happy belated xmas to all!

i have been fortunate enough to receive a nice supply of these very delicious santa cookies every winter for the last 4 years. and hopefully, i will continue to get them for more winters to come.

hope everyone had a fantastic winter holiday!

happy birthday, sweet lisa!

#2.1-j lekman - happy birthday, sweet lisa
by lablogotheque

the wonders of coincidence

i recently saw this movie, lovers of the arctic circle, as recommended to me in my netflix. it's a spanish film made back in 1998. there are no known actors (that i know of). but it's a romantic drama. i find that i really enjoy romantic films. dramas or comedies, as long as it is romantic, i kinda dig it. chick flicks, i guess. they are temporary moments of romance, almost like real life. in the case of movies, it is an hour and a half of romantic moments.back to the film, the story is about two kids named ana & otto. they meet in elementary school and instantly fall in love. it's the cutest thing. the movie is all about coincidences. and you see each of their perspectives of the same situation. one after the other. this is one of the components of the movie that seems really unique and cool. sort of along the lines of amelie and run, lola run. not only do the two have palindrome names but they also love the arctic circle. they talk about the "midnight sun" in finland. just so i don't ruin it, i will summarize the major coincidences. otto's father ends up marrying ana's mother and the two are step siblings but are secretly in love with each other. otto was named after a german pilot his grandfather smoked a cigarette with during the war. and the coincidence is that ana eventually meets this german pilot, who ends up being her step grandfather. craziness. the ending is a little tragic, which makes it even more romantic.

i had an interesting chat with a good friend on the train about coincidences. he says, they are more common than we know. and that if we open our eyes to them, we would discover them more often. certain coincidences are obviously not welcomed but random coincidences are kinda cool. for instance, i went dancing last night at leisure and i met this guy. i was dancing next to his british friends and could kinda feel him watching me. his friend bumped into me and that's how he started talking to me. i forget how we got on the topic of san diego, but turns out, he went to uc san diego too. and graduated in the same year as me. and lastly, we're the same age! he's a month and a half older than me. what a coincidence, right?

another birthday present...

... from myself! ha. they are elf-like booties but i think they are so so pretty...

day of mmm birthday food

first stop, was santa ramen in san mateo. this is the new santa location. the original one was a hole in the wall. this one is much bigger but works the same way as the former location. you wait in line to get in. you also order before you are seated. the one on the left is the miso ramen (mine) which comes w/ pork. lisa got the soy sauce ramen w/ corn. it was mmm goodness. good comfort food after a night (& result) of 10+ drinks.
the next meal came after a visit to the california academy of sciences and some shopping right before closing time. it was dinner at the house in north beach. lisa took me here back in early may. we ordered the exact same thing we did the last time (minus one appetizer & one entree). we started with the deep fried salmon rolls. that's me ready to inhale my angus flatiron steak cooked medium complete with their yummy wasabi noodles. mmm meat. next to me is lisa, with her grilled sea bass and soy noodles with green beans.
and last but not least... dessert! again (as we did back in may), we went next door to the steps of rome as the house does n0t have the extensive dessert selection or espresso drinks that steps of rome carries. clockwise from left: me w/ lisa, white chocolate profiteroles, the boys who took our picture, and finally, panna cotta with strawberry & chocolate rightness. it was mmm so wrong but it feels so right all at the same time.

birthday drinks & cupcakes @ xanh

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

life like

venue: the independent
artist: the rosebuds, jonah ray & magic bullets
who: ro
when: the day after my 34th (monday)

this is the second time this year that ro & i saw the rosebuds. earlier this year, it was at noise pop. this time, it was for the release of their album, life like. which is quite good.

i really liked the rosebuds before but now, i think i ♥ them. not only is their music awesome, but they are too, as individuals. their songs are catchy, danceable, and complete with clever lyrics. whenever i hear get up get out or cemetery lawns in my car, i break out in a dance. that's right, in my car. on top of that, they always seem to put me in a good mood.

the show was unfortunately scheduled on the monday before thanksgiving holiday so there weren't a whole lot of people out. on the one hand, this is great because we got fabulous seats. and on the other hand, as ro said, they deserved better than a mediocre turnout. but you couldn't tell that it effected them at all. and if it were a full house, would kelly had been able to come down to the crowd and dance with them? no, i think not. then again, i think she would have tried even if it were a sold out crowd. you know why? because she is the bomb. ivan is ok too. ha.

there was more interaction with the crowd that i've witnessed (& participated in) than most shows i've been too. perhaps, the most interaction. they are so down to earth and awesome. i just can't say enough about them.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ in case you didn't notice, this confirms my kelly-girl-crush. see below for another reason to love them.

nice fox from kelly rosebud on vimeo.

