Midyear Report

Can you believe it boys and girls 2009 is halfway thru already. In a few days, we start the second half of the year.  Every year we go “where did the year go”.  Every. single.year.

Anyway, I thought I’d do a midyear review post so I went back and revisited my posts from January.  And lo and behold, I found that majority of my posts were memes. I went meme crazy this first half.  I have meme on Monday (My World), Tuesday (Watery Wednesday, it’s Wednesday in some parts of the world), Wednesday (Sepia Scenes), and Thursday (This Way Thursday).  Not that I am complaining.  Playing meme is both fun and time consuming.  If you want to play meme, you don’t just post the image and link to your site. You must visit other players’ post too.  That’s the commitment you take when you play meme.  I love visiting other blogs.  I enjoyed their photos. I learn more about how to compose photographs from fellow players.  But as I said, it takes commitment and plenty of time.  Time that I had in the first half of the year. I hope to have more of the same time available the second half of the year to devote to the memes.

I traveled outside of the state twice in the first half.  In February (15 to 19), because of freaking good deal, husband and I went to Vegas with our friends.  During the stay we took them to a day trip to Grand Canyon, their first time and our first time to see it with snow on the ground.  We also visited Valley of Fire state park, which was truly an amazing experience.  The weather was cool and it rained in all but our last day in Vegas.

In April (25-29), we went to NY to attend my husband’s college bff’s wedding.  Needless to say I was stoked to see NY for the first time.  There was limited time to devote to sightseeing on our own, but I thought we made the most of the time we had by visiting the city hall, had sighted Brooklyn Bridge from a distance, hit the pavement in Manhattan, joined the crowd in Chinatown and Little Italy, posed for photos in Belvedere Castle and Oak Bridge in Central Park, felt so at home in Queens especially in the Jackson Heights neighborhood.  There was a block or two in Jackson Heights that I felt like I was transported to Pasay City, seriously. 

The wedding was fun, and colorful.  Colorful in attires I mean.  Saris, their finest, were on display. Despite wearing something of fancier fabric, my shalwar kameez (pantsuit) was no sari. And I was asked if I owned a sari. I think it was a cultural boo-boo not to wear sari on special occasion.  I just reasoned out that I wasn’t confident enough to ride the subway and walk a few blocks in a sari.

I also found the reason behind my fatigue this first half.  A trio of Epstein Barr, low iron level, and hypothyroidism is the culprit.  At least I found out.

Our house search is over.  Upon our return from NY, our real estate agent told us our bid was accepted.  One month later we were signing docs.  Another day after that we were given the keys.  And we are still doing some minor renovations.  Minor?  We have a wall demolished.  Nope we didn’t do it ourselves, although if time was not a concern, husband would love to do it himself. 

We also have painted the living room.  And in a few days our list of to-do include: painting (kitchen, family room, baths, hallway, bedrooms), tiling (kitchen and entryway), putting laminated floor (hallway, family room).

And in two weeks, we hope to be able to move in to our first house. 

That’s what has happened in my life this first half of the year.  The End.

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Sepia Scenes #13/TWTW #6

This week I am hitting two memes with one post.  This is California Street in San Francisco. 

“California Street is one of the longest and most important streets in San Francisco, running in a more-or-less straight 5.2-mile (8.4 km) East-West line from the Financial District to Lincoln Park in the far Northwest corner of the City. It begins at the intersection of Market Street and Spear Street in front of the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Center, one block from the Ferry Building, then travels past Nob Hill, Lower Pacific Heights, Laurel Hights, and the Lake District. It makes a slight bend in at the intersection of Cornwall Street and 7th Avenue, then parallels the edge of the Presidio through the Richmond District until its terminus at 32nd Avenue, several blocks from the Golden Gate. It has four to six lanes for its entire length, and a cable car line on the Eastern portion from Market to Van Ness Street.” (Info from Wikipedia)

You can see in the middle of the photo are Chinese pagodas on both sides.  This is Grant Street, the main artery of Chinatown.  If you’ve been here you know that cable cars stop in the middle at the intersection of California and Grant to allow passengers/tourists to snap photos of the bustling Chinatown.

And this last one is just me playing with my photo.  The last one is a manipulated version of the second image. 

