有方公寓 at Tainan, Taiwan

We visited a gorgeous B & B at Tainan, Taiwan this past X'mas break. It's an old taiwanese building, converted and furnished with european vintage lighting and furnitures. The blend of easter and western styles works quite successfully. Lots of thoughts have gone into the design and details but the space still remains authentic, laid-back with character. What appeals me the most is how the natural lights and the vintage lightings change the space throughout the day. It enriches the experiences here.

At Dusk:







At Dawn:

Objects:

In the Mist @ Purisima

Before school started, we took kids for a good hiking at Purisima Open space in San Mateo. We didn't expect so much fog and mist, which made the trail quite muddy and wet to walk on. However, the combination of mist and forest definitely renders some mystery to the hiking experience.

Love the picture above with Ryan and buddy walking in the mist...

Honolulu- Here we come!

Hanauma Bay - snorkel paradise

first encounter with Hawaiian Green Turtle, swimming only a foot away from us!

I've visited Honolulu a few times but found it most appealing this time around in a number of aspects from its nice warm weather, laid-back lifestyle, abundance of authentic Japanese food to of course picture-perfect beaches and intimate encounter with marine creatures.

These are what Hawaii has always been known for and I didn't find myself longing for these qualities until this point of my life.....or I was too burnt out from the hectic remodeling construction. This serves as a perfect break.

trying to make Maori warrior move @ Kahui beach, learned from Polynesian center

first attempt with body board @ Waimea beach

@picture perfect Kailua beach


admire the simple but elegant beauty of Arizona Memorial

Door from or to the Chaos?

Since we're only remodeling the bedroom wing this time around, we had contractor build the temporary wall to shield us from all the construction dust, noise and chaos. But is it really a door away from the chaos or leading us to it???

It has been two weeks since the kick-off date. Half of the space has been gutted, partial framing has been done and they're now working on plumbing and electrical. We had numerous meetings with the contractor on all the details such as angle of the skylight, position of the fixtures, dimensions of everything down to inches...I start to wonder whether it's worth the efforts to fight for every details and how to jiggle between maintaining integrity of the original design and compromising on practicality.

This is only the beginning of the construction; all of a sudden, I feel four month is going to be a long way.

A Year and Half.....

What can one do in a year and half? That is probably how long since I last posted here...

So to start with my little boy, he has gone through Kindergarten and now excitedly/anxiously waiting to find out who will be his first grade classmates and if he will get the meanest teacher in fall. Yes, he was communicated along with his K class that if one doesn't behave, he will get XXX teacher in fall. Whether that was an appropriate message to convey to the kids from his Kinder teacher is really another long story.

As to us as a family, we have spent the last year and half planning for remodeling of our facade and bedroom wing. Well, perhaps the more precise description should be combination of planning, procrastination and indecisiveness.... To be fair to ourselves, the permit application did take four months. For the scope of our project, that is fairly long. Additionally, we were required to apply for a separate hillside permit so that the neighbors within xxx yards would have a chance to voice their objection if they do to our 4 feet tall deck, which is on the side of property, not visible from the front street and no way of obstructing anyone's view. On top of everything else, after our lengthy review of six contractors bids and tedious communication with them, our final winner backed out a week before our scheduled construction date. To be honest, we almost called off the entire project numerous times along the way out of frustration, loss of interest and significantly higher-than-expected cost.

Anyhow, today is our official kick-off date for the remodeling construction! After a year and half, I think this deserves to be the very first post. Let me cross my fingers though the construction will not take another year and half. ( We were advised it is estimated to take three-four months.)

Tri-county Land

One of the weekends in October, we visited a beautiful piece of 800 acre land in Livermore, our friends just purchased. It was amazing in less than an hour drive, we felt like we were in the total nature, far away from hustle and bustle of the bay area. The kids had a good time fishing, hiking to exploring the plants and animals. It's so healthy to immerse in the nature from the refreshing smell of the trees,and dirts to magnificent scenes of mountains, valley and lakes. If you are interested in visiting this site, here is the link to the website.

Toad is among one of the animals found on site.
Kids busy fishing.
Learning how to put the lure onto the fishing rod.

A Long While.....

With the change of colors in nature, the autumn is slowly creeping in. I then realized how long it has been since I logged into my blog space. Life has been hectic with many changes since the beginning of the year. The biggest one was that I finally left my job back in July, which I had been at for the last five years. It was sad to say good-bye to old friends but I was more looking forward to a new chapter in life.

Honestly, I thought I'd have more time to devote to my personal interests. But as it turned out, my-to-do list is still long with no items being crossed out except for a few trips....I should at least promise to make more appearance in the blog space from now on!

Photo: shot at Lake county, Sept 2009