12:01am.  i am told to close my eyes.  i am sitting down and jake tells me to turn around and open my eyes.  in front of me is his laptop.  he says he wants to show me something on the computer.  he goes on the bookmark files, clicks on “gab’s bday” and the site that comes up is the apple store showing the iPad.  he says “oops, that’s not right…nevermind.”  he closes his laptop and right behind it is an iPad box!! hahaha… very clever.  and of course, as a “thank you” jake got one, too.  =)  oooh….what apple addicts we are.  ahah.

we wake up around 10am-ish.  we spend a little bit of time playing with our iPads then around 1030-11am he tells me he needs to go to the garage to get stuff.  his instructions were whenever he comes back up, i have to blindfold myself and turn the music on really loud.  ok…..??  2.5 hours later, he’s finally ready to show me the big secret inside the bedroom:

i was speechless!!  i was hoping i would get the makeup….i’ve been hinting and wanting all those makeup palettes for over 2 years….and finally i got ‘em!  i was not, however, expecting a full vanity waiting for me on the other side of the wall.  a vanity, even 2 lamps, a magnifying double sided mirror, even some containers and a picture frame!!!  he thought of everything!!  i was definitely in love!!  this whole thing means so much to me especially the fact that he was thoughtful enough to let me have my own real vanity space since i have been struggling to duplicate a vanity setting with a regular oversized desk which was just not working.  i love it, i love it, i love it!!  thaaaannks soo much, sweetumz!

afterwards, we finally got ready to leave.  first stop, blindfolded again, was red lobster for a small snack….my favorite!!  i knew the second i smelled it!!  yuuummm…!!

next stop: discovery science center!!  i have been wanting to go here for years!!!  i wish we had more time to stay and play!! i had a blast even with the short amount of time that we played there.

then we had dinner at sharkeez on main street in huntington beach.  yumm.

so yesterday my cousin, robin, and jake & i all met up at the spectrum to just hang out.  we were supposed to go to the beach but earlier in the week i had to have a last minute doctors appointment which i couldn’t avoid.  robin suggested that i meet her at the spectrum afterwards instead.  we walked around, shopped a bit, and talked of course.  =)  she was getting ready for her trip to north carolina the next day to see her man.  awww.

we hit up all kinds of stores and jake actually let’s me do a lil’ shopping as well.  nothing big..just a few accessories from h&m and for love.  he even bought some stuff.  while robin and i were in the girly stores jake went to visit his favorite store: the apple store.

when we go there to meet him he is in awe of the iPad.  he has been talking about it since it came out.  at first he would deny that he wanted one but as time passed and as he played with the iPad at store more, i think he fell in love.  he wouldn’t drop it.  i would always tease him when he asked me if we should get one….but every time we asked if they had any available they were always sold out. so here he was at the store playing with the iPad and wishing he had one but he just can’t seem to get his hands on one.  darn.

anyway, we have dinner at subway.  robin tells me her flight got moved up and we should go to george’s (awesome breakfast burrito place!) for an early breakfast with the cousins.  i’m down!  then she says we can just hang out afterwards before her flight.

so today, jake and i wake up super early to pick robin up and meet at dino & celines’ place so we can go have breakfast.  as we’re getting ready jake suggests that we should go to the beach after we finish hanging out with the cousins.  i say ok and get ready for a day at the beach…swimsuit underneath, shorts, sandals, sunblock, and even a frisbee & dog toys.

we have breakfast, then jake says he needs to go to walmart to buy chocolate.  by this time i’m already suspecting something like we’re all going to the beach for a fun filled day.  we get to walmart and just before we go in everyone is huddle around me and staring at me like there was going to be an intervention.  wtf?  all of a sudden celine says she won tickets to go to six flags.  i’m shocked and confused and surprised.  earlier in the month i mentioned going to six flags for my bday but we never really talked about it again.  i just figured we could do something else.  so when they said we were going to six flags today i was really shocked.  at the same time i was ecstatic cuz i have been wanting to go back for so long!! the reason we were at walmart was because jake didn’t pack my walking shoes, and because he wore jeans on a super hot day….especially when you’re going to a theme park. hahah… jake…. you’re funny.

so now i’m super excited and i just wanna go on every single ride twice and just feel like a kid again.  happy. our first ride was X2.  it was sooooo friggin fun!!  it was actually a bit scary just cuz i’ve never been on it and i didn’t know what to expect.  but i loved it!! if you havent been on it before imagine sitting down after being strapped up and then your legs get pulled under you and turns your body so that it looks like you’re in doggy style position.  i’m sure the guys love this.  heheheh.  riding the rollercoaster like this is so different from just sitting down.  so unexpected and so so fun!

the next ride was tatsu….also very fun.

the next ride was viper.  i didn’t like this ride that much.  only because the shoulder strap thing came up to my ears and was super hard so that every time we turned on the rollercoaster my head banged left and right and my earrings were stabbing me.  so much that it caused me to bleed.  it would’ve been a fun ride if i just wore different earrings.  by this time dogz had joined us and this was his first ride.  he came from the doctors because of a problem with his heart.  i hope he is fine now.

