YO

i know i've been slacking on my 365...just got super busy with visiting relatives, crazy ass people at work, holidays, and keeping my head above water. will update very soon. have a break when we go up to tahoe next week...so there should be plenty to post and talk about =). xoxo happy new year to all!

Day 80

12/19/08 snow day! while i was slaving away at work, mark brought the kids and his sister to mt. high area to play in the snow. they had such a blast making snow angels and throwing snow balls at each other =) it was a thrill especially for mark's nephews and niece and his sister since it's their first time seeing snow.

Day 79

12/18/08 Department pot luck. Mickey Mouse is in the poor house right now due to sucky economy so there are no lavish Christmas parties for cast members. we decided to still have a small get together and have a white elephant gift exchange. i almost got a unicycle but it got stolen away from me lol! oh and i contributed two bowls of macaroni pasta...=)

Day 78

12/17/08 Meeting cousin Matthew.

Vaughn met his cousins and Aunt for the first time. Mark's sister and her 3 kids are here to spend the holidays (they're from the Philippines). He hit it off right away with Mark's 3 year old nephew Matthew -- they had a blast jumping up and down grandma's bed lol!

Day 77

12/16/08 Californians don't know how to drive in the rain.

Day 76

12/15/08 One of the smartest people I know and love =)

Day 75

12/14/08 ANOTHER LEAK YAAAAWAAAAA! there was a plumbing leak from our master bath and i wondered why the paint was bubbling up on the ceiling. mark peeled it open and sure enough, water came trickling down. yea, chada lagi and barato among balay pero buslot ug guba guba man sad leecheeng yaaawaaa! =(

p.s. i feel like i'm in the Money Pit movie. seriously. when will this end?

Day 74

12/14/08 College Reunion. With my best buddies in SDSU -- Damon and Steve (in argyle sweaters...Mark did not get the memo lol!). From left to right: Avery, Tiffani, Damon, Jack, Steve, Rosalee, me, Mark, and Vaughn. I had a great time being Martha Stewart making centerpieces and beautiful napkin rings...I should have taken a picture of the table set-up because it was really pretty =) Every year we have a tradition where we get together in December to exchange gifts and to catch up with each other's lives. We started doing this way back in our SDSU days (i need to dig up those pics) and have been doing it ever since! Thank you guys for the wonderful gifts and for coming all the way out here to our boonies. I hope you had as much fun as I did, till next! =)

Day 73

12/12/08 A wonderful thing happened on the way to Target. There were carolers! Gary decided to steal the money from their violin case -- lol! Just kidding!

Day 72

12/11/08 Went to the mechanic to get my car oil changed. He has a lotus and ducati parked inside his shop. nice!

Day 71

12/10/08 Brand loyal lol! went to the Disney store to buy presents for the kids and got some really good deals. gotta love employee discounts =)

Day 70

12/9/08 Self made wreath. I made this last year because I didn't like the wreaths that were sold at the stores. Sang you want to make one for your house next weekend when we're at La Mirada for Dad's birthday? Cheap ra ang gasto compared to buying it...i still have some trimmings. Let me know =)

Day 69

12/8/09 eyebags and zits are a permanent fixture on my face. tsk tsk, time to change that and start looking like a fox again! lol!

Day 68

12/7/08 Jacob and Trina's fun birthday party at John's Incredible Pizza and dinner at Palazzo Tompkins with mom's kick-ass apritada, chicken sotanghon soup, and isang's yummy adobo mmmm!

Day 67

12/6/08 Impromptu Pacquiao fight get together. Lucio, our contractor, showed up (he is the one sitting on the couch with his back turned to the camera). He said the Mexican peeps are not gonna pay to watch pretty boy de la hoya lose on pay per view lol. He was rooting for Manny the whole time. Hilarious!

Day 66

12/5/08 Stair banister decor with the help of interior decorators Ivan and Gary lol! sila akong gipa-hawid sa wave wave aron mabalanse (medyo hiwi gihapon but whatever. also medyo upaw kay the rest of the banister does not have anything but i ran out of leaf thingies that match)

Day 65

12/4/08 H is for the happiness of all the family. Our tree is done! we like it very much =) as for the rest of the house...well, i'm planning to hang the wreath and garlands today. and i'm finally caught up with my 365 which makes me a happy camper. =)))

p.s. if you guys want to see a larger version of the pics so you can zoom into the pimples of my forehead, click on the pics in my blogspot:

http://teresalifeupdates.blogspot.com/

i am cross posting entries from here to there (rss feed daw tawag ani ingon si alta! lol)

Day 64

12/3/08 C is for the candy cane around the Christmas tree. um, except, i had to put these really high up on the tree otherwise vaughn will break and eat all of them before Christmas comes around =)

Day 63

12/2/08 damn balcony's almost done. good thing too, because i hear there's rain this coming weekend. still bitter and simmering mad -- hmp!

Day 62

12/1/08 Decorating the tree. Vaughn is super thrilled out "his tree." He watered it and helped put up the bells. A fight ensued since he wanted to play cowboy lasso with the Christmas lights instead of stringing it on the tree. And he ended up eating one of those cylindrical ornaments! Why he thought it was edible?? I have no clue. Kids are so weird sometimes...

