Lake Tahoe for new year

We are spending our new year at Lake Tahoe this year! And if I feel brave enough, I might hit the slopes! :P

http://www.skiheavenly.com/

source here

See you guys next year!

Fish taco craving

Lately I've been crazy about fish tacos! I love love love the fish tacos at the Ventura farmers market. Unfortunately, the location (about an hour away from where we live) and the time (only on every Sunday morning) make it hard to satisfy my unpredictable crazy cravings. Thanks to John, I now found a restaurant that offers fish tacos as good as the ones at the farmers market. Okay, maybe not equally as good, but it is definitely up to par! Yes, it is Rubio's! I see them everywhere but never thought of eating there. Until John suggested Rubio's when I was craving for fish tacos one day. Since then, i was hooked. The price is pretty reasonable since it is sort of a fast food chain restaurant. They offer a variety of Mexican food but I have not tried anything new on their menu except for their fish tacos. Now I can easily satisfy my fish taco cravings!

Christmas lights around the neighborhood

On Christmas night, after a fun filled evening at Debbie's, we cruised around the neighborhood to see houses decorated with Christmas lights. I think there are more houses decorated with Christmas lights this year.

all the traffic to see these beautiful decorated houses

They are amazing, aren't they?! So Christmassy...... :))))

my fun fun christmas

This year christmas, as usual, we went to Debbie's. For some reason, this year was a lot more fun than previous years. Maybe because the kids are older? And their toys are cooler this year. This year, Jacob is able to unwrap his own presents without the help from his big sister. Christmas is always more fun when there are kids around. It was so fun to see their faces when they unwrapped each gift. They were thrilled and excited! They got lots of presents! All the cool new toys which many of them were not pictured below.

say cheese.......
open open open.....
santa got Jacob a thomas the train wooden track table because he has been a good boy
where's my thomas train...??
he also has a mini track
uncle john checking out jacob's cool new toy
Jacob: which one? which one... too many selections...
this years most popular toy... the zhu zhu pet. And these lucky kids got the whole set!
we got some cool new stuff too! :D
Debbie got a new set of wine glasses... :D
dad got some new polo shirts from Debbie
mom got a Wii induction charger here
happy happy faces :)

After opening presents, it was time for some yummy prime rib!!! That's why people love Christmas so much. The kids get lots of new toys and the adults get to eat!!! and not to mention drink! :-) Although I was a little jealous of the kids new toys! Hmmm...now if only Jasmine will share some of her cool new toys with me. ;) John was already playing with Jacob's remote control Thomas train all night!

Newport Christmas Boat Parade

Last weekend, we decided to check out the Newport Christmas Boat Parade. It was a long drive from where we live but we thought we'd go check it out. It is held every year at Newport Beach in the month of December. Yachts, boats, kayaks, and canoes were decorated with Christmas lights and sail along the harbor accompanied with Christmas songs.

In my humble opinion, it was not really worth the hassle and drive for us. If you are in the neighborhood, you could stop by to view these richly decorated vessels. Or you could make a, way in advance, reservation at one of those restaurants along the harbor. You could get a very good view sitting by the harbor and enjoy a romantic dinner with your spouse.

We parked a couple miles away and walked to it to avoid the traffic and crowd. We were an hour early so we managed to get a good view from the bridge. Here are some of the ones that came out decent from the camera:

Some owners really went all out. Gotta give them credit for that. From the website, it says some owners went as far as spending $50,000 to decorate their vessel for this event. Wow!

I grew up drinking this...

I was so excited when i saw these at the chinese grocery market a couple months ago. I know we can get them here at most Asian markets but I was never really looking for them, until I stumbled upon them. I explained to John the stories behind this drink, telling him stories about my childhood since he is from another planet and has no idea what good stuff we have in Malaysia. I got it for him to try. And he likes it... I mean come on... who doesn't? ;P

can't wait for 2010!

source

Wow.. it is Christmas eve already! We would like to wish everyone a very very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope 2010 will be a whole lot better year! I know it's going to be... =) It will definitely be better!!! Just the number alone looks a lot better. 2010. Isn't that pretty? Ahhhh... what a pretty year ahead of us...

Happy New Year everyone!

The night that everything went so wrong

I wanted to go Disneyland this month. Period. Yes, it may be the busiest month ever to go but it was also the most beautiful month to go. It had been almost 3 years since the last time I went with John. Janet, our lovely friend who works for Disney was able to take us in for free. Since weekends are block out dates for her, Friday the 18th was the only day she can take us. So on Friday evening, we waited for John to get off work to drive down to Anaheim together. Boy, we were stuck in the holiday traffic for 3 hours and when we finally got there, we circled in the parking lot for an hour to finally find a spot. Instead of getting there at 6-7 like we initially planned, we got there at almost 9! Just in time for the fireworks. It was a magical experience of course. When you are in Disneyland, everything just seems so magical. Everything seems so carefree like anything is possible. :) At least to me... that's why i love Disneyland so much.

still excited despite the horrible traffic experience getting there... taking the tram on our way in to Disneyland along with a zoo of people!

Once we got to the entrance, there were long lines everywhere. Thank goodness the lines were moving pretty fast.

the beautiful magic castle.the zoo of people... it was the most crowded Disneyland I've even been

the fireworks started 1/2 hour later.... with Disney songs blasting on the background, it was just such a magical experience. Until some jerk cut in front of our view! When the fireworks finally stopped, it snowed! Yes, it snowed in southern cali. I told you anything is possible in Disneyland =) It was soooooo beautiful! After the fireworks, we quickly made our way to "It's a small world" ride.

more long lines.

some of the cute decor that john took pictures of.

Vinylmation that Janet is currently collecting. She bought a few more to add to her collection.

on our way out.... till next time!

It was still a wonderful night although with a few bumps along the way. I still love Disneyland and I did enjoy the few hours we spent there. Thank you Janet and Jimmy for the free pass!