Wednesday, July 16, 2008

One Republic & Planting

The husband and I as well as ECA & his gf went to the One Republic concert at the OC Fairgrounds over the weekend. It's been awhile since we have been to a concert so it was nice to go again.


Here's the gigantic sausage dog that the husband was enjoying. It just screams calorie-overload to me!
The first band to play called themselves Carolina Liar. I've never heard of them until now. The husband thought that perhaps the singer was coming down with a cold or getting over a cold because he sounded hoarse = terrible.

The next band to sing was Phantom Planet. For those who don't know who they are, remember that TV show, The OC? Remember the theme song, "California, California, da-da-da-da-da...," well Phantom Planet wrote and sang that song.

Then it was One Republic, a local band I might add! Two of the five guys are from OC and another two are from LA!

Stop and Stare (this is the best I can do so don't complain).

Unfortunately, I did not get to take any pictures of them when they sang "Apologize," as my camera ran out of battery. Boo! :( After the concert, the four of us attempted to walk around the fair but it was getting late and the fair was close to closing. The good news was that we were able to pick up funnel cake! Yum! Yum!

I finally got a chance to pot my succulents this weekend. I've had these babies for several months but I've been so lazy. Aren't they cute?

Insomnia & Random Thinking

Crap! I have insomnia tonight! It's a little over 3 a.m. and I am awake. Boo!

Random thinking
Well, at least I've gone to the gym twice this week. I've been in hibernation for three weeks from gym practice and I have not been training for the half marathon. Oh boy, I am in trouble! Hopefully I can bounce back.

Economy sucks! I've been trying to avoid listening to the news (yet I am sitting here right now typing and watching CNN - go figures) because it's just bad news. Everything sounds depressing. The latest news - FDIC seized IndyMac over the weekend because the company is in big financial trouble due to the subprime meltdown. So sad. Reminds me of when Bear Stearns was about to go belly up and JP Morgan Chase had to step in (at the request of the government) to bail them out...eh..buy Bear Stearns. That was only a few months ago. Bear Stearns began business in the 1920's and was (see how I have to use the word "was" instead of "is") one of the largest investment company around until the subprime meltdown. Yikes - I hope they don't use the word that starts with the letter "D" and rhymes with recession.

It seems like a lot of the "old" companies are in trouble. Ford, General Motors, etc. Is this where the saying, "In with the new and out with the old," applies? I feel old now.

I am hungry but it's too late or too early (however you want to see it) to eat.

On a brighter note - I am going to attempt to carpool with the husband starting next week. He is supposed to drop me off in the morning and my co-worker will take me home in the evening. Yahoo! I don't have to drive! But it's more than just that - I don't really work THAT far but one less vehicle on the road equals less pollution.

I am not an enviromentalist. I cannot change other people's perspectives but I can try to change some of my habits to help the environment. And in the process of changing my own habits, if I inspire others to change as well, the world will be a better place. It starts with one person. Too bad not everyone thinks like me. Then again, at times, I am a person full of contradictions. Blah. BUT I try really hard not to be a hypocrite.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Book Review

My friend gave me two books for my birthday and I finished them!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Set in 19th century China, this book starts with a young girl named Lily from a less fortunate family and Snow Flower, from a wealthy family. Both girls are born on the same day and year and became laotong, bound together for life. Both girls' feet were binded (a custom that was practiced in China on young girls - if you ask me is similar to mutilation) at a young age. When they turned seventeen, they were married off in arrange marriages. This is where it is interesting in that Lily was married into a wealthy family and Snow Flower married into a low-status family. There's more but you'll just have to read the book if you are interested.

My personal review - the book was o.k. It was entertaining to read the book and gain a better understanding of the old days but I am glad I did not live in that 19th century China mentality where women were basically treated like they did not matter and were only put on Earth to give birth to sons. Bunch of crap. There's a saying in the book where it is basically saying that a girl should listen to her family when she is young, once she is married, she needs to listen to her husband and when her husband passes on, she needs to listen to her son. What the hell?? What a stifling atmosphere.
Peony in Love by Lisa See
Set in 17th century China, this book is about a girl named Peony, who feel in love with a boy she met on an evening at her home. She was supposed to be married when she turned seventeen but five days before her arranged marriage, she died because she was a lovesick maiden and did not want to be in the arranged marriage. The irony of it all is the person she was supposed to be arranged to was the boy she feel in love with but when she realized that, it was too late. She dies and becomes a ghost. Now you will just have to read the book if you are interested.

