Italy trip: Sorrento & Naples

After Rome, we headed further south and off the Costco travel package to visit a few more places. In general, we found Sorrento & the Amalfi Coast to be sooo crowded with tourists that it didn't feel like Italy to us anymore...more like the typical beachy resort anywhere in the world. But Naples was totally the real deal of authentic Italian where most people didn't speak any English. Read on for the details of the sites & foods we experienced.

Sorrento

• Rode bus from Rome to Sorrento - slower, but only direct method so it was the easiest to navigate with our luggage. It took 4+ hours though.
• Ulisse Deluxe Hostel - luxury hostel that was pretty much like a hotel. A little hard to find though but we eventually found it after some walking and asking. :) And once we knew where it was, then it was a 20 min walk to the train station. It was also nice to have free wifi in the lobby so we could email family.
• Inn Bufalito - all things buffalo. We got the taster platter of buffalo mozarella and it was soooo much cheese, but very yummy. The stuffed piece of buffalo (bread, cheese & veggies), buffalo stew and buffalo ragu over pasta were also very good. We actually came here twice and liked everything we ordered!
• Shopped at the Carpisa store where their logo is a turtle!!! =D
• Limoncello - so many places to try it from! We started not being able to tell them apart. But I really liked the strong, fragrant lemon-y flavor. Though it was a bit strong for me...
• We got tired of Italian food one night (heaven forbid!!!) and grabbed some kebab gyros and they were really good! totally hit the spot for us and allowed us a small break for a meal.
• Ristorante Delfino - a downhill walk to marina del grande from our hotel (a little dangerous because no sidewalk and cars were going by very fast)
• Bob got the sea bream with parsley sauce which he really enjoyed. 
• I got the spaghetti w/clams and marveled once again at how much better pasta was in Italy
• We both really loved the bread & olive oil too
• sorbet @ Davide Gelataria was super yum! We liked both of the flavors we tried. The limon was clean & simple and tart & sweet, while the profumi di Sorrento was an intense mix of citrus that totally wow'd me
• Primavera gelato - pricey but yummy walnut and lots of weird flavors (not the organic/natural kind tho)

Archaeological Sites

• The Circumvesuviana is a commuter train that runs between Naples and Sorrento (and maybe more?)...kinda like BART. It was cheap and pretty easy to use as long as you made sure to get your ticket validated!
• Pompeii



Forum of Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

• spent 1/2 day here with RS audio tour
• this was really a middle class town and was covered in 30 ft of ash
• impressive engineering from their street washing and the 1-3 stones to avoid getting wet and designate what kind of street it was (1-way, 2-way, main throughfare), aqueduct arches and lead pipes
• discovered that they were really just like us with their gyms, bath houses and fast food joints
• they even used brick pizza ovens just like now!
• the brothel had a fresco with the menu because prostitutes were often foreigners so customers could just point to what they wanted
• Herculaneum

• this rich seaport was buried under 60 ft of hot mud/lava
• well-preserved frescoes, beach was extended because of all the lava
• definitely more intimate than Pompeii with a lot less people

Amalfi Coast

• SITA bus ride to Amalfi was super curvy, but beautiful views
• Amalfi town
• Interesting Byzantine/Moorish cathedral - stepped in to experience mass for a few mins.
• Paper Museum was a small museum that was kinda neat but made completely worth it when I got to try making paper
• The walk through town was interesting w/one-way street filled with pedestrians, cars and scooters all trying to squeeze their way through. Bob really liked one shop's "viagra naturale" sign over their chili peppers.
• Positano

• super steep town, very quaint and fun to walk
• had a yummy deli lunch of marinated artichokes, tomatoes, bread and marinated anchovies
• Also tried the baba rum here which is a sponge cake soaked in rum...pretty simple, very strong on the alcohol, not that great
• the beach was quite rocky so we didn't stay there long
• boat back was a nice change from the bus and quicker too

Naples

• PIZZA

• by the slice from a streetside vendor (attached to restaurant) in front for museum for lunch - just pointed and it was really quite delicious
• Da Michele - The crust was perfection, but the toppings were pretty scarce for my liking. still delicious though and so cheap! 
• The other famous pizza place, Trianon, was closed, unfortunately
• Archaeological Museum

• frescoes from Pompeii - it's like our wallpapers/windows today! Also their way of making their home feel bigger, airier, etc.
• statues of Hercules (nice butt!), Dorofino (ideal form of man), and the bull one were impressive
• The secret room and mosaics were closed for restoration! :(
• The City itself
• I doubt we'll ever go back to Naples...the city is quite intense. It was nice to visit and see, but a little stressful as a tourist because you feel like you totally stick out and are therefore an easy target.
• We were almost fined for not validating our metro ticket but it was just one stop and the guy let us go. Thank goodness! I mean...we definitely looked for the place to validate, but we didn't see it! The metro was pretty confusing from the train station because we weren't sure which stairs led to train platforms and which ones led to the metro. But I guess the validating machine was at the top of the stairs before we came down.
• Bob almost got pick-pocketed when someone unzipped a pocket of his backpack...but he caught it in time and there wasn't anything important in there anyway.
• We walked through the area known for organized crime and survived! :)
• Had gelato at a place RS rec'd called Polo en Nord: the nocioletta (hazelnut) was good, cheaper but smaller than in other cities
• Reminded Bob of Manhattan - lots and lots of people and everyone rushing purposefully everywhere
• Reminded Shally of Taiwan with the crazy, no-rules traffic; laundry hanging out the windows to dry; scooters everywhere...

Italy trip: Rome

Ok. So Bob posted all the pics for our Italy trip on his blog, so I'll be writing up some details of our trip in case anyone's interested in where we specifically went or want our travel tips for certain places, etc.

