羡慕。嫉妒。爱！

Free delicious dinner at work

Another benefit of working long hours during the busy bid season is that the company orders dinner for us.  I just finished eating a whole medium-sized Borgata pizza.  Not to mention I'm a pizza fan, how would you resist the delicious toppings with sun dried tomato, freshly grilled eggplant, creamy goat cheese, healthy spinach & olive, etc.?  It tasted so good!  But still cannot believe I ate the whole pizza by myself within less than 15 minutes ^_-

Summer Getaway!

There had been too much stress from work and exam recently.  So, I just started looking at air tickets and much more to plan for a summer getaway trip!  Where to go?  Who else are going? When?  For how long?  Xiao will be going with me for sure.  And we have agreed to target one of our dream places and already decided where to go.  After the busiest time at work, the best time would be late June or early July.  It won't be a long vacation cuz Xiao doesn't have too much PTO left for this year. Hmmmn, going for 5 to 9 days sounds reasonable I would say.  One of the dream places...  Wish my dream may come true soon :)

只是一个传说

要说在明州根本没有春天是有些夸张，靠谱点儿的说法应该是“几乎根本没有”。　天气预报说今天晚上开始雨加雪，一直到明天。 希望明天上午路况良好，不要耽误我们去J君组织的那个18人的TEA HOUSE早茶就好。　本来还想着明天穿裙子来着，没想到天气这么“好”，就甭惦记着从CLOSET深处挖裙子出来了。　

今天礼拜五，忙里偷闲和几个中国同事：彤格格、LILY、JUN还有“肥胖孙”我们五个人在KABUKI吃的LUNCH，席间大家还饶有兴致地调侃了另一位刚从国内度假归来、人现在还在CHICAGO他老婆那里发高烧的同事外号叫“奔放鱼”的趣事，内容嘛，少儿不宜（我深知来看我BLOG的人们都童心未泯），就不在这里展开带坏大家了吧，赫赫。

工作是一如既往的忙，昨儿晚上七点多了，我在我公司，XIAO在他公司，我们俩各忙各的，谁都顾不上给对方打个电话。　后来N久之后，XIAO来公司接我，两人一见面，同时有眩晕的感觉 - 饿得，就一拍即合去公司对面的RUBY TUESDAY吃饭，才发现原来他们家的DINNER是那么那么的美味，我点了龙虾PASTA，XIAO吃的是STEAK，都很好吃呀，怎么我以前不太喜欢这家呢？（希望不是饿晕后的错觉。）

昨天妈妈发给我的EMAIL里说到她和瑛瑛阿姨她们去几里外的菜园挖野菜来着，然后回家和爸爸一起包了野菜和肉馅儿的饺子，馋得我一边读妈妈写的EMAIL一边咽口水：P　这更坚定了我以后回家一定要选一个非冬天季节的决心。

根本没时间跑步，偶尔和XIAO一起下BASEMENT去打打乒乓球就算锻炼身体了，可气的是他总想拿我练习扣球，坏人一个！

随手TYPE了上面这么多，回头一看，好象是三句不离吃。　
SIGH，看来减肥对于我来说，真的只是一个传说 :(

步入水深火热

如火如荼的bid season又开始了，一直到六月的第一个礼拜一，中间是甭想有歇的时候了。  按照惯例，在最忙的这两个多月里，对我们工作long hours的一个奖赏是每天上班可以象每个礼拜五一样穿休闲衣。  一会儿去closet里把牛仔裤们都挂在前排好拿的地儿，赫赫。

为了杜绝象去年bid season一样由于长时间坐在电脑前努力工作而囤积肥肉出来的坏现象，我要争取每天运动40分钟，或者下午忙里偷闲去公司gym里跑个步，或者晚上回家九十点钟到basement里运动一下，我就不信肥肉为刀俎、我为鱼肉。

让水更深、火更热吧，我不惧 >_<

痛并快乐着

奶奶时不时在我的梦里来了又去……可等到真的跪在奶奶坟前的那一刻，我却无语。

很想很想在爸爸妈妈面前告诉他们 - 我人生到现在最最后悔的事情是什么，可是不能说， 而只能半夜里在隔壁偷偷地哭。

在国内的日子里，我有好几次想放声大哭的时候，但都一直强忍着。 
不能因为自己一时的释放就让亲人们陪着我流眼泪，我要他们看见我的时候全程都高高兴兴开开心心的。

在父母亲人面前，我必须坚强，至少看起来很刚强。
因为我是他们全部的指望和依靠，虽然至今我还很无颜以对，但我一定努力要让他们更幸福更快乐。

（我知道把心里的一些愧疚和伤感写出来，它们还是在那里，是丝毫不会减少的，但还是写在这里至少倾诉一下，同时也好给我以后的回忆作一个交代。）

上回国片片

回来几天一直在倒时差，晚上8点倒头就睡着，然后凌晨5点多就自然醒。  倒了几天的时差还没倒利索呢，哎，可苦了老人家我啊……     刚整理好一些照片，和captions一并放在这个album里了，（照片上印着的黄色日期几乎都是错的，因为老爸的相机在时间setup上出了问题）。

