Try something new for 30 days

1. Take a photo a day. 

2. Give a compliment a day.

3. Speak to someone new every day.

4. Keep a thought journal.

5. Write your dreams down every morning for 30 days.

6. Spend five minutes meditation every day.

7. Learn something new every day.

8. Talk to Parents every day.

9. Cook or bake something new each day.

11. Keep a laughter journal. Write down one thing a day that made you really laugh hard.

12. Go for a 15 minute run every day

13. Do 50 sit-ups a day.

14. Write down a positive thought a day

15. Before you go to sleep, think about the best thing that happened to you that day for five minutes.

16. What have you always wanted to do but never have? Spend 30 days writing down ideas for accomplishing your goal.

17. Give up bitching for a month or saying anything negative about people.

18. Write a book in a month with help from National Novel Writing Month

19. Wake up at 6am to meditate every morning

20. Face a new fear a day — talk to a stranger, push yourself put of your comfort zone

21. Learn to love yourself just a little bit more each day. You deserve it.

22. Watch a film a day

23. Take a photograph of your food every day — it might force you to prepare nicer looking meals.

24. Plant a flower a day — in your garden or just in random places.

47. Take up a new interesting hobby —photograph, piano

50. Text, write, message…people you care about and tell them why they’re important to you.

53. Learn a new instrument in a month — the ukulele, cello, flute — whatever takes your fancy.

57. Create a postcard sized piece of art each day and have a work of art to display at the end of the month.

60. Read about a different period of history every day.

62. Do one thing each day that makes you feel inspired.

64. Revamp your house in a month and learn one upcycling trick a day.

65. Learn a new word every day.

68. Do an hour of exercise a day.

72. Learn to lucid dream in 30 days

74. Spend 30 days being a vegetarian or vegan

81. Read a chapter of a book idea

86. Be positive for 30 days — even when things go wrong, look only for the postives.

87. Try out polyphasic sleep (sleeping multiple times within 24 hours).

90. Spend 30 days eating (healthy) raw food meals.

92. Feel beautiful in your own skin every day.

93. Create a bucket list of 30 items in 30 days.

94. Write down something you love about your partner／daughter every day and give them the list after your month is up.

95. Read a poem a day.

96. Write a poem a day.

97. Dance every day — whether you’re good at it or not.

99. Sell 30 things you don’t need, use or wear anymore and see how much money you make at the end of the month.

100. Spend each day being as ‘present’ as possible and making the most of simple acts and routine tasks. 

Disney Magic 4-night Bahamas cruise review and tips

Preparation:

Booked the trip 3 months in-advance. Avoid the spring break peak time.

We'll be driving 8 hours from Charlotte, NC to Titusville, FL. Make sure your vehicle is in good condition. DH changed two front tires and changed the oil of the car before the trip.

I made Beef-jerky for DH to eat in the car. He loves it and it's spicy to keep him awake while driving.

I downloaded 30 eposides of TV shows to the iPad for kids to watch in the car so they won't be too bored on the road.

I downloaded Disney Cruise Apps to the cell phone. It's very useful guide to use on the cruise.

DH booked the hotel a week ahead online. It's $156 a night at Marriott Hotel @ Titusville, FL. We might get a better price if we book earlier.

Inform school teachers about vacation and asked if they can give them the next week's homework earlier. The Chinese teacher did. AIG reading teacher gave Emma last reading assignment earlier because it's the end of grading period. Next time I could inform them 2 weeks earlier if it's close to the end of the grading period so teachers could give them the test earlier then they won't get an incomplete grade.

Review:

Food:  5-star

We ate our breakfast & Lunch mostly on Cabanna's buffet except the debarkation date you have to go to the assigned restaurant to eat breakfast. We love Cabana's buffet. Plenty of food choices. I would say it's even comparable to the food that served at our assigned restaurants.

Breakfast: oatmeal topping with lots of nuts, seeds and dried fruit is my favorite. Sometimes they even serve smoke salmon slices.

Lunch Buffet you can eat good amount of seafood choices: stone crab, snow crab, shrimp, cod, mahi mahi, salmon, snails etc. My favorite is the desert. Not too sweet, it's made in a bite size, top with fruits.

We ate one lunch at Castaway cay by the beach. They served  hot dogs, burgers, drinks. It can not compare with the food on the ship but still meet our expectation.

On Deck 9, there are several places serving the foods through out the day. You can get them whenever you feel hungry. Pinocchio's Pizza place serves thin crust pizzas. They are wonderful snacks, kids love them!

 Daisy’s De-Lite near the AquaLab family pool area serves breakfast, lunch, and early evening snacks. You can get fresh fruit, salads, sandwiches, wraps, cookies and Bagels from there.

You can get ice-cream, soda drinks, coffee, teas all for free. The smoothie($6) and the wines you have to pay for it. I can tell kids would rather eat at Deck 9 than those fancy restaurants. 

