Visitors, Ursher, Thanksgiving in Portland, and MORE WEDDING!

Jon and Kathie were in town a couple of weeks ago! And Melissa's friends were also here for the weekend. We went to Aston Manor, and had SO MUCH FUNS.

We also saw USHER at Key Area!! Dude. DUDE. That body, those dance moves, and that voice. I'm so glad we went!!! As good as Beyonce? Almost. But I didn't cry like a baby, like I did at the Bey & Jay concert earlier this year, so probably not on the same level.

For Thanksgiving, Matt and I drove down to Portland, where Gary, Chad, Tiana, David, and Kevin were! John just moved back, and Charles came down too. I was so exhausted from PMSing.. unfortunately. But I still had a really good time. Thanksgiving dinner was gluttony, as per usual. We played games, watched movies, and even went to Punchbowl the second night! *YESSS!!!!* Totally bowled, and I haven't bowled in maybe ten years? We failed at Black Friday shopping. The only thing I bought... wasn't on sale. Ugh. Why do I keep trying?

We brought Forrest with us to Portland, and he was all shaking and anxious from being in a new place with so many new people. He wouldn't eat any dog food, but we managed to get him to eat some turkey. He wouldn't even eat his bully stick or his treats, which he normally will do ANYTHING for. Oh well, he lost some weight. And he got to sleep in the bed with us for both nights! He was ridiculously happy to be home, I guess he's just a homebody like me. First for everything though... first road trip! :)

And then we drove back Saturday morning, THROUGH SNOW, for the wedding! Lisa and Quanh got married in the ID, and it was pretty cool catching up with Matt's old coworkers.

And then this week at work we are sandboxing. OMG. I was so stressed out last week when we started delving into the use cases, and I'm so tired. This week I have things more under control, so I'm not feeling like smashing my head through my monitor, but I'll definitely be glad when it's all over. The experience is VERY VALUABLE to me. I've never been so involved with a project of this magnitude, and even though it is a lot to handle I am enjoying every bit of the learning experience!!

I have so many things to be grateful for this year. A great job, a loving boyfriend, a supportive family back home (and two amazing cities to call home), a wonderful puppy, and my health. Everything is awesome!

Crime mysteries for the soul

Over the past couple of weeks, now that Seattle has basically skipped over fall weather and gone straight to winter temps, I've had time to cozy up with Forrest and do some reading!!

I was looking at the highly rated kindle titles and decided that Sleep Tight by Rachel Abbott looked interesting. And boy, was it! I really like her writing style and how she sneaks the perfect hints in at the right moments. I found myself accidentally pressing the next key before finishing my current page, and then having to click backward! It was a page turner for sure, and I love how it read like a tv show.

Immediately after finishing, I decided to look up more titles by Abbott. I decided to read Only the Innocent next. I noticed themes similar to the previous book, throughout the novel, but the story twisted and turned in completely different directions. And the character building was excellent. This second book seemed more intense and the details were interwoven so intricately that as soon as I finished the very last pages, I immediately re-read the first chapter again. I was drooling over every tiny morsel of info!

I must have forgotten how much I love to read (that's so sad...). I haven't read two books so quickly and with so much pleasure, since college! I'm glad that I decided to read again, and I can't wait to start the next adventure. 😁

#ELL118

Eric and Lorraine had a well-planned, good-sized, wedding ceremony at Fauntleroy Church in West Seattle. And it was prompt! And efficient! And nice! And there wasn't a dull moment. NAILED IT. Lorraine was gorgeous in her white dress, and Eric looked great too. Eric's humor lightened up the ceremony and it was totally fun. That was to be expected though, because they're such a fun couple!



Of course Charles and I took a selfie! And even though I thought I would cry, I didn't. I was just ALL SMILES the whole ceremony. So happy for them!

People stopped by our place before the reception because it was nearby. We took Fireball shots (bad idea) before we headed over to the Edgewater for the cocktail hour. Beer, wine, and photos! And more photos! And some dinner. But I didn't get to stick around until the end because I drank too much... SO BUMMED! Never doing that again.







And I met Mel's mom!

Anyway, from what I was there for, it was SO FUN. I'm pretty sure that was the best wedding of the year.. I learned my lesson about pacing myself at wedding. I just wish I was able to be there the whole time for this one. :(

Family reunion in Paradise

Just got back from Hawaii! Family, friends, food, and fun – it was actually the purrfect trip.

