Mucho Snow

As soon as we got back from CA, it snowed snowed snowed. Dave spent a lot of time shoveling this weekend. And today, it's raining! GROSS!

Handy-man Dave

That's my husband cleaning out the stove pipe and chimney. Took several washings to get all the soot out of crevices.

Shabbat Shalom!

Tessa's 3rd grade Hebrew school class was leading the Shabbat service this morning, so I went to Temple for the first time. I had a gone to church services before as a kid with friends - the Sunday morning after slumber parties kind of thing, but I can't ever remember going to a Jewish service. It was very peaceful. The Cantor, the person who does all the singing, was amazing. She sang a-capella the entire time and it was beyond pitch-perfect. Her voice stirred something spiritual inside of me. It was a great experience. I brought my camera to take photos of Tessa but I thought better of it and didn't take any photos. Of course, it didn't matter because I forgot to put the battery back in the camera this morning so I couldn't take any photos anyways.

After the service, there was an Oneg and everyone brought something to eat. The Rabbi is a very friendly guy. He came up to me and told me that we've met before (which I thought was funny because I was the only Asian person at the service - which makes me wonder how many Asians go to Temple) and I told him that it was my very first time and I enjoyed the service.

After the Oneg we split up into pods. Dave went with Alysa and the kids to look at kittens. Michelle and I went to the nail salon where she treated me to a pedicure (Thanks Moe!!). And then we caught up over some beverages at Peet's. Then we met up at the salon where Aunt Elaine, Uncle Bob & Bonnie have a room in the back where they just set-up their new business: New Skin. Alysa performed some laser hair removal and a photo-facial on me - it'll remove all my freckles and scars on my face. I should see the results in 1-2 weeks (Thanks Alysa!!). Meanwhile, Dave & Moe took the kids to the park and Bonnie went shopping for our BBQ dinner tonight (Thanks Bonnie!!).

Did I mention that the weather has been absolutely GORGEOUS since we've been here? it's been sunny and warm the entire time - it hit 68 today!! We are going to freeze our butts off when we get back up to AK.

So, I don't have any photos but the ones below taken from Dave's cell phone:
When's the last time some of you have seen the grass?
Trent & Hannah at the Oneg
This is Coco, Bonnie's dog. I can't man-handle Emma so it's been fun to have a lapdog around to play with.

Wine Country!

Everyone took the day off of work today and took us to Napa Valley for some wine tasting. We rented a limo so no one had to drive - I don't think I've ever been in a limo before.
Dave, Alysa and Steve prepping for the trip.
Our first stop was Sterling vineyards. The views were gorgeous and so is the architecture. But none of us were very excited about their wines.
a taste of Sterling Chardonnay
Rosemary!
Dave sniffing the mint-like plant
Bonnie, Steve & Alysa taking the tram back down to the parking lot.
Stop 2: Frank Family - super tasty wines! and a very entertaining host/bartender (whatever the name is for the person who pours the wine and tells you all about them). This was my favorite stop.
Our great driver Roberto and the limo.
Picnic lunch after we hit stop 3: Rombauer. We have lucked out on the weather. It's been sunny and warm since we've been here.
View from our last stop: Miner Family vineyard. When you add it up, I think we probably had a total of 2 glasses of wine each -I just tasted the wine and then dumped the rest in the 'dump bucket' because I didn't want to get totally obliterated. But by the time the end of the day rolled around and we hit our last stop, my tastebuds were finished and I couldn't have anymore wine.I did manage to sample a lemon straight off a lemon tree. AMAZING what fresh fruit looks, feels, and TASTES like straight off the branch!!!
Steve & Alysa

Modesto

We went to Modesto and had a nice visit with Aunt Elaine & Lauren. Uncle Bob was able to sneak away in between performing surgeries and visit us while we were having lunch! It was wonderful to see them. I forgot to bring my camera, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures - their house is gorgeous! On the car ride back I remembered we had our cell phones and took a few photos from the car:

walnut or almond trees, I can't remember
The last time I was in Modesto was back in 2001(?). I came down to CA for a road trip to check out graduate schools and also to visit friends. My friend Jason, who I've known since 4th grade, was living there at the time and working for Gallo. And now he & his wife and daughter are living in Orinda which is not very far away from where Dave's family lives but unfortunately we won't have enough time this trip to visit them. Next time!!!

That evening we went over to Kevin & Aneldy's (which is conveniently just down the street from my mother-in-law's) and played some games on their Wii. And then we met up with Mike and had some yummy Indian food in Berkeley.

Here's a really bad video (from the cell phone) of Dave & Kevin duking it out:

Down in CA

We're down in CA visiting Dave's family. We upgraded our ancient cell phones while we were in Anchorage and played around with the camera feature on the phone. Like those annoying people you see taking photos of everything with their phones.
Here is Dave enjoying a bagel dog at Noah's bagels. (Like the hair?)
Here I am, fresh off the plane with hardly any sleep... not very happy!! get the paparazzo out of my face! :)

What's in a name?

Since getting engaged and then married, I've had many people ask me, "Are you going to change your last name?" I haven't yet. And I wasn't planning on participating in this patriarchal tradition. I've always been Shiway Wang. Shiway Wei Wang, that is. I'm 33. If I had gotten married a decade ago, I probably would have taken my husband's name. Now that I've had my twenties, a decade of time, to mature a little more (maybe not much, but definitely a little more) and developed into something that resembles an adult, I'm having a hard time imagining being referred to as anything besides Shiway Wang.

My last name in Chinese is pronounced 'Wong'. It means 'king'. And, apparently in Taiwan, is as common as the English equivalent of 'Smith' or 'Jones'. Interestingly enough, women in Taiwan do not 'take' their husband's last name. Offspring are given their father's last name and stick with it for life.

Here are my choices as I see it:

No change
Shiway Wei Wang Safine
Shiway Wang Safine
Shiway Wang-Safine
Shiway Safine Wang (what's the point of that one?)
David Wang (ha ha... Dave didn't like this option very much, the cashier at Safeway likes to say 'Thanks Mr. & Mrs. Wang, you saved six dollars and forty-seven cents today' which I think is very funny)

I'm not a big fan of hyphenating our names - a bit of a mouth full. I might consider changing my last name if we have kids. Most of my married girlfriends changed their last names and it definitely gives more of a 'family unit' feel to it. But my last name is also one of the few ways that I can hang on to my cultural identity.

And what's up with this 'Mrs' stuff? I still don't feel old enough to be addressed as a 'Mrs'. Maybe another reason why I don't want to change my name? I can eternally be known as a 'Ms'. Mrs. Wang is my mom (interestingly enough she changed her last name when we moved to the US from Chen but in Chinese, still goes by her 'maiden' name). And Mrs. Safine is Dave's mom.

My brother, playing devil's advocate, argues that my first name is unique enough that my last name is inconsequential. 'Who else is named SHIWAY?'. And I suppose that he has a point. When I formally introduce myself to people, I don't often include my last name. Does this mean my name is equivalent to those one-named wonders such as Madonna, or Prince? Maybe I should drop my middle and last name all together. Will I one day, be known as 'The biologist formerly known as Shiway' and take up a symbol?

So, what's in a name anyways?