Chinese New Year

In honor of the Chinese New Year, I decided to take a trip down memory lane to our tour of China last year. We really fell in love with China during our trip. I would love to live in Beijing if we ever get the chance. We went with a tour group out of Los Angeles and all of the people on the tour were first or second generation Americans. They were Chinese, Vietnames and Tawainese. (so we always had a least three tour guides speaking in different languages). The diversity in our group also provided us a great deal of insight into the history of China, we got to hear all sides of it. The people in China were so kind and friendly.  They also tell the most wonderful stories. Everywhere we went, we heard lots of great stories about each place and artifact we saw. It was quite a unique experience because many of the people in China idealize caucasians and were very excited to see us. It was especially hard to blend in with a husband who is over a foot taller than anyone we saw in China, and the blonde hair didn't help either. I could write a novel on our trip but pictures are much more fun.

We went straight to the great wall after arriving in Beijing

Shopping in Beijing

Tiananmen Square

The Forbidden City

Next we flew from Beijing to Shanghai

Shanghai

Then we took a bullet train to Nanjing

Confucius Temple

Nanjing city wall. The brick makers had to put their name and address on each brick they made. If it fell apart, they were killed

West Lake in Suzhou

Garden in Wuxi

Loved these kids in our tour group

Gondola ride in Wuzhen (the Venice of China)

Tea Plantation in Hangzhou

Buddhist temple in Shanghai

World Expo

Sister Fest

As often as we can my sister, Sarah, and I like to have sister fests. These usually are a fun filled day of sister time, shopping, good food and sometimes a sleep over where we like to stay up all night talking. Today we started by getting our hair cuts together. Then my sister thought it would be great fun to buy crickets for my cats to play with and eat. I know, it sounds horrifying, but lots of her friends do it and as a dedicated cat mom I gave in. Turns out, cats really like to eat crickets. As soon as we put some out Bella started drooling a lot. Moby couldn't resist eating them to enjoy playing with them for very long. It turned out well, but you have to buy 36 crickets at a time. So now there are about 30 crickets in a box, in a closet, in the spare bathroom so I won't be able to hear the chirping (it makes my skin crawl). We already have another sister fest planned for next Saturday, we have tickets to a fashion warehouse sale and then a wii dance party throw down!

New Hair

Do we look alike?

Yucky

Trying to figure out how to get to the crickets.

Dinner time

Handywoman

Taylor and I decided early on in our marriage that when it came to chores and tasks we should each stick with our individuals strengths. Taylor's area of expertise lies in electronics, cars and cleaning up the house. (I get way to distracted with the organization of everything and I usually end up just making a bigger mess) My strengths lies in handy work, earlier this week Taylor asked me to call the apt office because the drain in our bathroom was clogged. I got out the tools and went to work fixing it before he got home from work. To me it seemed easier to just fix it then call someone else. We recently purchased a dresser and I honestly couldn't wait to put it together. I just love following the directions and putting together all the pieces. I think it satisfies the minor OCD I seem to have. Growing up, one of my favorite things about Christmas was putting together my little brothers lego sets. So yes, getting a new piece of furniture is kind of like getting a toy. I greatly enjoyed putting it together this week, I even used a whole bottle of wood glue to make sure it lasts a long time.
Things have been very exciting with Taylor working at his new job. A news station in Dallas hired Gandolfos deli to run a food truck as part of their morning news segment called the daybreaker. Taylor was on the news each time they did a segment. They took last week off since the host was out of town but they continued running commercials that you could see Taylor in. He will be back on the news this week and Taylor tells me the news station will compile all the footage and I hope to get a copy. If I get my hands on it, I will be sure to post some. Happy MLK day!

Daybreaker and Gandolofo's Food Trucks

Bella helping weigh part of the dresser down so the glue would stick.

 

 Finished product

A New Year

"This is going to be my year!" is what my sister likes to say every New Years. I guess I am a little less optimistic, being in school and with my parents going through a divorce but I am trying to make improvements and have a better year. So far this week I have attended my new yoga class and volunteered so I am off to a good start. Health and fitness is a big new years resolution for me. Over the break my spine doctor took a look at my MRIs and told me that I have two bulging disks in my lower back. He said some good core strengthening could really reduce my pain and I should be fine for many more years.

New Years Eve was pretty quiet for me. Taylor was working at the Big D NYE where 30,000 people gather in downtown Dallas to celebrate New Years Eve. He didn't get home until almost 5:00 am. I just stayed home and curled up with my cats, which is what I needed after my busy break. Last New Years Eve was much more exciting. We were almost done with our tour in China and on New Years Eve we took a cruise down the Huangpu river in Shanghai. It was so beautiful and I will never forget it.

So much happened last year which is probably why I am a little apprehensive about 2012. But looking back there were a lot of great adventures too. We had two big moves, one from Utah to San Antonio, TX and another from San Antonio to Dallas. I got in and started PA school. We adopted Bella, our kitten. We traveled through China and spent our anniversary in Jamaica. We also got to take trips to New Orleans and Utah. Here's to 2012! I hope everyone had a happy New Years.

Taylor's New Years Eve

My New Years Eve

 New Years Eve 2011