Some Important People

Last week, it was both my Dad's birthday, and then my sister's the day after his. So, Happy Birthday, you crazy kids!

My relationship with my Dad has gotten a lot better since I moved out, and it's a lot easier for me to set aside any resentment/hurt feelings with all this distance. Whenever we talk on the phone or see each other, it's usually/mostly always pleasant :) Hugs and saying "I love you" have become a frequent part of our relationship, which in my book is a lot better than ignoring each other aside from a few smiles here and there. Yes, I guess I'm just another girl with "daddy issues", but really, I'm working on being forgiving and understanding, and it's not easy. But we're in a good place, and it makes me happy/relieved. His health and the future is still as rocky and uncertain as ever, and I'm glad our relationship actually exists and isn't tainted by resentment/anger/pain. Well, it might be a little bit, but it has gotten a lot better! His kidney is reaching the end of its days, and he'll probably begin dialysis within the next year...it's scary thinking of how difficult those times are going to be on my family. Hopefully he sets his stubbornness aside and gets on the donor waiting list...my Mom can't save him at the last minute this time.

I love my Dad, I really do. Despite everything, I still love him.

My little sister was born the day after my Dad's birthday, and last Thursday she turned 15! It's both crazy and exciting to think of how old she is and how much she's grown. I remember when I was 15, it was 6 years ago, which is crazy to think about, because it feels like it was just yesterday! 6 years from now I'll be 27, and she'll be 21! How strange!! haha. I still think of her as my baby sister...and I think I always will. She's been in a relationship with Ryan for almost an entire year now...which surpassed my expectations (no offense) just because I remember what high school was like. Aside from Kyle, I had never been in a relationship for that long! I'm so proud and happy for her, she's been through a lot, and she's grown into a wonderful young lady whom I gladly call one of my best friends :) Her Quinceanera is in 19 days! I'm so excited, it's such an exciting and important day in her life.

I love you Sahar! You're my favorite baby-girl! :)

Speaking of love. being proud, and best friends, my dearest best friend in the whole world, Sarah Marie Dozier, is now a college graduate! It's funny to say, but I look up to Ms. Dozier, I always have. I am so proud of all she's done, and how she's overcome so much to be where she is. Her determination and motivation are something I strive to attempt, lol. She's beautiful, amazing, and well on her way to an amazing life. I can't imagine her moving so far away from me, but even if we're bad at keeping in touch, she'll always have a piece of my heart with her. Love you, forever and ever, Soul Sister! :D

For my loving mother:

It's That Time Again...

Well, it's not that time again for me, now it's Sahar's turn. She's turning 15 which means my family is frantically finishing making plans for her Quinceanera!


It's actually quite exciting, especially because I like planning things :) She's got a theme picked out, the date picked out (July 3rd), the location for the reception, the church! She's working on finding the right dress (so am I, actually, haha) and other little details! It's so exciting! I have such fond memories of my party, I hope hers will be just as memorable! I am the photographer of the big day, which is so exciting!


What's kind of funny is that I'll have a big handful of friends there as well, because they've watched her grow over the years, and she's definitely a friend of theirs too! :)


For my dress, I think I want something similar to this:

 

But to be honest, while I love this dress, I think I could make it better myself...which is just another reason to do what I've been wanting to do for some time now...buy  myself a sewing machine! I've got some great ideas for clothing, and I think with the right amount of time, I could get really good at it :)

But we'll see...maybe I'll get one for my birthday...but aside from a sewing machine, the ONLY THING I WANT FOR MY BIRTHDAY IS: Money!

I'm saving up money so that I can go to Costa Rica with some friends this summer, and I think that's a pretty great way to celebrate my 21st birthday, don't you think?! :D

My friend Yanira invited Kyle and I to stay at her friend's (my acquaintance's) family's house, so the only thing we'd have to pay for is the flight to and from Costa Rica! :) It's going to be this fun little couple retreat thing, so Yanira's bringing her BF, Annette's BF is going, another couple, us, and possibly Claire & Matt! It should be SO much fun! I really hope we can go! :D

The Phone Call

Scene: the living room, we're taking an afternoon nap before completely being engulfed by school work...when the phone rings.


I look at my phone, the number says "with held", normally I wouldn't answer a number I don't recognize, but for some reason I did. Maybe it's because I've been applying to a lot of jobs, and I would've kicked myself if I missed a call from a potential employer. Here's the conversation:


Me: "Hello?"
Unrecognizable Male Voice: "Hi"
Me:"Hi..."
UMV: "You sound sad, is everything ok?"
Me: (slightly taken aback by the question) "What? Uh, yeah, I'm fine."
UMV: "Are you sure? You sound like something's wrong..."
Me: "Oh, uh, no." (trying to figure out who it is, because I can almost place the voice...)
UMV: "Oh, ok. Well, Happy 7 Month Anniversary"
-awkward pause-
Me: "Oh, um, I think you have the wrong number, who is this?"
UMV: "Ryan?"
Me: "Yeah...you have the wrong number, sorry."
UMV: "Oh..." (hangs up, just as I realize he might be Sahar's Ryan)


Me (to Kyle): "That was really weird...but I think it might have been Sahar's boyfriend."


