Marc finally set up dinner for the 3 of us at Tlapazola in Venice. They serve authentic Mexican food at this BYOB restaurant. We arrived there early and got ourselves a table before Aimee arrived. Thank goodness we got there early! That place got packed shortly after, and people were even waiting out in the patio area to get seats. Aimee and I each got the Carne Asada and Marc ordered the Chicken Mole (mole mole hahaa). The food was gooood but the company was better. We got to share laughs and talk about Rob, babies and I got a glimpse of how proud Aimee is to be an auntie. She shared funny stories about her 2 year old niece Kaele. She warned that a copy cat 2 year old just needs to hear one inappropriate phrase once, before making it a repetitive part of there daily gab. “What the heck” is not something you want coming out of a cute little 2 year old. haha. Then we ordered dessert! Yumm. OMG! Aimee’s dessert totally won. She ordered the Chocolate Semifrida, Marc ordered the Apple Strudel ala mode and I had to try their flan. We all agreed, Aimee’s was the best. Rich, but oh so yummy! Dinner was great, and we can’t wait to have another one when Rob is in town.
I met up with Cousin and Jose for dinner at Natalie Thai on Venice. I’ve always considered that restaurant the “sliver place” since they have that big ol silver wall that shines when the sun hits it. Anyways, we met up for some much needed Cousin time. We got to catch up and laugh over life. We talked about funny baby names and reminded ourselves how mean kids can be. So names are important. Gotta have a strong name! Also, growing up we rarely, if ever, saw our names on those premade mugs or key chains in souvenir shops. I’m hoping my kid can experience the joy of searching high and low for their names and actually finding it on the shelves. Spelled properly of course. Finding “MarK” on a cup is almost more disappointing than not finding it at all. Ahh the simple pleasures in life… my name on a cup. haha. Dinner was great! I got a coconut drink and Marc was flying in 2 hours early. whoo whoo! Cheers to another day in this wonderful life.
Marc and I have tons of exciting things going on right now. We are very blessed to have such wonderful lives and we felt it was time to take a break and celebrate. We headed to Chart House for dinner, and took part in their Dine LA menu. Afterwards we popped in a dvd, Chocolat, and enjoy the rest of the evening at home with Nikki. Life is good!
A couple of nights ago I had a dream that I was having a girl! In the dream I was in the the doctor’s office and we were talking about stuff. Weird thing was, it wasn’t my doctor and it wasn’t his office. The room was all white and I was sitting in a really small chair. Anyways, he mentioned I was having a girl and I got upset because he gave away the surprise.
So since that dream I’ve had my heart on having a baby girl. I started looking more closely at girl names and girl stuff. I even started getting excited about sharing the same type of experiences I have with my mom. It was awesome. Marc was going to have his little princess and I was going to have a beautiful little lady.
Then last night I had a dream I was having a boy! I delivered super early and my baby came out in a little yolk sac at home. He was very tiny, like the size of a chapstick, but perfectly proportional. We had to buy super tiny blankets and he would sleep next to me on a pillow in bed. The baby had lots of hair and looked Chinese, totally Marc’s baby (we joke about our baby having Marc’s eyes and he jokes about wanting a paternity test if the child doesn’t look Chinese).
Now I’m confused. haha. Am I having a girl or a boy? I guess it’s silly of me to think that I should base it on a dream, but I can’t help it. I’m a firm believer that dreams are symbolic and have more meaning that we give them credit for. I figured that first dream was God’s way of preparing me for a baby girl. Now, I’m not so sure.
People always ask me what I think I’m having, like if i have a feeling its going to one gender over the other. And honestly, I don’t. I think at one point I felt a little bad not having this maternal “feeling” that I was having either a girl or a boy. I just knew I was having a baby and that’s all that really mattered. A healthy and happy baby is what we want. Boy or girl… they’ll be loved.
Sheesh, time is just flying by. I can’t believe it’s already February. Lots of things happening and it’s all great…just stopping and smelling the roses
I also want to share a part of Chris McCormack’s blog (he’s a pro triathlete) in which he talks about his daughter growing up. Similar theme of time just flying by without you noticing until you decide to consciously stop. I look forward to being stumped by our lil baby in the future lol.
My daughter asked me yesterday, “Dad, did you go to school?”
My immediate answer was,
“Yes darling of course I went to school and I loved it. I studied hard , always did what the teacher told me to do and was friendly to everyone in the playground. If you study hard at school when you grow up you can be anything you want to be. You can be a doctor or a lawyer, a teacher, anything. You just need to work hard and listen to the teacher.”
I felt great with that response, looked at my daughter who took in everything I said, and thought to myself, great parenting Chris. Good job.
I was blown away with her response after I had hit her with that. Our conversation went like this.
Tahlia: “Were you not good at school then, dad?’
Me: “No I was very good at school darling. I studied very hard and got great grades.”
Tahlia: “Then why do you do triathlon for your job then? You don’t have to be smart to do that. You always tell me sport is for fun. You don’t have to be smart to have fun!. I love school dad and I am going to be a doctor when I grow up. A doctor or maybe a teacher”
I was completely lost for words. How do you answer that question. She is right, you don’t exactly have to be a rocket scientist to do our sport, and to be honest; sometimes I wonder if all of us have a brain at all to put ourselves through what we do. My 6-year-old daughter had me stumped and made me think. I told her that daddy did triathlon for a job because he was very good at it, but when it was all over I was going to go back and teach people about being healthy and how to look after themselves. I was going to show people how to get better and to get fit and look after their bodies and be healthy, just like a doctor does. I thought she would like that.
