lilly's Journal

10:45pm: New!
I've switched to a new livejournal account so please add me if you haven't!

My New LJ!

1:21pm: Breakfast and Finals
Finals are OVER-- what a big sigh of relief! They all went well so none were absolutely horrible. Ant came up with the flu the day before my Chinese final though, so I was trying to take care of him and study. Test was easy though and he just slept after throwing up, so I wasn't distracted much. I was thoroughly disappointed too cause my cousin Bee came up from Texas with his girlfriend Anita. We were suppose to get lunch, but I was busy studying so I didn't get a chance to see them. Definitely next time though! I also didn't get to meet his new lady friend though, but that's okay. Hopefully next time!

I'm very much looking forward to going home tomorrow to see the family! Last time I visited was a month ago so it has been long over due. I won't be back til Tuesday though, but it will be a nice break away from this area. Good food, family, doing nothing all sound perfect to me! It feels amazing to have a few days off from work and school. I honestly can't think of the last time where I've had a day like this. No work til Wednesday-woohoo! 

My bro got accepted into USC and UW! I secretly hope he chooses UW just so he is closer to me, but if he is set on USC, than that would be a great choice too. I cant' believe he is already 18. Everyone is growing up too fast, it's scary.

I don't know if anyone out there is a big eggs benedict fan, but I'm starting to become one. I don't go out to eat american breakfasts often, but when I do, I always opt for the benedict. I have yet to find one that can beat the one at 4th Street Grill though. The hollandaise sauce at Rusty Pelican isn't creamy enough and overall, the eggs benedict was a bit dry. The classic benedict from Portage Bay isn't great, isn't bad, just okay. Any reccomendations? 

3:09pm: Schedule / UBS
My goodness, I am beyond tired right now. Okay, maybe I exaggerated a little....I'm tired enough to have semi-droopy eyes though. I have my Chinese final tomorrow from 10-12 and then I'm free until Tuesday night, when my Japan prof uploads our take-home final. That will be due Wednesday night and should not be too bad. I can't wait for Spring Break! I miss my family so I can't wait to go back home for part of break. The rest, I will either be working or just not work and relax. This quarter was pretty crazy considering working 2 jobs and going to school! With that, I'm surprised that my grades this quarter are not too shabby. Spring quarter, I have a nice schedule that fits in the right amount of hours for work and free-time. Instead of working everyday, like I did this quarter, I will only be working at UBS MWF. TTH, I just have classes and end fairly early, which means I have extra time to hangout and see people!

Oh! I didn't post the good news, but I got offered a paid part-time position at UBS! I feel honored because they usually let the quarterly interns go after their 3 months. There is also a good chance that I could be working there after I graduate! I'm still learning about different fields and exploring my options, but I wouldn't mind working in wealth management.

I seriously need to go home and take a nap. I think I will....

4:54pm: School.Work.School.Work.School....
What a week it has already been....I am already waiting for the weekend to come! Why must they be so short, why? Speaking of the weekend, I had a really good one! Friday was my girl Tiff's birthday so we went out to dinner in Queen Anne and then headed over to my place for snacks and stuff. Saturday, I was in a cooking/baking/cleaning mood! I woke up extra early and cleaned the bathroom, kitchen and swept. Then I baked peanut butter cookies and afterwards, Ant & I went to the store to buy the necessities for sushi! I prepped and then invited my roomie downstairs to help us roll! Anyway, it was fun and I'd say it turned out pretty successful! I see a sushi party in the near future....

Only 8 more days of classes until FINALS! I have a huge load of things to do before then....I have my course paper for Japan due this week, my course paper for Vietnam War next Friday and my paper on the effects of a transition of economy in Asia and the US. Yikes....My first and only written final is Chinese, which is next Saturday. Yeah..uhh..STRESS!

I think I've done a good job keeping my sanity this quarter. Yay Lilly!

10:04am: Late. Late. Late.
Oopsies! I woke up 15 minutes late for registration this morning. It's not like it matters because nothing that I really wanted filled up..either that or I got lucky and other people woke up late too. I had a feeling this would happen. Freshman year in the dorms, I set my alarm to 6:45 and missed registration by 1 hour 10 minutes. That sucked cause all the good sections closed. Anyhow, at least it went fairly well. I didn't get into C Lit 303 because it's restricted for majors only til after Period 1. I better get IN.

