This past Thanksgiving break has been a blast. But.. I did not get to sleep in ONE SINGLE DAY!! ARGHH!!!! I always had SOMETHING to do be it for family or for work. And even though I enjoyed everything, I was really sad I did not get to sleep in or be lazy in bed all day. Sad....

But this coming weekend I am visiting Yoebo and I'll get to sleep in!! So excited!!! I'm GREAT in bed. I can sleep ALL DAY! HAhaha.

So earlier, I was telling Yoebo we had to make plans for this weekend because
1. I have an awesome feather shawl that I've yet to wear so we needed a place to go so I can wear it
2. I don't like surprises and I want to know everything down to the last hour!
......... But Yoebo was watching football and so that was the end of that conversation -____-

A few hours later, Yoebo texted me asking if girls can wear a feather shawl to a musical. Then he asked if I wanted to see A Christmas Story or Hair. I felt like the luckiest girl int he world! Until I had to tell him that I didn't want to see either of those musicals. I felt very bratty for saying so. But Yoebo asked if I wanted to go to ZooLights instead, it's when the Seattle Zoo is covered in Christmas lights at night time and you can stroll through to see the animals with a hot chocolate in hand! Sounds so romantic!!

Then afterwards Yoebo said he'll take me to the Melting Pot for a hot chocolate fondue desert. Yuum!! My favorite! How did he know I was craving chocolate covered strawberries! He thought it would be nice to go to somewhere warm and chocolately after our stroll through the zoo.

We're also going to his company Christmas party at the Seattle Aquarium. I am very excited!!! But nervous at the same time because to be honest, I've never been to a party with corporate people.... What are you supposed to wear?!  Mostely excited! I love aquariums!!  If things get awkward then I will just distract myself with the fishes on the wall. Ha.

Hopefully I'll get to see some other friends while in Seattle!

But with my luck... we'll be snowed in all weekend : ( And I won't have enough warm clothes to wear so I'll freeze to death. Sad...

For a full list of my Lifetime's Wish List please inquire with THE BOYFRIEND.

1. Television - for my room. The only reason I won't buy one myself is because we have ONE television in the house so mum and I are forced to hang out together every night and share the tv. I am scared if I have my own in my room, I will always just spend all my time in my room while my mom is alone in the living room. But if someone GIVES me a tv, I can't refuse

2. Gel nail polishes (every single color in their collection) and a UV Gel light machine (the bigger one for even curing). I knew I should have bought while I was down in LA. Too late now. Sad : (

3. A nice sewing machine. So I can alter and add designs to my clothes! So much fun

4. A box of Chocolates. My favorite is the kind that's filled with sticky fruits and nuts. I also love chocolate covered strawberries!

5. A puppy that grows into a small sized dog. Because they're so cute and every girl has one. I want one too!

6. A puppy sitter. Ha.

Okay, so spill, what do YOU want for Christmas?

I hope people don't mind I am stealing their blogging ideas. I'm just in a writing mood these days and I am so inspired by other people's writing. I'll promise I'll finish up my own stories soon enough. But for now, I'm a stealer! I hope people are flattered, not insulted.

1. Relationship - *sigh* Where to start? I ask for a lot, I know I do. And as crazy and ridiculous as I get he always gives in to me. Not because he has no back bone, but because he rather give in a little every time to make me happy. Then there are times he puts his foot down and I know better than to question it. I trust him. He's the only man to make me seriously change, now every time I near a mall exit, I just drive past it because I think about the time he asked me would I rather have REAL $10,000/piece furniture in the future or would I rather have Ikea furniture now.

I've always been a serial dater because when ever I've gotten unhappy or bored, I simply left for the next new person who was willing to grovel at my feet. With Yoebo, he made it very clear that we were equal, no one was going to grovel. And I remember after our very first fight when I told him I was done, that I didn't have to put up with this anymore. In that one day he taught me how to make a relationship work, how not to give up or throw it away, and how to fight. In the past 2 years, never has the thought of not being together, no matter how hard we were fighting, crossed my mind. For a guy who's never been in a real real real relationship, he sure knew a lot about them. Another thing I should add, in the last 2 years, I've never felt unhappy or bored. He's always made me laugh, made me feel better about my failures, always made me feel completely loved and protected.

