We are moving!!

To billtessawynn

Going to a wedding

All dressed up, like this:






Dress: F21
Shoes: Donamici

Why communication is important

because by communicating we can share:

• fear
• hope
• anger
• sadness
• happiness
• worries
• pain
• plans
• disappointment
• expectations
• feelings

thus, it is important in any form of relationship, especially marriage.

The house where I grew up

Above is the picture of the house where I grew up. The house is still standing on it's original location, but it's been renovated, so it looks different. We lived here for a good eight years, before we move to a better and safer neighbourhood after the 1998 riots.

This house is much smaller than the house we live in now, and we don't have as much as we do now, but this house is the BEST. This is the place where our family is at it's best, quality wise. Not saying that we are not great now, but it was so much better before (maybe I felt this way because I was just a little kid before, so I don't know much about life) It's amazing how living small makes you feel more contented.

So many happy memories happened in this house. We play in the front yard a lot, and on the street as well. We rode our bikes, and catches fishes on the sewer, running around chasing dragon flies, or play with the neighbour on the street. Climbed over the wall to get into our neighbour's house, or play cards and exchanged sailor moon cards while we were sitting on the wall.

Lucky me

Husband & I, Mushroom Beach - Nusa Lembongan

After being married and talked to some friends about marriage life, I am very grateful that I am the lucky one to have a husband who give me freedom to be who I am, who love me for being me.
I talked to friends whose husband tell them what to do and what they shouldn't do.They should take care house, wear this kind of clothes, don't wear certain kind of clothes, should cook in certain ways, or very picky that it's hard to cook for them.


As for me, it's been a bliss to have a husband like Bill.
Easy going, a bit moody at times (hardly ever!), good eater, big helper, caring and loving, and importantly, he treated me equally.


We are partner in life. Some friends asked me "Who won more in your relationship?" 
Oh well, marriage is not a battle of winning and losing, instead, everything is what's best for our little family.
They thought we never fight. We've been together for almost 5 years, and yes, we do argue. Sometimes big time. Good thing we never argue for too long.


Also lucky me for having a great mother in law. She can be particular sometimes, and get on my nerves, but she is very kind hearted, and except her standard how cooking and cleaning has to be done in her house, she never tell me what to do and what I shouldn't do. And for her particular standard, I don't need to live with it once we have our own place (which we do now!!). 
Compared to friend's in-laws who can be evil-ish, and crazy nagging and bossy, I am lucky!


As for our family which still consist of the three of us for the time being (Muffin counts!), as much as I wanted little crying so badly, I also feel grateful for whatever we have right now. The opportunity to get to know each other better, to do our school work without baby in mind, to establish friendship and to learn and do more stuffs before little crying(s) is here. We both want to have children, we would love to see our 3/4 Chinese babies,and how Muffin will be a good big brother and play with the babies.


Lucky me

Baby talks

Hanging out with friends who are talking about babies (and breast feeding) all the time is not fun.

I mean, I understand you have children, and your children is super awesome as it is, but do you really have to talk about them ALL the time?? 

Hello?? I am here....I don't have children (yet), and I am happy that you do, and I tried to fit in by saying what I thought or share how I wanted to raise my children, but you look at me as if I'm an idiot, because well, obviously, I don't have baby (just yet!)

Just because I don't have baby doesn't mean I know nothing about children, and I talked because I tried to have some fun too.

So what if I said that I don't want my kids to watch TV? or when I said that I want to cloth diaper my children?? I didn't ask you to do what I wanted to apply to my children. 

We're just different, and obviously you are so selfish so that you cannot stop talking about your children, without thinking that I might get bored with babies stories.

Oh well, not ALL moms are like that. I know some cool mom who talked about make ups, driving, books, and many more stuffs, and they do talk about their baby too. But since they didn't talk about it ALL the TIME makes their baby sounds more awesome compared to those who talk about how smart and great their kids are. That's also because I saw what the baby actually do, instead of just blah-blah-blah stories.

turbulence

My dear husband left for the States this afternoon. Me-Mom-Dad took him to the airport to send him off.

