February 2026 part 2 (Valentine's, Fluffy, Lunar New Year, Anniversary, Jay & Sharon)

After my lowkey birthday, Manny and I went from one event or celebration to another in February, including seeing the comedian Fluffy, watching a lion dance up close, and having one of our best meals in recent memory for our anniversary. Manny planned the entire Valentine's. It's really nice to be able to go out more nowadays, just us. God continues to heal us. I won't write our whole story yet, but I believe we would not have made it this far without Jesus Christ, plain and simple. We had some really low points last year despite it being our 25th anniversary year. This year's anniversary was far better. 

Fluffy (Gabriel Iglesias) is a famous Mexican-American comedian who's done televised comedy specials and sold out large venues, but every now and then he will play at smaller venues. He said it was to go back to his roots, but I also think part of it is prepping for the larger shows. He had a joint show after ours in L.A. that sold out its 70,000 seats. So it was special to be able to see him in an more intimate setting. Manny picked good timing and seats. Fluffy is more on the clean side as a comedian, which I prefer, but his openers were not clean, just to give a heads up. It was a funny show, but no photos or videos were allowed, so I don't have anything shared here. We enjoyed some happy hour food and sat with another couple.

After that we went to a themed bar for even more food. I think we were thinking dessert but ended up having another meal. I say themed because it appears to change themes for special events or holidays, this time decorated for Lunar New Year. I do not go to bars in general, or really ever, but I will go with Manny on the rare occasion. My dad was a bartender for a few years, so there's familiarity, but I don't have any pressing desire to go out for drinks usually. Manny only started drinking alcohol in recent years, though he also grew up around it. Sometimes we'll just share a drink, especially if it's too strong for me. I can't handle much alcohol as it upsets my stomach, and I don't like the taste of beer, but I do like the taste of fruity cocktails, bloody marys, and white russians. I like citrus, too, like lemon drops and margaritas. My favorite drink is probably red sangria. Often I will just get a non-alcoholic cocktail/mocktail, and that's good enough for me. 

While we were at the bar, some lion dancers came in to perform, and we got to feed them some fake money. It was fun to watch. The lions were purple, my favorite color, too. My mother-in-law hired lion dancers and mariachis for our wedding reception, which was very generous and so fun and unique. 

For Valentine's Day, I made Isaac another apple tart per his request and got him some pizza and treats. I considered making the tart heart-shaped, but decided it's better for the crust to just use my pan from Ikea. For those who may not know, Valentine's is the one day a year Isaac gets to eat whatever he wants. When we started noticing his issues with food that went beyond pickiness, I realized holidays were especially difficult. A Thanksgiving turkey or Labor Day barbecue smell wafting the air would indulge our senses but was more like being trapped in a latrine for him. So on Valentine's, he can have his choice of safe foods, as his program calls them. 

After Valentine's was our anniversary. We went to a restaurant called Flowers to celebrate. I'd been wanting to go there for a while. Having not picked the place, Manny didn't know if it was going to be any good, but he ended up really enjoying it. I wore a dress he'd actually spotted at an Ann Taylor (which I then ordered later on clearance for something like $25). It was a really nice evening. I also got the most expensive item on the menu. I used to always go for the cheapest dishes I could find, but I've learned for special occasions to just receive the good things. It makes Manny happy to make me happy, so why not just get the lobster? Everything was delicious, and true to the name, was decorated with flowers or flower petals. Being February, they probably didn't have the variety they would in the spring, but they had some beautiful flowers, including edible ones. The drink that Manny ordered had some flower buds or tiny pods that popped in your mouth and buzzed your tongue. That sounded a little questionable to me, but it was fine. 

From being all dolled up to looking like death, likely due to perimenopause, I ran into these popular social media content creators at our local Costco. We've actually run into them once before. I asked to take a photo, and they were so nice. Their kids were shy, and I have to respect that kids don't necessarily want to be part of all that. I found out our children's pastor likes them, too. 

In line to see Fluffy

Lion dancers and acrobats outside

Making quite an entrance

They had a Chinese New Year theme, so these are an American take on Asian ribs and baos

Valentine's treats

My furry valentines

26th anniversary

Tasted as good as it looked

I like my risotto slightly creamier but everything was delicious.

