To a man of few words... My Dad

I’ve always wondered every year what to get someone like you... A man who is contented with what he already has. Someone who knows that having some things is not important...but having those some ones which really matters. This year, I am very far from you and although getting you another gift may be the easiest thing to do for this special occasion, I’d rather tell you (at least attempt to...) just how you’ve shaped me into whom we are today...


You have always been a man of few words and you have taught me how being silent doesn’t always means that there is nothing for you to say but that you are listening. Even though you contribute little to our everyday family conversation, you make up with your actions. You showed me how actions may be more important that mere words. You have succeeded in letting your love be felt with your everyday action, you never have to blurt out the words “I love you” because we felt it in everything you do. You cook because there is no such thing as a husband or wife’s job for you, you did it just for the love of your family. Day in, day out, you took the time to make every meal special. You always help us through all those endless school projects. I love doing those projects because of the moments shared together... Thank you for the gift of your time and your patience.

You may not be aware but it is you who have given me an optimistic view of relationships. I have seen how a relationship “could” work in this world where relationship can easily be disposed of. You have shown my brother and me that a family should always be together, no matter what. I know that being in a relationship is not as easy as you and mom make it seem. Thank you for being an example to us. I learn that in order for a relationship to grow we need to compromise and accept the good with the bad.

Thank you for everything... and despite the silence. Thank you for showing all the love through your actions.
Happy 60th! We Love you.

Triplet Pictures

Finally! A face to go with the names...

Thr newest addition to the Yu clan :)

Congratulations Johnson and Michelle

Born: September 19, 2008

Janah
Jovan

Jaydon

60th @ Hilton

Celebrating the 60th at Hiltons... Uncle Alfonseo just turned 60 and celebrated the Big 0 at Hiltons...

The Complimentary slices from Hilton

Plates of coldcuts



Chua Family with the Bday celebrant

Yey! A chance to finally wear a dress... So eventhough it was quite chilly, I wore the dress I bought from Manila with goosebumps as my accessory... he he!

Kimi sitting prettily in her Chinese number
Kimi wore her red cheongsam given by her Ninang Hannah. This time around. The red number doesnt look too loose on her body but K just had to put a onesie under it to kepe her from being cold (oh well...).

Jojo eating the cake all by herself...

Dinner at Kirin

For Saturday, we ate at Kirin Restaurant. No, its not a Korean or a Japanese restaurant. It is.... (drumrolls please...) a Chinese Restaurant. With Karl suggetsing, of course it is a Chinese restaurant... it is a fine dining with a pretty good interior than the typical chinese restaurant here. The food is quite good especially the stir-fried dish we had. I wasnt able to take a picture because they dove into the dish before I had a chance to get myself a souvenir photo... :(

Entrance

Kirin Restaurant

2001 Henderson Place

1163 Pinetree WayCoquitlam,

British ColumbiaCanada V3B 8A9
Telephone: (604) 944-8833Fax: (604) 944-8565

Top 10 Filipino Foods

For Pinoy Top Ten

Top 10 Filipino Food

1. Sisig
2. Lechon na baboy
3. Adobo
4. Sinigang
5. Pinaputok nap la pla
6. Suman
7. Crispy Pata
8. Taho
9. Kare kare
10. Bicol Express

Finding Noel

Finished reading the book by Richard Paul Evans entitled "Finding Noel". I would have listed more of the quotes inside the book but it will be too many, I simply chose the best ones below.

After the Trials...

"I’ve wondered why it is that some people come through difficult times bitter and broken while others emerge stronger and more empathetic? I’ve read that the same breeze that extinguishes some flames just fans others. I still don’t know what kind of flame I am."

- Finding Noel, Richard Paul Evans

About Family

"I’ve come to know that our families are a canvas on which we paint our greatest hopes- imperfect and sloppy, for we are all amateurs at life, but if we do not focus too much on our mistakes, a miraculous picture emerges. And we learn that it’s not the image that warrant our gratitude- it’s the chance to paint."

- Finding Noel, Richard Paul Evans

Busy Little Bee

Today was supposed to be Kimi’s first day in the Busy Bee class at Eastburn Community Center. I was really looking forward to checking out how they do baby classes here but unfortunately, it was cancelled due to lack of participants...

