Hard Rock Hollywood and Rodeo Drive

We wanted to go somewhere near last weekend and ended up at Universal Studio and Rodeo Drive.Hard Rock short glasses are one of our collectors item.So we drove all the way to Hard Rock Hollywood which is inside Universal Studio compound. We have to pay US$10 to park the car! As Lucas was in tow, we did not go to the theme park. Just hanged out at the City walk (shopping and eatery area). One day entrance fee to the theme park is about US$63 for adult. Don't remembered things are so expensive now.
Then we adjourned to Rodeo Drive. What a place to be! It was just fun to do 'people watching' and 'car watching'. There were those who looked like super 'tai-tai'; Julia Roberts in 'Pretty Woman'..yup...high leather boots and super short mini skirt; very stylish people, tourists like myself, and Paula Abdul (Dominic claimed he saw Paula Abdul). If you want to be in the 'ultimate' car showroom, all you have to do is stand on the road. Those nice and expensive cars were just cruising along.
Some shops are having summer sale. The sale here is very different. The store has nothing that shouts 'sale'. Only a smaller sale sticker. So, here I was pretending to be rich and walked into the store. I must say the variety and service are very good, but the price is not so irresistible. Lucas was charming all the salesladies and salesman in the shops, but too bad they don't give extra discount for having cute baby.

It's Summer and Berries Season!

Yesterday was officially the first day of summer. The weather is getting hot (90-100 F) but at least one hardly sweat here. It is too dry. There was a red flag warning ..something new to me... What that means is the weather is very dry and occasionally there will be gusty wind. If there is a fire, it will spread real fast. The warning is to stay away from red flag area as indicated in the weather report. Usually that means stay away from areas with trees like hiking trail or national park. If one happened to be in a residential area and the fire starts...pray hard.

It is also berries season. Cherries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and whatever berries are being sold and it is cheap (compared to obscenely expensive in M'sia). You can get a packet with about 1 lbs for US$2! Nectarines, peaches and apricots are in season too. What a perfect time to be here!

Fell off the bed

Lucas fell off the bed yesterday! To be exact, he fell off twice since we came here. I usually had him on my bed for daytime nap. His room is facing the road and can be noisy when the garbage truck is around, and his bed is not very comfy. The mattress is covered with an un-removable waterproof bed sheet. It feels very 'plasticky' even with a cloth bed sheet on it. He had a bruised nose now. Dominic was singing 'Rudolph the red nose reindeer' to him yesterday. Hope this nose is not flattened.

Lucas also has better vocabulary. He speaks with different sounds, but nothing understandable yet. Wonder what would be his first word? Beer like his father?

Father's Day

Sunday was Dominic's first Father's Day. As a present, he was given a few hours 'off'. So, he went shopping on his own and came back with a book for each of us!

This weekend was water and water again. I think we will be taking a break from water next weekend. We took Lucas for a swim in the apartment's pool. The water was too cold for Dominic but just nice for Lucas. Father was shivering and son was having a good time. We also ventured to Long Beach. It is quite a nice town but we did not find the nice beach. The beach that we went to was not so clean. Luckily, Lucas is too young to realise that. He still enjoyed playing with the sand.

On the way back, we drove on the Pacific Coast Highway or popularly known as Highway number 1. It is a very very long highway and only certain stretch is facing the Pacific Ocean. Definitely need to google the most scenic stretch. On the way back also, Lucas decided to torture us. He cried in the last 20 mins journey and continued for another 30 mins at home. sigh...when will he learn that he will not be picked up while he is sitting in his car seat.

Asian Community

There is a common trait among Asians...whenever they go, they like to feel 'at home'. 'At home' here means living near other Asians. Here are my two observations:
1. When I was in Melbourne, I realised that most Asians live in this neighbourhood called Glen Waverly. If you asked any of your friends, relatives who moved to Melbourne, you will be 80% right if you guess Glen Waverly.
2. If you asked your friends or relatives in LA, 80% of getting it right if you guessed Arcadia. The first time we went to a shopping mall in Arcadia , we were surprised with the number of Asians we saw. We blend in so well.

