141 posts tagged “friends”

• the only problem with having my closet now clean and organized is that i find myself wanting to sit in it. for not particular reason. i want to just go in and plop myself in the middle of the floor. just to marvel at the beauty of how being clean and organized really revitalizes me. of course, there is still that half of a shelf and my cd collection that needs to be done. maybe i'll get some of it down tonight.

• we went to cathy's little M's 5yr birthday party yesterday. it was fun! the kids had such a blast. cath had hired a clown. and when the invitation first mentioned about a clown, i was a bit concerned. i have an irrational fear of clowns. not a phobia, per se. but they have always given me the creeps. i was happy with this clown, though. she was whimsical and cute and really knew how to create good chemistry with the kids. and the children did love her! not only did they get a ballon twisted into something they loved, she put on a great magic show that starred a cute rabit in the end. the kids got to sit on a chair have hold the rabbit on their lap for about 30 seconds each. and then, after lunch, each of them got to have their face painted of their choice. chaeli was so crazy about the clown that she said, before going to bed, that she hopes she will meet the clown again someday.

• i'm hungry. it's a weird kind of hunger. i feel like i can eat a lot today. which isn't good, really. because i know that if i allow myself to go nuts, i'll feel like complete crap at the end of the day. but, i have brought some healthy snacks so hopefully, i can stay good.

there are a lot of parties, celebrations and events being piled into our already booked weekends from now until the end of the year.

doug and i have one weekend this month where nothing is scheduled. nothing - for the whole weekend. and just that one weekend alone. chaeli will be staying at my parents' place.

and you know i'll want to head out somewhere nice for dinner. probably with friends, actually, so we can have an adult night. where, i don't know. somewhere new and interesting.

i love this season. i do. i (knock on wood) just hope that we all stay healthy enough to enjoy all these fun things we have planned. a run-down of events we've got schedule:

- ada and hoa's duo birthday party
- cathy's daughter's birthday party
- SCAW charity concert followed by dinner ath roger mooking's kultura
- stuart mclean's reading/music concert after dinner on baldwin street
- disney on ice followed by a visit to city hall and dinner
- visit from MIL for an extended weekend
- visit to a christmas tree farm

and then, of course, christmas and new year's. and ta-dah! hello 2010!

how often does halloween fall on a saturday night? not often enough!

it was so nice not to have to race home from work along with all the other parents doing the same thing, thereby making rush hour even crazier. and then, not having to rush dinner to leave time for trick-or-treating.

and then, it was just so very nice not having to try and rush the whole bedtime routine knowing that it's a school night.

what made the night even better was that we got to spend it with friends. di and rick hosted a little halloween party which ended up being just as fun for the adults as for the kids.

uncle hoa had fun, too!

the food we had was crazy. ada made short bread cookies in the shape of ghoulish fingers. they looked creepy but i will definitely agree that it tasted amazing. doug spent all afternoon making chocolate-chip pumpkin muffins from scratch - yum! and ada also baked a halloween-themed birthday cake for hoa, as his birthday falls on halloween.

i loved that chaeli got to go trick-or-treating with a friend this year. it was differnet - plus, all the guys had a great time taking the kids out. chaeli finally got to be bumblebee (transformers), brayden was a dragon and little maddy was eeyore.

transformers, dragons and a little eeyore

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more then meets the eye

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we turned our clocks back an hour which gave us that extra hour of sleep. heaven! however, i can officially say that i'm officially sick of all the halloween treats. not chaeli, though. that was HER kind of heaven.

last night, we went to hamilton, which is just over an hour away from toronto, for a very fun potluck dinner party.

doug made pulled pork in a slow cooker. there was little time to cook so we figured something we could slow cook overnight would be our best option. we brought some fresh dinner rolls so people could make their own sandwiches. it turned out to be a hit! thankfully, we made so much that we have leftovers for tonight.

the hosts were anthony and kay, plus their two boys and their very anxious and shy chihaha, coco. poor thing was out of sorts with so many people on her territory that she spent a good majority of the beginning and end of the night, yapping away. i tried to get her to warm up to me but everytime i offered my hand to sniff, she would run away.

we spent some time playing rock band - i got a chance to try out the beatles for the first time. excellent - very well made! i was especially impressed with the animated intro to the game.

the only problem i have with rock band is that everyone has to sing at least once. and to be honest, none of us from the posse can sing, really. some of us are not too bad but i definitely can speak for myself and say that i'm a tad tone-deaf. and my range in octives is pretty limiting. so unless it's right in my range, it actually hurts to sing. i think it was hoa that turned to me and said, "cool - you guys can sing in harmony for the beatles" to which i said, "yeah... okay, hoa... because i just got better in the past 30 minutes!" :p

one thing about going to hamilton is cross over the burlington bridge. granted, it's not an incredible bridge when compared to the golden gate in the bay area, but there's something i still love about it.

