Joseph&Hsing

23wks Check up~

2011-05-05T17:49:00.005-05:00

Just back from the hospital for the ultrasound. Everyone is excited about the baby's gender...
Now it's the answer time......

jiangjiangjiangjiang~~~ IT'S A BOY!!!

8wks pic

2011-01-20T17:47:00.000-06:00

蘿蔔葉泡菜

2010-11-01T21:55:00.002-06:00

Joseph and I went to H-Mart yesterday. Their 蘿蔔葉 was on sale. (2 for $0.99).
這種蘿蔔葉是韓國小蘿蔔的葉子
Haven't eaten 蘿蔔葉泡菜 for a long time so I bought 2 bunches.
Tried to search the recipe online but couldn't find it.
so I called grandmom today after work.
It's very easy to make.
clean the 蘿蔔葉 and cut it into the size you like.
Use salt to rub the leaves and set it still for 0.5~1hr.
Try a small bit to taste the 鹹度.
Pour out the salt water.
Add in minced garlic and green onion and red pepper(be sure it's for Kimchi. There's another one for soup.).
You can eat it fresh or store in refrigerator over night.
If it's too salty, you can add a little bit sugar.

You can replace 蘿蔔葉 w/ regular 蘿蔔.

New Toys~~~

2010-10-26T20:07:00.003-05:00

My honey let me bought some new toys recently~~ ^____^
The best two ones are the brand new kitchen aid (I can make more desserts now... :D) and an electric pressure cooker.
I really recommend this electric pressure cooker. (鍋寶節能快鍋)
You can cook rice within 10 min.
Cook chicken/pork rib soup and steam fish at the same time within 10 min.
You can find the similar one at Costco or Bed Bath and Beyond.
I think it's safer for stove-top pressure cooker. (Didn't try stove-top pressure cooker before so not sure.)

中秋節快樂~ ^__^ ~

2010-09-15T00:32:00.002-05:00

祝我們在台灣的家人們中秋節快樂~~

Above is the mooncake I made for this year. All I can say is everything takes time… I really missed the old good day I had when I was at student&part-time work…. Even thought no more school works for me, I still don’t know where did I spend my time…Fewer and fewer bakery time…>____<’’’’

BTW, check the picture below. They were made last year. I like the color on the mooncake….I also tried to make ice cream mooncake. not sure how it goes. Will post pics later if it success... :p

WHCC 2010 Taiwan ST Mission Trip.

2010-04-20T21:17:00.002-05:00

http://whcctwmissiontrip.blogspot.com/

This website is the updates for our mission trip.
Please continue to pray for us....

Some pictures….

2009-11-07T22:49:00.001-06:00

花生糖....

Strawberry Mousse Cake~ Part I

Strawberry Mousse Cake~ Part II

兔子豆沙包~~~

泡菜鍋~

是用Homemade Kimchi (made by Chen's kitchen...).這是第一次用老公讓我買的LC鍋煮的~~~~~ ^_____^

Chestnut Cake for Jansina’s Bridal Shower

2009-08-22T22:34:00.000-05:00

大成功~~~~

It’s really challenging to make whipped cream cake. I had to freeze the bowl before I poured and blended whipped cream. After blended, I had to decorate it as soon as possible so my hands wouldn’t melt the cream.

This time I used all-purpose flour to make the cake because I mixed the chestnut in cake.

It tasted good and not very sweet. I even mixed chestnut in whipped cream. This is a real chestnut cake. from cake, filling to whipped cream, all w/ chestnut in.

I’ll work on more whipped cream cakes. I hope some day I can make cream like those professionals… ^____^

Mango Mousse Cake w/ Home-made Lady’s Fingers

2009-07-19T22:08:00.000-05:00

In July, I made two big mango mousse cakes. One for Moon. (My loyal customer:p ) and another one is for party. We were glad that Hu’s family invited us to their sweet home in July.

This time I tried different way to decorate it.

The only bad thing was I accidentally over-baked the lady’s fingers so some of them were darker. However, I think this is a nice try.

As usual, I used extra materials to make small cakes.

My Birthday…

2009-06-11T17:30:00.000-05:00

今年我的生日我要給我們家先生拍拍手，
今年我們兩個都要上班，所以下班後我先回家，老公回來後，居然拿了一小束玫瑰花，(我跟他說過買一打玫瑰花還不如買幾枝玫瑰花但是有配其他的陪襯，沒想到他居然記住了。)這讓我很Surprise，因為在他的眼裡，花是既不經濟又不實惠的東西.... :p
之後我們一起去Galleria 附近的McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant吃晚餐。這家餐廳還不錯，不過忘記照照片了....

