Back to Back Girls' Nights In

With Tim in London I was able to plan two girls' nights in this week without feeling guilty about kicking him out of of his own apt.

Anyhow, on Monday Megan and Lauren from work came over and we watched half of Season 2 of The Hills. If you're asking me what it is, you obviously have not seen the BEST TV show EVER. Megan has recently been sucked into

SUMMERy

I haven't had time to blog much the last couple of months. The excuses vary, so I will try to redeem myself by giving you a SUMMERy of this summer's events.
June: Yurt Trip - Emy, Charlie, Tim and I did a family trip. We drove down to Deception Pass, where we had rented a yurt. Now, I was thinking that this would be a flimsy structure with no luxuries, but the yurt had a bunk bed, a futon, electricity AND a heater! And to make our "camping" experience even more luxurious, the bathrooms were cleaned every day! This was a relaxing weekend with walks on the beach and lots of fun!

6/22 - 6/24: Emy's Camping/Rafting Bday Weekend - My sister, Charlie, his sister and a couple of other friends met up in Oregon for a weekend of camping. The site was gorgeous, and the weather was very very cold. On Saturday we rafted down the White Salmon, one of the only rivers in Oregon that has a class 5 rapid!

6/29 - 7/1: Zillah Bike/Wine Trip - We started doing this trip three years ago, and it's my absolute favorite trip of the summer. We drive down to the Yakima wine country region and ride our bikes from winery to winery. We had 15 people come this year and finished up the weekend by going on a floating/drinking trip down the Yakima river.

7/3: Diesel's 30th Bday - It was as semi-surprise party ("semi" because my NOSY husband came across an email on my computer titled "Diesel's 30th bday"). The big occasion deserved good food (skirt steak with chimichurri sauce, fried polenta, summer tomato/corn salad and carrot cake), and was celebrated in the great Asian tradition of karaoke, provided by Seattle's Best Karaoke. I rented a karaoke machine and it was well worth it!

7/8: Seafair Half-Marathon - Sad. Once again I failed to meet my sub 2:00 goal! After doing it in 2:00:10 in Vancouver, my time at this event was actually one second slower :( Next time.

It seems like Diesel and I haven't really spent any weekends at home, so I'm looking forward to doing some of that before the sun disappears again. Hope you're all having a great summer!

Vive la France!

To celebrate Bastille Day, my good friend Ben and I decided to celebrate all things French on Saturday.

Ben is a self-proclaimed francophile. And if you count watching "Nouvelle Star" (the French version of "American Idol") on YouTube and having completed three months of French class (as of today), I guess you can count me in as one of those people as well.

Anyhow, our soirée started with dinner at Maximilien, which is coincidentally the French restaurant where Tim proposed after a private cooking class with Chef Willy. Chef Willy, now the manager, is also a friend of Ben's, a noteworthy fact, since it got us one of the best tables on the deck as well as complimentary champagne!

We ordered from the Bastille Day menu special. I had the endive/frisee salad, but Ben preferred to order the gaspacho (not very French, I know). The endives in my salad could have been a bit crispier, but overall I enjoyed the light dish, which went well with the warm summer evening. For our plat principal we both had the lamb with roasted veggies. Not exactly sure what part of the lamb it was, but it was a bit overdone. The rich sauce and the veggies were very good though. And to wrap it up, we both had the tarte aux pommes, which was delicious. I ate mine and half of Ben's. We also got the wine course, which consisted of a wine pairing with each of the courses. For somebody who can't even finish a glass, the 3 glasses + champagne were a bit much, and I was a bit drunk by the time dessert was served. Oh well, vive la France!

All of the diners were serenaded by a quartet playing nice old-school French music.

We talked to the chef/manager some more and then I met Axel, the restaurant owner. It was a very exciting moment indeed. It's too bad Diesel couldn't come (he's been is Australia since last Monday). He would have loved it.

After dessert we had to rush to the movie theater to watch Paris, Je T'Aime, a collection of vignettes about love and life in the City of Lights. Each segment was directed by a different director. Some bigshots such as the Coen Brothers and other high-profile international directors such as Walter Salles leave their mark. I highly recommend this charming movie, even if you're not a francophile. That was the perfect end to the perfect evening. Next year there'll be even more wine and more fun in celebration of Bastille Day! This all made me even more excited about our trip to Paris at the end of August.