love is all

venue: bottom of the hill
(sold out!)
artist: love is all, vivian girls, & one other opening
who: ro & lou
when: ro's 33rd birthday

much to my excitement, this was the second time i saw love is all. i caught them at their sf debut show at popscene. to my dismay, my memory serves better recalling voxtrot at that show than love is all. i didn't mention it in the post but i do remember that love is all didn't suck.

ro & i met up with lou at goat hill pizza in potrero hill before the show. we got the meat lover's special. it was mmm meat good! it was strange because i found myself having this bizarro sense of deja vu there. it was because i had eaten there almost exactly 3 years before. i was there with my ex when we were looking at a place to rent. i remember, he dragged me all the way up to the city through traffic after work. and i actually liked the place. i think i was more excited about living with the landlords/owners than i was about the place. my ex wasn't too thrilled about either things.

the bottom of the hill was only a couple of blocks away from goat hill pizza so we walked over. the show was sold out and i'd never seen a line there as long as the one waiting for us to wait in to get in. the last time i was there, it was at the jens lekman show w/ ro. **sigh** the night he hugged me. ♥ i am so easily distracted, aren't i?

back to the show... we got in just before the vivian girls (btw, that's lou w/ them at the bar on the right) from brooklyn. they were ok. nothing special. maybe they were too much rock for me, i don't know. i just know i didn't really care for them. live, anyway. but love is all on the other hand were different. i thought their sound was very fantastically unique. josephine, their lead vocalist, is uber cute with a cool pixie cut. her voice makes their sound unique. they reminded me of the yeah yeah yeahs, with a twist. it was an amazing show. lately, i've seen lots of good bands with amazing female vocalists. very cool, actually.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

yay! presents!

i started opening up birthday gifts early this year. not to mention sending them to myself early. i got these boots for myself. i also got some bling earrings from my very sweet sister, uh, last month. which i've been wearing since um, last month. they are sparkly and so pretty. they also go well with the rest of my bling. in addition to these lovely ankle boots, i got myself a new camera from amazon. i've always been interested in photography. mostly, i enjoy looking at them and being impressed by the many very talented photographers out there. sometimes, i surprise myself with a lucky "money" shot. even more recently, i've wanted to take better pictures. as a result, i decided it was due time for a new more advanced camera. not quite at the slr level, i settled on the canon sx110is in black. newly released in august, the sx110is is the new version to the sx100is. while the sx110is is a point & shoot camera, it has some manual settings of an slr. and is certainly a step up from my 2 y/o elph sd450. you can check out my practice shots on my flickr page.in addition to early birthday gifts, my girlfriends and i have a long tradition of commemorating our birthdays all month long. it is really just an excuse to go out & celebrate. since november is my birthday month, betty and i decided that the ladies' night out would be part of my month long festivities. before meeting up with funie, we went to kirala's for sushi. it has been ages since we were last there together. i can never complain about the food here, especially since we always seem to overeat. one of the sushi chefs, conrad, always makes us "extras." the grilled squid is especially beautiful there. i should have taken a picture of it. but when we saw it, we just inhaled it. it was as delicious as it was beautiful. afterwards, we got gelato at naia's and then headed over to the mission for ladies' night out with funie. fun fun fun.

how to tag team boys

as i kick off my birthday month, i planned a ladies night out with my friend funie on saturday night. we always talk about meeting boys. i told her about how my friend betty & i once tag-teamed-picked-up on a boy. i find it's one of the easiest ways to meet boys, especially if you are shy. here's an example of how it works, or what happened last night at the beauty bar...

assuming you and your friends are attractive, this is very very easy. you go with at least one other girlfriend. in our case, there were the three of us. funie picked our target. while funie waited on the other side of the bar, i took betty with me to show her the boy we were going to tag team. it was really crowded in the bar so when we came upon him, it was not hard to make contact. as betty stood behind him, pointed towards him, i nodded at her and smiled at him. he smiled back and said hi. then out of nowhere, his friend (female) grabbed me and kissed me on the cheek. she says, this one is cute, you should make out with her! after which, he proceeds to kiss me on my other cheek. so we introduce ourselves & betty and i ask if he's single. he says yes and i say, oh good, you must come with me then. i take his hand and start heading back to funie. he pulls me back and asks me to stay with him and his friends. i tell him he had to come with me to where my friend was. so he comes along. i introduce him to funie and leave them to talk while betty & i hit the dance floor. we check on her between songs and they seem interestingly engaged.

betty and i go outside for a break. i see his friends leave, without him. hmmm... about 10 minutes later, we go back in to check up on funie. turns out he was only 23 y/o! too young but made for a very fun ladies' night out.

and that, is how you tag team a boy. not too difficult, huh?

welcome luc "oba" ma!!

luc was born on election day, november 4th @ 10:31pm & weighing 7 lbs 15 oz. congrats to my cousins who are the proud parents of this sweet sweet baby.

