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Back to Downtown for another 30th

Surprise!

Last weekend I flew down to LA to surprise Brother for his 30th birthday.  He was a little bummed out during the week leading up to it and I was lucky enough to find $39 fares on Southwest just the Sunday before.  On Friday night, we flew down and Johnny got home around 11 pm and was speechless when he walked in and saw me just hanging out in the kitchen.  He just had this dumbfounded look on his face so I made him redo his reaction for a photo.

Copa d'Oro

On Saturday night, we went to Josie Restaurant (in Santa Monica) for dinner with his two friends Ben and Tiffany.  We got there kinda early so we stopped for Happy Hour at Copa d’ Oro, which had a tasty cocktail menu of drinks for only $5 each.  Score!  At Josie’s, we had a yummy meal that was easily shared by all 6 of us.  Earlier that day, we were talking about going out for drinks after dinner and Joy jumped in and said “We should take them to Golden Gopher.”  She had planned a suprise party for Johnny the week before and we gave her a good excuse to head out there.

At Golden Gopher, we got settled in the patio and slowly Brother’s friends started to trickle in.  He was a little confused but so happy to see that there was more planned for his birthday afterall. They also made me take a jager bomb, which was nasty nasty nasty.

jagermeister

Cousins

The cousins, Pish and Debbie, also happened to be at a wedding around the corner and stopped by too.

Danger Dog

The night would not be complete without a late-night “Danger Dog”.  We walked down the street and found a cart parked just outside.  I got a tasty bacon-wrapped dog topped with onions, ketchup, mustard, AND MAYO?!  Soooooooo tasty tasty.

It’s crazy to think that just 4 years ago we were at Broadway Bar (around the corner from Golden Gopher) celebrating my 30th and Brother’s 26th.  It turned out to be pretty cool to be coincidentally celebrating Brother’s 30th just around the corner.  Funny how things work out like that sometimes.  Happy Birthday, Brother!

30thBirthday

September 2005

Johnny's 30th

September 2009

Here are photos from that evening.

Here are the first 198.

Rome_01

*SIGH* After a week of fighting a miserable cold and plowing through over 650 photos from our first three and a half days, I have 198 uploaded and shared.

Rome_02

Rome was surprisingly fun after so many people told me how dirty and dangerous it would be.  The ruins were amazing, Vatican City was magical, and Trevi Fountain was a hoot.  We also got a morning of rain but we were actually prepared with an umbrella that we packed!  Yay!

If you’re in Rome for at least 2 days, the Roma Pass is worth getting.  For 23 euro per person, you get a card that gives you admission to two museums, a 3-day bus pass, and discounted admission to additional museums.  We used it for admission to the Colosseum and Galleria Borghese and rode the bus everywhere.  Might have costed almost the same if we had paid for everything without the pass but the convenience factor counts for at least 5 additional euro.

Roma Termini (the train station) is huge and convenient but FCO (Rome Airport) is super small and inefficient.  Their bus system requires a little figuring out but our tour book actually had a route map that helped us figure it out.

Rome_03

The food was good at times but then disappointing at times as well.  We always seemed to be in search for a whole-in-the-wall and found a couple gems.

Rome_04

Loved the gelato and sorbetto everywhere (*slurp*) and Jes had fun drinking beer out in the street.  We found the “pinocchio store” called Bartolucci and learned quickly that restaurants charge you a “bread charge” of 3-5 euro but don’t expect you to tip.  Italians also like to give you free snacks with your glass of wine.  Sometimes it’s a bowl of olives and sometimes it’s a bowl of olives, finger sandwiches, and potato chips!

Here are the photos from Rome.  Enjoy!

P.S. Happy Birthday, Hols!

Vegas Weekend

The Venetian

Over the weekend, Jes and I went to Vegas to visit Kev, Karrie, and their little twin girls. Unfortunately there was a failure in planning so we ended up spending most of it at the Palazzo while the Wus were in LA for a family event. Our suite at the Palazzo was amazing. It had a double-door entrance, two bathrooms, a living area, separate bedroom, and bar. Ok, it was ridiculous. It turned out to be a nice refuge since it was a stinky 108 degrees outside!!!!  I think I took a total of 8 naps over the weekend.  Aaaahhhh…

bouchons

We spent Saturday and Sunday hanging out at the pool, window shopping, and had some pretty tasty meals. We went to Bouchon for brunch and had the chicken and waffles and chocolate “bouchons” (chocolate cake supposedly in the shape of corks). Both dishes were sooooo yummy. We also had dinner at Le Cirque and had such a good time eating, drinking, watching the fountain show from the window, and enjoyed the service. I had a really savory pork belly and fillet mignon topped with foie gras. *drool* We also had a wonderful spaghetti carbonara at Batali’s San Marco that I still think about every once in a while.

Karen & Katelin

On Monday, Kev was back from LA and picked us up for a day at his house. I FINALLY got to meet his little girls who just turned two years of age.

