Virtual Guestbook :: College Buddy

Adventuring in Maryland :: San Jose Taiko performance

Virtual Guestbook :: Mama Buddy from Our LA Days

My friend J and her family were in DC to take part in the White House Easter Egg Roll, so I got to spend an afternoon with them as they toured some of the monuments. 

We became friends through a mutual friend when we all had wee little ones (my second, their first), and she and I bonded over our love of children's literature (she's a former teacher and now an Elementary Education professor specializing in literacy). Coincidentally, her husband and I briefly worked at the same non-profit and he was ahead of me in the Urban Planning program at UCLA. 

Anyway, she's another friend I don't get to see very often. After they moved away from LA, she and I met a couple of times at an education conference she and my husband were attending (and I was tagging along to), but I missed seeing her this spring when the conference was in Philly. So I was really thrilled she made another trek to the East Coast. Besides catching up with our kids' lives I absolutely love "talking shop" with her because she doesn't mind me going on on and on about children's literature. And I learn so much from her because she comes to the topic from an academic perspective and she is more well-read than I am.

Virtual Guestbook :: Former Co-Worker

What a wonderful place to meet up with a former co-worker from Japan who now lives in NYC. She helped guide me through my 10-month stint in Tokyo, truly living alone for the first time, and in a country that felt like home but always wasn't.

It's been over 15 years since then, and we've only seen each other on a few occasions, so I was really quite excited that she and her husband decided to come down to DC at the last minute to see the cherry blossoms.

Virtual Guestbook :: College buddy

[The Capitol Columns in the background at the National Arboretum]

Virtual Guestbook :: High School Buddy

Half of a set of twins we've been hanging with since high school. We actually saw him back in July when we were staying at our temporary apartment in Virginia. He's back in DC again for work (he's in alternative energy) and we made him come out to Maryland to have dinner with us. 

We may not be particularly unusual, but I feel lucky that we're still very close with our core group of friends from high school. It's funny to think of ourselves as adults knowing what we were like 20 years ago, but, apparently, we've all grown up and are doing pretty well for ourselves!

Day 23 :: Thankful for ...

... my kids' new friends. 

Day 16 :: Thankful for ...

... former colleagues who are visiting DC and invited me to join them on a night tour of the monuments.

Day 14 :: Thankful for ...

... supportive friends around the country. In my time of emotional need, my friends never fail to come through for me. Whether it's a virtual hug through Facebook, a phone call, or a handwritten letter, my friends always show me that they've got my back. 

Day 5 :: Thankful for ...

... friends. My high school friend S was in DC for work so we made plans to hang out. She works for a movie studio and travels around the country coordinating and setting up screenings. This was actually her first time in DC so I gave her a very brief tour of the Mall between lunch and heading back to Georgetown for the evening's screenings (which I got to attend).

ack! already?!

the other day, one of ian's best friends came over to play. as they're sitting at the table waiting for dinner to be served, i hear them playing "truth or dare."

A :: truth or dare?
I :: truth.
A :: who do you like?
I :: like, kiss-kiss like?
A :: yeah.
I :: um, my mom.
A :: no. it can't be someone you're blood-related to.
I :: uh ... uh. i don't know. no one.
A :: c'mon. someone.
I :: i don't like anyone.

and so the conversation continues; A is very persistent with his question. clearly he likes a girl (and he freely shares who his crush is), but ian is so not into girls yet.

but hearing that A likes a girl makes me truly realize that it won't be long before ian develops a crush. i hope it starts off as a sweet puppy-love kind of crush, because i can't even begin to imagine the craziness that goes with teenage hormone-induced crushes. yikes!

holiday presents

it's been awhile since i made anything, and what better time than at hanukkah/christmas? i "made" scarves for the young ladies in our family and a couple of our friends. i use quotes around the word made because i don't feel like i actually made anything :: i cut out fleece into long rectangles and then i painted designs on them. (i found a tutorial at curbly.com via the craftzine blog.) making the templates and cutting them out was rather time consuming but they came out fairly nicely. the lighter colored fleece came out better, i think.

for my sisters i painted trees and a lotus flower; for rupert's cousins the design was trees, a bird, and lotus; and for our friends i did a fork + knife design and cephalopods.

