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.

diana's 30th

me with my dear dear cousins at xanh restaurant

happy 30th, diana! ♥

black swan

for halloween this year, my good friend invited me to a party in the city. i haven't dressed up in years.

in early october, as i looked around my apartment for costume ideas, i found an old dress i bought in high school. for my senior prom, i made my dress but i bought a back up dress at guinne sax. see the top image of the dresses below. when i put it on, i thought... dark ballerina! which then lead to black swan. this was actually an idea my cousin gave me this summer while traveling together in new york. she had planned on being black swan. thanks debbie!

this dress is almost 20 years old and finally worn! it was very exciting.

as you can see, i first removed the horrendous long sleeves. then i moved the petticoat up and cut the dress in half. i added feathers and gems to the bust of the dress. i bought a tiara and basically colored it black with sharpies. now, i had to figure out the make up. and thanks to a youtube tutorial, i was able to get the make up done myself. i walked in 6-inch heels for over 3 hours and the make up lasted about 8 hours. i was pretty impressed with myself.

holiday festivities

on saturday, i left the house at 4p to go to stephen & rowen's annual christmas party. but first, i picked up funie who graciously came as my date. we got there a little early just before 6p. i wanted to come early as parking in the castro area is limited and a bit frustrating. we found parking easily. i also wanted to take pictures of the tree before the crowd came. the tree is amazing. i'm told there are over 600 glass ornaments (click on the image to see a close up). stephen is a collector of santas so if you can imagine, his place is covered in santas. every corner, nook and cranny. it's a santa wonderland. the food is also delicious. i hadn't eaten since breakfast so come 6p, i was quite famished. so i ate and looked at santas, ate and looked at more santas. it was a fantastic party. we left after nearly 2 hours.
despite all the food and being a bit full, funie and i decided to go to our usual italian restaurant in north beach, è tutto qua. i get my flirtation fix fulfilled there. all the italian boys are cute and fun. plus, we were celebrating my belated birthday and funie wanted them to sing happy birthday to me. their spaghetti neri is especially yummy that i actually finished it. funie and i ate most of the panna cotta too, which is so so scrumptious. after about 3 hours, we finally asked for our bill. the boys were disappointed that we were leaving so soon.

after dropping funie off, i got home at 1a. i was out for nearly 9 hours! it was like a work day, if i worked the swing shift or something. and on sunday, i didn't leave the house... at all.

birthday drinks & cupcakes @ xanh

two saturdays ago/the day before my birthday, i had a very last minute birthday celebration. i figured, i'd squeeze in some drinks with some friends & family after my sister cooked me a very yummy dinner. having it at xanh is always convenient as the only thing i had to take care of were cupcakes. i made strawberry and coconut cupcakes while my sister made my birthday dinner. i meant to take a picture of the cupcakes. the above collage include the few pics i got with my camera before the batteries died due to overwhelming flash use (and forgetting to recharge the batteries). there were boys thrown into the mix of ladies later. all in all, it was a very good birthday.

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.

betty's bachelorette!

i don't often have event-packed-weekends but this past weekend was exhausting. don't get me wrong, it was loaded with fun things to do. but still, weekends are supposed to be for refueling on sleep and laziness. then again, maybe not.

saturday was betty's bachelorette spa day & dinner. all day. it started with the burke williams spa in santana row. our treatments were scheduled at 4ish but i decided to come early to make the most of the facilities since i had to leave early to get stuff ready for the dinner @ xanh restaurant. i met up with joahnna at around 3p. i went to high school with her and hadn't seen her in ages! but back in 2006, we hung out a lot with betty. it was nice to catch up with her a little bit because she wasn't able to join us for dinner. i had a detox/calming wrap at 4p. it's 25 minutes of being wrapped in a cocoon of warm towels soaked in herbs, eliminating unwanted toxins. the esthetician who helped me, tifa, was this fabulous indonesian woman. she was a mother of 3 and in her late 30's. i would have guessed that she was in her 20's. she looked SO good! she threw in a mini-facial with my wrap. it was exactly what i needed. next time, i'm going to try a facial with her.