China Trip 2011.02

I bet you won't blame me that I put on 6 lbs from my China trip after you see the pictures :)

Don't blink

My last three weeks went too fast,  way faster than expected :(((

It's good to be back.  Hmmmn...  Really?  Not so sure.  Actually we're not home yet.  Still connecting in Seattle now......Feel exhausted...

I miss my parents so much and wish they could come along with us this time.  Hope I'm able to see them again soon like within a year...

-------------------------------------
After waiting at the gate for more than 3 hours, we just saw the monitor showing all flights to MSP were canceled today due to the snow blizzard in MN now.  We had to come to a nearby hotel to rest for a bit.  Guess I should change the title to "Got stuck in Seattle".

夜已深

现在是凌晨三点多钟，我的眼睛已经困得眯成了一条缝  -_-

行李终于彻底收拾完毕，还有几个小时就要飞了，其实我的心早就已经不在明尼了……

最近几天工作有点小忙，有两个projects得wrap up. 
结果到最最后才有时间认真地把四个箱子都装好、称重。
很不喜欢last-minute式的人，不幸的是我自己就是这个队伍中的正式成员，是想赖都赖不掉滴  >_< ||

彤格格被分去公司总部隔壁的Data Park工作了，挺舍不得中午吃饭的时候看不见她的，下午的apple time也少了很多卦资，从此我上班的时间里少了很多乐趣…… 

那天中午和Cathy还有Rain一起开去几迈外的Data Park参加他们那里一小撮儿中国同事欢迎彤格格的午饭，认识了几个新人，还挺有意思的。  在Data Park工作的人们每天都要dress up的，彤格格也变得格外的白领丽人，那里的工作环境也很是优秀，早知如此，我也应该报名去Data Park做白领的，5555555～  T_T

哎，貌似是跑题了……
狒狒你听好了：  你一定要好好enjoy接下来的这三个星期，不许想假期结束回来紧接着第二天就要去上班会有多痛苦；  不许因为怕再长十磅肉就不敞开胃好好吃好吃的 (反正一个礼拜前刚献了500cc血，也还没来得及补补呢）；  和亲人见面&分别的时候、以及和他们在一起的每一分钟都不许流眼泪、只能全程都高高兴兴的，只许带欢笑给每一个人； ……  你要举一反十地在飞机上再继续好好想想你该怎么样作一个好孩子，嗯。

回国倒计时

两个星期后的今天，Xiao和我应该已经连夜从北京机场直接赶往石家庄，然后从石家庄接上我爸我妈一起第二天一早飞往长沙，此时此刻的我们应该已经在长沙Xiao的大哥家与亲人们团聚了第一天了。  那将是双方父母第一次见面（在我们都已经结婚长达10年半之后），哈哈 (yes, i know, but that's true.)

通过接二连三地去Outlet、MOA、Costco、BestBuy扫货后，给国内好几十口子亲友们的礼物终于备得差不多大概齐了。 今天MLK放假，在家把这些礼品粗略地装进三个大箱子里分别称了称重，一共130多磅，目前还没有超重， 第四个箱子供我们带自己的衣物什么的。  所以最开始Xiao立下的一共带2到3个箱子回国的计划是彻底没戏了。

昨儿和Ning去逛了MOA，我是堂而皇之地打着给国内亲友买礼物的幌子去的，从下午一点逛到mall 晚上七点关门 （下回去逛别挑礼拜天去逛了，mall一周七天就这天早打烊两个小时），我比较克制地才买了两百几十刀的东西 （其中给自己买的衣服一百六十多刀，sigh，我确实真不是什么好孩子）。

