elias maybe joining me one day....

on the road!!! :)

merry christmas to me...

so i backordered this off amazon and it didn't arrive in time to pass 'em out with my 'let it snow' cd. however, i managed to bake a bunch of pizelle cookies on christmas day and i think the little guy is now hooked.

until next year folks...

priceless

poor little jackson doesn't look happy...

getting ready for xmas '09

so the plan this year is to have my folks in town and i'll be roasting the bird....shall it be via cooks illustrated or martha stewart? i think i'll opt out of martha as i've been watching some of her xmas shows and she's too much of a spazz. i've made my annual selection for my mookie xmas cd - 'let it snow...' so some of you lucky folks will be receiving it in the coming days.

bye bye myrens

i used to think kids hated me.

prior to meeting odinn, i had never experienced a kid running from across the room to give me a kid's version of a bear hug. it could be because at the age of three little odinn probably thought, me being asian, that i was the perfect target to use his karate kid moves. but in time, whenever i paid the family a visit he was always happy to see me and to show me his latest talent, whether it be flips on the sofa or high kicks in the air. and them came, thord....born on his own mother's birthday. i hadn't spent as much quality time with odinn's little brother but i could see the same little spunk in this kid and knew that the two would be great companions for life.

well, a few years have passed since brynja returned from iceland and her job at the us consulate and now she's decided to go back 'home' to pursue her business degree. i'm sad to see the myren's go again but i know that this will be an amazing opportunity for her and her family. and selfishly a good excuse for me to hit the blue lagoon and visit her in 2010.

good luck to you lady as you hit the books and struggle with exams and hard deadlines. and odinn and thord, be good to your mother and enjoy the amazing opportunities that a lot of little kids your age would never have....

love you to bits - xo.

sweet little ones....

how could you not love his precious little face?

okay, so maybe this is only a face that a mother can love (?!?!) but i can tell you that i'm a proud auntie for sharing pictures of my girlfriends' darling little kids. after seeing ker's sydney bird pose for her first class picture, i caught myself giggling inside at how sweet she looked and felt the need to exploit some shots. i share with you a lovely little pose by sydney, an angelic shot of joshua and a regal shot of elias, who was dressed in a traditional korean costume (fitted for a one year old) which had been passed down by three generations.

a leap of faith....

i was uploading some photos tonight and came across 

this shot when we were camping on salt spring island.  

this takes me to a happy place....

sweet little j

drew's fun little commute

hello, dolly!

oh, dearest dolls - thank you for being my lovely friend...

we can be millions of miles apart and may not have the opportunity to converse on a more frequent basis but i want you to know that i think the world of you.  remember that international relations class with the instructor that stuttered?  i think that's the first time i met you and i was intrigued by this interesting asian gal who reminded me of my 'jocky' self who had this fun little spirit about her - perhaps the spirit of moose jaw?

well, much time has passed and many memories to look back on (and many that we can hysterically laugh at ie. ubc varsity basketball tryouts...aahhh hummm). and i thought this would be a great way to tell the few who tap into my blog about how wonderful i think you are and how grateful i am to have you as my friend.

after my short little visit this past week, i wanted you to know how happy i am for you.  to witness you now as a mother, and to see this precious little being that is now a part of you and drew - joshua samuel- makes me realize how beautiful life can be.

i don't think i've ever told you this but that visit i made back in '06 did wonders for my spirit and put my life into perspective.  planning our trip to the cote d'azur and taking that rental car through the streets of monaco to lake como, made us fearless back then. i laughed my head off, challenged myself for driving in unknown territory, laughed at your silly suggestions towards the handsome french captain, to eating fine foods and gelato galore.  thank you for renewing the spirit in me and making me smile again.  i will also never forget the night you and drew took me out to the wolseley for my birthday and for surprising me, not once, but twice with little blue boxes of sweet surprises.  that night, you and drew touched my heart in ways that you will never know....

so move forward three years later, when we had lunch at 'bar des theatres'  and you shared fond and intimate details of your childhood and stories about your father.  it made me want to honour you for just being you and for realizing how much love you have for everyone around you.  and when you made that comment about even having my brother stay with you in france? that's so typical of you dolls, always looking out for those that you love.  

i will forever cherish our friendship and can't wait to see where the journey will go for both you and i.  joshua is going to grow into being a fine young man, i guarantee it.  and i will laugh myself silly when i see all the dolly-isms in joshua's character. you make me proud, lady!

until we meet again

love you to bits

hematoma

DEFINITION--A collection of pooled blood in the thigh within a relatively constricted area. Thigh hematomas probably accompany all serious contusions of the thigh, but they are difficult to diagnose because of the large muscle mass in the thigh.

i heart water

moto 2009

pix will follow but until then take a look at this....

pat finally ties the knot...

my baby

thanks to miss kellbell for this shot....

hahlmony

To my ‘eupun hahlmony’

There so much I could share with each of you of how wonderful this woman was and the impact she had on each of us in the ‘kim family’ household. She was well known for her heart of gold and yet known for a will and strength that could never get knocked down – ever. I’m sure if you could recount your memories of her they all probably had to do with food of some sort, butterscotch candies, money being freely given away, her joy and devotion for the Korean United Church, the love she had for her children and grandchildren and how she just gloated at how good looking her grandsons were. Or how about memories of her when you got her upset? You can bet she had the last word and she was a fighter right to the very end.

