Catching Up

I have a number of things to post since the last time I posted was 6 MONTHS AGO. I don't remember what order everything goes in, but I'll try my best. This is gonna be a big random mess.

December

~~~~~~~~

I don't remember the date, but in December I got a Korean cd called GTOP. It's really cool music. The two artists are from a group called Big Bang, they are the two rappers and they joined together to make this album. I have pictures.

That's a poster. But because of the hand that looks like the playboy bunny, I am not allowed to put it up on my wall. But just so you know, they're not bad like that. They just liked how it looked so they used it.

This is a sticker that came with the album. It was a gift if you bought it from the site I bought it from. It came with more stickers too =D

That's the inside.

And there's the cover....again, just ignore the hand/bunny.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Around Christmas time we had family come over. I'm not posting all pictures because I want this post to be as short as possible since I have a lot of things to put on.

We told Justin to hug River, and she bit him, lol.

And here's our Christmas tree.

Cheree got me this shirt for Christmas. It is one of my favorite anime shows ~

This is a mini calendar for 2011 of my favorite member of the Korean group; Big Bang.

There's the backside.

January

~~~~~~~

The first week of January the Salgado's came to visit. For some reason I only remember one night they were here, and I only took a few pictures. But we were playing games in my room so I probably didn't want to take the time to take pictures since I wanted to play. During the middle of our game Lukas said he wanted to get a bunch of junk food at Safeway. It was almost midnight, and that's when the store closes. So we left to get the snacks. It was a lot of fun of course =D Lukas just kept grabbing a lot of stuff, and they made me and Kacia carry everything. Such gentlemen. In the store there was this older song being played on the radio, and Kacia got excited because they never play it in stores and the guy at the checkstand was like, "it's not cool when they play it over and over" and she was like, "oh, do they play it a lot?" and he was like, "YES." and all annoyed.

Here are all the snacks.

See, it's a lot lol. Matt wants fooooood. We played games the rest of the night for a while, and ate snacks. It was fun. Annnd that's all I remember. Which is weird cause I can remember details from months ago, and this was just in January.

