Browse Month: March 2007

Baby Season has Begun

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We went to Debbie and Pish’s Baby Shower this afternoon. It was quite a shindig with a Hawaiian theme complete with Spam musubi and King’s Hawaiian cake. They had a baby bottle drinking contest and pass the pacifier game, which were pretty funny. We also got to see some old friends from UCLA there. The best part was hanging out with the Chamkasems.

As I was there, I was getting a string of emails on my Blackberry from my girlfriends. It started with Patty announcing that she’s having a girl. Then one from Annie announcing that she is having twins. Then one more email from Juliet who announced that she’s also preggers. With Debbie having her little girl in May, Patti having her second girl in May, Karrie having twin girls in June, Khai (our neighbor) having their second child this summer, and Marie having a baby in August, this will definitely be a year of babies. Congratulations to all of you!!

Boba Everywhere

I was busy at work this afternoon when I got a call from Marie. She was in the neighborhood and invited me to the local Tapioca Express. Of course I couldn’t resist a boba run so I packed up my stuff and headed down the street.

I ordered the “Spicy Chicken Special” that includes an order of spicy chicken and boba milk tea, which costed 5 bucks. That price doesn’t seem very “special” to me.  I was too lazy to add it up but I bet they only hacked off a couple pennies from the price.  When our number was called, we went to the counter to pick up our drinks. With just 4 or 5 steps away from the counter, I lost my grip and *KAPLOW!* my drink fell on the floor. I don’t know if this has ever happened to you but it’s quite a scene. There in the middle of the cafe was milk tea, ice, and boba everywhere. How embarrassing. Marie and I just stood there so helpless and vulnerable to the stares from the customers waiting in line to order. The guy finally came out and cleaned it up for us but the damage was done.

So, my next question was, “Are they going to make me a new one?” I guess the guy figured that would be the next thing out of my mouth because he looked at me and said “Do you want to order something else? I’ll give you 20% off.” Man! I bet if I was at McDonald’s they’d just make me a new drink. I’ve seen people spill their coffee at the Starbucks and the Barista usually has a new drink for the person before the mopping is done. *sigh* I guess you can’t expect much from a Chinese-owned establishment. All I know is that I made sure to savor my $4.89 boba and sucked up every last squishy ball of goodness.

Just call me “Rebel”

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I went to my painting class today and didn’t really like any of the pictures that were on the table so I chose to paint/interpret one of my photos from Thailand. My instructor said it was fine and helped me get started. Midway through my painting he came by and said to me “I think you chose a really difficult subject but it’s coming along.” I think that was his way of saying, “You’re suckin’ but oh well.” So here is my painting. My instructor had nothing good to say at the end of the night but I like it.

old stomping grounds

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After my evening with the girls, I headed over to Brother’s apartment and spent the night. We loafed on the couch and watched cheesy movies on ABC family until it was time to go to sleep. In the morning, we were up pretty early and shared a breakfast burrito at the farmer’s market in Santa Monica. Later in the day, we went to Westwood to check some stuff out. It was kind of cool to be walking down Le Conte and past the UCLA Medical Center and then up Bruin Walk to the UCLA Store. The store looked about the same and they were selling Final Four t-shirts like they were made of gold or something. I was there to buy a sweatshirt for myself and picked out one for Jes too. On our way back to the car, we stopped at Diddy Riese for some 35-cent cookies (they used to be 25 cents back in the day) and had lunch at In N Out. It’s hard to believe that I graduated almost 10 years ago. Sheesh, I guess I’ll have to wait another 10 years before I purchase another sweatshirt.

food, food, and more food

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On Saturday, I had a full day…literally. Kevin and Karrie were in town and we went down to San Marcos to taste 5 different noodle dishes at a place called Noodles and Co. at around 12:00 pm. The dishes were all mediocre so we went next door to Chick Fil’A for nuggets and waffle fries. After that, we drove to the fancy St. Regis in Dana Point for coffee and dessert at about 3:30 pm. We then drove back up and got home at 5:15 pm. At 5:30 pm, I got back into the car and drove up to Venice for a 6:30 dinner date with the girls. We ate at Primitivo on Abbott Kinney where they served tapas and wine. It was so fun to share a variety of small dishes from risotto to scallops to cheeses to bacon-wrapped dates. And of course, I tasted 3 different wines by the half-glass. Tasty tasty fun.

Be Safe, Huy!

Our dear friend Huy is leaving for Iraq today.  He’s been preparing for this day for many many months now and the day is finally here.  He sounds relieved, anxious, and excited all at the same time.  Go to his blog (also found in my blogroll on the right) and wish him luck!Â