Signs and Switches

I can see signs of fall everywhere lately....

thru these clouds getting darker and darker since Thursday....

cravings for "hot and sour soup".....

The Saigon Garden, Vietnamese Restaurant in Parksville is one of our pride here in town. If you are grabbing a quick lunch, it's a go-to-place but you have to be there before noon to avoid the crowd. It fills up fast for office workers and families alike. Dinner is usually early since they close as early as 7pm. They have the best soup, "sweet and sour" with lemon grass which you can get in "combo" or "prawns" with vermicelli, my favorite.

back to school, back to Learning New Things, like this one....

with Shimelle, all is new. She's been teaching on-line classes for years but I joined this one just last year. I am aiming to finish this book and hope to do a daily post here this September. The transition from sunny days to this cloudy weather would do me good with an inspirational class like this. Come and join us, I promise you nothing but FUN and inspiration.

and I'm excited about this new class too....

with Cathy Zeilske, another one of my fave instructors and my first this year on this class, ME-The Abridged Version. And because September is a special month, it's my special gift to myself.....I can hear myself singing September morn, dadadadada.....is a brand new day....lalalalalalalala......and everytime, for the last three years, at least a week before it starts, I get into a panicky mode, filled with excitement, less sleep like right now, I've been up since 4 this morning. Can you tell?

....in romantic way, September morning makes me feel that way.....bec this one is our
                                THIRD YR. ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, I didn't mean to scream at you but can you feel the energy? And his birthday too, my honey! hmm.....

good endings.... remember the Beach Fest? the summer heat?

It's officially over-

 for the fest, and last night was the 2nd weekend that we had a display of fireworks to say farewell...

new beginnings.....

here's me, right now, looking like this, 5 days a week, 6 hours a day every single day: putting a smile in front of everybody else; sometimes you can call it just playing my role at work but I'd like to think it's genuine for the most part. Changes? not much. Ageing? it's getting there and another year is almost over again. All I want to start this new month? A really good stylish haircut, relaxing facial, pedicure and manicure. Dreamin...

Guess Who? What? Where?...today....

Who drives a motorbike and looks like he's from a Charlie's Angels gang almost?

What was he doing very early this morning on the Island instead of being at work?

Recognize him?

Look closer... it's not Mylee-rae Syrus' Dad! Hair's shorter and face cleaner.

It's big brother Garty in the house! He made it!

Rewind.... Gary is my honey's big bro who prepared him his breaky when he was a baby and who claimed my honey his own baby when they were at very young age.

He was the one who helped me keep my sanity and was there in an instant when my honey needed him most.

He's so unpredictable and always loves to visit us by surprise whenever he can.

It's always a pleasure to see him visit the small family on the Island.

He looked like Mylee Rae Syrus' dad at some point and made a young pretty girl a happy soul and proud to have met him as the very first star she met ever. (and we'll leave it at that!)

Thanks Gar for seeing us again today.

-Short but sweet-

-o-

Saturday's Comedy

Ok, anyone up for a laugh out there?

Mom and I are just laughing over these photos of my honey and Randy (his bff), while having a visit yesterday, late afternoon outside the garden.

Hope this will make your Sunday for those who need some humor......

Hey Rand, let's have a beer and enjoy this heat....cheers!

Don't get me wet Kev, I just put some sun tan on....

Ooooh, that's refreshing Rand! you should try it....

Hey, don't spray me!

Randy should have known better not to trust his best friend!

*****THE END*****

Monday Blues: Updated

3 days off and it's going, going, ... Gone almost! It was fun filled with good friends, singing, dancing, jamming, swimming, playing, drinking, eating, good food, barbeque, oysters, crabs, late nights, jokes, boy meets girl, revival of good ol' friendships, stories of the past, family bonding, disruptions, freebies, love, tears, laughter. We all camped, some in tents, some in RVs, some in campers. We all ate together on one long table. We picked oysters at Deep Bay. We swam together on one pool where we camped. We sang and danced, and listened to the beautiful strum of guitars by John & Alejandro. Stayed late night to listen to some more and sang with the magical 12 strings & harmonica played at the same time by our very talented, childhood family friend of the Johnsons, Mr. John Walther with the banjo as his finale, and Alejandro with his beautiful "harana" version. Oh, and there's nothing like a get together with so many photos taken! I can't count how many cameras - and cell phones were clicking here and there. It was a wholesome 3 days camping with beautiful people that I wished never ended. To you our dear friends and families who took the effort to bring families and friends over to the Island- before and during this long planned event- thank you. I can't tell you how much appreciated you are for making this Fest a successful one this year. My honey's hardwork on organizing a family event has paid off because of you. Your hardwork on making it here despite this past week's circumstances has paid off. My honey and I would love to see you again soon. Thank you for leaving us with such good memories to cherish and lots of photos to remember you by. I will send you a link as soon as I get our album organized so stay tuned. Thank you, gracias, salamat, merci.

Another Snapshots of our Extended Weekend with the Vaughan Family...

1. Meeting place in Nanaimo Harbourside's Lighthouse Bistro; 2. Decisions, decisions... what's their best for lunch?; 3. Looking out the window, great to see Moonshadow back on dock; 4. After those beers and oysters lunch, time to shed on a short boardwalk; 5. Bistro's sideview; 6. Relax... people watch, boat watch and plain watch; 7. The Vaughan crew + the Johnsons, say cheese!

Hola Augusto!!!

Good Morning Sunshine!

It's Sunday and it's the first day of August. Oh My!

We're approaching so many changes-

that sun looks like it's trying to shine but not the usual morning I wake up to;

summer days are counted and it starts to get dark earlier in the evenings;

Johnson's fest is only less than a week away and I can't wait to see friends and family from Vancouver!