The other day I was watching Ghost Whisperer, in which the ghost whisperer was dealing with the spirit of a coma patients whose families were fighting about unplugging him or not. The spirit wanted to be unplugged because there was no chance of him coming back, he just wanted for everyone to move on peacefully. Once the ghost whisperer gets home, she asks her husband what would he want and he answers that if she was still alive then he would want to be plugged in because he wants even his one last working organ to stay with her but if she were already gone, he wouldn't even want to be plugged in because there was no point to staying alive if she was not there to be with him. So of course I asked Yoebo if he were on life support, would he want to be unplugged or not. And he answers...
    take me off life support too

...... So romantic isn't he?  -___-

2. Gym. .... never been there, don't plan on it.

3. Work - My business has slowed down quite a bit with wedding season being over. As much as I'll miss rolling in the dough, I welcome this down time because I am freaking burnt out! I'm glad for all the holidays and the lazy and the getting fat : )   Hopefully business will pick up again like crazy with the new year. It looks promising as I have quite a few weddings booked already for 2011. The last exciting thing was that I had won 1st place for San Francisco Best Makeup Artist for the Bridal Best of the Bay 2010 competition   

School goes under work too because my school will one day contribute to my work. Cosmetology school is still a lot of fun for me but the scheduling is too hard for me to keep up with. M-F 8 -5 is killing me! Between running my business, taking care of mom, taking care of regular responsibilities, and my poor health this year I have  A LOT of absent hours. We have to clock in and out for every minute and EVERY SINGLE minute counts so my grade is SUFFERING horribly this semester. The last few semesters I've been able to barely scrape by by doing very well on all my tests but this semester I've accumulated 60 absent hours when we're allowed only 26 -___-. My teacher warned me that I was going to fail this semester and that I would have to repeat it. That doesn't really bother me so much because as soon as I hit the 1,600 total required hours for the program I will graduate no matter what my grade is. Not to mention I am beyond caught up on all my required physical work for the program (actually, I am quite ahead of people in my class, which is surprising considering they have 200 hours over me). Anyhow, the only sucky part of failing and staying behind is that I will have to be in class with the lower classes and that kind of sucks because I kind of sort of got into a huge fight with them back in the beginning of the school year. *sigh*

4. God - Growing up I had always turned to God in my time of need and in my time of joy. That was all I knew because that was all my parents ever taught me. But with my dad's passing, I turned away from God. Not that I blamed Him or that I was angry at Him. I just... didn't turn to Him. And ever since then I've never turned to Him, not in my time of need nor have I genuinely thanked Him for all I've been blessed with. It's a weird feeling, not belonging to Him. But as much as I've tried, I can't force myself to feel connected with Him the way I have all my life.

That make me not so happy

1. Nicknames. Van. My name is Van. Van is as short as it gets, really. Calling me anything else makes me feel like a homie. I am NOT a homie.

2. Skating With The Stars. It's a REALLY boring and slow version of Dancing With The Stars, which I never really liked to begin with but am forced to watch because my mum loves it. I hate all of it! Give me my Criminal Intent.

3. When shows like Without A Trace and Law and Order ends WITHOUT a clear ending. I hate that. I want solutions! The killers must be caught! Bad people must go to jail!

4. My socks when I wear rainboots. Rainboots traps OUT moisture but it also traps IN moisture so my toes are soaking in their own moisturize socks. No fun : (

5. People who wait like a million years to cash their check. Because sometimes I won't use that account for a while so I don't put money in it. And then I forget I wrote them a really big check. Then when they go to deposit/cash it, that account goes into overdrawn. Sad. If I had know, I could have easily put enough money to cover the check.

6. When Yoebo is too busy for me because of work/school/work out 

7. How out of a full 59 Spider Solitaire games, I won only 2. Who knew computer games were so hard? And addicting?!

8. When I go out for Happy Hour/ Dinner with friends only to come home to Mum, who had cooked my FAVORITE dish already  : (

9. When other people use MY shower and leave their hair in the drain or on the wall (WTF!!). My bathroom isn't spotless but it's pretty clean, please keep it that way!

