Still Under the Weather :P

Finished my 5 days of anti-biotics yesterday, and was feeling better. Woke up today worse again. Wheezing, and hacking, and thick yucky mucus.

This yuck from hell has a will of it's own. I think it might be sentient.

Anyways, other than coughing up things unmentionable and sleeping, I have been overdosing on Overwatch. Like...hardcore.

I'm lvl 60 already :P

I'm shocked, honestly, that I enjoy a first person shooter so much. I suppose since it is on the computer it makes a huge difference to me (I hate control pads soooooo much). Not to mention, it is Blizzard. They make pretty things.

I'm a sucker for pretty.

I still need to figure out how to get my plethora of pictures from our trip off of Kitsune's laptop so that I have access to them again. My 365 challenge is suffering! I have the pictures, just need to post them.

Things are still quite busy with catch up mode, trying to get all the maintenance things done. Kitsune's brother will be bringing his lady down soon and staying with us as well. (Lyla puppy is not going to be happy :/) Looks like things will continue to be crazy for awhile.

I just wish I would finally feel better.

Finally Home with the Blasted Cough of DOOM

The travels are finally finished. The clothes have been washed (if not put away :P) and suitcases mostly emptied. The Kitsune was off to work this morning, and I was in a crazed cleaning frenzy.

The puppy comes home tonight!

But...the puppy comes home tonight, so I have to make sure I pick up all the crap on our floors, and vacuum so she doesn't get into anything she shouldn't.

Accompanying it all...the sounds of my hacking.

GAH! This bloody cough just will not go away. It's not even productive anymore. Just slightly chesty, and enough to make me not be able to breath deeply.

To breath is to cough.

I don't often get coughs. Colds, and sinus junk sure, that is a given. Coughs however don't really happen much, nor linger.

This bloody thing seems to have a life of it's own. Honk Kong smoke and smog refusing to let me be. Whatever it is, I am soooooo over it. Drinking hot water like it's going out of style, and applying Tiger Balm liberally. My throat and chest don't even hurt that much with the hacking. It's my sinuses!

My head feels like it will exploded with each cough. That sucks so hard core.

Happy to be home, happy to have my puppy with me soon, but sooooo not happy to have this miserable chest thing.

Feb 18 & 19th 365 Challenge

Feb 18th - Little Bear and I sitting outside anther coffee place in San Fran (The Coffee Bean this time) reading and listening to the city.

Feb 19th - Pretty display in Central that Kitsune and I came across on our final day in Hong Kong.

Wanderings of a Bear in San Francisco Bay

Little Bear chilling while we wait for the BART at the airport. My first time riding public transit other than MARTA in the States.

It was terrifying.

The States public transit is so very inferior to Asia's. I did not enjoy the rocking, the noise, the shaking, all of it. I'm sure it is quite safe, and I am just a wuss, but still. I think I would just allot the time needed to walk anywhere I need to go, if possible.

The view from our hotel room. Really cool! I love the lights they added to the bridge.

While Kitsune attended the con, I explored the city. Each day I picked a direction, and paying attention to street signs, I walked. There are SO MANY coffee places in San Francisco! It's kinda of ridiculous. The Starbucks are like 7-11's in Asia. They are everywhere. Almost in sight of one another in some cases. Ridiculous.

While finding my way back to the hotel from the convention (I rode the shuttle with Kistune, but was not allowed inside at all. So, I ended up walking back) I stopped to eat at a pizza place. Their Mocha was really tasty. Little Bear and I chilled and read while I ate.

The Caprese sandwich was alright, really messy. I kind of wished I had just ordered a slice of pizza.

I stopped and sat outside Peets Coffee on Howard and 1st Street for awhile after lunch, then eventually made my way back to the Hotel. Was rather proud of myself for being able to navigate back without any GPS.

The next day, I picked a different direction to wander, and started to climb uphill into the city. Apparently I look like a local, I was asked for directions several times :P I could only laugh and say I have no idea where I am, let alone where you need to go. Ironically, I ended up in China Town. Made me miss Hong Kong, such a pale comparison.

