Preparing for first ski trip

Dad and Mom arrived late last evening (yay!). We are heading up to Lake Tahoe early tomorrow for an epic ski trip!!! Think snow, cold wind, cosy fireplace and so on!

Check out the Timberland shoes we bought today. Mom has a similar pair. Next to learning how to attach snow chains to my tires, the most important thing is not to slip on wet, icy ground. That's where the sturdy waterproof ankle boots come in handy.

And they only cost US$40. Timberland! :)

Small budget. Simple joys.

Life can be simple and fun at the same time!

Today we celebrated our 3rd year anniversary - US time zone.

A small breakfast, a yummy dinner at Izakaya Mai, a post-dinner supermarket amazing race (to get 'kicks' to accumulate points), mini Sprinkles cup cakes. That pretty much summarises the small joys in our life.

DIY hair salon

Because having a haircut here is very expensive, Panda decided that he should throw me the challenge of becoming a hairdresser. I don't know who is braver, me cutting his hair, or he letting me cut his hair.

After much deliberation, we bought a DIY shaving kit (Wahl Color Pro Hair Clipper Kit) at Target for US$24. Panda decided that if anything goes wrong, the worst we could do is to shave his head and he can wear a beanie for the next two months.

Thank God that the kit we picked came with precise instructions on how to do a simple cut. In the end, we came up with a reasonably decent look i.e. no need to hide his head under a beanie.

As for me, I bought this 3-barrel wave runner from Bed Head just for fun. It creates tight little curls with just a few application.

So there we have it, our own hair salon!

First road trip... into the woods!

We accomplished something great on New Year's Day in USA. We survived our first road trip! It's an amazing accomplishment according to our standards because we are simply the laziest bums and it's hard getting our butts out of bed at 7am and then driving more than 4 hours drive up north.

Was Humboldt Redwoods State Park worth the effort? We were debating about it on the way to and back. It was US-101 all the way (and we got to cross the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time!) but thereafter it was mostly your normal freeway scenery. We passed by cute little towns like Willits where we stopped for gas and toilet breaks, and it was only when we got nearer to the Humboldt county that we started to spot the tall sequioa trees along the road.

It was rather quiet when we arrived as it was New Year's Day, but thank God the Visitors' Centre was open. We snuck in for warmth, and were given directions to the fallen Dyerville Giant (1,600 years-old!) by friendly grandmas and grandpas manning the place.

It wasn't hard finding the Founder's Grove where, if we follow the trail, would lead us to the fallen giant. But the close-to-zero temperature was proving too much for us tropical creatures, who were ill-dressed for winter. After trying our best to take as much photos as we can, we jumped right back into the car without seeing the giant, munched on our nutella bread, and drank hot honey to calm our freezing souls before heading home.

So... that's about it. We drove 4 hours to not see something for an hour and then headed home. So typical of us! Hahaha...

Well it's still something considering that we've never driven so far before. At least now we know we can last at least 4 hours... and oh yes, we discovered what the 'cruise' function on our car is for. Very useful if the driver needs to rest his/her leg on a long, long stretch of road!