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Life ScrapbookLive it well. September, 2009 Self-indulgence and Unfinished Letter孕8月的时候Ellen问我是不是考虑生完在家陪宝宝一两年，我说会很闷吧。她反问Are you sure？我想也没想，说Oh yeah, absoultely. 距产假结束24天，我忍不住一天一天地倒数，心里越来越抓狂，想花最多的时间陪宝宝。以前不理解为什么身边的新妈妈们都要那么的母爱泛滥，BLOG里放满宝贝的照片，现在的自己在别人眼里大概也是这样。以前觉得很闷的生活，现在更像是自我沉醉，self-indulgence 50多天的可悦象个假小子，乐趣无穷。为了爷爷奶奶和外公，把照片和录像搬到新浪了： http://you.video.sina.com.cn/zhongkeyue 附上一篇没写完的日记，7月10日，痛苦的假阵痛开始，这封信自然也就被遗忘了。 Happily Waiting... July 10, 2009 Dear Baby Claire, I wonder what you look like and whether you can hear me. Do you think of me like I think of you every day? Lately I've been thinking a lot about the day I finally meet you. We're ready to meet you. Your room is done. Shopping is done. Hospital bag is packed. Mom has been working from home for a while. So many people are excited to see you and get to know you. You will be very loved and blessed. Hope your travel to our world will be a smooth one and the transition will be natural. One of these days, we'll leave this house as three and come back as four. Four is the number of balance, and from balance, comes great joy and satisfaction. You're already one of us. Since the time we learned we're expecting, a family was born. The first time we saw your heart flickering in that ultrasound monitor, the first time we've heard your heartbeat in the doppler... it only becomes stronger. Everyday when Daddy gets home from work, he asks about you. As soon as we found out you are a girl, he gave you this beautiful name. We also have an adorable nickname for you. We're so happy to raise you together and share the joy of having you with us. We're not perfect but we hope to give you the best we can. We're inexperienced but we will learn. You were not a suprise, but for a long time I still couldn't believe I'm going to be a Mom. How big of a life change will it be for me?? As you became more and more real, I'm amazed by how you've changed me. I stand in front of the mirror and watch the belly getting bigger and bigger. I see you, and I see the new me. Once you come, there'll be a lot of work. The first few months might be exhausting, and I might get frustrated from time to time. I'll try to learn, learn to be patient, loving and more focused. I want to become a new person, a better version of me. Because of you, I see an inner light that shines through the outer self. July, 2009 谢谢谢谢祝福！宝宝上周六出院了，现在一切都好了~ ********************************************* 谢谢大家这么关心我们和宝宝。小可悦上周一出生的，一天天在成长。只是最近几天肠胃不太好，又要回医院呆着。没能及时回电话和EMAIL，请谅解。。。 请大家为小可悦祝福，看到她插满管子，真是好心疼。。。
这是她4天时候的样子：
YouTube - BabyClaire.4-day-old June, 2009 Mom is here; All is well.Finally...I finished my 10th speech with the Toastmasters. For this last one, I was asked to speak in front of a room of high-school teen girls, conjuct with the Campaign for Real Beauty by Dove. I was given this a national report on the self-esteem and asked to talk about body image:
Real Girls, Real Pressure: Highlights from the National Report
It'll difficult audience - just think about how little attention I would have paid to speeches like this if I were a teen. I thought about it again and decided to get involved. Surprisingly they were nice to me. I thank them for the positive feedback - I feel flattered. I want to put my script down here, and I want to share it with Claire some day.