今年老公送了我一台料理用的電子秤，(我之前用的不是電子的，不是很準)，這個電子秤很棒，以下的功能讓我很喜歡。
1) 開機前把湯碗放上去，開機後它就會歸零，所以我不需要減掉碗重量
2) 最重可以秤到3kg
3) 可以換算材料的Nutrition Fact

老公，謝謝你的禮物………

牛粒

2009-06-01T21:00:00.001-05:00

前陣子嘴饞，一直想吃在台灣麵包店都會賣的點心，

這裡的麵包店都賣得好貴(小小一包就要兩塊錢)，

所以自己來做，其實做的方式跟我平常做蛋糕的食譜差不多，只是沒有加油在裡面。

打好的麵糊用擠花袋擠出來烤，表面脆脆的訣竅就是烤之前，把糖粉用小濾網過篩在表面，考完後就會有龜裂的樣子，脆脆甜甜的。

中間的夾層是用軟化奶油加糖粉打發(Creamy狀)，塗在中間，冷掉後就會黏住。

很好吃喔~~~~~~

番茄成熟時...

2009-05-08T09:03:00.001-05:00

前幾天突然發現一粒番茄開始變色了，這株番茄很給面子，當初花$1.49買的現在給我結了十幾粒果子，還一直在開花喔！！

今天看到我們那粒櫻桃番茄變成紅色了，就把他摘下來分著吃。(真得很小一顆，不過很甜喔！！期待接下來的收成！！) ^____^

開花了開花了!!!!

2009-05-08T08:55:00.001-05:00

View Full Album

每年復活節前後我們家的Lily就開得好美，可惜今年初忘記施肥了，所以今年的花比較小也比較少，謝謝前屋主的努力，讓我們後人可以乘涼.... :)

陳家的貴客

2009-05-08T08:42:00.001-05:00

這幾天這隻紅鳥常常跑到我們家後院來玩~

輕乳酪蛋糕~

2009-04-23T16:55:00.001-05:00

又到了Joseph領詩的時候了, 這禮拜給大家做了輕乳酪蛋糕, 因為下午要去團契一個新朋友家BBQ, 所以順便一起烤了這個, 倒扣的時候表面黏到我手上, 結果表面一個手掌印..... =____=

所以只好decorate 一下囉~不過我的decorate技術好像比較好一點了... :D

味道跟在台灣吃的一樣... ^o^Y

小鳥小鳥

2009-04-23T16:52:00.001-05:00

上禮拜做了一個失敗的法國麵包, (酵母不夠所以發酵不完全)

Joseph把它放到後院的盤子裡, 今天下午好多小鳥跑到我們家後院吃麵包~ ^___^ ~

才一個下午, 盤子裡的麵包只剩一半了說...

討厭的移民局...

2009-04-21T18:19:00.001-05:00

I went to Dr. Gan's office last evening to pick up my medical examination report... Guess what? I waited for 1.5 hrs....

When he is almost going to sign my report, he asked my age. and then he asked the nurse if I took “HPV” or not.

因為這個破疫苗, 我得等我打完了Dr. Gan才簽...

這個疫苗是預防子宮頸癌. 最好的注射期間是10~26歲...醫生斷定我今年24歲...一定得打...

The nurse told me it costs 180~240 bucks per shot and I have to take three shots…. 打完一千塊有找...

but she also told me that I can go to government clinic. If I tell the clinic I don’t have income, it’s free… :D

so I went to the one on Antoine. It took me $15 to take the first shot. I didn’t take free one because it’s based on family income.

I have to wait another month for the second shot and another month for the third shot.

I didn’t see any regulation about this on USCIS' website...

I never heard anyone took this shot before. Why do I need to take???

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

2009-04-11T00:09:00.000-05:00

It’s very yummy but it’s fatty too… :(

Material: Fresh Strawberry 1lb, Banana x1, Ice some, Water some, Ice Cream some (the more the better. this will make the smoothie more creamy and sweet.)

Leave some strawberry for decoration and blend everything together.

Thanks my lovely husband for sponsoring me buying a simple but nice blender. (l)

菠菜麵

2009-03-08T19:27:00.001-06:00

前幾天心血來潮想自己做麵，這是一個很簡單的食譜，既簡單又健康。

Material: All-Purpose Flour (中筋麵粉) 300g、Sea Salt (海鹽) ~5g、現榨菠菜汁 150g

全部攪拌成麵團後，鬆弛30分鐘。將鬆弛過的麵團搓揉至光滑，將麵團趕成所想要的厚度。因為我沒有桿麵機所以是用桿麵棍擀的，要分三到四個麵糰才能將全部桿完。擀平後在表面輕灑一層麵粉(防止沾黏)，將麵餅折成兩到三層，切出想要的厚度後，放在容器裡，在容器裡和麵條上灑上足夠的麵粉，這樣進冰箱後就不會黏住。要吃的時候再煮就可以了。

陳家菜圃新成員~

2009-03-08T19:00:00.001-06:00

前陣子聽戴太太的建議(春天要開始耕耘)，昨天跟我們家先生去Houston Garden Center逛。買了一號枇杷樹、三號草莓還有四號番茄。

二號芋頭是去年冬天小阿姨給的芋頭，冬天太冷懶得出院子，就一直把它留在小小一加侖容量的盆子裡，經過一個冬天的折磨，有一兩枝大的死掉了，不過還滿爭氣的，今天把它種下去的時候，發現有很多根新的小苗(戴太太，等我培育成功後再分枝給你)。而且我看到好幾個小芋頭正在長喔…(我阿姨說等有收成了，要我做一個芋頭蛋糕回報她...:p)

我發現我真不適合在外面做勞力...

