I was in love with this man for ten years.  Like millions of young girls in Hong Kong, I hung his poster in my bedroom for years in the 80's.  I recently discovered that iTunes have added 1000 Chinese songs to their store.  Kudos to iTunes, it's about time!  In support of this move, I went to iTunes and purchased 20 songs in the span of a few minutes.  I have music like those from my past idol (to left) on tape and have no way of transporting the music into digital format.  It was like going back to my childhood when I found those songs I used to love!  There are still so many songs I couldn't find on iTunes...so please add more!

As for my idol...iTunes currently do not carry his music.  He was one of the biggest star in Hong Kong for 2 decades...his fans spread across all of Asia.  Sadly two years ago, at the age of 46, he committed suicide, having suffered from depression.  I don't quite understand why iTunes would choose not to carry his music.  His tragic death does not take away the fact that he was a beloved entertainer and talented singer.  Maybe there's outstanding legal issues regarding who gets paid for his music...

Rain...in LA.  It was raining pretty hard today.  The streets were completely flooded.  Luckily my car is pretty high up, other cars were having trouble going through flooded intersections.  It took me an hour to get home from work...I live only 4 miles away!  But at least there were no accidents on the road.  Everyone just sat in their car patiently chucking along. 

It must have been raining really hard, with thunder.  How do I know that from being inside a windowless building all day?  Well, when I got home, Toby ran over to greet me, he was sooooo happy to see me.  As most of you know...Toby normally doesn't get terribly excited when I come home.  He then followed me (CLOSELY) everywhere I go...to the shoe closet, upstairs to my bedroom, to the closet, and even to the bathroom.  This is a sure sign that he had been scared at home by himself.  Toby is EXTREMELY afraid of thunder...loud airplane noise, oh and heavy rainfall noise.  So I'm sure it was raining pretty hard in the afternoon.

It was raining so hard when I got home that I actually thought I could maybe get away with taking Toby to the park to do his business.  The park we go to is only a few blocks away, but I didn't want to walk there in the dark and rain.  I let Toby out to the front yard hoping that he would get the hint.  I even stood out there with an umbrella with him!  But of course, he was confused by it all...he ran around the yard occasionally giving me a aren't-we-going-to-the-park-so-I-can-poop-look.  And all the while, he was getting wetter and wetter!  Click on image on the left to see water on his fur.  After 10 minutes of yelling "Toby hurry up!", "Toby go!", and "Hurry Toby GO!!!" I gave up and drove him to the park.  It took him 2 seconds to take care of business and getting back into the car.  Go figure!

There is a little independent card store near my lunch places that I like to browse once in a while.  They had a big charm sale one day and I went a little crazy.  Each of these little charm was only 0.79¢!  I bought nine of them.  The charms are double sided and comes with a little spring ring clasp.  Click on image to see...from left to right: a cow, a moon, a star fish, a flower, a beach pail, a pink elephant, a Sun, and a smiley Sun. Toby's wearing a little lion.

I am sure there are tons of things I can make with these charms, but I thought that they would look adorable on Toby's collar!  And the ring clasps make them really convenient to put on and remove from Toby's collar.  Here's Toby demonstrating how to properly wear a charm...Other items on his collar: a little bell, a little dog, a little USC bone tag, and his name tag.  For safety reasons, all these things serve to disable his choke chain which he wears at all times.  Click on image to see details. 

I store Toby's "charm wardrobe" in a little Altoids tin...so perfect!

It's that time of the year, the time I stock up on Girl Scout cookies to last me a long time.  My favorite is Tagalongs.  I never get any other type of Girl Scout cookies, though they have a large variety of cookies.  Tagalongs are the peanut butter patties, so yummy!  I've got a box at work, a box a home downstairs, and a box at home upstairs!

Where do you go to get a box of your own?  I got mine at work (thanks to a co-worker's daughters) and outside my neighborhood supermarket.  Support your local Girl Scout and eat yummy cookies!

