Copy Cat IV

How could I hog all this information about myself and not share it? So here it is:

Favorite book? It's hard to choose just one. Who Says Elephant Can't Dance , a business memoir, is amongst the top five though
Favourite CD? It has to be one of the Beyond albums. Tough to choose just one though.
Favorite website? Google. All my favorites can be found there.
Favourite hot drink? Apple Cider
Favorite cold drink? Coca Cola
Favorite supper food (main dish)? Seafood, lamb
Favorite vegetable? veget... what?
Favourite lunch food? anything hot. I like a hot lunch.
Favorite breakfast food? well, I don't usually eat breakfast (bad, I know)
Favourite snack food (sweet)? I am not really a snacker. My favorite candy has to be Almond Roca; Orange KitKat is a close second
Favorite snack food (salty)? Mix nuts.
Favorite ethnic food? Chinese food isn't really an ethnic food for me (sorry). I'd say East Indian -- love the spices.
Favourite sport (to play)? Computification
Favorite sport (to watch)? It's a toss up between NBA basket ball and NHL hockey
Favourite season? Spring
Favorite toy as a child? Now, you are really testing my memory... burning stuff?
Favourite vacation spot? Anywhere with Dayna. <- (the "period" should be pronounced)
Favorite ice cream flavor? Rum Raisin
Favorite smell? Smell of a rainy day
Favourite car? Porsche 911, turbo charged preferred
Favorite flower? Didn't have one, but it is daisy now
Favorite perfume? Clinique Happy because it is Dayna's favorite, and it reminds me of her. Unfortunately, I get a little sniffy sometimes
Favorite item of clothing? Any nice, casual, buttoned-up long sleeve shirt that I can wear with a pair of jeans
Favourite "board" game? Does a teeter-totter count as a "board" game?
Favorite quote? "I thot I thaw a putty tat!"

elite status...?

I am sipping a chilled fruitopia from the comfort of a leather chair in the "elite status maple leaf lounge" in Toronto. For free, using free internet! Thanks to sharing elbow room on the way here from Charlotte with Christian author and President of Arrow Leadership, Dr. Carson Pue. It's an amazingly small world. He knows many of my Master's degree profs, mentors, and colleagues, and is heading to Calgary in a couple of weeks for meetings at Rocky. Anyway, he got me in as his guest, politely excused himself to do some business, and ahhhhh, I am kicking back with refreshments. I already had a couple hours until my connecting flight, and got delayed another hour... but it was practically good news with this treatment :) I was too snobby to take pictures myself, so these are from the website...

Speaking of taking pictures myself... I didn't take nearly enough on my Charlotte trip (sorry mom!). It was a short but sweet visit... lots of fun. Alisha makes great muffins, both the kids made us the yummiest pizza last night, and Joel thoroughly annihilated us at several games of crash team racing and nitro team racing.

I had a 'speaking engagement' with Alisha's second grade class. I talked about Canada, and about some Chinese New Year's traditions. I gave each of the children a red envelope, with some play money in it. I called on Alisha to tell the children what was usually in the red envelope, and she responded proudly, "Canadian Money!" I clarified to the children that the red envelopes usually contain real money. Joel and Alisha's usually contain Canadian money because it is from us :)

Melissa and I had a sister's day on Thursday and headed into Raleigh. We found a fun Japanese Steakhouse called Kanki; the chefs cook at your table and create quite a show. Then we went to the ballet. At the ballet, the dancers came out for one dance with loose pony tails, and I whispered to Melissa, "I'm surprised their hair is not in buns." A few scenes later, some male and female dancers came on, and Melissa whispered to me, "Now there's some buns." I look at her, and say, "what?!" And she said, "Now their hair's in buns..." I was giggling and giggling, and had to 'fess up to her that that was not what I heard the first time!

I am behind on blogging, and haven't even blogged about the crazy thing I ate at our Chinese New Year celebration. But speaking of eating, I am going to go back to the snack counter for a sandwich and a latte. Stay tuned next blog!

The year of the... DOG?

What is wrong with this picture (click on it to enlarge)? Okay, it is a trick question; and it is not the fact that I am listening to "Getting Things Done". The Chinese on it says "Welcome to the year of the dog". It is the year of the pig.

domestic diva III

Domestic Diva Part III

So, my domestic divaness goes on long vacations sometimes, but this weekend, it returned... using a sewing machine similar to this:
Kenmore circa 1947, I shortened the sleeves of 3 of Karl's fleece sweater/pullovers that I got him for Christmas. We didn't think the sleeves were "too long," however approaching the end of February and discovering tags still attached, I decided I better figure out what to do with them... what's the worse that could happen?

