Twenty Ten Recap

2010 was a great year!  I'm repeating my 2009 meme for 2010.

1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
Went snorkeling for the first time in Fiji!  It was so beautiful.  I also went cherry picking with some friends. 

2. Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions from last year and will you make any for 2011?
My 2010 resolution was to get a haircut.  I in fact got 2 haircuts, one of which was a donation.  I've donated 4 or 5 times now and that was the last.  I don't intend to grow my hair that long anymore.  My 2011 resolutions are here.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Luckily no one

5. What countries did you visit?
We went to Canada, Fiji, and Australia

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
More time to spend on doing less things- 2010 was all about the wedding.  We didn't have any free weekends!

7. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory...and why?
September 18, our wedding date!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
We built a photobooth from scratch.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I closed the passenger car door on my 2 month old Droid Incredible and cracked the screen.  Was without my phone for a month, and cost $150 to repair.  Yikes!!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I'm feeling kinda lousy right now.  I caught something up north and brought it back home.  I took a Tylenol this morning and slept for 3 hours straight through lunch!  I just took two more, so it's safe to say that I'll be sleeping through yet another NYE again.

11. Did you take any risks this year?
I left my stable job that I hated and took a new job that was grant funded.  I really enjoy what I do though and I'm learning a lot.

12. What was something that you celebrated in 2010?
C&J's wedding in May and C&C's wedding in September

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Nothing made me feel quite extreme as the adjectives above in 2010, but I was quite annoyed with our Big Bear camping experience- it was extremely cold, we didn't catch any fish, and we went with some friends who brought people who were the least most communal folks ever.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Our wedding.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Our wedding was a labor of love, and I was so happy that our family & friends were able to be there to celebrate with us.

16. What were some of the best things you ate in 2010?
Restaurant wise- The 4 course crabby dinner at Ondal 2, the dessert buffet at Club 33, the sammies from Cook's Tortas, the roasted veggies from Wynn Buffet, shrimp tacos from Tacos Baja Ensenada, red velvet cake from Doughboys, fries with garlic sauce from Hayat's Kitchen, bread from Pomodoro Trattoria, the taro icy/smoothie from T's Boba, watermelon and mango gelato flavors from Amore Patisserie, the pineapple pancakes in Fiji, the street food (grilled shu mai is AWESOME!!!) in Sydney, the beef noodle soup broth from Chinese Noodle House in Sydney...I could go on.  At home, Jerry cooked the best prime rib yet, I discovered the ease and tastiness that is green bean almondine, and I attempted really tasty chicken and dumplings from the Pioneer Woman's website in my new Le Creuset.  We received the pasta attachment for our Kitchenaid, so we've been making homemade pasta quite often.

17. What fears did you conquer in 2010?
This is pretty lame- but I had to learn how to take a soft contact out of my eye.  For the past 14 years, I've avoided touching my eyeball by using my eyelids to pop out my hard contacts.  With soft contacts, I had to learn to pinch them out of my eye...by pretty much touching my eyeballs.  SUCKS, and no I'm not used to it yet. 

18. In what way were you pleasantly surprised this year?
 My BMs surprised me with a lovely bridal shower and bach party!

19. What were your favorite new TV programs of 2010?
Nikita, Covert Affairs, and Pretty Little Liars.

20. What was the best book you read?
I really enjoyed The Ridiculous Race.  It's probably not the best book I read this year, but I'm trying to rack my brain and that's all that comes to mind.

21. What did you want AND get?
I wanted a new job and I got it.  I also wanted a new computer and got a MBP!   

22. What did you want and NOT get?
I wanted LASIK.  Unfortunately, my left eye was so damaged that the eye doc said that he could only repair it to 90% vision.  So I decided to opt out and not do it at all.  Maybe the technology will improve in 5-10 years...

23. What was your favorite film of the year?
I didn't watch any movies in the theater this year.  However, we watched a lot of DVDs, and I really enjoyed Angels and Demons. 

24. What was the best thing you bought?
My wedding dress.  It was the most money I ever spent on myself and it's a terrible investment, but I felt very pretty in it and it gave me such lovely memories. :)

25. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
I throw my hands up in the air sometimes
Saying ay-oh, gotta let go.
I wanna celebrate and live my life
Saying ay-ooh, baby let's go.

Sick and Sleep

We're back in LA from the bay area...which means less sleep and one of us is sick.  We pretty much rotate getting sick whenever we come back from the holidays.  This year is my turn.  I was hoping to sleep it off last night.  For some reason, whenever we're in Union City, we have no problem sleeping until 9am or 10am, even.  Our first night back, Jerry woke up at 2am, I woke up at 3:30am, and I woke up again at 8am.  Pretty lousy sleep.  I just took a night time tylenol cold so hopefully I can get in a good nap later.  Work is going to be crazy and busy come Monday, so I'm planning on laying low and making sure I fully recover, so I can be 100% at the office.  These past 2 weeks of shutdown has been much needed...but I'm looking forward to the end of the holidays and to the start of 2011!

Everywhere and Nowhere

This week off so far has been amazing.  A good combination of taking care of business all over town and sitting on my butt waiting for paint to dry.  Literally.  Case in point:

Monday:
Did not step foot outside at all.