sweet darlin' (three out of three)

on monday, ro & i went to our third show in 5 days. that's one every other day. all up in the city. thursday, saturday and monday. i left work early to get ready for the show. we left at 6:20p, with hopes that we would get there in one hour. we didn't get there until 8ish. our plans to get to bimbo's early to have dinner went out the window. and hearing that the opening band kinda sucked, we decided to have dinner before the show elsewhere.

we ended up across the street at kennedy's irish pub & curry. i was so so hungry and as a result, we ordered too much. a lot more than we imagined (see pic below). we started with curry fries (who doesn't love fries?), lamb infused nan bread, and la piece de resistance... the chicken masala dosa. lisa tells me that dosas are not very common and that's how you can tell the place is south indian. she's right, i'd never seen dosa on the menu before. as you can see in the picture below, dosas are crepes. gigantor crepes. for reference purposes, the beer next to the dish is a pint of guinness.
venue: bimbo's (sold out!)
artist: she & him & lavender diamond
who: ro
when: 3 november 2008 (monday)
doors open at 7p

when i first heard about she & him, i thought zooey deschanel was another actress-turned-over-produced-singer with little or no talent (ie scarHo). i was happily proved wrong.

it started with their song, sweet darlin' with which my niece & nephew love (and request) to sing in the car, repeatedly. after that, i listened to more. and when i found out they were playing, i listened to all i could. ms. deschanel teams up with m. ward to form she & him making songs that are fantastically familiar and wonderful. according to their website, they strive to "make music the old fashioned way: by hand - and with as few machines as humanly possible."

i wasn't sure what to expect since more often than not, bands sound better recorded (and produced) than live. but seeing a band live is more than just listening to their music, it's also being a witness to the passion and energy of the musicians who love and make this music. it was apparent in this show.

despite zooey's celebrity status, her stage presence was a bit demure. her vocals, however, was magnificent. i was blown away by her range. and i've decided, i hate her. not only is she talented as an actress and beautiful, she can really carry a tune. or, maybe i just have another girl crush?

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ i have one word for m. ward: brilliance.

girl crush (two down, one to go)

venue: the independent
artist: lykke li & friendly fires
who: ro
when: 01 november 2008 (saturday)
doors open at 8p

before the show, we met up with my friends funie & erika. we went to zante pizza for some indian pizza in the mission. they came up from oakland. i haven't seen funie for a while so when i told her i was going to be up in the city for a show, she suggested that we meet up. i mentioned it to ro and he was up for it.

we ordered the special indian pizza (topped with spinach, eggplant, cauliflower, ginger, garlic, green onions, cilantro, lamb, tandoori chicken & prawns), half regular and half vegetarian (minus the last 3 items). we ordered an extra large for the 4 of us, and it was humongous. we also had samosas and a salad. i wasn't feeling well so it wasn't as good as i think it should have been. it was good, just not memorable. what was memorable about dinner was the company. erika and i seem to be on the same wavelength. on the most bizarro topics. for example, we both think that turning 36 is much better than turning 34. and that 34 is just as bad as 37. i know, makes no sense right?

parking for the venue was worse than parking in the mission. can you imagine? it was so frustrating. i think it took us about 45 minutes. we ended up 4-5 blocks uphill. ugh. we got there in time to see friendly fires. they are a bunch of very bouncy, sweaty british boys (at least live, they are super sweaty) who initially, sounded like any other indie pop band out there. but then, there were a few good songs that stood out. i was pleasantly surprised. i kinda want to check them out some more.

when i found out that lykke li was coming for a show in the city, i started listening to every lykke li song i could get my hands on. i had the following youtube playlist on repeat: dance dance dance, little bit, i'm good i'm gone, breaking it up, tonight, until we bleed (by kleerup), and everybody but me. i put the list on, blasting through my macbook, and dancing around my apartment all by my lonesome. i didn't mind so much as i lost myself in the music. this began my girl crush. while she is not traditionally cute, i found her adorable. her voice is amazing. i know i probably say that about most artists i love, lykke li is special. her child-voiced range goes from a sweet whisper to something to be reckoned with. while child voices are not quite something to be reckoned with, hearing her live, she sounds fierce like thunder. she is quite awesome. i was thoroughly impressed with my girl crush confirmed, strong. ro said that i wasn't the only one with the girl crush since there were far more gals there than guys there. i think he has a crush on her too.

rating: i ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ lykke li.

election day

as i was coming home tonight, my niece & nephew stopped me on the way up to my apartment. this was the conversation i had with them:

kids: who are you going to vote for??
me: i already voted. who are you going to vote for?
kids: obama! obama!
me: good kids.

there's much to look forward to for our kids.

