the 411

Whoa, has it really been a month since my last blog entry? Time goes so fast these days it's getting kind of scary. Here's some of what we've been up to...

Several weeks ago we went up to Tahoe to stay with our friends Susan and Craig (Susan is the one who married us). They recently purchased a beautiful 2-bedroom home in Truckee area and we were delighted to hang out with them, Sacha and Maureen, and Suzy and Jeff. Here's Jeremy enjoying a beverage in their kitchen:



We spent one day downhill skiing at Sugarbowl (sorry no photos--the camera battery was dead), and the next day the boys went back-country snowboarding while the girls did some cross-country skiing (my first time!). Here's photographic evidence (with Maureen's dog Raja in the foreground):



Cross-country skiing is a hilarious sport, especially after getting used to the downhill skis. I have never in my life felt so out of control going so damn slow! Here's a cute thing we saw while on the trail:



The following weekend was Valentine's Day and J and I's 5 year datingversary. We celebrated by eating at Quince. Adam had generously given us a gift certificate there and we loved our meal! The only thing is, if we're ever out to dinner together, please remind me not to get the wine pairing. It's just a little too much for me to handle these days. ;) Here are the gorgeous roses J bought me for V-day:



I also celebrated by chopping off all my hair...don't have any great photos of the new cut yet, but you can get a feel for it in some of the photos below.

This last weekend was my bday and we started celebrating on Wednesday night with a big dinner at one of our faves, Bodega Bistro. Good friends and good food, what could be better?





On Thursday night, we saw a fantastic show at the Herbst Theatre with the Robucy...one of our favorite bands, the Magnetic Fields, were playing as part of the Noise Pop festival. WOW! What an incredible show! Stephen Merritt's voice is even more incredible in real life, and though I've never really loved Susan Anway's voice on their albums, I found her really charming live. While Stephen's voice is all dark chocolate and cigars and bear-skin rugs, Susan's is like that sweet, quiet girl in the back of the class with the heavy bangs and the Trapper Keeper. Beautiful.



On Friday we headed up to Orr Hot Springs for the weekend and spent our days sitting in hot water, reading, and making yummy food. Typically we are one of the youngest couples there, and everyone is making delicious, amazing meals in the kitchen beside us. Well, perhaps because they recently renovated the place to be more modern, there were tons of young people (mostly couples) and they were all eating yogurt and salads as we prepared meals like bacon-wrapped scallops, marinated hangar steaks, egg scramble with mushroom, sausage, and onion atop cheesy polenta. Funny!

We also took a gorgeous hike on Saturday morning in nearby Montgomery Woods. It was a beautiful time of year, as brightly colored green moss was growing over EVERYTHING. We also encountered many, many mushrooms and salamanders. Just gorgeous...

Doesn't this look like a postcard or something?



These don't look poisonous or anything:



OK, just a question, how the heck do salamanders stay alive? They are the slowest things EVER. Talk about an easy meal for some hawk or woodland creature...



And, the requisite "hold-out-the-camera" self-portrait:



So that's what we've been up to these past few weeks. This weekend we head up to Sun Valley to visit with J's parents, where I can put my newfound cross-country skills to use. I promise to update about that trip in a more timely manner. :) 'Til then! XOX

I made my wedding dress

Yo, I am a bloggin' fool this week! Get me home from work earlier than 9PM and look what I can do! I posted about the process of making my wedding dress at the Stitch Lounge blog here. Check it out!

Gong Xi Fa Cai! (Gung Hai Fat Choy in Cantonese)

Hong Bao Na Lai!

Today is Chinese New Year's Eve...which means you gotta clean the house (or at least take out the trash), give or receive hong baos (red envelopes), and eat dumplings. My mom used to make dumplings every year and a few of them got wrapped with a shiny dime inside. Getting a dumpling with a dime meant that you would have good fortune for the rest of the year.

