blaze of glory

venue: hp pavilion (free tix!)
artist: bon jovi
who: rich, louis & lisa
when: 08 apr 2008 (tuesday)
doors @ 7:30p

i'm as much of a bon jovi fan as the next person who grew up in the 80's and now listens to completely different music. last week, if you told me i was going to the bon jovi concert, i would have laughed. and in fact, i did chuckle when i got the text message from rich saying he had 50 tickets to give away. that's right, 5-0. i almost texted him back a "hahaha" or "are you serious" text. but when i mentioned it to lisa on saturday (at the deanza flea market), she said she wanted to go.

i actually park right across the street from the hp pavilion, every day to catch the caltrain in downtown san jose. so i told lisa, if she could get a ride downtown, i could take her to her car and we could save $20 on parking. hence, begins the adventures of lisa using public transportation. if you know my sister, this is quite a funny picture. it would be funny to see me taking public transportation if i hadn't been taking the train for the last 6 or so years. before the show, lisa checks out the light rail schedule. she's really good with researching things so i didn't think twice to help her. she'd asked her coworker and boyfriend and they told to her that it would be a 10-block walk. yikes. i know for a fact that there is a light rail connection to the caltrain station. but they didn't. so she told me her light rail plans and said she planned on getting off at the san fernando stop. i told her there was a caltrain stop and that she should get off there. looking at the map, the stop is on the other side of the train tracks. and no indication of the underground tunnel that takes you from the light rail platform to the main station. since my train got me to the station before hers did, i told her i would meet her at the light rail stop. it was so cute, like i was picking up my kid sister there. she was adorably pathetic.

we met up at this bar i've driven by everyday for the last 4 years. and yesterday was my first time in patty's inn. funny. we stayed there for a bit for drinks and talked about getting garlic fries. the hp pavilion used to be the sharks arena. so, stadium food is served including garlic fries. plus, i remember getting garlic fries there even though, the last time i was there was 2 years ago for the madonna show (that i'd forgotten to blog about, oops). actually, i didn't get garlic fries at that show. anyway... on arrival at the pavilion, we begin our search for garlic fries. there were fast food stands like round table, ¡una mas!, tied house and other concession stands. we walked and walked but nowhere could we see garlic fries on anyone's menu. so we decided on regular fries & nachos by where our seats are. but as we are in line, i see someone with different fries and told lisa to scope it out. it turns out that round table (we didn't think to check their menu for garlic fries) was selling them. but no nachos. so i went to get the nachos nearby and lisa got the fries (after waiting in one line only to be told later that she was in the wrong line). ridiculous.
bon jovi started playing right as we got in line for food. and we could hear you give love a bad name inside. we completely missed daughtry, who apparently was on american idol. we were in section 208, row 14 which is quite high up but facing directly towards the stage. i didn't know what to expect but i was pleasantly surprised. they were very good. it was interesting, most of the songs they played started off like it was their first song and ended like it was their finale song. there was so much energy. they played about 20 songs straight without any major breaks. i was also surprised that richie sambora had a nice singing voice. plus, jon bon jovi has aged very well considering the whole rockstar lifestyle. lou mentioned that he didn't have nearly as many wrinkle's as our friend ro's former coworker sun-min (or however she spells her name) who is asian and younger than him.

lisa and i stayed until they played living on a prayer which was the last song before the encore. luckily, rich got a copy of the play list from last week's show so we knew what he was going to play during the encore and it didn't interest us enough to stay and fight the crowds and traffic getting home. we both had a fantastic time. thanks rich!

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ not sure that i'd see them again but glad i went...

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.

parlez-vous français?

this spring, i am trying to learn french again. i took french in high school and a little in college but didn't really get to use it when i was in paris in the summer of 1998. ugh, that was nearly 10 years ago. i'm due for another trip...

anyway, i hope this doesn't end up being as sad an attempt as my spanish class was last year. at least this time, rather than trying to pronounce everything in spanish in french, i'll try to pronounce everything in french, in french! confusing, i know.

tweaked

after comments from my sister and my friend lou about the picture below, i decided to do some photoshopping (heehee, another form of shopping i enjoy!). they don't look like chocolate cupcakes anymore, right?

mostly martha

mostly martha made in 2001 is the original version of no reservations starring catherine zeta-jones & aaron eckhart. while i absolutely adore aaron eckhart, i don't think i will watch no reservations after having seen mostly martha.

i love foreign films. if there's a foreign version of an american film, i'd rather see the foreign version. i don't see a whole lot of german films but after watching this one, i think i'd like to see more. i thought this movie was really charming. it was happy, sad, romantic and funny. all good emotions to feel in a movie. if you want to see no reservations, you should skip it and see this one.

