Dan + Esther = Danster

3-6 months

2009-11-18T21:13:00.000-08:00

It's been a looong time since we've put up pictures. I guess being frumpy, tired, and breaking out makes you not want to take pictures anymore.

So today, I'm 25 weeks pregnant! I can't believe I'm more than halfway there, at the same time, it's going so so slow. We found at at 20 weeks that we were having a girl. Neither of us had a preference on the sex of the baby, but personally, I'm so excited that Dan's going to be a father to a baby girl. =) I think he's a bit nervous about that tho...

So one of our other friends who are also pregnant mentioned that they have a bucket list (before baby, not death!), and I was excited to have one of my own! Except the only thing on the list was to go to Vegas and eat at the buffets. So off we went to Vegas last weekend! So as I'm loading the pictures from the trip, I realize that we had some catching up to do, so here goes...

In August, we were in Northern California. We went back to PUC, and this is the place that Dan first told me that he liked me ten years ago.

We went to the Theology department, and found this old picture of Dan's class! Look how young he looks! We also saw pictures of all the other Theology/Religion majors from the different years. =)

Of course we went to Giugnis.

I was still sick (nauseated) at this time, but I ate the whole thing no prob! Although I had to skip the onions.

We went to Tomatina's for dinner.

Once again, happy. This is my spongebob face.

For Halloween, we had a cute little festival for the kiddies at church. They were adorable!

Ryan as a cow. His sisters were batman. As was Casey. I thought all girls wanted to be princesses? Apparently not.

Isn't this the cutest picture? This is Sawyer holding onto his ma Susie. He really is the cutest little tiger.

The troublemakers.

Mr. Emerson as a dragon. I'm telling you, we have the cutest kids at our church!

Here's MC Lloyd and Alexis Ice bumpin it up. They were awesome! Nice pants.

I as a magician and Irene as Dora the explorer awed the crowd with our amazing magic tricks. Or not. They were pretty lame. I don't think even the 5 year olds were fooled.

So last weekend, we went to Vegas. We stayed at the Trump, and it was nice because the whole hotel is smokefree! It was also nice because our room got upgraded (thanks Gerald!). Gerald and Mimi met us out there. Dan loves Gerald, did I ever mention that? The first evening we went to a Hypnosis show. Do you guys think they're real? It's pretty crazy what the hypnotist can make the volunteers do. I was tempted to volunteer, but I'm way too inhibited! It was a great show. Interesting, funny, with a pinch of dirty.

My stomach now.

This is what I see from my view.

Outside Wynn Buffet.

Herb, Eun-duk and Sophie met up with us for dinner. Our first buffet of the trip was at the Wynn. I heard many great things about it, but I wasn't too impressed. Maybe I'm a rube, but I find most of the Vegas buffets to be similar. We went to Spice Market, which is the buffet at Planet Hollywood, and I thought it was just as good, if not better. The only bad buffet I've ever had at Vegas was at the Sahara. We went there because Brent said it was good, but it was worse than Hometown Buffet! Boo Brent!

Sophie is such a girly girl! Look at her in my heels posing for the camera. Herb, you better be careful!

A weekend in Vegas is just the right amount of time spent there. I don't think I could've lasted another day! Also, I'm so sick of food. Buffets are a sin. Gluttonous and wasteful. But don't worry Vegas, I'll be back. =)

2009-09-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

Thank you for your congratulatories! And I'm sorry for the lack of updates/responses/etc. for the last few months.

So after a week of what I thought was food poisoning, I found out I was pregnant! I found out at about 6-7 weeks. It was a complete surprise! I took the test like 5 times.

Unconventionally, I told family and some friends right away. Poor them, they were probably dying to tell people, especially our parents.

My first trimester has been indescribably horrible! I had morning sickness from the moment I woke up till it was time for bed again. Morning sickness is so wrongly worded. I threw up multiple times daily. I lost 10 lbs! I ~~retired early~~ quit my job because I couldn't go through a procedure without having to run to the toilet. This feeling of complete physical inability is so foreign to me. I've always been healthy, if not superhumanly strong.

Currently, I am almost 15 weeks pregnant and I'm feeling a loooot better. The nausea is still with me all day long, but I haven't thrown up in almost a week. I think Dan's been feeling more ill than I have lately... My favorite food is cumcumbers and gochujang. I can't stand anything too seasoned, especially with garlic, which is funny because normally I LOVE garlic. I haven't cooked properly in the last month and a half.

Even though I've been miserable lately, I'm so thankful and amazed that there is something so little growing inside myself. To know that in the end, there is something so good that comes out of this is so worth it and more. Mad props to you mothers out there. I don't know how you do this 2, 3, or 4+ times!

Blogging FAIL

2009-08-26T10:03:00.001-07:00

I recognize that we have completely abandoned our blog for the last few months. Apparently, the other half of our blogging team doesn't even feel the slightest amount of remorse over this. I, on the other hand, carry a heavy burden of guilt. Not heavy enough to move me to blog more, but... ok, it's not a heavy burden. I feel slightly bad about it. Well, if anybody is still reading this blog, I will update you on the happenings of our lives here in the NW.

1. It's been a hot hot summer. Record highs, AC blasting, too hot to golf, etc. I thought I moved away from all this madness. Lately, you can tell that Fall is around the corner. It's still pretty hot during the day, but at night, it's crisp and cool. Just the way I like it. Last month, I played 36 holes of golf in +100 degree weather and had a headache for days. I'm not sure what a heatstroke is exactly, but I'm pretty sure I experienced one.

