rainy day bbqs

Yesterday the kids and I figured we'd head out to Cultus Lake for our annual family bbq. Mother nature didn't agree with us. When we woke up - the rain was coming down! This really sucked as I was looking forward to lying on the grass and engoring myself with food.

We headed over to Betty & Hanif's new condo instead. They've just moved in and are still in the process of unpacking. How sweet of them to host us. The condo is really nice - it has a great view and I love the floor to ceiling windows. Plus the convenient part is that they are across the street from their old place so they can run back and forth between locations.

This weekend I had an impromptu garage sale as well. Was trying to clear out a basement full of furniture so that the students can move in. Thomas and Doreen (the students) stopped by on Saturday to get keys, etc. This was the first time I met Doreen. During small talk I found out she's in grade 11!!! My mouth almost dropped to the floor. I knew Thomas was young (19) but thought his girlfriend would be the same age. So I had to get her parents information as she's under age. The last thing I need is some old east indian man banging on my door wondering where his daughter is. :-) It should be interesting with this couple. They've only been dating and now they've moved in with each other. Plus she starts grade 12 next year. Wow - so young! Oh well - as long as they are good kids - that's all I care about.

The sun is starting to shine. I crave outdoor activities but haven't had a chance to plan a hike or something. Maybe our next girls outing will be a stroll around the lake. :-)

a quick glance

Hundreds of pictures from multiple cameras to filter through. :-) Family weddings are always amusing. So much sorting and organizing to do. I took a stab at loading a few pics tonight. These are only the ones that Chicky took. Just posted 50 pictures out of 300 that he took. Have a peek at my web album if you like. I'll see if I can load the "professional" pictures on the weekend. KA is ahead of the game and has already printed many copies of pictures from the family cameras to give to the "important" out-of-town guests. Lucky for them! :-)

some R&R

Whew! The last of the overseas family has gone home today. As much as I love having the extended family around - they were emotionally and physically draining . :-) I can now put away my ear plugs and sleep "normally". The weekend was very hectic with family dinners and going to Nick & Lisa's engagement party. Lisa's family hosted it at their beautiful home in West Vancouver. The couple are to be married New Year's Eve 2007. Chicky is one of the groomsmen. He's happy to get to share in the celebration. It's amusing to see the friendship dynamic that he has with Nick & Lisa. They are close and tend to joke around with each other - not the same way that Chris does with him but equally amusing. The most popular question to Chicky that night was "when are you moving?" :-) I think he has pressure to find a place soon (before Nick's wedding). Who knows - maybe he'll even cave in and move back to Coquitlam. That would save us from commuting back and forth on the weekends. He's resistant though as he currently enjoys the short commute to Richmond and is unwilling to sacrifice it to be closer to friends/family.

Now the "fun" part begins. We have till the weekend to clean and organize the house. The kids that are renting next semester move in on the weekend and right now it's a mess down there. Did I tell you that the next set of kids is a couple that is 18 years old, works at the mall and have only known each other for a year. :-) They're going to have a rude awakening with living each other for the first time! Oh well - that's the life when you rent to students. Plus I've got furniture coming out of my ears! :-) I think the cars will have to be evicted from the garage just so that we can store some of the furniture. Anyone interested in turning their home into an IKEA showroom?!

exciting news!

We're going to have a baby join the family! That's right folks. Carol and Minh announced on Saturday night that they're expecting! Wow! That's so cool. Carol didn't want to steal Kim Anh's thunder by announcing before the wedding. So nice of her. :-) Carol is 4 months pregnant. We don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet - she's going to find out as it's her second child. Congratulations to their family!!

More good news - on top of being an expecting mom, Carol has also won a scholarship to the Registered Nursing program at her school. Beating out 124 applicants - what a smart cookie! So she'll be leaving the Licensing Practical Nursing program (which is too bad as she's only weeks from completing the program) and going up the medical-totem-pole to hang out with the RN's. Of course this won't start till after the baby is born. I'm very proud of Carol and all that she has accomplished. She's had her share of life challenges but has managed to make the best of every situation and not only excels at all that she endeavors but also exceeds the expectations of others. I don't think many of her peers can say that they've accomplished as much in a short period of time. Good job Carol!

That being said there's been more added pressure from the visiting family for me to "do something with my life". Lol - apparently not being married, being a nurse, owning a home or having kids is a "bad" thing. Both of my sisters have set the bar pretty high and it's going to be a challenge to be par to them. Doh! I'll just have to bask in their glory for now. :-) I love them both to death and am happy to be able to be there to share in all the happy moments. Can't wait to play with the baby!!

Club ESL

My family from Hawaii is still with us. We've been trying to entertain them long after the wedding. My dad took my uncle and aunt to Prince George to visit some other cousins. Their son decided to stay behind. I've been trying to keep Nong - my cousin - entertained. Poor guy has been living on the internet since arriving here. He's thankful we're fully equipped to entertain him electronically!

Since going back to work this week, Nong has been at the mercy of the old people. He's 20 and gets restless. Thursday night I was fixing the computer downstairs and looked over to see him dying in boredom. I had taken down the internet for a day to fix it and forgot to tell him. So he had nothing to play with for a whole day. Plus he was stuck with my mom all day, who was 'mothering' him. :-) Feeling sorry for the guy, I look up and said "let's do something fun!" His eyes lite up. I'm pretty much pooped after work so I didn't know what to do. Good thing there's Google! I went searching for something that would appeal to his age group.