Tuesday:
Torrance: Optometrist for soft contact lens fitting (Lasik didn't work out :( )
Gardena: Kaiser for my 3rd HPV shot (yay, I'm done with that series)
Pasadena: Target for gift cards
Arcadia: Pick up wedding albums at photog studio and catching up over shaved ice at Tasty To Go, then Claro's Italian Market for a food based white elephant gift exchange
Highland Park: 99 cent store for cellophane goody bags, Good Girl Dinette for dinner with a friend

8 places in 8 hours...whew! The best part is, I planned my entire day so that I didn't have to go too much out of the way to get anywhere.  I'm all about efficiency.

Wednesday:
Watched Definitely, Maybe. 
Painted my nails.  Waited for them to dry.
Finished wrapping up presents. (My list of people topped 40 this year, yikes)
Watched many episodes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians while throwing a football around the living room with Jerry.
Did a Turbo Kickboxing class at 24 Hour Fitness.
Started reading The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed

Unfortunately, Christmas eve is going to be one of those jam packed days.  My mom asked me to take some OOT visitors around LA, so I've planned the itinerary below.

P/U visitors and go to Dim Sum in SGV
DTLA Fashion District/Chinatown
The Grove
Hollywood and Highland
3rd St Promenade
Back south to pick up Jerry for dinner
Dinner in SGV...cus everywhere else will be closed.
Possibly hanging out with Jerry's friend from college.


I better enjoy my last few moments of peace until the craziness starts again.

20 Financial Milestones for Your 20s

This list has also been going around the blogs too.  It is very interesting to see how other bloggers measure their financial security, and what they consider to be financial milestones.  For me, this list would look a little differently if I wasn't married, but there'd be crossover even if I wasn't.  Marriage might have shifted my priorities, but it didn't change my core values.

# 1 – Finance a dream vacation…in cash Done.  If our honeymoon wasn't a dream vacation...I don't know what would be! :)  However, even if I wasn't married, I don't think I'd plan a trip w/o being able to afford it. 

# 2 – Pay off your student loans
I paid off both of my undergraduate and graduate loans with no interest within 6 months of graduation.  I did the former on my own, and Jerry helped me with the latter.  If I had paid off my graduate one on my own, it would have taken me longer than 6 months to do it, but I probably could have done it within a year.  I would have owed interest, which I hate, but it would have been minimal.  My graduate education has already paid for itself, so in the long run, any interest I would have owed I would have just counted as an investment.

# 3 – Automate paying your credit card bill in full
I don't assign my bill to be paid automatically, but I do pay in full every month.  I will automate payments made to my account...but I prefer to control payments that come out of my account.

# 4 – Get rid of all bad debt
I have zero bad debt, since I don't believing in shopping for something that I can't afford.  I never understood why people borrow money to get married.  Things like weddings and cars depreciate.  A house doesn't, and nor does an education.  There aren't that many things that can be considered "good debt" but I consider the latter two to be.

# 5 – Build an adequate emergency fund
Done.  This was not my priority when I was in my early 20s.  But after seeing our economy tank in 2008 it was a wake up call that we all could lose our jobs, homes, etc at any given time with no warning. 

# 6 – Make your first, and last, investment mistake
I did some dumb things with my money after college.  I had my savings all over the place- in a Wachovia account, in a Charles Schwab fund, and I don't even remember the name of where my first 403b was (the second was ING, and that was a big mess too).  I wasn't properly managing all my accounts or keeping track of them.  Here's something especially dumb: I filed all the paperwork to contribute to my 403b, but it never got approved due to some communication confusion with ING.  I completely forgot about it for nearly a year when I then realized that crap, how come my paycheck doesn't have any 403b deductions?  It turned out that I wasn't contributing that whole, and therefore my old company was not matching.  So I lost many months worth of investing.  Yes, very irresponsible!  My retirement funds were pretty much a mess up until Jerry finally decided to overhaul everything a few months ago.  And someday he's going to sit me down and explain my retirement funds to me because this investment stuff really confuses me. 

# 7 – Develop a statement of cash flows
I do this in my head.  Kudos to those who keep spreadsheets though!

# 8 & 9 Max out a Roth & Contribute to your 401(k)
Doing and done.

# 10 – Get a degree or certification that increases your earning power
Done.  It's already paid for itself.

# 11 – Take a career risk
I'm pretty risk adverse when it comes to many things.  I've never jumped to a totally different career.  And now that that husbands and children are in the equation, I'm not sure if I will either... 

# 12 – Negotiate something
Jerry and I negotiate for better deals all the time!  Jerry will even go as far as to send in hand typed letters instead of emails.  

# 13 – Earn your first side grand
I don't know if this is for me.  I enjoy my job but I like to keep it separate from my personal life.  If I start spending my personal time trying to do more work, I'm not sure if I'll stay mentally happy or healthy.