You Are Beautiful “A journey to self-acceptance is never-ending, but definitely worth the trip.” When I was a teenager, at about your age, look, there were lots of parts of my body I didn’t like: my nose, my acne, my legs, my upper arms, etc and etc. You name it, and I hated it. I thought a certain lip gloss, a pretty pair of shoes, or weight loss would make me feel beautiful, or lift my spirit. But, in the end, it still rises and falls with compliment or criticism. At lunch so many girls talked about how they dropped a size. It’s not only at lunch. It’s everywhere, on TV, radio, internet, magazine, people spent so much time talking, and thinking about weight loss, body and clothes. So I learnt from them and only ate so little. I spent a lot of time looking to others to build up who I am. But, in the end, I found it was actually up to me to decide my level of satisfaction and worth. As I grew up, life stays interesting…. I graduated from high school and went to college. I traveled overseas and met so many great people who gave me inspiration. I work hard and make my colleagues and my company proud of me. I made true friends who accept me and like me as a real person. My focus switched from how I look to what I do, because what I do, not how I look, really says who I am. I got married, and now I’m expecting my first child. I gained a lot of weight, but personally, I felt even more confident in my body and myself. Everywhere I go, people would look at my pregnant body and instantly smile. I don’t know if I remind them of something else or if the mere image has such a positive effect on people. Either way, somehow I felt that it made their day a little bit brighter, and I felt beautiful. See? I do not need to look like a runway model to be beautiful. My curves that support life and allow me to give birth are beautiful. My strength to push through discomfort for the sake of another life is beautiful. Women are capable of bringing new life into this world, and our bodies, of all shapes and sizes, make that miracle happen. What you do reveals who you are. What’s the best way to really change the self-esteem? Do something that uplifts your spirit. It’s not that we do each of the things perfectly; it’s that we did them at all that matters. Live your life out loud. Live it truly and put yourself out there. Not everyone will like you. Nor should they. But if you like yourself and design for yourself a life worth living then that’s what really matters. I want to tell you another story, the story about my junior high school best girlfriend. We grew up together complaining about our body flaws. She used to be ashamed of her big thighs. As she grew, she learnt to focus on something she was good at: she became a terrific basketball player and a dancer. Those flabby thighs she once complained became strong and toned. They carried her through dancing and playing sports, and even more, they carried her though life and made her a confident and beautiful woman. As I speak, you might be thinking, “I’m not sure if anything you said could change my mind.” Friends, not me, were the most influential people in your life, at least at this moment. Their opinions outweighed mine. Only friends, not me, know what you are feeling, right? I know what you are talking about. Because I was just like you. When Mom or big sisters taught me about self-confidence, most of the time I went back to girlfriends. Because they were the ones sharing body flaws with me. They knew my pain and complained as much as I did. It took me a while to see the wrong with that. What good did it do any of us to sit and bash ourselves? It only helped us feel worse. We hated ourselves more and more, and we helped each other do it. Then it hit me: the way to feel good about ourselves had to be the opposite! Next time when girls at lunch eat lettuce and talk about how they dropped a size, change the conservation. Remind yourself not to get caught up in that and talk about more positive topics. I wish I could go back in time to do this myself. You don’t know this now, but you will be a positive influence on others in your class. Don’t obsess over your weight or the size label on your jeans. Stay positive and let the little things go. Don’t stress about the little things, like losing your 1st boyfriend or friends who say mean things to you. There will be more boyfriends and better friends. And, please, please stop comparing yourself to others. Stop looking at your friend’s bodies and wishing you looked like them. You are a beautiful girl with a beautiful body. You might think your bodies are not thin enough, your arms or thighs are too big, but they are strong. Start embracing your body now. It’s healthy and strong, and you are beautiful. May, 2009 Looking forward to it.We've been looking for a fun event for a summer girls night out, and this one looks perfect.
Chocolate: Tasting & The Exhibition
"From rainforest treasure to luscious treat, immerse yourself in the story of chocolate.
A gift for the gods. A symbol of wealth and luxury. An economic livelihood. Bonbons. Hot fudge. Candy bars. For thousands of years humans have been fascinated with the delicious phenomenon that we call chocolate. Journey through history to get the complete story behind the tasty treat that we crave in "Chocolate," an exciting new exhibition opening on May 9, 2009.
You'll begin in the rainforest with the unique cacao tree whose seeds started it all. Visit the ancient Maya civilization of Central America and discover what chocolate meant nearly 1,500 years ago. Then travel forward in time and northward to the Aztec civilization of 16th-century Mexico, where cacao seeds were so valuable they were used as money. Discover chocolate's introduction into the upper classes of European society and its transformation into a mass-produced world commodity. Chocolate will engage your senses and reveal facets of this sumptuous sweet that you've never thought about before. You'll explore the plant, the products and the culture of chocolate through the lenses of science, history and popular culture."  May, 2009 Devil Who Wears PradaAnna Wintour, editor of Vogue, inspiration for the novel and movie The Devil Wears Prada appearred on tonight's 60 minutes. Video recap is here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/14/60minutes/main5013905.shtml April, 2009 Leaping through Time下午去参加Ely小朋友的一岁生日，小寿星的爸爸Moo对我说，a year ago, Erin was just like you, having a big belly. Can't believe it's already been one year! 明年这个时候也会很快来到，我把手放在肚子上回答说，Claire's 1st birthday will come soon before I know it.