2. We're moving! First weekend of October. We found a condo in downtown. Esther's wish comes true. We'll be only a block away from Esther's favorite place in Portland, Powell's Books. And only two blocks away from my favorite place, 24 hour fitness. ahah! Now I really won't have an excuse to not go. Unfortunately, it's also right next to many restaurants filled with giant portions of unhealthy food. We'll call it a wash. Anyway, come visit us after October!

3. I've been sick. From last Friday until Monday (missed work). I pretty much laid in bed and slept for 4 days straight. I really knew I was sick because I totally lost my appetite. Now, I barely eat a bite and I feel full. My stomach shrunk (internally only)! I'm thinking of taking advantage of this natural gastric bypass that I performed on myself. If I just eat until I'm full, hopefully my stomach will never stretch back out again... until the next time I eat Korean BBQ. On Thursday night, I had the bright idea of going to Hometown Buffet. I don't know why, but once a year I get this urge. I must say, that is the most depressing place to eat. Ever. It seems that you must either be over 75 or be accompanied by somebody over 75, unless you are in a wheelchair or hooked up to an oxygen tank. Then, you can gain entrance regardless of age. Wearing extra wide diabetic shoes is a plus. I mean, I don't mean to sound heartless, but it is quite depressing. I was standing in line for some ribs, and one of the patrons asked the meat cutting guy, for "a rib with some meat on it." 5 minutes of sifting later, they found one. Even the mac and cheese was disappointing! I'm pretty sure that's what made me sick. I swear I will never go back to that place, until next year.

4. It's been 3 months now since I bought my own practice. I must say, it's nice to be self-employed. At first I thought that it was a lot easier than being an associate. Nobody telling me what to do. Everything was going pretty smoothly. I even fired my first employee and hired my first employee stress free. But I've found that the stress of owning a practice is a silent monster that follows you home after work and keeps you up at night. It doesn't help that I'm a worrier. It seems the more I learn about owning a practice, the more there is to worry about. That being said, I'm still thrilled to have taken this step and I'm excited for where this road will lead. I can't help but wonder at all the times I've worried about things only to look back and see God's providing and comforting hand at work the entire time. We are both very grateful.

5. A few months ago, Esther sent me this picture in an email. The subject line read, "What does this mean?!"

6. Probably the worst kept secret in Earth's history. Esther is pregnant. This picture was taken at 8 weeks I believe. She is now 13 weeks. I'm told that our baby is the size of a nutter butter and can now suck his/her thumb.

Whitewater rafting/ picture dump.

2009-06-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

We went whitewater rafting today with some church friends. I can't swim, so I was quite worried. However, I promised Esther last year that I would go, so I kept my word. Turns out, we all had a fantastic time. If any of you visit during the summer months, we'll take you. The scariest part was this waterfall called Husom (sp?) Fall. It's over a 10 ft. drop. Today happened to be the first day they've taken anybody on it because it hasn't been safe enough until today. What changed from yesterday, I don't know, but it didn't sound good. We had to practice over and over again ducking into the raft and holding on with our hands and feet in order to stay in. Our guide even went over how to pull people back into the boat once they fall out and what to do if she fell out! And right before we went over the fall, they gave people the chance to opt out and meet up with the group after the falls. I thought it would be smart to take them up on this offer, but the only other person who did was a 60 year old grandmother, so I had to act brave and risk my life. It's also a picture dump since we only bought one picture cd. So I'm posting the pictures here so they can get em. The most important thing is that I survived and am still alive.

Here we are charging towards the 10 ft. drop.

Oh.... S...

Eyes closed, holding on for dear life.

Uh oh...

At this point there might still be 6 of us in the raft.

At this point, there's only 2 of us left.

Eyes still closed, not sure where I am. Where's everybody else?

Oh, there they are! At least one of them. Irene spitting out water.

And gasping for air.

Esther and Irene. Where's David and Daren?!

See, Dan the pro whitewater rafter in the raft? Just the guide and me.

That's me saving Irene's life. Brent owes me big time. Brent as a single man again... Not good.

The Korean David Hasselhoff, without the chest hair (and the ability to swim). I may have to consider a second career in lifeguarding. Irene is so light, I pulled her into the raft with one arm.

David and Daren were not so lucky. They had to grab the rescue lines.

Note the concern on David's face for Daren's life as Daren can't see the rescue rope. So sweet. Daren was busy trying to clear his glasses so he could see.

Our raft floating on without David and Daren. Esther and Irene safely back aboard.

David and Daren still being rescued.

After they were saved, they had to do the walk of shame and walk around to meet us to get back on the boat. In their defense, they were sitting in the front and took the brunt of the impact. Also, they are not as skilled at rafting as others who were able to hold on (see: Dan and the professional guide).

After we cleard all the drama, we had the bull ride. We're supposed to be throwing up the bull horns, but it seems that my fellow boaters are not familiar with what bull horns look like.

Overall, I'd say we all had a great time on this trip. I never thought I would say this, but I really enjoyed my time whitewater rafting. I guess I'm lucky to have married a girl who likes to do activities that require risking ones life.

Arizona Dreamin...

2009-06-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

We took a mancation to Arizona a few weeks ago. Sometimes, a man needs to get away and do this thing. It's good for the body and soul.

This man's greatest fear... skin cancer. His golf nickname is the "Ghostface Killa."

Gerald, laughing at the Ghostface Killa. His golf nickname, "G-funk" or "Good Miss." Sometimes, "Great Miss." Also goes by, Frederick Jacobsen.

The younger folk on the trip.

Kev tee's off on Troon North. Kev's golf nickname "Big Slice." Sometimes, "The Hooker."

My first tee shot on Troon North Monument. Practice swing. My golf nickname, "Suck ballz."

Real swing. I believe I hit this fairway. You would think I would remember since, I hit very few.

