Weekend Dilemma’s

Nottingham – Land of Robin Hood

This past weekend (11-12 May) was a disasterous waste. We didn’t make any plans for Saturday, so we ended up sleeping in like we usually do. By the time we decided to go out and do something, it was already 12pm.. too late to go anywhere far.. so we just headed into Nottingham to hang out. Walked by the Castle and had lunch at the oldest pub in the UK…

Taking a long trip back in time..

.. to the oldest pub in the UK

Couldn’t go to a pub without getting a drink.. or two..

Descent sliders..

nom nom nom

Walked around the shops in town.. finally went into Primark (which was like going into Nordstrom Rack on the weekend during Christmas season.. craziness).. grabbed a snack at Homemade… stumbled upon an awesome stag party in the rain (if you can see… they’re all dressed up like Disney characters).. and then headed home.

Homemade Cafe – voted Nottingham’s best cheap eats (2012?)

Interior of Homemade.. pretty basic cafe

SMILE!

Latte .. not so awesome… but they did have free issues of Vice magazine

Boozy smoothie for Minh

Pulled pork quesadilla

the rain won’t bring down this stag party

Sunday we actually had a plan.. but it was an epic fail. I was supposed to meet up with a group of ladies for the Rapha Women’s 100 training ride through the Peak District. Minh was coming along too.. either to ride with me or to do his own ride. And since Minh refuses to drive.. he was playing navigator.

Real life puzzle.. how to fit two bikes in a small sedan..

seats down. wheels off.. tight fit…

We ended up at the right restaurant, more or less on time, but in the wrong city… We ended up heading back to where the meet-up was supposed to be, then driving a bit of the route to try to find a place to park. After much driving and frustration later.. we just decided to give up and head home. The weather was rainy (as usual) and by this time (over an hour after we were supposed to start riding), I was just over it. Instead of heading home, we hit up the East Midlands Designer Outlets, which was on the way home.

lunch at the outlets.. where’s the green?

Outlet here are nothing like outlets at home… much smaller and not as many good stores. I did come home with a new Superdry jacket and some chocolate from the Cadbury outlet.. but that was pretty much the weekend. This coming weekend will hopefully be better.

Settled In

I think I can officially say now that we’ve settled in to the UK. Accomplishments this week:

• GOT PAID (finally!)
• transferred our bills over
• got internet at home!
• got my work credit card
• drove (almost) the whole week WITHOUT stalling!

When we were getting out internet installed, we accidentally bumped a high table and knocked over one of the sculptures that was already in the flat. Luckily, it was only worth £100, and it will come out of our deposit.. so it wasn’t one of the more expensive pieces of art in the flat.

OOPS!

It was really stupid, because if the floor was even, then the art would not have been knocked over, but the carpet is all uneven where the stand was, so it wasn’t very stable. OH wells.. we’ll just have to deal with it, right?

I haven’t gotten  a cell yet, but Minh’s on his and we have internet, so if anyone wants to chat, you can find us on our Gmail accounts.

Home, home on the Grange…

Good news! Our shipment of “stuff” came on TUESDAY! Minh was home to get it and partially unpack everything for us. This is what I came home to…

Half of the bikes.. assembled and waiting in the hallway

The other half of the bikes taking up the living room

Minh.. chillin’ on his computer

Kitchen stuff unpacked and remnants of shipping materials

Clothes scattered about everywhere

Some of it hung up in the closet (which I’ve already filled… )

All my shoes.. all lined up in a row

More clothes.. scattered about

I was so happy to have our stuff, especially since I was starting to not want to wear any of the clothes I had and we were both itching to ride our bikes rather than hike the 30 minutes into town. It will take a little while to get everything in its place, but it’s nice to have familiar things around us. Makes this place feel more like home.

Minh got our bikes (all four of them) built up before I got home, so we were able to ride into town to get some dinner. Seriously cut our “commute” down to about 10 minutes. Granted we were on our singlespeeds and pretty out of shape (so we had to walk some of the “hills”), it was still much preferred over walking.

We originally walked into this Chinese restaurant called the Pink Wing for dinner.. smelled good from the outside, and the food looked good from what we could tell with the other customers in there. But there wasn’t a stitch of English in the place, so we had no idea how to order or what to order. And it didn’t look like anyone was working there (or at least not for the couple minutes that we were in there), and the patrons who were there weren’t very helpful, they just kinda looked at us (not rudely staring though). We eventually had to walk out. I do want to try this place sometime, but we need to go with someone who has been there before or can read Chinese.. or both.

Instead.. we walked down the street a little to Jerry’s, which was a hotdog place that was also an arcade and a little casino.. or something like that. Minh and I split a big fat Hoop Doggie Dog, which is essentially a fat foot-long hotdog with SpaghettiOs (or rather the British equivalent) on it. And yes.. it tastes EXACTLY like how it sounds. Actually, SpaghettiOs would probably have been better.. on a Costco polish sausage.

Hoop Doggie Dog, YO!

Minh’s going to spend the rest of the week getting our stuff unpacked and put away where it “needs to be”.. and then this will really feel like home. Same but different…

2013 Resolutions

Image from abuzeedo.com

Big things will be happening in 2013.. and in no particular order..

