Winter Break

I'm so glad I don't have homework on the back of my mind anymore... I'm not used to this feeling. And I still cannot believe the semester's over. In August, my inner cynic doubted my ability to balance full-time school and part-time work but I proved myself wrong and that's a huge victory for me.

Lately, I've been thinking about my 2010 New Year's Resolutions. I want to create one because I want to accomplish lots of things this year. But for sure I'd like to be more involved in community activities, such as running for a good cause (still thinking about joining the January 1st, 5k run!), donating blood, or helping kids learn how to read... stuff like that. I would also like to find Vegan Filipino restaurants and see for myself if it's possible to eat Filipino food without meat. Also, I want to conquer certain phobias next year. Three things I fear: heights, spiders, and public speaking... hopefully I'll free myself from one of them. I would also like to learn more about the Culture and History of the Philippines. I feel like if I had a better understanding of my roots, I'll appreciate it more. I'm too Americanized. Trying new things is going to be big for me in 2010. The sky's the limit!

New topic: Nine West. My manager finally went on maternity leave. I'm really excited for her! I'm hoping her baby will be born around (or on) my birthday. On the other hand, the staff isn't doing so well without her. We have two new associates who are Assistant Manager 1 and 2. One of them, apparently, is finding it difficult to blend in with us. It is hard to be the new person, I don't blame her. She has her way of running things, and we have our old way of running things. I truly believe it's all just a huuuuuuge misunderstanding between associates. Everyone has to just suck it up and run with it. I like new ideas as long as it's going to improve and benefit everyone in the long run. My only responsibility right now: train the new associates before I leave.

Fall '09 Semester

....is officially over! Last Saturday, I had my online Psychology final. Monday, I had my online English 1A final. Tuesday, I had my American Government final. And today, I had my U.S. History final. I was studying nonstop everyday since last Friday. Now that finals are over, it feels so good to be done with this semester. I'm proud of myself for handling four classes and a job. I'll admit, there were many, many, many, many times where I had to choose between homework or fun, and silly me, I chose fun over homework! Next semester, it's not going to be like that. I can't afford to choose fun over homework.

MY GRADES FOR FALL '09
English 1A - B
Psychology - Pass
U.S. History - B
American Gov't - B

Winter '10 Classes:
Psychology 12- Human Growth and Development (Online course)
Physical Education- Beginning Badminton

Spring '10 Classes:
English 1B- English Composition
Comm 10- Public Speaking
BioSci 11- Human Biology
Math 10- Elementary Statistics
Physical Education- Stretch & Fitness (TV course)

Short-term Goal: Transfer to SJSU by Fall 2010
Long-term Goal: Graduate w/ BA Degree in Psychology by Fall 2012

My Wishlist

Scrapbook from Target - $21.99

I'd like to start one for 2010 :)

T-mobile's myTouch Phone - $149

Forever21 Diamond Print Tank - $13.80

The Office Season 5
Walmart $28.32
Best Buy $39.99
Fry's $39.99
Target $44.99

Alicia Keys' New Album The Element of Freedom
Comes out December 15th

Congratulations, Brian & Sheryll!

2 More Weeks

Two more weeks of school. I'm excited but not. Two weeks usually go by fast, but I know it's gonna be the longest two weeks ever! I've got projects due back-to-back, including essays, quizzes, and tests. I just need to remind myself to take it easy and to have fun... it's the struggle that makes college experience most memorable. I know I'll pull through. I kind of wish I didn't have work so I could put more time and effort into school.

Black Friday was the worst. I worked from midnight to 11am... in fact, I didn't get any sleep the day before since it was Thanksgiving Day (besides, who needs sleep when you have loved ones, turkey, and dessert?! NOT I!). Brian worked with me at midnight. He helped me stay awake at work. I was impressed how he handled a whole aisle to himself without much experience... I'm very proud of him! If I were to look back to Black Friday, I'd say midnight to 4am was a nightmare. First, Brian and I had to park a block away at his cousin's house because of the heavy traffic on Montague, Great Mall Parkway, and Main Street. Luckily, it took only 8 minutes to walk to the mall from his cousin's house. Second, we were short on staff members when we needed it the most. One of my associates had an anxiety attack because of all the people in the mall (poor co-worker). And third, I could barely walk around our store without bumping into people. Our store was so messy, it felt like an EF5 tornado hit our store. And then by the end of my shift, my hatred level for Black Fridays sprung straight through the ceiling... F Black Fridays!

