first run of 2016!

this was the run the road to the superbowl about a month before the superbowl 50 at levi's stadium, about 5 miles from where i live.

there's a funny story about this run. we had 2 additional ladies join us, they were friends of kelli's. and another was supposed to join us but hurt herself playing charades the night before. i thought, how convenient! but turns out, the person who was supposed to join us is married to my brother-in-law's brother. i've spent several thanksgiving and christmas holidays with her. and in fact, she hurt herself playing charades with my very own sister! it is a small world indeed.

the legendary totoro at nikkei matsuri

after the 415k in san francisco, i made it to see kelly's girls dance at the nikkei matsuri festival in japantown. and as we were walking along the street, what do i see? totoro, the mythical creature from my neighbor totoro. after seeing the movie ages ago, i've been collecting totoro stuffed animals and in whatever else forms i can find him in. there is something so special about this gentle spirit that draws people to him and adores him. you could see the excitement in my face next to him. this, after running a 5k with the best time yet.

415k - my best time!

last week, i ran the across the bay 415k run. a bunch of us ladies signed up but it ended up just being me and laurie. i barely had any sleep the night before but got up early enough to get to the city and park by 7am. while most of the runners did the 12k, there was still a good amount doing the 5k with us. the run started with a steep hill which i ran up. looking back, i probably should have walked up that hill. the good thing about ending with the hill was going down and pushing me to speed up. so much that i finished 1st in my age group!

before the hill, i was huffing and puffing. i was tempted to stop and almost did. at one point, i felt really nauseous. then came the downhill. and at the end, what really helped with this kid (a boy about 12 or so) who just raced by me with nearly no effort. he literally had no fat on him, just skin and bones. i tried my hardest to beat him but alas, he got the best of me. as a result, i got #1!

408k "race to the row" in san jose

last sunday, i did my very first 8k (about 5 miles). i try to walk 10 miles/day but hadn't gone running in a while so i was a bit nervous about running from downtown (it started at the sap center) to santana row. but i surprised myself. i ran the entire run with kelly. we did really well!

they split it up and gave different names to two of the miles. the first was the memorial mile in honor of those who served our country. apparently, they bused veterans in uniform in and set them up along this mile. we tried to high-five all of them. it was pretty cool. after this mile, we ran the mariachi mile. they had a few mariachi bands throughout this mile. both of kelly's daughters ran their age group runs, so we all got medals. our celebratory meal was at yard house. it hit the spot!
the picture is me crossing the finish line. pretty cool, huh?

running 5ks

in 2013, i did my first 5k with my bff. it was the turkey trot in downtown san jose. i was completely out of shape but persevered and walked/ran the 5k. after that in may last year, i ran for the mermaid 5k with my dear friend kelly.

in the same month, i ran the girls on the run 5k with kelly and her daughter again. we signed up for the ridiculous obstacle challenge 5k in august with a group of friends. the obstacles were based on the ones in the show wipe out. after the race, we went to a celebratory dinner with margaritas. in november before my 40th, we ran the inaugural 49ers rush 4.9k at the levi stadium. this was an exciting run because kelly was able to run the entire run all the way through. i actually walked the 5 miles from my place to the stadium, ran 3 miles, and walked back another 5 miles. i was a bit broken after that. and finished 2014 with the 10th anniversary of the turkey trot again with the bff.

2015 started with the hot chocolate 5k in san francisco running through golden gate park. after two weeks off of work and not being very active, i was concerned on how i would do. it wasn't so bad. i could run the slight inclines just fine. this run had the best swag.

we got a fleece jacket, a free hat (see picture), and some hot chocolate with fondue at the end! and went to the cliff house as our celebratory meal complete with a delicious bloody mary. next year, maybe we'll run the 15k. the next run will be our very first 8k! wish me luck!