Then I was just wondering why. I talked to some friends and these are two main 'magnets' for Asians:
1. Good and reputable public schools in the neighbourhood, and this is true for both Glen Waverly and Arcadia. This shows how much Asians emphasize on good education. The TV was showing spelling competition and the contestants are all Asians!!
2. Good Chinese restaurants. This makes the restaurants in Chinatown pale in comparison.

If you drive around Asians neighbourhood, you will find plenty of nice cars on the road. M'sians and S'poreans especially are deprived of driving nice car. Cars cost a leg and an arm. When they are in Australia or US, they usually go crazy. Even Dominic is dreaming of his Audi and BMW here.

Asians value never die whenever they go - good school, good food, and nice car.

New Food

We have been introducing new food to Lucas. He has only been eating carrot, broccoli, spinach, fish, sweet potato, rice cereal, apple and banana. Quite a limited variety. So, we introduced chicken, yoghurt, finger food and bread. He did not react differently to chicken..assumed he could not tell the difference from fish. He loves the yoghurt cause it has lots and lots of sugar! And this yoghurt is specifically for babies! I am stopping the yoghurt for the time being until I find a sugar free yoghurt. He likes his finger food but he does not know how to feed himself. He still could not pick up food using this thumb and index finger. He will hold the small biscuit in his palm. The small biscuit melts in his hand instead of in his mouth! The selection is limited. Ran out of idea on what to feed him. Maybe when he has more teeth, choices will be better.

It is weekend again. Have no plan yet. Dominic bought him a duck float. Looks like it is going to be swimming or the beach again. Maybe this weekend, we will check out a dim sum place called Din Tai Fung. The S'pore branch has very good 'xia long poa'.

Motherhood and Vanity

I was at the Gymboree class last Saturday and the facilitator asked what do we do during our free time. Two out of four mothers said they go for pedicure and manicure. That got my thinking when was my last pedicure and other beauty regime. All the vanities have been reduced tremendously or does not exist anymore.

1. I used to go for facial once a month and now it is every 3-4 months. My beautician was hinting during my last facial that my face dark spots are getting darker and more. Need facial more frequently, she said.

2. I used to go for pedicure once in a while. The last pedicure was before Lucas was born. Maybe August 2006.

3. Makeup does not exist after Lucas was born. Not even when I was attending wedding dinner. All the nice eye shadow and eye liner have been cold storage. Hope they don't have expiry date.

4. I can't remember when was the last time I blow my hair and gel my hair. Again, it must have been before Lucas was born.

American homemakers do take initiative to look good compared to Asians, or rather me. They blow their hair and put on makeup everyday (even though they are not planning to go out). I always tell myself to do something about it but never get there. You see, I don't want to look like an 'ah soh' ..and that takes effort.

Shopping and Shopping

Today was such a heavy day for the wallet. We went to Camarillo Factory Outlet and went wild...kind of. There are things that we planned to buy and some unplanned. There were our purchases:

1. Luggage to replace our worn out one. We bought a Samsonite. It is expensive after conversion but we think it is still cheaper than KL.

2. Villeroy and Bach dinner set for 4. This was unplanned. I saw this during my trip to Melbourne and thought it was too expensive. Then I saw it here and the price is just irresistible. Now the headache is how to bring this home! I have this habit of buying dinner set when I go traveling. The last purchase was Noritake from Japan.

3. I bought a Coach handbag. The shop was packed with people like a wholesale shop. The clearance items are a good deal. That explained the crowd.

4. Sandals for myself and Dominic.

5. Shorts for Dominic. He completely forgot to being any shorts.

6. Clothes for Lucas. We are now buying him clothes for 2 years old! Osk B Kosh are so cheap and nice. Each top is onlyUS$5 include denim material. In KL, the cheapest is probably RM50 during sale and the design is not so cute. We got Lucas quite a few from Osh and Carters. I don't think we have Carters in KL.


We will not be shopping for a while...and I mean really a while, except for food.


On Saturday, we took Lucas for another core learning class at Gymboree. He did not enjoy this class that much. He even cried when I lied him down the mat. Looks like we will only we sending him to the music class. Actually, he doesn't need the class. The real reason is for me to network with other mothers. I can get valuable tips such as where to get good pediatrician, daycare baby sitter. He can also play with other babies his age, which he has not done before.

