Recent buys
1: Enzo Angiolini wedge sandals
2: Fuschia peep toe flats from Aldo
3: Talika lash conditioner (seems to be working so far)
4: Tory Burch Miller logo sandals in black (my mother’s day gift)
5: Urn planter (for my front porch–gonna spray paint it black)

What I’m listening to
1: Rob Thomas - Ever the Same
2: Adele - Hometown Glory
3: Emma Burgess - Your Love

Shows I’m watching
1: Lost
2: Real Housewives of NY (Kelly = kookoo)
3: The City

Dinner @ Restaurant Alma for the hubby’s 32nd birthday. Their chef/owner recently won a James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Midwest. Overall impression: great food & service. Click on images to enlarge.
1st Course :
Black Cod - (forgot the description)
Spring Vegetable & Herb Salad - citrus dressing, fresh mozzarella, toasted sesame
2nd Course:
Crispy Soft Cooked Egg - aromatic mushrooms, basil, ginger, shallot & rice
Lightly Smoked Prawns - citrus butter, pineapple, fennel
3rd Course:
Duck Breast & Confit - honey glazed carrots, cilantro, spiced yogurt
Gently Cooked Salmon - snap peas, miso mustard, potato puree, horseradish

Dinkytown McDonalds roof line

Hit up McD’s right before heading to Alma. Max chose that place for his dinner since we knew he wouldn’t eat anything at Alma.

Max’s little tail is growing longer, and I find myself unable to cut it off. I know it’s just hair & it’ll grow back, but I just can’t do it yet. It’s so fun to see my Dad’s face when he sees it. He hates it, but since it’s not his kid, he just mumbles under his breath.

Mother’s Day was good. We had lunch with my Mom and then took her to get a mani & pedi. While driving there, I happen to glance at my Mom’s hands, and I am reminded how hard she works. She didn’t think her manicure would last, but it was fine with me. I wanted to her to enjoy having pretty hands & feet, at least for one day.

The black & white is of my girlfriends Mitsu & Maysee. I cut myself out since my head looked too big. Max was right.

Just bought summer clothes for Max & me. Lots of shopping these last few weeks. I bought like 11 dresses. Only dresses for me this summer. Dresses & wedges. Wish the weather would cooperate & be nice already. Been so icky lately.

Look Ma! Purple sticky rice! Made purple sticky rice for the first time last week. I think next time, I will only use the excess water from the black rice instead of mixing the two. The black rice was too crunchy. The hubby & Boo-Boo love purple sticky rice.

I have a huge list of things to do around the house & errands to run. Gotta register Max for a sport this summer (teeball or soccer), in addition to swimming. Might be putting him in summer school as well. Trying to keep him–and me–busy this summer.

My little boy brought this home for me from school along with a potted flower.

Me: “Which one am I?”
Max: (points to the one on the right)
Me: “Why do I have such a big head?”
Max: “Because you do.”

At least he didn’t draw me with a big belly or something. And I wish I was 20.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there. I love you Mom!

Dinner @ Broders the other night with my sisters.
+ zucchina fritti - batter fried zucchini with lemon mayonnaise
+ spring caprese salad - asparagus & mozzarella di bufala with lemon-oil dressing
+ fettuccine con aragosta - housemade pasta with lobster, tomatoes, lemon, herbs & cream

We took a road trip with some friends to visit my girlfriend Angie in Indianapolis this past weekend. Left Wednesday evening and got back Monday evening. It was wonderful to just hang out with Angie & her family. Lots of laughs & lots of good eating. I know I gained a couple pounds. Indy is a nice city with lots of beautiful houses. I wish we could have those kinds of homes here. We did make it to the Children’s Museum which was nicer than ours, I must say. They’ve got an indoor carousel & a cool dinosaur exhibit, among other things.

Restaurants we ate at in Indy:

Journeys - Huge Asian buffet. They had everything there & a wide selection of sushi.
St. Elmo’s Steak House - Big steaks & big sides.
Steak & Shake  - Greasy, yummy burgers.
Patachou - Yummy brunch food. Broken yolk bacon sandwich & big cup of cafe au lait. Hit the spot.

On the way home, we stopped by Joy Yee Noodles in Chicago’s Chinatown for a late lunch. The menu there was HUGE. And we ended up ordering way too much food. Some things were pretty good, but some were so-so (chap chae & lemon grass chicken over rice). Four hours later, while stopped in Madison for gas, the hubby decides that he wants a brat from State Street Brats, so we drive all the way into campus & pick up some brats to go. It felt like we were never going to get home. We finally got home around midnight.

Thanks Angie & Joe for opening your home to us. We miss you guys!

Last Friday, my two girlfriends Maysee, Mitsu and I hit up Dock 86 in Little Canada. It was so much fun hanging out with them. Dock 86 was a let-down. It seems like most of their stuff you can find anywhere else. And the prices weren’t the best. Afterward, we had dinner at Ginger Hop. The appetizers were really good (fried calamari & wings), but their entrees were not good. No flavor all around. What a disappointment. At least they knocked $20 off our bill when we complained. 112 is next on our list girls.

Met with Max’s teachers for conference last week. Sounds like he’s doing well. Just needs work on his social skills. That’s what we’re most concerned with right now. That and his gross motor. He still has training wheels on his bike, but won’t let us take it off. On the other hand, he’s riding his scooter way better than last year. So overall, he’s improved, but there’s still things he needs to work on. Can’t believe he’s going to be a kindergartner next year. We’re trying to get him into the full-day program, but it’s a lottery system since it’s so crowded, so he might not get in.

