Bad week

What a depressing week it has been. So much work to do and major stress. I have had a migraine two out of the five work days. I will also be rolling into the office this weekend to catch up on work. It's been several years since I have had to work weekends! :(

Aside from that - the economy sucks. People are losing their jobs left and right. Everyday I hear companies with lay-offs news. Massive lay-offs! Like in the hundreds and thousands of personnel. It's just so sad.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Before the day ends, I just wanted to say, "Happy Lunar New Year!" May you have a prosperous year full of joy, fortune and health!
Oh by the way - for those who do not know, it is the year of the ox. Watch out my fellow horses - it is not a good year for you. Please be safe and have patience.

2009 Home Renovation Ideas

The home renovation ideas or goals for 2009 include:

1. Putting in French doors between our dining room and living room. I would like someday to keep the entertainment in our living and dining rooms. I also want to create a side patio where we can step out through the French doors. Again I envision having BBQ's where our guests can hang out in the living room chatting or dine in our dining room or step out through the French doors to our backyard "oasis."


2. Replace the doors to our main entrance. I am thinking maybe Mahogany wood.


3. See picture below. I want to paint the two bookcases white and install doors for the bottom of the bookcases. Currently, the bottom of the bookcases can be open by pulling the top part up. I do not place anything in the bottom of the bookcases because it is such a pain. I would have to remove all the items on that bottom shelf in order to get to the compartment. I think that we will have to strip the laquer that is currently on the bookshelves and then paint. I also want to move the TV above the chimney. The husband and I have wanted to move the TV forever but have never progressed. It has always been just talk. Moving the TV will definitely free up that space!

The Kids

I have not had a chance to talk about the furkids. Here is a recent picture of them. They are all turning six years old this year and are siblings. # 1 is the alpha, # 2 is the lazy one, # 3 is the instigator and # 4 is the runt and brat. Terrible picture taken with my Blackberry.

Our New President

History in the making. Our 44th president and the first African-American president! Wished I was in D.C. yesterday!
I mentioned to the husband that when we have a woman president in office, I want to be there. I just hope it won't be when I am 70 years old...

Elise's Tea Room

This past Saturday, I got a chance to meet a bunch of strangers for tea at Elise's Tea Room in Long Beach, CA. It was an interesting experience as there were ten of us, all from different facades of life, age and nationality.

Elise's Tea Room is situated in a strip mall where the parking is in the rear. I can't say about the neighborhood as I am not familiar with this area of Long Beach and I have never realized how BIG Long Beach is! Anyway, you can park on the street but will be limited to two hours. We ordered the high tea menu which is $ 30.50 per person. A bit steep for an experience with a bunch of strangers but it was nice to try a new place. I love the charm of Elise's Tea Room. It is quite quaint, rustic and vintage....eh...old would be another word I can see some people use. If you are more into the Ritz Carlton high tea dining experience - this place might not be for you but if you like to try different places, whether new or old, modern or rustic, this place should be an add to the list.

I love the red in this chandelier.

We started off with tea! I ordered the darjeeling raspberry tea. There was something else but I forgot the other tea leaf. Anyway, I really liked this tea as it was very light and refreshing.

Your order came with two scones. I chose regular and cranberry. The scones were o.k. I think the scone at Chado Tea in Pasadena was yummier. Our host mentioned that this was considered the "American" tea versus the "English" tea. I guess the difference is that the scones are served first in the American tea. Anyway, these scones were served with Elise's devonshire cream and two different types of jam.

Next up was the cream of asparagus soup. There were no chunks of asparagus in the soup as the host said that the "tea" experience required us to dine a bit more "daintier." I guess the asparagus was grind somewhere in the soup.

After the soup was the salad (nothing memorable about the salad so I did not bother to take a picture). We were supposed to get quiche with this menu but I guess another tea party had reserved or ordered all the quiche. So instead of quiche, we were served soup (picture above) and an extra sandwich, which is a total of seven sandwiches. There are normally six sandwiches. You see six sandwiches below because I ate the other one, which was a salmon sandwich made especially for our group, in lieu of the quiche. I also got two curry chicken (instead of the black olive because I don't like olive), apple pecan on cinnamon bread, cucumber and cream cheese, chives and cream cheese and egg salad. I ended up only eating three sandwiches at the tea place and boxed up the other four for home.

Last but not least, dessert. Each person got to choose his or her own piece of cake. I ordered dulce leche. It was rather rich for my tastbuds.