Eastburn Community Centre

7435 Edmonds StreetBurnaby, BCV3N 1B1
604-525-5361Fax: 604-540-6983

Better luck next class...

Time to mow...

Having a backyard means mowing the grass...
...and since it was raining for a few days the mowing was delayed...but the growing grass still grew longer day after day. Alas... A Sunny Day! When the weather forecast predicted Saturday to be a Cloudy/ Sunny day, Karl and me braved the cold wind and prepared the mower and clear plastic for the cut grass. (They put cut grass here on clear plastic for pick up. They have garbage disposal rules here and they don’t get the trash if you don’t follow the rules...They even have weight limit per bag!) . Karl did the mowing while I hold the electric cord out of his way... He just had to drag me with him to do chores everytime...

NOT mowing the grass will be a chore I will be looking forward to when winter comes (He! He!)

Daddy's Girl

Kimi loves too cuddle up to us once she wakes up... She crawls to the nearest parent then lie down on our chest, find the most comfortable position.... then she goes back to sleep.
This is a picture I've taken of Karl and Kimi. I went to the bathroom that morning with Kimi sleeping peacefully on her side of our bed... (She gets half of the bed...sleeping with her arms stretching out from each side), when I returned she has already woken up and did her morning cuddling routine... I couldn't help but take a picture of them together...

SAD? ...or just plain homesick?

This is my first-time to experience FALL in another country that has 4 seasons in a year... I arrived here summer with long days and short nights. Now, the nights are longer and days are becoming shorter... The air is chilly and with a lot of time on my hand and usually just Kimi to talk to during the day... I got a lot of time to think. I kept on thinking about my family back in Manila and my friends... I can't believe that I miss Manila this early! Aaargh! (I spent 5months last year in Canada as well...and I was pregnant to boot.I didn't feel this sad last time with my hormones changing...)

Then, I thought that maybe it got something to do with the weather...

Seasonal Affective Disorder
Fall-Back Can Make You Feel SAD
By Phylameana lila Desy, About.com

Fall and winter are the SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) seasons. During these months of the year depressing thoughts can overwhelm us due to darker days. It is especially difficult to experience sadness or depression when we are expected to be and act jovial amidst holiday activities. Winter months are especially notorious for their gloomy gray skies, cold drizzling rainfall, and occasional dismal snowfall.

Fall-Back Into SADnessThe SAD season births its symptomatic depressive moods upon us generally around the same time when we turn our clocks back from standard to daylight savings time. The fall-back one hour change results in shorter daylight hours. For those of us who depend on sunshine to brighten our moods the shortened daylight makes us feel SAD, and are likely to continually feel even SADder as the season progresses. SAD hovers above our heads, its emotional clouds filled with feelings of depression, melancholy, and anxiety, as we do our best to muddle through each darkened day.

A single day with overcast skies is a great excuse to crawl under a blanket and stick your nose into a good book or veg out on the couch and watch an old movie. But, day after day of light deprivation can be harmful, it can make a person feel cranky, lethargic, and despondent.

...oh well,enough about SADness... maybe this is just a temporary thing.

10 bagay na aking pinagmamalaki bilang Filipino...

This is my entry for the Pinoy Top Ten (Sorry if my Tagalog is not that good...)

10 bagay na aking pinagmamalaki bilang Filipino (10 things I am proud to be as a Filipino)

1. Relihyoso/ May takot sa Diyos (Religious/ God Fearing)
2. Mapagmahal sa pamilya (They love their families)
3. May Respeto sa Magulang at sa matatanda (Respectful of parents and elders)
4. Di takot sa hirap (They are not scared of Hardwork)
5. Natural na talento na mapagmamalaki kahit sa ibang bansa (They have natural talents that is world class)
6. Matulungin (Helpful)
7. Marunong Makisama (Knows how to treat other people)
8. Marunonog Tumanaw sa pinanggalingan (Knows how to look back)
9. Matalino (Smart)
10. Masayahin at Kuntento sa kung anong meron pero nangangarap pa rin para sa ikabubuti ng pamilya(Happy with what they have, although striving to have more for their family)

Reminiscing Shanghai 2004...

When I was still single, I remember going to places with my friends... One of the most memorable one is the Shanghai trip with one of my closest girl friend, Hannah. Those were carefree moments of being single and having fewer responsibilities and we decided to try our luck in finding a job in China. We ended up extending our stay to 5 weeks which was full of discovery and picture taking...

