.:: Friday, December 29, 2006 ::.

i can't believe the year is coming to an end. i know we're still a few days away, but i've been trying to think of the highlights of 2006. all in all, 2006 was a great year for me. here's why:

my job: things worked out great as far as my new career goes. my boss is great, my team is fun and drama-free, my company seems to be doing well (at least my parent company is anyway). i really see a good future for me in the business and with the company (as long as they don't lay me off to replace me with someone in india).
meeting ppl: through my first temp job and my current perm job, i've made some really great friends. it was a little scary thinking about making friends at my age, but i've met many great ppl and they've made my first full year in colorado quite enjoyable.
new car: i never thought i'd love a subaru, but i do love my car. she's been great to me so far, even in our first blizzard!
visitors: having our friends and family visit us is great fun! i miss everyone in california (and beyond), so it's always nice to have a little bit of familiarity in colorado. :)
NASA: W has been able to really improve his driving/racing skills this year, all with our deep involvement with NASA. i love being race control and just being so involved with the group. we've met some really cool ppl thru our enthusiasm for cars and racing too!
babies: all those babies this year...GC, IM, BB, JW, and already 2 more to come next year!
motorcycle endorsement: finally fulfilling my goal of getting my motorcycle endorsement! i don't know if i'll ever get my own bike, but being able to experience the thrill of being on a bike was good enough for me.
eating our way around colorado: our commitment to try a new place every weekend (when possible) has really paid off. we've discovered so many great places to eat here. and there are so many others to try!
the snow: i still LOVE the snow! and boy have we gotten a lot of it already! we have had more snow so far this season than we did all last season. and we're barely half way thru this season! experiencing my first snow day and driving in a blizzard has been quite interesting too.

now as far as 2007 goes, i just hope things continue to get better in all aspects of my life. i don't have too many goals or expectations, just to maintain what i've got going. also looking forward to turning the big 3-0 in just one month (with J, our hubbies, and the many celebrities i hope to see at sundance)...oh, and determined to go to europe. :)

as a bit of a sidenote, i'll be switching my blog over to a new site starting the new year.

:: joyce 4:43 PM [+]::
...

.:: Thursday, December 28, 2006 ::.

and here we go with part 2 of this holiday blizzard.

i really just hope there's enough snow tonight to have another snow day tomorrow! woohoo!!

we got my parents a shiatsu massage cushion for christmas, but unfortunately they couldn't fit it in their bag. so we ordered them a new one to be shipped to their house. and we kept the one we got them. it's very nice. :)

:: joyce 7:14 PM [+]::
...

.:: Tuesday, December 26, 2006 ::.

here are more pictures from the "holiday blizzard of 2006." with the snow drifts, we got 3 feet of snow in our backyard, about 28 inches in our front yard, and about 30 inches on our driveway. that's a lot of snow! but now it seems like a lot of the snow has melted already. it's amazing how quickly the streets get plowed after a heavy snow like this. our neighborhood streets were plowed by friday night. but some of my coworkers aren't so lucky, they still have piles of snow on their streets.

my parent's flight got in fine friday. their flight was delayed an hour and half, not because of weather issues, but because they had to service the plane. then after they got here, we waited almost 2 hours at baggage claim for their luggage! luckily it wasn't lost, and not among the hundreds of bags just hanging out at the airport. madness. by the time we got home it was already 10pm. saturday we went to the grocery store and korean market to stock up on food for the weekend, and i'm so glad we did because by sunday, safeway was cleaned out! my mom was eager to cook for us, and we were eager to eat her cooking! that night we went downtown to check out some lights.

denver city and county building:


the lights at larimer square:


sunday i took my parents to check out the korean catholic church for sunday mass. it was definitely much smaller than their church in oakland, but it was nice. we had a delicious honeybaked ham for dinner. and we watched march of the penguins. it's really cute, but had more death than i was expecting. but it was really good. it's amazing how they got those shots. if you rent the DVD, watch the extras, it's just as interesting as the movie!

so now they're back home, and i'm back at work. blah. it's gonna be really quiet this week. the weather ppl are saying we might have another hefty snow storm thursday night into friday, so hopefully it's just big enough for another snow day! but i have a feeling that's unlikely.

i can't believe christmas is done and over. so much preparation for a day that just flies by. now we have NYE to look foward, and L&D's first visit out here! and we get to play with baby G! so excited!!

hope everyone had a nice christmas!

