59/365

Day59.

Here's me enjoying my morning coffee today. We went to walk by the lake in the morning and the shore was covered with thick snow. The winter boots were warm. No stiff toes! It was very peaceful by the shore, it probably was still very early that's why.

After breakfast, we then headed out and drove around town just checking out sights. Before we knew it, it was lunch time and we had lunch at a Hunan restaurant. It was quaint and hidden, and served authentic Hunan food. I don't know from which part of China is Hunan. Nevertheless, lunch was scrumptious.

We then headed to Sierra Mountains to go skiing, but it turned out, it was closed to public already by the time we arrived. There's too much people due to the good weather. We just then walked around the snow, and drove to Emerald Bay. We also went around driving by Heavenly, wanted to try skiing there but opted not to because it was already late. Hindi sulit. Plus I am skeptical about skiing today. I don't want to be flying out with a twisted ankle or something. We headed back home as planned, and then just had In-N-Out for dinner.

It was a good day. It was a good weekend.

58/365

Day58.

I started my day today packing for my upcoming Israel trip. I have finished packing all the clothes, all that's left are toiletries and I can lock my luggage. I also started doing a presentation for Monday. I volunteered to do the first one on Monday since I will be leaving on Tuesday. I also ironed some clothes, changed bed sheets, did a little laundry, all of this with an iffy stomach. I don't know what's wrong with my stomach. Maybe it was the pancit canton that I ate last night.

I was on my way to Tahoe after lunch for a much needed break. Adam picked me up and got to Tahoe very shortly. We stayed at the Zephyr Cove and the cabins were by the lake! There was snow all over Tahoe and I was so happy to just be elsewhere. The cabin was huge and warm. The fire place was wonderful after walking outside the snow. We had dinner at the resort's restaurant and food was awesome. I had some Applewood Pork Medallions with Bleu Cheese Salad. I think Adam had some Flat Iron Steak with Bleu Cheese Pesto.

We went to go get coffee afterwards and we ended up at the Mont Bleu casino. We had coffee at Starbucks there, and then some slot machines afterwards. We lost 20$ on the slot machines. Oh well.

It feels like Christmas in Tahoe. It's Christmas in February.

57/365

Day57.

I had the most unusual, yet uplifting conversation with an old guy from the test floor. My tester broke down so I submitted a request to have it fixed and this old Cambodian guy came to help me. He said he's been here working for the last 23 years, have 2 kids, one is done with medical school and starting his residency, and the other is in law school. He said he's pretty blessed. And he's thankful for his blessings. He said that after he retires, he will spend half of his time here, and half in Cambodia. Like 6 months each year for each place. He is a happy man. And he told me, you get happiness by giving happiness. I know that. I knew that. I guess it's just that, it's not that easy. Happiness is not that easy. Or maybe it is and I'm making it hard.

Lunch was at the cafeteria because it was raining hard outside. I had a nice lunch with Mike, Easley and Jojo. I had a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich, which I'd say is pretty decent for a cafeteria food. If you don't often eat at the cafeteria, food tastes good sometimes. We were talking about the most mundane things like the fedex/UPS delivery times to the most exciting ones - our ongoing bet on when will Thet deliver and when we will party after.

I had a wonderful chat today with the boys and the girls. Duds, Roel and Roy in the daytime; Yoyes, Marla and Lyra at night. Too bad Ice wasn't there.

I called home and had a chat with my Mom who was so happy with both her apos - Berylle, the little princess, and Creamy, the spoiled brat. I hear them telling Berylle, my niece, to call Creamy Kuya Creamy (my obese yellow Lab, fyi).

And Adam called to say that everything is set and all I need to do is to get my pretty self ready before he picks me up tomorrow. Ok, I made up the pretty part. Or maybe he said it too. I'm pretty sure he said it. LOL.

I had Lucky Me Pancit Canton for dinner. Happiness in a pack. A dollar a pack.

56/365

Day56.

Nothing special happened today. I'm so sleepy. I'm always sleepy.

Manong Rector gave me a whole box of Roasted Almonds today. I was so happy! Russ and I ate one can over coffee earlier.

I had lunch at Taco Bell with Jojo. I had my usual Steak Quesadillas. Then tester all afternoon. I got home, ate my dinner, took a shower and then ironed my clothes. I also started packing for my Israel trip. I had the clothes already, all I need are my toiletries and I'm set to go.

