Posts Tagged ‘Mary and Max’

Vacation doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to go away. It’s really in the eye of the beholder, you see?

Here’s a collage of my 2009 Thanksgiving weekend as an example:

Entertained by Botero’s exaggerated, colorful figures @ Bowers Museum

Helped roast 1,000 turkeys until 1 in the morning (3 am for the hubby and his friends; Thanks again for your help- You know who you are!) for a Thanksgiving Outreach Program (yay! our turkeys are on the news!)

A bike ride in the hood (it’s so nice to live in a place surrounded by nature; did I tell you that we saw a coyote during our usual evening walk a few weeks ago? and it was like half a mile from where we live? crazy, I know. Then again, I see rabbits all the time in the parking lot at work.)

Had some great authentic Japanese food at a neighborhood Izakaya

Octopus in ponzu/wasabi sauce or something. It looks kind of gross but trust me, it’s very refreshing. A great Tsuki dashi.

Grilled Black Cod- mmm… melts in your mouth

Tako Yaki- one of my favorites. I order these whenever I see them on a menu. I even considered buying a takoyaki grill at one point. LOL

Hiking in Laguna… well, it was more like half-hiking since I didn’t get to finish the route. I don’t think hiking likes me too much. bleh.

Then, there were two family gatherings at two different places located 2 hours from each other, 4 hours at a sauna, New Moon (uhh yeah, can someone please put a shirt back on the 16 yr-old boy? It’s just not right, it’s not…), 3 hours at Starbucks strategizing on world domination, experimenting a new curry recipe, and about 5 movies in two languages.

Btw, check out this movie called Mary and Max- a claymated film about an unlikely friendship between an 8 year old growing up in Australia and an old man living in New York City with a mental disorder. Much better than New Moon (uh oh, my cousin is going to kill me for saying this).

All in all, I feel like I did so much over the weekend that it almost feels like I went on a mini vacation although I never really left home.

Rejuvenated and refreshed- bring it on!