Reconnecting

This past Friday (8/8) I had the pleasure of seeing my friend Miriam again, after 28 years!  Miriam contacted me earlier in the week and said her family will be in San Diego.  We met up for a Friday night dinner at Buca Di Beppo downtown.  I haven’t seen Miriam since we were teenagers!  We were in the same church youthgroup, and were in the same middle school and high school until she moved. 

Our reunion wasn’t awkward at all.  Miriam is so friendly and sweet.  We chatted like old friends.  It’s strange to think that up until now, I really didn’t know her as an adult! 

I got to meet her husband, her MIL, her grandma-in-law, and her two sweet girls.

Todd went too.  All of us shared a Colossal Brownie Sundae and of course Todd had to ham it up!

This past Wednesday we had dinner with Dejah & Roby at Siam Nara.  We hadn’t seen them in a while so we wanted to get together.

But also because we wanted to share our HALL Eighteen Seventy-Three 2011 cabernet with them.  This is the bottle we bought when we were up in Napa in July at the HALL Rutherford tasting. 

We shared the wine & the spring rolls.

Todd had the Pla Neung Manow:  Fillet fish seasoned with fresh lime juice, garlic, and cilantro steamed in lemongrass, ginger, and chilies.  He loved it.

I had Pad Khing Fish:  Steamed sh llet, topped with sautéed vegetables in a delicate ginger sauce.  Yum!

It was a fun night of good food and good conversation.

On Monday Todd & I started a new fitness program.  We started the P90X3 workout regimen.  So far after six days (today is rest day), I have sore muscles but really enjoy the workouts a lot.  It’s not boring and every day is different.  Plus, it’s only 30 minutes, which I really like.  We did P90X last year and it was at least 60 minutes for every workout.  Who has that much time in the mornings??!  P90X3 is more efficient!

Todd finished another puzzle!  He said this one was easy because of all the words and color blocks.

On Tuesday night we went to the Jazz 88 concert at San Diego City College downtown to see Hot Club of Detroit.  They are a gypsy jazz band that Todd loves.  He was so excited when he found out he could get free tickets to the show as a member of Jazz 88! 

In the last month we have been overdosing on awesome organic cherries from Costco!  We have bought so many big huge clamshells of them.  We eat them every day.  I love cherries and try to take advantage when they’re in season!

Apparently Noodle loves cherries too.  But he only like to bite the stems.

Speaking of Noodle, he has renewed his love of the papasan chair again. 

It’s so funny to walk around the corner and see his head peeking up from the papasan!

Noodle hanging out with Todd on the couch.

I cleaned up my craft desk this morning.  Because it looked like this.  I can’t start a new project if my desk is this messy.  This was the aftermath of June Project Life pages.  Now everything is in its place and I’m happy.

I know it’s still summer, but football is starting already!  Thursday night was the first pre-season game for the San Diego Chargers.  Last night was the Cleveland Browns game.  Todd was so ready to see Johnny Manziel in action!  We are looking forward to more football, that’s for sure!

Today we went to check out Napizza for lunch.  We had never been and had read good reviews of them.  Todd had a “Spice Me Up’ slice and a House Salad.

I had a slice of Bolognese and broccoli garbanzo bean soup.

We liked it!  The pizza crust is very different than what we’re used to (we usually eat New York, New Haven, or Sicilian-style thin crust).  But the flavors and variety at Napizza was impressive, and all very fresh.

That’s it for this week.  I wrote a Project Life process post for this Tuesday, so stayed tuned for that.  And don’t forget to apply for the One Little Bird Pocket Page team.  The deadline for applying is this Friday 8/15!

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Live Each Day To The Fullest

We received some sad news yesterday. While Todd was running, he received a call from his friend Julie’s husband, telling him that Julie died suddenly of a brain aneurism Friday night.  Julie was much younger than us.  Julie had a husband and a sweet two-year-old little boy.  We were shocked and saddened.  Todd was supposed to have lunch with her and some other friends next week.  We are once again reminded of how fragile life is, and to live everyday to the fullest, with the people we love the most.