I hope I don't forget my documents. I don't know what purse to bring.

55/365

Day55.

I got winter boots! Winter boots and skiing pants. I was so happy because it's my first time owning a winter boots, much less a skiing pants. I'm excited. Adam and I went to dinner at Olive Garden today. I had some cheese fondue and he had the soup and salads.

I had been final worded by my boss today that I am not going home anymore since I got an appointment in the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. So my trip will just be 2 weeks in Israel. No more Philippine leg. I'm devastated. I'm sorry my TNMs. :(

Today's been really cold. Just when I thought weather's starting to pick up, it rains like today. I'm still thankful though that I'm here in California and not in Oregon. I'd probably be dead already after killing myself if I were in Oregon. It's like this half the year there.

54/365

Day54.

I was so bummed today because I cannot get an appointment at the US Embassy in Manila earlier than April 19. My trip is already next week and I need to get an appointment. My options as of this morning were to cancel my trip entirely, or get an appointment at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. After checking, I got an appointment in Tel Aviv for March 5. That means I have to fly to Israel earlier than planned. I will be flying out of Sacramento on March 2, get to Tel Aviv March 3. I have March 4 to take care of documents, settle down in Tel Aviv and get to the embassy on March 5. Except for my latest one, all my other visas were issued at Tel Aviv. That's one less stress down.

I skipped work today, I went home before lunch and never came back. I was so sleepy and I had a wonderful siesta! I forgot to eat lunch though so I was so hungry at dinner time.

I had dinner with Thet and Iya today. I had some longanisa, eggs, pandesal, half of a cupcake, 2 tablespoons of chocolate ice cream and half a can of coke. I ate a lot!

I also printed all the documents that I needed with my beloved printer. I love it now, because it's already working. LOL. As I was sifting through my old documents, I found this card given to me by my co-workers in Israel. It brings back warm memories. They're nice people and I miss working with them. They're friends. I'm excited to go back. I'm bringing lots of chocolates!

53/365

Day53.

When you lack imagination and there are flowers, take pictures of the flowers. Can you tell where the focus is? :)

I want doughnuts. Please get me some doughnuts.

52/365

Day52.

After driving for 6 hours yesterday, plus attending a baby shower until 2am (may baby shower bang hanggang 2am? hehe), I slept well and woke up at 1030am. I woke up groggy, ate some cookies and headed to church for a mass. Take note, di pa ligo. LOL.

I got back at home after the mass, ate some instant chow mien noodles and straightened the house a bit and took a nice long hot shower. Changed the sheets, washed some laundry and dishes, cleaned the bathroom. All the dirty stuff. I have a lot of clothes to iron already, I swear I need to take a day off from work to be able to finish ironing the clothes!

Adam picked me up at around 3pm and we watched Shutter Island at Palladio. We were bubbly before we watched the movie, and we were both subdued and depressed afterwards. It was a good movie though. I've always liked Leonardo Di Caprio's movies, plus this one is another Martin Scorsese. It was sick though. The movie was sick. Although nothing similar in story, the movie kind of reminded me of Vanilla Sky. I had a rule dati in watching movies, which is - bawal ang may sense - and this falls under that rule. It's a different kind of nonsense though, because that rule includes movies like District 9, Zombieland (rule #1 - cardio!) and the likes. Leonardo is far from his handsome self, though he's still good looking. His acting was pretty good. And Michelle Williams was also very good and creepy.

After the movie, I think I lost my appetite. We went to eat at Jack's and we shared a Tri-tip salad and some urban fries. I thought I lost my appetite, until I saw the fries. Hehe. I ate a lot of fries, and some salad. The bleu cheese and cranberries in the salad were awesome. We can't help but talk about the movie, and it gave me creeps.

Oh and I was finally able to make my scanner work! I installed it in my desktop and it's working there. My laptop's anti virus is probably messing the installation in the laptop.

Photo is from Leila's baptism. Look at Louie looking the other way. Hehe. We were all laughing that this was like a passport picture background. :)

51/365

Day51.

You're my sunshine.
You're my ray of light
You're my glow in the dark -
my feverish warmth.

You burn.
You're my biggest contradiction.

50/365

Day50.

