houses

Tudor style house is like the boy I have a crush on but not necessarily marry to. :)

dream vacation

Today is so warm that it is perfect for some day-dreaming.

So my vacation would be in a small European town by the sea. People are friendly there. The weather is warm and sunny. There has to be a coffee shop with tasty lattes, and a few restaurants with outdoor seats. I can find all sorts of goodies at the local farmer's market. In the afternoon I would take a nap. After dinner I will walk by the shore and watch the color of the sky change. The town has so few people that everyone would be able to call my name in a week or 2.

This is what I have got for now.

Ann Arbor is becoming more interesting

Brian and I were on our way to lunch. Strangely there were so many people at commons. Since this week is spring break, we both thought it's weird. Soon we realized that they were shooting a movie. Brian even remembered that Hillary Swank was the leading actress.

Then on our way back, while we were talking, two ladies walked past us from the other direction. One of them was Hilary Swank! Brian didn't really noticed that, but I pointed her out to him. She is very skinny, and looks much more girlie than her characters.

Even though I am not a big fan of her, it was still pretty exciting. After all she has won the oscar twice. Now I am hoping that I would bump into Hugh Jackman, or Christian Bale, or Edward Norton on the street, and casually say to them like "hey, Hugh, looking good!" :D

Oscar night

Currently my favorite actress is Anne Hathaway. She is so pretty and so talented. Btw, highly recommend "becoming Jane" and "Rachel getting married".

My favorite actors are Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, and Edward Norton.

I have no problem with "slumdog millionaire" getting many awards, but "the dark knight" deserves much more!

Did anyone watch Mickey Rourke's interview with barbara walters? It was almost as sad as the movie.

a week in review, well, almost

I am thankful for

2/17/09, Tuesday
--- getting into bed early
--- abundant food at home
--- enjoying catching up with "the bachelor"
--- Mo being super excited when I got home
--- enjoying the rest of the chocolate cake

2/18/09, Wednesday
--- my husband having a better day
--- the terrific fudge brownie from busch's
--- having time to cook & do laundry
--- playing online scrabble with Trudi
--- all my senses (this usually happens after I read a few paragraphs of Paul Brand's book)

2/19/09, Thursday
--- having dinner with my friends at asian legend
--- my husband quoting Paul's words to comfort me
--- getting off work early

2/20/09, Friday
--- getting a lot of food from costco. Yay, biscoti!
--- finishing the review in time
--- Jen helping me proof-read the review
--- tasty seafood congee I made
--- going to bed early
--- chatting with Xin on the phone

2/21/09, Saturday
--- having a relaxing morning (probably the best one I had had this year). Sau made me omelette and coffee. We had breakfast and chatted for a while. It was good.
--- walking mo with Sau
--- having dinner with Sau and Brian
--- not having to do anything or go anywhere on a snow day

2/22/09, Sunday
--- going to church and sitting behind two cute babies
--- so much food ready to eat in my fridge
--- the delicious coffee mix Sau introduced to me

--- getting to watch the oscar tonight (go, Hugh Jackman!)

I enjoyed

--- the sunshine
--- the donut and coffee from u-go
--- having lunch with Brian
--- the noodle soup for dinner
--- walking the dog with Sau
--- the chocolate cake Sau bought me from sweet waters. Thanks a lot!

God is good. He has been answering my prayers and giving me more than what I asked for.

I am grateful that

--- my favorite pastor ever came back from osu and gave the sermon today. Love him!!!
--- Ali and I had lunch together at potbelly and we had a good conversation.
--- I took a nap in the afternoon.
--- Rui and I chatted for a while on the phone.
--- the soup I made for dinner was very tasty.

my V-day

I enjoyed

--- staying at home all day.
--- cooking a few dishes.
--- having dinner and watching "10 things I hate about you" again with Sau and her guy. Thank you guys for being so cool with my hanging around on v-day. You are totally cute and awesome together!

good stuff

--- I got to chat with Jia for a little while.
--- Whole Foods has an awesome salad bar.
--- I had lunch with Rachel.
--- I watched two episodes of Grey's Anatomy. I love this season. Owen and Christina are so cute together!
--- I finally bought a hillsong cd.

