Cheryl and Greg

Fall has arrived

2009-09-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

School starts back up on Wednesday. Will be starting my 2nd year of Pharm school. Summer was filled with work, weddings, and the great outdoors. I(cheryl) have hiked 80 miles this summer with one overnight backpack trip in the Olympics to celebrate our 2nd Anniversary.

September: We had Greg's parents in town. Since Greg has a grant due, we ended up staying in town. Luckily Greg's parents are easy guests. They rented a car and drove down to Canon Beach for 1 night.

That's the short version of the our summer. Goodbye sun and warm weather.

The House

2009-01-14T15:42:00.000-08:00

Thank you everyone for the congrats!

I realized that I haven't mentioned the house. Yep, we bought a house! The house is in Maple Leaf, just south of Northgate Mall.

It is a duplex. So we rent out the back, which has 1 bedroom, living room and it's own kitchen. We are separated by a wall. So, we don't see our tenant very much.

The front is where we live, and it has 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, laundry room and a big kitchen.

Our real estate agent fought for us. There were 5 offers on the house and we got it!!

Ring in the New Year!

2009-01-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

The last 5 months has gone by at a blink of an eye. Where have we been?

As for me (Cheryl), I have started my internship at Harborview Pharmacy and worked hospital hours, which some of you know and are groaning now. The hours are not consistent, nor are the days!

Once September hit, it was a quick trip to Italy, for Greg's work, and the start of my career: pharmacy school. The 1st quarter was very overwhelming. Not only were there a lot of material to study, but clubs and brown bag sessions constantly filled my oh-so-limited-free time. Anyhow, the 1st quarter is done! And now onto the 2nd quarter.

For Greg, he has been swamped with work. He is currently working on submitting an abstract to the ADA meeting in June. He is also working on a RO1, which in layman's term, a really difficult grant to be funded and it will mean Greg has finally made it as a scientist. Of course, the RO1 is very competitive. It sure takes a certain personality to do this career!

Lastly, I couldn't resist myself, a pharmacy-related information. Especially since it is a new year, majority of use have goals to be healthier and skinnier. FDA just added 41 more diet pill on a warning list! Click Here

Have an Awesome 2009 and a safe one!

Suby!

2008-07-03T14:50:00.001-07:00

Welcome the new member of the Morton Family : Suby!

Name: Suby
Date: July 1, 2008
Age: 2003

Catch UP

2008-06-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, bare (or is it bear), anyhow bare with me. This is a catch up Post.

Beginning of May:

Greg and I went to Montana to visit The Alkires. They have a new addition to their family of 3: Nathan. Beautiful and very strong, of course! And it was fun to see the dynamics of 2 children. All I have to say is that I need to start working out again to keep up with them! We had a great time catching up with them and even attempted some trout fishing.

White Water Rafting in the Wenatchee River:
Yes, Greg and I attempted this. "Do not try this at home" This was on the hottest day in Seattle and the snow was melting like crazy, which meant very strong rapids. In fact, I lost my sunglasses, but no worries it has been replaced by another Awesome one. Oh we also stopped by Stevens Pass on the way there.

Matilda's and Ian's Wedding: It was on Memorial Weekend. Located at Normandy Cove, which was a very beautiful day for a very beautiful wedding.

Now it's June and we head South to the Bay Area, where I spent 2 days with Grandma watching Indian Movie, while Greg had a meeting just North of San Francisco before his Conference in downtown SF. We were able to squeeze in Alcatraz before we arrive back to the gray weather in Seattle on Tuesday.

Golden Gate Bridge

Hyatt Elevators

Grandma, Cousin Terry and his girlfriend Icee.

Just another Weekend

2008-05-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

The last razor clam dig of the season for us. Since we had to be on the beach digging at 5:45am, we decided to camp overnight instead of driving down at 3am. We had a great time, despite the HAIL! Yes, hail on the beach and on us. But we had a GREAT time!

Seeds of Compassion

2008-04-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

Photo by Rod Mar/The Seattle Times/Sunday, April 13, 2008

Greg and I had the privilege to see the Dalai Lama speak at Qwest Field this past Saturday. He talked about making this Century the "Century of Dialogue" and to focus on teaching children compassion.

What is compassion? According to Wikipedia, "Compassion is often characterized through actions, wherein a person acting with compassion will seek to aid those they feel compassionate for. Acts of compassion are generally considered those which take into account the pain of others and attempt to alleviate that pain."

How to practice compassion? The Dalai Lama said, "Daily" and it starts at home. Through daily practice and choices, these accumulated actions will create change in our life and in our society.

Special thanks to Andrew Westmark for the tickets.

April Fool's

2008-04-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

As we all know, little Miss Cheryl has a mischievous side. So April Fool's Day is just another day but with a twist.

