In Virginia Beach this weekend

Jeff and I are leaving for Virginia Beach today to attend his cousin, Janel's wedding on Saturday. We are also invited to the rehearsal dinner tonight. I'm excited to see all of Jeff's family, relatives, cousins, etc. His dad has a huge family (8 brothers & sisters), and they are all very outgoing. I haven't seen many of them since my wedding in February! I look forward to spending some time with them~ It will be a fun party!

Wake Me Up When September Ends~

The Most Sensitive Dog

I swear, Scraps understands both English and Chinese. Most of all, he is the best listener and can be the best psychologist ever!

I've been under tremendous stress at the end of Q3 waiting for a couple more deals to come in. Being a sale manager can be very challenging in this economy. Since Jeff is out of town, and I wanted a listener, I had to "talk" to Scraps. He had no choice :)

As I continued talking, he looked at me very seriously. I think he was trying to understand me. At one point, he looked so intrigued that made me talk more. After letting thoughts out, I felt great of course. After I turned off our night light and was ready to go to bed. He came to me and rested his body on me while strategically placed his head next to mine. I felt like he was telling me, "It's okay mommy, I'm here for you!"

Meeting with Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis today

Met with America's largest brewer but infamously the cheapest client. Ha...wish they would buy more products, but they are always petty about a puny annual price increase. Oh well~

Eight Thousand Mile Friendship

My friend, Sunny, and I were once roommates in Wesley Girls' High in Taipei. Even though we are now 8,000 miles apart, our friendship will continue to grow partly thanks to our sharing each others' lives through blogs.
I never knew a simple message could be so powerful. Here is a page from her blog:

"好友造訪blog"

前兩天上來，看到遠在美國的vivi的留言，心裡有說不出的感動。十多年的同窗情誼，歷久彌新。縱使我們已經多年未見，分隔地球兩端，總是能在虛擬的空間裡，透過不同的文字互相關心打氣。

前幾個月我遇到一件大事，足以動搖我婚姻的大事，我不知該向誰訴說，只能一直壓抑自己的情緒。vivi從我msn暱稱的隻字片語透視了我的心思，跨海越洋的 陪我打開心結，誰說螢幕上的文字是冷冰冰的?我就覺得字字句句都溫暖我的心，她每打出一段文字，我就流一次淚，就算她打的是英文，還得透過我的大腦轉換成 我熟悉的語言，但感動並沒有因為這樣有分秒誤差。

我好感謝那個晚上，她在那個國度裡的白天，懂了我的黑。給我安全感，讓我能從悲傷中走出來，讓我懂得如何重新去愛。

Jeff in Southern Illionis Sunday - Wednesday

Jeff leaves this P.M. for Southern IL for client meetings from Monday to Wednesday. It's an important trip at a refinery (he can't disclose which one due to privacy agreements), as Jeff is the IL state expert and the most experienced air quality engineer/consultant.

As I guessed, he reserved a car with Sirius satellite radio, so he can listen to the NFL games while driving down today.
Drive carefully, bud.

Cafe Laguardia + Map Room

It was surprisingly a really busy Friday. It might be because I had quite a few things to follow up after my meeting, but it most likely is because it's near the end of Q3. Management likes to freak out on us sales people, pushing us to close as many deals as possible.

Anywho, after a busy day and a somewhat stressful Friday, I wanted to go somewhere for dinner with good drinks. Cafe Laguardia came to mind as one of our top choices. It has the best Cuban food and the greatest Mojitos. I normally don't drink Rum unless I'm drinking Mojitos. This one has a lot of mint leaves, a cherry and a piece of sugar cane, so after a few sips with no taste of alcohol, it took my edge off immediately :) As usual, I had Ossobuco (slow-cooked pork with bones in a spicy stew style), and Jeff, instead of his usual Picadillo, got grilled whole redsnapper. Oh~ they were as great as always.

After dinner, we stopped in the Map Room across the street. We hadn't been in there for about 2 years. It's a fun bar with cool decoration and a variety of different ales. Jeff had Bells Oktoberfest, and I had vodka club soda.

My Love Hate Relationship with the CTA

Every Chicagoan can tell you how crucial it is for the city to revamp Chicago's train system. My love hate relationship with the Blue Line in particular can be best illustrated in my experience today.

