Queen of the Month

It's MY birthday today!

Honeymoon Koogether

We're flying to Berlin in 3 hours!


Our 18 days Europe trip will start from Berlin, then down south to Prague, Vienna and Salzburg where we'll rent a car to drive north along Rhine River back to Berlin.

Can't write too much here cause we're leaving home soon. Wish us a fun and safe trip. Will blog about it with lots of picts when we're back on Sept 30!

We are going to honeymoon finally. Yeah!

090909

It's a special date - 09.09.09. Want to write something on our blog @ 9:09pm on the Ninth day of the Ninth month in 2009. The number 9 in Chinese sounds alike to the word "longevity" in the language. So it's an auspicious number. Wish longlasting love, friendship, good health and good luck...

Tonight, I'm very sleepy as I'm still having jet lag after coming back from Hong Kong. So I'm going to nite nite early on 09.09.09...ZZZzzzzzz

We are on the MAGAZINE!

Sometimes in July. Something to disclose.

It's time to tell the little secret we've been keeping. WE ARE ON A MAGAZINE - the Knot!

*We are ONLY on Northern California, issue 182. There's a Southern California 181 with same cover but we are NOT on it.

Not baby. Not moving to SF. Not winning Lotto. Good guess but too boring. We were hoping someone would come up with something more creative n' interesting. But what could we expect others to think of a newlywed besides baby and baby. No one cares us except when will I get pregnant. Sorry to disappoint you... but not yet.

I supposed no one would guess it right anyway. Even Hadi and I would never expect things like that. Can't believe it had come true. We are excited but mostly feel very rewarded cause Hadi and I did all the design for the wedding ourselves. Now we feel like our hard work is recognized and paid off. Our ribbon idea and cake design are Knot picks!

My ribbon idea on Knot homepage!

We still aren't too sure how it happened. Was it because I submitted the photos or our photographer Ingrid turned in her portfolio? It was a year ago when we received an email from the Knot. They informed us that our wedding had been picked and asked us to fill in a very long questionnaire from how we met to the every single details of our wedding. Then I learned that it took a year of work for a magazine to publish (at least it is how the Knot does it).


We waited a year patiently. Said nothing to no one cause we weren't sure if this would really going to happen. It was too surreal. Our wedding on a US wedding magazine? Why us?

We got three complimentary magazines from the Knot before the issue was on the shelf. We still didn't say a word to anyone. Now it's on sale everywhere and we're sure it's really happening. So delighted to share the honor with you, especially our guests who experienced the big day with us. You're part of our beautiful memories and definitely part of the magazine feature. We are not trying to show off here. It's truly all about rewarding, also assuring I am one small step closer to my wedding design dream one day. Hey, email us if you know anyone who needs design for wedding!

Diving Koogther

No, "something to disclose" isn't about diving. Not yet time to announce the "something". Scuba diving is another thing. Our website homepage has everything we could think of doing together like "Eat Koogether. Travel Koogether. Play Koogether....".But we didn't know we would dive koogether. Right, Mr Koo loves challenges. He just wants to try everything. And I, a person who would freak out on roller coasters, went sky diving and snowboarding at black diamond with him. After flying up the sky (actually diving down), now down to ocean. What's next, husband?

3 hours pool class on Saturday morning

It is a 4 classes course that we're doing. 2 classes in pool and 2 in the ocean. Finish in two weekends. We have a book to study, a dvd to watch and exam to take. After finishing all these we will get certified and then we can go diving on our own everywhere on earth without any guidance.

Open water class - practice in the ocean on Sunday 1pm to 11pm

I scuba dived at Great Reef Barrier, Australia a few years ago. It was a tourist activity. So everything was much easier cause it was all set up and I wasn't required any knowledge at all. In this diving course however, I need to learn be my own and take care of all the equipments and my own life. That wasn't the hardest part. The hardest part, many students agree, is to put on the tightest suit on earth.



O, there's another difficult part which is to stand the one and a half hour boat ride from Long Beach to Catalina island. I already gave up the class and got my refund back because of this. I don't want to go back and take the boat ride again. It's a dive boat with oxygen tanks along both sides. Seats are hard and not comfy cause it's not a luxurious cruise trip. You can't sit back, relax and enjoy with the tanks at your back when the boat goes up and down, up and down for 90 mins. It's tough for me. One time is enough.

I didn't know you can barbecue on a boat. The captain is cooking hamburger and chicken for our dinner.