I continued on horizontally from there, and then went down back toward the coast.

Pier 14 was windy but the day was warm from the sun. Little Bear and I chilled and read while sitting on one of the swivel seats along the edge. Spent about an hour just relaxing. Surprisingly it was rather quiet out on the Pier.

Kitsune and I went to dinner at Tadich Grill, and tried their Cioppino dish and clam chowder. Kitsune chose this place as I wasn't very hungry (I don't like shellfish). I shared the chowder with him so as not to be rude (we were sitting at the bar) and didn't want to take up a seat and not eat. My main complaint about clam chowder is how gritty it is. Every time I eat it I'm always crunching sand and I find it repulsive. Unfortunately, their chowder was extra gritty. Even Kitsune agreed that he wished it was less. Ugh. The Cioppino was tasty (according to Kitsune) I just dipped some bread into the sauce and ate that. The sauce was good, I can say that much.

Tonight we get to meet up with Kitsune's Aunt Diana for dinner. It will be lovely to spend some time with her again.

New Fuzzy Friends!!

Little Bear made an adorable friend at the Hong Kong airport. I couldn't bear (wink, wink) to separate them, so we welcomed Little Panda to the family!

How could I say no to such an adorable pair?? (I totally squeed so hard when I saw this tiny panda. So cute!)

Little Bear made even more friends on the Singapore Air flight back to San Francisco. The steward's and stewardess's were so thankful for the chocolates we gifted them for their hard work on such a long flight, that they put together a small goodies bag for us. Inside where two small Singapore Air bears! A boy and a girl. Little Bear and Little Panda hung out with them at the Karaoke place. :D

Feb10 - Feb17th, 365 Challenge

Little Bear on the Ferry!

Feb10 -  Even with knowing Little Bear wasn't close to the edge, not having a hand on him made me super anxious! Can't risk loosing Little Bear!

Lychee and Ginger Drink on New Years Eve. Little Bear approved.

Feb 11 - Kitsune ordered this, and he really liked it. You pour the Pellegrino over all the crushed ice and carefully stir the syrup/fruit mix from the bottom into it. Cat ordered the same thing!

Little Bear found a Froggy friend in Taiwan Daan Park station! 

Feb 12 - Daan Park MRT Station had are really neat Spring Time instillation, where they had several of these frogs laying about and neat mosaic 'pools'. I took several pictures, will have to make a quick post about them sometime!

Much more adorable than it's Live Action counter part!

Feb 13 - There was a huge Game Convention next to Taipei 101 that we were able to get tickets to go see. Super packed, we waded through bodies to see all the latest game and virtual tech. Playing with Oculus Rift was really neat. Their was a roller coaster simulation and I had to grip the table in front of me so I wouldn't be 'one of those people'. You know...the ones who freak out and fall over. :P It is really neat.

Little Bear coming out to play!

 Feb 14 - Little Bear likes to poke out of his Bear Cave (my purse) and chill on my lap when I'm sitting down.

Cool lanterns in Hong Kong

 Feb 15 - Wandering around walking toward Wan Chai after Lunch at Shikon.

Honolulu Cafe has the Best Dan ta ever!

 Feb 16 - Found a restaurant near our place in Wan Chai that is a lot like the Australian Dairy Company food wise, but they have a bakery attached that has super good Dan ta.

Little Bear waves hello! So happy to be in Hong Kong!

Feb 17 - Little Bear chilling with his Kitsune while we wait for our Dan ta.

What A Crazy Busy Life

I fail at blogging.

Well, not really. I've just been ridiculously busy this last week. Our stay in Hong Kong has come to an end, and the last few days we were there, we spent out with family. I also caught a miserable chest cold, which made me not care about taking Little Bear pictures. (He's kinda miffed at me for it -.-')

Thankfully the flight from Hong Kong to San Fran was uneventful, and actually felt kinda quick. I swelled like a bloated seal unfortunately. I wear compression knee socks to try and combat the swelling that always happens on International flights, but it just wasn't taking this time. So annoying. We left Hong Kong at 11:45pm on a Friday. Arrived in San Fran at 7pm on Friday. Then we had a 12 hour layover.

