Night Shift
I had Thursday off but had a photography gig from 6-10 for a Project by Project fundraising event. So I got a little taste of what it’s like to work a night shift. I used to do this all the time at Disneyland but it’s been a while.
I spent most of the day running errands but took some time to have a tasty Chinese breakfast with my pal Matt from work. We were talking about Chinatown the day before and decided to meet up for porridge and fried dough since he had the day off too.
In the afternoon, I tidied up the house and then headed out to 111 Minna for the PbP event. The event had a slow start but picked up by 8.
They sold discounted tickets to their annual Plate by Plate event and took some donations for their sponsored organization.
Unfortunately, I didn’t think it was necessary to eat before the event so I was pretty hungry by the end of the night. I didn’t actually eat “dinner” until afterward at the bar across the street. What an amateur move. Luckily, I didn’t have too many of their $5 punch drinks because that microwaved corn dog was not very good and not very satisfying.
Here are the photos from the event.
On Saturday, we got a call from Jason who is now in the Bay Area for his summer internship. We knew he was coming but we just didn’t know when. Surprise! He’s staying in Palo Alto for a couple months so we planned an outing on Sunday. We met up with him in San Mateo where they were holding 
Someone made a tricycle lawnmower. I want one!
They had a glass blowing demonstration outside. I wanted to buy one of their $15 mugs but didn’t.
Inside, there was a big Lego-building cage. Brother would have enjoyed that.
Outside, I took a magazine cover photo with R2-D2.
On our way out, we found this igloo made of plastic water jugs. I need to make one for the kids at work.
Jimmy turned 36 earlier this month and Eleen threw him a BBQ a week later (5/15). The food was tasty, the usual peeps were there, and the dogs were outnumbered by babies this year.
Vyl and Bang brought Rowan and he was a new and improved happy-fresh baby. It’s cool to see how he’s changed so much since I last saw him a month ago.
Koa and Brando had a nice afternoon in the backyard until the end of the evening. I don’t know exactly what triggered it but I watched them get into a full-on brawl. Jes had to break it up and ended up getting bit/nipped by Brando in the process. Brando also got nipped on the ear and was bleeding. So of course, they got separated. Bleeding Brando got all the sympathy while Koa was stuck in the sideyard with everyone stopping by saying, “Be a good dog, Koa”. I felt horrible.
On Saturday, we took a little trip to Napa with the Agustins. We picked up sandwiches from Genova and looked for a place to picnic. At first, we stopped at Mondavi hoping to just sit outside in the sun to enjoy our sandwiches but that didn’t work out. The security guard came by and said they didn’t have a permit for it and proceeded to stand there until we packed up and left. We took a drive down the street and decided to just stop off the side of a small road for an impromptu picnic next to the railroad tracks. It turned out to be the perfect spot.
The next stop was Opus One where we got scolded for trying to throw our trash in their restroom. The front desk lady said they only had one trash can but she was lying. We found a dumpster out back and also 3 more trashcans in the restroom. Well, we still got a tasting and enjoyed a glass of wine with a beautiful view of the area.
The barrel tasting event was fun and Eleen had a good time tasting all the cheese too. Beemster was her favorite that day.
We also met the actual winemaker. She looked so normal and younger than we imagined. She was also so friendly and happy to talk to us about the different wines.
Before dinner, we stopped Alpha Omega for one more tasting and some time out in the sun. They have a pretty cool patio overlooking a big fountain/pool area. I also found out that they actually have a real picnic area! I think we’ll be back there the next time we have some sandwiches to eat.
For dinner, we went to Bar Terra. My favorite was the soft jidori egg and uni in a savory broth. Mm…what a nice way to end the day.
On Saturday, we had lunch with Jes’ parents. We met up at a Chinese restaurant in Garden Grove and had a tasty tasty Chinese beef burrito that was fried. Mmm…
On Sunday, I took Jes back to Mitsuwa for his favorite bowl of ramen. He was afraid that it had been so long that the hype in his head was just that, hype. But it wasn’t! It’s still ranked #1.
After lunch we stopped at the Irvine house to check on it. It was really weird driving through the neighborhood and stepping into our little birdhouse again 4 years later. I was so happy to see my Japanese maple tree alive and HUGE! We cleaned up the pond and the neighbors came by to hang out like old times. Hopefully we’ll have renters soon.
On Sunday afternoon, we met up with the family for a big Thai feast. It was so nice to hang out with the cousins and their kids again. Makes me miss being away from them even more after I leave.
On Monday morning I had to get up really early to get to the BMW dealership to get our brakes checked. We got a big red warning light on the way down and it seemed pretty serious. It’s a good thing we got it checked out because we had to replace the brake pads AND rotors. Ouch. I guess it was a good thing we took Monday off.
My co-worker approached me a few months ago about taking photos of her. She has been a ballet dancer since she was little and has been recently feeling her age. She’s only a month older than me and wanted to get some photos of her while she was still strong and flexible enough to perform her leaps and poses.
So, on Sunday morning, we met up at Golden Gate Park and I got a bunch of shots of her in two different costumes. It was so cool to see what she could do. There was a little girl (~5 years old) and her dad and she was so in love with Renee. We even caught her doing jumps and poses while her dad took photos of her off to the side. So cute.
I love how many of my co-workers have other talents on the side. We had a lot of fun during the photoshoot and Renee LOVED her photos. Yay! Here are the rest of the 
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