Manny's ready to eat

Sharing desserts

Jay&Sharon

February 2026 part 1 (Chinese NY Festival, Olympics, Super Bowl, Quiet Milestone Birthday, Isaac Eating Program)

I enjoy watching national or global sports events. Two of them happened in February with the Super Bowl and the Olympics. I love Winter Olympics as much as Summer Olympics. My favorite winter sports to watch are figure skating, snowboarding, freestyle skiing, speed skating, and curling. I actually watch a lot of curling, even though people joke about it as a sport. Only watching it every four years makes it more interesting, I guess. It's akin to archery for me with the Summer Olympics. The opening ceremony was good. I'm not sure why Mariah Carey was a featured singer, but she looked and sounded great for how long she's had to hit those super high notes. She sang in Italian, not an easy feat. Maybe they just love her in Italy. Andrea Bocelli and Cecilia Bartoli and opera in general made sense. I didn't get to watch as much of the Olympics as usual, but tried to catch most of figure skating and snowboarding. Alysa Liu's spirit was very memorable and impressive. Our pastor even mentioned it would be something to have and express an even greater joy and freedom in Christ. Either the weather conditions or the course seemed to cause a lot of accidents, including the Gaon Choi crashing before coming back to win the women's Half Pipe gold. I have tried to get my kids into Olympics or the Super Bowl to no avail. They just aren't into it.  

I actually applied to work at the Super Bowl since it was in California but did not get selected. It probably was for the best, first because Isaac was on a certain regimen for his eating program, and second because ICE activities really ramped up at the time around us, and my friends and Naomi were nervous for me. I am a naturalized citizen, but I still decided to carry copy of proof around with me. I wasn't particularly afraid of anything happening, but it was just advised at the time. So since I wasn't going to be at the Super Bowl, that weekend I booked an afternoon tea at Hello Kitty Cafe for myself and Naomi to celebrate my birthday. She ended up not being able to make it, so my friend A. drove over an hour down to go with me. It was fun, and I appreciate so much her coming so I didn't have to go alone (no refunds). The sweets were a tad too sweet for me, either being Asian or getting older. I preferred the savory items. I had also invited a friend I usually go to these kinds of places with, but she has to take care of her elderly mom now. It's the case for many of my friends as we get older. 

My friends also gave me a gift card to one of my favorite bakeries for a birthday cake. Originally they wanted to get me a fancier Western bakery cake, and I have had the tendency to people-please and give in, but I had my heart set a certain cake, and it was for my 50th birthday, so I had to be more assertive and ask if we could go with this in-home baker. The thing about home businesses is it takes some time to hear from them, and often they do not offer gift cards. So my friend just transferred the money to me. I did feel bad for a moment for the trouble, but then I was super happy with the cakes I got, and I hope I communicated that well to them in the end. I got my blueberry black sesame hojicha and strawberry lychee rose specialty cakes. Naomi did come later in the week, but could not make it for the cake celebration. The baker also only delivers cakes two days a week, so we had to do the cake ahead of my birthday.

Our church service is in the afternoons because we use another church's (my former church's) facilities, so I missed the Super Bowl but watched the highlights and replay clips and ads later. And we had a nice treat when we pulled into church and saw jets flying over on their way to the stadium. We don't have DVR or anything like that. But it is certainly different than when I was the kids' ages, trying to use the TV Guide when we had one and schedule the VCR to record and hope I had a recordable VHS tape and that the power wouldn't go out. And even then my parents felt we had too much instant gratification. Now I'm the one thinking, "Back in my day..." We didn't get a VCR till I was 13, and my mom never knew how to program one, and I'd feel annoyed. And now here I am asking Isaac for help with my phone or laptop sometimes (rarely, though--tech has also become so user-friendly compared to when I was younger). And now with AI my techy kids are having to shift gears themselves. I'll talk about that in a later post.

On the morning of my birthday, the first messages I received were from my closest friend and my mom. The rest of this is going to sound like I'm complaining, but it's actually just a funny story. I had a nice birthday overall. Manny, who'd been disappointed by my not coming to his family birthday party, initially forgot. Isaac was around me before school. He forgot. Naomi, who had previously noted I didn't say happy birthday to her till an afternoon (because I didn't want to wake her and then was busy picking up a cake, but Manny had texted in the morning), did not say happy birthday till the afternoon. Only Lucas said happy birthday when he saw me. I can understand it, because we did the cake early, and it probably felt like the birthday had passed. Still, this was the first year I did not get to see Naomi for my birthday (we took a rain check) and she actually did not draw or get me anything like she does every year. I have two friends who never fail to say happy birthday every year we've been friends. They also forgot. I did not get a card from family members who usually send one. My friend from church said we'd do something, but then didn't really. No presents, aside from the cake and money from my college friends which was super generous. It was a little weird. Manny did end up remembering later, but he also never forgets. It was just interesting it would happen this year. 

