Sunday, May 1, 2011

running again

believe it or not i am running again.  my goal is to complete a half marathon without struggling and within 2:30.  the past two half marathons (SF Half on Nov 1, 2009 and Macau Half on Dec 6, 2009) i finished at 2:45 and was struggling pretty much the entire time.  this time i am properly training.  i am almost convinced that i can do this.  once i've registered for the Healdsburg Half to happen on Oct 29, 2011 then it's on!  i'm dragging T with me again.  it was a wonderful feeling to finish together at the SF Half.  :)

if you're interested in my progress, follow me here: http://runkeeper.com/user/yenvoong/

Saturday, February 26, 2011

where does the time go?

2011 has been rough on the "work" front.  i'm so lucky to have such a supportive bf through my 12-hour work days.  he's been cooking dinner almost nightly and even does "personal" shopping for me.  yes, im talking about bath soaps and other toiletry items.

february definitely flew by.  we spent chinese new year with my family and visited his family during his bro's red egg and ginger event.  then what was supposed to be a 3 day weekend turned out to be work at the office.  right now i finally got a free weekend to myself while the bf is at tahoe with the boys.

a friend who i havent seen since sept called me to catch up.  everyone is either getting married, having a baby or buying a house (or all of them!).  she recently bought a house with her bf and i'm sure she'll be engaged in no time.  i am so happy for those celebrating life's wonders.  bf's sis is getting married in oct and im seriously excited for her.  i also have two cousins getting married this year, one in august and another in oct.  we will likely attend the latter due to flight prices.  i am looking forward to it because that means we are visiting another european country, this time greece!

until then, cancun/cozumel in may!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

wise insight

a good friend of my said something that was so wise that it deserves a blog all to itself:

"your significant other is someone who helps you grow as a person because he/she tells you all your flaws and imperfections that not even your closest friends have the courage to tell you"

hope all you lovers out there realize this and appreciate each other even more. :)

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

2nd half of 2010

i cannot believe it's been 6 months already.  indeed the 2nd half of 2010 has served me well.  my cousins finally visited us this summer.  LA>Vegas>SF was a lot of fun.  i'm so happy that they celebrated my sister's 30th with her.  as always they are in our thoughts and we can't wait to see them again.  i'm sure i will be in london in 2011 for a chau wedding.

4th quarter really stuck out as our dine about town adventure in SF.
-sotto mare for my surprised bday dinner organized by my sweetie, seafood was yummy but not to die for, the scallop entree impressed me
-wayfare tavern for sweetie's bday dinner for two.  this is the former rubicon's space.  the overall experience was good but not great.  fried chicken was tender, learned about brining chicken with buttermilk.  bday boy liked his beef short rib.  $10 valet is ridiculous but hey it's SF.
-michael mina courtesy of crosslink!  the maine lobster pot pie was delicious!  the winner for appetizer was the hamachi crudo.  come here if you feel like throwing away a couple of benjamins.
-chapeau! for TY's holiday dinner.  this is officially one of our favorite restaurants in SF.  i normally don't like french food (not sure if i do yet) but this french bistro really blew me away.  we generally ordered items that you could probably find at any high end californian restaurant and skipped the escargot (was it even on the menu?).  the best filet mignon and pork loin we've both had.  the profiterole dessert was divine.

i wouldn't do 2010 justice if i didn't mention hawaii.  i finally visited hawaii, big island to be exact.  we did some uber fun activities like snorkeling and tried ziplining for the very first time.  the rainforests were sooo beautiful.  we saw the milky way, it does exist!  i am going to be 100% honest and say that i did not love hawaii.  it is too quiet and remote for me.  i understand that people go there to relax and do nothing but for me  i feel like i can do that at home, why travel so far?

we got a lot of visitors in town the past week.  the highlight was T's sister getting engaged during her stay with us.  i'm so happy that we were a part of the engagement planning.  congrats Pris & Rich!  before i go, also congrats to Hugh & Jamie for giving birth to baby Carter at 6pm today.  I can't wait to meet him in a couple of days!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Happy 7th of July!

Hello readers!  I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July celebration.  We sure did!  After two days of cleaning and a day long of cooking, we are delighted to say that our party was a success!  Everyone liked our food and entertainment (taboo until 2am!). 

I'm so glad that the work week is almost over.  I haven't seen my girlfriends in over a month so it'll be really nice to see them finally this weekend.  My crazy friends are going to take on the pho challenge at Pho Garden.  They need to finish 2 lbs of beef and 2 lbs of noodle to be crowned winners.  That is a lot of unnecessary mess to digest!  I hope at least one of them beat the challenge or that's $22 and a recognizable loser!  haha...

We are finally going to Hawaii!!!  Bad news: it's not until another 6 months.  Good news: airfare only cost us $128 for the two of us!  Even better, $300 for 4 nights at the Hilton Waikoloa Village!  We'll be there with Shelly/Chester.  We are basically tagging along as they planned the daily itinerary already.

I have a feeling there'll be more exciting news to come for the second half of 2010.  Stay tuned my friends...

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

london > barcelona > frankfurt

so my europe itinerary has changed.  i'm skipping paris because of convenience.  frankfurt will be a connecting destination.  the best part about going to europe nowadays is that the EURO is weakening daily!

london - my gracious cousin has taken a day off to spend with me.  it's always touching to see my family that i see only once a year.

barcelona - gaudi, picasso and dali.  i'm in art heaven. 

frankfurt - hmmm...the trading capital of Europe?  let's see how it stacks up to NY.

11 more days!!!

Monday, April 26, 2010

another annual europe trip!

i'm so excited to announce that i'm going to europe again! this time the destinations are: london->paris->barcelona. thomas will be working in paris so we thought it would be a great opportunity for us to make a personal trip out of it!

it'll be my first time to barcelona or spain so i'm really anxious to see what it has to offer. i was so impressed with italy last year and i hope spain will not disappoint as well. since i am such an architecture junkie, i'm looking forward to all of gaudi's work. i wish i had more spending money to purchase a higher quality camera so i can capture the vibrant colors of his work.

it'll be my first time to paris with thomas and we're going to do a walking tour of the "city of lights". eiffel tower is a must! i'd love to see le sacre coeur too since i missed it the last two times. i hope this trip will relieve me of my distaste for paris.

london is an obligatory trip to see family, 'nough said.

counting down, 3 more weeks!!!