China, like Canada, has lots of parks and we went to endless parks and even went to trade fairs, museums and meet up with our ex-boss from Manila for dinner and just simply to keep in touch...

2004 June 06
Century Park

In Shanghai, we had to do all the chores. We had the eating covered since we ate outside most of the time. Sometimes we eat at fast food and some days we just splurge on some fine dining and treat ourselves to something fancy...like crab, but crab were expensive at that place and ended up eating the imitation crab (he he!).

2006 May 23

Yu Yuan Garden

Xin Tian Di

One of the funniest things that happened to us in Shanghai was when we had to operate the washing machine... (Operating it for the first time was hard enough but having to read them in Chinese characters was much harder...) and the dryer. One of Hannah’s favourite sweaters ended up way too small after the drying up... (Uh-oh) It was pure wool and we didn’t read the instruction on how to dry it. Now, I know that washing instructions ARE important. I do the washing here and I always remember that incident whenever I do the washing here... and it makes it less of a chore when I think about my Shanghai Washing Incident.

I miss those times... I wish I can go on a vacation with my friends when I go back to Manila next year...

I miss my SWISS MISS...

In Manila, I love to end my day with a cup of Swiss Miss Marshmallow Lover before going to bed... Now that I am in Canada and the weather is cold. I miss my Swiss Miss which I can't seem to find at the aisle of Canadian Supermarkets here...

I hope to get reunited to my Swiss Miss soon...

Sunflower

I just can't resist taking a picture of these pretty sunflower. They always remind me of Friendship... Open, Friendly and Bright...

I really miss my girlfriends back home... :(

Happy Thanksgiving!

Canadian Thanksgiving 2008

This was my first Thanksgiving and was just wondering why they celebrate it October in Canada while they do it in November in US... So I searched the ever-reliable site to answer my questions... "GOOGLE"

We didn't have any of those turkey dinners which I often saw in the movies but we had noodles with shredded turkey toppings for the occassion... hehe! Maybe we will be celebrating a proper thanksgiving dinner next year :)

Celebrating the Harvest
Source: http://www.kids-fun-and-games.com/canadian-thanksgiving-date.html

Picture: From Crews Nest


The Canadian Thanksgiving date differs from the USA because their Thanksgiving is derived not from the Pilgrims, but the end of a successful harvest. Because of the northerly location of Canada, their harvest season ends earlier than the United States.


The designated date for Canadian Thanksgiving is the second Monday in October. In 2008 this is the 13th October


Thanksgiving was originally observed in Newfoundland, and other parts of the country by new European settlers. Over the years it moved between various dates, sometimes being observed in November and sometimes in October. It was not until the 1950's that the current date was proclaimed as being the official date for Canadian Thanksgiving.


In Canada, Thanksgiving is about family and food, and for many, football, just as it in United States. Some families choose to observe a four day weekend (Friday through until Monday), but the official public holiday in Canada is the Monday, giving most a three day weekend.
Thanksgiving for families is simply about spending time decorating the house, preparing all of the Thanksgiving food (and of course the dinner!) as well as enjoying a long weekend before the onset of Winter.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Techie in-laws

Fresh from their 10-day cruise to US of A for a well-deserved reward for themselves, my in-laws, particularly my father in law has been catching up with his emails using my laptop (There goes my blogging for a few days...). He was so into emails that he decided to buy himself his own laptop!

... A Toshiba Satellite L300

Welcome to the world of endless technology possibilities! :)

Butterfly Award

Thanks to Fickleminded for recognizing my size as one of the "cool" sites she has visited (hehe!).You just made my day... :)

This is simple...

Put the logo on your blog, add a link to the person who awarded you. Nominate 10 other blogs (In my case, it would be a list below 10... sorry). Add links to those on yours. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs and you're done!

My list of cool bloggers:

Fickleminded (Can I award you back?! hehe!)

Sab- Memoirs of a Young bride

Noemi- A Filipina Mom Blogger

Sorry but these are the few blog sites I have been following regularly so far...

...talk about popular, huh?!

Happy Birthday Vince

Greetings to my newest godson...

Wish we were there to celebrate your special day...

