Fabulous Adventures of Listgirl

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Saturday Wine Tasting

Our friends Dejah and Roby invited us to go wine tasting on Saturday, partly as a belated birthday celebration for Dejah. So we ate some lunch at home and then headed to Vintage Wines to meet up with them, plus Sally.

The tasting for the day was all Pinot Noir wines. It's not my favorite but for $5, Todd and I shared a tasting, and getting together with friends is always fun!

Dejah and Roby brought some pate and bread

and Humboldt Fog cheese and crackers

Todd stayed away from both the pate and the cheese, LOL!

Sally enjoying some of the pinot noir.

Dejah and Roby also brought a red velvet bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes.

We sang happy birthday and Dejah blew out the wine cork shaped candle.

Nicole and Maria also showed up. Here we are, the whole gang!

Hello Spring!

Wow, time flies when you're busy! Or maybe time just flies when you have a cold in January, another cold in February + a sinus infection, then allergies in March! I've meant to process photos and blog about the weekend yesterday but got too involved with a new project. What is this new project you say? I will have a sneak peek coming in a few days, plus a chance to win it. Plus later tonight I'll be back with another blog post.

I took the day off work yesterday. I've been very busy working behind the scenes on TWO great new adventures! :) After I closed my personal store ListgirlDesigns.com, and then Little Dreamer Designs closed its doors, I had planned to take a designing break. But some opportunities came my way, and my break ended up very short-lived, ha ha. So, starting April, I will be selling my digital scrapbook designs at TWO stores! If you have been to my Facebook fan page, you will get a hint as to which two stores they are. I will make the announcements next week! In the meantime, if you're not already subscribed to my newsletter, you can subscribe here. Why? Because I will have an exclusive limited-time freebie for my newsletter subscribers on my opening day at both stores! Free stuff is good! :)

New 52 | Week 11: Almost Perfect

We were in San Francisco this past weekend, attending my cousin Bertha's movie premiere of "Almost Perfect", the second feature film that she wrote and directed. You can read about the cast and crew party on Saturday night here.

Sunday was the actual movie premiere. We had brunch with Bertha at Urban Tavern, the restaurant inside our hotel. Then we went back to our rooms and got ready for the premiere. Bertha left with the cast/crew, while Todd and I didn't have to be there so early so we took a taxi later to the Clay Theater.

Bertha had reserved tickets for us. Just when we got into the theater to pick up our tickets, the cast and crew lined up for photos. Todd was like a paparazzi and took lots of photos!

L to R: Ivan Shaw (lead actor), Tina Chen, Edison Chen, Bertha Bay-Sa Pan, Derrick Tseng, Sam Chase, Jim Chu.

L to R: Edison Chen, Bertha Bay-Sa Pan, Derrick Tseng, Sam Chase, Jim Chu, unknown, Derrick Huang.

Bertha got to introduce the film before it started.

The movie was wonderful! I laughed and cried, along with the rest of the audience. I was really cheering for the couple, Vanessa (Kelly Hu) and Dwayne (Ivan Shaw) to make it, despite Vanessa's dysfunctional family meddling in.

There was a Q A session after the movie with the cast and crew.

The whole experience of this movie premiere, the party, and hanging out with my cousin Bertha was awesome! It was fun to ask her questions about the movie and seeing the audience reactions as well. She said it's really neat to see how the audience reacted for the first time, to hear people laugh at the funny parts, and cry at the touching parts.

After the movie, we took a taxi cab to my auntie Rose and uncle Solomon's condo. Their condo is right along the embarcadero, with views of the Bay Bridge and the Ferry Building. It's spectacular!

We walked to dinner at Bund Shanghai Restaurant and the food was spectacular. My uncle Sol ordered everything and we got to eat some tasty food! I don't know why, but we didn't take photos of the awesome food, or photos with my uncle Sol and auntie Rose! What a shame! :(

The next morning (Monday), we had brunch with Bertha before we headed to the airport to fly back to San Diego. I had a turkey avocado sandwich, which was very yummy.

Bertha and I being goofy, sans makeup. So glamorous! :p

The flight back was uneventful, which is always good. I always love the view coming into San Diego!

Looking toward Coronado into the sunset.

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About This Project

New52 is a project started by Peppermint and I to encourage each other and others around us to try something new every week in 2011. The "new" each week doesn't have to be something big. It could be something as simple as ordering a new dish instead of old standbys at your favorite restaurant. It's simply opening your heart up to NEW possibilities.

Don't worry if you're late getting started on joining in. It's totally OK if you miss a week here or there. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind about trying something new. This is a life project, and a photography/blog and even scrap challenge if you wish. If you participate this week, please leave a link to your blog post in the link list below. You can also post images to our New 52 Flickr Group! We would love to see what you were inspired to do.

Hobnobbing

A few weeks ago I got an email from my cousin Bertha. She's a writer/director/producer and owner of her production company Slew Pictures. She wrote, produced, and directed an indie movie called "Face", which premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. She's made a second movie, "Almost Perfect", starring Kelly Hu, Ivan Shaw, and Hong Kong superstar Edison Chen. She invited us to the world premiere of "Almost Perfect" at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Todd and I debated for a couple of days and decided to fly up to San Francisco and attend the movie premiere and party the night before. How often does one get invited to such an event and get to hobnob with talented actors and film crew? Most importantly, I don't see Bertha as often as I'd like because she lives in New York City.