Wow!  I don't know if I can survive this March Madness!  What a game, what a comeback!  As much as I dislike UCLA, I found myself cheering for them last night!  I can only imagine all of Westwood going absolutely crazy.  Makes me miss my grad school days at UCLA. I only went to a couple of UCLA basketball games when I was in grad school...why were they not this good back then??

Here's a nerdy picture of me and my advisor posing in front of Royce Hall at my graduation ceremony back in 2003.

GO Bruins...to the final four at least! :-)

shhh...please don't tell my fellow Trojans I said that!

Such Great Heights
by Iron and Wine

I was thinking it's a sign
That the freckles in our eyes
Are mirror images and when we kiss
They're perfectly aligned
And I have to speculate
That God himself did make us
Into corresponding shapes
Like puzzle pieces from the clay
And true, it may seem like a stretch
But it's thoughts like this that catch
My troubled head when you're away
When I am missing you to death
When you are out there on the road
For several weeks of shows
And when you scan the radio
I hope this song will guide you home

They will see us waving from such great heights
"Come down now," they'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away
"Come down now," but we'll stay . . .

I tried my best to leave
This all on your machine
But the persistent beat
It sounded thin upon listening
And that frankly will not fly
You will hear the shrillest highs
And lowest lows with the windows down
When this is guiding you home

They will see us waving from such great heights
"Come down now," they'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away
"Come down now," but we'll stay . . .

Rain was in the forcast for this weekend...but certainly not in Hermosa Beach!  One day after the craziness that was St. Patrick's Day, I met up with my friend Michelle and her dog Willow at Nobel Park in Hermosa Beach.  Although it was a little chilly, the sun was shining and the skies were blue.  We all had a fun time at the beach.  Happy Vernal Equinox...first day of Spring!

Toby and Willow meeting up at the beach.	Toby is already too boring for Willow...
We all cuddled on a bench for a group picture.	Fur everywhere!  This bench is too small for all of us.
Off we go for a walk! I felt like a professional dog-walker! Click on the image to see a close up of us.	Awww...walking in sync.  Willow dislikes most dogs, but she has grown to tolerate Toby...maybe even likes him a little. :-)
Toby's got a sheepish look on his face...hm...Willow doesn't look the least bit interested!	Michelle caught an artistic shot!  She also caught Toby with his tongue out...click on the image to see...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I was walking Toby home from the park one evening when we ran into an old friend of his, a German Shepard named Gracie.  Like most female dogs, Gracie loves Toby.  We hadn't seen Gracie and her mom in almost a year so we stopped to exchange greetings and sniffs when Gracie's mom said to me, " Oh, Toby's looking...um HEALTHY these days!"  I was shocked, couldn't believed that she said that!!  The rest of the way home, I kept looking at Toby's butt as he walked.  Ok, maybe he's let loose a bit, but is he really that bad?!  The next day, I still couldn't forget that comment, so I dragged Toby to the vet and weighed him...95lbs!! He gained 5 pounds! UGH.  So now we're on a strict excercise routine, walking at the beach for an hour at least 3 times a week!  And reducing his food down to two cups a day...it had mysteriously gone up to 3 cups a day for a while.   And although I've been pretty strict on his treats already, it's going to be even stricter!  Ok, I'll give him this green cookie...it's St. Patrick's Day after all...

I took a detour from my errands on Sunday and stopped by a local Starbucks in order to satisfy my urgent caffeine craving.  Besides my tall mocha frappuccino, look what else I left with?  These adorable cupcakes. 

These cupcakes were just sitting in the display case looking so pretty.  The yellow cake is decorated with little white and yellow candy beads with a sugar daisy in the center.  Tracy, if you are reading this I suggest you serve these cupcakes on a cupcake tree at your future garden bridal shower! 

The brown cake is covered with a yummy chocolate shaving.  I suspected that this one will be my favorite!  I was not disappointed.  I had both cupcakes and decided that I love the chocolate cupcake more.  But the yellow one is very good too, but I just love chocolate. 

