santa party #3

it was my third year going to the party. last year, i didn't post about it. as i went solo this year, i thought, i must post about it. i went solo again and stayed until the very end. i had an amazing time! the food was delightful and the company was fun. it was very festive. pictured is me with the host, stephen. he is awesome.

birthday dinner slideshow

i had such a great time at my birthday dinner at e tutto qua that i put together a slideshow about it. enjoy! thanks everyone!!

my wedge-o-rama

clockwise from the top left, the colors are in: cove nappa, barn door nappa, black patent and harbour blue nappa. they have a 3¼" wedge heel and are super comfy. and, they were all on sale for $60 each. hence, the 4 pairs.

swedish pop: jens lekman & taken by trees

venue: the fillmore
band: jens lekman with taken by trees
who: ashley
when: 5 november 2012 (monday)
doors open at 7p

i was supposed to see taken by trees at noise pop back in 2008. but the band got their equipment stolen and cancelled all the shows including the one i had tickets for. it was a bummer. so i was thrilled to see that she was opening for jens. for those who have not heard of taken by trees, it is the solo project of victoria bergsman, former lead singer for the concretes. her voice was quite sweet and lovely, much like her.

we arrived early so we could get prime seating in the balcony. we had a nice view into the stage from the left. jens was touring his latest album i know what love isn't. after making music about being in love and breaking hearts, this was heartbreak. his heartbreak. despite that, he can still put on a show.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

wedges galore

apologies for back dating the next several posts...

these wedges by badgley mischka were actually purchased in october. they have a 4" wedge heel and the color is rose satin. and best of all, they were 80% off.

the white wedges are burberry and were also purchased in october. i know, i blew my one pair per month limit. oh well.

the north with stars

venue: the fillmore (sold out!)
band: stars, diamond rings & california wives
who: joe
when: 20 october 2012 (saturday)
doors open at 7p

joe came up again to visit and see stars with me at the fillmore. lisa & i took the day off on friday so we could go to napa with joe. we started with the house for lunch in the city and then picked up some egg tarts at golden gate bakery. we began our wine tour with castello di amorosa in calistoga for some wine tasting, then dean & deluca for raclette cheese ending with v. sattui for more wine tasting and a picnic of cheese, paté, salami and bread. incidentally, both castello di amorosa and v. sattui are owned by the same company.

joe and i had peruvian food for dinner. a few blocks from the fillmore, we made it there in less than 10 minutes. the first band, california wives from chicago were surprisingly good. joe and i listened to both opening bands before the show and they sounded much better live. the second opening, diamond rings was even more surprising. the lead singer is like a gay vanilla ice. he was a total diva. very entertaining. the songs were pretty good too. joe liked them so much, he got their tank top and was quite excited about it too. hah.

this album really speaks to me. though i think i say that about most of their music, i'm so in love with "the theory of relativity." i love this verse, i think it's so catchy and fun to sing:

back in the lame grade ten i was a total devastator, baby
down in the schoolyard they all fell to their knees
but it can't be '93 sadly 'cause i wish it could forever
you call it luck; i call it tragedy

and in the song, "the north," the chorus describes my sleep patterns exactly:

good luck, bad luck, survival
sleep is my friend and my rival
good luck, bad luck, survival

i struggle with getting to sleep every night, however, i love to nap and sleep in when i get the chance to. and i suffer during the work week because i am a night owl by nature but my work life forces me to be an early bird.

there is one more song that i have to mention. "lights changing color" takes me back to my most favorite and possibly, the best date ever. specifically these lines bring back the memories:

it was empty 'till you came up through the honey
nothing ever goes as planned
when you're walking and the lights are changing color
remember how you held my hand

this is actually my 10th stars show. i counted. i miscounted before because i think that i counted the memphis show as a stars show. maybe i should say that i've seen torquil campbell play ten times. in any case, this is the most i've seen a band and i can't help it, i don't want to stop. it's as if i am addicted to them. well, i suppose i am. as i am in still in love with this new album, the north. plus, the poster that the fillmore produced is obviously designed by someone who knows their music because this was the perfect poster (by brad kayal) for them.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ the heart suspends then bends it into three or five.

new order, back after 7 long years

venue: fox theater (sold out!)
band: new order
who: lisa
when: 5 october 2012 (friday)
doors open at 7p

this is the fourth time i have seen new order. the first time was in 1993, then i saw them at the area: one festival in 2001. the last time was in 2005 for the tour of their most recent album, waiting for the siren's call. come to think of it, every show was with lisa except for the last one.
see the close-up shots of bernard sumner? i had to show off the awesome zoom i have on my point & shoot canon camera. hahah.