He texted me a few hours ago when he was transiting in Taipei, Taiwan, the flight was super scary. Crazy turbulence happened several times, it freaks him out (takes a lot of effort to freak him out)

I was scared for him, but happy he is still alive.

If we were together we might have holding hands and say that we love each other.

Hope the Taipei-Seattle flight will be ALL MUCH better.

I love husband, a lot

Our Indonesian Wedding, June 26th, 2011

June 26th, 2011, the date we've been waiting since last year, is our final wedding reception day.
We were very lucky as all the preparation has been done by my parents. Venue, food, salon, etc. We just need to dress up and show up with our biggest smile and enjoy the day.

The day started pretty late,My mom and I went to pick up Fiona (my best friend who came all the way from Malaysia with her fiance, Alvin, to be my bridesmaid) around 10.30am, then we head to May May Salon in Kelapa Gading Mal to get hair and make up done.

We made appointment to get the make up and hair do for party, a package which costs about $50/person. So there we go, getting our make up and hair done. Once my hair is done, I asked the person who did my hair to put a big white hair accessories which I will wear for the wedding. The manager of the salon saw it, and seems to be fuming. She start to take pictures of my hair piece (without my consent), and few minutes after that she talked to me and mom (who was waiting for fiona to get her hair done)
She said : "Excuse me, I show ur hair piece pic to my boss (through blackberry messenger), and my boss said that this counts as engagement make up, and thus the cost will be $250."
Me: "Are you serious, just because of this hair piece and it will be $250 instead of $50??"
"Yes, because its become different, you know. The make up is different, and you are counted as engagement make up."
"Which part of the make up is different, may I ask? My make up is totally the same with my mom and Fiona, and the only thing different is because I have this hair piece with me, and it's white. If it's not white, will you do the same to me?"
"Please don't put me in a bad position, my boss will yell at me if I didn't charge you with the engagement make up." ---> bad position my ass, she is the one who put herself in a bad position, because she has a big mouth and share my pics with her boss.
"So, the problem you boss is having is on this hair piece, right? This is what caused her to charge me extra $200 for 5 pieces of hair clip you used to attach this thing on my head, right?"
"Yes."
"Fine, then just take it off. I don't care that much. If this is the problem, you should just take it off. I am not going to pay extra $200 just to have it on my hair by you. But do it properly, I don't want you to ruin my hair do, because it is on the package already."

So, in the end I sat again and the person who did my hair took the hair piece off my hair, but I managed to ask for the hair pin to be brought home. He felt so bad, he kept on apologizing. I told him it's ok, as it was his manager craziness, not him.

I was really intended to make her more fuming (I was upset, but I wasn't in a bad mood), so after my mom paid the bill and everything, and she starts to walk away with Fiona, I walked to the manager (who is still fuming at me), and give her a big HUG and a pat on her shoulder. Reverse psychology, understand? Instead of yelling at her (which she expected me to do), I hugged her. So she can't yell at me (I hugged her for god sake!), but yet more angry inside! She can't rule my world with her anger, instead I ruled her, with my hugs.

My dad picked us up, then we all went to the apartment where Bill and Alvin (and the photographers) are waiting. The photographers are from Latreia photography, they are nice and fun people. We hang out for a while, before I put on my dress.

The dress was made a year ago, based on a model I found on a magazine, and I really loved. I made it at Melia Emmy, in Jakarta. And I only have 2 fittings on the dress when it was still really plain. I was very pleased with the end result. It was really simple yet very beautiful.

With my hand bouquet

I put on the hair piece on my own, but I also asked my cousins to bring some more of hairpins just in case I will need more (which I did, she put so much more to keep it stay in place). Some pictures are taken, then we went to the reception place, by that time (around 5pm), I was so tired and got a little bit cranky (very obvious)

some pics and us at the entrance door :p

We did some general rehearsal, and guests are start coming, and the wedding started. The wedding entrance song was Canon in D, as our original song on CD (Shower the People by James Taylor) can't be played (sad). We did all the process (cut the cake, wedding kiss, wedding toast), stand on the stage to shake hand with the guests, which caused me almost have a face cramp from too much smiling.
I was so excited because a lot of my friends are coming. I talked with people, took some pictures, and basically had a great time. Bill seems to have a great time as well.

