Work & Life Lately — a beautiful life

It is June which means that summer is officially here! These past few weeks have been incredibly busy between work and family events, and it's honestly been a ton of fun. I always get so re-energized once summer starts rolling around - warm weather and sunshine are all I need! Here are some highlights over the past few weeks.

Work & Team Bonding Activities

The rest of my team flew in from out of town (we are a "virtual" team) and we grabbed dinner together in downtown Sunnyvale after work one evening. We also rode in style to the dinner.... we got to ride in a convertible with the top down and it was so fun! We also had a Top Chef style cooking competition with our broader team. I'm proud to say my team won with our fish, quinoa, and asparagus dish. I was in charge of the quinoa :-) It was such a unique bonding experience and I loved tasting all the other team's dishes at the end. And perhaps one of the biggest highlights was volunteering for GoogleServe this year with my friends. We had a very special helper on our team too (cough *our CFO* cough)! :-)

Hiking (Fail)

We decided to go on a new hike over Memorial Day weekend, and it was an utter fail! I was so so excited to try this open preserve trail in the Palo Alto area. I dragged Derek out of bed super early on Sunday, and we drove about an hour up the smallest, windiest road to the hike (we both got car sick). We finally got there and when we started hiking all we could hear was a deafening noise of rattles.... which obviously meant that we were surrounded by rattlesnakes on the trail! We were totally freaked out and didn't really hike for very long before we turned back. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.... but I think in situations like that you just have to laugh and try again next time :-) So all in all, it was memorable, but not in the way we expected!

Mercy's 1st Dance Recital (and A sleepover, of course!)

Last weekend we had another Mercy sleepover and I am not joking when I say it is something I look forward to and love so much. When I picked her up, she yelled "Auntie Nay Nay!" and immediately ran to get her shoes, put them on, and then dragged me out the door to the car. We got smoothies together and my favorite moment was when she took the first sip of her smoothie, looked at me, smiled, and said "I like it". It was so adorable. Then we went to the playground and she just played and played. She was so excited to see Uncle Derek when he came home from work and that evening we just hung out together. Mercy made little cards and decorated them all over the bookshelf and closet. She was on a mission and gets really in the zone when she's doing something like that. She lined up each of the cards in a perfect row! The three of us all fell asleep watching Lilo & Stitch. Laying in bed and watching movies just the three of us is one of those times when I'm at my happiest! The next morning, I took her to her first dance recital. She looked so beautiful in her gown and crown and she loved running/dancing around and jumping/stomping very loudly. It was seriously the cutest thing EVER!

Mom's Birthday at Santana Row

My mom turned another year wiser (and more beautiful) and we all celebrated at Santana Row this week. Aside from all the obvious things that I love about her (her generosity, kindness, etc) here are 3 random and small things that I also love about her:

1. She is the best listener. I could talk to her about how paint dries, and she would still listen and show interest because that's literally the kind of amazing person she is.

2. The way she is always genuinely happy every time she sees me, even when we are planning to see each other. She can never hide her happiness when she sees any of her kids. I'm pretty sure her three children are literally her favorite people in the whole world.

3. She is a perfectionist when it comes to three things: fashion, food, and throwing family parties. She has better taste than she'll ever give herself credit for. She makes perfect meals (she once got so mad at herself for forgetting to put cheese on the table when we had tacos), accessorizes her outfits to the smallest detail (like making sure her watch matches her outfit), and knows how to throw the perfect party (you should have seen my brother's 30th birthday party - every detail was thought through).

I am so lucky that she is my mom!