Karen and Jes

They have such distinct personalities and of course they were suspicious of their “Uncle Jesse”. Karen finally warmed up to him but Katelin wasn’t as amenable to him. We got back Monday evening and the Bangs seemed to have a decent time with Koa. They reported that he was pretty easy to take care of but always seemed “bummed out”. I reassured them that it wasn’t them and that it was his usual demeanor. What can I say? I have a lazy dog that sleeps all day. Thanks for your help, Bangs!!

Here are photos of the weekend.

Sparklers are cool.

dayantha

July 4th was spent at the Agustins’ and we had a grip of BBQ’d meat to make up for Friday night’s vegetarian dinner.  Jes made chili lime wings and ribs while Susie brought her mom’s Kalbi.  Mm…. We also had KFC corn on the cob complete with butter packets along with more gourmet grilled white corn.  Eleen made some tasty salads and mashed potato and the Fernandos brought over beer and desserts.

Elise

I also got to play with Elise, Ti and Thilan’s little girl, who warmed up to me fairly quickly once I offered her some food to taste.  She was dolled up in a festive July 4th dress and I got to take some portraits of her too.

naptime

She also semi-bonded with Jes that afternoon.  She was getting sleepy and Jes gave it a try with getting her to calm down and fall asleep.  She cried for a minute or so before settling down and taking a good 20-minute nap on his belly.  Of course as soon as she woke up, she cried and forgot who Jes was an hour later.  Eh, so much for that.

Alia

Agnes and Tim also stopped by and brought little Alia with them.  Check out those cheeks and the cutest bib ever!

Masayas

The weather was nice that afternoon and perfect for chillin’ in the backyard.  Koa got to chow down on Kalbi bones and hang out with all his buddies.  There were five dogs out there by the end of the day!

walking

Once the sun went down, Dayantha’s parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmas showed up for a little walk down the street to see the fireworks.  I think we made a mini parade down the street with about 20-something of us and that’s not counting the 4 dogs and 2 babies!

Bay Bridge

We stood at the edge of the water overlooking the bay and could see fireworks near the Bay Bridge, San Mateo Bridge, and at Jack London Square.  They were all very far away but it was cool to be out there anyway.  It’s too bad I didn’t bring my tripod.  I got a bunch of blurry photos but this one managed to come out somehow.

sparklers

At the end of the night, we busted out the sparklers and snakes that the Masayas had brought up from Artesia.  We had 10 boxes of sparklers and it was fun going through them all.  By the end of night, the boys were lighting up whole boxes of sparklers for a more “spectacular” effect.  Luckily there was a metal fire pit in the back for us to dump all the ashes and burning paper.

Anyway, thanks for hosting another awesome BBQ, Agustins!  I hope we didn’t make you too nervous with all the fire last night. 🙂

Here are the photos.

Krishani & Sachan – Part Two

entrance

On Friday night, we attended Krishani and Sachan’s Bay Area Wedding Reception in Sunnyvale.  Everyone was dressed in beautiful saris and Krishani and Sachan were beaming with happiness.  The food was all vegetarian but I still enjoyed it.  Indian food is so yummy.

dancing

There was plenty of dancing and hijinks at this wedding reception, which is no surprise.  Before we left, “Ditty” came on and there was a special request for Dayantha to do his rendition.

family

By the end of the song, the entire family was up on stage dancing and celebrating.

girls

Thanks for the invite, Fernandos.  We had an awesome time!

Here are the photos.

Krishani & Sachan

church

vows

We went home to Cerritos this weekend to watch the youngest Fernando get married.  Boy oh boy do they know how to celebrate!  The ceremony was in their family’s church and they had a full mass with all the usual wedding traditions sprinkled in between.  Krishani looked gorgeous and Sachan was smiling ear to ear.

flower girl

It was a treat to see Elise as the flower girl with Ti carrying her down the aisle.  She just turned one and was such a little cutie that afternoon.

glance

The guests were taking communion so I went up to the front to see if I could get a close-up.  It was just my luck that Krishani glanced over to my side.

bride and groom

Here is the couple just minutes after the ceremony.

reception

The reception was held at the Westin in Long Beach.  It was a really pretty venue and the warm evening made cocktail hour really pleasant out on the terrace.

bouquet toss

Krishani changed into traditional Indian and Sri Lankan dresses that evening and they got through all the cake cutting and bouquet tossing pretty early on in the evening. I was also very touched by Mr. Fernando’s speech and I admit that I was in tears throughout the Father/Daughter dance and the speech.

Unfortunately for us, cocktail hour started at 6:00 pm and dinner wasn’t served until 9:00 pm.  So I’m sure you can all guess how toasty we were by then.

dancing

With the ceremony starting at 1:30 pm and the party ending at 1:00 am, this had to have been the longest wedding celebration ever.  Everyone partied until the end except for me as I got super sleepy towards the end of the night.  I had stopped drinking pretty early and that worked out well for me the next morning.  By the end of the night, most of us were pretty sober but exhausted.

table

As always, it was fun to see everyone together again and we all had a good time.  The boys were up to no good all night but everyone survived.

group

This Friday is Part 2 of the celebration and it’s in going to be in the Bay Area.  Sachan’s family is hosting a bunch of traditional Indian ceremonies and celebrations and they should be just as fun and interesting.  Congratulations to the happy couple!

Here are the photos.  Enjoy!