My Trip to Seattle: Food

Thanks so much to everyone's suggestions on where to eat a few weeks ago! I unfortunately couldn't roam very much because I didn't have a car. In fact, I even tried to go to Delancey, only to wait for a transfer bus that never came. Boo! Sorry Molly Wizenberg, one of these days, I will eat your delicious food. If you're a food lover, I highly recommend her book, A Homemade Life. Thank you to my cousin for recommending it to me!

Despite not eating at Delancey, I had a fabulous eating adventure in Seattle. One of my first stops was at Beecher's Handmade Cheese in Downtown. I feel sorry for anyone who is lactose intolerant.

[Signature sandwich from Beecher's Handmade Cheese. It was gooood.]

[Yes. That is cheese. A lot of cheese. The best part is that I got to eat my sandwich while watching this orchestra of cheese making.]

[They were so nice here and took this picture of me with their mac and cheese!]

Another absolutely ADORABLE place I visited was Curio Confections in the U-District. I unfortunately left my camera at home, but I did take some photos of the goodies I brought back home for friends.

I cannot stress how cute Curio was! I'm sad there is nothing that comes close to it in San Diego. Check out the gallery on their website, it's the link next to the photographer in the corner!

[Homemade oreo marshmallows!]

[Lollipops!]

We've come to the end of my photo recaps! I just have one more picture. Normally I don't sit next to the window, but it was assigned seating on the airline I took and that's where they put me. They must have known I would have liked this view.

[I believe this is Mt. Rainier. Can anyone confirm?]

10 tidbits about yours truly

Thank you so much to my fantastic blogger friends, Gaynor of Our Day by Design, and Bella of An English(ish) Wedding, for tagging me and giving me this blog award! I love how this blog award says "Art is everywhere but you have to see it". 

Here are 10 random tidbits about me. 

1. I recently found out that Beverly Cleary is an alumna of both my undergraduate and graduate program. I think that's pretty darn cool.

2. During Survivor's heyday, Cold Stone Creamery had a special promotion. If you ate a chocolate-covered grasshopper, you would get a free ice cream cone. I ate two, one for me and one for my boyfriend at the time. 

Yes, it was totally gross after your taste buds made it past the chocolate.

3. My Chinese name means "dream". My Dad had a dream he'd have a little girl. And he did!



4. I was by myself and listening to Ben Fold's "The Luckiest" when I saw the Sistine Chapel for the first time.

5. Until I was 16, I thought "tupperware" was pronounced "tubberware". Neither one really makes sense to me!

[Me, circa 2006 at the Musee d'Orsay]

6. I love to travel. I have been to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, and Naples. I really hope I get to visit a new place for our honeymoon.

7. I played tennis for most of my life. I accidentally hit a girl in the eye at the net in high school and made her cry. What did my coach say? "It was her fault for not ducking!" Ah, varsity sports at their best. 

If you were hit in high school at a tennis match by a little Asian girl, I'm very sorry and hope you forgive me. 

[Ani DiFranco]

8. I have seen Ani DiFranco, Jenny Lewis, REM, and Rhett Miller in concert twice.

[Corgi from The Daily Puppy]

9. The boy and I are obsessed with corgis and hope to get one when we have a house and a yard. Which won't be for a very long time, unfortunately. We both yelp when we see one because they are so adorable!

10. The woman at Whole Foods recognizes me and my drink order. Blueberry shake, substitute soy milk with non-fat milk please.

Consider yourself tagged! I love learning new things about my blogger friends. 

My Trip to Seattle: The Central Library

[Postcard artwork by cakespy]

[The Seattle Central Library, designed by Rem Koolhaas]

[The escalators were neon and had art installations running on the sides.]

[Beautiful phoenix in the children's section]

[Papier mache artwork decorated the children's area. This tree was my favorite.]

[Puppets!]

[This was the floor, and was absolutely amazing]

I LOOOOOVED it here. I came alone and just soaked it all in. If you visit Seattle, you have to see the library.

My Trip to Seattle: Pike Place Market

I'm almost back to San Diego. I'm currently waiting for my plane to arrive, blogging and trying to digest my week in Seattle. It was an intense and tiring week, but it was nice to be focusing on something else besides the wedding. It reminds me that I had a life pre-wedding planning, imagine that!

Here are some photos I took while visiting Pike Place Market, which was amazing. There was a dahlia explosion there and left me giddy from so much prettiness. The weather was also GORGEOUS, not a drop of rain in sight.

While I had a great time in Seattle, I can't wait to get home to the boy. I'm promised fatty Mexican food and the episode of Heroes I missed. After that, I better get to work, because according to this card I've got in my wallet, I am now officially a grad student. Holy $%^&*.

