50k to 5k

After America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride in June, Liz asked if Phuong and I wanted to sign up for the Diplo 5k run in SF. I wasn't sure I wanted to do it, so Liz signed herself and Phuong up while I was "deciding". 

In the meantime, Huy (Phuong's husband, who recruited me to AMBBR) asked if I would be interested in the Foxy's Fall 50k "fun ride" in Davis. He said Phuong was going to do it as her first organized ride and that it was a completely flat ride with almost no elevation. I said yes and signed up to ride with her. 

THEN, Liz decided to go to Asia during the Diplo run and Phuong told me that both events were on the same weekend. She was only going to do the ride because she wasn't going to do both, which made sense to me and made me grateful that I didn't sign up for the run! 

But THEN, a couple of Phuong's other friends signed up for the Diplo run and I somehow got talked into taking Liz's registration with the promise of a slow bike ride, walking the run, and dancing at the Diplo party... I did want to dance. :) 

When the weekend came, Phuong and I found a good pace on the bike ride. It was flat and easy, and not very eventful until we got to the last turn toward the halfway point rest stop. A guy in front of us had stopped to wait for his friend who'd missed the turn and, as I passed him, I noticed that he was bleeding from his face. He had a major nose bleed! I said, "Dude, you're really bleeding." He sort of side looked at me and aggressively said, "I KNOW!!" I recognized him right away. It was Geoff who was on the boat with me at Lake Powell in 2018 and who I had just seen the weekend before with that same group of friends. 

"Geoff, you're really bleeding"

"WHAT! I KNOW!" 

"Geoff!"

"Yeah, I KNOW I'M BLEEDING!"

"GEOFF! IT'S KRISTEN!"

*Pause, and actual moment of recognition* 

"Oh, hey... oh, uh, Annabelle, this is Kristen."

 

I smiled, shook my head, and started to ride away as I said, "Hi Annabelle. This is my friend, Phuong." Phuong was like, "Hiii... (and to me) how did you meet someone that fast?!" 

The rest of the ride was great, we finished strong, had some lunch and some ice cream with Huy (who was on a much longer version of the ride), and headed back to the Bay to get ready to get up early the next day for the "run". 

As promised, Phuong and I walked the run, which was the right choice and totally doable. The weather was perfect, and the route went right through a bunch of art on the Big Art Loop in Golden Gate Park, which included Naga, a 100-foot-long, 25-foot-tall sea serpent sculpture! I love art. 

After we finished the 5k, we were standing in the GA section of the party with Phuong's other friends and a random guy walked up and said, "Hey ladies, would you like a free upgrade to VIP?" 

YES! 

What a fortunate way to end these back to back events, and just in time to dance! We accepted the generous wristbands and scooted into VIP as Diplo took the stage and started to spin. :) 

The Fall

A couple of weeks ago, J- and I were on our Sunday hike and we went up this very challenging incline. 

On the way down I thought it'd be more fun to jog vs walk, so we did that, and it was way more fun and faster! When we got to a "flat spot" (very low grade decline), I started to walk. J- turned around to face me and was still jogging, backwards now, and we were talking about how Fitbit counts steps. 

I was saying how if he had a Fitbit I bet he would get a bunch of steps at work every day. He was saying, he does a lot of chopping (cause he's a chef), and that the hand movement would maybe count as steps even though they're not. 

As he was doing this chopping motion, while jogging backwards, he lost his footing.

There's a moment when you can see on someone's face that they know they're going to fall, and then, if you're not close enough to them to help, they do and you can't do anything about it, and then you see their feet in the air, and then their tiny butt, and then the back pack, and then they're just sitting there... upright on the ground, kind of dusty, and pretty embarrassed. 😅 This fall was perfect and seamless and was SO FUNNY TO WATCH!! 

I was cry laughing for a very long time which he didn't appreciate. 🤣 

The next week, I was telling him I might try to put that roll into one of my upcoming fight direction jobs because it was so funny, and he was like, 

"Well, it's pretty hard to do without getting hurt. You really have to be a professional. Like me." 😍😂

J-'s family visit (take 2)

J- has 2 nieces. One came with his sister to visit in February, and other one in July. :) 

Here's the list from visit 2:  

Saturday

• Stoa! 
• Groceries and things 

Sunday 

• La Lucha Coffee Bar 
• A quick stop at Fort Funston, and then a break due to jet lag and travel 
• Dinner at J-'s 
• Walking / heel clicking / racing down the slow streets
• Gartic Phone games 
• Mitchell's ice cream 

Monday 

• Public Transit day! 
• Alcatraz
• Lunch at Nopa Fish
• Fisherman's Wharf
• Sea Lions
• Circus performance 
• Wandering through shops
• Take out from Kativa 
• Playing cards 
  

Tuesday 

• Muir Woods 
• Nopalito 
• Legion of Honor 
• Attempting to ride bikes by the ocean
• Drive through GGP 
• Drive down Lombard 
• Dinner at J-'s 
• Playing cards
• Mitchell's ice cream 

