A Year After Graduation - Five Things I Have Accomplished So Far

Graduation season continues. Last weekend PSU, OSU, and U of O had their graduation commencement. I was surprised that all three schools had the same day for commencement. My Facebook news feeds were busy with my friends' graduation updates. Wow!! I still don't feel this photo was actually taken a year ago. It was just like yesterday. Time just flies and I can't stop it!! 

I did some reflection about this past year and summarized what I have accomplish so far. 


In my last post I talked about five things I learned, and for this post, I am going to talked about five things I did after graduation.  (Are there any of my blog readers realized I really like the number five?)

1. I am half way done with my Post-Baccaurate Certificate in Accounting Program. The fall term following my graduation, I started online Post-Bacc Program. First, I was scared of whether I can balance work and study or not. I also never took online classes before, so I was worried. Well, there was no fear with the flexible and helpful online education. Now I am more than half way done, my grades are good so far, and I learned a lot.  

2. I worked two jobs. So far I worked jobs. One was part-time and one was full-time. The lessons I shared in my last post were mostly from those two jobs. First working full-time was stressful, but it was a great practice for me to adapt the 9am - 5pm Monday through Friday work schedule. 

3. I lost some weight and developed a healthier lifestyle. I started to lose weight when I was sophomore in college. Back then I lost weight in the hard way. I was stress out from not eating any sweets.  The summer of my graduation, I finally learned eating in moderation, so I don't have to completely give up sweets. I also try to exercise every day and take a walk after each meal. 

4. I learned how to cook and clean WELL. Don't get confused, I DID some cooking and cleaning on my own in college or EVEN before college. I started to learn how to cook and clean when I was in 4th or 5th grade. Back then, it was "because my mom told me," "require for school," and "to impress my friends." I also did not do a good job. The moment I graduated from college I realized, from now on I really need to be independent. I have to cook and clean not for someone else (mom, school, friends), for ME. I want to eat food and live in a neat place. I also got much better doing those.

5. I started blogging and finally able to stick with it: I did a little bit of blogging when I was in high school, (it was called Xanga) but I did not continue to write. There were several moments in college when I thought about start a blog again, but I never did.  Several weeks after graduation, I finally started to write again. For the past year, my writing skills improved and my viewers grew for a little. I hope I will keep writing as long as I can even no one is reading it.


All in all, there were so many things happened in short one year post grad life.  


For the Next One Year: 
1. Finish Post-Baccaurate Certificate in Accounting Program
2. Find a permanent job using the skill I learn from last two jobs
3. Lose more weight and also build a better shape
4. Continue to improve cooking and cleaning skills
5. Write better posts and hope to attract more viewership. 

To The Graduates of 2012

One Year Ago....

I can't believe it has been a year since I graduated. (take a look at my post about graduation) It is the season of graduation, again. I can see a lot of cap and gown pictures posted on Facebook and other blogs. There are many decorations for graduation parties and gifts for gradates are sold in the stores. When I was in college,  I did not image how my life after college will be, so there were a lot surprises and new things. 


To all the people who graduated this year, this is a little message from me.

1. From now on, find own time to study.  There is no more BOOKED class time because it is no longer like in school. Make time to study could hard in the post grad life. Depends on each person's situation and work requirements, study/classes might not be the priority, anymore. 


2. Life is no longer interesting after graduation. When work starts, life is not fun like in college. Most jobs has same routines everyday. People go to the same place, see the same people, and perform the same tasks everyday could be become boring at some point. 


3. Lessons are no longer only come from books and there is no definite grade. This is the toughest change I went though. As a student, I tended to only rely the facts from books and a definite grade to evaluate my performance. Reality is not like the books, and everything can not be easily evaluated as A, B, or C. I am still trying to adapt to this concept. It will take sometime to get use to. 


4. A lot of things became self taught. Most bosses and older employees usually do not like teaching the new employees. They would not willing to spoon feed the tasks. New employee must to find their own way to learn the work-related things.


5. Mistakes are not directly mentioned. Some bosses hope their co-workers will notice mistakes on themselves instead of telling them to fix. They are not like professors, sometimes they don't point the mistakes out directly. People have to be more carefully and organized at the work. 


All in all, post grad life was tough for me, but those hard times helped me grow and learn. Besides the life lessons, I learned the the word roots of graduation -"grad" means step up. After graduation is like one step up from student life.  

Good Ways to Start a Monday Morning

Happy Monday, everybody!! How are you this morning? I am feeling FANTASTIC!! Even though it is raining outside, I am still feeling good because weather has been sunny for a long time, and it is about time to give some rain. Plus, my mother just planted some flowers, so rain will help them grow. I was wondering how can I share my feeling? And I decided to blog about it. Then I realized, what a great idea!! Monday morning or any mornings during the week will start right by following those steps. 


