Dear God,

As the new year approaches I'd like to take this opportunity to make requests for next year. At first I'd like to look back on the current year and thank You. I thank You for all the good and all the bad events for it is from both experiences that I have learned many lessons and these experiences have molded me into who I am today. I thank you for my health and the health of my loved ones. I apologize for forgetting about you sometimes, even during the times I needed you most. I will attempt to rectify this in the coming year.

For 2006, most importantly I'd like to continue to ask for the health and safety of my family, friends, and myself. Give me strength in my weak times and give me wisdom when I'm in my common states of confusion and when I feel lost. Help keep my career going strong, and give me the strength and confidence to reach my goals should it be Your will. And lastly, my most simple request is to just be happy... happy with family, friends, work, love, and myself. You know what's best for me. I believe that things happen for a reason. Help me understand the reasons.

Anyway, see you at mass tomorrow...

Love Always,
Che

posted by che @ 10:23 PM [[ 2 comments ]]

Phew! The holidays are finally over, but there are gifts that I still need to buy and give. My vacation has felt like forever, but I don't feel the itch to go back just yet :)

So far during my vacation I've been spending a lot of time with my family. It was my favorite cousin Clyde's death anniversary on the 17th so I spent some time with all my relatives. I decided to spend the week in the area since my grandma encouraged it. She didn't want me spending my vacation alone, hehe.

Anyway, last Wednesday Maree, Elle, Meg, and I went to Knott's Berry Farm since we had free tickets. Even though Knott's can be conquered in just a few hours, it's still fun! I found a lot of the rides to be pretty good considering it's not Six Flags, and that some of them were even better than Six Flags! We rode Ghostrider 3x before we decided that it was too much.

Thursday and Friday, Elle and I spent in Big Bear with some friends since her friend's aunt has a cabin there. The snow was surprisingly nice to ride! Me and some cousins are going to hit up some more local mountains on Wednesday. YAYERS!

Christmas came and went. It didn't really feel like Christmas, but spending time with family is always a pleasure. Like always, the best present I received was from my parents and sister! They got me the 60GB video ipod!!! I am now officially a member of fellow ipod users, haha... I've avoided investing money in an ipod for so long, but something tells me that I'm really going to enjoy having this :D I'm so spoiled, but I hope they know how thankful I am!!!

posted by che @ 3:31 PM [[ 2 comments ]]

For my birthday present, Kim took me to go see "White Christmas". We went to go see it last night at Pantages theater in downtown LA. It was a nice show! A lot of the sets were just breathtaking, and the dance numbers were fun to watch. Thanks sooo much, Kim :) I really need to see more musicals!!! I hoped that watching this show was going to spark some Christmas spirit in me because I've been lacking the spirit... unfortunately it didn't... waaah. Perhaps it's because I didn't have a traditional Thanksgiving this year. Or, I don't know. Even Halloween came and went without me noticing. I wonder what's up with this year's holidays. I'm just not excited, nor in the mood. Boo. Or should I say, BAH HUMBUG! ;)

posted by che @ 11:56 AM [[ 2 comments ]]

I am now officially on vacation! YAYERS!!! Too bad I don't have any trips planned except to go boarding... now would be a great time to just fly somewhere and spend 3 weeks chillaxin. Anyway, for xmas I bought myself a new bedroom set. Yay! It gets delivered tomorrow, but I need to find a good deal on a mattress set. Anyone got suggestions?

posted by che @ 8:54 PM [[ 4 comments ]]

This weekend felt long, but I think it's because I started my weekend Thursday night. I would say that I wish it was longer, but I go on vacation soon so these next couple of days won't be too bothersome :)

I planned on going to SD Friday because me and Marv were going to go boarding together (and I wasn't going to drive), but my coworkers advised me against it because they said I would probably mess up my new board on little snow... good point. Since I was already planning to go, I figured I might as well since I missed my family and a couple of friends. I had dinner with A Thursday night and then hung out with Marv the rest of the night. Learned a lot of interesting tidbits of info about that guy! I babysat Jer on Friday and watched a couple of movies I've been wanting to see.

