It is a matter of perspective

Ok, I know I have been MIA for a while with my blogs. Part of it is because I haven't been able to find time to write. The other part is that my weekdays lately have been too hectic and less active, and so by the weekend I cannot wait to be out and about rather than being indoors. Anyway, hopefully my first blog back from the 8-month absence won't be the last.

Sometimes when multiple things or changes happen at the same time, even if some of those things are minor or out of your control, they tend to accumulate and end up making you feeling like "when it rains it pours". This is how I have been feeling for the last 2 weeks. I have been reading a book ("Feeling Good" by David Burns) that explains how your feelings are not always the reality because you might have thought distortions that create those unnecessary pessimistic feelings and anxieties. So I know that I need to put things in perspective rather than letting my pessimistic thoughts roam wild :-).

Below are the people in my life and things I enjoy that at the end of the day help to provide me with a more balanced perspective that my life is very good after all and that I have a lot to be thankful for:

1) My Friends: I have an introverted side to me that tends to keep my circle of friends small and that enjoys 1-1 company. So my close female friends and their support are important to me. These past 2 weeks, it has been helpful for me to just chat with my friends from Indy and Salt Lake City. Most of my friends have a great sense of humor, and so even random funny chit chats have been very diverting. The serious chats also help a lot and it makes me very thankful to have friends who are kind and empathetic.

2) My Family: I am also thankful for my husband and my dog. To cheer me up, my husband has been taking me out more often on the weekend to go hiking, the movies, and just to be out-and-about. I think it was cute that he brought take-home food one day and said that he had specifically picked out certain food to surprise me - ribs and chicken. I am also very thankful for my dog whose affection and neediness make you feel very loved. I have always wanted a big dog and a golden retriever is the best cuddling kind.

3) Brookstone Snuggies: I did get the idea of the Snuggies from the informercial but the one that I got is from Brookstone (which is not called a snuggie). Even though the Brookstone one is more than twice the Snuggies cost-wise, it is worth every penny because they are made of more quality materials than the fleece materials that Snuggies are from. This is probably our most favorite recent purchase because it warms you up instantly and you can use it anywhere (on the couch, at night as a blanket, etc). We love our snuggies so much that it seems to be a defining moment for us. My husband jokingly said that our life can be defined as pre-Snuggie and post-Snuggie.

4) Good movies: I am a huge movie buff and good movies always do the trick of providing just the right diversion. The movies I watched recently that I really like are: Changeling, Easy Virtue, A Serious Man, and Lost in Austen (the BBC short series) . A Serious Man is not my favorite movie from the Cohen brothers but it was an engaging movie and I did like how they were able to capture the realism of daily life. Last year the Cohen brothers won an Oscar for No Country for Old Men, which was an interesting movie, but my most favorite movies of theirs (in order of preference) are O Brother Where Art Thou, Burn After Reading, and possibly Fargo (I can't remember the movie very well).

5) Buying or receiving new and cool stuff: I love buying new things. However, the thrifty side of me does help to keep my shopping in check and also gives me an appreciation every time I get something new. My husband needed some more winter clothes recently and I really liked having an excuse to get him new clothes :-) I love getting our quarterly wine club shipments because I never know which type of wine I will get and it saves me time from having to go wine shopping at the store. I am really looking forward to the new iFrogz luxe iphone cases we just ordered to replace my husband's worn-out case because we will get 3 cases for the price of the same one that we paid for at the Apple store. This also means that I will get one of the cases in a combo bright green/black color, which I can't wait to use. Of course, I love the fact that our snuggies have worked out so well. Finally, I love that Christmas is coming so that I have an excuse to get my husband, our parents and relatives, and myself gifts.

The Asian Art Museum

Years ago when I was in San Francisco attending a conference, my company actually rented out the entire Asian Art Museum and held an appreciation gala for their customers. So of course I got to attend it. It was one of the most memorable part of the conference. First of, I had never seen such an extensive collection of Asian artifacts. Secondly, because San Fran is known for its Chinese food, we actually had authentic Chinese food catered -- roast pigs, roast duck, dim sum appertizers...you name it. I have to give kudos to the event planners for giving such an authentic feel to the whole event. Finally, being able to browse some of the museum exhibits while munching on such delicious food was just the coolest thing ever.

Anyway, it was so packed that night that I never really got a chance to see the museum in full but I always knew that I wanted to go back and visit it some day. So a couple weekends ago, I suggested to my husband that we tried out the Asian Art Museum. The special exhibit this month and for the next couple months is from Bhutan. Who knew that people in Bhutan were so religious - most of their art work were very influenced by Buddhism. There were actually a couple monks from Bhutan painting their special religious art work (I forgot the name) the day we were there. One thing that really impressed me was these pictures of temples on the side of the mountains in Bhutan. One of these temples is very famous and was even in a Travel magazines a couple months back. Apparently, traveling in Bhutan requires a lot of hiking up these mountains and it's very still costly to travel to there.

