glory love voluptuousness and pleasure in Portland & co.

Awesome Website to Visit Before You Visit Paris

2007-10-28T23:29:00.000-07:00

Paris, city of Light.
The epicenter of culture, fashion, style in Europe.
The Cafés! The Eiffel! The fashion week! The food! And the list goes on and on. If I have anywhere I can go in the world, my first place to go is Paris.

There are so many things to do, so many sights to see. Everything you do in Paris is about pleasure of all senses. So it's really easy to splurge (and there's nothing wrong with splurging) when you go such a place like Paris. Sure, you may love to travel like a jetsetter, not caring where you end up, just go wherever your heart desires, but if you're a frugal (and wise) traveler like I am, it's always best to research and find places to go, hotels to book before you make that phone call reserving your plane ticket.

For those who are more like myself, this is the website you need to visit:

http://www.cheaperthanhotels.co.uk/France/

This website is awesome for so many reasons. Http://www.cheaperthanhotels.co.uk/France/
guarantees you with the LOWEST prices online. It's the only website that provides you with the BEST deal for hotels. From 1 star to 5, complete with description of the hotels, location, and information about their affordable rate, and they also give you a last-minute deal to year-round rate. You can easily navigate their website (it's very user-friendly) and make reservation online, you can either pay upon arrival or pay deposit online and pay the rest after you've finished your visit to Paris. And even if you can't visit Paris now, you can sign up for their e-mail newsletter so that they can notify you during another travel season of the best deal available!

So what are you waiting for?
Click on : http://www.cheaperthanhotels.co.uk/France/

Be a well-informed traveler I promise that you will end up enjoying more of your stay in Paris knowing full well that you save very well!

All Apology

2007-10-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

When you have a rambunctious little boy like Chris, you'll understand why most of my free time is spent catering to his 'every' needs.

I do mean: EVERYTHING.

I will be back blogging as often as I can just because I'm soooo cool and people are actually interested in reading my blog........NOT!! LOL.

Anyhow, I'm going to try to avoid my son (who keeps charging at me right now) and get him to watch "Blues Clues" or something like that.

Tracy

Sorry Sorry I SUCK at This

2007-09-14T01:31:00.000-07:00

So I haven't been blogging as I'm supposed to. My status as online writer is threatened, my beloved online ad agency has demoted me too! Oh the sorrow!

Anyway, I must apologize to M for not returning her e-mail promptly as I'm supposed to. I'm assuming she's back in England safely, although her heart may be a little sad due to leaving her fiancee and ::cough:: a sex object. LOL. I'm just going to leave the details out for your sake, M. :)

Nowadays, I've been preoccupied. I will start a new job in October, quite nervous but excited and I've been just amused with Chris. He's becoming more and more adult-like. The other night, he put Elmo to sleep. Yes. He kissed Elmo, talk to it, then cuddle then proceeded to wrap a blanket on Elmo. Then Chris lay down next to him, as I started to speak, suddenly he SHUSHED me.

Yes. He wouldn't let me talk! He put his tiny index finger in front of his mouth. "Shhhhhh." Both Michael and I tried our hardest not to laugh. It's just the cutest thing. Then when Chris thought Elmo was asleep, he climbed off the bed and went to play.

Just like what I do to him when I'm trying to get him to sleep. He's getting better mimicking. Another thing I notice, he's getting taller and taller, he towers over a 3-yrs-old and he almost reaches the height of a 4 yrs-old boy.

And, for a 2 years-old, he's pretty good with his letters and numbers. He remembers them all, and can count up to 50. I'm so proud for drilling those lessons into his tiny head! My mom thinks Chris may be a genius, I told her "Not possible. Sorry about that." Michael thinks that Chris should play soccer like Beckham or enter the NFL later on in life. He keeps saying that Chris is a "specimen." Hmmm...

Oh we'll see. Que sera sera, whatever will be will be!

Love,

Tracy

My Son is Picky Eater

2007-07-31T12:05:00.001-07:00

I'm musing how Christopher is over 2, how fast he's growing. How fun and darling he is right now, and how attached and loving he is of mom...

Anyway, today, as I was cutting celery for snack (after washing them, of course), I notice him by my side, he said "Bite?" He always said that when he wanted to eat anything I was preparing, I looked at him, and said, "Sure, go ahead. Take it." He threw a little smile my way, and grabbed the celery from the kitchen counter, and went back to the living room while happily munching the green stalk.

My parents often said that I was very picky with my food. I only would eat chicken or beef (anything meat) and nothing else, or maybe with some rice. I would turn my head at the sight of vegetables, in fact, I used to detest vegetables.

I find it amazing that Chris is the same way, but the complete opposite. My son would munch on celery, cucumber and carrot and he'd spit out the beef, pork or chicken. Sometimes he'll eat turkey or fish, but it's SOMETIMES.

I didn't notice, but I have a naturally vegetarian baby (or would-be vegetarian)! He's a healthful eater because he would refuse eating French fries or chicken nuggets (I did offer him those--I'm assuming children love those things), and opt for low-sodium vegetable soup instead. I hope this phase will last a while :)

I also marvel on how tall he is, he almost reaches my hip (height-wise) and he's only 2 years old! (P.S. I'm 5'7) Everyone who sees him thinks that he's at least 3 or 4 years old but with a face of a baby, it's too cute, I sincerely think he kind of looks like Suri Cruise (male version of her, I guess it's because they have the same color skin and hair), but it's just my opinion. I don't understand how Tom Cruise baby seems part- Asian, but I digress.

Anyway, this entry is for my sweet boy, Christopher. Mommy loves you!

Unique Travel Destination IV: Australia

2007-07-30T16:12:00.000-07:00

Hello!

It feels that it's been awhile since I've written about Travel destination (outside the glorious Portland Oregon), but since this is still the best time of the year to travel, I'll bite.
Once upon a time (years and years ago), a girl named Tracy (me) decided to travel to Australia with her friends, after much consideration, her parents decided to send her to Perth, Sydney then Melbourne for a 2-week-excursion. Oh what a fun time that was! She, her brother, her cousins and a couple of friends enjoyed lovely hotel accommodation, beautiful culture and places, not to mention great shopping.

Those were the days when money didn't come too much into the equation when traveling. Things are a little different, when you're an adult and responsible for your own finances. And if you've not even visited the Australia, surely you wonder which places you should visit first. I know that this doesn't seem too original, but I can't help it for obvious reason that these cities are just marvelous, I'd suggest: the BIG 3 (3 biggest cities in Lovely Australia):

Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.

Beautiful Sydney harbors, numerous fun cruises (or you can charter your own boat) and who can ever forget about Sydney's Opera House (magnificent sights!), Sydney provides fun outdoor experience as well as nourish your artistic and cultural needs as a tourist. Simply said: When it comes to which city is Australia’s true global city, there’s no argument. It’s Sydney – with its sense of style, its love of sport and exuberant celebrations! Through the link, you can find and reserve tours, cruises and learn more about this cool place! But if you want to save money, go click this link: http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com.au/Australia/Sydney/

Melbourne is the second most populous city in Australia. Located around Port Phillips Bay in the country's south-east, Melbourne is the state capital of Victoria. The city is often referred to as Australia's "sporting and cultural capital" and it is home to many of the nation's most significant cultural and sporting events and institutions. Melbourne is a city with something for everyone. From chic fashion stores to buzzing lane cafés and trendy bars, botanic gardens to sports stadiums, elegant Victorian-era buildings to Manhattan-style skyscrapers, film and food festivals to galleries and opulent theaters, Melbourne has an activity and attraction that will interest you. With so much to experience, I must slip this in, if you want to save some money on your hotel accommodation, check out: http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com.au/Australia/Melbourne/

Last but not least, Brisbane. I've not had the fortune to visit Brisbane (third biggest city in Australia) in the past, but I'd recommend it on the basis that I want to go there next and I'll be sure to check out http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com.au/Australia/Brisbane/. After all, this time around I'll be paying my way! :)

I digress. Here are some reasons why I want to go: Brisbane has a thriving live music scene, as well as museums and theaters, performing arts and creative arts within the city and suburbs. It is the birthplace of internationally acclaimed singers, music bands, authors, actors, artists, sculptors and fashion designers. And if you like outdoor travel, you'll love Brisbane's South Bank Parklands, the Roma Street Parkland (which has an outdoor amphitheater), the Brisbane City Botanic Garden (founded in 1855) then the Mount Coot-tha state forest that overlooks the city. And being the tourist that I am, I'd LOVE to dock by Portside Wharf, their newest tourist industry addition (reportedly spent 750 million to build!).

After all those daydreaming, let's get back to reality. If you've recently set your eyes on either Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, or all three, the next step is to plan out your trip carefully so that you won't blow your budget. After all, when you're traveling, your priority is the travel. But you still want a good, enjoyable, safe place to spend your nights (or if you're a party-all-nighter, at least: a wonderful resting place) and have more than enough money left over to REALLY TRAVEL Down Under.

This is where very useful website like : http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com.au/Australia/ is such a HUGE help(don't forget, after 'Australia,' insert/write the cities you want to visit. For example: http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com.au/Australia/Sydney/ , http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com.au/Australia/Melbourne/, http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com.au/Australia/Brisbane/)

From those links (http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com.au/Australia/Sydney/, http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com.au/Australia/Melbourne/, http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com.au/Australia/Brisbane/ ), there's this convenient (simple) and efficient tool at your fingertips! You can go ahead browse different hotels/hostels/what-have-yous, you can compare prices, make great use of their discounts whether it's seasonal or year-long, check out the location (map out your travel destination from your hotel), you can even BOOK online.

All this service is FREE (thanks to http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com.au/Australia/ ), and you'll SAVE MONEY on your hotel accommodation!

How can you go wrong from that? :) More money to enjoy Brisbane's night life, go out kayakking along Sydney Harbor, or sightseeing at beautiful streetscapes of Melbourne while indulging in retail therapy (oh ladies, you know who you are!).

Remember everyone, a well-planned travel will only result in MORE GOOD TIME!

So go ahead and plan ahead, check out: http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com.au/Australia/ get the best out of your money and HAVE FUN always doing so.

Until then,

Tracy

Our Condo

2007-07-26T23:00:00.000-07:00

So, I was browsing craigslist.org today to find out that the property management used our condo as model condo to attract potential buyers and renters!

Isn't that cool? It takes some convincing, but Michael finally agrees when he saw these pics:

The third pic is our living room, of course instead of potted flowers, we put our 27 inch TV there above the fireplace.
And instead of itty bitty loveseat (poor excuse of one), we put both huge sage sofa and loveseat (imagine the coziness).

Next is the kitchen. Nothing's changed much, and believe it or not, the floor actually looks nicer in real life. It's a big kitchen, we fit in a pretty big dining table.

Then the top one: our master bedroom. They actually decorate it better than we've ever done (we don't have the sheer curtain, having a boy who will smear chocolate all over it then pulls it down...just doesn't make sense to have curtains). And no night table because the little one pulled the cabinet off (long story--he's the little destroyer nowadays).

Anyway. Many people have moved out (the renters) because the inconvenience of parking (it's a hassle because people just park anywhere they like!) then upstairs neighbor. Living on the ground floor has its advantage of having a small gated yard, which is very cool because Chris LOVES it, but since it's not such a well-insulated place, we get to experience every noise our upstairs' neighbor makes!

Even worse, if you have someone who is extra noisy at night.

We're browsing around for a new place nowadays, some place we can stay for awhile without moving (we've only lived in our condo for a year), we want to find a place where Chris is going to have buddies and Michael gets to work on his truck (so a garage, storage and yard are necessary) then a nice/safe enough neighborhood that I can do my daily walk and exercise.

So far no luck, but maybe one day... :) Hopefully soon.

My Favorite Things

2007-07-16T01:52:00.000-07:00

Currently, these are a few of my favorite things:

1) Trader's Joe's Pomegranate White Tea and Jasmine Green Tea

2) Browsing through really CRAFTY/creative websites such as:

http://designsponge.blogspot.com/
or
http://www.remakeables.com/
or
http://decor8.blogspot.com/
or
http://ohjoy.blogs.com/
or
http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/
or
http://www.etsy.com/
or
http://cherylthinktank.blogspot.com/
and
etc (I will be back to add more later on!)

Well, it's completely amazing to find communities filled with creative, fun, artsy individuals (not to mention crafty) and their creation actually inspire me to do things in a more personal/individualized way. I suppose I can put it like this: I'm more appreciative toward things that are handmade and original then mass-produced products now.

3) Christopher's growing and getting smarter each day. The boy starts to speak more and more and he's finally starting to get more comfortable in his own room after spending almost all of his life in the same room with mom (yes, I made the mistake of not putting him in another room after birth!)

4) Christopher's freshly decorated room! Michael did it this past weekend, and he also DEEP-cleaned our condo! I'm so happy for not having to do this task!

5) Kettle's (natural) chips, Salt & Vinegar flavor.

6) Chelsea Handler's new daily show "Chelsea Lately." It's crazy good, CRASS, funny, rude but still quite honest and totally cool/fun to watch! It's on pretty late, so it's good because this lady doesn't hold back. I love the "Female happy Ending" segment she had today on the premiere, and when she 'put a cap' on Steve-O's ass.

7) Dreaming of IKEA (they're opening one soon in town! Sure beats driving up to Seattle).

8) Watching "healthy" cooking shows, like: "Healthy Appetite: Ellie Krieger," or "Healthy Decadence," or "A Lyon in the Kitchen," "Sarah Snow: Fresh."

9) Target. Women's clothing department. CHEAP but quite stylish, I know I know, many will say: quality over quantity. My advice is this, sure, INVEST in quality clothing that's timeless, but if you want to indulge in trend/fad, go ahead head on to Target. I LOVE their GO designer lines, the new one being: Libertine.
In the past, I've been so into Isaac Mizrahi's line for Target.
My second choice for CHEAP trendy clothing is Walmart. Look at their "George" line, I usually just buy them on sale. From original price of $30, I often get them for either $3.50 or $3. Really. For those who are green-conscious, believe it or not, Walmart has been pushing green campaign, and they actually have AFFORDABLE (aka cheap) GREEN/environmentally friendly clothing. Crazy good!

Eh, that's it for now. I'm going to update as I find more and more my favorite things. After all, life is all about the lovely small things, silver lining(s) in the cloudy sky.

This is the PURRfect cartoon

2007-07-15T01:15:00.001-07:00

LMAO!

Too hilarious for words...

Go Vegan!

2007-07-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

Oh no!

Michael should watch out because these days I've been studying how to cook "RAW." If you know what "raw" is, it's..actually "UNCOOKING" so nothing will be heated up, only fresh, raw, VEGAN ingredients mixed together and served as if it's "real food." But it IS real food, mind you. It sounds fresh and interesting.