it was a fantastic night. we had a great time catching up with a few people we don't get to see very often.

the forecast is showing rain all weekend. which is fine. i was looking forward to going but only if the weather was going to cooperate. i'm also looking forward to just hanging out at home.

i have some organizing to do - namely, my closet. i want to sort, chuck and clean in preparations for christmas (where i store my shopping items, wrapping paper and craft items). right now, it's just a big mess and i'm actually dying to tackle this project. just so i can feel the relief - 'ahhh! that's much better!'

doug and i also want to go so G.I. Joe. we would get babysitting for chaeli but she says she wants to watch it too. well, she lived through transformers (both movies) without even flinching. i'm sure this pg-rated, action movie will be just fine.

i wanted to invite cathy and her family over but it looks like her little girl has come down with something. still, i'll probably give them a shout tomorrow to see if they would be up for take-out at our place.

rainy weekends do spoil the outdoor fun but there's always so much to do at home that i'm sure we won't be bored.

last night was definitely a great social night.

we went to add and hoa's place around 5:30pm, meeting up with di and rick (plus their two kids). the boys went on a test drive with hoa's stick (as rick wanted to get use to it - in a couple of months, he picks up his new audi and it's been awhile since he's driven a stick-shift).

on the way back, the boys picking up an ultra-large order of two sushi platters. from sushi marché - the sushi chef and owner there trained under and worked for iron chef, morimoto. the whole idea behind sushi marché is high-quality sushi and sashimi using market, fresh ingredients for a very reasonable, affordable price. it's a pick-up/take-out only place so the price of a waiting staff and interior sit-down furniture, etc., needn't be added to the price. it's actually, an amazing concept and, from what i've had here in toronto, probaby the best quality sushi ever. and only at $20 per person.

afterwards, we were so stuffed that we decided to take a 15 minute walk to ed's real scoop on queen east where we had one of the best gelato scoops ever! i wasn't able to make up my mind what i wanted so i got a regular cup size of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 coconut gelato.

doug, chaeli and i stayed for about another hour after diane, rick and their kids left. ada and chaeli ended up cuddling on the couth while chaeli introduced pocoyo to ada. very sweet. :)

today was a nice, relaxing day as well. we woke up extra late and then headed to the zoo for a late breakfast and a two hour walk. the sun was so nice but very comfortable now that there's no humidity.

i live for weekends like this!

• when i went to university for the first time, mom started to give me (as a side gift) a care package for christmas. this would basically cover the 2nd part of my school year in terms of supplies - shampoo, soap, tooth paste, etc. of course, after i moved home, this all stopped. but now that i'm living in my own home with my own family, she still continues to do this. it was a bit strange at first - after all, i'm now taking care of my own family and can afford to buy my own toothpaste. but still, there's something sweet about it. i've come to look forward to my care package. it's not what's inside it that matters - but the symbolic representation it offers from a mother that still looks after her daughter. as we get closer to christmas, i remind doug that we don't have to stock up too much on things that i know we'll be getting from mom soon enough.

• i'm looking forward to fall this year. and i'm hoping that fall will stay a little while before winter hits. it's such a shame that my favourite season of the year is so short. but i do love fall. i love it's smell, the breeze and it's colours. it's also full of fun activities - hiking, apple-picking, farmer's market (during harvest time), thanksgiving and halloween. there's just so much to look forward to but unfortunately, not enough weekends to do them all.

• we're having thanksgiving at my parents' place this year. usually, my aunt and uncle always hosts both thanksgiving and christmas but we've decided that thanksgiving should be at my parents' place. they just bought a deep turkey fryer. i'm excited about that alone! mmm... deep fried turkey. for those who've tried this, you'll agree that it's not at all greasy. the skin is crisp and there's no grease clinging on the outer skin part only, but because it fries up so quickly, it seals the meaty area from getting greasy inside and locking in the juices.

• there is so much to do in the next couple of months, including a live reading-performance from one of my favourite canadian author, stuart mclean. ada got us tickets and i'm psyched to go - especially as her and i have been talking about it for the past two years.

• christmas seems far away but really, it is just around the corner. i've started christmas shopping. in fact, i'm nearly done all my stocking stuffers (except for doug's) and need to focus on just the main gifts. the only person i've finished the main gift shopping is for chaeli. and that's only because when it comes to toys, especially popular ones, there's too much of a risk for it being sold out before christmas. plus, i bought her collector item toys from transformers, revenge of the fallen. some of them are already sold out. anyway, as usual, i plan to finish my shopping by early november so i have time to mail it to my in-laws. i have a great list this year and am excited to see how my ideas are received.

