44:365 Days of Love: Cake Anyone?

Day 43: Ran an errand for my mom, and bought Birthday Cake for my cousin's birthday...we ended up not needing it for we went to Golden Corral...oh well.

42:365 Days of Love: open ear

Day 42: Ate dinner with my mom at Buffalo's as she told me about the misunderstandings with her husband and niece...

41:365 Days of Love: Lab

Day 41: Went over the lab slides with a classmate who wasn't feeling well that particular day of lecture.

40:365 Days of Love: What no tissue?

Day 40: Walked into a bathroom stall withOUT any tissue...immediately found a new stall. But before I departed the ladies room, I put in a new roll. It's not fun finding out after the fact...

39:365 Days of Love -- pineApple

Day 39 (Sept 1): Shared pineapple with my lovely friends Q-dawg & Bing...yummm! they're always sharing food with mee

38:365 Days of Love --Got Milk?

Day 38: Bought my friend & her family milk... we had a baking date, and she asked me to pick up some milk...I stared at the refrigerator in Kroger asking, 1/2 gallon or 1 gallon...Well, a family always needs milk...picked up the 1 gallon.

37:365 Days of Love --Shrimp

Day 37: Spent the afternoon with my stepdad and accompanied him to buy ghost shrimp for the 2nd Beta aquarium ^_^

36:365 Days of Love --Forever Friends

Day 36: Friendships always have their bumps in the road, sometimes with long periods of silence in between. I tried to shed some light into the relationship of 2 of my good friends...hopefully they will reunite :)

35:365 Days of Love -- Sunny Days

Day 35: Last night I caught up with my mom at Walmart. I told her I was buying sunglasses & soon enough we were in the sunglasses aisle modeling this popular accessory for each other. She told me her opinions on what looked good on me, and I her. My mom doesn't get to treat herself often with new items... so I bought her a new pair to wear.

34:365 Days of Love -- Attention Everyone!

Day 34 (Thursday): Stood up in front of class and made an announcement on behalf of my biomed friend :) She and one of the clubs she is in are raising money for Pakistan Flood Victims.

33:365 Days of Love --FB Messaging Xs 2

Day 33 (Wednesday): Saw someone I recently met was on Facebook chat... well I asked how he was doing and he told me about his struggles as he returns to school... tried to give encouragement. I prayed for him and sent that prayer as a facebook message.

32:365 Days of Love -Printer Issues

Day 32: Printed a copy of our anatomy lecture for one of my classmates, so she wouldn't be late for class :D

31:365 Days of Love: Pleas 4 a friend

Day 31: Posted in my friend's fb wall that I would pray for him and I followed through...college life is a challenge when you want to practice your Christian faith and also live it up.

30:365 Days of Love --Laundry

Day 30: Teaching how to do Laundry...round 2! Even high school boys will have to experience this chore once in their lives :D

29:365 Days of Love - Rescued a Shopping Cart

Day 29: Hopped out of my car in the Kroger parking lot to retrieve a shopping cart that was blocking the road!

28:365 Days of Love -- Spent X with my Mom

Day 28: Spent some quality time with my momma! ---despite my desires to sleep!!!

27:365 Days of Love -- Litter Bug I am Not!

Day 27: 3 beer cans lay abandoned on the grassy field that runs through my neighborhood. On my way back from our walk (Speedo & I) I picked up the cans and put them in my recycling bin. We should try to respect all of God's creation.

26:365 Days of Love -Encouraging the Next Generation

Day 26: With one last urge to go on Facebook, I was able to encourage this young lady I met at a church retreat. She fills my heart with joy, she's a beautiful child of God... I know I need to continue to pray for her.

25:365 Days of Love- Save me a Seat

Day 25: First day of Pharmacy school -- I saved a seat in the front for my buddy Rahul!

24:365 Days of Love - Set up Chairs

Day 24 - Sunday - Helped set up chairs for Bible Study :) I like having small group discussions

23:365 Days of Love - Buy me some Ribs!

Day 23: Drove a few extra miles to the farmers market to pick up some ribs for my family to eat for dinner

22:365 Days of Love- Outing with my Cousin

Day 22: Friday, Decided to go on an outing with my cousin to the lake, scheduled for Sept 11th...Hope we can bond!

