Star Trek May 18, 2009

When HBY saw the trailer for the Star Trek movie, he told me he wanted to watch it.  I was all – are you serious?  I kept asking him if he was serious, lol.  We’re not Trekkies.  I’ve never even seen an episode of the TV series – any of them.  But I figured it looked like a lot of action, and I’m always down for action movies, so we went.  I wasn’t sure if I should read up on it or what before going to watch.  Well, we went to watch it last night and……I liked it.  Surprising to me, but actually, if it were just a movie being made, without all the history behind it, I probably would have wanted to go and watch it anyway.  I definitely liked it more than any of the Star Wars movies.  I think I may have missed out on a lot of the hidden references to the TV series, but it was still a complete storyline to me…and Sylar was awesome as Spock

The movies I’m really looking forward to watching this summer are Transformers and……………………G.I. Joe.  Lol.  So weird, I know.  It’s that Tatum Channing guy (or whatever his name is) that I like.  I know, he’s not the best actor, or even good, but….he does it for me   Plus, in the movie, he has a scar on his face.  I like scars on the face.  Not like, ugly burn scars or whatever, but more like a knife scar.  Especially around the eyes During the preview, I was all – ooh, I wanna watch this movie.  Then, when the title came up on the screen I was like – ewww.  The Rise of Cobra, how retarded sounding.  But still – I’m sure I’ll like it

It’s Official! May 16, 2009

Officially funny looking now!

Photography Field Trip May 3, 2009

Ever since Pristina got her Rebel Xti for Christmas, she’s been wanting more opportunity to play with it.  So I offered to take her around the city on a photography field trip.  I figured we’d to go all the standard places; Twin Peaks, Palace of Fine Arts, Baker Beach, Legion of Honor.  Well….with Pristina being busy throughout Feb, March and April, we had to schedule our day out for May 3.  Wouldn’t you know the day we chose to go out was all overcast and rainy.  Where the hell could we go take pictures on a freaking ugly rainy day??  Botanical Gardens was I think our only choice.  So I drove to the park.  I thought they closed the streets to cars on the weekends?? Or is that only on nice weather days?  Anyway, Pristina still had a good time, and from what I’ve seen on her camera, she got some good shots.  I was not so excited, but I took a few.

I have more on my Flickr.  Anyway, we totally went down this one path and got “confronted” by a squirrel.  That thing got in the middle of the path the way we were walking, and crouched down and looked at us.  So we froze.  Then it took a few steps toward us and stopped.  So we started to panic, and Pristina got behind me.  I was like – oh shit, I swear it looked like it was going to jump at us.  So we turned around and took off running.  Yeah, we’re dumbasses.  And whereever we went I swear they surrounded us.  Lol.

After the Botanical Gardens, we had to go home because Pristina is really a dumbass, and even knowing it was raining, and that we were going to be walking, she chose to wear her dumb converse that had holes in them.  so her feet were SOAKED.  disgusting.  When we got home, it was still overcast and drizzling, so I didn’t know what we should do.  Pristina wanted to go to Haight, or downtown.  So I told her we could go downtown, and since we were home, why didn’t we just hop on the bus?  She agreed, and she wanted to get off at Castro.  I was like – eww??  But whatever.  I was just along as a chaperone anyway.

So we jump on the K, and take it all the way to Castro.  I love to take the Muni, I’m so deprived.  The Castro was……..different.  I’ve never been…and never seen so many rainbows.  We passed by a hot tub place with posters advertising males together in the hot tub.  Uggh, gave me the creeps.  When we were walking, I saw a guy blow a kiss to another guy he was passing by.  I consider myself very tolerant…but I don’t care to be right in the middle of all this gay-ness. Sorry, not trying to be offensive.  But that’s just how I feel.  Do whatever you want…just not right in front of me, please.

Anyway, so Pristina went on a rampage taking weird pictures of like rusted chains, empty lots.  I was not so inspired.  I think I like taking pictures of people better. But I did take a few shots…

We jumped back on the Muni at Van Ness to Powell (2 stops, I thought it was ridiculous but Pristina was tired).  While we walked from Castro to Van Ness, the freaking weather finally cleared up.  Of course it would.  Well, we met up with

Mae, Emerald, Donna, HBY and the kids at the SF Centre.  From there Mae took Pristina home because she was complaining of a headahce and the rest of us took the kids to the Yerba Buena playground then to the Tilt arcade in the Metreon.  I was able to take a few extra shots, but after such a long day, I just wanted go home and SLEEP!!

