Posts Tagged ‘travel’

On My Mind – the debut!

laelene Posted in on my mind，Tags: , , , , , , ,
28 March 2013
7

(Linking up with Jennifer of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for Thursday Thoughts)

Ok, so I’ve really been enjoying the updates from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom and I particularly like how she shares her thoughts and what’s going on in her life – most of which we readers/followers can certainly relate to! I often have a ton of random thoughts that I like to share as well, so I’m adapting a version of her “Monday Morning Ramblings” + “Tuesday Troubles” + “So What Wednesdays” + “What I’m Loving Wednesdays” + “Thursday Thoughts” + “Friday iPhone Dump” + “Saturday Smiles.”

I’m going to roll them all into one post every now and then, highlighting what’s been going on and what’s on my mind. And so, I’m dubbing it “On My Mind,” though it will likely include any snippet from my life that I want to share! Call it a “mind dump” if you will. 😛 I’ll try to make it all easy-to-digest bullet points and include some pictures/videos to help illustrate some of the points. So here we go!

firehouse sub sandwich with pickle slice~As I was going through the TSA checkpoint earlier this week, the guy manning the x-ray machine asked who brought the sub sandwich. I had a brief second of “oh no they’re going to confiscate it!” before bracing myself and cheerfully saying, “It’s mine!” He then asked, “Oh and you got a pickle with it too?” He seemed pleased when I was surprised that he could tell there was a pickle slice on the side. Random, but it made me smile.

~When I boarded the plane, I saw a guy mounting his GoPro on the window so he could capture our flight. I can see him doing some sort of time lapse with that footage. I wonder what the end result looks like!

~Why do I always get the wing seats?? I hate having the wings obstructing my view of everything below, but those seem to be the only window seats open whenever I book a flight. I need to travel more and rack up mileage so I can get in front of the wing!

~There were 4 boxes waiting for me when I arrived home and 3 of them were things I had gotten for free! Pretty exciting. Two of those were from winning giveaways and the other was from writing 100+ reviews on Gogobot.

naturopathica holistic health skin care regimen kit for normal to oil skin

Box 1: Naturopathica Skin Care Regimen Kit

naturopathica oat facial polish, rosemary oil-reducing moisturizer, aloe cleansing gel, and plant stem cell serum

Inside the box: Oat Facial Polish, Rosemary Oil-Reducing Moisturizer, Aloe Cleansing Gel, & Plant Stem Cell Serum.

gogobot box of swag with (headphones, bottle opener keychain, t-shirt, and fancy toiletry bag

Box 2: Gogobot swag (headphones, bottle opener keychain, t-shirt, & fancy toiletry bag).

ko denmark jasmine neroli rose body wash

Box 3 had the body wash I’d won from Nuts 4 Stuff!

~That 4th box was a Blissmo box I’d ordered and I attempted to do an unboxing video today. Verdict: I’m not good at it & it’s not worth the effort! I’ll still to pictures for now.

~I was invited to my first survey to qualify for a VoxBox from Influenster! I was sad when I first joined because my score was a lowly 30 and didn’t budge after I completed a bunch of activities. Turns out it just takes their system time to register the new activity and my score jumped to 89! Hopefully I qualify for this mystery box… I’d love to review something like that.

~I’ve been entering a lot of sweepstakes & giveaways and I noticed something funny in many of the Official Rules – if the contest is open to Canadian residents, they require a competency test involving some basic arithmetic… why in the world?!

(click to enlarge) sweepstakes official rules requiring canadians to pass arithmetic test

Night owl syndrome

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
19 March 2013
0

Oh how my mind races at night. When the darkness surrounds me, my head is filled with ideas. There are fewer distractions from the outside world, so I can really focus on all the research, writing, learning, brainstorming, planning, organizing, and doing. For whatever reason, my energy levels and alertness start to pick up around 10. It doesn’t matter if I’ve eaten or not, had any sort of caffeine all day (usually not), gotten enough sleep the night before, or what I was doing leading up to that time. Naturally, I start to work better, even think better (and certainly focus better). I can write my blog posts and clean out my email and read those articles and prepare my eBay listings so much better.

