Driving in Seoul is like Amatuer NASCAR overseas. Crazy cab drivers and heavy-footed wannabes (like me – first speeding ticket last week) wreak havoc throughout the city of 12million. In the past 3 weeks, 2 of my guys have been pretty bad car accidently involving wreckless cab drivers. At what seems like the zennith of bad car karma, today a Ferrari got toasted making an illegal u-turn and colliding with a taxi(close-up). Both drivers: coma. Taxi passenger: dead. Unbelievable! Drive Safe.

It’s been a long two weeks… work, travel and whatnot but the most stressful piece has been worrying about the Dawg. Brenda called with word that Mocha was peeing and pooping all over the place with a really tired mentality. She went to the hospital for a bunch of tests ($$$) and they thought CANCER! What? 8 years old? really!?!?! I was devastated. I love that dog and though I don’t see her that much, I couldn’t imagine life without her! Well more and more tests later, apparently we are cancer-FREE. It was just an allergic reaction that was solved with some Benadryl! Who would have thought? She’s doing MUCH better now so I can’t wait to see her 4th of July weekend!! Thank God!

I’m flying to HK on sunday (actual day) and we’ve both been burning the 3a oil at the office getting ready for big meetings so it was a lowkey night at home. A homecooked, candlelight meal… Chicken Lo Mein and some good old R&R. To compensate for the possibility of a lackluster meal, I had to supplement the eventing with some extras (flowers, candy, DVD, etc).

Everything was well received with a big smile, but the evening would not have been complete without cake (not made by me). The fire, the wish and the joy!!

Happy Birthday Baby!!

A beautiful friday night and we headed up to the new W Hotel (6 star) for some fine dining and a drink in the infamous WOO BAR! We took in a pleasant fusion style meal (not the best) and toured the intricate surroundings of the hotel. From stuffed fish toys in the store to the pod-like space bathrooms to the magic wall of blocks that moves with you (hard to explain). One thing we definitely noticed was the Sphere/Egg shaped theme the place has. This shot of the mirrored ceiling shows the Woo Bar lounge filled with Mork and Mindy chairs (here) and the room of balls. What’s up with that?

Some leftover pictures from Eggi’s Holiday Party – Prain Consulting Group… A DAMN cold night filled with a plethora of PR girls!!! Gotta love those drunk holiday outings!!

For those of you who didn’t know, Korea is about 35% mountainous. This means that in theory their is ample room for snowboarding but between the lack of economic funds and the millions of Koreans, it makes for an interesting activity. This weekend, we went to Pheonix Park… one of the best mountains in the country… so some downhill fun. The slopes were PACKED creating an average run time of 1 hour (that includes the lift wait and the actual run). It was freezing!! And with my minimal boarding experience over the past 8 years, landing on my butt was seen many times!! Thank God that wasn’t just me… JiYoung and ChaiYoung were both prone to their own gravitational forces…

/ ChaiYoung + JiYoung on the Lift Line

/ JiYoung Attacks the Guy in the Dog Hat

/ JiYoung and Me stretching MountainTop

/ ChaiYoung + JiYoung MountainTop!

/ Me and Q

/ ChaiYoung showing her stuff

/ JiYoung offers a Hug…

/ Q on the Diamond Trail

/ JiYoung gives a Wave!

Despite the bitter cold and massive Seoul traffic, my first snowboarding outing was great!! Can’t wait to go again and carve it up… But i do miss the sweet “chilly” air and powder of Mt. Hood!!

For a holiday that I’m not a huge fan of, it was a relaxing evening in MyongDong (with a couple million other people)… so much so that while caught up in conversation, JiYoung and I actually missed the turning of the new year :)

Then, today it was off to the east beach of Korea with my Eggi for some relaxation, sunrises and fine dining. It was a quick 3 hour bus ride to the coast. We stayed at a Pansion – which is like a mini/personal mansion – similar to a condo in the states. We laid on the beach (in the FREEZING cold) and danced the day away!!

/ The Coast (with a view of America)

/ JiYoung Dancing on the Beach

/ Me and some random Dog :)

/ Strike a Pose

/ Jump Around!! Jump Up and Get Down!!

/ Us at the Beach

Then it was off to the fish market at the harbor to get ingredients for dinner…

/ JiYoung and Me at the Harbor

/ Me at the Harbor

/ Eggi at the Lighthouse

/ On the Rocks

/ Cooking Dinner (in the freezing tent)

/ The 2 Chefs

The sunrise on the east coast of Seoul…

/ First Glimpse of the Sun

/ JiYoung at the Temple of the Rising Sun

/ Me at the Temple of the Rising Sun

…at the bus stop on the way home…