stella im hultberg

last friday, i went to an art opening of mrs. im hultberg's first solo show in san francisco with my cousin nina (thanks nina!). i really do enjoy art in most forms. especially music, as you can tell.

i've been admiring mrs. im hultberg's work for some time now. i discovered her work on the talented karen cheng's blog from perth, australia. she was in sf last year for a show but these shows seem to open on a friday which is when family dinners are at my parents' house.

back to the artwork... she depicts who i assume are asian women, in a very ethereal way. most of her work has a sense of flowing in them. on the one hand, the women are usually very ideal looking with the pouty lips, large eyes, high cheek bones, petite body frames and beautiful long black hair. as you can see, hair is one of the flowing elements. i purchased "lovely day" on the left. it's a gorgeous piece of work. she also paints on tea stained paper. brilliant, really.

this one on the right is one of my favorites. the expression is a combination of relief and/or anguish. and very sultry. the background colors of the purple and pink blend beautifully with the mauve in the leaves in the subject's flowing hair. it's sooo dreamy. which is probably why it sold out many shows ago. it was this piece that made me want to go see her work in person.

april/may shoes

okay, okay. they are not brown. and yea, yea, i know i'm not supposed to buy shoes until april, er, i mean june. clearly, every other month isn't working for me. so i'm changing it to every 6 weeks. which means, i get a new pair in may/june. they are sexy, oui ou non?

adding baking to the mix

most of my readers know (all 5 of you) that i do some baking from time to time. actually, i bake once a week. anyway, my sister suggested that i start taking pictures of the baked goods and post them. so, these delightful strawberry cupcakes (thanks to kelly for the recipe!) are the first to display. they are a really pretty pink color. not sure that my camera phone does it justice. click on the image for a closer look. what do you think? do they look good?

i ♥ ♥ jens lekman pt.2

venue: bottom of the hill (sold out!)
artist: jens lekman (soloact) & a horrendous opening act
who: ro
when: 23 mar 2008 (easter sunday)

yep, ro & i saw jens lekman two nights in a row. the two nights were different. the bimbo's show was bigger with a full band. and last night's show was him, his guitar and tammy from the band. oh yeah, the easter bunny came to last night's show too.

the opening act was called something-claro (with a rolling rrrrr). as soon as he started singing, he lost me. i was answering work emails (thank goodness for my phone). it was the longest set ever. and one of the worst openings i'd had to endure in a long time. his songs were repetitive. and the worst part was that he couldn't shut the fuck up inbetween his songs. ugh. if he didn't talk between his songs, it would have felt like one long boring song. thinking about that guy gives me a headache.

during the opening act, EVERYONE was talking and no one was listening. when jens lekman came on, it was completely silent. you could hear the bar serving drinks. and again, he was better than perfect. the sound there is pretty awesome too. the only negative thing for me, personally, is that i couldn't really see. but that's sort of the case at most venues. especially the small venues. that is, if i'm not sitting at the bar or something. the bottom of the hill is a much smaller venue compared to bimbo's. the song list was slightly different. and songs were played differently as well. he transition into songs without a beat and seamlessly. he can really bellow out those notes. he's amazing. it's hard to believe he wrote black cab when he was 18.

during the encore, he sang se a vida é (that's the way life is) by the pet shop boys from their bilingual album. jens's version was slow and beautiful. this show was really very special.
after the show, he had this sort of meet & greet thing. after the last two shows at bimbo's, he says he will come down and dance with the audience. we never stayed for those. and i rarely make the effor to meet musicians unless they are at their merch table. jens was different. i actually wanted to wait around with the rest of the crowd to meet him and get a picture. we waited a bit and followed the crowd to the smoking area outside. he was singing with his guitar. after which, i squeezed my way to the front to get a closer look and the chance to tell him how much i ♥'d him. he is so much cuter up close. he's tall, skinny, young and cute. and has the coolest white shoes. he's also as funny and down to earth in person as he is on stage. i was so nervous and as a result, was a total retard. i kinda froze. told him how much i enjoyed all three shows and glad he did this afterwards because i could barely see him from where i was. and then, he hugged me! i don't think i've ever hugged a rock star before. well, maybe we hugged the caesars but that was after hanging out with them all night long. anyway, i think i'm still feeling shiny & happy from last night.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
i would have seen him a third night if he played another show in the area, alas, he is in portland tonight...