1. Make sure to sleep well on Sunday:  First, never party hard on Sunday night. Try to get to come home early and go to sleep. Also make sure to have good night sleep. Drink a glass milk and/or do some work out before would help.  Starting of the week should not feel tired. 


2. Dress nice: I usually like to wear something that I like the most or shows my personality. Looking good can make me feel confident.  I think it is the same as everyone else. Don't hesitate to wear fancy and show off to people at work or school.  


3. Eat a healthy breakfast: This is a very important. Every morning deserves a great breakfast.  I recommend to have comfort food for breakfast. Something warm and/or soft such as toast, muffin, pancakes, etc. Also make sure to have a piece of fruit or vegetable and a glass of milk or tea. I usually have warm buns with bowl of congee with a piece of fruit and tea. 


4. Ignore all the negative news: If I have time in the morning,  I will open my computer and check e-mails and news. Sometimes I receive negative news about myself or the society in the morning. Those news can be rejection from anything I applied and/or tragic events happened somewhere. I can't choose what I see, but I can choose how to react. I try to stay positive for whatever happens at anytime. 


5.  Listen to exciting music on the way out: Music motivates me for everything. I like listen something that is teach me to be look forward, but you can choose any music that you like and motivates you. I like Katy Perry's "Firework" and Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston' s "When You Believe". I listen to them in the car on the way to work, school, or gym. 


I hope everyone will have a wonderful week!!

Five Things I Admire About My Mother

Happy Mother's Day. 

Be thankful that you have someone who cooks, cleans, and does laundary for you. 

Because of her, you always have warm food to eat, organized room to study, and clean cloth to wear. 

All those things she does every day seems easy for us, but they are not easy for her.  

Let's show our appreciations to all the great moms in the world. 

This is my mother. Isn't she beautiful? The photo was taken when she was my age. Aren't we look alike? I hope so. 

Since I was a little girl, my mother and I were very close. This is one is my favorite photo from childhood.

And today, we are best friends. This is one is my favorite photo from recent. 








Last year, I shared Five Life Lessons My Mother Taught Me. If you have not read that post, I strongly recommend you to read it. They are all very useful. This year, I decide to share five things I admire about my mother. 

1. She is always on the top of everything: She says there are no people who are naturally smart. If you want to be smart, you just need to prioritize what to do first. Only smart people know how to manage time. She is always well planned and ahead of everything, and she never do things at the last minute. I can always depend on her. 

2. She is capable of performing any task: She can multitask. She can also do a mass of difficult work fast and accurate. These parts of her I get very jealous. I can never multitask, I am a slow person, and sometimes I even make mistakes. Believe or not, she can do the work of three people. She is a super woman. 

3. She is good at keeping her goals: Once she made a decision in doing something, she will accomplish it no matter how much time it will take or how difficult it is. I am weak sometimes. If I set my goal too tough to achieve, I would easily give up. I have to change. I need to learn to not give up. 

4. She is always calm and stay positive for whatever happens: Every time I panic, she can calm me down. Whenever I fail, she encourages me to stand up and tells me to look on the bright side. I like her positive thinking and never shows her desperation. She is such a strong person. Someday, I will be a mom, too. I hope I can be a great example to my children as she did to me.  

5. She is a perfectionist: She is very neat. She likes to make our house clean and organized. She always make sure what she wears are washed and no wrinkles. She hates messy places and dirty things. She is a perfect house wife. Someday, I will have place on my own. I hope I can make my place as neat as my mom cleaned my room.  

I love you, mom. I feel lucky to be your daughter. 

Lastly, to all the great moms in the world, I hope you will have a wonderful day, and feel grateful for everything you do for your family. 

Perfect Portland Day = Beautiful Tulips

As the weather is getting better in Oregon, my family started to explore some fun places to see and play in our town. We are lucky that there are many beautiful parks and gardens near our home. Couple of weeks ago, we went to Woodburn Tulip Festival. The day was very hot and the place was very crowed. There must a lot of tulip lovers. Tulips were just beautiful. 

My mother and I enjoyed taking pictures with the blanket of flowers. 

 

Speaking of tulips, I have some childhood art memories with them. My first drawing assignment back in elementary school was tulips. My class took a little field trip to a local park near from our school, and we scratched the full blooming tulips. It was a very fun day. Tulip is probably the first and only flower that I actually learned how to draw. Since then every time I want to add flowers in a picture, I'd draw tulips because they are the only flower I feel confident painting. I took some paintings throughout elementary to high school, but I do photography more than painting, now. May be I will start to paint again because I still have paints left over in my closet, and I don't want to waste them.     

My mother is beautiful as the flowers. She is an absolute flower lover. She does not only love them, she also love to plant them. She can spend hours working in the garden. She told me there were different types of tulips in the garden. Then I realized that not all tulips look identical. There are different colors, shapes and sizes. She'd like to study and research about flowers. Her knowledge and passion for flowers are expanding. 

Here is an another photo of me with the tulips. This one is my favorite. Aren't they lovely?