To get fresh raw vegan products and recipes, I'm going to endorse this lovely lady, Ani (she seems lovely, she even has her own show on youtube.com), as seen in her website:

http://aniphyo.com/

This is what I'm thinking of actually making.. "Donut Holes" (from her site as well):

Donut Holes

1 cup almonds, dry
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1 cup dried pineapple, chop
1 cup pitted dates
5 Tablespoons dried shredded coconut

Just make them into tiny balls, and voila! It's ready to eat! Cool, huh? She makes everything so easy! I always thought eating vegan/raw is a complete hassle, so I was wrong. Unfortunately for Chris, some of the raw food, I may not be too comfortable in sharing with him just yet (although I don't mind him eating vegan, that baby just doesn't like fast food. He prefers veggies to beef-I'm sure this phase will pass when he's old enough to think broccoli is his 'enemy.').

Anyway, I'm going to drop a note for lovely Michelle: I finally get your e-mail today, and I've replied as well! Thanks for sharing, hun, I hope everything will work out great for you (read my reply!).

Bye bye for now everyone.

Love,
Tracy

We've Survived!

2007-07-12T00:34:00.000-07:00

After bearing 2 days with no AC in triple digits temperature, we've survived! No one was dehydrated, we drank and drank as much water and juice. We ate lots of watermelon, pineapple, apple.

Sure, we felt quite lethargic to run around during the weather, so, Michael was creative in buying 2 water guns, water balloons, and "gazillion" bubble to distract and please little Chris. I must say that it worked very well.

After I slathered SPF 45 sunblock on his little body, Chris was free to venture NUDE into the yard today (Michael thought Chris would prefer nudity--riiiight). Chris then proceeded to shoot water at me and we ended up going to water war in which (as usual) the adult would be the loser. So eventually I just doused him with cold water from a bucket, and he happily danced around as he asked me to blow some of the "gazillion bubbles." I kept blowing bubbles until my jaws hurt then Michael took over for me.

We all took a nap and everyone woke up around 8. I made Michael BBQ some pork for dinner (it's way too hot to cook inside the house), and I fixed mustard potato salad. Chris didn't like the salad, but at least, he ate some BBQ pork.

Tomorrow/today, it'll be 92 degrees. So it's not all bad.

P.S. Michael is going on a new job interview, I'm keeping my fingers crossed he'll get it, because this is such an awesome position for him to have. And if he got it, he's pretty sure he's never going to move to another company (great benefits, pay, etc--way too good to be true, imho).

Wish us luck, peeps.

Night night for now!

Love,

Me.

Today is going to be triple digits Yo!

2007-07-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

That's right, it's supposed to be miserable today. We're preparing for the triple digits temperature day(s). I heard from the news it'll reach 93 F by noon, therefore, if my calculation isn't mistaken, we need to be closing the house off around 9 in the morning.

To make things worse, we have no AC in the house. So I'm a little sad about that. Every year it's the same, we resolve the buy AC then we completely forget all about it until the day when it's triple digit temperature.

Ay yi yi.

For now, I'm planning to have our bathtub as private swimming pool for little Chris. Speaking of little Chris, he's getting more adorable and clever every day, not to mention mischievous. He loves to go potty outside in the yard. Ah. The joy of being parents. Michael said that I'm teaching him like I'm teaching a little puppy.

Anyhow.

It's going to be extra hot today and tomorrow, and you know what's really HOT? This new restaurant that's just opened (Nice segue, eh?). The gourmet kind that's also kid-friendly. I will post more about it with link on the my next post. For now, I'm going back to bed.

Bye bye.

A Dear Michelle Letter

2007-07-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

Hola Chica'!

How are you enjoying your stay so far?

By the way, do you have Skype?

I'm online there, my screenname is: Tracy_KS

If you have an account there (it's free!) We may even get to talk!! Whoo hoo!
That is if you have like a mike and stuff at your dear DJ's house!

By the by, are Chris and Freya over there too?

Love,
Tracy

Happy Birthday America and Welcome to America!

2007-07-04T03:04:00.000-07:00

This is an extra special post by moi for dear Michelle.

Welcome to America!!

Finally after completely forgetting the url for the fan forum, I braved myself against all possible virus infections to my darling computer to check out Michelle's message, it turns out that she's coming to US to see her darling fiancee, Daniel.

At least we'll get to chat on the (almost) same time line. Right? Right?

Oy vey, have fun enjoying your boy, darling!

Another special thing is, ohmygod, it's 4th of July! You know that it's time for BBQ, fireworks and booze. Well, angelic me won't be drinking, but I'll probably be indulging in some food goodness.

Anyhow, happy birthday US of A!

Unique Europe TraveL Destination: Vienna, Austria (part 2)

2007-07-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

Of course, as budget travelers, we don't want to blow all of our money on hotel accommodation alone, especially if you're planning to not only travel to one Europe destination, but also a few of them. If it's up to me, I'll be splurging on cuisine, museums, theater, etc, because most of the time I'll be OUTSIDE my hotel room in Vienna.

Again, since I'm a big believer of CHEAP travel that is also GREAT (no complication, no muss, awesome accommodation and all in AWESOME price), I definitely suggest you to visit: http://www.cheaperthanhotels.co.uk/Austria/Vienna/
Ok. I may not be inside my hotel room all of the time, but when I do, I want to make sure that I can afford the BEST possible hotel room I can!

This website provides very detailed, accurate and effective information from every type of hotels (you can even read about the hotels you're interested in staying in, so you'll have a good idea what type of place you'll be staying at). Yes, from 1 star to 5 stars, and believe it or not, VERY affordable (in fact: it's LOWEST rates guaranteed-and you paid on arrival to the location) and after all that, they also have other (cheap) hotel accommodation in other parts of Europe for you to browse or book. Believe me, you will thank me after you visit this website. I'm saving you money!

Http://www.cheaperthanhotels.co.uk/Austria/Vienna/ also provides specials (the one-time deals and the year-long deals). So don't blow all your money on hotels when you can save so much, go ahead, book away and plan it out before going to Vienna. Go ahead and browse the website, after all, a better planned trip is a better trip!

Have a safe, wonderful travel in Vienna!

Unique Europe TraveL Destination: Vienna, Austria (part 1)

2007-07-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

Vienna is the place where the spirit of Austria's biggest history is still alive. Vienna is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primate city; with a population of about 1.7 million (2.2 million within the metropolitan area), and is by far the largest city in Austria as well as its cultural, economic and political center. Vienna lies in the very east of Austria and is close to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

If you're visiting Europe don't forget to stop by this bustling cultural center. Being somewhat of a piano enthusiast, two of my most favorite pianists and composers were born in Vienna (Beethoven and Mozart). Major tourist attractions include the imperial palaces of the Hofburg and Schönbrunn (also home to the world's oldest zoo, Tiergarten Schönbrunn) and the Riesenrad in the Prater. Cultural highlights include the Burgtheater, the Wiener Staatsoper, the Lipizzaner horses at the spanische Hofreitschule and the Vienna Boys' Choir, as well as excursions to Vienna's Heuriger districts.

There are also more than 100 art museums, which together attract over eight million visitors per year ^[1]. The most popular ones are Albertina, Belvedere, Leopold Museum in the Museumsquartier, KunstHausWien, BA-CA Kunstforum, the twin Kunsthistorisches Museum and Naturhistorisches Museum, and the Technisches Museum Wien, each of which receives over a quarter of a million visitors per year ^[8].

There are many popular sites associated with composers who lived in Vienna including Beethoven's various residences and grave at Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) which is the largest cemetery in Vienna and the burial site of many famous people. Mozart has a memorial grave at the Hapsburg gardens and at St. Marx cemetery (where his grave was lost). Vienna's many churches also draw large crowds, the most famous of which are St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Deutschordenskirche, the Jesuitenkirche, the Karlskirche, the Peterskirche, Maria am Gestade, the Minoritenkirche, the Ruprechtskirche, the Schottenkirche and the Votivkirche.

Modern attractions include the Hundertwasserhaus, the United Nations headquarters and the view from the Donauturm.

Oregon Lavender Festival

2007-06-24T13:13:00.000-07:00

Next week (Saturday, June 30th), from 10 AM to 5 PM, there's an event combining 2 of my most favorite things for summertime:

Lavender and BBQ

What event we're talking about?

Why...It's the Oregon Lavender Festival, ladies and gentlemen!

Visit the website for the Oregon Lavender Farm at http://libertynatural.com/olf/ for more information. So far, what we know is that there will be at least 2 music acts, lavender products galore, Smokin' Rose Barbecue company will be serving fresh corn, ribs, BBQ sandwiches and sausages.

So, come hungry and load up on fresh cut lavender and lavender products!

Happy Birthday My Love

2007-06-15T00:02:00.000-07:00

Christopher is 2 today! Finally! I'm tired of saying, "Well, he's ALMOST 2, but not quite..."

He's born around 3:46 PM at St Vincent Hospital 2 years ago.

He was 8.9 lbs (quite a big baby), and 21 inches high.
He refused to pop out for 2 weeks! Yes. This baby was overdue for 2 weeks, and I endured 15 hours of labor (thanks alot, son).

He'll be receiving some goodies and of course, the obligatory sweet: THE CHOCOLATE BIRTHDAY CAKE. Or maybe Cheesecake? We'll see.

Happy birthday dear Son. We love you!

Mommy

I'm Sad

2007-06-13T23:56:00.000-07:00

I just learned that yesterday a boy I know just did something unthinkable.

I know this boy since he's 12, he's a troubled boy, his past riddled with pain and darkness. But he's always such a good boy around me and Dee. His dad is also the nicest guy, he adopted this boy although many have told him that this boy was a lost cause.

I never thought of J as a lost cause, we tried our hardest to encourage him but I'm sad because he' proving me wrong. The past 2 years I've not spoken to or seen him because he has been living on the streets, hooked on heroin.

On Monday evening J stabbed his dad and now he's wanted by the authority. The wounds, they reported on the news, are life-threatening. I talked to the secretary of our church and she told me that the authority wouldn't let them know where J's dad is, but only that he's progressing. He's still in critical condition.

I'm hoping that they catch J safely. I hate that J has the "armed and dangerous" mark on him knowing how trigger-happy cops in Portland are. I hope J doesn't do anything stupid. I just want him apprehended safely and maybe even get some help that he really really needs.

I hope that J's dad will be all better so that I can finally go visit. Michael told me to do so anyway after the cops let us know which hospital he's in...

Happy Cheese Day

2007-06-04T23:41:00.000-07:00

Oh Thy Glorious Cheese...

Since today is National Cheese Day, let me share these cheese serving techniques that I've learned:

Cheese should be refrigerated in the original wrapping until ready to use. Keep it in an area where it will be less likely to pick up the other odors/flavors floating around in the fridge.
Once unwrapped, wrap hard or semi-soft cheese in wax paper (it's better than plastic) and if possible store in a sealed plastic container. Use a fresh piece of wax paper each time. Soft-cheeses do not need the wax paper and should be kept in a sealed container.
Consider double wrapping potent (aka stinky) cheeses so that their odors do not escape.
Remove cheese from fridge an hour before serving, so that it can be up to room temperature. Only remove what you're planning on eating.
If you're going to eat it in a day or two, the cheese can be left out at room temperature.
If mold develops on hard or semi-soft cheeses (such as cheddar and swiss), it's okay to cut it off. To be safe, cut a half inch of cheese off on all sides with visible mold. If it shows up on soft cheeses (such as brie), then say good bye and toss it out.
Speaking of mold, keep blue cheeses away from other foods and definitely in separate containers. The spores in the blue cheese can migrate to other foods.
Don't freeze your cheese. A lot of people say you can, but if you do, use the cheese for cooking only. The flavor and texture are definitely diminished after freezing.

We've Got Haunted Stuff Here in Portland!

2007-06-03T00:22:00.000-07:00

Indeed.

Welcome to our Unique Travel Destination Segments!

Well, after Jersey, and Hawaii, why not return back to my hometown, Portland?

Today we'll be talking about the INFAMOUS Haunted Shanghai Tunnel TOUR!

Background of this tour:

These are educational tours of the infamous "Portland Underground" that focuses on the shanghai trade in the City of Portland that survived from 1850-1941, as well as "white slavery", prohibition, and even the turn-of-the-century history of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) labor movement in the Northwest. In addition, the early history of the Chinese is covered, along with the Japanese and the Gypsies. These tours are operated by the Cascade Geographic Society (CGS) and provide a unique glimpse back into the hidden (or buried) past of the "City of Roses". The "Shanghaiing Trade" began in Portland in 1850 and steadily grew to make the "City of Roses" the most infamous port in the world by 1870. This shocking abuse where men were kidnapped, taken through secret tunnels that ran beneath the city, and then sold to sea captains where they were forced to work for free the remainder of the voyage, was a notoriety that this seemingly quaint Victorian Village along the Willamette River would never be able to forget, even to this very day. Unfortunately, this practice continued until 1941, when World War II began.

For the 91 years that "Shanghaiing" existed in Portland, reports of "ghosts" or "forlorn spirits" surfaced from the "Portland Underground". Some believe that these are "lost souls" who died during the course of being "Shanghaied", either being knocked on the head too hard, given too heavy of a dose of "knock-out" drops, or suffocated to death in the small holding cells where the victims were held before being taken through the tunnels.

The tour takes approximately an hour and a half, and participants are with a guide at all times. The tour-goers receive an above-ground orientation, and then the guide will lead participants into the "Portland Underground", where they will receive the majority of the historical and oral history about this infamous maritime practice that gave Portland a notorious reputation throughout the world. Tour participants must be able to handle stairs that lead to and from this hidden world. In addition, there will be dust, dirt, musty smells, and anything else that would be associated with this type of environment, so if you need a dust mask, please bring one. Also, at each station people will be required to stand for at least 15 minutes at a time in order to receive the necessary information. Also, the "Portland Underground" is constantly in transition as more and more sections are opened or restored, which is why some people have taken this tour several times.

Cost: $16/aduts, $11 children under 12!

So how do we get to this tour?

Hobo's Restaurant, 120 N.W. Third Avenue, Portland, Oregon.

If you patronize the restaurant as a customer prior to your tour, let the waiter know and we will find you in the restaurant.
If you're not a restaurant customer, please meet ten minutes prior to your tour outside Hobo's on the sidewalk.
[DIRECTIONS: Located two and a half blocks north of West Burnside, between N.W. Couch & N.W. Davis Streets.]

The restaurant staff does not schedule or lead the tours; pre-arranged tours are available only through tour guides who can be contacted at 503-622-4798.

Good luck and don't get shanghaiied!

Unique Travel Destination II: Jersey City, New Jersey!

2007-06-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

You've heard of Newark, the biggest city in New Jersey, Jersey Shore (summer PARTY destination), or even going to Atlantic City (fun poker and slot machines). But Jersey City? Trailing after Newark, Jersey City is the second largest city in NJ. It lies on the west bank of the Hudson River across from Lower Manhattan in New York City, and is part of the New York metropolitan area. Jersey City has benefited from its location near the island of Manhattan, as many of its companies are extensions of businesses headquartered there. Recent developments have included increased housing and shopping areas; some parts of the city.

Why do you want to visit Jersey City? Maybe you'd like to see the scenery, visit the culturally diverse neighborhood restaurants (it is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse cities in the country), immerse yourself in shopping, and so on and so forth. They all say that it's a totally different "world" over there (Have you watched "I'm a Jersey Girl" True Life segment on MTV? If you have, then, you know what I'm talking about).