i left about an hour after my treatment. i wanted to say goodbye to betty. she didn't get out until after 5:30. i was meeting lisa at home by 6p. i had to get ready, remember to bring the cake, menus & favors and be at the restaurant by 6:45p with lisa. i drove like a speed demon to get things ready before 7 only to have to wait nearly an hour for betty to arrive. i should've known. and since she came straight from the spa with her friend lisa, it was kinda lisa's job to get betty there on time. apparently, she didn't know it was. luckily, it turned out fine.

it was me, lisa, loanne, hoi, lien, marie, betty & her friend lisa. we had more than enough food with plenty for betty to take home. the pumpkin burnt almond cake from peter's bakery was enough for all 8 of us (big & small slices) and leftovers for hoi to take home to her kids. in addition, we had less than a quarter to share with my brother's little family who showed up at the restaurant during our dinner. the kids joined us (me, lisa, betty, lien & marie) in the lounge after dinner too! we had yummy deviations and chatted until we closed the place down. it was loads of girlish fun.

half way through - lisa arrives!!

day five - sunday w/ lisa
lisa was arriving sunday evening which meant, i was half way through my trip. :( but was ecstatic that she was coming! on saturday night (more like, sunday morning), i didn't get to bed until 4a. and i get this call... from nisa! she wasn't surprised that i answered. we talked for a bit and she asked me what i was doing with the men i was meeting in chicago. was i loving and leaving them? or trying to get into a relationship with them? my answer was, loving and leaving them, of course!

mien and i started off the morning getting crepes at la creperie. but before that, we got ambushed. well, mien did. a big friendly-looking guy came up behind her and lifted her up. then, a woman came over to me and said, you must be linda. it was sue and angel, mien's friends. sue was supposed to meet up with us the night before but we got out too late. so, they joined us for crepes.

la creperie was a cute and charming place. they served everything on these very country english (probably french) china. i had the poulet & fromage de chevre (chicken & goat cheese) savory crepe. mien had the poulet au curry (chicken curry) savory crepe which i would strongly recommend. it was so flavorful. both angel & sue were really nice and so cute together. we sat in their outside patio in the back. it was such a lovely day to be outside under shade.

we walked around and shopped a bit afterwards to walk off our brunch. while mien & i took the bus back, sue who is quite the walking machine so she and angel walked back. we got back in time to pick up a zipcar and pick up lisa, except, lisa's plane landed more than 30 minutes early. so we picked her a little late...

we still had the potluck at georges' from avec on thursday. it started after 7:30 and we didn't get there until after 9, or was it 10? as soon as we walked in, clearly looking out of place, people gave us all such a nice welcome. we went in to say hello to georges and then were introduced to everyone else. apparently, georges has this potluck (no politics, no religion) every sunday. rain or shine. even when he's in germany every 4 or so weeks. and the food, was absolutely amazing. there was steak, sausage, salmon, pasta salad, and la pièce de résistance was... georges' paella. made specially for pescetarians sans sausage and shrimp for those allergic. it was so good, i had a second helping. and, i took the paella home. heehee.

we ended up drinking and staying until 2a or so. poor lisa was so tired. and boy, georges was coming on pretty strong to me. after several attempts hinting at leaving, mien finally got it and we left. it was very flattering and fun but i was in love 'em and leave 'em mode!

day six - labor day @ navy pier
we spent most of the day at the navy pier, along with everyone else in chicago. we took a 30 minute boat ride cruising around the lake. it was amazing. 30 minutes was just the right amount of time. i couldn't imagine doing the 1 hour tour.

