Fashion. Music. Family. Life.
A couple of weekends ago, my family travelled up to Palmdale to share a special day with my younger cousin, CJ. He married the love of his life, Jaime and they had a beautiful travel themed wedding. I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves. Hope you all had a great Father’s Day weekend!
(The title of this post are lyrics from the song Somebody by Depeche Mode.)
Back on May 5, 2013, my mother-in-law came into town to pay a visit to her grandson, and also because she had an Origami Owl booth at The Carlsbad Village Faire. The Faire is the nation’s largest one-day street faire. I know it’s in the name, but I was completely unprepared for just how many streets this faire would cover! Although the weather left much to be desired (it rained at the very end), I had a great time getting to know Carlsbad. I fully intend to come back to Carlsbad and explore more of this beautiful beach side northern San Diego city. In the meantime, I’ve included a photo diary of our day at The Faire. Enjoy!
My mother-in-law’s Origami Owl display
My boys with my hubby’s first purchase of the day…a Steelers rolling cooler (that can be used as a seat)!
Kettle corn is always a crowd pleaser.
I bought a cute little handmade Geisha girl backpack from the booth on the left, and failed to get that cute purse on the right. It was only $10!
A whole lotta art everywhere!
Music was also all around in the form of live bands, wares, and…hares! Added another record store to my list to go back and visit: Spin Records.
While I add record stores to my list of places to visit, my hubby adds golf courses.
Our food adventures: kangaroo skewers and blueberry lemonade. Deon enjoyed the skewers, but I loved the lemonade much more.
You bet I’m coming back to visit Carlsbad and shop…they have a Bit O’ Britain there!
As I mentioned in my last post, we had a very easy weekend for Mother’s Day. On Friday we celebrated my birthday as a family, and my sister bought me that delicious cake above. It’s a Tiramsu cake from Goldilocks, which is a bakery/restaurant specializing in Filipino cuisine. This cake is divine and my mom and I get it each year for our birthdays. Saturday was celebrated at Scott and Erika’s place (our good friends), for the first birthday of their adorable son, Jett. Sunday, my husband, son and I went shopping before meeting my sister and her family for dinner at Italian Cucina at Barona Casino (we dropped my mother off at the casino early so that she could get in some slot games before dinner). I used to take my mom to Barona during the weekends before I got married, and we always would partake in their fantastic buffet. My sister and her family ate at Italian Cucina for the first time a week ago and loved it, so they thought it would be a great place to spend Mother’s Day. After our delicious dinner, my sister, mom and I were each given a beautiful tulip as a Mother’s Day gift, which was a nice surprise. I hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day!
There have been quite a few celebrations in the month of March and beginning of April. I did actually intend to post about these seperately, but they just came up so quickly that the photos started to pile up. I finally grabbed sometime over the weekend to put together some collages of past weekend events. Here are the events pictured: 1. The opening of the new PlaySpace at Plaza Bonita Mall at the beginning of March; 2. My sister’s 40th birthday celebration at Chuck E. Cheese; 3. Our family’s annual Easter picnic; 4. My brother-in-law’s birthday get together at Famous Dave’s in Vista.
It’s so hard to believe that another year has come and gone, and our precious boy is now four years old today. With all the craziness right now in our lives and just starting my new job, we decided to keep it very low-key this year and celebrated this past weekend with my sister’s family at John’s Incredible Pizza Co. at Plaza Bonita Mall. We started the afternoon with food and cake, and ended it with daddy winning 500 tickets! Unfortunately, grandma couldn’t make it in from Las Vegas as was originally scheduled this weekend, so we’re going to celebrate again in March. I’m pretty sure Dominic won’t mind!
With our handsome little man!
My sister’s family with the celebrant. Check out the cool Spider-Man cake!
In the midst of lunching.
Singing to the birthday boy; check out Nana getting into it (on the far right)!
Princess poses!
Concentration is the key to winning.
Daddy won 500 tickets!
Last week, my family and I attended the Farmers Insurance Open held at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that my husband is an avid golfer and fan of the sport. He was able to acquire two season passes this year, so we attended the Zurich Pro-Am, which was last Wednesday. Pictures were only allowed to be taken during the first three days of the event, so we were very lucky to go on Wednesday. Not only did we get some fantastic pictures, but we also were able to get autographs and get up close and personal with some of the players.
My husband and I have been to the Farmers Insurance Open before, but without our son because he was too young at the time. Now that he’s nearly four, we thought it was the perfect time to take him. Dominic did such an amazing job at listening and being quiet when the time called for it. He said that he had an “awesome time”, which leads me to believe that he not only truly understands the game of golf, but actually loves it. We walked around for only about four hours because we could tell that Dominic needed a nap. Being on such a great course got Deon itching to play, so he dropped us off and hit the links for a quick game. He must have been inspired by the day because he golfed for three eagles in a row in the first three holes, and had the best score he’s had in nine holes (-5). I guess it just takes being surrounded by greatness to light a fire in him and bring out the best in his game!
One of the best moments to come out of this event was when Deon went to get Hunter Mahan’s autograph. Deon was able to catch him before he moved onto the next hole, and here is the conversation that took place:
Deon: “Hey Hunter, can I get your autograph for my boy?”
Hunter: “Where’s the boy?” (Looking around, and not seeing any small child near by.)
Deon: “Uh…” (Looking behind him, not realizing that we were sitting down a few feet away.):
A voice from the distance: “It’s for his inner boy!” (Laughing from the small crowd around us.)
