If you happened to be here last night, you probably witnessed an awesome worship night with Hillsong United.
Without going into too much details of last night, I strongly encourage everyone to listen for yourself. Check out www.hillsongunited.com and YouTube/HillsongUnited.
Enjoy these pics on Flickr.
Thank you for all of your prayers and friendships and to that, Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
“6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” — Philippians 4:6
I got there first but let me tell you I almost missed the location. Wished I had a GPS device but you see the restaurant is hard to find. You pretty much have to look for a small wood structure that says "Stanley Square". I recommend parking in front. Otherwise there is plenty of parking on the side, too.
Once inside it is small and quaint. As a new owner, Katie is still renovating the place but as she said, "we have added a few feminine touches."
The place seats around 48 people and when you walk in you see the ordering counter, looking into the kitchen. There is a wine cabinet as well as pastries bin with cookies and other sweet stuff.
So I just sat around waiting for my friend and did my thing--reading a book. My friends come in a little later and we all started on the menu. Besides thin-crusted, hand-tossed, pizzas there are sandwiches, calzone/strombolis, pastas, and salads.
We (three of us) ordered the Med. "combo" pizza, which is just enough for three IMO. For appetizers we got garlic bread and spicy buffalo wings. We also ordered drinks--beer/soda.
So the appetizers arrived shortly after our orders. Then the pizza arrived...all within 10 mins. (Bare in mind it wasn't that busy so timing may vary).
My first impression of the garlic bread...FRESH. And yummy! The cheese weren't too much and the garlic/cheese combo tasted well together. It is what you would expect eating at an Italian restaurant...if you were in Milan/Roma. It is that authentic.
The buffalo wings were okay. I wished it was crunchy like the buffalo wings I had in college, but it was fresh and hooooot! I mean temperature hot. So eat them with a fork if you can. My friends would maneuvered to grab-and-bite in one felt swoop. Nice!
The pizza was the reason we were there. And let me tell ya it was very good. The thin crust baked just right with enough meat (the combo) and marinara sauce, yet still has that NY thin crust quality to it. I think we could have ordered the large and that would have really pushed us over the edge...but the medium (16 inch) was just right.
Interspersed with our pigging out of the yummy pizza, Katie would come by to check up on us, asking us how everything was.
So in a nutshell if I would rate Gumba, this being my first time eating there, I would give it a
. (View Yelp review | View menu.)
Gumba's Italian Restaurante
21678 Stevens Creek Blvd Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 255-2423
Food quality:
Service quality:
Affordability:
Dress: casual
Ambiance: very homey. bathroom is extremely clean.
Special party: reservations for party; tends to be on Saturdays so it may be busy on those days. FREE delivery (within 1 mile). Catering service.
I highly recommend this place.
She is a bundle of joy on her weekly Wednesday visits and sometimes I wished on those "work at home" days, I wouldn't have so much work so as to enjoy her. Grandpa is hecka enjoying her company, though.
Lauren if you are in fact reading this—you never know how net-savvy kids are these days—happy birthday to you happy birthday to you HAPPY BIRTHDAY dear lauren happy birthday to you. LOL.
(Lauren in her chef custom given to her by her mommy, my sister Katie.)
Ever watch "Fiddler On The Roof"? There is a great monolog from the beginning of the film:
Main character: A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But here, in our little village you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn't easy. You may ask "WHY do we stay up there if it's so dangerous?" Well, we stay because [it] is our home. And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word: tradition! Traditions, traditions. Without our traditions our lives would be as shaky as, as... as a fiddler on the roof!
TRADITIONS, TRADITIONS
It's easy for me to relate to that scene. My motto used to be live for the experiences. I want transformative experiences, and I want it now. Rite of passages, the climatic second act, joie de vivre, carpe diem, and so on...
But as I get older I want to be drawn to something constant that I'm willing to go back to time and again. I want rituals with depth, traditions with a meaning behind them that runs richer the longer I go on.
The closest thing to traditions in my life right now is my faith, church, and Sunday school. (Note to self: work on community, ie relationships.)
Last week in smallgroup I learned about asking what do I want? What is it that I desire?
Instead of asking that I should be asking what is His desire for me? I need to learn from the silence and stillness, to hear His small voices.
All I want is not to break my neck.
Things I liked from last night in no particular order:
- the strong voice of the guys worshiping backed by the soft lilts of the girls
- laughters intermingled with seriousness
- sharing and insights
- a can of refreshing milk pearl tea
Peace out!
Yesterday I downloaded Movabletype 4.01 and installed it. It went from this to the much more standards xhtml and css compliance this. (YES that means you folks using IE to access this site). The new blog should be faster and leaner since there are now simpler ways to do things. It was fun although I wouldn't recommend working on an upgrade moments before you're supposed to go to sleep. I'm sure the color scheme will change...or make that needs to change but alas that is for another day.
New site. New laptop. New tires. (Edited: I actually returned the Lenovo laptop and am seriously considering the MacBook Pro. One day I'll be able to say, "Hi I'm Mac." We'll see...)
I also drew something for my sister's catering restaurant 3 Chives, (not to be confused with her other restaurant Goomba in Cupertino) which she will hopefully use for her takeout menus. We'll see....I'll see if I can upload to flickr.
So much time on my hand now, more time yet to get more stuff done—like work on my very old portfolio site! Woot!
The old site will be phased out eventually. Time to move on!
My Kidzone class learned about Heroes this Sunday—heroes give God the credit. We asked them to make "trading cards" of their heroes. These colorful trading cards were cartoony, some with your "normal" super-powered heroes, others not what you expected. Kids are pretty imaginative. Here are some samples of what they drew.
Isabella: Ice, the super horse with frosted power, in bright neon blue
Auriel: Lion (which represent God although she was too embarrassed to admit it was any good so she crumbled it up)
Susannah: Jesus with lava coming out of his finger as his power
Daniel: Moses with superspeed
Caleb: Cow, because he gives us milk, cheese, and meat
Keila: Jesus with shining love power
Jessica: Jesus with smiling power
The last two are pretty cool power, if you think about it. Imaging SUPERJESUS in this scene
Generic Villain: "Blah blah blah monologue about total world domination blah blah blah"
SUPERJESUS: turns the other cheek and unexpectedly a RADIANT LIGHT of GOD'S INFINITE LOVE AND MERCY hits Generic Villain in the stomach
Generic Villain: (throwing up a couple demons) "My LORD and my God!"
SUPERJESUS: "He's yo Daddy."
[Generic Villain walks offscreen RADIATING BEAMS OF HAPPINESS AND PEACE FROM HIS FACE!!!!]
