The day after the wedding, the whole family geared up for Japanese buffet at Minado in East Norriton. My parents love this place! All you can eat buffet?? Of course they do! It’s actually not bad for buffet food. There is so much to choose from…even for a vegetarian! Here’s another funny video starring Theo with my aunts prepping for food coma madness:

After our last big family gathering, everyone split off to head home from NYC to CA so the madness died down a bit. The rest of the week consisted of going to Harrisburg to visit Theo’s brother, Stephan, and his family. We went bowling and I did very well. I beat all the boys scoring a 168.  Hehehe!! We only spent one night there and it was back to the Main Line on my actual birthday. My parent’s neighbor’s, the Phans, ended up taking us out to dinner to celebrate at Maggiano’s. The food portions are HUGE there. I tried so hard not to overeat, but it was unavoidable especially when out came the bonus birthday dessert.

I was pretty good at keeping my workouts going though with my high intensity interval training (HIIT). I got my cousins Stephanie and Bernice to join me in my morning workout routines before the wedding. I made them sore!! Woohoo! I also attended a free yoga class at Lululemon with my sister Jenn. The instructor was pretty good and according to Jenn, way harder than previous classes she’s attended. My triceps were real sore the next few days. I was able to hold a low push up position (or chaturanga) for a while. It was the first time I was able to and I was so proud of myself! My bodyweight HIIT is really making me stronger. Yippie!

At the end of my birthday week, my sisters, Theo, & Geoff went to Chadds Ford Winery. It was my first time to a PA winery and possibly first tasting ever. It was a great day to lounge around on the property. When we got there, the tables outside were empty. By the time we finished our self-guided tour and tasting, the tables were packed!! The actual wine itself wasn’t so great. Their standard house white was OK and we ended up getting a bottle to enjoy outside. All their reds were very weak…I don’t recommend them! I think I’ve been spoiled by multiple tasting opportunities in Napa and Sonoma. It was still fun though and I’m so glad we went.

Later that evening we had plans with do dinner with Jenga at an Indian/Thai place called Spice. I was excited for some tasty spicy eats and when we entered the restaurant, I was greeted by two super long tables filled with my friends. SURPRISE!! I had no idea everyone was going to be there and I was so concerned I wasn’t going to see some of them again (especially ones with kids) before returning to San Francisco. It was truly a special treat to have everyone there…special thanks to Jenn for planning it all. My “no drinking” policy went out the window that day AND night. Haha!!

Since the Philly trip, we have been sooooo busy week after week. Right when we returned from Philly, our Italian friends, Sandro & Eleonora stayed with us for the week. They overlapped with my sister’s in-laws who left a day or two before our friend John stayed with us from London. John left the day before we left for Phoenix to visit Theo’s family for Labor Day weekend. When we got back from Phoenix, our friend George came up to visit from LA. He didn’t stay with us, but of course we wanted to hang out. Last weekend we had 2 birthday parties, 2 shows, and a baby shower to attend. It’s been a fun but exhausting few weeks. I’m looking forward to a weekend where I have absolutely no obligations at all! As much as I love being social, I also love not having to be anywhere. Too bad this upcoming weekend is not going to be it. Maybe the following weekend because it’s going to get busy again in October.

Time to relax and veg out in front of the TV while playing chess, my new favorite game. I’ll leave you with a fun photo we took with Theo’s sisters, brother-in-law, and niece in Arizona at the Goldfield Ghost Town:

Yesterday I decided to attempt Bakerella’s cupcake bites. I was inspired to do it after my sister Jess made Hello Kitty cake pops for her daughter’s 2nd birthday. I have never tried to do anything like this before. As much as I love baking, I’ve barely even decorated a cake. I usually find frosting way too sweet for my palette. My cupcake bites turned out ok…I used strawberry cake mixed with whipped cream frosting. I decided to use dark chocolate candy melts for the bottom and blue candy melts & almond M&Ms for the top. When I ran out of dark chocolate, I ended up making plain cake bites with the blue candy.

I brought them to two parties last night, and they were a hit among the people with major sweet tooths. Personally, they were way too sweet for me to handle. I want to make them again, but fully veganize the recipe and cut half of the sugar out. I think I can decorate them a lot cuter as well. Hehe!

Theo’s nephew, Quinn, is in a band called Hello the Mind Control that’s currently on tour with one-man band Waytansea Point from Arizona. They played in San Francisco on Saturday at laundromat/cafe Brainwash with Theo’s own local band The Started-its. A great, fun show was had and afterwards, we retired to our place…all nine of us (7 touring band members + me & Theo). I thought they were going to be disappointed by having to squeeze into our little apartment, but they were surprisingly comfortable here. Hey – I try with my home decorating skills.

