Preparations for Things to Come

This past weekend was nice and relaxing. We watched I am Legend on Friday. All of our friends who are parents keep telling us that if we want to watch any movies that we should watch it now.

On Saturday, we spent the day with Jeannette, Freeman, and some of her out-of-town friends. We started by hanging out in Golden Gate Park since it was nice and warm outside. I heard that the weather is supposed to get a lot cooler this week so I guess maybe our Indian Summer is over. We also went to see the Conservatory of Flowers which was nice. They had a cool butterfly exhibit and it was a nice little touristy thing to do that was not too expensive and didn't take very long. Then, we had a "snack" at the Beach Chalet to watch the sunset. Finally, we went to my coworker Kim's birthday party in SF. It was a busy day, but still pretty relaxing.

Today, we spent most of the day cleaning and preparing for next week's Halloween party. We haven't really done much to prepare the nursery yet. It still looks the same and we need to clear out a lot of stuff that just doesn't need to be there. Edwin's mom is coming next weekend as well, so it was just motivation to get started clearing out the unnecessary clutter. Of course we're not done, but it was a start. I also want to get rid of all the boxes in the dining room. I realize that I've probably been saying that for the last 9 months. Well, it starts with one box, right? I got rid of one box.

I wish that I had some remodel news. Nothing has really changed. We're still waiting for the shower enclosure and vanity to come in. Unfortunately, the bathroom will probably not be done for the Halloween party or for Edwin's mom's visit. I never thought when we started this project that we would still not be done 2 months later. I can't wait until it's all over. How many times have I said that?

SNAFU!

So I'll start with the snafu that I am in because of work. I have been working like crazy lately and a majority of my time has been spent on the campaign that Apple is making fun of below. The ad is dead on. I have complained myself about why they don't improve the products to make it easier for us to help them advertise.


To be fair, I guess I need to provide a link to the Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld ads that are part of the campaign that I work on. I won't go into the gory details about why things at work are a snafu since it is pretty boring.

The other snafu has to do with our basement. So we've been having trouble finding a shower enclosure. It still hasn't been resolved, but we're about to give up and just get the basic chrome enclosure with frosted glass. We really wanted the brushed nickel finish with clear glass. Do most people even know the difference? Probably not, but we've been watching too many HGTV shows, so we now care. But the amount of time we have spent looking for something in our price range is outweighing our desire to get exactly what we want. This reminds me of when I was looking for a specific ribbon for the wedding invitations. I spent 3 weeks looking for a ribbon because I didn't want to pay $80 for it. In the end, I ended up buying that expensive ribbon and I'm sure that NO ONE noticed this ribbon except me.

Anyway, back to the basement, the newest issue that came up today is that our contractor said that the vanity we ordered has drawers that will block the plumbing, so we have to re-order the vanity with the drawers on the other side. In the whole scheme of things, this isn't that bad, it's just a hassle because now we had to order another vanity and wait another 3 weeks for it to come in which of course means that the bathroom won't be finished for probably another month. Argh! When will we be done? The toilet is installed, but there's no water in it. (I'm told that it will get turned on tomorrow.) That is just indicative of this remodel. I'll believe it when I see it.

Dinner at Water Bar was really great. I had the oven-roasted dungeness crab while Edwin had the ono. We had the baked oysters which were really tasty and had a sardine appetizer and seafood soup. The dessert was probably the biggest surprise with a pear poached in white wine with a yellow cake, roasted hazelnuts, and maple ice cream. It was a nice way to celebrate our 2 year anniversary.

Baby R Us

This weekend was pretty chill. On Friday, we went out to dinner with the Banerjees for some Vietnamese pho. I was little nervous that I wouldn't be able to eat it because of my meat aversion. I was able to eat most of it luckily.

On Saturday, Edwin went biking and surfing while I went shopping for maternity clothes. I never really considered how I would feel about being pregnant. I always thought that I would just love being a mom. It's not that I don't yet. It's just that I'm not a mom yet. So I'm just kind of shopping for a fatter me in stores where they charge a lot for clothes that are not very cute. I tried looking in Mimi Maternity, but I just couldn't find anything that I really wanted. I then went to Old Navy where I found a few tops, but still just basics. I also tried to look for some "normal" clothes with empire waists so that I could still wear it after pregnancy and look cute at BR and H&M. Unfortunately, I still didn't find anything that I wanted in my price range.

A funny thing happened to me while I was in Old Navy. It was the first time that I bought clothes for our baby boy. Edwin and I have already received a lot of clothes from friends who just had a baby boy or finished some spring cleaning. From what I hear, a lot of people buy clothes for you, so Edwin and I had agreed that we shouldn't buy any. But I just couldn't help myself. They were so cute. They had a surfing theme and most of the shirts were less than $1. How could I resist? When Edwin saw them, neither could he. I spent less than $10.

We also started the baby registry this weekend. It's so overwhelming. The room is already painted green because I thought that we could decorate with yellow and blue if we had a boy and pink and purple if we had a girl. However, we actually ended up with green, white, and brown. We were going to decorate the guest room in green and brown anyway.

