My Merry-Go-Round

New blog coming soon

2010-05-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start a Houston restaurant blog. delicioushouston.blogspot.com lame name but i couldn't come up with a better one :P

Into the Wild...

2009-10-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

Sooooo.......

this sure is an overdue blog post. oopsie! Time goes by so quickly when your working , and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. Lets see if i can still remember enough from summer to update you.

GEO 660

Our Route:

We started bright and early May 24th, 5:30am I think, and drove through some spectacular west Texas scenery. We Reached The Guadalupe Mts National Park sometime in the afternoon and got right to work!

El Capitan

First Day!

Dr. Mohrig Explaining something

A Horny Toad!!

For the first week we stayed in a Motel in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Now I've never been to Brownsville TX, or the Third Ward of Houston, but I imagine this is what it looks like. It did comfort me a little to find out that we were staying within walking distance of downtown, a bold combination of Walmart and Chilli's. Loves it.

To say day 2 of Geo660 makes you want to chop off your legs, gouge out your eyes and swear off geology for the rest of your life is a gross understatement. It is to every graduate of the Jackson School of Geology known as the DEATH MARCH,aka the Permian Reef Trail. If you really want to know more, you can read about it here, written by this guy. But if you just want the short version it's a 2000 ft in elevation and 4.2 miles long (not round trip, so 8.4 miles total), uphill the entire time. Also keep in mind this is done in 100 degree weather with your backpack, rock hammer, lunch, water, field notebook, clipboard, and observing geology and taking notes the entire time. There are 28 stops total, and i was tired by the time we got to stop 2. eek.

Daniel and Jeremy

Car #5:(Evan, Me, Jessica, Nam, Miriam, Alejandra,Alex)

The Entire Group

While we were in Carlsbad, Jessica and I decided to order from Pizza Hut for dinner. We were sick of pizza and Jessica is a vegetarian, so the following conversation resulted between me and the Pizza Hut Girl:

PHG: Thanks for calling Pizza Hut, how may i help you?
M: Hi, what kind of pastas do you guys have?
PHG: (lists the pastas, all of which have meat)
M: do you have anything without meat?
PHG: Bacon Mac'n Cheese
M: ...Bacon?
PHG: OH! right I'm sorry, Duh!
M: That's ok. I know you're pizza hut, but do you have anything that's not pizza, not pasta, and does not contain meat?
PHG: Chicken Wing!
M: ... Goodbye ...

Poor girl can't tell the diff between veggies and meat. Or maybe chicken is considered a veg in Carlsbad.

After the Guadalupe Mountains is where the the real camping starts! We drove though Cloudcroft, NM, a tiny picturesque town in the middle of Lincoln National Forest. I didn't even know towns like this existed. The town was made up of log cabins with stone chimneys that puffed white clouds of smoke, all the while, surrounded by huge pine tree forests and set in 60 degree weather. I thought i had just walked into a children's book. Sadly this was not the situation after the sun set. Temperatures plunged to the 30s and many of us had rude awakenings, literally, at night by the freezing air. I think I woke up every 2 hrs the first night of camping due to a combination of cold and not use to sleeping in a sleeping bag. oh, and it rained every night.

Our Campsite

Exploring the woods

From Cloudcroft, we worked in White Sands National Monument, white is filled with beautiful white gypsum sand. Possibly my favorite project during the trip!

Of course, who can leave New Mexico without going to the Carlsbad Caverns. Beautiful Stalactite and Stalagmites, practically a geologist's heaven.

Entering...

On our last night in NM, we camped at Abiquiu Lake, which was a nice change from Cloudcroft. Jessica, who cannot look at a body of water without going in even took a dip in the lake which was in the 50s. Nice little preview of what was to come.

Driving out of NM and into Colorado, we passed some amazing sights. Colorado, i think, has to be my favorite state (Texas not included) during this trip. So Beautiful, and comes with a cellphone signal.

Ouray, CO the real life south park

We stopped at Molas Pass, our highest elevation at 10910ft, for lunch. It was rainy, but still breathtaking.

on a good day

We eventually made our way to Grand Junction, CO where we stayed at Mesa State College. I loved this place. The weather was nice, the dorms that we stayed in were brand new ans suite style and the chef who cooked for us out did himself everyday. From Grand Junction, we commuted everyday to do field work in Utah. Insane. We drove 3 hours to do 1 hr of field work. Thank goodness for the Starbucks and icecream breaks courtesy of Dr. Steel. Love that man.

Book Cliffs

sweet herringbone
Wildcat's den that we stumbled upon, luckily no wildcat

On our first day off, Alejandra, Jessica and I decided to walk around main street Grand Junction, which was Bursting with small town charm.

