Category Archive: family

Weekend of parties in Long Beach!

Posted by Lisa On May 31st, 2011

Wednesday, May 25

Kevin and I got on the road on Wednesday evening with the Lola in tow. The drive down was pretty uneventful (the best kind of trip down the 5 highway, I’d say!) and we got in at midnight.

Pretty cows out to graze!

Lola was quite intrigued by the cows

Our pretty little girl stretching out her legs

Thursday, May 26th

We were fortunate enough to stay at Kevin’s parent’s house for the trip and were treated to a yummy breakfast of eggs and toast. We just hung out most of the day, running some errands and soaking in the sun (oh, the sun!) As Dorothy was watering the garden, she quickly learned how much Lola LOVES the garden hose…

Watering her grandpup! Haha

That evening we met up for dinner at Lucille’s BBQ (our go-to place when we’re in town!) with none other but Brianne, Brian and Brianne’s sister Laura.

Oh how I’ve missed you!

Cutie pie

Kevin and Brian, stuffed silly

Kevin and Lola, posing for a photo at home

Friday, May 27th

For the few weeks leading up to our trip down south I was working with Kevin’s mom and sister Judith to plan a surprise graduation party for Kevin on Friday night. We had a guest list of around 40 people and were anxious to get the party started! But first, a lot of shopping and preparations to make sure that Kevin didn’t find out until the last possible minute (and since we were staying with his parents it proved to be a little difficult!)

The plan that afternoon was to have his brother Thomas take him out for a few hours while Dorothy, George, Judith and I prepared the food, cleaned the house, and got the backyard all ready to go. Unfortunately, Thomas had to go to work at 6pm (the same time the party started) so he had to drop Kevin off at 5:30, so the surprise was a little premature. Nevertheless, Kevin was extremely surprised and had not idea what we had up our sleeves!

The guests started arriving…

Dan, Judith and Kevin

Jessie and her niece Lola (with Valerie, Vanessa and Rose in the background!)

Dan, Chris, Kevin, Brian, Dominic and Jayme

Same as above plus Dorothy, Loren, Shani, Andrea and Ron

Jess and Brianne

Mmm…veggie skewers! Oh yeah, and burgers & hot dogs for the carnivores

Christian (my mom’s boyfriend Steve’s grandson)

Lola and her new best “friend” Christian (he quickly wore her out [which is not an easy thing to do!] and so she got a little annoyed towards the end of the party since he was still full of energy and wanted to play!)

Me and Brianne

Kev and Jessie

Jess and Matt

After chowing down we brought out the cakes and said a little something about the man of the hour–for those of you that don’t know, Kevin just completed a two year Aviation Mechanics program at the College of Alameda. It was a full-time program in which Kevin went to school from 4:30-10:30 every night for two years. He ended up at the top of his class (no surprise here!) and just last week, at the recommendation of his instructor, was offered a job at Rolls Royce working on the V-22 Osprey engine! It was SO great being able to celebrate Kevin and all of his accomplishments with the people that love him and it was even more wonderful that he was able to announce his new job just a week out of school. We’re all so proud of you, Kev!

Applauding the guest of honor

The ADORABLE airplane cake the Dorothy baked and Shani decorated

It also happened to be Dan’s birthday so we sang a little song for him and gave him a cupcake to celebrate

Christian said he wanted the candle (not the cupcake, surprisingly) and said he was going to save it to put it on *his* birthday cake

A Cookie Monster cupcake will do that to you

I think everyone who attended really enjoyed celebrating Kevin and his accomplishments, thank you to everyone who was able to make it!

Saturday, May 28th

The main reason we made the trip to Long Beach this weekend was to celebrate with my good friends Kim and Frank on the day they got hitched!!

That morning we met up with my mom, Jessie, the Julians and Matt’s girlfriend Alexis at what other place but The Potholder?!

The whole gang

The wedding was scheduled to start at 4:30pm at the Art Theater in Long Beach–such a cool wedding venue!

The marquee said “A Love Story: Kimberly and Frank”…so cute!!