Cyber Monday was insane. I heard on the news that every minute people were spending a million dollars online. I find that amazing how people take advantage of this sale.. I would've bought myself something too, but my poor Honda Civic needed new wheels, an oil change, and new transmission fluids. I probably spent ~$450 on all of that. Every time I take my car for service, I get this urge to learn about cars and how to maintain them. I feel like I get less than what I paid for every time. Especially since I'm a girl, these auto-mechanic specialists think I'm stupid and don't know shit about cars (it is true to an extent but it gives me reason to learn about cars). I just hate feeling helpless.

Brian finally completed his externship at Stanford Hospital. I'm really glad that the people liked him there. They want him to apply the moment he gets his license in the mail. I'm so proud of him. The only thing is I wish it wasn't so far. Traffic is a biiitch. I went there between my classes to eat lunch with Brian, but without traffic it only takes me about 20-25 minutes to drive there as opposed to 50 minutes with traffic. Brian and Sheryll's graduation from Unitek is on December 12th. I can't wait to celebrate with them. "It's gonna be AWESOME!!!!"

Today we celebrated Mayumi's 9th Birthday. I felt bad because I didn't have a surprise gift for her like what I've done in the past birthdays. Instead, I took her to the mall to buy whatever she wanted. I guess that sort of gift is ineffective to kids. My bad! A huge fail for me. We took her to Chuck E Cheese, though. She had fun until Brian's nephew punched her on the shoulder to give him more tokens. We need to teach that boy some manners! RULE #1: NEVER...EVER!....PUNCH THE BIRTHDAY CELEBRANT. Overall, she was happy and that's what matters in the end.

Today we also decorated Brian's living room with Christmas decorations. We also decorated their Christmas Tree. Even though I grew up not celebrating Christmas, I enjoy this time of year. Perhaps it's because it's the end of the year and how, for American customs, we are given vacations or breaks from work/school. It's also a time where family members who live far apart from each other are given the opportunity to reunite without any interferences. I'm celebrating the season of love and relaxation with family and friends despite religious/cultural differences. It's all love, no hate.

October 29, 30, & 31

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Sheryll's Birthday Party

Friday, October 30, 2009

Kaycee's Birthday Party

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Michelle's Birthday Party

Daniel and Omar's Birthday

Last Saturday, after watching Paranormal Activity, Truth, John, Brian, and I went to Fremont to celebrate Omar and Daniel's birthday. We don't normally hang out with Cathrine and her side of friends, but after hanging out and meeting everyone at the party it made me wonder: Why don't we do this more often!? I always hang out with John John because he and I have a mutual group of friends... and we always invite Cathrine, too..... This was the first time Cathrine invited us over, lol...

Paranormal Activity and Zombieland

Last Saturday I watched the Paranormal Activity movie with the guys. I have a hard time sleeping after watching scary movies. Even though I read the spoilers, I was still scared! The whole time I was plugging my ears because the scariest part to me are the sounds. But this movie had a lot of silence which made you WANT to hear what's going on (since you don't actually see anything). I liked the movie; it's different from your typical scary movie. Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night, I think it's because some paranormal activity just happened to me...... (O_o)


I also watched Zombieland last Friday with Brian. I enjoyed it because majority of my nightmares are of me running away from zombies. I HATE zombie movies. It took me 1/2 way into the movie to finally relax my muscles...lol. I hate that I'm afraid of zombies, I know they're not real... but I like to scare myself with my imagination. This movie was pretty funny, though. When this movie comes out on DVD, I'm going to buy it.

