Category Archives: life

things to do

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KATE WINSLET. I’m so happy with her wins(!) at the Golden Globes. I just love her. And with LEO?!? *swoon*



…From the Revolutionary Road premiere a few weeks back.

Seeing them takes me back to my freshman year in college when Titanic took my little world by storm. I watched the movie in the theatres 10+ times. It’s ridiculous how happy they make me. 😀

So Rob and I are down to about 2.5 weeks left here in the Bay Area and I’m making a list of things that I want to do/see/eat before the big move…

1. Spend as much time as possible with friends! 🙁
2. Go ice skating in Union Square.
3. Walk over the Golden Gate Bridge.
4. Have the BEST RAMEN EVER at Santa Ramen.
5. Take the Scharffenberger chocolate factory tour.
6. Have 1 really nice (but not necessarily expensive) dinner in San Francisco.
7. Go to Tahoe (this is a blatant example of something we won’t get the chance to do because we just don’t have enough time).
8. Have ice cream at both Sketch and Ici.
9. Walk around 4th Street in Berkeley.
10. Visit the UC Berkeley campus, look at the view of the Bay from the top of the Campanile, and purchase as much school paraphernalia as possible.
11. Have the most AMAZING chicken and waffles breakfast at 900 Grayson.
I love that most of these have to do with EATING. 😀 I highly doubt I’ll get the chance to cross everything off the list but we’ll see!

happy 2009

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So it’s the last day of my holiday vacation. 🙁 So sad. But before real life begins again, I have to share some vacation highlights!

1. Spending time with friends and family.
Christmas Eve is spent with my family — my cousin and his wife just bought a Wii so they asked us to bring our games so they could try them out. We brought Guitar Hero with us (with our one measly guitar) and my cousin pretty much spent the entire night playing it all by himself. Heh.

Christmas Day is spent with Rob’s family — his parents hosted lunch and there was a constant stream of relatives visiting all day. I was pretty much parked next to the food table. YUM. Rob watched the Lakers crush the Celtics. 😀

Rob and I also hung out with friends — my best friends and I had a yummy dinner and annual gift exchange (where I received the Gossip Girl s1 DVDs and a gorgeous Paris picture book among other FABULOUS presents). And our friends Daniel and Carolyn hosted a potluck where we dined on healthy foods such as fried chicken, spam musubi, and korean bbq and played Rock Band 2 all night. Well, the guys did. I sang “Hungry Like the Wolf” and that was it. I suck at Rock Band.

2. Looking for (and finding!) an apartment.
Rob and I spent all day on the 26th and 27th driving around Orange County visiting various apartment communities. OMG. They were built by the same developer so after seeing 2 places, they all started to look exactly the same. Except for the kitchens. We barely cook at all but for some reason, the look of the kitchens really made a huge difference in how we felt about the apartments. We really liked 2 communities — Option #1 is a new-ish community (6 years) on the border of Tustin and Irvine and very close to a major retail shopping center and lots of “hustle and bustle.” Option #2 is a brand new community a few miles south close to the Irvine Spectrum but in a more quiet, less developed area. After visiting both locations a second time we went with Option #2. The rent was over a $100 less per month and we couldn’t pass up having a brand new apartment with granite kitchen countertops (sooo pretty). We still feel like we’re central to lots of stuff in the OC (South Coast Plaza!) so that’s good. We anticipate moving in sometime the last week of January. CRAZY!

3. Seeing Jorge Garcia (Hurley from Lost!) at South Coast Plaza. Rob spotted him going up an escalator while we were looking around in Crate and Barrel. I didn’t believe it was him at first but it totally was! I wanted to follow him but chickened out. 😛

4. I had Pinkberry!
I snagged a Pinkberry gift card from work (for some reason, a vendor thought it was a good idea to give out gift cards even though there is not a single Pinkberry in the Bay Area) and treated myself to a large. Oink oink. SO GOOD.

5. Going to CA Adventure and Disneyland!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve never been to DCA and it’s been about 5 years since my last trip to DL so I figured it was about time and I begged Rob to go with me. 😀 He agreed to 2 whole days! WOOT.

First day was spent at CA Adventure. A rundown of our day with some pics thrown in for good measure…

CLICK to see larger versions of the pics.

Grizzly River Run. Fun but I got SOAKED. ICK.



The Golden Gate Bridge!



Tower of Terror. OMG. I screamed and held on to Rob’s arm for dear life during the entire ride. Looking back the feeling of weightlessness is actually pretty cool.

Taking a quick shopping break and trying on the bride and groom Mickey ears!



Next up we went to the Animation Academy where we learned how to draw Donald Duck. This was definitely our favorite attraction of the trip! My drawing is on the left. 😀



Walking around the Wharf (does not beat the real thing right here in the Bay Area)…



Soarin’ Over California. A simulator ride that takes advantage of scent in addition to sight and sound.