Maybe you'd like to try something different. Make a trip to remember. If you'd like to know more about this lovely, unique travel destination, by all means check out this cool, helpful website:

http://www.destinationjerseycity.com/

I know some people pride themselves as spontaneous travelers, especially when you're visiting another city in your own country, but believe me, it's ALWAYS good to be prepared (hey, you want things to go as smoothly, and fit in your budget as much as possible--travel can be stressful instead of fun without preparation). And if you're a local there, isn't it kind of cool to check out this website and to find new cool stuffs to discover about your city?

http://www.destinationjerseycity.com/ provides list of fun things to do, where to go, an online "note book" on your planned trip (so you know what to do, what to expect, and etc), online map, transportation information, etc. Simply put: The whole Hoopla. Plus, it's FREE. Nope. Can't beat that price. :)

So what are you waiting for? Put Jersey City in your list of unique travel destination for this summer or next one (if you've plans for this summer already)! And don't forget to prepare your travel at: http://www.destinationjerseycity.com/

Have a FUN FUN summer!!!

Love,
Tracy

Unique Travel Destination I: Kauaʻi (last chapter)

2007-05-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

Lodgings on Kauaʻi are primarily available at Timeshare resorts, but a significant number of hotel rooms are also available. In addition to traditional hotels and resorts, try a vacation home rental, they often offer more privacy and space than a traditional hotel room. Vacation home rentals can be budget or luxurious, often with a full staff ready to pamper. If you decide on this option, let me recommend you to try Hanalei Bay Resort.

Hanalei Bay is large bay on the North Shore of Kauai. The town of Hanalei is at the mid-point of the bay. Hanalei Bay consists of nearly two miles of beaches that are hugged by the beautiful mountains behind them. In the summer, the bay is like glass, offering excellent sailing and swimming. The bay is home to the famous Princeville Resort and is also home to the Hanalei curl which is a fantastic breaking wave that is known throughout the surfing community. Many boats use Hanalei Bay as a setting off point for excursions down the Na Pali Coast.

Hanalei Bay Resort is a home away from home, take for the example: http://www.hawaiianbeachrentals.com/Hawaii/Kauai/Princeville/6221and6222HanaleiBayResort.htm

These 2 bedroom 2 bath resort condos come with every imaginable amenities to make your (AND your family) stay very comfortable and luxurious. Beautifully decorated, with AC, huge living spaces, both condos accommodate 6 people per each room .

So even if you're here without family, maybe you're adventurous travelers visiting with friends, you will get all these glams with VERY affordable price (If you're there with at least 11 of your closest friends, rent both the condos, they're side by side, so you'll have a blast!). You surfers will definitely love the short 1 block walk to the beach in the morning, how can you beat that? :)

If you're gearing up and ready for adventurous travel, but not leaving any luxury behind for a very affordable price, check out this website:

http://www.hawaiianbeachrentals.com/Hawaii/Kauai/Princeville/6221and6222HanaleiBayResort.htm

You can reserve and learn more about the resorts there online, and I promise you'll LOVE it. I know I loved it there!

Go KAUAI!

Unique Travel Destination I: Kauaʻi

2007-05-31T15:03:00.000-07:00

Hawaii has always been the most appropriate place to go for all season. The surfs, the beauty of the island, the ethnic appeal, the exotic tradition, the lovely scenery, the food, the sands, and I can go on and on.

Maui has always been most known destination to go to when visiting Hawaii. How about trying something different this time of the year? Visit Kauaʻi this year (or next). Known also as the "Garden Isle," Kauaʻi (to be exact, their first capital: Waimea) was the first place in Hawaiʻi visited by British explorer Captain James Cook in 1778.

The island of Kauaʻi has been featured in many Hollywood movies, and even on television, including the musical "South Pacific" and Disney's 2002 animated feature film and television series Lilo & Stitch. Waimea Canyon was used in the filming of the 1993 film Jurassic Park. Parts of the island were also used for the opening scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Other movies filmed here include 6 Days and 7 Nights and the remake of King Kong. Coco Palms Resort is a famous resort located on this island and many of Elvis' films including Blue Hawaii where filmed here.

Kauaʻi is a paradise for nature lovers. Hiking, kayaking, camping, a helicopter tour (~$180) and/or a boat tour (~$115) are the only ways one can see the true beauty of the island. There is one main highway, which does not circle the entire island. The highway goes along the coast from the north at Keʻe Beach, goes around the east side where the town of Līhuʻe and the airport are located, continues along the south shore and then west, ending at the remains of a town called Mana and Polihale State Park.

The northwest part of the island contains the Nā Pali Coast State Park, a range of breathtaking, rugged cliffs that are inaccessible by car. A view of this spectacular vista, either by hiking, helicopter or boat, should not be missed when visiting Kauaʻi.

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Nā Pali coast from helicopter

In the northwest interior of the island are the Waimea Canyon, also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific and the high altitude Alakaʻi Swamp. In the center of the island is the top of the inactive Waiʻaleʻale volcano. The summit is shrouded by clouds 300 days a year and gets an average of 1.5 inches of rain everyday, making it is the wettest place on Earth.

Almost the entire island is lush green wilderness, perfect for hikers and campers. Some of the hiking trails along the cliffs are very steep and are not for beginners. There are streams and rivers at the bottom of the Waimea Canyon and throughout the island. Kayaking on these rivers is a popular activity. Ocean kayaking is also popular.

One way to see the scenery is by taking a helicopter tour. Tours leave from Līhuʻe Airport and fly over the shorelines, the valleys where the ancient Hawaiians used to live, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, and the swamp at 2000 feet elevation. Some helicopters fly into the shaft of an old volcano. Half of the crater had fallen off due to erosion. The remaining half forms a semi-cylindrical opening. When a helicopter is in the opening, the passengers are surrounded by a vertical wall 270° around. The cliff walls are covered with plants and numerous threads of tiny waterfalls. The Hawaiians called it the Wall of Tears. The ceiling of the shaft is always covered by clouds. On the rare occasion when the mountain clouds clear up, the helicopter can fly up the shaft vertically and it feels like you're looking up from the bottom of a well. Even most seasoned pilots have seen the sky from the shaft only a few times.

Nā Pali coast from helicopter

Another fun thing to do is to take a raft expedition. The trip leaves the north shore on a motorized raft (temporarily discontinued by US Government authorities due to environmental concerns), which holds 14 passengers and a crew of 2. The raft travels along the west shore to see spectacular views of the cliffs. When the lava flowed from the volcano to the sea, it cooled to form the rocks and continued to flow in underground tunnels. When the flowing lava stopped, the tunnels became sea caves along the shore. Rafts can enter into the sea caves; some of the cave entrances are covered by waterfalls. Some raft trips land on a beach for a lunch break, followed by time for snorkeling in the coral reef. The colorful coral fish swim to the divers begging for food.

Large power and sail catamarans also tour the island coasts, with the primary port being Port Allen on the southwest coast. Catamaran tours offer from as little as simple sight seeing of the Nā Pali or the southern coasts, to dinners at sunset, to snorkeling off coral reefs.

Another way to see the island is by car. One can basically drive the entire stretch of the highways on the island in a few hours. At one end is the viewpoint at Waimea Valley and Kokeʻe to see part of the sea cliffs and lush green valleys and the desert-like Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

About one mile from the north end of the highway is a dry lava cave that the visitor can walk inside. The end of the highway offers the trailheads for Nā Pali hiking. Along the ways are numerous resorts and white sand beaches.

There is a place called Spouting Horn on the south shore near Poʻipū, where the ceiling of an undersea lava tunnel is cracked; the sea waves push water into the tunnel and water spout shoots 30 feet into the air.

There is a famous coral reef on the north shore, one can stop by any rental store to rent snorkeling gear for $1.99 per day (in 1996's US dollar value). Drive to a place called Tunnel Beach, it is the largest reef on Kauaʻi. Park the car on the roadside and just walk into the water. There is no road sign to Tunnel Beach, one has to look it up in the map and guess the way there. The map actually shows many coral reefs around the entire shore line, but Tunnel Beach is the best around May when the ocean waves are pounding on the south shore, the north shore is perfect for snorkeling.

Tourists can also attend a lūʻau. They cook a pig in the imu (the ground oven) and serve shredded pork with poi (mashed taro root) and other traditional dishes in the buffet-style dinner. Afterwards, they have a show of different Polynesian dances for the tourists.

To be Continued...

Allo Allo

2007-05-31T01:40:00.000-07:00

Well,

It's been a week or so since I last REAL blogged (yesterday afternoon's entry was pretty pathetic).
I will return to TRAVEL GALORE part 1 after this post (I'm going to start by writing about this really really awesome RESORT at Kauai, Hawaii ::sigh:: Just Gorgeous).

But before that, let me just beam about Walmart. Yes. I know. It's completely unethical to be supporting the BIG BAD Walmart corporation, that utilizes poor-third-world citizens as underpaid workers so that they can gain as much profit possible. The same Walmart who quenches their thirst with monopoly by pushing local, mom & pop's shops to closing.

It's completely awful business practice, but what can I say...I actually love love love their DISCOUNT items, especially clothing.

Although I haven't bought any (I was just browsing yesterday afternoon to avoid the heat in the condo while both Chris and Mike were napping, they have AC), I began to admire their sporting attire as well as their "designer" ones, such as: George. They're VERY reasonably priced and look so nice and fancy. Tops made of silk, or cotton and silk for less than $10. How can one beat that price? Well, if you don't mind sorting through piles of unkempt and messy clothings at Ross, then...I digress.

I may buy one piece or two or none (meaning: I'll moan about it for weeks and wish I'd bought the thing). It'll depend on how bad I'll feel afterward for being such a socially irresponsible consumer!

I'll talk to you later, bunnies.
Nighty night.

Travel Galore

2007-05-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

Fun in the Sun!

It's near Summer, but technically, when the temperature hit 90 degrees, you know it!

SUMMER is here!

The time for short shorts, mankinis, bikini line waxing, chilled margarita, lying in the sun, application of sunblocks, tanning, and so on and so forth. This is the time when people are happier, air conditioners are considered God's gift, and travel!

So, let's celebrate the summer, shall we?

I shall be back with AWESOME destinations for summer and much-needed info regarding places to stay, etc, or how to survive the summer when everyone but you look oh-so-good (I JOKE--I KNOW YOU LOOK GOOD).

Bye bye for now, and I'll see you later!

DIE TROJAN DIE DIE

2007-05-20T01:05:00.001-07:00

Okay,

I've not been able to post for the past few days due to my computer breaking down (no) thanks to Trojan virus.Michael decided to upgrade the anti-virus system we've already had. And so far, we've found out that at least there were 50-70 different virus (mostly Trojan) in my CP.

I'm upset, but at least everything is cleaned up now (cross fingers). But it's still kind of shaky.

I still have to bring the computer to my father so he can reformat it for me (I'm computer-blind, people!). He decided to bestow me another computer (no longer used by) from his work. So I'm pretty stoked.

Until then, I shall have to be patient and beware of these relentless Trojan, that keep on coming at me!!! Wish me luck!

Much love,

Tracy

Local Harvest

2007-05-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

Would you go to a farmer's market or a supermarket to get organic produce?

If I had to choose, I'd go to the farmer's market. I'd opt for local before anything else.

Why?

If you'd like a more technical answer:

When you buy direct from local farmers, your dollars stay within your community, and strengthen the local economy. More than 90¢ of every dollar you spend goes to the farmer, thus preserving farming as a livelihood and farmland. This is important because as mergers in the food industry have increased, the portion of your food dollar paid to farmers has decreased. Vegetable farmers earn only 21¢ of your dollar; the other 79¢ goes to pay for marketing, distribution, and other costs.
(sources: Spector, Rebecca. “Fully Integrating Food Systems: Regaining Connections between Farmers and Consumers" Edited by Kimbrell, Andrew. (2002) & Starr, Amory; Card, Adrian; Benepe, Carolyn; Auld, Garry; Lamm, Dennis; Smith, Ken; Wilken, Karen. Barriers and Opportunities to Local Agricultural Purchasing by Restaurants and Institutional Food Buyers. Colorado State University, Department of Sociology. April, 2002.)

For me, I feel that it is more appealing and satisfying to know that your food was planted only a few miles away and to see the man/woman selling it to you has had a hand in planting, growing, and harvesting it. It feels great to know what you're getting exactly (they will tell you everything you need to know about the produce). Also, if I were in the farmer's shoes, I'd probably be more appreciative for your business because it's my harvest is my livelihood. I'm a huge believer in supporting local businesses because as a community, it is the RIGHT thing to do. It's what sustains local economy and local living.

The benefit is also great health-wise, the food you're buying and eating is fresh and cleaner. It's not packed w/ any chemicals to sustain the look of "freshness" after thousands of miles of travel before reaching your shopping cart.

And unlike the myth how "expensive" organic is, if you're on a budget, once you've suscribed to CSA (local harvest), you'll find out the price is VERY reasonable. It fits perfectly into your budget, and if you think the weekly price is still too expensive ($13-$20 --this includes delivery), you can actually request another friend to share the produce with you so you end up paying half.

Then there's the "fun" factor. Have you ever gone to the Farmer's market before? You'll find friendly faces, different culinary to try out, new recipes given out, free live music, fresh produce and just warm fuzzy feeling of being a member of a community. You'll feel good, you'll learn new things, you'll have fun.

So yes, if you haven't done it, go find your local farmer's market, try making it a trip (walk over there if you'd like!) with the whole family. I promise, you'll love it.

Asking Money for Wedding Gift

2007-05-11T23:11:00.000-07:00

Is it ever okay?

How to ask for money as a gift without sounding that you're greedy? According to my cousins, put a small dollar sign in one of your invite's inserts and hope that everyone will catch on.

Unfortunately, I didn't catch on. Neither did many of the guests.

Is it still tacky to ask for money? It really depends on your traditions/culture. For Chinese culture (where I come from), it is completely normal to ask for money, but apparently I read that it's still tacky to ask for money in Western culture. This new trend is happening because young couple most of the time spend a lot of money on their wedding, and it's no fun to start your marriage with a debt. So couples nowadays start to request money more than just ordinary (mundane) wedding gifts.

Nowadays, cccording to About.com
( http://weddings.about.com/od/weddingregistry/a/moneyinstead.htm), companies have now created registries that are essentially veiled ways of asking for money. For example, at a honeymoon registry, a guest can give you the gift of "a nice dinner out," or "tickets to a play." You receive the cash, minus the site's fee, and can then use it for your honeymoon expenses. Suntrust Bank has even created a bridal registry for a down payment on a home. And TheKnot offers "Create-a-Gift", which allows you to ask for money for just about anything you can think of, in the form of American Express gift checks.

Will YOU, if you had the opportunity, ask for money as your wedding gift?

Long Live Local Artist II

2007-05-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

Let's say that you are visiting to the SE of Portland this weekend, and you want to treat your mom/spouse/gf for Mother's Day while enjoying the local neighbourhood.
Then, let's go on Saturday (May 12th) to:

Laurelhurst Artwalk
loc: 3270 S.E.Ankeny St. Portland, OR 97214
from 10 AM-5 PM

You can view creative works of over 60 local artists as you stroll from location to location through East Portland's pictureque Laurelhurst neighborhood.

