Browse Category: outings

Turkey Aftermath

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving dinner was another tummy-stuffin’ affair.

Koa and the turkey

Koa also benefited from the holiday and got a bunch of turkey and ham scraps.  Unfortunately and as usual, we all paid for it for the next two days with his squishy poos and 4 am emergency walks.  Oh well, I guess it’s like his version of being hung over.

Korean hot pot

On Saturday night we drove down to Santa Clara to meet up with some friends for Korean food.  They specialize in a hot pot that comes piled on with veggies and underneath are pieces of udon noodles, hot dog, spam, and other tasty meats.  They also have the fried chicken that we’ve been longing for ever since KoKo House was shut down several years ago.  We also met a couple who were Korean by blood but grew up in China.  What a crazy combination!  They both spoke Korean and Chinese and I was trippin’ out the whole time.  I wonder what it’s like to identify with both cultures.  Traditionally they don’t particularly like each other so are you in constant conflict with yourself?

Candy Cane Sighting

lights

On Friday night, Teresa and Steph joined me in the city for dinner and holiday festivities.  Two years ago when I first moved to SF, I went to Chevy’s for happy hour with the girls from work and we watched the lighting of the Embarcadero Center and the Hyatt Regency Atrium.  Since then, I’ve made a point to see the lighting each year.  Unfortunately, Ranee isn’t here this year but we went anyway to continue the tradition.

tree

Dinner was at Market Bar and we had a window seat that was perfect for seeing the lights on the buildings and the fireworks above.  Steph’s husband and Teresa’s guy joined us a little later and we were having such a good time that we opted out of the hotel lighting.

Fortunately for us, I took a video of the first lighting I attended so I can still experience it.  On our way to the BART station, we stopped at the hotel and managed to take a photo with the tree.

candy cane

On my way home, I spotted a candy cane on the floor and it was like a sign that the holidays were really here.  Hopefully Jes will return from New York in time to help me with Thanksgiving dinner.  He’s flying back on Wednesday, which is the busiest travel day of the year so I’ll have to cross my fingers.  Let the holidays begin!!!  I love this time of year!!!

Craft/Bake Sale Success

tissue covers

mango sticky rice

On Thursday we had our Annual PediRehab Craft & Bake Sale.  I made tissue pack covers and cute little mango sticky rice shooters.  I sold 9/12 tissue covers and 45/50 sticky rice shooters for a total of $90!  Woo!!  Our sale was a success and we made a net profit of a little over $2800 towards our activity fund.  Sweet!

happy hour

After work, a small group of us went out to Marc 49 for a little celebratory happy hour.  It was such as relief to have the sale behind us and we had a very therapeutic evening of laughing and sipping wine.

Beach, Bridge, and a Bath

Fort Funston

On Saturday morning we took Koa to Fort Funston and he had an awesome time running, sniffing, and peeing.  He was also very well-behaved and did a little rolling around in the sand.

Bay Bridge

In the afternoon, we took him down to the Bay Bridge to watch the Blue Angels.  Unfortunately they had to cancel the show because the fog was too low.  Oh well, it was still sunny and we had a McDonald’s picnic by the water.

Bath

At the end of the day, we had to take Koa to the Bathhouse for his least favorite thing in the world.  Luckily I had help and we got it done in a jiffy.  He hated it.  I still got to’ up.  And the dog is squeaky clean.  It’s too bad it’s supposed to rain tomorrow.

Ryan [barely] survived.

group photo

A few years ago Ryan said “Dude, when it’s time for Vyl to turn 30 I will die.”  Well, she turned 30 a couple weeks ago and so did her college friend Tammy.  To celebrate, they reserved the private room at Nihon last Friday (10/2/09) and we had a bumpin’ time eating sushi, drinking whiskey, and hanging out.

tiara

Vyl had a tiara but refused to wear it all night so everyone else took turns wearing it for her.  Ryan also finally showed up after dinner and he was as alive as could be.  I guess turning 30 is not that catastrophic after all.   At the end of the night, we were still hungry and grabbed crepes from the crepe truck nearby.

Here are photos from the party.

My 34th Birthday

I’m officially 34 years and 1 week old today so I thought I’d post some photos from my 34th birthday.  After spending my Birthday Eve Weekend in LA celebrating with Brother and the rest of the family, I had a few quieter celebrations back in SF.  It was surely a good way to round out the week.

ice cream cake

On Monday, the actual day of my birthday, I flew back up on a 6 am flight and got to work by 9-ish.  My manager was kind enough to let me go in a little later than usual, which was nice.  I’m part of a birthday celebration pool so the co-worker that pulled my name out of hat this year brought me a birthday treat at lunchtime.  It was an ice cream cake from Fenton’s and I also treated myself to what we call “Birthday Cheetos”.  So, I got a photo of me with my cake and the orange dust on my thumb.  Awesome.

MoMo's

My buddies at work also heard that Jes would be working late that evening so they treated me to a Happy Hour at MoMo’s just down the street from my house.  They had $4 martinis and $3 appetizers that really hit the spot.  This is the photo we sent to Ranee from my iPhone.

Fleur de Lys

On Tuesday, Jes took me to Fleur de Lys for dinner.  The staff was friendly and attentive and the food was amazing.  To top off the night, Chef Hubert Keller came out and I got to meet him!  He’s as nice as he appears on TV and kept asking me if I liked the food.

birthday dessert

They also brought out a special dessert made of a butter cookie flower on top of a chocolate mousse.  Yum.

So, it was another memorable birthday and I’m feeling pretty lucky right now.  Here’s to another fun-filled year of life!!  Cheers!