Birthday weekend

I can't believe today is already Monday and my 5-day mini birthday/vacation long weekend is coming to an end. Can I NOT go to work tomorrow?  :-)   After 3-day off-site seminar, I took Thursday and Friday off as vacation days. What sucked was that I got sick late Wed. I most likely caught the bug from mao-mao (she's a germy baby!).  So on Thursday, I did nothing but stayed home and moped around.  I have to give myself credit though for finishing Sarah's 6-9 months photo book.

On Friday, I was a little better after some OTC drugs, so I did a whole bunch of errands, i.e. Costco and Target runs.  I feel like that's what I always do during my day off, especially since SQ hates going shopping so we seldom go during the weekends. He doesn't realize that diapers and toilet papers don't get filled up miraculously!  After SQ came back from work, we went to Mandalay Burmese Restaurant. This is one of my favorite restaurants in the City. All the dishes are soooo tasty and good.  I always order my usual dishes because I can't afford not to order them (and satisfy my cravings) whenever I go there.  However, I guess it was sort of a bad day to go ...because of my congestion, I didn't enjoy the food as much as I would have.

On Saturday, my sisters took me to Spiazzo Italian Restaurant in West Portal..  I thought the food was just OK, but I was happy for the birthday treat!

I feel especially happy this birthday (despite my cold) because it's my first time celebrating my birthday with Sarah.  Same time last year, she was still inside my tummy! :-)

Shared Learning Experience

For the past 3 days, I attended a Company-sponsored, off-site leadership workshop called Shared Learning Experience (or SLE for short).  At first, I was a bit annoyed with the fact that this class was "mandatory" and that it took 3 days out of my workweek to attend.  But after these 3 days, I am so glad to have taken this workshop!!

Throughout the seminar, we discussed case studies of successful companies and learn what made them successful.  We also went through a team building exercise where it not only tested the ability of the leader to lead the team to perform the task, but how we could learn to think outside the box.  We had role-playing exercises to learn the different ways of coaching and how to apply "soft" power.  We learned how to apply different management styles to different people.  My biggest gain out of SLE is self-discovery and self-awareness of who I am as a manager in the workplace.  There were a lot of "ah-ha" moments during the 3 days. Knowing my flaws, being subconsciously aware of them, and having these concepts and best practices not only allows me to become a effective leader but a better person.  I have learned a lot.  It was a great seminar!  There is a 2nd part coming up next week. I can't wait!

One of my favorite quotes I learned:

"In matters of style, flow like the current ; In matters of principle, stand like a rock."
                                                        -Thomas Jefferson

Moments: Crying

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Sarah loves taking baths!

Networking

This morning, I got a call at work from a Recruiter looking for people interested in Planning positions in the New York area.  She said she got my information via LinkedIn.  In case you don't know, LinkedIn is another Social Networking site out there (like a Facebook), but it is geared toward professional networking.  So yeah, NO weird fetishes and racy photos to be found here.  Your profile is basically your online resume.  You connect with friends, classmates, colleagues, and business associates. And then your network expands because one of your contacts is linked to another and to another.  I must say that this site is actually quite a handy tool.  I joined LinkedIn some years ago, but didn't spend much time elaborating on my profile.  I've outlined the different positions I've had (all within the same company). However, I didn't include any descriptions or details.  Since I've been with my company for over 11 years, I got too lazy to update my resume. But I think it's always good to have your resume updated and ready to go, just in case.  And plus, it's much easier to jot down notes about your current job than try to remember what you did years ago.  I'm going to make an effort this weekend to update my LinkedIn profile.

As for the recruiter, I told her that I am currently not interested in moving to New York, but have a few friends and colleagues in the New York area who may be interested...


P.S. Coincidentally, in case you didn't know, LinkedIn launched its first IPO today; priced at $45/share.  The stock closed at $91.25, +109% on the first day.  Wow...

