Birthday with the Armfields

I know, this is like my third post about my Birthday, but good news is it'll be my last post about it! So bare with me it will be very brief!

Opening my gift from the Armfield rents!

Since Michael's parents were in Palm Dessert during Cristine and I's Brithdays, they were so sweet to take us out this past Saturday to celebrate at Bis on Main in Bellevue. Here are a few photos:

Squeezing in for a photo with Tim at the center!

 

The Californians of the table!

 

Another wish!

 It was so fun and a night to remember, and as always the food at Bis on Main was absolutely perfect!
Thanks to the Armfield/Peter family for my gifts! They were all so truly thoughtful and I'm so happy to be a part of your lives!

Great wine, chocolate, a framed photo of Michael and I, and an Amazon gift card to buy books on my Kindle from the Peters! Thanks again!



Gorgeous earrings from Mr. and Mrs. Armfield! I love them!

And to add, here's two other photos from my weekend:

 

Blaire trying to sneak in nap!

Signs of Spring on my run in Volunteer Park

 Happy Monday everyone!

Tamura

Michael and I usually have "Friday Night Date Nights," but because we're going out to dinner on Saturday night to celebrate mine and Cristine's birthday with their parents, we decided to move date night to Thursday this week to avoid eating out two nights in a row.

Lately we've been frequenting the same places so we decided to go somewhere new. Michael found this sushi place in the Eastlake area called Tamura. If you haven't noticed already, Michael loves sushi. For sushi, we usually go to Nishino's, but Tamura might have to be our new go to sushi place. They had more options for nigiri and rolls, not to mention a cocktail menu that I enjoyed.

What made it very exceptional was the perfect size bites, the great cut of the fish, the tasty rice, and the right amount of wasabi.

 If you can believe it, I never ate Nigiri until Michael introduced it to me. I was always a roll person, but now I'm absolutely hooked!

Michael really enjoyed their dessert too, housemade millet mochi with sweet beans on top. The dessert was a little on the savory side making it perfect for him.

Aftwerwards we came home and watched 'American Hustle.' If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend it. It was entertaining and kept me on my toes. I wasn't sure how it would end!

Sacramento Timelapse

This morning I stumbled across this Sacramento Timelapse from Justin Majeczky on Vimeo, illustrating my hometown! I loved it so much I wanted to share it on my blog!

And in exactly two weeks, I'll be waking up in sunshine and eating mom-cooked meals (aka food heaven).

Sadly, this little guy will have to be left behind for the trip!

Kitty Profile

Blaire doing what he does best: lounging!

April Fools

Anyone else get pranked yesterday? Here is my failed attempt at trying to pull off an April Fool's joke on a whim with a text message to my sisters:

 

To my credit, I kinda fooled my sister Oanh. Normally we don't do pranks on each other, so I thought they wouldn't notice what day it was. Then my oldest sister texted me this after trying to turn my joke back on me:

 





 

It kind of worked, so I'll give her props for that one.

 

I definitely miss my fambam! Just about two more weeks until I fly out to California to see them :D

the added scene

I split my revisions into three parts (chunks), the standard beginning, middle, and end. During my read-through the transition from the beginning to the middle felt awkward. I knew I would have to add a scene there to depict a turning point. I tried tackling it yesterday, but couldn't get out what I wanted to convey without making my MC sound overly dramatic. Needless to say, I didn't get much done yesterday.

Fast forward to now, as I write this: I finished it. It took me a long while considering its short length, but I am over the moon with it! Revisions are rough, but when you're able to find a gem like a successful scene that really ties up the story, it makes it all worth it. Now going into the middle chunk of revisions. Hopefully I can dig up some more gems :)

Keep on writing everyone, keep at your dreams, because the process is so worth it.

Book Review: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

I rated it 5 out of 5 stars.

Overview: “Long live the King” hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999—and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it—fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.

Review: I have never read any of Stephen King's books. This was my first. You see, I can't do horror or anything remotely scary. I'm such a big baby when it comes to that kind of stuff. Last week, however, I was perusing Barnes and Noble's writing section when I came across this book. I've always heard about what a great writer King is so I picked this one up relieved that it didn't have anything that would freak me out.

After the first few pages, I could see what all the raving was about. He is no doubt an amazing writer and because I knew little about him, the tales of his childhood to adult hood were extremely captivating. I gave it five stars because I was hooked all the way through, reading it in just two days. It had a great story feel and down to earth advice with a unique perspective. It's a book that I'll constantly refer to and continue to be inspired by. This is a book that every aspiring writer should read or anyone who has a dream and the courage to chase it.

Post Birthdays

This week has been crazy busy, making the weekend very much needed! On Friday, Michael took me out to Nishino's for dinner, one of his favorite restaurants. As usual the sushi was excellent and the dessert insanely good!

Green Tea Tiramisu

Afterwards we went to Ballard for Cristine's Birthday celebration where I discovered a new go-to drink: Tom Collins. It's so refreshing, just like lemonade.

Me, Michael, and Cristine

The next day was super laid back. We finally did some grocery shopping and spent the rest of the day working on personal projects--revisions for me, web design for him. Michael was sweet enough to set up my very own writing space in our apartment.

Manuscript, laptop, notes, pens, and music. Everything I need.

Afterwards we headed to Cristine and Tim's for a family get together with the Armfield cousins and their rents.

Being goofy during the game time!

Sunday was cleaning day with more work on my revisions. I'm a quarter done with draft three, but it was the easy part. I anticipate difficulties as I head to the middle chunk of the story. It's great tightening the story and connecting everything cohesively. Tons of hard work, but worth it. 

Only one more month until my workshop and my beta readers get to read M2! Just thinking about that gets me all nervous and excited. The whole time working on it, it's always been about doing it for myself. Now with revisions, it's all about making it come alive for the reader, hoping that they can get lost and in love with the story I've been dying to share.

To close, here are a two other goofy photos I found on Michael's phone that should have made it to my Whistler post, if I only knew! Here's to another week of life!

strawberry daiquiri after 5 hour snowboarding lesson

hiding in my scarf because Whistler is c o l d