Birthday weekend- the fantabulous san diego

Well, the title of the post is pretty self-explanatory. so the surprise getaway was.... San Diego.

We left late at night on friday (08-08-08), traffic was horrendous. So we stopped at Hooters for dinner by Ontario Mills.

1/2 spicy garlic, 1/2 911

since john is not a big fan of wings, he ordered the cheeseburger.

Here are some pictures from the trip.

that's the hotel we stayed at... i know it looks like an office building, but i swear it's a hotel

the marina, right in front of the hotel

my breakfast plateand his...

my favorite part of the trip ... jet ski! it was so much fun... we could see the sea lions playing in the water... and on the deck getting a tan (not that they need it... ). They are so cute.

i snapped this picture of the jet ski we rented, it was a shame that we didn't bring our camera after this point. Otherwise I could show you how close we were to the sea lions...I googled jet skiing and found this picture just so I can post it. so you have an idea how much fun it was... not that you don't already know!!!
We also went to the beach, the mission beach. If you remember from the previous post about my trip to the San Diego Air Show, I mentioned I wanted to hang out at the beach next time if we have more time and are better prepared. So here we are, fulfilling my wish...

i didn't see any cute lifeguards though...

i have no idea what he is searching for... but he is very patient i can tell ya.

I am going to share a very sexy picture of my husband... girls... don't drool ya...? :P haha... look at my man... such a good sport for letting me snap this picture of him

and then of course there's me...i will spare you guys more pictures of me in a bikini... tee hee.. :-P

We also hung out at the pool at our hotel.

there are cabanas by the pool if you want a massage by the pool... pretty neat... gotta try it some of these days.

For dinner we went to Roy's, a hawaiian fusion.... so good!!!

our appetizer- seared ahi tuna

macademia nut crusted mahi mahi

grilled salmon

for my birthday, they made me the coffee creme brulee, on the house... how sweet... they wrote Happy Birthday Adeline in Hawaiian...

chocolate souffle

here john was on the phone with work!

we took this picture from our room.... there was a wedding going on... how romantic... by the sea..

and the pool.... from our room

john took this... it's the building of our hotel. he thinks it's cool

the pool again

and the marina

After dinner, we took a walk at downtown San Diego which was literally few minutes walk away.. This is where the night life scenes are... many pubs and clubs.

awww... i have to post this. so sweet... (i think.. you can have a different opinion :P) don't worry, we put the camera on auto timer. we didn't make our photographer sit through this. the picture looked so good in black and white so we kept playing with it

here's john in black and white

and me in color... hehee

we went back to our hotel and hung out at the lounge...

to drink...

Next morning, we noticed this...

burnt. he burns easily due to... umm.. err... his skin color? lol... you can see the vest line (from jetskiing).

this is the famous hotel in san diego, Hotel Del Coronado, they have very beautiful beach

the wedding story- part II (girls getting ready)

Girls getting ready

my very very talented hair and make up artists

they make me beautiful....
meanwhile, my mom and sister getting ready- it was chaotic

my bridesmaid helped me get into my dress... they told me: ok... 1... 2... suck in! and i did.... i felt like i can't bend over for the rest of the day.... but it was all worth it. :)))

grace put my in lovely hair pins
making sure it's in place
and my sister put my necklace on

ha-ha.. so this is really not a very sexy picture. I've seen many brides put on a garter and they look super sexy and attractive in pictures. After all it is a very sexy thing.... me? I looked like i was putting on a boxing gloves ready for a boxing match.... tsk tsk tsk... i really wish i could be more feminine in this picture... if i would have known that somebody is taking picture of me, i would have acted all lady-like.

Next Up: The Guys getting ready.

all pictures credit: sir harrison photography

the wedding story - part I (the details)

I promised to post some pictures of the wedding. Seriously the wedding day is all a blur to me. I will try to remember as much detail as I can.