Jess, Steve, me, Kevin and my Auntie Tina in front of the theater

Me and Jess all dolled up

Me and Kev on the red carpet

Inside the theater they were showing silent films

Steve chowing on some popcorn (they had bags of it in the lobby for people to eat!)

Me and my mama

The ceremony was short and sweet, officiated by Kim’s dad Guy (who actually married Kevin and I as well!)

Kim and her mama Terry walking down the aisle. What a beautiful bride!

The reception was behind the theater under a big tent…

Beautiful flower arrangement centerpieces

Lots and lots of wine for the masses!

Me and my party dress

Guy greeting my Auntie Tina and Jessie

Kim coming by to say hi

Hugs all around!

Matt and Alexis with the bride

Portrait of the bride…

…and the flower girl Bella

Me, mom, Tina, Jess and Kim (LOVE this photo!)

Me and Shan

Kim and Frank cracking up at Stacey (maid-of-honor’s) hilarious toast

The shoes…so perfect!

First dance

And Bella decided it was her time to show off her firefighter pole slide!

Susuico family dance (Stacey, Jay, Bella and Tasi)

Mom and Frank dancing

Kim and Steve dancing

Dancin’ shoes (mom and Jess)

Mom and Steve

Diane and Dave

Jess and Terry

Pretty sister!

Me and Kev (our obligatory shot)

They had an awesome candy bar for people to fill up little popcorn bags with treats…

The kiddos could be found swarming the table most of the evening

I swear she posed that way on her own! Haha

Their cake was AMAZING–made by one of her girlfriends Diana! And it tasted better than it looks, no joke.

The adorable orange bride and groom to go with the citrus theme.

The ol’ hula gang! Sayuri, Cat, Kim, mom and me

Finally warm enough weather to wear something that shows off my tattoo!

The evening was perfect and we felt so incredibly fortunate to be able to celebrate with our good friends Kim and Frank as they start a new life together!!

Sunday, May 29th

After a late night we met up with Brianne and Brian at The Coffee Cup Cafe for some good eats.

Me and Bri

We hung out with them for a few hours trying to distract Brian as Brianne went out to prepare for his very own surprise party, this time to celebrate his birthday! That afternoon we had to pretend we were saying bye for good and that we wouldn’t be seeing him again until our next trip down, but little did he know that we’d be turning right back around to their apartment a few short hours later to celebrate with him and friends/family.

A video of the surprise!

Birthday banner made by Brianne

Cake!

We got the chance to see our friend Lara and meet her brand-new baby Audrey! Audrey was a total sweetheart and it was great being able to meet her after only seeing photos all this time.

Lara, Brianne and Audrey

Ted and Lara

Me and the flying baby!

Monday, May 30th

We were treated to a home-cooked breakfast of waffles covered in strawberries and a breakfast veggie stir fry (or bacon if your name is Kevin). It was nice being able to spend a couple of hours at home with Dorothy and George before making our way back home to SF.

Unfortunately the ride home was nowhere near as smooth as the ride down. 9 1/2 hours later we finally parked in front of our house. Let that be a warning to anyone who thinks they can avoid the awful traffic on the 5 on a holiday! 🙂

We had SUCH an awesome trip, thanks to everyone who made an effort to see us and we can’t wait to go back!

Bay to Breakers 12k

Posted by Lisa On May 23rd, 2011

My brother Derek and I ran in the centennial race of the Bay to Breakers 12k on Sunday 5/15–it was the first time that we ran a race together and I was so excited when he decided to run it with me!

The day before the race Derek, Kevin and I headed over to the B2B Expo to pick up our race bibs.

We saw Dean Karnazes! He’s the “ultra marathon man” who recently ran 50 marathons in all 50 states in 50 days!!

It was so cool seeing our names right next to each other

We had fun in the historical exhibit, showcasing 100 years of the race…

Me and Derek next to the infamous pink gorilla costume

Posing next to the 1983 shirt (the year I was born)

Derek not so happy about the lavender/pink 1986 shirt (the year he was born)

On the way back to the car we noticed this frightening sight…a random woman’s photo in a drain pipe. Wtf?!

