Gratitudes for Dec 22-31

12/22/2009 - I am grateful for Hulu.com.
12/23/2009 - I am grateful for lazy days with the dog.
12/24/2009 - I am grateful for good dinners with the family and passing out on the couch.
12/25/2009 - I am grateful for little brothers and movies on Christmas day.
12/26/2009 - I am grateful for things that are passed down through generations - like posticker making knowledge!
12/27/2009 - I am grateful for being so busy!
12/28/2009 - I am grateful for Monday Night Dinner club, I miss them a lot!

12/29/2009 - I am grateful for staying friends..
12/30/2009 - I am grateful for the idea of a New Year with a clean slate.
12/31/2009 - I am grateful for movie nights and LOADS of food with good friends.

Gratitudes for Dec 15-21

12/15/2009 - I am grateful for a car in good working condition and cruise control.
12/16/2009 - I am grateful for my brother! Happy Birthday Jon!
12/17/2009 - I am grateful for the internet and the advances that let us do almost everything online.
12/18/2009 - I am grateful for good company and laughs over drinks.
12/19/2009 - I am grateful for the invention of brunch.
12/20/2009 - I am grateful for friends from all over and hugs!
12/21/2009 - I am grateful for time off.

Love Vintage?

You have to check out the Christmas Giveaway at ShopRuche.com! If you love romantic, vintage type of clothing and accessories, then this is your site. I've gotten some of the cutest and most comfy items from them. Check it out!

Gratitudes for Dec 8-14

12/8/2009 - I am grateful for housing opportunities.
12/9/2009 - I am grateful for cheat sheets on exams.
12/10/2009 - I am grateful for being good at one of my classes this quarter. :P
12/11/2009 - I am grateful for winter breaks!
12/12/2009 - I am grateful for rainy days, movies and dinner in front of the TV.
12/13/2009 - I am grateful for lazy days on the couch.
12/14/2009 - I am grateful for Disneyland and annual passes (even with blackout dates).

OCD meets technology

So those who know me know I'm addicted to my iPhone and internet in general. Seriously, it's hard to get away (not to say I don't) but still.. it's very hard. So when my friend Michelle put on twitter that she's giving away a Viliv X70 on her blog.. I had to jump over there and check it out!

The things I could do with this little wonder! Well there's reading stuff for class, doing homework on the run, checking email for possible job offers and internship opportunities, updating the blogs and social media for Furry Friends Rescue, read Michelle's blog, tweet, chat, etc.. oh the list goes on and on.

It definitely appeals to my OCD self! :D

I mean seriously have you seen what this thing can do?!
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/07/06/review-viliv-x70-umpc/

oh how my heart flutters at technology.. wining this would be fantastic, it'll go into my purse alongside my kindle, iphone, and camera. :D
hehehe

Gratitudes for Dec 1-7

12/1/2009 - I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to go to graduate school, the collaboration and discussion that goes on amazes me.
12/2/2009 - I am grateful for naps!
12/3/2009 - I am grateful for persevering in positive thinking today.
12/4/2009 - I am grateful for part time work that gives me the opportunity to grow and learn.
12/5/2009 - I am grateful for the gift of literacy.
12/6/2009 - I am grateful that I have the luxury of not working and being able to study and learn.
12/7/2009 - I am grateful for open book tests!

Cute stylish clothes for a great price!

So one of my favorite shops online is Shop Ruche, you should go check it out! They've got great accessories, clothing and shoes!

current moment

sitting in a coffee shop, feeling slightly productive since i finished my finance homework, chatted to some people and just thinking about how lucky i am.

life is good. right here, right now.

things I remember about my mother's funeral 6 years later

My cousins all surrounding my brother and me.

The white sweater and pin striped pants I wore that day and then donated because I couldn't bring myself to wear them again.

The man taking photos of the entire event.

Looking up and seeing that my friend and ridden in from out of town to be there for me and feeling grateful just for his presence.

The wreath of flowers Karen ordered and put everyone's name on. Constantly hugging. Feeling completely numb.

The couch at the funeral home, the couch at the hotel.

The reception at the hotel and people standing up to tell stories as a photo slideshow played against a backdrop. Someone talking about her yellow suit.

Everyone in our hotel room, drinking a bottle of alcohol worth ridiculous amounts of money that was supposed to be drunk at my wedding or a happier occasion, laughing, crying, telling stories.

Struggling to fall asleep while my dad falls into a drunken, grief-stricken, sleep. Knowing my brother had to go sleep at home due to some Buddhist superstition.

