let it snow

FIRST TIME IN REAL LIVE SNOW!

so, i don't remember if i blogged this, but two fridays ago, i was in denver and it snowed a little bit. i thought that was awesome. it only snowed like, maybe a quarter of an inch and it was all gone by noon. i did not know what awesome really was until yesterday. daniel and i got up, went to a breakfast place called snooze (uhhhhhhhmazing btdubs), drank oj/pomegranite mimosas while we waited 30 minutes for a table, and then ate a delicious breakfast. when we came out, the streets looked like this:



while we were finishing breakfast, my heart was POUNDING. i was so excited. it was like, when a boy you like is calling and you're letting it ring just a little getting the courage to answer it. i was infatuated by the snow! once i was in it, i was in love. it was soft, and powdery, and felt like sand when you walked on it (in boots..not barefoot. never barefoot!). and it wasn't as cold as i expected it to be. and it was just beautiful. daniel and i couldn't wait to make snowballs and throw them, but we didn't have gloves on, so we had to.

later that afternoon, we trekked out, rode the light rail downtown, and found a place to eat soup. it was perfect for the weather. just what we needed. then, we ran into the local tj maxx and bought some leather and cashmere gloves. after jumping off the light rail home, we made snowballs and threw them at street lights and signs. i was too scared to have daniel throw one at me. you have to pack them so tight just to get them to stay in a ball like shape, that i thought it might hurt! then, we realized the temperature was in the single digits, and walked home as if we were in antarctic. it was sorta painful. daniel even told me to wrap my scarf around my face and he would lead me home ♥. i wanted to tough it out though. our first snow experience was a great day. too bad his flight the today wasn't cancelled.

seriously

really though...what is it about traveling that makes one so freakin gassy?

what the what?

where have i been. i've been busy. OK. i've been cleaning my house daily. my little puppy got sick. twice. i've been packing. i've been selling things. i've been to handel's messiah. i've been to the nutcracker. my sister got engaged!!! and i've been in denver for the past 4 days.

so, my house is clean one day, and dirty the next. how does that freakin happen? how does a house get so messed up so quickly? i mean, i know how it happens...it's easier to mess up a house than clean it...but really, how does it happen? so, i've been cleaning non-stop lately. and, since i've have been gone for 5 days when i get back home, it'll probably be a mess again. ohhhh, so that's how the mess happens..............

poor poor oliver has been sickly lately. a few weeks ago, he was throwing up. a lot. so he needed meds (expensive ones) and a vet visit. that was rough. it's so hard to do anything around the house when there is a poor sick puppy that just wants to snuggle in your lap! then, last week, his eye and ear got hurted. there is an ulcer in his eye and an infection in his ear. so, until i figured that out, he slept all day in my lap again. if i tried to get up, he would follow me everywhere as normal, but slowly, and it looked painful. so i took it easy with him. and then he needed more meds (more expensive meds) and a visit. and let me tell ya, rubbing gel on your dog's eye is not only gross, but really really really hard to do. at least the ear meds are simple. and he's happy again :) omg, i love my doggy sooo much!

i saw handel's messiah with mary ellen. my besterest friend. she quit her job, so i treated her to some symphonic action :) i love handel's messiah. it puts me in the christmas spirit. unfortunately, it was performed in a church that had horrible acoustics. that aside, it was beautiful. and before and after, ma (that's mary ellen) and i drank yummy hot chocoloate with mccormicks. yum

daniel and i bought his mom tickets to the nutcracker for her birthday back in november. so, she cashed that in on december 11 and we got to see the beautiful ballet. it was magical. i haven't seen the nutcracker...or any ballet in FOREVER. it was one of the most beautiful things i've seen this year. makes me want to be a ballerina. bad. then, watching "black swan" made me want to not be a ballerina.

the night i was the nutcracker, my sister went on a date and it ended in engagement :) so, i grew up with a bunch of other filipino kids. most of who have significant others now. daniel and i have been together for almost 4 years. michelle and matt have been together for like 7 years. ilene and kenneth have been together for i don't even know how long...maybe 8 years? charlton and linda have been together for probably 5 years. and the rest of the kids don't have sig. others...except for my sis who has been dating colin for about 1.5 years. and here they are. engaged. my little sister. weird. i never woulda thought that my sister would even date someone. ya know? she's my baby sister! how can she DATE a boy? but, here they are. and he's a good guy. one of the best. i can't wait for the planning to start. i only wish i wasn't going to be in denver during this time. but, her and i are going dress shopping this week on 3 different occasions! now, i can put what i've learned from my obsession with the show "say yes to the dress" to use. yay for my sister and colin! i've always wanted a brother :)