21:365 Days of Love -Finding a Home

Day 21: Thursday I helped one of my new classmates find other people in my class who were looking for housing :) so she could get a roommate.

20:365 Days of Love --Advice

Day 20: Today @ Orientation, I tried to "brief" some of the new biomeds on the year ahead. hahah gave my e-mail away, just in case... my goal was to try to encourage them and give them tips on how to do well.

19:365 Days of Love --Aid

Day 19 (yesterday): It can be difficult to help, especially clean when you don't know where all the supplies are, but I tried my best...throwing away people's plates and cleaning up remnants of food.

18:365 Days of Love - Friendlyyy

Day 18 (Aug 9): At CAYA Retreat... despite being a newbie, tried to make the other new girls, freshmen in college, feel welcome by chatting with them.

--Gave away my shampoo & conditioner to my sister in Christ

17:365 Days of Love - Life skillZ

Day 17 (Aug 8): Taught my younger cousin "Morales" how to do laundry - wash-dry-fold.

His future wife can thank me later (0:

16:365 Days of Love3 -Directions

Day 16 (Aug 7): Out with my aunt...but managed to explain to my cousin (in college) how to buy books online. It was her 1st time :)

15:365 Days of Love --Clean up

Day 15: This evening I was able to attend the Friday night EM meeting. Even though it was my first time to that event, I decided to follow the advice of my friend and jump in. Thus, when it came time to clean up I hopped to the job of putting the ice cream away and cleaning up the table.
Everyone is a part of God's family right?...I'm no guest!

14:365 Days of Love-- Going Beyond the Call of Duty

Day 14: I was already asked to do the honor of taking my little cousins to go get their schedules...but along the way we ran into a few curve balls. It just so happened that not all the paperwork required was complete for Tyron (middle school). Since he has 3 brothers at the local high school, I wondered if they too would run into the problem of not receiving a homeroom teacher. So after I dropped off the 2 younger ones, I went to my alma mater in search for an answer. Would it be a waste of time for them to go up the school that evening, if they too were missing that form? After speaking with several people, I found an answer, they had time to turn in the missing document, and they too could trail in with the crowd of freshmen to obtain their schedules that night.

phase 2...
So evening arrives and I take the older cousins to the high school, 2 of the 3 have the same homeroom teacher, I go with those 2 and my mom accompanies the other 1. My 2 arrive at their homeroom and guess what, even though they could get their schedules that day, their teacher decides not to show up. GREAT!!!!! So we were thinking, what a waste of time anyways.

That's when I remember from my day, that the other teachers also have access to student schedules. Therefore, I instructed them to go ask one of their teachers to print it off for them. And that indeed happened... yeahyyyyy!!!!

13:365 Days of Love - Waving

Day 13: The smallest of gestures can make a significant impact on one's day. As I was driving down one of the local back roads to my house today, I spotted a man walking along the sidewalk. I observed him as he glided along, unsure of his journey or purpose of being out today, but nonetheless, he caught my attention. I saw him waving to each car that passed by, whether or not the cars before or after me returned the gesture, I don't know. But I made an effort to slow down my car and wave conspicuously at my fellow neighbor. Hopefully, he was overcome with the same joy and happiness that filled inside of me.

12:365 Days of Love - Airport

Day 12: My friend needed a ride to the airport at the last minute and that transportation was provided by Ashley's "taxi" service.

11:365 Days of Love --Shared my phone

Day 11: Today, I was able to share my cellphone with a woman who locked her keys in her car. Obviously, her cell phone also got locked in the vehicle. She approached me while I was finishing the final routine step of replacing the gas cap on the tank. I handed over my phone to her and she made her call. To kill time, I walked over to the register, asked for my receipt and about 2 minutes later she had returned my cell phone and I was on my way.

5 minutes after my departure from the gas station, I receive a phone call. "Hello?" I said, not recognizing the phone number. "Beverly?" said the woman on the other line.
Me:"No, I've already left the station, I think she's still there though."
Lady:"Ohh, well, I can't seem to find the number she needs, and I don't have a phone book. I don't know what to do, we don't have another car. Is that place far?"
Me:Well maam, I've already left...
Lady:Is there anyway you can get her back on the phone? I told her I'd call her back...
Me: I'll see what I can do, but it might be a few minutes.