Day 0
I flew in after work on the first night, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was on a new Boeing 737-900ER! The plane was so nice, that it had Recaro seats and mood /ambiance lighting. Whut! I know! I sat next to a couple from somewhere in Canada and really enjoyed their company. Those Canadians, my faves. The flight actually landed early and I got in shortly after my mom’s flight. Aunty L picked us up and we went to Zippy’s! I had the Zip min, and it was alright. We headed back to my aunty’s house and turned in for the night. Our local roommate was also another pleasant surprise. Bennie!!

Day 1
We woke up early to pick up the rental car, and then over to Grandma’s house we went! We sat and chatted for a while because I haven’t seen my grandma in almost a decade. Uncle R was there too, and the four of us went to Kin Wah Chop Suey. I ate two types of gau gee – the soup gau gee and the deep fried gau gee. Both were good! I don’t think I’ve ever had gau gee before. All of the other food was just mediocre (womp womp). It was really nice to have lunch with my grandma though, and learn a little bit about our family history. After lunch, we returned to grandma’s house and chatted some more. Later in the afternoon, we left for Uncle B’s house.

At Uncle B’s and Aunty E’s house, my mom caught up on gossip and I listened in on the family happenings. Mostly good things, some concerning things. For dinner, we ate at Saigon Noodle House, and I had the most AMAZING green papaya salad of my life. The menu was probably 90% typos, but the food was so good! I also had sweet potato tapioca dessert for the very first time. O, m, g. Delicious. After dinner, we went back to the house and watched Korean cooking shows. I slept on a really comfy air mattress in the living room and every time I went to the restroom I fell off the bed! It was more funny than annoying, though.

Day 2
Another early start to meet up at Aunty L’s house for lunch! We picked up another aunty on the way to Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, where we were the very first people to arrive. We didn’t actually need to show up at opening, but we were anticipating a crazy wait time. The ramen was great, but not phenomenal. I liked it but I don’t “need” to go there again. I got dropped off at Ala Moana mall and shopped for a while – they barely had anything in my size! I got two “HI” souvenir tank tops (one for myself and one for Matt). I got picked up not too long after. In the parking lot, there was a really ancient lady who was wandering around, obviously lost and confused, trying to find her car. We eventually were able to find it, but were very concerned that she was driving in that state of mind. And she looked as old as my grandma (94). Geez! Anyway, that was my good deed for the trip.

When we got back to Aunty L’s place, I took a quick nap and then got ready for the family reunion! We went to Waimalu Chop Suey and our party took up half of the restaurant! I met (and re-met) a lot of interesting people, and learned as much as I could about distant relatives. The best part was the family tree on the wall, where we could see exactly how ridiculously large our family is! My great grandmother had 12 siblings. My grandma alone had 7 children. And even without everyone able to attend the reunion, we still had PLENTY of people and lots of tables. I can’t imagine the work it took to organize that event, but I’m very grateful that it happened and that I went. I found out that two of my cousins who could not attend actually live within 30 minutes from me. What a small world. Food highlights of the reunion were teapot-sized gau gee, sweet and sour chicken that tasted like li hing, and guava cake from Dee Lite Bakery!! THE CAKE WAS SO DELICIOUS.

After the family reunion, Eric picked me up and we went to Mai Tai bar at Ala Moana! Omg, the super buff Hawaiian guys at that bar drink beer out of pitchers. I guess that’s size-appropriate, considering. The club DJ music turned into live local music, and both were good. It was just seriously too packed. I was surprised to see that some girls were dressed up like they were going to a nightclub; I suppose it’s similar to what used to be Pnk in Seattle (partying at the mall LOL). After Mai Tai, we went to Bubbies to get mochi ice cream. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Suh good! I stayed over at Eric’s place in his extra bed. It was like a metal crib, HAHA.

Day 3
And yet another early start. We got up at 8 AM to head over to Cinnamon’s in Kailua for brunch! It was totally worth the drive, the waking up, and the wait. The guava pancakes were freaking heavenly. The kalua pig eggs benedict was really good too. We also went to Manoa chocolate (upstairs) and did a chocolate tasting. I ended up spontaneously buying a box, that’s how good it was! I spent $75 there, on chocolate, but hey – you can only get it there.  Next, we stopped at Pali Lookout, and goodness gracious… WAS IT WINDY! Hair was blowing everywhere, and so were giant bees. We only stayed long enough to take a few pictures, then we headed to WAIOLA SHAVE ICE!!!!!!

