back to the chicago trip...

day two - friday, march 24th
mien had to work on friday, despite our late night, so i did what i always do while on vacation... i went shopping! the big shopping avenue in chicago is michigan avenue, otherwise known as the magnificent mile. i took the 145 bus ($2 for the ride) there from in front of mien's building. it was so easy and convenient. i was first dropped off at the start of michigan ave. lucky me, it was a mall...

it was interesting, there were all the same stores as there are here in the bay area. i went into the benetton store, club monaco, bloomingdale's, h&m, nordstrom, etc. there was a filene's basement there (kinda like loehman's) where i found the perfect pink bag that matches my pink shoes. it actually started to snow while i was in h & m. needless to say, i spent a lot of time there. here's a summary of my purchases on friday:
@ benetton
2 (one white, one camel) button up shirts
@ h & m
1 black sweater, 1 white tee shirt, 2 pairs of fancy panties, 1 pair of brown tights, 2 shirts for jaden, 1 top & 1 pair of overalls for chunky, a bunch of hair stuff for chunky (i think that's it)
@ filene's basement
1 pink furla bag
@ ethel's chocolate
box of assorted chocolates (for my coworkers)

i think that was it on friday... mien had hoped to get off of work early but it wasn't possible so i went home around 4p. she came home shortly after i arrived. we hung out and watched tv for a bit. mien took a little nap. we had a dinner to go to at 7p. it was her friend debbie's birthday. around 8ish, we cabbed it to uncle julio's hacienda to meet up with mien's lawyer friends.

incidently, i met someone from the bay area who knows my sister-in-law's family. and now that i've thought about it some, i think i went out with her brother once or twice. it turns out that mien met jennifer at some law convention. jennifer approached mien as they were the only asian girls there. it turned out they were both from california! and that sparked their friendship. jennifer went to hastings law school with my sister-in-law's sister. i went to the hastings law school graduation ceremony, meaning, i went to jennifer's law school graduation. to make a long story short, it's a very small world.

after dinner, we headed to the clubs and bars. i'm not sure exactly where it was but it was debbie, jennifer, this guy that's sweet on debbie, mien and me. our first stop was the lion head pub & the apartment. upstairs is the apartment complete with two bedrooms in which one bed we settled in. at first, there wasn't anyone interesting to talk to other than the people we were with. then there was this german guy i was talking to. he was nice. his name was robert. he was in chicago working temporarily making some new hip replacement technological device. it was cool, i wasn't interested but he was cute and friendly. i told him i spent some time in germany back in 1998. he told me he had a little daughter. then he had to go hang out with his friend patrick. after german robert left, there were two guys walking by. the first one started talking to me, and then the second one started talking to me too. after that, we started heading out...

as we're walking to the car, i was having a nice chat with debbie, telling her to come out to the bay area to visit me and i'd take her out and it would be so much fun!! then, we were stopped. in front of this bar, john barleycorn, with a guy waving at us to come inside with him. i looked at mien and she says, hey, he's cute! let's go have drinks with him! the rest of the gang decided to head home and let us stay out. it was already 11p, i thought we were going home...

steve was his name. i was a little surprised, this sort of thing never happens! mien was all for it so i went along with her. when we got inside, steve went to get us some drinks. then i saw this really cute guy so i smiled at him. and he approached me! who knew that smiling at someone would get them to come over. that NEVER happens here. he told me i was pretty and i said thanks. then steve came over with our drinks and took us away to meet his friends in the other room. his friends were matt and dave. steve was talking to me, i wasn't really paying attention... mien told me she thought steve was cute and i thought dave was cute so we switched places. apparently, steve didn't like it so he took me to the bar to get me another drink.

at the bar, suddenly, there's this girl freaking me from behind! i was like whoa! what just happened here?? after i had my carbomb, i went back over and met the girl who freaked me. she had 3 guy friends with her whom i also met. i think they were filipino and thought i was too. i was talking to one of her friends who incidentally is getting his mba at usc but is home visiting. it was kinda cool to meet so many people.