两个礼拜之前，我们和当年的伴郎伴娘第n次Duke Garden相聚，花相似，人不同， 当年的新郎，新娘，伴郎都要为人父为人母了，伴娘也披上了美丽的嫁衣。即使幸福是那么的相似，每次观礼还是格外感动。
晚上重温了少女时代的最爱《穿越时空的少女》，才发觉English title叫The Girl Who Leapt Through Time。 一个少女获得了“不断穿越时空”的超能力，在时光的截点之间穿梭。每个人的生命中都有一些截点。我每天在往前走，一直走。一部分的我被时光拦截下来，她和我挥手告别，永远的留在那里。怀孕40周对我来说就是从生命的一个截点走到另一个截点，走进孕晚期，我离另一个截点越来越近。想着想着，我突然抬起头对老公说，天哪亲爱的，还有两个月我就真的要当妈妈了！
到baby Claire对我笑的那个瞬间，不知道我会不会，好像看见小时候的自己，对着我轻轻的微笑。
如果能穿越时空，你想去哪里？我大概不会选遥远的太空，或者繁华的朝代。我想回到一些时光的截点，去拥抱熟悉又陌生的自己。 April, 2009 Hey There Delilahthe song I'm in love with.. Talking about YouTube - Plain White Ts - Hey There Delilah - Official (HQ) April, 2009 Birthday WishGirlfriend Page made one and only one wish on her birthday: health. Oprah Winfrey said, "making the decision to look after yourself is the ultimate in health care." I am proud of Page because she realized it and took an important step : )
First health, the foudation, then comes eveything else: happiness and beauty at any age from inside out. Early last year I read this great book from cover to cover and have been revisiting it from time to time: "The Beauty Prescription" written by a dermatologist and a psychiatrist. The most empowering message I got out is beautiful women are healthy, self-assured, and multidimensional woman. I love this book and still in love with it, and want to recommend it all girlfriends.
 Product Description Best friends since they met at medical school twenty-five years ago, Dr. Debra, a Beverly Hills dermatologist, and Dr. Eva, a South Beach psychiatrist, join their expertise to take a unique look at beauty of the body and mind and have created this inspirational guide to getting gorgeous, inside and out. Their empowering message that all women are beautiful will help you discover how to bring out your maximum potential as you blossom into a more charismatic, self-assured, and multidimensional woman. That change starts with you, starting now. .
Every woman deserves to feel beautiful. But what does it mean to feel truly beautiful on the outside and the inside? In The Beauty Prescription, physicians Debra Luftman and Eva Ritvo have redefined beauty around a groundbreaking concept: The Beauty-Brain Loop. In this revealing, candid look at the science and spirit of beauty, Drs. Debra and Eva give women of all ages a prescription for mastering the Beauty-Brain Loop, including:.
March, 2009 平凡的一天（续）Traffic ticket case上个礼拜终于settled了，
在这里分享一下经历吧。
我最后用了traffic attorney，帮忙免去了所有点数（DMV和insurance）
在NC，有两个point system, DMV和insurance
DMV是3年内除非有12点才会除牌，
insurance是有了2-3点就会上升的。
用律师，
一来是方便（律师会帮你出庭，电话搞定，连见面都不需要），
二来是要peace of mind,
三来我的stop sign violation,
从网上看其实不好argue，不像speeding，
最后，即使事后insurance还是上升了，
他们还会take care of it.
万一拿了ticket的朋友可以考虑一下，万一哦，
从网上看speeding对律师来说就更容易了。
至于价格，我觉得还是不错的，
$275 including everything (court fee $125+fine $50+legal services fee)，
所以legal services fee是$100，即使fine被免除也是$275，
这还算是比较贵的，
最便宜的legal services fee只要$89, 而且如果最后fine被免除的话，会把那50退给你，
我一共比较过三四家，问了问几个相同的问题，
最后选了前一家，因为觉得他们听起来很有把握，解释原因也挺make sense的。
周末和妈妈聊起这个，
自嘲说我终究还是胆小怕事的绝对良民呵，
薄薄一张罚单，区区几个点数，
去掉了，虽然没有宋江除去脸上刺青的大喜悦，
但也觉得事情少了一桩呢。 |
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