Crazy Rich Asians Movie Night
Posted on September 24, 2018 by Ching under Food and Drink, Things to Do.
As we are gearing up for another movie watch night with friends to see A Star is Born in a couple of weeks, I was reminded of our last fun movie outing. A bunch of us went to see Crazy Rich Asians.
I had seen movie previews and really wanted to go see it. As my friend Linda and I got to talking about it over Facebook, we came to realize that more people wanted to see it so we got a group together. We decided to make it a full on outing, starting with dinner at Wasabi Sushi Bar East before the movie.
Brian and I got to the restaurant first because we wanted to make sure we had enough space for everyone. We kept having to add more people to the dinner reservation down to the last few moments before dinner. Brian actually started to worry that they might not have a big enough space for our group. Fortunately, the area that they set aside for us was just perfect.
It was just me and Brian at first as we waited for everyone to show up. The restaurant was super busy that night. I’m guessing it’s because they’re close to the movie theater and everyone had the same idea as us. Brian and I were smart enough to make reservations, so we didn’t have to wait. They had our table ready for us when we got there.
As we were waiting for our friends, we saw several large groups (smaller than ours but more than just 4 or 5 people) give us the evil eye for holding up all of that space for just the two of us. There were a couple of times we actually saw people point at our table. We could only imagine they were asking the host why they couldn’t sit there. We were glad when our friends finally started trickling in because we were tired of all the shade we were getting from the people who had to stand there and wait for tables to open up while the two of us we were sitting at this long, mostly empty table by ourselves.
It turned out to be a much larger group than I ever anticipated — even bigger than the groups we had for Mamma Mia! 2 and I Feel Pretty. There were about 20 of us at dinner. A few others skipped dinner due to other commitments and just met us at the theater. We took up 26 seats altogether.
Here are a couple of pictures of the food that Brian and I had. The food was good but not as good as the the original Wasabi on Douglas. They also had a very limited drink menu. That didn’t stop Mike from getting a few bottles of sake, though.
I had the bento box because it’s a good deal. You get a little bit of everything — tempura veggies, meat (I got the tonkatsu), a few pieces of California roll, and steamed rice. Brian got the crazy crab, which is his favorite thing to get there.
In general, even though we each get our own entrees, we will usually share so he can get some of mine and I can get some of his. It works out better that way because then we get to try more things.
Here are a few pictures of our group at the movie theater.
It was such a fun night. And, the movie was even better than I expected. It had some good laughs and also a smattering of emotional moments. I cried in several parts. The next one we are going to see, A Star is Born, is more of a drama than a rom-com. Brian is actually bracing for a bawl-fest.
Here’s a preview of the next movie. Tell you all about it after. GNG.
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Grandma’s First Time at the Good Egg
Posted on September 18, 2018 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink.
Pictures from Grandma’s first time at the Good Egg.
We think she really liked it.
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Wine, Women and Shoes
Posted on September 18, 2018 by Ching under Events.
A few pictures from Wine, Women and Shoes event by the Wesley Chidren’s Foundation. This is the first benefit that Brian has sat out in a long time. The funny thing is, he actually wanted to go but I thought it was a women only event so I told him to stay home and took Kate as my plus one instead.
Me and Pat and Kate
Me and Stephanie
Also ran into Annette and Mike, which made me feel bad for asking Brian to sit this one out. There were actually a lot of guys there.
Guys even had their own special area. The Gentlemen’s Lounge had scotch and bourbon tastings and cigars!
Here’s a picture of Kate with one of the handsome “shoe guys” at the event.
Kate and I at the after party, which we didn’t realize wasn’t included with our event ticket. Oops! Anyway, I didn’t stay too late because Brian wasn’t with me. Kate and I had a lot of fun but it’s just not the same without Brian.
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Grace Hill Winery Tour and Tasting
Posted on September 17, 2018 by Ching under Things to Do.