First of all, we bought the Rick Steve's (from now on abbreviated as RS) Guide to Italy for our trip which was very useful and we downloaded a lot of his free audio tours for the places we were going to as well. We highly recommend it.

Another thing that would have been really helpful on our trip was a good compass (especially in Venice!!). We couldn't find Bob's (since we still haven't finished unpacking), so we borrowed a keychain one and it was totally unreliable so we gave up on it.

I think I'll split Rome up by area of the city and the sights & foods we had in each...I've also bolded our favorite sites & foods...

Vatican City

• Hotel Michelangelo
• Having our hotel near the Vatican City was really inconvenient because we had to bus over to the main part of Rome practically everyday and coming back was tough because there were a lot fewer buses at night. We would never do that again! Find a hotel in the city! Preferably walking distance to the Pantheon or Piazza Navona where there's a good night life in the square.
• Otherwise, it was a very nice hotel and they upgraded us to a jr. suite because they couldn't find our reservation at first. :) This was one of the hotels through the Costco package and it was really nice that breakfast was included everyday.
• pizza al tasso (pizza by weight/slice)

• We needed lunch before taking in any of the sights and happened upon this pizza place in an alley off of the street from St. Peter's Square to the Vatican Museum. It's probably about halfway down and to the right...right next to a gelateria. We were drawn there by the people sitting on the sidewalk and munching on their pizza and were well-rewarded. 
• Ordering was a bit confusing because everything was in Italian and we were literally fresh off the plane. Also, the counter was pretty crowded and there wasn't an obvious line, so you kinda had to push your way to the front...wait your turn and quickly get in your order. In the end, I just pointed to 2 of the freshest pizzas (we saw the guy bring them out from the back) and that turned out to be just fine. 
• One of the pizzas was a creamy white sauce with broccoli and chicken...mmmMMMmm and the other was an eggplant one which was just ok.
• Vatican Museum (& the Sistine Chapel)
• We happened to go on World Tourism Day, so admission was free (saved us 30 euros)! But it also meant that there was a super long line and we had to wait ~1hr to get in.
• Super long & confusingly laid out so it was pretty hard to find the rooms and things RS had in his guide. But we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel and it was totally worth it.
• We listened to RS audio tour of the chapel and that was really great because we could just stare up at the ceiling while he described stuff to us. (RS also has a map for each of his audio tours so you can follow along by track #.) 
• In general, Michelangelo was a sculptor, so this was outside his area of expertise, and yet he still excelled at it and he did most of it lying on his back!! 
• From the Sistine Chapel, RS told us about a secret passageway to St. Peter's Basilica to avoid the long walk back through the museum and out the way we came. The signs said it was for tour groups only, but we pretended ignorance and followed behind a group. =D The guards didn't stop us, so YAY!
• St. Peter's Basilica

• Also used RS audio tour for this.
• Loved Michelangelo's Pieta! So life-like. It's amazing and awe-inspiring.
• And the dome was done by Michelangelo after he studied the dome of the Pantheon and Brunelleschi's Il Duomo in Florence. Can you believe Michelangelo was such an accomplished sculptor, painter AND architect?! He's just crazy talented.
• My goodness how things have changed since I was last here 9+ years ago! When did they add security checks to get into the church?? Thankfully, they go pretty fast though.
• Inside the church, there were more changes. They blocked off the center so whereas before, you could walk over the demarcations of how other famous churches around the world compare to St. Peter's, now they're protected (and much harder to read!)
• We also weren't able to get close to the altar because there were services or something going on both times we tried.
• Climbing the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica

• well worth paying the extra few euros to take the elevator imo. :)
• The mosaics at the first level after you get off the elevator are amazing. Can't believe how detailed they were. and how each piece was fitted together to make the picture. You don't get to stop here on your way down, so make sure to look your fill before continuing on to the top!
• It was fun to climb the stairs to the top, especially when it got really narrow and you knew you were actually walking inside the dome!
• The top was crazy crowded and had to wiggle your way to the edges for pictures and then enter the pack of sardines headed back down the stairs.
• Necropolis tour
• There's a special tour that takes you under St. Peter's Basilica to see Peter's tomb and other things found buried down below. But you have to book it way in advance. By the time we decided to go and nailed down our dates and tried to book it, there was no more space (a little less than a month before). :( Ah well! Something for us to do when we go back! =D

Ancient Rome

• Palatine Hill
• 1 combo ticket gets you into the colosseum, forum & palatine hill
• since the line at the colosseum was super long, we went over to palatine hill first and got in fast & easy
• explored the grounds/ruins of the homes of ancient emperors
• and took the path that led straight into the forum
• Roman Forum
• used RS audio tour here and that was cool
• impressed by the historical significance and realizing that some of the most powerful ppl in the world had stood where we were but hard to completely appreciate because lots of it was gone completely so it was hard to imagine it as it was

• we'd borrowed a book from Bob's parents called Rome Then & Now that helped us try to picture it, but it was still hard
• Curria House was also closed/under construction so we couldn't go in to see where the senate met
• Exited the Forum @ Capitol Hill and got a panini from a streetside cart...and it was DISGUSTING. Like cardboard. Definitely don't recommend it.
• Colosseum

• Reminded us of the Hunger Games with Rome as Panem and each fighter representing the district they're from with their armor/costume and weapons which really brought it to life for us and made it our favorite site in Rome.
• Awe-inspiring to think of size of building and amount of brick/marble needed.
• Ingenious pulley system for underground lifts.
• Listened to RS audio tour.
• Lunched nearby at a RS recommendation - Caffe dello Studente, up on the hill across the street from the Colosseum. Enjoyable and cheap!
• Pantheon

