a quick recap of recent events by.cristina mon.mar.19

last wednesday a co-worker of mine convinced me to come along (& drag peter hehe) to some swing dancing lessons with her and her friends. it was in seattle and the class started at 9pm and despite being on a wednesday night, the turn-out was quite high. there was a bar in the dance hall which was what probably contributed to our co-ordination ;-P. it seemed to be more of a social gathering than a dance class as the lesson only lasted 30 minutes and the rest of the night (it went till midnight) was just spent with everyone dancing freely on the floor ...

trying hard to remember the steps :-P

the next day peter, myself and that same co-worker headed to the summit at snoqualmie after work (yes, after work!) to do some night skiing/snowboarding. did i mention peter bought his own snowboard? yup, he enjoyed his first time that much! we decided to take advantage of the end of season sales and so after we got it he was eager to try out his new board asap. turns out it was a really good pick and it was quite hard to get peter off the slopes even at 10pm when the summit was due to close. its incredible how quickly peter's picked up snowboarding ...

and he absolutely loves his new board!

in other news, one of the managers at my workplace approached me a little while ago to ask if i wanted to be an extra in their upcoming photoshoot. it was for a new project for "sprint", our company's main client. i laughed at the suggestion but thought "hey, why not?" and i'm really glad i agreed to it. it happened today, and though it was an early 7am start at a seattle location, i felt really pampered and had lots of fun. they served us breakfast, i got to have my hair and make up done, and best of all, my "costume" was a gorgeous calvin klein suit! they told me i was to portray a business woman so they had their stylist purchase a brand new suit for me to my exact measurements. and guess what? i get to keep it! woohooo! the shoot was set in a conference room and the scene had three other people in business suits in it. i got paid for doing the shoot but you know what? i would have been content with just getting to keep the suit!! :-D

here's another calvin kelin suit i found on the net that looks very similar to the one they bought for me...

the summit at snoqualmie by.peter sat.mar.10

We went to the snows again today with the Aussie guys. This time we went to the Summit at Snoqualmie, just 40 miles east from our place and a mere 40 minute drive. Cristina rented a set of skis but I thought I’d try out snowboarding for the first time. Sam was also making his first attempt at snowboarding. Instead of taking lessons like the other guys did, I thought I’d learn by trial and error. I tried a few runs down a tiny hill. I looked pretty clumsy and silly, falling all over the place. After learning the theory of turning and slowing down, it was time for me to take that theory onto the real slopes...

All geared up and ready to take on the slopes!

The first run down the mountain I spent more time on my ass than on my feet. Cristina, on the other hand, had mastered the green slopes and had no problems at all. On each run, I was determined to learn a new technique whether it was turning sharply or stopping suddenly. By lunch I was able to snowboard down the mountain in a controlled descent but it wasn’t very exciting to look at - although I made Cristina laugh so much she'd have to constantly pause skiing down the hill, in order to contain herself...

Cristina didn't fall once on her skis the whole day! She's getting so good!

Everyone met up for lunch at the cafeteria and we helped ourselves to really unhealthy food that would usually make us feel guilty. However, there’s something about exerting energy in the cold that makes you crave those types of foods. And just as we did at Stevens Pass, we ran into another Microsoftie at the Summit.

After lunch, we continued to ski and snowboard until the sun started to disappear and the rain was starting to fall lightly. The rest of the guys called it a day but Cristina and I decided to try out tubing just across the road. Tubing is a combination of a large snow ramp, an inflated tire tube and gravity. The idea was simple but plenty of fun especially if you turn it into a competition to see who can go furthest or fastest. I personally think they could have improved it by adding ten pins at the bottom of the ramp and turn it into a real competition :P.

Cristina all set for tubing down the steep hill...

After tubing, we decided to head back to the slopes. By this time, the sun was gone and the lights were on so it really exposed the texture of the snow. There were only a dozen people on the slopes so that gave me a lot of room to try more daring maneuvers. I was really excited by the fact I was now able to fully control the snowboard and I no longer had to think while zig-zagging down the slope. I think I could have snowboarded well into the night but rain started to fall harder so it was clearly time to head home.

Enjoying myself silly!

