Happy Thanksgiving!

It is a little too late but better late than never to wish you all Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays! I'm sorry that it was late for the blog since David and I was the host for Thanksgiving this year. It was wonderful to spent time with the family. It was 9 of us... I just wish also that my mama, my family could be here together with me and Dave's family...
I was off for 6 days since last Wednesday, a day before thanksgiving so I can prepare for the big day, till yesterday on Monday Nov. 27. So it was a pretty good holiday... everyday eat turkey left over for lunch after running around in the morning... but as soon as I finished the meal.... gobble2 I was always getting sleepy again :) Oh well, that's the turkey chem. for you! Now back to work!

Happy Halloween!!!

Can't believe it is October 31 again! After painful trip to my dentist, David & I went to Edmond to do some real candy distribution with our parents. Finally, I get to experience the wonder of Halloween and seeing how many wonderful and beautiful... but some with creepy costumes are there to celebrate this day. I love seeing them in costumes. We provided lots of candies and comic books... ranging from avengers, spiderman, mary jane, and star wars. Children loves them. I really encourage to have all children grow into reading something that they enjoy.

Too Bad

I made it to the selection stage among 50 people as soon as I get into the assembly hall an hour and a half. I was the last 6 people that stayed in the courtroom during the jury selection plus the alternative. But after 2 days in the actual courtroom and listening all the questions and answers, I did not get picked :( It was pretty dissappointed since it is a pretty big case. Murder 1st degree.... it is pretty scary stuff but justice must be served. Anyway... back to work as usual and who knows someday I will be an actual jury. I was so surprised that there were a lot of people that don't know anything about downtown OKC especially after living here for so long or even were born here. It is pretty sad because there are lots of good places to visit and great places to eat but mostly they close before 6pm CST. So If you need a tour of downtown... I'm there. Afterall, I work for Oklahoma Tourism Department :)

My Civic Responsibility

October 16, 2006 is my sista birthday... called her last night since it is 12 hours difference between US and Indonesia. SO... HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS! I wish you have a wonderful birthday.
It is also the day where for first time I perform my civic responsibility. It's my turn to be in the Jury Duty. It is so exciting and big. I just hope that I will be picked pretty soon. It's pretty boring when waiting in the assembly hall but fortunately, I didn't have to wait too long this morning. I'm in the pool but not yet picked. We'll see what will happen tomorrow. I hope that it will be exciting.
Some tips for jury newbies in Downtown OKC:
1. Arrive early, since the parking will be a nightmare. Park as lowest as possible to the ground floor in parking garage. If you park on the top, it will take you approximately 2 hours to get out when the day is over.
2. Take concourse if raining/during winter (map is available at the entrance).
3. Bring breakfast bar if you are in a hurry & don't have time to stop.
4. Bring a small bottle of water, you can refill it at the fountain.
5. Bring something to read. If you have... fill it into your PDA with ebook. If you don't have then bring a thick book, a thick magazine, or a thick comic of course....
6. If you have... Bring Ipod/mp3/walkman/cd player (small enough to put in your pocket or purse).... LOAD IT with music &/movies.
7. Turn off your cell phone/any device that makes obvious noise.
8. Pay a real close attention to everything.
9. For Lunch, there are lots of restaurants & places to eat. Ask deputies or somebody work downtown for directions. Try to stay close to the court house. Don't wander off!
10. Answer every questions honestly.
11. Just have a good positive thinking & attitude that it will be fun & interesting.
Well, that was the excitement I have for today. We'll see what happen for tomorrow. Later!

Wonderful Weekend

Time went by so fast. It's been a year since we got married. Got engaged May 8, 2005 then got married October 8, 2005 to be exact. David & I had a wonderful First year Anniversary, celebrated on October 7, 2006 since October 8 is a Sunday. He had to work at night. It was a full day & night activities... You know what I mean :) We tried to cover everything and reminisced all the stuff that we had since the first time we met.

We went to Bahama Breeze to have dinner where he proposed to me last year. Then after about 3 hours dinner (since we talked and talked and talked, we didn't realize time flew), we went home to exchange our gifts.... First year, I believe it is "Paper". Gift certificates are perfect for this :) Dave loves papers like books and comics.... I, on the other hand, not much of paper user anymore... PDA technology evolves around me so whoooo hoooo I was soooo surprised that I’m now the proud and official owner of the 80GB ipod. Love it!!! And I think my honey deserves to have another wonderful year from me... don't you think? :) Till the next anniversary... hehehe...

