soozyqtpie's Xanga

Our Holiday Update :)

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 10:17:06 GMT

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We hope all is well with you this holiday season. This year, we’re coming onto 3½ years of marriage and 2½ years in our semi-new house! Can you believe how time has flown? And...now it’s time for another update...

So...we are still both working at Google and continue to do our part in organizing the world’s information. We praise God that we still have great jobs here, and Google continues to keep us full with its wonderful cafés. We expanded our palate in food and wine this year dining at La Tour d’Argent in Paris for our anniversary, Chez TJ for Greg’s birthday, and Cyrus to celebrate Greg biking his first century. We also try to use our Passport Unlimited card and restaurant.com coupons to snag great deals for yummy food! Tummy = happy!

We got bitten by the travel bug this year and visited Seattle to see family; Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome for our anniversary; SoCal for weddings and visiting friends; Napa/Santa Rosa for biking; and Lake Tahoe/Reno for a retreat and getaway. Suz continues to work at her stamp business and has gotten to visit Palm Springs and Salt Lake City with Greg’s mom for conventions. She plans to go to Orlando for Leadership in January, and together, we plan to hit San Diego, Vegas, Tahoe for snow (finally!), Alaska/Vancouver (cruise!), and Asia (Taiwan, Hong Kong, China) in 2009. Fun!

Recently, we’ve become big fans of those red and white envelopes that come in the mail (a.k.a. Netflix). This year, we managed to go through all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager in only six months. After that, we plowed through the first two seasons of Heroes in about three weeks. Unfortunately, we're now stuck watching Season 3 on TV, which isn't nearly as good as Season 1. And there's commercials now...oh well.

On a more serious note, one of the most significant changes for us this year is that the Lord has led us to look for a new church community, and we now call Abundant Life Christian Fellowship (ALCF) and Real World (RW) our church home. We are developing new friendships here and started up a couples’ prayer and accountability group. We also started serving on worship and A/V at RW (yay!). This was a hard decision for us, as we definitely miss our community at GrX and our old small group. But we praise the Lord that He is faithful and has answered our prayers to use our musical gifts for Him.

Gregory continues on his ever-increasing quest for more bicycle craziness. In August, he completed his first century (100 miles) for the Tour d'Organics ride in Sebastopol. Apparently, that wasn't enough because in September, he biked 235 miles to Oceano along Highway 1. The first day was 180 miles from Sunnyvale to Cambria, which took 16 hours. The second day was “only” 55 miles. At the end, we met up with coworkers to go ATV-ing at Pismo Beach. Whew!

Suz has joined the fun this year and biked 30 miles with Tour de Cure and 35 miles with Tour d’Organics. She also works out with her personal trainer and other Googlers...as she is on a mission to lose that Google-15! Suz continues to stamp and scrap and organize her craft room. She has vowed to post more pics online and is working on getting her Europe album finished...and that long overdue wedding album done too!

Dusty, our little chinchilla, has become a BIG chinchilla! In May, he turned one! He weighs in at a hefty 820 grams, which is mostly muscle from all the frantic running in his wheel. He loves climbing, exploring, and chewing on things (especially hair) as much as ever. We like Dusty!

That’s all folks...we hope you enjoyed our little update for 2008. Keep us updated with how you’re doing as well. We look forward to an awesome 2009, and we pray that the Lord will bless you and your family greatly in the coming year! Happy holidays!

luv,

Greg and Suz

It's been awhile...

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:26:26 GMT

Yes I know I'm long overdue for an update...so here goes...before the holiday season gets into full swing and I start going into crazy Christmas card and shopping mode. ;) (But I am ahead of the game...I already made a list of all the people we are sending updates to...too bad the list is so big and I handmake all my cards. :P We may need to nix more people off that list if I can't make them all in time...it's like wedding invites all over again...just kidding...but kinda not...:P)

Anyway, if you remember my cryptic entry about starting a new chapter in life, well, Greg and I made a really hard decision this year and we left our church community of 5 years...it's definitely been tough. :( We love the folk at GrX...esp. our small group, but as we've been praying for direction with ministry (esp. in the worship/music arena), we felt a strong leading to pack up our bags and go.

