ATTENTION CHEESECAKE LOVERS!

Cheesecake factory was offering $1.50 for all their selection of cheesecakes yesterday. Limit 1 slice per customer and only good for dine-in only. Yesterday also happened to be National Cheesecake Day! No idea such day existed but whatever. I sent out an email to some of my co-workers yesterday about this exciting news. Unfortunately there is none in this area and the closest cheesecake factory would be in Sherman Oaks. It really doesn't make sense to drive all the way down there for $1.50 cheesecake with the gas prices being so expensive now. So none of them were interested.

I was really excited about it and made plans with our friends to have dinner there. We all drove down there in one car (which the drive wasn't that bad, it took us 1/2 to get there... yay for no traffic!) and met with John at the restaurant since it makes more sense for him to go there directly after work. Nonetheless, the restaurant was packed. I guess everybody heard about the deal. We waited for about an hour to get seated. Well, the wait wasn't that bad since there are 7 of us. Time flew by quickly when you were talking nonsense with your friends. DSW Shoe Warehouse is around the corner, which the girls went shopping while waiting. So really, the wait wasn't that bad when you have friends around.

John and I shared a salad and a meal to leave room for our cheesecake. Smart move! I always order the same Fresh Banana Cream Cheesecake, but this time i decided to take the risk a little and got a White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle instead. mmm... yummy. John got Caramel Pecan Turtle. I am not a big fan of caramel, so i wasn't too crazy about his. Everyone ordered different flavors and was loving it.

here's my yummy white chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake. i forgot to take a picture of it after half way through digging that thing. No camera anywhere, so i used my crappy camera phone. hence... the picture quality is so poor

We weren't able to finish all of our cheesecake, took the rest home in this cute bag.

It does sound stupid now driving down there for the $1.50 cheesecake but I enjoyed the dinner very much. And oh, I still have 1/2 a slice leftover sitting in the fridge :)

On a random note, here's a picture for your pleasure

also taken from a camera phone. shane came over for dinner one night. after dinner we called up Tim to hang out at our community pool. this is what happened when 3 guys get together and soaked in the spa. the spa produces so much foam that night, hate to think what those foam contains. ewww...

our sin city trip

After the wedding, we took our family to vegas. We stayed at the Monte Carlo because we got some internet special deal. The weather was horrible. It was so hot... unbearable. We tried to stay indoors at all times. We didn't do anything exhausting... the most exhausting activity, I would say walking!!! We walked so much from the north strip to the south strip. I think my sister enjoyed this trip the most. She went shopping like crazy and bought her dream bag that she has always wanted. me? stood and looked with envy *hint hint* hehehe. My dad's favorite thing about vegas would be watching people gambling. He can stand there for hours just watching people gambling. -_-

Me? My favorite activity in vegas is still watching the spectacular water fountain show infront of Bellagio. I can stand there all night watching it over and over again. It's absolutely breathtaking...

big jackpot - this big jackpot cost $5 for each hit

m&m's store..... pretty pretty pretty.... me and the m&m's of course! haha

look at all these colors!the monkey is my favorite!

i rubbed this huge gigantic err...lion? for luck haha...

a group pic taken by the server. this restaurant is located next to the pool at the hotel where we were staying at.
mom & dad at the Bellagio Botanical Garden
the also newly weds at the Pyramid Hotel. My brother in law was basically carrying the bag the entire trip.we walked and walked and walked after the sun goes down
and during the day, we stayed indoor lazying around in the room with ac cranking hard full blast.

None of us really gamble. Yes I know... Vegas.... no gamble? Who am i kidding right? John and I stopped by the roulette table and threw $5 on # 6 and $10 on #28 just for the heck of it hoping that our wedding date would bring us some luck just like last year. Little did we expect, #6 hit. John and I looked at each other disbelief. We couldn't believe our luck! We high fiv-ing each other took the winning bet and left. Hell no we are sticking around and play more, we know what will happen next! So we walked away proud and happy. The pay out is 1 to 36, not too much for our $5 bet, but it's the satisfaction! The exact same thing happened last year when we went to Laughlin after our civil ceremony. We bet on #5 and #25 and #25 hit! deja vu.....

Think Blue

On July 12th, I took my parents to the dodgers game. It was my first baseball game, so i was pretty excited. My company was offering some discounted tickets. So I grabbed the opportunity and bought 4 tickets. I am not a baseball fan at all... and I have to admit that I don't understand the rules of the game and how they score no matter how many times it was explained to me. So I don't know why I want to go so bad, probably for the discounted tickets.

I told my parents I will be taking them to watch a ball game and it will be interesting. Told them that they will never experience this in Malaysia. Haha, so that kind of got their hopes high. They were excited that evening... not knowing what their daughter has got them into. :P

The traffic to LA city has always been bad especially on a game night. So we were stuck in traffic for almost 2 hours. Sitting in the car with nothing to do gave me and John a very good opportunity to talk and discuss "now-what" kind of thing now that the wedding is over. we kind of talked about moving out of LA but who knows if that's gonna happen.

Finally we arrived at the stadium but our mood has dampened a little after sitting in the car for so long and our very serious future conversation didn't help lighten the mood either.

