The Eyes Have it!

I've been wearing make-up since 8th grade. Over the years, as any woman who has worn make-up for a long period of time, I've learned what works and what doesn't work on my face. There are a lot of facial elements that go into finding the perfect products for your face: your complexion, your skin type, your sensitivity factor, etc.

While I've found a lot of products for my make-up regimen that I love and am loyal to, I have struggled since day one to find my perfect mascara. In the morning my eyes would look cleanly lined and lashes neatly brushed and coated. By the end of the day, I'd have dark smudges of mascara under the outer corners of my lower lash line. Smiling a lot during the day would cause the mascara to smudge throughout the day =) In my lifetime, I have gone though a many many waterproof and smudgeproof mascaras (almost everything under the sun under those categories) and still the smudges would appear by the end of the day. At first I thought that maybe it was my eyeliner, so I switched from regular eye-liner to a smudgeproof eyeliner, and that helped a little bit, but the mascara seemed to be the culprit... until last week.

During my relaxing and sunny spring break here at home in Seattle, I took a little stroll downtown and went to Sephora to pick up some blush and mascara. I grabbed my blush, the one that I love and buy all the time. Then I started browsing the mascaras. As I looked around, I kept saying to myself, "I've tried that one. I've tried that one too... and that one. Oh, yes and that one." Then I finally approached the Dior shelf and came across the DiorShow Iconic Extreme Waterproof Mascara. I have tried other Dior mascaras that were almost what I wanted, but still needed a little more staying power. I like the Dior make-up line, so I thought I'd try it since I haven't yet. I came home, showered and did my whole make-up routine, ran some more errands, cooked dinner, and chilled out. When I looked in the mirror at the end of the night before going to bed, I noticed that my little eyes were smudge-free! I thought to myself, "Well, I didn't put my make up on in the morning and go all day with it. I wonder if it will stay up again tomorrow." The next day after wearing the mascara all day, I was still smudge-free. This is the real deal. Not only did it hold stay smudge-free, it also holds the curl! I've worn it for a whole week, and haven't experienced smudges yet!

My eye-lash dreams have come true! For any Asian women or any women out there who suffer from the outer-lower-lashline-smudge, this is the greatest investment and I HIGHLY recommend it. One little, tiny disadvantage to this mascara is that it takes a little bit more scrubbing off than any other mascaras that I've tried, but it's a very small price to pay for all-day stay. If you want to stay smudge-free, go for the DiorShow Iconic Extreme Waterproof mascara!




Even the brush is cool. They look like regular little bristles, but they're actually skinny, small rubber bristles. When you take the brush out of the tube, you'll find there's the perfect amount mascara on it. No clumps of excess come out of the tube with the brush, so your lashes don't clump either. I tell you, it's my perfect mascara! If I could marry this mascara, I would.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

This past Monday was Grandpa Perfecto's 86th birthday. Every night since that night, I've had dreams of him and Grandma Nory. The first couple of nights, something really sad happened in my dreams where I would start crying, so I woke up to myself crying. We hear about crying yourself to sleep, but I've been crying myself awake. It actually kind of put a damper on the rest of my day. On the other hand, this morning I woke up a in a better mood since my dream with them was much happier.

After Grandma Nory passed on my 22nd birthday in 2003, I would occasionally have dreams about her. Grandpa Perfecto would always tell me that when I dream of her, that means she's visiting me. If that's the case, I guess Grandma and Grandpa are visiting me. They can visit me in my dreams all they want. I really miss them.

Cheers to you, Grandpa Perfecto. May you be silly, loveable, and wise forevermore. Give Grandma big hugs and kisses for me.

Breakfast With Champions

I spent Tuesday morning babysitting "The Circus." Never a dull moment. I love those kiddos.

Diagnosis: Miserable

Last Thursday, I remember climbing into bed feeling unusually achy all over my body. I thought maybe I was just really exhausted. I woke up in the middle of the night still achy, but shivering, and got up to get a couple of extra blankets and turn up the heat--something I've never had to do before. Friday morning, I had very low energy and on my lunch break went to the nurse's office to check my temp. The thermometer read 101.6. Thank heavens for Ryan, Rachael, and Josh volunteering in the classroom that day, or else I would not have survived. Later that night my temperature peaked at 102.7. I have been bed ridden ever since I got home that afternoon, but I have no idea what I have. I just know that I feel pretty crappy. The symptoms change daily, but no real improvements. You name it, I got it.

- 24/7 headache
- post-nasal drip
- painful throat
- episodes of uncontrollable coughing
- diarrhea (TMI, I know)
- lost my voice
- cold sweats
- plugged ears

Did I miss anything? At this point, does it even matter? Crossing my fingers for a speedy recovery.

Hail No!

Today my team and I went on a field trip to the Cedar River Watershed. Until last week when we began planning for the trip, I had never heard of this place and had no idea where or what it was. All I knew was to dress warm and wear good rain boots.

After a 45 minute bus ride to North Bend with about 60 children, we arrived to our destination. It turns out that it is a beautiful little pocket of the great Northwest. The Cedar River Watershed is an ecological preserve that is source of drinking water to more than a million greater Seattle area residents. It is a pristine natural area that stimulates and calms all your senses. We hiked the trails in the mountain, saw waterfalls, the river, and lots of different trees. We heard the birds chirping, felt the dirt under our feet, smelled the trees and the water. I never knew there was a such a place that existed so close to home.

While the watershed was amazingly beautiful, the conditions were pretty rough. Because we were at a high elevation, there was snow, hail, and strong winds. Not only did we hike for about 45 minutes, but we also ate lunch outside. Needless to say, we were cold and wet. The wind was so strong it was blowing the pea-sized hail sideways, so it felt like a thousand bullets hitting my face all at once. I hiked a good portion of the trail backwards against the wind. While the kids were freezing and drenched, they still hung in there.. It was pretty brutal, but the kiddos really enjoyed being out there and taking all that it had to offer.

I would really like to go back when the summer weather comes, and walk around to truly enjoy the surroundings. But one thing that I'd miss in going there if it was sunny would be the rain drums. In a courtyard between facilities, are big bongo drums strategically placed to catch the heavy raindrops and make music. As we stood there and listened, we could hear that from the different branches, each raindrop fell at a certain beat. And all together the drops were falling to create a repetitive rhythm, like a song. It was quite inspiring to see and hear music made by nature.

Kusina Pilipina

Lately I've been craving comfort food, food that reminds me of my childhood days at the dining table in our old Oakbrook house. For many people comfort food is mac and cheese, meatloaf, and apple pie. For me comfort food is Filipino food--a hearty, savory meat dish drizzled over a little hill of warm white rice. My mom cooked it, my dad cooked it, my grandparents, aunts, and uncles cooked it and would drop off some their food at our house. It just takes me back to when we all lived within walking distance of each other. My sisters, cousins, and I did not grow up helping in the kitchen, so as we've all entered adulthood, Filipino food is not found on our stove-tops very often.

Living on my own, I've relied on cooking the simple but tasty foods including pastas, baked salmon, salads, and quesadillas. With my busy schedule, it just seemed to work. Then I realized, if my mom and aunties can cook Filipino food with their busy schedules, working and parenting, I can totally do it as a single girl in the city! It wasn't until just a couple of years ago that I attempted to replicate my childhood classics. With help from only the internet, I decided to take a stab at one dish. Since then, I've added one more Filipino dish to my repertoire each year. And each time I make them, it gets easier and tastes better. Here's my short list. In another couple of years there will be more, and someday my children will think of Filipino food as their comfort food too.

- Pork and Vegetable Lumpia
- Tinola
- Adobo
- Kaldereta