This guy comes on the golf trip for the first time and kicks all of our butts.

This is why they call it Monument, I believe. This monument sits in the middle of the fairway.

Our second day at Eagle Mountain. This course was super long and it was into the wind all day long! The marshall asked us what tees and was said the tips. He said, "are you sure?"

G-funk

This man's golf nicknames, The Big EZ, Slow & Steady, or just "Old." =)

Bombed my first drive at Eagle Mountain. Downhill, par 5.

Every morning started with a trip to McDonald's. Just like last year.

Third day at TPC Stadium.

G at the par 3, 16th hole. The famous Stadium hole where Tiger Woods hit his hole in one.

Kev's tee shot at the 16th.

I pulled a Babe Ruth and called my hole in one on this hole starting before the trip. I reminded them every day that I was going to get a hole in one on this hole like Tiger. On this particular shot, I came up short in the front bunker. There is no sand in the bunkers here! I believe I double bogeyed this hole. The second time we played, I hit in the front left bunker, but got up and down for a par. So much for my Babe Ruth. I couldn't even hit the green!

This is the rock that Tiger had moved from his path by many members of the gallery on the way to winning this tournament in 1999. They have since changed the rules so only the caddy and the golfer can move the impediment. I saw this rock driving down the cart path and made Dave turn the cart around so I could get a picture of the rock. We got stuck and got caught by the cart girl while we were trying to push it back off the curb. But it was worth it!

Yup, I couldn't move it by myself. Something else I have in common with Tiger!

No pictures please!

2009-05-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

1. I'm at work. it's s....l....o....w. Therefore, I blog. This means that I've probably made my rounds through espn.com, yahoo.com, facebook.com, golf.com, gmail.com, ebay.com, etc. The truth is, if other people would blog more often, than I wouldn't be so bored here that I have to actually blog myself! Shame on you people!

2. Esther's brother's been staying with us for awhile. He's moving out to Boston in September for Dental school and got bored, so he's staying with us. I've infected him with the golf virus. He's actually really good for somebody who just started and quite a bit more fluid and flexible than I imagined (for how big he is). On Sunday, I took him golfing and he's played pretty well the last couple times I took him, but not this time. He was struggling and I could see his anger building... and burning. Unfortunately for him, we were golfing with one of the elders from my church. AHAHA! I'm sure there were curse words muttered under his breath, but all I heard was silence. Poor guy. I could see the steam coming out of his ears. He was so tired from the golfing (emotional more than physical I think), he went to bed at like 9:30pm. AHAHAHA! But he's a trooper. Before he went to bed, he went to the range first. And the next day, he took a lesson. Golf is not for quitter. Only the strong survive. This is exactly the stage that Esther got to... and quit. Peter is not a quitter. When he got back from the range, he had a smile on his face. His only words, "Tiger's back." Gotta love this game. A friend of ours told Esther that golf is the only game that makes her want to cuss. =)

3. There's a lot of new stuff going on around here. My brother had his first baby. I'm a first time uncle. I thought seeing my brother have a baby would make Esther want to have a baby. I was wrong. We just bought our house two years ago, and now we're moving. The house is back on the market. If you've been keeping up with the real estate market (or just the economy in general), you know that things have taken a downturn. Which translates to us losing $$$ on our house. Two years ago, there were people who were telling me, "don't buy a house! Wait!" Now they're all thinking "i told you so." I wish I listened to other people more. Unfortunately, that's just not my style. =) The reason we're selling our house is because we're buying a dental office and it's far away from our house. I don't want to commute through traffic. I hate traffic. That's one of the main reasons we moved from SoCal. Anyway, I put in my two months notice in at my work at the beginning of April and now I'm suffering from major Senioritis at work. So, like I said, there's a lot of new stuff going on around here and I've been quite stressed and not sleeping well. The good news is that when my friend Kevin bought his practice, he lost 10 pounds. So, look at the bright side, all that stress should be making me lose some weight right? Not so much. In fact, not at all. Although, I did get a hair cut yesterday, so I think I lost about 3 lbs.

4. I hate moving. I can't say that it's because of all the packing and unpacking cuz Esther did all that last time. I hate moving because that means you have to find somebody else to cut your hair. Something about really straight, really black hair that people find really challenging. I went through about 6 months and about 8 bad haircuts before I finally found Reba at Great Clips. She doesn't know how much she means to me.

5. I watched SNL with Justin Timberlake this weekend. Ciara is a terrible singer. She simply can not sing. Simply terrible. But the "mother lover" song by Justin Timberlake had me dying! I don't remember if I laughed more during that song or "Junk in a box" but they are both classics. That shall remain on my DVR forever. Whenever I want a good laugh, I'll just turn it on and watch that song. It will be my new Happy Gilmore. My senior year in college, I'd watch that clip from Happy Gilmore almost every morning before class. "I eat pieces of S like you for breakfast." "You eat S for breakfast?" hehe hehe If you haven't seen the mother lover song, go find it on the internet!

Back to the homeland.

2009-04-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

Long time no blog!

I haven't had much time, energy, or excitement in my life to blog about,
BUT

I did get to go to Korea with my family for about a week and a half earlier this month.

My mom and I at the airport.

Doing the captain at Samyook...is that wrong?

My dad and his brother.

My brother and I with our mom's friends daughter.

It was the aroma of the baking bread that made us try this place, and it was so so SO good!
.

I got to see one of my good friends in Korea. It was good catching up.

As you can see, I didn't take too many pictures on this trip, but here are some things that I enjoyed doing in Korea:

Food and drinks.
Seeing Eun-ae.

Seeing family.

Getting my hair done, although I paid $200 for a manicure...what exactly is a manicure?

