Feb 4 2013

Workcation 2: Tahoe trip

We recently went on a company trip to Tahoe. Workcation part 2!! Super cold though lol. But was fun. We rented a cabin for 12 people, watched movies(scary movie marathon!), went tubing, snowboarding and build a snowman! Took forever though. It was harder than I remembered.

Can’t wait for workcation 3. =)

: Living room

: Master bedroom

: Ping pong table in the garage

: Outdoor hot tub

: Snowing!

: Tubing!!

: Waiting for our tubing turn

: Trying to get a picture of DG lol

: Yay..my turn now

: Fish tacos at North Star

: Cooking spaghetti for dinner

: Giant pot of spaghetti sauce

: Hi Mr.Snowman

: Danny attempting to make a snow angel

: Todd with his icicles

Sep 9 2012

Napa trip

Last week, I went to some Napa valley wineries with Jeff and his friends. Its our first time there and we were just tagging along to see how its always done haha. And maybe get some ideas for bringing my parents over when they come in October. We set off around 12pm and reached there at about 2pm I think. We hit traffic near Napa where the traffic lights are really slow. Other than that it was ok. The weather there was really hot. I think it was in the high 80s and it actually felt hotter than when I was in Brunei because in Brunei we have air-conditioner everywhere but not in Napa.

Because we got there kinda late, we only went to 2 wineries. The first one we went to was Domaine Chandon. There was no entrance fee for this place. All you have to do is pay a tasting fee if you want to try out the wines. We decided to get the classic tasting which cost $18 per person but with a foursquare or yelp check-in, you can get a 50% discount. So make sure you check-in whenever you go there!

The classic tasting comes with the Brut Classic, Blanc de Noirs, Rosé and the extra-dry Riche. Plus you get to keep the logo flute glass. With the 50% discount, it comes out to only $9 per person. Not bad!

Domaine Chandon wine tasting list

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Jul 5 2012

Fruit Picking

Summer is here! Great time for fruit picking hehe. We went last week kinda as a belated birthday thingy for my mom in law. Drove all the way to Brentwood. It was so hot there! High 80s. We went to Chan’s strawberry and fruit stand. We got there somewhere around 3 because we took a long turn and was stuck in traffic in Oakland for almost an hour.

At the strawberry farm, they said that they are running low on strawberries but we went in anyways. We bought 2 boxes at 25 cents. One for strawberry and the other for the blackberries. The guy at the farm recommended us to go for blackberries because he said that strawberries are running low but I felt that there’s more strawberries than blackberries! lol.

It was really scorching hot. I was really regretting not bringing an umbrella but I got excited seeing all the strawberries haha. I picked all the small cute ones because small ones are usually sweeter. In the end, we got about $5 worth of strawberries at $2.50/lb and about $10 worth of blackberries at $3/lb. Lol we got carried away with the blackberries because it was so had to find a ripe one so we just plucked it everytime we come across one. Lol.

We wanted to go for white peaches after but it was about 4pm and that’s when the farms all close. In the end, we just bought 1lb of picked white peaches for $3. Overall it was a fun experience. This is the second time I’ve been fruit picking. Next time, we’ll definitely go earlier. Oh..also, my thighs were hurting like crazy the next day because the ground was kinda uneven so I had to use a lot of pressure? hahah and also cause of bending down to pick the strawberries lol.

Rows of strawberry bushes

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May 10 2012

Day Trip to Seven Sisters Country Park

Seven Sisters Country Park is a series of chalk cliffs located in the South Downs in East Sussex. It has a series of 7 hills and an eighth one has been created from the erosion of the sea. Seven Sisters is an occasional site for filming and the beginning of the Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves film was filmed there.

I have been wanting to go to Seven Sisters Country Park for a loooong time because I always see my friends posting their beautiful pictures up on Facebook whenever they visit Seven Sisters. So seeing yesterday’s weather was looking good via the MetOffice app, my course mates and I decided to pay Seven Sisters a visit. We gathered at the North Street bus stop in central Brighton and took the 12A bus to Seven Sisters. The bus trip took about 1hr 30mins.

When we reached Seven Sisters, I was overwhelmed with the view. It was beautiful. It has lots of elements from different parts of nature. There were the sheep and lambs, the cows, the ducks, chalk cliffs, pebble sea side, lots of greenery, and even lots of animal dung. The wind was crazily strong and we had difficulty walking against the strong winds but it was lots of fun. The trees on the fields grew slanted maybe because of the strong winds from the sea.