You shall enjoy the exhibitions of:

basketry * beadwork * bookmarks * cards & journals * collagedrawings * fiber art * garden art & sculpture * glass plates & beadshandbags * hats * jewelry * knitting * masks * mosiacmobiles * painting * photography * plants * pottery * scarvessculpture* shawls * stuffed animals * watercolor * woodworking

For more information, go to http://www.LaurelhurstArtwalk.com and

pick up at map at Sidestreet Gallery (140 S.E. 28th @ Ash)

Long Live Local Artist

2007-05-07T00:05:00.000-07:00

I miss the painter who used to paint me. I believe it was last December where he had his exhibition on the First Thursday (monthly local art event we have all over our humble city). His exhibition was named "Beautiful Faces." Yes, he put my paintings up as well as other gorgeous paintings from other models.

His name's Ted Chilles, he's a very talented painter in my humble opinion. A happily married man with a wonderful occupation as an architect, proud member of the Roserian society. You should have seen him with his white suit and purple (or was it magenta) cape!

He paid well to listen to me chatter on and on for 2 hours (well I couldn't move from my pose, though), and didn't ask me to do a nude painting! (Most of painters usually do nude painting to practice their forms)

Here are a few of the paintings we work on together:

Well, I believe those are SOME of the paintings he scanned for me (the others are WAY too big to put up here). I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed both modeling for him and looking at the paintings he created!

Toodlez,

Tracy

Indonesian to English

2007-05-05T18:01:00.000-07:00

I have created a monster!

Joking.

My father and I will be collaborating in creating the English version to his Indonesian-Martial Art novel-website.
If you like Chinese martial art movies and storylines (Quentin Tarantino does--so should you, and he's AWESOME because of it), 3D animation, by all means, you need to give my dad's website a go:

http://www.jelom.org

Unfortunately the language is still Indonesian, so I'm going to start translating from Indonesian to English from tonight. So be patient. You can enjoy some interesting 3D Animation (made by my dad truly) meanwhile. By the way, it's FREE.

If you're not familiar with the term Martial Art novels, let me remind you of: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon movie (Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Leong, Zhang Zi Yi, etc), or Heroes (Jet Li), or Once Upon a Time in China (Jet Li). Now, all those movies (and MANY MORE) DERIVED from Martial Art novels. Chinese martial art novels are rife with Chinese wise teachings as well, so you're learning more about Chinese culture, ancient wisdom while enjoying some cool action-packed story. Sometimes they're also based on history or legends.

Cintaku,

Tracy

It's Paris Hilton!

2007-05-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

Okay,

Michael just told me if I wanted to have more traffic passing by my humble blog, I need to write the heiress name (from my previous post), in hope that it'll show up on google.com or something.

So here goes:
Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton...

Maybe this version will work too:

Hilton Hotel
Hilton Hotel
Hilton Hotel

I'm a little out of breath from my walking/hiking excursion of the day (Thanks a lot, Lois).

I'll be right back with tempeh and tofu goodness!

Love,
Tracy

Wow :)

2007-05-04T23:58:00.000-07:00

I guess money and fame can't buy you an out-of-jail-free-ticket from time to time.

Good to know!!!

Then again, I won't believe it until I see it with my own eyes. Stranger things can happen. Appeals that are usually not granted for those who break violation..may be granted! So we'll see how it goes.

P.S. I'm certain there are enough blogs writing about this "heiress," (oh gag me with a spoon). I'm not going to fall casualties into one of those polled blogs that consist of her news. This blog has never been about her, but this news just gives me a big smile all night.

I'm not even going to mention her name, only that her first name is the capital city of a European country. Tsk. Too bad the person doesn't depict the beauty of the city.

I Just LOVE LOCAL companies

2007-05-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

They always extend sweet free invitation just like this one:

Mt. Hood Roasters Coffee Company invites any interested groups or individuals to a free tour of our small coffee roasting operation on Mt. Hood.

We are located only 45 minutes from Gresham in Rhododendron. We can tailor any tour to the needs of the visitor.

Come and visit a small, family owned and operated commercial coffee roasting company. See how we craft small batches of gourmet coffee and learn how this company works. If you are looking for a personal, hands on, one of a kind tour...we would love to spend some time with you and your group.

Mt. Hood Roasters Coffee Company www.mthoodroasters.com

Please call 503-622-6574 or email for more information or to schedule a tour.

Another "informal" tip from moi:

During summertime if you ever visited Oregon (Portland area), don't forget to make a stop by Mt. Hood Gorge for different recreational activities (you can go rafting, hiking, fruit picking, sightseeing, shoppingetc).
And if you do, and you feel like eating Chinese food, stop by my aunt and uncle's place:

Grace Su's China Gorge

They've been there for at least 2-3 decades (I forget which). They also will point you to the right direction (if you want to go shopping or do other extra fun outdoorsy stuff there) if you ask them nicely and probably mention that I refer you to them! (So next time I stop by, I'll get free lunch for myself, mi familia or something)

Love,

Tracy

It was Hailing Ice Ice baby

2007-05-03T23:50:00.000-07:00

For the past 2 days, it's been HAILING ice in my beloved Portland. Crazy because it's supposed to be spring in transition to summer. This is Oregon for you, people.

This condition has rendered me helpless to the temptation of all sort of comfort food such as chocolate cake, cheesecake, ice cream, mangoes, peanuts, bananas, pasta and so on. And oh what fun it is to be enjoying those calories fulfilled food, I tell you that much!
The funny thing was 2 days ago, I was on top of the world, because the weather is too nice to stay at home, started to power walk with my dear neighbour and I actually lost one pants size to boot!

I've probably gained a pant's size (or two) in 2 days, grown some pimples and currently a tummy ache (cramps) because of all the eating. Maybe this is also a sign for my "thing" to come.

Oh my bad, I shouldn't even be talking about my "time" on this blog, especially, since my blog has been honored to write about Portland, my beloved darling city for Hotels By City Blog Network (http://www.hotelsbycity.net/).

P.S. If you don't want me to write about your website, Chad, please e-mail in the morning, this whole paragraph will be GONE. Oh yes, I also apologize for my crudeness.

L-o-v-e,

Tracy

Portland VegFest 2007

2007-05-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

Are you interested in healthy lifestyle choices like eating vegetarian or vegan or supporting your local farmers? Portland Vegfest 2007 will be a fantastic choice for you and your family to go to!
Here's some the information:

Date:

May 11th, 2007 (Friday)
&
May 12th, 2007 (Saturday)

Time:

May 11th, door opens on 6:15 PM
May 12th, door opens from 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Location:

Benson High School
546 NE 12th Avenue
Portland, Oregon

Details:

This year, Portland VegFest 2007 will feature many food exhibits, speakers, and chef demonstrations all related to the vegetarian and vegan diet.
Some of the exhibitors include Bob's Red Mill, Food Fight Grocery, Organics to You, People's Food Coop, Larabar, and Living Harvest.
Some of the scheduled speakers are John Robbins who authored the Diet for a New America and Kelly Peterson from the Oregon Humane Society.
The festival will also have plenty of free food samples and a silent auction. Click on http://portlandvegfest.org/2007/ for more detailed information regarding this event.

So, make a day or two of this awesome event, make time to go and have fun while learning new things as well!

Love,
Tracy

Staying Smoke Free

2007-04-29T00:09:00.000-07:00

I must congratulate those who are trying to quit or those who have quit already!

Smoking is a really bad habit to break, and every single step you take to reduce your nicotine means that you're taking a better choice for a healthier life. But how do you deal with the incessant craving of nicotine?

These are some tips to help you (after you've chucked all your cigarette supplies down the loo):

1) Exercise
Instead of reaching for a ciggie, or something sweet (it's been said that most smoke-quitter tends to opt for more snack to keep themselves occupied), how about a walk around the block? Or even a run if you insist! Do it for at least 5 minutes, and remind yourself why you want to quit in the first place, and that exercise is also a step toward a healthier life!

2) Deep breathing
Practice deep breathing to calm yourself down, use the moment to contemplate why you want to quit smoking in the first place.

3) Healthy snack
Like I mentioned earlier, once you've tried to quit, you tend to reach for something to put in your mouth (smoking is an oral fixation--Freud must believe so!). So instead of stocking up in cheetos or chocolates, opt to buy snacks like carrot sticks, celery, apples. Get pistachios or sunflower seeds (more work to eat!), and if necessary (if you're a big eater like I am), put things in smaller packages so that you know how much you've eaten and you should've eaten.

4) Drink water
Staying hydrated usually will help with the cravings, plus water helps flush toxin out of your body.

5) Break your routine
Most likely, smoking is tied into your daily pattern, routines, rituals. Try to mix things up, do things differently so that you don't fall into that old habit.

6) Keep your hand busy
Idle hand crave cigarette. Join a local craft group, start knitting or sewing or do a jigsaw puzzles. Or better yet, teach yourself a new card trick!

Enjoy and good luck

I walked a THOUSAND miles today...

2007-04-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

Well, not quite.

It felt like that this afternoon.

Lois dropped by again, all ready to go walking. I was happy because I do need to keep on with my daily walk if I ever were serious in trying to be healthier and fitter. So we decided to take a longer route than yesterday. Instead of 2 miles, we're closing to 3.78 miles today.

I can't believe how fast she walked too! She assured me that in time it'll be a piece of cake (she's been power walking for 2 years), I was just trying to stay alive, keep walking in her fast pace, trying not to think about walking uphill, which we did, although inside I kind of regretted that I didn't bring my cellphone (in case I wanted Michael to come pick me up).

But we made it home just fine. She told me I did good (yay), and tomorrow, there'll even be more walking.

The better news is that I actually feel much better, happier, despite being tired. It's like I've accomplished something awesome.

So yeah.

Today is Fit Day

2007-04-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

According to a study published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition the best way to lose weight is NOT cutting carb. It's about cutting calories. Altering the glycemic load does not have an impact on weight loss. Rather what determines the amount pounds shed is overall caloric consumption.

However, since this is a small study (tested on 34 adult participants), I suppose that we need more proofs or a larger scale study to really determine what works best for weight loss.
Needless to say, despite that calories is an important factor, eating healthy is key in any weight loss program. Dieters should strive to both cut calories and increase the proportion of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

If this study were noticed or its validity recognized in a broader scale throughout the diet industry, I must say that many low-carb diet will probably either deny it or sales to these diet programs will drop.

Then again, many swore by the goodness of low carb diet, such as I am. I lost 6 lbs in 2 weeks (awhile back) when I followed low-carb diet program on Curves diet book. Unfortunately, I had to drop the program because it is hard for myself to restrict all type of carb.

Today is fit day for me.

I feel much better and the weather is very nice. It was such a shame to be staying in the house. Chris and I played ball outside and then Lois (my neighbour) stopped by our place and we decided to do a power walk.

We walked 2 miles today, and I was wearing my 5-lbs-sport shoes (made by Nikken). It was a great feeling to sweat and to simply look at the evening sun (it didn't set until around 7:30 or so). But I was so tired afterward.

Talking to Lois inspired me to actually go outside and start to exercise from now on. She told me she used to weigh at least in the 300 lbs area, but she lost at least 150 lbs via eating right/diet and exercise, all in 1 1/2 year time! What a marvelous example of will-power and strength. She's awesome.

Also, thank you for the hug Michelle! I hope everything is copacetic in UK front :) Give my love to both Freya and Chris!

Love,

Tracy

So. Would You Like to Makeover Yourself?

2007-04-26T23:02:00.000-07:00

Discovery Health is an awesome channel or so I just found out. Like every other American, I've immersed myself in this crazy fad: makeover-ing myself. Insane, I know. Why would anyone makeover him/herself? But if you're interested in the concept, let me affirm that the Discovery Health channel is imho the best makeover teacher on TV.

Out of all different healthy-living/fitness/etc makeover shows available on this channel, the one that stood out the most to mes the Dan Ho show. A successful immigrant (he's originally from Guam. He lived the "perfect" life until one day, he's had a seizure that opened up his eyes and prompted him to change his life).

His motto (to be healthy, happy, simple and sane) is what hooks me to the show despite the fact that I secretly think he's a little too eccentric for my taste. But he's right up my alley though. All I want in life is to be healthy, happy, simple and sane. Sure, his tv show may not be the best makeover, nor the prettiest looking show on TV (As a girl, "pretty" tv show is mostly appealing to me), but he makes me feel that me, myself is ENOUGH as I am.

Creepy how a show can actually affirm my self-worth. But yeah, to enlighten thee who may not believe me, I'm presenting from his website (http://health.discovery.com/fansites/danho_fansite/danho_fansite.html), this lovely segment called:

Ho'ism (Dan Ho manifesto):

1. The Mind-Body-Health Connection is nothing more than style.

2. Style is not visual—it comes from the inside. So it doesn't matter what things look like. If you're not feeling it, we're not tasting it, we're not smelling it, and it definitely won't look good.

3. If you have self-respect, you will be healthy.

4. Color, texture and pattern are meaningless without heart.

5. Healthy eating isn't deliberately low fat—it just happens to be low fat.

6. Your level of fitness isn't how much you work out, it's how willing you are to take the stairs instead of the elevator.

7. Live with your silver and crystal—what are you saving it for?

8. Entertaining isn't in your table settings, wine and candlelight—it's rolling up your rug and dancing.

9. The soul of the home isn't in the kitchen—it's within its inhabitants.

10. If you have a garlic press, you're wasting time.

------------

Thank you for being patient. I haven't been feeling up to par these days. I promise to return to my witty and write-y self in the next week or so.

Love,
Tracy

Just for Fun

2007-04-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

Do you like checking on your horoscope?

I'd suggest you haul yourself to : http://www.astro.com

I put in my data as a guest user (therefore: FREE), and here's what they have to say about my personality (mind you, this is only a part of what they've written):

Sun and Moon in Aries
You have the potential to be a natural leader. Your thoughts and feelings are harmonious with the actions you ultimately take. You are a very dynamic individual who loves action. You are an ardent, somewhat aggressive, and commanding person and you make others aware of these qualities.
These qualities of your character are generally beneficial, but at times you may run into trouble because of your impatience.
There are three keys to balance your character better and permit the most development. First, exert more control over your impulses; second, have more patience in dealing with others; and third, realize that you don't need to prove yourself repeatedly by rushing toward danger.

Ascendant in Virgo, Mercury in the Seventh House
At the time of your birth the zodiacal sign of Virgo was ascending in the horizon. Its ruler Mercury is located in the seventh house.
This indicates that throughout your life you will assume a reserved, quiet, analytical, critical, and receptive attitude.
Although you are not an individual with a very strong ambition, you possess the ability to persevere and exert ingenuity.
Some selfishness is noted. However, if you are able to counteract this trait with your natural helpful and sympathetic attitude and address your positive qualities to resolve the problems of others then you will accomplish your highest spiritual duties and your degree of consciousness and perception will be expanded.
You are not afraid to work but you like to do things where you can use intellectual resources rather than mechanical ones. There is some independence here but don't try to be forceful about it because Virgo's natural habitat is one in which the person is led by some powerful authority and where the important decisions are best made by others.
You are very attentive to detail and this makes you a good worker, especially so in those jobs that require a great deal of precision and observation. You have a desire for purity and though you don't mind relating to others there is something that you do dislike: continuous intrusion of your privacy. Business and practicality should be very important in your life. Although we are not advising you to turn against your natural traits, which make you slightly reserved, we would suggest that when in love you let yourself relax and respond so as to be able to return some of the affection you are receiving.
Life will find you in many situations in which you will function as advisor and counsellor; make use of these opportunities to project the power of your creativeness.
Your life will be geared to the acquisition of success through joining associations and uniting with people. Your partner may be too intelligent and clever for your own good as he may not always be sufficiently trustworthy. He may not only be active and progressive, but also slightly shrewd.