Main Street

A supposed baby mammoth skeleton...hmmm... (of course we manage to find the only rock shop)

Sadly we didn't get to stay in Colorado :( Instead, we went to Wyoming. Where there is no such thing as T-mobile, or apparently, summer.

At the first gas station we stopped at in Wyoming, the girls decided that we should stretch our legs a little so we walked in, looked around and saw some jackalope paraphernalia. At first we thought it was so cute and funny, and then we saw this:

Except the Texas said Wyoming of course. And then we saw another post card and another and another! All with extremely convincing pictures and jackalope facts like this one! Andrea and I looked at each other and were like: OMG! ITS REAL!!! and we rushed outside to the car to show the boys. The boys took one look at it and said "You guys are dumb." and dumb we felt. So I bought a mini jackalope and named him Roger to remember this experience. lolz. but not really.

Roger sitting on Jessica

We arrive at the Green Oasis Campground in Greybull, WY in good time. Of course when you hear the place is called Green Oasis Campground, you automatically assume that it's going to be crap (Es Basura! as my friend Alejandra would say), because life is just one big Oxymoron, no? well at least Geo660 is. And if you did assume this place is crap, you would be right, because Green Oasis Campground is actually some dude's backyard. in Greybull, WY. Never been to Greybull? it's ok. you can die happier this way. according to the owner of said "campground", and I quote, "you guys are the biggest thing to hit town all year round!" sigh.

Setting up our sad tarp

We did all of our cooking under our tarp, so it's a fairly important piece of the pie. Don't worry, the TAs and professor eventually felt bad of us and made did it for us, lol. this is what happened when you have all girls in a group who have never even used a tarp for cover let alone tie it to trees.

Green Oasis Campground(right most tent is mine!)

See the patch of pebble on the right of this picture above? that's the dude's patio. See the white stuff on the yellow tent and all over the ground? that's his busted bag of crack. j/k, it's snow. YES, SNOW. IN JUNE. and guess what? we still had to go into the field.

Unfortunately for us, this particular field is covered in bentonite, an extreamly soft clay that turns into slippery slopes of death the second it comes in contact with water. fun stuff. even more fun in snow and hail.

Goose Egg Dome

Getting schooled by Dr. Helper

sweet chevron foldEric and I observing geologySee my shoes? that's after I cleaned them.

Finally, After a week of Greybull, we were ready to move on to better things: Yellowstone!!! woohoo!!

Yellowstone Lake

We didn't camp in Yellowstone, instead we camped in Grand Teton national Park, which is connected to Yellowstone.

A herd of buffalo walked past our cars!!

We were told there was a huge lake very close to our campground so we decided to go check it out.

a little trail that leads to the lake

taken from inside some sort of shelter made from logs.

and then, we found it...

Panoramic View

Logs on shore

The Girls

Couple of crazies that got into the 30 degree water

The Coors Light Duo
random waterfall
Having fun on our half day off in West Yellowstone (can you tell i'm getting tired of writting?)

Alejandra Bear, Andrea Wolf, Michelle Buffalo and Ashley Moose

West Yellowstone is shockingly a town to the west of Yellowstone. It was cute at the time, but now that i think of it, it's too touristy. I think we were just glad to see civilization after being in the wilderness for so long.

After a blissful day of freedom, we mosey off to Lewis and Clark Cavern State park, where we camped out for a week. So if you've been keeping track, you will notice that we've been camping for two weeks straight now. what i haven't told you is that before we left, the professor told us to pack for one week. yup. It was terrible. I had to double dip into my bag of dirty clothing and rewear. including soggy, dirty socks. yum-o. But i have to say that this camp site was probably my favorite. the weather was nice, and the scenery was beautiful. We were on a wide stretch of grassy field with tall moutains as our backdrop and a river running through the grounds. I loved this place.

we were visited by a rainbow every night

On a hike after dinnerIndian Leg Wrestlehow we did our work every nightThe Boysour mapping area (Black Sage)we're not posing

Next Destination: Dillon, MT
This place had excelent weather, but was unfortunatly a dump. The coolest most happenin' place in town was a dairy queen. BUT, we did get to stay in dorms here which was nice but not nearly as nice as Mesa State (Grand Junction, CO). This was the first time on this trip that we had internet access, so naturally, I lived in the library after dinner.

Outside of dorm

Our mapping area, Sandy Hollow, is aparently one of the most popular in the area because there were alot of other geology field camps there. But we were the best. of course. This area is know for awesome geology and rattle snakes. i think i saw at least two a day. and almost got bit by one.

this place really sucked. that's pretty much all i can say about it.