What is the worst thing to get at Harborview? Any guesses?

Anyone, who has been to Harborview know the answer: parking ticket.

What does Cheryl do? Borrowed a co-worker's parking ticket envelope and stuffed it with a note saying "April Fool's Day! by the way, LOVE Cheryl + Megan (the accomplice).

Who got this? Well, of course the husband Greg!

I have thought of getting Rae, (outside of April Fool's) but the phone number listed at her work directory didn't reach her. What was I planning? Can't tell, I may still use it one of these days. {evil laughter}

Knitting Monster

2008-03-31T09:58:00.000-07:00

Finally back on my knitting binge since the wedding. So I started my group up again GetKnitty Which is a lot of fun just chatting with friends.

Recently, I was told about a super awesome Knitting/crocheting blog, where knitters worldwide post their projects and can help with any questions.

Ravelry
This link was given to me by a friend; thanks Jenny! This is website, where you can record your project and also see who else in the World is working/worked on the same project! This is great for asking others questions when you get stuck. Enjoy this knitting/crochet forum for it is one of a kind. :)
https://www.ravelry.com/account/login#

Of course, while I started my knitting, Greg has started his Seattle Footy!

With my knitting binge, I may make myself this! j/k! hahaha!

You what!?!

2008-03-20T19:08:00.000-07:00

Oh okay...Rae you twist my arm...

Here are the rules...
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. My mom side of the family, including my mom are from Calcutta, India.
2. I volunter at my church as a door greeter.
3. I found out the hard way that I have ezcema. Apparently, it has been dormant until now.
4. I try a new recipe once a month.
5. Looooooove shoes
6. You can often catch me looking at the sky
7. I randomly belt out tunes, especially in my sleep (last time was Star Wars theme song)

Helloooo? Are you out there?

2008-03-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry! We have been M.I.A. Last week was filled with "Vision 08 Conference." During the conference, world famous pastors from all over the world speaks on leadership or simply "how to - be a stronger and better person". Despite the fatigue, we always feel greatly inspired and gain new perspectives. "Nope, we don't believe in being a stick in the mud."

So, here is the brief message:

Speaker - Jentezen Franklin from Gainsville, Georgia

Speaker - Kong Hee from Singapore
"The main motto is "Loving God" and "Loving People""

Speaker - Rick Godwin from San Antonio, Texas
"What is your "I Must",in other words, your destiny in life?"

Speaker - Bill Hybel from Illinois
"Leadership is working with the team to develop "ownership" by working together to create the main purpose or creed of the "company", "marriage", etc."

Driving home Friday night, we created a rough draft of our "Marriage Ownership Creed"

"Building a strong and fun Marriage based on God's Word"

2008-02-20T18:18:00.001-08:00

Tiger Mountain

The hike itself was easy compare to the ice rink at Rattlesnake Ridge. We did get some snow near the top, which makes hiking a million times more fun.

As for the view, here is a picture that describes it all.

However, the birdies made up for the view.

The BLUE BEAST

2008-02-05T17:10:00.000-08:00

"A picture is Worth a Thousand Words"

(D'OH! Sorry Tania. I must have pressed the "publish post" instead of just save.)

Our Green Machine=Ford Escort went to the service shop and gave us this car! This HORRIBLE car! It smelled like cigarette smoke! To understand the horribleness, here is a true story.

It was a cold Sunday night and the clock just striked 7pm. The happy couple were cuddling on the couch, when one of them decided to run to the store.

Greg: "We need to get milk for tomorrow."

Cheryl: "Can't we eat our cereal with water?"

Greg: "No"

Cheryl: "Okay, let's go to safeway. It's the closest."

30minutes later (20 of it was gowning up)

At Safeway after paying for the milk, 2L coke, orange juice....

Greg: "I need to get motor oil"

Cheryl: "Okay, toss me the car key and I'll put the groceries away."

The key was tossed. I(Cheryl) goes put groceries in the car and place the key into the passengar door. Flick the wrist and realized one half of the key is in my hand and the other half is in the door. (oh-oh!)

We ended up walking our groceries to our home, which took 20 minutes. Plus this was the day before my bday....Greg was not happy.

What happens next?

Well, Greg hammered 1/2 of the key straight and superglued it together overnight. The next morning (see below On My Bday!), Greg braved the snow and made a replica of the key. Surprisingly, the replica worked!

Thus the well-deserved name The Blue Beast. There were other incident but this one takes the cake. :)

On my Bday!

2008-01-31T12:50:00.000-08:00

What a great present to wake up with SNOW covering the ground! Just the day before(sunday 27th), I was telling Greg about how sad I was to not be on the mountain with snow. Looks like the mountain came to me.