Why? I have no idea. All I do know is that if I try to sleeping around 11 or midnight, I’m doomed. Doomed to lay in bed tossing and turning, unable to shut off the river of thoughts flowing in my head. Eventually, I’d have to give up and get up so I could write down all those ideas before I had to come up with them again. When I was young, I never understood how people could just fall asleep. It took me a minimum of an hour of laying there, staring into the darkness, trying to calm down my mind before I could drift off. Then I went to college and learned what some intense sleep deprivation can do! Suddenly I was packing my life with so much activity that I could finally sleep soon after laying down. But then again, that pretty much only happened after midnight anyway.

Nowadays, I don’t have a strict sleeping schedule and I’ve found myself on a shifted schedule from the norm. I still get 6-8 hours of sleep a night, but umm… well, my “nights” are actually days. I don’t know how it started to shift so drastically, but I found myself sleeping around 4 or 5 am, then 6 or 7, and even a couple of days past 8. I tried to deprive myself of sleep so I would be tired earlier in the day, but that didn’t work out. Apparently 4 hours of sleep is still plenty enough to sustain me. Alas, the only thing that really worked was going to China. Whether it was being on the opposite side of the world or in a completely different cultural atmosphere, I was able to wake up naturally around 7 or 8 in the morning and become tired around 10 or 11 at night. Unfortunately the same doesn’t hold true when I shift from PST to EST and back (which I do every 2-3 months).

This week, I was miraculously feeling somewhat tired around 2:30 one night, so I turned off my computer and settled in with a book. I probably read for half an hour before starting to drift off to sleep – amazing! It worked a second time but then I fell off the wagon… I’m going to try that again tonight. Wish me luck!

In plane view

laelene Posted in video blog，Tags: , , , , ,
18 March 2013
0

I’m always fascinated by what you see from a plane, whether it’s the jetstream, another plane, or the slow-mo look of waves.

frozen tundra & jet stream from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

plane sees plane from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

ocean waves from plane from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Siddhartha

laelene Posted in video blog，Tags: , , , , , , , ,
11 March 2013
0

Did you ever read about Siddhartha? I remember it was on our reading list sometime in middle school or high school and I thought it was a decent read. The story of the prince who gave up riches to reach nirvana and enlightenment was played out in this play at the Lingshan Auditorium where the giant statue of an adult Sidd overlooks the equally impressive Taihu Lake. The spot was carefully chosen for good feng shui and it’s a nice place to spend the day visiting! This auditorium is the same one where the roof is composed of an optical illusion.

siddhartha in the rain from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

lotus dance from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Intense Gogobotting

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , ,
25 February 2013
0

Whenever I find a new site that offers something I like, I tend to throw myself into it and get obsessive about building up my profile.  This happened with Yelp, then Foodspotting, then Schemer, and now Gogobot.  With Yelp I reviewed and checked-in like my life depended on it (then happily achieved Yelp Elite status).  I’m still obsessively checking in but reviews come sporadically.  With Foodspotting, I went through ALL my pictures from the last couple of years, picked out the food ones, figured out where they were, and started adding them.  After awhile, I got overwhelmed so I’ve taken a break from that but I have an arsenal of pictures yet to post.  With Schemer, I meticulously thought of all the things I wanted to do, see, and experience and added those schemes.  I also browsed popular schemes and continually update this master bucket list as I come across interesting things.

With Gogobot, which I just discovered yesterday through a friend and started adding to my profile today, I’ve been going through old photos to remind me of all the places I’ve been.  I started with the cities I’ve been to and now I’m working through restaurants, sites of interest, hotels, and other notable (and reviewable) establishments.  I’ll be reviewing and adding pictures as I go.  My goal with this is to reach Pro status the next time they choose them!  Plus, Panda and I are actually planning a trip for later in the year, so this will be a great way to keep track of all the places we might want to visit and discover places we haven’t thought of.

LOVE

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
27 December 2012
0

Tonight I watched the Cirque du Soleil show based on the Beatles and I realized that with no context, I probably shouldn’t have seen it. I know maybe two Beatles songs and absolutely no history surrounding them, except that they were widely popular a long time ago.

So there I was, trying to absorb everything when none of it made any sense. Instead I found myself focusing on the raw talent and technique of the performance, which had its moments but overall seemed like a lot of dancing. When I go to a Cirque performance, I expect shows of strength, flexibility, and precision beyond spinning around on the ground.

