That's A First

At the night of December 11, 2008, Houston was surprised with a snowfall. I say surprise because we normally don't snow up here. For 8 years residing in the city, last night was my first snow. Not that I've never seen snow before. Yes, I did and it was at the mountains of the State of California. And that was 8 years ago, when we just first got here in the United States.

Anyhow, somone else seemed to enjoy the snowfall lastnight. My son, Sage was so thrilled when I let him out running in the front yard to enjoy the snow. He was going wild, running like a mad bull under the cold, frosty weather. I am so glad that he gets to experience this in our own city. Because it doesn't usually snow up here, some people tends to travel to the west coast to see some snow. Well, it was a lucky night for many houstonians and we won't probably see it again for many years.

Under The Weather

It's inevitable that as soon as you hear others coughing, sniffling, and sneezing, you think you're next. It all started when Sage caught up with colds last week. Monday night didn't help him when he begged to stay a little longer in the tub and the very same night, Sage coughed his way up to bed. Poor little child and who knows where he got it from. It could be coming from anything, but the only thing I could think of right now is him being so friendly with our puppy, Blitzen. He likes to share his toys with the puppy and as a toddler, he puts everything in his mouth. Being the only person with Sage all day, everyday, it is possible that I've gotten the colds from him.

It's not the worst thing but it's not the good thing either to be sick like this. It restricted me from doing anything, especially Black Friday shopping this year. Of all things, shopping is one the best things I love to do on earth and it felt really different to not being able to do it, especially good deals were out there for grabs. But I came to think of it that I don't need anything. My husband told me that I bought things for myself that three people could use, that I don't even used them at all. And you know what, he was right. And when he said that, It helped me a little better feeling sad about not able to shop on Black Friday.

Nonetheless, I was able to put up our christmas tree on Thanksgiving night, despite of the condition I am in these days. A huge "thank you" goes to my parents for keeping Sage for us. It's the best time to do something like this without our 2 year old son in the house. Someday, he can help momma setting up the tree and I'm sure he would love it. I took few shots of our christmas ornaments. These are old, same ones we used last year. Enjoy!

Lights Up for Christmas

Christmas 2007 - Duerr Residence, Most Traditional

Giving and receiving gifts are the most wonderful things on earth during the christmas season. But the most I love are the christmas lights. Last year, we were one of the few who were given awards by the homeowners club for dressing up our lawn. Nothing says Christmas like a house all aglow in white mini lights, that's why we decided to light up the whole house last year... It really made me feel good just by looking at the lights...We got home one night and saw a sign on the front yard that said " Most Traditional." Having given the award, felt really great and rewarding considering that people recognized the effort, time and not to mention the money we invested on christmas decorations. For our house, It took 3 full days to have the house completely dressed with white lights. It was all worth it... In a few weeks from now, we will have the wonder of lights workin' up again for this year's holiday season. But all that will be done after an electrician will come and check few of our outlets that needed to be changed. Last year, we have hundreds of lights working around the house that some of our outlets are now unfunctional. The circuit breaker needs to be checked or we might have to get a new one this time because I just bought more lights and more outdoor decorations today... I can't believe I just did, I don't even have anymore space in the storage that we were renting for almost two years now. But checking the breaker is the first thing to do, I want to make sure that I will not go overload of elecrtical power this time. I hope this christmas will be as good as last year.

Obama, A Celebrity Around the Globe

After a year-long race, a historical and an overwhelming victory was witnessed by billions of people around the world. Talking about from Japan to Hawaii, from Rome to Baghdad, the world is watching Obama sparked the night of Tuesday, November 4, 2008. Having earned 349 electoral votes, Obama will be the 44th, yet the 1st African-American President of this great country. The dream of every single African-American is now realized when Obama was announced the winner against republican candidate John McCain. No one can deny that 100% of theses people have supported the new president. Overjoyed by the victorious win, many supporters of Obama got emotional. Children and adults, specially the African-American group are overly happy about the victory that some of them have shed their tears of joy. These people are obviously looking forward to a better future with this man they have chosen to govern the country. Who doesn't? Everyone is after about the good future for our country but is this really going to happen with Obama? Is United States of America ready for him? Was Barack Obama born to do this? Well, he's got 4 years to prove it and fulfill every promises he dared to give to these people. On the lossers side, my father-in-law was not very happy of the result at all and I know he's not the only one out there. I am not a political person myself, but I would say let's give the new president a chance to rule this country and when he fails, then we can say "I TOLD YOU SO..." Some quoted Obama "the perfect man for the country" this has got me to be anxious about and I can't wait how this "s0-called-perfect-man" will perform. As I said, he's got the next four years. And by the way, there is no such thing as PERFECT! Congratulations President elect Obama! All my respect to you!