later, dave left and it was just me, mien, steve and matt. i don't know if john barleycorn closed and that's why we went to another club. so, the four of us hopped into a taxi and they took us to this club. it was freezing outside and there was a line so i wasn't looking forward to waiting. fortunately for my wussy californian ass, matt knew the bouncer and we bypassed the line! during the short time we were in line, mien and i managed to meet a couple of more guys... hahah. i don't remember what the club was called but it was dark and really crowded. i paid cover since steve was out of cash. so he made us wait for him at the bar while he went to the atm. surprisingly, while waiting, i met a couple of more guys! it was never ending. i don't even remember their names but they were really nice. steve showed up soon after and took us upstairs where we bypassed yet another line! mien and matt stayed on the dancefloor dancing while i went to a lounge area with steve. i was having my 3rd or 4th guinness. holding it next to my face so steve wouldn't try to kiss me. he was sweet but i just wasn't interested. he told me i was pretty and that when he saw me on the street, he wanted to meet me. he also liked my hair. of course he did.

when it was finally time to head out from this club, i walked by one of the guys we met at the bar, he told me to be careful. um, okay, thanks? that was kinda weird. steve was holding my coat and when i got it back, my cell phone was missing! so i made him look for it. he found it quickly. someone had left it by the dj upstairs. we cabbed it back to matt's place. not sure where it was. apparently, matt and dave are roommates. they had a pretty nice place too! there, i had another guinness. again, so steve wouldn't try to kiss me. we hung out until mien and i realized it was 5am. time to go home. so we shared a cab with steve and we were dropped off first. mien paid for the cab. steve asked if he could come up with us. our answer was a straight no, you can't. then i told him if he wanted to find me, he could look me up at my work! that was it. mien and i went upstairs and slept until 3p the next day. what a night!

i asked her if this was normal, being picked up off the street like that? she said no, it was unusual and that i shouldn't expect it the next time i came for a visit. awww man!

day three - saturday, march 25th
so we woke up at 3p on saturday and it was only because mien's friend camille called her! we had dinner plans with them... so before getting ready, while listening to music, eating chips and chatting. i finally decided to take some pictures of the view from mien's apartment on the 42nd floor.
it was the view of the lake that convinced her to buy.

new shoes!

i know i'm supposed to make updates on my trip but i couldn't help myself, i had to post this. i just got them and can't wait to wear them when it stops raining. aren't they pretty?

day one - thursday, march 23rd

i've decided to go over my trip day by day. let's see, last thursday was sunny and in the 70's. it was hot. and about four hours later, through different states and a different time zone, it was suddenly 6p and about 30 degrees outside. yikes!

my good friend from college, mien came and picked me up in baggage claim. she was so sweet! she told me i looked younger than i did the last time she saw me in 2001. she too looked better than i remembered her. it was a lovely reunion. we were off to take the train back to her apartment in the lincoln park area. my friend caroline was going to meet up with us as well. after we dropped off my stuff at mien's apartment on the 42nd floor of her building (great view! photos to come), caroline was on her way over. ten minutes later, she was in front so we headed out to wicker park to check out this dessert place she wanted to take us to. along the way, in the car, it started to snow. flurries they called it. for native californians who have no idea what that is, it's snowflakes all a flurry in the air! it was lovely actually.

so the dessert place we were heading to is called hot chocolate. but before dessert, we had to get dinner. so we walked up damen street and saw just what we wanted... feast restaurant smelled so good, we couldn't help ourselves, we had to have us a feast! i had the marinated skirt steak with garlic mashed potatoes, chimichurri sauce and tobacco onion rings. mmm, just thinking about it.

afterwards, we headed to hot chocolate for dessert. the three of us had hot chocolate (of course!) with homemade marshmallows... yum! caroline had this coupon, spend $35, get $25 off. what a deal! so we also had the warm brioche donuts (a signature dessert) and their snickers bar inspired dessert. i can't wait to go back!

after caroline dropped mien and me off, poor thing, she got hit from behind! but she's ok and got her car fixed (along with some other dents) so it's all good now. mien and i stayed up until 3am catching up and watching the snow fall from the 42nd floor. to the left, a view of the city. and to the right, a view of the lake. it's an amazingly beautiful view. a bit breathtaking with the snow and all...