32, but who's counting?

lots of weekend trips for us lately. this time around? good ol' san francisco.

at the last minute we asked our friends if we could head up there for the weekend. last time we were there we stayed with J+J but this time our friend MZ offered up his place near haight-ashbury since he and his sister would be out of town. we had a whole apartment to ourselves, which worked out great.

we arrived on thursday night and had dinner with J+J at park chow near their house (a few years back we went to chow in the castro with them too). after some post-dinner wii-ing, we headed over to MZ's apartment to get some much-needed rest (my allergies were really bothering me all day).

we woke up to a lot of fog on the fourth. i went for a run along the panhandle towards golden gate park in the morning and came back pretty wet from the very misty fog. the weather was pretty cold and gloomy the entire day, unfortunately. made for a very odd fourth of july; i'm used to sunshine and beach weather. (come to think of it, the last time we were in sf for the fourth in 2005 it was pretty darn cold too.) lunch was at burma superstar in the richmond. the tea leaf salad and the pumpkin pork stew were quite tasty; the salad in particular has a really unique taste and texture.

afterwards we headed to the legion of honor for a hike down the trail near the water. maya and i made it down el camino del mar but since we had the stroller we opted to wait back at the car. good thing, too, since the trail ended up having a lot of stairs (222 in one set alone, according to ian). sadly, that meant maya and i missed the nude guy walking around on the beach. nudists i understand, but who walks around butt-naked in weather like that?? rupert was not kind enough to bring back photos of the big naked man.

dinner was an impromptu bbq back at the apartment. i was already in a it's-my-birthday-and-i'm-not-gonna-lift-a-finger mode so i sat around on MZ's very comfy two-seater couch and read stiff by mary roach. very morbid and entertaining. in fact, it was so entertaining that while the rest of the group (a couple of other people joined us for dinner) watched air force one ('cause it's patriotic?) i went into the bedroom and kept on reading.

after staying up until an ungodly hour reading, i woke up nice and early with the kids. just like last year, i let rupert sleep in on my birthday and spent the early morning feeding the kids and watching tv. thankfully the weather started clearing up and by the time we made plans with J+J to go to the ferry building it was quite sunny out. lunch was at the primavera stand since there was no way we were getting into the slanted door (my first choice for a birthday meal) without a reservation. no biggie since i really enjoyed the ceviche tostada i ordered. sure, it was $9.50 but i felt like it was well worth it. (and, heck, it was my birthday.) i had a bite of ian's pork tamale and that was good too. it's just too bad the famous chilaquiles were already sold out.

since it was saturday the farmers market was going on and it was so fun to see all of the great stands and taste the sweet fruit (have you had a candycot before? yum!). i even saw a wild boar leg being sold and it reminded me of the hunter/gatherer section of michael pollan's omnivore's dilemma. what wasn't so great was the price of everything. crazy expensive; i was going to buy some strawberries for the long drive home but balked at the $3.50 per basket price.

what i really like about a place like the ferry building is that almost everyone around you is a foodie. they share the same love of food that you do and the same fascination with interesting ingredients. J+J and rupert decided to make pasta for my birthday dinner after i picked up a package of ink squid dry pasta from italy.

later in the afternoon we headed to the de young museum to see the dale chihuly exhibit. unfortunately, by the time we got there the special exhibit tickets were sold out. we had to settle for the not-as-impressive-during-the-day chihuly saffron tower sculpture in the museum's garden of enchantment. after a stroll through the golden gate park botanical garden we walked back to the apartment and took a little break before dinner.

i got to sit around while a wonderful dinner was prepared. the garlicky squid ink fettuccine was served with really plump mussels and tasty clams on top. i'm used to squid ink pasta sauce, which is much brinier in flavor than squid ink pasta. although it might look scary because it's so black, the squid ink dry pasta doesn't taste fishy at all.

before heading home on sunday we had brunch at squat and gobble in haight-ashbury. i had the strawberry blintz crepe, which was good but had a bit too much ricotta in my opinion. ian had belgian waffles and maya inhaled part of rupert's omelette. we are beginning to notice more and more that the kids are eating like real people lately, which means they are starting to cost us more. darn kids!

after a weekend of lots of eating, rupert drove us home amidst end-of-fourth-of-july-weekend traffic. i am thankful to him for taking us up there for the weekend and really looking after the kids so i could enjoy my birthday weekend. thanks honey!

welcome M+E!

our friends S+M just welcomed two new daughters into their lives! we are so happy that twins M+E arrived safe and sound. and it looks like big sister L is pretty happy about their arrival too. congrats!

the end of an era

last tuesday was our last rie class. i am really bummed, and i think maya would be too if she understood that we aren't going anymore. we have been with the same group of kids for two years, in the same environment, with the same teacher.

this is my second round of rie classes (ian attended too) and i couldn't recommend it more. it's not a "traditional" kind of class with lots of music and "engaging" activities. it's about the kids figuring out things for themselves in a safe and nurturing environment. the parents learn and share rie parenting techniques and sit back to observe the children.