The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you." (Genesis 12:1)

We've settled at Abundant Life (ALCF) and Real World (RW), and I've been learning a lot here. It's kinda exciting and scary all at the same time. I'm learning to trust the Lord and wait for His direction and guidance...rather than rushing into ministry. I'm learning that ministries happen and succeed because of the Lord and not because of what I do or how much effort I put in (though I know I still have to do my part). Please pray for the beginnings of a couples' ministry at RW (be it in the form of SNAP - sharing, nurturing, accountability, and prayer) or a couples' Bible study during RW or both. :)

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

Haha...I just read an entry I composed in August 2004: http://www.xanga.com/soozyqtpie/117965438/item.html

I had worked a lot that week and was in need of a Sabbath. (Sound familiar?) I was reminiscing about college and the community I had there. Now I'm at another juncture in life...

To echo my previous sentiment..."It's a bittersweet feeling. I guess I'm all grown up now." And even more so than before. Can you believe it is now more than 4 years later...time does fly, doesn't it? :)

"Lord, where are You leading me to? I know I just have to trust You and wait on You."

That part is still true.

"Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him...Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him..." (Psalm 37:3-7)

Can you believe it's October?

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 07:29:29 GMT

Anyway...here are some fun photo links from August. I'm getting there...I'm getting there! :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/soozyqtpie/DanCindySEngagement#
http://picasaweb.google.com/soozyqtpie/HawaiianBBQ#
http://picasaweb.google.com/soozyqtpie/SarahSShower#

My hubby is crazy...

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 06:05:03 GMT

he biked down to Cambrian (near San Simeon -- where Hearst Castle is located) yesterday. That was 170 miles away. And then he biked the "easy" 50 miles down to Pismo Beach today. We went ATV-ing there...quite interesting...will post pics of that soon. :)

To whet your appetite for pics, check out my latest albums from September! :)
http://picasaweb.google.com/soozyqtpie/SmallGroupRetreat#
http://picasaweb.google.com/soozyqtpie/Reno#
http://picasaweb.google.com/soozyqtpie/NancySShower#

I also had a couple links from June & July...though they are not complete:
http://picasaweb.google.com/soozyqtpie/Convention2008#
http://picasaweb.google.com/soozyqtpie/TourDeCure#

Fun fun...:) I figured I'd start by trying to stay caught up with the here and now and then backfill all the pics through August and before...now to find time to scrap some of them...:)

For your amusement...

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:15:14 GMT

...because I love my hubby so much. And he loves me enough to hold my purse out in public...haha. :)

I've just finished processing a load of pics...sorted and picked good ones out, color-balanced all of them, and converted everything from raw to jpg...just need to crop a bunch of them now before posting! Will post links soon!

I HATE MOSQUITOES!

Wed, 21 May 2008 08:13:38 GMT

Sigh...I post a nicely composed entry and pictures and I get no love...what has the world come to?

We are in Firenze (Florence) now. It's a beautiful city...very different from Venice! There are cars here...haha.

Anyway, today's entry is about how much I hate mosquitoes. I've been taking B12 religiously, but I still got 3 more bites...2 on my knee from the arnica cream, 1 on each arm, and 1 on my face. We couldn't find the bug repellent during our crazy packing frenzy...and I had managed to get out of France mostly unscathed...but I think we'll probably have to get some here. Sigh...why do these dumb bugs love my blood?

Greg has managed to get no bites...as his "punishment", he gets to perform surgery on me. I learned this trick from my popo a long time ago...poke a hole right in the middle of the bite and squeeze as hard as you can to get all the gooey gunk out. This is the only way I have managed to survive these bites...my body just does not react very well once I get bitten...I get swollen about 3 inches across the bite and it itches like crazy! Greg says...maybe your family just gets really allergic and that's why your popo knew about the trick? Hehe...I dunno...it hurts when he's doing the squeezing...but I'd so much rather have it be painful for a little than itching for weeks on end.

Anyway, we are visiting the Uffizi today...more art, more gelato, more walking, more good food...no more mosquito bites please!

Greetings from Europe!

Mon, 19 May 2008 12:07:56 GMT

We just spent a week in Paris, France and are now in Venice! Greg is taking a nap...we've seriously been on this weird schedule where we get up pretty early (well 8-9 is early for us!) and go out, come home and take a nap, then get up and go back out again, stay up semi-late (like 12 or 1), and the cycle repeats itself...