------

Pretty neat, huh? I think it's pretty dead-on (except the part where they say I'll be a "natural leader"). I never was a "leader" type, I'm pretty much happy with being the wallflower.

P.S.

They ask for your date and hour of birth, your country of birth, etc. So yes, it's a pretty exciting and detailed result for a free reading!

Do You Believe in Fasting?

2007-04-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

I've recently discovered this interesting link to fasting as a way to "diet," or detox.

Here's the link:

http://www.phifoundation.org/fast.html

Some notable passage from the website:

"...The fasts talked about in this are therapeutic fasts with only pure water. Many trying a fast prefer to try the Master Cleanser Lemonade Diet created by Stanley Burroughs (not Borroughs). His book from 1976 is at the bottom of this page. Elson M Haas, M.D. says "Ever since I did my 10 day Master Cleanser back in 1975, I do it every spring with a group of 20 or 30 people at my office. It is such a profound experience."

On the Oprah Winfrey Show, Beyonce Knowles announced that she lost 20 pounds in 10 days for the movie, Dream Girls from the lemonade detox diet. Also Robin Quivers, Howard Stern's assistant, lost 73 pounds from doing the master cleanse lemonade diet 3 times (218 down to 145). She said after losing that weight "I never felt this good about my body before" according to People Magazine. She heard about it from the famous magician, David Blaine.

You can drink lemonade, instead of water, throughout the entire day (6 to 10 glasses). It has almost all the benefits as water fasting except for the benefits for serious health problems like cardiovascular disease. Only water fasting can reduce hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), which causes high blood pressure according to Dr Fuhrman who has studied the recent medical research on fasting. For some people, just losing weight will lower blood pressure and the master cleanse is great for weight loss, like for the prom..."

Is fasting really a way to give your body a "rest" instead of starving yourself 'thinner?' The matter is still up for a debate. It depends on which side you're on.

Coffee soap? Does It Really Work?

2007-04-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

Are you a caffeine addict who decides to cut down on your morning pre-work coffee drink?
Now, there's a new caffeinated soap called Shower Shock ($6.99) available for purchase at http://www.ThinkGeek.com

Quite a name for a soap, isn't it? Worry not, because it doesn't contain harsh ingredients like ethanol, diethanolamine, polyethylene, glycol or cocyl isethionate. It's a gentle soap scented with peppermint oil and infused with caffeine anhydrous.

Each bar of Shower Shock contains approximately 12 servings/showers per 4 ounce bar with 200 milligrams of caffeine per serving (more than a cup of coffee). The makers claim the caffeine is absorbed through the skin. Hum, not sure about this one. If you're still interested, then buy it from ThinkGeek.com.

As always I am curious, what do you guys think? Would you skip your Starbucks/or what-have-you for morning coffee, for this?

It's Michael's Birthday, Happy Birthday Michael!

2007-04-23T01:42:00.000-07:00

Today is Michael's birthday.

He's turning...nevermind! (I'm sure he will mind me telling everyone his age!)

But really. Happy birthday, darling!

He looks ten years younger than his age. We had a really good time celebrating his birthday yesterday (on Earth Day) at his parents'. His mom is such a great cook, no wonder he always misses her cooking! :) He's so excited too to get these news parts for his truck from his bro. It's almost too cute.

Anyhow, unfortunately for him, he couldn't miss a day off work today. But we're going to celebrate his birthday better next weekend (here's to hoping!).

Love,

Tracy
xoxo

Happy Early Earth Day (April 22nd)

2007-04-21T23:37:00.000-07:00

How about...going Organic for Earth Day!

To celebrate Earth Day, thousands of grocery stores and organic manufacturers are working together to make organic food more affordable/cheaper. All you need to do is sign up and give your address so that they can give you the coupon books for discounts with your participating local grocery stores. No hidden agendas. This is very fantabulous since organic food is basically pricey and they rarely go on sale.

For more information of this campaign go to:

http://organicearthday.org/

Or call them at 866-I-GO-ORGA to sign up!

My Sad Attempt @ Becoming a Commercial Artist

2007-04-20T01:24:00.000-07:00

If you think you're creative and you think your art is marketable, you may want to try designing your own products via:

http://www.zazzle.com

All you need to bring is your creativity and design, and voila, you may have your art all over coffee mugs, t-shirt, greeting cards and so on. Of course, you can only earn 17% of the purchase price, but when you're an 'artist,' who cares about $$, right? :)

I've just finished making my own as you can see:

buy unique gifts at Zazzle

True to my 'style,' I opted for an organic fabric for my t-shirt, which undoubtedly boosted up the price considerably.

And here's my gallery:

http://www.zazzle.com/msfrugaltracy*

I hope you enjoy browsing there, I've only created 1 t-shirt, but more is a-coming!

Thanks for stopping by.

Tracy

P.S. Michelle, do you happen to recognize the face on the coffee mug? LOL. If someone purchased it, the $$ is yours, darling. ;)
Freya sure is sooo cute! I'm sure she's even cuter now.

Sinful Delight

2007-04-19T00:58:00.000-07:00

I believe in indulging my sense of taste from time to time, to feel guiltless about what I consume and feel pleasure from the experience of eating.

And whenever I feel indulgent, there's no other place that can actually bring so much pleasure than Pix.

The best place to enjoy the signature French pastries. Currently, there are 3 Pix patisserie opened in Portland area, each with its own personalities, and each brings European flare and innovative edible art with an assortment of elegant pastries and handmade chocolates.

In short: They're decadent. They're delicious. They're sinful delight. You're missing out if you never have the pleasure of eating in one of the chic locations.

To complement each delectable masterpiece, Pix Pâtisserie serves an array of dessert wines, Belgian beers, and fine spirits. And not to worry about the service, everything is personalized to your liking.

My personal experience with Pix has always been very pleasant. The year they opened their branch on SE Division, my girlfriends and I went and fell in love with the place at first sight, the bright yellow wall color, the comfy shoulder-to-shoulder seatings. It's chic, kitschy and lovely. What happened next was pretty predictable (from what I've described so far about the place), we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves immersed for once forgoing all notion on being on a diet and so forth, and just indulge our palate. Sinfully good.

Pix also has different events every week for its customers where you can hang out with the local hip urban crowd. Of course, during all these events, there'll be more goodness from the kitchen (by the way, did I mention they've come out with their brand of ice cream too?)

So if you just have to enjoy local scenery, with the hip urban crowd, all the while pleasuring your tastebud. By all means, go to Pix. You can go to either one of the three location depending on your travel.

Here's their website if you need more information regarding location and such:

http://www.pixpatisserie.com/

Good night for now everyone!

Scary

2007-04-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

Michael came home to see a cop's vehicle parked in our parking spot.

Two cops were talking to our neighbour, Tiffany, who's a single mom. Her place is so close to our place. After they left, Michael knocked on her door to ask if anything's wrong, etc.

She said that she found cigarette butts in her yard and that her window screen was open when she came home, she didn't find anything missing yet, but she's afraid because she's living there alone with her children (Well, her daughter's dad comes to visit from time to time, but she mostly lives there alone).

That's really scary because after all, it's only a few steps away from our condo.

Natural Cleaning: Hydrogen Peroxide (pt3)

2007-04-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

Michael and I ordinarily use hydrogen peroxide to clean bleeding injuries, or scrapes on Christopher's knees. He occassionally use it as a mouth wash when we're out of other mouth wash. Hydrogen peroxide is gentler than chlorine bleach, as it can be used for sterilizing and disinfecting for not only your home, but also your body.

To treat moldy tile grout on bathroom walls, fill a spray bottle with 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide and 1 cup water. Spray onto moldy areas, let sit for an hour, then rinse off.

Keep a spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide on hand and another filled with white vinegar (NEVER mix the two in one bottle). For a disinfecting spray, for vegetables and surfaces, spritz with one, then the other, then wipe clean. This is great for spraying apples, tomatoes and other produce items as well as wood cutting boards.

Lastly but not least, hydrogen peroxide an effective, inexpensive mouthwash!

Another Kitchen Staple for Natural Cleaning Pt2

2007-04-15T22:14:00.000-07:00

You can use cream of tartar, mild acid often used in baking, for removing tough stains in your kitchen/bath!

To remove rust stains from a stainless steel sink or surface, make a paste with cream of tartar and a small amount of lemon juice. Wipe it onto the stained surface, then buff off.

Julie Delpy - A Waltz For A Night (songs I listen to pt 2)

2007-04-15T02:00:00.001-07:00

Beautiful, simple, and enchanting are the adjectives to best describe this short song. The song is written by the artist herself (Julie Delpy, who plays Celine in the movie) and featured as a soundtrack in the movie "Before Sunset." The song conveys Celine's longing and passion for Jesse (Ethan Hawke's character) with whom she shared a brief passionate encounter 9 years earlier.

Go Check Out "YouTube," If You Haven't

2007-04-15T01:44:00.000-07:00

YouTube is a popular free video sharing website which lets users upload, view, share videoclips and commentaries. This site is praised as one the most user friendly sites on the Internet. Unregistered users can watch most videos on the site while registered users have the ability to upload an unlimited number of videos. Related videos, determined by the title and tags, appear to the right of the video. In the second year, the site gave users the ability to post responses and subscribe to any registered user.

Before being bought by Google, YouTube stated that its business model is advertising-based. Some industry commentators have speculated that YouTube's running costs — specifically the bandwidth required — may be as high as US$1 million per-month, thereby fueling criticisms that the company, like many Internet start-ups, did not have a viably implemented business model.

Advertisements were launched on the site beginning in March 2006. In April, YouTube started using Google AdSense. YouTube subsequently stopped using AdSense. Given its traffic levels, video streams and pageviews, some have calculated that YouTube's potential revenues could be in the millions per month.

With no further ado, I present to you, one of the most popular website on the world wide web (far outgrowing myspace.com):

http://www.youtube.com

Song I listen to pt 1

2007-04-15T00:53:00.001-07:00

Fidelity (above) is a creative, whimsical single by Regina Spektor that launched her to stardom. A newcomer originally from Rusia, she's an avid pianist and song writer who's raised in NY and prominent in the anti-folk music scene in NYC.

Free Wine Tasting!!

2007-04-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

This Saturday (April 14)

From 12-5 PM, join other wine loves for a flight-style wine tasting at The Wine Cellar, an elegant whimsical location. During this tasting, guests will enjoy 5-7 wines in a flight (a theme of either type of wine, producer, region or some other similarly interesting commonality).

You can drop in anytime! For more information, call Scott at 503.643.5655

Again, this is FREE.

The location:
The Wine Cellar
13486-A NW Cornell Road
Portland 97229 SW corner of Murray and Cornell
(BEHIND Mazatlan Mexican Restaurant)

My Cousin's Getting Married

2007-04-12T23:55:00.000-07:00

Well, it's OFFICIAL!

My cousin's getting married next month, on May 12th!

The invitation arrived today for both Michael and I. I wonder why they didn't put Christopher's name in it. My mom thought it's because Chris is way too small to be attending any Church ceremony.

From the invite, it seems like they'll be partying it up at a pretty swanky place called Studio 1050 (http://1050events.com). The ceremony will be at St. Michael the Archangel.

I'm wondering if I should post the happy couple's website here...I'll decide later.

Congratulations for both Andrew and Therecia!

Before Sunset Review

2007-04-11T00:21:00.000-07:00

The movie "Before Sunset" is a brilliant sequel to "Before Sunrise," where two lovers meet again after 9 years apart after missing out on meeting each other six months after their first meeting.

The movie follows the two as they retrace their past lives, their current, and resolve their issues while Ethan Hawke (Jesse) and Julie Deply (Celine) wander around Paris. Their characters are now with different people, but they still can't deny the chemistry.

Both actors are very believable, a little manic, a little pretentitous, a little show-off, much cute but all in all very very natural as two ordinary people who share really strong emotional connection and attraction to one another. It's like watching two people going on a second "first date."

As an audience you feel like you're certain that they fit together, you want them to fit together but in the same time knowing that they may not even last if they decide to be together.

The beautiful background scenery of Paris, the Seines, bluesy songs by Nina Simone completes this movie. This is one of the best romantic movies I've ever watched (maybe second to Gone with the Wind).

This is the perfect movie to rent with someone you just start dating (men: take notes!), because it'll surely create a pretty interesting discussion afterward... And perhaps something else more too!

Kitchen Staples CAN Double as Cleaners too! PART 1

2007-04-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

When I was single, amonia was my good friend.

Especially when it comes to cleaning, it cleans, disinfects and it's awesome as a window cleaner. I never liked to purchase different type of different cleaners (one for kitchen, one for floor, one for the bathroom, one for window and there's one that said --multipurpose cleaner--& so on). I went ahead and purchase a gallon of amonia and mix them with water in spraying bottles.

It was great and frugal.

But then there's Christopher.

The ultimate curious kitten, equipped with his "terrible-two" behavior, yet with brains not equipped to understand the danger of chemicals. He may be a pretty strong toddler, but I'm sure if I couldn't bear the scent/smell of amonia, he couldn't either.

There was also an incident when he got ahold of a much-diluted almost empty amonia bottle. Poison control was contacted, pediatricians were called and so on. Fortunately, he didn't ingest anything. I was lucky that everyone I called for help just ended up branding me "worrisome mommy." I coudn't bear it if it's any other way.

I learned my lesson and decided to not use toxic chemicals in my disinfectant cleaners. I researched to find what can substitute my 'old friend,' and I found one and it IS green and budget friendly.

Meet White Vinegar

White vinegar is a great disinfecting tool. It can be used for disinfecting, deodorizing, cutting grease and wax build-up, and removing stains on carpet, countertops, pots, pans and coffee carafes.

For an all-purpose cleaner, fill an empty spray bottle with 4 cups water, 2 tablespoons baking soda and 1/4 cup vinegar. Use on countertops, glass surfaces, chrome fixtures and tile.

To unclog drains, pour one part baking soda to two parts vinegar down the drain. Let sit for 15 minutes, then flush with hot water.

For windows, mix 2 cups water with a generous pour of vinegar. A great way to recycle your newspapers is to use them in place of paper towels for a streak-free finish.

Wood floors will avoid the streaky look when you add about 1/4 cup vinegar to your pail of water. Be sure to wring your mop out well so as not to over-wet the floor.