It's the 50th day of the year. 50 days, can you believe that? It's a Friday today and I am so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. It's been a hectic work week, plus the stress on the upcoming travel, and I want to catch up on my sleep.

My alarm went off at 7am today but I did not get up yet. I was like, ok 10 more minutes and I'd get up. And then when I woke up, it was already 8am. Work supposedly starts at 8 right? Right. To get to work at 9am for the daily meeting, I had to forego (I think I like the word bypass better, more technical) blow drying my hair.

After 2 caffeine free days, I had coffee today. It was sooo good! I was so takam already with coffee. Then went to my tester, then had lunch. I went to lunch with the most unlikely bunch today. I had lunch with some officemates who I only talk to about work stuff, and some hi/hellos. I went with Johnson, Puja, Helen and Jing. Jojo was also there, he is Helen's buddy. We went to lunch at Thai Paradise.

Then afternoon went by quickly and just when I was almost going home, I had to do something urgent. I had dinner with Jojo at Mizu and Norman again bailed out because he's sick. I went to Target after to get some toiletries.

Another parking lot shot? Pardon me, I'd been deprived of good weather for 3 months already.

49/365

Day49.

This is one of the Girl Scout cookie boxes that Dan sold to me for her little girl scout. This is what I had for dinner after working until 7pm. It's yummy!

Had lunch with Mike today at the cafeteria.

So I finally got my ticket today. I have my round the world flight itinerary already, so one less stress. I'd be going from Sacramento, Tel Aviv then Manila. I am starting to do my forms and all, it's all stressful. I don't like paperworks. It's so stressful.

48/365

Day48.

Today is Ash Wednesday. I did not plan it, but I did not eat any meat today. I went to lunch with Thet, Emelyn, Mike and Jojo at Aloha Sushi today. It was my first time to eat there and the rolls were actually pretty good. I got to enjoy it even if I was having a horrible headache because of my torn contact lenses. I was so freaking hungry at lunch! After lunch, I drove slightly blind and went home to replace my torn lenses.

I went to church at 6pm for Ash Wednesday, went to the gym for a bit and went home and started working on my visa forms. I am still preparing even if I am not sure if the trip will happen. My flight is so expensive that's why.

No photos again. Lightroom not working. Today's photo is supposedly how far I am parked to the office. I love long walks.

47/365

Day47.


It's back to work again today. I started waking up at the wee hours again and I'm so tired by the time that I had to go to work. Nothing much happened today. The day passed by real quickly. We went to Costco after work to buy stuff that I want to send back home. That pretty much was how my day went today.

Photo taken from my car while driving. This is along Oak Avenue Pkwy.

46/365

Day46.

It's President's Day today and there's no work. It's one of the very few non-working holidays we have here.

After a while of getting good sleep, I woke up at 4am today and had a hard time going back to sleep again. I went back to sleep at around 6am again, and woke up at 10am just in time to get ready for our post valentines lunch today with Mike, Thet, Easley, Emilyn, Jojo and the kids. We met up at Mike's place at 1130am, and I brought Krispy Kremes for everyone.

We had lunch at Red Lobster, I had the steak, lobster and shrimps combo. I barely ate the steak because before I got to it, I was already full from the salad, biscuit and the lobster and shrimps. It was all good though. Maia would cry whenever our server would come to our table! We went to the outlets afterwards. We went to CK and Banana Rep. There was more people today than at any other time that I'd ever been to the outlets.

I am now starting to work on my to-do list for my trip. All stressful!

This is me with Iyapot at Red Lobster. I haven't seen her in a week and she grew bigger!

45/365

Day45.

The curse of the valentines day is broken. I actually had a good valentines day!

I am not really wishing for a romantic, cheesy, gooey valentines day every year, all I ever want each year was a normal day. However, for all that I could remember, there is always something going wrong for me on that day. May it be boyfriend related, work related, and there was even one year that Mama had a stroke and we had valentines at St. Luke's.

But today, I had a good day.

I called home to see if everything is ok, and it's fine back home. My parents were having Tikoy for meryenda when I called. And Creamy is sleeping. Carlo and his family are in Manila for his sister in law's despedida.

And then the day went by quickly. A dozen red roses, long drive to San Francisco, some strawberry shake for breakfast, clam chowders for lunch, drive up the hills for the Golden Gate vista point, Krispy Kreme and coffee, some Vietnamese dinner and a lot of laughs in between.