So after I ran around the house with my ipod in my hand, I calmed down. Now, it was time to eat our top of the wedding cake, it was delicious... you know why??? It was the exact replica of the original... that's why it was tasty. We didn't do the after a year thing cake since we believe why do we have to eat "not so good old frozen cake". Not so much into that... While eating cake, we watched "Picture Perfect". Our first date movie, it was August 5, 1997. Oh my... that was when??? Then after we finished watching it, we continued down the memory lane into our Wedding Video. It was wonderful; we got to re-live it again. We saw lots more stuff that we didn't see at that time. When we finished with the movie, we finally realized that it was 3am Sunday morning October 8. So this story ends here... there will be no comment for what happened after 3am ;)

After 4 hours of sleep... I woke up, wide awake, happy and it is still October 8, 2006. By 1pm, went to see Mom to prepare for Susan's Baby Shower. Anniversary and baby shower at the same day... full day of happiness... After it started, Dad could not wait to be away from this house full of women and kids. He went to see Dave and Scott and spending time at Borders.

The party was great. Food, games, cake..... got my second other kind of cake for the day... what a great diet for me :) It was fun. Finally 4pm, everyone left. I stayed with Mom until Dad came home. I went home and found Dave with Books and DVD.... He was so happy. It was his turn to run around the house.... We talked for awhile and it was time to watch "the Amazing Race" while Dave took a nap. Then "Desperate Housewives" came on... woke Dave up then watched the show. I guess we both missed the episodes when it started this season so we didn't know what's going on... Oh well... till it was time for Dave to leave work and I went to bed....
Good night Sweetheart!

P.S. We would like to thank you for all of you who remembered and gave us all the calls, congratulations, wishes, and cards for this special anniversary. We love you!!!

Good times in Texas

Both of us went to Plano, Texas on the weekend September 16, 2006 to see cute babies, new moms, and the families. We always love to see babies... David and I were going to hold and dash :)jk... But the moms found out and said we would not even make it out of the complex!
We had a great time and really enjoyed the company. The babies were getting big and the family looked good. It is so nice to see you all and we will see you on Christmas! The rest of the pictures you can see on http://new.photos.yahoo.com/illumination71/albums

September 11, 2006

Remembering 09/11/2001....

I remembered that I was working downtown when I saw the devastating news. It made me feel that part of my heart was being ripped. Tried to call David continuously. It's been 5 years. My Heart goes to all the men & women who lost their loved ones, the victims, and the heroes that day, from the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and UAL93 in Pennsylvania.
United We Stand! God Bless the United States of America!

I visited the Twin Towers in 1990; I was still an exchange high school student back then.
These are some pictures that I took when I was there.
1. I was in front of the building and took this picture from the sidewalk.
2. I took this picture inside the elevator. "Welcome" for all languages were written on the wall.
3. I (in purple coat) was at the Liberty Island when this picture was taken.

The RECAP

Hello Everyone!

David and I have been trying to do this for awhile and Finally, we decided to open this blog. We have been so busy with improving the house and enjoying each other company since this is still the first year of our marriage, eventhough it felt like 10 years already ;D.... So, now back to business... the question that I would like to ask you all is how are you all doing... & What's up?

I know that so many occassions have happened throughout this year. I will try to recap all things happened since the beginning of this year, so some of you who live so far away will know what David & I have been up to.

March 2006.

The sadness had cloud us when we received the news that our dear friend, Dan Collins, had passed on March 17. Dan was always a wonderful, kind, funny, and happy person. He would always tried to help either when asked or not. We missed him and he will always be in our hearts.

April 2006.

It has been a year since I joined Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department as their IS Applications Specialist II on April Fools Day. I design, create, implement, and provide support for Visual Basic.NET Windows & Web Applications. I also play with the SQL Server. Time passed when I am having a great time. I love my job, the people I am working with and most of all... I actually have a great boss. I won't trade it for anything else... I just wish there will be more money in the future... ;D

Tax Day. Another important April 15 that must not be ignored. David & I actually pretty excited to pay taxes this year... Not! We're excited cuz this is the first year that we filed together as jointly whoo hooo...

I had to attend Information System Retreat on April 18-19 that our IS Division conducts every year in Roman Nose Resort, Watonga. This time we had Microsoft and Dell attended this retreat. They explained to us all their latest upcoming products. Then we had our IS meeting which we discussed all what projects that we have done and what plan & projects that we have to do for this year. After the meeting, we had our treat. Hamburgers and Hotdogs YUMM... We had steak last year!

Honeymoon trip, April 22-30! We went for a 7-day cruise to East Carribean including Nassau, St.Thomas, & St. Marteen. It was good... no need to make the bed, food and entertainment for all 24 hours every single day. David & I had fun! He went to Snuba... short for snorkeling and scuba diving. He got sunburnt... But the last 2 days on the ship both of us got sea sick since the wave and storm got pretty bad, the ship was sailing faster than normal. Anyway, we just took the med and went right to sleep. It was great while it lasted.

May 2006.

