i told myself:

"Self, make the bow at least 2 nights ahead".

but no, Self didn't do it so, Self and I both paid an exhausting sleepless night.

a friend of mine had asked me to make her birthday cake after she had saw Gabby's birthday cake. i told her she has to "design" her cake, and she did. so the mission was to create her own designed cake on time... it's a piece of cake, right? i mean really, what can i not do? her birthday was saturday: yesterday that was. i worked friday night, i thought: No problem, i'll decorate the cake when i get home, which i did and everything was going on smoothly since it's fondant, not until i started stamping out holes all over the fondant covered cake. it became such tedious and annoying task. and yea.... i got the 2 tiered cake done: stamping holes, re-patching them and all but then, there came the edible bow. i thought: is this ever gonna end??!?! i made the bow: the edible bow but i couldn't assemble it together because it needed to rock-hard dry: at least overnight, but obviously i didn't have an overnight. so i had to be innovative, i used the fan to try it. the next thing i know, it was 5:00 in the morning ALREADY!

i went to bed as quickly as i can then got up at 8:00 because i had to work too: an all day shift. quickly, quickly i got myself ready and quickly quickly, i assembled the bow on the cake then, quickly quickly i took these pictures.





i wasn't there when Ali picked up the cake but i received a good report. Joe said Ali was very happy. that right there made it all worth it and was i able to function at work? besides having a micro buzz every time i jerk my head, i was actually okay.

i wish i have the same power, skills (?), talent (?), vigor and strength over my diet like i do in my scrapbooking, cake decorating and crap. and i wish that sleeping is optional among the adults because i feel like i much so to do. wink.. wink ;)

hey Ali.... if you are reading this, hugs, hugs and hugs from me to you. i hope the cake hit the spot and i hope you had a blast. happy birthday!

this much of snow when i left and when i came home,i got stuck on the driveway, so i had to shovel a path for the car and even then, Joe had to pushed the car. it's FinALlY snowing because it's no longer christmas. figures.



the very reason why she eats, not because of the fries or the chicken tenders... of course not. it's the ToyS!



these are on sale and i want about 10 of these. i don't need them but i want them.

FiRsT pAgE of the YeAr....

TodAY:

i received such an overwhelming e-mail from... no other than Brittany Beattie.... who? you ask? she's the managing editor of Creating Keepsakes: the... the world renown scrapbooking magazine, i guess. i prayed earnestly that someone would notice the last page i sent in 2 days ago and prayed earnestly that when i open my inbox today that i would receive an e-mail containing "fabulously heart stopping news". Lo and behold, check this out: and ooh...... there are things i'm not allowed to reveal thus you'll see a few of "can't mention" stuff.




Hi Lovely,

I write the (can not be mentioned) for Creating Keepsakes scrapbook magazine, and I would be delighted to include your layout in our (can not be mentioned either)! Congratulations! Please let me know if the page (including its pictures) is still available and hasn’t been published elsewhere. (I hope so!) If it is available, I’d love to publish it!


You will find details about contracts and mailing information in the attached document. If you could send the layout via 2–3 day Priority Mail (recommended for reliability) so it arrives by Friday, January 18, that would be wonderful. We recommend using a tracking number. (If you will not be able to mail it by then, please let me know so I can plan for it.) In the same document, you'll also find a (can't mention which form either) Form--I'd appreciate it if you could fill it out and e-mail it to me by Tuesday, January 15. Please also include in your e-mail your top 5 tips for taking great “(i can not mention it either)” with (i can't mention it either).



Please let me know if you have any questions.



Congratulations on having your page selected! It’s a beautiful layout with a wonderful tip! And thanks for submitting! Have a terrific day!



Sincerely,



Brittany



Brittany Beattie

Managing Editor

Creating Keepsakes





........... hear me to squeal!!!!! can you tell, i am easily entertained?

Gabby is not a morning person which worked for my advantage on her birthday, because you see, i literally stayed awake for the whole entire 24 hours. maybe not quite but closed enough. i frantically tried to finish her cake the night before her birthday or in this case, few hours before she woke up. the cake itself wasn't all that particularly difficult to create, it was honestly a piece of cake... hahaha! get it? a piece of cake? anyhow, but if anyone would agree, i am very very very very very slow and i didn't even tried to make the cake "perfect". so i went to bed at 4:30, then attempted to take a short nap-- i'm using that so loosely, and before i could even have a dream, Joe woke me up. got Gabby ready. had lunch in McDonald's... we just had to, she's a kid, okay?!!? then we wandered away in Build a Bear in the mall. she was so cuteeee...... she kissed the heart for her monkey. her monkey has 3 pushy-singy thingy: it has the monkey sound, giggle and a birthday song. before we headed home, we stopped to bid goodbye to our Jewish friends, you see, they were going back to Israel. i'm gonna miss them! since their kiosk was adjacent to gymboree , i made a quick grab of this and this
i'm hopelessly addicted to this store. lucky for Gabby because she loves to dress up.
she was so thrilled about the whole birthday thing. we didn't have this huge party with invited friends, but it was just US: her family. during my christmas break, i taught her how to blow out a candle and check this kid out:




we did it again and again. i'm sure she almost thought it was the best part of the day.

she got magazines. i got her Martha Stewart mags. she loved it, she was besides herself almost.... no surprise there.


then her dutch godparents sent this for her:


she went "WWWWWoooooWWWWW"

she got some cute tops and jeans
a purse
some almost real make ups
hannah montana cd
a fake microphone because she loves to get jiggy and lip sync

in her case, it was mere optional... she got some "normal" gifts suitable for a two year old kid> a baby doll and a stroller which i put together. it was quite big of me to do that and didn't nag Joe to do it.

that's how we celebrated the New Year. i hope i'll have some interesting/intriguing materials to talk about the next time i blog besides my Gabby. i'm sure i'm about to gag the maggot about Gabby this and Gabby that. good news is, i don't have much of an audience... so i think the maggot is not about to gag. hahaha!!! i am laughing at my own jokes.

It IS oVeR!

2007 came and went.

my photo a day was taken and i don't have to do it anymore.

i didn't post all of it but i didn't fail. felt good!

and GaBBy is officially TwO.

as these two candles proves it:



i love how Gabby can raise an eyebrow even at this early age. of course every kid deserves McDonald's for a birthday lunch, right?



needlessly to say, she was a pretty happy Birthday Girl.



induced by sleep deprivation, i'll save some of her birthday stories for later. i still can hardly open my eyelids. i'm still tired.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY. hope you had a wonderful 07, we did!