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| Tips for watching the Olympics:
1) Don't change channels during commercial breaks, you might accidentally stumble upon a news channel or news ticker that spoils the event for you. (This happened to my family and I while watching the last few minutes of the 2002 Winter Olympics when a news ticker on another channel read: "Michelle Kwan falls... gets Silver."
2) Don't surf the web!! Home pages and news channels tend to release results as soon as they occur in Beijing.
I can't tell you how many times already, my friends and I have groaned over ruined results!! However, the games have still been extremely entertaining and inspiring. The most exciting race for me so far has been the Men's 4X100 M Freestyle Relay. Amazing ending.
In some quick updates: My friend Annie from high school came to visit Berkeley. We tried a fusion restaurant called Noodle Theory, and had delicious ice cream at Ici- a French creamery. Noodle Theory was pretty good for the price, but Ici was the star of the night! I highly recommend anyone who visits Berkeley to stop by for a taste.
 Fried goat cheese wontons with tangy dipping sauce
 Annie and her pork and spicy bean sauce noodles. They were good, but a little bland.
 My hot and sour shrimp and veggie noodles. Very flavorful, and very spicy!
Josephine's salmon and curry noodles. 
Girls outside Ici. There is always a line out the door.
The cool thing about Ici is that they have very authentic and one-of-a-kind flavors! The menu changes daily and they make them right in their backroom! We tried almost all of them, and oo-ed and ah-ed at the strange ingredients. In the end, Annie and I went with Coconut Toffee and Josephine had the Meyer Lemon. They also fill the bottom of their hand rolled waffle cones with fudge, a little sweet, but a pleasant surprise when you get to the bottom.
 You could definitely taste the Habanero peppers in this one! It had such a kick. Ici has officially become my favorite ice cream shop. I went back there a week later and had the Santa Rosa Plum flavor. It was so fresh, and it really tasted like I was eating those juicy purple plums. In the back I could see the freshly picked plums that they were using. I am a big fan of natural foods, so this earned a plus in my book. Caleb (who was visiting San Jose for the weekend) and Josephine had the Malt Vanilla with Sour Dried Cherries. Delicious! Some obscure flavors that we tried that day included honey nutmeg, and cilantro lime. The cilantro one was very unique yet tasty!
Last week, I also got the chance to tour and visit the Pixar Headquarters in
Emeryville, CA. It is only a short 15 minute drive from where I live, and my friend
Kevin's brother showed us around. I had a delicious lunch at their cafe
and had a great time looking at all of the Wall-E exhibits (since it
just came out) and posing with all the life-size movie characters. Pixar
is a tiny company, but it sure seems fun to work there! Our visitor passes had the little aliens from Toy Story and said: "A Stranger from the Outside." Too cute =)
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| My dad let me take a basil plant from his garden the last time I went home, and I have been trying to grow it here on my balcony at Berkeley! I love the smell of basil, and I can't wait to start using it in my cooking.
  My dad has an amazing garden. My mom doesn't even shop for vegetables at the grocery store anymore. I hope I inherited his green thumb genes. He's even growing Cantelope! The little melons are growing along the ground, and they are too cute. Maybe I'll take some pictures the next time I go back. I hope I am fortunate enough to have a nice backyard and garden when I'm older! =)
Yesterday, about ten of us had pizza and drinks after class to unwind for an early weekend. And.. afterwards we watched TITANIC. I have not seen that movie since it last came out in 1997, which was when I was still in elementary school! It was fun laughing at all the cheesy lines, awkward moments, unplausible situations, and how Leonardo DiCaprio looked like he was still twelve years old. The beginning of the movie is so boring, and I now understand why my little brother fell asleep both times when we watched it in theatres. I thought the ending part when the ship is sinking was still very exciting though!
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| Long time no write! I have been helping my cousin plan his destination wedding in Cancun at the famous Dreams Resort & Spa. Can't wait to attend in January!
Dreams Cancun
Work and School have been getting very routine. Right now, I have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:00-9:30! There is a 2 hour break in between, but that's not the point.. I want your pity =). I quite pleased with my professors and GSIs, as they are quite entertaining. One of my professors cold -calls on students in a lecture hall!, that's law school status, man! It's only funny when it's not you getting called on.
Last week, I visited my sister at her work. It's nice having her in Berkeley with me, but she often has to travel for her job, so it's hard for us to find time to hang out. Other than that I have been hanging out with friends, and taking trips home to San Jose to see family and old friends. I also visited Caleb in San Diego over July 4th weekend. SoCal is as always, super relaxing.