Instead of fabric softeners that are full of synthetic fragrances, try adding a small amount of white vinegar to your machine's rinse cycle. This will help to rinse out the detergent completely and leave your clothes feeling soft.

source: FitTv

Happy Easter

2007-04-08T01:33:00.000-07:00

Easter, the Sunday of the Resurrection, Pascha, or Resurrection Day, is the most important religious feast of the Christian liturgical year, observed at some point between late March and late April each year (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity). It celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, which his followers believe occurred on the third day (counting inclusively) after his death by crucifixion some time in the period AD 27 to 33 (see Good Friday). This year it will fall on April 8, 2007, as of...MY BIRTHDAY!

Anciently, Easter was considered the most perfect time to receive baptism, and this practice is alive in Roman Catholicism, as it is the time when new members are initiated into the Church, and it is being revived in some other circles. Whether there are baptisms at this point or not, it is traditional for the congregation to renew the vows of their baptismal faith. This act is often sealed by the sprinkling of the congregation with holy water from the font. The Catholic sacrament of Confirmation is also celebrated at the Vigil. The Easter Vigil concludes with the celebration of the Eucharist (or 'Holy Communion'). Certain variations in the Easter Vigil exist: Some churches read the Old Testament lessons before the procession of the Paschal candle, and then read the gospel immediately after the Exsultet.

Some Christians wear their "Sunday best" to their church gatherings. This means a more formal dress and hats for some women (Up until this day, I still remember Trish--my church friend--in her fuschia dress and black laced hat). Others choose a more "come as you are" approach to recognize the grace that has been offered.

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

Love,

Tracy

Holy Saturday!

2007-04-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

Holy Saturday is the day before Easter in the Christian calendar. It is sometimes called Easter Eve, especially by Anglicans, or Low Saturday.

In Roman Catholic Churches, the altar is either stripped completely bare or coloured in violet, while the administration of the sacraments is severely limited. Holy Communion is given only as Viaticum. All Masses are strictly prohibited. No Mass at all appears in the liturgy for this day, nor for the preceding day, Good Friday.

Liturgically speaking, Holy Saturday lasts until dusk, after which the Easter Vigil is celebrated, marking the official start of the Easter season. In the pre-1970 Roman Catholic observance, during the "Gloria in Excelsis" of the Mass (which is the first Mass since that of Holy Thursday), the church statues, which are covered with purple veils during Passiontide, are dramatically unveiled.

Good Friday

2007-04-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

Good Friday is a holy day observed by most Christian denominations. Special prayer services are often held on this day with readings from the Gospel giving accounts of the events leading up to the crucifixion. Mainstream Christian churches view Christ's crucifixion as a voluntary and vicarious act, and one by which, along with resurrection on the third day, death itself was conquered.
Roman Catholic Christians treat Good Friday as a fast day, which is defined as only having one large meal (but still smaller than a regular meal) and two collations (small ones not equaling the large one). In the United States, it is not a day of abstention from work however; people work until shortly before the beginning of the afternoon liturgy. In Latin America, all Catholics have work abstention on Good Friday (as well as Holy Thursday, the day of the last supper).

In Indonesia, Good Friday is a Public Holiday. All government offices, schools and certain businesses are closed on Good Friday by law. Many newspapers choose not to publish on this day. This tradition is a fairly new one, after the government decides to celebrate all religious traditions of all religions residing in Indonesia.

I fasted today. I didn't touch anything (except for water up until 3:00 PM, the hour of Jesus's death).

Thursday Holy Thursday

2007-04-05T01:52:00.000-07:00

Holy Thursday is here.

For Catholics (Christians), this is an important day, its annual commemoration then begins the three-day period or triduum of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, days of special devotion that celebrate as a single action the death and resurrection of Christ, the central events of Christianity.

On Holy Thursday, four events are commemorated: the washing of the Disciples' feet by Jesus Christ, the institution of the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, the agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot.

It usually includes a reenactment of the Washing of the Feet of the Apostles, and is followed by a procession taking the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose, and then by stripping of all altars except the Altar of Repose.

If You Want to be Slimmer...

2007-04-04T00:30:00.000-07:00

Are you on a diet and watching what you're eating or drinking? Instead of reaching for the sugar-free cola or the diet soda, you may want to drink H20.

According to a new study from Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland in California, those who sipped a few extra glasses of water (at least 33 ounces a day) lost even more weight. "Staying hydrated may increase metabolism, so you burn more fat," says lead study author Jodi Stookey, Ph.D.

Ordinary water is actually extraordinary because it's a more effective hydrator than any other beverage.

So your new diet should definitely limit your intake of any sugary drinks --example: juice, soda or iced tea -- to once a day, and have at least 6 cups of water (Tap, sparkling, bottled, or mineral has all produced the same result in the study).

If you want some twist in your H20, consider adding fresh mint or a slice of lemon or lime. And from my own experience, drinking more water also makes you feel more fulfilled sooner!

So go ahead and drink your glass of water.

Tracy
source: Shape magazine

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2007-04-03T22:25:00.000-07:00

Today is my dad's birthday.

We talked on the phone for a little while and Christopher was talking (babbling) to him "Hi Opa (grandfather--in Dutch), hi hi." That just made his evening, he so loves Christopher. And Chris definitely loves him even more. We're planning to have a lunch on Sunday (which is going to be Easter Sunday and my birthday. I'm turning 29, everyone! Near the big 3-0). So it's going to be fun.

I'm going to post the link to one of the websites he's made! It's for St. Patrick's in Canby, and he's part of the Knights of Columbus as well.

http://www.stpatcanby.org/

My dad is one of the greatest men in my life.

He's very kind-hearted, loyal, understanding, patient, funny, energetic, positive, eager to learn, hardworking, creative, passionate (especially when it comes to his beliefs and the Church) and way way smart (too smart sometimes).

He's a really cool dad, he knows how to communicate with his children and he always believes and hopes the best for everyone (I do mean EVERYONE, he doesn't discriminate). Everyone who knows him just totally falls in love with him. My mom once said to me that she fell in love with him because he's the kindest, most sincere man she's ever known and until today, she's not changed her mind, in fact, she reaffirms this opinion. I agree with her wholeheartedly.

Simply put, dad's one of my idols, and I'd be very very lucky if I resemble some of his awesome qualities. I'm both so proud and lucky that he's my dad. Thank God for him.

May God Bless My Dad Always and Keep Him in GREAT health, and hopefully this year will be an awesome year for him too!

I love you, Dad! Happy happy birthday!

P.F. April 3rd 2007

Love,
Tracy

Mi Familia

2007-04-03T02:06:00.000-07:00

See what I dug up from old pictures archive:

B&W magic

In color

Together in the kitchen

Thank you for the free hosting, Pixilive (http://www.pixilive.com).

So here's us in 2003, celebrating my aunt Hetty's birthday at my aunt Ellie's house. It was probably the last time that all of us were together. Now everyone is busy with their own lives, and some are back in Hong Kong, some are in Jakarta. There are more babies born, marriages, and even catastrophe.

Those are also the only pictures I have of the interior of my aunt's family's house before the 'fire/explosion' that happened at least a month ago. My cousin's husband's van blew up in the garage after he got there from picking the kids up from school. They were on the news too (fortunately no one was hurt).

I give you a cookie if you can recognize me (Okay, I was the one with real short hair, on your right hand side, wearing a white top). Unfortunately, I'm a total whale now compared to my old self. :)

And That's What We Call The News, Folks...

2007-04-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

Are you settling in for another humdrum night watching two hours of hysterical money-hungered contestants tonight on Deal or No Deal? Well, to cure your expected boredom, check out http://www.jibjab.com

Don't forget to tune in tomorrow evening for another special on NBC with Chris Hansen (by now, I'm pretty sure when he pops out nearby, it means you're screwed), that is if you don't want to torture yourself having to endure 1 minute of Sanjaya Salakar singing on American Idol.

Christopher Day

2007-04-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

This blog entry is totally to celebrate the little boy human entity named Christopher J. Hood.

You know how your parents always ask you when you're going to start manufacturing humans when it's clear you don't have the investment capital and your production facilities aren't remotely close to being well staffed enough for such an endeavor? Well, they want to urge you to manufacture a human at any cost, and to do it quickly, because manufacturing a human was one of the best things they ever did, even though they are, admittedly, a little bit disappointed in how their human turned out.

Yes, eventually, everyone's humans become scowly and old and bark into their cell phones and wear bad shoes, but it doesn't matter, because when their parents look at them, all they see is pajamas with feet. With that in mind, I'm just going to go list my human, Christopher's progress before his 22nd month birthday coming in 13 days.

1) walking (since 9 months old)
2) running and crawling (if he feels like it)
3) understands words i.e. no, outside, yes, done, okay, come on, thank you, love you, smart baby, dance, jump, diaper, change, kiss, fish, dada, mommy, mama, owie (it hurts--or pretend hurt), big black (vacuum cleaner), hug/big hug, pee-pee, we're done. Commands such as : sit, be good, eat, drink, stop, no, clean up, light off, light on, can I have ___ (filled in objects you need).
4) can say words i.e. eeewww, owie, shoe, ball, love, no, okay, ya, fine/fun, fish, kiss, apa (Indonesian for: what, but he's calling my dad 'apa' because it's close to 'opa'--Dutch for grandfather), ema (Indonesian for: mom, but it's what he calls my mom 'ema' it's close to 'oma'--Dutch for grandmother), 'hi (fish, mommy, dada, apa, ema, la-la, po)' , tubby (if he wants to watch teletubbies), la-la & po (his fave teletubbies character), nanoo (the teletubbies' vacuum cleaner), more (food/drink), ba-ba (milk), wa-wa(water), juice, cheese, count 1 to 5, sometimes to 6 or 9, a-b-c, pee-pee, geico, good to go, dirt, kitty, doggie, duckie, bunny, tree, bye-bye, yayyy, wheeee, wow, cool, nice, yummy, are we done?
5) dancing (strangely enough most attracted to rap music beat)
6) jumping
7) throwing balls (rarely catching it)
8) changing television channel manually so he can watch cartoons
9) climbing up and down bed, chair,
10) opening and closing closet/door (also locking and unlocking--both Michael and I have been locked out before by him)
11) turning the light on and off
12) brushing his own teeth
13) throwing tantrum (quite) safely, he decided when he's upset to go to the carpeted area where he can slowly fling himself on it, pursing his lips defiantly then whine/cry (tearless) pretty loudly until he's distracted.
14) falling asleep by himself, and picking up blanket and bottle by himself before going to sleep
15) seeing you out (waving and saying bye-bye when you need to leave)

My current mision: getting him potty trained, he understand now the word "pee-pee," and he always says that after he did it and wanted to be changed...

There you go. I may add on as I see things progressing.

Love,

His mommy

How To Score Free Stuff

2007-04-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, it doesn't take a lot of hustle to get free stuff. With a little persistence, a little patience, most likely you will end up with awesome stuff that requires very minimal payment or no payment at all!

In my own experience, just last week, I scored a beauty/glamour photographs because I went on http://www.craigslist.org and browse around and it turns out a local photographer (with her own studio) wishes to expand her portfolio and was offering prints and pictures in exchange of me having my pictures taken and be put up on her website.

Next, I scored a free haircut from a hairstylist from a certain salon (from the same website: http://www.craigslist.org ) in exchange to be their hair model. Now on the beauty and general section hairstylists are searching for people for hair color and haircut models (read: free color and haircut)

The sections I usually browse in craigslist when interested in getting a great deals are :
1) free
2) barter
3) beauty
4) general
5) volunteers

You never know what gems await you by browsing and dedicating that small piece of free time (as a mom, it's usually when Christopher is napping or after putting him down to sleep at night) to find great deals.

A tip for browsing at craigslist org., make sure the person is legit, talk to the person offering the free service beforehand and see if you feel at all comfortable. Always meet up in public place, always let everyone knows where you're going if you're going by yourself (I try to bring someone with me if possible). And don't ever hesitate or feel pressured to leave or break the agreement if you don't have a good instinct out of meeting the person.

If you're a girl, I'm pretty sure that you've learned about this new fad in cosmetics : mineral make-ups.
There are so many of them out there and here we've got at least 3 different infomercials.
Unless you're more than willing to mull over the contract they want you to sign online, I must advise you to think twice before putting down/giving away your credit card numbers. You may be charged for things you don't feel you order, and I must caution how their advertisements can be deceptive. If you can, pay it with either a money order or a check (mail it to the address), do it the 'old-fashioned' way.

If you'd like to try mineral make-up, you can try these products:
1) Everyday Minerals (http://www.everydayminerals.com) or
2) Ocean Mist (http://www.oceanmistcosmetics.com/) or
3) Signature (http://www.signatureminerals.com/) for very nominal price (ONLY SHIPPING and HANDLING for around $4 or under). They also accepted money order or check so if you're interested, just option for that.

Another tips I will repost is how to get organic stuffs and getting a great deal:

http://frugality.blogspot.com/2007/03/very-good-article-from-organicorg.html

(Feel free to reread and implement to your daily lives)

I hope that everyone is having a splendid amazing day! I will be back with more frugal and green tips!

Love,

Tracy

Sunday is Appreciation Day!

2007-04-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

First of all, I must thank you Michelle for being so sweet and nice and awesome to give part of her time to write comments on my humble blog!

I hope she and Daniel will make their dream wedding a reality as soon as possible!

P.S. If you're interested in frugal wedding, I'm your woman, I'll be like your personal wedding consultant!
P.S.S. I understand how expensive some organic stuffs is, I usually utilize all coupons I get from Sunday's newspaper, or check out local market for veggies, and although I start to go green, I don't buy all products organic :) Only those that are affordable to the budget.

Love,
Tracy

BRB

SCAN your Computer. ASAP.

2007-03-30T02:33:00.000-07:00

Always SCAN your computer. And defragment the hard drive to avoid slow performance.

I always thought that I was pretty safe having McAfee membership (free, provided by Comcast), but unfortunately it wasn't quite the case.

My father recommended that I use Sytem Mechanic Professional 7 (it comes with Kaspersky Anti-Hacker virus protection), so I installed them and I did a thorough scan of my computer to find that I have 18 Trojan virus in my computer (soon, they're disinfected and deleted).

Their website is http://www.iolo.com

Therefore, my advice as a beginner, have more than one virus protection ready, so that you can rotate the usage of them. You'll never know what you can find in your computer when you think you're safe. Also, scan your computer religiously especially if you have internet connection.

Have a good day everyone!

Tracy

American IdolYawn

2007-03-29T00:58:00.000-07:00

Michael and I used to love watching American Idol (http://www.americanidol.com) because of it's just the "right" time. Football season is over, NBA is not quite onto the playoff round, and there's nothing else to really look forward to on TV.

And to his glee, he has been able to choose the correct winner(s) from Carrie Underwood to Taylor Hicks.

I don't know why this year feels different. Oh I know. It's that dude (Michael Jackson-look-alike) called Sanjaya! I can't understand why he's still there. He's just HORRIBLE. I know he sounded just 'OK' during the preliminary round, but COME ON. He CAN'T SING! He seems to relish the attention he's getting toward his hairdo too. This is NOT American HAIR Idol.

