Just recently went to Manado Indonesia for a friend’s wedding.

Marlin, my colleague from grad school lab back in the days, was super kind and sweet to invite us to
join her on her big day.

Because of that, I had an amazing (though extremely short and intense schedule wise lol) time on this
beautiful island for the first time.

And of course, enjoy some local McCafe 😉

I think I can totally write a separate article on the anecdotes about my trip,
so here I will focus on her wedding and the topic of her wedding–True love waits.

Marlin, who has always been like the little sister figure in our lab back in the school days,
is probably one of the lab members that we’d least expect to get married early.
Why? Well first of all like I said, why would you expect a little sister to get married before all of her
big brothers and sisters? 🙂
But I think to me personally, it was more because I have simply never heard her mentioning any guys
or showing any interest in guys back then.

So how did everything happen? Although I couldn’t understand their love story shared on their
wedding because everything was in Indonesian…I was smart enough to ask Marlin about their story
a few months back…

Marlin and her now husband Yuansun, knew each other since childhood as they went to the same
church, but of course, nothing special or romantic taking place back then. It was only until after
Marlin moved back to Indonesia that the magic started happening 🙂
While I won’t be covering the details here, I think anyone should be able to imagine how”magical”
it is to end up being with someone that you pretty much knew for your whole life but never thought
of the possibility.
And for Marlin and Yuansun, not only that they were able to find each other after years of losing
contacts, they were also able to overcome all the challenges before they reached the stage of
marriage–long distance, uncertainty…and many more that I wouldn’t have a clue.

I wish I could share their love story more in details as I am sure it’s been mentioned during their
3 hour long ceremony and 4 hour long party (ok forgive me as I might be exaggerating a bit…
I just remember I left at 2pm and pretty much returned to the hotel at 11pm lol), but since everything
was in Indonesian I have to say I was pretty lost throughout the day.

But, the only sentence that the beautiful bride said to her husband in English was powerful enough to
make me burst in tears immediately when the words came out in her soft voice.

“You are the answer to everything I prayed for.”

Just very recently, the person whom I have been kinda liking told me that I shouldn’t believe in my feelings
because feelings are not fact. Love, as he claimed, is just a result of pleasantness in emotions.
It was, to be honest, quite hard for me to take–that I have liked someone who doesn’t believe in true love.

Love, is not just a temporary affectionate feeling, but much more.

C.S. Lewis once said,
Love is not affectionate feeling,
but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.

The well known scripture from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 also talks about love more than just feelings:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

Love, is such a powerful thing that enables you to make the strongest commitment to
put your loved ones before yourself.

When I heard the words by Marlin, I knew she has found her true love.
I couldn’t be any happier for the newly wedded couple as I was (once again) blown away
by the amazing meaning behind a blessed marriage with God in the center.

Despite I was indeed a bit overwhelmed by the size of their wedding
(apparently it was about 1,500 people and was considered common in Indonesia),

I believe this young couple’s wedding has really encouraged me and once again envisioned me with excitement
about encountering the true love of my life as well as entering a godly marriage.

There is never too early or too late in God’s timing.
True love waits.

My biggest congrats to Marlin and Yuansun 🙂

感情這門功課中 最常出現的難題

你要選擇
和喜歡的人告白 被拒絕 然後放棄

還是

接受喜歡你的人的告白 然後放棄 你所喜歡的人

(´・ω・｀)？

還是

相信選擇③

期待那位你喜歡 也喜歡你的王子出現？

(*-ω-)人(-ω-*)

貓貓告訴我們 先睡ㄧ覺再說 (´-ω-｀)

Guess working with 5 screens for 9 hours a day 5 days a week kinda stops me from writing for the past couple months.

But it’s good to be back and start writing again 🙂

I just recently took a week off flying back to Cali to attend my cousin Oli’s beautiful wedding. It’s always nice to go home around this season
(though summer time would be even nicer XD).

It’s definitely amazing and unbelievable to see how we went from
 and 
to
!!!

In addition to the wedding, I pretty much spent my week like a tourist more than ever.

Touring around in San Francisco, eating the most California rolls ever, seeing friends…

For the first time in a few months, I could actually sleep until 11am!

And of course, I tried really hard to get as much as sun as possible during my stay…

I know, there are more things I should share so you know what an awesome place California is.
But since I am so ready to go to bed now I am just going to play lazy and say,

It’s good to be home.

SO, I am 29!!!

About two weeks ago when I “suddenly” realized that I am about to enter the last year of my twenties,
I’ve been since then thinking about writing a post to reflect on my 20s.

And I know I just have to do it now instead of when I turn 30.
Why? Well, you know to write an article covering one decade of your life…It does need STRONG motivation at the RIGHT timing 😉

Anyway, so here comes the flashbacks of my crazy (well not really) 20s…

● At 19 I was a nerdy nerdy college student thinking about graduating in two years with double majors

I remember the days when I only got three hours of sleep a day…Later on in my life I’ve got a lot of people asking me why do I sleep so much. I guess now I am just trying to restore the sleep that I missed 10 years ago lol
But if you asked me why I chose my two majors (Mass Communications and Japanese)…well the truth is, at the time I just didn’t want to walk other people’s path 😛

If I were asked to describe my first two years at college, I’d say they were pretty much filled with books, classes, papers, MSN and homeless/crazy people.