~home sweet home~

i'm baaaack... and while i had a blast in chicago, it's so good to be home. but not so good to get back to the grind. oh well. i'll post more about my trip later so come back!

getting ready for my trip but one little snag...

i'm sick!
:( ugh, i'm sluggish and achy and i don't feel like packing yet... even though i leave tomorrow!! anyway, i wanted to show off my new lulu bag.

see you next tuesday!

so busy these days

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

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

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

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

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

scratch that...

...missing the ex part. i'm having the time of my life (with all the girls nights out). i refuse to be pathetic because i am spiky, tough and energetic.

drowning my sorrows

um yeah, if sorrows is what you call missing the ex. i went out tonight with my partner in crime and made friends with a true bartender (who will give free drinks to cute girls), joe at the village. we stayed long after closing, which seems to be a bit of a problem for us but they don't seem to care. we talked life, love, sex, and touched a bit on religion even. then we were good to go. thank you betty, it was just what i needed. you're the best!!

the wedding present... again

venue: slim's
artist: the wedding present
who: betty
when: 24 february 2006 (friday)
doors open at 8p

tom f-something was the opening band. and they were these brothers who were random country- rapping-i-don't-know- what-but-they-sucked- so-bad kind of band from new york. they sort of reminded me of this really small and bad version of the bare naked ladies. it was sort of a performance and might have been entertaining had i been drunk. there was this annoying guy in the corner who kept rooting them on... noooooo, don't encourage them, you jackass!

finally, the wedding present came on. david gedge was so cute and sexy. i love his voice. and the way he sings... with all his gestures, it's like he's just talking to you in a very melodic tone. i don't remember the show being so good the last time we saw them with alex and the gross glory guy. and maybe it was because i was too distracted by glory but this time, i was really impressed, i think more so than the first time we saw them at bimbo's when i met him. i would SO see them a fourth time.

random chick on marguerite shuttle

so i know i just got this haircut but i'm still getting used to it. since i wasn't in the office on friday (and i got my hair cut on thursday after work), my work colleagues had yet to see my new do. i noticed that one faculty didn't recognize me right away. funny. so, the top is a lot shorter than i'm used to. i was just getting used to having bangs (cut last december but i sported the no bangs-look for years)... needless to say, i'm feeling a tiny bit self-conscious about my hair. i know i'll get used to it...

this evening, after running to the shuttle to catch my 5:49p train, i got on the shuttle and sat next to this woman i've been taking the same shuttle with for at least the past 2 years if not longer. we've never really spoke to one another. she turns to me and says... what a cute haircut on you!

thank you random chick on the marguerite shuttle!!

my new do

the conversation i had with my hairdresser last thursday...

gina: your long hair is hot! what do you want to do with it?

me: i want it short.

gina: short? but it's hot long.

me: my boyfriend and i broke up so i need it short now.

gina: ohhh, i understand... it's going to look so hot.

15 minutes later, she created my new do below. she's a genius... i love her.

last day of lunar year celebration

tonight i went to dinner with my great friend betty and her mom, along with her mom's friends to celebrate the last day of the lunar new year. we had lots of delicious chinese dishes and humorous conversations in mandarin and broken english. right now, i am soooo full.

earlier today, i had a nice chat with a friend in germany. it was really nice chatting and hearing his voice. he's hoping to come out for a visit next month. and we've decided to meet up for dinner and take a drive. it's something i'm really looking forward to. matthias, thanks for being such a sweetheart...

adrien brody

tonight i think i made myself a revelation. i think that adrien brody is totally sexy. yeah yeah, he's got a slightly large nose but still, he's hot. i saw king kong tonight and he was just so dreamy. not to mention, a great actor (hence the academy award win). especially in the jacket, even though that was with keira knightley. i don't know what it is exactly, but wow.

citizen cake & popscene

last night, i went to a birthday dinner with betty and her tgw friends. we went to citizen cake. which actually took me back to summer of 2003. betty and i were at a popscene event and there were these guys from spain. one of whom was very sweet on betty. so we were dancing and his frumpy friend was apparently, sweet on me. but i didn't want to dance with him. i'd noticed matt (matty as he liked to be called) standing around. he was cute and seem to be by himself. so when he walked by, i grabbed him and asked him to dance with me. and he did! afterwards, the cute young guy from spain wanted to hang out, so we invited matty and his friend steve along. i think we went to sparky's, our usual after popscene hang out. and matty spoke a little spanish, so he was chatting with the spanish guys. we found out that matty was from boston and worked at citizen cake and very gay. which brings me back to last night. as we walked in, i saw someone who looked like him at the bar. i asked our waitress if his name was matt and if he went by matty, she said yes! but rather than try and see if he remembered us from nearly 3 years ago, we just had a blast eating and drinking. citizen cake is known for their desserts, i had a passionfruit mousse cake. it was very fresh and very tasty.