February

~~~~~~~~

The 3rd was Chinese New Year. I didn't do anything to celebrate cause my family doesn't do that -___- but someday I will =D I wrote out Happy New Year in Chinese on some paper with a bunny drawn on it, cause it's the year of the rabbit.

I celebrated in my heart, and with my online international friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The 4th was River's 1st birthday. We didn't really do much on her actual birthday cause it was kind of late. But Amy and David came over and Amy made her a cake. We had River in just her diaper so she wouldn't get her clothes all messy.

She got a bath afterwards, and it was really hard to get off of her. She had fun though ^-^

There are more pictures, but I only have one on my computer for some reason. She's starting to stand up by herself now =D I think she's gonna start walking soon. When she does I'll record her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, so I had ordered a Chinese shirt on ebay for an anime character. It came about 3-4 weeks after I ordered because it was coming from China. So it's an authentic Chinese shirt =D it's really cool.

It was like $35 or something. More than what I usually pay for clothes, but it was worth it. I wore that to the Asian Celebration, but for some weird reason I didn't get any pictures of myself or the people I was with. But that's how I looked at the festival.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got a Chinese coloring book at Safeway one day. It's called Nihao Kai Lan. I was with my mom in the store, and I was holding chocolate syrup and I went to look at the books so I set it down, and I picked up the coloring book and accidentally left the chocolate syrup there :o and we went home without it. When we got home I was looking through the bags and was like, "where's the chocolate syrup??" and I was blaming it on the workers for forgetting to bag it. But as I was in the middle of saying how lame of workers they were I realized I set it down and I was like, ".......OOPS!" and started laughing, then told my family that I was the one who forgot it. So we didn't get it, but I got my coloring book ~

Ps. I wasn't wearing my Chinese shirt to the store, I just happened to be wearing it when I took the picture.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So one day I was folding laundry, and I came across River's gloves. Just to be funny I tried them on, and they fit! I guess I have small hands, haha.

My brothers can't even fit all their fingers inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

February 19 and 20 was the Asian Celebration~! I went on the 19th only, which was a Saturday. Matt dropped me off and I was going to meet my friend Mandy for the first time in person while I waited for Andrea and Amy to show up. It took forever to find her! But finally we found eachother, and we went to this little room dedicated to the anime convention; Kumoricon. Mandy was with her other friends too, and we were all dressed up as characters from this show called Hetalia. Each character represents a country. I was China, and my friend Mandy was Italy. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures =( it was hard to get my camera out of my bag, so I didn't bother with it. There is a video of us though, but it's kinda pointless so I won't post it. I don't do anything in it anyways, just stand there. All her friends were crazy, lol, they're cool.

There was a mom in the room and she knew a little about anime cause her kids watch it. She wanted to guess which anime we were from. She was like, "don't tell me!....HETALIA!" we're like, "yeah!" and she was like, "YEEEEES! She was a pretty cool mom =)

She took our picture on her cell phone, and I asked her to send it to me...but she never did. Soooo I don't think I'll be getting it. *cries*

After a while of hanging out with her, my sisters called me and wanted to meet me somewhere. I took a couple of pictures of the place when I was with them.

That's the music stage. They perform songs from all different Asian countries.

That is the Barongsai (Chinese dragon) but it looks kinda weird cause the costume isn't fully on. I love those dragons by the way! They were so cute xD

It's hard to see but, there are two barongsai performing on stage together. I wish I got a video cause it was cool.

RAWR!

Here are two short videos of the barongsai. They would wag their tails and wanted to be pet, just like dogs, heehee.

They randomly come out of nowhere, and sometimes scare people. I personally think the barongsai is one of my favorite parts to the festival. They are so entertaining =D

This was a Native American stand. There was a cute owl wood carving that I almost bought. But I was out of money.

Bonsai plants.

...it's blurry. I like that stand. It has some anime stuff, and it has face painting. I didn't get my face painted though. But I did almost buy a sword =D too bad it was over $30!

I really wanted one of those hats that you see hanging. But they were $40. Craaaaazyyyyy.

That's an Indonesian stand. I took this for my Indonesian friends, cause they like to see Indonesian stuff in America.

That's everything I got. I bought some stuff though. Of course!

After I hung out with my sisters for a while, I decided to hang out with my friend some more. I wasn't there for very long because my friend switched locations with her friends without telling me. But she thought I was following her. So I texted my sisters to meet up with them again, and we decided to meet by the music stage. I was the first to arrive, and I waited for a long time for them.

There was an Indian man standing near me by the stage, and he came up to me and asked if I knew Yuki. I asked him, "a person you know, or a singer?" and he said, "well she's a Japanese teacher, and she has a sister. I thought you were her sister because you look like Yuki."

I was flattered cause he thought I was Japanese, hehehehe. Actually, I never told him I wasn't....heeheeheehee. But he didn't ask what nationality I was, so it's ok =D he just thought the whole time I was a Japanese girl, cause he said I have a Japanese face. So I thought this guy was pretty cool. He was talking to me for a long time while I waited for my sisters. And then he asked if I wanted some coffee or tea at the food area. I was like, "well, I have to stay and wait for my sisters." then he said, "well you can have some coffee or tea with me while you wait." so I thought, ok maybe really quick just grab a cup and come back. So we went and got Indian tea.

It was really awkward, so I was like, "..oooook, well I'm gonna go back and wait for my sisters." and I started to leave, and he started to follow me, which was creepy. He wanted to sit down and talk with me while I waited, but I told him that my sisters were expecting to meet me at the music stage. So again, I turned around and walked away, and yet again, here he is following me. He kept telling me to come somewhere with him, so I was kinda creeped out by this guy. By the way, he looked like he was in his 40's. No where near my age. Which makes it even worse. He stopped me and said he wanted to have a relationship with me, and he kept trying to give me his phone number. I was like, "no....I don't date...I'm not ALLOWED to date." and he looked kinda sad and bummed. Then I ditched him.

