dc trip, part deux

i found this lovely picture of the couple from their wedding website. i really wanted to take a picture of the cake and steph in her cheong sam. despite her being kinda hidden, she still looks gorgeous, doesn't she?tuesday, 22 january
let's see... tuesday was the day i ventured out on my own. i didn't really know what to do. i had dinner plans with terrence that night. i'd been to dc multiple times before. i used to date someone briefly who lived out there. so as far as being a tourist, i'd already been there and done that. it was so cold out that i didn't care to see much. but i had to do something. so i did what i do anywhere and anytime i need to kill time, i went shopping.

the problem was, i didn't know where to go. i went to the mall at pentagon city and the mall next to it. i had lunch at the nordstrom there. i don't know how i ended up at the smithsonian metro stop. i think i figured, if i can't find any shops, i'll go to the museums. i took a quick look at the national monument and took a picture identical to the one i took the last time i was there, over 3 years ago. after walking around a bit, it started to rain. it made sense to take shelter in a museum for a couple of hours but i wanted to shop. from a distance, i could see the very familiar red italicized h & m sign just a few blocks away. yay! to my surprise, zara was next door. i found a cute wool blend dress from zara on sale. i got my shopping fix and started to head back afterwards.

terrence and i went to zaytinya for dinner. apparently, they are the "mezze specialist." mezze are basically middle eastern and eastern mediterranean tapas. to top it off, restaurant week in dc was extended to this week. so there was a prix fixe menu. 4 mezze and dessert for only $30 per person. we had 8 plates between two people and two desserts. needless to say, we were happily stuffed.

wednesday, 23 january
my last full day in dc came at last and as with most vacations coming to an end, the 5 or so days i was there felt so short. the end came so suddenly. i wished i had more time there. i had to remind myself that my vacation wasn't coming to an end, i was leaving for nyc the next day. i spent most of wednesday doing laundry and packing up. and making plans with bernie. when you sleep in until noon or so and then do laundry for a few hours, 4pm comes up really quickly. i met up with yung-mei after (her) work at oya for happy hour. oya is a japanese restaurant/lounge. very cool inside. i guess it's usually packed but turns out, wednesdays are the days to go because it wasn't too bad. i was on my second drink when yung-mei showed up. i decided to have some sushi rolls to soak up the alcohol. the first drink i had was pineapple goodness. the other two where soju cocktails. the last one was this cucumber and lime soju drink, it was refreshing and quite delightful.

after we were done with our rolls and drinks, we headed over to matchbox for vintage pizza and miniburgers (aka sliders, very popular on the east coast). it's a lot of fun hanging out with yung-mei. she's so much more friendly and talkative than me. so you make lots of friends when she's around. i left to use the restroom and came back to yung-mei talking to two guys at the bar. and after we sat down, we made friends with the guy sitting next to us. poor thing, he ordered the crab cakes and failed to notice the pizza and miniburgers piled high surrounding him. i guess the waitress is to blame too. we teased her and gave her a hard time about it. and shared our miniburgers and pizza with him. he bought us drinks. what a sweetie.

that was a fantastic end to my dc trip. i was a bit sad that it was over. i'm hoping to head over to the east coast again sometime in april or may. after my last body scan, i'd go to celebrate... in addition to having a huge bash here, of course. yay!

dc wedding

initially, my east coast trip was just for dc. but then bernie came into the picture and well, how can i say no to adding a leg to new york?

friday, 18 january
i arrived at dulles on the 18th and found my way to arlington where my dear friend yung-mei lived. i was staying with her for the duration of my dc holiday. she was also my date to the wedding. i know yung-mei from work. except, i never worked with her. she was the predecessor to my former position and whenever she came to visit, i'd always go along. we got along very well. it turned out that we are both tigers and sagittarians. plus, she's half chinese. in 2003, i visited her in manhattan while she was there for grad school. i stayed with her then as well. she had this great apartment that was clearly an administrative mistake. that was my first new york trip.

by the time yung-mei and i met up, it was dinner time. she lives right by the mall at pentagon city. she suggested some places including ruby tuesdays. i'd never been there but have seen countless annoying commercials for them. so we went there for mini-burgers, chili and salad bar. it was yummy. saturday, 19 january
the big wedding day. we squeezed everything in before. like shopping. and more shopping. and getting ready. we got there just in time for the ceremony. the wedding was at the washington club on dupont circle. it was built in the early 1900's. apparently, the building was originally a residence and later housed the first women's club in dc. there is so much history there. it's really amazing. and it's been kept up beautifully.

the ceremony was lovely. from the dresses to the officiant's speech. steph, as you can see above was breathtaking. there were a couple of opera singers performing. i don't think i've been to a wedding with opera singers. fancy. the reception was right after the ceremony. after cocktail hour, that is. i was on antibiotics so couldn't partake in the alcoholic beverages. the reception was in the room next to the ceremony. i think there were about 150 people there. i'm really bad at gaging things like that and height (random). it was a good amount of people. what was interesting about this wedding was all the single women there. yung-mei tells me that there's a huge population of single women in dc and new york. i guess it's a good thing i'm in the bay area. less competition i suppose. hahah.

