Took the red-eye flight out Thursday, arriving in the Big Apple early Friday morning. Arrived at the Carlton Hotel to not surprisingly find out that the room was not ready for check-in. Waiting for my parents to arrive and being all achy from spending the night on a plane, I took the subway down to Chinatown and got myself a $40 massage. That felt better. My parents arrived and we got sushi for lunch and then shopped around SoHo for a bit. In the evening, Debbie picked me up and we got some drinks at a bar called Le 26, soon joined by Katie, Kit & Debbie's boyfriend Saevar. We then headed out for a late dinner in the meat-packing district at a restaurant called Son Cubano where there was some live latin music. Quite the scene this place---I'd say the entire meat-packing district was a huge people-watching scene. I had the most scrumptious meal---lobster, scallops, shrimp, clams & mussels in a coconut sauce, accompanied by my favorite: maduros! Yum yum. After dinner, Gina showed up with her friend and we all danced for awhile. It was fun & interesting dancing with the girls again..it's been years!





Today, my mom & I attended Hester's bridal shower which was nice...now, I'm about to head out to visit Anna for the afternoon...and then my family's going to get dinner at a local Italian restaurant in the East Village I picked out called Evvia. Hope it's good---then, we're heading out to watch the musical Aida. Lots to do here!

I just had a really wonderful evening hanging out with LaToya...we just talked and talked and talked under this beautiful night (today was so nice and sunny). We started off with dinner down at the waterfront at Red Robin (yeeeeeeaaah), sitting right at the dock as the sun set...and then continued our conversation sipping wine up on my rooftop. It was awesome. I truly appreciate that she's continued our friendship despite my breakup with Brendan. I really got to know a lot more about her tonight--she's an awesome chick. Yay.



Lately, I've been surrounding myself with good conversation with various women here in Seattle. This last weekend, I traveled down to Portland with Sri, Supriya & Asayo to attend Jigna & Matt's wedding shower which was so much fun. We had great food and all sorts of interesting conversations. I really can't wait until Jigna's Bachelorette Weekend in Vancouver in a few weeks, which I've been trying to plan (the stress!). Nah--it hasn't been that bad...got the spa reservations and the hotel nailed down today, which takes care of a lot! Should be a really fabulous weekend.



I've got a fancy NYC wedding to go to in a week and I still don't have a good dress for it....ack. Been trying to locate all my NYC friends to hang out with while I'm there.



Going shopping with Pierre tomorrow--car, furniture and clothes. Hmm..what kind of car should I look into?



Have my last ever symphony with Fred tomorrow night--boo! We're celebrating in style at the Wild Ginger for dinner..thanks to Bruce! It's been an amazing two years of going to the symphony with Fred...just a chance for the two of us to find time to hang out and catch up with each other. I've known that kid forever. Well--he was like a kid when I first met him and he's grown into this incredible, smart, forward-thinking adult. I wish him the best in his next endeavors, which I am sure he will succeed in.

I had a really great weekend with my friend Willie visiting from San Francisco. We started off having the most amazing seafood dinner--copper river salmon of course--at Waterfront. The weather was perfect as we sipped our wine to a beautiful sunset and ended up talking for hours and hours. On Saturday, we headed off to a baseball game at Safeco to watch the Mariners vs. White Sox. In the evening, we watched a fun, silly Asian American play about love and relationships (aptly entitled sex in seattle) followed by a fun party at LaToya's to celebrate her birthday. Yay. I really miss having friends that have known me for so long surround me. It's amazing that Willie and I have stayed in touch all these years. I do wonder if we would have touched base as much if he were still in Beantown...sadly, probably not. I'm glad at least someone's out here on the West Coast with me.



Caught the last bit of the trilogy that I haven't seen yet at SIFF---Infernal Affairs II. I'd strangely seen #1 and #3 already but not this second one, which is a prequel to the first one. I liked it although it was definitely not as good as the second one. There was a lot more slow character development in this story, which was extremely fascinating given the context and outcome of the main characters shown in IA1. I don't think this movie would have been as interesting to see without having seen the first one--as Pierre attests (he was rather confused walking out of the movie!). Still, if you've seen the first, see the second..and then the third. The trilogy all make up a great good cop/bad cop story out of Hong Kong...with some amazing acting. Speaking of, that's probably why IA2 didn't seem as exciting--Tony Leung and Andy Lau are missing from it; rather, actors that play the younger versions of their characters are present...somewhat unemotional actors I must say who don't convey the amazing subtle feelings that Tony/Andy can in their facial expressions. Still, as I said, the character development is interesting..and there's still plenty of bloodshed.



I got 3 more invites on my gmail account. hmm..who to invite? I immediately sent one off to Sri who had wanted one. It's tempting to give it a try on Ebay where these accounts are selling anywhere from $0.01 to $100,000. Curious what I could get. I'd rather, really, just invite someone I know who will truly use and enjoy these services. Anyone?

ack, just got invited to a SEVENTH wedding this summer. at least this one's somewhat local.

another fun evening--Liz and I went to see the Yale Whiffenpoofs perform at Benaroya last night. yay a cappella. afterwards, we caught up over drinks and food at the Triple Door. It's interesting--we talked about what it meant to be a Smithie. For both of us, there was a sense of community, family, bonding and sisterhood. I just feel so comfortable around my Smith sisters. She and I could've talked for hours--it was great seeing her.