Remodel news- the floor got tiled this past weekend, but we still don't have a toilet, sink, or shower installed. Grouting and sealing of the time has to happen before we can install the rest. The bathroom also got painted and the heater got installed. That's great, but I want a working bathroom! As my contractor keeps telling me, "It should just be a few more days!" Can you tell I'm frustrated?

Tomorrow is our 2 year anniversary. Can you believe it? We're going out to dinner to celebrate at Water Bar. I'll let you know how it is.

Tension

This past weekend, my cousin George came up for a visit from LA. We met up with him for a family dinner on Friday with my uncle's family and my cousin Billy and his wife Maggie. Good food at Au's Kitchen in San Bruno. So good that I ate too much. Here's the thing about pregnancy. You think that you can eat all you want, but really you can't. In fact, you have to eat less. Here's why- there is less room in your belly. Your stomach is sharing space with the baby. I've found that if I eat too much, there is no room for expansion. My belly feels like it's so stretched that it will explode. It just gets hard. It's not like belly fat that is soft that you can poke your finger and it sinks it. (Believe me, I know what that feels like!) If you poke your finger, it's like pushing the outside of a balloon. There is tension.

On Saturday, we did a little shopping and then headed out to watch the Blue Angels for Fleet Week. It was a nice day to be outside watching the plane acrobatics. Getting to Chrissy Field was not bad. We parked near my work at Levi's Plaza and then took a cab. After the show, we decided to walk back towards the car and take public transportation. If moving out to Alameda made us forget how bad public transportation can be in SF, Saturday was a reminder. We walked about 15 blocks to the bus stop near Ghiradelli Square. Since we were in the area, we decided to rest and get some ice cream. We lived 4 blocks from there and I think that we only ever went there 4 times when people were visiting from out of town. After we spent $8 on a sundae, we continued on our walk because the traffic was so heavy that no cars were moving and therefore, no buses were coming. We then changed course and took the F street car since it had its own dedicated lane that would take us back to Levi's Plaza. Little did we know that when we boarded the bus that appeared (instead of the street car) that it would hold us hostage. We basically wanted to exit at Pier 23, but when the bus finally got out of traffic, it wasn't letting anyone off until the Ferry Building. When we finally got out, I waited for Edwin at the Hyatt hotel on Market while Edwin had to walk another 10-15 blocks back to the car. It took us almost 3 hours to get back to our car in what should have taken about 30 minutes tops. Tension.

On Sunday, we were going to have a Michelle and Mike come over for dinner. Since we were going to cook anyway, we invited the Banerjees who then invited the Schneiders since they were going to be househunting in the East Bay. It was an impromptu dinner party. I actually like having people over because it forces us to clean the house. The house has been a mess lately because of all the construction in the basement. Did I say that we can't wait until it's done? We had a great time and celebrated Kokomi's 2nd birthday. I was also able to eat beef for the first time in months! Short ribs from Costco- Harris Ranch. Yum.

On the basement, we are so close. This week, the room got carpet. However, the bathroom is still not done. It won't even be worked on until next weekend. We were able to order a shower enclosure so that it doesn't have to be custom, but our contractor waited a full week before ordering and we are told that it wouldn't come in for 14 days. Still, I would just love an extra working toilet. Tiling began last week, however, they are still not done. They have laid most of the floor tile, but they still need to finish and after they finish, they still have to grout. That is 2 days minimum before they can install the toilet. It would be a great anniversary gift. (shhh... don't tell Edwin I said that- I still want a present!) So what's the problem? The problem is that our contractor started some other rush job and says that he won't be able to come to work until Saturday. I've heard of this happening to other people, but this really sucks. I guess it could be worse because I hear some contractors don't even tell you and just don't show up. It's just that we will have to live with the dirt and dust for another week. So this has caused a little bit of tension with our contractor, but what can you do? Guess it will be another 3 days- at least we're not paying anymore.

Food and lots of it

Last weekend, we had a night out with the Banerjees in the East Bay. We went to dinner at a great Italian restaurant called Dopo. Food was very good. My faves were the scallops in a tomato sauce and Matilde's tagliatelle in pheasant ragu. We will have to go back. Then, we went to Fenton's Creamery across the street for some ice cream. Pregnancy does have it's perks.

On Saturday, we went to San Mateo to celebrate Kaori's birthday. Jamie planned a surprise lunch for her and as usual, we spent the rest of the day hanging out. We ended the evening with a Chicago-style hotdog dinner with various hot dog preparations. We of course had the classic hot dog on a bun as well as franks and beans, jambalaya/gumbo, and Asian favorite ramen with sliced hot dog.

On Sunday, we had more good food. We went to Mountain View to my cousin's house for a BBQ. Still can't eat steak, but I had plenty to eat. We were able to sell our blue couch, so now we just need to sell the chaise.

