Dumb and Dumber

I think my brain's gone soft the last month. Jerry noticed it too. Examples:

On one of our customs cards, instead of the house number I put the zip code. And then I didn't even fill out the zip code part.

When Jerry says look right! and he looks left, I'll look left too. He does it to prove that I'm dumb now haha.

I keep saying Tokyo when I mean Kyoto and vice versa.

About 80% of the time in Rio, I turned the wrong way from the elevators to our apt. Even on our last day!

I've worn various items of clothing inside out on multiple occasions. I'm not even rushed, I just don't think!

I left two items AT the store, yep walked out empty-handed. I was a little out of it that afternoon though, but still I've never done that before! Oops.

Hmm there are other things but I can't remember right now. Anyways at least my mind's pretty sharp when it comes to calculating exchange rates when I go shopping, and when I need to figure out the metro system! :)

Speaking of shopping I bought so much stuff in Tokyo (screw exchange rates) that we had to buy a backpack to load everything up. Our friend flew out to Kyoto to meet up with us (his job allows him free flights worldwide) and he was able to mule our goodies back home for us. Yay! I bought tons of cute stuff but I can't share it now because many are gifts for friends. I can share that we finally bought two knives that we've been on the hunt for to add to our kitchen, knives are bad luck to gift! Also I bought tons of fabric. I'll have to do a post on Tokyo shopping sometime.

Now we are in Hakone, I'm looking forward to relaxing in the hot springs! Maybe I can restore some brain cells as well haha. Just a few days left in Japan, and we're off to Beijing!

Fabric town in Nippori, awesome!

Fushimi Inari Shrine, love!

Edit: I'm so dumb I mixed up the captions. Oops. You can figure out what's what. :P

Facebook and Penis Jokes

This isn't a rash generalization of everyone, but more of a personal opinion. Disclaimer: Not bagging on my own Facebook friends, just some observations I've made lately! :)

Keeping up with Facebook while traveling has offered me an opportunity to somewhat keep ties to life at home while being geographically removed from it. It's also allowed me to keep in touch with folks that we've met on the road. I don't really know how else to say this, but it's really been refreshing to have this infusion of newness on my Facebook wall that's not interjected with penis jokes, or the t-b word or the d word or something equally inappropriate etc. It's not really my own Facebook friends who post such immature things, it's more friends of friends that seem to not have grown up, despite some of them being older than me! (Many are younger, I guess my fault for accepting requests of college aged kids haha).

Anyways, I still look forward to updates from the home front and from new international friends. I'll just have to learn to turn a blind eye to stuff I don't like to read. Everyone's entitled to say what they want where they want to. I've always been big on not censoring anyone.

But thank goodness my Facebook wall has more variety now! I'm no prude, so if I want to say something dirty or inappropriate I'm more careful than I used to be!

Quick Hello from Argentina!

We've been on the road for about 3.5 weeks now, my how does time fly by. Hope everyone has been able to catch up on our travel blog! I just put up a post on our parrilla adventure in Buenos Aires.

Quick thoughts:
We went from mid 50s in El Calafate to mid 90s in Iguazu Falls. Total wardrobe change in a matter of hours!

I've made so many friends on the road than I have in the last few years it seems like! It is nice meeting folks from all the corners of the world.

After nearly a month in SA, I'm ready to go to Asia! I miss Asian food a lot! I've had two local versions of Chinese food in Peru and Buenos Aires, but definitely not the same. As much as I love lomo saltado, ceviche, chicha morada, steak, I'm ready for new flavor profiles.

Mosquitos love me. I've been bitten in every country we've visited so far.

Today we are exploring the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls and then we fly out to Rio. Then off to Japan on Tuesday, weeee!

Puppy Deposit, Check

We've both wanted a dog for a while, and more specifically a shiba inu.  Well, it's almost a reality because today we met with our breeder and put a deposit down on a puppy from the next litter!  I think normally most people wouldn't reserve so early, especially since the dogs aren't even in heat yet, but since we'll be gone for 6 months, we decided why not, just get it done.  I think a dog's gestation period is around 2 months, and we get to bring the puppy home at 8 weeks, so total 4 months.  Our breeder told us we may be able to bring her/him home around Sept/Oct but of course it's also up to mother nature.  I simply can't wait to have my first puppy!!  But RTW trip first...we leave tomorrow morning!

I Need To Vent

I haven't spent the night at my parents house in years.  Disclaimer- I am grateful that we have a place to stay every time we come to LA.  But I need to vent.

I haven't slept in a house with a landline for years.  Why do my parents get so many calls before 8am???  They even got a call at 5am!  In our own home, we normally keep our cell phones on silent and downstairs.  Quite honestly, I'm not the best person to reach in an emergency.  I think when our parents are much older and prone to getting falls or what not, or when our kids aren't sleeping at home (for example, sleepover at grandma's/a friend's or something) I'd have to change the no cell phones in the bedroom rule.  Or if someone in my family or circle of friends was due to give birth soon and it could happen any day now, and I was on call to babysit or be a driver to the hospital.  That sort of thing.