We arrived in San Francisco on Saturday afternoon around 2:00pm. After a BART ride downtown to our hotel, we rested and grabbed a quick dinner at Naan N Curry across the street. It was pretty good Indian food, but not as good as our San Diego local favorite, Punjabi Tandoor!

After dinner, Bertha met us and we walked over to the Otis Lounge for the cast and crew party. As soon as we walked into the party, I saw my auntie Rose and uncle Solomon (my mom's oldest brother). My cousin Erica was also there!

The party was in full swing.

My cousin Erica talking with Bob, a family friend.

Auntie Rose, me, Bertha, and Erica.

Bertha, Bob, and Erica.

Auntie Rose, Bertha, Erica, and Uncle Solomon.

We met and chatted with the lead actor of the movie, Ivan Shaw.

Here he is in a production still of a scene from "Almost Perfect", with actress Kelly Hu.

Kelly couldn't make it to San Francisco for the premiere, because she's filming a TV series pilot with Don Johnson (yes, of "Miami Vice") called "Mann's World".

More chatting and having fun.

Around 10:30pm, I felt tired all of a sudden. We headed out with my cousin Erica. On the way out and while saying goodbye to Bertha for the night, we were introduced to Hong Kong star Edison Chen. (Think Asian Justin Timberlake. He acts, sings, raps, and has his own clothing company.)

The next day, while having breakfast with Bertha at the hotel, she told me that they went to a film festival after-party and stayed out until 3:00am! With the daylight savings time change, it was 4:00am. Wow, I'm way too old for that! Glad I got some good rest on Saturday night. I'm so proud of Bertha and all her accomplishments, yet she's the same down to earth cousin that I grew up with. We still giggle around like we did when we were six years old. I'll blog about the actual movie premiere as my New 52 blog post tomorrow! :)

More Years, More Love

I used to worry about getting older, but ever since my mom passed away four years ago, I don't worry about it anymore. Each year is a blessing. I never cease to be amazed and thankful on my birthday, and today was no exception!

I started a new tradition last year of taking a self-portrait on my birthday. Here's my picture for this year.

Shortly after I woke up this morning, Todd escorted me downstairs, where I found our dining table like this.

The shamrocks are See's milk chocolate candies. Todd knows that they're one of my favorite chocolates. When my dad and Shelly got married a few years ago, they gave out heart-shaped See's chocolates and that was when we discovered how good they were. So Todd made a special effort to find them for me. :)

Inside the bags, I found these.

I had seen the architectural book at a bookstore once and mentioned how much I love modern homes, and to combine that with a tropical location is just perfection. He got the book for me! He also got me an Eye-Fi card for my camera. I had been eying that because this 8GB camera SD card is WiFi enabled and allows you to upload your photos to a specified folder on your computer automatically when you're within WiFi range! Not only that, but you could take it to any WiFi enabled spot and upload the photos on the card to Flickr, Facebook, Photobucket, etc. I'm so excited to try it out! Todd also got me a magnifying mirror, because I needed one to pluck my eyebrows, LOL. I loved his gifts. I'm always amazed at how observant he is, and how he gives great gifts.

Back on Saturday, I got text messages from Peppermint, excitedly telling me she bought my birthday gifts and they're arriving piece by piece from Amazon. She said, "It'll be like 12 days of your birthday!" Earlier last week she had IM'ed Todd and asked about stuff I'd want, and he had told her, "Well, she likes experiences". So she gave me gifts that will enhance my life with the new experience of SEWING!

I bought a sewing machine last year and haven't had a chance to play with it yet! This will be so perfect and I can't wait to get some supplies and fabric and make something.

Also last weekend, I got a Facebook message from my blog friend Christi, who asked me for my address so she could send me a birthday gift. I was so surprised! Her gift arrived today.

Isn't it the perfect gift for Listgirl??! I flipped through the book and many of those prompts for lists could totally be made into a scrapbook page! I'm very excited about this! :)

Then, my dad and Shelly, and my sister called to wish me a happy birthday today. I was surprised because my dad almost never remembers my birthday. We had a nice chat and I felt so loved by my family. I felt so loved by my friends too! For every year that I'm alive, there's more love in my life. I'm so blessed and thankful!

I got a card in the mail, and an email from my mother-in-law today. She gave me two tickets to the "Steel Magnolias" show by the Lamb's Player Theater in Coronado. That will be so fun! And it wasn't just the gift. I always love getting emails from her because she expresses how much she loves me and enjoys having me in the Newman family. She's a great mother-in-law.

Then I got many birthday well-wishes from old friends and new friends on Facebook. It's just been a great day.

Todd took me to dinner at Prep Kitchen in Del Mar. We had never been there so I was excited to try the food out. For tonight, Weight Watchers went out the door! :p

My birthday sangria.

The only thing dismaying was that due to low lighting in the restaurant and having only my small P&S Canon, the photos turned out pretty crappy. Oh well.

We ordered two tapas, which were only $3 each during happy hour. The beets and goat cheese.