:: joyce 10:42 PM [+]::
...

.:: Thursday, December 21, 2006 ::.

stuck at home on another snow day. :) we are literally stuck inside the house. and the snow is still coming down! the wind is gone, so the blizzard has passed. but holy crap, our whole neighborhood (among many others in colorado) is totally buried in snow! the plows aren't out yet, but man, they're gonna have quite a mess to clean up! where are they going to push all the snow to? crazy!

here are some pics we've been taking...

yesterday evening:


around midnight last night (when the snow stopped for a minute):


this morning!!


here are more pictures!

:: joyce 9:40 AM [+]::
...

.:: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 ::.

yea for snow days!! haha, actually, not technically a snow day, but we all got to go home early (some as early as 10am!) because of the crazy blizzard that has engulfed the state of colorado! now, the weatherman said it was gonna snow a little bit in our area overnight, and we got a couple inches, nothing scary. but after i slowly crept my way to work (taking me 20 minutes instead of the usual 10), it looked like it was just getting worse and worse outside. the plowers weren't even out because there was just no way for them to keep up! so by noon we were all forced to go home. i wasn't too worried since i only live 3 miles from work. well, watching about a dozen cars getting stuck in our parking lot (including a couple SUVs), i realized that no one was safe from this storm!! a lot of ppl were calling in to tell us that they had to get their cars pushed out of the parking spot! the plows are great at clearing the road, but they also make a nice big pile behind your car! well, after trudging thru the blizzard to get to my car (which is a trek in itself), i barely was able to open my door and squeeze inside without bringing all of the outside in. then it was a very slooooooow drive home. like i said, i live 3 miles from work, and it usually takes about 10 minutes (all surface streets). it took me 40 minutes to drive home!!! i can't even imagine what it was like for my coworkers that live like 30 miles away! well, all i have to say is that i LOVE my subie!! my car plowed thru that snow like it was nothing! i passed so many little cars stuck in the snow, but my little subaru had no problems getting by. that is, til i got just outside my driveway!! haha, there was so much snow, i couldn't even get up the driveway into the garage! luckily W made a nice little path so we could get the car inside the garage okay. what a mess!!!



yeah, i think we got more than just a couple inches. it's hard to tell, but that is definitely over a foot of snow!!

:: joyce 2:22 PM [+]::
...

.:: Monday, December 18, 2006 ::.

my last monday off...well, not including christmas and new year's. so i guess i technically have 2 more mondays off. man, the first week i have to work all 5 days is really gonna suck.

since we got all our christmas shopping done this weekend, W wanted to go snowboarding today. i wasn't so sure. i don't feel mentally prepared. plus, i can't fit into my pants anymore cuz i'm so fat! LOL...oh well. but after hearing the mountains got some new snow overnight, we decided to go to copper mountain. it was actually a really nice day, a sunny 25 degrees (it actually felt much warmer, except on the lift...brrr!). they got about 4" new snow overnight, which actually made it pretty nice. but it was an okay day as far as riding goes. i landed pretty hard on my tailbone last season and i haven't really healed since. unfortunately i landed on my tailbone again, not too hard, but hard enough to make me not want to go back up the mountain! :( we only stayed for half the day and headed over to idaho springs for lunch. every place we've been there has been really good, and this last place did not fail us.

we have 4 days til my parents arrive. it hasn't snowed at all, unlike what the weather ppl were saying (snow all weekend and thru most of the week). but man, it's been cold! when we got back around 2pm, it was 36 degrees! but nice and sunny. :) typical colorado weather. and as much as i would love a white christmas, i'm hoping it doesn't snow while they're here...it's just too much of a pain to get around in.

okay, i must warn you, this is a survivor spoiler warning...

i can't believe he won...i haven't watched it yet, but L called last night and spoiled it (haha, j/k L, it's okay, i probably would've found out from my coworkers anyway!). how exciting for yul and his family! i'm sure my parents will tell me all about the family's trip to hollywood for the finale! that's pretty nuts...

:: joyce 6:46 PM [+]::
...