What fun! For dinner I wanted to try something different. Rather than the usual Ray's Boathouse, I decided something more stylish. With a bib and a MALLET, this birthday girl went to town. I'm sure others were thinking....Is it a woodpecker? No. Is it a jackhammer? NO. It a crazy little Asian girl with a MALLET!.....

Weapon in hand = destruction

Hopefully by now, I have you all wondering where this wonderful place is. The Crab Pot!

Fun at Snoqualmie!

2008-01-29T17:06:00.000-08:00

Megan(co-worker), Wanda(sister) and I hit the snow on Saturday, Jan. 26. We had a blast going down Easy Rider, Dodge Ridge and so on. By the way, these are intermediate run and this is only my 2nd and a half time snowboarding. The half was when I have gone snowboarding 5 yrs ago! time flys! Here's a map of Summit West

The Morton Jr's First Christmas

2008-01-22T20:08:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was extra special as it was the first one that we celebrated together as "Morton's" We have already started some of our own family traditions.

Christmas Day was quite festive with everyone wearing their Christmas hat during dinner. We had quite a spread with a mix of Australian, Chinese and American cuisines such as a 6pound roast, cornbread, bok choy, salad, mash potatoes, and ..... a new Christmas tradition of lighting the plum
pudding on fire. Loved it so much, we lit it on fire 3 or 4 times!

For those of you, who don't know what a plum pudding is. Plum pudding
is an Australian Christmas Tradition and it's similiar to a Fruit Cake.
It's actually denser than a fruit cake. It comes wrapped in a cloth
and gets boiled in water for 1 hour. Afterwards, you pour some whiskey
or brandy on top and light it on FIRE. You eat this smothered in
Custard, which I also bought with the plum pudding. However, if you
are a beginner like me, you make lumpy Custard, which is what we ate
with the above plum pudding.

As for the 75F, blue sky, sunny weather, we enjoyed it very much.
Played tennis on the day of Christmas. Several days before, Eva and her
friend as well as Greg and I went to Los Angeles County of Museum of
Art, aka LACMA. But we got tired after 2 hours and decided to leave
rather than see the rest of the museum! So much for being an Art fan!
At least Greg was able to see the La Brea Tar Pit next to the museum.
Of course, we topped it off with a burger "from In & Out."

Lastly, I was very happy to spend some time with my little sister Eva before she ships out on her 3 month "Semester at Sea."

2008-01-21T21:57:00.000-08:00

MLK weekend

Bam !! Clam !! We are back baby !! Cheryl, Greg and Wanda left Oceans Shore beach full of holes after digging up 45 clams in about 45 minutes. Came back and deep-fried them. Delicious. Have plenty left over to make clam chowder. Look forward to hitting the coast again next month.... We might even test out our new tent that we bought at REI. It has really cool features and is extremely easy to put up.

For MLK, our original plan was to visit the Woodland Park Zoo. However that plan was cancelled by errands that took longer than we anticipated. Instead, Cheryl had a hankering to cook a pot roast in our new slow cooker. After grocery shopping we came home with a 2.5lb tip sirloin roast. While the roast was cooking, Cheryl spontaneously decided to go for a hike to work up an appetite. We decided to test our new hiking boots by climbing to the summit of Rattlesnake Ridge in the ice and snow !! The view was awesome on a crisp, sunny, clear Pacific NW day. Came home to the magnificent smell of the roast and devoured most of it.

Hunting little dudes down!

2008-01-16T13:01:00.000-08:00

Yep, it's that time again! When Greg and I pull on our waterproof gear and rainboots, just to march onto the beach in hope of digging up more than 3 clams! Our Thanksgiving Clam Dig was a diaster! 3 clams! sshessss..Take one bite and pass it on. We'll be heading out this Saturday at a decent hour because low tide is at 3:58pm. This means, we will have to be at the beach an hour before low tide to hunt these little dudes down! That's right, they are not escaping this time!

Ring in the New Year!

2008-01-09T14:28:00.000-08:00

Well maybe snowboard the New Year in. My co-worker, Megan, has a cabin at Crystal Mountain and did a night hike well before midnight. Tired from the hike, most of us went to bed! Talking about getting old. However, Greg and I as well as Megan and Collin made it to MidNight! Cheers! To celebarte we went snowboarding. Even Wanda came up and met with us!

Due to many winter sport and in anticipation for spring to come, I have become a sporting store stalker! So far, backcountry.com, sport authority, cabela, and Big 5 is a new home for a 5'1" Asian city girl. You don't even want to know what I have been searching for. But I will let you know what I have purchased: 1 golf glove, snowboard boats, marmot sleeping bags...yikes!

