You know you're a freebie queen when....
1.  You and your friends compete to see who gets the latest freebies first. ("I got the Oil of Olay bodywash! What did you get?!")  (sometimes)
2.  Sometimes you pass on an offer unless it's a hefty freebie with no shipping and handling charges and a coupon thrown in for good measure!  (sometimes!!)
3.  You find yourself comparing freebie packaging (hmm...no bubble wrap, must not be a good one).  (We always feel them and "size them up"!!)
4.  At least one freebie site is on your toolbar...and you visit it several times during the day for updates.  (2 of them, in fact!!)
5.  You have to make room in your closet for another free t-shirt or baseball cap.  (Only paper storage spots for homeschool freebies....we use everything else right up!!)
6.  You feel neglected and oddly disappointed when you only get one freebie in your mailbox.  (ONE of us always asks "shouldn't we be getting something in the mail?")
7.  You make a list of "good" sites that consistently send terrific freebies.  (I only post the educational ones, but oh my the other ones I browse or groups I subscribe to!!)
8.  You love using the sample, but don't spring for the full-size version.  (Depends what it is and how much I like the sample!!)
9.  You collect freebies all year for gift giving.  (NEVER!!  I'm not THAT cheap!!  SHEESH)
10.  You love the itty bitty packages freebies come in.  (They are cute and it's always a surprise!!)
11.  You've got a new, edgy look...thanks to glow-in-the dark hair gel and glittery sunscreen freebies.  (Nope, darn it, I must've missed these!!  HAHA)
12.  You can type in your name, address and zip code in your sleep.  (I live at....oh oh, wake up Elaine!!)
13.  You have tons of travel-sized shampoo but never travel!  (Mostly deodorant!!  HEHE)
14.  You're not sure what the full-sized product looks like since all you've used are freebies.  (Yep!!)
15.  You realize what you're wearing, what you're eating and what you're reading were all freebies.  (Do they give away "wide load" size freebies??  :-D  Well of course, what do you think is for breakfast??  And I have to read something!!)
16.  You get irritated when the freebie is a foil packet thingy and not a "real" sample.  (They do say "sample", not tease!!)
17.  You know what a SASE is. Extra points if you know what GWP means.  (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope....do I lose points for GWP??)
18.  You have a separate email address just for your freebies.  (Why yes I do!!)
19.  Someone compliments your new haircolor or lipstick and your first response is, "It was free!".  (I've already told you the gray and silver is all mine!!)
20.  Your beauty basket is filled mostly with plastic packets and mini-bottles.  (Who has time to put them in a basket??  I got them to use them!!)

I think one should even be added to this list for me....

When you start to order a freebie for your mom when you order yours so she doesn't miss out on it!!

Yep, that's when you know you're a....

The beginning had some tiny rapids which I was told that just those ones and ones after a long slow stretch in the river would be the only ones.  Lies!! Freaking liars.  But hey each one of them were fun so I will forgive.  I think we floated maybe 10 miles someone said.  We were doing good for most of it going at a decent speed hitting a couple rapids along the way.  We would then stop and dump the water out of the raft and continue on.  Then we hit the slowest spot ever!  If we didn't paddle it felt like we were not moving at all, or even going the wrong direction.  By that time I was hungry and wanted to eat so I even started paddling to get us to the end faster.  After I stopped paddling M started to a feverish pace.  Then we hit the big rapids.  We thought we were going to tip over on that one cause it hit and hit hard.  

At the end there were free hot dogs so I had two cause of all that hard paddling you know.  Waited 40 minutes or so for the others to reach us and finally got home.  M was exhausted and so was I but of course I made dinner even though I made it all this week.  Oh well, I am a stay at home wife for the moment so I guess I can't complain.  Much fun on the river though!

ME AND HAM

Guess who!

This is helen , she's from hong kong

IRIS!!!

