Where were we?

Hey folks, take a guess where Robert and I were in these pictures below? 

We were not taking a vacation on the beach. Both of us are working really hard now - one brings home bread, and the other gets herself prepared to bring home bread :)

What's in this picture? Nice guess. Yes, it's a volcano. But we weren't not in Japan at the foot of Mt. Fuji. Our trip back to China to see EXPO got canceled because we heard that it's overcrowded.

Here is the answer. We were in Seattle, at the west tip of Seattle - Discovery Park. I blogged before that it's a huge tree-covered park15 mins away from our apartment in downtown Seattle. The volcano in the picture above is Mt. Rainer. Many of my friends in China probably don't know that there are quite a few huge volcanoes within driving distance of Seattle. On a clear day like this, if you fly into Seattle, the pilots usually will give you a flying tour of three gorgeous volcanoes - Mt. Rainer, Mt. Baker and Mt. Adams.

A lot of people ask me how I like Seattle. I love it! I might have had a small complaint on the cloudy and rainy weather one month ago, but I have no complaints now. It's been sunny, warm and dry everyday since July 5th. Welcome to visit us. Summer definitely is the best season to come!

College Football Season Tickets - Go Huskies!

One really good thing about going back to school is to be able to get discounted student sports tickets! University of Washington has a variety of sports teams - football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, tennis, golf, soccer, cross country, rowing, gymnastics & track, which means there are always some sports events going on around the year. Washington Huskies is a nickname for its sports teams. Harry the Husky is the mascot. 


Among all the sports, we are particularly interested in men's football. Both UW and Stanford are members of PAC 10. They are playing in Seattle this year on Oct. 30th! Robert and I won't be stand for the same team this year for sure. Should be fun to watch together.


UW was a power house in football in the 90's, and has always been having a fairly strong team. Its quarterback - Jake Locker is among the best quarterbacks for college football. The biggest news this year is he  made a shocking decision to give up the opportunity to go to a pro team and to stay with UW to finish his senior year, which makes this year's football games even more anticipating. I just got us season tickets - 6 home games in total at the price of $125. It is an incredible deal compared to non-discounted price $375. Seats are great, in the middle session, plus a free t-shirt. Wahoo!

To get students' tickets you will need to call Huskies ticket office at 206-543-2200 and register an online account with your student ID # & your uw email address. With your account set, you can buy another sports event online at students' price. 


Each student is entitled to get one set of student tickets. If you want to get another set for your spouse or domestic partner, you will need to go to Huskies ticket office at Graves Building at Montlake Blvd in person, and present your marriage certificate or domestic partner certificate. Cheap deals come with strict rules, uh :)


We're very delighted to have got our football tickets nailed. The first two games are before the school begins on Sep. 11th and 18th, UW vs. Syracuse and Nebraska. Both of the teams are good ones, especially Nebraska. The game will be broadcasted by ABC. Don't forget to look for us on TV. BTW, as you know we go to Mariner's games sometimes. At the Mariner vs. Yankee's game last month, the TV broadcaster gave us a close-up shot. Many of our friends saw us on TV and sent us phone messages.  Yippee! 

Are you going to watch Salt?

Angelina Jolie was gorgeous in the movie, but the movie itself isn't so much. David Letterman commented at his show that: "The movie goes so fast that you won't realize it doesn't make any sense until you walk to the parking lot". 

He was exactly right! The movie went fast. It compacted all the so-called thrilling elements - Russia, North Korea, nuclear bomb, assassination, CIA, FBI, terrorists, spy, cheesy love story, action, car chasing in a 1 hour and 40 mins movie, which is way too busy. Salt was depicted as an American spy then Russian spy and then a hero that saved the world single-handedly. That's a lot of drama. In a word, the movie is twisted in a clumsy and thoughtless way. 

I wouldn't recommend anyone to watch the movie in the theater. Save your money and time for Inception - a much smarter movie by Leonardo DeCaprio. 

Getting a Visa to UK

US green card holders DO need visa to go to UK. You can choose to work with an agent or apply by yourself. I usually just do it by myself. Here is the step-by-step guide.


1. Decide on your visa type. Click here to find out all the visa types and application fees.  6-month General Visitor visa seems like the most straight forward and cheapest type (68 pounds). 


2. Online application. All the application is processed online. Go to Visa4UK site to fill in online form. 
    A couple things to note:
    2.1  You don't have to fill all the forms in one setting. You can always save and go back to them another day.
    2.2  You will be required to fill in your UK travel itinerary and where to stay. So think about those before your start the process.
    2.3  Print out the application form in the end and SIGN. You will need to send it to the British embassy/consulate.
    2.4  Pay your application fee online and print out the receipt. 
    2.5  Pay $12 courier fee online and print out the receipt - for mailing the visa to you


3. Biometric data collection. At the end of the online application, you will required to make an appointment with UK visa ASC (application service centers) to get your finger prints collected and picture taken. Click here to find ASC near you.  


4. Supporting documents. To prove your travel purposes, if you have enough funding to fulfill the trip and if you will return to your residing country, you will need to provide supporting Ma. For checklist, click here.