Tonight, we had dinner at Loring Pasta Bar. It was ok. I’m on a fried calamari binge, so I had to try theirs. It was pretty good. The pasta was so-so. Bread was stale. Still not as good as Broders. Can’t beat their fresh pasta.

My cabinet pulls should be here tomorrow, so I will post up a picture of my kitchen soon. I really love my kitchen & how it looks. Almost my dream kitchen. A subzero fridge & gas stove would be the icing on the cake. But I have no complaints at all. I’m very lucky to have a bigger kitchen. Later!

My cousins Yanee, HouaDer, Ely & Linna came over on Saturday to have dinner with my sisters & me (minus Jaime & Kaileeh). I made a big ol’ pot of curry noodle soup & somehow we had 3 kinds of dessert, which I have no complaints about. I have a lot of first cousins, but our relation to each other is a little more unique. Our mom & their dad are siblings, and our dad & their mom are siblings. Let me know if you need me to draw it out for you. We don’t see each other very often, so it was a lot of fun to catch up. Lots of laughs & good times.

Here’s Max having lunch in our front porch (and waiting for the neighbor kids to come out so he can go play with them.) I have always wanted a front porch, so now that I have one, I don’t know how to decorate it. We definitely need some seating & plants, but what else? I want the kind of porch where you can curl up & read a book, or nap in the afternoon sun. I like our porch the best compared to our neighbors because it has more privacy.

Some random thoughts/updates:
+ Filed our taxes just in time. Whew!
+ Hoping to have our deck finished in time for the start of summer. Can’t wait to grill & chill outside for once. Never really did that at our old house because our backyard was such a jungle.
+ Going on a road trip soon to visit my girlfriend Angie in Indianapolis. Super excited to see her.
+ On the way to dinner on Sunday, I got rear-ended again by some impatient driver. Luckily, the damage wasn’t bad. Just some small scratches. Thank goodness she had a rubber bumper. Maybe it’s time to trade our car in?
+ One of best things about our house: no more critters in our house, especially centipedes. You don’t know how ridiculously happy I am about that.

I finally finished painting my foyer. [Click on picture for a larger view.] It took me five days, but I I like taking my time with a project sometimes. I think I found the perfect shade of blue. The picture below shows a more accurate color.

I also swapped out the light fixture. The original one was an oil-rubbed bronze light fixture that you see in most cookie-cutter new construction homes. While it is fine, I wanted something different & more me. I found this chandelier on Overstock.com, and it was reasonably priced. I really like it because it glams up my foyer a bit. It’s much better looking in person.

I stopped by Crafty Planet  on Saturday to find fabric for curtains. I found this cool geometric fabric, so I’m planning to use it make curtains for the mud room.

I couldn’t reach this little corner, so I’m gonna have to leave it like this until I figure out what to do. It’s above some stairs, so even if I had a taller ladder, I wouldn’t be able to paint it. Any suggestions?

Check out my plantation shutters. I love them. This one is in the den. We also had them installed in Max’s bedroom, and my office/spare bedroom. Thinking about having Mike’s office done as well.

Hope everyone had a good Easter weekend. On Saturday, I met up with my sisters for dim sum for my younger sister Jaime’s birthday. I love dim sum, but man, it can get pricey. My sister  generously offered to take Max until Sunday, so he left with them after dim sum. The hubby & I had a wonderful night to ourselves. We went to watch Mother (which was so-so) and then went to John’s house for a bbq & drinks. We didn’t get home until 2am. On Sunday, picked up Max & headed over to Mike’s parents for his brother Adam’s birthday dinner. Good food as usual.

This week, I might do more painting around the house. Finish our tax return. Figure out how to get a census report sent to us–we haven’t received one probably because our mail is being forwarded–before someone comes knocking on our door.

Happy Birthday to my little man! He turned five on Tuesday. We had his birthday party at Adventure Peak in Edina on Saturday. It was a small affair (35 guests), and on the menu was Broadway Pizza–probably one of the best pizza places in the Twin Cities, Quang’s spring rolls and fresh fruit. I kept it simple since we only had 2 hours to eat & do cake. I didn’t go all out with his cake either. Just ordered a chocolate cake from Target, and had them do a simple Pac Man design on top. Max was so excited and had lots of fun. Thanks to everyone that made it special for him and for the wonderful gifts. He keeps saying over & over, “I had a GREAT birthday party!”

His big boy bed happened to get delivered yesterday just in time. After I assembled it, and seeing Max lay in it, it made me realize how fast he is growing up. Makes me a little sad that he’s not gonna be my little boy for much longer. I’m afraid I’m going to be one of those moms who will embarrass their teenager son & hug them in public. Mike is certain of this.

Speaking of his bed, I got a great deal at Pottery Barn Kids. Got free shipping & was able to use my 10% off coupon. We got him the Catalina bed; I like how you can adjust the height of the bed & it seems to be nicely made. We’re hoping the bed lasts into Max’s teenage years, but if he’s ends up taller than his Daddy, then we can forget about that. His comforter & sham is by Tommy Hilfiger from Macy’s, and the sheets are from Target. I swear I had the hardest time finding bedding for boys that I liked. Planning to do a car/traffic signs theme in his room.