10 Miles

10 miles is a LONG way to hike. My longest hike to date was 5! But yay I survived. Thanks to Jimmy/Allen for bring extra liters of water, I barely made it halfway with my measly one liter. Next time I will be less lazy and more prepared!

We went on the Lower Arroyo Seco hike.

It was a dirty hike.






Water striders. They leave funny shadows in the water!

There was a tree.

I tried to climb it.


It was scary coming down!

Some people make it look so easy!


Thanks for inviting me Christina!

3rd Time's the Charm

In our quest for the search for the best tacos ever, Ann and I have been hitting up various taco places in El Monte. So far we've only hit 2 (Karina's taco truck was the other), and we keep coming back to the same one b/c it's just so darn yummy. Plus I forgot my camera the other two times I went here.

Fish tacos are 2 for $1. Dude, it cannot get better than this.

Oh yes it can. Shrimp tacos are $2.50. Five times as much as the fish tacos, but they are larger and the shrimps are succulent and battered/fried to perfection.

Free chips and salsa which I didn't eat. Not pictured: jamaica...my perfect drink to accompany the meal. Ann likes horchata.

Even though my braces are off I still get stuff stuck in my teeth! Go figure.
It's located at the southwest corner of Durfee and Ramona, next to the laundromat. I really don't know the name of the place b/c every time I come I'm too hungry to check. Just drive north on Durfee until you can't drive any longer. The restaurant is on your left. Also, there is no AC at this place so eat outside. They are open until 4am!

Retail Therapy, Part 2

I had the apt hunting blues so since the leasing office was in SM, I decided to treat myself to a trip to 3rd St. afterwards.

I was feeling so down that nothing in any of the shops could give me that giddy shopping feeling! I kept plodding from store to store, looking really depressed. Then...I walked in Benetton.

And I met my shirt.

(Well, this is a guy's shirt obviously but all the women's dress shirts that I image googled looked ugly so I picked this one instead.)

Anyways...I walked out SUPER happy! I found my perfectly tailored white dress shirt!
So as soon as I walk out, who do I see but Ken Oak Band. I'm a fan of their music so I stopped and listened.

It was a perfect ending to nice afternoon.

We Got It!!!!!

Omg I'm happy happy happy happy happy. We got the apt!!!!!!!!!!

I really can't believe it. Must pinch self. How lucky are we that we snagged a decent 2 bedroom for $1350?

Apt hunting still sucks like a mofo but the search is over. :)

How to Tie a Tie

Yesterday I learned how to do a windsor knot tie. You can learn anything on the internet!

Practiced on myself

Practiced on my guinea pigs/models

Then it came time to do the real thing...

Except I kept starting over again...

And again... (by this point I think he wanted to choke me with his tie)

But finally I got it right!

Fred was a good sport. It seriously took me like 8 tries to get it done up to his perfectionist standards. :P

Pampering Night

Super bored at Islands

One of the things that I'll miss most when I move out is living a mere couple minutes drive from Ann's house. (And that's if you hit red on both traffic lights.)

Ann can listen to me talk on the phone and know right away when I'm stressed. And she'll patiently let me bitch away even though she's heard it all 50 times before. Then she'll come over with a treat and tell me stupid stories to make me laugh and feel better. One time it was a whole box of drumsticks (what is it about a fight with a bf and ice cream that makes the two go so well together?) Another time it was a Starbucks drink and a DVD. This time she gave me a manicure, pedicure, and a new hair style!

My lazy ass RARELY EVER wears nail polish. I seriously can count the number of times I've had my toes painted- prom (silver), that one time with Ann and Fong (french), graduation (french), Hawai'i (french), Myna's wedding (red), and last night ("purple potion"). As for manicures...prom (silver), that one time Nancy gave me a french manicure in the dorms and I forgot and messed it up b/c I used my computer too soon (sorry Nancy!), Myna's wedding (red), and last night (clear). Since I'm not used to getting my nails done, I kept fidgeting. :P Sorry Ann!

Since my hair is long long long long long, Ann wanted to try out her new curling iron on me. My lazy ass obliged because my poor hair never sees any action. Sometimes I don't even brush it. I usually either have it down, or up in a ponytail or bun anyway. Once in a while I'll french braid it or stick a ribbon in it, but that's it.

The result! Even when curled it's still long long long! I'm going to let it grow out over the summer, and then I'll donate it in the fall. As for new haircuts, I'm thinking Lily from season 2 of How I Met Your Mother.

Aren't Marshall and Lily the cutest couple ever? HIMYM is one of my favorite shows!

Thanks Ann!

Geography Lessons Learned

Everything I know about geography I learned from playing "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego", watching Miss Universe and Alias, and following Olympic figure skating.

I admit it. In the classroom, I did not absorb what little geography that was part of the K-12 curriculum. And forget college.