Wednesday

• Academy of Sciences 
• De Young Museum 
• Lunch at Lunette 
• Exploratorium 
• Dinner at Flour + Water 
• Wandering North Beach into Chinatown 
• City Lights Bookstore 
• Candy store
• Local artisan store with the art vending machine
• Chinatown shops
• Dear San Francisco

Thursday 

• Breakfast at YouTube 

This niece is a bit younger, and J-'s sister opted to spend more time on her own this round, so we had a lot of energy to manage! It would've been good of us to take some scheduled breaks, but we plowed through and eventually exhausted his niece (and ourselves!) by the end of the visit. :) 

We had the best time wandering through shops where we could interact while looking at fun things together. The Wharf and North Beach served us well. 

Gartic Phone games were also a hit because they're free and very silly, and especially silly when you have two people who can draw pretty well and two people who cannot. :) 

It was such a treat to see more of J-'s family so soon! 

Vancouver

J- and I went to Vancouver for a long weekend! 

Vacation has been a big topic between J- and I because I always want to travel with him and it's hard for him to get away. To maximize our time and energy for this trip, J- wanted to stay in our timezone -- but, it was important to me to get out of the country and to go somewhere neither of us had been before. I'd been wanting to visit Vancouver for a while, and it fit all of our criteria perfectly! 

Traveling to Vancouver didn't really feel like we were leaving the country, however, except for a random interrogation by a gate officer. "Why are you visiting? Do you have plans while you're here? When did you book this travel?" We were asked all of these questions when we were at the front of the line, so no little desk where they look at your passport and examine your face, and we didn't get a stamp on our passports. ? But, we had a great time! 

Here's the list! 

• Hotel BLU Vancouver
• Hotel BLU had complimentary bikes for guests! J- and I took full advantage of them, which was so fun and was such a great way to get around. They also had free afternoon smoothies, were located right next to the football stadium, and had a great gelato place nearby. :) We were able to walk or bike to every place we wanted to go in the city, and when we wanted to go to Grouse Mountain, we got a great recommendation for a free shuttle and discounted coupons for tickets to the attractions. The location, room, and customer service were all great and we really enjoyed our stay. :)
• Cafe Medina
• Yummy breakfast place. We loved the main dishes we ordered and it was a cute place, though the waffles they're known for were a bit underwhelming for us. Regardless, it was a very nice experience. 
• Granville Island
• Full of cute art galleries, sweet artists, street performances, performance venues, artisan shops, and a giant public market with so much of everything. It was right on the water and offered so much to explore. We bought art, talked to artists, enjoyed the views, and got Polish food for lunch at the Public Market. 
• Kissa Tanto
• This place was FANTASTIC! Excellent food, service, and experience all around, and it didn't break the bank! 
• Panada! 
• There was a place in Chinatown called Jack Chow Giant Panda Habitat: First & Only Animatronic Panda Family outside of Asia. It was "the narrowest building in Vancouver" (it was very narrow), and full of a bunch of stuffed and animatronic pandas. We nicknamed it "Panada" :) and were fascinated by it -- but, not fascinated enough for the $35 tour. 😜🐼
• Stanley Park and the Sea Wall 
• We rode our bikes from Granville Island right through the middle of Stanley Park to the view of what we called the "Green Golden Gate Bridge", and then we realized we needed to go back to the entrance of the park so we could ride the one way Sea Wall route. It was a long and beautiful ride and we saw so much. The ride along the Sea Wall was beautiful. :) 
• Robson St. 
• We walked down Robson to get to a ramen place J-'s uncle recommended. The walk led us all the way through the shopping district, so we stopped at MUJI and got J- a new fancy shirt. 😍
• Ramen Danbo Robson
• While we were in line, people kept walking by saying "this place is just ramen and it's a chain", but we liked it. 
• Jam Cafe 
• This was a breakfast place J- found that wasn't far from our hotel. It looked good, and had a nice long line to indicate it was worth it, but then it was kind of a gut buster and wasn't our favorite. 
• Grouse Mountain
• I think Grouse Mountain is a sky resort in the winter, but they have random activities on the top of the mountain in the summer including bird shows, a bear conservatory area, a lumber jack show, zip lining, etc. We weren't able to do everything, but we saw some bears and birds and rode the gondola and the ski lift. It was a beautiful day and it had great views. This is where I learned J- is actually afraid of heights... 😬
• Bao Bei
• We don't know who recommended this to us, but we were happy to get some Chinese food while we were in Vancouver, and this place was great! We did the tasting menu and enjoyed every dish, and we met some lovely fellow travelers while we were eating. :) 
• Guilt & Co. 
• It's described as an underground bar and local haunt for great music and drinks, but we found that the music and drinks weren't really our speed. It had a kind of moody, cool atmosphere though.  
• Gastown
• We walked near and through Gastown a few times. It was cute and old and full of shops and places to eat. 
• The Dirty Apron Cooking School
• This place was by Jam Cafe and we thought it'd be really good and cheap because it was a cooking school. I thought my dish was good. J- wasn't as impressed, but I would say it was a good option. 
• Queen Elizabeth Park
• I had this great idea that we could stop by this park on our way to the airport and that it would be a nice place to walk around and easy with our luggage. :) It was a nice little park, but not easy with our luggage. We found a restaurant in the park that was willing to hang on to our bags for us for a while, so we were able to walk for a bit. 
• Time Out Market Vancouver
• Time Out was our next stop on the way to the airport and turned out to be an incredible food court in the middle of a fancy mall. We didn't realize it was in a mall but it was very worth the stop, and it was easy to do with luggage. 😅 We ate at a place called Lunch Lady An Choi that was excellent, and we wanted to try so many other places! 
• FIFA! 
• Vancouver was buzzing with FIFA! The World Cup games were playing all over the place, and people were walking around with their country's flags wrapped around them. One street in Vancouver was closed down for the watch parties, so we walked through there a few times to catch games and hang out with the crowds. After Mexico lost, everyone was in the street chanting for Mexico and throwing people in the air -- after they lost! :) Just before we left to come home, there was a game at the stadium by our hotel, so the street was alive with fans dancing, chanting, and doing social media interviews and things. It was fun to be immersed in World Cup culture for the weekend! 