Highlights Thus Far:
- Eiffel Tower -- including posing in a pic with a bunch of Japanese fobs...haha. :)

- Navigating the Metro...Paris is actually really easy to get around!
- Visiting Sacre Coeur and Montmartre.
- Visiting Musee d'Orsay and the Louvre (we both agreed we liked the Louvre better).

- Eating escargot for the first time...they kinda taste like salty, chewy squid...but not fishy. And with lots of butter and garlic...it was pretty good! Just don't think too hard about the fact that they were once snails...
- Watching the parade at Arc de Triomphe and walking down Champs Elysees -- we tried fries at McDo just to see what they tasted like. They are less salty and even come with a special fries sauce...
- Bus #69 Tour...tres cheap (just use your metro pass to get on the bus) and great for sore feet. We felt like such old fogies and so Chinese, but we were just so tired of walking and we didn't want to pay 20E each for a real bus tour...haha...:)
- Watching the sunset over the Seine and cruising down it on our anniversary...getting a free bottle of champagne too ('cuz the lady forgot to put candles on our dessert...so she gave us a bottle of champagne instead)!

- Eating breakfast on Rue Cler - omelettes with jambon et fromage (ham and cheese)...tres bon!

- Notre Dame and getting free crepes/bread at the Fete Au Pain (Bread Festival).
- Versailles and Domaine de Marie Antoinette - such lavishness...these ppl were crazy with their chateaux and second homes too. :P
- In general, eating a bunch of carbohydrates...my diet has seriously gone out the window. The croissants, crepes, French bread, chocolate, and ice cream are all sooooo good here. But we do so much walking (enough to give both of our feets blisters...that we figured it all evens out).
- Night time...gondola ride...woohoo! :) A very hefty price to pay but a great experience nonetheless. They really do yell "Oy!" when they go down the smaller canals. :)

But the best experience was eating dinner at La Tour d'Argent...it was like French Laundry (which we still haven't gone to yet) on crack. I will not comment on how many euros we spent there, but we were seriously waited on hand and foot by guys in tuxedos. The rose champagne was the best champagne I've ever tasted, the shrimp was the best I've ever tasted, and the duck there was amazing...the best meat I've ever tasted! And...the red wine we tried there was the best wine I've ever tasted...and I don't even normally like reds! Greg kept saying...we are not worthy of such good tasting food. Our meal was composed of seven courses and lasted four hours...from 7:30 pm to 11:30 pm. Definitely make sure you know your table manners before you go and forget trying to "save" money...my copy of the menu didn't even have prices...just Greg's did. They even lent him a navy blue suit jacket...because we didn't bring one from home...just so we could fit in...sigh...what an experience!

The best duck ever...mmmmmmmm...I can still taste it!

Things We Have Learned:
- Don't forget the PIN of your debit card...calling banks that are US only does not help...we probably wasted tons of $$ for cell phone minutes here...until we figured out that Skype connected to 1-800 numbers for free!
- Don't forget to bring the debit card that you know the PIN of...sigh...:P
- Using a credit card to get money at an exchange place usually results in extra charges and counts as a cash advance. We did find a place that would do it for 6% though and paid it off two days after the charge went through...but yes...we are not cashless any longer!
- Internet in Paris was 18E a day = $28US...talk about steep. Thankfully, internet at this Italy hotel is free!
- Bring copies of your passport photos...you'll need it you want the carte Navigo (the one week pass for the Metro)...props to Greg for good planning on that one!
- Buy a museum pass...that got us past quite a few lines at the Louvre and at Versailles.
- Don't put arnica cream on your body...unless you want to be mosquito food. I've been taking B12 and actually avoiding the stupid bug bites here...until the day I put the cream on my knee ('cuz it was swollen from all the walking). Unfortunately, it attracted two mosquito bites there and my knee was more swollen than it was before...due to different reasons, of course. Thanks Greg for "doing surgery" on my knee...and squeezing out the yucky stuff...my bites are much better today!
- We waited 45 minutes to see Saint Chapelle...it was pretty but not worth the long wait. The museum pass didn't fast track us through security. :P
- Don't dry nylon in European dryers...we ended up with a couple casualties...including a poncho and one of my underwears...oops!
- Don't arrive in Venice on a rainy day esp. without an umbrella. That morning, we took a taxi to CDG, an airplane to Marco Polo, a bus to Mestre, a train into the northern part of Venice, a water taxi to Accademia (southern part of Venice), and wandered the calles/streets in the rain with our luggage to look for our hotel...which the front desk couldn't even give specific directions for. Get off at Accademia, turn left on some street, go over the bridge and then make a right...the hotel will be on your right. Haha...we finally made it though despite the crazy weather and our lack of speaking Italian!