after dinner, 3 out of us 6 headed over to popscene to continue the birthday celebra- tion. we've been missing will since before new year's. nothing was going quite right, many usual characters were MIA ... franco, jessica, josh, even mr. jessica, and of course will. the band sucked. our tom collins were too strong and chris gave us tequila shots, blegh. so we went outside to get some air and a smoke. when we got back in, josh was there (maybe he was there before we went outside), our drinks were a little more watered down, the band was over and done with, and to top it off, will suddenly appeared! out of nowhere! actually, he was on the other side but still, he finally appeared. then everything was much better and we had a happy ending. happy birthday georgia peach!

so much to do, so little time

i've been so busy lately with social events and plans in general. and next month, i have a trip to chicago to look forward to. i almost moved there in the summer of 1999 with an ex who got into northwestern for med school. he was on the waitlist for uc san diego and then got in, so he asked me where i wanted to go. of course, i choose to stay in san diego. he then blamed me for med school being so hard for him, that he might have been better off in chicago. but then, would he have cheated on me with that undergrad? hmmm, um yeah, i'm glad i didn't move to chicago back then.

anyway, i am finally heading back to do some sight seeing and be a tourist. chicago is always a stop over for me when travelling east (boston, dc, london, etc) so it's funny that i never actually saw the city. i am staying with a friend from ucsd who coincidentally has problems with her younger musician boyfriend too. so, we are going to paint the town red. i absolutely cannot wait!

as for the rest of february, i have birthdays to celebrate, dancing to do, bands to see and a restaurant opening to look forward to enjoying. life is wonderful.

coming home to a ted-less apartment

today, ted moved out. he's moved to the city. and it was a bit bittersweet to come home to what i'd recognized and been used to for the last 4 months. but 4 months isn't even that long. it's a chance for a new beginning and i've got plans for the new space. i can't wait to make great use of it.

cheers

last night, betty and i went to our favorite restaurant & bar at santana row, the village café. where almost everyone knows our names, well our faces anyway. we had our usual vodka infusion shaker (red raspberry, yummm) and jorge made me this delightful creation he calls splendor. splendid it was indeed. it had pineapple infusion with some bubbly and midori. it was delish! we also had our usual steamed clams (which were so big this time!), linguica on the side. i looooove my sausage! hehe

anyway, i had a nice chat with anthony about life and relationships. he usually just sticks his tongue at me or calls me a vixen but it was a little refreshing to be serious once in a while. we chatted until well past closing and when i looked up, the restaurant had closed, only jorge and betty were left aside from us and it was midnight! anthony walked us out to our cars and we went home, happy and intoxicated with life.

another new year's celebration...

sunday marked the year of the dog. it was a day full of fun and celebration. i spent mot of the day shopping in the city. we went to h&m and zara. and loads of money was spent, thankfully not entirely by me. then we went out to eat at this unlikely restaurant. with all the neon and cheesiness on the outside, you would never know that it was great. and we were there until they closed! they even lit up some firecrackers for us! yay!

on the new year, there are things that you are not supposed to do such as cleaning and other miscellaneous chores. you're not supposed to cut your hair, nails or anything else from your body. you're not supposed to cook either. so what are people supposed to do for eating? go out. actually, i think what usually happens is having leftovers from the new year's eve dinner the night before. of which i'd spent with my family. my mom cooked up a feast full of foods that are good luck. one other thing i didn't know about, you should have a person who is of fortunate virtue to be the first person to walk through your front door. so, we had trang's friend's mom do it. apparently, she's very lucky. and luckily for me, she walked through my apartment too. here's looking forward to a great new year!