I'm sure Daddy Ver and Mommy Honey used their creative talents to make your birthday really beautiful... Pictures!

FC Blog

In College, I was fortunate to meet 6 ladies that would be my good friends up until now...

We met at University of Santo Tomas taking Interior Design. Our bonding was through the endless nights of finishing our plates (drawings) in one place and listening to the radio station (RX93.1) to battle sleepiness...

FC :) w/ Bruce

Twelve years in the friendship, we are now leaving in different places...(Dubai, U.S., Canada and Philippines). We managed to get in touch through our yahoo group and in 2005, we did friendship blog. It is a collection of entries about our friendship and what is happening to each of us. We manage to maintain our yahoo group but was unable to keep up with the blogging...

I am so happy that we are reviving our FC BLOG :)

To us, more good memories and to the best friendship there is! CHEERS!

Little Red Riding Hood

The "ber" months...
It is getting quite chilly outside...


Bundling up Kimi with her furry jacket to keep her warm from the outside cold. She looks so cute as I took her picture. This particular picture reminds me of the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood"... the younger version... hehe!

Pretty (even) in Blue...

THANK HEAVEN FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Maurice Chevalier

Thank heaven for little girls

for little girls get bigger every day!

Thank heaven for little girls

they grow up in the most delightful way!

Those little eyes so helpless and appealing

one day will flash and send you crashin' thru the ceilin'

Thank heaven for little girls
thank heaven for them all,
no matter where no matter who
for without them, what would little boys do?

Thank heaven... thank heaven...
Thank heaven for little girls

Fall Season: Halloween

In Manila, Halloween is simply a minor event with just a few decorations till the next big event, which is Christmas...

Here in Canada, Halloween is a really BIG thing. Majority of the displays are hues of yellows and oranges as well as black... There are garden decors, vases, candlestick holders and even sculpture to decorate every aspect of your home with eerie items in time for trick and treating. Big Pumpkins, real and fake are out on the store front with various posters on various Halloween activities...

SCARY LIFE-SIZE DISPLAYS OF MONSTER CREATURE

Craft Stores are showcasing doll cakes with Halloween/ fall themes. Scrapbooks of fall leaves, scarecrows and witches are overflowing the display shelves. Baking courses which focuses on the Halloween theme like making gingerbread house for your Halloween centerpiece as well as monster or witch cupcakes to add to the scary decors which you can also eat.
SCARECROW ALERT

I am almost excited to see what Halloween here really is... On the other hand, I haven’t really prepared anything for Halloween yet. I haven’t even bought a costume up until now...

In her Shoes...

I get something out of them! When I feel bad I like to treat myself.

Clothes never look any good...

food just makes me fatter...

shoes always fit.

I was able to catch the movie "In her shoes" on our cable. The story was about two sisters who are as different as day and night. One responsible (Lawyer sister, Rose, who buys shoes as a way to make herself feel better but doesn't wear them) and the other sister, who couldn't even hold a job and just loves having a good time, Maggie (Cameron). When a fight between the siblings ended up with Maggie leaving the house, and finding solace with Ella (Shirley MacLaine, the grandmother she accidentally learned was still alive), she starts learning about responsibility.

I love the poem Cameron read to her sister during the wedding... it reminded me of my family who I misses so much...

i carry your heart with me

-ee cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it(anywherei go you go,my dear; and whatever is doneby only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)
i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you


here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which growshigher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Cooking Mania

Multitasking has taken a new meaning for me this week. Whereas multitasking last week would mean blogging and keeping an eye on Kimi. This week, I am in full-time mommy mode and multitasking is keeping an eye on kimi and cooking/ laundry/ feeding Kimi... (hehe!)

Although this week may be a lot firsts for me, I am glad that I am beginning to learn what living seperately would be like...

1st Congee Success: Chicken with Scallop Congee

I have no choice but to try my hand at making my baby's congee... Uh-oh!

Good thing that it was a success and she was happy eating them all up...

Everything within reach

This was my view from the kitchen... The highchair, playpen and intellitainer all side by side. Everything a baby will need to keep her happy...

1st Baking : Mini Pizza for Merienda

Dinner: Korean Beef

Spaghetti Filipino Style

For our dinner, a simple dish of Spag and pre-marinated korean beef.

Finally! Another day done! :)