Basket!

I was inspired to find new ways to keep fit. The jogging and muscle toning/stretching exercises were getting old and as a result, the daily push-ups and crunches had given way to half hearted leg lifts while we watched Warehouse 13 on Panda's MacBook.

In comes Basket, our new friend, freshly purchased from Sports Authority. I had an sudden motivation to shoot hoops cos I figured that it would help tone up the arms and solidify those bye-bye fats. Plus, I could do it while Panda is at work vs. playing tennis at night when it's freezing.

Coincidentally, Panda's boss brought him to watch the NBA games last night. He bought two Golden Gate Warriors jackets in support of the home team. I know nuts about NBA but still it's cool to join in the fun!

Snip snip and away!

Some couples bond over food; some bond over shared interests. Us? We bond over haircut experience.

Panda wanted to cut his hair again. This time, he wanted to shave his head. I was horrified cos I thought his head would be cold. Or worse, round.

We spent 30 mins in the bathroom discussing which blade to use on which part of his hair. It wasn't as easy as it looked. We had to use #7 on top, #5 behind, #6 in the middle and #4 at the side, with some snipping around the ears with scissors. Our joint efforts yield some results. And fortunately, the many hours of gyming at lunch did him good. He looked rather fresh after his new hair cut.

After completing his hairdo, I got inspired to cut my hair too. Panda didn't have the courage to cut my hair, so I made do with shorter bangs.

How do we look?

新年快乐！

So I was wrong about not having pineapple tarts this Chinese New Year. Jo and Victor joined the Singaporeans United team at FC by landing here last week and lo and behold, they brought us pineapple tarts!! Yay!!

After much deliberation and loads of support from Panda, I got up my courage to invite them over for reunion dinner. I am extremely scared of cooking for other people because I am not that confident of my culinary skills yet - cooking for self and family seems safer cos they can always cook instant noodles if your food sucks. Haha. Turns out, the evening was really fun, no one died of food poisoning, and we were able to clear most of the dishes (hooray!) My motto now is: when you have guests, stick to the simple dishes and don't try to be ambitious!!

Our 初一 is pretty simple, with me sleeping past noon again and a hungry Panda pulling me out of bed to make breakfast. We had already 拜年 with our families in Hong Kong and Singapore the night before. Mom had brought over our red packets in advance during her visit, so the first thing we did at the breakfast table was to distribute them. I also had a red packet from Panda (hooray x3!) so am going to use that to shop for wardrobe essentials soon!

Chinese New Year used to be my least favorite festival cos I dislike all the dong-dong-dong-chang songs and red lanterns and all. Now that I am away from home, hearing all the cheesy CNY songs at the nearby Asian supermarket actually makes me smile. Talk about seeing/hearing things from a different perspective, man. Hahaha.

Black pepper prawns, scallops, lettuce, chicken, roast potatoes

Our first home cooked dinner guests

Wine makes us (actually me) happy!

My Ang Pao from Panda. Yay! :D

A dash of CNY at home

Laziness strikes!

Oops. I know I should be writing all about the fun we had while dad and mom were here. The ski trip at Lake Tahoe, winery visits at Napa Valley, day trip to Monterey... But laziness got the better of me and I just let time zoom by like that!

Guess I felt so pampered with home cooked food and all the fun times and shopping that my sit-back-and-relax mode just kicked in and I literally shut down. Haha.

After Dad and Mom went back (sad!) we got busy with the start of the Stanford course where readings and homework have to be done. And of course, Warehouse 13 got us totally glued to the laptop - it has got to be one of the best sci-fi TV series around. Right now, that's all we do. We watch all the episodes from dinner time till bedtime.

So here's an update on our life here. Chinese New Year is coming next week but we are gonna have a quiet one for once. No pineapple tarts or bah kwa!



Coldness redefined



To the snow-packed slopes and beyond!



Mom learning how to make a 'pizza'



Up the slope we go



Clearing snow and ice from the windscreen



Lake Tahoe took our breathe away



Snowy cliffs are equally pretty!



Waiting for home cooked food



At Katy's Place, Carmel-by-the-Sea



Feel the sun, feel the wind, feel the ocean at 17-miles, Monterey!



Mom the squirrel befriender



Dad doing his dance



Beautiful skies at 17 miles



Wine Way Inn, Calistoga, Napa



Inside the cosy B&B



Wine tasting at Sterling Vineyard



A fantastic seafood lunch at Crab House, Fisherman's Wharf on the last day



Finally saying bye bye to Dad and Mom :(

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!