the next ride was goliath.  i’ve ridden this ride before and i wasn’t the least bit impressed.  they made such a big deal over this ride that when i finally rode it the last time i was at six flags, it was a fail.. it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t scary enough or fun enough overall.  i decided to give it another chance and rode it.  it actually wasn’t bad this time but it still isn’t my favorite.  dogz and robin sat this on out.  i think the steep drop was too much for them.  =P

the last ride was batman.  we waited about an hour and a half to two hours to get on this ride.  we finally reached the end and as soon as we’re sitting down strapped up, something goes wrong.  oh shit.  robin starts freaking out that she wants to get off the ride.  the mechanic wont let us off yet and it wasn’t until 5-10 minutes of waiting we had a choice to stay on or get off.  we got off.  there’s no point in risking our lives for a little fun.  it reminded us of final destination 3.  eek.  even though i never heard of anything bad happening after we got off, i’m still glad we didn’t risk it.  who knows?

so we just had a few hours to kill before leaving and we decided to play carnival games!  dogz, jake, and dino played a basketball game.  dogz was the only one to make a shot.  he won a lakers basketball.  afterwards, me, robin, celine, and dino played the horserace game where you throw balls into slots.  robin won first place and won a monkey, i won second place and won a chicken little, celine was third and won doggy ears.  poor dino.  better luck next time?  then the guys decide to play a ball throwing game where they break a glass plate.  dogs won again!! he was on a streak!  we were saying he should go play the lottery!  dino had a funny first throw which i got on video!  jake was pretty bad as well.. hehehe. =P  overall it was a fun, fun day and i was super happy to spend it with my favorite people!!  sadly, it was the end of the night and we had to drop robin off at the airport where she gets to go on vacation and we have to go back to reality.  hahah… lucky.

thanks everybody for making my bday special and fun and wonderful!  i love you all!

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valentine’s day was AMAAAAAZZIIINNG!!!  i could not be happier.  the day was just perfect. this is how we spent our valentine’s day:

we woke up, ate leftovers, then went our separate ways to do last minute planning/shopping for the day.  after about an hour or so, we met back at home and ate subway.  afterwards, i was instructed by jake to wear something comfortable, and put some shoes on.  i had no idea what he had planned for the day.

i was thinking all week that (since we are on a tight budget) he would take me to a park and we’d have a nice, romantic picnic.  i had already gotten an early gift for valentine’s day just a few days ago — my makeup brushes — which i am soo excited about!!

anyway, after getting dressed, we sat back on the couch and jake handed me my card.  i opened it up and read it.  on the very bottom there was a post it note peeking out that said “read me.”  with little hidden messages and a storyline, it became a scavenger hunt that lead me to next clue and the next clue.  i was enjoying this so much because for years i have always wanted someone to do a scavenger hunt for me.  jake somehow read my mind.  =)  the last clue led me to the garage.  he told me to close my eyes.  i was thinking the garage would be filled with a few balloons, put to my surprise there were two beach cruisers!!  i was so shocked and so surprised!! i did not see this one coming and this was another thing i had been wanting for years!!

my bike was perfect!! i love the color, i love the finish, i love my basket – walnut and/or bella can ride with me now! =) jake’s bike is soo nice, too.  very sleek and manly.  after the whole commotion and excitement, we went back upstairs to change for the beach, then set up the bike rack.

we ended up going to huntington beach just because they it was a longer line of beaches.  again, the day could not be any more perfect.  we rode from beach all the way you golden west, and back….and some….!  i couldnt get off the bike, i was so happy.  we watched the sunset, there were tons of people, we took pictures, we cuddled, we kissed.  the day was amazing.  and to top it off, on our way home we got pat & oscar’s breadsticks! yumm!

the next day – 02.15.10

since i didnt have work til the evening i had a few hours to set up a surprise “thank you” scavenger hunt for jake when he got home from work.  i had a note on the front door that instructed him to go clue to clue.  i had him videotape himself so i can see his reactions since i would be at work during the scavenger hunt.  pretty much, it led to a card thanking him for the beautiful day we had yesterday and how much i appreciated him.  thanks so much, bubba!!

i hope everyone had a great valentine’s day.  how did you spend it? =)

our first stop was carl’s jr.  we wanted to eat before we started our trip so we wouldn’t be starving.  the dogs wanted some car’s jr, too…can you tell?  they see jake coming back to the car with food.  “can we have some? can we have some??”

then of course jake had to have his mocha….so we hit up it’s a grind as well.  i got a kid’s road warrior.. yumm.  jake got a large ice blended mocha.

finally….we’re on our way to ocean beach.  when we get close the dogs can smell the beach in the air.  you can tell they’re getting excited.  friggin’ bella.  this is her looking out of the window and smelling the ocean breeze.  on the bottom picture, between the silver truck and the blue car, we were at that spot and driving towards the beach.  i asked bella if she was excited about going to the beach since it was her first time…..the silly dog says “YAAH!!” and jumps out of a moving car!!  thank goodness it was a two lane street and there was no one near us.  she didnt get hurt or anything…i just told jake to stop the car and i jumped out myself to get her in case a car came.  friggin bella.  hahaha. this isnt the first scare of the weekend either.  keep reading.

finally, ocean dog beach.  bella: ” where should i go first?”  this was her first time at the beach.

just a few cool pix…. if i personally know you and you are my friend on FB, there are many more posted there to see.  **i will not add anyone i do not personally know.**

time for lolita’s!!!  the whole reason why we went to san diego.  hehehe.  sooo good!! i obviously got carne asada fries…. and jake got his usual, enchiladas.  soo worth it.

on our way home now.  i love my family. <3

my two boys.  loove.  bella was tired after a long day of running and swimming.

and that was the end of our trip.  soo much fun,  i would love to do this more.  i love spending time with jake and the dogs.  my heart smiles when we’re all together.  awww.  =)