#i set my alarms to be dave’s demos so every morning i wake up to OHHH YEAHHHH FEEL THE BEATT THATIMADE

[unnecessary-dinosaurs]

on the boat to costa rica…

[opepin]

june: week one

29: we had lunch reservations at legal harborside so i woke up at like 9:45 am and exercised, kevin got up after that, i showered, and then we ate leftover fried rice (omg the buttered fried rice from osaka <3) and then we headed out. we were gonna be late so we let the fam know and then we took the train to south station. we stopped by the tea party museum shop and got his mom a tea set and his dad the tie. then we rushed to the restaurant. i think we were 10 to 15 minutes late, but everything was fine and our server was great! he was an oyster geek and gave us like a lesson oysters haha. he also gave great drink recommendations. jess and i got red sangrias and kevin got the white sangria. we got poppa chen a white wine to pair with the seafood. jess did most of the ordering. we got a dozen local and maine oysters, lobster mac and cheese, shrimp scampi, two clam chowders, and a lobster bisque. everything was delicious and i ate everything even though most things contained dairy because it was too good to not eat. lol. our server gave us chocolate espresso cheesecake on the house because he saw that we were having a reunion and he was was best server ever <33333 shout out to chad at legal harborside! oh, their bread was hot and fresh and was delicious.

after lunch, we chilled at the hotel and i watched some pbs kids with jess while kevin read fanfic and the parents listened in and read stuff on their phone. after everyone used the bathroom, we took the train back to the apartment and had another meal LOL. we cooked all of the food momma chen brought and i made banana bread. we had family tea and some chicken nuggets as well. :P yum. we ate, talked, and then the chen fam did their tradition of playing card games with each other haha. i just waited for the banana bread to bake and then everyone ate it and enjoyed it, which made me happy :D then we drove jess to south station. her train was leaving at 6:45 pm so we dropped her off and said our goodbyes. then we drove the parents to the hotel and said goodbye to them too. they’re so sweet. wait, did i mention that they got us electronic toothbrushes?! LOL i’m crying. then we drove back. i think kevin and i napped for a bit, talked to hillary for a bit, exercised after, kevin washed all of the dishes and got the suitcases from storage (thank youuuu so muchhh!) and then i wrote down what to pack before hitting the hay at like 11:45 pm... this week will be super long ahha. i miss the fam already though...

30: i was really tired when i woke up today... lol. i didn’t do my best doing my hiit workout in the morning but i got through it. i gave myself a bit too much cereal and had to throw some out because it was too sweet x_x then i trained to work and booked a conference room. i had some time to myself in the morning before mathew came in so i just did some internet errands. vivian was going to sleep over today because both of us were flying back to chicago :O LOL what a coincidence? haha. it was a full on brainstorming day so we went into the conference room and talked and then took a short break for lunch before hopping on stand up. we got dave to join in for a bit and got a pretty good foundation. then mathew and i finished up some things and called it a day at around 4 pm. i messaged vivian and she couldn’t drop off the uhaul in quincy so she decided to stay at the airport until her flight. lol kevin and i were so confused. so then i said goodbye to everyone until monday and then i took the train home. i ate a ton of my banana bread and the few speculoos cookies left. then i waited for kevin to get home. i watched some youtube videos. we cuddled and was thankful for the rest we were getting for a bit before eating leftovers and packing. i exercised and then showered and kevin ate dinner while i packed. then we did a bit of apartment cleaning and then kevin packed and it was like 11:30 pm or something when i slept. kevin played a bit of games before he went to sleep. zzzz. we had to get up at 4 am for the flight.