Dude, the shave ice was so good. So light, fluffy, and creamy. I got the rainbow flavors, with condensed milk, ice cream on bottom, and li hing powder. WOW! Honestly, it didn’t even need the ice cream… condensed milk, ice, and li hing powder is the trifecta. After shave ice, we tried to go to the swap meet! Unfortunately, there was a game at the stadium, so swap meet was canceled. We drove to Ono Hawaiian to get poke instead, and it was good! The miso tako was also good.

I needed a break from eating, so I found an aviation museum via trusty Yelp. It was on Ford Island, so we drove over to the Pearl Harbor visitor center. When we arrived at the ticket desk, they JUST so happened to have 2 tickets to the USS Arizona tour. How lucky is that? It’s super lucky, because later Aunty L told me that people usually need to reserve tickets in advance. We decided to do that, and we got the audio tour headsets. Watching the historical documentary was moving, and it was news to me because I never paid attention to history (sad, I know). It made me feel patriotic, like I want to serve my country too! Being on the USS Arizona memorial and seeing the ship parts through the shallow water. Watching the oil float on top of the small waves. Wow. Truly disturbing!

After we left Pearl Harbor, we went to Nico’s for some local seafood. The furikake seared ahi tuna… was really, really, really good. Like insanely delicious. I loved it! For dessert, we went to Ward Warehouse and got our second Waiola shave ice! HAHAHA. This time, I got guava and lilikoi, with condensed milk, mochi on bottom, and li hing. Again, totally didn’t need the mochi. I guess I just can’t resist adding extra things from the menu, LOL. By the time we finished our shave ice, we were exhausted! That was about the 12-hour mark. In the spirit of remembering Pearl Harbor, we went back to Eric’s place to watch the movie Pearl Harbor. I didn’t get to finish the ending! I had to get back to my Aunty L’s place before it was too late … didn’t want to wake them.

Day 4
I got to sleep in a little bit, until around 9:00 AM, but that’s still pretty early for me… especially on vacation! Uncle R and grandma picked me up for lunch at Harbor Village Restaurant in Hawaii Kai. We had dim sum, and I saw more family (that couldn’t make it to the reunion). Cousin C has such a lovely family and it was nice to see her again! Cousin E was probably the life of the party, and I also enjoyed seeing him. Uncle D was one of my favorites when I visited Hawaii so long ago, and I was glad that he could make it to lunch. He seems to be doing well, and his kids are all grown up now too. Aside from the quality family time, the food was also good! There was a savory dish with mochi balls and pork filling. YUM! I would order that all of the time if I saw it on the menu anywhere else. I liked most of the dishes, which is saying a lot for dim sum because I usually only like about half of them.
After lunch, we went to Costco with Uncle D so mom could pick up some mac nuts to bring back as gifts. Uncle D brought us back to Aunty L’s house, and chatted more there. Uncle R and grandma also came by again later to drop off red envelopes and say a final farewell! How sweet of them!! My mother and I snuck away to Shimazu Store for more shave ice! It was not as good as Waiola, but still good! Eating the head-sized "small" shave ice was a nightmare.

For dinner, Jon picked me up and we headed to Sidestreet Inn. We went to the bar location first, and then decided to try the second restauranty location instead. I really enjoyed the longer car ride because we caught up on the last ten years… I think that’s the last time I saw him! We ordered the mochiko chicken, pork chops, and kimchee yakisoba at Sidestreet. I really liked the chicken and yakisoba, but the pork chop was too greasy for me. We literally only ate ¼ or 1/3 of each plate before we were stuffed. Those are not pupus! Those are hefty servings! For dessert, we went to Leonard’s and got malasadas. OF COURSE I ORDERED THE LI HING ONE! We sat outside and talked more about our careers, our families, our futures, and friends from the past. We literally talked for all 4 hours that we were together.

Day 5
Because we had to return the rental car, my mother and I headed to the airport in the morning. We ended up getting pre-check TSA lines and no wait at Enterprise, but my mom loves to be early for things like this. I ended up having 2 hours to wait for my flight, and that was plenty of time for reflection.