back to the reception... the speeches were awesome. there were 4 total and a couple of them brought tears out. her father's speech was super sweet. her best friend's speech was the big tear jerker. fantastic. the best man speech was, to say the least, entertaining but the most inappropriate. and finally her sister's speech was quite nice too. the slideshow lasted a bit longer than most but i enjoy seeing childhood pictures of my friends. the food wasn't as bad as i've had at weddings. i had a great time. i just wish i wasn't on antibiotics so we could've gone out afterwards.

sunday, 20 january
steph and erik had an open house as a post-wedding event. they have a 3-level home with this great backyard. there was still a lot of snow out that day. it was one of the coldest days, mostly because of the wind. i'd left yung-mei's with wet hair and the wind chill went right through me. i think i got wind burn on my cheeks. they were still red the next day.

i didn't get to talk to steph or erik much at the wedding so it was nice to catch up with them there. i chatted a bit with her parents, his cousin ilsa from minnesota and ate way too much. a former student and friend of my mine, terrence, was there was his lovely wife gayle. we met up at the open house and has dinner afterwards. i'd never really got to know gayle previously. they invited me to their wedding but i couldn't go. damn that ted. anyway... they are having their first baby so it's very exciting. for dinner, we went to this yummy pizza place (fomerly the thai room). at the wedding, i was seated next to them at the reception. and spent a good amount of time catching up. terrence (as he knows) was one of my favorites when he was a grad student. i'm happy that we've been able to keep in touch through the years...

monday, 21 january
i spent monday in annapolis, md, visiting an old coworker and her family. i worked with danie at scripps in san diego. i think she was there for her bf at the time (husband now), chris. my ex and i used to house sit and dog sit for them when they were away. they were part of my san diego family when i lived there. she was like my big sister.

the last time i was in dc was october 2004. danie was pregnant with her second child. before that, i hadn't seen her since i moved from san diego to the bay area. that was 2001. i decided to spend the day with her and the rest of her family. her kids are now 6 and 3 and totally adorable. at first as with most kids their age, they were shy but by the end of the day, her 3 y/o was telling me she loved me. super sweet. ugh, i wished i'd taken more pictures...

we ate at this sushi restaurant in downtown annapolis. it's right by the water so it was freezing there. i know, i'm such a wimp. the kids were running all over the place but well behaved. it's nice to see what a wonderful mother danie has turned out to be. and get this, these kids eat raw fish. they were eating the sashimi like chicken nuggets. it was amazing to see. i didn't start eating sashimi until well into my adulthood. crazy. at one point during dinner, danie says to me, wow, leaving san diego was the best thing for you! this is the absolute truth. when i think about who and how i was back then, i think, who is that girl? yuk, yuk, yuk.

when we said our goodbyes, it was a little sad. after spending the day together, it made me want to visit more often and keep in better touch with them. they are really good people.

i think i'm going to finish the last two days in dc later...

i'm baaack...

well, i got back sunday night but have been completely overwhelmed at work. and so, have yet to catch everyone up on my trip. i apologize dearly to all 5 (or less) of you out there. let's see... i'll start from recent to old as i'm sure you've all been waiting to hear about my...

weekend at bernie's (in brooklyn)

hahah. ro gave me the headline for a post ages ago. long before our fantastic first date. i flew from dulles to jfk last thursday. it was much anticipated. i don't know how long i've been looking forward to this trip. it's been a couple of months but feels like a lot longer. especially with all the flirtations on the different modes of communication (email, text and phone), it felt a little like we were dating but not. bernie met me at baggage claim. i saw him right away and headed towards him. he noticed me shortly after. and the chemistry was still there. very exciting.

we took a cab to brooklyn. i'd never taken a cab in new york before but everything i'd heard about new york cabbies were totally true. i couldn't see much but i could feel the constant swerving. not to mention the constant honking. a few times in the cab, bernie held my hand. i think he sensed my unnerving fear for my life.

about 45 minutes or so later, we got to his place. it seemed to take forever. it was frigid cold there. the snow was melting. the sun was out for a bit but not us. we stayed in my first night there. his roommate, pascal introduced quick silver screen to him which was nice for me as they didn't have a tv to entertain me with. lucky for me because i'd teased and flirted with him over the phone for the last few months, i was afraid that once i got there, i would just stand there and say, um... hey, what's up? hahah.

it all came together fine. it was a lot of fun actually. he was sweet and wonderful. he told me how much he loved it there and wouldn't trade it for anything. got it. he's not coming back. i'm glad he likes it out there. i'm also glad i have someone to visit the next time i want to go to new york. and finally, i'm happy to say that i'm not/won't be having a long distance relationship.

everytime i went outside, (and this happened in dc as well) my eyes would tear uncontrollably and my nose was like a waterfall. sorry, gross huh? but as soon as i got anywhere inside, i was fine. everything turned off like a faucet. hahah. he took me to this quaint french cafe called cafe luluc for brunch. apparently, he and his roommate go there a lot. the two of them usually split an omelette and pancakes. so i was up for that since that's what i do with my sister. except, we get an omelette and crepes to share (at los gatos cafe). but these pancakes... wow. delightfully delicious. they were probably the best pancakes i'd ever had. they were thick like a layer of cake with a nice crunchy crust, kinda. ugh, i'm craving them now... i never crave/order pancakes because i can just make them at home.