American Idol has always been an advertising machine, this is maybe why the fans are so eager to subconsciously destroy it, because who can actually market Sanjaya IF he won the contest? But I always thought (or hoped) that at least, the winners have some sort of singing talent (and most of them are great singers and performers). That's the only consolation for watching this commercial-induced show. This year, it seems like it's going to be taken away from me.

We better find another show to watch on Tuesday and Wednesday evening.

To distract myself, I started viewing NFL Live on ESPN.

Ja Marcus Russel (QB for LSU) was first draft pick and the Raiders took him. He's going to do great there. He's like Shaq in football. Michael was hoping that Dolphins will pick him up after chucking Joey Harrington--Ducks Alumni--(UNFAIR decision in my humble opinion because if they're giving Culpepper another chance, why can't they give one to Joey? He only lost badly that ONE last game--albeit was a pretty important game, although, keep in mind, their division was so tough, we all knew that it's very little chance they can go to the playoff).

Guess who the Browns sign? Brady Quinn! (Most overrated QB of Notre Dame) I found this very amusing indeed. With his luck, he'll probably end up to be another Joey Harrington (keep in mind that Joey, unlike Quinn, was NOT overrated when he was a Duck, he was a great QB). There's a 90% chance that Quinn will end up washed up.

What's happening to Joey, well, no one signs him, so tough luck for him. Hopefully he saved up some money or at least would be able to utilize his diploma, because he'll be soon entering the workforce like the rest of us, humble humdrum citizens...

Taste Test

2007-03-27T17:18:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I had the chance to go do some organic grocery shopping, purchasing organic salad, vanilla creme cookies, cereal, pasta, peanut butter to do a taste comparison between them and the ordinary brand.

The organic products were purchased at Safeway and it's their new organic brand (fortunately, they gave away coupons so it made it friendlier for the purse).

Here's the result:
1) O's vanilla creme cookies---compared to Oreos cookies
Price-wise, both cookies are similar (although I ended up paying $1 less for the organic brand, thanks to the coupon). To my surprise, the taste is VERY SIMILAR. Tasty. Tasty. So if you'd want to start "green," I'd probably suggest trying the cookies first. :)
2) O's multi-grain fruit flavored cereal---compared to Kellog's
Although the price is comparable (without coupon), unfortunately, the O's brand is definitely not as tasty as the Kellog's sugar-infused one. Sure, the O cereal is supposedly healthier for you, but it has a really unusual taste to them, a little gritty, although the texture is fine. I really think they need to improve on the taste arena.
3) O's wheat-based multi-grain pasta---compared to ordinary pasta (Barillo's)
Okay. Again, the organic ones are still behind on the taste despite that it's healthier. Tip: Boil the wheat pasta longer than ordinary pasta to get to the al dente stage. The taste of wheat pasta is different, unusual, but still very much edible.
4) O's peanut butter---compared to Jiffy's
Hands down to Jiffy's. I still can't get used to organic peanut butter for the life of me. The oil still bothers me very much.
5) O's salad---compared to ordinary salad
This is a no-brainer, for those who haven't tried organic produce, they should definitely try. With organic salad, you notice the freshness and crispness of the taste. It's just a really really good salad.

Well, that's about it for now. I will definitely keep on trying out new organic products as they come out on the market, with consideration to our budget (--with coupons and such) until we find stuffs that the whole family love and enjoy (ex: vanilla creme cookies!!).

Have a good day everyone!

Love,
Tracy

Monday Bloody Monday

2007-03-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

After about 6 weeks, they release the result of Anna Nicole Smith's autopsy.

Is it such a surprise that she OD'ed on prescription med?

I dislike talking bad about the dead, though, so I'd rather not discuss about her on my blog. It's very fascinating how Courtv and CNN are covering this with such fervor. The demands of advertisers and ratings are more important than what's really news, I guess. Although I can't really blame them because most of us (including myself) are mostly fascinated by this type of news :p

I'm just miffed because I'm so bored with it. It's just dragging on and on and on...I'm so tired of looking at people claiming profusely to be "friends" with her, and spewing out weird crap about her life. Eek. The lady's dead, cut it out, it's tragic, but it's also life, you move on.

By the way, this is the funniest thing, I just got a new cell from Cricket (www.mycricket.com) last month and I decided to pay online, and instead of being a reasonable consumer, I didn't write my confirmation code only to find when I went to access my account, it's listed as unpaid.

So I freaked out. I called the customer service number, so ready to be all defensive and angry (I mean, if you have dealt with customer service people over the phone--whether you're trying to buy a product, arrange payments, etc--90% of the time, they're underpaid, untrained, and quite impolite or uncaring).

I have to admit I can be combative over the phone, I have a bit of accent to my voice, and for some reasons I believe that people are not respecting me as much therefore, I'm more than ready to attack verbally when spoken to impolitely.

It's a guy answering the phone and I was cursing my luck because it's usually with a male rep I get more defensive and combative. He spoke with an accent as well (curiously enough) and tried to assure me that the payment would really be in the system within 48 hours although he couldn't find it on the system yet, so that I didn't have to worry.

Then he asked, "What time is it there?" I was confused, what is he talking about, it was around noon, so I just told him the time and he said, "Oh, it's 3 in the morning over here." I ended up asking him where he was. It turned out he was in Manila, Phillipines. It was awesome, because I came from Southeast Asia as well and we ended up talking about our families, about relocating, and such.

So we ended up the phone conversation really well and for once in my life, I don't get mad at the phone rep. I guess the lesson is to not get mad before calling a phone rep, because they may just be cool or someone who have lots of similarities as you do.

I'll be back soon...must...put Chris to bed...It may be impossible because the elephant lady living above us is making SO MUCH NOISE.

Sunday was Sunday

2007-03-26T00:14:00.000-07:00

God, Oregon's weather is the worst. It's literally one minute it's raining and the next is sunny.

We went to see a house from the ad I saw at http://www.craigslist.org it's a pretty small house but in a very quiet neighborhood. Michael thought it'll be worth it although we might have to end up spending more than an extra 200 bucks a month, as long as he's got a place to work on his faithful "Old Yellow" (His beloved '72 Chevy).

Then we decided to have breakfast at Sharis. It was lovely. Chris behaved himself very well and he enjoyed trying to eat and drink all by himself, sometimes it's hard to believe that he's actually growing up. In 3 months, he'll be 2 years old. He's as tall as a 3 years old though, so it's a little weird because he can't speak as well and was still very excited for just about everything he saw and touched.

He's being a ham too, afterward, feeding the ducks with our leftover toast and pancakes (the restaurant was located by a pond seemingly inhabited by dozens or more of ducks, geese, and seagulls--I have no idea why the seagulls were there but they just were). Then I caught him playing with ducks' crap (I swore, I didn't catch on until it was too late--it was nasty gooey greenish stuff) and trying to hug a little girl while he was covered with it. (It was pretty funny because this girl just ran screaming while Chris was completely unaware that girls don't like to be near ducks's crap let alone be hugged by someone covered with it--let's hope that's not what his future love life will be)

Speaking of love life, Michelle and Daniel, have you heard of skype (http://www.skype.net)? Or are you guys using it already? It's free long-distance, you see. You just need to have a headphone, microphone, and download the program for free then voila! It's like one of those digital phone thingies (like vonage or comcast thing). Note: I'm not trying to endorse skype, I use it to speak to my bro who's in Vancouver BC, so do my parents.

Alrighty then, see you later alligator.

Love,
Tracy

Check This One Out :)

2007-03-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well, for those of you who don't know my background, I happened to major in advertisement in college (University of Oregon) and hoped to be a copywriter (until fate stepped in and we produced my dear boy Christopher).

Nonetheless, after I graduated, it was pretty difficult to find local advertising agencies, the ones that are interested in hiring or even offering business. And it was pretty much a "depends on who you know" or "word-of-mouth" world for me (aspiring employee) and for those who own their own business (I know this because my dad owned his own business). But it seems that things have changed completely in the past few years, and for the better.

What an awesome progress. :)

For example, take a look at this impressive link: http://www.londonadvertisingdirectory.com/
There are at least selected 900 different links in this website in over 50 categories. So prospective customers can rest easy knowing that the agencies featured are top-notch. I personally think that this website is brilliant because of the easy access and great amount selections it gives the locals and everyone in the world who have access to computer/internet and are interested in utilizing the London market for their business. Not to mention that London's advertising agencies and co. are not an exclusive world of their own, instead, they're open for the public, which is very appropriate.

Http://www.londonadvertisingdirectory.com is also easy to maneuver for some who are not very affluent in Internet world just yet. So why not take a look and see, I did and so far I've been pleased with the cool websites of advertising agencies featured in http://www.londonadvertisingdirectory.com/ Some of them even offering job opportunities (too bad I can't relocate to London) !

I just hope that one day I'll come across a Portland's advertising agencies directory.

P.S. For my lovely UK reader, Ms. Michelle, maybe you can get one of those companies listed in this website to get your fiancee Daniel printing out wedding invitation ;) We need to spread out the good words, y'see. :)

That's it for now, have a good day everyone.

Tracy

Hoo Hum

2007-03-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

Michael's not home yet because he's paying a parking ticket. It's 8 PM now.

Like typical guy, he decided to just wander around for hours trying to find the Police station (according to the damn ticket, that's where he's supposed to go) until finally I had to ring him. And yep. I think the term for this ...is... he is ... LOST.

I googled the map for him (http://www.google.com) and he's actually in the right direction, it's just that he's not certain if the building is the correct one.

Speaking of parking ticket, that's what he got because he parked his Chevy truck (with expired tag--he's not renewed it yet at that time) up front by the side of the street. After only having purchased it for 48 hours, some cops wrote him the ticket and put it by the windshield...at 1:20 AM.

Who actually went out that late in the wee hours, drabby rainy eve and check out a car tag. See, it's blatant classism (the term he fondly uses--since this is an old Chevy, they just assume that they have to check it out--the tag). Do cops in this city have nothing better to do than write parking ticket? We get charged $40.

Plus, there's a law in this state that new owner of vehicle can have 72 hours before renewing the old tag. We can fight this ticket but it's also easier to just pay and fight later (if we don't pay within 14 days, the ticket becomes $80).

I have to give a shoutout at Michelle. Thanks for all your comments, luv. It's greatly appreciated, if I'm not mistaken, you HAVE YOUR OWN BLOG. SO SHARE, goshdarnit. SHARE. :)

TGIF

Tracy

Very GOOD Article from Organic.org

2007-03-23T02:19:00.000-07:00

Making the effort to buy organic products is a healthy choice, but it can have an undeniable impact on our budgets. To save you time, energy, and money, we offer the following tips for buying organic on a budget:

Comparison Shop. You may be able to find less-expensive alternatives at different stores. Many major chains are coming out with their own organic brands, such as O Organics™ at Safeway and ShopRite Organics at ShopRite.

Cook More. The more convenient the food is, the more expensive it is. For example, buying an organic frozen dinner may save you time in the same way a conventional frozen dinner would, but it costs quite a bit more than its nonorganic counterpart and much more than a homemade meal. Buy organic items that are lower in price (such as produce), and make your own dishes from scratch.

Stock Up. Stock up on your favorite items when they go on sale. Or try something new that is on sale or is priced well, and you may find a new favorite!

Buy in Bulk. Buying in bulk will keep costs down. Look for many pantry staples often available in bulk, such as beans, legumes, rice, flour, nuts, chocolate chips, and much more. Many local co-ops have extensive organic bulk sections.

Organic Coupons. Keep an eye out in the Sunday paper and grocery circulars for coupons and, again, stock up to take best advantage of the savings!

Shop in Season. Shop farm stands and farmers’ markets for the freshest, most-delicious produce while supporting local farmers. Purchasing in season produce from your grocer may also keep costs down.

Be Selective. Decide to only purchase organic milk and produce. See the Environmental Working Group’s “dirty dozen” for the most-contaminated produce and tailor your decisions based on these.

Eat With Friends. Last but not least, make it fun! Choose some like-minded friends and get together to each prepare an organic dish—a great way to add variety to your organic diet while keeping your own purchases down. Get together for a weekend potluck—or, during the week, arrange a food swap to minimize cooking and maximize eating organically.

--------------
As a self-proclaimed Ms Frugal, it's really hard to go organic because it does cause a dent in your household budget, as much as I don't want to admit it. Therefore, I always ALWAYS follow the advice of buying things in bulk, clipping coupons and do lots of comparison shopping, and always ask for tips from fellow frugals if there's a discount coming up, when and where.

In my humble opinion, going green is still pretty difficult although many stores are catching up with the trend. But it's NEVER impossible. So don't be discouraged and just remember that you are what you eat.

The FAMILY recipe

2007-03-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

We're having steelhead for dinner. For those who don't know what a steelhead is, it's a fish (if not mistaken, part of trout's family). Michael's dad loves fishing and it's our fish share.

So, of course, Michael will be cooking for dinner, in honor of that, I'll include his famous recipe:

Michael's "LESS THAN 30 MINUTES Fish Dinner"

Ingredients:

Butter
Worchestershire sauce
Lemon juice
Lemon pepper seasoning
(Well, everyone has different amount of sauce to fit their taste bud, hence we're totally leaving the measurement up to everyone who wants to try this recipe)

Meat:

Fish
(We usually cook steelhead with this recipe)

Melt butter, mix worchestershire, lemon juice. Baste the fish of choice with this mix (butter, lemon joice, worchestershire). Season lemon pepper seasoning over fish liberally, cook over medium high heat on BBQ-er for approximately 7-9 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the meat (If skin is on the fish, cook the skinned part first, then when you flip it over, scrap/peel the skin off--unless you want to eat the fish skin... then by all mean...KEEP IT). Both sides receive the same amount of basting and seasoning. (P.S. Watch out for the grill fire)

As for side dish, we usually steam vegetables (mushrooms, green peppers, onion, broccoli, etc), seasoned with a little bit of salt and pepper, or if you'd like, you can add carb, such as organic brown rice (remember: the ratio of rice to water 1:2)

Alrighty now. I hope y'all enjoy, and I have to go now, because Chris is a-calling. (He's my boss, you see)

Tracy

CONGRATZ

2007-03-22T15:21:00.000-07:00

Yayy, today is like awesome, just find out my long-time old e-pal, Michelle is engaged to Daniel.

I'm sooo happy to say that CONGRATULATIONS. Gosh, your luv story is just beautiful, 3 1/2 years and going strong despite the distance.

I hope you two are very happy together, forever!!!

Love,

Tracy

Rants about Condo situation

2007-03-22T00:22:00.000-07:00

I hate condo's life.

Yes, having an upstair neighbour sure sucks (there's no nicer way to put it), especially when she has 3 children (well, only 1 stays with her, the rest visit during weekend) and all children think it's okay to jump up and down, bounce stuffs off on the floor and scream at the top of their lung.
Sure, Christopher has his days when he screams (out of glee most of the time) out loud marveling at the power of his voice, but Michael and I are very considerate in making him be QUIET.

He totally understands when we say "shhh," and he'll imitate by putting his forefinger in front of his mouth and mums "ssssssss." Cute picture, right? Well, the whole point is we know to be considerate while Ms upstair's neighbour just loves stomping on the floor and lets the kids run around crazy jumping up and down well into 10 o'clock at night.