I prayed and figured I'm being humbled here, but also, I could still enjoy my day. I got myself a record player for my birthday. It got lost in transit. So I got a refund for that one and ordered another one. And it arrived late, but came on my birthday. That felt like a huge blessing. Then I ordered my favorite salad from a halal salad place. Yum. After having Covid, I so appreciated being able to taste my food! I had to help Lucas with school, but besides that I was going to take it easy. I didn't want to do too many chores, but Isaac had an Zoom observation meeting with the eating program therapist, where they would observe him trying some new foods and our interactions, so I at least had to clean the kitchen and dining area. But really overall, I had a wonderful birthday. I enjoyed my leftover cake and my halal steak salad.  listening to my one record I had available, a Beatles love song compilation, on the record player. And I prayed and meditated a lot. It was a nice introverted birthday, and I'm never fully alone because Jesus is always with me.

The observation and meetings went well. At this point we were still doing a lot of meetings per week and starting out. The program was effective in getting him to eat more, though his eating still ebbs and flows. I won't get into what might have caused the eating problems, but anxiety plays a big part in it. It just really helps to have a third party encouraging him and also guiding me. One huge change I had to make was to let go of wasted food. That is so so hard for most Asians, and especially the way I was raised and growing up in poverty. I didn't like how my mom would eat anything I had left over, but I found myself doing it too once I had Isaac. He exhibited eating issues very early on, and we tried various things, but ultimately when he wasn't growing at all for a year, we had to enroll him in an outpatient program. I am very thankful for the progress, and I pray that his issues will resolve.

There were some other things I'd planned for my birthday, including watching a Chinese New Year parade and doing yoga with puppies. The parade didn't happen at the start of the city festival as advertised, so we missed it. Manny and I had a nice time walking around and eating, but I didn't want to wait for the parade. It was a pretty hot day, too. Who knew if and when it would happen? The only videos I saw of the parade after that were from the previous year, so maybe it didn't even happen. I did eventually do the puppy yoga in April. 

My favorite halal steak salad

With my two boys and the two cakes. I didn't know my hair was messed up. 😅

Strawberry lychee rose (something the family could eat) and blueberry black sesame hojicha (something only I could really eat, but they tried it)

Birthday tea at Hello Kitty Cafe

Sugar cubes were HK shaped

Birthday chocolate mousse

A nice man asked me to take a photo of him here at the mall, and then took this photo of me.

So nice of my friend to come out at the last minute for my birthday!

Grateful for A. and for HK

Olympics Opening Ceremony in Milan(o)

Mariah Carey singing Volare

Andrea Bocelli

Lang Lang accompanied Cecilia Bartoli. I was too lazy to turn the captions off.

Manny took me and Lucas to a grand opening at this bakery, but they did not have much available after our 45-minute wait. I generally will wait in line for a closing/last day, but I prefer not to for grand openings.

Manny and Lucas vacuuming the car at the car wash, same morning as the bakery opening

Manny having some Chinese beef noodle soup

The Monkey King arrives

Out for hot pot with A. and G.

My birthday present to myself, a record player. So excited to add to my vinyl collection.

December 2025 part 2 (Christmas With Friends and Family, Good Food, Covid)

We opened our presents on Christmas morning at Grandma's as we have for 27 years. Nowadays I truly appreciate wishlists. We sometimes will add a gift that's not on the list for some element of surprise. Manny has been coming up with a lot of those lately. He leans practical, which is great. I will usually add a personalized gift if I can't figure out a practical one. We had a photo ornament made for Grandma. We got my father-in-law Grandpa printed t-shirts, a chef one and a veteran one. The tees have become a tradition, too, though the ideas and selection are becoming more limited with time. I won't go through all the gifts here, just mentioning the general process lol. The grandparents are always super thoughtful and generous. Even the cats got presents!

Naomi started not feeling well the day after Christmas. We figured it was the flu since those were her symptoms. So she tried her best to get dressed to see my parents and brother, but she was just too sick, and we made the call to let her rest at Manny's sister's. My dad continues to have health struggles, so he can't really go in long car rides anymore. So it was just Manny, my mom, me, and the boys visiting my brother and taking him out to eat. We went to a dim sum restaurant. My friend came out to visit with his family and had to meet us outside the restaurant. I feel bad that we have to meet up in passing like this these days. I'd love to figure out another way. Similarly, when we went to Costco to pick up some things for my brother, and my friend and her family drove out for an hour to meet up with us there. It was an odd day, but I truly appreciate their kindness and effort to visit with me since I was limited with getting around. 

I also appreciate how every year Manny has to drive us around for 6-8 hours so we can visit my mom and brother and get things they need. I wish there was more for the kids to do sometimes. Asian family reunions usually just mean gathering to eat. Naomi often feels too sick from all the driving to eat well. Isaac has never really been able to eat much of the food. Lucas doesn't eat as much of what is common to celebratory meals, such as the seafood. And then there is having to be around their uncle (my older brother) which can feel uncomfortable and honestly a little heartbreaking, all while having to listen to my side of the family speak in a language they don't really understand for much of the day. But they're troopers and polite to my mom and never complain out loud. Puo-Puo (their grandmother, my mom) also whipped up a wonderful dinner for us. I packed some to take back to Naomi.