# 14 – Start a sub-savings account for an upcoming financial goal
I do this in my head, but not physically.

# 15 – Set a target retirement date
2040 thereabouts!

# 16 – Monitor your credit
I went through a situation where a couple of people with my name with bad credit had been getting their credit mixed up with mine.  It was an absolute nightmare to fix, but I think it was finally done.  Jerry also really helped me out immensely by writing letters and faxing them to the 3 bureaus.

# 17 – Say no to a financial salesman
We say no all the time.

# 18 – Give just enough to make it hurt
I don't feel like I'm in a position to give financially to people that I don't know.  Maybe when I'm older? 

# 19 – Invest $1 for every $1 you spend
I'm not sure about this one.

# 20 – Start a 529 College Savings Plan
Done.  Probably something I wouldn't have done if I wasn't married.

11 Goals for 2011

Since I loooooooove making lists, I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and start another one.  11 things for 2011 has been going around the blogs and reading about others' goals have made excited to set new ones for myself.  Here goes!

1. Visit a different state 
2. Beat my old 10k official best of 1:16:12 (I know, I'm so slow!)
3. Fly a kite (seriously, I've been saying this for years)
4. Buy a new-to-me vegetable to cook
5. Find a place to play badminton (or sneak into my old HS gym :P)
6. Find a volunteer opportunity
7. Attend a musical performance
8. Buy a new board game for our home collection (I've got my eye on Quelf or Foodie Fight)
9. Watch a movie on the big screen (the last movie I saw was summer 2009)
10. Go to a sporting event
11. Camp in a new place (I've been to 4 unique campsites in the last 2.75 years)

I'm very excited for 2011!

Peeps from the Past

A couple things prompted me to write this:

Last week, I was on my way to a meeting in Claremont and decided to take a rarely used shortcut to skip part of the freeway.  I passed by my mom's old manager's office and it was the first time I thought about him in over a decade.

Last night, Jerry ran into an old childhood friend that he hadn't seen since 6th grade...make that 20 years!

Both instances made me think about people during the pre-Facebook years that were part of my life and how I have no clue what happened to them now.  In some instances I don't even know their names but I remember things about them that have stayed with me until today.

Sodani Ung:
My best friend in 2nd/3rd grade at El Portrero ES in Moreno Valley.  We were one of the only few Asians in our school!  You would think with a name spelled like that...I'd be able to facebook her, huh?  Nope.  Since I moved to El Monte in 1991, we completely lost touch of each other.

Derek Brown:
Yep, I had crushes as early as 2nd grade.  (Which makes me feel like a late bloomer, given that kids nowadays are engaged by kindergarten.)  He was a cute white boy that went to the same school as me and Sodani.  That's all I remember.  He probably isn't that cute now...(Remember the taxi scene from 13 Going on 30- Chris Grandy?)

Eddie (no last name):
As a single mom my mom was pretty handy and did as much as she could around the house, but there were some things she couldn't do, so she paid Eddie, our neighbor in our cul de sac, to take care of odd jobs like mowing the lawn or mounting large frames to the wall.  He was always so nice, quiet, and laidback.  I remember that his wife had a very strong personality, and they had a lot of daughters, so he was probably overruled all the time. :)

Thao Vuong Quang:
We were neighbors (in the same cul de sac as Eddie) and used to walk to school together.  I was actually about 3 years older so we were able to play with each other for a while (pogs and bikes- not dolls and tea cups type playing), but we didn't really see each other that much since we both moved to different parts of El Monte and never overlapped in school again.  Now, I might have a shot at getting in contact with her again, as our moms used to be friends.  I went to her brother's wedding many years and we exchanged contact info...but that's all I remember.  I probably lost the slip of paper.  I don't know if our moms keep in touch anymore...I'll have to ask one of the days.  I totally wouldn't mind catching up with her now, 3 years isn't a big deal when you're older.  Again, she's not Facebook-able.  But then again, neither am I, as of September 18, 2010. :)

David Onsurez:
Another crush from 5th grade.  Seriously, that's all I remember.

The aforementioned boss:
I don't even know his name, and right now I can't even remember the Vietnamese name that I used to call him by!  I do remember my mom would ask him how's dating life, and he would tell us that his trick in screening girls on dates was to pick them up in his really ugly white van, instead of a regular car.  If the girls didn't seem to care, then he knew they weren't as superficial...but if they didn't like it, then he wouldn't even bother with a second date.  Now with Facebook, it's pretty easy to pre-screen a date, and not just go off the model and make of a car. :)

The Ly family:
Most of my family tree stays in contact with each other.  It's pretty easy because we all live in So Cal, with the exception of some folks in Germany, Canada, and Vietnam.  But there's one branch of my family that I haven't seen or heard from in nearly a decade, and they still live in So Cal.  The family feud happened the generation before mine, so I stayed out of it.  And hence, I don't know exactly what happened.  But cousins that I had celebrated birthdays with, that I had gone on road trips with- I don't know what's going on with them now.  The last time I saw any of them was when they came to visit me at UCLA during my freshman year.  Since the family feud involved the adults, I think we kept in touch via AIM and yahoo mail anyway, but as you know, something called gmail came along...

I wonder what happened to these folks.  I hope where ever they are, they're content and happy with their lives!

Do you have people like that from your past?  Ungoogleable, unfacebookable, unsearchable?