Interesting Things To Note:
- There is a flush button and a stop flush button for toilets (WCs).
- Europeans don't use conditioner? Thankfully, we have our own!
- I bought a purse from an Asian lady ...I didn't speak Italian, she didn't speak English...we ended up doing everything in Chinese!
- Italians stand really close to you when they speak to you...at first, it weirded me out...but I got more used to it later.

Ok time to go...going to get some giandule (ice cream) here and visit San Marco square...yum! :)

River God

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:25:29 GMT

Rolling River God
Little Stones are smooth
Only once the water passes through
So I am a stone
Rough and grainy still
Trying to reconcile this river's chill

But when I close my eyes
And feel You rushing by
I know that time brings change
And change takes time
And when the sunset comes
My prayer would be this one
That You might pick me up
And notice that I am
Just a little smoother in Your hand

Sometimes raging wild
Sometimes swollen high
Never have I known this river dry
The deepest part of You
Is where I want to stay
And feel the sharpest edges wash away

And when I close my eyes
And feel You rushing by
I know that time brings change
And change takes time
And when the sunset comes
My prayer would be just one
That You might pick me up
And notice that I am
Just a little smoother in Your hand

Rolling River God
Little stones are smooth
Only once the water passes through

Time has brought change, and change does take time. A chapter of life has closed, but I know a new one has begun. Lord, will you please continue to guide?

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord...

- Jeremiah 29:11-14a

Going to CHA in Anaheim!

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 06:59:58 GMT

I randomly decided to fly down to Anaheim to see the Craft and Hobby Association tradeshow...fun fun! I'll be hanging out with Dave & Deb at the Maya Road table and seeing what else is new in the scrapbooking world. Sigh...getting all this traveling out of my system...how many chances does one have just to take a day off from work, leave my hubby, and go somewhere...hehe...esp. with lots of scrapbooking products...haha?!? :)

My flight leaves in 6.5 hours...better get to bed!

Filled With Glory

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:27:52 GMT

Here is the song that Greg and I did for Lena (Greg's sister) and Ryan's wedding: Filled With Glory

Enjoy!
Suz

UPDATE: My sister was able to cancel her classes and can make it on Sunday. We both were like...it would've been a lot easier if my dad canceled out on his "one" student vs. her 14 kids that she was teaching. But since she was getting back from a trip and needs the rest anyway, it's better this way. It is what it is...I'm glad that Sally can make it though...yay! :)

Superbowl...haha...I still don't like the fact that it competes with my birthday, but I am okay with people missing my party for the game. They just don't know what they're missing...:) P.S. Kris, I am not mad at you...haha. :) Props to Mel...thanks for helping me pray through all the anxiety and stress I felt from this whole birthday mess...heh it is an element of control. Those silly J control freaks...why am I one of them? :P

Disneyland...well, flight times are now posted and it is working out. I can't wait to go karaoke...haven't been in a long time!

New developments -- my mom still wants to stuff another event in this busy weekend to celebrate, esp. since my uncle and cousin from Taiwan are in town and it's not worth it to bring everyone to eat pizza ('cuz it wouldn't be worth it for my grandparents to come). Sigh...to look on the bright side, I'm thankful I have a mom that wants to celebrate my birthday with the rest of the family, but at this point, I just need an uneventful Sunday afternoon/evening so I can pack and get ready for the offsite. Plus we'll be up early to setup for GrX that day (6:30 am...bah...that is so the buttcrack of dawn...esp. for Greg and me who don't get up until 10 most days).

My mom is not one to be easily persuaded though...and I know I won't live it down the rest of my life and she'll mention it like all the time...so I guess we may have to go over Sunday anyway. We will see...my life is still crazily busy...having so much family around locally definitely makes it busy. It is a blessing and "curse" all at the same time...if you know what I mean. At least I got to spend every night this week with Greg watching Star Trek...haha...:)