31: waking up at 4 am wasn’t too bad. we changed, brushed, and got everything we needed and took an uber to the airport. the airport wasn’t packed but it wasn’t empty either. we got past tsa about 15-20 minutes before boarding time so i got an interesting “ombre pink drink” (made with a bit of lime?) and kevin got a breakfast burrito from currito. we made it just in time to eat and line up for group ‘b.’ i tried looking for vivian but i couldn’t find her. when we were all boarded, i messaged her and she told me she was at gate a22 LOLOL. we were so close! i dozed in and out on the flight and i kept twitching every time i fell asleep -__-” kevin was out like a light bulb. he played some pokemon too. we got off, my dad was waiting at the baggage claim for us, we got our bags, and my dad drove us through about 1 to 1 hour and 30 minutes of morning traffic back home. me and kevin ko’d in the car. well, kevin ko’d and i dozed in and out again. we took a small nap and then ate whatever was in the fridge. then my uncle tony and my grandma came (to meet kevin LOL) and drop off food. hehe. i also talked to my uncle prior to this to make sure what time he was getting here. good times with my uncle tony~

i did some testing for work and then hopped on the stand up. after the stand up, i talked with phil about another thing we had to address. then i worked on that for the rest of the evening. i got on another call with him after and we figured something out. then kevin and i headed to 527 cafe to get dinner with nluu, ashley, and ryan. i got the popcorn chicken salad (didn’t taste as good as before hmm) and kevin got pork with rice. it was nice catching up with all of them. we shared shaved ice at the end of the meal and we were so full. i also got a really random milk tea with coconut, jasmine tea, mango, and lychee? lololol it tasted good to me tbh. then nluu, kevin, and i went to first ascent. they climbed while i waited for the yoga class to end and digest my food. when the class cleared out, i went in and used the studio. my video kept pausing and buffering so i did an extra long leg workout. my legs were jelly after. we left right when they closed at 11 pm and then we got back home and got ready for bed. i was so tired. i showered and then ko’d even before kevin finished showering LOL. 

jun01: i got up early to work out, shower, and eat a banana before kevin drove us to chinatown so i could get my teeth cleaned. he went to an asian bakery to wait for me. i thought it would take forever but i actually was done at like 11:40 am or something (i got there at 11 am). then we drove to cafe orient 33 to pick up lunch. we got popcorn chicken and bibimbap. we ate and then i got on stand up and he got on another meeting. my stomach didn’t feel too good again so i ended up doing a bit of work before i just laid on the couch on took a nap. my stomach still felt a bit unsettled when hillary came over. my mom cut us some fruit and my stomach felt fine then. i got to catch up and talk with hillary and then kevin went to visit ryan’s apartment before we headed to sumi for dinner! we got a ton of appetizers and only a bit of meat but it’s okay haha. we were so full by the end of dinner. we noticed that the service hasn’t been as A+ as before but the chef is always great. we got our orders mixed up this time but the food was still amazing. they had orange vanilla kakigori again -- we’ll come back in july if they have the pineapple flavored one. i have so much respect and admiration for chef gene kato at sumi. this will always be a special place for me and kevin :) we drove back with super full bellies and then took a walk around my neighborhood at like 10 pm LOL. then we got ready for bed and i felt jkfnsdkjfnsd again in my stomach so i was a bit grumpy. we went to sleep at like 1 am. i think i’ve been eating way too much so i need to cut back so i don’t feel this way.

jun02: i had my alarm set to 8:45 am but i woke up at 8 am to do my workout, shower, and then hop on a 9 am call. that call didn’t happen so i just got my stuff together to go to daniel’s to wfh but actually work from daniel’s... kevin and i ate leftovers for breakfast real quick and then kevin dropped me off and he went to go climbing with ryan and nluu. i had to go in through the back while daniel was on a call so i felt like i was like a robber or something x_x his house is so nice! the renovations look real good :) we both worked a bit and actually got on calls at the same time. mathew gave me the option of taking it easy today and/or working on the new stuff he planned out. daniel and i split a combo platter from shawarma inn and i ate while on my stand up. my stand up went on for a bit too long so i had to ask kevin to pick me up so that daniel could work. it was nice spending time with this one in his newly renovated house LOL. but in general, it was nice to hang out with daniel one on one. he looks like he’s doing good for himself right now.