Cute Meerkats at the San Diego Zoo
Since I get free webspace from my university, I thought it would be a good idea to utilize it before I graduate and try to learn some webdesign. I'll make sure to share it if I ever get it done. I also want to start growing plants on my balcony. Tomato and basil maybe? Some items on my long "Things to Do" list... including learning how to use the sewing machine my friends gave me last semester. Unfortunately whenever I have free time, all I want to do is vegetate.. rather than actually work on something new or productive.
And lastly, I finally watched The Dark Knight. The theatres were still sooo packed. Like everyone else, I thought the movie was most excellent and Heath Ledger really went over the top with his performance. The Joker's voice was so different from his own though. How did he manage to do that?
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| A Taste of Wedding PlanningMy good friend Cailin works for a wedding planner and since she was
going home this weekend, she asked our friend Brian and me if we wanted
to fill in for her. It was really exciting to be able to see the
wedding from setting up to tearing down, and I thought I might share
some of the cute details with you all! The wedding took place at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and the couple seemed rather "high class." Everyone was so fashionable and nicely dressed!
Grace
Lee, the talented coordinator, was so nice and so calm! It must be
tiring to be a wedding planner but she didn't show it at all. It's
amazing how many mishaps happen behind the scenes, but how well
everyone was able to conceal them from the guests. The bride looked
stunning and the ceremony and reception were beautiful. Throughout the
night, Brian and I kept going "aww... I want to get married!!!!!" haha.
The wedding started with a ceremony on the steps of the museum,
followed by a cocktail hour on the lower level, and ending with a fancy
reception in the museum's Samsung Hall.
Apparently the catering that they used, Paula LeDuc,
is one of the "most expensive catering company on the universe" (quote
Grace). While the reception was going on, Brian, me, Grace, and a
couple of coordinators from Paula LeDuc (PLD) sat down downstairs and
got to have a taste of the fabulous catering! The food was so
delicious! We had a beet and bleu cheese salad, some type of pasta, the
world's BEST mashed potatoes, steak, and grilled veggies. So good!
It was a long day, but I had so much fun. Here are some pictures to share:
 The Samsung Hall which is where the reception was held. This is obviously pre-setup  While the catering company was setting up  Very cute centerpieces, I loved the birds of paradise    Bride's bouquet  Adorable
menu and place cards. They had a San Francisco themed wedding. All of
the tables were named after places they had been to together.  I loveddd the calligraphy  The silver heart weights made a nice touch
 The ceremony was held on these staircases
 Guests at the favorite cocktail hour
 So many drinks!!
 When
we sat down for our own dinner, the catering company even decorated a
little table for us. Pomanders over square vases of orchids.
 Brian wanted a picture of his headset since he felt like a secret agent.
I
had a great time, and enjoyed the excitement of my long day! I enjoyed
interacting with the guests, and was happy to see that they enjoyed
their night. Grace is an amazing wedding planner, and it definitely
takes a LOT of talent and patient to make a wedding great. =) Although
some people say that weddings have blossomed into a frivolous and
expensive industry, I think weddings are the opportunity to treat those
that you care and love about to one night of fun and splendor. If I get
married one day, I'll make sure to keep that in mind! | | |
| On Wednesday, my apartment-mate, Josephine, and I both didn't have class so we decided to drive 40 minutes down to Milpitas and shop at the Great Mall of the Bay Area which consists of a lot of factory/outlet stores. I must say, I am going to do all of my shopping at outlet malls from now on. The deals are just unbeatable! I haven't bought any clothes since December, and this one 6 hour shopping trip satisfied all of my shopping needs.
We found so many good deals that day, and I practically found everything I've been wanting to buy. A sweater vest from Forever 21, yoga pants from GAP, short sleeved white dress shirts from H&M and Banana, and the best part was everything was on sale! I love Banana Republic but it can get really pricey. I've been looking for more business casual clothes to wear to my new job, and the factory store had everything for so cheap. Josephine found plenty of great deals as well, including $6 jeans from Aeropostale! We didn't want to leave the mall early, so Jo actually did two phone interview for internships while we were at the mall. hahaha, too funny! She already landed a second interview for one of them so it worked out well. I guess this means no shopping for awhile...
What a success!
Our babies piled in the backseat.
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