A Date with My Little Man

Being a mother of two and working full time, every weekend has always been a special day for me. When Friday hits, I always start thinking and planning what I am going to do with my family. Last weekend my oldest son asked me if he can watch the movie, Hotel Transylvania. I told him I would take him to see the movie.

This weekend, I was able to keep my promise. I was excited every time I had to spend some time alone with him. Here is the thing about having a boy; they are hooked with their dad. There are things that he likes to do with his dad but I am not good at it, like wrestling, picking him up high, playing basketball, spending hours and hours in the garage doing boy stuffs, or spending time together at a hardware store. Bonding time between a mother and a son shall never stop and watching a movie with him is one way to for us to bond.

Before heading to the movie

Movie time is for sure one of the activities that we both can enjoy together. Like yesterday morning, we hit the movie theater at 10 A.M in the morning to watch Hotel Transylvania. The ticket is cheap for morning show. We bought popcorn and I spoiled him with a big cup of slurpee.

My daughter who wanted to go with us, but she has a date with her dad

After movie, we headed to the nearest mall to enjoy Vietnamese noodle soup for our dinner. Here is one of the thing that he and I have in common, we both LOVE noodle soup.

Like mother like son, he too loves this Vietnamese noodle soup

Father and daughter time

Another stripes on Monday

I am not sure what is going with me and stripes, especially black and white stripes. On my previous post from last week, I wrote about how to overcome Monday blues and it that post, I described about what I wore that day. A vertical black and white blouse and a pencil skirt. A week later, which was yesterday, I wore a  horizontal white and black T-shirt with pleated skirt. Then this evening, I checked on my closet and I realized I have quiet a few stripes in there. I guess I like stripes.

My Monday started early in the morning, I got up at 5:15 AM and was busy preparing lunch for my two kids. All of us were ready to leave the house by 7:15 AM. My husband drove my daughter to her school and I drove my son to his school. Before we left, I asked my husband for a favor to take my picture with his I Phone. As you see below.

Top: ZARA, Skirt: Nordstrom Rack by BCBG, Shoes: Ann Taylor, Belt: Loft

In the morning at work, I enjoyed the company of a cup of coffee on my desk, and a piece of whole wheat bread and a soft jazz from Sade. At 10:30 AM I started to get hungry, so I checked on foods I have in my drawer. I saw that beef jerky I got from Target two week before. There were about 4 pieces left. I was hungry and I ate them all. Those beef jerky is pretty darn spicy. I love spicy food but my stomach obviously could not handle this one. I had a horrible stomach pain. It felt as thought my stomach was being squeezed real hard. It was so painful I almost cried. A co-worker gave me TUMS and a cup of warm tea. It helped a little bit and the pain started to go away.

Whew, that was some pretty crazy Monday morning. I felt like an idiot. Why the heck was I eating beef jerky in the morning? and a spicy one. Other than that, my Monday was pretty productive. I got a lot of done at work.

My date in Target

What could be a better feeling than walking into a giant mega store when the door first open at 8 o'clock on Saturday morning? and your purpose is to do some grocery shopping. I did it yesterday and I did not take a shower when I went there. Yup, that's me. I am the weirdo. I am the weirdo who will not go outside the house even just to do a grocery shopping without taking a shower. Doesn't matter it is on Summer, Fall, Winter or Spring.

Yesterday, I only had about one hour for grocery shopping. Target opens at 8 AM. After I prepared breakfast for the family, I was getting ready for Target, no time for shower. Should I have taken the shower, it would have taken me at least another 20 minutes before I had to leave the house. I must be back home by 9:30 AM with a lot to buy. Don't get me wrong, I don't smell at all but I just don't like the feeling of leaving the house without taking a shower first (unless I need to go jogging or going to the gym, I normally don't shower first). I looked at my hair in the mirror, it's messy and it feel greasy even though I wash my hair the day before (I wash my hair everyday by the way) and I felt the needed of shower so badly but I did not want to spend another extra 20 minutes to get ready (but I was willing to spend extra 5 minutes and asked my husband to take my picture so that I can write this blog and put picture of how my hair looks like....yay me) .!!!

So, I decided to pull my hair back, made a little bun in the back, I put some hair pins all over to make it looks all neat. I put a little blush on so I won't look pale and horrible, a little lipstick and I was set to go. The feeling of not taking a shower before I went out was not so bad after all.

It was such a good feeling walking into Target, when the door first opens at 8 AM in the morning. The store was practically empty, the aisles were quiet and everything is neat. I felt like it was all mine. For about an hour, I had the best date in Target ever....by myself.

Monday Blues

Have you been attacked by one? I have, so many gazillion times.

I did not recall that I ever disliked Monday when I was in school or in college. Truly, Monday was never a problem back then. In my twenties, before I got married and of course, before kids, Monday was never a big deal for me either.

Why Monday often makes me feel blue?

