Wonderful Vacation!

We are back from Grand Canyon/Vegas and it was a wonderful trip!

We left the house Thursday morning at 6am to drive to Arizona. At lunch time, we stopped at Cracker Barrel, known for good Southern food, and ordered Pork Chops, Meat Loaf, Hashbrown Casserole for lunch.

We got to the Grand Canyon around 2:30pm and it was SUPER windy. Whenever we opened our mouths to talk, we would get a mouthful of sand. Despite the crunchy taste in our mouths, the Grand Canyon was a sight to behold. It's virutally impossible to grasp the size of it and photos do not do it justice. With the winds blowing furiously, my knees got really shaky. Jien was bravely standing at the edge taking in the sights, while I was skirting the path trying to stand as far away from the edge as possible. I had too many "whoa" moments on a regular hiking trail to feel comfortable being so close to the edge that plunges 7000 feet, even with barriers and all.

Along the Rim Trail, there were a ton of spectacularly twisty looking trees. With one especially, I couldn't help wanting to climb it....so I did.

Our little Cabin was cozy and rustic, and just steps away from the edge of the Grand Canyon. Wonderful location!

That night, we walked to the Maswik lodge for dinner...regular food court sandwich and fries kind of food, but the walk back was in TOTAL darkness. Aside from the resort areas, there were no street lamps and we left our torchlight in our room. So it made for a real interesting night walk. The stars were out and they were beautiful. It felt like we were gazing into the cosmos. Unfortunately, we were pelted by more gusty winds and after a few minutes of eating more sand, we were done. We found out later that the freeway into the Grand Canyon was closed due to sandstorms and were feeling mighty lucky that we managed to make it through earlier.

The next day, we took shuttles that dropped us off at different lookout points and enjoyed a calmer day sightseeing.

By afternoon, we left for Vegas. It should have taken us 2 hours or so to get there, but because of the spring break crowd at the Grand Canyon, our drive lasted 4 hours.

As Vegas veterans, we've tried different hotels, but our stay at the Trump has to be one of our best experiences. This is mainly because we were upgraded from a regular studio suite to a one-bedroom suite. I bet there were a ton of empty rooms considering the state of the economy. There was a full kitchen with refrigerator, microwave, oven, dishwasher, all stainless steel no less, dining room, living room, guest bathroom with standing shower, bedroom and master bedroom. Our jaws dropped as we walked into the master bathroom. The view was wonderful on the 38th floor and that TV inset in the glass mirror was the icing on the cake. How opulent.

The only thing about this place is that it is right by some train tracks and we would hear the train at all hours of the day...and odd hours at night.

We went to Penang (a Malaysian restaurant) for dinner the first night. Ooh boy..the Chai Tao Kway (they call it something else) , Beef Rendang and seafood hor fun were all super yummy. We even had Durian Sticky Rice dessert. I wish there was a Penang closer to our home in the San Fernando Valley. Went back for lunch the next day and the Char Kway Teow brought us back to Singapore, in our imagination at least.

The next night, we went to the Wynn for a buffet dinner. The spread was not too bad, but our buffet days are effectively over. We hardly even went back for seconds even though the Prime Rib was juicy and the crab legs were oh-so succulent.

After dinner, we headed out onto the Vegas Strip and at 8:30pm on Sat March 28 (Earth Hour) , we saw all the lights go out on the strip. That was quite a sight. I guess Vegas never had a need for too many street lamps because the hotels were bright enough for miles, but when the lights went off, the sidewalks were dark. Interesting place to be for Earth Hour.

We finally made our way home Sunday evening and got in around midnight.

It was a nice restful trip and we cannot wait for the next one.

(We'll be going to Yosemite for a weekend in a few weeks and will post more pictures then!)

Quick updates on the yard: the composite wood decking hasn't been laid yet. We are just waiting that that to be done and the job will be completed. We are heading to Ikea this weekend because it's No Sales Tax weekend and we will be getting some patio furniture for the space!

Work is underway...

We've finally started work on our backyard...well, not "we" per se but the nice, hardworking construction folk we hired for the job. They arrive before 7am in the morning and by the time we come home from work, they've already accomplished what they set out to do.

The weeds have been plucked, soil compacted, and snake holes closed up. Yes, we've come to determine those sporadic little holes in the ground were in fact snake holes since they were too small to be gopher holes and the air-conditioning guy just found said snake underneath one of our outdoor A/C units. It's one of those garden variety snakes, practically harmless or so I've heard. Neither of us are huge reptile fans. Let's just hope the displaced snakes will find some other hillside to tunnel through.

