December 31, 2010

Counting all Your Blessings When It's New Year Eve....


Remember one of the Christmas song says,"when it's the time for the Christmas, count your blessings one by one..."

I guess for me tonight is "When it's the time to eating dinner alone at the New Year Eve, count all my blessings one by one..." :) One of the biggest blessings I have is that I can still see my dearest grandparents in person. And, this year, I even received two big "red pocket money" from them!

Life cannot be perfect, what else can I say? At least the dinner is a gourmet spinach salad with grilled salmon and orange. Sprinkled with a little bit cheese, almond flakes, and sesame oil.

Dad would be very proud of me that I got all my luggage unpacked for my trip from China the last week and the laundry is done. Home, nice and clean, smells the aroma of green tea.

Dad always says that don't leave today's work to tomorrow. How can I not to do the laundry tonight? Otherwise, that would be leaving this year's work to the next year. Horrific thoughts indeed!

2010 Recap

What has happened in this roller-coaster year, when the high got sky high, the low almost sinked to the bottom of the ocean?

The biggest highlight is probably my faith in God. In spite of my on-going tireless rebellious battle with Him and trying to charge ahead with my own efforts, I finally got to the point that I must admit his love and guidance towards me. This progress actually has made a significant change in my life and outlook towards the future. Gosh! Probably only God and I myself knows that how incredible I am now typing those words.

The second one is my career. Made some progress and validated that I am in the end not a lousy product manager at all. :)

Another thing I can think about of this year is that it IS FILLED with pampering and shopping. Uncle once told me over a cup of coffee that I should treat myself nicely or nicer. I nodded and smiled. What else can be easier than accomplishing that goal? I think I definitely have over-accomplished the goal in 2010.

The last thing is the fun I had from travels and photographing. Made all the way to South Africa, the furthest point from the San Francisco bay area. As far as the photographing, some minor progresses. Good enough. :)

The low points? Let's not talk about that tonight. :)

P.S. The picture of me drinking bubble tea at the top of HuangShan Mountain in China the last week.

Snack at 2:00 in the Morning

Uncle and auntie were treating the "kids" that day and took us out for a day of endless fun, starting from shopping, playing MaJang, spa, dinner at my most favorite restaurant specializing mushrooms...

Mind me adding a side note? I would still very much want to debate with them whether I still belong to the "kid" category. :)

2:00am in the morning, my cousin complained about being hungry again. Then, immediately, we headed over to KFC.

Uncle is our waitor and free-of-charge. :)


Mom and auntie were enjoying the very much Chinseslized American fast food - Chinese fried donuts with soy milk!


I looked so puffed up because I was tireeeed!!! It's 2:00 in the morning. Damn it! This is why I said I no longer belong to the "kid" category. Only those real "kids" are so energetic at those ungodly hour. Look at my cousin!

December 28, 2010

Hongcun - An Ancient Village in China

Located in the southwestern foot of Mt. Huangshan, Hongcun was first founded in the Southern Song Dynasty (about AD. 1131-1162), with a history of about 900 years.


Hongcun is a place isolated from the hassles and bustles from the modern life, simple, tranquil and peaceful.


The style of the architecture is simple, non-pretentious, and elegant, blended perfectly with the natural environment, the mountain at the background, the lake and streams surrounding the entire village.


Its most distinct feature is its ingenious water supply system. A stream flowing from a hillside spring behind the village runs into a ditch, and subsequently the front yard of every house.


Walking around the village, I feel as if I am so far far away from the real life. And this one is probably by far my most favorite of the trip.


November 26, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

To start this post with a long sigh.... :) With all the moving parts in life, multiple releaes on hand and the upcoming trip, life has been a bit too busy recently, and I just realized that I have ingored my blog for quite a while.

Well...At least got an opportunity to celebrate the start of the holiday season with a few girlfriends of mine, shopping, laughing out loud, talking crazy, and drinking wines. :)

October 09, 2010

Ostrich at the Loose

Hungry Cheetah

Sunset at V&A Waterfront

There is almost no down-time at the V&A waterfront, no matter it's in the morning when the fishermen are busy working at the dock, or during the day, people are shopping, hanging out at the many shops and restaurants over there. Apprantly, South African people love to go out for dinner. Why not, give so many wonderful restaurants there with very resaonable price.

