Princess Bashee: November 8, 1993 - November 4, 2009

My Princess Bashee passed away yesterday morning (November 4th) in her sleep. I am sadden by the news, especially because I came back from Burma yesterday night and wasn't able to see her before she passed away. I am glad she passed away in her sleep and that she did not suffer. I am also glad that she died on her own terms, instead of making us decide for her.

It has been a while since I lost my first pet Michelle in March of 2000. I remember feeling like crap and crying my eyeballs out. And this time is no better. I have been crying my eyes out since I found out the news yesterday night from Mr. JB. I know that my little princess had a good life. She was always so sweet and so mellow and sometimes, very spunky.

I feel at a lost because even though she was an older dog, I somehow thought she was going to last a few more years. I also didn't notice anything different about her before I went on my trip. She was eating/drinking fine and looked the same as always. She just seemed a little slower during our normal walks but other than that, she was the same Bashee I have known for the past 10 years. As she got older, she was losing her eyesight and her hearing. And lately, she had a hard time making it to the pee pads. But what else can you expect from a 15 years old dog, right?

According to Mr. JB, he said everything was normal the night before. She ate, walked around a bit in the hallway, and went to sleep. She got up to use the potty during the night. And when he got up in the morning to take her out to use the backyard, that's when he noticed how she was "different". He tried to wake her up but she was a bit stiff already. He cleaned her up and saved her body for me so that I can say my goodbye.

I will miss her very much. I will miss her growling, especially when she thinks no one is there for her. I will miss her trying to run away from me when I try to give her a hair cut. I will miss giving her a bath. I will miss walking her. I will miss feeding her. And I will miss cleaning up after her poop and pee. I will also miss her stinkiness. Most of all, I will just miss her being her.

What's great about being married...?

9 years ago today, Mr. JB and I made our relationship official. Sigh. How time flies. We went on our first date in June of 2000 and never dated anyone else while we were seeing each other. BUT Mr. JB thought it was better to make it official and asked me to be his lady. I accepted! And the rest...well, you know. =)

Anyhoo, you know what's great about being married? To be able to call your honey "HUSBAND"/"WIFE" and feel giddy still. To be able to tell everyone in the world, "yes, that's my husband/wife."

Mr. JB and I hang out with my sister and my BIL this weekend. And then we went to go look at two places with them in San Mateo. We saw a cute little townhouse which was nicely set up. And Mr. JB was looking around with my sister and BIL while I stayed with my niece who was sleeping in the car. Then, my sister came into the car and told me to go take a look. As I was walking up the stairs, I hear Mr. JB talking to a realtor. And then he turned around and said, "oh, there's my wife" with all the giddiness. Later, he told me that he liked being able to call me his wifey. How cute. =)

And today, I walked my little boy Bran near Safeway and we saw the guy who helps out at St. Anthony. We see him often and he always say hello. But because I haven't been walking Bran near our neighborhood, it was the first time I saw that gentleman in a long while. He was trying to tell me that he has been seeing Mr. JB around with Bran and not me. And he said, "oh, I've been seeing your ... uh, your boyfriend?" I said, "husband" and of course, I also felt giddy. hee hee.

Okay..that's it for now cuz I gotta go look for jobs.

Holy Moly: 2 months already?

WOWW...I can't believe it. Mr. JB and I have been married for two months already. Boy how time flies.

I've been trying to become a "housewife" by making meals for Mr. Okay, I felt really bad since I did not cook for a whole month. So, now, I'm trying to catch up. I've been trying different recipes -- two of the latest being chili and wet burritos. =) And of course, since my brother in law works so close by, I also tell him to come by to taste my food. hee hee. I haven't been a housewife for that long. But I'm trying. I also rearranged our TV room, vaccumed like no other, etc... And of course, taking care of our kids and try to earn money whenever I can. I did two flu shot clinics already, then notarized someone and also pet sat our neighbor's dog. Hopefully, I'll have something more permanent soon.

Off I go to find something to make for tonight's dinner.

Holy Smokes!!! We've been featured.

Well, okay, not really featured but close enough! ;)

I check Diane Phillips' blog every so often to see what kind of beauties she's been creating lately. And I went to check out her blog today as I normally do and guess what I saw? (It was posted on her September 20th blog.) The following, which was copied and pasted from Diane's blog:
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Real Wedding - Joyce & Christian



One thing I love about what I do is obviously working with my couples on creating their unique style they envision, but I also enjoy working with some really wonderful and very talented wedding professionals. The photographers who capture my artistry who I have had the opportunity to work with over the years are truly amazing. Many of them I have never even met, but I'm grateful to them because they so kindly share the photos with me so that I can showcase them on my blog and website.



Joyce and Christian hired me to create the bridal bouquet, boutonnieres, cake topper and favors. They recently got married earlier this month at SeaWatch Restaurant in Wailea, Maui. The SeaWatch Restaurant is the place where my clients, Alyssa and Daniel got married this past December and the SeaWatch Restaurant does a great job with their weddings and special events.