The next morning, Theo, Quinn, & I got up early to bike to Golden Gate Park to rally for the AIDS Walk. We were there to represent for our company team Eventbrite. We didn’t do the actual walk because we had an apartment full of young adults, but at least we made it there for spirit! The rest of the day consisted of showing the bands around San Francisco mainly hanging in the Presidio and Golden Gate Bridge. It was the bands’ first day off after a pretty rough start to tour (their van broke down before they played their first show). It was also a beautiful non-foggy day so I think they really enjoyed hanging around the city. Playing tourist came to an end with Theo buying burritos for all of us (thanks!). I had major food coma after and ended up taking a nap. I was beat from the entire weekend.

Here’s some footage of Hello the Mind Control at Brainwash. Enjoy!

The ceremony was casual and quick with a touch of Quaker (I think). The guest book was actually a large rolled out piece of paper for us to sign in. The decor reminded me of the store Terrain…a very casual, country chic. The food was delicious and the vegetarians didn’t have to starve! The wedding pie…yes, PIE, was hmm hmm good. There were two flavors to choose from, and I had the plum. Yum! Because it was the Saturday night before Independence Day, we were able to witness the city of Philadelphia’s fireworks from across the river as we enjoyed our pies.

All the guests were handed sparklers to hold up while the newlyweds ran out to their trolley bus to head back to their hotel. It was awesome and so much fun to catch up and party with all my old pals.

The next morning, my sister Jenn threw a party for the Fourth. Theo & I went over to her place early to help prepare and to greet Theo’s brother’s family (visiting from Harrisburg). It was a jammed packed day full of entertaining, but so much fun. There were a hand full of kids with one about to enter the world (he finally did a couple days ago). Jenn had purchased a HUGE box of fireworks from Costco, and once it got dark enough, we blew through the entire box within an hour. My dad ended up sending us over with a super old box of “illegal” fireworks left over from when we were kids. I wanted to light those up too for the finale, but my brother-in-law Geoff wasn’t so keen on that idea. It was probably a safer decision, but I was interested to see how well those oldies were gonna boom! Hehe!

Here’s a video from the day. Enjoy!

On top of the basic reorganization, we’ve also integrated our social networking accounts so customers can easily view the latest feeds and add Kehtron to their social accounts on Facebook and Twitter. It’s about time we catch up in the tech world! Please check out the new site. Feedback is always welcome!

In December, I went to Japan for the Theo Logian Explosion tour. Four Americans met with four British chums in Tokyo for some musical magic. The group mainly consisted of the same pals we went to Europe with. We had such a blast there last year that we all decided to do it again in Japan. We spent 2 weeks doing a bunch of tourism, attending punk shows, shopping, catching up, and making new foreign friends. The Americans stayed in a great location in Nishi-Shinjuku-Gochome courtesy of Naoki (thanks again, dude). By the end of our stay, we were well orientated with the neighborhood and were able to navigate easily by foot or train.

New Years Eve was surprisingly intimate and quiet. We all thought it was going to be a super wild night, but realized later that most Japanese spend it quietly with family. We ended up in an isakaya right by the Shinjuku station and rang in the new year with our close pals. It was actually quite nice. I would prefer this setting over a loud, crowded party any night. New Years shopping was great – sales everywhere!! I got a gorgeous embellished hair accessory in Harajuku for practically 70% off. I wore it to a friend’s wedding in February and got so many compliments and questions as to where I got it. What a great find!

One of our most memorable moments on this trip was walking into an adult shop and finding a dispensing machine filled with used panties on the top floor. Next to it was another machine filled with used stockings. Haha! I have always heard of such machines existing, but had never seen them until that shop. It confirmed the rumors and we all got the biggest kick out of them. The entire Japan trip was full of amusement. Mostly because we had the best group of travel companions and such wonderful Japanese hosts. I almost feel like we keep one-upping our trips. They just keep getting better and better.

In March, my sister Jenn and I went to Las Vegas for a conference by Intel. We got our own suites at The Palazzo. For 3 days, we attended classes and showcases and barely got any sleep. It was informative and tons of fun…getting to network with old and new faces. Of course in the evenings, it was time to let loose. I won an iPod Touch and Jenn won a 40GB SSD drive. We ended up trading because I already have an iPod and iPhone, and Jenn still needed to discover the whole world of Apple apps. After the conference, we returned to San Francisco to gear up for a trip to the Philippines.