I had planned to go home and pick up Pristina and go up to Twin Peaks after dark, but of course when it comes to Donna, the fun never ends, we didn’t get home until close to 10pm.  But at least I got to take some of my favorite pictures, with people in them…especially kids

HBY’s 33rd birthday May 2, 2009

Since HBY had been working so hard these past few months, for his birthday we decided to go and get a couples’ massage.  And I decided to go to a place that Daphne mentioned, Watercourse Way.  (Thanks Daph!)  I had mentioned to Debbie that we were planning on going there, and she told me she LOVED that place.  Somehow I don’t really see Debbie having a spa day, but there you have it.  She said the place we should really check out is the spa at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay.  I was like – damn, I think we’d have to work our way up to that place   Although, it is my favorite place in the world I think.

Anyway, so we did an hour in the hot tub room followed by the couples’ massage.  Let me just say…one hour is way too long to be in a hot tub.  I will definitely be getting the room with a cold plunge the next time we’re there.  But it was a very nice place.  As for the massages, the first 10 or 15 minutes we were supposed to sit in the steam room, but after about 10 seconds I thought I was going to suffocate – damn, do people really like that??  Lol.  We were probably still just overheated from the hour in the hot tub.  I think we both enjoyed the massages at the Claremont better.  But still, overall a great experience.  The good thing about this place compared to the Claremont is that HBY and I stayed together the whole time, even afterwards when we showered and got ready.  The bad thing is there wasn’t really a place to sit and blow dry my hair and do my makeup, which is kind of what I was planning on since we were going to still go out to dinner afterwards.

Guess where we ended up going after the spa?  Well….we WERE in Palo Alto after all, so we had to go to HBY’s favorite place….Fry’s.  Lol.  The ugliest Fry’s out of them all, but oh well.  We passed by a bike shop that had a sign out advertising $349 every single bike in the shop.  He got all excited, he’s been wanting to buy me a bike forever, but I’m so not interested in going bike riding.  Ever.

For Dinner, HBY got to go to the restaurant he’s been dying to go to ever since I met him, Tommy Toy’s.  Fancy schmancy Chinese food, I don’t get it???  We had calamari, hot and sour soup (which I gave an honest try but couldn’t bring myself to like), duck, filet and fried rice.  It was okay, I guess, but I wouldn’t choose that restaurant again.  The fried rice wasn’t even as good as Benihana.  And with the duck, they only gave you two pcs. of the bread, which had to be the cheapest thing.  Oh well.  I had a lichitini, with Kai Vodka, I think I’ll be making those on my next bartender night

After all that, we hurried home to have cake with all the kids, Pristina was watching the kids, and DNS, Megan and Joshua were here also.  Whew, what a day, we celebrated the whole day, I don’t even think I’ve had a birthday where I got to do what I wanted all day long……..

My Son The Photographer… April 28, 2009

When we were down at Roaring Camp Railroad for Chubby’s birthday party, I gave Dillon my little 880is and let him loose (after I wrapped the strap securely around his wrist).  First, on the train ride and then pack at the picnic site.  These were the photos he came back with…

He had such a good time running around snapping pictures all day that I decided I’d get him his own little camera.  I gave him my Canon S400 a while ago, the first digital camera I ever owned.  But I felt like it was time for a new one (plus, I’ve been on a total shopping spree these past several weeks – that really has to stop!).  So I thought I’d get him the Canon A470, cute little inexpensive camera.  But I decided to stop by Sears today to look at a toaster oven that Hby’s been wanting for a while and found myself in the digital camera section.  I ended up getting him the Olympus 850SW, it was on clearance for only $104…I couldn’t pass it up.  Waterproof/shockproof – perfect for my little boy…

Easter Photo Shoot April 8, 2009

Some photos from our pre-easter photo shoot…

Dillon has entered the “funny-looking” stage…missing teeth   Plus, he’s developed this really crazy-looking smile.  Alex, on the other hand, has forgotten how to look happy…and I’m sure it has nothing to do with me yelling “LOOK HAPPY!”, lol.  Regardless, here are some of my kids:

Okay, so about the matching outfits…NOT my idea…my grandma bought them and my aunt brought them back from Hawaii last month.  Figured I should take a picture of them in the outfits and send it to my grandma.  Aren’t I a good granddaughter?  Of course I am.  But a few years ago (3, really, that seems so strange) matching outfits on them looked cute, but I didn’t pick those either.

