New Years

Our new years eve plans were pretty mellow this year. We decided not to go too crazy w/ a crazy city party and went to Nate's house where he holds a party every year w/ an ice luge. The LUGE HUGE success. I've heard that it was a blast last year but now I think I can't go to a party without one. The set up was pretty sweet. My cousin has a small porch and steps that lead up to his house. The luge was placed on top of the porch while the intakers could stand on the ground below. It was perfect and a lot of fun. It's amazing how smooth the booze goes down.

The night wasn't too crazy, but we did have a lot of fun. Darren and I ended up spending the night at Erin's house and then made sure to get back home to Oakland pretty early to help with all of the new years day feasts.

The morning stated off w/ Darren, Popo, Mom and I making a crap load of Chap Jae. It's clear korean noodles. Kind of like a Korean style chow mien except that the noodles are made from yams so Mom can eat them. Once we finished making a whole trey of that, my Dad took it over the the Kag's and the rest of us got ready to go out.

The first stop was Auntie Anah's. She is a long time family friend. I'm guessing in her 80's and she prepares the whole New Year's Day feast w/ her twin sister all by themselves. It's a treat. The most formal of the three houses we all sit around the table. And pass food. I always make sure to grab my black beans. They say its good luck but I really like the taste of them. The biggest plus about the house: The Albacore, best sashimi of the day.

The second stop was what we call Uncle Alfreds or the Chinn's. But the party is held at my Auntie Arlene's sister's house in the hills of Berkeley. If you been around the hills of Berkeley the houses are phat. P-H Phat. It was a much different setting. We get there and Darren turns to me and goes.. wow its a little louder here.. haha... No sit down meal here, there's just a big table w/ food and you grab. The best dish from this house: Skirt steak. SOOOO tasty and tender. Delicious. We ended up staying for a while b/c well they also had wine and sake. I think between my Mother, Darren and I we each had 3 glasses.

Last and Final house of the night. The Kags. You would think by now I would be stuffed at the seams. You're right. I was stuffed but not stuffed enough not to eat. hahaha. Many people would think Christmas is my favorite holiday. WRONG. New Years Day is def my favorite holiday. How can you resist all that sashimi, steak, black beans!!! Ozoni...Everything was delicious and no 1 favorite dish here. But we did get in our sake shots w/ the family. Our initial plan was to drive home to San Jose after New Years Day. Lets just say we only made it to Oakland. Lets you know how much fun we had...

Now Diet Time, until next year! **Cheers**

Diet Log 4.24.2009

Breakfast:
Fat Free Yogurt w/ Strawberries w/ raw almonds
Double Fiber Toast w/ Strawberry Jam

Lunch:
Ground Turkey Okazu w/ Brown Rice

Dinner:
Make your own sushi

Work Out Log 4.24.2009

Cardio:
Elliptical on Variety for 20 min going 2.25 miles

Circuit:
16 Weighted Squats (20 lbs)
16 Lunges (20 lbs)
10 Jumping Squats
16 Hip abductions x2 (1 on each side)
16 Kickbacks x2 (1 on each side)
30 Sec Planks
16 Dumbbell One Arm Lat Row x2 (1 on each side)
16 Hammer Curls (10 lbs in each hand)
16 Over the head shoulder presses

I did this twice

Diet Log 4.23.2009

Breakfast:
NonFat Yogurt w/ Peaches and raw Almonds
Banana Pineapple Muffin

Lunch:
BrownRice w/ Hot Chili and Corn and Broccoli on top

Dinner:
Japanese Cucumber Salad
Ground Turkey Okazu over brown rice

Dessert:
Strawberry Shortcake w/ light cool whip drizzled chocolate

Diet Log 4.22.2009

Breakfast:

Strawberries and Fat Free Yogurt w/ raw Almonds
Double Fiber Toast w/ Plum Jam

Lunch:

Left over Chicken Ravioli in a balsamic reduction sauce
I munched a lot, on nuts, peanut M&Ms and pumpkin mochi

Dinner:

Left over BBQ Chicken Teriyaki and sweet peppers
Two Bites of a Carne Asada Taco and French Fries
And Beer

Work Out Log 4.22.2009

Cardio:
Treadmill: Variety Mode 3.0 incline at 6.0 speed and then 0.0 incline at 7.0 speed

Circuit:
16 hanging leg lifts
16 over the head triceps curls on 1 foot
16 sec leg Lifts on incline
20 weighted crunches (10 lbs)
16 shoulder presses (10 lbs in each hand)
16 weighted hyperextensions (10 lbs)
16 weighted side hyperextensions x2 each side (10 lbs)

I did this circuit twice. Right now my arms are really tired... blah

Diet Log 4.21.2009

Breakfast:

Strawberries and Fat Free Cottage Cheese
Double Fiber Toast w/ Plum Jam

Lunch:

Half Asian Pear
Turkey, Cheese, Cucumber, Tomato Sandwich w/ Extra Fiber Bread'

Dinner:

BBQ Teriyaki Chicken
Brown Rice
Sweet Peppers

Dessert:

Popcorn and Peanut M&Ms

Work Out Log 4.21.2009

Cardio:
20 Min elliptical

Circuit:
16 Squats
16 lunges
10 jumping lunges
14 sitting chest presses (50 lbs)
14 leg presses (50 lbs)
12 bicep curls (20 lbs)
10 Leg lifts on incline
12 Machine Quad Lifts (50 lbs)

I did this circuit twice.. I went to the gym early too.. was on the elliptical by 6am! So I got back early enough to start a load of laundry.. I'm so proud of myself.

