6 months

Baby girl is six months! Time really does fly.  She is starting to eat solids (her favorites are tofu and Japanese sweet potato).  She screams sometimes and strangers have been telling me that she will be a talker (I can see the future when the report cards come in- talks too much).  I don't know where she got it from.

Eleanor Sally Mirai Mock

LA LA Land

Just came back from a whirlwind trip from Los Angeles.  It was a solo one since Adam had taken a lot of days off from work the past couple of months he didn't want to miss anymore.  

I was in town to celebrate my nephew-to-be.  The first in our little family.  We are so happy.

I also got to see a lot of people.  I have friends who want to see me! haha

It was a busy and fun trip.  I love LA (but just to visit).

image via: pinterest

Mock Family Vacation

I can't even believe I'm saying this but... I prefer Michigan over Portland.  

I guess it didn't help that heading back to Michigan, we flew over a thunderstorm and everyone on the plane thought we were going to die.  Scariest flight of my life.

Will update Portland soon.

Winter #5

It is getting really cold in Michigan.  I do the same post every year, huh?

I can't believe this is my fifth winter in Michigan.  I think I can spot snow clouds.  Does this make me an official michigander?  

Adam is heading to a conference in Florida this weekend so not sure how I am going to spend my time.   Watch a ton of girly movies?  Also, I have a fear of sleeping alone in a house and it will be my first time in the new house.  I'm scared.  

Mount Pleasant with my family

Adam teaches a class and one of their assignments is to build a cardboard boat.  This year, Adam decided to participate.

Adam and his students (both Adam and the girl are wearing my shorts- very baggy :( ).

Omigod, watching him race was hilarious.  He didn't do as well as everyone imagined. Also, the boat was shaking so hard.  It was really funny.  Better luck next year.

Detroit Tour with my Family

My family took a redeye from Los Angeles to Detroit, arriving at 5:45am.  I live two and a half hours from the airport, making my departure time 3:15am.  My brother suggested I drive out a little later and they would wait for me at the airport for a few hours.  

First thing we did when I picked them up from the airport was breakfast!  They weren't hungry because of the lag but I heard the best thing for it is to eat your meals in the current time zone.

We drove about ten miles to New Center Eatery (Detroit has traffic!).  When looking for a brunch spot, I saw a yelp review saying that this place was better than Roscoes.  I was sold on the spot.  Anyway, when we placed our order, sister Elena mentioned it was their one year wedding anniversary and my mom's birthday this weekend, the manager gave us a discount (a nice one).  It was pretty awesome.  The fried chicken was moist and tender, and the meal wasn't too heavy.

Next, we walked around downtown Detroit, the first stop being the Gaurdian Building.  It was built in 1928 and completed in 1929 (the year of the market crash). It took a million bricks to built and sister Elena was a really great and informative tour guide.

We walked a block and stumbled on the site of the Coney Wars.  We were all confused because we thought it was set in New York?  We shared a chili dog with all the fixin's (thirty minutes after our fried chicken and waffles) at Lafayette Coney Island.  I think we made the right choice.

We did a museum (a little dull) and a cool coffee shop with eames chairs! ... Then drove to Slows BBQ for a late lunch/early dinner in a area called Corktown.   Slows is a classy BBQ joint.  I read that Slows is responsible for revitalizing this area.  It was really good.  The meat was tender and also not heavy as one would expect.  I wish we could have tried some of their alcohol drinks.  We were all too tired from the early morning.

Next to Slows is Astro Coffee.  I wanted to go to Astros forever.  We are always in the area on Mondays (when they are closed) and we miss it.  The coffeeshop is hip and people are nice there.  I think it surpasses Comet in Ann Arbor as my favorite Michigan coffee place.

So Friday with my family was very eventful and lots of fun.  Come on visitors, come on over.

October

In a few days my brother, sister-in-law and my mom are visiting us for the first time in Michigan.  This is pretty exciting.  Adam and I haven't really explored that much of Michigan even though we have been here for four years.