最有成就感的是给姥姥买了一件枣红色的棉袄，穿上又保暖又舒服，还给她买了一条100%羊毛围巾，还有很漂亮的紫红的head band。  给自己买的东东： VS的睡裤原价38现价10块，买了两条； BR的毛衣原价七八十现价二十多，买了三件；  NineWest的短皮靴，原价100现价45，买了一双； AF的薄hoodie，原价50现价18，买了两件。  好像就这些了，不容不跳的deal我才跳的。  现在通货膨胀得厉害，要怪就怪钱真的是太不禁花了。 （行了行了，别得了便宜还在这儿卖乖了；）

BTW，今年MOA的seaon-end sale根本没看见什么大白菜。 我一直想on-sale的时候买一件AF的winter coat，结果打完五折后还一百块，拜托AF你减价就减得有点诚意好不好，经济不好也不用这么抠门儿吧？  象一年前在BR花50块钱买的原价是200多的大衣那样的好deal是一去不复返喽。  所以，还是回国去赶国内的seaon-end sale买大衣外套什么的吧。

现在，就一个字，非常非常期待马上就回国！

1/11/11

今天是2011年的1月11号，好多个“1”啊，农历是腊八，为什么腊八的时候要喝腊八粥呢？　Rain小朋友今天无不好奇地问：“什么是腊八？"......"为什么这天要喝粥？”　是啊，这是为什么呢？　Cathy说因为这是一年当中最冷的时候，俗话说“腊七腊八冻掉下巴”，腊八粥里有各种米啊豆啊甜品啊，喝上一碗稠稠的腊八粥就是为了粘住下巴，防止被冻掉。　　哈哈哈哈，听着真有趣，Rain听了都笑弯了。

还有两个半星期就可以回国了，就可以见到阔别三年又两个月的父母亲人了，非常期盼。  其它的都可以暂时放到一边，谁也别来影响我归心似箭的心情!!

终于去滑雪了！

今天在Rui的带领下去滑雪了！ 多亏了他带我们去，不然我和Xiao根本找不到哪里去租ski的器具和哪里去买学滑雪的联票，甚至我和Xiao最开始根本不知道怎么把笨重的滑雪鞋穿上。


滑雪学起来比我想象得难，我的主要问题是很难及时停止和控制速度。 好多次我都不得已要故意在雪地里坐一实实在在的大屁股蹲儿来让自己马上停下 >_< 还好摔在雪上一丁点儿都不疼。

我摔倒的壮观场面实在是惨不忍睹，也没被善良的人们抓拍下来，就先上几张我们在enjoy滑雪的片片吧。。。

Xiao非常得意他学滑雪学得比我进步快。

我们的滑雪启蒙老师Rui :

假装练习wedge stop:

Snow Storm

We just witnessed and survived the 5th biggest snowstorm in Minnesota. The metro area got above 17 inches of snow yesterday.

In some places the sky actually is falling. The Metrodome roof collapsed due to the heavy snow around 5am this morning. Poor Vikings had to fly to Detroit to "host" the NFL game against NY Giants.



It's bitterly cold outside today and the wind chill reached up to -40 degrees. I'm not brave enough to go skiing due to the dangerous coldness......hopefully next weekend.

Took some pictures around our house today.

SnowStorm Dec-2010

Thanksgiving Party

We invited some friends (most are Xiao's Chinese colleagues) to have a party at our house for Thanksgiving. If my memory serves me correctly, it's the first time for us to roast a turkey ourselves. The 12-pound bird turned out to be well cooked, at least looked golden brown, & plus it's very edible :P Yay!

There were about 15 people who came to the party. The party ran from 1 pm to 2 am ish. Cannot believe it lasted about 13 hours until I thought about it. We had two meals plus a couple snack & dessert times in between. I appreciate that people brought in their signature dishes to share. All were so delicious. We also played a few games together and had lots of fun! Hope we can do this more often :)

some party pictures:

Thxgiving party '10

Puerto Rico vacation

Occasionally, you couldn't help wishing the time would freeze there for you (maybe just for a little few more moments). Apparently it will never cooperate on that.

I had to wave paradise and be back here to start another long chilly winter......
Well, speaking of paradise, here may be one for skiing...... hmmmmn, maybe not. But at least a very good place to learn skiing. Hope we can do it this winter.

Here are some Puerto Rico pictures. (Too lazy to add captions. Maybe later.)

Puerto Rico 2010 Nov.

Cannot wait......

Xiao found an online recipe and made steamed walleye for dinner. It tasted surprisingly delicious :P

My recent life has been a little stressful with endless projects at work and an upcoming exam. >_< (I even have trouble falling asleep at night, kinda painful...) Sometimes buying new clothes is a good way for decompression (especially hearing some compliments from others when you wear it the first time ;)

Time flies? Let it fly faster!

