I am NOT into snow days at all, but it is hard to not miss the enthusiasm of friends and family, especially catching everyone on facebook making all these fun comments. And so I had the day off and Brian came home early. Instead of running out and playing in the snow, the first thing we did was clear off the snow that built on the cars!

And then I noticed that Mickey Mouse was wearing a snow cap:

And our neighbors built a really cute snowman:

And my roses are buried:

That was enough for me! I went back inside until Brian suggested he grab our boogie boards and attempt to boogie board down our backyard. Brilliant!

We bundled back up and I brought the camcorder with me:

Snow Day 09 from Vera Pakizer on Vimeo.

LOL. We gave up shortly thereafter. It was fun while it lasted.

And a shot from Central, which is where we boarded to visit  Ocean Park:

Ocean Park is an amusement park mixed with an aquarium and a zoo. I have vague memories of going to Ocean Park over 15 years ago, and it was nothing like how I remembered! For one thing, I did not ride any of the roller coasters or other rides. But this time, we did and although the rides are a little dated, it was still fun to go on a roller coaster off the side of a cliff! And their escalators are crazy! I am thinking they are almost 90 degree angles up the mountain.

The video:

Ocean Park 01 from Vera Pakizer on Vimeo.

And the capture:

We only snapped a few photos in the aquarium section, but I think the videos speak for themselves as far as how awesome it was!

Ocean Park 02 from Vera Pakizer on Vimeo.

Ocean Park 03 from Vera Pakizer on Vimeo.

Ocean Park 04 from Vera Pakizer on Vimeo.

This one makes me smile!

Ocean Park 05 from Vera Pakizer on Vimeo.

Some more:

LOL, okay, my mom snapped this one. She was supposed to focus on the plants, which were decorated like jellyfish!

And this one is funny too. Brian asked my sister why most Asians do the peace sign in photos and for them, it’s just another way of saying hello! Here, my mom and Brian demonstrate:

And I loved seeing the pandas! Ocean Park has 4 pandas.

Ocean Park 06 from Vera Pakizer on Vimeo.

More to come!

It was a fun project and I am especially glad to be able to share this with family and friends.

Pre-trip introduction:

Day 01 from Vera Pakizer on Vimeo.

I couldn’t believe there was snow on the ground! Well, I could, but in VA it has pretty much been missing the entire winter. This was also the only “jacket” I packed!

And then 15-16 hours later, we arrived in Hong Kong! We stayed at the Regal Hotel in Kowloon:

Day 02 from Vera Pakizer on Vimeo.

And some snapshots of the details:

And when we woke up (thankfully with minimal jetlag (13 hours difference!)), what better way to start the time in Hong Kong than with dim sum and shopping?

Day 03 from Vera Pakizer on Vimeo.

Stay tuned for more!

In the meantime, I thought I would share this super fun video of my in-laws’ dog. Missy is one of the most well-trained dogs I have ever met, and one of her fun quirks is that she celebrates Christmas! You can see what I mean here:

Cute, isn’t she?

I thought it would be fun to create one of myself, and check out the results:

LOL, within our group of friends and family, I do like to remind them that, Without Me, It’s just Aweso. Have fun playing, especially the night before the inauguration!

On our last night there, we decided to head out into the French Quarter and catch a nice dinner at Mr. B’s Bistro. Of course, I decided to wear a really cute dress I’d purchased prior to our trip with my super cute boots and got all nice and pretty for our evening out. We were walking down Canal Street when a gentleman selling roses noticed us.

“Would you like to buy a rose for your lady?” he asked.

Brian, without any hesitation, didn’t glance at me. “No thanks!”

The flower guy raised his eyebrows. “It’s only $2!”

“No thanks!” Brian said again and resumed walking.

The flower guy must have thought Brian was a horrible date because he turned around, handed him a rose anyway and said, “Here, you can have it to give to your girl.”

So I ended up with a pity rose. It was quite a hilarious moment, but I thought it was both sweet and kind of the guy to indirectly give me a flower. Though, as a side note and partially in Brian’s defense, because we had been approached by many vendors and sellers with their wares, we were pretty much drained from the whole process of buying and haggling!

But I did get a lovely rose for the evening and was sad to leave it in our resort when it was time to go:

I hope 2009 brings just as many amusing stories and highlights for you!

With that in mind, I wanted to share Brian’s masterpiece, our tree. Every year this is his big project…and I love how the lights warm the house and are just as important as the ornaments on our tree. It’s a bit of a monster tree. The tree itself is 9 feet, but combined with the star and the space below it, it comes out to around 12 feet. Thank goodness for high ceilings!:

And this year on a bit of impulse, we toured some tacky light houses in the Chesterfield/Richmond area and I think this will have to become an annual tradition with a bit more planning next time. The owners said their decorating took them about 7 weeks of hard work!:

I hope you and yours are having a wonderful holiday season.

We had to start our vacation with a visit to Cafe Du Monde in the Frencch Quarter. Everyone mentioned that we needed to try their beignets and cafe au lait. I think if I could, I would live on this stuff. It was so good, but messy! Thankfully Brian and I were able to indulge on their food because the place where we were staying was conveniently located between the Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter and at Riverwalk, a shopping mall/center.

This was taken across the street from Cafe Du Monde:

And a photo of me enjoying my beignet (the first of many!):

We also headed out to the Garden District and wandered through their lovely neighborhoods. I love all the ironwork we saw, which was really ornate and intricate:

And visiting The Saint Louis Cathedral was really humbling when you think of the history and such beautiful art and glass:

Because we were there for a full week, we had lots of time to visit other museums and places of interest, including the Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium, perfect for us to be indoors on a rainy day. When we were at the aquarium, we saw some really unique sea creatures…like these seahorses:

And samples from the insectarium to try:

I think one of my favorite places to visit was the World War II Museum. We stayed until the museum closed, learning about the war from different perspectives. It was truly touching and educational. It was the perfect accompaniment to the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C. which we visited during the summer.

One of the amusing highlights of our trip was that it snowed! This was the view from one of the windows when we woke up in the morning. It was really funny because when we stepped out for breakfast, there were people outside taking pictures of the snow!

It was a fun week, but I am just as glad to be home and getting ready for Christmas!

This was one of my favorite photos from last year, when it was crazy warm, and it was also the first time we attempted a deep fried turkey. Brian and his dad were in charge of monitoring the cooking process:

This year we will hopefully not overcook the turkey (our fried turkey pretty much fell apart when we took it out!) and theoretically we should be better prepared!

And of course it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without thinking of all the fabulous blessings in our lives. I am grateful for my family, new and old friends, travels and professional and personal opportunities.

I hope you and yours are having a fantastic Thanksgiving!