he and pascal wanted to see cloverfield. yuk. i remember watching the previews on tv and thinking, god, everything bad happens there. doesn't it? hahah. they knew nothing about it. unfortunately. it turned out to be like the blair witch project with a bigger budget. just thinking about it makes my head hurt. this is why i don't watch movies anymore! i'd much rather spend bernie's $11 seeing a lame band at popscene than watching lame movies like this one.

it was really a nice relaxing & chill weekend. i'd been busy every night that i was in dc so i didn't want to do much except hang out with him. we ate in most nights and watched a lot of ramsey's kitchen nightmares. i highly recommend the british version as opposed to the american. it's so much better when you get to hear gordon ramsey swear as much as he does and not have to deal with the bleeps.

on sunday, i packed up and got ready while he made me breakfast. i didn't think about his show until sunday. and well, missed out. bummer. :( he ordered a car to take me to jfk all paid for in advance. he took great care of me. i will definitely go back to visit him. that is, when it's warmer. a lot warmer.

leaving tomorrow

tomorrow is my big east coast trip! i leave for dc very early tomorrow morning from san jose. i have a wedding to go to on saturday (according to weather.com, it's supposed to snow that day. yuk.) for one of my former students from my first job at stanford. i've kept in touch with her since she graduated in 2002 (i think?). it's very exciting. i'm also planning to visit an former coworker from san diego. she lives in annapolis with her family now. i haven't seen her since 2005. it will be nice to meet her daughter and catch up. i'll be in dc through mlk jr. and i leave for new york next thursday (1/24) for a few days which is also quite thrilling because i'm finally visiting bernie in brooklyn. plus, he's got a show on his brazilian photographs. very very exciting...

see you on the 28th!

home computer sick

on sunday, my laptop kinda died. it won't start. it says it's missing a file. no more dells for me. no more dells for anyone i know who had one. i'm getting a macbook next. hopefully. i suppose this dell made it through 3 years but still, i'm not ready for it to die quite yet. ugh. i still have files on that thing i need to back up. grrr.

back dating...

happy new year!

happy 2008 everyone! i hope everyone had a safe & fun new year's eve!

my holiday events

at work, we started our winter shut down at 3pm on 12/21 (scheduled to return to work on 1/03) which didn't leave me much time for last minute shopping. i think i was mostly done anyway. i just had to finish baking. this year, i baked 400 cookies (snicker doodles, oatmeal butterscotch w/ pecans and holiday chip cookies) for work alone. i baked another 250 on xmas eve for distribution in holiday tins. so, i baked nearly 700 cookies last month alone. can you guess how many i ate? none! i had to balance not working out with not eating my cookies.

we had xmas at my parents' house. it was a potluck and our cousin from oregon came down with his 3 daughters & wife. it was lovely. my mom's birthday is xmas eve so i brought a cake & strawberry cupcakes (i'd baked that morning). my sister made her very yummy & spicy mac-n-cheese. she made this for my birthday. it was delightful. we exchanged gifts, spent time with one niece & two nephews, and ate so much food that i will be dieting the entire year as well as going to the gym at least 3x/week if not more. our cousin's daughter said they had so much fun that they wanted to come back the next year. it was warm, cozy and even a bit exciting. a perfect time spent together with family.

my new year's eve was spent at my long lost cousins' house with my sister-in-law's family. i made white chocolate bread pudding (from nordstrom) for the first time. it's my brother's fav. i meant to make it for him on his birthday but ended up picking some up from the bistro at nordies. anyway, it took ALL day. there were so many steps i had not anticipated that i made us late an hour to dinner. luckily, they were not quite ready for us when we came. the bread pudding turned out fabulous. i made so much that we have bread pudding for the next couple months. before we left, we had some asti to toast in the new year.

before new year's, my mom asked us to go see our sponsors in pleasant hill. we were sponsored here from vietnam by two families, the underwoods & the williams. there's this unspoken love between us. we are so grateful to them for giving us opportunities we wouldn't have had we not come to the states. and they are as proud of us as grandparents would be. they come to weddings and we visit once every few years. recently, mr. williams suffered from a stroke and is getting on with his age so my mom feared it wouldn't be long before he left us. so the underwoods hosted a little gathering. we spent about 2 hours catching up and hearing stories about us when we were younger. they also briefly discussed the ordeal it took for my parents to get us here. i was only 2-3 y/o at the time and don't remember much. it turns out we were stuck in japan before coming to the us for a year. there were problems getting into the us. and apparently, they knew someone in japan who pulled some strings for us. i never knew about that. they also still have letters from my dad. it would be great to read those some day.

pictures to come...

i spent a good part of my break sleeping 10-12 hours/day and hanging out with my chunky monkey of a niece. she was my shopping buddy. sleeping so much and not working out at all was fantastic. but alas, back to dieting & getting to the gym again...