There isn't really much to see in Catalina ocean except some fishes and lots kelp. No coral at all. Very different picture from what I experienced in Australia. That's another reason I ain't so motivated to be back to Catalina again. Scuba diving is a heavy duty to me. It took us lots of energy and we were both exhausted at the end of the class when we returned to land at around 11 at night.

Mr Koo in full gear. Special thanks to Michael and Yvonne for generously lending us.

My conclustion is I didn't feel I was enjoying myself. Mr Koo isn't as vulnerable as I am though. He will finish the rest of the course and try to be certified. I don't mind him taking a "longer" break, may be something else will keep him busy before he will come up with another idea and put me into another challenge again.

Something to Disclose

printing K!

I have to print all the K! That's the reason I'm taking a letterpress printing class at Art Center right now. It's a summer night class. Meet once every week from May to August. 80% female students. My professor is like a Santa Claus to me - a nice old guy with white beard and big tummy.


When I told people I was going to take class for printing. They were like - huh? What for? Sounded like I was wasting money to learn do a cheap dirty job. I always had to explain - "see those nice cards in one or two colors with cool impression of the printed image on the paper? You can feel the texture. Right, printed by some kind of old traditional machines...real cool"! Still, my parents wouldn't understand how amazing it was. I have to really print and bring it with me next time I go to Hong Kong and show them the products.


It was wedding that brought me to letterpress printing. Right, wedding again. Always about "Wedding". Sorry, this is what this blog for. I realized many wedding invitation cards were letterpress printed when we were looking for one. Actually many greeting cards and stationery are now printed by letterpress. It just becomes more and more popular. May be people are tired of flat digital printing. I just love its uniqueness and the personal touch cause it's a manual process. So I decided to find out how to do it and do it myself this summer.


Tonight, I printed my first K on the letterpress machine. How exciting! My mom might think it wasn't a big deal at all. But I'm sure she would appreciate more if she knew it was actually quite complicated and required lots of practice and experience to achieve the perfect print. It's quite expensive too as I had to pay for the film, plate and paper. But I would rather spend my money to do this cause I'm creating the cards to my loved ones. I hope they'll like the handmade gift with exceptional beauty and authenticity.


The BIG K is the front. I have to print the back next class. I'm thinking to continue taking the class next season cause I have many ideas that I want to print on paper. Most importantly, I have LOTS more Ks I want to print!

Fresh Sour

When I blogged on February, I posted a picture of the tree in the front yard of our house in Foster City. There were only branches with some buds.

Time steals on. Buds burst into flowers and were blooming in the past few months. We are not sure what kind of tree it is. Looks like cherry blossoms in white. They were beautiful. But I missed lots of the pretty scenes cause I wasn't there often to see the growing process.


As summer was approaching, flowers turned into fruits. These little home grown produces look like cherries but taste like plums, just a lot more sour cause they aren't ripe yet. They are still green. Only a few had turned red but they were usually eaten by animals before we picked them. I hope they were birds or squirrels but not mice. Hadi was especially excited. He couldn't wait for the sweetness. He just ate the green ones but then complained the sour afterward.


I just thought we were very fortunate to have such a productive tree to enjoy throughout the seasons. These pictures were taken on a very nice day before sunset. The shots were quite beautiful I think. The green leaves and yellow light were soft and warm (didn't look like from the last hour of daylight though. More like morning time to me), yet together they were full of live and energy.


Next time I go home in Foster City, I have to be fast before any little creatures get my first red fruit...

P.S. 618 - Today is our "Dating" Anniversary. Celebrating 11 years and 5 months being koogether!

The Never Melt Chocolate Cake

After our wedding rehearsal last year, everyone in our wedding party who came to practice the ceremony received a Godiva wedding cake chocolate as a little gift from us. Hadi and I got one of each favor too - the white and dark chocolate.


The thing is we didn't open the boxes until our wedding anniversary last week. Surprisingly they were both in perfect condition after a year. I think they wouldn't melt if we leave them for another year or even longer cause they were made with solid chocolate. It was very hard when we tried to cut it in half.


My comment about these chocolates, (I think you already got it right), they look better than they taste. They do look nice. That's why I took lots of pictures of them. The taste wasn't bad. Only that if you're thinking of buying it one day, expect that it is the appearance and packaging most of your money goes to.

1st Wedding Anniversary

To celebrate our first wedding anniversary, we went hiking! Would anyone guess it right? We didn't even know we would do such a healthy activity!

