A Quick Visit Home

Picture of Carol's Bridesmaid Bouquet hanging over the living room calendar

Decided to go see my parents on Sunday since I have Monday off. It was quite the drive up to LA but it was worth it. I got to eat a nice dinner with my mom and dad. I also used my time on the road listening to Fifty Shades of Grey. I think I've gotten through about 6 chapters of the book so far. It's pretty interesting, but the lady who does the narration for the audiobook also does the male voice as well. It's really hard to visualize a hot man when his voice sounds like a woman's voice trying to sound like a man's voice. Anywhoo...I am looking forward to my drive home to find out what happens to Anna Steele and Christian Grey. I'm going to go get some lunch with Dad today and then head home. Dad is really happy that I am pregnant and he told me that while I am pregnant, he is going to treat me to all the yummy food that I want. How cute. I also am planning on buying some protein powder at the Korean market. I've been drinking the protein powder that Carol had left me with (Thanks Carol!) and I really like how it keeps me full longer in the mornings when things at work can be quite hectic.
Stompie is doing well. Stompie is kicking and punching and rolling around like a happy baby. Ooo! Just felt a kick!

So I've been watching Maury and Jerry Springer this morning and the theme of both episodes were paternity tests. A teen mom comes on stage to say that she doesn't know who the father of her child is. She has slept with three men and they are also on stage, waiting to hear if they are the father of the child. All the men are refusing to accept that this child could be theirs, saying "It's not mine! It's not mine!!" One man is the father and once revealed, all hell breaks loose. The woman wants her current boyfriend to be the father, but that is not always the case. Watching shows like this makes me so happy that I am not in any situation like this. It's entertaining to watch to say the least, but the reality of their situations makes me a bit sad. Poor kid...what a horrible thing to know that your dad doesn't want to be your dad. sigh...enough of this!!

My attempt at French Toast

Made some french toast this morning! I saw that my sister made some french toast that looks a lot more delicious than these and I figured I would make some since I had some leftover sourdough bread. Not the best lighting but whatever,....I was hungry! I didn't have time to sit there and get better lighting so I could take a pretty picture of my food. It was quite yummy but I think two slices was a bit much for me. I ate my breakfast in the living room watching "That Thing You Do". I think for one year, sometime during my teen years, that movie played on HBO or Cinemax just about every week. Thanks to that, I probably have watched that movie at least 10 times. Anyways, I love the end when the guy who had always loved the girl finally confesses to her that he loves her with a kiss as she is waiting for a cab to go back to her hometown. After the kiss, they walk arm in arm back into the hotel, staring lovingly into each other's eyes. <3

I will savor this weekend the best I can. This first week at work for me has been exciting, nerve-wracking, tiring, and sometimes frustrating. But now I am going to spend the next three days doing nothing but relaxing and resting. For me too, but mostly for the baby. Poor thing has been going around the hospital as mommy runs from here to there, helping people. I feel Stompie kicking a lot these days and to be honest, it is actually quite comforting knowing that I have someone with me even through all the chaos at work. I have Stompie to remind me of what is important in life...to sit down and take a break and remember to eat and take care of myself instead of trying to please everyone else.

I am hoping to go get some dim sum today...maybe tomorow since I already ate my breakfast. We'll see.

Weekday morning

The morning started off quite busy for me. I went to the doctor's office for my Glucose Tolerance Test that took 2 hours. I fasted the night before and went into the office to get my blood drawn. Then, the lab tech gave me a bottle of an orange colored juice for me to drink. It tasted like super sweet fruit punch. I made a face when I realized how sweet it was and the lab tech acknowledged that it was indeed quite a sweet drink. It took me about a minute to drink it all, but I did and then I went back to the waiting room to wait for an hour. Around 9 am, they called me for my second blood draw. Then it was back again to the waiting room for another hour. But instead of waiting in the waiting room, I decided to get a car wash. It took me only 5 minutes to drive to the car wash in PQ so I figured that the actual car wash wouldn't take more than 30 minutes. Well, they must have put a lot of extra attention to my car because it took just about an hour for them to be done. I rushed into my car and raced back to the doctor's office and as I opened the door, the receptionist recognized me and told me that the lab tech had been waiting for me. I was about 10 minutes late. The lab tech told me that he was yelling for me in the waiting room like I was a celebrity! He continued to describe a scene from A Streetcar Name Desire and yelled, "Ciiiiiindy!!!!" haha. He said he was just about to give me a call to see if I was okay. I was glad that those guys have a good sense of humor. I apologized, but they said it wasn't a big deal.

