High school reunion

 It's been forever since I've overslept, and of course, it had to be on the morning I was going to meet up with three other high school friends.  We were to meet at 11 and I woke up at 10:40!  I felt like a college student all over again!  So, I called Stacey to let her know that I was going to be late and made it to Amandine Patisserie in record time.  My friends were actually still standing around waiting for a table and we happened to snag one just moments after I arrived.  I hadn't seen Jennifer, who is one year behind the rest of us, since graduating high school.  Sarah, I met up in New York City in the summer of '11 when we were around for Trung's family reunion.  I ran into Stacey last year after Sophie's Learning through Play class one day and we've been to lunch a couple times since then.  Hopefully we can make this a regular thing!

 Sarah, Stacey, me, and Jennifer

 Sarah followed me home to see the girls real quick before heading home for a party.  We used to be best buds in high school and even went to prom together (I set her up with her date!)  After she left, I got the family ready to head over to Weiru's place.  Last weekend, we watched the first two Lord of the Rings movies, and today we watched the final installment in preparation for The Hobbit.  I realized that I didn't remember a lot of scenes, but then again, we were watching the extended versions and some of it was probably new.

 One of the girls sneaking a picture of Legolas, can't say I blame her.  :P

 The girls have been asking for a Christmas tree, so we finally decided to get one now since weekdays are also crazy.  It was rainy and muddy, but we found a great tree and the girls were excited to bring it home.  Our first live tree...pretty cool!

 Watching our tree getting prepped

 We're finally "that" car with the Christmas tree on top

All things Christmas

 I knew that we had a busy day planned today, so we all slept in this morning to prepare for the day ahead of us.  We skipped breakfast with Santa (again) at the Toyota dealership, and instead decorated cookies with Mrs. Claus at Santa Monica Place.  After some songs and story time, we went back home for lunch.  I prepared a few things for tonight's potluck, which Trung finished up, while I took the girls to an open class for a new dance class to see if they liked the teacher.  Miss Kai was very nice and seemed to interact well with the kids.  I think I'll get the living social deal for Sophie for 4 classes for $25 and see how it goes.  Lydia isn't really into dance and I'm still trying to find her niche. 

When we got home, I got all the potluck stuff together and we walked over to Tom and Jessica's place.  We did Secret Santa for the kids and a White Elephant exchange for the adults, which was quite amusing.  About half the participants gave gang gifts, but Trung and I both managed to get useful gifts...a container full of biscotti and a reusable Starbucks cold beverage cup with treats. 

 Decorating ginormous gingerbread cookies

 Hey look, Mrs. Claus!

 Stretching with Miss Kai

 Head rolls

 Sophie's lolling tongue

 Galloping like a horse

 

All the kids ready to unwrap their gifts

Studio to Studio

 Lydia's extra work has been picking up a little, which is great for the experience, but not for her school attendance.  I was planning on letting her "work" at most once a month, but two jobs ago, it was a show that I regularly watched and I couldn't pass that up, and the job today, she was the only extra and was picture picked (the show selected her based on her picture).  The sets do school grade school aged kids for three hours per day every time, but apparently it doesn't matter to Lydia's school because they don't even want the school report that the set teacher provides us to turn in.  According to the parent teacher conference, Lydia is doing just fine in class and has in no way fallen behind from her absences.  But...the principal is the one who signs the renewal form for the work permit and if she sees all those absences, she may not sign the next one.  No work permit means no work.  Looks like I'm going to have to be more picky on the jobs, but Lydia sure does enjoy it (mainly in what craft services provides for lunch).  :P

 Working on an ABC show on a rainy day

The little boy, who got the extras job because his mom works on the Nickelodeon show, got scared and wouldn't stay on set, so Lydia got to be the only kid in the scene.  She did everything that she was told too; I'd like to think that "working" has helped her follow instructions better.  :)

Tron, what have you become?

Guro put together a Tron-themed surprise birthday party for her husband, Trond this afternoon and it was a success!  Trond was completely surprised, despite helping to make some of the food.  :P  Trung and I also parked our minivan right in front of the building with our bright blue "Roosevelt Elementary" license plate frame, but thankfully, Trond didn't notice it.  The party was held in Playa Vista, where I first met Guro at a "mommy and me" event just two years ago, boy does time fly!