I like this picture especially, as you can see the outline of the table mountain, the most famous landmark of Cape Town, right in the background.

Window Shopping at V&A Water Front

What one should do during one of those afternoons that there is nothing serious to do? Wondering around the v&A waterfront and doing nothing seems to be a good idea. The shopping center at the V&A waterfront can be called world class. You can easily find the top designer brands in the world right here, trendy stores, botique stores filled with facinating local crafts, some goofy stores of course...A great place to spend hours window shopping, people watching, without getting bord.

Feel tired afterwards, there are many nice resturants to pick, Sushi, African local cuizine, seafood, roasted lamb, anything you ever want...


Red shed of the V&A Waterfront offers tons of local crafts. One work would summarize them all - cheesy! Maybe not quite one word just yet. Cheesy and yet fun, and colorful.


Some cute stuff to bring back home for Christmas decoration. I don't understand why I have to be so controversial all the time. At one hand, I would love to have my mom around; but on the other hand, I don't think I could handle two lifestyles at home.


Wild thing in Africa! Why those Africa dudes are so sad-looking?!


South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup. Although the exciting event ended a couple of months back, the celebratory atmosphere is still floating in the year.


Painted Ostrich eggs.


African kitchen ware.


African home decoration store.


October 08, 2010

Ostrich in the Headlight

We all have our moments of glory and brilliance. This week? As far as I know, is not mine. :)

Can I complain to God? Can I say that sometimes that God does have some weird sense of humor? Maybe he is bored with managing billions of his Christian-followers so that once in a while he wants to play with a few of us to get entertained?

The bottom line is that this is the week I feel very sad. This is slightly out of the character of mine, if I am not too delusional.

The reality is that I feel I am fighting this stupid up-hill battle at work. Why should I even be doing that, especially doing that while starting my day at 6:15 am everyday? I should just sit tight and enjoy the big bucks they are paying me. Why bother? I know I have this decease of being a hopeless perfectionist.

At the same time, I miss my friends.

And, I am getting one-year older the next week. Jeez! Am I OK with me getting older and wiser everyday? Am I really happy with my life? One the one hand, I really happy with where I am, a job I love, a couple of really good friends I can hang out whenever I want...If I get bored, I can go buy myself an expensive purse, a dress,...Oh, I learned this new word, micro-surficing for facial recently.....Or, just simply go out of the country for a change....

I cannot complain to God, can I, given what I am blessed with?! However, nobody said I cannot whine towards him!!!! Ha, ha ha.....

October 03, 2010

Cape Town Wineland - Stellenbosch

The wine farms of Stellenbosch are the closest in distance to Cape Town and are within a 45-minute drive of the city centre. This is the most well known wine region and is home to a variety of cellars- producing some of the country's most acclaimed wines.
斯泰伦博斯 南非最古老的葡萄酒之乡


The Dutch architecture can be seen all the time. And, the color white is reserved for Caucasians and priests.
斯泰伦博斯,它是南非最古老的城市之一。早在17世纪中期,从欧洲来到这里的殖民者便发现,这里气候和肥沃的土壤,非常适合葡萄种植。


南非著名的红酒乡同加州NAPA的红酒乡一样,风景如画。悠闲的小镇,四处是可爱的咖啡屋,小食店,各式各样的小商店。

Stellenbosch is very similar to those cute little towns in the Napa Valley in California, coffee shops around every corner, nicely-decorated small eateries offering delicious sandwiches and small bites, local craft shops making you wish that you could move all the merchandise home...


The cute little town offers varieties of coffee houses, small eateries, nice restaurants, casual, relaxing. A place I feel I can walk randomly and yet having lots of fun.


逛够了,停下来喝杯咖啡,享受一下午后的阳光和闲暇。好不惬意。

Spent a couple of hours wondering around and doing window shopping...Now, it's the time to sit down and have a cup of nicely-made cappuccino and enjoy the sun shine of a leisure afternoon.


Local crafts women.


小店里都是引人注目的当地手工艺。

Flowers in South Africa (2)