october happy things

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It’s been awhile since a Happy Things post… so here’s the October edition! :)

1. My Birthday. I LOVE when my birthday rolls around. I use it to justify pretty much everything. LOL. Too bad I hit the big 33 this year. Waaaahhhhh.

2. New iPad! My birthday present from Rob. LOVEIT.

3. Last minute trip to Las Vegas. Yup, it’s the third time I’ve been this year. Pretty unheard of for me but with work so crazy lately, it’s nice to have someplace close and familiar to get away.



Hello again!



Amongst some great meals (Raku in particular), I convinced Rob to have afternoon tea at the Mandarin Oriental. I used the “it’s my birthday” plea. :)



We also finally visited the Fremont Street Experience located downtown. It was cool to see the lights but I’m not sure there’s a need to go back. Except maybe to try the zipline!



The view from our room at Vdara. Until next time!

4. Upcoming trip to Japan. I’ve alluded to it a few times but we’re about a week and a half away from our vacation. !!! We’re going to have about 2 weeks there and will split our time between Kyoto, Tokyo and of course, the Tokyo Disneyland Resort. ICANNOTWAIT.

5. Holiday cards. Ordering them signals my favorite time of year!

How is your October going? :)

last stop: vancouver

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Rob & I are heading to Japan in about 3 weeks (OMGSOEXCITED) so I have to finish blogging about our Pacific Northwest trip! Our last stop was Vancouver, which is one of my absolute favorite cities to visit. I adore it.

From Victoria, we took a seaplane over to Vancouver.



It was AWESOME. Seriously one of the BEST experiences of our trip.



Only 12 passengers fit inside and it was a tight squeeze in there. This picture is as far as I could take it. LOL.



This was my view as we were about to take off…



And my GORGEOUS view looking towards the US during the half hour flight. SO AMAZING!



We quickly approached Vancouver…



And before we knew it, we were at the Harbour getting ready to land.



We made it!

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fall tv 12

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I’ve been a little out of the TV loop lately. I haven’t even finished reading through my Entertainment Weekly Fall TV Preview issue…

But oh well, here we go with my TV schedule (and some brief comments)!

SUNDAYS:
Once Upon a Time @ 8pm (ABC) – I can’t help but love this take on beloved fairy tale characters.
The Good Wife @ 9pm (CBS) – My absolute favorite show on the air right now. I just wish they would give Cary a storyline. He deserves better. While I’m at it, Kalinda too. Her husband suuuuucks.
Revenge @ 9pm (ABC) – Soap-y goodness.

Rob marathon-ed all of The Walking Dead over the summer so I’ll probably also get sucked into that show…

MONDAYS:
Gossip Girl @ 9pm (CW) – Last season! *sniff* The show has seriously gone off the rails the last few seasons (and they tangled Dan/Blair in front of me and took them away) but I love it. I will miss Blair and her headbands.
Revolution @ 10pm (NBC) – I DON’T KNOW. The premise of this show has potential. But I CANNOT stand Charlie. One of the leads. This does not bode well. This one probably won’t make it past the most recent episode…
Hawaii 5-0 @ 10pm (CBS)

I stopped watching Bones and don’t miss it in the least. It was getting a little tired.

TUESDAYS:
Hart of Dixie @ 8pm (CW) – LOVE
Go On @ 9pm (NBC) – I don’t really find this sitcom that funny but Matthew Perry is the BEST. I want him to do well.
New Girl @ 9pm (FOX) – I HEART SCHMIDT SO HARD.
Emily Owens, MD @ 9pm (CW) – Watching for Justin Hartley.
The Mindy Project @ 9:30pm (FOX) – My favorite new show of the season.

WEDNESDAYS:
Arrow @ 8pm (CW) – Intrigued.
Modern Family @ 9pm (ABC)
Nashville @ 10pm (ABC) – I’m at least going to check out the pilot. For Mrs. Coach (Connie Britton).

THURSDAYS:
Big Bang Theory @ 8pm (CBS)
The Vampire Diaries @ 8pm (CW)
Last Resort @ 8pm (ABC) – Enjoying this show so far. I’m hoping they start revealing more about the conspiracy — I hate when shows keep audiences in the dark too long (FlashForward and The Event come to mind). Also, how does Jessy Schram keep getting cast in shows? Is that mean of me?
Glee @ 9pm (FOX) – Still just watching solely for the musical performances. If I think about continuity or characterization or storyline at all, my head hurts from the whiplash.
Scandal @ 10pm (ABC)

FRIDAYS:
Nikita @ 9pm (CW)

I also plan to watch Dexter when we can get our hands on the latest episodes. Heh.

Also, Rob and I started watching season 1 of Homeland and it is SO GOOD. We’ll have to hurry up and finish so we can get caught up.

So what are all of you planning to watch? :)

one day in victoria

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TEEVEE has started. YES. Too bad I still need to finish watching a few of my CW shows from last season (Hart of Dixie, One Tree Hill, etc). I haven’t been motivated to do a TV post in a loooong time but I’ll probably write up some thoughts in a few weeks after I’ve checked out all the new shows that intrigue me.

I’m looking forward to this week since I only have four days of work before a four day weekend. WOOT. Thank you, Christopher Columbus. With the long weekend, Rob and I decided to go on a very last minute trip to Las Vegas (yes, again). I really really want to do some shopping (need some wardrobe essentials for next month’s trip to Japan) and I figure I can justify my purchases considering it’s my birthday in a few weeks. :D

Anyway, here’s the next part of our Pacific Northwest trip…

From Seattle, we took the Clipper up to Victoria. So easy! My only complaint is that it left so early — 7:30am. Waaahhhh. I’m SO not an early bird.