It was a good Valentines day. :)

44/365

Day44.

Today's supposedly a shopping day with Norman. Jojo and I are going and we're supposed to take Norman to Express, but he's sick today so it's just me and Jojo. We don't have any reason to go shopping anymore, but who does not love shopping? So we went to Mizu for lunch and I had my Sashimi and crab cake fix again. Then we went to Express where I got another big ass bag, a few leggings and pants and some skirt. I was not able to get any top so we went to Tilly's to shop for tops. I got some cute ones there, and all were cheap!

My car's maintenance light was finally off today, after Adam changed the oils. He's been nagging me about it because I'd been driving with that light since the start of the year. And true enough, the oil that was drained was horrible. My car is now running like a sports car again. LOL.

Today's photo is taken by Jojo while I was driving on our way to Mizu.

43/365

Day43.

This tree is the same as the one in this photo that I took last December. For the longest time, I have never noticed that the trees actually started to grow leaves already and even blossoms! The tree has flowers and I never noticed! Where had I been all this time?

Spring is here!

So I went home early today from work after having had a rough week. It was a long week at work and I have my pimple to show for it. When I was parking my car, I noticed that the small tree in front of my car already had leaves and flowers, so I looked around and saw everything in bloom. It is still cold, but the flowers are blooming. It was telenovela-ish moment for me. Like when you're watching those Koreanovelas and the actors look around and see flowers all over, that was how I felt like today. I ran to get my camera (in high heeled boots, hehe totally irrelevant but I just wanted to say that), I was in a hurry not to lose the moment where there's still some sun for natural lighting. I had a lot of good photos today, it was hard for me to choose. Taking a shot against the sun produced some kind of a psychedelic effect on the photo. Pretty artsy eh?

And with some medium rare steaks, eggs, biscuits and gravy, today had been a good day.

Spring is here. It's going to be awesome.

42/365

Day42.

Work started early today. The 9am meeting was moved to an 8am slot due to some urgent stuff that we needed to do today. So all of us were at the 8am meeting. Doughnuts were served.

I got the confirmation today that I am indeed travelling back to Israel. I will go on a business trip on work week 11 for a little over a week there. Business meetings, few trainings, some sight seeing. It's like homecoming. I am excited. And then reality sunk in. After the business trip, I need to go back home for visa stuff. I need to make a personal appearance at the embassy for my new visa status, and then I have to go through POEA. Que horror! I'd been stressing about the paper works all day now. On top of it, I have to take care of my condo sale which is also taking so much of my time, and my phone card. Gawd. This on top of first silicon work, which is always the worst day ever in my job. And then the worst of all, I don't have a place to stay in Manila! The condo is rented out and my family had moved to Bicol. What to do, what to do?

I had lunch at the cafe today, we could not go out because we're too busy and it was raining hard. It would be too cold to go out of the office for lunch. I had lunch with Jojo and coffee with Russ.

The day went by quickly and before I knew it, it was already 8pm. We still had a long way to go with work and I got of the test floor at around 11pm. Jorel, Hy and I went for dinner at T2 Yan since it was the only place open. We would have wanted something fancier but everything's closed in Folsom! I had some hot sake with the meal.

Quote of the day:
May mga taong natitingnan ka pa rin in good light kahit madami ka pang pagkakamali. Ang tawag sa kanila, kasabwat! Ang sakin, ang tawag ko sa kanila, bodette at roel! LOL

41/365

Day41.

I should start writing my blog earlier because I tend to write crappy entries when I do it close to midnight and all spent.

I don't have much to say either today. There are days when I'm teeming with ideas but lately I had just been plain boring. Mundane. I guess I'm in transition, or as my secret friend told me, I'm in between. Like in the equinox. And I also take crappy photos lately. Not that I take good photos anyway, but you know what I mean.

The highlight of my day is the coffee that I had this morning. Or maybe a few text messages. Or maybe eating spam and eggs. I don't know. It's so fun! Sheesh. I'd prefer a boring day over a depressing telenovela day anytime though. Boring is good. Hehe.

Maybe I just need more sleep because I'm so freaking tired from work. Or maybe the weather just needs to get better.

40/365

Day40.

