The Tennis Bug - Yes, I've caught the total tennis bug.  One awesome racket, three tennis skirts, and playing multiple times a week..  I even played three days in a row last week!  I've always liked tennis, but when I was younger and my siblings used to play, I was so much younger, and could never keep up.  If they were playing doubles with my parents, I'd be the one shoved near the net for volleys as the third person on one side...  then eventually I'd get hit by the ball, start crying, and then be the ball girl for the rest of the game.  But now, I'm older, and more fit, and can actually run to the ball, and hit it over the net with some degree of accuracy.  So, I'm definitely still a beginner, but really excited to be truly playing for the first time

Other than tennis, I've been going out a bit more recently... who knows why.  Went to Wonderbar, 33, Tonic, and this past weekend I went to Martha's Vineyard with 10 friends to celebrate three birthdays... one of which was Lewis!  We went fishing, clam digging, ate awesome prime rib, and went to the beach.

Wonderbar - Me, Liz, and Kat / Kat, Doug, Liz, and Peter

Martha's Vineyard - night fishing!  it was sooo dark! / the girls + Vic!

haha.. This is how much I love popcorn!

soo, we all had to share one bed..  haha, j/k!  /  fishing on the beach the next day

All of the clam diggers!  /  our huge bucket of clams

the birthday kids w/cake / the whole group!

China!  I recently came back from a 9 day trip with Lewis's family to China.  It took us 28 hours to get from Boston -> San Francisco, CA -> Shanghai, China -> Huangshan, China.  Our first stop was this Feng Shui Village in Huangshan where there were temples, homes, and schools dating back to the Ming and Qing dinasty.  There were also scenes from the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" from this village.

In a school / in front of the gorgeous water with lilies in the back!

Lewis trying to be serious / a random ox on the sidewalk

We then traveled on our tour bus to go to Yellow Mountain in Huangshan... definitely the most beautiful mountains I will ever see in my life.  They had these amazing jagged peaks, and they have their own version of the Grand Canyon!!  We climbed thousands of stairs, some of which were pretty steep and scary, took some awesome photos, and unfortunately... guys in China tend to just blow snot rockets out of their nose and onto the sidewalks... and while descending some steep stairs on the side of the mountain, my pinky landed in something GOOEY...  it was a big snot load on the hand railing   EWWWWWWWWWWW.  I was screaming for about a minute wiping the snot on my pinky back onto the railing, and using my Purell hand sanitizer..  that was definitely one of the grossest things EVER.  But, that aside...  the pictures speak for themselves..  the fog was crazy too, one second the sun would be out, the next second, a big cloud of fog would cover an entire mountain.

Lewis and me with a very steep drop behind us! / The fog and mountains

Lewis at me at Yellow Mountain!

In this pic, a little over the ledge more and it's a HUGE drop / the fog is setting in!

Lewis climbing the wall / a view of our path up the mountain

a short video of the view at Yellow Mountain!

So, after a full day of hiking, the tour scheduled for everyone to get one hour foot massages...   now, I've never gotten a foot massage before, so I was pretty worried that I would be ticklish or that it would hurt...  boy, was I RIGHT.  They have girls massage the guys, and guys massage the girls... haha.  This guy started to massage my thighs first, SOOO TICKLISH, so he did the hand chopping stuff instead..  then feet, then calves...  this dude massaging my calves was soooo painful, I was literally screaming...  along with the rest of the family in the room =P  hahaha.. it was the craziest mix of pain and laughter I've ever experienced, mostly from laughing at Lewis's brother's screams of pain.  Lewis just laughed at us, and didn't feel any pain at all.  Then..  our guide comes in near the end of our one hour foot massage, and says that for 80 RMB, we can get a one hour full body massage..  as in $10 US dollars.  Everyone in the tour (14 of us) ended up getting the additional one hour full body massage.  So yes, more pain..   this guy used these hammers on my shins like beating a drum, cracked every bone in my body, and even massaged my butt!  haha..  Chinese massages are painful and crazy.  I don't think they'd get away with that stuff in the US.  I also couldn't speak Chinese, so he'd have to stop once in a while and ask Lewis if I was in pain or if I was just ticklish.  And sometimes he'd just stop and signal for me to breathe deeply and make this calming motion with his hands to try to get me to relax.  haha - his way of communicating =)

Lewis and Me in Huangshan / our massage place!

The next morning, we traveled to Hangzhou and took a boat ride across West Lake.  There were so many boats on the water!  We also rode in these golf carts with horns that played Chinese music to try to get these people out of the way =)  haha, it was pretty funny... I felt like such a snobby American tourist.  Then later that night, we saw this show called "Impression Westlake" which could possibly be one of the worst shows ever.  The stage did cost $1 billion dollars to make because it was actually set IN the lake, and hundreds people were dancing on the water, but it was this old love story that I guess everyone knew about except for Lewis and me... and we didn't get it at all.

Lewis and Me on a boat in West Lake / Me and Che-Lai

Lewis and Me in front of boats on West Lake

haha... a short video of everyone in the golf cart and the music!

Dinner with some of the most amazing chicken ever / A house boat moving across the stage at Impressions West Lake

A huge structure coming out of the water at the show / hundreds of dancers on the water

The next day, we went to Linyin Temple in Hangzhou.  This place had so many amazing temples over 1000 years old, and hundreds of buddha statues.  Then, we visited one of the six "Venices" of China called Wuzhen.  Then, we traveled to Suzhou and went to this place called Tiger Hill.  Then we took a boat ride through a canal to dinner, where there were two people that performed for us during dinner.

Me and Lewis at the Linyin Temple

Look at all of the statues!

