally, and physically unprepared.

Like I mentioned in part 2, Brandon's younger sister has a baby boy. He is sooo adorable that I couldn't get enough of him. Here are few pictures of me taking care of Parker while his mom was at work. I was his nanny for the whole day that day. I fed him, changed his diapers, played with him, hushed him when he cried, and put him to sleep...in other words, I practiced mothering with him that day. Honestly, it was more fun than stressful.





These 2 were taken after doing the family pictures (see part 2). Don't we look cute as a family? :D



One day, you'll see me and Brandon on this blog holding our own baby/ies. I promise! :P

Visiting the Sunshine State Part 3: Beauty and the Beach

Part 1 is here.
Part 2 is here.

I couldn't think of any other title so if you wanna laugh at the "beauty" part, go ahead! :D

It was either gloomy or rainy during the first 4 days since we got to Gulf Breeze so we mostly stayed at home. I thought it would stay like that for the rest of our vacation days and I was starting to get frustrated. Fortunately, the sun came out on the 5th day so we did the family pictures in the afternoon (see part 2), and the next day Brandon and I went to Pensacola Beach resort. We heard rumors that the beach would be closed for the summer due to the oil spill problem in the gulf coast. That would suck for beach goers and more for the businesses on the resort.



We wanted to go swimming but the water was a little too chilly since it had been raining the past days. The waves were big that the beach warned the non-swimmers to stay on the shore. I know how to swim, I just can't survive swimming too far and I haven't gone deep either, so I guess that makes me a non-swimmer, haha. Brandon wouldn't let me swim even a few feet away because according to him several tourists already died on this beach for not following the beach warnings. Sure daddy, if you say so, :D.



We just laid on the sand for a little more than an hour tanning and enjoying the breeze.


Then we built sand castle.

I couldn't get my empire to look like Brandon's :P

We fixed the fences like 4 times because the waves kept washing them out.

We didn't have a beach umbrella and we felt like fishes being dried on the shore. Brandon didn't bring sunglasses either, and at 12 p.m., the sun was blinding. So we had to go home early.

I loved seeing my skin uniformly dark again (except for the tan lines from the bikini) after the long winter in Utah. Brandon never gets dark unlike his siblings. If he lays out in the sun for hours, he'll just get burned but his color will look almost exactly the same.

We went to a sushi bar slash Chinese buffet restaurant for dinner. The place just recently opened and I loved how clean it was inside. The foods were delish too. We didn't order sushi. Brandon never eats sea foods and I haven't tried sushi before and I don't think I ever will. I'm just not very experimental when it comes to food.

round 1

round 2

I usually eat a lot more than this at a buffet. I just wasn't hungry because we ate some chips at the beach.

And speaking of Chinese restaurant, my cookie fortunes are piling up. I've lost some of them but I have the rest, I just need to find where they are, haha. I'll post 'em all here later.

Click here to read Part 4, the last part.

Visiting the Sunshine State Part 2: Meet the Crew

To read Part 1, click here.

This is my U.S. family. Brandon has 2 sisters and a brother. Each member has a very strong relationship with one another, and they're all very sweet and loving people. I am one of those immigrants who are in good hands and very thankful for that.

A little information about the Carree's. Brandon's dad works for B.P. America and his mom is a SAHM. Brittany, the younger sister (curly red hair, red shirt) is studying cosmetology and has a stinkin' cute boy, Parker. She used to do modelling before she had a baby. Brianne, the youngest girl (long blonde hair, blue shirt) is a junior in high school. Bryce, the youngest kid in the family is 9. He's the dad's buddy. Brandon and Bryce have almost the same personality. They're both quiet and video game addicts. At 9, Bryce already has his own PS3!

This greeted us at the doorstep when we got to my in-laws house in Gulf Breeze.



the dudes

the chickas


Some pictures of just me and B


My mother-in-law was taking pictures of Brit and Parker at the same time that I took this one, that's why they're not looking at my camera.

Bryce, being an uncle :)


These 2 always remind me of my own sisters. It's fun having other girls in the family! :)

After the family pictures, we ate dinner at a sea food restaurant on Pensacola Beach. I think this photo looks funny. I was taking a picture of the lemonade. Brandon's mom noticed it and tried to pose.

I'm addicted to lemonades. Raspberry or plain, pour some for me please!

Caught in the act: Husband stealing a sip of his wife's drink!...then pretends like he did nothing. Haha! Brandon and I often act like little kids around each other such as I don't let him eat my food or drink my beverage, then he steals and eats/drinks it whenever he gets the chance to, just to tease me.

Pirates :)


Here are 2 more members of the family that I want you to meet too.

This is Sammy. She's the oldest cat I've ever met. Sammy has been with the family since my husband was little and he told me that she's about 16 years old.