This is an In-N-Out Strawberry Milkshake. This is what you have after you had a crazy day. Crazy. Literally. ;-)

I had lunch today at Thai Paradise with Jojo and Clark. It had been raining all day and it was so freaking cold even at the office! Where are the heaters when you need them? My day went by really fast, a lot of stuff to do at the office. My boss also told me of the travel plans to IDC. If I go out of the US, I need to go back home for visa stamping. Shoot, I need to work on it tomorrow. So much stuff to do! And if the travel pushes through, it will be by very early March.

Kung ako ang papipiliin, ay nag Amsterdam na ako...

All my photo shots lately are indoors. Weather's been crazy here and it's impossible to take good pictures outside. Rain, rain go away. I want my sunshine back.

39/365

Day39.

I finally labeled the jars that I bought after washing and filling them with flour, sugar and coffee. Today's Monday. I hate Mondays.

But, I am beautiful. Hehe.

38/365

Day38.

It's the third day today with no photo. My memory card is already getting full and I'm not sure if my shots were good. I can't really tell from the camera LCD with my poor eyesight. I have to upload it in a pc to be able to tell. I need to find a way to get my photos uploaded! Fast!

I had a wonderful day today. I did some household stuff in the morning, did laundry, bathroom cleaning and ironed some of the clothes (can't finish them all in one sitting). Ironing is kind of therapeutic for me. For some strange reason, straightening out wrinkles on clothes gives me some high. Weird.

I was supposed to meet Adam for lunch so I drove off at about 12. We had a late lunch at a Greek restaurant where I had some good street pita. We were actually talking about how they don't know what a real Mediterranean meal is here. It was still filling nevertheless. I was supposed to meet his sister afterwards and I was kind of nervous. Who wouldn't be? So there, I met his sister Magda and she was really super nice and accomodating and pretty. I was relieved. I was kind of expecting a snob European, but she was really warm and funny. She made me some coffee and she taught me how to play Russian lotto. It was fun. Then her kids came at around 7. The kids were all so cute! I liked Niko particularly, because he's stubborn. LOL. I was still full, but we had dinner at PF Changs because it was Magda's birthday yesterday. Oh and their dog Peaches was so cute! She's an obese chihuahua. Picture that.

Time flies really fast. Last year at this day, I was in Boracay with Jon drinking cocktails and alcohol to be able to get some sleep. I was distraught last year. At least today, I'm far from it. :) The worst thing that I could say about my state right now is that I'm not happy. I'm not unhappy, just not happy. Huge difference.

Today's a good day. If I get more days like this and yesterday, I am pretty sure I will be ok, soon. :)

37/365

Day37.

It's finally weekend. Everyone wishes that weekends were longer. Well I wish that I don't have to go to work and still get paid. Hehe.

I had a wonderful girls' day out today with Thet. We went to Hoshall's to get her haircut and I had my bangs trimmed again. My hair grows like crazy, and I'm not complaining! I'm happy that my hair grows really fast. It's always a good excuse to go to the salon and get pampered. We then went to pretty nails to get pedicures. I haven't had a pedicure done by someone else in a while, and the pedicure there included a pseudo foot spa with some foot massage. We then went to the church to catch the mass but we barely made it. It's still nice to go to the church though.

We met up with Jojo for dinner afterwards at Pho Viet. I haven't had pork in a while so I had the Vermicelli noodles with grilled pork. It was so yummy! And then we went to Borders for some coffee at Seattles' Best. We also met up with Norman there.

It had been a great day, just hanging out with friends. I wish I have my desktop though so that I could post a photo for today.

36/365

Day36.

Today is Friday. It is supposed to be a slow day towards the weekend but for some reason, Fridays are like Mondays. Fast, loaded. I had a good lunch though, with Dan and Jorel at BJs. We had some Pizza and Pasta.

Afternoon went by quickly with a lot of tester work and I was still at the test floor by 8pm. Good thing I had snacks and soda with Ate Jen and Daddy Rector.

After I got off the office, Adam bought me a PC fan, only to find out that the desktop's hard drive is already dead. Good thing I was able to back it up a few days ago. Shoot I think I lost a few days of photos. I should have been backing up every day. Hence, the no photo post. I will be trying to buy a new hard drive and I hope to restore my desktop in its old glory. Hehe.

