Clothes From France

These are pictures from my trip to France... I must say that people there care a little bit more about fashion. The most popular shoe for women were knee-highs. And, the most popular pant were skinny jeans.

I took some pictures of the mannequins there.

Americans just don't care as much, it seems. We see a lot of regular t-shirts with ill fitting jeans. Some people in Monaco have a lot of $$$, and fashion was the MOST obvious there. It was hard to find a store that did NOT have Gucci.

More Wedding Pics

China Trip

I've become an OLD married woman

Gone and got hitched! Only got a sample of the professional pictures... can't wait for the rest!

It was a really small wedding with just close friends and family.

Business Trip to Portugal

Went to Portugal in February for a business trip:

We went wine tasting, toured the countryside, some towns and castles.

It was wonderful. Had the best port in my entire life. In fact, I didn't care for red wine or port until this trip!

Didn't want to include any pictures of my co-workers here...

My fav. statue that I saw

I found out that the egg custard dim sums are actually from Portugal! The Portuguese brought them over when they were trading way back when. These were so yummy!

Engagement!

Travis is my fiance!
On September 29th, Travis proposed to me! We were in Le Jardin Exotique on the side of a mountain overlooking Monaco. We had a trip in France and also spent half a day in Monaco.  

The funny thing about all of this is that I knew about the engagement, way beforehand. Travis is really bad at keeping secrets like these. I knew that he was going to be doing it sometime during our trip abroad and was so afraid that I was going to be somewhat emotionless during the proposal as I've known about the plan for so long. I spent so many car rides to home or the office tearing up just thinking about the moment to be... 

Since the surprise was gone and I was expecting it, I thought it wouldn't be as touching. But, wow, when he got down on his knee, I couldn't even stay standing up.  I just started bawling... like not one tear or two.. but tons... In fact, I heard his voice but couldn't recall anything that he was saying. 

According to Travis, I didn't even say yes... I swear that I said, "of course." But, he claims all I did was say, "mm-hmm."

Hilton Head

Bf, bf's parents, and I went to Hilton Head for vacation a couple of weeks ago! We had lots of fun eating seafood and frolicking around the beach and pool.

Path of life

So... it's been just over two years since I graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree. It has also been a little over two years since I've held my first REAL job (outside of internships, high school server experiences).

I've recently found myself in a rut. My career life seems a little dull and boring and completely UNCHALLENGING. The same stuff over and over again...
The idea of going back to school to get a grad degree in engineering is not appealing either.

... that's when I thought... MAYBE... I should go to medical school...

Any thoughts?

Differences

It's weird... I had no idea until today that one of my co-workers got a divorce recently. I guess other than the bosses, I'm the first to know.

He's an attractive guy who's in his late 30's but look like he's only 30. Hey hey now... don't jump to conclusions. I have zero interest. Anyway, I would have never guessed that he was having these issues.
Apparently, his wife had an eating disorder and was a crazy workout lady. He, himself, is pretty athletic, being an expert swimmer and such. But, anyway, this caused a drift between the two of them. She refused to eat with the family, and she and her husband slept in separate bedrooms. And, then, the divorce papers were issued to him all of a sudden, out of nowhere.

I guess he doesn't understand. He says that people usually break up due to addictions to gambling, to drugs, etc. But, in his mind, things were still workable, fixable... and I agree.
He also said that once you make the commitment of marriage that you're supposed to grow together, not go and try to seek individuality. I don't think he knew for sure if that was right to say, but that's what came out... and it makes sense. Marriage, I guess is making promises that are sometimes also sacrifices.

It's interesting how some people just want to give up all the time.

How do you know that the person you marry won't change after a given amount of time?

I guess the most important things about a person really are: Commitment, Honesty, and Ethics.

weekend

This last weekend consisted of a wedding (Erica and Brian). Unfortunately, the camera was forgotten at home and thus, no pictures :(...

It was a pretty nice wedding... looked like a lot of work... but it came together very wonderfully. It's always funny to see older people dancing...

Anyway, Bob came into town for the wedding and stayed over at our place. AND, I did remember my camera when we went to the park.

Sept. 23

We went ruby mining on Sept 23rd. We went through a total of 8 buckets of dirt. Only 6 of them were local buckets (not salted) and had the potential of rubies. Between the boyfriend and I, we found 60 carats. I found 45 carats. My biggest was a 15 carat, which can probably render a 5 carat cut ruby. We didn't have them cut because neither of us are really crazy about jewelry. But, the pic shows my finds. The largest stone is actually garnet... but all the others are rubies. One of Travis's sapphires was not a ruby! I think I threw out my one sapphire that was not considered a ruby because the guide told me he thought it was rose quartz... but, it really didn't look like quartz based on shape and the coloring was super strange. I thought it was pink sapphire but I listened to him and tossed it.

Here's my cutie. He is not very photogenic... I'm serious! He always looks 10 times better in real life. I hope he doesn't get offended when he reads this... It's not that I don't think he's cute in his pictures... but, they do an injustice as he is so sexy. ;) Anyway, he's holding his film canister filled with his ruby finds.

On our way back, we stopped by a local farmer grocer. The veggies and fruits there were so much more delicious than the ones that you find in grocery chains. The apples didn't have the chemical gloss and they smelled beautiful! If you think a rose smells good, you should smell a fresh tomato or apple... it's wonderful! oh... and it was super cheap.

update

oh... so I totally forgot. Recently, I made my first big purchase. I bought a 2007 Honda Civic LX sedan in silver. I like it a lot! It was certainly an improvement to my old car... The radiator got a leak and the free-on would slowly leak out, leaving my AC to be absolutely useless. I had recently replaced the alternator and battery! Also, it used to have issues with the coolant leaking, but luckily, this leak was located on a hose. It had a crack in the front window, a dent on the side (my mom says that someone hit the car when she was parked at the grocers)... Someone must have been going awfully fast in the parking lot for a dent of that size...

oh... and the cats... I introduced them this week... I have pics that I need to upload. But, anyway, Bebe has been pretty accepting of the kitten except he just loves pestering her. At first, she would just sniff him. But, then, after the frequent ambushes made by Maomao, she got pretty darn irritated. She hisses at him sometimes, and they both paw at each other... ugh... and at their second meeting, I found the kitten with a mouthful of Bebe's white fur.

According to the web, we have a good pairing according to gender and age. Adult female with male kitten.
People at the office tell me this behavior is completely normal... and I should just let them be while I'm at home.

I had all these grandeur visions of them cuddling together and kissing each others' noses.... hopefully, it isn't too far-fetched.