No work Friday! Nice break from a week of work everyday. I'm looking forward to next quarter. Doesn't look like I will be as busy as winter quarter so hopefully I won't be lazy! More sunshine = more time to play! hehe. Only school and work on a couple days of the week. No work if I can't get into C Lit 303 though....

It snowed this morning. Pretty to look at, a biotch to walk in! I also appreciate the first snowfall of the season, but after that I dread it. Especially if you have to bus to school or work!

12:01pm: One Of Those Rainy Days...
Today could have potentially turned out to be one of those 'rainy days.' Everything seemed to go against me. For example, my laptop speaker stopped working, the sound transit buses that only stop when someone pulls the line to get off by the freeway passed as I was crossing the street,, and I had to go back upstairs after putting on my shoes in the garage to grab my character sheet! Things turned around as I was about to text Anthony about how miserable of a morning I had..when all of a suddenly, another bus stops to let me on! When I got off at school, my friend tapped me on the shoulder cause she was on the bus too. I fixed my laptop during class since apparently, after updating Vista, you have to download a BIOS driver. : ) I'm so happy now!

Hopefully it doesn't turn back into a miserable day when we get our midterms back in an hour!

11:12am: Twitter
My roomie got me to sign up for a twitter account. This social networking site is probably one of those innocent addictions :). Anyway, check mine out!

My Twitter

Someone took lillytran so I stuck with liltra. Add me if you have one!

4:06pm: Hi All!
I'm back on livejournal! Seems more people update livejournal actively, so I'm switching back to this account. I'll still read posts from friends listed on my blogspot, but it will be easier for me to just stick with LJ for now. I've been away from the blogging scene for quite some time. It has been a busy quarter!

I got the internship at UBS after they interviewed a pool of applicants, so that was an exciting process. The work is pretty fun and I'm learning a lot about the financial market. The view from my office is amazing and I have really fun co-workers. The work isn't too bad and it's nice to get hands-on experience. I am considering a career in this field, but nothing is certain.

I started Chinese this quarter and so far it's good! I see why everyone who takes it, loves it. I have Shih Laoshi and she is seriously the most helpful instructor I've ever heard. Well..her and Meyer are tied. I'm finally caught up, so I'm starting to quickly pick things up. I was considering applying for a language program through UW where you do an exchange with Sichuan University during the summer. Sounds intense so I changed my mind. I think I'd much rather learn it here anyway. Aside from Chinese, other classes aren't too shabby. I met up with my counselor this quarter just to do a quick credit check and looks like I'm in a good position. After next quarter, I'll be done with my major..well everything, but my language. Senior year shouldn't be too stressful.

Not to be cheesy, but it seems like I've had the most satisfaction school & work wise this quarter. I'm glad to be keeping myself busy everyday at w. It's stressful sometimes though, but I feel like I've grown up so much..it's actually really scary thinking about that. Hopefully after I graduate, I will have a stable job :]. That's my next goal to accomplish!

I learned how to play Starcraft Brood War over the weekend and..dude..have I been missing out or what? It's fun and a bit addicting. I won a couple of games too! Can't wait to play again when I have more time. I'm not good enough to create an online account, but if any of you play..I'll give it to you and we can play online!

Did anyone watch Monday's episode of How I Met Your Mother? OMG..I cannot wait for the next one! I've also been watching Idol with my roomie :]. Those are the only shows that I follow though. Sadly, not too much time for TV. I wish there were more hours in a day!

12:58pm: NEW BLOG / BREAK FROM LJ
HOLLA

I got a new blog at blogspot because it was annoying getting logged out of gmail whenever I used my hotmail email soo I will be taking a break from LJ for awhile and just actively using blogspot.

check it out: lillytran.blogspot.com

6:20pm: Hot Cocoa & Midterms
It's rainy out, i'm in the living room with the floor lamp on, sipping hot choco, listening to Tomomi Ukumori, and writing my midterm paper due Thursday for history. What a lovely Tuesday evening!

Newest obsession is homemade hot cocoa! Here's my recipe:
2 tbs    Sugar
2 tbs    Cocoa Powder
Pinch   Salt
1 cup   Milk
1/4 tsp Pure Vanilla

Combine sugar, cocoa powder and salt in a mug. Microwave or heat up milk on the stove and then pour into the mug with dry ingredients. Add pure vanilla and enjoy!

It's heavenly..trust me on this.

I want my girl guppy to have babies already. I've been waiting and waiting and waiting..I wake up every morning to look into the tank, but no baby guppies. Maybe tomorrow!
 

