'Tis the season to be jolly!

This December has been such an awesome month! So many good things have happened. Now I am just relaxing at home after all the festivities. Let me recap from the beginning of the month.

December 8, 2014 - Andrew & Kim's Big Day

I was lucky to got to witness two of my longtime friends get married on this day. I was also fortunate to have been there when they started their relationship 10 years ago. Andrew and Kim have a love that others should envy. I wish I could have found my better half and shared that kind of love.

Kim was so sweet to ask me to be one of her bridesmaids many months ago. I really wanted to be one, but after some thinking I decided to tell her that I could not be a bridesmaid. Although Kim told me that I did not need to do anything, I felt uncomfortable just showing up to the wedding as a bridesmaid. I cried a bit when I had to say no. I always knew that these two would get married someday, so I had always hoped to be a part of it.

My mom and I attended Kim's bridal shower back in the beginning of November. We had so much fun. It was the first time either one of us had attended one. There was a game where Kim had to guess Andrew's answers to see how well she knew her husband to be. For every wrong answer she gave, Kim had to chew on 2 pieces of Big Red gum. My mom laughed so hard because Kim's cheeks were getting bigger and bigger. She was afraid Kim would choke somehow. Kim's bridesmaids did an outstanding job decorating and throwing the shower. My mom got to know one of the bridesmaids, Linda, who did a wonderful job with the food. She is such a sweetheart. Linda kept my mom occupied while I hung out with my girls Kim, An, and Gracia. They gave a lot of party goodies when I left.

I was so excited on Andrew and Kim's wedding day. I did my makeup and got into my dress, which was hard to find. I have not worn a dress since my accident. My mom washed and straightened my hair. Then my mom had to get herself ready. I had to bribe my brother with a pair of sneakers and a LCD monitor to get him to attend the wedding with us. I wanted him to keep my mom company.

My plus 2 - Brother & Mom

I was hoping to be able to witness Andrew and Kim exchange vows, but we got there a little late. We got a little lost getting to the venue. Andrew and Kim looked gorgeous as always. I got to sit at the same table with An and Gracia and their dates. The girls looked beautiful in their bridesmaid dresses.

The two beautiful bridesmaids An [left] & Gracia [right]

An and Gracia pushed me around. We took pictures at the photo booth. We also got some sweets. I saw 2 of my exes there, and they were sitting next to each other. I have not talked to them in a very long time, so we were practically strangers. I saw many people from high school that I have not seen since graduation. 

[Left-clockwise] Bride Kim, Bridesmaids An & Gracia,
Groom Andrew & Me

As I was leaving and saying bye, one of my good friends from high school, Hung, dragged me to the dance floor. He shook his booty for me. Then he and Kim took turns dancing with me. I have to admit that I felt a little shy and self-conscious at first when Hung got me onto the dance floor, but after a little while, I got into it. What a great way to end a beautiful night!

Kim backing it up!

December 19, 2013 - Last Final

This semester has been crazy and tiring. I took 4 courses, 3 face-to-face and 1 online. Three of my classes had group projects. Not my most favorite thing in the world. I do not like depending my grade on someone else. I cannot trust anyone but myself. I am a perfectionist, so I have a tendency to check over others' works. 

My Tuesday class is over security. It was a fairly simple class. We had a midterm, a final, some quizzes, 3 labs, and a presentation. For the exams, my professor gave us reviews. There were term matching, multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions. The labs were ok. They had to be 3 pages long. I did the last lab but did not type up the report. :x We were given two attempts on the quizzes, and the questions and answers came from his PowerPoint slides. One of the quizzes was over a documentary titled Hacking Democracy (highly recommended!). I was lucky to be in a group with this married couple from one of my other group projects. Our presentation was over security awareness and to be at least 8 minutes and no more than 10 minutes. I made an A in this class.

