no.482 140826 Thank you for two fun dates in a row

Pad thai time!

Having two dates in a row is very hard… it requires a lot of walking, a lot of talking and a lot of eating. I decided to not to plan two dates in a day. Although I love eating from both restaurants, I figured that it was a bad idea to eat out two meals in a row. The lunch was really good because I was super hungry, and as I've mentioned, I've been craving pad thai again. For dinner, I took my friend to my favourite Japanese ramen place in Toronto. It was still good and I ate a lot, but I'm positive that I would've enjoyed more if I wasn't full from my lunch. Other than being so full and not feeling so well from the food, I had so much fun with the two friends I met up:)

no.481 140825 Thank you for the driving practice

Grape ice cream again!! Woo hoo!

Tomorrow is my sister's road test. She wanted to go for a practice drive with me although I don't have a full license either. I guess it was more for the support and my presence that mattered. We went on the highway first and then moved on to do some parallel parking that we both hate. She did a really good job and she was confident so I'm very positive that she will pass tomorrow! Good luck Sunny!

no.480 140824 Thank you for the fun Sunday afternoon

I've been craving pizza for the longest time…!

My sundays can be the most hectic day of the week, or it can be the most relaxing one. I think it was hectic when I was preparing for Mexico missions, because I would stay at church until dinner time. Sadly, now that the mission trip is over and there isn't anything to prepare for, I have the opportunity to enjoy my weekend. Most of the time, I would go to my friends' house where we cook, eat and chat. Instead of doing that, I met up with a friend of mine and we went to a delicious pizzeria. I've been craving pizza for the longest time… actually, I've been craving a lot of things lately. Like jja-jang-myun, sushi, Japanese ramen, dwen-jang-jji-gae, pad thai… Yummm. It's really strange because even though I am super full, I keep craving things… strange… perhaps it's a sign that I'm gaining weight. 

no.479 140823 Thank you for my parents' love language

Colourful tinted glass feathers

I came home so hungry from work, and my mom had left a delicious meal for me! My mom doesn't really express her love verbally. I guess, growing up in a conservative Korean family setting didn't really allow our family to say "I love you" to each other. For one of the life group "homework" we had to do was to tell my family that I love them. Well, that's what I said I'd do because that's something I do very rarely. That's how much we don't express our love to each other. However, we all have different love languages and I think we demonstrate our love differently. Although my mom or my dad don't tell me that they love me, I know that they do through the actions. Thank you, mom and dad!

no.476 140820 Thank you for the lunch with my sister

First time trying this ice cream… the waffle cone was amazing.

My sister came to have lunch with me at work. She is starting her last year of university so she will be leaving Toronto at the end of next week. Then she said she would wait for me until I finish so we can go home together - how nice of her! As soon as I saw her when I was done, she told me that Godiva has launched soft serve ice cream today and asked me if we can go check it out because it was during the "happy hour" when it was buy one get one half. We are both chocoholics and we were so curious about what it tasted like. Although it was expensive even during the happy hour, we decided to give it a try because most likely, today will be the only day for her to try this before she goes away. Plus, I wanted to give her a little treat since she bought lunch and waited for me until I finished work. 

The ice cream was just meh… but the waffle cone was really good! We got the once with milk chocolate and almonds. But we both agreed that this is a one-time-only thing and it's not worth how much we spent.

no.473 140817 Thank you for the sing-a-long car ride

Pretty colours

It was indeed a very interesting Sunday. After the service, there was a life group outing so we went for lunch/early dinner. Then we decided to go to noraebang (karaoke) to sing our hearts out… which was pretty fun. I think it's nice to do something fun with my life group once in a while.