"Fairy house" behind Old Mill Park

We didn't plan anything particular. Just wanted to relax and enjoy the day. The hiking idea came up when we were going to El Paseo for dinner and drove by a place in Mill Valley called Old Mill Park. Yet it was kind of late by the time we discovered it. We just quickly drove through the neighborhood and were amused it was actually a natural beauty. Houses were like in fairy tales. A little river ran by the houses which were built in a forest among all sorts of vegetation. Gee, people living there were really lucky. So nice we decided to come back again the next day even we knew we had to give another 6 bucks to pass through the Golden Gate bridge.

Redwood forest in Mill Valley

So we did come back on the 8th. We walked throught the park this time. It was actually small and surrounded by lots of tall redwood trees that drop huge shadows over the place. Kids playing and swinging at the little children playground. Some people were doing yoga while others walking dogs. A guy was playing a unique woodwind instrument in the woods. The whole picture was beautiful and peaceful. There was a trail started from this Old Mill park that led all the way to the top of the hill. Before we hit the slope, I needed to find a restroom and that made me find out another nice place which was the Mill Valley public library. It was built so nicely with the nature that you didn't realize it unless you paid more attention.

So we began the long steep stairs of the trail called "Dipsea". It was then I realized I forgot my camera. I was so angry to myself. How could I not have it on such an important day? I tried to calm myself down by thinking it might be God's will whom wanted us to totally enjoy ourselves but not to bother about pictures. Put them all in mind not computer....I ended up using my cell phone to take pictures.

So we walked for 3 hours in total. From about 10:30am to 1:30pm and we enjoyed it cause we love woods and nature. We went hiking before and liked doing it once in awhile. We didn't talk much this time during hiking cause we saw two signs that made me very nervous. One warned about mountain lions. Another said trail closed due to mudslide and was illegal to pass through. But Hadi was excited. He was obviously a LOT more adventurous than I was. He didn't care about the mudslide at all and would be very happy to "meet" the mountain lion. I totally ignored his enthusiasm but just kept walking and refused to talk until we returned to the ground.


Dipsea trail is very long. We just covered little part of it. The entire distance is 7 miles from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach. A lady told us an annual trail race was coming up this month. It was one of the two oldest trail race in the country. Number of runners is limited and all these racers are carefully selected. We did see people practicing for the race. It was really a challenge with all those stairs and slopes.

Mill Valley is a little old town. We discovered something new everytime we went there. I feel there's still a lot waiting for us to explore. I'm glad that we both love this place and were so fortunate to have our wedding there. Of course I want to revisit this place every anniversary. But I believe I can't wait another year before I pay the 6 bucks again.

Anniversary Eve

We celebrated our anniversary eve evening at a restaurant called El Paseo which is just right across the street of our wedding reception site Outdoor Art Club in Mill Valley.


This restaurant was very mysterious to us when we first discovered it. Hidden in a small alley, this historic brick restaurant was always closed when we walked by during the day. We later found out it just opened for dinner. It looked very elegant, private yet mystical. It made us feel we had to go there one day and find out what it is all about. Was it exclusively for vampires?



Tonight we finally experienced this decent French restaurant. Found out it's actually run by a Japanese restaurant group. Chefs and servers were mainly Japanese. You know how Japanese comics always create stories based on French background but portrayed in Japanese. We felt like we were dining in a real comics world...



El Paseo is a "lots of stars" restaurant on Michelin list. We don't always necessarily agree with the Michelin guide. We're conservative before going to El Paseo. But after tasting it, we gave thumbs up. They really offered quality french cuisine with Japanese culinary inspiration. All dishes were beautifully presented and delicious. Everything was carefully prepared and served to their customers.

I love this heart shaped butter!

I don't want to give too much details here. I'll say, worth to go and experience yourself.

BTW, El Paseo means a leisurely walk. I think we got more than that...

Cake Again

We, the two cake lovers, asked Kay (our wedding cake baker from Beaux Gateaux) to bake for us again for our anniversary.


Same cake again - three cake layers of chocolate chiffon cake, whipped cream filling with hazelnut daquoise and peach mousse with fresh raspberries. Sounds yummy to you?


It's just a plain white square cake. No decoration and no toppings but same fillings. The shape is just right to be cut into four small cubes. Split it and enjoy it in four days. In four mornings, I wake up and know that there's a little piece of sweet waiting for us to make the day full of life!


Delighted to be able to taste it again. Still love it. Wish we can have the same indulgence every anniversary.

Preface to June

A year goes by in a flash. It's June! We've been married for almost a year now. Just a few days away from our first wedding anniversary.


