Through The Years

I am in awe at just how time flies by so fast. It seems like yesterday when I used to bully my baby brother and drink all of his milk. Now, my baby brother is a baby no more, now my worst enemy is my bestest friend in the whole world. On the 22nd of April, my brother turned 26! Omg! 26?! Is my brother really that old? Wait, does this mean I am really old, since I am his big sis?! I really wish I could rewind the hands of time. It's funny how long ago, my brother and I would fight almost every minute of every day. I used to be such a mean big sis to him when we were kids. I would lock him out of the playroom or hide all the toys that way he would never get to play with them. Then somehow, as we had gotten older, our bond had changed, we grew together. We learned to share and take care of each other.

  

I even recall a time when my brother was so annoying that I kicked him, thus as you can see in the above picture, my brother lost his front tooth. Tsk tsk...And in that other picture, there goes my brother sucking on his fingers, while I am drinking all of his milk.

I do thank God, for giving me a brother. A brother who has always been so patient with me. A brother who accepts my meanness and has taught me to become a better person. I want to thank God for giving me not just any brother, but my baby brother. He is my best friend, my strength and my happiness.

My brother moved to California years ago. I should be used to his absence by now. I should be used to seeing him just a couple times of the year. But honestly, I am still not used to it. I long for the old days when we would celebrate birthdays together.
                             

                            

To one of my favorite persons in the whole world, Happy birthday my dear!

Break

I haven't watched tv in ages and when I say ages I mean years. Well I do watch the news every now and then but that doesn't count does it? So anyhow, I was having problems with my internet connection earlier and had some free time. I didn't wanna lie down and read because then I would end up dozing off and calling it a night. And if that happens, I wouldn't be able to drop by your blogs. Boohoo.

So, I decided to flip through the cable and see what was on tv. There was a series that was on and the lead character seemed pretty cute so I decided to watch. I was rather disappointed about reuniting with the tv. I mean, I was already about 3 minutes into the tv series when all of a sudden there was a commercial break. Oh people, this was just not any type of quick commercial break, this was like a 5-8 minute commercial break. UNBELIEVABLE! and then the series comes back on and I watch for another 3 minutes and boom another tv advertisement plays on the screen. I watched about a total of 20 minutes worth of that particular tv series and then the cliffhanger came on and I am expected to want to see what happens next tomorrow.

TV was definitely not like this before. Does this mean I am old? Lol... Next time I watch a series, it will definitely have to be from online.

Guest Post: Heather Von St. James

The blogosphere is a wonderful community of people who share with each other their lives, their stories, hopes, and everything in between. Each blogger has a different story to tell. Today, I would like to introduce to you guys a truly remarkable blogger, Heather Von St. James. She sent me an email asking if she could do a guest post on my blog. Wow, what an honor to have her here. Today she is here to share with us her story battle story and the power of hope.

Facing the Diagnosis and Learning the Power of Hope

I spent my life living optimistically. In my mind, the glass was always half full and the world was a beautiful place. My confidence in the world became shaken when I was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 36. Three and a half months after my first and only child, Lily was born; the doctor told me that I had malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma-a long stream of world that meant one thing: I was facing death head on. My diagnosis on November 21, 2005 made me realize that I had better get busy living, or spend the last few moments of my life regretting the things I had not done. I could give up, let myself sink into the depths of despair, or curse God; but I did not. My little girl was just starting out her life and she needed a mother to guide her. This was supposed to be a time of rejoicing after my daughter’s birth and instead I was facing the battle of my life, for my life. I wanted to be around to see my daughter graduate from high school and have a family of her own. Giving up was not an option.

I think of my battle optimistically. Having to fight cancer forced me to review my own life. I learned how to view any situation through rose-colored lens and find a way to escape from the fear. Other people have been diagnosed before and more will be in the future. I wanted to be there for future victims to give them the hope that I struggled so hard to find.

My fight was a lucky one. My doctor was one of the world’s best doctors for mesothelioma, Dr. David Sugarbaker. He set the Groundhogs Day of 2006 as my surgery date. Jokingly, I named my tumor Punxsutawney Phil and called the surgery day, Lung-leaving day. On this day, my left lung would be removed and leave my body. Every year since then, I have held a celebration for Lung-leaving Day. My cancer is gone, but it has left me with an extreme gratitude for getting a second chance to live again. Meeting other people who have dealt with this diagnosis has opened my eyes. As we struggle to bring awareness to the disease, I see the dreadful impact cancer has on the family of the other patients. Everyone who undergoes the battle is a friend in my eyes. They have faced down fear and learned to have hope. Life has a purpose now and I have dedicated myself to helping others learn how to deal with this terrible diagnosis.

Coffee, Food, and Love

Boy oh boy am I feeling so energized right now. Sorry for the two weeks or so that I was away from blogging. It seems like life has gotten busier and busier these days. Last week was an amazing week. When people say long weekend, they normally refer to 3 day weekends, but man last week for me was definitely one super loooooooooooooooooong weekend. How long? Make that a 5 day weekend! No work from Thursday last week up to Monday of this week.
Most people I know went out of town for the long weekend. Almost everyone went on a little vacay. How did I spend my 5 days off from work? I basically tried to get in touch with the person I was, years before I was so stressed out. I slept in, laughed a little more, ate a little more, sang a little louder, played with my hair and make up and spent loads of time with the people I love. It might not be anything spectacular but these simple things definitely put a smile not just on my face but these simple things really made me heart smile.

Chit chat and smiles over coffee with my brother's future wifey and my fave cousin Mikey.
Future mister tagged along.

the future mister, my brother's future wifey, and my all time favorite cousin Mikey.
Choco chip caramel cake from Starbucks. This is soooooooo good that I just had to order a second slice.

My favorite milk tea drink. Milk tea tastes even better when shared with my loveys, cousin Mikey and cousin Chloe.

Date Night
Getting ready for my date night with my lovey. I ran into a guy I work with, but he works in a different office, he said I looked fat. =(
double dose of chocolate mudslide with a mixture of Bailey's and Kahlua.
mudslide shots and Death by Chocolates flaming martini. Sorry, I failed to snap a photo of the Death by Chocolates martini while it was still on flame. tsk tsk.

Food:
Homemade cheesy pizza! Need I say more?
Banana Nutella Crepe with chocolate sundae
chimichangga
Vanilla Macarons

burp burp burp.

Oh and for those of you who are on instagram, please let me know. Instagram is now available for android users and I just got it 2 days ago. Find me on instagram: chinkygirlmel

Have a very yummy week everyone!