Since blog posts without photos are no fun, here's a photo of Eddo's Halloween costume. He was Chinese Good Luck Fortune Cat. Notice that he spray painted double happiness on his shirt. So chinky!



Good fortune to everyone this year!

New Edition

This weekend I was back in SD to give a talk to the San Diego Chinese Women's Association, a group that gave me a scholarship back when I was about to go to Berkeley. They invited me back to update them on what I had been up to in the last 14 years (yikes!!!). The speech went really great and everyone was super interested as I told them about Stitch, my graphic design work, my chalkbags, bellydancing...basically anything I had done in the years since high school. Afterwards, a woman who had survived breast cancer came up and told me that I had inspired her to start fitting her own clothes...off-the-rack just doesn't fit her anymore after the mastectomy. It was very sweet!

This trip was very well timed, as Felix and Lily welcomed their second little bundle, Alyssa Kailee Chu, just about a week ago, so I got to see the new baby. She is so pretty! Here are some photos Felix shot:





What a sweetie, huh? Lily is just made to be a mom...she was in labor only 1 hour, no epidural...two pushes and Alyssa was out! Lucky lady!

I also got a chance to visit with Karsten, who was on FIRE! He is growing up to be quite the little man. He showed me his Tickle Me Elmo doll and then proceeded to mimic Elmo as he fell on the floor laughing. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever. Here he is in action:





I rounded out my SD trip with a visit to Derek, my friend from high school who I haven't seen for about 5 years, and his wife Amy, who is preggers. I can't wait to meet their little one (it's a girl too!).

Chirp Chirp

The weather has been pretty miserable lately but the other day I looked out the office window to find this little guy singing a song to me. I was quick to the draw and was able to snap a photo of him before he flew away:



J and I both decided that he must have escaped from somewhere because he's too pretty to be a wild bird. Chirp on, little buddy!

In my Eyes and Ears

This weekend I got an email from K saying that she had started her very own blog (wahoo!). Her page has a section entitled "What I'm listening to", and when I saw that, I thought, "How brilliant!" So I thought I too would share what my eyes and ears have been tuned to recently...

EYES:



The Wire
OK, um WHOA. J and I heard from his friend Nicholas that this show was the bomb. Since we regard Nicholas' opinion highly, we dutifully put the first season on our Netflix. I'll admit, it took a good 6 episodes or so for us to get into it. But once we got there, we were HOOKED. This is seriously some of the best acting and writing on television today. In the past year or so, we've done: Six Feet Under, Weeds, Rome, and Deadwood...i.e., some pretty good TV. The Wire has been by far the show we are most addicted to. It is brilliant. Seriously. I won't lie, though...it can be difficult to get into and follow, but it occurred to me the other day that the reason why The Wire can seem sort of difficult is because the creator/writer expects his audience to be intelligent enough to follow him. And I appreciate that sort of faith in the audience.

OK, also, one of the main characters in the show looks like this:



MEOW! If that's not reason enough to watch, I don't know what is. (BTW, love you, Jeremy!) ;)

EARS:

- Wilco: Blue Sky Blue



You know how there are albums out there that have saved your life? (Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights, I'm looking at you). Well, I haven't listened to Wilco's Blue Sky Blue enough to really know if it is going to do the job, but I'll tell you what, track #3 (Impossible Germany) on repeat might just do the trick. That song is just everything in the world working right together at the same time.

- Rilo Kiley: Under the Blacklight



Just...HOT. Silver Lining? So dreamy. The Moneymaker? HOT. Under the Blacklight? Just pretty. Love it, love it all.

- Gaucho: Deluxe



I met a friend at a bar the other day for a quick drink and catch-up, and who was coming in to play a show but Gaucho. They describe themselves as a "Django Reinhardt-based gypsy jazz group" (and sure enough, I immediately thought of that cute Woody Allen movie "Sweet and Lowdown" when I heard them start playing).
They are cutest band! I'll admit I may have been swayed by the hard core swing dancers who were dancing their a$$es off in the middle of the bar to Gaucho's music. But you can't help but like their music...I mean, they have an accordion player...who wears corduroys! And a fedora! So cute!