july 4th adventures

popscene re-established 2008

last thursday, i went to popscene with betty. we haven't gone dancing there in sooo long. there have been a lot of changes since the renovations took place back in april (?). it wasn't just a face lift. it was also a lift of two of our very favorite popscene people. we assumed the two left popscene. however, it was the opposite. it also turns out that popscene is now new home to douchebags as well as emo kids. an unlikely combination but as it is, they both suck, in every way possible. i'm afraid that my popscene era is coming to an end. it's no longer as fun. there's no more eye candy and hardly any room to dance. big bummer. i suppose it's time to put my dancing shoes away. i'm getting too old for this anyway.

at least jason is still there. we also heard that josh now works at the beauty bar in the mission. apparently, he still does sound checks for bands at popscene. we decided to call it a night and head out to the beauty bar to see if josh was there. it was 1am when we left and there was still a line outside of popscene. this never happened before.

a funny thing happened as we drove into the mission. we were stopped at a stoplight when i noticed this guy in the car next to us just staring at me. i don't know why, but this always makes me laugh. and as a result, the guy thinks i'm smiling (really big) at him. luckily, he went straight and we turned left. after we parked, we found ourselves surrounded by 3 french men. or so they said. at least that's what i thought. one of them was telling me that they were from france and asked us where we were headed. i told him the beauty bar and i asked him where he was from. he said dijon. like the mustard. my response? shut the fuck up!! dijon my ass. i referred them to betty as she lived in france for a year or so. when she heard they were from dijon, she said, oh? i lived in marseille. oops. oh well, i wasn't interested anyway. they got the hint when we saw josh and completely ignored them. later, josh asked us if we came with those guys. hahah.

4th of july

i spent the 4th recuperating and hanging out with my niece and nephew. we watched fireworks that night from the new house. they were small and aside from the two large trees blocking our view, but we could almost see all that was going on from the front steps. next year, we are hoping to watch the fireworks on the rooftop. that should overlook those trees.

saturday adventures

on saturday, i went to the deanza flea market with my sis for fresh kettle corn. i heart kettle corn. especially when it's nice and warm. i can't really eat kettle corn otherwise. spoiled, i guess. we had pizza for lunch afterwards.

i had planned to go to the fillmore jazz festival with louis & rich (& pati!) but was invited to a housewarming at my friend thao's place in south san francisco. it started at noon but i didn't get there until after 4p. which was ok because the party goes until 9p. i thought i'd be able to head over to the festival to meet my friends but it was getting too late. i'd decided not to until i spoke to rich and he said they were waiting for me. so i headed over and met up with them for an hour or so. i'd never gone and they said it was better last year. there's really something about being able to drink in public. we ended up at the boom boom room for a while. that was fun. i spent most of the time chatting it up with pati. afterwards, we went back to thao's for some munchies. both louis and rich had previously met thao, ages ago at popscene. despite being such a full day, i'm glad i made it to all my events!

caroline's 23rd birthday & drunk dialing

my younger cousin turned 23 recently. it made me a little sad as i am ten years older than her. and i chose to be 23 for a good 8 or 9 years. now that i think about it more, i'm glad that i'm no longer in my 20s. i dare say i am even happy to be in my 30s. i choose the age 23 because it was one of the best years in my life. school was done, i travelled to europe, and thought i found the one i was going to marry and have babies with. it was truly the age of innocence for me. but now, who wants to be innocent at 33? pas moi!

last year at my cousin's party, i think i had 4 or 5 shots of vodka. i can't remember. then i had some plum wine or guinness. i mixed. and then it was all over for me. next thing i knew, i was waking up in my cousin's bedroom with her sleeping in the bed next to me. i suddenly saw flashes of yakking and what not. at first, i had no idea where i was. that's never good. this year, i told myself... i only want to get drunk enough to drunk dial bernie. so i stopped at 3 vodka shots. i planned on coming into work on sunday so i couldn't pass out anywhere but in my bed. i even texted him a warning message. possible drunk dialing tonight. he texted me back right away. he was going to bed soon so i had to call him soon. and i did. i can't remember a whole lot but it was nice hearing his voice and chatting with him. i'm a little smitten with him. clearly.

anyway, poor caroline got sick as did many others (including a 40 something y/o man who yakked everywhere). not me. i drove my mostly sober ass home. i even went to the office the next day. and hung out with a 4 y/o the entire day. having spent quality time with my dear cousins and their significant others (aka my cousin-in-laws & future cousins) is always such a joy despite how rare it is. it makes me really happy that i have such a lovely relationship with them. i'm also happy that bernie picked up when i drunk dialed him. heehee.