Anyway, my sister and I stepped out at night and we had a fun time sing some songs and reminiscing our childhood. I'm not sure why, oh I know what. I began the conversation by sharing what I did today, and how my life group sang "Let it go" at the noraebang and how much I hate the song. Then we were like, what other Disney movies have hit songs and we started going back in time. First off was the latest movie that we watched together that we actually like - Mulan, then the Lion King, then Aladdin, then the Beauty and the Beast and then the Little Mermaid. Th

Here is one of my favourite Disney songs - "Can you feel the love tonight" from the Lion King. I exactly know when I started liking this song and it was when I was in grade 5. I think the movie came out way before I was in grade 5, but that was when I was old enough to listen to American songs from Disney (this was when I was in Korea). I loved this song so much that I even purchased a sheet music to play the piano and get the lyrics. Back then, we didn't have internet so I could't look up the lyrics, let alone find the song and listen to it. The only way to listen to it was to purchase a cassette tape and I had no money to do that! So in order to sing along, I got my parents to read the words in English so that I can write the pronunciation and play the piano to remind myself of the melody. 

no.472 140816 Thank you for the fun downtown stroll with my sister

Ice cream puff and ice cream sandwich

A lot of walking and riding the subway today. I'm sort of glad that the weather was rainy and windy, because that made less people come out - especially because my sister and I went to touristy spots. At first, we went to Harbour Front to get our personalized cokes! I saw in on my friend's Facebook a while ago and I thought it was so cool. My sister and I wanted to get it done but I thought that the event was over… Then, I came across the event website and I was happy to find out that the event was still going on around the city! I marked the date about two weeks ago, and today was finally the day… so we went! After waiting for about 15 minutes, my sister and I got our personalized cans.

And then it was round two… ice cream time! When a friend of mine told me about this new ice cream sandwich joint, I've been waiting to go. I thought it'd be nice to take my sister because we both love ice cream. I'm not so sure about the cookie, but the ice cream itself was really good. I think I'd go back for the ice cream choux. Because it was rainy, the lineup wasn't too long (maybe about 10 minutes or less). My friend had told me how she waited for 30 minutes to an hour, so we got really lucky today!

no.470 140814 Thank you for the love letter

Vanilla buttercream cupcake with rainbow sprinkles

Oh my goodness! It feels like winter! I don't know what happened to fall, and I most definitely don't know what happened to summer. It felt like we skipped fall and jumped right into winter. I was literally shivering when I was walking to my car in the parking lot. I do like the fact that I can wear my sweaters and my scarves but that's just about it… until the leaves start to change colours.

Amidst of this cold day, there was something that kept me warm. I received a surprise love letter today. I love receiving written notes and I also enjoy good surprises, so it was a perfect duo. It was a letter of encouragement and I'm thankful to have read what it was written. It warmed up my heart a little bit on this cold August day.

no.468 140812 Thank you for the visit to the dentist

I hate going to the dentist but you know you have to when you have a bad toothache. My bottom right jaw has been hurting since last week, and I was wondering if I have a cavity or if it's my wisdom tooth trying to come out. I was hoping that it was neither… because I would hate to have a cavity, or have my wisdom tooth removed…

Thankfully I didn't have a cavity, but instead, I found out that my tooth was chipped off for some reason. It was a simple job so I was able to get my tooth fixed right away. However, the bad news was that the pain was coming from my wisdom tooth. What's worse is the removing process. Because the tooth was not growing straight, I will never be able to see the tooth unless I get a surgery. The whole surgery sounds painful and life-threatening in a way… and that's probably the last thing I want. The good news is that as long as I can suck up the pain, I don't need to get a surgery because it wouldn't harm me in any other way. I really hope that the pain will go away soon, and that it's only temporary. I'm just thankful that the surgery is not a mandatory option for me!

no.467 140811 Thank you for the discovery of a new ice cream parlour

Grape flavour found in Toronto! 

And banana, and green tea and red bean too!

