I found this guy at the BART station one day. He’s a cowboy. He’s Asian. He’s got a guitar, a coin cup, a pretty good twang, and the classic cowboy tan and wrinkles. Awesome. I still have yet to print this photo and find him again. He asked me for a copy.
Last Sunday, we gathered at Jimmy and Eleen’s house for a post-wedding celebration. Yong and Helen brought their 2-year-old daughter, Cara, and she was a hoot! From the minute she arrived, she burst into the house and went straight for each an every one of the 4 dogs that were in the house.
She’s quite a mover and loves to climb on people, crawl under tables, and give hugs to everyone including the dogs. She’s also quite a ham when it comes to taking photos, so I got lots of practice.
Oh, one more thing. We took photos for the bet between Victor and Yong. The person who loses the greatest percentage of weight by May will get a new iPhone with a full year of service paid for.
Here are more photos from the afternoon.
Whew! What a weekend. I feel like it just ended even though it’s already Tuesday night. Most people left on Sunday but Dayantha and Krissy stayed until this morning. I’ve finally sorted through my hundreds of photos. I don’t know if I reached 1000 but it was close. Here goes the recap…
On Saturday morning, we got to The Faculty Club around 10 am to help set-up. With camera in hand, I managed to get some cool shots of all the work that went into setting up a Do-It-Yourself Wedding.
Family members were assembling the floral arrangements while the boys set-up the lanterns and table settings.
The girls were arranging their own bouquets while Eleen supervised all the action as her hair and make-up were being done.
It really was amazing how much thought and hard work went into this wedding.
Eleen even made her own wedding gown, which was beautiful with hand-wrapped buttons along the back. At the very last minutes of wedding prep, Eleen was still rubber stamping and snipping thread off of the shawl she made.
At the church, Susie coordinated while I helped her set-up. Fortunately, the rain had stopped the night before and stayed away until after the ceremony.
Here are the pillow rings that were also handmade and carried by a pair of very cute little boys.
The church had high ceilings with a balcony that allowed for some awesome wide-angled shots.
The priest kept it short almost left out “You may now kiss the bride.” That was weird.
Back at the reception, we got back to work with the placecards and slideshow.
Here are the name cards and homemade flavored lipbalm that was lovingly prepared, designed, and packaged by the bride herself. Jenn, one of the bridesmaids, made an awesome movie that included stop animation of little dolls that represented Jimmy and Eleen. I contributed by adding some photos of the actual wedding for a little surprise for the audience.
The homemade cupcakes (prepared by Clara, the other bridesmaid) were the talk of the evening and tasted so yummy.
The party was a lot of fun and Dayantha performed his little “Ditty” for everyone to enjoy…including the parents. Check out Victor’s dad getting into the action.
By the end of the night, we were all pretty buzzed and exhausted…as we should be. There was a requisite stop at Top Dog before meeting up at a local bar before heading home.
Here are photos of the pre-wedding activities.
Here are photos of the wedding ceremony and reception.
If you’re looking for some of my favorites at a higher resolution, go here.
We thought about going for a half-day at Sierra yesterday but with the snow falling pretty hard and a long drive ahead of us, we decided to head home instead. We left the house at 10:30 am and didn’t get home until 5:30 pm. Phew! It was a long one. We did, however, luck out on not having to put chains on and made a couple stops along the way.
The dogs held up quite well in the car with Smush sleeping in Susie’s lap and Koa changing positions every time the car changed direction or speed.
Here are photos from the weekend. Can’t wait to head back for another day on the slopes!
Today was my first day back on the slopes and it was oh so wonderful! We took a day trip to Sugar Bowl, which is conveniently located right off I-80 and has plenty of runs to explore. There was a light snow shower in the morning, which helped soften the terrain and made for a fun day in the snow. Since Baby Jack was at Grandma’s House today, both Ryan and Michelle were able to join me and The Bangs. We arrived at 8:45 and were on our first run by 9:30. It continued to snow through the morning but without any wind, it was pretty nice. The sun came out by lunchtime so we got a little of both. My ski legs were toasty by the end of the day but I managed to follow the boys through the trees on our last run. The snow storm from last week really got the season kicked off well and I hope that Mother Nature keeps the white stuff coming.
Here are photos from today.
I just realized that I didn’t have a post on Christmas. So, Merry Christmas, Everyone! Thanks for all the Christmas cards!! I think we got a record number this year!
On Christmas Eve, we took Jia to South Coast Plaza for breakfast and a little shopping. She arrived the night before and it was nice to have everyone together again. The rest of the day was spent hanging out, playing video games, shopping for groceries, and making cookies.
On Christmas morning, I woke up early to go hang out with my parents. They were on their way to their hangout, McDonald’s, so I tagged along. It was fun just sitting there with my coffee (like everyone else) and watching their friends come and go. They’re like a bunch of teenagers again hanging out there every morning until lunchtime. My dad says that retirement life is awesome. I mean, he didn’t actually use the word “awesome” but that’s the gist of it. I want to retire.
Later that morning, the Laos piled into the Mountaineer to go visit Grandma in the nursing home. She’s been there for a couple years now ever since she fell and has been semi-comatose. Surprisingly, she was much more responsive that morning and being the therapist, I checked the tone and range in her arms and hands. I couldn’t help it. I wanted to make sure she was comfortable and positioned correctly. It was so sweet to see Jes’ dad with his mom (our grandma). We all want her to get up so badly but she’s 90-something and had a pretty bad injury to her head.
On Christmas afternoon, the roast was placed in the oven and we all played the “watch the temp rise” game” in hopes that it will be done in time. Everyone just hung out at home and some took naps, making for a pretty relaxed afternoon. That was until people started arriving and it was about one hour before dinner was served. That’s when all the action happens: take out the roast and finish everything else. It always seems to be that way. Watching Jes in the kitchen with so many people hovering and helping him reminded me of Iron Chef…such controlled chaos. Dinner was at Jes’ parents’ house in BP this year with both families gathered for the meal. We had a giant standing rib roast, corn, Yorkshire pudding, smashed potatoes, a Harry & David ham that someone left for his parents on the front porch, and lots of pie. We were all stuffed by the end of the night but still had some energy left for Wii and some family portraits.
Christmas vacation was fun but way too short. On our last night, we slept at my parents’ house in C-Town and it was so cozy since they turn the heater on at night. The next morning, I woke up pretty early to hang out with my Dad and then we started the drive back up to SF by 11 am.
Here are photos from the long weekend.
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