Another thing is parking space. There are 18 units in this complex, and only 27 parking space. So naturally, everyone is assigned 1 covered parking space, and only on unique circumstances that you get 2. But 2 being the MAXIMUM. Well someone has to explain to me why there are 3 condos that each have 3 parking spaces--let's count..OH, 9 parking spaces taken while they only should be getting 1 each, which makes it...3 the maximum (no, they didn't get any authorization to park there--they just took the space!). That pisses me off to no end.

We have 2 cars and Michael often has to park his car OUT on the street because he's considerate and following the rules. I guess I'm just annoyed because I don't want Michael's car to be parked outside way too long.

I guess we'll play like the others. We'll just park wherever we want to. We'll see how it goes...

Sincerely,

P.O. Tracy

My Sweet Fix

2007-03-20T23:32:00.000-07:00

Okay,

Although I usually try to stick to a certain type of diet (I'm still trying --not hard enough-- to lose 'baby' weight), I do indulge and lately, I have these 2 gold-medal FINDS:

1) Starbucks' Cinnamon Dolce Latte (with sugar free syrup)

Thanks to this magazine, Shape, I decided to try this new "light treat" and to my sweet, happy surprise, what a decadent treat it was!

I was surprised to find out that it's only 90 calories and 0 fat (I did confirm with the barista to use skim milk) because it was just so decadent with just the right amount of sweetness. You can really taste the flavor of cinnamon and caramel (for those of you who don't think cinnamon belongs in coffee drinks, you really must rethink your policy since I was one of you, until now).

That just cures my sweet tooth and it's worth the OCCASSIONAL $3.30
(I ordered a Grande).

2) Hershey's Special Dark (mildly sweet chocolate)

This one is favorite to both Michael and I. First of all, it's a HEALTHY treat. Hard to believe that it actually contains MORE amount of antioxidants than 2 cups of green tea. And it's really really good chocolate. It's rich, delicious, mildly sweet and not bitter at all!

I bought one at Walmart for $1.68. This is the dream chocolate come true. I manage to add more antioxidants in Michael's diet and cure his sweet tooth at once!

Check this dark chocolate out at http://www.hersheysdark.com

Alrighty, that's it for now. Good night all!

Gray Day

2007-03-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

This hasn't been such a great day. I learned that a fellow blogger whose work I've been following for a few years is dying of lung cancer although she's not a smoker. And no, I'm NOT a right wing conservative like she is. I may disagree with some of the things she says, but I very much appreciate and admire her honesty, her willingness to stand for what she really believes in.

Here's a her blog address:

http://cathyseipp.journalspace.com/

She was a great lady, a great writer and most of all, a great mom. My prayers go out for her and her family.

Tracy

Random Thought

2007-03-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

Mood: HAPPY!!! DUCKS is in the SWEET 16!!! Whooooohoooo!!!!!!!!

Michael and Chris have gone to bed. I'm half-watching Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, it's a pretty funny movie although I prefer the book. I always prefer books to movies because books allow me to personalize my imagination regarding time, place, characters and etc.

This is totally random, but if any of you want to try the MILD-way of self tanning, try Jergen's Natural Glow moisturizing cream.

I've been using the new one for a week. This is the one with the firming action (A few weeks back, I received a coupon of $1 off to try this product, and during the same time, they're having this on sale too last week!).

The moisturizer/tanner is very effective to my surprise, and I didn't turn orange (well, a few years back I actually tried a self-tanning cream, and to my horror, my legs turned as orange as a carrot). The tan is quite apparent on first day, and on second and third day, you'll definitely notice the darker tone. Michael actually commented on it (surprise, surprise! He usually hardly notices anything). You do have to apply it as evenly as you can because it may turn streaky (although hardly noticeable).

As for the firming action, I really don't know yet. I'm always hopeful that it may work. Tsk. I can't really tell the difference just yet. The negative thing about it is that I don't particularly enjoy the scent. It's fragrant, but there's that unusual hint of 'tanner" lotion. This is all subjective perception, I'm sure that someone may find the fragrance to be really nice.

Does it work well as a moisturizer? Yes, very much so. My legs and arms are very smooth thanks to it. But I'm going to moderate the usage of this lovely cream because I'm trying not to get any darker. :)

Before I go, I should share a wonderful link:

http://www.localharvest.org

Since springtime is here, it's lovely to go outside for a stroll and check out your neighborhood farmer's market on the weekend. I promise, you'll have a fun time.

Toodlez!

Mother Fearest

2007-03-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

Do you remember that phrase your parents like to say when they either punish or scold you?

"Just wait until you're a parent yourself..."

Geez, I used to think, when I become a parent, I'll totally be the complete opposite than my parents. I'll be this cool mom whom the children really love to hang out with. Unlike my parents. Yes yes. When I hit teenage years, I was against any type of family outing deeming them BORING. I always thought that I'll be less strict, less a pain in the b**t than mine were.

Now that I'm one. Reality set in.

You really become your parents although you swear up and down you won't become them. At one point, I kept thinking that Chris may grow up hating my guts because I wouldn't let him stay out after 8 or 9 on a weekday. I'll always have the gnawing paranoia that if Chris were late to call in, that he'll be in an accident, or some punk beat him up and so on and such and such (sure, it sounds really absurd, but my paranoia says: it can always happen!!!). Or he'll hate me because I thought he's too young to start dating (as an ex-girl-teenager myself, I can just see how his future gf's parents will think of him!). Or he'll think I'm a weirdo because I won't let him eat McD's "happy meal" (I strive to get him to eat healthy and develop a good eating habit when he grows up, idealistic, sure, why not). And so on and so forth.

I suppose that my parents were saying "no" to me for all the right reasons. They just want to protect me from harm, it's not because they're "uptight" or "strict," it's all because they love me and didn't want me to make wrong decisions or pay for the unwise action I might take.

What I want Chris to know is that his parents aren't perfect. After all, we all have some sort of baggage we're still dealing with, quirks that are embedded deeply into our habits. He just needs to realize that with age, what we have is that lessons, useful ones, to pass on to him all for the purpose of making him live a purposeful, healthful, happy life. The trick is how to let him know this without diminishing his respect (and tiny dose of fear) for us? I think I'll find out later.

I guess from time to time, especially when he's of an adult age, I will have to stand back and bite my tongue and hope to God that he'll be wise enough to remember what we've passed on to him, to learn from his mistakes (which he'll make along the way) and discover ways to not repeat them.

Speaking of passing on tradition...When I think about it, now I know where I got my frugal ways...My mom!!! Ha! There's another thing I inherit from her, living healthy.

My mom was the one who pushed me to get rid of the generic baby jars and start to learn to cook real food for Chris. She was the one who showed me the art of pureeing and make sure that all the ingredients are fresh because this is what she says: "You are what you eat." Maybe because of all those good hearty food he's gotten, in his 21 months life, Chris's become a really strong boy. He could walk perfectly when he's 9 months old (he started when he's 7), he's alert, happy, active.

He only has gotten the cold twice! (It's not even too serious, just a sniffle, and a little fever) Even our pediatrician was quite amazed because he's gotten so many parents complaining about the flu season and how their children got sick very often seasonally.

I'm real fortunate to have our parents to be involved in our lives. Chris totally adores and loves them. He lights up each time they're around. I got this tiny suspicions that he favors his grandparents more than Michael and me.

I digress though. I see that Chris is stirring. He's about done with his nap, so it's time to play again...Adieu for now!

Love,
Tracy

Happy St. Patrick's

2007-03-17T14:42:00.000-07:00

Anyone in the mood for green beer? :)

Today is just the most perfect day for lounging around. After the thin fog in the morning, the sun finally set in. I opened up the house around 12 to let the cool breeze in.

I wonder what to do today since I don't drink...well, there's nothing else to do...but...bake!

I'm sure that no one will mind my sharing this delectable recipe to celebrate the glorious St. Patrick's day.

The Vegan Chocolate Cake To Live For
courtesy: Sara Snow from Discovery Health

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
1/2 cup light organic cane sugar
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup pure maple syrup, Grade A Dark Amber
*2 cups chocolate or vanilla soymilk* (see tips)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Position one rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

Oil the sides and bottoms of two 9 x 3-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper cut to fit. Place a wire mesh strainer over a medium bowl. Add the pastry flour, white flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon to the strainer. Tap the strainer against the palm of your hand to sift the ingredients.

Stir with a wire whisk to distribute the ingredients. Whisk the oil, maple syrup, soymilk, vanilla and almond extracts and vinegar in a separate medium bowl until well blended. Pour into the dry mixture and stir with a wire whisk until the batter is smooth. This batter is meant to be thin; don't worry.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans. Tap the pans lightly on the counter to eliminate air bubbles.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are set, the sides have started to pull away from the pan, and a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs.

Cool the pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Run a thin knife between the cake and inside of the pan, and invert each layer onto a rack. Remove the pans and carefully peel off the parchment paper. Invert again topside up on a rack to cool completely.

To protect the layers from cracking or breaking, slide a cardboard circle (or another flat surface) under each one. Wrap the layers with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold before filling and frosting.

Assemble the cake

While a cake-decorating turntable is nice to have, it is not essential for this cake. To assemble the cake, place one of the layers bottom-side up on a serving plate. Tuck strips of parchment or waxed paper under the outside edge of the cake to catch any frosting that drips.

Use an icing spatula to spread about 1 1/2 cups of the cream frosting on the layer. (If the layer is uneven, spread more cream on the thinner areas.) Set the second layer on it topside up, and press down lightly. Spread about 1 1/2 cups of the frosting on top of the cake covering one section at a time. Push excess frosting off the top onto the sides adding more frosting as needed to cover the sides. Smooth or swirl the frosting as you like.

The cake is ready to serve immediately, but can be refrigerated up to 2 days. Use a long, sharp knife to cut the cake, wiping the blade as needed after each slice.

*Tips & Variations:1 1/2 cups of rice milk can replace the 2 cups of soymilk.*

The recipe seems a little long and complicated, but it's WORTH it. A healthful, delicious chocolate cake...the combination just can't be beat. And Chris totally loves this cake, which really motivates me to bake it more often. Although it's not always good to feed your kids chocolate cake, but from time to time, you can relax and indulge. Especially when the cake is oh-so-good for you.

Cheerio!

TGIF

2007-03-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

TGIF!

What a gloriously sunny day.

Chris and I spent the whole day outside relaxing, basking in the sun. If you must know, Chris just turned 21 months old yesterday. Bless his little heart. He's just so excited to be out and about after being mostly couped up in the house most of the Winter. He even ended up learning to sweep the porch. My mom thinks he'll be a good worker one day. I can just imagine: "Son, take out the trash...mow the lawn...wash the car...!" I can't wait for those days!

Okay. Now back to business of frugality...

I got my Save-A-Lot ad, they just opened a few months ago a few blocks away from our house. And for those who love a really great deal, a 5-lbs-red potatoes is only $ .88. That's awesome, not to mention, a 10-lbs-leg quarter of a chicken is only $2.50. Seriously! For a place that doesn't require you to pay membership fee, it's pretty good. I don't know about this week, but last week they have the 73% lean ground beef for $ .99 per-lbs. I didn't get any though, because I'm trying to eat very leaner (93%) and healthier.

Nearby the Save-A-Lot, a new Safeway opened last week. Speaking of Safeway, did you see that cute and whimsical commercial on TV? The one with Mom, Dad and Baby with their "ingredients" written on their tees?

They're coming out with all this organic brand: O (I can't wait until their baby brand finally arrives!). And lucky me, I've received a coupon book in the mail. For those who don't necessarily get these coupon books, having a Safeway membership card is a good option. It's free to sign up and you can get some of their savings.

One of the first thing I want to try is O Peanut butter (the creamy one), to compare to the one I got from Winco (Adams's). I ended up not liking it because it's oily. Although, surprisingly enough, Michael (Mr. Picky) said," What's wrong with it? It tastes like peanut butter." Chris doesn't seem to have a problem with that one too. Then again, he's a pretty easygoing boy. I wonder if my pallate has been spoiled by ordinary peanut butter.

I digress...

I may also try their O cereal. I like Kashi's brand (the one with berries especially). I haven't been able to compare it with another organic brand; so far, what I've noticed as a gradual green person, organic brand cereal has more textures, it's also crunchier although there's not necessarily a promise of crunchiness.

Since this is Friday and most people like to eat out, for you health nuts, I will share another useful link:

http://www.healthydiningfinder.com/site/

There's nothing wrong with being frugal and health conscious, is it?

Enjoy your weekend!

Tracy

If You Like Dining Out...

2007-03-15T15:01:00.000-07:00

Try this site:

http://www.restaurant.com

A friend of mine (shoutout to Joyce) shared that awesome website with me. She loves dining out and trying out new cuisines for a good deal.

My top 2 choices from that website:

1) Sorabel Korean BBQ Sushi
Michael's taken me a few times to this place. It's like our anniversary thing. We LOVE the food! It's healthful and fresh. You just know from crispness of the lettuce, the scent of mint and parsley. For those who are concerned about "fat," guess what...you'll be the one grilling it! So not only it's super fun, but you'll also know what you're putting in your food. And the service is great. Everyone there seems like family; so it feels cozy. There's a karaoke bar/lounge next door to the restaurant. Unfortunately, we didn't get to use the coupon from the restaurant.com when we're there.

2) Montego Bay Authentic Jamaican Cuisine
The jerk chicken is to die for!!! If you like trying out new food, this is totally the place to go to. The place is cozy and whimsical. If you have some bohemian soul in you, you'll fall in love immediately. They have live music on the weekends. Because of the coziness of the place, it's always good to go for early dinner so that you don't get caught up with the crowd.

Anyway, just browse through the site, see if you like any restaurants in them. Be adventurous, be a foodie...for a bargain!

Sincerely,
Tracy

Meet the Players

2007-03-15T00:16:00.000-07:00

Being that this is my first post and all, I just like to say 'hi' to everyone and explain what's going down. First of all, I'll try share useful information about products, discounts, good deals, recipes, tips, etc with whomever reading this.

Secondly, there'll be 3 constant people being discussed in this blog: Mom (me), Dad (Michael), and Baby (Chris). We're a family that's really trying to live healthier lives, going 'green,' but of course without blowing up the budget. Like most household, we have to stick to a pretty strict budget to make it on a one-income household.

Well here's a little bit about us if you're so inclined to know...

Dad
*loves vintage/classic cars, loves sun, works real hard, meat-potatoes-kind of guy, thinks going green is weird*
Secret mission: to fix up his new acquired 1972 Chevy truck and paint it yellow by summer or the end of spring, may keep the truck although has promised to immediately sell it for profit...

Mom
*loves writing, browsing the internet, kissing baby, walking outside, napping, cooking and eating*
Secret mission: gradually get the whole family to go green, get healthier and fit, save money, get the best deal on EVERYTHING!

Baby
*loves to play, laugh, plays trick on people, dance and talk*
Secret mission: figure out how to open those pesky child-proofed cabinets and get more of mom's attention without pretending to get an "owie."

I hope it's to your satisfaction. Nice to meet you, and bye bye for now.

Love,
Tracy