Sunday, December 15, 2013

thankful 24/7/365

i missed my shot to write this list in the actual week of thanksgiving, but then i realized that that shouldn't matter. that one week of the year shouldn't be the only time people should be thankful for the things they have in their lives. so regardless of my terrible lack of timing, I'm thankful all the same for...

+ my health
+ my friends
+ my family
+ the ones i love who i would do anything for - flaws and all
+ the ones who love and care about me - flaws and all
+ my munchkins/chickenbutts/babycakes/dumdums/fatties - chio + basil + puppy
+ my home - where i know i'm always welcome if i need it
+ my home away from home
+ my family away from home
+ my job - no matter how frustrating it can get sometimes
+ my therapy - ultimate
+ my teammates
+ my elders - who are always there to offer help, support and guidance if i should need it
+ my curiosity
+ my desire to travel - to see and experience new things
+ my strength - when everything seems to be going south
+ my independence
+ my passion - for giving me some kind of direction when i start to feel lost
+ my crazy - without which my life would be ridiculously boring
+ my love of animals - animals that hardly ever fail to make me feel better when i need it most
+ my hobbies/interests - for when i need a break from my day-to-day life
+ my stubbornness - to have gotten me through many obstacles and picked me up when i've just hit the wall and fallen down

+ my life - shit may spontaneously decide to hit the fan all at once. i may feel like i can't handle the obstacles being hurled my way on a daily basis. it may seem utterly overwhelming for seemingly unending periods of time. but it's still my life. everything i'm thankful for has made it mine and mine alone. i'm still thankful to have had all of my experiences, good and bad, and to have had them help shape who i am today - someone i've grown to love and appreciate - flaws and all. i'm far from perfect, but at least i'm me.

thank you.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Sunday, November 3, 2013

i love my boys.

kitty warmth = the best kind of warmth

a little over one year ago, this little tuxedo-ed bugger spent the first few days in his new home hiding in his crate, only coming out for food and the litterbox. and only when no one was around to watch him. he ran away from everyone, even if they just looked at him. it was a big achievement just to be able to touch him once before he ran off into his crate or some corner or under the bed.

twenty minutes ago, this happened. :) i'm so proud of this little bugger.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

scampering like a spidermonkey.

this past weekend was spent camping with aaron, liz and alexis out at gilson pond in jaffrey, nh by mt. monadnock.

saturday morning started with breakfast at sound bites at ball square.

mmm...coffee...

we drove up after and set up camp.

such a nice morning out!

somewhat disturbingly, we set up the tent and ended up with one odd piece that we never quite figured out where it went. womp womp.

we never figured out where this little guy went...

shortly after setting up camp, liz and alexis decided to take a walk around the pond, and aaron decided to take a nap. having recently rediscovered the joys of settling down with a good book, that's exactly what i did. i grabbed let the great world spin and sat by the awesome, warm fire and immediately plowed through a quarter of my new book. :) it was pretty much exactly what i needed after the week prior.

perfection.
i...i like fire...

liz and alexis came back. and guillotine was brought out. fun was had. :)

whiskey + apple cider + guillotine = camp fun goodness!
so pretty...

delicious dinner of hobo bundles was made. sausage, green peppers, onions, potato, salt, pepper, olive oil...so good...

delicious hobo bundles!

we topped off the night with scrumptious s'more-ness. unfortunately, it was too dark for photos. but seriously, i roast the best golden-brown marshmallows...i roast them to win.

sunday morning brought campfire coffee, pancakes and bacon!

mmm...more coffee...
campfire bacon!

post-breakfast, we drove over and hiked monadnock, or as alexis put it, scampered up it. it may have been the best hike/climb i've done to date. past the book-reading by the campfire, this was also perfect for a weekend away from the ridiculousness of real life.

scampering ahead!
more scampering!
i love scampering!
lunch break from scampering. 
hey, look! a traverse!
just like girl guides taught me. :)
at the summit - best. hike. ever.

bonus perk to the hike: seeing two deer off the side of the trail on the way down, towards the end. so. adorable. so glad i ran ahead for that. :)

i may not go camping or hiking much, but this was a great end to the season. :) 

i love fall. :)

i may or may not still smell like woodsmoke... :)

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

www wednesday #4: goodreads

hey look! my goodreads to-read list! time to pick that back up again. also, the kwan sisters book swap. if anyone else is interested in book-swapping (i'm looking at you, anna), let me know. :)

+ what are you currently reading?
let the great world spin / colum mccann
honestly just picked this one up out of my goodreads list. i'm super excited and happy to be reading for leisure again. :) i've heard good things about let the great world spin and figured it sounded like a good transition from the night circus into something a little more solid. looking forward to it.







