How to Survive First Day of School/College/Work

Is summer really over? I can't believe some schools are already schools started, today/this week. I already graduated from college a year ago, but I am back in school doing my post-baccalaureate this fall, and my school won't start till end of September. No matter how old I get, "first day" of school or anything could be stressful for me. These are steps to I learned to follow in order to succeed on the first day of school and everything else.

1. Prep everything in the night before: This first step is very important. There is only a lack of time in the morning, so things should be prepared as much as possible in the night before. 

These are the things MUST be prepared: 
-Backpack/bag should completely packed
-Clothes, including jewelries and watch
-Wallet with Student ID or other IDs and bus pass
-Fully Charged Cell Phone

2. Get a good night sleep and do not skip breakfast: If I did this step, I have more than 80% chance of having a successful day. 

I recommend:
-Drink a glass of milk before sleep
-Get at least 6 hours of sleep
-Eat a healthy breakfast that contains fresh fruit and/or vegetable
-Have some protein to stay motivated for the day. 

3. Come to class (work) at least 5 minutes before: Come to class or work early is very beneficial. Not only it will leave a nice impression to the professor(boss), there are a lot of things able to be accomplished during the five minutes. 

Use the five minutes to: 
-Know where the nearest bathroom/go to the bathroom
-Find a good seat to sit
-Put away the coat and set up the material on the desk
-Get to know the classmates(co-workers) and professor(boss)

4. Use a planner: The planner is significant part of my life. I can be organized and not to forget anything by using the planner. I always carry a planner with me regardless of I am at school/work or not. 

On the first day, write the following down on the planner:
-Due date of important projects
-Contact information of the professor or boss/manager
-For people in school-exam dates and times
-For people in school-office hours and location of the professors 

5. Have some cash on hand: I recommend to everyone to have 5 to 10 dollars of cash on hand all the time. Not everywhere accepts credit card nor have ATMs. This is a great way to prepare for worst case scenarios.

It is helpful in case forgot to bring:
-Lunch, snack, or drink
-Notebook, pencil, or eraser
-Bus pass
-Credit card

Good Luck with everyone who are in school. If you are not in school, this is still useful for any day.

Summer To Do List Part 4: U-Pick

I am so sorry blog, I neglected you for a while. Since it's summer, I have been lazy. I was taking a break from blogging. Also, for the past a few weeks, the temperature had been risen rapidly, so I did not want to sit on the hot computer for a long time. Yesterday, the weather had finally cooled off, and it was time for the part 4 of my summer to do list. The part 4 is "Going to U-Pick."

Summer is the biggest harvest season, and there are a lot of U-Pick farms and gardens in Portland. The U-Pick place we chose was Sauvie Island. Even though there were other gardens/farms more closer to our house, this one is the most extensive. It has a variety of selections of fresh produce, and it opens from January to October. Some gardens were only open in summer, and some farms only have berries. Furthermore, it was not as far as we expected, anyway. 

The view was very beautiful to see and the air was so fresh to breathe. It was fantastic to spend a Saturday morning there. 

Not only there were many kinds of produce, but also there were different kinds of colorful flowers. 

First, we looked some fresh vegetables. There were a large selections in season: cauliflower, broccoli, sweet peas, green beans, corns, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, etc. Each season has different fruits and vegetables to choose from. My mom picked some peppers.

Next, we picked blueberries. We had so much fun doing it. Summer is about berries in Oregon. I love strawberries and blueberries. Can summer stay longer? 

My family and I picked a lot of blueberries. It is my They were so yummy!! They were sweeter than the blueberries we get from grocery store. 

On the way back to check out, my dad insisted to pick a cabbage. He had to use a little knife to cut it out from its root. Remember, if you want to pick a broccoli, lettuce, cauliflower, or cabbage, you better bring a sharp knife. 

Lastly, we went for peaches. Aren't they beautiful? If the Monkey King was here, he will be extremely exciting. He'd be jumping from tree to tree, and eat all the peaches. 

We picked a bucket full of peach. I think we picked TOO much....Well, I think once a while it is OK, right? They were heavy, but it's worth it. 

All in all, U-Pick was a great experience. It is the perfect way for families and friends to spend time together and enjoy the nature. This is definitely one of the must-dos during summer. There were a lot of families taking their children and neighbors to pick up some fresh produce. U-Pick prices might not be completely cost-effective compare to grocery store, but it is definitely more fresh and fun to do, so it is worthwhile making a trip. 

For more information about Sauvie Island visit their website: http://sauvieislandfarms.com/ 

Summer To Do List Part 3: Get in Shape!! 10 Fun Tips

It's summer is here!! It is time to get in shape!! Losing weight has been my every summer's To Do List. I did lose some weight every year. I have a lot of bitter sweet memories for weight loss. I laugh and cry when I am dieting. Recent years, I found that dieting is no longer stressful, and it is actually fun to do. 

Exercise Tips


1. Walk, walk, and walk: Walking is the easiest, finest and most affordable way to exercise. If you can choose from driving and walking, choose walking or even biking. The weather is very beautiful during summer, so I strongly recommend everyone to walk after meal(especially after dinner). Take a walk during a date would be very romantic, too. 
2. Choose the favorite exercise: In order to not to hate exercising, doing the most enjoyable exercise is important. Some people like to swim, and some people like to play. For me, I like to run. I feel running can help me release my stress. To succeed in exercising is to find the joyfulness in the work out. 
3. Use music (or anything else) to get motivation:  The key to enjoy the work out is "motivation." People get motivated by different things. I usually get motivated by music. 
4. Have a partner or get into a group: Some people might prefer to workout by themselves, but for me, I like to do a group fitness. I go to fitness classes in the gym sometimes. Having people exercise together can help each other reach their target goal. 


Eating Tips


5. Eat in moderation, and don't deprive from anything: When I started dieting, I tried to away from all of my favorite sweets. It was very cruel to me, and I made myself stressed out. Once a while I allowed myself indulge, I ate more sweets than before I start to diet, and I gain more weight. Later I learned to I did not have to deprive myself from those sweets, I just eat in moderation. Instead two cookies a day, I only eat one. Instead of eating the entire doughnuts, I only eat a half of it. I also learned to share sweets with my family and friends. 
6. Drink a lot of water: There are a lot healthy benefits with drinking water. Along with all the good benefits, it also helps prevent overeating. I drink at least 3 cups of water during a meal. One cup before, one cup during, and one cup after the meal. I feel super full every time, so I would never overeat. 
7. Eat a good breakfast: Please do not skip breakfast!! This will cause overeating lunch and dinner. They will help gain a lot of weight. It's OK to overeat on breakfast because most food we ate on breakfast will be digested in the day. I found out that breakfast is the best time to indulge myself. Sugar can motivate people throughout the day. It helps increasing the daily productivity in work, it could lead to loss more weight. 
8. Eating healthy is enjoyable!! Come on, eating fresh fruits and vegetables are not that bad. They are delicious like meats and sweets. I enjoy eating salads as much as I enjoy eating cookies. 


General Tips


9. Don't think it as weight loss: It was a big mistake to think as a "weight loss." Don't only focus on the weight too much. Weight is just a number. Think it is like "Muscle Building," "Stay in Fit," etc. There are a lot of better ways to describe it. 
10. Like yourself and have fun!! I used to hate myself for being overweight and fail to lose weight, but I realize no one should hate themselves no matter what. If people can have fun exercising and eating healthy, get in shape for summer is not painful at all.


Good Luck and Enjoy!!

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? 

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. 

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"?

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!!