kevin picked me up, he quickly showered, and we headed to northwestern. we parked and then hurriedly walked to the garage. it was a bit awkward when we entered and then haoqi introduced kevin to his students and then we talked to sarah and got her to demo her project for us. haoqi came back and we had a sumi moment together (excluding sarah LOL -- i’m sorry). apparently, haoqi was at sumi yesterday when we were and he was sitting outside! we saw their food being sent out! it was crazy. if we chose to sit outside, we would have seen him! lol, haoqi kept interrupting sarah to say “omg, i can’t believe it.” good times. we got there too late to see any other demos but kevin caught up with people and we ended up talking to haoqi and others after. there is a peeled in the garage so then kevin and i split that and then drove back home. haoqi invited me to their dinner at the pecking pig but i wanted to stay behind to exercise and spend time with hillary. i think kevin and i ko’d for a bit and then we went downstairs to cool down (a/c in my house was not on yet). i exercised and then kevin headed out to dinner. i rushed to shower because hillary was outside of my house and then i chilled with her for the rest of the evening.

i sorted through old clothes and stuff while hillary was there and then she offered to drive me to yeowoosai. i was the first one there and it was late so it was a bit shady. thank god daniel got there a few minutes later. we got a table and ordered the seafood pancake and waited for everyone to come. ryan stopped by with ashley, peter came with friends and his friends left to go to the bar, and then nluu and honglin came. we ordered mango soju and it was awesome. i would get that again. then we ordered popcorn chicken and kimchi fried rice. the fried rice was so spicy. kevin came after his dinner stuff and ordered yogurt makkoli and ate some food too. then ryan, ashley, and daniel left before we headed over to karaoke. it was nice catching up with all of the guys and spending time with them <3 so i was the only girl in this group and honglin is still the best at karaoke. we sang until our throats hurt and left at around 2 am. nluu kindly drove us all home. thank you! lol my stomach didn’t feel so good and i felt grouchy. i didn’t want to sleep in my hot room so i just went downstairs and slept there. kevin was ko’d on my bed. i think we went to sleep at around 3 am @_@;

jun03: my stomach was still killing me in the morning, but i got up from the basement and into the bedroom just as my parents were waking up. i apologized to kevin for my mood last night and then we drove over to firecakes so i could see hen and get doughnuts! hen didn’t see me until i got to the head of the line and she gasped ahahha. i asked her to give me the best half dozen doughnuts and kevin got a rhubarb fritter, which was delicious. the shop was busy so i could only say hi and give her a big hug before leaving. i’ll definitely see her in july because she was one of the people i couldn’t see this time. she’s so precious <3 oh, while in line, we had a weird saic reunion with another alum LOL. he recognized me and i kind of recognized him and then all three of us were like, “woah” haha. the thing is that he was also visiting from boston for the weekend?! he lives in cambridge and works at harvard. that’s crazy!!!

then kevin and i went to peeled to get another acai bowl! haha. we were feeling grody from eating so much food. the line was kind of long but we waited. he dropped me off at victoria’s and then drove over to ryan’s after taking a few bites of my bowl. i chilled with victoria and did some pokemon things with her while waiting for ashley. oh, it was a christmas miracle because the asian snack package was delivered today! i got it on my way out the door in the morning~ so victoria and i did a sort of unboxing and then ashley came and we tried some snacks all together. lol, we ate so much sugar in one sitting. then we walked over to patissiere coralie and ashley and i split macarons and a salmon and avocado sandwich. i also got their herbal berry iced tea! it was tart but refreshing. we went back to victoria’s, ate more, talked, and sugar coma’d on her couch. victoria told us her funny cheesecake story and then basically kicked us out for laughing at her (LOL, jk. she had to leave a buy dessert though). ashley and i called an uber and got stuck in pretty bad traffic. we both dozed off though. ugh, chicago has endless and large amounts of construction going on right now. x__x;

we got to ryan’s and then called all three of the guys (kevin, ryan, and nluu). nluu was the last and only person to pick up before kevin got us at the door, LOL. they were playing hanabi and they didn’t want to forget their cards. ashley and i chilled while they finished their game. ryan and terence’s place is super nice. i love the view and i really love their kitchen stove floor cushion and the empty space in front of the kitchen that they have right now. i did a good amount of walking around and then we all decided to go get dinner at pho 888. i went with nluu to re-park his car and then we all hopped in my car and went to argyle. i got my bun thit nuong cha gio as usual and kevin ate some of my food because mine was better than his egg noodles, lulz. i also got tofu spring rolls because i needed veggies... kevin and i boxed our meals and then found parking in ryan’s neighborhood. then we got back, used the bathroom, and took a while for kevin and nluu to give into taking a walk around montrose park.