So I took it upon myself to crack open a book (The Complete Idiot's Guide to Georaphy) and to start the learning process.
So far, this is what I learned:

Scotland is not a country! Dude...neither is England. They are all a part of the United Kingdom.
Greenland is not a country either. It's part of Denmark.
Moldova is a country in Eastern Europe. I have heard of every other country in that particular bloc because many figure skaters hail from that area. Plus the 1984 Olympics were in Sarajevo.
I always thought Costa Rica was an island country, not locked between Panama and Nicaragua. Nicaragua became included in my scope of geographical knowledge because Barney Stinson was sposed to go there for the Peace Corps. (How I Met Your Mother is the best show ever!)
I thought Belize was in South America, not Central America.
Chile is 2650 miles north to south and averages only 110 miles east to west. Isn't that kinda neat? :P
For some reason I thought Somalia was an island country. Then I realized I had mixed it up with Sumatra.
Who has heard of Eritrea? It's the "newest" country that split from Ethiopia in 1993. Maybe if Angelina Jolie decided to pop out her kid there we would have heard of it.

So is any of this new to you? You're lying if you say that you had prior knowledge of all of this!

Well, I do feel smarter. Up next: trying to locate/name every US state and country accurately. I'm thinking of printing out a map, cutting it up, and putting it back together like a jigsaw puzzle. Maybe that'll help me learn!

Best Carnitas Tacos Ever

I've lived in El Monte for how long now?
I've driven through the Peck/Durfee/Rush intersection how many times now?
I've seen the taco truck with the massive lines, thought about going there, but actually never stopped by for how long now?

No wonder it took me this long to find best carnitas tacos that I've ever had.

So our best-taco-ever experience started on Friday. I actually tried the tacos for the first time on Wednesday and was so impressed that I convinced Hyobin and Ann to come out on Friday.
We were hungry waiting for the truck...so we went across the parking lot and got some tacos from Karinas, an actual storefront. They kept reassuring us that the trunk was going to come soon! It's the same company.

For some reason, they are not as good as the tacos from the truck. But still pretty damn good. But we wanted the tacos from the truck!

Evil twin sister and best friend were waiting...

For this truck...that was sposed to come at 6pm but instead came at 6:20! >_<
My onionless ones.

Hyobin and Ann says the onions were yummy. I'm still not eating them!
How to get there:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&q=karina's+taco&amp;amp;amp;near=El+Monte,+CA&fb=1&cid=34046025,-118029525,6403435628677955817&li=lmd&ie=UTF8&ll=34.04633,-118.027239&spn=0.036626,0.05373&z=14&om=1

It's the same plaza as USA gasoline, across the street from Jack in the crack. It's a truck that sits in the parking lot by Xochilt's salon and Karina's tacos store front.

Mmm. I think we are going back on Monday.

Vietnamese-Chinese...Korean?

During braces:
Ktown Galleria: An ajumah asks me what time it is. In Korean.
My family/coworkers after watching me on Korean TV: "Doesn't she look Korean?"
After braces:
My youth: I think Jeannie's the only person I know who likes Korean food more than I do!"
Hyobin's friends at her bday dinner: "Wait, you're not Korean?"
Cam's friend: "So are you Korean?"

Maybe Hyobin's Koreaness is rubbing off me! Or it's all the Korean food that I eat.
Another theory I have is that it must be my braces-less smile that makes me definitely NOT look Vietnamese/Chinese and therefore people assume I'm probably Korean since when I had braces some ppl thought I looked Korean in the first place.

Back to Hyobin's bday dinner:
"Jeannie's not Korean, guess what she is!"
"Malaysian?" (No) "Taiwanese?" (No) "Chinese?" (Half) "Cambodian?" (No!) Oh Vietnamese!" (Yes!).

Actually I can't even tell anymore what I look like myself. Asian mutt it is!
Quizzes from this website are pretty fun. You have to look at pictures and guess if the person/food/architecture/etc is Japanese, Korean, or Chinese.
La la la. It's a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Words Cannot Describe How I Feel...

October 2005

June 2007

...But I'm going to try.

Liberated. Relieved. Happy. Unrestricted. Free. Wow. Different. Weird. Empty space. Blank canvas. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Top five reasons why I'm glad to have a braces free smile:
5. Kissing will be better, says coworker
4. Flossing is faster and easier!
3. I don't look like I'm in high school anymore.
2. I don't have to endure jokes from coworkers: "Jeannie is still eating her lunch two hours later."
1. No more pain!!! When they extracted 4 of my teeth I was so scared. When I got the bill I wanted to run away but realized that I had 4 holes in my mouth so I had no choice but to follow through with the whole process. When they put spacers IN BETWEEN MY TEETH it hurt so bad I cried that night. When I got bands for the first time I could barely open my jaw, much less chew a thing.

But it was worth it. =D


Bye bye braces! Hyobin, how can you draw me now??