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...

my lovely cousin

happy birthday caroline! i had too much fun. i can't believe you're already 22! where did the time go??

back log - the 4th, blocked tear duct, & a baby shower!

4th of july

i spent independence day at muffin's new pad with sir gb. they had a grill going out on their balcony which is on a corner and faces the street. so there's no one next to you. it was quite nice actually. getting there was a little bit of an adventure as my friends(betty & gillie) & i got lost getting to her apartment. the food was very yummy and i met some cool new people i could go dancing with. heehee. all in all, it was a nice low key event. we saw some fireworks but it doesn't seem to impress me like it used to. i just wasn't interested. i think the food was distracting me. food or fireworks? food or fireworks? i took food.

thanks muffin! ♥ it was great fun.

eye update

it's been nearly a year since i had my intubation, i went back to the opthalmologist last week for a check up. i thought i was just going to have surgery and get it over with. but there were some problems... he said i had three options. they are:

1- some sort of balloon intubation where they stick a tube inside my tear duct that is blown up to stretch the tear duct. but he said that procedure almost never works. so, scratch that.

2- do another intubation. last year, the tube was too tight and rather than leaving it in my eye for a few months, it was there for a few weeks. initially, i felt drainage so i was excited that it was working. but the tightness created problems. my eye started to get infected and my tear ducts were getting stretched and droopy.

3- the last option is surgery. he'd open up the side of my nose and make an incision to try to stretch out my tear ducts. the problem here is that my condition isn't that bad. and apparently not ideal for surgery. if i went through it, i would end up with a scar on my face, which is likely to become infected since the area we are dealing with isn't sterile (my nose) and that would make the scarring worse. plus, it may not even work! ugh.

we talked it over some more and i decided on doing the intubation again. i don't think i posted in detail the whole procedure. i guess i said it didn't hurt but it really did. in fact, it was a bit traumatizing. although, now that i've been through it, i know what to expect and it may not be so bad the second time around. so, the plan is to leave it in for 4 months instead of 3 weeks. the procedure is scheduled for august 2nd. wish me luck!

my cousin's baby shower

this past sunday, my cousins (proud parents-to-be debbie & roger) had a baby shower. they are expecting a baby girl. it's very very exciting. they got married last september and were together for over 9 years before that! as they are still attached at the hips, they have been very much in love for the entire time. it's refreshing to see that kind of love still exists.

i was asked to make tiramisu and cream puffs and bring drinks. well, i was a little overzealous with the alcohol. i bought a case of champagne and two bottles were barely touched. i spent most of saturday (until well in the am) trying to finish baking the cream puffs (baking them in my mini convection oven was 30 minutes for every 9-10 cream puff, i made 40) and the tiramisu. which was a total disaster! i had total of ten tubs of marscapone cheese. out of the ten, only two was good. the rest came out curdled. i'd never been so frustrated at 4am before. on two hours of sleep, i woke up early to get more marscapone cheese to make at least a batch of it for the shower. out of the four, i purchased that morning, only two worked. so i had 13 single servings of tiramisu for about 30 people. oh well. thank goodnes for my sister who came over to help me finish up with the cream puffs. the custard didn't turn out for that so we put cool whip inside with strawber- ries. oh yeah, i cut my thumb (while cutting the strawberries) and smashed my index finger closing a door on it. all on the same hand. at least it was my left hand.

there were fun games, good food, and great people. kelly was also there for it. she sat with us in our "winning" table. each one of us (even though i was the last one to win something) got picked for prize from a game. i will post more pics when i upload them from my camera. despite everything, i had a wonderful time!

