Enjoy the rest of my several hundred shots here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sleepyeve/sets/72157624387801337/

Slide Show: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sleepyeve/sets/72157624387801337/show/

Don’t forget to get out and support these guys as well – get out and enjoy some live theatre!

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Sock cake made by the fabulous Rosie

Awesome cupcake bouquet sent by my wonderful Christian

Chillin’ on the lawn chomping on some tasty kebabs

Smiles with Jayden & Kat

Baby Lily sporting the coolest cupcake hoodie ever

Just Dancing in the garage to Womanizer

Here’s the rest of the photos for your viewing fun.  Thanks for reading!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sleepyeve/sets/72157624350200743/

(Slideshow) http://www.flickr.com/photos/sleepyeve/sets/72157624350200743/show/

First bicycle diaper cake I’ve ever made

Here are the favors I put together for the party:

Everything turned out great and I was really happy with the cake, favors, AND pictures.

Want to see the rest of the photos?  Go here.

Thanks for viewing!

Before I get into the awesomeness that has been my 30th birthday today, I want to share the story of my past 6 months.

30 pounds for my 30th.

At the beginning of this year, Christian and I decided  to get our act together and make some lifestyle changes.  I think we had both hit a point over the holidays when we realized how unhappy we were with how we were feeling and looking.  I was probably at my heaviest  that I’d ever been in my life over the Christmas holiday… and we all know how feasting over holiday meals go…  In mid January, I decided that enough was enough.  I started teaching myself some simple things about calories, nutrition, well-balanced diets, and Christian and I started our lifestyle change.  I decided to join Christian and some of our friends each weekend to ease my way into the world of running.  I’d run some, walk some, run some, walk some more.  We started to eat better meals – homemade, properly portioned,well-rounded meals (home-cooked meals now take about a half hour to an hour longer to prepare because I measure and calculate everything out).  We watched our balance of calories, making sure to keep ourselves accountable for everything we consumed and balanced our days with physical activity.  Some of you are probably thinking, “oh,  so they went on a diet” but no, that’s not really the case.  As I mentioned a few lines earlier, we decided to make a lifestyle change, so this isn’t a temporary fad we put in place to drop pounds; this is a permanent transformation in our way of thinking and behaving to make ourselves healthier, happier people.

Six months later, I’m now officially thirty pounds lighter and ten thousand times happier.  When I lost ten pounds, a good friend of mine suggested that the next  time I go to the grocery store, I pick up two sacks of potatoes to see how that extra ten pounds of weight really felt.  Well, I never remembered to do that, so the next time I remember when I go into a store, I need to pick up 6 sacks of potatoes to account for the thirty pounds.  Ooooh boy.  I’m  happier, I feel loads more confident about myself, and I don’t mind seeing myself in a mirror or in pictures these days.  I don’t really deprive myself of anything I enjoy; I just enjoy it in moderation and/or balance it appropriately with working out.   It’s all about discipline and balance.  And teamwork.  If Christian and I were not in on this together as a team, I’m sure neither of us would have been as successful as we have been.

This lifestyle alteration also has me doing more physical activity than I’ve ever done before in my life.  When I first started running, I’d run two sides of a block before I had to stop for a walk break.  Eventually, the walk breaks shortened and now, I can run for 7 continuous miles on a good day.  No, not training for a marathon or half marathon.  And no, not enjoying running itself either.  I just enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes after I’m done.  The increased caloric capacity to shove more food into my belly is also a plus   To think, when I was a chubby junior high schoool pre-teen, I struggled through a 14 minute mile a week because I had to do it for a grade.  Now, I’m choosing to do a 10:30 to 11:00 mile for way more than just a mile.  I’m nuts.  At least I’m happily nuts.

One last thought on this life change: eating better and working out allowed for me to drop 4 pant sizes since January.  I’ve spent so much money shopping in the past several months because I kept outgrowing (or whatever the opposite of outgrowing is…) my clothes.  Totally worth it though because shopping and trying on clothes is actually a fun thing for me to do these days

All right, enough of that.  On to something else.

What I Did for My 30th Birthday.

I’ll keep this portion as brief as I can because frankly, I’m sleepy and I wanted to get this blog posted on my birthday but it looks like I’ll be missing that by several minutes… OH WELL.

Christian and I woke up around 7ish and went out for a 7 and an half mile run.  7.6 to be exact.  That’s the most I’ve ever clocked in continuous running miles *pats self on back*

After we got back home and took our respective refreshing and very necessary showers, we picnicked in our backyard under our nice ginormous backyard tree.  I love picnics and so rarely go on them, so this was fun

After lunch, we headed over to the movie theaters and treated ourselves to Toy Story 3.  Lots of kids, but it actually wasn’t as annoying to be in the audience with them as I thought.  Great movie – very emotional, actually.

Once the movie was over, we dashed over to the Tech Museum of Innovation and enjoyed a very educational and interesting exhibit on Genghis Khan.  We walked around some of the other Tech exhibit halls after that was done, but didn’t end up staying for too long because we were both starving.

