movin' out

i'm moving to my new work site on tuesday....it will add ten minutes to my commute, it's up a hill, very windy and the speed limit is 25mph. but it's ok because i only go into work two days a week anyways. and we'll be in cubicles now instead of offices! it'll be so weird. the so-called gym has 3 machines total (a stairmaster, an elliptical, and a treadmill) for 1200 people! how sad is that!!

toodles!

i'm off to ny for a 4 day weekend!!

we got a huge new clock...


and salvation army finally came and picked up all the crap we wanted to donate...it was sitting in our dining room area for the longest time. thank goodness no one came over and saw it hehe actually they wouldn't take the office desk because it was too big, so we're going to try to sell it on craigslist again. we had to clear out some of the rooms so that simon could move in. hopefully once the dining room area is all cleared up we can get a new dining set

what we've been playing the last few nights....it's so fun! it's like DDR, karoake revolution etc

we're taking the plunge from comcast cable to directv! we'll have hbo again woohoo! and it's just in time for entourage. the guy is doing the installation right now, but it's taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R. it's been 2.5 hours and it's not done yet. ugh!!

hiking at arastadero with tofu, she got two ticks though, so i don't think we'll be going back. she had fun though =P

last wednesday we got the afternoon off because our dept took us on an outing- we had lunch at mccormick schmick's and then went to the tech museum. it wasn't that exciting but it was nice to get a free lunch and not have to work!

over the weekend we went down to LA, we didn't really do much. i finally got to try pinkberry, my first bite i thought it was pretty gross. the yogurt was very sour but after a few bites and when you eat it with the toppings, it starts to taste better. it's pretty expensive, i got the medium size with strawberries, pineapples, and rice cakes for $5. i found a very interesting article about the phenomenon of pinkberry, it's a pretty interesting read. i can't believe it started turning a profit after one month, and they're expanding so quickly!! i need to come up with an idea like that... i also reconfirmed that sprinkles isn't all that and is definitely not worth the wait. we watched little miss sunshine again, hehe, still as funny as ever. other than that, LA is still the same. traffic on 405 all the time, takes at least half an hour to get anywhere, and i'm always amazed at how many hispanics there are. julian's mom complains about them taking over CA a lot, but i don't really see that at all up north, but when you go down south, you can definitely see their presence, especially when a lot of signs are translated into spanish.

OMG!! i can't believe louis vuitton made this??!!! for $2400 you can be tres stylish carrying your badminton racket and birdies around haha

any nyc restaurant recommendations?? babbo and shake shack are definitely on the list. we're looking for a place for brunch on sunday, another nice-ish dinner place, lunch places and any other recommendations you may have!

and for those on the east coast, julian and i will be there may 4-7th. so if you want to meet up let me know! we'll be there for a wedding which is on sat the 5th in rhineback, so we'll probably be gone most of that day.

does this look too weird?


it's a pretty good price, probably because it's not fully woven...

bag lusts

so i've limited myself to two handbags a year, so i have to make it count, here are some bags i like, if only i could afford them all

i looove this chanel bag, this picture does not do it justice at all. i tried it on at the boutique and it's such a pretty color, it's like a pearly white. i already have a large white bag so they would be too similiar


i really like this purple color, but i'm not sure if it would work too well with my wardrobe, but a pretty bag nonetheless


i wasn't really a fan of woven leather, but it's really starting to grow on me. the leather is incredibly soft and i'm liking the taupe-y greyish color


this chanel is THE classic bag, but i always thought the quilting was very matronly, and still do think that to a certain extent. it's a little too puffy for my tastes, but the red color is TDF !!!