Update on the basement- we have about a week to go. After the they finished smoothing the walls, we discovered that they had sealed our glasses behind the wall. When the framing was put up, we noticed that the contractors had used a few of our drinking glasses and placed on the ledge underneath the framing. We thought that they were using the glasses to test the new pipes for the bathroom. After they sealed the wall, we realized that we hadn't seen those glasses back in the cabinets, so we asked the contractor about it. Apparently, the glasses were left inadvertantly behind the sealed wall. I equate this situation with how a surgeon forgets a scalpel or gauze inside a patient. Luckily, these were just some old glasses that we didn't really care about. Though the contractor offered to open up the wall to retrieve them, we opted to just leave them there. They started tiling the shower and have painted the wall of the family room. We discovered this week that the shower doors that we purchased were too tall for the space, so we thought we might need to purchase custom shower doors. Luckily, we discovered that Jon and Jeannette had used shorter doors and so we're hoping to be able to purchase the same shower enclosure. We cannot wait until this construction is done.

Here are the photos from Tom and Debbie's wedding:

It's a Boy!

We found out yesterday that we will be having a baby boy. We had our second sonogram. Before the technician told us that the baby was a boy, I suspected that he was a boy because I saw a body part that didn't look like an arm or a leg. Edwin suspected a few weeks ago that he was a boy.

I first started noticing something last week with the baby. At first, it felt kind of like a twitch in my abdomen. Now I know that it was the baby kicking. It's definitely more distinct now. He's been very active yesterday and today. Before the sonogram, they tell us to come with a full bladder. During the sonogram, they press on your full bladder to see the baby. I was hoping that I wouldn't have an accident during the exam. I wouldn't be surprised if there have been other women who have.

This past weekend, we had a great time at Tom & Debbie's wedding. I'll post pics later, but the weekend was a blur. We got to catch up with friends from out of town and with friends in town. Edwin was the officiant while I did a reading and sang during the reception with Pete, Nikki, Sanford, and Pete/Tom's cousin.

My Baby Has No Name Yet

We haven't really started to think about names yet because we're waiting until we find out the sex on Monday. (No Dennis, we will not be naming our child Thor and Legolas even if he is a boy. You should save those names for your future son.) However, I really liked this poem.

My Baby Has No Name Yet

by Kim Nam-Jo

My baby has no name yet;
like a new-born chick or puppy,
my baby is not named yet.

What numberless texts I examined
at dawn and night and evening over again!
But not one character did I find
which is as lovely as the child.

Starry field of the sky,
or heap of pearls in the depth.
Where can the name be found, how can I?

My baby has no name yet;
like an unnamed bluebird or white flowers
from the farthest land for the first,
I have no name for this baby of ours.

Traveling Dancer

Saw this video a few weeks ago, but I just love it because it reminds me of all the places that we have been to (and some that we would like to visit in the future!) and wanted to share. It always seems to make me smile.

Changing Lifestyles

Thanks to everyone on the well wishes for the baby. It's funny how it takes a mass email to hear from people again. I think that everyone just gets so busy, but it was like someone openned all the floodgates and we received so many emails from people. Some people we haven't even seen since the wedding. Since we will be celebrating our 2 year anniversary in 2 weeks, that means that we haven't seen some of you in 2 years. How does that happen?

This week was a particularly rough week at work. I'm just glad that it is over and hopefully, that means that I can get back to a more normal schedule.

On Friday, we got to catch up with some friends. It's funny how things change when people start having kids. We used to go out past midnight and now we are usually home by midnight. I guess that when you start having to wake up at the crack of dawn with kids and can't sleep in the next day, you start to question the value of staying up late. I think it gets easier as your friends start having kids as well.

Last night, we went to go see the new DeNiro and Pacino movie "Righteous Kill." Edwin's favorite movie is Heat which also stars these 2, so we were hoping that it would be good. It was entertaining, but definitely not as good as Heat. I also realized that we used to watch movies more often with friends, but lately, it's been the 2 of us if we go to see a movie in a theatre. I guess that's another change that happens when people start having kids. No one wants to pay for a babysitter or paying to see a movie in a theatre when you can watch it at home 3 months later.

Update on the basement- I've been remiss in posting pictures of progress. We are about 2 weeks away from having a new bathroom and family room/guest room. It's actually starting to look like a real room. All the rough plumbing and electrical are done. (For those who don't know contractor speak, that just means that all the stuff behind the walls is done.) They have completed the framing, put in insulation, and put up the drywall. They have started mudding and taping (which just means that they are smoothing out the surface of the walls.) We still don't have the shower, toilet, or sink installed and my guess is that they will start tiling this week. Windows have not been replaced and the stairwell still needs to be covered and painted. However, we have a ceiling and walls.

Trip to LA

These photos were from my trip to LA in August. I didn't have a chance to post them back then, but it was a family-filled weekend for me while Edwin went on his annual surfari in San Onofri.