From the luxury of the dorms, we moved on to our biggest challenge: primitive camping in Hecla. Hecla is absolutly beautiful. It's also in the middle of nowhere. The only way to get to our camp ground was to drive 30min at 5mph on an unpaved, rocky road. Oh, and theres no bathrooms. It's as if we traveld back in time 200 years and decided to camp in the middle of a forest. Theres snow everywhere, and it's so cold at night we have to do our work in the cars.

campsite

Stream of glacial melt that i showered in (aprox. 30 degrees)Cook Group! (notice the immeasurably better tarp that we set up BY OURSELVES!!)Campground in the morningwhere we got water everyday

Dr. Helper trying to convince us the water is drinkableAbandoned Log Cabin

Getting ready for the day:Field Area:

Burning everything the last night

Finally, Arches National Park, UT on the way back.

Done!!

I know 660 is going to be one of those things that I will always remember and tell stories about no matter how long it's been. Looking at these pictures, everything seems like such a dream. I can't believe I did all these things and went to all these places. Yet, I can remember exactly how I felt on every moment of this trip. The first couple of weeks went by so slowly that it felt like months. I clearly recall Andrea and I exclaiming to each other that it couldn't possibly been only a day,a week, two weeks. I didn't think i was going to get through. But somewhere in the middle, I began to actually enjoy myself, and before I knew it we were on our way home. It was really bitter sweet the first couple of days back. I woke up in my own bed, without 30 other tents surrounding me. I didn't see everyone everyday, I didn't have to be somewhere every minute. I found myself really missing everyone, and the whole experience. Andrea, Alejandra, Jessica, Ashley, Alex, Wan, Evan, Jeremy, Daniel, Stephen, Nam, Miriam, I really miss you guys, and I think if i had to, I would do the whole thing again.

*Edit*

The Field Geologist's Tan:

On This Episode of House Hunters...

2009-07-10T23:11:00.000-07:00

Yes! I am Back!!! WOOHOO!!!!!! :) actually, I've been back for almost a week now and have been running errands all week! As some of you might know, I start work on Monday so this is pretty much my last weekend before I move on from big kid land to grown up. sad.

I don't wanna grow up!!

but i suppose i have no choice now.

Anyways. I finally started my apartment hunt! To say finding an apartment in Houston is like finding a needle in a hay stack would be a gross understatement. They all just look the same after a while. My awesome agent and I went though a million and after hours of painful process of elimination, I finally have it narrowed down to three.

Apt 1:

Very very cute 1/1 located in midtown.

Pro: Good location for work, very aesthetically pleasing, very large space
Cons: expensive :(

Apt 2:

Also located in midtown

Pro: Good location
Cons: No AC in the hallways, 1st floor

Apt 3:

Located in the Heights

Pro: Great Location, Floor to ceiling windows
Cons: Expensive

I'm so indecisive!!!! Soooooooooooo, to help me decide, i've decided to do my first.......

Reader Poll!!!

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

P.S. I know some of you are just dying to hear about my trip but I'll talk about that later since I'm still trying to collect pictures and sort thoughts out in my head. :P

Internet

2009-06-21T18:09:00.001-07:00

wow, i never thought i would appreciate internet so much but i do! i'm in montana right now with 2 more weeks to go but it feels like it's been 6 months since i left :( i can't wait to get back and share my stories!! sigh.

btw, montana sucks, don't ever come.

See you in 6 weeks :(

2009-05-23T21:09:00.001-07:00

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I DON'T WANNA GO!!!! I can't believe it's finally here. I was really excited when I signed up for this course but now i don't want to go AT ALL. 6 weeks is too long to be in the wild :( I'm soooooooooo sad.

See you in 6 weeks...

Hi-ho! Hi-ho! Off to work I go!!

2009-05-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

Yep! you guessed it! I FINALLY FOUND A JOB!!!! yay!!!!!!!!!!

I'm feeling extremely blessed right now. These things always come at the most unexpected times. I remember the nigh before I got the phone call, I was telling Jingyi that I was dead set on going to grad school because I had no other options. So if you are stuck somewhere in life, don't give up!! It's cliche but good things come to those who wait! And if you are thinking I'm only being this optimistic because I'm on the other side, well... ok so maybe that's true, but it happened to me so it can happen for you!

Oh, who am I working for you ask?
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:D i<3 oil companies

It's Here!!!

2009-04-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

My P90X came!!!!!

If you have seen me at all in the past 2 weeks, I would have told you about this. I'm REALLY excited about it!!! You follow the Workout for 90 days and you get ripped!! hahahahahaha!!!

I bought mine really cheap off the internet, and now I'm highly suspect that it's pirated. Cause it was mailed from Shanghai and all the DVDs are in the little plastic sleeves that come with China DVDs. Oh well. I also did not get the nutrition planner or the workout calender. I don't think I would follow the nutrition plan and i can look up the calender online. so win/win right? except for the pirated part i guess. Whatev.

