Marc and Marilyn and Andrew!

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!

PJ and Jack looked very happy!

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!

Michelle and I have been meaning to have dinner. She really wanted to check out this French restaurant, Saint Amour, in Culver City. Luckily, the restaurant was participating in Dine in LA so we ordered from that menu. It was a cute place, and when we got there it wasn’t busy, but shortly after it was packed! Good thing she made reservations. (Who knew, reservations on a week night?!)

Michelle ordered the Lobster Bisque, Asparagus Risotto and Tarte Tatin. I ordered the Frisee Salad with Smoked Duck Breast, Asparagus Risotto and the Chocolate volcano. The food was ok in my opinion. I don’t appreciate French food the way others do. And I’ve confirmed that I dislike Risotto. I tastes like uncooked rice to me. No thanks. I loved the dessert though. MMmmm.

We we able to catch up on a lot of stuff and even did a little shopping at our fav place, Ross. Man, you can get some good stuff there if you just take the time to look. It was another great Double Shot night.

Frisee Salad with Smoked Duck Breast

Asparagus Risotto

Chocolate Volcano

One of my fav cousins, Regina, has been looking for a new place to live. She used to live just down the street from us, but since her roommate decided to move in with her boyfriend it was time for Regina to find a new home. She’s been looking around the neighborhood for something awesome, but didn’t have much luck. I remembered that Yena was looking for a new roommate to live with so I decided to have the 2 meet.

I made plans for Yena, Jackie and Andrew along with Regina and myself to meet at Gyu-Kaku. Dude, I totally didn’t realize I needed to make reservations for a Monday night. Total party foul. We ended up at Islands instead. Dinner was great, we exchanged stories and hoped that there would be a good fit for living together.

While we were eating I noticed out of the corner of my eye a tall red headed kid walk by… it was Damien! Timmy’s bestfriend. OMG. He’s so big now, totally grown up. I remember picking them up when they were younger to go hangout. Now he’s a working man, and in the process of recording his very own record with the band. Look out for Engage the Armada. You’ll love them. We hugged and I showed him my belly. He was like, Whoa! since when? haha.

After dinner we all headed to Yena’s place so that Regina could check out her potential new home. Yena noticed I was wearing my Toms and mentioned she had a friend that was in charge of product design for them. It turns out that friend was stopping by Yena’s place that night. So random. haha. Yena’s place is huge… tons of space and in a great neighborhood, West LA. Super close to Regina’s work, UCLA, so it was looking more and more like a good fit. They all talked and exchanged information. It was a good night.

Sunday January 24, 2010

Players present: Eric, Kris, Matthew, Ramon, Nathaniel, Oscar, Jaime and Marc.

Fans present: Natasha and myself

Opposing team: Run in Gun

Victory is ours! Today the guys won their first game. Whoo whoo! We’re all convinced it was because they had an earlier game, 11am. The guys played a great game, but I must say there was a lot more rough play this game. Lots of guys on the floor and tons of jabs underneath the basket. High five to the guys for another awesome day.

Afterwards we headed to NBC for some dimsum. We put in our names, and somehow we missed our number being called. So sad, so we had to wait extra for a table. Bummed, but we still got to eat tasty food and enjoy great laughs with friends.

We all met up at church for birthday mass then headed to Kabuki for some Japanese food. We ordered so much food. There were tasty rolls, some super good crunchy chicken dish that Kim ordered and the parents got a boat. Our table was jam packed with birthday dinner yummies… and soon so were our tummies. Of course we had to tell the staff that it was Courteney’s birthday so they brought out their tambourines, a birthday hat, dessert and sang their version of Happy Birthday. It was great! Afterwards we headed home for celebratory Ube cake and good old family laughs. Happy 24th Courteney. Cheers to your new list of 25!

Today is Courteney’s 24th birthday…YAY!!!  Dinner and movie tonight

From Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

1 a (1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties <maternal love for a child> (2) : attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3) : affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests <love for his old schoolmates> b : an assurance of love <give her my love>
2 : warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion <love of the sea>

From Marilyn:

1. Going out in the crazy pouring rain to satisfy your pregnant wife’s Johnnie’s Pastrami sandwich (and chili cheese fries) craving.

2. Pausing his video game and leaving Laker game to do so. Not waiting for a save point or halftime.

Game 10

Marilyn – 283

Marc – 265

Total

Marilyn – 6

Marc – 4

So this game was funny because we had a few questionable words… boxen and hots. Haha.