Belly Bump Watch

Over Labor Day weekend, we went to see a couple of live cover bands. It was fun, but we definitely felt a little old since we were seated for most of it. I can always play the pregnancy card, right? We got to see cover bands for No Doubt, Weezer, and the Smiths. It was pretty loud in the club, so I wonder if the baby was able to hear the music. (I think I remember reading that the baby's ears had formed.) I also remember my mom said that she went to a Bee Gee's concert when she was pregnant with me which is why she is convinced that I like to dance and sing. We'll see.

This week, I guess that I am starting to show. One of my SVP's walked up to me and asked me if I was pregnant. I still haven't gained any weight, but I know that my belly has gotten bigger because none of my pants fit anymore. Last weekend, I was trying to find a dress to wear to a friend's birthday party, and I couldn't zip up any of them. It's a little disheartening, but the reason makes it OK. I do wonder if/when I'll be able to get back into my normal clothes. I definitely have a bigger, rounder stomach.

So if I haven't gained any weight and this is just a redistribution focused on my middle, then where was this weight hiding on my body before the pregnancy? That thought is a bit frightening. I'm not worried about not gaining any weight since the baby is only supposed to weigh about 5 oz right now. Since that's not even a pound, I'm happy that I'm not gaining weight too quickly. Most women are only supposed to gain 25-30 lbs during pregnancy, so I would like to stay on the lower end of that weight gain. I've never been good at going to the gym, so the less that I gain, the less I'll have to lose later, right?

Remembering

So today is the memorial of the September 11 attacks. I remember very clearly that I was getting ready for work as I heard the news. It reminds me that there is more to life than work. Lately, I have been working a lot. It's probably not the best thing for me or the baby, but it's just been really busy and very stressful.

In addition to work, there's also the stress of another remodel. We started finishing the basement right before Labor Day. I thought that the kitchen was stressful, but I feel like this one has been tougher. We had different stressors for the kitchen such as the language barrier since the contractor spoke mostly Chinese. For the basement, things seem to keep expanding in terms of cost, time, and scope. Not things I like to hear. I think that we might have been spoiled with the kitchen remodel because we did finish on-time though we did spend a little more than we had anticipated. We didn't have the typical contractor experience where they were late or found something bad which expanded the scope. So you already know about the water heater. This week, we heard that it was probably going to take them another week to complete the job. I still haven't figured out why. The material costs are definitely going to exceed the estimate, so it's all a bit frustrating. I am so relieved that this will probably be our last remodel project for a while. I can't wait until it will be finished. I don't like bad surprises. Being in strategy and analytics, I like to know about things ahead of time and plan for them. Probably another reason we want to know the sex of the baby when the time comes.

I'm sure that I'll be happy in the end, but it's just nervousness until we get there. I think that when I compare it to the kitchen remodel, I forget about the anxiety we had with that project and just remember the relief when it was complete.

I'm told that pregnant women also are very forgetful. I wonder if that is a factor as well. I feel like my memory lately has been suspect. This week, I forgot my laptop at a restaurant which I have never done before. Last week, I forgot to write an important check. I might have to start relying on Edwin to remember things for me for a while. Scary.

Pregnancy = Uncomfortable

So in case you were wondering why the number of posts have diminished quite a bit this summer, it is because of the pregnancy. I told you about the food aversions, but I haven't talked about the lethargy. For the past 3 months, I have pretty much taken 2 hour naps every Sunday and sometimes during the week. I'm usually OK during the day at work, but once I stop moving and start relaxing, my body says "You're finally slowing down, so you're really going to slow down now." It's kind of like when you are working really hard on a project and you can't afford to be sick, so you power through it and then you go on vacation and you get sick because you finally let your defenses go.

Because I have been sleeping so much and been drained of energy, it's been hard to get stuff done. I'm cleaning less- luckily, Edwin is there to pick up the slack most of the time, but it's hard to motivate if you're the only one cleaning while your spouse is sleeping. For me, that means returning less emails, decreasing blog posts, less phone calls, missing fun events with friends, and a decrease in thoughtful things for others (buying gifts/cards, calling/emailing for a birthday, etc.) This may not seem that significant and I know that people understand why, but it's part of what makes me me. Some of our friends said that they were suspicious of my pregnancy when Edwin appeared at a few events without me saying that "Michelle's not feeling well, so she wasn't able to come."

I'm now at 14 weeks and my pants are starting not to fit. I haven't gained any weight, but I guess that it has just been re-distributed to my middle. I had an OB appointment on Friday and my doctor told me that I definitely was starting to look pregnant. I can't really tell, but both Jeannette and Edwin have started saying that I'm looking bigger. I do feel like I'm in an in-between stage because my normal pants are too tight, but I'm still too small for maternity pants because they feel too loose. I'm also feeling some kind of weird soreness in my left lower back. I'm told that it is my sciatica. I have heard that a lot of women have issues with their hips and backs when pregnant because the hormones are working to "loosen" the joints in preparation for the big day. I guess that's why they say that women with large hips are good child bearing hips. I never thought that my hips were that small. It's usually worst when I wake up or after I have been sitting for a long period of time. I've never had back pain because I'm pretty flexible, so I can't tell if this is because I'm just getting old or if it's pregnancy-related- either way, it's uncomfortable.

