Cherry Blossoms ... kind of

A few weeks ago, a friend and I went to Brooklyn Botanic Garden to see the cherry blossoms. It was such a beautiful sunny day. There were so many people there. The cherry blossoms though were a rare sighting. I think there were only about 6 or 7 cherry trees still in bloom and that's where everyone flocked to for pictures. Those trees probably felt very loved with all the attention they got.



















Ooooooo, cherry blossoms



































Japanese garden area, I like this picture, very scenic and peaceful (especially without the hundreds of people behind, in front of, to the side of us in the picture)







































































I think my friend got confused and thought we went to the zoo or something ....



































I never saw so many varieties of tulips!

















Sof joined us at the garden, it was a very fun filled day

















We spent the rest of the day in Brooklyn, walking around and just enjoying the weather. Then we went to dinner in Park Slope at this restaurant called Convivium Osteria. It is SUCH a cute place. We sat in the wine cellar (at the table that we saw on the website that we had wanted to sit at, haha), it was very European, the service was really good. We ordered a 48 ounce rib eye, SOOOOO delicious. Seriously it was near perfect. Crispy on the outside and juicy and tender on the inside. I was sad that we didn't finish it but I was way too stuffed. Highly recommended.

Auto Show at Javits Center

One morning my sister called and asked what I was doing that day. I said that I was on my way into the city and that I was going to the auto show. I heard uncontrollable laughter on the other end. Yes, I would never have thought of the idea on my own. But hey, why not be willing to try new things, even if it's not something I'm really into? It was an interesting experience. I had no idea what I was looking at. My only thoughts were, oooo pretty, that looks nice, there's my Jeep, I like the color of this car, haha.

The Bumblebee car



































I have no clue what car this is, I just liked the color

















Pretty and shiny ....

















My Jeep!

















Err ?

















I wouldn't mind getting driven around in this :)

















I think I'd hurt myself with the door

Cake Decorating Round 2

We celebrated two girls' birthdays together a few weeks ago. I thought we'd try a chocolate with chocolate mousse cake. I used a recipe that required a box of cake mix but you add several ingredients to make it more moist. I put in zucchini, yogurt and a special kind of tofu. Doesn't that sound strange to put in a cake?! But it came out pretty good, very dense though. Unfortunately the chocolate mousse came out more liquid than I had thought it would. So instead of using it as filling and topping, we just put spoonfuls onto our plate and ate it with a slice of cake, haha. But the cake decorating was fun :)


















We each wrote a word on the cake, haha

















Venus and Gloria didn't want the chocolate mousse on the mixer to go to waste ....




































Yay! A very unique looking cake, hahaha, made with love

















Happy birthday, Christina and Teresa!






















Chatting over cake :)

Tina's Wedding

A few weeks ago I attended my first college friend's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony, especially the vows, as usual. The bride and groom also gave a short speech to their parents during the ceremony which I thought was really sweet. During the father of the bride speech, several of us girls at the table were imagining our own dads up there one day (hopefully) doing the speech in a language that is not their native tongue. Jason and Tina looked so happy together. The way they would look at each other, with such adoration, love and comfort, it almost seemed like a fairy tale. I am a realistic person, I don't believe in fairy tales. But I saw with my own eyes that it IS possible to just be happy with someone, to 'sign up for the rest of your life with another person'. I wondered if I'd ever feel the way they looked, to love without reservation, to express without having to hold back, to just BE how I feel at the moment, without fear of what the consequences might be. It was a fun but thoughtful evening, fun because I was there with girlfriends from college, thoughtful because there were more couples than singles. It was great that the DJ / MC is someone we knew from college and he played so many songs that reminded us of the college days, it was awesome, haha!

The girls at cocktail hour. The food was so amazing - there were all these 'stations' around the room with different cuisines, we just kept going back for more!


















Obviously this wasn't taken with my unprofessional camera, but isn't this one of the most beautiful pictures EVER?! Not surprisingly, Tina looked absolutely stunning, AND she changed into a qipao in the middle of the night.























A table toast :)































Congratulations Jason and Tina! One down, two more weddings to go in 2009!

Not Just Another Day

You ever get that feeling when you wake up on a weekday, and you think, 'Oh great, another day of work'? No excitement, no expectation that it will be any different than the last time you went to work, it's just your average day. You get out of bed and go through your daily routine and motions. Everything is so familiar that you don't even notice the people walking by you, the stores that you pass, the trees starting to bud, the color of the sky, the chirping of the birds. One of my colleagues mentioned to me recently that in the morning she doesn't even remember how she got to work. She's so programmed in her daily routine that once she sits down at her desk, she has no recollection of her commute at all.

So many of us are guilty of this. We take it for granted that we wake up the next morning, and that everything in us and around us are functioning 'as they should'. In reality, there is nothing average or typical about ANY day that we have to live. I recently started reading a book, and in it, the author tells the reader to 'just stop and think'. It is a daily miracle and absolutely amazing that we are standing on a giant ball called Earth, the only planet in the entire known universe to have life, spinning at a perfect speed at a perfect distance from a larger ball of gas that gives off light and warmth that sustains life on Earth without burning us into crisps. Just that in and of itself should put things into perspective - that it's not JUST another day of routine life. God has chosen to give us life, and put all the intricate details around us just for our enjoyment. I went to the Body Exhibit last week, and it reminded me of how complex the human body is and how it's so illogical for anyone to say that we were made 'by chance'. Every single vertebrae, nerve ending, organ, cell, has a purpose and they all have to work together and function in order for us to live. Nothing except an all-powerful, all-loving God could have created us and all the beautiful things around us.

It's important to remember, especially when things start getting routine and we feel like we're just going through the motions, to just slow down and really see, hear, think, appreciate, be thankful for all the things that we take for granted. Look at the people who pass by you. Notice the stars and the moon in the night sky. Close your eyes and feel the breeze or the warmth of the sun on your skin. Smile at the person who gets on the elevator. Notice the nice gentleman who just helped a lady with the baby carriage. If you miss the train, who cares. Let the people run past you, take your time and enjoy the moment. God's love is all around us, it CAN be seen in the things He created. Don't let a day go by without seeing His awesome love. Don't miss out on life.