Race morning! We were up bright-and-early to jump on the BART downtown to meet with all of the other runners. It was really cool being on the train full of runners, some even in costume.

Beautiful morning! Luckily the rain stopped for race day.

Sun breaking through the clouds over the Bay Bridge, minutes before the start of the race

Derek’s race number (out of 55,000 participants…he JUST made it!)

We felt like cows being herded to the starting line. Some folks decided it would be a good idea to bring bags and bags full of corn tortillas to fling amongst the crowd. Nothing like flying tortillas to pump up a crowd, I guess.

The aftermath

Starting line! Only 7.5 miles to go…

There were TONS of characters I saw along the way…

A group of people dressed in tighty whities

Flight attendants along the road directing the traffic

Smurfs

Escaped prisoners from Alcatraz

Muppets

Salmon (running upstream)

Mahna Mahna muppets

Up the awfully steep Hayes Street hill…

But at the top I was rewarded with the smiling face and the cheers of my co-worker Jayme! She even made me a sign saying “Go Lisa!”, so sweet! She and her husband came down from Marin County to visit with a friend who lives off of Alamo Square park so had front row seats to the race.

Me and Jayme

The “Up” characters

Bumblebees

Oompa Loompas

As I was nearing Golden Gate Park I finally saw my sister Jessie! And within a few minutes of our visit we saw my brother pass us by too! What perfect timing.

Running through Golden Gate Park

Mile 7!!

Self-portrait

The ocean, so close to the end!

The finish line!

Derek finished in 1 hour, 6 minutes and I finished in 1 hour, 34 minutes. Go us!

You can see our finish line photos here (my bib # is 47906 and Derek’s bib # is 54982).

You can also see a video clip of us crossing the finish line here! For some reason the first video clip shown isn’t of us, but if you just wait it out for a minute or so and let the video refresh on its own you’ll see us cross the finish line about 30 seconds later! You have to look us up individually by our bib numbers.

Gorilla dad and kids at the finish line

So unfortunately Derek and I hadn’t come up with a meeting place for after the race. I had my cell phone on me so was able to get in touch with Jessie but we had no way of getting a hold of Derek! And with 55,000+ people there, it was proving almost impossible to find him. We searched for at least an hour and Jess and I decided to just sit on a rock on the side of the road in hopes that we see him…and within 10 minutes guess who came walking by!

Proud finishers with our commemorative medals…

We then shuffled our way to breakfast at the Bashful Bull diner.

Derek and Jess

Such a beautiful day! The view of Bernal Hill from our apartment.

Lola getting some lovin’ from her Auntie Jessie

I was so incredibly sore after the race so after taking showers we all took a nap (in typical Delmar kid style!) It was so much fun running the B2B race, especially since Derek was there with me and Jess was there to cheer us on! We’ve got plans to run it (all three of us, and hopefully in costume) next year! 🙂

Movie/pool night at Brando’s

Posted by Lisa On May 14th, 2011

Our family friend Brandon lives in San Bruno and invited us to his apartment for some dinner, pool time and a movie night.

Brandon’s caprese salad

Jessie showing off our caesar salad and spinach/strawberry/poppyseed salad. We also had some amazing mac ‘n cheese made by Jess and sweet potato fries made by Matt.

Brando and Matt sharing a seat

It was Mother’s Day so we Skyped with Brando’s mom (and my second mom) Diane along with his dad Dave and brother Matt.

Dave showing off the roses from his garden

After stuffing ourselves silly we headed downstairs to the pool!

We could only handle the pool for a little bit so rushed over to the hot tub to warm up (and take some group shots)…

Matt, Brandon and Jess

After soaking in the water for a time we decided to dry off and chow down on some fudge brownies that Kevin and I made.

Kevin under water

After pruning up a bit we decided to head back to the apartment to watch a movie. Our choice? “White Noise 2” (which was good for a laugh!)