I also hemmed 3 pairs of new maternity pants, and I was more concerned about my pants... they were good finds at a maternity consignment store ($5 and $10, new tags still on them! Do you know how much maternity clothes cost? It's insanity!). It's hard enough to find nice pants with a 28" inseam that aren't maternity, so I wrote off the chance of finding any that would fit me without hemming. I was pretty motivated to get them done, as my stretchy jeans definitely saw their last day yesterday, until at least... October? Too tight... they spent most of the trip out to Banff and back yesterday unbuttoned (and it wasn't from the visit to the candy store)!


So, I am happy to report, nothing went too terribly wrong with the sewing... measure twice, cut once... kind of like building a deck. They say. And for the record, I am pretty impressed with the competence of this sewing machine. It does normal stitches, stretch stitches, and even sneaky hidden hemming stitches. Makes me wonder if my iPod or computer or PS2 will be functioning in sixty years... they just don't make things the way they used to (I'm too young to be saying that!).

Posts and pics coming soon from Charlotte!
'Til then, all you Albertans enjoy your day off tomorrow (the joys of working for a national organization, I get to work regardless!) and

Happy Chinese New Year :)

(click to view ecard to us from Forsyths)

Going on a babymoon...

Click here to find out where we're going on our Babymoon in April!

valentine's day...

AHhh, I'm bad... no pictures of the pecan crusted salmon that I made for Valentine's supper. Karl knows that I love a good card, and also sweetened me up with some chocolate :) We had a quiet night... our last kidless Valentine's Day! Wow.

I was with a friend today who told me about her singing telegram that her husband sent her. Romantic and all I guess, but he sent the song, "You Say it Best When You Say Nothing at All." Not sure how impressed I would be with that one. She got a different singing telegram years ago (before she was married, from someone else) with song, "Brown Eyed Girl," and she has blue eyes. Singing telegrams just shouldn't be done for her. But who gets two? I've never even known anyone who got a singing telegram. Strange.

Sunday we will be celebrating Chinese New Year... the year of the Pig.

One tradition is to give and receive red envelopes, or red packets; "Cantonese: 'leih síh' (利市) are passed out during the Chinese New Year's celebrations, from married couples or the elderly to unmarried juniors. It is common for adults to give red packets to children. Red packets are also known as 压岁钱 (Ya Sui Qian lit age suppressing money) during this period. The red envelopes always contain money, usually varying from a couple of dollars to several hundred." Don't be trying to get yourself written into our will... ours our generally in the "few dollars" range... and we give them too...

It's also family day weekend here in Alberta... Monday off! And we really will be spending it with family... my cousin's kids have birthdays around the same time as each other, so we are heading there for a party.

I tot I taw a ice cweam cake!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last night my Mom and Trent came by with a special surprise for us! At the risk of teasing Karl too much about his lack of Looney Toons knowledge, they brought us a Tweety Valentine's DQ ice cream cake. When I lived with mom and Trent, I added "DQ Ice Cream Cake" to the grocery list pretty well every chance I got (as well as "light bulbs" just to bug Trent... he bought them several times before he realized it was a joke... it was a long time before we had a dark room!).

Anyway, Mom also presented me with a red gift bag, flowing with heart speckled tissue paper. Hmm, it's heavy! I peek in to find ...a jar of pickles! Just to help with the cravings :) Well, if nothing else it sure made me laugh!

Speaking of cravings, they have been few and far between, thankfully... I say with all the wisdom of my 12 weeks of experience! Belly shots coming soon (not much to show yet, baby's about the size of a peach supposedly! But that peach is making the pants fit tight...) I may get to hear the heart beat on Friday at my regular appointment.

Here's a little St. Valentine history for you to peruse as you bless or curse this day. It seems it's all or nothing doesn't it? For the record, I've always loved it... even when I was single. I used to host ROTIC nights with friends (roMANtic without the "man") and indulge in chick flicks and chocolate. Good times (better now...).

What are your Valentine's Day plans?

Copy Cat III

I'm copying Melissa, who sort of copied Keri who copied Rachel ... Here's my "Favorites" list. The answers are a little faster & easier than Keri and Rachel's, and it still says a lot about me (the surface things anyway!) Maybe Karl will post a list too?!