i ♥ jens lekman pt.1

venue: bimbo's (sold out!)
artist: jens lekman & the honeydrips
who: ro
when: 22 mar 2008 (saturday)

before the jens lekman show, we went up early to get some dinner. lou (thanks lou!) recommended rogue to us. he said to get the kobe burger and a hazelnut beer. he's been into hazelnut flavors lately. i personally love hazelnut anything so i'm not complaining. ro & i order the exact same thing. a kobe burger with their white cheddar and a hazelnut beer. the burger was soooo good. and for some reason, ro got twice as much french fries as i did. the hazelnet beer was also quite delicious. we could only eat half of it but wow, it definitely hit the spot. we were happily satisfied and ready for jens.

we got there around 9:15ish. which just so happened to be the end of the honeydrips set. i think we were there for 1 and a half songs. we concluded that he played for like 20 minutes. weird.

the show was sold out. his show back in november was pretty packed and surprisingly not sold out. this show was everything i remembered except better because i knew most of the songs. he also sang a new one about google maps. and the nina story, i don't think i'll ever get sick of it. here is a line from the chorus: nina i can be your boyfriend, so you can stay with your girlfriend. and if you want to hear the story, you'll have to see him live. it's totally worth it. he's also very interactive with the crowd. for example, he asked people to whistle because he was missing a sax player on one song. and there was the pocket full of money song where the crowd sings part of the chorus. it was so much fun.

i think he sounds better live than his recordings which is already flawless. he sings every word perfectly that it makes you listen to his lyrics more carefully. he's totally brilliant. it's so hard to describe how good and wonderful he is. just thinking about him and his music makes me all warm & fuzzy inside...

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

i am legend

last night, i watched i am legend starring will smith. the only thing i knew about it was that it was based in new york and there was some sort of zombie invasion. when i was in new york with bernie, we saw cloverfield also based in new york. after the movie, bernie's roommate pascal said he was sick of seeing movies where new york is the target of vast destruction. i guess they both had seen i am legend. and i remember thinking, everything bad happens here. or los angeles. what's interesting is that the movie is based on richard matheson's 1954 novel originally set in LA, not NY.

anyway, i'm probably the biggest chicken shit when it comes to horror films. and this movie was no different from the others. as a matter of fact, it was one of the scariest films i've seen in a while. needless to say, it scared me shitless. there were parts i couldn't bare to watch. i actually had to talk through the scary parts to keep myself distracted. and i stayed up reading to keep my mind off of the movie.

i know, that's why i call myself a chicken shit.

learning cantonese, again

when i was in elementary school, my parents put me and my sister in chinese school. it was convenient because chinese school was at vinci park, which was also where i attended elementary school. i was even in the same class. essentially, i went to the same school 6 days a week. yuk. initially, we were put in school to learn mandarin but after a few weeks, we were taken out and put in a different school for cantonese. we lost our saturdays for five years, on and off. until we were finally expelled for not attending the bible story portion of the lesson.

the best time to learn a new language is as a child. i see my niece and nephew absorb languages like sponges. english, vietnamese, some cantonese and whatever spanish dora and diego teaches them. but if you don't keep it up, it goes in one ear and out the other. when i was in chinese school, my parents didn't reinforce it at home. and so, the skill of craming was developed. i only ever studied cantonese the day before a test. some things stuck with us but most of it was lost. and all those saturdays of youth dissipated.

after high school, i wanted to be able to communicate with my paternal grandfather (the only grandfather i knew). it pained me that i couldn't understand him. at that point, both my vietnamese & chinese were obsolete. those were the only languages he spoke. i decided, i'd learn cantonese to communicate with him. but it was harder than i thought. i was relearning both french and cantonese at the same time. and spending time with your grandfather in san francisco is not conducive with being a young adult. i only ever saw him with my family. and those visits became fewer and fewer the older we got.

you might ask, why cantonese? why not mandarin? true, mandarin is more widely used and easier to learn. but i found that many cantonese speakers pick up mandarin much easier than the reverse. in any case, i know more cantonese than mandarin at this point. why not just keep going with it, right?

in my previous education of cantonese, i learned writing, reading and speaking. while i enjoyed the writing part, i think it best to concentrate on speaking. so i purchased some cds in which my sister and i plan to learn how to speak cantonese together. we'll practice together and it's very exciting!

the rosebuds

after their show last friday, i've been listening to their stuff nonstop. his voice reminds me of someone i can't quite place. it's familiar and euphoric at the same time. makes me think of my younger days... so long ago. ugh.

i've also discovered their blog here. kelly crisp posts the blog entries and she's hilarious. she's clever, funny, and cool. and i think i might have a girl crush...

dark brown (non-suede) boots... at last!