I never thought I could find an ice cream parlour that had such flavours - all the flavours I liked were in one spot! Although there were other flavours I liked, my eyes were fixed on the purple ice cream… Just in case, I still wanted to sample the flavour, and when I did, it was close to what I was looking for! It tasted a little different from the grape flavoured bubble tea, but nevertheless it was so good! I think I kept saying "mmhmm" out loud and made my friend feel uncomfortable… but oh well! Thanks to my friend for introducing this awesome ice cream joint! Or it's just that I must go back to get some more… and next time, maybe I'll be a little bit greedy and get a double scoop ice cream:)

no.466 140810 Thank you for the fun day with my mentor teacher

A wonderful sunday morning spent well:)

A day full of fun memories.
It was the last time I got to see my mentor teacher during her visit in Toronto. She purposely took some time off from her busy schedule to spend it with me. I'm really glad she did, because I enjoyed my time with her today. Our first stop was Unionville Village - it's one of my favourite places in the GTA, so I wanted to take her there. She kept telling me how the pretty the village is and how much fun she's having. That made me feel so good and I was glad to have brought her there. Both of our favourite part of Unionville was near the train track/ train station. Out of how many times I've been there, I've never seen this train station exist! I've seen the track before but I never really walked that far. The scenery was  beautiful - the clear blue sky, the summer greens and the freshly painted red station. It looked like an image from the movies. And then there were balloons along the fences. It was cute how someone put the balloons all in different colours on purpose!

And it was time for us to say our goodbyes. After all our planned activities were done, I dropped her off at her homestay house. We promised that we will keep in touch and see each other again in the future. Hopefully I'll get to visit her in Korea:)

no.465 140809 Thank you for the evening walk around the neighbourhood

Happy birthday to my one and only sister!

My stomach felt so bloated from eating too much for dinner. I love fish but we hardly eat Korean style fish at home because of the smell. When we do make it, I think I tend to eat more than what I can. Plus, a couple of hours before dinner time, I had finished a chicken sandwich.. but I had to eat dinner because we were having fish! Although it was late, I had to go for a walk… or else, I probably will feel sick to sleep. As I was walking down the street, I realized that I haven't done this for a while. I used to go for walks in the evening very often last summer, to exercise and to have some time on my own. What I also like about it is that I get to talk to God and I can focus on our conversation. I like talking to God throughout the day, but often times I am interrupted - by my family, friends, or what's happening around me. When I'm walking alone, I know it's just me and God. On my way home, there is a playground that I like stopping by. There was an ajumma who was playing some Asian music out loud and doing tai chi or some sort of stretching moves… I got on the swing, got my earphones out and started listening to my own music and sang along to the songs… For some reason, that spot reminds me of Mexico, mostly because I did a lot of processing when I came back from missions last year. I was able to do the same thing today. What a great way to end the night.

no.464 140808 Thank you for my Mexican moment

Quiero cuatro churros, por favor!

There were moments here and there that took me back to Mexico. When I was working, John Mayer's Daughters was playing in the background and reminded me of the car ride either to Zamora or Manzanillo. Then my family went out for dinner for to celebrate my sister's birthday. Although we were super full, I insisted that we go get some churros while we were downtown. The guy selling churros greeted me with "hola" and that got me so excited! I quickly responded him by saying "como estas" and I probably spoke 75% of Spanish that I knew with him. I was so hyper that moment, I ordered more churros than what I wanted… haha. I really miss talking in Spanish, although all I can say is super basic stuff. I don't know… I just miss being in Mexico, that's all.

Anyways, my sister's early birthday dinner was good! My sister wanted to go to the Chinese lobster restaurant that we used to go. The last time we went, which was about a couple of years ago - the food wasn't as good as it used to be. So we stopped going. We decided to go back because it was my sister who got to decide on where to eat. Thankfully the experience wasn't bad at all. Our stomaches were full, we were happy, and we event went for gelato down the street. It had some crazy weird flavours where I had to frown, but after a few trials and errors, we were able to choose two good flavours that we all enjoyed. My family doesn't really go downtown that much, so when we did go today, it felt like we were on a trip. It was a fun day of Mexican memories and family quality time!

no.463 140807 Thank you for the shopping day with my sister

Cute Japanese things

Shopping day with my sister!

