Jason B. 1974-2010

On November 13th, I received a message from my brother on the phone and it broke my heart. When I called to talk to him, I realized that his heart will be broken for a long time.

It was shocking to hear the news that my brother's best friend, Jason B., passed away in his sleep. He was also my friend, but he was friend with my brother for a long time, since second grade. Jason was my protective "older brother".

The next couple of days, I walked around in a dazed; in shocked. Memories of him flooded my mind as I walked around my house, where he lived with me and my brother for a year - everything I looked at and every room I went into brought back memories of him. I could only think of him as uncontrollable tears flowed down my face. And the next days and weeks, I was overcome by deep sadness and hurt. I needed to grieve. I needed to be around his family and friends to talk about Jason and to reminisce about him...



Our dear friend lost his life at a young age of 36. This was a tragic loss for all who knew him. The world had lost a great man. We all miss him. We all love him and knew he loved us. He was a friend that gave us bear hugs and would give the shirt off his back if anyone needed it.

I miss him so much. I regret that I didn't get to talk to him before he passed way. I wish I could have told him how much his friendship meant to me.


Jason loved going to concerts and hanging out with his friends. He was a great husband and father to his wife and kids. He was everything to his wife and kids.


A year ago, Jason threw an awesome house warming and birthday party for his wife, Jenny. He had a band called 2 and a Half White Guys playing in his basement. It was the most fun party I've been to.


This picture was taken two Christmases ago when he visited Cambodia and Thailand. He loved to travel. When we went to Puerto Rico, he gave me his first class seat when we flew back just so I could experience first class since I've never flew anything but coach. That's the kind of guy he was - generous and took good care of his friends.





I miss his sense of humor and fun personality. He was the life of the party. He made me laugh a lot.




He loved dressing up for Halloween and other occasions. He was also the guy that push the limit to see what kind of reaction he could get out of people.








Jason was a kid at heart. He taught me to play guitar hero and he taught me life wisdoms, like the time we had Indian dinner together and he said to me, "I want to do everything I enjoy now. And continue to discover new things I want to do in this world."

Jason had a great love for life and he was very passionate with his work and interests. And I love how he always had a good story to tell his friends and family.



Last week, on the the day after Thanksgiving, I went with Jenny, Jessica, Elyce, Spencer, Carl and Kelly to Zion National Park. We hiked to a water pond that flow down into the rest of Zion's park, and Jenny spread some of his ashes into the natural pool. Jason's favorite place was Zion and this place was a big part of him, now he is forever a part of the place he loved.









Jason, thank you for being a part of my life and being a great friend. You'll always be my other older brother. And thank you for being a big influence on the lives of my family and being a best friend to my older brother. You'll be in our hearts always and forever.

A Thanksgiving Day

It's was a nice day to spend time with my sister, Toree and their dog.

We cooked, laughed, listened to my sister get on her soap box about passive aggressive behaviors and how much it bugs her when people are passive aggressive. And we ate a big Thanksgiving meal. Then we talked and talked all day.

My sister called to confirmed that my mom made it to my grandparents' house for the holiday. My mom spontaneously laughed on the phone when my sister tattled me out about drinking and throwing up all night last night. Then she putted on her serious mom face and asked to talked to me and lectured me to not drink too much, and to not drink and drive.

I'm grateful I have a family to laugh with. My siblings and I are all very different. But they all bring laughter and good times into my life. Among my siblings: one has a dry humor, one has a crazy immature humor, one has a pessimistic view of the world humor, and one has her way of telling stories in a funny and amazing way.

It was a good Thanksgiving Day.

Are the things that happen in our lives by accident or design????

Once upon a time on a beautiful island

Bringing back an old post from an old blog. Just need some time to remember the past and reminisce about my buddy, Jason. Thanks for the good memories. Thanks for being my friend.

------------------------------------------->>>>>> (From February 2008)
Last week I was on a trip with my cool room mate, Jason. He earned this trip by meeting his sale goal in 2007. His company, a computer security company, sent the people who made their 2007 goals to Puerto Rico for a celebration. And because each person were allow a guest, Jason brought me along. I was more than happy to take time away from work to go on a free trip to a beautiful tropical island.






Our resort was on this beautiful beach. Jason wanted to find out about wind surfing, so he was asking this guy, wind surf instructor, about it.


