helpful sales clerks

There are SOOO many options when it comes to all things baby-related and so it's nice when you encounter helpful sales clerks who can tell you how to use things, the pros & cons and different brand options as well.

Palmer Pie

Our future daughter

Happy Thanksgiving!!! One would think that today deserves a long post in the blog full of things and people that I'm thankful for. But I hope it suffices to say that I am thankful for all of my friends and family and all of the things God has blessed me with. Most of all, this year, I am thankful for the growing baby girl that we get to meet in a few months! We love you already Chloe!!

Musical memories

It's great when you hear a song and it can transport you back in time. It triggers the thoughts and memories and reminds you of different parts of your life. Today I heard one of those songs and it inspired me to look up other songs that I have strong memories with. Of course there are happy songs & sad songs but I decided to share songs with happy musical memories. Enjoy!

NKOTB - I'll be loving you forever (http://youtu.be/ZT_7UjCVELg)

98º - Invisible Man (http://youtu.be/WKgQPVoN088)

Sisqo - Thong Song (http://youtu.be/Oai1V7kaFBk)

Bell Biv DeVoe - Poison (http://youtu.be/6vY7S6iwwlQ)

Washed utensils

Alex doesn't really like doing the dishes. He especially dislikes washing the utensils! There are times when he'll wash all the dishes but then leave the utensils and I'll finish up and clean them. Today when I looked, all the dishes were washed! Including utensils!! It's small but a clean empty sink is always nice.

a warm home

I came home to a wonderfully smelling warm home.  Alex was 'slaving' away in the kitchen preparing dinner.  My back started hurting in the car ride home so it was nice to not have to worry about dinner and relax on the couch and take the pressure off my back.  I can't express how thankful I am for Alex.

Chlorpheniramine

I don't know why but my allergies were SO bad today!  It was hard to breathe, I was all gross and it was just nasty.  I resorted to taking an anti-histamine to help w/ the symptoms and after ~1 hr it finally kicked in.  Hooray!

SoCal

One of the nice things about living in SoCal/LA area is the close proximity to so many diverse areas.  Today we had a 2nd birthday celebration for my mom at Venice Beach!  She's never been and it's such an interesting place to walk around.  We are so lucky to live so close to so many 'landmarks' but also have access to nature/hikes, mountains, the beach, and the city-life.  I love living in 'LA'!

My Mommy

It's my momma's birthday today!!!  Happy Birthday Mom!!

There are so many reasons why I am thankful for my mom, too many to list.  One of the more recent reasons is her understanding, support & advice during my pregnancy.  She's always looking out for me (and the baby) and has been there to share our excitement throughout it all.  I know she's very excited to have a 2nd granddaughter and I'm excited to be able to enjoy her as a mother & see her with our baby as a grandmother!

Happy Birthday Mommy!  I love you! (so does the baby & Alex!)

arriving safely

LA in the 'rain.'  Not the prettiest picture and definitely not the most conducive to driving.  While it took me more than twice my regular commute time to get to work today, I cannot help but be thankful that I arrived safely to my destination.  There are many reports on the news about accidents here & there on the freeways and so instead of complaining, I am going to be thankful for the blessing(s) I've been given today.

Please drive safe everyone! And leave an hour early, you never know what the roads will be like!

Broadway shows in LA

YAY!!! Julie & Yao got me (& Alex) tickets to watch The Book of Mormon!  It's coming to the Pantages in February!  I've heard really good things about the show so I'm really excited!  YAY!  Thank you so much!!

Filipino style breakfast

Sometimes I wake up starving! Maybe bc I ate dinner earlier than normal or I didn't eat too much at dinner but I'm ravenous when I wake up. A lot of times I don't know what I want to eat for breakfast and usually settle on PB toast or oatmeal. BORING!

Today, I woke up starving again and while I was getting ready for work Alex got up and started preparing food. I believe it was for his lunch but little did he know that it is also a great Filipino breakfast item! He cooked corned beef!! Yum! Since we didn't have any pan de sal, I toasted a piece if bread, slathered on the corned beef & satisfied my tummy. So good.

Longanisa & garlic fried rice would have been just as good. Mmmm good thing I'm full.

Calcium carbonate

Recently I've been getting some symptoms of acid reflux/heartburn and I thought it'd go away on it's own or if I ate smaller meals it'd help.  NOPE.  I started to take calcium carbonate 500mg (generic TUMS) and that definitely helps.  The only problem is I have symptoms now at work but the CaCarb is at home!  BOO!  Gotta pack some in my lunch box from now on.

pressure cooker

Alex makes really good pork ribs.  The meat falls off the bone, it's full of flavor and they're always different.  The only drawback is they usually take 1-1.5hrs to make!  Tonight he used the pressure cooker to speed up the process and the results were just as yummy.  Instead of 1-1.5hrs the ribs were cooked in ~30 mins!  Such a great and useful invention!

Heidari

WOW.  THANK YOU HEIDARI for that GREAT FIELD GOAL.  WOO HOO!