.:: Saturday, December 16, 2006 ::.

last night was my company holiday party. it's been a really long time since i got to go to a nice company holiday party. my first year at BAL we had a nice holiday party at the marriott fisherman's wharf. everyone dressed up fancy and there was good food and drinks. the year after, the firm wasn't doing so well, so we had a holiday lunch, employees only. it was nice, but nothing like the year before. then when i worked at the Ritz-Carlton, we didn't have holiday parties cuz everyone was busy working one of the busiest times of the year. so we had anniversary parites in march instead, which was lame cuz we were being served by our own employees. i remember my director had to work the event, which i think is horribly unfair. but what can you do, it's a hotel, open 24/7. we would have our department holiday dinners, which was nice. but still, not the same as a company holiday party. so this year, i was really excited to go to our holiday party. it was at invesco field, in the east club level. it was decorated all festive, there was a band and dancing, wine and beer, a nice buffet dinner. i couldn't believe how fancy it was! i was thinking it would be more like a cocktail party! the building i work in only has about 300 people i think, but the main building is a lot bigger. we found out that there was 1500-1700 people there! i didn't even know we had that many employees here! haha... i only saw 4 ppl i knew!

we took a tour of invesco, which i thought was the best part of the evening! we got to see what a "small suite" looked like, and it was really nice. you could have one of your own for $85,000 per season. i don't even want to know what the larger suites cost! i wonder if our company has a suite? we even got to check out the opposing team's locker room, which was HUGE. they wouldn't let us in the bronco's locker room though, darn. then we actually got to go out onto the field. it was just a really cool tour. so if anyone visiting us is a football fan and doesn't hate the broncos, let us know, it's a really neat tour! i didn't bring a camera, but here are some pics from my camera phone (not the best, but whatever). again, thank goodness for camera phones!

a reminder to the opposing team just how high they are...


for just $75 you can put your own message on this 3 story tall scoreboard!


W standing in the endzone...

:: joyce 11:56 AM [+]::
...

.:: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 ::.

are we really separated by as little as six degrees? W and i were introduced by a mutual friend. his best friend J went to cal poly with me. well, W reminded me that even without J, we are still just a couple degrees apart. his friend L lived across the street from my friend M; the two were good family friends since they were like 5. it wasn't til we were sitting at M's wedding reception, next to L, that we realized the connection! then his friend D from UCI knows one of my sorority sisters. the probability of us meeting without J's help is probably slim to none, but it's just interesting to know that we're connected in other ways.

W is separated by 3 degrees to lil john. his friend J is friends with D who is in show business and knows lil john. they party together apparently. they all almost partied together in vegas. that would've been interesting.

we're also connected to U2. W's mom knows the group switchfoot, they actually go to the same church. and switchfoot has met U2. wow, i'm only 3 degrees away from larry mullin, jr. :)

:: joyce 10:14 PM [+]::
...

.:: Monday, December 11, 2006 ::.

i wish i could have every monday off...i could really get used to this!

today i finished up and sent out our christmas cards, a little later than i had planned, but oh well. it will be nice when we have kids so we can just do those photo cards like everyone else! we also shipped our little care package to W's friend Capt. J, who is in iraq. wasn't sure what to get him, so we just sent him some snacks and car magazines. the military makes it really easy for you cuz you send your packages at a domestic rate and they take care of shipping it out of the country for you. afterwards, i went next door to the pet store to play with the puppies. they're so cute, but i felt so bad for them. i wonder if anyone will even adopt them.

other than that, i am still finishing up christmas gifts and that's about it. i think i'll do the rest of my christmas shopping next monday. seriously, i need every monday off.

:: joyce 5:41 PM [+]::
...

.:: Sunday, December 10, 2006 ::.

we decided to try a breakfast place this weekend. we went to devil's food bakery where i had the fluffiest, lightest belgian waffle ever, topped with fresh berries and bavarian cream. deeeelicious! W's eggs florintine was really good too, especially the breakfast potatoes. yummmm... afterwards, we perused the bakery side. we didn't have our camera with us, but thank goodness for camera phones!



we ended up getting the chocolate cream puff. :) big enough to share.

:: joyce 7:58 PM [+]::
...