they were on my new year's resolutions for 2007 and would have been on this year's had i posted a list. actually, i don't know how long they've been on my list.

my sister has two pairs of j.crew brown boots and absolutely loves them. i've loved them too. everytime she wore them, i admired them with a veil of jealousy. i think she noticed. but no more!

until recently, j.crew did not offer shoes in my size. it's funny because my size is actually in the special sizes section. as soon as these went on sale, i jumped on the opportunity to get my dark brown boots. i ordered these in january but they were on back order until march. lucky for me because that was a reason to purchase the last pair. yay!

our tubby bubby

my nephew is nearly a year old (in june) and has gotten so big! he's crawling now and has at least 3 teeth. he's a smiley baby and doesn't quite talk yet. he's also got all sorts of rolls all over. what a cutie!

noise pop pt.2

venue: mezzanine
artist: the rosebuds (noise pop)
who: ro & lou
when: 29 february 2008 (friday)

yes, this makes two shows in two nights. despite being a bit under the weather (ok, more than a bit), i couldn't miss the rosebuds. i'm really happy that i didn't miss them this time. they were awesome. the rosebuds are a duo from raleigh, nc. a husband & wife which is always kinda sweet. this couple separately have style and sex appeal, not to mention talent. she's gorgeous and he's mysterious. they both sing, however, i particularly enjoy ivan's voice. it's a perfect blend of rock, folk and pop. it was really a fantastic show.
this was the third time i'd been to the mezzanine. previously, i hated it. it was crowded and there's really no place for sitting. the set up is more like a club venue than for shows. plus, there's this big pillar in the middle of the club which is in the way of a very small stage. it's hard to imagine that all five members of hot chip rocked out on stage together with their instruments. this time, i didn't mind so much. plus, it wasn't nearly as crowded which was also very nice.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

noise pop pt.1

first to tommy's joynt before stellastarr*,
and stops at hemlock tavern & a tranny bar

venue: gamh
artist: stellastarr*, birdmonster & 2 other openings we missed (noise pop)
who: ro, lou, jen & what's her 40-y/o face and lesbo friend di
when: 28 february 2008 (thursday)

we went to tommy's joynt for some down home cooking. very filling food at very economical prices. the only problem is that it's cash only. i had the burgundy beef (mmm meat...) with rice and a cucumber salad. we then headed over to the hemlock tavern for a few drinks. it's some sort of tradition lou has every time he goes to a show at the gamh. so we had drinks there. my tom collins was really good actually.

we met up with jen & ro's 40-something y/o coworker (we'll call her 40 for short) on the way to the gamh. we made it in time for the birdmonster. they weren't too bad for an opening. surprisingly. they were good. if you want a listen, check out their myspace page here.

before stellastarr* came on, this overly emo version of ted walks right by me. complete with long emo greasy hair, skinny jeans and a members only jacket. blegh. at first, i didn't recognize him but there was something familiar and so repulsive about him. i remembered his myspace page from whenever i go onto my friend joe's page. he's the one who introduced us and is still friends with him. and i saw the elf gf. they ended up hanging out right behind us. i was trying to get a pic of him to put in this post but couldn't do it without them noticing. the guys didn't recognize him either. 40's friend diana showed up so i told her what was going on. then she says to me, i know we just met and this might sound weird but you wanna make out? she said it was to show him that i had someone better not to mention give him (and everyone else) a show. nice gesture but i passed. i don't really go that way.

i saw stellastarr* for the first time nearly a year ago. i'd listened to their stuff online before the show so most if not all the songs they played were songs i knew at the last show. however, last night was a showcase of their new unreleased stuff. this is fine because most bands play shows to promote their new songs. i was disappointed that they didn't play a few of their better songs like lost in time. their new stuff didn't quite hit a chord with me but then again, i might have been a little distracted.

last year, i gave them 4 ♥s but this time, they fell short one ♥.
rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

afterwards, we went to divas, a tranny bar. it was my first time. we went in for a drink. it was interesting and our bartender was hilarious. i'm not allowed to say much else about this place except that i had fun. hehe.

diamonds are a girl's best friend

as most of my friends know, i don't really wear jewelry. except for the earrings my sister gave me that i never take off (not even in the shower nor to sleep). i can't wear watches because, while i've yet to lose any, i always end up taking them off and leaving them somewhere. i did have a jade bracelet i used to wear all the time. only because i could never take it off myself. it was taken off for my thyroidectomy though. very very painful. rings are the worst for me. i lost the last one that was given to me by my sister. :( it was our sister ring and i lost it like a month after i got it. i'm still mad at myself for that.

