Happy Birthday to Mom!

Well, I'm generally not such an attentive daughter, but Mom's birthday deserves a post--my first post in almost a month, no less! Today, she is either 74 or 75. I'm never sure which, because she says that her dad messed up on her birth year when he did the paperwork to bring the family from mainland China to Taiwan during the cultural revolution. So whatever is on her driver's license is wrong, but I can never remember which year is the correct one (an excellent example of inattentive daughterness). Actually, today's date is also not the one on her driver's license. Her license says March 13, which was the day she was born on...but in the lunar calendar. At some point, my uncle looked up the solar date that was equivalent to the lunar date in the year that she was born (although now that I think of it, I wonder if he looked up the year that she was born in or the year that it says on her driver's license...), and it was April 18.

At any rate, here is one of the most recent pics I have of Mom, taken at Lake Tahoe last year when she was visiting us:

Happy Birthday, Mom...I'll call you before the day is over, I promise.

And I'd like you to meet...

Where are my manners? I have completely forgotten to introduce the major players in my life. These are the folks that I share my life with, so they definitely deserve a formal introduction.

First, there is Cliff, my husband and partner in procrastination, with his infinite good humor (in the face of my frequently frenetic and impulsive craziness):

Likes: sleeping in, sunny days, hiking, cycling, tennis, Bruce Springsteen, cafes with free wi-fi, beaches, New Jersey. Dislikes: rain, driving fast, mayonnaise, egg salad, unkind words, when voices are digitized in songs, bulls%*@ (bureaucratic, personality, or other) that gets in the way of trying to cure cancer.

And of course, there is Napali, the light of our lives, our muttly little rascal with the funny ears:

Likes: sleeping in, walking along the back of the couch, snacks, under-the-collar scratches, other dogs, swimming, dog parks, hiking, licking CGT's head. Dislikes: the cat next door, late bedtimes, baths, being touched or poked lightly in the side in some mystery spot (maybe it tickles?), getting her toenails trimmed, being left home alone.

Lastly but not leastly are actually the most veteran members of this family, Squeak and Kasey. Here is Squeak, with attitude written all over her face ("hurry up and get out of my face with that camera"):
Likes: water from the faucet, canned fish (any kind), clean kitty litter, birds in the backyard, spaghetti sauce, rubbing up on people (especially if they're wearing black). Dislikes: loud noises, being picked up and carried.

And Kasey, looking all sweetness and innocence (don't let it lull you into complacency):

Likes: water from the faucet, laser pointers and flashlights, dust motes in the sunlight, catnip, furry toys, soccer on TV, taking random swipes at the dog. Dislikes: loud noises, sudden movement.

Catching up

Okay, it's Friday night and I'm going to actually force myself to come back to this thing and catch up. And while I haven't used my camera nearly as much as I have been meaning to (I keep forgetting that I have it with me), I'm glad that I've at least taken a few pictures to jog my memory...otherwise I'd really have no idea what I've been doing for the last couple weeks.

Let's see, after a month and a half, we finally got together with Doug for dinner. CGT and I met him and his new gf (Karen) at his apartment in Midtown and walked over to 58^o And Holding for a bit of wine before dinner. I'm afraid that I have a horrible memory for wine labels and vintages, but I do know that I found both a zinfandel and a malbec to be quite yummy. After some discussion, we then trekked over to a new-ish Vietnamese restaurant that Doug had read about in Sacramento Magazine. After a gazillion ten blocks, we arrived at Tamarind, which was not at all what I expected--it was shiny and luncheonette-ish and operated by clearly non-Vietnamese staff. Still, I was optimistic...but I would have to say that my first impression was right. You wouldn't think anyone could mess up pho, but it was some pretty untasty stuff. We finished ourselves off with a trip to Rick's Dessert Diner, though, so I couldn't be too dissatisfied...plus, on the way to Rick's was this lovely emblem painted on the sidewalk.

Had to snap a shot for Steve (and Webb), who until this moment were the only people I knew to use this lovely term.

Other momentous events:

• I got my uber exciting, absolutely perfect, slightly belated birthday present from Dani! I love the color, the fabric, the size, the pockets, the zipper pulls, everything. Here it is, isn't it lovely?

• The combination of early daylight savings time and our frighteningly global-warming-ish heat wave induced me to run out to Capital Nursery and buy all sorts of veggie and herb and flowering plants. Of course, by the time I got home, I was too wiped out to actually garden. A few plants (impatiens and alyssum for the front pots, and strawberries for the strawberry pot that has been home to dead strawberry brethren for 2 years) got planted during the week, and I'm going to hit the rest of them tomorrow.

• Our first Secret Pal exchange was yesterday. I have such a bad poker face, I don't know how long I'm going to be able to sit through the exchanges without giving myself away. My St. Patty's Day gift to my Pal consisted of some herbal bath, peppermint soap, a pouch (knitted from Soysilk Oasis) holding a 4-leaf clover charm, and stitchmarkers I made from beads from The Bead Fetish. I got four skeins of Berrocco Cotton Twist in a blue/green/brown colorway (what to make, what to make...?).

Impatience rewarded

Itcameitcameitcame!!! Isn't it a pretty, shiny box?
It actually came around 1:20pm, but I've been busy charging the battery, reading skimming the instructions, playing with my new toy. Of course, now that I have taken gobs of high resolution photos, I have come to the realization that I only have 217MB free on my hard drive. Hmm. Probably not such a good thing. Maybe I will delete the old photos I have on here since they are already saved to the backup drive. That should give me enough room to have some breathing room and download the new pics. Then it'll be time to think seriously about portable hard drive options...

But in the meanwhile, here are some offerings:

Waiting....