We had a lot of fun, and in the end I was so tired, I just sat on the floor.

The wedding toast

All photos are courtesy of LATREIA photography.

Back at home

This trip to Indonesia is the 1st trip for Bill & I to be on the plane for such a longg time. It took us 17 hours on airplane, plus 4 hrs transit to get to Indonesia. We were lucky that the middle seat in between us was empty, which really help us to get a good sleep (space is a big deal when u fly that long).



Husband & I, Sea-Tac Airport

I also bought my 1st 42" ugly doll, which I brought to the plane as my pillow. That was comfortable, not to mention cute! He will be the pillow for our couch, as I always wanted since few years back.

Ugly looks funny here, as if I strangle him to death 
Purse filled with the essentials
My dad wait for us in the airport. The whole process with the immigration for Bill went smoothly, only took a little bit long to wAit for our luggage (we brought 4 big bags!)
The drive home was fine, and it was good to be home. Greeted by my mom, met my nephew for the 1st time (he is pretty cute), ate my mom delicious home made food, and Bill got massage right away.

Happy!

Yay!

Remember my blog post here ?
Well, yesterday we found out that we get the house !!!
Means we will sign the contract this Sunday, and officially moving out by the time we came back from Indonesia!!!

We were so happy, even though we will have lots of expenses through the summer (buying furnitures and all).

Pictures coming up on Sunday (hopefully)

Thank you for all the good luck wishes !

Old picture in a band

My friend, Astrida found old pictures from Junior High, and scanned it.
I got tagged, and it is a picture of me (and some other people) in a band ! Playing BASS !!!

I don't even remember playing that day. I still remember wearing the outfit, but not remember being on the stage play music.
It was our junior high's farewell party, where we stay in the school all night.
It was fun.
The skinny guy on the blue shirt was my ex boyfriend, Adit, whom I dated for 1,5 years.
And actually we're going to have a wedding reception on the same day! What a coincidence!

I remember wearing those jeans which previously belong to my dad, modified with some appliques, black spyderbilt t-shirt (was my fave t-shirt), basketball shoes, and a long sleeves shirt belong to him.

I am excited!

On June 24th - 27th, 

I will get to see this girl :

My BEST friend FIONA will be my bridesmaid for the wedding reception in Jakarta.

I knew her when I was studying Mandarin Chinese in Beijing back in 2007. She was my class mates, we went study and shopping together.

She has a super positive attitude, very polite, and considerate, also cheerful, which are the reasons I love being with her. Her only flaw is that she live too far away from me (or me being far away from her :p)

I only known her for about 5-6 months before the semester ended, and she went back to her hometown in Malaysia, while I moved to Shanghai. But we kept in touch.

It wasn't till July 2010 I flew to Malaysia with my mom, and get to spend few days with her.

I love her and I really can't wait to see her....

If you see this pretty girl on my wedding day, she is my best friend!

Still waiting....

We are still waiting for a phone call from the landlord.
We texted him yesterday, asking if he needs some more paper work.
He said he will get in touch with us this week.
So yeah, we are still waiting.
And every once in a while, we say to each other "I hope we will get the place."

We are so in love with the place.
We even start to decorate the place in our imagination (even though Bill restrain the thought better than me)

We are still crossing our fingers.

Wish us luck.

HOPE

I am crossing my fingers....
We looked into a Mother in Law suite near Columbia City yesterday, and we BOTH fall in love with the place. We have agreed on his terms which will have us to move next week, and have the house empty for at least a month when we are back in Indonesia (means 1 month of rent is wasted), and we gave the owner some cash so he could run a credit check on us.
So it's really depends on him. Whether he will choose us or not.

It was a really small place, being only 650sq foot (60 meter square), but oh its so cozy!
The grassed yard are fully fenced, so it is really dog friendly, and I can't wait to see Muffin laying around in the sun while we do our homework.
It has two beds to plant vegetables so we can try to grow our own veggies.
I imagine us having a bbq party in this yard.

