My 2011

As looking back this year, I had so much wonderful things happen.

Most significant events are...

I got engaged.
I opened this blog.
I opened my Etsy store.
I got married.
I got pregnant with a baby boy.

Kuro (puppy) became a part of our family.

And I had so much fun hanging out with my family and friends.

Of course I had some stressful problems, but the year of 2011 was one of the amazing year I've ever lived in!

I hope 2012 will be as great as this year or greater than this year :)

Yay, it's a boy!!!!!

Last Monday, my husband and I went to the ultrasound.

They asked me to drink 32 oz of water within 30 minutes half hour before the ultrasound appointment.
I like drinking water, but I'd never drunk that much water in once so I had a hard time drinking it....

Anyway,
The ultrasound result....

It's a boy!!!

You are seeing his butt...
Hahaha.... you can see his little w****...

As the practitioner told us it was a boy, my husband said loudly "YES!!!"
He wanted a boy, not that if we had a girl he would have been disappointed.
And I wanted a boy, because lot of my friends either have boys or are having boys, so it will be fun, they can play together.
I would've been happy, either we have a boy or girl.

He is sucking his finger :)

Now, we need to think about his name.
And I will start creating a baby shower registry for him.... it's too early??

Please let me know if you have any idea on his name :)

Holiday Sale!!

 After thanksgiving sale, I just started "Good bye 2011" sale on my store!!
Coupon code "GOODBYE2011"
You get 15% off :)

Hope to see you soon !!!


Wish you a happy holiday~~~

New addition to our family!!

NOW: Kuro ( 8 and few days old)

I've been away from blogging for a while, because we got a puppy from our friends.
His name is KURO, which means "black" in Japanese.
He is half miniature pinscher and mix of shi-tzu and Chiwawa.

About 3 -4 weeks old with his mom

I've been busy taking him outside for potty every 2 hours, since he is still small that he cannot hold long.
And watching him closely, so that he doesn't do anything undesirable thing for us..

No way I can bring him into my work space since the room is not organized well enough..
So I basically stay at living room to take care of him whole day until my husband comes home from work.

He is so cute, and still trying to adjust into the new world.

Kuro taking a nap with his daddy

I'm still learning to raise a puppy, I already made some mistakes letting him pee in the kitchen instead of taking him outside.
It is hard to take him outside for potty since it's been so cold that he doesn't want to be outside.

Oh well, I hope I can potty train him soon.

Please let me know if you have some advise about raising puppy.
I'm so new and still learning.

My Santa came early!!

Since I've been behaving good or just been lucky, my Santa came way earlier than he is supposed to come this year...lol

Ok, detail...
I'm a housewife that stay home almost all day.
So every packages we get, I'm the one who receive them....

Last month, I went downstairs as I heard the doorbell rang, and received a package for my husband from Amazon.
The package was as big as a regular book.
I thought he ordered a book or something, and didn't think much about it.

I left the package on our bed.
As he came home from work, he rushed into the room, and said "You saw it???"
I was like, "What are you talking about??".....
"Damn, you're not supposed to see this package."
And he noticed the letter on the package said "Kindle".
I did too, but I thought it was just an advertisement.......
"Man, you know what's inside now..."
Well, thank you for pointing out the word on the package, NOW I know what is is...

And you already know what was inside, too...

Yes, it was Kindle!!!
He was going to wrap it up and put it under the tree, so I can open it ON CHRISTMAS!!

Since I already saw it, I told him "Well, I already know what I get for Christmas, can I have it right now???"

From then, I've been using it everyday.
I love it.
I love reading books.
Just like some bookworms who are against electric book readers, I was too.
I've loved the smell of books, and the feelings of the actual books, and still love them too.
But I admit that book readers are convenient.

And I love the e-Ink that kindle use, the letters are like printed letters.
I don't really like reading words on computer, it makes my eye tired.
But I never be tired from reading printed words, since the e-Ink looks exactly printed words, I don't get tired from reading them.








I still read actual books though and will be reading them in the future,
just because I love collecting them, too. Check out my book cases and dream rooms..here
And I love reading books that I love over and over again.