(Phone Rings)


Me: "Hello?"
Ryan: "Who is this?"
Me: "Is this Sahar's Ryan??"
Ryan: "Yeah?"
Me: (laugh) "This is Sety!"
Ryan: "What? Do you have her phone or something?"
Me: "No! This is so weird, are you sure you're calling the right number?"
Ryan: "Yeah, I don't even have your phone number! Are you guys messing with me?!"
Me: "No! No, no! I'm in Seattle! I'm not even in San Diego! Haha, you should just call her on the house phone..."


{Story Short: My sister's phone calls are being forwarded to my phone for some unknown reason...it's been quite hilarious.}

Recaps and Highlights!

I've been a bbbaaaaaaddd blogger! Sowwies!
I'm on vacation/have been completely absorbed by family in the land of San Diego...oops!


Our flight from Seattle to San Diego was straight out of a horror story, and one of the worst traveling experiences ever, almost as bad as our crazy trip to D.C. but I guess it all turned out okay in the end (I don't feel like re-telling it now, maybe some other time, haha)


But anyway, here's a quick recap of my Christmas...


Dec. 24, 2009 Christmas Eve:
9am Breakfast made by Chris (my brother-in-law) Esh...homestyle potatoes, poached eggs, & english muffins [dddeeelliiiccciiiooouuussss!]

12pm Lunch at Chilies with Kyle's grand-pa, mommy, Kaleb, Uncle Steve, Trevor, & Trevor's friend

2pm Last minute shopping at Mission Valley

4pm Early dinner at Kyle's Auntie B's house with B, Uncle Bob, the cousins & girlfriends, mommy & brother

6pm Dinner with my family at my parent's house, followed by playing the Wii and wrapping presents

12am Midnight Mass, and then home again to sleep!



December 25th, 2009 Christmas Day:
9am Kyle's Mom's house for present opening! [She got me a lovely ivory sweater and some pretty black earrings, in addition to the mass amounts of candy in the little stocking she got me, and some fuzzy socks from his grandma!]

12pm Back to my house for more present opening! [I got lots of long sleeve shirts, sweaters, a jacket, an ansel adams book, a necklace, oh, and a DSLR (!!!!! I know, right?!) from Kyle!!]

4pm Early Dinner at Kyle's Grandmother's house with Uncle Dean & his sons, Kyle's mommy & Kaleb, and of course Roy.

5pm Dinner at the Esh house (Chris' family) for the rest of the night.

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So basically, Christmas was spent running around, haha, hectic but fun. :)


Some other highlights:
Seeing Sarah Dozier the first Friday we were in SD :) I didn't get to see her for an extraordinary long time, just a few hours, but it was so very well worth it! We made bread sticks for lunch and caught up on life, which was wonderful!

Seeing Claire Friday night :) She had crazy stories from England, we even got to Skype with her BF which was nice! We played some games, Michael was also there, he even watched us play a round of beer pong (we lost horribly to Team Matt(s) because they...they're...just too good...) It was a fun little get-together :)

Helping my mom build the guest bed was fun (hah) it was last Sunday when the Chargers were playing, so in order to avoid traffic, we went to the Costco by Grossmont Center...but they didn't have the mattress in the right size! So we ended up driving to the Mission Valley one, and making it JUST in time! They literally shut the front door as my mom ran in at 5:59pm. Later that night we went to Sipz with Sondra, hehe :D

Dinner at Sultan Banoo ...great Persian food in University Heights! nom nom nom!

Playing with my DSLR! I've been taking amazing pictures :D

Watching Avatar! The movie was amazing, we saw it in 3-D and made it JUST in time! Highly Recommended!

Family Game Night was also fun! We played Scattergories! Haha...my family's a little too competitive, but we all had fun in the end :)

Avoidance

 I am avoiding studying for my finals...luckily there are only 2 left...unluckily, I lack the motivation to crack open the books and try to learn. Sigh...this always happens, I enjoy learning, and I usually like my classes, however, the last week or two is just dreadful because I'm so full to the brim with stuff I've learned, and it's at this point my apathy and impatience kicks in. 

I'd rather just eat my home made cookies and watch Christmas movies.

