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!

My wisdom teeth extraction

Yesterday, I finally went for my wisdom teeth procedure. I decided to take 2 out instead of 4 at once. I will take the other 2 out down the road when I need to. I dreaded the day would come, and it was finally here. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink after 12 midnight on Sunday night and my procedure wasn't until 11:30 the next morning. So I slept till 10:30 so I wouldn't feel hungry or thirsty.

Boy, I was terrified at the dental office. I cried like a baby on the dentist chair. Pretty embarrassing I know. A grown adult crying on the dentist chair. I tried to talk my way out of doing the surgery but there was no way out. Fortunately, the doctor and the nurses were very patient with me. John stayed with me in the room for as long as he could. Each time they tried to put the anesthesia on me, I told them to stop. Finally the very patient doctor was able to convince me that the medicine he is going to inject in me is going to calm me down. He applied some cold cream on my right arm where he was going to put the needle in. Probably some numbing cream. I was knocked out after that. When I woke up, they told me it was done. It felt like an instant. I was too groggy to think what just happened. The nurse wheeled me out on a wheelchair. I was probably able to walk, but I was groggy.

Once we got home, I continued to sleep. I was on painkillers (codine) so I didn't feel the pain but I was drowsy and nauseous. I've never been on painkillers before so it was probably too strong for me. John made me some beans and porridge for dinner. I threw up my dinner after the second dose of painkillers. I felt awful. John called the doctor to get a different prescription for me. So later that night, I was on vicodin and anti nausea pills and continued to sleep. The doctor to call to check on my condition before he went to sleep last night. I thought that was very nice.

This morning, I woke up fine. I didn't feel any unbearable pain, so I stoped taking the painkillers. I think the painkillers made me worse. It feels a little uncomfortable still but nothing major. The recovery is better than we thought. We were so proud of me. :) Throughout the day, I will need to rinse my mouth with salt water. Today, I will continue with my soft food diet and hopefully when Christmas comes, I will be able to eat!!! Ahh... I am so glad it is finally over! I really thought i was going to die. :) A drama queen i know. That is for now... till the next 2... :(

Miserable looking chocolate balls

For my company potluck this year, I attempted to make chocolate cake truffles. I used one of June's recipes here. It was really the only chocolate cake truffles recipe that I could find from the internet. Her recipe calls for chocolate cake which many chocolate truffle recipes don't call for it. So I thought I would give this a try since it's kind of unique. I failed the first time around and attempted again the following night. Sure glad I started making it on Tues night because I had Wednesday night to try it again. And if I failed the 2nd time, I have Thurs night to try again. The potluck was on Friday. So the first batch of my choc truffles didn't turn out good because I failed to follow instructions. I mixed and matched a few other recipes with June's. I added some other ingredients while mainly relying on June's recipe. Long story short, the first batch was a disaster because I couldn't seem to roll a perfect ball size. It was too soft, and I didn't realize it wasn't supposed to be like that. Had I known, I would have added more choc cake to harden it. Anyway, it doesn't taste bad, it's just gooey. I tried again the second night, and after more consulting from June, I was able to make a nicer batch. It is not perfect still, but it was good enough for me. =) This time, I made sure I followed exactly what June's recipe called for. However, I still had problem coating the choc balls. I guess the melted choc was too thick for me to coat them properly.

look at the chocolate coating... terrible job :(

here's a closer look at how miserable they look

and then i melted some white chocolate for decoration... hoping that it will cover the flaws... but of course it turned out miserable too...
i took it to work anyway... =) They tasted very good. So what the heck!? :)

the leftovers, i packed it into little cutesy boxes for friends.

It took me 2 attempts to get decent looking chocolate cake truffles. It was a hit at the company potluck but hopefully, I will make a prettier batch in the future. Thanks June for the wonderful recipe!

I hate the dentist!