Eating as late as I want.
Running into Pat and Kenny in Myungdong...what a small world!
Getting an hour foot massage for $20. Believe me, after walking all day long, it's heaven.
OH...my favorite, JJIM JIL BANG. I went almost every day.
Rotiboy.
Shopping

Things I did NOT enjoy:

Rude people.
Pushy people.
Feeling fat amongst anorexic pale faced girls.
Smog.
The small of cigarettes.
The flight to and fro.
Working the day after I return back home.

Hmm...I wonder when my next vacation is...

Bandon is bliss...

2009-03-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

There is a small town on the coast in Southern Oregon. The nearest major airport is 4 1/2 hours away. Yet people from all over the world flock there. They come here for one reason and one reason only. Golf. To be more specific, world-class golf. 3 of the top public courses in the entire world in one small town in the middle of nowhere. We call it.... Bandon. 6 of us from Portland and two golf fanatic friends from SoCal made the 4 1/2 hour drive. We stopped on the way down at a Troon course called Sandpines in Florence, OR. It was a great way to start the trip. Here are some pictures from Sandpines. Please excuse the massive amounts of pictures. It's so my friends can download the pictures of themselves. Apprently, David brought everything on this 3 day trip in his immigration size suitcase, except for the kitchen sink (and a camera). In fact, if you're not a golfer, you might even just skip this entry. It's all golf.

Team Old and Over the Hill

Team Young and Vigorous (yes those pants are red)

Team Crazy (an army of one)

We woke up early to hit the range before hitting the course. The range balls are free and unlimited. James went extra early and hit I believe 400 golf balls before his round. His new nickname-"the machine." This is the most amazing range I've ever seen.

Right before our first tee shots on Pacific Dunes, my favorite!

We followed our round at Pacific Dunes with lunch at the Bandon Trails clubhouse. What a view!

Besides the course, the next best thing about Bandon- caddies! They carry your bag, find your ball, wipe your ball, tell you yardages, clean your clubs, and provide entertaining conversation. Kev's caddie happened to be a scratch golfer who is trying to become a golf pro and gave Kev complimentary lessons for 3 full rounds of golf. Kevin came *this* close to leaving his wife for his caddy (the dude with the beard). Luckily for Sonia, Kev's caddy was married to Dave's caddy (the lady on the left) and she kept a close eye on them.

Nothing like good food with good company following a great day of golf.

My ribeye. It was ok.

Before our last round of our trip. We played Bandon Dunes last.

My caddy. The laziest of the 4 caddies. How did they know?!

G-funk passed on on the way home, dreaming of his next visit to Bandon.

Last week

2009-03-02T14:02:00.001-08:00

Last week, I...

1. had BP of 104/62.

2. ate out every day for dinner.

3. booked a flight to Korea in April.

4. decided I really enjoy working.

5. went to kick boxing and pilates class one after the other.

6. was very sore.

7. drank about 3 L of water...all week!

8. read Twilight.

9. laughed every morning, thanks to John Jay and Rich.

S-L-O-W

2009-02-05T10:24:00.000-08:00

1. Today is the slowest morning I've ever had at work. I actually saw a patient at 9 and don't have another one til 12:30. Yikes! Fortunately, my afternoon is crammed. I should go eat some breakfast or pick up some donuts for the crew.

2. Our church recently started something called RoC fit. It's a bunch of guys who meet on Sunday morning with one of our church members (who happens to be a personal trainer) and train like we're trying out for the navy seals. Ok. That's an exaggeration. But it feels like it. The first day, I blacked out. I just remember laying there in the bark moaning. I was sore until Wednesday. I could barely put my gloves on at work on Monday. Last week Kevin decided to cheat and have a protein shake before coming out. Bad idea. That protein shake ended up on the pavement. The man was doing some fierce vomitus for a few minutes. It was painful to watch. So, I was the first one to pass out, Kev the first one to puke. We're waiting to see who the first one is to cry. I'm proud to report that after doing this for a few weeks, I have lost ZERO pounds and feel like a entirely different person (please note the sarcasm). I have even started exercising at home a couple times a week. I have noticed that working out does actually make you feel different. You're more tired than you normally would be.

3. I'm going to Bandon in a month! I spend time just reading people's reviews on Trip Advisor. It brings me great joy. I've already studied the course layouts, recommendations on how to play the different holes, the menus at the restaurants. I've been researching which caddies to request and what the conditions are like at different times of the year. It's been fun. I'm a little worried that once I get there, I'll be disappointed. I tend to enjoy daydreaming. Sometimes, I enjoy daydreaming more than the actual experience. It's like daydreaming about winning the lottery. It's entertaining, but if you actually won the lottery, it would probably not be as perfect as you thought. Or dreaming about what car you want to buy and then when you buy it, you realize, it's just a car. Anyway, I hope Bandon is not that way. From what I've read, it will live up to all my expectations. And if it doesn't, there's always Arizona in June.

4. There's so man things that I'm looking forward to. This month I have President's day off. In March, there's Bandon, a youth rally at church, then we have Spring vacation for a week at the end of the month. I'm going down to LA for some golf and DBS, and by some, I mean a lot! In April, Esther and I both have our birthdays. More importantly, I'll be an uncle for the first time! In May, I'm taking some time off to go down to SoCal for my little brother's graduation and to meet my nephew. In June I'm going to Arizona. And I'll have a week off in August for summer break. I'm still trying to decide what to do for that break.