So in all the excitement related to the baby, I forgot to mention that we've started remodelling again. This time, we're finishing the basement and the best part- adding a bathroom. We started this past week and unfortunately, we forgot to take the before pictures. So far, they have just started the framing to put up the walls, but we've already had a few mishaps. We're using different contractors this time than we did with the kitchen. We were very happy with the kitchen contractors, but Jon and Jeannette just had this contractor build a similar in-law unit for them, so we thought we would give him a try. On the first day, we met with him and told him that we would be leaving the back door open for him so that we wouldn't need to give him a key. He left to go purchase supplies and was going to return that day to start demolishing the basement. Well, that was the same day that my cousin Esther was leaving our house (she stayed with us this summer while she interned at my company) and she accidentally locked them out. Not a good start.

Then, the contractor was going to move the water heater to make room for the bathroom, but we determined that we weren't going to be able to move it where we wanted to, so now we're going to have a tankless water heater installed. We had been toying with the idea for while, but decided not to because of the cost. As you may recall, we had a slight issue when we first moved in because PG&E came to turn on the hot water and said that there was something wrong with the pilot assembly in the water heater. Though our real estate agent used some plumbers tape and "fixed it" so that we could use the water heater, I never have felt that comfortable with the water heater since. Because of that incident and because of the spatial/aesthetic issues, we decided to go for the tankless water heater. They say that it saves energy and money, so why not?

Our Labor Day weekend has been spent mostly shopping for bathroom materials and cleaning. Next weekend will be the one year anniversary since we first moved in. It's hard to believe that we have been here for a year when we still haven't finished unpacking! Also part of this remodel, we will be adding shelves flanking the fireplace- yay, so we can finally unpack our books. Maybe we'll finish unpacking and put up a picture or 2 within the next year. We also get our new sectional this week. Woo hoo- the joys of home ownership.

We're Having a Baby!

Baby's head is on the right and the spot above is the hand. You can kind of see eyes and a mouth.
3D baby. Looks like a topside view.

It's no longer an April Fools joke. We are expecting. Baby Lager will be joining us in late February. Due date is February 24, 2009. We were waiting until the end of the first trimester to announce, but here's a recap of how the pregnancy has gone so far.

I found out that I was pregant right before I left for NYC in July. I had my yearly exam with the OB/GYN, but was told that they would have to charge me for a pregancy test because insurance does not cover it. What??? That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. I don't know why I should be surprised that insurance doesn't cover it, insurance in general sucks. The doctor assured me that the pee sticks were just as accurate, so I took it the next day before I left for NYC. I read the instructions on the outside of the box and took the test. It came out positive. Jeannette reassured me that there are no false positives, only false negatives with these tests.

It's so hard for me to keep my own secrets. It's much easier for me to keep other people's secrets. Maybe it was because I wanted to tell people, but I felt like I couldn't because I couldn't even tell Edwin yet because he was in Nicaragua. That's not to say that I didn't tell anyone, but Edwin was not the first to know. Some people think that I should have emailed him and told him to call me. However, that's just not something that we have ever done. When he's on his trips, he doesn't call me. He usually just emails, but this is not something I wanted to email. And yes, we have not yet discovered Skype because we don't really call anyone internationally.

I finally did tell Edwin over the phone when he was back from Nicaragua. I was still in NYC and was going home the next day. I would have liked to have been able to tell him in person, but I just couldn't wait. It's not like he didn't know there was that possibility, but I think it still surprised him. It's like the clock had already started ticking on 9 months and we didn't even know we were starting until 6 weeks into it. I know it's not right, but somehow I always felt like it was 9 months from when you know.

The first real sign that made me think that I was pregnant was that my breasts were sore for several days. (Is that TMI?) I'm about 14 weeks now and I haven't really had morning sickness where I vomitted, so I guess I'm lucky. I have felt queasy and tired, but that's about it. I have always wondered what kind of food cravings I might have. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought pregnancy would make me want to eat more fruits and vegetables. (Edwin is now convinced that this is his baby!) I can't seem to get enough fruit and I don't think I have wanted to eat salads more than now. Edwin is very happy about that, but he's not so happy that it also seems that the baby doesn't seem to want red meat. I look at a big steak and think "oh, that looks good" but then I can't eat it. My stomach starts to say "don't bother." There have been a few times when I started eating something I thought I wanted and then had to stop in the middle because I started feeling queasy. Baby has also made my portion sizes smaller. In my head, I think to myself, I could eat 2 slices of beef pot pie, but then I am barely able to eat one. Edwin has been trying to get me to eat more meat. It's almost a role reversal. Nobody has ever had to tell me to eat more meat in my entire life! One thing that both baby and I like is soup. Love it. Can't get enough of it.