We took a hike up to the first hill and took a rest there. Had lots of fun taking pictures but had difficulty taking good pictures because my hair was blowing crazily. So we had to get ready and quickly snap the photos whenever the strong winds stop for that mere second. We spent about 2 hours there and decided to head back because it takes a long time to reach central Brighton.

To sum up everything, it was a wonderful trip and I will definitely go back there again. Definitely a place for nature lovers! Pictures below!

Apr 17 2012

Sunny Days

The weather’s been great this past weekend. Clear sunny skies are so rare in San Francisco. My husband was bugging me to go out for a walk in Golden Gate Park and I keep saying no at first but decided to go in the end since it really is nice and sunny outside.

I took longer than usual getting ready because we were waiting for my parents in law to be ready too. So I was taking my time putting on sun block (which I never use daily) and of course eyeliner! I also straightened my fringe and then changed etc.

Then my husband suddenly said, “Now I know why you don’t like to go out. Because it takes you so long to get ready. You can’t just change clothes and go like I do.”

I was like -_-”. I told him he should be glad that I’m not like other girls because I don’t put on makeup daily. All I need is my eyeliner and I am ready to go. I only use makeup when I go to special functions like wedding dinners and even then all I use is some BBcream, eyeliner, mascara and blusher. I don’t even use eye-shadows. And the most important thing is that guys can’t compare with girls!

Haha..that’s true right! Anyways, we went to the park and took a 3hr walk taking pictures on the way. Here are some pictures to share.

All the photos are taken with my iPhone 4s. The quality is amazing! I used the HDR function for these photos because its too bright outside.

Mar 14 2012

Weekend getaway at Clear Lake

I mentioned last week that I was going to clear lake for a weekend vacation with my husband and his cousins. We had fun just relaxing and chilling doing nothing much lol. The vacation house that was rented was the one on 13550 Anderson Road Lower Lake , CA 95457.

Its a huge fully furnished 3 storey house. Let me breakdown what’s available on the different floors.

Top floor

1 bedroom with double bed and a toilet with bathtub. Also have balcony access with lake view
1 bedroom with 2 single bed that have 2 extra single bed that can be pulled out and a small closet

Ground floor

2 bedrooms with double beds and closets
1 toilet with bathtub
1 toilet only
kitchen area with everything you would need to cook (pots, utensils, microwave, dish washer, fridge, plates etc).
1 dining area and 1 counter area to eat at
1 living room that overlooks the lake and a balcony/patio area that you can hang out at overlooking the lake.
A large sofa that has double bed built in

Lower floor

1 bedroom with one double bed
A small sink area with microwave and fridge
1 toilet with bathtub
1 living room area with a large TV
porch/balcony access that connects to the ground floor and also to the dock and the boathouse

Boathouse

2 floors, 1 bedroom with double bed and toilet (it was kinda dirty here so we didn’t actually stay in the boathouse)
bottom floor is the shed have some tools and can hold a boat

This house comes with everything fully furnished down to towels, soap, extra pillows, blankets etc. The best thing about it is that there’s a built in heater that keeps us nice and warm, hot water and also free wireless!! Oh and I forgot to mention there’s a fully functioning BBQ grill also.

Throughout the weekend, we just hang around, watch some shows on Netflix, take walks on the dock, tried to fish but no luck. =(

You can also rent a boat to go fishing but we didn’t do that. So..in total, 3 families went with 13 adults and 2 kids. It was a lot of fun to just relax and eat! I ate so much over the weekend I gained 3 pounds when I came back. >.<

The only complaint I have on this trip is the drive there! Its not that long (about 2.5 hrs from my place) but there’s one part of the road that’s really tricky as we had to navigate through the mountain. Think Lombard Street but 15 mins longer. It was kinda scary at night when you can’t see anything and have to go at 20mph.

I would definitely want to go there again and now I know what to bring and what not to. As it was our first time going there, we prepared for the worst. Bringing our own blankets, sleeping bags, portable heater, pots and lots of extra food which was unnecessary as there’s a Walmart 15 mins drive away. Well, next time we know!

Now for some pictures of the place.