I said I don't date because I want him to know I'm not interested. And then I added that I'm not allowed because

1. My parents don't want me to

2. I want him to know that he can't try to talk me into dating since my parents don't want me to

I was kinda paranoid after that cause I was afraid he'd try to follow me again, since he did it so many times that day. But Matt called soon after that and said he was going to pick me up. So I was kind of relieved.

Besides that guy thinking I was Japanese, there was a Chinese guy who thought I was Chinese. Every time American people walked by, he would speak to them in English. But when I walked by, he spoke to me in Chinese.

Anyways here's what I got ~

There was a stand of really cool pictures, like the one above. I had a hard time picking which ones I wanted cause they're all so cool! Amy bought this and the other two pictures for me =)

That is a notebook cover. Very cool. The woman who sold it to me made it. It was funny because when I came up to the shop to buy it, the woman was talking to all these old people, and she saw me come up and she said to the people, "excuse me, I have a live person here." Which means I'm alive compared to them cause they're old, lol. That made us laugh.

Those are tabi socks. Made in Japan. I've always wanted those =D

I got those two buttons for going in the little Kumoricon room, and for cosplaying (dress up).

I'm going to collect Japanese kids books, because one day when I have kids, I want to teach them Japanese stories instead of the typical American ones. Cause you know, I'm basically Asian, haha. That book is called "The Boy Of The Three Year Nap." That is why I'm making that face....I wish I could take a 3 year nap. Not really...cause...yeah, too much sleep.

All of those books were free! I like free, and I like books, so it was a good deal. They're all in Japanese though...so I gotta learn Japanese more fluently. I can read some of it though =D yay ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The other day I got a weird phone call on my banana phone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't remember the date, but it was about 4 weeks after February 24 when I got my newest Big Bang album~! I don't have any pictures though, but you guys probably don't care, since you don't like Asian music. But yeah, I was pretty excited when it arrived =D

Oh, I do have a picture of the poster though.

Yeaaaah it's coooool ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About a couple weeks ago Amy was here, and her and I were looking through my stuff to see if we could find any of our childhood stuff. We found some, but not much. But what I did find was this:

I made that when I was little, and Amy and Bry made one too. We got it from Stick Stickly from Nickolodeon. We would always play with them! I can't believe I still have it!

I had this book since I was a little girl. It says "The Adventures of Thumbelina Starring You" and that's why I'm making that face. Cause it says "Thumbelina starring you" so that means I'm Thumberlina! It was shocking to me. I never knew.

I also found this:

I made that bag (along with the other kids) at Camp Lane, 2000. So I was 10 years old. It was cool to find it =D I hardly have anything from Camp Lane. Especially pictures *cry* *hint hint* (I want pictures)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About 2-3 weeks ago our power went out. It was out since morning/afternoon, until the next day in the afternoon. I was kinda bored because I was sick that day, so all I wanted to do was lay on the couch and watch tv. But nooooo, the strong wind had to knock out the power and kill my only joy while being sick. So mean.

I did draw and read too though, so it wasn't too bad. But during the afternoon on Sunday it was just me, Matt, and River home because my parents were at Walmart, and Ben was with Kacia and Lukas. All 3 of us were sleeping, but I was trying to stay awake at first since I had to listen for River if she woke up. But since I was sick I was sleepy, and I fell asleep. And I had two dreams where I was laying down on the couch, barely awake, and I was holding River. I didn't know how I got River cause she was in bed so it was weird, and then she started to fall off the couch and I was like, "noooooooooooooooooooooo" and tried to catch her. And both times I woke up from that. So I just got up cause the dream felt so real and I thought that really happened, lol.

When it got around night time the Mayfield's came over to hang out. Ashley said when the power goes out us Reed's are fun to be around. They hung out until around 11pm cause their power was out too. I gave Josilyn a flashlight to play with and she loved it. She kept shining it everywhere and had a huge smile on her face.

I'm exploring in the darkness......actually I was looking in the mirror in the bathroom and trying to get cool pictures with my flashlight.

My parents and Ben went to bed around midnight, and me and Matt wanted to do something before we went to sleep. We were going to play a game, but then I got the idea to draw in the dark =D it's like drawing with your eyes closed. It was a lot of fun!

We took turns saying what to draw.

1 - Me: Draw a snowman

2 - Matt: - Draw a treehouse

3 - Me: Draw Bigfoot

4 - Matt: Draw a truck

5 - Me: Draw Goku (from an anime)

6 - Matt: Draw a skatepark

7 - Me: Draw a man falling down the stairs

So here are Matt's drawings first. Hopefully you can see them ok.

And here are my drawings.

Lol they are so messed up xD we were laughing a lot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I babysat Justin and Stephanie a week or two ago, and we played dress up. I wore her Minnie Mouse ears.

I got pictures of her and Justin, except they're on Jason's phone. So I don't have them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4 months ago I wrote to an actor from the show The Walking Dead. And this month I got his autograph =D

He's my favorite character ^-^

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are 3 random pictures from a time I don't quite remember.

Matt and River ^^

I think this was around Halloween time. After church our family stayed at the grange to finish cleaning up. Matt and I had nothing to do.

This was for a contest to win a trip to Japan ~ I didn't win, but it was fun taking this picture. This is just a small part of anime/Asian stuff I have. For the contest you're supposed to show your love for Japan, and that's what I did. Weird though because right when this contest was going on, that's when all the earthquakes and tsunamis were going on in Japan. I'm sure some people got scared and didn't join the contest. Not me though =D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

March