On the same note of avoidance, I'm awfully indecisive about what to get Kyle for Christmas...I've got a few present ideas, two of them that I'm really between...one of them being ridiculous/funny/kind of a joke/practical...and the other being something he's mentioned he likes/would want/useful/I think he'd really enjoy having. Sigh...or I could just get him a bunch of small things, there are a handful of movies I know he'd enjoy having...or I could get him a signed copy of a first edition book by his favorite author. There are endless possibilities! The worst part being that he's the person who's opinion I rely on on a daily basis! I just want to ask him what he'd rather me get him, because in the end, I just want to make him happy! Sigh...

Aside from this being the most stressful of the presents I'm thinking about getting people...I've still got quite a bit of shopping to do...and I guess I'm just going to have to do that when I get into San Diego, I'm not really sure how we're going to pack all the presents we've already gotten plus clothes! haha...The bright side is I bought a few things online, and just had them shipped to my parent's house :)

I really can't wait to be back in San Diego! All my best friends will be home, and it's been forever since I've seen the extra important ones (Sarah!! Claire! Sanya!) so I will be tackling them the second I get a chance! I love the holiday season! And spending time with all the people I care about! :) Linda and Chris are managing to make it down for Christmas after all, so I'm incredibly excited to see them too! (The slight downside being that the only reason they're coming down is because Linda doesn't have to work the day after Christmas because she lost her job...however, she hated her boss and has been planning on leaving for quite some time now! So good for her! Now she can find a job she really enjoys where they really appreciate her!)

I've fallen into a weird sleeping pattern, slightly off than my normal sleeping pattern...it's kind of weird/upsetting...the problem, I think, is that for the past 2 weeks or so I've had coffee everyday because we bought awesome cinnamon bun dairy free creamer (which I'm addicted to)...but the past few days I've been too lazy to make coffee, so I think I'm a little out of sync. Sigh...anyway, I should try to sleep. Today is Kyle and I's 18 month anniversary, lol, so I'm going to surprise him with a nice dinner, and a little present :)

Jamie Bean and Drew Drop

I didn't mention an important part of my trip to San Diego in my other post, so here's a little secret for you: there are two little boys who stole my heart well over a year ago, and still have a giant hunk of it to this day...the secret is that I hope they keep it forever.


Jamie Bean and Drew Drop I call them affectionately...they are the most darling, trouble-making, intelligent little boys I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I hope we'll always stay friends...and to be quite honest, being around them makes me want to have baby boys...though I know I'd love baby girls too...haha.

Though their professions change often, last time I saw them, they were mutants, they are now currently spies, well, Drew was a cowboy spy...they'll always be my 'lil monsters :)

I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane

I'm currently flying through the skies at an altitude of 38014 feet with 411 miles to travel. I hate to sound like an ad, but I am currently loving Virgin America Airline. Their free wifi and interactive built-in screens is way too cool. Our flight from San Diego to San Francisco was a couple of episodes of South Park and some snippets of CNN during commercials. The seats are comfortable, the lights are blue/purple which provide enough light to see and aren't over bearing. I like this. Now if only they served a snack of some sort, they'd be perfect! Peanuts, Pretzels, I don't really care, just something to munch on...


I'm currently over stuffed, so I don't really mind, my stomach actually kind of hurts, but it might just be the food baby kicking :/ I had an egg salad sandwhich and some hummus and pita for dinner, and half of a giant chocolate chip cookie for dessert. I am stuffed to the brim!


On the bright side, I stumbled across the 500 days of Summer soundtrack, and found out that She & Him cover "Please, Please, Please Let me Get What I Want" and it's very well done: Zooey's voice is pleasant, the guitars and music are well done! :) It made me smile quite a bit, and reminded me of Sanya, who I unfortunately didn't see during this break :( However, we've made plans to reunite over Winter break, which is good, 'cause I miss that little Cambodian!


So, I've been a bad blogger because we've been in San Diego the past few days, and quite busy! Our Thanksgivings were good (for the most part)! I made 2 delicious Vegetable Pot Pies, one as a contribution to Kyle's Mom's Thanksgiving, and the other to my Mom's! We went over to Kyle's relatively early, though we might have been 30 minutes late...maybe. This is the first Thanksgiving that I realized that most other families have Thanksgiving pretty early, my family, however, is lucky if we eat around 6pm! Though the norm is around 8pm! We saw relatives from both of our families, and there was a lot of Wii playing, as well as a lot of the same questions. "How's Seattle?!" "Do you like it?" "Does it rain a lot?" "Do you have jobs yet?" "How's school going?" I should have thought ahead and made note cards with the frequently asked questions and their answers and passed them around the table! haha :)

The City Sleeps, But I Do Not...

I am back in the lovely San Diego, lying on the guest bed in the office.

