The Great Arizona Beer Festival

Wow, didnt realise I have been away from the blogging world for so long. Gosh, time really flies. When you are busy, u get old faster... -___-

OK, well, let's see. About ONE month ago, John and I went to The Great Arizona Beer Festival @ Tempe Beach Park, right down the street from our condo. It was the very first time I have ever been to a beer festival - in broad daylight. Not that i meant i have been to a beer festival at night before, but it just amazes me that American people are so into beers that they can drink anytime, anywhere, anyhow.


The drinking gang.

We reached there as soon as the festival started. It was crazy because the line was already building up fast. I originally bought the DD (Designated Driver) ticket - which means I was not supposed to drink, but they didn't even look at my ticket and shoved me a mug and 24 coupons for beers. Oh well, free beers! :)


Me and my beer plus a beer can hanging on my neck.

My first drink was a white chocolate beer - how innovative! It was a mild drink, felt like drinking white chocolate with a slight taste of beer. Good for those non-drinkers.


John with his bag of stolen Doritos. Haha.

Halfway thru the festival, some of us were getting drunk. I mean not drunk drunk, but definitely very tipsy. They were speaking nonsense and LOUD! We took videos but they couldnt remember what they have done or said when we watched them the next couple of days.


The ladies - Wendy, Nicole, Amy, Jane and Teri.

It was definitely a fun-filled event. And the weather was amazing too! I hope summer don't come so soon...

A new chapter of life

Today is the first day that I am officially a man's wife. A lot of people asked me, "How do you feel today?". Well, I still feel the same actually.. but definitely need to get adjusted when i am being introduced as Mrs Morris. :)

Memories of the civil ceremony last night are still fresh in my mind. Altho it was very short, but it meant the world to me. The magic words "I DO" marked the first step into our new chapter of life and fulfilling our vows of being with each other in sickness or in health - as long as we both shall live.

I want to thank all of our close frens who managed to attend our small civil ceremony a.k.a. ROM @ the Kyrene Justice Court on such a short notice. I am very happy to share this special occasion with you all and I hope you enjoyed it as much as John and I did.

And also a special thanks to John Poh for taking a lot of beautiful pictures for us and captured the details of the event.

Even though the civil ceremony is the legal and official date of our marriage, but we will be treating our wedding ceremony in April to be the "real wedding". So, there will be no ang pow during CNY!!!

There are still so many things to plan for my wedding in April. We are not even halfway there. Hopefully we will be able to get more done this week before we fly back to KL to celebrate the Chinese New Year with my families and frens. I miss them so much!

New Year, New Home, New Car and New...

It was a planned "unplanned" purchase, seriously.

John had an excellent Audi RS6 for more than 4 years. It is a unique car and there are only 1000 of them in the country. We both love it and were thinking to keep it for a couple more years.

Unfortunately, the car began to give us problems and the maintenance cost was just too high to bear. We had to let it go...

After a few weeks of research, John finally chose the Infiniti FX50 (Sport Version) as our new car. It has all the nicest and latest features - there is nothing more that we could have asked for.


Our Audi RS6. Good bye!


Still looking very good.


Our new baby..

This new year of 2009 will hopefully bring us good luck because we have a lot going on!

Happy New Year 2009!

First of all, Happy New Year to all my frens that are still loyally reading my blog. I know it has been more than 3 months since i last posted something - I felt bad.

For the last couple of months, it was crazy for me. There were so many things going on, i can barely breathe. Year 2009 will continue to be as hectic, but i promise to keep my blog updated more frequently. That is one of my resolutions for the new year! :)

Oh, I haven't mentioned here, i don't think - I have moved to a new place. It is a 7-storey condominium in the heart of Tempe downtown. Mill Avenue is now my new neighborhood. And I am loving it... ^_^

Some people may not like it because they think it is very crowded and too busy. But for me and John, we are both from the city. He grew up in New York City while I was raised in KL. We are so used to the crowd, the busy hour, the traffic and most importantly, the noise. In fact, John prolly couldnt sleep well without the noise.. :)

The Orchidhouse Lofts was the first place that we looked at with the realtor. We totally fell in love with it. All the other condos and apartments we visited after that just couldnt be compared with it. So here we are, a proud tenant of Orchidhouse.

Today, the Insight Fiesta Bowl Block Party is happening on the street of my neighbourhood. Alot of people came from other states to watch the final game for the Fiesta Bowl between Kansas and Minnesota - and then party!


The banner.


Location map.


What, who and where.

See, if we are not staying here, we wont be able to enjoy all the fun! Isn't this cool?!

Killer biscuit?

Happy National Day, Malaysia!

