I'm hoping the next few days will be productive for me. Mom is staying downtown because she's helping w/a bowling tournament so I have the house to myself. It's a slow start so far, but I am making a dent in cleaning my room and I started on the kitchen. It should feel good, but as I start cleaning, I realize how much there is to do! I just need to push through and not be discouraged.

I'm doing laundry now and I just finished eating dinner. I made organic wheat pasta w/chicken, zucchinni and sun dried tomatoes. It was filling. I'm eating better than a year ago. I'm trying to eat more organic and less fast food. Although, I did have Taco Bell a few days ago! But I haven't gone to Starbuck's or Coffee Bean in a while - I used to go at least every week before.

Well, I want to get back to cleaning so this is a short post.

Travys, Ryan and the proud parents =). Krysta is missing since she's in Japan (a fine excuse!)

From Riverside, we went all across town to Torrance. Travys and Brandon (cousin) got there first to put in our name.
I had Won Ton Min...mmmmm!

After lunch, we went to my brother's house and Mark went straight to the massage chair
He slept while I tried to play to the GoGo's. It was my first try at Guitar Hero!

And then Susan (Mark's sister) and I played together

Then it was Colleen and Wen's turn...can you believe they're both 50 years old?!

Ryan's cake from King's Bakery =P Yummmm!

Even though we had just eaten a few hours earlier, we ate dinner! Spaghetti, lasagne, salad and garlic bread. I gained 3 pounds during that weekend! No working out plus eating like there was no tomorrow!

Last night, we had a sushi party at Jon's. It was a bit of a confusing week because it seemed liked plans kept changing or shifting around. But on Thurs., it was confirmed that we would do the party at Jon's. So Suki and I went shopping for stuff the next morning and just collected $10 from each person. We did pretty good on our budget and spent $85 for everything. I made the sushi rice and prepared the inside stuff. Suki made Tomyum (sp?) soup. Oh, the tuna we bought was sooo good! =P

Suki making nigiri sushi and me eating soup =)

Jeannie rolled her own sushi

Nat, Kerry, Miriam and Jeannie

This doubled as Kerry's going away party (sorta, cuz she said we're going out again!). Kerry, Haley eating homemade icecream, and Nat.

Jon as the satisfied customer

Aawww, Suki loves me =)

No pictures of Gil because he hijacked my camera and was taking all the pictures. It was a good thing because I was busy rolling and cutting the sushi and eating too =).

I went to Teavana today and spent $100 on tea! I never spent that much on tea before =S. But they tasted really good - I'm not really a tea drinker, but I liked those teas. After I came home, I watched gymnastics for a bit and then went to sleep.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I got a massage before the sushi party. I went to Gabriel's house and hung out a bit. I got there at 5 and left before 8. He worked on me for a little over an hour and I felt great. We caught up on eachother. His daughter was in the national Visa competition for gymnastics. He said he was going to be on TV, but I didn't see the whole thing so I didn't see him or his daughter.

He also asked about my love life and gave me advice =D. He said to surround myself with people I really like to be with and I need to put more time into finding someone. I told him that I'm not easily attracted or drawn to the people I meet and that it takes some time for me to trust others. And I guess it just hasn't been much of a priority for me. I had the same kind of conversation the same day with Suki when we were eating lunch (we had pho at her favorite place).

I told Gabriel that I would prefer being introduced to someone by one of my friends who know me and know my "type". So he said he'll keep me in mind! We're not really all that close, but I think he's a good judge of character. He knows what kind of person I am. And Suki asked me a lot of questions about what kind of men I like. For me, I think there's a difference btwn men I'm attracted to and the kind of man that would be good for me.

Gil and Jeannie taking the plunge
Kerry wearing my hat
All the estheticians were giving me grief about being so dark, so I was staying in the shade when Jeannie decided to be sneaky and take this photo when I was minding my own business and relaxing. I think she used the "It's my birthday" card a little too much that day! She basically got to do whatever she wanted - and got other people to do what she wanted!!

Fun times

Pina Coladas at the Ritz =)