Things have been somewhat surreal. Part of me thinks that we should be doing more to prepare, but then I'm like, what do I need to do? I think at this point, it's just relax. Maybe look into maternity leave stuff. We probably won't decorate the baby's room until we find out the sex. We both want to know. Right now, I don't really feel anything, so I can't tell if it's a boy or girl. I would be happy with both, but I would at least like to have 1 girl out of the 2 children we will probably have.

Catching Up

Last weekend, we went out to the Castro and met up with Pablo, Steve, and Steve. We had dinner at Luna which had a lovely outdoor patio and a totally delicious clam chowder. Unfortunately, I wish that I had remembered to take a lactaid. Note to self, always take a lactaid when eating creamy soups. We ended up having an impromptu sleepover at Jeannette and Jon's so that I could recover from my gastrointestinal difficulties.

On Saturday, we went to San Jose for Joe and Helena's baby shower/BBQ. We also went to Mike and Michelle's for a dumpling making party. Though we missed the dumpling making part, we were there for the eating part and it was more good times with good friends.

Tea Party

On Friday, we went out with some friends to celebrate my birthday. We went to a French restaurant in the Mission called Garcon. The bartender was very good and the food was not bad, but the service was a little less than I would have expected for that caliber of restaurant. We still had a good time and then went to Bi-Rite for some ice cream dessert. I definitely recommend Bi-Rite. It was quite tasty. I had plain chocolate which was good, but there was a balsamic strawberry that was really great.

On Saturday, Michelle and Show and I went to Debbie's bridal shower in Pacifica. It was quite nice. Debbie has 3 sisters who are very domestically gifted. They had lovely tea sandwiches- salmon and egg salad, chicken curry on croissant, turkey pesto and mozzerella, and peanut butter jelly and banana. So yummy. This is in addition to the 2 trifles, the sorbet, and homemade scones. This was a real tea party.

All in all, a pretty good way to celebrate my 33rd birthday.

iPhone Frenzy

Last Friday, we had dinner with Matilde, Kokomi, Jeannette, and Freeman. Jeannette and Freeman stayed to help me bake an apple pie. Freeman slept while Jeannette peeled and sliced the apples while I prepared the mixture. Poor Jeannette didn't get to taste the pie because she had to leave earlier, and I brought the pie to cousin Billy & Maggie's in Mountain View for a BBQ. It was a nice little family gathering since Esther was there along with my uncle and his kids and Billy's parents. It was crazy hot (90+ degrees) and so weird because on Monday it was like 60 degrees in the city.

Sunday was pretty uneventful. Edwin tried to get the new Apple iPhone, but was told at the store that their system was down. It's crazy to me the demand for this phone. I work on the Windows Mobile campaign and I get a free phone through work, but I still think about paying $200 plus a monthly fee for the new iPhone. Is that crazy? I know that a lot of MS employees have iPhones. How good of a product is Windows Mobile if you can't convince your own employees to use it? Part of me wants to tell MS to build a product like the iPhone and then we can help them to advertise it.

DC Days

Yikes! It's been a while since I posted. It's mostly because we went to DC last week to celebrate Mustafa and Ellen's wedding. We were there from Wednesday to Sunday, but the time went by so fast. When we arrived on Wednesday, Mustafa and Ellen picked us up from the airport and we went to dinner. We also got a tour of their new house. We forget that when we leave the Bay Area, the houses all seem SO BIG. They had a beautiful deck with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. I have bathroom envy when I still have to share our only bathroom with Edwin. Here are some photos from our trip:

On Thursday, we helped pick up all the liquor for the wedding. We purchased the recommended amount from the caterer. We should have anticipated that the 60 guests would not be able to consume the vast amounts of liquor that they recommended- especially when we knew about half the guests and most of them don't drink alcohol at all. I think that Sujay did his best to consume as much as possible. He had 4 drinks before dinner and quite a few after. I always thought that "wedding Sujay" was only affected by wine, but now I know that's not the case. More about that later. After we picked up the libations, we went shopping at the Leesburg outlet mall since we were in the vicinity and sales tax was only 5%. I didn't really get much, but Edwin was able to get some great deals. We then met up with Ellen & Mustafa and some of their out of town guests for some pizza and pasta.

Feeling guilty about not indulging in the more cultural aspects of DC, we decided to go to the Smithsonian with the Banerjees on Friday. I forgot how big it was and we were only able to make it to the Natural History museum where we saw the Hope Diamond, a butterfly exhibit, and lots of taxodermied animals. We had wanted to visit the American History museum, but it was closed for renovations. We also wanted to see the Aerospace museum, but we ran out of time. We took a brisk walk to the Capitol Building in the sweltering heat, made a short stop at the Washington Monument, and then went to visit Matilde's old high school. We made it back in time to enjoy a BBQ at Ellen & Mustafa's where we got to meet up with Michelle and Mike, Derek and Show, Bo and John, Jinn, Kristal, Greg, Wilson, and Lok. We haven't seen Wilson in forever so it was nice to catch up with him and his adventures in HK. Old friends = good times.