In memory of Julie, I found a photo of Todd and Julie at the work baby shower that Todd had organized for Julie two years ago.

Todd was nominated to organize the baby shower, since there were no other women in the IT department to do it. Even though I didn’t know Julie as much as Todd did, I feel so sad. I feel so sad for her husband and little boy, and her close-knit family. My prayers go to all of them for strength, peace, and comfort at this difficult time.

Yesterday’s sad news put life at a much different perspective than the days before.  I’m so thankful that our lives and good times are documented in photos and words. In December my coworker’s 14-year-old daughter committed suicide.  I saw him in January and one of the first things he said to me was, “I realize now how important photos are”. Photos. Words. Memories. Love. That’s what we are left with when someone we love passes on.

I’ve always tried to celebrate the small things in life, as well as the big things. Every day is a chance to do things we love and spend time with people we care about. In honor of that, and in honor of Julie, here was our past week in photos and words.

Last Saturday (3/1) I finally got to spend some time with my long-time (since we were 12!) friend Sally and her toddler twins.

The twins have grown so much and are talking now. It was so good to catch-up with Sally and hear about her current life.

I love that her smile today is exactly the same as her smile in 1997 in this funny picture of the two of us.

As long as we’re talking about Sally and I’s long-time friendship, might as well go way back to the 80’s for this one.  I’m in the black Giants shirt. Sally in blue. Yes, I was into sports even as a teenager. (See my Joe Montana poster on my wall in the background.)

I need to remember all our great times together, and try to get together more often.

Celebrating something small… I ran out of k-cups for my Keurig and Todd bought me these Kona Blend ones and they really are fantastic!  Great discovery.

Last Sunday (3/2) Todd and I went back to a restaurant we hadn’t been in about a year, Liang’s Kitchen. They have Chinese comfort food, which was perfect for a rainy Sunday. We had green onion pancakes.

Sour cabbage & garlic pork noodles.

And Ji Cai wonton noodle soup. (Meat + veggie wontons in a soup with seaweed & green onions.)

Everything was really good. Glad we went back there and looking forward to more visits.

On Friday night we went to a new-to-us pizza place called “Best Pizza & Brew”.

Todd really loved the pizza there. I liked it too, but pizza is still slightly hard to chew for me with my braces.

Afterwards we had frozen yogurt at Yogurtland.

Yesterday was our next door neighbor Fred’s combined birthday and retirement party. Annie went overboard and made all this food by herself!

My plate was loaded with brunch goodness.

Fred is passionate about coffee and roasts his own beans. He built a coffee-roasting shack in his backyard. This was the coffee selection yesterday!

Each carafe had a label describing the coffee bean.

It should come as no surprise that Fred has built a coffee bar in his living room then. This is our friend Andy (the espresso master for the day) and Todd, discussing coffee and work.

Unfortunately we did not get a photo of Fred, since he was in high-demand at the party. That wrong will need to be righted with a retro-photo soon!  Great party! Happy retirement, Fred!

From our own kitchen lately…

(Yes, I’ve decided that tripod photos of doing mundane things together is cool.)

Chicken Piccata (from this Turkey Piccata recipe, made with chicken instead.)

Chicken Udon Soup (this recipe)

And yesterday we made these Chicken Enchiladas and they were delicious! Todd hates cheese so only half had cheese on it.

The cheesy half!

On my plate. Yum!

I spent some time yesterday prepping and printing out my 2nd half of February photos for Project Life.

And then working on it. It really gives me joy to see my photos and to work on my pages.

As for the Noodle-meister, he’s been a crazy snuggling cat. Here he is, snuggling on Todd’s lap and arm while Todd played a video game on his computer, LOL.

Such cuteness.

Yesterday was a super-sunny day in the neighborhood.

Here’s to more sunny days ahead, and being thankful and living life to the fullest each day.

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