I was only up the street at our local Walmart, so I hopped in the car and returned to the gas station... there I found Beverly and told her that a lady called for her.

Beverly explained that it was her 86 year old mother and that she probably used the caller id to return the call.

Beverly was surprised that I returned so she could call her mom back (she said good would come back to me). But the urgency in her mom's voice reminded me of my grandpa. He's also well into old age and I know for sure he doesn't know how to use the caller ID. I wouldn't want him to worry around for me... he's done that plenty of times.

10:365 Days of Love-- Stn Mtn

Day 10: I took my cousins to Stone Mountain this evening...and my friend came as well. I figured it would be an inexpensive way we could all enjoy each others' company. Of course everyone had a good time :) ... Every Georgian should be required to view the Laser Show at least once!

9:365 Days of Love --Taking out the Trash

Day 9: Saturday, I arrived home from working out and noticed that the garbage can across the street was still at the edge of the driveway (pick-up was on Friday). I believe that they have either moved, or decided to go on a long vacation. My money is on the former idea, but whatever the case may be, I walked across the street and moved their trashcan to the front of their garage door.

We wouldn't want anyone to get suspicious! Since their departure, I have missed the lovely smell of Vietnamese cuisine that would trail from their house over to mine :) Anddd!!! I miss Lucky, their lovable "guard" dog.

8:365 Days of Love --Play in the Park

Day 8: Yesterday (Friday), my little cousin and I went to the local park . This time we spent time together playing badminton and volleyball. Haha, it was fun to make each other laugh. I pretended to be Manny Pacquiao and he was Erik Morales-- badminton style! LOL, I haven't played badminton in so long, it was such a treat for him to see me struggle to hit successfully. Mahn, he won our short tournament! Blahhh.

It's so fun to play those games again, we should do it more often. I also like to see him laugh... and it's a great feeling to laugh with him. Pretty soon school will start for both of us, perhaps new relationships will pop up... it's important for me to spend time with my family.

7:365 Days of Love-- Loving my pet

Day 7: Has it actually been 1 week since I started this? Wow! Hahaha. Well, today was very eventful... I could actually talk about something else, still related to a pet, but that involved tears and the vet...SoO how about I talk about something happy :) This evening my lil' cousin & I exercised at the local park, about 10 minutes from the house. I caught sight of an abandoned tennis ball and asked my cousin to get it for me. You see, I'm trying to get out of the habit of sleeping on my stomach, and this article said to tape a tennis ball on your shirt while you're sleeping.

Well, when I got home, Speedo (my chihuahua) caught site of the small round object. He started jumping and running in front of me. Honestly, I fail to recall the last time we played fetch together. At first, I was thinking "Oh no! This one is for me!!" But I couldn't resist, he looked so happy to see such a rare & minuscule toy inside our home. As we rounded the corner towards my room I let him gain full sight of it and then threw it down the hall. He ran with full speed to the ball, grabbed it with his small mouth and brought it back to me. Again, I threw it in the opposite direction, haha, he bumped into the door as he chased a ball that seemed to be alive itself. This went on for about 10 minutes, until he finally got tired.

It's fun seeing Speedo's eyes in full focus; Watching his body leap over my legs, across pillows and even bump into walls just to get the refreshing and satisfying feeling of accomplishment (obtaining the ball).

Speedo needs my love too!!!

6:365 Days of Love - Taking a Stroll

Day 6: Once again, I'm surprised at what today's "love" moment would be. I thought I had identified the act of love that I had committed for the Lord earlier this afternoon, but you know, your day isn't over until it's over. Today, Love was taking a stroll with my mom at 9:30 in the evening. She was really upset, more so in an angry manner than sad or distressed. I won't go into the details because it's personal, but I'll just say this: Sometimes, people just need someone to listen. For me, this took a long time to understand. I'm an only child so in the past I've just kept my emotions or whatever to myself and never really felt the need or urge to say what's on my mind. If one of my friends asked "are you okay?" I'd say "yes" or "I'm fine" when I'm really upset inside. For those people who really know me, of course they know I'm lying. I don't have a poker face, so my emotions are right there on my sleeve.

