THE FLASHER

It's official! I'm going to work at the shoe company full time beginning in June. Kind of scary and a lot exciting. I guess I'll just keep you posted on how things go. At least I've always got that law degree to fall back on. =P

Anyhoo...It was another busy weekend. Friday night, Vuong and I were going to grab some sushi then settle in to make favors for Monette's baby shower on Saturday. Well, I had kind of a busy day, so all I had to eat was a grande mocha and a papaya passion smoothie, so by the time late afternoon rolled around, I was staaaarving. Therefore we had dinner kind of early, around 6. We ate so fast that we were done by 6:30 and since it was still light out, we figured we'd head over to Gulfstream for a bottle of wine. Yes, a bottle. You figure you buy a glass, it's $10. You want two glasses and its $20. Therefore it makes sense to get a bottle for $30 and have 6 glasses to split. We actually couldn't finish it and made new friends by offering some of our Pinot Noir up to the lady standing behind us. Let me tell you, Gulfstream on a Friday evening, say around 7 p.m. is more of a "mature" crowd. So if you're trying to meet people to date, unless you're 50, you may want to go elsewhere first.

After Gulfstream, we ended up at Hush in Laguna. That was a lot of fun with a more umm... hip crowd. Everybody was pretty friendly and open to chatting with random people, so that was pretty cool. Sadly, at about 11:30, we were already tired and decided to call it a night. I also knew I had a lot to do the next day, plus I'd been fighting a cold that Jing kindly brought back from Taiwan. =P So when I got home, I took a Sudafed. I ended up waking up at 4 a.m. feeling drunk. I though to myself, "OMG, did I drive home like this?" Then it occurred to me... no, I had water at Hush. I guess it was the Sudafed. So in addition to feeling drunk, I was also hungry. I actually got up at 4 a.m. and had pasta, read a book then went back to sleep around 5:30. Of course, when I woke up at 8:30 I felt like total and utter crap, but I had stuff to do, such as make the favors I didn't make on Friday night.

The shower went well and I ate way too much. That's the problem with these family parties... there's always way too much food just sitting there all day, waiting to be eaten, calling out my name. Pictures from the shower:

Yes, the favors actually did get done.

Monette cuts her cake.

Marina The Flasher: have you ever seen anyone so happy to show you her undies?

MY WOODEN LEG

On Saturday night, Vuong and I had dinner at Petros in Manhattan Beach. We had an entire bottle of wine between the two of us, so we figured we'd walk around Manhattan after dinner and wait for it to wear off. First we saunter over to Shade since it's right next door. It is cold and we get in line behind 5 girls. The 5 girls are let in and we are next. Then, this girl walks up to the "bouncer" (I don't know if you can be called a bouncer at 5'4" 145lbs.) She gives him a sob story about how her feet hurt from her hooker shoes and needs to go inside and do whatever to them. Spirit was her name. bahahaha. He lets her in. Vuong and I are standing there, gaping, thinking, "You fell for that crap?" Honestly, I would have had more respect for him if she had just flirted with him and he was playing the playa, and let her in, but no.

So I start joking with Vuong that I've got a wooden leg and its getting tired, not to mention my glass eye was starting to cloud over, so we are rolling. Then the guy behind us over-hears and joins in, using his own sob story about he just came back from war and would really like a drink. (Although I'm thinking that's kind of a touchy subject unless you really did just come back from war.) Anyway, "bouncer," hell, let's call him doorman, is finally letting us in and he looks like he's got his panties in a bunch. And I said something to Vuong about, "Didn't you think it was funny?" And while she's like, "hell yeah" and cracking up, doorman is all, "No, not really." Ooooh. This only makes us laugh harder because he obviously didn't like getting called out for being lame. We get in, survey the scene, and find it a bit too pretentious for our tastes so we had out not even 3 minutes later and walk to the Side Door.

When we get to the Side Door, we order Diet Cokes (which Bartender gave us for free! Thanks nice bar lady!) We're there chatting and some other guy is eavesdropping and jumps in. Then he asks me if I'm Filipino because... ooh ahhh... he's got a Filipino girlfriend (and now apparently he can spot one a mile away). Anyhow, he's a little drunk, and previously Vuong was messing around telling them I was a shoe model, so at one point he grabs my leg because he wants me to either show them my shoes or my feet. Uh, yeah. Hands of my leg buddy. This also went over really well with his girlfriend, who got mad at him, and they ended up fighting. Darn that wooden leg of mine.

YAY

Everyone's booked and ready to go to Europe. Woohoooooooo. I can't wait! We all managed to get our flights and seats together. Too bad there's that ban on bringing liquids onto the flight. We were going to make it a happy flight. We are going to have so much fun. It turns out that the Notting Hill Carnival will be going on during our last day in London, so I'm hoping to make it out to that. I'll have to check out what other cool things may have going on in the different cities (Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Dubrovnik and/or Split). YAY.