What are some of your OTHER LITTLE THINGS

It's almost Thanksgiving so I am reflecting on some of the things I am thankful for this past year...

1. Business - because it's my sole source of income for all the fabulous and necessary things in my life. I'm no baller but I've never had to worry if I had enough for anything I've needed, plus a little extra    Thankful for having a GREAT and generous network of artists and clients.

2. A wonderful boyfriend - Sure, I hold us together through our fights now but he's the one who taught me how to make a relationship work since our very first days together. And I'll never forget it. Also because he does all my business excel sheets. And buys me laptops and cell phones. And picks up my phone calls at all hours. And his favorite pictures of me are always the ugly ones.

3. Jenny & Trina - For being my biggest supporters since I start cosmetology school. Coming in for un-needed haircuts, being my models, supporting our dinner fundraisers. Thanks!

4. Crystle & Gloria - For all the rides to and from the airport. Lots of love <3

5. www.PostSecret.com - For giving me something to look forward to every Sunday  : )

6. www.Facebook.com - Because it allows me to stay connected and look at people's pictures! : )

7. Advil - For stopping the pain.

8. The sea - for providing all your yummy seafood. Yuummm clams, crabs, oysters, lobster, abalone, yummmmm

9. My beautiful and useful laptop - For breathing LIFE into me.

What are YOU thankful for?

copied from the famous Cakalusa.

- Waking up and deciding definitely I will NOT go to school on time on this day. No more rush. Just peace in my bed for a little longer.

- Anytime yoebo agrees to buy me something I want. I guess this isn't really a "little thing"... but it makes me REALLY happy

- When my both my brothers come over for a dinner/

- When my brother is kind to me.

- A hot summer night, hot enough to wear something cute.

- Funny voicemail Yoebo leaves me every few days

- When mum has a day off and gets under my covers for a just few minutes to talk about our day's plans.

-  When a bride walks out with her wedding gown.

- When I find the time and motivation to write xanga  : )

Arriving into LAX at the same time. Yoebo wanted me to run into him arm so he can pick me up and spin me around while his sister photographed -___-

But I was too shy so I settled for one nice picture : )

Me calling the rental company to try and solve the car rental reservations I messed up.

Yoebo mad and walking away from me. His sister paparazzied us, that's why we have these exclusive behind the scene shots when we're not perfect.

Yoebo making calls to fix the problem to get us a rental car.

Yoebo and I solving our problems... me being a little pouty until Yoebo gives in. I told him he can't be mad at me if he put me in charge of something and I gave it an honest try. He told me that I worry him sometimes...

Yoebo checking into our hotel room while we do hotel lobby photo shoot.

Yoebo ruining my photo shoot!

Yoebo with his excessive luggaging. Hehe just kidding. Most of them were mine.. Hehe. He's just strong enough to carry my extra luggages : D

 
Powdering my nose in the hotel to go out in LA!

Shopping in LA Fashion District with my BFF!! Yoebo and his sister were somewhere behind us the whole time. We got them a hot dog and a soda and they did not complain one peep while us girls went into and out of EVERY SINGLE store along the 10 blocks of cheap LA fashion.

We stopped for Mexican Corn, which is boiled corn dipped in Mayo then Parmesian Cheese then sprinkled with Mexican pepper. I had heard soo much about it so I just HAD to give it a try. Yoebo was too busy eating that buttery goodness to pose for a picture. It was SUPER RICH and juicy and sweet. But too much for mee. Yoebo finished his corn by himself. While I shared mine with the other two girls and between the three of us we could only eat half of the corn!

Korean BBQ dinner in K Town. Authentic!!

This is Day 2 when we went to Universal Studios!! I'm so excited I'm leading the way! Leaving Yoebo and his sister behind. Hehe.

But Yoebo is sooo possessive -____-  I can't even walk without being in his arms!

Taking some touristy pictures.

Doing the touristy thing and asking other tourists to take pictures of us!

From the minute we entered Universal Studios, Yoebo became the official photographer because us girls had to pose with EVERY SINGLE character!! Curious George!!

The Policeman from.. I don't know where.. but he was so nice and approached us while we were searching our maps and lead us in the right direction!