My personal opinion - I did not enjoy this book as much and actually scanned through some of the readings. The ghost part was not as appealing and it is a good 75% of the book. The thing I did find interesting is some of the cultural practices and rituals when a person is alive as well as when a person dies. This book reminded me a bit of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I enjoyed The Lovely Bones much more.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Vancouver

Being that we were in Seattle, we decided to stop in Vancouver. Believe it or not, we were able to tour most of Vancouver within a day's time. Well, the day started with us finding out that we had to pay $ 70 for 2.5 days at our hotel!! That really hurt! Note to self - the next time we travel, figure out if a car is really necessary. The whole reason why I rented the car in the first place was so that we can drive to Vancouver. Well, we didn't need the car for the entire trip! I should have just rented for the day! So we wasted parking fee as well as rental fee!

OK..back to our Vancouver day. The husband drove and I accompanied him. The drive itself took about 2.5 to 3 hours which included a stop at the Canadian border with the Canadian patrol man asking us where we were from and what we were doing in Canada.

So what was our first destination? LUNCH! It was close to noon and we hadn't had breakfast so we were definitely hungry. I was about to do research on where to dine in Canada for breakfast/lunch. The first destination:

Paul's Place
2211 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC V6H 3G1, Canada
604-737-2857

There was a line but it wasn't too bad. The restaurant itself is on a quaint corner on Granville Street. There are shops on Granville Street like Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware. Back to our order, the husband ordered a Spanish omelette with toast and berry jam.

I ordered a mushroom eggs benedict on one slice of bread and pototaes.
I also ordered a Spinach salad with sliced egg, bacon, mushrooms in vinaigrette dressing that the husband and I shared.
The food was yummy! I throughly enjoyed our lunch and would definitely recommend this place for those who plan to stop by Vancouver. After lunch, we toured Granville Street before heading out. Then we headed to Capilano Park to walk on a suspension bridge. For $ 30 a person to walk on this bridge and tour their park, I would say it's not really worth it but, hey, we were on vacation.

After Capilano, we toured Stanley Park in our car. Did I mention it was raining in Vancouver? No? Well, it rained. (See that couple in the above picture with the umbrella.) Anyway, we made several stops here and there throughout Stanley Park.

After that, we headed to Chinatown, bought rambutans for the husband to munch on. OK, I munched on some of the rambutans as well. We also saw the people getting ready for the night market but we did not stay for it. I do think that the Chinatown in Vancouver is much better than the one in Los Angeles. There are a lot more stores and Chinatown spreads to several blocks. However, Chinatown still feels Chinatown. I guess it wouldn't be call Chinatown then. To elaborate, Chinatown is still dirty, grimmy and there are hobos walking the streets.

After Chinatown, we headed to downtown for dinner. (Sorry no pictures of our dinner.) I did not research on dinner places so we just stopped by an Italian restaurant (more like a pizza joint). The husband and I split a pizza, a salad and dessert.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Update, Floral Arrangement

I am back! After almost a month in hiatus, I return to the blogging world. Don't expect me to be a consistent blogger because that is one thing I cannot promise. :P Anyway, we went to Seattle and Vancouver for the July 4th weekend break. The weather was great in Seattle as it did not rain. (Something Seattle is known for aside from Starbucks and Microsoft!) I have pictures and I will try to upload them one of these days.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I was at my other job and I came upon hydrangea and peony centerpieces. They were absolutely beautiful, simple and refreshing centerpieces. So what did I do? I went home and a week later, I attempted to recreate the centerpiece minus the peonies, hydrangeas will suffice for now. I love my floral arrangement! Its simplicity and beauty is just perfect. Very unassuming and elegant at the same time.

Now the only beef I have is that my floral arrangement lasted a total of about 4 or 5 days. Why, oh why, is that floral centerpieces just do not last? I guess the saying, "Beauty does not last," is true. So sad!