TP's Big 3-0

My friend Tarah turned 30 last Saturday, and her husband threw her a big bash at the Big Picture movie theater. I'd never been there, but it's a very cool venue, and I can't believe Tim and I haven't been there, as we lived literally across the street from the place. Where else (other than your house) can you drink alcohol and watch your fave flick?

She posted some pics from her bday here.

She is the second one in a long line of "almost 30" hip and happening people. There were Ben, Lauren, Tarah. There'll be more of us (yes, Diesel and I will be 30 as well this year) coming...

Sweet Tooth

Our friends Dawniel and Cyrill came over for dinner tonight. We celebrated Cyrill's promotion and their brand new place.

The best part of the meal was the warm chocolate cake, which although a bit cumbersome to make, are delish! Melt-in-your-mouth top and warm and gooey on the inside.

Shopping Marathon

What do you get when you get five girls and 75% off sales? SIX STRAIGHT HOURS OF SHOPPING, that's what!

For my friend Erica's 30th bday, we decided to surprise her and take her for up to Vancouver (or HongKouver, as some people refer to the Hong Kongnese-filled city) for a girls weekend.

It was a marvelous time of girl talk, shopping, laid-back dinner and a nice stroll through the Granville Market.

A few pics from the weekend:

http://www.flickr.com/gp/14628299@N00/dIv214

I'm Losing

Last night I had book club. The food was good, but not diet-friendly: creamy potato soup, bread and CAKE!

food: 1
Kelly: 0

Ugly Xmas Sweater Party

It was a hit. And by hit I mean, there was some SERIOUS UGLY scattered around our living room. Many ugly sweaters, but the first prize went to BJ, who went all out with his festively horrendous outfit. Yes, he did create quite a commotion as other guests disputed his first-prize title, since he was NOT actually wearing a sweater.

But in the end, ugliness trumped fairness.

Here are some pics from the event:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14628299@N00/sets/72157594433293009/

Somebody Stole Our Idea...

Or maybe we stole theirs.

So Diesel and I decided to throw our first Xmas party at the new condo. We are VERY excited about it. After careful deliberation, we decided to go for a theme, and we chose "UGLY Xmas Sweater Party," where our fab friends will show up with their most ugly and disgusting wardrobe pieces, and we can all laugh at each other.

Lauren said she didn't have an ugly Xmas sweater, but she could wear her husband's ugly Cosby sweater. This statement instigated some deeper investigation on our part, as I tried to google her a pic of a classic Cosby sweater. In googling this, I ran accross this site:

http://www.darthvato.com/cosbysweater.html

Awesome, isn't it???

Bea in Town and Hair on Fire

Last night, we had dinner with my friend Bea. The evening started off very odd. I spotted Bea and Ben having drinks at the bar in our favorite hangout, Wasabi Bistro. I gave Bea and big hug, as I hadn't seen her in a year (she lives in London). She immediately asked: "Where is Tim?" I was like: "What? Well, I didn't think he was invited." She looked at me funny and said: "Well, it WAS a 1-month late WEDDING CELEBRATION, wasn't it? Details, details.

This all came about because 4 days before our wedding, Bea, who already had her plane ticket, a dress, matching shoes and shawl for the said wedding, fell down the stairs and fractured her foot. She tried to convince her doctor to still let her go on her transatlantic flight, but he just wouldn't budge, claiming her foot was too swollen and she'd probably get a blood clot on the plane. Details, details. So her trip was postponed until her foot got better and she was off her crutches. And that's how the 1-month late wedding celebration dinner came about. Now if I had only realized I was supposed to invite my husband...

Anyhow, we caught up on the past year, drank sake (well, whatever was left after Ben shamelessly gulped most of it), and just chatted for a long time. Nadja joined us an hour later. At some point, Ben and I were just listening. All of a sudden, I heard a sorta buzzing sound, and then smelled something weird. Like burning hair. I turned to Ben, who looked at me in disbelief, and then said: "I just burned my hair." Ben was like: "Yeah, I know. I can smell it." fortunately I have a lot of it, so I'm doing fine.

Diesel joined us later that evening. Thank God, cuz I had enough of people telling me it was OUR wedding celebration.

30 and Fab!

Last night, after watching the season finale of Project Runway 3, I was DEVASTATED. I cannot believe that foul-mouth, mean, and ruthless Jeff won!