• My BFF will be having her SECOND kid!! CRAZY!
• I’m taking my house with me on a 2-year adventure overseas. Hopefully we’ll get some good trips in while we’re there.
• My favorite Asian and I are taking a cruise to the Bahamas! and visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
• We’ll be celebrating a year of wedded bliss.
• Two of my cousins will be getting MARRIED! I will be sad to miss out on the festivities, but will be sending my love when the time comes.

So.. not sure if you caught that.. but the biggest change for 2013 is that Minh and I will be moving to England. I’ve been given the unique work opportunity to provide onsite support for one of our biggest customers. It’s a two year assignment, after which we will return (I promise) and resume our lives here. Not only is this an amazing career opportunity for me to gain experience with our customer, get more involved on the project side of things, and get insight into the world of business and program management, but it’s also a unique opportunity for Minh and I to be somewhere new and use it as a home-base to see the world. Granted we won’t be based anywhere near London, but to be able to see Europe at our leisure over the course of two years rather than cramming it all into long vacations will be pretty awesome. The exact date of our move is still TBD, since we need to get all the immigration, housing, employment, etc, paperwork finalized/approved/in order, but the time will come before we know it. We have a lot to do before we go, but we are both very excited!!!

And so… it brings us to my resolutions for 2013. Last year’s resolution failed miserably… I only had one resolution for last year, which was to run a sub-4-hour marathon, and it didn’t happen. The only marathon that I signed up for last year, I ended up not training for at all and just doing the half marathon, which I completed in 3 hours and 10 minutes. This year may be some of the same… but I can at least put the goals out there and hope I stick to them.

1.  Be more patient with people and take a breath before I speak
2. Spend less and spend wisely
3. Be mindful of my health, through eating well and exercising
4. Complete projects rather than collecting WIPs
5. Become an explorer of the world!

Seems like those resolutions are vague enough that I’ll be able to keep them, right?

2012 has passed.. and we’re still here!

I was really bad with blogging in 2012. All excuses aside.. here’s a quick recap as we step into 2013…

January
Celebrated the first New Year’s in our house!

Had Lunar New Year (Tết) with the family! There are family pictures somewhere…

February
Spent two weeks in England for work and got a weekend in London.

Me at Windsor Castle

March

Nothing? really?

April
Went rock climbing.. like real rock climbing..

Can you believe she’s afraid of heights?

Anni threw me an awesome Bridal Shower.

The Flip Truck! My Favorite!

May
Bachelorette Weekend in VEGAS!

Dinner at one of my favorites…

June
We got HITCHED!!!

FIRST KISS!!!

July
We honeymooned in COSTA RICA!!!

Waterfalls and Rainforests

And I attempted my first (and only) two-week detox…

… during which we also went to the Fair and I didn’t get to eat ANYTHING!

We picked up kayaking.

August
Dyed my hair for the first time ever!

red!

Someone got the bright idea to ride our bikes to Santa Monica…

Seemed like a good idea at the time…

September
Weekend with Sprocket in Palm Springs

Sprocket-dog!

“Competed” in and completed the 2nd Orangeman Triathlon.. which taught me that even though you CAN complete a triathlon without training, it is definitely not recommended.

9:16:11… Longest race of my LIFE!

October
Tried my hand at floral arranging.. decided not to quit my day job.

Florist for a day.. I’m now a pro at pommanders.

… and hung out in Vegas with my favorite sister!

All you need is LOVE!

We took an impromptu daytrip to Solvang…

Good to see.. once..

My favorite Asian ANGIE!!! turned 30 (!!) … and we had an awe-mazing food crawl in SF!

November
Had fun on the Color Run!

COLOR!!! w00t!

Anthony and Nina got MARRIED!!

Nice day to get married!

Hosted our first Thanksgiving – Chinese-style

Peking-style turkey.. steamed buns.. brussel sprouts with chinese sausage.. asian slaw.. corn with five spice

December
Finished off my collection of Thomas Keller signed cookbooks

In an ideal world.. I would work for these guys…

Hosted our first Christmas – for 23 people (+ the flu) in our tiny house!

Fried turkey.. like a man!

The flu was an honorary guest at our Christmas dinner

And here at the beginning of 2013, I can say that while 2012 had it’s great moments (like getting MARRIED), it had a rather sad end. I know that Ba Ngoai is in heaven now watching down on all of us, but I already miss her very much.

One of my favorite shots from the wedding..

Looking forward into this year, I know that 2013 has A LOT in store for me and Minh. Adventures are waiting for us just around the corner, and I’m very excited to see what’s in store for us.. . Stay tuned for a sneak peak …

Love this Family!

HAPPY 2012!