5. Esther and I decided that we are no longer going to buy bottled water. At first it was because I was trying to save some money, but Esther informed me that each flat of water at Costco is $5. So I realized it's not saving much money. But after thinking about it, it's such a waste. Our refrigerator has a filter and our tap water is perfectly clean. Why fill up all that space in the landfill with plastic bottles?! Also, I find bottles of water all over our house, still 75% full, and I end up throwing them away. So, our solution was to buy some water bottles with no bpa in them, so we can just reuse them. Esther found these awesome water bottles at Costo. When you push a button, it sucks in air so there's always a smooth flow of water! They're made by Contigo. If you decide against plastic water bottles, go with Contigo! I highly recommend it. You'll save some money, help the environment, and have smooth water flow. =)

6. I actually got Esther a Valentine's day gift this year. Usually, I protest the hallmark holiday that is Vday. But this year, I gave in. She deserves to be pampered a little. I even tried making some dinner reservations. You would think that 10 days in advance would be plenty of notice, but it seems that there are many men out there who think about these things well in advance. So far, every restaurant I've called only has 9pm or later available. What's wrong with these guys?! Well, I'm gonna go make some more calls. Wish me luck.

My current 9

2009-01-08T10:20:00.000-08:00

1. This year is my favorite year. My favorite number is 9, and this is 09! I have decided to live dangerously and ferociously.

2. Speaking of living dangerously, on the first day of this year, a group of us decided to go night skiing. We left Portland at around 3:30 and got to Meadows around 4:30. It was raining so much that the whole parking lot was one big slush. We tried to get chains on one of our cars, failed, and then decided to finally get on the mountain. There weren't very many people on the slopes that night. A minute into our very first run, all the lights turn off. It was completely dark, and no one was around. It took about 5 minutes for the lights to turn back on again, but those 5 minutes were pretty scary. We took one more run, decided it wasn't worth it, got a refund and left. Long story short, we got soaked pre-boarding trying to the get chains on (for about 1.5 hours). We snowboarded with rain/snow for about an hour. We tried again to get the car out of the slush for about another hour. We eventually had to get towed from one of the workers there. The best part of the night was the aftermeal at Sorabol. Yookgaejang never tasted so good.

3. Did you know that 9 is my favorite number? Well, if you didn't know...let me tell you this. First of all, I like 9 b/c everything added to 9 equals that number. i.e. 4+9=13...1+3=4! And everything times 9 equals 9. i.e. 7x9=63. 6+3=9! Also, if A=1, B=2, then D (for Dan) = 4 and E (for esther) = 5. 4+5=9! Enough with the math lessons. Did you know that in the Bible, the book of Esther is 9 books away from Daniel? Dan thinks I'm crazy. He's like...you like 9, so you make everything fit that! You think i'm mad too don't you?

4. I've been really REALLY into country music these days. My current favorite song is "Chicken Fried" by Zac Brown Band. Listen to it. You'll love it.

5. I visited my parents during Christmas and found my old diary. It was written from 1992-95, and boy was it funny. When I look at pre-teens that I know right now, they seem so much more mature than I was back then. Anyway, it was embarrassing to read, but it reminded me so much of how I was and the things I did. Memories are priceless. Good and bad. Anyway, it inspired me to keep record of the present.

6. I absolutely love curling up by the fireplace and reading, or sleeping, or anything. I think I was a cat in my past life. A fireplace is a must in this weather!

7. Dan is a remote control hog!

8. I'm working on a 3000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Peter's girlfriend got me this puzzle, and it's insanity. I think I'm about 2/3 done. But it's the last 1/3 that's going to be hard! If any of you want to help (ahem Cindy or Jessica), come on over!

9. I went bowling last weekend, and 2 out of 3 games, I got over 100! I'm used to getting like...50-60, so this is like whoo hoo! Why are things more fun when you're good at them?

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-03T16:34:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year Y'all!

One is the loneliest number...

2008-12-30T21:17:00.000-08:00

1. I'm sitting all by myself in this empty house listening to Akon's "Lonely." hehe jk I'm listening to that song that goes, "All by myseeeeelf. Don't want to be all by myself..." jk. I'm listening to that donkey song from Shrek, "I'm all alone, there's nobody here beside me." hehe jk. Enough of that. But Esther is out of town and it is pretty boring being at home by myself. I've noticed that watching TV is not as fun by yourself (even if that means she's upstairs while I'm downstairs watching tv). After about 30 minutes, it gets kind of depressing. So, I'm back to blogging.

2. I was supposed to be on vacation in sunny California right now, but because of this cursed snow storm that hit us, I missed some work days. Therefore, I stayed behind to work some extra days during break to make up for the snow days. Oh, how I long for the school days where Christmas vacation was 3 weeks long.... 3 WEEKS LONG??!!!! That's absurd. Regardless, it was like 45 degrees today and I felt like running outside in my shorts and working on my tan. Compared to the 15 degree weather we were having, this seems like Palm Springs or something. In that spirit, I've decided to go golfing tomorrow. =) I've called everybody in my directory, but alas, there is only one dedicated enough to join me. Eric, you are greatly honored among the golf gods (lower case "g" therefore no blasphemy).

3. Anyhoo. A few months ago, we took a trip to the Oregon Coast with the young adults from our church. We found this amazing, 3 story house with beautiful ocean views. It was perfect for us. Unfortunately, I got a nasty case of food poisoning the night before we left and missed out on the first night's fun. We more than made up for it the rest of the trip. Thanks everybody for coming out!

I think the most important part of a house is the kitchen. Thus the picture.

OK. I was wrong. The view is the most important thing. The kitchen is second.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I love to sit and watch the ocean. I hate going near or in the ocean, but I love standing from afar and staring at it.

Breakfast time! These girls can eat!

Sabbath morning, we had a short worship thought by our very own Dr. David Paik.

I was proud of myself for getting David and the ocean in this picture. It was a very good worship thought. I remember it to this day (that's pretty rare).

