Memory #4

China--January 2004

Amy and I had the opportunity to go to China to visit my college roommate, Bekka, and her family.  I kept a travel journal while we were visiting, so I will share one of the first entries I wrote on the trip:

January 14, 2004 

4:26 am

In a plane somewhere between Tokyo and Beijing

We are about an hour away from Beijing.  We had quite the adventure in Tokyo though when Amy lost her plane ticket.  We were already an hour late because our flight to Tokyo was delayed.  We had to take a bus from one terminal to another, and Amy (the self-proclaimed responsible one) left her ticket on the bus.  So I, the ever calm one, took control of the situation, while Amy panicked.  We tried to run back out to the bus, but there was a guard at the door who spoke no English and wouldn't let us back out.  After countless frantic questions, like "what are we going to do?" from Amy, all of which I responded to with a simple "shut-up!", we found the connection counter.  While Amy ran around in a frenzy checking the departure board, seeing how long lines were, and occasionally running back to me to make sure I knew we were going to miss our flight, I took care of business.  I didn't wait in the line at the counter, because I knew we'd never make it.  So, I went to a lady behind the counter and told her the situation.  She was very distressed over the situation and at that point, I thought we might be spending the night in Tokyo.  They couldn't issue us another ticket because our tickets were American Airlines, and we were flying Japan Airlines.  They called the bus, but found no ticket.  Then they told us we had the option of paying for a lost ticket.  We decided to go for that option even though it was $100.  So, right as we are about to pay, they got a call that they found the ticket.  So, they issued both of us our boarding passes and escorted us to the front of the security line.  We then had to take a train and when we got off the train, there was a page over the loudspeaker that said report to gate 88 now.  Of course it's the gate farthest away, and we sprinted with all our bags.  It was quite an exciting experience.

I am laughing out loud right now remembering how panicked Amy was.  She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. 

But, we did make it to China after all that. Here are some highlights from the trip:

The Great Wall

 

The Hospital

Our trip was not free from hiccups after our first little plane incident.  After buying train tickets to travel from Beijing to Shanghai and onto other sights around China, Amy got a bad migraine....a really bad migraine.  We had to take her to the hospital twice and cancel our train tour of China while she was fed medicine through an IV.

Shopping

We did, however, get to enjoy endless shopping....especially since it was way too cold to spend any significant amount of time outside.

Hong Kong

And we did end up getting to take a train trip after all.  A 30 hour train ride with triple high bunk beds and dirty sheets and toilets that were holes in the floor of the train so you could pee right onto the train tracks.

Hong Kong was the most amazing city I have ever been to.  I fell in love with it.  And it was so amazing to be in warmer weather.  The climate there is very similar to southern California.  It is a BEAUTIFUL city right on the water.

There are thousands of little islands all around Hong Kong, so we took a boat to one of them and spent the day there.

We spent our nights shopping.  Shops there don't open until the afternoon, and they stay open until late into the night.

We had to buy these bags to put everything we bought in.  Everything was so cheap, it was hard to resist.

China was quite an adventure (and I am itching to go back and see all the sights we didn't get to see....and do some more shopping)
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Today's wish list item:

                                                                                           Source: urbanoutfitters.com

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Memory #3

Moving to Laguna Niguel--August, 2009

After living in a very hot, hot (like unbearably hot) apartment in Whittier for the first 3 years of our marriage, we decided to take a risk and move into my parents house in Laguna Niguel.  No, we did not move in with my parents.  They were not living in the house at the time.  They had been renting it out for 17 years, and the renters had just moved out.  We had been looking to move for about a year, but Laguna Niguel was not even on our radar.  It was too far from my job and way too expensive.  We had already put offers on several houses in Orange and Tustin, but nothing was working out.  So, when this opportunity presented itself, we decided to jump on it and figure out the details later.  We were hopeful that we would get to buy the house, but moved in without knowing what would happen.  Here is a little glimpse of the apartment we left behind.

Our apartment was nice, but we were so ready to get out of Whittier.  It is nothing against Whittier.  Whittier is actually a really nice place to live if you live in the right part.  We just happened to live in the part that had helicopters and spotlights flying over nightly.  We lived off a really busy street, where there were all kinds of crazy incidents.  Kristina's parked car was hit out front one time, and my mirror and Nick's mirror were both knocked off our cars by someone's baseball bat.  But, rent was cheap...go figure.  Still, we were ready to move.

