T-3

So I go back to work in 3 days. I have very mixed feelings about this as I love seeing my babies throughout the day and being there to see every moment, and yet I really need to get out of this house (I have gone for DAYS without leaving this place). One could say that I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't, but then again not really since I don't have a choice and I have to work!

There you go. So T-3...overall a big BOO...(but at least its a beautiful day today in NYC).

2 years, 10 months, 16 days and 2 hours ago...

I wrote about my 8.5 days on the Master Cleanse program (the .5 IS really necessary, you try the master cleanse and see if you can leave that .5 days out). Since then, ALOT has happened (I should hope so, otherwise my life would really be lame). Let's see...I...

1) Got married...yay!
2) Had 2 kids...double yay!
3) Changed jobs (same career though)...triple yay!
4) Moved out of Manhattan...BOO...
5) Gained 8-10 pounds...double BOO...(this is against my pre-wedding weight at the time of my last blog entry, so to be fair, maybe its really only say 4 pounds from my baseline weight)
6) Haven't volunteered in over 2 years...triple BOO...

Hmmm...so I guess my life has been balanced the past few years with some really great things (did I mention I had 2 kids?), with some not-so-great things (man, how much will it cost me to let out my clothes???).

Why start writing again you ask? (okay, no one asked but it made sense to explain this to myself). I remembered I had this blog and read some of the old posts and it was great re-living moments I had forgotten about (literally...did I mention I had 2 kids in less than 2 years? So think of mommy brain x4 - why 4? because I squared the 2 kids since they came so closely together...again, no one asked so I will stop now).

On that note I must tend to little T, and like L.L. Cool J so brilliantly put it, "Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years..." (but note, I don't want to knock anybody out).

Master Cleanse...DAY 2/3

So I've reached the end of day 3 and I feel alright. Today was alittle tough though-- it was someones birthday in the office and they got cupcakes, and I could just taste the frosting in my mouth. I almost went over there and stuck my finger in the frosting! That was probably my first real temptation so far. Besides that its going smoothly-- my hunger pangs have mostly disappeared (man on Tuesday I thought I wouldn't make it-- I kept drinking and drinking, yet kept feeling hungry and hungrier). And not to provide too much detail, but the diet requires taking a laxative tea every night. Day 2 was fine, but today, hmmm....not so much (I won't say anything else). I'm drinking some now as I type so hopefully it will be fine tomorrow morning.

Let's hope I can keep this up. I keep thinking about when I can start eating real food again, and I realized it won't be for at least another couple weeks...boo hoo...I can't wait to eat shabu shabu, sushi and applewood smoked bacon...YUM...

Master Cleanse...DAY 1 (well, night)

Thanks to my friend Margie, who lasted 9 days of master cleanse to find herself with clearer skin, 9 pounds of net weight loss, and a healthier sense of self, I will be starting the Master Cleanse process today!

I will track my progress through my blog...and hopefully I can last the full 10 days! Some interesting notes on making my and drinking my first serving:

1. How is maple syrup (organic, grade B) $18.99??? I'm thinking to myself, man, I'll not only lose some weight but also save some money. UH, NO. And $1.00 each for organic lemons? PLEASE.
2. I love spicy food and as a Korean, I can handle my spice. That being said I realized that I needed to put in 1/5 a teaspoon of cayenne pepper in this serving and I put in a very well-rounded 1/4 teaspoon (I dare say almost 1/3-1/2 teaspoon). Needless to say my lips are somewhat on FIRE...
3. I'm hungry. I'm REAL hungry. I already drank half of my serving for tonight in about 50 minutes, and I'll be up for another 2-2.5 hours. OY.
4. Maybe I'll catch up on my sleep during this master cleanse as sleep will be a great way to forget my hunger...

Wish me luck...for now I'm just trying to get through 4 days...

m.i.a.

I know, its been awhile since I've written anything. I meant to write something last week so I could have a blog entry at least every month but I missed the entire month of March!

So I've been trying to figure out:
1. How I'm going to lose 2 lbs a month until my wedding (by this I mean deciding what gym to join)
2. How I can get back into volunteering (I was so good about this last year, not sure what happened...I can be so lazy...)