one down, two to go

venue: rickshaw stop
artist: asobi seksu
who: lou & ro
when: 30 october 2008 (thursday)
show starts at 8p (but really, it started at 9p)

according to their website, asobi seksu is "colloquial japanese for playful sex." in preparation for the show, i've been listening to them on rhapsody. yuki (lead vocalist) sings both in japanese and english. her voice is amazing. in some of the songs, her vocals sound as if she is shrieking, yet it's lovely. a lovely shrieking. a bit of an enigma, which also matches her appearance. in the images of her, she looks like a delicate flower. beautiful and fragile. but live, she's rocking out with all her might and hair in her face and everywhere. you only catch a glimpse of her face when she sings into the microphone. and still, her long hair is wild all over.

in rhapsody, asobi seksu is categorized under "shoegazer" and "dream pop." i think they are the epitome of shoegazer music, which often times, feels like a fight between music and vocals. in this band's case, the shrill of the electric guitar(s) battling her lovely shrieking notes. for some, it might just sound like noise. for me, it is a combination of dramatic sounds and hardcore rocking out.

and don't even get me started on the japanese lyrics thrown into the mix. japanese-pop-shoegazer is quite special, not to mention a little sexy.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

emily turns 3!

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

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

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

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

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

betty's bachelorette!

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

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

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

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

pumpkin goodness

since the original recipe resulted in a lack of pumpkin flavor, i decided to double the amount of pumpkin and decrease the sour cream by a quarter of a cup to keep the moistness. doesn't it look delicious?

jordan knight @ popscene, again

the last time i was at popscene, was with betty and her cousin patty from taiwan. i'd met patty before but it might have been in san diego nearly ten years before. patty was back dropping her brother off in florida for school. so we took her to popscene with us. that was the end of july. and as far as i can see (in my calendar), that was also the last time we were at popscene.

last night, we got there after having just missed birdmonster. i was a little bummed because i remembered that they weren't half bad when they opened for stellastarr* back in february. however, we did run into someone we'd met at popscene before. this is the conversation you don't have in an attempt to hit on two asian girls you've picked up on before:

jordan knight(jk) sneaking up behind us at the bar: can i join this asian girl group?
us in unison: no.
jk: why?
us: because you're not asian or a girl.
me: um, have we met you before?
betty: yes, you look really familiar to us.
jk: if i'd met you two before, i would have remembered it so no, i don't think so.
me: aren't you like 25, or something?
jk: i just turned 26 last week!
me: so, what do you do?
jk: i work at a start up company in mt. view... we are developing a mobile web that looks more like a regular website...
betty interupting: yep, you told me this before.
jk zips up his mouth: well, i won't say anything else then.
me: wait, but i didn't hear about this. i wanna hear about this.
betty: let me finish what he was saying... he wants the company to do really well so he can make a lot of money and take us on helicopter rides.
jk looking like a dumbass, is totally speechless.
me: yeah, i knew we'd met before. i asked to take you home the last time and you disappeared on me. i was so disappointed.
jk: really? why can't i remember that?
me: hahah, no, not really.

the first time we'd met jordan knight, he was with a friend who called himself devo. we were at the bar and devo ordered a drink next to me. i asked him if it was a jack & coke. he said yes and asked if i wanted some. i said, sure, and took a sip of this random guy's drink. then jordan knight came up to us. patty told him he looked like someone from the new kids on the block. he answered, jordan knight, right?

i wonder if he'll remember us the next time we see him...

tsh levels

i didn't mention this the last time i saw my endocrinologist because i was too happy about my new cancer free status. while the cancer is gone, there is something else not so clear, however. my tsh levels are too high. tsh stands for thyroid stimulating hormones. they are not thyroid hormones, they are pituitary hormones produced by your pituitary gland in your brain. this determines the amount of thyroid hormones that need to be released by your thyroid. since i have no thyroid, i have hypothyroidism. meaning the thyroid is not producing enough hormones, or any in my case.

much to my dismay, my tsh levels are still too high. they were too high the last time i saw my doctor. having such high levels may potentially cause more health problems. i'm told it could be hazardous to my internal organs as well as other health issues i don't want (such as depression and heart disease). as a result, i've switched hormone levels twice now. it was .112 (the pink pill) for years. back in june, it was changed to .100 (yellow pill) and now, it is down to .88 (lime green pill). so hopefully that fixes me.

finally, i have a confession to make. i ♥ my endocrinologist. he is the greatest doctor, a compassionate friend, and loyal confidante. despite a recent and unfortunate weight gain :@), i felt happy and good about myself after seeing him. he makes me laugh and feel smart and beautiful. he is one of the coolest people i know. what is also great about him is that he is genuinely concerned about me and my well-being. i continue to see him because even though the thyroid cancer is gone, a thyroid problem still exists. rather than just be glad that the big problem has been taken care of, he insists on making sure that i am ok in the long run. this makes me happy because i was sad that i might not see him anymore. well, until he retires anyway...

thank you dr. bruhn.