我只在外面兩個小時就回來繼續寫blog....我家先生還繼續努力地除草還有洗車....

這個哩，是我在插枝中的九層塔和地瓜葉…

1st Anniversary!!!

2009-02-02T00:11:00.001-06:00

YES~ We’ve survived from the first year of marriage.

We’ve learned a lot from each other. Learning how to love each other by his/her way is pretty hard. I believe we’ll be getting better from years to years.

Both of us agreed that it was really helpful for us to go to the couple camp in the beginning of our marriage. We’ve seen different couples struggling in different stages of marriages. (no kids, w/ baby, w/ kids, w/ teenager, empty nest etc.) We learned a lot of good and bad experiences from other couples. I think this really helped us going through past year. We had heavy school life, work, family and church servings past year. Without God’s love and blessings, we can’t make it.

We’re still learning how to be a wife/husband that Joseph/I want me/him to be. I feel so thankful that God gives Joseph a big heart to tolerate me and to let me be myself……… ^________^

發粿

2009-01-25T00:06:00.001-06:00

過年應景作了幾個發粿~~需要食譜請留言~ :)

我還同時作了好幾個年糕, 六年沒在台灣過年了, 很懷念台灣過年時市場人擠人的情景, 每年我們都會買年糕回來炸, 今年嘴饞, 就上網找食譜來作, 原來年糕作起來還滿簡單的, 只要熱水, 砂糖(白黑紅), 糯米粉和黏米粉就可以作成了~可惜忘記照相………

Christmas Vacation @ New Orleans

2008-12-28T00:01:00.000-06:00

During the Christmas holidays, we (Joseph, Hsing, Victor and Michelle) went to New Orleans. I haven’t been going on any vacation like this before. (Double Date.) I had a good time w/ brothers and sisters. We did visit Eric&BH during our trip and stayed at their sweet home for one night. (Thank you, Eric&BH!!!!)

Their kids are so lovely.

We went to eat the famous beignets in Cafe Du Monde.

They also took us to a pretty cake shop called Sucree. Their cakes are so pretty but costly…

Too bad that I couldn’t take a lot of pictures because my camera was broken during the trip. (my 節儉 husband fixed it after the trip... :p)

Christmas Eve’s Party @ Uncle Ken and Aunt Agnes’ Place

2008-12-24T23:29:00.000-06:00

Past Christmas eve, we went to their place for party. I made a strawberry mousse cake.

Cindy's Wedding Cake

2008-12-07T21:53:00.000-06:00

This is my first time making a wedding cake. Thank Cindy for giving me this opportunity. It took me 1 1/2 days to finish this cake. The cake is vanilla flavor with various fruit mousse fillings. (strawberry, apple, and mango) No one would know what kind of flavor they were going to have.

Another closer picture. Thanks Edison for taking pictures for me. For my blog visitors, if you took any picture for this cakes, please send me an e-mail. Really appreciate....

Thanksgiving Night at Johnny&Gina's Place.

2008-11-27T20:41:00.000-06:00

We went to Johnny&Gina's place on Thanksgiving night.

I made a small mango mousse cake and fruit tarts this time.

Here're the pictures.

Joseph and I stayed at their house until 11:30pm and went to the outlet at 290 to see the crowd people.

Here's the 實況.

(Fairfield Exit)

It took us 10~15 min to exit hwy 290 and another 15~20mins to find a parking lot.

We did not buy many things but it was really a good experience to see how crazy ppl are.

圓球麵包&肉鬆捲麵包

2008-11-22T20:30:00.000-06:00

These were made long time ago... They were made for Joseph's worship team's breakfast. I also made 包子. The reason I made so many kinds this time is to appreciate all co-workers' hard working.

I really like the round buns. It was tasty and cute. The trick to make it so 圓 is I left the dough in mini muffin pan.

Here's the 剖面圖~~ The left one is custard flavor and the right one is red beans. (again. I used red bean can.)

終於成功了~^____^~

2008-11-01T23:15:00.001-06:00

老公再幾個小時就要回來了(凌晨), 所以得做些麵包給他當早餐。

一直以來麵包和土司是我做點心上面的障礙, 唯一比較拿手的吐司只有波特吐司, 經過了幾次不同的食譜, 終於發現我的麵包一直扁扁的原因, 結果好像是酵母粉放太少, 我參考的食譜大部分都是台灣的, 所以酵母粉又跟這裡不一樣, 這次做的時候多放了一點, 然後改用溫水代替涼水, 效果變比較好, 發酵的比較成功, 但是在做波蘿麵包的時候, 好像還是有點扁扁的....

順帶一提的是, 這些蔥都是產自"陳家菜圃"喔~~ ^__^

蔥花麵包

地瓜麵包

迷你蔥花捲麵包

菠蘿麵包

我家對面的黃金單身漢...