SEPIA SCENES is hosted by Teach Mary and TWTW is hosted by Ebie.

Correction:  TWTW is hosted by Pacey of  Today’s Blah.  Thanks Ebie for pointing that out to me.

 

watery wednesday #18

Summer is here and so is fun outdoors, camping, swimming, fishing, etc.

This is one of my most fave shots.  Man teaches boy the basics of fishing.  When my brother saw this image, he commented that it also looks as if the boy is the one giving instructions to the man about fishing.  What do you think?

Taken summer of 2007 @ Kings River in Eastern California, an hour’s drive from Sequioa-Kings Canyon NP.

Get wet with more water images here.

 

my world #32: my bazaar experience

In January 2008, I traveled for the first time outside of the United States to a destination that is not my country of origin. I went to Bangladesh.  While the reason for travel was funeral, there was a time for shopping a day or so before leaving.

The people were warm and friendly and treated me like I was a long lost relative.  Hence when it was time to go I urged my husband to find time to shop for these people.  I found out that sari (or saree) is an acceptable gift.  So to Mouchouk Market we went.  Mouchouk is a Bangladeshi term for beehive.  And you know that this market is appropriately named. 

My sister-in-law came with us with her husband.  We needed two men to carry our purchases (LOL).  For someone who has not enjoyed the art or sport of shopping in an AC mall, my spirit was jumping for joy for all the sensory stimus assaulting me all at once.  Shouts in tongue I don’t understand but I knew were meant to get my attention to stop and look at their fabrics, hot and humid weather, smells I have not experienced before.

My SIL told me to be quiet and not show any facial expressions in a positive nature.  She wants me to stop saying, “Oh that’s very nice.”  She said everytime I speak in English (I can’t speak their native tongue) the price goes up.  And I should not show delight, always try to show dislike.  She said that’s the way to get the price lower, even lower to the price we wanted to pay. 

I let her do the talking and I just nod and nod.  We did manage to buy presents for people I met there on my short stay and for people waiting for me back home in California.

That is my world for today. I thought it’s a good time to reminisce.  Visit MY WORLD for stories and photos of different worlds.

 

twtw #5:

Valley of Fire State Park is an amazing park within an hour’s drive from the Las Vegas strip.  It feels like a world away.

It boasts of red rocks and beautiful sceneries.  Driving around or hiking, this park is such a treat to the senses.

Rock formations like these are aplenty and are one of the main attractions.

Also attracting hikers are petroglyphs left by old inhabitants, Indian natives.

The drive back is as pretty as the ride coming in.  If you want to see the rest of the photos, please click here. Of course I took more photos than that 🙂

TWTW is a weekly meme about roads, signs, signage, etc.  Come and join us.  The more players the merrier it will be.

 

Sepia Scenes #12

In a few days, spring will say goodbye and so for this week’s sepia scenes I decided to share a couple of spring blooms I took this past few weeks.

I hoped spring was very good to all of you and here’s hoping summer is even better.

SEPIA SCENES comes weekly.  Join us.

 

watery wednesday #17

This week I am showing you a photo of the fountain at historical Stadthuys Square (also known as the Dutch Square or the Red Square) in historical Malacca (Melaka) in Malaysia.   The fountain was built in 1901 by the British to commemorate Diamond Jubilee (of what I don’t know).  The fountain is named Queen Victoria’s Fountain.

In the background stands Christ Church in Malaca.  I had featured the church in my photo blog last year. Here’s the link.

Get cyber wet here.  Watery Wednesday is hosted by Sweet and Saxy.

 

twtw #4

I love  the play of words in this sign.  I also happen to love fleece.  How about you?

If you have signs, signage, streets, etc and would like to participate, visit here.

 

Sepia Scenes #11

One of the pictures of the boys (my nephews) that I love taken when they were younger.  Orinally taken close to ten years now, it found it’s medium in sepia toning and I couldn’t be happier.

Sepia Scenes come to us weekly courtesy of teach Mary.  Go and visit more sepia scenes.

 

watery wednesday #16:

Wouldn’t it be nice to holler out to your spouse as you are leaving the house, “Honey, I’ll just paddle around the neighborhood.”?

It’s time to get wet again.  Visit more water images here.