[E] Best Christmas Ever!

I in general hate holidays (I especially dislike Thanksgiving and Christmas these couple years) - in school, I hated the holidays because I was a foreign student, and I didn't get to "go home" when everyone else went home during holidays; after I got married, I've been hated the holidays due to family drama (I think people should just be happy to see each other instead of feeling butt hurt of this and that :p). 

This year, the Christmas was sooooo much better! I had my first white elephant gift exchange experience, many of my coworkers were super festive, I got sweet email & ecards from friends/family, I received fun gifts from bosses, coworkers, and my sister & brother-in-law, I went to snowboarding with One USA Unit and my brother-in-law on the Christmas morning, we all went to dinner at Wonderful Coffee Friends' house (their cooking was amazing!)...and...ZERO drama!! Hell yeah...thank you Jesus, seriously lol

By the way, 4 days weekend is always a bonus!

[E] Merry Christmas!

聖誕快樂！

Merry Christmas!

This is the 5th Christmas with One USA Unit

We "celebrate" Christmas by going snowboarding

I don't snowboard enough to actually improve my skill,

and I am not really brave to go downhill super fast...so

I got stuck at the flat area a lot lol

I just couldn't be able to convince myself not to slow down...ugh

Poor husband always needs to wait for me to get myself back to the "hill" area

I feel bad for him but I also like that he's always on the other side waiting for me :)

[E] My First White Elephant Event

Today, I went to my very first white elephant event at work, and it was hilarious!! Everyone wrapped their gift so nicely!!! We all know there are tons of craps under the nice wrapping paper/gift box. The gray box with red ribbon in the center at the bottom of the photo is from me. I used a Neiman Marcus box that I got from my sister last year to put my awesome white elephant gifts in. (My sister did give me the stuff from Neiman Marcus last year, and the box is super cute so I saved the box).  I forgot to take a photo of what I have in the box before I sealed it :( but here is the list of things I put in there:

[E] Tokyo Banana

My sister & brother-in-law brought us yummy treats from Japan! 

Hubby and I hope to visit Japan next year for a week or two :) 

[E] Treats at Work

Yummy!!!! It's fun holiday season at work :-D

The question is what should I do to the Santa head?!

[E|C] Hotpot at Home

中文在後頭喔！

We like eating hotpot in winter, and we used to go out to local Chinese restaurant(s) to have hotpot. However, the price has gone up so much that we don't think it's worthy to eat hotpot outside anymore (it'd cost like $40 for 2 people). We don't have meat slicer at home, but we found a local Asian market that sells thin hotpot meat at a reasonable price. For $40, we can get tons of fresh ingredients from Asian market (the above photo only shows half of the ingredients we bought)! It was so fun and easy to make tasty hotpot at home :)

[E] Life

Only few people know I blog, which is good...so I can write whatever I want. Recently I got the admission offer for a part-time MBA program, and I have decided not to pursue the degree. Someone around me recently got diagnosed cancer. The person is my age, the person is nice, and the person is hard-working...People around the person were guessing that the person has cancer, but the person had never talked about it until this week...I am sad when the person actually told us the news. Life is full of surprises and challenges, and we don't know how long we are going to live...I feel that it's time for me to focus on hanging out with the people around me instead of going to school after work. I know I can continue improving myself without a 2-year commitment. 

[E] Black Friday Shopping!

So happy that I found this for less than $10.

Hubby got his Xbox One!

[E] Asian Fusion Sandwiches!!

Top: 11/22/2014 Dinner 

inspired by Taiwanese Teppanyaki - Black pepper pork + Stir fried bean sprouts Sandwich 

basically I'm just too lazy to cook rice two days in a row...so I put what I cooked in the breads

Bottom: 11/21/2014 Dinner

Pulled pork + Fried egg + Stir fried asparagus Sandwich

How can I not open a restaurant?! Haha

[C] My Path to ASA

今天我考過了第三個精算師考試，這一切都歸功於家人朋友們的支持和正面能量，小的我無限感激。每一次走出考場，其實沒有多開心，比較像是鬆了一口氣的感覺。非常謝謝這兩星期，老公經過看書的我默默的幫我把杯子中的茶水加滿、幫我買晚餐、按摩肩膀、洗衣服摺衣服、他說不論我有沒有考過，我都是他最愛的人...我很幸福，有他全心全意的支持。聽說我爹娘大老遠的跑去廟裡幫我拜拜祈福...我上輩子應該是個不錯的人，不然怎麼能在這個家中被保護的那麼好。知道我要考試的朋友在我提到緊張可能考不過的時候，大家的回應都是像"你可以的"這樣正面的話，所以我沒有放棄...在考前不到十天時，不知道哪裡開了竅，突然覺得離考過的標準靠近了好幾步!我想我擁有這擊不倒的意志力，都是因為周遭的人對我付出無私的愛與關懷...我知道我會繼續帶著我說不出的感激努力達成另一個目標!沒有你們，就沒有今天的我!我會更加努力的!