so, here i am. sitting in a hotel room in denver. and i just realized, i don't think i've ever been in a hotel room alone. i've only ever been in a hotel room with my family, or daniel, or on a school trip and sharing a room with 3 other girls. this is the first night that i've gotten to sit. these past 4 hours that i've been sitting on the couch watching "toy story 2" and "sarah palin's alaska" (yeah..it was the only thing on for a while...) has been the longest amount of time that i've done nothing since thursday. my mom and i arrived on thursday morning and we've pretty much been driving or looking at an apartment since. i dropped my mom off at the airport this afternoon and drove back to the hotel and am RELAXING. i think i've finalized my choice as to where i'm going to live. it's not where i expected. i thought i would be living in a unique duplex or house or walk up in the highlands area of denver. it looks like i'm going to be living in downtown. better deals, ya know? so, it's not as unique, but it's nice all together. plus, i'm broke as a joke. so, i've got to get the absolute best deal on a place that makes me feel safe. i saw some holes for real cheap, but i would not feel safe at all there.

i really don't know what i'm saying now. i can't even read the last paragraph to edit it...i'm so exhausted. i can't wait to go home. goodbye.

family dinner

my "sisters" and i started doing family dinner every week in 2005.

let me start with why i put quotes around the word sisters. i have one little sister. kristin. she's beautiful and hilarious and way taller than me. she's 21 months younger than i am. she is very smart, already has her masters degree, and works very hard. (total opposite of me). she's basically better than me in every way.

i'm really not sure when this really happened, but when i was probably about 2 or 3, our family met a wonderful family who had 2 little girls just about our age. michelle is my age (grade wise...she's actually 10 months old than me) and danielle is my sister's age (1 month younger). so, when we were 4...5 michelle and i started going to montessori school together. then, the next year, we started at john paul II catholic school. and when nin (that's what i call my little sister...kristin...because when i was a youngin', i couldn't say kristin. i said ninin. thus, i call her nin) and danielle were about 4, they started pre-school at jp2. soooooo, we spent basically our lives together. we carpooled everyday. either my mom or their dad would take us to school. and, sometimes their way magnificent grandfather, tatay (pronounced: tah-tie). so seriously, favorite family in the world when we were growing up. and to be honest, on of our most favoritests today.

so, junior year, 2005-2006, michelle and i were roommates at an apartment on robbins place on west campus. danielle lived at kinsolving dorms and nin lived at prather dorms. both had horrible roommates, but, you live, you learn. anyway, since michelle and i lived in a place with an actual stove and oven, we would cook dinner for our incompetent little sisters once per week, pretty much every week. it was magnificent. we LOVED when our sisters would come to our tiny apartment for dinner. that was where my sister made up the "black eyed peas dance" (you'd really have to see this dance to a whistle...it's phenomenal). after that year, all four of use moved in together, so the dinners became less frequent since we saw each other every day and basically, took each other for granted. then michelle graduated. then i graduated (a year late). then danielle graduated. then nin graduated (a year late...but with a masters. ugh!). needless to say, dinners went bye bye long ago. but, michelle got into graduate school at UT in June of 2009 and the dinners slowly started up again. once a week was a bit too often for us, but we all made it every couple of months. and family dinner is the best time i every have. EVER. i love these girls more than anything! i think i speak for nin in saying that knowing michelle and danielle since our baby-hood is the best relationship outside of ours that we have ever made. seriously, bfflfeae. figure it out. we love them.


soul food from my last family dinner


colin, nin, ilene (our other sister ♥), danielle, michelle, and daniel enjoying soul food

now, daniel's sister has initiated simons' family dinner. mama cooked for us a couple of weeks ago (OMG! lasagna AND pot roast!!!) and holley cooked for us the week after (mmm, squash spaghetti! look it up. to die for!).

i love that the tradition lives on in all aspects of my life. i LOVE being cooked for and i LOVE LOVE LOVE cooking for others. it is a WONDERFUL feeling being a host. a bit stressful, but a lovely feeling all the same. i SERIOUSLY cannot wait for the next sister dinner and i also can't wait for the next simons family dinner. both will be a blast!

and blah blah blah, i'm semi drunk...but i meant everything i said!!!

winter

I guess time Warner wasn't happy with me being an unhappy customer who wrote about it online because now I don't have cable or Internet access at home. awesome. (I don't think they really found my blog and effed up our connection, but funny how things work, right?) so, I'm at mozart's cafe on lake austin. I forgot about Mozart's holiday decorations until I got here! I'm not getting the whole effect right now because it's daylight out, but i remember from years past how beautiful it is here at night :) and, I have decided. Christmas decor is coming out! Daniel said he would take the decor down, but the reality is that when I come back during my first break in march, it'll all still be up. and that's ok 'cause who doesn't love Christmas decorations (at anytime of the year)!

and the sun is going down now. the holiday lights are becoming brighter here and it is feeling more magical (and my hands are so cold now, I can barely feel them). yes, the decor at home is the right decision. I'm about to be ultimately sad, what with being away from everything I know and love. why not have some happiness to look at. maybe I'll even put some stuff up at my new place (wherever that will be). goodbye.