No, this is not specific to any dentist. Just dentists in general. Since young, I dread going to the dentist. I remember in the old days when my mom took my sister to the dentist, there were 2-3 people helping my mom pin my sister down while the dentist did his thing. My sister struggled so hard that it was almost impossible for the dentist to work on her. At some point, they gave up and sent us home. I was too young to understand what was going on then. But I knew. I knew that was not a nice place and no kids (not even adults!) like to be there. I threw a fit, I threw tantrums, I cried, whenever my mom tried to take me there. She had to bribe me with candies, toys and anything cute to get me to go. I fell for it each time. I even fell for cute little stupid erasers.

As I grew up, I knew better. I didn't fall for my mom's bribe anymore. I knew better than to fall for some stupid little erasers. So I stopped going regularly. I avoided going to the dentist if I could. I didn't do my yearly check up as I was supposed to. I went when I absolutely had to. I am blessed that I have no major problems with my teeth for not visiting the dentist as often as I should. Yea, I did have fillings done here and there but nothing major.

I am older now and hopefully wiser. I know I can't avoid going to the dentist. I know it's easier to take care of it now rather than later. And I knew at some point, my luck will run out. So I started going to the dentist twice a year for cleaning and check-ups. Although I still cringed at the idea of going to the dentist each time.

Couple of weeks ago, I was due at the dentist for my cleaning and check up. I propped myself down on the deadly chair, changed the channel to foodnetwork, trying hard to make myself comfortable and ignore the dental hygienist presence. When she was done, she was trying to explain my problematic area. She thought she was being helpful by trying to visually show me my problem tooth. Does she not understand I just want to get out of there as soon as possible?! She put a little camera in my mouth, moved it around to explain what she saw. I swear she must have hated me. No other explanation for what she did to me. My knees went weak when I saw my tooth blast into a BIG computer screen in front of me. Hearing her suggest the possible treatment I need doesn't help the situation. The dentist finally came in. Looked at the x rays and report. Alas! My most fearful news. He suggested that I have my wisdom teeth taken out. Although, they are pretty healthy right now, they grew in such odd shapes that I constantly have food stuck in there. Cavities are bound to happen. I promised him that I will make sure to keep my teeth clean every night before I go to sleep. Of course that didn't go far with him. He said the teeth grew in such odd shapes (especially the 2 on the right side) that it is impossible for me to keep it clean. So getting rid of it now will save many problems later.

I got his referral and made an appointment with an oral surgeon. I got another x-ray done there and this is way cool. The machine went around my head from left to right slowly. I felt like I was being scanned to see if I was from another planet or something. Anyway, as predicted I do need to take all 4 of my wisdom teeth out. I threw out the idea of getting the 2 that are more problematic out first and the other 2 later down the road. The idea quickly got shot down when the oral surgeon said I will be going through the procedure twice. Get knocked out twice, going through the recovery twice! Hmmm.... no thanks! Once is painful enough.

I have heard conflicting stories about the experience of extracting wisdom teeth out. Some say it is not that bad and some say you will be in excruciating pain for weeks and you will be on a liquid diet for weeks. For a person who fears going to the dentist each time, this procedure doesn't sound fun at all. They assured me that I will not feel a thing since I will be put to sleep. How can this not sound scary?? Put to sleep? What if i never wake up? What if they screw up? Can you imagine you have no clue what they do to you while you were knocked out?? So there is also that! There are a lot of "what ifs" in the house for the past few days that drive John up the wall! lol, poor guy. I am super nervous not only is this a dental procedure (I swear, if this is another health issue, I may not be this nervous!), it is also because I will be put to sleep since I've never had to go through anything like that. John didn't think it is such a big deal. It's easy for him to say. He has had many surgeries done over the years. Yes, he is refurbished.

I haven't made my appointment for the surgery yet. I am trying to buy some time. But how much longer can I postpone it? :( And I keep thinking, do I really need to take all 4 of them out?

Anyway, here's something for your eye candy to brighten up your day and to increase your appetite for the day! :)))

my x ray :))))))