mermaid run & mother's day brunch

on saturday, kelly and i did our first 5k together. it was her first 5k, my second (having done the turkey trot last thanksgiving). her girls run the little mermaid run which we also did after our 5k. it was 1.5 miles. though it was very hot and dusty there, it was a lot of fun spending time with kelly and her lovely family. so much fun that i spent the next morning with them for mother's day sunday brunch before heading over to my parents' house and celebrating mother's day with my mom.

kelly and i have known one another since the 6th grade (that's 1986) and have been friends ever since. we got closer when we went to uc san diego together and have been inseparable since i moved back to the bay area in 2001. despite having moved down to LA, i still saw her regularly because of a long distance relationship i had with a boyfriend there.

luckily, she eventually moved back up here. and now, i live less than 15 minutes away from her. our friendship has always been very special to me and i am so grateful for her and her family.

and these girls who i absolutely adore, it's been wonderful to watch them grow.

happy 1st year anniversary to me!

last year, today, i kicked cancer's ass. naturally, i had to celebrate. it was planned last minute, but quite successful. betty and i went together. grace, bobby, tony and jordan showed up later to make our intimate party better i went to my usual place, xanh, to celebrate. shea, their bartender is the coolest. his presence helped make the celebrations fabulous. he also makes the best deviations.

and the cherry on top, kelly gave birth to her second beauty. so i had to go visit and meet sophia grace. please help me welcome sophia grace keiko burich. born earlier today @ 2:56p weighing in at 7 lbs & 15 oz and 20" long. what a cutie!

congrats to kelly & chris! and emily for being a big sister! ♥

emily turns 3!

on sunday, my goddaughter emily had her 3rd birthday. i brought the kids with me. it was a day packed with projects, food, and lots of kiddies. they started off with a diy-pizza-on-a-bagel making project. after the kids made their pizzas, it was baked for their eating pleasure. the next project was a birdseed feeder on a cylindrical roll that's glued on with peanut butter. this project was quite messy. it was taken home in a bag. thank goodness, otherwise, emily would have gotten 2 extra feeders.

the last project was the pumpkin painting one. after the kids painted their own pumpkins, they could sprinkle them with glitter. and who doesn't love glitter, right? surprisingly, out of about 8 pumpkins, only one of them had a face.

despite the projects, the kids had a good ole time just playing with each other. the chunkster made a new friend named david. they even talked about going to each other's homes. they played together with my lollipop head the entire time. well, until david had to go home. it was really really sweet.

kids from left to right: chunky, molly, david, lollipop head, one of the twins, the birthday girl, ava, malia, julian, aubrey, and mateo.

we stayed for a very long 5 hours. two hours before, i was begging the kids to go home. finally, i told them, ten more minutes! i felt bad staying so long but the kids were having so much fun getting to know each other. by the end of the party, chunky & emily were "bffs." super adorable.

non-stop saturday adventures

during the last few saturdays, i've been going to step class with my friend claudia. and then, we'd have a light breakfast afterwards. we've been friends since 1993 or something ridiculous like that. when she was at ucsb and i was at ucsd, we'd visit one another about once a month. we hadn't seen one another for a year or two and finally reconnected.

last saturday, it started off as usual. with step class in the morning, only, claudia couldn't make it so i went alone. and then home to shower and off to the deanza flea market with my sister for some fresh kettle corn. mmm. we've graduated to the large bag now as well as eating like half the bag while we are there. the deanza flea market is the first saturday of every month. and we try to go every month to get our kettle corn fix satiated. we've also started washing our cars after the flea market. she is big on doing it yourself especially with a new/nice car. we didn't have the energy to clean the interior so we only did the exterior. despite that, gigi is now a happy clean car.

my best friend kelly was up from LA for her birthday. her parents threw a dinner party at their house saturday evening. after the car washes, my sister and i had a light lunch (we hadn't eaten anything except kettle corn) and i had to run to the mall to get kelly a gift. on the way home, i also picked up a burnt almond cake from peter's bakery for her. she's the one who introduced me to peter's.