since i've seen them, new order started playing joy division songs at their last show but didn't before that. this is nice for those of us who never got the chance to see joy division which is most of us since ian curtis killed himself right before their american tour back in 1980. here is the setlist from the show:
1. elegia
2. crystal
3. ceremony
4. close range
5. age of consent
6. isolation (joy division)
7. here to stay
8. your silent face
9. bizarre love triangle
10. 5 8 6
11. true faith
12. the perfect kiss
13. blue monday
14. temptation
encore: atmosphere & love will tear us apart (both joy division)

we were a bit disappointed that they didn't play anything from their technique album but it was still a 5-heart show for me. we left as "love will tear us apart" was ending so we could avoid the mad rush leaving the theater. and we listened to technique "all the way" home to make up for what we didn't get to hear at the concert.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ it was a fine time.

next stop: victoria, canada

caroline and i left for canada very early the next day. the night before, i stayed up late catching up with fred, her husband. he and i have very similar taste in music so we had a lot to talk about. our ferry was leaving seattle at 730a but we had to get there by 6a. on the ferry, there were four older women sitting next to us in a section of six seats. they told us they were childhood friends from missouri and in their retirement days, they take an annual trip with just the ladies. they asked if we were still in college! they were super nice.

the woman sitting directly next to me kept staring at caroline as she read her us weekly magazine. caroline looks up at her and smiles. she tells caroline, you know everything in that magazine is untrue, right? we agreed that it was trashy. then she continues to say, i know, my son is an actor. caroline proceeds to ask, is your son famous? the woman looks to her friends and they all give each other knowing looks. caroline then asks, can you please tell us who your son is? she answers, my son has six children with angelina jolie. her friend sitting next to caroline says, i changed his diapers. omg! it turns out that i am sitting next to brad pitt's mother!!

after we arrived, we checked into hotel oswego just down the street from the ferry terminal. it was very conveniently located. plus, we were able to check in early.

we were then off to make the most of our overnight stay and see as much as we could before our afternoon tea reservations at the empress hotel. we shopped, bought candy and fashion jewelry from a street vendor. we also came upon a street fair of chalk artists. finally, we arrived at the empress hotel for afternoon tea. our spread was lovely. it was a good thing that caroline thought ahead and made us reservations!

clockwise: they start you off with fresh strawberries and cream when you are seated. the top tier included french macaroons dipped in chocolate imported from paris, pink princess cake among other delightful desserts. the middle tier had scones with jam and butter. the bottom tier was the first one we worked on with a variety of five different tea sandwiches. the very best was the egg salad on croissant sandwich (the second to the last on the right in the image). mmm goodness.

for dinner, we intended to go to the brasserie l'ecole but got there 10 minutes after they opened and no tables were available for another two hours. we were too hungry to wait and looked for another place. the one thing i really wanted to try was poutine, which is a canadian specialty. i had poutine in a san francisco restaurant but it is nowhere near what it was supposed to be. we ended up at the local kitchen off of wharf street. they had poutine and there wasn't much of a wait. in the top right image, it's a close up of the poutine which is french fries smothered in cheese curds, bacon and gravy. it is extremely rich. that is why i ordered a salad for dinner but the poutine was too much. i barely touched my salad.

i was hoping to catch the ghost tour they offered after dinner but i didn't think i could walk for another 90 minutes, despite my comfortable shoes. on the way back to our hotel, the house of parliament is lit up. it was a beautiful end to a full day.

on the ferry ride back to seattle, guess who tapped me on the shoulder? that's right, mrs. pitt. turns out, she and her girlfriends sat right behind us so we hung out with them for the 2-hour ride sharing what we did in victoria and seattle. fun fun fun.

seattle in september

i have this friend, caroline and i know her from my san diego days after i graduated and worked at the scripps institution of oceanography. she was hired as my student assistant. i left my job and san diego some months after she started. after i left, we'd become friends.

in 2002, she was abroad studying in london and i'd gone there to visit her. and in 2006, after a breakup, i took a trip to chicago and saw here during my stay there. eventually, she'd gotten married and had a little boy. she introduced me to my good friend funie. in 2008, her twin sister grace, moved to the bay area so i'd gotten to know her as well. five years ago, caroline and her husband moved to seattle for his job at microsoft. on a recent visit to san francisco, she mentioned that they wanted to move down to the bay area. since i'd never been to seattle, i had to visit her... soon.