In addition to the special Bhutan collection, the museum also has a huge permanent collection of other Asian countries that spans 3 other floors. So it's literally the biggest collection of Asian artifacts and arts I have seen or heard of. I didn't realize how big it was and only alloted 3 and 1/2 hours for the museum. So even though we walked around pretty much non-stop for 3 and 1/2 hours, we only saw part of the China and India collection. Then we had to speed browse the rest of the countries - Japan, Korea, South East Asia, the remaining China, etc.

What I like about this museum is that it has such a variety of things from stoneware to robes to bedframes to scuptures/art work to Chinese carved jade collection, etc.

So needless to say we really do need to go back again some other time this year and spend a whole day next time. Coming up this summer is the Sumarai (sp?) special exhibit -- which should be very interesting!

Oscar-nominated movies

The Oscar this Sunday inspires this post. Below are a list of nominated movies or movies where the nominated actors came from that I either liked a lot (2 thumbs up), like a little but not crazy about (half a thumb), or didn't like too much (where my thumbs couldn't be found) :-)

Nominated movies that were 2 thumbs up for me:
1) Slumdog Millionaire: very original storyline and authentic scenery from Mumbai
2) Frost/Nixon: really good performance by the nominated actor who played Nixon. It makes me want to buy the original 70-something Frost-Nixon interviews from Amazon.
3) Vicky Cristina Barcelona: Breathtaking sceneries. Fast paced. Good acting. It's quirky but the storyline was kind of original and so it's very entertaining. It is still not my favorite movie though.

Nominated movies that were half a thumb up:
1) The Visitor: Most people would probably love this movie and so I might be an exception for not completely loving it. I liked the actor and the storyline idea (a change in the monotony of life, diversity, etc) but there were parts of the movie that were boring for me.
2) In Bruges: I love the dreamy quality of Bruges and the scenery. Liked the acting too. However, the storyline can be a little looney but this is probably because it's a comedy.

Nominated movies where my thumbs couldn't be found:
1) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: At 3 hours, it was too long and it made me wonder if the Editing team went on strike. Sure, I was impressed with the movie's central idea and the technology. But in the end, both my neighbors and I thought it dragged.
2) Frozen River: I liked how the lives (and poverty) in the movie were depicted very realistically. The ending wasn't expected which was good. Overall, it was just too much chasing around and a bit of stretched storyline.
3) The Duchess: I completely do NOT like this movie. It has well-known actors in it but it's too predictable. I have seen these types of movies a gizzillion times over and it's just not new.
4) Man on Wire: My husband loves this movie. I think it's a guy movie and there must be something in the adventurous nature of crossing a wire that appeals to guys. I didn't like it because I find the whole process a bit tedious. However, it was put together well.

Movies that were not nominated that I really liked (at least 1 or 2 thumbs up):
1) Burn After Reading: I love the Cohen brothers ever since O Brother Where Art Thou (they also make No Country for Old Men last year). It has a huge star-studded cast. It's very fast-paced and unpredictable. Brad Pitt is kind of funny in it.
2) Miss Pettigrew for the Day: Great actresses (McDormand from Fargo and Amy Adams). Fast paced. Just a lovely chick flick with a Victorian feel even though it wasn't during Victorian time.
3) Mamma Mia: Love the sceneries. Much better than the stage version...and how can you go wrong with any Abba songs?
4) Wanted: OK, I am not going to say that this is my favorite movie because it is not but it's an entertaining action-packed movie. What I liked most was that I didn't see the twist coming until it was there.

Nominated or non-nominated movies I have yet to see and I am dying to see in the next couple weeks:
1) The Wrestler
2) Milk
3) Gran Torino

My Dog Oscar

I am a huge dog lover. Now that I have our dog, Oscar, every time I see a dog while I am out walking or going to places, I have to stop and fawn over the dog. There is a vitamin store in our downtown area with a beautiful white Siberian husky with pale blue eyes (Max) -- the eyes are a bit intimidating but such a sweet dog otherwise. But at the end of the day, I always think that none of the other dogs are as precious as my Oscar :-)

What I love about Oscar is that he is so quirky and interesting. Right now, Oscar is passed out sleeping next to my chair with all 4 legs pointed toward the ceiling. In fact, I don't think I realize how much dogs sleep until we had Oscar. He probably sleeps anywhere betweeen 16-20 hours per day. Must be a nice life being able to nap all the time! When Oscar dreams, he makes this hiccup sound or a low growling sound -- it makes me laugh every time -- but then I am easily amused!