Diet Log 4.20.2009

After the weekend I've decided that I really need to go back to watching what I eat again. I've almost gained most of my weight back.. NO GOOD.. all that hard work for nothing. It definitely has a lot to do w/ drinking. So after we come back from Hawaii I will prob. bring that to a semi halt. I don't think I'm going to do weight watchers again but I'll just eat healthier.. it will no longer be a diet but the way I eat.

For breakfast:

Strawberries and Fat Free Cottage Cheese
Double Fiber Toast w/ Plum Jam

Lunch:
Large Asian Pear
Chicken Wrap w/chili, lettuce, mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes

Snack:
Mixed Dried Fruit

Dinner:
Mixed Green Salad w/ Fat Free Balsamic Dressing
Chicken Ravioli in a Balsamic reduction sauce (green peppers, onions, mushrooms, and garlic)

Dessert:
Oatmeal Cookie Crumbs.. haha I ate some broken cookies from the ones my Mother made for our bake sale at work.

Work Out Log 4.18.2009

Saturday I went to the Gym w/ my friend Jenny. She's a Physical Trainer so the pointers definitely helped. Here was my workout:

20 min on elliptical
Circuit:
Over the head triceps lifts (10 lbs)
16 Squats
20 lunges
8 jumping lunges
16 jackknifes
16 triceps push ups
16 back presses

I'm not so sure about the names of all the exercises I described them as best I could. We did this circuit twice then went back to the apartment b/c we both had to get back up to Oakland. I'm going to try to do more circuits from now on.

Work Out Log 4.16.2009

For the past 2.5 weeks I've been working out 5 times a week. Usually I go in the morning before I head to work. I thought it would be a good idea to start logging my daily workouts. Just so I can compare what I actually do each day.

Woke up at 6:00am
Got to the gym at 6:30

Stair master for 30 min
Leg Lifts 3/10
Crunches 3/15
Hyperextensions 2/15
Side extensions 2/15 for each side

Doesn't look like much.. I think I'm going to start planning my workouts before I go now.

On my Mind...

This week has been so strange. Monday our Company did what they called limited restructuring. It was pretty much a layoff. I was very lucky to not be affected by it. However, it still felt so weird. I felt so bad for all of the people that no longer have their job. The economy is really taking effect right now and I'm really starting to feel the pain and grief that everyone is going through. Everyone that was affected will still work for Cisco for 2 months. However, their job now is to look for a job. If they can't find one in the 2 months then they will get a 4 month package. My company is great b/c everyone gets that same 4 month package no matter how long they worked here. It's so awkward and sad at work right now.

One thing I've been doing lately is working out.. I know shocker huh. Darren and I have been having this weight loss competition and I think I've bottomed out. It's annoying b/c I've actually been gaining weight. So as soon as that happened I decided that I should probably work out a little more. I've been walking to work everyday! It takes me 20 min each way. Just walking started to become too easy so I've added 3lb dumb bells in each hand to my daily stroll. Now, that's starting to get easy so I'm thinking about raising it to 5lbs.. but I don't know yet. Along w/ my daily walks I try to get in some type of cardio work out. Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday of this week I ran on the treadmill. I also try to do some kind of strength exercises like squats, crunches, etc. I'm feeling good hopefully I see results soon.

The last thing on my mind is: The Warriors suck! The overtime game wasn't even worth staying for.. It makes me sad! :*(

Happy 25th Birthday Dan!

As it has been anticipated Brunch is Back. Saturday was Dan's Birthday and I always wanted to bring back brunch so it seemed like a perfect opportunity. I wanted to have something that was decently easy and also something that everyone would enjoy. We ended up w/ having loco moco's. Here was our menu:

• Hamburger Patties (Darren made the meat and it was DELICIOUS!)
• Gravy (Made from Trader Joe's beef concentrate)
• Fried eggs
• Rice
• Stuffed bell peppers wrapped in bacon
• Cream cheese stuffed bell peppers wrapped in bacon
• Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts
  
• Bacon wrapped bread
• Zucchini bread (that mark made)
• Doughnuts (From Byran Harada)
• Girl Scout Cookies (Jun and Michelle)
• Lots of Mimosas
  

It was a lot of fun and I was so happy to see everyone. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I forgot to take pictures of the food but let me tell you, it was ALL GONE. I was surprised b/c we got like a big thing of meat from Costco and made two pots of rice!

After Brunch and drinking all day we made our way to 4th street bowl. I already took a 2 hour nap by the time we left and was actually still in a daze when we got there. But it was a lot of fun. Check out some of the videos we took while there!

Us Dancing!


I need your love!


And the final performance: I'm Down on Bended Knee!



It was a really fun night and I'm sure we'll be back for more 4th street fun!

Russian River Weekend- Final Day

It has already been a very long weekend and Sunday was no disappointment. Some of us, myself included did not feel up to par on this final day so drinking really was not on my agenda. We all woke up early to clean the house and were able to leave by 11:00am. We then headed to Healdsburg for breakfast. Most of us had a craving for soup, I personally had a craving for french toast. We ended up going to a nice little bakery called Costeaux French Bakery & Cafe. Once done filling our tummies we headed to stonestreet the winery where Kaj worked. It was really cool b/c we got the behind the scene's tour.

This is a picture of the pourer telling us about the area

From Russian River Wine Road

This is a big barrel. I forgot what it was called but it was huge!

From Russian River Wine Road

Shaun made his own wine that we were allowed to try. Michelle named it Shaun's juices.. haha

From Russian River Wine Road

The boy's in the lab

From Russian River Wine Road

The girls in front of that big barrel

From Russian River Wine Road

This is how we felt by the end of a vary LONG weekend.. It was a lot of fun!

From Russian River Wine Road

MY GIFT!!! Darren is the best gift giver!