'2012' by Iran-born, Amsterdam-based artist Reza Abedini of Orientation Lab

I’ve always been one to make new year’s resolutions and then break them very soon afterwards (we’re talking within a matter of DAYS…). For me, it’s a combination of a few things that lead me to break new year’s resolutions: a lack of motivation and drive, laziness, and convenience.. I guess those are all related to eachother in a way. Here are a few examples of typical resolutions and reasons/excuses why they are broken so quickly

1. Pay more attention to what I’m eating (i.e. eat better) – “But I’m so hungry and this bag of Flaming Hot Cheetohs is sitting right here..”
2. Be more diligent about training (i.e. exercise regularly) – “But I’m so tired from work today… and staying up late reading (or playing games)…”
3. Put a little more effort in what I wear (i.e. dress better) – “But I’m running late. T-shirt and jeans are so easy”

See what I mean? This year, I’ve only made one new year’s resolution:

Run a sub-4-hour marathon.

That shouldn’t be too hard, right?

Anyone else make any resolutions they plan on trying their best to keep?

HAPPY 2012!

The Vet, The Dog, and… the Worm

Minh and I have had Sprocket for 3 months now. And for the most part.. those three months have been pretty good, especially since we’ve been going to training (more on that next week). That is.. things have been going good until…

… I took her to the dog park. I’m not saying “Don’t take your dog to the dog park”.. by no means. Sprocket LOVED the dog park. It was her first time, and there were about half a dozen (bigger) dogs for her to run around and play with. She let out a lot of energy, and it was great to be able to see her interact with other dogs and run around freely. But.. she also got peed on, molested by a male pit, and after about 30 minutes was hiding under a bench from another dog who was trying to establish “alpha” status.

AND… I’m pretty sure she got tapeworm from the dog park. She must have eaten something while I wasn’t looking. For the last week and a half, she’s been peeing in her crate, which is something she NEVER did even after we took her home from the shelter. At first, we thought she had UTI. We took her to the vet yesterday, and while they didn’t find any signs of bacteria infection, they did find TAPEWORM!!! No wonder she’s still so skinny!

The vet gave us antibiotics anyway, just in case she had low levels of bacteria that did not show up in the urinalysis, and a shot to kill the tapeworm. We’re also upping her daily food because apparently we weren’t feeding her enough. So… with not getting enough food and the tapeworm stealing all of her nutrients away, she’s been trying to compensate with lots of water… which led to a full bladder… which led to more accidents… and lots of cleaning. We’re lucky we had the vet check for tapeworm or else we never would have known.

EXTRA: “There’s a battle in your butt between bacteria and antibiotics!” – Oh… the weird things Minh says sometimes. But.. I love him anyway..

And… TWO BIG THUMBS UP to the Animal Medical Center in Fountain Valley. The vet was great, the staff was amazing, and the place was much better than Minh and I were expecting. Only downside is that it’s walk-in only, no appointments, but I can handle waiting.

Wedding Wednesday – Color, Color, EVERYWHERE!

One of the first tasks I’m trying to knock out early for the wedding is the color palette. Not an easy task for someone who pretty much loves every color known to man… even split pea soup can work in the right situation. I’ve narrowed it down pretty much to the following color schemes (Thanks to Inspiration Daily by Ez over at Creature Comforts… LOVE that blog!). You can see the general colors I’m going for… should be FUN!

Girl on Bike by Krisatomic / via Creature Comforts

The Stories We Tell by Alicia Bock / via Creature Comforts

Gorgeous Photography by Judy Park / via Creature Comforts

I’m hoping these will work well with the venue…

Allergies

I recently had an allergy test conducted, for curiosity’s sake. If anyone out there is thinking about getting one done, I would NOT RECOMMEND doing it. You find out that you’re mildly allergic to all sorts of things that you never would have considered before.. for me, it’s BEANS (kidney, lima, pinto, string, etc etc), DAIRY (not surprising for an Asian), and Wheat (only a slight allergy, but not full-blown Celiac’s). The naturopathic doctor recommended that I cut these foods out COMPLETELY from my diet. Is he CRAZY? Does he not realize that all I eat is pasta, cheese, and string beans?? (Ok.. maybe that’s not ALL I eat, but it’s a good part of my diet).

The nutritionist was a little bit more reasonable. She suggested that I experiment a little bit by cutting out each of the three things for one week and see if it makes any difference. A quick note.. these aren’t full-blown crazy allergies where I’ll break out into hives or go into shock. These are just mild food allergies that may cause discomfort (bloating, indigestion, etc). It might be an explanation as to my occasional acid reflux, excessing gas (burping, mostly), and horribly indigestion every so often.

The first thing to eliminate is dairy. So.. starting today, I will not have dairy for ONE WEEK. Here’s to hoping I survive a week of no cheese, yogurt, icecream, milk, or cheese. ::le sigh::

The FOCUS Challenge from Cotter Crunch

Seems like ever since I went into the “off-season”, I’ve been in a rut in terms of fitness and training. It’ll be a long road back to where I was for Silverman (and that wasn’t even where I wanted to be). I’m slowly heading back into regular training, but my mind set is not focused on it. So… I’m trying the Focus Challenge from Cotter Crunch. You can check out all the details on her blog HERE.

I’m kicking off the challenge with the Fountain Valley Community Center Fit to be Square 5K tomorrow morning. Come out and join me if you’re free. And check back in 10 days to see how I faired with the Focus Challenge.