And this is Micha (pron: Mai-kah), a male Persian. I'm actually sad while writing this part. Micha is a very sweet cat. I fell in love with him quickly. In fact, I like him better than my own cat, Wyatt. He's only 2 years old. The day that we left Gulf Breeze, I noticed that Micha's breathing was fast. He also seemed to be weak. He was lying on the floor most of the time and only got up when I hinted him to, but would lie back down right away. So I told Brandon about my observation with Micha and he relayed it to his mom. We were on the plane on our way back to SLC when we got a text from Brandon's mom informing us that they took Micha to the vet. At first the vet thought the cat had asthma so they gave him oxygen. But the vet later found a worse diagnosis, Micha had a heart failure and required surgery. This meant costing my parents-in-law thousands of dollars. So they just resorted to the option of putting him to sleep. Micha died the night that we got home. This news made me cry. I just didn't want him to die that early. This is the reason why sometimes I'm hesitant of owning another pet. I fear of losing them one day.

To read Part 3, click here.

Visiting the Sunshine State Part 1: The Trip

Ok, I'm back.

Brandon and I went on a 7-day vacation to Florida and had a great time, which is the reason why I haven't posted anything here or on my photography blog in a while. Brandon is originally from FL and I lived there for about a year. We left Florida in August 2008, so it's been almost 2 years. It was nice to see Pensacola Beach again and all those lovely palm trees, and of course it was also great to see and spend time with my in-laws. I couldn't help but notice how different Utah is from Florida and vice versa. Florida is flat, Utah is mountainous. Florida is green, Utah is...should I say brown? Florida is humid, Utah is dry. Florida has beautiful beaches while Utah has breath-takingly gorgeous giant rocky mountains. Utah has that outdoorsy, country feel while Florida is laid-back. I don't know how else to explain my comparison but I'm lucky for having had the opportunity to live in these lovely states.

As you can read in the title, this is the first part of the whole Florida vacation. I took too many pictures that if I put all of them together in one post, it'd look like an album. So I have to blog about 'em separately.

Part 1 is all about our flight. We flew with Delta from Salt Lake to Denver, Denver to Memphis, then Memphis to Pensacola. Speaking of flying, this trip helped me overcome my fear of height. Thirty (30) feet above the ground or higher gives me that crazy feeling in my stomach. I remember when Brandon and I flew from Tampa to Pensacola, the 45-minute ride seemed like forever to me, the thought of crashing lurked in my head throughout the whole flight, and I was holding on to my husband's arm like a little kid with my eyes closed until we landed on the Pensacola airport. Whenever we'd go somewhere that's 7-8 hours away, I had always preferred driving over flying. As we boarded on the plane at the Salt Lake City airport on Thursday, I reminded myself that this was the right time to overcome my fear or I might not survive the trip. I was constantly telling myself that it was all in my mind, and surprisingly, it worked, although the bumpy flight from Denver to Memphis almost made me cry. Sitting on the window seat helped a lot. It made it easier for me to ignore the fear and focus my mind on the beauty that I rarely get to see. I couldn't help but appreciate how beautiful it is up there. Flying above the clouds and seeing the sun rise felt very heavenly. It gave me the feeling of freedom and peace. I also became more appreciative of the human intelligence for making it possible for us to soar above the sky, and amazed at how a plane can fly hundreds of miles an hour, and how strong it is enough to withstand an ugly weather and several turbulences and remain stable. I can say that I enjoyed all 6 flights of our trip, something that never happened before and I thought would be impossible.

Ok, so much for the talking. Here are the pictures from our flights. Enjoy!

Our flight from SLC to Denver was at 6 a.m. and we would have to leave the house at 4 a.m. so we just stayed awake all night. Poor B, he worked 8 hours that day, came home at 6 p.m. very tired, then didn't get to sleep.

Salt Lake City

Utah mountains

On the first plane we boarded, I was lucky to have a good view of the wing and watch the sun rise.


Just arrived in Denver airport. Take note of the long hair.




snowed Colorado mountains

I don't know what these are but they looked cool. Brandon said they might be farms. This was between Colorado and Tennessee.

Delta was very cheap with their snacks, didn't even give us the whole can of soda.

new bling

Memphis

Pensacola


Stop-over in Memphis. Going home after 7 days. B got a haircut!



My husband looks sooo much better than me in the morning. Haha! I don't like putting make up on before 12 pm. It feels heavy on my face, it feels itchy, and it makes me cranky, lol. Besides, I'm a wash-and-wear kind of girl, make-up is a necessity only when I'm attending a party or going to Church on Sunday. I also want to feel very comfortable when travelling, and dressing up very casual and looking like I'm just chillin' at home helps me achieve that. So I don't care if the flight attendant thought I was a bum.



To read Part 2, click here.