It is our Independance Day back in Malaysia. I called my mom last nite, and she told me about the fireworks and the holiday. I miss those times quite a bit..

More updates from the thunderstorm that we had on Thursday nite, the ASU (Arizona State University) Practice Facility which has just been completed this month for football practices during summer - is totally damaged!

Please read more about this here.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/asu/articles/2008/08/29/20080829spt-asububble-ON.html


Before the storm hits the "bubble".


After the disaster.

Scariest thunderstorm ever..

As i am blogging in the dark now, i can hear a clear loud thunder and flashes of lightning outside. This is the first time i experience such a serious thunderstorm - and yes, the electricity was cut off. :(

I just took a glimpse out of my window, and oh my gosh! All the trees in my apartment area were rooted off the ground. One fell on a red car - whoever the unfortunate owner is, i am so sorry to see that.

The storm was so bad that it sounded like hail. It felt like my windows were going to shatter at one point. FYI, i wasnt exaggerating.

After 20 minutes of heart pounding moments, the storm seem to have gone past us now. The thunder sounded further away. I took a second look outside - new discovery. One of the apartment's fences fell on top of a stretch of cars. Jesus Christ!

And the rain water made their way into the gaps of my window - causes the carpet on the floor next to the window to be soaked wet. "Wow, never in the 2 years i have been here had i seen such a thing happen" - John said.

Police cars are seen everwhere. The neighbourhood is full of sirens from the police car. Tomorrow we will hear some interesting news on the TV.

In the meantime, i need to take the candles into the bathroom to brush my teeth and sleep. It is going to be extremely hot tonite without the AC...


**Updates @ 6:33am in the morning of the next day

"Hot out of the oven" pictures, taken from my apartment window..


All the chairs and cushions were blew into the pool by the strong wind last nite. A big tree fell into it too..


Rooted trees..


Look at the impact. The red car was the one that i talked about earlier - about tree falling on top of it. Seems like the owner has no idea about it yet. -___-

Unbelieveable..

Stax

We initially planned to bring the ladies from KL to try out the food in this restaurant. Somehow, we didnt have the time to do so - we have been having meeting every night and that kinda become a problem to organize anything at nite. And they, on the other hand, have meetings going on all day for planning and design.

Anyway, I decided to go there ourselves on one of the past weekends - after John's golf session. Stax Burger Bistro in Scottsdale is an interesting restaurant with an interesting concept. Basically, you can choose your own combination of ingredients for your mini burger.


Me @ Stax.

Just one comment. The service is pretty slow.. i think maybe cos there are not many people working on that day and it was crowded. Well, there is always room for improvement...

My own iPhone 3G

I finally got my ass to the Apple store earlier this month to get the brand new iPhone 3G. I have been waiting for this phone since last year - i want 3G for faster access, *being kiasu*

Look at our faces when we got the iPhone!
(taken using the iPhone camera)





You need to sign up for a 2 years contract with AT&T to get the phone for $199 (8GB) or $299 (16GB). That is very good price (if you are an AT&T customer) and of cos, i got the 16B one.. :)

And since then, i am loving it!!

First birthday away from home...

My phone beeped at me at 7:11pm, a day earlier. A message popped up on my iPhone screen, "Happy Birthday. Wishes from the other part of the world. ;-)".

That was the first time i got a text message on my US number - apart from John. Although it came in a lil bit earlier (due to timezone difference), but obviously i dont mind at all. I am happy that my frens still remember me, even tho i am so far away now.

After that, more text messages and emails came in. The biggest suprise of all, Ji Ric gave me a call from M'sia. Thank you so much for the birthday wishes. I love u guys!!!

I told my friends that i will be celebrating birthdays for both Malaysia and PHX time in the future. More time for celebration, i guess. *muahaha*

And also the lunar calendar.. *greedy*

Anyways, I was working in the office as usual - i didnt take the day off on my birthday. And due to a meeting scheduled close to lunch time, i decided to stay in my cube and eat something small. As i was happily munching away, my phone rang and it was from the front entrance's security station.

"Jane, I have flowers for you. Can you please come and pick it up?"

When the security officer handed me the flowers, i was a lil shocked to see a big balloon with "Happy Birthday" tied around the vase. It is nice and all, but i just never expected it.

So i walked back to my cube, which is probably close to 100m away - with the balloon flying on top of my head. People walked past me, peeping and smiling at me.


The roses and balloon on my desk.

Everyone who happened to walk close to my cube dropped by and said "Happy Birthday". :)
Thanks for the great surprise, *you know who*.

I didnt have any fancy celebration, if you are wondering. We just had a small dinner @ WildFish Seafood Grille in Scottsdale and that was about it.