Non-gamer

With all these fb posts of the new PS4 I'm thankful that neither Alex nor I are gamers. We don't have a need to wait out in the cold for a new gaming system or new game and can sleep peacefully through the night instead.

Non-smokers & vapers

The most annoying thing about Europe was all the secondhand smoke we inhaled. Everywhere we went there was someone smoking, young, old, males, females, everywhere. It was annoying and difficult trying to avoid it. Coming back to SoCal, it makes me thankful that there are so many non-smokers here and even for those who use vaporizers or e-cigs. At least the smoke doesn't smell!

Please stop smoking everyone. For your health and everyone else's around you.

DVR

Today is 'recover from jet lag' day.  We woke up at 5am LA time which is 2pm Barcelona time.  We had slept for a good 7 hours by then but my stomach was super hungry and my mind super awake.  So I got up, ate some breakfast and caught up on my DVR'd shows.  I'm glad that it gave me something to do and keep my mind occupied instead of just sitting around being awake.

arriving

BACK IN LA!  It was great travelling and being in a different city/country but it's always great to come back home.  While we were gone Alex said, "I don't like travelling, I like arriving."  which is totally true!  The actual travelling part sucks but once you're there it's nice.  So I'm very thankful that we arrived safely back at LAX.

being free to do anything

Today was our 'free day' in Barcelona.  We had time to walk around, do anything, eat anywhere and just enjoy the city.  We ended up finding a great market right behind our hotel where we bought a lot of our edible souvenirs!

29 years of blessings

Today I can't count how many blessings there are in my life. As I enjoy and celebrate my birthday in Barcelona with my loving husband and growing baby girl I thank God for the past 29 years of my life.

Getting lost

Today we walked in the wrong direction MANY MANY times and then missed the bus twice. The good news is we ended up finding a small local rotisserie place that served chicken & rabbit aka lunch! We chowed down and hung out for a little and hopped on the bus back to our destination.

Comfort food

We had a not so great dinner today so on the way back to the hotel we stopped for pizza! It's been my go-to food for the past few months and it definitely hit the spot. It's nice that some foods are found throughout the world.

ginger drops

The inter-European flight was one of the bumpiest and in one of the most cramped planes I've been on. Thankfully I packed and ate some ginger drops that helped calm my stomach.

a patient husband

Today was 'buy souvenirs' day in Venice. Of course this was more fun for me than it was for Alex but he stuck with me and patiently went from store to store as my indecisive-self couldn't pick what I wanted. I am constantly reminded of how thankful I am that he is so patient with me.

An apartment to come back to

Venice is a walking city. In turn, regardless of what shoes I wear my feet hurt after hours of walking. So it's nice to have an apartment/hotel room semi close by to come back to, rest our feet and recharge.

International data plan + wi-fi

The streets of Barcelona & Venice are small winding and very confusing. It's easy to get lost and so the few times we've needed it, it's been great to have an international data plan. The wi-fi in the rooms have been extra great since I can check email, send messages and keep up with the world when we're resting.

Side note: autocorrect changes wi to Wu and fi to if so it would say wu-if instead! Haha that's what I'll call my wi-fi at home from now on. jk

online check in

I've heard most of the inter-European airlines charge to check in or print your boarding pass at the actual airport so of course I checked in online beforehand! When we got to the actual airport there was no line for the 'online check in baggage drop' people aka US!! We were able to drop off our luggage and walk through security and now I have time to eat and blog! Hooray!

granola bars

One of the 'sucky' things about traveling to Europe is the time difference and thus losing a day on your way there. It was difficult to manage eating regular meals and not starving while on the plane but thankfully I had packed granola bars to munch on (plus other snackies)! My stomach was especially thankful.

LAX drivers

Usually when we go to the airport we'll park and leave our car at the Westin since it's just a few days. This time Yao dropped us off since we'll be gone for over a week! It was a lot faster despite the crazy TSA line when we got there. Thank you to everyone who has dropped us off or picked us up from the airport!

Family time

We came to Calexico to visit Alex's parents and it was nice to spend time with them & hang out with the family.

familiar faces

I had a training for the new KP pharmacy system today and I thought I was going to be alone but when I got there one of my techs was there! So we ate lunch together and went to visit our pharmacy after the training. It's always nice to see a familiar face when you don't expect it.

Hot tea w/ milk

I know it's ok for me to have a little caffeine but I've been trying to stay away from it for the past few months.  I've been craving a decaf latte or hot tea since it's been getting colder in the morning and today I but the bullet.  The flavored creamer had sucralose in it so I opted for tea w/ milk instead.  I was thinking about it on the way to work today and I remembered that most Americans don't add milk to their tea.  I had no idea this was 'weird' until I was a 10th grader! 

Today, I'm thankful for my mother who I watched drink tea with milk each morning growing up, Alex who makes me tea with milk when I'm feeling bad and the cafeteria where I bought my tea.