Hello Mexico! My first cruise experience~

It's officially spring break, and for the first time ever, I decided to travel! I ended up going on a four-night cruise to Ensenada, Mexico, with my sister and a friend! It was such a fun and exciting experience traveling to a different country and "living" on a boat!

We went with Carnival Imagination. Although Carnival doesn't have the best reputation, I had an amazing time with them! The staff members were all so hard working, and they were super friendly! I was so shocked how sweet and funny they were!

Our first stop was Catalina Island, which, if you didn't know, is still in the United States. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun. The beaches were beautiful and the water was very blue. Unfortunately, we didn't plan well ahead of time, so we ended up just enjoying some good, old ice cream and handmade taffies! It was still a fun and relaxing experience!

Our second stop was Mexico. Ensenada was definitely very different from Catalina. While it definitely looks much more rural, Ensenada was nonetheless a very beautiful place. In the morning, we went to a flea market. The flea market was definitely targeted towards tourists, but it was fun and exciting anyways. I know I can haggle with the shopkeepers, but I'm super horrible at haggling, so I probably bought everything overpriced...oh well. It's the memories that count~

Later in the afternoon, my friends and I went horseback riding by the beach. It was such a fun and unique experience! I loved being able to see the sea and the open sky while riding a horse.

 

On the actual cruise ship, there was so much food! My friends and I definitely ate our full. We had breakfast, lunch, and 3 dinners! Lol~ The food was quite delicious: we had steak 2x, salmon 2x, and Maine lobster once! What a deal! All these meals were included! <3 yayyy!

 

Breakfast!

Teatime!

 

 

 

Dinner! AND of course many more desserts--just could add them all!! 

Have you ever been on a cruise? If so, how was the experience? If not, where would you like to go? <3

Long weekend extravaganza!

This past weekend was a three day weekend for (most) students! I was so happy and excited, especially since school had just started and I didn't have any work to do. So my friend decided to come visit me, and we went to Huntington Gardens and to dinner~

Huntington gardens was such a fun place to visit. Even though we arrived a little late (3pm-ish), we still were able to see a lot. We went to the Japanese, Chinese, and Australian gardens. The first two were very pretty and quite relaxing to look at. However, the Australian garden was very plain...were they still working on it? I'm not quite sure... Lastly, we stopped by the cactus garden. All the cacti were super cute, and the "baby" ones were just all the more adorable~~ hahaha. I guess I have a thing for cacti! 

If you have the chance to go, GO! It's so much fun to enjoy nature and hang out with friends! Also, Huntington has much more than just gardens--there's also many paintings you can check out.

 

  

After the trip to Huntington's, we went to SugarFish. It has the best sushi rolls and sashimi I've ever tasted! Usually I don't quite like sashimi, but this was just amazing! It didn't leave any of that icky aftertaste. The fish was very fresh and soft. It melts in your mouth~~ Unfortunately, the setting was quite dark, and I wasn't able to take any pictures...

I did, however, take pictures of food from another restaurant. It's called Alcove Café & Bakery, located in Los Angeles. The food was also very delicious and very unique. The pricing is actually pretty good for their serving size. The Blackened Salmon Sandwich, which I ordered, was $13.95 and had a huge filet of salmon and half an avocado! Quite delicious :) The last photo was my friend's seafood omelette! She liked it. hehehe.

What did you all do this past weekend? Anything fun or exciting?

Happy new year~ Here are my resolutions!

Hello everyone! I hope you've all had a wonderful start to the new year. It's been pretty good for me! I got to spend lots of time with my family, and that is definitely something I missed while at school. Although the weather can be gloomy and cold in Washington, the weather can't beat being with family and friends. :)

 

On Saturday, we went to visit Mt. Hood! I haven't seen snow in such a long time and really appreciate my dad suggesting we go (he knew we missed it :D)! Unfortunately, I didn't prepare well. I wore high heeled boots, which was a bad idea--everything was too slippery! We couldn't stay long or explore more, because I was too afraid to fall. :*(

Now that the new year has just begun, I think it's time to list my resolutions!

1. Control my attitude/short-temper. I tend to get annoyed pretty easily, especially when it comes to family members. I want to improve my relationship with my family (not that it's bad at all), but I want to grow closer to them and to show them I care!

2. Spend quality time with family and friends. After a busy and sometimes stressful day, all I want to do is have some me-time and watch TV or surf the web! But I think it's important to make time for family and friends. I want to focus more on the people important to me this year~

3. Think quality over quantity when shopping. I tend to have the "Asian" mindset in that I should purchase anything cheap or to purchase a lot of cheap things. However, recently, I've started to value better quality clothing (which tend to be more expensive). This winter break was probably the first time I purchased two tops for $30-40 apiece and the first time I've shopped at Nordstorms. Even though these items tend to be outside my personal budget range, I'm glad my parents were willing to buy these tops for me. I love them~ They look great and I know I will wear them often! Hopefully that makes the purchase worth it :D hahaha

4. Blog more. I definitely have highs and lows when it comes to blogging. I'd hate to admit it, but sometimes I get to lazy to post...I hope to correct that this year and to make this blog better than before! I need to get off my lazy-bum :P hehehe

5. Be more artsy-fartsy. I always say I love arts and crafts, but sadly I have little to show for it...I want to be involved this upcoming year! I want to do more knitting, crocheting, sewing, drawing, and painting! I want to be more hands-on this year, instead of just surfing the web or watching videos all day!

And here's my start--a scarf! Hopefully I can finish before leaving for college again!!

Anyone else have new year's resolution? :)

Spring Break in DC!

I'm (sadly) back from Spring Break! It was an amazing time, during which I was able to relax and explore! While I was not able to catch up much on sleep, I was able to obtain the much needed mental break. I went to DC with my family to visit some family friends and to check out the anesthesiology assistant (AA) program at Case Western (and of course check out the plethora of monuments).

My two days of checking out the AA program consisted of (1) checking out the actual campus, which was very small--only one floor!-- and shadowing an actually AA. Both were a great experience as I was able to talk to current students and to real professions! They were encouraging and super willing to answer any questions that I had. If you guys are interested in the health field and don't want to pursue the medical route, just out AA! It's a very rewarding two year program!

Sorry! I'm making such a strange face. hehe. We're in scrubs!! 

The next day, my family just ended up exploring DC and all the monuments (sadly we didn't have time to visit museums T___T). We partook in the Big Bus tours and went around to different historical sites! It was super fun and interesting to see just how much history there is in America, even though America hasn't been established as a country for as long as other countries have been.

The next three days consisted of running around between DC, Maryland, and Virginia visiting family friends! It was encouraging to meet up with them and to eat together. I definitely had my fill of Chinese food there. Now I think I need to focus a bit more on my diet... XD hahaha 

Below are some of the more artistic photos I took! Hope you enjoy them :) Please click on the images if you'd like to see a larger version!

Question for this post! Where's your favorite place to travel to? Is there anyplace you'd go annually? 

Thanks for always talking to me and commenting! I really appreciate it!