This is mihai's coach, LOL which makes him our grand coach.
I'll update more when im free =)

Roses Under the Trees, Gustav Klimt

43,871, Loose Daddy

21,948, Sweet Taboo

The repairman didn't show up until sometime between 3 and 4 so I didn't make it into the office at all on Thursday. I didn't mind; I needed a day off from the drive and the office. I worked on Sweet Taboo (but all I did was cut) 'cause Loose Daddy is slow going lately. Every time I set a deadline to finish a piece of writing it does me no good, but after days of nothing, I was finally able to continue the conversation between Tyrell and Lucas Monroe, another page along. However, my two pages a day goal for the month of July met the sun of resistance and turned to ashes. So I'll have to be content with what I get each morning for the rest of this month.

Got back Steve's comments on the first 3 chapters of Sweet Taboo, and all's well pretty much. He only had a few cosmetic changes and he said it was a pleasure to read and that it has great characterization, believable storyline, and good pacing. I so appreciate those words.

Met Janet today for our monthly writer's lunch. She had a bag of birthday gifts for me. One particular gift was a lovely bookmark--a pink cord with a rose pink square dangling from one end with the word "Dream" in silver and from the other end my initial, a pink and silver "D". Being a bookmark junkie, I love it, and I laughed and told her "dream" is all I seem to do 'cause actually finishing my novels and getting them out the door seems an impossible task for me. But I'm not quitting. I'm too close.

I pulled out Cloak of Shar last night and gave it a read-through--all 4,400 words. It's a fantasy story I started in 2006. It read well; I liked the characters, and had written my way through to the start of a war and stopped 'cause I didn't know what to do after that. So Janet and I talked about it and she gave me some good suggestions to move the story along. I don't want to stare at LD and ST this afternoon, so I'm going to see if I can plot more of Cloak of Shar. On with the dream.

• Thinking about cultural differences I: An introduction
  Jul 9 2008 - 4:38pm
• Thinking about cultural differences II: Why bother?
  Jul 13 2008 - 4:52pm
• Thinking about cultural differences III: Where do they come from?
  Jul 19 2008 - 2:27pm

I did have a great birthday. Very lowkey but it was a lot of fun. We went tubing and skiing on the lake again and went fishing in the evening. We caught about 15 sunfish total and kept about 8. We fried the fish the next morning for breakfast (they were actually really good, even though I'm not a huge fan of fish for breakfast). After eating our burgers, salad, and corn, we started a bonfire right next to the lake. Around 10:30, we went back inside and had cake and ice cream. It was a very good birthday!

On Wednesday morning, Travis and I woke up to a good ole Minnesota thunderstorm. I LOVE thunder and lightning when it's lightly raining outside. We left for Nevis, MN, around 10 AM after eating breakfast and cleaning the kitchen up from the night before and got up to Nevis, where his parents live, around 1:30. We played baseball in Nevis with his younger brother, nephew, and Mom and then went to see Wall-e, which was really cute. I also opened my presents from Travis and his family--Travis gave me a pair of sandals from Victoria's Secret that I really wanted 

 and his family gave me a gift certificate to Target (which I'm going to use for house stuff!!) My parents' present to me came about 3 months ago in the form of a Coach purse which I am loving.

On Thursday, we went fishing at the crack of down. I caught a 3-4 lb. smallmouth bass, along with a bunch of small panfish. Travis and Matthew (his bro) caught some Northern pike. We didn't keep anything. After eating breakfast, Travis, Matthew, Drew (his nephew who lives with Trav's sis in NC but is up here for a month), Beth (his mom), and I all went to the World of Christmas, which is an amusement park. We rode the bumper boats (where I got soaked!) and the go-karts; walked through a maze; had water wars (I got soaked then too!); jumped on a bungee cord thingy; and played mini-golf. It was a lot of fun. Then Travis and I drove an hour and a half to Grand Rapids, where his dad, Al, has taken a new job. Beth and Matthew will move there as well but they're still working on buying a house. Al gave us a tour around his workplace (a redi-mix plant where he's a manager) and around the town of Grand Rapids. 