Shrek!! Right before this picture, he covered me face and dragged me back 3 feet! Just like the REAL Shrek!

The beautiful side of LA.

Trying to gain some height on Yoebo's little sister. Yoebo was supposed to take chest up only pictures. NOT full body  -___-

Trying to stand tall with our movie heros

Scooby Dooby Doo!!

He wanted to show Yoebo some lovin' too. Note Yoebo takes our pictures AND holds our bags and coats. Best Boyfriend of the year? Yes. Very Much <3

Me trying to be a Mummy. Totally oblivious to the mummy trying to be an Asian tourist. The Mummy was my favorite ride!

Hehe. If only we were born in Egypt a gazillion years ago.. that would be us...

Edward Cullens!! Hehe.. just kidding

Calling the shots!!

The things I put up with  -____-

Getting our first Caracature together! He tried to make us get one on our first date but I rejected him that faithful day 1 1/2 years ago. But today, I agreed!

We told the artist to try to read our personalities to draw us.. He couldn't have been more WRONG!

More coupley pictures.

Are we boring you yet?! Too baaad!!

Day 3!

The REAL reason we went to LA! I was going to a Nail Exposition in Long Beach. Yoebo decided to tag along for the weekend and when we made plans to go out with our cousins, his sister tagged along. Hehe. She also went with me to the exposition. Fun!!

 
Getting our nails did with the newish technology and products in the industry.  Yoebo had a serious "shopping intervention" with me so I didn't buy much at the show. I told everyone I was still a student and was just there to learn. Surprisingly all the sales rep stopped pushing products at me and actually took an interest in actually teaching me : )

Ending our trip with Pinkberry : )

Okay. Lots of pictures. Little words. I'll write real posts next time :

Halloween kicked off for my Friday evening at cosmetology school when we had our Halloween event! We had a costume contest and I won 2nd place!!

With Kiss, who won first place. The weird thing is the night before school, I was able to make 4 different costumes from just stuff in my closet, I didn't have to buy anything extra for my "costumes." What does that say about my sense of fashion? Ah!

We also played some Halloween games. Our team won either 1st or 2nd in EVERY SINGLE game. Whooo!

Here is one of the games... I had to be the mummy because I was the smallest. Sad. Hahahaha.

The next night my cousins and I went out to NV nightclub in San Francisco!

Debuting... my peacock costume!!
Labor of love.. seriously.. the monetary cost of making a Halloween costume is waaay more than buying one at the store. Not to mention the man hours. But I don't think I'd ever go out in anything store bought. I LOVED making this!

Taking pictures while waiting in line to get in. Hehe. Animal phamily!!

The anime girl! Lol we had no idea what one is supposed to even look like but we put it together pretty well huh?

With Ms. Vampire who's blood is made of lip gloss. Haha. Errrr... Both those drinks are hers....

Party party! The good thing about the peacock head dress was my friends were able to easily find me no matter where I was. Hahaha.

I have no recollection of taking this picture at all.. Or who the heck that girl even is!!!

This is funny because my feet freaking hurt sooooooooo bad.

Awww I LOVE this picture because I love my cousin <3 And my glittery makeup!! <3 <3

I already have my costume figured out for next year!! I'm going to be a Vegas Show Girl. I told Yoebo he should be Thunder From Down Under. HAhahahahahahahha. We'll be the couple from Vegas.... He isn't as thrilled about it as I am

Tonight I was supposed to take my little cousins Trick o Treating or at least tag along with my friend and her little sister but I ended losing my phone today at Costco. So no go  : ( Hopefully I'll be able to get a new phone and be up and running by tomorrow night.

Okay take care everyone! Hope you all had a great Halloween weekend too : D

I think I may have a shopping problem... After buying new shoes just a few days ago, today I bought 2 whole new outfits (top, bottom, accessories) for each pair of shoes I just bought. Not to mention, I went shopping yesterday and bought some random things too...

Dear school of mine,

WHY THE HELL ARE YOU LOCATED SMACK DAB BETWEEN TWO MAJOR MALLS?!?! And why is there another one on the way to my house?