• It's the largest dome and was preserved because it was always in use as a place of worship
• designed for the worship of all gods, it was influenced by Emperor Hadrian's travels
• Raphael was buried here for his contributions to Rome
• RS audio guide was great for this site as well.
• Gelato! There were 3 recommended gelato places close to the Pantheon and we tried them all!
• San Crispino has organic and natural flavors. We tried the honey cream and the ginger cinnamon (better of the 2)
• Cremeria Monteforte with their super creamy sorbets. We had peach (liked better) & pear.
• Giolitti is Rome's most famous gelato place and ended up being our favorite too. We got the amaretto, hazelnut and chocolate which was SOoooo good and soo big!
• Mamertine Prison
• totally AWFUL, hokey, rip off. It used to be free with donations encouraged and now they remodeled it with a cheesey presentation that includes talking rocks. The only cool thing was seeing Peter's small prison & chain column which was only 5 mins of the 35-40 mins tour. So lame.

Other Rome Stuff

• Piazza Navona
• especially lively at night cuz it's a very popular hangout spot for tourists and vendors/entertainers... a really fun place to enjoy an evening stroll with gelato. Wish our hotel was closer to here
• Fountain of the river of the four gods is here
• Lots of restaurants around here too

• Ciccia Bomba - traditional trattoria. Good but not great. Very hard to translate the specials with our travel lang. book. We tried this veggie dish called cicoria sauteed in olive oil, garlic and pepper...it was kinda similar in flavor to gan-lan/chinese broccoli.
• Pizzeria da Baffetto - crowded and always gotta wait, but only ok
• We tried the tartufo ice cream that's supposed to be a Rome specialty at the place where it was supposedly invented. Super rich, dark chocolate ice cream covered in a hard chocolate shell. 
• Campo di Fiori
• fun in the day time with all the shops/vendors in the square and a good place to get fresh fruit for a snack
• Trevi Fountain
• crazy crowded at all times of the day...but better late at night
• gotta do the coin toss!
• Spanish Steps
• fun to sit and people watch there, but can't eat anything on the steps!
• fun photo op with the fountain at the bottom of the steps
• avoid all the rose sellers if you can!
• Il Gabrielo

• RS highest recommended restaurant for a nice dinner in Rome
• Claudio's Extravaganza = 5 courses each person!! Crazy lot of food. The standouts of the meal were the smoked seafood antipasti (tuna, swordfish & shrimp), ravioli in cream sauce, pasta w/lobster and turbot with potato. The veal in orange sauce was gross. The whole dinner took 3 hours!! 
• Cappuccin Crypt
• bones that monks had made into artwork. couldn't take pics of it but we got a souvenir card with descriptions in english. Bob really liked this site and it's pretty close to the Trevi Fountain...
• Church of San Clemente
• neat to see this church because there's 3 different worship places stacked on top of each other, but quite dark which made it tough to read all the descriptions...many of which were not in English at all...
• The church itself is a medieval one built in the 12th century
• Just below it is the ruins of an earlier church from the 4th century
• And below that is the eerie remains of a pagan temple to Mithras and Roman buildings from the 1st century.
• house wines @ any of the restaurants - cheap & good! This pretty much goes for all the restaurants in Italy really.
• olive oil w/bread - flavorful and no need for balsamic vinegar...much better with just the oil so you can enjoy the flavor by itself without it getting masked. We later came to realize that we prefer the olive oil from southern Italy vs. Tuscany...but by then it was too late to buy a bottle to bring home!

Trasteverre

• Did RS audio guide at night...would rec'd doing it earlier though
• Santa Maria church has cool artwork at the altar that's totally worth lighting up
• dinner at Galeassi in the Santa Maria square was SO GOOD
• we got the osso bucco (delicious!!) and the shellfish risotto
• we also made fun of the pathetic Egyptian mummy street performer who dressed up all in metallic and stood very still like the SF performers, but when you gave him money, all he did was bow. How boring!

Appian Way

• kind of out of the way, but not that hard to get to...took the metro & bus straight to entrance of catacombs
• Catacombs of San Callisto - decided to go this one because it's bigger and more prestigious
• very humid in the catacombs and probably bad for claustrophobia
• 4 big levels of tombs one on top of the other that once held 500,000 Christians!
• possible because of all the lava rock that is easily dug, but hardens to cement when exposed to air
• Appia Antica Caffe - good salad!
• Biking to the Aqueduct Park
• the cafe also rents bikes, but they were reserved for a group already
• wish we could've done this, but just something else to save for next time!

2010 Italy Recap: Overview & Photo Album

Bob's processed all of our photos from the Italy trip and posted them at his blog - Musings of a Blindman: 2010 Italy Recap: Overview. I'll be working on writing up our trip in detail to track our experiences -- any travel tips learned, and the specific names of all the restaurants we went to in case anyone wants to follow in our footsteps. :)

• Rome
• Sorrento/Naples (plus Pompeii & Amalfi Coast)
• Florence (plus San Gimignano and Siena)
• Venice (plus Murano, Burano, Torcello islands and Verona)

Lost & Found!