Grandpa made some fantastic tamales from scratch and sent them home with us, even cheese tamales for Isaac. He also made cinnamon rolls. You can always taste the love in his cooking. The drive home was fine, but Naomi was pale and sickly. I can't remember if she had to wear a mask, too, but it was hard for her. Thank God despite being in the car without ventilation for so long, Manny and the boys were spared.

I started not feeling too well the day after, when I went to pick up the cats from the boarding place. My shoulder had been hurting since bowling, but now both arms started hurting while I was driving, and I started having a headache. I also had to drive Isaac to pick up his tennis racket we just had restrung. And I was complaining and in a rush to get home because I was now in a lot of pain and fatigued.

I started feeling sweaty and it worsened as the evening progressed. Naomi and I had sat close together for a while watching a movie at my in-laws'. So I went to get a Covid test, and sure enough, it was positive. I'd never had Covid before, at least not as far as I know. Even when I got back from Disneyland years ago and Manny was coughing all night (we didn't know he had Covid yet), I did not get it. We didn't catch it the second time he had it, either. Naomi also tested positive. So our guess was we caught it at the party. Later on, Grandma and Grandpa tested positive, as did others. We were in close quarters and talking a lot during the party, so that was a good setup to get it. Thankfully Manny and the boys didn't get it or at least never showed any symptoms.

I have asthma, and whatever strain of Covid this was, it hit me hard. The doctor put me on Paxlovid which is supposed to make you feel better faster, and after five days I did feel somewhat better, but once the Paxlovid was done, it felt like a second wave hit me. My in-laws seemed to fare better with it. I couldn't really breathe well and coughed up a lung. I could barely move. It kind of threw a wrench in Manny's plans perhaps, because he still had a few days off work, but now we couldn't go out anywhere as a family. He helped me out the first day or two, got my medication, and cleaned and organized a ton, and I'm thankful for that. I still had to take care of Naomi a little, which was rough. Moms still have to mom even when we're not well, or at least I do. My friend from church dropped off some bone broth which was so helpful. I wore gloves and masks all day and night for 10 days or so and continuously disinfected around me and kept everyone distanced from me as much as possible. Manny told me to go ahead and order food which helped me out a lot as well. I didn't want to contaminate anyone's food. 

After a couple of days back, Manny wanted to make some of the tamales, and he asked me how. I had made them in our pressure cooker before and thought that would be faster. Boy, was I wrong. It ended up making them too wet, and it took really long to get them to cook through. Manny was pretty hangry. He hadn't eaten all day (fasting) and had been cleaning and organizing. I had a massive headache, pretty sure the worst headache I have had in my life, and his being upset like that made me feel sorry for myself. But I prayed and regrouped, put on the gloves and fixed it. It's a blur now what I did--I think I continued steaming them without the lid on in the pressure cooker and then moved them and baked them for a little bit. I had a mask on but held my breath as much as I could to keep from coughing. Thankfully the tamales turned out fine. We made half the batch and then the rest at a later date. 

Manny went out with his coworker the next day and a couple of days later. I was glad he could at least do something with his time off. I was able to manage and take care of myself and the kids, but also they are older now, so that made it a lot easier since they could do more themselves. Also, the worst of it happened while my kids were out of school, so I didn't have to drive Isaac to and from school, for example, until the next week, so the timing was very good for me to get some rest. I did a lot of laptop work like budgeting stuff, watched a lot of the Korean drama Bon Appetit Your Majesty, and started a chronological Bible plan with a friend. Beyond that I'm not quite sure what was going on day to day. A lot of coughing and headaches. I did lose some weight (which all came back when I got better) and also had more time to pray for people, so that was kind of nice.

Photo booth. Who gave Isaac a Corona? lol

Grandpa's cinnamon rolls

Dinner at Puo-Puo's. We took photos with Gong-Gong (my dad), but I don't have them on my phone.

At the Chinese herbal store with my mom. The tariffs sent the prices sky high, so we didn't get a lot.

Dim sum lunch with Puo-Puo and Jiou-Jiou

With T. and family outside the restaurant

With L. and family outside Costco

Grandpa's prime rib for Christmas dinner

Grandma got a red purse from Santa.

Chef Grandpa on one shirt, and the other one says, "I'm a Grandpa and a veteran. Nothing scares me"

Huggy sloth for calming the senses

I don't remember what this is, but he looks happy.

Naomi has been wanting this purse. She uses it daily.

Isaac got his computer case! He's also wearing a shirt Aunt Dolly got him previously.

Christmas breakfast

Coach excited to see us. Pluto (the heap in the back) was fine with staying.

After all these years, I finally got it.