The wall was yellow, with a green window trim, and a red entrance door (I always wanted a red door!!)
Once inside, it is the living room, pretty small, probably the size of my bedroom in Indonesia, with washer and dryer stacked in a little closet behind the opened door. The living room was really bright in the sunny day, having windows on both sides of the wall.

From the living room you could walk to the kitchen, really small, which will make the place really crowded if there were more than two people at the same time.But it was really bright as there is a window to let the sunshine came in. Kitchen appliances are all white, which is a smart choice for a little space, to make the room looks bigger. Refrigerator, dishwasher, and 4 burner electric stove and oven, and a microwave as well. The kitchen cabinets are pretty and the cabinet door was made by a see-through glass.

Bathroom door and bedroom door are all connected to the kitchen.

It was a cute little bathroom, but bigger than anything we ever had in China, with white sink, toilet and bathtub.

Bedroom was decent size, it will fit a queen size bed, and hopefully a little night stand. It has a build in closet on the wall and big window as well.

Yesterday I started browsing into IKEA (cheap furniture for students like us), and looking for little dining table, rugs, kitchen utensils. Looked into Costco for pots and pans ($150 for a decent set of pots and pans...not too bad at all).

Right now I have my hope flying up really high (which I really shouldn't, what if the owner decided not to rent it to us??) for the possibility of having our own nest next weekend.

Keep your finger crossed for us !!!

moving out

Bill and I are planning to move out and rent a 1 bedroom place (can be apartment, MIL suite, etc).
I crossed my fingers. I hope it will happen.
I am excited !
Our own place where we can decorate however we want it !!!

Wish us luck!

.....

Few days ago, a friend lost her fiance, on a motorcycle accident. They are going to get married in October.
I feel sad for her.

It makes me think. How short life can be.
What am I gonna do if the same thing happened to me ?

I will keep on praying for Bill's safety. Always.

I love you, husband

some life updates !

1. Bill bought a 1998 Nissan Pathfinder to be our recreational car. The car needs a bit of work, and new sets of tires, and some seat cover. But it is in a really good condition. We took it to the trail a couple weeks ago, and the 4WD really makes a different. So far muffin seems to hate to sit in the back of the car. Hopefully he'll get used to it soon. Below is a picture of Muffin in the back of our Hyundai. 

We must have just got back from a hike, as his paws are all dirty.

2. Bill and I tried to go out for a little hike every weekend, just to get out of the house, and being close with the nature. Needless to say that is is an exercise we both need after a long week of school. Below are some pictures:

Where we were two weeks ago during a rainy day.

 Bill and I

 Muffin after the hike. It was really wet and muddy. He got a bath once we got home.

3. The weather is friendlier now. In fact, yesterday we finally hit 20C for the first time in 2011, and probably since the last November ! Feels great to feel warm in the sun again. That also means that we are outside more often, and I can get to wear dress again. Last week I wear this dress made by my mom to our nephew's little league baseball game.

I looked pregnant here (I wish!)

Bill's teeth are so perfect, mine looks like a hamster :p

Muffin and I enjoying some sunshine at a school where we live.

4. I registered for Summer quarter where I will take Psych200 class online while I'm back in Indonesia (don't even want to think how I could balance holiday and crammed 5 credit classes in 7 weeks !). This is the last class I have to take as the pre-requisites to apply for nursing school. I am hoping to apply in Fall. 

On the fall quarter, I am taking Intercultural communication with Morgan, and Microbiology with Andrew, Randi and Morgan. These are classes I needed to take before I can graduate from the nursing school. I took it in advance, so I won't need to worry about it when I am on the nursing school (I still have nutrition to take as well !)

5. I want it so bad sometimes my heart ache. But it is what it is.

6. More than anything else, Bill and I are really looking forward to go to Indonesia, and enjoy our holiday! Good food, nice-hot weather, beaches, sunshine ! Too bad Muffin won't be there with us. And I am not looking forward to adjusting to the coldness of Seattle once I got back. It's funny how right now I feel that 20C is warm enough for me to wear a short sleeve clothes, and summer will be hotter than now. But if you just got back from Indonesia, where it is 30C every day and night, Seattle is still a little bit chilly.