So I lost my wedding ring last week and I was totally flipping out trying to find it. I only discovered it was missing because we were packing to go away for the weekend (church retreat), and I couldn't for the life of me remember positively when the last time I wore it was...much less what I was wearing at the time! I looked through all my pant and jacket pockets, but to no avail. The whole weekend, I felt a little naked without the ring. And I felt just awful that I'd lost something so important. Bob & I were thinking of where it could possibly be, and eventually decided that one of us would need to look through the trash just in case (I usually put the ring on my dresser which is right next to the trash). When we got back, I checked all my pockets again just in case and then I pulled on some gloves and carefully went through the trash - opening up each crumpled (and dried up) tissue just to make sure the ring hadn't fallen inside. I also had to look in the clumps of hair and nail clippings. Ugh. It was GROSS and a little smelly. And I didn't end up finding the ring in there. So it was all for nothing! :( And I was all out of ideas of where else to look for it. But then, today, I tried thinking of where else the ring could be. I thought maybe the ring had slipped out of my pant pocket when I'd taken them off and put them on a pile of boxes in the room. So I peeked behind the boxes, and there it was!! Resting nice and neat on the clean carpet. Sigh! But yay! I found my ring! Now, I'm going to be much more careful with it. Whew!

funny voicemail transcription

In general, Google Voice has been great...but when I saw this transcription of a voicemail B left me about a hardwood floor estimate and talking to our painter I totally cracked up. (Note: the darker words are the one's that are more likely to be correct...i.e. the software is more confident about.)

Hey honey, it's me or okay, so I'd love to change. Yeah, and basically do you have it both ways. 2500 He says that the wedding so it should be diningout. There is a warning, right on top of that for that small singers in a board meeting in and I'll street will probably consequences location different andalso he said that she had anything or at least addition to pay removal okay. Hey Shally, What's up. So I'll talk to you. Thanks for that. Well, it's Bowermove labor sure Shaw baseboards you, but I don't know if you want to catch up to tell for the rest of the house page. I wanted to. So, that's. And yeahdives for that. Funny thing with you soon, write a check. That's a reason. Hey station thinks she moldings and I want. I wondered. She's package yet. Ijust passed out. So we have those soon. On the way out 1,009. It's John, Just wanted to drop off that she if you could drive. 6. If you talk to you andTuesday when she heard environment options that that out so so I just got back a little bit later. What Erica number facto Drop Off Raj. Talk to you later.Ohh get there alright bye bye hey thanks.


But it's still awesome to be able to read my voicemails instead of having to listen to them (ahem....a certain birdie should try this...)....the lesson here is just don't try to do it when your reception's not great. :)

finding solace from a movie

Ever since coming back from Aus/NZ, Bob & I have been rewatching LotR extended edition and pausing to try to recognize the NZ sites & landscapes (yes, I know. Very nerdy). Anyhow, I've been particularly struck by some of the quotes in the movies because I feel like they're particularly relevant to some of what I've been going through lately with church. The parts in italics especially speak to me about what's going on. And I'm trying to have hope, but man, I so often feel like Frodo.

Note: We just finished The Two Towers, so there's none from Return of the King yet.

The Fellowship of the Ring

Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought. 

The Two Towers

Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.
Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

The library is for everyone

The following is a excerpt I read earlier this year and wanted to share but never got around to doing so until now! It's so cool to read this positive description of the library. :)

Smelly and dirty, I walked a mile tot he other side of the downtown peninsula, through Marion Square, to the library. This would become tradition. For the next two months while I was living at the shelter, rarely would a day go by that I didn't pay a visit to the library. It would become my connection to the rest of the world. I recognized early on that everyone belongs there. For a moment, lower, middle, and upper classes all blend into the same intellectual melting pot. Whether sufing the Internet or perusing the bookshelves, everyone can find something to do at the library. 

(from p. 62 of Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard, Collins Publisher, 2008)

15 books in 15 mins

Even though I've got tons of other...productive...stuff to do on my 1 day off this week, I can't resist. As a result of a tag...I'll do my best to come up with 15 titles. :)

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1) Anne of Green Gables (my favorite book...whimsical and optimistic)
2) Pride & Prejudice (the book and the movies...classic romance!!)
3) The Shack (even though I'm not done with it yet, it's definitely got me thinking and still hopefully stick with me for years to come!)
4) To Kill a Mockingbird
5) Lord of the Rings
6) The Scarlett Letter (not cuz I particularly liked it or anything, but I can still remember it even to this day, which goes for a lot of those high school classics! hehe Now that I think of it, it even makes me think from a new perspective...hidden sin vs. sin that's out in the open for all to see and how God affects that)
7) Princess Bride (probably cuz I saw the movie on cable recently, but the book is really good! probably one I'll read to my kids if I have any in future)
8) Harry Potter (how can this not stick...7 books and so insanely popular)
9) The Scarlet Pimpernel & other regency romance novels (much as I hate to admit it, they were my bread & butter from junior high all the way into college...it's where many of my romantic ideals came from! so they definitely stuck with me)
10) The Bible (debated whether to add this or not, thought it might be too cliche and cheesy, but the Bible is SOOO applicable to my life and some of the verses/stories speak directly to me...how can it not be on this list??)
11) Ender's Game (only a vague memory of the story, but it was soooo good)
12) Crime & Punishment (dark and dreary for sure. would never be able to forget it!)
13) My Lucky Day (children's book, but very cute. used it in my very first job interview for librarian and is now one of my favorites for storytime)

(ack...running out of steam...must take break)

14) Joy Luck Club
15) American Born Chinese (my very first graphic novel...kinda weird)

That took me longer than 15 minutes.

Actually, a lot of those high school English books really stay with you...and not in a good way. Scarlett Letter and Crime & Punishment I already mentioned, but there's also Beloved...Dracula...The Crucible...Hamlet...Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man...bleh

Also scary is how many of my list are also movies (9 out of 15 that I know of) and how often titles of movies & TV shows came to my head instead of books. =P

Blissfully married

Wow. It's been so long since I updated. I wonder if I'll keep this blog up anymore.
Quick update: I am blissfully married!