i booked a flight a month later scheduled to leave on the 14th. the only non-stop flight was one leaving at 6am. so i arrived there very early. it was so early that pike's place wasn't as packed as sardines, or as it usually is on a friday morning. caroline was very pleased about that.

we hit her favorite french bakery first to get some coffee and french macaroons. she showed me the original starbucks just a couple of stores away and we went across the street to pike's place. i went a little crazy at chukar cherries and watched fish being sold at the market. it was quite entertaining and impressive when they threw fish at each other. i kept my distance when we saw the walls of spit, i mean gum. that was truly disgusting.

we did a little shopping downtown and went to the space needle for our lunch which caroline made reservations to ahead of time. we started our lunch with wild salmon fritters. it was amazing. she recommended that i get something from the sea since that's what seattle is known for. so, i ordered the wild king salmon sandwich and fries with my bloody mary. mmm delicious. after lunch, we took the tram back downtown for more shopping. then we headed back before traffic was terrible. one thing i forgot to mention which you might notice is that the weather was fantastic! i was very lucky that my first trip to seattle was not a rainy one. i finally met her son, victor who recently turned 3. he is adorable!

labor day weekend in reno

finally, my high school friend with whom i have known since 1990 (and was a bride's maid in her wedding), invited me to her house in reno for the long weekend. originally, it was planned for the end of july which fell around the time of her husband's birthday. i can't remember when they moved to reno but it has been a while since they became nevada residents.

at my recent 20-year high school reunion, i sat with justine and dave and spent most of the time catching up with dave. i mentioned to him that i was interested in coming and visiting them one of these days at their reno house. since they worked and lived in the bay area during the work week and went home to reno every so often, i invited myself to hitch a ride with them. that was in june. despite burning man this year, we left on friday night and arrived before midnight. the way home was a different story. we had burning man spottings all weekend. you could tell because these cars were covered in a layer of desert dirt and most carried furry bicycles.

their house is huge and beautiful. there are two guest bedrooms, one man cave plus one and a half bathrooms on the first floor. on the second floor is their office and master bedroom. inside the master bedroom is a walk-in closet to die for, that was literally overflowing. it was ridiculous.
on my first day there, we dropped off justine's mom at the peppermill and headed over to virginia city. i am told that this is one of the oldest western cities in the country. though it is extremely touristy, people still work and live there. it really takes you back to the west. apparently, mark twain was born there. we also took the old school train (pictured) to where i was able to take a picture of view. also pictured is the old washoe club which is supposed to be haunted. and always fascinating to me though we did not make it inside.
we had dinner at the lodge near their house which is the only restaurant close to them. even though we were planning to go to the rib cook-off the next day, i had myself a kobe burger. the rib cook-off was in sparks, nv (right). apparently, justine and dave go every year. we looked for the longest lines as we hoped that was a sure sign that it was good. i had ribs and a guinness. i meant to take a picture of it but started eating it right away. that night, we had porterhouse steaks by chef dave for dinner. their neighbors ed and christy joined us. more mmm meat goodness.
on the way back (as well as on the way there though we took a different route home), we drove through the altamont pass and wind turbine farm. for some reason, these windmills and turbines give me such peace. i took a bunch of these from the car.

the north

is the new album by canadian band stars. while this album makes me feel all sorts of emotions, it only leaves me with one word = love ♥

congrats, kim & kess!

this past weekend, we ventured through the heat to attend the wedding of our long-time friend, kim. i have known him since he and my sister were in middle school. he used to come over and study with her. he and i were also roommates with my sister when we were at college in san diego.

kim is one of the most romantic guys i know so i was super excited to hear that he was serious with his girlfriend, kess. i met her a couple of times at nordies so i knew she had good taste, especially with dating kim and all. the wedding took place at the ranch golf club, which is very close to lisa's house. the golf club is on top of a hill and has a beautiful view. the only downfall was the heat. the ceremony took place outside in the burning sun. luckily, it was a short ceremony and we only baked for about 30 minutes or so.
the reception was lovely. we took advantage of the open bar and the food was delicious. i caught up with old friends and met a couple of new ones. one of the bride's maids sang a 45-minute set with her band. she only sang covers but i was still impressed with her. i thought it was very special.