On a side note, so I'm watching American Idol Gives Back and when the clip with Annie Lenox in Africa came on I found myself crying. I don't know why it takes someone else's misfortune to make people realize what they have. I was crying because I felt so bad for wanting so many things when I am so incredibly lucky to in be the position I'm in. God, why am I worrying about how I can buy a house or wanting the next "it" bag when there are kids don't even have food or parents to support them (no wonder the rest of the world hates America). But then I felt bad that I felt bad because why should I only feel this way when I see others suffering? I know its human nature but really its not right. So conflicted...people give back when you can! We are all so privileged and we owe it to those less fortunate to donate whatever we can...time, money or both...I know, who am I to say anything since I've done shit this past year but I'm really going to try to be a better world citizen this year!

Sick = Sucks

I hate being sick. I haven't been this sick since 2001 when I was out of the office for an entire week with a viral infection.

Yes, the primary advantage of being sick is not having to go to work, but being out for 4 days really isn't cool. I never thought I would be so anxious to go back to the office.

YUCK.

Takin' it back to the ol' school...

One of the benefits of planning my wedding is being "reunited" with some of my favorite songs from the 80's and 90's. We are working on the play list for our wedding and not to give away our strategy for the play list, but here are some videos to take some of you back to high school:

Video 1: (Jenn, will you do this dance with me? You know you want to!)


Video 2: (y'all know what time it is!)

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!
Feliz Navidad!
Happy Hanukkah!
Happy Kwanzaa!

Here's alittle Christmas gift for you all (alittle blast from the past...circa 1988)...I hope you all have a wonderful holidays and a happy new year...

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Without fail something always happens during holiday travel. Combine that with my oh-so-good-luck (do you sense the sarcasm?), and it gets worse.

So I'm trying to go to LA to have Christmas with my family and I'm stuck at the airport. It is raining a bit here but not so bad that I think it would delay flights. So I call American Airlines and they're like yes, your flight is delayed. I ask about the flight after mine, and they say NO, it is not delayed. So I'm thinking huh? How could my 2:30pm flight be delayed due to weather but NOT the 4:05pm? Then I ask what other flights are delayed and she says, "None".

????

For some reason MY FLIGHT is the only one delayed! The delay is due not to the weather but to "delay in equipment coming from another flight". WTF? What equipment?

UGH. So I'm sitting in front on Auntie Ann's pretzels right now writing in my blog. How very unmerry...

Oh wells. What can I do? Another 3 hours to kill...

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!!!

Wedding website

In case anyone is interested we set up our wedding webpage (were too cheap to set-up a real website!). Check it out if you are interested...

The Kim-Choroco Wedding

Chugging along...

So this wedding planning has been a bit stressful but I am glad to say we've gotten many things checked off on our list. Here are a few highlights:

> Venue: YES (see post below)
> Gown: YES (can't provide details as a certain choroco checks this every now and then)
> Wedding Bands: YES
> Photographer: YES (check out julietnicole.com)
> Florist: YES (check out nancyliuchin.com)
> Day-of Coordinator: YES
> Invitations/Design: YES (those of you who are unfamiliar with Good on Paper Design, Ms. Jackson is one of the most talented designers I know-- and no, even though she's my bridesmaid I'm not biased...)

We will be in the bay area in mid-January to figure out the caterer and the cake and then that's all of the big stuff! I've been looking into the small details recently (i.e., seat cards, menus, programs, etc) and although that is the fun stuff, I fear more stress will be coming my way. Knowing myself, I will fret over every detail to make sure everything is coordinated...goodness gracious.

Marin Art & Garden Center

So I believe this is the place where the Kim-Choroco wedding will take place in 2008.

Take a tour!



I can't wait to marry Frank! :)

First of snow...

We got our first snow of the season today in New York. Frank and I spent the day in Central Park and took some pictures. It was truly beautiful...its days like this that make me love New York...

Frank walking towards the bridge

brrrrrrrr....

Not quite sure what I was doing in this picture...

There were icicles on the rocks!

Close-up of the Icicles

Another beautiful bridge

Can't you imagine this image in one of those karaoke videos?