i went home, got ready, wrapped her gift up and left. dinner was fantastic. we stuffed ourselved silly. for dessert, not only was there burnt almond cake, there was guave cake (from aki's) and this banana-pineapple dessert as well as fresh manju, fudge brownies and mango-coconut squares. omg. can you imagine?

i wanted to take her to the new xanh restaurant for a quick birthday drink since she hadn't been there yet. and since they have a full bar now, they are opened late. on saturday, they had a dj and were opened until 2am. almost like a club. we get there and like a club, there was a bouncer type guy at the front checking ids. the night was titled la femme bleue. i'd never gone on a saturday night and was happy to see that it was really hopping. crowds came and went but for the most part, it was packed. it was nice because the lounge area had plenty of seating and good lighting. i was pleasantly surprised.

as we were there celebrating kelly's birthday, i ran into all these people i knew. and they all got shots for kelly. she's a mom and rarely ever goes out anymore. it was fun just being the two of us. like old times. hahah. and randomly, we ran into people who went to high school with us. and it turns out, that some of these guys went to the same elementary school as me! small small world. then, there was the random guy who tried to play all mysterious and turned out to be totally annoying. he sat down next to us from the other side of the room. didn't even introduce himself. even after we asked him. it would have been one thing if he was really hot. but he wasn't. and guys can't really be mysterious and average-looking. he was young too. he had bad skin and bad b-o which is never hot. quite the opposite. blegh. what is wrong with boys? ok, i'm done griping.

it's hard to believe all this happened in one day. but it was fabulous hanging out with lisa and kelly, albeit separately. incidentally, i slept in all day on sunday. i guess i was low on my sleep levels.

birthday events

on friday, i turned 33. i'm closer to my mid-30's. ugh. but as most of my friends know, i like to celebrate my birthday all month long. i started with my new red shoes. last weekend, i went to los angeles for a mini holiday. it was the only weekend i could get away before my big work deadline on december 4th. coincidentally, it was the baby shower of my college friend, sandra. i hadn't seen her since her wedding. kelly also surprised me with a trip to the bliss spa at the w hotel in los angeles. i'd been dying to go back to bliss since we had our muffin spa day there back in 2005. it's been over 2 years since i'd gone to any spa. so it was the perfect birthday surprise. we both got facials and chilled out in their lounge munching on brownie bar. we both also had extra treatments. she had the refining fruit acid wash ($25 extra) added on which is like a mini chemical peel. i had the microdermabrasion ($65 extra) added on and basically, they sand your face to make it smoother. usually, you get more than one session of these but i don't think i need to do it again. we both sat in the sauna for a bit, took individual steam showers and bought our products. it was much fun. and while i wanted a spa day with my sister (who suggested it to kelly, thanks lisa!), kelly is the next best thing. thanks kelly! ♥

last wednesday right after work, i brought home my birthday gift to myself. a new 2007 acura tsx with navigation system. it's carbon grey with ebony leather interior and a 6-speed manual transmission. i'd had my heart set on a mini cooper s but with all the bells & whistles i wanted in the mini, i got standard with the tsx. and more. everything has voice control. i'm still getting used to the commands. not to mention, talking to my car. and it is SO MUCH fun!!! the bluetooth is also really cool. if i call you on the road, chances are, i'm talking to you from my car!

on thursday, lisa & i cooked thanksgiving dinner. this year, there were no parents or unmarried significant others. a first. we all get along with my sister-in-law's siblings that they are really like family. i've been spending the last 8 or so thanksgivings with the pham family. it's been really great. lisa made the most amazing stuffing from scratch and corn pudding. and since my birthday was the next day, we celebrate my birthday on thanksgiving as well. it's a good excuse to have cake after dinner. i usually get myself the pumpkin burnt almond cake from peter's bakery but ro (thanks ro!) told me about aki's seasonal pumpkin cake. so i ordered one. it's called the pumpkin delight and it is quite delightful. really moist and flavorful. i'd say it was much better than the pumpkin burnt almond. mmm. i also got a yummy strawberry birthday cake from trang's sister jade.