Yesterday, Travis and I slept in to about 8:45 and then ate the continental breakfast at the posh hotel that his dad is staying at. Al's hotel suite is bigger than our apartment in Boulder! The hotel is brand new too so everything is really nice. We took showers and hung around the hotel for a while and then drove back to Nevis. We went fishing again, Travis, Matthew, and Drew in the fishing boat, and me and Beth in the canoe. We caught a bunch of small sunfish and kept 3 but ended up throwing them back because 3 isn't enough to fillet and fry. After dinner, Travis and I drove to Park Rapids (about 20 min away) to visit one of his friends from HS, Jesse, and his wife, Emily. We toured their business and new house and caught up. It was fun.

Today, we have been kind of lazy. It was raining all morning so we just hung out inside, took a tour of the state land around their property that is being logged, played Bocce ball, read, took a nap, etc. It's good to have a lazy day or two on vacation.

But I can't believe that it's already Saturday and tomorrow we fly home. It's bittersweet--bitter because the end of vacation is always sad and we won't see Trav's family again maybe until October (if they come to my bro's wedding in August, we'll see them then too). Sweet because we'll see my family again in August but also because in the meantime, we get to move into our new house!! Now that our vacation is almost over and I have the house to look forward to (and we saw Jesse and Emily's new house last night), I am getting really excited about moving in and decorating. There's a lot we want to do and our only limitation is money. (Ah...money.) But my mom's gift and Beth's gift have definitely helped!!

Ok, I'm done now.

[Airplane Flight]

So we got to the line to go to Hong Kong first, before that we have to measure the weight of our suitcases before we show our passports to the people. And so we did, and like few of our suitcases are too heavy so we have to take some crap out and carry them with us to the plane. It's tiring because for 3 people [my brother had to stay home to do exams for his Job to get a higher position] we got like what...6 suitcases and 2-3 carry-bags xD Afterwards we got to the check-up place so the securities can check through out bags and such, there's a thing called a random check [like, the person chooses 1 random person to check the body and their own carry-bag], so I got chosen unfortunately =.=; Lady has to feel my body up...it tickles LOL seriously, the lady gave me a WTF face but then while she was checking me she was like humming like she was enjoying it xD The way she touched my boobs LOL So then afterwards she checked my bag, I can't bring along my Clean&Clear bottle and sunblock so they took it away, grr. Anyways, we got to our gates to Hong Kong and waited until the plane is ready, I saw this VERY CHIO Asian flight-attendant chick, OMGSH soooo pretty, I was...in love LOL seriously. And she's was in my plane [Air Canada], wicked~ The plane was a long ride, around 13-14 hours and I hated it =.=; oh well at least I watched some neat movies, Aladdin [the Japanese version is HILARIOUS] and good chick-flick asian movies; The Empress and the warriors and Forever the Moment [sorry, had to type this out so I can remember it and watch it again]. We go to Hong Kong, waited for the other plane [Cathay Pacific] to get to Vietnam. And I saw a few VERY HOT Asian guys who are in the plane =D Cathay Pacific is so much better, the food is great there lol. The ride only took an hour and half. As soon as we got out, retrieve our luggages [btw I saw Lmy friend from Viet school, Linda! =D What a coincidence!!] and as we got out, the humidity pushed me down, I was like "SOOO HOT LAR~!!!" It was quite a long day for some reason lol. For the time being, we stayed at my grandmother's [mom's side] house.

[Day 1]
We didn't do much on the first day, since we were tired from the ride and we're not use to the time here because Vietnam and Canada are like 11-12 hours away. I met my little cousin, I expected him to be a shy but WOW, he's like, carefree! Just in 10 minutes we're already veeeery close, he loves me~ =D He's very helpful too, like help out unpacking luggages for us, doing chores, giving me massages...Vietnam children here are aweeesome~ 8D I get to go on the motorbike, there are a lot of motorbikes here in Vietnam and not much cars [mostly Taxis]. It's been 8 years since I last sat on a motorbike, it was fun! 8D I wanna go on again lah~!