A few days after returning from Las Vegas, Jenn, Geoff, Theo, and I flew to Manila. We went for my cousin Charmaine’s wedding and my grandma’s 96th birthday. It was Theo’s first time, so we did A TON of tourism. I loved it because even though I have been there several times, I never had a chance to do anything historical. In Manila, we did a walking tour in Intramuros and we also visited the island of Corregidor. I always knew America had some sort of influence on the Philippines, but I never looked further into why. These tours really expanded my limited knowledge of the topic.

After spending a week in Manila, we flew far up North to the Batanes Islands. They are the farthest north grouping of islands of the Philippines. The landscape looks more like lush green pastureland similar to England (but replace the sheep with ox). It was absolutely beautiful. We stayed in an Ivatan-style cottage in the town of Basco on the main island of Batan. The town was so small that we could walk everywhere…usually to Hiro’s Cafe. We had the in’s with Hiro and his very hospitable mother, who ran the place. She was the boss lady who continuously made us laugh. She was hilarious on par to a character on TV!!

She fed us and set us up on tours around the islands of Batan and Sabtang…she really took care of us. Unfortunately, at the end of our stay, a few in our group got sick…from dehydration to a centipede bite. Luckily the sickness happened at the end of our stay and didn’t ruin our trip. I was fortunate enough to not get anything, but I felt really bad for everyone else. Since we were in a remote location, the facilities weren’t as efficient or clean compared to what we’re normally used to. Once all that hit, it was time to return to Manila for urban comfort. Soon after, we returned back to America with luggage full of dried mangoes that I’m still trying to feed through.

I put together 3 videos from our trip which can be viewed below…
The Philippines Part One : Manila

The Philippines Part Two : John & Charmaine’s Wedding

The Philippines Part Three : Mount Pinatubo & The Batanes Islands

Since the Philippines, we haven’t traveled anywhere else. Theo had surgery on his hip a few weeks after which kept him semi-mobile for over a month. He’s recovered fairly quickly and is back on his bicycle. He’s even joined a new gym and is starting to rock climb. These are all good signs that the surgery was a success. He was in so much pain before which caused him to walk with a limp. Now he can be active again without that handicap. It’s great because I am extremely active, and it’ll be great to have a fitness buddy every once in a while.

This week we’ll be flying to Philadelphia for a wedding and to spend the July 4th holiday with family. I am so ready for some hot weather. Although it’s been pleasant in San Francisco (last 2 days), we’ve had too many cold foggy days lately that I need some heat & humidity to offset them. I’m looking forward to catching up with my friends and family. It has been over 6 months since I was back there. That doesn’t seem very long, but I have a niece who will almost be 2 years old and that’s a lot of time for her to grow and develop. I can’t wait to play with her!

So that was my quickie update of the last 6 months. I promise to write more often.

My sister Jess and her hubby Brad met us there which made it even more fun. Our resort was huge – consisting of several “blocks.” We were situated in Block 5 which is where the adults-only pool was. I think they purposely place couples there and move the families with children up to the blocks by the beach where it’s much noisier. When we first arrived, I was a little overwhelmed by how large the entire complex was. After walking around from block to block, I was easily able to orientate myself. The resort consisted of 3 buffet restraurants, 5 ala carte dinner restaurants, several pools, gym/spa, theater, & several bars. I liked how all the restaurants were scattered within different blocks so they weren’t all concentrated only in one area.

I think they did a great job keeping the guests entertained. Every day was packed full of activities starting at 9AM and ending with a show at the theater. If guests were looking to continue the party, the discotec was right next to the theater and closed at 3AM. We took advantage of the morning activities which would either be yoga, tai chi, or stretching on the beach. I participated almost every morning. It was a great way to start my day.

Usually the next activity would be a kayak tour or bicycle tour. I never made it to any of those because the time slot fell into my breakfast time after I did yoga/tai chi/stretching. There was usually a lot to choose from for breakfast. There was always a large selection of fruit – I always picked up grapefruit & guava. It also consisted of an omelet/pancake station, cereal, bread, pastries, and a variety of hot foods which would vary day to day.

Lunch was at the same buffet restaurants, but the fruit bar turned into a salad bar. The omelet stations turned into a meat station, and the hot foods varied as well. There was always a big selection of desserts including an ice cream bar. For dinner, we always made a reservation at one of the ala carte restaurants. Our favorite was Piccolo, the Italian place. It was by far the best out of all the others! The added bonus to eating there was that it was in an air conditioned building too. Woohoo!