We only had one full day in Victoria so as soon as we arrived, we set out to make the most of it!

We started by checking out the Totem Poles at Thunderbird Park…



…then headed off to the Parliament Building.



LOVELY!



We’re always trying to get pictures of the two of us together when we travel and they rarely turn out well. This one isn’t half bad. LOL.



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revisiting seattle

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Right after Labor Day Rob & I headed up to the Pacific Northwest on our (now) annual anniversary vacation. Our first stop was Seattle!

When we first started dating (13 years ago now – gawd, so old), our first vacation together was a few days in Seattle during Spring Break. I have really fond memories of the city from that visit and I was looking forward to seeing it all over again.

While I will always have a soft spot for Seattle, I have to admit that I wasn’t as enamored this time around. It pains me to say that. I can’t really pinpoint any one thing but I suspect we suffered a bit from “been there done that” syndrome since we hit all the major attractions in our first visit — Space Needle, Museum of Flight, Seattle Aquarium, Pacific Science Center, etc.

We still managed to make the most of our day (and a half), though!



We started with coffee and sugary treats from Top Pot Doughnuts. A Seattle institution. So good.



Like good tourists we headed down towards the water…



To Pike Place Market. Of course, I also snuck in a visit to the very first Starbucks so I could add a new mug (or two) to my collection. :)



We’ve visited the Market before but it definitely deserves another visit!



After a nommy lunch at Pike Place Chowder, we took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island. I mostly wanted to enjoy the fabulous view of downtown Seattle…

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in celebration

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Just got back from a week long trip to the Pacific Northwest with stops in Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver (my fave). I haven’t downloaded our pics yet so for now, here’s a post I meant to publish before we left but got caught up in a flurry of packing…

August is an eventful month in our household. First Rob & I celebrated our fourth (!!!) anniversary back on August 9th. And a few days later on the 13th Rob turned 34. So of course we took this opportunity to splurge on ourselves. :)

On the night of our anniversary, we had dinner at Napa Rose in Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel.



It was our second time dining at Napa Rose and it was a fantastic experience. We sat at the chef’s counter in full view of the kitchen…



It was so cool to see the workings of the kitchen and all the interaction between the chefs.



Love all the little Disney touches!

Then that weekend we took a very last minute trip to Las Vegas. This time we stayed at the Cosmopolitan at the City Center…



And had a fabulous view of the Strip!



I really liked staying in the City Center area – it was central to so much shopping (pretty much the primary reason I love Las Vegas) and dining (the secondary reason).



I have a tendency to take Las Vegas for granted. I’m trying to be better at soaking in the atmosphere and appreciating the city’s energy.

For Rob’s birthday, we had the tasting menu at Scarpetta. WOW. Definitely one of our top 5 meals EVER. In life. Amazing.



We capped off the weekend with brunch at Bouchon (as per usual). Rob’s expression says it all. As the saying goes, work hard play hard. :)

first half 2012 photo dump

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I’ve been meaning to do a photo dump for MONTHS. I feel like time has been flying by on fast forward (let’s not even think about the 17 days I was pretty much glued to the TV watching the Olympics – at least I met my Olympics boyfriend Nathan Adrian, hehe). So I thought I’d take a look back at the year so far by sharing some random iphone pics. A combined “happy things” and “slice of life” post…



Earlier this year we spent a morning on Balboa Island. We shared a yummy Balboa bar (vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate and rolled with the topping of your choice – we selected almonds), strolled along the water and took the ferry back and forth from the island to the peninsula. We’re really lucky to live so close to such beautiful places to visit. We really need to do more exploring in Orange County.



We brought the absolute BEST strawberry croissants from Japanese bakery Cream Pan to dinner at a friend’s new house. I LOVE THESE SO MUCH. I want one right now.

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comic-con 2012: days 2-4

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Here’s the wrap-up to Comic-Con 2012!

Friday, July 13

We decided to stay away from Ballroom 20 (the venue for the Firefly 10th Anniversary panel – people were camping out all night!) and see some of the less popular panels.



We ended up at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Rob. Pretty cool to see actors like Sean Astin and Jason Biggs so excited about their voice work on this upcoming animated show.



And I chose the Cult panel. Pretty much only for Matt Davis. Heh. Oh, and Alona Tal. Love those two actors. We got to see the pilot, which was… underwhelming. It’s centered around a TV show about a cult that is inspiring real life disappearances. Yeeeaaahhh. I don’t see myself obsessing about this show next season.

After these two panels, we finally hit the convention floor!

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comic-con 2012: days 0 & 1

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Before I get into my Comic-Con recap, I want to extend my thoughts and prayers to the people of Aurora, CO. It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around the senseless shooting that occurred there last week. It’s been on my mind all week long.

On a lighter note, it’s been over a week now since Rob & I got back from our 4th trip to Comic-Con. We had a blast as per usual. :) Thought I’d share some highlights!

Wednesday, July 11



Well, hello there San Diego! I’m back again!

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NY/DC Trip Report: FOOD!

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Final post on our trip to NY/DC! If you don’t like pictures of food, I suggest skipping this entry. Or if pictures of food make you hungry, maybe come back later. :) Here’s a random pic of us at Times Square while you decide…



You still here? OK!

So in planning, there were specific food experiences we wanted to have. Like a classic NY bagel. A NY pizza. Street meat. One great table service dinner. And so on.

We had a couple of misses — for us anyway — Norma’s and Burger Joint (both at our hotel Le Parker Meridien). But for the most part everything we tried was memorable if not AMAZING. Interestingly enough, our best meals in DC happened to be quintessential NY. I guess we’ll have to go back to DC to get a taste for their local cuisine someday. :)

Beware lots of food pics…

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