Stewart Pinsky was their photographer. Stewart was responsible for getting Mae & Jeremy's wedding featured on theknot.com which has brought me a ton of business over the last year and a half! I was so happy to hear he also worked on this wedding.



Just a couple of days ago I received a package from Stewart with the photos from Joyce and Christian's 20's vintage style wedding. I almost feel like it's a "speak-easy" style wedding when I see their photos.



If you are interested in hiring Stewart for your destination Maui wedding, you can see more of his wonderful photography at www.mauiweddinggallery.com. Thank you again Stewart for sharing Joyce & Christian's wedding images with me and my readers!

Job Search And A Decision

So, now that I have come to terms with my hot feet and tingling/numbness of my right arm, I am becoming more active on my job search. I've been applying to various hosipitals that are not firm with their 1 year experience requirement. I've also got in contact with some staffing agency as well. We'll see where the job search leads me.

I also went on a job "interview" the other day to work for a hospice agency near my house. And I turned in my paperwork on Tuesday to the agency and now waiting for a call back from them. I'm a bit nervous because I'll be alone at the clients' places and will be on my own. But I'm sure I'll get training. On a side note, I also emailed my teacher to say HI and she emailed back to say that we're going to be co-workers. I didn't know what she meant and then she told me that she is also going to be working for that agency per diem starting this weekend. What a small world, huh? =)

Also, my sister, who has been working overtime on the job search for me, told me to contact an agency she used to work for to do flu clinics. I emailed a lady around 11 in the morning and she called me back around 5:30 to tell me that there is a flu clinic I can do in San Francisco this Tuesday. And this agency pays more than the other agency I signed up with. After my phone call with the lady, I was so excited. Mind you, I'll only be working for 2 hours but still I was very excited. Mr. JB said it might be because I will be actually working as an RN and cuz I'll be earning my first paycheck (it's less than $100). I am still waiting for the lady to email me some paperwork that needs to be filled out.

And because I haven't really gotten a real job lined up, I am also looking into going back to school. University of Phoenix offers an online Masters program and it sounded really good....BUT the tuition is a kicker. $28,000!!! WOW. It's $550/credit. And I think it's a good deal if I had a job lined up already but since I don't have a job, I am hesistant to get into that much debt. Samuel Merritt (another college located in Oakland, CA) charges $680/unit. And the great thing about University of Phoenix is that the classes start at varioius time and you don't have to wait for January or August to start the semeseter AND you get into their programs very soon, instead of having to wait for a long time for the nursing director to make your life decision if you were to applied to a State University. And I really want to do it and so do my mom and Mr. JB. BUT I'm still being held back by the tuition. Sigh.... Hopefully I will make my decision very soon.

Say Yes To The Dress -- love that show; not the price tags of the dresses

Have you seen that show?? It's on TLC and I love watching it. Mr. JB is so cute because when that show is on, he would say "honey, your show is on." Of course, the best part about watching that show with him is to reminisce about our wedding and the money we did not spend on my wedding dress. I can't believe these ladies (brides) spend so much money on a dress.

The other day, I saw a mom who was paying for her daughter's dress and when asked about the budget, she said "it's not about the money; it's about finding THE dress for my daughter". And the sale consultant brought dresses that were GRAND. And the daughter ended up loving a dress that was $14,000!!!! OMG! Really? That much for a dress you'll only wear for a few hours? I can't imagine how much the whole wedding was going to cost them. YIIIKKEESSS!!!

I can't imagine spending lots of money on a dress that I will only wear for a few hours. The money can go towards a trip or something. I mean, I know different people have different priorities and all but .... WOW!!!

I mean, these brides' lowest budget is like $2000. Maybe because Kleinfield is supposed to be expensive place? Or something? And some people are from the West Coast. So, I wonder if these brides travel from the West Coast to the East often for that dress. I mean, think about it. The intial appt, the fittings, etc. And the tarvel cost, on top of the cost of the dress. WOW.

Also, you can see the relationships the brides have with their moms.... Wow. Some relationships are great and some are just out there! And when I went dress shopping, my mom didn't have the reaction I was looking for. Well, neither did I. I thought I was going to cry when I find THE dress. But I didn't have any emotional feeling about any of them. Neither did my mom. hee hee. For me, it was because I couldn't commit. I don't know why my mom wasn't emotional. Maybe she is not that kind of person. Who knows?

Anyhoo, I love that show. I especially love the clip they show at the end of some of the weddings. Swoon....

We're back (again..)

We're back from our Australia / New Zealand trip. And we were totally jet lagged. Well, at least I was for sure. I still am. It's 3 in the morning and I'm wide awake. UGH!! So annoying.

I'll write about the trip soon, I hope.

And we just got our thank you cards from Costco and I'm going to work on them this week.

And I'm also working on my wedding albumn.

I've also been dealing with that health issue I was having. I'm happy to report that I saw a rheumatologist today and he said I don't have lupus. Thank goodness!!! I was really worried for a few days after my primary physician has told me that based on my lab results and my physical symptoms I was reporting, it could've been lupus. But we still don't know what the reason is for the numbess, tingling, blue fingers, etc.