When not eating, we’d usually be either hanging on the beach or by the adult pool. The pool was where we probably met the most people. It was quiet & right next to a bar. The majority of the guests were Mexican and Canadian. We hardly met any other Americans, and I liked that. When we weren’t in the water, we’d be biking into Bucerias. We mainly stuck to the all-inclusive activities, but I looked into the extra excursions the resort offered to get an idea of how much they cost.

The bike ride to central Bucerias was only about a 5-10 minute ride. There’s a little pedestrian bridge we had to cross to get into the town center. Right before that bridge was a tour office called Scott’s. I had read about this place before arriving and found out their prices were practically half of what our resort offered. So Theo & I ended up reserving two excursions. One was a half-day ATV tour through the countryside and jungle. The other was an all-day bay cruise that took us to three locations – Los Arcos, Quimixto, and Las Animas.

The ATV tour was so much fun. I got so much dust in my eyes though because the goggles didn’t fit my face properly. For the rest of that evening, I kept rubbing brown dust goobers out of my eyes. Eeewww!! As for the bay cruise, I probably wouldn’t do it again at least with the same company. We booked the trip thinking it was more of a snorkeling trip, but it turned out to only be about an hour of the entire day. The snorkeling wasn’t even that great. The only reason we could see any fish was because the boat’s staff threw bananas into the water to lure them up to the surface. There was hardly any visibility in the water. I guess that’s just the Pacific Ocean.

Overall, our week-long stay was fantastic! I would definitely go back to our resort. I really enjoyed staying there. Although I knew the West was not going to have crystal clear water like the Caribbean, I was hoping that snorkeling would have been more exciting. It was a hot & sweaty week, but well worth the deal we scored on Travelocity!

It was two days of relaxing with friends in the sun (and shade) while beer flowed and flowed. I got a ton of mosquito bites though, but that was really the only annoyance. We were situated on Avenue of the Giants which spans for several miles. It used to be a part of “old 101.” I loved driving down that road. The trees towered over us and created a dreamlike atmosphere as the sun peered through the branches. I definitely want to come back here and explore some more.

This past weekend, a group of us went up to the Sacramento area for rafting on the American River. We rented large rafts from a place called American River Raft Rentals. It was in the 90s, so perfect for the floating down the river in the sun. I was expecting the water to be semi-warm, but it was freezing cold!! My legs went numb after wading around for even a minute. So the day didn’t involve any actual swimming for me, but I still got soaked from all the river pirates ready to attack with their water guns.

Our group had 3 large rentals and one small raft that someone brought. We ended up linking them all together with the life vests no one wanted to wear. We just floated down the river, but apparently the current was moving us along too quickly, so we had to make multiple stops along the shore. I didn’t mind stopping a few times at first, but when we started spending more time killing time on shore than on the rafts, I started getting a bit annoyed. We would stop and hang out for about 30 minutes and then start floating again. Within 5 minutes of floating, we’d stop again. Some people in our group knew the river well and knew when the end was coming up, so when they figured out the current was moving us too quickly, everyone wanted to stop to spend more time on the river.

I understood the reasoning, but I found it to be quite annoying. I would definitely river raft again, but probably not in such a large group where I had no say in calling the shots. Hehe! Overall, it was still really fun. The only two things I would’ve changed would’ve been the water temperature & the multiple shore stops. Afterwards, we stopped at In N’ Out and then headed home. I was so exhausted I slept so well that night!

The next day, Theo, Andreas, Shane, & I spent all day biking around San Francisco. The San Francisco Bike Coalition was organizing an ice cream ride which consisted of a group ride to multiple ice cream shops all over the city. It was fun to socialize and ride the city streets in such a large group. I waited for Three Twins Ice Cream in Lower Haight to get some vegan mint confetti rice cream. It was my first time there! My mint confetti was nice and refreshing. It’s nice to know I now have a tasty place to go to close to my house!

After ditching the rest of the ice cream ride, we met up with some other friends and rode to Golden Gate Park where we basked in the sun with a few brewskies. Even though we got a good amount of exercise into the outing, it was pretty relaxing. By the end of the day, I was zonked from the entire weekend. We spent so much time in the draining sun! We passed out probably within an hour of getting home (while we still had guests over). Hehe!

We’re now less than a month away from my birthday. Yikes! I don’t want that day to come yet…that’s when I enter a new decade and start feeling the first stages of being OLD. I’m still deciding what to do for it. I feel like it’s a milestone which calls for a celebration. Hmmm…what to do….

Anyway, I just watched a mini movie about the Swedish band Refused called Refused are F**king Dead. I love this band, but the movie was OK. It was trying to be more of an artsy short film rather than tell a cohesive story about the Refused in my opinion. I haven’t listened to them in a while, so now I have to leave you with one of their videos. Enjoy!