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!

more traveling...

since my last post which was more than a year ago... hubby and i have done the drive up the west coast to san francisco, staying at big sur on the way. we've also gone to new zealand, where i checked off some things from my bucket list, such as skydiving and bungee jumping in queenstown and going on a helihike (helicopter and hike) on franz josef glacier...the best 3 days of my life! we saw new zealand by driving the north and south island. we went to the waitomo caves, which were featured on planet earth's caves, and went into 2 caves, one which was the glowworm cave. we got stuck on the road with thousands of sheep crossing. we saw the most beautiful lakes ever, lake tekapo and others, they were turqoise in color and almost looked like glass, something with the sedimentation and glaciers that makes the color. we experienced the maori culture, by seeing where and how they lived which was very interesting. we went luging in a park and got flung back and forth like a rubber band on this ride (have a hilarious video). this was definitely one of our most memorable trips! u got to love them kiwis! Sweet As and No Worries as the locals would say...

we just came back from a 10 day trip to australia, so while it's still fresh in my mind, here is a summary of what we did...

sydney (3 days) - paddington market, oxford street shops, hike from bondi beach to coogee beach (sculpture by the sea), chinatown (had taiwanese dessert), circular quay and the rocks, darling harbor, captain cook harbor cruise, watson's bay, hyde park, opera house, harbor bridge climb (3.5 hours), king's cross and potts point

on to cairns, but our flight was cancelled in sydney due to weather so we actually had to spend another night in sydney and move our reef trip a day

cairns (1 day) - stayed at the shangri-la hotel on the marina, passions of paradise outer reef trip, intro scuba diving - 2 dives at paradise reef and michaelmas cay (the cay was awesome, saw lots of fish, turtles, and a sting ray), ate moreton bay bugs at paw prawns- so deliciouso!!

great ocean road (1 day) - rented a car in melbourne which i drove almost the whole time, it was a huge mission to get to our cottage in the dark, but we finally made it! stayed at the eastern reef cottages, so cute, and wish we had just more than 1 night. in the morning, started driving the great ocean road back, rock formations we saw were the grotto, london bridge, the arch, loch ard gorge, 12 apostles...all amazing! saw tons of koalas residing in trees on the way to the lighthouse, which we never made it to because it had just closed when we got there, but the koalas were worth the drive. went to a wildlife farm, which was totally deserted, but actually turned out to be awesome because we saw a mother koala and baby up close, fed kangaroos, wallabys, emus (snatched the feed right out of my hands), deer, goats...

melbourne (2 days) - driving in the city was scary, driving right next to the monorail and have to stay on the left lane to turn right (keep in mind, i am driving on the left side of the road and the driver's side is on the right), shopping is awesome, eating is awesome, chinatown, botanical gardens, queen victoria market (huge market with food, wine, souvenirs, everything you can imagine) it was here that i bought my didgeradoo (not sure if that's the spelling), southbank area, sunday arts market

some facts i learned...

they don't drink Fosters! they drink VB (victoria bitter), XXXX gold...

going to the whoop whoop means going to the outback lol

the aussies say "no worries" for everything....bye, thankyou, your welcome, see you later...

TONS of asians! even coming from california, it's a culture shock! lol

the weather from cairns to melbourne is so drastic! cairns - hot and humid, melbourne - rainy and cold

our travels so far...

Third post in a row...I'm on a roll!!!  Quick one though.  Hubby and I have gone to san diego, palm springs, san francisco, and yosemite these last few months.  Yosemite is awesome by the way and one of our goals is to train ourselves to hike up half dome...look it up...it is pretty scary!  

Places we still need to go are:  santa barbara, catalina, portland, seattle, vancouver, mammoth, lake tahoe, napa, big sur, coast drive from LA to san fran...i'm pretty sure i have a longer list than this.  We almost planned a trip to alaska, but that will have to wait for now.

Just getting back from Yosemite memorial day weekend, we are taking a break from traveling (we'll see how long that will last), as we have found a hobby.  Yes a hobby finally!!  Hubby and I are taking sailing lessons.  We love it, but we hate it.  Can't really explain it, but we both agreed that it's a really cool hobby and we are enjoying ourselves and at the same time we can't wait until the lessons are over and done with!  It is some hardwork, no you just don't sit there shooting the breeze, basking in the sun, you actually have to sail and do some manual labor...what is that?!?  lol  At least I know the 100 vocabulary words that comes with sailing!

my favorite topic...eating...

It's been almost 10 months since I've moved out here to california.  Hubby and I have found our favorite breakfast joint called Eat at Joe's, it's a family style sitting that looks like a hole in the wall from the outside, but is always packed with lines on the weekends.  We strongly recommend their onion rings, I get them as a side for breakfast every time, it's heaven!!!  And people next to you will literally be jealous watching the plate of heavenly onion rings placed in front of you and them.  Trust me, we've offered them to people and they've actually taken some off our plate AND dipped them in our ketchup so they can try them...it's that good!  Ok enough about onion rings...  We haven't found our local fave sushi joint yet, which is quite disappointing, so the search continues and meanwhile we still go to RA on a regular basis.  We did find a great chinese place called W's china bistro down the street and it is very yummy (their tuna poke and duck is what we get every time we go).

We finally made it to the Stinkin' Rose where all is garlic...enough said!  I had the 40 clove garlic chicken and kept pouring the garlic on my dish if 40 cloves weren't enough.  I tried the garlic ice-cream, couldn't tell whether it was garlic flavored at this point since everything I stuck in my mouth tasted like garlic.  We all had a rough couple of days afterwards....will not elaborate, but all in all it was quite a garlicky experience...yum!

Lastly let me tell you about the mexican food and how addicted I have become to tacos.  It is all things mexican here!  We even had awesome tacos from a man that calls himself the TacoMan, apparently he does weddings, bar mitzvahs, birthday parties, special events, etc.  I would know, I asked for his business card.  He came to Target and stood right outside of the employee entrance with his own grill, cooking away, taco after taco for 300 employees and boy were they good!  There are random taco stands that have tons of people waiting in line when you drive by, it is awesome!  Tacos and beer...perfect combo!

One more thing that trumps the east coast, not that i'm all of a sudden a west coast gal, is the fast food joint In-N-Out.  They have some seriously good burgers and fries and that's all they have on their menu.  This is their menu:  hamburger, cheesburger, double cheeseburger, fries, done!  But for us californians or wanna be californians, there is a hidden secret hush hush menu, that's what I like to call it.  Just order your fries animal style next time and see what you get :)

My first earthquake...yikes!!

Since my last blog, which was months ago, my famous last words were "no earthquakes yet".  I have since experienced my first earthquake a few weeks ago on May 17th...yikes!  I had no idea what was going on until it was over.  I'm sitting on the couch going through my facebook as usual, and the whole apartment building just shook really hard for about 2 seconds.  Penny lets out one bark (she never barks by the way), Pepe flies out of his cage (his cage door was opened) and flies across the room, so that got me all panicked even more.  I run to get Penny who is trying to hide under the couch and opened my door.  I see one guy that ran outside down the hall and some murmurs from another apartment.  So I am wondering what just happened, so I call the hubby who is at work and he immediately asks me if I was okay.  So he did feel it and it was a 4.7 earthquake.  He rushes home and that was that.  About 2-3 days later, another small earthquake (4.1) happened in almost the same spot.  This time it felt like a small tremor.  So there was my experience...