Sunday, 25 December 2011

• Food, Christmas Lights and Presents

  Wednesday, December 21, 2011

  After work, I met up with Evely and Ly at Cafe Rolle for dinner. This was supposed to be me and Evely's birthday dinner that never happened. Better late than never right?

  The inside of Cafe Rolle was quite small. Another customer who was sitting alone at a table for four was kindly asked to move so the three of us could sit down. Luckily, it seemed like the customer did not mind too much since he just had dessert left to order.

  

  I ordered the poached salmon sandwich and I loved it! It came with a salad with some type of mustard dressing that took a while for me to get used to. Overall, delicious and incredibly filling. I was the only one out of the three of us who managed to finish whatever we ordered. Fatty status much?

  After dinner, we walked over to HeavenLy's Yogurt. Evely got some froyo while Ly and I just got samples. We walked over to Starbucks afterwards where I finally got to try their caramel brulee latte. I am not a huge fan of coffee and I have a major sweet tooth. This drink was perfect because I could taste the sweetness over the coffee! I have definitely been missing out!

  Evely and I also exchanged our Christmas gifts for each other.

  
  Such pretty wrapping paper!

  
  Evely got me a pair of dressy flats, an infinity scarf and a ruffle scarf. Love, love, LOVE everything! This inifinity scarf basically completes my collection since I have all the basic colors I want now.

  Thursday, December 22, 2011

  I was the driver for this year's annual driving-around-town-to-look-at-Christmas-lights event. This year, it was just me, Jessica and Tung. Sadly, Kim could not join us.

  
  

  We swung by some of our usual favorites. This year, these laser lights were quite popular. We were so mesmerized by how the lights hit everything. Jessica and Tung dubbed this house the kryptonite house. It had an Avatar feel to it, but in green.

  We also decided to venture out to different neighborhoods this year. We found a house to check out on a website called Lights of the Valley. It is a website dedicated to showcasing different houses with Christmas lights from around California.

  
  This house had a huge front yard. The lights were synced to music!

  
  
  This house was right around the corner from the house above. It had a long pathway that was decorated with lights on both sides and it looked incredibly inviting. We were not sure if we were allowed to go in despite there being welcome signs posted, but we decided to park on the side of the road and walk in anyways. Another car decided to follow suit. Once we started walking in, about three cars actually turned into the driveway. Guess we were allowed to go in after all!

  
  One of my absolute favorites. I took Alex, Henry, Kristi and Sophia here when they visited, but it never gets old! The lights are so well synced to the epic music that is played. Check out the excited group of children! I guess the buckets were placed there for viewing pleasure. Never saw that before.

  This is only a portion of the house as you can see. Being the creeper that I am, I wanted to capture the excitement of the children.

  
  Picture stolen from Jessica. A freakin' fiber optic tree we found while aimlessly driving around neighborhoods! So dope!

  Friday, December 23, 2011

  Before heading to work for the day, I met up with Allison, David, Kara and Steve at Phuoc's house so we could go to Happy Garden for dim sum. My family and I used to go to Happy Garden all the time as I was growing up. Having not been there in a while, the little upgrades to the interior of the place was very pleasing to see.

  Dim sum was yummy as always. We went around the table and the five us shared with each other what we have been up to since graduating and what not. After hearing about so many friends landing really good paying jobs after college, it was nice to find out I was not alone in working at a job totally not related to my major while trying to figure out my next move. During sharing time, Allison talked about her trip to Honduras and put into perspective how even though we think it is a low for us that we have not found a job after college, we are still living comfortably. It was definitely an interesting talk.

  At work, my supervisor left me a little Christmas present, which I thought was pretty sweet.

  
  It was a Jamba Juice gift card!

  Work was incredibly busy with many people coming in to withdraw money for very last minute Christmas presents shopping. My supervisor and I was getting stressed because we had so much going on. We somehow managed to get everything done on time though, so that was nice.

  Saturday, December 24, 2011

  I initially thought I would have a quiet weekend for once, but the night before, Evely ended up asking me to go to Vacaville with her. I could not turn down an opportunity to go to Cotton On, so of course I said yes! I took Cathy with me and we picked up Evely along the way.

  Parking was not as difficult as we had expected. No amazing sales, but I did end up leaving the store with a handful of things.

  
  Each item was $5 and only one of my tops were $10. Sadly, there was no $2 dollar rack, but I am quite happy with my purchases.

  
  This watch caught my attention as I was paying for the items above. After walking out of the store, I ended up walking back in to get it. I initially wanted black, but both Cathy and Evely thought the white was nicer. Evely ended up getting the same watch without hesitation. I love the simplicity of it!

  For lunch, we decided to try out Panera Bread. It was our first times there and I thought the atmosphere was quite nice. It was kind of like a fancy cafeteria where you place an order at the counter, they bring the food to you and you clean up after yourself. I think it would be a nice study place since they provide access to free wifi.

  
  Evely was carefully studying the menu.

  
  I went with the "You Pick Two" combo deal and ordered the Napa almond chicken salad sandwich with a cup of steak chili. It also came with the choice of an apple, bread or chips. I went with apple thinking it was apple slices or something, but nope! It was a whole apple.
  
  
  Cathy got the smoked turkey breast sandwich with a cup of Sonoma chicken stew. The stew kind of looked like the insides of a pot pie!

  Overall, not bad. A lot of reviews say the place is kind of expensive, but I thought it was pretty decent since you get a sandwich plus soup that is pretty filling.

  After we ate, I dropped Evely back at home. Once Cathy and I got home, we saw a toy helicopter my dad bought from Fry's.

  

  It was pretty fun to play with! I think my dad actually wanted one for a while and decided to hop on this deal because it was $10 after rebate. It was nice seeing my dad being so happy. 

   

  To be continued.

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