P.A.N.

Parent Appreciation Night - Although I was not able to attend this event, I helped somewhat prepare. The makeup/hairstylists were April Bernal, Sophia Lising, and myself. April and Sophia are very talented ladies! It was a fun experience working with others who share the same interests as me =)

Afel's 22nd Birthday

On September 26, we celebrated Afel's 22nd Birthday at BJ's Restaurant in Cupertino, CA.

October

New month. New me. New goals.

My goals for this semester:

1. Pass Psychology, English 1A, American Government, and U.S. History, and by that I'd have to:

• Attend each class; no skipping whatsoever
• Be on top of homework assignments/projects
• Study ahead of time until I'm confident I'll pass the exams
• Manage my time better by turning chill times to more effective ones
• Work hard on every English Compositions
• Ask for help (never hesitate!)
• Take good notes from the lectures

2. Register for English 1B for Winter Session and the rest of my classes I need to transfer for Spring Semester

3. Help/support John pass his classes

4. ENJOY! San Jose State is just around the corner =)

Mayweather vs Marquez

Many of us witnessed Money Mayweather's victory tonight at Brian's house. Now I'd like to see Mayweather fight Pacquiao!

Pacquiao's next fight is in November against Cotto. I absolutely cannot wait!

New News!

Wow... I've abandoned my blogger in the month of August lol! I only made 4 entries.... man, that sucks! It sucks because I had fun in August and since I didn't blog about it, I'm gonna forget those precious memories. Damn my short term memory! Anyway, I'm just going to type nonstop without going back to correct anything. Sooo... here I go!

I'm in Mission College's library right now. I just got finished with my U.S. History class and now I'm in the library waiting for John to get out of his next class. My purpose was to start on hw, but obviously I'm on blogger procrastinating.. My next class was supposed to be Public Speaking but I dropped it. Yes, I know, I talked about this class in my previous entry. I did say I was hesitant, didn't I?! I thought... since I'm already a full-time student taking English 1A, Psychology, American Government, and U.S. History, I thought, maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to take Public Speaking. I may sound like I'm making excuses but I think Public Speaking requires a lot of preparation (especially in my condition where I despise Public Speaking lol). So I felt that since I already have a lot on my plate, I should be realistic and drop it. So that's the end of that.

Brian and Sheryll finally finished their Pharmacy Technician course at Unitek and now they're about to start on their externships! Brian will be going to Stanford Hospital and Sheryll will be going to Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara. I'm so proud of them for all their hard, hard work. While I'm here, I'll just take some time to CONGRATULATE MY BOYFRIEND AND SHERYLL! Yay! Money will soon be coming your way! It's funny how it was just last Fall (2008) when I threw this Pharmacy idea into their heads...

Let's see... OH.. John got me into this new TV show series called LOST. I'm sooo addicted to that show! For the past few nights before I slept I've been watching it... sometimes it pisses me off because I can't tell myself to go to sleep. Like last night, I was awake until 4am watching LOST. I think I started watching it at around 11pm... so that means I've been watching LOST for 5 hours! How horrible is that?! I literally had to force myself to sleep. I had tell myself step by step....shutdown the laptop, go pee, and lay in bed until you fall asleep. And while I was trying to sleep I kept thinking what is going to happen in the next episode!? I kept twirling in bed.....it was so frustrating.. AND I only had 4 hours of sleep because I had to wake up for school this morning...what a bitch. Hopefully after school, I'll try to take a nap before work.

Man, I can't believe that exactly one month ago I was in Port Orchard, WA celebrating Brian's Grandma's birthday.........

Okay, enough of this. Seriously. I gotta start on my hw now.

Public Speaking

So lately, I've been stressing out/nervous over school. It doesn't start until next week but there's one class that I'm hesitant about. I wanna drop it, but I need it to transfer. PUBLIC SPEAKING. I do consider myself a "people person" but I would just rather choose to be anti-social. I would rather use my time elsewhere....I feel like I can make better use of my time doing something else.