Do you see this iguana I spotted on the resort? There are a lot of little lizards and iguana all over the island, as well as Coqui, these frogs that come out at night and sing. (froggy music) But sadly, I didn't get to see any frogs.

I accompanied Jason to his company's dinner ceremony and he played a joke on a young woman that was in line to give out the awards. I'm not sure if I have permission to post this funny story, so maybe you should ask him about it.



We went out to eat a lot, and had an adventure when we were trying to find a place to eat the first time. Someone told us to walk 15 minutes along the beach and we'll run into some great restaurants. Well they didn't tell us we were going to have to cross a little creek. When we got to that creek, I told Jason I didn't want to get wet, so he picked me up and carried me, but then he sank into the water and we both got really wet and killed his iphone and camera, and my cell phone. I felt bad and because I got wet, I thought I might as well cross this creek. You could see how wet I got in the picture above.


This was one of the best restaurants I've been to in a long time. The dishes were very unique flavoring with an artistic presentation.





We went to the rain forest and hiked up the mountain for a while. This is a view from a tower on the mountain, those buildings on the beach is our resort. There were a lot of incredibly tall bamboo trees in the rain forest.

I had a great time in Puerto Rico. It was a very short trip. I wish I could have lay on the beach longer, it was perfect weather and they have such beautiful beaches.

Pop Chips

New finding....

Verdict? Like! Like it a lot!

Do you want to sing "Billy Jean" w/me?

On a MJ kick right now. Love his music! And his dancing too!

Halloween costume

Halloween 2008 was my favorite costume... and my favorite Halloween.

This year's costume is.... (hint hint "You are what you eat.")

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Trailer 2 Official HD

Can't wait to see it!

via ifonlyfortonight

“You deserve to be with somebody who makes you happy. Somebody who doesn’t complicate your life. Somebody who won’t hurt you.”

- Grey’s Anatomy

"There’s something to be said about a glass half full. About knowing when to say “when.” I think it’s a floating line. A barometer of need and desire. It’s entirely up to the individual… and depends on what’s being poured. Sometimes, all we want is a taste. Other times, there’s no such thing as enough. The glass is bottomless.

And all we want… is more.”

- Grey’s Anatomy Monologue

““At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, all we really want is to be close to somebody. So this thing where we all keep our distance and pretend not to care about each other, it’s usually a load of bull. So we pick and choose who we want to remain close to, and once we’ve chosen those people, we tend to stick close by. No matter how much we hurt them. The people that are still with you at the end of the day, those are the ones worth keeping. And sure, sometimes close can be too close. But sometimes, that invasion of personal space, it can be exactly what you need.””

- Grey’s Anatomy Monologue

Summer is over but I can dream

I have the lifejacket... now all I want is a dog, a handsome guy, and a kayak.

Just to a be a river rat/gypsy for the summer.

Beets

I just made my first beet salad. It was simply what I imagined for days - that very taste I was craving for. The moment I took a bite, I thought other dishes couldn't beat this beet salad. (haha I made a pun.) I've ate beets maybe three or four times in my life but I really like them.

Time to get myself a camera so you could see the delicious of this salad. I really should get a new camera.

p.s. I've been a vegetarian for two weeks. If you're interested in how a bacon and chicken loving, although not a huge burger-eating gal became disgusted by the taste of beef and chicken, I'll be glad to tell you the story.

Someone at work lend me this book and I'm excited to start reading it. Just need to finish 100 more pages of the current book I'm reading, and then I can start "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". I heard it's a great book.

the Windy City

Did you know Chicago was called the Windy City not because it is a windy city but during the building of the world's fair of Chicago, the politicians were full of air and arrogance about its city?

I took the weekend and a few days off to see a long distance friend in the Windy City.

I had a great time visiting Chicago. Here are some restaurants and fun activities in the city:

Chicago is a pretty neat city with plenty of innovative and novel eateries...

I-Cream: A different concept for an ice cream shop. You get to pick the color and flavor of your choice, and see them make your cup of ice cream. M didn't have to ask me twice - I'm always up for ice cream. I ordered a orange and ginger flavor and M ordered a lime and curry flavor. I liked the taste of his ice cream more than mine.

Cloud 9: We got delicious shaved ice dessert. It felt like cloud 9.

