If my husband hates ants. I hate ants even more. They turned my husband into an ant killing maniac. When we get home from work, Alan used to help me with cooking, like making the rice, setting the table, and sometimes even cutting the vegetables so that we can have something healthy for dinner. Ever since he turned into this maniac, the first thing he does when he gets home is look for ants, carrying with him his Ortho Home Defense, the indoor/outdoor insect killer (one of these day, it's gonna kill us cuz he's spraying it all over the place..... we'll die from eating minute amounts of ortho everyday). When he finds them, he asks, "Where the F**K are you coming from?", over and over again. That is very annoying. He really keeps repeating that, like once every few minutes. And, I can forget about him helping me with dinner, I gotta cook the rice and cut the veggies myself. Now, that sucks.

I often wonder what it is that moves a person to finish something. For a very long time, I tried to figure out the best way to push myself so that I could accomplish the goal I set for myself, which could be by miles or by time (15, 20, 25..).... Umm..sorry, forgot to mention what I am talking about here..which is running/jogging. I have a love/hate relationship with this activity. I hate the process, yet somehow towards the end of it, it feels great, and at the end I love it that I crossed the finish line. Needless to say, it's a complicated relationship. For a while, I tried to encourage myself to endure this activity by letting my mind wonder and imagined that I was doing something else. It didn't work cuz I always ended up imagining myself running (running in the desert, running away from monsters)...no matter what it was that I started with. For instance, I could be imagining that I was relaxing somewhere on the beach but then a monster would come out of nowhere and start chasing me and then outrun me and then when that happened, I would give up and stop. Recently, I discovered that if I just imagine myself reaching my goal, it's enough to get to get to the finish mark. A determined mind is that much more powerful. Use it, it's a great tool.

My polarizer filter came in the mail today. Can you tell which picture was taken with the polarizer filter and which wasn't?

How clean are your hands? OK, if you have clean habits and all, you may think your hands are clean. Let's say you wash your hands before you eat. Hmm...very good, if you're at home. Suppose you're at a restaurant and you do the same. You go into the restroom, wash your hands, wipe it dry w/ paper towels and open the door to get out. Clean? Well, let's see, suppose someone went to the restroom to finish his/her business (#2) and decided to not to wash his/her hands and opened the door to get out just before you and you happen to touch the same spot as that person with bad habits? You think your hands are clean? Hmmm...think again. Better open the door with paper towels. That's what I do. But, what if it's one of those not well kept restroom and there is no paper towel or one of those w/ dryers? Sometimes, I wait till the next person pushes the door open, catch it w/ my foot and then let myself out. But, waiting for the next person may take forever. This is where one of those anti-bacterial cleansing hand gel (kills germ without water) comes in handy. If you ask me, I think restaurants should have restrooms with automatic doors. Since that is unlikely to happen, carry one of those hand gels with you. Solves the problem.

Having the right tools in the kitchen does make a difference. Cooking is so much more fun and oh...so much easier too! I've been using the pasta cooker/vegetable steamer from Crate & Barrel . It was a weddng gift from a good friend. I absolutely love it. I love it so much that I've been using it everyday. I highly recommend it if you're into steaming your stuff. Note: It's healthier to steam stuff...and oh..easier to clean too.

Today, I used it to steam tofu and yesterday, I used it to steam eggs, a chinese dish my grandmother often made, called "Steamed 3 eggs" (it has normal egg, salty egg, & thousand year old egg and minced pork) . It is one of my favorite childhood dishes. My grandma made it all the time when I was a kid. When she makes it, it's so much better though. I don't have the touch yet. I got lots to learn.

In the meantime, I gotta go search for more recipes that call for steaming. Steam broccoli, steam asparagus, steam anything! If you got a good steaming recipe, send it my way. I would love to try it out!

After 10 sick days or so, I have forgotten how good it feels to run. Running is funny. When you start, the first few minutes or so, it feels horrible but once you get past the plateau, it starts to feel better. Some calls this the runner's high. And when you reach your goal, you know that you've done something good for your heart and lungs and that's the best part. I love that feeling.

OK, do all homes have to have so many friggin bathrooms? OK, if it's a house meant for a big family, then it makes sense...but for a townhome (about 1174 sq. ft.) like ours (meant for newly weds)? Why in the world would Alan and I need 2 1/2 bathrooms? More bathroom equates to more cleaning! It takes approximately 40 min. to clean one bathroom (approximately 20 min to clean the 1/2 bathroom)...so this translates to 100 min of bathroom cleaning time? 100 minutes?!!! I can get past so many different levels on Prince of Persia III with 100 minutes. No wonder Alan is so much ahead of me!

