zippity zoo day

one quiet friday a couple weeks ago, joe and i were hit with the crazy bug and came thiiis close to packing our bag, strapping the little one into his carseat and making a mad dash for vegas. enter voice of reason, and reality found us heading out early the next morning to san diego instead for a nice little day at the zoo.

it was actually kind of a big deal, because this was the first time being at the zoo EVER for both james and joe!

here's jamesy - a little bit scared, little bit excited (mostly not sure what's going on) to see all the animals.


a couple of our fave friends.


ooh look, a new exhibit next to the pandas in the asia section!


gorilla, man, back to back chillin'.


elephant squeeeze!


good times, especially thanks to cutiepie cousin london and fam.

today, joe is 30! and even though he never ever reads this blog named after him, i wanted to take the time to gush about how thankful i am for him and how much i love him. it's so easy to forget in the day to day (especially when that day happens to involve golf or basketball or really lame phone games), but when it comes down to the big stuff, the important stuff, i'm oh so proud that he is the man i follow.

dear joe...i, i love you like a love song baby and i keep hitting repeat-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat. love, rosie

family fun day in la

last friday, joe took the day off from work and took james and me to venice and santa monica for a fun-filled day of good eats and quality family togetherness.



rewind back a week before that though and the picture wasn't quite so pretty. what was supposed to be our fun day in LA instead became a conflict of epic proportions, including (with details to spare): driving out to santa monica, driving right back, tears, anger, el dorado park/marshalls, road kill, boba (somehow got to fit that in hehe), more anger, silent treatment, and santa monica again. whew. let's just say my instagram got to take a nice little vacay that day.

honestly sometimes i feel like my nasty days outweigh the not-as-nasty. marriage, motherhood, family, friendships, church, ministry -- such good things, but when they start to stray from my genius master plan for the universe that revolves around me, it's game over!

i finally sat down and watched this video that's been up, down and all around my facebook wall this week. hello, tears! (very different from the "i hate everything!" tears from 2 weeks ago). what a reminder of how beautiful and amazing marriage is when centered not on the people and what we can bring to the table, but Christ, the ultimate example and embodiment of love.



"when all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay."

for better or for worse

two years, a combined 50+ pounds, and a few waiting-to-be-loosened screws ago, i got this guy to marry me. and while he's been busy discovering all the worst sides of me, to me he just gets better and better as i get to see more of his patience, grace, humility and love.

dear joe...you are the BEST! love, rosie

the last month

so, we are just about one month away from the arrival of el niño!

my gut says he's going to be early, but i may very well be wrong and just wishing it so i wouldn't have to see my gut keep growing with each extra day.

here are a some things i'm hoping to do before then:
- find my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe
- eat at some new and old LA eateries (suggestions?)
- get back into the etsy world
- host a dinner pahh-tee or two
- do a photo session for someone
- learn how to use a sewing machine
- go to a dodger game

i had written the above thursday night as a draft, but oh what a difference a day makes! friday morning, i went in for my 3rd trimester ultrasound where they found my amniotic fluids were measuring lower than normal. at first they rushed me to labor and delivery to make sure my water hadn't broken [insert panic here], and then did a bunch of tests to monitor the baby. in the end they told me i didn't have to deliver the baby after all (whew!), but have to be on almost bed rest and go back twice a week until i do deliver to do all the tests and make sure baby's ok.

i know, being told to just rest might sound like a welcomed order, but not if you are crazy like me. it's probably a combo of my control freakedness and being in nesting mode that's put me in this high-productivity cooking, organizing, shopping/returning, cleaning (this one not aaas much, hehe) mode. like this morning, i woke up and felt determined i needed to juuust sort! the! laundry! so i started, joe told me to stop, i said okokok, and then secretly finished sorting it in super speed silence. sigh. this will be a good thing for me, to just let go and remember it's God who holds all things together. and He's taking care of our dear baby in my womb until it is the perfect time for him to come and meet us.

and thankfully i have joe to constantly remind me to take it easy AND make me banana chocolate chip pancakes on a saturday morning :)

ta-da!

after much time spent considering whether i should start blogging again and trying to muster up some motivation, i've finally made it back. can't believe that since my last post, the mrs. pyo club is preggers, preggers and re-preggers!

here are a few things that have kept me occupied outside the blog-world:
- going on a cruise. joe and i decided to try something neither of us had ever done and packed our bags, loosened our belts and hopped on a boat. not sure if we would do it again, but highlights included the 24-hour pizza parlor, geekily reading twilight by the pool, watching joe play in the ping pong tournament, and that arcade game where you put in quarters to push the other quarters to spill out so you can put them right back into the machine over and over again (how is this game even fun?!).