[E] To Giraffe

This post is for Giraffe...

to remind her to finish Christmas Stocking for her third child before his first Christmas!

Since we don't work together anymore, it's hard for me to check her progress.

Procrastinating is just NOT okay!

[E|C] Sodagreen - 小時候

Awww...this song makes me cry...lol

The singer wrote it to his dad.

I like Sodagreen, and it's my favorite Taiwanese band...
and I wonder why I haven't heard of this song before??!!

[E|C] Halloween

中文在後面呦！

I don't really do anything special for Halloween...at most, I set up a table in front of my door and put some candies for the trick-or-treat kids. I cannot answer the door unless I'd like to hear constant barking from my dogs for the whole evening and watch whether my cat run out while the door is open :P I am not a decorating type of woman, so we don't exactly have halloween decorations at home either. One USA Unit said we would start decorating the house for holidays after we have a kid...I totally agree with that lol

[E] I painted "my" dog!

I went to a Basset Hound rescue fundraising event, and I supposed to paint my dog - this is my second time of painting, the first time was THIS, which was a much easier task than a dog. I don't know what I was thinking that I think I should paint my dachshund instead of my basset hound. According to the instructor, it's kind of hard to paint a black dog. On top of that, my mom pointed out something that's obvious - when she heard that I went to a Basset Hound fundraising event, she was like "so why you painted a dachshund? shouldn't you paint a basset hound?!" Yup, why did I do that?! Ugh...

[E] Drama

I don't watch TV, at least, I haven't been watching TV for years until recently. It's even more weird that I watch a Taiwanese drama, and I love it...really, LOVE it! There's 13 episodes in this drama, and it's going to be the last episode next week. Why I like this show?! I like it reflects the "reality" of our daily life - family, love, work, the joy, the tear, the regrets...etc. It makes me appreciate my life even more, and it makes me become more patient. I hope someone translate the drama into English one day, so One USA Unit could enjoy it as well :) 

[E] Doodling!

I've learned that in one of the meetings at work before that "some brains work better while doodling", since then, I doodle even more often. I am pretty sure that statement is true!

[C] 最近的想法

最近邊看書邊聽著Spotify上放的中文歌…不知道是不是因為中文歌外加上看著身旁這些年輕有理想的大學生們讓我多愁善感了起來…

人生中有好多的不小心和不得已，好險我一個個渡過了…我感謝身旁的人事物讓我勇敢的繼續向前走。

[C] 三年後…

要像現在看以前一樣 - 沒有後悔

衝了！
自己最需要的加油是來自自己的 …

[E|C] Remote Control Incident

中文在後面噢！

So...my unlock button fell out...and I have no idea why!!!

I usually put my keys in the side pocket (the side pocket where everyone puts water bottle in) in my backpack. This morning I took my keys out, and the whole unlock button is gone...luckily I found it inside the side pocket. I put it back and of course it doesn't really stay. I was trying very hard not to lose it...and I still lost it while I arrived the parking lot at work. Thank goodness I eventually found it, and very carefully put it in my pocket...immediately tape it back after I got to office.

[E] Winter, Please Do Not Come

It was super hot for few weeks in September, and then all the sudden it's like 40 degrees only. I feel a liitle bit sad and wish the winter would never come lol

[E|C] Dinner!

今日晚餐

芭樂石榴沙拉 ＋ 柚子醋醬油

豆腐義大利麵 

義大利麵醬有家我爸自己種的有幾番茄喔！

豆腐我有先用蒜頭煎過

Today's Dinner

Guava Pomegranate Salad with Yuzu Ponzu sauce

Tofu Spaghetti

I used some of the tomatoes that my dad planted!

I panfried the tofu with garlic first before I added them into the sauce

[E] Falling Brach

After long rain and strong wind, there's a huge tree branch in our yard. I am glad that our dogs weren't outside when that happened.

[E|C] Another Project for the Dogs

既然昨天釘了個給狗狗用的墊子，乾脆今天也來把外頭那個暫時用磚頭墊高的東西給換了！唯一美中不足的是～我居然忘了先漆室外漆才釘...好險狗兒們不會嫌棄我這回沒上漆...其實上漆是要為了上木頭在室外可以持久一點，不過，老公說，就算沒漆也不會一下就爛了XD

早知道就早點做這兩個小小的projects了，這樣也好看多了!

