Spring fun in Seattle

I can finally smell spring in the air here. Time to pull out my hiking shoes, bring my carema and head out. Here are my top 10 picks of things to do in and around Seattle:

1. Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
April 1 through April 30

Tulips are not just for Holland. We have lots here in Seattle. You can find them in residents' yards, by the streets, in front of the grocery shops...For 25 years and counting now Mount Vernon, WA has celebrated the sprouting of their colorful tulip fields. The tulips are available for viewing every April in Skagit county. Be sure to take your camera and wear your rain boots as the fields can be muddy.



2. Passport to Woodinville
April 17&18
 
The Passport to Woodinville is for wine enthusiasts. They start selling tickets in February each year for their popular wine country tour season. This special event happens every April and is very popular with Seattle area locals. It's one of the only days in the year that all participating wineries in Woodinville are open at the same time.
 
3. A weekend trip to Port Townsent, or Port Angeles, or Whidbey Island
Anytime in the Spring
 
The islands in Pudget Sound are just amazing. A weekend escape can be truly relaxing for your body and soul. Each island has its own communities and lots of activities.
 
4. Seattle Maritime Festival
May 6-8
 
The Seattle Maritime Festival takes place each May on the Seattle waterfront. Check out the world’s biggest tugboat races, experience the Waterfront Chowder Cook-Off, go on free harbor tours, see a boat building competition, watch a sea-air rescue demonstration. There are kid’s events featuring Stories of the Sea, survival suit races and a container ship full of family fun.
 
5. Seattle International Children Festival
May 11-15
 
The Seattle International Children's Festival is a performing arts festival for all ages and is hosted each year the week after Mother's Day at Seattle Center. The festival features professional adult companies from around the world performing "globalicious" music, circus, theater, puppetry and more.




6. University District Street Fair
May 16-17
 
The University District StreetFair dates back to the late 1960s. It’s popular, attracting more than 50,000 people and nearly 400 craft and food booths. The StreetFair is an energetic and exciting celebration of arts and crafts, community, music and food. It includes two music stages, a special children's area, a live theatre stage and a medley of street performers. The StreetFair is a free event.
 
7. Seattle Cheese Festival
May 16-17
 
Cheese lovers flock to The Seattle Cheese Festival each year. The annual event is for the general public and the foodservice industry to taste, celebrate and better understand artisanal cheese made locally and around the world. The spring festival takes place at Pike Place Market along the cobbled streets between Pine and Virginia.
 
8. Golf Day at one of hundreds of Seattle public and private golf courses
Anyday in Spring
 
Seattle Golf Guide offers a comprehensive review of Seattle golf courses and also discount if you book your tee time online.
 
9. Kayaking and chow down at Agua Verde
Anyday sunny
 
On the Portage Bay down from UW, you can rent a double Kayak and explore, Portage Bay, the Arboretum, Lake Washington or Lake Union. Sunset hours are the best time to do it!
 
10. Hit a trail in the form of walking, running, hiking or biking
Anyday you feel like to
 
Seattle Trails and Parks offers a list of trails you can select from.
 
Enjoy your Springlicious time.
 
 

Tiger Woods' new Nike commercial

Today is the grand return of Tiger Woods. I still remember back in Nov. last year, we watched Tiger Woods last second golf championship back in Shanghai China. It was so amazing to watch many top players swing their clubs right in front of you. 

It's been 4 months since he left the arena infamously. Now that he is back, his biggest sponsor Nike wasted no time and released a new commericial of Tiger, featuring him staring solumnly at the camera, while his late dad - Earl Woods does all the talking:

"Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find out what your feelings are. And did you learn anything?"

Click below for the profound new commericial.

Tiger's New Commercial

But my all time favorite one is still Nike's Tiger is Back - The Party is Over. You will love this hilarious commercial of Tiger. Enjoy.

Tiger is back. The party is over

Jiayou, Laohu!

