Monday, December 22, 2008 Week in review
Man, what a week it's been since I last blogged---there was the sad but really great trip to L.A. where we saw all the family and attended my gung gung's funeral...and then coming back to Seattle to experience the most amount of snow I've ever seen in Seattle since moving here in 1999.
The trip to L.A. was really great despite the unfortunate circumstances that took us there. Not only did we get to see Betina and Justin (we stayed with them) and catch up a bit, but I got to hang out with all the cousins on my mom's side of the family for the first time ever. Yup, you heard that correctly -- because of how far we are located from each other (2 of them live in Hong Kong...), we've never physically been in the same room together. There was always at least one missing...but this time we were together. And it was so fun hanging out, eating good food, finally learning how to play mah-jong (Matt wants to get this trend started in Seattle amongst our friends). Here are a few highlight photos:
3 generations: my mom, grandmother and me
All my cousins together with my grandmother
Learning to play mah-jong. That's a cheat sheet of Chinese numbers for Matt--ha!
We then got back to Seattle Tuesday night and were shocked by how cold it had gotten while we were away. We had heard reports of a bit of snow over the weekend and saw some remnants of it. The next day, there were warnings of a "major snow storm" and many of my coworkers didn't come into work...I took a risk anyway since I had missed 2 days and needed to go in anyway to download some software onto my laptop. Turned out that everyone stayed home for nothing -- the sky was snow-free and roads were clear all day......til 9pm that night. Then it started snowing and snowing and snowing. Since Wednesday night at 9pm, I think it's constantly snowed with the exception of Friday. Within Seattle city limits, we've had 1-2 feet of snow (or more) fall and STICK, which never happens. Here are some photos from the last few days:
Enjoying all the snow
The fountain at Cal Anderson Park
On Friday, 2 buses collided at the intersection of Thomas and Melrose in Capitol Hill, crashing into the guardrail and hanging over I-5. Photo courtesy of sea turtle
Seattle on Sunday morning after the 2nd snowfall
My poor herb garden by Sunday evening
Matt shoveling the driveway Sunday afternoon. Sadly, it kept snowing so much that by that evening, it looked like nothing was shoveled at all!
At this point, I'm most worried about flying out of here. Our flight to L.A. is tomorrow morning and then our flight to Hong Kong from L.A. is later that night at midnight....so we've got a good day of delays just in case, but I'm still worried. Over the weekend, many flights were cancelled -- a guy I know from work who was supposed to fly out Saturday got rescheduled to Friday (yes, after Christmas)---and that was after 12 hours in the terminal and 3 cancellations. Another guy I know had his flight cancelled yesterday--only to be told that there was no way the airline could get him home before Christmas...so instead, he bought brand new tickets on another airline for double the price of his original tickets to fly out tomorrow. It sounds like such a mess...and I'm just hoping now that my flight will leave tomorrow and get me to L.A....anytime, just sometime tomorrow.
Thursday, December 11, 2008 It's been a tough week
I got home about an hour ago...yes, nearly at midnight..from work. Last night, I came home around 12:30am from work...been working all week on a VP presentation that's just been sucking so much time...and the presentation is at 9am tomorrow so I have to head back in about 7 hours now. Aside from work, it's been a pretty rough week....
Over the weekend, my gung-gung (maternal grandfather) passed away. He and my po-po (maternal grandmother) lived with us in Kansas for many years during middle school and, of course, I often visited and stayed with him when visiting Hong Kong through the years growing up. He's had cancer for 8 years or so and it probably was only a matter of time...although I guess I wasn't expecting it to be this month necessarily. In fact, Matt and I had planned to hang out in L.A. for one day on our way to Hong Kong this Christmas just to visit him. [sigh] I was fortunately with a good friend (thanks Jessica!) when I found out so I instantly got a loving hug. I'm still a bit in shock that he's gone. My mom sounds like she's holding up really well considering the amount of planning she's had to deal with in the last few days. We're headed to L.A. this weekend for all the funeral activities and....it's going to be tough. I definitely will shed some tears and it'll be hard. He was a quiet, good man who did nothing but love his family and be there where he was needed. I'll miss his smile and the silly Chinese karaoke singing he'd do with po-po. I learned today from my mother that because I'm the oldest grandchild, I'll need to give a speech at the funeral service. [gulp] I hate giving speeches to begin with...much less at an event where I know I'll be emotional. I know it's important to do so and I'll be proud to do so, but I'm nervous! Despite my trepidation, I'm very much looking forward to this weekend and re-connecting with all of the family. This will be the first time I'll be in the same room with ALL of the cousins since....well, I can't remember when since we all live so far apart...but we will all be together again and it'll be nice to see everyone. We'll also get the chance to see some old friends since Matt and I will be staying with Justin and Betina.
Sunday, November 30, 2008 Only 2.5 miles left!