HOLA!

What a fun weekend! I went down to Las Gaviotas (www.las-gaviotas.com) in Mexico with the guys and we met up with some people down there. It's a great little community, the house was nice and clean, and we had a great view of the ocean (http://las-gaviotas.com/Hse_sliceofparadise.htm) The guys were even nice enough to let me have the master with the view of the ocean.

We left Irvine at around 2:30 on Friday and got in about 6:30, just in time to catch the sunset from the balcony. Afterwards, the group met up for dinner (about 11 of us) and we went to Puerto Nuevo for lobster. I'm actually not a big lobster fan, so I went for the shrimp and had the strongest margaritas EVER. Afterwards, we went to a club called Virgins. It has nothing to do with Richard Branson. You figure it out.

On Saturday, I went to hang out by the pool and read, while the guys surfed and was happy to find they set up a little snack stand with tacos and burritos and margaritas. I tried to lay out and tan my day-glo legs, but it was a bit chilly and I didn't last long. I also heard from the others that the guys had come back from surfing and were planning to go to a taco stand 5 min away, so I couldn't get left behind for that. (moooooo) The little stand is Taco Surf, about 5 minutes north of Las Gaviotas on the west side of the road and has awesome tacos for a dollar. After lunch, we came back and hung out on the balcony and watched the surf. I took a short nap, then got ready for dinner. We went back to Puerto Nueva and tried a different restaurant this time. I prefer the first one but can't remember what it was called. I'll ask and post it later in case anybody wants to try it out. After dinner, everyone just came back to our house and hung out for a bit.

On Sunday, it was chilly and windy, and there were no surfers out because it was too choppy, so we just sat around watching Dave Chappelle dvds before heading back to Taco Surf for more tacos. Afterwards, we began our long trek home. It took four hours to cross the border. Insane. This was my first time in Mexico, and I was thinking it takes less time to fly to NY. I guess I'm just old because my back actually started to hurt from sitting for so long. Even in a plane you get to stand up and walk around a little, so I just kept squirming in my seat. =P

Some photos from this weekend:

3 MORE DAYS!

...til Mexico. Woohoo. I can't wait and let me tell you, it will be well earned, as things keep popping up at work and I have yet to file my taxes (or fill out any forms). Yep... I am living on the edge. But soon, I shall park my butt on a balcony or beach and lay there and do nothing. Oooh ahhh.

So I hope everyone had a good weekend and a Happy Easter. I had a fun weekend starting Friday night when I went to Sutra for dinner with Gina and Caren. A couple of things I noticed, no pun intended, is that everyone's boobies were out. The bartenders, the waitresses, the guests. Most of the bartenders and waitresses were wearing bustiers or a couple of bras I would guess. I totally had to concentrate on looking our waitress in the eye. So did Gina. During dinner they had a pussycat dolls-like show which was entertaining (and free!) We stayed a little after dinner and danced til about 11, then left. I know, I've rarely gone home from a club at 11, but I wasn't about to hang out by myself.

Saturday I played tennis in the morning then got the house ready for a little BBQ. Monette and Jay were down for the weekend so we BBQ'd at my house and had Shivaji and Bill over too. Marina came over also. All was well with Marina as she was entertained by Happy Feet, then later she had a little fit. She cried and cried until she was projectile vomiting. I mean projectile. Hit me on the face and my arm. I pretty much lost my appetite after that.

On Sunday, I tried to get ready to do my taxes, so I spent the whole morning organizing receipts. I STILL haven't filed. =( Afterwards I had to fill up some plastic eggs for the kids and since I didn't want them doped up on sugar, I dug into the coin jar and filled them up with quarters. Linley was very pleased with this find. She'd find one with change, shake it and yell, "Moneeeeee!" So the kids had a great time and it totally amuses me how they really believe in the Easter Bunny. Kids - gotta love em.

STD: SHORT TEMPERED DRIVER

Oooh... speaking of being a short-tempered driver (below)... I'm on the 405 and there is a woman going 70 in the fast lane. Now, there are about 3 other lanes she could be in, but she chose the fast lane. The other 3 lanes are occupied by slower vehicles, naturally. Now, if you have no intention of driving any faster than the big rig or the old man... why not drive in their lane? I bet this woman never ONCED looked in her rear view to see if maybe traffic was backing up behind her. That drives me NUTS. She had a death grip on the steering wheel and when I was able to pull up beside her, I gave her a diiiiirrrty look... but course she didn't see as she was staring straight ahead, death grip on the steering wheel.

WOE IS ME

So I went to the doctor again. I wanted to get my cholesterol and everything checked since I haven't done it in a while. Heck, I feel like I'm falling apart. I look like Robocop at the gym... knee brace, wrist brace. Anyhoo, so this is a different doctor. My general/family practice doctor.