Tips: You can order whatever you want for the dinner. You can order two main courses if you like two of the menus. You can also order from adults' menu for your kids, doesn't have to go with children's menu. On first day's dinner, my in-law got seabass  on her menu and she said: I wish I could have this on my last day and the waitress brought her seabass on her last day's dinner even it's not on that day's menu.

 

Total cost: $3000

Cruise $2300, tips: $200, gas: $100, hotel: $200, miscelleous (souvinier): $100

Reading notes of "a girl's guide to manners"

Good sports:

Don't show off when they score.
Congratulate one another on their good play.

Doors:

Hold doors open for older people...
Saying "thanks" is a way to return the kindness when someone holds a door for you.

Good impressions

Stand tall

Hold your head up, pull your shoulders back. Talk in a strong voice. Walk like a girl who's ready to meet the world, and you'll begin to feel like one. You'll find that others will see you that way, too.

Make eye contact

Look people in the eye. It shows that you are friendly and honest. It also tells others that you are interested in them and in what they are saying.

Say hello


Use names
Greet people by name. It shows that you care who they are, which makes them feel good.

I had a bad Car accident and things I learned

On Friday afternoon around 4pm, I planned to take kids to Costco and on the way I'd drop by library to return/borrow books. When I was approaching the traffic light at Stonecrest, the light turned green and the car line were moving slowly but then stopped again due to the traffic jam so I hit the brake to slow down the car. All of sudden I felt the force from behind pushing my car into the car in the front and all I heard was two loud bang sound before I realized what happened. I got hit by the car behind me causing me hit the car in the front!

Lesson learned: Avoid the rush hour. Don't go out unless you have to. The more traffic, the more accidents. Don't ever take your eyes off the road, even just a split second.

I was in shock at that moment. The driver behind me got out of the car to talked to me and the driver in the front, he politely apologized. We all pulled over to the parking lot around the corner. The driver of the front car was a tall guy in his sixties. He had two dogs in the car too. Somehow he didn't think it's needed to call the police. I wasn't quite sure so I called my husband and he suggested me always call police to file the report. So the gentleman (the driver at fault) called police. (I learned here that if no injury occur and the accident happened in the rush hour, you might have to wait 2 hours to get the Police come). Fortunately, it only took about 20 mins for police to come. While waiting for the police to come, the driver at fault showed us his insurance card, so I took the picture with my iPhone. Later I learned I should gather their phone numbers too.

Police asked some information and handed each of us the accident report. The driver in front actually drove someone else's car. (Maybe that's why he didn't want to call police?)

The policeman noticed the fluid was leaking out from the front of my car and he told me I need a towing service. I didn't expect it was that bad that I couldn't drive my mini-van any more. I called my insurance company, they helped me locate the towing service near me. The driver at fault was a nice guy. He stayed there with me until my husband came. Turned out his car also needed to be towed. The old guy in the front car left, his car had the least damage so he still could drive his car.

After the mini-van was towed, we decided to get the rental car right away. We went to airport to rent a car from Hertz. Later on I learned if you call insurance company first, they will arrange the rental car for you and you don't need to pay it out of your pocket and reimburse later.

The mini-van was towed to Honda dealer, the 2nd day they called and asked if they can start the repair. My DH asked them to wait for the adjuster. The mini-van was 10 years old, so we didn't carry the collision liability. That means we have to deal with the other car's insurance company ourselves. It was a pain in the ass. It turned out our car was total so we have to negotiate how much the other car's insurance company will have to pay. The negotiation coming back and forth for several weeks. They tried to cheat us by pulling some invalid comparable cars data. My DH did a deliberate internet search for the car value himself.  We finally settled a price that we can accept, about $5700. A friend of my DH was a car dealer who buy and sell the cars from auction. He found a same year Honda Odyssey for us with some upgrade features: leather seats, DVD, GPS. (We barely used the last two features but leather seats are good)

When we got the replacement, we added the collision insurance to this car so we don't have to deal with the negotiation in the future.

30 days of meals

沙茶鸡翼，菠菜，酸辣汤，pecan pie

I messed up with the salt for pecan pie, it was 1/4 tsp, but I added 1tsp. It tastes a bit weird but still eatable.

红烧肉蛋，Broccoli

我不知道怎么才能把红烧肉颜色做得漂亮点，Brocolli炒得清脆点。

30 days of photos

Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center (iPhone Pano)

"Mommy, we are home..."