I enjoyed

--- getting up late
--- a bowl of noodle soup for lunch
--- delicious salad from Whole Foods
--- a quiet evening
--- watching "the office" and "30 rock"

a brief review of the movies I have watched recently

1. Slumdog Millionaire: **** I think the first half is better.
2. Happy Go Lucky: ** I don't appreciate the main character. Some might find her inspiring, but I think she is quite annoying.
3. Revolutionary Road: *** Good acting, and painfully real conversations.
4. The Wrestler: **** You can't find a trace of acting. It's purely a broken person struggling in this broken world. A little too rough to watch.
5. Bolt: **** It is too cute!
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: **** Beautiful movie. Somehow I feel it could be better if the director used some less famous actor/actress.
7. Wallace and Gromit: a Matter of Loaf and Death: **** Great production as usual. The plot is a little bit old.
8. Iron man: *** I was not that impressed. The Dark Knight raised up the bar for me for all the action movies.
9. Pineapple Express: **** I love those guys. They make everything funnier.
10. Penelope: *** Light and relaxing. Not so much comedy or romance though.

***************************************
I am grateful for
--- warm weather
--- Mcdonald's breakfast and coffee
--- having dinner and spending time with 3 awesome girls. It was fun!

I am thankful that

2/10, Tuesday
--- the weather was awesome.
--- my boss bought us dim sum.
--- I mailed out the document before the post office closed.
--- I have plenty of food at home, including a slice of chocolate cake from sweet waters.
--- my laundry is free.

2/9, Monday
--- it was warm outside.
--- I focused on my work for a bit.
--- I was able to finish some of the things at night.
--- I had the energy to cook.
--- I love where I live. And I think my roommate is pretty awesome.

a little tired, but

all is well.

On Saturday afternoon my husband and I drove to Connecticut to visit an old friend of mine. I haven't seen her for almost 10 years. Our dorms were next to each other when we were in graduate school in Beijing. Now she is the mom of a 5 years old boy!

She prepared the hotpot. We ate a lot, talked a lot, and played with her son. It was very nice.

After we came back home, my husband and I played wii for a few hours. I broke a few records and reached the champion level in two games. Good times.

As always, we went to flushing for lunch on Sunday. Luckily we found a parking spot after a few rounds. The food was good. He dropped me off at the airport after lunch. The flight was a little bumpy, but overall the trip was very smooth. Except for the waiting, Michigan Flyer is a pretty good choice for the transportation to or back from the airport. On time and very comfortable.

On my way home, I picked up two dishes from asian legend. Hopefully I will never get tired of their food so that I can always order take-out when I don't want to cook.

And didn't it feel like the spring was already here?

Although I have something else on my mind, I decide to put that aside for a moment and dwell on what has been good.

2/6, Friday
--- I didn't have to go to work today because I am in NY.
--- I took a nap in the afternoon.
--- I played some wii and it was still fun.
--- My husband really liked the pork ribs I made according to a online recipe.

2/5, Thursday
--- The trip to NY was very smooth.
--- We found a parking spot in front of the restaurant in no time.
--- I finished watching all the available episodes of "how I met your mother".

--- I did a little bit more work today than yesterday.
--- I tried to reach out to a person I met once. I am not sure if there would be any output though.
--- I don't have to go out tonight.
--- I have my dinner figured out already. :)
--- This weekend will be very warm.
--- A friend of mine is making effort to restore our friendship.

I can't believe it's already Feburary

2/3, Tuesday
--- It's a sunny day!
--- I enjoyed the singapore Mi Fung from lucky kitchen as my lunch.
--- Again, I love my blue parking permit!
--- The congee I made for dinner turned out to be good.

2/2,Monday
--- My class went well. So my professor called me last Saturday and asked me to teach the class for him since he would be out of town. He gave me his notes, but it still took me 3 hours to prepare. Imagine how tough a first-year professor's life could be!
--- I worked on my thesis paper a little bit. It had been put down for quite a while. I need to finish it!
--- I had a relaxing life group. I was very tired after the class, but felt much better after the group.

busy weekend

I am thankful that

1/31, Saturday
--- my moving was smooth
--- I had a lot of fun at Rachel's birthday party
--- Jinli was there to help me move

2/1, Sunday
--- it was a beautiful day
--- I don't have to pay to do my laundries
--- I chatted with friends at church
--- Bhramara and I had some deep conversation during our costco trip
--- my roommate made delicious chocolate cookies
--- I am having a quiet evening to myself