Her answer back to me again made me realize that the little girl we used to drag around the world was finding her balance. She was starting to settle and grow up, and more importantly she was starting to problem solve, dream and think. Being settled at school had given her the balance and stability in her life to dream.
‘Dad your not a doctor. You have to learn everything at school to be a doctor. Doctors are smart dad. I want to be a doctor.”
She had me, and I knew then and their I was fighting an unwinnable battle trying to justify my intelligence with a 6 year old. I also smiled to myself and was so happy that my daughter was finding her feet. After a life on the road, she was finally settling down. I felt good.
What happens when an LA brand and an LA band get together on their day off? Kim and Tricia of Chicharon Adventures and Jon, Matt, Glen, Boj, Chez, and Mart of the Rhythm Natives explored Downtown Los Angeles from Angel’s Knoll Park to Little Tokyo. Sporting sweatshirts from the CA Winter ‘09 line, they we recorded by their good friend, Alex Rapada.
PJ and Jack were having a traditional Chinese wedding at the Universal Hilton. Weddings are always so much fun to witness so Marc and I were excited. I was having a bit of a problem fitting into any of my current dresses, so when I was shopping with Chelle at Ross I picked up a purple cotton dress. It fit perfectly and I was so comfortable. Score! Comfort over Couture any day! What sucked was that I totally forgot the camera. Uuggghh! I always always have a camera with me, and I’m a loser and forgot it on the counter while charging the battery.
The wedding ceremony was short and sweet. Then we quickly went into reception mode. We even ran into our Nicki, our wedding photographer! I love her. PJ had asked Marc for our wedding vendor contacts and they ended up using Nicki and Eric. Sweet! While there Marc ran into his buddy Rex and his wife Emily. We shared funny stories and enjoyed open bar. 2 shots of Jack on the rocks for me… just kidding. I had a nonalcoholic Shirley Temple. We took some pix in the photo booth and picked up our name cards. It was awesome because both my name and Marc’s name were spelled wrong. I loved it! The give aways were little sachets and I swore I smelled chocolate in them, but Marc insisted there was nothing more than stuffing inside. Determined to prove I smelled chocolate, I started to undo the sachet. Marc was like, what are you doing? hello! getting to the chocolate. And sure enough.. there was chocolate inside. I told you! I’ve had such a sweet tooth lately, I know when there’s chocolate around. haha.
They finally opened the doors to the ballroom and the 10 course meal began. Chinese weddings are awesome for having such an elaborate dinner, but man oh man, did I want rice! The food was good and the Hilton even had a parade / soldier like way of entering and presenting each dish. The reception was half in Chinese and half in English and this super nice chick at our table helped to describe each dish as they came out. My favorite was the lobster and the fish. MMmmm. They even had a mini karaoke session. It was awesome!
I was up in San Francisco from Wednesday to Friday for Omniture Training. The training was great…small class (only 3 of us in attendance) and learned lots.
It was a bit of a hassle getting up there since my Southwest flight was cancelled. Fortunately, I was able to catch an earlier flight. However, it was all moot since that flight got delayed due to some mechanical problems. And just my luck, my flight back home was also cancelled. Fortunately, I was able to catch another flight. What made matters worse…it rained. My training was about half a mile away from my hotel…as part of my pitch to my boss, I told him I was going to walk (Marriott points baby!). So ya, it rained the last day I was there and had to walk back to my hotel in the rain…lame!
I was able to meet up with JC, Bobby and Thuy. Bobby and Thuy lived only several blocks away (new pad) and JC worked several blocks away. It worked out well. JC and I walked to Bobby/Thuy’s pad and hung out there for a bit catching up. We would have gotten there sooner but Bobby didn’t know his own address As for the food, Thuy made some great Indian food…rice with chicken. Yumm yummm.
Tricia and I planned to meet up at Coffee Bean for a mini gab session. Marc had left for his business trip and she was like, I’ll hangout with you! I was off from work and she called me to see if I wanted to meet up for dinner instead. I’m always up for dinner! So we planned on meeting at CPK in Brentwood. When we got there we were just nonstop talking about life. It was a great and refreshing conversation. We are seriously super grown up now. We’re turning 30 this year and life couldn’t be better. She’s getting a bonus for all her hard work at BofA, Jonas has a new job/business venture, Church wedding is falling into place, Marc and I are having a baby, finances are looking promising… I mean life is GOOD. It’s great that we can sit and chat about the great things in life. Whenever I’m with Tricia I always feel like our lives just get better and better. It’s so weird. Like every time we meet up there’s always something great to share. 2010 is going to be another amazing year for us!
She shared funny stories about her 2 year old niece Kaele. She warned that a copy cat 2 year old just needs to hear one inappropriate phrase once, before making it a repetitive part of there daily gab. “What the heck” is not something you want coming out of a cute little 2 year old. haha. Then we ordered dessert! Yumm. OMG! Aimee’s dessert totally won. She ordered the Chocolate Semifrida, Marc ordered the Apple Strudel ala mode and I had to try their flan. We all agreed, Aimee’s was the best. Rich, but oh so yummy! Dinner was great, and we can’t wait to have another one when Rob is in town.
no food pics.
I had a nonalcoholic Shirley Temple. We took some pix in the photo booth and picked up our name cards. It was awesome because both my name and Marc’s name were spelled wrong. I loved it! The give aways were little sachets and I swore I smelled chocolate in them, but Marc insisted there was nothing more than stuffing inside. Determined to prove I smelled chocolate, I started to undo the sachet. Marc was like, what are you doing? hello! getting to the chocolate. And sure enough.. there was chocolate inside. I told you! I’ve had such a sweet tooth lately, I know when there’s chocolate around. haha.