.:: Monday, December 04, 2006 ::.

taiyaki...sweet red bean paste in the middle, surrounded by a chewy dough baked to a nice crisp on the outside. shaped like a fish. YUM!! i ate the other 2 while i was shopping at h mart. you get 5 for $3. :)

while waiting for the nice little korean ahjima to make my taiyaki, we chit chatted a bit. when she first saw me she started speaking to me in korean, but when i responded in english, she apologized and said she thought i was korean. i told her i was (in english) and said my korean is horrible. :( it's kinda embarrassing, but i have no one to blame but myself, since there really is little stopping me from learning to speak better korean. but she continued to talk to me, asking me if i lived nearby, if my family lived nearby. i told her my parents lived in california, where i'm from, and that they'd be out visiting for christmas. she said that i should bring my mom and come see her. hehe, she was very sweet.

when she first started talking to me in korean and i responded in english, i was almost hesitant, and thought about just busting out in my broken korean (which is just getting worse and worse). i had a sudden flash-back to the time i visited emc in chicago, about 4 years ago (wow, has it been that long?!). after we had soon dubu (soft tofu soup) for lunch, we walked next door to this han-bok (traditional korean dress) boutique. they had beautiful han-bok and we just wanted to look at them (obviously weren't in the market to buy one). anyway, we walked in the store and one of the 2 ahjima greeted us in korean. we said hi. she asked if we were korean, and we said yes. when we weren't speaking back to her in korean, she got all crazy-korean-ahjima-psycho on us and said "why don't you speak korean when you are korean?!" we just kinda shrugged her off and proceeded to look at the han-bok. when i touched one to move it aside on the rack, she snapped at us, "you said look, not touch!" that was our cue to leave the store. and fast.

that was the first time i really remember being harrassed for being korean and not being able to speak the language. it was a horrible feeling, and that mean ahjima made me feel about as big as an ant. it took me a while to get over that feeling, and being at h-mart today, it almost came back. maybe this ahjima was just super sweet and didn't care about that kind of thing. maybe it's cuz she's a DENVER ahjima. :) whatever it was, i'm glad she didn't take the energy to make someone else feel bad for no reason. i hope she remembers me when i go back with my mom!

:: joyce 12:48 PM [+]::
...

.:: Sunday, December 03, 2006 ::.

oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree...

putting the star on top


close up!


tada!


playing around w/the camera...


our first (and last, as W likes to remind me) christmas tree! we have a big window in our living room that faces the front of the house, so i really wanted to get a tree to put there for all to see! :) i just love those pre-lit fake trees! and i must say, our's looks pretty darn real. now we just need to figure out a way to get that pine scent in our house. pine scented candles, perhaps?

i have every monday off this month, trying to use up the rest of my vaca days (use em or lose em). tomorrow i plan to make my holiday cards. why is it that every year my christmas card list gets longer and longer??? i need to make 40 this year. yikes. i also plan to get started on some hand-made gifts. i came across a really great idea (well, i thought it was great!) while surfing strangers' blogs. it might be a bit of a challenge to gather all the materials, but hopefully i'll find what i'm looking for. so many fun things to make, hopefully i can get them all done in time for christmas!! and surprise, none of them involve knitting!! that's enough about that now, i don't want to give anything away. ;)

we've gotten some good snow this past week. it looks so cool right after a good snow when ppl have icicle lights on their house (like our next door neighbor). makes me want to put them up on our house, but i'm not trying to risk anyone breaking their neck to put up christmas lights. and even with all this fresh powder, we still have yet to make it up to the mountains. between W's sore neck and my achy back and knee, who knows when we'll be physically able. :(

so we've been really good about our weekly dining excursions. every week we try a new restaurant. last night we went to a new indian restaurant called chutney's, and it was deeelicious!! it was the fanciest indian food we've ever had. everything was so good, and after dinner, we sat on a big leather couch at the bar to listen to live music by the soul gypsies (or something like that) and drink beer. they had a really good heffeweisen (sp??) that even i liked! haha... we've tried a lot of really great places, as you can imagine. i've just been listing them hoping i'll remember where it is and what i liked or disliked. but recently i started using mycitysearch to review the restaurants, and to also organize the places we've been. i have a lot to catch up on tho, and the only drawback is that citysearch doesn't always have all the restaurants we've been to. but so far it seems pretty cool.

i think i might also go to the korean market tomorrow. they have a little area inside that sells taiyaki!! i used to get these everytime we went to japantown in SF. they're fish shaped breaded cakes w/red bean inside. soooo good when they're hot off the iron! this place also has them with chocolate filling. yummmmm...

:: joyce 6:17 PM [+]::
...

a friend and former coworker wore this t-shirt on one casual friday, i recall it was orange, and the back of the shirt had the phrase "y'om say'n?" on it. i asked him, "what's that?" his response: "y'om say'n?" and from that day on, everytime he wore that shirt, he'd see me and say "y'om say'n?" and i'd respond with "word."