Saturday I went shopping with my family and I ended up getting a lot of stuff even though I didn't anticipate buying anything at all. That night was Minh's birthday dinner at Spark Woodfire Grill. The atmosphere was very cool, but the food was just ok. Later that night, we all hung out and played some games. We first played Family Feud and although I didn't do very well, my team won! Yayers! I also played Apples to Apples. The game rules were so super simple so I was at first wary of the "funness" of the game but after playing a few rounds we all started to realize that it's a pretty fun party game due a lot to people's different interpretations and judgement. I won the first round!

Today I ran some errands and then went to the Bazaar Bizarre. I didn't get to make it previous years, but this year I was finally able to go. I thought I'd want to buy everything there, but instead what it did was inspire me to do my own crafts again. The only drawback is the initial upfront costs from gathering the materials needed for a project. Also, I never know where to get some "good" stuff for cheap. Maybe I'll get crafty during my weeks off and produce some cool stuff :)

posted by che @ 8:16 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

I had a pretty good weekend :) Yesterday I had a holiday card making workshop... so I'm all set to give out my xmas cards to my loved ones :D After that, I went to Mouse and Jimboz' housewarming party for their cute condo. Played some Uno, but didn't win. Darnit. I didn't get to make it to the dinner for Jimmy because my cousin had to go back and study, so I watched my Mr. and Mrs. Smith DVD before watching SNL with Dane Cook! I loved both :D

This morning I went with my relatives to the Pomona Valley Mining Company to have brunch. It was ok. Later on that day, my cousin and I got our haircut. I didn't really plan on cutting it so short, but I'm kind of glad I did it! My cousins seem to like it a lot, so I'm trusting their judgement :) I don't recognize myself in the mirror immediately yet, it's still a bit startling. I realized after it was cut that it looks very Ashlee-ish... like when she first cut it short. Anyway, new hurrr!








Tonight, I went with my cousin's family to a xmas party for my uncle's company at D&B. Free food, free games... good times! We didn't stay too long, but long enough to enjoy ourselves. I'm hoping this week will make me as happy as this weekend did ;)

posted by che @ 10:16 PM [[ 2 comments ]]

Call me an impulse shopper. No, a "I can never pass up what seems to be like a good offer even though I don't really have the funds" shopper. Or even, "Do I have the word 'SUCKER' written on my forehead?" shopper. I went to Ski-Dazzle today mainly to get my free Big Bear ticket. I went with my cousin to help her shop for some gear since she's pretty new to it. She ended up buying an uber cute Roxy board and bindings. A pretty good deal. I wanted my next board to be a Roxy one. So yeah... I ended up buying a board as well. Not a Roxy one, but a Snowbunny. The guy that sold it to me happened to be the boyfriend of the founder of Snowbunny so he was quite knowledgable. Since they've opened, they haven't had any warranty problems. Pretty cool. Time to sell my first board, hehe. The board I got is limited edition. Sweet. Anyway, $199 later...

posted by che @ 11:24 PM [[ 2 comments ]]

I've been very bored lately. Boredom usually leads to a lot of thinking. These thoughts lead to unhappiness. I like to try to keep myself preoccupied by other means :)

I got my eyebrows threaded again last night and this time I got them shaped. I'm very happy with how they turned out. I hope I can maintain them without totally screwing them up. I was afraid they were going to tell me to come back another time since I didn't let it all grow out. I'm glad they were able to work with what I had and improve on it :)

I've been missing Hawaii a lot lately, and my mind keeps thinking that I will be going back but I know I won't be returning anytime soon. A couple of my coworkers either just came back or are leaving for Hawaii. After I returned, a friend of mine left for the Big Island. He returned last night and today my other friend is going to Maui. I'm so jealous! I hope I can afford to go back more often... or at least to travel to other places like Europe, Japan, Alaska, or Australia.

It's the first of December and you know what that means? It's almost Christmas! I used to love the holidays and I think I still do, but this is such a stressful time of the year. Buying presents are always difficult for me because I never know what people want. And now I'm thinking about Christmas decorations... should I even bother decorating? Who's going to come over and see it anyway? I would like to decorate a little bit... maybe my banister and my front door or something, but a part of me thinks it's just going to be a waste of money. Anyway, what does everyone want for Christmas? I wish I had a list, but there's nothing I really want... at least nothing that I would even ask people to buy me!

posted by che @ 1:36 PM [[ 1 comments ]]