• christmas activities are also really high on my list which is part of the reason why i like to get the shopping done early and out of the way. this year, i'm wondering if i want to do the nutcracker ballet again. i didn't think i would want to do it every year but i feel like it again. it is such a great treat to experience. and of course, especially as this will be ada and hoa's last year in toronto, before moving out west, i do hope to go the the 'sleeping children around the world' charity concert. it's held eary december and kick-starts our christmas holiday season.

even though i know she will be on the other side of the country come 2010, i can always trust that i can send her random emails at any time.

like the one i sent this morning:

ada,
 
remember back in season 2 where ross and rachel kiss for the very first time? and then rachel was telling phoebe and monica... and then monica made this 'ohhh' sound while rolling her eyes back, as if to say, "oh my god that is so hot!"
 
and everytime i see that episode i can't help but to think... dude! that's like your BROTHER!
 
were the writers twisted? did they forget the blood relations?
 
then again, i don't have a brother. maybe i'm over-reacting.
 
it just grosses me out a little. like when princess leia and luke skywalker kiss but then find out in the last movie that they're twins. eww.
 
shy.

i'm honestly not sure what to believe when i think of past lives.

the scientist in me thinks hogs posh! but... because i was raised with buddhist traditions, it's in me not to completely ignore the fact that it is possible. and the spiritual side of me will always remind myself that just because something has not been or can not be proven (with the instruments we possess at least at the moment), doesn't necessarily mean that it's not true.

the spiritual side of me also realizes that any faith-based religion isn't meant to be proven. that is, after all, the whole purpose for having faith. to believe without the need for proof.

anyway...

several years ago, i had a psychic friend. one long weekend, a group of us, which included the original asian posse - rvx, tko, ada, wah and myself - headed up to a rental cottage for some sun and swim. one late afternoon, my psychic friend decides, for kicks, to give us each a tarot card reading. as a bonus, she also read our past lives.

apparently, i'm in my eighth life. as well, each of us from the asian posse has had some connection with one another. in other words, we have all met each other at least once in one of our past lives. there's even been some blood relations - for example, tko and i use to be brother and sister, which in some very strange way, seems pretty easy to believe. and i've often told rvx that when i first met him, it seemed like i knew him. or he was some lost relative of mine.

getting back to my own past lives, i've consistently been victim of extreme violence to the hands of men. i had been, time after time again, abused both physically and sexually. and part of the reason for being a woman in all my lives is because my purpose is to seek peace. and to seek my own strength to make it right - in other words, make a life for myself where i'm not victimized by men. and where i find this peace.

thankfully, as i am happening to be in this life of mine right now, she told me that this is the turning point in all my lives. that in this current life, i have found this strength and i'm on my way to achieve the peace that i am meant to find.

well, that's all very nice.

however, with this current yeast infection, where a month ago i had a bladder infection, i have to say this:

in my next life... I'M SO COMING BACK AS A MAN!

well, i shouldn't call it the 'last wedding' but it will be the last wedding for a long time. i still can't believe arvie finally tied the knot! my boy's all grown up! *sniff*

it was a great wedding, though. very simple but memoriable.

as usual, i forget to bring tissue for myself. how very unprepared of me. and i knew i would cry. it was arvie, after all... i balled at tai's and trish's wedding like a little baby - of course i would be tearing up for arvie's!

but the fact remains that out of the original posse members, arvie was the last to get married. it sort of marks the end of an era for us. and while i'm sure we'll all be attending various weddings in years to come, the next wave of weddngs with be our children's. it's hard to imagine but it's true.

the night before, doug and i were feeling adventurous. so we made reservations at roger mooking's (foodtv chef) restaurant, nyood. it was basically a menu of smaller-portioned items meant for sharing. but the portions, while smaller then an entree, were still pretty generous so i wouldn't call them a tasting menu. we were told three items per person and i have to say that i probably could have done one less and still could have been satisfied.

we'll definitely return again, especially to try their brunch menu.

sunday, we had to go up north to my parents' place and pick up chaeli. i didn't want to rush our grocery shopping sunday morning before heading up, so we decided to hit the 24-hour grocery store on our way home from the wedding reception.

there we were, at 1:30am, all dressed up fancy like, and doing our shopping. shopping in heels is challenging as it is. shopping in heels while dead-beat tired is a whole level of challenge.

but... we got it done, got home, and crashed.

and the nice thing was that on sunday, our shopping was done.