Hadi and I will be taking the 8th and half day of 9th off. I don't think I can concentrate if I have to stay in LA alone and go to work on those days anyway. To celebrate this special day, we'll revisit our church and reception site during the long weekend vacation. We've reordered the same wedding cake but in mini size this time of course. We didn't really taste it on the wedding day. I just remember it tasted good and lots of guests told me so. So having it again will allow us to really enjoy the favor of it.

Just writing a short note here like a preface to welcome June that we've missed and loved so much.

Golden 30!

Happy Birthday to my dear husband! This is your first birthday as a married guy. You're turning to your 30! A big milestone in your life. 30s is the golden time when you're still young but now more mature and responsible, know yourself better and have a clear direction in your life. I'm sure when you look back, it's the age that you'll miss a lot.


To celebrate Hadi's BIG birthday, I gave him a little more surprises on top of the cards I made and birthday presents I bought. I flew to San Francisco unexpectedly on his birthday to have dinner and cut cake with him and the family. Then before the clock struck the last few minutes of his birthday, I gave him birthday cards sent by his friends from Hong Kong and Macau. I knew Hadi always misses his friends. So I asked them to write him cards, sent them to me first and then I gave them all to Hadi on his birthday. Hadi was really surprised and delighted by his friends' cards. They even took some videos which were not expected. Thank you all guys. I have to special thank to Mo Leung who was the coordinator of all these. Really appreciate your BIG help!


We made Hadi's birthday a long weekend vacation cause we both took the following Monday off. We improvised a weekend getaway to CalPoly San Luis Obispo where we both studied at. It happened that the annual show of Architecture graduation students took place over that weekend. It was worth a drive cause Hadi ran into his classmates whom had not seen since his graduation day. And now he is in touch with them again. We spent the night at Santa Barbara and went biking the next day....it was really a fun and relaxing birthday weekend.


Mr Koo, you still have the supreme authority to enjoy in the rest of the month cause you're the King of this Month! But after the last day of May, I will be back to my throne and be the Queen of the entire year. Haha!


Welcome to the 30. Happy Birthday!

New BFF

One word - Lazy.

What have I done? What have I been doing all these months and being so lazy to update our blog.


Well, I just don't feel like blogging. Have been just being with myself a lot. Hm... may be too much. Yes, being with myself but no one else (of course except my husband. We still try to keep our schedule to meet every other weekend. Either I fly or he comes). I didn't see any friends or relatives. Just wanna go home straight after work or stay home alone on weekend. O, but I found a new friend...

Now I found out when a person HAD to BE alone, with nothing particular to be busy with (another word - no goal to pursue. Unlike when I was immersed in our wedding planning. Woke up every morning with only one word "wedding" in my mind), one would discover something new that he/she had never realized such thing could be so interesting before. In the past few months, I had finished the Twilight saga (yes, all four books in the series. And yes, I am now a fan of Robert Pattison. Oh, should I claim myself fan of Edward Cullen instead? Will that sound less crazy?). I had also read Wuthering Heights as well as Revolutionary Road. These two books were both finished in one weekend respectively. I kept reading and reading. Suddenly realized there were too many books I could read. Too much to finish in one's life.

I never like reading. Before the last few months, reading was like a task to me. Basically I read because I had to. Usually for school or exam. When I was still a student, I didn't find reading a hobby like lots of other people did. School had already given me too much to study. I rarely picked up a book unrelated to school. Time didn't give me a chance to taste the fun of reading.

Now I found it an enlightenment. Besides pets which are the general options, I think books are another dependable form of companions to humans. There's a lot of time in a person's life when he/she has to be alone. When it comes to a point that loneliness hits the bottom, and there's no power to turn on your computer/TV/video game......books may be your true friends.

No, I'm not pregnant. Not Yet.

Recently when I called up my friends or family (People whom I do not buzz often. May be once a month or every two months), their first question was the same, "You pregnant"? When I told them "NO", they had the same response too, "Why are you calling then?".


Well, my dear friends and family, I don't even want to try thinking if anyone would care about me when one day I really have a baby. You're now already so concerned about baby when it doesn't even exist yet. When I really have one in the future, I guess every call of yours will be asking about the baby not me. All my birthday gifts will all be baby clothes and baby toys!

Elizabeth Gilbert in her book "Eat, Pray, Love" said that to surely have a baby is like you are determined to have a tattoo on your face. Your FACE. Not other parts of your body where you can hide when you regret about it and don't wanna show. A baby is a big and serious decision. Hadi and I are both not ready yet. We are still enjoying the freedom which we will never have again if a new member joins in.