Dear friends and cousins of mine,

Why is our only past time shopping? Although it is fun to go home, put on our hair & makeup and try on everything we just bought like a fashion show  

I can't help it!! Whenever I have somewhere to go or someone to meet, I HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO buy a whole new outfit for the occasion with all the perfect accessories. I try really hard to make it look like I don't try hard. But in actually.. omg, it's a sickness I have, the way I obsess about my overall look. I can't ever just throw on jeans and a shirt and go. No. It has to make me look older but still look young. And the shirt has to fall right down to here where this will go there and these shoes fit the occasion and the belt matches the shoes. And not only do the patterns and the colors have to compliment each other but so does the material. And my hair has to be slightly wavy if I want to look professional but curly if I want to look girly and straight if I want to look like a bitch for the night, up if I want to look fresh. And the shoes... omg. The shoes!! It doesn't matter that the shoes make me a cripple for the night. The shoes have to fit the occasion. And if this outfit is cute and many people compliment it, then I can't wear it again because people will remember it and say I wear the same outfit all the time. I even ask my boyfriend permission if it's okay that I wear the same outfit again, I don't want him to be turn off by the fact that he's already seen me in that before... like he ever even cares! It REALLY is in my head. I know it. But I can't help it.. gaaaah.

Like any other girl I like to shop. I usually like to buy things for occasional outings. Things that you can't wear on an every day basis. It's rare that I ever buy anything practical -____-.

Anyhow, last weekend my cousins, all 8 of us girls, went to VEGAS and partied and shopped for our baby cousin's 21st!! Whooo!!! For a week when we came back, we were ALL late for work and school EVERY SINGLE day. Man our trip was EXHAUSTING. Unfortunately, I do not have many pictures to share with you all... What ended up happening was we were having too much fun to take pictures. Not to mention the type of fun we were having.. well.... no one WANTED pictures of it, if you get what I mean So instead I took pictures of some of the coolest and latest things I've bought.

But before that... VEGAS HIGHLIGHTS
1. Unplanned meeting at the airport. We all just happened to land at the Vegas airport at the same time. Completely unplanned. Coool.
2. Getting a literally last minute extra room at our hotel for 50% off. Sweeeet.
3. Listening to our moms complain about their feet!Hahaha we knew better than to try to wear cute shoes in Vegas when we're walking. Too bad the moms didn't.
4. Getting into the newest hottest club VIP status... just because.
5. Getting unlimited bottle service at the club... just because.
6. Getting drinks thrown on us from outside bishes... just because. Which resulted in my cousin's dress totally unzipping straight down the middle so she was completely exposed and no one was able to fix it. The bottle service girl yelled at us cuz it wasn't "that type of club." Then getting VIP-edly escorted out of the club and given hotel towels to go home. Hahahaha.
7. Shopping at the biggest baddest FOREVER 21 I've ever seen.
8. Lion King at Mandalay Bay, Aria Buffet, yada yada yada.. typical Vegas stuff.
9. Getting home safe and sound and sleeping in my own bed!

Getting dolled up with the new 21 year old. We held NOTHING back. You can't see it in this picture but literally half my face was covered in glitter.

The first and last shot we got before the party started. Big hair? Check. Short sparkly outfits? Check. Bright Pink lipstick? CHECK!!
On a side note... not sure why the tall genes were passed down generously to everyone BUT ME. Unfair much?

Next day touring the Las Vegas hotels. With my mum. Identical twins!

Resting our feet after a long day of walking.

This is the Mardi Gras costume I put together for my girlfriend who is going to Vegas this weekend.  My cousins came over for dinner and saw me working on it so they jumped in and helped too. After we were done, my whole living room was covered in feathers and glitter. HEhe.
I am not giving sneak peek to MY costume! You'll just have to wait until after Halloween when I post pictures.

A feathered shawl with a brooch. I have no idea what I am going to wear it too. But it was too unique to not buy.

My favorite ever sequined short shorts.

You can't see it in the pictures but these boots pretty much go up to your butt! Too diva to not buy.

Just because how can you not?! I was going to wait and have yoebo buy me the ever so coveted Loubies nude pumps when we go to LA.. but I saw these first. They're nude pumps with a little something extra

And that is pretty much sums up what I do for fun: Hang out with my cousins, do artsy crafty projects, and shop for shiny things! Okay! Until next time