Deon: “Here he is!” (Me, running with Dominic after hearing the initial exchange.)
Hunter: “Why doesn’t he ask me himself?”
Deon: “He’s shy…”
Everyone around then laughed and Hunter happily signed the autograph. See, the pros are just regular guys, ready to give a good ribbing, but only if you’re ready to take it, and my husband certainly was!
Dominic checking out the pairings guide for who was going to tee up next.
Watching Bo Van Pelt.
We needed to chill after all that walking!
My husband was responsible for getting the really great shots of the players in action.
Rickie Fowler
Dustin Johnson
Jeff Overton
Tiger Woods
Aaron Baddeley
Hunter Mahan
Torrey Pines South Course, 18th Hole
Brandt Snedeker & Trevor Hoffman
Deon and Dominic getting Brandt Snedeker’s autograph
Getting Trevor Hoffman’s autograph (yes, formerly of the San Diego Padres!)
Deon & Trevor
Rickie Fowler, up close & personal!
Dominic and his signed Rickie Fowler hat
Autographs: Rickie Fowler, Brandt Snedeker, Trevor Hoffman, Hunter Mahan
(Pictures 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13 by Deon Chen)
I attended an event that Cameron of the blog 33 Avenue Miquelon would be proud of: A few weekends ago, my husband, son and I all went to The San Diego International Auto Show. Our poor little boy had the beginnings of a cold, but stuck it out because he loves cars so much. After we got home and he took a nap, we showed him all of the pictures we took to remind him of what he saw, and he remembered every little bit of what he experienced. What I loved most about the show was that we could walk around freely to check out all the cars we just dream about, without the pressure to make a purchase. My husband saw many a car that he would love to someday own, and he even said he was like a kid in a candy store. For those of you in the San Diego area, I highly recommend attending this fantastic annual event. Cheers!
My all time favorite: The Porsche
I also love the new Mini and the Union Jack details.
I had a 1971 Dodge Charger as my first car, and everyone called it The General.
The Low Rider cars were simply amazing.
Very nice Audi, aka the Submissive Special (gratuitous Fifty Shades reference).
Deon’s dream car: The BMW M6 convertible.
Dominic finally getting to “ride” a motorcycle.
Martin. Aston Martin.
He also loved this race car because it reminds him of Lightning McQueen.
Dominic completely loved the IQ and said, “Look Mama, it’s my size!”
When I think of a Bentley, I think of Finn McMissle. Ah, the influence of a three-year-old.
I. Want. A. Vespa.
I can’t believe that Christmas has already come and gone! Christmas Eve was celebrated at our house this year, which meant a lot of baking, cooking and preparing the house to receive dozens of our relatives. My husband played Santa this year, and Dominic asked why. Deon’s explanation was a very good one: Santa asks parents to help him because he gets so busy during Christmas Eve with all of the deliveries he must make before the morning. After the party and the clean up Dominic and I prepared milk and cookies for Santa’s arrival. He woke to find all of his wishes were answered: a train, a helicopter, and a Lightning McQueen Hawk. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well, and here’s to a happy and healthy 2013!
Eggnog Cookies (recipe here) and Bibingka (made by my mom)
Mini-pies and mini-cupcakes
What do you think: Facebooking or Tweeting?
Deon – I mean Santa – getting ready to give out gifts to good boys and girls!
Everyone patiently waiting for their turns…sort of!
I think Dominic got what he wanted
My sister and her family
My cousin’s husband, Absame and their son, Makai
The next morning, Santa brought over everthing that Dominic asked for!
Deon and Dominic flying his new helicopter. I think daddy loves it just as much as Dominic!
This has been a difficult month for so many out there who have lost, especially those in Newtown, CT. When I think about those families and the children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I hold my boy a little more tightly than I ever have before. They are all in my thoughts and prayers this holiday season. I hope you all have a blessed Christmas and remember to enjoy these precious moments with all of your loved ones.
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen some prototypes of my attempt to create a themed mini-cupcake display for my niece’s Adventure Time birthday party (Mei-Lin is pictured above, dressed as Fionna the Human, which is Finn’s gender swapped version). After watching several episodes of Cupcake Wars and many trial mini-cupcakes later, I figured out how I wanted to set up the table and which characters I would feature. To make the process go by more quickly, I did use all Pillsbury products: boxed cake flavors in strawberry, yellow and chocolate with a vanilla cream frosting. I also used a mini-cupcake maker that was given to me by my mother-in-law. I liked using it because each batch only took 8 minutes to bake. The cupcakes cooled very quickly, and I was able to make 150 in a few hours. The next day, I executed my final designs and display, just a few hours before the party. I was very happy with the finished product, and received many compliments at Mei-Lin’s party. Next project: cupcakes from scratch!
These were the prototypes of the final product. Originally, I only chose four different cupcakes, but Mei-Lin added one more later.
Mei-Lin and Dominic, posing for pictures between batches of cupcakes.
The center display featuring store-bought figurines of Adventure Time characters: Finn the Human, Jake the Dog, The Ice King and LSP (Lumpy Space Princess).
There were five different characters represented in mini-cupcake form. These represent Finn (blue sprinkles) and Jake (yellow sprinkles).
Mei-Lin asked that these rainbow sprinkles be included to represent Lady Rainicorn.
Princess Bubblegum
Peppermint Butlers
The whole display, which included a map of the Land of Ooo, where all of the characters live. I adore the Adventure Time cartoon series and found all the information about the characters and the series itself on The Adventure Time Wiki.
(Photos 4 to 10 by Rholnna Jiao)