As for the gift-giving day, tor those of you, who already know, Greg and I, joined by Eva, went to LA to celebrate Christmas. We had a great time hanging out with my Dad and seeing my brother again. Those who are curious about my other sister, Wanda stayed in Seattle and spent time with our extended family in Seattle and went innertubing the on Christmas Day.

Thanks for reading my blog and I hope this blog finds you well. Happy New Year!

Leavenworth!

2007-12-12T22:45:00.000-08:00

An invitation from Rae and Andrew to stay at Rae's Parents' Cabin in Leavenworth was too-o-o good to pass. So, Greg and I stopped off at Les Schwabes to get our tire chains on our way to this Bavarian town I have heard so much of. Luckily, the roads were well plowed and we didn't need to use the chains at all. But there was definitely SNOW! 18 inches of it on Sunday!

Leavenworth was a nice change of pace for us compared to the normal errand running across town. While at the cabin, if a painter where to looked through the windows, he could have a painting of gathered people chatting around the fire holding a cup with steam wafting from it.

That was the night before. The following morning, we went to the rental shop to get me a pair of snowshoes, and headed out to the SNOW. We spent about 4 hours hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail, and hopped over many covered little streams. Very Pretty. The scene, of course, was gorgeous. But enough of my chatting-"A picture is worth a thousand words."

Thanks again Rae and Andrew!

Horoscope

2007-12-05T17:30:00.000-08:00

As many of you may or may not know, I am taking an online English writing class to make my Pharmacy application stronger. While I rummage through all the handouts of "What makes good writing?" I came across a descriptive writing exercise and it goes like this:

1. Look up today's horoscope
2. Re-write it as if it is writen for you

Here's my attempt of this exercise.

1. Your volunteer spirit is fully engaged right now, so if you're not hooked up with a do-gooder organization, now is the time to shop around for one that fits your needs, skills and interests. (From astrology.yahoo.com)

2. Today, I have helped several people at my job in some form or another. I helped Megan record cell viability and I have tried my best to help the new person find a protocol. Overall, I feel I have fully engage my volunteer spirit. Also, today I was a do-gooder organizer. I organized the papers on my desk and have gone through half the freezer to record what samples I have. Busy day. :)

TouchDown Seahawks!

2007-11-13T19:53:00.000-08:00

(warning: this is written by Greg)
Are you ready for some fooootbbbaallll ? We were well and truly ready for the Monday Night Football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49'ers. The Seahawks were nearly as pumped up as the record crowd of over 68,000 fans. Hawks stamped their authority on the game early and shut out the 49'ers to a 24-0 win.

WOW-Women Outdoor Workshop

2007-11-12T12:33:00.000-08:00

My sister, Wanda, and I went to WOW two weeks after my wedding! We had a GREAT time! I will most definitely go again.

This is me filleting a fish, shucking oysters, etc.

Using the smoker

2007-11-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

I have become more...ummm...."manly"....no....ummm...more into stuff! So here is me smoking a cornish game hen in a smoker. I renuvated the smoker, left behind by one of Greg's roommate, was sitting on Greg's patio for 5years.

The Normal Gambit of Life

2007-10-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

So, nothing new going on in my life. Greg and I are settling into our new apartment. Will post picture soon, when I find my camera cord.

Here is a list of what I am working on:

1. Unpacking (It has been 3weeks, but some items don't seem to want to come out of the box)

2. Working on tons of application for pharmacy school

3. Taking an English online class to improve my writing skills. This has been very challenging.

4. Trying to get organize. How do you do this? Any suggestions?

5. Getting a head start by reading up on latest pharmacy info. Even pronouncing drugs correctly will be nice.

6. Improving and learning languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, and Spanish. I will be joining a Spanish only meetup group with Michelle Hopefully, a year or two from now I will be fluent in four languages. Other languages I wish to learn are vietnamese and japanese.

Let's visit Harborview's ER?

2007-10-09T14:46:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning, I was at work munching on fruit snacks. All of a sudden I felt my stomach hurt. Eh? "Cheryl, you've done it again. Overate something you shouldn't have." I proceeded my day like so, but by lunch time I look very similiar to the mental health patient walking around Harborview. I was hunched over with my head tilted to the right and seem to be walking to the left. Continued my day on.

Thursday morning. Greg got a rude shock when he rolled over in the bed to put his arm around me. Not only did he got me, but he also got a loud yelp of pain. Refusing to look like a pansey, I went to work with Greg, meanwhile Greg kept telling me to go to the doctor. Fine. I decided to go to the ER.

For all the geeky medical people out there. Guess what it was. But first, here are some clues. 1 normal CT scan and 1 normal ultrasound. Drum roll please! It was a rupture ovarian cyst. What? Didn't even know cyst can be there.

Need not to worry, but Sunday I was back to my usual self with 1 less cyst.