there used to be a rie-based infant center (daycare) in redondo beach but, unfortunately, it's no longer in business. i wish there were more rie classes/schools for older kids. i would love to keep learning about rie and how to apply the philosophy as the kids get older. (it's my understanding that some rie parents move on to the waldorf school when their kids get older.)

i'm also disappointed that class has ended because i've grown really fond of the other parents. i hope we stay in touch and get together often.

now i've gotta find something else for maya to do on tuesday mornings ...

baby shower gift

my friends M+S are expecting twins in the next month or so ... that'll make three daughters under the age of 2! to help them get ready S is having her baby shower today. i sold two tagE*blankEs to another family friend to give to S. so i had to think what i should make as a gift.


i found this pattern by jan andrea for a travel diaper + wipes case. i figured, with twins, M+S will need to stash diapers in various places (like their car) so why not have a cute case? now that i think about it, i shoulda made another one for their older daughter L's diapers, too.


the directions say that "depending on your sewing knowledge" the project should only take half an hour. you may remember from my experience making L's first birthday present that i'm not particularly good at gauging how long projects take. sure enough, it took me half an hour just to print out the patterns, cut them out, and adjust them (i needed the pattern to be bigger), and another 15 minutes just to cut out the darn fabric. the actual sewing took at least another hour, i think; it took me a few minutes to figure out a couple of the steps. if i make another one, though, i'm sure it won't take me nearly as long.


i was going to add a pocket to the front for a travel-size purell bottle, but i totally forgot. instead, i added a ribbon near the flap for the purell and a linking ring.

new layouts

i have a stack of layouts that are partially done and my goal this month is to actually complete them so i can put them in albums.

this layout is from a few months back when a bunch of our friends got together for lunch at el gringo in hermosa beach. the patterned paper is from ki memories.

these are not aligned correctly but it's a two-page spread of the holiday cards we got in 2007. i used a square punch to cut out the photos and some holiday accents from the cards. i used to keep all of the cards we received but i have to accept the fact that i cannot keep every single card we receive for the rest of our lives. so this is a compromise of sorts :: i get to keep the essence of the card but it doesn't take up too much space.

new year's eve :: rockin' sf style

something new this year :: spending NYE at our friends JL+JP's place in san francisco. it was a last-minute trip; we basically invited ourselves over while JP was in a drunken stooper at the mermaid on christmas eve.

i'm really glad we went ... although i'm kind of afraid that maya's craziness may have scared JL+JP from someday having children of their own. for instance, maya dropped an entire plate of lemon bars on somebody's coach purse. and she randomly vomited in her sleep. fun times.

we didn't do any SF sightseeing since we were only there for a couple of days, and one of those days we were prepping for NYE dinner. in between basting the ham and trimming string beans, we played a lot of rock band. what can i say ... i luuuuurve that game!

playing many many songs prevented me from imbibing too much. after all, you have to stay sober to hit those notes. ;) i think we are gonna have to get the game when it comes out for the wii.

thanks JL+JP for hosting us! (JL makes a mean ham and rib roast, btw.)

s*e*v*e*n

no wonder i feel old ... ian is now 7! how did that happen? the little boy i thought would always be my baby is not really that little anymore. he's at that age where he's almost independent but he still needs his mama to be in the background ... just in case.

i think most parents are sad and reluctant to let go of their maturing children, but i'm eager for ian to find himself and become self-confident. i admit i was a helicopter parent during his younger years and, combined with his sensitive and cautious nature, he's grown up to be remarkably similar to me :: thin skinned, hypersensitive to criticism and errors, and easy to cry. these traits won't serve him well as he grows up so, lately, i've been trying to toughen him up a bit. i want him to live life to the fullest. that's what i'm working towards in the coming year. i hope he's receptive to my new parenting goal.

i really have very little to complain about. we are blessed to have him as our son, and there's no greater compliment than when our friends only have good things to say about him and continue to invite him over to their house. he's sweet and sensitive, gentle and serious, inquisitive and smart, fun-loving and hardworking. and what a great big brother he is! i hope he knows that, no matter what, we love him dearly.

happy birthday, ian!

bowling birthday "party" with his buds A and A

blast from the past

i ran into the mom of my best friend from 6th grade today. she's a teacher at the middle school across the street from my house. i'd been keeping an eye out for her on my walks to ian's school and, sure enough, i saw her directing traffic this afternoon.

i had to stop and say hello; i probably hadn't seen her in 15 years but she remembered me. she gave me a quick update about my friend, which has prompted me to get back in touch with her. rupert's not much for reminiscing but i can't help but want to know what's happened to the people who were so integral to me in my younger days.