Jay, Becca, Brian and I attended a tour and wine tasting at Grace Hill Winery last month through the Young Professionals of Wichita. We may or may not have been the oldest attendees. LOL.
Everyone met up in the Rotary Club parking lot downtown (which I didn’t even know existed but is pretty cool — I’ll show you pictures of it later) where we boarded a party bus to the winery in Whitewater, which is about 30 minutes away. Here are a few pictures from our outing.
I’m not sure why these two looked so serious. By the way, check out Jay’s spiffy “Rebecca” name tag. LOL.
The two people who ran the wine tasting were very informative. They were also super nice and poured quite generously. I wish I would have blogged about this sooner because, now that I’ve slept since then, I can’t remember their names.
Here are pictures of the wines we got to sample. First up was El Gato Moscato.
This one is Dodging Tornados, a sweet red.
This one is Vignoles. I don’t think I liked this one because it wasn’t memorable to me. I don’t think I liked this next one either.
Chloe’s Cuvee is one of my favorites. We actually bought a bottle of this wine from the gift shop to take home with us.
Peckerhead Red, also a sweet red.
Black Out dessert wine.
This is the Beach Day Rose. It wasn’t part of the wine tasting but it was what the girl was drinking and she let me try some of it.
Just a few of the bottles of wine that was consumed that afternoon.
Gratuitous wine glass picture.
Picture of Grace Hill Winery’s award-winning wines.
Here’s a picture of the wine gift box that we bought.
Just a few pictures from the winery tour part of the afternoon.
I took a picture of the entry as we were getting ready to leave.
Picture of the bus ride to the winery.
Vs. the bus ride back to Wichita when everyone was so much more relaxed, as can be expected after a few glasses of wine.
Some obligatory selfies.
It was a great time and I would totally do it again. I’m glad we decided to go. I’m also glad that Jay and Becca decided to join us.
Until next time. GNG.
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Pictures from Youth Entrepreneurs’ Biz Bang 2018 Event
Posted on September 9, 2018 by Ching under Events.
Brian and I had the privilege of attending Youth Entrepreneurs’ Biz Bang 2018 last month. With the exception of the Home for Doc Gala, this is probably the most lavish event that we’d ever attended.
Here’s a picture of me and my friend/coworker Yuvina.
As you can tell, I’m the only woman in costume. Yikes!
I misunderstood the invitation and thought they wanted guests to show up in superhero-themed attire. Thus, the Wonder Woman shirt and cape.
Unfortunately, no one else interpreted the memo as I did. All the women were in fancy dresses. “Summer chic” was the suggested attire for if your “cape was at the cleaners.” Well, mine was clean so I decided to wear it. LOL.
I saw a couple of guys with Superman shirts under their dress shirts, as Brian had done, but none of the other women, with the exception of the volunteers, had superhero outfits on. I felt quite silly (think Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, but with me as Wonder Woman at a fancy gala instead of a Playboy Bunny at a frat party) but didn’t let that stop me from having a great time.
These lavender lemonade vodka drinks made my Xclusive Events‘ Crystal McDonald helped me to loosen up and not focus so much on the misunderstanding about the dress code. They were so delicious and didn’t taste alcoholic at all.
Here’s Crystal, the woman behind the delicious concoction.
Here’s a group selfie we took with Yuvina and her brother Luis early in the evening.
Another one with Mike Carroll from Splurge magazine.
Charles Koch had the same idea as Brian. He also wore a Superman shirt under his shirt. At least Brian was in good company with his choice of attire.
Here are a couple of selfies of me and Brian at the event.
Anyway, we had super awesome time despite my feelings of being out of place. Not just because of my outfit but also because we were surround by people who had more money than we could ever hope to make in our lifetimes. Seriously. Nothing in the live auction went for less than $25K. It was ridiculous — but also awesome in that the event was hugely successful and they raised a lot of money for Youth Entrepreneurs, which is a really great program. I highly recommend it to everyone. I wish they were available at my school when I was in high school.
That’s all for now. More stories and pictures next time. GNG.
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