I had the WORST dream last night. I dreamt that I married some other guy! An emotionally-unavailable guy that I never even went on a date with!! In the dream, Bob & I broke up or just never got engaged or something and I was set up with the other guy or something. We had tried to go on a date, but something happened and it was canceled. And then we were getting married and I said yes and stuff cuz I felt like that was what I was supposed to say. And then afterwards, I realized this guy was totally wrong, and I should have married Bob, but now it was too late!! I was in agony.

Then I woke up and realized it had been a nightmare. WHEW!

Teen Books (like OMGROTFLMAO!)

Before I even start, let me just say that I'm really dreading what I'll discover cuz I'm pretty sure my count is going to abysmal... eeeek! And here we go!

========================
The following list of books teens love, books teens should read, and
books adults who serve teens should know about was compiled IN
ABSOLUTELY NO SCIENTIFIC MANNER and should be taken with a very large
grain of salt.

Instructions:
Put an "X" next to the books you've read
Put a "+" next to the books you LOVE
Put a "#" next to the books you plan on reading
Tally your "X"s at the bottom
Share with your friends!

1. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams #
2. Kit's Wilderness / David Almond
3. oops but I didn't read it anyway X (i'm counting it, ha!)
4. Speak / Laurie Halse Anderson X+
5. Feed / M.T. Anderson
6. Flowers in the Attic / V.C. Andrews
7. 13 Reasons Why / Jay Asher
8. Am I Blue? / Marion Dane Bauer (editor)
9. Audrey Wait! / Robin Benway
10. Weetzie Bat / Francesca Lia Block
11. Tangerine / Edward Bloor
12. Forever / Judy Blume
13. What I Saw and How I Lied / Judy Blundell
14. Tyrell / Coe Booth
15. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants / Ann Brashares X
16. A Great and Terrible Beauty / Libba Bray
17. The Princess Diaries / Meg Cabot
18. The Stranger / Albert Camus
19. Ender's Game / Orson Scott Card X+
20. Postcards from No Man's Land / Aidan Chambers
21. Perks of Being a Wallflower / Stephen Chbosky
22. And Then There Were None / Agatha Christie
23. Gingerbread / Rachel Cohn X
24. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist / Rachel Cohn and David Levithan X
25. Artemis Fowl (series) / Eoin Colfer X
26. The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins
27. The Midwife's Apprentice / Karen Cushman (what?! Why not Catherine, Called Birdy?)
28. The Truth About Forever / Sarah Dessen
29. Little Brother / Cory Doctorow
30. A Northern Light / Jennifer Donnelly
31. Tears of a Tiger / Sharon Draper
32. The House of the Scorpion / Nancy Farmer
33. Breathing Underwater / Alex Flinn
34. Stardust / Neil Gaiman
35. Annie on My Mind / Nancy Garden
36. What Happened to Cass McBride / Gail Giles
37. Fat Kid Rules the World / K.L. Going
38. Lord of the Flies / William Golding X
39. Looking for Alaska / John Green
40. Bronx Masquerade / Nikki Grimes
41. Out of the Dust / Karen Hesse
42. Hoot / Carl Hiaasen
43. The Outsiders / S.E. Hinton
44. Crank / Ellen Hopkins
45 The First Part Last / Angela Johnson
46. Blood and Chocolate / Annette Curtis Klause #
47. Arrow's Flight / Mercedes Lackey
48. Hattie Big Sky / Kirby Larson
49. To Kill a Mockingbird / Harper Lee X+
50. Boy Meets Boy / David Levithan
51. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks / E. Lockhart
52. The Giver / Lois Lowry X+
53. Number the Stars / Lois Lowry
54. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie / David Lubar
55. Inexcusable / Chris Lynch
56. The Earth, My Butt and Other Big, Round Things / Carolyn Mackler
57. Dragonsong / Anne McCaffrey
58. White Darkness / Geraldine McCaughrean
59. Sold / Patricia McCormick
60. Jellicoe Road / Melina Marchetta
61. Wicked Lovely / Melissa Marr
62. Twilight / Stephenie Meyer X
63. Dairy Queen / Catherine Murdock
64. Fallen Angels / Walter Dean Myers
65. Monster / Walter Dean Myers
66. Step From Heaven / An Na
67. Mama Day / Gloria Naylor
68. The Keys to the Kingdom (series) / Garth Nix
69. Sabriel / Garth Nix
70. Airborn / Kenneth Oppel
71. Eragon / Christopher Paolini
72. Hatchet / Gary Paulsen #
73. Life As We Knew It / Susan Beth Pfeffer
74. The Golden Compass / Phillip Pullman
75. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging / Louise Rennison #
76. The Lightning Thief / Rick Riordan
77. Always Running: La Vida Loca / Luis Rodriguez
78. how i live now / Meg Rosoff
79. Harry Potter (series) / J.K. Rowling (one per book) XXXXXXX
80. Holes / Louis Sachar X
81. Catcher in the Rye / J. D. Salinger X
82. Push / Sapphire
83. Persepolis / Marjane Satrapi
84. Unwind / Neil Shusterman
85. Coldest Winter Ever / Sister Souljah
86. Stargirl / Jerry Spinelli X
87. Chanda's Secrets / Allan Stratton
88. Tale of One Bad Rat / Brian Talbot
89. Rats Saw God / Rob Thomas
90. Lord of the Rings / J.R.R. Tolkien (one for each book) Xxx (audio books for 2&3)
91. Stuck in Neutral / Terry Trueman
92. Gossip Girl / Cecily Von Ziegesar
93. Uglies / Scott Westerfeld #
94. Every Time a Rainbow Dies / Rita Williams-Garcia
95. Pedro and Me / Judd Winick
96. Hard Love / Ellen Wittlinger X
97. American Born Chinese / Gene Luen Yang X
98. Elsewhere / Gabrielle Zevin
99. I am the Messenger / Markus Zusak
100. The Book Thief / Markus Zusak

Oh man...25. Better than I expected. Harry Potter helped a lot! :) I guess I have some reading to do. :)

Traffic

So I've always used Sigalert to find out how the traffic's like before I head somewhere, but the problem with it is that it's only live. So there are times when I want to find out if a particular section of say 280 will be bad on my way home from a work meeting and whether or not I should take a local route, but was never able to figure it out (unless I had the foresight to check the site a day or two early!). Just today, I decided to try the traffic indicator on Google Maps and it's so cool! You can have it predict traffic on certain days of the week & at certain times!! I love it! And now I know that it would be a VERY bad idea to take 101S to dinner tonight. =P

storytime

Wow. It's been over a month since I updated? My bad.