a couple of years ago, i'd seen this swirl ring by carriere in a nordstrom catalog. it was love at first sight. i'd never known love like this before. last summer, it went on sale. and clearly, a sign that it would soon be mine. i never thought i was much into bling either. but the way this ring sparkles right after it's been cleaned makes me feel like a giddy schoolgirl. i ♥ ♥ ♥ my diamond ring.

my office space

the other day, my manager starts telling me about how i should hang out in the computer resource center on campus. that she saw a cute guy there but that she didn't know they existed on campus. it's funny, despite having crushes on my faculty, i'm not at all interested in meeting anyone at work to date. anymore. after nearly 7 years of working here, i've realized that i don't want to date academics or students (watch, knowing my luck, my next relationship will be with one of the two and i will have to eat these typed words). prime example was the kid that lied to me about his age. okay okay, so i met him at popscene. he was still a student here.

back to my manager, basically, she's scoping guys out for me! it turns out she went to a meeting and met some IT guy who was really cute. funny. then she was trying to make an excuse to get him to come over and help us so i could meet him! so sweet of her to be looking out for me like that. she's super awesome.

it's things like this that make it nearly impossible to leave this department. alas, the only way to move up is to move around. still, i'm so happy here... it would have to take an unbelievably fantastic offer or a horrendously bad situation to make me go.

thoughts on facebook

i hate it. don't get me wrong, it's great to be able to stay in touch with former students, my sister (that i live with) and others who aren't on myspace. but, even though myspace is for 12 y/os, i still prefer it to facebook. facebook is making me so angry right now. grrr!!!

don't get sucked in like i did! thanks sis!

shoes shoes shoes

one of my new year's resolutions this year was to cut down on shoe purchases. rather than buy one pair per month, it will be one pair every other month. here is the first pair of the year.another new year's resolution... rather a new rule for me is anything but black. taken from the wisdom of my dear sister and her expertise as a fashionista. in case you're wondering, the color of these mary janes are espresso which is almost black but not quite. still brown.

plus, i desperately had to replace my brown mary jane wedges i got two summers ago. the strap on one of the shoes keeps snapping off. even after repairs at the cobblery. they were one of two closed-toe brown pairs i had that i could wear in the rain.

day out with the kids

today, i took the kids to lunch. but since we ate so much (pizza, mac & cheese, cheese polenta, salad for me, and gelato), we headed over to the mall to walk off our lunch. i never put them in strollers because if i'm going to have to walk, they are going to walk too. plus, both of them are too old to be in strollers. but not necessarily too big. i just want them to get some exercise with me.

at the mall, we came across this photo booth and decided to go in... this was the last and best pose we took.

my brother's dog

about three months ago, my brother's dog was dognapped. she was taken from their backyard and had not been seen since. she even had one of those chips implanted in her in case she gets lost. but we'd heard nothing for months. we knew she'd been stolen. until last monday... she was found in vallejo. that's about 2 hours or so away. probably less, it's on the way to napa from here. it turns out that she was sold and didn't like these new owners. it was so bad that they couldn't take it anymore and took her to the pound. which is where she was scanned and my brother's information showed up. unfortunately though, he recently changed his cell phone number which was the number listed. they'd been trying to call for a week or so until they called the house number. so she's back (sorry for the outdated photo above, i'll try to post an updated pic, she's a beautiful dog). my sister-in-law tells me that she was super clean and a little chunky when they picked her up. apparently, she was taken care of really well. and we are very happy that she's home.

dinner with the ladies

last monday, we went to xanh before the new xanh opened. my friend caroline was in town visiting her twin, grace. funie & kristina also joined us. it was just one of those fantastic nights where you end up staying until closing but didn't expect to.

ugh

seeing my picture below makes me think that i need to wear more make up and get a hair cut... yuk, yuk, yuk.

happy chinese new year!!

tonight was the grand opening of the new xanh restaurant now located at 110 castro in downtown mt. view.
this year is the year of the brown rat. i think it's the earth rat. as it was the 7th in china earlier today, many celebrate the new year tonight. as i am celebrating the new year with my family this weekend, i choose to start my celebration at the new xanh. the picture on the left is the lounge. there is a wall of water on rocks. it's really cool. they now have a full bar with specialty drinks. i hope to become a cocktail waitress here. when it gets warmer.
there are 6 new plates. we had three of them and one of the two new desserts. they now have vietnamese desserts. they also have pho on their menu, as an appetizer. everything was delicious, as always. i was there on monday (two nights ago in my purple dress below) and what a difference! while both places are very hip and trendy, this new place allows for more space between tables and is at a grand scale of hip & trendy. bathrooms always say a lot about how i feel about a restaurant. i remember nice bathrooms. and their bathrooms are totally awesome, except their locks. they are a little tricky...

new fcuk dress from dc

sorry for the blurry pic but i can't seem to get anything in focus sans the flash. i got so many compliments on this dress from work that i had to post a picture...