...somehow it's been 6 years, I will always miss her, I will love her forever and it is her love that makes her loss easier to bear. thank you mom.

Sunset over Tustin

Cute vintage stuff!

Okay so I'm trying to win more stuff, hey poor grad student's gotta do what she can! :D

Check it out, this person is so nice, she's giving stuff away for her birthday!

http://lessapathymorecake.blogspot.com/2009/08/happy-birthday-to-me-its-giveaway-time.html

EAD and Stinkerpants giveaway

Check out this cute contest from Elizabeth Anne Designs and Stinkerpants!

They're super cute cards designed by Stinkerpants. I'm hoping I can get some cards of me and Morgan the dog. :D Check out EAD's site for cute design ideas!

It's the moments...

when the night before your best friend's funeral you're friend sleeps next to you so the loneliness won't hurt so much

haiku - while traveling to LA

Trundling down 5
Carrying precious cargo
Dragons in the night

It's the moments...

when I was sick with the flu and in college, missing my mom terribly, unable to move. I opened my eyes blearily and saw you putting water and Tylenol on my desk. thank you.

some people run away hoping the right person will find them

the key to my heart knows one day it will be found

A friend found this key in a store in England.. LOVE IT! :)

put it away

sometimes you put things away, thinking you've let them go, only to suddenly be reminded of what you're missing

guess that's life, one cycle after another. i'll keep moving forward because any sadness felt only means happiness is that much more appreciated.

It's the moments...

when you sometimes feel so desperately lonely and it feels even more so because something reminded you after you had forgotten what you were missing... it's also knowing that will pass.

It's the moments..

give me nature

I've realized that I would love to live somewhere untouched. Where I can wake up and smell water, see trees and greenery and revel in it. Bath in the light and gaze upon the colors of sunrises and sunsets. Lay in a canoe or raft and see nothing for miles around me.

Of course you've got to give me some internet access. But I think I can live without Target and tons of people around and cars. All I'd really need is internet and probably TV and I'd be a happy girl and of course the dog's coming along.

Anyone care to join me?

My first Africa experience - pt. 1

I've always said I'd want to visit Africa, I thought it would first be through Morocco or Egypt, instead it turned out to be through Zimbabwe and Botswana. What an introduction to the continent that was! Absolutely amazing, breath taking, and refreshing. Granted we were on a luxury safari and staying in 4/5 star places (even at the bush camps), but hey...a girl can spoil herself once in awhile.



I knew we were in for long flights, SFO-JFK (6 hours and 3 hour layover), JFK to Johannesburg (12.5 hour flight and another 3 hour layover), Johannesburg to Victoria Falls aka Vic Falls (2.5 hour flight). So yeah, 30 hours later we were there, sitting that long and not sleeping much created so much pain in the lower half of my body, I was in tears from the pain by the time we got there. Thank goodness for Advil and some icy/hot type of patches.



We were the last ones through immigration, you have to pay $30 for a visa to be in Zimbabwe. Luckily our chartered ride didn't leave without us, they almost did! We were the last ones to be dropped off at Victoria Falls Hotel. A hotel rich with history and stories, animal heads, hides and skulls (complete with antlers) adorn the walls alongside photos of the hotel and residents from different time periods.



It was built in 1904, a simple wood building that looked like an old school train station. Today it's a grand hotel with a new wing and a spectacular view of the falls. We were greeted warmly, porters immediately picked up our bags, check-in was quick and we were given welcome drinks, some kind of citrus juice with grenadine and a cool, sweetly perfumed cool towel. It was a welcome refreshment after the long trip and the heat. We took quick showers and headed out to see the falls, it was about 3pm by the time we left.





We got lucky, our guide told us later that the time we went was the best time of day to go. Early afternoon, because in the morning and at sunset the mist is so high that you can't see any part of the falls and the rainy season typicall ends in May (typically...more to come about rain later). As it was, I was covered in water pretty much the entire time (because in my tired state, I didn't think I'd need my waterproof windbreaker).




We headed back to the hotel and had dinner on the veranda, exhausted we could barely keep our eyes open. I had a burger and it was delicious, the meat was very fresh, local beef. My friends tried some of the ostrich and beef steak - would have been good if it was more tender. Then it was off to bed, I fell into a quick, dreamless sleep. The next morning I realized I set the alarm wrong and we raced to breakfast because we were supposed to be picked up at 7:30 for our overnight camping/canoeing trip...

