Browse Category: holidays

I’m 41.

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I had a lovely 41st birthday celebration. It started the day before when Jes and KK came home with these pretty flowers for me.  They walk by a flower shop on the way home from school everyday and KK loves to go inside the refrigerated room to pick them out.

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This morning, Peanut woke up bright and early at 6am to greet me as I brushed my teeth.

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After dropping KK off at school and sending Peanut off to the park with Mimi, Jes finished up his morning calls and then we went to lunch at Chez Panisse in Berkeley.

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The last time we ate here was right before KK was born. It was nice to have a grown-up meal without interruptions or picking up food off the floor. I had a tasty beet and tomato salad with fried capers and the house-made rigatoni with chanterelle mushroom ragu.

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We also had dessert, which was bourbon-pecan ice cream with gingersnap cookies. Perfect.

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For dinner, I opted to stay in so we brought home pizza from Amici’s and picked up an Oreo ice cream log from Safeway.

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It was more for KK because she was telling us the night before how excited she was for my birthday and that we were going to blow out the candle. So, that’s what we did. Couldn’t disappoint the 4-year-old, y’know.

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It was nice to have the day off for my birthday and this may be a new tradition from here on out.

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I also ordered my birthday gift a couple weeks ago and it should be arriving in another 2-3 weeks. Can’t wait to play with it!

Baby Boy is One

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I can’t believe my baby boy is ONE already. Seems like yesterday I was in the hospital having the worst contractions ever from the pitocin that they gave me. Fortunately, all the pain resulted in the birth of our robust, full-of-personality, little boy.

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As frustrating as he can be sometimes with his emotional outbursts and insatiable hunger, he is also the lovable sweetheart who really tugs at my heart.

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He is definitely different from my Baby KK and I’m so glad. It’s nice to have two contrasting personalities in our little family of four. He definitely balances her serious and often-non-social side.

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Happy 1st Birthday to my sweet boy!  We can’t wait to see what else you surprise us with this coming year.

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Just Mamas Mother’s Day Celebration

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This year, Ranee and I decided to plan our own day of fun. We made arrangements to have the husbands watch the kids and invited Ishya too. The three of us met up at Rockridge BART Station and headed out for a morning and early afternoon of girl time. We called it our First Annual Just Mamas Mother’s Day Celebration. First stop was Bourbon and Beef where we bought a Groupon that gave us $40 worth of food and drinks for only $16!!! Ranee’s superpower is finding the best deals on booze (and food)!

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I already had breakfast in the morning so I had two glasses of prosecco and so did Ranee. Cousin had a massive french toast.

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Look at this bill! It was $40 even!! Totally unplanned but worked out perfectly!

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The next stop was Southie for lunch. We shared a carafe of wine and I had a tasty pork belly sandwich packed with a jalapeno slaw.

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It was so nice to walk into a tiny restaurant and not have to ask for a highchair or worry about what to order for the kids. I also didn’t have to share any of my food today. The best part was having an uninterrupted conversation with my girls.

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Next stop was Philz Coffee for Ishya and Safeway for something tasty to drink for Ranee and I.

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We took our roadies to the nail spa across the street and had a great time.

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This bubbly pear and apple drink was perfect for the occasion.

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There were plenty of giggles between the three of us.

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We had so much fun that we were already making plans for our next outing together.

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What a fun Mother’s Day Eve outing! Thanks to Jes, Jamie, and Billy’s parents for giving us these precious 4 hours of fun!!

Family Fun Weekend

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This past weekend, the family came up from Cerritos to celebrate KK’s birthday. They flew in just in time for the party on Saturday.

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On Sunday, we met up for lunch at Hog Island Oyster Co. and had quite a feast. I love this photo of Peanut photobombing Brother withe the oysters.

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No trip would be complete without a stop at Humphry’s Slocombe too.

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It was a warm day and perfect for going to the playground to burn off the sugar.KK and Alice had a good time playing together.

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For dinner, we met at Little Sheep Hot Pot, which was super close to their hotel.

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The rest of the evening was spent in their rooms. The girls played Octonauts in the bedside table that had a fake drawer and enough head room for both of them to fit inside.

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Meanwhile, the grown ups ordered dessert and watched Game of Thrones.

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Luckily, Mom and Dad were just in the next room over and Peanut was able to go to sleep at his usual time.

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The next day, I had the day off and took the kids on the bus to meet the family for breakfast.

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We had pancakes and all the other usual breakfast foods at Sears Fine Foods.

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What a fun weekend! Times like these always make me miss them more and wish we still lived in Southern California.

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She’s FOUR already!

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Today is KK’s 4th birthday and it’s hard to believe that so much time has already passed. Our first-born is quickly becoming a little lady. Jes was having a hard time with this milestone since it was the age in which he had his first memories as a kid. It was a big deal to him. I’m sentimental about everything so I usually take her birthday off to spend time with her and also reflect on my life as a mom. This year was no different. I took the day off so that I could be at her school to celebrate her big day with her friends. Jes and I also parlayed that into a day in which we could spend some time together without the kids. It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to just hang out alone and we made it worth our while with a walking food and drink crawl along The Embarcadero.

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The morning started with Mirian coming to watch Peanut while Jes was on a work call and I took KK to school. The birthday girl had a little extra hop to her step this morning as we walked hand-in-hand. Then, on my way home, I stopped at Safeway to pick up her birthday cupcakes.

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Jes finished up his calls and then we headed out to drop off the cupcakes at school on our way to lunch.

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Our first stop was La Mar. My first drink was sweet and refreshing.

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Lunch consisted of cebiche, causa, and empanadas.

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We then made a stop at Hillstone for a quick drink at the bar. Jes had a martini and I have a nice cold glass of white wine.

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Coqueta is a restaurant that I’ve always wanted to try but was too expensive and not very kid-friendly so it was perfect for a day like today.

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We sat down by the open window for a cocktail and some pricey skewers.

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Before heading back to KK’s school for her cake party, we stopped at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant. It’s a 21-and-over kind of place so we just HAD to go there today.

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This was the meat platter that we ordered with the wine.

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By then, we were pretty relaxed and happy. Heh heh.

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After KK’s school party, she asked to leave school with us. So we took her across the street to Waterbar for their $1 oysters. We scored a table on the patio with a view of the Bay Bridge and she scored a dozen oysters.

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It was so nice to have a day to spend with my best friend and co-pilot on this crazy ride called parenthood. This relaxing day as just the two of us was long overdue and sorely needed.

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Happy 4th Birthday to our Kumquat. We hope you have a fun-filled year as a 4-year-old.  And please, don’t grow up too quickly.

Family Time in Cerritos

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We flew to Cerritos for a long weekend to spend time with the family and to get our taxes done.

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Peanut was up early every morning and luckily there was a Starbucks and donut shop that we can walk to.

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It was nice seeing Jason, Jia, and the twins again. We’ve missed them so much since they moved.

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We also went to Brother and Joy’s new house. The kids broke in their newly renovated livingroom with lots of noise and drool.

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The girls had so much fun together that we left KK there to spend the night. She ended up asking for me in the middle of the night and Brother slept in the room with her that night while Alice went to sleep with Joy.

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On one of the mornings, I went to the Farmers Market to pick up hula popcorn for KK. Yummy.

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On Saturday, we threw a small birthday lunch with just the family at Sweetee Thai where she got her own fresh coconut and her favorite Tom Kha soup.

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After her birthday lunch, some of us took a walk to the park. It took us across the 605 freeway, which was pretty cool (and a little scary).

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On Sunday night, KK had another birthday celebration and we got a rare family photo together.

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The kids had a fun time in Southern California and luckily they’re good travelers.