Joy Yee's: Always a favorite for bubble tea and good Asian food. We went to this restaurant the last couple of times I visited. The first time I ate at Joy Yee, it was a crowded smaller restaurant. The new bigger restaurant gets the crowd in but it's not as crump now that it's bigger. This trip, we wanted to go to a new restaurant that was nearby Joy Yee. I can't remember the name of the place but it's owned by Joy Yee's. The decor was nice, and food looked good. We ordered Shabu Shabu - it was delise.

The Publican: A fun place to dine and wine, and the dishes were scrumptious. I really like the side dish of corn, it was mixed with yogurt, curry and lime - the flavor was really good.

Fun activities:

Water Taxi from downtown to Chinatown. It's a great way to see the city.

Ride on a motorcycle along Lakeshore Drive and into the city. Also a great way to see the city and enjoy a ride.

Laying out in a sexy bikini on the beach.

Little Saigon in Chicago. Great Vietnamese food. Good embarrassing moment getting cat called by a lady on the street. We were the only fancy dressed people walking on the street. We always enjoy getting dressed up for the heck of it. And we had fun pretending (well I was pretending) we could sing, while we walked over to catch our train. M makes me smile with his singing!

M took me to see where the world fair was built and what is left of it. The only building remaining from the World's Colombian Exposition is the Museum of Science and Industry. It's grand! I haven't visited this museum. I really want to, maybe next time.

Sailing on Lake Michigan. Just don't forget your motion sickness medicine.

Shopping. I like shopping at Trader's Joe and Whole Foods. And shopping on the Magnificent Mile is always nice.

It was a fun time visiting my friend in the Windy City!

Hello

So true...
pict via papertissue


And click here: http://papertissue.tumblr.com/post/954567789/via-eelimetran This made me smile.

I love summertime!... because life is good in the summertime.

What do you love about summertime? I'll let these pictures tell you why I like it...



Heading to Southern Utah this weekend with the Billings - should be a blast and very hot!

Quoting my friend, J. Billings,"I want to do everything I enjoy now. And continue to discover new things I want to do in this world."

Good messages

pict via papertissue

I don't have any big news - not engaged to get married, not pregnant or adopting a baby, not buying a house or new car...

But I do want to share something that made me happy...

Recently, I've received three emails from people that made me feel pretty good.

1. My cousin Kristina graduated from UC Riverside this year and I sent her a card. It made me happy that she appreciated it because when I was shopping for her card and gift, I looked at all the cards to find one that I thought fit her personality. She wrote me, "thank you SO MUCH for the card !! you are truly one of the most thoughtful people that i'm fortunate to know -- even more fortunate to be related to! haha. i LOVE my card + its message :)" I thought it was a very thoughtful and nice email she sent me!

2. Last Saturday, I helped organize and lead a hike for a local hiking group. The main organizer of this group wasn't able to make it, but he wrote me this, "I just looked at your pictures for the hike… I am jealous… looks like you had great weather and a large group to enjoy the hike with. Great job! You can organize as many of those hikes as you want. If you are up to it, take the group on ones you want to do… Looks like you did a great job!" I like organizing events, and introducing people to hiking trails that they haven't been to is a lot of fun for me. We had 16 people on the hike and it was a pretty vigorous hike, but everyone made it to the peak with good sportsmanship.

3. This one is random. I haven't seen this guy since last fall when we went to go shoot targets, which became quite an adventurous day. I think I must be on his mind lately (or maybe he wants me! lol) because I got this email, "Hey Holly - how ya doin? I just picked up some camping gear to complete my setup and I'm itchin to get out sometime soon. We should plan something out if you're down one of these days. How do you feel about old ghost/mining towns? There are a few I'm stoked to check out here in UT." I'm very curious as to what made him think of contacting ME out of the blue.

Beware TMI - I miss this guy

I miss this guy...
I miss his philosophical insight: "You have to find your own direction. And if someone wants to join you, then good and if not, screw them."
I miss the way he adores me.

I miss how he comes up with silly poses for me to do.

I miss the little trips he plan for us, like the time he planned a trip to Southern Utah and made reservation at Desert Pearl, the nicest hotel nearby Zion National Park.
I miss his sense of humor. He sent me this picture for my last birthday.