See you in 90 days!

Create your own FACEinHOLE

*EDIT*
I just watched the "how to being it" DVD while eating pizza, lol, definitely won't follow nutrition guide. Oh and i'm not gonna post my before pictures just in case i don't succeed :P

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-12T11:25:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter everyone! If you are Christian then it time to celebrate Jesus's resurrection! He has risen! Many people think that Black Friday (the day Jesus was crucified) is the day to mourn and Easter is a day to celebrate, but I think both days are worth celebrating.

Wait. Jesus was killed on Black Friday, why should we celebrate?
I'm Glad you asked. Because was is not Jesus's purpose for coming to earth to be crucified and to save us? So he already knew that this was gonna happen, and it was all part of God's plan. Yes he died, but he died with the knowledge that he was going to be resurrected did he not? I'm not saying we should be happy that he died or be unimpressed because he knew what was going to happen afterwards. I'm saying since we know that he was resurrected after being crucified, saved mankind and fulfilled his purpose on earth, shouldn't we be happy that it happened?

Anyways, have a happy Easter!!

As a side note:

This guy is freakin scary!

Who the heck thought it was ok to give a grown man a giant bunny suit????? I'm sorry but that is not OK!! THAT IS NOT CUTE, IT'S SCARY AS HELL!!!

*EDIT

Haha yes yes I meant Good Friday! Thank you anonymous for pointing that out! I guess i had shopping on my mind lol!

April = busy

2009-04-09T22:46:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's April already. Where the heck has the time gone???? Ugh, before you know it it'll be May and then... Rock Camp. I'm not looking forward to it as much as I thought, to tell the truth, I enjoy looking at rocks and all but Rock Camp is for geologists, and i'm in geophysics, can't i just skip it??? UGH. Stupid Jackson School.

Anyways. Like I said, April is usually my busiest month out of the year. Everything seems to happen at the same time. I've got alot to announce so bear with me:

April 3rd:

Happy Birthday Cindy!!!!!!!

Wow this was a lllllllloooooooooonnnnnnnngggggggg time ago! Welcome to the 23 club!

April 4th

Happy Birthday Geng!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're 23 old lady!!! hahahahaha i can't believe my little gengle bells is all grown up to think we went from this:

to this:
Good Times! Welcome to the 23 club also!! Lets stop here.

April 9th

Happy Birthday Diane Alfie Huynh!!!!

You, my dear, are an extra old lady at the crippling age of 24! haha, love you!

Happy Birthday Kimmy!!!!!

unfortunatly this is the only picture I could find of us. lol. rather unfortunate, no? Welcome to the 23 club as well. My club just gets bigger.

Happy 4 Year Chi Anniversary!!!!
it's been 4 years!! can you believe? because of you guys I never have a dull moment now and I can always find a roommate/fellow bum! lets make the next 4 even better!

April 10th

Happy Birthday Teryn!!!!
You'll have to excuse my redness in this photo since since as you can see, I've already had 2 sips of my drink. Yet another member of my club! can't wait to go zip-lining!!

Ok, I'm exhausted already and it's only the 10th. geez. Upcoming events are:

April 12th: Easter!
April 15th: Tax Day :(
April 23th: Jingyi's Birthday!
April 27th: Mom's Birthday!
April 28th: Lucy's Birthday!

Yikes. Pray that I get through this.

I WANT IT!!!!

2009-03-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

OMG OMG OMG if you want me to love you forever, buy me this:

Because hair anywhere below my nose is just annoying. Yes, even that place.

*EDIT*

OK, so I've decided to change this into a strange (asian?) things that I really really want. I've been devoting way too much time to the blackhole called makeupalley.com (pepper1025, add me!!)

#2: DHC Eyelash Tonic
You know you want longer eye lashes!!!

#3:Nano-ion Facial Steamer

I'M NOT WEIRD!!! this is suppose to make your skin really soft and supple!!!

Look What I Made!!!!

2009-03-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

As some of you might know I've been devastatingly bored at home. So I've had to come up with ways to entertain myself. I was browsing on UrbanOutfitters.com and I came upon this nifty mirror:

at first i though they were CDs but after careful examination, I discovered, to my surprise, they are tiny rolls of recycled magazines!

How cute right??????!!!!! I want one!! but I'm not gonna pay 52 bucks for something I can make myself :) anyways, so i began searching on google and found that there are at least 3278389642837542837548273648264 things you can make out of recycled magazines. Of course after putting so much effort into researching, I came to the conclusion that I had to have SOMETHING for myself. So i settled on something I could make easily:

What do you think it is? I'll give you a hint: they use to sell these at athropologie in the home section...

