A Little Late, but Happy Belated New Year!

I know it's a little late, but Happy 2010 New Year to all of you! It has definitely started off busy – Christmas is officially over, and now it’s almost Valentine’s Day. It’s amazing how quickly times flies by… before you know it; it’s going to be 2011! With that said, here is another long update of what we have been up to:

New Year’s Eve/Day

After a full day of work, we headed over to my Aunt and Uncle’s house in Elk Grove for New Year’s Eve. We didn’t eat all day and stuffed ourselves for dinner at our favorite cheese steak place in Sacramento. (Thanks again, Uncle Don & Auntie Lynda! We can’t wait to go back.) After dinner we headed back to their place and I baked some dark chocolate cupcakes with fresh strawberries. We ended up spending the night there to help prepare and set-up for New Year’s Day. We all barely made it to see the ball drop… I guess it’s a sign of old age? ;)

The next day my grandparents came over to join in on the festivities. Kenny, Terry, Ryan, Sonia, Kaylin and Nathan drove up from San Marino to visit. It was great to see them all again. It had been years since we had seen Ryan and Sonia. In fact, it was before they had two kids – and Sonia was kicking our butts in poker! I hope we can make it down to San Marino soon! Thanks again for all stopping by!

Grandma with Ami and I

Grandpa with Auntie Lynda and Ami – can you believe he’s going to be 93 years old in March?

Ryan and Sonia without the kids! Just the way we remember them!

Auntie Lynda, Uncle Don, Jacob and Ana – what a cute family!

Will and I with Nathan – practice makes perfect, right? 2012… no 2047! LOL

Trip to OC/LA – 01/08/10 through 01/10/10

We made a quick trip back to my hometown for my Jichan’s (grandpa in Japanese) memorial service at the Buddhist Temple in LA. It was very last minute, but I was happy we were able to be there. I don’t get to see that side of my extended family very much, and being further away doesn’t help the situation. It was great to see some cousins, my great Aunt, and second cousins.

Of course, my Mom and I got some shopping done at Ann Taylor Loft and the Factory Store. Surprisingly, I didn’t get this much this time around! Will was even impressed, hahaha!

Dinner with Chris & Julia – 01/12/10

Ever heard of Lettuce in downtown Walnut Creek? Well we decided to finally meet up for dinner there with Chris and Julia. We met them through Will’s cousin, Jon. Jon and Chris were roommates a while back, and we kept on running into them at their parties. After many conversations together we finally decided to double date. They are seriously one of the nicest and funniest couples we know. They just get ‘us’. To make the evening even better, the food was great. Thanks again for meeting up with us – we will have to get together again soon before you move out of Walnut Creek… *sigh*

Here’s to new friends, Chris and Julia! (This was taken in December 2009 at Jon & Erica's Holiday Party)

SF with my Mom – 01/15/10

My Mom flew into town late on Thursday, and we decided to have a date in San Francisco together. She has been bugging me to take her to the Academy of Sciences for the past year, so we ended up going. We got up early and took Bart into SF. It was her first time riding Bart (even though she used to live in the South Bay) – like riding a roller coaster for the first time, she thought it was so cool. We also took the city bus in SF to get to the Academy of Sciences. Surprisingly, we made it there in one piece and didn’t get lost (thanks Will!). Having a membership sure helps (I can get myself and another person in for free every time I go) and no lines to wait in are even better! We visited the entire museum in less than 3 hours… and since we had so much time left, we decided to go to the Japanese Tea Garden. I had never been there before and I loved it. It was so peaceful and quiet. A great place to sketch or gather your thoughts. We were going to get some tea and manju at the tea house, but decided against it when we saw the prices! $2.50 for ONE piece of manju… are you kidding me? LOL So we went to the mall instead to get a quick bite to eat – before meeting up Will for dinner. Here are some pictures of us from our trip to SF:

My Mom in front of the living wall – I’d love to have one of these… maybe one day!

Us on the Living Roof

An attempted picture together – it’s hard not having someone there to take them for you!

A bridge and a Buddhist girl… I couldn’t help it!

I should have rubbed his belly for good luck!

Avenue Q in San Jose – 01/16/10

A while back we had purchased tickets to see Avenue Q with Natalie and her friends. This was the main reason that my Mom had come up – just to see it for her third time (yes, third time!). She had wanted Will and me to see the show for a while. It was hilarious! I can’t even explain it on here – or even go into too much detail. For those of you who have seen it know what I am talking about. It was right up our alley for humor. “What do you do with a BA in English? It sucks to be me! The More you Ruv Someone” Thanks again to Roy and Natalie for arranging all of the tickets!