Favorite book? Currently: "Baby Wise" and "Baby Proofing Your Marriage"
Favourite CD? Currently: Caedmon's Call; In the Company of Angels II the world will sing
Favorite website? Babyzone, What to Expect, Recipezaar
Favourite hot drink? St. Arbucks Latte (as a treat) or Tim Horton's brewed at home (daily necessity!)
Favorite cold drink? Diet Coke when not pregnant... currently: MILK!
Favorite supper food (main dish)? Seafood
Favorite vegetable? Is chocolate a vegtable?
Favourite lunch food? instant noodles... the true blue kind that come with their own little packet of sesame oil (Nissin)
Favorite breakfast food? cereal... apple cinnamon cheerios or honey nut cheerios
Favourite snack food (sweet)? Chocolate! Ferrero Roche, Almond Rocha, Caramilk, or my new favourite: Chris & Larry's Chocolate Clodhoppers
Favorite snack food (salty)? Mrs. Vicky's Salt & Vinegar Chips; Kettle Corn microwave popcorn (kind of a sweet and salty...)
Favorite ethnic food? You need to ask? Authentic Chinese of course... preferably prepared by Karl and/or his mom!
Favourite sport (to play)? Soccer
Favorite sport (to watch)? Hockey
Favourite season? Summer
Favorite toy as a child? Probably my wooden model dinosaurs for a while... then maybe cabbage patch kids?
Favourite vacation spot? Anywhere with my hubby! (anywhere WARM with my hubby)... So far the cabin at Kootney Lake comes a close second to San Francisco, if it counts to list somewhere you're planning to go!
Favorite ice cream flavor? Rolo
Favorite smell? Hubby's aftershave
Favourite car? Lexus SUV
Favorite flower? Daisy
Favorite perfume? Clinique Happy
Favorite item of clothing? Currently: Lululemon "reverse groove" yoga pants
Favourite "board" game? Pit, Catch Phrase
Favorite quote? Isaiah 40:31,
"those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

PURCHASED!

Yeah! We bought a new car! A 2001 4-door Alero...

(actual car may differ from image above)

Next stop in 3 (?) years... MINIVAN!

product review...

We've been using detergent for darks for about a year (I think we used "Woolite" last time, and this time we are using Cheer). We have noticed a significant improvement in our darks... no fading! yay! If you've wondered if it's a big ol' scam for more money... we think we've saved on not replacing faded blacks...

This blog was not brought to you by any commercial sponsorship.

SOLD!

We sold the Hyundai Accent!

We're looking for more of a "family car" now, with baby Chu on the way. Both of our cars are small 2 doors, great for our current needs but soon they just won't cut it. A few days after we had decided that we would probably have to sell the Honda Civic because of sell-ability (although we prefer to keep it), a former coworker of mine emailed, asking if we wanted to sell the Accent (we had tried to sell it last year for a while). A few emails and a test drive later... SOLD! Yay!

So, anybody out there selling a Camry? :)

January in an nutshell...

January in a picasa proverbial nutshell...

1. It turns out they not only sell samosas at 7/11 in Abbotsford, but at the airport cafe too... this one had some bite! mmmm...
2. I have a friend named Dunn. Never heard the name before I met him this fall, now it's up in lights! Check out his blog, especially if you like Calvin & Hobbes, www.areyouDUNNyet.blogspot.com
   
3. Chicago airport McDonald's. Cheater picture, it's actually from December. This little express McDonald's had 25 staff behind that counter... elbow to elbow. 25! The one in the orange vest is directing the crowd... she's number 26. I'd be vying for that position, lemme tell ya!
4. The TWU guest parking sign is meant to be inspiration for my colleagues. I have been on a lot of your properties lately... this is the type of welcome you would like your guests to receive... if the first sign that folks see on your property is, "PRIVATE PARKING! VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED," (you may or may not know who you are... go out front and check your property because there are more than one of you!), you may want to rethink your strategy. More on this at the CHEC blog
   
5. A little lighthouse from the deck of the BC Ferry last Tuesday, a gorgeous day for a ferry ride! (They also served indian food on the ferry. I had butter chicken and naan with mango chutney... not much bite to it, but it was acceptable...)
6. Me, Melanie O., and Chris R. out for supper after an all-day CCUFairs Advisory Team meeting.
7. My new haircut!
8. The view over Surrey of the mountains from my room at the Sheraton (you've gotta try hotwire for your next trip! Thanks for the tip Tim K.!)
9. Craig M. and Tim B. at said CCUFairs meeting.

I will likely have another "nutshell post" for February, as I will be in Manitoba, North Carolina, and Ontario before the month is through!

Okay, I want to visit some cool cafes and restaurants... anybody have a "best kept secret" in your town in Winnipeg area, Charlotte/Mooresville area, or southern ON? Lemme hear it!