May 4. Scott finally came home after serving all these years in the Army! The whole family were so excited and happy that they can see him all the time when they want to... Will that be a good thing for him hmmm... :)jk Of Course... I think!

This is the first year since David proposed to me last year on May 8... Mother's day. After church we went to Bahama Breeze to have lunch. I still remembered how happy I was and I think all of us too... (with happy tears). Dave was in nervous wreck. He did not even eat his meal... I tought he was sick or something. My mom, sister, brother, his fiance, Dave's Mom & Dad were there. Happy day!

We would miss Jennifer, Eric, & Baby Gracie since they are leaving us for Turkey on May 9. We had Dinner at Pearls then we had ice cream the week before. It was fun to see them before they leave. They seem excited.
As this time Sept 7th when I'm writing all these blogs, we know that Jennifer is carrying 5 months old baby... we are so happy for them! That was fast and Congratulations! We look forward to see them coming home soon...

Yes! Looked forward to see Josh Morris on the 26th. He was coming to OKC. We had a lot of fun gathered around and the usual visit. Especially the guys... David and I always enjoy Josh's company... Especially David got to game with Josh and all the guys. I just wished Mary could also come to visit us but I knew that she has been very busy.

I don't really remember what happened the week after mother's day... but on May 29th, We were going to celebrate Mom Karin's little belated Birthday since her birthday is on Tuesday the 23rd. We haven't got a chance to see each other but she wasn't feeling well on the Memorial weekend. May and June went by so fast and I can't remember what happened except we were so busy moving stuff around the house since we were having our living & dining room painted.
I was in chaos... stuff everywhere... madness...

July 2006.

David and I would like to congratulate lots of moms and moms-to-be. Phillip and Irene visited & stayed with us back in July 13th with Tristen and Keller... Keller is such a beautiful and very calm baby girl, I really wished that you really forgot to take her with you so David & I could really keep her :)jk... and we apologize since our house were in complete and total mess. Hope you guys will stay again with us in the future when visiting oklahoma. I hope by that time it won't be such a junk yard.

David & I went to dinner with Scott, Mom, & Dad on July 20th... for Scott's Birthday! We went to Ted's in Edmond. The service was fantastic and we had fun celebrating and having chitchat. It always fun to get together with my in-laws... really... for me... they are the best and the most wonderful in-laws in the world :)kiss...

August 2006.

So finally after 1 1/2 months delay, we got the floor put in and completed on August 1st. It was a nightmare... dust and stuff everywhere... ahhh! But I guess it was worth it since it looks pretty good now. I hate vacuuming carpet anyway!

Wonderful news! Congratulations to Suzanne & Josh for having adorable baby girl, Kaitlyn Daley Dean, born 9:26PM, August 3rd. 7lb 2oz, 19inches long. We really would like to see them. As of Sept 8, after other things happened, we will finally be seeing them and the baby this weekend. Can't wait!

We still tried to finish having the kitchen painted and finally it was finished on August 8th. My gosh! Larry Noe is the best painter... and of course recommended by my wonderful Mother In-Law and now we recommend him for everyone! The stuff that he has done, we just gave him the picture that we wanted and the style that we wanted in a very short time... puff... magic! The house looks wonderful and totally different. We just have to save more money so we can do the rest of the house later :)

I called my mother in Indo since August 10th was her birthday. I got to talk to all member of my family. She said that she was having a great time after her dinner with my sisters and brothers. She had lots of cakes left and wondering if David & I would like some. She would fax it right away... silly... My sister got good news... She is pregnant and is going to have the second baby. She said that it might be a boy again but we'll see.

August 11th, David and Bill went to Austin until Monday 14th to visit Josh and Mary. I was so sad that could not join him for this wonderful journey. I had to stay home due to other circumstances. He called me and told me all the great food and the places that I miss going to when I visit Austin. I guess I have to wait until I can visit them again...

September 2006.

Sept. 8 is a sad day for us in the IS dept... One of our best is leaving us :( We are sad for us but happy for him. This is the last day that he will be with us... the IS Tourism.
Artie, www.xanga.com/SoonerForChrist, Congratulations on your new job and good luck! It has been a great working relationship we have as office-mate. I'm having a hard time detaching this feeling... :D/jk... We will miss you around here and we hope you to see you again sometimes in the future! Keep in touch and don't be a stranger!

Not much things happened during this time except both of us are busy at work and also at home. Since we have been trying to put the house back in order... which it is so hard to do. I don't know where things are and which room they belong to... Scott has been helping us moving the heavy things around. Mom, & Dad also helped us putting stuff in proper place. But still lots to be done! How can that be... Why... I am trying to be positive on this... Yeah Sure! :)jk...

So this is it for now until something else better comes along! We look forward to have you guys over and having get together again when the place is organized. We will try to hurry up :)