They were an hour late, I was worried and we quickly found out it is the luck of the draw to try and call out of the country. All the numbers I had for our service providers were for offices in South Africa, out of the 8 calls we made to three different numbers, only 1 made it. Zimbabwe is a country and has gone from being an up-to-date country to one that is starting over due to political unrest. At one point their currency was facing such awful inflation that while waiting for lunch, the price would go up between the time it took to order to when it was received. Bills in the hundreds of billions were printed - with EXPIRATION dates on them!


The company finally called the hotel and said they'd be late, they were already 45 minutes late. African time, we quickly learned works a lot like Asian time. :) We got everything ready, changed clothes for canoeing and were driven into Zambezi National Park. We were so excited and passed some impala, waterbuck, elephants, and baboons on our way to the launch site. We didn't realize we'd see these animals again and in a closer setting so we were snapping photos like crazy.



We stopped at our launch site, the guides inflated the canoes and off we went! We had to watch out for hippos and they told us not to stick our hands in the water for too long or crocs would come. There's supposedly 1 crocodile every 300 feet. We canoed for over 10 miles (I like to include the times where we paddled in circles trying to get the canoe in the right direction). There were small rapids and lots of beautiful scenery. 2/3 of the way through we stopped for lunch consisting of crocodile, potato salad, bread rolls, eggs, salad, sausage and soda/beer. So delicious after canoeing all that way.. it's a lot harder than it looks!




After canoeing we got driven to our camp site and the guides and other staff set up the entire thing for us - complete with cots, bed rolls, blankets, sleeping bags, and a satin pillow. Granted everything smelled like camp and it was so freaking freezing we slept in every piece of clothing we could put on. There was an outhouse but it smelled so bad and was so dark, I ended up peeing outside like the animals anyway. Dinner was some yummy Chicken curry, rice, and butternut squash (we had our own cook too!). Life's good on a luxury camping trip - they even heated up water next to the fire and we had warm showers to take! After bedding down, we put our lamps outside the tents so the hippos could see us and wouldn't attack the tent if they accidentally ran into it. It was still so cold, we woke up every few hours and finally just got up to see the sun rise..



After a yummy breakfast of eggs, bacon, corn fritters, toast, and roasted tomatoes we headed back into Victoria Falls. One more night at the Falls and then it was off to Botswana - that'll be part 2.

It's the moments...

like when you see your friend's 8 month old after a month or so and she giggles and reaches for your face because she remembers you, that or she thinks you're funny looking because your cheeks are as big as hers.

It's the moments.

#Barkhunt

I didn't realize I was very competitive.. well to a point. But if you put me on a scavenger hunt I turn into a different person. I LOVE them, it's so much fun doing the search and taking photos. I don't care that much if I don't get the prize, but I want the answer.

Granted the prizes are fantastic!! But Morgan did remind me (after I got frustrated because he wanted to play during #barkhunt) that he doesn't care if I win, he just wants my time. That's more valuable to him than anything else. Although I doubt he'll complain because this time around I won him some treats and toys from @baskersdog and @bestbullysticks, two of his favorite treat stores! You can check out @bestbullysticks through Morgan's website (if you purchase through that link, we get credit towards more treats!).

Anyway, it was another fun night last Thursday, hopefully you'll join in on the next one! Check them out at www.barkhunt.com. You must be on Twitter to play, and if you do play, tell @askspikeonline that @jadeheart sent you. :D

Check out Morgan with his prizes from the first hunt of the season. The furminator we're actually going to donate and use on the Furry Friends Rescue dogs.. some of them are shedding A LOT. Morgan thrilled it's being donated, he hates being brushed. :P



The Best Bully Sticks Chews he's perfectly happy to keep.

Adopt a Duck! Support WVCS in the Silicon Valley Duck Race!

What's another name for a clever duck? A Wise Quacker!

Dear Family and Friends!

West Valley Community Services is proud to be one of this year's Silicon Valley Duck Race Duck Buddies! Each year the Duck Race sells out of its ducks and agencies receive the money raised from these sales.

On Sunday, June 21, 2009, exactly 15,000 numbered ducks adopted by people like you will race down Vasona Creek. Some of those lucky people will win prizes, and one might win $1,000,000!

Come out and join us at this extremely family friendly event! This year's race will be bigger and the festival will be greener (all the ducks are free from phthalates)! The festival will offer food and entertainment for the whole family! Even better, all proceeds go to local charities. What a great way to celebrate Father's Day!