5. Mail out application documents within two weeks after the biometric data are collected. Here is the list
        5.1 A valid passport that contains at least 1 blank page on both sides so your visa can be inserted. Your passport should be signed by you and the name and signature should correspond to the details given on your visa application form.
        5.2 Previous passport/s (if available)
        5.3 Your completed, signed and dated visa application form
        5.4 Online payment receipts 
        5.5 Receipt given to you when you enrolled your biometric data
        5.6 Supporting documents relevant to the category you are applying for with photocopy of each original document and translations.
        5.7 One recent passport-sized (45mm high x 35mm wide) color photograph of yourself. The photograph should be:
              5.7.1 Taken against a light grey or cream background. It should be in sharp focus, clear and of good quality, free from shadows.
              5.7.2 Printed on normal photographic paper.
              5.7.3 Taken with nothing covering the face, without sunglasses or tinted spectacles, or a head covering unless worn for religious or medical reasons. The subject should have their mouth closed (no grinning, frowning or raised eyebrows) and the applicant should be facing forwarding, looking straight ahead.
              5.7.4 The photograph should be a recent true likeness and taken within the last 6 months


There is 1 embassy and 9 consulates in the US. Here is where you should send your documents to.

Residing State	Mailing address
Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and US Virgin Islands.	New York The UK Border Agency British Consulate-General 845 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022
Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington State and Wyoming. Additionally Guam and the Trust Territory of The Pacific.	Los Angeles The UK Border Agency British Consulate-General 11766 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1200 Los Angeles, CA 90025-6538 Note: Please write the proposed date of travel on the reverse of the envelope.
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin.	Chicago The UK Border Agency British Consulate-General The Wrigley Building 400 North Michigan Avenue Suite 1300 Chicago, IL 60611

6. Visa processing period. It takes between 7 days to 90 days, depends on how difficult your background check goes. Usually within 2 weeks, your visa will be issued. Within another week, it will be sent to your doorstep. Before you get too excited about the visa, check two things right away:
      6.1 Your green card. That's your identity in the US, and you will need it to return to the US. Make sure your green card is included in the package. 
      6.2 Check your name, passport #, visa type, entry date on your visa. Make sure everything is correct. 
      6.3 You will mostly like get a multiple entry one year tourist visa, which means you may go to UK anytime within the next year for as many times as you wish. But each stay is within 6 months. 


A UK visa allows you to travel to not only England but also Scotland & Northern Ireland. Make the best use of it! Enjoy your trip in the UK.

Party Rock Jump

Who is that man in the picture? My darling husband Robert.

What was he doing? Jumping off the Party Rock at Lake Cushman. 

Why was he doing that? For fun and adventure. 

Where was Natalie? Sitting on the rock nearby taking pictures.

Did she jump too? Nope. She was too much of a wimp to jump off from that high.

Did she get wet at all? Oh yeah, she was thrown in the lake with full clothes on by her darling husband. 

Oh man, that lake was cold!! 

That was our past weekend. We had a terrific time with our friends - Marc & Jeanne at their beautiful cabin at Lake Cushman - the gateway to the Olympic National Park, where the Twilight movies were shot. 

The Olympic National Park gets a lot of rain every year. It's famous for beautiful lakes and moss-covered forests. We also did a 4.4 mile easy hike along rambling mountain creeks. The water scenery was totally gorgeous, and reminded me of the Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan Province in China.

If you're looking for beautiful and less elevation mountain hikes, Olympic National Park is the place to go.

Panorama Shot of Seattle Night

After many months of tedious waiting, summer finally set foot on Seattle yesterday. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. High at 80 degree, sunny, no humidity at all. I spent half of day sitting in the sun reading. Life is good. We can finally use our spacious outdoor patio - I've been thinking what a waste of space for the last 6 months; I can finally pull out all my short sleeves, shorts and sandles - I was nervous I never get to wear them in Seattle; we can finally go out to explore nature a lot more - it wasn't that fun to have to brave the rain and cold all the time.

Every Seattlite is cheering for the summer. King-5 news talks about the gorgeous weather every 30 mins; Shop assistants greeted me with "have a good summer"; my friends writes to me about "hope you're enjoying sunshine"... This late summer makes everyone appreciate it even more.

I took out my camera and documented the 1st sunset of this summer. Here is the panorama shot of Seattle after the sun set. I just love the colors along Olympic Mountains. The left patch of water is Pudget Sound and the right Lake Union. Enjoy!

Silhouette Machine

If you like crafting,  a silhouette machine is a good friend to have. It saves your time and makes your craft look more professional. 30 day trial kit @ $29.9. I'm tempted to give it a try.

Kooza - Cirque du Soleil is Performing in Seattle

Kooza: Magical Box. As all the other Cirque du Soleil performances, Kooza contains all the important elements - acrobats, clowns and magicians. It's a collection of singing, dancing, acrobatics, humor and interaction between audience and performaners. 

We took Tyler to the show, while Sofia enjoying her Eclipse premier. The tickets were expensive, but the performance was well worth the money. Parking at the designated area is $15. Don't do it. It's not worth the money at all. You can park one parking lot away - 0.5miles at only $1.

Among all the performances, we loved the Wheel of Death & Tight Rope Walkers the most. I gasped through the performances.

I've watched quite a few circus performance in both Beijing and Shanghai, but Cirque Kooza is by far the most amusing and dramatic one. A must-see!

U-pick Strawberries

Yes, we did it! We picked strawberries by ourselves. On our way to Winthrop, we stopped at Arlington and picked 5 pounds of juicy sweet strawberries, and ate probably another 5 pounds while we were picking them. The strawberries are sold at $2 per pound. Great deal for fruit eaters like me and Sofia. 

Arlington is only an hour away from Seattle. Take I-5 north, take exit 208, and get on highway 530. Strawberry fields are on both sides of the highway. Go crazy!