Brian came home for a little bit and I watched him care for his lawn. He loves his lawn so much. I just wish the dogs wouldn't dig. Many of our plums are also fully grown! The only bad part is that they get regularly pecked by the birds in the neighborhood. I have found several with holes on the sides of them...bummer. Today marks the last day of my weekday-weekend. I go back to work for two more days and then....3 day weekend!! w00t!!! Too bad I have the sniffles. It feels like my head if full of snot. I wanna blow it out, but I think my brain will come out with it...so I will just wait.

....and one more wedding!

Brian and I went to a friend's wedding today. This wedding marks #3 this month! But this one was different since I wasn't part of the wedding party. It was just a little more relaxing not being part of the wedding spotlight. The wedding ceremony was at the Palisades Presbyterian Church and the reception was at the Seaside Room over in Marina Village by the Sea World area. During cocktail hour, the boys and I found a good spot by the door so we could catch the servers as they brought out the hors d'oeuvres. The second a server came out the door, Brian would say, "Hey! Whatcha got there?!!" and that was our que to grab whatever was on the plate.

The dinner was a buffet-style which was alright...besides the waiting we had to do before we could get in line to grab the food. We anticipated leaving the wedding around 10 or 11 pm, but the crowd at the wedding was more family than friends so we decided to leave early...around 8pm. We didn't even stay for the cake!! But I have some red velvet cake from Sorrento European Bakery that I bought this morning along with 6 Banh Mi!! I looooove Banh Mi!! I love it especially with red and yellow baby bell peppers. We had some for lunch along with a cup of strawberry and banana smoothie. Stompie was probably very happy with my selection for lunch....quite healthy. Well, I felt bad because yesterday night, my dinner consisted of mini corn dogs and popcorn with soda. We watched Prometheus at 9 pm so decided to enjoy some junk food. Halfway through enjoying the corndogs, I realized that hotdog sausages were one of the foods that I put on my "Foods to Avoid" list. It was good though. Sorry Stompie...mommy will try harder to eat healthier for you.

Back to the wedding...I usually don't have many complaints when I go to weddings...but at this wedding, I actually had several. Well first of all, the reception did not have assigned seating. I did not like this because we had to search for a table that had 6 empty spots. We eventually found a spot, but I did not like having to look for a seat. Second, the roof at the reception started to leak! Brian told me that the water was from the condensation from the AC system...which by the way, wasn't working because it was a bit warm in there. Third, was one that I mentioned already...the buffet line. We were told when we could go up to get our food and this would be okay, but we ended up waiting a good 45 minutes before we were allowed to get some food. I know this would NOT fly well if it was a group of older Korean folks. Finally, when Brian went to the bar to ask for some wine glasses, the guy gave him a stack of USED plastic cups with wine stains on the rims of the cups from when other people drank from it!!! That was it. What kind of place WASHES their disposable pastic cups and gives it to their guests!?!?! Ridiculous. What's worse is that when Brian brought the cups back to the guy behind the bar, the guy's reply was, "It's just wine." Ugh!! Who hired these people?!

Anyways, that's enough venting for one day. Now for some good quality time staring at my belly.... hehehe.

Twitch twitch

I am currently watching the left side of my belly twitching. It looks like I am having a muscle spasm in my abdomen. It almost feels like it a muscle twitch too. But I'm going to think it's the baby kicking or punching. It feels weird to think that I have something inside of me that is making those twitches in my belly. I've been feeling the little critter move around and kick for a couple weeks now, but this was the first time I actually saw it. It was only about a month ago that I wasn't sure if the baby was or wasn't kicking and here I am...only a few short weeks later, able to see them! It's quite amazing how fast they are growing. The baby tracker app on my phone says that my baby is as big as an ear of corn. I can't believe that soon enough, this little one is going to be something that I have to take care of! AHHH!!

