a year older

today was my birthday! :) 

and kevin spoiled me rotten, starting with this adorable bloomberg message. apparently he had to keep resending and retracting it because i didn't see it and he wanted to make sure it was on the top of my bloomberg messages. those donut flags are actually dynamic and the donuts get gobbled up over a 5-second cycle. it's the little things, right?

the day flew by and +175 facebook birthday posts later, we were on way our to the river cafe on the brooklyn promenade for dinner. the restaurant is seating right along the east river almost directly under the brooklyn bridge. you couldn't ask for a more amazing view of the water and lower manhattan skyline.

what stood out to me was the quality of service, cute and extensive style of dishwares, modern preparation and presentation of some traditional dishes, and how the place could completely fill up on a night as chilly (10F) as last night! to start, we had the pear salad and grilled octopus. for our entrees, kevin had the rack of lamb and i had the branzino. i was expecting a whole fish, but it was a beautiful filet with a roasted tomato on the side - this is difficult to describe - the tomato skin had been torched such that the it had become a crispy sculpture on top of the tomato! for dessert, we had the apple gallette and chocolate souffle. kudos to the chefs!

and when we got home, kevin gave me a little gift to help me get educated and started on bringing the outdoors inside our little apato :) apparently he learned about thesill.com from the blogs listed on my blog. LOL. i didn't think he paid any attention to this ... 

anyways can't wait to visit the sill and get my fiddle leaf fig tree!

ps. surprise #2, we've got the http://www.inourloft.com url! :) thank you!

death with dignity

on january 1, 2014, a little over a year after the day she and her husband, dan, were married, and years after suffering from debilitating headaches, 29-year old brittany maynard was diagnosed with brain cancer. this past spring, she learned that she had a glioblastoma brain tumor, a terminal brain cancer. after careful assessment of her prognosis and end-of-life choices, she and her family decided to move from their san francisco bay area home to oregon, one of five states (including washington, montana, vermont and new mexico) that authorize death with dignity.

she has chosen november 1, 2014 for the day that she will end her life on her own terms, so that she can celebrate her husband's birthday with him one last time on october 30.

she's described by her mother as bigger than life, a wanderlust, and precocious. here story is here and in this video: http://www.thebrittanyfund.org/

this is one of the saddest, yet most amazing stories i've read. why shouldn't she be able to choose how she wants to go, and whether she wants to go on fighting, possibly to the bitter end? i think she's pretty inspirational and wish i had the opportunity to have been friends with someone so strong.

as for our day, not much seems highlight worthy after hearing brittany maynard's story. kevin and i went for a light run along kent ave down to the brooklyn promenade, and saw the manhattan downtown skyline on our right side after sunset. it was absolutely stunning. i opted to enjoy the splendor and the cool air around us rather than snap photos this time; we will definitely go back with our cameras and snap some shots next time. the brooklyn promenade/piers have been developed quite nicely and still maintain a natural shoreline, despite all the development. can't wait to get down there and explore on our bikes too!

9.2 mile run along kent ave and the brooklyn promenade

best thing: figuring out something that's been confusing me for a while now at work. woohoo! and getting a an early cut of forecasts out for an upcoming index rebalance.

worst thing: learning that although my analyst told us on monday that he's happy to help out on the desk as his new position doesn't begin until early december, has actually scheduled personal travel starting the week of october 20th. therefore, we have decided that his last day will be next friday, october 17th.

smile: hearing mayday (五天月）songs at our local malay restaurant over dinner. brings back great memories of their first concert at MSG in march!