A friend of mine was even funnier. Since I haven't emailed her any of my latest pictures for awhile, she thought I got pregnant and kept the secret from everyone until I visited Hong Kong in the Fall holding my new born baby to reveal the big surprise. How imaginative she was! Alright, to prove that I'm not pregnant, I'm posting my very latest picture on this blog. (Looking fat doesn't mean I'm pregnant!)

The next time I call you, please don't wonder about the reason behind. It can be very simple - I miss you and just want to say hello.

Month of Valentine

Wouldn't realize it's the last day of February if dad didn't remind me. Didn't blog for the whole month. I didn't mean to but this 28-day-month, even though is short, wasn't easy for me.




I was very sick for a couple of days. Couldn't go to work. Couldn't move. I was like paralyzed. Left side of my neck n' back hurt. Muscles were stiff. I was in lots of pain
staying at home alone. Went to chiropractor. Felt like I was repeating the nightmare I had ten years ago when my body was hit by a van. Sandy and Hadi were by my side back then. But this time wasn't that lucky. I was on my own. This put me into deep depression. Didn't want to call any friends. Only a few close family knew. I found myself not wanting to talk when I'm upset. I used to share before. But now I believe one has to suffer his own physical or emotional pain. No one can actually help.

I sounded very negative. But don't worry it's over now. Otherwise I won't be typing all this. I'm cheerful again. It was just a dark cloud passing through. Recently, I keep myself very busy. I'm obsessed with a vampire love story created by Stephanie Meyer. Never found reading so wonderful. I'm not a reading person. But this "Twilight" wave has hit me strongly. It is making me finish dinner quickly once get home from work, and go to bed like 8:30pm so i can read the books for 3 hours in bed before I go to sleep. Hadi is getting jealous of the book cause I have been so concentrated n' ignoring him when he tries to talk to me. Um.. the series comes in four. So I have three more books to read. Sorry, my whole March is fully booked.

Feburary is the month of Valentine. Didn't do anything particular on the Valentine's Day even though I felt it quite special as this is our first V-Day after married. But I was grateful enough to have Hadi with me in LA on the day. I was going to blog about it. But the rest of the month didn't give me the mood.

Don't know what picture I should put to go along with this blog. We only took a few daily life pictures which I don't think are interesting enough to share. Well, the cherry blossom tree at the entrance of our house in SF is in full bloom now. It's beauuuutiful and delighting our family. Beautiful cherry blossoms in full bloom don't last long, nor does the dark cloud stay forever... :)

Koo Hei Fat Choi!

We'll soon be ringing in the Year of the Ox. New Year starts out fresh. Hadi and I, now Mr and Mrs Koo, are giving out red packets for the very first time in this upcoming Chinese New Year!

This BIG day used to provide me a significant chunk of my annual revenue, haha! Unfortunately it will only be expenses but not income any more which is one downside being married. O, but we're belt-tightening after the two weddings. Can we come up with some innovative things instead of cash? How about a coupon for a free dinner at the Koo house? Or may be a slip of greeting notes. Promise to be as fun n' surprising as fortune cookies.




Well, just kidding. Indeed, we're excited to hand out red packets to the youngers. We're gearing up. Got brand new dollar bills from the bank already. And looking for the nicest envelopes for our first Lai See. Actually there aren't many recipients. Hadi's only niece. I have a few cousins that count on one hand. Isn't a problem. Just that from now on, don't expect us to show up in Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year. Cause we'll be broke... :P

Since the new year falls on a Monday, I'm going to take the day off n' stay in bay area with the Koo family. Hadi's parents arrived on the same day of Obama inauguration but was just coincidence. They will stay a few months with us. I guess parents now become our only source of Lai See. Sigh....





This festive weekend, we'll visit friends n' family. Go "Yum Cha". Cook lots traditional celebratory dishes at home together. Probably make Shanghai wonton n' may be spring rolls which resemble gold bars. O, yeah, gold bars! Feasting with family makes the lunar spirit warm and merry.

Kung Hei Fat Choi! We're always looking forward to the new year with eager anticipation. Wishing everyone boundless cheer and prosperity in the year of the Golden Ox!

Celebrating 11th Anniversary

118 is not only my birthday but is also my anniversary with Hadi. November n' January are both the months that mean to my life. This coming Saturday will be our 11th anniversary. Yes, we've been together for eleven years now. It's really a day to celebrate. I'm thankful to the love from my husband.