4:54pm: ME WANT.
WHAT A RELIEF. My international studies midterm is done with. Sorensen's papers are ridiculous. There's a 3 page limit for each question (total of 2) yet he asks 5 questions within a question. So ridiculous and way too much to ask a student to do, but I'm done. It's over. No more stress! I have quite a few papers coming up. One due Monday, Thursday, another next Monday and one last one next next Monday. Phew. Hopefully I get a good grade on all of them!

Is it me or is it extremely stuffy in Odegaard? I went there before my history class to study and I was dying upstairs on the second floor by the computers. I was cold, itchy from my jacket, and felt suffocated. Anyway..I'll just stick with the law lib or barnes.

I want a Mal Shi! They would be a nice asset at home. Besides, if Sasha & Malia Obama get one, than I should be able to also! JK though that'd be the BEST present ever. Sigh....

11:45pm: .
Went Halloween costume shopping today. Stupid red light has no exchanges or refunds. I bought something from there and then 20 minutes later I went back to try and exchange it, but they wouldn't let me. Stupid policies. Never going there to buy my shiz again. It's expensive and the people there are absolutely rude.

My magazines came in the mail today! It's exciting when they come in one at a time so I have something new to look at. I avoid flipping through mags that I subscribe to at the salon though, but it's so tempting sometimes. Eeee can't wait to read them after this.

Got my midterm back for History today and ah so happy! I think it's one of the best papers I've written yet. Ant did well on his too so I'm proud of both of us. Hopefully next one will be just as good.

Don't be a pushover / too nice or you will be stepped on.

10:07am: Dramarama.
What a drama filled weekend (ish), but none of it had anything to do with me. Can't go into too much detail, but all I can say is karma's a bitch.

I had fun though! Went shopping on Saturday and got a yellow dress, a tee for Ant and the game Far Cry 2. Watched the huskies get ROCKED (33-7) to Notre Dame and had dinner. Sunday, studied a bit, went to the market (haha), and made dinner. Relaxing weekend, but sad that it came to a quick end. I'm looking forward to this weekend though. It's my bro's 18th birthday so I'm going home.

Molly's boyfriend Bao's best friend James proposed to his girlfriend this weekend and it sounded cute!  James told his girlfriend Alexis that they were going out for burgers with friends. He had a room at the hotel set up for 2. He read some excerpt from the bible to her (they're religious people..), had a puzzle for her and a scrapbook. Then he proposed to her and she was crying. They left to take pics and then watched a mini slideshow of pics he had on a laptop. James invited close friends and family to share the evening w/ the newly engaged couple. Cute huh?

Yeah..nothing else new...

7:41pm: The Visitor.
Poor fishies. When one fish gets Ich, he can spread the parasites to the other fishes in the tank and if not treated, they will all eventually die. We bought a bottle of medication for the Ich disease yesterday. Fishes are suppose to be better in about 2 days and so far the Tetra's are doing well --> seeing improvement. Guppies don't look as healthy. Ah hopefully they will be okay tomorrow! 

Yesterday's weather was amazing for the month of October! After we went to Petco, Ant & I went to the beach to just relax. It was where we went on our first date and I still have the pretty rock he picked out for me in the sand :) Yesterday was just a good day.

Wednesdays are our movie days, but we skipped last week cause of midterms. We rented The Visitor and since mel was raving about Say Anything on her LJ, we got that too. The Visitor is a MUST SEE. Rotten tomatoes gave it a 93% which is pretty dang good. It's a really moving film and as one critic put 'one that can warm your heart as easily as break it.' Watch it. Watch it. Watch it. I highly recommend!

11:57am: Essays & Cupcakes
I'm downstairs in the townhouse chillin like a villain and I'm trying to write my midterm essay, but I'm just so lazy! I will begin writing right after this post. Aside from 3 midterm essays to write, this quarter has been a breeze (so far). I'm taking 3 classes and like all, but 1. Anthropology SUCKS. It's boring and the teacher just lectures on how much fun he had in China. The topics he brings up are nothing new and it's really just his opinion! WTF I already know about how Asians interact and family life. Strange coming from a 61 year old man, with a bald head, wrinkles, and has no asian decent whatsoever. At least the class is only twice a week..but it's 2 hours long. Poo.

I had a 'girls' day on Friday, which was nice! Had lunch w/ Jennifer & Linh after class. Tiff came over to bake choco cupcakes and Mel helped us decorate it with Halloween frosting and candies! Lots of fun. Had a sushi date later with toodles and then we watched Legally Blonde :). I was gonna go to the track with Ant & Fred, but ended up not cause Ant got a flat tire. I should be at the house writing my essay anyway.

