I recently had the following convo...

Friend: Ohmigosh! Hi! You look great today!
Me: Aww, really? Thanks!
Friend: Yeah your face looks so small today!
Me: Uhhh...umm...thanks.

I think only in East Asian culture would this be considered a compliment, er I guess more like a complisult.

What's the latest complisult you've heard lately?

As a Florida girl, whenever it snows I'm just in awe of the white stuff. It's so pretty and makes everything look so clean! But within a few hours it gets sooo nasty, especially in NYC!

However, living in NYC (without a car) I'm thankful that I don't have to shovel the snow to go somewhere or worry about the outside of my apartment. I'm sure people with homes and cars have it rough!

Whenever I pass by a park, or a patch of the lovely white stuff I always have to touch it or make snow angels. It's quite embarrassing for my husband, who grew up with four seasons and is used to the snow.

Are you a fan of snow? Does it annoy or excite you?

This week is crawling by.   Every day I've woken up and thought it was the day after. Why?  Because I've been waiting for January 8 for the past month.

Tonight the Florida Gators and Oklahoma Sooners will play for the BCS National Championship.

I'm a graduate of the University of Florida and a serious, die hard Florida Gator. There are only a couple of things in life that get me super excited and one of them is Gator sports.

I've lost my voice so many times cheering at football games, sports bars and even in my living room.

When I watch a game it's like all time has stopped and all that's going on is that game. My personal worries disappear and for at least 3 hours I'm in a different zone. If the apt burned down during a Gator game I'd be in trouble. I probably wouldn't even notice.   

It's so fun to be so passionate about something like that, where you can just lose track of time and have fun- win or lose (of course winning is more fun though ).

In college I used to camp out for basketball games- in the rain, during finals, through illness, I would wait outside the stadium with friends so that we could sit down low in the O'Dome. 

I'm holding the sign. This was my freshman yr, when Mike Miller was our star basketball player. 

My friends and I at a bball game. I kidnapped half of them to watch the game with me.

Here I am junior year of college (on the right) with my good friend Mimi in 2001. This is the earliest digital photo I have of myself at the Swamp. Yes I was in college during the pre digi-cam days.

I was the friend that rounded up everyone's football tickets and planned the pregaming strategy .  Even now I'm still the one that gets everyone together for games. Instead of The Swamp, we usually watch them at a sports bar on the UWS near my apt.  

The Swamp is an awesome place whether full of fans or empty and peaceful!

Every year I go to FL and stop by Gainesville to meet up with friends that still live in town. In May 2007, I got together with some girl friends for a picnic in the Swamp. While we were eating our takeout we look up and see no other than Coach Urban Meyer! He was so nice and took some time to take pictures with us.

Coach with a gaggle of Asian girls.

Last year Timmy won a Heisman. Which was awesome but we lost to Michigan in the Capital One bowl.

From January to late August I patiently waited, like I do every year, for college football season to start. At the start of the 08-09 season we were pumped to go undefeated. However, this past September I witnessed something in the Swamp I'd never seen.

My husband and I at the Swamp on September 27, 2008.

I witnessed my beloved Gators lose to Old Miss. It was the first time I ever saw my Gators lose live at the Swamp.  I was so heartbroken and my voice was raw from all the yelling and cheering.  

After the game Tim Tebow met with the press and went on to say this:

"But I promise you one thing," Tebow went on. "A lot of good will come out of this. You have never seen any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of this season, and you'll never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of this season. And you'll never see a team play harder than we will the rest of this season. God bless."

After that game the Gators were not the same team anymore... they were freaking incredible!

Watch on youtube in high quality for best viewing. You can turn off the annoying sign by mousing over the up arrow.

After those games we went on to beat the #1 team in the nation, Alabama, for the SEC title.

Win or lose tonight I'm so incredibly proud of my team and can't wait to watch the game. The past season was amazing and so much fun! It brought my friends and I together again like the days we were in college. Here's my photo recap of the past season:

Big props to all the die hard sports fans out there! Best of luck to all your teams throughout the year (except for when my Gators are playing them! )

I'm hanging this bad boy up in the Xanga office next to the Illinois and Michigan banners!

Go Gators!!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

My parents are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary next month. Since I was a little girl I always wanted to send my parents on a vacation and finally this year I have the opportunity to do so. I'm sooo excited for them! My parents haven't been on a vacation alone since before I was born, 28 years ago.

I was pretty limited in where to send them. They only have 4 days off so I didn't want them to fly or drive too far away to get somewhere. Also, they aren't internet savvy so going somewhere they'd have to research and find things to do or eat would be too tough.

So I thought a cruise would be perfect for them. They only have to drive 45 min to get to the port from their home and from what I hear cruise ships are like floating hotel resorts- everything's on the boat.

This will be the first cruise experience for my folks and to be honest no one I know has ever gone on a cruise (I wonder why that is, seems like such a good deal ).  Have any of you been on a cruise before?

I ask because I wanted to help my parents pick out things to do for the days they're docked in Nassau, Bahamas. Is it worth paying the fees to do the organized excursions or can you just get off the boat and do your own thing? What do you recommend?  Also, is there anything you'd recommend they bring with them on the cruise (I think dramamine is a must)?

I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks so much

I have no idea where spring went!  It's soooo freaking hot!  I know I'm from Florida but cmon on, in Florida you go from one centrally air-conditioned building to another and you never walk anywhere. Just go in and out of your car with the ac on full blast. The heat up here is so much worse than Florida.

Right now we live on the 5th floor of a pre-war walkup with no central ac, just window units. If you are directly in front of the window unit it feels nice and cool but the moment you step a foot away from the blower radius it feel like you have crossed over into the Caribbean. Also, if you've been sitting or laying down for a while and you stand up you can feel a significant temperature difference. Folks heat really does rise!

I don't mean to sound like such a whiny brat. I think the heat is bringing the worst out of me. All sense of patience and kindness leave my mind and body the moment I experience 95-plus degree weather. Or maybe I really am a cranky, mean person and the heat brings out my true character.

What's the temp like in your neck of the woods? Hopefully cooler than NYC.