The Golden Man

Time flew so rapidly fast and even up to this very day, I refuse to accept that my dad is officially 50 years old. Not that he shouldn't be getting old, but he just doesn't look old to be a 50 year- old man. Now, that he has reached the golden years of his life, does that mean that he'll soon grow gray hair? I could not imagine my dad having those dark hair turn into gray. I wonder what he would look like when that time comes?
So, anyway, we gave him a big and a memorable party right from the comfort of his own backyard. Guests after guests arrived as the party was going on. Dad wore a big smile all night that goes all the way up to his ears. We had a long table of Filipino dishes, two delicious mocha cakes and more sweet course for everyone that night. We had too much food leftover, that all of our guests were happy to take home some of it. Having more food is better than not having enough for your guests. It was a nice way to end the party that way because I believed that when our guests left the party, they talked nothing but how successful the party was and how great the fact that they got to take home the food that will last them days without cooking. *wink*

Arr... Said The Pirate.

Friday night was a whole lot of fun for us going trick or treating around the neighborhood with our little pirate, Sage. Yes, as the mother, I decided that Sage was going to be a pirate this year's halloween. I was so relieved and happy when the costume came on the mail just few days before halloween, but the feeling didn't last that long. Just as we were about done dress rehearsing the pirate, a complain from the toddler himself was heard "mommy no this"... "no more pirate"... Bang! Bang! sounds like a shotgun fire to my eardrums. I can't believe what I was hearing! I was scared to death that he was not going to wear it on halloween night. Need not to mention the rushed shipping cost for the items(pirate costume and the pirate treat bag) so it would make it in time for halloween. I feared that the money spent was all for nothing. I feared that he's gonna blow it and left me all upset. Yet, luckily and thankfully things didn't end up that way as I thought it would be. I had this plan before halloween came: to make sure he gets his afternoon nap, so Sage won't get so cranky and moody, and boy, did it ever worked! yay, I felt really damn good! I felt like the happiest warm blooded human in the universe! Sage looked so adorable that night and I am sorry I can't deny that. Sometimes, people thinks that we tend to get bias when it comes to our own children. But he did look good... we got a lot of attention on the streets and from every houses that we wen to. The costume was a big hit in the neighborhood and so was his little pirate treat bag. One thing was fun, everytime Sage was asked "what did the pirate say" and Sage will say "ARR" with that cute scrushed up facial expression. And at the end of the night, we thought we had a really great halloween. I was really glad I made the right decision doing a lil' pirate makeover on my son. This time was a big difference from last years' that it is worth documenting... Have fun browsing through some of Sage's photos this halloween:

Sage on the runway!


got his boots on too!


the sad pirate, you know why? he's got the last
candy treasure on hand...


little make up


your neighborhood's pirate


the coolest pirate treat bag


and it's personalized!

Sage's long hair goes well with the pirate theme...

I'm back!

After many weeks of absence, now I'm back to blogging.... so, yay to that! Hurricane Ike left us many things to attend to, even going to the nail shop was impossible. We had to clear out our front yard after a huge oak tree fell on the driveway. Thank God, it didn't fell on top of our roof! Our fence in the backyard was damaged, we have power loss for two weeks, which was really frustrating! Think about two weeks of no power... can't even eat a decent meal because there was no cooking going on around the house because of power loss. It was that bad, but there was also the good side of it. The hurricane made us spent the whole time with my parents, which is about 45 minutes away from us. My parents loss of power lasted for 10 hours only during the Ike invasion. So, they called us over and we ended up vacationing under my parents' roof.

The exciting part I did after the hurricane, I get to read the Twilight series. I was really digging to read Twilight for so many months and Robin was really kind enough to bought me the books(four of them). Now, I have a problem... boo! I want to read it again! It was that good that even my self concious can't stop me! Waiting is the only thing I am capable of doing now and the wait is almost over. About a month to go, I am going to see the long-awaited and anticipated movie"Twilight", that everyone is excited about.

And Oh, my son, Sage has just turned TWO!!! it's unbelievable that time really flies so fast. We had a big successful party for the little one and the best part of it, he was really enjoying that time. I want to make a statement that first birthday and second birthday are comperable. His second birthday was a lot of fun in a way that the child is really understanding the moment that it is special. Special just for him.. This time, opening gifts are more meaningful and thrilling. I guess I would say, Sage is really growing, I mean getting older with a lot of sense.

Tomorrow will be a big day for Sage. Daddy is taking him to Rusk, Texas for a "Day out with Thomas." Sage is a huge Thomas guy and all you see around the house is about Thomas and his friends. It's going to be an exciting 2 and a half hour drive to Rusk. This is also Sage's first long trip, I may say. I am considering the 2hours and a half is already a long trip. So, we'll see how it goes for us tomorrow. Anyway, it's good to be back and start blogging again!