Taking it slow

It had been some time since I last take it slow, stay at home and do some baking. Maybe one of the reason is because, whenever I bake, we can never finish it since there are only two of us at home. Since I plan to stay home and just relax, and I saw the banana in my kitchen that is going to be bad soon. So I thought maybe I can whip up some muffin for breakfast tomorrow. So here you go, after 30 minutes, we have hot muffin off the oven and just in time for afternoon tea as well.



We have moved in for 3 weeks now and haven't gone over to our neighbors to say and introduce ourselves yet. While having dinner yesterday, our neighbors on the right of our house came knocking on our door with some fresh nectarines, how sweet of her. We even forgot our manners and didn't ask her to come in. Well, the house is not really ready for visitor yet so hopefully she will pardon our manners for the meantime. Maybe next time I can bake for them :), to get to know the neighbors more.

I think I will try to do more baking whenever I have the time. So, who wanna come visit me?

喜讯

今天因为有开会所以一早到了公司。
也因为这样所以在线上遇到了二哥。
他一句的说 “I’m going to be another baby father” 。
惊讶的我， 但是也觉得好开心。
家里又要有个新成员了。
我又要成为姑姑了。
明年的三月，家里有会有哭啼声了。
小小的哥哥将要有竞争了。
不知道会是男孩还是女孩宝宝。
真开心。
喜讯拥有能让人心情愉快的魔力。
我好希望从家里传来的消息永远都是喜讯。
希望宝宝健康的在妈妈的肚子成长。

Can you do without it?

For the past week I have been on spending spree which makes me kinda worry. To add to all that, when you are spending with a plastic card it is easy to lose track on how much you are charging. I'm really concerns how big will my credit balance be at the end of month. Small things can add up to be a huge bill as well especially we are talking about so many small things for a home. With all those spending, we have not even look into the list of expensive items that we have to buy yet. It's not as easy to be a homeowner after all.

There is an article today on CNN title "They cut out their credit cards". In today's world I guess almost everyone carry one if not multiple plastic cards, since it is just such a convenient as oppose to the alternative of carrying cash. Can we do without it? I for one cannot do without it. However, I try to stay within my mean so that I will be able to pay off the amount at the end of each month to not carry any credit debt. A little discipline is all we need.

Plants overloaded

I'm not an expert on plants at all although I have a backyard full of different trees and flowers. Today while watering the plants, I found myself a little surprise hiding in the midst of everything. I have an apple tree in my backyard and it's already bearing fruits although not many of them. Not sure whether they will taste yummy when it's ripe. I just have to wait for it.


There is also a fig tree which is also bearing fruits already. Not sure how to tell whether it is ripe or not. Maybe I should try to make fig jam out of it when it is time. Hopefully there are still some leftover after those squirrels have their share.

Albeit being in the sunshine state where orange tree is so common in every house, I do not have one in my house. Here is a picture of my neighbor's oranges and some of them actually grows toward my backyard :), oranges anyone?

Maybe not everyone know this, I have a soft spot for nature photography. I love to capture everything related to nature, especially flowers. To one point, I'm always thought of as wasting my memory for unnecessary photos. Here are some of them that are blooming right now.






It is time to pick up some knowledge about gardening and also plant species so I can identify what do I already have in my garden. I would love to have some lilies too. They are just so pretty. Any gardening advice is welcome :), I really need them.

Half Moon Bay, California

After looking over photos I took over the past couple months, I came across these that I took in Half Moon Bay. I don't think I have ever mentioned this place in my blog yet so I would like to tell you all about this place I love.


A view of the beach


Another view of the beach

Half Moon Bay is a coastal city that I frequent when I miss the beach. It has a long stretch of beaches overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It's about 45 minutes to an hour away from South Bay and around 20 minutes south of San Francisco. Since there are so many beaches around, most of them are not so crowded which is really nice if you want to spend some quiet and relaxing time on the beach. There is also a path overlooking the beach that you can do some biking, running, roller blading or just walking your dog. Along the path, there are chairs if you want to stay a little longer and enjoy the sunset.


What do you think? Isn't this captivating?
For those of you romantic out there who wants to impress your other half, you can also opt for the horseback riding on the beach they offer. I have never done it myself so can't tell you whether it is really that romantic.

I have just recently discover that there is also a Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Half Moon Bay after visiting this city countless time. Here are some photos I took when I first drop by the hotel. Recently also attended a friend's wedding dinner there too.


This reminds me of my childhood with my siblings

I would love to live by the golf course too, enjoy a round of green after a long stressful day

Found this sea anemone among the rock bed by the beach

It is so well camouflage, if I didn't look carefully I would probably miss it, my lucky star

Weird photos of us, goofing around
If you are in the area, do drop by the city because it will be worth your time. For more information, you can check out this website:
Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau

Unpacking, how long does it take?

Since we did not finish cleaning up the whole house before we moved in, we decided to have everything unloaded into the garage when we moved except for those big furnitures.
4 days had elapsed and we have only unpack less than 5 boxes. I have been avoiding the garage so I don't have to look at the mountain of boxes.

Unpacking is always taking me a long time and at this rate, I think it will probably takes me months to finish unpacking :) This reminded me why I hate moving to new place. The horror of unpacking. Yuck.

Chance for a spring cleaning

Tomorrow we will be moving in to our new house, I'm so excited. After being here for over 8 years, no matter how hard I try to refrain myself from buying unnecessary things, I still have quite a bit of stuffs that I accumulate over the years. This is actually a good chance for me to do a spring cleaning of all our mess especially those couple boxes I brought with my from Iowa that is still yet to unpack since they arrived here so many many years ago. Tee hee hee...

No panic attack, however I told myself to start packing couple days earlier and I end up procrastinating until couple hours ago. I got couple boxes packed already. Time to get my butt moving and yet I'm still glue to the computer right now. I know I'm terrible.

I think I'm quite an efficient person when it comes to packing although I might not be the organize one, you know in the sense of grouping things properly. Just as long as no one touch those boxes after it is all pack up, I can find anything I want despite the poor labeling. Maybe I learned this talent from my mom. When we were young, my siblings and I always like to ask mom where things are because we know that is the most efficient way to find things.

Time to get moving, so I don't have end up staying past midnight to pack. Wish me luck.