I'm doing the Thanksgiving storytime at my library on the Wednesday before (Nov. 26) at 11:30am. I'm doing it all by myself because the librarian who usually does it will be on vacation, so if you wanna check it out and come and support me, feel free (would probably be good if you came with a kid too....hehe). :) It'll be my first ever storytime!!!!!!!!! It's rather nerve-wracking, but exciting. I just found out on Monday that I'm gonna be training to do a storytime in Mandarin too. Yikes! I might pass my broken Chinese onto unsuspecting little children.

I'm discovering more and more what a major home body I am. I seriously get rather discontent when I don't get quality home time to just vege in front of the TV or read or something. And even if I do the same very chill stuff somewhere else, it's just not the same. Tonight I enjoyed Obama's speech & The Jane Austen Book Club while eating dinner & sipping a glass of wine with some chocolate. It was very very satisfying. :) But oops! I just realized I forgot to do my weekly, getting-ready-for-the wedding, beautifying facial mask... My bad. I'll have to make it up tomorrow cuz I've already skipped a week and I think it's made a huge difference (my face has been breaking out like mad this past week without it).

One final note: I hate ants.

SATC: the movie

I just finished watching SATC: the movie with N & P tonight. Yay! It was really nice to have a semi-spontaneous girl night. :) But man, I'm so glad I watched it on the small screen...so much gratuitous sex/naked scenes! It was Waaay too graphic & over the top for me. yick. But great SATC. It really was just like an episode.

Anyhow, the movie and its theme of hurt & forgiveness really got me thinking (a la Carrie)...why is it so hard for me to forgive? I totally got Miranda. That's exactly my reaction whenever I get hurt. I cut the other person out of my life and carry that grudge alone even past the point of my hurt. Or like I cling to that hurt as justification for hating the other person and being spiteful, etc. Even when part of me wants to let it go. Even when the one in the "wrong" has tried to apologize and make things right. There's just part of me (oftentimes the stronger part) that won't let go of the hurt, and thus, the anger/punishment mentality.

Recently, I've come to realize that it's pride that holds me back. Because to let go of "You hurt me" means I lose my hold over that other person. Or I lose out on the debt that I believe That person owes me. So then even though it hurts me to not forgive, I believe that it'd hurt me to forgive as well. And I think that is the lie that I'm supposed to believe & follow. That instead of mending the cracked relationship and making it even stronger for its flaws (like a healed broken bone), it's time to just get rid of it and start fresh with someone new, someone who hasn't hurt me...yet. Heck knows, that's certainly my first instinct. Flee! But I'm coming to realize that anyone I'm involved with emotionally is bound to hurt me. Just as I'm sure I do my share of the hurting as well. It's part of caring and it's part of having assumptions/expectations...it's part of being human. (Though it's funny...cuz until Steve spoke up about his hurt from Miranda's brutally cold shoulder, I had barely stopped to consider his side! hehe Guess that goes to show just how self-centered I am by default. Carrie sure is mature to realize her part in the Big fiasco all by herself.)

And it all comes back to God. (Yes, dear reader, sorry for sneaking the G word into this post but it seriously does all come back to God! And how grateful I am that it does.) Anyhow, when I think about how God forgave me so easily of all my trespasses against Him. With no poutiness and no grudges...without even making me work for it. I'm just too amazed and in awe and blessed beyond measure. That's how much God loves me, and I...I make the people who I "love" suffer and yet still I won't forgive. But I don't want to merely condemn myself and chastise myself to try harder either, because that's not the point. I desire for a heart change so that I'll be better able to fight against the unwillingness to forgive.

And the final thought I'll leave you with:
Samantha certainly has it right when she characterized a relationship with someone else...or loving someone else...to be when you're more concerned about them & their well-being than your own. Obviously, I don't think she was talking about the unhealthy kind of dependency where your life revolves around the other person...but genuine, pure love that, I would hazard to guess, we all long for. And I hope to grow in the ability to love so that I'm less self-centered and less prideful and more true. And I pray to be able to love God (& Bob) the way He (& my future husband - or mfh) loves me.

Who knew SATC could get me get me thinking so much? :)

Less than 4 months to go!

So last month...I pretty much was just getting used to work again and being tired from work and recovering from work. :) So though we started research and worked on a few wedding stuff, we didn't actually book/settle anything. Add to that, a week or so ago, we found out that we won't be able to have our ceremony at our church, so we're scrambling to find another alternative now. *sigh* But we have managed to book our honeymoon. 6 nights all-inclusive in Jamaica with a whirlpool & stocked bar in our suite....I can't wait!!!!! :) On the agenda this month (to make up for the fact that we didn't finish anything last month) = book church, book florist, book bakery for cake, order invitations, start getting photos for slideshow, book hair/makeup...and ooo! i need to find a tailor for my dress!!