2nd House dilemma

Multiple people within the course of this weekend coincidentally asked me if SQ and I ever considered buying another house. The answer is yes. We've had this thought for at least a couple of years now.  So why haven't we bought one already?  You see, the problem is that SQ and I aren't on the same page when it comes to real estate. I want to 'upgrade,' sell our current house and buy a larger house. For sure, we need more space, especially now with Sarah in the mix.  But SQ wants the second house to be more of an investment property, i.e. a multi-unit property for rental. I am not a fan of being a landlord (I've heard too many horror stories). So we've been debating this issue back and forth; meanwhile, seeing house prices drop gives us an incentive to wait until the prices bottom out (of course, no one knows where the bottom is).

Well, recently, SQ may have a change of mind in perhaps buying a Single Family House.  I make this statement in a very non-confident manner because I am just guessing.  He hasn't said it out loud yet.  So, this weekend, with nothing else to do, SQ and I went to a handful of open houses.  We only looked at SFR listings in the Inner and Central Sunset area (just because they're in our neighborhood, close by for an easy drive).  We didn't really see anything we absolutely loved (yet).

That very night, I had a weird dream...I dreamt that my company is moving to Hong Kong (which is inevitable) and I got laid off because I didn't want to move and my last day will be Oct 29.  Don't ask me the significance of Oct 29...I have no clue.  I shared my dream with SQ the next day. I wonder if this dream is some sort of forecast telling me that I shouldn't buy a house, or what?!  The dream was sure scary and made me feel uneasy...

Letter to Sarah at 11 months 10 days

To my mao-mao,

Recently,

• You LOVE to LAUGH.  You laugh at the silliest things...!  You love the anticipation when I come slowly and slowly to catch you to hug and kiss you! You pretend to run away. But you know you'll always be caught so mommy can give you lots of hugs and kisses
• You finally learned how to chew now. You used to gag whenever I give you anything other than milk and pureed foods. Now you love to snack on the little puffs and can chew on soft foods.
• You still won't hold your own bottle! You will only hold and drink from the straw cup on your own
• You don't mind when I pour water over your head during your baths.  You're such a good baby when it comes to taking baths.  
• You are mobile now! You still can't crawl correctly...one knee and one foot but you get around places.  You've been cruising and have taken a few steps now.  At this point, you don't walk at will. You walk whenever we encourage you to do so, but sometimes you just sit right now and crawl over instead. 
• You are curious -you love to dig into boxes and bags, and touch everything you're not supposed to. 
•  There isn't much improvement on your eczema.  You still get rashes on your face if I don't apply hydrocortizone   :-( 
• You weigh 20.5 lbs now
• You sleep in the cutest fetal position (on your tummy, knees tucked in, butt sticking up) 
• You make sounds like dada, duh-duh, baba and all sorts of funny noises

Sarah's First Steps!

Sarah took her first few steps at my parents' house this past Thursday!!  She has been standing alone 'hands-free' for about a couple of weeks now, but making that first step was such a daunting task.  I see her little toes curl up and her body swaying back and forth trying to make her foot move forward.  It looked like her foot weighed a ton. When we open our arms to entice her to walk to us, she would end up just lunging into our arms instead. So I was floored on Thurs when she took not only a step, but a few steps!! When I put her a distance away from the sofa, I was convinced that she would just lunged her body into the sofa, but nope! She took her time, step by step and walked to my mom, who was holding a remote control to entice her.  Of course either SQ and I captured Sarah's first steps on camera.  We weren't prepared!

But I was able to record this video of Silly Girl walking this morning.  She's still pretty wobbly but doing great!! I'm so proud of you, silly girl! You started to walk at 11.25 months!!

Mother's Day

      On May 8, I celebrated my first Mother's Day with my sweet little baby Sarah.  We didn't do anything special in particular, but I was still super happy that day because I am Mommy to silly girl.
      Sarah, I am so proud to be your Mommy! Your presence and the endless joy you bring me is the BEST present I could ever ask for!  I have never laughed so hard and smiled so much..it's all because of you. Thank you for letting me be your Mommy! :-)

Happy 11-month Birthday, Silly!

Moments: Quiet Time

Moments : Hey, that's me!

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