Quick update

So I know that I've totally been slacking on updating our blog...sorry :( It's mainly because I don't think that I have much to say that's interesting, but I should probably post something just to keep y'all informed of our lives.

So over this past couple of weeks has gone by rather quickly. For Presidents Day weekend, we went up to Tahoe to visit Nick's parents and his brother's family. Apparently schools on the east coast get this entire week off...during my entire school life in Seattle, we never got this week off from school. It was good to see everyone again, especially Simon. He's grown a little since we last saw him for the holidays, but he's still just as cute. And this time, we didn't have to change his diaper :)

I came back to LA on Monday, but Nick stayed there for the entire week. It made nights at home really lonely for me, but Kitty did her best to keep me company. When he arrived on Saturday, we made a quick stop at home and then we had dinner with Beth, Rob, Kate and Beth (yes, there were two Beth's). It's been a long time since we all had dinner together, and it was great to see everyone again and hearing about Bakersfield--a city that neither Nick and I have ever visited, and the four of them weren't doing a particularly great job of enticing us to visit :). Afterwards, Rob and Beth and the two of us went to the office so that Rob could take some photos of the booth. We ended up having a great time sitting and chatting...and then before we knew it, the time was really late and they needed to wake up early to catch their flight back home. It was sad, but we'll try to go to NY to visit them and Nick's family sometime this year.

On a completely different topic, Street Fighter IV came out last week. There was some drama with the UPS shipment not arriving at our office on time, but eventually I got my hands on my pre-ordered copy. I've been spending a lot of time recently unlocking new colors for the character that I play, Rose. I also spent waaaaay too much time trying to complete her combos in the hard trials, and have been failing miserably on the first combo. It should look like this, but I can't get the soul spiral to connect after the series of crouching punches. Fortunately for Nick, I was doing these trials when he was gone, so he didn't have to hear my constant failure. Overall though, the game has incredible graphics, and the gameplay is very smooth and fast. I've been enjoying it a lot...now I just need to find people in the office who want to play it.

And finally, Saturday morning I went to the Willow Spa in Santa Monica and asked for the Thai Herbal Escape. I wasn't sure what to expect, and the minute I walked into the treatment room, I knew that this wasn't going to be anything like a traditional massage. The masseuse was this petite asian woman, and this particular treatment involved passive stretching. So I was lying on my back and she'd grab my leg and press it into me, pull it out, pull it over my head, etc. There was this one move that I remember the most because it hurt my arms...she had me sitting up with my legs stretched out, and she was behind me. She put her foot on my back and took my arms and pulled them towards her. After each stretching session, she would apply a bundle of steamed Thai herbs on the muscles to help relax them. While it did hurt at times, it was nice and did make me feel energized and my muscles weren't sore.

So that's all that I have. I hope all of you are doing well. On the 8th of March, we'll be attending the wedding of one of Nick's teammates. We haven't been to a wedding in a long time, but I'm excited about it. I get to break out my blazer again :)

Happy (belated) Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year was last Monday, so I'm incredibly late in wishing you all Happy Chinese New Year. However, it's better late then never, right? This year is the year of the Ox, but I have no idea what bearing it has on how this year will end up being. I suppose the Ox is the same animal as a bull, so maybe this year will be a Bull Market?

My friend Jane and I organized a hot pot party at our place in celebration of the new year. (If you don't know what a Chinese hot pot is, please look here for more information). We have never hosted a hot pot before, and were lacking some necessary items, namely a portable burner and a pot. We eventually got around to purchasing all the equipment and Friday night, we did some massive shopping with Jane and Rob at 99 Market for all the food.

We spent a lot of time on Saturday cleaning up our place, which was a good thing because it desperately needed cleaning. Since people would be crowding around a table, we decided to use our large metal rolling table in the kitchen. The only problem with that was that it's really tall, so anyone cooking there needed to stand (we warned guests to bring comfortable shoes). We had two pots going...one with seafood, and one without seafood (for those allergic to shellfish). Once they started boiling, the fun started. Everyone made their own dipping sauce and began throwing things in the pot to cook. While the food was really good, I really enjoyed the communal atmosphere of hot pot. Everyone's sitting/standing around the pot and it's all very interactive. We comment on how hard it is to grab a pork ball, and that quail eggs sink to the bottom and are hard to find...it was very nice to experience.

After the eating was over, people started playing Rock Band, SingStar, Lips, pool, and/or mahjongg. We hadn't thrown a party in a while, but even though it can be a lot of work to prepare for one, Nick and I truly do enjoy them. It's great to see people outside of work and to socialize with them when there isn't a computer nearby.

I realize that I haven't updated this blog with any substantial posts lately. I'll try to do a better job of updating it, and adding more pictures. Oh, I should so post a photo of Kitty laying all over Nick's keyboard last night. It was amusing 'cuz she was hitting key combinations and opening random files. Fortunately for Nick, she wasn't able to hit the right combination of keys that reply to emails :)