7. I never been happier and more comfortable for being me as I am right now.

Why I didn't post anything lately....

Because I no longer can copy image URL from facebook, and I am too lazy to attach image from my computer.

It's back....

The urge is back, and lingers. It is not as bad as in 2008, but it's here.
Yes, I want it. Probably more than I would admit, definitely more than what I always tell people and to myself.
When I thought I do, I was so full of hope, and I was sad to know that I'm not.

If only

Having a baby is as easy as buying a car.

Good Attitude

I have some thinking a few days ago.

I shared to Bill when we went out for a walk.

I've been thinking that everything has come in place so perfectly, to make me like living in Seattle.

Moving is a big thing, and when you move to a different country for the rest of your life, and being away from your comfort zone, it is not easy.

But ever since I came here, everything was just so nice.

Once I got here we traveled to San Fransisco, 

I started school, and made some really good friends, and actually got decent grades,

It was snowing during thanksgiving, and more in December and January.

Bill took me snowboarding, and I actually LIKE it,

I discovered quilting, and love it, and supplies are easy to get here.

I took the Nursing Assistant class, and practice in nursing home and hospital, and enjoyed it,

Went snowshoeing and also LIKE it,

Fabulous friends and study group in school,

Passed driver's license test and NAC state certification test,

etc.

It's not that I never had a bad times, because I do have some bad times, and some bad mood, and some temper tantrum, and some hard times.

But somehow good things came together, and makes me love living here even more.

After I share all these, Bill said: "Well, it's also because you have a good attitude."

"What do you mean by attitude?"

"You are open minded and eager to try everything."

"But I sulked a lot of times too."

"Yes, but it's okay, you still have a good attitude."

I gave his words a thought, and find it true.

Good attitude is necessary.

Being open minded and positive thinking is important.

If you feel good about something, it is easy to make things works.

Great life starts with good attitude.

Life is Great !

Wedding

The happiness of our wedding day, on April 2, 2011 is still lingering on my memory. It always brought a smile to my face.It started early, the sky was still dark when Bill drove me to Seni's house to get my make up done, while he slept on the room next door.

The make up was perfect, Seni's talented hand applied all the essentials so the make up will stay for the whole day. It was soft, but with color. It was colorful, but not over the top. She did a great job on the eye. Few pallets she used to mix the color did show a good result, and the false eyelashes makes it perfect. I thank her for this, and did I mentioned that she trimmed my eyebrows and shaped it so it really fits my face ? I still continue her work of art until today.

The preparation of the wedding went all the way back to last November, when Bill and I started to look for a place to have the wedding. We both are in school, and pretty much busy with homework and study almost all the time. We want the wedding to be as simple as possible, yet memorable.

We looked into some places nearby our house, we browsed for some other possible places. Some are too big, some are too small, some are too costly. Until we find Skanzonia, an old docked boat in Lake Union. It was perfect setting for our wedding. It was on the lake, it is docked so no one will get sea sick, the view was facing Seattle's space needle, and it's only 15 minutes away from our house. To make it more perfect, they have their own caterers, which bring us less trouble to find a good caterer. Yay! No hassle to find a caterer and deal with them.

Beautiful view from the boat.

The DIY invitation are bought from an artsy-crafty store near our house. We print out the desired texts on the paper provided, and sticks all part together, put our pictures in, print out people's address, stick them all together, and send it from the post office.Simple and nice.

Clothes we wear on the ceremony

The dress for wedding ceremony in Holy Family Church is Kebaya. I got it made back in last June, by my neighbour in Indonesia. I just want it to be white, and with color, and pretty. The shoes that were wore with kebaya are made in a shoe shop in Indonesia for $30. Comfortable and pretty.

Bill's suit for both ceremony and reception was made in Shanghai, and he wore them for my brother's wedding back in 2009. Batik ties is purchased when he came over in the same year.