So freaking tired.

The fabulously wonderful Debbie came and picked us up at the airport to try and help us stay awake. She took us to In and Out (my first time ever!) and it was actually really good! Not what I expected. Then it was off to Karaoke until 2am. So, with my chest cold I was loosing my voice, it made for some interesting singing haha. They kicked us out since 2am was when they closed, and we headed to a super sketchy Crepe Food Truck that was open super late. The place was really sketchy, but OMG those crepes were FRIGGING amazeballs. So good! I was surprised, I'm not really a crepe person, but these were epic noms.

Back at SFO we had to wait for security to open up so we could go through. We were entertained (not really) by a freaky dude that blasted 70's music from his phone and talked very loudly to himself and threw things.

Could not wait for the stinking gate to open.

Our flight time finally arrived, and it was so very very nice to finally be heading home. We didn't realize that a Saturday flight was one of the worst things ever.

SO MANY CHILDREN!!!!

We were toward the back of a plane full of people going on vacation with their little kids. Kids who had never been on planes before. They constantly had to use the bathroom, so it stunk so bad. They were noisy, screaming, crying...coughing and sneezing balls of epic germs.

Needless to say I wore my mask the whole flight.

We are also used to week day flights, were it tends to be business minded people who know how to grab their stuff and get of the plan quickly.

IT TOOK FOREVER TO GET OFF THIS FLIGHT

I could rant forever about moronic people, but I won't. We were home, and our bed is so amazing.

We had 2 glorious days to try and rest before leaving again for Kitsune's work conference. So now in San Francisco Bay, I have been wandering about as I was not allowed to even step foot into the conference area.

Super blustery day at the Bay! Walking back to the hotel from the conference.

American Airlines has the most atrocious on time rate ever. Only 60% of their planes are ever on time. That's awful! Kitsune wanted me to join him at the conference, so he had to pay out of pocket for my ticket. We went the cheap route and booked AA with a connecting flight through Charlotte.

Yeah....that so didn't happen.

We get to the airport and receive notice that the flight has been delayed. Kinda sucked, but it wasn't too bad. Then got another notice saying it was delayed even further. We were now missing our connection. So we went to the gate and talked to the girls behind the counter. And wouldn't you know it, we got the trainee who had no clue how to re-route our tickets. It took forever. Eventually they got it sorted, now flying to Phoenix, and connecting there to San Fran. Only hitch was that Kitsune was able to got a confirmed seat, while I was placed on stand-by.

UGH

We weren't able to sit next to each other on the flight to Phoenix, and both of us got stuck in the middle seat between strangers. It wasn't too bad for me, I was between 2 lady's who just wanted to read or sleep. Worked for me. I wasn't able to relax however, it's strange sitting between to unknown people. Not like I can sleep on planes anyways.

The San Fran flight was...surprise! Delayed as well, but I was able to get a seat at the last moment. And even better, the seat beside my husband was empty so I moved from the middle seat I was placed in and sat next to him. We arrived in San Fran a little after 11pm. So, after 2am Eastern Time.

Best cure for jet lag? If you can't sleep on planes...then more travel is the thing to do.

Sigh.

Crazy things happening while we are over here!

With a 6.4 earthquake hitting Southern Taiwan, and now rioting in Mongkok...it's been a crazy Chinese New Year!

pictures from the tv our family posted to let us know what was happening

It's sad to hear that the riot happened on the first day of Chinese New Year. Doesn't seem like a fortuitous occurrence. Our Hong Kong family made sure to message everyone warning about the riot as it was happening and to not go anywhere near Mongkok.