It's been a few weeks since I've gotten the chance to hit a Starbucks.  Who would've thought that they would come out with such yummy and cute cupcakes? 

Starbucks, if you are listening...please open up a branch at the intersection of Sepulveda and Imperial!

It's been raining all weekend.  Toby hates the rain!  Click on his picture to see an unhappy wet dog.  I usually walk Toby to the park, but on rainy days I drive him there.  The minute he finishes his business, he runs right back to the car and waits for me to let him in by the car door.  He still ends up getting all wet.  I should get him a raincoat...

With all this rain and gloom, I decided that we need a little sunshine in the house.  So I got a little yellow rose plant for my kitchen bay window.  So cute...and because I love roses.  I also love my pink and brown stripe flower pot.  Hopefully this little sunshine will blossom.

An ordinary looking water pitcher. Or is it?!  The stopper is a water glass!!! I LOVE this water pitcher.  I like to keep water on my night stand just in case I need to drink some water over night.  But having a separate glass just takes up space and collects dust over time.  But with this design, it keeps the dust out of the water and the drinking glass while saving precious nightstand real estate.

I found this pitcher at Pier 1 Imports on another one of my Friday leisure shopping excusion.  The best part of this is that it was only $5! 

I followed the adage to never blog angry.  So I waited a week to blog about my plumbing ordeal last week.  All I have to say is...this is my bill.  $129 for unclogging my kitchen sink which took the plumber 5 minutes to snake it clear.  I spent two nights pouring acid strong enough to burn through metal (but not through boiled meat) down my kitchen sink.  And the acid ended up burning a hole in my garbage disposal which cost me $160 to replace.  That garbage disposal took the plumber 10 minutes to install.

We can send man to the moon, but we can not design pipes that people can remove to unclog without a plumber.  I knew exactly what the clog was and where it was...but I couldn't get to it.  CRAZY. 

What else is crazy?  This site is crazy creative!!

The other ones will be going to other pets I know...haven't decided who gets which ones yet.  And I'll be making a few more, with different color combinations and yarn.  I will make a few bigger ones too, for the bigger dogs. 

The only problem with making so many of these crochet balls is that my hands get all crampy!  I think I must not be holding the yarn and/or the hook properly.  More experimenting is needed...

My job is not too stressful, but it does require that I get up everyday and put in a solid 9 hours.  So Toby is at home by himself for that length of time, sleeping. 

This picture was taken one day after work.  I know he can hear my car when I drive into the garage.  I know he can hear my key unlocking the front door.  Now if you have a dog, or even if you don't have a dog, you know how dogs react when their mommy or daddy comes home.  The dog is waiting anxiously by the door to attack you the second you walk into the house.   We've all seen Dino run Fred over in the Flintstones.  That's how a normal dog behaves.

Then we have Toby.  After coming home from work, I walked in, walked across my living room to get my camera, walked back to the couch to take these pictures of him.  Not a flinch...just kinda gazed at me sleepily. 

I know that Toby's a broken Golden Retriever because he does not like to fetch or swim.  But this is a little too ridiculous!  So like every woman, I started having doubts...insecurity sets in.  Is he not happy to see me?  Does he not love me?  Maybe Toby only thinks of me as his food source.  Maybe Toby's mad that I leave him to go to work everyday!  Maybe my little boy resents me for not buying him more treats.

As I wonder about my place in Toby's heart...he does this to put my doubts away.  I tossed my sweater on the bed and left the room.  When I came back in, I found him with his head on my sweater.  Any dog owner knows that that is like saying "mommy, I miss you and want to smell you and be near you." 

So I melted and gave him a huge hug and kiss. 

More affirmation of his love for me, he has to sleep on my side of the bed, even if just for a few minutes before I push him off.  Another sign that he just wants to be close to me. :-)

No doubt, Toby loves me. :-)

Toby: HuH??  What?

Not long after these pictures were taken did Toby decided that his bestfriend needs a little de-furring...

His other bestfriend is hiding in the toy box.

I had a rough start to March.