Dad & Mysty’s visit

Posted by Lisa On April 26th, 2011

The evening of the same day that we said bye to Thomas and Ashley, we welcomed my dad and his pup Mysty for a few days! They drove out from Las Vegas and got in around 8:30 pm on Wednesday April 20th. After catching up for a bit we hit the sack because we were all feeling pretty tired and Kevin and I had work the next morning.

Mysty was a little suspicious of us at first, haha!

While Kevin and I were at work on Thursday, my dad and Mysty made a trip down to San Jose to visit with my sister Jess and check out her apartment and her wine bar. That night the three of us went to dinner at our favorite Salvadoran restaurant Balompie. It was my dad’s second time having pupusas (but only the first time eating them at a restaurant) and I think we made a fan out of him! After stuffing ourselves silly we made our way up the street to El Rico Pan, a Salvadoran bakery, for some goodies and coffee. The pound cake was TO DIE FOR as well as the churro that Kevin swears by now so we’ll definitely have to make a trip (or two) back here.

All the yummy goodness within El Rico Pan bakery

Me and my dad with our pound cake!

On Friday while I was at work for a half day, Kevin and my dad took the pups to McLaren Park in our neighborhood to get the girls some exercise. They then made their way to Pier 39 and walked around a bit while I finished up things at the office. Once I was able to tear myself away, I jumped in the back of the car with the pups and we made our way to Golden Gate Park!

Me with barely enough room to sit with those two doggies in the backseat!

We made our way to (you guessed it!) Strawberry Hill and Stow Lake to take in the scenery and give ourselves and the dogs some exercise. Lots of nature to be seen…

Ducks, seagulls and a turtle

Two ducks and a whole group of tiny ducklings!

Lola was a thirsty dog by the end of the hike!

A super random little character tied up in the tree. Not sure what to make of it but felt the need to take a photo!

That night we took it easy, ordered in pizza from Pizzeria Sophia (it was our first time ordering from them…holy moly, such good pizza!) and watched some of the Laker game. It had been a couple of years since I saw my dad (and a few for Kevin) so it was great spending a few days with him. Hopefully a visit to Vegas is in the cards for Kevin and I in the near future! 🙂

Thomas & Ashley’s visit

Posted by Lisa On April 26th, 2011

Right on the heels of my trip to Napa with Jess, Kevin’s brother Thomas and his girlfriend Ashley came up for a 2-day visit! They were here early the morning of Monday 4/18 and left super early Wednesday morning (ahem, 4:30am wake up call!) but it was an adventurous two days to say the least. This was Ashley’s first time visiting SF so we pulled out all the stops for her visit. 🙂

We spent the afternoon enjoying the concrete Seward slides (see our first visit to the slides here) in the Castro. At first we only had a few scrap pieces of cardboard to slide down and they weren’t too useful when the slides were dewy so we were actually on our way back to the car when we spotted a brand-spankin’ new computer monitor box in all its glory just calling out our names. So after some slick maneuvering by Thomas (who, in essence, rummaged through this random person’s trash for our sliding enjoyment) we were on our way back to the slides to get some extreme sliding in.

Thomas and me

Kevin and Thomas (check out Kevin’s signature arm placement in this and the next photo, haha!)

Kevin and Ashley

The sliding was so extreme that on one ride down Thomas was propelled to his feet and then flat on his face! The craziest part was that none of us even noticed Thomas flying through the air and all we saw were his arms and legs flailing up while on his back as the end result. I’m still not quite sure how it happened.

There’s Thomas lying down in the slide! “Help me, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”

Me and Kevin

Awesome action shot of Thomas mid-slide

We then took a drive to our favorite part of Golden Gate Park, Stow Lake and Strawberry Hill. It was a bit drizzly and foggy but we made the most of it with a walk around the lake and a hike up the hill.

Thomas and Ashley sitting on the bridge over the lake (this was taken with a “miniature” mode on our camera, so cool!)

The green, green lake and its surroundings

Well hello Mr. Squirrel! He was anxious for some treats, too bad I tricked him and only wanted to take his photo.

Ashley & Thomas

Me & Kevin

Kooky brothers

Geronimo!