- eating diligently for two. after getting through the first trimester nausea, my appetite has returned with an unstoppable vengeance. some days i do a double-take at what i think is a kirstie alley sighting (she's looking great, by the way!), only to realize it’s my own reflection. and other days there's no double-take needed; i just look at myself and see eddie murphy in the nutty professor. straight up. doc even told me to take it easy and i realized i can tell her it's from the cruise for only so long.



- scouring craigslist for treasures. lately i’ve been checking craigslist non-stop for furniture and baby items. sometimes i go a little overboard, like the time i bought two different used pottery barn cribs and had to re-sell one on craigslist (for a minor profit). or the time i realized one of the sellers was a blogger i follow and admire, and acted like a total stalker-fan when i went to go buy the item. it’s all so much fun, until i am faced with joe’s voice of reason, accompanied by his stink eye.

- moving. we recently moved into a new apartment and all-in-all i love our new place - the neighborhood, the garage, our new washer and dryer, the plentiful windows. but, as i’ve been trying to convince my ever-so-practical husband, it could use a little extra help, like painting over the peach walls and maybe some decorative accents here and there. for example, the super cute hand-knit doll i found on sale at anthropologie for the nursery...that obviously doubles as an oddly-shaped back-support cushion for nursing...no? argh, i can feel joe’s stink eye just writing about it!

well, this retro-retro-retro-active blogging could go on forever so i'll leave it at that and save more updates, photos and my list of things to do before the arrival of el niño for next time...thanks for reading! :)

california love, part 2

i couldn't have asked for a better 1[.07] year anniversary celebration than the mini-vacay up to the monterey bay we took last weekend. we persevered through some nasty la traffic and enjoyed the long and scenic route up the central coast where we were wow-ed at each turn by the ocean, mountains, huge trees, sheep?! -- such a far cry from life as we know it in orange county.

turns out one of the biggest motorcycle events in the world, ever (or something like that) was happening the same weekend but luckily it didn't keep us from enjoying our stay at the charming normandy inn (found via sfgirlbybay) and everything else on our jam-packed itinerary.

road trip to do's:
1. hike the north shore trail at point lobos state natural reserve


2. find pretty fishies at monterey bay aquarium


3. eat yummy fishies at old fisherman's wharf


4. get a fat slab of prime rib at clint eastwood's mission ranch restaurant


5. stop by to say hello to clint's sheep


6. play peekaboo at pfeiffer big sur state park


7. dig into delicious dishes at big sur bakery and restaurant


8. take a gazillion pictures with new camera


9. spend quality time with the dearest husband and thank him for being my america's next top model for half of the gazillion pictures


whew, is it just me, or does anyone else feel like they need a vacation after a vacation? traveling is fun but i could totally go for a veg day right about now to just watch tv and eat chocolate chip cookies, yummm...

{eye} try : strawberry brown butter bettys

i'd been eagerly waiting to try this recipe for strawberry brown butter bettys found at smitten kitchen, but never had a loaf of white bread around the house. enter coupon for free loaf of white bread from the local target and wah-lah, happy birthday husband!

we celebrated sunday night with a low-key dinner for two at home featuring flavorful braised short ribs and miyuk gook, the traditional korean birthday soup, followed by these bettys topped with softly whipped cream. the good part was that it was a quiet and intimate evening. the bad part was that if one person gets caught up taking pictures, the other person ends up lighting his own birthday candles...haha, oops!

take me out to the ballgame

one of my favorite things about this time of year is baseball season. there's just something so warm & fuzzy and at the same time thrilling about watching your team rally through a game on a cool summer night. i used to hope it would be what marriage is like, and in some ways i still think it is...

everybody won't always come out and play to your expectations, your heart will sink every time someone makes a silly fielding error, we may end up with the worst record in our division, and sometimes it'll be hard to stick it out through all 9 innings. but even when they're down 7-2 in the bottom of the 8th, you still get out of your seat and do the wave whole-heartedly for your team. and every now and then they'll deliver one of those goosebump-rendering homeruns as a sweet reminder of how much you love this game.

my boss recently gave us tickets to the classic dodgers vs yankees game. they were nicer seats than we've ever payed for ourselves, but i have to admit, i kind of missed our rowdier friends over in the left and right field pavilions. can't wait to go again!

i've recently been introduced to and browsing around flickr thanks to poppytalk's summer colours week and here a few faves from fellow fans.