I loved her so much for all the things she taught me. As a second mother to me, I truly attribute a lot of who I am because of her. She taught me how to love those around me and to be an honest and hard working woman. She taught me how to be resilient when you were weak and to firmly stand up for what you believed in. Though I had to battle the gender game with her growing up and all the favouritism she had for my brother, through the years I knew that she loved me just as much as she did all her boys….

During her last few years at the care home, she kept calling me ‘jong heh’ her one and only daughter, and I used to cry thinking she forgot who I was. And when she kept asking me where my kids were and how I wasn’t at home feeding them, my heart used to sink thinking she may never live to see any great-grandchildren. But in the last few days of her life, when she was surrounded by the people she so dearly loved, I knew that she was aware of each of us.

This past Saturday, even though she was weak without thirteen days of food or water, she found enough strength to sit up and she took her hand and tapped my cheek three times. It was a beautiful moment I had with her knowing that she had acknowledged who I was and as if she was telling me that it was all okay, she was fine and that she loved me. And at that moment I promised myself that I would live for her and try to follow her legacy of living for those you love, to provide for those around you and to live life so simply through food, hard work, a strong mind and body and the selfless act of giving.

Memories I have of her that I will never forget and that will live with me forever….
· Taking me everywhere by bus and vivid memories of being at the UBC loop when I was four years old so we could scout out a good patch of ‘kosardi’ leaves near the endowment lands
· Having her drag me into Teddy’s school when I was only in kindergarten to be her translator, interuppting a classroom because she was angry that he got kicked out of school for throwing a snowball
· Sharing a bedroom with her growing up and her telling me never to turn your back on someone when you’re sleeping with them because you should never go to bed mad
· Yelling at my dad with those fierce eyes of fire. Even he couldn’t win her over
· Finding used safeway brand butterscotch candies all over the house
· Just like alfred hitchcock’s sillouette, down the lane by battison street you could see her shadow looking out the window, waiting and watching for her family to come home and when saying ‘hi’, she always pretended she was sleeping.
· And I will never forget when I was in highschool, getting punished for the some odd twenty magazines I had under my bed and walking up the stairs to see my grandmother dragging the secret stash of magazines into her own closet – the box literally weighing over a hundred pounds
· Her always wanting to go home
· Feeding, cleaning and helping the nurses care for the seniors at the finnish home
· Her face lighting up whenever she saw us

One day I will make her proud. I will honour her and become a better cook. I will love my brother more and take care of my parents during their retirement years. I promise to visit each time I’m in town and will plant some beautiful flowers so that she knows how much i love her, we love her and will forever miss her.

Hahlmony, kochung heh gimayo – chal jumohseyo.

my life in pix

so i used to be the gal that went trigger happy with her camera and was always eager about posting stuff on my blog. what can i say? life has been busy and i went through a short period of being anti-facebook/anti-bloggin'. however, after visiting my gma today i realized that 'kodak memories' are a must. she's not really speaking and is nearing the end of her life. today however i've had a change of heart. the fact that i could entertain her and put a smile on her face while going through my lame-ass youtube videos made me realize how life is so precious and that we should always document it as you just never know what's around the corner....

Duncan being very 'jarlsberg' in France

Surprise! Surprise! My parent's retirement gift

Pebble Beach's signature trees
Mom & Dad

Strike First! Hit Hard! No Mercy!

Holy Shizer I made it into the SeattlePI

my very first cab ride
king of lake washington
i heart water elias & his sidekick
welcome to this world joshua!

sweet little sydney bird

me & sydney @ the pt bob

what'cha 'reckon?

sweet jesus - 10K miles!

3K rock

it's been a while but thought this would be amusing to publish.

never let your inbred loco bullie alone in the backyard

because it may just cost you $3000!!!

my litle waterboy

time flies...

i can't believe how time just passes right before you.  so much has happened since i last blogged back during xmas.  i can't even remember if i posted the pix of mooks and his $3K rock in his belly.  how i joined the rat city rollergirls makin' bacon derby camp and actually got picked up on the grave danger team - shocker!

oh i how i wish i could go on a little mini vacation....

i miss yoga but i'm happy to say that i have my little soulmate with me.  mister mooks is now permanently back in s-town and we've found a cute little place in the wallingford area.  i really should be heading to bed as i've been busy with late night derby practices.  more to come with the odd ball events in my life....

here's to my new persona....