Vancouver was easy and charming, and J- is an excellent travel buddy! I'm so grateful for the time and the experiences we had together on this trip! 

America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride

On June 7, 2026, I completed the 35 mile bike ride in Tahoe for cancer research through Blood Cancer United: Team In Training. My longest ride before the event was a 20 mile training ride I did 2 weeks prior that kicked my butt. 

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish this ride, especially at the altitude -- but, I did it! It took me 4 hours at an average speed of 8.5 mph, which according to Google is "a good and normal speed for casual riding", and gave me "control to avoid obstacles" and means I "maybe didn't sweat". Haha

We raised $3 million for cancer research! 

"Blood Cancer United is at the forefront of the fight to cure cancer. Compared to other blood cancer nonprofits, Blood Cancer United is the largest funder of cutting-edge research to advance cures. We have invested nearly $1.8 billion in research. We are leaders in advancing breakthroughs in immunotherapy, genomics and personalized medicine. This research saves lives. These revolutionary new treatments originally discovered through blood cancer research are now being tested in clinical trials for other cancers."

You can learn more, or participate at: 

https://pages.lls.org/events/home/tahoe26

...

Stillness has a way of making me feel anxious, like I need to be doing something or I need to create something. Apparently, this is a characteristic of being an Enneagram 7, which is what I am, and is something that my therapist has actively been working on with me without knowing I'm a 7 (though, I don't imagine it would surprise him). 

Basically, stillness confronts me with feelings I've been avoiding by keeping busy, having fun, and doing things that make me happy -- but, those less fun feelings are really important, which I "know" because I tell people that ALL THE TIME. Ugh... 

But, part of me is aware that by avoiding stillness, which I acknowledge isn't healthy, also makes me very productive. 😜

Is it 7 of me to say, there's a fine line between mental health and changing the world... ? 

Any questions, Jerry?

A great friend and mentor, and the best broadcast director I ever worked with... 

I met Jerry when I first started working as a corporate producer and, right from the start, he challenged me with thoughtful, sharp questions before every show. He often exposed my inexperience with his questions, so I learned quickly that thinking through what he might ask and being able to answer his questions before he could ask them, made me a significantly better producer. Of course, as hard as I tried, he always had a question. :) Eventually, instead of asking the group if they had any questions at the end of a crew chat, I would simply end the chat with, "Any questions, Jerry?" He would chuckle and, if I had managed to answer all of his questions, he would still ask, "Does John have access to the deck?", usually reminding me to give John access to the deck. 😅

Jerry was an intuitive director and a true master of his craft. Watching his broadcasts was like having him in your head, showing you exactly what you wanted to see. You could feel the ease, delight, and satisfaction in his work through the screen, and he was always full of ideas and wanting to make the viewer experience better. Jerry made a huge up level to our program in the last year, taking a dated livestream look we created during the pandemic, and turning it into one that will soon become a new standard in our events program. It was a nice gift for him to leave us with and I believe it will be known as "The Jerry Look" in our program moving forward. 

Jerry was also one of the kindest and most engaging people in the control room. He knew how to connect with people and he could always make you laugh, sometimes even when he wasn't trying to! We once had conversation about a pair of boots I bought that had these leather tassels hanging from the zipper. He told me how he really liked the tassels because without them they would just be plain boots. Later, when we were getting ready for a crew chat, he leaned over and asked another crew member if he had seen my tassels. The crew member seemed visibly uncomfortable, which made me start laughing. It made Jerry laugh too, so he clarified that he was talking about my boots! 😂

Last year, Jerry asked me to talk to one of the young producers he had become friends with at the news station. He said she wasn't sure what was next for her, and he thought I would be a good person for her to connect with. We set up a call, had a great conversation, and became instant friends. As a result, the three of us, and one of our favorite graphics ops, started connecting more consistently outside of work, deepening my friendship with Jerry, and reinforcing how special it was to have him in my life. 