Gymboree offers 'friday date nite'. Parents can drop the baby there on Friday from 5pm to 9pm for US$40. It is like a baby-sitting. It is very difficult to get a baby-sitter here, just like M'sia.

And Dominic took Lucas to the apartment swimming pool or more precise the heated jacuzzi spa. He loves water. I think he has a mild tan now. He was very fair.
We have not weigh Lucas for a month now. He is definitely heavier and taller which he should be. We were guessing he is more than 9 kg now. His last weight was 8.2 kg. Hope he will learn to walk soon..a bit heavy to carry him for long. But hmm..maybe not so fast. Harder to keep an eye on him when he is walking!

He is 8 months old

Lucas is eight months old today. He had quite a few new adventures today.
1) He sleeps in his own room now. He slept from 10.30 pm to 7.30 am without crying (at least I didn't hear it).
2) He ate peach for the first time today and obviously doesn't like it. After a few spoons, he refused to open his mouth.
3) He attended a music class at Gymboree. He was happy to be playing with other babies, and singing in the car on the way home.

For an Asian, he is quite a big size. The pediatrician said he is a king size. When we were in the music class today, there were other 2 babies. One is a day older than Lucas, and another is a year old. Lucas is the biggest amongst them. Talking about American size!

We moved again

Yup...we moved three times in three weeks. First we moved from KL to a LA hotel, then to an apartment for 2 1/2 weeks and now this new apartment. This will be our last pit stop. I must said the apartment we are staying now is quite nice. Modern furnishing and quite high tech. The drawback is this is not a service apartment. That means I have to do all the housework...cleaning bathroom and windows are not my favourite chores!

The master bedroom is smaller than usual. The baby crib is a bit too big to be in the room. So, today Lucas is sleeping on a separate room! Let's see how long and how well we can take this arrangement. And this boy knows when we are in a grocery store. He will cry in 20 mins each time we are doing grocery shopping. He probably said 'Again..so boring'

We were at the Venice Beach yesterday since Lucas enjoyed the beach trip last weekend. Getting there was a nightmare. This boy cried for more than half an hour in the car! He wanted to get out from his car seat but it is against the law to travel without car seat. Once we get there, he was all smiley. We called him little rascal...just like we bought him the hat (in picture) which said 'little rascal'...and the hat was bought before he was born. We already known then....haha..

Venice Beach is more of people's beach. Quite a number of South Americans families. There are a number of street performers, stalls selling sunglasses. trinkets, tattoos and piercing..US version of pasar malam.

I used to be earning decent income in KL and now I cutting coupons to save a few dollars! That is quite a 'nice' change but hope not for long.

Living on US$50 a day?

This weekend activities were all unplanned. On Friday, we initally planned to go to the park. So, we drove there and found out that the parking is US$5 and it is mostly hiking trial ..i.e. not stroller friendly. So, we decided to skip it. Then we found this street of old shop houses called Monrovia Old Town. We walked around there instead. By chance, we found a shop run by two sisters which does baby hands and foot imprint. Of course we walked in and do some inquiry. We were so impressed by the sample they have and decided to have Lucas's hands and foot imprinted. That set us back by US$167! On the way back, we were wondering if we can get the imprint done in KL. Typical of us...spend first, think later. Anyway, it was interesting and these sisters have lots of story to tell. The photos are just the 'raw' cut. We have to wait for 4-6 weeks to see the end result.

Then on Saturday, we planned to go to LA zoo. We drove to Griffith Park and walked a bit. Most of the park is still closed due to fire a few years ago. Then we proceed to LA zoo. Lucas was nicely sleep when we get there. So, we drove around to let him sleep a bit longer. Of couse, we got distracted and ended on Mulholland Drive. It is a very scenic road to drive on. On most part, the road is sitting on the edge of the moutain. So, we get a very good view of whole of LA. Unfortunately, it is hazy.

Sunday will be hot and sunny. This time, we are planning to go to Venice Beach, near Santa Monica. Hope we will actually get there this time and not distracted to something else.

Dominic has an allowance of US$50 a day. We are trying to live within the budget...haha....Most of the time, we managed except when we have to do some shopping like buying Lucas warm clothes, buying high chair and car seat, doing the imprint........So far, we have lots of days to catch up!