Spinning in the air is definitely good! That’s probably why I liked the Lucy song routine, where a girl was flying around and a guy was maneuvering a weighted wheel with a ladder attached. Another great scene was the roller skating on ramps – total show of skill!

So for those who are Beatles fans, I think it’s a great show to watch. For those without that background knowledge, it’d be advisable to either skip the show or really learn about Beatles songs beforehand. It’ll make the experience so much better!

Looong day

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
10 November 2012
0

I’ve had a pretty long day traveling & getting some work done and boy am I pooped!  While it’s only been about 20 hours and certainly is not one of the more stressful times I’ve been through, it has tired me out nonetheless.  From an early morning to catch a flight cross-country to pit stops for food & groceries to settling in to work, I haven’t really taken the time to recover.  I guess it was partly because I had so much stuff to do – packages to open and enjoy, new items to list for sale, and bonding time with family.  Now that the excitement has died down, I suddenly feel the achiness and droopy eyes.  I’m sure I’ll sleep well tonight!

Tomorrow’s another busy day (time for Pamper Me Fabulous again!) and I’ll need to rest up.

Whotel

laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: , , ,
20 October 2012
0

I finally had the opportunity to stay at a W Hotel, which sometimes feels like a breed unto its own, hence it being a whotel and not just a hotel.  When I was describing the hotel chain to some friends, I found myself saying it’s like the hotel version of Virgin Airlines.  And truly, if Richard Branson were to run a boutique-y hotel, I’d imagine it to be exactly like the W.

entry area into room at w hotel silicon valley

When you come in the door, there’s a nice little threshold section with hardwood floors .

suite at the w hotel silicon valley

I love the openness of the suites, with the bed area and sitting area merging into one.

wall mirror and padded bench at w hotel silicon valley

Off to the right are a mirror and nice padded bench.

the living area in w hotel silicon valley, with sofa, footrest, and television

There’s a nice open area to relax on the couch and put your feet up while watching TV or chatting.

desk at w hotel silicon valley with arm-less swivel chair

The desk space feels modern with its simplicity and arm-less swivel chair.

bedroom area at w hotel silicon valley

The bed area with swivel TV so you can watch from the couch or bed.

restroom at w hotel with bathrobe and glass sink

The bathroom is sleek with bright lighting and glass fixtures, plus a bathrobe for lounging in.

spearate shower and bathtub in bathroom at w hotel silicon valley

They offer a stand-alone shower and tub for your washing and bathing desires.

 

a small kitchenette in room at w hotel silicon valley

A handy kitchenette offers snacks for purchase including some wine on the wall, or just plain useful things like a microwave, fridge, sink, and cupboards.

 

view of w hotel silicon valley pool from room

Nice pool! Oh, and they like to use simple one-word phrases, like “Wet” for the pool, “Wheels” for the valet service, and “Step” for the shower mat.

One thing I didn’t get around to getting a picture of is the carpets placed in the elevator, which say “Good Morning,” “Good Afternoon,” or “Good Evening” depending on time of day.  I don’t know exactly what time they switch out each, but they sure are on top of that one!

Gorgeous water in the tropics

laelene Posted in video blog，Tags: , , , , ,
17 October 2012
0

It’s beautiful out in Hawaii! Oh, but watch out for that vortex of swirling water as the power plant pumps out its hot water and it mixes with the cool ocean water. It’s not toxic but it might take you for a spin!

swirling ocean water from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

cruising on boat from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Traveling saleswoman

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
14 October 2012
0

Ever since I started selling things on eBay, my choice of products has been affected by my physical location.  When at home, I list the items we have there; when at Panda’s I list the items we get here.  These things vary based on our interests, as well as what stores we have access to.  So, when it came time for a bit of traveling, I found myself packing a suitcase full of products so I’d be prepared in case something sold while I was on the road.  It certainly made for some interesting packing!

It’s funny how I’ve become a sort of new-age “traveling saleswoman.”  Rather than traveling around the country to try to increase sales, I’m traveling as I please and bringing my inventory along for the ride.  As my needs change, I hope to one day travel to discover new products to add to my offerings.  That way I’m enjoying myself while still managing to get plenty of work done to further my business!  Plus, I can find excuses to travel to some awesome places around the world, searching for the best gift items out there.

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