Toluu

The Mostess

Turning JapaneseOctober 4

I went to a sushi-making party last night. My friend Ashley got serious about her sushi-making last year, and her dad surprised her with a real sushi making set, including the quasi-Japanese headband you see her sporting. It's good to know her dad has a sense of humor.

April Showers Bring May FlowersOctober 4

Our friends threw our good friend April a baby shower. It was her 3rd kid (she looks amazing, yes??) but her first little boy, Baby E. He's *so* cute. Alie chose a cute and fitting Tiffany blue and brown theme for the party, and did a fondue buffet for dessert. Yum--though I feel like I need to go for a jog:

One of my favorite things was my cute little set of vintage milk bottles filled to the rim with ice-cold milk:

April answered questions, and then opened a ton of cute boy things. I'm always torn on shower gift--deep down, I want to do something cute and special, like an amazing baby cashmere sweater. Then I thought of my poor friend April ferrying it out the the dry-cleaners, and I choose something cute and practical instead.

Puppy LoveOctober 3

As you all know, I was a little Twilight resistant, though I think it's the way the series was initially explained. I'm not really the 'romance' type, and I wasn't really sold on the vampire bit either. I just finished book 2, and I'm truly excited about book 3. As I was reading it, I realized why I love the series...it perfectly captures first love. Not true love, not lasting love, not even necessarily good love...but first love in all of its desperate, awkward, new, innocent, naive, exciting and all-consuming glory.

As I read book one, I couldn't help but think back to my first real love, and how it felt *exactly* like the book described it. In book 2, it accurately portrayed the horrible, empty feeling of losing that love, and the dark and empty void left behind in the wake of a breakup...and the surge of feeling whole again when you got back together (or at least had the hint of a reconciliation) right before breaking up again. Enter the void...again. But then you move on, you grow up, you learn life lessons, you fall in love again...you know the drill. The person you wind up with in the end is usually very different than the person you imagined when you were

Bug-B-GoneSeptember 30

Hallelujah! My nasty Korean bug is gone and my laptop is, once again, mine all mine. This was certainly a reminder to do all of the annoying little things we all put off. My current list includes going to the dentist, fixing the lock on my car door, filing paperwork, etc. It used to include updating my antivirus software, but I learned my lesson the hard way. Blech. Here's all the fun-fun I've been up to:

Got on a cooking streak (per my promise to Lance if he ponied up for the D & D spice rack) and made some incredible chicken noodle soup, and then a tasty sage meatloaf. Yum.


Went to a delightful party for Jo-Jo the Child Bride, and picked out out bridesmaids dresses...for the most part:

Jo-Jo's Bday!September 28

Our fave lil' sis had a birthday last night, so we headed up to the city to party with her. As usual, Joe dished up some tasty fare for us to nosh on all night. On the way in, we saw this great view, and Husbie whipped out his camera to grab some night pics. Funny, some dude was already in the same spot taking pictures. Two artists, same vision!

After the pics we headed to the par-tay