Even now that I've matured (at least I think I have), I find myself venting to my friends, but sometimes when other people close to me are upset I tell them that their tears aren't worth shedding for that person/thing that hurt them... I hope that sounds right, I'm trying to say that they shouldn't waste their emotion on something/someone that doesn't care about them.

In actuality though, they just wanted me to listen to their cries of hurt and anger. And allow their tears to fall.

This evening, I allowed my mom to say what's on her mind. Of course I added in my 2 cents, it's my job :) as her best friend & daughter. But I noticed that I didn't full out dismiss what she had to say, nor did I tell her to just let it go. I wanted her to express her feelings and release the energy inside.

5:365 Days of Love - Nomination for Daisy Award

Day 5: Today, I took my aunt to her cancer treatments, but that's not exactly what act of love that I'm talking about today. It actually relates to today's procedures. My aunt and I, or sometimes she and my mom go to the Outpatient Treatment Center at the local hospital in our county. We've had several nurses assist her throughout this past year, but there's one unique woman who stands out. Today, I finally decided/suggested that we nominate her for the Daisy Award. The recipient is recognized as a stellar RN who works in this hospital system. The nurse that really touched us and inspired us to nominate for this award is Yve Roche. The first time we met her I was kinda nervous, she was new to the department, but not new at all to the profession. She shared how she moved from NYC to ATL and that she too had breast cancer. That day after my aunt finished her treatment, she told me that when Y.R. put in the IV, it didn't even hurt.


Today was the first time I've seen Y.R. in months. But again, she was very personable and empathetic with my aunt. In fact, she told us that her cancer has returned. But she doesn't complain and she still keeps busy working at the hospital. When she puts the IV in my aunt's arm she does her best to only stick her once and even gets annoyed at herself when she must try more than once. She herself has gone through that before. What I'm typing here doesn't even describe nor is it even fair that I try . But she is an RN who deserves this award and I hope this nomination wins it for her :)

4:365 Days of Love - Driving Extra Miles

Day 4: So far I've driven 89.1 miles today according to Google Maps. The first 40.7 miles was planned, I mean if you live in Atlanta, it's what you have to do... so anyways I took my cousin to work, then I drove up 85 to Law-Suwanee, stopped at Kroger to pick up a Redbox movie when my phone rings. "Ashley honey, where are you?" It was my mom. "Don't you have to take MyLene to school?" "I already did, I'm in Lawrenceville now," I replied. "Well can you please come here and pick up this check to pay for the SUV?"

>BREAK<

This was not what I wanted to hear. My mom is all the way down 85 South at Emory. Honestly, I can't say I eagerly jumped into my car and drove back towards Atlanta.
Me: "Well, can you pay it tomorrow?"
Mom: "No, there will be a late fee."
Mom: "We just got out of a meeting <2:28pm> and I haven't had my lunch break yet."
Me: ... "Okay mommy, it's going to be a few minutes."
Mom: "Thank you honey I really appreciate it."


This afternoon I was supposed to watch a movie with my good friend Joy before she moves away. I planned to get the movie and then pick up 2 slushies from Sonic, (Happy Hour rocks!). But this day demonstrated that if you wake up and ask God to use you, maybe you'll have to take a detour.

I'm happy though, when I finally arrived at Emory, my mom had a smile on her face. She was so thankful and relieved at the same time. I must acknowledge my mom has already done so much for me this summer and I should be the one who is thankful for her.
Besides... I still have time to go watch that movie, it's only 5PM now... gotta hop back in the car ;)

3:365 Days of Love - Praying for "Sarah"

