Social Gatherings

Over the weekend we were invited over to Heather and Hugo's for dinner. It was a real treat! They live smack in the middle of one of the hipper sides of town in a beautifully furnished and cozy Spanish style home.


Dinner was a delicious meal of spaghetti and meatballs and conversation was non-stop. As promised she has posted the yummy recipe on her site . The kids had so much fun. It's so cute to see Henry and Sofia together they get along so well, and Gabriel and Rhys are like two peas in a pod. We had such a great time we didn't get home until 11:30!


Yesterday we woke up and the kids and Kenny worked on a puzzle before we all rushed over to the Parish Center to attend a workshop on creating a banner for Henry's First Communion.


Afterwards we met up with Angele, Hilary and John for dim sum, some shopping and more refreshments. It was a lovely Sunday which ended with us going to the park for a bit before heading home and relaxing in front of the television watching the Oscar telecast.

Presidents Day

Our Valentine's Card last night from Dominic and Alyssa. So cute!

We're all off today, and it feels like Sunday 1.5. The outing to the movies has been nixed. I feel dreadful. Have a huge headache. Congested and Coughing. I don't think it's the flu (knock wood), just the latest virus making the rounds.

Yesterday's trip to the Scrap Expo was a complete let down, though I did spend a nice few hours with Hilary. I had the hardest time dragging myself out of bed and so arrived a tad late to Hilary and John's. The boys were up and bushy tailed. Hilary told me the sweetest story from the day before, she and John took the boys to the park to fly kites. When Rhys' kite finally took off he was really excited and immediately went up to stand beside Henry taking his hand. Awww. Hilary was sad she didn't have her camera on her to capture this Kodak moment.




Last night's dinner was another great time spent with the extended family. The kids especially had a wonderful time running around the room. We found out that our little Victoria will be featured in 'Seventeen' magazine's upcoming ECO issue for her work with the Tree Musketeers! YAY! I will let you know when it's on the news stands.

Belated Birthday Get Together

This afternoon Caroline and I took Yun out for a very belated birthday lunch. We went down to Koreatown and had a delicious meal of BBQ, and afterwards walked down a few doors to take in some coffee and desert. It was a lovely afternoon gabbing away with some of my oldest friends.

The boys are spending the night at Auntie and Uncle John's tonight. I'm driving down tomorrow to meet Hilary to check out the Scrap Expo and then take the boys home in time for our "real" Chinese New Year Dinner. Kenny is squireled away proofreading the book before he submits it to the publishers and will hopefully be done SOON. I want to take the boys to the movies on Monday.


Here's a picture Kenny took of me this afternoon. I quite like it.

Whoa!

Guess what I got for Valentine's Day? Yesiree, here it is. Kenny got me the Charley Harper book! Boy is it a whopper! This book is huge and weighs a ton. Oh, and the art isn't too bad either :) (It's simply sublime.)

On Valentine's Day

A White Rose
The red rose whispers of passion,
And the white rose breathes of love;
O, the red rose is a falcon,
And the white rose is a dove.

But I send you a cream-white rosebud
With a flush on its petal tips;
For the love that is purest and sweetest
Has a kiss of desire on the lips
-John Boyle O'Reilly

PS Happy Birthday Victoria!

Mommy, Where's Yummy?

Sunday the kids along with Angele, Hilary, John and I went to church. (Kenny stayed home to put some finishing touches on his book.) Henry wanted to go and as this is the beginning of Lent and he's about to make his first communion I thought it was a grand idea. Taking Rhys along was just a test to see if he would sit still enough for an hour long mass. We were all quite astounded. He was really pretty well behaved fidgeting a bit but did not cause a major scene. It seemed we had cleared a huge hurdle. Upon returning to our pew after receiving a blessing Rhys turned to me and asked, "Hey Mommy, where's yummy?" Here are some pictures we took afterwards at the park.