after dinner, lisa & her bf allen took me to meat is murder night at popscene. it's a tribute to the smiths & morrissey. a smiths cover band, this charming band, was also playing. i hadn't been back to popscene since september and was dying to go dancing again. most of the popscene characters were there so we got in for free (thanks ken!) and for the most part (except for the first drinks allen had to pay for), we got our drinks for free (thanks to chris). dancing was so much fun. lisa took two car bombs with me. she'd never had them before. we didn't get home until 4p but it was totally worth it. thanks lisa! thanks allen! you guys are the best!!

a tradition i've started on my birthday is getting my haircut. i thought i just wanted a trim but i usually let my hair dresser, gina, do whatever she likes. she does in fact do whatever she likes and it always looks hot.

on saturday night, my brother & sister-in-law took me and lisa to this new restaurant in palo alto, called shokolaat. let's see, the only good thing i have to say about this place is that the dessert was the best thing there (even though we ordered 3/4 of the dinner menu). it was overpriced (over $200 for 4 of us) and there was a racist elderly woman sitting next to us who did nothing but glare at us all night and made racists remarks at us. i didn't know these people still existed. we were the youngest patrons dining there and not the only asians there either. next time, i'll go to xanh for my birthday.

thank you all for sending/leaving birthday messages on friday. i was napping from noon to 5p recovering from the night before at popscene. despite unfortunate events, it was still a lovely birthday.

weekend of birthdays

this past weekend was much fun with too much food. ugh. i'm still full from all the birthday celebrations. on saturday, my best friend kelly came up from LA to visit and threw an informal birthday party for her daughter (who turns 2 today), emily-anne. last week, on thursday, i took half the day off to play hookie with kelly. i went over sometime before 2p and didn't leave until past 10p! it was so much fun. i really miss hanging out with her. she's such a great friend...

on saturday, i went over for more food, cake and a game of tripoley. i rarely play card games but since everyone else was playing and the night was still young, i decided to try. basically, it's 3 games in one and 3 ways to win. first, you match up any high hearts you have. there are 9 pots of money you play. then, you play poker with 5 of the cards you have. and finally, you play russian rummy. whoever gets rid of their cards first, wins the last pot. i think i stayed until all of my chips ran out which was close to 11p.

on sunday, it was trang's mother's birthday brunch at dim sum. i stuffed myself silly. both days. then trang & i took the kids to chuck e. cheese. i don't really remember the last time i went. when i was a kid? can't be. anyway, we stayed for a good hour or so and then we went to the gilroy outlets. despite being really tired, i'm always up for shopping. after a full day, i cleaned for a bit and rewarded myself with a nice, relaxing bubble bath. i love my bathroom. since we're moving in december, i need to make the most of it!

ugh, i'm still recovering. i hope to hit the gym this week, except, i've got this awful cough that's keeping me up nights. usually though, i feel better during the day. nights are pretty bad even though i try to sleep at an incline. i hope it goes away soon...

5 years ago...

i had a best friend i now refer to as "smella." she was my best friend for over 10 years. we had known one another since middle school. we went to high school and college together. but five years ago, it all came out. her true feelings of me. she hadn't let go of things that had happened in the past and i realized, she would never let them go despite repeated apologies (for no reason really, she too was at fault) and explanations. i admit, i too hold grudges but once i'm over that hump, i forget about it. the grudges i maintain are incidences i can never forgive and therefore, i always say, i prefer moving forward and not backward. they are things that don't get over that "hump."

it's been five years, almost to the day. i still have the chat archive where i last spoke to her, as a friend. the most i've said to her since is a "hi" in passing. but that's been once or twice. you know how your best friend is your worst enemy? well, she was my worst enemy and i didn't even know it. this came out when i confronted her with an email i received from an ex-boyfriend. he wrote to just "let me know" that he and his new gf was meeting up with her and her bf. i immediately forwarded the message to her and asked if he was lying because it couldn't be true that she would do such a horrid thing. he sent this to me a month after telling me he would not speak to me for at least a year. lame, right?