Dinner consisted of feasting on some yummalicious baby back ribs at Henry’s Hi-Life by the Shark Tank.  MMMMMmmmm… ribs, baked potato with a scoop of butter crack and sour cream, and super-delish garlic bread.  Oh, there was a salad of some sort somewhere in there too, but that was totally forgettable.

Since we were  sort of in the neighborhood, we decided to check out one of our favorite Target stores – the one off of Coleman is pretty nicely kept.  Didn’t buy anything exciting, but I just enjoy walking around that store and looking at stuff.

We got home and had a small Mad Men marathon to close out the evening.  I tuckered poor Christian out with my very long list of birthday activities but he’s a total trooper.  I’m the luckiest girl in the world to  have someone like him love me so much that he’s willing to go through all of the craziness and never-ending list of activities with zero complaint just to make me happy.  Thank you for making me feel so special.

All in all, it’s been a really fabulous 2010 so far and a really fabulous start to my 30′s

Thanks for reading.

Sleepily Yours,

Evelyn

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 45 Minutes
Ready In: 1 Hour

Servings: 6
Calories per Serving:~250

INGREDIENTS:
15 chopped, steamed carrots sticks (it’s what I had in the fridge & I microwave-steamed them)
1 onion, minced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
4 Tablespoons margarine
1 can fat-free evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (omit or use less if you don’t like heat)
1 teaspoon garam masala
1  ( 15 ounce )  can tomato sauce        
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 tablespoon Curry Powder

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F  ( 190 degrees C ) .
2. Melt 2 tablespoons of margarine in large skillet (I used my giganto wok ’cause I’m asian like that) over medium heat.  Stir in carrots, onion & garlic, & cook slowly until the onion caramelizes, about 15 minutes.
3. Add the remaining margarine to the skillet over medium-high heat along with the tomato sauce, evaporated milk, salt, cayenne pepper, & garam masala. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low; cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. While the sauce is simmering, toss cubed chicken with curry powder until coated, then spread out onto a foil-lined baking sheet (no mess!).
5. Bake chicken in preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 10 minutes.  Once done, add the chicken to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes before serving.

I served it over 1 1/4 cups of steamed white rice.

It had loads of kick and flavor.  AWESOMENESS (in my personal opinion…)  Happy cooking!

Adorable.

http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/25612

I didn’t know my grandmother very well.  She lived with my family for about a year before moving to Canada to live with my Aunt and her family.  Her language of choice was Cantonese and mine was English, so it made communication a challenge.  I learned a great deal about her after she passed though.  Not sure how I feel about that.

Our original holiday plans this year was supposed to start with Christian, his sister Stefania, our dog Lily, and I hopping into the CR-V on Sunday morning the week before Christmas to spend Sunday-Saturday with their parents in Santa Barbara.  With my grandmother’s passing, we couldn’t move forward with that plan since I needed to head to Canada with the rest of my family to pay our respects.  Christian and Stefania ended up staying home a few extra days to wait until I returned before heading down to Santa Barbara.  Bless their hearts for doing that (and their parents’ hearts for being so understanding) because a single one-way flight down there to meet them would have cost me about $250.  EEEK. 

I flew from San Jose to Seattle, Washington at 6:30 AM Monday morning with Mom, Dad, Uncle Bao, his wife, his daughter Annie, my Aunt Linh, her husband, and her kids Cathleen and Colin.  They had booked my flight separately so I ended up in first class on my own.  That was my first experience in first class and let me tell you, it was niiiice.  The seats were so roomy that my feet couldn’t touch the floor when I sat all the way back.  My tea came in a glass mug; I had maybe 3 or 4 refills during the 2-hour flight.  I was even offered a Bearclaw for breakfast (I turned it down in an effort to make healthy choices during this trip).  If you ever have a long flight, first class is the way to go.

Once we landed in Seattle, we had a few hours to wait before our flight to Bellingham, WA.  The family wanted breakfast so we stopped at a Wolfgang Puck Express and ordered a bunch of breakfast pizzas (bacon & ham).  They looked DELICIOUS, but I went for a yogurt instead.    We saw Santa fly by on a golf cart during the meal so I took the kids (and my mom) to see him and take some photos. 

Breakfast Pizzas

Cousins

Mom w/Santa & the Elf

The flight to Bellingham was a short mayyybe 45-minute flight.  I sat next to an audio engineer who works on major awards shows (she was wearing a 73rd Annual Academy Awards jacket, so I had to ask), so I chatted it up with her for a while.  She was a super-nice lady who is building a house to settle into in Bellingham. 

Once we arrived in Bellingham, my Uncle Sen (who lives in Abbotsford near or in Vancouver – Grandma had been living with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin there since the late ‘90s) picked us up from the airport and we all loaded in to head up to his place.  We made a quick stop at the cemetery where my Grandmother was going to be buried in Lynden, Washington – not far from the Canada/US Border.  They were digging the grave when we got there.  Next to the grave they were digging was my Uncle Huy Quyen’s grave.  It was all very strange.  I didn’t think about seeing his grave when we went up there, so it caught me off guard.  He died in a tragic lumber mill accident in 1996 – very sad because he went way before his time.
 