Jerry passed in his sleep last week and I can't seem to process it. His energy is still so present. It's a huge loss for us -- but, I can't help but think that for him it was such a lovely way to go. He worked his magic on the Chinese New Year parade broadcast for the local news station the night before, went to bed, and just never woke up... 

With great respect and love, Jerry, rest in peace. 

✨

J-'s family visit

J-'s sister and one of his nieces came to visit! 

We had rain forecasted for the entire week and record breaking cold weather in the Bay, but his sister and niece were coming from England and weren't concerned with the weather! :) 

Here's the list: 

Sunday 

• Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge with a stop at the viewing point 
• Walking Sausalito along the water and into some galleries 
• Lunch at Fish
• Attempt to see Muir Woods and ending up at a very cold Muir Beach
• GGP Conservatory of Flowers 
• City Lights Bookstore 
• Dinner at China Live 

Monday

• Quick stop at my place 
• Lunch at Cafe Reveille
• 4th Street shopping 
• Visit to Cal, Berkeley (University of California) 
• Dinner at Stoa

Tuesday

• Attempt to attend the Chinese New Year opening ceremonies, but no parking and lots of rain
• J- racing his niece on the Embarcadero 
• Ferry Building wandering 
• Lunch at Lunette Cambodia
• Exploratorium 
• Hilariously short Waymo ride leaving us with a 15 minute walk to the car :)
• Fisherman's Wharf
• Dinner at Flower + Water in North Beach 
• Mitchell's Ice Cream and J-'s place

Wednesday 

• Google Visitors experience and lunch 
• Visit to Stanford 
• Dinner of leftovers 
• Drive down Lombard 
• Dear San Francisco 

Thursday 

• Lunch at Sobakatsu
• Japantown wandering 
• Asian Art Museum 
• Dinner at Nopalito 
• Dolores Park 
• Mitchell's Ice Cream and J-'s place 

Friday 

• Drive by the ghost statues on California St
• Drive by the Painted Ladies 
• Pacifica 
• Lunch at YouTube 

We had raincoats, umbrellas, and determination to do everything on J-'s niece's list, but we also allowed ourselves some time to relax with late morning start times and a break to rest and warm up before dinners. 

It was a lovely time together, even in the cold! 

Birthday

I always seem to do a birthday post pretty late, but, c'est la vie. :) 

This year, J- took me to a lovely dinner in the city at Precita Social, and other friends joined me or invited me for dinners and time together around the date. It was simple and nice. 

I always appreciate when people reach out and want to celebrate with me, especially at the beginning of the year when there's a lot going on, and when I can't seem to get it together to plan anything. 😅

Stranger Things

On the afternoon of July 20th, I was in Times Square trying to buy same day tickets to The Outsiders musical. It was sold out. The only other show I was kind of interested in was Sunset Boulevard, but that show was closing that night and the tickets were $900/ea... ugh! 

I was talking to this guy by the TKTS booth who talked fast and worked for another discount company across the street called Broadway Tickets Last Minute Center. I remembered that a co-worker's husband mentioned liking Pirates! The Penzance Musical, which was a spinoff of Pirates of Penzance, so I asked about that one, and the tickets guy said: 

Tickets guy: You want to see Pirates? *judgy face* Do you like jazz? 

Me: I do like jazz! 

Tickets guy: Okay, you might like it then -- you know what you should see is Stranger Things. 

Me: No, I don't watch the tv show and it looks scary. 

Tickets guy: It's won a ton of awards and it's great. I've seen it 3 times. 

Me: Is it scary? 

Tickets guy: Have you seen Harry Potter? 

Me: I have seen Harry Potter, and I also wasn't a Harry Potter person but I loved the stage show. 

Tickets guy: That's why you should see Stranger Things. It's won a ton of awards and the theater making is phenomenal. Like nothing you've ever seen. We can get you back orchestra seats for ... $96. You'll love it. 

At 6:45pm, I walked into the Marquis Theater in Times Square to watch the 7pm performance of Stranger Things: The First Shadow. 

About 20 minutes in, something happened in the show that I found so scary that it made really angry. The tickets guy tricked me! I asked him if the show was scary and he said... he said, "did you see Harry Potter"...damn. I wanted to march out of there and get my money back, but how would I ever find that guy again, and when would I do that because I was leaving the next day, and there are children sitting next to me who seem to think this is awesome, and people are clapping at the scary things...?! I started to think about the theater making, which took me out of emotions and into production, and then I started to step out of fear and into respect for this incredible performance that was unfolding in front of me. The effects were exceptional, the actors had me deeply invested, and I was hanging on every word...but, what exactly was going on? I had no idea. There was this scary possessed guy, and these high school kids trying to put on a musical, and they were fighting alien monsters? 