Not sure how this game is played but I know it requires a lot of yelling and screaming.

AHA! Now that's a real game. =)

If I remeber correctly, David was bluffing on this hand and Kevin was stressed. Look at that poker face!

I think kev folded only to find out he had been bluffed.

Figures. The two Chinese guys come to the Korean party and take all the money.

Another perfect photo opportunity blown because Irene can't keep her eyes open in pictures.

The perfect end to any weekend retreat. Finish the leftover cereal.

Twas the night before Christmas...

2008-12-23T22:17:00.000-08:00

1. Ok, so technically, it's the night before the night before Christmas. Whatever. The truth is, I'm pretty bored. I've already watched Sportscenter two times and there's nothing on the golf channel. What's a man to do?! I've would do the rounds on my websites (email, espn, golf.com, craigslist, ebay, seattletimes, facebook, yahoo news) but I did that like 3 times at work today already. Plus, it seems that every time I get surfing on Craigslist and Ebay, I just end up buying stuff because great deals are so easy to find these days. I even asked Esther if she wanted to go watch a movie (I hate watching movies). Her response? "Are you crazy?! It's ice out there!" Maybe if I read books, this would be a good time to sit down in front of the fireplace and read, but I don't read, so that's out the window. Maybe if I was into peak physical fitness, I'd do some pushups, use my rowing machine, and do some sets on my powerglide board, but I'm not really into that either. Usually, I would go to the golf range, but it's really hard to track a golf ball when the range is covered in snow (plus they're not open). So here I am. That's how bored I am. =)

2. Today, I got a gift from all the ladies at my office. A giftcard to Nordstrom. Is that a normal gift for a guy? Wouldn't you think they would get me a giftcard to a Home Depot or REI or somewhere like that? Nordstrom? They might as well have written Esther's name on the card, cuz I know I ain't seein that. They got the other doctor a giftcard to a steakhouse and got me a giftcard to Nordstrom. Should I be offended? =)

3. As you might have heard, we've had the worst snow storm in the last 40 years here in the NW. We only have one 4x4 car and my work is almost an hour away. Since Esther works relatively close to home, I dropped her off at work. She told me that if she got done early, she would just check the bus schedule and ride public transportation home. She got done at 2:30. I got done at 5:30. When I got in the car and called to see if Esther was already home safely, she answered the phone from the bus. She had walked about 2 miles in the snow to get to a bus stop only to have to wait about an hour in the 25 degree cold. She tried calling for a taxi, but was told there was a 3-4 hour wait. When she got on the bus, she found out that they didn't give change. She only had a dollar bill, some change and a twenty. She didn't want to pay $20 and get no change, so she used the dollar and change to get as far as she could (which was to the Vancouver mall), and I ended up picking her up there at about 6:30. When I got to the mall, I thought she would be inside shopping, but she was so cold and tired, she just sat there for an hour and waited for me. Understandably, the next day, she didn't want to go to work.

4. We had our family up here for Thanksgiving last month. We had a grand ol' time. I spent quite a bit of time trying to recruit my sister in law into moving up here. I'm not sure how successfull I was. Only time will tell. Here are a few pictures from that weekend.

At Heathman Lodge. We sat down, found out we were too early for the buffet brunch, took a picture, and left.

Three brothers. One G with a sideways wesssside.

The original Gansta trying to show how fit he is for a 60 year old.

John and Lills with local celebrity Ken of Ken's Artisan Pizza and Bakery.

Ken's masterpiece. I give you, Sopressata!

We hiked all the way up the hill from Brent's house to the hospital he works at. Surprisingly, not my idea. This is the bridge from the outside.

This is the bridge from the inside.

This is the air tram that we rode back down the hill.

One last group picture before boarding the tram. Open your eyes Irene!

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!!

2008-12-21T20:29:00.000-08:00

Hello! Long time no see!

For about a week now, it's been snowing.
At first, it was very little. The snow would melt as soon as it touched the ground. But one day, we woke up and everything was covered in snow. One day this week, it was 14 degrees!

This morning was the worst. We woke up and the snow was mid-calf!

There was a knock on the door this morning. When I opened the door, we found our 4 neighborhood boys asking us if they could clear our driveway for some $. We said sure!

We felt kinda bad and really lazy so we put on our snow clothes and went outside to help.

Actually Dan helped. I walked around and took pictures.

I wanted to make the boys some hot chocolate, but I realized that I only had soy milk (read Skinny Bitch!). So Dan and I headed out to a local convenience store to buy some milk.

On our way, we found mistletoes! These are mistletoes...right?

This is a strawberry field near our house, completely covered in snow.

Almost there...

When we got back, the driveway was all clear of snow!

The boys and their hot chocolate.

These boys are phenomenal. In the summer, they would ask if they could mow our lawn, or pull our weeds. They're so...부지런해. I hope to have kids as hard working as these boys someday.

Stay warm!

lake merwin and bite of oregon

2007-08-12T19:03:00.001-07:00

So there are a lot of things to do here in the PNW, but ever since I've moved here, I haven't left the house much. Weellll, This weekend we went camping at lake merwin which is only like 30 minutes from our home. It was a lot of fun! Well, except sleeping on rocks, burning my shoes, and almost drowning. No really, it was a lot of fun. =)

all the tents are up! thank goodness to the boys.

the newlyweds enjoying the fire.

Alex tainting nature...

