2008, Dec 21: Decorating our tree

We had decorations stored from 4 years ago but we weren't sure about getting a tree since we already opened up our presents. But we decided to buy a small one b/c we are finally staying home this year and thought it was a good idea to buy a tree to support local businesses.

I love this picture of Doug, of all the years that we've had our dyson vacuum, he has NEVER used it! doug was nice enough to vacuum up the pine needles on the floor. Look how happy he was to do it - Thanks sweetie!

2008, Dec 12-14: Family visit - Vegas, NV

what a packed weekend we had! it was our turn to visit my family last weekend. Like Doug, my parents divorced years ago so it's hard to pack a weekend seeing both parents and trying to see friends as well. Doug & I actually took Friday off from work and headed to Vegas. Doug finally got to meet my uncles & my cousin on my dad's side. we had a great time meeting everyone.

as usual, we head over to my dad's place who always makes an awesome chinese dinner course - everything is homemade...all for Doug & I. Doug's favorite chinese food is Peking Duck. My dad will hang the duck out for 2 days to cure and then smoke it in a large metal pot. we always leave my dad's house feeling like we gained 5 lbs. but well worth it! somewhere in between spending time between parents, we were able to visit my gfriend mandy who moved to Vegas 3 yrs ago. it was great to see the house she just moved into. nice house with a nice pool! can't wait to hang out in your pool during the hot hot summer season!

We stayed with my mom the entire weekend. we love my mom's hospitality. there's always a project that she needs us to do and i'm always fascinated with all the asian cheap trinkets she brings home from china. i always tell her that i never need to go shopping at stores when i have all the shopping in my mom's closet!
my 5 year old niece, lauren spent the night at my mom's house. That night, D & I made sure we entertained our niece by decorating graham cracker houses. Looks like the easiest thing to do - not! it was much harder than it looks! surprisingly, Doug's house look much better than mine & lauren's house. Photo: D's house is the one with the pink frosting and red roof.

On our last day, we had dim sum with cousin Hetty. Yummy food & great conversation.

On our last day, we had a couple hours to spare so D & I drove and walk along the vegas strip. There is a Hooters Casino in Vegas now. I've always seen commericals and heard comments about Hooters but i've never been inside one and have always wondered. well guess what? i guess you could say my wish came true??

so far this has been one of our best trips back to Vegas. We look forward to planning our next trip home.

2008, Nov 27-29: Turkey Days in Anthem, AZ

This year's turkey holiday was spent with his mom & John. We flew into phoenix and drove about 30-45 minutes away to a city away from phoenix, called Anthem. What was so great about the holidays is that doug's mom, Jenny invited Doug's dad, dad's wife, wife's daughter & dad to dinner. Did you get that?
Doug's parents are divorced and doug was able to spend the turkey holidays with both parents in the same room! no, there wasn't any drama nor food fights. everything worked out well. We had a great time with the family. It was short trip but well worth it!

2008, Nov 6-9: Sole-Ho Wedding in Cabos, MEXICO

Thank you Sole-Ho Family for such a great wedding time! We had a BLAST! 4 days was a short trip but well worth it. My cousin, Anya got married to her fiancee, Jason (who she met in Boston while pursuing her PhD in Psychology) in Cabo at the Dreams Resort. Doug was soo excited to finally meet members of my dad's side of the family. It was great to see my aunt Polly (ErGuGu)and cousins again. Last time I saw them was 5 years ago at Anya's younger bro's wedding. Ben & his wife Kristine who now have two adorable kids: Isabel & Caleb.

Cabo is actually a 2.5 hour flight from LA but it actually took us longer to get there: we left at 6 am (1.5 hour flight) from Reno to LA, then a 3 hour layover in LA then a 2.5 hour flight from LA to Cabo. We finally got into Cabo at 2:30 pm. Our flight back home was the same. We left Cabo at 2 pm and got home at 7:30 pm. If only flights out of Reno were direct & nonstop.

Dreams Resort: http://www.dreamsresorts.com/drelc/guest-rooms.html The weather was about 86-90 degrees sunny all day. All-inclusive: free food, free drinks, free activities all day/ all night long. All pools were equipped with swim up bars. D & I believed we consumed our money's worth of beverages. The food quality was not superb but it was not bad either. Our room had a spectacular view of the ocean. The ocean was blue as can be. Unfortunately, no one was able to swim in the ocean b/c of the dangerous currents.

