A great weekend! I must have taken the conference message to heart because I took very good care of myself this past weekend. Friday afternoon, we picked up the kids early (~2pm) and brought them home to play with their grandparents. Then James and I headed up to Tahoe for a work celebration, which included a banquet dinner and an overnight stay at the Embassy Suites. Dinner was just okay … a bit bland, although the dessert was very good.  After dinner, a few of us walked next door to Harrah’s for some gambling and shopping.

We got up early in the morning and had breakfast, including made-to-order omelets. I filled mine with fresh vegetables and totally wished for bacon, ham, and cheese. I knew I had to save my calories for lunch though! We got dressed up again and drove directly to the Grand Island Mansion for Jenny and Danny’s wedding celebration.

What a beautiful wedding! It could not have been a more perfect day – sunny and cool. I loved the unique jewelry Jenny made for herself and her bridesmaids (including my friend Uyen). It was great how they involved Megan in the ceremony, with all three of them pouring/blending different colors of sand in a vase, symbolizing one unified family. Congratulations Jenny, Danny, and Megan!

The food was delicious – a buffet spread with a carving station, seafood, salads, and a huge fruit platter. I was pleased that our table was adults only – it felt liberating to eat without wrangling kids. What a great day!  We got back home late afternoon … kids were happy to see us, but they had so much fun playing with their Grandparents, I don’t think they even missed us! Thank you Graeber Grandparents!

The next day, Sunday, I took Zachary to a classmate’s birthday party …air hockey, arcade games, mini golf, and lunch (pizza and cake.)  Happy 6th Birthday Ishi! My dad and sister’s birthday was also this week … Happy birthday to my dad and sister Sophie!

Friday night was girls night out at Sienna. I ordered an ahi tuna dish and shared a goat cheese and mushroom flat bread pizza appetizer and desserts with my friends. It was all very good! Rachel brought her new acquisition to show off … a beautiful, well constructed and modern Monogram Eden. *swoon!*

That weekend, we took Zachary to Lowes to build a catapult … and then it was off to Kaitlyn’s birthday party. I wish they served just pizza because that would have been easier to resist … but nope, there was a spread of small bites that included lumpia, teriyaki chicken wings, smoked salmon, brie, and homemade hummus. All delicious – thank goodness I jogged 3 miles that morning. Happy 6th Birthday Kaitlyn!

In the evening, Zachary’s after school teacher came to babysit, and James and I went on a date. We went to Scott’s Seafood and saved over $20 using a discount card from work. I’ll give you one guess what I ordered. Of all the ahi tuna dishes I ordered this month, it was my favorite … thick slabs of sesame crusted fish, resting on a sweet, soy based sauce. After dinner (which included sharing a cappuccino and tiramisu), we went to see the movie ‘Date Night.’ Not as funny as I expected given the leading actors, but still a decent romantic comedy – I would recommend it for a rental. Sunday, we went to the Veggie Chase fun run. James ran the 5k while I watched the kids and took them around to the various stalls to play games and gather snacks and promotional freebies.

Zachary ran a ¼ mile run and Calie participated in the diaper dash.  I watched in dismay as she threw herself into the arms of a man dressed up as a large carrot, waiting at the finish line. She has no fear of strangers – perhaps a downside of being in daycare… too trusting. After the races, we headed to an area set up like a farm. There were chickens and cows in pens, and an area for kids to do art projects, plant vegetables, and play in dirt. I visited the farmer’s market stands to stock up on organic produce and even scored some local honey, which I hope will help with my allergies!

Here’s a bonus picture of Zach’s Kindergarten graduation … one year down, many more to go. And as for Calie milestones this month, she is laugh-out-loud proud of herself for walking backwards and jumping.

End of April, my girlfriends and I met up at Bistro 33 to celebrate Melissa’s promotion to director. I had the ahi poke appetizer (loved it) plus a trio of soups (of course, my favorite was the creamy, high calorie one), and the table shared a plate of chocolate desserts … way more than 8 calories , but worth it. A fun way to kick start the weekend – Congratulations Melissa!

 
Saturday was jam packed full of activities – we started at 9am. Met up with Dylan at Home Depot to make a wooden chair that held a potted plant for Mother’s Day  … then it was off to Lowes, where we met up with Alex and Nicole, to build a wooden school house.

