O'Canada, how I love thee

Hello beautiful readers! I am alive and well, sorry for the lack of posts. I am currently in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia :D, I've been here since the 8th and will be returning home on the 24th. The boyfriend, his family, and I drove up and had a nice pitstop at Crater Lake, Oregon before finishing the last leg of the drive to Canada. I will update once I get home with all the amazing places I have visited, I hope you all are well! 

photo via- http://www.asia-portal.net

 Best wishes,

Shirley 

May 28th, 2011: Our Five Year Anniversary- A year of many accomplishments

Near and dear to my heart is this wonderful man who came into my life 5 years ago... my boyfriend has become so much more to me than just someone I am emotionally involved in. He has become my best friend, my other half, my support, my guiding light when I am lost, the being that completes my soul. I may not say it as often as I should, but I am thankful for everything he is and for everything he has brought into my life. He inspires me to want to be a better person and to see life with a more positive, realistic, and IDGF attitude. His personality is so refreshing and honest, yet he is not arrogant or rude about his perspectives because he is a man of respect and gives everyone the same character. I love his consistency, dedication, and heart of gold... always willing to give a helping hand or lend a listening ear he has been honest and open with me. I never thought I would find someone who understood so much of who I am and still learn to love me. What I love about him most is his dreamer like optimism and laid back personality, he goes with the flow and just allows life to take its course. He is an intelligent man with many ideas to share and has always supported me through my doubts. He's opened my mind and heart and I owe him so much of my life for all that he has and still does, loving my family and taking care of me is a lot to take on but he holds this responsibility and treasures my heart so gently. As we embark on our 5th year of love and growth together I only go forth with confidence that I have such a wonderful man by my side, and know I am blessed beyond words to have him to call my own.

Here is a photo recap of our day of festivities. We decided to go low key this year and remained in our lovely San Francisco...

we began our little date with a drive to Coit Tower where we had our first ever date, the bf was so cute and wanted to plan it so that we could watch the sunset, but it rained and the weather was iffy.. on the drive to Coit Tower it rained pretty hard on the freeway, upon arrival everything began to clear just in time for the sunset... it was symbolic and beautiful for that even through the storms we are by each other's side and can make it through to see the beauty in it all. 

the first kiss occurred in this parking lot 5 years earlier... i remember it was March 27th, 2006 i cut school that day and decided to pick him up for a random date. i was hooked from our first kiss.

the beautiful card, sad the colors got a bit washed out... 

this is beautiful, but what was written inside is what really got me... i bawled my eyes out.

my awesome surprise!!

i got him a dinky gift... :|

thought he was going to get something else...

his real surprise!

50% off cereal with fiber!

might as well eat a light snack now...

tada!! haha i drove all across the bay area to find this white ipad 3g+wifi... -________-

worth all the chaos to see his surprised face.

onto our next location... we had a nice Italian dinner in little Italy aka North Beach

my handsome handsome man. 

the skies cleared and it was beautiful.

bread: our fave! lol

happy and hungry.

the delicious rigatoni pasta with garlic parmesan alfredo sauce sauteed with shrimp.

 my cioppino & babe's veal parm.

after dinner a nice stroll through the park :)

moving forward to our last surprise... eyes closed and heart pounding he drives us through the city, i wanted to know where we were going... but he said not to open my eyes... we finally park and he rushes me out of the car... i hear singing and feel confused not knowing where we were... finally eyes opened... he turns on his iphone and plays the song that played at my Sr. Prom when we slow danced for the first time as a couple... he asked me out at my senior prom at 10:57 and right after the song You and Me by Lifehouse played and the balloon dropped happened... it was life a scene from the movies, everything was so perfect... he drove us back to where our love first began...San Francisco's City Hall. again I bawled my eyes out from being so very moved by the thought he put into this special dance. As the music played on his phone we danced in the street in front of City Hall. 

a kiss to seal the wonderful night, the rest is history.

a collage card I made of our 5 years of love and memories..

The evening was magical and so very sweet, our love has changed us both in good ways. We have become better people together and have accomplished a lot. There are no words that can describe or do justice to how much this man means to me, I can only say I am happy and loved.

no one ever said life was going to be easy, but with him by my side i know i will be successful.

wishing you love and happiness,

Shirley

Giants v. Marlins 05.25.11- Celebrations of Success and Hanging with my little sister

Continuing the festivities of celebrations, the bf got my little sister and her best friend tickets to the SF Giants game and we tagged along with the bf's cousin's large party. The night was relaxed and fun, the game ran into the 13th inning and our poor All Star ROY catcher Buster Posey was injured abruptly and is now out for the season -__________- my poor boo. anyways here's just a photo blog of that night.

here's some of the group we hung out with that evening, the group consisted of 15 people but with people intoxicated and hungry we all disbursed. lol this is the closest number of the group in a picture.

the bf's cousin Connie and her friend Julia.

 my faves Linda aka Lando and Lisa  & my new friend the ever so drunk and red Sol.

the bf.

haha love my bf's expression here, he loves his ballpark food.

where we sat with the group, the weather cleared up nicely from the crazy storm during my sister's graduation.