California Screamin’. Awesome wooden roller coaster. Probably my favorite ride at DCA.

Mulholland Madness. Fun little mini-coaster.

At the Hollywood Pictures Backlot, I found the cutest fountain. So here I am with my Sorceror Mickey ears taking a picture with the Sorceror Mickey fountain! I have no idea why I am smiling like that. Dork.



Monsters Inc. Cute kiddie ride that takes you through the movie.

And to close our day at DCA, we went back to the Animation Academy to draw Jack Skeleton. My drawing is on the right.



Last picture of the day – Mickey, the “C”, and me!



Some random comments:
— Wow, I am SO OLD. We were only at DCA from about 11am to 9pm but my feet were KILLING me. What happened?!?
— I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it but Rob smokes. And I honestly had no idea that there were smoking areas at DCA. So Rob would leave the park every once in awhile to handle his business. Then we happened upon a smoking area in the Condor Flats area across from Soarin’. Isn’t that crazy? The other one is in the Hollywood Pictures area near the Muppet Vision show. (At Disneyland, there’s a smoking area near Big Thunder Ranch and another at Fantasy Gardens, which I dubbed “Smokey Gardens.” :P)

Overall, I enjoyed DCA but I probably wouldn’t spend another whole day at this park alone… I’d definitely have to mix it up with some time at DL. Still tons of fun, though. I’m sure I’ll be back to draw some more characters at Animation Academy and ride Screamin’!

Our second day was spent at Disneyland. YAYAYAYAYAYAY. I seriously love this place. My face lights up and I get so happy here. *giddy* There was an INSANE amount of people at DL and we missed a lot of the “kiddie” rides due to long lines (and the fact that they don’t have Fast Passes) but we trudged through and still had a great time. 😀 Since it was DL day, I forced Rob out of bed at 6am(!) so we could be at the park by the 8am opening. That didn’t happen exactly as planned but we still arrived around 8:30am.

Matterhorn. Always a classic. One of my faves.

Splash Mountain. After agreeing not to ride any water rides (considering how wet we got after GRR the previous day), we still went on SM when we saw that the stand-by line was only 5 minutes. Well, we got UNBELIEVABLY DRENCHED. So soaked that I had to buy a t-shirt and sweatshirt to replace my dripping sweater. I wish I had a picture of us after the ride but I was preoccupied.



Haunted Mansion with the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. Going on this ride totally made me want to see this movie.



After breakfast, we made our way over to DCA to go to the Animation Academy again! This time we drew Winnie the Pooh. My drawing is on the right.



Back at Disneyland sporting our Mickey tees!



Hanging out at the Star Trader store in Tomorrowland. One of my favorite stores because they have Star Wars themed merchandise. Heh.

Rob as Buzz Lightyear.



Me as Goofy.



Rob as Eeyore.



Me with an awesome R2D2 backpack I found. 😀



It may be unbelievably crowded during the holidays but I just LOVE seeing all the decorations. Look how gorgeous Sleeping Beauty’s castle is!



Eating a pineapple dole whip. A MUST HAVE.



Indiana Jones Adventure. Not as crazy and fast as I remember but still a goodie. Thank goodness for Fast Pass — the stand-by line for this ride got up to 2 hours!

Pirates of the Caribbean. A good time to rest our tired feet. Also got to see the holiday decorations in New Orleans Square.



Space Mountain. MY MOST FAVORITE RIDE EVER. The Fast Passes for this ride ran out quickly or I would have tried to get another one so we could ride it a second time. It’s the BEST.



Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. My first time on this ride! Rob’s score: 63,800. My score: 52,200.



The HUGE Disneyland Christmas tree in the middle of Main Street. We passed it because…



… we were on our way to DCA and the Animation Academy for a second time! This time we drew Minnie Mouse. My drawing is on the left.



Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Another oldie but goodie.

The castle all lit up!



And Small World too! I took this picture as we were waiting for the Fireworks Spectacular, which were pretty fantastic. I always love the music and the buildup to the Disney “snow” at the end.



Star Tours. Went on this ride because the line was only 10 minutes. It’s ok. I kinda think the video needs to be updated.

And finally, we end our day with another ride on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Rob’s score: 14,800. My score: 48,500. I WON!!!



And so ends a great day and a fantastic holiday vacation. 😀

Back to real life tomorrow.

holidays

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Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

I’m down in Southern CA and have been keeping very busy… eating, visiting family, eating, apartment hunting, eating, opening Christmas presents, eating… 🙂

I had a very loooong day at Disney’s California Adventure and I have to get some rest for Disneyland tomorrow… but I wanted to say Hi to everyone! I promise a better holiday update after the New Year when I’m back in the Bay.

diesel and santa

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To get ready for the holidays, we took Diesel to the groomer to get bathed, have his hair cut, his nails clipped, his teeth brushed… the works.