Thomas and the waterfall

Bluebird amongst the fire red leaves

We then made our way through the Presidio and ended up exploring some of the abandoned bunkers on the coast.

Great view of the Golden Gate Bridge in all its foggy glory

So apparently our camera also has a fish-eye lens mode–didn’t realize Kevin took this photo in that mode until later, hilarious!

Ashley, Thomas and the GGB

See how drizzly it was? Water was covering Kevin’s glasses.

We had a lovely evening introducing Ashley to the world of Indian Pizza at Zante Pizza. YUM!!!

The following day while I was at work the three amigos went to explore the Marin Headlands. They were trying to find the entrance to an underground bunker that apparently hasn’t been sealed shut and only a handful of people have been successful finding but, unfortunately (or fortunately?) they didn’t find it. Kevin is determined to find the thing.

Green, green everywhere in Marin!

One of the bunkers they explored

They met up with me at work and we went to dinner on Pier 39 at Wipeout Bar & Grill (just “okay” food, nothing to write home about…luckily I get a discount there because I work so close to the pier). We then had a nice long walk along the piers and made our way to Ghirardelli Square so that Ashley and I could share a super delicious chocolate fudge/peanut butter sundae. Mmm, mmm!

Thomas had to get an obligatory sourdough bowl and clam chowder; Kevin in front of the Chowder Hut

The “Penny Mist” boat docked near Fisherman’s Wharf

Two old(ish) men playing checkers on the corner of Beach & Hyde

We had to drop those two knuckleheads off at the airport at 4:30 in the morning the following day (yikes!) but we wish they could’ve spent at least another day or two exploring the city with us! Until next time (hint, hint!) 🙂

Weekend in Napa for Jessie’s birthday

Posted by Lisa On April 25th, 2011

My sister Jess celebrated her birthday in style in Napa and I was lucky enough to be the one she invited to tag along! 🙂 This was my first trip to Napa (Kevin and I visited Sonoma last year) so I was excited to see what the fuss was all about!

We made our first stop to Chappelet Winery which her friend Daniel works at. We spent a few wonderful hours there, sipping on some super yummy wines, taking in the amazing scenery, and enjoying each other’s company! My favorite wine we tasted was the Chenin Blanc and Jessie was in love with the Signature Cabernet.

The entrance to Chappelet

Jess sipping on the first of many wines we tasted

I love being in the dark, cool wineries surrounded by barrels and barrels of wine!

Our private tasting area!

Me and the barrels

We eventually joined in with a group that was tasting and touring the facility (Jessie’s friend Daniel is the one in the middle pouring)

Wine from the 1970’s

Jess on the tour

What a view!

Sister, sister!

After a few hours at Chappelet we were starving so made our way to Rutherford Grill. The food was super tasty but the company was even greater! 🙂

After stuffing ourselves silly we made our way to the hotel (which Jessie had won through a contest at work)–the Silverado Country Club. It was so fancy, we had to follow a guy in a golf cart to get to our room, ha!

That night we got out and explored downtown Napa at the Oxbow Public Market. It reminded us a lot of the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco with a lot of similar stores. Jess enjoyed a cup of joe from Ritual Coffee and we shared a super yummy tiramisu.

The next morning I woke up bright and early and am happy to report that I went for a 3 mile run while on vacation! You sure can’t beat the terrain–it was so gorgeous at 8 in the morning and it was such a treat being able to enjoy the views on foot instead of zooming down the road by car.

On the way back home we had some breakfast at Gillwoods Cafe which just hit the spot (yummy granola pancakes!)

Thank you Jessie for inviting me along to enjoy your birthday weekend with you! We’ve never taken a sisters trip before and we know we have to make this a regular thing!

Sarah’s visit

Posted by Lisa On April 25th, 2011

Kevin’s sister Sarah came up for a shotgun trip on April 10 and it was so good seeing her even if it was for only a few hours! We met up with her and her friend Dave who lives in SF at Toad Hall bar in the Castro for some drinks (and a few new friends as well).

