Adventures in Arcadia

On Saturday 9/22, we drove up to LA to meet up with my cousin Bertha, who wrote, directed, and produced the movie “Almost Perfect”, which was premiering that weekend. It was a real treat, because my other cousin Bernice, who is Bertha’s sister, flew in from London to see the movie.  Bernice is my British cousin, complete with a British accent and everything.  I haven’t seen her in like 8 years!

While we waited for Bertha to arrive from the airport, we hung out with Bernice at a French bakery inside the mall in Arcadia. I was so excited to see Bernice.


Bernice is a fashion designer and owns a shop called Deploy in the Marylebone part of London.  She offers beautifully crafted womenswear and accessories including fine tailoring, smart-casual wear, limited-edition occasion and bridal-wear and a full bespoke design service.  Did I already tell you that her sister Bertha is a movie director?  Yea, whenever I’m with these two, I feel like the under-achiever, ha ha! 

Bernice bought me a pastry, yum!

Bernice was also meeting up with all her childhood friends.  We all had dinner together at A&J Restaurant, a Taiwanese restaurant in Arcadia.  Unfortunately, we were too busy eating the yummy food to take photos.  Finally remembered the camera at dessert time.  I had Taiwanese snowy ice for the first time and it was phenomenally delicious!

When Bertha finally arrived at the restaurant, it was too late for her to have a full meal before having to go to the movie theater to introduce her movie to the audience.  So she grabbed a quick bite and went.  We finished eating and Todd and I said goodbye to Bernice and her friends and drove back to the mall.  Bertha and her film distributor and some friends were hanging out at a sports bar outside the theater, so we joined in.

The lady on the left is Elizabeth Sung.  She’s been in the movie “Joy Luck Club”, and various TV shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Hawaii Five-0, CSI, Bones, NCIS: Los Angeles, etc. 

Bertha and me.  So happy to get to see her again.  Last time was October when she came to show the film at San Diego Asian Film Festival. 

We also got to hang out with actress Kristy Wu.  She’s been in many movies and TV shows, and she was the lead character in my cousin’s first movie “Face”.  But Todd remembered her in the final season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer! 
Her latest project is the movie “End of Watch”, the movie with Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena. As my cousin Bernice said (in regards to Jake Gyllenhaal) in her British accent, “I rather fancy him”. :) 

The next morning we had breakfast with Bertha at the hotel, and hung out briefly with the gang.  Then we drove back to San Diego in 100 degree heat.
Thank goodness when we arrived at home, it was only 85 degrees outside our house! 

It is always a fun adventure when we hang out with Bertha.  This time it was a real treat because we got to see Bernice as well!