2008-10-29T22:01:00.002-06:00

If you've been to our house, you would know there's a single man living across the street. He's quite handy. He does all the house maintenance by himself. He also decorates his yard according to different season. Since Halloween is coming, he has started to decorate his yard couple weeks ago. Joseph told me he did the same design last year. 墳墓, 幽靈, 骷顱頭, 蜘蛛和蜘蛛網

You even can hear the 鬼叫聲 at night time. It might sound scary, but I think it's funny. because I've never really seen this kind of decoration before....

11/1/08

補上昨天萬聖節的照片, 這個單身漢真得很厲害, 不但把家門口布置得很可怕, 自己還打扮成死神在門口發糖果, 昨天他還把斷頭台, 一堆骷顱, 棺材還有木乃伊搬出來, 還把garage door掛上鐵圍籬的布, 以前看到這些還會覺得怪可怕的, 我想我們基督徒可能都覺得那些是無稽之談, 所以我看到時的反應居然是很好玩而不是很可怕~

老公不在家

2008-10-18T19:13:00.001-05:00

Joseph went to TW and China for business travel for 18days.

This is the first time I am home along after getting married. (actually it's only 8.5 months)

I dunno how other sisters do when their husbands are not home for a while....

At least for myself, I'm kindda bored... Even though Joseph calls me twice a day, I still feel lonely especially at night. (I have a lot of things need to be done such as study, homework, housework etc. but I don't have much feeling to do.)

Today is the first Saturday w/o Joseph. Stayed at home all day.

BTW, the following is the cantaloupe we harvested on the day Joseph left (Wed.). Joseph said it's worth it even though this is the first time that successfully fruited.

Thanks to Michelle & Victor for letting us know that not to water too much when it's fruiting. The cantaloupe was sweet. Hope it will fruit more in the future. (It only cost us around $2~$4 at Home Depot...:p)

We also seeded asparagus in our 菜圃... Hope it will grow...

紅豆麵包 & 蔥花麵包

2008-10-13T09:22:00.000-05:00

今天心血來潮想要再試試看麵包，之前用的食譜一直失敗，這次參考我常看的食譜，這個配方原本是for吐司的，我想說都是麵包類，就來做成麵包，一開始發的還不錯，第二次發酵時好像沒發夠，所以烤出來沒有很澎澎的感覺(不過很紮實)

懶得自己做紅豆泥，就用韓國的紅豆罐頭，還不錯吃...

至於蔥花麵包，裡頭什麼都沒包，只有在表面塗了蔥油(青蔥+奶油)

第一次發酵後

第二次發酵

陳家菜圃

2008-09-26T16:34:00.001-05:00

這個夏天太熱了, 又忙著學一大堆東西, 似乎遺忘了我們家的菜圃,

小阿姨給了我們一張HomeDepot的Gift Card所以我們幾個月前去買了一堆土,但是一直沒時間,

好不容易我們家先生考完GMAT了, 把我們家的菜圃擴大了一倍~^__^~

來介紹一下我們家菜圃的成員

地瓜葉 (吃剩下的莖泡水長根後就可以種下去了

韭菜花 (可是我們辛辛苦苦從種子種成這樣的唷!!開花了說, 颶風來之前還剪了一些來吃)

木瓜"樹" (謝謝貝絲小姐送我們好多木瓜苗, 這棵的莖越來越粗囉~)

甜瓜 (我們幾個月前去HomeDepot買的小小苗, 爬得我們整個菜圃都是, 之前結了兩個果, 都被鳥戳破, 這次颶風來之前去看的時候突然發現有一棵躲在木瓜樹下面, 大概是我的一個半隻手吧!)

九層塔 (這是我們去吃越南麵的時候拿了兩根莖回來泡根, 我們家還有另外一種九層塔是從種子種的, 但是那個味道很重, 跟我們平常種的不一樣)

Parsley (也不知道為什麼我當初要種, 這個我覺得不好吃)

對了, 還有三個成員, 第一個是一小顆芭樂樹躲在裡面, 還有最容易種的蔥, 第三個就是葡萄柚樹, 以上就是我們家菜圃的成員, 陸續還會有更多的成員加入菜圃。

下次要試試看種番茄。。。

蛋黃酥 for Cindy&CW's Wedding + 參加婚禮後的感想

2008-09-14T23:38:00.000-05:00

Cindy&CW的婚禮剛好遇到中秋節，Cindy想在婚禮結束後送客人蛋黃酥，所以我就幫他們做蛋黃酥。

這真是一大挑戰，因為我還答應要幫他們做蛋糕，兩百人份的蛋黃酥和蛋糕，有點可怕......:p

因為颶風Ike要來，我們都很擔心，不過Cindy&CW很有信心，在這次他們的婚禮當中真的看到神在他們身上的恩典，神的恩典並不因為風雨而減少，就像許牧師說的，雖然缺水缺電，但是神的愛卻不缺席。

