Mike and Arn: Our First Guests In Our New Flat In North Beach

They came over last Friday, July 21st (which happened to be the birthday of my younger sister, Balloon) for dinner. Mike and Arn buzzed us in at 5 PM sharp...with Arn in her usual convivial self-saying hi to me with gusto! We were ecstatic to see each other again after staying connected here in CA while she was on a study-leave in 2004. However, she went back to Guam and got back to teaching in the classroom.This summer, Arn returned in San Mateo (south of SFO) for a summer term in Notre Dame, pursuing her M.A. in Art Therapy. Her fiancé Mike joined her for 6 weeks. Anyhow, Mike and Little Boy hit it off and got to talk for most evenings while Arn and I had our share of updates about our life away from each other. I served "tom-ka" (Thai spicy soup with shrimp, coconut milk, lemon, lemon grass and tom-ka) "broiled salmon" (marinated in salt and thyme) and steamed rice plus "green salad" (spinach, tomatoes, onions, parmegan cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar) for dinner. For dessert I baked "Lemon Moist Bundt Cake" served with hot brewed coffee.

Mike brought white wine for moi Little Boy while Arn gave me orchids, journal book, a parasol and a shopping straw bag (ARN!ARN!ARN! You are ever so generous and perky)! We spent most of the time in our flat (we were supposed to go dancing) and by past midnight they said goodbye. We accompanied them at the parking lot near the Washington Square. They parked there early on…in fact, Little Boy and Mike had to go there every couple of hours to put on the coins for the parking. But after 7 or 8 PM, parking was free (didn't know this~ayayay!) so that helped Mike and Jeff not to be coming back and forth for the ticket payment. Well, we wished that they stayed longer in our place but Mike and Arn were limited by time and space since they had a lot to do-to prepare for Mike’s return trip to Guam today. Meanwhile, Arn will stay over to finish her summer term. Overall, Mike and Arn's visit was short and sweet!

BTW, after they were gone, we walked around our neighborhood and went dancing at the Italian bistro along Grant (where live Latin music was being played by a band). As we entered the place, we were surprised to see that no one was dancing-OMG! As we walked in and got right on the dance floor, Little Boy was enthused that he began swinging and dancing! Later on, I joined him and after a while, we were both like jitter bugs- dancing up in the air! We danced to the syncopated Latin beat (we were able to modify our cha-cha-cha, swing, fox trot and box steps). We noticed as well that some young people watched us dance. Whew-that was really something! After 3 or 4 songs, we had enough of it; called it a night; walked along Columbus; had a soda; roamed around once more-this time to the next block where some bistros and pizzerias are located that we have not visited yet. There we couldn’t believe how much people were out last Friday night! It was like hey, the city was just starting to swing at 1 AM! In fact, at one pizzeria, there was a long line of folks awaiting for their order of pizza! Surely, everyone was celebrating the end of the week being TGIF! We got back home shortly; took a shower (our mantra before we go to bed) then we were off for our long journey to sleep. zzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! Ciao!

Yesterday, I was in bed for most times of the day...felt lazy...with all the prep work I did to make our haven presentable, did the cooking and baking....I was dead tired! Despite the fact that we still have some boxes (around 8 of them) to unload, our flat is coming together nicely...so to speak- but can't do the total unpacking yet since we are still awaiting for the crew of the moving company to move our piano from the garage downstairs (to our level 2 flat). Most of the content of the boxes are my piano books and art materials (that I placed in the piano chair and on top of the piano when we were still in Ripon). I plan to place them there as well so it is critical that we have the piano here in our flat before we could finish our organization in our North Beach haven!At 5 PM yesterday, we walked to Market (Financial District) and returned the "blue tooth" that Little Boy bought for me at Cingular. It took a while before all was sorted out there but we left the place happy and free---especially moi! I was not keen about using the blue tooth. It felt heavy on my right ear although it was cute and light in weight indeed. It's just not my cup of tea! Ok this is all...it's Sunday morning and lunch time would soon come...got to cook now...rahrahrah!