the happiest place on earth :)

DISNEYLAND! weeeeeeeeeee! on one of the most busiest park days of the year, my sister, Jerry and I decided we wanted to go to Disneyland.  Regardless of the crazy lines at 6am! and all day long on each ride, ridiculously expensive food (we brought our own), huge crowds, chilly weather and tired feet, I had the best time :) i'm such a little kid hehe


it's been 15 years since i've gone and it'll probably be another 15 before i ever go back (not to mention to replace the hole the ticket burned in my pocket), but despite mass commercialism, Disney has a special gift for capturing the magic and wonder and fantasy of childhood :D

Ah~  I've never been to Disneyland (I think)  I feel like my childhood was deprived XD...  Road trip :3?

6am

7am lines - park opens at 8am ><

tomorrowland - home of the astro blaster and space mountain

Big Thunder Mountain

Tangled

Finding Nemo

Matterhorn Bobsled

Storybook Garden  That looks kind of scary to walk in to XD;

Disney California Adventure

Ferris wheels are scary...lol

the most amazing water show  So pretty!

world of color :)

A truly magical place

I'm dreaming of white Christmas...

Merry (belated) Christmas everyone! i hope you all had a lovely time with your family and friends :) i know did!

This year, I had my first white christmas in the mountains of Mammoth, CA, where my family and i went snowboarding!  the terrible constant rain in cali led to 10-15 feet of gorgeous, powdery snow that covered the the mountainside and (thankfully) made for super soft landings and pretty pictures :D

views from our condo/the lift  It's so gorgeous! :)

so, never having gone snowboarding or even played in snow before, this little vacation was three days of firsts and lots of pain T_T i hate the cold and my uncle is a stickler for safety so i wore layers of undershirts/thermals/tees + hoodie + snow jacket + leggings/snow pants + wool/cotton socks + gloves + helmet + goggles + neck gaiter + wristguards (i highly recommend)...i was just like a giant puffy ball of warmth ^_^ almost too much so lol

i'm the one in yellow!  You guys are too cute!

I can summarize each day in just several words - Day 1: exhausting, Day 2: painful and Day 3: fun XD
Overall, snowboarding is just tough! especially for someone as unathletic as i am lol it requires you to really focus on your balance and you use sets of muscles that you don't usually (or in my case, ever) employ.  Lessons on the first day were soooo frustrating because we worked on gliding, heel edge and j-turns i.e. STOPPING lol oh it just hurt, mostly because to stop, i just fell -- faceplants, on my knees, on my arms,on my chest, on my tailbone T_T but it really does get better with practice :) last day on the slopes, i managed to get down the slopes in record time (1.5 hours to 20 min) and could count the number of times i fell on my hands lol 

the lodge

on the slopes

i was really tired...

me and ellie's winter serenade

 end of the day :)

once i stop hurting, i really want to go again :) and once i'm good, i really want pretty gear LOL  
I'm glad you had fun, even though it was painful ^ ^;
happy holidays!

'Tis the Season for Shows :)

So with the holidays coming around, there's a plentiful bounty of shows to watch :D  This weekend pretty busy for me -- I went to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert and the Nutcracker ballet.

But before I go any further, I just wanted to mention this weekend was ALSO very special for our dear friends Jordan and Daniel.  This past Saturday was their commencement ceremony.  Congratulations on graduating, you guys!! v(^w^)v  (Now they just have to make it through finals >__<) yessss congrats guys! i wish i could've been there to celebrate with you all :)

So, if you haven't heard of TSO before, they are this interesting metal rock band in their own style of music.  They combine electric guitars and drums with classical vocals and string instruments.  I really, really like their Christmas music!  Here's a sample of one of my favorites (timed to Christmas lights!):

My top two other favorites are "A Mad Russian's Christmas" and "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo." 

The music is great, and the show itself was pretty amazing.  The tickets are a little expensive (~$100 each), but it's completely worth it.  The show combines the live music with lights, pyrotechnics, and the lead members running around on stage playing their instruments.  The Christmas show also had a narrated story that linked many of the songs together. 

Afterwards, they had an autograph signing.  I got a booklet from the night, but they sell other things -- posters, CDs, and even playing cards (I got a set of those, also).  They also gave us some fancy TSO guitar picks as we went down the line, and the band members are really nice.  If you ever get a chance, I would definitely recommend going to watch them :D

Ooooo i've always wanted to see TSO :P perhaps next year? did you go with anyone?

The Nutcracker Ballet was also fun but less impressive. (It's a more elegant show, without the fancy lights). If you've never heard of the Nutcracker and/or the ballet, you should watch the Nutcracker movie.  The ballet (and movie) are both renditions based on Tchaikovsky's song set that he wrote for the original Nutcracker story.

A sampler of the music (and ballet dances):

Thanksgiving Desserts :D

So for Thanksgiving, I baked a bunch of stuff :3  Thanks to Tiffy's tips on food picture taking from before, I have a billion (bad) pictures on my camera that would be better if the lighting in my kitchen were better XD  But anyways, here you go~

Dessert #1: Pumpkin Maple Pie
The first thing I baked was a pumpkin maple syrup pie, but the pictures didn't turn out well at all :(  So I'll show you the one they had on the recipe website, skip that, and just post the others XP

Dessert #2: Raspberry chocolate tarts~
My ingredients :3  My kitchen was super messy XD

 Fresh raspberries, raspberry jam, cream cheese, and semisweet chocolate :3

Tart shells, with hand-ground almonds pressed into the bottom.

Chocolate + cream cheese as a base. 

Fresh raspberries on top~

Warmed raspberry jam to hold everything together. 

Drizzle some melted chocolate~ 

 And lastly, sliced almonds as a pretty decoration :3  Om nom nom.

Dessert #3: Pumpkin Cheesecake
For Thanksgiving dinner, I made a double-layer pumpkin cheesecake.  I used cinnamon graham crackers for the crust and sprinkled walnut bits over the bottom crust.  Then there was a layer of regular cheesecake, then a layer with pumpkin and spices, and then some walnuts as decorations around the outside.

Dessert #4: Pineapple Bread Pudding
I also made bread pudding for the first time.  The special touch was canned pineapple mixed in, and I used oatnut bread (with hazelnuts and oats) instead of white bread, because my mom likes the nutty bread.  I think it turned out a little drier than restaurant bread pudding, but people seemed to like it :)  I also sprinkled walnuts on top.

wahhhhh everything looks so good!!! :D