Jan
2nd

Warning: long entry and I refuse to use the “Continue Reading” feature.

I know I said that I couldn’t wait to get home but I wish I was still in Cali; it was so hectic at times but fun. When we crossed the Canadian border, it started snowing like mad and I was so depressed because my feet got all wet in the snow carrying my 50lbs suitcase and 20lbs carry-on (I stuffed all my jeans in it) into the house. Hopefully we get to go again sometime this spring or summer!!

• The weather in L.A. was pretty good but it rained on Christmas day when we went to Disneyland! It poured when we got there but that’s about it; the rest of the day was dry… but kinda miserable because my socks were wet and Disneyland was sold out of socks (and umbrellas). Nevertheless it was worth it and our plastic sheets kept us dry… this is when you totally have to sacrifice fashion.

  

• I almost lost my camera at Disneyland!!!! It flew out of my pocket on Splash Mountain but luckily when I went back, they found it in the car and just took it to lost and found. Then I almost left my bag on the Indiana Jones ride with all our passports in it… we could’ve been stuck in Cali if L didn’t get it for me. Oh noez!
• L and I tricked Boyfriend to go on a ride at Universal Studios… and he never goes on rides!
• Finally ate at Tony Romas (we always wanted to try it but always put it off). It was alright, nothing great.
• The 8 hour drive from Cabazon to Sacramento wasn’t bad at all with red bulls, coffee and random Q&A with the boyfriend (he drove the entire way but I just stayed up with him). I found out his favorite flower is the sunflower… like WTH, how boring is that?! I’m sorry Boyfriend, but your girlfriend is a designer so you gotta come up with something more unique than that.
• NEVER leave your GPS at home. We had to follow these people when driving through San Jose and San Francisco because we forgot to bring it and didn’t know where we were going… ALL DAY.
• There’s were 40+ people staying in the house we stayed in Sacramento so the first night we all slept in the living room and I dreamt of this huge cargo ship with it’s horn blasting every couple seconds and I was so annoyed that I was about to bitchslap something in my dream. I woke up and it turned out to be someone snoring hella loud!! I seriously couldn’t stop laughing about it in the morning but that night, I barely got any sleep. Luckily the rest of the nights, I scored my own bed.
• Watching a Vietnamese wedding is a unique experience… now I gotta watch a Chinese wedding because I haven’t been to one since I was 6 and I don’t remember anything.

  

• Never drink an entire bottle of Grey Goose on vacation or else the next day would be a total waste since you’ll be stuck hung-over in bed all day.
• Being hung-over and squished in the back of a tiny Honda Civic with 4 people is the worse feeling in the world… especially when you’re in Sacramento and everything is so far apart.
• …there are a lot of ants in Cali.
• I ate more fast food in the 10 days we were there than I usually do in an entire year. It’s a grossly satisfying feeling.
• CARNE ASADA FRIES AND IN N OUT BURGERS ARE THE SHIT!! I tried both for the first time and YUM. What are Carne Asada fries my fellow non-Californians? They are fries layered with meat, cheese, guacamole, sour cream and hot sauce = FKING HEAVEN!!
• I actually finished the two books I brought on the trip so I went out to buy Eragon and Eldest. IT’S SO GOOD. Damn, now I gotta wait for book three to come out in paper back.
• I started saying “hella” too in the past year and I realized that I picked it up when we went to Cali last year. It’s so true how they say you start picking up the “Cali accent” after being here for a long time.
• Americans don’t say eh … they say huh. “You want some carne asada fries huh?” That’s a little weird for me, I think I’ll stick with the Canadian way.
• Somebody asked us if we celebrate the same New Year. Now THAT was hilarious!
• When the clock hit 12, we were still on the I5 going home but we got to see 4 different sets of fireworks from the freeway (don’t ask why we were flying back on that day… it’s a long story). The last 10 days in Cali was totally worth the countdown to 2009 in the car so I’d do it again anytime!

I am in love with Cali but I seriously need to get over my non-existent level of patience before ever considering moving down there. Before, I never wanted to move to L.A. because I thought it was always hot/warm there and I wouldn’t be able to wear my winter stuff but it’s actually kind of chilly especially at night. Also, the houses in Sacramento are so big, new, cheap and some are in cute little communities surrounding a man-made lake. I wouldn’t mind living there either.