More pics from Seattle coming soon!

A cupcake while you wait

[Cupcakes at The Chocolate Box]

I'm having a lovely time in Seattle, and I promise more pictures when I return on Saturday, but in the meantime here are some pictures I took of cupcakes at The Chocolate Box (I'm not sure anything named 'The Chocolate Box' could possibly be a bad place).

My apologies for being absent in the blogosphere, but I'll be back up to speed once I fly back to San Diego! Enjoy the eye candy!

Poetic License Shoes

[Poetic License Garden Delight Flats]

These were hanging out on the sales rack at 50% off! I love Poetic License shoes. I have a pair of PL purple suede flats that should sadly be retired to shoe heaven. I hope these can be a good replacement for them.

I think I need to be stopped, I've bought way too many shoes lately. This is my last pair for a while. I swear!

Isn't It a Little Early for Dreams?

I had a dream. 9 months before the wedding and I'm having wedding nightmares? What kind of dreams will I have 1 month before??

[Side note: I tend to have panicky dreams when I'm anxious. In high school I had this dream about math class, in which I received a 98% on a big test. "Sweet!" I thought. "A 98%, this is great." And then I peered at the tests around me. 4%. 10%. 20%. Man, everyone did really poorly, I wonder how I got a 98? And then the teacher makes this announcement. "I tried something a little different this time, the percentage on your test is the percent you got wrong, I thought it'd be nice to mix the grading system up a little." In real life, I really really really disliked that teacher. Ok back to weddings.]

You might recall that I want the boy and I to walk together down the aisle instead of having my Dad walk down with me. In my dream, that's exactly what we did. His brother walked down with the ring bearer. My sisters walked down with my baby niece. His parents walked down. My parents walked down. And then it was our turn.

[Side note 2: The boy, even though he constantly argues against this, has a history of clumsiness. He's a messy eater. He trips over chairs. He's dropped an entire milk carton at the grocery store and it exploded. He once zipped up my jacket for me and clipped my lip with it. Ok, side note done, I won't continue to ridicule the boy publicly. I love you! *muah*]

As we walked down the aisle, he stepped on my train and it ripped off. In front of all the guests watching us. *RRIIIIIIIP*
(I might have gotten this idea from Mrs. Cookie's ripped dress on Weddingbee. Mental note, bring a lot of safety pins.)

I told him about the dream.
"I am NOT that clumsy! Stop insisting that I am!"
Don't worry, this won't stop me from walking down together. We'll just practice. Many times. And if you're reading this and also attending our wedding and this actually happens, please try not to gasp too loudly.

Anyone else known to have panicky dreams like lil ol me?

The Little White Dress

Before I got sucked into Wedding World, I always thought I'd be content wearing a simple white dress with some colored flats and maybe some flowers in my hair. I was even in a store with a friend and there was a short, lace white dress and I grabbed it and said "see, I think I would be fine wearing this to my wedding" and he gave me this "are you serious? This $50 off the rack frock?" look. He's much more conservative...and a better dresser.

Later, after realizing that I wanted to be more dressed up than my guests, I started ditching the simple, short white dress look and entered the Wedding Dress world. But, y'know, for imaginary wedding #2 with the boy in suspenders and a violin player serenading us, I still look at them.

Here are some I found on ModCloth, an adorable online shop my cousin just introduced to me.

[Chai Latte Dress]

[Cloud Nine Dress]

[Bonfire Night Dress]

[Chardonnay Dress]

[Shine of the Times Dress]

All dresses found on ModCloth.

My Mother's Retro Cheongsam

[I managed to squeeze myself into this one. Sorry, I don't have a floor lenth mirror.]

[A view of the dress as full lenth]

[This white cheongsam has a great pattern. Unfortunately I can't even put it on it's so tight.]

I visited my family this weekend, and my mother sent me home with two beautiful cheongsams she had worn at her wedding. I knew my Mom was 105 lbs. and a size 0 when they got married, but I was going to give it a shot anyway.

So, surprise surprise, they don't fit.

I managed to squeeze myself into one of them, like a sausage into a casing when the sausage is wearing spanx, but the other? It wouldn't go past my thighs. I don't know if it's worth it to try to alter one of them, and I really don't want to lose 10 lbs. just to squeeze myself into one.

Was anyone else planning to wear your mother's wedding dress? How does one even move in a cheongsam, wearing one is SO uncomfortable!

My New Pink Toy

[ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-VU1X]

Looks like everyone else wanted a new pink toy too, because it's out of stock! I'm really excited about my new netbook and am glad that I can bring it with me everywhere so I can work (*cough cough blog*) anywhere I go!