GO here to ADOPT a DUCK TODAY! - http://www.siliconvalleyduckrace.org/adopt.html

Ducks are $5 for one duck, $25 for a Family of Ducks (Adopt 5, get 1 free), $50 for a Club of Ducks (Adopt 10, get 2 free), and a Flock of Ducks for $100 (Adopt 20, get 5 free)!

Please make sure you put WEST VALLEY COMMUNITY SERVICES down as the TEAM NAME so we can get the credit. TEAM MEMBER is Vicki Yang.

It's great event, lots of fun, and helps support WVCS! So Adopt a Duck today! If you have any questions, please visit their website at www.siliconvalleyduckrace.org or if you want more information about WVCS visit www.wvcommunityservices.org.


Thank you,


Vicki Yang

Highway 9 Clean Up

The Area 8 Rotary Clubs (Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos Morning, Los Gatos, and Saratoga) did a big clean-up day along Highway 9 between Saratoga and Los Gatos Blvd on Saturday, April 25, 2009. I volunteered to help out since many of those Rotary clubs have helped support West Valley Community Services in the past or presently are!

It was definitely an interesting and fun experience. We found weird plastic things, lots of cigarette butts, a number of floss/toothpick things in one area, evidence of *intimate* activities, and lots and lots of glass... people! come on now.. just find a rubbish bin for crying out loud! Is it that hard?

Ohana Mama's Giveaway!

I found Ohana Mama through 23Monkeys and it's another cool website by another cool mom with stuff to give away for Earth Day!

Check it out the giveaway information on her blog entry.

She's giving away a Sigg bottle from buygreen.com. I switched to Sigg's after some discussion with my friend High Entropy. They're really great bottles when it comes to cool drinks (don't put anything hot in it because it passes through the aluminum really easily. But they're sturdy bottles and good for the environment (they're recyclable and reusable)! They do dent easily but I dont' really care, after all that stuff about plastic I think switched was a better idea. I still use my Nalgene's but I'm careful about where I put those, supposedly if you put these things in the sun and it heats up that's not good. Plastics will leach things into your drinking water.

So go check it out and help celebrate Earth Day by making a few more changes in your life!

Other things I'm moving towards to help the planet:

1) switching my cleaning products to green/organic stuff
2) switching my bath products to green/organic stuff
3) trying to learn about composting more! :D

Things you can do really easily right now:

1) Use reusable bags (the giveaway Ohana Mama is doing includes one!)
2) Use biodegradable trash bags
3) Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Barkhunt - A doggie scavenger hunt!

Twitter has gone to the dogs! Not only is it a way for people to spread information or tell others what they're doing at the moment.. it's a way to play games too! If you have a dog or even if you don't, four very creative members of Twitter have created an online scavenger hunt! The prizes are dog or animal related items and it's a LOT of fun! Very fast paced but fun and you get to find out about new things along the way!

It' called Barkhunt - created by @askspikeonline @bestbullysticks @fourleggedmedia @pawluxury.

The way it works.. it's held on a Thursday night from 9-10pm EST (6-7pm PST) and a clue is given out every 5 minutes. The first person to Direct Message the answer to the person asking wins the prize! They ask them in alphabetical order - askspikeonline first, then bestbully sticks, then fourlegged media, then pawluxury - rinse and repeat until 10pm hits. Sometimes the contest lasts a little bit longer with some fun challenge questions that require taking photos of your pet doing things and other sponsors joining in.

Make sure you check it out on facebook and at Barkhunt.com! They've got a few more hunts this season and new ways to get points to win a big prize at the end of the season! So take a look and get going on the fun!

KEY - You NEED to follow all four of the creators on twitter otherwise you won't really be able to play.

If you join up in the fun, DM @askspikeonline and tell him @jadeheart sent you! :)

Icing my knee :(

:) last day of the season for me

Blood Center of the Pacifics

I'm here to donate blood, it's right down the street!

Looks like they need more Type O- blood.. I can't remember what my blood type is.. I should probably know this. Mental note to ask my dad later.

First they poked my left arm, nothing, must be empty.. just kidding. They found it in the right arm really quickly.

For some reason my blood was flowing quick today, I wasn't waiting for very long, something like 4-5 minutes. Go blood!

All Done! I ate two granola bars, drank a cup of OJ and a cup of apple juice and went to buy a Quizno's sandwich.. really wanted fast food but there weren't any places on the way back to the office. Sandwich is probably better for me anyway. :)

There is still a blood shortage so go donated today! While I was there, some guy had reached 1 gallon of donated blood! WOW!

