Engagement Photos in Santa Monica, CA

Our friend Chris took some engagement photos for us in Santa Monica last week. All photos have been modified/edited by me.

Today, June 11, is also our one year anniversary from the day we met. Best year of my life so far :)
























































I'm also making a wedding website for us, but it won't be ready until we figure out where the heck to have the wedding!

Discovery Bay

Dave went to play golf with some guys from work at Discovery Bay yesterday and took some nice pics. They got rained out on Monday, but luckily Tuesday was gorgeous! I haven't been there yet, but we're going to go when I get back from the US.

We went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 on Saturday. It was OK. At least it was better than the second one. On the way to the movies we saw one of the best mullet combos ever. Had to get a pic! It's hard to tell in this pic, but it's a flat top mullet with a really long back. The crazy shirt he's wearing is just icing on the cake. What makes the pic even better is the dude with the "pullet" ponytail-mullet he's sitting with and the chick in the background picking a wedgie. HILARIOUS!

I also found out that the quote from Wayne's World, "nay ho lan ah" really does mean "You look pretty" in Cantonese. Now I just need to find out if ZANG really means excellent.

We leave Friday morning to fly back to CA! I need to start packing! When I get back on July 6th we'll move into our new apartment.

Lots of Rain

In less than 2 weeks we'll be on our way back to the US! It's rainy season here and it's been pouring outside lately, so we are happy to be getting back to sunny CA!


We looked at a new apartment today! We really like it and are planning on moving in right when I get back from CA. It's very close to where we live now, but these apartments are brand new and very nice. We'll post our own pictures once we move in, of course. You can see some of the photos on their website http://www.theputman.com/

We went to the street markets in Mongkok yesterday after the rain stopped. I think it's the most densely populated place in the world. Here are a few pictures.

What is Wrong with People in Hong Kong?

For a city that requires lots of walking, LOCALS HERE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO WALK. They walk so slow, smack right into you, step on you, stop right in front of you for no reason, etc. It's like a constant traffic jam of people swarming around like blind flies. It's driving me insane. Today, some dumbass was standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk, turned and looked directly at me (I know she saw me coming) and continued to walk right into me like a moron. The worst part is as I tried to dodge her stupid ass, she contined to walk into me and refused to change direction! WTF. I wanted to punch her, but I had just come from boxing at the gym and I was too tired to punch anything else, lucky for her.

Another thing that drives me nuts is people here who just do not understand the concept of forming a line. I was at the grocery store standing in line to check out and this lady just walks right in front of me like I wasn't even there. I got so annoyed I said, "AM I F*CKING INVISIBLE?" She pretended not to hear me and continued standing there. I was like oh hell no and walked right in front of her in the line. That move by her was pretty ridiculous. Who the hell does things like that???

Oh, and what the hell is up with people spitting? It's so disgusting! People are hacking and spitting as they walk down the street and they don't care if they hit someone else with their nasty saliva. SICK!!

This should be a Seinfeld episode. It would be great.

Who's hungry for some...duck necks? GROSS!

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

We got back from our Easter trip to Malaysia on Monday night. We went on a hiking tour up to Mt. Kinabalu and the rainforest there. It was a lot of fun, especially the 2 hour bus ride there sitting in the back flying out of the seats over every bump. :)

The waterfall at the hot springs in Kinabalu National Park.

I discovered that a) golf isn't as stupid and boring as it looks and b) I'm not that bad at it...well, at least not that bad at hitting the ball at the driving range. At first I missed the ball a few times, but I nailed a few balls pretty far after that. I've always been good at miniature golf, but I thought regular golf was for a bunch of old, fat guys with too much money and nothing else to do, so I always assumed I wouldn't like it. Dave was so happy and excited that I didn't hate it and I didn't suck at it.

One of the little islands we went to on the first day.

The beach by our hotel

All the pictures from the trip are in the Kota Kinabalu Album under the Photo Albums menu.

Hong Kong Sevens Rugby Tournament

The Sevens rugby tournament is a pretty big deal in Hong Kong. It's pretty much a huge party and everybody dresses in cosutmes and gets wasted. We had tickets for the whole weekend, but we only went on Saturday. We decided we couldn't handle it again on Sunday after all the partying on Saturday!! It was a lot of fun, though!

The people in the south stand are some hard core partiers. Those guys in pink are in pig costumes for the year of the pig.

This is inside Goldman Sachs executive box. They had it as a castle theme and everyone had crowns and wizard hats. It was awesome. I love fun hats!

Of course the party glasses came out!

Everyone went to Lan Kwai Fong afterwards to continue drinking at the bars. This is the street packed with drunk people. Crazy!

We leave for our Easter trip to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia tomorrow. Pictures when we return!

My 25th Birthday

Dave brought me home some beautiful roses before we went out to dinner for my b-day last Thursday. I can't believe I'm already 25. Horray for lower car insurance and car rentals! :)

We went to dinner at Grissini in the Grand Hyatt. The restaurant has some gorgeous views of the city and the food was really good! This is the lobby at the entrance to the Grand Hyatt.

Here is the view of the city from our table at Grissini. The building that looks like a rainbow is Dave's work.

I was laughing at "mullet" on the menu.

I will also be putting up photos from this weekend at the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament soon.

Horse Races and Upcoming Events

Last Wednesday we went to the Happy Valley horse races with our friend Cindy and her husband and a group of their friends. It was my first time at a horse race. Yes, I'm from Missouri and have never been to a horse race until I moved to Hong Kong. Strange, I know. We had a really fun time and we'll have to do it again soon. I think everyone was drinking more than paying attention to who won the races. I thought we bet on a horse named Salty Eagle, but there wasn't even a horse with that name in the race. Blame the alcohol. I meant to update with this a few days ago, but I forgot! Here are a few pics.

Notice the horses are running the opposite direction on the track from what we are used to seeing in America. Not only do people drive on the wrong side of the street here, horses run in the wrong direction. Contrary to what I've heard, nobody ate the winning horse after the race. Hahahahaha!

We discovered that Hong Kong actually has a legit Mexican restaurant right by our apartment. Thanks to Cindy telling us about Taco Loco, I now feel like there is a little bit of California in HK with us. Most of the restaurants we've been to in Hong Kong have been very good, but I never expected a Mexican place run by Chinese people to be good! I'm impressed.

My 25th birthday is Thursday. I'm not exactly looking forward to being a quarter century old, but I am looking forward to spending it with my wonderful fiance! Dave got us a reservation at Grissini's, an Italian restaurant that came highly recommended from a few people, so I'm looking forward to that very much! This weekend we have tickets for the Hong Kong Sevens Rugby Tournament. We've heard it's a huge party all weekend so we'll see about that! I think it'll be a lot of fun and full of people getting totally owned on the field, which I always love.

We just found out we're going to be going on a trip to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia April 5-9. Dave gets the days off work for Easter. People get so many more days off out here than in America. We got a sweet deal on the trip so of course we couldn't pass it up! This is the website for the place where we'll be staying http://www.shangri-la.com/kotakinabalu/rasaria/en/