Even with the shift in perspective, I still left the theater that night wishing I had picked another show -- but, then, I found myself unable to stop thinking about it... 

I started asking J- about the tv show. Had he watched it, did he like it, were they fighting alien monsters on stage?? What was the show about? He said that the tv series was really good and he thought I could watch it cause it's not too scary and it kind of has a Goonies vibe. He said he'd rewatch it with me in case I got scared. 💖

And, that is how I fell into the wonderful, heartfelt, definitely scary, delightful adventure that is Stranger Things. I had no idea that I would love this series so much! The charm fully outweighed the scary because you fall in love with all of the characters, and you're rooting for them from beginning to end. 

J- and I managed to get through all 4 seasons in time to be ready for the release of Season 5, at which point we were both obsessed with the show. :) He got us tickets to see the finale in the theater on New Year's Eve, and it was a completely satisfying goodbye. I mean, until conformity gate was suggested. But then, when conformity gate was for sure not happening, it was a satisfying goodbye again. Haha

Thank you, Stranger Things -- and, fast talking tickets guy! ;) What an intense and amazing ride!  

2025

2025 was beautiful. There was joy, celebration, and new adventures, but it also came with a lot of transition. 

I've learned that with transition comes grief, which has a heaviness to it, because it holds so much complexity. It holds memories, love, loss, gratefulness, sadness. And, you have to sit with it. Let yourself feel all of those things, so you can move through it, learn from it, allow it to let you grow beyond it, while continuing to cherish what needs to be cherished. It seems to be a process of love, and letting it go to become something new. 

As Vision puts it, "What is grief, if not love persevering." 

And, with grief, if you allow it, comes peace. Presence. Perspective. Moments to be so delighted by the people around you, to revel in the beauty of nature, to deeply feel the warmth of an embrace, to celebrate how far you've come and what you've learned. It's an opportunity for acceptance and abundance, and an invitation, to flourish. 

Fight!

*Warrior. This is a photo of Jean-Michel Basquiat's painting from the exhibit at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris in 2018.

I've been training in stage combat since 2006, and choreographing/directing in small to mid-level theatres since 2012. I've been named a finalist in local award nominations for Outstanding Fight Direction (2019), and I've had fights reviewed as a highlight of a play (2022 and 2025)! Wut?! 

Fight work is such a gift! It's an opportunity for me to stretch myself, to play, to problem solve, to connect, to create, to watch people grow, and to enhance a story by telling a little, violent, sometimes funny, story within a story -- and, I'm so very grateful that I get to do it! 

Secret birthday

I'm going to omit names in this post to protect the privacy of my very dear friend, but wanted to capture some of the lovely time we had in Vegas. 

Here's the list: 

• The guest of honor went to see Barry Manilow, and was down for a quick, sequin jacket photo shoot in the gift shop afterwards. :) 
• Valley of Fire State Park w/ big horned sheep and gorgeous views! 
• Noticing that they all sleep the same in the car ;) 
• Shin Lim magic show
• Michael Jackson One cirque show
• Sweet Gondola ride in the Venetian 
• Celebration dinner at Buddy V's

There was also some gambling, walking, time to connect, time to decompress, and I got to have a little side visit with Pam and Kim and their squirmy cute doggies! 

Grandpa

My dear grandpa passed on December 2nd at 99 years old. It was very Betty White of him to still have spunk and seem like he was going to live forever, and then leave us just before 100. 

I'll always remember mornings with my grandpa. When he would visit, he'd often say over breakfast, "last night, I slept so hard I had to get up three times to rest!". I was never a morning person, so he would also come into my room and wake me up singing, "Up in the morning, be happy and gay, and drive all your troubles away!". 

I'll miss his sense of humor, how he loved to give people a hard time, his handsome smile, and the way he always made me feel so special to him. One of the last things he said to me was, "I don't know what your parents did right to deserve you". 

The last time I saw my grandpa was at my grandma's memorial in May... my grandma was the love of his life and he was deeply devoted to her, even after her passing. In his last days, as his mental capacities declined, he would tell my mom that he'd been looking for my grandma and he couldn't find her. 💕😢

I miss you so much already, grandpa. Rest in peace.  

Maximum amounts of fun :)

Just thinking about game show day brings me back to a moment when life was so silly and perfect that I almost can't stand it. 

When I was still working as a producer, we would occasionally produce a game show in place of our regular weekly town hall at YouTube. It would happen before a long holiday weekend and was modeled after old game shows like Family Feud and Wheel of Fortune -- but, sometimes we would do trivia, or a drawing game, etc. 

The content for the show would come from the comms team and would often come together late, and delivered to us on Google workplace products (that were never intended for game show creation), which meant that things didn't always go how we would hope and setting up and testing was pretty chaotic. Stuff would break, people would yell, the pressure felt very high, and there was no way to manage it before we knew more about what the system could do with the content we were given. We would end up with some frustrated and anxious crew members that eventually came to deeply hate game show day. 