It gets better.... On the first day of work, one of the guys mentioned there was a dead cat on the hillside. It wasn't on our lot but on community property. Since it couldn't have been more than 12 feet away, the workers were smelling some advanced decomposition and had to cover the remains with sand. Let's just hope:

A. The cat wasn't someone's pet, and
B. It wasn't the snakes that got it.

Everything else was smooth sailing....
The guys built a wooden structure to contain the concrete that was to be poured over the ground.



They moved the drains to the right locations in the recessed pits. In case you were wondering, the pits mark where the dark expresso color Trex composite wood decking will go. (That was quite a mouthful.)



Rocks/Pebbles will line the side of the house and outdoor lighting will be installed.

We are still about a week away from completion, so there will be more photos in a bit. Just not this weekend since we're going to the Grand Canyon and Vegas! No homework for one whole weekend, amazing sights and endless buffets. I can't wait.

An Approval Notice

It's been a while since my last post, so here are some updates:

1. No artwork was attempted over the December break despite 2 consecutive long weekends from work and a 3 week break from school. =) Regardless, we had a good restful holiday season.

2. Chinese New Year was quiet this year, as it usually is with us here in LA. We had a good steamboat hotpot dinner at home though. The weather was nice and cold outside. It was perfect weather for hot soup. I think for next year I'm going to put up some red auspicious CNY decorations to get us into the mood.

3. We FINALLY submitted our plans for our backyard and just received the approval from HOA! It's been rainy and cold the past 2 weeks and it looks like there's going to be another bout of rain this weekend. Hence, construction might not begin till March. In the meantime, here are some "before" pictures of our weedy little backyard through the window in the stairwell.

It's been cold and rainy...

We took a little trip to an outdoor landscaping supply store to check out the different kinds of rocks/gravel/pebbles suitable for our backyard...


4. I've been thinking of getting a digital piano as well. "Digital" so that I never have to worry about tuning the piano ever. But prices are high and Yamaha is unrelenting. =( This will be another work in progress.

5. Artwork - I have gone through ideas, rejected them, and then changed my mind a thousand times. All I know is that I will be making or painting or gluing something for our walls. It will be done...eventually.

Maybe I can be inspired by this series of pictures I took of a spectacular sunset, from our living room window.

Till the next post!

It's been awhile...

Sorry for disappearing for so long. With school and work and everything else, it's hard to find time for updates. But still, no excuses. Nothing has really changed much since the last time. With more holidays coming up in December, we'll have more time to paint and mount some new artwork. Stay tuned for those pictures. It will be interesting to see how they turn out. =)

As for our perpetually undone backyard, we are still debating whether or not to proceed with construction. We received a bid from a pretty good company but quality = high prices and right now, we're not exactly keen on spending. It looks like we'll be dragging our feet a little bit more on this issue, but we probably won't proceed until we are comfortable. We'll post more updates once we decide to go ahead.

Unfortunately, I don't have any new pictures this time, but I will next time I post. Till then...

New Additions

Things are starting to come together nicely. New items are being added bit by bit and our solar shades for the living room should be installed by the end of the month.




Roller Shades from Ikea that we installed ourselves (in the basement office).






Mounting the TV over the fireplace was a little nerve wrecking. We left it to the pros.






New dining set and coffee table from Plummers. They were part of the "Weng" series, same name as my (Elaine's) dad. Coincidence or fate? =)








We just love the contemporary combination of wood/metal/glass.








We're still at square one with our odd little backyard but we do have some inkling of what we want. Getting HOA approval is a little daunting since they need to see actual architectural plans and we're not sure we're even hiring an architect to "design" our backyard. Someone once commented we should just throw together some rocks and call it a day. Let's hope we can gain some headway soon.

Winding Roads

We've been talking a lot about how we love the drive to and from work everyday. Basically, we have to cut through the canyons to get to the ocean, and I get off in Santa Monica while Jien has another 10-15 minute drive to Marina Del Rey. We've been carpooling in a bid to save fuel and it's been fun! I decided to take videos to give everyone a glimpse of the commute, but please be warned that the footage is shaky. My hands weren't as steady as I hoped and the weather certainly wasn't helpful this week. Everything seems grey and dreary. On a clear day though, the sights are spectacular!











Also, we finally cleared the basement office and set up all closets. One interesting fact: Other than the new dark brown desks with metal legs seen in the middle of the room, everything else in the office/entertainment area were brought over from our old apartment! We brought most of our furniture over and things have been working out well. Here are some updated pictures.

We placed the order for Solar Shades to be installed in our kitchen/living room today. Can't wait to see it up! It's going to take about a month though. So we're going to have to wait patiently for now. Till the next time!