We heard this squirrel from about 15 feet away-- it made a squealing noise that sounded like a kitten and I was worried it was a lost kitten. But alas, its a little squirrel! Look closely at the center of the picture...

On our way out...

Maya & the Ghoulish Skeleton

During my cousin's white elephant gift exchange (the gag gift part), we discovered that my niece Maya LOVES ghoulish skeletons that sing "Living La Vida Loca"...take a look...

So many choices...

The good news is that Frank and I were able to see 9 potential wedding venues during our Thanksgiving trip to SF. The bad news is that we saw 9 great wedding venues during our Thanksgiving trip to SF. We pretty much have made up our minds...anyone wish to take a gander at our final choice???


1) Hotel Nikko

Ceremony Site

Reception Site

2) Clift Hotel

Ceremony & Dinner Sites



















Cocktail Reception & Dancing Sites



















View from Terrace





















3) DeYoung Museum Cafe


Terrace for Ceremony



















Ceremony Site



















Reception Site



















Terrace View





















4) Cornerstone Gardens

Cocktail Reception Site



















Ceremony Site




















Photography Opp Area




















Reception Site






















5) COPIA - Center for Wine and Food

Ceremony Site

Reception Site

























Cocktail Reception Site





















6) V. Sattui Winery

Ceremony Site I

























Ceremony Site II


























Ceremony Site II - Alternate View



























7) San Francisco Theological Seminary

Ceremony Site



















Reception Site





















8) Marin Art & Garden Center

Ceremony Site



















Cocktail Reception Site



















Reception Site






















9) SF Film Centre in The Presidio

Ceremony Site

























Cocktail Reception Site




















Reception Site

By invitation only...

So after about 3 months online with my blog I've decided to make it readable "by invitation only". There are several reasons for this:

(1) Only my wonderful friends and family would be interested in reading about me,
(2) only my wonderful friends and family would be interested in reading about me,
(3) only my wonderful friends and family would be interested in reading about me.

No, seriously, I know the irony in posting a blog online and restricting its visibility (yes, then why even blog at all), but I am getting a *tad* bit freaked out about the possibility of a random person finding my blog and reading about my personal life.

So thats all folks. Hopefully you guys will continue to visit and read about my not-so-exciting life in NYC!

And p.s., for the readers who I don't know but still managed to read/find my blog, please at least let me know who you are. You shouldn't make a comment unless you're willing to show yourself...really...its the polite thing to do.

GO BEARS! (even though we dropped from like #6 to being non-ranked...boo hoo!!!)

Marriage licenses

So I was talking to a co-worker (who's also engaged), and she mentioned how getting a license in one state (while residing in another) may be something I want to look up. I went to NY and CA state websites and I think it shouldn't be a problem. BUT, there was a couple of interesting things I found out about the marriages in NY:


1) Frank and I can change our last name to anything that is a combination of our last names: "a name combining into a single surname all or a segment of the premarriage surname or any former surname of each spouse". THEREFORE, I was thinking of these options (and side note, why do most of these combinations sound japanese???):

Katherine Chokimo
Katherine Kimchoco
Katherine Chocoki
Katherine Kirocho
Katherine Cochim
Katherine Rokimo


2) If Frank was my first cousin (clearly he is not), I would be able to marry him: "There is no legal bar against marriage between cousins". Interesting...I thought this would be illegal in this day and age.

But there you go-- hopefully you all find this as fascinating as I did!

Frank's Amazing Adventure

Alright, so Ashton looks the best in the video, but I couldn't help doing this for Frank as well...

TOO FUNNY!!!

Amazing ABC Adventure...

OMG, I thought Peanut Butter Jelly Time was awesome-- this is right up there! Here's a video of my little Ashton (well, technically I guess Lis' baby but I love him to death!!!).

Check it out...

SPAM

Ok, this is not about email SPAM, but the O.G. SPAM-- canned that is.

I was in Hoboken, NJ last week and at the local street festival there was a SPAM van! I couldn't believe it! AND the best part is that they were giving away tasting samples AND packaged samples (they have these single serve packages which are AWESOME - I've already eaten the two I got).

YUM!!!