While slurping my green tea frap in the sweltering open-air airport, I thought about how nice it was to see family again, and how old everyone has gotten. I thought about how I should visit more often, especially because my grandma is getting older each year! I realized that I think this was the most fun I’ve ever had in Hawaii – I got to appreciate the food, family, and festivities as a focused adult, and this time I didn’t feel like I was competing with my cousins or being judged by my relatives. I also didn’t feel like I was being dragged around by my mom, which is unfortunately what I remember from past visits. I felt free and I really loved getting to enjoy the island with friends! And especially catching up with someone who I didn’t know very well ten years ago, who I now feel like I know well. I got to eat all of the foods I’ve been seeing on my Facebook feed, and I had the freedom to go wherever I wanted because I could drive. Most of all, I thought about how I didn’t want to leave. I’ve only ever felt that way after being in New York, but this feeling was more significant because I’d been to Hawaii before and was always ready to leave at the end of trips.

The vacation was wonderful, and the stay was perfect. Now I’ll have PTO days to save for my visit next year! I hope to go again in May, and I’m really looking forward to doing it all again. Aloha!

Huskies tailgating

On Saturday, we tailgated for the Huskies vs. Stanford game! I borrowed Tom's grill and we had PLENTY of food. Burgers + burger accessories, garlic and herb chicken, an assortment of chips, Hawaiian snacks, pork rinds, hot dogs, soda, purple haze, fireball, jack daniels, rice krispies, and whatever else I'm forgetting! I was stuffed, and the sun was SHINING, and it tailgating was super fun!

The new off leash deck was pretty cool, except only the people standing at the front of the deck have a view of the field. And they have TVs under canopies which is nice! Except, the TV that we were watching went out. Anyway, everyone was tired by half time because we started tailgating at 8 AM! Except I took a power nap before we walked to the game, so I was the only one from our group who didn't pass out immediately. :| I think tailgating once a year is perfect for me, maybe twice. I got my fill!!!!

And also, btw, I'm 4-0 in fantasy league (YBD). BOO YA!

Fatty food and face paint at the Puyallup fair!

We went to the Puyallup fair again!

This year, we ate loaded waffle fries/tater tots, krusty pups, onion blossoms, deep fried oreos/snicker bar, and elephant ear. I forgot to get corn at the end of the night!!! I was saving it for last because I forgot to bring dental floss. SIGH. They also ran out of turkey leg, but I was definitely looking forward to that (and am now very disappointed).

Last year we didn't play any games, but this year we played the balloon dart game, the waffle ball in the bucket game, and the ring toss game. Sean won Matt a giant shark, but I sold it to some guy for some cash (no one actually wanted the giant stuffed animal). Matt won me a hedgehog stuffed animal, which I kept, and a mini duck toys for Forrest. JR conquered his fear of rides and went on the Zipper, but felt nauseous after (yikes!). We skipped the flower and farm animal exhibits, but I don't think we missed too much. The expo stations in the showplex were fun to walk through again! It was mostly (if not all) the same items as last year, but as we get one year older we are also interested in different things. For example, we watched an entire euro steam demo in awe because we take cleaning more seriously now. Last year we spent a lot of time sampling fatty dips and beef jerky, because I guess we were more into eating then. Go figure!

Matt, Sean, and I picked up Sarah on the way, and then met up with David and Jamie at the fair early on. JR and Chelsie joined us later. The best part of the night was the airbrush face paint!! And taking a photo with the giant button. I love airbrush face paint! I want to wear it every weekend, LOL. We ended up spending a whopping 6 hours at the fair. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang. We walked so much that my calves and my hips are sore today... how sad.

After the fair, we went to Matt's uncle's birthday party in Belltown. We celebrated briefly at Shorty's, but ended up bringing everyone back to the apartment to close out the night. We met so many interesting people! And Forrest was having a FIELD DAY with all of the new friends. What a little lovebug!

