Happy Birthday Brian!

Our dear friends Brian & Danielle Lacey invited us out with her family to celebrate Brian's 31st birthday. Most years, we've been going out to celebrate as a double-date, since their birthdays are only 6 days apart. However, this year because of our planned trip to WA, we actually celebrated Brian's birthday on the day of. Dinner at Javier's at the Irvine Spectrum was amazing! Well, the 3 other couples ordered what they call the "La Tablita" - a combo plate of meat and veggies with all your own taco fixings. P and I were the only ones to order something different... P got a Shrimp & a Lobster enchilada, and I got the Chicken enchiladas suiza (yum!). All the pics were taken after our meal was finished, so no pics of the food. But I do like the awesome atmosphere of the place - leather padded walls, waterfall wall, cool candle-lit trees, etc. Here are some of the photos (check MySpace for more):

Birthday boy & his wife

Larry & Stephanie (D's parents)
Ashleyann & Braden (D's sister & hubby)
PandA
Birthday flan!C'mon B, open wide! Here comes the airplane!
Sorry, Ash. Just had to put it in there - this is where 2 margaritas gets you. :)

Posted by: ~A*

Matt and Al go for gold...

If you did not have a chance to watch the TODAY show much during the last 2 weeks while they've been broadcasting from Beijing (in other words, if you go to work in the daytime unlike ME), then

YOU MUST WATCH THIS!!!

This may be my most favorite thing to come out of the Olympics this season, and will be my last "Olympic" post. If you don't want to watch the whole video, you have to at least scan till about 4 minutes in - it's the best part!

ENJOY!! :)

Dynamic Duo

They look great up there on the podium together.

It's about time! :) Congrats to Shawn and Nastia!

Phelps Phan!!

8.8.08 and China's lucky number 8...

8 gold medals, in just 8 days.

A-MAZ-ING!!!

What else can I say?

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0816_PhelpsBody_JA243

Hillarious!

OK, I know it's my second post of the day, but I just had to post this! Something I read on some one's MySpace:

"Last night, my wife and I were sitting in the living room and I said to her, "I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug." She got up, unplugged the TV and then threw out my beer."

The best part is, I read it out loud to P, and he was simultaneously grabbing his beer and holding it in a "baby" way with this sad look on his face as the Olympics were playing in the background!

Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!! :)

"GO WORLD"

As awesome as the VISA "GO WORLD" ad campaign is, most of the commercials have featured American athletes, and what an awesome thing they do/have done (but really should have been in a separate campaign entitled "GO AMERICA"). Well, don't get me wrong, I love to root for our country's greatest too, but this commercial in particular is my fave from the campaign... mainly because it is actually cohesive with the tag line at the end of the commercial (one of two, the other being the very first commercial in the campaign titled "Come Together"). And I swear, the commercial makes me tear up every time... or is it just Morgan Freeman's genius narration?


Also, to just recap on last night's gymnastic meet, I'm so happy for Nastia Liukin who won the gold! I was really rooting for her over Shawn Johnson, mainly because everyone was basically expecting it of Johnson to get gold - but I always like rooting for the underdog. She may not have won the world championship last year, but that doesn't mean that with a little concentration and a lot of practice, she can't beat out the opponent she's friends & roomies with for gold! She is the epitome of grace and determination!
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0815_HD_GAW_HL_L1664

Congrats to them both though, for going 1-2 in the All Around for the US for the first time! A great achievement for both of them.

Speaking of VISA commercials, and Nastia, this one is the runner up to my fave:


Posted by: ~A*

One World One Dream

It's that time again... time to spend about 4 hours every night, from the prime-time television hour until midnight, to watch the world's best athletes compete in the Summer Olympics. Of course, by the time 8pm PST rolls around, we've already accidentally seen the results from the event we will see later that night rolling across on the 'bottom line' of ESPN. (Kinda takes the excitement out of seeing Michael Phelps beat his own world record and win the gold medal in his self-described "toughest event" this season...) There are a total of 28 sports (and 35 individual categories) in the Olympics, but only about 5 of which that I will really watch... swimming, diving, gymnastics, track, and maybe some of the beach volleyball. P on the other hand, loves it all. He gets so hyped up for the Olympics, he's just like a little kid in a candy store! (Well, what else would you expect from a guy who went to school to study sports [and found he could do it in the form of the law]...?)

As a designer, I have to say that the most amazing part of the Olympics this year has to be the buildings on the Olympic Green! I mean WOW! They started transforming the city as soon as they were awarded the privilege to hold the 2008 Olympics, back in 2001. Can you imagine? (Oh, and to make over 6,000 medals with actual carved out dark green, light green, and the rare white jade on them? I think they would have had to start back in '01 to get them all done!) What I particularly find interesting is the aquatic center, or the "Water Cube" as they're calling it. Don't get me wrong, the "Bird's Nest" is really awesome looking too, but the aquatic center is just so cool since it was built in accordance with a water-saving design concept to be a gigantic green architectural wonder. (For the full article on the official Beijing Olympics website, go here: http://en.beijing2008.cn/cptvenues/venues/nac/headlines/n214241555.shtml) It seems like something Frank Ghery would appreciate... Simply stunning!

But by far, my favorite thing has to be the cute little Olympic mascots this season!!! Have you seen these? They've created these characters named Beibei (the fish), Jingjing (the Panda, and my personal favorite), Huanhuan (the Olympic flame), Yingying (the Tibetan antelope), and Nini (the sparrow)... when you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing." Completely the cutest thing ever, but hmmm... does it remind you of anyone? ;)

Well, I do hope you enjoy watching the Olympics this season... I know we will. And don't stay up too late - this is where the wonderful technology of the Tivo or a DVR comes in handy, especially when you'll be playing digital whack-a-mole (between what, 12 channels?) to find all of the events you'd like to see! While P watches the likes of all 28 sports, you'll most likely find me in the back bedroom keeping up on my Big Brother craze 3x a week, or at the computer playing Chuzzle, TipTop, or Insaniquarium!

Posted by: ~A*