Uncle Huy Quyen’s Grave

Once Uncle Sen was done talking business with the grave digger dude (I don’t know what you call those guys), we made our way up past the border and to his mansion of a house in Abbotsford.  That place is BEAUTIFUL.  9 rooms.  A bajillion bathrooms. Huge.

My Aunt Anh was prepping a feast of a dinner when we arrived.  Turkey with veggies, asian-style. 

Turkey Dinner – Asian Style

After we ate, we all headed to the funeral home for a viewing/memorial at the funeral home.  When we got there, my Aunt Linh had already arrived separately and she was standing before her mother’s open casket bawling her eyes out.  She was so torn and emotionally wrecked, she couldn’t even stand.  It was heartbreaking to watch.  I spent most of the evening staring at my Grandmother from the front row of seats in the hall.  I think it was the first time I’d ever seen a dead person, so it was a very surreal, very trippy experience.  As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t really know her very well, but to see all of the people that came to her memorial and wept for her passing, it gave me a whole new insight into who she had become to this community.  She was very active in her church and her senior community group.  Everyone there was very touched and affected by her and they were all very devastated that she was gone.  I remember one older gentleman who walked in – someone I didn’t know – walked up to her casket, took off his hat, and just about had a meltdown.  Loud sobbing, tears streaming down his face – it was really sad to watch. 

The funeral the next morning wasn’t any easier to bear, but that’s where I learned the most about the person she was to these people.  She was baptized and became an active member of her church.  She made homemade mooncakes for everyone every year during the moon festival.  She became a happy person.  That wasn’t the person I remembered, but I was so glad to hear that it was the person she transformed into.  I mourned the loss of opportunity to know this happy person that my grandmother became and through everyone who was at the funeral, including my family who flew up with me from the states, I mourned the loss of her.  I shed my first tear during this event after our family had to line up as part of the receiving line at the end of the funeral and we paid our respects one last time before they closed the casket.  My Aunt Linh went ballistic – she fell to the ground and had what was probably the biggest cry of her life.  My mom lost it.  She had to sit herself down to try and catch her breath.  My Uncle Bao started crying.  Even my dad, who was completely stoic during this entire trip, shed his tears for her.  So THAT’s when I teared up.  All of her children and grandchildren were gathered around her crying one last cry for her passing.  It was heavy.

After the funeral, we drove past the border behind the Hearse to the Lynden Cemetery in Washington.  We paid our last respects and watched the casket get lowered and grave get filled.  It was all surreal, I tell you. 

Once the burial was done, we made a pit stop at McDonald’s and then headed for the airport.  It was a LOT of work for me to be the only fluent English speaker on this trip… my goodness.  I was so happy to be home once my aunt dropped me off.  It was such a tiring experience and the first leg of my traveling was finally over.

Christian, Stefania, Lily and I all went down the Santa Barbara the next day and spent Christmas with their family.  Christian, Lily, and I made our way back home again on Sunday and then I got really, really sick and had to log on to work the next day.

I’m currently nursing my Christmas cold (Thanks, Santa.  Really, you shouldn’t have) and am longing for my next day off (Thursday).  Here’s hoping 2010 brings better and happier memories.

Thanks to those who made it allllllllll the way down to this point in my blog.  Hope you all enjoy a safe and wonderful New Year’s. 

We found Dottie a home the day before we left for Santa Barbara. She has gone to the home of a fellow Yahoo and we’re confident that she’s happy.

I ate too much unhealthy food during the Thanksgiving holiday and now feel a bit blimpy. I went for a run with Christian over the weekend to get back into the workout routine and was ready to die.  I’m still sore.  Back to Thanksgiving though, I made this little guy for Christian’s mom:

Isn’t he cute?  He sat next to the real turkey on the Thanksgiving buffet piano (yes, you read piano).

We took Lily to the beach on Thanksgiving Day and she went nuts. She LOVED it – even got into a little bit of trouble:

Loving the beach

Getting into trouble


Christian trying to get her out of trouble

That was exciting.

We took some family pictures of our friends, the Gibson Family, the day after we got back from Santa Barbara.  Here are a few fun ones that I took:

Lily Gibson is such a cutie patootie.   I love it!

Once we got back to work, I worked feverishly to organize last minute details for a surprise baby shower for a co-worker (Geneva).  Never let me throw a surprise party again.

Geneva surprised – we actually got her!

Here’s the diaper cake I made for the party:

As for the rest of December, we have a department function tomorrow night, a play on Thursday, a canned food drive contest at work in which we’re both competing, some parties sprinkled here and there, and back to Santa Barbara we go.

Tired.

Here’s a video Christian made of the dog (we call her Dottie for now) and Lily:

Lily and Dottie from Christian Pizzirani on Vimeo.

Here are our online postings:
http://www.fidofinder.com/dog.php?id=185476
http://hssv.convio.net/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7667&news_iv_ctrl=1345

Help us spread the word and let us know if anyone would like to care for this cutie!  Otherwise, we’ll be dropping her off at the humane society on Tuesday.