Browse Category: friends

Table back together again

When we were freshmen in college, a bunch of us took a trip to San Diego during Spring Break. On our way home, we stopped at Denny’s where the girls sat at one table and the boys sat at another. I can remember them chuckling and joking the entire time and that seems to be where this “Table” started. Apparently they were joking about being the 4 legs of a table and ever since, it stuck. They even left the restaurant with “souvenir” carafes to commemorate the day. Over 11 years later, they probably have no idea where those carafes are but they’re still best buddies and when they get back together again, it’s just like old times. Aw…how cute.

Congratulations to Ti and Thilan!!

On Saturday, Ti and Thilan got married. They had a very traditional Catholic ceremony followed by a Chinese-style banquet with all the trimmings. It also was heartwarming to see two families that I’ve known for 15 years come together. The weekend itself was jam-packed with activities. Yong and Helen stayed with us. We had dinner and drinks in Orange County on Friday night with old friends. The wedding afternoon involved hurrying to the church (again), hanging out at my parents’ house to kill time before dinner, and lots of eating and drinking at the banquet. There were some interesting moments involving Victor picking on little kids, Huy and Dayantha having to don traditional Vietnamese clothing, and taking home leftover champagne and Coke. Ti and Thilan looked so happy and we all had a great time celebrating with them.

Happy 30th, Patty!!

This Saturday was Patty’s 30th Birthday! Johnny planned a little BBQ with all the fixings and we had a nice time eating, drinking, and catching up with old friends. Holly drove down with us, Patti and Howard were there sans Katie, and Joanne Tan was also there. We also saw some unexpected people. Sheree Shen was there with her husband and she’s expecting a baby soon…4 more months, I think. I hadn’t seen her since high school! I also met two of Patty’s friends who actually live down the street from me. That was kinda funny.
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Their backyard is still under construction but the fire pit was done and was very cool. Mochi and Koa had a gay ol’ time chasing each other and jumping around the obstacles. They also went hunting for left overs on the floor, which made Koa throw up a ball of crap on the way home. That was not so cool.

Totoro Reunion 2005

Gosh, the last time the three totoros were together was at my wedding almost 2 1/2 years ago. Since then, the three of us have gone through a lot of crazy life experiences and lost touch. I think we each had to crawl into our hermit holes at different times and now we’re all ready to play at the same time. So on Saturday morning, Heather and I got up early to pick up a gift at BabiesRUs and headed down to San Diego. We just found out that Dahlia is expecting her first baby this month and couldn’t wait to see her. We took the scenic route down (through Laguna Beach), endured some traffic at Del Mar, and finally got to her condo by lunchtime. As usual, you could smell something cooking in the hallway and as we expected, it was “Mama Bird’s” condo! When she came to the door, the first thing out of her mouth was “Did you eat yet? I gotta feed my baby birds!” It turns out that she had prepared us a steak, potatoes, sauteed mushrooms/onions, and a bowl of canned corn!! I couldn’t believe how much food there was!! Ah, I miss OT school. It was just like old times. We were so stuffed. As if that wasn’t enough, Dahlia pulled out a cake she had bought to celebrate all our birthdays from the past years.
Dahlia was all baby. From the back, she looked normal but from the side, it looked like she had stuffed a pumpkin under her shirt. That baby definitely has those Samoan genes!! Keni was home for just a bit before he had to go to work but it was nice to see him again. We had so much fun just hanging out with her at home. We shared photos with each other and finally got to catch up on each other’s lives. With Heather in Portland, me in Irvine, and Dahlia in San Diego, it’s so hard to get together. This was a really special day. I can’t remember the last time I had laughed so hard.
The drive home was quick. After dinner we enjoyed a bottle of wine and watched “Sideways”. It was an interesting movie. I just feel a little slow b/c I still don’t know why it’s called “Sideways”.

More to do and see!!

On Friday morning, Heather and I got up pretty early, picked up some coffee, picked up Elaine (my Irvine carpool friend), and headed back down to Long Beach. The morning workshop was only 3 hours but felt like an eternity. I was just itching to go back to the expo. They were giving away lots of cool stuff including tools and gadgets that I can actually use at work with my kids. After lunch at Islands, we had one more course to attend and a little more shopping to do. Whew! By the end of the day, we were all pooped out and ready to go home. It’s too bad that we were too tired to go to Zoe’s annual tequila party that night. I’m sure it would have been fun, as usual. Once we got home, Jes was pretty hungry and grumpy from being at home all day without a car. We walked to the sushi restaurant across the street for some sushi and beer. The weather was warm and pleasant and it was so much fun catching up with Heather. Tomorrow, we’re ditching the conference and driving down to San Diego to visit Dahlia. Can’t wait!

So much to do and see!

On Thursday, I met up with old friends (former co-workers and classmates) and attended some interesting workshops. It was so nice to see Brooke, who moved to Boston in September. I also saw Kristin, who I hadn’t seen since we graduated from OT school, along with her 6-month-old baby boy. The workshops were educational but long. The expo was HUGE and I didn’t get to see much since I was too busy chatting with old friends the whole time. After the conference, Brooke and I met up with the new camp crew at PTN for an overdue Camp meeting. Tonight at 10:45, I have to pick up Heather at the airport. I can’t wait to see her!! She’ll be staying with us until Sunday morning.