Christmas Day Dinner- Chinese style

The family went out to dinner on Christmas Day.  The requirements: Chinese, Seafood.  No surprise that the restaurant was packed with lines through the door.  They even had chairs outside for the grandma and grandpas to sit down and wait.

It was worth the wait.  Delicious food.

Christmas Eve in Los Angeles.

Well, after a slow drive to the airport through 6 inches of snow, finding a parking spot for the car (in the open, under the snow fall. sorry mom and dad who will have to dig the car out.), a tug to push the slipping tug that pushes the plane away from the gate, 15 snow plows in line to clear the tarmac, a quick de-icing of the wings, we lifted off the ground and arrived in LA 10 minutes early.  Phew.  Once landed, the storm quickly escaped my memory and I was enjoying the sun in Beverly Hills with Warren, Wendy, Tim, Mandy and baby Sara. 

I can't believe I'm obsessing about the weather.

Winter storm warning.
http://www.weather.com/weather/alerts/localalerts/USMN0503?phenomena=WS&significance=W&areaid=MNZ060&office=KMPX&etn=0008

I tried to change my 730am flight tomorrow to leave tonight (this took place this morning).  Too late.  Unless I physically go to the airport to try and get a seat, all flights booked for today already.  Ugh.  Well, I'm still hopeful the plane will take off in the morning.  It has to.  I have plans!  Can't wait to see my old college friends- in LA.

Countdown

After this past weekend's snow storm out East, I'm hoping for the best that I get out of MN early early Christmas eve morning.  The talk of the town is the upcoming Christmas storm and rumor is that it may be starting already tonight.  Flurries outside.  Please pray that I am able to get off the ground and escape this tundra in sunny California!

Invictus

I highly recommend going to see Invictus.  South Africa, post-apartheid, Mandela, rugby, politics, sport.  A good story.  Movie well done.  (I hear that it's a pretty good representation of what was happening during that time in history.)

Snowshoeing

We had a warm spell last weekend after the storm (a balmy 25F!). It was a great change from the negative temps we were experiencing during the week. Seriously, one day it was 11F with a windchill of -17F making the temperature outside feeling like -6F. Why did I move to MN?!


What better thing to do in "warm" winter weather than to go snowshoeing! Really, I went snowshoeing. My first time since grade school. It was great. Good outside exercise. My goal is to go more often this season. It may even be worth it to invest in a pair of snowshoes!

Next day results

7.5" of snow, -19degF windchill, strongs winds, very cold.  i ended up working at home the day after the storm.  was going to brave it to work but decided to be a bit sensible and avoid the disasters on the road so worked from home.  the plowing guys didn't arrive until 1030am.  no worries though, i knew my new rav4 would be able to get through the snow accumulation.  overall, we were lucky.  southern minnesota got over a foot of snow.  it's still really cold here.  i admit i'm a wimp.  i'm dreaming of 2 weeks from now when i'll be in california.

The first Snow Storm of the season

So we made it to the 2nd week of December before the first major storm of the season.  This is how the day started:  No snow.  Not even any sign of snow.  But the rumor was that we would get 18-36 inches.  The snow starts around noon and continues to fall.  By 5:30, we have about an inch.  The roads are terribly congested.  We'll see what happens overnight.  I'm just thankful my dad had foresight to pre-pay for the snow removal service to shovel the driveway before 7am so I don't have to do it!  (Yes.  I'm still living at home.)

Thanksgiving

It was the first thanksgiving I spent with my whole family in 14 years.  We were in Minneapolis and it was still surprisingly warm.  Since we will all be gone for Christmas, mom decided to put up the tree for Thanksgiving.  We also went out to eat at Manny's steakhouse on Sunday for dad's bday.  It was really good.  The bonus, we went right after the Vikings had won and saw 2 linebackers.  Great food for a job well done.

Accent

My sister-in-law Emily told me that my South African accent has disappeared and is being replaced with my Minnesotan accent. Um. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing. I'm thinking bad. 1. I can't believe I have a Minnesotan accent, 2. I'm sad that my semi-cool South African [intonation, not quite accent] is going away and 3. It's amazing how one can adapt so quickly to your surrroundings.

A [Fall] weekend in New York (escaping deer hunting opener in MN)

Spent the weekend of 07Nov in New York visiting Jeff and Emily to celebrate with them at their NYC wedding reception (3 months after the fact). A great weekend with perfect Fall weather, lots of walking (including across the Brooklyn Bridge), a funny off-Broadway play, and another perfectly planned party by J&E. I love visiting NYC. I plan to make several trips a year now that it's only a 2 hour flight away.

Vienna

Business trip to Vienna. Arrived Monday afternoon, Left Thursday morning. Thankful I got the chance to tour the city after the last day of meetings. Thanks Johan for being my unofficial tour guide (Neither of us are from Vienna, he's just been a couple times). I still don't know all the names of the places we saw. But the biggest impression left in my mind: beautiful, grand buildings lining the streets of the old city of Vienna.

The Danube river.

Excavated Roman Ruins.

Statue to commemorate the Pest Disease.



Gelato from supposedly the best place in town. (For the record, it was really good!)

My new car

Rav4 V6 Sport. I finally, after a month of researching and looking and another month of waiting got the car I've been eyeing. Exact model/packaged car, a cool color, and the price I wanted. It drives real nice!

Snow snow go away!

I was going to finish by saying- come back some other day, like in 2 months! Having read that SF is going through some major rain storms, not sure which one is more inviting. The heavy rain or the first snow covering of the season on Saturday and possibly even inches on Monday! Snow, in October?! Even worse, it continues to be around 30deg outside. For those of you in South Africa, that would actually be super warm but I am now talking Farenheit which means it is below freezing. In October. Something is way wrong here.

(At the publication of this blog entry, I just heard that the East Coast is getting snow. In October!)

View of the backyard on Saturday.

View out of the windows at work on Monday.

I might add that all the snow on the ground is gone and it's supposed to be 50deg on Saturday!

2 months, 3 weddings

It's been 2 months since my move and I spent it in...South Africa! In between business meetings in Europe, I took a 4-day trip down to South Africa for Chris and Barry's wedding. Can't believe they are finally married. Thankful for the chance to go back to witness the big day and celebrate with them. The trip was also bitter sweet as it will most likely be a while until I see everyone again. I miss you guys!

The other 2 weddings:

My brother Jeff and Emily's August 8 Colorado Springs, CO

(A beautiful, simple, elegant wedding! I think the whole family had an awesome time.)

My cousin Florence and Eric's September 12 San Francisco, CA

London, Bath, Stonehenge

The bulk of week 2 and 3 was spent in the UK (for work and a bit of play). Spent a total of 6 days around England and loved it. A day trip north to New Castle, round trip train ride to Exeter, hanging out in the Hilton near Paddington station, running around Hyde Park, shopping at Spitalfields Market, chilling along the Thames, seeing friends Linda/Ming/Brody/Baby Tate, a day's journey to Bath and Stonehenge...


Driving into the town of Bath.

Gardens in the town.

Lots of people on a Saturday afternoon taking in the sights and sounds.

Roman baths...do you see the natural bubbles?

The water running throughout the baths is really really warm! No wonder they used it for therapeutic reasons...

Stopped by Salisbury Cathedral before Stonehenge.


I came across this cool wall/sun dial on my way to the cathedral.

I know that most people would make the argument that these are just a bunch of rocks piled on top of each other. Not worth the trip to see. But, it IS on the list of "places to see before you die" so yea! I can check this one off!