I learned fast that this kind of day required a very specific crew, and that I would need to mentally prepare them for the chaos, and for how they could personally make or break the day for themselves and everyone else. So, one day I clumsily tried giving this little speech before diving into the details of the show: 

"Helloooo, thank you for coming today. Today is game show day! So, game show day tends to be a very stressful day, but it could actually be maximum amounts of fun, depending on you and your attitude. The show will come together late, so know that it will be okay if things aren't perfect -- and, in some cases that will be a part of the fun. We'll just have to do our best to follow the bouncing ball, and it might feel a little crazy at times, but this can actually be a really fun day!".

I wasn't sure if my words made an impact until an hour later when, John, one of my crew members, walked up to me and said, dryly, "So, are we going to have maximum amounts of fun today."

Did I say 'maximum amounts of fun'...? 😬 The realization was immediately uncomfortable, but there was nothing I could do about it, so I quickly owned it and replied with, "THAT'S UP TO YOU, JOHN!!". 😅 

The ridiculousness of my speech did seem to inspire some ease, so I doubled down on 'maximum amounts of fun' for following game show crew chats, eventually finding more confidence and adjusting it to something like, "Today can be a very stressful day, or it can be what, John?", at which point John would say, dryly, "maximum amounts of fun", and I would reply with, "YES. Maximum amounts of fun, but it's up to YOU!"

I saw John recently, after not seeing him since before the pandemic. When he walked up, I said, "Hey, John, did you have maximum amounts of fun today?" He laughed and said, "Aw, I miss that!"

Family visit

Fall really is the best time of year in the Bay. Look at this amazing, golden hour, moonrise over the city! 

Last weekend, my brother and his family came in for a quick visit! 

Weeks before their arrival, I sent them a bunch of options of things we could do. They kept saying 'we just want to hang out with you', but, when they got here, they preceded to ask 'what are we doing next?' any time we had a moment to rest. Luckily, I knew they would do that, so I had a plan to run them nonstop with an invitation for them to veto at any point. :) 

Here's the list: 

Saturday afternoon - night

• Ferry building - we got bagels from the farmer's market for lunch/snacks after they arrived. 
• Exploratorium - the kids LOVED the Exploratorium. My brother and sister-in-law also loved it!
• Stoa - Stoa is not really meant for kids, but we managed to find some things they liked. Everyone loved the pork shoulder and the donuts, and they were all really happy to just try the amazing menu and be there!
• Twin Peaks - this was vetoed by the kids! When I asked if they wanted to see the city lights or go back to the airbnb, the kids said "airbnb!" without hesitation, and then they promptly fell asleep in the car. :)  

Sunday all day

• My place for breakfast - omelettes, meeting Epiphany, checking out the rooftop deck/views, and playing on my pull up bar / silks.
• Treasure Island Pumpkin Patch - we didn't stay long, but we did have some time with the view of the bridge and the city.
• Waymo ride - our first self driving car experience! It was really nice! Also, don't try to break the rules, they totally know... 😅
• Pier 39 - sea lions, walking the Pier, and clam chowder in a bread bowl. This was actually more for J- than anyone because in all of his years living in the city he'd never seen the sea lions or had clam chowder in a breadbowl! 
• Walk through North Beach and Chinatown - I love how the city changes from the Pier to North Beach to Chinatown. It's so distinctly different in each neighborhood. The kiddos didn't love this walk, but they were also just fine, and my niece was randomly drawn to the same store I always go into in Chinatown! 
• Golden Gate Bridge - lovely moment just before sunset by the Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point. J- took this opportunity to race my niece and nephew, which I found very cute and funny. J- won, and he was very proud of that, haha. :) 
• Korean BBQ - we went to a place in Japantown for dinner and it was not good. The meat, banchan, service... all not good. Total bummer. I'm not going to name it in hopes that it was just a bad night, but if you want great Korean food in Japantown go to Daeho. 
• Mitchell's Ice Cream - quick stop for ice cream, but the line was long, so my brother opted for them to grab a half gallon pre-pack that they ate a fraction of, and that now lives in my freezer. 😜

Monday morning - afternoon

• YouTube - I was able to bring everyone on campus as my guests for breakfast and to show them one of our event spaces where I've produced a lot of shows over the years. My nephew said visiting YouTube was his favorite part of the trip! 
• Pilot Light - cute little cafe by a small plane airport near Half Moon Bay. Yummy food and they have Dutch pancakes! We didn't have the pancakes, but we saw someone order them and they looked great. Part of me thinks I've maybe been there before... 
• Fitzgerald Marine Preserve - beautiful area near the ocean. We took a trail from the parking lot to the tide pools, and we saw seals below the cliffs along the way! 

It was fun having my family in the Bay. :) I'm glad I got to share a bit of my life in California with them and that we were able to have some new experiences together. 

