Looks like the Christmas season was my excuse for not posting. :) As well, moving right after getting back to town and looking for a job has meant my priorities were elsewhere besides blogging. Maybe now that I have a bit more regular routine and I'm settled into my new place, I'll have time to blog more consistently again. And I hear some people complaining about my lack of posting. :P
The Christmas holidays turned out to be quite relaxing and restful. We took it easy, the family, and didn't have too many functions...well, at least I didn't. We went out several times for lunch/dinner...Korean, Japanese...I love trying different cultural foods! I guess the reality is that not having my grandmother at home for the holidays (she went to HK and Singapore) meant our family could ease up, be spontaneous, and enjoy each other's company without a language barrier. I can do surface talk with my grandma, but one can only do that for so long before it's silence again.
I met up with some old friends and now I really miss them! I'm looking forward to camping in the summer again!!
My siblings were home for about half the time. They were at conferences, and it seems they had a good time, learned a lot about God and themselves. My sister went to Urbana and I had a chance to listen to some of the speakers via online streaming. I'd recommend checking it out at urbana.org. The session by Oscar Muriu was radical and spoke right to the heart of missions. He was my favourite speaker.
When my siblings were around, we had a chance to spend time together doing fun stuff like watching "Cars" or going out to MEC and Vistek (a huge camera store downtown). We're still working on getting deeply connected as people though...maybe it's because we don't have much in common? Maybe it's because they're both at a different stage in life than I am? Regardless, we need to have more sibling dates! He he.
Another highlight of my holiday was planning and shopping for my best friend's wedding next year. She's getting married January 5, 2008!! Congrats!!!! I'm so excited for her! I get to be maid of honour and needless to say, I am definitely honoured! So the holiday ended up being a flurry of planning and shopping. We went banquet hall hunting, saw some beautiful but expensive ones, smaller and cheaper ones, finally settling on something that was not outrageously expensive (when you have to invite many people, a few dollars add up!). The food will be good, that's for sure, since the menu's pretty much already done. What we learned: use your bartering skills, January is a low season for marriages so banquet halls cost half as much as June/July, book at least a year in advance if you want choice, ask lots of questions.
The fun part was shopping for a wedding dress and bridesmaids' dresses. With a colour scheme in mind already, lots of wedding magazine browsing, and shopping around at bridal stores behind us, our trip to a big wedding dress blowout sale was a success. The bride came out with a fantastic dress and she'll look stunning!! We were successful in finding me a dress too; it fits perfectly, it looks great...which means I gotta keep the figure!! Time to start exercising again! He he.
It was interesting to observe how some brides and their mom looked so stressed out at that sale...while AF, her mom and I, we had so much fun trying out dresses. Several times, we broke down in fits of laughter inside the changeroom at how something amazing on the rack could look so darn wrong once you've put it on. When we were down to two dresses she liked, I ended up modeling a wedding dress for her to compare. That didn't quite work out as well as we hoped... :) We've both always assumed our body types were very similar, but when it comes down to something as form-fitting and detailed as a wedding dress, your own body is the only body that will work! What we learned: try everything on at least once, wedding dresses are heavy, be flexible with preferences, take your time, and bring at least 2 people along to help dress you!
Definitely a holiday to remember, but next year will, no doubt, top this one!! I can't wait.
The Christmas holidays turned out to be quite relaxing and restful. We took it easy, the family, and didn't have too many functions...well, at least I didn't. We went out several times for lunch/dinner...Korean, Japanese...I love trying different cultural foods! I guess the reality is that not having my grandmother at home for the holidays (she went to HK and Singapore) meant our family could ease up, be spontaneous, and enjoy each other's company without a language barrier. I can do surface talk with my grandma, but one can only do that for so long before it's silence again.
I met up with some old friends and now I really miss them! I'm looking forward to camping in the summer again!!
My siblings were home for about half the time. They were at conferences, and it seems they had a good time, learned a lot about God and themselves. My sister went to Urbana and I had a chance to listen to some of the speakers via online streaming. I'd recommend checking it out at urbana.org. The session by Oscar Muriu was radical and spoke right to the heart of missions. He was my favourite speaker.
When my siblings were around, we had a chance to spend time together doing fun stuff like watching "Cars" or going out to MEC and Vistek (a huge camera store downtown). We're still working on getting deeply connected as people though...maybe it's because we don't have much in common? Maybe it's because they're both at a different stage in life than I am? Regardless, we need to have more sibling dates! He he.
Another highlight of my holiday was planning and shopping for my best friend's wedding next year. She's getting married January 5, 2008!! Congrats!!!! I'm so excited for her! I get to be maid of honour and needless to say, I am definitely honoured! So the holiday ended up being a flurry of planning and shopping. We went banquet hall hunting, saw some beautiful but expensive ones, smaller and cheaper ones, finally settling on something that was not outrageously expensive (when you have to invite many people, a few dollars add up!). The food will be good, that's for sure, since the menu's pretty much already done. What we learned: use your bartering skills, January is a low season for marriages so banquet halls cost half as much as June/July, book at least a year in advance if you want choice, ask lots of questions.
The fun part was shopping for a wedding dress and bridesmaids' dresses. With a colour scheme in mind already, lots of wedding magazine browsing, and shopping around at bridal stores behind us, our trip to a big wedding dress blowout sale was a success. The bride came out with a fantastic dress and she'll look stunning!! We were successful in finding me a dress too; it fits perfectly, it looks great...which means I gotta keep the figure!! Time to start exercising again! He he.
It was interesting to observe how some brides and their mom looked so stressed out at that sale...while AF, her mom and I, we had so much fun trying out dresses. Several times, we broke down in fits of laughter inside the changeroom at how something amazing on the rack could look so darn wrong once you've put it on. When we were down to two dresses she liked, I ended up modeling a wedding dress for her to compare. That didn't quite work out as well as we hoped... :) We've both always assumed our body types were very similar, but when it comes down to something as form-fitting and detailed as a wedding dress, your own body is the only body that will work! What we learned: try everything on at least once, wedding dresses are heavy, be flexible with preferences, take your time, and bring at least 2 people along to help dress you!
Definitely a holiday to remember, but next year will, no doubt, top this one!! I can't wait.
posted by clara at
5:51 p.m.
