Birthday (family edition)

This year when my family asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I had two requests.... to take a studio family picture and eat sashimi. Little did I know how pricey these studios can charge, I decided to do it the old-fashion way and take it ourselves. And when any special occasion comes along, our family will try to find any excuse to eat at this sashimi restaurant located on the pier of Redondo Beach because it is just that good. This place is known for their fresh crab, but my family comes here for the sashimi. So the day was set! Eat sashimi at Redondo Beach and take family pictures on the pier! 


So there are two Korean sashimi places located on the pier. But this place IS the place to go. There's always a wait on the weekends, but it is definitely worth it. Kind of hard to spot at first, but this is what it looks like from the outside... 

 

Snapshots to kill time while we wait for our food...

Sashimi and Oysters!!! Need I say more? By the way, the oysters here are HUGEEE!!!

Oyster shots 1-2-3!!! 

Do you think this animal is real or fake?

REAL!!! I don't even know what animal to call this, but it definitely stole the show on the pier. Everybody wanted to get in on the action and take a picture with it. 

Mommy and me! 

The men in my life!!!

Thankful for my parents! <3 

So my fear of animals were reinforced when I was too scared to get any closer to this bird. Oh well. 

On the way back to the parking structure, the funniest thing happened! Being the lazy person I am, I did not want to walk all the way around the parking structure to enter (if you've been to Redondo, you know that there are poles around the whole structure). Anyways, I slithered my way through these poles, and my dad being the silly person that he is thought he could do the same! It was the funniest thing, because he had the toughest time getting through!! Our whole family shared the biggest laugh.... Do you think he made it through?

Eventually he did, EVENTUALLYYYY!

Mission Accomplished! Not the greatest family picture, but it will do! 

Bye Redondo! Thank you for a great birthday!

Farewell Summer

Whenever my brother leaves to Texas, is when I start realizing that summer vacation is coming to an end. And this morning, my brother left back to Texas. It's always a sad moment for the family when he leaves because that means we won't be seeing him for another couple solid months. It also means that I will soon be beginning another dreadful semester of school. Thankfully, this semester will be my last (or at least that's what I have planned). 


This was our balcony all summer long while my brother was here. He loves to surf by the way. The big pink surfboard in the middle is mine! It only sees light while my brother is in town! Back in the storage it went this morning. 

This is our balcony now... So empty and lonely! 

Dear Summer,
Thank you for all the laziness I experienced for the past couple months. I will miss you dearly!!! Next week I will be back to all the stress of anxiety, lack of sleep, and caffeine high! Oh, the college life...

Hitting for the Cycle!

On Tuesday, I got to go to Home Run Park with my brother and dad. Home Run Park is a batting cage in Anaheim, and only a mile away from my house. I love watching baseball, but getting to actually bat myself was a totally different experience. We had such a good time, definitely a good place to take out aggression! 


It's only a dollar for 12 pitches (which does go by in less than a minute), and has different batting cages with different ball speeds. My brother was in the 80 mph batting cage, and me and my dad stuck with the 40-50 mph. The batting cages range from 90 mph to softball slow pitches, so it is literally fit for all levels. And on top of that, it is such a good workout! My upper body was so sore all day yesterday!! I am definitely going to make this a once a week activity! So fun!!! 

Single

  

Double

Triple

Home Run!!!

Hitting for the Cycle, single-double-triple-home run! Sigh, I want to go again!! 

Big Brother

Today has been a bittersweet day for me. I got to see my bestfriends (minus Joan), but I was really stressed all day thinking about having to take the GRE tomorrow. I woke up early to study in the morning, took a break by going to the batting cage nearby (will have a post on that soon!), studied at Coffee Bean, had dinner at Olive Garden, and attempted to study again at TenRens. BUT, the more I studied, the more I realized that I was definitely not ready at all to take this exam. I came home disappointed and stressed that I was unable to prepare myself for this exam, but after having a good talk with my brother, I was able to take all this negative energy into refocusing myself to take the GRE again when I am ready (hopefully in a month or two). My brother always has this calm energy, and anytime I feel stressed, I can talk to him and I always feel better. One of the perks of having an older sibling! xoxo

Love you oppa!

Don't we look alike? :) 

Ready to get a good night sleep, and do the best I can for tomorrow's exam. Good night!

Happy Father's Day

This picture is probably the best picture of me and my dad. I feel blessed to have such a great daddy! Happy Father's Day to him and to all the other amazing fathers. 

1 Year Anniversary

Yesterday marked my dad's 1 year anniversary. Exactly one year ago from yesterday, my dad was rushed to the ER b/c of numbing sensations on his legs. After a full day of MRI, X-ray, and CT scan, we found out he had two massive tumors in his lungs that had begun invading his thoracic bones. The next morning, he was rushed to radiation therapy, and that's when the oncologist told me had lung cancer. Nothing can prepare you for experiencing a loved one go through cancer. I don't think people understand how common cancer is. One out of two men, and one out of three women will be diagnosed with cancer (according to American Cancer Society Statistics from 2003), and I can only imagine those numbers increasing due to all the harsh chemicals we're exposed to on a daily basis. Prevention and early detection is key! But due to my dad's amazing progress, my mom and I decided to throw a small 1-Year Anniversary Party for him. 

Ever since my dad's diagnosis,  he sticks to a meat-free diet. But I let him choose whatever he wanted to eat for that day and he chose this, 족발 (pig's feet). I know, ewww...

I was in charge of the cake, so I picked out a coffee cake from Trader Joes! YUM!!!

I love my daddy! 

Today, we went to the oncologist for our monthly follow-up, and great news followed. The cancer is mostly gone, and the Dr. said we only need to come in every two-months for a follow up now. Ah, praise God. It was so surreal for me to be at the hospital and think about how much things have changed from last year. As crazy and hard this past year has been, it has really been a blessing for me to be able to go through this with my family. My dad is so strong and inspirational and I love him so much! 

Memorial Day Weekend

My dad growing up had 3 best friends just like me! One of them is a cancer survivor and dedicated his life to become a pastor (i had a crush on him growing up!) Another one is trying to balance family and work. And lastly, one is another happily married pastor living in the quiet town of Salinas. All three of them grew up together in Korea, and still K.I.T after all these years! I know my best friends and I will be the same way, but I'm so curious how our own life will turn out in the next twenty years. I have a rough blueprint for those upcoming years, but I know life is FULL of surprises, so I won't be surprised if my life is completely different from my "blueprint". And as much as that annoys me, I know in the end God is always there and I can find peace in that. 

Anyways, once in a blue moon, our family and I visit my dad's best friend in Salinas. The pastor has 2 sons similar in age w/ me and my brother so when they used to live in LA, our family pretty much grew up with this family, so its no surprise that we felt right at home here.  Our 2day-1night trip was nice with lots of rest. And on the way back, we visited Solvang!!! It was packed since it was Memorial Day weekend, so we just walked around the block, grabbed dinner/dessert, and headed home. Nevertheless, it was a nice family trip. 

6 hr road-trip! What would we do w/o the GPS on our phone?

Pastor Han and my daddy

Solvang!

Ate here for dinner

I ordered pasta, my parents ordered veggie sandwich, but we swapped meals after tasting LOL

YAY for Solvang!