Work is going to officially start for me on Monday. I'm excited and nervous to see how I will do under various types of pressure. We've all been trained well so I think it should go okay. I just have to remember to stay calm. We got these purple jackets that will allow people to recognize us when we are on the floor. Sizes run way too big. I should have gotten a small...but our choices are final. I am stuck swimming in a medium for now. Luckily I know that I will be getting bigger, so I will eventually fit it...haha.

Julian and Pepper are both doing pretty well being left out in the backyard during the day. Having them out there makes my life a little easier when I get home because they are so beat from being outside that when they do settle down, they are very much inclined to take a nap if it is quite enough.

Here is a picture of my belly:

Acai Fruit Bowl



Sunday afternoon in PB with Acai Fruit Bowls and Cali Steak Sandwiches

No one told me about these wonderful Acai Fruit Bowls until this past week! Well I'm sure someone probably told me about it, but I just wasn't listening. I can't believe that I'm finally, after so many years, getting on the Acai bandwagon! I tried it one morning with my friend Isabelle at a place in PB called Cafe by the Bay and I was amazed at what I'd been missing all of these years! It tastes like a rich and wonderful fruit smoothie, but on top there are slices of bananas and strawberries with a sprinkling of granola and coconut shavings. It is heaven in a bowl! Their sandwiches are pretty darn tasty too! So I decided to take Brian to try this new eat that I found...and to my surprise, he's actually had it before! Apparently, Jamba Juice used to make these like about 6 or so years ago when Acai berries were the big craze. In any case, we ended up having a very delectable lunch. We came back home and in the backyard, I found a lot of our plums getting bigger on our plum tree. There actually was one red one that I picked off the tree before I realized that I should take a picture of it. It was quite sweet! I imagine that Julian will enjoy this fruit tree very much…although I read somewhere that dogs shouldn’t eat plums. We’ll have to pick them before he does.



Sheila and Frank's Wedding (6.02.12)

Beautiful wedding at Tivoli Terrace in Laguna Beach, CA

Sheila's Wedding Rehearsal

Chicken with Parmesan Risotto

Yesterday was Sheila's wedding rehearsal and dinner. I unfortunately only have this picture to show for our day. I realize that I should maybe start taking more pictures. I was actually a little wary that I would somehow get on that website, "Asians taking pictures of food". But in any case, this was a very tasty dinner. The risotto was creamy and had a wonderful infusion of parmesan without it tasting too greasy. The chicken was moist and crispy at the same time. It was all very good. Sheila is to be married in Laguna beach at a place called Tivoli Terrace. It's a show theater that is used on the side as a wedding venue. I will definitely post pictures of that day and post them for you to see.


The interesting thing about this wedding will be that although I am a part of the wedding party, I am actually going to be standing on the groom's side. With the pregnancy and my body getting bigger, I could not even zip up my dress halfway. Something had to be done, and Sheila decided quickly that I would instead be on the groom's side. She fortunately already had a girl on the groom's side so it was an easy switch. But it will definitely be weird standing with the groomsmen instead of the bridesmaids during the wedding ceremony. I also will be getting a boutonniere instead of a bouquet. I'd been practicing my standing with a bouquet so I am not sure what I will do with my hands.


I also realized yesterday that Laguna Beach is a really nice place to spend the day. Highway 1 was absolutely full of wonderful and cute little shops that I would LOVE to take a day to just stroll along. It would be a great place to have a first date. I will definitely try and go one of these days with Brian...hopefully before the baby comes. I saw a place where we could make our own t-shirt prints that I want to try out. But one thing I didn't like about that place was the traffic. So many people come here that massive traffic jams are bound to happen. It took me 35-40 minutes to travel 9 miles on that road! But still...I think it's worth it.