food makes up for bad basketball

i spent all day yesterday thinking it was sunday. ha! i get confused pretty easily.

it started out with lovely, yummy dim sum with r and one of my other awesome cousins, lakerfan. yes, his name could totally apply for pretty much all of my family, but when i think lakers, i always think of him. we've managed to make a tradition of sorts whenever r is in town to get together and grub down on some tasty little treats at various dim sum places, and today's venue was full house in arcadia. it's not my favorite place, but it's easy to get to and cheap as hell.

to r's surprise, the hub (not a big dim sum fan) actually came along this time. it'd been quite a while since she had seen him, so it was nice for them to catch up a bit. and the bean had fallen asleep in the car on the way, so she spent the entire time cuddled in her daddy's arms. although we don't keep the house silent for when she sleeps, it was really noisy in there and we were pretty amazed that she snoozed so soundly.

as we were seated, out of the corner of my eye i spy a little person walk up to lakerfan and tap him on the shoulder. and when i focused my attention on him, i realized it was a family member i haven't seen in a long time. we turned our heads and saw his little brother and dad sitting at a nearby table. and why is this significant?

well, this was m's family - close family of that man. and i hadn't seen them (nor anyone on that side of the family) in over a year - not since the teen and i quietly sat in the back of the church at her memorial service. as r and lakerfan got up to go and say hello, i struggled silently with the decision of whether or not to join them. i glanced frantically at the hub, who encouraged me to go, and so i did, wondering with each step whether or not i would be welcomed or ignored. i really hoped for the former, as my relationship with m's husband (to whom i was actually related to) had always been a good one.

my worries were laid to rest as i received not the icy glare i half expected, but a warm smile. i went in for a hug and was hugged back, and my overwhelming feeling of awkwardness dissolved instantly. we all chatted for a while, and then we said our goodbyes and went back to our table.

i often ponder how it would go if i ran into anyone from that side of the family while out and about. and i must say that out of all the folks to stumble upon, i'm really glad it was them. i've thought of them often and hoped they were doing okay in the wake of their devastating loss, and they seem to be doing well. i guess i didn't really doubt it - i always thought of them as a close-knit, loving family. life goes on, and i hope they're living it to the fullest.

oh, check this out - i was so stoked when i went to fill the gas tank in the pri-YES!:

hell, the X5 took twice that - and more. although i admit that i miss the little luxuries and gadgets in that car, every time i think of this (and watch the real-time mpg display consistently show 30+), i forget all about 'em. i. love. my. car.

i also got a really brilliant idea today for a fun road trip to do this summer with my little family. we caught a showing of "cars" on the disney channel the other day, and i suppose i was subconsciously influenced by it, because i think it would be fantastic to road trip along the original route 66 - all the way to chicago! while this may sound like lunacy to some, it's actually something i think the teen would dig. there's so much history and fun stuff to be found all along the route, and we'd cross eight different states along the way. i'm reading that it's historically incorrect to go from west to east, so we may just make up our own route to chicago and then hit up 66 on the way home. i'm finding so many different sites and blogs with helpful information, maps, tips, etc. and i think it'll be super fun.

to cap off our weekend, the hub picked up stuff at the grocery store to make dinner that we could enjoy as we watched the laker game. check out these ginormous hunks o'meat:

we had some broccoli & cheese and stuffed baked potatoes to go with them:

and i'd baked some delicious chocolate & peanut butter chip cookies earlier today. holy cow, i'm gonna explode.

at least dinner was good, since the lakers sucked ass tonight. sheesh.