6 posts tagged “new year”

some tidbits left out from our past holiday hussle-bussle...

• a birthday cake that doug and chaeli baked for me - chaeli did the decorating:

• new year's eve party at my aunt's and uncle's, since my mother's lunar calender birthday also fell on nye. it was generally a very quiet night. the only non-family members with us was my doctor and his wife - he's pretty close to family, though. we ate a lot and then went down to watch the ball drop in time square, nyc. i also tested out his macro lens on my camera:

• this past weekend, we also celebrated my friends' 3 year old's birthday. good times... especially since the kids did craft and played in the gym at the community centre they rented out, while us adults sat back with some coffee and snacks, talking and laughing for a good portion of the party.

• our good friends from connecticut came into town to visit with family. a bunch of us met up with them for a late lunch at O&B. i had their spiced squash soup and their broccoli, leek and goat cheese quiche with a side, green salad. yum. at the end of the meal, chaeli and brayden played while the adults squeezed in the last bit of catching up. good times!

that's about it. all in all, it was a great week and a half.

i only got some reading done but definitely squeezed in as many movies as i could.

i forgot to mention one more goal in the new year's resolution list, which is the fact that i've made a conscientious decision to become more green, not just for this year, but as a lifestyle choice. something that my friends, cath and greg, inspired me to consider.

i've always been green-aware but with the awareness of global warming and saving our natural, global ecosystem, it's also fast becoming more available the choices in the products we buy in order to more green. and i'm not talking about dropping a huge amount of money on hybrids for those of us that are not able to afford it - but simply buying a more gas-economical car is a step towards the right direction.

recycling has always been a part of our household but i wasn't very good at recycling at work. i worked with co-workers that just didn't care about recycling or being green. i fought the urge to not follow their lead but throughout time, i got lazy and let them rub off on me. i never stopped caring and i didn't purposely not recycle but my ability to remember to be good in this aspects started to weaken and eventually, disappear. yes, shameful.

well, those co-workers are sadly not working with me anymore... and now that i am almost alone in my department, i have been able to think more clearly and made a much needed adjustment in thinking green again at work. it's difficult though - the amount of paper being printed and wasted at any given workplace is scary!

i've always been good at conserving energy in replacing our incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving fluorescent ones. we've even switched our christmas lights this year to LEDs. but there are still some areas i need to work on. for example, getting more power bars as a central power supply for some of our appliance and electronic devices that suck up energy even if not being used. it's then easier to just switch the power bar off before going to bed and back on when we use then after coming home from work. i know there are certain things that would not be practical in shutting on and off each day - like our fridge/ice box, our stove, our alarm clocks and our answering machine. but we don't need our other home entertainment electronics on all the time until we get home. our digital tv box has the time on it but it's fed by our local, digital tv provider rather then us. and i never have the clock set on the vcr, anyway (since i don't even use it hardly anymore). it will be interesting to see how much energy was save by doing this.

there are other areas i need to improve on and here is one that i hope to be my first milestone...

i've noticed some house cleaning products called method that can now be found at shoppers drug mart (for those of you that are american readers, you have so many more options in where to purchase, so check it out!) products range from hand soap to dish washing products to air fresheners and so much more! and the way the products are designed actually adds style to you one's home. i simply love the way they look and smell - i simply can't wait to get some of these products!

so my first real goal is to start checking out more products like the one above that is more green. for example, i've found a canadian web hosting company that is marked as a green company with a very reasonable price of $100 a year for web-hosting, 3 pop email accounts and domain registry. they are called host-papa.

i think going green is not an easy process. and this goal can not be reached overnight but what's most important is doing what we can, step by step, but making a difference in the world, as small as this difference may seem on an individual level.

it saddens me when i hear people who just do not care. or that believe that global warming is not a threat to them nor their children. i know people who live their lives with such abandonment about not recycling or caring, actually claiming that they feel no guilt because they need to take care of themselves first before even caring about what's going around them. to some extent, i believe in the statement that we need to take care of ourselves before we take care of others.

however, how much further can people take that statement? until it is too late?

the environment is a place we all share. caring about it IS caring for ourselves.

i hardly ever do yearly resolutions because i've always tried to aim for  goals whenever the time is right. but, this year, i thought i'd give it a try. and knowing that i wouldn't be able to get into ths swing of things until januaray was well over, i'm deciding to start my new year's resolution according to the lunar calender. :)

here i go:

