Fashion. Music. Family. Life.
I wish everyone a safe holiday with your friends and family, and that you get all you ask for. I’ll be making merry with my immediate family (mom, husband and son), my sister’s family (sister, brother-in-law and niece), and lots of extended family (aunts, uncles and cousins).
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
This weekend, I took some great pictures of my son and my niece. They are just so photogenic and I love capturing them when they’re playing together. My husband and I took Dominic to get his annual photo with Santa. We originally were going to get it at Seaport Village, which is a cute little seaside attraction here in San Diego. A friend of mine said there’s a Santa who dresses California cool (Hawaiian shirt with shorts), and we thought that would be a cute change to the regular mall Santa. But the weather was a bit too blustery, so we ended up going to our local mall afterall. They will serve as our holiday cards to send to friends and family (and I’ll post the picture here on Christmas Day). Afterwards, we headed to a birthday party, and Dominic fell asleep because it was during his nap time. When we got to the pizza parlor and told him his cousin Mei-Lin was there, he woke right up. They just adore each other so much, even if they quarrel like brother and sister.
On Sunday, my husband played in his first amateur golf tournament. Even though he had the beginnings of a cold, he braved the weather and played in the pouring rain out at Mt. Woodson Golf Club in Ramona. He came home soaking wet, so I made sure he had a hot lunch and warm clothes to change into. He didn’t do as well as he would have liked, but it’s a start. Dominic isn’t old enough to take to a golf course or tournament yet, so we don’t have any pictures from this tournament. I’m so proud of my dear hubby, and I know that he’ll participate in more to come!
Outfits:
On Mei-Lin – Pink Angel top and skinny jeans; boots were a birthday gift
On Dominic – Pumpkin Patch button down shirt; Target skull print long-sleeved shirt; Greendog jeans; Converse sneakers
This weekend was pretty relaxing. We went to a couple of parties: one was at Mission Bay Park where Dominic ran, jumped and rolled around in the grass like a little puppy. I then went to my first cookie exchange (a more robust post will be put up later this week). Deon went to a poker party with my brother-in-law, which allowed my mom, my sister and I time to spend together with the kids. On Sunday, I just hung out with my little boy while Deon played golf. A big plus was that the San Diego Chargers shut out the Kansas City Chiefs 31-0.
It’s always nice to have one of those weekends where the agenda is “do whatever we want” and “we’ll get there when we get there”.
Top photo by Deon Chen, all others by Cyrillynn Chen
My niece’s Beatles themed 5th birthday was a success! She looked absolutely adorable in her little outfit. My son had a bit of a cold, but insisted on playing outside with all the kids (as long as it was daylight, it was ok for a little while). The immediate family all had “tour shirts” made by my sister which had the dates and themes of Mei-Lin’s past birthdays. The front was a drawing made by our friend Ted who took an old Beatles cartoon and added an image of Mei-Lin in the middle.
My sister and I must love the “rock and roll” themed birthdays because my son’s first birthday was also a music themed. We ordered invites that looked like concert tickets and all of the immediate family had “backstage passes”.
Two of the food highlights were The Beatles cake (made by my sister’s friend Yolanda) and the mini-hamburger cookies. I’ll leave the cake decorating to the professionals, but I can give you the recipe for the “no bake” mini-hamburger cookies. My sister gave me the recipe verbally, so here is how I would follow it:
No Bake Mini-Hamburger Cookies
Prepare the “lettuce” by adding 1/2 cup of shredded coconut to a plastic baggie. Add food coloring to coconut and shake. Set aside.
Prepare the “top buns” by spreading water (but I think clear gel icing would provide better adhesion) to the rounded side of the vanilla wafer and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Set aside.
To assemble the “burgers”: Add red and yellow gel icing to the mint chocolate cookie for the “ketchup” and “mustard” or “cheese”. Sprinkle green coconut for the “lettuce”. Adhere the “top bun”. Add the “bottom bun” by spreading a little bit of icing to the bottom of the chocolate mint cookie. Adhere the flat side of another vanilla wafer cookie.
Make as many as you can!
Outfits: Tour shirts made by Rholnna Jiao (illustration by Ted Meneses)
On Mei-Lin – Apple Bottom girl’s faux leather vest; Old Navy girl’s skinny jeans; Auntie Cyrillynn’s hat (brand unknown); Payless girl’s boots; “My Melody” stuffed doll by Build-A-Bear
On Dominic – Old Navy loose fit toddler jeans and long-sleeved shirt; Converse sneakers; Target knit beanie
This post is dedicated to my niece Mei-Lin who turns 5 today. She is as dramatic as she is beautiful. One of her older cousins asked her during Thanksgiving if she has any ugly poses. She responded, “I only have pretty poses!” A girl who takes after her auntie. Her party theme this year will be The Beatles. Yes, you read that right (she can sing all the lyrics to “Yellow Submarine”).
Happy Birthday to my pretty little princess!
(Title translation from Tagalog to English: “It’s Christmas Again”)
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at my house. My mom has decked all of our halls already, and my son is loving every moment because there are plenty of shiny things everywhere. A part of the Christmas decoration tradition at our house is a Philippine Christmas lantern called a Parol. The one pictured above was brought back by my aunt direct from the Philippines and adorns our front door. Not only are most of the rooms and the front door in full holiday mode, my mom also made sure sprinkle our front yard with lots of twinkling lights.
