Browse Category: holidays

…and with Beakatude on drums!

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On Sunday afternoon, I tagged along with Johnny and Joy.  They were headed over to Shane’s house where he had the new Rock Band game.  It was pretty entertaining.  I got to sing, play guitar, and play the drums (something I’d always wanted to do).  Some songs were pretty difficult and some were just plain funny.  I always have a good laugh when the dying bird (my brother) sings.

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Later in the evening, I went to dinner with my parents and Marie’s family.  It was at the usual Thai hangout with my parents being the “regulars” along with his other random friends that also showed up for their evening meal.  Marie and Kenji brought the boys and grandparents.  And once again Brandon was so relaxed in Jesse’s lap while Cole cried and pouted when it was his turn with “Uncle Jesse”.  It’s always fun to share a meal with my family.  Good times…

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That same night, we met up with our old pals for some drinks.  There is no annual Christmas party this year so this was pretty much it.  The usuals were there: the Masayas (including Robert), Jimmy, Huy, the Bangs, the Sokol-Juns, Holly, and Roy.  We even got a special appearance by the youngest Fernando who happened to be there with some of her friends.  Unfortunately, we missed Dayantha, the younger Tranandos, Patti/Howard, and Patty/Johnny.  It was still great to see everyone together again.  It finally feels like Christmas is on its way.

Oh no…it’s back.

dsc_0119a.jpgI’m finally on Christmas vacation. We drove down last night and the traffic wasn’t horrible. However, the congestion on I-5 was pretty annoying with sudden brake lights every once in a while.

We arrived in BP around 11-ish and Jason was home. Not only was Jesse excited to see his little brother again but also to start playing WoW again. *sigh* I don’t know how I agreed to this but it’s true. The game that stole my husband for over a year is back. Fortunately for me, they both uninstalled the game from their laptops and have been spending the past 24 hours trying to get the game back onto their computers. So the playing hasn’t started yet and we were able to get out of the house today.

nikkor28-200.jpgI also got to play with one of my Christmas gifts from Jes. He got me the Nikkor 18-200 mm lens and it’s pretty fun so far. It’s nice and compact and the range is great. This has pretty much replaced my trusty kit lens (18-70 mm) and the zoom lens (80-200 mm) that I never use. I’m pretty happy with the lens and I think that this was Jes’ way of smoothing over the WoW-playing for the time being. Curse you, Blizz!!

It’s a Kolar Khristmas

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We had a relaxing weekend of good food, friends, and Christmas fun. On Friday night, Jes made a tasty dinner of beef tenderloin and mushroom/asparagus risotto as a pre-Christmas dinner for Susie, Victor, Jimmy, and Eleen. On Saturday night, Ryan and Michelle came over with Thai food and the little dude. We also got to watch the fireworks that came from the holiday celebration across the street.

Today, we spent the morning relaxin’. I had a little dress-up fun with Koa and took some funny Christmas portraits of him. I put on his red Christmas collar and pulled out the annual reindeer antlers and a scarf my friend bought for him. He has to look ridiculous only two times a year and this is one of those times (the other is on his birthday). You can’t tell in this photo but the scarf lights up. Heh heh…

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He was a good sport and humored me for long enough to get some photos taken. This is probably the first time he was able to actually keep the antlers on without shaking or pawing them off right away.

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He still looked rather sad though. As I took the reindog photos, I couldn’t help sing a little ditty I made up called “The Sadest Little Dog in the World”. I couldn’t resist adding the candy cane prop and harsh flash to give the photo a little extra cheesiness. Merry Early Christmas, Everyone!

P.S. Kolar is just an affectionate nickname that I have for Koa. I don’t know where it came from.

Not Bummed Out Anymore

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After living here for four months with no window coverings, we finally got some blinds installed on Saturday. We face the courtyard and most of the units still don’t have blinds either. There’s a guy that lives across the way from us that still doesn’t have any furniture.  He bums me out everyday. Our kitchens face each other so I have to watch him eat dinner (standing at his kitchen counter) while I wash the dishes. He bums me out more than the gay dudes that bought the roof deck that also faces our unit. So, on Saturday night, as I washed my dishes, I realized that I can now close the windows!!! Goodbye, Dude Without Furniture!!

On Sunday morning, Jes and I picked up our Christmas tree and I got it all gussied up with the brand new ornaments I bought at last year’s Crate & Barrel sale. For some reason, our new home has a lot more room for a tree and we also have a huge window to show it off. So now, instead of having to draw the blinds, the big sparkly tree will also help block my view. Here’s a Christmas tree in your eye, Dude Without Furniture!!

trees and cheetos

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We got our Christmas tree today! The Sokol-Juns met up with us and they picked out theirs as well. With December here and the cold air pushing its way through the Bay Area, it certainly feels more like Christmas is just around the corner.

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As we were unloading the tree outside in the alley, we found a panicked Susie across the street. She had Smush in his carrier and they needed a ride to the vet. Susie went for a run this morning and came home to find Smush with an empty bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos stuck on his head. He had eaten about two handfuls of cheetos and for a 5-pound dog, that’s a lot. I drove them to the vet and we waited a good two hours for them to get Smush to vomit it all up. The vet said he threw up about 4 times and all of the bright red stuff came out. Silly doggie. That’ll learn ‘im.