I didnt bring my camera, cos i didnt expect to go anywhere. So this pic wasnt that good - no flash on my phone.


Specially made birthday cake, thanks to WildFish.

Right after the dinner, i had to rush back home for a conference call. *sigh*

080808

Today marks the opening of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics that a lot of people have been looking forward to. It is the most anticipated event of the year, to be exact. I guess i will be staying up late at nite to catch the games...



This is a perfect example of how important the number 8 to the Chinese. It is a symbolic of prosperity and wealth!

8th of August, year 2008 at 8:08 pm.
What day could be better than this?

And hundreds of Chinese couples took this great chance to tie the knot on this auspicious day..

Btw, the opening ceremony is AMAZING!!!!! :)

Weekend activities

Since the starting of this summer, one of my "routine" weekend activities is going for a movie. And as i said before, Tempe Marketplace is my favourite hanging out spot for the past few months. Not only it is close to our apartment, it has a good selection of restaurants that we like AND Harkins Theaters at reach.

I have a colleague who always ask me how was my weekend. And i always give the same answer, "Good! I went for a movie". Now, he calls me a movie queen... -___-"

Well, i know it sounded somewhat boring, but there is really nothing much to do here. Any suggestions?

Neways, after watching Mamma Mia! in Cinemark @Mesa, we explored the new shopping plaza a lil bit before going for dinner @ Famous Dave's.



Famous Dave's is a chain of southern-style barbecue restaurants serving pork ribs, chicken, and beef brisket. We came to know about it in one of the movie previews - i guess the commercial works :)


Cute sign on top of the wash basin!


Some other funny signs to light up your day.


St. Louis Rib-N-Meat BBQ Combo.


Sweetwater Catfish.

It was pretty crowded when we got there and we have to wait for about 30 mins before we were seated and another 30 mis before we get our food. No wonder it is advertised as PHX's No. 1 BBQ restaurant...

For ribs, i still prefer Bandera tho. Theirs were just amazing!

More foody adventures..

This post was originally created almost a month ago.. when i had some free time during lunch. But then, work caught up to me and i totally forgot about it. Geez, i am getting old i guess.

John has been reminding me of my blog's life at stake. Most of the time, i have been sitting in front of my work PC, working. It can be very stressful sometimes, and poor him trying to figure out ways to keep my life more "interesting".

He knew that i enjoy taking pictures and we have an ongoing quest for new foody experience, we went to Joe's Crab Shack near Arizona Mills.



I have been to the one in San Francisco once, with Pei Yee - during my first business trip to PHX.



They are famous for their crabs and the also the deco. And they have dancing performance every other hour, if i am not mistaken.




Caesar Salad with grilled shrimp.


Joe's Steampot - Spicy Boil Flavour.


Look at me.. *drooling*

West Vs East Culture

Humor for the stressful ones...

Blue - Westerner
Red - Asian

Opinion

B: Talk to the point.
R: Talk around the circle, especially if different opinions.

Way Of Life

B: individualism, think of himself or herself.
R: enjoy gathering with family and friends, solving their problems, and know each other's business (keh poh).

Punctuality

B: on time.
R: in time.

Contacts

B: Contact to related person only.
R: Contact everyone everywhere, business very successful.

Anger

B: Show that I am angry.
R: I am angry, but still smiling... (beware!)

Queue when waiting

B: Queuing in an orderly manner.
R: Queuing?! What's that?

Sundays on the road

B: Enjoy weekend relaxing peacefully.
R: Enjoy weekend in crowded places, like going to the mall.

Party

B: Only gather with their own group.
R: All focus on the one activity that is hosted by the CEO.

In the restaurant

B: Talk softly and gently in the restaurant.
R: Talk and laugh loudly like their own the restaurant.

Travelling

B: Love sightseeing and enjoy the scenery.
R: Taking picture is the most important, scenery is just for the background.

Handling of problems

B: Take any steps to solve the problems.
R: Try to avoid conflicts, and if can, don't leave any trail.

Three meals a day

B: Good meal for once a day is sufficed.
R: At least 3 good meals a day.

Transportation

B: Before drove cars, now cycling for environmental protection.
R: Before no money and rode a bike, now got money and drive a car.

Elderly in day to day life

B: When old, there is snoopy for companionship.
R: When old, guarantee will not be lonely, as long as willing to baby-sit the grandkids.

Moods and weather

B: The logic is, rain is pain.
R: The more the rain, more prosperity.

The Boss

B: The boss is part of the team.
R: The boss is a Fierce god.

What's trendy

B: Healthy Asian cuisine.
R: Expensive Western cuisine.

The child

B: The kid is going to be independent and make his/her own living.
R: Work, live and all for the kids, the centre of life.