Kyle & I stayed up all night last night to insure we made it on time for our flight, so after the excitement/adrenaline of running around airports wore off, and after having a filling brunch at The Big Kitchen (thanks Mommy!) the second we had a little bit of down time (we were making plans to go to the movies...) we totally passed out...for about 6 hours. Around 10pm, I stifled tears because I had missed Gossip Girl, had a mini-heart attack because I thought I still had papers to finish, and then relaxed because I realized it was all okay. My Mom had made a lentil soup & cornbread muffins, along with my favorite oven roasted rosemary potatoes (how do I survive without her?) for dinner, which she had kept on the stove warm for us :) Oh love I love her!

After eating and chatting some more, my parents and Sahar went to sleep. Kyle had missed a billion calls from his friends while we were sleeping, so he went out to spend time with them. I was too tired for any social interactions, but not quite sleepy, so I hung out with Omied until about 5 mins ago when I realized that he hadn't napped for hours and was tired, so I told him I was going to bed, and here I am, alone with my thoughts. The city sleeps, but I do not.

Birthdays and 100 degree Weather

Friday, I'm in Love!

Kyle and I kind of slept in today, we didn't end up falling asleep until like 3am last night, so we were super passed out all through my family's noisy morning routines. I woke up around 12 and Kyle woke up shortly after, haha. We eventually managed to roll out of bed and shower just in time to be slightly late to pick Sahar up from school. With us arriving like 20 minutes late, it's just like old times :) haha


Afterwards, we decided to go out to eat, and after sitting in front of a Pick Up Sticks for like 20 minutes, decided that we should do multiple things at once, and Kyle called the Twins (Chris & Brian) and asked them if they wanted to hang out/eat. So we drove out to La Jolla & picked them up, then we went over to the UTC mall. We were walking around the food court for a bit, Sahar decided that she wanted Panda Express, so we head that way. As a joke, I tell her to ask for a discount because she's wearing her WWF shirt which has a Panda on it, and she laughs and I know she's not going to say anything. So we get up there and order her Orange Chicken, and the lady tells us that they're going to give us a 10% discount because she's wearing a panda shirt!! It was hilarious! I couldn't believe it, I thought they were just kidding, but nope, sure enough, right on the receipt it says a 10% promotional discount!! It totally was a highlight of my day, haha.
I got some Great Khans to much on, which was super good as usual :)


After eating, walking around the mall, and being stuck in traffic, we eventually made it back to my house. We all hung out for a bit, but the boys eventually took off to hang out, and I spent time with my mommy and Sahar. We decided to go shopping for my Uncle's birthday present, he's having a pool party tomorrow.


Speaking of tomorrow, we're going to have a super busy day! First my uncle's birthday party, then we're hanging out with Chrissy & Chris, and then we're going to Jenny's going away party! It's going to be such a fun day (hopefully) but I know I'm going to be exhausted tomorrow night! But, that's okay, I know it's going to be worth it...hanging out with everyone has been so much fun...I kind of forgot what having a social life was like, haha. But making friends has been pretty hard for us to do, hopefully once school starts/we start working we'll make a few friends. It'd be nice not to be so lonely in such a big city so far away from everyone we love. But I honestly can say I miss our apartment, it's nice having a hide out where we can just pretend the rest of the world doesn't matter.


I do miss being my sister's go-to person though...apparently she and Ryan got in some huge dispute because he asked her what her perfect guy would be like, and she basically described Nick (one of her ex-boyfriends/Ryan's best friend) and it got pretty messy, he got really upset and she ended up crying herself to sleep. And I didn't even know about this! I had to find out about it like a week later after chatting with my mom! Sahar also told me this crazy ridiculous story involving air soft guns, the guys she hangs out with, getting the police called on them (they thought they had real guns) and being surrounded by 30 units, having 2 helicopters flying above them, and having a sniper on a tall building semi-far away pointed directly at them in case they did something stupid. I couldn't believe something that crazy and ridiculous could happen and she wouldn't feel inclined to tell me about it...it makes me feel totally out of the loop, which breaks my heart.


Anyway, I'm currently lying in bed in my PJs hoping Kyle comes home soon, I'm super lonely. Everyone else has gone to sleep, my brother & Kyle are both out partying, and I'm all alone in my big dark house, with only the light of this computer keeping me company. Yes, both Kyle & my Brother tried to get me to go hang out with them (separately, not both of them at the same time) but I'm already in PJs and don't really feel like going out. Tomorrow's going to be super busy, so I'd really just like to go to sleep and cuddle with my baby-babe...but the last thing I'm going to do is ask him to come home, mostly because I know he would, and he really should just keep hanging out with his friends, we are leaving in only 3 days...


I guess I'll stop being a pouty baby, I can entertain myself with Gossip Girl re-runs or something :)


Goodnight San Diego!