Give up?

here's a more obvious hint, if you don't get it then you're dumb:

in it's natural habitat with it's best friend

That's right!! they're Coasters!!! Here's mine:

I made 4 total, they kinda got uglier and uglier cause I was getting tired of folding stupid magazine paper:

cute huh?!
I bet you wanna know how to make one! well you're in luck cause i'm in the mood to teach you!

1. Choose a page of magazine that has pretty colors

2. Flip it over and fold approximately 1cm (lengthwise)

3. Keep folding until the entire sheet is folded
4. Glue the end flap
5. Cut four 1cm long pieces off the end

6. Stack the four small pieces and glue them to gether
7. Attach the end of the long strip to the stack

8. Wrap the strip around the stack while gluing the inside
and keep going until you get the size you desire
Yay!! and there you have it! your very own recycled magazine coaster :)

oh and heres a pic for you viewing pleasure :)
<3

P.S. I also made this:

haha, reminds me of that theladders.com commercial!
I'm not going to teach you how to make it because here s video that does it for me

P.P.S. I just found my next project:

Something Fishy

2009-02-28T00:35:00.000-08:00

You know how I always say I hate it when people take pictures of their food when they eat out? Because at the end of the day, who cares what it looks like? the only thing that matters is what is tastes like. AND why would you torment your poor facebook friends with scrumptious food that they can't eat? (ok, ok, so maybe this is the real reason) Well... it's different when you make the food yourself!!! Haha, and that's why today I shall patronize you with pictures of my home made

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It's become an obsession since i started working at Sushi Nikko. I can't stop eating sushi, but always eating out can get expensive, so I decided to make my own! My dad likes Japanese sushi (you know, the raw stuff) and my mom who is terrified of raw fish, likes Korean sushi (kimbap) so i made a bit of both! ( I like both, in case you wanted to know)

First, lets start with the Japanese sushi:

Ingredients:

I like to have the rice on the outside of my rolls cause I think it looks fancier that way. So, I put plastic wrap over my bamboo thingy so when i roll the rice, it won't get stuck in the crevices.

I am a big advocate of one bite rolls. In other words, rolls that you can put into your mouth without having to chew with your mouth open, or break the peice in half (a terrible shame, if you ask me). Plus, fat sushi rolls end up being mostly rice anyways. Why would you need so much rice? This ain't China. ANYWAYZ, I like to make longer more slender rolls so each peice is bite size, so I uaually start out tearing the nori (seaweed) in half.

I took one half sheet of nori, put some rice on it and made a nice even layer. If i were making a regular roll here is what i would do:

But, since i'm making inside out rolls here is what i actually did:

Here i'm making a Philadelphia Roll (salmon, cream cheese avacado) but i like to add a sliver of jalapeno in it to give it an extra crunch! It's not spicy because theres no seeds. After you've added everything, roll it up, making sure that you put alot of pressure during the whole process, and then cut it into small peices and...

TADA!!

cute huh? I decided to be fancy and made some shrimp tempura to put in my sushi:

First you dip your peeled and de-veined shrimp in flour

Then you dip it in the egg and fry it in some oil:

like i said, i also made kimbap, but i was too hungry/distracted and forgot to take a picture of the ingredients to here is a recipe that i loosly followed :P

Anyway, here are some pictures to make you hungry :)

my kimbap (with shrimp tempura)

I just realized i forgot to add egg...oh well

Philly Roll

my everything in one roll

ok, so i got tired of making inside out rolls (they're harder than you think!) but they still look good though right? So if you wanna make/eat sushi CALL ME!!!

Another Epiphany

2009-02-28T00:08:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder why other people's pictures always seem to look better than yours? ever wanted one for those fancy $1200 cameras so your pictures can look all fancy? Ever wondered how to make your photo blurry at some parts and clear at others?

Well first of all that's called Depth of Field, and you don't need to give up your firstborn for a fancy camera to get this effect. Once again, good'ol photoshop saves the day! look at my pictures!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Ok so maybe I still need a little more practice (the last picture is focused on her face) but it's getting there, and soon you will be terribly jealous of my fabulous new photos :P

AH HA!!!

2009-02-14T00:41:00.000-08:00

I've got it!!! Finally!! No more blurry pics!! I've figured it out!! and I've replaced all my pics from previous posts!! All you have to do is load the photo on to a photo hosting website, such as Flickr, and then link it to your blog!! Voila!! Super CLEAR and LARGE pics!!! Go ahead, adore me :)

Here is a super clear pic for you to enjoy!!

Hello LA (the state not the city)

2009-02-06T15:58:00.000-08:00

Guess what came in the mail today?