Bye Bye Tulips, See you next year. 

Dead/Final Week Stress Management and Study Tips

I have been SO busy, and I am VERY behind on updating blog. Good news is that I got a full-time job. Bad news is that I am still taking a couple of classes, and finals are next week. When do I have time for blogging? This post is about the ways to deal stress and tips to study. 

1. Take a Shower: It is a great way to get refresh.  Dead week and final week are super stressful. Even only ten minutes of showering can reduce a lot of stress. When I feel tired after studying and/or working for so long, I usually take a shower and come back to study. My brain works better on that way.

2. Eat Healthily: I know people don't have time to cook or even eat during the dead and final week, so a lot of college students tend to eat snacks as meal or get fast food. PLEASE DO NOT. I am not asking anyone to take time cooking healthy food during those weeks, but making some simple comfort food would not take long time. Remember to eat breakfast before test at least a slice of fruit.

3. Find a Way to Express Your Stress: When you had a bad day, it's better to let others know that your day wasn't right. There is no need to hide it. Let it out is good. There are a lot of ways to express stress. The common way I see is to just Facebook it. Some people have concerns for facebooking their problems, but I think it is OK. If you don't want someone to know, you can express it by journalizing. I do it sometimes. 

4. Only Study in a Place without Distraction for a Few Hours a Day: Sometimes studying for too long would not be effective. Time is scarce during those weeks, so it is better to use time efficiently. The brain can only focus small amounts of time in a day, and the distractions would waste a lot of valuable studying time.  Plan a study time when the brain works the best, and choose a place where is quiet. Make sure to tell the others to not distract you unless it is emergency and turn off all the technical devices. 

5. Get into Study Groups: I know some people might prefer to study by themselves, but discussing materials with other classmates is definitely a great way to study. I didn't believe study groups are helpful until I experienced it. I actually got help from other classmates, and I gave help to them, too. Perhaps there are places you might missed to study, but another classmates can remind you, so you will catch that. Overall, helping each other score best on the test is nice thing to do. 

6. Put away the Heavy Textbooks and Focus on the Light Notecards: The test is around the corner, and the time is running out. There is no time to focus on the details of the long chapters. It is the time to only focus on the highlights. During the term, I like to make notecards for the key words and important parts for each chapter. When it comes to dead week, I would only focus on the information on the notecards. The good thing about them is that I carry them around everywhere I go, so I can study anytime and anywhere. 

I hope they are helpful!! Good Luck!!

February Food Craziness Part 1: The Best Birthday Brunch

Wow, the month of February went fast. I have been lazy about blogging after my birthday. Sorry!! The month of February is about my birthday and valentine's day. It is my favorite month of the year because it is a month of love and celebration. My family and I had some food adventures during those days, and we had food coma. We usually eat healthily, but indulging ourself once a while is OK, right? I mean the month combines my birthday and valentine's day. They are all about cakes and candies. I am such a foodie. I like to cook, eat, and write about food. I hope you will enjoy.

Birthday Brunch

For my birthday brunch we went to Tasty n Sons. It has been featured on many Portland Traveling Sites, and it was ranked "Top 10 Best Breakfast in the US" on Yahoo. Therefore, I thought it should not be very wrong to try it out. When we entered the cafe, there was a long line. That was a good sign!! We had to wait about 45 minutes. We were glad that there were a lot of Artistic Stores around it to see while we were waiting. 

I felt happy that all the portions were small, so we could try a lot of different dishes. They all were made from scratch and tasted so good!! 

Fried Egg and Boiled Spinach: Although it was a simple dish, but they made it taste so delicious. It was pretty, too. I like the food is not only yummy, but also looks good.

 Biscuits with Cheese, Fried Egg and Chicken: It was probably the BEST fried chicken I ever had. I try not eat too much fried meat because it is usually very oily, but this fried chicken was not oily at all. The biscuit itself was great, too.

English Muffin with Fried Eggs and Beans: Although my family is not a big fan of Mexican food, we really liked the beans. Surprisingly, we were fighting for them. 

French Toast: I love french toast, but I barely order from restaurants because they usually make it too sweet. I prefer making them at home, but that is rare, sadly. The sweetness of this french toast was just right. 

Chocolate Potato Doughnuts: This was my favorite among all the dishes we ordered. The cream dip for the doughnuts was yummy. I wanted to lick the plate. I wished we'd order more than one, so we did not have to share. My mother hoped she could recreate this doughnut at home. Good Luck, mother.

Granola: To be honest, I barely eat any kind of bars. I don't like granola, but I enjoyed this granola. It went very well with the fruits and dairy cream. It was healthy, too.

All in all, it was a fun experience. I was surprised that all the dishes were simple, but Tasty n Sons made them taste amazing!! I liked eating things I don't like or don't usually eat. We definitely want to return even though it is a little far from where we live, and I wish it was closer to my house.