Cultured as Yogurt.: January 2012

As I sit here eating my wonderful homecooked meal and watching Sharapova/Kvitova in the Aussie Open semis, waiting for Fed/Nadal to start in just less than 2 hours, I realize I have it pretty good so I should write about it and advertise it and try to perpetuate it. There's plenty of reading I could be doing (mostly for classes, but all entirely optional but potentially interesting, seeing as I'm taking a majority of them pass/fail), but I'm more than content with doing exactly what feels satisfying at this moment.

My (2nd) dinner! Tarragon chicken and red mashed potatoes.

Compliments of my lovely
new potato masher!!
Eek foodie tools!

So, a recap from the beginning of the semester. I'm now near the end of week 3. My only real class is advanced biochem, no classes Fridays, still working and doing research, but more importantly, the stuff that doesn't go on a resume.

Weekend 1, MLK weekend: LEI-OUT!
One of the biggest, best beach tournaments in the world. It was amazing, with 66 fields set up just north of the Santa Monica pier during day 1, and over 80 on day 2. Playing awesome beach ultimate and hanging out with the awesome GhettoHot ballers who were there.

Story of the tourney: I got confused and assumed that Lei-Out would be held relatively close to where beach league is held, about half a mile south of the pier so that's where I had Charlie so kindly drop me off. That was wrong. While on the phone sporadically with Sixxi for about half an hour before we were to start playing, I was walking up and down the beach carrying a 30-pack in my hands and a handle in my backpack. She obviously couldn't find me because I was wandering around on the wrong side of the pier. Eventually I went back to the road where sixxi was going to come find me when a really nice SM maintenance guy drove up and asked if I was looking for the ultimate tournament. He informed me how far astray I was and I told him a friend was coming to get me. He circled around and I was still looking lost so he offered me a ride and I took it. I figured he was in an official city truck, it couldn't be THAT bad. So we got to the right location, he put his truck in 4WD and drove onto the sand, along the entire length of fields until we reached the one where GhettoHot was. As he stopped deep into our endzone, it was clear. Licious had arrived.

Also, he joked that had I not been wearing my USC sweatshirt, he wouldn't have picked me up. And we talked about the Trojan football team on the drive over. Fight on, bitches!

It was an operation.

AND we're acrobatic!

Our team jerseys :)

As a bonus on the weekend, I got to meet Chris, Charlie's supersweet little brother.

He brought me a disc from Swarthmore! Bad ass!

During the second week my mommy came to visit! She had a layover between Atlanta and Taipei where all of her siblings and their respective families who were available went back for a reunion for my amazing and cute grandmother's 80th birthday + Chinese new year celebration. Knowing that side of my family, there is epic food happening.

She loved Lemonade, esp the ahi tuna
and watermelon radish dish.

We also went and stalked men's tennis practice. They're incredible
and going for a 4th consecutive national title. Recruit my brother!

To look forward this coming weekend-- first tournament of the season with the Hellions in Santa Barbara! So exciting! Eeeeeeeeee!

As always, Sharapova looks awesome in her cute little tennis dress, and Clijsters lost to Azarenka, who played a really solid, aggressive match, earlier this evening. It'll be her first major final, which she absolutely deserves, and I hope to see a good match from her this weekend. The top 4 men in tennis just seem to be impenetrable. As with in Roland Garros last summer the top 4 seeded players are in the semis: Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, and Murray.

Sharapova's outfit. Oh, also, she just won her semis match
and will face Azarenka in the finals.

Yes. Ok. This is shaping up to be one of the best semesters/years yet :)

Winter break is a day from over. I spent the first 2.5 weeks at home in Atlanta, and this past week in Colorado with Kara.

Atlanta recap: lots of sleep, food, family, and exercise. Some time with Alex and other old friends, but mainly lazy time at home. Also, attempts to learn to play tennis.

Oreo, my puppy, on one of
our walks in the woods!

My fam!

My little brother.

Asian green onion, sesame oil, and meat pie!

Colorado recap: learning to snowboard at Breckenridge, exploring Boulder, Golden and Denver. According to Kara, "We are a state of stoned hippies and their over-educated parents." Everything I saw this week fully reinforces her statement.