It was 7 am, and I was on my way to the Blue Line to go to O'Hare for a 8:51 a.m. flight to Kansas City for an important client meeting. I can certainly take a cab, but why not take the direct train to the airport if I have plenty of time? I'm such a frequent flier, so I was confident the Blue Line was the best option at that time. Anywho, when I get to the train station, the CTA workers were yelling there were no trains to the Loop. Thank god the train to O'Hare is still working, I think to myself. After texting Jeff, so he can be ready for this incident this morning, I boarded my train and got a good seat. I was really into my magazine, and it was a smooth ride until we got to the Belmont stop. Suddenly, the train operator told us the train would on longer be in service. Everyone was forced to get off the train and wait for another one. I couldn't believe this was happening!!!

It was already 7:35 am, and there's no way I'd catch my flight if I wasted another minute. So I left the stop, but the cab line was no where to be found (how is that possible?)! Good that I spotted a cab (the only cab!), so I started sprinting in my beautiful heels to chase it. Just when I was close, a guy got in the cab before me! I think to myself, "Can I afford to give up this cab and miss/reschedule my important meeting?" No, out of the question! I then started sprinting again and shouting, and finally got their attention. Next thing I know, I was sharing the cab with the guy. His name was Stefan, and he was going to Napa for a wedding this weekend (how nice!). I also found out that he might be looking to buy a place in our area! I described our condo to him, and he seemed very interested. I gave him my card asking him to call me when he starts looking. Hey you never know!

Fortunately, I got on my flight, and my important meeting went extremely well.

September 16, 1975

My bud was born 33 years ago today.

I often tell him I have to come all the way to the U.S. in order to meet him :) This is his first birthday that we celebrate together as husband and wife, and I look forward to celebrating every year with him for the rest of our lives.

Thank you for making me your wife, bud.

Busy September Saturday

Marie's Baby Shower
11 a.m.
Quartino's
626 N. State Street

Darnell's Birthday Party
7:30 p.m.
Angels & Mariachis
1721 W. Division Street

Taking Jeff to Half Shell

Jeff and I enjoy good chow-down and cuisines from all over the world. Chicago is definitely a city with a variety of restaurants offering incredible culinary. We will take you to one or more of the following places if you come to visit!

Seafood -- Half Shell
Southern -- Dixie Kitchen
Tapas -- Mercat
Italian -- La Scarola
Cuban -- Cafe Laguardia
Mexican -- Uncle Julio's Hacienda
Brazilian -- ZED 451
Japanese -- Mirai
Korean -- Kalbi House
Chinese -- Moon Palace
Steak -- Ruth Chris
Deli -- Manny's

Jeff's birthday is next Tuesday, and I'm taking him to Half Shell tonight to celebrate! Their king crab legs are out of this world! Can't wait!!

Visiting Bo Brania

Our friends, Bret and Katie, had their new born son, Bo Joseph, about 2 weeks ago. We went to visit them last weekend. He is such a cute and good baby!

I love seeing Jeff holding Bo : )

Dinner @ ZED451

Jeff's parents are in town from Florida this weekend to attend a friend's son's wedding, which is on Sunday. They came to the city to spend Saturday with us! As usual, they brought us a lot of food, such as barbecue pork, barbecue duck, moon cakes, Taiwanese beef jerky and bean curds, etc. They love Scraps, who was so excited to see grandpa and grandma!

We then went to dinner at a new restaurant in downtown, ZED451, a Brazilian-style steakhouse in a modern upscale dining environment. I particularly love the salad bars. My favorite dishes from the salad bars are sauteed mushrooms and spiced green beans. For the main dishes, the lightly-fried Mahi Mahi and slowly-cooked spare ribs are out of this world. We enjoyed our delicious food with a bottle of 2005 Terrazas de los Andes Malbec from Argentina.

ReBAR + Redlight

Friday after work, I met up with Shannon and Jenn for drinks at ReBAR in the new Trump Tower. It was a very trendy place with a nice view. We had such a good time catching up. Shannon is now working at Google; however, she said she had to take a pay cut from her previous job. I have always heard about Google's low pay with incredible benefits, such as free breakfast and lunch, annual ski trips, lavish company outings, etc.

We each had two drinks, as the guy behind us kept bumping into us, so he bought us a round of drinks as an apology :) At the end of our drinks, Jenn and I had an interesting idea -- setting Shannon up with Rakesh! I think it's perfect, and they are going to have fun together!

After Shannon left, Jenn and I went to Redlight in the west loop for dinner. The spiced ribs (appetizer) was unbelievable. But the curries we each had were sort of mediocre. We each also had a glass of champagn at dinner to wrap up the fun Friday night!

Can't Stop Watching the National Geographic Channel

With all of the intriguing programs, I haven't been able to stop watching the National Geographic Channel for the past two nights.

Surviving Alcatraz
How it was - September 11
Secret Yellowstone
Dog Town