My Life is like a Rollercoaster

2007-09-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

Everybody Now! Put Your Arms up! Wheeewww!

The past 2 weeks have been rough for Greg and I. We have been dragged through the ringer by Apartment Manager and UW Pharmacy School. With an extra bounce in our step, we have a place call home. However, the apt. Mngr never replied back and when he did the apt. was given to somebody else. Booo!

UW pharm told me that I may have a chance, being that I was #3 on the waiting list. Since then I have been on pins and needles. I called this past Monday and told me that they were calling the other two the same day. I called yesterday and office people went home. Bah! I decided to show up today at 8am hopeing I will be in the 8:30am class.

In the end, we are moving this coming weekend (29th) and I started the application for next year. I missed Pharm school by one person. On the bright side, there are plenty of clams out there.

Just Got Married

2007-09-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

Phew! The wedding day went really well. With all the help from friends and professionals, the day went smooth and was a lot of fun. We went to Vancouver, BC for 2 nights and took the bus into Victoria, where we stayed at The Fairmont Empress. It was fantastic! They treated us really well. We felt like a King and Queen.

Here is our photographers blog post: enjoy some of the wedding photos. :)

An International Affair

When Adam and I arrived at The Hall at Fauntleroy to be a part of Cheryl and Greg's wedding, we noticed that brides and grooms tend to do different things to get ready for their big days. The second photos down were photographed by each of us exactly 3 minutes apart!

This wedding was one to remember. There were guests from around the world (Greg's Australian and Cheryl has family from China) and the bride and groom made sure that every guest was entertained the whole night long. After the beautiful garden ceremony, we also had some time to head with the bridal party to play at Lincoln Park in West Seattle.

One of the fun things they did, and i believe is Chinese tradition, is that they went around to each table to greet their guests and let them offer up toasts. The toasts ranged from touching to hilarious (even some skits with blindfolds).

It was also great to run into some old friends during the day. Yuli and Michael (bottom picture, far left couple) were a former bride and groom of ours from last year and it was great to sit and have dinner with them and catch up! We also got to work again with the fabulous DJ duo Jason and TJ from Tune City who kept everyone dancing until the very end.

Congrats to this great couple!

cheers,

jen

A Few Seconds

2007-08-23T16:35:00.000-07:00

Phew! I have a few seconds and here I am on Greg's Computer, while Greg is picking up the tux. My Dad and some of Greg's relatives has arrived! And more to come!

The train is at full speed!

Choo! Chooo!

Count Down!

2007-08-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

T - 24days to go.

We can't help getting giddy! So far everything is in order. There are still some details to iron out...like the ceremony, guest book, centerpieces, makeup, hair...oh my gosh the rehersal dinner. Gotta go.

Bite! Yum-Yum! Bite!

2007-07-21T20:42:00.001-07:00

It's the middle of July in Seattle. That means the Bite of Seattle has arrived with an array of food and music! We shared the elephant ear and Jones BBQ Ribs. Both were finger licking good and you know what happens when you eat ribs. Once the rain started (ahem and the country music), we decided to leave with a rib-stained shirt (Greg).

Ken-Ji!

2007-07-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

Special Thanks to Mark Bartlett. His parents-in-law are season tickets holder and were unable to go. As you can see, they twisted our arms to go. With great enthusiam (on my part), we took the foam fingers and I had my Kenji Jojihma(#2) shirt!

Sitting at Section 126, row 24, which is behind home plate, the view was very different to the fairly large people, that we usually spot in the nosebleed section. A few rows behind us, we spotted "Moose Man" with 100's of Moose keychain around his neck! He even had his own personal shirt with Moose Man across the back. On the same row, 10 seats away was a man who tried to phase the opposing batters by shouting incomprehensible words every time the bat was swung. Munching on garlic fries, the diehard shouting man was hoarse by the end of the game. :)

For those who are curious, this was the day before Ichiro got a 96mph ball to the knee and by the way Mariner's won 6-4! Goooo Mariners!

Fireworks

2007-07-15T20:35:00.000-07:00

4th of July

2007-07-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

Around 2pm, we took a walk around GasWorks to see the festivities. If you look closely, you can see the barge on the water where the fireworks comes from. (Those pictures will be posted shortly). At the top of the hill was a giant inflatable Liberty head surrounded by very huge US flags.

Little did we know, Greg's green card will arrive next week, Thursday (7/12). Yep, he is American now.
We spent the entire day with friends with the couch out in front of the house grilling away. It was a great day!