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience. Would I go back to Elise's Tea Room? Probably not because there are just too many other tea places to try. Oh the service was wonderful! Our host named Marco (who is the sou chef and I think is Elise's husband) is very knowledgable about tea. He's also very knowledgable in everyday conversational topics as well.

They Lie

Some say, "Age is just a number." I say, "They lie!" If age is just a number, then why does it feel like we are always racing against time? I feel as if I have reached that age where I am older. Wait - duh - I am old-er! Now is about the time where people start calling you auntie or ma'am. This is when you are called a "cougar" for having crushes on the 23 year old actor. This is when your metabolism slows down because you could have swore you ate the same as before or even less - yet you feel as if your pants don't fit correctly. This is when you really need to start shopping in the Misses section instead of the Junior's section. Thirty is not the new twenty, neither is forty the new thirty nor fifty is the new forty.

Don't lie to me.

Once you hit thirty - you've lived approximately a third of your life. You sit there wondering what you've accomplished for the past 30 years or so. Then it hits you that you've got about another decade before you turn 40. Yikes! That is mid-life and you start to wonder if you will go through a mid-life crisis. Wait...as you consider this...you start to wonder if you are going through the 30-something-crisis. Of course, then you remember about your quarter-life crisis, which felt like it was just yesterday! Does it ever stop??!! And NO I am not celebrating a birthday. (Mumbling) Not yet anyway.

I am still debating if I want to be eternally 28 years old.

Life. Is. Just. Complicated. Sometimes.

Twilight Series

I read the books as well as saw the movie.

In my opinion - these types of books can never become good movies. Although I enjoyed the books, the language in the books are laughable. I was not expecting a great movie and I was actually thinking that I would probably laugh out loud if I heard some of the sentences being repeated in the movie. With that said - I think the movie was as good as it got. I don't think it was completely terrible and I don't think it was great. It was a so-so movie. I thought the actors did a decent job of portraying the characters. And yes - I did laugh at parts where it was not supposed to be funny because let's face it - most romance novels cannot be repeated without giggling. It is corny and cheesy.

As for Robert Pattison - I thought he did a decent job. I think the problem is that everyone has visualized this gorgeous Edward where possibly no actor can fulfill. My only comment is that he always looked like he was in pain. As for Kristen Stewart - I thought that she had the look to portray Bella. Some of her facial expressions throughout the movie was slightly annoying but passable.

Don't expect too much and you're enjoy the movie. Most romance movies are cheesy, predictable and corny. I consider the Twilight series romance with a slight Vampire twist. Everything is very predictable and of course, I am a sucker for things that are predictable. :P

Oops! Happy New Year!

A little late but better than nothing.

It's 2009! The new year came and went just like Christmas. Of course - a new year comes with new endeavors! :) To be honest, I have not really had a chance to consider what I want to accomplish for 2009.

Well...we will be hitting the slopes in February. I am excited! I've never been skiing so it should be an, um, interesting experience. I hope I will not, eh, fall too many times...

Landlording

Hmm...although I have some reservations with discussing landlording or real estate investing, it is afterall my blog.

So here goes...we finally finished renovating our investment property. It has been a grueling experience with some headache and of course, its rewards. This project has been almost six months in the making and continues. Can you believe that? SIX MONTHS?!?!? I have to admit, I am very happy with the results. So let's go ahead and provide the pictures as pictures are so much more interesting right now.

Kitchen (Before) - The floor was disgusting as there were no tiles. The range was not hooked up, no range hood and look at at awful backsplash behind the sink. The sink was about 5 inches deep!

Kitchen (After) - New laminate cabinets - customized by the husband's dad (that was another headache that I will not go into details about). We added granite countertops. New range and range hood as well as new sink. New floor. I love the color of the cabinets and although the stainless steel appliance was more expensive - I think it is worth the money.

Bathroom (Before) - Disgusting floor and holes in the walls. Big window and white tiles midway up to the window makes the bathroom feel smaller. The vanity top did not flush with the cabinet again making the space smaller. Bathroom (After) - New wall tiles, new smaller window, new vanity and medicine cabinet, new toilet, new floor and new door. The smaller window and tiles up to the ceiling help to create the feeling that the bathroom is bigger. New vanity cabinet gives the feeling that there is more storage space.

Bedroom (before) - What were they thinking? The walls were blue and the ceiling was green. I guess they weren't thinking!Bedroom (After) - Ceiling is white (although you can't see it in this picture). New wall color called "lightweight beige." Does it look like beige? I don't think it does. It is more of a vanilla or cream color. New window for the bedroom as well as throughout the place. We decided to go with laminate instead of carpet. We hope the floors will last....