And then you know, college life can’t be complete without a love story (if one-sided counts too :P)…

● When I was 21, just right before I was about to complete all my required units to graduate, I realized that I didn’t really have much memories about my college years so far except the nights in the library, staying up until 5am trying to finish my papers and a crush that never worked out (Yeah I know, it’s kinda pathetic). So I decided that ①I am going to be more active–so I joined the school badminton club, which I think was def one of the best crews I met during my school years 🙂

And ②, I decided to go study abroad in Japan for a year.
And within that year, I think I’ve gained more friends than ever in the 22 years of my life lol
I became friends with other UC exchange students

And then more friends by playing badminton 🙂


I honestly think friendship is what strengthen your communication skills…
Especially when you skipped Japanese classes to go to badminton practices or hangouts lol

● And then I graduated when I was 22 🙂

Unsure about what’s next, I moved back home and started my first job two months later.

But just a few months into my job, I decided to go back to school in Japan.
Why? Message me and I’ll share with you in private 😉 It was another crazy crazy story by its own.

I can’t be thankful enough to have such an amazing family that just keep supporting me unconditionally throughout the way even when they had no idea what I am doing or thinking (which I didn’t either…). But I know for sure that without their support I would definitely not be sitting in my cozy little studio in Tokyo right now and sharing this with you.

During my two years of graduate school, I again met a lot of great friends, got to go to Europe for the first time, panicked for the first time in Thailand because none of my languages work there…and most importantly, I started a great church life 🙂

And I got a job offer three months before I graduated. Three years later I graduated from the company and just recently joined what I personally think the best financial information company 🙂

The funny thing is, when I said I did not want to walk other people’s path back in college…I meant 1. IT and 2. finance. After avoiding studying anything related to these two fields and even running away from Silicon Valley…I got my first job in Japan working as an tech-focused VC associate for almost three years, and I am now working as a financial analyst. So I guess never say never–you might have the passion for something that you think you hate just like me 😛 And to be honest, I still can’t really see how I ended up at where I am now but all I can say is I AM LOVING IT!!!

The past 10 years have truly been an adventure for me, what I shared here cannot do its justice.
There were definitely a lot of ups and downs, happy moments and sad moments. But I would say that it’s one amazing decade and I am glad how unpredictable everything was and how everything turned out.

Starting a new life in a new country was never easy. I miss my family and friends and the California chillness every once in a while. It broke my heart when my baby dog left me to Heaven two years after I moved to Japan. But it is one incredible journey that I think when I become an obaachan 50 years later I will be so proud to share with my grandkids 🙂

從19歲的小書呆到29歲的金融分析師 我真的不知道我這十年的路是怎麼走的◟( ˘•ω•˘ )◞
但謝謝ㄧ路支持陪伴我的 家人朋友 還有我的神
沒有你們 我想我應該走到ㄧ半就摔死了 也有可能 走到ㄧ半就坐下來原定不動了(๑･㉨･๑)
雖然真的沒有辦法想像自己進入了三十代前的最後ㄧ站
但真的很期待新的ㄧ年出現的新祝福及挑戰 ╭( ･ㅂ･)و

我是幸福的姚喵喵 (✿´ ꒳ ` )♡

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Here is my 0:00 1/1/2014 moment just to share with whoever is reading my blog now 🙂

I know, should’ve posted this 20 something days ago.

But as much as I wish I could, life of 2014 has been VERY occupied since the beginning.

Especially with a 6-10 schedule (waking up at 6am and going to bed at 10pm), I am still trying to adjust myself with my daily schedule so I can start writing about my bubbles again 🙂

So while I can’t really write a blog post at this moment, I do just want to drop a happy new year message before the first month of the year ends…WHAT JANUARY IS COMING TO AN END ALREADY?!

Oh well, at least I still made it for Chinese New Year 😉

It’s probably the poorest–monetarily speaking– yet the most blessed and satisfying Christmas season for me.

Getting ready to move on to my new career, having the opportunities to catch up with many old and new friends, celebrating Jesus’s birthday at church with Christmas productions and Christmas Carols two weekends straight…and many other awesome things.

But on top of everything else, being able to spend the Christmas season at home after 4 years is just something I can’t be thankful enough 🙂

Enjoying Mom’s handmade breakfast every morning

Watching movies (or Food Network) on TV then napping with Mom in the afternoon

Decorating my first Christmas tree in 5 years

Delicious Christmas Eve dinner at home

It is this kind of simple happiness that makes you the happiest person on earth.

Perhaps even more than Thanksgiving, my Christmas is filled with thankfulness. I just can’t stop wowing thinking about all the amazing things that happened in my life this year.

2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

For everyone who is reading this, I wish you too enjoy your holiday season with your kind of simple happiness 🙂