Moving Day:

To celebrate, we had a little bbq for the people who helped us move and helped us do a whole lot of cleaning.

And in the end, everything worked out miraculously.  My parents had to short sell the house to us, and we were shocked when the bank accepted our offer.  It was far lower than any of the homes were selling for in our neighborhood.  That was obstacle #1.  Obstacle #2 was the loan.  No one really wanted to loan to us because we were buying the house from my parents. We spent months going back and forth with tons of different people until we were able to work something out. And the fact that everything did work out despite the obstacles was definitely God's doing.  We know we are right where we are supposed to be for now, living in the house that I lived in until I was in 4th grade.

And we absolutely love living so close to the beach!

(I could do without the commute to Whittier though)

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And onto my wish list:

Source: urbanoutfitters.com

I love this skirt.

You would think that since I modeled the skirt for this picture, they would have let me keep it, but they didn't. 

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Memory #2

Honeymoon--July 2006

Nick and I had the luxury of taking a 3 week honeymoon.  The first week was spent driving up the coast of California so that we could go to Nick's cousin's wedding the next weekend.  From there, we flew to Puerto Rico and took a boat to a tiny island off the coast called Vieques, where we spent the next week.  And lastly, we flew from there to St. Lucia, where we stayed at the world famous Anse Chastanet.   A long honeymoon means a lot of pictures were taken.  So, I will apologize in advance for this long post.

Week One:

California Coast

 

We started the day after our wedding with Nick's car not starting.  We were supposed to be taking his car on our little road trip, but had to abandon that idea and take mine instead.  In my car, it is really easy to speed, so of course, we got pulled over.  We told the police officer that we were on our honeymoon, and he was very kind.  He had just gotten back from his honeymoon 3 weeks earlier, so he just gave us a fix it ticket for not having a license plate on the front of the car.

Week Two:

Vieques, Puerto Rico

 

Vieques was beautiful.  There is only one resort on the island, so it is very secluded.  We drove to a bunch of different beaches and had a lot of them all to ourselves.  There was one beach, however, that actually had a lot of people, including a nude couple who were vacationing with their adult children....sick.  I will spare you the picture we took of them.

Week Three:

St. Lucia

It was here that I fell in love with mountain biking, and it was here that I was eaten alive by mosquitoes.  I actually slept with my pajama pants tucked into my socks to try to keep the mosquitoes from biting my legs, and I became addicted to Benadryl.  Which also meant that I napped a lot.

 Wedded Bliss
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And now onto what I want....

A piano

Source: Somewhat Simple

Source: My Scandinavian Retreat

Source: Green Wedding Shoes

Please read the comments on my last post.  They are pretty funny.

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Memory #1 (in no particular order)

First Backpacking Trip--August 2006

About a month after we got married, Nick decided it was time to take me on my first backpacking trip.  We had gotten tons of supplies as wedding gifts, thanks to REI and their wedding registry, which Nick insisted on doing.  Pretty much all the guests at our wedding from Nick's side got us camping/backpacking stuff.  They know him so well.

So, we took our new supplies, including our hubba hubba tent (yes, that's really what it's called) and headed off to the beautiful King's Canyon.  And, I'd say I did pretty good for my first time.

These pictures were all taken on film with an old Nikon. 

Things I remember from the trip:

1) Starting the hike at 5,000 feet and climbing until we were at 10,000 feet...it was a rough introduction to backpacking

2) Craving a bean and cheese burrito THE ENTIRE TIME

3) Crossing the river in my underwear because I did not want to hike with wet pants

4)Discovering chairs when we got to the lake we were camping at...that was a luxury

5) Nick running over a cat on the way down the mountain

6) Driving through El Pollo Loco for the bean and cheese burrito because it was the only place open....not the burrito I had in mind, but it worked

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And, the first item that I would not mind receiving for my birthday is......

Source: anthropologie

Size 6 :)

(They are even on sale)

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Amy did the final birthday party theme on Caramel Cup, so go see it.  It is sooooo good.

And leave a comment voting for which one you think we should go with for the party.

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