Weird how fast the time has passed….*sigh*

So here are some of the shots with the other kids.

I have a hard time with kids that smile all unnaturally.  It really annoys me, then I start talking meaner, the kids get more tense.  Guess I won’t make a good kids’ photographer   Which I would never want to be anyway.

My “Baby” is 4 now… April 6, 2009

Yeah, still a long way to go, but I feel like the “hard times” are behind me.  No more bottles, no diapers (thank god).  No more waking up 4-5 times every night to feed/change.  No incessant crying while trying to figure out what the reason is.  No more need to constantly watch every second to make sure they don’t touch/eat/do something that could hurt them.  Whew.  On the other hand, I’m not much looking forward to the teen or even pre-teen years, especially with the girl.  I guess I better just make the best of this time with them.

So this year, I finally decided to throw Babygirl an actual birthday party.  Normally, we’d take her to her favorite playplace (The Jungle), invite all the cousins and a few friends and just hang out and let them play.  But this year Alex said “I want to have a Princess cake and lots of friends sing Happy Birthday to me”.  So I tried to be firm and tell her “sorry, you don’t have any friends”, but in the end I gave in.  Dillon had a party every year until he turned 6, not really fair to never throw her one.  I know the 2nd-born gets jipped, but come on…

So I put together a last-minute party at Jungle Island in San Jose.  Seriously, I decided like 8 days before the date that I would throw it.  Luckily they were able to fit me in.  And there was a pretty good turn out.

The Princess cake she wanted

The "friends" she wanted to sing Happy Birthday to her

her favorite friend Olivia, they share the same birthday, Olivia is a year older

She had so much fun all day…until it was time to leave, then she cried her head off.  HBY kept arguing “just let her play for 10 more minutes”.  I swear, sometimes I want to sock that guy.  One day I will.  Then I’ll run, lol.

On her actual birthday, we spent the day with Megan and Joshua.  Took them to the Academy of Sciences and Botanical Gardens. 

Then, back home to let Alex open her presents from the party and the millions of presents from Mae Mae.

Topped it all off with a “tax crunch” ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins.

I’d never had it before, never even heard of it, but it was pretty damn good, I definitely recommend it…

While Awaiting My Next Turn April 2, 2009

Sometimes I REALLY hate Internet Explorer.  Well, most of the time.  Okay, always.  Just thought I’d share that.

So these days Facebook really annoys me, but I normally go there to play my Scrabble games (by the way Daph, it’s been a month since you last made your move .  I play against my aunt that’s pretty good and my uncle down in Monterey that’s really good.  The first game we played he whooped me by over 100 points…and I rarely even lose, let alone by that many points.  At the moment I’m playing 4 games with strangers, so I figure while I’m waiting I shouldn’t waste my time, but update my blog.

Lately, I’ve been doing LOTS of shopping.  Lol.  HBY has been CRAZY busy.  I’ve noticed this: when he’s not busy, he’s around so I can boss him around a lot and not be so stressed out running all over the place.  So I’m pretty content just staying home, (kinda) cleaning up, cooking dinners.  Plus the fact that not busy = not making money, so we have to be a little more frugal.  When he’s busy, I’m like a single mom (I know REAL single moms hate when people like me say it, but seriously), I have to do EVERYTHING for both kids all day every day.  Uggh.  On the other hand, HBY is making crazy kinds of money, so I indulge in lots of “retail therapy”, which is TOTALLY necessary.  To make up for it, I make him lunch every day, so it’s totally worth it for him.  Right???  Lol.

