Browse Author: beakatude

finally upgraded

IMG_5175The new iPhone 5s came out yesterday and it was sold out everywhere as expected.  On a chance, we actually got up early and headed out to the Apple Store on Stockton to see what they received overnight.  There was a short line outside before the store opened at 8am and I got my hands on a voucher for the 32GB space gray iPhone 5s.  I originally wanted the silver one but realized that it doesn’t really matter.  All I really wanted was a new phone with greater than 16GB and I got it.  I’ve had the iPhone 4 for over 2 years and had gone through water damage and two cracked front screens so this is an upgrade regardless.  I waited through 2 upgrades and now I have a better camera and I met Siri for the first time today.  I also realized that this is the first retina display in our entire household of Apple products.

IMG_5191It’s so pretty…

IMG_0001 1I also got myself a pretty good case.  It apparently has an Impact Mesh that is supposed to be better at withstanding a drop or two.  Let’s hope it does because I’m tired of looking at a cracked screen and this little munchkin has made my poor phone more at risk for damage by at least 10-fold.

Run, Sun, and Sailing

IMG_8428Sometimes I feel so lucky to live where we live.  On Sunday morning, we packed up the stroller and headed out for an action-packed day.  It started with a good run all the way to America’s Cup Park.

IMG_8432At the lawn, all the beanbags were claimed so Kumquat and I found an open spot and set-up camp.  A few minutes later, I looked over and saw an empty giant pillow AND a beanbag chair!!  Yes!  After looking around to make sure I wasn’t stealing it, I dragged it over to our campsite and it was ours for the rest of the day!! Woohoo!

IMG_5113For lunch, I went over to the food trucks parked nearby and grabbed a bacon-y feast of a fried chicken sandwich, bahn mi, and chili cheese fries.  The food truck was called Bacon Bacon so EVERYTHING had bacon in it.  There goes my low-cholesterol diet right out the door!!  It went perfectly with the water bottle full of wine that we brought from home.  That saved us about $22!

IMG_5112They also had these nifty water stations for refilling your water bottle (with actual water).

IMG_8450We got an awesome view of the race from the big screen and they have cool visual tracking technology to help us see how fast they’re going and where the start and finish lines are on the water.

IMG_5124The lawn got packed quickly as the first race was about to start and as people were practically sitting on top of each other, we had a luxo spot on the pillow with Kumquat’s stroller folded flat on the floor.

IMG_8451I managed to buckle Kumquat into the half-stroller and pulled the shade over her.  It was PERFECT!  She actually slept almost two hours and woke up right after the second race finished.  That was some pretty ideal timing.

IMG_8453Both races were close and really fun to watch.  Who thought sailing could be so exciting!?!  By the end of the afternoon, Jes was sunburned, Kumquat had a runny nose, and I was exhausted.

IMG_8455We had a great time and got a good dose of Vitamin D too!

Lobstah Dinnah

IMG_5100On Saturday evening, we met up with Jason and Jia at New England Lobster Market & Eatery.  It’s in Burlingame and just south of the airport.  I had heard about it and then saw it featured in Sunset Magazine, which made me want it even more.  IMG_5097We ordered the dressed lobster roll, lobster and corn chowdah, and crab nachos (made with potato chips instead of tortilla chips!).  IMG_5101All were pretty tasty but the chowdah was my favorite.  They have lots of seating inside and outside and you can buy seafood to take home and cook yourself.  There’s also a “Tank House” in the back where they have all their live lobster, crab, and bivalves.  It’s a cool place and worth a visit.

on the water

IMG_5060On Wednesday, he scored a free ticket to watch the America’s Cup races from a Hornblower Cruise boat.  So, on Thursday, he took the day off and headed out with my camera.  He said that it turned out to be more of a social event with lots of real estate professionals networking together and drinking.

DSC_3415It sounded like Jes was the only one actually interested in the race but he didn’t care since he got a good vantage point of the race, he was on the water, and had access to unlimited wine.  DSC_3419That makes me a little queasy just thinking of this but he LOVED it.  He also got a good view of the other sailboats and the bay that day.  Here are more photos that he got that day.

DSC_3428What a beautiful day!

DSC_3401Nice work on the photos, Jes!

DSC_3389And if you’re interested, Team Oracle USA is getting their butts kicked by the Kiwis.  We’ll be heading out on Sunday to see if they take the whole thing.

Back to Work

IMG_5036It’s been 17 days since my surgery and I went back to work today.  It was a gloomy morning, which made going to work a little easier knowing it wasn’t going to be as sunny and gorgeous outside as it has been these past two weeks.

IMG_5015On Monday, I tried to make the most of my last day off.  Mirian came in the morning to keep Kumquat occupied while I purged my closet, went to the bank, did some grocery shopping, had a nice solo lunch with a magazine, and went to see the surgeon for my post-op follow-up appointment.

IMG_5019There’s something so satisfying about holding an actual magazine in my hand.  I have all the digital copies of Sunset on my Kindle but somehow I still enjoy flipping through real pages.

By the way, at my post-op appointment, the doctor showed me what he cut out of my body.  He said that there were little lumps of fat that were poking through the hole in my abdominal wall, which was causing the sharp pain and a funny lump at the top of my belly button.  When he went in, he cut them out and snapped a photo of it for his report.  He also emailed me the photo!  What a cool doctor!  I’ll spare you all the lovely photo of my fat blobs but let me know if you want to see and I’ll show it to you.  I thought it was a fun little souvenir from my first open surgery. 😉  He also said that the hole was small enough that he was able to just suture it back instead of placing a mesh patch.  Yay!  No foreign object in my body!!

So, I’m back to work with a 30-lb lifting restriction for the next two weeks.  It was nice to see everyone again but the work was just “meh”.  Oh I wish I could have had a few more weeks off…

Dragon Party!

DSC_3308We went to Zoe’s 1st Birthday Party on Sunday afternoon in Alameda.  There was a dragon theme and there were lots of dragons (including Kumquat) at the party!

DSC_3283DSC_3299Eleen and Jimmy worked very hard to make this party decked out in dragon stuff.

DSC_3348Kumquat scored some crayons and lots of other goodies that day.

DSC_3286Oh and we can’t forget about the Zoe cookies they had made for the party.  Hilarious.

DSC_3323When it was time to sing “Happy Birthday”, Zoe really enjoyed herself.DSC_3328She soaked in all the extra attention and hammed-it-up for the crowd.  So cute.

DSC_3353Here is Zoe and her happy parents.

DSC_3351Jimmy’s mom also flew up from Cerritos and it was nice to see her again.

DSC_3344The cake was a rich red velvet with super sweet frosting.  Kumquat and I got a couple bites and then we had to call it quits.

DSC_3304Keenan was there and giving his dad (flying solo that day) a hard time during lunch.  Funny kid.DSC_3302The Bangs came too and Isla was NOT a fan of Uncle Jimmy that day.  She literally cried every time she saw him.DSC_3314This is little Athena, Aylang and Dave’s 12-month-old.  Look at those curls!

DSC_3361What a fun birthday party!  I’m sure this is just the beginning of these kid-infested parties.  It seemed like there was almost one child per adult at the party.  We’ll wait for Kumquat to grow up a little more before she can have her face painted.  Until then, balloons and crayons will do.