they are a lovely couple and i'm so very excited for them! congrats debbie & roger! i ♥ you both!!

spike's graduation party!

on saturday, spike had her long-awaited-not-quite-done graduation party. her parents dr. tom & kathy drove across the country to be with her on her special day.

there was a lot of good food, drinks, and 4 different cakes... mmm. i think the carrot cake was my fav. it was a lot of fun. nice to catch up with some people i hadn't seen in a while. both betty and i were happy to be a part of it. congrats muffin!

we ♥ you!!

finally, everyone is looking at the right camera. yay!

another 5am saturday

last week, it was the mediterranean dinner party with lou, ro, betty, johanna and gillie. the dinner started at 8p but i was up until 5a. needless to say, i slept in last sunday until gosh, i think it might have been 4p. i went to the village and had a nice chat with anthony until 1a that night.

this past saturday, it was me and betty with joe and his friend jesse. we were at the village drinking and being merry. but got kicked out by the new manager dan (anthony had gone home) and so we met up with joe and jesse at some dive bar. it was fun. after last call, we hung out in betty's car talking and listening to music. it was quite an adventure actually. not sure what time it was when we started heading over to joe's but i started fading at 5a and that's when we called it a night.

i woke up at 2p on sunday and met up with betty for a late lunch sometime before 4p. i stopped by the village to say hello to anthony. apparently, he'd been running around shopping for me for my "surprise" on tuesday. he said i was hard to shop for. um, ok. i'm dying to find out what the heck it is. betty knows but promised she wouldn't tell. she's good about secrets that way. damn her. (hahah, just kidding betty!) gosh, tuesday is already tomorrow! can't wait...

mee's going away

last saturday, april 15, i had my first dinner party in a really long time. i love to cook, especially for friends & family. i used to have these theme dinner parties during the mlk days. i almost forgot how fun it is.

the menu started with caprese. then there were three main pasta dishes, lasagna (of which the sauce i'd started making since noon and finished at around 4 or so), pesto, and carbonara. i used ground turkey in the lasagna and turkey bacon with turkey sausages in the carbonara. so, it's a little leaner than if i used the regular stuff. i also made some garlic bread. and for dessert, i made tiramisu with khalua, as always.

jackie is my former boss. she actually hired me. and connie is the one who convinced her to. so, i have the both of them to be eternally grateful to. they are also great friends to me. i no longer work with them but this is what we call our ips gang. jackie is married to rob. spiro & mee are former ips students back when jackie was the ips administrator, my previous position. anyway, the lot of them brought me flowers and ate my food with a full appetite. i could not ask for better guests. even little cena (she's 2!) was a gracious guest. may is her lovely mother and also expecting another little one.

mee is finishing up his phd in political science. he will return to thailand and work for their ministry of foreign affairs with his good friend netty (who was also part of our ips gang but finished up last year). i have known both mee & netty since i started at stanford nearly 5 years ago. it's hard to believe that mee is leaving. on the one hand, it's great for him and thailand. on the other hand, he will be missed very much. he's been a great friend to me over the years. i suppose i will just have to go to thailand to visit them both!

birthday/thanksgiving 5-day holiday weekend

last wednesday, i turned 23, again. um, for the...8th time. okay okay, i really turned 31 but i don't feel even close to it. maybe it's because when i think about being 31, i imagined i would be married and popping out kids or have popped out kids like pretty much everyone around me. but that's okay, i am enjoying my life as i am right now.

my birthday was great. i took the day off because my manager said since she never works on her birthday, i couldn't work on mine. so i spent the day cleaning and slaving away for my party. i woke up at 8a and cleaned my apartment until 11a which is when i'd left for lunch with my sister at 11:30 so we could beat the rush and then have time to go shopping. by 11:40, banana leaf was so crowded we were relieved we met up early. after shopping, i went on a grocery shopping adventure to 4 different stores. i didn't get back until just before 4p to start cooking away. my brother had gotten us a refrigerator the night before and decided to hook it up just before my party started. despite half the people flaking out on me at the very last minute, it was a lot of fun. lots of food and lots of wine. i had a great time...

