Browse Month: January 2010

Saturday Solo Outing

Jesse had sailing lessons on Saturday so I took a walk down to the Ferry Plaza. It’s still one of my favorite places in the city. The Farmers’ Market on Saturdays makes it even more exciting.

Did you know that brussel sprouts grow on a big stalk?!

And check out this bouquet of mushrooms!

Outside there was a kid who looked to be about 9 years old playing his trumpet. The sign in the box says, “Thank you for helping me to take lessons and develop myself as a musician. Gabriel Angelo.” Remember that name.  He might be famous in 10-15 years.

On my way home, I went on a mini photo safari and then plopped myself down on one of the piers overlooking the bay for a snack.

I had my favorite potato croquette and watched the sailboats go by in hopes that Jes and his crew would sail by. No such luck but I had a tasty treat.

PukeFest 2010

This has been a wacky week and there was a lot of vomit involved.  I was already dealing with a cold that started last Friday but went to work on Monday feeling much better.  Tuesday came along and 3 out of my 3 patients puked at least twice each that day.  One of them was so huge that I was elbow deep in vomit in the cleaning process while Teresa had to borrow my scrubs since some of it landed on her lap.  Gross.  One of our kids was looking worse in the afternoon but we tried to do therapy with him anyway.  All of a sudden he puked on himself, picked up a chunky piece of it, and put it back in his mouth.  Then he puked it back up!  THAT is grosser than gross.  Seriously!?  What is going on here?!

So, on Wednesday morning, I woke up to my alarm at 6 am and ran to the bathroom to puke.  Oh crap.  I laid on the bathroom floor for 10 minutes and then threw up again.  As I sat there on the floor, I texted my boss to tell her I wasn’t going to work that day.  Thank goodness for the day off because I was a hot mess.

On Thursday, I went back to work and apparently there were no more puke episodes while I was away.  Unfortunately, one of our kids threw up one more time for good measure.  Aw man!

To round out the week, I went over to the Sokol-Juns’ to babysit Little J who was also sick.  He had puked in the morning and was running a fever that evening.  Poor guy was so slow and bummed out.  He hardly ate dinner and we just sat on the couch watching tv until it was time for bed.

It was so cute to see him clutching Pony the whole time in complete silence with the occasional outburst of “Mr. Noodle” or “F!”  Can you tell we were watching Sesame Street and Elmo’s World?  Well, that was an easy babysitting gig and I ended up taking a quick snooze before the parents returned.

What a week.

VodkaFest 2010

Last night we went to the Bangs’ for a tasting of high-end vodka from Poland and Russia.  We all had individual shot glasses labeled with a famous person’s name.  Mine was Pavlov.  Heh heh.

There were 10 different vodkas and Vyl made a card of tasting notes and sheets for us to write down our thoughts and guesses of which was which.

I just enjoyed tasting them and had no idea what a Polish or Russian vodka was supposed to taste like.  I DID, however, pick out the Stoli.  Haha.  My #1 favorite of the 10 was Chopin.  It was creamier than the others and a little sweet.

Vyl also picked up food from a Russian deli.  I tried a perogi that looked totally like a potsticker.  And surprisingly, I really liked this dish that had beets, potato, onions, salmon, and herring at the bottom (the bright pink one).  Sounds disgusting but it was pretty tasty!

Here are the rest of the photos.

Zen in 2010

Last month at work, we were all feeling burnt out and needed a big attitude change for the sake of our patients. So, we decided to kick off the new year last Saturday with a slumber party at Steph’s house in Livermore. We cheesed it up even more by calling it our “Zen in 2010 Party”.

The grown-ups joined us in the evening for a buffet of appetizers and drinks and a very entertaining board game. Sue, my manager, even brought a handy-dandy s’mores maker and whipped up some cocktails for us.

After the grown-ups went home, we finished up the wine, played MASH, made some friendly crank calls to our friends, and fell asleep to “The Little Mermaid”. There were definitely a lot of laughs and hijinks that night.  We all slept in the livingroom in sleeping bags and woke up to a scrumptious breakfast that Stephanie prepared for all of us.

I hadn’t been to a sleep-over in a VERY long time and I think it was more fun than any teeny-bopper party that I had ever been to.  Here are the photos.

Christmas Vacation: Part 5

The day after Christmas was super busy for me.  I got up bright and early to have breakfast with my old roomies from UCLA.  We went to Mimi’s Cafe in Cerritos and Linda brought her newest son, Christian, along.  It was so much fun to catch up with Linda, Mich, and Mary over coffee and pancakes.

For lunch, I went to Patty’s parents’ house in Cerritos to meet up with Hols, Patty, and Patti.  Johnny, Howard, and the little girls Katelyn, Lauren, Zoe, and little Kylie were also there.  Johnny picked up food from BJ’s Pizzeria and we had a fun time playing with the girls and hanging out.

In the afternoon, we dropped Jason off at the airport and then headed over to Gardena for Brother and Joy’s housewarming party. We brought them a Bouchon cookbook, Reidel glasses, and the limoncello that we bought for them in Italy to warm up their house.

They have a cute 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom condo that is VERY similar to their old apartment in Santa Monica.  The two of them worked really hard in preparing a variety of appetizers and desserts while everyone came with a dish to fill up the table. The party was definitely a success and the food was so yummy!

The whole family and their friends attended and it was so nice to see everyone together to celebrate such an important milestone. It was also a great way to end our Christmas vacation.

Happy 010110!!

Another year has passed and we finished up 2009 with a 6-course dinner at Jardiniere.  I was supposed to work today but at the last minute I was granted the day off.  Phew!  So we checked around for available reservations and we got a 9pm at Jardiniere, a restaurant that I’ve been wanting to try ever since we moved to SF.  The meal was delicious but I was SO stuffed by the end.  They also handed out party favors since dinner didn’t end until midnight so we rang in the new year at the restaurant with the live band playing.  We missed the fireworks at the Ferry Plaza but judging upon our ride home on Muni, it looked really crowded and crazy.

In review of 2009, the year was filled with many memorable moments and events.  We both still had our jobs despite the “Great Recession”, I got to travel to Europe for the first time, and Brother got married!  I also started working in Rehab (a move from outpatient) and have the best team a girl could ask for.

Here are the Best, Worst, Faves, and Not-So-Favorites of 2009:

Best Event: I got a new sister AND got to hang out in Hawaii with the family.

Worst Event(s): Saying “see ya later” to a good friend and co-worker.

Best Trip: Eurotrip to ITALY!!!

Worst Trip: Almost getting to Tahoe but getting stuck in Auburn.  It wasn’t that bad but it was the worst of the year.

Best Meal: Birthday dinner at Fleur de Lys and meeting Chef Keller

Worst Meal: one of our meals in Florence…Rick Steves is good with sightseeing but not food recommendations

Favorite Moment: Giving a speech at Brother’s wedding reception for the family

Worst Moment(s): Losing my keys for 2 days

Coolest Moment: Sharing McDonald’s fries with Jack while watching Elmopalooza

Favorite New Toy: my iPhone

Funniest New Toy/Gift: an eraser that says “holy crap” from my Secret Santa (apparently I say it a lot)

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