I then convinced Rob that Diesel *needed* to get his picture taken with Santa!



He’s normally really excited to meet new people but for some reason, he was totally afraid of Santa! He wanted to jump out of Santa’s lap the entire time but it’s still a cute picture. 😀

Just 2 more days of work for the year!

christmas tree 2008

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I realized I haven’t shared pictures of our Christmas tree! It’s the same as it’s been for years now but I love showing it off anyway…


The tree decorated in all its cream and gold glory. You’ll notice that I added a few small pink and purple glittery round ornaments. I’m branching out into other colors! They’re so cute and sparkly that I couldn’t resist when I saw them at KMart. They do look a little random since it doesn’t quite match the theme of the tree but it gives me an excuse to get some more ornaments during the after Christmas sales. 😀 [Please excuse the terrible off-center picture. We have JUNK all over the place and I tried to avoid capturing the messiness next to the pretty tree.]

My favorite ornament on the tree this year. It’s a yummy looking cupcake!

Fun fun. Oh! I also started receiving holiday cards! Thank you to Marianne, Sarah and Alie. 🙂 Yours are in the mail!

this past week

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Ugh, I have been so lazy lately. (What’s new, right?) And today it’s raining like crazy so I’m doubly lazy. 😀

So… what have I been up to? Let’s do this in list form because it’s easier.

1. Last weekend I saw Bolt. It wasn’t the best animated film I’ve seen but definitely entertaining. Bolt was so cute! I loved his little face when he was begging for food. Awww. Although, is it just me, or does Bolt NOT look like a German Shepherd? Anyway. Rhino was pretty awesome too.

2. Ever since I got my iPhone (squee!), I’ve been a little obsessed with downloading Apps from the iTunes store. Some of my favorites are Yelp, Amazon, Style.com, Lightsaber, RhinoBall, Pop Quiz. 🙂 Anyone have any other recommendations? It’s so hard to wade through all the options on iTunes. Admittedly, I’m cheap so free is best but I’m willing to pay for good apps.

3. Last Sunday, Rob and I went to our friend Shirley’s birthday cooking party. Such an awesome idea! There were about 20 of us (I think) and we were split up into teams working on separate parts of the meal. Rob and I worked on the dessert, which was a tangerine souffle. We were in charge of chopping up the tangerines, making juice out of the oranges, and boiling it all together. The rest of our team was separating the eggs and prepping the baking ramekins. The end result was fantastic (the souffle was so light and fluffy) but honestly, I kinda think it took way too much time and effort. :/ Or it could be the whole laziness thing again. 😛 A couple of pics of us courtesy of the birthday girl!


Rob making juice from the oranges!

Me cutting up the tangerines.

4. As organized as I like to think I was for the wedding, post-wedding wrap-up has been a completely different story. A lot of the “stuff” used at our wedding is still in boxes at my dad’s house (like extra programs, signage, baskets, etc), some duplicate presents we received still haven’t been returned/exchanged, we haven’t finalized the photo selections for our album. And we haven’t started our Thank You cards. EEEEEEKKKKK. Well, I finally designed the cards and had them printed and now Rob and I are starting to write them… WOW. It’s going to take us a little while. :/

5. We went to Home Depot yesterday to get some moving boxes. I know we’re not moving until the end of January but knowing us and the amount of “stuff” we own, we figured we should get a head start. Since it’s raining today, we got started with our books and DVDs. We already have about 6 boxes full and we’re not done packing them yet. !!! What can I say? We love our DVDs. Too bad our apartment looks like a hurricane plowed right through it. There are piles everywhere.

Hmmm. I thought I had more to write about but I guess that’s it. I can’t believe Christmas is next week. Just 7 more days of work. WOOT.

holiday cards

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Wow, December is whizzing right by. It’s already the 5th and I haven’t even posted about holiday cards yet!

So here it is… I’d love to send out holiday cards (international destinations too!) so if you’d like one from me, please leave me a comment and I’ll email you for your addess. 🙂

life changes

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I haven’t mentioned it here because then it would be real. But yesterday I told my boss so it’s as real as it’s going to get…

Rob and I have decided to move back to Southern CA at the beginning of 2009 (we’re aiming for the end of January). It’s something we’ve talked about for years but were never quite ready to make the leap. Now that we’re married and want to put down roots it makes sense to do so closer to our families.

I’m excited for the fresh start but scared at the same time… leaving a place I’ve made my home for the past 10 years. Leaving my friends. Looking for a new job (ugh).