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What? you can't see?

Just Around the River Bend

2009-02-02T12:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, this is me. Or should I say a very accurate characture sketch of me and my last day in Austin:

Is it just me or am I wearing a children's life jacket?

Sigh... I miss this place

The dock where i use to feed ducks when I was little

Beautiful Austin:

Flip Happy Crepes After

Thanks Joycee for the pics!

Vamos a Mexico!!!!!

2009-01-08T00:29:00.000-08:00

ok, so maybe it's more like i wish, but anyways:

Lately I've been so sick and tired of cold weather. I keep day dreaming about tropical beaches, large cruise ships and cold drinks......

I wanna go to MEXICO!!!!

(Or where ever they film Corona commercials.)

Cabo is calling my name
Cancun I will Claim
COZUMEL IS MY AIM!!!

*sigh*

too bad it's not really feasible for me right now.

BUT
if i were going, here what i would bring:

a Mexican Peasant Dress

I like this one because it has cute sleeves,
but I also like this one for it's bright colors:

2. Summer Sandals
I don't know what it is about these shoes
that just scream vacation to me. Also cute in yellow.
I also like these even though they might be a little weird:
Pocahontas at the beach? They tie in the back!!They're a bit pricey but I'm sure once we get close
to summer there will be more economic versions available. :)

and these:

3. gold aviators

I just like the gold ones better than the silver ones,
don't know why.

4. a tote to carry everything:

This one by Gap is cute,
but I also like this one from Urban:It's made from recycled rice bags!!
If it can hold rice, it can hold anything!
Super sturdy, eco-friendly, and
you won't feel bad if it's lost because it's only $10!

5. Cute Swimsuit

one-piece option:
6. Finally I would pack everything in this vintage inspired suitcase:

I WILL GO TO MEXICO THIS YEAR!!

and even if I don't, I'm still buying everything :P

Real Life's a B****

2009-01-02T16:58:00.000-08:00

You'll have to excuse my french, but I need to rant.

It might seem to the average reader of this blog (all 5 of you), that I'm pretty stress free with all the activities that have been going on. But actually, I'm really really stressed!! All that was just a facade/distraction put up by me to shield my self from real life. And real life sucks. REALLY sucks.

First is the decision of Grad School vs. Job.

If I choose grad school, then that means I have to:

find the right schools
ask professors for recommendation letters
fill out application
order transcript
do good on the GRE
wait in agony for Lord knows how long
IF I'm accepted, apply for financial aid.

What if my professors say no?
What if they say yes but don't mail the letter out in time?
What if I suck at GRE?
What if i don't get in?
What if i don't want to go to Lubbock/Oklahoma/Louisiana?
What if i can't get money??

If I choose Job, then i have to:

Find a job that I'm qualified for
apply
Interview
Find references
WAIT IN AGONY

What if I can't find one that I'm qualified for?
What if i don't wanna work on a effin boat for 6 weeks????
What if i run into African pirates and die a painful death under their machetes?

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok, so maybe that last one isn't very plausible but African pirates exist!!

So my advise for those of you who are still in college:

Stay!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't ever leave!!!

What's that? Your parents say 7 years is too long for undergrad??

Lies!!!!! 7 years is perfect! as a matter of fact you should throw in an extra year just to cushion the blow of HARSH REALITY

You have been warned.

Lions and Tigers and Bears!! oh my?

2009-01-02T10:23:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!!!

Yay!! 2009!! Hope it's even better than 2008!

Meanwhile, here is what I did on new years day
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That's right!! the Houston Zoo!! To be honest it was not as awesome as I remember it to be, but still fun none the less, and free on New Years Day so no complaints. other than the hordes of people. Cheapskates.

Some cool things we saw:

Jellies!!!

cute!!
Checkout his feet! someone please make shoes like this for me!!Some Koi we saw on our way to the petting zoo. Pretty tame compared to the ones I saw in China.
here is a pic of China Koi I Found:
yikes.

LLAMA!!! ISN'T HE SOOOOOOOO CUTE???

Lions...Tigers...
And Bears!!Sleepy Bear
Elephants! The one in the back headbutted the first one haha.
Close up!Orangutan eating ice!!

Super red monkey butt!!
This guy was in Lion King, but I forget his name :P

OK!!! get ready to see the strangest animal EVER. The zoo bred a Zebra and a Giraffe!!! It's sooooo weird!!
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ok, so I was just kidding about breeding the zebra and giraffe but it looks like it right?? I've never seen this thing until now. It's actually called:

Albino Croco??One last stop at the Zoo Gift Shop!!