The reason why I'm stressing about this class is because I've had bad experiences when I was younger at church.

(1) Andrew wanted me to pray for a huge devotional prayer for church, and the whole chapel was filled with people. I backed out last minute.
(2) In choir, they would randomly pick someone to pray at the beginning and ending of choir practices. Once, I accidentally said, "Please bless our sins" lol! I didn't even notice I said it until all my friends were making fun of me afterward.

I like praying! Don't get my wrong! I just don't like being the one to lead a prayer.

I know I should face my fear in public speaking. I gotta learn to put my foot in mirky waters.

WASHINGTON TRIP

August 14-18, 2009

I posted the pictures from the trip in my facebook (and some on my myspace). I'm using today to chill and reflect on my trip. OVERALL: I had so much fun, I didn't waste a single minute there. I had the opportunity to know more about Brian and his family and their stories/background. It was a fun, learning experience. I wanna go back again maybe next year =)

Truth's Birthday/Beach Day

Last Friday was the funnest beach day ever @ Sunset Beach. It was the most awaited beach trip of 2009. Jerome and I planned the trip but EVERYONE helped out and had their part in making this day memorable. I LOVE THEM! At first the day started off cloudy. There were a few people who doubted the weather but thankfully it cleared up and the weather became PERFECT BEACH WEATHER =) Our day consisted of lots of food, laughter, volleyball, water balloons, swimming, football, log tossing, Truth caking, picture taking, guitar playing, and we topped it all off with a bonfire. Everyone was so animated, playful, and creative which made the whole experience excitingly interesting! :)

August =)

School starts at the end of this month...I can't wait. Becoming a full-time student is going to be so hectic -- I can see it already. But I believe in myself. I know I can do it. Less time at work means more time for studying. My only concern now are my health benefits. I'm demoting myself at work which means no more health benefits for me... I'm 23-years-old which automatically disqualifies me from my parents' health benefits. Anything can happen anytime... I just want to be prepared just in case. Gotta do some research.

Last week I saw my best friend, Cherry again :) Although I hardly speak with her nowadays, every time we reunite it's like we picked up from where we left off. She's growing up into a mature, young woman, and I'm proud of her. I support her 100% in everything she does... I trust that she could make the right decisions without needing my help, and I'm pretty sure she feels the same way.

Experiencing the 95th Anniversary of the INC reminded me so much of the 30th Anniversary a few years back. I saw old faces, and met new ones. I went with my mom, John, and Mayumi. I wanted Cathrine to go but she couldn't find anyone to cover her shift. I wonder how many people who went that day called in sick for work? Hehe, only God knows.

August Birthdays:
August 1 - Mark Cruz's Birthday
August 5 - Kristine Sabado's Birthday
August 7 - Truth Esguerra's Birthday
August 14 - Manolo Garcia's Birthday
August 15 - Brian's Grandma's Birthday
August 20 - Cherry Gregorio's Birthday

Farmville

The guys and I have been playing this time-killing game for a few weeks now. It's an application on Facebook.com. All you do is plant crops so that you could earn money. Once you get the money, you can buy things like a farm animal, decorations, trees, etc. You could even extend the size of your farm. It's a simple game that we all like to play. From my research, this game was inspired by another game called "Farmtown." Another fun thing about Farmville is that you could visit your friends' farms and see what they got goin' on, lol. I'm sure our interest in this game will end in another month or so but until then, we're enjoying it now. Hahaha!

The Greatest Gift....

...that you could ever give to your own children is CONFIDENCE.

Farewell, Jeff :)

After a long day at the festival, we spent some time with our dear friend, Jeff.
Jeff is leaving us for the Marines once more...

Take it easy over there!

