We took a little walk in the Prospect Park this Sunday – The biggest park in Brooklyn. We live right by the park, but due to the freezing weather, we never took a walk there yet. It was still cold, though, it was sunny and nice and I can see the nature wanting Spring just as bad as I do.

Driveway in between the park (Botanical Garden on the left, Zoo on the right)

Library and Museum Area Gate:

In the park:

This tree was in bloom:

Green area:

From little bridge:

Hobbit tree:

There was this yellow tree right in the middle of all brown trees, it was stunning:

Duck couple swimming around the pond:

Bird couple #2

One of many ponds in the park:

Artsy tree:

Brooklyn Fire men and a Fire truck:

Maia enjoys her first Prospect Park:

Randy and Maia:

Posted under NYC

It is still a little cold in NYC, it’s getting warmer and warmer for sure and I know Spring is coming right soon, but not just 100% yet… but Macy’s in Herald Square has already been in full bloom!

I especially LOVE their window display, it is incredible. I am always inspired by creative window displays, fashion, and pretty flowers, and so this all-combined-into-each-amazing-art-installation was really inspiring for me.

Most of them are real flowers in the window – dress was made of fake flowers (I think)

There are flowers and plants everywhere in the store, too, and everything was real. Smelled so good, too.

Flower Sculpture of the Day:

Posted under Inspiration, NYC

There is no Japan town in NYC, but there is a Little Tokyo (it’s not called Little Tokyo, but I think it is!) here around St. Mark’s Place / East Village area. NYC often times reminds me of Tokyo (big city has somewhat similar vibe, I guess), but when I’m around Little Tokyo, I feel like I am actually in Japan.

On Tuesday night, Randy and I met up in East Village after work and went to one of my favorite Japanese restaurants in NY – authentic Japanese soba-noodle place, Soba-ya. Everything is done in proper way and it is so good! It’s like eating it in Japan. After we ate, we stopped by Randy’s friend’s bar for a little bit. As we are getting used to the new big city, we are loving it, too!

Soba-ya
229 E 9th St Ste 3
New York, NY 10003-7536

Posted under Japanese, NYC

One more post from the Boston trip…

We also went to see the Plymoth Rock – where Pilgrims first arrived with the Mayflower. The area was so pretty and we had a late lunch there and it was all very nice.

The rock (click to see larger image)

William Bradford statue:

There is a replica of the Mayflower here, too:

“mooflower” (at Plimoth Plantation lobby)

Us:

Posted under Inspiration, trip

The second part of the museum was a recreation of the English Village in 1627 — you can also meet the Pilgrims (costumed role players!) and we talked to a few, learned new things, and it was all cool experiences.

They talked to each other in role-play, too.

You can walk into any houses and there they are, (playing to be) living:

Randy asks him what he does for living and he says “surviving”

The guy on the right talked to us for 15-20 minutes… and later, we found him on the front page of the Boston newspaper!

Met lots of animals, too, which is always fun.

View from the “meeting place” (church) — it was beautiful with the ocean right there! (click to see larger image)

Posted under Inspiration, trip

I wanted to do something different in Boston this time and Randy took me to Plimoth Plantation on Saturday — it was an opening day from a long winter break, too.

The museum is a recreation of how the native Wampanoag people and the Colonial English community lived together in the 1600s after they came to the land with the Mayflower. I never really knew a lot about the history behind the country so it was very interesting to learn, see, and talk to people! It was a very unique interesting museum experience I’ve ever had.

There are 2 parts in this museum and here are some pictures from “Wampanoag Homesite”

Posted under Inspiration, trip

Here are some pictures from the road from NYC to Boston. It was so beautiful throughout the weekend!

There are so many white trees – never seen that in California.

Sleepy Maia

Posted under trip

Randy had a day-off on Good Friday the March 21st, so we planned to go to Boston for the long weekend since it’s easter and my sister-in-low’s birthday as well. We had a few options, but the train and the airplane was just way too expensive and so we decided to take Chinatown bus. It is 15 dollars each way!

From Manhattan bridge – the view of the city is always breathtaking. (click to see larger images)

and here we are, at the bus station. We got tickets online through Fung Wah Bus.

We got there 30 min before and there was an earlier bus and so we were just gonna take the bus and then, just when we were trying to get on the bus, the lady found Maia in the bag and said

“No animals. Go refund your tickets.”

We tried, but the lady didn’t let us get on and sure enough, it says “No animals.” by the ticket booth…. we couldn’t believe it!!! and we had to think of an alternative quick – to rent a car. Randy didn’t want to drive, but it was the only way left… Randy’s iPhone really comes in handy in this kind of situation, and we finally got a car 3 hours later.

To be continued…

Posted under NYC

I forgot how much no time I have when working full-time.

Anyway. It’s been a month since Maia came and now that she is fully vaccinated, she can play with other dogs and she LOVES to play! She doesn’t like to be alone at all and it’s been such a challenging thing for both Maia and us… we were always coming home to a disaster every time we left her alone and this week, we both have a full-time job and I just couldn’t leave her alone for 8-10 hours so she is now going to a dog day care. She had a great time today and she is exhausted! I feel like a total mom now; wake up, take Maia outside, feed her breakfast, get ready, go to the daycare to drop her off, go to work, work away all day and then come pick her up, feed her dinner… How does all the mom in the world do this everyday?!

Sleepy Maia – she is lazy sometimes.

Just got out of her first bath at home:

At the vet’s office. She made a friend with Ziggy. She gain 1.7 pounds in 3 weeks.

Her day care center. It was raining so much today.

Posted under Maia

The interview yesterday went well and I started my freelance gig at this interactive agency in SOHO. It’s been almost 3 months since I left my old work and I’ve been working from home since so it was so fresh to go to work and work from office with lots of people (about 30 people)! I’m working on some entertainment website this week and see if they have more projects for me later.

But, the first day is always a little overwhelming…

Oh, they use CS3 so I got to use it for the first time – it was so cool! I can’t wait to get one on my machine.

Posted under design