~~~~~~~

As you all know the Salgado's are here in Oregon now. I didn't get to see them for the first couple of weeks they were here because I had the stomach flu. But about the 3rd week they were here, I was home alone, and Bro. Ray, Lukas, and Levi came over to drop some branches off in our old garden, which we now use for sticks and old branches and stuff. So while Bro. Ray and Lukas were out there, me and Levi were trying to set up the ps3 so we could play Lego Star Wars. I went downstairs to see how they were doing with the branches, and apparently their truck got stuck in the mud. So they walked up to the house and Bro. Ray was like, "we're stuck in the mud, so we're going to be living with you from now on." lol. But they got unstuck and were ready to leave just as me and Levi were about to play. He was all bummed cause he wanted to play with me. Next time we'll play though ^-^

Kacia and Lukas came over a couple of times to hang out. We watched the movie Oscar one night, and we visited. Actually, Lukas comes over more than a couple of times. He's here all the time. He's actually here right now.

Anyways, we had Kacia and Lukas over for dinner last Thursday. We had some kind of noodle dish for dinner, and salad, and bread, and tea. I was sitting at the table holding my glass because my mom was pouring me some tea. She wasn't paying attention and was pouring it on my hand. I just sat there, still holding my glass, and was like, "MOOOOOOOOOOOM!" and Kacia started laughing so hard! She said I looked funny because I didn't move my glass away, and my face looked surprised, but my voice was kind of monotone.

March 26 we celebrated Kara's birthday. It was a week after her actual birthday. It was just us girls; Kacia, me, Kara, Kayley, and Cheree.

In the car Cheree gave me a mask that you get at the hospital. She had one and was wearing it at Safeway one day, and she had an extra one so she gave it to me. I wore it part of the time in the car.

We left around 1:30 pm. First we went to a pet store =)

We got to hold a little puppy~! And we were watching the hamsters for a long time because they were funny. Two of them would be on the wheel, running at the same time; but one of them was bigger, so it would always end up on top of the other one, and the other one was having difficulty running, and it was making us laugh so hard~! We were seriously laughing for like 5 minutes. After a while we left the pet store, and then went to the thrift store St. Vincent de Paul.

I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I would. But here are the ones I got.

Someone found those glasses and we all took a picture with them on.

That's a weird pineapple lady on my shoulder. Not sure what it really is.

All these cups and then a bottle of sunblock. I guess you could use it as a cup *shrugs*

Kacia thought mine looked like a weird creature.

I don't know what that blob thing is.

Me and Kara found this doll. The dress is way too big for it, it looks ridiculous.

Cool table set.

Ok so I was looking for a big stuffed animal to go with my anime character in the Chinese shirt. Because my character likes to carry around big stuffed animals. Mainly pandas though. So me and Kara were looking for a cute one, and we saw that big bunny that I'm holding, laying on his face, and we thought it was going to be cute. We were like, "aw it's a bunny!" and then we turned it around and saw its eyes really small and close together, making it not very cute, and we're like, "...why're its eyes like that??" and we laughed at it. So she took my picture with it. I never did find a stuffed animal.