Reasons why I shouldn’t move to Cali:

• I absolutely cannot stand the traffic. We got stuck on the freeway for three hours before we were smart enough to find an alternate route with our GPS because we thought it would end soon… but it was STILL crawling along when we were driving back to L.A. four hours later. It’s sad because nothing happened — no accidents or anything… there were just too many damn cars!! Our highways in Canada have like 2-3 lanes and we NEVER get traffic like that. LOL. That was 3 hours of wasted shopping time by the way. The second time we went to Cabazon to shop, we went on like 6 different freeways via GPS to escape the traffic but the detour only added 10 minutes to our total trip time so it was all good.
• Sacramento is plagued with four-way stops. I got soooo annoyed driving through all of them and we were on a big street too. That so doesn’t make sense!! Like P said, “no cop, no stop.”
• Everything is soo far away from each other —well in the Sacramento area at least.

SHOPPING. I actually didn’t buy much because I spent most of my cash on jeans. I was pretty depressed though when I found out I forgot to buy the Kassandra Varnish Fumes Blue (the purple version of the pair with the green R’s) because we went to there twice and I thought I bought it the first time but I didn’t! I was mainly looking for TRs but I didn’t find many styles that I actually liked so I only bought a pair of skinnies to go along with my boots. I don’t feel guilty about this splurge at all because I haven’t bought any new pairs of jeans since August… now all I gotta do is order more crystals so I can start customizing them. I also bought a Bare Escentuals starter kit in Medium; I love my Lumiere mineral foundation but I lost my last jar and my Clinique foundation is too light for my skin tone so I decided to hop on the bandwagon to see what this huge fuss was all about. I also stocked up on UDPP, bought a new Dior pressed powder and puppy pee pads for Mochi like I always do every time we go to the states. Other purchases included a lot of tops, leggings, accessories from Bebe, F21 and Wet Seal (we didn’t have time to go into many stores since we were stuck in traffic every time we tried to go shopping and line ups were insanely long), random make up from Sephora, books, Aldo flats and black Jessica Simpson pumps from Nordstrom… and a LOT of food and Starbucks.

My favorite were L‘s HELLO KITTY RAIN BOOTS because they’re freaking adorable! I’m SO jealous and would’ve totally purchased a pair if I was still in school or taking public transit to work but since I drive and park underground, I’m rarely outside so I would have no reason to wear them. Hey at least I saved myself $80.

Oh, how can I forget the fashion faux-pas that I purposely committed?! I WORE JEANS TO THE WEDDING! Well not to the formal Vietnamese ceremony but only to the reception. T wore her new Rocks so I was like WTF, no fair I want to wear mine too, so I pulled off the tags, threw them on last minute and tucked them into my boots; I didn’t really feel guilty because it was the reception and everyone was going to be drunk anyway. I bought a dress that I didn’t even wear because I never found shoes for them and I realized how short and slutty it was. If it was a friend’s wedding, I’d totally wear it (just because we all swing that way) but not to one where Boyfriend’s parents are present. I still wore all black to the morning ceremony… but I didn’t care because I just wanted my red hair to stand out. But anyway, not to say I’m proud of my fashion faux-pas but honestly I wouldn’t care what anyone wears to my reception as long as it’s not WHITE, too bummed out and as long as they don’t upstage me (or go home biatch).

Boyfriend and I were like the rebels because I wore jeans and he refused to wear a suit jacket and even left his tie in the car for the reception.

P.S. Thanks ladies for the lovely Christmas cards.

Quote of the trip:
“What the hell is beer pong? Do you hit the ball with a beer bottle or something?”
- by the same drunk dude who thought “ixi” was a word in a game of Scrabble last year.

Ending this entry with a Mochi pic of the day… because I missed her terribly.

Also sorry for not responding to Christmas/New Years text messages while I was away… I was too cheap to text you guys back but MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I had good intentions.

Dec
16th

On Friday night, Boyfriend, N, D and I went to the new Chop Restaurant in Richmond at the Sandman Hotel for their dry run before their grand opening which means a complimentary meal for us… how can we say no to that? The restaurant which was divided into a lounge and dining area, which was huge, beautiful and intimate although the waiters were standing around talking to each other when we first walked in which kind of annoyed me. I guess that’s why they totally needed that dry run… most of them seemed like total… no0bz (although, very friendly noobs I must say).