+ what did you recently finish reading?
the night circus / erin morgenstern
definitely a fun, easy read for anyone looking for their imagination to just run wild and go crazy. loved it. read as part of the kwan sisters' book swap! :) thanks, twin.








+ what do you think you'll read next?
i love yous are for white people / lac su
i've always been big on these kinds of memoirs. i like history. memoirs combine being able to read about all of that history with the opportunity to still let my imagination do it's thing and picture the scenarios and events being described. now, if only i could actually find a copy of this book in a bookstore anywhere...






"the more that you read, the more things you will know. the more that you learn, the more places you'll go." - dr. seuss, i can read with my eyes shut!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

the flynnoreks.

considering i've been away from the blogging world for almost a year now, i figured the first post upon return should be something special. something epic. something awesome. so here goes...

congratulations to the new flynnoreks*!!!

the bouquets at the head table
the place cards
the centerpieces
table #1

i was honored to be a part of the celebration of their nuptials this past weekend back in pittsburgh and i could not be any happier for the both of them. :)
 
i'm also so thankful to them for giving me the opportunity to produce all of the graphic work for their wedding, from the save the dates all the way through to the programs and centerpieces. it was a ton of fun and i loved doing it all for such a special occasion.
 
congratulations, again. wishing you many years of love and happiness to come. :)

*corey and gail have not actually adopted the name, flynnorek. this was purely a celebrity-esque couple name/time-saver.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

busy in a good way.

december is going to be one busy month.

december 1: cambridge systematics holiday party. we started the month off with aaron's company holiday christmas party. not too shabby. it was held at the mit museum, which is pretty much your typical gallery space, but with a lot more science, instead of art. great photography pieces though. i'll admit i didn't actually take the time to walk around and really look at the exhibit, but the panoramic images all over the place of mountain ranges and whatnot were pretty cool. food was awesome. drinks were free-flowing. people were nice. fun times were had. finally got to meet the person who helped everyone connect the dots to realizing there were, in fact, two camsys/cube 3 couples in existence. still weird.

december 3: transition workload over to new malls project. deadline forthcoming.

december 7: work deadline for a student housing project in minnesota, mn.

december 7 - 9: yet another whirlwind adventure in post-sandy ny with the j-twin. likely with some christmas shopping in the mix.

december 8: get-together at the ktoad's new digs. unfortunately, won't be able to make this one due to previously mentioned whirlwind adventure.

december 8 - 15: hannukah celebrations with the magics.

december 9: hannukah/housewarming party at danny + becca's place. hopefully, i can make it back for this one.

december 13: 8pm showing of the slutcracker at the somerville theater with corey + gail.

december 14: 8:30pm showing of THE HOBBIT at the boston commons!!! i'm excited. can you tell?

december 15: 6:30pm cube 3 studio casino holiday party! time for my company's holiday party at one of the partners' house up in nh. and let me tell you, it is niiiiice. also super excited for this one. on the same night, at 8pm, is the oldenburg glögg party. glögg is apparently a mulled wine concoction that you set on fire before drinking it. also excited. hope we can make it after the cube 3 casino party.

december 20: get on a plane back to hong kong for christmas and new years!!! absolutely can't wait for all the delicious nommage that's going to be happening over those two weeks. it'll totally be worth emptying out all of my vacation time for this one trip. :) plus, it'll be aaron's first trip to hk. again, excited. :D

december 22: big kwan family gathering #1 in celebration of winter festival. jess also lands in hk this evening to join in the festivities.

december 25: big kwan family gathering #2 in celebration of christmas and grandma kwan's birthday! also, 2pm showing of the nutcracker performed by the hong kong ballet. this show has always been a holiday tradition. while everyone else shops and then congregates for pre-dinner mahjong, jess, mom and i sneak away for the nutcracker. but this year, aaron will be joining in the sneaking. and we're apparently in for quite a different show this year. the show has been revamped and redesigned to what looks like a darker telling of the story, so that'll be an interesting change to watch.

december 31: (likely) big kwan family gathering #3 for the new years countdown. new years in hk can get a little crazy every year (anyone remember the super riot in lan kwai fong that one year that got a bunch of people killed? yea. i don't want that...), so it's probably safer to celebrate and welcome the new year from the safety of our own home.

of course, there will be extra little shenanigans intermingled with those plans, but those are the big things that have been planned out in advance. then, that's it for the rest of 2012! and then...onward to new shenanigans in 2013!!!
such as:

january 5: jess, aaron and i hop back stateside and back to our lives and jobs and deadlines. le sigh...

january 11 - 13: aaron and i head back out to madison, wi for red eye! yay seeing more friends for more overnight ultimate shenanigans!!!

who has two thumbs and is excited? this moi. :)