Beautiful flower on our stroll to the bar

After throwing down a few drinks on such a lovely Sunday afternoon we took a quick cab ride to Chilango (yes, the same Mexican restaurant Kevin and I had gone to just the week before with my mom and Steve–it’s THAT good!)

Dave and Sarah

Me and Kev

D & S

We ended the evening afternoon at Blackbird bar for some final swigs. 🙂

Beautiful mural on our walk back to the car

Even though the trip was short and sweet, we had a blast catching up with Sarah since her move back to LA from New Orleans!

Weekend in LA

Posted by Lisa On March 2nd, 2011

I flew down to LAX on Fri. 2/11 for a work retreat at our LA campus and decided to stick around for the weekend to see some family! My mom and her boyfriend Steve came to pick me up in Alhambra and we went straight to one of my favorite restaurants out that way: Noodle World.

I spent most of my time with Mom and Steve out in San Pedro. We took a 2 mile walk down Paseo Del Mar and when we were looking out over Royal Palms beach, we happened to spot a mermaid!

But then we realized she wasn’t alone. Alas, she and her three friends were with a full crew taking photos.

We then enjoyed breakfast at the Lighthouse Deli (yummy batter-of-the-day pancakes!) That afternoon me and my mom went to visit my aunt in her new digs in Garden Grove. For those of you that know my family well, I’m happy to report that Tina is doing GREAT! 🙂

Then we made our way back to San Pedro to The Corner Store for a wine tasting benefiting the Marine Mammal Center of San Pedro.

Lots of incredible desserts like these fudgy, red velvet cake pops dipped in chocolate. AMAZING!!

Then we zipped on over to Busy Bee (a famous sandwich shop that I had heard so many good things about but had never tried before) to buy a boatload of sandwiches to enjoy with Brianne & Brian and my brother Derek who were coming over to Steve’s for dinner and games!

Mmm…check out that greasy goodness on the sandwich wrappers. 🙂

Brianne and Brian and Catalina Island in the background

Not the best photo, but the three of us enjoying the sunset

Gorgeous view, eh?

We spent a good few hours laughing our rears off playing a game called The Game of Things (highly recommend this game for groups, so much fun!) Kevin even joined in on the fun in SF via Skype! He was my partner during a few rounds and it was great to have him join in on the game for a bit. 🙂

The next morning we were up bright and early for some yummy breakfast (egg, muenster cheese and honey mustard paninis with cottage cheese/oranges and a piping hot cup of joe).

Then we drove down to Long Beach and I spent a whopping 2 hours in LB the entire weekend. I went to visit with my in-laws, Dorothy and George, and we had a great little visit. George cooked up some yummy and slightly spicy chicken salad sandwiches for us to enjoy too. Yummy!

After the short visit with the Edmonds family (and an even shorter appearance of my bro-in-law Thomas) we drove down to pick up my brother Derek to get some lunch at Portillo’s Hot Dogs in Buena Park and then made another visit to my aunt Tina.

Derek, a huge fan of the Chicago Cubs, made a visit to the windy city last year and found out that Portillo’s (a Chicago-based restaurant) had a chain out in Buena Park. Here he is enjoying a dog covered in goodness (as you can see, he’s not the biggest fan of the Lisa blog paparazzi).

We then made our way back up to San Pedro to make a visit with Steve’s grandson Christian who is an adorable kindergartner. We spent a good amount of time drawing mutant animals…

And then as the sun was setting, Christian insisted on taking me on a flashlight tour of Steve’s backyard where he showed me, amongst other things, the place where his cat is buried. Haha!

After that we rushed off to LAX and I was home around 10:15pm on Sunday. I had a really fantastic whirlwind of a trip and can’t thank my mom and Steve enough for the hospitality! 🙂

Christmas: The Long Beach edition

Posted by Lisa On January 7th, 2011

One of the biggest perks to working for a university (me) = two weeks off at Christmas!

One of the biggest bummers to working for business that is busiest during the holidays (Kev) = not able to spend Christmas day with family 🙁

BUT we were able to finagle a few days before Christmas for a quick, shotgun trip down south. We decided to surprise Kevin’s mom Dorothy so she was the only one in our families that didn’t know we were coming down. We had a good week or so of talking up how sad it was that we weren’t able to come down at all for the holidays…if only she knew…hehehehe.