Reception dress I got from Etsy and the boots 

The dress for the reception was a vintage boat neck dress I got from Etsy. When my mom came, she put some beads on it, and makes it even prettier. The bow are made by me (with my mom's help). The cowboy boots accompany the dress was from back in October 2010, when I fell in love with cowboy boots for the first time. The decision to wear boots was the best decision I made. It was so comfortable, I was able to enjoy the party without any pain on my feet, without being barefooted.

Wedding bouquet and wrist corsages

As for the flowers, I was talking to my Maid of Honor, Michelle, that I am looking for a place to find a cheap flowers. And she offered to do my flowers. It will be cheaper of course, as she don't want to get paid to do it. I told her our budget for flowers, and what kind of flowers I wanted, and she made it ALL came true. I love tiger lilies (some called it Oriental lilies), and the arrangement should be simple. The hand bouquet should be just stems of lilies, tied by ribbon. Flowers for the table can be any kind in assorted colors. The vase should be just simple, and can be in all different shapes. She do extra effort to go all the way to Ikea in Renton to get beer mugs as the vase, tied it with fuschia and pink ribbon, and for the flowers, she got me another tiger lilies ! My favourite! And the good thing is no flowers got wasted. We encouraged our guests to bring home a vase of flowers with them.

We have fabulous Naomi as our photographer. She is a friend of Bill's, she is eager to do wedding photo shot, and we truly trust her.We bought a briefly used, and higher level Canon DSLR camera, and some nice lenses, and we give it for her to practice, two weeks before the wedding. Things goes both ways, she practiced hard with our camera, and we're not being demanding, and the pictures are gorgeous.We are fully satisfied, and now we have nice camera and lenses as a result.

Flower and table runner

The batik table runner for the dining table are made by my mom. Some Indonesian culture.

Sign in here !

My dad brought some colorful wayang bookmarks for our guests to bring home, they are from Jogjakarta. Another Indonesian culture, not to forget that it is useful.Guest book was a black moleskin book bought in a bookstore. We stick pictures on it, and my mom did some writings on it. The big photo album was made by me in 2007, as our 1st anniversary presents for Bill.

Coconut cream cake - amazing cake topper

The cake was from Metropolitan Market. White and delicious coconut cream cake, and the fabulous cake topper is a wedding gift from my cousin, Monique. Perfect.

Fun time

The combination of our desire of a simple and beautiful wedding, surrounded by helpful and talented people around us, and our good attitude about everything definitely erase the words stress from the preparation process.

We enjoy the reception on the boat, keep moving around to greet family and friends, enjoying delicious food, and companion. We danced, we laughed, we had fun.

A wedding is only one day, Marriage is a LIFE TIME.

Reasons to live

There are lots of reasons why I don't want to die:

1. I don't want Bill to live alone without me :)
2. My parents are still alive, and I should be the one who send them away
3. Too many places I haven't visit.
4. Pancakes, Indonesian food, Michelle's homemade spaghetti sauce, Marcia's chicken soup, Zelah's stir fry asparagus with meat, my mom's homemade food, and tons of millions of food I love.
5. Muffin my boy, all my pride and joy.
6. My blog, who will continue to write on them ?
7. Nice warm weather every summer, snow in the winter, falling leaves during fall, and the blooming flowers in the spring.
8. Silly and funny moments with Bill
9. etc
10. etc
11. etc

Live life to the fullest, Laugh as there's no tomorrow, Love one another.

I marry bill for the 2nd time, yesterday !!

It was April 2, 2011,
I marry Bill again for the 2nd time, this time at the Church.

Everything went really well !
Make up was done by the talented Seni Jehnsen, and hair was done by Linda.
Flowers are done by my maid of honor, Michelle Cereghino.

I wear Kebaya for the ceremony in the Church,
and a short dress with cowboy boots for the reception.

The food are great, the guests are awesome, the weather was nice (no rain !), and the flowers are gorgeous.
Everything is perfect to what I pictured it to be.

I am such a lucky girl.
And Bill is one lucky gentleman to have me as his wife :)
And I love my wedding ring, I can't stop staring at it !