i went to high school with my ex-bf. that's how she knew him too. they weren't really friends though. they became friends when he and i started dating again in 2001. she turned out to be a bit of a counselor to him. bad for me. apparently, this gave her an opportunity to stab me in the back to my at-the-time-bf. which according to him, he was always defending me. at the time, i just figured he was lying. that she might actually talk shit about me to him, of all people. looking back and knowing how much he cared about me, he couldn't have been lying. it was true. she secretly hated me while i loved her like a sister.

during the years, i'd hear things about her and him, together and separately. that he went to her wedding. and that he got married to that gf. i'm happy for him. that he found someone, someone who wasn't me. i also heard that she missed me. despite that, she didn't want to be friends with me again. this makes no sense to me. i do not miss anyone i don't want contact with, and that includes her. i look back and think how stupid i was, to love someone so unconditionally and all along, she hated me. the friendship was not mutual. she said she was more of a friend to me than i was to her. that i held all these high expectations of her and she couldn't take the pressure. it was too much for her. she couldn't hack being my friend. how does one react to this? how could it possibly be resolved? how does one want to continue this kind of friendship? there was one reaction. i was stupid for thinking she was like my sister. i was stupid for loving her unconditionally. i was stupid for thinking the world of her. and last, i was stupid for hoping it was mutual between us. the only thing i could do was abruptly end the conversation and mourn the loss of a terrible friendship. how could i have been so stupid?

i have not spoken to her since. and would prefer it stays that way. i don't miss her. i'm glad that she is no longer my friend. as a matter of fact, having her out of my life has made my life much better. it's made me realize what friends are supposed to be like.

actually, my best friend kelly, has helped me with this as well. our friendship is not only uncondi- tional but there are no problems with high expectations, it's just a given. there's mutual respect and love between us. it's an ideal friendship. the best part is, we've been friends since 1986 and it just gets stronger.

kelly's birthday surprise

months ago, my best friend kelly's husband wrote to her girlfriends to invite us to a birthday surprise girls' night out. he planned one last year and it was very successful. she had a fabulous time. so he decided to do a part deux. unfortunately, this time no one was available. due to the numerous health conditions i suffer to which i have relating medical appointments scheduled throughout this month, i thought it was be the perfect opportunity to see her for her birthday. especially since it was the weekend following her birthday (last friday). and if i waited until after my appointments, i couldn't see her until may, for her april 6th birthday. that just wasn't right.

i volunteered to fly down to surprise her. i booked the flight and made reservations for sunday brunch. it was easter sunday and most brunch places were full. it had not occurred to me how terribly busy it would be but i will get to that later. this also worked out well because i was scheduled to go on my low-iodine diet starting the 12th of april. it continues for 10 days. this diet is actually good after our pig out feast last sunday. i'm hoping to shed a few pounds.

back to kelly's surprise birthday weekend. so far, everything is good. she's got no clue. i'm scheduled to arrive when her husband is leaving work. everything is perfect. on the day of my flight, it turns out that my flight is delayed. over an hour. and while i am waiting at the airport for my flight, who calls me? kelly. of course. as we are chatting, suddenly, there's an announcement made about my flight over the intercom. if you are on flight... going from san jose to burbank... oh shit! i ask her if she heard that. she said no and asked where i was.
me: um, at the airport. her: oh, are you going somewhere? me: no... i'm... waiting for... er, someone. (yikes, dead give away but maybe she won't notice?) her: um, i gotta go. (crap, she figured it out)

later, i called her husband to update him. first, the flight is delayed a bit longer. and second, i blew it. kelly knows. he said she'd called him about 4 times and mentioned it. so he 'fessed up. but she was still surprised. i called her back and told her as well. she was still very excited and that's all that mattered.

