**IT'S A BOY**!!!

I knew it!!!!

My mom, Marco, and I went to my last ultrasound on Friday and the baby look normal and healthy. We found out that he's a boy!!! I think all of us were not surprised but very excited that it's a boy.... somehow I just knew it's a boy :-) let the planning begin!!!

We still don't have a name... it's really hard to come up with one, but we'll keep looking out for a good name (pedro.. fabio? j/k- not!).

here's baby Alves at week 20... and yes that's a leg/thigh.

hear the Heartbeat?!

This was at week 18, our second time hearing our baby's heartbeat.... pretty cool! The baby's heartbeat is at 155 hpm.

cousin Allen's wedding

Fatima & Joseph

Friday night Fireworks at the Falls & family outtings at the casino...

Rehersal dinner

The Wedding!

Garden Party Mr. & Mrs. Chen

my cousin Allen is getting married in Niagara Falls in Canada. This will be our first major trip to the east coast. we both have been there a long time ago and i was there back in the 80's. we took 5 days off from work and flew in a red eye flight to Buffalo then drove across the border. Marco's aunt and uncle decided to join us for a day from NJ to Buffalo then we went to the Falls together for one night. It has been a while since the wedding, it was really nice to see them for a short period of time, then off they go to Chicago for vacation.
The wedding was beautiful the town was beautiful and the Canadians were too nice, us Cali's thinks it's a little weird. Our entire family all flew in except for e-ma. we were worried about me getting nauseous from flying, but i think by flying the red eye and wearing the wrist band really helped this non-stop long flight - i was totally fine. i actually felt the baby kick/tap for the first time the night before while we were packing for the trip.
here are some fun pictures we have taken.

I'm 19 weeks here.

2nd Anniversary

It was our 2nd anniversary last weekend and we went to Cavallo Point Lodge in Fort Baker, Sausalito for a day spa. We were lucky that the weather was actually warm and not windy or cold in SF. This was a beautiful place and very peaceful :-) we hung out by the outdoor hot pool in our robes/had lunch by the pool/took a short nap! then it was time to try their private eucalyptus steam room and jacuzzi bath. It was a treat!!! then our way back we to took a nice drive through north beach neighborhood - oh how i love San Fran!!!

it's official! we're having a BABY!!!!

Baby at 10 weeks old... where is it?...it's a peanut! This was our first time seeing the baby and it was very emotional for us - yep it's alive and we're having a baby!


Baby at 13 Weeks old. Amazing you can starting to see it... it's a shrimp!


I'm week 18 now... and starting to show. Baby is about a size of a large orange.
For the longest time we didn't tell anyone, we wanted to wait for the 3 month mark and since I'm over 35 (this year) there were many tests the doctor wanted us to do around 3 months. We've done part 1 of our baby test and everything is good and baby is healthy. Part 2 test was done this week (2nd trimester) and we'll know the results in 2 weeks.

here's a little info about me and the baby so far...

• baby is due on 11/6/2010
• no morning sickness so far
• starting to wear maternity clothing this week
• no special cravings, no pickles or ice cream.... although i finished a whole jar of peanut butter in 4 months (it was my daily stable breakfast for the last 3 months)
• i eat a banana first thing in the morning before i hop on bart to work (if i don't eat i get really low blood sugar and i almost fainted 2x on bart - not good)
• lots of pills to keep the baby and mom healthy :-P
• i realllly miss sashimi and a glass of cape cod
• we still don't know the baby's sex (another 2 weeks...), but we really think it's gonna be a BOY.
• i already bought a baby gift - a wool rug - hahahah and we don't even have a baby room
• love to eat meat - lots of chicken and beef, especially chinese beef noodles
• we have recorded the baby's techno heart beat today it was very cool!

I was craving Beef Noodle soup a few months ago and this came across Bon Appetit magazine and I've never made any Chinese Beef Noodle soup before, so i thought i would give it a try since i was craving for it. it turned our so very yummy!!! the key is to have lots pickled mustard greens in your soup. i bought fresh flour noodles from the korean store and it was the perfect texture.

i also came across this Taiwanese Beef Noodle recipe and i'm dying to try it!

Chinese New Year Cake

so it's chinese New Year this weekend and i told my mom that i would bring a New Year's cake. i'm online and trying to find a steam red bean cake and all the american recipes were baked version, which i've done in a cupcake form, but i think it's a little dry out the outside. then i came across this website (click here) and it's got a really yummy recipe for my red bean cake. the site also got lots of good how-to pictures and the recipes seems really yummy and i will have to try it soon. Finally i'll get to cook the real Taiwanese beef stew noodles!!!