Wedding weekend in SF

Matt and I flew in Thursday night and we got some late night donuts with Andy, David, and Henry! Good ol' Allstar Donuts for freshly baked goodies... MMM mmmm. We then headed to Buckshot and played darts. I am ... so bad at darts. But I had tons of fun trying to keep up with the guys. David is REALLY good. While we were there, someone ordered an Ike Turner, but ended up not wanting to do the slap. Dangit, how disappointing. I hope one day I get to see one. :)

Friday, after work, we went to Pa'ina for HH with Brian, Alom, Nan, and David. The food was bad. The drinks were alright, not great. Boo! We immediately went to Playground and got more drinks (and better food). We rushed over to the Real Escape Room, more than slightly tipsy, and met up with the rest of our group. The funniest part of the night was probably trying to find the place to meet for the game... because no one initially read the sign at the entrance. So we were going up stairways to dead ends, trying to go upstairs by using the elevator but we didn't have a required access card, and we actually thought the game had already started!! When we got into the real game, it was SUPER fun, and everyone got into it. We did relatively well, and the game coordinator also said we were very close to escaping the room. We were working on the very last clue as time ran out. I seriously can't wait to do the other room in December when I'm back in town. SO INTENSE!!!! After the Real Escape Room, we checked out Andy, Alex, and Nan's new place. It's a huge upgrade from their previous apartment, and a lot nicer than I thought it would be. We drank more and played games, and it was great to catch up with everyone.

On Saturday, it was really hard to wake up. We finally rolled out of bed after noon, and went to get lunch at Sapporo-Ya in Japantown. Matt had never been to Japantown, so we walked around the mall and looked at the stores. Lots of stores have changed since I've last been! We went back home to take another nap.. we were really exhausted from staying up the night before, and got ready right before it was time for dinner. Alex and Nan drove us to Zen Peninsula for the wedding.. and the inside of the venue was really nice! We got to take pictures with Christina and Vic as soon as we walked in, and we ended up at a table with only 4 people. The other 2, our new wedding friends, were really fun, and we did our best to work through the food. We finished the Remy bottle! And had tons of food leftovers. The wedding was organized and the activities were entertaining. Best of all was seeing people I haven't seen for 7-8 years. Catching up with friends like Tony, Tony, and Dan was my one of my fave parts of the night, only second to watching Christina and Vic gush (and kiss). I haven't seen them in so long, and I TOTALLY missed them. It was a beautiful wedding, and the proposal video made me cry like a baby. The photo booth and dancing were fun too! Such an awwwwwesome dinner.

After the wedding, Dan drove us back home and we changed to get ready for Dima's birthday at Bruno's. Charles joined us, because I guilt-tripped him (HAHA) and dragged him out of bed. As per usual, there was plenty of drinking and good music to be had at Bruno's. And we enjoyed every minute! But that made Sunday morning brutal... wedding drinking + Bruno's = hangover central. We stopped by the slosh ball game on Sunday before we flew out, but neither of us played. However, I did fly my first kite!!! Gary S. helped me with it, and to my surprise it was hard work. My arm was getting tired!

Loves, doves, and grubs

Thea and Geoff's wedding was beautiful, magical, and wonderful. After all the grumbling and complaints from the guys (and some girls) who didn't want to dress up for the black tie formal wedding, everyone admitted how nice we looked AND really enjoyed taking photos in the fancy getups!

The ceremony was at a really nice church in Seattle, and even though there were a lot of sponsors participating, etc. they did a great job of keeping each segment brief. It felt short, which is nice, especially for someone who doesn't go to church and can feel awkward at times during service. The ceremony was really well planned, and the photographer even took a bird's eye view photo of all guests from the balcony - that's awesome! The ceremony ended with everyone on the front steps and doves being released. WOW. So fancy!

We all trekked over to Snoqualmie Ridge golf course for the reception, which was also coordinated well. We started with drinks and open bar to mingle, and they even had a customized cornhole game set! NICE. The dinner was outside on grass, under a gorgeous white tent. It was a bit troublesome (actually terrifying) to walk in heels on soggy grass, but fortunately we were only out there for a short time. After the tearjerker toasts and the first dance, we moved indoors or more drinking... and dancing! The guys did a surprise dance for Thea, which I could tell she LOVED, and the rest of the night was pure celebration and bliss. Everyone was really happy, and had a great time. The photo booth was totally a hit, and I had a ridiculously exciting night. We ended up at Snoqualmie casino for a few hours, and then headed back home. Whew, that was enough fun for a whole 3-day weekend!