Happy May 23rd!

So Joanna comes home last night with a friend while I'm furiously playing Guitar Hero (new addiction) and they tell Steve and I about their dinner at Sawtelle Kitchen. Apparently it was some sort of date night because the restaurant was full of couples.

In my normal know-it-all-tone, I jokingly pipe in "Well, duh! It's May 23rd! Of course it's date night!" just to play a joke on Steve. And I go on to tease him about not taking me out for May 23rd. He doesn't believe me and starts asking... "What? What's May 23rd?" I wink at Joanna and she gets in on it.. "Oh yeah! Duh! May 23rd!"

So by now we have both Steve and Joanna's friend feeling bad for not knowing the couples' significance of May 23rd. I challenge Steve to Google it -- again, still playing along with my joke.

So he goes to the computer and Googles it.. "Oh my gosh! Wow! It's 'I Love You' day! I did not know that!!"

?!?!?!?!?!??!?! I LOVE YOU DAY!?



Aha! 143rd day... 1-4-3... in high school pager code is "I love you."

Teehee. So of course now it's too late and I -have- to play along that I knew all this time and was disappointed he didn't do anything for me. "It's just as important as Valentine's Day... in fact, it's even more special because it's not a widely commercialized holiday!"

... So... we went on a walk through the neighborhood where I made him pick flowers (nice ones) to make me a bouquet. Teehee.

Mexicali 5/21~22

Lulu snoozing in the backseat on the way down to Mexico.


Pepe is trying to sleep as far as possible from the 'big smelly giant'.


First stop -- dinner with Marcela & Roberto @ Robert's newest restaurant in Mexicali.




Picture taking before pigging out on some insanely yummy Chinese food.


Lulu bird-watching from Roberto's balcony in the morning.


Had some awesome seafood at Laguna Azul.


Couldn't keep track of which hot sauces were good or not... there were so many!


Marcela with a 2 week old Chihuahua puppy that a customer brought in.


He was so tiny!


Lulu lounging at Roberto's house... looking up at Pepe.


as Pepe lounges with Marcela... looking down at Lulu.


Lulu is getting a little restless.

How do you decide who to marry?

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY? (written by kids)

You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.
-- Alan, age 10

No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with.
-- Kristen, age 10

WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then.
-- Camille, age 10

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.
-- Derrick, age 8

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
Both don't want any more kids.
-- Lori, age 8

WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.
-- Lynnette, age 8 (isn't she a treasure)

On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that Usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.
-- Martin, age 10

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?
I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns.
-- Craig, age 9

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
When they're rich.
-- Pam, age 7

The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with that.
- - Curt, age 7

The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do.
-- Howard, age 8

IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them.
-- Anita, age 9 (bless you child)

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?
There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there?
-- Kelvin, age 8

And the #1 Favorite is........
HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?
Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a truck.
-- Ricky, age 10

A Super-Awesome Lunch

Kam (co-worker) and I were trying to think of a super-awesome way to spend lunch. I had to buy a new couch for my place. (Mommy took the old couch with her to Indiana)... so after researching on Craigslist, I found a little warehouse "by the airport" that makes replica Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn sofas. Awesome!

So Kam and I trekked over to the warehouse... which ended up to be on the corner of South Central and Compton Blvd... in the heart of Compton. Despite the sketchy drive over we were still excited about scoring a deal on a sofa.

I bought the following sofa & ottoman set for $650, including same day delivery.



A similar couch can be found at Crate and Barrel for $1499 and a matching ottoman for $499.

A hard day's work...

Let's play work-pictionary!


I work in El Segundo -- "The Most Business Friendly City" I work in the first building pictured here. Rapp Collins Worldwide has the entire 5th floor. We get an awesome view of... the parking lot next door and the airport on the other side. Beautiful.


Here's a shot in front of my building.


One of our hallways has a grafiti-style mural on it.


PM Buddy Kamron wearing my Raybans. He is a Direct Mail Project Manager and also my breakfast buddy. And tea time buddy. We do mini oil-blotting sessions with my J&J Clean & Clear Oil Control Sheets during the day too. Fun stuff.


This is Jo-Anne... the other Interactive Project Manager. This picture was taken at Island's... drinking a lava flow during lunchtime... that's how we do things here at Rapp. :)



Monica is on the analytics team... one of the sweetest girls in the office. She started the week after I did and we hit it off immediately. We do daily venting sessions about ex-boyfriends over IM every chance we get.


Kam being silly over my cubicle.

Goodbye Mommy!

On Friday night we all met up in Cerritos for a Goodbye dinner with Mommy. Steve and I went straight after work so we arrived in Cerritos a little early... I showed him around the Cerritos Mall. Fun! He had his first Chick-Fil-A experience (shared some pre-dinner nuggets) and did a little bit of shopping.

Then we met up with my sisters at Fancy Box to take some purikura... I swear Aai has VIP status there or something. They normally close at 8PM but stayed open just for Aai us. Haha. So we took group pictures and I took some with Steve too... I haven't taken sticker pictures with a boy since high school!! :P Such goofballs...




After our narcissistic picture-taking session, we went off to The Corner Place for some Korean BBQ. They had really good Dolsot Bimimbap and Jap Chae (clear noodles) but the meat wasn't that great. It was a lot of fun though.. nothing brings a family together like fighting for meat on one grill. :P




Mommy glaring at the kids for having unsighly table manners as they scour their food.

We topped off dinner with some Sprinkles cupcakes that Vina brought with her... seriously I don't know what she was thinking buying a dozen cupcakes! Especially in weirdo flavors like Chai Latte and Black & White... next time stick to Red Velvet and Banana only!!! :D

My PM Buddies

These are my PM buddies at work... PM = Project Managers. They work on the other side of the fence.. the offline side... the wild side.

One day the 4 of us (Joanne is not pictured) went out to lunch in my car. I was picking a pair of sunglasses to wear and started lending some out. Then I realized I had more sunglasses in the car than people... soon everyone was wearing a pair of my sunglasses. That's when it hit me that.. maybe.. I really do have too many sunglasses.

Anyhow, pictured here are Steve and Kamron, wearing Juicy Couture and Marc Jacobs respectively.