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...

reflections on november at bimbo's

last month, i went to 3 shows. all at bimbo's. while i see bands at popscene almost everytime i go, popscene is mostly for dancing. there's only ever a handful of bands that play there (per year) that i actually want to see. but seeing 3 bands all at bimbo's, that's rare. and might i add, unplanned. it was supposed to be 2 but voxtrot postponed their september show to tour with the arctic monkeys. ew, whatever.

the jens lekman show was pretty impressive. it's hard to believe he's only in his mid 20's. he's an amazing singer/songwriter/performer. he's one of those rare natural artists. but, i still can't get over the level of passion in which torque (et al.) exert during their shows. they are super cool, funny & awesome. i've seen them about 5x with the first one about 6 years ago. and there is a huge difference between the first shows and this last one. i've seen the hard work. the sweat & blood. and tears shed to produce such art. it's almost magical. as for voxtrot, i'm still trying to get over the disappointment. ugh.

while i rated both the jens lekman & stars shows 5 ♥s (that's a whole lotta love), the stars show was definitely the best of the 3 last month if not out of the entire year. i would most certainly see mr. lekman again. no doubt, the next stars show is a must but i'm almost sure that i will not be attending the next voxtrot show. boo.

office & popscene

venue: 330 ritch (popscene)
artist: office
who: nina, her friend kearny & will
when: 13 december 2007 (thursday)
doors open at 10p

last week, i went to popscene to see this band called office. they are from chicago. i'd heard them through a couple of cds joe (sorry ro!) had made for me. so when i saw that they were playing at popscene, i thought, i wanna go! my cousin nina had expressed wanting to go to popscene so i asked her to go. the last time we were there together was... wow, the night i met bernie back in september. crazy crazy. and a crazy night that was.

before popscene, i met up with my thyroid cancer sister, funie. she lives in oakland and since it's across the bridge to sf, it worked out perfect. i'd hang out with funie and meet nina for popscene after. funie & her friends decided on karaoke. this whole in the wall place where the clerk barely spoke english. luckily, funie is taiwanese and was able to speak with her for us. this place was like a hole in the wall. you could miss it if you weren't paying attention. there were 4 of us and the private rooms were $25/hour. more of their friends were supposed to show up but it was just us for a little over an hour. her friend erika and i sang and knew the same songs. it turned out that she was 32. funny. this place even had the song come go with me by expose. i haven't sang this song since middle school. ridiculous. what's even more ridiculous is the video my sister, cousin debbie & i made with this song. we had a dance routine and lip synced. debbie's brother lam was the mc. we also had matching outfits. it was so much fun. but alas, the video has gone missing. but i swear debbie & roger have it!

back to karaoke, i sang this song with erika. i didn't really know the words but oh my, i think debbie was only 10 y/o and we were singing songs about sex. then again, i think most of the songs from the 80s were about sex. i stayed there a little longer than i'd planned and didn't make it to popscene until close to 11 instead of 10. luckily, nina was with her friend kearny and they were waiting for me in their car. when i parked, this black civic parked in front of me. and who comes out of it? our long lost friend will! i didn't know he drove but i suspected it had something to do with his gf.

i met up with nina & kearny in line. ken, one of the bouncers (he's the one that asked me if i was chris's girl, if so, it was a shame because i was too fine for him! hahaha), he let us in for free on my birthday last month (with lisa & allen). i didn't really expect him to do it again this time. but then i see him whisper something to the cover chick and she stamps our hands without taking any $$. score! i need to bring him cookies the next time i go...

if you don't know, i absolutely love dancing at popscene. i get on this big natural dancing high. i suppose irish car bombs help too. but i have this big smile almost the entire time. funny, this is actually how bernie noticed me on the dance floor. anyway, i needed my dancing fix. we get on the dance floor and i see will over by the stage dancing by himself. as usual. normally, he would join us but he didn't and i felt bad for him so i went over to him. and we dance the entire night. we also chatted a bit on the dance floor. it was really nice. he's living with his gf now and no longer lives in the ghetto. hahah. he seems happy too which is great.

when office came on, we went and sat down in a booth. i didn't recognize any of the songs. i don't even think they played the two songs i knew. i was really disappointed. despite that, i still had tons of fun with nina, kearny & will. we stayed until closing and walked out with will. i spent the night at nina's and made it to work on time the next day. thanks nina!