This truly is my favorite time of the year. I love that it’s ok to incorporate Christmas into everything, which includes sports. My sister gave me a Chargers Christmas ornament one year. In all the years I’ve been a fan, it never occurred to me to buy one, and it’s the only one I have. I thought about getting a Steelers one just so that our tree has both our favorite teams represented. I may order one this year, which will make my husband happy.
This time of year also means lots of baking, so I went to Target and bought Christmas themed cookie cutters and a rolling-pin so that my niece and I can have a little fun in the kitchen. She’s been asking about the eggnog cookies I made a few weeks ago (recipe found here) because she saw me putting the ingredients together, but couldn’t stay for the finished product. I promised her that I would make them again and when I do, I’ll be sure make her my sous-chef de cuisine. Here’s to the start of a great holiday season!
I know my most recent post was about my adventures in boy band land, which I posted right in the middle of my Thanksgiving weekend. It was a post from a few months ago that I kept meaning to put up but just never got around to it. Since I didn’t have my regular computer and just my little Nokia Netbook (no photo editor), I thought it was a good time to post it. Now that I have my regular computer, I am posting images from my Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas with my in-laws.
The reason I have a picture of an almost skeletal turkey was because it was the first time we ever had a deep-fried turkey. My mother-in-law bought a Butterball Deep Fryer to see if it’s as good as we have heard. My husband injected each side of the 10 pound turkey with creole butter (seasoning). Then he cut a slit into the left and right breast and inserted two tablespoons of butter in each side. Lastly, he seasoned the outside of the turkey with poultry seasoning and pepper. Then he deep-fried it in just under two gallons of Canola oil for only 40 minutes. The result was the most moist turkey I’ve ever had in my life. It’s no wonder it disappeared so quickly!
The yeast rolls my mother-in-law got were also completely amazing. They come frozen and rise in the oven. Even the next day, they were fantastic with a little bit of melted butter. I didn’t get a picture of them, but she also makes the best yams (made with brown sugar, butter and marshmallows).
The final image is of my son in his new little Thanksgiving outfit. Technically, he should only be wearing the San Diego Chargers gear because my team had the better record last season without reaching the Superbowl. The way my husband and I resolve which of our favorite team’s gear Dominic will wear each year is determined by which team has the better record or the team that goes to the Superbowl (this is until he can pick his own favorite team). My mother-in-law didn’t know we have this little “wager”, so she bought him the little Pittsburgh Steelers track-suit. But he looked too cute, so I’ll let this outfit slide this year. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!
It’s a very busy time for friends and family to gather together and celebrate, so my post today will just be about how thankful I am for the many blessings in my life. It’s been a wonderful and eventful year so far, and I need to say thank you to everyone in my life for the encouragement and support they have given me, especially my wonderful husband and beautiful son. I am surrounded by their love every waking moment, which allows me to give it back in abundance.
The only difficult part of this time of year is that I remember my dear father, who I wish was here physically with us to share the holidays. It’s in times like this that my mom misses him dearly, although she knows he is with us in spirit. Like me, I know she thinks about what his reactions to my son and my niece would be as they get older because she is here and able to watch them grow.
So everyone, just take a moment to remember to thank your friends and family for all the love and support they provide. But most of all, thank yourselves for who you are and your contribution to the world we live in.
Have a safe and wonderful holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!
(Photos by Ashlee Espinoza)
This weekend, Dominic went on his very first train ride at the Balboa Park Railroad Station, courtesy of one of his little buddy’s birthday party. I remember going to the same little train when I was a kid (which is right next to the world-famous San Diego Zoo). So many memories resurfaced, and it made me miss my father even more because I would have loved to have seen him take his grandson to do the same thing with him as he did with me and my sister.
Dominic has a little train that he rides at home and he’s always saying “Choo-choo!” I knew he would have a blast riding the train. My son is definitely an observer, so he sat so quietly, taking everything around him in. After we finally rode on the train, he ran back and wouldn’t leave the little station.
Outfit: H&M t-shirt; Gap for Kids pants; Converse sneakers; Target knit hat
Well, not really but I like the title of that Ministry song. Here are some images from this past week and weekend that are all things Halloween. The first three below are images from work. One is my team’s winning submission to our company’s pumpkin carving contest. A couple of my direct reports found an image of a pumpkin as a burger, so they ran with the idea by getting all of the In-N-Out accessories to make it truly unique. The second and third pictures are what my husband I wore to work on Friday (I’m in my goth girl outfit again, and Deon is “V for Vendetta”).
These last few pictures are of Halloween night and going “Trick or Treating” with my sister’s family and our kids. My sister, her husband and daughter were dressed as Super Mario Bros (don’t they look awesome?). It was nice to see that our neighbors had an awesome haunted garden. At first my son didn’t want to go in. When his cousin joined him, he practically ran in. There is a great picture of Dominic and Mei-Lin watching a mechanical bride and groom sing “I Got You Babe”.
All in all, it was fun to see our kids go out for the first time together down the very same street we used to go down as kids every Halloween. Hope everyone had a great weekend as well!