Edit: Photo uploaded. One of those non sense photos.

35/365

Day35.

I'm wearing Bond No. 9's Bryant Park today. I feel pretty. Women should always wear their special perfumes any time they fancy. Just because. Like we should buy things we like, just because we can. Like what Roel told me. Lyra thinks he has two X chromosomes for choosing a bag over a car stereo.

I had a huge presentation this morning, that I had to wake up really early to do final revisions. It went well, I got a 25$ Red Lobster gift certificate for the effort. Not bad eh? My day went pretty uneventful. Had meetings all morning. Lunch was pretty good, with Spam and Eggs while watching Eat Bulaga at Jojo's place. Then tester all afternoon. Snooze fest.

I went to my shrink today. This is probably the last time that I'm seeing him in a while. I hope the next time I see him, it's just to talk. No crisis. He let me go already. I'm out of it.

I'm fine.

A whole day would be fine.

Fine fine time.

Forever would be fine.

34/365

Day34.

This has got to be the most mundane and unimaginative picture ever. And my fridge contains the unhealthiest of stuff. I don't eat chips and I don't even drink Sprite. I even have some Italian Soda which I don't know how it tastes like, some Diet Coke (I don't drink Diet!), a whole lot of eggs, butter, brown sugar and all other ludicrous stuff. What the hell? I'm home and hungry, that's what's going on. I am looking for something to eat from the fridge. There's nothing easy on my fridge. I need to cook to get a decent meal. So, I ended up eating some bread with the Smucker's Strawberry Peanut Butter spread and a piece of Ferrero.

33/365

Day33.

I am sick again today and for the second day in a row, I went home before the end of the day. So un-me. I very rarely skip work because I'm sick.

I went to work on my usual time in the morning even if I knew that I won't have the dreaded 9am meeting today. I was happy that I won't be seeing someone today. But then again walking from the parking lot, of all days, guess who I see? How do you walk and pretend not to notice someone walking right next to you? You either look straight ahead or just look down. Well ako, nagmaganda talaga ang lola nyo. Manigas sya sa kakatingin, di ako lilingon.

I had coffee before lunch with Jojo and then had lunch with the Tatays at Mel's. Mike has not been there yet so we decided to go there. We both had the Bleu Cheese Burger. After coming back to the office from lunch, I felt dreadfully sick again so I decided to go home. That was about 3pm. Adam stopped by the house at about 5 to check on me. He bought me dinner too.

Thet and Mike (I think) picked a name for the upcoming kiddo. I love the name! I won't write it here, it's theirs to announce. :)

I had flowers and chocolates too. Today's photo is from the small blossoms of the yellow rose bouquet. I had a lot of good shots, but this is the one that I love. I'm still amazed at how awesome and cheap my macro lenses are! So Jo, ano masasabi mo? Exceeds expectation na ba? Hehe.

32/365

Day32.

I can't believe it. The project is one month old. And it's February. Time flies really fast no? I can still clearly remember like it was only yesterday when I was worrying about how I would survive Christmas holidays. And now I'm worrying how I would survive Valentines. Sheesh. Since when did I become a worry wart?

I went to work this morning as usual and had lunch with the Tatays at Wasabi. Easley said he's never been there so he wanted to try it. I had been there a couple of times before and I was telling Russ that Wasabi is kind of a bad place for me. I went there with the same person twice and something wrong happens afterwards. He said it's time to change the pattern. Well the pattern is still there. After lunch, I felt really sick. Like vomity-sick. So I asked Russ to just bring me over to my parked car and I went home. I called Chris to tell him I won't make it to the staff meeting because I was not feeling well. I fell asleep for about 3 hours and I felt better after waking up.

I finally tried to install the wireless router that I bought like 2 months ago, and Mike helped me install it properly. It's working perfectly now. I don't have to steal my neighbor's wifi anymore if I want to use my laptop in my room. My motivation to actually install it already came today because my neighbor's wifi was down and I needed to work. Hehe.

And as if the Japanese lunch that might have made me sick was not enough, I had Korean for dinner. Like Bimbop and Bulgogi. I am waiting to feel sick, but so far I'm still fine.

Oh and desktop is down today. It won't boot again, so this post will come after my flaky pc is up again. Or maybe it's just the picture that will come later.