"Tron" written out with chopsticks and soy sauce

Trung and Yuji, one of the hosts

Surprise!  Uh, where is he?

Blowing out the candles, take two

Such teamwork!  Its reminds me of cutting a wedding cake!

Breakfast with Santa

Santa Monica Place hosted a breakfast with Santa event, where all the little kids ate to their heart's content.  There was also craft and face painting stations, oh, and of course a visit from Santa.  All this was free!  Man, I love this city!

We welcome you to Lollipop Land

Dollar-sized pancakes, a tree of doughnut holes, and bagels were just a few of the yummy breakfast items.

Making snowman lanterns

Go carts at the beach

After Sophie got picked up for school, Trung and I headed to the Annenberg Beach House for his annual company Christmas party.  It wasn't your usual formal evening party; we drove go carts on a beach parking lot, played games, and just had plain old good fun. 

All suited up for go carts

Trung, his co-workers Jack and Mike, and I

First ones out of the "gate"

There goes Trung...

and everyone else trying to catch him.

Trung and his bosses drag racing

Karaoke time

Dinner in a margarita glass

Enjoying the evening

Teppanyaki Style

Tonight we went to Benihana to use Trung's birthday voucher.  We invited Weiru, Warren, and Juliet along, so we got the whole table to ourselves.  Our Hispanic cook did the usual tricks and was nice enough, answering all the kids' incessant questions.

Ready to eat

The chicken fried rice should have read "We 'heart' you" for Trung.

Happy happy birthday!

Superstar!

Two months after Sophie and I had our first extras job together, we finally made it onto national TV.  I honestly had not idea when our episode would air if a random Facebook friend hadn't asked me if I was an extra on "How I Met Your Mother" because he could've have sworn that he saw me to tonight's episode.  Fortunately, the friend was in Texas and I still had about twenty minutes until the show aired on the west coast to text all my friends that would care to see me on TV.  I showered the girls quickly and the whole family settled in front of the TV to watch for Sophie and I.  I have to admit, it was pretty cool and the girls said that they wanted to work more so that they could be on TV more.  :P

Just in case you can't make us out, I am in the coral swimsuit and Sophie is sitting at the far left at the table.

Warmth on a Rainy Day

Today we met Trond, Guro, and family at Ramenya for lunch.  It was the perfect meal with the chilly weather since the rain continued on from the night before.  Afterwards, we walked two blocks over to Balconi Coffee company and enjoyed some awesome coffee.  The Double T's (Trung and Trond) as Guro and I like to call the guys, rarely get to see each anymore since Trung no longer works in the same building as Trond, so family get-togethers are always a treat.  Plus, normally it's just Guro who meets up with me and my girlfriends, so the kids don't get to play...my have their kids grown too!

Lydia, Sophie, and Norah enjoying biscotti

A chocolate-loving Julian and Trung

Double T's and Double G's

My swan and Guro's teddy bear...too cute!

Let's Make A Deal

This morning, Snow, Trung, and I went to a taping of "Let's Make a Deal", a popular game show for almost fifty years.  We were initially going to dress up as Psy and backup dancers from Gangnam Style, but the cost started to add up, so we decided to wear whatever we could find.  Snow borrowed her daughters jingly wraps to be a gypsy/belly dancer, Trung took the sheet off of our bed and made it into a toga to be "Marc Antony", and I borrowed Weiru's Cleopatra costume.  We didn't spend a single penny, nor won one, but it was a fun experience.  

 

 

 Channeling Marc and Cleo

Acting like we won the big prize

After a couple of hours of waiting, 5-10 seconds of interviewing, and 1.5 hours of smiling & clapping

 As soon as I got home, I changed and hopped back into the car to go get my hair deep conditioned and cut.  Then back home to change for a formal night out and get the kids to another friend's house for a sleepover.  At Whist Restaurant at the Viceroy hotel, each couple had ten dishes and a bottle of wine, plus, the waiter threw in a couple glasses of proseco and dessert wine.  Also, we got our own private cabana outside, protecting us quite well from the rain.  It was fun dressing up and having a good time with friends without the kids.

Dave & Weiru, Trung & I, Ken & Snow