I have to say that I still don't quite get this blogging thing. Maybe partially because I haven't told anyone (other than CGT) that I have a blog because I'm not really sure that I want anyone to read it. I mean, I'm just not really all that sure that I have anything to say that anyone else would find interesting. I think I'm really sort of doing this to try and make sure that my days don't just fly by unnoticed (by me). But then I think, what's the point if no one reads it. Oh well, I'll think about whether I'm going to tell DLJ (who is all bloggyful).

So why do I have time to blog in the middle of a day on a weekday? Because I'm working from home today (well, clearly not right now) so that I can wait for my CAMERA to be delivered!!! Yay!!! They tried to deliver it yesterday but no one was home and they won't leave it without a signature.

Sigh. Waiting.

The Culmination of Many a New Year's Resolution Unfulfilled

I actually don't usually make New Year's resolutions (why make a big deal out of a promise that you won't keep anyway?), but if there was a New Year's resolution that I would have made all these years, it would be the oh-so-cliche Lose Weight promise. I have always been of the rounder variety of Asian (not one of those tiny Asians that creepy guys are always seeking in personal ads), and I do find food to be one of the great joys in life, so I have always been somewhat resigned to being overweight. So in the past, my weight has always sort of gradually crept up--I'd stay at some plateau for a few years, and then I'd go through a bad stretch of emotional eating or sedentary lifestyle and gain a few pounds. A few pounds here, a few pounds there added up to probably about 30 pounds in the 15ish years since high school. To a girl who always felt that fat was her fate, it seemed like a normal pattern of events. Now, that's not to say that I didn't struggle against this weight gain--I have dieted and felt guilty and lost weight and gained weight my whole life. I'm just saying (and maybe this is a formula for failure) that I've never been surprised by the gradual net gain.

This year has been different. Shockingly different. This year, I slack on controlling my eating--I gain 10 pounds. I slow down the eating--I lose maybe 1 pound. I start on an exercise routine--I lose maybe another pound. I fall of the wagon and go out to eat alot--I gain another 10 pounds. I don't exercise for a week, I gain another 5 pounds. It's crazy. I guess this is what people talk about when they say their body changes suddenly when they get older? Because I also have been growing myself in areas that I never gained weight before--my ass is huge, my hips are super wide, my thighs have gotten big. I feel like Eddie Murphy in the Nutty Professor. Only I have no excuse (aside from being lazy, addicted to food, and apparently old).

So turning 35 and being at this weight has spurred me to get serious about this. I really would like a new body (or a smaller version of my own), and I vow to believe that I can achieve one. I am working on setting weight-loss goals along with incentives at each step of the way. I am going to eat better and eat less and think about consequences when I eat. I have enrolled in Busy People Fitness' Boot Camp. If it ever stops raining on Sunday and Monday, I'll be playing soccer twice a week, and I'm going to try to make it to the gym on the days in between. Yup, as much as I hate to admit it, this aging woman has no time to put this off anymore.

On a separate note, CGT finally ordered my birthday present!!! He was sweet and helped me research the different kinds and gave me his opinion (I finally settled on this), but I had to bug him and bug him to actually order the thing...even though I had sent him the exact links to the best-priced deal. So soon I can actually add some photos to this thing and maybe it won't look (be?) so dull.

Born Yesterday

Well, I suppose it's altogether fitting that I managed to set up this blog yesterday but didn't manage to post until today. My intention was to commemorate my 35th birthday with starting this blog so that I could begin to document (and thus keep track of?) my life's thoughts, reflections, philosophies, events...but it's okay if it's a day late, right? Nevermind that my Year 35 blip of wisdom is that I need to start measuring my life more carefully so that I make sure that I can do all the things that I want to do and not keep putting them off until "later". Off to a great start here. Oh well, better late than never.

My birthday was very nice--got up late, dropped CGT off at work and I went to the gym. I'm allowed to go to the gym instead of work on my birthday, right? So maybe yesterday wasn't the most productive work day as a result: I got to work around 11am, we all went to lunch at 12:15pm (Great Wall Mongolian BBQ and Leatherby's for dessert) and didn't get back til about 3:30pm. Then I spent the rest of the day goofing around on Blogger and filling out my knitting group's Secret Pal exchange questionnaire. I think I must have done some sort of work-like activity at some point, but I think it was pretty minimal. I took off from work around 5:30pm (late) for my knitting class at My Secret Stash, had a productive little knit-in working on the blocks for S's surprise. Next week I'll return to my sock endeavor...socks were the original reason for the class, but I have been taking a break due to various glitches and my fairly petulant response to these sorts of glitches.

After class, I rushed over to Tupelo to turn in my questionnaire, but no one knitty was there. Oh well, next week I guess. With dinner reservations at 8:15pm, I had to scurry over to work to pick up CGT, but for once, I was relatively early. We made it over to Mason's in plenty of time, AND found a primo parking spot on the street. Despite the general Sacramento-trying-to-be-Manhattan ambience of The Park, dinner was amazing. I would say that it was the best service I've ever had in Sacramento, with knowledgeable waitstaff that was both inobtrusive yet genuinely friendly. The food was excellent too, although my favorite part of my meal was actually the roasted beet, avocado, and citrus salad. Yum! Of course, I ate too much and CGT had to drive us home. I promptly fell into a food coma on the couch and didn't wake up until 2am.

No photos for the blog yet, I'm afraid. My requested birthday present does not seem to have made an appearance at any time during my birthday. I'm kind of sad, because this girl does love having presents to unwrap ON her birthday (who doesn't?). But with all that CGT does for me (and forgives me for) in everyday life, I really shouldn't be a brat about it, even if it's my natural tendency. He probably wanted to discuss so that we could make sure to get what I really want anyway. Very nice of him and practical too. Something to unwrap would have killed him though? A pack of these would have made a girl pretty happy...