Monday, July 23, 2012

My Backyard

A break from my Summer To Do List, let's look at my garden. Summer is the best time in garden because the flowers are finally blooming and fruits are in season. They are all from the hard work of my TALENTED MOTHER!!


Lilies: Aren't they beautiful!! I like them because they have many different colors. When I choose a type of flower, I always have hard time pick the color. Although my favorite color is pink, I think any color would look on flowers. In China, Lilies are common flower gift for couples because their name means happily together for 100 years in Chinese. Some boys buy lilies for their girlfriends when they propose. 

Roses: Portland is the ROSE city. There is not only an International Rose Garden, there are roses blooming everywhere on the street and people's garden. Most of my neighbors have roses in their garden, and so are we. Not. They are irresistible. 

Cherries: The best part of the summer garden is that there are delicious cherries to eat. They were hard to pick because they were high above. We planted the tree back in 2009. Back then it was very small. I was worried that whether the cherries would really going to grow or not. For the past three years. it grown rapidly. Now it is about five to six times the tree when we first planned.  
They are so YUMMY and FRESH!! Also, absolutely organic. It would cost a lot to buy organic cherries at supermarkets. They were gone fast!! Even the cherry season went quickly. I don't think we can pick this many cherries from the tree anymore. Last year was the first year, cherries had grown on the trees. The number of cherries we picked at least doubled, almost tripled from last year.
On the perfect Portland Days, I'd like to sit in the garden and have a cup of tea with my afternoon snack. My favorite afternoon snack is a piece of cake with a lot of seasonal fruit. This is HEAVEN. 

What is growing in your garden? 

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Summer To Do List Part 2: Beach

My Summer To Do List continues. The part two is Beach. If I did not get to go to the beach at least once, my summer would not be complete. A summer without going to the beach is like no tree on christmas, no firework on 4th of July, and no cake on birthday. Also I did not have chance to go to beach last summer, so I very did not want to miss the chance this year. 

Couple of weeks ago, my family went to beach for the first time this summer. Because the weather was not hot, it was not crowded. 
 I loved play in the beach since I was a little girl. 
Especially, digging holes in the sand. I enjoyed make myself dirty in the beach.


Beside digging holes, I also LOVE play in the water. Getting wet is a must every time I go to the beach. 



Even today, I still LOVE to get WET!! I guess this habit never change. 

I did some jumping couple years back, but not anymore, so I think I did grow for a little bit.

Even though the weather was not perfectly sunny (it started rain later in the afternoon), I still had a good time. I am glad that we got to the beach. I would not regret it.



Good Beach, I hope I can see you again soon, in a sunnier day. 

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Summer To Do List Part 1: My Favorite Ten Piano Songs

I have so much things to blog about summer because every summer I like make a "To Do List," so my summer will be interesting.  I guess I will try to do two posts each week for the next several weeks even I am busy. There are five parts in my "To Do List", so stay turned.  


The first part of my "To Do List" is: to master my favorite ten piano songs. I have been playing piano since 4th grade, and I do really enjoy it. Beginning of this summer, I went through all my music books and sheet music over the years and picked my favorite ten songs. I am planning not only completely master them, but also try to remember as much as I can, so if someone asks me to play some music, I would not have to panic. 
This was taken at my first piano recital.

My Favorite Ten Piano Songs 
1. Fur Elise
2. Turkish March
3. Minuet in G major
4. Swam Lake
5. Sonata K.545
6. The Sound of Music
7. Wedding
8. Lullaby 
9. Auld Lang Syne
10. Arabesque 


What is your summer "To Do List"?

Friday, July 6, 2012

July 4th Recap

Yesterday was the Fourth of July - Independence Day for America.  My local community park had breakfast and parade in the morning, so we decide to go. I felt glad that the weather was so nice. It was the perfect Portland Day I ever asked for. I think mother gave the PERFECT gift for Uncle Sam. 
I love how the bikes were decorated with American flags.
The line was very long. Maybe the entire neighborhood got out and went to the event. 
I was waiting for my turn. I played with my camera to kill the time. There were even more people behind us. 
Thanks for the Church of Jesus Christ for sponsoring the event for our community. 
I love how the tablecloth and ballon were also decorated like American flag. 
Finally my turn was getting closer, I felt it took forever. Thanks for all the volunteers who helped. 
There were different kind of pancakes, muffins, pies, and fruits. They even had apple pie, lemon danish, cinnamon rolls and doughnut. Wow, I think I indulged myself a lot in the morning. I usually don't eat those goodies for breakfast. I like healthy breakfast, but breakfast like this once a while is OK, right?
There were speeches, prayers, recognition of people fought in the war, and national anthem.
The parade was about to begin.
One of the neighbor donated their old car from navy. 

After the morning breakfast and parade, I heard a lot of fireworks were going on around the neighborhood. I know there are three things must have in July 4th: BBQ, Parade and Fireworks. They all happened just near from my home.

I hope everyone had a great July 4th. Once again, Happy Birthday Uncle Sam!!