a whirlwind week of babies, Berkeley, and Zachary's Pizza (mmm)

last month we went back to California to attend Larry's sister's graduation from Cal. it was held at the Hearst Greek Theater, the same place where mine was held... exactly 10 years ago. TEN YEARS! gosh, i'm really feeling old now. walking around the Berkeley campus was a bit nostalgic for me, seeing as i had spent 10 years of my life on that campus... 4 years of college, and 6 years of working. whew!

the week was jam-packed with seeing family and as many friends as possible. it was a whirlwind week (that's usually the case every time we go back to the Bay Area), but i enjoyed seeing everyone.

i got to see my cutie-pie niece Celine, (who's nearly 5 yrs old. she quite a bossy, Little Miss Smarty Pants, but i love her to death!) and my adorable 1.5 yr old nephew, Christopher. i got to spend half a day playing with them at my sister's house... and as much as they tired me out, i loved every minute of it. (it's been a year since i've seen my niece, and i saw my nephew last when when he was only 1 month old! needless to say, among other reasons, it meant the world to me to have had the chance to see them.)

one of my best friends, Jenn, just had a baby the week before, so it was wonderful to get to see her and Joel and their daughter, and also meet their newborn son. He was so tiny! awww...

i did a little portrait session with my friend Sabrina, and her almost-1-yr-old daughter Nola. i must say that photographing an infant/toddler is very difficult because they don't understand instructions yet, and they lose patience and get tired and fussy after a while. i only caught a few shots where she was actually looking at the camera and smiling. she was easily distracted, and by the end of it she was more than ready to be back in her mom's arms and away from the lady pointing the big camera at her! ;) she was such a good sport though, i had fun shooting them. here's one of my favorite shots.

i also got to see my friend Monica's daughter, Abigail, who's almost one. i gave Monica a couple of pictures i took of them last year, and she commented how different she looks now. seriously, babies grow at lightning speed... one of the unfortunate things about living so far from home is that i only get to see my niece, nephew, and friends' kids once or twice a year, and i totally miss out on seeing them grow up. it's like every time i see them, i'm shocked because i almost don't recognize them. and sadly, they probably don't recognize me... <=( although i have to say that i was very happy when Jenn's daughter Naomi "seemed" to recognize me when Beryl and I visited their home and she actually came over to me when Joel told her to give Auntie Ivy a kiss. did she really know Auntie Ivy from Auntie Beryl? or was Joel giving her hand signals behind my back? haha.. i'd like to think that she actually knows me... :)

we also had a big lunch on our last day in efforts to see as many friends as possible. despite it being a long weekend, a good number of friends made it out to the Irish Bank in SF to lunch with us... Ying, Suzanna, John, Gil, Marisa, Jenny, Angela, Evance, baby Kevan, Virginia, Jonmichael, Thomas, and Albert. it was good catching up, glad we got to see them all!

aside from seeing a lot of friends, i was getting my fill of foods that's been hard to find in HK. here's what i got to check off from my Must-Eat-While-in-the-Bay-Area list:

1) Zachary's Pizza (delicious deep-dish semi-Chicago-style pizza) - i made my high school friends go there with me :)
2) Jamba Juice smoothies (they don't make smoothies the same way in HK. some places there use milk instead of juice. gross!)
3) crepes at Ti Couz in San Francisco (both savory AND sweet!)
4) authentic Vietnamese food (pho, bun rieu, bun cuon... did i get it right?)
5) Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes - i love the sinfully sweet and chocolate-y "Godiva Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake", but since i had to share with Larry (who didn't like his desserts too sweet), we had the Original Cheesecake with Strawberry. it was still good!
6) fresh salad at California Pizza Kitchen - you have NO IDEA how hard it is to find a place in HK to serve good, fresh salad!
7) good 'ole fried chicken - we had a fried chicken grub-fest at Sabrina and Jansen's house with Frances, Justin, and friends. catching up with friends while eating greasy, crispy fried chicken... now that's good stuff!

ahhh, can't wait until we get to go back and see everyone again (and eat all these again)... till next time!