operation lose 5lbs is underway. one of the things i’m doing to get fit is walking the dogs for 45 minutes every morning & night. today, i found my walking nemesis.
gnats.
wikipedia says male gnats assemble in mating swarms called “ghosts” at dusk. great. looks like i’m not going to escape. and what makes it worse… my face is getting hit by hundred of mating gnats. ugh.
on a better note, oink cuddled with me this morning. i love him.
last week, i got some new toys. well, g bought me one of them, but i’m paying him back. i refuse to let it be my christmas present… too expensive.
behold…
13″ macbook pro & green canon powershot sd1200! toys for asia… but toys for LIFE too! or however long they last. YAY! but now i’m deep in the hole… fun.
tonight went out with the girls to victor tango’s. LOVE that place. my favorite is the ahi tuna nachos. try it if you can. tuna tartar on crisp nacho chips, with jalapenos. mmm yum. tonight we tried two new dishes as suggested by our friendly bartender. the lamp chops (AMAZING) and the roasted marrow bone (weird…). customer service is great. our ahi tuna nachos which should’ve been the first out was forgotten, so they gave it to us on the house. awesome.
and… finally. nikon is a beast. he always seems to break out of his cage, and we have a total of 12 locks all around the metal bars to keep his in. well… this is what he did tonight.
friday – david and i left work at 2:30 and took advantage of some much needed happy hour time at Sherlocks. joined by several other marketing members couple hours later, had a good time chatting and enjoying some ice cold beer. went home and took the dogs to go watch garrick’s first softball game. unfortunately they lost 0-2 … but there’s always next time! it was quite interesting because the first team they played was a christian group from a local church, and they trash talked like no other – AND not even in front of the other team. then they proceeded to thank God for blessing them with a win at the end of the game through a huddled prayer group. interesting… trash talk behind people’s back… yes, interesting. way to go! i also got hit on by a 19 year old and the dogs got called “evil” by a passing father trying to keep their child away from them. well, sir, your child is evil so – what can i say? steph and donald came over to chill then it was time to hit the sack.
saturday – volunteer training for operation kindness! i am an official volunteer now. really excited. i plan to go every saturday – possibly sunday morning/afternoon, and then to as many events as i can attend. but yes, excited about that. went home, ran some errands and then garrick and i went on a spontaneous date to maggianos! never been there before, and it was pretty tasty. had a great time, and best of all – it was free. i had a $100 gift card, and got the bill to $99.81. perfecto! good times, good times. finished the night with some sytycd… so nerdy.
sunday – lunch with krystina and andrew!! it’s been so so so long since we got together. gave them a tour of the house and took them out to shanghai restaurant for delicious dumplings. after that, took a quick nap and then headed out to the pang residence for some wonderful home cooking. the storm began rolling in after dinner so we pulled the garage door open and sat watching the rain and lightening.
very, very good times. love these type of weekends.
at the beginning of 2009, i made some goals/resolutions/whatever you want to call.
1. travel overseas
2. volunteer
3. professional success
thanks to my employer, i was able to go overseas to europe for free and get paid. i’m also going to asia in september so… check!
volunteer! i’ve been wanting to be a part of the operation kindness community, which is where we adopted nikon. in may, krystina and i went to volunteer for 1/2 a day with her company and it was great. two weeks ago, i submitted my application to volunteer and have my first training session this saturday morning! i am really excited to start this. more updates to come!
still working on professional success… maybe it won’t come this year. sad.
this past weekend, my bff and her bf came to visit! well, i don’t want to be too self involved… michael actually had a work dinner to attend, and kat tagged along. but i can pretend it was just for visit me
friday – welcomed G back home from houston. he’s there until august 7. so it’s just me and the dogs for awhile! but it’s all good, i’m on operation lose 5 lbs so now i can do cardio and what not without worrying if i look like an idiot or not. went and had a lovely little dinner at mayuri - our favorite little indian restaurant in las colinas and caught up. chilled for a bit, then went to meet up riddhi at slip inn.
saturday – km arrive! i wake up to clean, then lounge around until they come. kat and i finally (?!?!) have our starbucks date. actually, i lie – i think we had one when we were still both at UT in my final year… but oh well. so great to catch up! we head back home at around 5pm and go our seperate ways for dinner. meet up again at the house and have a good, good night.
sunday – brunch at taverna with jessi & michael h, steph & donald. um, can you say couple overload? jk – it was fun tho w/ yummy food and $1 mimosas. after that, we all split up. took a nap, then met up with sd again to watch harry potter & the half blood prince. i need to read that book again…
and that’s my weekend! and now another week to look forward to. really… i’m just counting down the days til september.
so wordpress seems to be a bigger challenge than i thought. i’m going to have to do a bunch of reading up. but i’ll try to keep updating on the process throughout.
i have two really exciting trips coming up. that’s one of the biggest personal values i’ve gained from working at a travel company… coming to really appreciate traveling.
1) ASIA!!! the last time I went to asia was hong kong back in 1992. i was 7. i’m really pumped for this trip because i’m going to be seeing places, and trying things i’ve never seen or tried before! tokyo, macao, hong kong, yellow mountain, shanghai… gahhh. i’m gonna love it and it’s going to be awesome. best of all, i get to share it with G.
2) SAN FRANCISCO!!! one of my cousins is getting married, so the wong ladies are headed up to sf to celebrate with family. the last time the family went to sf together was in 2005, and oriana still had a chipmunk face and no contacts. we’re staying at the hyatt regency embarcadero – and here’s where i can brag about my status as a travel agent. my cousin reserved some of the hyatt rooms for $229/night for the wedding. i got it for $109/night. score! turns out my mom had her high school senior prom there, which is pretty cool. my family also used to own an ice cream parlor right in that shopping center. it’s going to be great spending time with the girls of my family, and being in the city we grew up in.
so summary – i am really really really excited about my upcoming trips. not to mention one of them is pretty much the whole month of september.
on another note, my best friend kinky kat is coming to dallas with her wang man. yay!