Garlic Festival @ Gilroy

Yesterday a bunch of us went to the Garlic Festival at Gilroy. $12 Admission for adults and $6 for kids. We were pretty much stuck in traffic on our way there for two hours, which was horrible. Then when we arrived, the place was so packed! Since we all took seperate cars, we all arrived at the festival at different times... majority of the time, I believe, we were trying to unite everyone together... But it was hard. As much as we wanted to, Brian and I didn't try anything garlic. I wanted to try the garlic ice cream, garlic fries, garlic chicken, etc... but seeing more and more lines after being stuck in traffic was discouraging. The weather was dry and hot -- it was just an uncomfortable environment. I'm not a fan of dry, hot, crowded places... As always, I tried to make the whole experience worthwhile. I appreciated live country music with loved ones while sitting under the tree. I also welcomed the cool breeze under the shade while eating frozen lemonade :)

Congratulations, Brian!

Brian is almost done with his Pharmacy Technician program at Unitek... He started in February, and now I'm guessing he has 3 more months to go. Almost everyday he's studying new medicines and their uses. He has 2 or 3 quizzes/tests every week. So yesterday he came home happy because he passed his up-front examination and upon completion, he obtained his Certification in Chemotherapy!! And besides that, a few weeks ago he was offered an externship at Stanford Hospital... my mom works there, too! I'm happy/excited/thankful/smiley for him! He's doing what he needs to do -- and doing well at it :)

Good luck to Sheryll today! She's doing her examination too (And congratulations in advance, Sheryll! I believe in you!!)

Next stop: CERTIFIED PHARMACY TECHNICIANS! :)

Nine West Bootie "Ice Blue"

The bootie that we got last week! I'm getting this in Dark Teal and Tan.

Long, Fun Weekend :)

Friday, July 17th - I opened the store. Got off around 6:00pm. Went to Brian's house to chill until poker night at Jerome's house. Around 10pm, we all met up... I tried not to rush or go all-in because I wanted to stay in the game for as long as I could. Jerome told me earlier at work that "You either have the cards, or you don't." So I tried to keep that in mind the whole time. I also tried some bluffing techniques on them which worked because I ended up winning the whole thing. It was Jerome, me, and John as the final three.... lol! Then Jerome killed John... then I killed Jerome :] it was a fun(ny) night....

Saturday, July 18th - After winning from last night's poker tournament at Jerome's house, I woke up at 6:30am to hike up Mission Peak again. It was me, Brian, John, my dad, Jerome, Sean, and Jenny. Buuut maaaan, my legs were so sore! We didn't go up to the top, I went to the 3rd bench with Jerome and John while Sean, Jenny, my dad, and Brian went up to the 4th bench. The 4th bench is the last bench before you head up to the peak... so it's still very high up there. I think Mission Peak is a really good workout because one, it has major incline and two, my whole body is working and sweating. Afterwards, we showered and got ready... around 12:00pm we headed over to Sweet Tomatoes in Santa Clara for lunch. At 2:00pm, I went to work... I took it easy at work... conserving my energy since I had to close the store with Luis. Brian picked me up from work at around 9:30pm, and we ate at Jack in the Box. Once we went back to his house, I knocked out completely.... I wanted to play with Brian but everytime I closed my eyes for just two seconds I'd just fall straight asleep.






Sunday, July 19th - I woke up and went to church because my mom told me they were doing a head-count. I almost fell asleep during the lesson but I tried pinching my hands as hard as I can to stay awake. Mayumi wore dirty green plaid flats with her floral dress but then, that's what happens when we let Mayumi dress herself up. Funnny. Today I also wore a sleeveless top to church. It was no "sphagetti strap" or anything... and none of the deconesses stopped me to tell me it's wrong... so I guess it was ok? LOL. Then my dad, John, Myooms, and I went to Liou's Restaurant near Golfland for lunch. Then at 2pm, I went back to my house to find that Ka Ehmir took his couches back from our living room. So I took the couches in my room back to the living room with the help of my brother. Since there was extra space in my room, I reorganized, cleaned, dusted, vacuumed, and mopped. AND I did laundry while I cleaned. I felt so productive :) Then I went to Valleyfair with Brian and John to return the quad eyeshadow that I bought last week...I felt that the colors weren't "me" because they were too girlie. It was just a relaxing day.


