Browse Month: August 2008

Table for 15 1/2

This morning we met up with everyone for a little Dim Sum before heading out for our return flight to SF.  Brother and Joy joined us and we ended up squishing 15 people plus a small child at a table that is really meant for 10.  We even tucked Elise away in the back corner as she slept in her carrier.

It was such a great way to end the weekend and I was impressed with the turn out of this morning’s brunch date.  It was like one gigantic family gathering with three sets of siblings, 2 children, and a bunch of old friends of at least 19 years.

By noon, we headed out to the airport.  Thanks for the ride, Brother!!  Once we arrived at the gate, I got a random call from Vyl.

Vyl: Hey, are you at LAX?

Me: Yeah, how’d you know that?!

Vyl: Uh, so am I – at Gate 7.

Me: Hey! So are we!

I guess she was sitting around waiting for our flight and noticed two people that looked like us from afar.  So, we had the pleasure of flying back to SF with Vyl who happened to be down in LA for a wedding as well.  It’s funny that we’d seen each other just the week before and didn’t realize that we’d both be in the same place.  Go figure.  To make matters a little more interesting, she glanced at our boarding passes and saw that our places in line were B18 and B19.  Hers was B17.  Pretty trippy.

We got home by 3:30, which gave us a good Sunday afternoon to rest.  We had pre-paid the Dog Walker to come 4 times so I treated myself to an evening of staying in and letting Koa go out with Adrienne as I lounged on the couch.  I felt so spoiled and it was awesome.

Robert & Kelly’s Wedding

Robert and Kelly got married yesterday in Newport Beach and it was a beautiful and emotional outdoor ceremony followed by an indoor reception complete with an open bar and dancing. Everything was covered in pink and white with touches of brown everywhere.  Gorgeous.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t sitting in the best seat for taking photos during the ceremony so I actually didn’t take as many as I would have liked.  However, once I decided to put the camera down for the night, I was able to enjoy the event as a guest and not as a roving photog, which was a nice change.

The reception had lots of bells and whistles including a photobooth (that the boys almost broke when they crammed everyone in at once), chocolate covered strawberries, and a wedding cake with two tiny Star Wars figurines on top.  Victor’s Best Man speech went well and resulted in Robert showing off his Rubik’s Cube skills in front of all the guests.

It was so nice to not only be outside in the warm Southern California evening but to also be surrounded by old friends as well.  I also got to meet little Elise, Ti and Thilan’s 2-month-old baby girl.  Unfortunately, she cried everytime I held her.  Boo…  The evening was a hoot and we even finished it off with a trip to Denny’s.

Back in C-Town!

We’re in C-Town for the weekend!  Jes and I flew in last night and Huy was kind enough to pick us up from LAX at midnight (flight was delayed an hour). THANKS DUDE!! Afterward, we went straight to Cerritos where we met up with the Fernandos at a sports bar next to Carl’s Jr. It was a weird little dive bar playing heavy metal and packed with people who didn’t look like they were from Cerritos (if you know what I mean). Anyway, we had a good hour and a half of beer and hot wings before heading back to The Magical House. Unfortunately, the parents are out of town for the weekend. Too bad. But I still got to make a quick trip to Target and deposit some checks that I’ve been carrying around with me for weeks. There some things about suburbia that you can’t beat.

By the way, it’s a crazy 87 degrees with some humidity down here so I’m in shorts, a t-shirt, and flip-flops for the first time in months. So, THIS is what summer is like. I sorta forgot.

Refreshed

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with my hair.  Yeah, it’s long, straight, and smooth but it’s also slippery, heavy when it’s long, doesn’t hold a curl, and ends up looking the same by the end of the day – in a ponytail.

So, I made an appointment for a haircut and thought I’d give it a try once more.  I had a weenie haircut back in February where I got some layers in the front but it wasn’t drastic enough.  I still didn’t really need a blow dryer and it ended up in a ponytail once again.  As I walked out of work today, a good friend said to me, “Happy Haircut!!  Be brave!!” and I was inspired.  As a result, I cut off 5 more inches, got more layers, and actual bangs!!  I had bangs all through childhood, high school, and my first two years of college but this time it was going to be different! I didn’t wait 13 years for the classic straight-across-all-one-length cut again.

As the stylist snipped away, my head felt lighter instantly.  She taught me how to use a brush and blowdryer and recommended using some product in my hair for volume.  My low-maintenance mornings just got a little trickier.  I tried to pull it back into a ponytail just now and it’s gonna be tough.  I’m going to need some strong rubberbands and lots of hairclips for work tomorrow…but I still like it.  It’s a welcome change and totally worth the trouble…at least for now.

Oh how I’ve missed you.

I heard pattering on the window this evening, opened it and was so excited by the smell of rain!  It was sooooo refreshing!  Granted it sprinkled for only about 10 minutes as the big rain cloud ran across my area but it officially rained!!!  Just in case you all forgot what it looked like, it’s a bunch of drops of water falling from the sky.

Disappointment and Surprise

On Saturday morning, Jes and I took Koa to Chrissy Field for a Shiba Meet-up.  We were supposed to meet a bunch of other Shiba owners and their dogs for a day of romping on the beach but we got there a little late and totally missed them.  We walked and walked and couldn’t find them.  So, Koa ended up with a really long walk and about 20 minutes of running off-leash on the grassy field and beach.  The morning didn’t go quite as planned.  Too bad, Dog.

On Saturday evening, Jes and I went out for a nice dinner at Luce.  It’s a relatively new restaurant that we found on Open Table and thought we’d give it a try.  Have completely no expectations, we were pleasantly surprised with the awesome 5-course tasting dinner that we had.  Apparently when you order the 5-course menu, you end up with 11 actual items to try.  We had an amuse-bouche, all 5 courses, and a sprinkling of intermezzos, palate cleansers, and even a pre-dessert.  What the heck?!  It ended up being a 3-hour dinner and we left satisfied and buzzed.

One of my favorites was the foie gras on top of toasted brioche drizzled with a duck consumme.  Yum.

Another was the pre-dessert consisting of melon granita, ricotta cream (tasted like coconut milk), and basil oil.  Sounds gross but it was sooooo tasty.  I seriously felt like I was a judge on Top Chef with surprise after surprise.  One of the funniest parts of dinner was the fact that we were puzzled by about 3/4 of the menu items.  That’s when Google came in handy.  On my crackberry, I looked up things like “escabeche”, “purslane”, “branzini”, and “pintade”.  We were so ghetto but it was very educational.