Hetch Hetchy

My friend Fan works for the San Francisco water department, so her job allows her to reserve and stay in these cute little cabins near the Hetch Hetchy reservoir where Bay Area water comes from! She often uses the reservation for her family, but every once in a while she gets a big cabin, or her family doesn't want to go, and then I get invited! The last time I made this trip was in 2018. 

This time, it was me, Fan, Fawn (her sister), and CC & JJ (a couple that Fawn knows). 

It was a quick and easy trip with sweet time together that included: hanging out on the reservoir dam, a fight choreography session complete with a video :), stargazing, rain, sunshine, hiking in Yosemite, games, projector movies, and way too much food! 

Hetch Hetchy area is completely off the grid so when you're heading up there you have to plan for food and offline entertainment. You also have to prepare people that you will not be reachable at all (which is something I didn't think about the last time we went. It's strange to think about how connected we are at this point... ). 

It was so great to unplug with old and new friends and to get back into to nature. ⚘

Maybe Happy Ending

About a month and a half before our trip to LA, I found out that I had to head to NY for work the day after the Blackpink concert. It was stressing me out until Alex said he would drive us down to LA and then I could grab a flight from LA to NY instead of coming back to the Bay. Ah, such an easy fix! It did mean I'd have to pack for both trips before I left, but summertime clothes are small so that was pretty easy. And, since J- finds it hard to travel right now and couldn't join me for either trip, Epiphany was able to stay with him for the duration of both trips. It was great peace of mind for me to know that she would be in excellent hands and that they would be together. 💞

New York was hot, inspiring, exhausting, and full of so much life and art and food and people...✨

It started off with 3 days of work out of the NY office, and then I had 5 nights and 4 days of fun -- and, I didn't waste a minute. 

Here are all the things! 

• Courtyard New York Manhattan/SoHo - hotel booked through work. 
• Pier 57 - work day 1 at an office with Event Center.
• Artechouse - work fun event at this projection mapping exhibit I've been wanting to go to for years. It was much smaller than I expected, but it was cool. We saw a flower exhibit, which I guess was way less interesting than a recent rock music exhibit that had just closed, but I enjoyed it. 
• Tim's house - my co-worker's place with the incredible view! 
• Share - Google cafe amazing sit down dinner. 
• SJT - work day 2 at an office with our newest event space.
• Cellar Dog w/ co-workers - divey bar with live bossa nova and foosball. :) Joe M was a surprisingly good foosball match! 
• Kabawa w/ co-workers - a great bourbon bar with incredible food! 
• Hudson - work day 3 at an office w/ a smaller event space and great small breakout spaces. 
• Paramount Hotel - where I stayed for the rest of my trip, located a half a block away from the stairs in Times Square.
• Maybe Happy Ending w/ Jess - wow, this show had me in tears (in a good way)! 
• Ilili w/ Eugene - incredible Lebanese restaurant suggested by Arthur.
• Midnight Moment w/ Patricia and Trav - huge public art exhibit where they take over the screens in Times Square for 3 minutes before midnight every night. 
• Bird and Branch Cafe - lovely little local place for coffee and breakfast.
• The Shed - wandered around an art exhibit and had a lovely conversation with a security guard about how art should be an invitation. 
• Highline - hot sweaty walk with lots to see.
• Printed Matter, Inc. - very cool little indie bookstore.
• KazuNori: The Original Hand Roll w/ Eugene - yummy and surprisingly cheap! 
• Castell Rooftop w/ Eugene and Derrill - nice atmosphere, okay drinks, great company.
• Marie's Crisis Cafe w/ Eugene and Derrill - this is from a scene in the Netflix show Younger where the boss lady goes and sings Broadway songs at the piano bar. It's that place and is basically exactly like that! 
• Two Boots Pizza w/ Eugene and Derrill - delicious! 
• Le Parisien Bakery - the little bakery connected to my hotel. I had most of my breakfasts there. 
• Chelsea Market - shopping at Anthropologie and just walking through. There was a cool little art alley in the middle. 
• Printemps - this place was FANCY and very expensive and quite charming. 
• Joe's Pizza - I spilled salad on my dress, and then pizza sauce on my dress, and I had a nice conversation with someone sitting next to me about my portable phone charger. 
• Union Square - just sitting waiting for a show and taking in the atmosphere.
• Upright Citizen's Brigade - Asians AF. Kathleen Kim was there and she was amazing and charming and talked about her work on Sesame Street -- and, then they did an improv about her stories! 
• Central Park - I wandered through this street fair from Times Square until I hit the park and then I just kept going until I got to the Bethesda Fountain. There was a woman singing opera in The Arcade. 💓
• MoMA - a quick wander through the exhibits. There were some old films and art from around the world. I missed the exhibit about the capsule tower because the museum closed before I could get to the first floor. 
• Briciola Hells Kitchen - the food was okay, but the atmosphere was nice and the people working there were lovely.
• Stranger Things - I was tricked by the tickets guy into watching this show. It had phenomenal effects and excellent performances, but it was scary!! I was ultimately glad I saw it, but if I could do it again I would have picked another show. 
• The Met w/ Holly and Greg - the Sargent & Paris exhibit was exquisite! 
• Ken's house w/ Holly and Greg - meeting Rufus the dog! 
• Eastern African food w/ Holly and Clara - not sure what the name of that place was, but what a nice way to end my trip! 

