New Website

Migrating all of my blogs to on website here!

http://tingalinggg.weebly.com/

Blue Bottle Coffee

Sipping on some Three African coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee on this cold, rainy day.

Christmas House

Playing around with the wide angle lens at the super decorated house in Whitestone.

Dim Sum

Dim sum with the family in Flushing!

Newseum

Friday night I went on a private Newseum tour with the candidate sell event, but we didn't have enough time to see everything. So I went back Saturday morning to see everything and spend more time; it's such a cool museum! The museum is about the First Amendment rights and being able to freely express ideas and the exhibits were all related to that. There was a piece of the Berlin Wall and one of the watch towers in the museum. And the coolest part I felt like was the FBI exhibit with all the 9/11 artifacts. There were debris from the site and people's credit cards and cell phones. It was a eerie exhibit but really interesting. There was also a Pulitzer Photographs that had shocking stories as well. All the photos were so good and captures whatever was happening during that time period. And the museum roof was also really nice, looking up and down Pennsylvania Avenue. It's too bad the Capitol is ugly under construction.

Front entrance.

Only the West Side of the Berlin Wall had grafitti because on the East Side if you got close to the wall you'd get shot. 

Part of the Exit door of the twin tower.

Pretty  nice rooftop.

Museum had a lot of glass to signify the transparency of the press.

The atrium.

Stopped by the White House to see the National Tree.

Labor Day Weekend @ Cornell

First holiday since starting work and I spent it with wonderful people up at Cornell. Started with a surprise and showed up at Tiffany's front door a day earlier than she expected. Her reaction was so perfect. Just walked around the room in circle didn't know what to do hahaha. I visited a bunch of friends who are still in school and also visited the Career Office! It was so nice talking to all of them again and I felt so welcomed! On Saturday we had Kelly's surprised birthday party, planned by Kelly's sweet boyfriend hehehe. We all gathered at Stewart Park as Guo brought Kelly to the park where we all surprised her! It was pretty successful and everyone was there! Sally, Steve, Patty, Stephen and Jason were all there too! Missed them so much and derping around with them. Hanging out with them felt just the same and we acted just as immature as we always did. Lots of smiles and laughs at the park that day. Had Saigon with everyone as well nom so delicious!

Tiffany and I also went exploring on our own as well. Went to Hazelnut Kitchen in Trumansburg for the first time and it was really good! The restaurant was pretty small and cute and the dessert was so good! Hazelnut butter cake and chocolate hazelnut ice cream omgg. We also went to our go-to spot in Ithaca: Purity Ice Cream, and go our go-to choice of ice cream: Strawberry. So delicious as usual and then we went to Steamboat Landing on Monday when it was all empty. It's really peaceful there when the Farmer Market's not there and it's just a nice place to hang out. Made our way to Stewart Park and stopped the car to let a huuuge family of geese cross the road. Hehe. Such a wonderful weekend in Ithaca I wish it could last longer. :( Gotta get back to that work life and looking forward to visiting Ithaca again soon!

Steak and Salmon at Hazelnut Kitchen!

D'awwwww so cuuute!

Group silly face!

Lul, didn't work out so well here...

Much betttter.

This child sitting at the children bench.

Haha told her to pose like this.

Derping around at Steamboat Landing.

Peekabooooo.

Long Island Fun

Went on a super fun but exhausting day trip with Tiffany yesterday to Long Island! Started off by going to Five Pennies Creamery to get some ice cream! It was just alright, but refreshing nonetheless. Then we went to Fire Island Lighthouse and it took quite a while to get there because the GPS directed me to the wrong place, but the drive along the shore was really nice so I didn't mind! The lighthouse, well it's just a lighthouse. The climb to the top was 182 steps, not much more than the Clock Tower, but those steps were so much higher. The breeze at the top felt so good though, and we got to see really far out and saw the NYC skyline in the distance. Pretty cool. And then walked along the shore back to the parking lot, and haha saw people skinny dipping even though there was a sign saying clothing required. Interesting.. Chilled at the beach for a bit and then headed to Tanger Outlet, but didn't get anything just walked around. Then hunger called, so we went to Olive Garden in Westbury and got dinner! 2 for $25 so worth it and it was yummidelicious. Final stop at IKEA to get some home goods, but I didn't end up getting anything and Tiffany got a hamper for her apartment. And then met up with Evelyn, Oscar, and Sisi at Coney Island to hang out a bit. The beach was disgustingly gross, such a downgrade from Fire Island beaches haha. But it was nice chilling at the Boardwalk. Such a fun day and then came home and crashed.. haha

At the top of Fire Island Lighthouse!

Ginormous, not really..

Who is this kid?

^___^

So crowded here at nightttt.

Heh, we took a photo like this last year at Coney Island too. Repeating it again this year!