However, despite the sad things that happen in life, I had reason to celebrate today: Today is my good friend Lauren's 30th Bday! And she still looks FAB! In fact, upon learning that she was hitting the big 3-0, a co-worker said: "Wow, you look like you're 25!" Of course this could be attributed to the age-long question: "how do you tell how old an Asian is?" Indeed it's very hard to tell, but a good rule of thumb is to add 10 yrs to what your guess is.

Anyhow, HAPPY BDAY LORENA! You're my most fabulous friend...and you DESERVE your $550 bag!

Bridal Shower

My friends Kristin, Tarah and Regina planned and hosted my birdal shower. It was lovely and the food was fabulous!

There were flowers, and everybody made their favorite dishes and gave me their recipes. We played some games all revolving around the "food/cooking" theme and the best part was that friends from different circles got to meet.

Thank you K, Tarah and Regina for a wonderful and memorable shower!

Wedding Contract for Ben

I, Benjamin Scott Licona, do hereby commit myself to attend my good friend Kelly Chow's wedding to her fiance Tim (Diesel) Sale to take place at the Alderbrook Lodge Saturday, September 2nd, 2006.

I am obliged to go to this most important event, for which I have received an eight-month notice. I will not, under any circumstances (except for death), fail to be present at this event. Should any unforeseen circumtances come up, I am required to notify Kelly Chow immediately and trust in her decision to excuse my absence.

If, however, my absence is not excused, I will compensate her with an item to be determined by a board composed of both Lauren Choi (witness) and Kelly Chow, who will be fair and reasonable. This item will be no less than $500 and no more than $1000.



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Please sign: Ben Licona

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Please sign: Lauren Choi (witness)

Vancouver getaway


So this weekend Erica and I "surprised" Tim and Brian and whisked them away for a couple of fun days in Vancouver. "Surprise" in quotes because time after time Erica's and my big mouths ruined yet another little nugget we had carefully planned and vowed to keep it a secret.

First, Erica told the boys to reserve the weekend of the 5th, because we were going to surprise them. Now excuse my ignorance, but doesn't that totally defeat the point of surprising somebody? I can't say much, because a couple of days later I was on the phone with a friend trying to figure out when we could meet. When she mentioned last weekend, I told her I was going to Vancouver with Tim, not realizing that Tim, who was sitting next to me, was rather confused by hearing about plans he was apparently included in, but not aware that he was participating in.

And as if these two big mouth incidents weren't enough to make this a less-than-surprise weekend, I found out that Tim had told Brian that we were going to Vancouver--something I SPECIFICALLYL told him NOT to tell Brian. But who am I to talk anyway?

Anyhow, so we took the train to Vancouver. We passed the time (it is a 4-hour train ride!) drinking mimosas, eating, reading and sleeping. But we foudn out Brian was doing more than that. He was, in fact, eavesdropping on a conversation that two teenage girls who were sitting behind us were having. Apparently, one of them was talking about how she dreamed about losing heir virginity to the sound of "What is love, baby don't hurt me, no more." Under different circumstances, good ol' BJ would have fullfilled this teenage girl's fantasy by giving her a lap dance while singing "what is love" (out of tune, of course). Instead, however, he apparently was quite disconcerted by the racy talk these two high-schoolers were having, even though he recalled the details of this conversation quite vividly and retold them with great excitement.

It was a cool trip because we walked around areas we don't usually go to. We visited several Chinese pharmacies in Chinatown full of displays of flying lizards, shrivelled seahorses, slimy sea cucumbers, etc. Contrary to what you may think, none of this made us lose our appetite and we grabbed lunch in Chinatown, running the risk of having any one of these obscure ingredients added to our meal. Afterwards we walked along Robson street and then went back to the hotel for a quick rest before we got dinner. Erica had brought an extra suitcase which she stuffed with parts of her fondue set, fruit and chocolate. Only thing, she forgot to look up a recipe for making fondue. It turned out quite alright, and we pigged out again.

We went to a tapas place for dinner and ended up at an Irish bar by our hotel.

The next day was nicer, but we were lazier, so we got a late brunch and walked for at least 5 miles to go to MEC, which is a Canadian version of REI. All that walking was worth it because I got me a cheap pair of long underwear!

We had to take the bus back, and when going through customs, Erica, loaded with her plastic supermarket bags, was stopped by customs. The sweet girl tried to tell them that she'd really like to keep the grapes because they were organic and she was really going to eat them. She got away with that, but no way the customs guy was letting her keep her sweep peas.