Chinese New Year Trip: SFO-Korea

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

We were so excited to go on this vacation after such a long vacation drought. We started our trip by joining the first stop of grandmother's 90th birthday SF tour at SFO. Since we are not using our apartment, we thought it would be nice for grandmother to enjoy the lovely view of the bay bridge on her birthday.

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

After a quick hug/picture/car driver swap, the girls were off to enjoy the sunny SF city while we hurried in to get on our flight to Korea.

We were so lucky to get on business to enjoyed the warm nuts and champagne before the take off.

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

Fresh fruits for snack... what a treat!

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

As we got closer to Korea, Julie and Eric were anticipating the extreme cold weather ( Weather channel: -10 degrees Celsius... Brrrrr)

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

We arrived at our B&B. It was such a neat place. Julie thought it was an original traditional house... Eric pop her bubble by telling her that it is a rebuild.

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

We visited a few palaces:

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

But the most important part was the food:

* Neat breakfast on our first day: curry buns and rice ball with blue label (Julie was guessing that it was fish... you know blue=fish...and it was ^_^)

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

Then we found this pancake with honey and peanut snack on the street: ( extremely gooey and delicious... dripped on Julie's coat)

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

Then some yummy red bean paste cake with extra crispy shell:

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

How about some Bulgogi and tofu pot

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

Wait, Wait... how about some mandoo for snack:

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

Lets finish the day with some sulfurous duck:

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

The duck was so juicy... and it went really well with soju... mmmmm...
The menu said that the order is big enough for 3 people... Eric and Julie polished it off.

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

We also did a little window shopping and found some interesting signs:

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

we found Black Face

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

...and porky children

We started the trip with a lot of food and we were determine to end the trip with more good food.

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

a nice Starbucks green tea cranberry scone with mocha

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

last minute eating with the ginsing chicken soup

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

we visited the world's best air hub: ICN and bought some kimchi chocolate at the duty free shop

From Chinese New Year trip: Part I

then it was time to say goodbye to Seoul and head for our next destination!

More pictures:

Beautiful sunset before the trip

From quick walk

While Julie was waiting for Eric to return home from work on Friday, she can't help but notice the beautiful sunset outside of their bay window. The colors were a mix of purple, orange, and yellow.

From quick walk

Julie decided to take a quick walk in the neighborhood with her new fish eye lens and the pictures turned out amazing.

From quick walk

Happy Birthday to ME~~ Part II: come fly with me

To celebrate Julie's "20"th birthday(again), the gang decided to go for some zero gravity at: This was not just to celebrate Julie's birthday but also to celebrate the recovery ( majority) of her back injury.

At first, there was a little nerves involved...

but a few seconds into it... what concerned Julie the most was not the flying but the uncontrolable drooling...

Since Julie had a big smile when she entered the wind tunnel, the wind made it difficult to close her mouth... therefore the slobber ^_^Here is Eric demonstrating the perfect technique of closing his mouth to prevent the zero gravity Niagra Falls.

Round 1: E&J

Round 1: M&A

Round 1: J&A


Round 2:E&J

Round2: M&A


Round2: J&A

Cool birthday gifts!

Thanks to Carol, Julie got a lavender de-stress neck pillow to help with her neck/back healing.

Thanks to the girls, Julie got a pair of really fancy fuzzy slippers to keep her toes warm from the cold cold SF nights. This will also stop her from wipping the bottoms of her boots to be able to wear it indoors.

Thanks to Noelle, Julie got her very own magical drawer set ( the set Julie didn't get to have from Christmas, with hidden drawers and smells really nice).

Thanks to the gang, Julie got to experience sky diving without the height ^_^ with indoor sky diving ( videos coming soon).

And the coolest of all, Julie got a fish eye lens from Eric for her camera. Expect more funny pictures ^_^

Happy birthday to me! Part I

As the clock struck twelve, Julie didn't turn into a pumpkin ^_^ but she did get to enjoy a home-made ice cream cake from Eric and lots of happy birthday wishes from Carol!

A nice walk on the Golden Gate Bridge

As a New Year's resolution, Eric and Julie have decided to get healthy and exercise more for 2009. The first thing we did is to tackle the 1.7 miles (3.4 miles round trip) walk on the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a sunny afternoon. Eric made sure Julie was bundled up while Julie made sure she remember to put batteries and memory card in her camera.

Although it was a picture perfect location and a picture perfect day, Julie and Eric didn't quite make it to the end of the bridge... next time, next time.

A great deal?

As we approach Eric's dissertation completion, we started to think about how to integrate the computer into our entertainment system without ruining the aesthetics of our living room. Julie spotted this very nice and compact office cabinet at Crate and Barrel.

However, if we purchase this desk = no new tv...

Being the resourceful gal she is, she started searching online for a similar cabinet.

The cabinet from Staples looks exactly like the one at Crate and Barrel but much much cheaper. With such a great deal, Julie and Eric decided to order 2 of them. Since it is an order over $100, they also got free next day delivery (what a steal!!).

When the cabinets arrived, Eric quickly got to work. Take piece A and screw it on to piece B, then turn the unit around and push in piece C....
1+ hour later...
Huston, we have a problem...

There seems to be a small issue with the drawer railings... noticed on the left side there is a thinner railing on top and thicker railing on the bottom and on the right side there is a thicker railing on top and thinner railing on the bottom (mistake by the manufacturer... not that Eric can't follow instructions). Unfortunately, the piece on the right and left are the earlier pieces of the puzzle... so Eric had to take the whole thing apart. 1 hour later, Eric drilled new holes to reposition the railings.

Not too bad, Eric and Julie thought, since the units were so cheap.

So, the next day, Eric set out to put together the second unit. 1+ hour later, as Eric lift out the last piece of the cabinet ( the desk top) from the box, he noticed a LARGE chip on the table top...

After calling Staples, they instructed Eric to take the cabinet apart, put it back in the box, and they will deliver another unit the next day... It took another hour to take the cabinet apart.

Third time is the charm right?

Close...

After the third cabinet was put together, Eric and Julie realized that the cabinet doors were warped... after sitting on the doors for a day, now the cabinet doors close and the Foristers have their new entertainment system ^_^


Lesson of the day: Eric is an expert in putting these cabinets together, so give him a call if you want to get one of these units... ^_^