i'm not usually a louis vuitton fan, but here's a new style and new epi color which i think is super cute, i would definitely consider this one if i didn't already have a white bag. it also comes in black or red, but i don't like them as much


ok, last one, i think most of you know that i looove lace A LOT. so when i heard LV was coming out with a new line with lace on their monogram canvas, i thought it would be really pretty, but not so much. they also made the handles REALLY dark so it looks really gross. you have the choice of gold or silver lace, this one is gold

updates

man, we all suck at updating our blogs, but here's an entry for ya all, it will be kind of disjointed, just some random thoughts since it is 3am

why am i still awake? i dunno, i get these random bouts of insomnia and sleep very late a few nights out of the month. i end up watching tv or browsing the web, and here i am updating my blog!

last saturday i went snowboarding in tahoe, it was sooo hot! i think the season is going to be pretty much over soon unless we suddenly get some more rain. i don't know how likely that is cause it's been in the low 80s in SJ the past two days. i'm loving the warmer weather, time to break out the open toed shoes already!

and you know that burger chain islands that's all over LA? well there's one in folsom and 2 others in the sacramento area now! we stopped there for dinner and had good burgers and shakes (ok i was the only one that got a shake).

and does anyone else think having daylight savings so early is so weird?!! well now at least when i walk tofu at 6pm it's still light outside. we see so many people at the park now, which is kind of weird because when it was dark at 6pm, there was no one!

to address comments from previous posts: michael mina was good, but a little pricey. I think it was $99 for 3 courses(and the stuff that we chose had additional supplements!). My tuna tartare was good but the portion was very huge. If I had gotten half I would have been content, but since there was so much I felt like I had to eat it all and I got kind of sick of it. For my entree I had the lobster pot pie which was sooo good. I liked it a lot. And I got the chocolate trio dessert and that was very yummy as well. i've kind of forgotten what julian ordered, hmm. he ordered the carrot cake for dessert i remember that. it was ok, it had raisins which i'm not usually a fan of. oh ok, i think i remember now. he had a soup appetizer which i think he really enjoyed. and some beef trio dish. anyhoo, it was an enjoyable dinner and we were stuffed. oh and the amuse bouche was very good, a lobster trio

the ballet afterwards was very lovely, but i don't think julian really enjoyed it that much. we almost missed the beginning because we had issues finding parking, but luckily the combo of starting a teench late and running, allowed us to make it right in the nick of time!

i'm trying to keep myself to a strict shopping budget, hopefully it will work, budgets aren't really my thing but really should stop buying too much stuff. i've tried to avoid visiting the shopping sites and deleting emails in my inbox without reading them which helps. it seems the best way is to remove all temptation because my willpower is weak hehe

ok getting sleepy now, off to bed

heroes rocks!!!

omg, yesterday's heroes episode was soooo good! everyone needs to start watching it!

the last lost episode was horrible! why did they cast bai ling? and why is jack's tattoo important at all??? no one cares!!! i really hope they answer some questions soon because lost is losing my interest very fast =(

finally, i didn't really like the last grey's episode where meredith was in "limbo", shouldn't she have mega brain damage???

tgif

tomorrow will be a fun filled day of shopping in sf, eating at michael mina, and watching sleeping beauty ballet yay

Delicate Surgery on 'Grey's Anatomy'

whoa weird, check it out!

ABC Explores a Spinoff In a Now-Uncommon Move To Exploit Hit Show's Power

ABC is surgically removing part of "Grey's Anatomy" to see if it can survive on its own.

In a bold move that could bring in millions of dollars in new advertising income if it's successful, ABC has decided to pursue a spinoff of the hugely successful medical drama. Departing "Grey's Anatomy" to anchor the new show would be one of its most popular characters: Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, a sexy neonatal-surgeon played by Kate Walsh.

The general plot is still a work in progress and "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes hasn't settled on a title, says a spokeswoman for ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co. But Ms. Rhimes recently told the cast about the project and agreed to write a special two-hour episode that will serve as a pilot for the new series. This type of old-fashioned character spinoff is increasingly rare in the risk-averse TV business.