Anya & Jason's family & friends were so much fun to be around, we soo badly want to hang out with them again! The ceremony & reception was so much fun! We drank & danced the entire night away. Those who know us, know that we have fun so it's not a surprise that the next 3 days were spent waking up with small headaches :)

Doug really enjoyed meeting his new cousin in-laws. He had such a great time getting to know everyone. If you read this, Anya, Jason, Aunt Polly, Ben, Kristine & family we miss you already! Congratulations to Anya & Jason on your wedding, we look forward to getting to know you better!

2008, Oct 10-13: Airstream Rally in Jackson, Calif

What a cold trip! The Airsteam Forum hosted a rally at the Jackson Rancheria RV Park, close to Sutter Creek & Amador, Calif. We believed the weather followed us to Jackson Rancheria (about 4.0 hour drive). Winds continued to howl day & night while we were there but we never allowed the weather to dampen our spirits! On Friday we went through a corn maze, bought pumpkins and wine tasted in Amador, CA.

D's parents also stopped by Jackson for a visit. We made a day out to the Sutter Creek Mine Tour. Don't you love our hard hats? What an amazing site! We heard the history on mining and let me tell you.. I'm soo thankful that we did not have to earn a living on $7.00 a day. We are very fortunate to have what we have right now.

That evening, the Airstream group hosted a potluck gathering. D made some grubby bbq chicken drumsticks and his mom made some yummy homemade lemon bars. As you can see, the potluck event was extremely successful. We met familiar faces and new ones too. We look forward to the next Airstream Rally.

2008, Oct 3: Lost digital camera

BOOHOO!!! my 6 month old digital camera was lost or stolen. That's what i get for going out on Friday. Originally, I wanted to stay home but D convinced me to go out and spend some time with our friends. I decided not to bring my purse but to stuff my camera in my sweatshirt pocket. Bad idea! As the hours went by, I think D took the camera out of my pocket and took a few pictures and the rest of the night was a blur! We ended up going to the local burger joint then took a taxi home...we're not sure if it got stolen or if we missplaced it. Unfortunately, I snoozed in the taxi ride home, I'm not sure of the taxi co. nor the name of our taxi driver. BOGUS! Our head was a bit hazy that night and the next morning. We tried to back trace our steps, we called Imperial Lounge, we asked our friends but no sign of a camera.

D has offered to replace my camera since he was the last one who used it (and it makes me feel better to blame it on him - ha) But this will be my 3rd camera in less than 1 year - BOGUS AGAIN!

2008, Sep 26-28: Santa Cruz, CA

What a fun weekend! D was already staying in the toaster oven for the entire week in the Bay Area. I flew into San Jose Airport and D picked me up and we drove our toaster oven to Santa Cruz. We decided to stay at the SC Harbor RV Park: www.santacruzharbor.org/visitor for $40/ night. As you can see, the Harbor RV Park wasn't that scenic but it was definitely functional. The great thing about staying at the Harbor RV was that it was soo close to many activities. We walked to great restaurants, we rode to the boardwalk, rode to Capitola.

So when we arrived, I wanted so badly to rent a tandem bike. I was able to convince the "Hesitant-D" to rent a tandem bike.. as a result, we both had a great time. We had great weather, we rode all over the place, we had great workouts riding up the hills. By the end of our trip, my b-tt was SORE!

I took a picture of these seal lions b/c we were patiently waiting and hoping (we didn't have anything better to do) to see if the big blubbery one was going to push the sleepy one into the ocean.

While there, we met up with my gfriend's parents, Bob & Carol, who recently moved to Aptos from El Camino, CA. The past years, we stayed at their house in El Camino for the Apple Hill festivities. We sure will miss their hospitality in Apple hill; however, we were able to meet up with them in Santa Cruz. They live about 15 minutes from the Boardwalk. We had lunch with them on the wharf and checked out the classic Thunderbird cars. We hope to see Bob & Carol again. Sun, ocean, great seafood - uh, YEAH, we'll see you soon!

We had a great time and hope to go back again.