My Thursday class over hardware and software. I took this professor before. I was so happy when I saw that he was teaching this course. I immediately enrolled. We had 4 exams, a final, some quizzes, and a report. I did ok-well on the exams. While everyone had to fill in scantrons, my professor allowed me to mark on the exams. All questions were multiple choices. Many of the questions came from the end of the chapter questions and old exams he posted online for us. The quizzes were over some videos. The report was 6 pages long over open source software. My last final was from this class. My professor pulled questions from our 4 previous exams, which he posted online with answers. There were a few questions from our last lecture as well. It took me 20 minutes to complete the 45 questions. He told us that it would take him a few days to post our grades online. However, a few hours later I received an email from my professor that grades were posted. I made an A in this class.

My Friday class was over databases. This was my most tiring class. We had quizzes, a midterm, team presentation and binder. Because I was allowed extra time on the quizzes and midterm, I had to come in earlier to take them at the Center for Students with DisABILITIES. The quizzes and midterm had multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions. I had to study really hard for those. Sometimes I even pulled all-nighters. :( However, I made the second highest grade on the midterm, so all that studying did pull off in the end. My team consisted of 6 people including myself. We had to do a lot of documentation for a database that we are building next semester for my friend Jimmy's business. Thank goodness everyone pulled their own weight. At the end of the semester, we had to present our project to the entire class. I made an A in this class.

Team ST.RI.KE - [Left-right] Lucas, Tammy,
Chenice, Me, Andi & Ismael

My online class was over statistics. I took another online class with this professor and really enjoyed her class format, so I immediately enrolled in this class. We had homework, quizzes, 2 exams, and a group presentation. Everything was open book, so the class was pretty easy. She gave the solutions to the homework for us to check our work. For the group presentation, we had to make a PowerPoint over a hypothesis of a comparison and incorporated audio recordings. The presentation was not hard, but there was one person not pulling their weight. That made things a bit stressful. Thank goodness for peer feedback. I made an A in this class.

Despite all the nights staying up to study and do homework, I really enjoyed this semester. I am learning so many things. I was forced to work with different people with different personalities. For the most part, the group projects were interesting, even fun sometimes. Hopefully, future group projects will be fun and less stressful. I cannot believe how hard I try and how much I enjoy school now. I am looking forward to next semester.

December 24-25, 2013 - Merry Christmas!

My family was supposed to drive to Waco and stay at my sister's apartment on Christmas Eve because my sister was only off of work for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. However, my brother wanted to work on Christmas Eve because he gets paid extra. My sister decided to drive home after work on the 23rd. She got in around 7. We hung out and watched tv. 

I woke up late on Christmas Eve because I stayed up late and had a hard time falling asleep. After I had lunch, I did my makeup. I got dressed for church. Then my sister and I painted our nails. My mom washed my hair. My family was in the middle of dinner when my brother got home from work around 6:30. My mom curled my hair a little, but we ran out of time. Mass started at 8 and ended at 9:30. It was not that packed. We usually go to an earlier mass time, and those times are always super packed. It was really nice to celebrate baby Jesus' arrival. I love singing at church and just praising God!

We took pictures when we go home and waited for my sister from another mister to come over. Nghi came over around 10. She and my family sat around, drank hot tea, and talked. Around 11:30, we exchanged gifts. Nghi wanted me to open my present right before she left. She gave me this beautiful Michael Kors watch. I have to bow down to her because she is so good at giving gifts. Nghi knows exactly what each one of us likes. She got my mom this really nice Gucci perfume. It smells so good! My sister got this Burt's Bee gift set that she really likes because it is useful. My brother loves his two tops. They fit him perfectly. My dad got a scarf and a matching top as my brother. They can be twins! Thank you so much Nghi! We love you!

My new beautiful Michael Kors watch that
my mom wants to steal!

My poor dad got sick last night. He just lounged around the house all day. He was our big baby today! My mom woke up early to make food for my sister to pack with her. My sister and I watched some soaps. We all had lunch, and then my sister left around 3. :( I spent most of my day typing this post, and now I am done. I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday! Time to go talk to someone. :)

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!