These Days

We usually take things easy on Saturdays. Neil has his karate class in the morning and it's typical for the rest of us to just stay at home all day. But not today. We decided to go to Piedmont Park for the Atlanta Ice Cream Festival. It has been more than a year since our first visit and what better reason to go than ice cream in summer? It was a well-attended event. I would have liked to try the specialty homemade ice cream but the lines were too long. Without the kids I would have braved the lines but it was just too hot and crowded, especially for Ela. We bought the pre-packaged ice cream instead. It was more enjoyable away from the ice cream trucks.

I've noticed that weekend brunch is quite the thing here. I guess people take advantage of the weekend to get family or friends together and enjoy breakfast out. Because we cook and eat at home most of the time, it's a treat to go for brunch. Atlanta has a lot of good places to choose from and this is a roundup of the ones we've tried so far. IHOP . We had breakfast here after getting the car from the dealership last year. Buttermilk Kitchen . We had a sendoff for friends who were going back to the Philippines. Brio . Venue of the surprise baby shower earlier this year. Another Broken Egg Cafe . This place is less than 5 minutes drive from the apartment but we've only been here once and just recently. Our server was Filipino so we chatted with her for a bit. First Watch . With officemates visiting from Manila. Pancake > face

Neil turned 7 last week, and in true R&D fashion, we took a long time to decide whether to invite friends over to celebrate or keep it within the family like as last year. We eventually decided to host a gathering with our small Filipino community. Back in Manila, Neil's birthday was during school season so he would bring snacks for his classmates. Now it's during summer so we celebrated at home. Rich and I (but mostly Rich) prepared the food. We served baked ribs and chicken alfredo pasta, which got good reviews from the guests. =) Our very simple decoration. As mentioned in a previous post, he's into poems these days so I asked family to write birthday poems for him. I compiled them into a mini-book and gave it to Neil first thing in the morning. He liked his personalized gift. Thank you, family!

One of the benefits of being on leave for a few weeks is that I was able to watch a good number of movies at home. We borrowed DVDs from the library, streamed movies on Netflix or watched cable. Two movies that I really enjoyed and highly recommend are The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Hector and the Search for Happiness . Aside from the main characters' names in the titles, the movies have notable parallels. Walter and Hector went on journeys in pursuit of negative #25 and the meaning of happiness, respectively. Their regular jobs as negative assets manager for Life magazine and psychiatrist lacked excitement and inspiration but their journeys called for them to dare and be adventurous, trust strangers, rediscover themselves and have fun in the process. The locations are gorgeous and picture-perfect, too. It makes me want to see more of this beautiful world that God gifted us with.=)

Here are the books I read in June.=) 13. Have A Little Faith by Mitch Albom . I borrowed this book from a public book box at the park. It's about Mitch Albom's relationship with two men of faith. His rabbi, Al Lewis, asked him to do his eulogy which he agreed to do, albeit hesitantly at first. He felt an obligation to really know the rabbi so they met many times over 8 years at the rabbi's home, during special occasions, at the hospital. The other man of faith was a Christian pastor whose struggling church sheltered the homeless. Albom learned about the pastor's troubled criminal past and how he turned his life around to keep a promise to God at a time of desperate need. I read Tuesdays with Morrie years ago and it's amazing to me how Albom has nurtured deep relationships with these amazing people. This book left me feeling more hopeful about humanity and that is a good thing. 14. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon . This book w

It's July and Neil's birth month. He's almost 7, a milestone age. It feels very different when I say he's 6 vs. 7. Like he's turning from young child into an older kid in one day. I have been remiss in posting updates about the boy, which means I would have little to look back to in the future. Not good given that I don't have the best memory. So here I am writing stuff down. It's summer and school's out. He's been taking swim lessons at the YMCA. He's on his third course (each course runs for 45 minutes per day, Monday to Thursday for 2 weeks). He's fearless in the water and is now better skilled at swimming than me. He's still taking karate lessons at most 4 times per week. We made his skip 2 belt promotion tests because we felt he still needed to improve his form but he might be ready for the next one. I'm impressed at his enthusiasm for these two sports, and any physical activity for that matter. Biking is still a favorite. W

We watched a 4th of July parade last Saturday. It was rainy so I kept checking online if the event would push through. It did and so when the rain abated, we drove to the end of the route to join the festivities. Parade participants were all wet but they were having a good time. We saw floats, old cars, marching bands, etc. go by and immersed ourselves in the fun atmosphere of this US holiday. ^ Pirate ship

I reported back to work from my ML on June 22nd. The original plan was to take 12 weeks off but we shortened it to 9 weeks instead. Rich and I discussed this on multiple occasions because wanted to make sure that we were ready to transition and establish new routines, with me being away from home for most of the day. It was also the week for the annual all-team meeting for our department at work. This meeting used to be held out of state but the venue this year is the Fox Theater in midtown Atlanta. It worked great because there's no need to travel. I was booked at the Hotel Indigo for 3 nights and I had Rich and the kiddos with me for the first night. It was hard because the hotel room was too small for us so I checked out after one night and Rich drove me to/from the meeting everyday instead. Some photos from the meeting: ^ Welcome Reception. Philippines represent! ^ Celebration dinner ^ Our team performance ^ At the lobby of Hotel Indigo