Whew!! finally done! Ok I'm off to nap. This post will end abruptly here. :)

Busy Busy Busy

2008-12-27T20:25:00.000-08:00

I feel like I haven't blogged in weeks! I've been so busy since I've been back in Houston, mainly hanging out with Gengle-Bells and her cousin Joanna. I'm too exhausted to graffiti on these so you'll just have to make due with boring plain ones :P

NASA

Jupiter, Saturn and...

I saved upConsidered Fancy Shmancy way back when

Moon Car!!Joanna + me

Austin

Mt. Bonnell
K101!

I use to have to jump to reach these

Cave Exploring and Dinosaur Bone Digging
Random Ornament
Shutup. it was cold.
How do i say this lightly? it looks better from far away.
Christmas

Didn't do much other than eat and sleep :)

What else would we eat?

Who knew having fun was so much work? Hopefully Geng's Leg will deflate by New Years and I will have a Zoo posting. Lets hope they don't have ants at the zoo. :(

Also! HAPPY BELATED B-DAY JIN!!! Hope you have a good Christmas/Birthday!! <3>

I know I'm a little late but

2008-12-18T00:19:00.001-08:00

Just watched Quantum of Solace today. The movie it self was whatever but Chiseled McHotterson Daniel Craig in his tailored suits was something else! :)

I am not worthy to draw on this picture

p.s. Bear Grylls use to do this :)

Back in Houston. Forever.

2008-12-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

I'm back. again. I can't believe college is over, it feels like I'm just back for the holidays, but I'm not. Time for the real world... yikes.

Things that I need:
new church
new job
new friends
new apartment

Let it snow!!

2008-12-09T22:13:00.000-08:00

It's snowing in Austin!!!! It was 72 degrees this morning and now it's snowing. I love Texas.

Finals canceled because people can't drive in the snow? yes? yes? Keep your fingers and your toes crossed!!!!

Fobs Gone Wild

2008-12-06T14:31:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving!!! I LOVE this time of the year! Why? because my birthday, no school, Christmas is around the corner, and FOOD!!! That's right! Here comes the turkey, gravy, stuffing, pumpkin pie, candied yams, mashed potatoes, green bean casseroles, creamed corn, baked ham, and dinner rolls!! Mmmmmm.... sounds good doesn't it?

Well too bad, cause there's none of that on this thanksgiving post.

This year, my parents decided to forgo a wonderful traditional thanksgiving meal for a trip to Big Bend National Park. woo hoo. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for outdoor national park, in the wild activities, but if that means I have to give up THANKSGIVING DINNER and the awesome days of leftovers that follow, hmmmmm it's a tough choice.

But thanks to my parents I didn't really get a say in the matter this time. So off to Big Bend we went!

On Thanksgiving day, we woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:00 AM and packed our goodies into the kidnapper van that my dad rented and picked up Geng and Jingyi's families and off we went!

Our Route:

10 hours in the car and we're still in TEXAS? Good Lord!!!

Finally Awake:

Jingyi slept for 80% of the trip, so naturally, Geng and I had to take advantage of this:

On the way, we get stopped by none other than border patrol. sigh. we might have black hair but we're not that dark are we?! They must have been suspicious that a bunch of fobs were driving around in the middle of nowhere on Thanksgiving day. Jingyi didn't bring her passport so we offered to leave her with them until Saturday but they declined. Tough luck Jingyi. :)

The landscape got more and more sparse and Geng related every thing we saw to some horror movie she's watched, but after 10 long hours, we finally arrived!

Yay!! we hit up the visitor center first:

Then off to the shady motel we go! Where we ate thanksgiving dinner Asian style with hotpot! mmmm... maybe i do like this new tradition. Although I must admit we were getting some very peculiar looks from the good people of Study Butte (pop. 267)

one perk of being in the middle of nowhere is the beautiful sunsets and the stars at night.

Day 2!

Bright and early again!

we hiked the window trail which was pretty uneventful until the very end where the stream drops off a cliff and you can look down and see some spectacular view. IF your parents let you that is. :(

Where they let us go:
Where I wanted to go:
Oh well, that's what happens when your an only child :/

Next stop Hot springs!!

We erased some kid's drawing in the sand and put our names in instead. Clearly, we are better.

Day 3!
Santa Elena Canyon!
I'll spare you the details here but if you wanna know how it formed call me :)
sweet fossil:
ALL DONE!!

ps. if you want to see un-graffitied photos look on facebook

Musings of a 23 year old

2008-11-22T22:37:00.000-08:00

I'm 21 23!

