Browse Category: life

too short

Weekends are too short.  We’ve had some nice weather lately and we made the most of it on Saturday and Sunday.  On Saturday we went out for brunch and to do a little shopping.  I love it when the Gap Friends and Family Sale rolls around.  IMG_1031The St. Patrick’s Day Parade also rolled down Market Street and there were a bunch of people dressed in green and ready to party.

IMG_1065After Kumquat’s nap in the afternoon, we went back outside and had a few drinks at Hi-Dive.  We were all in shorts that day!

IMG_1067On Sunday, I went out for a run in the morning and ran past the burned down construction site that made the news last week.  It’s crazy how close it was to home.

IMG_1102Later in the morning, we went to the California Academy of Sciences. Then we took a long lunch at Pacific Catch where the rolls and poke were pretty ono.  I can’t wait for our trip to Hawaii next month!

When we got home, everyone took a good nap (including me!) and I still managed to get the laundry done.  Oh how I wish I still had one more day.

 

Happy Friday

IMG_0968Happy Friday and Happy Weekend, Everyone!  I don’t know about all of you but it felt like a really long week to me.  Salud!

Half Moon Bay

DSC_4575Jes and I had President’s Day off and Mirian was scheduled to work so we took a day trip to Half Moon Bay.  Surprisingly, it’s only a 25-min drive to the coast and I was reminded of how close I live to the ocean still.

IMG_9402We lucked out on a gorgeous sunny day and stopped at Montara State Beach.  The steps down were really steep and then there was a giant collection of water from the rain last week that made our entrance to the shore a little interesting.

DSC_4579The waves were really rough that day but it was fun to watch.  I can’t wait to get to Hawaii again.

IMG_0116For lunch, we drove down the coast a bit more and found Sam’s Chowder House.  It’s the same Sam from Sam’s Chowdermobile, which we’ve had before at various food truck events.

IMG_0109We didn’t have a reservation but got there early enough to get prime seats in the adirondack chairs out front.  We ordered from the bar and ate from the chairs.  It was sunny and warm and a little weird not having to keep my brain on at all times.

IMG_0099I was able to just take my time sipping my wine and eating poke one cube at a time without worrying about what the kid would be up to next.  I zoned out a few times and had this funny anxiety from having to force myself to relax.  It’s hard to describe but that’s what I was feeling that afternoon.

IMG_0114By the way, the chowder is yummy and they brought out a huge bowl even though we ordered a cup.  I guess someone felt bad for making us wait longer than usual for our order.

The drive back up was easy (no traffic) and we stopped at Costco to pick up a few things.  It was crazy busy and nice to not have to worry about Kumquat totally losing it while we waited in line to pay.  It’s ridiculous how the simplest things can make me so happy nowadays.

 

I love the Olympics.

I’ve been watching the Winter Olympics online and the same 3-4 commercials come on all the time.  One of them is this one about a woman who is a full-time mom and full-time Olympic athlete training for the skeleton event at the Sochi Games.

I looked her up and her story is pretty crazy.  She missed the 2006 Torino Games because of a freak accident involving a bobsled that crashed into her at practice and broke her leg in multiple places.  Then she got back to training in time for 2010 in Vancouver and lost the bronze medal by 0.10 seconds.   She then retired to be a mom and had a second child.  She later became pregnant with #3 but then miscarried at 18 weeks.  Whoa.  After that happened, she and her husband had a long talk and decided they’d get her back in training.  Her husband even designed and made her skeleton sled (works for a steel manufacturing company).  She trained early in the morning, took care of the kids during the day, and then trained more after they went to bed.  That’s some dedication and stamina!  Sliding down a icy course head first and on your stomach on a tiny sled is not something you can do when you’re exhausted from a full day!

Anyway, after all that, she went to the 2014 games and won silver yesterday.  Here’s a link to the article. I’m officially inspired.

