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!

New Year's Eve dinner at downtown San Mateo

Was feeling a little under the weather today despite having a good night's sleep. Actually, make that very under the weather because of the onslaught of once-a-month cramps. Why oh why do women have to endure that.

Halfway through working on next week's itinerary (and holding a heat pad to the stomach for dear life), Panda called from the office and asked if I have bathed.

"Huh? Yes, I have." I had to bring our smelly trash to the rubbish bins downstairs and I figured that I better not let our neighbours see me in this sad and dirty state.

"I've booked a table for us at the Italian restaurant at 6pm. Can you get ready in time?"

It was close to 5pm and I had a split second to decide if I should stay at home, crouch over in bed and rot through the last day of 2012, or brave the pain and go ahead with dinner.

Needless to say, dinner plan won because it's been a while since we've gone to a nice restaurant with good ambience!

Here are the photos of our dinner at Osteria Coppa in downtown San Mateo. The service is excellent and I didn't regret coming out of my hole to enjoy the festive atmosphere. We say thanks to a wonderful 2012, and cheers to an amazing, soon-to-come 2013!

Taking on Five Guys

Panda is obviously in a state of mental and physical struggle. He has just received the shock of his life when his burger arrived.

See, we are still trying to adjust to the serving portions in US. He is promoting Five Guys burgers in the video but the 'bigness' of the burger completely caught him by surprise.

Check out the pained expression as his takes his first bite.

Hahahaha...

To the mall we go again...

We confess. We have been shopping way too much for our own good ever since we set foot on this country. I have lost track of the number of times we've hit the Premium outlets in Gilroy and Livermore... adding Napa Valley as the latest on the list.

I have to say though that Great Mall is the fairest of them all. Other than the fact that it's nearest to our home, the mall is fully indoors compared to the rest which consists of rows and blocks of boutiques in open air. Which, of course, makes it the perfect place to go in this cold rainy December weather.

Today, our loot was a pair of Oakley radar shades (for me) and more Bath & Body Works stuff. Small victories, compared to what we would have bought a month ago.

When we first arrived in US, we were shocked at how cheap the prices of popular US brands are compared to back home. At the outlets, there are always additional discounts on top of the already marked down prices. Coach, Kate Spade, A&F, Aeropostale, Nine West, Gap, Timberland... Safe to say that we would never buy them anywhere outside US again!

However, we have also quickly learnt to pace ourselves and not be lured by the big discount signs outside the shops. Every week the brands promise bigger discounts or more attractive package deals; we realised after a while that these endless chase of 'value-for-money' products does little but burn a bigger and bigger hole in our pockets.

Our current strategy is to focus on the thing we need, be each other's shopping critic (e.g. you really don't need that... nah that doesn't look nice anyway...), and get out of the mall as fast as our little legs can carry us once we've got what we wanted. Don't look left, don't look right. Just link our arms and head for the car and go, go, go!



Success: Made my intended Oakley purchase without buying anything extra.



Failed: We didn't need B&BW stuff... but we got some cos they were going as low as US$3!



This is certainly not part of our shopping list! :D

***

On a separate note, sharing photos of our simple, yummy lunch at Liang's Kitchen at Milpitas and our coffee break at Peet's at Burlingame:

Taiwanese cafe recommended by Panda's colleague.



Demonstrating the art of tea pouring.



Hakka 板条 and traditional 卤肉饭



盐酥鸡



Peet's Coffee: Some folks claim that this is the place where real coffee is sold (jab at Starbucks)!



Verdict: It's cheaper than Starbucks but I still prefer the latter.



Check out the cool silver fire hydrants at Burlingame.

It's been a while... since we landed!

So... I have been tasked by Kungfu Panda to start a new blog about our life in US. It's been more than a month since we first arrived in US. We have settled in rather smoothly and quickly, thanks to kind friends who provided advice on everything we need to know and took us on many orientation trips (read: shopping and eating). We also managed to get the car and house settled within our first week.

Wouldn't have done all that without the grace of God, who by the way, sent us the biggest, fattest rainbow we have ever seen on our first day. Definitely a morale booster.

Well in this first post I thought it's apt to share what our house looks like. Even though it's supposed to be a short work stint, we thought it's still good to create a decent, cosy living environment. So here goes:



My workstation, the open kitchen!



The perpetually messy dining table.



My mini DIY bookshelve and dressing table.



The living room + IKEA sofa bed for guests.



The only bedroom in the house
(Bonus: a walk-in wardrobe on the unseen left)

When we showed Mom the house via FaceTime the other day, she said it looked strangely similarly to our house back home. I think we subconsciously miss our little French seaside cafe (with fake fireplace and white bricks and poster bed!) This is really... home away from home.