Family back home is up for another big challenge;

Carol, my best friend cousin in Florida will be having her first baby anytime soon;

August means September is next and which means further,

my honey and I are turning another year old--whoaaaa!

Work will be busier because of the opening of classes,

which means students start hunting for the best phones,

and new phones are coming out.

Should I or shouldn't I change my own?

Oh, and our green house is turning the whole place green now,

 but the tomatoes are still smaller and not ripening like usual.

I am hoping for more sunshine and energy to face all these.

Hope yours will be good as well.

Have a good start to the month, everyone!

Hello Friday!

Thank God it's Friday! One of those days that I'm getting excited to go to work is because today is the LAUNCH for TELUS in Canada of the New IPhone4. A lot of people have been waiting for this but because of some challenges that Apple has been having with the new phone, the wait seemed to be longer for Canadians to get their hands on this most controversial new release of Apple.

So here it is.... I was contemplating on getting myself one. One feature that's intriguing me most about it is the 5MP Camera. Since I have been using my BB Tour a lot on random shots, thought this would be a better camera for that. If the 3GS could load Hipstamatic, I bet there are more fab apps to do with this new network. Hmmm..... decisions, decisions.....

ON the other side of the world, I mean our corner of the world, long weekend is coming up! Yoo hoo! that means another 2 days off in a row. Well, that becasue I'm working Saturday too. No plans yet but I have this itching sensation of getting some house chores done since Johnson's Fest is coming up too. Oh No! Another exciting part of my scrap world is this new class I'm getting into next week.

So Kelly Purkey has done it again! It's nice to have one class after another and because I like taking Shimelle's, I know I'm going to miss her daily prompts so badly. Have a great weekend everyone. 

It's Thursday---Again! ....Already?

Yup! Wake up Jude. Sir Paul McCartney is conquering the White House:

Little One is going public!

Let it Be till everyone hears about it; read it; critique it; forget about it.

You'll ask Why She Wouldn't Stay?

Why She had to Go, I Don't Know;

So if you must, take your time while it's on;

Comment if you can; email if you want; come and follow me;

Little One is going public;

because she Loves you yeah, yeah, yeah!

Senseless makes sense to the one who makes it.

No need to sign in, just click the link;

Give her some lovin;

And Let It Be!

Because She Loves You;

And you know you should be glad.

Hello Friday and Greenhouse Update

Remember this? Yes, they bloomed that much a few weeks later!

See the greens? My first harvest and my honey chef made the most of it: makes us a really nice veggie sandwich with basted egg in the mornings this week. All I can say is there's nothing like fresh greens from your own garden. We still have lots growing of those so if you want some......

Meanwhile, buzy-bees are so busy sucking my blooming thyme that spread all over the ground of the green house. Would you believe that this used to be a single tiny plant lost on the ground I rescued, while we were preparing the green house last year? Now it came back and not only did it spread, I let it flowered because I heard, honeybees make good honey out of them. And I am so thrilled to see a bunch of them all over the herbplant. I love thyme, I love bees buzzing in my ears, I love the scent of it, I love thyme on tomatoes...

 

Yes, my honey has been busy too. After we've seen this grass grew green in the spring, it's not all brown (blame it on the City!) and has grown weeds. You can tell how busy we were with other stuff if you see those dandelions growing flowers :). Peter, our neighbor saw this after we've finished the back so he went back to his house and picked up his grass puller. Thanks Peter, you made half of the labor easier for my honey. Just a little massage on his chest that night and he was ready to tackle the next day's chore....

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE! Hope you make the most of it while the sun is out.....HUGS!

The Heat is On!

SUMMER TIME... The heat is on! Sun's smiling and hope you are too.                                                    

Good morning Sunny Sunday

Look what I found in my garden pot this morning? By the way, our modern gave up so that means, my BB has to bear another burden aside from taking photos. I see more and more value to it as these accidents happen. I wish they make the screen bigger though. Oh well, it's working- and hard! Beat the heat and drink lots of water. Stay cool, watch your blood pressure too.
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Just an update direct from the green house.....

      Remember the seeds we planted 3 weeks ago?

Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Welcome Summer!

Yup! It's finally here-- the most awaited moment of the North Americans-- heat, sweat, lots of sunshine!!! Back home, this would mean nothing really but another day of dry heat, no wind and lots of cold showers! In fact, I remember taking about 3 showers in a day which is the least amount compared to anybody else. The weather could also affect the health and mood significantly but people are always happy no matter what. I guess it's part of being Asian and particularly, being a Filipino. We are a happy bunch, period.

In Canada, or in any American country I've been to, the weather speaks a lot about people in general. Winter means a lot of depression and most people tend to stay home and dwell on it. Come spring time, hope starts setting in, then summer changes everything. You'd see a lot of Americans outside, enjoying the sun and totally beaming with smiles and laughter. You can feel a significant change in the mood and surrounding. And because people are mostly happy around this time of year, I always look forward to its coming--- always on the 21st of June which is also the longest day of the year. Unfortunately, I woke up with the sky covered with dark clouds in the morning. It really didn't matter because I had to spend the day working anyways but around noon, we started to see some sun coming and man, I tell you, that still changed everything. What does it mean to you? How do you like summer in your own town? For me, summer is......

My Maui sunglasses and my hat collection.

The Beach! Seriously, anywhere you go here in Parksville, is water!

Spending lots of time in our garden; camping with good ol' camper. You won't believe the places it took us!

Lots of picture taking--not a bad pic for a 3.2 MP Blackberry.

Ice-cream, who doesn't scream for you at this hot sunny weather?

Mmmmmm, the smell of fish and chips everywhere!

And I think my honey and I do a lot more walking together around this time of year. Lots to do and too little time so hope you are enjoying every bit of each summertime you can have. Til next. Hugs!