The bro's turning 18 on Halloween. OMG so old, which means I am getting older. Oh how time flies..

4:30pm: GRAND PRIX & MOTHER'S
The Mazda Grand Prix media lunch was SO fun. Anthony and I both took the day off (me from school and boo from work) to go down to Portland to attend. We learned about Mazda's marketing tactics and we rode in Mazda Motocross Miata's! Omg best experience ever! It's scary when they go around the corner cause they break abruptly to the point where you feel like the car is gonna tip over. One of the reporters riding with a prof. racer spun out cause he hit the dirt. Soo scary, but Geoff Cochran, my driver, was safe. He went hella fast after he put a thumbs up to make sure I was okay! We passed Anthony's and I even got to wave hehe. Anyway it was soooo fun--I want to go again! I'm excited for the real Grand Prix event in July.

I had a good Mother's day too :). I went back to Oly on Saturday with Ant. Before we went to my parents' we went and got 4 bouquets of flowers. 1 for my mom from Lenny and I, 1 for my mom from Anthony, 1 for my aunt and 1 for my grandma. Anyway we just hung around and then today we took my Mom out to lunch and now i'm back up here at Ant's celebrating with his mom. :) We stopped by to get his mom some pink roses and they look so pretty in the vase that she has!

Oh yeah! My car enthusiast column was published in Wednesday's paper! You guys can also check it out here. First article is on my booboo

Here are some pics from my weekend:

3:00pm: CHUONG TRAN.
I'm sipping honeymoon tea from Ken's shop and yums :). I've decided that I can only drink this without tapioca or else I'll feel sick. I'm going home this weekend with Anthony and my uncle. No plans for the weekend, but just hanging out with the fam & of course princess haha.

I am getting better at the guitar! It's way harder than I thought because people who play are so flawless and make it look so easy.

The trip to the cemetery was good! I chose the World War I memorial to draw for my archaeological map. I visited my gramps and brought him potted tulips, which are pink! I should visit my other gramps when I'm home in Oly this weekend and I'll bring daisies.

7:43am: Chic-Chic-Chicago!

I'm flying down to Chicago today so I'm super excited right now. Call me if you need me. I'll be back next week on August 29. :)

5:42pm: Perfect.
Yesterday was as perfect as it could be. Ant called and was on his way at around 10 so he got here around 11. We hung out for a while until my parents got back. My mom took part of the day off so my dad went to go pick her up, since Lensta had the car. We talked to my parents for a little and then left to go downtown for Lunch. We ate at chopsticks. After lunch, we walked around the lake and then went back to the car. We parked by the fountain and walked around the boardwalk. We climbed up the tower they have by Anthony's Homeport that overlooks all of Olympia. It was nice..we just talked and took some pictures. We went back to my house and watched Project Runway for a bit before taking a nap. My mom got home so we woke up and went and visited Aje (grandma). We talked to her, my aunt and uncle for a little and then went back to eat dinner at home. My mom made Bun Thit Nuong and Oysters so yummmmm. We had din with Lensta and my mommy. After dinner, he helped me clean up and then we sat in the living room and exchanged presents (our 1 month is this Saturday the 30th, but we celebrated early). He got me this hearts necklace and earrings..it's cute!! :) We talked for a bit and then we left to go see Live Free Or Die Hard. It was surprisingly good, but really long. He left at around 11:10pm. It was just an amazing day. 

The visit to Aje's went really well too. She's so incredibly cute and I think he adores her too. The whole fam likes him, esp Aje so it's good. They just asked him questions like how old he is, where does he go to school, they asked questions about his parents, this summer, etc. It was normal and he did good speaking back in Vietnamese too. His is way worse than mine. He understands it, but doesn't speak too well, but he is improving since he uses it to speak to grams. 

I am officially going to Cali from July 16-21 so I'm pretty excited about that. We got our ticks yesterday. I will be in San Fran for a bit and then in Los Angeles for the rest of the time and will be flying back from there. Ant leaves next Saturday..I'm excited for him though, but I will miss him. I think it will be good for us. I get to see him one last time (on July 4) before he leaves and we are going to a bbq/party thing up in Seattle at his friends house. Yay!

 
                                              Lilly&Anthony

4:46pm: 'Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm. As you get older, remember you have another hand. The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.' -Audrey Hephburn