July 2008

I went to my friend Bryan's 30th Birthday Luah. They had great f00d, Hawaiian music and Hula Dancers.

Had a good time visiting with Ruthie and Nichole. They bought me a brunette wig, so now I'm a cute brunette. You Like? We hung out on a Thursday night, then went to breakfast and had Manis and Pedis the next morning. Girlie time!

Sarah came for a day and we caught up. She is in between Tajikistan and Moscow now so her visit was short but sweet. She reminded me that I need to get on Facebook like all the cool people but you all see how good I am at Blogging. I'm afraid that my entries would be just as frequent on facebook.

June 2008

We started the month by attending a wedding at the Adamson house in Malibu. Our friends Billy and Christine got married and my Uncle Bill married them. It was a very fun wedding full of good food and Hula dancers. I bought a new dress, unfortunately I have lost so much weight that when I wore it on 6.7.08 it was already too large for me. :-(

Noureddin and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary by going to my favorite local Italian place. It was uneventful as the next day I had a MRI scheduled so that was on our minds.

At the end of June my friends Jasmine and Ellen came. It was so good to see them! We met in Spain, so the three of us have a special bond. We just hung out and caught up. I see them about once a year, usually during the summer. Jasmine lives in San Jose and Ellen is in Boston so reuniting with them isn't as frequent as I'd like.

May 2008

This is what I was up to in May.

I continued to do my Ki alternative treatments in May and really felt much benefit from the energy exchange treatments I received.

My cousin Phil came for a visit as he as was in town for a short while. My dad and Asako came over and Noureddin and I visited with him.

The Sunday before memorial day we went to a Bar B Que at our friends Stephanie and Christian's house. Their kids are getting so big! Noureddin brought them outfits from Morocco.Not sure if this image is from May, but these are the kids and the outfits.

On memorial day we hung out with our neighbors. We also spent te 4th of July hanging out with them in a boat in Long Beach, near the Queen Mary.

I went to see the movie Sex and the City with Steph and her mom. It was such a good movie. We saw it at a big theatre in Newport. Mostly women came and most were dressed up in dresses and heels!

A month plus

Wow. It's been a while since I've written in this blog. Since I had brain surgery within that month I'll give myself an excuse for this tardy blog entry. Yes, I had to have another brain surgery, that's three craniotomies and one VP shunt within 13 months, if you're counting. I was scheduled to have it on April 1 but I needed the surgery earlier so I was admitted to the Kaiser hospital in Anaheim on March 26 and had the surgery in the early morning of March 28. I was a little relieved that the operation didn't happen on April Fool's Day. I really wouldn't have appreciated any April Fool's jokes on that day.


I returned home on Wednesday April 2, 5 days post surgery. I couldn't get out of there soon enough. My wrists were badly bruised from the IV's and I do not enjoy being woken up in the middle of the night.


I started Temodar, a chemotherapy drug designed to treat Glioma Brain cancer. The treatment is not as strenuous as the treatment for Medulloblastoma so I have been able to tolerate the side effects very well. I only have to take the Temodar pills for five days at home, then I have three weeks off. No IV's so I feel much better.




Noureddin and I went to San Diego to meet with my new Oncologist. We stayed at a hotel in La Jolla and were able to make a mini vacation out of the trip. It was such a nice break. The first picture is of us by the pool, the second is a view near our room. This hotel was awesome! Fortunately my appointment was during off peek season, so the rooms were half priced and we made a reservation online and got a really good deal.





My Hard Drive had to get replaced so I have been spending time transferring documents, songs etc. Noureddin rearranged the furniture in the house and made it more accessible for me. My gate is still off, so I have a walker. I can get by fine without it. It's a good thing that I like to lean on people, 'cause I do. My speech was slurred after the surgery so a Speech therapist came to my home 3 times, and I'm cured! Not really, but my speech is better than it was three weeks ago.