The guest bedroom bed is hard as a rock.  I am seriously thinking of buying a new bed for the guest bedroom even though I'd only sleep here every couple months (that's how often I'm going to try to visit).  It's that bad.  Same for the pillows.  Honestly if I am going to be bringing our future kids down for visits, it might be a good investment.

The guest bedroom is over the garage.  My parents for some reason opened the garage door and closed it a bunch of times this morning.  It feels like an earthquake each time.  Maybe we can install a quieter garage door?  Jerry?  Possible?

Whenever the toilet flushes in our bathroom it makes a shrieking/screaming noise.  Now that doesn't bother me, but if I'm peeing in the middle of the night, I feel bad that it might wake up my parents, or later on, our baby.  Maybe I'll have to pee downstairs or something if it comes to that.

I know, I'm such a brat.  But 4 hours of spotty sleep over a course of 8 hours of lights out makes me a brat.

Okay, I should mention that I had pudding milk tea yesterday after 3pm.  That might be partially why I couldn't sleep.  But still!!

Living in LA

I can't believe this day is already here, the last night that I'll be living in LA. We've been talking about it for years, and it's finally happening!  A lot of memories made in this city, but I'm ready for something new.

Free

I'm completely, 100% unemployed.  That is something that I'm not used to.  I've been lucky to have been employed in some capacity since my sophomore year of high school.  One year, I had 4 W-2 forms, taxes were a bit complicated that year.  :P  And tomorrow will be the first Monday since 2005 that I have no office to be at.  The longest gap I had in between jobs was 2 days, the shortest gap was 14 hours.  I'm not kidding, unfortunately.

Pre-2012, I'd be feeling uncertain about the future or worrying about looking for my next job.  Right now, I feel quite free and I am really going to embrace this time off that I'm giving myself, that I've never had.   

2012 will be the year I get a break from jammed copiers, long, late night, and last minute meetings, endless traffic, sloooooow Citrix, crazy LA people, and the daily frustrations, stress, and demands of working in a no-vacation nation.  

I'm looking forward to it.

Upside, Downside, Round 2

US: We were able to knock off a bunch of shots at Kaiser, see detailed post here
DS: I was completely knocked down the day after. Despite going to bed at 9pm Friday I woke up Saturday feeling like CRAP.  Like my body was fighting an infection and I was just in a state of tiredness and grogginess all day.  It didn't help that it was pre-Chinese new year at my mom's house, but luckily my mom did most of the cooking so we didn't have to do much.  But the furniture at my mom's house is nice to look at, but not comfy to rest in, so I would have really liked to take a midday nap yesterday from my own bed.  Ah well, I guess I should try to toughen up, I do have wimpy tendencies.  Today I was much better except my left arm is still sore.  Jerry displayed no symptoms except some soreness in his right arm.

DS: Our friends gave us tix to see a taping of 2.5 Men, but we barely missed the cut-off point by like 7 people!  Boo...we even showed up an hour and 45 minutes early (recommended is 90 min).  And then we had to drive home from Burbank during peak traffic hour on a Friday night.  Some people were pissed cus they came from out-of-state or other countries!
US: Everyone who got turned away got VIP tix for a taping of their choice, anytime in the future!  Actually we were whatever about seeing 2.5 Men since it is not our favorite WB show, but since our friends procured them for us, we figured why not?  But since we got turned away, our tix will allow us to watch any show such as Big Bang Theory, Ellen, etc whenever there is available tix, AND we don't have to wait in line next time.  Score!  And the tix are good for as long as Warner Brothers is in business.  The lady told us that people still bring tickets from Saved By the Bell and Home Improvement!  And driving home wasn't too bad.  I was able to still make it in bed quite early.  Actually now that I think about it, maybe it was a blessing in disguise because TV tapings do run long and I was already pretty tired.  So since BBT is renewed for a few more seasons, we have a pretty good chance of catching a taping someday.  Or maybe we can go see Ellen if there's a really cool guest on the schedule.  So, it all worked out!

DS:  My wedding dress didn't get cleaned for 16 months.  Oops. I just never got my act together to bring it to the cleaners.  Armed with a 25% coupon, I brought it to my regular dry cleaners to get a quote.  They said I could either pay to have it preserved with deeper cleaning for $250 with one of their outside partners, but I can't use the coupon...or they could try their best in house but wouldn't guarantee that it be 100% clean, but I could use the coupon and only pay $52.50.  Uh guess which choice I went with?  (The latter.)
US:  So I go today to pick up my dress and it's missing!  Turns out a lady working there accidentally sent it to the preservation folks, but they would still honor my $52.50 price.  Score!  That is great customer service right there, to honor the price quoted.  I don't feel bad at all, because in this case I'm not ripping them off, it was their own mistake.   But hopefully no one gets fired for that mistake...