Smorgasburg & Brooklyn Brewery

Reunited with the 305 Eddy crew!! Missed hanging out with them and it was great to meet up in the city even if it were just a few of us. Met up with Sally, Steve and Mui at Smorgasburg in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The new location at Pier 5 is so nice because it's so big and there's so much more activities to do by the water there. There were BBQ grills, kayaking which I think were free, and sports activities. It just seemed so much more lively there than the other place. We got brisket sandwiches from Mighty Quinn and it was yummidelicious. But it was way too hot to eat anything else so we got popsicles and lemonades, and the headed to Brooklyn Brewery. While waiting for the tour we had 2 beers and just caught up and chatted. The tour itself was alright, but our tour guide was super enthusiastic and funny so she made it more interesting. After the tour we went to IKEA to scout out potential furniture that we need to get since we'll all be moving to our own apartments in a few weeks. :( Got lots of ideas and will go back next time to buy them. Kinda scary that we're all off on different paths now and that we won't be doing things as a group anymore. But anyway, they went to the city to eat mussels and I went back to get dinner with the QCC crew.

Kayaking in the East River by Brooklyn Bridge Park. I wanna go.

Sorachi beer. Pretty good!

The big logooo.

Tap room where everyone waits!

The iconic logo again.

Carnival Cruise

Came back from a 7-night cruise on Carnival! My second cruise in 2 months haha, but this time with family. We left from Laguardia Airport last week and flew to Orlando! Then took a private cab to Port Canaveral, all looks sooo familiar since I was just here 2 months ago with Royal Caribbean haha. Carnival's ship seems smaller and not as elegant, and so many little children running around it was like a huge floating playground. We got the oceanside room so there was a window and we could actually tell what time it was!

The sea days were kinda boring, and the most interesting part of the day was going to the pool with Evelyn and playing with her in the water, and it wasn't even that fun. Too many little kids the pool is so packed. Actually the best part is the naps that followed, quite comfortable sleeping in the sun. We went to Cozumel, Mexico first, where we took a ferry to Playa del Carmen to see the Mayan ruins. Everything was so rushed because we didn't have that much time and we kept getting delayed. Breezed through the ruins in less than an hour and then rushed back to catch the ferry. Plus it rained the whole day which made everything gross and humid and uncomfortable. Then the next day we went to Belize! Which was much more interesting, we got a private tour from a cab driver and he was so cool and friendly. Took us around the rural areas and downtown and told us about Belize's history. Belize and Taiwan are on good terms and Taiwan donates a lot of money to them, so there were Taiwanese flags everywhere hehe, and apparently there's a lot of Asians there and a bunch of grocery stores are owned by Asians. Go Asians! The driver took us to this rum store and we tasted different types of wine, at 9am local time haha. The next day we were supposed to go to Honduras, but because of rough seas the ship couldn't dock so we ended up spending another day at sea. Such bummers. And then the next day we went to Costa Maya, Mexico, our last stop. We just went to a private beach and there was an open bar! Didn't drink all cruise so I indulged a little bit hehe, but the drinks were so light and they were alright. But there was this huge floating inflatable playground and it was so fun! There was a trampoline and lots of obstacle courses and I was doing flips on the trampoline and off it into the water. And then another sea day and then we came back! On the way back I learned a lot about alligators in Florida from the cab driver. Very very interesting. Overall the trip was much more relaxed and laid back, and sober, than the Royal Caribbean trip. But I didn't expect it to be as fun because with family everything's very tamed haha. I've mastered how to entertain Evelyn and Chloe when they're whining and crying hehe. It's so tiring to entertain them, they're like bipolar when they're sleepy or hungry, or just agitated. Now back to the normal lifestyle in New York for a month before working in DC. :O

Evelyn and Chloe are super fun when they cooperate, but when they fight...

Hehe yoga on the windowsill.

Goofballs.

Took Evelyn to the waterslide but she was too scared to go alone and we couldn't do two people, so I went.

Mexicoooo.

More Mexicoo.

These are bar seats, so cool!

Mayan ruins! Forgot the name of it.. lol.

More half standing buildings!

And more...

 Belize!

Place where we docked.

First stop was a rum store lol.

He looks scary, but he's actually so nice and cool.

Their 1-street flea market.

Beach at Costa Maya and the giant inflatable playground!

Blue water, so niceee.

More beach.

Such colorful drinks. Taking advantage of the open bar. :D

Red Hook Exploration

Met up with Tiffany to get lunch at 86th Street and then went to Red Hook to see all the stuff that's there. Everything is so small-scale and quiet and not that many people walk around there, it's like a quaint little neighborhood. Went to Fairway Market and Pier 44 Waterfront Garden to see the view of the Statue of Liberty. Then went to Valentino Park and chilled there for quite a bit under the nice warm sun. And then we fulfilled our ice cream cravings by getting Van Leeuwen ice cream in Downtown Brooklyn. So delicious!! Afterwards, we went to Bldg 92 where it talked about Brooklyn Navy Yard's history but I didn't find it all that interesting. For dinner, instead of eating at a restaurant, we got Vanessa's from Chinatown and brought it to Brooklyn Bridge Park to eat it. Enjoyed the nice weather and people watched couples and kids play in the park. Then it started raining and we took cover in the car and waited it out, and then went back out to Jane's Carousel to take photos. :) Very well spent last day full of spontaneous plans.

View from Pier 44 Waterfront Garden. Not really a garden just a pathway along the water.

Red Hook blocks by Valentino Park!

Van Leeuwen's ice cream, so delicious!

I think it's my first time seeing Jane's Carousel open. :O

Obligatory Brooklyn Bridge photo.

We are normal people.

But sometimes, not so much...