More to grow!!!

2 bell pepper seeds just sprout today :D. There's hope of having bell peppers this summer :D

Spring is here!!

It's that time of the year!!! Husband and I have been waiting for Spring for many months. We have been looking forward to grow vegetables and fruits in our backyard.

Husband and his parents moved into this house last year in March, it was brand new and was finished building in February. The house came with an unfinished backyard. It rained a lot in March 2006, then it was our wedding in May and summer was hot and dry, hence, we didn't have a chance to work on the backyard.

Two weekends ago was the beginning of Daylight Saving Time, I thought it would be a good time to start sowing some seeds indoor. We went to Walmart and got some seeds (it was only $0.10 a pack!!!), some potting soil, and some biodegradable containers to sow the seeds in. We started growing indoors some zucchinis, cucumbers, carrots, string beans, green onions, cherry tomatoes, and bell peppers. Being optimistic you would say? :)

It's been two weeks, 3 zucchinis, 4 cucumbers, 5 green onions, and 3 carrots sprout. We were so happy to see them come to live!!! But also disappointed that cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, and string beans didn't show sign of life. Zucchini was the early adapter, it grew so big that we had to relocated them to a bigger home, which we did it this weekend, we planted them outside. We decided to keep the other sprouts indoor as they seem still very fragile.

On Saturday, we went to Lowe's and Home Depot. We got 1 tomato plant from each store (hybrid cherry tomatoes from Lowe's and "early girl" tomatoes from Home Depot) and some garden soil from Home Depot. We also got a pot of Garlic chives (a.k.a. Chinese chives, 韭菜) from a friend. We transplant all 3 pots in our garden, next to our zucchinis.

Last but not least, there was a citrus plant sale at Costco, so we got a 2-feet tall semi-dwarf blood orange tree for only $17.79. I approached some fellow buyers at Costco and asked them if they succeeded planting citrus. They confirmed that they already have an orange tree and a lemon tree and they grow very fine, so now they are getting a mandarin tree. Our tree will bear fruits, it may just take couple years... Couple years? I don't know where I'll be in couple years!!!

Diet isn't doing good...

A friend came to town for business. We met up with him 3 times and also met up with another friend for hotpot. So it kinda screwed my diet :(. I weighed myself this morning and gained back 2lbs of the 4 I lost... Oh well... will work hard again soon :D

South Beach Diet - Day 3

Today is the 3rd day of my South Beach Diet. I got up and weighed myself and was surprised that I have lost 4lbs in 2 days!!! Every time I try this diet, I'm always amazed by the results! Ok ok... Don't get your gears in a jam... I know I know... I know it's mostly water and toxin, but hey... it's still very encouraging and makes you feel lighter :)

As I mentioned in a previous post, Starbucks' gave free coffee today to celebrate coffee break. On my way to volunteering, I stopped by the Starbucks' and asked for their free coffee. Not only I got friendly service and free coffee, I was also offered a free sample of their banana nut bread. "Sure!", I said. How can I say no to free banana bread :D Oops, then I realized that I'm not suppose to take any sugar on this Phase 1 of my South Beach Diet. Hmm... The cashier handed me a paper bag with the samples and I took a look in it. There were only 2 1-inch cube pieces, I decided that it won't hurt and ate them.

Oh... I have to tell you guys what I saw at Starbucks! You know the sugar & cream stand for self-served addition to your drink? Well, while I was stirring the Splenda into my coffee, the guy next to me was holding a 16-oz empty plastic glass for cold drink (with Starbucks' label) in one hand and with the other hand, he grabbed the jar of half and half cream and filled his glass. Then he grabbed the cocoa powder and sugar and added them to his cream. This guy just made himself a free chocolate milkshake!!! Ok ok, maybe I should call it a chocolate milkstir!! Euh... that's being creative... I must say... Very original, more original that a friend of mine who orders a mug of hot water so that she can add honey to it and save on coffee. No no, don't think I'm like that... I think she's extremely cheap :p~

South Beach Diet

It's that time of the year again and it's the 4th anniversary. Every year, when the weather starts warming up, I start my South Beach diet. It works!! Well, if you guys think you have few pounds to shed, you can consider it :)

Free Coffee!!!

On March 15th, from 10am to noon, Starbucks Coffees is giving free coffee!!!

http://www.starbucks.com/ourcoffees/coffee_break.asp

Napa Weekend

Hey guys!

My sister and best friend both said that I disappeared for few days. They forgot that this past weekend was my weekend to Napa, a trip that was planned since September!

Back in July, we signed up for a timeshare presentation because it says it will give you 2 nights stay at a resort in Napa. We have heard about timeshare before, but we never really knew what the concept was. It was our first time attending a timeshare presentation, we didn't know what to expect. We spend 3 hrs there asking questions and trying to understand the "deal". My conclusion is if they don't let you sleep on it and think about the "deal", there must be a catch! Anyway, we didn't plan on buying anything, we were only there for the freebies. We got our 2-night package and we left happily. We had to book the resort in advance and couldn't choose blackout dates. So, we booked for after the holidays in February, i.e. this past weekend.

We stayed at The Meritage Resort in Napa, CA. It is conveniently located at the city limit of Napa, just off the Highway 29. It was indeed really nice and new!! Every room had a 32-inch plasma TV and DVD player. Unfortunately, both of us don't drink... and we were in wine country!!! On our first day, we drove to a winery for wine tasting. We didn't enjoy it and didn't plan on buying any. We had a passport from the resort for free wine tasting, but still we decided not to go to any other winery since the wine is meaningless to us anyway. We then went to an outlet mall. It was pretty small and it only took us 2 hrs to go through all the shops. It also rained badly the whole time we were there. We didn't know what to do. So we borrowed two movies from the reception (yes, they have a DVD library!) and watched movies in the comfort of our room.

It was a nice and quiet rainy stay. It was relaxing and I would definitely recommend that resort!