Everytime Kara saw anything Asian she would be like, "Catie, there's something Asian!" she calls me an Asian, it's cool =D

Oh and me and Cheree found these shirts for 99 cents, and we all got matching shirts. We're gonna wear it on the same day one day, and I'll get a picture.

That's the shirt. It's awesome xD

I also got this little Asian cup too ~

We walked over to Taco Bell cause Kayley, Kara, and Cheree were hungry. Me and Kacia didn't eat, we just sat there watching them. Kayley told us not to watch her eat, and at the same time me and Kacia both leaned in and watched her.

Kayley and Cheree eating.

Me and Kacia watching.

Then we went to the Dollar Tree to find random things to buy. We wanted to buy Kara a birthday present there, so we all looked for something. I don't remember what Kacia and Kayley got her, but Cheree got her bubble wrap, and Kara was like, "wha-..OH BUBBLE WRAP!" she didn't know what it was at first.

And I got her these really huge purple glasses. Here's a picture of me wearing them =D

Pretty great, right?

Kayley and Cheree were playing with brooms in the Dollar Tree. There was a shopper coming up from behind, and Kacia was like, "guys, don't hit the random shopper with your brooms."

I also got pinwheels from the Dollar Store. I've always wanted those ~

We went to Fred Meyer after that so I could look for my big panda stuffed animal. The only one I could find was a panda pillow, and it was $20. I only had $20, and I wasn't going to spend all of it on a pillow. So I'll just buy it later.

We went straight to the toy section because that's the best section ever. And me and Cheree took turns wearing Kara's huge glasses in the store. This little girl was staring at Cheree for the longest time.

Kayley and Cheree found this bouncy ball, and started bouncing it in the toy area, and this teenager was holding a toy sword and started following them. Kara looked concerned and was watching the sword boy following them. Me and Kacia were laughing cause Kara looked worried. I don't know if she was, but it was funny.

We went to the coffee area in the store so that Kacia could use her laptop to see where else we could go. We decided to go to a piano store ~

When we got there it was only open for another 8 minutes though. Me and Kacia stayed in the car while they went inside, since it was going to be really short anyways. Plus, Kacia wanted to check out Asian restaurants on her laptop, cause Kara wanted Asian food for dinner. Oh yeaaah ~ my favorite food ^-^

So when they came out we left to go to a restaurant called Lok Yaun.

We all shared food because we weren't very hungry, and they always give you a ton. It was pretty good. Everyone was asking me how to use chopsticks, and what food to order, since I am the master when it comes to anything Asian related.

Drinking our yummy tea. I can drink many pots and not get tired of it.

After we ate dinner we went back to where the Salgado's live. Everyone had to sleep somewhere else because they were having some moisture problem in their rv. So the girls needed to pack their stuff so they could spend the night at Cheree's. Me and Cheree walked over to the wreck room while we waited for them to pack. Matt, Ben, Lukas, Aaron, and Aaron's friend were there playing board games. They didn't exactly like us invading. After a while Kayley and Kara came to hang out with us while we waited for Kacia. We went in the workout room and Cheree was dancing in there. Kacia finally came and told us she couldn't find her car keys, so we went back to the rv to look for them. They were looking for about half an hour...or at least it felt like it. Me and Cheree couldn't really help because the rv is small and only so many people can search that rv. So we walked back to the wreck room, and hung out till they found the keys.

When they did find them, we left and were going to go to Cheree's house to watch a movie called It's Kind of a Funny Story. We seriously could not find the movie anywhere! We tried like 5 different Redboxes, and in each one it was sold out. We're like, "what in the world??" They were even out at Blockbuster Express. I guess it's a popular movie or something.

So we didn't find it, and Kacia just took me home, and they went to Cheree's to spend the night.

The boys finally came home around 2am, and Lukas was with them to spend the night here.

It was a really fun day! I can't wait to hang out with them again =)