Day 3: Today, not only did I have the opportunity to attend a different church, Living Hope Ministries (the English Ministry of a local Korean church), but I was also given the chance to pray for someone. I left with a good impression, I've never been to a church where they actually make a specific time to pray on a Sunday (every last Sunday of the month). Yes, there are Wednesday night prayer meetings, but this prayer time allowed everyone of the English Ministry (EM) to pray as a group. First, Pastor Young had us pray for ourselves, then for the people in the room, later the Japan missions and lastly, he instructed us to physically get up and pray for people in the room. Since it was my first time there, I sort of looked around with uncertainty. I glanced at Julie and the girl next to me (I can't remember her name). I questioned them, "Do we just get up and start praying for someone?" Nobody was really moving, but she said "Yes." Okay, I thought, so I slowly stood up, as they did, and walked towards the back of the room. I saw 2 young ladies with white shirts on, I locked eyes with one of the girls and walked over to her. She introduced herself as "Sarah" and also the other girl in white, her sister.
"Sarah" and I spoke for a few minutes, getting to know each other, and asking one another about our prayer requests. We both primarily wanted to have a prayer to prepare us for school and the other up-coming activities. I began, and she ended. Both of us satisfied and thankful with the prayers that we "exchanged" with each other. Actually, I was really amazed and so grateful when she was praying for me, only 2 years younger than I, but her prayer felt like it was from someone the same age as me, or even older.
I honestly can't remember the last time I actually sat down with someone and just prayed for them one-on-one. I love prayer, it's one of my spiritual gifts and God always answers. Even though this opportunity was made, I believe that it was also a blessing for the 2 of us. Prayer can be short and simple, or a long dialog with God. And people of all ages can participate.

2:365 Days of Love - H2O, Keep Hydrated

Day 2: Saturday 07/24. Today (well I'm posting Sunday but I haven't gone to bed yet...) my younger cousins came over to mow the lawn at my stepdad's house. My mom dropped them off and immediately they went to work. I asked my mom "why did you bring them over now? it's way to hot." In fact the temperature today was at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit. She asked me "Well what time will they do it, it's already 7pm..." Wow, she did have a point. Not long after our short conversation, I decided I would give them each a glass of water to stay hydrated as they mowed, weed-wacked and edged the lawn. Normally, I would wait until they come inside and ask for water, but not today. They even finished earlier than they usually do; normally it takes them awhile to finish the task, but despite the heat, they finished very quickly. During hot summer days it's important that we stay hydrated. Often when I'm driving, I ask myself, how can that construction worker stand this heat? Just the other day our local Christian station challenged listeners to bring popsicles or water to such people... maybe I will do the same at a future date. H2O = Simple compound,Necessity to life

1:365 Days of Love-- Helping a Granny

You never know where God will put you, and what acts great or small he can use you. I'm starting this blog today as a challenge, inspiration (by Jaeson Ma) and eye-opener to myself. I'm challenging myself because I know God uses me, I've seen him do it, especially this past year at my school. And I want to expand doing his services everywhere I go. I'm inspired by Jaeson Ma, a pastor who's based in L.A. but travels all over the world (with a focus on Asia) whose New Year's Resolution was to do a good deed every day. And finally, the act of love each day will be an eye-opener to me, to find out how many ways God can use an ordinary young woman like me.

Day 1: Friday 07/23, I was meeting my friends to give them a beach umbrella to use at Hilton Head this weekend. Of course, surprise surprise, they were on Filipino Time/Non-American Time. Well, really, I had nothing to do so I told my younger cousin (who accompanied me) that we would walk around the plaza of one of my favorite grocery stores (haha yes I like grocery shopping) -- H Mart. She and I were reaching the "shoreline" of the parking lot, perhaps 20 feet from the store, when this granny perhaps a 할머니 (halmeoni pronounced hal-mu-knee = Grandma in Korean). She asked very kindly in that grandma sort of way, "Excuse me," and she pointed to the last item in her cart, a 20lb bag of rice. She said, "It's really heavy, can you please help me?" "Of course," I replied and as my cousin held the cart I lifted the bag out and into her car. "Thank you, thank you" the woman said happily. She closed the door to the trunk and I took her cart to the front and returned it for her.

That was the end of our short encounter with that lady, honestly I left somewhat surprised, but not phased either. I was surprised because no one has asked me to help them load anything into their car. And I was not really phased by my actions because, I love helping people. Today, I realized that hey, helping her get that bag of rice in her car put a smile on my face :)