I spent much of the day before spring cleaning. When evening rolled by I was really tired, but we somehow pulled ourselves together to attend Jen's Valentine's Day Party at Salon Amba! We were fashionably late after dropping the boys off at Angele's. Boy was it a spectacular spectacular!



Afterwards we didn't feel very much like heading straight back to Angele's so we made a detour for some noodles. What I was really craving was Vietnamese noodles specifically at this cute little place called Le Saigon on Santa Monica Bl, but instead we drove up Sawtelle. It was pretty late and we just meandered looking for something that was still open, unfortunately most of the noodle places were closed on the block closer to Olympic.

We went into a strip mall and there saw this tiny little place called Crepes to Go. (For a giggle you've got to click on this link to read the reviews of the place, unfortunately I did not meet the guy.) There were all kinds of signs pinned up to the front of the entrance. The menu was accompanied by large snapshots of the crepes available, both sweet and savory. We took a peek into the shop and saw that it was the size of a very tiny walk in closet! The crowning touch was this sign detailing how you should order... as in follow the directions or it's "NO Crepe for YOU!" Despite the full tables and the really tasty looking crepes we walked on because I was just craving noodles.

Driving back up Sawtelle towards Santa Monica Bl. we noticed a noodle house open. It was in the same spot where a while back housed one of our all time favorite Italian restaurants. This place was absolutely divine and we were so sad to see it close down. This noodle house is called Chabuya Tokyo Noodle Bar and it was kind of strange sitting there waiting for our order to appear while recalling all the previous delectable Italian meals consumed in the same spot years ago.

While waiting we had the absolute horror of having to sit next to another couple who were on what seemed their first date. It was very uncomfortable to say the least especially seeing as it was near closing and there were only a handful of customers in the place and we were just sitting way too close to them. We soldiered through the meal being very conscious of our conversation because we could not help but overhear EVERY word they uttered! The conversation sounded like a really cheese ball romantic comedy easily starring Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson. It only turned interesting and cringe free when he suggested they walk down the street to the crepe place for dessert. He told her about the list of instructions on how to order and described how the guy who owns the crepe shop was just like the Soup Nazi. "No Crepe for YOU!"

PS Sending out good thoughts and prayers to Muni for a full and speedy recovery from her surgery this morning.

Rhys Goes to the Post Office

Today Rhys and his class went on a field trip to the local post office. I have been vacillating over tagging along because I wasn't sure if my presence would further distract him from behaving himself. In the end I decided I should take advantage of my just being able to go. I took along my handy dandy camera and was able to preserve the day for posterity.

It was a beautiful crisp winter morning and the sun shone brightly over us as we walked from the school to the post office. We later learned from the teachers, who incidentally have gone on this trip countless times that we had all walked a mile and a half to and from the school.


Our journey to the post office was a pleasant exercise past pretty little houses in a very hilly part of the neighborhood. The children rose to the challenge and we made it to our destination in no time. At one point I found myself walking next to the curb and was reprimanded by Rhys with a "Hey Mommy! Get out of the street!" It's always a bit hilarious to hear your words come out of your little one. Nevertheless I took heed and got back on the pavement.

Once at the post office we were greeted by postal carriers who were in charge of the grand tour of the facilities. Unfortunately this is where Rhys took off running and somehow managed to bang his hand up against some pexiglas which resulted in scraping three of his fingers deep enough to produce a little blood. It looked pretty painful and he made a valiant effort to contain himself, though it did not stop him from frantically waving his hand around in hopes of stemming the pain. He continued to hold his hand up to people's line of vision and wave it around visibly in hopes that someone would notice enough to produce a band aid, but the postal workers misinterpreted this action for an excited youngsters energetic greetings of hello. Eventually I was able to ask and was presented with a handful of band aids which helped assuage his panic at the sight of his blood.