話說，今天天氣好涼爽。在下了超過二十四小時的雨後終於又天晴了！

After 24 hours of rain, we have a nice 60 degree Sunday. Since we replaced the step inside the sunroom for our dogs yesterday, we decided to replace the ugly brick outside of the sunroom today. The only thing I forgot to do before we nailed the wood together is PAINTING...we still have the outdoor paint left in our garage from building the doggy ramp...and I supposed to remember that...but...OH WELL~ I am glad that the dogs don't care about how it looks...and I don't think the wood would rot so fast anyway.

[C]紅棗薑湯

好冷好冷，隨便煮了紅棗薑湯來喝一下...話說這紅棗是阿伯種的，我爸曬乾又烤的。

今年的天氣好怪，我在這住了八年，還沒有一個夏天這麼涼、雨下的又多...真的很怪啊！而且感覺八月跟九月天氣對調了...還有啊明明上星期熱到我等公車快昏倒，從昨天半夜到現在一直在又冷又下雨的。好怪好怪好怪...這是地球暖化造就的怪天氣嗎？！大家要持續接約能源、多做環保啊！不然這樣下去還得了？！

[E|C] Projects for Our Pets

裝了這個狗狗們已經好一陣子了，因為我家狗兒都是短腿，工人在裝時卻裝得有點太高，我們一直以來就偷拿我家貓咪的一個抓箱來這裡給狗當墊子XD

終於在今天下雨天，我們去買了木片隨意釘了個四英吋高的墊子...因為我們會在上面放舊衣服以便下雨或下雪天使用，所以也不用特地噴漆，就這樣放在門口，五分中就做好了。話說，去年我們做的狗狗斜坡，今年還是毅力不搖~施工有用心，貨真價實啊...哈哈！

This is an easy project that we've been dragging to do it. Our dogs are so short and the sunroom worker installed the doggy door slightly too high for our dogs to comfortable walk in and out, so we used to put an old cat scratch box by the doggy door for them to step on (and yes, we stole Kat Boss's scratch box for the dogs, and it's all One USA Unit's idea...fine...it was my idea). We've been using that scratch box for a while and we finally went to Home Depot and got a piece of 2 x 6 x 10 wood and quickly made a more permanent stand. Miss Basset Hound loves it; Mr. Dachshund hates rain...since it's raining now, he doesn't want to test out the new feature. We are not going to paint this one since we are going to always throw an old T-shirt on it anyway. 

[E|C] Thanks!

My favorite song this week: 

especially this part of the song:

"多勇敢 不再回頭看 燈火輝煌 到燈火闌珊 愛在人為 還是命運安排 我感謝 曾被善待"

I am not strong enough to look back
No matter love is man-made or determined by faith, I appreciate the past

"時間不能摧毀只能改變 我哭了 也懂了"
I can't stop the time so I have to make a change in my life
I cry when I learn to accept this fact

"眼淚無害 回憶是我的財產 這幸福的...悲哀..."

Tears has no harm and memory is my only wealth
I finally feel the grief in this happiness

[E|C] Another One?!

Ouch!
I am hoping tomorrow will be better!

笑一笑，明天會更好!

[E] To the Credit Card Theft

Someone was using my credit card shopping for her skincare products...almost $600...I spent/wasted some time to deal with this crap...and accidentally found out the lady's name is "Christy Goldman" - well, I do not know the exact spelling. Anyway, whoever that is, I hope one day you think about this and realize that this is not an okay thing to do. I was hoping to have an relaxing Friday after dealing with my family death and lots of other things during this week...because of your un-cool action, this happened to me:

I woke up in the morning and saw the email notification of an almost $600 transaction.
I logged into my account and found out there's another $25 fraud transaction.
I called the credit card company and disputed the charges, and they deactivate my account.
I was at work and being me as usual, still smile and laugh...and eventually I felt like I needed to get something I like for lunch to make the day go better. There's a little Taiwanese restaurant by my work...I didn't drive to work today so I checked the bus schedule and took the bus down and hoped to get my favorite pork chop rice. I got off at the stop, walked about 50 feet, and all the sudden I think of - I do not have cash with me and my card is deactivated. I walked back to the bus stop and headed back to work without eating...and you know what?! I still had a smile and say hi to people around me - my theory is this

這些人又沒欠我，我憑什麼臭臉對他們 。

These people do not owe me anything, I do not have the right to act rudely.