Dawn

Morning

Foggy

Rainy

出神

琅琊阁前几集点评

这个剧比其他国产剧好的地方是：剧情紧凑，摄像优美，配乐也好。
第一集

开头梅岭赤焰军战场，场面惨烈。林帅的大旗下，赤焰军死伤无数。人群出现了一张血肉模糊的脸（要看到后面才会知道这就是林殊）他被一个面目不清的将士砍中，林殊倒下前看着砍他的人脸上现出一副无法置信的表情（这集后面梅长苏住进宁国斧见到谢玉时，这个砍人的镜头重现，表明这个砍他的人就是谢玉）。然后是林殊的爸爸林shi在悬崖上抓着林殊的手，跟他说为了赤焰军要活下去，接着林殊呼喊着父亲掉下悬崖。。。镜头一转，梅长苏从噩梦中醒来（原来是一场梦）长发掩盖的脸露出一双布满血丝的眼睛，盯着远处的群山，手里下意识地摩挲着银色的赤焰军手环，可以看到上面一个“林”字。。。

这个开头很赞，只用画面来交待故事的起因前情，埋下各种伏线。

然后是仙境一样的景观，随着鸽子的眼睛，飞越群山，流水，瀑布，一片亭台楼阁出现在这个世外桃源，这就是赫赫有名的琅琊阁。据说这些美景不是实景拍摄，而是后期用特效加上去的。鸽子给琅琊阁少阁主蔺晨带来了北燕传来的消息：北燕六皇子当上了太子。少阁主的脸上露出了一丝不易察觉的微笑，喃喃道：他果然办到了。（这里的他，指的就是梅长苏，这也是要往后看才会知道的）。

接下来皇帝，越贵妃，皇后，太子萧景宣先后出现，简短的对话就点出了誉王和太子，越贵妃和皇后之间的矛盾。

北燕归来的使者告诉誉王萧景桓北燕六皇子是在得到琅琊阁的指点才当上太子的。接下去誉王遭到了太子派来的刺客袭击，更促使誉王迫不及待地去拜访琅琊阁，寻找能够辅佐他对付太子的高人“麒麟才子”。琅琊阁给先后来拜访的誉王和太子都提供了一份相同的答案：琅琊榜首，江左梅郎，麒麟之才，得之可得天下。（瞧这生意做的，两边坑钱呐）。镜头切换地出现了两派（太子和誉王）之间的谋士，誉王谋士秦般若，太子谋士谢玉。（奇怪如果请来梅长苏做谋士，这两个人岂不要失业了吗？）。而两个皇子的这些动静，老谋深算的皇帝是知道的。

然后是梅长苏（胡哥）玉树临风，一叶扁舟上吹着笛子在水汽弥漫的江中飘然而现。（？）不要太帅吧。

卓家父子暗中跟踪誉王队伍的对话也点名了他们跟誉王的对立关系。这集出场的还有言侯儿子言豫津和长公主之子萧景睿，这两个人是好哥们。这两个人不参加政治斗争，梅长苏选择跟他们一起进京。
这集还讲到皇帝派夏冬去调查庆国公一案和皇帝要给霓凰选婿。因为霓凰镇守云南，战功赫赫，让皇帝有点害怕，想把她嫁了以防她的势力持续增长。

第二集
不是很明白为什么梅长苏要偷偷进京。飞流和蒙自（大梁第一高手，琅琊榜上第二高手）过招，只是输他一点，为什么飞流没上琅琊高手榜呢？电视剧里对飞流的背景没有交代，小小年纪功夫就这么高，肯定是有特殊的背景的。飞流那么高的功夫，也引起了侯爷谢玉对梅长苏产生了一丝疑惑。梅长苏故意放风让太子和誉王两边都来了。高公公一开始就一直在帮靖王了，这个高公公真是厉害啊。侯爷就是个两面派，表面上保持中立，实际是太子的谋士，暗中又派儿子谢弼为誉王效力。这点被梅长苏马上就看出来了。（谢弼的扮相有点土，相比起其他公子，缺少点贵族气质。）太子也演得有点笨了些。

两个皇子竞先讨好梅长苏，很好笑。太皇太后一下子就认出了梅长苏就是林殊，可是大家都以为她是老糊涂了。霓凰心里却留了疑窦。

第三集
庭生（后面知道是祁王的遗腹子），这个演员选的也不好，没有灵气，祁王是何等人物，怎么儿子这么一般。这集不明白的地方是蒙挚这之前一直都有跟梅长苏联络。为什么梅长苏选择他，而不是霓凰？蒙挚毕竟只在赤焰军待了一年而已。霓凰对梅长苏感兴趣是因为几年前他帮她化解了南境危机。为什么豫津和景睿也参加了霓凰的选婿比试?
霓凰选婿比试上出现了一个百里奇，武功甚好，但是粗人一个。
小王爷对姐姐真好，弹幕里有人说这小王爷是现代人穿越过去的吗？真好笑
这集还提到了景睿的身世
卓班主排行第四
第四集
梅长苏利用百里奇救庭生
静妃偶然间听到有人要让郡主喝情丝绕的事情，想办法见到长公主求她传话给郡主。（因为长公主以前也被人下情丝绕). 长公主转而求救于梅长苏。