for sunday brunch, we went to the castaway restaurant which sits on top of a hill in burbank. the view would have been lovely had it be a clear day. but all we saw was white fog. and despite having reservations at 11a, we weren't seated until close to noon or later. it was easter sunday and completely packed. the food was decent. their cappucinos were pretty awful. we were pretty hungry so we couldn't really complain. i think i did 3 rounds of eating. finally, i was so stuffed, i could barely move. when i looked around, no one looked familiar. we'd out-eaten everyone who were seated at the same time we were. it might have been 2 hours later. oink oink.

we spent the rest of her birthday weekend eating (at old country cafe with joe in alhambra, a cute french cafe in pasadena, and port's in burbank) and shopping (h&m). and i was able to spend quality time with her daughter emily, whom i adore dearly. she is my future niece-in-law. i miss her! ♥

a few things

i'm finally starting to breathe through my nose again. it's not bleeding so much but i'm still spitting up some blood. and there's something wrong with my upper lip. the skin is so dry and doesn't seem to move comfortably. when i move anything between my upper lip and my nose, it hurts as well. i think my nose has to be completely healed before i can start feeling normal there. i hope my upper lip goes back to normal soon. the skin is so dry, tight and peeling. i've resorted to using carmex on it because nothing else works and there doesn't seem to be a jar of vasoline handy in this house.

i'm still sleeping late. i'm on a 10th wind or so. i woke up quite early this morning. 6:30a to be exact to go to nordstrom by 7:30a with my best friend kelly. who surprised me yesterday morning by telling me her mother was showing up with a something, and that something was kelly and emily! and armed with a lovely arrangement of home grown orchids (will post a pic of them soon). speaking of flowers, i've received a total 4 bouquets this past week. not that i need flowers to make me feel loved but it was just so unexpected. it made me think of all the special deliveries & visits i got in the hospital when i had my thyroidectomy in 2003. that really made me feel special and helped me, mentally, with my recovery.

back to now. today, i accomplished very much. i hemmed a couple of slacks that i've had for months. i also did some ironing. and earlier, i got my hair cut, quite short. it's shoulder length when it's wet so when it's dry, it's a bit shorter. i'll try to post a pic as soon as my face starts behaving as it should. and after i've gotten back to the gym. ugh, hopefully next week i can get back to my classes. we'll see. ok, sleep now. i need to cut out these late nights by tomorrow (ugh, i mean today)! i'm going back to work on monday.

my goddaughter, hopefully...

this is kelly's beautiful little girl, emily. she is 5 months old and one of the sweetest babies i know! everytime i visit her, she's always smiling at me. she was so good when i watched her. even though it was only for about 30 minutes. her cheeks are so jiggly and she makes me giggle!

she's going to grow up to be such a beauty! she's already a darling...

behind in postings

kelly's surprise birthday

on april fool's day, my best friend's husband decided to surprise her by planning a surprise party the weekend before her 32nd birthday. he offered to fly me down to burbank but i couldn't take him up on it and since i was planning to visit her for her birthday anyway, i booked my own flight. i had a voucher so it didn't cost me anything. and surprised she was! seeing her speechless and confused was so wonderful!! i was so happy to be part of the occasion!

we decided to take her out on an all girls' night out to asia de cuba in west hollywood at the mondrian hotel. joanne and karen drove up from san diego to also surprise her. gail, her landlady and friend was also in on it. kelly's husband stayed home with their 5-month old daughter. i was told that everything at the mondrian in white. the staff/waiters are all dressed in white. when we pulled in, it looked like there were a bunch of house painters in spotless uniforms. it was really posh and fun. apparently, there are celebrity sightings at the mondrian.

we didn't actually see anyone but had tons of fun. the food was so good. it was an asian and cuban fusion. i'd had asian fusion before but not with cuban food. we had 3-4 appetizers and 3 main dishes. it was family style and more than enough food for the 5 of us. i had a pineapple mojito which was their specialty (they also had mango mojitos). i'm not a big mojito fan but it was delish!!