Was I upset? Yes, I was.
Do I think you should use your own money to buy things? Yes, I do.
Am I mad at you? No, I am not...I don't know what causes you made bad choices, and I sincerely hope that one day you have a chance to restart your life.

* I drew this last year...just saw it while I was trying to choose a photo to go with this blog and I think this is perfect...love will continue to lead the way :)

[E|C] Won an Umbrella

*貼心提醒：中文還是在英文後喔！

In addition to all other free fun goodies, I won an umbrella at Employees Appreciation Day!! Yay...so happy...I've been wanting to get an extra umbrella to leave it in my car for a while and I never actually got it...and now I don't need to buy one anymore!!! So happy ~ especially that I am the kind of person that's usually not lucky enough to win any prices :)

[E] Fall is Here

I saw this on my way back home - a cute yellow leaf quietly sitting on the sidewalk. Fall is here, even though the weather has been very weird this year. We had a cool summer and a relatively hot fall.

[E|C] Goodbye, Half of my September!

*中文在英文後*

September has been crazy. We drove over 20 hours in three days to travel to/from CA, and One USA Unit also traveled back to Kansas with me. It was a pleasure to visit family and friends. Right before we left for KS, my parents told me they are traveling back to Taiwan...I knew something must be wrong and unfortunately I was right - my uncle passed away all the sudden at age 59. This makes me think of a lot of things...

My grandpa passed away in the middle of my second semester in college. I gave myself two days to get over the fact that I couldn't be able to make it back home to say the last goodbye.

I've missed tons of family reunions, best friends and cousins' weddings, my closest cousin's band performances and his graduation, child births, b-day parties, death...there's time I run through some memories in my head and do my "what if" scenarios...

I hardly call anyone, I do email, but unfortunately not everyone does email...and I haven't learned to chat with people through phone...I guess this is kind of sad that I miss out the chances to connect with many people who I love and care about. 

To family/friend that I didn't get you say the last goodbye - as a lousy person I've been and left many things behind back home, you've been in my thoughts many times. I've missed you and will continue missing you. R.I.P.

已經九月了...從我開始寫這一篇到現在，又過了半個月。這十五天來，發生了很多事，其中包括

我們三天內開了二十多小時來回加州探望親友，託我爸媽的福，這是我在2007年後再度拜訪，也謝謝親友們熱情招待。

我和大白又花了三天回我大學念書的地方探望我很久一直想探望的朋友，上次見面是2008年五月。

令我最驚訝和難過的是，就是聽到親戚過世的消息了。我過去十二年不常回台灣，念書時沒錢回去、工作時沒時間回去，就算回台灣十天，也沒辦法見到很多人。人在這種狀況下會變得很勇敢或是某些人會覺得我很無情，卻不知道我常常在夜深人靜的時候慢慢地回想過去在台灣的生活、默默的想著自己得到的與錯過的...人生如果能重來一次，其實我也不確定我會不會再有勇氣背著許多的不諒解，自己在太平洋的另一端努力的生存著。

我想對我終究沒緣再見一面的人說:我不是一個很懂社交的人、嘴也不甜，但...曾經,你出現在我也挽懷念家鄉的思緒裡...一路好走!

[E|C] Painting

My old coworker, Giraffe, and I went to a Paint Nite event. It was very fun!!!!! The teacher was great, the venue was clean, and we are very talented lololol ha ha

I think we should do this more often - maybe we will take our husbands with us next time!

跟以前同事一起去畫了水彩畫！真是太好玩了！除了小時候在學校有畫過水彩畫，之後都沒畫過了呢！美國某些地區近期開始了一種畫畫的活動，付了費在網站上可以選你喜歡的畫風和老師，你跟其他人在當地的餐廳由老師帶著畫畫，真的是很讚啊！

[E|C] Magic Scores!

中文一樣在後頭喔！

We went to a doggy rescue group's fund raising event. My dad hasn't bowled for 40 years, still got 122 lol One USA Unit got 133, and I got 118...the forth score supposed to be my mom's, but she didn't want to play...so three of us were randomly helping her. One USA Unit and I haven't bowled forever as well :D We were surprised that we even got over 100...ha

我爸四十年沒打過保齡球，我跟老公也好幾年沒打了。基本上，我們是不會去打保齡球的，除非有朋友找。這次去打保齡球還是因為當地的動物收容所辦的公益活動，我們才參加。令人訝異的是，我爸133,大白122,我118。我媽不想打，所以她的我們就輪流幫她亂打。

[E|C] Toys at Work!