Anyway, I'll let the pictures speak for itself.

the full parking lot, we parked so far that I think we walked a good half mile to get into the stadium

my mom waving at me wearing my green abercrombie hooded jacket

walking towards the stadium, you can see the huge crowd of people.

Since this was a company sorta event, most of my co-workers were there. We got there and saw some friends and I introduced my family to my co-workers. So yes, my boss finally met John. :) I'm glad he didn't bring up "The Rules".

I know my parents were pretty bored at the game since they do not understand what was going on, but i must say they were pretty cool. My mom even played the "wave" when it comes to our turn and my dad even started chatting up with the girl next to him (a girl that works with me but i have never really talked to her before!!). So on Monday, we ran into each other and she said "your dad is cute". :-)

all the running around

and more...

i had john took a picture for us, unfortunately it doesn't show how good our seats were. We had what they call it the field box seats.

of course i wanted a bag of peanuts ... nope... no beer that night

we left at the 11th inning... yes, the game went on forever since it was a tie 3-3. Pardon their appearance, they just woke up. :) Finally a picture to go with the title of the post.

a day at the OC

We went to the National Train Show in Anaheim today. I didn't know if it would be interesting, but at least it gave us something to do. We left mid morning, stopped by Walnut (where i used to live) for lunch. I am surprised at all the changes in the last 3 years. There are much much more stores. Anyway, we had lunch at a taiwanese cafe called Yummy House. My parents don't really fancy the food here much, no matter which chinese restaurant I took them to, they are still very loyal to malaysian food. I agree, nothing compares to the local malaysian dishes.

Anyway, we arrived at Anaheim Convention center. Looks like it's a kids event. There are so many kids around. It was kinda boring for me as I don't really know much about trains but seeing how much details and attention these people put in, is amazing. Their effort is unbelievable.

this is made out of lego who's this big guy? :)
really really cute model of a circus
we were all bored.....

had to have them take a picture with american flag

After an hour and half walking around, we left to the OC Fair which was going on nearby. Traffic was horrible but we managed to park and got our tickets. This event was much more fun and I believed my parents had more fun here. There are many many things to see and the weather wasn't too hot. We spent the next 4 hours here. My dad wanted to go on one of those crazy rides but was turned down by my mom. Reason: he is 70 and has high blood pressure. I think he sometimes forgets how old he is. As much as i wanted him to have fun, I have to say no too.

we took a picture for my mom and dad

and then my mom returns the favor :)

i forgot what this was, but he wants to take a picture with it.... so

haha... they didn't pose for me. i thought this would be a good picture to build my photographer portfolio (kidding!)

john getting ticketsso we can play ring a duck.... :)

We also used our tickets to enter the very pathetic haunted house. It was lousy. We basically used up all our tickets here.

And then there is a barn with different kind of animals. Somehow i only have pictures of the pigs!

cute piglet

this Hampshire pig is huge... she's 4and a half years old

we stopped to rest and take picture

what can i say? we like to return each others favors

the must have when going to a fair.... the funnel cake!

she wanted a picture with pumpkins

and i wanted a picture with sand castle

Fergie was going to perform tonight but we were too tired to stay. We left to go to Rowland Heights for dinner with Alan. One of my favorite restaurants Phoenix Food Boutique. They have very good desert. Again my parents didn't care much for their food,

but they seem to like this, mango soy custard with tapioca

We got home around 9 something and as I told John, I had fun today. The OC fair is really worth going. There is so much to see and do. Passing through the carnival, it reminded me of pesta port dickson. haha...

i find this very intriguing, so i had to take a picture of it.... :)))

they are finally here!!!

my awesomest photographer finally called john to let him know that they will be sending over the passcode to him to view the photos online. Not only that, Rosie told John to check out their new blog! I've been waiting patiently for the photos to come. When 2 weeks after the wedding hit, still haven't heard anything from Sir, I send John to do the "dirty job". He called up sir and they promised to get the pictures to us in a day or two. And they are finally here!!! I am so honored to be featured in their new blog too.

well wishes

Thursday before my wedding was my last day of work before I was off for a week. Roxane my direct supervisor threw me a surprise luncheon at work. I was clueless, she did a good job. I felt loved... :) as John said I am no longer the hi bye girl. I am very very quiet at work. I don't talk much and my communication skills suck. So I don't really mingle with my co-workers that much. To know that they care enough to threw a surprise luncheon for me before my wedding ... is incredible. I was showered with gifts and many well wishes from my co-worker. The vice president included what he called "The Rules" in my card along with this note:

Adeline,

I've done this twice so I am getting pretty good at it. I finally realized that I did not give my first wife the proper instructions and training, so I include a copy of the Rules for your reference. Have a great day.

XXXX

So let me share his rules with you guys. Sorry, it might be a little blurry, I scanned them.

I showed it to John for a good laugh, need to say more... John already loves this guy. ;) I was told there is a version for women's rules too. Oh well.... :)

On a side note, the week after the wedding, we finally got this in the mail.

what??? you mean just a card?? we thought there will be at least a gift?! guess the economy is that bad. Anyway......