I will post some pictures later, once I retrieve the files from our fabulous photographer Naomi Parker.

it is okay

During life, you will encounter a lot of people

And you develop relationship with them
you become close, and they became your friends

Some are best friends, good friends, old friends, study friends, and some are true friends.

As time goes by, you see things are different.

Maybe they grow so fast and you are not,

or you feel like you are growing, and they stay in the same place.

And you feel things changed.

You don't interact with them in the same way you did before.

Comments became irritating, insulting, hurting.

You got frustrated to share ideas, opinion, or even just being you,
 and sometimes you just don't want to say anything, to avoid arguments.
And then you came to a realization.

You've grown apart.

We are no longer in the same places.

We are no longer able to share a good conversation, without wanting to hurt each other.

We are no longer enjoy each other companion.

And it is okay.

The statement "friends are forever" is not true.

And if you count the amount of people you've became friends with,
you'll see that not all of them are still your friends today.

They may became enemies, or those who you consider as "People that I used to know"

And it is okay.

This doesn't mean that you have to hate them,

or to cut the relationship with them.
They can still be a friend,
or those people you used to know.
No one is to be blamed on.

It's just you go into a different direction.
You just have to accept that. 

Therefore words of jealousy won't hurt you.

Comments won't be irritating.

Just because you've known them for years,
and they were your best friends before,
doesn't mean they will be forever.

And it's fine. 

There is nothing wrong with it.
People change, and changes are good.

Because in life you will find a true friends.
True friends are there to stay.

Together you grow to become a better person.

True friends cherish each other, and be happy for each other, and mourn together.

True friends don't get jealous, or underestimate you.

True friends are there whenever, ready to catch you when you fall.

They are proud for your accomplishments.

This is an important understanding that I got today.

And I feel so much better.

I will be happy no matter what.
I have true friends, best friends, study partner, people that I used to know, etc

Life is great and growing is an essence of life !

May you all be happy.

Lately....

1. been browsing for vintage clothes
2. saw so many flowers and dresses online for the wedding
3. cleaned up both rooms
4. talked about truck a LOT
5. ate pho a lot too
6. not enough studying
7. hate statistics
8. want a new purse and cowboy boots 

I'll wear....

this

this

this

especially this one !!

This quarter is almost over !

And I am so GLAD !!
I'm so done with this quarter, and I'm ready to move on.
In between quarters, there will be :

1. Parents here
2. Meike here
3. Our WEDDING
4. Canada !
5. lots of dresses, no more jeans !
6. lots of happiness

I can't wait !!

Clinical - The After

After 8 days doing clinical, there are things that learned :

1. I am very grateful with my body. It works perfectly. I am capable on doing things on my own, and it is such a big privilege compare to those old folks who need help even only to stand up.
2. My memory is still intact.
3. I am on regular diet, which mean I can eat whatever I want, in any consistency that I like.
4. Glad to actually have a heart and care about those who need my help.
5. Knowing which techniques are right or wrong.
6. Relieved to know that I am comfortable and confident on what I do and to my work environment.

Things I need :

1. More comfortable shoes, after being on your feet for at least 8 hours, the heels of my feet hurts, my legs are tired. I need shoes with more support.
2. Keep on practicing my skills, and be more proficient on it.
3. Keep the heart and the spirit to study and become better
4. More sleep
5. Perseverance on study

I am very lucky to get enrolled on such a good NAC program.

Clinical Practice : Hospital

The second part of our clinical will take place in the hospital.
It is really different.
While in the nursing home you kept busy on taking care of the old people, in hospital, the patient comes from different ages.
In the nursing home, you are responsible for 10 residents, in hospital that I worked in, you can only have 6 max.

So, hospital is an interesting place to see many kind of people with their own problem.
There is a person who is morbidly obese, and when she need to be taken care of, it takes more than just 1-2 person to do it. This person weigh more than 400lbs (+/- 200kgs), and man, its BIG.
If the person is incontinent, means we have to deal with BM. And when it happens, it takes 5-6 person clean it up.
3 person each side, one side to hold, the other side to work on cleaning.
It is important to make sure that the patient is being well cleaned. All skin flaps, all parts needs to be clean and dry, to prevent skin break down and pressure ulcer from forming. It will consume a lot of wet wipes, and a protective pad to be use, and time.

