our new/old puppy wednsdae...

just starting to write in my blog again since i just noticed that i had skipped an entire year of 2011 without writing one thing here :( AND i skipped one huge important family member, our little wednesdae! i had dedicated one whole blog in 2008 on miss penny aka penelope when we got her, that i feel the need to dedicate one blog on wednsdae. we got her as a companion for penny and she slowly but surely grew on us. she is exactly the opposite of penny. wednsdae is this lovable little bear that can lick your face, neck, toes, belly all day if she can and her licks are loud and lovable. she was very crazy and full of energy when she was a puppy, now she's a little less crazy, but still very fun and energized. she is the sweetest thing you'll ever meet :) This is a picture of my sis and wednsdae as a puppy, and wednsdae at the halloween dog parade as spunky brewster! better pictures on my facebook.

seattle, vancouver, whistler...

danny and i went to seattle and vancouver in the fall of 2011, one of the trips we have been wanting to take for a long time since we are so close now. we spent about 10 days in seattle, vancouver, and whistler. we did all the touristy stuff in seattle...pike place (most perfect flowers i have ever seen for $5 to $10, everyone had a bunch in their hands), sculpture garden, space needle, EMP (danny loved the music part of this museum), coffee houses, gas works park (unique with awesome views of the water, city, space needle), stanley park, aquarium, took a ferry to bainbridge island where we got lost walking miles and miles in my boots, but ended up doing a relaxing wine tasting, etc... but what i do want to focus on is the food!!! the BEST sushi in the world is at Shiro's, and very good sake too. the salmon is like butter, melts in your mouth! we had great french food at this cute little place right by pike place, and great ice-cream at Molly Moon's near pike place (yummy honey lavender and earl grey ice-cream!)

we then took a scenic train ride into vancouver, rented a car and drove to whistler. whoever said that the sea to sky highway is one of the most scenic drives in the world has not been on the road to hana in maui! nevertheless is was a fun way to explore, we stopped at some hiking trails along the way. whistler is what you would expect, a cute ski resort town, except we were there during the fall, which was still very nice. we didn't get to ride the gondola to the top because it was very cloudy that day. our lodge was super cute though and right by the ski lifts! we definitely have to come back when there is lots of snow, they say the ski trails are amazing there!

we drove back to vancouver, back to an area called yaletown, where we stayed at this ultra hip and swanky hotel call the Opus (too hip for us), the lounge turned into a south beach club at night! we had the most delicious indian fusion food at a place called Vij's, it was so hard to get into, we had to go at 10:30 at night when they were dying down. earlier that night we also had amazing sushi, but Shiro's in seattle tops it....we had 2 dinners in one night because it was our last night and we had to try both :) touristy stuff we did was capilano suspension bridge, went to a market where they sold lots of junk, and went to granville island (have to stress that they have the most mouth-watering delicious pink grapefruit gelato!!!). the not so touristy thing we did was we took a ferry to north vancouver (also where the suspension bridge was) and hiked the GROUSE mountain....holy hell did we not know what we were getting into with our jeans and backpacks! but we did it and people were congratulating us at the top, it's hike is straight up on these unusually large steps! thanks goodness we took the tram down and bought t-shirts that said I survived the Grouse Grind! it did feel like a great accomplishment, it's a must do again! it was a wonderful trip and we will definitely be going over and over again for the SUSHI! lol

china...

before australia, i failed to mention that we went to park city, ut with ann, quinn, ivana, and mate to go snowboarding....it was amazing and beautiful! my friends are so much fun!

since hubby and i's big trip to australia, ann and i decided to take the top of the list places to see before you die (or have babies) trip to CHINA june 2011! it was amazing and shocking all at the same time! we arrived in shanghai, it was rainy the entire time (monsoon season). shanghai was a good place to start, very modern, lot of skyscrapers. this was where we found out that we could not get on facebook, twitter, or youtube unless you have a private VPN address...what - no facebook for 2 weeks...yikes! we went to the Bund (like a boardwalk) and had drinks at M on the Bund, a swanky south beach style hotel overlooking great views!

we also went to Beijing, where we went to tianamen square, the forbidden city, a temple, and hiked the great wall (AWESOME!). we shopped at the pearl market (lots and lots of haggling involved). we also saw some interesting foods at a market where foreigners were eating scorpion, worms, cicadas, snakes, etc... bleh! we ate some good duck at this famous place, where they carve the duck right in front of you.

in Xi'an is where we saw the teracotta warriors...literally like millions of them in 3 different buildings. the carvings were exquisite! i wouldn't say too much with the city itself, where men try to persuade us to jump in back of their scooter to go ride with them...hell no! somewhere in one of our cities, we had what it seemed to be a 10 course dumpling meal...it was so much food and we were sketchy about some of the meat that was served to us, but with some beer, it was great!

now our favorite place was yangshuo, about an hour from guillen, we stayed at the mountain retreat. people were nicer here than in the cities. we had a cute place with our own balcony overlooking the river, when we woke up and saw such an amazing view with tons of rafts floating down, we not only had to try it once, but we did it twice! we did lots of shopping in town, had great vegetarian food, saw the light show that was put on by the creators of the beijing olympics (very moving), and i went rock climbing while ann took pictures from the rice paddies below. it was such an amazing place and probably one of my most favorite places. we even saw 2 weddings taking place. the retreat served the most amazing food and it was cheap! the vegetarian springs rolls we had almost everyday, they had fresh juices, banana pancakes, so good! we tried heading into some of the caves, but was not all that impressed...the caves in new zealand was by far the best in the world! we hiked up some steps to the half moon rock and took some great photos. we were sad to leave...

but on to hong kong, where everyone spoke english and time to go bar hopping, check facebook, and shop, shop, shop!

people are generally a bit rude, they yell, spit, a lot of babies wear these butless pants, no diapers...you figure it out. definitely a bit of a culture shock, but an awesome once-in-a-lifetime trip that i hope to go back one day with danny!