Doctor: "So have you finished law school?"
Me: "Yes."
Doctor: "How old are you now?"
Me: "33"
Doctor: "And how about your boyfriend?"
Me: "What boyfriend? I have two jobs. I don't have time to find a boyfriend."
Doctor: "Oh no. 33 and no boyfriend? You're doomed!"

Ok, she didn't say I was doomed, but something to that effect. Maybe she knows something I don't know, like I'm gonna die next week. But really, what's with these ladies? They're like relatives the way they talk to me. "Oooh... gaining weight" or "What? Still no boyfriend?" Maybe I should take it as a compliment that they feel comfortable around me or something?

So anyway, my visit is done and I have to pay my co-pay. They do not take credit card, so I hand over all but $1 in my wallet. At this point, it is 12:30 p.m. and I haven't eaten since 7:30 p.m. the day before. If you know me, this can't be good. Now I have no money to go to the nearest drive thru. She actually offers to let me keep some money so I am not completely without, which was nice, but I passed. I drove to a drive thru ATM and figured I'd just drive home and get something near home. As I was getting on the freeway, I really thought I might pass out. No food, subtract three vials of blood, and I'm ready to conk out. Luckily I didn't, but I was a very short-tempered driver.

L.A. DRIVERS

Driving in to work today, I got cut off by two trucks. One SUV and one pick up truck. Really, if I hadn't been paying attention and slammed on the brakes, we probably would have gotten into an accident. However, they were oblivious and went their merry little way with out even an "excuse me" or "my bad" wave. BASTARDS! So I was in a foul mood. Then I'm almost to work, there are a lot of cars, and there's one lady trying to squeeze in, so she can make the right turn. I flash her my brights to let her know to go ahead and she waves a thank you and I was instantly in a better mood. It's kind of nice, yet kind of sad. One, I appreciated it because, well, people hardly ever say thank you. And really, I can box your car out if I want to, but I just don't see the point, so I let people in. But people don't always say thank you. And why not? You lift your hand and wave. Not a big deal. Not like you have to go to the store and buy me a card. So like those commercials on t.v. a little thank you does go a long way.

BARGAIN!

Oooh... I went to the mall on Friday and returned a dress I had bought online for Gina (since I get free shipping and some discount at banana republic)... anyway, I have all these rewards cards from them and they were having a big sale. Well, since they had given me a $25 discount on the dress I was returning, he applied it to the sweater that I bought, plus my $10 reward card... I only paid $1.54! Neato eh?

QUICKIE CATCH-UP

I know, I totally lag. It's been over a week! The work schedule has let up a little bit (or I just don't realize I'm behind on a lot of stuff), so I thought I'd take the time to do those other things that I haven't had a chance to do when procrastinating/blogging, such as sleep. That's right. I have slept 8 hours or more 3 times in the last two weeks! That's amazing. Six and a half is usually my max.

Anyhow, let me just give you the quick and not-all-that-dirty... Two Fridays ago, Art was back in town, so a bunch of us went out to some bars in downtown L.A. Broadway Bar and Golden Gopher. Eh. The coolest thing about Broadway Bar was that it was next to the Orpheum where they were having try outs for So You Think You Can Dance. So tempting to go in and take a peek, but there's a big sign that says that if you enter, you consent to having your photo/video taken, etc. and the last thing I need is me with an extra 10 lbs out on public.

I don't remember anything about Saturday or Sunday following that, so it couldn't have been that memorable. This past Friday, Brian, Vuong and I went for Sushi, then met up with Bill at LaCave who was there for his friend's birthday. They had this five footer with Elvis hair singing Tom Jones and Neil Sedaka or something. It was interesting. La Cave is a steakhouse in a basement like area. The singing and stuff was in their back room and it got rather packed. All I kept thinking was, in case of fire, we all die in this death trap. So, we didn't stay too late, as it was hot and crowded without much seating (and it was a death trap). In the end, we always go to the old standby... Detroit. We went there and ended up dancing til about 1 or 1:30 in the morning. Basically until our feet hurt and we couldn't dance anymore. My calves were pretty sore the next day.

On Saturday, I went to Jing and Gene's first bbq. There was some yummy desserts there. Someone brought a red velvet cake, but I didn't realize until I had already had some Banana McBerry pie that I brought from King's Hawaiian. I tried to pace the eating, but by the time I went out for red velvet, it was all gone. =( Probably a good thing. I just got a new scale and I am totally obsessed with weighing myself and eating four kinds of dessert wouldn't be good for that.

Today, I finally got a chance to catch up with Lin and Kat. I had lunch with Lin in Manhattan Beach, then we headed over to Kat and Paul's new house. It's lovely! A very cute place. Can't wait for the par-tay.