After lunch, we went on a short Skagit train ride (unexpected detour – it happened to be set up right near where we parked) and then headed to Michael’s for the kids to make glass bead bracelets. Despite an over scheduled day, since Zachary has been asking to feed fish at the Nimbus Hatchery for a few weeks, I took him over there for ~an hour while James stayed with a napping Calie in the car.

 
I had another fun girls-night-out(in?) at Kathy’s house that evening. Kathy hosted a clothing/accessory swap party, which was great timing for me. I needed to go shopping – but was unwilling to splurge since I’m hoping not to be my current size for too long (I’ve lost about 5 lbs since my last post). Fortunately, my friends started their diets earlier and are now very slender … which means I get to inherit their bigger clothes to wear during this transition period. At first, everyone felt a bit nervous about changing out in the living room, but after a few glasses of wine, clothes were flying everywhere.  I left with a fully belly (love homemade Chinese food) and a bag of new-to-me clothes.

Sunday, James had to stay home to wait for our new refrigerator … so I took the kids to Artbeast. We met up with the usual suspects (Dylan, Alex, and Nicole) and the kids had a great time … I love how all our kids can self-entertain and come up with creative games to play on their own. 

For lunch, we went to dim sum at Asian Pearl, where I showed how much a mother is willing to sacrifice for her children by giving Calie the last chicken foot. After lunch, we headed back to Artbeast and stayed until they closed! (Yep, aside from lunch break, we were there from before 10am to 6pm)  I was very pleased when Zachary asked a boy his age to play with him – they had a great time playing the entire last hour! This is probably not a big deal to most parents, but Zachary tends to only join groups when he’s asked or (more likely) play by himself … so it’s a big step for him to proactively go up to someone he doesn’t know and start a conversation.

Last Thursday, Zachary’s school had a circus themed musical on the field. We got there a little earlier for a picnic dinner. To be honest, the show was pretty terrible. Kids kept forgetting lines, and I could hardly see Zachary in the crowd – the only part the kindergartners had was singing. Zachary had fun before the picnic/show though, kicking a soccer ball around with Alex and a few other boys.

The following day, the school had the longest assembly ever … Zachary was getting ‘recognized’ for being Citizen of the Month. Every kid gets to be Citizen of the Month … and Zachary was chosen the last month of school, so you can pretty much figure out what that means. The assembly was so long and boring, that I left 1.5 hours into it, before it ended … I personally think all the kids should get an award for sitting so long! 

On Friday night, Melissa and I co-hosted a jewelry making party. It was at Melissa’s house and she provided the snacks, so I was probably more of a supply provider than a host. Melissa and I handed out clasps, wires, pins … and the other ladies brought their own beads to use and share. It was really fun and basic necklaces/bracelets were surprisingly easy to create.

Saturday, I got up ~6am and ran over 2 miles without stopping for the first time in over 7 years. After a month of aerobics classes, I’m finally in good enough shape to jog – yea! Later that morning, we went to Lowes to make another Mother’s Day flower pot.

We spent most of the afternoon running errands, and in the evening, James went to John’s for a barbecue party, while I took Zach and Calie to a barbecue playdate at Alex/Nicole’s house. Alex showed Zach a picture of himself with a Lego fire extinguisher (which won him a $100 gift card) in Lego Magazine – Zachary was very impressed! Nicole and Calie didn’t care, as they were focused on what seemed like an eating competition.
 
Sunday was Mother’s Day. James and the kids took me to Bistro 33 (We go there a lot … possibly motivated by the $100 gift card for $80 deal at Costco.) Since I want to lose weight, I didn’t completely gorge myself. I ate a small slice of steak and a serving of Asian sesame noodles, but otherwise filled up on salad and shrimp. (Okay, I also had half a cookie and a small lemon bar … but that was it, I swear!) 

Since we didn’t have any other plans that day, and I felt a bit guilty about my indulgences, I took Zachary to Sky-High. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that moms jumped for free on Mother’s Day. I bounced with Zachary for 60 minutes with only a 10 minute break in between. I was UNpleasantly surprised later to find out it was only worth ~230 calories!

This past Tuesday, my girlfriends and I took a day off from work to attend the Professional Business Women of California conference. Since it was in SF, we had to get up early – bus departure time was 5:50am! I attended 2 seminars, got a chair massage, tasted food samples, heard an amazing live performance by one of the Wicked cast members, and listened to speakers, which included Geena Davis.

Key non-business message … which seems to especially apply this month of Mother’s Day  … take care of yourself!