趕在颶風Ike來之前把蛋黃酥的材料買好，因為Cindy&CW的婚禮儀式結束後還是要送客人蛋黃酥，原本預計要做一百五十個，禮拜五做了八十個，豆沙用完了，所以晚上趕快再做了一些豆沙，結果禮拜六半夜颶風登陸，居然停電...... >___<

所以最後只有八十個，好像還不夠送客人...其實我禮拜五還有烤了兩個芒果慕斯蛋糕，(因為芒果已經買好要做蛋糕，不做的話就壞掉了)

所以禮拜天儀式結束後，有一個小小的茶會，(謝謝Edison買了一些cookies和飲料)

這是我來美國後參加的婚禮當中最有意義的一個婚禮，不光是因為是我最好的姊妹，也是因為在他們交往的日子裡，我們總是彼此鼓勵代禱，看到他們終於完成終身大事，心中還滿感動的...

(Cindy, sorry I copied ur pic...:p)

還有, 最後再來一張他們漂亮的蛋黃酥盒子~

Cakes for Cindy's Bridal Shower

2008-08-30T23:26:00.000-05:00

This is for Cindy's Bridal Shower.

鳳梨酥....

2008-08-14T23:03:00.000-05:00

感謝神今年暑假讓我學了好多我想學的東西，做了好多我想做的東西，(謝謝老公你的鼓勵~)

謝謝Michelle的姑姑的贊助~把她以前做鳳梨酥的模子送給我~

Cake Decorating Course III --- Final Cake (Tiered Cake)

2008-07-31T23:28:00.001-05:00

This it another one I made today. The top cake is filled w/ strawberry mousse and the bottom one is filled w/ mango mousse.

I hope the cake won't taste bad....

Sabrina, don't forget to stay a little bit longer tomorrow night for tasting this cake ah...

Cake Decorating Course II --- Final Cake

2008-07-30T08:51:00.001-05:00

This is the only and the last cake I made for course II.

For past 4 weeks, I learned how to make a lot of flowers....

BTW... This is a chocolate cake w/ chocolate mousse.

I'll bring it to tonight's prayer meeting...

I am also taking course III in this month. Thursday will be the last class for course III. I'll bring that one to fellowship on Friday since it's a 2-layer cake. Joseph and I can't finish it by ourselves...

Fondant Cake....

2008-07-21T21:50:00.001-05:00

This was made for my cake decorating classes.

This is my first time to roll the fondant. It is a really interesting experience.

FYI, fondant is made from marshmallows. If you attended fellowship last Friday, you will know it's very sweet...

胡椒餅....

2008-07-21T21:43:00.001-05:00

It is very tasty...

It was for worship team...

whoever wants it, welcome to join our worship team...

Bridal Shower Cake for Cherry....

2008-07-12T19:43:00.002-05:00

I was planning to bake a one layer cake for Cherry's bridal shower.

However, Joseph suggested me to do two layers instead since I have enough filling.

It is Taiwanese cake with pudding and taro fillings.

I don't know if this would taste good...

I'm still bad at icing the cake. You can see there're lots of spaces are not smooth....

糖花 (Has to been made at least 24 hrs ahead.)

First Layer

Second Layer

Mango Mousse....

2008-07-09T08:41:00.003-05:00

I made a mango mousse cake last night for tonight's prayer meeting.

This is my first try on mouse cake.

Joseph said it's good...

Does anyone notice that I use Jungle's case to store this cake??

Even though it doesn't look as pretty as Jungle's, the materials I used are more 真材實料... see... you can see 芒果渣 between the mousse.

That is because I used fresh mangos not mango juice...

Cake Decorating Classes....

2008-07-07T22:15:00.002-05:00

This summer, I'm taking cake decorating classes.

The following two cakes were decorated during the first course.

Will post more once I've done in class later.

Clown Cake

(The sitting clown looks flat because the icing was too thin.)

Rose Cake

婚紗照...

2008-01-11T01:40:00.001-06:00

Finally we are back from Taiwan. Thank God for giving us such great time to be w/ both my and Joseph's families.

Here comes our wedding pictures...

The photographer is really professional. He is REALLY good to let us smile naturally.

I like his style very much....

Here are some pics from my album...

Feel free to check HERE.

Back Splash

2007-12-17T23:04:00.001-06:00

Joseph and I spent whole week (actually 4 days) on back splash in our kitchen.

This is how it looks like before we bought the house...

This is how it looks like when the contractors finished the countertop and tore our back splash...

I'm too tired to write the story in words....

Let us just watch the pictures....

This is an advice for couple who are married and going to get married...

If you want to know a person, you can do the house remodeling together...

This is really an opportunity for us to work together.

We have been fighting since Joseph decided to do back splash by our owns.

I told Joseph it's not wise to do by ourselves at this moment. We're going back to Taiwan on 12/25 and the wedding is coming up.

He still wants to try...

Since he insists, I have to 順服~

The following is our progress....

DAY I----- (Tuesday 12/11/2007)

工欲善其事，必先利其器

We bought lots of equipments and materials on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning.