It feels like I haven't gone shopping in a long time. I mean, I do a lot of window shopping but I don't purchase much considering the amount of time I spend browsing. Oh, I just remembered that I did go shopping last week and I did spend money on a couple of items… okay, thats why I said "it feels like" instead of starting the sentence with "I haven't gone." For the most part, I go shopping with my sister and or with my mom. There were a lot of end of season sale going on in stores… but I didn't get anymore summer clothes. Instead, I got a couple of sweaters… I guess I'm already preparing myself for the next season which I love! I love sweater season. It is so cozy and warm... As I write this entry, I remember my post from last year at the beginning of September when I shared about the five senses related to autumn. Soon, it will be fall again. The day is getting shorter and shorter and I just realized that I haven't gone biking in a while. I should take advantage of this weather and enjoy my outdoor leisure activities when I can!

no.462 140806 Thank you for the opportunity to share about my mission trip

Fruit market in Guadalajara

One of my friends are going to Kyrgyzstan for a short term mission trip with the church, and I wanted to contribute a little bit of what I have. We did a fundraising event together last year when I was preparing for Mexico and when he was preparing for Kyrgyzstan. It's cool that God has called both of us to the same mission fields as last year. I just met up with him briefly to give him some donations and we were able to catch up. I am thankful that I got to share about my mission trip, and I also got a chance to listen to his mission trip last year and this year. The trip that he will be going on in a week is a little different from other trips that our church sends, because it's focused on nutrition programs specifically. I was too focused on Mexico, but it was a good reminder to keep my eyes open for other opportunities and to be praying for other missionaries as well.

no.461 140805 Thank you for the banana ice cream

Can you spot the shadow?

Too much ice cream in my diet today. I usually stick with my own snacks and try not to eat more than what I pack for lunch. Well, today was an exception. I guess it's my fault for eating lunch in front of an ice cream parlour. After I finished my pasta and blueberries, I was like, hmm maybe I wanna check what kind of flavours they have. And there, I couldn't believe what I saw with my own eyes. Banana!  Banana flavour is extremely rare so when you see it, and if it tastes good, you have to get it. When it comes to ice cream, I get really picky. I don't like ice creams that have a lot of stuff inside - for instance, caramel, chocolate pieces, and so on. My favourite flavour is grape, but I've never seen grape flavoured ice cream in Canada so I have to go with either banana, or green tea or red beans or cassis/blackberry… which are all hard to find. If I don't see any of them, I usually stick to a boring choice - vanilla. So I ended up getting a half scoop of ice cream on a waffle cone and it was sooooo delicious.

I had a dinner date with a friend from church, and we went for frozen yogurt for dessert. And there it was again… this time, both green tea and banana were there! I got so excited… and I ended up getting both:) I've never seen banana flavour at a frozen yogurt place.

Anyways, I feel like a fatty today from having ice cream two times! But this is how I see it - once the banana flavour is done, it's gone and I might not get a chance to have it again for a while. So enjoy while I can!

no.460 140804 Thank you for letting me be my grandfathers' granddaughter

With my grandpa in the 90s.

I had a moment to remember my grandparents today, especially my grandfathers. When I was in the mall today, I saw a grandpa walking around with his granddaughter. They were holding hands, and they were talking about something in their own language. I saw them from the back, and it brought me back to my childhood and my grandfathers. How they used to hold my hand when we went on family trips. How they used to have me sit on their laps and how they used to hold me and hug me. I don't remember much about spending time with them when they only had a little bit of white hair, and with less wrinkles on their face. I also didn't appreciate my grandfathers as much as I should've done. Yes, I was young, but that shouldn't be an excuse.