2008, Sep 13: Tone Loc & Megan's Wedding - Grass Valley, CA

Before we headed to Grass Valley, we debated whether we should book a hotel room for the night or just take our shiny toaster oven. The hotel cost wasn't expensive but the difference in savings was significant to us. We searched for different RV parks within the area; our main concern was the distance from the wedding reception back to our campsite. We found the NV County Fairgrounds.
At first, we were skeptical of booking at the fairgrounds b/c the website did not show any photos; however, D & I have been in situations where we saw photos and loved a place but soon realized that the place was not what we expected. When we arrived at the fairgrounds, we were very pleased with what we saw: lots of tall pine trees with shade, spacious campsites all in a quiet location.

We were invited to witness the union between Tone loc & Megan who he met in grad school. I've known Tone Loc from my college days at UNR. It was great not only to see Tony & Megan but to spend much time getting to know some of my college buddies again who I used to party it up with at school. AAAH, memories! It was great to see everyone and to hear their happy stories. We hope we get to see our friends again soon.

2008, Sep 12: Stelzle Family Visit

So this weekend was the Reno Air Races. Last year, the Stelze Family (Bobbi, Scott & Jake from Paso Robles, Calif) stayed with us. And this year, they stayed with us again. D & I were unable to go to the Air Races with them b/c we went to my friend's wedding in Grass Valley, Calif. (See the next story). We were able to squeeze dinner with them on Friday night, dinner at Peony, Chinese Restaurant - yum! Little Jakie was exhausted from the 1st day at the Reno Races that he fell asleep at the restaurant. Look at the perfectly circular shaped drool he formed on his mom's leg - how cute was that?! Hope to see you guys again next year!

2008, Aug 28-31: Burning Man Festival - Black Rock City, NV

Wow is all I can say about Burning Man (BM)! How should I describe the venue to you? mmm, a combination of Mardi Gras, woodstock, and a carnival scene all into one?!? Self-expression in art, life, freedom, celebration of man?!? My description does not give the venue justice, view the official website for more information http://www.burningman.com/

I've been living in Reno for the past 14 years and would always see everyone either going to BM or coming back from BM. Coming back from BM, all the cars were covered in playa dust. I never understood what BM was about and all my comments consisted of, "who the heck wants to camp out in the hot desert for 1 week?" But for some reason, this year, I decided that I should put my opinion to rest and actually go for the very 1st time. D & I bought our tickets early in the year and paid $300 per person. Yes, a pricey ticket; however, this ticket allows you to get in for 7 days. While we didn't have 7 days to spend at the Black Rock Desert, we were there for 4 days.
We prepared ourselves: we brought our decorated bikes, costumes, goggles, face masks, glow sticks. WOW is all i can say! We had some friends who've been going for the past 3 years, we were able to hang out with them the 1st night. We had a blast!! So you pay $300, bring your own tent, trailer, food for the day. Thereafter, everything is free. No vendors are allowed, there's NO selling or buying items (other than coffee an ice).You can stop by each theme camp and everyone is offering FREE cocktails, food, gifts.

We came back from BM and we were soo excited to tell all our friends. All of our friends were excited to hear our stories and are very interested in going next year. The very important question that everyone wants to know is, "Would you go next year?" We are still unsure but we have until next year to decide. If you haven't gone, I would vouch that you go once before you decide to form an opinion. It changes your view about Burning Man and life in general.

2008, Jul 25-27: Buckeye Creek, CA

Here's our 2nd annual camping excursion to Buckeye Creek (read our June 2007's story). I would call this trip a partying trip instead of a camping trip. We didn't hike, we didn't bike, but we tried fishing. We were in the woods but we really just partied all weekend. This year, Doug, Zach, Charlie, Josh, Mark, Kahlilah and I (dogs: Tomas & Jack) were excited to be a part of this fun-filled weekend. We caravaned for 2.5 hrs down to the campgrounds, we found a great open camping spot, we unloaded our camp gear, started the music, played bags and popped open the brewskies. That night we all headed down to the natural hot springs. Poor Charlie hiked down barefooted and fell on his back. Next day, we rented a pontoon and trolled Twin Lakes hoping to catch fish but i think we did more drinking than fishing. We trolled the waters.....oh I'd say about 5 hours and the only person who caught a fish was K.

On Sunday, after everyone packed up and left, D, Z, K & I drove to another natural hot springs called Travetine Hot Springs. We found a great little spot for us to dip our feet. Well as I usually say... stay tuned for next year's Buckeye Creek story :)