Beautiful Fall Color

We just realized how close the U of M arboretum was from our house. It's just around the corner in a 10-minute walking distance. The fall color is too beautiful to miss. So we gotta go there to walk into the picture-like scene before it's too late.

Only spent less than an hour there due to Xiao's busy schedule. Hope we'll have a chance to come back again to enjoy it before winter...

A trip & a dream...

It was good to be away from work for a seminar in another city for a week. Rain and I tried a couple of Korean restaurants and a few others there. The Korean grill was pretty yummy. A bad news wat that I put on 3 pounds during such a short time period. It's just too easy for my body to gain weight, not mentioning I went to the hotel's fitness center to run on a treadmill for 30+ minutes at a speed of 6 mph every night when I was there. Obviously, for me, sweating like a pig on a treadmill wouldn't offset the big cals from delicious dinners. So bad >_<

The other night I had a dream and grandma was in it again. She and I were making dumplings together. We were sitting side by side and chatting. Every minute of being with her felt so cozy and happy. Suddenly, she stood up, approached to the window and asked me to finish wrapping the last few dumplings. I thought grandma must be tired and hungry, so I just lowered my head to focus on getting the work done quick. After I got it finished and raised my head, I only saw the clear windows. Grandma had disappeared. I woke up and felt so sad T_T...... Wish I could be with her.

Sail Boating

J君组织我们七个人去玩儿帆船，九十好几度的大热天，蒸桑拿一样，也没什么风，每个人都汗流如雨得酣畅淋漓，没想到夏天的尾巴也可以炙手可热成这样，大家那天玩儿得也都不亦乐乎+不惜晒糊，呵呵。

健哥扬帆的‘美丽倩影’实在是让我嫉妒得心痒痒，嚷嚷着请大摄影师J君如法炮制给我也喀嚓一张出来，结果就出了我东施效颦的几张…… 还是贴上来J君给健哥拍的那张帅照先吧：

偶的‘东施’照：

最后只能假装望洋兴叹地自暴自弃了：

Business Trip & Camping

一两个月前，连续两次去东部出差，才发现盼望已久的business trip并不是那么好玩儿的。

第一次去出差的时候，在那里住的第一夜，Hotel里凌晨两点龙卷风警报狂响，一晚上没睡好，其实只不过是雷雨交加而已；第二天是地震warning，我们却丝毫没觉察到一点儿震感。

然后第二次又去同样的地方出差两三天，这回天气还是okay的，可是飞机出了故障，飞机上了跑道发现一个brake是坏的，又返回gate让我们下了飞机在机场里等。 后来又折腾着换飞机，到半夜才飞到了目的地，到hotel去check-in的时候已经凌晨一两点了。 不过，回想一下如果飞机在起飞之前没有及时发现故障就直接飞了的话，后果…… 想想还是有些后怕的。
有了这两次出差的经历，真希望以后不要再出差了，还是踏踏实实在本公司好好干活儿最好。

一两个礼拜前，J君组织大家北上到Mille Lacs state park去露营来着，很好很放松心情。

十年前的今天。。。

十年，真的好像弹指一挥间。。。



more pix...

Anniversary

先scan上来片片，稍后再发表感言。。。

**************************************************************

谢谢你，十年如一日地爱我。
谢谢你今天一大早趁我还没醒的时候去偷偷买来一大束玫瑰、礼物和卡片。 很久都没这样被感动得流眼泪了。 喜欢你Happy Anniversay卡片上的那段话：

"
You've been my strength, my comfort, and my joy.

With you, I've learned to listen, to trust, and to forgive.

A lot has been changed since our first kiss, but one thing remains true.

Each time I hold you close, my heart still tells me you're the one, the one I'll love forever... and I know my heart is right.
"

这么多年，你我相伴一起走过来，一路上有鸟语花香、欢声笑语、也有难免的磕磕绊绊…… 很多时候我象个被你宠坏的小孩，你象一个baby-sitter一样无微不至地照顾着我的生活点滴。 你管我很多，而我呢，是比较任性又不太会体贴人的那种不怎么女人的人，因此我们之间会有一些矛盾跳出来。 我知道自己有很多缺点，比如懒惰、moody等等。 谢谢你一直都愿意包容我。 我想我会努力地改掉自己的毛病，希望你愿意继续帮助我，态度缓和、语气温柔地 ;)

希望接下来的十年，以及以后的几个十年，一路上都有更多更美的风景在等着我们一起牵手走过。 会一直爱你，直到山穷水尽。