We had our menu selections chosen for us; entrĂ©es included a porterhouse steak, rosemary lemon chicken, prime ribs and halibut (in order of what I thought was best to worst). The porterhouse steak was SO GOOD (as Giada would say) and lucky D chose it but it better be good because it was one of the most expensive things on the menu. I never usually order chicken at a restaurant because it’s almost always dry but the chicken Boyfriend had tonight was one of the best I’ve had (and I’m hard to impress when it comes to chicken breast!). The prime rib was meh… good but nothing too interesting. The halibut was good but they overcooked it. The best? The mash potatoes— I’m a mash potato freak! Yum. We had dinner with a bottle of Merlot and a couple of cocktails.

I wish they made us fill a survey at the end to let them know how ANNOYINGLY GOOD the service was. Our server had an intimidating blond trainer following him to make sure he goes through EVERY single procedure and we all felt so bad for the guy! If I were him, I don’t know, I think I might wet my pants with her following me around like that. He was so nice and soft-spoken but SO nervous— his hands were shaking so much when he poured us wine! I ordered a bellini and N asked for a Ceasar right after and when he left, she said, “omigod what if he gives me a ceasar salad instead?!” If that were to happen, we would’ve just shut our mouths and give it to Boyfriend to eat since we wouldn’t want our server to get in trouble. Fortunately, we got the right drinks. I’m sure he would’ve done a lot better if there wasn’t so much pressure and if he wasn’t forced to be annoying (like another server told me, “if I was a customer there, I’d probably kill the server!”). My only wish was that we got some bitchy waitress so we could complain but our guy was too nice. But I think I’m complaining a little too much for a complimentary dinner!

Our grand total came up to around $50 (just for alcohol) with a $20 tip. The night almost ended when I accidently ate a spoonful of horseradish and almost fell on the floor dying but I would definitely come back again.

I also want to congratulate Chop for joining the other winners of Vancouver’s Worst-Steakhouse-Restaurant-Website Award: Gothams and Keg (are they trying to imitate meat with those colors?!). Stonegrill doesn’t even deserve the award because their website is practically non-existant. You would think for these prominent restaurants in Vancouver, they could afford better websites.

Dec
12th

It’s almost the end of the year and the start of a new one. Here are some lessons I learned in 2008:

• Lock up all the vanilla flavored granola bars in my desk. They always mysteriously disappear and the culprit always leaves me the blueberries and strawberries which I don’t like very much. (Note-to-self: next time don’t buy in bulk!)
• Buy tire insurance if you’re an idiot like me (especially if it’s cheap). When I got a set of new tires earlier this year, the guy asked me if I wanted insurance just in case something happens (eg. hit the curb and it rips); it was only like $10 more since Boyfriend knew him but I said “no, who the hell hits the curb?!!!” A couple weeks later when it started snowing and the roads were icy, I didn’t slow down enough on a right turn (since I was coming from the highway), skidded and smashed a tire on the curb— not only did I ruin the tire, I hit so hard I damaged a couple more parts inside my car and it cost $3gs to fix.
• When the toilet seat cover is closed, head to another stall or you might find a nice little surprise.
• Always get Christmas cards printed ONE MONTH before Christmas— meaning have them arrive at your door one month ahead if you’re printing from an online printer.
• ALWAYS carry hand sanitizer. I opened a door at the mall the other day and got some gooey booger like stuff all over my hands.
• Always carry a nail clipper/ file and bandaids. Especially if you have weakass nails from going to the nail salon too much. And also invest in a bottle of OPI Nail Envy.
• Don’t overcook seafood when attempting to make Korean Seafood Pancakes; I did this last night and totally failed but at least it was my first time. It didn’t taste too bad though even though I was setting myself for disappointment when my lovely Korean friend informed me that you can’t really get it to be that restaurant-like crispyness unless you use a lot of oil (which I didn’t want to do) and have a better grill.
• Never take on the task of taking care of 5 or more kids at once with less than 2 adults.
• Don’t let your dog fall asleep beside your head. Especially when you hay fever or sinus problems.
• No matter how many times you read over your blog entry before publishing, you will always find spelling/grammar mistakes in it when you look back at them a year later.

