27 posts tagged “party”
this past saturday, we had our annual 'deep fried turkey and kid's secret santa exchange' party at steve and cor's house.
what a good party - i just felt like a huge release being there with good friends. laughing and talking and best of all - the kids are so good at playing on their own now. they spent most of the time in the basement with each other. ah bliss!
an important lesson learned within five minutes of arriving - even though i think people never read my facebook status updates, they SO read them.
within the first hour, the following facebook statuses by yours truely was discussed:
- that i admitted to staring at zac efron's 6-pack in '17 again'
- that i love red, orange and yellow peppers, but am not fond of green peppers
- that i almost went to see 'new moon' on my own
i think the highlight of the night was the guys chin-up contest. boys will be boys, after all.
afterwards, steve l. said, "i'm very disppointed with myself. hoa! i should hire you to train me back into shape."
to which hoa's reply was, "okay. but you HAVE to listen to me. if i tell you to do a push-up, you can't just say, 'bah! why bother?'"
hoa totally had steve l. pinned on that one because that's EXACTLY the type of thing steve l. would say.
and i think it's these little conversations of parties that seems to stick with me the most. the kind where a smaller group is off to the side, chatting and having a good laugh or two.
- the only problem with having my closet now clean and organized is that i find myself wanting to sit in it. for no 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.
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.
i admit that i was disappointed that i couldn't take part in nuit blanche this year. while chinese moon festival and my uncle's birthday were celebrated at my aunt and uncles home on the same nute as nuit blanche, that wasn't the reason why i couldn't go. after all, the dinner party ended around 10pm which would have allowed us to go until around 1am (since it's an all night event). but doug had to do the practical part of his course this weekend and had to be up fairly early. a part of me wondered if i should have gone on my own but no. i had to take care of chaeli on my own the next day. and man - it is not easy doing that when all you want to do is sleep!
next year. it's something i hope to do for sure.
anyway, despite the disppointment, it was a wonderful weekend. chaeli stayed at my parents' place on friday night so the anal nerd in me spent friday night cleaning the house and reorganizing chaeli's summer to fall/winter wardrobe. just as i suspected, the pile of 'too small' clothes was three times bigger then the pile of clothes that fits her. but most of them were mix-matches of tops and bottoms that didn't all go well together. geez - that kid sprout up big time this year.
i also went through her huge pile of books on her night stand, which was so huge that half of it was on the floor underneath the little table. her usual bookshelf, which is very small and a part of her closet) was jammed pack. i had to put some of the bigger books on the very top shelf. i'm going to have to invest in a kid's book shelf to put her books away in. while i have no issues deciding on toys to give away, ones that she's outgrown, i have a pretty huge issue with getting rid of books. i do have a small pile of maybe 8 books i'm prepared to donate to her school, but that's about it. she's got so much more that i didn't even make 1/8th of a dent.
doug came home just near the end of my organizing and cleaning. we decided to head out for a late dinner at a local vietnamese restaurant. i had the lemongrass, grilled chicken, rice, shredded pork and fried egg. doug has his usuall vermecelli with an assortment of goodies in it - vietnamese spring roll, beef roll and shrimp paste on sugar cane. we shared a cold spring roll appetizer and some spicy, fried squid appetizer. what i love about vietnamese food is that it's so affordable. with all that we ordered, it only came to $35 after tips and tax.
saturday morning, i headed off to another power-pump class, making it the first time i've done three in a week. it was at 9:30am which helped getting my butt out of bed early. as usual, the class was great, though this instructor probably would not be considered my favourite one of those i've tried. she wasn't bad but her program was a bit too repetitive. not enough was mixed up which made it easier, i felt. i compensated by adding more weights to my routine.
afterwards, i headed up too shop for chaeli's fall/winter wardrobe. while i was at the mall, i also bought some stocking stuffer items for christmas. i was able to get everything done before 1pm which was nice - i had a few hours to relax and unwind before going over to my aunt's place.
dinner was great, as usual. my doctor and his wife joined the party as well and we had such a great night laughing and chatting away. the food was fabulous though i wasn't able to really dive into it as my appetite has shrunken. it was good, though. at one point, i was able to stop and remind myself that i was satisfied. that any more eating would have just been out of habit and pleasure. but that i would suffer later by being overly-stuffed. so rather having more steak or pasta, i opted to having a couple more of the grilled portebello mushrooms (which were just amazing, anyway, but light).
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.
it was by far a very good, long civic holiday weekend.
friday night, i came home and cleaned the house almost right away. i should remember to get into the habit of doing this much often because it is so much easier to get it done before my parents come home with chaeli, rather then being interrupted and then picking up where i left off at 10pm (or later) after they leave.
they stayed for three hours first to play jr. scrabble with chaeli, and then just to sit and chat with us.
i was asking them all sorts of questions about our vacation trips we took as a child - most of them being road trips.
it's amazing how much i've forgotten. or... how little i remember. but still, it was fun listening to them tell us what we did and where we went.
saturday morning, we woke up and headed off to rattlesnake point (as seen in the photos of my previous post). what a great two hour hike! i tried to pick a trail that wasn't too difficult. not only did i want to make it easy on chaeli but i haven't gone hiking along the bruce trail for quite some time. as i recalled, there were trails that required a bit of climbing through rocky and steep areas. while this trail did have a few spots of rocky areas, for the most part, it wasn't too difficult for a five year old, so long as one of us helped her.
