Year of the Happy Rabbit

Am at home tonight on Monday night in my beautiful (to me!), colorful (turquoise and coral in the living room!), cosy, warm, apartment. With Sushi curled up next to me. Watching The Bachelor (I know I know...) Just cooked myself quick simple meal of whole grain spaghetti with mentaiko cod roe sauce from the great Nijiyama Japanese grocery store in Japantown. Also gobbled down half a box of Annie's Sour Cream & Onion bunnies. Ah...lack of self control. Luckily I made it to TRX class for 2 hours today - circuit training and power stretch.

So....it's all surreal still sometimes. Here I am, actually LIVING, working, loving San Francisco. 2010 was a blur. And now it's 2011. The year of the peaceful rabbit. I woke up in Paris, no less, the first day of the New Year - and just felt - GREAT. No other way to explain it. With a really good feeling for how the year would be.

December was full of ups and downs - was home sick for sure. Ended up booking last minute
trip to Paris for Xmas with lovely Yasmin. So nice to see her. A true, dear, loyal friend. And Paris at Christmas - I mean - the lights were gorgeous. It was freezing no doubt, but the snow, the lights, the incredible food..had the best crepes of my life that was worth the trek to Marais where I admittedly got a little grumpy. It was cold though. (another reason I wake up everyday grateful that I live in San Francisco and NOT the East Coast!)

And then onwards to magical Marrakesh in Morocco - something I had wanted to go to for the longest time. I lucked out in that the whole trip was all planned out and all I had to do was follow around. Being in the big wide Saharan desert was pretty amazing. And COLD. We had these luxury tents set up for us in the middle of nowhere. Ridiculous! But so cool. And we rode camels into the sunset....

But, thing is, when it all came down to it, I was so happy to get back to San Francisco. I wasnt' terribly social on this trip. But it gave me ample time to think. And read. Travelling is wonderful. And I am so grateful for all those experiences. But, more and more, I want to stay local. Don't get me wrong, I still want to go to Rome and Hawaii and the Amalfi Coast. Maybe I should wait till I find the right people to go with....

But anyway, I digress. So here I am in San Francisco. Work is getting a bit more manageable. I am blessed to have made some very nice friends. And life, is as usual, work in progress. But I continue to be amazed at how I have actually managed to carve out and build up a nice little life for me here in San Francisco. A place I just officially moved to in September.

I celebrated my birthday in January here in a fun week - Karaoke night with some awesome peeps. Dinner at my dream restaurant The French Laundry with great company. Dinner at Chotto a new izakaya with a fun crazy group. Dinner cooked for me by a few other friends on separate nights.
And I have been doing quite a few dinners at home - good food, great company in comforts of my own home (with guest parking!) = happiness. Even hosted a Chinese New Year Superbowl which was really good fun and a hit just for its random fusion-ness. Managed to bake a fair bit recently too - mildly obsessed with green tea at the moment. Green tea cupcakes with green tea whipped cream frosting are utterly yummi-licious.

I am a very, very lucky girl. I know I worked hard for it. But still, I do feel blessed and grateful. It almost makes me fearful as to how my life might change. But, I think I do feel truly open to embracing what comes my way. Not something I felt in Singapore for a long while! So let me say it again - thank goodness I took the plunge and moved here!

Watching the Chinese New Year parade on telly this past Saturday - a big festival in Union Square - I felt a surge of pride at being a San Franciscan! Such an odd but cute feeling :-)