rating: ♥

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.

tube free!

last thursday, i had my last appointment with my ent doctor, dr. falsafi. he's been treating me since late last year and we actually said our goodbyes that afternoon. i saw him for the first time last december. despite having numerous specialists treating me, it's still a little sad to see them go. with all of my health issues, i feel extremely fortunate to have received such great care from most of them.

i had a total of 3 surgeries (done by the good doctor) all within 2007. now that being in his care is over, it's kinda bittersweet. i'm sad i won't see him anymore but i'm also happy that my problems have been resolved. for the most part anyway. i mean, seriously, i breathe so much better. i can't believe i didn't for most of my life. i don't miss the tube in my eye at all. hopefully, this is also goodbye to any pink eye recurrences.

thank you dr. falsafi!

your biggest fan? not quite.

venue: bimbo's
artist: voxtrot & new division
who: alex & betty
when: 30 nov 2007 (friday)
doors open at 8p

the night started off at burger meister in north beach on the way to bimbo's. unfortunately, we found ourselves sitting by the most obnoxious douche bags from the marina. i don't even think they were drunk. not that its an excuse for being obnoxious but it happens. not them. they were totally annoying. we hated them. so did the rest of the patrons there. we ended up staying longer than we should have.

we head over to bimbo's close to 8p. i love bimbo's. it's really a great venue. small enough where the musicians themselves are walking about. that's where i met david gedge from cinerama/wedding present. the sound is awesome. the ambiance is much better than the other venues. you can't beat the girl in the fish bowl either. it's so quaint. and the ladies restrooms are monitored by the coolest lady ever. the only problem is that it's cash only. but there are plenty of atms around so no biggie.

we got there early and scored a nice table off on the side right next to the bar. perfect location if you ask me. it was also a good spot for people watching, more like, stalker spotting. we saw a girl in a hideous dress stalking ramesh and then the rest of the band members. i'm happy to report that, thanks to my awestrickeness when it comes to rock stars that i can only blurt out one thing (along the lines of... i love your music). and then i'm gone.

the opening band was called new division. i overheard someone say that they were supposed to be like joy division. um, wrong division. they were nothing like joy division or any of their one songs. they were all over the place. one song was like toad the wet sprocket, another song was very 80's. the first song was ok but they went downhill after that. they kinda sucked. it's a harsh world out there and i'm not one for pacifying.

voxtrot started off great, as usual. their energy on stage was comparable to the energy in their songs. very jumpy and upbeat. especially their bass player, 70's guy who looks like a cross between topher grace and alex's german bf. more like topher grace though. then, towards the end (thankfully) their ratings fell rapidly. these slutty hags went up on stage and started dancing on stage. not only were they drunk & ugly, they were horrid dancers. ugh, in cheap grotesque sequins dresses. to keep this post brief, voxtrot allowed the sluts to stay on stage and did not seem to realize that we paid to see them, not stupid ugly old dancing sluts on stage. so we left.

rating: ♥ very very disappointing...

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.

in our bedroom after the war

venue: bimbo's
artist: stars & lloyd cole
who: alex, andrew, betty, ro, lou, jen & jonathan
when: 14 nov 2007 (wednesday)
doors open at 7p

while i was just at bimbo's no more than 5 days before the stars show, i hadn't seen torquil campbell perform since the memphis show which was earlier this year in may. not too long ago. having two doses of the torq is quite nice actually. another wouldn't be too bad.

torq campbell started off as a child star and still works as an actor. i saw him on sex & the city. he was also on a couple of law & order episodes, which i love love to watch. it makes me like him even more. hardly possible. anyway, more about torq later.

we get there and there are flowers all over the stage. not on the floor but on their instruments sticking out where ever flowers could stick out. lloyd cole opened the stars show. he used to sing with the commotions (i think). he went solo in the early 90's and i actually have his album (don't get weird on me, babe). there's this one song that i loved. it was why i bought the cd. it was called she's a girl and i'm a man. very catchy. alas, he didn't play it. however, he did play are you ready to be heartbroken? in which camera obscura (ro reminded me of this) has a song called lloyd, i'm ready to be heartbroken based off lloyd cole's song. cool, huh? i was really impressed with lloyd cole. even after all these years, he still really rocks. and doesn't look too bad either.