saturday evening started off with a beverage at my aunt's patio, while we visited with then, my doctor and my doctor's wife. then about an hour later, we headed off to diane and rick's place for a bbq with the rest of the highschool gang. di had marinated some chicken and short ribs (kalbi). yum!
after dinner, the men suspiciously wanted to go to starbucks for a coffee run. we offered to go, instead, so we could leave the kids with them and get in an evening stroll but they bypassed our offer and immediately starting taking our orders. while they were gone, us wives discussed our shared suspicions. i even had to ask diane, "there isn't a golf store by the starbucks, is there?"
after all, the men were gone for a very long time.
when they finally returned, we learned that they also went to get fudge and then... the real reason why they wanted to go instead of letting us... they all came back with cigars.
which didn't bother us. in fact, it was quite entertaining to witness their logic - they bought one $26 cigar and five $5 cigar. the expensive one was passed around. which as ada pointed out, was one of the saddest things we heard.
there they were... five grown men all with good jobs (mostly professional jobs including a project manager and a VP) passing around a cigar instead of just buying one each.
anyway - it was a fun night. and we discovered how much easier it is now that all the kids are old enough to go downstairs and play on their own.
sunday morning, i woke up just after 8am with a mad craving for dim sum. i called my aunt and uncle, asking them if they were interested. and it just so happened that my aunt was also craving for dim sum as of lately so they definitely did want to join us. which is great. because unless we find a place that pushes the carts around, i'm horrible at knowing what to order from a menu. i need the visuals so i can say, "what do you got there? oh yes - that one. two of them please." we're finding that less and less restaurants are still pushing the carts around. which is too bad because part of the appeal are the carts.
for the rest of the day, we didn't do much. chaeli took a much needed three hours nap since she only slept several hours the night before (too short for a kid who needs at least 10 hours of sleep at night). doug prepared a jamie oliver pasta dish which is sort of like a spaghetti entree with some twists, including red wine and chunks of pancetta. it was definitely good, though. probably the best spaghetti i've ever had. and it was very complete with the antipasto we had before hand and the red wine during.
monday was a day of both work and relaxation. i had arranged for chaeli to spend the morning at my aunt's house while i went to the gym for a couple of hours. i called over after lunch and my aunt asked to keep chaeli there until dinner time, in which i would join them for some home-cooked chinese food. doug was at arvie's stag (a home-based stag giving some of the people a chance to join in on the fun, whom couldn't make it to vegas). the boys had some of tai's spicy, korean kalbi and i assume, beer, and then watched a movie in the backyard where tai set up a big screen.
i have to admit that i was a bit jealous that i couldn't go - it sounded like so much fun!
anyway, for monday afternoon, i did laundry but also just chilled out in bed while watching my will & grace dvd's.
i believe that vegas-style for us encompasses going to bed around 4am everyday.
not something i'm use to but - VEGAS BABY!!!
as planned we did go to mgm for their buffet (best quality for buffet i've ever had) and we did go to see KA.
we didn't however, go to caesar's pure nightclub. in turned out it wasn't open last night. and any of the top rated clubs required a strict dresscode - not everyone had the appropriate attire.
so... with a bit of decision-making, we ended up going to venetian's V and to be quite honest, i'm glad we did. the club was small yet intimate. the atmoshere was great. but how we got in, was even better.
it all started with arvie and i trying to decode the directory map (these vegas hotels are huge!) the security guard came over (obviously due to the look of utter confusion as both arvie and i were pointing at different directions) to help us out. AND he told us to look for some guy name 'joe' and tell him that 'matt' sent us. and that 'joe' would take good care of us.
alright.
well, turns out joe took very good care of us. he waved our cover charge and gave us 2-for-1 drink coupons.
not a bad way to start off the night.
then tai, using his ultra, charming ways, talked to joe into providing us a bit of more excitement for the night.
the next thing i knew, we were being whisked away in a limo to another club where the cover charges were waved again (though no 2-for-1 drink coupons but you know, greed was never our colour anyway). [edit: learned afterwards that the first round of drinks were free]
what a night!
granted, we were dead by the time we got back to the hotel yet for whatever reason, we had enough energy to try and go to one more club.
this time, the guy wouldn't let us in for free.
i guess at that point, we got cocky and forgot we lost the 'joe' connection.
thanks vegas joe. you did us good last night!
we finally manage to find the rest of boys - turns out they were put in a different room then what the concierge told us. just after 1am, vegas time, we said 'good night' and left them to go to la-la-land. doug and i, as a last minute decision, decided to take a walk around our area.
we walked down to bally's and paris. outstanding! and while we didn't go inside bellagio or caesars, we had a great view of the grandiose hotels across the street from our stroll. at night, these two hotels were even bigger in appearance. they seemed to glow like great monuments in the nevada sky.
before heading back up to our room (around 3am now), we decided to christen our first night in vegas with a bit of slots.
on my very first spin, i all of the sudden realized that the BING-BING sounds and flashing lights where coming from my slot machine! the sound seemed to go on forever until it finally ended. i found myself coming out with 250% of what i put in!
i played a little more but didn't win much so i stopped and cashed out my earnings.
too bad i was just on the penny slots. :)
still, i managed to make one dollar into two.
not bad on my first night!
My Groups
-
Parents With Daughters Updated: Yesterday
-
weird parents Updated: Yesterday
-
Vox Banners Updated: Yesterday
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