we started with lobster potstickers, grilled pesto shrimp, fried riceless sushi rolls, butter fish, pan-seared ahi tuna on top of wasabi mashed potatoes, and a cuban chicken dish thai coconut sticky rice steamed in a banana leaf. it was all soooo good.

we all had a lovely time and kelly felt like a regular person again, being out and about. happy 32nd kel!! xoxo!

so busy these days

this weekend flew by so quickly! i guess that's what happens when you are a busy busy girl like me. ;)

work has been pretty crazy, planning and organizing... our admit day was friday and despite going to popscene the night before, i made it there on time to set up for all the events. i even remembered to wear a green ribbon for st. patrick's day. at the reception later in the day, the students came up to me one by one to tell me how much they liked my new hair do. it was so sweet. even one of the student's 8 y/o daughter told me that she liked my hair. her father, one of our students, asked me where i got it cut because apparently, no hairdresser will cut layers on his wife's hair. strange. gina will do it in 10 seconds too. so, i have to remember to send him gina's information. at the end of the reception, he was telling an admit (who only applied to ivy league schools except for stanford) that a great reason to come to stanford was because of me! and another student who was still there, seconded that vote. i love my students... they are so sweet to me! when his daughter was saying goodbye to me, she told me she thought i was pretty. aw... what a cutie...

i left work around 6:30p and headed home to drop off some things before going over to my best friend's parents' house. kelly was back home all week but sick and very busy so i didn't get to see her and emily until the end of their trip. we hung out catching up with one another. it was so lovely to see her and just chat with her. she lives in burbank and i'm hoping she will move back up. but despite the distance, we're still very close and always have a great time together. we went to the nordstrom trend show early the next morning. they gave out these really cute make-up cases. see above, isn't it cute? she left later saturday evening and i miss her already!

on saturday night, betty and i went to berkeley to a birthday party (happy 31st heather!). heather is a great salsa dancer so there is always dancing there. we got there a little late but people were coming even as we were leaving sometime after midnight. it was a lot of fun. except for the lame girl who, the first thing she said to me was that she didn't like the beer i was drinking. um, okay, whatever stupid girl. sometimes, i just hate people.

today was a full day. i had planned to do laundry for my trip but ended up not doing any at all! i had lunch with my brother and sister-in-law, their kids and their friends. ugh, i was stuffed so i helped them clean up while they caught up. then betty called me up and asked if i wanted to go out for dinner. sure why not! not long after, my cousin debbie calls me to see if i was busy for dinner. so i call betty and we planned to have dinner with my cousin and her husband at xanh. but betty flaked and my other cousin lam and his fiancé were invited so it was the five of us. we had a great time. the food was delicious as usual. i love my cousins and their significant others, i always have a wonderful time with them.

meeting emily

last saturday, i flew down to burbank to meet kelly's little arrival. she looked so small and pink (heehee). she just slept and ate and slept and ate. but kelly's house was full of visitors, her parents were both down from san jose. her cousins were over and her sister joy, the girls and wade showed up too. there was a lot of food and fun. i was there for about 5 hours, i think. it was lovely to see kelly...
...more pictures to come...

introducing emily-anne yoshiko burich...

at 8 lbs and ½ oz. and 19 ½ inches and delivered on october 22, please help me welcome emily-anne to the world!!

emily-anne's delivery...

last thursday night, my best friend kelly's water broke. her baby was due around sunday. i called friday evening after work, kelly had yet to give birth and it was 18 hours after her water broke. then on saturday afternoon, i called kelly again and her husband chris, and no one picked up. after brunch that day, kelly called me back. she sounded exhausted but still herself. emily-anne was delivered at 3:37am on saturday morning at 8 lbs and kelly had been in the hospital for 27 hours. that's right, 27 hours. i know, i can't imagine either.

anyway, this weekend, i am flying down to meet the new baby and see the new parents! i can't wait... i'll bring back pics!