I took the kids to the do-it-yourself carwash the other day.  Since living here in this godforsaken place with no real driveway means I either have to stand practically out in the street to wash my car, which can’t happen with the kids running around.  They LOVED cleaning the car!  Hilarious.  Then, this weird creepy man started interacting with them.  I know, it’s sad when a nice happy man acts nice to kids, but there you have it.  They both were on the passenger side and I was cleaning the other side windows, but of course once that fool started joking around with them I had to go stand on the other side.  Which of course was obvious, but, what else was I supposed to do??  I’m not paranoid, but lately I’ve been thinking, damn, if shit did happen, I’ll be the dumbass saying “well, I didn’t think anything would happen” and HBY would probably knock me the f*@& out.  Suffice it to say, the weird happy guy took off a few minutes later (after telling me I’m a “good mom” for teaching my kids to wash the car???) with a “god bless” and the kids and I were left to clean the car in peace.  I can’t wait until we can move…which will happen soon as long as HBY stays as busy as he’s been the past several months…and I don’t spend it all =D

Horrible March 25, 2009

Yes, I’m a horrible blogger.  I’m going to be better.  Honest.

First off…check out the new Canon Rebel!  HD Video?? 15 mp?? Should I “downgrade” to a rebel?  Dang!!

Would it really be considered a downgrade anyway?  Or should I drop the $3g for a 5DMII?  Does the body really matter THAT much?  I should just get the Rebel and the 24-70mm f2.8.  Or just keep my 20D and get the 24-70?  Uggh, decisions decisions.

In other recent events, we took a trip to the snow this past weekend. We stayed at Donna’s house Friday night, I always hate staying there just by ourselves, it’s scary there.  Too big, too many rooms/windows/balconies and it’s too dark outside.  On Saturday, we planned on going to Diamond Peak, and since Donna’s house was right around the corner, Lib and Elma (and families) came over for “brunch”.  I never know what to serve at a “brunch” besides breakfast stuff?  So it was just breakfast.  Lib was so funny, she loved the house so much, she ran around snapping pictures like crazy.  Here are a few from her camera.

At Diamond Peak, Dillon declined ski lessons, but has decided he wants to snowboard.  He didn’t get to go this time since when we got there the snow was shitty (like it always is anyway), then it was totally blizzarding!  Oh well, next year I plan on bringing him as much as possible.  And maybe get back on a snowboard myself??  It’s only been almost a decade.  Haha, I’m thinking skiing is more appropriate for a woman of my age.  Lol.  We did stay at Diamond Peak just long enough for HBY to make a little snowman with the kids…then it was back to the house for us.  I don’t like being cold anymore.  At all.

(The only pictures of me come from someone else’s camera)

Anyway, we spend Saturday night in Reno…let the kids go wild at Circus Circus.  It was the first time they were both old enough to play games themselves, so of course they didn’t want to leave.  I told HBY the object was NOT to win stuffed animals, so only let the kids play.  They STILL won. Dillon is actually pretty good at some of those games, and Babygirl is good at the “win every time” games. I must be slipping though, because I didn’t even take one picture and I had my 880is with me.  It was crowded though, and I was more worried about losing Babygirl, but still…HBY did take one pic on the walk over

We stopped at Boreal on the way home, I wanted to take the kids tubing but that shit is $25 per lift ticket.  I didn’t think it was smart to spend $100 to go for maybe 30 minutes – it was too cold and windy, the snow would have been whipping us in the face.  I’m thinking we should wait until they’re a little older, I doubt Babygirl would even like it.  Luckily, there was a “snowpark” on site.  And luckily too, we had stopped in Truckee to pick up a couple of little saucers.  Dillon had a blast, and at $5 per carload, it was much more worth it

Happy 18th Birthday Baby Sister… February 11, 2009

…who’s obviously no longer a baby. It’s funny and weird and crazy how fast time passes. And for me, it’s not so much the kids that make me feel it as much as watching my once-baby sister Arianna grow up.

Here we are back in 1994, she was 3 years old and afraid of that little dog.

We were in Hawaii on vacation at the time, but back then I still lived at home and every night she would come to my room and lay with me and I would sing her Expose songs until she fell back asleep, lol.  And yeah, whatever, that’s how I looked back then with all that kinky curly hair, constantly wearing t-shirts and spandex shorts…I was a Polynesian dancer, that’s what we looked like then, lol.

And here she is with my mom, probably in 2001 or around there, she was 10 or so.

Here we are back in 2005 – DJ (my brother), me and Arianna.

I think that’s the most recent picture I have of the 3 of us.  I’m the oldest, my brother is 2.5 years younger and Arianna was born when I was 15.  I always thought my mom was crazy for that one.  And I PRAY that that doesn’t happen to me.

Here she is now, 18 years old.

Happy Birthday Arianna.  May all your wishes come true…