Happy New Year- let's go Tiger!!!

Visa in San Francisco

check out some of my work with Visa located in San Francisco. It's their executive office headquarters in SF. these videos were taken from a millworker company before the construction was 100% complete.

www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/cabinet_by_window
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/elevator
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/elevator_open_doors
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/executive_office
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/kitchen
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/reception
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/reception_by_tv
www.bayareavr.com/client/tim/wall_by_cubicle

Save the Dolphins in Japan

23,000 dolphins are killed every year in Japan!! unbelievable!!! i'm not a animal activist but this is crazy you'll you to watch it.
we watched The Cove tonight and i was shocked!!! click here for the trailer.
i was surprised how much mercury are in my favorite tuna every time i eat 1 piece of nirgri. no more tuna for us or any large fish under the sea- we'll stick to our little sardines and salted cod fish. click here to learn more about your mercury level.

21st street

we walked pass this street in the mission the other day and the graffiti on this wall was changed to some cartoony drawings (lame). i was playing with this image to make it more dirty/saucey and i think it looks pretty good.

hearts and bunny

Happy New Year!!!!

on the 2nd day of 2010 Marco and my cousin Tommy went surfing out in Pacifica, while I watched them paddling in the water... back and forth.... the weather was actually nice and sunny :-) i think 2010 is looking good already!

I came acoss this quote from Mother Teresa and I thought to share this with you. Best to you all in 2010- Happy New Year!

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

shopping for credit cards...

i came across this this morning on Today show and if you are shopping for a new Credit card this is a great site:
http://www.lowcards.com

it's so helpful and it explains all the pros/cons on choosing a card.

good luck!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a joyous Holiday Season and a smashing New Year!!!

see us doing the holiday dance in disco style:
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/poaCwgshT1Oqm4c2ufuX
see us doing the holiday dance in oakland style:

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/H896Q8jFwwtPDt57qmer

see us doing the holiday dance in good ol american style:

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/4YzyoZVhXkkP5rotdLPY

see us doing the holiday dance in international jingle style:

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/eQu8QaFeqEV7dMG8Nv6U

Sintra-- Summer Palace

Sintra, Portugal or as known as the king`s summer palace. (images above)

We are here in Portugal visiting Marco`s mom during our Thanksgiving break then we continue on to Paris for 3 days then back to SF. Today is our last day here in Portugal and is also Marco`s birthday!!! i think we were planning on visiting Lisboa today but with the rain... i`m not sure what we are going to do. then there`s dinner with his family tonight!!! yum!!! we`ve been to many places on this trip... visiting families down south in Santa Andres and another town near Almada. it was good seeing everyone since the last time i was here 4 years ago. the food here has been really good. one of my favorite is a shrimp bread pudding like texture and it`s soooo good... i`ll have to try and make it when we are back. then of course there`s the thin pork steak sandwich that marco loves (i think he had 2 for dinner the other night.

ok... off we go now (11.56am).

...on Halloween night...

We went over to our friends Trina and Russell's place after some Halloween dinner meal at Bitter End. As you can see a little singing and drinking were the thing to do on Halloween night... and with a big afro- it's even better!!!

Cake Gallery

i came across the AIA SF Awards and these two gallery like bakeries was just a gem-- so cute and so nicely designed it makes me want to spend more than i need to on a cupcake.
check out Kara's Cupcake next time you're in Ghirardeli Sq. and I Dream of Cake in North Beach.

summer is officially over

i turned on our heater tonight :-( where was my summer? i think i only went to beach 2 or 3 times. i think we only had a few weeks of hot weather, but summer ended fast this year in Sept. it's getting cooler and colder every day. i think i'm ready for the fall :-)

here are some good summer 2009 recap! (breakfast out in our patio, summer bbq meal, fresh lemon mint tea from our patio).

Marco the plumber

over the summer so our dishwasher was not draining properly and it would back-up to our sink... and now i can't remember how Marco fixed it. it's good to have a plumber around :-)

Brunch at 505

We had our neighbors over for brunch and it was to test our some of our wedding gifts and to celebrate Chinese Moon Fest. I couldn't wait to use it :-) we made lots of yummy finger foods and i have to say my strawberry tart/cake was very good. The little cupcake was like a pound cake with red bean filling and it turned out really good.