Random Mochi picture:

When we first brought her home in April.

Dec
10th

This is somewhat related to my previous entry, Recipe for Successful Personal Blogging. Here are more of my biggest peeves related to blogs (design/function-wise):

• “Continue reading” or “read more” links are annoying! I only use it from time to time, for example if an entry contains a lot of images but it annoys the hell out of me when blogs use this link for all their entries. I know it’s a matter of personal preference but I like having all content laid out in front of me so I can just scroll rather than click (I’m lazy). Screw the excerpt… give me the whole thing! If you run a popular blog and loading time is an issue for you since you don’t want new visitors to wait, then that’s understandable… *whiny voice* but I still find it extremely annoying and I find that I don’t visit blogs with that horrible link unless it’s super-omfg-awesomeness like Smashing Magazine.
• Blogs with only one entry on the index page. Same comment as above: give it all to me at once! This works for information blogs but definitely not for personal blogs because their latest entry maybe zZzzz; I’d leave right away without checking out the archives if quality entries do exist. Shame.
• Clutter is overwhelming and intimidating. When I visit blogs with 2-3 sidebars filled with content, links, advertisements and everything you can imagine, I tend to get overwhelmed and end up leaving because I don’t have time to dig through that mess! Note, the culprits are usually design/tech/business/etc. blogs. The key is to use keywords, list main/popular categories, the top blogs in your blogroll and then put everything else on a separate page. I know you want the visitor to see all you have to offer [and all the ads you want them to click] but don’t scare them away by showing them too much! Tease them and they’ll come crawling back for more. That sounded dirty, didn’t it? But whatever, when Big Bird says it’s true, then it’s true.
• Tiny fonts and tight line-spacing… WTF are you thinking?! I know I said this a billion times but this is one of my biggest peeves; you need to make your writing legible for your visitors! If I go blind reading your blog, I might just sue you… but then I don’t think I’d be there in the first place. The culprits are usually blogs who still think it’s 2003. Remember that trend when all personal blogs was doing that 8pt Arial + tight line-spacing thing (this is where I look away and hang my head in shame).
• Billions of pictures? Please use thumbnails! Or resize them. Or organize them in a way so they don’t turn the face of your scrollbar into a microscopic grain of sand. Or reduce the number of entries that appear at once. Or this is a case when you should use the annoying “continue reading” link.

I can list a billion more but I’m going to “tease” you guys so you come crawling back for more next time. Kidding. I use to be guilty of some of these but I’m still learning.

What do you guys like in the design of a blog and what annoys you?

Dec
7th

• Boyfriend doesn’t always let me sleep in. He makes me wake up sooo early (at 11am!!) when I want to sleep until 3… but then what is a hungry man suppose to do. I guess it’s not his fault I make him go for late lunches all the time.
• I’m lazy, but I’m especially lazy on Sundays…
• …and Sundays are one of the days I always force myself to go work out when I’d rather be stuffing myself with mac and cheese and Korean seafood pancakes.
• I always feel so bloated because we always go out for a huge and filling dinner on Saturdays nights; this time it was all-you-can-eat hot pot with lots of sliced fish, mussels and oysters… mmm.
• Ferrero Rochers are on sale which doesn’t help the diet at all (and that mango/peach smoothie I made for myself).

  

• Worse of all, you know you have to go back to work the next day and there is no good breakfast special I look forward to on Mondays… breakfast quesadillas? How uninteresting. I want my breakfast wrap!!

Random pictures of the day:

“Nooo this is how a cowboy looks like!!” … featuring their HSM hat.

Speaking of Highschool Musical, we took the kids to see HSM on Ice last weekend and I seriously got so bored I had to whip my iPod (and I felt bad afterwards). I wish I was young again so those things could actually keep me entertained. I guess it didn’t help much that we missed the first half hour of it due to that horrible accident on the highway that morning. When we were driving out to Maple Ridge at around 10am to pick up the kids, the traffic was crawling through slowly and when we were going back at around 3, there was still traffic. It makes me sooo angry when idiots drive on the HOV lane when they’re not suppose to; that’s karma for them which they totally deserve but not the other vehicles involved and everyone else who gets stuck in traffic. It also doesn’t make sense why HOV lanes aren’t opened up to everybody when it’s not rush hour because it’s obvious they don’t help much when it’s not.