Look at Joseph---> He didn't know how to control the tile cutting machine very well at the first day so He was like 落湯雞 all day....

DAY II----- (Thursday, 12/13/2007)

Start to 貼瓷磚...

Joseph is getting used to control that machine...

And I am more familiar w/ the tiles...

Now it's 1:30am... We finally finish one small wall...

There's a 小插曲 which is our furniture arrived on Thursday morning...

This is our new dishwasher... but it doesn't look as nice as we thought...

Last but not the least.....Jiang-Jiang....

Our PA system arrived at the same day....

DAY III&IV----- (12/15~16/2007)

We finished tiling on Saturday night....

This is how it looks like...

We did grouting on Sunday afternoon after co-worker meeting...

Now we have to wait at least 3 days to seal the tiles....

Will upload more finished work after we clean up the kitchen...

If you see it carefully, you'll notice that the faucet is missing...

The countertop company hasn't sent a plumber to install our plumbing system in kitchen....

In the end of this page I would like to tell ppl who want to tile by themselves.

Do it if you have enough patience... and try to simplify the pattern if you don't have enough patience....

I have been sitting on my countertop for days...

I told Joseph that I might be the only sister in our fellowship who "SITS" on her countertop....

一輩子的遺憾...

2007-12-05T23:05:00.001-06:00

If there's a 遺憾 in my life so far, that will be I don't have a wonderful memory of engagement...

One of our friends told me that her boyfriend proposed.

I was supposed to be happy for her, but I couldn't...

This is always my hurt...

Every time when ppl asking how Joseph proposed, I always 三言兩語帶過去.

木已成舟,

I can't ask him to propose now... (Unless I return the ring...),

I believe this will be my 一輩子的遺憾,

I can't tell my kids how their dad proposed...

愛之語 (Five Love Languages)

2007-11-20T00:06:00.001-06:00

Recently I'm reading this book online.

so far I'm in the first few chapters.

I think I'm struggling in some similar situations from the book.

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一旦恋爱的经验跑到一个程度(请记得，平均一般的恋爱经验仅存活两年)，我们就又回到真实的世界，开始维护起自己来；所表达的愿望，开始不同于对方。他想要性关系，她太累了；想要买部新车，她说：「荒唐」；她想要拜望她的父母，他说：「我不要花那么多时间跟你家人在一起。」他想要参加垒球赛，她说：「你爱垒球胜过爱我。」渐渐地，亲密的幻觉消失了；个人的愿望、情绪、想法和行为模式全现出原形。他们是两个不同的个体，心思并没有融合在一起，情绪也只有在爱的海洋中混和一会儿罢了。现在，现实的波浪开始分离他们，使他们跨出情网。这个时候，他们或者退缩、分居、离婚，开始寻求一个新的恋爱经验；或者在神魂颠倒期的陶醉感清醒之际，开始学习彼此相爱的艰难功课。

.............................................................................................................

当你配偶的情绪爱箱满了之时，他在你的爱里会觉得安全；整个世界看起来明亮了，他会走出来，发挥生命中最高的潜力。可是，当爱箱空了的时候，他会觉得被利用，而不是被爱；整个世界看起来黯然无光，他变得似乎无法在社会上发挥出原有潜力。

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2 Months and 12 Days...

2007-11-19T22:36:00.001-06:00

only 2 months and 12 days left...

I'm kinda nervous now...

I start to panic...

recently Joseph and I all feel stressed...

not only because the wedding, but also our new life.

even though we almost sent out all the invitations, I am still not sure about it....

Am I really ready for a marriage?

I really dunno what to do and how to do...

Kitchen Remodeling...

2007-11-15T23:22:00.001-06:00

well... even though it's very tiring, we still learned a lot...

The contractor finished the flooring job past Sunday.

Overall it's ok, but I think their closing job is kinda sloppy...

The kitchen tiles are not that straight....

Anyway, we change another contractor for kitchen remodeling...

We want to upgrade our kitchen this time.

We went to a lot of granite stores recently.

and here'r from my final list....

Black Galaxy

Uba Tuba

They look kinda dark, right?

so far we haven't decided to upgrade it or not...

It depends on the quotes.

Will update it later once we decide to do it or not...

Designing Floor...

2007-11-05T20:05:00.001-06:00

I found a good website to estimate the amount of tiles we need.

This is the one I like.

However, I want it a little bit different so I drew this one.

This is our utility room. The black line on the top left is door.

W stands for washer and D stands for dryer.

The floor will be like this one. The contractor will put "Texas Beige" tiles on the purple areas and "Canyon" tiles on the small white areas.

Hope this will look good...(It'd better look good... the contractor charges us $200 more for this extra job...)

Shop for Flooring...

2007-11-05T19:49:00.001-06:00

Past 2 weeks, Joseph has been requesting quotes on our new house's flooring.

Finally we decided to hire a contractor to do it. This contractor is cheaper and we need to buy the material we want.

Last Saturday, we went to 2 Home Depot, 1 Lowes, and 1 tile store.