Speaking of bathroom and toilets, I highly reccommend using the Scotch-Brite Disposable Toilet Scrubbers. Unlike other disposable toilet cleaners, the scrub doesn't fall off the handle easily so that you can scrub as hard as you like and plus, it's got a nifty shape that fits under the rim to allow you to scrub under the rim. Right on Scotch-Brite! I don't know about you, but I hate storing toilet brushes. I wear latax gloves and use paper towels to clean the toilet seats and stuff because I don't like to store sponges that's been used to clean the toilet .....so disposeable toilet srubber, that's a great invention!

Remember that song from J Lo, "Love don't cost a thing"? It goes, "Think I'm gonna spend your cash I won't, Even if you're broke, my love won't cost a thing..." Sounds promising doesn't it? Umm,.. problem is, love doesn't cost a thing but a wedding does!!!!! After you're engaged, it's "...think I'm gonna spend all your cash (on our wedding) I will, even if you're (gonna be) broke, I don't give a damn..."...ok, this is umm...a little exaggerated..but there's an element of truth to it. :)

Speaking of weddings, I love weddings!!! I love going to weddings, whether as a guest or as a hardworking florist assistant. It is after my own wedding that I appreciate weddings so much more. This is probably because now I know how much they cost and how much work goes into planning one. Today's wedding was at the Kohl Mansion. The Kohl Mansion is absolutely gorgeous! Getting married at a national historial landmark. Now that's something! Here's some pictures from today's set up.

Summer used to mean 3 whole months of fun. That's how kids look at summer. Remember when you were a kid and you were always looking forward to the summer ~ the long days, the wonderful ice cream truck? Remember how time was spent in the sun ~ running around, biking, swimming. I think that many of us have lost that spark in us to have fun in the summer. I feel that being a kid shouldn't be limited to all those under 18 years of age. Let's be kids again this summer. Let's learn how to relax and enjoy in the sun. No, I don't mean staying at home w/ the AC on or go shopping in the mall. I mean really being in the sun. The sun is out, enjoy the day- go outside, forget the AC - wanna eat ice cream and desert before dinner? Go right ahead! Go out there, play some softball, or jump rope, or anything you used to love as a kid! Take some time and be that kid you used to be!

Despite being sick, I went to see "The Lake House". I've been sick for over a few days now and not just sick, but very very sick, congested head, headache, ear infection, sore throat, you know, the whole enchilada. No fun at all. Initially, I took Monday 7/3 off to go to a wedding in LA, enjoy 4th of July, and then took Wednesday 7/5 off to drive back. In retrospect, it seems like I was preparing for my sick journey. I decided to get sick on the weekend, get sicker on Monday, then get even sicker on Tuesday, and finally get extremely sick on Wednesday (I think I slept through most of the 5 to 6 hour drive). At one point, it was so bad that it felt like a truck ran me over and my brain was oozing out of my nose. Sorry, that was umm..kinda graphic but umm...ya sorry. Anyhow, I don't recall ever feeling so miserable due to a flu and I don't recall taking this long to recover. This must be the side effect of being you know...(sorry to those are older than me), not that young anymore...you know, another way to put it, the older you get, the longer it takes to bounce back. So, I finally felt a little better today...and what did I do? I went to see "The Lake House" and I don't know if it's because the movie sucked or if it was too cold in the theatre, I felt like throwing up at the end of the movie. By the way, the movie was pretty bad, very slow and the timewarp thing, it created a paradox. It doesn't make sense. So if you haven't seen it, and really want to see it, I say wait till it comes out in DVD. Oh, don't read any further if you want to see it and haven't seen it! Spoiler warning!!! I think that the movie would have been better if Alex did die. I'm not saying this because I'm the type of person who likes sad ending. I like happy ending but this ending just doesn't make sense. If he didn't die, then an alternate reality in 2006 would have been created. The thing is if Alex didn't die, then Kate wouldn't have gone to the lake house and everything that happened wouldn't have happened. Because Alex didn't die and yet they met at the lake house at the end as though nothing in the timeline had changed created a paradox! I will have to say that this movie was badly done. The story was too slow, too long, ..................it wasn't a mystery, it wasn't about time travel, it wasn't action and it wasn't even romantic enough to be ....ugh..I want my money back!

The San Gabriel Hilton is a lovely place to get married. Its ceremony location, which is the Garden Terrance, is situated on the 3rd floor, high above most of the other buildings in the San Gabriel area. It provides a view of the mountain and the sky. My favorite part of the terrace is the fountain (picture is below). It makes the place picturesque and romantic. This is definitely not a bad choice if you want the ceremony and the banquet to be at one location, especially if you want an outdoor ceremony.

favorite shots of the day: