Disneyland, Half Moon Bay, Newport Beach, Frazier Park, Burbank

Over the years, October has become more of one of my favorite months. It's a time where dressing up in a costume and eating lots of candy is acceptable. I have many fond memories celebrating Halloween with my sister Anh and my brother Phong growing up. Our festivities never had much glitz and glamour, but we somehow managed to have lots of fun, and have lots of laughs. 

Every year, we would go to the local grocery store and buy a pumpkin to carve. We hardly ever went to the pumpkin patches to get our pumpkins because my Mom thought it wasn't very cost effective. In any case, it really didn't matter where we got our pumpkins, as long as everyone had one to call their own. Every pumpkin I've had since, whether it was from the grocery store or the pumpkin patch, has always been cherished. 

The three of us would line the kitchen floor with newspaper, and then use the normal kitchen knives to carve our pumpkins. In retrospect, this probably wasn't the safest thing to use, but this was before pumpkin carving kits became popular. All of us still have our fingers intact, so no harm no foul right? Anh was very skilled carving with a kitchen knife; her designs were so creative, and her pumpkins looked really amazing. On the other hand, my pumpkins tended to be disproportionate and looked disfigured. I've gotten much better at carving through the years (with the help of Pumpkin Masters of course) so I think I'd give Anh a run for her money now. 

Afterwards, we would get dressed in our Halloween costumes. Our parents didn't buy us new Halloween costumes every year, and normally we just used the same one until we outgrew it. If I remember right, I believe I had the same witch costume for at least 5 years! We definitely wanted new costumes, but we assumed that everyone else wore the same one every year too so it wasn't that big of a deal. You can imagine my disappointment when I found out that most children have new costumes every year. Boy, were we young and naive. 

Halloween 1999. 

Next, we would grab our pillowcases and then go trick-o-treating around the neighborhood. Our neighborhood had lots of kids so it was really exciting seeing everyone out. Most of our neighbors gave out candy, and even though we never filled our pillowcases to the top, we always hoped that the next year would be different. When we were done trick-o-treating, we would pour our candy out into the living room and separate our favorites, and trade candy with each other. My favorites were always the chocolates, and to this day, it still is, especially dark chocolate. 

I absolutely love October, and these memories will always be close to my heart. I hope everyone had a spooktacular Halloween!

Disneyland, Anaheim, CA

Besties in front of Disneyland Railroad. 

In Town Square, there's an enormous 12 foot tall Micky Mouse

jack-o-lantern complete with pumpkin ears. So cute!

Zero clearly loves me more than Jamie. 

Double trouble at Sleep Beauty's Castle. 

Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 

gave the Haunted Mansion a Christmas makeover.

I couldn't resist having a chocolate frozen banana. 

Splash Mountain is based off the Disney film Song of the South. 

The 53 foot drop was terrifying!

It was mesmerizing watching Micky's Soundsational Parade. 

My video games skills were finally put to good use.

Lemos Farm, Half Moon Bay, CA

Wait, that's not Kristine's hand, that's Kylie!

Pumpkin paradise. 

Phong catching up on his sleep.

David and Kylie photobombing. 

Airing out my smelly shoe. Phong is not amused!

43rd Annual Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival, Half Moon Bay, CA

The Pumpkin Festival was created by the Main Street Committee for 

Beautification in 1970 as a means for restoring historic downtown Half Moon Bay. 

Looking good Kristine!

The pumpkin ice cream was divine.

The pumpkin mac 'n' cheese was flavored with pumpkin pie spices and topped with pumpkin seeds. 

Farmer Mike is "The Picasso of Pumpkin Carvers."

Half Moon Bay's Great Pumpkin is a mosaic sculpture by artist Pester Hazel. 

It measures 11 ft high, 12 ft long, and weighs 10,000 pounds. 

Repetto's Pumpkins, Half Moon Bay, CA

Phong loves pun-kins. 

Ahoy, Mateys!

I'm not sure what Kylie is trying to do, but she seems to be having lots of fun. 

Newport Beach, CA

Gauchos reunited!

Mary Poppins, librarian, bar maiden, Alice in Wonderland, and the Fox 

are all ready for a ladies night on the town. 

The ultimate photo booth fun. 

Frazier Park, CA

Flower power. 

Watcha gonna do when they come for you?

Don't mess with Natasha!

 Burbank, CA

 

It's time to get down to pumpkin carving business. 

After a few hours, our mission was accomplished.

We're so talented!

Forneris Farms, Mission Hills, CA

In order to find the way out of the 4 acre corn maze, we had to solve silly cornundrum riddles.

We're so corny. 

What an awesome pumpkin bounce house!

I like the strong and silent type.

There were lots of cool variety of pumpkins. 

Baths are overrated anyways. 

The sunflowers were the size of my head. 

Tiburon, San Jose Municipal Rose Garden, Mission Peak, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

I never realized how much work goes into maintaining a blog, and I have to commend all those bloggers out there. When I first started my blog, I had lots of free time, but lately, I haven't had as much time as I'd like to keep up with it. In addition to the usual work and gym, I've been putting more of my efforts into spending time with my family, and friends. It sure doesn't help that I have a cold now, so perhaps it's fate's way of telling me to slow down. Who knows?

Last week I had my first of many upcoming doctor appointments. I met with my Radiation Oncologist, and she was very pleased with my progress. She commented on my weight loss and muscle gain, and said that "I looked fantastic and I should continue to do what I'm currently doing." Since I rely on my right leg to compensate for my weaker left leg, the one suggestion she had was for me to incorporate yoga into my routine to help with my strength and balance. If anyone can recommend of any yoga studios, I'd be really grateful.

It's been a very long and tough journey to get to where I am right now. A year ago I was unable to walk a block without getting winded, but now I can do a 14 mile hike. My secret is having a strong support system; people that believe in me and encourage me to continue when I don't think it's possible.

There's one memory that really stands out when I completely lost hope and wanted to give up, but kept on going because of my support system. Surprisingly, it wasn't while I was at the hospital, but 2 months after I had finished chemo. It was December 2012, and Andrew was relocating to California, and we were doing a road trip from Houston, Texas. We had stopped by the Grand Canyon, and it happened to be the first snow of the season. Both of us were not prepared for the snow. We had no waterproof clothes or shoes, let alone snow gear, but we were feeling adventurous and determined to hike through the 6 inches of snow.

Going into the Canyon via the Bright Angel Trail was breathtaking. After 1.5 miles into it, Andrew suggested that we head back. Part of me felt that I had the strength to do more, but I realized that Andrew had a better grasp of the environment. If there's a time where I'm glad that I listened to him, it was definitely then.

Heading back to the rim of the Canyon was absolutely miserable. My clothes and shoes were completely soaked, my heels were blistered, and I was so cold and tired. Every time I looked up, it didn't seem like we were getting any closer. I started crying, and telling Andrew that it was impossible, and that I couldn't go on. In retrospect, I probably was being a bit melodramatic considering it was only 1.5 miles back. In any case, he told me not to concentrate on the end goal, but rather on the next step. Even though I told him I couldn't take another step, I did. After a few thousand steps (and lots of whining and complaining), I had finally reached the top of the Canyon. Did I mention that Andrew has the patience of a saint?

I felt like a million bucks after reaching the top!

I'm glad that Andrew believed in me when I didn't believe in myself, and motivated me to go on when I didn't think I could or else I could have ended up a frozen popsicle! It's important to surround yourself with positive people that will be there to support you in life, but also challenge you to become a better version of yourself.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. More to come soon!

San Francisco City Hall

San Francisco City Hall boasts magnificent Beaux-Arts buildings. The front of city hall
covers morethan 495,000 ft2 (46,000 m2), and its dome stands 307.5 ft (93.7 m) tall.

Girls just want to have fun!

Tiburon, Marin County, CA

Tiburon was originally named "Punta de Tiburon" 

(Shark Point) by Spanish explorers in 1775. 

Cuties!

Anchors aweigh.

San Jose Municipal Rose Garden

Architect John McLaren (designer of the Golden Gate Park), developed the San Jose Municipal
Rose Garden in the early 1930s. The world class garden contains approximately 4,000 rosebushes. 

Before this picture was taken, my clumsy self tripped and fell into the rosebush. Oops! 

Kim looking classy.

Mission Peak, Fremont CA (5.6 miles; 3 hours; 2200 ft elevation gain)

Car selfie!

Annie hiding in the shade. What a disappointment!

Both of us finally made it to the top. 

Mission Peak (and Annie) stands at the highest point of 2,517 ft. 

Sibling bonding time. 

The cows may graze all the way up to the summit. 

Be careful where you step.

I'm sure having to carry heavy paragliding equipment up was worth the view.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (HSB) Festival 2013, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

HSB is an annual free and non-commerical music festival subsidized by venture capitalist Warren

Hellman. More than 750,000 people attended the three-day event showcasing almost 100 musical acts.

At the Banjo Stage, Steve Martin & Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell. 

It was a nice and sunny day.

Look who we ran into? Francie and Caroline!

The random Irish guys were very entertaining. They definitely had a few too many.

"When is that darn thing gonna set?!"