Saturday was the big day, but we managed to make a quick trip to Dupont Circle with the Banerjees and Jinn. We had a quick lunch at Wisemillers which Greg had recommended to us and realized that we were no longer in college as we were expecting seating with our meal. It was still tasty and so we dined al fresco on one of the Georgetown campus lawns. Unfortunately, we did not get to explore Dupont Circle as much as we would have liked because we needed to get back to get dressed. It was such a cute little area that reminded me of Beacon Street in Boston because of the cute boutiques and collegiate atmosphere.

We had begun to remark that Ellen and Mustafa didn't seem as stressed as most couples are on their wedding day and surmised that it was probably because this was their third wedding. (They were officially married in December with family only and had another celebration in London earlier this year.) They still had a ceremony and it was lovely. Ellen is one of our dearest friends and part of our wedding party. The words that they shared were so heart-felt and genuine that I don't know that there was a dry eye in the group. Even though they have been married in essence for 6 months, it seemed to me that they were just wed. They were also mercifully short in the hot weather. Pictures to be posted later. There was lots of dancing and then it was all over. We got to chauffer Sujay home because he was three sheets to the wind. We had to stop twice to let him expunge his dinner and drinks. All in all, it was a great night of celebration.

Sunday morning took us a little longer to wake up. We spent our last few hours at Ellen and Mustafa's and saying good-bye to friends before we had a long flights home. We had a connection in Phoenix and our layover turned out to be delayed due to some bogus SF weather claims. Luckily, they let us off the plane and we were able to fly standby to Oakland which was more convenient anyway. After so much activity, it was nice to be home.

This week was horrendous. Work has been killing me. I was working until past 1AM on Monday because of a deadline and I have worked after I got home every day this week. This is not normal for me thankfully, but it doesn't make it much easier. Today was the first day I didn't feel exhausted. This weekend cannot come soon enough!

All in a Day's Hard Work

So I hope that everyone had a good time for the 4th of July. We had a great time. We had a BBQ. We thought that there would be 15 people attending, but then we had more than 30 people come. We started the day with the Alameda parade which is one of the longest parades in the country at 3.5 miles long. It was definitely a slice of Americana. Matilde, Kokomi, Sully, Eric, Wendy, Kian, and Teague joined us for the festivities. There were lots of people who came to the parade via bike. We drove, but were able to find parking only 3 blocks away. As a former city dweller, this was pretty incredible to us. We were able to get great views because the parade was so long that even at one of the busiest intersections on the island, we got front row seats. Here are some pictures of the parade.

After we left the parade, we went home to prepare for the BBQ. The day went by so quickly. Many people had more than 1 BBQ, so we ended the festivities around 5PM. This allowed us to go to Greg's BBQ in the evening in Emeryville where we tried to watch the fireworks, but because it was so cloudy, we weren't able to see much.

This weekend has gone by quickly too. We had a dinner in Oakland and then watched an Adam Sandler movie called Click. It was a fun movie. On Saturday, Jamie came over and helped us fix a LOT of little things around the house. Now I wish that I had taken "before" pictures. In one day, they hung the old kitchen cabinets in the garage, repaired the deck and stairs, fixed the gate latch, repaired the back screendoor, hung several window shades, and tore out the old shed acoustic ceiling. I was hoping for just the cabinets to be hung and maybe some deck repair. I never in my wildest dreams thought that they would be able to accomplish so much in one day. As Jamie kept saying, "Well, since we have all the tools out, what else can we do?" Here's a new addition to a good friend definition- helps you do home repair or clean raw sewage. Thanks Jamie!

NYC and Freeman Jah George

Last week just flew by. As you know, I went to NYC for the week. Here was the day-by-day activities:

Tuesday-I arrived to a hot and sweaty NYC via SuperShuttle. Now, I lived in NYC for 2 years. In all that time, I never took SuperShuttle. Why did I start now? I should have just shared a taxi with someone from the airport. I waited 45 minutes just to board the shuttle. Then, I sat for another hour while we dropped off 3 other parties. I could not stand it any longer. I got out and took a taxi the rest of the way. It would have been faster and cheaper to take the subway. Note to self- SuperShuttle in SF good. SuperShuttle in NYC- very, very bad. I arrived at Priyanka and Matt's for a late night dinner. It was nice to catch up with them.

Wednesday- To prepare for Priyanka's birthday dinner, I wen to Union Square Farmer's Market with Matt to pick up some ingredients. It was really big and had a large selection. I really wish that I had known about this when I lived there because I was always frustrated with the lack of fresh foods though I am told that this market just started getting more popular within the last few years. I also got to meet up with my cousin Vivian. She happened to be on her way to Guatamala for a freelance job. We had lunch at Katz's Deli and then shopping in Soho. That night, I went in to Westchester with my cousin Amy to visit my uncle and aunt. We also went to Cosi for dinner. Cosi is a regional chain that is not in CA, but I used to have it for lunch a lot when I lived in NYC so it was another food to check off my list. These were some really good sandwiches.