這是我的辦公桌。。。嗯。。。我想不必多做解釋，你也看得出來為什麼我老公來辦公室看到的時候會嚇了一跳了XD

I guess I don't have to explain why One USA Unit was in shock when he saw how many toys at my work desk lol

[E|C] Android Lucky Cat Series

中文寫在英文後喔！

One USA Unit got a box of Android Lucky Cat, and I got to pick "one" from those for myself. I picked the white money cat, and it's sitting at my desk at work along with all my minions. One USA Unit stopped by my work yesterday, and he was in shock that how many toys are on my desk lol I should take a photo and upload it to the blog one day.

老公買了一箱Android招財貓送給親朋好友，我好想選兩隻，不過最後還是只選了一隻白貓。目前老公自己選了一隻紅貓，我們送給朋友一隻金色的，我幫我阿姐挑了一隻黑的，還有好多可愛的顏色在盒子裡喔！我把我的招財貓帶去公司跟我許多玩具一起在辦公桌上。

[E] Same Ingredients

Pan Fried Tofu

Egg Bacon Chinese Kale Stir Fry

Bacon & Chinese Kale [gàilán] Fried Rice

[E] Wonderful Internet

Everything on the internet is worth a try (and I can't believe that I forgot to blog about this :D)
It's not a perfect circle but anything fun I saw on internet, I had to try it...ha ha ha

The Francis Galton paper: http://galton.org/essays/1900-1911/galton-1906-cake.pdf

[E|C] Cooking 07/24/2014

Pork chops + Daikon soup + Daikon salad 

煎豬排＋蘿蔔湯＋蘿蔔絲沙拉

Unlike other hardworking housewives, I usually just throw things together...since I've cut the daikon (radish), I'd like to use it up if I can - this is the reason that there's daikon in the soup, and daikon in the salad lol I am glad that my hubby doesn't care about this :D

我煮飯就是把冰箱有的東西拿出來隨意組合，但既然蘿蔔都切了，免不了想把它一次用完，這也是知所以蘿蔔會出現在湯裡也出現在沙拉了!

[E|C] Cooking 07/22/2014

This blog will be in English & Chinese :D 

這篇就中英一起寫嘍！中文在英文後喔！

Fried pork chop, some Asian Vegetables, and egg & onion over rice. I guess you can't see the egg & onion from the photo lol 

I like cooking in winter and only winter...it's just way too hot for me to do anything at home. Even playing violin/piano feels like a lot of work in summer. 

In general, I don't deep fried food because I do not like the smell at home...but once in a while, I feel like having some fried pork chops, and today is the day for that!!! I like my fried pork chops because I don't actually put thick batter on, and I make sure I removed excess oil before the food is served :) 

[Daily Food] 7/20 to 7/22/2014

I don't even know why I wanted to do this, but I'm for sure taking weird photo everyday lol

Top to bottom: 

• Minion is checking out my coffee
• I drink coke in a bowl
• I play with candies before eating them (Smarties & Skittles)

[C] 復古

我：車子窗戶再下雨過後髒到往外看都有種復古的感覺 （笑）…

我媽冷冷的回我：就是窗戶很髒而已，還講那麼好聽 

XD

[Daily Food] - 07/18/2014

It was a long day at work, and I did not get to eat lunch.

星期五真是短暫的難熬 - 短暫是因為我很忙，忙到連午餐都沒吃。

These poor bear got eaten by me.

我只好把這些可憐的小熊吃了。

Thanks for them that I was able to survive through the day!

好險有他們我才沒餓死！

[E] No Solution

I am not exactly happy - I guess this is why: I spend 40 hours a week to get $, but I am not really contribute to the society besides some donation I make sometimes. How can I find a balance point to be able to pay off my mortgage and work on something that's meaningful/helpful to others?! I just can't find the answer. 

I need to find my spirit back...

[C] 搬家？！

人如果有一個念頭，持續不斷地想起，那我想，這件事就算不現在做，遲早也會做。我想搬離這裡，幾個月前也差一點搬離了這裡。

這是個神奇的城市，有不太貴的房價、方便的機場、不高的犯罪率、我們住的地方學區也很讚、我也有認識的朋友，但這一切還是偶爾會被瘋狂的保守封氣壓過。

西雅圖很好，除了很常很常的陰天。
舊金山也很好，除了很高很高的房價。
芝加哥聽說也不錯，除了冬天非常的冷。

[E] H A P P Y

!!!I DO NOT HAVE BRACES ANYMORE!!!

I know I mentioned this few days ago, but I just can't help it to mention that again! Feel so good!

I wish this happened before my trip to San Francisco!