29 celsius degrees, warm breeze, savory comida, blissful siesta - what can be better than this?! We are on our annual winter getaway retreat at - Casa Contenta - Michael's parents place in Merida again!
We took a red-eye flight out of Seattle to Atlanta, leaving behind the dreary winter weather, Birdie - our sweet cat, our cozy house in need of some new shingles and a few out-of-town friends. The flight was pleasantly uneventful - no delays, no drama - exept it was overbooked by 3%. Many people are trying to get to somewhere during the holiday season; we joined the holiday travelling crowd in search of family get-together, fun and sunshine.
We killed the 4 hours at the Atalanta airport while waiting for our connecting flight by eating (grits, biscuits, eggs and sausage), napping, reading and walking all the way from Concouse A to E instead of taking the train, which we did just to insure that our feet still remember how to walk after 8 hours of flying and waiting. The flight from Atlanta to Merida was short and smooth. It was a small, yet full, plane with capacity of 66 passengers - a good mixture of people from Mexico, Canada and US; young and old.
Michael's parents picked us up. It's so fortunate of us to have them living here and we get to visit them and have an extra two weeks of summer days in the darkest days of a year. M's sister is here too; the whole fam will be here in a few days - a big famly reunion. Also there are five dogs barking and wagging tails welcoming us. Blanchita was beaming with smiles. She already made a delicious comida (late lunch at 2pm-ish, the Mexican tradition) waiting for us. We ate. We chateed, then we took a long siesta.
After a long siesta, we went to a hotel (Hotel San Angel) opening here by an Iranian couple - a beautiful hotel and beautiful people with wine glasses in hand clinking around...then we went and had some yummy Salbutes and Panuchos (like a Taco), then Tepes Nieve, an icecream parlor, for some helado (icecream).
Casa Contenta, Merida - our winter getaway heaven, we don't feel like tourists here; we feel like being at home away from home.==============================
2006, Year in Review 岁末回首
Since the magazine Time has chosen YOU as the Person of the Year for 2006. I figure that "you" also includes me. I guess it's not too tongue in cheek to have my own version of Year in Review. Below is the email that I sent out to friends. I want to include it here to remember 2006.
My Dearest Friends,
2006, the Red Fire Dog Year, is coming to an end - Xmas is in a couple of days; the New Year is in a week. I thought it would be a good time to give you all a quick update on our life in 2006.
So, what did we do in those 300 plus days? There is no earth-shattering or life-changing news to share with anyone. We've learnt to seek for changes in baby-steps instead of giant strides: I'm still working at the Port and have learnt to appreciate many benefits that my job offers including enjoying the company of my best friends there, K and T.
Michael is still at his job managing a small non-profit that offers great flexibility and trips (sometimes I get to tag along) nationwide. We've been living in our first house, still somewhat new to us, since October 2005; and we love the location - 10 minutes away from the city, yet we get to enjoy the serenity of the suburbs, and I can bike to work when the weather allows. Yes, we're very much settled in.
Besides a steady job and a place we call sweet home, we are fortunate enough to mix our sedentary life with trips here and there. In January, we had a great time, as always, in Mexico . This time it was even more fun, because we got to hang out with Greg, Hyun-Joo and baby Ella. In February, we went to China and spent the Chinese New Year with my folks in Hunan; and on the way back from Shanghai, we got to meet a whole gang of friends in Shanghai: Mency, Andy, James, Gracia, Brad, and Kris, to name a few. In March, Michael surprised me with a Birthday trip to a cabin with Jacuzzi at the foot of Mt. Rainier . We had fun snowshoeing with Eric and Irene when they came and joined us the next day.
In April/May, I went to China on a business trip and was able to spend some quality time with my mom. In June, Michael and I went to San Francisco for a long weekend; we walked all over the city and saw the gay pride parade, where I was wowed by their creative outfits and makeup. In July, we had one of our best friends, Zuo You from Beijing , visiting us and staying with us for a few days. While he was staying with us, in the same month, we had the biggest party - 20 some people watching the World Cup final - at our house. Seattle 's summer is as gorgeous as always, except it feels a bit warmer this year. The summer air was filled with smoky BBQ in our sunlit backyard - Eric and Irene are our loyal frequent BBQ guests. Then, in August, we went down to Portland 's Blues Festival and did a little Oregon Coast road trip with Greg, Hyun-joo and Ella-Bella before they headed off to their adventures in China (and later Lesotho ).
In September, I went on a business trip again to Shanghai and Hong Kong for the first time. Then, I tagged along Michael for a long weekend trip to Boston in October; then we came back to the wettest month in Seattle – November! Then, there was a snow storm, followed by a wind storm. It added more unexpected drama to the normally dull dreary Seattle winter.
Now we are chilling and lounging around in Merida , Mexico again. We are driving to Belize in a few days. I will try to blog about it on my site: www.gobilily.blogspot.com if I have internet access while on the road. I finally got my blog going with inspirations from a few friends, whose blogs' links are also on my site.
Looking back, I can say it's quite a wonderful year. Life is good. If I had to wish for something different, that would be my mom's health. During the year, we also heard great news from our friends: getting engaged, getting married, getting pregnant, getting new jobs, babies growing beautifully, advancing in the academic world, moving to a new city etc. We are happy for all of you. This is life, beautiful life that we all love and cherish.
With that, we're sending you our best wishes! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Hope to see you (or some of you, for sure) in 2007!
Peace, love and hugs to everyone,
L and M=========================
On Thursdsay, with help from Blanquita and M's sister, I cooked 9 different dishes and really put my cooking and prepping skills to test. The dishes came out well; I thought that the flavor was good and I need to work on display and color. Fortunately, there was no picky eater at the table; everybody was very generous in giving compliments. 
On Friday, M's sister left early in the morning. In the afternoon, the rest of us went to Dzibilchaltun and visited a Mayan ruin (more on that later) there. 