now, this is my fourth time seeing stars. and they just get better and better every time i see them. the thing you don't hear on the album is torq's passion. he sings with overwhelming passion that you can almost see it ooze out of him on the stage. he's jumping around and so completely into the music. he's also very funny and uber cool. both alex and i decided that we love him. words cannot describe the extent of his coolness. also, amy millan has one of the loveliest voices. i adore her voice. and at first, she didn't stand out quite as much as torq but you can tell she got more comfortable. the played most of the songs off the new album and the last one. i think the oldest song they played was on peak hill(right?). my first fav song by them is the very thing, but i don't think they've ever played it live. :(

they did two encores. the last one, torq convinced (very easily) most of the audience standing to sit down. it was like story time in elementary school all over again. and really awesome. that was a first. as for the flowers from the beginning, during their set towards the end, they threw them out to the audience. no one does that either.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ the best stars show yet.

mcdreamy sighting

last year, i discovered i had a crush on one of my faculty. if you'd asked me about him before, i would have told you, very unlikely. we referred to him as mcdreamy. i even went to dinner with him alone, once. but it was merely a school girl crush. especially after i found out that he had a girlfriend in the uk. it stayed a crush. how could it be anything more? after all, i was on a mancott.

anyway, mcdreamy was here this past week for an orals exam of one of his students. i had two really nice chats with him. one was when he first arrived from london (where he shares a flat with said gf). it was great having him around again. i even sort of might say that i missed him. but of course, there was no mention of the gf. at all. there is never any mention of the gf. i found out from someone else. the second chat was the see you next year chat. last august, i'd told him that i might start looking for another job on campus. he didn't approve. he asked me how the job hunting was going and i told him it wasn't. that the department was too good to me. it would be hard to leave. he responded, i'll see you next year then. that was thursday.

today, i was up in the city shopping. on powell street. as i crossed the street with my friend funie, i see mcdreamy crossing the street with his baggage probably on his way to sfo. he didn't see me and i was too shocked to say anything. it all happened so quickly. i think it might have been a sign?

quite the swedish ladies' man

venue: bimbo's
artist: jens lekman
who: ro
when: 9 nov 2007 (friday)
doors open at 8p

the last time i was at bimbo's, it was back in february for the camera obscura show. this month, i will have seen 3 shows at bimbo's. funny. last night, i went to bimbo's to see jens lekman with my very good friend romano. i'd been listening to his songs since i got a hold of night falls over kortedala (thanks ro!) before it was even released in the us. and i'd been looking forward to his show since i heard he was playing.

we got there during the opening band's set. they were called something statue and were from half moon bay. they weren't too bad. but they weren't who we were there for. we were there for jens lekman, swedish hotties on stage (his bandmates), and to be surrounded by swedish hot things. that's right, surrounded. it was packed.

listening to jens lekman in the car or at home is nothing like listening and/or seeing him live. he's really cute and surprisingly small for being swedish. his voice is flawless live. there's also a lot of horns and violins in his music. it's very orchestral yet with witty lyrics that are also silly at the same time. his harmonic arrangements are amazing and grandeur. you really want to listen to the words, all his songs tell a story. most of them ridiculous and funny. he started of talking about the last time he was in the area and his fond memories of rollerblading in sausalito. hilarious, really. and during many of his songs, he tells you the background on the story. more than you get from the song. it reminded me a little bit of sondre lerche when we saw him at slim's back in 2004. he gabbed a lot between his songs and you wished he'd just shut up and play. not jens, his stories were so personal and such a treat to hear.

he ended his set with two encores. the last song was his very own rendition of paul simon's call me al. which is funny because camera obscura also ends one of their last songs with it. and apparently, jens seems quite the ladies' man. shoot, i'd do him.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ it was magic.

december wedges

i know, it's a bit early for december shoes...

but it was the nordstrom half-yearly today.

and well, i picked these up...

a halloween treat

ten years ago (yes, 1997) in san diego, our household decided to throw a twin peaks themed halloween party. my friends (lou, ro, rich & quynh) were down visiting from the bay area. it was the first and only time they came to visit me during the 5 plus years i called san diego my home. not to mention lou's first time on an airplane. very very exciting!!

it was also the best halloween party, ever.

lisa and i were (& still are) huge twin peaks fans. we bought red flannel bedding to give the whole red velvet curtain effect. aside from the alcohol, we served cherry pie, donuts (?) and coffee. we played twin peaks on the tv and the soundtrack in the patio on the boom box. across the courtyard, our neighbor was also throwing a halloween party. our parties were interchangeable. people from our party went to his party. and people i didn't know showed up at our party. since i was drunk (see below, on the right) before people even showed up, i didn't care.

the picture at the top shows the twin peaks cast. from left to right: smella as "joan chen's character"; clair (one of our roommates) was "laura palmer found dead in plastic"; me as "audrey horne"; and lisa as "shelly johnson, the waitress."

good times. good times. (right lou?) heehee.