After kids, Monday has become a burden. This burden even starts l2 hours before Monday arrives each week. Sunday afternoon is the beginning. That annoying feeling of thinking that the weekend is almost over and that I have to go to work and start the week all over again. Who likes that?. Wait a second, I know a person who never complains about Monday, it's my husband. He just never complains, even if he has to wake up very early on some Mondays to go to work. (sometime I don't know what he is made of)

Okay, let's get back about Monday and kids.
Since I have kids, Monday seems to be the day that I have to stop enjoying my precious time with my kids. That means; I have to go back to work, my kids have to go back to their schools and that I have to be away from them for at least 9 hours. I mind Monday because it is the beginning of all that, however when Tuesday comes, I get to go with the rhythm and the week goes by easily and quickly. Why is it so hard to start?

When I ask people at work with the famous Monday question  "How was your weekend?",  their answer "Good but it was short" or when I asked "How are you doing?", their answer "Ohhhh, it's Monday, you know how it is". Or when there is something not right at work, we just simply blame it on Monday.

Here are a few things that I think will make our Monday is a day that we're looking forward to, especially if you are a full time employee and a mother like myself:

1. If you have the budget to spend, go shopping on Sunday, buy a little something that you will wear on Monday, a nice blouse, a hot pair of shoes, a nice pants or jeans that flatter your asset, a nice handbags, a cute skirt or dress or scarf. If you don't have enough budget to spend, go to the thrift store, you will be amazed by what you can find or dig in for some sales. When you find something, you will be excited to show it off to work the next day.
2. Do something different about your hair; get a hair cut, change the color of your hair, get a highlight, cut your hair, curl it, straighten it, do whatever with your hair that make you look different on Monday and you can not wait to show it off to your co-workers. One Sunday night, I went to sleep with soft curling rolls on my hair and I woke up on Monday with little cute curl and was so excited about it.
3. Do get manicure or pedicure on Sunday, you can go to the nail salon or do it at home. Pick up a color that is not your normal color, be bold, be bright. I tried green, orange, yellow, silver, bright purple and pink. I have found my favorite nail colors. It's the Loreal brand. They dry so quickly and they got so many collection of colors. Do you know pretty looking nails make you feel happy?
4. Do get facial, if you can not do it in the Salon, do it at home. Treat and pamper your body head to toe at home. Do it after your kids (if you have any) go to bed. Starting by soaking your body in rich bubble bath. Then finish up with a little extra facial treatment on your face. Scrub or exfoliate, then put a little mask on your face. You will feel good afterward knowing that on Monday, you will come to work with smooth radiant looking face.
5. And in regards of item #4, spend a little quality time your husband or spouse or your partner, cuddling in bed, then do whatever adult stuffs you want to do. The next morning you'll wake up feeling refresh

Well, those five list are the one I can think of. How did I get through my Monday morning today while my husband is over 2000 miles away from home?

On Saturday, I bought a nice striped chiffon shirt, black and white. I was excited to  pair it with my favorite black pencil skirt, and my nude pumps for Monday. I prepared the kids' lunch on Sunday night. I snuggled with them and read them funny stories in the bed before they went to sleep. Then I watched a stupidly feel good romantic-comedy movie on Netflix on my Kindle Fire. On Monday morning, as I headed to the car about dropping them off to school, all I was thinking; "four more days until my husband is home, I can't wait", "three more days until I move from a tall cube to an office", "I really like this new blouse", "a nude pumps make my legs look longer", "Oh my daughter looks so cute in a pig tail, "I wonder what my son will learn at school today", "what's new at work today?".

Monday, is just like another day, it is just named differently than Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday, or Saturday, or even Sunday.

FRIDAY IS SO FAR FROM MONDAY AND FRIDAY IS CLOSE TO MONDAY. Well, you have to get through Monday to be close to Friday, don't you?

Hello Fall

Who would have thought that Summer of 2012 is over?. It's officially over two days ago. Who would have thought that the end of 2012 is about three months away?. What is the right words to describe how time flies? "Time flies". That's right!.

Living in the valley and not just the valley, but the hottest part of the valley in suburb of Los Angeles summer felt like forever, a never ending heat. In the months of August and September the triple digit numbers hit us many time. It is hot alright. You just don't want to be outside.

So, in welcoming Fall, our family took a trip to an outdoor mall outside of LA county. There was a craft air going on so I thought it would be good for us. It was good, except for the weather. It was still hot. First day of Fall still feels like summer, after all it's just first day of fall, what was I thinking?

My kids are doing some art

I seriously want to jump into this

Thursday is for cords and my favorite top

I was organizing my closet the night before Thursday and found an old top I bought eight years ago. It is one of my favorite top. I don't wear it often because I like to keep it good so I will have it for a long time.

I wore this top for the first time when I went to Dayton, OH for my husband's reunion. That night after the reunion, we were in a mall in Cincinnati. Seven women complimented this top and asked me where did I get it from.

Well yes, this top never fails me, every time I wear it I got the compliments even after eight years later.

Here is how my Thursday, September 20th looked like.


Top: Banana Republic, Wedges: DSW by Franco Sarto, Cords and bracelets: Loft

Mr. Brown and Mr. Grey

So I stopped writing right after my son was sick back in May. However, my mind does not stop thinking about this blog.

Then here came Tuesday, September 18th. Not today, it was yesterday. I took a little morning walk with my co-worker.