• being more consistance with my fitness - my post pregnancy weight is still there. shamefull as chaeli is now four years old. and it's not just about shedding pounds. it's about toning - i've tried doing just cardio but it only gets me to a certain plateau. this year, it will be about weight training as well.
• eating wisely - i get so lazy with cooking that i just pop in frozen food or reach for that take-out menu. hell... making soup, salad and a healthy sandwich is an easy fix, with the bonus of being cheaper and healthier.
• getting certified for first aid and cpr.
• taking breaks - i'm way to anxious and nervous all the time. i'm simply over-stressed and this has got to stop. my main problem is that i work through coffee breaks and sometimes lunch breaks. i have to remind myself that those breaks are designated for me to use. if i don't use them, i can never get them back. they're gone forever. i need to use them and it has to be away from my desk. i've tried taking breaks at my desk, or eating my lunch there, and it's amazing how people will still come up to you to give you things to do - even if the clock says i'm on break/lunch, they just either do not realize it or just don't care. so screw them! i'm leaving my desk during those designated times!
• arranging for adult nights - whether a date night for doug and i, girl's night out or a night out with a bunch of other adults, i need to get back into doing this. doug and i were doing well with this concept until fall of last year. then, we found that we would let chaeli sleepover for a weekend at my parents' place, only to spend our weekend working. we also aimed at letting chaeli stay once a month at my parents' place and i know that might not be realistic as we were more inclined to send her there once every 6 to 8 weeks. i still think we should aim for once a month, even though we may not hit that time period. i know a lot of couples who believe that it's best to get a date night in with one's spouse for two/three hours about one night a week. but this isn't possible for a lot of working families. most couples i know do it about once a month so i'll just stick with that goal. having said that... february is now half over and we haven't
  even arranged for chaeli to sleep over at my parents' place yet.
• indulge in simple things - when was the last time i did one of my midnight baths, after everyone was asleep and the house was nice and quiet? summer time? not good. i need to get back into indulging in the simple things of life, again. i use to make myself a cup of afternoon tea much more often then i do now (i can count only once that i've done this in the new year). I don't think it would hurt to also get more massages - it's part of my benefits package. once it's gone, it's gone. and when was the last time i took a walk for the sake of taking a walk? simple things can go a long, long
  way.
• cleaning/organizing - it's work that has to be done but in the past few months, i've been better at keeping the house clean on a regular basis. and i've found that if i clean every week or two, with minor spot cleaning daily, cleaning isn't such a big ordeal because the dirt isn't set in. i.e. no grime to scrub and scrub and scrub away.
• reading v.s. television - i was getting really good at reading more rather then watching t.v. and in the past few months, i've really let that slide. when i read, my mind felt clearer and my eyes less sore. i slept better, too. and there are a lot of authors i've never read from before that i would like to try.
• doing more craft with chaeli. also doing more fun work books to help to help her develop her 'lessons' in school (though they are not made to appear like lessons - more like fun time). i notice she picks things up pretty easily but doesn't always retain it.

i've recently added to my holiday theme collection. so, along with easter, halloween, thanksgiving, chinese new year, st. patrick's day, i now also have christmas and valentines.

 

 

the rest of the holiday banners can be found within the holiday banner collection, below:

 

for the first time in... well... maybe since forever, i'm not having chinese new year's even dinner with my parents.

they... are on a south american cruise. lucky bastards.

and they HAVE received the surprise gift - chocolate covered strawberries and two bottles of red wine (from chile). and my mom made sure to email me and give me shit for spending too much money. :p haha! not much she can do about it though. what's done is done.

anyway, we were initially just going to spend chinese new year eve on our own. maybe go over to my aunt's for dinner. but then we decided to invite over our friends. seven of them are coming over for dinner and two more will join us for dessert. plus... chaeli will have miyoko and brayden as playmates tonight. it should be interesting. all three have very diverse personalities. and chaeli and miyoko tend to have a bit of sibling rivalry going on. even though they seem to like each other. and even ask to see each other soon after spending some quality time together.

i am in no way good at any chinese cuisine. which is odd as i grew up around my mom, aunt and pwo-pwo... all very good chinese cooks. yet... it's the one area i shy away from. i'll cook anything but chinese food. i think it's just my lack of confident and the fear that i'll make it taste too... westernized.

so, in light of this reality, i'll be going across our townhouse complex to a little family-owned restaurant in which i will take great pleasure in their take-out menu. but hey... at least it's authentic.

no chicken balls tonight. :)

How are you ringing in the New Year tonight?

well, as both doug and i are still re-cooperating from this nasty bug (as is chaeli), we've canceled out of the nye/first birthday party we were invited to. so it looks like we're just going to camp out in front of the t.v. to watch chaeli's newest, favourite movie... that disney "cars" movie.

she got it for christmas from my parents and has watched it 1/2 a dozen times (at least) by now.

we're disappointed to not be able to celebrate the first birthday of our friend's toddler. that part seriously bites... but i'm actually looking forward to spending nye at home for the first time in years. honestly, i can't remember the first time i've done this.

every year since i was a teen, i have spent nye somewhere other then being at home. and for the first time, it's a welcomed change.

well... i wish we weren't all sick. it would have been nice to ring in the new year all healthy and strong.