On the church front, I think we have several options. It's taken quite a while to get in touch with people, especially since Labor Day just passed and many people were out on vacation. Plus, most of the churches on our first round were unavailable (thank you, Jeremy for doing the checking for us). We have 1 definite possibility right now and several others in the works.

Whoa! Cakes are so much more expensive than I ever imagined. But we have 2 cake-tasting appointments so far with some more affordable options that are still well-reviewed. We were thinking of doing cupcakes originally, but after booking such a nice photographer (and getting cake-cutting fee waived), we decided a cake would look much better! hehehe Here's a pic of what we're thinking of having, but only 3 tiers...

Florists. I've met with 2 so far and am waiting for an estimate from one of them. I keep changing my mind about it. I have no idea about flowers, so I'm really scared about whether it'll come out looking nice!! I have a color scheme in mind, but I haven't been able to find any example pics of it in any of the magazines/websites I've searched. Arg! Hopefully the florist I choose will know what she's doing and just make it all look good!

Hair & makeup...just trying to book a trial now. We're going to go out for a nice dinner afterwards too. YAY! Mainly cuz I'm obsessed with trying foie gras before it becomes illegal to import it in 2009 (or so I hear)!

Oh yeah! And Bob & I have decided on a wedding invitation design. Just need to figure out how many we need, book a church, get the wording right and order!

All in all, I'm pretty confident we can get most of this stuff done this month! But man, am I glad that I'm only working p/t right now...I can't imagine trying to plan this AND be working 8 hrs/day. Everytime I think about how much (or little) time is left, I get a little stressed. Ack!

PM Update: Wow! Today alone I've been so productive. I've done my laundry, dropped my sis & her family at SJC, booked 2 cake tastings & called several others, set day for hair/makeup trial (and thus made dinner reservations), called our all-inclusive to give our room location preferences, got in touch with 1 church to confirm availability, scheduled a few tutoring lessons, wrote a blog post and rescheduled work for next week. Whewie! Time for a break.

Quick update

• VBS week...waking up before 7am everyday. UGH! Plus, preschoolers have a lot of energy = I'm so tired.
• Work...week of intense training is almost over. YAY. I'm so looking forward to the weekend
• Photographer almost booked. Wedding rings done & ready for pick up... Researching florist, hair/makeup and cakes.
  Wedding planning is not so fun. I might actually enjoy the logistics more than booking people. While booking people, all I can think about is how expensive everything is. And needing to compromise desire with reality/practicality. *cry*
• Dark Knight was good. I liked it better than Batman Begins actually.
• New favorite froyo place! Tartini next to Le Boulanger at Stevens Creek & De Anza. It's self-serve like Yogurtland, but better quality of yogurt PLUS mostly tart flavors (though I've only been there once). More expensive than Yogurtland, but worth it imo.
  
  I tried practically everything they had too (only like 6-8 flavors). I especially liked the Raspberry Tart. The lychee tart would be good if you like lychee. In general, all their fruit flavors taste really fresh, not at all artificial. I wanted to try Green Tea Tart, but it was out of order at the time. :( They also had Pomegranate & Honeydew as the sweet flavors, which were also good & real/fresh-tasting, but too sweet for my preference. Yummmmm. Can't wait to go back. It's a lot smaller than Yogurtland, so hopefully it doesn't get too crowded...
  

a productive few weeks

I can't believe I've only been engaged for a little over 3 weeks...we've already gotten so much accomplished (imo).

• wedding date...pretty much set...will need to send out save the date cards soon
• ceremony site...selected & in progress of booking
• reception site...booked (thanks to bob)
  
• wedding gown...done
• veil...done
• shoes for wedding gown...done
• bridesmaid dresses...done
• flower girl dresses...done
• photographers...in process of interviewing

I think I deserve a weekend off! :) Of course, that's easier said than done, because wedding planning always seems to be at the back of my mind these days. So even though I went to LA primarily for vacation...my last girl trip with my mom, sis & niece before work starts and stuff...it ended up being quite the business trip cuz we were in the fashion district for 2 out of the 3.5 day trip (of which 1 day was spent driving) making wedding-related purchases. The 2nd day in the fashion district was really supposed to be just for fun after we picked up the orders from the day before, but I couldn't get wedding shopping off the mind and kept looking for wedding-related stuff (like the shoes). But don't worry, I made some purchases just for fun as well. :)

The LA trip also included a 1-day excursion to Catalina. I'm so glad we decided not to stay on the island, because we were bored in about 3 hours. The shopping area is really not that large, nor is it very interesting. And with the baby, it would've been too much of a pain to hike or do any of the many water-related activities. So we ate & strolled around and then caught an early boat back to Long Beach.

As for the Fashion District. It was fun shopping there. It totally reminded me of taiwan night market shopping. :) I pretty much wiped out my entire cash supply there. In addition to the wedding purchases, I also got a few cute purses for myself and a pair of skechers. YAY! I also learned that my sis can be quite the bargainer (much better than me) and that it's very important to check over your purchases carefully before making full payment, because the sales people are much less motivated to fix problems or make exchanges after you've paid. *sigh*

We also saw my uncle & cousins while in LA...we had a feast at their place the first night and then since we got back early from Catalina, we went over to their neck of the woods again and took them out to Versailles (a cuban place). yum yum. lots of good food. On the food note, we also went to Auntie Em's on Thur before we headed back up to SJ to try their famous red velvet cupcakes. They also have seasonal fresh salads which were delish (and the only veggies we really got on the entire trip). Their cupcakes were alright..the choc one is probably my fave. But they put way too much frosting imo. I'd like to try Sprinkles cuz my sis says those are way better...and after all, we're considering using cupcakes as our wedding cake, so a little research is required. :)

I've also received all the things I bought online while I was shopping for bridesmaid dresses, so I need to try on that stuff too and decide if I'm keeping any of it. =P I think Bob's getting scared that I'm becoming a shopaholic..hehehe

Ah yes, for those of you who don't know already, I have a job as a p/t librarian with San Jose Public Library, the Pearl Ave. branch (near 85 & Almaden Expy) that opens in early August. I start work July 28 though, so only 1 more week to enjoy my unemployment!