Yesterday, we went to another Home Depot and Lowes near our new house.

Finally we found the one I like and within our budget. (Joseph said I'm too picky...)

Here's our laminate floor. (Pergo Springdale Dark Cherry Glueless Laminate Flooring)

Here'r our tiles. (12"x12" Texas Beige and 6"x6" Canyon)

We bought all these in Lowes. (This is a nice store.)

Right now Lowes has 15% off on in-stock laminate floor.

Plus Joseph got a 10% off coupon from har.com.

This is really a cool experience. It is too bad that we do not have enough time and budget to shop for more.

I believe this is a good opportunity for a first-house owner like us.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Because of this experience, we notice our difference more.

Joseph cares more about the value and practicability but I am more artistic.

so we came to an agreement.

He set the limit and I make decision.

倒數三個月...

2007-10-24T23:07:00.000-05:00

已經十月中了... which means my wedding is getting closer...
其實這個月發生很多事情，只是一直沒機會來update...
房子下禮拜一就close了，這真的要感謝神，
感謝神在這件事上的安排，
讓我們還有機會能整修房子．

再來勒...
最近是真的有點累，
在學習著早睡早起的功課，
其實這也有好處，
第一，跟Joseph的作息差不多(但是還是趕不上他五六點就起床)
第二，有比較多可以利用的時間

其實最近結婚的進度還算ok~
只是只有Joseph有相機，所以無法update上來，
最近我做了些什麼呢？
喜帖Heidi幫我從台灣運回來，（真是謝謝Heidi)
這一個禮拜在印RSVP，預計十一月初就可以發帖子了，
還在尋找伴娘的禮服，(我的伴娘們都很有主見...:p)
Anyway... It's only three months left...
kinda worry now...
kept asking myself if I'm ready to be a wife and a daughter-in-law...

優點缺點

2007-09-24T22:12:00.001-05:00

最近常常自卑感作祟，三天兩頭就自己生悶氣，

今天晚上吃飯時，跟阿姨討論到昨天Vivian帶的workshop，

我提到Joseph很厲害，看一下就批哩啪拉的歸納出來，

阿姨就問我是不是又崇拜他了？

她說要趕快把優點寫出來，

等結婚後，滿腦子都會是對方的缺點，

吵不完的時候再回來看看自己寫的，

會提醒自己當初愛對方的理由.......

最近在整理照片，看到了過去的彼此，

常會怪對方，＂想當初你是這樣這樣，怎麼現在變成那樣那樣？＂

好像忘記了是自己讓對方變成那樣那樣的，

其實Joseph的優點不少，只是因為越愛對方，便會越想改變對方，

這其實是不對的，現在，

我要開始學習把缺點當優點，這樣，世界會不會美麗一些呢？？

Hsing

又要下offer了...

2007-09-17T21:41:00.001-05:00

昨天下午Joseph, 我, Aunt Agnes and Uncle Ken四個人去看了一間95年的房子，(House A)

我們四個都滿喜歡，都決定要下offer了，

Joseph就想說再去看一次之前那一家，(House B)

結果沒想到我阿姨她們兩間都很喜歡，

這下子我和Joseph不知道該怎麼辦啦....

兩棟房子各有各的好，真的不知道該選哪一棟...

晚上睡覺前，Joseph asked that we should pray together.

So we pray about this before we went to sleep.

We pray that God will show us the best house.

今天一大早House A(原本Joseph要下offer的那間)的seller's agent打來要我們快下offer，

因為seller快要把房子從MLS (Multiple Listing Service)拿下來，

Joseph就口頭上跟兩間房子的agents談了一下價錢，

沒想到House B很快就回應了，同時House A在"har.com"上已經找不到了...(Joseph說已經withdraw了...)

沒想到　神的回應竟是這麼的快...一下子就把我們的掛慮解除了，

現在就得看看我們Joseph這個agent的功力啦...

放點照片來看看...

hehe....purple master bedroom...

這家的女主人跟我有一樣的taste...

希望這次能一切順利，

求　神保佑...

Wedding Logo

2007-09-02T23:15:00.000-05:00

JiangJiang.... Here comes our first wedding logo.

I really dunno which one is better, but I think I like the first one better because I can easily see the date on the ring....

Will decide it soon so I can use it for my wedding invitation, RSVP, program, etc.

Joseph even thinks about using this one to be his "future" office logo... :p

Hope no one will steal our design....:p

喜帖搞定...

2007-09-01T16:54:00.001-05:00

Finally... 終於把喜帖搞定了....

之前原本想要自己做，作成像這樣子的,(designed by clara (1st), 阿喵 (2nd))

結果Joseph and my mom都不支持我自己做...

所以只好用訂的啦...經過好一陣子的搜尋，終於找到還算可以的...
就是這個啦...(Designed by Tutu Card)

一切順利...接下來要開始設計我的program還有RSVP啦...

希望接下去能一切順利....

缺乏自信心的我...