[ 1 ][ 2 ][ 3 ][ 4 ]

(good job NL on winning the all star game last night! and good save joe, when we got to the boba shop after the game and it was closed, taking me to vons instead for some ice-cold sugarful refreshments aka orange crush soda!)

look what i found!

after searching near and far, passing on several $80 and even $25 versions at various flea markets, i finally found a wire jar/bottle carrier for $6 at the local salvation army, score!

and in case you were wondering, the above photo was taken from another new acquisition...our canon rebel t1i digital camera! we had considered and put off getting a dslr a little while ago, but joe pleasantly surprised me by suggesting we get it for our anniverary as a way to remember our first year as we capture the many more years to come. i'm guessing he was also getting sick of me sending him to pick up the rolls of film i was getting developed hehe, but either way, score! :)

happy 1st day of year two!

one year ago today i was on a plane to maui because one year ago yesterday joe and i put on some fancy clothes, strung up some lights, said our "i do's," and became husband and wife!

photo by bonnie tsang

with any major celebrations put on hold, we started our day with a sweet breakfast at cream pan japanese bakery before church, spent all day surrounded by dear friends, and ended the night in prayer thanking god for each other and our first wonderful year together.

[insert photos sitting on undeveloped rolls of film, torturing me with their probable blurriness and possible awesomeness]

year one // top five
- having belly-aching laughs and catching, when i can bear to open my eyes, joe laughing just as heartily next to me. love that split second of realization of how happy we are together.
- seeing my real, unfiltered, ugly self previously seen by only my immediate family exposed and hearing joe tell me he still loves me, even more than before. what in the world?!
- waking up at 10am on a wedding-less, shower-less, sports-less saturday and enjoying breakfast in our pajamas with faces fat from plentiful sleep.
- joe carefully saving any dessert that he gets at work, whether it be a slice of birthday cake, a box of crackerjacks, or once even an entire tray of cupcakes, to bring home to me as a surprise treat.
- being amazed at how after years of hoping, wondering, letting go, waiting, i made it to the right team and got the best teammate who i can run alongside and root for (unless he is beating me in settlers or monopoly).

dear joe...ILYSM! love, rosie

kitchen reverie

when i first saw jen johner's kitchen on apartment therapy, i totally did a double take. it was like the imaginary kitchen i have filed away in the back of my mind coming to life in the form of jpgs i can now keep saved in [virtually] real folders!

love the colors, love the simple details, the chalkboard, the light pouring through the window.

as fun as it is to dream, there are many things that make me cherish the here and now [insert luther vandross lyrics here (sorry i'm in a cheesy music funk this week)]. top five reasons why i'm lovin the fabulous apartment life...
1. the far mailbox calls for nice evening strolls with best roomie
2. close proximity with neighbors gives world cup and lakers games a nice stadium effect
3. easy access to tennis court, pool, fitness center we will surely take advantage of "one of these days"
4. provides the much-needed reminder of how temporary the material things in life are and to be thankful for all we do have that is in abundance and way more than we deserve
5. and my fave, less square footage = less cleaning :)

bunting for baby elias

somehow joe's and my weekend schedule often ends up including a babysitting gig for the people we love. but no complaints from me - i think i may have more fun than the kids, especially when we get to bust out the crayolas for some arts and crafts time. i love watching them scribble scrabble their hearts away as they put their all into making something so sincere and sweet. here's the sign i made with the girlies we babysat this weekend to welcome home their new baby brother.

as cute as they are with all the ridiculous and funny things they say and do, i secretly think the cutest is joe, who goes all out playing games with them, telling them silly stories, and trying really hard to explain to them why they shouldn't eat too much candy. can't wait to have our own little bunch some day, lord-willing! :)

some scribble scrabble of my own for the new baby boy...

(card set available on etsy).

best lunch ever! cards

what, it's thursday already?! it's been such a busy week that seems to have flown by without any notice, to which i have no complaints considering it leads into the long holiday weekend. woo hoo! this morning as i was leaving for work, joe called out to me not to forget to eat a real lunch. seems like a weird request at first, but it's because he knows too well on days i don't pack our lunches i will easily opt for my favorite kind of brown bag lunch...


the flavor of the moment at sprinkles happens to be salted caramel right now - so delicious (and dangerous)! goal #20: find a salted caramel cupcake recipe with slightly less sweet butteriness so yellow kitchenaid standing mixer will know it's loved for more than just its good looks.

but in the meantime, here are some yummy cards inspired by the cupcake with milk i wish i was eating right now.

have a sweet day!

california love

first year of marriage has been like an accelerated crash course where we've been learning so many interesting things about each other and ourselves...like who amasses unimaginable piles of laundry (joe), who needs lots of random and non-random hugs (me), who is more patient (joe), who is most crazy (me), and who we should leave the jokes to (you decide).

i'm so thankful for joe who patiently endures through my craziness, as he keeps me laughing and gives me undeserved hugs (and laundry).

and definitely thankful for the times in between all the learning and growing together we've been able to get away and unwind. i think i'm one of the last of my friends stuck in the dark ages of photography, but here are my pointing-and-shooting efforts from our recent daytrip to san diego.

this is how much joe looooves to take one million pictures :)