drueco.com Blog

…posted on this damn blog.
…hung out with family & friends from Cali.
…went to an Indian casino.

Well the month of October so far has been nice to me. First off, my family (minus Trina and family) came to NYC to visit for a week. Jammed packed with things to do, some of our outings included: Ray’s Pizza, 5th Avenue, MOMA, Pipa at Union Square, lunch in Kenilworth NJ, Flor De Mayo Peruvian, SOHO, Canal St, and Restaurant Row. Pictures to follow. Had a blast with my family. Miss them already.

The following week, Gibby Gibralter Gibson came to town. I’m glad he had the same agenda as me.

Nothing.
Lots of video gaming, hanging out, eating great food (Chilean Sea Bass, Black Cod, Lomo Saltado, NY Pizza, and spanish tapas), and a whole lot of nothing. We did however make our traditional trip to an Indian Casino : Foxwoods. Nice joint. They have 3 casinos there, and a WPT poker room. I would say its one of the biggest poker rooms. Win or lose we had a great time as the drive to Connect-ticutt was a pleasant one. Mobil/McDonalds drive-thrus ON the freeway? I mean lots of them. BTW, I did come up 7 bills !!

Outside of that, been spending time with the little ones. Sneaky lil brats!

Quick Post: Took the kids out this weekend for some Labor Day fun: water fun at Atlas Park, book store, carnival.  Today we are going to Staples, Home Depot and Stop & Shop (groceries).

So, Joanne is out with Jennifer today. Home with the kids on a Lazy Saturday. Watching some VOD movies, PGA Championship, and showing videos to the kids on youtube.

We experienced our first time getting lost in NYC.  Went to Costco this weekend in Astoria.  On our way home, I guess we happened to miss a freeway transfer (the signs here are either overly informative which becomes very distracting, or not clear at all). Either way, we found ourselves in Brooklyn.  The only way we noticed was that we could see the city and saw that we were really close to downtown.  Good thing I have an iPhone!!!  I input a street address, and 20mins later we were at home.  It was a good detour, as we got our first taste of beautiful DUMBO. More exploring to come – hopefully intentional.

Yes, I know I haven’t posted in a while.  Been very busy at work during the week, I mean VERY busy.  And on the weekends I’ve been dedicating most of my time to getting the house to feel like a home.  Painting, moving furniture, building furniture, setting up rooms, laundry, buying household supplies, going to Target, Home Depot, etc.  On top of all that I’ve been trying to spend a lot of time with the kids.  I think they really enjoy the new house.  I also purchased a 12ft diameter pool for the backyard.  I’ll post some pictures soon of the kids playing in there.  There is actually A LOT of room in that pool.  Lots of summer fun.

Another thing I have to get used to is the on and off rain that NYC gets.  It has been raining at least 1 day a week for the past 3-4 weeks.  Not used to having rainfall that often, especially when its still 80ish degrees outside.  Been wanting to wash my car, but everytime I’m inclined to do so, I check the weather forecast and rain is in the picture.

Work: Ah, been flying to Richmond almost every week.  We’re really moving on design right now and we’re up against a tight deadline.  I drastically switched the IA and design in the 11hr last week, in hopes to salvage this project – a risky move.  I presented the work in Richmond this past Tuesday, and the client gave me “two thumbs up!”  Phew!  I’m glad that happened, as I now have a new burst of energy on this project.  We’re looking to launch in a couple of months, so once we’re live, I’ll post the link.

Home & Family:  The living room is finally in order.  We totally did a job on this room.  Painted the whole room, re-organized all the furniture, added some new pieces.  We just ordered some window treatments, and some other items for the room.  The kids really like spending time in there ( I don’t blame them – huge tv to watch cartoons on, nice soft area rug to rumble on, and a comfy leather sofa to lounge on).  Oh, we also received our Barcelona lounge chair.  Took about 2 months to get here, but the cream leather feels and smells soooo good.  MMM.