ABC is likely to air the special in May -- in time for the network to decide whether to pick up the spinoff before unveiling its fall schedule to advertisers and media buyers. ABC President of Entertainment Stephen McPherson declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the ABC Television Studio, which produces the series, confirmed it has inked a deal with Ms. Walsh, but said Ms. Rhimes and Ms. Walsh both were unavailable.

No new show is a safe bet in the fast and fickle TV business, but a spinoff is a safer bet. Rather than launching cold, spinoffs come with a built-in audience already invested in the concept or character. There's a strong marketing hook -- a crucial element as networks battle an expanding array of entertainment options for viewer attention. And some of TV's most popular shows have been spinoffs, including "The Jeffersons," spawned by "All in the Family," and "Frasier," a spinoff of "Cheers."

Although Mr. McPherson has dramatically transformed ABC over the past two years from the last-place broadcaster to a contender for No. 1, the network still has holes on its schedule that would benefit from a new hit. Wednesday night has started to struggle -- the castaways drama "Lost" is down 23% among adults age 18 to 49 this season compared with last -- and the network has been keeping some Friday time slots warm by airing reruns.

In many ways, spinning off a show from "Grey's Anatomy" would mark a departure for the modern TV industry. True spinoffs -- where ancillary characters leave an established show to become the leads of a new one -- are less common today than in decades past. A big reason: There are fewer smash hits, particularly comedies, to spin off. The TV schedule is replete with strong dramas, but shows such as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" tend to spawn new franchises with entirely new casts of characters, notes TV historian Tim Brooks, author of "The Complete Guide to Prime Time."

Indeed, networks rarely have the confidence to pursue a character spinoff of an hour-long drama. One of the few successes was in 1979 when Gary and Valene Ewing departed "Dallas" to launch "Knots Landing." More often, attempts have been spectacular flops, such as the 1987 bid to spin off "Hill Street Blues" by sending detective Norman Buntz, played by Dennis Franz, and his snitch Sid, played by Peter Jurasik, to California. "Beverly Hills Buntz" failed within a season (although Mr. Franz went on to greater things in "NYPD Blue").

But with "Grey's Anatomy," ABC has a white-hot hit, fueled by complex story lines and charismatic characters. Despite moving to highly competitive Thursday from Sunday last fall, "Grey's Anatomy" is notching some of its best ratings ever. Last week, 26 million people tuned in to watch the doctors and medical students at Seattle Grace Hospital cope with the fallout of a ferry crash.

At the same time, the ensemble show, now in its third season, has an abundance of strong characters, including Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey and Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd. Indeed, Ms. Rhimes recently told a gathering of TV critics that it was difficult fitting all 12 "Grey's Anatomy" regulars into storylines.

She wants to be intimately involved in the potential spinoff and, to free up her schedule, has tabled another pilot about a group of female journalists, says a person familiar with the matter.

Ms. Walsh's Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd joined the show in May 2005, appearing in the last few minutes of the season-one finale. She abruptly shows up at the Seattle hospital looking for her estranged neurosurgeon husband, Dr. Shepherd, and discovers he has a girlfriend. Ms. Walsh confronts her with a pointed -- and explicit -- remark.

Although Ms. Rhimes and ABC executives think Ms. Walsh's character can continue evolving on "Grey's Anatomy," it became clear in recent months that her position in the show was changing, say people familiar with the matter. After all, now divorced from the neurosurgeon and friendly with the girlfriend, Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd has had fewer spats to keep her busy -- and fewer fireworks to entertain viewers.

ABC is approaching the spinoff in a smart way, says Norman Lear, the TV producer who refined the art of the spinoff in the 1970s when his "All in the Family" spawned a record five new shows. Too often networks try to force audiences to embrace a character just because they have an actor amenable to a spinoff -- NBC's ill-fated "Friends" spinoff "Joey," starring Matt LeBlanc, for instance. Instead, networks should "see who's popping and try to build something" around them, he says.

"Sometimes you cast somebody in a lesser role and once you see them on screen you say to yourself, 'Oh my God, this person shouldn't be in the outfield. This person could be a great pitcher,'" says Mr. Lear.

