Browse Author: beakatude

No Bento Box Here!

On Thursday night we had a Pre-Birthday Happy Hour at B Restaurant & Bar.  I was impressed by the number of people who came by to help me celebrate.  These people included: friends from high school, friends from college, friends from work, friends from our trip to Belize, and family too!!  I love bibimpap and I feel no need to compartmentalize my company like a bento box.  Just put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix it up!!

Turns out I may be a connector too.  Among the hodgepodge of people that gathered, we managed to make several connections:

  • Ranee (co-worker) is best friends with my cousin Ishya.
  • Michelle (college friend) was best friends with Ishya’s sister in-law (Debbie) back in elementary school.
  • My high school buddies went to Cal and so did Ranee and Jamie.
  • Van (friend we met in Belize) works at UCSF where he knows a fellow PT classmate of Ranee and Ishya.
  • Billy’s brother works at Yelp! and so does DikShun.

Neato Mosquito, huh?!

Anyway, I had a great time and it was so nice to see everyone together in one place.  I also got to try some yummy cocktails and had my share of the margarita pitchers we ordered at Chevy’s.  Surprisingly I woke up feeling pretty darn good despite the number of drinks I had last night.

Here are the photos from the evening.

over the top

At work, we choose names out of a bag each year and provide a special birthday treat for the person we pulled.  With my birthday coming up, I knew something was coming but didn’t expect it to happen so early.  This morning during our weekly staff meeting our Department Administrator poked her head in the room and announced that there would be a birthday treat for me at lunch.  Oh boy…it was quite a treat indeed.

There were banners all over my desk, I was greeted with a lei and tiara, and I got an ice cream cake!!  They sang “Happy Birthday” for me with party blowers galore.  It was a nice gesture but pretty embarrassing too.  All I can say is that it was definitely memorable.

She still isn’t 30.

God help me. Our precious Vyl turned only 29 on Tuesday. Ryan said a while ago that he’ll have to kill himself when she turns 30 so I guess he still has one more year to live. We celebrated on Tuesday night with some Italian food and wine. The birthday girl also received 3 bouquets of flowers that night. Aw…

Here are the photos.

Magical Pre-Birthday

On Saturday, I went to Disneyland with Brother, Joy, and Mommy.  Since we were about a week away, we stopped at City Hall on Main Street when we arrived and got birthday pins with our names written on them.  So, for the rest of the day, we were greeted with “Happy Birthday” from cast members and other people in line.

Joy also bought us all Mickey ears complete with our names stitched on the back.  (Thanks, Joy!)  We even had one for Mommy, which looked great on her.

I hadn’t been to Disneyland for almost 2 years so I finally go to ride the Nemo ride and Joy got to ride the canoes for the first time.

We also said “hello” to Pooh and Eeyore but missed out on Splash Mountain, which supposedly broke by the time it was our turn to get on with our Fast Passes.

We did, however, get through all the other rides in record time.

The only hiccup in the night was the threat of cancellation of the fireworks show (again).  But fortunately for us, they went through with the show and it was pretty cool.  They’ve gotten really fancy with their pyrotechniques and lights displays.  Here’s the Star Wars part of the show.

I’d have to say it was a pretty satisfying day with good weather, good company, and short lines. Yay!  Here are photos from the day.

Freeways, Friends, and Family

I must be in Southern California because I drove over 100 miles today. I went to Irvine to visit the neighbors but no one was available. I also went to the birdhouse and our new tenants were in the middle of moving in. So, I introduced myself and even got to go inside the house to walk them through some stuff.

It was nice to be able to check on the house myself.  I sure do miss it.  It was good to see that my Japanese maple is still going strong and everything else was also thriving.  The new tenants are a married couple and two dogs.  They just moved from Florida and they seem like a good “family” that will take care of our house and fishies too.

The next stop was my old preschool. I got to catch up with some old co-workers and hang out with everyone in the clinic. It was fun to see how things have changed and yet so much has stayed the same after one full year. For lunch we went to Lee’s Sandwiches and it was nice to hang out with old friends again.

In the evening, I drove from Irvine to Cerritos, then to Santa Monica to pick up Brother, and then to Beverly Hills for an early birthday dinner at Lawry’s. It’s still as good as I remember and it was a tasty tasty meal.

Noods and Yo

On Thursday afternoon, my mom and I met up with Marie and the boys for lunch at Fukada.  Oh how I miss their udon!  Cole and Brandon were in a pretty good mood.  However, Cole quickly became antsy as Brandon continued to eat and eat.

He’s such a happy eater.

Afterward, we went to The Spectrum for some frozen yogurt.  Ah…another old hangout spot for me and Marie.