it was a nice and fun walk! we got kevin to third wheel ashley and ryan LOL and then we started copying what ryan does when he walks ahahaha. we also mistook a child for a dog... we walked around the water and saw ducks on a date and the guys threw around a frisbee. it was pretty much summer feels all over again. if only we still played pokemon go, it would have been exactly like last summer haha. lol we also watched and stared at a chauffeur who was trying to park his gigantic car in front of ryan’s... he parked on the curb and left i think. then we saw a soccer player fall after throwing the ball back on to the field. lol we were the peanut gallery this evening. we walked back, the guys played hanabi to redeem themselves from last round, and ashley and i chileld and appreciated the view and the weather and the calming hip hop instrumentals we were streaming on youtube. it was a very nice setting to end the day. kevin and i left at around 10 pm, hugged everyone, dropped nluu off at his car, and then drove back home. i got pretty grr at packing and just all of the stress from this trip devoured me in that instance so i got mad at kevin too. we ended the night on a pretty sour note but i slept in the bed as well because i was too tired and we were getting up in a few hours as well.

jun04: i was dead when we woke up at 5:30 am. kevin was still mad at me but i was really tired (i mean both of us were) so we just dealt with it. my parents drove us to the airport and then we waited in a long ass long to check in our bags x__x; tsa was really quick though and we had enough time for kevin to get a breakfast croissant and then we waited to board. we both ko’d during the flight and kevin woke me up so i could get my complimentary free drink LOL. i got my red tea and they gave us belvita oat cookies again. i ate a few and then went back to sleep. the flight was less than 2 hours and we landed about 20-30 minutes earlier than expected, woot! we got our bags from baggage claim and then took the bus and train home. i apologized when we got back and kinda broke down. i think i was bottling up a lot of stress during my trip, which i felt wasn’t too fun honestly. kevin also apologized and we just spent some time cuddling in bed to recover from our trip. then we ate the leftovers from dinner for lunch and ate some zong zi. then we unpacked everything and i started doing laundry. kevin did the meal planning and i got to relax and catch up on youtube videos.

then we headed to kam man, good fortune, roche bros, and bj’s for groceries. kevin was so happy to drive bb again and he had to get used to the easy steering ;P good fortune was selling 18 boxes of raspberries for $3?! or something crazy like that. we ended up getting like 3 for $1 but i was tempted to get an entire box... we stopped by bj’s to get detergent and fabric softener because we’re finally out :O we got back, unpacked, and we snacked a little. ooo we also got life cereal and ate a bit of that. kevin went to game and i watched more videos and looked at everlane’s modern point flats. i got my size 7.5 rothy’s in the mail and tried them on only to find out that they’re too wide :( i tested my 7′s again during grocery shopping time and they didn’t cut me like last time. maybe i’ll keep these? or should i invest in real leather flats? hmm. i could get both if i saved up too. idk, i fell asleep reading everlane reviews LOL. i was supposed to fold clothes... i woke up an hour later and i remember kevin teasing me about falling asleep because i said that i didn’t need to nap earlier.

i woke up and then put the sheets in the dryer (i might have left them in the washer too long) and folded clothes. then i exercised because i wanted to test new exercise videos and i also felt pretty bad for eating junk food and fried foods during my trip. blech Dx i don’t know if i’ll ever casually drink again...it always ends up hurting my stomach, sigh. i’ll try to stick to that but if me and kevin go to a new restaurant or something, i’ll definitely try a drink or sip from his. anyway, i did a kickboxing video, full body workout, and an intense cardio video while kevin made us a quick dinner. we ate and then had raspberries for dessert. then it was shower time and i got to wash my hair~ it was late but i felt so nasty from the hot chicago weather, the airport, etc. i stayed up until 12:30 am or something looking at stuff on my phone and then fell asleep. back to work tomorrow :)