Me and Lewis at the Wuzhen Water Village

Tiger Hill in Suzhou / Paul on some rocks at Tiger Hill

Me and Lewis at Tiger Hill / the boat that we are going to take down the canal in Suzhou

The view of the canal in Suzhou / a short video of musicians at dinner!

The next day, I had the best breakfast ever with beef noodles at the Sheraton Hotel buffet!!  yumm... then we went to the Lingering Garden in Suzhou.  This place had all of these huge rocks that were dug up from the ocean - all in what used to be someone's home.  Then we went to a silk factory, a silk threading place, and then finally we traveled to Shanghai!  We went shopping at Mango, ate dinner at Din Tai Fung, and stayed at the Westin Bund Center Shanghai Hotel.

My beef noodles for breakfast! / Lewis at a bonsai garden

Me at the Lingering Garden / Lewis hiding in the rocks

Me and Lewis shopping in Shanghai / juicy buns at Din Tai Fung!!

Lewis and Me in front of the restaurant / a shot of Shanghai's shopping district

Look at all of the organized fruit!!!  We had huge lychees there... yumm!

The next day - we went on a tour of Shanghai and Pudong...  went shopping, and I finally own two pairs of long Nike workout pants!  The Nike pants in the US are always wayy to long...  these fit perfectly!! =)

The third tallest building in the world

This place used to be a temple, but all of these stores built around it

Lewis and Me with the skyline

So after a great 9 day trip to China, we had a horrible travel experience back to Boston - it took 40 hours!  Our flight from San Francisco to Boston was cancelled after 6 hours of waiting, so after being in the airport for 17 hours, we finally got on a midnight flight out to Dallas, and then to Boston.  At least we got home the next day! =)

Lacey & Kameron on So You Think You Can Dance:

This contemporary dance was sooo amazing..  I watched it literally 10 times last night on tivo after the show.  Definitely one of the most beautiful and passionate dances I've ever seen.

ASPIRE Outward Bound Trip to Thompson Island with YLP!  It happened at the end of May, but I just got pictures back so here it is =)  This year's trip to Thomspon Island was really exciting.  There were 9 girls in total - 4 juniors in high school, 1 senior in high school, 1 junior in college, and 3 young professionals.  The ASPIRE YLP program is the Youth Leadership Program, which is a year-long leadership program specifically tailored to the cultural and developmental needs of Asian American high school girls in the greater Boston area.  There's a competitive application process, and selected YLP scholars have an opportunity to gain and develop strong leadership skills through leadership training, hands-on experience, and mentorship.  This outward bound trip to Thompson Island is one of their last events as a YLP scholar.

The day was full of games, team building activities, and outdoor adventures (in the rain!!).  With everyone decked out in rain jackets, we did a couple of name games first, then paired up to do some trust falls, then came up to what was called the Bird's Nest.  There were four tall poles in the ground, with one huge net made of rope suspended in the air between all of the poles - with the edge of the "Bird's Nest" being over 6ft tall.  The challenge was to get everyone safely into the bird's nest as a team, and then get everyone out.  People pulled arms, stepped on thighs, stepped on shoulders, and everything else imaginable to get into this nest.  It was a good challenge!

The group in the Bird's Nest

After that, we went to an area where there were two tight ropes suspended about 1.5 feet off the ground between two trees, that started off close together, and then slowly increased in distance from each other.  People paired up and leaned in towards each other, palm against palm, while shuffling across the tight rope.  Liz and I paired up for this one, and we were shaking uncontrollably the entire way...  haha, we blame it on the not so tight tight rope *wobble wobble* =)  but we almost got to the very end!  I think there must have been at least 7 ft between our ropes at the end.

Me and Liz!  *wobble wobble* / other girls trying out the tight rope!

Then, we went to another activity called the "Spider's Web", where there were two poles, with a web of string in between making holes just big enough for a person to go through.  The team had to figure out a way for each person to go through a different hole, with only two holes near the bottom being available, and the other open ones were all on top.  People had to lift others through a hole about four feet high, while the people that already passed through would help bring the legs through and shuffle the body over - all without touching any strings.  We didn't have time to get everyone over, but we got 6 out of 9 over in about 20 minutes.  We were pressed for time, because the guides wanted us to have plenty of time for the big afternoon adventure...

My experience with the "Leap of Faith" was definitely one of the scariest moments in my life.  It is a pole in the ground that is 33 ft high, and 6 inches in diameter.  There are these large metal staples on the sides of the poles on random sides so you can climb to the top, and about 6 ft away from the top of the pole, there's a wire with a ball attached to it hanging.  What you're supposed to do is climb up a short ladder to get to the section of the pole with the staples, then climb the 33ft high pole (think of a telephone pole), and then when you get to the top, you're supposed to balance yourself to stand straight on top of the pole...  with a 6 inch diameter circle of wood underneath your feet, all while the pole is shaking, and it's raining..  then you're supposed to jump off of the pole and take your "leap of faith" and hit the ball that is hanging 6 ft away.  Then before you actually leap, you're supposed to say something that you're going to leave behind...  ex. fear of heights (yeah right).  Climbing up wasn't too bad, but at the top, it felt like forever as you try to get your footing to balance on a shaking pole.  Amazingly, every single girl made it to the top and stood on that pole! 

see the tall skinny pole on the left!???

listening to directions...  I look scared =P

Me getting harnessed up, and starting my climb!

my leap of faith!... more like - HIT THE BALL!!!! / a great pic of Erica standing on top of the pole before jumping!

Group picture at the end of the day =) / Liz, Erica, and Me before getting on the ferry back to Boston

my new obsession:  Sony Cybershot DSC-T100...  in red   just in time for my vacation!!