The Five Love Languages

I read this book about 8 years ago and thought it was great, a bit religious and preachy but useful nonetheless. How well do you know your partner, yourself? Are you able to verbalize what you need in your relationships? Maybe this quiz will help.

My sister had a link on her site so Deme and I took the test and realized we are quite compatible. (Good news!)

Information

Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don't understand our partner's requirements, or even our own. We all have a "love tank" that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

Take the quiz

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The Volunteer Park Conservatory

I love this place! Once a year when I am chilled to the bone and thinking of home or the yearly treks I used to make to Hawaii to visit my friend Marilyn, I know I can take off my coat in this place and feel at home. Volunteer Park is a huge park with a reservoir, a tall tower, a playground but the conservatory is my favorite attraction. The dirt inside smells clean, the cactus house scorches, the orchids and the giant bird-of-paradise amaze me but most of all I love taking photos of the tropical plants.


No digital color enhancement here, this orchid is a vivid bluish purple.


I am not a botanist and don't pay much attention to the names of the plants but these two are my favorites.


The most delicately veined orchid in the whole exhibit.


My dad has this flower blooming on Guam except his is white.

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Because You're Family

Today my 11-year-old sister and I had a short chat as we sat on a bench eating pretzels. I remember flying to Guam and helping to care for her when she was 6 weeks old, then again for 2 week vacations when she was 2 and 4 years old. (She does not remember this.) I took her to the beach for the first time when she was 2 and tried to befriend her again when she was 4. Our next meeting was when she was 7. My sisters and I decided to have a family reunion of sorts and we all spent two weeks playing tourist.

Fast forward to this week, she is now 11. It has been 4 years since we have seen each other but I feel I know her well. I send her gifts for her birthday and while I was living in Italy, she wrote letters and sent me postcards. My dad knew he was going to have a busy summer and told Tia that it would be best if she went off-island for the two months that school would be out. Like a dutiful Chinese daughter, she agreed to fly from Guam to Seattle alone to stay with a sister she has not seen in years. When I asked her why she agreed to do this, she said, "Even though I don't know you well, I agreed to it because you are family."

Since her visit, my dad has been calling every other day to see what she is up to. Having her here has reconnected me with my dad and reminded me of how Chinese our family is. We do things for one another out of love but also out of a deep sense of obligation. This obligation defines us and shapes our relationship with all those around us.

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Victims of US Customs

Our container arrived in Portland from Italy on May 24, 2007. We were told at that time that we were lucky enough to be chosen by US Customs to have our container hand inspected. Feels like we've won the lottery. NOT!

Our small air cargo shipment was also hand inspected. When we received the boxes of mainly Veronica's things, we found the boxes had been opened and not sealed back shut but worst of all, Veronica linens and clothes were just thrown back and stuffed into the boxes. Luckily nothing was soiled or wet.

Three weeks later, we finally got word that the inspection is over. Our container has now been emptied and the contents are in storage. Our movers let us know quite a few boxes have been opened. I have no idea the extent of the damage/carnage but I hope our things (esp. our dishes and stemware) have not been damaged.

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Jamie Graduates

Jamie graduated from middle school two nights ago, I was lucky enough to be invited. (I still remember when he was 6 months old.) He's the one that wrote this essay about me a while back; reading it still makes me teary-eyed.

The ceremony highlighted the various talents of the students at his school, I was genuinely impressed. I am so proud of him, he really worked hard to get through his finals. Next year he'll officially be a high school freshman. Way to go Jamie!


Dagne, Indie, Jamie and me. (Can you believe how tall he is?)

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How Does Your Garden Grow?

My garden has officially taken off. With June here, I have finally taken all the protective plastic off of my tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. (Late frost is always a problem.) I am so grateful to all the people that help me set up my 5 wonderful planting beds. (You know who you are!) So far so good. I have been keeping up with the watering and weeding as well as making tons of new friends at this community garden.


This is my lettuce patch. I have no less than 10 types of salad greens growing including red leaf, green leaf and bibb lettuces, arugula, wild arugula, chicory, just to name a few. I have seen a few bunnies in the garden, along with a weasel, lots of crows that pull put all my plant markers and even deer tracks in my beds but thank goodness these seem not to be a problem yet.


In this bed I have 3 zucchini plants, 13 tomatoes plants and a few borders of marigold. I cannot wait to have fresh cherry, grape and salad tomatoes in a month or two.

So I have a question for you, what are you growing in your garden this year? Ornamentals, herbs, veggies?

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A Busy Summer to Come

Our summer is all planned out. We are having guest galore. Deme's sister and sig. other and our nephew Giordano will make their first trip to Seattle. Irene and Umberto stay for 2 weeks and Giordano for a month.

My baby sister (she is 11) Tia arrives on June 15 and leaves on Aug. 2 (about 7 weeks). She will be flying alone from Guam to Narita, Japan then to Seattle. She is so brave.


This is Tia when she was only 8 weeks old. I flew to Guam to help my dad and step mom take care of her for 6 weeks. She was an adorable baby!

We have a fun itinerary planned out, Deme will take some time off to be a tourist too. With the whole gang we plan to see all the sights in Seattle: the zoo, Science Center, museums, waterfront, Pike Place Market, maybe drive to the coast etc...

After Irene and Umberto leave we will do lots of fun things with the kids, kayaking, canoeing, berry picking, power boating, maybe a hike or two, movies, shopping and much much more. Tia will head off to Reno to hang out with our other sister for a week, then we all head down to camp and see the desert for another week.

Everyone thinks I am crazy to host all these guests in our 2 bed, 2 bath temporary apartment but we will manage. We thought we would be in our condo by now but we are not. All the tickets are purchased and there is no going back now.

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Never Alone Again

I keep telling myself that life will return to normal when Veronica gets a little bit older. Then I neglect to remember that we are expecting another baby and when Veronica is finally sleeping through the night, the other baby will be here. I keep wondering when I am finally going to get a full night’s sleep.

Lately I have been completely exhausted; I take care of Veronica all day and with the babysitter is here, two to three times a week for about three hours, I run around doing errands. Last night we decided to take a little outing before dinner, we got home at about eight o’clock. I proceeded to feed Veronica and get her ready for bed and by 8:45 p.m., she was out like a light. She normally goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. We were hoping that putting her to bed a little bit later would make her wake up a little bit later. Actually, this has an inverse effect on her, the later she goes to bed the earlier she gets up in the morning. She was up at 6 a.m. All I can say is that this morning I look like I am hung over.

Demetrio loves doing things as a family. he wants us to go grocery shopping together, he wants us to go to the car wash together, he wants us to go shopping together, he wants us to rent videos together, he wants us to take walks together, she wants us to do everything together as a family. Any mother would be happy that her husband enjoys doing things as a family (and I do love the fact that he is so family oriented) but this morning I told him I need to be left alone at least twice a week, without him and without Veronica. I need to seriously catch up on some much needed sleep. I hope that this weekend he will take her out and leave me home alone.

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