BLACKPINK in LA!

Alex, Jason, Jennifer, Tony, Seonu, Albert, Grace, and I got to see BLACKPINK in LA on the night that Bruno Mars showed up to sing APT w/ Rosé!! 💗💥😍 I now understand why people cry and scream at concerts. 😭💖

The entire concert was AMAZING!! The performances, the energy, the production value, the way they featured each girl, the musicians, the back up dancers, the video work! The only thing that was kind of a bummer was this speaker stack in our view. Well, that, and the fact that we paid so much to be on the 2nd tier and we were still so far away! The stadium was huge and beautiful and huge. Did I already say huge? But, it was an incredible experience regardless. :) 

Rosé was as charming as ever, Lisa's charisma was endless, Jennie tore up the stage with "like Jennie", and Jisoo had Earthquake stuck in my head for the next two weeks. Basically, it's still stuck in my head. GAH! I'm so glad we were able to do this!

Since we were already going to be in LA, Alex, Jason and I took advantage of the time and headed down early to spend a day at Disneyland and California Adventure Park before the rest of our group showed up. We met up with Yumena, Jeff, and Albert and had such a great day together. The parks weren't that busy so there were short lines and we got to ride everything we wanted! And, Albert's expert navigation of the parks made everything so easy. It was the first time I got to see Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and the Avengers Campus, and both were VERY COOL. I loved the Rise of the Resistance ride, and the revamp of Tower of Terror into Guardians of Galaxy was awesome even though it was also still kind of awful, haha. 😅 Radiator Springs Racers and Indiana Jones are always at the top of my list, but my unexpected favorite rides this time were Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway and Thunder Mountain. 

Runaway Railway is a new ride and it features such beautiful artwork throughout. They mixed 2D art with modern technology and the effects were amazing. It was also a sweet tribute to the beginning of Disney and was a really fun ride experience as it took you into different rooms with new kinds of engagement. 

Thunder Mountain is an old ride that stands the test of time, but I think what made this one extra fun was the fact that Jason said he was glad we were doing it at the end of the day "because it's kind of chill", and then he screamed his head off the whole time 😂, and the people behind us had hilarious commentary about the ride seeming to surprise them at every turn. 😂💖

Between Disney and the concert, we also had some delicious Korean BBQ, a nice walk down Abbot Kinney, a constant stream of kpop music videos at the Airbnb, and an unexpectedly funny conversation about bananas. What a fantastic time with a group of people that I love! 

Notable places we ate worth remembering: 

Mo Ran Gok 

Jeongyukjeom

All'Antico Vinaio

Island time

 

This was the view from the balcony of our room at the Twin Fin where Stacey and I stayed for a couple of nights during the weekend of my visit to see her on Oahu! 

What a treat to be back in Hawaii and to get lots of quality time with my dear friend! I also got to see her parents, her cousin Mark and his family, my friend Mike, and our friend Cara! Oh, and Fan was there at the same time so we got to hang too! 

This trip was full of magic, sweet memories, new adventures, incredible friendship, moments you could stay in for your whole life if it was possible, great conversation, belly laughter, so much food -- it was the loveliest time together all around and I couldn't be more grateful. 💖

Here's the list: 

• Foodland (crazy amazing Asian grocery store) - Poke Bowl
• Successful mission for finding a new bathing suit 
• North Shore lunch at Farm to Barn and wandering through boutiques 
• Dinner w/ Mike and his kids at Beer Lab
• Walking with Stacey's dad and quick visit with her parents and their cats
• Taniokas - spam musubi! 
• Paddle boarding with Fan by Imperial Resort 
• Monkeypod Waikiki
• Hanging out with Todd, Miley (Stacey and Todd's dog), and Cooper (Todd's parents' dog)
• Lunch w/ Cara at her building restaurant and walk through Chinatown 
• Stay at the Twin Fin! 
• Auana! Cirque du Soleil in Waikiki
• Stix Asia (food court) - Ramen Bario 
• Surfing Waikiki - Jamie O'Brien School of Surf 
• Royal Hawaiian walk and shopping
• Meeting up with Mark, Patricia, Caden 
• Wandering through the Leahi festival, watching hula, and walking by the movie on the beach 
• Noi Thai dinner 
• Coconut club view! 
• Breakfast at Heavenly
• Cooking Vegan Thai Curry success! 
• Hiking Makapuu (I've always done the "secret hike" to the tide pools and then went back, but we made it to the lighthouse this time!) 
• Matsumoto Shave Ice 
• Dinner w/ Stacey's parents and Todd at Ichiriki