Next post I’ll include some pictures of the house and kids.  We miss you all in LA.  Bye.

Just a quick picture update of Simeon “baba”.

You’re Fired

Peanut Butter & Jelly on a Saturday

Bed and Breakfast?

Hot in Here!!!

Battery Park, NYC

What’s a “foyer”?

“Ride or Die”

More to update soon.  Been really busy @ work.
Updates include: Trina and family in NYC
iPhone
House / Moving updates

Today we cruised down to the “LBC” to celebrate Joe T’s bday.  This is probably the last time we are going to see the group – how sad.  When we arrived we were warmly greeted by all our friends.  It was really nice to see them all.  We had some delicious BBQ and food and I did a round of shots with the guys.  Janelle and Ron looked so comfortable with Simeon.  I think he really likes them – esp. Ron.  For some reason, Baba always looks so comfortable in Ron’s arms, and tends to nod off.  Sophie was once again shy for the first 4/5 of the party.  Towards the end of the party, Joe was getting really drunk and started to play with Sophie.  She really like how funny he was (really how drunk he was!!).  All the aunties and uncles were playing with the kids.  Later in the night they busted out the smores, and Joanne and Sophie had a few.  The sugar high kicked in and Sophie was now talking out loud and interacting with everyone.

Some of the faces we saw: Janelle and Ron, Irwin, Gibbie, Oliver and Rhobyn, Joe and Rona, Phil Dawn & Aiden, Jun, and some other familiar faces.  Kris once again was MIA, and Frank was in Hawaii with Rochelle.

All in all, we had a great time.  Great way to start the weekend: our best friends, good food, drinks, bonfire, smores, and music.

—-
Earlier today we ordered breakfast from Coral Cafe, then made our way to the Topanga Canyon Mall.  Good looking mall with a good variety of shops.  Bought Joanne some clothes and took the kids on a Carousel ride in them mall.

Tomorrow we’ll try to make our way to Beverly Hills, hit up the Taschen book store, visit my parents, and do a few more errands before we get out of LA.

***Side note:  Our packers did such a great job of packing everything in the house that we didn’t have any toiletries or toilet paper in the house.  We went to CVS and bought some toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, q-tips, deoderant, and some other stuff.  You should have seen us in the parking lot.  We were all brushing our teeth in the car, using bottled water and spitting outside the car to rinse out our mouths.  Must have been a weird sight to see a family in a QX4, looking like we didn’t have a place to live, and having to clean ourselves in the CVS parking lot. 

I leave for Los Angeles tonight. I can’t wait. Its going to be my last trip to Los Angeles for at least 12 months, which makes me a bit sad. My brother, sisters, mom, and dad all live there so it’ll be tough not seeing them for the most part of the year. All my friends are there too. I thought it would be easy to replace them (just kidding!) but I’m really going to miss them. I’m going to LA to wrap up our move and get my family!

Here are some things that I’d like to do while in LA:
Leo’s Taco truck
In-N-Out Burgers
See my family
See my friends
Eat real chinese food
Porto’s Bakery
(ok at this point I’m realizing that this is mostly about food here)
Enjoy Burbank for the last time
Shop for some clothes at my usual stores

I’ll miss you Los Angeles.

Man, its my first night here at the new house. At first, I was nervous. It felt alien to me. Something was off. So Jenn and Wali picked me up from Harlem. Man it was nice getting the fuck out of there. Harlem World, ATL. We passed by this pizza joint. The pizza slices were off the hook. It was one pizza slice per food tray. Crazy large. They we got here and unpacked all my stuff. I put stuff away and Jenn Wali go home. Still foreign. Still new. So, I’m sitting here in the 2nd floor smaller bedroom, just took some medicine, and I go out to the hallway and stand above the stairs. And it hits me.

This is MY home. This is my new stomping ground. We are here. I finally ease up and realize that I’m home.