Can't wait to do some exploring with the family and show them some midwestern stuff.

via

Home

I just got back from a quick trip to Los Angeles. This was a good trip. People wanted to hang out with me! I actually have friends!

I thought Adam would have a great time catching up on reading and TV back in Michigan. He ended up working too much and he missed me. Can you believe it?

Whenever I go home on my own, I don't want to leave.  I even got a little teary-eyed at the airport. I wish home was a little closer (but not too close). :)

grapefruits

i am eating a grapefruit as i type this.

wanna know something embarrassing? my mom peeled the skin of my grapefruit way into adulthood. maybe i don't like eating fruit because my mom salted my apples (so they don't brown) and skinned my grapefruit.

i'm spoiled if you already didn't know that. 

anyway, my mom is my hero.  happy early mothers day.

image via

bananas foster

I will write about our trip soon... unless you follow me on instagram (I went pretty crazy).  I even annoyed myself with my photos (sorry).  I think of it as a journal taking/making.. so I am reminded of my time there.

The food in New Orleans is soooo good.  But you know if it tastes good, it is probably bad for you.  I am really bad at eating healthy and really good at choosing the wrong thing.  My new obsesssion of this trip was 1. fried oysters (so good) and 2. bananas foster.  Have you ever had bananas foster?

I dunno exactly what it is.  I think you cook a sauce with bananas.  I got a french toast version and a cheesecake version.  Anyway, I cannot wait to bake a bananas foster cheesecake for our next dinner guests.

image via pinterest

wedding weekend

last weekend we were in LA for my brothers wedding.  it was so wonderful.  a magical day. will post more later.

Sharon

I've known Sharon most of my life. She took me to gallery openings, museums, plays, concerts when I was a little girl. I feel like I owe a lot of how I turned out to her.

My mom and I visited her last week after our mother/daughter LA outing.

Anyway, Elena and my brother asked Sharon to officiate their wedding. Her eyes were filled with tears. I can't wait for the wedding. I think it is going to be very cool.

Travel: Morocco (Marrakech)

here are a few pictures from Marrakech.

We drove into the Atlas Mountains.  Kids run to the roadside when they see a car pass by.  We had little gifts for the children.  Doesn't this photo look like photo from Tom Shoes website?

In the Atlas mountains we had lunch made by a berber family.  Chicken tagine and vegetable couscous.  So amazing and delicious!

We took a break from getting lost in the markets.  I ordered a lemonade and it was lemon juice.  I put three packets inside.

We took a camel ride

Caroline at Ben Youssef

Carpet shopping

My handsome husband.

I took over a thousand pictures.  MOst of them blurry. haha

reads

When Adam travels to a foreign country, he always picks up a book about the country. Not a travel guide (well we buy a few of those) but a book written in the country we are visiting, etc.

Since we were visiting Morocco, his book was the Lemon by Mohammed Mrabet.

I on the other hand, like to read crappy girly books. Chick-lit.  It has turned into a tradition for sister Caroline and I.  In Puerto Vallarta we read Emily Giffin books.  She wrote Something Borrowed, Something Blue and a few others.  I read like four of her books in one week.

For Morocco, we both downloaded Fifty Shades of Grey on our electronic readers.  I was embarrassed to read those on the plane thinking the person next to me would know.  I read the book for five hours straight on a train ride.  I'm such a prude I can't believe I read those books. 

my favorite holiday

thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  can you believe it is only three weeks away?

adam and i are headed to sister caroline's in berkeley for thanksgiving weekend.  last year was pretty fun, we cooked all day, ate leftovers and went on a fancy (with a stretch suv limo!) wine tour.  I can't wait for this year!

photo source

paparazzi

today my brother and elena are in the la times. adam thinks this is more exciting than his paparazzi shot last year (here).

when i read the article, my old coworker's brother (he's a professor of architecture at ucla) is on the board of this thing and is part of the article? anyway, this is exciting!

article here