Ben jumped too, but he didn't make it in the picture.

bored?

group picture

Bite of Oregon is an annual event that features food, wine, beer, and music. Some of the best restaurants in Oregon gather here to sell (in miniature versions) some of their best dishes. We tried crab cakes, clam chowder, thomas kemper RB, corn, kobe beef tacos, thomas kemper, mac & cheese, thomas kemper, grilled asparagus, deep fried asparagas, vege burrito, thomas kemper, lobster bisque, chicken penne, ahi tuna, thomas kemper, steak bites, chicken wings, thomas kemper, and finally some ice cream. yes we really enjoyed the ice cold thomas kemper root beers!

Everyone enjoying different kinds of food...

cheese!

in & out burgers and pinkberry

2007-08-14T09:23:00.002-07:00

Besides friends and family, the 2 things i miss the most about california are in & out and pinkberry.
The way I feel about an in & out burger is comparable to the way squidward secretly felt about krabby patties after he tried his first one. I like mine animal style WITH raw onions as well. I need them raw onions. I remember when we first found out about animal style, we told one of our friends to get the new "construction" style burger. she kept explaining and explaining but the cashier had no idea what she was talking about. It was funny...and mean. So the last time we were in california (for brent and irene's wedding), in & out was the first place we went to. It was 12:45, so we raced to the one on Tippecanoe and I finally got my krabby patty!...i mean in & out burger.
Then I started craving pinkberry...
Thank goodness to Cindy (and her cravings as well) we got to have some the next day.

a week off

2007-08-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

Dan has a week off work, so we're going to be visiting northern california. We're so excited because we can't wait to go to all the restaurants in napa valley. When Dan and I travel, food is number one on our agenda. For our honeymoon, our travel agent asked us what the most important thing was...beaches, siteseeing, shopping, good views, etc, and of course we said food.

The last time we traveled, Dan wore his ugly hoodie. I hate it so much! it looks like an old lady's couch! (thanks alex for encouraging him to buy it!) Anyway, he likes it a lot and he'll probably wear it again. Maybe I'll hide it. hehe...I think I will.

home sweet home!!

2007-08-26T23:14:00.000-07:00

After a week and a half of being away, i must say it's sooo good to be home! We left for norcal on thursday and returned a week later...on a thursday. AND THEN we went camping with our church on friday and returned today! wowzers!

The first place we visited was monterey, CA. We visited our cousins and their beautiful girls, J and T.

We spent the day at their country club pool with their friends N and S. N and S's dad is a owner of several restaurants in the area.

J and T have a trampoline in their backyard. We jumped on it until we couldn't breath! We tried to get creative and tried bouncing while sitting on each others laps.

Sandy and James took us to spyglass for some coffee and dessert. It was absolutely beautiful!

We came back home, put on our comfy clothes and danced! danced! till we were sweating. T and J are sooo good at DDR! SO SO CUTE!

James challenged Dan. Boys being boys started challenging each other with everything. DDR, ping pong...
Our trip to Monterey was just so relaxing and awesome. I got to sleep in, eat good food, hang out with the girls, watch movies with Sandy, etc. And Dan got to do all of the above PLUS appreciate nice cars and golf with a celebrity! How awesome is that! (that sounded like rachel ray) Anyway, thank you Sandy and James for an awesome weekend!

Ooooh! Our next stop was St. Helena, CA. I started feeling butterflies in my stomach as soon as we went under the tree tunnel. There are so many good restaurants in Napa Valley, but Dan and I learned that we like the ones we go to. So for lunch on the first day, we went to Tomatina's, now known as Pizzeria Tra Vigne's. Dan loooooves the pizza here. Pepperoni with mushroom. They used to make this dish called spaghettini, but they stopped making it a long long time ago. So I got the Caeser piadine. It was GOOD!

"ooh I'm excited!!"

"will it be as good as i remember?"

"hmm..."

"lordy lord! i love it!"

my caeser piadine.
We love tomatina's because it's a casual restaurant with good, affordable food. I was in walnut creek once, and I was surprised to see a tomatina's there! They even had the spaghettini dish. Apparently, it's a chain restaurant in northern california. I personally didn't think it was as good as the one in St. Helena, but it was still good ol' tomatina's.

For dinner, we went to Mustards.

No questions asked, we both got the Hanger steak. I swear, the first bite of this steak is amazing! And I love the watercress sauce for the fries. I think I can eat fries all day long if I had this sauce. Wait, no, i just love fries.

Even though we were stuffed to the max with three doggie bags in the car from lunch and dinner, we stopped by Dean and Deluca for dessert. I got this mango passionfruit tart. It was delicious...but this dang thing was $12!! Well, I gotta say that all 3 bites were worth it.

"drumroll" The great finale to our napa valley food experience...GUIGNI's!!

The next day, we came back for our favorite. Not favorite deli, but absolute favorite! Guigni's makes the best sandwiches ever! This is Dan with his turkey pastrami and smoke cheddar on a sweet roll. Mmmm!

We also love Rutherfords and Gillwoods but weren't able to make it to them.

On Thursday before our evening flight, we stopped by San Francisco Union Square.

This picture is for you Elena! hehe.

We stopped by Blondie's for a couple slices of pizza before our flight.

We didn't take any pictures from our camping trip, but it was a lot of fun as well. We went to honeyman state park in southern oregon. We had to drive a long time to get there, but it was sooo worth it.

Anyway, this last week was awesome, but it's so nice to finally be home after all this! I think after a vacation, no matter now relaxing it is, you need another vacation (at home!) to recover.
by the way, i got a perm. an ajumma perm. arg!