As I saw the grandpa and his granddaughter at the mall today, I wanted to see my grandfathers again. Would it be weird to hold their hands when we walk to get our groceries? Maybe, it will feel awkward. But I want to, if I ever get a chance to see them again. It's hard on me whenever I think about my grandparents because they live in Korea and I need to get on the 13hr flight in order to see them. I also don't know when I will get to see them, and if I will ever get to see them. I feel like time is running out. 

Another thought I'm having as I write this entry is about my future children and my dad. I can't go back in time and be a little girl that I used to be and hold my grandpa's hand. I imagine my daughter holding my dad's hand, giving him hugs and kisses and singing songs for him. I want to let my children know how much their grandparents love them, and that they need to appreciate their grandparents' love for them.

no.459 140803 Thank you for the song of the summer 2014

Dinner date with my high school friend

My favourite part of the day was driving home after church. Well, seeing my Hi-C students probably added to the way I was feeling on my way home. Sometimes it surprises me when I realize how much I enjoy driving. Actually it depends… only when there is no traffic, and when I can listen to my favourite songs out loud. So, I haven't been able to listen to my playlist while I drive because either my phone is weird or my aux cable is not working properly. Turning the radio on is the only option I have, and yes it sounds bad, but I'm constantly changing the stations to find a song I like. It was the same case today, and I tuned to some random station and John Legend's "All of Me" was playing. I stopped changing stations and raised the volume.

This song reminds me of two things - my Hi-C students and Mexico 2014. I remember going to grocery shopping with a couple of students for our fundraising event while listening to this song. It is such a mundane memory but for some reason the song takes me back to that day. Weird. This song also brings me back the memories of Mexico, when we were driving to either Zamora or Manzanillo. It was a long drive, but listening to the students sing along and harmonizing to various songs made the driving experience more fun and memorable. Well, whenever I listen to "All of Me" I will remember my Hi-C students and the summer of 2014.

Instead of putting up John Legend's current hit song, I want to share a song I like that he featured. Here is Melanie Fiona featuring John Legend - "L.O.V.E"

no.458 140802 Thank you for helping me choose a meal over a junk food

Pretty packaged & pretty scented soaps at Anthropology!

People think I'm pretty patient, but sometimes I think I'm such an impatient person. Okay, maybe "patience" isn't the right word. Perhaps it makes a better sense if I say I get easily frustrated. Like today, I rushed home because I was starving after work. Just before I got on the subway, I called my mom so that she knows that I was on my home. The entire commute home, I was thinking about sam-gyup-sal that we were having for dinner… thinking that I will be able to eat as soon as I got home. 

I opened the door, hoping that I would smell a delicious meal but I was wrong. My home was super quiet and my sister was studying at the dining table. Okay… this wasn't the picture I had in mind. Where is my sam-gyup-sal?! I was getting cranky, I was getting upset at my mom for not being home for dinner, and and I was ready to dig in some junk food to somehow show that I was in an unhappy mood. I know, I know. I sound really childish. However, I was craving sam-gyup-sal so much and when I saw it in the fridge, I had to take it out and grill it. I also heated up the leftover dwen-jang-jji-gae from breakfast - which makes an awesome combination with the gogi. Yumm!! There has to be some grilled kimchi when you eat sam-gyup-sal. So I ended up cooking a whole meal. My sister and I enjoyed it very much and it definitely was happy in my tummy:) I was thankful that I chose to eat a proper dinner over some junk food… I'm also thankful that I tried to be more patient today and didn't let out my frustration as usual. 

no.457 140801 Thank you for the welcoming environment at work

Colourful candies

It was my first day back at work since I left for Mexico. Although it was a relatively a short shift, it seemed like it was a long work day because I haven't worked for almost 3 weeks. But it was fun just catching up with my co-workers, and sharing my stories with them whenever opportunity arose. It's good to be back to a place where people warmly welcome you and want to listen to your stories. I'm thankful for my co-workers and welcoming me back to work!