I miss his style of clothing. This is what he has in his closet: black shirt, a new black shirt, a brown sweater, another brown sweater, a white tee shirt, and another white tee shirt, repeat... :P
I miss the way he showed an interest in me and the people in my life. Everyone that meets him had told me they think he's a nice guy and they think we're compatible.
I miss our long drives when we would listen to his Ipod that has every This American Life episodes.
I miss him teasing me about camping, and how he'll have to carry my backpack and his backpack when we go on a backpacking trip.
I miss him teasing me about kicking my butt when we hiked in Bryce Canyon, but he seem to have forgotten that I kicked his butt hiking Observation Point at Zion NP.
I miss how cuddly he was with me.
I miss spending time with one of the smartest people I've ever met. He's going to school right now, but he's going to do really well in the career of his choice.
I miss him telling me about his future plans... he knows what he wants and he goes after it.
J is a wonderful guy in so many ways and that is why I miss him in so many ways.

Who likes going to weddings?... Me.

I'm one of those people that likes to go to weddings. It's a happy occasion with people to socialize with, and a reason to dress up all fancy. (i hope you don't think i'm crazy, but one of my biggest pet peeves is when people dress like they're going to the park with their dog but they're at a wedding)

The past couple of years, I've regretfully missed a handful of good friends' weddings. I wish I could have made it, if I was more assertive back then about having certain nights off work. I remember missing my friends, Cristian and Tasha's wedding because I didn't receive permission to have that night off work. I remember missing my friend, Lindsay's wedding as well.

But a few years ago, I went to Poland for a friend's wedding. And we got to travel in Eastern Europe with the couple and his family. The wedding was a very big celebration with so much food and drinks, and fun games and dancing until sunrise. I crashed about 3AM and was dead tired the next morning. I had a great time at their wedding. It was a blast.

Last week, one of my best friends got married. They both wrote their own vows and it was a tear jerker for all of us witnessing their wedding ceremony. I'm happy he found a woman that makes him that happy. They're very compatiable with each other. She wanted someone that would treat her with respect and love. Rod is a man that treats her right, and she is a great woman for him.

Tonight, I went to another wedding, a young woman that lives a couple houses from me got married. There were a lot of people from the neighborhood at this wedding reception. And tonight, I thought to myself that these are my neighbors and I don't really know them, but I wish I did. The majority of them knew each other from the local ward and from living in the neighborhood for a long time. I would like to have friendly neighbors and I want to get to know them, but I don't want to have to go to church for them to be my friends. I was asked a couple of times if I was interested in getting a ride to church and certain church activities. I do like going to weddings, but tonight I felt a little uncomfortable... On the up side, I like something that the couple did - so instead of having a book your guests sign in, there were postcards from all over the world for you to pick and sign the back of with your message and/or advice for the couple. There was an album to put the postcards in as well. It was unique and something I might do at my wedding because I love traveling and the postcards would be symbolic of that. The advice I put on the back was for my friend's husband to give her massages. Couples that give each other massages have happier marriages than those that don't give each other massage ... okay, so I made that up but it sounds like it could be true.

Bells Canyon

The trail started out easy and it started out dry. With dark clouds above us, it started raining harder the closer we got to the waterfall, and it also got steeper.

Lansia and I hiked to the first waterfall in Bells Canyon... 3/4 of the time in the rain.

I'd guess that the run-off of the waterfall was greater with the extra rain water. The waterfall is some where between 40 to 50 feet tall.

This strenuous trail took us 4 hours to complete round trip. I think we did pretty good for a wet and slippery trail. It was well worth it with the stunning rock formations above us and an incredible waterfall to see.

I'd recommend good hiking shoes and plenty of water for this hike. You should hike this canyon just to see the beautiful waterfall. They say there's a second waterfall about 45 minutes after the first one, but most people only hike to the first one because it's the nicer waterfall.

Adventure in Southern Utah

Summer is here and life is busy... busy with work, busy with fun times.

Currently I don't have a camera to capture some of the incredible sights that I've seen.

Like a recent thunderstorm - a lovely sky with big dark clouds and an incredible red sunset over the lake. I love the colorful sky, and how pretty the clouds and sunlight play together . I'm very lucky to live where I live... because watching the summer sunset over my balcony makes me happy.

Check out this blog post by my friend. She wrote a great post documenting the day we went canyoneering. Go read about our epic adventure in South Central Utah.



It was such a blast! I want to do more slot canyons and canyoneering!



She took some good pictures!