Thursday- I met up with Amy in Times Square for Sapporo ramen. When I lived in NYC, I used to meet up with Amy for ramen lunch at least once a week. Then, I met up with Ellen for some more shopping. She came up from DC to hang out with me and Jinn since school was out. It was also Priyanka's birthday and her husband Matt cooked up a a gourmet vegetarian dinner. Matt has always been able to make vegetarian food appealing to me. I'm pretty much the biggest carnivore, but Matt makes vegetarian dishes so tasty that it makes me think that he must be sneaking in meat somehow. He did not disappoint. He started with a 3 types of picked beets on endive. I'm not a big beet fan and I normally don't like endive because I find it bitter. Matt has changed my mind. I think that the pickling tamed the bitter flavor. He then made a cilantro soup. I hate cilantro, but I thought that if anyone was going to change my mind about that soap-flavored herb, it would be Matt. I tried it and had more than I thought I would, but alas, even Matt could not change my mind about cilantro. I tried. The main course was the lasagna. Most people buy the sauce and noodles and call it day. Matt made the sauce and the lasagna noodles. Who does that? This is what makes Matt a gourmet. It was SO good. The noodles were thinner than most lasagna noodles and the sauce was so sweet. I loved it and I had 2 pieces. Then, Priyanka's friend Edina made a cake. Who are these people? How do they even have the materials at home to just whip up a cake? I was impressed. My friends will buy me a nice cake, but I can't imagine anyone having the time to bake an entire cake. Maybe Show. These people live in NYC. They have changed my perception of New Yorkers. I need to step up my hostess game. No more Costco parties- who am I kidding? We're having 15 people over Friday for a BBQ. You bet we're going to Costco. Maybe I'll plan for something homemade...

Friday- I started out the day by meeting Ellen in South Street Seaport to pick up Broadway tickets at TKTS. We worked our way up to the West Village for some lunch at Dirty Bird to Go which I thought was good, but expensive. The whole premise is that the chicken in organic and hormone-free. I guess that healthier chickens mean littler chickens because it was probably the smallest thigh I have ever eaten. It was tasty, but I don't know if it's worth triple the cost of Popeye's for half the food. We also went to The Ink Pad to pick up embossing materials for Jinn's birthday gift. It was a cool specialty store with more stamps than I have ever seen, but I'm not sure that it's for everyone. Then, Ellen and I went to Central Park to hang out. Before our Broadway show, we had dinner at Joe's ShangHai Dumplings with Amy and Sandi. This was probably my favorite new find in NYC. These dumplings were so tasty. All the food was very good. We thought that we had over-ordered, but we managed to finish everything. I think that my favorites were the crab and pork soup dumplings and the seafood fried flat noodles. Yum- my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I think that this will warrant a return the next time I'm in NYC. Haven't had dumplings this good in a while. We then went to watch Spring Awakenings, a new musical. I have to admit, I knew nothing about this show, but it has gotten some good reviews. The music was pretty good and the actors were pretty good, but I couldn't get into the storyline. It was supposed to take place in 1890 Germany, but the music was contemporary and I like my musicals to be more happy and cheesy. After the show, we met up with Bo and her boyfriend for some karaoke at Duet which Derek recommended. Show and Derek were supposed to join us, but unfortunately, Show's flight was delayed 1.5 hours. We managed to still have a blast. We were only going to stay an hour, but we ended up singing for 2 hours.

Sat- I started the day with some bagel and lox with Priyanka at a nearby bagel joint. I forgot how good a bagel and lox can taste. Another NYC food check. Jinn drove us out to her NJ summer house in Bradley Beach for a gourmet BBQ. Anyone going to Jinn's parties will never go hungry. She made pulled pork, hamburgers with garlic chunks, marinated chicken thighs, asparagus, portobella mushrooms, and red peppers. She also marinated salmon, but we were just too stuffed to eat cook it. We spent a few hours at the beach where I took a nice nap. I ended up napping 3 times that day. I think that all of the hustle and bustle of NYC caught up to me. It was really nice to be able to relax in NJ at the beach house.

Sun- For my final day, we made a visit to our friends Val and Jason's house in Brooklyn to meet their son Tyler. It was really great to catch up with them and again I was impressed by Jason's culinary skills. He made a steak with risotto while Val made a strawberry shortcake dessert from scratch. Like I said, these New Yorkers have made me realize that I need to make more of a culinary effort. It can be done!

It was a really busy trip, but I was happy that I was able to spend quality time with all of my friends and family. These are the only photos I have from the trip because Edwin took the camera with him to Nicaragua. This is a photo of me with my cousins Amy and Sandi after we gorged at Joe's ShangHai Dumplings.

Best news of all, Jeannette gave birth to a baby boy on Sunday. Here's a photo of uncle Edwin with his new nephew, Freeman.