Go Giants!

sunflower seeds and men.

my babycakes.

chocolate eggettes

the Youtube star Keenan Cahill and the beloved Lou Seal performing.

finally walking back over to centerfield where my sister and her friend were sitting :)

stressed and eating sunflower seeds.

ending the night with my little sister.

It was an eventful day and I was happy to have had an opportunity to spend quality time with my little sister.

-Shirley

A Step Towards Success: My little sister graduates highschool

Continuing on the series of catching up on the events that have occurred in the past month, I wanted to share in the special moment that belongs to my little sister. On May 25th, 2011, she successfully walked across the stage at Bill Graham Civic Center and received her highschool diploma. This in itself is an accomplishment for our family because it means we are 2 down and 1 more to go so to speak.  I love my little sister and admire all that she has done not only for me but our family, we would be incomplete without her. Anyways we all already know how much I love this girl from the previous post. It was a gloomy morning and we had to rush her down to the auditorium, waited in line while this weird drizzly rain/mist came down. Finally seated at 9:10am, the procession began at 9:30... lasted about 2 hours and we were reunited in a sea of proud family, friends, and other people, balloons, flowers, leis, and presents... it took about 20 minutes to locate my sister because most of the crowd and graduates remained inside due to the storm occurring outside after the ceremony. let me just say it was chaos -___________- no bueno at all, but it was worth all the trouble to celebrate with my little sister. now that summer is reaching the midway point, its become a bittersweet moment in my life has i know in a matter of a month or so she will be off to college and i will no longer have her by my side. truthfully speaking, i think i feel more of this separation then my own parents and i guess its partly because i have always felt i was like a second parent to her and have really watched her blossom into the beautiful young lady she is today, from the days of driving her to middle school through highschool... soon she'll be off making the world a better place with her intelligence, creativity, and kind heart. i know no matter where we are, we will be there for each other and she will forever be my little Stellie...

crossing the stage after she received her diploma, we screamed our heads off as she crossed. lol

my sister with her homeroom teacher :) this is right before the rain started pounding down on us all.

our mother and her super asian umbrella and the graduate.

the ladies of our family =) i look like a hurt ass turd after being beat by rain lol.

the bf and my little sister, he was so sweet and got her a lei

soaked by still cheesin', that's my girl!

our family picture with the graduate :)

lastly, her graduation gift :)

i can't believe how fast time really does go by... soon we'll all have our own families.

well no other way to end this but with a simple and sweet see you next time,

Shirley

One is Gold and the Other is Silver: Spending time with Friends

sooo I'm long over due for some blogging time... life has been beautiful,hectic, and just everything in between. I have officially graduated and am enjoying my official summer as a post grad. i landed a teaching gig :), hooray for finding a job right after graduation! well with this career thing I plan on returning to school in the next 1.5 years for my masters in human development/education, so we'll see how this job pans out. as of late i haven't done anything too eventful, but i have accomplished one of my new years resolutions. This resolution was to get into contact with and reestablish a relationship with old friends and make mends with people who I had a falling out with in the past. I am proud to say I'm doing pretty good and I love these new beginnings. other than that i'm relaxing, but really should get a roll on studying for the cset/cbest -_______________- ugh don't even want to think of institutionalization... lol but yeah i will get my shit together!

well here's a recap via photos to bring this little blog and you all up to date :)

lunch date/shopping in Downtown SF with some girlfriends:  05.17.11

after a long afternoon of shopping we headed over to the SF Shopping Centre for some lunch at the wonderful Nordstrom Cafe.

on the elevator up, we got lazy and decided not to take the spiral escalator.

with my bff Kim

settling in with ali, sarah, and kim. nice cozy booth.

i had the lobster and crab bisque and fries :) really messy, but delish!

ali had the turkey blt if i remember correctly. 

sarah also had a sandwich: grilled chicken something and kim had pasta. 

at the end of our meal :) great day with great company

Well i think i will be cutting it here, since the next post is special to me: my little sister graduates from highschool :) so she deserves her own post!

until the next post ,

Shirley