But those of you who know me well can probably guess that the thing I am most freaked out about is DRIVING. Seriously, it’s like my personal kryptonite. And there’s no way around it in Southern CA. I keep telling myself that I need to get over it but I just know it’s going to be easier said than done. What is wrong with me?! Wish me luck. I’m definitely going to need it.

Random. I read about Britney Spears’s concert tour next year and it was the weirdest thing to look for Southern CA tour dates. Anyone interested? 😛 I may have to drag Rob again.

dancefest + yoda

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So yesterday Rob and I finally checked out a performance of the SF Hip Hop Dancefest. I’m a huge dance fan and I’ve wanted to check it out for the past few years but was always lazy (and cheap). We finally went this year and I enjoyed it! There was a good mix of “crews” — from crews that excel in “popping” and isolations to others that merge modern dance with hip hop.

We saw “Program A” and my favorites were:
Soul Sector!!! They were THE BEST. They were clean and synchronized and their choreography was fresh and fun. (For all you America’s Best Dance Crew fans, some of their members performed as Supreme Soul on the MTV show).
Sunset. Little kids (think 6-13)! Dancing! Adorable.

FORMALity. Another junior group (I think — maybe high school/college?). Super energetic and lively crew!

Breaksk8. I didn’t care for them much when they were on ABDC but I really liked them live. They made the roller-dancing look so easy.

After the performance, which was at the Palace of Fine Arts, we walked over to the Presidio to check out the Yoda fountain at the Letterman Digital Arts Center, which (I think) houses LucasArts, ILM, and Lucasfilm. Luckily, I found a map online so we (ok, ROB) were able to find Yoda pretty quickly. Check us out!



Behind the fountain is a lobby which had a large replica of Darth Vader. SO AWESOME. The building was closed, though, so we could only peer into the windows. We must have looked like big dorks. 😀

There was also a Starbucks on the campus which had this cool Yoda drawing on their chalkboard:



When we got home, we settled in to watch 24: Redemption. For the most part, I enjoyed the season 7 prequel/movie. But maybe that was because I was so starved for new 24?! I don’t really know. Regardless I thought it set up season 7 nicely and smoothly introduced the new players to the 24-verse.

2 Quick non-spoilery thoughts:
— Carly Pope (Sam) bugged BIG TIME. GUH. I can tell I’m going to be screaming at her through the TV. I hope she is evil so I can justify my HATE.
— Actually, I didn’t care for any of the new characters (President Taylor, Hodges, Sam, General Juma — the only “newbie” I like so far is Roger cause I think he is cute, heh :P). Instead, I’m looking forward to seeing my favorite 24 faces — Chloe, Bill, etc.

Anyway, JACK IS BACK! OH YES. 😀

Random — I’m not a HUGE fan of Beyonce but I love that Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) song. It’s so damn catchy.

digital perm

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Rob bought me an iphone! WOOT. I am so spoiled.

So over the weekend I got a digital perm. !!! It’s not a crazy, super curly perm… instead the curls are more wavy and loose and start towards the bottom of my hair. (A more technical description is here if you’re interested).

Before, if I wanted curly hair, I had to wake up an hour early in the morning to fully dry and curl my hair. It was such a pain. And then my wedding coordinator told me about the digital perm a few months ago. She had hers done at a salon in LA and it turned out beautifully. I’ve wanted to try it since I saw how great her hair looks but I was totally scared. I’ve never had any professional treatments done to my hair — no perms, straightening, coloring, etc. And I also didn’t know anyone in the Bay Area who’s had a digital perm so I had no clue which salons even offered it and that I could trust with my hair. I figured I would wait until I was in LA for Christmas and have it done there. THEN I saw my friend Shirley a few weeks back — she normally has straight hair — and her hair was wavy and GORGEOUS. Squeeeeeee. She filled me in on the details of her salon, I checked the reviews on Yelp, and I made an appointment.

The whole experience was great. Before Joe did anything, we discussed everything — how I cared for my hair, how I styled it day to day, what I wanted from the perm, etc. Then he got started — after trimming my hair a bit, he applied the solution, set my hair in rollers, hooked up the rollers to the ion emitting machine, applied more solution, rinsed and conditioned, then finally dried and styled my hair. Whew. All in all, it took about 3 hours. And I totally LOVE IT. It’s even more low maintenance than my normal straight hair. I just wash it, blow dry the roots for a few minutes, apply some curl enhancing cream and either “scrunch” the curls for a wavy look or twist them around my fingers for more defined curls. Easy peasy.

Some pics of my new hair!



From the back. This is how my hair looks right after styling it in the morning.



Fron the front. After a looooong day at work. The curls aren’t as defined but there’s still a nice wave to it. And BONUS: Diesel says Hello!

I’m definitely going to grow out my hair so the curls will eventually fall below my shoulders. YAY.