Farm Fresh to You (1st Delivery) – 01/21/10

After talking about Farm Fresh to You with a few of my co-workers, I was finally convinced to place our first order. They are an organic farm (Capay Organic) located in Northern California. They sell mixed fruit and veggie boxes that are delivered to your house or work weekly, every other week, every 3^rd week or once a month. Their prices are very decent, considering the fact that you are getting all organic fruits and veggies. Our boxes are delivered on Thursdays and we decided to go with the “More Mixed” box every other week. We have already eaten all of our fruits, and have just a few veggies left. The things we got in our 1^st box were: mangoes, pears, tangelos, oranges, apples (red and green), lemons, purple cabbage, green leaf lettuce, collared greens, leeks, potatoes, parsley, baby carrots, radishes, and avocados. It’s wonderful! Let me know if you are interested – my Mom just signed up because they deliver to parts of Southern California! :D

Our first box… they even ask you to recycle them! Yay, reduce, reuse, recycle!

Check out all of those fresh fruits!

And all of the veggies!

SF with the Pacheco’s – 01/23/10

It’s really sad not having the Pacheco’s as our neighbors… we definitely miss them! It’s just not the same… that’s why I think they should buy a house in our neighborhood! ;) We met them at their house and all headed to SF in their car. 4 adults and one kid = good times!

First stop: 2pm at The Yellow Submarine for some sub sandwiches – it was SO good! I had never had a real submarine sandwich, so it was my first… and boy was it was worth every penny!

Next stop: 3pm at the Academy of Sciences. We ate our sub sandwiches there (and almost got kicked out of the cafeteria for bringing outside food into the place – lame!). Then we all went into the Rainforest. A beautiful butterfly landed on Nina’s head and everyone was taking pictures of her… it was too funny! She’s going to have good luck for at least a year! Yay!

The beautiful butterfly that landed on Nina’s head.

Will and I on the Living Roof

One of my favorite parts of the building – the see-thru elevator with exposed braced frames (yes, I know I’m a nerd!).

Jordan, Nina and Macy in front of the dinosaur skeleton.

Last stop: 6pm at Burma Superstar in the SF's Inner Richmond (note that we ate 3 hours earlier). It was definitely worth the one hour wait. In the meantime we went to this ice cream shop down the street and had dessert first! I grabbed some boba at Quickly (I miss Green Tea Cafe in Walnut Creek). After finishing our dessert, we headed back to the restaurant and they seated us in no time at all. I now know why it is so crowded! Thanks again so much for the wonderful birthday dinner – I can’t wait to go back!

Uncle ‘Wheelllll”, Macy and I

Will and I in front of the restaurant

O’Sullivan and Pacheco Day – 01/24/10

Will has been bugging me recently because he hasn’t had a chance to watch one football game this entire season. So, I told him to invite Kevin over to watch the games, and I would cook them lunch. I made my famous brisket, and since we were out with the Pacheco’s the night before we decided to invite them, too! So we had a full house. Will, Kevin, Jordan and Nina watched the football game while Macy and I watched Disney movies (I know, I have a movie mindset of a 4 year old) in our bedroom. In between the two playoff games, somehow they all convinced me to bake a chocolate cake. So it was off to the grocery store Macy and I went. She was a great help with making the cake, and we had a lot of fun together. Just one hour later, the cake was done, and everyone was eating it. And now people wonder why I’m gaining weight… LOL! Thanks again for coming over to watch the two football games. Hopefully we will see you all on Super Bowl Sunday?

Grandma’s Birthday Dinner – 01/30/10

In celebration of Grandma’s birthday – Uncle George and Aunt Jan let all of the grandkids use their kitchen to cook up a birthday dinner (which was actually a breakfast). Even after our 3-hour drive to Santa Cruz from our house, we found ourselves still in good spirits. As soon as we got there, I assembled the milk chocolate cake so that the youngest grandchildren (Allison and Clayton) could decorate it. I briefly showed them how to use my pastry tips, and they were off. In the meantime, Will was cooking the linguica and eggs. Tommy cooked up 3 packages of bacon and Gwen made pancakes. Jon made two wonderful Tartine Bakery quiches (they were amazing!). And Clayton and Allison toasted up some toaster strudels and eggo waffles. I think Grandma was pretty impressed and I think this was the first meal where there wasn’t much leftovers left… maybe we should have breakfast for dinner for Thanksgiving and Christmas, too? :D

The finished cake – I wrote all of the grandkids names on the side of the cake, too!

Clayton, Tommy, Will and Jon – all the male grandchildren lookin’ good!

Grandma with all of her grandchildren: (from left to right) Allison, Clayton, Me, Grandma, Gwen, Will, Tommy and Jon.

Jon’s almost devoured quiches!

The cake decorators: (from left to right) Me, Allison and Clayton