I forgot to mention that I woke up early this morning, grabbed my bike and headed to the bottom of Belmont Ave. (where it meets Lakeview Blvd) because the Seattle Marathon (Half and Full) was crossing there...and I wanted to go and cheer on some friends that were running the Half: Marissa, Asayo and Matt H.! For the half marathoners, I stood somewhere between mile marker 11 and 12, right at the top of this long hill (I think their last) and the point in which they can turn and see the city of Seattle again and their ultimate destination, EMP (the finish line). It's a torturous spot because it's one last hill so late in their race, but the sweet smell of the finish line is so close with that beautiful view right around the corner. I was lucky and found Marissa and Matt but sadly never saw Asayo! I'm so bummed since Asayo was just a few minutes behind Marissa...I can't believe I missed her! In any case, congratulations folks! You all did a great job! I'm in such awe because I'm terrible at running and can't fathom the idea of doing a marathon or half-marathon. Here are some pictures I took this morning, and here are a few of Marissa and Matt!
Christmas tree -- lit up!
I went out today to Costco and Home Depot and got a bunch of white lights, then I came home and finally decorated the tree! Pretty simple with just a few ornaments but it's a good start! The only decorative ornament is the one I gave Matt last year to symbolize our first Christmas together...which I hope to continue as a tradition to symbolize each year. Here are some pictures!
Saturday, November 29, 2008 Our first tree
Since we were around for Thanksgiving, I thought it'd be a good opportunity to finally hunker down and get a tree. After a bit of persuading, Matt agreed to getting a tree...and we didn't have to go very far---we just drove 5 minutes to the Dunshee House, picked up a 6' Noble Fir and brought it home! After much fussing around with getting it set up in a tree stand, we finally had it upright!I had some very basic decorations and threw a few lights on...but I'm not a fan of the multi-colored lights...so I'll spend tomorrow shopping around for some good tree decorations and go with a classic all-over white light. Otherwise, we're pretty happy with the tree---our first! I'll post more photos once I get it finally decorated.
By Thursday, my food poisoning symptoms were lightening up--I still felt pretty weak but I took a good shower, snagged a lunch nap, donned on some nice clothes and makeup (somehow dressing up always makes me feel better) and got the spirit to help Matt complete making our first ever home-made Thanksgiving dinner together in time for Jigna and Matt to arrive and enjoy it with us. The result was something we were proud of! We had taken out our fine china, set out the nice candlesticks on the table and laid out one moist turkey in addition to some delicious sides dishes. For Jigna, I experimented and made a Truffled Butternut Squash and Wild Mushroom Risotto---I heard it was good as it was a bit too complex for my stomach at the time. I also made classic mashed potatoes and a Green Beans with Sliced Shallots and Almonds dish. Matt made his favorite Portuguese Stuffing (with spicy chorizo) and totally owned the turkey. On a whim, we got inspired watching some episode of the Regis & Kelley show and ended up brining our turkey overnight with a concoction of apple juice, bourbon, brown sugar, peppercorn and water. We then put a nice rub of salt, pepper, paprika, sage, thyme, onion powder, olive oil...stuck it in the oven for about 3 hours and then we were done! Dinner went well and we were satisfied. Yay Turkey Day!
To add to the day, we all went over to the Shahani's for dessert to congratulate Kabir and Noreen on their engagement---woo hoo!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 Food poisoning sucks.....
Ugh....shortly after lunch yesterday, I started feeling terrible. I ultimately left work a bit early, around 4pm, and ever since have been completely wiped out: food poisoning. I know it with the telltale signs of...well...signs that I'd rather not describe in this blog. I was up all night tossing and turning. Ugh. I really hope this goes away soon....
Meanwhile, I attended quite the monumental concert over the weekend----New Kids on the Block! I'll admit that they were the first concert I ever attended (I think in 7th grade?) and I jumped to buy tickets the minute I knew that they had reunited and were touring. So on Saturday, I along with 3 girlfriends (Suzanne, Amanda, Katie), headed down to the Tacoma Dome to scream our heads off like we were 13-yrs old again and it was a blast. The stadium was filled with a bunch of 30-something year old women...ha! I even wore the concert t-shirt that I bought in 7th grade (and I wasn't the only one wearing an old school t-shirt) Here are some video and pictures I took from the night....
Thursday, November 06, 2008 One of my favorite moments from the Capitol Hill Obama Block Party.......
.....was when I started walking up Broadway to find Ajay in the crowd and Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" started blasting from Neighbours. This got the crowd all riled up and it just put a smile to my face.
I had some very basic decorations and threw a few lights on...but I'm not a fan of the multi-colored lights...so I'll spend tomorrow shopping around for some good tree decorations and go with a classic all-over white light. Otherwise, we're pretty happy with the tree---our first! I'll post more photos once I get it finally decorated.