Well - Thursday nights are "international student night" at Aubar. Perfect...a bunch of kids that don't speak english well. He should fit in just fine. We headed out to the club at 9pm. I haven't been clubbing in AGES! Things have changed. We lined up for 1.5 hours. Thank goodness it wasn't raining. I tried to be social and spark up conversations with the people around us. There were so many languages being spoken. It was so interesting! I love hearing other languages. We befriended an italian girl and 2 mexican guys. While in line ClubESL was trying to sell tours to everyone. Another interesting thing was the dress code. Some people looked like students - backpacks and all. All the way to girls decked in true "clubbing/trashy" gear. Aubar had cheap drinks so it appealed to all the students. Lol - after talking to some of them - I found that my english began to degrade. At one point I was pretending to be an international student as well just so that we'd blend in. :-) My goodness...I felt like their den mom! So many YOUNG kids!!! Hahaa....

Once inside I showed Nong how to do some shooters and dance it up on the dance floor. I was a bit concerned about parking and having to work in a few hours. :-) Living on the edge...only need 2 hours of sleep before work! The music was a bit hard to dance to - trance mixed with latin music. Plus Nong felt awkward. Hahaaa...don't know how cool it is to go clubbing with your older cousin and trying to meet girls. :-) I tried to get in with some Japanese girls for him but they were snobby and didn't want to talk to me - too bad for him! After 45 mins inside we called it a night.

wedding bliss

A year of preparation has accumulated to this weekend's festivities. I'd like to welcome Michael (officially) into our family. We're so happy for the KA & Mike!

It's been a week of rushing around and getting things organized and ready for the "big day". KA had her share of challenges along with Mike. In the end it all came together and they survived the family madness.

There's too much to write about so I'll just do a short summary. The ceremony was held at Queen Elizabeth Pavillion (just built this year). It was beautiful with the flower arrangements and String Trio playing in the background. KA looked gorgeous in her wedding dress. The picture above is compliments of Chicky. I want to thank Chicky for helping out tremendously at the wedding. He provided both technical and muscle support. ;-) His photos definitely rivaled the main photographer's! In some instances they were better too as Chicky was running around and climbing over things to get different angles.

After the ceremony we headed over to Sun Sui Wah (Richmond) to set up for the reception. KA has many good friends who were always ready to lend a helping hand. This was great as there was much background work to be had. The reception went well. In good old Chinese tradition - there was tons of food. I think everyone as full after the 8th course. It was wonderful seeing family from afar come to attend the wedding. They are still with us so it's been partying non-stop. :-) Too bad I have to work this week! I've been getting by with very minimal sleep (even for me) and the use of ear plugs. Lol - I'm thinking I need a holiday after all this! KA and Mike went to the Bahamas for their honeymoon and won't be back till the end of the week. We're looking forward to seeing the pics, etc. Till then I won't be able to post any more pics from the wedding as there's no time to upload them. :-) The great thing about the wedding was that we were able to instantly upload the images from the primary photographers and friends (with the use of our laptops, etc). We went back to their bridal suite that night and looked at all the pics. :-) There was no romance on the first night as the whole crew crashed on their floors. That's alright though - KA had passed out from exhaustion long before and Mike entertained us. I think other couples feel the same way after their weddings - too tired to even talk and just want to sleep.

Kwik-E-Mart

On the drive home today I was astonished to see the 7-11 on the corner of Guildford and Lansdowne had turned into a bonafide Kwik-E-Mart. I've heard rumors of the Simpson-mania but never thought that it would be so close to home. :-) Time for a squishee! I should have taken a picture (like everyone else) - oh well...maybe on the weekend.

more than meets the eyes

How can I not blog about this?!! Just got back from a pre-screening of Transformers. This much anticipated movie has been whispered amongst die hard fans for 2 years now. I first learned of it from Ben - who is a true fan like no other (he decorates his cube in the figurines). Frank and I sought out to buy tickets for the pre-screening before the long weekend. I wasn't sure if we'd get them. So Chris, Toshiki, Tyson, Chicky and I joined Frank, Kenny and their crew at the theatre for some reminiscing about childhood cartoons/toys. Thinking that an hour before the show should be sufficient time - we were wrong. Amazingly many others were already camped out in the line up. :-) Reminded me of when I lined up for the first release of Star Wars Episode 1! The movie was 2 hours of action packed fun. The audience was primarily guys who grew up watching or playing with Transformers. I did my "homework" the night before and refreshed my memory by watching the old cartoons. There was unanimous applauding at the end of the movie - a sign that the movie is going to be a summer blockbuster! Too bad the girls didn't want to see the movie. Oh well - not everyone likes CGI movies. :-) I won't say too much about the it - so that those that haven't seen it can still enjoy it.

Coming out of the movie - my only thought was "I wish my car could transform!". Why can't they make an AI robot for the consumer market?! :-)

lets get this party started

Saturday afternoon my sister had her bachelorette party. We went down to Joey's on Broadway. This is my first time to the restaurant and it was wonderful. Beautiful atmosphere, great food and a spectacular bathroom! :-) Yes - I enjoy bathrooms as much as the main restaurant itself (those that have been to Moxie's with me can attest).

We had lunch with her friends. KA's bridesmaids planned a fun filled long weekend for her. After lunch was an appointment at Pure Nail Bar for some pampering before heading up to Whistler. Carol and I didn't go to Whistler - we decided to stay in town and do chores instead. I haven't talked to KA since she's been back from Whistler - her schedule if pretty hectic. I hope she had a great time. I did get a chance to see Michael this weekend and he had a great time at his bachelor party. I believe they went paintballing, out for dinner then to TheatreSports on Granville Island. These pre-parties before the big day are so much fun to participate in. The girls that went to Whistler had a red and white theme (in alignment with Canada Day) and KA had a nursing theme to her outfit. I like the little party favors that Christine made for everyone. :-) Water bottle with personalized labels, bandaids and red pill looking candies - staying within the "nursing" theme of the stagette. We'll have to get the juicy details of Whistler later. :-)