The children then all performed a little song they had practiced especially for their field trip to the post office. The workers were very appreciative of their song and clapped enthusiastically. We continued on with the tour and were directed outside to where the postal vehicles are parked. The children were allowed on the cargo area of a large postal truck and then were led over to one of the smaller vehicles in which you see them drive around the neighborhood. They posed in the back of the car and looked just adorable. Tired of being adorable and curiosity getting the better of him, Rhys decided to move from the back to the front seat -the driver's seat. He sat down in the driver's side and began to turn the wheel this way and that and was even bold enough to honk the horn! This was when everyone realized that some of the kids managed to get in the front of the car. To be fair, no one said that they were not allowed! It was rather funny though.


After this incident we were all led back into the building and into the snack room where the children were supplied with snack and drinks before walking back to school. All the kids were such troopers they had a very grand time on their field trip. This was Rhys' second official field trip in Pre-K. I was not at his first, which involved walking down the street from the school to a neighbors house and jumping into a bundle of fall leaves.


We ended the day back in the classroom.

Tuesday Afternoon in the Park with Rhys

Rhys and I had some free time after I picked him up from school today. I decided to get some drive through and take it to the park for an impromptu picnic lunch. We had a lovely time enjoying the beautiful weather and chatting with other kids and their parents.

On the way home we passed by Caroline's house and seeing her car in front I took a chance that she would be home. She was home with Lily and getting ready to take Lily to piano class. Before we even exchanged hellos Rhys immediately took off rushing into the house.

Thankfully he wasn't too disruptive and he even found a toy of Lily's that he played with for a little while before handing it back to her. We stayed to chat for a bit before bidding each other adieu.

Charley Harper

This morning we watched a segment on Sunday Morning about the incredible artist Charley Harper, who sadly passed away last June. Todd Oldham took years to track down every piece of work by the artist to compile the definitive book on Harper's work called Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life. All throughout the piece I kept telling Kenny I want this book. I want this book!



So as soon as it was finished I jumped on the net to see about perhaps ordering it. And ummm, my only response now is that I guess I'll have to wait, at the very least until the strike is resolved. I went on amazon and even at a discounted price it's still a whopping 126! Ouch. Just you wait my pretty!

Saturday Night

Ethan

We had a great time at last night's celebratory dinner and birthday party.

LOJAC?

This is still not quiet finished. I'm holding out for the real thing to get a better resolution on the right hand side. Although, that didn't stop me from giving her a scaled down copy last night much to her delight. (Sorry Alexis).

Above is another tribute to Lauren Child. I am captivated by her style. I did this yesterday in anticipation of our New Year's dinner tomorrow night where we will also be celebrating Eva, Jacqueline and Brian's birthdays. This is obviously for Eva.

the last three days

The last three days have been rather strange and a little eerie for me. Tuesday evening, unbeknownst to me I was experiencing the beginnings of my first UTI. Up until now I have never had one, and to top it off it was pretty severe, and to put it in the mildest and most polite terms I can think of, I was excreting blood by Wednesday evening. It was excruciatingly painful and I was completely freaked and panicked.

Kenny despite the lateness in time, and ever the trooper suggested going to the store for provisions. He came back with cranberry juice and some medication. In the morning I felt tons better, but now could not tell if I was still bleeding because the medication was also very colorful.

On the suggestion of Angele and Caroline I called the doctor first thing. I can tell you going to the doctor for myself is no easy feat due to the fact that my doctors are in Santa Monica and Rhys' school schedule is so short it makes me very paranoid that I won't be able to pick him up on time. And due to the school's structure it's impossible to have someone stay with him for an extra few minutes until I can get there. So Kenny had to assure me that it would be okay for him to go in a little late to pick Rhys up so I can go to the doctor. Luckily my case did not sound too extreme even for the blood part so now I'm on antibiotics and as of this Friday morning am feeling a little bit more like my old self again.

The thing is honestly I am not shocked that something like this has happened. I have been a little stressed due to the writers strike and how this may affect our little household. I have been running around the house working on different project some that pay, and most that don't. And for fun I like to take many breaks to make coffee and black tea drinks to the exclusion of little else. Hilary pointed out that I must have overtaxed my liver with all the caffeine! Guess who will be cutting back on caffeine and drinking tons of water?