My weekends keep getting better and better. As mentioned in my Friday post, Vien made me a mussel dinner last Friday. The finished dish can be seen on the right. It was so good we did not have enough bread to mop up that yummy sauce.

We also had way too many Vietnamese bahn mis this weekend. We pretty much had one everyday from Friday until Monday. I think I'm taking a short break from those for a while.

Across the street from the bahn mi spot was this mural which was funny to me because my roommate's name is Caitlin.

Saturday was met with the first snowfall of this season. Usually, it starts with light flurries but that day, it snowed all day until late evening. It got so cold that Vien and I blew off three Halloween parties that we were supposed to attend and stayed in watching movies on Netflix.

 Snow on cars outside his bedroom window.

Halloween day was also moving day for Ana and Poy. I took Santi back to my apartment where we hung out with Vien while Ana, Poy and hired movers packed everything and moved all their stuff to the new apartment.

Later that day, Vien helped me while I took Santi trick or treating. He was such a cutie dressed up as Tigger. After an hour of candy begging, the three of us headed to Cornelius for Oyster Happy Hour. One year old Santi watched as his Nanny and her helper downed 18 oysters each with glasses of beer.

This is Vien when he was a baby. He hardly looks anything like he does today. This baby photo must be of someone else noh?

Monday night, I went out to see a Sandwich gig at the lower east side. I listened to them a lot in college and I was so happy to learn they were coming to NYC to perform. I got to see a few people from Manila I haven't seen in a long time and it was all very nostalgic and fun.

They let Rann play a couple of songs with them and he naturally ripped my ear drums off with his style of noise.

Sunday morning was met by a sudden craving for Pho and Vietnamese Iced Coffee. Vien was particularly craving them from one particular restaurant in Queens so we hauled our asses all the way from Brooklyn and braved through the mad subway service changes and track work being done over the weekend. About an hour and a half and 4 subway rides later, we were snarfing down hot bowls of pho and spring rolls with iced coffee. Very few words were exchanged while we nurse our hangovers with steaming, delicious broth.

After lunch, we hopped on a cab to go see Omar, who was expecting us for the day. As soon as we walked in the apartment, we were greeted by a tray of multicolored cupcakes with a special note attached...

Now Vien knows why Omar will always be my #1. 

We took him to go see Real Steel (which was blah and doesn't deserve more space in this post). The movie was followed by a quick dinner with Tita Chon at Jackson Hole Diner because Vien was craving for their huge 7oz burgers. 

Benny is back from his 3-week european tour so we met up with him and other friends for a drink before we called it a night.

Vien hung out with Santi and I the next day...

V looks extra chinky here because I pretty much forced him
to get out of bed to hang with us.

We missed the $1 oyster happy hour at Cornelius after work but that didn't stop us from ordering a dozen of them to share and enjoyed with a bowl of fries and beer. I must remember to go back there on a weekend so we can make it to happy hour and chug down a lot more of those. Yum!

This was the highlight of my day.

I love my new kicks so much I can't stop looking at them at work. I wore them straight out of the store. I woke up a little early and had time to go shoe shopping before my shift. I went to Shoemania at Union Square and was delighted to see they had a buy 1 get 1 at half off everything. It took me a good hour to look around and had to try on a few shoes before I settled on this pair of Nike Air Max. I ran to Foot Locker a block away just to make sure I was getting the a good deal. I didn't find anything there that I liked so I ran back to Shoemania and got these. The Puma flats are similar to the one in the photo above except that I have black suede as opposed to the patent leather shown above. They're great, light and casual walking shoes.

I was hungry and ended up having lunch at Saigon Grill. I was really in the mood for sushi but didn't really know where to go so I stuck to what I knew was good. If my family manages to come, I will definitely take them there. Kim absolutely adores the vietnamese cha gio (fried spring rolls) and she will love the ones they have there.

It was slow and boring at the restaurant today since the rain was pouring. Not a lot of people were out so we kind of expected it. My work schedule has changed yet again. I no longer have regular Sundays off. Paul said I've been hogging Sunday ever since I started work and he said he wanted a share of it this time. We compromised and said we can each take every other Sunday off. On other times, I will have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off. I requested the Wednesday since I know Mica is off that day and we can finally do something together. Because of this change in schedule, I will have to wait until Tuesday before I get some rest. I will be exhausted but what the hell.

I labeled it Part 1 because I will be here until Saturday and we still have lots to do until then. We're planning on going to the beach on Saturday before they take me back to Kate's. Right now, I had time to post everything since we're staying in as RJ plays with his new iMac, Paul plays GTA whilst Bea and I do laundry.

Las Vegas Day

They picked me up at 9am then took a drive to Vegas. We had a buffet dinner when we got there then went back to the house to chill before heading back out again. Paul and his parents took a nap on the carpet while us girls chitchatted till 9pm.

Las Vegas Night

Went to the Wynn where Bea, Leng and I played 1c slots, haha! Paul and his folks watched the US vs Spain B-ball game. We felt so under dressed (or overdressed might be a better term) since all the women were in skintight nothingness. On the way home, a guy in the elevator asked me if I wanted to kiss him...he was cute, but I wasn't stupid.

With the Santiagos Part 1

Gave George a bath since he stank from pooping in his carrier and throwing up on the way back from Vegas. The poor dog is not used to long road trips. Videoke at night, Costco lunch the next day, had amazing frozen yoghurt at Yoghurtland, vietnamese dinner then assembled RJ's new IKEA table and chair.