I find it fascinating that dogs always know who the pack leader is and how they act differently with different people. Oscar has different cuddling habits that he does with each of us that he doesn't do it with the other person. He also knows who to listen to and who he can ignore. Apparently, I am the alpha dog and my husband is just another dog friend :-)

Another thing Oscar does that I think is so funny is that he knows how to open doors. Since some of the doors inside our home don't all stay snapped in the lock, they can be easily opened with a gentle push. So if we try to leave Oscar in the front part of the house at night so that he doesn't roam the hardwood floor and keep us up with his walking "clogs", he'll push open the hallway door and come waltzing in anyway :-)

Oscar is 5 now and I find myself sometimes realizing that the 5 years have passed by too quickly. Once in a while it makes me momentarily sad that he is getting older and that I might have only X number of years with him. I know it's silly since he still has close to 2/3 more of his life to live, but the thought does sometimes cross my mind. Watching Maley and Me at the theater recently about the life of another dog really didn't help. It got me a bit sensitive about Oscar's mortality for a couple days :-) When Oscar was a pup, he was just this cute little teddy bear. One of my fondest memories of Oscar as a pup was about me having to carry him up the stairs in our previous him when he was too young to climb...and then slowing teaching him to climb the stairs because he got too heavy for me to cary. Another fond memory captured in photos was when a friend of mine managed to get Oscar to sit still as a slightly ADHD pup and took this beautifully chorographed picture of Oscar against a red blanket background.

It is true what they say in literature about how your pets are a good way to de-stress. I always find after a long day of work that it is soothing to hang out with Oscar watching TV or playing fetch with him. As someone who doesn't really care to be home alone when my husband occasionally goes on business trips, Oscar gives me this peace that makes being home alone not so bad.

Speaking of which, I am going to go and hang out with Oscar now. Up for a movie tonight might be Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I am sure Oscar will enjoy the international sceneries :-)

End of year vacation

So I had a great time off at the end of last year. My husband and I decided to take a road trip down the coast of California, to San Diego, and then Vegas.

On the way to San Diego, we stopped by San Simeon and toured Hearst Castle - the mansion of the media mogul, William Hurst. The Castle is grand and opulent with 100+ rooms, an on-site safari-like zoo, huge indoor and outdoor Roman bath pools, movie theaters, etc. The movie stars used to flock here and this used to be the place to be.

While in the area, we stopped by the Central Coast wine country in Paso Robles. The Central Coast area has about 100+ wineries in compared so the 400-500 wineries in Napa/Sonoma. We found this wonderful winery, the Justin Winnery, that makes exceptionally great carbs and red Bordeaux blends at the quality of a very expensive Napa Valley wine but for about half of the price. After tasting about 10 of their wines including the more high-end ones, my favorite is still their low-end $21 carb because it is really best carb I have ever had and it tastes like it should be a $50 bottle. Their top-of-the line, the Isosceles (which we didn't get to taste), has been on the list of top 100 wines in the world even beating some Chateauneuf du Papes (which are also my favorite). Justin Winery seems to put a lot of care into their wine making and I like their unique unfiltered wine technique. Anyway, we couldn't resist and had to join their wine club and have since also ordered more wine from them.

After Paso Robles, we stopped by Malibu, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, and Laguna Beach. We had a great dinner in downtown Santa Barbara and a great lunch in Santa Monica downtown. I have been in the Malibu/Santa Monica area before but my husband has never been. So we had to stop by and check out the Santa Monica pier - the one with the Ferris Wheel and is featured in lots of movies.

In San Diego, we stayed at Mission Beach. I got a bit sick the first day there because we wore ourselves out running down the beach without getting breakfast first. Then we went to Coronado Island and saw the famous Cornado Hotel. We also went to La Jolla Shores to check their beach and had a great lunch there. Finally, we stopped by the touristy Old Town and had a really big Mexican meal that made me wish I would never eat Mexican food again.

Vegas was of course a lot of fun. We went to see the Cirque du Soleil Love show - the one with all the Beatles songs. I was singing Beatles songs for a couple days. As usual, my favorite thing to do is to try a bunch of new restaurants, including Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill with the best cornbread and cornmeal chille rellenos and a new Hong Kong restaurant with excellent 2-way Peking duck. This time, we didn't play any poker-room poker, which is usually our winning or breaking-even game. Instead we played a bunch of table games: blackjack, roulette, paigow, world-tour poker games (not the same as the poker-room poker games because here you are playing against the house rather than other players). We also played some video poker and very little slot machines. Obviously, since the house has an edge in all of these games, we budgeted and lost what we set out as entertainment money.

After Vegas, we were supposed to stop by Joshua Tree National Park for 2 days, but my husband was then under the weather and I was still a bit tired recovering from mine. So we cancelled the Joshua Tree trip and headed home early. Maybe Death Valley and Joshua Tree next time instead.

It was very hard to come back home after such a fun filled trip. It was even harder coming back to work after 2-3 weeks off.