putting the knit in shizknitz

Before: After:

I’ve finally lost my mind. Maybe it was watching too many reruns of Sex & The City. I always get the craving for Sarah Jessica Parker curls. Being asian, I’m just not blessed with such hair curly goodness. Instead, I have to pay big bucks for it. I did some research on body waves and found something called digital perms. Its a lot easier on your hair and the curls are not that permanent (which is good for ADD’ers like myself). I love it… my current curls are not as tight as the After photos above and its easier to do. I get out of the shower, throw hair lotion on it and blow dry. This may be the solution to quick-go hair while backpacking in Europe.

Most of you know that I am devout to Bob, my hairdresser who I’ve been going to (and many of my friends) for the last several years.  I just got my haircut a few days before and wanted him to do the perm, but he didn’t have the time.  As usual, I wanted it done and I wanted it NOW, so I did some more research to find a Korean salon in Ktown through Citysearch.  Vogue Salon was your stereotypical Japanese salon, but Korean.  Like the reviews on Citysearch, everyone there was Korean, all the customers were my mom’s age, but no fear - Grace is awesome.  She was working on someone’s color (someone younger than I) which turned out really great and some of her other haircuts were turning out fabulous!  Don’t expect Beverly Hills type glitz, but it is definitely NOT BH type prices either!  Grace was great with getting me exactly what I wanted, in between humor about her daughter who attends UCLA.

Surfas is well known for their kitchen supplies and goods (it seriously is paradise.. and for kitchen retards like myself, its still fun to look at all the shtuff). They opened a cafe a few months ago, and Rokes and I finally got a chance to check it out. Its a small little place to the left of their main entrance with tables outside to sit and enjoy. The cement at the entrance had imprints of various kitchen utensils - real cute! I wish they had some table heaters - it was a chilly day!

Lunches came in brown boxes, your napkin and utensils are found under the red tissue paper. Salads are just thrown on top of the tissue paper, and items like the above macaroni and cheese are found in little containers. Each box comes with its own unique quote about food, or eating, or something of the like. They have recycle bins available so nothing goes to waste. Also - the guy who was working the cheese counter (they have a HUGE cheese selection and have some special event on Sat’s at 4 PM for cheese and wine pairings) was pretty cute - even in his white getup.

So number 5 on my list of things to do in LA was lunch at the Tea Room in The Huntington Gardens. Rokes and I got in on a cancellation (usually they suggest making reservations a week in advance) and had an AWESOME time. The weather was kinda strange, and it started raining on us at one point… parking was free, but you have to pay the entrance fee ($10 for students I think) and then there’s still a few min walk to the Tea Room, so make sure to give yourself enough time for parking and walking (LOL we were trucking it in the park!!!). The tearoom is small and cozy, and the food is buffet style!

For $20, you have your choice of teas, 3 kinds of scones (they come out warm!), all you can eat sandwiches, salads, caviar, cheese, desserts….. yummmmm! The plates are small but don’t be afraid to get seconds. I saw people go for seconds and thirds and who knows.. Afterwards we walked around to see the sights (and to walk off some of the food). We went as far as the Japanese garden when it started to POUR. We were able to seek refuge at one point, until the sun came out.

Merry Christmas!

Originally uploaded by Mashimia.

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Road trip 101

Originally uploaded by Mashimia.

Last minute road trip to the bay area. I decided to venture out and take the 101 rather than the boring-as-all-hell-just-shoot-me I5. The view was much more scenic (ocean views for part of the way) and more interesting (the “don’t pick up hitchhikers for the next 13 miles” signs). Visited a friend’s farm in Morgan Hill and proceeded out to my sisters a little north from there. Then we drove to downtown San Jose to enjoy their Christmas in the Park thing complete with outdoor ice skating rink! We then had cocktails and munchies before soaking in a huge bathtup at the Fairmont Hotel, courtesy of my bro in law. We now await breakfast in bed… but you’re probably wondering, why aren’t you sleeping in? About an hour ago I was awakened… by the remnants of the glass of fresh milk enjoyed earlier on the farm. Oy.

More Photos

Good lord. There’s nothing more heart wrenching than Korean Dramas. I haven’t had time to watch them (24 hrs for a complete story usually) but being on break, I’ve indulged in the Green Rose. I just watched the moment she saw him for the first time as the President of the Chinese company as the elevator door closed. Wow.

BTW his assistant that shows up when he returns to Korea, is HOT. Does anyone know what his name is?

Vancouver

Originally uploaded by Mashimia.


All of my Whistler photos are up now! Click on the photo on the right to see them all off of Flickr. The drive back to Vancouver from Whistler was amazing… they call it Sea to Sky Highway.

View of Blackcomb Mountain

Originally uploaded by Mashimia.