[Day 2]
We still havent done anything during this day. But, I did ate a lot of seafoods [and they're really cheap here too!]. Crabs, Clams, Shrimps LOTS OF SEAFOOD LOVE!! YUMMERZ~ And during the night I got bit by mosquitos, even though my grandma's bed already has those curtain-thingy covering around it, I still got bitten xD For the past 2 days I woke up around 5:30am because my grandma wakes up that early just to pray for a long amount of time xD

Currently Im on my 3rd day, got a glimpse of downtown in Ho Chi Min City [Saigon], it's pretty~ I've sen some FOB stores, so Imma gonna check that out afterwards =D Im at my grandma [Dad's side] house now and met my cousins. One of my cousin can speak English EXTREMLEY well, he does have a slight of accent but it's still better than my parents. It's because his school is an international school [from what I've heard]. He looks pretty much like a nerd, but he's cute without glasses. When I was going through my Cawaii magazine and he saw Paris Hilton in my mag, he was like "=.=; oh Paris Hilton...she's pretty much bitchy" and I was like o_O he knows how to swear in English too?! xD Right now it's 1:40pm and my friends on facebook are still on...and it's like around 2am there LOL.

Promising to post up pictures and will tell INTERESTING STORIES later on during my trip. I'm staying for a month, so hopefully I wont slack off. =D Sorry if it's boring xD So hot I'm like....baked like a cookie =.=; I feel overcooked LOL Lots of people admire my looks and mostly the nose xD [Because most Viet girls has flat noses, and loves the bump on my nose that I have, from what I heard from my Mom...]. Until next time, Cya~

Most visited site?humm, yahoo mail uda pasti. Terus sering ke vecteezy, baru dari situ loncat-loncat ke flasheezy, designmeltdown. Kadang kalo uda ngerasa rada kampung gara-gara ngga ngerti sama latest issue, baru ngecek kompas ato jawapos hehe. Oh iya, juga seneng blogwalking kok. Seringnya ke sepatumerah, istribawel, sama suamigila. Akhir-akhir ini jg lumayan sering ke monyetpinter. Lumayan buat nyegerin otak yg ribet semingguan.Intinya, paling enak memang ngabisin waktu buat diri sendiri tanpa ada intervensi seharian. And sunday is just such a perfect day. Sayang hari minggu ini cuma ada 24 jam *ya iyalah!!mau berapa lagi?*. Ooo..seandainya hari minggu bisa ada 2 kali dalam 1 minggu. Tapi ntar ngga 1 minggu ya namanya? Yawda ganti, ooo...seandainya hari minggu bisa lebih dari 24 jam dalam satu minggu.........enaknyaaa...hayo, kompakan coret hari Senin di kalender, ganti sama hari MInggu. Besok ngga usah ngantor deh, kan hari minggu "kedua". Hehe, terus besoknya kita pada dipecat serentak yaa..

Outside on the steamy streets, I reconnected with my partner in crime.  This time we exchanged phone numbers.  Word were said that I hoped would be said.  I think I'm starting to feel (gasp..) a bit gooshy for him.  I've gotten quite good at casual encounters and separating sex from love and all that, but maybe, just maybe something is getting through the flaming barbed wire protective fence I keep around myself.

I'm sort of confused right now, I wonder why I'm thinking about him so much.  It scares me a little.  He's still virtually a stranger with unpacked boxes.  He's got a spark though, something indescribable that I'm drawn towards.   

This morning I noticed he had blue eyes when he whispered in my ear "for a couple of drunks were not doing so bad".  We giggled and I felt safe.  Then I slipped away while he continued to sleep.