Family. Friends. Work. Politics.

These past few weeks have been very crazy indeed. I will try to highlight the main events that have transpired and make it entertaining and concise so you will keep reading our blog.

Two weekends ago, we travelled back to Tracy, CA to visit our new baby nephew as well as Mark's side of the family. We left on Thursday night and arrived in Tracy too late to see the babies that night. The next morning we greeted Joelle (3 1/2) and Jaden (almost 2 at the time) right when they woke up. They were more confused than excited at first (Joelle takes after Mark and his sister who are very disoriented when they are awakened). But they quickly warmed up to us. While we were with the family, we celebrated Jaden's birthday and he was SOOOOOO happy when we sang happy birthday to him. I have never seen a dimpled grin so big. Baby Julian was precious and we both loved just holding him while he slept... which was basically all he did anyways. Looks like we have another "ina anak" (godchild in tagalog). Mark's sister, Eurose told us this story about Jaden:

Eurose, "I'm going to go feed baby Julian". 

Jaden lifts up his shirt and says, "I feed him!!".

Joelle is pretty funny too when she says she is handsome, pretty and cute... but not beautiful. She used to say she was just handsome but has recently admitted being pretty and cute as well. One day she dressed herself in a green t-shirt, green jacket, green pants, green hat (all of different shades of course) and then searched for her green shoes. She also uses band aids as stickers and puts them all over her legs. When she couldn't find them, she resorted to her pink and brown ones. 

Our TOO-short trip ended abruptly on Saturday night with a red-eye back to DC. We had a wonderful time with the family and miss them very much.

Since our TV stopped working after we moved, we FINALLY got a new one (after paying for cable for two months with no TV to watch it on... the one time Mark was proactive about getting our utilities set up early). So now we can waste away our lives staring at a 40" screen while utilizing minimal brain function instead of exploring the amazing city that is only a metro stop away! YAY!

Last weekend, we went out with our friends Diana and Cody to the Millennium Stage to listen to the National Symphony Orchestra to watch/hear a strings quartet (2 violins, viola and bass). It was delightful (in an English accent) :) It really was but we all agreed that 1 hour was the perfect amount of time. We then headed to a restaurant, The Front Page, which was mediocre. Actually I didn't like what I got but everyone else was fine with their dishes. Our waiter, however... was HORRIBLE. It turns out, we are a little spoiled with customer service in CA but this guy was ridiculous. For some reason he really thought we were annoying when we asked him... well anything. And then he forgot about us for at least 45 minutes when we finished our meals. We probably could have left without paying and he wouldn't have known we were ever there. We quickly paid our bill leaving him a VERY poor tip and ran away. Oops, Mark forgot his camera so he stealthily creeped back to the restaurant and grabbed it. Phew. We headed to a wine bar, Veritas, which was delicious. In preparation for our Spain trip this June, Mark and I got a flight of Spanish wines. We had our second motorcade drive-by that night and we are pretty sure we saw Obama wave from the back seat.

Lately, work has been really hard... for Mark. I love my job and have been getting more and more clients. But he has had a much more difficult time. So, pray for him.

Last week, I had my first experience with lobbying. I attended IHRSA's summit in DC where we met to discuss obesity and physical activity. We also set up meetings with congressmen (actually with congressmen's staffers) but it was pretty interesting to see how it all goes down on "the hill". I am pretty sure the median age was about 50 so I was the youngest by probably 10 years and since I look 18, I'm sure at first they thought I was just someone's daughter who couldn't find a babysitter. Anyways, I had to wear a suit (borrowed from my sister-in-law) and of course I had to be very DC and wear my tennis shoes while walking from home to metro to the hill. Well anyways, I made some good contacts and feel like Obama and I just got a little bit closer.

I am going to cover this past weekend later because I need to go to bed soon. Oh last thing, Julia, my niece is REALLY trying to crawl and here are some really cute pictures of her and my cat too.