Thank you my Santa!!
This is one of my best Christmas present I've ever gotten :)

My Pregnancy 13~16 weeks

It's been 4 months...
(wait, how do you convert weeks into months in pregnancy?? If I count one month each 4 weeks, I will have 10 months pregnancy, but we only have 9 months, right? where are those 4 extra weeks go?
 or how do you count month??? please let me know.)

13 weeks of pregnancy (About the size of a medium shrimp)

Anyway, in 13th weeks, Nov 10, 2011  
My husband and I went to 2nd prenatal visit.
I had an embarrassing experience there....if you wanna know what it is, please click here :)
My weight kept same as before I got pregnant.
Even though I begun to notice a little bump in my lower stomach.

14 weeks, second trimester!!!
I felt so much better. I didn't suffer from fatigue at all, in fact, I didn't feel like I was pregnant at all.
So I kept going for a walk for one hour every other day.
And I started playing volleyball again, not as extensive as I did before though....
I finally gained one pound!!!! Yay
I felt my jeans is a little bit tight in my waist, especially when I sit down.

15 weeks, it was thanksgiving week!!
I had a great time at a thanksgiving dinner, next day though, I didn't even gain any weight....what's wrong with me?? Thanks to my high metabolism... I guess.. : p

16 weeks of pregnancy (About the size of an avocado)

16 weeks.
I started eating more and more!!
YES!! My apatite came back :)
And I gained one more pound!!!
My bulge is getting bigger and bigger but still not the size that people would notice that I'm pregnant.
I look like I have a chubby stomach... lol

My ultra-sound appointment is in Dec 19, 2011!!
We are so excited to finding out the sex of the baby!!!!!

My lunch : Tuna & Corn Cream Pasta and Seaweed Salad

My husband usually comes home for lunch everyday since his work place is in less-than-10-minutes-drive.
But the other day, he went for a lunch with his work team.

So I decided making my favorite dish for myself, which is cream pasta.

Tuna & Corn Cream Pasta

Plus considering nutrient food, I made seaweed, tomato, and onion salad.

The pasta was so easy to make.
*Ingredients for two
  -Spaghetti (your favorite kind, here I used what I had...I forgot the name of this kind.)
  -Salt
  -Canned tuna  1 can
  -Corn 1 cup
  -Onion 1/4 of onion
  -Butter, flour 1 Tablespoon
  -Milk 1 cup
  -Chicken consomme 1/2 Teaspoon 
  -Salt and pepper (for seasoning)
  -Parsley (for garnish)

*1. Cook pasta as usual.
*2. Melt butter in a pan, brown onions. And add flour and cook it until it's not powdery.
*3. Add milk and stir constantly until the sauce thickens in a low heat, and add chicken consomme.
*4. Mix canned tuna and corn into the pan and seasons with salt and pepper.
*5. Turn off the stove, add pasta into the pan and mix them together quickly and garnish with Parsley.

For the salad, Soak dried seaweeds in water for about 10 mins. And squeeze water out of seaweeds.
Cut onion and tomato and mix all together and pour Ponzu sauce (Japanese citrus soy sauce) over it....
   **Tip : Soak sliced onion into cold salted water, it makes onion less spicy and sweeter.
         ( It might loose some nutrients of onion into the water though... )


I ate with Orange Juice for extra folic acid that is great for pregnant women :)

***After thought****
-Since I took some time to take decent pictures, the pasta got cold and sauce got too thick that they stuck together..... I wish I had eaten it right away without trying to take good pictures....
-The salad was great for the creamy pasta, because the dressing is so light, it cut through the creaminess of the pasta dish. Good balance :)

Christmas is coming!!

We put up a Christmas tree BEFORE Thanksgiving.....

I don't really know American culture but in my husband's house, which is Vietnamese culture.. we put up tree before. I had understood that people usually put up trees after Thanksgiving, maybe?

I didn't question before, but this year I asked my husband,
"Aren't people put up Christmas trees after Thanksgiving? Why we put it up before?"
And he said...
"Oh, I don't know....because it looks good, right?"

I guess so....
Now every time I pass through the tree I feel "holiday spirit", and wanna eat hot chocolate...hehehe...

Our tree needs more ornaments but I guess it will do for this year.
We need more next year though, so that our future baby-to-be can enjoy the tree :)

Do you put a Christmas tree up before or after the Thanksgiving??