new year's eve adventures

last saturday, ted and i drove up to marin county and over the golden gate bridge (for ted's first time ever!). he needed a sound pedal repaired and this guy came highly recommended. he was a really nice guy too. the type to talk your ear off but also the type to help you out by explaining in detail how things work.

we then headed back to the city to go to h&m, unfortunately, they were closed so we went over to anne & dave's place (ted's new bandmates). we were hungry so we went to dinner at this mayan restaurant a couple of blocks away from their very cute apartment on the border between mission and dolores. this is our ideal location of where ted and i want to live. the four of us had a lovely time chatting and getting to know each other. they are the nicest couple ever!!

after dinner, we went over to their friend allison's house in noe valley. her house was amazing. i really didn't think they rented out homes like that. she lucked out, the owners moved to germany. so she'd been there for years and years. we were just hanging out when she noticed my feet and asked me what size they are. i'm a size 5 in shoes. she proceeded to bring out these cute brown boots and told me she had planned to ebay them but hadn't the chance and wasn't sure if she might ever do it but wanted to see if they fit me. they did! so i left with a new pair of brown boots. i will try to post pics soon of me wearing them. it also turns out that allison works in the biotech industry and studied marine biology at san diego state during the time i was at ucsd and scripps. it really is a small world out there, isn't it? we're also the same age. it was nice chatting with her about science... it sort of made me miss it.

anyway, allison and others had to leave for a show. so we went back to anne and dave's to figure out what to do next. there was a party of anne's coworker's in the haight so we headed off that way. i offered to drive so i had to put away a few things in the trunk and i can't remember if i closed it but i assumed it was closed. i think we were 3/4 to the house when i saw bright red and blue lights behind me and heard sirens and instructions to pull over. i was driving pretty safely, didn't have too much to drink at allison's so i wasn't sure what was going on. it turned out that my trunk wasn't closed and that it was bopping up and down while i was driving. and we had NO idea whatsoever!! apparently, it's an offense and warranted getting a traffic violation for. who knew? since i was not a tax payer in the city of san francisco, he asked anne and dave if i should get a ticket. they said no, of course not! geez... what an ass.

we arrived at our point of destination moments later. i was able to find a parking space around the corner to the house. this place was anne's coworker craig's place. when i walked in, i saw that they had fillmore posters in picture frames! i've been looking for these for a while. i was afraid i might have to get them custom framed. they said there's a place called cheap petes(??) that sell them for $19 each. so now, i am very excited about finally being able to frame my beautiful south and jesus & mary chain fillmore posters. yay! craig and his partner (dan?) had this great apartment with a rooftop patio area where we all ventured up to and champagne in hand, welcomed the new year with fireworks going off and a beautiful view of the city all around us. it was so picturesque. but the cold eventually soaked through and we were headed back into the house. as we were chatting about music (as most musician and music lovers do), anne asked ted if he was a trashcan sinatras fan. he pointed towards me as i LOVE them. it turns out that craig is a huge fan and went to almost all of the same tcs shows i did! it's always so awesome meeting other tcs non-creepy fans! as 2am approached, we decided to call it a night.

after dropping off anne and dave, we drove back home. i felt okay to drive and was alert enough i didn't ask ted to take over. but after 30 minutes or so, it began to hit. i was soooo tired! i wasn't driving in and out of lanes, just not so straight in my lane. then, as i started my deceleration to exit 1/4 mile away, i saw them again, those damned lights! i exited one exit before my home exit and pulled over to the side. the copper asked me if i was tired and i said YES! that we were coming home from the city. i told him i had two glasses of champagne before midnight (it was 3am by now). he checked my eyes and noticed my left eye was red and watery. then he made me step to the side to follow his finger with my eyes. my contact lense from my right eye came out during the test. and i had to try to put it back in the wind blowing my hair every which way. he told his partner that he noticed my eyes and that it was strange. so, his partner did the test with following his finger. i then remember about my blocked tear duct and told them i was awaiting surgery in march for it. the first copper brought out the breathelizer and with all my might, i blew hard into it knowing i was sober. he then said that he would stop wasting my time and go out to catch the actual drunken drivers. stopped twice in one night and for the first time, not for speeding... what a great way to start off the new year. i must be the luckiest girl ever.

future american idols

yep, all four of them. ;)