Thursday, November 26, 2015

A Grateful Heart

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have been celebrating Thanksgiving for the past week. First with Yung's family, and then with my family in Louisiana. It has been a great time catching up with everyone, eating lots of delicious food, and playing with plenty of babies. My mom and I went to the ballet to watch Coppelia over the weekend. It has been over 10 years since I have danced on stage, and I have decided that it is much more fun to be back stage waiting in the wings than sitting in the audience. Nonetheless, it was a great production, and we truly enjoyed being there. 

This year, I made a new stuffed mushroom recipe (although I didn't follow the recipe at all), and I think I am going to keep up the tradition of making a new recipe every year. My mom also dug out a 20+ year old chiffon cake recipe that we served up with whipped cream and blackberries. So yummy!



















Grateful for each and every one of you. I'm going to continue celebrating by eating another piece of cake.

Cheers and love,
Connie

California: Part 1

Our 2015 California trip will always hold a special place in my heart. We traveled there for the intent of attending a friend's wedding, and we also got engaged. The week we spent on the West Coast was fun, but tiring, in that we drove in plenty of traffic and endured some long drives on windy roads to get to our destination.

We flew into San Francisco, and began our journey north to the Mendocino Coast.

Our first day was spent hiking Mount Tamalpais, eating delicious seafood at Parkside Cafe, and visiting Stinson Beach. We were fortunate to have amazing weather nearly every day we were there.










Day two was spent biking around Napa Valley. Since neither one of us are big wine drinkers, we opted out of touring a winery, but saw plenty of vineyards on our bike trail. We rented bikes at Napa Valley Bike Tours in Yountville, and they provided us a map to guide us along our ride. We rode over 20 miles that day, and my butt was happy we had no more plans to get back on a bicycle for the rest of the trip. Although the scenery was beautiful, the majority of the trails were along busy roads around Yountville, so it kind of took away from the peacefulness of the experience.






My favorite thing we did that day was people watch in front of Bouchon Bakery. It was a nice way to unwind from our bike ride. We purchased some bread and a chocolate croissant from the fancy bakery and plopped our bottoms down on a bench for an hour and watched people go by. We noticed a lot of "man buns" in California. Do you know what I'm talking about? It's when a man pulls back his hair into a "bun;" however, it is not a look everyone can pull off. We saw many unacceptable man buns that day.

That evening, we drove to Fort Bragg (a very windy and dark drive) and checked into our bed and breakfast. I highly recommend the Country Inn to anyone that is staying in the Mendocino area. It is a beautiful property, clean and cozy, and served the most amazing and decadent breakfasts I have ever eaten or seen.

We were off to a good start to our trip!

Where we stayed:
Regency Inn, SFO Airport
Hawthorne Suites, Napa Valley, CA
The Country Inn, Fort Bragg, CA

Where we ate:
Parkside Cafe
Gott's Roadside
Pacific Blues Cafe
Bouchon Bakery
North Coast Brewing Company Taproom

Photos by Yung.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

THE Engagement Story

On October 24, 2015, Yung and I got engaged. It happened on a cool fall evening near Mendocino, California, where we were visiting for a friend's wedding. On that particular afternoon, we were planning on taking a short hike at the Jug Handle State Reserve. We walked around while Yung took photos and tried to find a good spot to set up the tripod and get a picture of us. Little did I know, he was looking for the perfect place to propose.


After exploring the area, we found a clearing that looked good for a photo. Up went the tripod and we started taking multiple test shots. After we got our picture, Yung came back to me and said he was done taking photos. He had secretly pressed "record" on the camera, and our entire proposal was captured on film. 

Back in August, Yung gave me a late 2nd anniversary present--a mason jar filled with love notes for me to open daily for 32 days. 


Each note was numbered, and on that very afternoon, he presented me with a note that I had not seen before.

After I read the paper, I still wasn't sure what exactly was going on, if this was actually happening to me, if anything was actually happening at that moment, or if it was all a dream. All I thought was, "hm, what a nice note. Is he going to propose? Is this really going to happen today?!?!? Why is he asking me what I want for dinner?" (He really did, right in the middle of everything).

But seconds later, everything became clear as Yung got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was a moment I have memorized and will never forget; a moment I have been dreaming of, and waiting my whole life to experience.

Through all of life's ups and downs, I know our love and commitment to one another will be everlasting and I find great comfort in that. We have been given an incredible story, and we intend to live our lives together to the fullest.







It has been a couple weeks since the proposal, and I am starting to feel the significance and gravity of the fact that we are engaged!!!!!! Yes, I lived in shock for a while! More than anything, I am so excited to be married! All of the hypothetical scenarios--becoming husband and wife, starting a family, and spending the rest of my life with an amazing man are now becoming a reality. 

I forgot to share this earlier, but it was too cute not to post. Here is one of the birthday notes I drew for Yung. I really do like his face....always have, always will. 
Thank you for reading!

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Taiwan: Our Last Day!

On our last day in Taiwan, we had a terrific Thai lunch with our cousin, rode bikes in the city, and relaxed with our family with a home cooked meal. By then, Aaron and I had become pretty well accustomed to the neighborhood and were able to confidently walk from our aunt and uncle's house to the the subway station. 









Breakfast on our last day

All in all, Aaron had an amazing trip to Taiwan. We have already booked our next trip to Washington D.C. to visit more family. Can't wait until February! 

I have listed all of the Taiwan posts below:

Thank you so much for reading along! 
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