Anyway, let me know what's filling your ears these days...I wanna hear it. :)

Monsoonami!

Many of you have heard that SF got hit by an enormous storm last week that knocked power out all over the city, uprooted trees, and generally caused mayhem and disaster. The morning of the storm, a bicycle messenger stopped by the office and said that he had to pedal downhill due to the crazy winds (I think they clocked at 50+ mph)?

Jeremy, surfer that he is, was checking the surf report on Saturday AM when he got wind (he he) of the fact that the ocean was going nuts! So we drove down to the beach to check it out. Well, technically, I should just call it the "ocean" because there was no beach to speak of! The waves were going right up to the retaining wall! If you've ever been to Ocean Beach, you know that's a big beach! I am not sure if the pictures are going to do it justice, but the waves were very violent and big...

You can see a little guy on the right side, who was walking his dog (dumb!!!):



Seconds later he had to jump up the hill to avoid the waves...and I was worried that his little dog was going to get swept away (again, WTF was he doing on the beach?!?):



Crazy!!!

And this one, just cuz I like the photo:



FYI, all photos taken with our fancy new lens, which rocks!

forgot to mention...

...that I've posted all our professional photos shot by Jennifer Kloss Heffner on our Flickr site here, so you can download as your little heart desires!

She took so many amazing photos; the emotions she captured were just incredible. Here are some of our faves...

The couple shots:





This one deserves to be seen very very big:



She made me look really good:



And Jeremy even better!:



I adore this photo of my mom and Jeremy's mom when they first saw each other at the tea ceremony:



And Kim, Jen's assistant photographer and best friend, caught Jeremy's reaction the first time he saw me that day:



Here's my dad losing it (one of many times that day!):



And this one of my momma watching me and my dad come down the aisle just melts my heart:



I loved her unique way of capturing the wedding party:



And this one of Kara helping me into my Chinese dress...oh, the beauty:



What a night, you guys...

See the entire Flickr set here.

XOX!

The Stats

Happy new year everyone!!! Sorry I've been a little late on the posts...I have a bunk version of Flickr uploader and had some problems uploading all our photos from the holiday season.

J and I headed down to SoCal this Xmas (as we do every year) to visit with family and friends. We decided on a more circuitous return route in order to break up the drive. We were away from home a total of 7 days and here are the stats:

- 4 cities
- 5 different beds
- 10 dogs
- 3 hikes
- 33 family members
- 6 friends
- at least 5 super delicious dinners

We started off our trip on the Saturday before Xmas, when it took us 12 hours to get down to SD. Y.U.C.K. From there it was a whirlwind of cooking, family, friends, and eating. Here's me and my momma in front of the flowers Laurie sent her:



On Xmas day, it was off to Jeremy's grandparents' beautiful house on the beach in San Clemente, where we finally got to see the puppies again!!! It's been a while and they are really growing up. I took a walk on the beach with Laurie and Grandpa Bob (amazing man...he is 91, I think?) while Jeremy, cousin Frisco, and Randy went for a surf. I almost forgot it was Xmas day...the weather was so gorgeous:







From there we were on to visit with Robert and Lucy in Montecito. Robert had been talking about an amazing seafood restaurant in Santa Barbara called The Hungry Cat. It was gooooooood! We also got to take a little hike in the hills behind Robert's house:





The next day, we were off to Jeremy's Uncle Stan and Aunt Sally's house, where they had hosted 18 people and 7 dogs for dinner the night before! Needless to say, the dogs were in heaven.

That night, we drove to Solvang, where Jeremy's sister Amy lives with her partner Gerry and their two cats (Gustavo and Maizey) and chihuahua Mocha. It was funny seeing the tiny little dog try to figure out whether or not big ol' Aki and Mia (Randy and Laurie's dogs) were a threat. I don't think all 3 dogs ever got off leash in the same room, but given time I am sure they will be the best of friends. :)

The next day, before we took off for home, we took a nice hike in the Santa Barbara hills near Midland (where Jeremy grew up until he was about 8). There were some big, beautiful oak trees on that hike...