Lunar New Year Super Bowl Weekend

IMG_9527Boy, we had quite a weekend!  It started a little early when Mirian asked if I could come home early on Friday because Karla had a fever.  I managed to get home by noon to relieve her and I had an unexpected half-day to hang out with my little girl.  It was sunny outside so I took her down to the courtyard for some water fun with her tea set.  She LOVED it and I got some free time to pay bills and balance our finances.

IMG_9544That evening, we went to SOMA Streat Food Park for their version of Lunar New Year.  All the food trucks had special dishes for the night, they played Bruce Lee movies on the big screens, Tsing tao was $3 all night, and they had a DJ playing Asian Hip-Hop music.  They also had Chinese acrobats performing at 8pm but we left before that started.

IMG_9552 IMG_9560On Saturday morning, we took a trip to the zoo for a quick 1-hour walk around the Savanna area.  The giraffes and zebras were all so active that morning and Kumquat was so pleased to see her “GG” pals.IMG_9274That same evening, we all gathered at Ryan and Michelle’s house in Orinda to welcome the Year of the Horse.  We celebrate together every year and I was impressed at how civilized our dinner was this year considering we had 5 kids present.

IMG_9280At one point everyone was seated, eating, and enjoying each other’s company.  IMG_9281We’ve come a long way from the year we had Jack, Reese, and Rowan together for the first time.

IMG_9283We had a potluck of “bring something from your homeland” so we pretty much had two dinners: my dish (chicken gravy over rice) first and then Michelle’s kalbi, spicy pork, and chap chae.  For dessert, we had Vyl’s red bean pancakes and pecan pie.  Yum.

IMG_9273The kids received red envelopes and I loved Reese’s expression when she discovered there was actual money inside for her.

IMG_9285Kumquat had a fun time playing with all of Reese and Jack’s toys and at one point Isla joined her.  By the end of the night, she was falling asleep in Bang’s comfy lap.

IMG_9293After we got home and put Kumquat to bed, I mustered some energy to change my clothes and put on some heels(!) for Mai’s Bachelorette Party.  Jes stayed home and I hailed a cab to Asia SF where the party had started since 5.  I didn’t get there until 10 but I got there with enough to celebrate with the girls and get a good laugh.  Amazingly, I was home by midnight.  Thanks for the ride home, R!

IMG_9577On Sunday morning it was raining!  Finally.  We opted to stay in our PJs for as long as we could and it was great.  I spent the morning archiving a bunch of our old bank and health insurance statements while reorganizing our files too.  Victor and Susie were hosting Super Bowl so we joined them in the afternoon for all the tasty food that Susie prepared.

The game was not very exciting but Bruno Mars had a good half-time performance. And of course, the commercials were fun. These were my favorites:

  1. Budweiser puppy/horse spot
  2. Doritos time machine spot
  3. Bud Light up-for-anything spot.

Overall, this was a fun and productive weekend.  Unfortunately, Karla is still sick so I’m going to have to stay home tomorrow.  Yippee!  Er, I meant Aw shucks.  These unexpected long weekends are going to spoil me!!

Napa Date

IMG_9255Jes and I both had today off but this is one of the holidays that Mirian does not have off.  So, we had her come in as scheduled and the two of us went to Napa for a little wine tasting and lunch.  We went to Robert Craig for our free club member tasting and bought a bottle of their Zin.

IMG_9262For lunch, we went to The Pear, which is also in downtown Napa and located just a couple doors down from Morimoto.  They feature southern food and we shared the cheddar jalapeno tater tots, root veggie salad, and chicken and waffles.

IMG_9261We also had two glasses of wine each with lunch so I was feeling pretty good afterward.  To sober up, we went shopping at the outlet.  I bought a bunch of $4 shirts for Kumquat while Jes picked up some work shirts.

IMG_9260Today was quite a treat.  It’s so rare that Jes and I get to go out to eat by ourselves let alone have a whole day!  Wish we could do this more often.