Christmas Eve at Mary's house

Abby teaching

"Jingle Bells" to Sophia

Gianna and me

Jaci and her dog, Oscar

The white cookies in the middle are my FAVE!






See the cookies from the middle are GONE!

Abby ready to bake cookies for Santa!

Friends, 2 movies, and a deer!

Yesterday, we went over to our friends' house to watch a movie, "Home Alone". Abby was so excited to go and was ready at the door! Usually it's me waiting for her, but it was visa versa! Abby didn't want to watch the movie. I made her stay in the living room for the first few minutes, so she played with a cute little girl, named Audrey. She's 17 months old and so cute! I wish I had my camera with me last night. Abby played with Audrey's kitchen set, fake food, and took Audrey "shopping" around the living room. Abby made her laugh by putting a butterfly net on her head like a hat. After maybe 15 minutes, she left and played alone in the playroom.

After the movie, the 2 boys went to join Abby playing with legos. The adults stayed and watched another movie, called "Ocean Thirteen" with Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Al Pacino, Matt Damon, and more. As the movie was beginning, my friends informed me that this movie was a sequel to two previous movies called Ocean 11, Ocean 12. I thought, "Oh no, will I be able to follow this movie??" It took me a while to put names to the faces because often as the characters spoke, their faces were turned away from the screens. I couldn't tell who was saying what, but the subtitles had the names "Linus:.....", so that was the only area where I had a little trouble following. There were two or three parts where my friend paused to explain (something from the previous movies). It was an interesting, and funny movie. When the movie was over, it was almost 11pm!

I went into the playroom and 3 kids were still playing legos and as soon as Abby saw me, she ducked under the table. She didn't want to leave. She have been giving me hard time about leaving thier house in the last few visits. I had to tell her that if she continues this, then I would have to stop bringing her over. (Of course, I wouldn't but that's the only way to make her cooperate!). She got up and put her coat, and shoes on but she still had a frown on her face.

We got into the car, and I like to let it warm up for a while. It's 10 years old! While we waited for few minutes in the car, Abby and I used that time to chat. She was still upset about leaving. I told her that we will come back on Sunday. We started to go up the street and saw a deer! It was in the street, right in front of my car. I had to move very slowly because usually when I see one deer, there's more around. We waited and watched the deer, I think it was a young deer. Finally, it got on somebody's front yard and started eating grass. I drove by very slowly. Abby got so excited and wanted my pager and said "I am going to call Carrie!!!!!" I told her that she couldn't call Carrie because it was too late, (11pm). She got upset and then complained about making her leave. I think she was cranky and tired. I put her to bed right away.

Today, Abby is in a happy mood. I went to my next door's to feed thier dog, Rosco. He's a pretty dog, the same colors as a Beagle dog but it's a Bassett Hound dog. He was happy to be outside, especially because it's a beautiful day. It's in the 40's, considered warm to me!!

Abby wants a puppy for Christmas!! I'm not ready for a dog, not yet. One day, though.

Miso Soup

Hello there,

I've been thinking, what should I post in my blog? Well, I have friends and family in
Houston, Austin, and Cypress TX,
Salisbury MD,
Millsboro and Laurel DE,
Washington DC,
West Virginia, Pennsylvania, California, North Carolina
and many more places all over the states!
So now this blog has an audience, ...my friends and family!

I will post whatever I could think of that could let you know what I have been up to. It could be like "What did I do today", or a reflective moment, or even a retrospective moment. It will not be focused on one topic or one goal. Let's say...I'll just go with the flow of my thoughts.

Now for my 2nd blog, I want to tell you something about miso soup. Most of you know that I grew up in Texas eating my dad's BBQ with his famous sauce, and my mom's homemade potato salad, and pinto beans. To this day, I have never tasted BBQ that was as good as my parent's ANYWHERE! I moved to Salisbury, MD in 1998 and never had my parents' BBQ again, unfortunately. Soon after I moved there, I was invited to somebody's house for crabs, and it was my first time ever! I loved crabs ever since that day, and couldn't get enough. Even Abby loves them.

Then I moved to Washington D.C. in 2003 and was introduced to Sushi for the first time. I became addicted to them, but they were expensive to order at restaurants if I wanted to eat them on a regular basis. So I decided to learn how to make them. Making sushi is very time consuming, so I only make them for special occasions. In D.C., I was also introduced to many different cuisines and can tell you that my favorites are Thai food, Sushi, Crabs, Shrimp, and other Asian food.

When I decided to move to West Virginia, I wanted to go to a restaurant in D.C. that I had never been to before I moved away. I went to Woks N' Rolls because I heard they had good Sushi. I ordered a meal which came with Miso soup, my first time to taste that soup just when I was about to move out of D.C.! I like having appetizers before meals but most of them are fried, or too heavy like chips/ bread with dips, or salad. I'm not that big on salads, so when I had the miso soup for the first time last summer... I thought that it wasn't bad, not too filling but just right for me.

Now I'm here in WV and we met new friends, a family of fab 5, and have been hanging out with them. Last week or so, we went to the Science center together in Pittsburgh, and our kids had a blast. Abby didn't want to leave! She even wanted to have a slumber party there! Afterwards, we went to Fuji Sushi, a restaurant near Pittsburgh. Everyone including Abby had miso soup and it was so good, and perfect for a cold night. Supper was great too.

In conclusion...I want to learn how to make my own Thai food, miso soup, and brush up on my sushi making skills!

My first blog

Hey, welcome to my very first blog. I have tried blogging on myspace.com but for some reason, my computer freeze often on that site. I'm gonna try this one and see how it goes. My goal for this blog is to post pictures. Some blogs might have no pictures, but I'm going to be tweaking with this blog for a while till I get the hang of it. What do you think of the title? "Let's reminisce with Tiff"? Does it sound silly? Should I change it to something else? I want something original!

I'm gonna post a little video. This was the day it snowed around 3 inches! I'll post pix after this video to show you around my house with the white snow before any footprints!

Front of my house. It's snowing as I'm taking those pix.

Right side of my house, that's my front/ backyard and my next door neighbors.

Nice to see all the snow without any footprints yet! That's my backyard. That thing you see in my yard is kinda like a gazebo.

My driveway and garage. You don't see my car in the driveway cuz I always park the car at the very end of the driveway. That way I get in my front door, instead of the back door.

There it is, my car as I'm standing on my front porch.

As I'm standing in the front porch, that's what I see across the street. A nice house with a sweet couple who likes to fix up thier garden.