Medusa Lounge for Evi's Bday

Look how cute Noureddin and I are in this picture. We went out for our freind Evi's 30something Bday party last Friday. This was the first time I went out in over a year, so I really wasn't sure what to wear. I donned my Black Down JCrew jacket to keep myself warm, but that jacket was way too bulky and not cute. So I revisited my closet and found a Black leather jacket I got from Morocco, Perfect! We went into LA for the party. It was at a cool club called Medusa. But I remember why I hate LA so much. We hit traffic getting there and then when we arrived everyone was dressed to the nines, with tall boots and short skirts. As we left, a girl was complaining b/c the valet had lost her Black Mercedes. Why in the world would a girl her age, younger than me, be driving a Mercedes? And why, oh why, would she bring it to this dodgy area of LA and then Valet the thing? Some people are so dumb.

For the past month

This entry is to appease the wishes of my friend Michael Yuan.

I have been a busy girl this past month. Here's what I've been up to.

I saw the Oscars at Stephanie and Christian's house. See photo with their 4 year old Bella in front of their 100 inch TV. The projector is connected to the cable box, which makes the screen a TV. It's so cool!

I tried to see as many academy award nominated films as possible pre Oscars. So my Dad and I saw There will be Blood, Evi and I saw Juno and I watched Eastern Promises, In the Valley of Elah and Michael Clayton at home. I liked Juno the best.


Noureddin was gone for the majority of the month (Feb 11-Mar 11), so we celebrated Valentine's Day early. I don't mind being alone, so this long separation was good for me. Also, I still haven't started my clinical trial and it appears that I will need a third surgery prior to the next treatment, so I have been busy meeting the doctors etc. trying to arrange the next steps for my health. Noureddin and my friends and family have been great at helping out, especially while he was gone, so I was able to split my time between my home and other people's homes. They also helped out big time with rides to and from places, so that was great!


Here's a photo with my friend Clara and I at a French restaurant in the Redondo Beach Riviera. Portia set me up with a neighbor of hers who has a Reiki Center in RB, so I have been going there for over a month now. It's a great treatment, and I always feel refreshed after I go.

Ruthie and I spent V Day together and celebrated by going to the movies and seeing Matthew McConaughey in Fool's Gold. He had his shirt off for the majority of the movie. It was great. In case you didn't see it, here's a picture of the genetically gifted Matthew at the beach.



I'm listening to Pat Benatar's " Love is a Battlefield." A big thanks to American Idol for re-acquainting me with this song. This reminds me of three things. The first is when Lana was driving in Santa Barbara singing Pat Benatar and not paying attention to the road. Hilarious! Can't listen to Pat without thinking about that. The second is a line in this song "We are strong. No one can tell us we're wrong" reminds me of my stubborn and young nieces Mia and Bella. Thirdly I'm reminded of the inevitable battles of a couple when confronted with the issues of "Life Married" as Noureddin calls it.

Look at Matthew again before you sign off. (As if you need permission)

Music 2/18

I'm going to give you an entry like Poppy's emails. I am going to ramble about nothing important.

I forgot to tell you what I'm listening to. Currently listening to "Apologize" by Timbaland and One Republic. "Apologize" is a very good song, and not as sad as "Hey there Deliliah" the other slow song I recently purchased from iTunes. "Apologize" reminds me of my favorite reality show ever, So you think you can Dance. I can't wait until it starts again. But I do really enjoy American Idol, which is on tonight BTW.

I found an image of Timbaland and JT dancing in Justin's Crazy, Sexy... (I forgot the title), Tour. They collaborate on some of JT's songs for his newest album and for this song "Chop me up" he and Timbaland were bending over walking, it was funny. Skinny JT was trying to bounce like Timbaland. Ruthie and I must have watched that performance 100 times (well not that many, I'm exaggerating a little). I'm still reminded of that dance every time I hear Timbaland (which is a lot lately since he has contributed to many artist's tracks).