We are staying Island Side, so thankfully not anywhere near. Getting home after dinner at MaMa's was a bit of a challenge last night, with the Cathay Parade happening in Tsim Sha Tsui. We had to fight against a mass of people, with some of them telling us it wasn't worth it and just let the sea carry us away. They were moving in the wrong direction, so we persevered and were able to dodge out of the flow and find a way around behind the spectators still watching the ongoing parade.

Caught the ferry back to Wan Chai before the massive crowd, and went to bed.

Lab Made Return of Romance Feb 9, 365 Challenge

After dinner on New Year's Eve, the family followed Jun Jun to where he works - Lab Made Hong Kong. They have 4 different flavors that continually change, and this year Kitsune chose their option A. Return of Romance by Chow Sang Sang (Raspberry Rose and Lychee with white chocolate crunch)

It's so pretty!

Late Ferry Ride Back to Wan Chai Feb 8th, 365 Challenge

Hong Kong Island is always so interesting to look at from the Ferry at night :D The Ferris wheel is where the ferry to Central docks.

Chinese New Year for MaMa at her senior center :3

On Saturday a bunch of the family went out into New Territories to visit with MaMa at her senior center New Years celebration. As she is getting on in years (I think she is 89 this year), she has been showing her age more and more.

I made that hat! Super excited when I saw the picture on Whatsap from the family :D

MaMa has trouble remembering lots of things now, and needs constant care. The senior center has been helping the family with engaging MaMa to make crafts, and sing songs, and generally give Ah Di and Tom a rest.

Uncle Eddy met up with us at Admiralty MTR so we could take a bus together out to the center. We chose our timing a bit poorly, as it was in the middle of rush hour, so took us almost 2 hours to arrive.

The center took a photo once everyone gathered, then it was time to sit down and listen to music, eat buffet, and watch the slide show of pictures.

Tom and Eddy checking out Kitsune's paperwork from our earlier appointment for his HKID

The helpers passed out tambourines to play along with the traditional new year songs. Little Bear got totally into it.

Photo cards were put together from the picture taken earlier, and given to MaMa. The card was lovely, and the pop up 2016 inside was neat.

Happy Chinese New Year!

A Bear and a Little Bear! Feb 7, 365 Challenge

Happy almost Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai (Mandarin)/ Kung Hei Fat Choi(Cantonese)!

New Years Eve! Well, the Lunar version of it...

Today is the Chinese New Years Eve. Lots of stores have closed for the new year, some for over a week, others just for 3 days or so. Very typical, as most people want to spend time with their families during this time.

Cat and Hay were free this afternoon so we joined them to go to a New Years Flower Market. One of many that pop up around the city during this time. Sunday is the last day that they are open, typically opening a week before the new year. Flowers are extremely popular at this time. The market we went to was in Mongkok, and was (thankfully) not too busy.

Let me clarify - 'not too busy' means we could actually walk and possibly make it to a stall to see what is being sold. 'Busy' is when you don't even have to walk - just carried along in a sea of people and aren't able to move an inch. Busy is what we experienced one year going late to Victoria Park Flower Market on the last day. Lets just say, that is one experience I never have the urge to have again.

After taking a small rest at a cafe (Urban) in Moko shopping mall, we all grabbed a bus to head over to Mama's for the traditional family dinner. Basically a large pot luck meal of all sorts of things with lots of noise and cheer. As always, the company was fabulous and the food tasty. Tomorrow we will also be getting together for dinner - the first official day of the new year. That is the day that you give out the Hongbao(Mandarin)/Lai see(Cantonese). Family tends to drop in throughout the day to visit, then have a family dinner again that evening. The Cathay parade and harbour fireworks will be on the 2nd day.

I made sure to pack all the gifts I made for the family, and then lugged them around with me since I was not going back to our room before dinner. I'm really glad that everyone seemed to be very happy with them! I finally made hats that fit my Asian family well! :D

Tung Tung met Little Bear again, and they got along very well. She was very gentle with him, and he really appreciated it. They shnurred a bunch and Tung Tung liked to lean her forehead against Little Bears head and just rest.