The Garter

2007-06-27T10:30:00.001-07:00

I went into JoAnn Fabric to find a veil pattern to alter the veil Greg's mom, Gwenda, gave me. The veil that was passed down to me is very big and long, which is more than enough material for me to use. As I flipped through a book of patterns, I found a veil pattern that included a garter belt pattern. All I needed was 1) ribbon, 2) elastic and 3) some lace. Easy enough, I thought. So I trek though the wall of ribbons thinking "Goodness, which one should I choose!" Then I saw something and immediately lounged myself full force at a spool of ribbons decked with turtles! Yep! TURTLES!

I stopped by Angi's house to drop off her birthday present. Of course, I couldn't resist showing her and her sister, Tina as well as the rest of the family including their cousin, Sue the TURTLE ribbon. I ended up making the garter belt at Angi's house with their help. Thanks guys!

By the way, I still haven't made the veil.

Favors

2007-06-22T08:52:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Greg's house at 9:30pm last night and discovered a surprise on the dinning table. Even though we knew the package was shipped 2 days ago, it was still shocking to see a 5 pound box starring back at you with labels of CHOCOLATE plastered all over it! That's RigHT, the chocolate for the wedding favors are innnnnnnn the house!

Phase 2 of 3 is completed. Only a selective few will know its true identity, everybody else will have to come and see for themselves.

Snail Mail

2007-06-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

We are finally mailing out the invitations in small batches. Since mail to Australia takes a week to fly across "the pond", those where the first to go. The Seattles invites will either be personally delivered or they are slowly heading their way through snail mail.

Surprisingly, it doesn't take us very long to put the invitations into an envelope and it has been very enjoyable. Getting the invitations ready, has made us look at each other with starry eyes. Seeing "the request of your presence to our marriage" has us snuggle against each other dreaming of the day as "Mr. & Mrs. Morton."

Get DOOoo wnnn!

2007-06-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

We finally book a dj! We decided to go with Jason Brown from Tune City Dj's because he has dj at our friend's (Yuli and Mike) wedding last year and plus he is really a cool guy.

Mr. Jason Brown is also a 4th Grade Teacher and does this during the summer. I'm seem to be surrounded by teachers! Greg's Dad has retired from being a teacher in Australia. My family in Seattle are teachers. Auntie Lydia - piano teacher; Auntie Doris - Kingdegarten; Auntie Selena - Special Ed: I should be a math teacher to continue with this family trend.

Despite being a teacher, Mr. Brown can get the dance floor going!

Boogie Down!

This takes the Cake

2007-06-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

Several more to-do items to be crossed off. We have ordered our wedding cake on Sunday with a wonderful person name Victoria Logan. www.sweetmomentscakery.com

We decided on a 3 tier cake. We are serving 2 varieties to our guest, lemon cake with bavarian cream and swiss chocolate with raspberry bavarian filling. Saving the best for last, the American tradition is to save the 3rd tier in the freezer for the One year Anniversary to be eaten by the happy couple. Greg and I really liked the chocolate truffle cake but we decided it was too rich and will make a better One year Anniversary cake, which we are really looking forward to ""enjoying." We'll let you know how it tasts.

Greg's Birthday!

2007-06-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

Jason gave us a christmas/engagement gift voucher to the 5th Avenue Theater! On June 6th, we went to see "West Side Story" and we absolutely loved it! I still keep singing songs from it.

The next day was Greg's 33rd Birthday. We went to an Italian restaurant in Wallingford called Bizzarro and had a great time. They were fabulous and helped made Greg's 33rd unforgettable.

The Birthday celebration continued on the next day with friends. We went to Hale's Ales Brewery and I brought a cake from Borracchini's. It was an amazing chocolate cake with mocha frosting. Greg was sporting a navy blue shirt with the caffeine molecule imprinted on it, that he got from me for his birthday. I also got him a bag of coffee beans from South America to compliment his shirt. :)

Memorial Weekend

2007-05-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

By 6am, we were on the road to the treasure state, where the sun shine 350 days. Once we've arrived to Hamilton, Montana Greg kicked back with our friends George and Karen, while I mow lawn for the first time in my life!

During our stay, we met their neighbor's dog, Moose. Moose is a very energetic dog that loved to jump in the water even though the ball land several feet away!

Here's Moose!

Here's Greg chucking the ball over the house. Moose was that bright! We have thrown the ball into the middle of the field (behind Greg) and Moose would bring it back.

After 3nights of relaxation and enjoying the country life, we head back to the city life on Monday. Thanks Karen and George for the yummy food and hospitality!

Here's George with little Livy!

Life on the Fast Track

2007-05-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since our last posting. Life has been a highway with Greg and I blazing through at 100mph.

With Birthdays and farewells, work has filled my social calender this month.

- At the end of April, Greg was out of town for a conference. However, I was kept busy. I picked up my wedding dress and the bridesmaid dresses. I also, went to Matilda's and Ian's Birthday Party. Matilda and Ian are dating and yes, thier birthdays are close to each other. I had a great time!