Monday 12/20
After Kevin got off of work that afternoon we jumped in the car and made our way down to Long Beach. We got in around 1am Tuesday morning and after quickly saying hi to my mom, we hit the sack to get ready for our big surprise the next morning.

Tuesday 12/21
Kevin’s dad George helped with the surprise telling Dorothy that he had a doctor’s appointment that morning that he wanted her to go to with him. So our plan was for Kevin to call Dorothy on her cell phone and have her on the phone when we knocked on the door. Here are two videos of Operation: Surprise Dorothy for Christmas 2010! 😉

Kevin trying to make small talk with Dorothy as we prepare to get out in the rain and knock on the door

As you can see, we didn’t plan it out as well as we had hoped but we surprised her nonetheless! If you look closely in the background you can see Lola tear through the house running after their cat Sebastian! Hahah, poor thing!

Thomas was there and Judith, Joshua and Katelyn came over for a yummy breakfast of waffles, french toast, and bacon.

They were enthralled with the story Kevin was telling.

A little gift exchange…

Katelyn showing off her new shirt

Josh showing off his new shirt

Dorothy and George fighting over who gets to open the gift 😉

The bicycle glasses we got them!

Family photo! Kevin, me, Katelyn, Joshua and Judith (and Lola too)

We spent the whole day with the family and enjoyed a yummy spaghetti dinner together too.

Lola relaxing at the Edmonds’ home with Kevin

Wednesday 12/22
We met up with Thomas and his girlfriend Ashley for breakfast at The Potholder Cafe in Long Beach.

That afternoon we spent a few hours hanging out with my mom (like old times!) and then met up with my brother Derek, our friend Brian, my mom’s boyfriend Steve and the Chinese student living with my mom while he studies at CSULB Jeremy for dinner at Lucille’s BBQ (me and Kevin’s favorite chain restaurant!)

Lola and her new roommate Luke

Thursday 12/23
We woke up early so that me, Kevin and my mom could go to Westminster for our annual Chinese massage (annual for me and Kev, more often for my mom!) It was EXACTLY what we needed and we enjoyed it so much. My mom asked the guys to snap a few photos of us for proof, haha!

Kevin, the mummy

My mom and me

We then went to fill up our tummies with some yummy Chinese food at Seafood Cove #1.

That afternoon around 4pm we jumped back in our car and made our way back to San Francisco so that Kevin could be at work the next morning at 6am.

We were in LB right when the crazy rain was happening, but the clouds parted for us on the last day and the sun poked through, seemingly taunting us and begging us to stay! 😉

TDay 2010

Posted by Lisa On November 29th, 2010

This year Kevin had to work the days before and after Thanksgiving so we couldn’t make a trip down south–Jessie had to work the day of so we decided to host a small Thanksgiving dinner at her place in San Jose!

In the afternoon we were busy cooking and Skyping with Kevin’s family who were gathered at his parent’s house for the feast.

Dorothy and George

Kevin chatting away

Our beautiful nieces Katelyn and Sophie!

Thomas, Katelyn and Sophie posing for a photo

Even though it was only me, Kev and Jessie for the meal itself we ended up having one of the most delicious and entertaining Thanksgivings in recent memory!

The mansion Jessie lives in (literally! Check out the post I wrote about her building on move-in day here)

Started out with some Skyping with my family–this photo is of my mom and my Auntie Tina, but there also was my brother Derek, my Uncle Joey and my mom’s boyfriend Steve.

Jess got a free cooked crab from her boss so she proceeded to pound away at it.

Hahaha, that girl cracks me up!

So…dinner was amazing. Started out with some spanakopita, fried cheese balls, and dates stuffed with dark chocolate and walnuts.

And the main event! Mushroom stuffing, apple cranberry quinoa, collard greens, roasted cauliflower (and some tri-tip [not pictured] for the meat-eatin’ Kevin).