Check out Blood Centers of the Pacific to donate!

@mommy23monkeys "Little Green" Machine Giveaway

I stumbled across this on Twitter via @wemeanclean (yes the Bissell vacuum cleaner company).

This super cute blog by a mom of three boys is giving away a "Little Green" Machine Cleaner. Now I've ALWAYS wanted a steam cleaner.. but upon moving back to my parents house after college it just didn't make sense to buy one - our house is already packed and we have other cleaning supplies. But I'd see the stains on our carpets from a house well-loved and lived in for over 20 years and wish I could take them out. Resolve and Nature's Miracle only work so well...

So here's my chance and yours - to win a Little Green Machine! When I go back to school this baby for sure is coming with me, good bye stains!

Check out Mommy23Monkeys blog entry for details about the giveaway and here for Contest Rules.

I'm not sure if it's sad that I love household appliances so much or if it's a good thing - hey I like a clean home.. granted sometimes messy but still CLEAN! (Messy is different than dirty). :D

Soon to be Starving College Student trying to Win Stuff!

I'm lucky that I still have a job right now and that I got a scholarship for school, but still it never hurts to buckle down save money and where you can't save.. try and win stuff in giveaways! :) There's especially a lot of contests out there for dog items - Morgan's excited about the boxes that have come in so far.

I decided to document my journey, especially since some of them require me posting entries in blog for another chance at winning! Tt's not like I'm actively looking for giveaways, but as a result of being on Twitter I'm made aware of them. So why not give it a shot right?

The nice thing is that most of these items are stuff I can use.. from software to dog items (food, treats, books), and cleaning supplies! After all, a clean home is a happy home. The other plus, I'm learning a heck of a lot about different things just traversing the web, especially as I'm trying to build a social networking presence for Furry Friends Rescue. It's been a crazy few months just on Twitter alone and learning what #hashtags are and what via means and the software pieces I can use to track my three different accounts - @jadeheart, @morganthedog, @furryfriends.

Gotta love the internet and it's ability to connect people from all over the world!

Great day in Santa Cruz!

It started off with an easy drive, 2 people, 2 dogs, to a local beach tucked away amongst some homes. Laid out and ran around, let the dogs sniff some other dogs, interesting things and play in the water.. sort of. Morgan hates water, he likes the cool wet sand though..

Then it was off to Aldo's for lunch! We walked over to the light house and back during our 20 minute wait for a table. It's so dog friendly there, they even will give you bowls of water for the dogs. We saw some cute dogs there. Everyone was quite well behaved.

I had a delicious Blackened Mahi sandwich (forgot to take photos of) and Dan and I shared a fried calamari basket! YUUUUM. Seriously, it said (best in town) next to it and it was probably one of the best I've ever had!

This was the view from our table...

The nice thing about taking the pup to the beach is that he comes back and does this:

:D All in all, a wonderful day, felt like we were on vacation!

iPod Rip

My friend showed me this program when I first got my iPod, Gen 2 I believe it was. It was great! I was able to easily transfer songs and instead of having to lug their laptops over to my house to share music, my friends brought their iPods.

The program was the iPod Rip and if you're looking for a program that can help you easily transfer songs from Ipods to your Mac or Windows then this is it. I've only tried the Mac version but it was really easy to set up and use.

Go check it out at http://www.ipodrip.com

Chinese dessert :)

What I'm looking at right now...

Things to Do Before I Move..

Visit Monterey Bay Aquarium (preferrably while the sea horse exhibit is there).
Take the dog to Carmel or somewhere to play in the sand and eat at sea side cafes.
Visit the Academy of Arts and Science in SF.
... more to come..

Happy Dog Park Dog

Waiting for Swan Lake to start...

Saw this on a car at Santana Row :)

:)

Origami Dog

Wow..

It's really happening! I'm going back to school!

What is he?... I still don't know!!!

Hi, I'm Morgan
I'm part Pomeranian, English Springer Spaniel, and Pekingese

So I caved and bought the DNA test and had Morgan's DNA tested.. the results.. INCONCLUSIVE! Ah well, guess he's just a Morgan mix. :) I was surprised because he's got such distinct markings.. not at all in line with Pomeranian's, English Springer Spaniel's, or Pekingese.. I wonder if his mix messed with the test. hahaha. No matter, I love him and understand him regardless of his heritage.