There will also be the time where the patient yell at you, and you just need to understand that they are worry, and may have fear about their sickness and the family they left behind. So when they do, just note it, but don't put it inside your heart.

Anyway, I realize interesting thing about me is that I don't get bothered by BM (aka Bowel Movement or poop),I can't smell it, and I'm totally fine with it (to my surprise) but I gagged over the food left on a plate in the sink !

Me wearing Carribean Blue Scrubs, after clinical in the hospital.

NAC Clinical Practice : Nursing Home

I start the NAC clinical practice last Sunday, Feb 20 in a nursing home with 7 other girls in the program.

I was excited, and also nervous. I dont know how I will react when I'm dealing with real human stool when I have to give peri care (clean up genital area) for the residents.

We got there at 1.45, bring our dinner, and our armor (stethoscope, gait belt), our skills list that we have to do (24 of them !), and starts working.

I was in the unit C, and it is occupied with old people who need much assistance in almost everything.

Most of them are incontinent (means they wear protective underwear), need help on eating, and even to move on their bed. 

I felt pretty depressed when I got there, since it is my first time visiting (and actually working) the nursing home.

My 1st day wasn't too bad. I helped people moving, clean their private, and give them hand and nail care, and helped with some feeding.

I got home so tired at around 11pm, take a shower and went to bed with Bill.

The second day I was in dementia unit. 

I wasn't too sure about it, but I felt so excited. 

And I love it !

I love dementia unit. People are happy (even though confused), and they are so sweet.

One lady keep on telling me that I'm an angel every 10 mins, and some lady keep on asking the same questions ever 5 mins.

I get to give an old man much needed bath, and I actually dealing with dirty underpants, and clean it all on my own. And much to my surprise, I can't smell it, and I am so proud to say that I clean them really well, as I should.

I am really happy when I clean them, and know that they will be comfortable in their clean protective underwear. 

I talked with some of them, and it is interesting that they still have some memories from the past left.

I did dealing with an old man who is really confused, but I love love love it.

I am glad that I could finally do what I interested on doing, and actually enjoy it.

I will work my hardest to make difference in these people's life.

They might not remember me, as they're confused on their own. But it makes me happy when I knew that I helped them to be clean, warm, and fed.

So far I enjoy my job, and I hope I will be forever.

Next week I will have a clinical practice in Hospital.

It will be different as it is in fast pace work, but I am excited !

That's for now, as I have to study A&P. I'm really struggling to get the information stays in my brain.

1st quilt

For Bill's birthday, I made him a quilt, and my mission is to create a beautiful meaningful quilt, which have a little bit a story behind every fabric pattern.

I don't know much about cutting fabric, and even less on sewing on fleece fabric (they're slippery !)
And I am so glad there is a backing behind the fleece, or else, that quilt will be a piece of shame (considering how ugly and it's not straight !!)

My friend Michelle, who is the owner of quilt finishing business, Finishing Fairies, helped me to square my quilt, put batting on it, sew the backing, put the quilt on her amazing long arm machine, and put the front binding together, and she must have an amazing skill, because the quilt turn out to be REALLY PRETTY !!
If you are in the radius of 30 miles from Seattle area, and have a quilt to finish, contact her, you will NEVER be disappointed.

I finished the binding in a few nights, and managed to give Bill his birthday quilt even though it was 1 week late.

Pictures of the quilt :

The quilt on Bill's old bed (front)

Cute baby pattern for the back

birthday quilt :)

His school

his favourite baseball team 

Muffin (too bad I can't find white dog)

International traveler, spend lots of time in airplane 

He introduced me to pirate booty 

He asked me to make him quilt with cars and trucks, I will make the serious one, someday !

He used to call me little baby monkey

He like the quilt, though I am the regular user.

I cant wait to have some extra time to sew, I really want to make a  real quilt ! 

or to sew again.