His advice to Ms. Rhimes: "Trust your instincts and don't force anything." He also notes that successfully juggling monster-sized egos -- particularly those of the cast members who are not getting their own show -- is a crucial part of the spinoff process.

If the "Grey's Anatomy" special episode doesn't lead to a new series for ABC's fall schedule, the network has several high-profile projects in the pipeline to fall back on. One of them is "Life on Mars," a remake of a British Broadcasting Corp. drama about a modern-day detective who finds himself transported back to 1973.

ABC also has high hopes for a one-hour pilot called "Dirty Sexy Money," a drama from Greg Berlanti ("Dawson's Creek," "Everwood") that focuses on an idealistic lawyer hired to tend to the legal -- and often illegal -- needs of a megarich New York family.

year of the golden pig

January 22 marks the beginning of what is widely believed to be the Year of the Golden Pig. What's so special about the Year of the Golden Pig, you ask?

Babies born in the "year of the golden pig" are believed to have good fortune and will lead a comfortable and wealthy life. People who believe in the year of the golden pig say the special year comes every 600 years. They came to this conclusion through calculations, using a combination of the Chinese zodiac and the yin and yang theory.

So, one of my coworkers who was recently married last Oct wants to have a baby this year because of the golden pig. He's Vietnamese and seems really into having a lot of kids (he wants 4, his wife only wants 2, haha) Anyways, so today we had a group luncheon and kids always seems to be a big topic of discussion. One coworker, who has a 3 year old son, sends him to pre-school/daycare during the day and it's $850/month, which is supposedly "a good deal"!!! If she wants to send him to Challenger, it's $1250/month!! O-M-G! SOOOO if we want to have 2-3 kids, and they're 1-2 years apart, we would potentially be spending $3k+/month on daycare/pre-school?!!! on top of our mortgage?!!! i now see why sometimes it's more cost effective for women to be stay at home moms. yikes. kids are expensive!!

Sooooo...who wants to have a baby born in the year of the golden pig?? ;P

greece cruise

found out more info, the cruise is on norweigan cruise lines, i think we're leaning towards taking it since:
1) we've never been on a cruise and we can't say we don't like cruises unless we try one right? =P
2) we'll probably never go to egypt or turkey most likely, so this way we can see some of it
3) we'll definitely go to greece again, and now that can be a potential place for us all to go together! (as alice pointed out haha)

book 7

of harry potter is coming out July 21st! woohoo!! so now we can find out how it all ends, FINALLY!!! and maybe by the time they make the rest of the movies the kids won't look THAT old yet haha

travel dilemma

my mom and sister are going to take a greece/egypt/turkey cruise tour in september, they asked if julian and i wanted to go. what to do?? it's either that or the greece trip we were planning in sept. HMMMMMMMM need to decide sooooon

first trip to tahoe

so on sat julian and i went up to tahoe, we decided to go even though there hasn't been any rain in the last month! it's so sad! julian was itching to go because we haven't gone in 2 years!! anyways, we decided to take a bus that would just up for a day. we woke up at 4am (sooo tired) and got to northstar around 9. in the morning we stayed at the newer lift because it wasn't too crowded, but i think it wasn't as crowded because it was icy =/ and some of the runs were very patchy. so sad. the first run i was so so nervous. after we locked in our bindings at the top, julian went off. and then i just sat there for like 5 minutes gathering my nerves to go down! so eventually i went and kind of forced myself to do toe edge, and realized that i could still do it! whew. i think i'm still a beginner though, still not that great, and still fall a lot. i'm thinking i should maybe invest in wrist guards, my wrists hurt a lot afterwards from falling on the icy parts. after lunch we went to the top of the mountain, it was super crowded, but wasn't as icy. too many people though. i was really sore the next day and we stopped boarding around 3 hehe. hopefully it snows more, it's already feb!!