My best friend Sandy gave a speech at our Hong Kong Disney wedding. She probably wanted to go with the theme of Disney. She introduced us the prince and princess of the fairy tale. My heart disagreed with her at the moment. I didn't protest that night. But it's kept in me. And I feel like I have to clarify somewhere sometimes to express my thoughts.




I never thought of myself the one in a fairy tale. We had our wedding in Disney simply because I am a fan of it. It has been giving me very nice feeling since my first visit there where I felt warmth n' bliss. Neither I am a princess nor Hadi's a prince. That's too flattering. Indeed, our story hasn't been easy. We were always apart. And we're still apart even after marriage. We have had lots difficulties in the past eleven years. Luckily they were usually things other than the love between us. I had a very difficult time when I just started my career alone in LA. Hadi n' I always have problems about our status in the country. We're always not sure if we'll get a visa. Don't know if we'll find a sponsor. We question about our root n' not know where we can stay stably n' permanently.

I love the recent Disney commercial "What will you celebrate". Hadi n' I had dealed with hard times together. But it is these obstacles that make us value each other more n' stay together stronger. I always feel blessed. My parents are divorced n' I basically grew up in a single parent family. But I'm thankful that I have a great mom. And get lots of love from my family n' friends. My story is made up of lots happiness n' unhappiness. But I'll define my life a happy one cause I see more laughters than tears when I look back.

I don't know who will visit my blog n' read my words. I keep writing on our wedding blog even after getting married because I am telling myself my own story. Like a record or memoir when my memory won't be good one day. Then I'll still be able to see how I was once feeling n' thinking. I wish to read it after many other 11th anniversary. OOOooo, thanks for reading. Having you come across my words today, good enough to celebrate cause I have you listen n' share with me. BIG hug there! So...what will you celebrate today?

Frozen in Boston

A few days before we set off to Boston for our new year vacation, a winter storm there almost made me change my mind to go to Hawaii instead. Surprisingly, it turned out a fun trip. Just a "little" chilly...



It was like below zero everyday. Snow everywhere. The sun came out but didn't warm us up. We had to wrap all over ourselves except the eyes. Water left in our rental car over the night turned into ice in the next day morning. Clothes pulled from the luggage was like just fresh from the freezer. We were the little shivering things in the big freezer. We talked with steam which went through the scarf that covered my mouth. I wore my warmest hat plus the down jacket's hoodie, still my head wasn't warm enough. Thick clothes made us stiff n' could hardly walk. Yet all these didn't stop us from getting around.

Probably the SUPER cold weather was something new to us that made us excited. We had never been in such a cold weather. We go snowboarding. But believe me, it's totally different. Glad that I didn't choose to study in the east coast. It's a right n' happier choice staying in California where sun rises n' shines everyday :)



One of the targets of this trip was of course Boston lobster. So lucky to have lobsters four times during the trip. Main target though was to visit the prestigious campus including Harvard, MIT, Yale, Brown n' Rhode Island School of Design(RISD). They are gorgeous. Felt like I was in Europe.

Went to lots museums. Harvard Art museum was free cause the coat check guy was so nice to us. Harvard museum of Natural History, well-known for its glass flowers, also carries a huge collection of all kinds of animal specimen. I think they possess all creatures on the earth. MIT museum was a bonus on our last day. We just drove by n' didn't know there's such a place. It was fun but too scientific n' I don't have a brain for that. RISD museum was very interesting. Like it. ICA was insanely crowded. Was like people in the town had nowhere else to go. But actually there wasn't much to see except the building itself is stunning - the "must go" to Hadi. Worth to mention, their highlight art show by Tara Donovan was very inspiring. She uses stuff from daily life to create beautiful form of art piece.

My "must go" is Isabella Steward Gardner museum. The name is so beautiful already. The treasure inside was even more attractive. But one won't be able to tell until you go in cause the building outside is plain. No photo to share herer cause they were very strict about photographing. I hope you'll get a chance to go in person to see the beauty of it.



We counted down our new year in Boston. It was the coldest day of our trip n' had a snow storm. Didn't go to special place/restaurant but just stayed in our hotel. Bought some salad, dessert n' champagne from whole food. Had a pizza to go from a local store. Stayed warm in our room, bye bye to our amazing 08 n' cheered to 09!

We all learn something from the trip we take. This one was especially educational as we went to schools, museums n' historic places. Lots to share but can't include all here. I saw n' learned. Traveling in cold was a different experience. I'll probably pick a warmer place to go next time. But I'm sure I'll miss the white vacation sometimes in the near future.