thanksgiving was the very next day. there were about 20 people coming over to my brother's house upstairs and his mother-in-law was in the kitchen with my sister-in-law slaving away all day. the dinner was a gourmet asian fusion with a touch of thanksgiving in terms of having mashed potatoes and stuffing in 3 chickens. first, the appetizers included seafood toast, fried bananas, and smoked salmon on shrimp chips and dressings. then for dinner, there was sea bass steam cooked in banana leaves, garlic noodles with grilled shrimp, seasoned rice with quail eggs and shrimp, vegetarian egg rolls, roast beef, roasted chicken, and a spring salad with shredded mango. for dessert, we had pumpkin pie and leftover burnt almond pumpkin birthday cake. it was a grand old time and much fun was had by everyone who came.

i actually didn't really do any holiday shopping yet. we went to the gilroy outlets at midnight after thanksgiving dinner, along with the rest of the asians in the bay area, but only stayed 20 minutes and left shortly after browsing one store. all in all, it was a pretty good and relaxing holiday. it was actually the first year i didn't have to make a turkey, which i actually missed doing. but it was nice not to have to do anything. ted made the mashed potatoes. good stuff.

happy 33rd to my big brother!!

last friday, my big brother turned the big 33. my lovely sister-in-law (his sneaky wife) sent out an email saying that they were throwing him a birthday party on saturday with him included. then she turned around and sent outanother email excluding my brother about his surprise birthday dinner at maggiano's.
here is my 4-year old nephew in his fancy tuxedo that he never gets to wear. the story was that i was taking him to a dress up party at my friend's place and that there would be other children there, um, yeah right. likely story...

us girls with the birthday boy & two little boys

all the men

after the parents left, the shots came out. it was a grand ole time for all but 3 sick ladies. too many shots, apparently for some...

baby shower #3 & baby kane

on saturday, kelly's mom hosted kelly's 3rd baby shower. it was great fun and the food was delicious! we played games and shared horror stories on giving birth. um, so i think i'll take my time when i have a baby...

then on sunday, i went to see my cousin lily's 11 week-old baby boy. he was so sweet and chunky. he fell asleep in my arms while i caught up with her on family stuff. her sister debbie is getting married this coming sunday! i can't believe it's already here... i best get myself to the gym.

baby shower number 2

on saturday, my best friend kelly had a surprise baby shower in santa barbara at her mother-in-law, cece's house. kelly's husband chris grew up in a great house, complete with a swimming pool and huge back yard, not to mention minutes away from the beach. and... cece used to bake wedding cakes, yum.

so my day started bad, i was lame and got to the airport when my plane was taking off with at least a 30-minute wait in the security lines. don't ask, it's unexplainable. so i got a flight two hours later and got to the surprise shower late. fortunately, ted and i arrived when kelly's sister joy and her little family arrived. so we came in together. and surprise! kelly didn't expect to see me. i was glad to make it. cece was a wonderful hostess with a delicious spread.

the shower was also a great opportunity to catch up with some college friends. even though i hadn't seen nilda since last october at the trash can sinatras show at the troubadour, it wasn't until the shower that we actually got to talk. and i met her boyfriend glenn with who she had her first date with on the day of the trash cans show. she looked gorgeous and so happy. after talking to her again, it took me back to college. i remembered how witty and sassy she is. karissa and kirk were also there. i hadn't seen them since kelly's wedding in may. i actually never got to speak to kirk until the shower. kirk was hilariously funny. karissa and kirk make a very cute couple. we stayed to play poker with them and others.

we finally left at 10p to drive up to san jose. i'm not sure how long i lasted (awake) for the road trip. i'm so glad that ted drove. we got back to my place sometime after 2am. and ted stayed for the weekend... but i miss him already.