I've decided I much prefer snowboarding to skiing. After the fun I had snowboarding, I doubt I could ever go back to skiing again!

spoilt much? by.cristina mon.mar.5

after work today peter and i headed to redmond town centre to do a bit of shopping. as usual, i popped into my favourite pet store there, "eastside dog", only intending to have a browse of their latest products and not really purchase anything. next thing i know, peter pops into the store and says "hey, babe, do they have those car seat thingies here?" and i, a little surprised, nod. "umm , they're pretty pricey" i tell him ... but he goes ahead and asks the sales assistant the price of their dog car seats. "let's get one babe" he then says to me ...

so yeah, we end up walking out of the pet store with this dog car seat, along with some treats and a large monkey squeaky toy for our little fluffball. didn't i tell you peter spoils her wrotten? :-P

a perfect fit for her 13.2lb (6kg) build

now lana will get to look out our car window easily during our long drives, and it also has a compartment underneath it to store her toys, food, treats, etc. ... and now we're off for a drive to test it out ... see yah!

update: we're back from our drive (+ lana's walk) and the car seat was a big hit! she seemed to get comfortable in it right away and sat up looking out the window for most of the drive. on the way home, she lay down in it with her face resting over the side (she was tired from her walk i guess :-).

photos at marymoor by.cristina sun.mar.4

despite feeling the toll on our bodies from our ski trip yesterday, peter and i dragged ourselves out of bed this morning because there was this little ball of fluff that kept jumping around on our bed, obviously trying to tell us it was time to wake up and play. since we got lana we've never needed to use our alarm clock anymore. so when she saw us get up, she sat very still on the bed and looked up at us ... and we realized just how much her adorable face works to her advantage. it's incredible. i looked out the window and saw the weather was finally co-operating so we decided we'd take the opportunity to take her to marymoor's off-leash dog park again today ... and so mas promised, here are some photos ...

little miss popular
(seconds after our arrival)

"i'm freeeeeeeeeeeee!"

playing chase

"gosh, daddy runs too fast!"

she's quite the social butterfly :-P

ok, let's go home now?

skiing at steven's pass by.peter sat.mar.3

Cristina and I went skiing with some friends at Stevens Pass today. We left at about 8am in the morning, and the 70 mile trip took about an hour and a half. It snowed in Seattle last week so there was a little snow by the roadside for most of the trip there. As we got closer, we could see the steep mountains covered in white with fog hanging near the top. Fortunately, the weather was fine, the snow cover was thick and the place wasn’t crowded. We rented some skis, bought lift passes and met up with the others. Mike and Victoria were originally from New York State and both have been skiing regularly for many years. Sam and Alice have also had some experience skiing and both have even been to the Alps. In contrast, this is only Cristina’s second and my third time skiing. So while everyone went to the blue (intermediate) slopes, Cristina and I headed to the green (beginners).

The green slope at Stevens Pass is longer and steeper than the green slope at Perisher. The last time I went skiing there I learnt how to control my descent by zig-zagging so I didn’t have too much of a problem. Even though Cristina handled Perisher quite well, the steepness of the slope got to her and it took a lot of encouragement to convince her to ski down to each step. After reaching the bottom, Cristina was only too keen to ride the chair lift back to the top – only to regret it once she got there :P. However we still managed several runs before it was time to meet with the others for lunch.

When we picked out a table in the cafeteria, we were surprised to find our PM (Program Manager) was in the table next to ours. Skiing is a popular pastime for many Microsofties since there are several ski fields close to Redmond. In fact, one of the Aussies is going with his team skiing for a morale event next week. After lunch, I went for a run on the blue slope with the others while Cristina, Mike and Victoria relaxed in the cafeteria. When I was on the blue run, I tried my best to stay in control of my speed and direction but on one or two occasions I had neither. Luckily the worst thing that happened was a few slides after trying to stop too suddenly on a steep slope. It was exhilarating and slightly scary at the same time.

After the run, we were debating whether we could take Cristina on the blue slope. Sam was pretty certain there was a blue trail that was easy and Cristina could do it if we took our time. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out so well. When we reached the top and Cristina looked down, she was petrified. The slope was too steep and no amount of encouraging words from me or our friends could convince Cristina to move. I told the others to continue on while I’d help Cristina down. We eventually made it down by using our skis like sleds. Cristina really enjoyed that part :). After getting to the bottom, Cristina was reluctant to go back up – even on the green slope. I finally convinced her that after going on the blue one, the green one will seem like a breeze to her. She finally agreed and this time she didn't regret it. We made several runs and with each one, I could see that Cristina was improving rapidly. By the last run, Cristina was able to get from the top of the slope back down to the chair lifts without having to stop once. I was really proud of her :).

I can tell she really likes skiing now because the whole trip home she kept talking about how we should buy our own ski equipment and make plans to visit Snoqualmie, a snow field just 40 minutes away from us. Our friends are suggesting we try some night skiing next weekend which Cristina was quick to say yes to :P.