Day 61

11/30/08 Christmas tree buying. This year I decided to buy our tree early so we can at least get some decorating mileage from it before we throw it out. I remember last year we waited till the last minute and I shelled out a lot of $$ at a tree lot in noho. So this year for practical reasons, we skipped the tree farm and headed to Home Depot. We got a really good looking tree for a great price and it made me happy -- especially when i'm still seething over the $$$ i have to spend on the damn balcony (yes at this point i am still not over how much that thing is costing me).

on a sad note, my dad was rushed to the hospital on this day. i had to go to la mirada right after we bought our tree so i can be with him...this is the reality of growing older and parents growing older as well =( he is ok now and will probably get out of the hospital in a few days. thank you all for the kind words.

Day 60

11/30/08 Garage sale find! Mark's Aunt lives a few blocks away from us and Mark's mom happened to be over there for a family bbq. She found these chairs at the neighbor's garage sale and promptly phoned me to come over and buy it. It was originally $100 for three but we got the seller to go down to $80 for the lot. No that's not steep, these bar chairs are $112 each and that's real leather and it's never been used. Am I rationalizing too much? Yes. Because even if I have to shell out a lot of $$$ for the damn balcony, this is my consuelo de bobo for not going to black friday! =P

Day 59

11/28/08 Black Friday. Instead of being at the stores for the biggest retail event of the year, I am with my contractor instead, doing construction on our balcony. It rained for a few days on Thanksgiving week and we found a nasty leak in our living room recessed lights due to the poorly constructed balcony off of our master's bedroom. What a rude welcome-to-home-ownership f-u awakening =P. I am very unhappy that I have to give up my most favorite activity: shopping and have to spend my money on sand an concrete. leecheeng yaaawaaa!

Day 58

11/27/08 Thanksgiving day. This year I am thankful for the countless blessings I received: love, family, friends, good health, and the realization of the American dream.

Day 57

11/26/08 we got our furniture! now our house does not look like a ballroom (matud pa ni isang lol!)...next up: the bar!

Day 56

11/25/08 one year ago today, i met some pretty amazing people.

Day 55

11/24/08 Our formal living room is slowly taking its shape...

Day 54

11/23/08 Jet setters: Diana and Totoot Limjuco. Diana is Gary's sister -- di gyud malalis di ba? They were here early this year with their son, then in Japan, then back here again. Diana taga-i ko ug frequent flyer miles beh lol!

p.s. Totoot owns a D90, he let me borrow it for a few minutes and I waaannnt one! but santa clause mark is broke hahahaha!

Day 53

11/22/08 easy chair. we bought some furniture for the formal living room, our bedroom, and the fireplace area today. they will all be delivered next week, yay! i predict that this chair will be the one people will want to sit on all the time, it's super comfy and fun! =)

Day 52

11/21/08 i'm in love...lol! didn't know a household appliance can invoke such feelings but yes. i heart my dc25!

Day 51

11/20/08 messy garage. wa pa gyud intawon ko nahuman ug pang arrange ug pang limpyo!

Day 50

11/19/08

i absolutely hate wearing eyeshields to sleep! but gotta follow doctor's orders...

Day 49

11/18/08 maiz con hielo. but i used crushed ice. i don't have shaved ice. di ko ka afford sa ref na gahimo ug shaved ice lol! but having ice on demand is sooo nice. now i won't yell at mark if he takes the last piece of ice and doesn't refill the ice cube tray =P

Day 48

11/17/08
somebody left this in our front sidewalk which irritates the heck out of me. so what to do with useless junk people won't throw away in the dump? advertise it for free on craiglist of course! lol. today was also my post op day but my the little elph that could ran out of batteries and i the charger and extra battery is buried somewhere in the mountains of boxes in the garage that are about to cave in on me...and i'm too lazy to bring the behemoth dslr to the optometrist so you guys will have to settle for a picture of this contraption hehehe.

Day 47

11/16/08
vaughn and i tried out the community pool despite the windy conditions while mark and his cousin steve attempt to build a bar. (wala nahuman ang bar lol, work in progress pa)

Day 46

11/15/08 Crazy fires. It wasn't close to our house but they shut down the freeway that was the only way out of where we live. This is one of the disadvantages of living in the boonies. I missed my post op appointment with my doctor so that's not going to happen until Monday of next week. We decided to eat tapsilog at the only Filipino restaurant in our area. Here's Vaughn showing his appreciation for yummy Filipino food. lol.

Day 45

11/14/08
LASIK surgery day, arriving in style. the lasik place arranged for a limo ride to and from the LASIK center (mark said: dapat lang kamahal sa imong operasyon, that's the least they can do! hahahah)...goodbye glasses!

Day 44

11/13/08 The Great Southern California Shakeout drill: Duck-Cover-Hold. so on this day, millions of people in socal participated in the shakeout drill. basically it is a simulation of a 7.5 earthquake daw kuno. so at 10 am we were supposed to go under our desks (Duck, Cover), then hold for 1 minute, then report to our designated crisis management leaders (the guys shown here). hahahah. yea right. because in a real 7.5 earthquake, people will really congregate in the conference room and check in with somebody. i will be the first one out the door, in my car, and heading to vaughn's daycare or home (depende kung aha sila). hahahah. safety awareness my ass. taka lang mo tanan...=P

Day 43

11/12/08 hahaha. mark and i look like this. except reese is skinnier and prettier than me =P