- Valerie: A french woman with her doctorate, her birthday was May 9th and we went to House of Hong for dim sum.

- Crush: I went to this restaurant for the Urban Bite event with my work. The Urban Bite is an event for the local people to try new restaurants. Located on the corner of Madison and 23rd. We were disappointed with this restaurant and non of us will be going back anytime soon.

- Jason, one of Greg's roommate, had a post-surgery party. We watched his surgery on the tv and served Bloody Mary drinks.

- Chris has left our lab to a biotech company in Los Angeles. We have gone to his farewell BBQ and I went to a work lunch to celebrate his new adventure in life.

- Also, I have been cat sitting for my friends Rae and Andrew, whom are visiting Andrew's parents in Toronto. I love their cat, Layla! She is such a sweetie. I rarely like cats, but there are a few that warms my heart.

- Quarter Lounge is a bar. We go monthly to meet my friends, Bobbie and Barb. I have known Bobbie since my freshmen year of college. I am very happy to still be in touch with her. After Quarter Lounge, we went to Iaela's condo for dinner. Iaela works for Greg.

- The day after Quarter Lounge, Greg's footy mate Chris "Stearns" had a BBQ. His girlfriend, Kathi, who is also chinese, is doing the flowers for the our wedding. We had a great time! And great food!

- Connect Cell Group: This is a small bible study group to help meet more Christians at our church. We discussed about Spiritual Power

- Marriage Counseling: We went yesterday. To be honest, we are really enjoying these session with Terry! Thanks Terry! He has been fabulous. Just when Greg and I thought we talked about everything, we were surprised that we haven't talked very much about children. We have talked about how many we want. However, we had blank looks when asked if we know what kind of characters we want our children to have. ????

- Some where in between our social calendar and Greg's weekly sports activity on top of our weekly church attendance, we actually have cross off some items off the wedding list!
* We ordered our WEDDING Bands! from E.E Robbins
* We have submitted our order for our INVITATIONS!
* I have purchased my sash for my wedding dress :)
* Meet with Auntie Lydia and talked about planning a rehersal dinner.

Yikes! We are leaving early Friday morning to visit George and Karen in Montana over Memorial weekend!

Our First Razor Clam Digging Adventure

2007-04-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

After a 5 hour drive that was suppose to take only 3 and half hours, we finally arrive to the pitch black grounds of Cape Disappoinment with the fog horns in the distance. As, we drove through the winding roads to our Yurt, we had no idea of what lies ahead of us. Being city folks, we knew this Yurt was going to make our trip fun or miserable. Prepared for the impending coldness, I(Cheryl) wore my fleece socks and three layers of shirts. As we pulled up to the Yurt, we shouted in the car with tremendous joy. We almost tip the car over from jumping up and down in our seats.

The HEATER, and lightswitch were used immediately! After we unloaded the car, we kicked our feet up, sit back and brew ourselves a cup of tea. In the spirit of Saint Patrick's Day we had Irish Breakfast Tea while we played a few games of scrabble.

The next day, we decided to visit the 2 lighthouses in the area, since the best time to clam dig wasn't until 4pm. Both lighthouses were only a 10 minutes drive away.

The first one, was a retired lighthouse. We paid to climb up to the top, where several cameras were mounted to record the errosion of the beach. The very same beach we will later be on to dig our clams! Eck! We never knew how cool lighthouses were!

The second lighthouse was on Cape Disappointment and is still being used today! (We weren't allowed in) It wasn't from sheer excitement of learning more about lighthouse, but rather it began pouring rain and strong winds.

When 4pm rolled around, we put on our "space suits" and hit the beach! The beach was only a minute away. So, we walked onto it with our CLAM GUN!

Yes! We are eating them! Yum! We had such GREAT time that we can't wait for next year!

Some Dirt

2007-04-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

Before dating, Greg and I spent many lunch breaks, as science nerds do, talk about the technicality of gardening. Does the soil have the right pH? nitrogen? or potassium?

Steming from our past (pun intended), we recently began our adventure together on growing heirloom tomatoes together. Despite that it looks borderline illegal, needless to say, we will soon be proud parents of specialty heirlooms! The funny green plant is a Shamrock slowly working its way to join the compost pile.

The seeds were purchased from the good ole internet (http://www.rareseeds.com/) under Red Tomatoes. They are the "German Red Strawberry" and the Principe Borghese, which won the 2006 Seattle Tilth Tomatoe Tasting http://www.seattletilth.org/events/06ttresults.

I spent the most of my April Fool's Day preparing the soil for my tomatoes plants. I reckon it will take another 3 weeks before I can do so!