Did you know that:

It takes 23 seconds for blood to circulate through the human body.
There are 23 letters in the Latin alphabet.
23 is one of the most commonly cited prime numbers and is the first prime number in which both digits are prime numbers and add up to another prime number.
Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times.
The Earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees
A human baby receives 23 chromosomes from each parent
Dr Pepper is advertised as having 23 flavors.
The first Morse code transmission - "What hath God wrought?" - is from the Bible passage Numbers 23:23.
There are 23 official languages in the European Union.
The average head of human hair can support 23 tons of weight.
Psalms 23 is my favorite psalm.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and thanks to all those who celebrated with me!

Youtube fun

2008-11-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

So a couple months back I was on youtube and found BaratsAndBereta, two halarious (and kinda cute) catholic guys. Check them out.

Here are some of my favs:

Bible in a Minute:

Mother's Day:

The Good Word (if the 4 circles didn't work for you, then you should take some tips from this video):

"Don't get swept away by the winds of Satan!" ahahahahahahaha

PC Fratboys:

Gonzaga Love

Lyrics:
Now let me raise a mocha latte in a mild, mild toast,
To the motha-f*****s that the f*****g world needs most.
The track hits you right there like the Holiest Ghost,
invisible, like our competition in West Coast.
We in that Evergreen State, never green with envy,
though the Liberal Arts tend to be quite spendy.
But Zags be on a mission for degrees,
lean, mean, money making Deans taking G's.
I've been in Spokane for three years undeclared (Jesu-WHAT)!
Spokies everywhere sporting hockey hair.
Now it's O-Five and they prod me and god me
finding Einstein and graduating Magna Cum Lade.
It's all dry from the PAD to the River
body's a temple, best be keepin' that liver.
Throw up three if you're feelin' the Spitzer.
Peace now, I'm off to respect yo sister.

Out a class, taking a nap, I'm Gonzaga dreamin'.
Soon as I stepped on the scene I heard the Kennel screamin'.
Spending their money on alcohol,
the life of a sixth man player where Gaels die (It's our ball).
But at Gonzaga where we're quite, not rowdy at two at night, (What)
In the dorms we kick the ladies straight outtie (Ya that's right).
Wearin' Docs and Khaki shorts, we write our book reports
Passin' when we classin', marks are high in every course.
Volunteer programs, world wide,
service learning, social justice, change your bed pans.
Croonin' and swoonin' like a slow jam.
It's Blue Skies so you see Crosby won't bow down to no man.
But you gotta pay, Perkins and Stafford off someday,
or they'll take all your possessions away.
From Foley to St. Als, the Quad area and back down.
Gonzaga is where we put or mack down. (Gimmie loans)!

Jesu-WHAT!?!

Present for me? Why thank you!

2008-11-12T17:32:00.000-08:00

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

My Birthday is coming up and Geng-a-Ling came over with an early present yesterday:

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ready?
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Wait for it...

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! (the shoes AND Geng of course, and Jesus)

And here is a very accurate portrayal me after I opened my gift: (if you are in class, this would be a good time to turn down your volume)

Did I mention I REALLY like gifts?

:)

Escapades outside the cave

2008-11-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

The P-sisters were in town to celebrate Ashley's Birthday!! Happy 21st Birthday Ash!! Wow haven't seen them in AGES! I could hardly stay at home and sit this one out.

Ash and her cake :)

We had dinner at Umi, a sushi place in south Austin which was pretty good. Geng told me it was expensive but it wasn't bad at all (guess she's just cheap ;P). Upon arrival, the first thing Nhu-Y said to me was:"You came out of your cave!!!"(which incidentally became the quote of the night) Hmmmmmm..... have I been MIA for that long?

us a long time ago:

us now: (minus a few and plus Ann)

Following dinner, despite the freezing weather we trotted down to 6th street with some ~~FOB~~ ~~friends~~ Omegas and fluttered from bar to bar so Ashley could use her ID. and drink of course. The night ended with everyone being amazed by my mysterious increase in alcohol tolerance, a very happy Ashley and a yummy bratwurst! We then all got in our cars and went home.

yummy bratwurst!!

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NOT

What would a night out with these galls be if not rounded off with some loud singing at a shady karaoke joint? Haha, so much fun! Especially when Ann kept spilling all the popcorn. The night did end however when a Proactiv challenged individual decided it would be fun to threaten to beat up some girls. Charming.

Despite the unpleasantries, over all, it was a great! I didn't realize how much i missed these girls until last night. All of it felt familiar but at the same time so different. Really takes me back and realize how much I've changed ...Maybe we should do this more often. :)

me and the birthday girl
thanks Lucy for the great camera angle :)

First time for everything

2008-11-06T00:40:00.001-08:00

I have no idea what this blog is going to be like. Format? Content? I guess we'll see. Meanwhile, here is a picture of something I like.

Monique Lhuillier
Ready-To-Wear
Spring/Summer 2006