at the end of the night, we all hit the dance floor to kelly clarkson's breakaway requested by willis. we danced away the night and were the last ones to leave. the happy couple left for a european honeymoon the next morning. mazal tov!!

the carnival returns

the last time we went to lisa's work carnival was 2006 and the kids had been wanting to go again ever since. every year, they would ask me about the carnival. finally, after 2-3 years, i told them that it was never going to happen so they should stop asking. so when she told me there was a carnival, i couldn't wait to tell the kids.
i took the day off and got there early, when they opened it up. the kids were in school so we had to get them. we filled up with samosas, egg rolls and hot dogs. when we returned with the kids, we started with some food and cotton candy, then we headed over to the 30 foot slides (see titanic slide below).

afterwards, we head over to the water slide. the water slide turned out not to be worth changing into swimming clothes so lisa took the chunkster to the bull ride while i waited for my lollipop head to do some rock climbing. see chunkster vs. the bull ride video above. we then spot bath tubs that you can drive. i think this had the longest line but nothing compared to the boat ride at the last carnival. after several tracks of the tub ride, we went to cool off with some snow cones. as it was starting to shut down and there wasn't much left to do (we tried the face painting but it had already closed down), we headed back over to the 30 foot slides and the kids got several rides on the titanic slide. overall, it was a fun and hot day. the kids definitely want to come back again. maybe in another 6 years though i'm not sure they'll be up for 30 foot slides as teens.

first time @ the gilroy garlic festival

almost every year, i pondered going to the annual gilroy garlic festival. i made a very pathetic attempt a couple of years with my sister to the festival but the traffic was so horrendous that we made a detour to the gilroy outlets. plus, it was hot as hell. this year, however, we had a work outing there so i made it! not only did i make there but i made it with a couple of kids in tow. we got there when it opened so traffic wasn't bad, at all. and to top it off, it wasn't as hot as it usually is. this was our reaction after tasting garlic ice cream for the first time. chunky and i didn't mind it, however, chris and lollipop head hated it.
here, the kids are enjoying some $6 "frozen lemonade". yes, it is minute maid and a complete rip off. but it made the kids smile so so big. there was much for the kids to do. they rock climbed and played inside plastic bubbles in water like hamsters in those plastic balls. (video to come soon). i walked around in my comfy 3" heels which was a mistake. after hours of walking in the sun, my feet were killing me. this is something to remember the next time, if there is a next time. though, i am thinking this was a one-time only thing.

next image is of the kids with the garlic torch. if you have never gone to the garlic festival in gilroy, it is huge and vast. there was this whole other area that we missed initially. it is this enormous arts and crafts fair. that's where the garlic torch is. i walked through the festival in uneven dirt and grass for hours, carrying the kids' jackets from morning.
finally, the last image is of me with the kids at the very end of our time there. we were under a tent waiting for the others to meet us. we had a good time but it was quite warm and i was ready to leave. since we were there and all, we made a pit stop at the gilroy outlets on the way home.

20 years ago...

in celebration of my 20-year high school reunion, i decided to post age 16 ½ y/o pictures of myself. enjoy!

color blocked wedges!

these wedges are black & cream with a 4" heel. they are a bit like this pair but they are still different. and yes, this is me modeling them.

ps, this is shoe #10 for 2012. two pairs of boots not shown.

it started with a kiss

how could i resist
the aroma of your perfume
you and i were in separable
it was love at first sight ♥

okay, one more... because every girl needs a nude pump

these are open toe mary janes in nude. they are 4" heels with a 1" platform.

last one, i swear! kinda...

these look familiar because i have them in charcoal. these wedge heels are 3¼" and very comfy. i found them just in time for this rain storm!

i can't stop...

these ankle strap pumps have a 5" heel with a 1½" platform so it feels like it's only 3½".

a little bit of leopard

these booties in nude leopard have a 3½" wedge heel. they were also 70% off!

all that glitters

because it's so hard to say no to anything that sparkles this much on me...

first pair of 2012

i ♥ ♥ ♥ my wedges! these are 4½" heels with a 1½" platform.

happy leap year!!

rip: dory previn

how i adore you, dory previn
turned you up to eleven for the band's ears to bleed...

official news on my recent body scan

i saw my endocrinologist today about my body scan last month. it's official, i'm still cured of thyroid cancer. :)

goodbye 2011

my last meal of 2011. this is what you get when you live near and are related to a restauranteur. mmm... delicious!

happy new year, everyone!