This weekend I'm looking forward to going to the Garlic Festival in Gilroy. My manager gave me and Jerome that day off just so we can go. I'm excited because a lot of us are going! And on top of that, I get paid this week :) There are these new booties that arrived at our store that I sooooo badly want!!

Yesterday looked something like this:

6:15am - Woke up, not immediately but I did.
7:30am - Arrived at Mission Peak w/ my Dad, Jerome, Michelle, Analyn, Analyn's dog, Wilson, JR, and Lloyd. My dad wiped all of us, he didn't even stop to rest, he went ALL the way up to the peak!
10:30am - Went home to shower and get ready... I saw tan lines while looking at myself in the mirror lol
12:30pm - Barbeque at Jerome's house: ate, laughed, played Texas Hold 'Em with Brian, John, and Truth. I loooooved the Custard Pie my dad bought.... and Thanks Michelle for the yummy flavored BBQ!
3:30pm - Went to Fry's so John John could buy the Starcraft game
5:00pm - Chilled with Brian at his house for a bit..
6:00pm - Went to Morrill Middle School to watch the guys play basketball... it was one of the funniest/funnest games I've watched. Mark, Cuong, and Faith showed up to join us.
9:30pm - Played poker till midnight... where I took out Cuong during the first round LOL!
12:30am - SLEEP!

What a loooooooong fun day :)

Choir

I miss it.

Fall 2009

Things are going to be different. I've already talked to my manager about demoting from Assistant Manager to Senior Sales... I'll have more time to concentrate on school. I'm looking forward to becoming a full-time student. I'm taking 6 classes next semester:

1. English 1A
2. US History
3. General Psychology
4. American Government
5. Astronomy Lab
6. Public Speaking

I'm still hesitant about taking Public Speaking... I'm just soooo shy! It makes me nervous just thinking about that class! Maybe, just maybe, I won't take it this semester... and I don't think it's such a good idea to take that class with Brian and John John... they're just gonna make me laugh or make fun of me... waaahhhh! lol

New news: I just found out that our company is closing down our sister store Anne Klein which is a couple stores away from Nine West. On top of that, Erika is transferring back to our store!! x) I'm excited to have her back because it was fun working with her. But it's really sad news for the other associates..... =( It's also perfect timing I'm going back to school and my manager is 3 months pregnant -- we're going to need all the help we can get.

My Makeup Kaboodle

So, a few months back I found the perfect makeup "train case". I wanted a sturdy and cheap one... and I got this one from Walgreens for $29.99! I went to Target the other day and saw that they were selling this same exact one for $41!! Target prices are bullcrap (sometimes).

So this is how it looks when you first open it. On the left, I keep my q-tips, a tiny mirror, extra brushes that I bought from the Coastal Scents website, and my Laura Mercier eyeliner. On the right, I have my eyeliners, mascaras, scissor, lash glue, primers, and carmex.

Underneath the right side, I have my single MAC eyeshadows, Sephora lipglosses, and MAC lipsticks. I also like to pile my smaller palettes on top, but I'll show those later.

Underneath the left side, I have my makeup remover, face powders, one MAC blush, more single MAC eyeshadows, and my single Victoria Secret eyeshadows. Seriously though, I need to depot my MAC eyeshadows into a palette. They're taking too much freakin' space!

In the middle I like to keep all my brushes and larger palettes.

These are my brushes (from Cathrine - thank you again!!). I honestly don't know what brand the larger one is... they shed at first, but not anymore. I use these brushes on my models. The travel-sized brushes are Japanesque, which is a really good brand. I highly recommend Japanesque brushes because they're soft on the skin, and doesn't feel prickly. I use the Japanesque brushes for myself.. I don't use it on anyone else!!

Besides my brushes, I keep the rest of my palettes.

I finally completely my first MAC palette :)

These are my mini palettes that I love!

Aren't they pretty?!?!?!

Make-up is seriously an expensive hobby, therefore I felt this was blog worthy.