More Hip Hop

Posted by Ceech, on our last day of class. ;-)

So You Think You Can Dance?

Haha... actually I KNOW I can't dance! I have the typical engineer's two left feet, I'm sure of it!

But on the drive home from Tahoe, Min tells us that she's signed up for a hip hop dance class at Mission college. It was the winter session, so only 4 weeks long, twice a week for 2.5 hours each.

Hmm... it sounded intriguing... and I could put 'learn to dance hiphop' on my New Year's resolution AND accomplish it within the first month of the year... Why not?

And so Qing, Long and I signed up, along with Min and some of other friends.

It was my best decision of 2008! Haha... True, I still can't really dance, but with lots and lots of practice, I can actually do the choreography passably. It's very physical (I'm beat at the end of the night) and it's a real challenge for me to get the steps. But the instructor, Ceech, is really awesome.. funny, encouraging and full of patience. My classmates are a friendly, fun (and young, haha) bunch.

I don't have a video of our current class, but our moves are similar to the previous semester shown here. So much fun!

Happy New Year!

I had just gotten home from Tahoe and was working that day. And Jess was preparing for her trip back to Malaysia. So we decided to just invite some friends over to usher in the new year. We had lots of delicious goodies to eat: Italian meats and cheeses, King eggrolls, cake, wine and of course champagne to celebrate. Part way through the night, everyone wished Jessica a good trip and I took her to the airport to catch her flight. I arrived home with plenty of time for the countdown. It was a warm and wonderful way to welcome the new year with good friends. The only thing missing was my honey. But we wowed (again) that next year we would spend the holidays together.

A Snowy Tahoe Getaway

Ahhh... I've been planning to write about the trip. Well, it's almost a month later but better late than never!

We had a good group of ten heading up Tahoe for 4 days/3 nights. I had a found the cabin just a week before. We lucked out... the cabin was reasonably priced, slept 10, had a cook's dream kitchen (granite tops and stainless steel appliances), with a pool table and a hot tub! I woke up early that day to go pick up the rental vehicles with Long and Fabio. As usual, the minivan we reserved was not available so we had to settle for a full-size car and a pickup truck. The nice thing was that the Enterprise rental office was just 5 mins away. No need to drive to the airport rental offices.

It was about 11am by the time we had everyone plus luggage and snow gear all loaded in. We arrived at the house as the sky got dark, slightly after 5pm. We had stopped for lunch at an Italian cafe and also at the grocery store to buy food for dinner that night. We decided in the car to have Taco Night. When we pulled up, we found Andy and James shovelling out the driveway. Thanks guys! (Andy couldn't find anyone to pay to do it, hehe). We checked out the house and went right to work making dinner. We had lots to eat and our bartender, Fabio, was very conscientious in tasting every batch of the margaritas to uphold a high quality standard. haha.

The next morning, we awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs. Fabio and Long always made sure we had a good breakfast each morning. We were off to the Heavenly slopes nearby. Unfortunately we took some bad advice at the ski rental shop and parked at the lodge on the Nevada side instead of the California side. Turns out all the beginner slopes were on the other side and we had a quite a few beginners in our group. So we had take 2 different shuttles to get there! It was great once we finally got there. I hadn't forgotten how to ski, phew. Viv fell and hurt herself at the end, but luckily it wasn't too serious. But she did get a ride in the First Aid sled.

Dinner was a warming dish of lasagna, quick and fuss-free thanks to Costco. Then we just hung out... pool, movies, Pictionary challenges, wii, cards, hot tub... The hot tub was outside in the backyard surrounded by the snow. It was just warm, peaceful and relaxing after a long day out on the slopes.

Day 3 was more skiing/snowboarding at Heavenly. This time we already had all our gear and we knew where to park so the experience was even more enjoyable. I did quite a few runs that day. Was getting better at it, I think. I ended the day with the winding run down the mountain and capped it off with an exhilarating finish at the end. The slope was pretty steep but I made it!

And dinner that night was great. We had potatoes, salad and perfectly grilled steaks (thanks, Long!). Then more games, fun and the hot tub before calling it a night. Ahh.....

And too soon it was time to pack it all up and head for home. We had great teamwork to get everything in order in a short time. On the way back, we stopped at a hill for some sledding fun! This hill was awesome... long and pretty steep. It was a workout climbing to the top and I had to summon up some courage to sled down the hill. But ahhh, what fun and our cheeks were all flushed from the cold and excitement.

One last stop before we arrived home. A late lunch at a sushi place in Sacramento. I can't remember the name but it was a really hip and cool looking place. Yummy and more laughs to end the trip...

Buon Natale!

This year I am thankful to be able to celebrate the holidays with my sister who flew all the way out from Chicago (love ya, sis!) and with my Bay Area family. Christmas was a flurry of holiday parties, and quality time spent with loved ones. Hope you had a warm Christmas too!

Guess Who Showed Up for Christmas?