CAR-mel by the Sea

2007-08-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

So when Esther posts she talks about the kids and the food. I love my nieces and I love the food... but the cars were C R A Z Y! They happened to be having the Concours d'Elegance which is like the car shows of all car shows. All the millionaires and billionaires brought out their toys to play. So we went out for a nice day on the town and saw some incredible rides just parked on the side of the street. Almost broke my neck a couple times when I saw the Lambo's and Ferrari's flying up Ocean Beach. Now you must be wondering why I got a couple of Bentley's mixed in with all the crazy sports cars. Well, my cousin invited me to a party hosted by Bentley and Breitling. They were giving out free food and drinks, they had booths set up with free Odwalla juice, Voss water, Jamba Juice, ridiculously expensive jewelery and watches, and a great selection of breakfast and lunch foods. The best part was that they had 12 Bentley's there and we could test drive whichever one we wanted! I wanted to drive the Arnage, but I decided to drive the blue GTC (the one in the last picture) because it was such a beautiful warm day. That was probably one of the best experiences of the whole vacation! That might be the only time I ever get to drive a Bentley, so I made sure I enjoyed it. Maybe one day if one of my friends wins the powerball lottery, I'll have one!

Gotta Bugatti? (if you don't like cars, skip the next two blogs)

2007-08-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

I may not be a car freak like some guys, but I like cars. I especially like nice cars. One of the reasons why MTV cribs is my favorite show is because you get to see all the celebrity cars. They got BMW's, Mercedes, maybe even a ferrari or lambo. Of course there's the range rovers and escalades... But the craziest car in the world right now is the Enzo or the Bugatti Veyron. I'm pretty sure the Veyron is the fastest production car in the world. It has 1000 horse power and it costs 1.6 million dollars. I don't know how many they even have in America. Maybe 10? Anyway, we pull up to Spyglass hotel at Pebble Beach for some coffee and desserts and what do I see?! Not one, but TWO Bugatti Veyrons parked out front in the Valet Parking!!!!!! CRAZY!!!! Of course, I had to take a bunch of pictures. My little niece wanted to take a picture in front of her future car and her dad wanted to take a picture in front of the car he'd have to work for the rest of his life to buy her. =) If you want to see the Bugatti go 253mph, click here. It will blow your brains! I wish I could have listened to the engine on those things. I don't know what was better. Driving a Bentley, or seeing a veyron in person. Oh. They also had a yellow Ferrari 599, a v12 Vanquish, and a Callaway Corvette. SWEET!

NW adventures

2007-09-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

Clark County Fair. I lived here for almost 10 years and never went once. I must say, it was a lot better than I expected.

Esther trying the rope ladder. This fat kid showed us how to do it (no the fat kid was not me.) and made it look really easy. Esther tried. Alex tried. Esther tried again. I did not try. But everybody who tried it failed except the fat kid (once again, not me).

We saw this sign and thought it was funny. Apparently, this is what they think asians look like here in the NW.

Did you ever wonder why they call a goatee a goatee? well, I noticed the goatee on this goat. Maybe I'm really dumb, but I never realized that this is why it's called a goatee. Funny the things you can learn at the county fair!

I think this is a llama with a poodle haircut. If llamas have feelings, this one must be feeling humiliated. No wonder they spit!

Esther petting the baby goats.

Esther doin some rock climbing. They also had free massages and some great old fashioned licorice!

We spent a nice afternoon at the Woodburn outlets, about 30-40 minutes form our house. They had some nice Nike golf stuff. Esther wasn't too impressed.

A picture of my two favorite ladies. Sorry mom. But third's not so bad. hehe =)

The most beautiful city in the world

2007-09-11T22:47:00.000-07:00

So, I had a few days off and we decided to take a trip up to Seattle to visit my grandpa and my keun emo. We went out to eat some Kalbi. mm.... can't go wrong with Kalbi. Anyway, after that, Esther and I took a little trip to the Space Needle, since she'd never been there before. We wanted to go up to the rotating restaurant for some dessert and coffee, since we already had dinner, but it turns out that they have a $35 minimum per person at the restaurant. I guess if they didn't, then people would just go up there for the view and get a $5 drink and call it good. Since it costs about $20 per person to go up there anyway, we just decided to go up to the restaurant (once you go to the restaurant, you can go up to the top for free). Anyway, it's tough to order $70 of desserts and drinks when you don't drink alcohol. So we just ordered steak. hehe. anyway, just some pics from the space needle.

Picture from the restaurant with the city in focus.

My new Pink Floyd t-shirt that I really like. I got it at Target! And I'm a huge poser because 1. the shirt has fake long sleeves sown in so it looks like you're wearing two shirts 2. I don't even listen to Pink Floyd. hehe oh well, I liked the shirt.

Like I said, the most beautiful city in the world.

my husband is NOT stubborn!!

2007-09-13T23:37:00.000-07:00

For the 95% of people out there who think that Dan is the most stubborn man alive, I beg to differ.

Today, he got into a disagreement with one of his friends. They were completely on opposite ends of the spectrum: there was no middle ground. Even so, Dan ultimately agreed to listen to her and take her advice...AND thanked her for them. Does that sound like a stubborn man? or one that's misunderstood.
Anyway, I was really happy for him. Sometimes when he gets into disagreements with people, I get reallly nervous!!

creme brulee without the brulee?

2007-09-14T21:05:00.001-07:00

About 2 weeks ago, we went to Papa Haydn on 23rd St. for dinner. The food was ok, but the dessert was really good! Irene ordered the creme brulee there and it was mm mm delicious. Ever since then, I've been craving creme brulee.
So today I decided to make some creme brulee...with a ginger twist. Only until after all the custard was made did I realize that I didn't know where my torch was. So...we ended up having just custard for dessert. I just thought they looked really pretty so I took pictures. They didn't taste as good tho...boo. I kept them in the oven too long, they were a little harder.

Timothy looooves ____________.
Think whatever you want from the picture above, but Tim loves them.
hehe.
Happy Sabbath Yall!