US: We were able to drop off our Brazil visa applications quite easily and it'll be ready this week.  Easy peasy!  Unlike the China visa office, the Brazilian one was more cheerful and bright.  The China office was reminiscent of a DMV.  Well the Brazil office had a number system like at the DMV, but it wasn't as grungy feeling.
DS: Visas for two cost $280!  We're only going to be in Brazil for 5.5 days!  Ouch.  The visa is supposedly good for up to 90 days in a 5-10 year period, so maybe we'll be able to visit once more during that window!

DS:  The Niners lost.  No I'm not a football fan just yet.  Because LA hasn't had a football team in a long while, I just never got into football because there was no home team to cheer for.  But being with Jerry has shown me how exciting it can be.  The last couple playoff games we saw at our friends' place, and it was pretty fun to watch them together!
US:  I look forward to learning more about the sport when we move.  If I move and adopt the Niners, does that mean I'm a bandwagon-er?  I hope not! :P

US: I went to my regular Lululemon store to get a pair of pants hemmed.  I had bought it originally at the Costa Mesa store because the selection there is so much better! Bonus, my pants are reversible!   I bought this vest this morning, I can't wait to wear it on our trip!  They seem to understand petite sizing really well.
DS:  There is none.  Luluelmon is just awesome.  Now I don't have to hem my own workout pants anymore!  Oh Jerry interjects this blog post to say:

DS:  THE PRICE!

Yeah okay, I agree with him.  I can't believe I have been to Canada 7 times and have yet to step in a Lululemon store there!  That will have to change.  For now I will have to be happy with the meager US stock.

So that was my wknd in a nutshell.  Any US/DS from y'all?

Quickie Update

Boy, where has the time gone?  The last few weeks have been really busy, but mostly in a good way.  My time has been consumed with travel planning and booking, packing and purging, learning to adapt to new technologies for the trip (we picked up ipad/iphone/D7000), and spending quality time with friends as we won't be seeing them for a while.  Also, our leasing agent has been bringing in potential tenants so we've had to sweep our house to make it stranger-friendly- no leaving out small electronics, cash, jewelry (goes without saying), etc etc.  Everyday before we leave the house we have to make sure everything gets locked up or put out of sight.  

I can't believe we are leaving the country in 40 days and completely packing up our lives in 30.  And in 6 months we'll be living in a completely different part of the state!  That deserves a post of its own!

And in other news, we have a new travel blog! http://jungbug.wordpress.com/  

I debated whether to use this blog or not for our trip, but I ended up having to switch to Wordpress because the iPad doesn't have a Blogger app.  I mean I could use the iPhone blogger app and just blow it up 2x, but after a while it would probably annoy me.  So Wordpress it was!  There might be a repeat of posts as I transition the travel stuff onto the new blog, so bear with me.  Hopefully I'll have new content up more consistently since Jerry has promised to share blogging duties!  

Twelve by 2012 Recap

Remember this list?  I did pretty good!

1. Print out the photobooth pictures from our wedding and place in album.  

Done!

2. Frame some personal photos to place around the house

Done!  Except now I have to pack up everything because we are putting our stuff in storage while on our trip...

3. Organize my files, both on my desktop and in my google docs.  

Accomplished!  I even dumped out all the pictures from my android phone and sorted them into albums.  We are probably going to get new cell phones in January so I needed to do this anyway.

4. Digitize all old photos.  

Finally!  I must have done at least 2000 scans.  I also watched 14 episodes of Pretty Little Liars while finishing up the last batches.  I found some cute pictures!

 To the left, that's my first day of preschool!  Check out my socks!

 My mom.  I love her blouse!

My grandparents when they first got to America.

5. Go through old house/cooking magazines for any inspiration/ideas, then get rid of them.  Then organize said magazine tears into binder. 

Almost there! 

6. Find new homes for my old clothes.

I gave a whole bunch of clothes to my cousins and the rest to Goodwill.  

7. Go on a day trip with my BFF A.

Due to conflicting schedules, we never got to do this. :( Hopefully in 2012.

8. Visit my cousins in San Diego (they are both freshman at UCSD and SD State).

They have fun stories of their college experiences, makes me all nostalgic!

 We got a tour of UCSD and ate Mexican food at El Zarape in University Heights.  

9. Start a yearly xmas tree ornament project. I was going to make one for every year we've been together, but now it's looking to be every year that we're married.

Since we are in the midst of packing, I didn't even bother with this since I realized all our xmas stuff was in the attic.  And with Jerry on work travel for 2 weeks during Dec (he flew 4 RT flights in 13 days!), he didn't have time to fetch me stuff from the attic.

10. Blog about some of our travels.  

Went on a blogging frenzy, it's here!

11. Try a candy recipe (toffee, almond joy, etc).

Made toffee successfully finally!

My candy thermometer did not work which is why the two batches I attempted last year and this year burned!  I used our meat thermometer instead.  

12. Have an indulging day off to myself.  NO MULTI-TASKING ALLOWED.

Whenever we go to Jerry's parents' house, there's not much to do so it has been quite indulging.  I've been spending a lot of hours just sitting in front of the fireplace drinking tea.  Their fake fireplace is all kinds of AWESOME.

I love my fuzzy socks from Bath & Body Works!  They are super soft. :)