adventures of jen k. hong: an awesome weekend in the bay area

Oh, California, California, California...

yeah, That's riight

west coast, west coast

uh, California Love

California Love

I had the worst time getting to California. My plane going to Twin City was 2 hours delayed and I was bound to miss my connecting flight to California. I was beginning to accept that I would have to do an overnight layover in St. Paul, get on the 9 AM flight and arrive by 11AM to SFO. The wedding? Starts at 11 AM. I seriously wanted to cry.

By the time I got into my flight to MN, I had to stop worrying because there was nothing I could do. Slept through the flight and when we landed, I furiously searched with my bb my flight information. LO and BEHOLD, my connecting flight was delayed by 1.5 hrs and I still had TWENTY MINUTES to get to my gate. Of course, people were taking forever getting out of the plane (I was on row 43), but once I got out, I ran. I mean, I ran. I ran across the entire airport, from concourse C to concourse F. By the time I got there, I was greeted by angry people who were upset that their flight was delayed. But boy, was I happy that their plane was delayed!!!!! I looked like a kid with a severe asthma attack, but I got on the plane knowing I will soon be in CALIFORNIA. :)

Thanks to the lovely Lo's and Andrew, they greeted me with love at 2 AM in the morning when I landed.

LO's!!

The gracious newly weds opened up their home to Andrew and me last weekend! SERIOUSLY, IT WAS SO FUN playing with them again. When we were in the bay area, the four of us hung out quite often, calling ourselves "The Four". Well, the Four were united and ready to make the weekend as full and fun as possible! :)

When we got home to their place at 2:30 AM, the boys slept outside on air mattresses, while Hanna and I took the Tempur-pedic, KING sized bed. :) We told ourselves that we would wake up early in the morning for a little date of our own, but we ended up talking until 5:30 AM. Aw, it was like the pillow talk we used to have. :) It was soo wonderful catching up and I was so happy that we were able to have that time together. :) :) :)

The next morning, Hanna woke up and made us breakfast!!!!!!! By this time, she had only gotten like 2 or 3 hours of sleep, but look what she made us!!!!

That's Andrew taking a picture with his camera phone. haha

Look at this! Eggs, sausages, fresh fruits (bananas and pineapples), and ciabatta bread with raspberry jam.

RLo boasted that he gets this all the time. Next time you see him, please throw tomatoes at him for gloating.

We had like 4 different options for drinks, too!

We raid their sleeping place AND they feed us! :) LOVE IT!!!! hehe

Tiff & Tim's Wedding

So the main reason why Andrew and I made our trip to the bay area was for Tim and Tiff's wedding. Tim and Tiff gave us the honor of participating in their special day by asking us to be MCs at the reception! We seriously had so much fun coming up with games and also playing them at the wedding. :)

CONGRATULATIONS, MR and MRS KWAN!!!!!!!

Me and the lovely bridesmaids!

I loved that their dresses were specially tailored to their wants.

The happy groom and bride!

Tiff changed into this Chinese traditional dress during the reception.

They had several themes at their wedding.

All their ceremony music was DISNEY SONGS!!

Their reception theme was GINGERBREAD COOKIES!

And Andrew and I played lots of HARRY POTTER related games! :)

Here is my lovely boyfriend, Andrew! :)

At the mocktail, before the wedding reception.

With Janet and Nate! :)

Nate is my political counterpart, the voice of opposition.

So glad we have such a relationship.

THE YOO's!!!!!!!!

Another must-do in the bay area was to visit the Yoo's and see their newborn baby! Hanna, RLo, Andrew, and I went to their house right after the wedding. It was sooo nice seeing them. I really miss them.

Here are Andy (the dad) and Jayden!!

Andrew and I babysat for Jayden two times when we were in the bay area.

He's so smart and cute! :) He remembers us and the toy Ferrari that Andrew and I gave him. :)

Me and the baby K! Her full name is Krissalyn Grace Yoo.

She is so calm and ADORABLE!

Andrew was loving the baby.

We had to check his pockets when we left the Yoo's because he was so fond of the baby. :)

I wanted to take a picture with Jayden, but he refused to smile. Maybe he doesn't like me. =)

The boys. Jayden wanted his mommy but we told him it's an all-boy picture. He sat still after that. :)

JAPANESE FOOD

Two cuisines that Andrew and I miss the most: Japanese and Mexican. Of course, the Lo's graciously took us to our favorite, Angel Fish. They had never been, so we were definitely in for a treat! :)

**if you hadn't picked up by now, Hanna and RLo took us everywhere we wanted to go. Totally sacrificed their weekend hanging out with us! :)

Me and HANNA! :)

RLo and Andrew!

THE YUMMY and DELICIOUS SUSHI!!!!!!!!

That was just one of the dishes we ordered.

We definitely ate well. :)

CUPCAKES, ICE CREAM, and GAME!

What does Jen absolutely love? Cupcakes. Andrew, Hanna, and RLo know that. So we rushed over to Bay Street after dinner (we had only 30 minutes before closing!!) and picked up four teacake cupcakes and coldstone icream.

Look at the boys admiring their sweets:

pink velvet cupcake, pumpkin cupcake, strawberry cupcake, apple crums cupcake,

AND one carton of ice cream.

!!!! It's all gone !!!!

After dinner, we played "Apples to Apples"!!! It was so fun. :) Aw, I want to play that game again!!!!!!!

Here is Richard, premiering the Apples to Apples game in the Lo household.

BREAKFAST with COLLEGIANS

We obviously couldn't eat with everyone, but since this group was Andrew and my mutual friends (they happen to be dating, too), we had breakfast before church at Cafe M(?) on 4th street. It was nice hearing about their post-grad plans (existent or not) and just spending face-to-face time with them. :)

CLASS LUNCH

Since Andrew and I couldn't see everyone in such a short period of time, we decided to have a class picnic after church in the Berkeley Rose Garden. Oh, the weather was absolutely PERFECT. Andrew, Lo's, and I picked up Gregoire! for our lunch. Potato puffs--SO AWESOME. :)

The girls! :)

The boys!

and US! Look at the beautiful scenery.

The day was absolutely perfect with everyone. :)

SHOPPING in Berkeley and SF

After we said our good-byes to everyone, the Lo's and we went to Jeremy's and Northface Outlet to help me find a pair of boots and a coat. By this time, tiredness from a busy weekend, the digesting food, and the near-hot weather was getting to all of us, but everyone stayed on task and made the two trips to Jeremy and Northface a reality. With everyone scrounging around, I was able to score a pair of awesome winter boots! THANK YOU!!!! :)

Then we said our good-byes to the Lo's and went to SF! We decided to hang out here, until Grace and Darky joined us for dinner! :) :)