Here's the entire Flickr set from our trip here

Getting married this year made us realize just how lucky we are to have such amazing friends and family. While it was tiring to be traveling to so many places in such a short amount of time this Xmas, we really felt lucky to have so many treasured people (and dogs!) to spend time with over the holiday.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. We love you. XOX

Napa Valley Crazies Tour

This year Jeremy and I going down south for the holidays and pulling the whole "xmas eve with one set of parents, xmas day with the other." So we decided to do a little xmas getaway just the two of us, taste some wines, and finally use the gift certificate that Eddo got me for my bday to Ad Hoc, Thomas Keller's lower-rent version of The French Laundry.

We decided to do our tastings up in Calistoga in an attempt to avoid the annoying crowds on Saturdays in the wine country. We made it up to Napa late Saturday afternoon, which was actually quite nice because all the bumblies had already had their fill and gone back to their hotels to sober up before dinner. We chose a few wineries off the main drag for our tastings, and boy were we happy we did!

Our first stop was Frank Family Vineyards, which has two tasting rooms: one for sparkling wine and one for regular wine. We liked the sparkling wine alright there, but the other stuff just wasn't our cup of tea. Our wine jockey at Frank Family was totally crazy.

Me to Jeremy: "Do you think he's drunk?"
Jeremy: "I certainly hope so."

Our next stop was Dutch Henry Winery, which we absolutely loved! Their tastings are in an actual functional barrel room and there are photos of all the winemakers dressed up like they are in the old west.



Everything we tried their was ultra interesting and different. Their tasting notes said stuff like "Hide the women and children and grab some t-bones!" Anniko, our WJ, was totally crazy (are you sensing a theme here?). After she poured us a taste of the Cabernet Franc, she kept saying, "Franc is my good friend. He is always welcome at my house. Do you like Franc? Franc likes you." Yeah, certifiable! We loved her!

Our final destination was Cuvaison, which was located on an absolutely beautiful plot of land:



The wines here were a little more commercial, but still we found a bottle that we liked. Our WJ here was also completely insane, but in a way that we didn't like. They had these ultra tall wine glasses that were kind of ridiculous:



And now, for the main event: our dinner at Ad Hoc. YUM!!! Our first course was a BLT: Butter Lettuce salad with pork belly (it was supposed to have Tomato vinaigrette to put the T in BLT, but instead it came with a buttermilk dressing which was fantabulous).



We had our meal with a 2005 bottle of The OG Grenache by Betts and Scholl. Our waiter, Nessim, who was also completely insane, described it to us as "kind of unusual." Not sure what happened this weekend, but we seemed to be attracting both people and wines by that description. But yo, we absolutely loved that wine.



Our main course consisted of braised short ribs with roasted winter vegetables and mashed potatoes (described by our waiter as being made of "cream, cream, butter, cream, butter, butter, cream, cream, cream, butter, butter, and then some more cream", while he was making karate chops with his hands). Look at how excited I am!



This was followed up by a cheese course and apple pound cake, neither of which we could finish because we were too stuffed. I have to say, the cynical me thought they were taking the "low rent" thing a little too far, but when it comes down to it, they were giving us a 4 course menu with absolutely ginormous proportions for $45. Can't really fault that.

After dinner we went back to the hotel, where I gave Jeremy his new Wii. WHEEEEEE!!! He is sooo excited about it. In fact, he's playing right now as I type these words.

Jeremy: I can't believe you gave me a video game console! I've never had one before because I don't trust myself enough to have one.
Hope: Well, don't make me regret it. ;)

It was a quick, wonderful weekend getaway...check out all our photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hopemeng/sets/72157603476419945/