Bye - Wisdom Teeth

Little did I know, but only three weeks into my life in the US, I've already paid 20 US Dollars for 2 DVDs. I miss the DVD shop three blocks away from our apartment in Shanghai, selling DVDs for 1 dollar each. Little did I plan, but all four of my wisdom teeth were pulled out yesterday, because the US dentist didn't like to see them there. The first thing he noticed about my teeth is "You have a lot of teeth in your mouth". Just like that, my poor wisdom teeth, after serving me for 15 years, are gloriously retired, leaving me two swollen cheeks and a constant thought of "when can I eat steak?" One exciting thing is the tooth fairy did come last night, took my teeth, and left me with 4 spanking new dollars. Wahoo, although we all know who the tooth fairy is :) 

Here is a picture of me after the wisdom teeth being pulled out. Not a great picture, but you to see my brave smile :)

Your help to the drought stricken provinces in China is NEEDED!

So sad to see the upsetting pictures from the drought stricken provinces - Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Guangxi.  Some of these places have had no rain at all for 250 days!!!

This is the bottom of a reservoir in Yunan Province. 

These two are Huangguoshu Waterfall in Guizhou Province now and one year ago.

 This is Wujiang River - one of the largest branches of Yangtze River in Sichuan province now.

This is Grandfather and his granddaughter travelling 10 miles on the mountain road to get water in Guangxi Province.

This is students drinking muddy water to quench their thirst in Sichuan Province. 

What can we do?

First and foremost, DO NOT waste any water any more. Water resource is limited and precious. It's Southwest China that's suffering from the drought now, but it could be any place in the world tomorrow. We can only save our world by cherishing our resources.

Second, offer your help to the drought-stricken areas. Simply clicking on the link below, and filling in the information as shown on the picture below, you will be helping thousands of people to fight against the drought. 

The world is a much better place when people are willing to help each other! 

http://gongyi.sina.com.cn/z/siyuan/index.shtml

Vintage Seattle - 1914

I found a really cool and old article about Seattle with a picture of the city back in 1914. That's almost 100 years ago. Check it out.

So next time, when we talk about Seattle, we don't just say "It doesn't rain every day". We can tell people
- Seattle has the finest climate and best scenery in the world, and its death rate is the lowest of any city of the nation.
- Seattle has the most equitable climate
- Seattle has the lowest rate of illiteracy of any city of the Union
...

A MUST have i-phone application for businessmen

like my husbie, who often finds himself being called by his office to sign and then fax back an urgent 50 page long document when he is hiking in the mountains or relaxing on the beach, with no access to printer or fax machine. What a hastle! But thanks to an innovative new app - Zosh, problems are solved. 


Zosh allows you to fill in and sign your office documents in forms of PDF, Word, Excel, PPT, JPG, GIF, PNG & BMP on your i-Phone. Afterwards, you can just simply email it back in PDF format.

No more rushing back to the hotel room or the office for signature, do it on the go! Check out Zosh for how to use it. It's $3 now. A great application I want to introduce to my darling man, and other business friends.

Loveliest of trees - the cherry

Every year, around the end of March and the beginning of April, cherry trees burst in blossom. In the oriental culture, cherry blossom resembles fragile feminine beauty, and there are many poems appraising the gentleness of the beautiful flowers and also many lamenting on their short life-span (around one week).

Here are some of my favorites:
***
The cherry blossom tree
sneezed on the wooden bench below,
covering it in pink pedals,
accenting the snow.
***
They blossom, and then we gaze,
and then the blossoms scatter, and then ...
***

My fondness for cherry blossom comes from my memory of the two cherry trees outside of my mom's office. They swayed and swang, just like two pink clouds floating over the window.

I read from a Chinese blog yesterday that 100,000 people swarming to the campus of Wuhan Univeristy in Wuhan, China to admire cherry blossom there. Oh, man, 100,000 people. Not sure they could see more flowers or people.

I'm excited to have found that the campus of the University of Washington is a cherry blossom hotplace in Seattle. Carrying my Nikon super camera on my back, I headed to the UW campus this morning. So glad it's another gorgeous sunny day here in Seattle. Since it's winter break for the school students, I didn't see many people there. Here are some pictures to share.

Cherry blossom in the Quad

More cherry trees

Old couple sitting down the trees

Up-close shot of pink cherry blossom

Up-close shot of white cherry blossom

Pedal the ground

Squirrels peeking at me. Sorry buddy, I didn't bring food for you today.

Lovely kid running under the cherry trees

Enjoy spring!