Thalassa

I'd been pining to go to Thalassa in Berkeley for a drink and some good company, and it turned into a reunion of sorts - complete with a blast from the past named Garrett. Good times for sure, including some "moments" caught on sound and video in the bathroom with Renee, Judy, and Rina, and some um, "OMG" moments afterwards...

_The girls - and Garrett
_ me and Nee, passing the time taking pictures
_... and this time with Judy
_the girls taking advantage of Rina
_Justin
_legs
_Judy
_Irwin

Bake Sale!

We had a bake sale at work a few weeks ago, benefiting the Children's Miracle Network and the Children's Hospital in Oakland. It was a huge success, and my team won! We raised the most money, thanks to our Cookie Grams. My Angel Lush Cupcakes turned out to be a huge success and it was completely sold out before the bake sale ended - woohoo! It felt great to bake for a good cause.

_The table set up next to us had this beautiful fall theme
_The table next to the Fall table was decorated in Harry Potter theme - unfortunately I didn't get to try the maple bacon cupcake...
_Cute mini cupcakes with regular sized cupcakes
_I forget what the other two pictures are of, but they just looked delicious
_Our cupcake stand, the Walmart cupcakes and my Angel Lush Cupcakes

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Had a date with Ai one Saturday. I was going to get a haircut and a perm at this Japanese salon and the Yelp reviewers' only complaint about the place was that they didn't speak English very well. So naturally, I enlisted Ai's help. And it was a good excuse to spend some much needed girl time with her. I ended up loving my hair and I'm definitely going back to the salon because they were fabulous. The rest of the day was spent shopping, mainly in Japan Town for the most ridiculous Hello Kitty stuff, one of which ended in both of us buying matching Hello Kitty wallets. I know. We ended the night with a photoshoot back at her apartment that was supposed to be slumber party themed but turned into a "what can we do with these Minnie ears? And Hello Kitty shorts?" As always, love this girl.

Photo Diary: Labor Day Weekend @ Lake Tahoe

I had intended to go to So Cal for Labor Day Weekend, but that ended up not happening, so I managed to convince some friends to go to Lake Tahoe since the weather was gorgeous. Let's just say it was.. an epic weekend. I'm not allowed to say/show what happened, but we had a lot of good food, the company was great, and the weather was perfect. Minus my sunburn, it was a great holiday weekend.

_The guys were eager to fish, and we somehow stumbled upon this pond... beautiful, but no fish
_Kiki fishing with her Disney Princess fishing pole
_Justin feeding a squirrel
_Kiki, my new bff
_The best breakfast - prepared by the men
_End of fishing - caught a total of 14 fish? They were pulling them out of the water every 5 minutes so they were ridiculously happy
_tanning at the beginning of the day - ended with a bad sunburn, but at least no tanlines
_Justin prepping the fish, and the final product. Y U M.

Photo Diary: The Birthplace of Walmart

This post has been a long time coming, but I've FINALLY settled down and gotten my act together.

These were taken during a work trip to Bentonville, Arkansas, the birthplace of Walmart. It was definitely a different world over there, but the people were so pleasant and pretty much EVERYONE has worked or know someone who works at Walmart. I was quite surprised to see a few Target's there but I found out they were actually in the neighboring towns. I love Walmart.

_Welcome sign at the Bentonville Town Square
_Old freight container
_The "first" Walmart - Sam Walton's first Five and Dime
_Signage at the Home Office
_City Hall
_Cute fireplace in equally cute cupcake shop across from the Five and Dime
_Flowers at the cupcake shop
_One of many Sam Walton plaque quotes at the Walmart Visitor's center

Julie and Julia

WOW. I've been gone for a while haven't I? I've been busy, busy, busy, at work and on the weekends and when I get home the very LAST thing I want to do is go back to the computer. And when I FINALLY had some down time.. all my favorite shows came back!

But over the weekend, I watched Julie and Julia, and am now on this craze to blog and cook/bake. Am in dire need of Bakerella's book, Hisako Ogita's Macaron book, and of course, Julia Child's French Cook book. Mmmmmm butter and sweet, cake pop goodness. Speaking of the movie, it's on right now and can't seem to change the channel even though I know Glee is on. Crazy.

Anyway. I have a bunch of pictures to upload, and these are a few that I found I had missed from my previous posts.

Happy Birthday Mama!!

I have no idea how old my mom was when these pictures were taken (I think I remember her telling me she was still in her early twenties). All I remember is how much I used to just stare at my mom's old pictures and dream of her clothes and how gorgeous she looked. No wonder my dad loved taking pictures of her.

Happy Birthday to the most FABULOUS (and fashionable) woman I know. I love you Mommy.