Whirlwind Weekend

As much as I was looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday, I was up and ready to leave the house before 9am. A fellow 3rd grade teacher was tying the knot that day and I had been recruited to help decorate the church that morning. The ceremony was in Redwood City and just my luck, I got lost. Ain't my fault. I followed the directions from their wedding website, but it didn't get me there. Thankfully, another friend's hubby just so happened to have bought one of those navigational gadgets for their car. Once I pulled over and they knew my position, they were able to get me to the church safely. Ha. I'm such a loser.

The ceremony itself was beautiful. The music. The dresses. The message. Love and forgiveness...two components necessary in a marriage. The parents of both the bride and groom lost it and were bawling. In fact, as the bride was being walked down the aisle, the dad was already having a hard time keeping it together. Bust out the tissues, let me tell you! After the ceremony, the program called for a "light reception."

Light reception, my ass.

A light reception does NOT consist of a live Hawaiian band, courtyard filled with tents that house different types of carnival-esque foods to munch on like churros, slushies, cotton candy, fruits, chicken, and other goodies. I knew that there would be a candy station- jars filled with the bride's favorite candies and just like the mall, you could scoop out whichever ones you wanted into a lil' baggie, or in this case, a lil' pink chinese take-out box. Too cute. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's definitely a wedding of her dreams and a wedding to remember, but light reception? Pshhhhhh.....please.



Since this teacher happens to be a member of the adjoining church, other teachers, parents, and students alike were all up in there...I mean, dang, I see these people all week and now I gotta see them on a Saturday, too?! Lol! Jokes aside, it was very nice. She happens to also work with the middle school fellowship and so a grip of them were there to help serve food. The cool thing was many of these middle school kids were many of my former students! They're all grown up now...girls with chests, wearing short skirts and looking semi-hootchified....boys all taller with deeper voices. It was neat to see how old these kids have gotten and yet, how they have stayed the same!

The weather also turned out simply beautiful. What started with a foggy and overcast morning transformed into a sunny, no wind perfect day. Talk about a major blessing!

Anyways, it was great to hang out with some people outside of the school environment and though I did not attend the banquet due to some unforeseen circumstances, it was a beautiful day for a beautiful wedding and well worth missing sleeping in a few more hours.

Plate Lunched-Out

Finally ate at Hukilau's in Palo Alto today! An old family friend was having the reception for her baby's baptism there today and what a great excuse to tag along with my parents? Not only was I able to see the this family ('cuz it's been YEARS!), but I was able to get my grub on some ono grinds! Now ya'll know that MnM and Doh love us some Hawaiian plate lunches, but I gotta tell you. Ever since I've been back, I've had nothing BUT! Maybe it's because I'm on this quest for the best mac salad. But honestly, especially after today, I am totally plate lunched-out. I don't think I could even think about going to eat Hawaiian for a while now. I'm done. Over it. Just for a while. Plus, since it was so hot in Palo Alto today, I took advantage of the free tropical juices, mainly pineapple. Ang sarap ng sarap! Talk about totally refreshing! It got to the point that after one glass too many, my throat took a beating...too acidic, I think. Man...I can't win! Lol!

One major plus for the plate lunch experience was hanging out with my folks. Yes, I am currently staying at my parent's house and yes, I do see them every day, but I have NOT really hung out with them in a while. And it was nice today. The ride to and from was filled with pleasant conversations, mainly stories (new & old) care of my dad. I learned a lot of new things about my parents, as always when he gets into storytelling mode, and it made the car ride too short. I'm glad that I drove them out there and I'm thankful for the time that was spent today.

Mill Valley Film Festival

My aunt called to see if I was interested in going to Mill Valley for the Film Festival out there. Seeing that I've always wanted to go to any kind of film festival AND seeing that there might be a possibility of seeing my her as an extra in this film, I was good to go.

The movie that we watched was "Bee Season" with Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche. Gere's character is a teacher at UC Berkeley and they get a good shot of the Capanile Tower. They have aerial views of the Bay and I have to say, I always get all giddy when movies are set in the city. There's always that excitement of seeing a place that I've actually been to that gets me hyped and possibly even the fact that I'm one of those easily starstruck people that just because a celebrity has been there for movie filming purposes, I get that proud feeling that yes, it's in MY city.

Anyways, before the movie started, the directors were there to give an intro to the movie. I was in awe of the movie directors...sure I don't even know them or their work, but wow, they're introducing a film that THEY directed. I'm easily impressed as you can tell. At the end of the film, they came back again for a short Q&A. Very cool...not only for us, but for them as well because of all the cool feedback they received. While I was a bit confused in some parts of the storyline, the Q&A was able to clarify the points that I missed. In any case, while I may not be sure if this is the usual program for a film festival movie, it was still a cool experience for me nonetheless.

Mill Valley itself is a nice lil' community. Looks so safe. Lots of cool shops and cafes. Very shi-shi...but cool to hang out in. The weather today was awesome...not a cloud in the sky! After the movie, we decided to head out to Sausalito to find somewhere to eat. We were originally thinking we'd eat at Houlihan's, but ended up at a place called Horizons. DE-LISH! I may not be a food critic like The Weekender or Mrs. Voodoo, but I totally recommend this joint! For starters, we had the crabcakes and for dinner, we had fish & chips. The fish just tasted so tender and fresh and wow, can I just talk about the view for a sec? We were seated out on the deck and had a front seat view of the city of San Francisco. No fog...just an unbelievably clear evening with the full moon reflecting on the water's surface. The city skyline was lit up and it's as if we could see every light of the city from where we were. Plus, it' as if the view made our meal so much better...not that the meal needed any help. On the real though, this has got to be one of the first times that I have hung out with my auntie like this. I mean, yah we've had lunch at the mall or at parties, but never out-out like this. It was nice and I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime.

*Thanks T.Baybes for the movie (even though it was mucho expensive!)and for the yummy dinner- it was fun!*