Monday was a flurry of wetness - first, snow. Wholy crap. Lots of it. Big fluffy things just falling from the sky. I had never seen anything like it (or at least as long as I can remember. I’m sure living in Minnesota for 8 years we saw things just like it). We read magazines and watched cable TV (one of my favorite things about a hotel) until our brains melted. Everyone needs days like these once in awhile We spent the remainder of the day dodging the rain and slush through Whistler Village looking at stores that carried the same Canada and Olympics gear (Whistler is hosting the 2010 winter games).

Yesterday was spent on the slopes - and what a glorious day it was! We went back to Whistler and experienced powder like never before. The packed portions, it was like skiing on powdered sugar - just SOFT. It was amazing. Then we hit patches of untouched powder and BAM! We were clueless on how to turn in that stuff - you don’t experience this type of powder (like thigh high!) in California.

We got in some great runs yesterday, only taking a short break for lunch and orange M&Ms. On one of our lift rides, we met a chatty man who proceeded to talk to us about how the skiing had been awesome the day before (the day with all the snow and rain). He mentioned “the worst day on the slopes is better than the best day in the office”. I described our difficulties in powder coming from Cali. He laughed and said how he’s been in Vancouver for 14 years and just recently moved out to Whistler. Its nice when people identify themselves because I’m terrible with accents and guessing where they come from. So T asked him about about Vancouver and he responded, “well I won the lottery last year, so I quit my job, moved out here and am now trying to create a part-time job for myself”

Come again?

Yes, the man said he had won the lottery.

He proceeded to tell us how he’s taken up digital photography as a hobby/job and so we started talking about cameras and what not. Our lift ride ended there, but my imagination was all over the place. The next few runs were consumed by my own thoughts of, “what would I do if I won the lottery?” Good lord.

We came home to defrost and relax. We cooked dinner in (there are little kitchens in our hotel rooms) and then - roasted marshmallows. The hilarious thing is, we didn’t have anything to roast them with. We walked down to the pharmacy in the Village and T said he would make it happen, and he did. We put together 5 tea candles on a plate, and roasted away…

Oh, if any of you come here, make sure to visit the Swiss guy at The Mountain Sweatshirt company, he seems a tad lonely.

Hot Chocolate

Originally uploaded by Mashimia.

There is nothing better than hot chocolate after a day on the slopes. How about a day on the slopes full of POWDER?! Surreal powder - and it keeps coming down! In fact, it would snow so freakin heavy that it was hard for us to see where the trails were… which made for a few scary experiences here and there….

We did a day each on Blackcomb and Whistler… can’t decide where we want to go for our final day up on the slopes tomorrow, but for now, today is our day off!

We’re staying at the Hilton Whistler Resort & Spa… the place is cute! We have a little studio type room, but my favorite part is the BED. I have never slept on a bed so comfortable before.. King sized, lots of fluffy stuff and 5 pillows! As usual, poor T is on his side of the bed along the edge, and I take up the rest of the room enough for 3 people.

It’s snowing like crazy right now, but we’re going to venture out…

On our way!

Originally uploaded by Mashimia.

With finals over, no hangover from last night we reach the airport bright and early this morning!

IMG_0043

Originally uploaded by Mashimia.

Waaaaaa!!!! I can’t believe Steph is graduating!!!! It was the end of session/15 mo graduation party at the Viceroy in Santa Monica. Talk about a swanky venue, with crazy priced drinks (which were as good as they costed!) and too much fun… as usual, we were hungry.

I now have less than 24 hours until my last final in Bus Law. What’s on my mind? NATTO! This is probably the only thing T won’t eat out of my food repertoire Over the last few years I have had cravings for Natto… I have to pick some up everytime I’m at the Japanese markets. Yes, it tastes funny, it smells funny, it even has the funky stringy stuff. But damn. Its good. I compliment it with furikake and aji nori.

Okay back to securities law… ugh!

I’ve now officially been in LA for.. over 9 years now. It is so hard to believe, considering how fast it has gone. But now, I’m ready to go. Don’t know exactly how, but I do know approximately when, and its coming up really fast. I haven’t really been one for making lists lately, but I’m going to start one now - all of the things I haven’t done and want to do before leaving Los Angeles. Feel free to help me out with things I may have forgotten!

1. Visit the Hollywood sign
2. Hike/Camp Joshua Tree
3. Get toasted at the Dume Room in Malibu They closed yesterday!
4. Lakers Game
5. Lunch at the tearoom at the Huntington 12/27/06
6. Visit the Getty Villa
7. Take photos on the Pepperdine Campus
8. Actually use the boogie board sitting in my living room wrapped in plastic
9. Sushi at Nobu’s in Malibu
10.