2007-08-19T23:45:00.001-05:00

我也不知道為什麼，自己總是對自己很沒有信心，甚至到自卑的地步~

看著blog裡面的倒數器，離婚禮只剩不到五個半月，我開始懷疑，懷疑自己到底能不能作好一個＂妻子＂及＂媳婦＂這兩個腳色，

甚至開始懷疑到底Joseph到底喜歡上我哪一點，既沒有錢，又還在唸書，整個人就開始沮喪起來....

我該怎麼辦.... Father, please help me...

I really dunno what to do... Please guide me and give me the confidence from You...

成長的感慨...

2007-08-10T23:31:00.001-05:00

最近一連串的事情真的讓我難以消化，

心中的失落感很大，我也想感情親情友情都兼顧...

可是當你選擇愛情時，你就注定得失去些什麼，

看到姊妹們聚在一起，真的很羨慕，

Joseph說我如果想要就去加入，但是我加入了以後呢?

說話時都得小心翼翼地，盡量把婚事低調點...

看到自己的姊妹們傷心難過，自己也很難過，

但是我很怕我的安慰並未能造成功效，

有時候我真的很怕我多說多錯，

so I choose to stand by...

我想，這應該是一個成長的功課吧...

看到團契裡面的人越來越多，自己似乎開始沒法融入這個環境...

現在的我，到底這個團契能否幫助我在靈性上面的成長呢？

還是只是學到一些吃喝玩樂的方法？
唉.....

好久沒寫這個blog了...

2007-07-29T00:14:00.000-05:00

該update一下了，
上次那間房子沒買到，
不過我們都相信　神會預備更好的給我們。

最近真的是發生好多事情，
周圍的朋友們在感情上遇到困難，
表妹一家人的事情，
忙著summer school和打工，
讓我真的是很難負荷，
心裡狀況很差，雖然說最近不太需要忙婚禮的事，
但是我連想的懶得想，
這些煩人的事真的搞得我心很亂。

昨天（Friday）跟我阿姨聊天聊到凌晨（4am），
回房後一路睡到十點半，
這時候我的心情就不是很好....
早上已經被表妹的事弄得心情不好，
Joseph的一番話又把我弄得更煩，
也許他不是故意的，
但是我聽進去就是覺得他一點都不尊重長輩，
在我的想法裡面，就算長輩做事反反覆覆，也不能不尊重長輩，
如果阿姨姨丈不在的話，我可能就會朝電話大吼....
因為當初要約的人是我們，又臨時取消，真的覺得很不好意思...
所以很煩很煩....................................................................................................................................
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First House Offer in Our Life...

2007-07-03T21:12:00.000-05:00

After so many houses visits, we finally found a house that Joseph and I really love it.

When Joseph found this one last week, it was only on the market for 1 day.

Then we decided to visit it in Sat evening.

At the first moment we saw this house, Joseph said "we'll buy it!"

This is the first time I feel Joseph is so 衝動...:p

It is really a good deal.

so we planned a second visit w/ my uncle, and our "future neighbor"-- TL&Sabrina.
This house is like 5 mins away from TL&Sabrina's house.

Now we need to pray for this house. Hope they (seller) would take our offer....

每個人表示愛的方式不一樣...

2007-06-25T22:04:00.000-05:00

最近，
因為結婚的事情，讓我發現，每個人表示愛的方法都不一樣，
對我來說，"愛"就是要表現出來，讓大家知道我有多愛你．
但是對Joseph來說，他的"愛"是很實際的，真正需要的時候，他是不眨眼的．
兩個人真的很不一樣，但是因為想要，他還是會評估我所想要的是不是合理，
神真的很奇妙，把這樣兩個不一樣的人擺在一起...

感情的事

2007-06-13T23:08:00.000-05:00

最近周圍的一對couple在對於未來上面的認知出現了一些歧見，

我想，我很感謝　神，雖然未來的路是如何我並不知道，

但我知道　神是很愛我的，祂讓我認識Joseph，

在他身上我找到了我自己從來沒有也很渴望擁有的優點，（雖然缺點還是很多...）

曾經，我也有想過要放棄，

曾經，我也想過是否我只是為了逃避現在的生活，

但是Joseph對　神的信心感動了我，

不管未來的路是如何，

但我知道我有　神牽著我們的手....

手鏈有了, 下一個是腳銬

2007-06-12T15:42:00.000-05:00

Top #1 gift giver in 2007...:P

該開始忙碌??

2007-06-11T15:34:00.000-05:00

well...
less than 8 months now...
I am still kinda "dunno-what-to-do"...
I started to gather some information already.
Thanks for Cindy&CW's wedding.
They gave me some info when they're planning theirs.
Today Cindy was really worried about her invitation.
then I was thinking if I should start it?

Hsing

學習禱告的功課...

2007-06-08T11:27:00.000-05:00

昨天去跟許牧師談過後，
原本的那股衝動好像就停下來了，
每一件事情都有好的一面和壞的一面，
It all depends on how we think about it.
We seriously need to pray in front of God.
so we started to pray together.
I believe that God will always make a way nomatter what the ending will be.....

Hsing