BitterSweet Send-Off

2007-03-24T12:39:00.000-07:00

Thursday night, we said farewell to our friends George and Karen. With them, we also had to say goodbye to their beautiful 13 months old daughter, Olivia "Livy", and their dogs, Buster and Ginger. After their 3 years living in Ballard area of Seattle, they are heading eastwards to Hamilton, Montana. Less than 500miles away, there will be plenty of opportunities to visit them. Nevertheless, we will miss our dear friends greatly!

the PATH

2007-03-09T11:12:00.000-08:00

The University Journal was sitting on the dinner table, while Greg and I had breakfast together. It was carpool day, so Greg was over for breakfast before we went to work. On the cover of the journal was about a local Seattle company called PATH, located in the Ballard area. I figure the best way to understand this non-profit organization but pasting their mission statement.

"Our mission statement is to improve the health of people around the world by advancing technologies, strengthenig systems, and encouraging healthy behaviors."

website: http://www.path.org

By the end of breakfast, Greg and I signed ourselves up for their monthly tour. Sounds exciting. They also work on improving mother and child nutrition around the world, which is what Greg studied (Nutrition and Dietitics) in Uni. World! Here we come!

President's Day Weekend

2007-02-27T20:17:00.000-08:00

Missed the wedding dress shopping expedition in Portland. I would have loved to be there all weekend but I don't want to see Cheryl in a wedding dress until the wedding day. Instead I went with a few friends and stayed at a cabin at the base of Crystal Mountain. Had a great time eating, relaxing and unwinding. Even better, we had several inches of fresh snow over the weekend so we had an awesome day snowboarding on Monday.

While Greg was on the sloops, I went to visit my sister Eva in Portland to go wedding dress shopping. Still no luck, but I am sure I will find a dress. Eva and I spend all Saturday running around Portland. On that day, we have gone to five bridal salons and I have tried on at least 15 dresses. As soon as we return to Eva's apartment, I crashed on the couch and fell asleep. I had a great time catching up with my sister and seeing Portland again.

A funny moment

2007-02-14T08:53:00.000-08:00

Once in a while, Greg and I go to work together, so we can take advantage of the carpool lane. We arrived at work and entered a *coffee stained floor elevator with two other strangers.

I looked over at Greg and noticed droplets were coming from his bag onto his pants leg.

"Greg, you're dripping."

Greg replies,"No, they were there before we got in."

"No, you are dripping! It's coming from you bag."

Greg replies back, "It was there before!" Looks down and saw the stain on his pants. Then he gave me his cute sheepish-embarassed look and ran out of the elevator before I can get another word in.

Within 5 minutes, I get an email from him. It turned out to be his Coke!

As for Valentine's Day, we decided to celebrate yesterday on the 13th instead. Greg had an all day meeting and told me that he will pick me up at 5pm. So, I sat at my desk working on the wedding and when 5pm came around, Greg walked in with a dozen roses! I was soo surprised!! I immediately put the roses in a glass beaker (for those don't know, I work in a lab), and am enjoying them greatly. Afterwards we went to Wasabi Bistro for dinner and it was fantastic!

On the road to Marriage

2007-02-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

Phew! We found a venue and ceremony site. I never knew how much work it takes to plan a wedding and I am only done with one part the location and date. The Hall at Fauntleroy (The Hall) is located in the beautiful area of West Seattle. Greg and I are very excited about this.

At last, we picked up our pre-marriage counseling package on Jan. 28th. The package came with several budget sheets, a book that comes with two workbooks (one for him and one for me), and 6 cds series on family life. For the next four months, Greg and I will have lots of conversations, one of them being "What are some of the things the other person can improve on?"

Looks like some interesting times ahead of us.

Starting the New Year

2007-02-07T09:37:00.000-08:00

After my wonderful trip to Australia, I landed running in Seattle without any scissors.

We arrived in Seattle in time for New Year's Eve! We had a fantastic time! Rebecca, Sean, Katherine, Sam, Ernie and Jason were over for dinner and we played lies dice, pictionary and ImagineIff till the fireworks were set off at the Space Needle, which we watched from the front steps of the Wallingford House.

I submitted my pharmacy application to UW on Jan. 5th. The next day, Angi and her cousin went with me to the Wedding expo at the Convention Center, and left the building with a bagful of papers! Papers everywhere! I have papers about papers! Angi and her cousin were fabulous in preventing me from being overwhelmed. Thanks again!

Since the paperfiedcation, I have been looking at reception sites. This is tough, since I want the site to represent us. So far, we have come across outrageous opulent sites to "not so great" places. All of which, I can see matching other people but so far we haven't found a place. No worries. I am 100% positive that we will find something that matches us well.

Well, back to the world of ribbons and cake. yummm..cake....

We will post some pictures from Australia later.