Little Details
As a part of my “nesting”, I ordered the Nikkor 40mm f/2.8 Micro Lens and it arrived yesterday! I’ve been wanting to buy a lens for close-ups for a while but they’ve always been so expensive ($500 and up). This new one just came out and it costed me less than $300! AND they threw in a free polarizing lens too! Yay! I’m hoping to get some close-up shots of Kumquat when she arrives and I think I’ll be able to capture every wrinkle in her tiny feet. For now, I’ll have to practice on the dog.
Here are a couple sample photos I took yesterday and today. It might take a little practice to get the focus area just right on my photos but it’s already doing more than my little Canon point-and-shoot can do.
On Saturday morning, Michelle arranged for us to get some pedicures and then a pizza lunch afterward. It was fun to be pampered and the company was nice too. Thanks for planning such a fun morning, Michelle!
Later that night, we had what we considered our “Last Hurrah”. We won’t have many opportunities left to eat and drink freely with friends at our house until whenever we want so we invited our friends over for dinner. Jes barbequed and there was Scotch and beer for everyone to enjoy. Dayantha, Krissy, and Huy even came up from Southern CA to hang out with us!
Michelle brought the kids and Jack got a quick lesson on how to fight and defend himself. That seems to be Victor’s specialty when he hangs out with kids lately. First Cole and Brandon and now Jack. *sigh* Maybe Jack will have some extra courage the next time he comes over and has to encounter the scary statue in our elevator lobby.
It was fun to catch up with everyone and we had a really nice time.
Only 6 more weeks of this kind of freedom!! What else should we do before Kumquat takes over our lives??
We usually throw a pretty kickin’ potluck and this was no different.
They made a lot of my favorite dishes and we also had a chocolate fountain! Yum.
I asked for no games so they had an activity instead. Everyone decorated onesies for me. This is the one that Teresa made for me. She said that Kumquat will be Team Tiger Member #3. 🙂
Everyone gave some words of wisdom on the leftover cards that I had from our shower in Southern CA and they also gave me a scrapbook kit to keep and display them.
I received a bunch of gifts, including a really nice collection of books. Everyone brought their favorite baby book and now Kumquat has a whole library to entertain and enrich her little brain. Some of my favorites include: “Everyone Poops” and “Click Clack Moo”. They also got Jes a copy of “Go the F* to Sleep”.
It was so nice to see everyone there all dressed in regular street clothes and it was certainly a girly gathering.
Elaine, my good friend from my PTN days, also came all the way up from San Jose to join us. That was such a treat!
I was sent home with a trunk filled with gifts and diapers along with an entire fruit tart and a beautiful bouquet of tulips and daisies.
On Saturday, there was a big party for Kumquat.
Marie, Patti, and Patty planned it and it was held at Patty and Johnny’s house in Irvine. The family from both sides attended along with some old friends. All the decorations were so cute and of course Marie designed them all.
They also hired a taco truck that we happened to see on the freeway on the way to the house. What fun! They were called Dos Chinos and I really liked the pork belly taco and the Korean beef taco and their fries were tasty too.
Johnny also played bartender and had a menu and everything. His cocktails must have been good because the non-alcoholic versions were pretty tasty.
There were a few games including one where everyone was asked to kiss a teddy bear earlier in the day and then later had to kiss me on the same place. I got some smooches on the elbow and on the head and even on the tummy. It was a little embarrassing for everyone but definitely memorable.
There was also a game where everyone had to memorize the 28 baby items on a tray and Katie played along too. She managed to remember a lot more than I could have a I loved the way she spelled the word “suction”…it was spelled “sukshen”. Cute.
It was great to have family and friends around to celebrate this occasion. My two roomies from UCLA even came and Sandy and I got to compare baby bumps. We’re due in the same week!
The kids all played together and it’s funny that they’ve all met at least once or twice at the pool. It was like the 4-year-old swimming club.
We also brought Koa and he got to hang out with his brother Mochi. They didn’t exactly play like they used to but they didn’t get into a brawl either.
We’ve been back from Tahoe since Sunday evening but I thought I’d post some photos from our trip. First of all, we stayed at Dot and Marc’s cabin dubbed Mauna Lani and it has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a huge deck overlooking a tree house! We had 9 people and 3 dogs in the house and there were plenty of beds and hanging-out space for all of us. Koa got to hang out with Smush and Brady (who he met for the first time) and they got to chow down on lots of treats and meat. At one point, all three of them were separated to different corners of the house and Koa actually got to eat barbequed meat off of a fancy Paris plate.
On NYE, we took a little hike up to get a nice view of the lake. With a clear blue sky, the water looked like blue glass. I got a pretty good workout and my hamstrings were actually sore by the end of the day.
I loved watching Koa run up the trails and he was surprisingly well-behaved. I think that if we lived in Tahoe, Dog would be so much happier. *sigh*
For lunch/dinner, we barbequed on the deck and Jes made 3 meals: pre-dinner (sausages), dinner (carne asada tacos), and after-dinner (chili lime wings). We were so stuffed that we didn’t need anything else before the drinking started.
The girls started pretty early in the evening and were pretty much at their peak around midnight EST. At one point, they were doing pyramid push-ups and Marc did the worm. They even crashed the party in the house next door. It was fun watching the action in my pjs and I stayed in to watch Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve while they were away. They did, however, get back in time for the countdown and I got a tiny sip of champagne.
It was heavenly. 🙂
The next day, we had a big pancake breakfast and the dogs spent the morning napping in the sun. Our drive home was pretty smooth and we were home by 5pm.
On Wednesday afternoon, I ran some errands with my mom. I made some returns at the mall and then we went to several places to find some salty chicken for dinner. My mom made Kao Mun Gai (Chicken Rice) for dinner and Brother and Joy came over to join us. It was the perfect last meal before heading back up to SF.
Today we got up at a reasonable time, had Mommy-made waffles and bacon for breakfast, and then headed out. It was a smooth drive up with a stop at In-N-Out in Kettleman City. We got home by 4:30 pm with lots of time to order pizza for dinner and to do the laundry.
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