Next up for wedding planning, photographer, cake & florist...I should make an appt with the tailor to get my wedding gown bustled and wat-not as well I think.

a bunch of randomness

Somehow my days are filling up with so much random stuff to do! And whenever I go bridesmaid dress shopping, I end up getting stuff for myself as well!!! arg....this is not going to be good for my savings account. hehe But I'm getting my annual shopping over with I guess. At least I'm still enjoying it so far. And I like how getting new stuff (more professional stuff) for work is a good excuse for getting clothes/shoes that I would probably normally deem too expensive. =D

I found a super cute children's story to do for my interview Monday. I really like it. I think it'll be my go-to book if I ever have to read another one for an interview. It's called My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza in case any of you are ever looking for a book to read with a preschooler. :) I tried reading it to Ariel too, but she got distracted by the pages & wanting to eat the cover, so I gave up. =P Btw, Ariel crawled yesterday! I wasn't there to see it, but my sis left me a v/m about it. But I can't wait to see the video!!!

Big news (the details)

Bob & I are engaged!!

It started out as a normal day. I had to get up earlier than usual because I was tutoring a new kid at 10am. That went ok and I headed over to my sister's place around noon because she'd asked for my help with Ariel (my adorable niecey) for the afternoon. I got there and as she was changing baby, the doorbell rang. "I'm expecting a package from amazon...Can you go get it for me?", she asked. So I went downstairs and opened the door...and there was Bob! And I knew that today was the day. :)

According to him, my eyes got really wide, I made a little noise and hand motion, and he'll never forget the expression on my face. I have no idea what I looked like, but I was definitely totally surprised. HAHA

Then he told me to use the bathroom cuz he was taking me somewhere. He blindfolded me and led me to the car (I almost tripped in the process! It was a test of my trust in him) and off we went! He'd gotten a smoothie for the ride and even had a special playlist going on his iPod, but he refused to tell me where we were going no matter how hard I tried to get it out of him!! He even said that the day might be just a decoy for the real deal. hehe We finally arrived (and boy was I glad, cuz I had to pee again), and he led me a short ways up some stairs to some place where I was instructed to sit while he got some stuff from the car. I sat there wondering where we could possibly be (I guessed Berkeley, but wasn't sure where exactly in Berkeley we could be that would have a grassy area so close to parking. When he removed the blindfold...I instantly recognized where we were (even though I still couldn't see cuz I wore my glasses that day and they were still in the car!). It was the lake in Golden Gate park! We'd been here last summer and we were in the exact same spot!!

Then he gave me a dozen red red roses, got down on a knee & proposed. Even though I guess I was expecting it by then (or really should've been, right?), I was still a little speechless and all I could think to say is "Yes". People are so poised & eloquent in the movies. Ah well. We had a light picnic lunch by the lake, enjoyed a time of worship & prayer to God before heading back to the South Bay where we hurriedly changed & got ready for an early dinner.

We went to La Fondue where we were stuffed silly on alligator, ostrich, buffalo (#1 fave of the night), swiss chicken (#2 fave), tuna & scallops...as well as a huge salad, cheese fondue and chocolate fondue (not in that order)!! Bob had to run out to the car to get me a Lactaid pill...hehehe Afterwards, we strolled around downtown Saratoga to help the digestion and savor our new status alone together for a little longer. :) But we ended the night sharing the news with his family & mine.

It was the best day of my life, and it was planned by the most wonderful fiance in the world!! I can't quite believe how lucky I am. Through our relationship, I've learned so much about myself (i.e. my personality, my love languages). I've also acquired some more experience in communicating and working out conflicts healthily (no more freezing him out...or at least trying not to). But even more importantly, I feel like I've gained a better understanding God (i.e. waiting for His timing, depending on Him alone for my satisfaction in life, as my heavenly Father - running into His comforting arms, etc.). I'm truly blessed because I'm now able to look forward to spending the rest of my life on earth with someone who gets me so well that he can tell just by the look on my face how I'm feeling, who is my best friend, who shares a lot of my values & yet is different in ways that we can complement each other, who challenges me to be a better person, who is so adorably nerdy/geeky/dorky that he makes me roll my eyes & chuckle appreciatively at the same time, and who points me to God in his own pursuit of holiness. I'm overwhelmed with a soaring heart full of praise & thanks.

July 1 update: Check Bob's blog for his side of the story & more pics...

unabashedly absent

I'll be the first to admit that I've been grossly behind in terms of blogging. I will blog the highlights of my trip eventually. But to catch you up, in case you don't already know...I've graduated! Wooo Hooooo!! After 2 years of pretty intense, full-time school, I now have a Master's in Library & Information Science. Now what do I do?

Well, I took a 2 week vacation to Tokyo/Taiwan. Now I'm back, a bit recovered from some minor stomach issues with the food and feeling the effects of jet lag (just slept 11+ hours, hehe). I'm currently blissfully unemployed and enjoying the time I have to slowly readjust to reality.

The weirdest thing happened to me last night. I was sleeping, but I was totally dizzy. Not dizzy in my dream or anything. Actually dizzy, which also made me nauseous. It felt like I was in vertigo or something. So I woke up and then went back to sleep. But it happened several times! sooo weird. Is that even possible?