Wedding details:









all pictures credit: sir harrison photography

so it's my birthday

so it's my birthday today. I am excited... it's a very pretty date. Everyone wants to get married today, the Chinese love this date. Anyway, I am excited because I am going away for the weekend with John. Apparently it's a surprise gift, so i won't know where we are going until we are actually leaving later today. I told john that he can never give me any surprises because he tends to tell me everything, if not tell, he will elude to it. So i always know what he is going to do before he can actually give me any surprise. There's a Chinese saying that goes something like this... whenever he moves his tail, i know what he is thinking. haha .... i think i got the msg across. anyway, so i told him that. he got defensive so this time, he is very adamant of not telling me where we are going. at least i know what we are doing... we are going away for the weekend. i being the very nosy person of course would not let him keep this surprise away from me. so i kept bugging him for the last couple days to find out where exactly we are going. i've tried so many ways to get it out from him but to no luck! i've been trying to trick him by saying that i now where we are going so he would say something, still no luck. I guess he is very determined to prove me wrong and that he can give me a surprise. :)

So far, the clues i've gathered are:

1) it's going to be 83 degrees during the day and 68 at night

2) it's about 1-2 hours away from our house

Last night, i was trying to guess where we are going.

me: i know where we are going... we are going to ventura beach

john: maybe... maybe not (keeping a straight face)

few minutes later:

me: oh oh i know where! we are going to huntington beach!

john: maybe... maybe not

me: awww... come one... give me some clues, is it somewhere we've been before?

john: probably

me: babe... you gotta tell me something so i know what to pack

(so that's how i got my 1st clue)

and then later:

me: how far is it? what time do we have to leave?

(so that's how i got my second clue)

me: do i need to pack my bathing suits?

john: yes, bring a couple

this doesn't do me any good because most hotels has pool.

me: are there shopping malls nearby?

john: yes

(doesn't do me any good either, almost everywhere has malls)

me: wait a minute... did you spend a lot on the hotel? did you get deals on the hotel off the internet? don't waste so much money! (ok, this is me... so me, i want to spend, i don't want to spend, i want it, i don't want it)

john: but i am spending it on you though (true.)

me: ok whatever you do, don't get me flowers on my birthday. put the money towards a nice dinner.

john: ok.

so it went on and on all night with me trying to guess where... still not a single clue (other than those listed above) that i got from him. i still remember at one point we were in bed, lights out, i was lying in his arm, my eyes wide open and he was fast asleep... i punished him by:

me: babe... you think we are going to ... (i forgot what i said, haha)

john: (groggy) maybe, maybe not (voice slowly fades away)

me: okok (patted on his chest) go back to sleep, good night

john: good n.....

so that's it. now i am sitting at home waiting for him to come home, so i will find out where we are going. i will definitely let you guys know when i come back! i betcha it's one of those places i guessed! ;)

on a side note, last night my parents in law came over for dinner. no picture of food... or else i can show u the garlic and herb steaks that i made, which i just learned through the cooking channel. instead of the orzo salad, we made corn, mashed potatoes and dinner rolls to go with the steaks. i didn't want to bring my camera out and start taking pictures of the food in front of them. the last thing i want is for them to think that their son married a psycho woman... which in some ways, i could be.

there's my ice cream cake. you can sort of see the desserts (cinnamon sugar fruit biscuit) that i made. i should say half made. The other half was from the refrigerated tube buttermilk. super easy recipe that i found from the recipe magazine.

so silly in this picture...

a rare opportunity

So since my parents decided to leave earlier than the scheduled date, i won't be able to celebrate my mom's birthday (7/31), dad's birthday (8/06) and my birthday (08/08) respectively. We took them to a lobster dinner (the night before they flew out) at Newport Tan Cang to celebrate their birthdays... sorta.

we ordered steamed fish

and the house special lobster (ooo... i love this!)

the almost gone fish, tofu seafood soup

my mom sipping the chinese tea

jocelyn took a picture for us outside the restaurant.

of course, again... the food is not up to par to their expectations.

When they were here, most nights they will be chatting with their friends:

this is funny. i like how my dad makes FULL use of his web cam chat. when he needed to convey a written msg, he wrote on a piece of paper and held it up to the camera, so his friend can read what his msg instead of typing it on the computer. anyway, i am amazed that they know how to use the computer. few years ago i was surprised when my sister said they each own a cell phone and texting each other. my parents are tech-savvy :-)

my mom checking out the bbq grill. yes, we don't have a balcony/ patio. so we have to wheel our bbq grill out the garage each time we need to use it. it seems funny but when everyone in the neighborhood does it, it's not so odd.


that's what in the grill (my parents love grilled corn)

hanging out at the garage waiting for the corn to be ready

the kitchen was conquered by them the whole time they were here

i took a picture of my dad trying to thread the needle, my mom couldn't get it so she turned to my dad for help. it took him awhile to get it, john offered to help, but he refused.

sigh... how often you can see this? them hanging out at our house. gosh... i miss them
good bye!!! (at LAX)